Somniator and Ghost of Barry." Shew his eyes and grieve

his heart."

Ed. (respectfully presenting a book) VOLUME FOURTH!

R. A. "Why do you show me this ?-a fourth ?-start eyes, What! will the line stretch out to the crack of doom? Another yet? a fourth ?—I'll see no more."

Editor. "Aye, sir, all this is so: but why

Stands R. A.' thus amazedly?

Come, brothers,' cheer we up his sprights,

And shew the best of our delights."

Somniator. I'll send you soon another dream.

Ghost of Barry. D-n dreams! I'll send you, Mr. Editor, a letter.

R. A. (in great agitation.)

No, no! send us no more, nor dreams nor letters,

And ne'er again will we abuse our betters.

[Music: Editor, Somniator and Ghost of Barry dance a round, smile and vanish.]

Come in, without there!

Enter an Associate, candidate for the next vacancy of R. A.

A.

"What's your grace's will ?"

R. A. "Saw you the Editor of Annals, a dreamer and a ghost?

A.

"No, my lord."

"No, indeed, my lord,

R. A. "Came they not by you?"’

A.

R. A. "Infected be the" sheets "wherein they" write,

And damn'd all those that" read "them.'

Shakspeare redivivus.

[Exeunt. R. A. in great agitation, A. humbly following

PREFACE

THE dread the Academicians have of the Annals, since Somniator's Dreams, will scarcely be believed by any but those who have witnessed it.

"Have

you seen the last Number?" was said to a friend of

theirs a few days since.-" Don't talk of that work," was the answer; "but at any rate," it was replied,

you have no objection to see it ;" and it was then laid upon the table open at the passage he was desired to read. Hogarth himself could alone do justice to the expression of that face! a sudden stride towards the fire, and a sudden laugh at something which struck him in the room, had exactly the contrary effect to what he intended. For when men make a struggle to impress others with a belief that they are but slightly affected by any subject of conversation, it may be taken for granted that the matter has sunk very deeply into their remembrance.

However, not to be too severe upon our old friends, we must do them the justice to say that since the publication of the Annals, they have infinitely improved; they are infinitely more civil to those who do not belong to their sacred band; they seem infinitely more alive to the interests of the students and the art; infinitely more respectful to the Directors of the British Institution, and having been forced to look steadily at their own defects, when Truth held her blazing mirror to their faces, they will have a little more regard in future for the feelings of other people.

It has been our object to tell the Academy the truth, and we are happy to say, we have told it to them not altogether in vain, for they are certainly aroused in some degree from the lethargy which benumbed them. The pictures in the school of

colour this year, were evident proofs of this assertion. We have heard from a friend, upon whose judgment we can rely, that they were of the finest description, and afforded ample means of study to the advanced student. This is most gratifying for us to hear, and equally gratifying to acknowledge.

There is one thing more, we wish the Academicians to attend to, but in which we confess we are perfectly hopeless of success; we allude to the situation of the engravers! Is it not a shame, that when every other academy in Europe shares its honours with eminent engravers, the Royal Academy of England alone, actuated by a paltry feeling, refuses so to do with the members of a profession to which they are so eminently indebted for spreading of their fame?

But this is a hopeless affair. No member of the Royal Academy can bear to be spoken to on the subject, with patience; it seems to stir up the bitterest part of the bilious elements of his academical nature. The portrait painters of the Royal Academy imagine, because they copy faces, they must rank as original inventors, in comparison with Sharpe, Strange, Woollet, Morghen and Marc Antonio, who entered into the feelings of the great men they copied, like great actors, and translated them into another language with all the tact of their originals.

We do not mean to say that the powers of an engraver are to be compared with the powers of a painter or a poet; nor do we mean that an eminent

engraver deserves no more praise than a good copier; but we positively assert that a great engraver is a greater man than a mere face painter. To translate the beauties of a fine picture into a new language, is an effort of the deepest susceptibility; perhaps an exquisite engraver ranks with a great musician, or a great actor, not with Haydn and Mozart, who were great composers, any more than Garrick ranks with Shakspeare; but with Salomon or Viotti, who had a deep tact for the beauty of the compositions of those great masters, and who could, by their power of playing upon some instrument, convey the most hidden sensations of their originals to the audience.

The engravers of the present day are suffering from a party feeling raised against Strange, when the Academy was founded. For the founders of it, in order to keep him out, refused to admit engravers as full members.

With respect to another question of much greater consequence, which we have always advocated, and shall always advocate, namely, the public encouragement of historical painting, and which most of the leading men in the country approve, we cannot say that the prospect has much brightened, in consequence of the turbulence of the times, though the feeling of its propriety has increased, since last year.

What can his Royal Highness, or the government do for the Arts in these turbulent times? is