The _Phaeton_ has the dazzling fervid appearance of an autumnal evening; the golden radiance streams in solid masses from behind the flickering clouds; every object is baked in the sun;—the brown foreground, the thick foliage of the trees, the streams shrunk and stealing along behind the dark high banks, combine to produce that richness, and characteristic propriety of effect, which is to be found only in nature, or in art derived from the study and imitation of nature. The glowing splendour of this landscape reminds us of the saying of Wilson, that in painting such subjects, he endeavoured to give the effect of insects dancing in the evening sun. His eye seemed formed to drink in the light. These two pictures, as they have the greatest general effect, are also more carefully finished in the particular details than the other pictures in the collection. This circumstance may be worth the attention of those who are apt to think that strength and slovenliness are the same thing. _Cicero at his Villa_ is a clear and beautiful representation of nature. The sky is admirable for its pure azure tone. Among the less finished productions of Wilson’s pencil, which display his great knowledge of perspective, are _A Landscape with figures bathing_, in which the figures are wonderfully detached from the sea beyond; and _A View in Italy_, with a lake and a little boat, which appear at an immeasurable distance below:—the boat is diminished to ‘A buoy almost too small for sight.’ _A View of Ancona_; _Adrian’s Villa at Rome_; a small blue greenish landscape; _The Lake of Neimi_; a small, richly-coloured landscape of the banks of a river; and a landscape containing some light and elegant groups of trees, are masterly and interesting sketches. _A View on the Tiber_, near Rome, a dark landscape which lies finely open to the sky; and _A View of Rome_, are successful imitations of N. Poussin. _A View of Sion House_, which is hung almost out of sight, is remarkable for the clearness of the perspective, particularly in the distant windings of the River Thames, and still more so for the parched and droughty appearance of the whole scene. The air is adust, the grass burned up and withered: and it seems as if some figures, reposing on the level, smooth shaven lawn on the river’s side, would be annoyed by the parching heat of the ground. We consider this landscape, which is an old favourite, as one of the most striking proofs of Wilson’s genius, as it conveys not only the image, but the feeling of nature, and excites a new interest unborrowed from the eye, like the fine glow of a summer’s day. There is a sketch of the same subject, called _A View on the Thames_.