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April 24 tinguished by an attention to the noblest branches of the art, excellence of composition, beauty of figure, sublimity of idea, and truth of exprefsion. It is hitherto known to us only by engravings; but artists who have seen the paintings produced in it, have afsured us, that some of its masters unite excellence in colouring with the more sublime parts of the art. Their colouring is lefs glaring than that of the Flemish and Venetian painters, and resembles that of the Lombard school. Sir Joshua Reynolds is well known by his discourses on the arts; and the print engraved from his picture of count Ugolino is universally admired. The lovers of the fine arts have also been enabled, by means of prints, to form some estimate of the talents of Mefsrs West, Copley, Gainsborough, Brown, &c. It is said that the Englifh school has produced excellent painters of horses. In each school the distinguishing character may be traced to its cause. In the Roman school it must be ascribed to the excellent education of its first artists, and the beautiful productions discovered amid the ruins of ancient Rome. In the Venetian school to the splendour introduced there by the commerce of the east, to the frequency of festivals and masquerades, and to other circumstances which obliged artists to paint persons magnificently drefsed. In the Dutch school it may be attributed to the sphere of life in which their artists chiefly conversed; they frequented mean public houses, and the work fhops of the lower clafs of mechanics, where they saw vulgar grotesque figures, and were ac

279 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 expression 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 greatnefs is simple; and it is true greatnefs 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 iş less 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.

For The

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 ex-, cepted, who went almost streight to meet his fate in the Russian fleet, without making any stay in St Petersburgh, 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. Bri

tons, Rufsians, 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 as most of the kind.

I fhall conclude this little introduction to my anecdotes 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 Rufsian 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.