FINE ARTS THE ANNUALS.

We hail the appearance of these literary luxuries with infinite pleasure, and should be wanting in gratitude for much entertainment were we to pass them over in silence, particularly as each succeeding year's graphic il lustrations shew an evident improve ment in the Arts, to which we are ever ready to open our pages.

Ackermann's Forget me Not was the first of these offerings to public taste, and it has annually visited us with increased claims to approbation and patronage. The title suits all seasons and all possible circumstances, and has the peculiar merit of individualising the feelings of which it is the token. The thought was a happy one, and was happily expressed in its earliest numbers by that beautiful garland of its own blue flower that was wont to be embossed on its title page. In the present volume, and in the Juvenile, by the same publisher-a fit and proper companion for its adult namesake-are numerous engravings by Chevalier, Landseer, Romney, Shenton, &e., and their names are a sufficient guarantee both of the style in which they are executed, and of the taste with which the subjects have been selected. The neatness and elegance with which both these very pretty volumes are got up, do as much credit to the liberality of the spirited proprietor as the talent which he has called forth in their illustration. The literary portions do not come under the character of those works which we are accustomed to notice, though it is but justice to say, the accompanying letter-press is highly entertaining; and we most heartily recommend these Forget me Nots as worthy not to be forgotten.

The embellishments of Friendship's Offering, published by Smith, Elder, and Co., are numerous, and we have seldom seen anything of the same class which could lay claim to a greater share of merit. The artists whose talents have been engaged in their production are individuals whose reputations are already established. Among the illustrations we may particularise the portrait of Lady Carrington, being

the last female painted by the lamented Sir Thomas Lawrence, possessing all that grace which the late President knew so well how to pourtray, and Finden's exquisite engraving from Richter's Fairy of the Lake. The designs by Stothard, J. Wood, Johanot, E. C. Ward, Wichelo, Westall, R.A., and others, are really beautiful; and their execution could not be entrusted to better hands than those of C. Rolls, Shenton, E. and W. C. Finden, Holmes, T. A. Dean, J. Goodyear, &c.-all exquisite specimens of what the pencil and the graver can perform. This set of prints will no doubt make their way into the libraries of all classical scholars and lovers of art.

The Humourist. This is Mr. Harrison's second appearance in this character, which he supports admirably under the auspices of our old friend Ackermann; and as an amusement, or a "Companion to the Christmas Fireside," which its second title professes, no contribution can be more calculated to sustain its object. Whilst other Annuals procure the co-operation of a number of popular pens, Mr. Harrison boldly attempts to raise the crop and reap the field of humour alone. It is sown with eighty-one various and laughable designs by W. H. Brooke, beginning with Emigration, and ending with a Brother of the Angle. The first represents an Irish family on the move, drawn by a single horse, and cart and horse covered with population: to which the author in his preface thus alludes:-" He neither claims nor merits exemption from the common lot of authors. Like the animal in the first illustration of this Number, he has found his path an up-hill one; and the attempt to draw a multitude with so many conflicting sentiments, laborious. He has had great critics on his back, and small ones upon his withers, while the shafts of censure have galled his sides. Could he, however-to carry the simile not further, but back, that is, to the tail of the car-dare to hope that, like the Irishman with the uplifted shilelah, he is about to make a hit, he should forget his past labours in the prospect of future reward." The volume is

filled with puns, droll stories, odd caricatures of character, and Pindaric extravaganzas, all in immediate connection with the designs; and we can refer to them as being very ludicrous and displaying great fertility of fancy, perfectly in unison with each other.

The Comic Offering.-Miss L. H. Sheridan has again taken the field of fun and humour, under the protection of her first publishers, Smith, Elder, and Co.; and her volume for 1832 will be found an admirable antidote to ennui. Without wishing in the slightest degree to derogate from the merits of this talented Lady, we think she has done wisely in calling in the aid of such able coadjutors as Our Village Mitford, Lady Clarke, W. Collier, Esq., Miss Isabel Hill, T. H. Bayly, Esq., and other "justly esteemed favorites in the circle of literature." The greater The greater part of the illustrations, seventy in number, are designed by the fair authoress; the remainder are the production of persons who have attained celebrity in this branch of the Art, highly characteristic of the object it is intended to pourtray. Old Cat" is an exquisite morceau, and "Sans sous, see," is true to nature. But we cannot particularise: all are highly comic, and well adapted to chase away the blue devils, which too frequently assail the sportsman when frost-bound.

RETORTS COURTEOUS.

"The

twenty minutes from the commencement of the play. Whether it arises from the novelty or fierceness of the struggle, camping matches are generally attended by the whole neighbourhood, each individual appearing to feel that upon his personal exertions depends the fate of the game, and all evincing the most lively interest in the success of their respective partisans. It is perhaps one of the pastimes best adapted for the display of the hardihood, agility, and courage of our rural population, as it combines and brings into action all the athletic powers of which man is capable. It was formerly a game of very general pursuit in Norfolk, but, with the exception of a very splendid affair which came off at Ranworth in August 1822, it has been but little practised of late years. In 1349 (24th Edw. III.) it was prohibited by public edict, because it co-operated with other popular and favorite amusements to impede the progress of archery. James the First denounced it as "meeter for lameing than making abler the users thereof." (See Basilicon Doron, book iii.) Speaking of " foote-ball," Barclay, in his Ship of Fools, published 1508, has these lines:

"The sturdie plowman, lustie, stronge, and bold,

Overcometh the winter with driving the foote-ball,

Forgetting labour and many a grievous fall."

MR. OSBALDESTON'S MATCH.

This out-and-outer's great match, to gallop two hundred miles in ten successive hours, with an unlimited number of horses, will be decided on the race course at Newmarket on the Monday after the Houghton Meeting. Twenty-five thorough-bred horses are to be employed, and (independently of changes and stoppages for refreshments) Mr. O. must do at the rate of twenty miles an hour. He is, however, so confident that he has laid odds on the performance; notwithstanding which there are plenty of takers at six to four. The ground on which this feat is to be undertaken is a square, the extent of which is four