and Regent's Quadrant and Circus, as containing some of the finest and best furnished shops in the world. Oxford Street, Holborn, Cheapside, Fleet Street, and the Strand, have all capital shops, in which all the productions of the known world can be obtained. But in these places,

with all the care that can be used, after a heavy rain the streets are in a most dirty condition, and foot passengers can scarcely cross without a chance of getting over their shoes in mud; and then the neverceasing noise in Cheapside, or any of the great thoroughfares, obliges you to quite distress yourself in talking loud to make yourself heard by your friends.

The squares at the west end of London are composed of princely houses fit for palaces. There are gardens in the centre of each square, with many shrubs, railed round with iron palisades; and the carriages of the nobility and the gentry that are constantly passing and repassing, give an air of life and gentility quite opposed to the heavy carts, waggons, and omnibuses which are always rumbling about in the city. We could talk almost for ever of the magnificent view of the Coliseum. We think it a master-piece of human ingenuity, and we would say to our own countrymen who visit England, and to such Englishmen who have not yet seen it, that there is nothing in London that will better please them than the Coliseum, and that for only one shilling.

Below there is a saloon, where statues of eminent men are in great number.

THE NATIONAL GALLERY.-This is a very large building situated in Trafalgar Square, Charing Cross, where a number of beautiful paintings and pictures are exhibited to the public without any charge being made. The building was erected at a cost of £75,000 by the government, and the first stone was laid in 1834. It consists of a centre and two wings; the whole length is four hundred and sixty-one feet, and width fifty-six feet, and occupies the whole of the north side of Trafalgar Square; it is an immense pile of building, but the appearance is not very pleasing, and regular. The eastern wing is appropriated to the Royal Academy of Arts, and the western wing for the exhibition of pictures of the National Gallery. The foundation of this latter Gallery was the collection of Mr. Angerstein, a merchant, purchased by government for £60,000. and many additions have been made to it since. The entrances to the wings are from doors under the portico which leads to a lobby, and ascending a staircase to the left you find yourself in the exhibition rooms, where many pictures painted in oil colours by some of the best artists of former days are deposited. Here a man fond of seeing the fine arts will derive much pleasure; the rooms are very capacious and the pictures are very well arranged; benches are also placed in the rooms for the

comfort of the visitors, and it is always thronged by the people. A catalogue of all the particulars is to be had at the place in which the subject, as well as the names of each individual painting are arranged in regular order.

In the western wing of the building is the Royal Academy of Art, where a certain number of young artists study their profession, they are taught and their works are examined by an eminent man called the President, appointed by the government; it was established at the Somerset House, 1768, for the purpose of encouraging English artists, and is now removed to this building.

The productions of these academicians are annually exhibited to the public, commencing from the first week in May, and terminating in July.

The pictures here exhibited are all new, as those which have been once exhibited are not allowed to be there again. There are also a large number of miniature portraits, most exquisitely finished and pleasing to the eye. The disposition of rooms is the same as in the "National Gallery," and in a room on the ground floor are several fine specimens of sculpture.

It is considered a great honor by the artists or sculptors, whose productions are considered worthy of exhibiting at this place, in consequence of which they are excited to competition by which the art re ceives considerable attention by those who practise it.

In the sculpture room we had the pleasure of seeing the bust of our worthy friend Sir Charles Forbes, executed by Sir Francis Chantrey, who is said to be the best modern sculptor, and we can bear testimony as to its faithfulness.

The statue of Sir Charles which is to be erected by the natives at Bombay, will, we were informed, be executed from the bust which was there placed to test its accuracy of representation, and we congratulate our countrymen, that should it be a true copy of the bust, they will have the very picture of Sir Charles. There were a great many busts and statues of distinguished men in the room, the workmanship of which we very much admired.

There is also in Pall Mall, "the British Institution," the Gallery of a society of noblemen and gentlemen encouragers of the Fine Arts, where some very good paintings by British artists are to be seen, at the payment of one shilling each.

There are a great many other exhibitions in London, but we were satisfied with viewing the first three establishments.

It is to be lamented that there is no taste about this excellent art among our countrymen, but in England it is considered a great accomplishment; ladies almost generally learn to draw and sketch in pencil and in oil and water colours, and it is really a great source of amusement, and their leisure hours are devoted to such occupations, which would have otherwise appeared tedious,

besides how pleasant it must be for them to take a sketch of a place they have once been to, to imitate nature and beautiful scenery, landscapes, flowers, &c.; we hope in conclusion, that our countrymen will evince a disposition to adopt all such accomplishments, as we have described the English to possess, and which we cannot too strongly recommend.

Miss Linwood's exhibition of needle work in Leicester Square, is a most extraordinary production of human ingenuity, or rather application, it is no less than an exhibition of sixty-four pictures from the largest to the smallest size, containing likenesses of man, animal, birds, landscape, sea views, &c., all worked with the needle and coloured woollen threads upon coarse linen fabric, by this lady's own hands.

They are tasefully arranged in three rooms, two of which are one hundred feet in length, and are so well executed that they cannot be discovered from real paintings at a short distance; the last picture she finished about seven years ago, since which she has given up working with them in consequence of imperfection in eye sight.

At the two ends of the second large room are two artificial caves and pictures of a lion and a tiger are placed in it, which so exactly resemble life, that we actually took them to have been stuffed and placed there for show. In the third room there is a likeness of Christ, for which we were informed she was offered £3000. We admired