The National Register. — London, England, 1812-03-15 00:00:00

~wr~l~-----~~ 172 to our strictures upon the performances exposed in the British Gallery, we have been careful not to fill our columns with common-place obser vations and hackneyed criticisms which, like the slippers of the inn, or the saddle of the livery-stables that fit every traveller's feet, or every horse's back, might be indiscriminately applied to any production of the art; and we are thankfully proud to find that our readers hate been Xrinch pleased with their painted and appropriate tendency. We have blown the blast of the storm against the sturdy oaks and scattered away their dryed leaves, because they were lofty and strong ; but we have even spared the gentle breath of zephir to the bending reeds, because they were humble and - feeble. We went still farther; we did not con tent ourselves with a dry de4cription of the piece, but constantly inter- tnixed, with it, observations and hints useful to the art in general. This plan wa have adopted from the beginning, and will keep strictly to, till our task is over ; conscious to have entertained many, offended none, and even happy to think that we have instructed some of the votaries of the chromatic muse ; and that the few of our subscribers, who may happen not to be much conversant with the intrinsic merit of paintings, have still found, in our descanting upon the art, a constant source of ITYRlstnient. No. 121. Chety-chase. BY MR. E. BIM—We are not the only ones who have questioned whether Addison was serious when he passed so high an encomium upon the old ballad of lc chevy-chase ;" and indeed we cannot thee that he was in earnest when lie compared sonic of the finest passages in the Eneid to the plain, home-spun strophes of that old poem. We know and confess that, on the one hand, age entitles it to respect, and that on the other, its simplicity and naivete will give it a passport to the farthest posterity ; but the great mind of Addison seems to have been first jocosely brooding upon it, and to have eventually hatched it into a glory of life which it did not appear to he entitled to. However, the passage which Mr. Bird has embodied upon the canvas, is particularly praised by the author of the Spectator, who says : " What can be more natural or more moving than the circumstances in which the author describes the behaviour of those women who had lost their husbands on that fatal day ?" and we are bold enough to assert that the painter has even done more honour to the poet than the eulogium of the writer ever could do. The principal figure is a woman distracted at the sight of her slain husband, whose head and shoulders recline on her 1 ap. She stares, she raves, she holds her troubled and aching head in her hand, and her madeoing grief is most happily contracted by the consoling countenance of an old man in the best style of Caledonian features and dress. Some ether groups in the half.shade have great effect, and the friar holding the cross of salvation to the dying warrior is extremely well delineated, and the action impressively pathetic. The so dead march," that winds away down the hill; the sad countenances of the surviving heroes, the lowering skies, which arc exactly as inei gination fancies them to be on the morning following the day of con - filet and slaughter, all contribute to assign to this painting a high rank in the estimation of the spectators. Althongli highly finished, all the parts unite in general h.tritiony, and csestitete both a iilea , ing object to 'the patriotic eye, and a ns.Ht intereiting scene to the inettraive mind. No. 82. Ariderus and E c•idiec. By .k. l'eaLee L.—Wise we to find the strength of the elephant In the elegantly shaped roebuck, the fierce ness of the eagle in the d'ive, and the lo:Ig life of the osk in the variegated tulip, surely we should stand enwrapped with admiration, and exclaim— " Nature has ontd•)r.e lu,rself In the subject under our consideration, a woman exhibits to the a;tonished mind of the behol:ler, a specimen of courage, intrepidity, a:ld esi7,na , kn, at which we should wonder, even it it were produced by the stronger sex Euridice, lamenting ever the body of her murdered lois:mod Arida:us, a natural son of Phil r, and crowned king of M:tet don al . tcr tar death of Alexander the Great, re teives, with the utmo.t placidity of countenance, the instrument of her destruction, sent to her by the haughty and revengeful Olympias. This fact, which is handed down to us by Diodorus and Justin, is treated here with an uncommon kior.vledge of what constitutes historical painting. The foreshortening of the dead body, which meets the eyes of the srec tator in an inverted situation, is managed kith great art; the figure Of I; uridice is elegant, and full of the required expression of silent grief, and finitude, and t' e whole pleasingly and classically colon. eel. N. - 6. 774 S,reir ?made &le ric Garrison of Gan-attar, in Novensber, it I). Tuossituta...—lt would be difficult to do justice to this THE NATIONAL IiEGISTEI? well-known effort of the Art of Painting in a place so confined as the periodical columns of a wee; - .ly newspaper, where the rushinq in an;l crowding of multifarious matters, all claiming a corner to meet the pub lic eye, itithrall the good-will of the publishers, and hurry them away from subjects upon which they would chpecially delight to patw , , !mic e , and descant at leisure. We must therefore content ourselves with mere ly statin7, that for interest of subject, warmth of composition, correct ness of •Itsign, aptness and liveliness of expression, and propriety of co. louring, this performance is full worthy a the praise which has already I:een bestowed upon it, and does hiriour to the mind and skill of the author. No. 33. 4711ylock—Shakcspeare's Merchant of Tinier. By A. Fir m This is merely a head, and a hand lifted up above the head—but that hand ha , such an expression, that eye such an eloquent utterance ! Really they make us: grieve that Mr. Hume did not exercise his talents upon tl.t whole scene, as we find it in our ever-inspired and ever-in:Tiring dra matic Bard. We expect more from him; let him not disappoint out expectation. No. 3s. Areizdiart Shepherds. By H. SING!. TTON.—There are in the world such faces of women and men, which carry invariably upon theta a certain sort of pleasbyness, which not only make us wish to see them again and again, but even persuade us that we have seen them nary times before. Whether this is the case w:th the small painting bi4ote us, we dare not to decide ; but certain it is, that it is uncommonly ;we e -, and gratifying to the eyes. . . _ DRAMATIC REGISI LYCEUM. There is a remark in one of the smaller poems of Mr. W./11137rfosTii, which, for truth at least, is not, in our opinion, exceeded by ;my oti:fr in all the English poetry, which we have had an opportunity of thru-.. The remark is this, that " daisies (meaning the little flowers of t! , at name) will he daisies still." These vords of Mr. 'Woituswoierii, NV ;11) a slight change, we are disposed to take into our service upon the pr , .. sent occasion; and say, that musical farces will be musical farce Since the time of" lialy gaily, gamin) raly," si.iwn to the present d..y of Frost and Thaw, and Turn Out, there is hardly any production of tl , t above kind, the reading of which may not be employed to the smile good purposes as the seven penitential psalms, and imposed as a nance, at least for venial offences. If the dramatic writers of the preset t day have not succeeded, their failure does not by any means arise, either from want of frequency in attempt, or diligence in re-carel). Ab,tracting entirely from the humble pilfering indwitry, with wl:;ch they have applyed themselves to volumes of more en ml)ersorne dime: - shins, they have, of late, w ith a most exemplary lowliness of spirit, even eaten into the children's library ; for, we believe, there is not (vie halfpenny book, from the Little Red Riding jlood up to Tbr, e 1:i::• gered Jack, in which the fancy of those good people has not been tirmig ing for employment. We are not di:poied to indulge the snerriN, or malicious lamentations of the heavy criticism that pretends to bew.:ll the dullness of the times, and affects to shed tears :It the urn of tiii.teS rEAi r. We are e 9 tally averse to the capering phraseology of content orary remarkers, who would wish to seem pleased without any feelini; of pleasure, and son - mimes assume the airs and the language of dislike, at things which, it the truth were known, have really delighted them. We cannot, however, Int share a little in the fears of those who appre hend that, in this country, at least so far as it appears, there is, a' Pre sent, hut a small portion of dramatic talent; and, were it not for the situation in which fortune has placed us, we are not so prodigal even ot contempt, as to squander it upon things that do not deserve to be 1,0- ticed. In our Paper of last Sunday we made no .observation upon the t.rw n-vsical lice that is now in its progress through the Lyceum. We businoss of more imp:xtance, nor should we notice it at present hat for the encouragement of those who may suspect that any sort of dia logue, hesnrecred with a Halo poetry, however worn out in character or in sentiment ; however incapable from plot of exciting expectation; however disabled in tiviught, or ragged i n e x p ression, cannot ruffle the composure of art audience, and force them into laughter even without hearing a joke. We de not say that the piece in question has all those failings; but this we say, that it is indebted for all the merriment I*. I produces not to what is heard, but, almost exclusively, to whit a seen; to the swelling (and let no person think that we are unconscious FINE ARTS. BRITISH INS"I ITUTION. NI MICH I i