of this writer than lay claim to attention, let me now exanine his reasoning, and here his conclusions will be found equally vague and groundles. How the witticism of Dr. Garth (which I believe be longs to Dr. Ratcliffe) relates either to me or Mr. Laudseer, I cannot divine, and consequently know not how to auswer. To Mr. Clark I give all due praise, and rejoice in an opportunity of adding my mite to a nation's gratitude: but does it follow that because this gentleman conceived the idea of breaking the enemy's line, and thereby cutting off a part of their ships, or compelling them to a general action, that he is therefore capable of giving lectures on all the parts of navigation. It is said that a monk by some chemical process discovered the art of making gunpowder; but did this enable him to instruct men in the art of war, or teach generals how to conduct a campaign? the inventor of gunpowder, and Mr. Clark made great discoveries, but what discovery in art has Mr. Landseer made? Had the monk or Mr. Clark presumptively pretended to instruct mankind on subjects they were ignorant of, and thereby injured men infinitely their superiors, they would deserve the same castigation Mr, Landseer has met with, I give Mr. Landseer credit for all the mechanical powers of an engraver in the fullest extent; he can cut a clear line; he can lay his lines parallel to each other; he can vary their distances, and carry them in any direction with taste; he can produce the most perfect evenness of tone, and variety of workmanship; he can give the inost delicate lights, and the utmost depth of shadow. I am told his etchings in landscape bear evident marks of taste and judgment, and his vignette landscape subjects have received the public approbation. Possessing these powers, why is not this gentleman a great historical and portrait engraver, when so far as the workman goes he combines all that is required? after those requisites what is wanting to complete the finished artist? why drawing, judgment, science, in short the painter's knowledge; does he possess those requisites? The portrait and historical subjects I have forinerly mentioned do not answer in the affirmative, even supposing them to be executed by himself; but if he is compelled to apply to others to supply his own deficiencies, what claim can he have to science as an historical or portrait engraver? Possessing what he does, if he wants that science in works avowedly his own, how can he pretend to impart it to others? But will Philographicus or any other inan come forward and say that Mr. Landseer has had such an education as an artist as qualifies him for the arduous employment of an historical engraver, or for an instructer of mankind in so difficult a department in art? I am told that he sketches landscape from nature with great elegance; so far then I will grant he is capable of giving instruction. If by fortuitous circumstances Mr. Landseer has gained a credit which his abilities are incapable of supporting, and that credit is employed in degrading my profession, I am justified in bringing him to his proper level, that I may be more able to cope with him, for it need not be proved how small a portion of mankind think for themselves, and how many of them rest their opinions on the authority of others. The dragging in of Sir Joshua Reynolds is equally foreign to the purpose; this great man had really studied the antique, had drawn from it, and had conceived, and made good use of its beauties, as numbers of the attitudes of his portraits and historical figures will fully prove. The drawing of the head of his Count Ugolino may vie with the drawing of the Laacoon; and had Mr. Landseer engraved this head (I do not mean had he only put his name to it) in any manner equally well with Mr. Dixon, I would have been among the first to have paid homage to his abilities; and would have admitted that he had great claims to the throne of criticism in his art, and whilst he abstained from wantonly injuring unpresuming, and inoffensive men, with pleasure would have borne a willing testimony to his real merits. But independent of drawing, Sir Joshua Reynolds was one of the greatest masters of effect and colouring the world has produced.-What claims has Mr. Landseer to put in competition with those of the honoured name of Reynolds? or what has he to support him in becoming a lecturer on the art of engraving? Mr. Paine Knight's principles of taste I have not had the pleasure of reading, and consequently can neither say what he has done or ought to do; but of the committees of taste in the house of commons, I will boldly affirm, that had that respectable body contained men who had modelled monuments themselves, they would have been more competent to judge of the models of others, and that artists who have been favoured by their decisions, VOL. II. X would not have disgraced the present age in the eyes of posterity. This curious correspondent of yours, in imitation of his leader Mr. Landseer, sneers at the mode of engraving I defend, and equally consistent with him, concludes his last paragraph but one in admitting a very principal part of what I shall contend for; and as he takes just as great liberties with the lecturer as with myself, he makes him admit it too: As a proof take the following extract; “but I think you may infer from what he (Mr. L.) has already published, that his opinion does not materially differ from my own, which may be expressed by a slight alteration of a celebrated couplet of Pope: "For modes of sculpturing let Fools contest, I most seriously declare this to be more than I expected from Philographicus. He has exalted the art from mechanical dexterity into a science; and with avidity do I seize this opportunity of paying my regards to his merit, where his judgment has for once taken the lead of his asperity. in I now take my leave of Philographicus, I hope for ever, my own defence I am justified in having shewn what he is.——" to hear both sides" is a demand that your impartiality cannot reject; but, sir, I shall not consider myself bound in future to lose my time in combating the flimsy arguments, or exposing the gross falsehoods of your wrathful correspondent: but to shew that I bear him all possible good will, I will give him this necessary and useful advice at parting. "O while you live Coz, tell Truth and shame the devil." On taking leave of you, sir, I wish to notice an error of your compositor, who has mistaken the word acts for arts in the apology: this I believe might rather proceed from the ill formation of my letters, than from his inattention. THE APOLOGIST for the Chalk manner of Engraving. THE MANNER OF LIVING IN POLAND. It is rare in a large house, that one sits down to dinner and supper with a less company than thirty or forty persons. At the palace of the Prince Czartoryski, I apprehend that scarcely ever less than fifty persons dine in the hall-a number which is very frequently augmented to a hundred, a hundred and fifty, and even three hundred. To sit down alone, with his wife and a friend, perhaps, would be intolerable to a Pole. And when an Englishman, or other persons who might have been in this country, have mentioned to a listening company the custom of England in this particular-and that even persons of the first consequence both for rank and wealth, would often sit down to dinner, simply a man and wife, or accompanied by a single friend-they have all exclaimed, with the utmost astonishment, Ah! comme il est triste.-how melancholy! Ordinary wines are the only drink in general use, even by the nobles themselves. When they wish for a different sort of wine, claret is the most usual, a bottle of which is placed near them, and of which they commonly invite some one or more to take part; it cannot be all. This is rather a ticklish time for the subalterns, in whose countenances may be commonly observed no very sublime conflict of feelings, between their wish to appland every act of their superior, and their obvious jealously and envy of the favoured individual. The nobles, I have not the slightest doubt, not unfrequently debar themselves from such luxuries in public, that they may avoid exciting a mutual jealousy among those in their service. On gala days, a few glasses of champagne are drunk, at the close of dinner. Other French wines are occasionally produced, and are in the cellars of most of the nobility; but, on account of the number there would be to partake, they very rarely appear. They are met with only in small and private parties. English bottle-porter is also a rarity, as it stands in Poland at the high price of a guinea per dozen. In In these large establishments and parties, it would be unreasonable, and even absurd to expect the utmost elegance or comfort, and for very obvious reasons. smaller families and parties, there is no want either of the one or of the other. Things are always better cooked, and nicer in all respects.. The children of the nobles are educated, for the most part, in their families, where they are provided with the requisite masters. In the times of the republic, the princes and nobles of large fortune educated in their own houses a great number of the children of their needy brethren; and their palaces usually contained schools, like those of our English bishops in times past. The prince Czartoryski had formerly, at all times a considerable number of boys and young men at his court, all of whom he provided with board, clothing, and education, and afte wards situations in life. One day in the week was called the flogging day, on which each offender received the chastisement for misdemeanors committed during the preceding six. In Warsaw, such was the pomp of former Polish manners, that the princess, when she went abroad, was attended by twenty of these young men at once, all on horseback, and who strove to outvie each other in vigilant attention and chivalrous gallantry. It was a point of politeness always contested with peculiar zeal, who should be foremost in handing her highness out of her carriage, and in helping her to ascend. During the time of dinner, the lofty and magnificent hall is absolutely crowded with servants; among whom may be discovered several Cossacks, with their long whiskers, and in their military uniform. Every person of consequence, too, has his own footman behind his chair, in his peculiar livery; the whole forming a spectacle which forcibly carries back the mind to the pompous periods of feudal grandeur. The servants, on all occasions, are very numerous; I once counted twelve waiting at a dinner-table, at which there were only eight persons dining. The accommodations in the wings of the Polish mansions are not perhaps quite correspondent with the elegance of the saloons and best apartments. Each wing may be considered as a very long house, not lofty, though with the attic, it has occasionally two stories above the ground floor. Through the centre, longitudinally, on each floor, extends a common passage, into which the several doors, on both sides, of the distinct chambers open. Accord ing to the more ancient plan, however, there is a range, in the front of the building, of several common (usually stone) stair-cases, each of which leads, on each floor, to a room both right and left; similar to what is found in |