THEATRE LOUVOIS, Stands decidedly at the head of the second class of theatres. Here comedies and farces are well performed. This house apparently aims at competition with the Theatre Française. It is no probable, however, that it will succeed in this point; but it is certainly entitled to more of the public protection than it appears to enjoy at present. The hall of this respectable theatre is handsome, and of an agreeable size; the orchestra also is sufficiently good for its purpose. THEATRES IN GENERAL. The principal theatres of inferior rank are nearly on a level with our Circus, Amphitheatre, or Sadler's Wells. As for all the rest they are decidedly adapted to the taste of the million. LIST OF ALL THE THEATRES IN PARIS. 1. Theatre des Arts (l'Opera) 2. L'Opera Comique (Nationale) 3. L'Opera Buffa (Italienne) 8. L'Ambigue comique 11. Sans Pretension 18. De Mareux . FAMILIAR LECTURES ON USEFUL SCIENCES. LETTERS ON BOTANY, FROM A YOUNG LADY TO HER FRIEND. LETTER III. MY DEAR EUGENIA, THE definitions I gave you in my last, must have taught you the general divisions of the Linnean System, it is necessary now to examine the different individuals which you will meet in your walks. Names are learned by rote and remembered by use and habit, but the observation of the plants is still more interesting than the study of their appellations. child will perhaps adorn her hat with 'eir blossoms, you will cause one of them, and to try your knowledge will number its stamina. Upwards of twenty filaments, black and crisped, will show you it belongs to the polyandria. A single pistil, very apparent, will place it in the monogynia order; and if you are desirous of knowing its name, you will easily find your plant among a few descriptions. That kind of study is pleasant and easy, and if you sometimes deceive yourself, it is without danger and without remorse. Gather a flower, a field-poppy, for instance, observe the beauty of its colours, the fragility of its rich texture; and think of the slum- Let us now examine the corn flower, centaubering power that lies concealed in its bosom. rea cyanus. You see it is radiate, and perceive Are your thoughts of a gloomy hue, it will seem the florets which compose the disk and the rays. the deadly poison employed by hatred, revenge, Scrutinize first the rays: they contain neither and rebellion. Is your mind calm and serene, stamina nor pistils. Take a glass, and observe you will consider it as the soothing comfort of attentively the smaller ones of the disk, you will sickness, that drowns in peaceful slumbers the discover that the stamina form in every one of remembrance of pain. In the first case, the luck- them a short cylindrical body, with their lengthless field-poppy will be plucked without mercy. ened anthers. The flower therefore belongs to In the second, when you enjoy the sweets of do- the syngenesia, and the neutral florets of the rays mestic happiness in the middle of a blooming fa- give you the order of the polygamia frustranea. mily, you will behold it as the harmless orna- The scabiosa might deceive you; it is comment, prepared by the hand of Nature, to embel-posed of florets; but the anthers of the stamina lish the simple maidens of the country. At- are so distinctly divided, that you have only to tracted by the brightness of their colours, your reckon their number, which consists of four in every floret. The scabiosa then belongs to the te:andria. A single pistil is found in every floret, which assigns to the plant the order of monogynia. LETTER IV. MY DEAR FRIEND, I return from the garden, where I enjoyed the cooling breezes of a peaceful morning During my walk, I gathered a small flower to send you its description, and hasten to begin the lesson before its leaves fade away. This small plant is the herb Robert, or Geranium Robertianum. When I take hold of it, I notice a strong and unpleasant smell, which is found in every kind of geranium but the geranium-rosa. I open with a pen the hairy calyx of the flower; I pluck off with merciless, but careful hand, the blushing petals, and perceive the stamina collected into a small bundle, and crowned with red anthers. That characteristic places my plant among the monadelphia; and when I have numbered the stamina, and found them ten, I discover that it is contained in the decandria order. While it ripens, the coral dries up and disappears, as well as the stamina. Swelied by the seed it incloses, the pistil fills up the whole of the calyx, and terminates in a long point tinged with red. It would be impossible to describe this beautiful little plant, without admiring its elegance and grace, the regularity of its shape, the white lines which adorn its petals, and the salutary down which defends it against the slow attacks of humidity, though it humbly clothes the ground, and often spreads its green foliage on the margin of a rill. I should almost be tempted to believe that this geranium were the chef-d'œuvre of the Creator, and the darling object of his care, did not the same perfection appear in all his works. Let us learn by his example not to neglect the less important of our duties, and to do a good action in secret, with as much attention as the most public deed. LETTER V. Yesterday, my dear Eugenia, I walked out but for a moment: you were present to my mind, and I gathered for you the flowers which grew at the side of a wall. Let us now begin to study them; I learn myself by teaching you, and that encreases my satisfaction. Think of me every time one of your flowers meet your eyes; I strew them at your feet as pleasing remembrancers of the past. When you go to the country you must put my lessons into practice, and verify the truth of my instructions. Nature has in the distribution of her boundless garden, appointed an end to the courses of her children. Cherries have rewarded the exploits of Mithridates. The peach-tree comes from Persia, and the horse-chesnut from India; the tulip tree of America flourishes in France, and here the palm-tree crowns his head but with barren leaves, and ceases to be fruitful; too distant from his native sky, it is at the temple of the Sun that he lights the torch of Hymen, and sends, on the pinions of the winds, through the wilds of Africa his fertilizing love to the virgin palms of the desert. But let us return to our humbler plants. Here is a Roquet; this yellow flower which according to my taste sends forth a pleasant smell, inhabits commonly the sides of a public road, and is called in Latin sysimbrium-tenuifolium. Its four petals, which are very distinct from each other, make me think that it must belong to the tetradynamia, or the class which contains almost all the cruciform. Four long stamina arise in the middle of the flower around the pistil, without holding together by their anthers; a little lower I perceive two smaller stamina of the same height as the coral, and by their number and their shape I am enabled to place the flower in the fifteenth class, or tetradynamia. The fruit of that plant is a silique, in which the seed is contained and ripened. The silique swells, and when the seed has attained a proper degree of maturity, it bursts its prison and falls upon the ground where it takes root and produces similar plants. All the flowers are disposed in corymb. There is this difference between a corymb and an umbel, in the first, the peduncles are placed above each other, and grow longer as they are farther from the top, while in the second, which offers the same aggregation of flowers supported by peducles, are ranged on the stem in a circle. Observe that the central flowers of the aggregation are less advanced than the others; they are generally only buds, and, if I may say so, concealed under the sheltering petals of their neighbours; the flowers of the ray are those which fade away first. Observe also the delicate structure of the four divisions of the calyx, which covers and protects the whole of the bud; when the coral begins to unfold, the calyx seems to descend, dries up, and forsakes the coral, while its four divisions turned down, add to the beauty and the security of the flower. The stem of that plant is smooth, or deprived of all kind of hair or down. Let us examine another individual of the same class, but of the order silicalosa, and let us take the bursa pastoris, or shepherd's pouch. The flower is almost imperceptible, and it is difficult | coral and calyx, and the small stamina which to observe its different parts distinctly. have fertilized its bosom. Begin by raising with a small pin the four divisions of the calyx, pluck off then the four white petals, and between them you will see six stamina in the unequal but regular proportion of two short and four long ones; they are crowned with yellow anthers, and in the middle you will soon perceive the pistil which begins to swell, and threatens to divide its fostering cradles, the The silicles becomes much larger than the size of the plant seemed to promise. It is flat, in the shape of a heart, with a small line in the middle; it is the mark of the filament which divides it into two parts, which contain each two rows of seeds: when ripe they fall naturally to the ground, and give birth to other individuals. [To be continued.] LETTERS TO A YOUNG LADY, · UPON THE SUBJECT OF PERSPECTIVE; Elucidating the practice of taking Views, and of designing Landscapes. [Continued from Page 107.] LETTER SECOND. meant for men, but to make asses men." If by men, my dear Matilda, are meant beings endowed with the powers of just reasoning, I believe the other denomination more truly belongs to many who make free with the human form; and if you will take the remark of the Epicurean sage, with that interpretation, I shall most heartily coincide with your opinion. But to proceed with our proposed study:-In this letter you have to expect more of the theory, from what I forewarned you in my last; and you must sustain what you may consider burthensome, with the hopes of that more pleasing practical part which I have promised in my In this I shall have occasion to speak of parallel, inclining, perpendicular, and proportional straight lines, which may be thus defined : You delight me, my dear Matilda, by the tender expression with which you approve the subject I have selected for our correspondence. The pleasure derivable from it, is not indeed to be obtained without some degree of attention, but, if I can soften that seeming ruggidness, which its technical terms and the abstract references of its general principles have given it, and at the same time keep your mind alive to the beauty of those simple truths on which it is founded, I may indeed promise you the liveliest gratification in the pursuit. It is pride, my dear niece, that makes us, in general, reject the plain elementary truths of nature, as if they were beneath the dignity of our mental powers; forget-third epistle. ing that in the combinations of those, every thing that is truly sublime and beautiful necessarily consists. Men wonder and perplex themselves daily in the explanation of what they consider supernatural occurrences; but to become truly acquainted with simple effects, is the only way to obtain a chain of reasoning which may lead the mind upwards from effects to causes, until we reach the most astonishing deductions upon uncontrovertible evidence. So much have I said in reply to your suggestion, that the begin-hend that angles are greater or less according as ning of Simson's Euclid, into which some time since, you casually turned, appeared to be learned trifling, and that perhaps you had been early prejudiced against a species of learning which you are convinced must be highlyters of which are the angular points: every interesting, by having somewhere picked up the saying of an ancient philosopher, who declared that "the books of Euclid were not No. III. Vol. I. | 1st. Two straight lines, which are every where equally distant from each other are said to be parallel. 2d. If one is not every where equally distant from the other, it is said to incline, or more commonly to be at angles with it; the inclination being called an angle. You will easily compre they are more open or more closed. 3d. The angular point is that in which two inclining staight lines intersect each other. 4th. Angles are measured by circles, the cen circle is divided into 360 parts, called degrees; and these again into 60 minutes. 5th. When a straight line inclines equally on Y each side to another straight line, that is, makes two equal angles with it, it is said to be perpendicular to it, or the two straight lines are said to be at right angles with each other. 6th. An angle greater than a right angle is called obtuse, and an angle less than a right angle || is called acute. 7th. Proportional lines are such as have some given relation or ratio to each other; thus, as a line of two feet long is to another of five feet, so is a line of four feet long to another of ten. As I believe that in the study of perspective it will always be more advantageous to elucidate the subject, even in geometrical definitions, by sensible objects rather than by the usual literal references; let me suppose a square box before you, the surface of its sides, as well as of its bottom and lid, will be parallel planes; their boundary lines will be parallel lines: but, when you begin to raise the lid, the planes of the top and bottom incline, and lines drawn on both are at angles with each other. The surfaces of the sides and bottom are perpendicular planes, and their boundary lines are at right angles; also by opening or closing the lid, you increase or diminish the angles which it makes either with the bottom or upper ridges of the sides. Having thus, my dear Matilda, defined some geometrical expressions, which I must necessarily use in our disquisitions, I would proceed to shew you how to perform a few geometrical problems, but as you will find this done in the elementary books of almost every mathematical science, I shall content myself with sending you a drawing board, with a square and parallel ruler, by which most problems may be more speedily performed than by common operations. In my former letter I explained that boundary of our sight called the visual horizon, and in what manner any line or plane extended thereto is said to vanish. You will perceive, therefore, that all parallel planes, being supposed every way of indefinite magnitude, and extending to the visual horizon, would there appear to intersect each other or vanish in one indefinite straight line. Also if one of these indefinite planes pass through the eye of the delineator, it must cut the plane of the picture in a straight line, which will be the representation of the line of common intersection of the parallel planes at the visual horizon, and is called the vanishing line of those parallel planes. In the same manner, indefinite straight lines parallel to each other would appear to intersect or vanish in the visual horizon, and if any such indefinite parallel line pass through the eye of the delineator, it must transpierce the plane of the picture, in a point which is denominated the vanishing point of such parallel lines, and is the || representation of the point of common intersection of those parallel lines in the visual ho izon. Of the nature of vanishing lines and points, || and of the vanishing planes which belong to them, you must, my dear niece, form as clear an idea as you are able, before you proceed further. The whole of perspective depends upon a just comprehension of them, and I would advise you to read over the two foregoing definitions attentively more than once. The distance of a vanishing line is the length of a straight line, drawn from the eye of the delineator perpendicular to that vanishing line; and the centre of a vanishing line is that point on which the perpendicular falls. The plane of the horizon is an indefinite plane, supposed to pass through the visual horizon, and the eye of the delineator, at right angles, to a plummet line let fall from the eye of the delineator. Its intersection with the plane of the picture is called the horizontal line. It is manifest that the perspective centre described in my first letter must fall on the horizontal line. The base plane is an indefinite plane, which is supposed to pass through any point in a plummet let fall from the eye of the delineater, and at right angles to that plummet line. Its intersection with the plane of the picture is called the base line and sometimes the ground line. The vertical plane is an indefinite plane perpendicular to the horizontal plane, and passing through the eye of the delineator. Its intersection with the plane of the picture is called the vertical line. The height of the eye is the length of the plummet line let fall from the eye of the delineator, between the eye and the point in which the base plane passes. The station point is the point in the plummet line through which the base plane passes. From these definitions the principle of the vanishing line and its centre being clearly comprehended, we may easily deduce the following observations, which, among geometricians, would be termed corollaries: 1st. That if any planes be parallel to the base plane, that is, if they are level planes, their vanishing line will be the horizontal line, whose centre will be the perspective centre of the picture. 2dly. If any parallel planes be perpendicular to the base plane and the plane of the picture, that is, if they are direct, upright, or vertical planes, their vanishing line will be the vertical line, whose centre will also be the perspective centre. Sdly. It is manifest that planes which are not only parallel to each other, but to the plane of level lines, drawn upon them, and through the vanishing point of parallel lines drawn upon the same planes at right angles to those level lines. the picture, will have no vanishing line or centre, || line will pass through the vanishing point of since they can never intersect the plane of the picture, nor approach the visual horizon. 4thly. If the parallel planes are inclined to the plane of the picture, and to the base plane, In these seven corollaries you have a full view but perpendicular to the vertical plane; that is, of the whole theory of perspective; they will if they are direct, elevated, or depressed planes, dilate themselves, and become sufficiently pertheir vanishing line will be parallel to the ho-spicuous in the rules for practice which are to be rizontal line, and its centre will be its intersection with the vertical line. 5 hly. If the parallel planes be perpendicular to the base plane, but inclined to the plane of the picture, and to the vertical plane; that is, if they are oblique upright planes, their vanishing line will be parallel to the vertical line, and its centre will be its intersection with the horizontal line. 6thly. If the parallel planes be perpendicular to the plane of the picture, but inclined to the base plan and to the vertical plane; that is, if they are lateral sloping planes, their vanishing line will pass through the perspective centre, which will also be the centre of such vanishing line. 7thly. If the parallel planes be wholly oblique to all the three principal planes, their vanishing founded upon them, and you will be convinced Believe me, my dear niece, MATHOS LE BON. FINE ARTS. · ANNUAL EXHIBITION AT SOMMERSET-HOUSE. TO THE EDITOR OF LA BELLE ASSEMBLEE. SIR, THE annual Exhibitions at Somerset-House, as well as others in different parts of the town, at this period, claim the attention of the public; and while others are employed in describing, with critical observations, the performances of the different artists, I shall beg leave, through the medium of your miscellany, to offer some general remarks on the nature and use of Exhibitions, as influencing the public taste, and interesting the artist. It is so customary to abuse, and still to visit, this place of annual amusement, that it will shew some confidence to suppose any thing worthy of public attention can find a place on those walls. But as the English scholar has found an able eh mpion in the author of "Rhymes on Art," and a British Gallery is established by gentlemen of the highest respectability in the annals of taste, we may hope, by the exertions of modern artists, to do away that prejudice which has concurred with other circumstances to depress the exertions of the living, by an overweening fondness for the works of the departed. Of the British Gallery it may be said, as of other places intended for the reception of the most perfect, "Where that place, however pure, "But into which foul things will sometimes enter." With a very moderate proportion of this, it must be allowed there is a very fair display of sterling merit; sufficient, with proper encouragement, to rescue the sinking art of Design from that oblivion into which it was feared it fould fall. The arts themselves can little influence the public taste, unless seconded by a discriminating attention from those to whom they have been ac customed to look up to, as the patrons and arbitrators of what was considered most excellent in the fine arts. |