The Statesman.
London, England, 1824-02-05 00:00:00

BRITISH I LI lON.

The Gallery of the British Ins Caution is to he opened to
the public this day with an exhibition of the work of living
British Artists. The collection cannot but produce a highly
favourable implession with regard to the present state of
the art in this country. In historical productions there
is still a deficiency, but in other departments there are
u.any admirable specimens. It is often dangerous to
trust a hasty glance, but in looking through the first
room, we were particularly pleased with—l I. Catching
Me Expression, and 13. Study of'a (lead, by E. I). Leak.,
both very promising efforts. 25. Sheep trashing, Morning,j.
Stark the tone of which is remarkably pure and natural. 2:.
The Devotee, W. 31•CIII; well painted. but deficient in exprra•
siod. 29. Landscape, J.ll. O'Connor. 33. Landscape from Na •
tore, S. W. Reynolds. 39. Rachel, Miss Beaumont; executed
with delightful taste. 43. /lead °fa Bacchante, Mr. W. Car
penter; a bold, showy, dashing effort, the face so firWilat too
modern and composed, hut tie whole striking and rigorous. 51.
A riew of Purisfroni Mont Martre, 1,. lroold. fel. A ricer ts,f
West Cowes. J. Burnett. 77. The Death ofSocruks.W.M•C
99. The Dttubijisl Sneeze, S. .1. liisig%t. 110. Si ith/1:441er
Abbey, C. It. Stanley. 113. Vakatitte, Henry Singleton ;
highly romantic and itnagina:ive. 129. A View near the
Town Hall, Guildford, C. Deane. Colonel Cloud's
Attempt to Steal the Reealia, H. P. Briggs ; a picture of
singular cleverness. Besides these there are the Iris of
Howard, the Comas of Hilton, and IVestall's Cupid and
Psyche. The first picture that attracts attention in the
middle room it 113. La Bella Fornarina observing the
progress of her portrait its Ita,ithacl's Study,W . Brodie-
don. This is a production iii many points admirable.—
' Tfirret is another picture by the same artist, 122. Christ
instituting Sacrament, in which a very singular effect of
light is produced. In the middle room we re:oat-lied, en
passant, 141. Poor Sally, T. Stewardson, charming in
colour aud expression. lfiD. Rough. Joe, W. On en; ex-
quisite. 177. Song of Death! H. Corbott!d. 185. The
Cat's Paw, E. Landseer ; singularly natural and rffeetive.
223. /too Quixote, 6, S. Nee tan. 227. Bolton Priory ;
Moonlight, T. C. Holland. 22g. Psyche, Sir IVilltain
Beechey ; delightfully coloured, though not at all
resembling the Psyche of other painters. lu the
south room-297. 7'ragedy, by It. Farrier, is highly
comic and agreeable; nothing can be better than t lie Isrod
of the aid man, who is beholding the vagaries of the young
tragedians. Nu. 301. The Bandit' of the Appenines.
P. L. Eastlake, is a capital effort of its kind ; rehd 341.
Beairiee, Alias Ann Beaumont, giv,es promise of diode-
giddied e:;cellence. 'flier, is one satatue, 307. Acethasa,
J. ('ores, of uncommon merit; it appears not quite
finished, hilt, with soma defects,..ftsplays much rase, grace,
and invention. We have thus, at random, briefly pointed
out some of the paintings which happened to attract our
notice, but cannot dismiss the subject without recommend-
ing the tektite Exhibition to the attention of the Pualic.

THE COMET.

There are certain phenomena in the present Comet wh'i h
are of tale toccuirence in those eccentric bullies. %V li-n tirst
waked, about a month since, its course appeared t be
northward, with little change in right ascension ; wiienre
it was expected it would heroine circumpolar, and be cis:-
111-t above the northern horizon. During the last ne..l: the
Comet has moved in a retrograde direction, dt,cribirg at
the maximum an arc of ten degrees in right asci nsion in
twenty-four hours, and declining southward. From tie
increased motion as viewed from the earth, the Coin: t must
have passed nearer to our Planet at this time,although the
motion in its Orbit bad decreased ; yet being further frail
' the Sun, it has been less visible. In the present night it
will be nearly in opposite right ascension to the Sun, and
therefore pass the tueztilian about midnight ; but the tail in
!that position being projected in the direction from the
Earth, will appear as the roma surrounding the nucleus.—
series of observations having been made at the Royal
Observatory. these will afford the means of computing the
elements with great accuracy. That indefatigable astro-
nomer, Dr. Brinkley, has already given the result of his
observations, and deduced approximate elements. The
later observations will show whether its approach to the
Earth hiss eli tnaeil the figure of its orbit, and caused the
extraordinary position in the Heavens relatively with our
Planet.—(Blacklieath, Feb. 2.)
The Comet is rapidly disappearing ; it has passed the
North Star, between the Great sod Little Bears, at a point
nearly equidistant between the Pole Star and the more dis-
tant of the two stars in the Great Bear, culled the Pointers.
Atter this night it will no longer be discerned by the naked
est.. The rapidity of its motion is extraordinary, a fact
which chews that its diatance from the camas cannot
is very great.—(Disliiiis Morning Post, Feb. 3.)
vaii—irommion.•••••
It is said that a gentleman in Glasgow might realize
36,0001. by the rise in the Funds, were be now to sell out.
—Glos.:row Chronicle.
Miss Nixon, the wonderful child, 12 years old, weighing
25 stone of fourteen pounds, and more than seven feet in
circumference, died at Bath last week.
The attenion of the public, it is said, is likely shortly to
be directed to the application of the duty of three
shillings per chaldron upon coals consumed in and near
London, to the purpose of widening streets and effecting
other desirable improvements in the cities of London,
Westminster, in surrey, and Southwark. This duty was
originally imposed soon after the fire of London, for
those express purposes, but it is by no means generally
known, that for upwards of a century it has been paid into
the Consolidated Pond, by whith means the inhabitants
of Gondol', Surrey, and Middlesex, have contributed to a
very large event to that rand, more than an 7 other gortion
'of the public. 'fliis duty is wholly distinct from the coast
duty, against which so much has been already said.
4uoDeN Des-tn.—Tuesday night, at six o'cioek, captain
Laogdata..orftotherhithe; went to the sign of the Kngel, John
street, Mipories, a house he was In the habit of using ; he celled
for a glass of grog, Which was brought, anti while the waiter
turned round to snot the eandles,Captalo Langdale fell off the
seat, and expired Immediately.—Cofoner's Verdict-7 Died
by the viiithtioe of Goo."