ds sporting among them; of what are
called "mezzotinto," pencil-drawings, "poonah-paintings," and what
not. "The Album" is to be found invariably upon the round rosewood
brass-inlaid drawing-room table of the middle classes, and with a couple
of "Annuals" besides, which flank it on the same table, represents the
art of the house; perhaps there is a portrait of the master of the house
in the dining-room, grim-glancing from above the mantel-piece; and
of the mistress over the piano up stairs; add to these some odious
miniatures of the sons and daughters, on each side of the chimney-glass;
and here, commonly (we appeal to the reader if this is an overcharged
picture), the collection ends. The family goes to the Exhibition once
a year, to the National Gallery once in ten years: to the former place
they have an inducement to go; there are their own portraits, or the
portraits of their friends, or the portraits of public characters; and
you will see them infallibly wondering over No. 2645 in the catalogue,
representing "The Portrait of a Lady," or of the "First Mayor of Little
Pedlington since the passing of the Reform Bill;" or else bustling and
squeezing among the miniatures, where lies the chief attraction of the
Gallery. England has produced, owing to the effects of this class of
admirers of art, two admirable, and five hundred very clever, portrait
painters. How many ARTISTS? Let the reader count upon his five fingers,
and see if, living at the present moment, he can name one for each.

If, from this examination of our own worthy middle classes, we look to
the same class in France, what a difference do we find! Humble cafe's
in country towns have their walls covered with pleasing picture papers,
representing "Les Gloires de l'Armee Francaise," the "Seasons,"
the "Four Quarters of the World," "Cupid and Psyche," or some other
allegory, landscape or history, rudely painted, as papers for walls
usually are; but the figures are all tolerably well drawn; and the
common taste, which has caused a demand for such things, is undeniable.
In Paris, the manner in which the cafes and houses of the restaurateurs
are ornamented, is, of course, a thousand times richer, and nothing can
be more beautiful, or more exquisitely finished and correct, than the
designs which adorn many of them. We are not prepared to say what sums
were expended upon the painting of "Very's" or "Vefour's," of the "Salle
Musard," or of numberless other places of p