Lonsdale; North west View from Ulleswater-lane, Evening, J. M. W. Turner, R.A. is one of those enchanting scenes that England alone can boast, executed in a most transcendant style of effect: the same character awaits Mr. Turner's other pieces. No. 115. The North View of the sume House; and 158. Petworth, Sussex, the Seat of the Eurl of Egremont; Dewy Morning; which even surpasses the others: the mist rising on the lawn in front of the house, is among the happiest effects of Turner's pencil; in fact, the uncommon brilliancy of this charming picture produces the same effect on the neighbouring pieces, as hanging them against the pier of a window through which the sue is shining. 102. The Entrance to Conway Castle, Sir G. Beaumont, H. is worthy of the pencil of a professor. 127. A Landscape, in which is introduced the Story of Diana and Acteon, A. W Callcott, R.A. is magnificent in composition, forcible in execution, but partakes too much of an affectation of being like some of the old masters rather than nature, which Mr.Call cott must know, from his own former successes, to be the best guide. Under this head, although not in their proper class, must not be omitted the excellent Sen pieces of Mr. R. B. Hoppner; and one by Pocock, of a Wreck, No. 118. The architectural departiment of this year is below mediocrity. Mr. Soane has some designs for a theatre, which are not much better than some he has been in the habit of despising; although they possess much positive merit, they are not sufficiently gay and playful for thea. tral edifices. Mr. Soane has also some drawings of various parts of the Bank of England as executed, which are appro priate and classical as designs, but not so well drawn as has been usual from his office. Mr. Gandy's designs for the New Assembly Room, Liverpool, are gay and splendid in selection, and of uncommon beauty in drawing. All the rest, with the exception of a Restoration of the lemple of Jupiter Olympius at Agrigentum, by R. Smirke, jun. A. are of that comnon-place description that must be expected to arise from the neglect which this branch of the fine arts is receiving, and has for a long while received, frei the Academy. If the Royal Academy will thus suffer the genius of their archi tectural students to run riot, they must not complain of the degradation of the national taste which has ensued. The sculptures this year are not numerous, but excellent. Flaxman has MONTHLY MAG, No 200. some admirable monumental designs and basso-rilievos. Westmacott exhibits some classical productions. Nollckens, as usual, shines in the department of bustos; Bubb has a very good one in marble of Lord Nelson; and Bacon, an elegant figure of the late Mr. Pitt, and some good busts. The Honourable Mrs. Damer has an admirable head of a Musc, in bronze. On the whole, judging from the present Exhibition, the progress of the Batsh school may be thus estimated:-To be retrograde in grand historical and poetical composition; to be increasing in correct drawing and chaste coloring; ennent in portrait; and beyond compétition in landscape. In sculpture, rather pretty than grand; and in architecture, abso lutely fallen from the "high estate" the other of the sister arts would warrant. The friends of brilliant talents and amiable manners and disposition, wall lament to hear of the premature death of that able and eminent artist, Lewis Schiavonetti: a pleurisy put an end to the days of this important inan (to the arts) in the zenith of his fame. His works are well known, and will immortalize his name. His etchings for Blair's Grave; his head of Blake, after Philips's picture; are wonders in the style he adopted: ius Death of Tippoo Saib, and other large plates, with an almost innumerable collection of the most tasteful book-prints ever executed, are among the works of this lamented artist. He was employed till just before his death, on an engraving from Stothard's well-known picture of the Pilgrim's Procession, from Chaucer, which he has left unfinished. Some authentic particulars of his life, and a list of his principal works, shall be given in our next Number. The London Architectural Society have just published another volume, a Selection from the Essays read before them; containing, one on Taste, by Jas. Woods, jun:; on Bridge-Building, by James Savage; and on Foundations, by James Elmes: also an Essay on the Doric Order, with plates, by Edmund Aikin. They shall be noticed next month. No. I. of "The Fine Arts of the English School," is just published, which shall also receive due attention at the same time. Proposals have been issued by Messrs. Boydeli and Mr. Wilkie, and Mr. Burnet, for publishing, by subscription, an Engraving from the celebrated painting of the Bind Fidler, by Wilkie; to be executed in the line manner by Burnet. Two highly-finished engravings of the Interior 4 E Interior of Henry the Seventh's Chapel, combining precision of perspective representation with that species of effect most characteristic of that celebrated and interesting specimen of the florid Gothic, and on a scale sufficiently large to admit of much detailed architectural information, from drawings by Mr. John Morton, jun. are nearly ready for publica tion. The British Institution has awarded the premium of 100 guineas to Mr. B. R. Haydon, son of Mr. H. bookseller, of Plymouth, for the best historical picture this year. The subject is, the Death of Dentatus. CHALCOGRAPHIC SOCIETY. (Continued from page 482.) According to the promise in the last Number, a few additional particulars are given of the Society for the Encouragement of the Art of Engraving. The professed objects of this patriotic society, are to restore the art of engraving to the rank which it ought to hold among the fine arts; to the protection of living artists; and to the production of future excellence in the same line. The committee of managers are, His Royal Highness the Duke of Gloucester, the Marquis of Stafford, the Marquis of Douglas and Clydesdale, the Earl of Dartmouth, Sir John Fleming Leicester, bart. (who is also treasurer), Sir Mark Sykes, bart. Sir Abraham lume, bart. Sir Thomas Bernard, bart. Wm. Smith, esq. M.P. Samuel Whitbread, esq. M.P. J. P. Anderdon, esq. Thomas Hope, esq. In addition to our former intelligence, it is intended that each plate, after having produced the limited number of one thousand impressions, shall be absolutely destroyed, by which means the true tone and vigor of the engraving will be preserved. Also, an establishment is to be formed, to which every engraver may send his works for exhibition and sale, thus facilitating his own interests, and the views of such subscribers as may wish to select an artist for employment. Prospectuses and shares may be had, at Messrs. Down and Co. Bartholomewlane; Drummond, Charing Cross; Hammersleys, Pall Mall, bankers; of any of the before-mentioned comittce; and of Mr. Cromek, secretary to the society, 64, Newman-street, Oxford street. The following extracts from their memorial to the noblemen and gentleinen who patronize the institution, will serve to shew its objects and tendency: seems to have neglected the supetior walks of this art, leaving the engraver, however enlarged his views or his talents, to practise in a narrow field, where his powers are circumscribed, and he can reap but little profit and no reputation. If he occasionally preduces a large work, which may be supposed to have given proper scope to his mind, it is generally some slight engraving done in bate at a small expence. Perplexed with absursiprospects, the engraver is not only disappoirtties, and seeing nothing before him but sorry ed in his views of that independence to which every liberal art has an attachment and just claim, but his proper feeling of ambition, which alone can make him serviceable to bis country's reputation, is mortified, disgustu and at last exhausted. Thus the higher waik of engraving gradually becomes deserted, and without the immediate interference of the public-spirited amateurs of England, this nation is in danger of losing the reputation it Strange, Woollett, and Bartolozzi. Such a re has acquired through the productions of flection too, is more particularly mortifying. and it is hoped will more immediately excite the spirit of the country, when it is well known, that it is not only the fashion among all ranks in France to form extensive collections of prints, but that the French governa ment has directed one of the best parts of its ambition to the cultivation of the fine arts, and has employed engravers in all parts of Europe to enrich is galleries and museums." The forwarding the views of the Chal cographic Society appears to be an act of national consequence, and of first-rate importance to the encouragement of the arts of design, and will doubtless receive that encouragement its liberal plans de serve; and every lover of his country's fame and arts, will lend assistance to its infant endeavours to obtain the following sound national objects:-1st. A rescue of the nobler province of the art of engrav ing in this country from total degradation and decay; 2dly. A most desirable rivalry of the French, who are growing as ambitious in arts as they are in arms, and would fain get the start of us in CTTT race for renown; Sdly. The permanent advancement of the art, by means of its national museum and school, which give it at once improvement, stabilty, and dignity; and, 4thly. The comfort and support of helpless old age, and ob jects not only dear to the hearts and ta bits of Englishmen, but expressive of the true effects of polite art, which never proves its influence so finely as mothe perfection of the social feelings. We cannot close this article withont entrea ing our readers to give the society's plan For some years past, national patronage and address a careful reading. VARIETIES VARIETIES, LITERARY AND PHILOSOPHICAL. THE HE sixth portion of the History of Leicestershire, comprising the Hundred of Guthlaxton, almost all the copies of which were destroyed by the fire at Messrs. NICHOLLS's, is nearly reprinted, and may be expected to appear in July. The hundred of Sparkenhoe, which will complete the work, is also in great forwardness. PROFESSOR DUGAID STEWART, of Edinburgh, will shortly publish a quarto volume of Moral Essays. Mr. BELOE has put to press a fifth volume of his Anecdotes of Literature. The second volume of The Artist is completed, consisting, like the former, of Essays on Subjects of Science and the Arts, chiefly written by men of eminence in their respective professional studies. The History of the National Debt, in one volume octavo, a posthumous work of the late Mr.J.J.GRELLIER, so well known to the gencrality of our readers by his various writings on different branches of political economy, will be published next inonth. Mr. GRANT, author of Institutes of Latin Grammar, has made considerable progress in preparing for the press, a comprehensive work on the English Language, which will be found to combine several new and important practical adAantages. Mr. W. MOORE, of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, has in a state of forwardness, a Treatise on the Doctrine of Fluxions, with its application to all the most useful parts of the true theory of guanery, and other very curious and important matters relating to military and naval science. The fluxions will be preceded by such parts of the science of mechanics as are necessary for reading the work without any reference to other authors. The first volume of the Theological works of Mr. ARCHIBALD M'LEAN, one of the pastors of the Baptist church, Edinburgh, which, from the unexpected demaud, the proprietors were under the necessity of reprinting, is now finished, and ready for delivery. Volumes 5th and 6th, containing the Paraphra-e and Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews, will be immediately put to press, and the subsequent volumes will be pubTished as specdily as possible. The whole, when finished, will consist of eight or nine handsome volumes duodecimo. A new edition of his Treatise on the Apostolic Commission, is also just published. The Rev. H. HI. BABER, of the British Museum, has just published a new edi tion of Wiclif's Version of the New Testament. Prefixed to this most ancient English Version of the New Testament, are Memoirs of the Life of Dr. Wielif; and an Historical Account of the Saxon and English Versions of the Scriptures previous to the fifteenth century; embellished with an elegant portrait. A new edition of Dr. LAMONT'S Sermons, on the most prevalent vices, is in the press, and will appear early in August. Mr. FOWLER, of Winterton, has com pleted fac-simile engravings of the prin cipal Mosaic Pavements which have been discovered in the course of the last and present centuries, in various parts of Great Britain: and also, engravings of several subjects in Stained Glass in the windows of the cathedrais of York, Lincoln, &c. the whole executed on twentyseven plates; and each impression accurately coloured after the original subject of the respective plates. The author of Nubilia, is about to commence a periodical work, entitled the Contemplatist; a Number of which will be published every Saturday. The Rev. THEOPH. ABAUZIT, has in the press, an edition of the Book of Common Prayer of the Church of England, in the French language; the gospels, epistles, and psalms, are taken from the edition of Geneva, in 1805. A romance in three volumes, under the title of the Spectre of the Mountain of Grenada, will be published early in the ensuing month. The Rev. SAMUEL ELSDALE, Curate of Surfect, near Spalding in Lincolnshire, has nearly ready for publication, a small volume, under the title of Death, Judgment, Heaven, and Hell, a poem, with other pieces, with additions and emendations. The Rev. I. SPENCE, late curate of Spalding in Lincolnshire, has upon the eve of publication his Farewell Serinon, on taking leave of that parish. A new edition of DUGDALE's Warwickshire, with the additions of Dr. THOMAS, and a Continuation to the present time, is now preparing for the press by sme Warwickshire Warwickshire antiquaries, who have collected much original matter of local interest and historic importance from various private repositories hitherto unexplored. The work will be comprised in three volumes folio; and, in addition to such of the original subjects as must necessarily be re-engraved, will be embellished with select views of the most interesting objects of architectural and antiquarian curiosity in the county. Mr. TURNER, of the Middle Temple, is preparing a new work on Conveyan. cing, to consist of a collection of modern precedents, with notes and illustrations; and a practical introduction on the language and structure of Conveyances. Mr. JOSEPH HARPUR has nearly ready for publication, an Essay on the Principles of Philosophical Criticism, applied to poetry. A third and last volume of the Temple of Truth, under the title of Additional Studies, is in the press. The Travels of Mirza Abu Taleb Khan, commonly called the Persian Prince, in Asia, Africa, and Europe, during the years 1799, 1800, 1801, and 1802, written by himself in the Persian language, and translated by CHARLES STEWART, esq are preparing for publication. The History of Lincoln, with an Appendix, containing a list of the members returned to serve in parliament, will speedily be published in a duodecimo volume. Mr. Toy has in the press, a work on Scripture Geography, containing a description of the most distinguished countries and places noticed in the Holy Scripture, with a brief account of the most remarkable historical events connected with the subject, intended to fa. cilitate the study of the sacred writings. A new edition of Bishop Earle's Microcosmography, is in the press. This curious and entertaining volume was originally printed in 1628, and contains a variety of allusions illustrative of the manners of that age. The Norrisian prize in the University of Cambridge, is this year adjudged to HENRY JEREMY, B. A of Trinity College, for his Essay on the Connection of Learning and Religion By an accurate calculation, it appears that, in the course of the last year, Great Britain produced 600,000 packs of wool, each weighing 240lbs. A corespondent gives the following improved method of preparing phosphorus bottles. The phosphorus being care fully dried by filtering paper, cut a thin slice, divide it into as many pieces as can expeditiously be done, and introduce each piece into a small bottle, with as much lime as will surround it. Lime slaked in the air, and submitted to a strong red heat in a black-lead crucible for twenty minutes, is in a good state for the purpose. The bottle when full may be exposed, corked, to the radiant heat of a fire, till some of the pieces of phos phorus have assumed an orange tint. It will then be ready for immediate use. But the heating is not necessary, if the bottle is not wanted for immediate use, and it will continue longer in a service, able state. In using the bottle the month should be closed as soon as the match is withdrawn. Bottles thus prepared continue serviceable four or five months, though very frequently used. Mr. YEATES has been for some time employed in collating the manuscripts brought from India to England by the Rev. Dr. Buchanan, and presented by him to the University of Cambridge. From the account given of them by Mr. Yeates, the following particulars are extracted :-These manuscripts are chiefly biblical, and are written in the Hebrew, Syriac, and Ethiopic, languagesa the Hebrew manuscripts were obtained from the black Jews, who have had settlements in India from time immemo rial. These Jews differ in many respects from those of other countries, and bear evident marks of being descendants from those ancient dispersious we read of in sacred history. They call themselves Bene Israel; they have the Hebrew Pentateuch, but scarcely know of any other books of Scripture. A copy of the Hebrew Pentateuch, written on guat. skins, and found in one of their synsgogues, is in the Buchanan collection. The Syriac manuscripts were collected from the Syrian Christians in Travancore and Malayala, where a race of Christians had existed ever since the apostolic times: and the native Indian christians bear the name of Christians of St. Thomas to this day, They have the Bible, and other books, Jot in our canon, extant in the Syriac language; and theirs is perhaps the purest of all the versions of Scripture now known. There is in Dr. Buchanan's collection, a copy of the Bible, containing the books of the Old and New Testament, with the Apocry pha, written on large folio vellum, and in the ancient or Estrangelo character, and which was a present to the doctor from Mar Mar Dionysius, the archbishop of the Indian church. But though all these MSS. were brought from India, some were written at Antioch, in Mesopotamia, and in other parts of Syria, Asia, and Africa. The Hebrew Pentateuch already mentioned, being probably one of the oldest MSS. extant, is a curiosity of the highest value and importance. It is written upon a roll of goat-skins, dyed red, and was found in the record-chest of a synagogue of the black Jews, in the interior of Malayala, in 1806. It measures in length forty-eight feet, and in breadth about twenty-two inches, or a Jewish cubit. The book of Leviticus, and most parts of Deuteronomy, are wanting. The original length of the roll was not less than ninety feet, as appears from calculation, and it is properly Morocco, though now much faded. In its present state, it consists of thirtyseven skins, contains one hundred and seventeen columns of writing, perfectly clear and legible, and exhibits a noble example of the manner and form of the most ancient Hebrew manuscripts among the Jews. The columns are a palm broad, and contain from forty-five to fifty lines each. Some of the skins appear more ancient than others, and it is evident, from a bare inspection, that they were not all written at the same period, or by the same hand. THE DROUGHT.-About twenty years ago, SIR RICHARD PHILLIPS published a dissertation, in which, arguing from the analogy of Nature, he conceived it in the power of man to regulate the weather to certain extents. Nature, he remarked, provides high mountains and the innunerable spicule of leaves and grass, as means by which the electricity of the atmosphere and the clouds is regu. lated. Droughts arise when these, from au accidental absence of rain or moisture, cease to be good conductors, and a rainy season is a consequence of these becoming too powerful as conductors. Hence mountains, trees, and vegetation, increase the quantity of rain in all coun tries, and the cause and effect alternately interchange. Hence too the immutable sterility of certain districts of Africa and Asia; and hence likewise the changes which have been observed to take place in the fertility of countries. All the peculiar phenomena of Peru, and other countries, may also be referred to the same causes. The practical deduction which Sir Richard Phillips made from this reasoning was, that man, by means of very high metallic conductors, may be able so to affect the electricity of the clouds as to produce the same effects as Nature produces from the action of mountains and the points of trees, leaves, and vegetables; and he submitted the idea to the notice and adoption of patriotic and philosophical governments. The idea of regulating the weather may, on a superficial view, appear to be a very bold one; but when it is considered that man triumphs over the seasons, and subjects Nature in many other respects to his rule, an artificial means of adecting the clouds ought not to be considered as impossible; and the notion deserves to be re-considered on account of the immense value and great in portance of the objects in contemplation. The following curious circumstance respecting the toad, is communicated by a correspondent to Nicholson's Journal: "A person," says he, "in the neighbourhood of Maidstone, who manufactures brown paper, informed me, while I was observing his people at work, that he had frequently placed a toad amidst a pile of sheets to be pressed, and always found it alive and well on taking it out, though it must have sustained with the paper a pressure equivalent to several tous; but a frog could never survive the same degree of pressure. I sought a long time for a toad to see the experiment myself, but was unable to find one till after the men had left work.” Sir GEORGE MACKENZIE, accompanied by Mr. HENRY HOLLAND, and Mr. Rr CHARD BRIGHT of the University of Edinburgh,has sailed from Leith for Stromness, whence they proceed to Iceland, in a vessel from London. The object of this arduous undertaking, is to explore a part of that inhospitable country, which nevertheless, in the circumscribed state of our commerce, is well worth the attention of Great Britain. In return for our coarse fabrics, we might procure from it such articles as Iceland, with proper management, would yield in great plenty, such as fish, oil, feathers, and sulphur, the scarcity of which last article is such as to have already attracted the notice of parliament. At a late meeting of the Society of Arts, a premium of fifty guineas was awarded to Mr. JOHN DAVIS, of Johnstreet, Spitalfields, for a highly ingenious fire-escape, which promises to be of great utility in decreasing the number of personal accidents which are so frequently occurring in cases of fire. This contrivance consists of a curious yet simply-constructed ladder, or rather three |