maiden-love, we have but dim remembrance,-to the thrill of earthly ardour long ago callous. Nay, we doubt if the sanguiferous fluid which now creeps so soberly through our veins, were to be pumped again from the heart with all the velocity of some forty summers since, we should luxuriate on the exuberant loveliness of this chaste "gallery" with other than the same reverential feeling that now pervades us. They seem all so like what womankind should be, rather than what we ever found it (and yet, O! with what wild and reckless vehemence have we not loved in the days of other years!)—so meek, so feminine, so full of soul, so unsullied, and of such unmingled chasteness! fair, divinely fair, and clothed in poetry as with a garment,-that we contemplate them as embodied entities, whom to look upon with the grovelling passions of humanity were a deed of grievous wrong. Bear with us yet awhile in this our rhapsody. Look upon that face [plate seventh] bending o'er the legend that enchaineth her gentle spirit, reading "As angels read the leaves of fate in heaven; and say if she be not a seraph, and our rhapsody forgiveable? But tame we our extravagance. naughty than physical. Mental intoxication is scarcely less It were a matter of precautionary prudence that no true critic should, in these days, or ever after, be surprised at what art can accomplish. Hertofore he may have been somewhat justified in the indulgence and the expression of occasional astonishment; but the handiwork of genius has so astoundingly thriven of late, that what its future progress shall be, none may determine, and few would hazard a prophecy upon. We well remember, some score or so of moons since, to have pronounced a very sagacious opinion, (as we then thought,) that the dexterity of artificers on copper had necessarily reached its maximum,-the point beyond which further advance was, if not impossible, vastly improbable. Short-sighted prognosticator! Week after week, thence downwards to the present, has given subsequent birth to some novel production surpassing all others in richness and beauty, as though it were in very mockery of our predication. We are made wise, however. No more shall we set a limit to the achievements of the burin, or take the existing masterstroke of art as the foretokener of incipient declension. We will look, will calmly admire,-give praise and put our astonishment in our pockets, lest we be again made to blush by the stinging derision of a merry world. The six portraits in the two numbers before us, sufficiently illustrate the intention of the publisher to support the reputation which the first part acquired. This is creditable to himself, and good news for us, (the public!) but all we fear is the exhaustible nature of the source of this stream of female loveliness, inasmuch as (and we cannot disguise the fact) homely folks are mortally more rife than beauty; and, boundless as Mr. Tilt may take the charms of women to be, a period will arrive, before he is sensible of its approach, when the lack of material will check suddenly the brilliant career of his employés. From the time of that celebrated Gudeman who kissed his cow, down to the present hour, there has been no accounting for tastes; consequently those portraits which we would select as the most fascinating, according to our own peculiar, perhaps erroneous, notions, it is very probable might be deemed by others less enchanting than we consider them. Be it so; we shall, nevertheless, particularize the two or three which rank especially high in our admiration. And first, plate 5, of part the second,-she, that pattern of excelling virtue, whose bright and upraised eyes are fixed upon 66 the bright and starry bands That shine on heaven's path-way of the skies;" a virgin nun, a mould of earthly beauty, enshrining a soul yearning for a more celestial abiding-place; her loveliness is a text for an hour's delightful sermonizing; but we spare it, supremely beautiful she is! Now turn to plate 9, part the third,-innocence, unspotted innocence, musing on music-" the song of yester-eve." "Unheard before-and yet it took An old familiar tone; As stranger-eyes wear, oft, a look Of eyes that we have known In some forgotten time and place; And light, with sudden spell, Some darkened thought, some shadowy trace, Whose silent and mysterious grace, The heart remembers well." Is she not a dainty being? Now turn to plate 7, part the third,-to her, of whom we have before spoken, blooming in that young sweet season when the heart, as yet, Is but a student in the lore of sighs; Ere years have made the spirit wise, or set These are our favourites; we leave the other three for public contention. Prosper thou, O gallery, goodly and most glorious! FINDEN'S LANDSCAPE ILLUSTRATIONS OF BYRON.-PART 12. Appendix to the first 8 Parts. Murray, Tilt.— We have all along thought that the publication of these illustrations forms quite an epoch in the history of the Fine Arts of this country; and the expression of this opinion must not be taken for the praise of adulation, though it looks very like it. We have only to refer to each number as it has issued from the press, and ask if any similar publication, so full of excellence, so varied in beauty, so unrivalled in merit, ever previously appeared. We are fully borne out in the assertion, that, as a pictorial periodical, it stands alone; for no other ever approached it in those qualities of richness, usefulness, and cheapness which have raised it to such an extent of popularity. It would be too much, perhaps, to say, that its circulation is equal to that of the published works of the noble author; but it is not too much to affirm, that these illustrations will be in the possession of all those who are the real and unaffected ad mirers of Byron, and who place not his productions in their libraries for fashion's sake alone. Indeed, the one is a necessary adjunct to the other, an itinerary without which half his beauties would lie hidden. The contents of this twelfth part are Cintra, Yanina, the Gulf of Spezzia, the Bay of Naples, and Florence-by Stanfield and Harding, after sketches by several amateur artists; a view, by Stanfield, of San Georgio Maggiore; and a portrait of Sir Walter Scott, after Newton's original, in the possession of Mr Murray. Yanina, with the palace of Ali Pacha, and the Gulf of Spezzia, with the castle near Sarzana, are two beautiful engravings; but the Cintra of Stanfield is exquisite. This village, distant about fifteen miles from filthy Lisbon, is described by Southey as being "more beautiful than sublime-more grotesque than beautiful; yet I never (he says) beheld scenery more calculated to fill the mind with admiration and delight." Every traveller has been struck with its singular beauty, and each has tried his hand at a description of it; but Byron seems to sum up, in nine felicitous lines, "The horrid crags, by toppling convent crown'd, The drawing of Mr. Stanfield does not impair the image impressed on the mind by this vivid description,-praise of no mean amount. The "Appendix," just published, is in excellent keeping with the "Illustrations." It is a thick, and handsomely printed volume, embellished with a new and finely engraved frontispiece, (of Gibraltar,) by Turner, and vignette title-page, (Villeneuve,) by Stanfield; and contains an account of the subjects of the engravings, edited by Mr. Brockedon, a most accomplished man, and well qualified for the task. We trembled, on hearing its announcement, lest it should turn out to be a dead weight upon the illustrations,-an effort of the book-making art, which might have been well let alone; but we were most agreeably disappointed. The plan and arrangement are well conceived, and most ably executed. Those portions of the poems allusive to the drawings are first given; followed by elaborate extracts from a variety of modern works of celebrity, and by original and interesting comments by the editor, fully descriptive of the glorious objects that engaged the noble poet's muse; forming in itself a historical work of great literary attraction, independently of the illustrations. As a specimen of typographical art, it is splendid; of cheap printing, it is surprising. We suggest to the Editor the expediency of supplying an index to these appendices. It would be found very convenient. THE WAVERLEY PORTRAITS. Part 4. Chapman and Hall.-Nothing can more surely indicate the mighty power of the Great Magician than the world of thought that rises in the mind upon the mere mention of the names of those whom his pencil pourtrayed. The events with which each of his characters is associated, come again as clearly before us as though the recording narrative were beneath the eye. Half our delight in looking on these illustrative portraits is in dimly identifying the images, thus drawn by a fertile fancy, with the circumstances in which we find the fair original involved, her relation to the history his spirit-stirring pen has chronicled. This is a hint worth having. We are not to glance at a sweet face, murmur out "Rebecca!" or some other immortalized name, and turn in a twinkling to the next. That were the action of the superficial and the thoughtless. It is in contemplating them with a half-closed eye, and a mind passive to the workings of memory, that we can see them as they ought to be seen. By this means we again conjure up the scenes whose record once moved us so strongly, and in five short minutes retrace a tale which occupied as many hours,-joyous hours,-in the original perusal. Now here is part the fourth, with Edith Bellenden, Isabel Vere, Julia Mannering, and Rebecca, all goodly faces and various in beauty, according to the taste of the beholder; go, most gentle and ladyloving reader, and apply our suggestion. Take these portraits, and, shutting the eyes of thy mind to all other external and extraneous objects, draw largely on thy well-stored memory; and if thou dost not derive a many-times multiplied gratification from this plan of study, be assured the fault lieth with thyself and not with us! LANDSCAPE ILLUSTRATIONS OF SCOTT. No. 14. Chapman and Hall.-Julia Mannering and Rebecca, are the portraits given in this number. The views are first the Frith of Cumberland, with all the freshness of the morning, on it, by Copley Fielding; the fair town of Warwick' from the Kenilworth road, a bold and clever drawing by Constable (whose productions might come more frequently before the public eye with profit and satisfaction to all parties ;) and lastly, Warwick Castle, 'that fairest monument of ancient and chi valrous splendour, which yet remains uninjured by time,' from the porte-feuille of George Barrett. No. 14. is a worthy companion to its predecessors. MEMORIALS OF OXFORD. No. 5.The west front of Magdalen College, and the same College from the Bridge, are the views which accompany the present number of this thriving publication; they are the most highly finished of all that have yet appeared, and bespeak a favourable interpretation of the spirit of the publisher, the talent of the artists, and the judgment of the editor. To a work so peculiarly addressed to the more patrician part of the community, so well conducted and so deserving of patronage, we are surprised at the plebeian price attached. MAJOR'S CABINET GALLERY.-We have now got to the VII. No., which with us is an especial favourite. Two of the engravings are landscapes; the first is by Jacob Ruysdall, an artist who combines something of the delicacy of Italian imagi 128 nation with the truth of the Dutch school ing that ample notice which they well From a hasty glance at the Eight Views • Every publication relating to the Fine Arts MUSIC. Written and THE LINDEN TREE. composed by JOHN BARNETT.-The general sweetness of Mr. Barnett's compositions has made his name so popular, that its mere inscription on a title page of music is a sure guarantee of something good. The Linden Tree is one of those pretty love songs, all about stars, guitars, truth, and trysting, that win their ready way into the hearts of all true believers, young, fresh, and faithful, who have "soul" to conceive, voice to give expression, and pianos to assist it. I SAW HER AT THE FANCY FAIR. THAT LOVELY GIRL. THE RED ROVER'S SONG. The poetry of these pretty little ballads is by Mr. E. Smith: the music of the last by the Chevalier Neukom, of the two former by Mr. Barnett. We can add little to the popularity of the first; it is a great favourite, and has attained a large circulation. "That Lovely Girl," is very pretty, very simple, and very chaste, though possessing less "character" as a composition than the first, to which it is intended as a companion; it will not probably be of equal celebrity. We recommend this little catch to our musical friends, however, who will not be displeased at our favourable notice. THE CHILDREN'S CHOICE AND PARENT'S ADVICE: The words from the PEARL ANNUAL; the music arranged by R. ANDREWS, London, Novello. This little trifle consists of five very choice subjects from Mozart, Rossini, and Winter, The melodies are so perfectly arioso in arranged in a familiar style for three voices. their character, that the youngest vocalists, if at all gifted with musical ears, will easily sing them, not only to the delight of doating mamas and grand-mamas, The words are pretty, and quite but to their own edification and amusement. intelligible to a very juvenile capacity. We have seldom, indeed, met with a piece of composition having more of the utile et dulce in its whole design, or better fitted to make little boys and girls become early proselytes to the charms of music. NEW PUBLICATIONS. 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