the
affection with which we cherish the visionary recollection of the pictures
of grandmother's parlour. The subjects were "courtship," and "matrimony."
In the former, the Chesterfieldian lover was seen handing his _chere
amie_ (a lusty wench, with red ochre cheeks) over a remarkably low
stile: whether the subject, or the manner of its execution had inspired
the muse, is no matter; but beneath was the following:--

"In _courtship_, Strephon careful hands his lass
Over a stile a child with ease might pass"

The next was "matrimony;" but, oh! "look on _this_ picture and on
_this!_" The careless husband, forgetting his capacious spouse, leaves
her to scramble over a stile of alarming altitude, whilst his attention
seems absorbed in the quarrel of two snarling terriers. Such conjugal
uncourtliness elicits its merited censure in the cool satire of the
accompanying motto:--

"But _wedded_ Strephon now neglects his dame:
Tumble or not, to him 'tis all the same."

The costume of these two figures was in accordance with the date of the
hey-day of Ranelagh Gardens; and the outline of the foliage was about on
a par with those designs we often see cut out of paper, by an ingenious
schoolboy yet they may be adduced as criterions of the average merit
appertaining to the generality of the productions of the burine of "the
old school."

In closing this erratic dissertation on the Annuals, we may remark, that an
interesting article might be written, descriptive of the reformation which
gradually elevated the art of engraving to perfection--a history of its
emerging from the inanities which flaunt in the window of Carver and
Bowles, in St. Paul's Churchyard, and arriving at the exquisite perfection
of such achievements as "Alexander's Visit to Diogenes," and "Quintus
Curtius leaping into the Gulf."

* * H.

* * * * *

FINE ARTS.

SCHOOL OF PAINTING AT THE BRITISH INSTITUTION, PALL MALL.

(_To the Editor of the Mirror_.)

Sir,--I have recently had the pleasure of visiting the British Institution,
and hope the following remarks on a few of the best works will prove
acceptable to those of your readers who are interested in the Fine Arts.

It is customary at this Institution to open, every autumn, a school for the
study of painting, in which students have an opportunity of copying the
best productions of the greatest masters. The present school opened a few
weeks ago,