A CONVERSAZIONE. (Continued from page 204.) "THE HE native energies of Genius," said the Lecturer, 64 were never more strikingly displayed than in these two gentlemen, whose pursuits have placed them among the higher cultiva-, tors of the fine arts,-for, I suppose, we inay call Poetry, as well as Painting, an art, with the authority of our old acquaintance, Horace. It is true, indeed, that there is more mechanical process in the latter than in the former, and, in the present day, it seems that more study is required to make a good painter than good poet, since the adage Porta nasci tur, non fil, appears to be insisted upon pretty generally by the numerous ly. rists of our rhyming age; so that, if we may trespass a little metaphorically upon the maiden character of the Ladies of Helicon, and suppose it possible that they ever had any children, Clio certainly may be reckoned the most prolific, and her offspring the most easily matured in their parent's graces “They lisp in numbers for the numbers come."-But with whatever facility the multitudinous brood of noble and plebe ian poetasters affect to assert their filial pretensions, the race of painters are not so easily accepted as legitimate desceudants of the sister muse; they must at least give more evidence of their claim, than what the mere mixing of their colours affords. A man who sets up for a poet in our times has only to fur nish himself with a few indefinable combinations of far-fetched imagery, ancient legends, and romantic rhapsodies; to work them up with a due proportion of epithetical nothings, to blend the whole by a sort of a titumti cadence, and to make the hero or heroine of his disordered fancy the first or the last of some barbarian people, or savage tribe the lord or the lady of some insulated haunt of robbers and cuthroats; the bride or the bandit of some infidel re gion, or piratical horde; then have the word form printed in the title-page, and, lof the bard comes forth, arrayed in all the trickery of publication;-neal type, expansive margin, hot-pressed paper, and elegant engravings. It is not so, however, with the painter; he is forbid den, by the better knowledge of his brother artists, to call that a picture which consists only of a subject, an intermix ture of colours, light and shade, and allTM comprised within a certain breadth of canvass bordered with a gilded moulding. The ut pictura poesis may help out the manufacturer of rhymes with something like a pretence to description; but the converse of this similarity will not assist the artist, with any Justífication, in the crudities of his fancy; his subject must be identified to the common sense of the spectator, whose eye instantly commands his reflection, and decides upon the truth of the subject, and the skill with which the story is told. The poet may paint to our mental vision, but the painter must speak to our visual sense-and however animating the eccentricities of Shakspeare's genius may be in his Midsummer Night's Dream, yet our conception is not a little strained to accompany his powerful fancy in its visionary flight; but I will venture to say, that the monstrosities of Fuseli's pencil, with whatever masterly powers they may be presented to our gaze, produce more of wonder than delight, and we turn from them with a sensation bordering upon disgust at witnessing the outrage committed by a distorted imagination, upon the plainer dictates of true taste aud natural sentiment,-while the simple and unaffected delineations of Wilkie, Biggs. Turner, and Stothard, instantly produce in the heart of the beholder an interest as instructive as it is pleasing, and while the eye is gratified, the mind is led from the contemplation of the artist's excellence to the moral reality of the lesson which he impresses upon its conviction."—Here I took upon me to interrupt my friend, that I might recall his wandering thoughts to the point at which he set out, for I perceived he began to fancy himself in his lecture-room; " My dear F. all this you will scarcely recollect, I fear, for your next lecture, and I really must interrupt you with a remark, that, if you do not return to the gentlemen whom you were about to introduce to my better acquaintance, I shall scarcely reach my lodgings before the busy hum of men begins." “Well, well, I must apologize for the force of habit," he replied," but hoc est vitium of all public speakers, that they often fall impercep tibly into the official presumption of their profession, and become praters in private, as well as dictators in public Гл Conversazione, the taste of the public would not sup you must forgive me, and, indeed; mutalis malandis, I think I might have arraigned you upon the same indictment, when you just now favoured me with your lengthy disquisition upon tithes, and tithe-takers;-I believe I set out with telling you, that the portrait painter and the poet were both men of natural genius; and, for the former, I shall have your instant acquiescence, when I tell you that, although he now ranks among the most eminent of his class, his debut in life was made on board a smuggling cutter, and he fought as a common sailor on board of a privateer. Notwithstanding this boisterous morning of his life, the ray of his genius burst forth about the noon-tide of his years; and, after various vicissitudes, during which he persevered in his faTourite pursuit, he at length struggled with sufficient success to reach the summit of his art, and he is now famed for the accuracy of his likenesses, and the touches of character which he gives to his portraits. It is certainly most fortunate for this gentleman, and the whole fraternity of the brush, that the Vanity of the age makes up for its want of genuine taste, as far, at least, as respects the profitable proceeds of their profession for painters cannot live upon the flimsy fame of popular cele brity, any more than other candidates for public favour. D- worked hard at subject-painting when he first took to his cazel, but the purse of the purchaser did not open to his just expectations; and although his labours were allowed to be excellent, and he rose so high in this department of his art as to be in favour with the hanging committee of the Academy, and to be numbered among the A. R. A., yet be was just as far off as ever from obtaining an adequate subsistence.Unwilling, however, to yield his predi lection to his necessity, he still worked on, until he found his painting room filled with the specimens of his industry; -from Somerset House, where they were admired, they travelled back to his own, where they remained to mellow in their tints, and to await the fortuitous customer. He soon perceived that the road to fame was not the path to emoJument, and as he had married, and was surrounded with more claimauts upon the proceeds of his profession than they were calculated to supply, he came to the resolution of many greater artists than himself, and determined, that, as alderman, who, after having been engaged the best part of his life in painting his own face, came to me to finish the picture.-He, in the corner, not completed, as you see, is a contractor, who, after the second sitting, happening to make a bad speculation, returned the canvass on my hands.-That, is a Rector, who, as his parishioners never see him among them, had his likeness taken, to be hanged up in the vestry, that at least the nominis umbra might remind them of tythe-day."-."-" But who," said my friend, "is that darkbrowed gentleman, who looks as if he was going to pass sentence upon me?" "Oh, Sir! " replied the painter, "he is a man who possesses the softest heart with the hardest face, of all that I know in the records of our criminal courtsand notwithstanding the lowering cast of his features, they never fail to kindle with the smile of mercy when he can seize a favourable opening for the prisoner's hope. And that outline is the first sketch of a barrister, whose eloquence has taught the vicious to tremble, and the oppressed victim of their villanies to rejoice;-He is a son of the "Emerald Isle," and is richly entitled to participate in the admiration and gratitude with which his country cherishes her numerous worthies, who have lately raised her fame to the highest pitch of diguity and glory.-That portrait which you are now looking at, is the faint at tempt of the artist to pourtray all that was lovely and interesting in female beauty when it was taken, she was supposed to be far gone in consumption -the hectic tinge of the cheek-the soft melancholy of her eye, and the faint smile that lingers upon her lip, give a charm to her countenance that awakens in the beholder a sympathy for the original which always displays itself in an anx ious enquiry to know who she is: but I regret to add, I can now only tell who she was, or rather what she was; for, although death has long ago cropped the beauteous flower, yet in instances like hers in which my confidence has been pledged, I never mention names her story is more like that of a heroine of romance than the narrative of common life, and as you have full ten minutes to sit before your hour is up, you shall bear it."-Then, with a side glance at my friend's physiognomy, and a touch at the canvas, D proceeded to recount the fair one's his tory... (To be continued.) - The Lord Mayor having laid before the Meeting a number of particulars respecting the State of the Police of the City, more especially as regarded the Nightly Watch of the several Wards; it was resolved, that the Lord Mayor be requested to cause the same to be printed, and to be forwarded to the Aldermen, Deputies, and Common Council of the several Wards, in order to the subject being fully considered by them, previously to the same being brought before the Court of Common Council. The Lord Mayor, agreeably to the wish of the said Meeting, transmitted the subjoined Observations, and requested that the Gentlemen of the several Wards will take the earliest opportunity of meeting to give the same the most serious consideration, in order to the adoption of such or other Flans which may be suggested, and which may appear more likely to improve the present system, or conduce more effectually to the safety of the Inhabitants of the City of London. 1. Numerous warehouses are robbed in the morning after the watchmen have left their stations, by persons, who either secrete themselves in the right within the warehouses, or enter early in the morning by means of false keys: a town cart is called by a well dressed person, he stands at the door with a book pretending to enter the goods, while two or three persons are loading into the cart. Property to a very large amount has thus been conveyed away from different warehouses in the present year. 2. Considerable property is stolen by servants in shops and private houses, and delivered in the morning before the families are up, to persons who are going about in the morning under various pretences, which the Lord Mayor has already explained. 3. Picking of pockets in the public strects is greatly facilitated by the as sembly of persons at different shops, and interruptions are created by the different gangs of pickpockets which infest the streets. 4. Several of the wards not having evening patroles, many robberies are committed, by taking parcels from carts which are carrying goods to the waggon-offices and warehouses; also trunks are taken from carriages. The watch houses not being open before nine o'clock in winter, persons who may be robbed are at a loss to know where to find an officer or any assistance. 5. The beats or rounds of many watchmen are so short, that they take only five minutes to walk them, which being twice within the hour, he is either 50 minutes in his box, or what is more frequent, they meet two or three together, and are in conversation a considerable time; frequently they are employed in shutting up shops and going of errands for the inhabitants, going into public-houses with prostitutes; and although the streets are crowded with disorderly women, they will not interfere or take the least notice of their conduct; also from the practice of their being fixed in stations or boxes for many years, there is no doubt but some of them receive bribes from per. sons who commit robberies in the street as well as in houses, for it is a wellknown fact, notorious characters attend Fleet-street and other public streets every night, and are in constant conversation with the prostitutes, and must be well known to the watchmen. Town carts are out at two or three o'clock in the morning in great numbers, on the stands, under the pretence of being first in turn. They are liable to be fined for being before five in surumer, and seven in winter. The Lord Mayor has fined many; but it is impossible to bring them all to justice, if the watchmen will not also do their duty; and scarcely one in the year has been brought up by watchmen. All public houses are ordered by the Lord Mayor to be shut up by 12: and no watering houses are allowed to be open, in the city, as the Hackney-coach Masters themselves petitioned the Lord Mayor not to allow them to be open since drivers only went to the houses with servants, and lost all their money in gambling, and left their horses standing the streets: but the watchmen pay no kind of attention to this part of their duty, but rather encourage it. REMEDIES PROPOSED. The present watchmen say their pay is so small that they cannot afford to attend the Magistrate the following day, therefore they do not take notice of offences lest they should lose a day's work. The Lord Mayor proposes that 400 men should be employed as patroles, at 21s. per week each; and 40 superintendents at 30s. This will cost for the year near 25,000. The present expense is about 26,000. The 400 patroles to go on duty at nine o'clock; to wear dark brown or drab great coats, with the initials of the ward, and a number on the arm; to be armed with short staves; to have no lantern, no watch boxes; not to call the hour nor patrol; but to continue walking, or patroling the whole of their beat or round for two hours; then to go to the watch-house for one hour. Each man to change his round every night, not knowing until nine o'clock what beat he is to go upon. If any charge be given in any affray or assault, the first man who is called, whether in his own ward or not, shall be bound to attend; as it frequently occurs that watchmen say I cannot take the charges it is not in my ward. A strong room to be made in every watch-house, which is situated at a great distance from the Compter, that the men may not be taken off their duty by going to the Compter with every charge, but to take them in the morning when they leave their duty. They should be expressly ordered to attend to coaches and carts standing at doors at unseasonable hours; and also to the numerous small carts which come into the City in the morning; and to the good order of the streets, and all public-houses. The 40 superior patroles or superin, tendents to be divided agreeably to the extent of the wards, one to small wards, and two, to the large wards, to wear dark blue great coats. Twenty of them to be on duty at six o'clock. The watch-houses to be open as soon as it is dark. The watch house-keeper to be in waiting until nine o'clock, to give information to the public where to find the superintendents, who must be patroling their different districts. At nine o'clock they are to see that all watchmen come upon their duty; to inspect them during the night; and also to return the state of the lamps during the night; to enter all the remarks in the watch-book. The City Marshals or Marshal-men to attend every night, and to enter their names in the watch-book of every watch-house at least once in every night, and the book to be laid before the Lord Mayor the following day. The watchmen not to quit their stations before six in summer, and seven in the winter. Twenty of the superintendents to continue until nine o'clock, to prevent morning depredations; the other 20 to come on duty at 12, and to continue until six o'clock, to assist the Lord Mayor's police-officers in removing ob structions and nuisances; to keep the coaches and carts in proper order during the day; to inspect the state of the pavement; to remove all beggars; to give all possible assistance to the police-officers; to enter all remarks in a book to be kept at the Marshal's Office, at the Mansion-house. Every watchman and patrole to live in the ward for which he serves, and have his name on his door in large letters, CITY PATROLE. To the Editor of the European Magazine. STR, ESIROUS that the inclosed paper than it can be among my limited acquaintance, I request your insertion of it in your next number. 16th Oct. 1816. I am, Sir, Your obedient Servant, B. in London, no English shiremen have applied themselves more profitably to the King's court, and innes of court, therein, or hath attained greater wealth and honour by living in those places." As an improved edition of this work with many additions, has been lately AN APPEAL TO THE LADIES OF ENG- published, by the accurate and labori LADIES, LAND. HOW a custom, so revolting in its nature as the employment of climbing boys in the sweeping of chimneys, has taken rise in such a country as ours, is a problem not easily solved. It has not even the plea of an imaginary necessity, since it is an undisputed fact, that in most other countries this method is unknown, and in none does it prevail to the same extent as in Engfand. The origin of the evil is, however, a subject of inferior consideration; let our attention be directed to the best mode of terminating its existence. On this point, my fair country women, I confidently appeal to your Judgment, to your charity, to your humanity. You are the sweet soothers of ur cares you are the source of our omestic joys; it is you who weave the ous Mr. John Nicholls-this same respectable Editor will have to record in the next edition, that the present Lord Mayor being (according to an interesting memoir in your Magazine for April last) a native of Tiverton, has wiped away the above reproach from the county of Devon! Thus has arisen (and there may have been others) one Devonshire Man who has made free use of the Eschange in London, and who in returning back the advantages accruing to him from wealth thus acquired, by discharg ing the arduous duties of the high office of Magistracy, in a manner which whilst it has secured to him the honours of second civic reign-redounds to his own credit, and augments the municipal glory of the first City of the world." I am, Sir, yours, respectfully, |