FINE ARTS.
THERE was a time, the memory of which does not make one feel old, when female ingenuity delighted to exercise itself in making shoes— when lasts and lapstones were substituted for lace and leaden pin- cushions, and boudoirs were converted into stalls for the fair coblers. But the wax-end has given place to thread, and hogs-bristles have yielded to the softer attractions of camels-hair. The trophies of the needle, proofs of the girlish industry of our grandmammas, that adorn the walls of upper chambers, have ceased to be emulated. Lovers are no loger entangled in the meshes of the knitting-needle, nor husbands fascinated by a worsted tiger on the hearth-rug, or a lap-dog appro. priately worked on an urn-stand. These accomplishments are worsted by the superior charms of albums and hand-screens ; and now, instead of Kidderminster being in dread of bankruptcy by the economical in- dustry of the fair carpet-makers, Tunbridge trembles for her reputation. A new mode has been recently devised of ornamenting screens, work- boxes, and chess-tables, not according to the old way of pasting a print on to the wood and varnishing it over, but an improvement upon this clumsy plan. The impression of the print only is transferred to the wood, and appears as though it had been taken upon it instead of upon paper. Coloured drawings also may in this way be transferred perfectly ; and with the addition of a coat of varnish, the drawing is rendered as permanent as though it had been originally made upon the wood. The process being simple, and easily performed, there is a great demand for designs ; to supply which, Messrs. ACKERMANN and Tsar have put forth a series of vignette designs for this purpose. They consist of Chinese sports, picturesque views, park scenes, groups of figures, animals, &c. by HAMERTON and others. Many other prints that are not got up for this particular use, are applicable thereto, as all are equally transfer- able—though lithographic drawings are most suitable, by reason of their resemblance to pencil-drawings ; and those of a vignette form are gene- rally preferred.
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