The National Register. — London, England, 1812-01-12 00:00:00

JAN. 12• Tuesday b-ing -the birth ably of her Royal- Highness the Princess Charlotte of Wales, :Ay ','her Royal Highness completed the 16th year of h r rage, the Prince Regret pave a grand dinner at Carlten-House, , to the Onia,n, Prncesst s Augusta aryl - Mary, the Dukes of York, Cla reece, an. Cu berland. At five, the Queen and Princesses left C:rkton Hoarse f Windsor. The Duke of Cambridge has resigned his District Command, on a princinle which lee; been determined on. of reducing enormous expence of tti 1-tome Staff, which is greatly enhanced by the employment upon it of Generals instead of Major Generals. Etna ry, whose engagen-ent expires with the present season at Co vent-Garden The4tre, it is said jlins the new Drury-Lane Company: Mrs. Siddons is gone to Eflinburgh, to take a final theatrical leave of her frii nets in that city, and has been recently joined by her sister, Mrs. C. Kemble, who has left Covent-Garden. Friday was one •of the darkest days ever remembered in the metro polis for mmy years. All the shops and public offices were lighted up during the whole d y in the same manner as in the winter evenings. For the greater part oc the day it was impossible to read or write at a window without candles. Persons in the streets could scarcely he seen in the forenoon at two yards distance. In the Corn-market, and some other places of public i esort. no business whatever could be done.— There had been a reat fall of snow in the morning early, and on the preceding evening. T'ae equestrian statue of the King, in Berkeley-square, has, within the last year. been gradually giving way, till, more lately, it has been retained in its position by various supports and props ; but it has been found impossibk to sustain it any longer,. and workmen have been em ployed to take down the statue.—This circumstance, associating itself with the actual s ate of our beloved Sovereign, has become the topic of conversation in the neighb hood. P. was Mr, Ramey Cuthbert, Member for Applebsf, who divided in support of Sir Francis Burdett's Address, on Tuesday. A daring attempt at robbery was made at the house of Lord Callan, , No. 2.9. Fitzroy-square, on Wednesday evening. His Lordship is at. Salisbury, and a female servant hat the sole care of his house. About nine o'clock on Wednesday evening, the servant was annoyed by the squalling of a cat in the area. and she opened the kitchen door, with a poker in her hand, to drive the cat away, when a fellow rushed upon her rather tall and thin, and dressed in a loose brown coat.—The servant struck the fellow with the poker, with all her strength, and he in return knocked ner down. She r. mained some time in a senseless state, but alarmed the neighbourhood as soon as she recovered. The house was searched, but the robber had fled. The servant had observed the same flints , larking about the house in the afternoon, and he had knocked at Lord C.'s door, and asked son:e strange sort of questions. MYSTERIOUS ATTEMPT AT SUlClDE.—Thursday morning an in stance of youthful rashness occurred in the inland department of the Post-Office. One of the messengers of that institution, hearing the re port of a pistol in the Inland Office, ran immediately to the place from whence the noise proceeded, and saw a youth, named Kelner, about 17 years of age, sitting on a chair by the fire-side, leaning his head upon his hand, and holding a pocket ha. dkerchief to his face. The messen ger conceiving the pistol might have been fired for idle sport, imme diately retired. Shortly afterwardi one of the Clerks entered the Office, and observing the young man in the same position, asked him what was the matter ? He made no answer. This excited a good deal of surprise, and upon coming close to him he observed blood drip ping from his clothes upon the floor, very profusely. Alarmed beyond expression, he instantly went in search of a Surgeon. At that hour, it being then only six in the morning, he found peat difficulty in pro • curing the services of a medical man, in which, however, he succeeded at length ; brat upon his return to the Office he missed young Kelner. —lt appears, that after the other young man had gone in search of a Surgeon, he went away, and nothing has since been heard of him. The dripping of his blond was traced into Lombard-street, but there every clue for discovering whither he had fled, failed. What to ascribe this ex! raordinary conduct to, his friends are utterly at a loss. Latterly he had become very gay in his apparel , and his father had declined in creasing his income beyond the stipend _of his situation in the Post- Office. Extravagance, it is supposed, had led him into some difficul.y, and that he rashly endeavoured to acquit himself of his worldly engage ments, by anticipating his accounts with nature. The Police ''facers ale about to be augmented by the addition of four more officers to each establishment. THE FORTUNATE BROTHER S.—The late Mr. David Jones, of Moffat street, City-road, beught at No. 4, Cornhill, a Sixteenth of No. 6,43, , in January, which was drawn a Prize of 20,0001. —and in the next Lottery, his brother John Jones, of York-street, ' - ‘'estminste r, bou g ht et the same Office, a Share of No. 2.618, which also was errawn a Prize of 20,0001—Thus in a Single Day was each Brother rendered Inde pendent, as any Person may now be in the present State Lottery, con taining Two Prizes of 20,0001 Bcc. Sec- Btc. if bought on or he tore Monday the 20th Instant, as all the Lottery will be drawn at Nine o'clock the next Morning. THE NATIONAL REGISTER. , BRITISH INSTI I UTION. The overflow of political matter durng the last two weeks, and the important domestic intellivnce with which they abounded, .compelled us to delay our remarks on the paintings expoied for imitation in the rooms of the British Institution, and on the merit of the copies taken frein them. We now resume oor task, and in order to be able to pursue it uninterrupted by the same causes, will re strain the pruriency of descriptive observation, and the su perfluous verbosity which generally attend comments on the various productions of art. The Holy Family, by Sebastian del Piombo, though not a painting which would enable.this master to make eiood ' his claim at rivalry or even at ccmpetition with %Thad. possesses considerable merit. Its colouring is too sombre, and the complexion Of the Virgin in particular, remarka bly dark, a hue little expressive of the idea of purity inse parably attached to her character. St. l'hn is repiesent ed older than he could be at the time ; but this anachron ism is little, when compared with the introda:• ion of the head of a Friar under the protection of the V:rgin. The conception and colouring of this picture are therefore de fective ; but these faults are in some degree redeemed by the correct style and elegance of the drawing. The latter forms the sole object worthy of imitation. This seems to have been generally felt, and few copies hive been taken from this work, perhaps throu g h the fear of not being able to catch its particular and distinguishing excellence. A young lady has, however, displayed uncommon courage in attempting so difficult a task, and considerable skill in executing it. The copy ma.le by Mi ;s Jackson is a faith. ful and energetic transcript of the original, except in tine point, in which she has been bold enough to dopart from it, in order to attempt an improvement. She has removed the head of the Friar from the picture, and substituted that of St. Charles in its place ; but this alteration leaves. the hand of the Virgin unsupported. The whole IP Weyer., is executed with so much spirit, as to deserve to he, ranked amongst the most successtul imitative attempt of native talent in the room. The original i 3 taken from the collec tion of Sir Thomas Baring. Sebastian del hembo, the friend of Michael Angelo, was a disciple ;.f Bell ni t whose taste, and perhaps whose touches, may be ohsei ved in se veral parts of Sebastun's works. The Friar's head, in this picture, is an illustratioe of . this assertion, as it so elosc'y resembles Bellini's style, as by some to be deemed his,pro duef on. The esteem in which Sebasiian de Pinmbo was held in his time, has not been eradicated by-years, and his paintings (:ontintte to be deemed The White horse, by Sir An'hony V :ndyke, has occa sioned the display of much talent. 'The wh,ich is from the collection of the Right Honour,:b!e Chailts Long, is a master piece. Struck with suCr.i . en fear, Rnd teeming with animation,. the courser seems to start from the canv.iss.' The boldness of its attitude, the just and forcible action of its muscles, and its admirable fore shortening, font) excellencies which bring nature itself to our view : whilst the blast of wind in the corner, seemingly expressed by a sing:e dish of the brush, gives a cause for the position and terror of the hors ,, , and shows how attentive the ter was to natural probability a s well as to poetical effect. Variou , s accotur s are given of the reasons which induced Vandyke to ..ct this subject for the exertion of his powers. Some co :ider th;s pro duction as a finished sketch for a greater composition, such MISCELLANIES. PINE ARTS. 27 I I I