Only part of the design was given by printing; it was finished by artists constantly retained by the manufacturers, men of considerable talent, who again were assisted in the inferior parts by young girls, of whom more than fifty were employed; and had this undertaking been supported by the government, it would, I think, have been more available as a school for our rising artists, and of infinitely greater service, than our present school of design, for it would have been a _working school_, and no other, I am convinced, will be of any use in forming a talented race of decorative artists in this country. There was also about this time another establishment similar to the former, conducted by Mr Sheringham, in Marlborough-street. From this time the French began to excel in this superior branch of the art, which with us had fallen on such barren ground. Their manufacturers were encouraged in every way by their government and the Emperor Napoleon to attempt that perfection which they have now so successfully attained.--_Engineer and Architect’s Journal._ * * * * * SIR WALTER SCOTT.--The following extract from the Diary of Sir Walter Scott (see his Life by Lockhart) touchingly exemplifies the state of his feelings at the period of his ruin, of the total loss of property and frustration of all his bright hopes by the bankruptcies of the Ballantynes and Constable:--“It is a bitter thought; but if tears start at it, let them flow. My heart clings to the place I have created. There is scarce a tree on it that does not owe its being to me. What a life mine has been!--half educated, almost wholly neglected or left to myself; stuffing my head with most nonsensical trash, and undervalued by most of my companions for a time; getting forward, and held a bold and clever fellow, contrary to the opinion of all who thought me a mere dreamer; broken-hearted for two years; my heart handsomely pieced again, but the crack will remain till my dying day. Rich and poor four or five times; once on the verge of ruin, yet opened a new source of wealth almost overflowing. Now to be broken in my pitch of pride, and nearly winged (unless good news should come), because London chooses to be in an uproar, and in the tumult of bulls and bears, a poor inoffensive lion like myself is pushed to the wall. But what is to be the end of it? God knows; and so ends the catechism. Nobody in the end can lose a penny by me: that is one comfort. Men will think pride has had a fall. Let them indulge their own pride in thinking that my fall will make them higher, or seem so at least. I have the satisfaction to recollect that my prosperity has been of advantage to many, and to hope that some at least will forgive my transient wealth on account of the innocence of my intentions, and my real wish to do good to the poor. Sad hearts, too, at Darnick, and in the cottages of Abbotsford. I have half resolved never to see the place again.