Glasgow Courier. — 1847-12-28 (Glasgow, Strathclyde, Scotland)

EXHIBITION OF THE WEST OF SCOTLAND ACADEMY OF THE FINE ARTS.  No. 111.  It is only necessary for us, by way of introduction to our present notice, to express a hope that the claims of this meritorious , institution may not be overlooked, either by our fellow-townsmen, Cr ,trangers visiting the city from a distance, amongst those holiday attractions and resorts of popular entertainment upon which public patronage is usually bestowed with more than ordinary liberality at every return of the present season. 104. A Glen. James Stark. This is an exceedingly meritorious production. A rocky dell opens upon the spectator, its precipitous sides being fringed by pendant foliage, whilst an impetuous stream pours along amongst scattered masses of rock towards the foreground; an old mill is discernible amidst the gloom in the middle distance, and the farther extremity of the ravine revea's a pleasant little piece of mountain scenery under the broad light of aay, exhibiting the sinuous course of the stream in its downward progress. The figures of a follower of the piscatory art and his dog are stationed amongst the rocks. The water and foliage are very finely painted, and the effect of the piece is altogether natural and pleasing. 93. Fugitives from the Massacre of Glencoe. (Fragment from Yee principal group of a large picture.) J. A. Hutchison, W.S.A. In this piece the well-known talent of the artist is very conspicuous; the figures are varied and forcible in character and expression, and much skill is shown in the painting of the draperies and other accessories. It undoubtedly affords fair prornis ethat the larger work from which it is taken will prove worthily commeunwire of a remarkable event in our domestic history, which, although it has afforded the ground-work of many talented contributions to the fine arts, has never yet, so far as we are aware, bcen treated on a scale sufficiently comprehensive. In connection with this piece we cannot resist the temptation of quoting the following portion of a poem upon the same subject which appears in the December number of Blackwood's Magazine, and In which the horrors of the atrocity are delineated with a degree of spirit and pathos sufficient to lend inspiration to the artist in depicting the same on the canvass :  When the herd of frantic women Stumbled through the midnight snow, With their fathers' houses blazing And their dearest dead below! Oh, the horror of the tempest, As the flashing drift ~as blown, Crimsoned with the conflagration, And the roofs went thundering down! Oh, the prayers—the prayers and curses That together winged their flight From the maddened hearts of many Through that long and woeful night! Till the fires began to dwindle, And the shots grew faint and few, And ne heard the foeman's challenge, Only n a far halloo. Till the sOence once more settled O'er the gorges of the glen, Broken only by the Cona Plunging through its naked den. Slowly from the mountain summit Was the drifting veil withdrawn, And the ghastly valley glimmered In the grey December dawn. Bettcr had the morning never Dawned upon our dark despair! Black amidst the common whiteness Rose the spectral ruins there : Eat the sight of these was nothing, More than wrings the wild dove's breast, When .be searches for her offspring Mound the relics of her nest. Poe, In many a spot the tartan Peered above the wintry heap. Marking where a dead Macdonald Lay within his frozen sleep. Tremblingly we scooped the covering From each kindred victim's head, And the living lips were burning On the cold ones of the dead. And I left them with their dearest,— Dearest charge had every one— Left the maiden with her lover, Left the mother with her son. 1 alone of all was mateless, Far more wretched I than they, Vor the snow would not discover Where my lord and husband lay. I wandered up the valley, 1p I found him lying low, With the gash upon hie bosom, And the frown upon his brow— n!! f 1004 him lying murdered Whet, I. 'pad sin log ego!