itself in their favour! the same may be said of painters. Not one of them would have attained, after his death, to the degree of distinction due to his merit, were his fate to be always in the power of other painters; but by good fortune, his rivals are masters of his reputation but for a short time for the public take the cause by degrees into their own hands, and, after an impartial inquiry, render every one justice, according to his merit.If great artists are so sensible of jealousy, what must we think of indifferent ones!" Crit. Reflec. Ch. 21. 23, 24. and 27. The Portrait of Dr. Johnson was sold for thirty guineas; the Prince of Wales, in the character of St. George, for twenty five guineas; King Lear, Cordelia, &c. for twenty guineas. INTELLIGENCE. Five more numbers of The Artist have been published. No. II. contains an admirable essay, by Northcote, on originality in painting, on imitation, and the frauds of collectors. No. III. a spirited reply to a satire called the Flyflap; with some remarks on the attempt to introduce a Foreign Artist to execute a monument to the memory of Lord Nelson. This paper, from the initials, appears to be the production of Mr. Hoppner. In No. IV. is an essay by Mr. Hoare, on the premature exercise of taste, and its effects on works of genius. "We are led" says the ingenious writer" by taste, thus prematurely formed, to condemn from partial motives; we exclude from our consideration every thing that our own minds have failed to embrace, and we disapprove of one another, merely because we happen to have taken different turnings from the right road. The surest basis on which our critical taste in any art can be founded, is a thorough investigation of what has been actually performed by human endeavours in the subjects before us." The whole paper is excellent. No. V. contains a letter by Mr. Cumberland on Dramatic Style, which we have obtained permission to insert in another department of our present Number. No. VI. exhibits a compendious statement of some of the scientific improvements of the last century, and their extensive influence towards promoting the comforts, the security, and the happiness of the human species. Amongst the pictures for the next Exhibition by J. R. Smith in crayons, we have seen a small whole length of a lady who imagines she has descried the ship in which she expects the return of her husband. This will be found a most interesting picture. When portraits have strong resemblance, and convey sentiment, as this eminently does, they are doubly valuable. Mr. Smith has another picture of a Gardener who has just obtained the consent of his sweetheart. The man's joy, and the woman's modesty and diflidence, are beautifully expressed. A charming picture by Mr. Westall is now on exhibition, from Cuthbert Shaw's beautiful monody to the memory of his wife, who is making her dying address to the husband, and imploring him not to suffer a second attachment to diminish his affection for their only child "And oh! be tender for its mother's sake. "Wilt thou ?- "I know thou wilt-sad silence speaks assent "And in that pleasing hope thy Emma dies content." In the countenance of the female there is a most interesting expression of mingled affection, solicitude, confidence, and resig nation, that rivets the attention, and touches the feelings. The face of the husband is concealed, but the position of the figure is attractive, and the drawing and colouring of the whole picture in the most fascinating stile of the artist. This concealment of the features cannot but remind the spectator of the account of Timanthes' picture of Agamemnon, in which the painter got great credit for not exhibiting the countenance of the distracted father, though it afterwards appeared that he only copied Euripides. "Agamemnon saw Iphigenia advance towards the fatal altar; he groaned, and turned aside his head, he shed tears, and covered his face with his robe." Sir Joshua Reynolds, alluding to this circumstance, observes that "whoever does it a second time, will not only want novelty but be suspected of using artifice to evade difficulties." The latter suspicion cannot well attach to a painter so capable of conquering the difficulties of art as Mr. Westall. Romney's paintings and sketches are shortly to be put up to sale at Christie's They include, besides his Lear, and Ophelia, many of his happiest productions both in the way of portrait and history. We have to mention, with the deepest regret, the death of John Opie, Esq. R. A. and professor in painting, an artist who materially increased by the vigour of his genius the reputation of our English school of painting; whose mind was distinguished by strong powers of original thinking, and who possessed a warm, open and benevolent heart. His funeral was attended by many of the principal nobility, and leading public characters of the country. The pall-bearers were, Lord De Dunstanville, Sir J. St. Aubyn, Sir J. F. Leicester, Hon. Mr. Elphinstone, Mr. Whitbread, and Mr. W. Smith. The President and Members of the Royal Academy followed, with other numerous friends. We are happy to understand that the exquisite picture of Chaucer's Pilgrims by Stothard, noticed at length in our last number, will continue to be shewn to the public during the exhibition of the Royal Academy, and in the immediate neighbourhood of Somerset House. REVIEW OF BOOKS. PROBATQUE CULPATQUE. The Stranger in Ireland; or, A Tour in the Southern and Western Parts of that Country, in the year 1805. By John Carr, Esq. of the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple. Author of a Northern Summer; or Travels round the Baltic; the Stranger in France, &c. &c. 4to. 21. 5s. pp. 530. Phillips. 1806. Though constantly associating with the natives of Hibernia, and three or four days will convey us to the Irish metropolis, the knowledge which Englishmen in general possess of the sister kingdom is extremely superficial; and the information they will derive from a traveller like Mr. Carr, whose stay there did not exceed six months, and who visited only the south and southwest parts of the country, cannot be expected to satisfy very inquisitive minds-they will nevertheless find in this volume, a body of very useful intelligence respecting the Irish character; the present state of society, political economy, national manners, public buildings, &c. of Ireland. Strangers, it must have been observed, are much more curious than native inhabitants, and the citizens of London often hear the first accounts of its curiosities from a country guest. Mr. Carr seems to be this sort of Stranger in every country he visits. He would be busy in the world, and learn, Not, like a coarse and useless dunghill weed, Besides what his own diligence and penetration have collected, he has had the advantage of corresponding with some of the most able, impartial, and distinguished persons of Ireland, and Englishmen resident there. Though in one sense he went thither a Stranger, and they as a stranger gave him welcome" yet his former highly interesting and entertaining volumes, could not fail to recommend him strongly to many persons of rank and intelligence, and of course to facilitate the principal 66 object of his visit. Thus qualified he entered upon his task of describing Ireland, and he accomplished it so much to his own credit and the satisfaction of the Irish people, that their vice-roy, the Duke of Bedford, soon after the publication of the work, conferred upon its author the honour of knighthood. Sir John Carr has another very important recommendation as a writer of tours, especially when they stretch out to upwards of five hundred quarto pages; he is never tedious. We who, as reviewers, set out with a travelling author, and feel it our duty to go the whole way with him, can never overlook this most agreeable, if not most essential of all qualifications. Though we found the road now and then a little rugged, we never wanted to get rid of our companion. Our notice, however, of this volume, must be necessarily brief. The first chapter is occupied with a de scription of that part of Wales which conducts the traveller to Holyhead. The account of "the most noble. city of Dublin" as it is styled in the preface to King Edward's charter, is highly interesting. From the following extract it appears, that the church establishment of Ireland is very defective. “There are 2436 parishes, 1001 churches, and only 355 glebe or parsonage-houses. The benefices or union-parishes amount to 1120: so that there are 2081 parishes without any residence for the clergymen, and 1435 parishes without any churches. Where there are no glebe-houses, the resident clergyman rents a house; where he does not reside, his curate performs the service, and Í was informed with tolerable regularity: but the inconvenience must be great, and residence from necessity rare." We are glad to find that this important subject is now under the consideration of parliament. Some excellent remarks are made upon the condition of the poor in the capital; the parochial establishments; the state of the coin, paper money, &c. The author proposes as a remedy for the exchange" a consolidation of the English and Irish bank." This is a subject which, we believe, has embarrassed government not a little; but whatever objections may be made to Sir John Carr's plan, we heartily concur in his concluding reflection. "Uniting Ireland to us in her advantages, and leaving her the gloomy dignity of unenvied independence in her wants and incon→ veniences, approaches a little too closely to the selfishness dis played in the fable of the Two Travellers, in which the friendly pronoun we with respect to the treasure found was only recognized by the finder, when the hue and cry of the country were raised for the loss of the treasure." With these matters, however, at present it is almost dangerous to meddle. We hope the true policy of this country toward Ireland may not be too long neglected, The Houses of Parliament; the Post Office; Trinity College Library, and University, next engage Sir John's attention. An anecdote of Curran here occurs, which we shall transcribe. "An examination at this college produced the following circumstance, with which I am sure every mind of liberal feeling and classical taste must be delighted. When Curran was in the college, it happened that a fellow-student and friend of his had to repeat in public a Latin thesis which he had written. Unfortunately for the orator, the word nimirum occurring in it, he pronounced it nimirum, (sounding the second i short,) which so wounded the critical ears of the learned auditory, that a general buz was heard in the room, and the words "false quantity" were whispered by one and another to the utter confusion of the speaker. To divert the attention of the assembly, and relieve the embarrassment of his friend, Curran had recourse to the following generous and brilliant expedient: "Gentlemen," said he, " it is by no means extraordinary that the student should have mistaken the quantity of this word; for according to Horace, there was only one man in all Rome that understood the word, and that was Septimius: "Septimius, Claudi, nimirum intelligit unus." This apposite and ready application of the first line of one of Horace's Epistles, it is needless to say, produced universal good humour, and effectually extricated the young student from the awkward situation into which he had fallen. After describing every object worthy of notice in Dublin and its vicinity, our agreeable tourist proceeds towards the South. Nothing escapes his observation ; scenery, mansions, customs and morals are descanted upon alternately with peculiar vivacity and elegance. Some particulars of the battle of Arklow in the rebellion of 1798 are given in page 162. Sir John Carr is of opinion that the resolution of Colonel Skerrett on this occasion not only saved Arklow, but the kingdom. The chapter on the low Irish, and on bulls, is full of lively anecdote and strong character; the author has also collected some beautiful specimens of the eloquence of Grattan and Curran, the great senatorial and forensic orators of Ireland. The general remarks which form the concluding chapter, the most valuable perhaps in the volume, include many just and forcible observations on |