lilt! ills.

THE BRITISH ,INSTITUTION.

Foremost among our annual exhibitions, the British Institution opened on Saturday last its collection of works by living artists. The display is at the same time one of the least conspicuous and one of the most pleasant and approveable which we remember. A hasty glance would note very little to rest upon ; but careful inspection discovers numerous works quiet and faithful, which show a healthy condition of the British school. This is better than big names from the Royal Academy, once rife within these walls, but reduced this year to a mere half-dozen. The lingerers are Mr. Cooke, Mr. Sidney Cooper, Mr. Frost, and Mr. Colder Marshall ; Mr. Frith, who sends a very puny and underbred version of Othello's courtship; and Mr. Weekes, the sculptor, who appears with a landscape of some literal promise, though wanting in art. In each of the three main departments of the exhibition—animals, human subjects, and landscape—there is at least one picture which may fairly be called admirable. "The Covey," by Mr. Wolf, is the great feature of the collection, and is probably, among all his extraordinary and charming illustrations of bird-life, the most exquisite. His covey of partridges are snaking themselves as comfortable as they can upon a heath thick in snow, huddling and dozing under the cold shelter of the furze-bushes, while a quartett of cheerful goldfinches twitter and perch in their society. The wonderful truth and variety of the birds' action and expression, the translucent clearness of the sweet sky, the delicate azuregrey tint of the snow in shadow, and the way in which the snow-wreaths are massed upon the furze, and hang half-congealed into icicles, with the touches of bright colour which relieve the chilliness of the whole, make up one of the most individual and delightful pictures we ever came across. The best figure subject is "The Dead Rabbit," by Mr. J. Clark, —a name new to us as yet, but which cannot fail soon to become known by Wilkie-like truth of familiar expression. Here we have two boys, who, going to feed a favourite rabbit in the morning, find him extinct ; the agent of the tragedy being apparent in a suspicious-looking ragged terrier, which slinks under the desolated hutch. Both of the boys' faces are admirable ; the expression intense without overdoing, and caught with the ease of thorough mastery. Indeed, the handling altogether, though by no means elaborate, is that of a complete proficient in art. Mr. Oakes stands first in landscape; his " Caerhun, Low Water," being the best work of his hand exhibited in London. Every part of the picture, and it contains a great deal of varied material, is excellently well done ; the water very limpid and flowing, and the sky showery. The greens of the vegetation, however, want freshness, and perhaps the shadow over the foreground, unaccounted for to the eye, is rather too decided. Another fine landscape is Mr. Dawson's "Rain Clearing-off " ; the lurid glare on the russet and greyish green of the trees, relieved against the slaty sky, being impressively true.

In the way of single figures, Mr. Cave Thomas contributes a work" A Letter requiring an Answer "—marked by very considerable depth, harmony, and choice of colour, which would combine into great richness had he entirely freed himself from the blemish of hard contours. The skill here is of a high kind. A half-figure also by Mr. H. Weigall evidences superior power in the expression of emotion suppressed but strong. His subject is a golden-haired Italian peasant-woman, to which he has given the motto from Dante, " Nessun maggior dolore che ricordarsi del tempo felice nella miseria." His other contribution are not of the same promise. Mr. Hayllar's picture of Blanket-tossing is somewhat vulgar, and not worthy of the powers of eccentric humour which he has heretofore displayed. Mr. H. Moore and Mr. Morten send clover figures of a Monk and a Cavalier; and Mr. Bromley, Mr. George Landseer, Miss E. Brownlow, Mr. Collinson, and Miss F. Young, exhibit domestic figures or groups of merit: the latter lady's head of an "Old Wife" in especial is exceedingly truthful. The landscapes include several good specimens of men of repute, and nice bits from younger hands. Amid the lot, we select Mr. Harry Williams's "Evening at Durham," and Mr. G. W. Sant's "On the Thames at Mapledurham." The former is too high up to be properly looked into ; but, as far as we can judge, it is remarkable for aerial clearness, and for delicacy of colour and perception. The latter has some beautiful treedesign. The colour is singularly negative ; but it conveys a sense of the general dubious tinge of trees in early spring, when the delicate green of the buds just begins to temper the aridity of the black bare boughs, and its gradations are both tender and true so far as they extend. Mr. Thomas Denby is in strength ; Mr. Hayes's " Antwerp " water is most dexterously liquid and washy ; and there is a determined effort at the utmost reach of atmospheric brilliancy in Mr. Telbin's "Venice, looking to the West," which pleads for indulgence to its imperfectly harmonized colour.

Of animal-painters also many remain, to whom our crowded space compels us to do but hasty justice. Mr. Bottomley's dogs, with a touch of Rosa Bonheur in them, are full of life and study ; Mr. Lance's peacock, of brilliancy, though not the most refined; Mr. Gray's hares and leverets of fun, as well as Mr. D. Cooper's "Impudent Puppy " ; Mr. Weekes junior's donkeys, of knowledge and observation, whose effect is partially neutralized, however, by dismally bleak colour. Mr. Honor's "Congratulatory Visit" of experienced canine matrons to a sister who has recently added to the population is extremely well given : but his colour, no leas than Mr. Weekes's, requires radical reform.

THE SOULAGES COLLECTION.

The question of the purchase by Government of the Soulages Collection of Medireval Decorative Art appears to be still a question, Last Saturday was the dosing day of its exhibition at Marlborough House, where the collection has been visited by close upon 49,000 persons, or double the usual number of visitors for the same period of time ; of whom nine times the usual number have paid for admission. The price at which the collection is definitively offered to Government is 13,6201.; an increase upon the rate originally named, justified, as we infer, by an augmentation of the contingent expenses. If purchased, the collection will probably, as already announced, go to swell the art-treasures at Manchester.

LINTON'S GREECE..

Every one who knows Greece, or loves Greece, will be glad to have this book. Mr. Linton's Grecian sympathies have been abundantly evident in many of his pictures. His mind is imbued with classical associations; his hand prompt to give a dignified and discerning record. He has travelled in the spirit both of an enthusiastic student and of an artist.

The plates of the handsome volume before us, designed, engraved, and published, by the artist as a genuine labour of love, are a selection from upwards of three hundred sketches taken in a comprehensive tour through the noble land of his predilection. Their prevailing character is that which might be anticipated from such an artist as Mr. Linton travelling in such a country as Greece. He looks less for what is called picturesqueness than for grandeur or majesty; takes a large extent of scene into his picture ; and dwells well pleased upon great forms and beautiful distances. He has a sense of that splendid air of dominating power which the mountain possesses over the plain it shadows and the city it shelters ; and of the majesty and purity which distinguish the Grecian landscape. To persons whose sentiment goes with the "classical" school of landscape his renderings will be almost unexceptionable : to those who look for specific truth of character, form, and effect, his success is not unqualified, The sense of colour in the artist is less strong

• The Scenery of Greece and its Islands : Illustrated by fifty Views, sketched from Nature, executed on Steel, and Described en route, with a Map of the Country By William Linton, Corresponding Member of the Archeological Society of Athens, tsc. Published by the Artist. certainly than that of form ; and the relation in tone between his heaven and his earth is not seldom puzzling or debateable. Even in form too there is a want of definition, or, as artists might say, "making out" : the middle distance in the Plain of Marathon, for instance, does not explain itself with certainty; one scarcely knows where the sea begins and the land ends, or whether a considerable space is occupied b_y the water shallows or b: ,luimpaign land. So again in the view of Krisso, there is a lumpy someiin the foreground which we should incline to pronounce a rounded mass of rock, but. that it is answered on the other side of the road by another lumpy something, contiguous to clumps of foliage ; all three so much alike that we conclude No. 1 may be foliage also. The figures are introduced, with considerable monotony, and very little interest, merely as points of light and dark; a man on a horse or mule, a few sheep or goats, and an individual seated on a rock, doing duty time after time, without their presence being ever made of advantage. It may be said, and with truth, that the drawing of figures is of very little consequence in landscape subjects ; but this immunity does not extend to their character : they should have some character, or be away. However, as we have already implied, the views are both beautiful and tasteful. The execution is very elegant, and partakes, if not greatly of finish in the truest sense, at any rate of delicacy. The grand awfulness of the Pass of Taigeton, and the Valley of the Neda, Phigaleia, with the luminous and mysterious effect of the slant sunbeams piercing their mountain-gorges, may be cited as instances, without derogating from the excellence of many other examples.

The letterpress is well filled with historic and classic references ; and, without any superfluous display of style or the writer's personality, escorts one satisfactorily through the scenes.

SERVALS.

On the 18th September, at Auckland, New Zealand, the Wife of his Excellency Colonel Gore Browne, of a son.

On the 26th January, the Dowager Lady Blake, of a son. On the 29th, at Galata, the Wife of Major Stokes, Royal Engineers, her Majesty's Commissioner on the Danube, of a daughter.

On the 7th February, in St. James's Square, Lady Lyttelton, of a son. On the 7th, in Belgrave Square, the Wife of the Hon. W. H. Wyndham Quin, of

a son.

On the 8th, at Ness Castle, near Inverness, the Lady Saltoun, of a daughter. On the 10th, at Edinburgh, Lady Leith, of a daughter.

On the 10th, at Clifton House, Winchester, the Wife of Colonel Norcott, C.B., of a daughter.

On the 10th, at Oxford, the Wife of Dr. Bulky, President of Magdalen, of a son. On the 11th, at St. Amities, Lady Acland Hood, of a daughter. On the 11th, at West Ashling, near Chichester, the Wife of Colonel William Napier, of a daughter.

MARRIAGES.

On the 3d February, at St. Jude's Church, Glasgow, Sir Henry Orlando Robert Chamberlain, Bart., late of the Twenty-third Royal Welsh Fusiliers, to Marion, only surviving daughter of the late John Wilson, Esq., of Dundyvan, Lanarkshire. On the 4th, at Bridgewater, the Rev. W. T. C. Brande, M.A., eldest son of W. T. Brande, Esq., of her Majesty's Mint, to Fanny, eldest daughter of the Rev. T. G. James, M.A., Prebendary of Wells, Rural Dean, and Vicar of Bridgewater. On the 5th, at St. George's, Hanover Square, Lord Alfred Spencer Churchill, second son of the Duke of Marlborough, to the lion. Harriet Lomas Esther Gough Calthorpe, third daughter of Lord Calthorpe. On the 7th, at the British Embassy, Paris, the Rev. James Fletcher, MA., of Bailie] College, Oxford, to Selina Jane Elizabeth, youngest daughter of Sir Simeon Stuart, Bart.

On the 10th, at St. George's, Hanover Square, Rowland Hunt, Esq., of Boreatton Park, Shropshire, to Florence Marianne, eldest daughter of Richard Buckby Humfrey, Esq., of Stoke Albany, Northamptonshire.

On the 10th, at Brompton Church, the Hon. Richard Flandcock, eldest son of Lord Castlermune, to the Hon. Louisa Matilda Harris, only daugeter of the late, and sister to the present Lord Harris.

On the 10th, at St. John's Church, Richmond, Thomas Johnson, Esq., of Halton Grange, Runcorn, to Louisa, daughter of Sir Thomas N. Reeve, of Richmond, Surrey.

On the 12th, at St. Luke's Church, Chelsea, the Hon. George Frederick William Yelverton, eldest son of Viscount Avonmore, to Louisa Lenox Prendergast, daughter of the late Guy Lenox Prendergast, Esq., Member of Council, Bombay.

DEATHS.

On the 31st January, at the residence of her brother, George Barker, Esq.,Brompton Square, the Hon. Mrs. Heys Tumour ; in her 44th year. On the 2d February, at Stone-Chair. Sarah, relict of the late John Twemlow, Esq., of the Grove, Lawton, Cheshire ; in her 90th year.

On the 24.1. at Worcester, Ann, relict of the late Michael Thomas Sadler, Esq., M.P.; in her 60th year. On the Ed, at Baldock, Herts, Mrs. Mary Ind ; in her 100th year. She lived to see the birth of 10 children, 69 grandchildren, 114 great grandchildren, and two great grandchildren's children-an n11195 descendants. On the 3d, in Southampton Row, Bloomsbury, Mrs. Charlotte Beaumont ; in her 96th year.

On the 4th, in Clarges Street, Thomas FitzHerbert, Esq., of Swynnerton Park, Staffordshire, and Norbury Manor, Derbyshire. On the 4th, in Percy Place, Bath, Mrs. Jay, widow of the late Rev. William Jay ; in her 76th year.

On the 4th, from disease of the brain, brought on by his arduous services in the Crimea, where he served during the whole campaign, Lieutenant-Colonel George Steevens, late of the Twentieth Regiment, second son of Lieutenant-Colonel Steevens, formerly of that regiment ; in his 37th year.

On the 5th. Mrs. Elizabeth Dick, relict of Daviil Dick, Esq., late of Acre Lane, Brixton ; in her 94th year. On the 7th, in Eaton Square, Colonel James McAlpine, of Wyndsor House, county of Mayo, late of the Fifteenth King's Hussars. On the 7th, at Martock. Somerset, Maria Carr ; in her 90th year.

On the 8th, at Alton, Martha, relict of the late Mr. John Dyer ; in her 95th year. On the 8th, in Stanhope Terrace, Hyde Park Gardens, George Webb, Esq., Secretary to the Stock Exchange in his 70th year.

On the 8th, at Brentford-end, Isleworth, Middlesex, Mr. James Norris ; in his 95th year.

On the 8th, at Sheringham, Norfolk, the Hon. Charlotte trpcher, widow of the late Abbot Upcher, Esq., and eldest daughter of the late Lord Bernera. On the 10th, in Charlotte Square, _Edinburgh, Ella Maria, Rife of Sir George H. Leith, Bart. • in her 24th year. On the 10th, at Escrick Rectory, York, Sarah Beltina Lawley, eldest and sole surviving child of the late Sir Robert and Lady Lawley, of Canwell Hall, Staffordshire ; in her 91st year.