The Press.
London, England, 1857-12-05 00:00:00

THE PRESS, DECEMBER 5, 1857.

yards, the bear began to growl furiously and
move to and fro in front of the tree:—

Nevertheless be quietly moved on, his keen eye stedfastly
fixed upon her. The ground was a fine grassy turf, with
no shrubs or bushes to impede his movements, or entangle
his feet. When within about fifty paces she made a savage
rush, that would have daunted most men ; but he firmly
stood his ground, waiting her nearer approach. At this
moment the cubs began to whine, and she trotted back
towards the tree agftin in increased fury ; the Cossack
followed, and when she turned round they were standing
face to face, within twenty paces of each other. There was
now no retreat—the brute eyed him keenly for two or
three minutes, as if calculating his strength, he returning
her gaze with as searching a scrutiny. Presently she
made a second rush, her e)es glaring like balls of fire.
At a few paces from her enemy she rose on her hineblegs,
intending to give him a settler with her powerful paws or
to clasp him in her savage embrace; but on the instant
he made a sweep with his club, and dealt her a blow that
toppled her over. She was up again in a second, and
ready for action, but another blow laid her prostrate.
This added to her ferocity, and it at once became a close
encounter of the most deadly and savage character. Many
rounds were foug'it, her antagonist keeping clear of her
paws. At last the blows began to tell on her courage—
she endeavoured to get behind him, but his cudgel met
her at every turn, and was so well wielded, that whenever
within reach she received a stroke which drove her back
step by step, till both came under the tree. Here the
fight was renewed with increased fury, and every time the
cubs whined she made her attack with redonbled violence.
The battle continued to rage furiously, but the blows from
the staff fell so fast, and were applied with so much force,
that at last she began a retreat towards the forest, the
skirts of which she entered ; but the moment her brave
assailant moved a step towards the tree, she would rush
out, taking especial care, however, not to come within his
reach.

The difficulty was to get the cubs out. For-
tunately a woodman passing by came to the
officer's assistance, captured the cubs, and the
two set out, followed by the she bear, who
maintained her attacks on the rear with great
vigour until a village was reached, when she
disappeared. Mr. Atkinson did not travel
entirely alone; he had generally with him a
small escort of Cossacks, of whose fidelity and
kindness he speaks in the warmest terms.
The book is illustrated with several beautifully-
coloured engravings of scenery or distin-
guished persons, while innumerable woodcuts
add life and interest to its entertaining pages.
A s a volume of travels, it is one of the most
presentable books of the season, for it com-
bines a vast amount of curious and reliable
information upon the state of these far distant
countries, and the condition of the nomadic
tribes which inhabit them, with much spirited
adventure and entertaining anecdote.

Galleries and Cabinets of Art in Great Britain.
By Dr. Waagen. Forming a Supple mental
Volume to the T:easures of Art in Great
Britain, Three Vols. London : Murray.
DR. WAIGEN has now published four bulky
volumes on the artistic wealth of our country,
and appears to have examined with praise
worthy diligence every gallery to which the
persevering kindness of his friends could
avail to procure him admission. Yet it is pro-
bable, as he says, that even now many collec-
tons are left undescribed, and that some other
explorer may on a future occasion go deeper
into the vast mass of pictorial riches which
slow ancestral additions. or the all-grasping
hand of a modern millionaire, have accumu-
lated among us. Tho,le who have turned over
the Manchester Catalogue will have been
struck with the vast number of persons, other-
wise totally unknown to fame, who own not
merely respectable, but really excellent,
pictures ; and, as may be perceived from Dr.
Waagen's volumes, they by no means ex-
hausted the number of those who possess such
treasures. Some half-dozen private galleries,
in London and the count►;y, are well known by
reputation, and attract their yearly crowds of
visitors ; the rest, though doubtless libe-
rally thrown open to those who can command
any sort of introduction, are, and must remain
for the most part, entirely closed to the general
public. In truth, to turn the pages of Dr.
Waagen's work will seem to many persons an
occupation not munch more satisfactory than
that of reading the bill of fare of a civic ban-
quet. On the faith of the reporter, and in
consideration of the well-earned fame of
Messrs. Bathe anti Breach, we implicitly be-
lieve that the turtle was adhesive enough to
evoke the ghost of Sir William Curtis, and that
the dindons aux trillfies would not have dis-

graced the Parisian Hotel deVille. In like man-
ner, not a few must take upon trust the justice of
the admiration with which the learned author
of the work before us sets down in his eata.
logue raisonnie the cool tones of a Ruvsdael
which is never likely to refresh their eyes, the
holy simplicity of a Raphael which is never
likely to exalt their earthly imaginations, or
the transparency of a Claude which will never
blaze upon their vision with the westering
effulgence of its Italian sun. Dr. Waagen
was passed on from one great house to another
with that cordial hospitality which England
always shows to the distinguished and intelli-
gent, foreigner. Even when "the family " was
absent, " four lines from her ladyship to the
" housekeeper" seem to have charmed that
imposing functionary into a sort of harmless
trance which allowed the Doctor a whole day
for his examination, instead of hurrying him
through " great hall, ante-room, yellow draw-
" ing-room, pink saloon, ball-room, my lady's
" boudoir, and my lord's study," in the space
of twenty minutes, which leave on his retina
impressions similar to those of a thaumatropo
on a large scale, wherein the dangerous
bandits of Salvator invade the unsuspecting
groups of Watteau, or the calm cows of Cuyp
pasture unalarmed among the fierce and
foaming boars of Snyders. From all such an-
noyances Dr. Waagen was entirely free, and
the result is a work which will grow in value
with time, which all collectors or amateurs of
art will feel bound to possess, and the impor-
tance of which will not be diminished even by
a change in the ownership of the pictures
which it describes. Pictures aro continually
coining into England, but comparatively few
leave it; and an occasional reference on the
margin of the " Treasures of Art " will enable
the connoisseur at any time to trace the
history of a work, and will in time elevate the
hook before us to the dignity of a Peerage of
Painting.
When anything is known of a man's charac-
ter or habits, it is interesting to attempt to
trace it in the books or works of art which he
accumulates around him. In the mansions
of those gentlemen with whose ancestors the
" grand tour" was a religion, and who them-
selves frequently winter in Rome or Florence,
we should naturally expect to find a greater
proportion of Italian, or at least continental
masters, united probably with the works of
those courtly and spirted painters whose
genius does not desert them in the trying
ordeal of a domestic group, and in whose
hands a little girl playing with a cat or a but-
terfly is stamped with the impress of immor-
tality. Thus it is in the case of Sir Joshua
Reynolds, with whose works most persons
considered themselves tolerably well ac-
quainted, until the Manchester Exhibition
drew together a collection adequately repre-
senting his powers. Some of these were, if
we remember rightly, contributed by Lord
Normanton, at whose seat, Somerley, there
are twenty-five of Sir Joshua's pictures, esti-
mated by Dr. Waagen as probably the finest
assemblage of them at present existing. NVe
find, on the whole, that the greater number of
Raphaels, Guides, Rembrandts, &e., arc in the
possession of the old territorial aristocracy ;
while the millionaire of commerce inclines
more evidently to the genre school of painting,
and fills his gallery with Tcniers and Ostade,
or with the exquisite landscapes of the
modern English school. Thus, in the case of
one who has but lately relinquished his well-
employed fortune and well.spent life—Mr.
Morrison, of Basildon-park—the chief artists
who figure in the London house are Dutch
and Flemish, with but a slight admixture of
the Italian or French schools ; while at Basil-
don the names of Hilton, Turner, Collins,
Constable, Wilkie, Stanfield, and Ward suffi-
ciently express the modern, practical, domes-
tic, English taste which might be expect al
from the antecedents of the owner.
Perhaps the most generally interesting parts
of the present volume will be those respec-
tively devoted to the recent acquisitions at the
Nati mai Gallery and to the Crystal Palace.
As to the former, the altarpiece by Perugino,
and the Paul Veronese, are described with
fulness and much admiration. 1)r. Waagen
thinks that the former picture exhibits de-
cided traces of the hand of Raphael, and that

the latter is " more artistic in arrangement
" and more varied in the lines than either of
" the two pictures of the same subject by the
painter in the Dresden Gallery, and in De-
" vonshire-hou se."

Dr. Waagen seems to us to overrate the
Crystal Palace in some respects, while in
others he certainly does it no more than jus-
tice :--
But to torn to that which most concerns this work, viz.,
the department of art. I may first remark that, whether
far the unlearned, the amateur, or the connoisseur, the
Crystal Palace in this respect offers a combination of
means of information and enjoyment such as has
never been hitherto presented to the world. It is
distinguished from all previous exhibitions of art by
the circumstance that a considerable number of archi-
tectural structures are here seen in their orginal size; and,
as those who are acquainted with some well-known
building only by means of drawings will acknowledge, the
real size in this case is fur more important for a right con-
ception of the effect of architecture than either for that of
painting or sculpture.
He does not seem to remember that of the
ancient courts all are compositions in the style.
and none actual copies, of existirg buildings ;
while in the modern courts, where the system
of actual copying has been introduced, it is
impaired by the fact that the buildings are
nut seen in their simplicity and integrity, but
are mixed together and joined into one mass,
representing, no doubt, the main features of
the style, but in positions where their archi-
tects never dreamt of placing them.
Dr Wangen's work will, of course, undergo
the fate which awaits all really laborious and
able books—that of being pillaged by the
small fry of literature, eager to " popularise "
the researches of a standard and successful
writer. To obviate this contingency we would
suggest to Mr. Murray the advisability of
forming from the materials in this and perhaps
other works a number of pictorial handbooks
for the different districts of England ; one, let
us say, for the west of England, another for
the south, others for the northern, midland,
and eastErn divisions, giving short catalogues
of the pictures existing in each country.house.
Home tourists at present unconsciously pass
by many a house containing good pictures,
and would doubtless welcome a directory
which should lead them to those " cynosures
"of neighbouring eyes" which Dr. Waagen
has described, and which their owners would
probably not be averse to show under the
usual restrictions.

Men of the Time; or, Biographical Sketches of
Eminent Living Characters. London : Kent

and Co.
THE publication of a new edition of this work,
which professes to form a complete cyclopedia
of living celebrities, seems to call for more
than a passing notice at our hands. Consider-
ing the obvious utility of such a work, if well
executed, as a book of reference and a com-
panion to the daily or weekly paper—a book
for the library table, desk, or counting-house—
We cannot but observe with regret its great
deficiencies in the wily of defect and redun-
dancy.
In order to render such a work really useful,
we imagine that two conditions must of neces-
sity be laid down—first that it must be com-
plete, and secondly that it must be accurate
and trustworthy in its facts. We do not here
insist on what we might fairly add as two
other conditions—viz., that no names should
be inserted in its muster-roll except those of
men who both deserve to be known and are
known in some path or walk cf life beyond
their own immediate sphere, and that the
editor should confine himself as much as pos-
sible to facts, leaving his readers to draw their
own inferences from his data. The world
Runts to know what are the leading facts
in the life of some statesman, poet, sculptor,
or diplomatist—not what Mr. Alaric Watts, or
any other editor, may think apud ae et in cute
concerning their career. Least of all, we ven-
ture t,) think, ought private theological bias
to appear as it does in " Men of the Time "
from first to last, to the exclusion of me' of
real note and celebrity.
We are glad to notice that the errata which
disfigured the former editions in respect to
dates, names, and other important facts, have
been for the most part corrected; though a
casual glance over the new edition shows that