The Press. — London, England, 1853-05-14 00:00:00

MAY 14, 1853. still more commonplace—how great is his appetite for gossip—how well developed his organ of self assurance—and how mare the conseiousuess of su periority with which he addresses himself to peer or to peasant. to brigand or to beauty—that large Anglo-Ameriean public for whom he has persevered during a quarter of a century in sketching his - Pen eillings by the Way''—with whom he has chatted about the ' People he has met," or to whom he has addressed his" Letters from under a Bridge," already know full well. The present volume is worthy of its many predecessors. It has all their Iheliness and more than all their self-assurance. sar• rating the personal events and sights in a tour performed about twenty years ago. there is indeed somewhat of an "old world" airabout it. Lords Byron and Elgin. Sultan Mahmoud, Sir W. Bell, and the Maid of Athens are written about in that antediluvian style natural to a time when Childe Harold was not only a marvel but a novelty, and when men dreamed not of Dr. Layard or the siege of Acre. Notwith stonding this—and although he has pieised, as his titlepage imports. over none but paths well trodden, and waves well furrowed—Mr. Willis has eontrive.l to write as usual a very readable book ; and Mr. Bosworth, by introducing it to a British public, has nade a happy commencement to a new series of publications. in which, under the title of Literature for the People," he designs—as 'vo are informed on a tiyleaf—to "meet the rapidly increasing demand for good literature at a low Kiev." 7'he Marvels of Seieure, awl their Testimony So truly Writ. By S. W. }Atom. Hurst and Blacken. THE inscription, " fotu•th edition," on the titlepage of this book will suffieiently exonerate us front the duty of examining with critical intent the contents of a work OR which the public has already set the seal of approbation. Discoursiag on so vast a theme, and touching at so many lo►ints upon the domain of the unknown or the doubtful, the►e ►use doubtless many passages in the work open to serious question ings on the score of scientific. verity. But the inten tion of the author has been good throughout ; his information extensive ; and his style animated and familiar, without descending to commonplace. The Idealist ; a Dramatic Poem. By J. V. Iliihrs. A.M., late Fellow of Jesus College, Candwidge. J. W. Parker and Sons. THE author of this dramatic poem intends to show how an idealist may be reconciled with reality. For . this purpose he embarks Sir Wyndham Orey—the Idealist as aforesaid, who is used up with London and luxury—on board his yacht, together with a hun dred stalwart, men, and a few rockets, for the west of Sicily. Hem he falls in with Reality, in the shape of Ida, a fair cousin and ward of his own. and her true lover, Count Rafaele Coligul. Here, too, lie falls out with a certain Jesuit. Orsino, and his worthy but surreptitious mother, a lady abbess. Battling the arts of the Jesuit and Abbess, which are more transparent and imbecile than are generally met with even in "dramatic poems," the Idealist returns to his house in London with a comfortable assurance thathe has at length contrived to do some real good in the world. His conversion is, however, only half com pleted. We leave him at the end of the third act and last page contriving the inscription on his tomb stone, " Here waiteth an Idealist ;" and are threat ened with (at least) three more acts, in which not only is Sir Wyndham to be thoroughly "realised," but the story " brought into closer connection with English life and manners." But " sufficient for the day is the evil thereof." OtR LIBRARY TABLE. ..... .. Ayres fihast of Junin*. T. Itouworth. Butler's ',fettle's.* on Painting. .1. H. Parker. • 'ausphelrs Modern India and it+ Garersintens. .1. Murray. I:autplpribt Dana as it wig be. .1. 2.litrray. Fables de Gay, Imitates s a rers Fratawis par Le Chcralier de Char telain. Whittaker mid 4 'll. Frrsch as it Walt in 133 n. nail as it is in ltegl. Loncinan and co. Ease's Ediseation in England. Clarke, Ratan, mid Co. Germany awl the German. Empir.. Dean S o n. Goethe** Poem*. .1. W. Parker ano *walla . By t he Bev. chn,. Kilig§ilpy. .1. W. Parker and Son. Irriaris Theory and Prartiee of Caste. smith. Miler, and CO. Journal of the Statistical Soeiety. .1. W. Parker RIIII Son. Journey noun) the Worll. 3 cols. Burst and Blacken. Junin* and his Works eompared with the Chameter awl Writings iqi the Earl of Chodertiebl. Hope nod Co. Kaye's Adminiarttion .1' the East Italia Company. Bentley. Maz:ini judged by Himself and by 11i4 Countrymen. Vizetelly mid Co. Pulleyn's Elymologieol Compendium. Tegg and Cn. ibleet Poems fg . Prior and swift. J. W. Parker and Sou. (he Castlereagh Despatches and /Atm.. 4 volK. Murray. The Scarlet Book. Piper Brothers and Co. Thomas Carlyle. A ("Mien! DWI!. Whittaker and Co. TkoW7hts on fie Nature of Man. Clayton. ART AND LITERATURE ABROAD. The Frew+ annual exhibition of the works of living artists is to open at Paris in a few days. The jury of selection has shown more than usual severity ir, admitting works, in its desire to vender the exhibition superior to those of the last few years. It appetrs that Louis Napoleon has been the cause of tie exclusion of some:pictures, having ex- THE PRESS. pressed a dislike to have the exhibition tilled with works in which he should be the principal per sonage. M. Levanle, who had painted a large pie tare representing the '• Distribution of the Eagles in the Champs de Mars," has thus seen his work set aside. In like manner, M. Muller has not tinishea, as he would hine done. his large painting of the “ Ceremony of 'raisin:4 the t tath by the 'llirce t Bodies of the State: . Louis 'Napoleon has not. how e‘er. extended tins proscription to what regards the Empress. as a iiortrait of her .Nlrkiesty is to be exhibited, from the pencil of Al. (tubule. Report declares that MM. Ingres, Delaroche. and Couttwe have not sent any work for exhibition this year. The number of pictures w Weil the galleries of the Conservatoire cam e intuit is not, it is said, more than 1,300. It is said that a literary treaty has been signed between France and Portugal. The number of works minted in French presses, during the first four months of 1S3:1, has been 2.751. or 141 more than in the corresponaing of 114 Y .l; of engravings and lithographic prints Mtn, or 71, additional ; of pieces of Dunne -11".. or 1:1:i more ; and of maps 401, or 14 additional. The Emperor on the nth in s t. g ," e a K i t a t e tat dirnce to M. PIVSIitCIII uC tip. rintiui of Braman'. Authors and I 'ontposer,s. a c eont_ ponied by Millie Of 1110 members of the committee. At this andience M. Scribe called the attention of his Majesty to the clauses of the bill which cancels the rights ofdramatic authors a n d composers twenty ellr% after their death, find solicited the Emperor to prolong that period. By a decree of the Roman Inquisition. dated April I. " History of England'' is placed in the hole\ of forbidden writings. The saute dis tinetilin is awarded to the Staipture lessons pnblished by the British I Inv - eminent in Di:ri tiir use in the motional sdIOIOIS. I Maw ig Titvk. the fellow-labourer of Schlegel in the translation of Shakspere, mid the founder of the rolimintie schist of t iefllall W 411111111.. died at Berlin uu 1110 hi. )ear. ?int Arts. 'HIE ROYAL ACADEMY. sceeist No ttv r . I IN our melee of the Exhibition of the Royal Aca Ilent, in our Inst. number, our limits compelled us to omit itll nwittion of many excel eat works of art, SOlllO of Willett %V n o w proceed to recommend to the attention el our reader:, though still with a breiity to which our pmerty 4,1' spare, rather than saw will, confines Its. Sir Watson 4;4minii. iho President of the Scotch Academy, is a portrait .painter of no common merit. His heads have a truth and chnracterive have seldom ,wen surpassed ; his rosemblanees, perhaps, urc strong rather than Nattering ; but if he purposely for_ hears lending au elevation to the subject which does not belong to it, those who %nine fidelity to nature will not quarrel with his forbearanee : and in this re speet he more closely imitates the early Italian masters than these painters who altt'ct to take deli; as exclusive models, nt who invariably fail in ren dering their spirit. His portraits are very rarely re lieved by high lights, evett in the face or on the pupil of the eye. and he affects a htu•monv and sobriety of colouring which occasionally approaches to monotony. In his treatment of the accessory details he is so nic. times feeble ; his blacks and greys want lustre, und his backgrounds are gloomy and colourless. In No. 107, •• The Provost of Peterhead," the countenance is fall of expression, but of the five excellent por traits of this artist, which the collection contains, our favourite is that of Mr. Houldsworth (9911. It displays fewer of his defects and more of his charac teristic merits. A portrait. by Miss Emma Nens.ct ono ) of 111.1'11w11 mother shows considerable merit in execution ; the colouring is also good.. Wewere much pleased with the dexterity displayed in the management of the black silk dress. A portrait of Mr. tieorge Ilea son, by Mr. S. P. Knight (419), is well painted; the heed is rendered with much spirit and cleverness. The death of St. Thomas a Becket, by Mr..l. tress (582), is too ambitious a production, and eccupies too large a Aare of the over emwded wall, to he alto gether omitted. The subject is ill-elto:en, ;11111 thee , is nothing in the treatment to reeonrile its to the choice. The principal tigure rather resembles is waxen image than a living lining, and the action of the numerous assassins—all exerting a most un necessary energy—is exaggerated and extravagant. No. 507, Mr. J. Sant's picture of the infant Samuel awakened from his sleep, and waiting to hear the words of inspiration, is deservedly one of the most popular works of art in the Exhibition. We are not surprised to hear of the competition amongst several collectors of taste for it: acquisition. 'The expression of the child, we think, exhibits a degree of surprise and terror which hardly belongs to a being so early distinguished by the favour of Heaven. The treat- meat—perhaps iiiiiivoiklably—resembles that of a si miter subject by Sir Joshua Howl& ; and. though the execution la very masterly, the colouring i. some what chalky. No. 1:I, The Thorny and the Flowery Path," In Mr. 'l'. Fait's, 11..1.. We are at a 10 , 01 to conjectine what moral Mr. l'witrs proposes to inculeate. W.. should have perfectly understood it in a Spanish jointer of the seventeenth century ; but in England. alltl in the present times, it is quite unaccountable. The baekgrottud represents a peasant couple dinning to the music of their own tandantrine, 111110 a 111110111 girl is gazing wistfully upon a young fellow of her own class, whose hands are held by a hulk-nosed Capuchin. It' whose exhortations to adopt the cos and quit the world he listens with a divided attention. We do not know where Mr. ('wins discovete I that mon as t it. seclusion is the duty of man. told we slum's' have thought his long acquaintance shit Italy would have opened Itis t es 1.1 the real state of conventu.+l life in that country. particularly in Catitteltin eon vents. 110 does not exhibit more knowledge of Italy in other n+spects: the costume is quite utt plan, soul his picture Is 11101 . 0 like th e ha c k s e ems of no opera than the I nit tiettist. *lnh we suppose it intended to represent. 140. The 3ltssing of .lactill and Racial," r. Dyee, 11r. Dye's paints a great deal Is. , well to permit IN to %Milli 1.44` that, When he paints ill, he does not du it by design. Ili,. picture is Tall of ail the faiths of the pre-Ilaphaelito school, to which we .uppers he beltin+zs. He bestows all his labour on detail; the pattern of the 54*111.1 . -: 111111 1110 lairders Of the 1,0164 1 111 S 1111:4111 %ell 11% aMS sit'! ttl 115e11111.1110.... 'l'lll' foreground is lalaatred with a minuteness the microscopic eye of Rll 110041 might appreciate ; but his figures want beauty and expression, 111111 even loriporti4m, tin' the Male is set lunch 'Urger t 111 It the flint& that they hardly %Mall to 11011111 . ..; tll 1111` %MM. 1411111•11 1 S. Tllll baekgrountl encroaches on the figure-. which 1114 relieved from it, and the whole is painted without eltiarosettre--thus voluntarily Khali dotting the whohN eltanit Or ettect, the greatest, per haps, whit.), a picture can 110+414N+04. 164 I'llllooll (9311 of St. Peter, destines' for a church in Nlarylehone, reininds us of one of the apostles of Raphael, hut the drapery 1.1 tilt 1111 into 11;1111111'1 allat 11111 11E0111111 and grim:deur are sawing which his great protoly 111+ gives to his tua. jest ie figures. " The elliaes".l. l l I Of St. Thomas," by 31r..1. I'. Knight, ICA. We lire glad 111 4191 witch 141111j0ela Wll'l'll4l by our historical p a i n t e rs, an d h a ndled with intelligence. Mr. Knight's picture exhibits 'salt talent and industry ; but Christ's figure wants dig • idly, and too much resembles that of a naked model. The composition is fanlty, turns 1114 WWI: tOWIII'IIS his 111111`4114. Wllll HIV the U111104%194 ti) itlt‘ttlit. Mill to the 1%4114'1111a rolt‘ietioll Of their in credulitus associate. We are sorry to oloserVe that \lr. .‘rmitage bas not fulfilled the expectation the public had formed of his powers when he exhibited his prize cartoon. Ilis !denim 1:1111 called The tit,. of Refuge" exhibits extravagance without grandeur. mall a livid and a lucid eoloming for which no accident of nature could fleeistint. Among the landscape-painters 11r. Linnet and his twit sons have a high chain on our attention. The two younger artists are 11 .4 sets far front equalling their father, though both 140041'55 31r. ',hotel, the elder, has studied nature with a eon scientions minuteness and stilt a success that should bc the model of pre-Rapintelite brethren." 'rite g 0.110 1 .01 b+siturt'A of Malin' e4llll.ll—tite 101111 111111 the CO111111'; but he has not attempted to render each vegetable fibre in the foregrtatittl—an attempt which tlestrsoys the resemblance to nature. and Is.trays the limits of art. Ills trees remind us Of 54M111 of the lIPSt audios o f ‘vyninil,„ lint. he produce, less breadth of eflcet, 111111 he WOlllll 111 t well. twrltafts. 140 1111410 4 . the sinipinity and surlier colour of that e lsarmilw artist. 31r. •Intsum, W.+ niulerstand, has recently slam dotted water cflonrs, mad we congratulate him on his sitecess ill the higher department of the a rt, w,, were m uc h struck with his picture I 141 "Up on the brae side." It unites skilful exeention with a close observation of nature and It happy choiee of subject. -fir. Thorburn's miniatures hardly maintain this it former reputation. tVt' have often regretted his sum of accurate drawing, and his unskilful compositioe— his foxy shadows and somburnt tints ; but lie had fr. quently a mellowness of tone, a harmony of colour, and a general air of refinement and taste, that in duced Its to overlook his faults. His industry is great, and this collection contains no less than eight of his performances, many of them of an unusual size and of highly-wrought execution. .1mon:.; the most laboured of his miniatures is a full-length pt+rtrait of Lady Constance Grosvenor t7t0.1). We select it for criticism, not, we ran assure him, because it is an unfavourable specimen of his powers, but, on the contrary, becanso it is amongst his best perform:• ante'. We are bound to admit that it is ill drawg. r