The engravings are of larger size than heretofore, and, for the most
part, more brilliant in design and execution than any previous year.
We can only notice _the Sisters_, (frontispiece) full of graceful and
pleasing effect, by J.H. Robinson, after Stephanoff; _Cleopatra, on the
Cydnus_, a splendid aquatic pageant, by E. Goodall, after Danby; the
_Proposal_, consisting of two of the most striking figures in Leslie's
exquisite painting of May Day in Queen Elizabeth's time; a _Portrait of
Sir Walter Scott_, from Leslie's painting, and considered the best
likeness; this is from the burin of an American artist of high promise.
We must not, however, forget _Ehrenbreitstein, on the Rhine_, by John
Pye, from a drawing by J.M.W. Turner, which is one of the most
delightful prints in the whole series.

In the _poetry_ are Cleopatra, well according with the splendid scene it
is intended to illustrate--and I think of Thee, a tender lament--both by
Mr. T.K. Hervey; Mrs. Hemans has contributed four exquisite pieces:
Night, the Ship at Sea, and the Mariner's Grave, by Mr. John Malcolm,
only make us regret that we have not room for either in our columns;
Mary Queen of Scots, by H.G. Bell, Esq., is one of the most interesting
historical ballads we have lately met with; the Epistle from Abbotsford,
is a piece of pleasantry, which would have formed an excellent pendent
to Sir Walter's Study, in our last; Zadig and Astarte, by Delta, are in
the writer's most plaintive strain; the recollections of our happiest
years, are harmoniously told in "Boyhood;" a ballad entitled "The
Captive of Alhama," dated from Woburn Abbey, and signed R----, is a
soul-stirring production, attributed to Lord John Russel; and the Pixies
of Devon has the masterly impress of the author of Dartmoor. And last in
our enumeration, though first in our liking, are the following by the
editor:--Invocation to the Echo of a Sea Shell; King Pedro's Revenge,
with a well written historiette; the Youngling of the Flock, full of