The Press. — London, England, 1856-11-01 00:00:00

NOVEMBIM 1, 1856. As in the fozmer volume, some of the poet's most striking thoughts are thrown into the form of what he terms " Sentences." We ex tract a few : What seems to us for us is true. The planets have no proper light ; And yet, to subtlest mortal view, The primal stars are not so bright. • • • • Who pleasure follows, pleasure slays; God's wrath upon himself he wreaks : But all delights rejoice his days Who takes with thanks, yet never seeks. • . Till Eve was brought to Adam, he A solitary desert trod, Though in the great society Of Nature, Angels, and of God. The key-note of these poems is admirable. The passion of love was never more exqui sitely sublimed. It is so mingled with heaven ward aspirations that it seems a part of the holiness of religion. The spirit of the whole poem is expressed in one beautiful verse : Virgins are they, before the Lord, Whose hearts are pure: the vestal fire Is not, as some misread the Word, By marriage quench'd, but burns the higher. PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.—Ocr. 30. BOOKS. Muni of Sun and Shade. G roombridge The Science of Arithmetic Simpkin and Marshall Maander's Treasury of Geography Longmans Deverell. A Novel. Three Vols. Chapman and Hall Kathie Braude. Two Vols. Smith and Elder Life in Ancient India. Smith and Elder PAMPHLETS. Kansas, the Seat of War in America. Effingham Wilson —Military Sanatoria. J. Ridgway—The School and the Workshop. Murray The Electro-Chemical Bath. W. Freeman—Reformatory Schools, 3fettray and Red Hill. Hamilton and Adams—How to Choose a Husband. Part ridge—Crystal Palace Almanac for 18.57. Hall and 'Virtue. PERTODICALS. The National Magazine. The West of Scotland Maga• rine. Hall and Virtue—Le Folk!. Simpkin and Marshall—The Commercial Travellers' Magazine. Kent and Co. Dublin University Magazine. Hurst and .. .. Blackett—The Eclectic Review. Ward and Co—Bentley's Magazine. Bentley—TheChurchman's Magazine. Harri son. rusk and the prams. A SERIES OF SIX ITALIAN OPERAS has been Com menced this week at Drury Lane. Grisi, Mario, Formes, Mesdames Gassier and Amadei, were the principal performers. The orchestra, conducted by Signor Calzi, was respectable ; the prices were play house prices, and the house has been literally crammed on each occasion during the week. The success of the speculation is undeniable, and future autumn seasons will not pass iu London without similar performances. THE FRIENDS OF THE EMINENT COMPOSER, the late Sir H. R. Bishop, who for many years held the office of Professor of Music to the University of Oxford, have commenced a subscription in order to raise a monument to his memory, and above all to purchase the ground that covers his remains, and thus pre vent his grave from being forgotten. The following gentlemen have already contributed towards this desirable object, viz. :—The Rev. the Vice Chan. cellor, Oxford ; the Rev. the Provost ol• Queen's, Oxford ; the Rev. the Principal of St. Mary•hall, Oxford ; the Rev. the Principal of New inn -hall, Oxford ; the Rev. the Professor of Ecclesiastical History, and the Rev. Sir F. A. G. Ouseley, Bart., Professor of Music to the University of Oxford: NORWICH MUSICAL FESTIVAL.—The committee for conducting the next musical festival, proposed to be held at Norwich in the autumn of 1857, have had a meeting within the last few days, when it was unani mously resolved that Mr. Benedict should be invited to act as conductor. It was also decided that the pric?s of admission should return to the old standard —viz., U. ls. for the patrons' gallery, and 10.4. 6d. for reserved seats in other parts of the hall. Steps are to be taken to obtain the usual guarantee fund, and application is also to be made to the Norwich Town Council for permission to erect a new orchestra in St. Andrew's•hall, which is about to be repaired. It is hinted that some difficulty has arisen between the committee and the Earl of Albemarle, who was elected its chairman ; and that the chairman of the sub committee has been requested to address a letter to the noble lord in order to ascertain definitely his views on the subject of the festival, in regard to which considerable difference of opinion prevails. M. JULLIEN's CONCERTS commence at her Majesty's Theatre on Wednesday next. M. Jullien announces the first appearance upon that evening of Miss Catherine Hayes. THE PRESS. A RIVAL TO THE PICCOLOMINI is mentioned as having made her debut at. Turin, in the person of Eugenia Virginia Boccabadate, who commenced ber theatrical career some years ago, but was obliged from illness to abandon it, so that the present season at Turin may be looked on as her debut before the world, and, much to her own dismay, she found her self cast in the first season for the part which was commonly supposed to be the exclusive property of the Piccolomini. Her voice is a soprano, and not very powerful ; but she manages it with infinite skill, and her execution and acting have been declared by competent judges to be faultless. In fact, says a cor respondent, so completely has she captivated the general public, that if the Piccolomini should ever re visit the scene of her former triumphs, she would find that, although her cari Torinesi still cherish the emotions raised by her, a very formiiable rival has meawhile crossed her path in the person of Vir ginia Boccabadato. _ _ _ OLYMPIC THEATRE.-Mr. Robson has reappeared this week, after an illness which at one time wore a serious aspect, but from which be is now quite recovered. Mr. Frank Talfourd's comedy, Tit for Tat, and the burlesque of Medea, have been the pieces selected. Mr. Robson acted with an undi minished amount of earnestness and vigour, and his reception was very cordial. LYCEUM.-Mr. Dillon, in the King's Musqueteers, shows us that his role is not confined to melodrama. Never was the impersonation of the free, hearty, good-tempered, careless soldier of Richlieu's age better delineated. It is a perfect piece of acting, and, con trasted with the pathos of Belphegor, gives a high opinion of Mr. Dillon's power, Miss Woolgar, as the faithful maid, sustains her character with grace and truthfulness. The house is nightly crowded. tint ',lds. MR. RUSKIN ON THE TURNER BEQUEST. MR. RUSKIN writes to the Times this week with re ference to the "Turner Bequest." Mr. Ruskin gives some interesting details connected with the drawings so soon to be exhibited to the public, and makes an offer of his services in the arrangement of the same : As active measures are being now taken to give the public access to the pictures and drawings left by the late Mr. Turner, you will perhaps allow me space in your columns for a few words respecting them. I was appointed by Mr. Turner one of his execu tors. I examined the will and the state of the pro perty needing administration, and, finding that the questions arising out of the obscurity of the one and the disorder of the other would be numerous and would involve a kind of business in which I had no skill or knowledge, I resigned the office ; but in the course of the inquiry I catalogued the most interest. ing of the drawings which are now national property, and respecting these the public will, I think, be glad of more definite information than they at present possess. They are referable mainly to three classes. 1. Finished water-colour drawings. 2. Studies from nature, or first thoughts for pic tures ; in colour. 3. Sketches in pencil or pen and ink. The drawings belonging to the two latter classes are in various stages of completion, and would con tain, if rightly arranged, a perfect record of the movements of the master's mind during his whole life. Many of them were so confused among prints and waste paper that I could not collect nor catalogue them all in the time I had at my disposal ; some portfolios I was not able even to open. The follow ing statement, therefore, omits mention of many, and I believe even of some large water-colour drawings. There are in the first class 45 drawings of the " Rivers of France ;" 57 illustrating Rogers's poems, 23 of the "River Scenery" and " Harbours of Eng land," 4 marine vignettes, 5 middle-sized drawings (including the beautiful " Ivy Bridge "), and a draw ing, some three feet by two, finished with exquisite care, of a scene in the Val d'Aosta ; total, 135. It would occupy too much of your space if I were to specify all the various kinds of studies forming the second class. Many are far carried, and are, to my mind, more precious and lovely than any finished drawings; respecting some there may be question whether Turner regarded them as finished or not. The larger number are light sketches, valuable only to artists or to those interested in the processes of Turner's mind and hand. The total number of those which I catalogued as important is 1,757. The sketches of the third class are usually more elaborate than the coloured ones. They consist of studies from nature or for compositions, in firm out lines, usually on grey paper, heightened with white. They include, among other subjects more or les3 complete, 50 of the original drawings for the Liber Studiorum, and many of the others are of large folio 1051 size. The total number of those I consider impor taut is 1,322. Now, the value of these sketches to the public consists greatly, first, in the preservation of each, as far as possible, in the state in which Turner left it ; secondly, in their careful arrange ment and explanation ; thirdly, in convenience of general access to them. Permit me a word on each of these heads. Turner was in the habit of using unusual vehicles, and in the coloured studies many hues are wrought out by singular means and with singular delicacy— nearly always in textures which the slightest damp (to which t he drawings would necessarily be subjected in the process of mounting) would assuredly alter. I have made many experiments in mounting, putting coloured drawings of which I had previously ex amined the tones into the bands of the best mounters, and I never yet had a drawing returned to me with out alteration. The vast mass of these sketches, and the comparative slightness of many, would but too probably induce a carelessness and generalisation in the treatment they might have to undergo, still more fatally detrimental to them. Secondly, a large number are without names, and so slight that it requires careful examination and somewhat extended acquaintance with Turner's works to ascertain their intention. The sketches of this class are nearly valueless till their meaning is deciphered, but of great interest, when seen in their proper connection. Thus there are three progressive studies fa: one vignette in Rogers's " Italy " (Hannibal passing the Alps), which I extricated from three several heaps of other mountain sketches with which they had no connection. Thirdly, a large number of the drawings are executed with body colour, the bloom of which any friction or handling would in a short period destroy. Their delicate tones of colour would be equally destroyed by continuous exposure to the light, or to smoke and dust. Drawings of a valuable character, when thus de structible, are in European museums hardly accessi ble to the general public. But there is no need for this seclusion. They should be inclosed each in a light wooden frame, under a glass, the surface of which a raised mount should prevent them frt m touching. These frames should slide into cases, containing about twelve drawings each, which would he portable to any part of the room where they were to be seen. I have long kept my own smaller Turnt r drawings in this manner; fifteen frames going into the depth of about a foot. Men are usually accused of " bad taste," if they express any conviction of their own ability to execute any given work. But it would perhaps be better if in people's sayings in general, whether concerning others or themselves, there were less taste, and more truth ; and I think it, under the circumstances, my duty to state that I believe no one would treat these drawings with more scrupulous care, or arrange them with greater patience, than I should myself ; that I am ready to undertake the task, and enter upon it instantly ; that I will fui.lish, in order to prove the working of the system proposed, one hundred of the frames, with their cases, at my own cost ; and that within six weeks of the day on which I am permitted to begin work (illness or accident not interfering) I will have the one hundred drawings arranged, framed, accom panied by a printed explanatory catalogue, and ready for public inspectir n. It would then be in the power of the commissioners intrusted with the administra tion of this portion of the national property to decide if ary or how many more of the sketches shoull be exhibited in the same manner, as a large mass of the less i .teresting ones might be kept as the drawings are at the British Museum, and shown only on special inquiry. I will only undertake this task on condition of the entire management of the drawings, in every parti cular, being intrusted to me; but I should ask the advice of Mr. Carpenter, of the British Museum, on all doubtful points, and intrust any necessary opera tions only to the person who mounts the drawings for the British Museum. I make this offer in your columns rather than privately, first, because I wish it to be clearly known to the public, and also because I have no time to make representations in official ways, the very hours which I could give to the work needing to be re deemed by allowing none to he wasted in formalities . THE INAUGURATION OF THE JUNcTION of the Dutch, Rhenish, and Cologne and Minden Railways has been celebrated in Holland. The series of festivities com menced on Friday, the 17th ult., when the Prussian Minister for Foreign Affairs and several other dis• tinguished individuals were invited to Amsterdam to partake of a magnificet entertainment frovidcd by the Government. An English party, deeply intt restt d in the undertaking, were present. The Ministm of the Home Department, in an eloquent speech, pro posed "The happy alliance or Prussia, Holland, and England," and stated that it was mainly owing to the perseverance of English talent and capital that they were this day met to celebrate the junction of the two countries by railway A