The Expression of a piece of painting, is the appearance which it has to the eye; or, the degree of power which the artist gives it, of conveying to the beholder, a correct idea of the object or objects it represents. It ought to be natural, lively, and striking.

Clare-obscure is the art of distributing the lights and shades of a piece; both with regard to easing the eye, and heightening the effect of the whole composition.

Ordonnance denotes the disposition of the parts of a picture; either with regard to the whole piece, or to the several parts.

• Colouring is the manner of applying and conducting the colours of a picture; or the mixture of lights and shades, formed by the various colours employed in Painting.

Q. What are the various kinds of Painting? A. Paintings are distinguished with regard to the materials used; the matter whereon they are applied; and the manner of applying them. The principal kinds are as follow:

Oil-painting, for which the colours are ground in nut or linseed oil; and may be applied to canvass, wood, or walls; stone, glass, or metals.

This discovery, which was made by a Flemish painter, in the beginning of the 14th century, is of great importance to the art; since, by it, the colours of a picture are preserved much longer, and receive a softness and lustre, which the ancients, to whom it was unknown, could never give their pieces, whatever var nish they might use.

Water colours, or limning, is a more ancient art than painting in oil, in which the colours are mixed with water only; with, sometimes, the addition of a little sizing.

Fresco is a kind of painting done with water colours, on fresh plaster, or on a wall laid with mortar not yet dry; so that, incorporating with the mortar, and drying along with it, the colours become extremely durable.

Distemper is a term for painting, when the colours are mixed with size, whites of eggs, or other proper glutinous, or unctuous substances, without oil.

Miniature is a delicate kind of painting; consisting of fine points, or dots, instead of lines, and done with thin water colours.

Encaustic is a species of Painting with burned wax. It consists in applying water colours upon a coating of beeswax; and when the picture is dry, it is put near a fire, by which the wax melts, and absorbs all the colours.

Enamel is a method of Painting with enamels, or metalline colours, ground and reduced to powder, and used, like other colours, with a pencil; then fused, baked again, and vitrified by force of fire.

Glass is a kind of Painting similar to enamel; the colours being incorporated with the glass itself, by exposing them to a proper degree of heat.

Aquatinta is a method of etching, on copper, lately invented; by which, a soft and beautiful effect is produced, resembling a fine drawing in water colours, or Indian ink.

Mezzotinto is an ingenious method of representing figures, on copper; so as to form prints in imitation of Painting in Indian ink.

SCULPTURE.

Q. What is Sculpture?

A. Sculpture is the art of cutting or carving wood and stone into images; and of fashioning wax, earth, plaster, &c. to serve as models, or moulds for the casting of metalline figures.

Q. Is not this a very ancient art?

A. Of the antiquity of Sculpture there can be no doubt; since the sacred writings mention it in several places: as, in the case of Laban's idols, taken away by Rachel; the brazen serpent, made by Moses, and the golden calf, by the people of Israel.

Q. What is Statuary?

A. Statuary is a branch of Sculpture, employed in making statues. The ancients far surpassed the moderns in this art; perhaps, because it was more popular, and therefore, more cultivated.

Q. What are deemed the best specimens of Sculpture in England?

A. The specimens of Sculpture that seem to stand highest in England, are the statues of Phrensy and Melancholy, on the piers, before Bethlehem hospital; - an elegant statue of Edward VI. in bronze, at St. Thomas's hospital, in Southwark, by Sckeemaker;-another of Sir Isaac Newton, at Cambridge, by Roubiliac;-the monuments of the duke of Argyle and Mrs. Nightingale, by the same artist; and one of Dr. Chamberlain, by Sckeemaker.

Westminster-abbey is the famous repository of Sculpture in England; but the figures lose much of their effect by being crowded together without order or arrangement..

Q. Is it not probable, that Sculpture is more ancient than Painting?

A. There is reason to believe that Sculpture is not only more ancient than Painting, but that it stood higher in the public esteem also; since the ancient painters appear to have imitated the statuaries; and their works have not that freedom of style, especially with respect to their drapery, which the pencil might easily have acquired, to a greater degree than the chisel. Q. What is Bass-relievo?

A. Bass-relievo is a term in Sculpture, signifying that the figures or images do not stand entirely above the plane on which they are formed.

Creux is opposed to relievo; and implies that the figure, cut and formed, lies within the plane of the plate or substance engraved on.

A Bust is the portrait of a person, in relievo; showing only the head, shoulders, and breast. Q. Which is the more difficult of these two arts, Painting or Sculpture?

A. Painting has a greater number of requisites than Sculpture; but, at the same time, its expedients are the more numerous; and, therefore, we may venture to affirm, that, whenever

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Sculpture pleases equally with a Painting, the Sculptor is certainly the greater artist.

ETHICS.

Q. What are Ethics?

A. Ethics, or Moral Philosophy, is the science of morals, or of manners and duty, in all our intercourse with our fellow men; whether in public or private life.

Q. What is the design of this science?

A. The design of Ethics or moral philosophy, is to teach men their duty, and the reason of it;to teach them virtue,* benevolence, prudence, fortitude, and temperance; moral obligation, and relative duty.

* Virtue, says Paley, comprehends benevolence, prudence, fortitude, and temperance; and is the doing of good to mankind, in obedience to the will of God, and for the sake of his favour, and of everlasting happiness.

Here-the good of mankind is the object; the will of God, the rule; and his favour, with everlasting happiness, the end or motive of virtue.

Benevolence proposes good ends; prudence suggests the best means of attaining them; fortitude encounters the difficulties that lie in our way to them; and temperance directs to the right use or moderate enjoyment of them.

JURISPRUDENCE.

Q. What is Jurisprudence?

A. Jurisprudence is the science of what is just and unjust; or the knowledge of the laws, rights, customs, and ordinances, necessary for the administration of justice.