customed to the effect of a limited light, whether natural or artificial, in confined places. Beauty must contribute towards the character of the English school; because it is so common in England, that it must certainly meet the eye of the artist;-if this beauty be not exactly that of the ancients, it is perhaps not inferior to it. The English. school will be distinguished by truth of expression, because the liberty of the nation allows no restraint on the natural influence of the passions; and it will preserve simplicity, and will not be perverted by theatrical affectation, nor by the foppery of artificial graces; because the English manners themselves retain the simplicity of nature. If we examine the portraits of Frenchwomen painted by Frenchmen, instead of exprefsion we generally find a forced smile, in which the eyes and forehead do not participate, and which expresses no affection of the mind; but if we examine the portraits of Englishwomen painted by Englishmen, we most frequently discern a natural exprefsion of countenance that indicates the character of the person represented. On drapery by the same. VANITY is fond of ornament; true greatness is simple; and it is true greatness which a good painter should represent. The physical and moral beauty of nature constitute the objects of his imitation. The perfection of art consists in making an Helen, not rich, but beautiful. The lefs a figure is charged with foreign ornaments, the more beautiful it will be, if the artist has true genius. A beautifu woman, gracefully clad in simple drapery, will appear much more noble in a picture, than if he were loaded with embroidery, gold, and jewels. Sometimes, indeed, we see a king endeavouring to enforce his dignity among his people by the splendour of his attire; but in the art, the greatness of a king consists in his personal majesty; and this is what the painter must endeavour to exprefs. Ahasuerus is lefs splendidly adorned and attended, but he is infinitely greater in the picture of Poufsin, than in that of De Troyes. ANECDOTES OF DISTINGUISHED BRITISH OFFICERSWHO FELL IN THE RUSSIAN NAVAL SERVICE DURING THE LAST WAR WITH SWEDEN. BY Arcticus. t ufhme For the Bee. As my anecdotes (vol. viii. p. 201.) of a seaman of the last century have been so well received, pofsi bly a few of some distinguished countrymen of this, may be equally acceptable, who met a premature fate, with a lustre that reflects honour on Great Britain. I am more especially prompted to offer this little tribute to their merit, from the consideration that pofsibly many of these brave men may never have any other monument erected to their memory, than the volume of the Bee where these fhort notices may be inserted. The writer knew personally, for a number of years, all the gentlemen mentioned here, one excepted, who went almost streight to meet his fate in the Russian fleet, without making any stay in St Peterburgh, as will be taken notice of in its place ! 281 and he had the additional advantage of being informed of their respective actions and death from their surviving companions, eye witnesses of both. Britons, Russians, and foreigners, all joined in the same story, with the trifling variations which their different positions in the battle must ever occasion; so that on the whole the facts are likely to be as authentic ás most of the kind. a I fhall conclude this little introduction to my necdotes with observing, that although I agree with your right Christian correspondent Thunderproof, in preferring peace to war, and even in reprobating all but such as are undertaken for self defence, leaving the balance of power to be held by Old Nick, if he pleases; yet till that happy period fhall arrive, and the temple of Janus be nailed up effectually, which I am afraid will not be in our days, I fhall be always happy to see gallant actions, even in foreign service, meet with their deserved reward; a great part of which, to the honourable soldier and seaman, is public applause, particularly that of their country and friends. First. SIR SAMUEL GREIG, Admiral and Commander in chief of the Russian fleet in the Baltic. I AM not prepared, nor is it my intention to do more than merely name at the head of this list, our distinguished and amiable countryman admiral Greig, who fell a victim in the career of victory (so well begun in a former war,) to that indefatigable zeal and anxious care of the fleet intrusted to his well known courage and conduct, which led him to disregard the first attack of a malignant fever which laid him in the grave, in spite of every effort to save so valuable a life. He died October 1788 on board his fhip in Revel, and was interred with all military pomp in that city, where her imperial majesty has ordered a marble monument to be erected to his memory, brought from Italy at a great expence, as a mark of her regard and regret. The admiral's history before his entrance into the Russian navy, (where his actions are upon record,) may be comprised in a very few words. That he, like his great countryman captain Cook, whom he much resembled in humanity, courage, and serenity of mind on all occasions, as well as indefatigable exertion and perseverance in whatever he undertook, rose by exemplary conduct and profefsional knowledge, from an apprentice in the merchants service, to an officer in the royal navy, and quitted it with the rank of lieutenant to enter into the Rufsian service as post captain, where, it must be said, as a mark of his good sense, love of his native country, and the gallant corps he left in pursuit of fortune, that at the height of naval rank and honours bestowed by Catherine, and in all the blaze of Russian chivalry with which his uniform was covered, he eyer gloried in the title of LIEUTENANT IN THE BRITISH NAVY, and never would quit it till the day of his honourable death, equally felt by the sovereign, the service, and his friends; amongst which number, one of the most sincere, and who speaks from twenty years personal knowledge of his worth, was ARCTICUS. THE POET AND CUPID. For the Bee. THE following poem was transmitted to the Editor some time ago as an original, with a long, and not undeserved, encomium upon it. As he suspected it had not been originally intended for him, he delayed inserting it for some time. It is now inserted verbatim as he received it. SAYS Venus one day to her vagabond son, "Where so fast, you sly rogue, with these darts do you run? 66 By the grace of a limb, or the glance of an eye? "Is woman your aim? Prithee tell me the truth. "Or hast thou resolv'd that some innocent youth "Should burn by the torch that you wave in your hand? "Tho' its flame be but small, 'tis a terrible brand." The undutiful boy to his mother replies, 'What boots it to you by my arrows who dies? 'Or whom by my torch I've resolv'd to destroy, < An unfortunate maid, or an innocent boy? • But since, like your sex, you are curious to know, "Tormentor of maids, and destroyer of men, (Resum'd the soft queen, as the question'd again,) "With your joys and your woes will you never have done? "And when did the bard not invoke you my son? "Should the Muses refine his susceptible heart, 66 B your flames fhall he burn? must he die by your dart? 66 Ah, spare him!--but when were you known to hear reason? "Tho' frequent your visits, they're never in season. "Yet regard me for once :-I'm in search of a dove "That one of my Graces purloin'd from a Love; "I miss'd it this morn, and it certainly flew "To the regions below with that hussey Miss Eu *. "If the thief and the theft to my arms you restore, #6 A kiss shall be yours,—or perhaps something more." *Euphrosyne, or the Grace of the soul. |
