he
selling of similar wares. Among the public are many tastes to be
gratified, and each man can judge for himself of that which pleases him.
A case of impudent pretension or actual imposition will of course
require honest people to give in their testimony, but the facts adduced
in such a case must be susceptible of proof, and not mere matters of
individual taste or opinion; neither must they be advanced at so late an
hour as to render their refutation difficult, or indeed impossible. A
regular exhibition, such as that of the Academy, offers fair ground for
discussion, as all sides have a chance of obtaining a hearing; but even
there, the scales of justice should be nicely poised, and great care
taken that neither rashness, flippancy, nor prejudice be permitted any
share in their adjustment, and 'good will toward men' be the only extra
weight ever added to either side.

To begin with the landscapes, one of the most remarkable, and, to our
individual taste, the most attractive in the whole collection, is No.
147, 'The Woods and Fields in Autumn,' by Jervis McEntee, N. A. The fine
tree-drawing and the exquisite harmony of color in this poetic
representation of autumn scenery are worthy of _all praise_. The clouds
are gathering for dark winter days, a few pleasant hours are yet left to
the dying year, the atmosphere is saturated with moist exhalations, with
tender mists softening but not obscuring the beautiful forms of the
leafless trees and shrubs. The springs are filling, the low grounds
marshy, the leaves on the woodpaths crisp and of a golden brown. Far
away in the west is a band of gray light, that tells of clearer skies
and brighter seasons one day to come, of new hopes to dawn, when the
earth, and the soul, shall have been purified by adverse blasts, by the
baring of their nakedness to the unimpeded, searching light of heaven.
No. 124, 'The Wanderer,' is a picture of similar character by the same
skilful hand. Thoughtful, refined, and discriminating lovers of art
cannot fail to find instruction and delight in these noble conceptions,
and indeed it is chiefly in the possession of such persons that we find
the truthful, conscientious, tenderly conceived, and poetical pictures
of Jervis McEntee.

S. R. Gifford, N. A., exhibits two works, differing widely from each
other, but both worthy of his reputation. Let the names now longer and
more widely established in the estimation of the general public look to
their laurel