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DIARY OF OCCURRENCES.

This most beautiful invention of Milton has fallen into hands truly worthy of embodying it. The actions of the brothers and Comus are grand and energetic, and the representation of the sister just awakening from her trance, is uncommonly beautiful. In the picture of Psyche, by the same artist, the group of the Fates weaving the thread of a mortal's life, is not exceeded in sublimity by any design of this great master. MR. HILTON's picture of Christ crowned with Thorns, is an extensive and clever composition, and is executed with great power. The Christ is a literal copy from Vandycke. The picture of the Women at the tomb of Christ, by WESTALL, is admirable for its splendour, and the visionary appearance of the angel. This gentleman's Allegro is full of fine feeling. MP. WILKIE has 4 Scotch Family, admirable for its sentiment and nature. The Slender and Anne Page of LESLIE is truly humorous; it is finely drawn and painted, and has an extraordinary effect of daylight. MR. HAYTER exhibits a picture painted for the duke of Bedford :-The trial of his ancestor. The representation of this is as faithful as it is possible to be; his grace having procured for the painter every document relating to that famous trial. Correctness of minutiæ has been observed, even to the rings which the parties wore upon their fingers. SIR T. LAWRENCE has several fine portraits that of Mr. Canning is the most interesting. MR. DANBY exhibits a grand composition of The Delivery of Israel. Although this picture is a very extraordinary invention, it is not so chaste or so beautiful as his last picture at the British Gallery. It is rather too much of an imitation of the style of MR. MARTIN. MR. STOTHARD's Titania is a playful invention, and highly interesting. MR. TURNER'S landscape is splendid in colour and in composition. The subject is, The Harbour of Dieppe. MR. Ross's picture of Christ casting out Devils is, perhaps, the most chaste historical picture in the exhibition. The sculpture room is also very much crowded this year; the principal attraction is a very beautiful Madona and Child, by MR. WESTMA

COTT.

From the great number of very excellent works of art in this exhibition, we are obliged to defer our more particular notice of the best to a future time.

Diary of Occurrences.

April 27.-MR. M'CULLOCH read us a powerful lecture this morning on the ten

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dency of commercial restrictions. His plan is very simple; he is for having a free trade in all things: no corn laws, or exclusive companies of any kind. Nations and individuals are all to be at liberty to buy at the cheapest and sell at the dearest market. Under this system, (if I understood the lecturer correctly,) the wines of France and Portugal might be drank by every mechanic in England, and the wealth, comfort, and enjoyments of all nations be augmented.

It is a circumstance not generally known that Pope the poet was a tolerable portrait painter, and painted a likeness of Betterton the player. It is said the New Royal Academy, to be built on part of the present King's Mews, is to be an exact model of the Parthenon, and lighted wholly from the roof.-The Russian government has issued an ukase, directing that all the public establishments, with the exception of the two universities of Petersburg and Moscow, shall make use of no woollen articles, and wear no clothes but those of Russian manufacture.

RESTRICTION ON LABOUR.-An application is about to be made to Parliament by the operative cotton-spinners of Manchester, who now usually work seventytwo hours in the week, for an act restricting their masters from employing them in future more than sixty-six hours in the week, i. e. eleven hours and a half for five days in the week, and eight hours and a half for the sixth. What is still more remarkable, many of the master spinners are petitioning in favour of the proposed measure; and no less than thirty-two of them, amongst whom are Mr. Houldsworth, M. P., Mr. Kennedy, and some other of the most extensive spinners, had signed the petition to Parliament. The reasons assigned for this measure are, that the long hours of labour and close confinement at present endured by the workmen,› are prejudicial to their health, and deprive them of all opportunity of improving their minds.

28.-Went to the Haymarket theatre. The Belle's Stratagem though it tells well in the representation, is only a poor thing in the reading; the sentiments and the plot are unnatural, and the wit not very pungent and exhilarating. MR. DoWTON was very amusing in Hardy, and MADAME VESTRIS played Letitia with her accustomed archness and good. natured vivacity. The evening's entertainment, altogether, was good. "When a little farm we keep," a duet, between MADAME VESTRIS and RUSSEL, was excessively diverting.

Weekly Calendar.

Map VII.-Saturday.

High Water, Morn. V. 23 m.-Even. V. 46 m. 1 Sun rises, Morn. IV. 27 m.; sets, VII. 3 m.

The poets have ever been the great advocates and admirers of May. Shakspeare has scattered allusions to May, like flowers, over all his plays and poems. We hear of "the merry month of May," the " Maymorn of youth," and of "love, whose month is May." The scenery of a Maymorning is particularly beautiful; a serene sky, a refreshing fragrance, arising from the face of the earth, and the melody of the birds, all combine to render it inexpressibly delightful. Yet there are those who prefer to all these the turmoil of a crowded city. Such was Mr. Boswell, and, according to this" honest chronicler's" report, Dr. Johnson himself was

alike insensible to the charms of nature. "We walked in the evening," says Boswell," in Greenwich-park. Johnson asked me, I suppose by way of trying my disposition, Is not this very fine?' Having no exquisite relish of the beauties of nature, and being more delighted with the busy hum of men, I answered, “Yes, Sir ; but not equal to Fleet-street.' Johnson replied, You are right, sir.'

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May VIII.-Rogation Sunday.

High Water, Morn. VI. 10 m.-Even. VI.35 m. Sunday Lessons : Morn. Deut. 8; Matt. 6. Even. Deut. 9; Rom. 7.

Rogation Sunday takes its name from the Latin, rogare, to ask; because on the three subsequent days, supplications were appointed by Mamertus, bishop of Vienna, in the year 469, to be offered up with fasting, to avert some particular calamities that had befallen his diocese.

CHRONOLOGY.-1429. The French, headed by the celebrated Joan of Arc, compelled the English to raise the siege of

Orleans.

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CHRONOLOGY.-1491, B. c. Pharaoh and all his host drowned in the Red Sea. 1778.-Expired William Pitt, earl of Chatham, a distinguished statesman and

orator.

May XII.-Thursday.

High Water, Morn. IX. 40 m.-Even. X. 6 m.

On this day, 1641, the earl of Stafford, a tyrannical minister in the reign of Charles I., was beheaded. The letter by Charles, on the 21st of April in the same year, assuring him, "on the word of a king, that he should not suffer in life, honour, or fortune," is a proof, as Dr. Butler observes, among many others, how little reliance was to be placed on the royal word of that deluded sovereign.

1791. Expired Francis Grose, the celebrated illustrator of British customs, topography, and antiquities.

May XIII.-Friday. :
High Water, Morn. X. 33 m.-Even. XI. 0 m.

FAUNA. The birds of passage are by busied with their nests. The nightingale, this time all arrived, and most of them the thrush, and others sing incessantly; and the niglit-jar begins to be heard in the evening.

LIST OF WORKS PUBLISHED.

Stewart's Discourses on the Redeemer's Advent, Svo. 10s. 6d.-Sydney Papers, 8vo. 10s. 6d.-Genlis' Memoirs, French, Vol. 3 and 4, 14s.-Ram on the law of Tenure and Tenancy, 8vo. 7s. 6d.-Ward's Reflections on the Word of God for Every Day, 12mo. 6s. 6d. Davison's primitive Sacrifice, 8vo. 7s. 6d. To-day in Ireland, 3 vols. 8vo. l. 4s. -Hints to the Purchasers of Horses, 12mo. 3s.-Leonard and Gertrude, 2 vols. crown 8vo. 10s. 6d.

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London: Printed by A. APPLEGATH, Stamford Street, for THOMAS BOYS, No. 7, Ludgate Hill, to whom all Communications (free of expense) are requested to be addressed; and sold also by all Booksellers, Newsmen, and Venders in Town and Country.Published every Saturday.

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Ir had for a long time been a subject of remark among foreigners that the English nation was destitute of a capacity for the art of painting; and that they did not, in the least, possess that enthusiasm and poetic fire which is essential to excellence in this art. Abbé Winkleman, and others, ascribed this deficiency to physical causes; and declared that nature herself had opposed an insurmountable barrier to our eminence in this art; as if that soil, from which sprang a Shak speare and a Milton, was incapable of producing a Michael Angelo. These false opinions were, however, completely refuted by Reynolds, who founded an

VOL. I.

English school, inferior to few, and superior to most. This school principally confined itself to portraits, fancy pictures, and domestic scenes; but it has at length risen to the highest sphere of historical painting, and with eminent success, as is. proved by the works in the present exhibition. And we are happy to see that patronage keeps pace with increasing talent; most of these pictures having been immediately purchased, and for very liberal sums.

We have been led into these remarks from the complaints we have lately heard, on the neglect of the public style of painting in this country; and the subject of

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our cut this week, which represents the principal exhibition-room of the royal academy.

The prosperity of the arts in England is justly associated with the commencement of the reign of his late majesty. The first public exhibition of paintings was in the year 1760, under the sanction of the Society of Arts. The first effort was sufficiently promising to induce the artists to seek a permanent establishment, and, after a few exhibitions, they were incorporated by royal charter, under the name of "The Society of Artists of Great Britain." In 1768 they separated from the Society of Arts, and the Royal Academy was established. Sir Joshua Reynolds was ap pointed the first president, an office which he filled with great ability, till the year 1791, when he was succeeded by Mr. West, who for thirty years kept the chair. On his death, in 1820, sir Thomas Law

the first of May, for six weeks; and the receipts in this short period usually average six thousand pounds, although the price of admission is only one shilling. It may therefore be calculated, that nearly a hundred thousand persons visit the exhibition every year. The exhibition of the present season is superior as a whole to those of several preceding years. The total number of subjects, including drawings and sculpture, is one thousand and seventytwo; and, among these, historical subjects take the lead, both in number and attraction.

MR. M'CULLOCH'S LECTURES

ON

rence, the first portrait painter of the present POLITICAL ECONOMY, AT THE LONDON day, was chosen his successor.

The members of the Royal Academy are divided into three classes, royal academicians, associates, and associated engravers : the former are forty in number, and are elected from the associates, of whom there are twenty; but the election requires the sanction of the king, and, when approved, the new member is called upon to present to the academy a picture, bas relief, or other specimen of his talent in that branch of the art he professes. The academy distributes prizes of gold and silver medals to those who have excelled in the art of design. The gold medals are given for historical composition in painting, pieces of sculpture, and designs in architecture. Success in this competition is a step to more important advantages; as all students, whether painters, sculptors, or architects, that have attained the gold medal, have the privilege of becoming candidates by rotation, to be sent abroad by his majesty's bounty, which allows to the successful candidate 60%. for his journey there and back, and 100%. a year for three years.

There are professors of anatomy, paint ing, sculpture, and architecture, who deliver a course of six lectures each, on the respective arts, every winter, to which students may gain admission by a ticket signed by any royal academician or associate.

To the annual exhibition, every artist, connected or unconnected with the academy, may contribute. No copies of any kind are admitted, with the exception of paintings in enamel, or impressions from unpublished medals, or medallions. The exhibition, which generally contains from ten to twelve hundred works of art, opens on

TAVERN.

LECTURE XIII.

DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH.

Market and Natural Price of Commodities-Prices depend on Cost of Production-Cause of Prosperity of England-Durability of Capital Equality of Wages and Profits.

THE interest felt in these lectures continues unabated; and on Mr. M'Culloch entering the room, he found the usual numerous and highly respectable assemblage prepared to listen to his interesting dis

courses.

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Mr. M. commenced with observing that, in the preceding lectures, which formed the first division of his course, he had explained the laws which regulate the production of wealth; in his subsequent discourses, he should explain those principles by which wealth is distributed among different classes of the community. Rent, profit, and wages are the component parts in the price of commodities. Landlords, capitalists, and labourers the only producers of wealth; and it is from one of these that all other classes, as lawyers, soldiers, and courtiers, must directly or indirectly draw their revenue. According to the stage of civilization, the landlords, capitalists, and labourers are found in different states of combination. In a rude state of society the class of capitalists is unknown, and perhaps the landlord and labourer are united in the same individuál.

MR. M'CULLOCH'S LECTURES.

The lecturer next explained the nature of prices, and the laws by which they are determined. The price at which any commodity is sold is called its market price; the price which it is necessary to obtain to defray the expense of producing and bringing a commodity to market, is called the natural or necessary price. Unless the latter price, which is the cost of production, can be obtained, no commodity will continue to be produced; for no one will produce commodities at a loss. Without interference with the free course of industry, prices will never rise much above, nor fall greatly below, the necessary or natural price if they rose much above that limit, capital would flow into that channel of employment; if they fell below it, the contrary. That the cost of production regulates prices is a principle it is important clearly to understand; since it has been generally supposed that prices depend on the proportion between the supply and the demand, or the scarcity and abundance of commodities. Suppose the demand for hats were to increase tenfold, it would have no permanent tendency to raise the price of hats; it would only cause more capital to flow into that species of manufacture. On the other hand, if the demand for hats were to decline, prices would not fall, unless the cost of making hats became less. The late temporary depression of agriculture arose entirely from the price of corn not being equal to the cost of producing it on inferior soils. He (Mr. M.) had always opposed the Corn Laws; they were the cause of the low rate of profits; were of no benefit to the farmer, and subjected him to injurious fluctuations and vicissitudes.

Gold is fifteen times dearer than silver, because the cost of procuring it is fifteen times more. Cotton has not become cheaper from the greater supply, but from the less cost at which it can be manufactured. It is to the discoveries of Watt and Arkwright that we owe the cheapness of cotton, which in the reign of George I. was as dear as silk. Every variation of price, except from cost of production, must be evanescent. Monopoly tends to interfere with the operation of this prin ciple; under a monopoly the market is always understocked, and with an inferior article. The Dutch adopted this expedient in the spice trade; rather than allow the market to be fully supplied, they grubbed up the spice-trees. Both the common and statute law in England are hostile to monopolies : notwithstanding this, they became such a grievance in 1624, that it was necessary to pass an act against all monopolies in buying and

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selling. With the exception of the printing of bibles, and a few other exclusive privileges, trade is free and unfettered. England, Holland, and the United States, by their wealth and commercial prosperity, are examples of the value of unrestricted industry; France, Spain, and Germany, of the contrary. In France, prior to the revolution, wine could not be transported from one province to another; in consequence the country was overrun with smugglers: five thousand of whom, according to Mr. Necker, were annually sent to the prisons and the galleys. It is to the comparative absence of restraint on industry, and the civil and religious freedom we have enjoyed, that the superior opulence and prosperity of England may be traced.

To return from this digression: some commodities do not depend on the cost of production. Of this description are rare paintings, the number of which cannot be multiplied; or choice wines, that can only be produced in a particular soil or vineyard. When a fall of price occurs, it 'cannot always be determined whether it be an advantage; it may be only a transfer of the just profit of the capitalist to the consumer. No rise of price can be permanent unless there is an increase on the cost of production; and the coutrary.

Mr. McCulloch proceeded to analyze the component parts which enter into the prices of commodities Capital possesses various degrees of durability: capital, for example, in machinery, is much more perishable than that in roads and bridges 3 one may last fifty, the other five hundred years. Wages and profits can never fall below the average rate in other employments. By wages is not meant the same amount of money; that will vary according to the nature of the employment. Wages depend on ingenuity and skill; those of a jeweller will be higher than an ordinary mechanic. Men who practise difficult trades must be remunerated for the premium given, and the time spent in apprenticeship in learning them. Wages may also vary according as the employment is agreeable or disagreeable; the constancy or uncertainty of work. Profits also vary according to the nature of the employment: when the risk is great the profit will be great. A manufacturer of gunpowder, for instance, will require greater profits than a maker of broadcloth; were it otherwise, capital would not be employed in such a hazardous occupation.

Mr. M'Culloch concluded an interesting discourse, amidst lively marks of approbation, with briefly recapitulating the

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