Mr. ARNOLD has here executed a very difficult composition with great spirit and truth. The bridge and surrounding trees, with the gleam of moonlight in the running stream beneath, and the contending glare of a lime kiln, are all faithfully and pleasingly represented. The scenery is romantic. Purchased by the Marquis of Stafford. No. 297. A Landscape and Windmill. S. W. Reynolds. A GRAND picture: the shades are broad and deep; and the light is produced with an effect, such as we see in Rembrandt's best compositions. The ge neral tone of colouring is of a bluish black; though there is an equal degree of warmth and coolness scattered about the picture. Purchased by Mr. Guillemard. Published by LONGMAN, HURST, REES, and ORME, Paternoster Row; J. HATCHARD, Bookseller to Her Majesty, 190, Piccadilly; and WILLIAM MILLER, Albemarle Street. William Savage, Printer, Bedford Bury. THE DIRECTOR. No. 17. SATURDAY, MAY 16, 1807. Graiis ingenium, Graiis dedit ore rotundo HOR. IN şurveying the circle of the arts and sciences, and in comparing the progress of the moderns with the productions of antiquity, we have little reason to admit inferiority, except` in some branches of the graphic art. We have learnt from immortal instructions, the true path of science, ascertained by experiment; and in an age of refinement, rich in scientific discoveries, fertile in poets and orators, skilled in the art of war, in navigation, in letters, and in every liberal ob ject of pursuit, we need not suppose that our fellow countrymen labour under any physical deficiency with regard to the arts of design. It will therefore be my object, with a view at some future time of suggesting the means of success, to take a brief survey of the excellence attained in former periods, and of the circumstances connected with it. Ir is pretty clear that the carving of wood and stone is of prior date to the invention of pictures; which require a nicer and more refined process of art, and has an assigned origin in the story of the Maid of Corinth, tracing the features of her lover in an outline on the wall while sculpture is coeval with the records of the most remote ages. : THE first habitations seem to have imitated the stems and branches of trees; and the first monuments were a heap of stones or an upright pillar. In the 28th chapter of Genesis, we find that Jacob took the stone which had served for the support of his head during the night, and set it up for a pillar. Joshua raises a heap of stones over Achan. God is called "the stone" of Israel. When the Tribes of Israel pass the river Jordan with the ark in a miraculous manner, each is commanded to set up a stone for a memorial. The pillar of Eliseg near Langollen, which Mr. Pennant supposes to be the most ancient monument in Britain, is of similar character. As the art advanced, two stones were erected with a traverse over them; the Pyramids of Egypt were built, and the astonishing caverns of Elephanta and Salsette, were hewn from the native rock by the Indian devotee. The first efforts of skill seem throughout the world to have been consecrated to religion, and the theology of each nation is usually blended with astronomical science. The idea impressed on the mind by these primæval structures, is that of duration. Stonehenge in our country, and the wall of China are erections of a cor |