SCOTT ' S ILLUSTRATIONS OF COLERIDGE'S "ANCIENT MARINER."
To embody the mystical spirit and delineate the vague and dreamy images of that soul-thrilling ballad 77te Rime if the Ancient Mariner, is a difficult, if not an impossible task, and to be accomplished only by an artist of congenial fancy. It has been boldly and vigorously, though not successfully attempted by DAVID Scorr, a member of the Scottish Academy, and of considerable repute in Edinburgh, in a series of twenty-five etchings. The designs are in outline, and shaded; differing from the pure outline of II rrzscri and Ilaxmax, in having the force of relief superadded to the external lineaments of form. The increased pictorial effect, however, is attained at the expense of simplicity. Mr. Scan has treated the subject dramatically,-that is, he has en- deavoured to convey the sentiment, by means of character, action, and expression, aided by scenic effect. No poem involving human interest depends less upon the force of passion for its influence over the reader than the '• Ancient Mariner." A preternatural character, an unearthly feeling, pervades the narrative like the halo of an apparition. The Ancient Mariner himself is scarcely a mortal : we seem to see through his skeleton form and " skinny hand so brown ;" and his glittering eye has a spectral glare. The crew are but phantasms : indeed the whole machinery of the fiction is shadowy and vaporous. To realize the human actors ill the scene in the homely matter-of-fact style of Mr. SCOTT, is to substitute the gross residuum for the ethereal essence. He has manned the bark with able seamen from Leith or Wapping, and the Ancient Mariner is only a stalwart, hard-featured old man with a beard. The unideal and vulgar character of the dramatis persona?, however, does not heighten the human interest ; for the artist appears to hick invention and power of expression adequate to depict such strange incidents in the gestures and countenance of the actors. Effort and exaggeration take the place of purpose and intensity : the attitudes are forced, and the faces have a coarse conventional grimness; and there is a total absence of imagination and pathos. The execution corresponds with the conception : the drawing is not only inelegant, but positively bad, clumsy, and incorrect. The angelic spirits conducting the ship afford the only instance of graceful and cor- rect drawing and a feeling for the delicacy of outline : we can scarcely think them to be the work of the same hand as the others. The spec- tral designs are the most striking of any, though flooding most the aids of colour, light, and shade-those powerful accessories to Beanie effect which the style excludes. Of these the "wicked whisper" of the evil spirit in the ear of the Mariner is the best. The spiritual apparitions are not original in conception, however ; being gleaned from FLAXMAN, BLAKE, and others. Altogether, the designs full short of the intention of the artist, as well as of the demands of the subject. The poem it- self is splendidly printed with the designs, and the whole forms a hand- some folio volume.
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