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thard; Venus Anadyomene, a beautiful piece, by Howard; Morning Fishermen, one of Collin's most perfect landscapes; Richmond Hill, an uncommon and splendid work, by Turner; Highland Chief, by Raeburn; Captain Manby, in a fine broad style, J. P. Davis; the PostOffice, E. V. Rippingille; Jacob's Dream, by W. Allston, equal to the foremost productions of the season; Aladdin, richly coloured, by Stew ardson; Sir Roger de Coverley, a very clever thing, by C. R. Leslit; A Lady in a Reuben's manner, R. R. Reinagle; Calandrino, a droll story from the Decameron, H. P. Briggs; two Landscapes by Samuel and Hoffland; Village Feast, W. Kidd; A Wood-Cutter and his Daughter, Drummond; Sir Gregor MacGregor and other large portraits, by Steele; and several other large portraits, by Steele; and several brilliant and sweet productions, by A. Robinson, Chalen, W. H. Watts, Newton, &c. There were Enamels by Bone in his best manner, and a large and fine copy by Muss, &c. In Sculpture, the most remarkable productions were, A Peasant Girl, by Westmacott; Statue of Dr Anderson for Madras, by Chantrey, and some fine busts, &c.

The British Institution in PallMall, for the exhibition and sale of the works of British Artists, was opened early in the year. Wilkie has an admirable little picture, which he calls China Menders; and Collins, in addition to his Departure of the Diligence from Rouen, has a pleasing

composition taken from the "Coast of Norfolk." "Shylock," by Jackson, the Academician, is exceeding. ly good. The return of Louis Dixhuit, by Bird, is upon a larger scale than the usual pictures of this artist. It will not, however, diminish the reputation he acquired by his "Chevy Chace." An Italian Female Peasant, and St Peter paying the Tribute with a piece of Silver found in a fish, both painted by G. Hayter, evince great improvement in this artist, since his return from Rome. The Fall of Babylon, by Martin, is full of fancy and imagination. Timon's Cave, and some other pictures from Shakespeare, by Bonten, are very far superior to the former efforts of this artist. Davis has painted a picture founded on the discovery of Magna Charta and the Meeting of the Barons, as described in Hume's History of England. He has happily substituted portraits of the Duke of Devonshire, Marquis of Tavistock, Lord Erskine, Lord Egremont, Lord Ossulston, Marquis of Huntly, Marquis of Stafford, the Duke of Northumberland, &c. &c. under the name of the original Barons. Stothard, Bigg, Reinagle, Westall, Cooper, Hilton, and Ward, from the Royal Academy, have each of them contributed pictures of various merit. The exhibition is, upon the whole, calculated to support the reputation of our native artists, and, in its various departments, gives undoubted testimony of gradual and progressive improvement.

PUBLIC WORKS,

AND

LOCAL IMPROVEMENTS.

In the erection of Southwark Bridge, it appears as if an attempt had been made to prevent the natural effect of heat upon iron, that is, to prevent its expansion; for where the spandrils enter the masonry of the abutments and piers, they were wedged in tight with iron wedges, from the bottom to the top; the consequence was, that an expansion taking place, a very unequal strain and injurious effect was produced; for the radius of the intrado of the arch being 312 feet, and of the extrado about 6600, and both being confined between abutments, yet connected together, locking them as two separate and distinct arches, it became evident that the latter would require to rise in the centre, for every degree of heat, considerably more than the former, but cannot without lifting, or parting from it by fracture. To avoid this, which it is somewhat extraordinary was not guarded against in the first instance, masons were, for some time, employed night and day. in the tedious operation of working away the stone work at the back of the wedges, in order to remove them. This operation has, however, been successfully acco, lished, and the bridge was opened to the public on the 27th of March at midnight.

A new Wire Bridge has been thrown over the river Kelvin, at Garscube-house, Dumbartonshire, the seat of Sir Islay Campbell, Bart. wholly composed of iron-wire, with out any support in the centre. The length is 100 feet, and it is nine feet above the surface of the river.

NATIONAL MONUMENT.-A numerous meeting of the Noblemen and Gentlemen of Scotland, desirous of promoting the object of the erection of a National Monument to commemorate the exploits of our gallant countrymen in different parts of the world, and to form a sort of Temple where the efforts of genius and patriotism might receive a suitable and enduring record, took place on Wednesday March 3d, in the Assembly Rooms, George Street; his Grace the Duke of Athole in the chair. The following resolutions, moved by the Right Honourable the Earl of Moray, and seconded by Lord Belhaven, were unanimously adopted, and followed up by numerous subscriptions, and by such measures as cannot fail to give a sufficient and successful impulse to this great national object :—

"Resolved, That the unparalleled victories with which the Great Disposer of Events was pleased to bless the British arms by sea and land, in the late glorious and eventful war, in which the valour of Scotsmen was so conspicuously displayed in every quarter of the globe, justly deserve to be commemorated in the Metropolis of Scotland, by some appropriate Memorial of national gratitude: That a monumental edifice, comprehending a Church, destined for the purpose of divine worship, and ornamented in such a manner as may perpetuate the memory of the great naval and military achievements of the late war, will afford a lasting proof, not only of gratitude" to the Almighty for his protection,

but of the affectionate remembrance of Scotland, of those gallant officers and men, who fought and bled in the service of their country: That the glorious and important services of our army in Asia, in the war recently and successfully terminated, in which Scottish valour was so eminently manifested, shall be commemorated in the proposed National Monument: That for the purpose of accomplishing this desirable object, a general subscription shall immediately be opened, and the most effectual measures adopted, to raise a fund, not only for completing an edifice worthy of Scotland, but for the endowment of two clergymen to officiate as Ministers of the intended church: That subscriptions of any amount, not being less than L.1, 1s. be received, and that all subscribers shall, for every L.25 contributed, have right to a share and accommodation in the intended church, in a manner hereafter to be more particularly defined, and that a considerable portion of the church shall be set apart for free admissions on all occasions: That due provision shall be made, that no subscriber shall be responsible, or called upon, for more than his individual subscription on any account whatever: and, That a committee be appointed to forward subscriptions, and to consider of the most proper means for carrying into effect the object of this meeting, and to report the same to a General Meeting to be called at such future period as may appear to the Committee to be most proper."

The first stone of that stupendous structure, Menai Bridge, was laid without ceremony on the 10th of August, by the resident engineer, Mr Provis, and the contractors for the masonry, Messrs Straphen and Hall. When completed, it will connect the island of Anglesea with the

county of Caernarvon, and by that means do away with the present Ferry, which has always been one of the greatest obstacles in the esta blishment of a perfect communication between England and Ireland, through North Wales. The design is by Mr Telford, and is on the suspension principle. The centre opening is to be 560 feet between the points of suspension, and 500 feet at the level of high-water line. The roadway is to be 100 feet above the highest spring tide, and is to be divided into two carriage-ways of 12 feet each, and a foot way of four feet between them. In addition to the above, there are to be three stone arches of fifty feet each on the Caernarvon shore, and four of the same dimensions on the Anglesea side. It is estimated to cost about L.70,000, and will probably be completed in three years.

The Magistrates of Glasgow, in conjunction with the county gentlemen of Lanark, have resolved to erect a new Bridewell for the city and county. The existing Bridewell was erected so late as the year 1799; but so rapid has been the extension of delinquency and crime, that this establishment, though large enough then, has now become altogether inadequate to the purposes of such an institution. The average number of prisoners last year was 210. The expense of the new Bridewell, which is estimated at L. 30,000, is to be raised on the simple principle of assessing the city and county in proportion to their population. A census is to be taken to fix the contribution of each division.

Numerous and valuable donations were lately received by Professor Jameson for the College Museum; the most remarkable of which are Animals of Iceland, presented by Sir G. S. Mackenzie; Animals collected

in Baffin's Bay, by Captain Ross: Corals and minerals collected in the Bahamas, by Admiral Sir David Milne, the corals being of unrivalled magnitude and beauty, and many of the minerals rare, one of which, a colossal stalactites, is calculated to weigh five tons; a collection of ores and minerals from the island of Elba, presented by Principal Baird from a gentleman of that island; and the skeleton of the great whale at Airthrie, presented by Sir Robert Abercromby. The fine collection of natural history purchased for the University from M. Dufresne of Paris, also arrived safely on board the cutter sent by Government for conveying it hither, and under the superintendance of Captain Thomas Brown of Edinburgh. This is a particularly rich and valuable collection, and will form an invaluable accession to the previous treasures of the Museum. This year a project was formed for erecting buildings on the Earthen Mound, Edinburgh, and some time afterwards several plans were given in, incomparably the best of which was that by Mr Playfair, the ingenious architect who designed that classical edifice, the Observatory on the Calton Hill. According to this plan, the mound was to be reduced towards its southern extremity; and the buildings, which were to be only of one story, with an arcade in the centre, were to be erected on the horizontal level. Hence Mr Playfair's plan is calculated to obviate the insuperable objection to erections of two stories in height, which were at first contemplated, and which would have totally intercepted the view of Salisbury Craggs and Arthur Seat from that part of the line of Prince's Street to the west of the Mound, as well as the view of the Castle and the hills in the distance from the passengers on the bridge

and the eastern division of Prince's Street. The Mound, in its present condition, is certainly a huge deformity; and there can be little doubt, we think, that were this plan adopted and carried into effect, a great eye-sore would be removed, an unoccupied mass of earth and rubbish covered with ornamental buildings, and none of those striking and picturesque views, which render Edinburgh the envy of all other cities, in any the least degree impaired or obstructed. At the same time we cannot help remarking, that irreparable injury would be done to the metropolis of Scotland were any absurd and injudicious erection to be perched upon it, as there is scarcely a point of view, in which its deformity would not obtrude itself on every eye.

Mr Owen stated, at a meeting in London, when a Committee was ap pointed to investigate his plan, and report upon its practicability, that 200,000 pair of hands, with machinery, spun as much cotton now as forty years ago, without machinery, would have employed 20,000,000, that is, 100 to 1; that the cotton spun in a year, at this time, in this country, would require, without machinery, at least 60,000,000 of labourers with single wheels; and that the quantity of manufacturing works of all sorts, done by the aid of machinery in this nation, was such as would require, without that aid, the labour of at least 400,000,000 of manufacturers.

The improvement of the Glasgow and Carlisle road, which runs almost diagonally through Dumfriesshire, will not only enhance the value of property of every description along the line, but will shorten the distance from the greater part of Dumfriesshire to Carlisle and the north of England about 4 miles. The operations on the newly laid out line between Graitney and Carlisle are

going on with spirit. The new bridge over the Esk, which has been contemplated for seventy years past, was founded about the end of May, and will be finished in June 1820: it is to have two cast-iron arches, one of 150 and the other of 100 feet span. Another bridge will be built over the Sark, at Allison's Bank, which will have two stone arches of forty and the other of thirty feet span. Seve. ral other improvements are making on the roads in that part of the country.

By the Sixteenth Report of the Commissioners, made to Parliament, it appears that the expenditure upon the Caledonian Canal, to the commencement of May 1819, amounted to L.742,000; that a moiety of the Parliamentary grant of last year (L.25,000) had not, at the date of the report, been issued from the Exchequer, and that a farther grant of L. 50,000 was voted during this session of Parliament.

This great work will probably be completed in the course of the two next years.

The navigation from Inverness to Fort Augustus is already open, and there is a near prospect, at the other end of the canal, of a similar approach towards the completion of the navigation from sea to sea. The navigation of Loch Ness was opened to the public in May 1818, and about 150 voyages were made last season by coasting vessels carrying from forty to seventy tons each; and the facility is such, that vessels sometimes accomplish the voyage of twenty-three miles to Fort Augustus, discharge their cargo, and return to the lower end of the lake within twenty-four hours. The exports consist of timber, staves and wool; the imports of tar, oatmeal, and coals, of which last article the price is lowered one half. Lime is also a frequent article of freight, and thus the improvement of the adjacent lands is ensured.

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