PEEPS AT THE PRINT-SHOPS.
Cardinal Gonsalvi ; from a Sketch by Sir Tuomas LAwnrxct an etching by LEWIS.-A head remarkable for vigorous, yet delicate drawing, and we should judge, a faithful portraiture of individual character. The large, well- opened eves, arched and shaggy eyebrows, with the tremulous apprehensive incertitude of the mouth, the finely-marked forehead, and the well-formed nose, are accurately delineated. It is a striking face, and a fine study for the physiognomist. The engraving is beautifully executed. The Bud and the Blossom. Drawn from Life and on Stone, by W. C. Ross, jtiti.A graceful 'group of two sweet girls, delicately lithographed ; the elder a beautiful " bud" just bursting into womanhood, encircling with one arm the neck of the younger, whose pretty smiling face contrasts with the rruire composed and finely-formed features of her lovely sister. The Deserter. Drawn on Stone by THOMAS FAIRLAND, from the origi.: nal picture by R. FARRIER.-A continuation of the series of prints by the same artists, of village boys playing at soldiers, entitled " A Recruiting Party," Sze. It is equally clever and amusing with the others, and the grouping is very effective. The faces of the boys are agreeable, varied, and full of life and character: It is lithographed with spirit and fidelity ; but the tints are heavy and monotonous.
Drayonetti. Drawn from Life on Stone, by T. NoTz.-A very exact likeness of this celebrated performer on the double bass.
The Chosen and Rejected Candidates, by the late THEODORE LANE, are caricatures more remarkable for exaggerated than ludicrous effect. The talent of this artist was only successfully exerted where he elaborated his hard and studied conceits with extreme care : he certainly made his hits tell, but it was by the force, not of humour, but of effect.
The Panorama of the Thames, from London to Richmond ; exhibiting every object on both banks of the river, with a concise description of the most remarkable places, and a generahvielv of London.-An aquatint en- graving:, of the moderate extent of twenty yards, folded so as to open like a book, for convenient reference; and equally useful, novel, and ingenious. It is very neatly executed, and is as requisite a companion to water-parties up the river as the key-plates of the panoramas are to their visitants,-with this difference, that the publisher, Mr. LEIGH, has left the banks of the ' Thames to be their own panorama, and only published his description and key-plate.
The Panorama of the Maine, and the adjacent Country from Mayence to Frankfort, is a very useful addition to Mr. LEIGH'S Travelling Guide- books, It is a bird's-eye view, and combines the map and panorama in one ; and will be found a very acceptable companion to the English traveller, as a description of the principal places is prefixed. The Devil's Walk. Professor PORSON'S poem, illustrated with wood engravings from designs by RoffEwr CRUICKSHANE.-The authorship of this clever extravaganza has been as much contested as that of " God save the King," or" Lines on the Death of Sir John Moore ;" but the writer is undoubtedly COLERIDGE, and IlOt PORSON. The designs by Roaan.a. CRUICKSHANK are clever ; but the Devil's nose is too long to be worn by a gentleman. His Satanic Majesty was not necessarily bound to appear on earth with the identical proboscis so painfully elongated by the red-hot tongs of St. Dunstan. His hoof he is obliged to wear, and to conceal as best lie may ; and his tail is a necessary appendage to illustrate the text of the ballad. We like the Toilet scene, and the Ministerial Ratcatcher, best of the cuts : the Devil looks on the whole rather like a lackey in his knee- unmentionables, and he has besides a vulgar air. The text, we think, is not correct : the editor might have adopted some of the various readings which he quotes, to the improvement of the sense as well as of the versifica- tion. His" notes" are in many cases superfluous, and in some few absurd and unmeaning.
Previous page