The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1852-10-12 00:00:00

roken out

half-angry, half-pleasea e..,
his order, apostrophising 1
" What's worse than all, wearing the bark off my best
stick wid the heads of the villains." The c
tore of feeling here shewn is admirably droll
" The Comedher" (the s
again, but happy as a prince,

weapon with—

omical mix-
. No. 101,
way). Poor Pat
, and

t coaxin

g on a
Aare n F

breathing soft vo
the force of blarney never appeared on canvas with hap-
pier effect. No. 327, "An Irish Jig." The perfection of
all fun and merriment is shewn in this picture with most
powerful effect. Indeed, all of Mr. Nicol's pictures are
well managed, and the execution is of a very superior or-
der. He has evidently studied the works of his country-
man, Sir David Wilkie, whose first productions were not
superior to those we have been describing.
No. 58, " Sir Arthur Warder desiring his daughter to
discharge the servant"—" Pay the rascal, and let him
leave the house instantly." Antiquary. This, and No. 56,
" The Secret," and No. 156, a sea-piece, by Mr. Thomas
Clater, exhibit considerable talent

into .th€

delighted

In the pie

" The Antiquary," however, there is some want of taste
in the personnel of the figures. Sir Arthur will perhaps
pass muster ; we should, however, have preferred a rather
more staid-looking gentleman. But the young lady
evidently had a prophetic foresight of the " Fashions for
1852." The position of the servant and style of the room
rather remind us of a comfortable hotel than an apart-
ment in a private house. No. 56 is a very pretty produc-
tion. It is evident what the secret is : and though the
subject is hackneyed—one sister reading to another her
lover's letter, yet it is true to nature, and well-coloured.

The fishing scene is good, and would perhaps indicate the
landscape style as the best for the artist's powers.
Mr. J. W. Oakes, of Bold •street, Liverpool, has seven
pictures in the exhibition. No. 26, we have already noticed.
As a landscape painter, our townsman is bidding fair to ar-
rive at a high position in his general style ; he has im-
proved since last season—there is a touch of originality
about the works of Mr. Oakes by which they are readily
distinguished. His landscapes are bold, natural, and effec-
tive, and his sky painting indicates a most attentive ob-
servation and a good judgment. The subjects of his works
are :

No. 26, " Oranmore, Galway Bay.
64, " On the River Vartry, Wicklow."
77, " Ford on the Gonfar, Caernarvonshire."
93, " A Breezy day on Lough Corrib, Connemara."
178, " Brombro' Pool, Cheshire."
158, " Old Pier at Rhyl."
207, " The Rivals" from Malldraeth Bay, Anglesea.
The sky-effect in 93 is most admirable, and the slight
iridescence of the moist clouds is very well managed.
We cannot pass the fruit pieces by Mr. Wm. Duffield,
of which there are six or seven in the collection; they be-
token a thorough knowledge of the subject, which cannot
be said of many who rank:high as painters of fruit. Unless
managed with great nicety and softness, oil colours are
not well adapted for depicting either fruit or flowers.
Mr. Duffield and Miss Mutrie, another of our local ex-
hibitors, have, however, handled them with great taste.

GREAT WILL CASE.-A. trial commenced last Tuesday
at Glasgow, before Lord Roberts

on and a
finitude,

in which interests of immense ma

jury,
unting, it

is said, to from £lO,OOO to £12,000 per annum, as well
as moveables and money to a vast amount, are involved.
The case was instituted by Mr. Allan Gilmour, merchant
in Glasgow, against Colonel 4ure and other trustees of
the deceased Allan Gilmour, of Eaglesham. The case for
the pursuer bore that he is heir of the deceased John Gil-
incur, sometime farmer at Craigton, the immediate elder
brother of the deceased Mr. Allan Gilmour, of Eaglesham,
sometime merchant in Glasgow; that the deceased Allan
Gilmour by deed conveyed his property to trustees for
certain purposes, but that the deed was obtained by undue
influence. This allegation was denied by the defender,

and after a lengthened investigation a verdict in favour of
the defender was on Friday entered upon the record.
This case has created immense interest in Glasgow and
the west of Scotland. The deceased, Mr. Gilmour, of
Eaglesham, who started the firm of Pollock, Gilmour,
and Co., was originally a joiner or carpenter. He was a
man of vigorous intellect, but devoid of education, and to
his dying day he could not even write a letter grammati-
cally. He was never married, and living penuriously,
realized the immense fortune which has been the subject
of this legal contest—the greatest which has occurred in
Scotland since the great Douglas and Hamilton cause.
WELLS AND SPRINGS.—At Wavertree, near Liverpool,
is a well bearing the following inscription :—" Qui non dat
quod habet, Daemon infra videt, 1414." Tradition says at
one period there was a cross above it, inscribed " Deus
dedit, homo bibit ;" and that all travellers gave alms on
drinking ; if they omitted to do so, a devil, who was
chained at the bottom, laughed. A monastic building stood
near, and the occupants received the contributions. A well
at Everton has the reputation of being haunted, a fratricide
having been committed there; but on referring to Syer's
local history, one of the most absurd compositions ever
published, the author who repeats everything he could
hear, merely says :—" The water from this well is procured
by direct access to the liquid itself, through the m edium
of a few stone steps ; it is free to the public, and seldom
dry." Certain it is, it does not at all add to the romance
of wells ; for, being formerly in a :lonely situation, it was
a haunt of pickpockets and other disorderly characters. It
is now built over, and in a f, w years the short subterranean
passage leading to the well will be forgotten,--Notes ana
queriest.