beautiful and varied scenery that they may portray that of other countries, and in doing so they have ceased in many cases to be original. But despite these defects, there is much hope in the general performance of Canadians even without that encouragement and sympathy which the artists of the United States have in a larger measure been able to receive in a country of greater wealth, population and intellectual culture. Not only does the exhibition of paintings in the world's fair make one very hopeful of the future artistic development of this continent, but the beauty of the architectural design of the noble buildings which contain the treasures of art and industry, and of the decorative figures and groups of statuary that embellish these buildings and the surrounding grounds, is a remarkable illustration of the artistic genius that has produced so exquisite an effect in general, whatever defects there may be in minor details. A critic in the July number of the 'Quarterly Review,' while writing "in the presence of these lovely temples, domes, and colonnades under the burning American sky which adds a light and a transparency to all it rests upon," cannot help echoing the regret that this vision of beauty is but for a season, and expressing the hope that some one of the American money kings "may perpetuate his name on marble, by restoring, on the edge of this immense capital, amid parks and waters, that great central square which, were it only built of enduring materials, would stand without a rival in modern architecture." Perhaps the fine arts in the Dominion--where sculpture would be hardly heard of were it not for the French Canadian Hébert--may themselves even gain some stimulus from the examples of a higher conception of artistic achievement that is shown by this exhibition to exist in a country where a spirit of materialism has obtained the mastery so long. Canadian architecture hitherto has not been distinguished for originality of design--much more than art it has been imitative. In Montreal and Quebec the old buildings which represent the past have no architectural beauty, however interesting they may be to the antiquarian or the historian, and however well many of them harmonize with the heights of picturesque Quebec. Montreal is assuredly the most interesting city from an architectural point of view in Canada, simply for the reason that its architects have, as a rule, studied that effect of solidity and simplicity of design most in keeping with the grand mountain and the natural scenery that give such picturesqueness to an exceptionally noble site. While we see all over Canada--from Victoria on the Pacific to Halifax on the Atlantic[64_a_][H]--the evidences of greater comfort, taste and wealth in our private and public buildings, while we see many elaborate specimens of ecclesiastical art, stately piles of legislative halls, excellent specimens of Gothic and Tudor art in our colleges, expensive