The Press.
London, England, 1853-06-25 00:00:00

RECENT THEOLOGICAL WORKS.

1. Six-Preacher Sermons ; including the Sub-
jects of National Education, &v., &c. A
Course Delivered in Canterbury Cathedral,
by the Rev. Charles Forster, 8.D., one of
the Six Preachers, and Rector of Stisted,
Essex, Author of " The One Primeval Lan-
guage." London : Bentley.
2. Notes on Genesis. Designed principally for
the Use of Students in Divinity. By the
Rev. Sir C. Macgregor, Batt, M.A., Vicar of
Cabourn, and Rural Dean. The First Part.
London : J. W. Parker.
3. Eternal Life: The Revelation of the Books
of Moses. By the Rev. James Ellice, M.A.,
Rector of Clothall, &e., &e. London :
Bentley.
THE writer of the first work in our list, if we
mistake not, is the accomplished author of
the Life of Bishop Jebb, and also editor of
the letters and correspondence between that
eminent prelate and Alexander Knox. In
perfect accordance with what his previous
works would suggest, these sound, sober dis-
courses prove Mr. Forster to be a Churchman
of the true Anglican type, equally removed
on the one side from Romish and on the
other from Genevan tendencies. These ser-
mons make no pretension to glowing elo-
quence, profound research, or logical subtlety;
but they are excellent specimens of pastoral
instruction in relation to some of the lead-
ing fallacies of our fevered age. They amount
altogether to eighteen, and divide them
selves into three divisions ; those on
" National Education " being followed by dis-
courses on " The Church of England View of
Lent Duties and Services," and these latter by
appropriate discourses on " The Life and
Ministry of St. Paul." They are all, in their
distinctive bearings, valuable statements of
scriptural truth, and will repay a devout and
careful pausal. The keynote to Mr. Forster's
theology is truthfully indicated by his pregnant
remark in p. 15-16, when the preacher ob-
serves of the Church of England :—" Con-
troversy is not Her element: her clement is
love."

Our remarks on the two other works must
be very succinct. The " Notes on Genesis"
eontain a digest of valuable notes, criticisms,
and historical and scientifie discussions, al-
though we are by no means prepared to admit
all that the reverend baronet asserts or infers.
We are sorry to find him a Loekist, and must
-beg to protest against his speaking of that ill6O-

SATURDAY',

lent, schismatic, and Romish dissenter, Cardi-
nal Wiseman, as an " Archbishop." The
"Coalition" Governmeut,with "all the Talents,"
cannot even by their magical power transform
an ecclesiastical intruder, who is the Pcpe's
nominee, into an " Archbishop," where there
is already a canonical Archbishop of the Eng.
lish Church.

As to Mr. lillice's work, we regret to say we
consider it little more than a theological jwnble
of valuable truths, blended most incoherently
with all sorts of superficial statements and
illogical conclusions. It is quite clear he does
not understand his own argument ; confounds
" revelation" with intimation ; and at length so
entirely forgets his plan as to speak of the
Old Testament as if Moses were the only
writer of all the books that volume contains.
His preface, too, is unsound ; and we recom-
mend him to study Bishop Butler before he
attempts to reason from a priori views towards
the ways and works of God as the moral legis-
lator and providential governor of mankind.
The truth must be told : his volume is a
failure ; and he mistakes the individualism of
his own conception, grafted on the word of
God, for the pure and perfect revelations of
the divine will.

State-Paper Taxation, with an Analysis of the Nature
and Relations of Gold, Paper, and Credit. By
Alexander Charles Macleod, Esq. London : Ridg-
way.

Ir• Mr. Macleod is right, the sooner the world is
turned topsyturvy the better. As we read his pages,
all our received ideas of finance and trade, of cash
currency and capital, of buying and selling, of money-
getting and money-spending, are not to say confused,
but absolutely inverted, thrown bottom upwards,
turned about sena dessus dessous. By way of a speci-
men inference or two : The more money we have the
poorer we must be, for (money being only the repre-
sentative of value) he who makes or imports coins, bank-
notes, or what not, produces nothing but a claim for
himself to a share in the pre-existing "values," and
so leaves less to the rest of the community. Again, we
are told respecting the gold which a note represents,
that it " amounts to nearly the same thing" whether
that gold is in circulation or not in existence. And
yet, again, we find, to our utter confusion, that when
money is locked up unproductively the owner loses,
but the "public gains proportionately" ! Altogether
the book is a strange jumble—the author endeavour-
ing to build up in the midst of the chaos a system
such as that indicated in his title, in which the nation is
to pay its creditors and claimants x millions per annum
in the shape of " state paper," of course remitting to
its debtors an equivalent amount of taxation.

The Importance, Necessity, and Practicability of
Thorough Drainage in the British West India
Colonies, ctc. A Letter to the Right Hon. the Earl
of Aberdeen, by a late Stipendiary Magistrate in
Jamaica. London : Bosworth.

THE author has collected from various sources a credit-
able array of facts and opinions in support of these con-
clusions :—That the soil of our West India colonies
is, naturally, abundantly productive ; that drainage
is the great artificial stimulus necessary to enhance
that production to a remunerative point ; and that
Government aid, after the example set in Ireland and
Scotland, would be expediently devoted to that pur-
pose. The circumstance that many of his positions
are self evident has not prevented their being over-
looked, nor will it render his pamphlet less suggestive
and valuable.

OUR LIBRARY TABLE.
lfonnt Lebanon. 3 vols. Colour! Churchill.
Saunders and Ottley:
Enrirona n JAMdou. Lunguitin and Co.
Eureivi. I and 2. _ _ _

77w Poetical am Dramatic Works of Sir E. Dultrer Lytton-
Vol. 3. Chapman and Hall.
'raajord. lly the Author td'" Mary Barton."
Chapman and Hall.
r•thatits qi Darien Ship Canal. 1)r. Cullen. Effinghoun
The Faueral of the Duke if II Wlington. Ackermann.
The Alphabet A Notated. Ackermann.
Rome. A pamphlet. J. Allen.
17a/ref-say Rai/dingo. F. liashfortb, M.A . Maylunillan mid Co
RIMMiIIII. Turkey. A pamphlet. Saunders and Sandford.
•

SALE OF "TOM MOORE'S" LETTERS.
(From n Correspondent.)

ON THURSDAY poor Tom Moore's literary remains,
in the shape of his autograph letters, were put up to
auction, and we were induced, by the report we heard
of the omissions from the poet's letters, to stroll up
for the sake of curiosity to see them. When leaving
St. James's.street we could not help thinking how
much the scene we were witnessing (it was " a draw-
ing•room ") was in harmony with the taste of the
poet whose autographs we were to visit. And we
recollected how enthusiastic a worshipper he was of
that beauty dorie of which the changing line of

JUNE 25, 1853.

equipages in St. James's-street exhibited some lively
specimens. Fresh from the sight of some of the
debutantes of the season, and with a hazy recollection
of the verses of our modem Catullus, we entered the
sombre and dry-as-dust atmosphere of Messrs.
Puttiek and Simpson's literary sale-room. We re-
collected here, another contrast, what a thoroughly keen
partisan poet was Moore. His lively libels upon the
Prince Regent ; his vituperation of Lord Castlereagh,
even in his grave ; his freely-vented abuse of the
Roman Catholic creed in private, and his devotion in
public to the aspirations of the Irish Rotnanists ; his
worship at all seasons of certain great Whig families,
—these things flashed across our memory as we
entered the room where his correspondence was to
be put up to the highest bidder. We anticipated a
considerable sprinkling of old Whig gentlemen, some
antediluvian specimens of the past school of
Whiggery, who might, for the sake of a transitory
sentiment, desire to purchase some of the letters of
the most zealous instrument their party ever em-
ployed. How amazed we were at the dreary spec-
tacle of the deserted auction-room, where three or four
trade-buyers of the lowest class appeared ? Recol-
lecting how dearly Torn Moore loved a lord, we
allowed our frenzy to muse upon the dead bard's
anguish if he could have beheld his " things "
knocked down to the untitled members of the com-
munity. We thought of his own lines upon a tuft-
hunter, when he appeared to draw from what the
Commons would call " subjective Nature " :
" For, rest his soul, he'd sogmer Lo
Genteelly damned beside a duke
Than KATI in vulgar company."
The only persons we saw in the rooms worthy of
notice were Mr. Crofton Croker, who had been a use-
ful purveyor in furnishing Moore with some Irish
airs, and Father Front, of ex-Fraserian celebrity, the
author of "The Rogueries of Tom Moore," and
other charming pieces of profoundly erudite extra-
vagance.
On looking over the letters we observed that Lord
John Russell had omitted a great many passages
with reflections and remarks calculated to annoy the
immediate friends of the poet and his correspondents.
Thus, under lot 71, we found a passage casting some
reflections on a literary connection of Power, the
musicseller--omitted in the printed letters—and also

some lines in which Moore avowed his

to write as a party poet, but not so as to alarm a cer-
tain person's " nerves." Well ! we do not blame Lord
John Russell for this delicate consideration of the

sensibilities of living persons ; but we rather blame
him for considering them so little in other instances.
It would be only repeating the fault that we here
condemn were we to prove our assertion by amplify-
ing these allusions. Lord Londonderry brought his
lordship to account in one respect, and the apology
of Lord John was sufficiently explicit to satisfy any
one. In the case of Moore, however, peculiar vigi
lance was necessary. Boswell was gibbetted by
Mr. Macaulay, in his essay on "Johnson," for his
meanness in taking down private conversations. But
this was a practice which Moore adopted wholesale.
The practice is a bad one ; but, if it must be practised
by needy literary men to provide for their kindred,
at least the feelings of living parties should be re-
garded, even though they were Tories and friends of
George the Fourth. If the memory of Mr. Power,
the musicseller, is to be spared by certain lines being
omitted from letters of Moore, why should not more
consideration be shown for others? But, peace to his
shade ! and oblivion to his obsequies so carelessly
performed by Lord John Russell.
The deserted state of the auction-mom on Thurs-
day tells it own tale. Moore was associated in life with
Byron and Sheridan, and his name, becoming identi-
fied with theirs, shines with the radiance of reflected
light But already his literary star appears to pale, and
while there has been a renaissance for Scott, and
Wordsworth, and Schiller, and others of his contem-
poraries, it may be questioned whether the fame of
Moore is not irretrievably upon the wane : nothing,
indeed, can detract from the excellence of his Irish
Melodies; but the scanty gathering over his remains
on Thursday shows that he is not amongst those
celebrities whose memory is worshipped with ardour
by a host of admirers.

An interesting ComEcTios of RARE AVTOGRAPIIS,
the property of the family of Fuseli, in Italy, were
sold lately by Messrs. Christie and Manson. Among
these, an autograph letter of Marie Antoinette, dated
17k4, sold for U. 155.; one of Martin Luther to a
friend, corn laining of the prejudice created by a
pamphlet written against himself, 3/. ; one of Charles
Edward Stuart, 31. 104. ; of Cardinal Richelieu, 2/. ;
of Napoleon Bonaparte, dated February, 1791, 11/. ;
of Jean Paul Marat, 3/.125. ; of James Stuart ( the
Chevalier St. George), 21. its. ; of George Villiers
Duke of Buckingham, IL 10s. The signature of
George Washington to a document, accrediting the
American minister to the Fernch Republic, sold for
1/. Os.; an autograph letter of David Garrick in
French, written to De Latouche, who was translating
Shakspeare, 11, 3s.

THE PRESS;

lint Arts.

BRITISH INSTITUTION, 1553.
WE have often felt surprise both at the variety and
excellence of the pictures collected together for the
yearly exhibition of this institution, and we cannot
but express our gratitude to the liberal proprietors
who, by the loan of their pictures, enable the artists
and connoisseurs of England to become acquainted
with the treasures of art contained in the less ac-

..... .
eessible parts of the kingdom. Pictures are cer-
tainly nowhere Keen to greater advantage than in
the apartments of this institution : we know none
in which the light is better, and of which the
size and height are so well adapted for the display of
works of art. _ _ .

The collections submitted to the public during the
two last years have been of such surpassing excel-
lence that the present one by comparison appears
inferior, but we believe, in fact, it does not rank
below the average. If the great names amongst
Italian masters are but feebly represented, and if the
greatest are altogether absent, we have some favour-
able specimens of artists second only to the first ; and
from other schools the contributions are of great
excellence. Of Claude we have three specimens that.
need fear comparison with none. Cum), Berghem,
and Teniers are well represented ; and if, in our town
schools, Sir Joshua Reynolds does not appear with
his usual superiority, we have a remarkably fine
portrait by Hogarth, and of Wilson the examples are
numerous and favourable. We are bound, however,
to admit that amongst the collection there are Nome
pictures which the directors or managers, to whom
the charge of selection is confided, would, in our
opinion, have done well to reject. We should regret
giving utterance to any opinion which may be disa-
greeable to the liberal owners, but we must remind
them that, if the exhibition is to be of service to art,
the greatest freedom of discussion as to its merits
should be encouraged.
The first subject that stands in the catalogue, and
the first that meets the eye, is " Thomyris ordering
the head of Cyrus to be dipped in blood," announced in
the catalogue as the work of Itubens. The same ant Oct,
handled with superior effect, adorns the gallery of tints-
venor-house ; and Lord Darnley's picture, though ps►s-
sessing undoubted merit, we can scarcely admit to be
more than an old copy, painted perhaps under the
eye of the master—the work of a favourite pupil.
No. 20, " A Landscape," by Itubens, is a repetition
of the much-admired" Waggon" by the same painter,
in the Pitti Gallery at Florence. We have never
understood that Rubel-is was in the habit of copying
his own pictures ; he may have occasionally done so
at the request of a powerful patron, but such could
not have been his practice, and we cannot believe
this performance to have proceeded front his painting-
room. We must take the liberty of reminding col-
lectors generally of the extreme danger of purchasing
"original pictures," of which the great continental
galleries contain " duplicates."
No. 00, " A Study of Dogs," by Titian, the property
of the Duke of Bedford.—We should have looked for
a better specimen of the tine collection at Woburn.
The design of this picture we cannot believe to
be Titian's, still less that the painting is his. It is
probably a Dutch copy by Fyt or some of his scholars,
foe it could hardly be an original from a school
distinguished for the spirit and facility of its manipu-
lation.
No. WI, " The Flagellation," by Michel Angelo and
Fm. Sebastian del Piombo. It is notorious that Fra.
Sebastiano received the assistance of Michel Angelo
in the composition of the famous picture in the
church of San l'ietro in Monitorio at Rome (of
which this is a miniature copy ), and that the hand
of the great master may even be traced in the
drawing of some of the figures; but it is hardly pro-
bable that Michel Angelo superintended the execution
of every copy, sketch, or repetition of this favourite
subject ; and, indeed, in the small copy now before
us we discover no traces of either of the masters
named in the catalogue.
No. $7, "The Virgin and the Magdalen," by
Leonardo da Vinci, repeats the composition of the
celebrated picture in the Palizo Sciavra called
" Modesty and Vanity." This last-named painting
has usually been attributed by the critics to Luini.
No. 50, " A Virgin and Child," by Mmillo. The
hand of the restorer has lain heavy on this produc-
tion, which we think has little claim to belong to
Murillo. The public has lately become too familiar
with the best specimens of this master not to be
fastidious and critical in any work professing to
be his.
No. 29, "A Female Portrait," we cannot consent
to accept as an original by Leonardo da Vinci.
No. 97, "A Lady with a Missal." 'f his portrait
may once have possessed merit, but all traces of it
are lost in the highly-stippled restoration that is
now before us.
No. 2, "Christian Duke of Brunswick," by Mere-
velt ; No. 10, "Charles 11. when Prince of Wales,"
by Tyssens ; No. 15, "Prince Maurice," and No. 11),

187

" Prince Robert," both by Vandyke ; No. 18, " Charles
1.," by Mytens ; No. 22, " Prince Henry of Wales,"
by Van Sotner—all full-length portraits of the natural
size, the magnificent furniture of Combe Abbey,
contributed by the liberality of Lord Craven, but
possessing rather historical than artistic value, and
better adapted, perhaps, to ornament a baronial hall
than to furnish a gallery selected principally for the

improventent of art.
No. 42 •• A Portrait of Queen Mary," by Sir Aim •
thinly More, possesses a higher interest and more
artistic merit. More had acquired in Italy a freedom
and a knowledge of effect possessed by few of his
,•ountrymeu. This princess, whose character is now
become a party question," is represented in the
rich and sober costume she was said to love ; and, if

the painter has not dune her injustice, her comae-
nimeeexpresses all the obstinacy and pitiless severity
which it was the creed of our youth to attribute to
" Bloody Queen Mary."
No. 111, "A Man's Head," by Francis, reminds
us rather of the manner of Perugia°. It is a fine
portrait. full of character and rich in colour. It may
also possess interest at the present moment as a
favourable specimen of continental cleaning. We
trace the restorer's hand, but the reparations are by
no means unskilful. _ _ .

.....
No. 23, "A Portrait," by Moroni, belonging to
Lord Dutferin, represents the half-length figure of a
man with complexion anti feature betraying no very
remote connection with Africa, dressed in a robe of
purple silk, with blue sleeves of the same material,
having Isis right win in an easy attitude on a table,
and holding papers in his left hand. The colouring
has all the sober harmony of the Venetian school,
and all the simple dignity for which it is also remark-
able. We discover at once that the artists's aim waa
to produce a strong resemblance, anti that no attempt
has been made to soften the ugliness of the features
or to lend them an expression they did not habitu-

ally wear.
No. 21, " Leonard Bramer," a fine and speaking
portrait by Itembnuult. A man in the prime of life,
with a calm and sensible countenance, seated at his
ease, and dressed as becomes a person of opulence,
but of simple habits, seems pondering over the con-
tents of the letters he holds in his hand. His coun-
tenance expresses that. thoughtful and abstracted
look which we most admire in a portrait, and which
gazes unconscious of the notice of the spectator or
even of his presence. The tone of the colouring
may, we think, be criticised as too mellow, and the
shade east on the brow by the broad-brimmed hat
is too warm in its tone and too deep and heavy.
No. 141, " A Portrait," by C. tiausen. We have
here an admirable specimen of the portrait-painting
of the seventeenth century—a speaking countenance,
agreeable features, and a simple attitude. The co-
louring is good, with great breadth of effect.
No. 04, the fine portrait of Don Andres de Andrade,
called " The Verger of the Cathedral of Toledo," by
Murillo. It formed a part of the collection of Louis
Philippe lately sold by auction at Mr. Christie's
rooms, and was purchased by Mr. Baring for 1,02111.
We regret that the nation has thus a second time
lost the opportuntty of becoming the possessor of
this noble portrait. We have understood it was once
offered to the trustees of the National Gallery, before
passing into the collection of the late King of the
French, for less than half the price at which
it. was Kohl by public auction. It has all the truth
that distinguishes the portraits of that painter, with
a greater strength and sower in the colouring than
they always exhibit.
We have already observed that the portraits by Sir
Joshua Reynolds must not be accepted as fair speci-
mens of his powers. The best is, we think (No.1:19),
" A half. length Likeness of Lady Waldegrave, after-
wards 1 nichess of Gloater," folding her infant
daughter to her bosom. Several portraits of the same
beautiful subject exist by the same painter. We do
not think that which is before us does justice either
to the painter or to the lady : the colour wants force
and vivacity, and the attitude truth and simplicity.
Another picture, by the same master, we notice
rather for its singularity than for its merit (No.
124). It is termed " A Caricature "in the catalogue,
the property of Lord Wicklow, and represents a
travelling adventure of a young nobleman and his
suite in Italy. It is, in our opinion, far too coloured
and too important a picture to be considered as a
more caricature, awl yet the treatment is too
grotesque to be taken as a serious representation.
The principal figures, which the catalouge informs
us were esteemed excellent likenesses, are too
grossly caricatured to be witty, and the representa-
tion of the young Lord Wicklow, the hero of the
piece, is positively a satire on humanity.
No. 107, " A Portrait of tiarriek and his Wife,"
by Hogarth, the property of her Majesty, is in the
happiest style of the artist. He has represented his
friend sitting over his writing-desk in all the moodi-
ness of reluctant inspiration, the comic thoughts
rising to his imagination which he is not in the vein
to work up, the secret smile struggling with involun-
tory abstreetion, and the pen suspended UPCO4-

188

'dowdy, which his young and lovely wife approaches
an tiptoe to seize from him. In so striking a por-
trait we are reluctant to descend to minute criticism,
but we must observe that the coarseness of the
painting in, the great actor's face hardly corresponds
with the light and graceful touch with which the
artist has painted the playful bride.
" Sir Francis Burdett" (No. 136), and " Lady
Burdett " (No. 148), by Sir Thomas Lawrence, are no
bad specimens of the earlier manner of that popular
painter. A more natural style of portrait-painting
has succeeded the conventional manner then in
fashion, and a little more attention is now paid to
costume and accessorial details. Sir Francis is
represented standing out of doors in an evening
dress, with tightly-drawn black silk stockings (the
least picturesque costume that ever puzzled a
painter), one hand resting on the bust of King John,
the other reaching across his body, and unrolling
Magna Charts, and to which he seems appealing.
The taste of the composition, sentiment, and attitude,
we will not pause to question. As a work of art we
think we may congratulate the public on seeing far
superior merit in many of the portraits by living
artists at present exhibited in the Royal Academy.
Lady Burdett is seated in a woody landscape—her
straw hat filled with flowers, a single rose in her bosom,
and her rich brown hair overshadowing her hand-
some features. Her dress resembles a modern bed-
gown. and was never such, we imagine, as ladies
walked abroad in. Her figure is singularly ill-drawn,
her extremities are far too small, and her feet are
thrust into a pointed slipper of white satin.
(To be continued.)

TURNER'S PICTURES.

Os Monday last there were sold by Messrs. Christie,
at their rooms, five pictures by Turner, described in
the catalogue as " superlative works of the great
master." They are painted in his latest manner, and
were knocked down at prices which prove that his
works of recent date have not sunk in the estimation
of at least a portion of the public. They were sold
as follows :-
1, " Venice--Evening : Going to the Ball," exhi-
bit3cl in the Royal Academy, 1846, No. 117, 540/.
2. "Morning : Returning from the Ball—S. Mar-
tino," exhibited in the Royal Academy, 1846, No.
162, 0401. 10s.
8. "Dawn of Christianity : Flight into Egypt,"
exhibited in the Royal Academy, 1841, No. 532,
7451. lOs.
4. " Glaucus and Scylla--' Ovid's Metamorphoses; "
painted on panel, exhibited in the Royal Academy,
1811, No. 542, 7:151.
5. "Approach to Venice," 850/. lOs.
During a part of Turner's career there is no differ-
ence of opinion as to his merit. We have never
heard any one deny the genius and knowledge dis-
played in his "Libor Studiorum." AU agree in ex-
tolling the truth and beauty of the two magnificent
specimens of his powers in the National Gallery,
which, according to his own request, hang in juxta-
position with two Claudes, and winch might have
occupied the same position without suffering by the
comparison even if the Claudes had remained un-
cleaned.
But at a certain epoch which it would be difficult
to fix precisely there took place in his style a change—
and as ordinary critics say—for the worse. His compo-
sition, they complain, became exaggerated; his chiar-
oscuro inconsistent; and, above all, his colouring
false and extravagant. Others, on the contrary, who
claim to possess a deeper knowledge of nature, and a
more refined appreciation of art, and at their head
the ingenious author of " Modern Painters,"—all
these contend that each successive burst of his seem-
ing extravagance must be received as a revelation
which it is our duty not to creation but to reverence
and to study. We do not in the least overstate the
"undergraduates"' language, and where the diffi'rence
of opinion is so irreconcilable it may seem useless to
provoke a discussion.
" Non noir/run tot tantas componere lites." But, as
the eloquent and ingenious critic maintains that, by
a careful examination of nature, the painter's truth
will in all cases be triumphantly made manifest, we
accept the issue he proposes, and will proceed to try
by the test of nature the five pictures recently exhi-
bited in Messrs. Christie's auction-room.
The selection will not be objected to av unfair.
No. 5, the catalogue tells us, "is described by Ruskin
in Modern Painters,' vol. i., as one of the most
beautiful bits of colour ever done by any man, by any
means, at any time." The motto explains the effect
which the painter meant to represent :

" The moo n is up, anti yet it is not night;
The sun as yet disputes the day with her."—Dyres.
Many of our readers may have enjoyed such an
hour on the lagunes of Venice or the cliffs of Sor-
rento, and will remember how solid under these eir
eurnstances is the landscape, how rich in colour, how
clearly defined is the outline of objects against the
luminous sky. Exhalations arising at such a time
are cold and heavy ; if distant and partials they are

THE PRESS.

clearly marked and opaque ; if general and near,
they blot out the view altogether. Let the traveller
compare his recollections with "The Approach to
Venice." In the centre of the picture the luminous
orb which is struggling through the bright mist is,
we suppose, intended for the full moon ; but the sea,
the sky, and the town, as far as each is distinguish-
able from either, are illuminated by a sun which, if
we had not learnt the painter's intention by his
motto, we should suppose to be still high in the
heavens.
In No. 1, "Evening," the same treatment is
adopted ; yet surely we see in naure that as the sun
sinks the landscape gains in solidity and substance.
While the shades of evening gather fast over the
earth, the light lingers in the sky, and the horizon
remains strongly defined : it is only when the light
is finally fading away that earth and sky are blended
together in one common obscurity ; but at what pe-
riod of the evening are they confounded in a semi-
luminous haze ?
In No. 2, " Morning," the sun shows half its disc
above the horizon. But surely the town behind
which it rises would be in deep shadow, except where
the light catches and gilds some bold projection or
some tall tower; and the outline, except in the im-
mediate vicinity of the sun's orb, would be well-
defined and clear. Softened, indeed, it may be by
the dazzling haze of morning ; but how cool and
grey are the shadows of the early dawn—how bright,
though colourless, are the tremulous lights ! At
such a time Venice might seem (according to a fan-
ciful description we have read somewhere) a town of
silver reflected in a pavement of polished pewter.
Yet in Turner's picture the rising sun has no influence
on the shadows or tone of colour. The light green
sea and the Egyptian pyramid and martello towers
(of which the painter's " Venice " is strangely com-
pounded) are lighted and coloured by another sun
high up in the heavens ; and so also is the bank of
clouds which is spread immediately above the rising
luminary, and is shadowed just where we should ex-
pect it to be gilded by his rays.
In the representations both of morning and even-
ing the shadows of the figures and boats are scarlet
and orange. Now, it must be remembered that sha-
dows are warmed only by the light reflected from
some illuminated object. The light reflected from
the sky is always cool, and the feebleness of the re-
fleeted light is one of the characteristics of the early
morning. Moreover, in all these pictures the out-
lines even of objects in the foreground are equally
and universally hazy and indistinct. Nothing can
be finer than the delicacy of observation with which
Turner in his earlier works leaves undefined all
that nature blends together. But in his later works,
for the most part, and certainly in the present speci-
mens, there is sharpness nowhere, and, where all is
indistinct indiscriminately, the propriety and beauty
and even meaning of indistinctness are lost.
It seems to us there is but one portion of the day
when the effect which Turner is so fond of repre-
senting has anything like a prototype in nature. In
a southern climate the summer sun near its meridian
blurs the landscape with an excessive glare of light;
there is little shadow, and consequently but little
outline ; objects seem melting in a brown and white
haze. The elastic air visible to the eye, and floating
(or palpitating, in Mr. Ruskin's phrase) in countless
undulations, seems to affect the regularity of the out-
line by its tremulous motion. But it would be a
poor defence of the painter to say that he combines
noonday effects with rising and setting suns ; and
even thus, another great inconsistency, remains un-
explained. If the sun is behind the spectator the
objects are in light ; but their indistinctness ceases.
If the sun is in front of the spectator the indistinct-
ness of objects returns, but they are seen in shadow.
Where, but in Turner's pictures, shall we find the
union of universal mistiness and universal light?
We admit, indeed, that in London, where the at-
mosphere thickened by smoke seems to hold the
sunshine (when there is any) as it were in solution,
objects sometimes appear shadowy and confused,
when, under the same circumstances, in any natural
atmosphere, they could show themselves sharp and
distinct. But this, though it may help to explain,
will hardly excuse the licence of the painter, which
far exceeds any precedent that London smoke can
sacra him ; and what. can be said for the transfer of
London smoke to a Venetian sunset? The author
of "Modern Painters" summons to his bar all who
have painted Venice, from Canaletti to the most
recent of modern exhibitors, and, with a word or two
of commendation, dismisses them all as having failed
to do justice to the Venetian atmosphere ; but, after
describing one of Turner's later pictures, lie exclaims,
" Yes, Mr. Turner, this is Venice!" The picture
may, perhaps, have all the merits which we have
failed to see in it, but Venice most assuredly it is not ;
and we well remember the unfeigned astonishment
with which Venetians in the year of the Great Exhi-
bition gazed at the heaps of "most admired confusion,"
which they were assured were intended for represen-
tations of their beautiful capital by the first of English

SATURDAY,

No. 3, a circular picture, represents " The Dawn Of
Christianity." As the subject is allegorical, the treat-
ment may, perhaps, be allowed to be preternatural ;
but, if the painter is allowed to transgress the limits
of nature, he is bound to respect her analogies. The
centre of the canvas is occupied by a white haze,
which is quite incompatible with the intense garter
blue of the upper part of the sky, as that' is in its
turn with the lurid red of the dawn to which it is
most inartiticially and clumsily patched. In the
midst of the white fog is seen a group representing
the " Flight into Egypt ;" the figures of, which, by
comparison with the surrounding objects, may be
estimated at about 50 or 04) feet high.
In "(ileums and Scylla," No. 4, the figures are
not less colossal in their dimensions, and are more
preposterously absurd in their drawing. Turner's
figures, which were always bad enough to injure the
effect of his best pictures, exhibit still more careless-
ness in his later works. He seems to have thought,
because they were slightly indicated, they might be
incorrectly drawn, forgetful that the fewer the touches
with which he expresses his meaning the more
needful it is that those few should be faithful and
correct.
This picture forcibly illustrates to our minds the
chief defect of Turner's latter system of painting.
Mr. Ruskin somewhere says, if Mr. Turner could put
on light instead of mere paint, all would be right.
Precisely KO ; the defence and the accusation may be
expressed in the same words. It is because Turner
will not submit with a good grace to the poverty and
inadequacy of his materials that we censure him. With
the scanty means at his disposal the painter can give
the relative but not the actual effect of light. And, if
lie insists upon having one part of his picture abso-
lutely true, he must be content to have the rest both
absolutely and relatively false. To imitate the bril-
liancy of a bright foreground, he will need to exhaust
all the pigments of thelpalette. What, then, is left to
paint the monarch of light and the gorgeous tints
that surround his throne? It is in vain that in the
present picture Turner heaps on red and yellow and
orange; he hardly arrives at Falstaff's flame-coloured
taffety, and with every fresh accession of strong colour
only approaches nearer and nearer to brickdust and
gravel.
It is only on the point of Turner's fidelity to nature
that we think the dispute with his indiscrimi.
nate admirers admits of any decision, or can be dis-
cussed with any profit. If it is asserted, as his advo-
cates sometimes do assert when inconveniently
pressed, that his pictures are an improvement on
nature, and that, like the artist in Scribe's play," Loin
d'imiter la nature, it en a invents une beaucoup plus
belle, que vous ne trouverez nulle part," we will not
enter into a discussion which can only lead to an end-
less waste of words. We leave the result to posterity.
In time the opinions and the feelings of mankind are
sure to gravitate to a right decision. Meanwhile
we are quite willing to admit that all his pictures
painted during the period of extravagance are by no
means equally extravagant, and that in his wildest
extravagances there are to be found qualities which
may be studied by the man of taste and the artist
with pleasure and profit.