NEW ENGRAVINGS.
WE have just been looking at an engraved portrait of the Duke of Clarence, after \VIVELL, published 1w SAMS : it is a very pleasing
likeness of the Heir Presumptive ; and Mr. Hoer., in his touch, has contrived to do a great deal out of a little ; for although the style in which he has executed it is slight in the extreme, there is nevertheless a strong impress produced on the surface, and the whole thing is engaging enough.
"The British Preserve," drawn and etched by S. HOWITT, contains many things to win the hearts of the naturalist and the sportsman. Among the beasts, the fox, the otter, and the stag, appear to be the most spiritedly done ; particularly the latter, as regards the head and neck of the animal,—which is full of the vigour- and glow of reality, without trenching upon the meekness and serenity which are the natural charac- teristics of this ornament of the forest. The plate of the otter is not only deserving of notice on account of the keen watchfulness depicted in the look and attitude of the creature as it crouches by the river's side in pa- tient waiting for the prey, but likewise for the spirited nature of the back- ground, which adds its full share to the effect of the scene. The huge trunk that crosses the plate is executed in a style of freedom and truth that pronounces the draftsman to be well acquainted with sylvan scenery. Speaking generally of our impression on looking over the volume, we should say that the birds do not appear to us to be so happily executed as the beasts : we must make, however, a special exception of the heron, tire ptarmigan, and one or two others, which are full of the characteristics of their respective originals. The plates are accompanied with a text descriptive of the manners and habits of the animals, by Mr. CHARLES ARM I GER which appears to be written in a pleasant and well-informed manner, but which in time case of some of our own peculiar favourites seemed to be too much abridged to do justice to their merits A powerful engraving of STANFIELD'S "Wreckers off Port Rouge," has lately made its appearance. The public is so "Yell acquainted with the picture itself—one of the best that the pencil of STANFIELD has produced—that we need not enter into any analysis of the merits of the engraving, as it is a close transcript of the original. The half-stripped seaman athwart a shivered mast, is only a little bit of the whole, but it perhaps commands as much attention as twice its inches in any other part, from the felicity of its execution ; the sky also is full of meaning, and, charged with tire floating remnants of the night storm, throws a feeling over the scene which sufficiently describes the spirit of the whole, though perhaps the effect is almost too solemn justly to receive into the midst of it the bustle and eagerness of which the inmates of the wrecker's boat are the representations.
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