tion.

"Come along," said Tom, catching hold of his arm, and directing him
towards Soho Square. But Sparkle recollecting that he had appointed to
meet Miss Mortimer, her Brother, and Merry well, to accompany them to
Somerset House, and finding time had escaped with more ~233~~rapidity
than he expected, wished them a good morning, hoped they should meet
again in the course of the day, and departed.

"You see," said Tom, "Sparkle is fully engaged in the business of love;
Miss Mortimer claims all his attention for the present."

"You appear to be very envious of his enjoyments," replied Bob.

"Not so, indeed," continued Tom; "I am only regretting that other
pursuits have estranged him from our company."

On entering the Exhibition at Soho, Tom, whose well-known taste for
science and art, and particularly for the productions of the pencil and
graver, had already rendered him conspicuous among those who knew him,
made the following remarks: "I am really glad," said he, "to find that
the eminent engravers of our country have at length adopted a method of
bringing at one view before the public, a delineation of the progress
made by our artists in a branch so essentially connected with the
performance and durability of the Fine Arts. An Exhibition of this
kind is well calculated to dispel the vulgar error, that engraving is a
servile art in the scale of works of the mind, and mostly consigned to
the copyist. An Establishment of this kind has long been wanted, and is
deserving of extensive patronage."

Having secured Catalogues, they proceeded immediately to the gratifying
scene.{1} The disposition and arrangement

1 The major part of the 405 subjects and sets of subjects,
consisting of about 800 prints, are of moderate size, or
small engravings for descriptive or literary publications,
&e. They are the lesser diamonds in a valuable collection of
jewellery, where there are but few that are not of lucid
excellence, and worthy of glistening in the diadem of
Apollo, or the cestus of Venus. So indeed they have, for
here are many subjects from ancient and modern poetry, and
other literature, and from portraits of beautiful women.
Among the first class, the exquisitely finishing graver of
Mr. Warren gives us many after the designs of Messrs.
Westall, Wilkie, Smirke, Cooke, Uwins, and Corbould; as do
the lucid gravers of Messrs. Englehart and Rhodes, the
nic