energies to accomplish great ends--though applicable to every station of
life, however humble.

Xenophon is a distant figure in this effective picture: his action, as
well as that of the cavalry, about him is admirably expressed: he appears
on the pinnacle of triumph; his charger snuffs the very gale of glory, and
the uncurbed energy of exultation seems to animate those immediately
around him. The eye descends to the checkered toil beneath: the brawny
soldier bearing the delicate form of his lovely wife, which is well
contrasted with the bold, muscular figure of the former: the exhausted
youth, and the veteran directing the army, but especially the former, are
finely drawn and painted: the bare head of the aged man, with his few last
locks fluttering in the wind, contrasts with the burly-headed trumpeter,
whose thick throat and outblown cheeks denote the energy which he is
throwing into this last inspiring call to victory over difficulty. The
head of the soldier's blood Arab is one of the finest studies of the group:
you almost see the breath of his nostrils; the hinder parts and tail of
the horse are not quite of equal merit. These are but a few of the points
of excellence in the picture: its colouring is censurable for its
roughness, especially by those who enjoy the smoothly-finished productions
of certain British artists; but we may look to such in vain for the
powerful drawing and forcible expression which characterize this, the
finest of Mr. Haydon's pictures.

In the same room, _vis a vis_ the _Xenophon_, is the _Mock Election_
picture described at some length in No. 304, of _The Mirror_. About the
walls are thirteen finished sketches and studies also by Mr. Haydon. We
may notice them anon.