The National Register.
London, England, 1812-06-14 00:00:00

JEN F. 14 .

conidered the Widow Dm-Lir:GUAM and her family to be singularly
deserving of the public patronage, we have yielded to the wishes of
thoce of our Readers who appear anxibus to promote a stibkeription in
t 1::: behalf, and will willingly receive such contributions as shall be for—
warded us on this occasion. In addition to the subscriptions which ac-
rowanied the letters. inserted in our last Paper, we have received the
of '2 1 . from ' a few friends in-ing a parlour in the neighbourhood of
St. Stephen's, who arc• of opinion, that the family of Mr. DLLLZNGHAM
LAS ai nuich claim on the charity of the British people as that of :%Ir.

P'ERCEVAL.'
li. this op:nion, it is unneces7ary for us to say, we implicitly concur,
thd our reasons for so doing we have already laid before our Readers in
•tail. The public will now understand that a subscription is instituted
and an opportunity afforded them of manifesting their feelings upon this
aoject. if the British people are compelled to maintain one family out of
their porkcts they may, we apprehend, be permitted voluntarily to support
enothcr."
Than this certainly there can be nothing more reasonable. As the
British people are compelled to maintain one family, the family of a
man who has been murdered in their service, they ought by all means to
be permitted to support another, that of a hero who has murdered one of
their number and brought upon them the burden complained of in the-first
instance. No doubt the rational and the patriotic will eagerly come from
all parts of the country to enjoy such a high treat, as the luxury of giving
their money away in such a manner must necessarily afford. In pro-
portion as the distress of the country is great, and in proportion as the
burden imposed on it by the obligation to support the family of Mr,
NICE-JAL is heavily felt, it will of course be necessary to give largely to
the offspring of the immortal BELLINGUANI. Viewed in this light among
the many advantages which must follow the Godlike action, performed
by this friend to the British Constitution, it will not be the least that it
will afford the patriots of the manufacturing towns a fine opportunity of
placing their distress and their humanity in the most luminous point of
view, by handsomely contributing to this subscription. The town must
expect shortly to see very considerable sums advertised, as given by the
Admirers of Heroism, that is, of brutality at Nottingham ; the lovers
of Justice, that is of "murder, at Sheffield ; and the friends to Patriot-
i.m, that is of assassination at Birmingham.
But what must the patriotic manager of this subscription do, now that
Nirs. BatuNGIIAIIA has publicly declared she will not accept of a public
subscription? In the first instance, no doubt he will be dispooed to keep
t!ie sums which may he subscribed for lds own use ; but on second
thought% his constitutional feelings may possibly induce him to appro-
priate them to the reward of the next murder.
I am, Sir, your's, &c. &c.
A CONSTANT READER.

FINE ARTS.

BRITISH INSTITUTION.

No. len. Ihrhara Cathedral. By J. GLOVER.—Far from being en-
tirely free from, but not blinded or biassed by, that natural partiality
which, from this island to the half-civilized nations of the Southern
isles, every man feels, in some degree, we are ready to confess, that, if, I
as we have demonstrated in another Number, the climate influences, re-
spectively upon the votaries of the Arts, in the manner of treating them,
as well as in the choice of subjects, surely the temperature of the Northern
part of the globe cannot be supposed much fit to inspire the Landscape
Painter. That perpetual zone of mists and fogs which surround an in-
sulated land, offers little to see of the purity of the azure skies, deadens
emerald of the forests and meadows, and turns the purple distances
of mountains into a grey and uniform dinginess. The sun, shorn of its
rsys for the greatest part of the year, cannot suggest those effects of -o
lours which we admire in CLAUDE, in DUCLIET, in Wit.sas, and Csese
wasters were as much assisted by the clrcumabient objects, as really in-
spired by their own genius. Is then, the British Artist, whose turn of
mind lead him to imitate the beauties of nature in a Landscape ; is he
reduced to the fatal necessity of burning his pallet and easel, and of warp-
ing his natural bent towards some other objects ? Are there not some
lucid moments, some pleasing intervals in a climate like ours, that may
afford time enough to peep into the wonders of displayed Nature, and is
tNOLISR SCENERY, a word without sense, or which imports the inva-
riable and melancholy idea of foggy mornings, rainy noons, and chilly
Where did the Poet of the .Seseons, the true, and elegant

,ZIB

367

TuomsoN, find subjects for his descriptive Muse ? Although she em•
braces the universe, still she returns with pleasure to the bosom of Al-
bion, and meets here with sufficient aliment t ) sustiln Cie hl ize of her
imagination. Had we now Artists to paint what the Poet sang, we
should not complain of the scarcity of gond landscape painters. How-
ever this department of the chromatic empire has been, of late years,
more successfully cul;ivated; and, either in oil or water-colours, we have
been every season presented with performances, which prove that we
are neither in need of ingenious minds, nor of worthy themes to employ
them, and, much less, of generous patrons to encourage and reward
their efforts. The View of Durham Cathedral, in the centre of a ro•
mantic Landscape, with the sun, darting his rays, trough a va•
porous atmosphere, is one of those performances which are sure
to do honour to the master who produced them, and to the nation
who gave him birth. If the golden disk of the god of Day.,
very ingeniously concealed behind a picturesque group of well•
painted trees, emits but a pale and sickly splendor—if the distant hills,
the bridges thrown across the calm and embosomed stream, are seen
as if through the softening medium of a veil of gauze—if these are not
what we find in the warm productions of Italian Painters, and Painters
in Italy, it cannot be imputed as a fault to the British Artist, who faith-
, ful to the features of local nature la; ~represented them as they are;
every part is here most cleverly executed; and although too near that
great focus of light and interest, Mr. WEST'S admirable cartoon, ancit
almost immersed in the transcendant blaze which emanates from its
this landscape often recalls and fixes the eye of admiration. We are
happy to hear, that it has met with a more substantial reward than all
the encomiums which have been bestowed upon it.
No. 135. Cattle and Figures.—No. 112. Landscape with Cattle—Morn-
ing.—No. 133. Bradley Woods and Mill, Devon. By the same.—Are en-
titled nearly to the sane praise. We must observe, however, and in
justice to the Painter, who has but lately, we are told, wielded the oil-
colour pallet, we ought to remark, that his fore-grounds, although
well broken and richly clothed with luxuriant shrubs, and variegated
plants, retain still something of the petite maniere of water-colour draw-
ings; and we expect to see in his next productions more freedom and
breadth.

No. 138. Morning scene, from)! nature. By BENJAMIN BARKER...me
No. 157. Evening scene, from natu,•e. By the same.—The manner of
this Artist is totally different from that of Mr. GLOVER, and has yet as
much claim to our approbation. '1 he one copies Nature as she is; the
other as he thinks she ought to be. In GLOVER all the glow of land-
scape painting, as far as the moment can supply, animates the canvas;
in BARKER, a general harmony is the result of happy conceptions, and,
the scene pleases, because although it is not what we may see every
where, it still is what we should always wish to see. In this, the
grouping and leafing of trees, the breaking of terraces, the highly re-
mantic rocks, and the silver cascades of crystalline water, distilling
in the silent bosom of the grove—remind us of GASPARD POUSSIN
the other, the lovely face of Nature, adorned by the hand of concealed
art, the retiring distances, the aerial vapour, and transparent film of
our atmosphere, aims at CLAUD es, and are certain to please on account
of their identity with the objects themselves. If GLOVER is often too
jay, BARKER is sometimes too serious; but the compound result of
their genius, talents, and manner, would approach much nearer per-
fection than any thing of the kind we have ever