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

qf Scotland Magazine and Review. Edin-
burgh : Moodie.
_

Tins is the second number of a north-country pe-
riodical, which aims at nothing abort of the most
exalted rank, both in criticism and philosophy. The
subjects whereon it discourses are indeed transcen-
dently grand. " The Problem of Life," " The Study
of Words," " National Education," and" Fanaticism in
the Noitk," occupy the prominent places in its table
of contents. At the same time it is fair to add that
they are treated with no inconsiderable ability.
Judging both from topics and style, we are led to
suspect that the great fault of the writers, and of the
magazine, is their youth. Time and experience are
likely to improve them much, by rendering them
alike coarser, humbler, and more practical.

Poems. By Archer Gurney. " Spring." London :

Bosworth.
THE author showed a tasteful judgment in placing
" Spring" on the titlepage of his little volume, which
has the pleasing freshness but also the immaturity
of a mind in the budding season of life. The blos-
settlings of Mr. Gurney's "Spring" are abundant,
but he must take pains to secure fruit in his " Autumn."
He has a fluent command over the rhetoric of verse,
and writes with only too much facility. He should
paws more before his future utterances, and think
with more independence, as he constantly reminds
us of the manner of Wordsworth, Longfellow, and
several others of our modern poets. Purity of senti-
ment and emotional tenderness are his chief merits,
while his main defect is his want of strong individu-
ality. This latter fault, however, may diminish as
his mind grows in force. Many of his themes have
been treated of by other poets • and, thinking well of
him as a writer of promise, we advise him to be careful
in choosing fresh topics for his fancy, and to pay
more attention to the elaboration of his style. As a
specimen of his manner we may cite the following
ernes :

THE FALSE ONE.
Oh, she is fair as heaven and love,
And she hi false as fair
Her smiles are gleams from hides above
When sleeps the tempest there :
Her eyes are deep and calm and bright
As ocean's azure main ;
Beneath, the whirlwind sleeps in night.
And soon may burst its chain.
Her tones are soft as evening's breeze
That sighs along the vale ;
Her thoughts are cold as leafless tree,.
Strip by keen winter's gale :
Her face is lovely us the dream
Of the young poet's soul ;
Her heart, unscathed by feeling's gleam.
Is icy as the pole.
We will not, however, copy the last stanza of this
poem, as the author spoils it with a false metaphor.
'Cho stars de not "snare men's hearts." We may
cite other instances of careless structure throughout
Isis volume, as if he wrote atana pede iH use.

Christmas at the Hall; The Hero's Grave; Night
Musings; aml other Poems. By T. J. Terrington.
London : Longman mid Co.

Mr. TEMUNOTON'Ii poems present us with nothing
that we eau blame, nor—we must, say it—much that
we can admire. His muse is essentially a " gentle "
one. Thoughts harmoniously versified may be sought
for not in vain in his well got-up volume, but such a
thing as a " strong" line is not to be halm' in it front
one end to the other. Most, it' not all, modern
isketry is tinted in water-colour. Dilution has, in the
present case, been canned to such all extent as to
leave the canvas absolutely colourless. To the
patients of some literary Priesnitz it may, however,
be prescribed as being safely innocuous, if not very
invigorating.

The Lords a►d ('on►n►onx. By the Author of "The

!maim flubs." London: Adams.
WE have heard several Conservatives refer to the
necessity for a new Parliamentary Handbook, giving
interesting details about the leading politicians of the
thiNs, hut compiled with perfect impartiality. " Dod"
is looked on h sonic persons as too favourable to
the " Liberal" side, awl, while all the aristocratic in-
fluences are carefully enumerated in its pages,
Vie power of local agitators and Radical cliques is not
billy set birth. We cannot help thinking that there
is room for a literary compiler to produce a short
work on Parliament, including statistic and useful
information. The present petty performance is writ-
*. .t) in a low, jocular style, quite unsuited to the
stibject, and its information cannot be depended upon.
'I tins, at p. 9s, it states that. " the Scotch and lush
representative peers are elected each Parliament,"
which is true only of the former peers, as the latter
are elected for life. Amongst his "Conservative"
M.P.'s he places several, like Mr. Wyndham tioold,
Mr. Henry Herbert, and others, who are not entitled
to that distinction. The manner in which he refers
to some of the parliamentary celebrities, as, for

THE PRESS.

instance, on p. 40, is laughably absurd; and, in short,
the entire compilation is neither useful nor read-
able.

sint 4rts.

SPECIMENS OF CABINETWORK, AND OF THE STCDIE3
FROM THE ScHOOLS OF ART, EXHIBITED AT GORE-
HOUSE, KENSINGTON.

f Second Notice.]

Tuts collection contains some of the finest specimens
that England can boast of the beautiful manufacture
of Florentine mosaic, usually called " pietra dura,"
or technically, by the Italians themselves, " pietre
commesse." It is exclusively of Florentine inven-
tion, and till within a few years was not practised in
any other place. It was established in the middle of
the sixteenth century by Cosmo 1., and the gorgeous
mausoleum of the Medici, commenced in 1601 by
Ferdinand 1., is entirely encrusted with the richest
specimens of the art. It VMS exclusively a royal
manufacture, maintained by the Crown, and its pro-
ductions reserved for the reigning family and for
those they delighted to honour. It still flourishes in
undiminished reputation, and, though the monopoly
is not exclusively retained by the Crown, all the most
costly and important specimens of it proceed from
the royal manufacture.
The richest example of this manufactory that
England can boast is a cabinet belonging to the
Duke of Beaufort, which was once the property of
Cardinal Mazarini, by whom it was presented to one
of the duke's ancestors. Not inferior to this vain-
' able specimen in any particular excepting size is the
cabinet belonging to the Duke of Northumberland
now exhibited in this collection (No. 38). It is said
to have been executed for Louis XIV., and the notice
in the catalogue expresses some doubts whether it
was not put together in Paris. We think this very
improbable : it resembles a cabinet in the " camera
de' stipi " in the Palazzo Pitti of undoubtedly Flo-
rentine workmanship. This cabinet may probably
have been destined as a present to the French King,
and, never having been sent to him, was purchased by
the Duke of Northumberland. Another cabinet of the
same materials, but much smaller and less elaborate
in detail (No. 116), is also the property of the Duke
of Northumberland; another (No. 105), belonging
to Lord Willoughby; besides several coffers of va-
rious degrees of excellence, all merit the attention of
the artist as well as the amateur.
The middle of the seventeenth century witnessed a
great alteration in manners. The arts of luxury
were more cultivated, and the splendid Court of
Louis XI%. gave a tone of expense and magnificence
which other Sovereigns vied with each other in imi-
tating. Apartments were now more plentifully fur-
nished, luxurious inventions multiplied, furniture
itself became richer and more varied in forts and in
material, and several new manufactures were intro-
duced to gratify the prevalent taste. None of these
are more beautiful than the method of veneering
brass and other metals on tortoiseshell, invented by
Andre Charles Buhl, and called after his name.
This artist, who was born in 1640, and whose life
was prolonged for nearly a century, was the object of
the particular patronage of Louis by whom he
was qualified with the title of " tapissier du roi."
During his long life he filled Paris and the Conti-
nent with rich and beautiful furniture, and estab-
lished a manufactory which has been et erywhere
imitated, and which still retains all its first popu-
larity. It is this popularity, however, which has pro-
duced degeneracy and abuse. The early productions
of the manufacture were richly inlaid and the mont:t-
ings were chiselled and gilt, and some of the speci-
mens in this collection are of great beauty ; but the
modern imitations are far less agreeable; the pat-
terns are worked perhaps with equal precision, but
the mouldings are coarsely cut and still more coarsely
lacquered, producing at a distance the effect of the
precious original, but on examination betraying the
tawdry taste of an ostentatious age, contented with a
resemblance of magnificence whichl is to disappear
on a close examination.
The collection contains several clocks, inkstands,
bureaux, and tables in this style, many of them pos-
sessing a very unusual degree of beauty ; but by far
the finest. and perhaps the most interesting. speci-
men in this country is a small writing-table (ti 0.69),
the property of her Majesty. It bears the Gondi
arms and emblems in different parts upon it, and it
is conjectured to have been made for the Due de
Betz, the brother of the celebrated cardinal who has
left so unflattering a portrait of his relation in his
amusing memoirs. This table is small but well-
proportioned, beautifully executed, and in perfect
preservation. We cannot do better than quote the
notice given in the catalogue :
- - - -

" It will be observed that the true capabilities of this
style of metal inlaying has been perfeetly understood and
intelligently carried out in this instance ; the play of sur-
face and the variety of curvature seen in different parts of
the work are admirably designed to show off to advantage
the rich materials employed; from whatever position the

SATURDAY,

piece is regarded we notice a brilliant lustrous effect pro-
duced by the play of light on the polished metal; whilst
the mingling of silver, brass, copper, tortoiseshell, and ena-
mel produces beautiful tones of colour."
A pair of firedogs in bronze (No. :17), from Wind-
sor, are of Italian workmanship, and of fine design,
though a prominence is given to the armorial bear-
ings which the good taste of the best artists of that
country would condemn. The elaborate workman-
ship of objects destined for such a purpose exhibits
the pains the Italians of that day bestowed on the
utensils of ordinary use. Beauty of form and ele-
gance of design seems with them a necessary ele-
ment in every-day life, and nothing that they used
was too common to receive the utmost care in its de-
coration. In those days artists were artisans also,
and consequently artisans were artists. We have
seen knockers of doors, torchholders, lamps, and
fireirons designed by Criovimi Bologna, Alessandro
Vittoria, and Francesco Sansovino. In the Zampiere
Palace at Bologna the fireboard and chimnneypiece,
the doors, and the decorations ou them, as well as
the window-frames, are all designed by the Caracci,
as well as the frescoes on the ceilings. It was this
intuitive love of art, a love that made art a necessity
and not a luxury, that secured the supremacy of
Italy in every department of it. We fear, till it is so
felt in modern times, no attempt to spread taste
more generally amongst us can meet with much

success.
In marqueterie, the favourite manufacture of the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, there are nu-
merous and well-chosen examples. A bureau or
wardrobe, the property of Mr. Pratt (unnumbered
we think), is a favourable specimen ; but he has
judged ill in enriching the parts with gilt metal deco-
rations : they do not belong to the style, they over-
power the inlaid work, and distract attention from it.
The cabinets of various dark woods enriched with
marbles and other precious materials, and generally
of Italian manufacture, are numerous, and some of
them are good, but they, too, are far too frequently
encumbered by decorations in gilt metal which have
been subsequently added, and which neither belong
to the style nor can be considered as improvements
to it.
No. 58, "a small table in walnut, inlaid with va-
rious substanees—the early part of the eighteenth

century," is a triangular gueridon, of which the exe-
cution is careful and the design elaborate, but nei-
ther resembling niello work (as the catalogue informs
us), nor having any " analogy with the works of
Watteau." In fact, the human figure is usually very
incorrectly drawn in this description of works, and
we regret its introduction here. The inlaid figures are
relieved by thin silver outlines, and the whole is well
preserved.
We cannot omit the notice of an artist's colour-box
(No. t 1.3 ), said to have belonged to Rubens, and hav-
ing been purchased by Mr. Cosway, the painter, and
presented by the daughter of that gentleman to Sir
Thomas Lawrence, and now in the possession of Mr.
G. Cooke, R.A. So curious a relic, if it possessed no
intrinsic merit, could never be regarded with indif-
ference.
A pair of armchairs, from Windsor Castle ( No. 45),
with gilt frames and embroidered velvet cushions,
attributed to the seventeenth century, and to Vene-
tian manufacture, belong neither to that age nor that
century. Their design is coarse, and the two clumsy
gilt heads on the back ( which, however, may possibly
have been added subsequently) would prove a tier
matt or a Flemish 'night.
A music-stand destined for the use of a military
band No. 110), carved and gilt, the property of Mr.
Baring Wall, and dating from the middle of the last
century, is a model of the light and elegant style
which at that period prevailed on the Continent, and
which wits carried, perhaps, to the highest perfection
in Venice, to which place this beautiful piece of fur-
niture is assigned.

" A commode and encoignures en suite " (No. 36),
in Japan work, from Windsor Castle, said to be by
the hand of the noted "Virnis Martin," are beautiful
and well-preserved specimens of the style of Louis
XV., called in French rococo, a style which, possess-
ing great beauties of its own, has been so hackneyed
and exaggerated, both in France and in England,
and indeed in every other part of the Continent, in
modern days, that, we own we prefer any other
style. It was this taste which expired in the last
years of Louis XV., and immediately preceded the
revived classic of his unfortunate successor. Of this
style the specimens are numerous. They are usually
characterised by a poverty of form, a want of inge-
nuity and variety in the decoration, and the substim •
tion of marqueterie for the richer embossments in
relief; medallions of Ske china are frequently in-
troduced; and the commodes and gueridons are
usually surmounted with slabs of marble: painted
and varnished decorations generally supply the place
of gilt surfaces. This style, less heavy than that of
Louis XIV., and less exuberant than that of his suc-
cessor, is inferior to both in richness and in fancy,
and is only superior to the revolutionary and impe-
rial taste with which the present century commenced.

L