LITERARY REPORT.

FINE ARTS.

SOCIETY OF BRITISH ARTISTS.

THE Eleventh Exhibition of the Society of British Artists was opened to the public on the 24th. At so late a period of the month, it is impossible for us to render justice to an Institution which advances very strong claims upon the patronage of all who desire the prosperity of the fine arts in England. We shall therefore postpone our notice until next month.

PUBLICATIONS.

Engravings from the Works of Henry Liverscege. Part VIII. We have had many opportunities of noticing and recommending this valuable and interesting collection of prints, from the works of Liverseege. The artist was unhappily removed from among us long before Time had perfected Genius; but he has left to the world ample proofs that his mind was of the highest order, and that he was second to none in an accurate conception and knowledge of his art. Part VIII. contains the Orphan, Friar Tuck, and the Falconer:-they are fine specimens of mezzotinto engraving. Engravings from the Works of Sir Joshua Reynolds. Parts III. and IV.

This work, when completed, will be one of the most valuable of modern times-containing, as it does, copies of the more beautiful of the productions of the great British painter. The numbers are issued at a rate of exceeding cheapness, and are, for the most part, engraved by Mr. S. W. Reynolds with considerable skill and accuracy.

The Pedlar. Painted by David Wilkie; Engraved by James Stewart.

There is no mistaking Wilkie; the magic touch of a master, who has deeply studied nature as well as art, is manifest in all he does. Here we have one of his happiest scenes-a cottage, in which the pedlar, with his box of finery, is tempting the lasses, and bargaining with the aged dames; while the paymaster sits doggedly by the window, "counting the cost,' making up his mind to the inevitable results of the controversy going on around him. Mr. Stewart has performed his part in a very satisfactory manner. If, as an engraving, it may not rank with those of Raimbach and Burnet, it is still a creditable performance, and by no means unworthy of the subject or the painter.

Hide and Seek. Painted and Engraved by James Stewart.

Here the same artist is both painter and engraver; and in either capacity he has done well. A group of cottage children are merrily at play.

THE DRAMA.

During the last month the Minister and the Mercer has continued to be performed at Drury-lane, and the Revolt of the Harem at Covent-garden. They still draw respectable audiences.

At the minor theatres there has been nothing new, unless it is new that, in Passion week, Yates, not having the fear of the Bishop of London before his eyes, has continued to give his entertaining monologue performance, and Mrs. Yates her delineations of the passions. Most of the other theatres have delivered their closing speech, but we must content ourselves with presenting our readers with the smart and clever farewell of Madame Vestris:

"Ladies and Gentlemen-For the first time this season, because for the

last, I appear before you with reluctance. To report its result is to repeat the sentence just now on everybody's lips. We have had an extraordinary season.' Our dramatic plants, nourished by the sunshine of your smiles, and defended against all rude attacks by your uplifted and applauding hands, have budded, blossomed, and ripened. For the fruits I come sincerely and gratefully to thank you. Yet it is only the surplus fruits, which I, as farmer of this estate, enjoy. The bulk of them has gone to support and reward those whose talents have often amused and (may I add?) sometimes instructed you! The acknowledgments, therefore, of my fellow-labourers it is also my pleasing duty to offer you. If I do not speak for our authors, it is because I consider it more their business to make speeches for me; but that they owe you a double debt of gratitude cannot be denied, for each of them must own that in adding to his comfort you have contributed to his peace. Though I now speak in prose I hope to avoid being prosy. It is more my habit to address you in numbers, and in numbers, I am proud to say, it is your habit to listen to me. Upon those numbers I must now close my doors. I believe you wish them kept open; and if my will were the law, be assured that my will should be in your favour. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, there should be found a grateful clause in it, whereby, in humble imitation of great Julius Cæsar, I would give you all my seats, my Paphian arbours, and new-painted orchards on this side Wych-street, to you and your heirs, the whole year round to come abroad and recreate yourselves. There is a Cæs- a manager for you. I am already busy for you for next season. To mention names were to destroy the charm of mystery; but this I will disclose to you in strict confidence, that I have succeeded, at an enormous expense, in engagingMadame Vestris. With renewed thanks, ladies and gentlemen, and with best wishes for your intermediate happiness (intermediate I mean as to time, not as to quality), I have the honour, until next October, most respectfully to drop my curtain and my courtesy."

PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES.

ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY.

At a meeting of this Society a paper was read giving an account of a tour in the Himalaya mountains by Captain Johnson, H. E. I. Co.'s service. Having formed a party of two of the officers of his regiment, Captain Johnson left Cawnpore on the evening of the 1st of April, 1827; and, after a journey in palankeens of about three hundred and fifty miles, arrived at Hurdwar during the period of the great fair held there at that period of the year. Hurdwar is at the foot of the first range of hills met with on approaching the great central chains; and here the union of the Bageruttee and the Alacnunda, called the Ganga, or the river, finds its way through the mountains from the valley of Deyrah into the plains. The spot where the water first rushes from the mountains is peculiarly sacred; and the assembling of persons from the most remote parts of India, to perform those ablutions which their religion requires, led ultimately to the institution of a fair or mercantile meeting. The Fakeers, who make Hurdwar their abiding place, have generally caves hollowed out in the rock above the pass, and accessible only by means of ladders. Some few reside in the temples. Captain Johnson considers Raper's estimate of the visitors at Hurdwar, one year with another, at two millions of souls, as being rather below than above the true average. Our traveller took the opportunity of a short stay at Hurdwar to visit Kunkul, a neighbouring collection of sacred buildings of the Hindoos. There were pagodas and deotas of all sizes and shapes; some of them the handsomest specimens of Hindoo architecture which he had seen, only much defaced by the uncouth figures

of their mythology, painted on the outside in glaring colours, and with an utter disregard of proportion, and ignorance of perspective. The total want of observation of a native artist cannot be more strongly exemplified than in the representation of the Tenth Avatar, where Vishnu, like our Death in the Revelation, is expected to appear mounted on a white horse: the horse is invariably represented at a trot, either with both the off or both the near feet raised at the same time; which peculiarity of motion belongs to the camel, but not to the horse. The valley of Deyrah, which the author entered by the pass of Hurdwar, varies from twelve to fifteen miles in breadth, and may be about seventy miles in length, extending in a nearly east and west direction to the foot of the second range of hills. The entrance to the valley was peculiarly beautiful, with a most luxuriant and almost virgin vegetation. In the tree-jungle the creepers attain a very great size, spreading from tree to tree, matting the whole together, and rendering it impenetrable even to an elephant. The Dhoon from this reason is unhealthy, except in the neighbourhood of Deyrah, where the jungle has been burned for several miles around. The valley is otherwise cool, and watered by numerous rivulets abounding in fish resembling trout; and the jungle swarms with all kinds of game, from the tiger to the quail. The character of the trees, and the scenery generally, resembled very much that of our own latitude; and the illusion was only destroyed by occasional glimpses of the snowy range, and the appearance of black partridges and of jungle-cocks. The snowy peaks of the Himma-leh had an extraordinary appearance, the acclivities of the mountains being concealed by the clouds, and the loftiest points starting from the blue sky above. Capt. Johnson and his party proceeded as far as Nako, an eminence about nineteen thousand feet above the level of the sea; thence to Changree Sang, by which they conceived they could easily enter the Chinese territory; but the peremptory instructions given by Lord Amherst forbade their approaching it; consequently they returned in the end of August.

A communication has been recently read, entitled, Extracts from Observations on New Zealand, by Lieutenant M'Donnell, R.N., who resided four years in that country. The author says that the government of New Zealand approaches nearest to the feudal system. Landed, and even personal property, is held by hereditary tenure, which it would be imprudent to disturb. He deprecates in no measured terms the cruelties perpetrated by the English on the unoffending inhabitants, whom he characterizes as naturally of a bold and daring character, and peaceably disposed to the whites. An instance of great bravery is related:-A chief had been surprised and taken prisoner, with his wife and family, and part of his tribe. He begged hard to take leave of his wife and children before he was put to death. After some debate his request was granted; the meeting was tender and affecting in the extreme. He knew that he must die; but the idea that his wife and children would become slaves appeared to absorb his every faculty, and wring his very soul. His fate was sealed, and escape utterly impossible. He embraced his wife and children for the last time-stabbed her and them almost in a moment-then smiled in derision on his enemies, as he exultingly told them, "My wife and my children are free!" Stratagem and cunning, however, are the weapons chiefly used in their wars with each other. The author, in glowing language, lauds the climate of New Zealand; its soil is highly productive, and its rivers and creeks swarm with many varieties of excellent fish. Of the phormium, or New Zealand flax, lately introduced as an article of trade into this country, Lieutenant M'Donnell says, that the plant grows in wild luxuriance throughout the three islands of New Zealand. It is indigenous to the country, and perennial, the leaves averaging from six to ten feet in length. The plant throws an abundance of seed. With attention to the cutting of the flax in the proper season, and common care paid to its cultivation, he

feels convinced of its superiority over that of Russia and Manilla; it possesses all the flexibility of the former, and is free from the wiry brittleness of the latter. Thousands of tons of this valuable article of commerce may be shipped annually from New Zealand to the mother country; indeed the whole of Europe might be supplied with ease from the same quarter. Fair play, it appears, has not generally been given to the flax sent home via Sidney. In many instances the plant has not been cut in the proper season-a very material point; for then the flax is coarse and wiry, the fibres ragged and not easily cleaned, the staple is short, and the colour foxey. Other causes that have operated to render this flax objectionable at home are, the twisting of the staple in packing, which prevents the flax from hackling freely, not packing it thoroughly dry, and allowing the pressure of the screw to be on the bend. Cut the plant at the right season (says the writer), let the flax be well dried, carefully packed in lengths, and screwed, then the superiority of the New Zealand hemp over that of Europe will be manifest, and those prejudices that once existed will vanish for ever.

SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES.

Mr. Kempe exhibited some drawings by Mr. Swaine, jun., of ancient stained glass in the Jerusalem chamber at Westminster, which he accompanied by a descriptive paper. The glass has evidently been removed from some other place to its present situation. The style of the drawings is of the time of Henry III., when the building of the abbey church of Westminster was commenced; but the Jerusalem chamber was built by Abbot Litlington between the years 1349 and 1386. After describing the form and architecture of the chamber, Mr. Kempe observed, that Fabian states that King Henry IV., while preparing for a crusade, on the faith of a prophecy that he would die at Jerusalem, was suddenly taken ill, and was carried to the Jerusalem chamber, and laid before a fire, and that he died in that room; thus indirectly verifying the prophecy. Fabian was followed in this account by Hollingshed, from whom Shakspeare has taken his scene of the death of Henry IV. Mr. Kempe then expressed a doubt whether Henry IV. was in fact buried at Canterbury, as was supposed; and quoted Peck's Desiderata Curiosa, which gives a MS. preserved in Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, in which the writer declares that he heard one Clement Maidstone state, that he was on board the vessel which was conveying the king's body to Canterbury, when they were overtaken by a violent storm, which so alarmed the sailors, that they broke open the coffin, and took out the body, and threw it overboard, after which there was a calm; that they then closed up the coffin and put the pall over it, and the empty case was buried with pomp in Canterbury Cathedral: and Mr. Kempe observed, that the superstitious dread of a corpse which sailors at all times have felt, gave some countenance to the story. As a sequel to this paper, on the subject of the burial of Henry IV., the secretary observed, that in the month of August, 1832, that king's tomb in Canterbury Cathedral was privately opened by consent of the dean, in the presence of a few individuals, in order to ascertain the truth or falsehood of the above story; and an account drawn up at the time, which he then read. From this it appears, they first discovered a quantity of loose rubbish, in which they found a piece of leather, and a piece of cloth or stuff which they supposed to be part of the pall; on removing the rubbish they came to a rude chest of stout elm boards, from which a part was sawed off, and they found within a quantity of hay-bands wrapped round a case of lead as rudely constructed as the outer chest; and on cutting a small aperture in the lead, they saw the face of the corpse in a very perfect state: the skin was moist, and had the appearance of brown leather; the nose and its cartilage retained the proper form, but sunk on the admission of the air. The party haying satisfied their curiosity, and settled the historical question, carefully closed up the coffins and the vault, and left the royal corpse to that repose in which it had already lain for above four centuries.