emonstrate that it is not by
those deviations from established rules which arrest the most superficial
criticism that Mr. Turner's fame or merit are to be estimated. For nearly
sixty years Mr. Turner contributed largely to the arts of this country. He
lived long enough to see his greatest productions rise to uncontested
supremacy, however imperfectly they were understood when they first
appeared in the earlier years of this century; and, though in his later
works and in advanced age, force and precision of execution have not
accompanied his vivacity of conception, public opinion has gradually and
steadily advanced to a more just appreciation of his power. He is the
Shelley of English painting--the poet and the painter both alike veiling
their own creations in the dazzling splendor of the imagery with which
they are surrounded, mastering every mode of expression, combining
scientific labor with an air of negligent profusion, and producing in the
end works in which color and language are but the vestments of poetry. Of
such minds it may be said in the words of Alastor:

"Nature's most secret steps
He, like her shadow, has pursued, where'er
The red volcano overcanopies
Its fields of snow and pinnacles of ice
With burning smoke; or where the starry domes
Of diamond and of gold expand above
Numberless and immeasurable halls,
Frequent with crystal column and clear shrines
Of pearl, and thrones radiant with chrysolite.
Nor had that scene of ampler majesty
Than gems or gold--the varying roof of heaven
And the green earth--lost in his heart its claims
To love and wonder...."

[Illustration: THE LATE J. W. M. TURNER]

THE LATE J. W. M. TURNER

BASIL MONTAGU, an eminent philosophical and legal writer, was the
illegitimate son of the well-known statesman, John fourth Earl of
Sandwich, many years First Lord of the Admiralty, by the unfortunate Miss
Margaret Reay, who was assassinated, in 1779, by her affianced lover, the
Rev. Mr. Hackman. The tragic affair, which excited immense interest at the
time, and which gave rise to various romantic stories, is to be found in
most series of judicial investigations, and especially in a collection of
celebrated trials recently published. It appears that Margaret Reay was
the daughter of a stay-maker in Covent-garden, and served her
apprenticeship to a mantuamaker. Having attracted the attention of Lord
Sandwich, he