Landscape Illustrations of Waverley. Part IV.
This part contains a beautiful view of Durham, by Rossorr ; a very excellent picture, by NASMYTH, of the Tolbooth of Edinburgh—faith- ful, yet full of effect ; a pretty drawing of Caerlaveroch Castle, by ROBERTS; and one of BARRET'S morning effects, displayed in a view of London from Highgate—the figures in which are very bad, and the engraving is not so successful as the plates in general are. The work is going on extremely well : we would, however, suggest, that the interest and identity of the scenes delineated would be heightened by the skilful introduction of appropriate figures. For instance, in the view of London, which illustrates the passage in Rob Roy where Frank Osbal. distone is described as "looking back on her dusky magnificence," we have a clodhopper in the foreground, with his back to the prospect, which directly interferes with and destroys the completeness of the illus- tration. We are no advocates for peopling landscapes, so as to destroy the repose of the scene ; but as a figure or two is necessary to give life and reality, and add to the very solitude, by the slight contrast afforded by a living being placed in a scene of quietude, the person may as well and better be appropriate to the purposes of the novelist.
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