cows and water are very natural. The " Crypt" of the abbey bears a striking resemblance to some part of St. Saviour's church, in Southwark; and we wish the Crypt of Neath Abbey had as much chance of being preserved as the other, but the loud pealing organ and the chanting of the monks has long ceased in Neath Abbey, never to be heard again; and a few years, we fear, will work destruction on the present ruins. On this account these engravings are valuable. We have only to add, that we have been much pleased with the numbers before us; they are in no wise inferior to the earlier ones, and that is, we conceive, offering a very high testimonial in their favor.

The Guide to Knowledge. A cheap weekly print. Gilbert, London.

Ar the Beaumaris Eisteddvod we regarded the announcement of the Rev. John Blackwell, that it was intended to present our Welsh population with cheap literature, the same way it has been given to England, as not the least important feature of that interesting congress; we anticipate with delight the beneficial consequences of such an arrangement, and we sincerely hope that no impediment will occur so as to cause unnecessary delay in bringing the plan into operation. It is with an ardent wish, not to dictate, but respectfully to suggest, to those persons to whom this most arduous and responsible duty may be confided, such a plan as may most benefit the present and future generations of man; and with this view we are saved infinite trouble by directly addressing ourselves to the contents of the little work, as above entitled; we propose it as a model for future action, for we are quite certain that its contents are most judiciously chosen, and admirably calculated to accomplish the objects intended; we could select, in support of the preceding remarks, some valuable extracts from "The History of Geography,' "The Antediluvian World," "Maxims and Morals;" (by the bye, many of them strikingly similar to the Aphorisms of Catwg, the wise,) "Wonders of the Deep," &c. &c.; but we prefer, as more immediately referring to our object, selecting a few short passages from the preliminary address, and their merit shall be our apology for so doing. Alluding to the utility of extending intelligence among all classes, the editor proceeds to remark

"It must be observed, how little is to be dreaded from the ambition of an instructed people; since so very few attain to eminence in learning, considering the paucity of time that can be spared from the duties of life, that scarcely any surmount the difficulties that weigh them down to the level of their origin. Should, however, one or another, occasionally soar beyond his class, and gain a higher station, the example may create emulation, and who would regret the excitement of a laudable feeling, or the elevation of a me

ritorious individual? There is yet another argument in favor of knowledge, which is this:-knowledge, if properly inculcated, teaches man to perform his duties, and as he regards his own rights, so to respect the rights of others; without these wise maxims that wisdom suggests, a man may learn to be cunning, but truly he has no claim to legitimate knowledge.

All history, if properly studied, contributes to sustain this conclusion. The retrospect of causes and effects evidently demonstrates, that ignorance has been the means of producing most of the evils and miseries which mankind have suffered, ever since they have been able to record the actions and events of their own times and countries; and that, as knowledge advanced, she brought in her train, not only the arts, that embellish life, but also all those social virtues that soften the asperities of our sublunary path, and introduce a concord and sympathy among us, unknown to the rude ages of antiquity. If this is so, and who can deny it? why should we wish to halt in the march, or stand still in the way, every step of which has given us such proofs of its being "the road to happiness? Not one, surely, would wish to go back, for on what era can he fix of the past that shall be comparable to the present, with respect to the real enjoyments of life. But the "law of nature" suffers no rest, we must advance or recede; behind us is darkness, before us, the day, on which "the sun of science shines: let us seek its genial ray, and prosper by its influence."

We do not assume that the substance of the foregoing paragraphs is original, but assuredly they are most judiciously introduced and skilfully handled; they convince us that the editor is a sound philosopher: by philosopher let us not be misunderstood; we do not mean philosophers, as coupled with, and who figured in, many calamitous national events, which have, during the end of the last and beginning of the present century, nearly rendered the word philosopher synonymous with revolutionist, or if it has not done that, at least rendered it a term of very equivocal signification; but we mean a learned, a benevolent, and a thoroughly good man.

We conclude our commendation of this penny book,by asserting that it is the best of its very numerous class; and we again strongly recommending it to the attention of the "Educationists" in Wales.

The Graphic and Historical Illustrator.
Gilbert, London.

A weekly quarto.

WE cannot estimate the plan and contents of this work as at all approaching in literary value its cheaper twin brother "the Guide. to Knowledge," for its contents, as far as we have seen, have relations to matter infinitely less important; but while we value it less than the other, we readily grant it a place among the commonly useful tomes which daily inundate the escrutoire of the reviewer; and in order to substantiate this opinion, we select the table of contents of the number before us, so as to enable the intelligent portion of the reading public to judge for themselves.

Borstal Tower, with a wood-cut, executed by Bonner, from an original
drawing by N. Whittock.
Observations on Architecture.
Thoughts on the Malvern Hills.

Notes, Antiquarian and Topographical. No. I. Priory Church, Little
Dunmow, Essex: three wood cuts.

Remarks on the Character and Application of Ancient and Modern Stained Glass.

Wardrobe in the Elizabethan age

St. Nicholas's Hospital, Harbledown:-wood-cut.

Historical Propriety in Painting-Tudor Architecture.

West Shene Priory.

Biographical Notice of Adam Krafft:-wood-cut.

From this bill of fare we prefer the paper on "Historical Propriety in Painting, Tudor Architecture," and let it be remembered that, in English annals, there can be no comparison, as regards other periods; for the extraordinarily, we would almost say supernaturally, sudden improvement in solid learning and some of the arts, which took place during the time when the "line of Owain Tudor," swayed the destinies of Britain, we do not even except the present incomprehensible and fearful warring of the great ocean of agitation, for that cannot, in its levelling system, (and we refer to that only,) be called improvement; and let it be remembered we speak of sudden and s lid improvements.

Amid the vulgar, or to say the most, half-polished, tastes of Henry the seventh and eighth, and the Elizabethan era, nothing can strike the mind more forcibly, (excepting not even the literature of "that Augustan age,") than the venerable and beautiful erections which diversify the landscapes of old England; they are in fact competitors for public admiration with the productions of Wykeham and his ecclesiastic coadjutors.

We are unwilling to bestow much space upon this topic, but were we to curtail the article upon Tudor Architecture, the disseveration would require illustration at our hands, which would certainly take up fully equal space, and render it, at best, but a discordant specimen of the powers of the reviewer and the reviewed.

TUDOR ARCHITECTURE.

The greatest master of colour amongst the painters of the present day is at the same time the most remarkable in his architectural back-grounds; these frequently exhibit designs that may be studied with advantage by the architect, and in expressing my admiration of Turner, I wish to avoid the appearance of advocating that servile imitation, which an antiquary is generally supposed to require. Much has been said about taste in domestic architecture, and many attempts have been made to establish a character for it, from the time Lord Burlington built Chiswick House, after a design of Palladio's Villa Capra, to the period of the erection of Fonthill Abbey, on the model of Ely Cathedral, and fifty old churches. I forbear to mention either the complete failures, or the partial accomplishments; but it will not be denied that no one has been entirely successful since the time of Cardinal Wolsey. He indeed produced many splendid examples of original taste,

not Greek, not Roman, and certainly not Gothic. His knowledge of what was requisite in the habitation of a person of high degree was doubtless one of the reasons of the king's partiality to him. His edifices, which still remain, are eminently superior, notwithstanding their antiquity, to all others of their kind, in design and magnificence, and his name is familiarly used to denote the highly enriched manner of building then, and afterwards used during the reigns of the Tudors, by the appellation of "The Wolsey Architecture." As an instance I shall mention Hampton Court, one of the superb edifices of the Cardinal, which may be truly said to offer an unobjectionable model for a palace, one that, if erected, would not only establish the fame of the architect, or clerk of the works, but would confer celebrity on the reign in which such a noble design was carried into execution. The peculiar style or order of architecture, adopted in every one of the mansions and colleges, erected by the munificence of the Cardinal, is uniform, and original, perfectly suited to the purpose of display. It is completely distinct from the ecclesiastical style, and includes a variety of elegant combinations admirably calculated for the use of the painter in historical con position, as marking the precise period of the subject throughout the Tudor reigns, as well as harmonizing with the extremely gorgeous costume then prevalent, and otherwise employing the fancy of the artist. In Wolsey's buildings the imposing simplicity of the graceful pointed architecture, that had for ages retained its sway, was united with arabesque ornaments skilfully introduced, together with a redundance of quaint device, and heraldic enrichment of every kind. On the inner walls, gilding and colour were profusely lavished, so as to give a mosaic appearance to the spacious rooms which on state occasions were decorated with tapestry, as described by Wolsey's biographer in the preparation for a banquet. "The yeomen and the grooms of the wardrobes were busied in hanging of the chambers with costly hangings, and furnishing the same with beds of silk and other furniture, apt for the same, in every degree." This practice was carried to greater excess in the reign of Elizabeth. In the "Fairy Queene," Spenser describes the hangings used.

"For round about the walls y'clothed were
With goodly arras, of great majesty,

Woven with gold and silke, so close and nere,
That the rich metall lurked privily,

As faining to be hidd, from envious eye.

Yet here and there, and every where, unawares

It showed itself, and shone unwillingly,

Like to a discoloured snake, whose hidden snares,

Thro' the greene gras, his long bright burnish'd back declares."

Our painters do not yet appear to be sensible what a fund of variety an attention to the peculiar style of our early architecture, characteristic of each individual period, will afford in illustration of historical subjects. I am led to this remark by a picture now in exhibition, where Wolsey appears as a conspicuous actor, and in which the omission of the Tudor character in the architectural back-ground is an oversight, the less pardonable as the halls of Hampton Court and Christ Church remain in their pristine splendour. I allude to a representation of the banquet scene, with the introduction of King Henry the VIII. to Anne Boleyn, as described by Shakspeare, painted by J. Stephanoff, at the command of his majesty. This event happened at York Place, (now Whitehall,) the very mansion Wolsey had just built in that style, which afterwards became the common fashion. Fuller the historian, alluding to this period, says, “Now began

beautiful buildings in England, as to the generality thereof, homes were but homely before, but now many most regular pieces of architecture were erected." This very subject has been previously treated by Hogarth. but in his picture no notice is taken of the gorgeous assemblage of visitors at the banquet. On such occasions, the very sight of them was deemed, to use a common expression, "fit for a prince." Archbishop Parker, in the reign of Elizabeth, on giving a banquet at Lambeth Palace, thus writes, "If her Highness will give me leave, I will kepe my bigger hall that day for the nobles and the rest of her traine; and if it please her majesty, she may come in through my gallery, and see the disposition of the hall, at a window opening thereinto." I shall now take the liberty of mentioning some particulars (though perfectly familiar to the antiquary) in explanation of the enrichments which are usually found at the upper end of our great halls. This room was in every manor-house a necessary appendage for holding" the court," the services belonging to which are equally denominated" the homage," with those of the king's palace. The dais or raised part of the upper end of the hall, was so called, from the administration of justice. A dais man is still a popular term for an arbitrator in the north, and Domesday Book (with the name of which every one is familiar) is known to be a list of manor houses. Here also is the oriel window filled with the arms and badges of the various alliances connected with the family of the lord of the manor.

In another picture, in the same exhibition, by A. Chisholm, the subject is Shakspeare before Justice Shallow, to be engraved for a work entitled the Gallery of the Society of Painters in Water Colours. In this picture, the artist's idea of the hall window which is introduced must have been taken from some one in the chancel of a parish church; to speak in the mildest terms of criticism. At Charlecote itself, where the scene is laid, (but which there is a possibility never actually occurred.) the greatest attention has been paid to propriety in the decoration of the hall; and a numerous series of ancient coats of arms, coeval with Shakspeare, in characteristic compartments, fill the bays of the window. When this subject, therefore, is again taken up, I would recommend the painter to give it his attention, as the subordinate parts of a picture ought to partake of the character, at least, of the period represented,—although it is not recommended to restrict his pencil to a servile copy.

In a third picture, of the same gallery, is King James I. and his jeweller, George Heriot, which has in the foreground a superb vase, designed in the style termed by our goldsmiths," the Louis Quatorze," almost a century later, in point of historical property, than could possibly have come into King James's possession. This introduction was unnecessary, as the finest specimens of workmanship are to be found, executed previously to the time here alluded to, and which are now so much in request, that any price may be obtained for them.-These hints, from an antiquary, will, it is hoped, be taken as kindly as they are meant, and I have not presumed to speak of the general composition of the pictures mentioned, that part being most admirably treated, particularly in the last piece.

This article, which we have given entire, is certainly a clever piece of writing respecting a very interesting portion of historic research. Nothing can conduce to a general knowledge of the progress of any particular branch of art better than a paper of this kind; because in the history of a country, dissertations upon individual sciences must be neglected, in bringing forward more general matter: with these remarks we take leave of "the Graphick and Historical Illustrator."