hind his back, so as to be unseen by Gama, towards whom he turns, draws a dagger; and, by his side, another openly impre cates the commander. Others in different parts of the picture who have fallen down in dread, in prayer, in abject and in furious despair, fill up the individual features of expression meant to be intimated." other. Towards the centre, lolling upon the deck, a mutineer, little girl, in the vulgar glow of health, spreads out || figure, a boy, whose violent terror contrasts with the more comher pinafore, as if to coax the last of the soap-bubbles posed gaze of the hardy sailor, to whom he clings. Beyond into it. Further off, the remaining children of the these, a knight in armour raises his lance; and above, to the right, are various of the crew, of different ranks; one, clambergroup are variously engaged in pursuit of the fragile ing by the edge of the ship, faces the spirit; and another vows globules; some catching them, others contending money to his patron saints; some look with suspense into the for them with breath and fists, and some contem-sky, and others, with anxiety, watch the resolves of their com plating them as they burst. The soap-bubbles mander. A soldier opposes a crucifix to the spirit, which he has themselves are delicately yet brilliantly rendered. snatched from the Dominican behind him, who is wholly overcome by fear, and whom a Moor attempts to rouse from his stuWe almost expect them to float forth from the por; while another in pallid faintness implores his intervention. frame, and give the fashionable loungers once more Behind the last-mentioned figure, two others, with suppressed a chance of enjoying the innocent sports of child-emotion, and hands locked together, endeavour to support each hood. The interior of the ruin, involving only perspective, and not distance, is something finer in landscape detail, if we may employ the expression, than we had given Harvey credit for. He has conquered his besetting haziness throughout; and the fragments of architectural sculpture in the middle distance tell upon the eye as vividly as the emblema- And fill them up with a vengeance! Fancy all tic fox-glove in the foreground. The figures of the these figures, as large, at least, as life, if not absochildren are painted with consummate skill. One lutely colossal, crammed together on the deck of great lump of a boy positively looks as if he were Gama's vessel; and add to their inextricable confugrowing while we gaze on him. Speaking of Har- sion a small touch of the earthquake, which is obvey and landscape just reminds us, by the way, that || viously either the cause or effect of the supernatural he has also a composition of this sort, and a good visitation; and you have attained a conception of Mr. one, in the Scottish Exhibition (271), “ Auchynore, Scott's painted Epos. Far be it from us to say Argyleshire." This is the only original contri- that the artist's own conceptions are not of the bution, indeed, with which he has favoured the in-highest and most intellectual order. We only venstitution that fostered him, We hear of great ture to suggest that he fails in execution; and, but things on his easel; but, alas, they are all for for this same practical deficiency, there would unLondon. Let them go; the prizeholders of the Art-doubtedly be many more great painters. We know Union will probably favour us with a sight of them. that Mr. Scott possesses theories on this point, oriBut, en passant, we may remark as a legitimate re-ginal and peculiar to himself. We only wonder that sult of the popular movement amongst the members he has never yet discovered that the most cherished of the Association for Promotion of the Fine Arts theory, when waged against the world, must sooner last season, whereby the patronage was distributed or later be given up. more in the direction of small purchases, the absence from the walls of anything like a great original picture in the present season. And yet, when £400 was given for Mr. Scott Lauder's great picture of last year-with one exception the highest sum offered by the Association for a single subject it was no proof that the patronage of important works was declining. 66 The Messrs. Lauder-we mean Messrs. Robert Scott Lauder, and J. Eckford Lauder, (for Mr. George Dick Lauder by no means enters here)— are the next who come under the order of review. The former has won his spurs, as a border laird, by a finely-conceived group of "Border Life in the Olden Time," (171). A fair vision of womanhood is buckling the belt of the border knight, whose David Scott's immense canvas, (1.) "The Dis- eldest hope appears begirt with mimic sword, and coverer of the passage to India, passing the Cape burdened with the ponderous helmet which the of Good Hope," has long been claiming our atten- bold baron is about to don. The clustering mention; and, in all this gossiping, we have scarcely at-arms appear behind, hastily accoutred, and the bestowed a glance upon its Titanic forms and sal-still-life details of a stronghold are filled in to block low countenances. That Scott is a man of original up the distance. The picture has faults, or mind, his very eccentricities establish. It occurs rather, improbabilities. The delicate beauty of the to us that there is more coherency in his present female model is, for example, overdone; as, also, production than in any previous emanation of his the urchin could never sustain the helmet or morion pencil. He has caught up fairly the epic spirit of without a greater apparent strain upon the hand, Camoens, and construed the supernatural appear- || But the whole group is instinct with life: and the ances of the passage of the Cape, and their vari-painting, both of chain and plate mail, is faultless ous effects, on Vasco de Gama, and the knights, nobles, monks, mutineers, Moors, &c., that surround him, with immense force: "Gama is represented in the centre of the principal group, his look fixed upon the obscure form of the spirit, which mingles with the clouds, and pressing his sword-hilt to his heart; it is intended to display determined and concentrated firmness, to a certain extent awed, but unsubdued. Behind him, drawing a sword, is a young Portuguese noble, supposed to be less under the influence of deep emotion than, with fearless courage, ready to meet every danger. On the other side, kneeling, is a pilot, accustomed to look steadily into the tempest; and, above this and effective. We protest against "The Toilet," (199), which, though prettily painted, is not extremely modest. Besides, we don't know that it is quite handsome, either in artists or amateurs, to snatch a back view of a strapping girl lacing her corsets. The brilliant little cabinet picture, (402), "Burns and Captain Grose," however, compen sates. Mr. Scott Lauder has dipped his brush in sunbeams, to produce this highly-coloured gem. There sits the captain-" a fine, fat, fodgel wight," slightly but visibly debilitated by the gout, traces of his old regimentals peering out from below his dressing-gown. Burns, half-grave, half-comical, stands behind his chair, with his rich dark eyes and manly form; whilst the matter in quo seems to be a collection of the limner. What immortality can an artist hope from "the portrait of a lady," or "the portrait of a gent.?" and yet the average quantity of these unmeaning images occupy the wall. Mr. John Ballantyne (153) has contrived, however, either from "Rusty airn caps and jinglin' jackets," the excellence of his subject, or the felicity of his arranged upon an antique chair-but we rather pencil, to produce, even under one of these quessuspect the attraction for some of the parties may tionable designations, a picture of considerable inrather be looked for amongst the rosy damsels interest. Trautschold's "Signor Tachella" (78), and his the opposite corner, assiduously producing the an"Miss Julia Fontaine," are graphic instances of a tiquarian relics for inspection. The picture, which style of portrait painting wherein the conventionis glazed, is surcharged with colour, but most haralities of our absurd portrait school are spurned with moniously. His Mr. Eckford Lauder almost disputes the niche he shares with his more illustrious brother. "Miranda," (9), from a scene in Shakspeare's "Tempest," (Act v. sc. 1.) seems only to possess the fault of being copied from the conventionalities of the stage, instead of being drawn from the artist's own suggestion; but it is difficult to get over this. There is a superabundant chalkiness about the female figure, who, we dare say, was a mere mortal to everybody but Prince Ferdinand; and, as his back|| is towards her in the scene, we see no cause for investing her form with anything approaching to a halo. But, except in the case of "The Toilet," where the female figure is hard, softness predominates to excess in the feminine delineations of the Lauders. The other figures of the male group are, however, well done, though theatrical. The stilllife details, as the chess-board, &c., are exquisitely minute. advantage for graces of character and expression which are graphic without being meretricious. Amongst the landscapes, the most pleasing are Miss Stoddart's "Balmoral" (70), and Macculloch's "Inchmurrin” (85), despite its stringy birches-for birch trees, though graceful objects, are paltry enough when faithfully resolved into a picture, and Macculloch has forgot to flatter those of Loch Lomond. They are amply redeemed, however, by his finely painted deer. Perigal's "Loch Rannoch❞ (88), his "Invercoe and Entrance to Glencoe" (104), and his "Glencoe" itself (30), are not equal to the late W. Simson's "Scene in Novar Deer Forest" (120), where the dead stag on the pony, and, indeed, the whole figures, are admirable. Sir William Allan's "Strachur" (110), Linnell's landscapes (124 and 195), "Landscape and Cattle, North Wales," and "Hillside Farm, Isle of Wight," struck us as being beautiful embodiments of natural scenery. The "Fresh Breeze off Burlington Pier," by Copley Fielding, is also an excellent example, like Linnell's pictures, of the distinction betwixt the Scotch and English schools of art. Ours, on the whole, breathes more of intellect and refinement; it is at the same time more sickly as well as sentimental in execution; theirs has the advantage in respect of warmth and vigour of colouring. The manner of Thomson of Duddingstone was more English than Scotch; and yet he came closer to nature than any artist we now have. To proceed-we also admire as landscapes "Schihallion" (130), a moonlight effect of Perigal's, "The Town and Palace of Falkland,” painted with tolerable care and freedom by J. C. Brown, an artist with many pictures, though not many good ones, in the exhibition-and we include D.O. Hill's “Ellangowan” (178) and his “Sunset" (197). The "Highland Reaper's Return" (323) is a large and ambitious picture, by J. C. Brown, with a tolerably good landscape and a group of figures, which, but for a blue bandbox tied up in a coloured handkerchief (a pretty good "property," however) would hardly unfold the story of the piece. "Olivia's Garden" (319), W. Douglas, must have been painted, not from nature, but from the boards of Drury Lane. D. O. Hill's "Border Tower” (338) is a lonely pile which lends point to the artist's adınirable atmospheric effects. The "Allan Water, near Kinross" (262), by Macneil Maclay, is a good but rather florid landscape. "Auchynore, Argyleshire," (271), Harvey's great landscape, has been extravagantly admired; but Harvey is one of those idols whom the Edinburgh public adore against all remonstrance; and if the picture were as bad as it happens to be excellent, there would be no possi The portraits are always worth noticing in an exhibition of the works of living artists"- -a title, by the way, which the Edinburgh exhibition has quietly and judiciously dropped; and the reason is, that they form a test at once of the proficiency of art, and of the encouragement it happens to meet with. The painter who can make a picture at all out of any given arrangement of physiognomy may be set down as good, bad, or indifferent, precisely according to the modicum of his success. Some features, indeed, partake more of the picturesque than the wearers feel at all pleasant; and here the painter is called upon to place his genius upon the bed of Procrustes; he must shorten or lengthen his strokes according to the caprice of his employer. If, under all these circumstances, the imitations of humanity that adorn the walls of a public exhibition contrive to pass in reasonably fair array, it may be admitted that the excellence of the collection cannot be impeached. The artistical powers of the Scottish Academy have passed through this ordeal, in the present instance, with very tolerable success, Sir William Allan's portrait (185) taking the lead in clearness and purity of tone; those of Gibson, the sculptor, by Graham Gilbert (2), Master|| Campbell Colquhoun and Pony, by Colvin Smith (8), the Rev. Dr. Gardiner, Bothwell, by Graham Gilbert (18), and some by Mr. Smellie Watson and others, furnish instances of pictorial flattery in its most delicate forms of homage, and cannot be said to outrage the feelings of the scrutinising mob of indifferent spectators half so much as portraits used to do when ladies sported yellow turbans, and gentlemen in brocaded dressing-gowns sat in state to bility of edging in a word of criticism. To us it has but one fault. It is, as a scene, quite destitute of interest; and it is simply well painted, and reflects no credit on the artist's taste as a judge of the picturesque. The best pictures of this kind that we see are pictures of still life. They merely asto-|| nish because some man of talent has taken the pains to paint a dewdrop on the leaf of a turnip :"Pretty in amber to observe the forms "Puck's Soiree - Musicale;" illustrative, respectively, of Dryden and Shakspeare. Both are in this celebrated youthful artist's peculiar style, which approaches nearer that of Etty than any other, in mundane attributes, but far transcends his in poetic creation, and dreams of fairy mythology. D. Macnee's "Quiet Retreat" is meretricious (the epithet applies to the architecture as well as to the figure); and the peculiar attitude of the figure is copied, we Of grubs, and flies, and sticks, and straws, and worms; suspect, from a "Reading Magdalen," a wellSuch things, we know, are neither rich nor rare, known work. We do not comprehend the sentiBut wonder, how the mischief, they got there." ment of the piece. What "quietude" can there be Just so the bit of turf painted by Harvey. It is, in a retreat overlooked by the three hundred and certainly, a concisely-rendered hill-side and water sixty-five windows of a great mansion-house? This gully, and might do honour to a land-surveyor; is somewhat the case with the "Quiet Retreat," but the interest (if any) is totally topographical. by Daniel Macnee. "A Scotch Fair" (400), if It is a study limited to herbage and chuckey-stones. Wilkie had not painted that of “ Pitlessie," might Besides a sprinkling of sheep, that might even be have passed for an original, as it is certainly gramistaken for the latter, there is not an animated phic, and has narrowly missed being humorous, figure in the piece. Macculloch's "Lochlomond" but verges on the ludicrous instead; and is, more (282) is a fine rendering of our island inland sea. over, industriously crammed with that homely as"An Autumn Morning View, near Edinburgh" semblage of the lower rustic orders, man and beast, (359), by W. Bonnar, jun., preserves some genuine that distinguish "scenes like these,” whence, assucharacteristics of locality. We by no means dis-redly, Scotia's grandeur does not spring-and some like "A Burn Scene, Lanarkshire" (383), by A. Fraser, however uninviting the title, and, we may add, the subject. We cannot present even a cursory resume of the scenes of domestic and personal or historical interest, forming the staple of the year's collection; but "Wooing" (392), by R. T. Ross, is a finished picture, of fine tone, expression, and decision, which clearly relates the story in the ballad lines "And, though I liked him passing weel, I careless turned my spinning-wheel." Mr. Noel Paton has only contributed two light 66 more honoured in the of whose ceremonies are We must not omit the "Perspective View of a proposed Building on the Mound, illustrative of a design prepared by instructions of the Royal Scot tish Academy —an erection which, if ever carried into effect, will form a tasteful connecting link betwixt the old town and the new, and cover the hideous deformities of the "earthen mound." The expense, we fear, will stand, however, in the way; and we are not ambitious of having another "National Monument" hanging, for half-centuries to sketches (400), "Theodore and Honoria," and (416) || gether, unfinished on our hands. REFLECTIVE SONNETS ON ST. VALENTINE'S DAY. I. THE beauteous birds, high perch'd on every tree, Or through the budding forest merrilie Fly fleet along on fluttering wings untired, But, ah! I feel like some poor eagle wired Even when it would all sense of grief control. II. "Tis Nature teaches all; and man and maid The billet-dour, symbolical, is now Passing from hand to heart, that trembling move, In praise of vermil lips or snow-white brow; Love reckons every moment long as hours. III. But man will waken, and the heart will cool- By which Love's viewless wings can be made fast. And every joy-the greatest and most sure But hastes away into the dreamy past. ANDREW PARK. THE JUDGES OF ENGLAND.* this chequered cloth were ranged a sufficient number usages THIS work will supply an important deficiency in English literature—a deficiency long felt and acknowledged, by more than those engaged in the study and practice of the law. A comprehensive account of the lives of the judges has never hitherto been published; and the more this want has been recognised, the more The first judge who comes under our notice is have writers been deterred from the task by the mag- William Fitz-Osborne, Earl of Hereford, who was born nitude of the study and research necessary to its ac- in Normandy, and held, during his earlier years, the complishment. No one, altogether unversed in the post of steward in the ducal household. When theory and practice of the law, not conversant with William, the Conqueror of England, came to power, the constitution of the courts, could have hoped to Fitz-Osborne lent him powerful and important aid in succeed in the undertaking; and few among those quelling several outbursts of discontent which agitated whose knowledge and abilities fitted them for its pro- the Norman people. He saw his master's ability, and secution have ever enjoyed the leisure necessary to the flattered his pride by pointing out to him that he successful accomplishment of an enterprise so arduous. might, without difficulty, succeed in reducing a great The author of the present volumes, however, having, island beneath his domination-an island which had in the course of a long and active professional career, excited the cupidity of the Roman empire. An expecollected a mass of facts relative to the history of the dition was resolved upon. The nobles opposed it. courts, and the lives of the Judges of England, deter-William Fitz-Osborne met and overcame their objecmined, on his retirement-which was not delayed, as tions, with courteous address and cunning oratory. is often the case, until the powers of the mind and Forty vessels were equipped at his expense; and when body are weakened, if not destroyed, by time-to pre- || pare, from the scattered notes he had gathered, a work|| which should embrace all that period of history which extends from the Norman Conquest down to the present reign. The first portion of this work is now before us; and we propose accompanying Mr. Foss through his sketches of some of the more remarkable men. When the fact is stated that no less than five hundred and eighty judges are brought under our notice in the present volumes, it will not be looked for that Mr. Foss should afford any very full details of their lives. When he comes to treat of more recent times, however, this will not be the case, as, from the abundance of authorities at hand, he will be enabled to frame complete biographical sketches. But it may be questioned whether our author, if he had passed over with the briefest possible mention numerous names to which little or no interest is attached, would not, by allowing himself more room for more important characters, have increased the value and interest of his work. As it is, we are compelled to assist ourselves by searches into the historians and biographers of the period. The Court of Chancery, the Court of King's or Queen's Bench, the Court of Common Pleas, and the Court of Exchequer, were, in the time of the Conqueror, united in one supreme court, which, under the name of the Curia, or Aula Regis, sat in the court or hall of the king's palace. In connection with this there was another, whose peculiar jurisdiction was confined to the adjustment of the royal revenues, and which assembled round "a four-cornered board, about ten feet long, and five feet broad, fitted, in manner of a table, to sit about, on every side whereof is a standing ledge or border, four fingers broad. Upon this board is laid a cloth, bought in Easter Term, which is of black colour, sewed with streaks, distant about a foot or span," like a chess board. On the spaces of Harold and William fought the battle of Hastings, Fitz-Osborne led one division against the English troops. As he had valiantly, and with perseverance, assisted in the subjugation of the acquisition, so he displayed prudence and sagacity in the maintenance of tranquillity. Through his efforts, the disturbances which usually agitate a new conquest were calmed, and, from the castle which he erected at Winchester, he succeeded in issuing the necessary regulations for preserving the peace of the provinces. When the Conqueror returned to Normandy, he left the government of the island to two chief-justiciaries, Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, and Fitz-Osborne, who ruled respectively the southern and northern counties, regulating the sovereign's revenue, and presiding over the Curia Regis. Rapacious and arrogant, they used their power with little temper, galling the people several times into violent outbursts of anger. But the regents were armed with power, as well as dignity, and they suppressed with ease the angry clamours of the English. By the Normans they were regarded with pride; by the English they were looked upon as the scourges of the land. We find Fitz-Osborne, after a long course of tyranny, aiding an expedition against the Welsh, assisting in the defence of Normandy, and resisting the invading forces of the disinherited Robert Trison, in Flanders. But the success which had hitherto attended, now forsook him, and he perished, a victim to carelessness, for which none was to blame but himself. The character of this man may easily be estimated. He was proud, cruel, and selfish; brave, generous, and skilful, as a soldier; but haughty and oppressive as a ruler, dispensing justice to Norman subjects, and injustice to the English. A favourite with the king, he did not fail to share largely in the bounties which the Conqueror gave to those of his noble subjects who aided him in the conquest of Britain. Broad lands fell to his possession; but the princely revenues thence derived did not nearly suffice The Judges of England, with Sketches of their Lives, and Miscellaneous Notices connected with the Courts at Westminster, from the time of the Conquest. By Edward Foss, F.S.A. Vols. I, and II, Longman & Co., London, to support his prodigal expenditure. He was ever in want, ever craving supplies from his sovereign; supplies which were never refused, but granted after a little chiding. mass. that obeisance. This was not all. The pontiff, not satisfied with investing Lanfranc with the usual pall, gave him that in which he himself had celebrated high Such honours were, in those days, not comOn one occasion, when acting as steward in the monly bestowed even upon archbishops. oh by royal household, he had set upon the table a crane In a controversy between the churches of Canterscarcely half-roasted. The king's anger was raised, and, bury and York, Lanfranc was successful. He laboured in his passion, he aimed a severe blow at him, which incessantly at repressing abuses among the clergy, and was, however, warded off by Gudo, another favourite. stood forward, on numerous occasions, as the champion Offended and mortified, Fitz-Osborne resigned his of justice, and the defender of the oppressed. Nor place, requesting that it might be conferred upon was his liberality unequal to his sense of honour. The Gudo; who continued to fill it for a considerable period. Cathedral of Canterbury was burnt down; he rebuilt It may be seen from the life of this chief-justiciary it. The edifices for the reception of twenty monks how altered is the state of society now, and how dif-were destroyed by the same calamity; he raised other ferent are the duties of public men from what they structures capable of admitting a hundred and forty. were at the time of the conquest. He also founded two hospitals for lepers and the infirmi, of the primacy for nineteen years, he died in May, 1089, and was interred at Canterbury. The biography of this excellent man is interesting and curious; yet we cannot easily perceive why it was introduced into the present work. Mr. Foss mentions a supposition, The next judge whom we shall notice is Lanfranc,|| repaired many churches and monasteries in his diocese, Archbishop of Canterbury, a man of extraordinary and contributed largely to the restoration of Roches abilities and learning, who filled successively the posi-ter Cathedral. After a useful and active occupation tion of schoolmaster, teacher at a Norman monastery, lecturer, abbot, archbishop, and chief-justice. His powerful and varied talents placed him among the most conspicuous characters of his time. He was born at Pavia, about the year 1005, and belonged to an illustrious family said to have descended from the Em-contained in three writers, that Lanfranc was chiefperors Carus and Numerian. The earlier years of his || life were passed in his native city, where he acquired some celebrity as a professor of laws; but, being inflamed with the love of travel, he forsook his home,|| and, passing into Normandy, opened a school at Avranches; which, however, about 1042, he left, and, retiring to the poor and lonely monastery of Bec, resumed his office of teacher with so much success, that an audience, gathered from all quarters of Europe, assembled to hear him. Pope Alexander II. was one of his pupils. After becoming monk, and then prior, Lanfranc was unfortunate, or rather fortunate, enough to excite the jealousy of Berengarius, Archbishop of Angers, some of whose pupils had come to receive his instructions, in preference to those of their master. Prompted by malice, his enemy endeavoured to implicate him in an affair of heresy, which was just then under discussion at Rome; but the prior completely turned the tables upon his adversary, being called upon, indeed, to refute this heresy in a grand assembly of the council. Thenceforward his career was one of success. William the First, who at that time was subjected to a sentence of excommunication, employed Lanfranc to procure its repeal. He accomplished the task; it being provided, however, that William and his wife should each found an abbey at Caen. The injunction was obeyed. Two edifices were erected, the one dedicated to St. Stephen, the other to the Holy Trinity. Of the former, Lanfranc was created the first abbot, in 1063. Every day added to his celebrity. justiciary during some part of the Conqueror's reign. Not one fact, however, is brought forward in comfirmation of this; and we rather think that he should have found a chronicle in the biography of the archbishops of England than that of the judges. Lanfranc appears to us to have been occasionally consulted by the king in matters of law; but further than this it would, we think, be rash to go. Advancing with rapid stride to the reign of King Stephen, we meet with Roger Alfres, the curate of a small church in the neighbourhood of Caen. He owed his future fortune to a trifling incident. Henry L, with his followers, chanced to be at worship, when the curate dispatched the service with more than usual celerity. The prince noticed him, spoke to him, and attached him to his train. He was a faithful servant. He was untiring in his industry during his master's adversity; and Henry is one, among the few recorded, who in prosperity regarded as a friend him who had served him when his fortunes were poor. During the early years of this prince's reign, he was appointed chancellor, and, not long after, Bishop of Salisbury. His power was immense; the treasures of the kingdom were in his keeping, and its expenses under his regulation. The period of his greatest authority commenced in 1107, when he presided over the revenue, the affairs of state, and the law. His vigilant and energetic administration tended greatly to the welfare of the people. The coin was purified, abuses in the court were checked, and corruption, so far as was possible, suppressed. His fidelity and wisdom were proportionate rewards. Duke William extended his confidence and favour The custody of Robert, the king's brother, was into the learned abbot. He intrusted him with the trusted to him; his nephews were elevated to bishopeducation of his children, and offered him the arch-ries; and when the succession of Matilda was dis bishopric of Caen; which, however, Lanfranc's modesty forbade him to accept. After the conquest, he was less scrupulous, and became Archbishop of Canterbury in 1070. Visiting Rome in the following year, His he was received with the utmost distinction. puted, Roger's oath of fealty was among the first that was required. He took the oath, and, when Henry was dead, immediately broke it-thus forfeiting the reputation he had acquired by a long career of fidelity. Stephen justly suspected the professions of a man whose perjury had added a powerful adherent to his cause; yet Roger was likely to prove too formidable |