remarkable characters in our own country, who lived only two or three centuries ago. This is, in an eminent degree, the fact, with respect to two as celebrated persons as ever appeared in this island,-Mary Queen of Scots, and the immortal poet, Shakspeare. Of the first of these, the beauty was so remarkable, that we might have expected that distinguished artists would have aspired to its delineation-to give on canvass a durability to the charms which interested every beholder: but the fact is, that there are a great number of portraits all differing from each other, not only with hair of different colour, (a circumstance that may be accounted for on the supposition of her wearing false hair), but varying also in form and feature, to a very remarkable degree, while some of them ill accord with the grace and loveliness ascribed to her figure and aspect. There is an equal, or still greater, uncertainty respecting the portraits of Shakspeare; and our author now exhibits to us the most remarkable; and discusses their several claims to authenticity. To the imperfect state of the arts in the time of Shakspeare, we are, no doubt, chiefly to attribute the cause of this deficiency; and the imperishable bust of the artists's chisel was wanting, to verify the portrait, or supply to future times the absence of the living form. The variations of the beard, either on the upper or under lip, or a beard more or less bushy, would, perhaps, be of little consequence; but the features and character of the countenance in the different portraits, vary in the extreme. It appears that there are five or six different portraits of Shakspeare; but Mr. Boaden inclines to prefer the Chandos picture now at Stowe, though he gives preference to that which is prefixed to the original folio edition of all Shakspeare's plays, published after his death in 1623; to which the name of the engraver, Martin Droeshout, is annexed. As a work of art, it is confessedly very poor; nevertheless, it is nearest to the time of the poet himself, and at least resembles the idea which we are apt to form of Shakspeare. It may boast a verification more direct than any other; since it was approved by Ben Jonson, and by Shakspeare's friends and partners at the Globe Theatre. Nevertheless, their evidence is somewhat vague, and the question is by no means set at rest by the testimony of their approbation; therefore, though we ourselves have always received this portrait as genuine, rather than remain in a state of indecision on the subject, we cannot venture to anathematize those who worship another semblance. The tout en semble of this work will, we think, afford much pleasure to curious collectors of portraits, who will readily pardon the author's merciless wish to put a stop, by penal statute, to their labours, in illustrating Biographical Dictionaries, and Topographical History. An Essay on the Origin and Progress of Gothic Architecture, traced in, and deduced from, the Ancient Edifices of Germany; with References to those of England, &c., from the Eighth to the Sixteenth Centuries. By Dr. George Moller, First Architect to the Grand Duke of Hesse, &c. Translated from the German. - 8vo. Priestley and Weale. THE original work, from which the present translation is made, was published in numbers, at Darmstadt, between the years 1819 and 1822. Crit. Gaz. Vol. 1. No. 1. I The subjects which the doctor takes up are,-first, a dissertation on the age of the buildings, of the middle age, their different styles of architecture, and their merits. In this portion of his work, Dr. Moller, endeavours to fix the age of many important buildings in Germany, the doing of which he considers "the first indispensable requisite in the history of architecture, since it is the only way of obtaining a correct view of its progress.' The doctor, we conceive, is more of an antiquary than a builder. With regard to the names of the several styles of architecture which appeared in Europe, after the decay of Roman architecture, and which continued till the sixteenth century, when they were superseded by those of the modern Græco-Gothic art, and were all, for a long time, comprised under the head of Gothic Architecture, the doctor is clear and convincing. A new and efficient nomenclature of this most interesting branch of architecture is much wanted. It was aimed at by Mr. Elmes, in his lectures at the late Surry Institution ; but it was too brief a sketch, and too little matured for much attention. "This epithet (the Gothic) was afterwards applied to the pointed-arch style, which predominated in the thirteenth century. At present, it is well known, that the appellation of Gothic architecture is not a suitable one: but as those of Byzantine, Saxon, and German architecture, by which it has been attempted to supersede it, are neither generally received, nor sufficiently distinct, I shall content myself with designating the different styles of architecture by the century and the country in which they flourished." This manner of classifying the Gothic (if we may so call it, to distinguish it from the classic) style of architecture, is too diffuse and uncertain. The inventors of the classic styles gave rise to the orders, and the nomenclature, by those whose congregated knowledge formed the code of architectural laws, collected under the name of Vitruvius, followed the invention. So should the nomenclature of the Gothic styles; and the more simple it is, the more useful will it be. A modern architect defines this style to be "pure, grand, impressive, and characteristic." The elements of it are spires, pinnacles, lofty pointed windows, and elevation, as opposed to the horizontal line of the Greeks. It disdains the trammels and systems of the schools; nevertheless, it has its own laws, its genera and species, although they have not yet been arranged in a grammatical form. It would be a task worthy of the greatest talents, to form a grammatical nomenclature, and a code of laws, of this erratic and splendid style of architecture. The second portion of the doctor's work consists of a consideration of the Romano-Grecian style of architecture, from the introduction of Christianity, as the religion of the State in the Roman empire, to the eighth century, and of its influence upon the architecture of the rest of Europe. In forming his notions of this style of architecture, he considers the forms of the earlier buildings of the period which he assigned. Dr. Moller's next section treats of the styles of building in Germany, which prevailed from the eighth to the fifteenth century. The doctor is here at home; learned, curious, and interesting. On comparing the ancient churches of Germany with each other, he discovers in their style of building two leading distinctions, and considers the others as mere gradations or combinations of them. "The first and earliest," says he, "is foreign, and came from the south; it is by no means rude, having been originally a highly-finished style of building; but it latterly degenerated. The buildings of this kind are distinguished by forms and decorations, either Roman, or imitated from the Roman." The doctor asserts that : "The second and more modern style of building in Germany still retains the semicircle; but that it begins to substitute for the southern gable-end, that of the high roof, which is more suitable for a northern climate. To harmonize with the shape of the roof, the forms of the tower are pyramidal, and the windows and vaults in the pointed arch style; whilst all minor ornaments still preserve the semicircular form. It was only at a later period that the decorations, and all the minor and subordinate parts of the main building, assumed the shape of the pointed arch. Of this latter style are the grandest works of architecture which Germany possesses; works which will remain an object of admiration for ages to come. "These are the chief features in the church architecture of Germany, observable in ancient buildings. They show how a northern peculiar style was gradually formed out of the foreign southern one, and they are by no means in contradiction to history, although we are still ignorant of the many causes which may have influenced the improvement of the art." With one of the notes we are particularly pleased; it is to a passage where the author says, 66 we may admire and imitate these works". the ecclesiastical edifices of the thirteenth century, "but we cannot produce the like, because the circumstances under which that style of building arose, are now no longer the same." To this the author, or editor, appends as a note:-"The case is very different with the Grecian style of building, which we are still in the habit of applying daily. Fancy and religion predominate in the German architecture, but the Grecian is the result of an enlightened understanding, and of a correct sense of the beautiful. It strictly limits itself to what is absolutely necessary, to which it strives to impart the most beautiful forms; and on this account, it will never cease to be capable of application to our purposes." We are happy to learn from our author the present state of architectural literature and archaiology, in Germany; and wish that our poets and our statesmen would interest themselves for our national architecture, like those of Germany. Our present session of parliament, however, gives us hopes, that architecture, the first and most useful of the fine arts, will yet receive due attention. We rise from the perusal of this work with mixed feelings; while admiring its ingenious hypotheses and learned research into the ecclesiastical architecture of Germany, we are sensible of its deficiency in clearness and complete development of the origin and progress of Gothic architecture, &c. with reference to those of England. Nevertheless, viewed in its collective character, it possesses strong claims to our approbation; and the translator has rendered the literature of the fine arts an acceptable service. A Treatise on Civil Architecture. By Sir William Chambers. With Notes, and an Examination of Grecian Architecture, by Joseph Gwilt, Architect, F.S.A. Priestley and Weale. A Treatise on Civil Architecture. By Sir William Chambers. With the original Plates. Parts I. and II. With an Essay on Grecian Architecture, by An eminent Architect. 5s. Taylor. SIR William Chambers has been much overrated, both as an artist and as a builder. Educated originally for, and bred to, the sea service, he afterwards pursued the science of architecture, purely from inclination; and, considering it as the profession of his choice, it is surprising that, in his exercise of it, he did not display more genius. In examining his pretensions to the character of a master, it is necessary to consider the history of his mental progress, and his professional studies. Though descended from an ancient Scottish family, he was born at Stockholm, but brought up in England. He received the elements of a scholastic education at Rippon, and went out as chief supercargo of some Swedish ships to China, where he acquired that love for Chinese art, which afterwards obtained him the celebrity of "The Heroic Epistle." On his return to England, he settled in London, and was esteemed one of the best draftsmen, of a period by no means eminent for talent, either in taste or science. He obtained an introduction to Lord Bute, the Mæcenas of his day, by whose interest he was appointed architectural drawing-master to the then Prince of Wales. This high engagement led to his subsequent employment as the royal architect, and surveyor-general, of the Board of Works. As an architect, Sir William's first work of consequence was Lord Besborough's villa in the Italian style, at Roehampton, which soon procured him other commissions. His intercourse with the king, procured him, soon after the accession of George III., the direction of the royal gardens at Kew; the limited extent and nature of the grounds of which, determined him to ornament them in the Chinese taste. Chambers now became the leading architect of the day; and tashion gave a prescription to his name, for an elementary treatise in that language which could then boast no better (translations of Vitruvius and Palladio excepted,) than those of Gibbs and Batty Langley. He, however, was so far from throwing any new light on either the art or the science of his profession, that he even omitted in some parts, and misrepresented in others, the canons of the Greeks; which Mr. Gwilt has supplied, in a manner that will be spoken of hereafter. In the practice of the art, and in the more scientific part of construction, his knowledge was limited, and his taste Romish and impure ; yet, in his best works, he aimed at, and often attained, a chastened correctness of detail, in the best style of Italian art. By the builders of the early part of the reign of George III., Chambers was valued as an artist; and, by the artists of the infant Royal Academy, .esteemed a builder and a man of business. Of his style of architecture, the droppings of Jones and Wren, it behoves us to speak, ere we scan his book, which is now offered to the world of art, as a competent text-book. His largest, and, perhaps, his best work, is his Somerset Place, which possesses many beauties, and more faults. By this great specimen of elaborate littleness, and by his treatise before us, will he be best known hereafter; and through them alone, if at all, will he preserve a name among the architects of England. Perhaps, however, an entire new elementary work from the pen of Mr. Gwilt, competent as he is to appreciate the Grecian schools, and to understand those of ancient Rome, and modern Italy, would have been more acceptable in our days, than the republication of the almost forgotten work of Chambers, patched as it is with the new cloth of its editor, and his countervailing notes. During Chambers' voyages, he visited, in his commercial character, several parts of China, and published a treatise on the gardening and architecture of that extraordinary people. It is to him, and his patron, that we owe the introduction of that fantastic, barbarous, and inelegant style; where, like the gardens of Yven Myng Yven, near Pekin, fine lizards and fine women, human giants and gigantic baboons, make but a small part of the absurd decorations. It is to him that we are indebted for the introduction of that style of architecture, which the tasteful Chesterfield in his "World," at the period of its influence, thought worthy only of the consideration of those gentlemen who have great possessions in the Isle of Ely, or the fens of Lincolnshire; when every thing, according to the then prevailing whim, was Chinese, or 66 partly after the Chinese manner." Chairs, tables, chimney-pieces, frames for looking-glasses, and even our most vulgar utensils, are all reduced to this new-fangled standard; and without doors, so universally has it spread, that every gate to a cow-yard represents T's and Z's, and every hovel for the cows has bells hanging at the corners. As the taste for Chambers and Chinese architecture is partly reviving, it would really be worthy of Mr. Taylor's liberality, to try a new edition of Sir William's work on Chinese architecture and gardening, to be edited by Mr. Nash, and illustrated with engravings of the pavilion at Brighton, and the church in Langham-place. This fantastic style of architecture " perplexed with errors and crooked walks," was introduced by the compiler of this work, and perfected by the architect of the pavilion, by the 66 Knight of the Polar star! by Fortune placed To shine the cynosure of British taste; Whose orb collects in one refulgent view And spread their lustre in so broad a blaze, That kings themselves are dazzled while they gaze." Of the two editions now presented to the public, that by Mr. Gwilt is of overpowering excellence, when compared with that of the anonymous "eminent architect." Mr. Gwilt's is enriched by a learned treatise on Greek architecture, too elaborately loaded with classical quotations, which encumbers the freedom of the style, and some extremely useful and necessary notes; and we are glad to find its beautiful execution encouraged by all the leading architects of the day. That of the eminent architect" is a reprint in quarto, with the old folio plates, by Grignion, Rooker, Mazell, Major, and Woollett, doubled to |