The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1838-09-28 00:00:00

THE EXHIBITION OF PAINTINGS,

POS.
No. 46. "The Ynung GoatherdTOFFICE-PLACE
."—The drawing of this
painting is tolerable, but it is very coarsely executed, and
requires being viewed at a considerable distance to soften its
.roughness.
No. 47. " The Reproof."—This is a very fine painting,
and well describes the scene it is intended to represent. The
scene depicted is, the scribes and Pharisees bringing a woman
who was an adultress to Jesus, whilst teaching the people in
the temple; and, after stating the accusation against her,
demanding his decision with an air of malignant triumph.
" Moses, in the law, commanded us, that such should be
stoned. What sayest thou? But Jesus stooped down as
though he heard them not. So when they continued asking
him, he lifted up himself and said unto them, He that is
without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her."
The figures are represented as large as life, and are expres-
sively and naturally drawn, and the colouring is chaste and
fine. The figure of the adultress is beautifully drawn and
painted, and the expression of shame and shrinking from
the observation of the holy Jesus, as she is brought before
hint, and the covering is torn from her head, is finely pour-
trayed. This figure alone stamps a value upon the painting.
No. 48. " Return from Deer Stalking in the Highlands,"
is one of Edwin Lantlseer's happiest efforts. It represents
two Scotsmen leading two shaggy Shetland ponies, heavily
laden with deer and blackcock, over the highlands and ac-
companied by their dogs. The drawing and expression of
the whole of the figures in this small painting are exquisite,
and the colouring perfectly natural. There is a character
about every figure in the painting which is well preserved;
nothing destroys the harmony of the scene. The heather
under foot is as perfect as the countenance of the high-
lander, and the dead deer is drawn with as much character
as the beautifully drawn dogs and horses.
No. 49. " Poachers Watching," represents two poachers,
with .their dogs, on the watch. The time chosen is night,
and the scene the skirts of a wood. At the feet of one of
them lies a quantity of game. The principal beauty of this
painting is in the perfectly natural and beautifully drawn
figure of the poacher in the foreground. It is faultless—full
of character and of nature. In one respect is the painting
faulty. The background represents the dingy hue of night,
while a strong light is thrown over the foreground, the game,
&c., which does not harmonise well with the scene.
No. 52. " Woodcocks and Cat," is an amusing little paint-
ing. It represents two dead woodcocks lying at one side of
a shattered wooden partition, and a cat at the other side of
it, peeping through one hole and putting her paw through
another, attempting to reach them. It is well executed.
No. 54. " The Grace," _represents a small family just sat
down to dinner, and the head of it saying grace. It is a
pretty bit of domesticity, with no pretensions either in idea
or in painting.
No. 55. "Fountain near Arica, Rome," is one of Havell's
profusely luxuriant and richly coloured landscape scenes.
No. 56. " Lodore, Cumberland," is a very beautifully
painted landscape by Miss C. Nasmyth. Good landscape
paintings this year abound in the exhibition; you see them
on every side.
No. 57. " Somnolency," is an unmeaning sort of painting.
It appears to us that the painter must have been at a sad loss
how to name his picture. The background is a wood, and the
half-length figure of a naked female is represented seated, in
a contemplative position, with a garb loosely drawn round her.
Somnolency" is certainly a misnomer, and to us it appears
to mean nothing more than a creation of the painter's fancy,
without any object or meaning. It is well drawn, but very
coarsely painted, and requires being viewed at a considerable
distance to take off the effect of the roughness. This is a
great fault. The acme of perfection in painting is to repre-
sent Nature as she is. Nature's handiwork appears the more
perfect, and the more beautifully finished. the more closely
we examine it, and is alike beautiful whether viewed at a
distance or with a microscope.
No. 58. " Breakfast," by 'l'. Webster.-,This is one of the
gems of the exhibition.. It represents a family at breakfast,
in a farmer's cottage. The orderly and clean kitchen and
bright fire, and neatly spread white cloth over the breakfast
table, first strike the eve. The tidy wife is making break-
fast; the old grandfather is sat in the corner of the fire-
place, with the youngest boy on his knee, evidently the pet,
who is begging for some sugar on his bread, while the de-
lighted grandmother is holding up her finger at him, and
the grandfather is heaping his slice of bread with sugar;
but the climax of excellence is the figure of the father—a
hale, stout farmer, who, whilst standing cutting a slice off
his loaf in the midst of his family, and surveying his boy
with all a father's pride and fondness, seems to say to him,
"Ah! you young rogue, what are you after?" Round the
table are three or four other children, drinking their bread-
and-milk porridge, the drawings of whom are full of charac-
ter. One is feeding a little dog; slinking in the background
is the eldest lad, getting off his task for school, who appears
to be fot bidden his breakfast till he has got it off. He is
lounging against the wall, the very picture of idleness and
sulkiness ; the button at the end of -a
string hanging out of
his pocket—his peg-top string is highly characteristic. In
addition to the character which everywhere abounds, the
picture is finished in the most minute and perfect manner.
Were this painting not ticketed as the property of Lord
Northwick, we feel confident it would long since have found
a purchaser,

'No. 59. Portrait of Mr. J. S. Radcliffe, secretary to the
Mechanics' Institution," is a well-painted portrait bv Bishop.
No. 60. " Perth," is a bold, free drawing, finely painted,
of a lovely and extensive landscape scene. When the Rolf
mans are said first to have beheld this valley, with the silver
Tay winding through it, it drew forth from them the well-
known exclamation, " Ecce Tiber."

IMPROVEMENTS ON THE CHESHIRE SHORE

(From the Liverpool Courier.)
Amongst the collateral consequences of the remarkable
prosperity of Liverpool has been the rise of the dependent
villages and rural populations in the vicinity. We have fre-
quently had occasion to notice the great improvements tak-
ing place on the Cheshire side of the river, and the rapid
increase in the number of buildings and inhabitants; but,
without deprecating the advantages of other localities, it
must be admitted that Birkenhead has progressed at a ratio
which leaves all its competitors immeasurably behind. In
1818, that township contained, with the exception of the
ferry-house, the priory, and a few straggling cottages, only
three houses, and the population did not exceed 50. In 1821
the population was only 200; in 1831 it had risen to 2569,
and it is now upwards of 6200. During the last fifteen years
nearly 800 houses have been erected, including a great num-
ber of villes, besides numerous places of worship and other
buildings, at an expense altogether of not less than £21:1U,000.
One of the most important improvements has been the
erection of a Town-hall for magisterial and parochial pur-
poses, comprehending likewise a prison a public market;
on which nearly £4OOO has been expended. Extraordnary,
however, as this appears, as Liverpool is still extending her
boundaries on every side, and still making daily advances in
commerce and wealth, we have reason to expect that a cor-
responding impulse will be felt, and that public prosperity
and improvement will go forward with a rapidity and to an
extent of which we have hitherto had no experience. The
prospect of the roal-road being shortly brought into opera-
tion, opening up a communication from the heart of an im-
portant district to the metropolis of the empire—the judici-
ous parochial arrangements now making— the number of
public and private buildings recently completed, or now in
course of construction, (including the north side of the
square,) and of the extensive preparatory ptocesses going on,
such as quarrying and brick-making—with other indications
of a fast-thriving community, all tend to suggest and con-
firm the idea, that this side of the water must shortly be
covered wit a new town, of which the present erections, ex-
tending from Wallasey-pool as far as Traniner-pool and
Birkenhead to the south, a distance of not less than three-
quarters of a mile, do but form the nucleus.
Consequent upon the increased transit arising out of the
growth and relative position of Liverpool and the opposite
shore, and one of its most beneficial results, is the improve-
ment in the mode of embarking and landing passengers.
The former mode was both dangerous and inconvenient.
It was disgraceful to the town, and would scarcely have been
otherwise than disgraceful had it been practised on the Volga
or the Niger, instead of on the Mersey. An excellent land-
ing-slip, on a peculiar principle, is now in use, having been
found, after a trial of twelve months, and exposure to every
description of weather, admirably efficient for its purpose.
Twice only has it been swamped during heavy storms, but
was raised in each instance the next tide; and having under-
gone some alteration, it is considered secured against any
similar accident for the future. The plan of the landing-
slip is that of a flat-bottomed vessel, with a projecting gang-
way, which, when not in use, lifts up in the manner of a
draw-bridge. In practice, passage-boats are laid along the
vessel, and traversing the deck, reach the gangway which
conducts them to the shore. A landing is thus ordinarily
effected with ease and safety.
It would, perhaps, have been more eligible for the pur-
pose for which it was intended, had the gangwaytbeen raised
about two feet higher, when, in the event of a storm, the wa-
ter would have been less liable to sweep over the deck. The
plan is, however, a proud triumph over all previous projects
which have either been thought of or hied, to effect a safe
anti easy tootle of passing to and front the passage-boat at
low water. The time is, however, fast approaching when
another landing.bridge will be found absolutely necessary;
the one now in use is not sufficient for the quantity of busi-
ness arising from the number of boats which are occasionally
moored to it, for the double purpose of landing and embarka-
tion. It is not uncommon to see seven, ten, and sometimes
a dozen steamers dependent upon it for connexion with the
shore, when collisions between individuals, and hampers,
baskets, &c., are not only frightful but dangerous.
In applying a portion of their funds to this purpose, the
present corporate authorities have acted very judiciousl. Fa-
cilities for crossing the river are as intimately connected with
the best interests of the town—as legitimate an object of con-
sideration to the managers and conservators of the municipal
property—as wide streets and commodious public structures.
In traversing the water, we traverse, in fact, according to
legal defiinition, the king's highway. To provide conveni-
ences for embarkation and landing, therefore, belongs essen-
tially to the department of good road-making. Nor is the
accommodation applicable simply to residents on the Liver-
pool and Cheshire side; these, prabablv, do not form more
than a tithe of the number who cross the river for purposes
of business or pleasure. Thousands of strangers, especially
during, the summer, make a temporary sojourn in the town;
and there are few of these but must have occasion to avail
themselves, wore or less, of the means of communication
between the two"sides of the river: and as in various ways
they confer a benefit on the town, by residing here, and fur.
aishing employment, and distributing their wealth, they are
in fairness entitled to have their comfort and convenience
studied. It is no less due to them than it is to the character
of the town, that the facilities for crossing the river should
bear some resemblance to the growing importance of the com-
munity and the advanced stage Of modern invention and re-
finement. Therefore, the appropriation for this purpose of
a sum of money comparatively large is not to be complained
of on the ground of its limited applicaticn; the necessity of
the measure has grown out of the accumulated business and
population of the town ; it is in accordance with the general
plan of public improvement; and its beneficial influence will
extend over the whole mass of society. In this branch of
their administration the corporate body have entitled them-
selves to the highest credit.
The improved river accommodations are not confined to
Birkenhead and the higher ferries. The same advantage is
extended to Seacombe and the other ferries to the Rock
point. Yet great as are the facilities thus afforded, the in-
teicourse with the Wirral peninsula will no doubt in a short
time he increased ten-fold. The Cheshire shore presents an
eligible residence for persons pursuing their avocations in
Liverpool, as it affords the readiest access to pure vital air.
The inhabitants of the town are now pressing upon each
other in a ratio not hitherto calculated upon. Consequently,
those who seek health and quietness will, notwithstanding
the objections, in some respects, to the water conveyance,
generally look to the opposite shore, (the average passage to
this part being not more than from seven to ten minutes,) in
preference to encountering a long walk or ride through the
streets before they can reach a free. and uncontaminated at-
mosphere in any other direction.

Attachment to their native land or birth-place, is a charac-
teristic which never fails to fix itself in the minds of the more
tasteful and enterprising of the human race. Henry IV. of
France was so fond of the scenes of his boyhood, that on one
occasion he could not deny himself the gratification of quit-
ting the head of his arms; to visit them, though the conse-
quence was nearly losing-him a battle, and with it, probably,
a crown, with almost a certainty of death or perpetual cap.
tivity. It is, then, with sincere congratulation we record the
fact, that within these few days Mr. Merrick, a London mer-
chant, who is a native of,Knighton, upon revisiting the scenes
of his childhood, presented his fellow-townsmen with the hand-
some donation of £BOO for its improvement. Such things are
the honour to human nature, and though done in secret, for
the sake of " poor humanity," and as examples to others,
ought to be proclaimed from the " 'louse tops."—Hereford
Courtly Press.