FINE ARTS.
BURGESS'S EIDODENDRON.
Now that the woods wear their old summer glories in all the pride of nature and the fulness of maturity, let us encamp under some greets pavilion, "sub tegmine fagi," as the schoolboys would say, or "under the shade of melancholy boughs," as that most pleasantly affected Mon. sieur Jaques has it, and contemplate the leafy magnificence around us,
ere Autumn, "With his gold hand gilding the fallen leaf,"
begins his work of picturesque despoliation. With Mr. BURGESS'S Eidodendron in our eye, Mr. GILBERT BURNETT'S Botanical Diver., sions in our memory, and the amusement of our readers at heart, pro.. ceed we then, not to the old Forest of Windsor, nor the New Forest in Hampshire, nor the beechen groves of Knowle,—but to that fashionable Arcadia, that Eden of the Court, that Paradise of Princes, Kensington Gardens. Here, on some unoccupied bench, or in some untenanted al.. cove, will we while away an hour of that living death to which we are doomed by devotion to our critical duties. Kensington Gardens is, at this season, the oasis of that vast desert "the town." Thither stray the few scattered relics of nobility, the bachelors of the old school, in speckled silk hose and silver buckles, who make these gardens the Ul- tima Thule of their aberrations from le small circle of which WHITE'S forms the centre. We espy, too, the spare form of a venerable judge, or some statesman brooding over the late events in France,
threading their way among " The green-rob'd senators of woods, tall oaks ;"
or a pair of lovers, hid in the cool recesses which the shady evergreens afford. But while we are doing the sylvan, Mr. BURGESS'S Eidodena dron, in six folio numbers, with six plates in each, besides descriptive letter-press, is waiting to receive its due share of our attention. The work is entitled " Views of the General Character and Appearance of Trees, foreign and indigenous, as connected with picturesque scenery ;" and it contains also the first of a series of papers by Mr. GILBERT BURNETT, entitled " Botanical Diversions, being descriptive annals of the various families of forest-trees delineated in the work ; the pre-
sent being devoted to the Oak.
Mr. BURGESS is an artist and teacher of great celebrity in landscape and his style is characterized by a bold, rapid, and vigorous touch. He is the PROUT of the forest. His sketches of trees are remarkable for the success with which he adapts his sweeping pencil to the different characters of foliage, and they display his feeling for nature and his eye for the picturesque. The dashing rapidity with which he gets la his effects, however, occasionally degenerates into slovenliness ; and in viewing some of his sketches, the imagination is a good deal drawn upon to fill up the imperfect outline. There is an occasional rawness of tone, and cragginess of the masses, which might be remedied. Such a style, however, cannot fail of attracting applause, and of becoming popular; and BURGESS therefore carries it hollow before SALVATOR in the eyes of his fair pupils. lie scours the forest on his pencil like the witches on their broom-sticks, and takes a tree by a coup de maim But, seriously, there is very great merit in the spirit and fidelity with which the cher racteriatic appearances of the various trees am ooaveyed to the eye ; not
in a bald, formal manner, but with a picturesque and natural effect. Among the most successful efforts of his pencil, are the Beeches, of which
sve have some magnificent groups from Knowle Park. Their glossy, sinuous trunks, end graceful, umbrageous foliage, are delineate4"-te thalifee and the "shadows numberless" which dapple the grouitebeneath the dim atmosphere of the forest—the broken foreground, rich with -fern—are represented with delightful effect. Mr..-BURGESS is- no niggard with his pencil ; he does not sit down on his camp-stool, like a miniature- painter of foliage, to rob some pretty nook of its favourite tree ; but he gives you the scene itself, as it is grouped by that unrivalled artist Na. Sure. This adds very much to the value of his work ; for the pupil, in Studying the character of the individual tree, learns also the accom- panying and general picturesque effect of the scenery. The trees are portraits, also ; another and great advantage, which is not in all cases secured ; for we have seen specimens where the mechanical and section- like appearance of the tree resembled a trained espalier, or one of its own leaves stuck between those of a book, or at best a tree proper of some Sylvan herald-painter. But we have not done with the Beech. Here is a gigantic and venerable patriarch of the forest, who grows at " the Oaks" in Surry. The artist has not been able to bring its enormous bulk within the compass of his work ; for Mr. BURGESS draws upon a scale commensurate with the boldness of his pencil, and most suitable to the due effect of nature and the understanding of his pupil : but we see sufficient of the tree to judge of its size, and with such a sample fancy sloes its office well for the rest. Here is yet another fine specimen of Beech from Knowle, in which the character both of the trunk and branches, as well as the light and shade of the woods, is beautifully given ; here, also, are two fine trees in their prime from St. Leo- mards'. The drawing of these plates is excellent. We must content Ourselves with enumerating Thorn Trees at Bushy Park—the Alder s.-.Spruce Fir—Abele, or White Poplar—Hazel Nut at Knowle- Red Cedar in the grounds at Wimbledon House—Deciduous Cy- press—Cedar of Lebanon—Lime at the Bishop's Palace at Fulham- Larch—Scotch Fir at Warwick Castle—Ash Trees at Bolton Abbey- Birch—Pollard Willows—Black Poplar—Chestnut—Wych Elm—Alder —Stone Pine—Weymouth Pine ; all of which are in the highest de- gree characteristic. Of Oaks we have several fine specimens ; including Queen Charlotte's Tree—Queen Ann's—the King Oak, and another group, all from Windsor Forest ; and a venerable Oak at Chenies in Herts. The King Oak, a very picturesque ruin, with its tortuous form and snaggy branches, the trunk riven from the root to the top, is repre- sented with faithful adherence to Nature. Indeed, Mr. BURGESS is at home equally among
" Knotty, narrow, barren trees old,"
or under embowering branches prolific of shade. The Willow we do not think has had sufficient justice done its beautiful branches; they seem rather like cordage than delicately-leaved and drooping shoots. A little more delicacy was requisite; the specimen, however, is a very fine one. The Acacia, and other light-leaved trees, will, we think, puzzle Mr. BURGESS'S pencil, which is most at home in the Cedar, Fir, and Pine, whose details he gives with remarkable force and truth. The Yew and Elder are rot very favourable specimens, nor particularly well drawn ; and we have not many varieties of the Elm. But, after such a treat as that we have enjoyed in looking over this work, it is ungracious to make trifling exceptions ; more especially as the future numbers of the work will in all probability remove the objections, and of course supply the omissions.
In conclusion, we can only say that, excepting his rival Mr. HARD- Eta, Mr. BURGESS'S trees are the best studies we have seen. Com- pared with their truth and nature, Mr. DANIEL'S are haystacks on hop. poles, Mr-WILLIAM WESTALL'S like sea-weed or fennel], Mr. Rosso x' s like pickled cauliflower—but " comparisons are odorous," says Mrs. Mala- prop. A circumstance which materially adds to the value of the work, is, that the trees are drawn on stone by the artist himself, and in some instances from the tree without the medium of a sketch. The artist's own touches, of so much importance in a work of this kind, are multi- plied by means of the lithography ; which is excellent, and particularly well adapted to the purposes of landscape sketches, having all the freedom of the pencil, with its rich softness of touch and breadth of effect.
Mr. BURNETT has given us, in his Aincenitates Quernece, all that has been sung by the poets, or related by prosers, or known by botanists, of and concerning the Oak; history and tradition, anecdote and description, mingle in the tide of eloquence which flows over his ample pages ; Homer and the Druids, the roof of Westminster Hall, and the Dodonnan forests, swell the tribute that he so enthusiastically pays to his prime favourite. Like Mr. MA TTHEWS'S "Cork-cutter," his heart seemsheart ofoak; and in his chronicle of oaks not one of the girth of Falstaff is omitted. We feel bound to give publicity to the wish of Mr. BURNETT, that any one possessing information relating to forest-trees, will communicate it, in a letter addressed to him at the Royal Institution.
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