The Press.
London, England, 1853-06-18 00:00:00

JUNE 18, 1853.

The upper apartment of Gore-house is devoted to
the casts, drawings. patterns, and designs sent from
several schools of art receiving parliamentary grants
established in various parts of the United Kingdom.
It is not our intention to enter into any minute ere.
ticism of these performances. Though many of
them exhibit application and industry, we should not
be performing our duty to the public or to the stu-
dents themselves if we did not candidly point out the
faults we detect. We are, then, obliged to admit
that, though something has been attained, much re-
mains to be accomplished. The designs want ori-
ginality, spirit, elegance ; the colours, harmony and
‘ivacity ; while, in almost all, fancy and imagination,
which are usually called genius, are absent. Ancient
models should be studied, and their spirit seized ra-
ther than tamely copied. The skilful artist, while
producing no design in violation of these principles,
should combine the parts in such a manner as to
give the appearance of novelty. Every design should
be duly considered with reference to the use of the
object itself; and no mere ornament should be suf-
fered to interfere with this. In furniture the degree
of solidity that is necessary for durability should al-
ways be preserved, but care should be taken that
solidity is not exaggerated into clumsiness. Every
ornament should be in harmony with the separate
parts, and, if possible, analogous and allusive to the
purpose for which it is destined. It was the close
attention to these rules which gave the Italians their
superiority ; it is the neglect of them that destroys
the value of the excellent execution of the modern
French ; and it is the utter ignorance of them that
has hitherto depressed our own artisans into mere
labourers and mechanics. The French, deficient in
tine feeling for proportion, but admirable in execu-
tion, err usually in an excess of ornament which
set-% es but to mark the diligence and mechanic skill
of the artist, but which diminishes rather than in-
creases the effect of his work. Proportion in archi-
tecture, and in upholstery also, is what effect is in
painting, or expression iu the human face : it stands
in lieu of all other beauty, and without it beauty
loses all its influence. There may be as much taste
exhibited in the design of a cabinet as of a house,
and the principles even are not dissimilar : it should
have its base, its principal story, its attic, and its
entablature ; these should all bear a due propor-
tion to each other. If this rule be observed the
piece of furniture will be handsome, even if the ma-
terial is not rich ; and if it is not observed, however
rieh the material and minute the workmanship, it is
but time thrown away.

.1 HE BRITISH IRSTITUTION.—We are compelled to postprme
wur notice, In type, of thteEXilibitloll.

*time an Xittmturc Abroat.

Rt'SSIAN WORK ON CHlNA.—There has just appeared
at St. Petersburg the first volume of the travels of the
late Russian ecclesiastic mission to China, entitled
" Trudy Czlenow Rossyskoi Duchownoi Missyi w
Pekinie." It consists of separate essays on different
subjects relative to China, the more interesting as
they were composed on the spot, and with the assist-
ance of Chinese savans. The titles of the essays in
the first volume are-1. Notices on the Origin and
the Chief Events Relating to the Maatchoo Dynasty
in China. 2. The Genealogy of the present Chief of
the Reigning Dynasty, called Mit. 3. Manufactory of
China Black Ink, as well as the White and Rose Paint.
4. Biography of Budda. 5. Historical Essay on the
l'opulation of China. According to the census of
1842 the number of persons paying the imposts
amounted to 414,080,994, exclusive of the military
and the inhabitants of the country of the Mantchoos
and Mongolia.
REMAINS OF AN UNKNOWN ANCIENT CIVILISATION
IN EUROPE.—The late Russian engineer, 31. Wasili
Larski, wbo had distinguished himself also as an
archaeologist and poet, has made a discovery in White
Russia (Biala Ens) which has been found recorded
in his posthumous papers. When occupied in that
province with the building of a road, he was obliged
to bring the waters of a lake which lay considerably
high into one situate much deeper and at some dis-
tance. While engaged in this work he discovered
in the midst of a dense forest of great antiquity. at
a depth of ten fathoms under ground, a road made of
stone in the fashion of those built by the Romans
and Mexicans, as well as the remains of an old
bride of quite peculiar structure. According to the
()pillion of M. Larski, there must have passed at
Irma from two to three thousand years in changing
locality thus, that where a stream had passed
under a bridge its bank: could be converted into a
hill en which a lake was to be found: and that, on a
road which was probably only passed by caravans of
men, the earth could accumulate to that height that a
forest of almost primeval appearance could spring up,
dating, seemingty. from the creation of the world.
These countries must have been, therefor e, inhabited
and partly civilised before even the time when Hero-
dotns wrote about the Scythians---R civilisation whose
origin and connection with other systewsj ( the