" Burns and his Highland Mary " is one of
the least felicitous of the designs of EDMONSTONE,—an artist lately deceased, of modest pretensions, but of sterling merit, though of a humble order. There is no offence in the thing, but it scarcely conveys the idea of ordinary rural courtship, much less the ardent, soul-felt passion of BURNS. The mezzotint engraving is by a lady—Mrs. W. H. SIMMONS: we cannot therefore attribute any deficiency in the expression of tender sentiment to her—the poor painter must bear the blame. The " Young Husband " and the " Old Husband" are a pair of vulgar, commonplace theatrical versions of that hackneyed and disa- greeable subject the misalliance of youth and age, with the accompani. menus of jealousy and disgust. The only quality that could reconcile us to it, namely a pleasant humour, is wanting in these designs by S. J. E. JONES; which have not even a coarse kind of gusto to re- deem thorn, though the expression is forced almost to caricature.
Previous page
