PANORAMA OF J13111:SALIKM.
Ma. BURFORD has ;Ailed In his Panorama in Leicester Square a third eircl,. less than the smaller i f the other two, but well lighted, and acc.sAhle without ninini:irig a staircase. Instead of taking the road leading to Damascus, or clialhine the steep and winding ascent to the minaret gallery, W hence a view of the Bombardment of Acre way yet be seen. you turn to the right-liasd where the three ways diverge, and suddenly find yourself in a little pavilion, apparently on the roof of the Aga's house, the site of Poetins l'i!ate's palace, overlooking Jerusalem. Before you is the magnificent INIzsque of Omar, erected on the site of Solomon's Temple ; its sta'ely dome rising from the octagon-shaped pile, gay with the many-coloured hues of glazed tiles that cover the walls: around it are lesser mosqms, praying-places, and dwellings of dervishes ; and beyond is spread out the ci%,e, looking like a heap of rains ; the square shapes of the 11A-roofed houses only varied by low domes of stucco, -xith here tuid there a minaret. Close to where you stand, the Aga is sitting in fs!dgitient on some Arab robbers, one of whom is about to recei, e the bastinado ; and sheikhs, soldiers, scribes, and slaves, in their sumptuous and picturesque costumes, enliven the Beene.
'foe view is the same as that of the larger panorama of Jerusalem. exhit it,d a few y ears ago ; the popularity of the subject having induced Mr. Buasoan to repaint it. The present painting is not only smaller, but more finished in its execution and brilliant in colour and effect than the former, on account of the csnvass being near the eye: it is as beau- tiful a work of art as any in the Royal Academy. The tints are pure, and the handling masterly ; the most intense hues are harmonized so as to preetuce a bright glow of colours mellowed by air a d sunshine: yet this is effected without the use of varnish, which aids the painter in painting an easel-picture. One regrets that these beautiful panoramas should be destroyed ; and the public seem to share this feeling, since they wish to recall past pictures. Mr. BURFORD slo ild erect a cylin- drical tower of several stories, with a picture-chamber to each, and send his visiters up and down a central shaft, pierced with apertures through which people might look leisurely at the several views, as the ascending platform stopped successively at each: the topmost circle need not be smaller than the one newly opened, and the lower one would cover a very large area.
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