26 JUNE 1858, Page 20

MACBEAN'S LUCKNOW SKETCHES.*

Anything from Lucknow is interesting at present—provided only it be genuine ; and the interest is doubled when, as in the instance before us, the record comes from "an actor in the scenes he represents." In 15 plates Major Maebean gives us views of several of the most important sites of the siege—the Palace of the kings; the Residency, showing the apartment in which Sir Henry Lawrence was killed; the Redan ; the Cawnpore Battery—all with the sears and brands of war upon them, as they met the designer's soldierly eye ; together with a few hasty por- traits, as a Brigadier Inglis. These sketches, just as they stood, have been photographed, and so published. They deserved to be so. Though not without spirit, they are slight and undeveloped. Photographs taken direct from the sites would of course be beyond all comparison of higher value as records. But the power of association confers upon these sketches—the product of a British eye and hand which would not give in throuah all that Lucknow desolation—a claim upon our regard which no infallibility of lens and chemicals could compete with.

'• Views in Lucknow; from sketches made during the siege by Major MacLean, N. I. Photographed by J. Hogarth junior. Published by Hogarth.