7 AUGUST 1830, Page 19

FINE ARTS.

Howard's Outlines to Shakspeare. Parts XVIII and XIX. Henry the Fifth ; Henry the Sixth, Part First ; and Comedy of Errors.

We like Mr. Howaiin's costumes, and his method of treating them, which is highly picturesque and tasteful. Falstaff's death is not con- ceived in the spirit of the poet, whose description is so simple and full of strong natural pathos. Why should he lie on tressels like a corpse ? Pistol eating the leek wants humour—he is no Pistol. Talbot is well conceived, and the scene with the Countess cleverly treated,—although we remember OPIE'S fine design of the same subject. The death of Talbot and his son we do not like ; but battle scenes, with armour in out. line, cannot but be ineffective. La Pucelle invoking the spirits is very good, and one of the best. The shipwreck in the Comedy of Errors, is a clever design, and a very. pretty composition. So is No. 8, Antipholus and Balthazar with the Courtezan at the Porcupine. But in scenes where all the virtue and spirit must in a great measure consist in the contrasts of expression in the faces, Mr. HOWARD does not succeed. His neatness of style seems then insipid and tame, and his tasteful compositions unmeaning and monotonous.