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EDITORIAL.

according as it is applied. Two friends, for instance, whose complexions are precisely similar, may each place deep pink near the face, and to a stranger one would appear to have a clear and brilliant, and the other a tawny-coloured skin. And why? Because one has it on the cap so placed as to serve as a foil and contrast to the face, while the other has fortunately chanced to use it for the lining of a bonnet, where it imparts by reflection a health-like glow to the features. The verse in the "DeathFetch," however beautiful, is not wholly true:

"Then the rose methought did not shame her cheek, But rosy and rosier made it;

And her eye of blue did more brightly break
Through the blue-bell that strove to shade it."

But these remarks are somewhat out of place here; on suitable occasions in future numbers of this Magazine, the principles and philosophy of this useful and delightful study will be treated of, and well is it worth the while of the "fair sex" to apply "the good the gods provide them" to the still further improvement of their already good looks; the more so too, as it affords at the same time a means of giving expression to good taste, which seldom suffers from cultivation. J. S.

MIDDLETON.-This artist, the author of the embellishment in our present number, entitled "The Rival Songsters," has attained a distinguished position in his profession by the successful practice of that branch of art known by the technical term of "genre painting," that is, the class of subjects which are neither historical nor mere portraiture, but something between, and embracing the pictures that are sometimes called "fancy portraits."

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peace between those countries, rendered less difficult by the death of the Duke of Buckingham. It was on this occasion that he painted his famous picture of "Peace and War" (now in the British National Gallery), which he presented to Charles I. This fine work, known to the American public by the numerous engravings of it, represents in vivid colours, the blessings of peace contrasted with the miseries and horrors of war, and the obvious relation of the subject to the purpose of his mission, rendered it the most appropriate, elegant, and well-timed gift that could possibly have been made.

The father of this great artist was a magistrate of Antwerp, but during the struggle of the Netherlands to throw off the yoke of Spain, he removed to Cologne to avoid the miseries of war. Here the future painter was born, but on the renewal of peace, the family returned to Antwerp. He began life as page to a lady of title, but the employ. ment was irksome to him, and after the death of his father, he obtained permission to study painting. After suitable

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The same causes which have operated, more particularly in England, to the depression of high historic Art, have had a tendency to foster and encourage the production of these familiar and domestic pieces. The chief of these may be traced to the social condition, the love of fireside comforts and domestic family ties, which characterize the English, and also their descendants on this side of the Atlantic. Among such a people this style of painting must always be popular. It is charming and attractive in itself, requires no great effort of the imagination to comprehend and relish its merits and beauties, and is moreover from its nature necessarily painted on canvass of a size best adapted for the adornment of the parlour or boudoir. On the contrary, historical painting is more frequently executed on a surface of such extensive dimension that they are not seen to advantage except on the walls of a gallery erected for the purpose, admitting the light from above. Besides, these latter works, if of real merit, involve such an amount of study in the design, and of time and labour in execution, as to place another additional obstacle-cost-in the way of a due encouragement of the most elevated and ennobling branch of (what we have become habituated to denominate) "the Fine Arts." Middleton's chief occupation has been in portrait paint ing, but he has had the good taste to avail himself of every opportunity to produce something more than a mere dry and literal representation of his sitter newly made up in the latest fashion. Hence the style of picture engraved for the January number of our Magazine, more than one of which by this artist are known to the American public by finely executed prints. His picture of "Effie Deans in Prison," and other similar works of great merit, evince his capacity for a successful career in the higher walks of art.

J. S.

SIR PETER PAUL RUBENS.-The second of our embellishments, "The Miraculous Conversion of Saul," is after a composition by one of the most extraordinary geniuses that ever appeared in the annals of Art, nor was it only within the sphere of his chosen profession that his remarkable talents were displayed. His varied acquirements and polished manners led to his appointment while yet very young, on a delicate and important mission from one of the Italian courts to that of Spain. Later in life he was sent by Philip IV. of Spain to England, in the like capacity, when he succeeded in effecting a treaty of

preparation, he proceeded to Italy to enlarge his professional experience; his acquisition of knowledge and skill was surprisingly rapid, and at the end of eight years he returned again to Antwerp to settle, his Italian career having been truly splendid.

The works of Rubens are remarkable for the magnificence of composition, and the rich and vivid brilliancy of colour, as well as of light and shade; the remote parts of the most extensive designs being united with every other into a perfect whole, in forms, in tints, and in chiaro-scuro. In truthfulness of imitation, he surpassed the best of the still-life painters, while in nobleness and dignity of historic conception he left the great men of the Venetian school, on whom he had founded his style, far behind. The restless fervency of his imagination, together with the wonderful facility of execution he had acquired, made him ready to dare difficulties that would have daunted almost any other artist, Paul Veronese, perhaps, excepted. "Fifty feet square of wall," says Allan Cunningham, "or two hundred yards of canvass, which would swallow up the united genius of half an academy, only stimulated the Fleming to greater exertion, and with such success did he conceive his design and apply his colours, that it is allowed by all that his largest pictures are his best." "Rubens," says Sir Joshua Reynolds, "appears to have had that confidence in himself which it is necessary for every artist to assume when he has finished his studies, and may venture, in some measure, to throw aside the fetters of authority; to consider the rules as

subject to his control, and not himself subject to the rules; to risk and to dare extraordinary attempts without a guide, abandoning himself to his sensations, and depending upon them." "He saw the objects of nature with a painter's eye-he saw at once the predominant feature by which every object is known and distinguished; and, as soon as seen, it was executed with a facility that is astonishing. Rubens was, perhaps, the greatest master in the mechanical part of the art-the best workman with his tools-that ever exercised a pencil."

Rapid as was his execution, it was utterly beyond his ability to keep pace with the constantly increasing demands for his productions from every quarter, and wealth poured in abundantly. His residence in Antwerp was adorned with pictures, statues, vases, busts, and every variety of beautiful or curious objects, till it resembled a princely museum, and connected with it was a collection of wild and savage animals, which he kept to serve as models when painting those superb hunting pieces in which he so excelled. His talents and success produced the usual effect. It excited envy, and a cabal was formed to detract from his reputation. "It is amusing to find him accused, amongst other deficiencies, of want of invention! His great picture of the Descent from the Cross, painted for the Cathedral of Antwerp, and exhibited while the outcry against him was at its height, effectually allayed it. Snyder and Wildens were answered in a similar manner. They had insinuated that the chief credit of Rubens' landscapes and animals was due to their assistance. Rubens painted several lion and tiger hunts, and other similar works, entirely with his own hand, which he did not permit to be seen until they were completed. In these works he even surpassed his former productions they were executed with a truth, power, and energy which excited universal astonishment, and effectually put his adversaries to silence. Rubens condescended to give no other reply to his calumniators; and he showed his own goodness of heart by finding employment for those among them whom he understood to be in want of it."

His style of drawing was very inaccurate, but his outlines were flowing and varied. His women were often beautiful in expression, and sometimes in form, but were too frequently inelegant, fat, middle-aged, and wanting in that refinement so desirable in representations of feminine character.-J. S.

| distinctively than their legends and superstitions. They are the first lispings of a nation's infancy, expressing its impulses and tendencies before thought is matured; they grow with its advancement, embody its spirit, and give a colouring to its whole literature." In the "Evenings at Woodlawn," she has given a choice collection of the most graceful and amusing of the legends of central Europe. The large majority of these will be entirely new to American readers. The stories, she informs us, are not mere translations, but something between a translation and an original work. The incidents are arranged in an artistic shape, and some indulgence given to the author's powers of description. Whatever merit there may be on the score of originality-and there seems to be fully all that she claims-she has at least given us a charming book.

COMMERCE OF THE PRAIRIES. BY JOSIAH GREGG. Philadel

phia: J. W. Moore. Fourth edition. The fact that Mr. Gregg's book has been able to keep its place in the face of such an avalanche of books on the same subject, and that it has reached a fourth edition, is the best commentary upon its merits. One cause of the value of his book is that the author was not only an eye-witness of what he describes, but was for a long period intimately and prac tically conversant with the subject. He was himself a Santa Fé trader, was engaged in eight expeditions across the prairies, and resided nearly nine years in northern Mexico. In addition to this fact, which necessarily gives an air of authenticity to his communications, his book is written in a pleasant and attractive style, and is illustrated with maps and engravings.

HOME RECREATION. BY GRANDFATHER MERRYMAN. New York: D. Appleton & Co. This is intended as a gift book for young readers, containing a collection of tales of peril and adventure by land and sea, with sketches of manners and customs, scraps of poetry, and coloured pictures.

SIGHTS IN THE GOLD REGION. BY THEODORE T. JOHNSON. New York: Baker & Scribner. Mr. Johnson seems to have set out for the gold region on a sort of frolic, and to have written his book about it in the same dashing style. If we cannot commend it much for its literature, we can very freely say, it fairly runs over with fun, and is not wanting in good sense and information. It has also the commendable qualities of brevity and directness. The writer describes the route which he himself travelled, viz., that by the Isthmus, and also the scenes in the gold region which fell under his own personal observation.

CAPRICES. New York; Robert Carter & Brothers. What shall we say of such a dainty little "fairing" of a book? The title-page certainly looks odd. Just imagine, dear reader, at the top of a rather tall page, this simple word "Caprices," and at the bottom-longo intervallo-"Carter & Brothers." What an extensive prairie of white paper between these two significant points? Is the title-page itself meant as the first "caprice" in the book-a sort of out-rider to the army of little "caprices" that follow? Let us see some of them. Here is a part of one. It occurs on page 57, and is entitled "Shadows."

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POETICAL QUOTATIONS. BY JOHN T. WATSON, M.D. With Illustrations. Philadelphia: Lindsay & Blakiston. It is pleasant to have within reach a judicious collection of extracts from favourite authors. Dr. Watson's selections indicate sound taste and extensive reading, and have the advantage of being very conveniently arranged for the purposes of reference. The present edition is beautifully illustrated with nine line engravings, by various artists, and is made in other respects ornamental. Altogether it is an elegant and useful volume.

EVENINGS AT WOODLAWN. BY MRS. ELLET. New York Baker & Scribner. "There is nothing," says Mrs. Ellet, "which marks the peculiar character of a people more

SHADOWS.

Here-there

Everywhere;

On my pillow-in the air

By my side:

Muse as lightly as I may;

When I watch and when I pray; At the nightfall and by day Shadows glide.

Here-there,

Everywhere;

Mellowing the noonday glare

On the lawn;

Waving, when the leaves are green; Shivering, when the frost is keen, And the boughs look sere and lean, In the dawn.

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Here-there,

Everywhere;

Sleeping in the hillside lair,

Or at play;

Now the image of a cloud Scudding, when the gust is loud, And the brawny oak is bowed, In its way.

Here, there,
Everywhere;

O'er my spirit,-in the air,
On the wall:

Muse as lightly as I may,

In the night or in the day; When I watch and when I pray, Shadows fall.

These stanzas are a pretty fair specimen of the book. If not of a very high order of poetry, they are at least something more than mere "caprices." The author is evidently a scholar, with a good command of language. some cultivation of ear, some-not much-acquaintance with the art of poetry, and we presume, some ideas, though he is rather sparing of them in the present volume.

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The modesty of some people is wonderful. Artists especially have of late become unusually fond of hiding their light under a bushel"-of sending forth their productions to the world either anonymously, or under some nom de burin quite as satisfactory to the public as the "Lilies" and "Lucys" of the milliner literature. The plates "engraved expressly for"—some of our friends, do look so marvellously like those hawked about the country for the last ten years in the "American Scenery," and in the old London annuals, that we fear the public will misconceive the matter-especially where the artist is so very modest as entirely to suppress his name, or to insert some name entirely unknown to trade-lists or art-unions. Such merit and modesty united should not go unrewarded. We offer our choicest premium to any one who will give us the whereabouts of some of these gentlemen. Really, though somewhat conversant with art, we have never seen such wonderful fac-similes!

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"We take up for review this week a journal concerning which very much has been said already by every press in this country-Sartain's Union Magazine. It is no part of our plan to praise an inferior work, nor will we prostitute this press and degrade ourselves by receiving any of the 'Please Notice' ephemerals which are springing hourly from the prolific Northern press. Thank fortune, we live at a day when there is good enough, without flattering the BAD, and those who choose to publish long prospectuses and make monthly notices for the sake of an 'exchange,' can do so if their conscience is elastic enough; for our part we will grace our table editorial with the best journals of the day, if we have to pay full price for them; and such shall be the works which we recommend to the public. Such is the Magazine selected for this occasion, and we trust to be able to show cause' why everybody should subscribe for it.

"There were two Magazines, which up to the year 1849, had led the way in this kind of Periodical Literature for twenty years. We refer to Godey's Lady's Book and Graham's Gentleman's and Lady's Magazine. Being published at Philadelphia, the head quarters of fashionable authors, cheap publishers, and handy engravers, they were made to embrace a large amount of artistical embellishment united to polished literature, and all at very reasonable prices. So deservedly popular had these old favourites become, that all attempt at competition was rendered useless, and only involved heavy loss on the part of the projectors.

"We remarked that the contents of these Magazines were supplied by fashionable authors. These being paid liberally, catered faithfully for the public taste through the long interval above mentioned. But in later years a change has come over the appetite of the mass. The old romance style has been so hackneyed, so water-worn and threadbare, that those who loved it with most intensity have become cloyed, and call for a change. Something more serious, and more practical, and more naturalsomething that not only might happen, but might with some probability happen, is what the present taste demands, and as the older Magazines had their character established in another line, a new one was needed to fill this vacancy. This new one is SARTAIN'S UNION MAGAZINE. With embellishments as good as the best, (for Sartain himself is the best engraver in the United States,) with Music, and Fashion plates, and Love Tales, and Poetry, and Romance in abundance, there is yet an undercurrent of something more serious and more natural. Such is Sartain's Magazine, as you will find, if you will examine for yourself."

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CONSISTENCY.

It is but meet that those who publish "second-hand

per ream than that used by any other three-dollar Maga- plates" should also fill their pages with second-hand

zine.

ONE OUT OF MANY.

Though not in the habit of quoting notices in our own commendation, the following is so explicit on one point, that we take the liberty of transferring it to our columns. It is from the Star of Temperance, published at Jackson, the capital of Mississippi, and edited by a clergyman well known through the Southern States.

articles, reprinted from standard authors. Besides, it is such a cheap mode of getting distinguished names into one's table of contents. And, furthermore, it is such a delightful operation to the purchaser, first to buy an author's works as they are published, secondly, to buy them over again in the form of a volume of Elegant Extracts, and, finally, to buy them a third time, reprinted in the "treasured" pages of a Magazine. And still another

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The extremely low price at which the Magazine is furnished to Clubs compels us to erase from our books all club subscribers who have not paid beyond December, 1849. We trust, however, that this may not be to any great extent necessary. We hope our friends will promptly enrol their names anew for 1850, and that they will make another generous effort to increase the subscription list of Sartain's Magazine at their respective post-offices. A very slight effort on the part of each reader-perhaps merely the showing of this number to half a dozen of your nearest friends-might double our subscription list in a single week. Do we ask any very great favour? Are not you, as well as we, interested in promoting a sound and healthful literature? Is there any one of the thousands of readers of Sartain that would not feel a gratifying pride in seeing a Magazine, which has dared to take such a bold and honourable position in literature, meeting with a success commensurate with its character? Would you not like to see a triumphant practical contradiction to that theory of American mind which presumes that a Magazine, to be popular in this country, and especially to be popular among ladies, must necessarily be feeble and flashy? What greater satire could be uttered upon American women than the kind of literature which some people seem to think is all that can interest them? Look over the pages of the Magazine now in your hands-see the gems of art that adorn it-the pearls of knowledge and of genius that lie scattered broadcast throughout its pages-look at our list of active contributors, such as no American Magazine could ever boast-our rich and varied table of contents, with something suited to every taste, be it for religion, morals, manners, sentiment, poetry, or the fine arts-and say whether, to sustain such a Magazine, and to give it an increased efficacy for whatever is high and inspiring, you will not at least renew your own subscriptions and say to your neighbour-"Go and do likewise?"

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ARRANGEMENTS FOR 1850.

The Literary Department of this Magazine will remain under the control of its present able Editors, PROF. JOHN S. HART, of Philadelphia, and MRS. CAROLINE M. KIRKLAND, of New York, who, besides articles from their

own pens every month, have secured contributions from the best Authors in Europe and America.

These contributions, including some of the most brilliant Magazine articles anywhere to be found, are entirely original, being written expressly for our Magazine, and not selected from other publications.

Among the many distinguished names in our list of contributors, may be mentioned the following, many of whom write for no other periodical. Frederika Bremer, of Sweden; William Howitt, of England; Mary Howitt, do.; R. H. Horne, do., author of "A New Spirit of the Age," "Orion," &c.; Silverpen, the popular contributor to "Eliza Cook's Journal;" the author of "Mary Barton;" Henry W. Longfellow, Rev. George W. Bethune, D.D., N. P. Willis, Miss C. M. Sedgwick, George H. Boker, John Neal, J. Russell Lowell, Francis J. Grund, Joseph R. Chandler, Rev. W. H. Furness, D.D., Mrs. L. H. Sigourney, Prof. Alden, Rev. J. P. Durbin, D.D., Mrs. E. Oakes Smith, Rev. John Todd, D.D., Mrs. Frances S. Osgood, Rev. Albert Barnes, Mrs. L. M. Child, Prof. Rhoads, Miss. Anne C. Lynch, Park Benjamin, Mrs. C. M. Butler, Henry T. Tuckerman, Miss Eliza L. Sproat, Henry William Herbert, Mrs. Joseph C. Neal, Mrs. E. F. Ellett, Edgar A. Poe, Prof. Moffat, Mrs. E. C. Kinney, Rev. Robert Davidson, D.D., "Edith May," Augustine J. Duganne, Caroline May, Richard Willis, Alfred B. Street, Charles J. Peterson, George S. Burleigh, C. H. Wiley, Charles G. Leland, Rev. Thomas Brainerd, Rev. H. Hastings Weld, Miss E. Bogart, Miss E. A. Starr, John H. Hopkins, T. S. Arthur, G. G. Foster, Mrs. Mary S. Whitaker, R. H. Stoddard, Eugene Lies, Richard Grant White, Mrs. Ann S. Stephens, Miss Harriet Farley, Rev. 8. I. Prime, D.D., Wm. D. Lewis, Mrs. E. H. Swift, Mrs. Emma C. Embury, Phebe and Alice Carey, Francis De H. Janvier, Mrs. Mary Hughs, Miss Maria J. B. Browne, Mrs. Sarah T. Bolton, Mrs. F. M. Brotherson, Miss Anne T. Wilbur, Mrs. J. L. Gray, Rev. George B. Cheever, D.D.

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