his conception. It should be regretted, that he Perhaps it is not urging too much to aver, that spent his time too much about trifles. The most MR. STUBBS has done his nation honor, inasmuch remarkable of his performances, are the works in as he has become, by his genius and his researches, chiaro obscuro, on the walls and ceilings of the the example of Europe, in his particular departRoyal Academy, and his Rape of Orithyea. He ment. No painter, whose works are now extant, was employed by the Government to repair the had so complete a knowledge of the anatomy of the fine works of Rubens, at the Banquetting-house, horse, and the models of horses, in such parts of Whitehall; for which he had three thousand the antique works as I have seen, are far from guineas. His design for the academic diploma | being rigorously true; Le Brun, Rubens, Cuyp, will be an honorable testimonial of his knowledge, so long as the frail memorial of a print can oppose the ruin of time. I shall not arrange Mr. Cipriani as a great genius, though he was a great master; as his imagination was less powerful than his judgment; and it should work as an high incentive to industry, in our modern students to know, that he was principally indebted for his envied reputation to his knowledge of the value of time. Every individual who wishes or expects to become eminent, must consider his TIME as the most important part of his property, it is the channel, which under a proper navigation, leads smoothly to the port of honor; it is a sort of universal patrimony, which is received by the creature from Omnipotence, in a greater or lesser portion, and they alone are wise and happy, who uniformly marshal it to the purposes of improvement and content. MR. STUBBS. GEORGE STUBBS, R.A. is the son of a reputable surgeon, and was born at Liverpool, in Lancashire; it is reported of him, that when a boy, he excelled exceedingly in anatomizing every order of animal, but more particularly the horse, to which subject he has since devoted himself with the highest success. Previous to the professional emanations of this gentleman, we were so barbarized as to regard with pleasure the works of Seymour! thereby giving to what was bad, a sanction only due to merit. I do not believe an incapable painter would have any encouragement to maintain his pursuit, if the common perception of mankind were not so disastrously imperfect; the administration of the senses is expected to produce delight, and if that felicity can be received through a false medium, the vulgar are contented to be thus deceived, as they are never solicitous to appeal to the understanding, to analyse or justify their gross habitudes in thought and deed. Wouvermans and Redinger, had each a strong idea of the appearance of a horse, yet none of them were accurately acquainted with their organization! I have heard some persons assert, that MR. GILPIN was equal to MR. STUBBS in this arduous study; but that is not the fact: MR. GILPIN may have more genius than MR. STUBBS, but he is certainly less studied in the proportions of that noble animal. MISCELLANEA. ANCIENT LINES UPON THE IMMORALITY OF DANCING. What els is dauncing, but even a nursery, Than it in the earth no game is more damnable: He most is commended that can most lewdeness finde, Or can most quickly renne about the place, OLD SONG OF JOHN DORY. walkes him till he be cold, then rubs him, and giues him meate, yet I must say that they are not much to be trusted in this last point, without the eye of the master or his seruant to ouersee them. Another seruant giues the passenger his priuate chamber, and kindles his fier, the third puls off his bootes, and makes them cleane. Then the host or hostesse visits him, and if he will eate with the host, or at a common table with others, his meale will cost him sixe-pense, or in some places but four-pence, (yet this course is less honourable, and not vsed by gentlemen ;) but if he will eate in his In the comedy of the Chances, written by Beau-chamber, he commands what meate he will accordmont and Fletcher, Antonio, a humorous old man, receives a wound, which he will not suffer to be dressed, but upon condition that the song of John Dory be sung the while. As it fell on a holiday, And upon a holy tide a; John Dory brought him an ambling nag, And when John Dory to Paris was come, John Dory was fitted the porter was witted, The first man that John Dory did meet, A pardon, a pardon, my liege and my king, I'll bring them all bound to thee a. And be mann'd forth a good blacke barke, I trow it be John Dory a. Whateuer should betide a. The roring canons then were plide, To courage both all and some a. The grapling hook, were brought at length, John Dory at length for all his strength, ANCIENT CUSTOMS AT AN ENGLISH INN. As soone as a passenger comes to an inne, the seruants run to him, and one takes his horse and ing to his appetite, and as much as he thinkes fit for him and his company, yea, the kitchen is open to him, to command the meat to be dressed as he best likes; and when he sits at table, the host or hostesse will accompany him, or if they haue many guests, will at least visit him, taking it for curtesie to be bid sit downe while he eate; if he haue company especially, he shall be offred musicke, which he may freely take or refuse; and if he be solitary, the musitians will giue him the good day with musick in the morning. It is the custome, and no way disgracefull, to set up part of supper for his breakfast. In the euening or in the morning after breakefast, (for the common sort use not to dine, but ride from breakefast to supper time, yet comming early to the Inne for better resting of their horses,) he shall haue a reckoning in writing, and if it seeme unreasonable, the host will satisfie him, either for the due price, or by abating part, especially if the seruant deceiue him any way, which one of experience will soone find. I will now onely adde, that a gentleman and his man shall spend as much, as if he were accompanied with another gentleman and his man; and if gentlemen will in such sort ioyne together, to eate at one table, the expenses will be much diminished. Lastly, a man cannot more freely command at home in his owne house, than hee may doe in his Inne; and at parting, if he giue some few pence to the chamberlin and ostler, they wish him a happy journey. TOBACCO IN ALE-HOUSES. A foreign weed, which has made so many Englishmen, especially the common sort, become its slaves, is said to have been first brought into England by Captain R. Greenfield and Sir Francis Drake, about the year 1586, during the reign of Elizabeth. A pleasant kind of tale, but for one item of the veracity of which I will not vouch, is given in the Athenian Oracle, by way of accounting for the frequent use and continuance of taking it." When the Christians first discovered America, the devil was afraid of losing his hold of the people there, by the appearance of Christianity. He is reported to have told some Indians of his acquaintance, that he had found a way to be revenged upon the Christians for beating up his quarters, for he would teach them to take tobacco, to which, when they had once tasted it, they should become perpetual slaves." Ale-houses are at present licensed to deal in tobacco; but it was not so from the beginning; for so great an incentive was it thought to drunkenness, that it was strictly forbidden to be taken in ale-houses, in the time of James the First. There is a curious collection of proclamations, prints, &c. in the archives of the Society of Antiquaries of London. In Vol. 8, lettered on the back, "Miscel. K. James I." is an ale-house license granted by six Kentish justices of the peace, at the bottom of which the following item occurs, among other directions to the inn-holder : "Item-You shall not utter, nor willingly suffer to be utter'd, drunke, or taken, any tobacco within your house, Celler or other Place thereunto belonging." The following ironical encomium on, and serious invective against, tobacco, occurs in Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy, 4to. Oxford, 1621, page 452. "Tobacco, divine, rare, super-excellent Tobacco, which goes farre beyond all their panaceas, potable gold, and Philosopher's stones, a sovereign remedy to all diseases. A good Vomit, I confesse, a vertuous Herbe, if it be well qualified, opportunely taken, and medicinally used, but as it is commonly used by most men, which take it as Tinkers do Ale, 'tis a plague, a mischiefe, a violent purger of goods, lands, health, hellish, devilish and damned Tobacco, the ruine and overthrow of Body and Soule." In the Apothegms of King James, &c. 12mo. Lond. 1608, p. 4. I read as follows:-" His Majesty professed, that were he to invite the Devil to a dinner, he should have these three dishes: 1. a Pig; 2. a Poll of Ling and Mustard; and 3. a Pipe of Tobacco for digesture." The following quaint Thought is found in an old Collection of Epigrams: "All dainty meats I do defie, He is a frugal Man indeed, He needs no Napkin for his hands, That keeps his Kitchen in a Box, And roast Meat in a Pipe." In the Hymnus Tabaci by Raphael Thorius, made English by Peter Hausted, Master of Arts, Camb. 8vo. Lond. 1651, we meet with the Strongest Invective against Tobacco :— "Let it be damn'd to Hell, and call'd from thence, A deadly Weed, which its beginning had From the foam Cerberus, when the Cur was mad." Our British Solomon, James the First, who was a great opponent of the devil, and even wrote a book against witchcraft, made a formidable one also upon this "Invention of Satan," in a learned performance which he called a "Counterblaste to Tobacco." It is printed in the edition of his works by Barker and Bill, London, 1616. He concludes this bitter blast of his, his sulphureous invective against this transmarine weed, with the following peroration:-" Have you not reason then to be ashamed, and to forbear this filthy novelty, so basely grounded, so foolishly received, and so grossly mistaken in the right use thereof! In your abuse thereof sinning against God, harming yourselves, both in person and goods, and taking also thereby (look to it, ye that take snuff in profusion!) the marks and notes of vanity upon you; by the custom thereof making yourself to be wondered at by all foreign civil nations, and by all strangers that come among you, to be scorned and contemned; a Custom loathsome to the eye, hateful to the Nose, harmful to the Brain, dangerous to the Lungs, and in the black stinking Fume thereof, nearest resembling the horrible Stygian Smoke of the Pit that is bottomless." If even this small specimen of our learned Monarch's oratory, which seems well adapted to the understanding of old women, does not prevail upon them all to break in pieces their tobacco pipes and forego smoking, it will perhaps be impossible to say what can. The subject, as his Majesty well observes, is Smoke, and no doubt many of his readers will think the arguments of our royal author no more than the fumes of an idle brain, and it may be added too, of an empty head! PAINTING IN OIL AND WATER-COLOURS. WILLIAM LEWIS, PORTRAIT and LANDSCAPE PAINTER, and Exhibitor at the Royal Academy, IN STRUCTS LADIES and GENTLEMEN in the above elegant Accomplishments. The mode of tuition is simple and systematic. Terms, &c. may be obtained at Mr. L.'s residence, Carpenters' Hall, 68, London Wall, where his Pictures may be seen.-Gentlemen engaged during the day may receive evening tuition as above. 1. COLLECTIONS of PRINTS, from Pictures Painted for the purpose of Illustrating the Dramatic Works of Shakspeare. 12. Dedicated, by permission, to the Archbishop of Canterbury. 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THE HOLY BIBLE, according to the authorized Version with Notes, Explanatory and Practical: taken principally from the most eminent writers of the United Church of England and Ireland: together with appropriate Introductions, Tables, Indexes, Maps, and Plans: prepared and arranged by the Rev. George D'Oyly, D.D. and the Rev. Richard Mant, D.D. (now Lord Bishop of Killaloe,) late Domestic Chaplains to his Grace the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury. Under the direction of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.. the Right Hon. C. J. Fox, Right Hon. W. Pitt, Lord Viscount Nelson, Duke of Marlborough, Bruce, Sir Walter Raleigh, Samuel Johnson, Marquis of Montrose, Alexander Pope, General Monk. Duke of Albemarle, Lord Bacon, Lord Clarendon, Benjamin West, Sir Christopher Wren, Shakspeare, Penn, Howard, &c. &c. WEEKLY MISCELLANY OF FINE ARTS, ANTIQUITIES, AND LITERARY CHIT CHAT. By Ephraim Hardcastle. THE RISE AND PROGRESS OF WATER- No. IV. HITHERTO in offering our opinions upon the practice of water-colour painting, we have confined ourselves to the landscape department, not with a view of prescribing particular limits to its powers, but because that branch of pictorial study has engaged the greatest number of amateurs as well as professors, and probably will continue so to do from a variety of circumstances, which shall be adverted to hereafter. were pregnant, warranted the expectation of much more, we regret to say, than his subsequent performances have realized. In the high historical style of art, we still are satisfied that magnificent pictures may be wrought in water-colours, and we should hail the event with delight, if it pleased the noble and enlightened directors of the British Institution to offer a prize for an historical picture, of the largest dimensions that could be covered with one sheet of glass, to be painted in water-colours. The sum, we should venture to propose, should be a thousand guineas-not for the best, however, unless it were a picture worthy of so munificent a reward. Aware, however, of the construction which the above reflection might admit, to the prejudice of the professional talents of Mr. Westall, we are desirous of qualifying the expression by observing, that we have understood the exertions of his genius were diverted from the high and independent pursuits which he first proposed to himself. The benevolence of his heart, yielding to the claims of family affection, urged him in the midst of his career, to labour for profit, when, but for this generous feeling, he being a single man, he might have studied for fame. Were we to neglect to mention Mr. Richard Westall, whose historical and poetical compositions displayed so elegant a taste in the grouping of the human figure, whilst a young man, and the contemporary of Turner and Girtin, we should do great injustice to his merits. We have always preserved a recollection of what is due to this gentleman, as one of the founders of the British school of watercolour painting, for at the same time that these two distinguished artists were exhibiting to the world of taste, the capacities of the materials, as applied to landscape and topographical scenery, the other was no less zealously employed in trying how far they We remember some compositions of Mr. Westwould enable him to emulate the combinations of alls, particularly of Sappho with her lyre, surcolouring, light, shadow and brilliancy of effect, rounded by the Muses, and Hesiod reciting his in what is considered to be a higher department, verses, the companion subject-which were dewhich, until his experiments proved the contrary, signed with so much grace, and executed with such seemed unattainable by any process, but in colours beautiful and masterly execution,—which indeed prepared with oil. The force, clearness and power- displayed such powers in a new style of art, as to ful contrasts, which this artist united in certain raise an almost boundless expectation in the minds paintings in water-colours, and which were exhi-of his admirers, as to the merits of his future bited on the walls of the Royal Academy, at the same time with the admired works of Turner and We are confident that what has been yet done in Girtin, excited no less admiration with all judges this higher department of design, falls very short of of art. Indeed, so favourably have we been im-what might reasonably be expected, if due encoupressed with the powers of his pencil, that at times ragement were offered to excite the energies of the we have wished he had attempted an historical sub-rising school. The vast range embraced by the ject, with the figures at least two feet in height, as capacities of water-colours, according to their own a companion to some celebrated painting selected scale-the comparative ease of the executive means, from the old masters. We should not have trem- as opposed to the difficulties of painting in oil, bled for the consequences, though the experiment and other advantages peculiar to working in waterproposed had emulated the brilliancy, contrast, rich-colours, afford facilities in composition, denied to ness and effect of one of the best examples of the any other process. Hence, could we discover an Italian, Venetian, or the Flemish school. The pro-artist who could draw and design with the correctmise with which some former works of Mr. Westallness and elegance of Raffaelle, and who could No. VIII. works. LONDON, NOVEMBER 29, 1823. SIXPENCE. |