The Press.
London, England, 1855-10-13 00:00:00

fittraturt.

Notes on Modern Painting at Naples. By Lord
Napier. London : J. W. Parker and Son.
A DELIGHTFUL essay might be written on " First
Impressions," especially as applied to travel.
How far are they to be relied on ? Do eye
and mind really take in at a glance the prin-
cipal characteristics of a country or capital ?
Does a foreigner understand London when ho
has gazed on it from the monument, and
voyaged on the Thames from Gravesend to
Putney? We think not. Some rude notion
may be gathered of a nation's life from such
superficial views ; but, besides that, the views
must be necessarily imperfect, the observer
brings to them preconceptions, and is im-
pressed favorably, or the reverse, as they rise
above or fall below the standard he has
formed. The inner life of a people is often
widely different from its outward. The latter
may be bustling, the former serene ; or, again,
the external life may be dull, and the internal
Active. Visit a merchant in the morning in
his dingy counting-house in some one of those
wretched City streets running down to the
river, where he is surrounded by papers and
lumber, and see him in the evening in his
elegant drawing room in Tyburnia, and you do
not recognise the same man—scarcely can
believe that his sphere of existence is the same.
Life in other countries rarely presents the
same contrast, yet in all the range of difference
is large. The mere tourist is to be trusted
only as far as he sees. The sky, the air, the
earth, the aspect of cities and villages, the
garb of people, their public gatherings—on
such matters, if he has an observant eye, he may
be trusted ; but familiarity with the inner life
of a people will alone qualify him to describe
it with any approach to accuracy.
Some travellers visit Naples, and view it, in
spite of its natural beauties, but as a huge
prison. Spies dog their footsteps, and a sus-
picious and tyrannical Government is ever on
the watch to suppress intelligence and perse-
cute freedom. Another views it as the lowest
deep in the depths of religious fanaticism.
By people in general it is connected with sham
miracles, as the liquefaction of the blood of
St Januarius, with eruptions of Mount Vesu-
vius, with lazy lazzaroni, and with the antics
of an ogre kind of monarch, known as King
Bomba. But in this same degenerate Naples
Lord Napier shows us that a place for the arts
is still reserved, and that those who care to
explore the studios of Neapolitan artists will
find much to warm their imagination and cheer
their fancy. In his preface he explains the
circumstances which led him to compose this
volume :
It was the fortune of the author to hold a diplomatic
employment at the Court of Naples, during a period in
which the appropriate pastimes of that pleasant city were
discarded for the illusions and regrets of political change.
These transactions, of which the melancholy issue is note.
rious, were of a nature to engross and often to darken the
thoughts of one who had an intimate knowledge and a
foreboding view of the revolutionary drama ; the resources
of society were limited by the suspicions and passions
which altered and envenomed the conversation even of
cultivated men ; and the author was induced, alike by ne-
cessity and taste, to expend his relaxation and recover his
serenity in the study of the local arts.
In this time of perplexity he inspected the
remains of art in deserted palaces and sanc-
tuaries, and visited the obscure abodes of
artists who " did not exchange the academy
" for the market-place, or the pencil for the
" stiletto, but kept their burdened studious in
" patience, and expected the revival of pa-
" tronage with peace." These notes were
drawn up, he tells us, in 1851, when the arts
were still suffering from the previous period
of political agitation. He anticipates for them
a revival of prosperity, though Italy seems
doomed to the painful trial of continued alter-
nation : -
The arts in Italy, like every other branch of industry,
suffered severely from the disorders of Im4B. The absence
of foreigners, the suspension of public works, the reduction
of private fortunes, the terror of the ecclesiastical bodies,
dried up the life-springs of those whose existence is
nourished by the ease and fulness of a polite and super-
stitious society. Nor are the resources and confidence of
the community yet confirmed. The exhaustion of the
peninsvila is prolonged by the debts inherited from the
revolutionary exchequer, and by the oppressive main-

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tenance of foreign and mercenary troops. Should the
general peace be restored and maintained, the experience
of former times assures us that this state of suffering and
fear will not be of very long duration. When the last throbs
of the revolutionary heart are still, then will begin the
period of protocols, and diplomacy will devise how jealous
armies may measure off their mutual retreat. The French
will muffle their eagles on the Capitol ; the Austrians will
concentrate their battalions within the bounds of indefea-
sible treaties and hereditary right ; King Ferdinand will
cease to multiply his republican Praetorians. As the appre-
hensions of authority are put to sleep, a tardy mercy will be
extended to the exile, and one by one the patriots who have
aged in fetters will go free. Those will again be the years
of academies and carnivals, of the triumphs of music and
the pomp of priests, the affluence of strangers and the deep
indulgence of the doke far niente ; but in vain the fabric
of ghostly and German dominion will be glossed with a
fair exterior, and filled with the noise of gladness; below
the flowers of sensual civilisation the ineradicable root of
conspiracy will spring anew. The prosperity of Italy, like
the wealth that waves over the track of its subterranean
fires, is the pause between two convulsions.

This admirably-written preface fitly intro-
duces the " Notes." Lord Napier's style
is formed en old models. It is very elaborate,
and for that reason is sometimes fatiguing, but
it is considerate and full of matter. The
naturalist school finds most favour in Naples,
and, according to our author,

It is the only form capable of successful cultivation in
Italy, for it alone is in harmony with the ideas of the whole
community ; in it the patriotism of the educated, the
policy of the governing, and the piety of the devout, can
find a congenial interpretation; to the intelligent and dis-
contented it offers the romantic or heroic subjects selected
from the pages of the poets or historians of their country,
in the contemplation of which they may assuage the sense
of present indignity, or gather the visionary hopes of future
vengeance ; to the ecclesiastical bodies, with whom the
patronage of art and the perpetuation of slavery mainly
lies, the naturalist manner affords the direct and per-
spicuous instrument of that pictorial teaching, which affects
the heart without exercising the understanding ; while, to
to the Italian peasant it displays the forms of Catholic or
local veneration in the lineaments of familiar reality, with-
out the superfluous refinements or subtleties of the schools
of Dusseldorf or ➢iunich.
In these pages the most noted painters of
Naples are passed in review. To Camillo
Guerra great praise must be accorded for the
industry of his pencil. In 1846 he was com-
missioned to paint in fresco the dome of the
new and beautiful church of the Oratorians at
Naples. He selected the "Apocalyptic Vision
of St. John," introducing, to suit the taste of
his patrons, the apotheosis of Loyala, and
other saintly episodes not anticipated by the
Apostle. In 1852 he completed his task, and,
if the following estimate of it be correct, with
considerable success :

The immense undertaking, which Signor Guerra has,
with his unaided pencil, brought to a successful terming-
nation, numbers upwards of 200 principal figures, of which
the nearest are between fifteen and twenty feet in height,
while the more remote still greatly exceed the natural size.
. . . . In all the multitude of his figures, there is
scarcely a feature or an attitude which was not transferred
from the life to the sketch-book, from that to the cartoon,
and from thence, with a careful adaptation, to the plaster.
In the masculine heads, the author is nothenabled to recognise
any energy or grandeur, nor are those of the female per-
sonages distinguished by sweetness, sentiment, or ideal
beauty; a certain conventional, academic mediocrity reigns
throughout, and the composition pleases, rather by cor-
rectness and propriety, than by novelty, grace, or power.
The colouring, compared with the usual vapid tons of
modern frescoes, seems to be deep and effective, while the
hudicious perspective and retreating order of the groups
appily conveys the impression of vastness and expansion.

Michele di Napoli, Giuseppe Mancinelli,
and Raffaelle Postiglione, aro among the prin-
cipal historic painters in Naples. They were
the competitors in 1850 for the office of Pro-
fessor of Design in the Neapolitan academy :

The subject selected for trial was " Jacob bestowing his
Benediction on the Sons of Joseph," and the conditions
imposed were, the unpremeditated execution of a design
in pencil, within six hours, and its subsequent repetition
in a cartoon with the proportions of life. The subject,
which is one of extreme difficulty,and which labours under
the disadvantage of excluding the female figure, was at-
tempted by eight artists, whose deliberate works were
submitted to the criticism of the public and the
verdict of a commission of artists and conoscenti. The
result was gratifying : none of the cartoons were entirely
deficient in merit, and three exhibited qualities of a very
high order. These were respectively the works of
Signori di Napoli, Mancinelli, and Postiglione. After a pro-
longed and virulent discussion, the superiority was ad-
judged to the second, but the first had nearly obtained an
equality of suffrages, and, perhaps, the voice of the public
was in favour of the third. The official decision was pro-
bably just ; it was certainly fortunate. Naples already
possessed di Napoli and Postiglione; it regained their
successful rival. The latter has entered upon his func-
tions with the prestige of an Italian celebrity, with the
influence which belongs to a genuine enthusiasm, and the
popularity whisk accompanies a generous recognition of

SATURDAY,

merit in others. His public clasa•room and his private
academy are almost equally frequented. Though purged
of the more offensive features of the classic manner, it
must be allowed that the general character of the works of
Sig. Mancinelli is more academic than is pleasing to the
English eye. This defect may diminish the charm of his
pictures, but it does not, in the present time, impair the
value of his teaching.

Of Domenico Morani, another painter in the
same style, an anecdote worth extracting is
related :

In the year 1832 the painter passed some days with the
monks of the Benedictine convent at La Cava, dedicated
to the Holy Trinity; during his residence in this retreat,
which is alike charming by the beauty and salubrity of its
position, and venerable by the antiquity of its archives and
the piety of its inmates, he was so fortunate as to en-
counter Sir Walter Scott, who, together with his daughter,
Sir William Gel], and a numerous company, had come to
view the scenery and the treasures of the place. While
th• poet was bending with deep curiosity over the Codex of
the Lombard Kingdom, and the famous manuscript of the
Scriptures, the painter rapidly drew his likeness on a leaf
of paper—not, however, without being observed by one of
the attending ecclesiastics, who, delighted with the spirit
and fidelity of the portrait, presented Sig Morani to the
unconscious subject of his pencil. Sir Walter Scott spoke
to hint with kindness, and commissioned him to execute
copies of the miniatures with which the Lombard volume
is enriched. These Sig. Morani completed with the
greatest diligence, and presented to his patron, refusing all
rem uueration for his pains. The disinterested enthusiasm
of the artist confirmed the agreeable impression inspired
by his first address : Sir Walter Scott invited him to his
house, and presented him to the must distinguished Eng-
lish families resident at Naples, among whom he found, in
making small portraits, a pleasant and profitable employ-
ment. Before our great and benevolent countryman set
out on that last journey, which terminated in the grave of
Dryburgh, he consented to sit to Sig. Morani, who desired
to rectify and terminate the clandestine sketch; and the
portrait, though slight, and marked with the melancholy
traces of a mortal infirmity, preserves the familiar features
of the original. It remains in the possession of Sig.
Morani, with one which he had the honour to take of Miss
Anne Scott.

The religious orders continue to be in
Naples the great patrons of historic painting,
and hence a number of artists attain distinc-
tion in this walk, though none of them rise to
the highest rank. It seems wholly impossible
to account for the rise of artistic genius at
some epochs and its decline at others. The
greatest Italian painters of the Roman, the
Florentine, the Lombard, and the Venetian
schools all flourished at nearly the same
period, and there has been no revival from
the decline which followed their departure.
Yet the arts, in Naples at least, have had no
reason to complain of want of patronage.
There are institutions to afford students
gratuitous instruction in the fine arts, and
nine pupils are maintained gratuitously at
Rome:—

After passing one year in the study of the monuments
and works of art at Naples, they are transferred to Rome,
under the inspection of a director, for five years, lodged in
the Palazzo } arnese, a venerable and appropriate habita-
tion, and freely provided with all the necessaries of life,
and with the instruments, materials, and facilities requisite
for their respective arts. An allowance of three pounds
per month as pocket-money, and of seven pounds a year
for travelling expenses, is also made to each student.
Other facilities are afforded for the develop-
ment of artistic genius, but skilful and culti-
vated mediocrity is generally the highest
result attained. The supervision cxei cised
over artists, and the denial to them of the
female figure for their studies by the ecclesias-
tical authorities, may perhaps have the effect
of restraining their activity.

The part of this volume which will be reed
with most pleasure is that relating to tie
landscape and genre painters of Naples, whoEe
characteristics are felicitously described. The
Americans and Russians, and particularly the
latter, have been great patrons of this depart
ment of Neapolitan art ; and from the fidelity
with which, according to Lord Napier, it
reflects the natural scenery and life of Naples—
the landscape, the sea, the processions in the
streets, the market-places, and the interior of
convents and churches—we should imagine
that this class of works might if better known
find patronage in Europe.
The lives of some Neapolitan painters are
as full of romance as those of Italian artists in
past days. Lord Napier has agreeably
sketched the rise and fortunes of the artists
w hose works are noticed in his pages, and has
given us altogether a complete and acceptable
account of modern painting in Naples, and of
he lives of its principal professors.

OCTOBER 13, 1855.

Thought and Language. By B. H. Smart.
London : Longmans.
Ma. SMART belongs essentially to the English
school of metaphysicians —that small band
of anti-German thinkers who, resolutely ig-
noring the results or no results (we do not
pretend to decide which is the more appro-
priate designation) due to the successors of
Kant, seek to restore to mental philosophy the
application of the inductive method. To
what extent the marvellous progress of
physical gives earnest of a more productive
future to metaphysical science, when its in-
vestigations shall be conducted on similar prin-
ciples, it is difficult to say ; the utter impossi-
bility of experiments upon mind, and the
consequent restriction of the investigator to
simple observation, in itself of peculiar deli
cacy and difficulty, would seem to render a
science of mind, in the strict sense of the words,
almost entirely inaccessible. It is true that
in the most perfect of the sciences, Astronomy,
experiment is as far beyond our power as in
Psychology, but we are provided, in compensa
tion, with means of exact quantitative verifi-
cation by which to decide between the claims
of rival hypotheses apparently equally capable,
but for the application of this searching test,
of affording qualitative explanations of the
facts revealed while in Mechanics, in Physics
proper, in Chemistry, in Physiology, even in
Politics—unhappily too often in the latter,—
experiments are practicable, and more or less
decisive in an inverse proportion to the greater
or less complexity of the phenomena to be
investigated. Mental facts are emphatically
" naked " facts, and every new metaphysical
tailor seems to cut out his new costume ac
cording to his own taste and fancy, quite regard-
less of the original proportions of the model.
We are debarred from experiment ; the very
notion of numerical verification is absurd ;
the rival hypotheses which have divided phi-
lc sophers since the very fist beginnings of
speculation appear equally capable of explain.
ing the same facts ; and there is no crucial
test possible which shall overthrow one and
establish another.

The history of philosophy, equally in its
broad outlines and its smallest details, is a his-
tory of oscillations; " Facts, ideas—ideas, facts"
—is the wearisome sing-song which the meta-
physical pendulum has been droning for two
thousand years, and will perhaps continue to
drone for two thousand more, in spite, we feet,
of the sturdy labours of thinkers like Mr, Smart.
Let us take any of the great problems of philo-
sophy : for example, the question of grounds
of necessary truth. How is it that, all our
knowledge beginning from experience, a por-
tion of it, including the sciences of Number,
Space, and Time, or Arithmetic, Geometry,
and Algebra (to borrow Sir William Rowan
Hamilton's definition of the latter), should
monopolise a certainty which experience it-
self shows us itself alone cannot confer ?
How is it that we can say of some truths
only that they are thus or thus, while of
others we can assert not only that they are
what they are, but that they mutt be so and
cannot be otherwise ? Are the ideas of Number,
Space, Time, derived purely from experience
or are they innate ? We cannot observe any
mind but one which has had communication
with the external world ; the comparison be-
tween a mind before such communication and
after it—in other words an experiment—is thus
impossible. Hence the various hypotheses by
which, when the fact of this " necessity " is
acknowledged, philosophers have sought to
explain it ; while some, coming to the investi-
gation already in possession of a theory which
refused to account for the fact, have attempted
to modify or even to deny altogether the fact
itself. Again, to take another example, which
of the infinitely varied explanations of the
fact of external perception are we to accept,
and on what grounds ? Here we are in a worse
position than before, when considering the
question of necessary truth ; we cannot com
pare together different methods of perception ;
to do this, as Buffon said, we must leave our own
brains and enter into those of some other being;
we can: be - wheth, stand " face

THE PRESS.

face " or immediately, the object immediately
perceived ay., mental or material ; whether, in
other words, to embrace Idealism or Realism :
whether, if we take a fancy to Idealism, we
shall patronise that form of it which it gards
the idea as a modification of the mind or no ;
or, if we adhere to Realism, we are to eousider
as objective all the qualities of body per-
ceived or only a portion of them ; or,
on the other hand, if we choose to assert
that we do not perceive immediately but me-
diately, whether the representative idea be
numerically distinct from the mind or a moth
fication of it ; if the first, whether it be
spiritual or corporeal : if the second, whether
it be identified with the percipient act or not—
all these opinions, which may again be divided
into subordinate species, having been ac-
tually held by different philosophers. The
reader who is curious in such matters may
see a full account of the various theories
which have been held on this point in the
note C. to Sir W. Hamilton's edition of Reid.
Again, whether or no to agree with Mr.
Smart and the Loekeists, as he represents
them (though, by the way, we suspect that
there is as much division between the
Lockeists on this point as between the rest of
philosophers upon it), in " holding that the
" things of sense are, for us, related to each
" other as we perceive them to be:" and yet
" admit that by beings otherwise constituted
" they may be otherwise perceived." We can
see no reason unconnected with spirit•rapping
or phrenology which should incline us more
to one of these fancies than to any other of
them. We divide our opinion equally between
them, without favour or prejudice. It is quite
conceivable that the minds of other beings
may distort the realities of sense, but we
cannot by any possibility know whether they
do or no ; how it should be more easy to dis •
cover, without a special revelation not yet
vouchsafed to us (we speak all in reverence),
that our minds do not and cannot, we confess
we cannot comprehend : of course we du not
intend to assert that they do, only we should
like ,o know how an 3 human being, philoso-
pher more than ploughboy (we exclude clair-
voyants and " media"), can possibly know
that they do not. To ascertain this, we must
compare the reality, apart from perception,
per se, if there be any such ignotum quid, with
the reality perceived ; which is equivalent
to saying that we must perceive and not per
ceive at the same moment. Now, this seems to
us something very like an absurdity. We might
fill pages with examples of the divergence of
philosophical opinion; some differences being
mere logomachies,due to unsettled terminology,
some actual errors ofobservation,but the greater
and more important class arising from the entire
absence of any means of arriving at a conclu-
sion such as we possess in those sciences
which have already acquired, or are rapidly
acquiring, a body of acknowledged doctrine
which is above discussion. That there are in
mental science many acknowledged facts we
do not intend for a moment to deny ; but that
there are many questions, and these thelmost
interesting and the most fundamental, which
are utterly inaccessible, no one who has read
the history of philosopy, whether guided by
Kantist or Lockeist, can have any very con-
siderable doubts; and the settlement of these
very points has hitherto occupied almost
entirely the attention of philosophers. As
might be supposed, Mr. Smart is too much of
a metaphysician to neglect that which is out
of reach. We have, therefore, discussions on
the origin of our knowledge and on necessary
truth, the examples of the latter being taken
for the most part from the definitions of
geometry, and not from its axioms ; the conse-
quence of which is that his theory, as far as
we understand it, applies only to analytical
judgments, the necessary truths about which
all the great battles of philosophy have been
fought being synthetic, and the two classes
incapable of identification. The chapters on
the special subject of the work, the connection
between thought and language, arc a re-state-
ment, very clearly expressed, of the author's
peculiar theory of verbal expression, not gene-
rall• -..itved as yet among metaphysicians

981

Embassies and Foreign Court*. A History of
Diplomacy. By " The Roving Englishman."
London: Routledge.

THIS volume is chiefly historical, but the
author has varied his compilation with aneo•
dotes drawn from his own experience, and
with satirical reflections on th• folly of certain
diplomatic practices. He is much too smart a
writer to miss the opportunities of ridicule
which the formalities of diplomatic etiquette
present, more especially as he can at the same
time insinuate an impression of his own vastly
superior capacity. His writings would be
read with more pleasure if swagger and self-
assurance were less prominent in them. He
writes towards the close of his performance :
Whatever celebrity the se books have acquired from a
most indulgent and large•hearted people—whatever future
popularity they may win, I shall never claim them. It is
enough for me to have laboured unknown to a great end,
and to watch with eyes; thrice blessed a good time drawing
nigher.

Considering that the writer is perfectly well
known, and that ho is not indifferent to the
emoluments of office, this lofty, Junius-like
tone of independence might as well have been
dispensed with.
The best chapter in the book is that on the
qualifications of a diplomatist.. The observa•
tion of a French philosopher, "La guerro
" n'est que la mesintelligence," is the result of
profound thought on the ordinary causes of
quarrel between States. The author's own
estimate of the qualities essential to a diplo-
matist is fair and skilful, but we prefer to
quote his character of two of the most eminent
diplomatists of France :

OSSAT AND MAZARIN.
The former appears to have invariably adopted the most
perfect frankness and truth in all his dealings. His idea
of statesmanship was based on the fair and open principle
of sincerity ; and, indeed, such a policy will be found in
all cases where it has been adopted to have been eminently
successful. In a frank, plain statement there is always
something attractive even to the most crooked-minded men.
The negotiator has also told the worst, and every day
softens the first effects of his communication ; whereas, if
he begins by gloving over a disagreeable matter which
must be discussed in its true form at last, his affairs are
every day growing worse, and he has nothing to hope from
a future which will certainly plunge him into deeper
difficulty. Ossat believed, therefore, that it was, in the
first place, necessary to state his case clearly, and then he
trusted always to carry the matter in hand by appealing to
the reason of his adversary, and forcibly pointing out the
advantages of the measure he advocated. Nothing escaped
his tine understanding and penetrating intellect, which
could in any manlier contribute to so legitimate an object.
The arguments he adduced in the first place were always
as well considered, as just and unanswerable as possiole.
All his skill, we are told, therefore, consisted in reiterating
them again and again with unshaken constancy, and in an
easy, agreeable manner. This made him a most perplex-
ing antagonist, for he always maintained his point with as
much courtesy as firmness. Mavarin, however, had not
been bred in so noble a school. He owes his reputation
altogether to cunning and intrigue. lie was so profound
a dissembler, that deception became the habit and custom
of his life. It was a rule with him to treat the affairs of
which he most desired the accomplishment with apparent
indifference In this he seems to me to have made a
capital mistake, for such a proceeding could only cool the
zeal of friendship and give a troublesome confidence to
opposition. Mazarin, however, had that trickster mind
which has often characterised bad women in places of
power, or the slaves and eunuchs of the East. He loved
deceit for its own sake. He had more pleasure in decep.
Lion than success, and he would have considered himself
robbed of half his triumph if he had not been able to boast
of the unworthy means by which he obtained it.

The author, it is well known, was at one time
under Lord Stratford. His enmity to that
diplomatist may perhaps be traced to personal
considerations, and it is with this caution that
the following passages must be read:—
Oh! this Russian business, what a weary and shameftd
series of blunders it has been ! If one man employed
had understood his dirty, this war would have been Imps-
Bible. Such a statement as this may smack of presump-
tion, perhaps of impertinence ; hut it is true, and, by the
living God, I know it! I have watched that dreadful game
played out by hands so nerveless, and with lips so pale
yet rash, that I have shuddered with impatience and dis-
gust. Any man indeed who brought a fresh and unpreju-
diced mind to bear on the question must have felt like a
lookeron with his eyes open watching the mistakes of
two blindfolded chess players. If any reader should say,
it is easy to make such a statement as this, let me add, it
would be easier far to pour out au indignant torrent of
proofs. The only difficulty is to restrain it.
Ought not, then, the torrent of proofs to he
given ? If official reserve seals the writer's
lips as to the proofs, should it not also have
sealed them to the assertion? The following

pare together different methods of perception; betwneeo thought and language, arc a re-state- Ought not, then, the torrent of proofs to rte
to do this, as Buffon said, we must leave our own ment, very clearly expressed, of the author's given ? If official reserve seals the writer's
brains and enter intothose of some other being; peculiar theory of verbal expression, not gene- lips as to the proofs, should it not also have
• we cannot be sure whether we stand " face rally received as yet among metaphysicians sealed them to the assertion? The following
to face " with external objects or whether we even of his own school. The work is well indicates the line which Lord Stnttford'a op-
perceive by the mediation of an idea; whether, worthy a most careful perusal by students of portents—and they are numerous—aro deter,
Uwe assume that we do perceive " face t philosophy. mined to take against him:—
.