The Press. — London, England, 1858-01-09 00:00:00

Yittraturt. The Political Economy of Art. By John Ruskin, M.A. London : Smith and Elder. Mn. RVSKIN could not, probably, take up his pen on any subject, however remote from those to which he has specially devoted him self, without being often original, often pro found, often eloquent, and always sincere and intelligible. These qualities , however, though they will make a writer highly suggestive and entertaining, will hardly at the present day enable him to set up for a teacher, without some proof that he has mastered the labours of his predecessors in the particular field which he now undertakes to cultivate. It is impossible to feel perfect confidence in our instructor, unless we are made sensible that he has been through the same mental difficul ties as ourselves, and that ho has foreseen and provided against the objections that may lie in our path. In his " Addenda" to the two lectures before us, Mr. Ruskin no doubt considers that all requisite help of this kind has been given. But the point of view from which he regards social and economical ques tions is so different from that of the rest of mankind, tbat one half his readers will only be enabled to sympathise with him by a strong mental effort, while the other half will feel something very like incredulity and disgust. All men, it has been said, are born either Pla tonists or Aristotelians ; and every one who has been accustomed to recognise the distinc tion will unhesitatingly refer the author of "Modern Painters" to the former category. At the base of this character lie an expansive benevolence, a deep hatred of evil, and, above all, of ignorance. Such men will gladly lead their fellows by the hand as little children ; but are ready to punish them also as little children if they prove indocile. They have a tendency to regard the world, not as a huge, unwieldy orb which we must make the best of, but as a sort of humming-top which can be brought into harmony with the eternal fitness of things by a sufficient amount of flagellation. They cannot bear to see this machine out of order in the minutest particular, and they will in consequence try to set everybody right. They seize their notions clearly and apply them to circumstances with a vigorous logic, but they are not apt to refer to historical or inductive confirmation. It would be easy to describe the class at greater length, but its prominent features are soon indicated, and among them few persons will fail to see the characteristics of Mr. Ruskin. The purpose of his present volume—which was chiefly delivered in the form of two lec tures at Manchester—is "to show what kind " of labour " accumulations of artistic trea sures " represent, and how this labour may in " general be applied and economised so as to " produce the richest results." He deals with the inquiry under four heads :—I. Discovery, or the means of producing among us the greatest amount of artistic capacity; 11. Appli cation, or the kind of work—(as to variety, difficulty, or durability)—to which the artist should be directed ; 111. Accumulation, or the manner in which the result of such work should be brought together; IV. Distribution, or the best way of placing art within the reach of all classes, whether by public galleries or decreased cost of production. In working out the details of this scheme, Mr. Ruskin shows his usual clearness of conception and force of style . ; and although, as we have intimated, he can lay no claim to a thorough study of political economy, he seems to have grasped some of its main principles firmly enough, and to have steered clear of some mistakes likely to beset a writer who ventures out of his own province. But, however truly be may have viewed the tendencies of certain economic laws, his whole scheme appears to us to be vitiated by his misconception of tho objects and duties of Governinent—which he seems to consider ought to interfere with the operation of these laws to a degree which we believe would be as much condemned by theory as it would be found pernicious in Practice. Take, for instance, the following THE PRESS, JANUARY 9, 1858. passage, to which many similar might be found in the course of the volume : Having, then, directed the studies of our youth so as to make them practically serviceable men at the time of their entrance into life, that entrance should always be ready for them in cases where their private circumstances present no opening. There ought to be Government establishments for every trade, in which all youths who desired it should be received as apprentices on their leaving school; and men thrown out of work received at all times. At these Government manufactories the disci pline should be strict, and the wages steady, not varying at all in proportion to the demand for the article, but only in proportion to the price of food ; the commodities produced being laid up in store to meet sudden demands, and sudden fluctuations in prices prevented :—that gradual and neeessary fluctuation only being allowed which is pro perly consequent on larger or more limited supply of raw material and other natural causes. When there was a visible tendency to produce a glut of any commodity, that tendency should be checked by directing the youth at the Government schools into other trades; and the yearly surplus of commodities should be the principal means of Government provision for the poor. Mr. Ruskin is in fact an advocate of a " paternal " Government. He thinks that as we advance in our social knowledge we shall " establish such laws and authorities as may " at once direct us in our occupations, protect " us against our follies, and visit us in our " distresses." The argument against any attempt to adopt such plans is that, as the tendency of Governments, on the whole, has been from more interference to less inter ference, it is probable that in the long run the practice of interference was found not to work well. That the views held by such thinkers as Mr. Ruskin are impracticable in the present state of society is not, perhaps, a very new objection to them ; but it is, nevertheless, a perfectly valid one. We have called such thinkers Platonists, but in fact that philoso pher would never have expected,as his modern antitypes seem to do, to work out the pro cess of ameliorating society by the power of Government alone. The reformation of indi vidual character was the keystone on which he based his great political edifice ; a pre-requi site on which Mr. Ruskin has not laid nearly sufficient stress in any part of the present volume, though we do not imagine that he would deny its necessity if pointed out to him. We must content ourselves with noting the omission, for to deal with it in full would in volve endless discussion. It is a pleasanter task to observe the amusing kind of tact which the author displays in talking to a Manchester audience, and to call attention to the many eloquent passages scattered through the lectures. Some of our readers may remember a magnificent paragraph occurring in the in troduction to " Modern Painters " on the undue neglect of contemporary genius. The text of extinctus amabitur—or rather, effetus amabitur—is enlarged upon with equal pathos and beauty in the following remarks: — But if he does deserve praise, be sure that you give it him, else you not only run a chance of driving him from the right road by want of encouragement, but you deprive yourselves of the happiest privilege you will ever have of rewarding his labour. For it is only the young who can receive much reward from men's praise: the old, when they are great, get too far beyond and above you to care what you think of them. You may urge them then with sympathy, and surround them then with acclamation ; but they will doubt your pleasure, and despise your praise. Yon might have cheered them in their race through the asphodel meadows of their youth; you might have brought the proud, bright scarlet into their faces, if you had but cried once to them " Well done," as they dashed up to the first goal of their early ambition. But now, their pleasure is in memory, and their ambition is in heaven. They can be kind to you, but you never more can be kind to them. You may be fed with the fruit and fulness of their old age, but you were as the nipping blight to them in their blos soming, and your praise is only as the warm winds of autumn to the dying branches. The book will certainly repay perusal, but we question whether it will advance its author's reputation as a trustworthy guide iu matters not comprehended within the sphere of art. Souvenirs of Travel. By Madame Octavia Walton le Vert. Vols. I. and IL New York : S. H. Gostzol and Co. A. FEW years ago an American book of travels in England, or an English book of travels in America, was pretty certain to be less a record of the traveller's actual experiences in the land of his cousins than a string of hostile and sarcastic criticisms on their laws, customs, language, and demeanour. Mrs. Trollops and Mr. Dickens on the one side, Mr. N. P. Willis 39 and Mr. F. Cooper on the other, naturally en+ lightened the kindred countries on each other's faults and failings. Latterly a less critical and more urbane spirit has animated the journalising travellers of both countries. Lady Emmeline S. Wortley's very eulogistic account of all she saw in her varied and ad venturous wanderings in the New World has met with a fitting response in Archdeacon Cleveland Cox's most interesting and accurate " Impressions of England," while Madame le Vert, in the readable volumes before us, is almost open to the charge of Anglomania. Tho amiable desire, however, of representing the old country in a favourable light to her compatriots has led Madame le Vert into the same error according to our English ideas at least—which her prede censors, from a less pardonable motive, corn! mitted. We mean the freedom and unreserve with which the penetralia of English society are set forth and portrayed. It is true that for the humble villa on Blackheath, no less than for the gilded halls of Buckingham Palace, our joyous traveller has no words but those of praise and appre ciation; still, however amusing to her un travelled compatriots it - may be to read lively, albeit laudatory, descriptions of dukes and duchesses, painters and poets, we are sure that Madame le Vert's agreeable volumes would be more readily welcomed among us were they less personally eulogistic. Apart from this defect and sundry slight inaccuracies—such as giving to the venerable Marquis of Bristol the title of duke, and informing us that she travelled down to Belvoir Castle by the Great Western Railway—Madame le Vert's descrip tion of London is both animated and faithful, and proves her to be of that quick and obsery - ing turn of mind without which travellers, however accomplished and learned, might as well remain at home. But graphic as are her sketches in London and Paris, Madame le Vert's powers of descrip tion are not fully brought out until she reaches the more genial climes of Italy, or Spain, or Cuba : southern scenery, southern art, southern nature, all find in her an enthu siastic but discriminating admirer. Listen to her account of life in Venice : Enchanting were the beantifnl days of our sojourn in Venice ; life was filled with a new joy as we lingered there. Days and hours glided away upon a tide of pleasurable emotions, while it seemed as though wings gently bore us up, wafting as from scene to scene of interest. It was like a delicious dream in which the put was mingled with the present; all was so different from the world we bad known before, in its mystical, unique, and strange character. Or her farewell to Genoa : I am seated on the deck, pencil in hand, to describe the going down of the sun. It is just approaching a snow- tinged peak, which it turns to a rose colour. Now a slight gauzy veil has come over it, and from beneath stream down the golden rays, precisely like the halo around the Virgins of Murillo. It is passed, and the sun has touched the summit of the Apennines. They glow like tire as it sinks from view. But rich hues of amber and crimson yet linger ; slowly it is fading, fading, fading, and purple twilight is here. It was a glorions 'sunset upon the ' Middle-Earth Sea," and as a beautiful picture it shall be cherished in memory. But darkness has almost come, and I can scarcely write. Still it is not darkness; for though The moon is np, it is not night ; Sunset divides the sky with her. The night had such bewitching loveliness, we could not think of sleep ; thus we passed the hours until nearly dawn upon the deck of the small steamer. The sky was without one cloud, and the full-orbed moon cast a long train of brilliant light over the calm snrface of the Mediterranean, revealing to our eyes the little villages on the shore, the mountains which crowded to the very verge of the sea, and the sails of distant ships. - All who have travelled in Spain. and mixed at all with its people, will corroborate the tribute which Madame le Vert pays (vol. ii. p. 33) to the gracious and ungrudging hospi tality with which strangers are everwhere welcomed in that glorious but ill-governed land In no part of the world are strangers more kindly treated than in Spain. Ah ! how often in our wanderings there did we meet the warm and cordial greeting of those who only knew us to be from a foreign land ! How many plea- sant attentions encircled us ! How many gratifying inci dents attended our sojourn ! And these came not only from those of high position in society, but from thu peasants, and lower classes of people chance threw us among. With ono more quotation we shall commend our authoress to the gentle judgment of our readers. She is speaking of the collection in the Muse° at Ma 464