The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1838-10-09 00:00:00

GLASGOW, PAISLEY, AND AYR RAILWAY.

It will be seen from the half-yearly report of this railway
(published in our last number) that the directors have re-
solved on completing the whole of the thorough line from
Ayr to Glasgow in the first instance, by which means an im-
mediate dividend will arise, and the whole expense of con-
struction will, owing to the economical arrangements of the
directors, not amount to above £350,000, or certainly under
£400,000. The first 15 miles will be opened next summer at
£B,OOO per mile, including all expenses; the next 14 miles
will probably cost about £lO,OOO per mile; the most expen-
sive part, but that also on which the most traffic will be found.
is the piece for three miles from Johnston to Paisley, and
thence seven miles to Glasgow : even on this last, however,
the cost will not exceed £29,000 per mile. It is to he ex-
pected as-a necessary consequence of opening this railway,
that the whole of the Liverpool, Belfast, and Highland
steam trade will flow into Troon and Ardrossan, and the
mails and passengers will, be landed at Troon 61 or 7 hours
sooner than at Glasgow. The passage by the railway will
be made in little more than an hour, giving a saving of
at least 52 hours. It will then be possible to dine at Glas-
gow, breakfast at Liverpool, and dine in London, within
the 24 hours—and vice versa. An immense advantage
will accrue to Glasgow and Lancashire from this ar-
rangement, by which two of the most populous and prin.
cipal manufacturing districts in the United Kingdom will be
brought within less than twelve hours of each other. It
will probably be some years ere the Carlisle and Glasgow
railway is made; but until that is done the next best thing
in our opinion is the adoption of a line of fast steamers from
Troon to Liverpool. This port, as well as Ardrossan, is ac-
cessible at all times of the tide, and has sixteen feet at low
water. The Duke of Portland has been continually at work
to improve it, and has excavated a spacious wet dock in the
solid basalt, one of the finest things in the kingdom. Ar-
drossan is also an excellent harbour, and the large sums ex-
pended on it by the late Earl of Eglinton have only failed
to render it profitable from the want of a communication to
Glasgow, which will he now supplied by the railway. Both
these ports will be brought into notice as the points of arri-
val and departure from England by the opening of this line,
which will also, in the event of a grand communication by
Carlisle, become the channel along which all the traffic will
flow past Kilmarnock and Dumfries. We understand the
works are proceeding rapidly and satisfactorily. This line
only requires to be known and appreciated in order to be-
come one of the most popular investments in the kingdom.
—Railway Magazine far Octnber.—[Messrs. Harford, Davis,
and Co., of Bristol, have got the contracts for 500 tons of
11-75 rails for part of the joint line to Paisley, and Messrs.
Blair and Robinson, of Glasgow, for 200 tons of chairs;
blocks grow like mushrooms in Scotland, spontaneously—
there is plenty of basalts, granites, &c. to be had rot:quar-
rying. With these prospects before them, we cannot but
congratulate our Scotch friends on the important advantages
their rising country will derive from the establishment of
railways, which will now be constructed on the most ap-
proved principles.

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EXHIBITION or PAINTINGS".
The bustling week we had last week obliged us to neglect
the exhibition of paintings. We now resume our notice.
No. 64. "Italy. This is a good painting of a fine burst
of extensive landscape. The idea of the painting is taken
from the following lines :
But now the Alps are passed, that
- Turbulent chaos; and the promised land
Lies at my feet in all its loveliness.
To him who starts up from a terrible
Dream, and to! the sun is shining, and
The lark singing aloud fur joy, to him
Is not such sudden ravishment as now
1 feel at the first glimpses of fair Italy.
The foreground represents the rugged Alps and rich luxuriant
verdure at the base. In the distance is an extensive lowland
landscape, which is drawn with fine effect.

Nos. 65, "The Fisherman,"-66, " Goats and Donkey,"
—6B, "Cattle,"—and 69, "Sands, with Distant View of
Folkstone," are small, good paintings of what they each
represent.

No. 67. " Meg Merrilies." This is one of the many con-
ceptions of Meg Merrilies which have appeared, and de-
cidedly does not rank the last in merit. it is a small paint-
ing by Clater. She is represented in a cave, sitting over
some burning embers. It is well drawn and exceedingl.,
richly coloured.
No. 70. "The Shocking Tale," by C. Runciman, is the
representation of a laughable idea. A milk girl, who has
put down her cans, is relating to her companion some shock
ing accident, which has resulted in the renting of her gown,
which she is holding out to the admiration of her companion.
It is well drawn, but the colouring is pale, sketchy, and
almost like that of a water-colour painting.
Nos. 71, "View on the Thames. with Barges,"—and 72,
"Careening a Boat," are both good river scene paintings.
No. 73. "Devil's Point, with Port of Mount Edgecombe,"
is one of Seaforth's sea views, and is distinguished by bril-
liant colouring and fine and distinct outline. There is a
truth to nature in both drawing and colouring in all Seaforth's
paintings, which at one stamps a value upon them.
No. 74. " Richard and Kate going to the Fair," by C.
Runciman, is the fellow to No. 70. The idea may be gathered
from the following quotation :
"Once passing by this very tree,
A gotch of milk I'd been to fill,
You shouldered me, then laughed to see
Me and my gotch spin down the hill."
It represents an antiquated old farmer and an old woman on
the brow of a bill, passing a tree. It possesses all the cha-
racteristic faults of its fellow without its redeeming humour.
No. 75. "The Feast of the Gipsies," by David Maclise,
A.R.A. The commencement of a critical notice of this pic-
ture is no slight task. It embodies so many beauties and ex-
cellencies, not unmixed with many faults, it is so great a
picture, is so full of incident and character and expression,
that pages might be written concerning it, and would require
to be written, to go adequately into the detail of its merits
and faults. The idea of the painting is taken from the fol-
lowing quotation :
" Far away from your cities, our gay hordes alone;
In the place we love best, make a town of our own;
When the day's tramp is o'er and the sun is declining,
How joyous we are, on the sweet grass reclining
To the quick, seething cauldrons our forage we fling,

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