The first number of Messrs. Macmillan's English. Illust)ated Magazine, at
sixpence, has appeared this month, and deserves a word. The letterpress is neither better nor worse, that we see, than the letterpress of most magazines, but the illustrations, more especially those of a paper on Rossetti, are admirable. There is a profusion of them, nearly sixty altogether, executed with a delicate finish and softness to which in this country we have been entirely unaccustomed. " Lilith " alone is worth far more than the money. The single drawback to them is the shiny, over-glazed paper, which is, we suppose, essential to their production, but which, though popular with Americans, is to us detestable. We are not very friendly to illustrations, thinking that they invariably spoil stories, and do not im- prove essays ; but as the public desires them, it is well that they should be the best of their kind procurable. These are the best, and we can only hope, in the interests of art, though the publishers will not agree with us, that the magazine may not have such a sale as must inevitably ruin the last im- pressions. The magazine marks a decided advance in the popularisation of Art.
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