The Press. — London, England, 1858-11-27 00:00:00

1159 of the a a gree. perhan o f wind either p ma de to rather es facturen better d their cup the pro! are rem Greeks degree fi not asha mon this " honour " artist which w on Art between nical art divorce which h The GI that, as the best " beaut 3 " found If the beautiful should n caprices articles 0' misguidk we have tl whole fut disgrace among th pets, ME can SCUT , Hut tales] are able or have because ' feeling c beauty cc and thinl because totally ut not a des; motive, i number sin of in, productic mailmen. work bei the detai in order ing and one is ret the genet The b author' of nat: treated, be aim The mate o: ornams paintin On the the Gr side as rities, cides a, tice at Pre-R1 sensibl The require !NI; at its true another portray) as a fac its gene fesses; introdn back ; will, ho country careful to pert who ar are no less of " wash, the br pencil ; storms heroes the mi Regal wills rated the c THE PRESS, NOVEMBER 27, 1858. l e author's views, however, we cordially The "necessity"—or " expediency," as, l terhaps, a less enthusiastic writer would put it -Mai he speaks, is shown by the fact that ter people of good taste cannot get articles to please them without being made to pay rather exorbitantly for their orders, or that mann arers who attempt to introduce patterns of a better description find the wretched taste of • customers gradually forcing them back to production of conventional ugliness. We , reminded of the fact that the success of' the 'reeks in ornamental work arose in a great 'nree from the fact that their good artists were ashamed to assist in the production of "com .. things ;" " it was the work which was honoured and perfected by his talents, not the artist who was lowered by the work." To hich we may add, that Aristotle, in his chapter Art in the "Ethics," makes no distinction wen fine art and what we should call mecha art—not recognizing apparently that total tvorce between the beautiful and the useful .hich has too often prevailed among ourselves. Greek feeling for beauty was so innate , as a matter of course, they gave everything best appearance of which it was susceptible— beauty was beauty to them, wherever it was found " : the advantages arising from this real feeling for the beautiful were better understood at the present day, we should not have decorative art left to the accidental caprices of a mere decorator, nor depend for so many articles of use which ought to be ornamental upon the misguided fancy of an uneducated mechanic; nor should re have the hideous lamps, the monstrous tea-urns, or the /thole furniture of our tables and of our rooms, which disgrace our civilization. It is really surprising that long the variety of lamps, tea-urns, inkstands, coffee , cruet stands, and so-called " ornamental clocks," we scarcely meet with one which is tolerable in form. talent will be rare among designers so long as few able to judge of the effects of their own compositions, Jr have any notion beyond " copying from the antique," because " it is antique," without entering into the true feeling of the original, or understanding in what its y consists. One therefore designs a cup or a tazza, thinks he has produced a real Pompeian article," ruse he has put together a certain number of details: totally unconscious that a mere repetition of ornament is design, and that the whole when finished, having no me, is utterly unmeaning. This putting together a aber of parts to form a whole is indeed the besetting of incapable minds, and is too often witnessed in the helloes of architects as well as of those who make ornamental models ; and instead of the building or other work being conceived in the mind as a whole, of which he details are the necessary accessories, each part is added order to complete the design ; and as there is no keep • and no necessary connection between them, many a is removed, altered, or varied without any reference to e general composition. The broad principle which underlies all the 'ithor's recommendations is, that all imitation natural objects should be conventionally treated, and that nothing like deception should • aimed at, either in form or material. The subjects of mixture of materials, legiti mate or otherwise, inconsistent combinations in ornamental design, the treatment of porcelain by painting, are discussed with much fulness of detail. the vexed question of painted statuary among Greeks, Sir J. G. Wilkinson takes the same side as Mr. Lewes and the Crystal Palace autho rities, though with singular moderation he de cides against our attempting to imitate the prac tice at the present day. On the subject of Pre-llaphaelitism the following observations are sensible : The eye does not see every brice in a wall, nor does it wire the portrait of each to be presented to it in a paint ' ; at the same time that it expects every object to have true character ;—that an oak be distinguished from another tree : and yet without every individual leaf being portrayed. It is not an attempt to represent every thing Na a facsimile that will make Pre-Raphaelitism useful " in Al generation " It does not even accomplish what it pro fesses; for the reduction of size renders it impossible to introduce every leaf in the tree, or every hair on an animal's otek ; sor if the space permitted would it be desirable. It will, however, confer a great benefit on painting in this country, where greater attention to detail, as well as careful drawing, is so much wanted ; and we already begin to perceive some of its good effects, even in many of those who are not of that school. When what are called " effects" are no longer the excuse for want of drawing; when shape less objects enveloped in the obscurity of unmeaning " washes " cease to be considered proofs of talent; when the brush shall not assume too much the place of the pencil; and each tyro shall no longer trust to clouds and storms to escape from observation (like some of Homer's heroes), we shall feel reason to remember with gratitude the minuteness of the Pre-Raphaelite school. Regarding architecture, a good deal is said which will operate as a useful corrective to the exagge rated notions of Mr. Ruskin. Thus, to maintain the claims of St. Mark's at Venice " as a speci " men of good architecture, is to deprive it of its " real merits, and to do it an injustice by sub " jecting it to the ordeal of rules by whi c h it " should not be tested " ; it is good in its place, and there only, and possesses a charm which is neither transferable nor imitable. We are glad also to see an opinion which, in reviewing Mr. Scott's work on Gothic architecture, about a year ago, we expressed respecting the unsuit ableness of Gothic architecture for town houses, is supported by the authority of Sir J. G. Wilkinson. After pointing out how the rage for damp and seclusion in country residences, " and " the wildness of nature up to the very walls of " the house," has happily given way to dressed gardens, he goes on to say : Though the Elizabethan house is so well suited to our climate in the country, it is by no means desirable for a town ; and all imitations of it, as well as tiothic fronts, in a street, are unsuitable and out of character. In towns the Italian style is far preferable ; and provided the roof really covers the house with projecting eaves and a rich cornice beneath them, having no snow•catching balustrade, no attic above the cornice formed out of a string-eourse, no half columns, and no bare undressed windows, there is no style better suited to a town mansion. It is the very one adapted to a club •, and, indced, unless an architect is capable of making a handsome building for that purpose, he cannot be said to understand the true principles of Italian architecture. There are some few buildings in London which may be cited as good specimens of this style, especially the last house on the south-east side of Palace-gardens, and the Reform and a few other clubs ; and the failures in some of the latter may probably be attributable to the interference of incapable and irrespon sible committees. The third part is devoted to the subject ofdressed or ornamental gardens, on which very minute and complete directions are given, with variations ac cording to situation, aspect, and other capabilities. The work concludes with a list of all the flowers suitable for parterres near the house, with the seasons at which they are in bloom ; and we are bound to add that the want of system, of which we have complained, is atoned for to some extent 17 an index almost as copious and carefully com piled as that of a law-book. Though he is occasionally dogmatic, as, perhaps, all writers on taste must be to some extent, yet on the whole Sir J. G. Wilkinson is a writer whom it is impossible not to like. Of the com paratively level and unornamented tone of the present work we are not disposed to complain. We have had the subject treated in the lofty and poetical vein in " Modern Painters" and other similar works, and we are not indisposed to see a little of the other side—to come out of the dim cathedral, with its gorgeous gloom, its intoxicating incense, and its bewildering forest of columns, to the open landscape and the fresh hillside. " Not too bright and good for human nature's daily food," Sir J. G. Wilkinson has pleased us by his gentlemanlike moderation, his wide knowledge, his cultivated taste, and his entire freedom from all cant and affectation. Plain Sermons Preached to a Country Congrega tion. By the Rev. J. J. Blunt, 8.D., late Margaret Professor of Divinity in the Univer sity of Cambridge. Second Series. London : Murray. IN the lecture on the Composition of Sermons which forms part of the late Professor Blunt's course on " The Duties of the Parish Priest," it is remarked with great truth that the subjects for sermons which enable the preacher to find his way at one and the same time to both the rich and the poor, the educated and the rude, are historical, and, still more, biographical, incidents in Scripture. " These, if handled by one whose " own mind is charged with theological and " ecclesiastical lore, may be made vehicles of the " soundest instruction, both as to doctrine and " duty, nay, even as to discipline and ritual. " And whilst the preacher would perhaps interest " neither high nor low by a direct dissertation, " however elaborate, on a creed or a command " went, on Church government or Church-rates, " he will secure the attention of both, whilst he " conveys to them the very same lessons through " a Moses or a Joshua, a Samuel or a Saul, a " Hezekiah or a Josiah, a Nathaniel or a Mary." Of these observations many of the sermons con tained in this " second series " furnish practical illustration, and may serve as samples of a mode of treatment of Holy Scripture suggested to the writer's mind, we may legitimately infer, by his peculiar aptitude for this line of teaching. They will serve that purpose, indeed, in two ways : on the one hand by exhibiting the richness of illtui tration that may be drawn from particular inci dents or individual characters portrayed in the Sacred Volume, and on the other hand by indi cating the danger to which such a method of scriptural illustration is liable of carrying moral and mental analysis and conjecture beyond their due limits. Thus, for example, on turning to the sermon on Luke vii. 19, we find in it, not only a masterly explanation of the difficulty involved in the message sent by St. John the Baptist to Christ, desiring to know from Himself whether He were " lie that should come," or whether they were to "look for another " ; but we have brought before us, in the examination of the state of mind which suggested that inquiry to St. John in his captivity, a strikingly faithful delineation of the workings of the human mind, even in regard to things divine, whenever it attempts to handle them in its own strength. This portraiture, moreover, is with admirable skill made to tell upon the practical difficulties of the Christian's every-day life. To this extent few will be dis posed to refuse entire concurrence in the justness of Professor 131unt's general observation, as to the usefulness of sermons founded on those historical and biographical incidents with which the records of the Sacred Volume abound. If, on the contrary, we were called upon to point out in the present series a discourse illus trative of the danger of carrying analysis and conjecture as to the inner workings of the mind beyond their proper limits, we know not that we could refer our readers to a better exemplification of our meaning than that afforded by the dis course on John xi. 35, " Jesus at the grave of Lazarus." 'What was the nature of the feelings stirred up in the breast of the God-Man, out wardly manifested by the fact recorded in the Gospel, that "Jesus wept,"—how those feelings could find place in the mind and heart of a Divine humanity,—how far their manifestation was simply the result of their existence within him, or how far it was designed to produce a certain effect, and what that design was, or might have been,—all these are questions of a highly speculative character ; and while it is impossible not to admire the depth, and even to assent to the truth, of some of the observations founded on that memorable expression of the Saviour's sor row ; while, too, it must be admitted that the preacher has pursued his inquiry with all the diffidence, all the reverential awe which such a subject demands, we find it equally impossible to divest ourselves of the apprehension that human inquisitiveness has in this instance ventured to set its foot where adoring angels might well fear to tread. We have dwelt more fully on this particular class of sermons, on their excellences and on their dangers, because it appears to us that they are those which in a more especial manner exhibit the peculiar character of the late Margaret Pro fessor as a preacher. But while this is the style of teaching in which he was most felicitous, his discourses of another character rise far above the ordinary level of sermons, and contain much of what is at once interesting and instructive. Thus, again to refer to particular discourses in illustration of our meaning, the one on Luke ix. 23, " Self-denial," and another on Phil. iii. 30, " The Christian's conversation in heaven," are models of a practical enforcement of the duties and the privileges of the Christian state to which they respectively relate ; while the four conclud ing sermons of the volume, "On the Work of the Holy Spirit," attest the preacher's comprehensive insight into the nature of the Divine dispensations. In one respect, indeed, the whole of these discourses, as well as those of the preceding series, possess no small value; they show the highest theological attainments to be not only compatible with, but actually conducive to, the utmost plainness of statement in the preaching of the Gospel. The learning with which the preacher's mind was stored runs through his compositions like a vein of gold, in striking and most favourable contrast with the glittering tinsel with which pulpit dis courses are too often overlaid with a view to render them attractive for the popular taste. On these grounds we cannot but rejoice, while we do not feel the least surprised, that the reception given to the first series of these " plain sermons," replete with profound spiritual truths, should have been such as to encourage the publication of a " second series " by those to whose guardian ship the late Professor's ;manuscripts arc ---- mitted. com- -1