The Sun.
London, England, 1855-05-07 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

bryo Titian was promoted to another academy pre-
, sided over by a certain Mr. Hall, at Pocklington;
after remaining in which retreat for about two
years William Etty was taken home to be—appren-
ticed. Apprenticed be really was, when between
eleven and twelve years of age, on the Bth of Oc-
tober, 1798, to a* Hull letter-press printer ; Etty's
master in the craft being Robert Peck, publisher
of the Bull Packet, a local Monday newspaper.
Wonderful now is it to remember of the future artist,
!renowned among so many living painters of cele-
brity, that no less than a tenth of his life was passed
(inertly for his artistic fame) in Mr. Peck's Hull
1 printing establishment. The happy day of his re-
lease arrived, of course, at last—the " golden hour
of twelve " struck at length on the 23d of October,
1805, when William Etty was emancipated from
the uncongenial thraldom of his apprenticeship.
Not, however, before he had faithfully discharged
every duty requiring to be fulfilled " to the satis-
faction of the Master and the credit of the Ap-
prentice," as was set forth in so many words by
Robert Peck in his endorsement of the youth's in-
dentures. Nearly a month after the date of that
endorsement, Etty was still working as ajourney-
man printer. At length the signal came
or the dawn of his ambition—the summons
arriving at Hull from a beneficent uncle, Mr.
Bodley, of the firm of Bodley, Etty, and Bodley,
gold-lace merchants. Thereupon in his nineteenth
year, William Etty fairly commenced his career of
fame, arriving in the winter of 1805 and 1806, in
what he calls the " dear city" of Loudon, whence
he was ultimately to return home to die in his
native York, with the ripened and lasting glory of
having established his name among the blazoned
catalogue of our more illustrious Academicians.
Although his parents were Methodists, and possi-
bly may have been Whigs or Radicals into the bar-
gain, William Etty was, it appears, in politics a
Tory, and in religion a member of the Church
Establishment. We all know what he was in Art.
More particularly all those are aware of the posi-
tion Etty really attained as a colourist, and as a
delineator of the " human (form) divine" who en-
joyed the luxury we well remember to have par-
ticipated in ourselves, during the summer of 1849,
when so many of Etty's paintings were collected
together in the Adelphi, within the compass of a
single exhibition. A glorious show—the last of
the artist's triumphs—the crowning one among a—

14:4 Of fp.. . WILLIAM ETTY.
u.lt to
~ .
.Christ,
Ill"
EttY/ R.A. By Alexander Gil-
sitit% difte2 vols. David Bogue.
dopro d conaprehend how any one could
like the 0 eliberately to the composition of a work
Net bet that
here submitted to our consideration.
ill? it itself,
the
subject chosen by Mr. Gilchrist
biographn sufficiently attractive : namely, the
kadekie'i cl. 'William Etty, the late distinguished
the
act,abstr Not but that an art-memoir is, in
tereet to at all times fraught with peculiar in-
wen, 'al
TA of .11 ratantelligent among the analytical
Pena th ° litee•E. eciall when it so hap-
'as• ak the art •.-A . Y instance oded• memoir, as in the i before
14 located t re, _ o the celebration of a man gifted,
art. eott Peet; beyond the average of many emi-
Deeitiozi teraPoraries. No--the species of corn-
ISPertair, which/ by right, the present volumes
A --/ 48 an •
ead illustrative specimen, we admire ;
to
he treated
the selection herein made of the theme
_.
eenat eat.ed of as an example in this same species
(70etie posnion. Wll
differ 4 he d in the pro-
at we rere n
t tilt. Th
under notice is something wonderfully
Ow it A 1 e source of our bewilderment, as to
iiidia'at'll4l poss•hi
...„'1,4a1 i 7, L. I,Y have come to pass that any.
cet eow„ 1 his sicker senses could—we repeat it
la!lke the
_&`_. uellberately to the composition of a work
alisetTuereaebhi ere submitted to our consideration-
-4°44 Ban e) 1?Ot in the general character of the
tao__ art-biogra h t• *t articular cha-
lk ki a ioe„, Py,uoinis p , . 1 41 ttty,e , 'unnal narrative of the ' Life of Wil-
est e 4ek out briefly, and simply, and candidly,
4 a liteledge
it, in the style of the work
perti4iai, anythingra- otnposition. Anything more
ver';ersely,
and more affected, anything more
' eloosi 4",1 yet, at' IY, pre We must admit, too, more
o 0 posterous than the mannerism of the
face,
,Production f last, from " Pre-
recoil '° !` Aime_,;. r,o, m first to .
Ile, ectioo. .c, "III; we cannot easily recall to our
eee ued LY a 84t is as if the two volumes had been
tr,:e4trie e , sort of a Brummagem imitator of the
, ereo„,e eieerant of tkiej .r, la Teuffelsdroch, and that,
• 1144 a Moment of more than ordinary hal-
-1 • on. Do-.
e' in regret., -1-1-onestly spoken of, the entire work
8 thao ," to style literally nothing more nor
‘4oo • ~arlyee f • '
14 letters/Pilfelfairly out-Oarlyled. A plienome-
dis ' •
those
iev '. and ott tingutshed by more o.f .
4,,
,ertiotis
or 1
er.Y needless, and horribly distorting
4(1 truo Phraseology, by more of those curt
t°llt • cated
ontosentences, by more of those idiomatic
444 • /18 of la
quirks
40 quldditie,. ngunge, more of those idle d aetkrtlons of lingua ose "sooterkins of wit 'an ee,,,u straws,
extravagance, which flaw as
I..Zeat of the and flies, and mud lumps the amber
94,,,ereber t 4Ahilosophy of Sartor Resartus. We
it 1)&8'8 of Wiji'nig in any way comparable to the
the h William 'Etty" in these particulars, unless
-eke . hardly-le
11,140,44411%u Yease caricature mannerisms adopted
oo,„-'411 of the ael'o from the writings of the
ThZ4Phor of ejtord Protector, by an anonymous
NI-,e tliseini ie boy-poet, Thomas Chatterton.
IAW 48 tho; of, Mr. Carlyle would actually ap-
oh„ 41:eod;,• they recognised his genius only
it
,er,,,,,_, ioes. /,,
'fili, ''l---with "re speak of their idol, be it
tie
intellect,i reverence for the scope and depth
c but With
little short
Neeiriptfor , something very
ci fash r his style of composition. After the
a,Ne 100..... L. ,
..
lihir paeao• had they been among the votaries of
gotPect q 1841--they would infallibly have wor-
fo ePhcest •
for, r lii,, L . 08, not for his god-like vigour—
tooth, of the the spouse of Beauty, and the
N u> for thee everlasting thunderbolts, but, for-
-1,.111a of „ splaw foot and the bandy leg—the
15741101. let little accident of his on the. island of
,tL4h4l'iler 11(1.go has it fallen out that the avowed
Niattj.hoeyron- -c4ttY., more ridiculously even than
ae,ll- 'kilo, -41' biographer of Ohatterton, has emu-
'elahr,"'aB Carlyle (save the mark!) by the care-
'al -rated • • • dramatic freaks and
le affeetat. Mimicry of his
4% f„ jestih
4,,i'' the cation. of everything here
written
1 led
4a,,,Y1i40, grotesque affectations of out-Car y
as.
'ekit'B airsot()ll the part of Mr. Gilchrist,
readilyp
gith4qed, T lirlinlinbered might be very
alto-
Ihater as u 't were invidious, however,
and
more
kiii, a fel,. ?necessary as invidious, to quote
Our
4 'et'' , eritetices by way of illustration. ~,ted 1, "'later
be remem-
i'ki ~ 'S' tbp, nal grandfather, it
may
biography,
'4 17.4 ropes; readers of the present
of Hayton,
/e'heerbrit!]bire44er at the village being a
-4sthe:right ;,-;.-hls paternal grandfather
• hamlet of Holme-
NI. Spaidi u the neighbouring
of the former
tethlate Cal ligMoor. Speaking
the ro -
(11 ;":ers i''',erlev) and his wife Jane, as p
4,,el4aft°er- "41d;tone Calverley Rudstone, Esq.
444 :----(ilTelitioned), Mr. Gilchrist writes. affelc-,
t44•°erailileoelir unique claim, it seems, their
.on )
1-auriar ' C„lay in authorship of this bright,
tlii 44 '''r ' being they, ' without whom
1 Ilt, Welle bey , „
this, could any-
%w., he it. Than , cilaYisaptiev'nr. like 414,0 re preposterous ? Nevertne-
,,-"jitn4'll,oo%i-y. "„nis, Etty's biographer can yet
--a• ci °`"eB'' ( -11er his hero's Diaries as "mere
lte t.,11 lo 1. log
Corin-'e, tegtieS " said )3 adding • a little further on
.nco-
gibv-"4.iSt Nee---..ato 'Journal with copious 2
fro"ai 14° re thr4oat pit' talking yet later of greatourrntsnt
'lee a 4144) 44
graZitiglY) ass "no -ancc,, This
claims Where f:. r of ri, )flarian, or logician."
04 werleii. 146), uoento,r,ic who could ?peak. thus,
whose
blank rlity. iatriosi 1 a man like Etty :
based
uCount '"no cio e' not extrinsic ; a mall
'llse „ferfo aok or pretender, nor the proxy or
'll a " the ~„ r abond fide ~a - t ble.'" Andwhose
a6o)Benteue l°Arieties-of 0a .
could result
Pelf )'' b e i,uch a punctuation
(ii.
ins 1,411ng th ~3 the one here subjoined _ -44 'Nor 4 'a-st ten sof his life the
Ile terenlon 8 there
spent, years
from
constraint
likAtte not .._3!, ;.....,.and
hecared
free
nottovisit where
v7113,1„..„,wn011y at
of his
"'ally retire his ease and master
Nee
k,.10,e,1ed among the happiest of his
fellow,- ntur, 17'4' One Whose style could efflo-
tett"'4-....“--,°wer down the page into the
ill, fellow
to 1141,44. florid prose same
excerpt from a
Aodr4like • Niece of unc t''
an
represent
, th •
Writ
er am date, may
400 4 Writ `a'ing Aut Ipleasures there."
sc at N er of th. 3
~ umna
bejocose
tieopio
ins tc di • i florid prose"—to
...
, cohereeo,,asiu eJnnet notes," sorrowful over his
the •E[atait ee," and supercilious at hisbeing
iliWhole eharia4l' Protest' against all this with
ittioti. ...aro a,,_, ing
the'im 'We in "u fervour of an unaffected in-
tlit , 49try. „_.,11, et nevertheless heartily commend
ettrl.aateriaia wh,_,
"a 1 Mr. Gilchrist has collected
cone in wh.°l his narrative, and the skilful
kc •4*. leh he has grouped those materials
of v:aillibed
Vaal hia Bcrutinisingly from the right point
tiZ.to th. kernoir of William Etty will re-
,le ha attain'
we reader throuh all the
la bee Ze
°f th mannerisms, the
latidlear, {l°ll e writer's
°f th
h ah the
t, ~xe of his . e artist's genius through
)tiikr, orkiihi ,11fe, from its obscure rise in the
of hill* atd :e v'easegate to the period when, after
Illor!,4ister.,,, i)llaliding as it advanced, the current
k"' of death beta ding
engulphed, on the inevitable
fro Ettil, abe, by
It is the
l the eofsi k the ocean of eternity. .
(se ao two years and upwards—viz.,
Nth • th of Mar h
Itka 100 In a r ~ C / 11787, when William Etty
tt
t Amity of ten, fourth among fife sons)
ktait' to he Nsn• 20, Feaseaate in the city of
lift, :,tity ~ef I,„3th of November,'
1849, when in the
kl -, au -Lori( h • d after a
of realitt. e expire peacefully
It'
• . ing
labour and remunerative fame
th .Ititluo
a,„ elov erg
of the spot henceforth to
Ow eh
;ill% of artclassic that of his birth-place.
.k 0 etht.,
.0 ~_ -uranclt
as
recently with out•
tpe ,estahle / and more
used
4 4t • ' the father of Etty (he himself. .
94 With.
.44 kill a Painte ' pride of the coincidence)
1 3,, el.. vi,
asides r 8.
old Matthew
utactia, it see ."3 being a miller, inger-
ti4R . ,Oel ta; Moreover, a baker of g
of
Ni/tbreaa'3l.-rated gingerbread, in those parts,
lit-.ark --. you
014,4 et d, gbt plentifully by the poundweight
tle, , Zile,-'„ Ye) and carried home by the Yorkshire
ill, Yenol'g, and all, for the delight of theirstd
oit etood --naired, rooy-cheOked children. The
littiat Wall the "Mount," not far beyond the
q aced
in
gingerbread warehouse bein,!
I:.• 20' it aforesaid, within the City walls,
ktlter of the Peasegate. There the " Poetic
t
piety Nis b"." man Form," as Mr. Gilchrist
bri,bl have
'nu, not only first drew breath, but may. I
0 :4kih 0 Ire there also " first tried his 'prentice
tils , 4 the
illide '43' ha However
Paternal gingerbread."
..,
Wire r the ye been, there William remained br of lio care of his mother, Mistress Esther,
veril heicenr est Matthew Etty, the York ginger-
tathleY, ro,e ' and daughter of plain William Cal-
-11; titztev
0141 aker of llayton, but cousin, at the-
(' artone' eL 1110 letiO magnificent a personage than
Ne e4t h00,;31,v, e.rleY Rudstone, Esquire, of the
13ti phi,isan't in the same village—high, mighty,
to lir aril pant
B,_l3iember of the county squirearchy !
t 13,0 the ,c,:!etch of his mother's face has revealed
et' Ilooket,"_age of a sibyl, with lips compressed,
teeeea eoet,_and nose almost hookedly aquiline.
No to beec"'4,ance deemed by Sir Thomas Law-
t44 ~a 'ace for a Madonna." Incongruously
ke ,I°leeliec ever) with which description- comes
©fernse'er °no of Mr. Gilchrist, to wit, where
ef :Ii t, ll'4 with the fact that Mistress Esther,
i) the b ,i'e scp-tire, child of the ropemaker, spouse
%,oyai aKer of .
the
toth ' Aeaae . . gingerbread, and mother of _4 041,,
Worn illiciatt, "wore the breeches ; and
4'..rl 113„ 4 th,
mi but that the said breeches ac-
*,4oes ,alcarne her," at least so far as that incon-
thc'il li141:Tellt can fairly be-said to become in any
bt: beloerillnin. From the fostering care of
taeclie,w..,P.arent -- beloved in spite of the
14 tehed, ,L William appears to have been first de,,,
1., Pt b, „_.•_L the tender age of three, to a school
4th ' Al
op r 3. Mason hard by the paternal bakery
N.et.. easegat
of 111elatl, e. Later' on, he seems to have been
olio .7 removed from the hornbook tuition
,
qi„ aheed
~ scoolmistress to a. somewhat more
Welnitableaderar in the then reputable, but nowi
, jemi , e, 0
"44 er" ke • •
Coy
of Bedern, where one A r.
kit re PG his little flock' in order
t oral ore formidable implement than a
-04.,,, crook
'44 A, / the elastic ferule of an in-
'l4g°4lle. Thence, yet later, the ea
-

~► ~;

his many brilliant successes—for, a; we have seen,
before the close of the November of the same year
he had expired.
Orthodox we have already described Etty as
being both in regard to Toryism and the Church
Establishment. Nevertheless it is impossible not
to observe throughout his correspondence the evi-
dence of a romantic attachment to the genius of
Roman Catholicism. His tender love of his Art

was something extraordinary. His ever-gentle
and ever-lively affection for his native city, " dear
old Ebor," was no less remarkable. Yet to neither
of these can we assert his devotion to the abstract
ideal of the Papacy to have been subordinate.
As to his Art—we know how William Etty ex-
ulted over his escape from the printer's office to
the painter's atelier. How he rejoiced over the
first presentation to him of a box of water-colours.
How his heart was gladdened when Uncle Bodley
paid down a hundred guineas on the 2d of July,
1807, for the privilege of placing him as a pupil

for one year under -Sir Thomas Lawrence. How
his toil was lightened on the 29th of October, 1814,
by his nomination as A.R.A. ; and yet more, how
his whole soul became sunned with joy on the 19th
of February, 1828, when the magic initials R.A.

marked his elevation from the lion—our of Associate

to the dignity of Academician. Nay, yet more,
we cannot but remember in reference to the last

-and greatest of his artistic successes already parti-
cularised—we mean in regard to the collective
exhibition of his works in 1849 at the So-

ciety of Arts' Gallery in John-street, Adelphi—
we cannot but remember, we say, in reference
to that noteworthy occasion, how the painter (writ-
ing to one of his friends) proudly acknowledged

that sitting "down in a chair in the midst of these
my children "—" I then felt it to be something to
be William Etty." Beyond all which we cannot

but recognise his enthut4astic passion for his Art as

perhaps most significantlytestified, among all these
especial indications of it, by the circumstance that
a little later on in that same year, 1849, as he stood
in the midst of his works—his " children," as we
have seen he tenderly designated them—Etty was
observed to be "in tears"—on the morning of the
clearing away after the close of the Exhibition.
Again, as to York. Etty's unflagging affection
for his birth-place, and everything relating to it,

was manifested during his life by -a
multitude of
incidents of which we have here preserved to us
the commemorative particulars. How continually
he spoke of his native city as having been the na-
tive city also of Flaxman, the sculptor, and of
Alcuin, the learned. How he struggled hard, and, in

preter of Nature's glories in colour—'

some measure be it said, successfully, to secure the
preservation of the ancient walls surrounding Ebor,

;ogether with the four antique bars and barbicans

--the North Bar of Bootbam- , the South of Mickle-
fzate, the East of Walmgate, and the West of
Monk—treasures to Etty, ,t hotigh rubbish-to the
York Corporation. How genially he cried out,
through a sanguine letter to a favourite correspon-
dent on the 21st of,July, 1843, in the then vague
but cherished anticipation of ultimately removing
from London to a permanent residence in his birth-
place— " Happy Willy Etty, in the thought of
living in dear old York !" A dream realised in the
end, but, as it unhappily chanced, only on the very
eve, as it were, of the painter's dissolution. Further
than this, Etty's love for York we find betrayed in
the most copious effusions of tenderness through
every reference made by him, and such references
are frequent—to that archaeological cynosure of
neighbouring eyes, that (to him) architectural pa-
ragon of perfection, his beloved York Minster—to
his travelled, Yorkshire, fancy, noblest, and
grandest of all God's cathedrals. Thus we find
Etty execrating, as a fiend or demon of de-
struction, the " crackbrained fanatic Martin"
(brother of the celebrated painter), who set
fire to his glorious minster in the February
of 1829. Thus, again, we find him " bursting
into tears" when, years afterwards, he hears that,
on the 22d of May, 1840, the same magnificent
edifice was partially destroyed by a second con-
flagration. While, nine years further on, we find
him apostrophising the same, holy structure, in im-
passioned hyberbole, as his " Bride"—she " whose
Brow is bound round with rubies and sapphires,
with amethysts, with emeralds"—she " who is
so lovely to mine eyeS, so dear to my heart, so
captivating to my imagination !"
It is indisputable, however, that, besides his Art,
besides his birth-place, possibly we should rather
say because of his tender affection for both York
and Painting—William Etty cherished a deep, and
earnest, as we have remarked already, a "romantic"
and enthusiastic love of Catholicism. Although to

;he last a staunch and orthodox Protestant ! And

so we find Mr. Gilchrist talking of his (Etty's) "pre-
dilection for the Catholics." We find Etty himself
dilating warmly upon "that ancient and truly poetic
religion"—the Roman Catholic. We find him
" attending mass," and reading with gusto the
" Ages of Faith"—in fact, as his biographer calls
him, "an Amateur Romanist." Indeed, Mr. Gil-
christ candidly avows, in reference to Etty's ethi-
cal predilections—" Its sympathies were all with
the religion of the Old 'Times, with the builders of
York and Westminster, the painters of the Vatican,
of the Sistine, and of the Palaces of Venice"—the
" Ancient Faith," as Etty himself called it, " that
of Alfred, St. Augustine, St. Bernard, St. Bruno,
and Fenelon—not forgetting Michael Angelo, and
a host of other good and great men." To it he was
wont to insist the world was indebted for the second
existence of " sculpture, music, painting, and archi-
tecture." To it, moreover, he maintained that we
(English) were indebted 'for the " introduction of
Christianity." Wherefore, knowinv all these ardent
sentiments of his in reference to Catholicism, it is
assuredly not by any means marvellous to over-
hear Etty nt one time exclaiming indignantly—
" They call those which produced these noble
works (such, of course, for example, as York Minster).
the darker ages ;" adding, " with all their gaslight I'
defy them to prove theirs lighter." Neither is it
wholly bewildering to hearken to him at another
ejaculating passionately, "Oh ! Holy Mother.
Church ! dear Catholic •Church ! how deeply I
venerate thee--thou who produced such glorious
efforts"—as (say) the beloved York Cathedral. It
is observable in all this how strongly the enthusiasm
of the artist burnt through prejudices, however
seemingly incombustible in their nature, through
hereditary methodism and individual orthodoxy—
religious antipathies and political predilections—
'burnt, so to speak, perennially upon the altar of
his heart, the vestal fires of homage to the Sublime
and Beautiful.
As the biographer of William Etty, as the nar-
rator of his personal history and the celebrant of
his artistic genius, Mr. Gilchrist has the indisput-
able merit of bringing the man as he actually was
in life before us, vividly in all his more or less re-
markable characteristics. Everybody who reads
these two volumes, however cursorily, before ap-
proaching their conclusion, has acquired an intimate
acquaintance with the individual of whom they are
commemorative. William Etty stands before us in
propria persona—his dress slovenly—his frame
short, broad, and avvkward ; his head large; his brow
massive; his face long in the jaw and pitted with the
small-pox ; his eyes light
haircreatures," thick wild,
wild,
and sandy : " one of the oddest-looking
says Mr. Gilchrist ; what a young lady would ea
" a sight"—yet with a' countenance, too, giving
1.
" revelation of energy and
" sign manual of genius there power,"legi
bletrue-born
S onea
t rvguie*-
Igo; ai Yix44lAo Xorkshirealui- 51103 k is the

~tv.,1 ~

William Etty with whom Mr. Gilchrist renders
his readers agreeably familiar. Boswell-like he
reveals his hero to us even in reference to his little
homely, domestic peculiarities. Such as his insa-
tiable thirst for tea, or his delight in perching
himself, in the Life Academy, upon a high hard
stool, even when grown old and asthmatic. Beginning
with his, arrival in London, we follow Etty into all
his various lodgings in the metropolis, finding him
housed in 1811 at 15, Bridge-street, Blackfriars,
in 1812 and 1813 at 23, Pavement, Moorfields, in
1814 at Surrey-street, Strand, whence he removed in
1820 TO 16, Bishop's, otherwise Lambeth, otherwise
Stang-ate Walk, Westminster-bridge, whence again
in 1824 he finally removed to Buckingham-street,
Strand. Finally, we say, because there Etty re-
mained to the last during his protracted residence
in London—faithful during 23 years to that one
abode, namely, from 1824 to 1847. Here it was in
1843 that we find him regaling Sir Robert Peel in
his studio upon a luncheon of " beef and porter"
—here during many a cosy evening he re-
freshed a gathering of brother artists with his
favourite " dish of tea," and what Mr. Titmarsh
calls the " domestic muffin," together with other
the like frugal accompaniments. A glimpse is
caught every now and then during the course of
Mr. Gilchrist's narrative of the life of our great
Painter, of one or other among his congenial con-
temporaries ---thus linking together the times
when Fuseli, and Lawrence, and ' Stothert, and.
Haydon, and Hilton, and Collins, and Con-
stable, and Wilkie, and Leslie, and Turner, and
Mulready flourished, bringing us gradually to our
own days when Maclise and Stanfield, and East-
lake are among the more conspicuous of our art-
celebrities. The biographer of Etty of course
makes due mention of the great Colourist's method
of painting—recording in this way more' than one
of his noticeable habits and peculiarities. It is
thus, for example, we learn that Etty bought his
forty guinea lay-figure from Huot of Paris, pro-
curing his brushes from Dagneaux, of the same
capital, and having his canvass invariably prepared
by Brown, of Holborn, from whom also he obtained
his colours—those colours productive in his hands
of so many miraculous masterpieces ! Although
Etty once upon a time, when bothered to reveal
soma supposed trick or artifice of his in regard to a
" Medium," declared banteringly to his querist,
" The only Medium I use is Brains"—we here
discover that his canvasses were really always
prepared "in a peculiar manner" with a
" rough absorbent ground, tempora or fresco-like"
his vehicle being composed of one part satu-
rated sugar-of-lead water, one part mastic var-
nish, and one of linseed oil, to which were
occasionally added a few drops of turpentine.
Upon this he obtained his effects "by passing a
glaze over a solid painting, and when dry a scum-
ble of opaque colour over that ; when dry a glaze
here and there," &c., &c.—taking off the glaze
sometimes with his thumb, sometimes with a dab
of his pocket handkerchief ; painting, in fact, says
Mr. Gilchrist, " with nails, handkerchief, palette-
knife, as neither Model nor Connoisseur ever saw
man paint before." After this extraordinary
fashion, Etty, it seems, conjured up his miracles of
art, and wen his high fame as the greatest of Eng-
lish Colourists. The only man, besides Rubens,
who has been able to paint flesh, according to Mr.
Gilchrist, during two centuries. Such flesh too !
that at Venice, in 1823, Martini signs with the
point of a knife, " that if he was to prick Etty's
painting of the figure, it would bleed." Such
flesh that Constable avers, in London, in
1837, , smacking his lips like a cannibal—
" You might eat it !" Astonishing though it may
appear to us amateurs, it is no less true that Etty,
in painting as he did, employed very few colours,
deemed a very few all sufficient—Naples yellow,
Indian red, light-red, lake, terre verte, raw umber,
burnt ditto, black, and a little vermillion. Armed
with which, his brush and his palette, he painted,
according to the notion of the Italians, " with the
fury of a devil and the sweetness of an angel." So
that we find him gaining many a soubriquet ex-
pressive of good-will, or wonder, or admiration, as
the case may be, during his stay in Venice—called

palette to go when he heard the roar of cannon at
a distance, and the rattle of musketry ! " In which
picturesque situation--a situation expressive of his
all-absorbing devotion to his art—let us close the
door on our great Colourist.

now, in regard to his rapidity, II Diavolo;" now,
iu reference to his colouring, " The English Tin-
toret;" now, in pleasant allusion to his slipping one
day into a canal—punningly—Canal-Etti. Alto-
gether Etty was upwards of a year a sojourner in
that island city of the Adriatic, "sucking the
sweets," as he said, from the efflorescence of Titian,
Tintoret, Giorgione, and Paolo Veronese. Returning
homewards from. Italy,fromFrance, and ultimately
from Belgium, he became what his biographer happily
terms " a successful anachronism"—the translator

ro canvas of glowing flesh and blood—the inter-

•" the Painter

Of Nude Form—in its exhaustless varieties of out-

line," its " shifting phases of beauty and splen-
dour." This, moreover, in spite of so much
" prudish, or," says Mr. Gilchrist deliciously,—
"which is the same thing—prurient delicacy" among
his contemporaries! So truthfully•and pathetically,
moreover, with all this, could Etty paint when he

so pleased that a working man standing opposite
his picture of Magdalena could say to its exultant
owner—" I see, sir, what it is: I could look at it

till my eyes run over." Gifted with the poetic or
creative power capable of realising visions of pathos
and beauty, such as the one thus appealing directly
to the soul of the untutored artisan, Etty enhanced

the potency of his inherent genius by the acquisi-
tion, through study, of many redoubtable artistic
accomplishments. These were evidenced by the
rapidity and precision of what may be called
broadly his ample and remarkable poweri of mani-
pulation. Capacities like those enjoyed by
Etty were only, however, the fruits of la-
borious and consistent application—sedulous at-

CIYIL AND MILITARY REORGANISATION OF
THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.

THE RIGHT HON. LORD PANISIIRE, &c., &é.
London, April 5, 1855.
MT LORD, —As the startling disclosures of Mr. Roebuck's
Committee will probably in, . your lordship to hasten
the conclusion of your projecte, reforms in the constitu-
tion of the army, I am again emboldened to trouble you
with a few observations relating to the construction of the
"Medical Staff."

In the present temper of the Western nations we may
safely dismiss all apprehension of a precipitate peace. The
war will continue till great events have occurred ; and we
may, therefore, rejoice that your lordship's labours will not
be suspended till the machinery of your wide department
is perfectly readjusted.
In my last communication I took the liberty of urging
her Majesty's Government to follow up, as an indispensable
means of success, the appeal of your lordship to the gene-
rosity of the medical profession, by a simple act of justiceto that body—the elevation of several of the moat distin-
guished amongst them to seats in the Privy Council, and
the formation, ii; this manner, of a National Sanitary Board
of great dignity and authority.
Such a proceeding, whilst forming a graceful act of cour-
tesy to the medical profession, would call into existence an
agency fitted to confer immense benefits on the entire po-
pulation.
I also pointed out the great assistance to be derived from
such counsellors iu remoulding the army medical depart-
ment, a measure now rendered immediately necessary by
evidence published in the face of Europe,
and exposing not
only the apathy and incapacity of official persons, but the
fatal ineptitude of the existing system.
Your lordship's attention should be attracted to the fact,
so discreditable to the Government, that no medical man
of pre-eminent abilities or of European reputation holds
a place either in the land or sea service of Great Britain ;
and that, consequently, no greater care is evinced for our
devoted and expensively-trained fighting men than was
formerly taken of our parish paupers.
The frightful calamities that have occurred at Scutari
and Balaklava, the fruit of inferior professional ability
conjoined with culpable negligence, would have had no
existence had the executive been instructed on the choice
of officers by such a competent body as "the Medical Com-
mittee of the Privy Council." Such eminent men would
have exacted from the ruling powers a degree of deference
to their opinions equal to what is yielded to the opinions
of the bar in the selection of judges and of the law officers
of the Crown. Parsimony and prejudice would not have
been permitted to alienate from the service of our gallant
troops, "the flower of the nation," the most accomplished
medical artists.
I am confident your lordship will not misunderstand the
motives of this free animadversion en the conduct of for-
mer Ministries. You are naturally anxious to remove
from the Government and the nation the stigma which the
late failures of the military medical staff have imprinted
upon us, and you will kindly permit me to occupy your
attention again with " a proposed new arrangement of the
Army Medical Staff." I suggested that the ruling board
or council of this branch of the military service should
consist 'exclusively of eminent physicians and surgeons,
presided over by her Majesty's Secretary of State for War,
in whom the whole patronage of the department, modified
by the agency of the Medical Committee of Privy Council,
and the examining " Courts" of the Medical Colleges,
should be vested.
The new board, thus restricted, could be safely intrusted
with the issue of regulations, the direction of promotion,
the distribution and division of duties, the collation of re-
cords, and the periodical publication of historical state-
ments, showing to prince and people the sanitary condition
of the army.
The want of unity in the old medical system was produc-
tiverequires that .it be
of great inconvenience. The Guards, the Ordnance,
motions, unembarrassed
and the Line were subject to different medical authorities,
and effective co-operation was consequently impracticable.
etrol but that of the' Gene;
ipal medical officer -
T mouldedeffi eil
in
toey
one o f ;the
erga
nr,lferpeae department
Piet:l:tun:
by the permanent attachment to particular regiments and
nota lso
strictly
corps, of its members, who should be moveable from duty
thrown
tee
ho
nu
it.
c ianl high.Hi.s
ht co
mdsuetlyf ,i
na
dt
etpheenpdleenatsuerfealol fetehn
General-
in-Chief.
al-
upon T h et Parliamentaryhe m edimedical
m an
o f inquestduti
duties
sas
relief another fruitful parent of mischief, in the imposition
energies, which should, as in civil hospitals, be exclusively
expended in investigating and watching cases,. in prescrib-
ing and in operating, are now dissipated in
ments, in compounding medicines, filling minor
con-
structingemploy-
statistical tables, and in finanilp returns,
functions that ought to be fulfilled by lcalexlations—
officers, by an ancillary department, which re expensive
would anxi-
ously recommend your lordship to establish.
The proposed simplification of the
and the more rigid definiti medical department
on of the duties, 8 a
substitution of general for regimental and Fgbest the
particular hos-
pitals. A single medical staff demands a
system. Larger establishments into which single hospital
officers as well
as privates are admissible, adapted in size and situation to
each "corps d'armee" would be greatlythe more effic;ent than
present distracted aggregate of petty sregimental re-
unions of the sick. The treatment of the
patients would'
be more effectual, and excellent sch lse s would be opened
for the surgical novitiates.
Tho duties of the medical staff being accurately
and the ancillary functions being limited,
imposed upon a newde-
partment, a more perfect concurrence of exertion would
ensue, and a more stringent economy would be insured.
The care of the sick and wounded, hitherto undertaken
by a medley of authorities, would be thus divided into two
distinct provinces of duty. To prescribe and to operate
"41 90011, tin PhYg9ins &AA lip - whibit to Pi*
. • _ Mgt?
__a -- -

tention to the skeleton, to" the origin and inser-
tion of the muscles—sketching" from Albinus,
drawing in the morning, painting in the evening,
practising perpetually in the Life School of the
Academy. His modus operandi he thus expressed
in a few suggestive words of recommendation :
" First night, correctly draw and outline the
figure, only : second night, 'carefully paint in the
figure (with black, and white,, and Indian red, for
instance) :''the next, ll'aving' securecl. i“what has
been done already] with copal, glaze, and then
stumble on the bloom ; glaze in the shadows, and
touch on-the lights carefully." That was Etty's
method : to the detail of which he added—" And
it is done"—triumphantly. After such a fashion,
he painted—and painted too, how much, and how
magnificently ! It is calculated that altogether in
sketches, studies, single figures, groups, composi-
tions, still-life, portrait, landscape, Etty covered
with his rapid pencil and brush—of panels, mill-
boards, and canvasses, not much less (Mr. Gilchrist
thinks) than " two thousand." Almost enough as
Etty himself conjectured to fill the great hall at
Westminster. Among this prodigious variety of pic-
tures " Three times Three"—Colossal. Namely
the three illustrative of the history of the
Judith, together with The Combat, and Benaiah,
and The 'Sirens, and ultimately the other three
illustrative of the tragic career of Joan, of
Arc. It can scarcely be woneered at in the
presence of such habitual industry and sus-
tained powers of productiveness that Etty was
enabled to leave behind, as the material products
of his toil in art, his 'house in York, 17,000/. in the
funds, and an almost invaluable collection of pic-
tures and other personal possessions.
As an appropriate motto for the record of a life
thus calmly, but resolutely, and energetically am-
bitious—a sentence scrawled by Etty in chalk at
the side of one of his studies (representing "an
Athlete striving upwards")—" To faint or loiter,
when only a little effort"—has been here intro-
duced upon the title-page of his biography. Its
significance is that inspiritingly comprised in the
" Excelsior" of Longfellow.

Occasionally, in these memorials, we have caught
glimpses of some among Etty's immediate contem-
poraries. We find our artist, for example, avow-
ing his profound " veneration" for the genius of
Turner, but protesting against his later works as
" fiery abominations." Another moment we have
him commending Frost (then an unknown student,
not as now an eminent associate), speaking of him as
" a very clever, modest lad." While in mentioning
the name of the late lamented and gifted Pugin he
exclaims enthusiastically, " There never was but
one Pugin, one of the most remarkable men of his
age. Architecture, painting, drawing, music, sing-
ing, all come alike to him. Besides, he is one of
the best fellows in the world." An unaffected and
deserved admiration, which must have enhanced
the pleasure with which Etty, during the summer
of 1838, attended,the opening of the Roman Catholic
church of St. Mary; °scat, near Birmingham—an
exquisite specimen of Pugin's skill in ornate deco-
ration. It may be interesting possibly to particu-
larise as amonc, the number of Etty's patrons one
of the reputed originals of the famous " Brothers
Cherryble" of Nicholas Nickleby— William and
Daniel Grant, of Springfield, near Manchester.
And interesting in another way to some among the
connoisseurs of art to learn that about the only
engraving after one of Etty's pictures, really prized
and admired by that painter, was Sevier's charm-
ing stipple engraving of Venus Descending. As
the one solitary incident of anything like import-
ance capable of being recorded in the equa-
ble narrative of our artist's not very stirring
or chequered career, the July Revolution is, of
course, duly Celebrated by Mr. Gilchrist—Etty
having sojournedat the time in Paris, au quatrieme
No. 4, Rue Michodierc. During the crisis of the
revolutionary outbreak of 1830 in the French
capital, we .are admitted for a moment into the
glorious galleries of the Louvre, where we observe
our artist tranquilly sketching in the midst of the
din of civil battlo7." once or twice cleaning kis

TRE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVANING, MAX 7, 1855.

up the wounded on the field, to transport them thence to
the hospital, to cleanse, clothe, and feed the, patients, to
dispense medicines and comforts, to preserve order and
peace ; in short, to meet all the requisitions of the medical
officers, would constitute the functions of the new combi-
nation to be named •" the Hospital Commissariat."
In order to make the proposed arrangement perfectly
clear, I will consider it as applied to a division of the
army.
The method of the Romans, imperfectly copied by some
of the moderns, of regarding armies, as composed of large
ELEVA I'ION OF THE MOST EMINENT PRACTI- integers., has many advantages over the English plan of
loosely jointing such atoms as regiments into temporary
TIONERS TO SEATS IN THE PRIVY COUNCIL. brigades and divisions
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN. small army, complete in
aTiihielsßmomemanbelresg,iopnerp
SIR,—I have to thank you for your courtesy in Publish- cised as one machine ; its commissariat and medicariat"
ing my letter of last February to Lord Panniure. It is perfect, according to the science of the age. So nicely
was,etu perpetually ly fact,e xr a-•
true, his lordship has suffered from the " embarras de j were its several parts articulated together, that it was as
richesses," for his volunteer advisers might well be called well adapted for duty in the field as in garrison ; for large
" legion," out we may hope he has the discrimination " corps d'armee," as for small detachments.
and the courage to carry out the right measures. His If we suppose a brigade enlarged to the dimensions of a
infirmity of the "gout "he has in less degree than had the Roman Legion, or of the late " King's German Legion,"
"great Earl of Chatham," the most energetic and success- and consisting of 7,500 men of all arms, it would be ne-
fal War Minister that England ever possessed. It is to cessary to provide an hospital capable of entertaining all
Lord Panmure's credit, as a liberal Scotchrnan, that he the probable casaalties of such a force during a campaign
disapproves the " Scoticism " introduced by Drs. M'Gre. —not less, considering the augmented destructiveness of
gor and Burnett into the medical staffs of the army and the recently improved ordnance, than a thousand sick and
navy ; a system of favouritism towards one province of wounded.
the empire which has proved highly detrimental to both To relieve such a mass of patients would occupy one
services. This is an evil which can be speedily removed. physician, one surgeon-general, eight surgeons, and twenty
My recommendations to the Government may be reduced assistant-surgeons, if the patients were accommodated in
to the following topics : one building, or in contiguous edifices; but if they were
1. The formation of a "National Sanitary Board," dispersed, a larger number should be supplied at the dis-
to be invested with a "voice potential" in the medical cretion of the medical principal. At Alma the want of
affairs of war and of peace, and to be formed by the dove- discipline and experience rendered a much larger propor-
tion of several of the most eminent physicians and sur- tional staff unequal to its work.
goons 'of the United Kingdom to seats in the Privy Besides the ordinary establishment, to meet the Com-
Council. missariat wants of such a force, the exigencies of the hos-
By this measure the Government would be relieved from spital would fully occupy one medical commissary and two
the sycophants and sciolists who have hitherto imposed assistants, six clerks, and ten dispensers.
upon their ignorance. To satisfy the subordinate necessities of the " Medi-
2. The Government ought to pay "the market price" cariat," or Hospital Department, "a company, or corps of
for medical skill by the creation of valuable staff appoint- orderlies," should be formed ; consisting, for such a divi-
ments, and by raising the rate of remuneration in every sion of the army as I have described, of not Jess
grade of the public medical service. than two hundred men. These should be placed under
The highest, remuneration accorded to any medical ap- the absolute command of the hospital authorities, and
pointment under the Government is 1,200 i. a-year. Such would supply ward-masters, cooks, ward-attendants, rer-
an income is very commonly earned in private medial rants to the officers, ambulance drivers, and daily guards
practice, whilst physicians and surgeons of eminence gain for the protection and police of the establishment. Con-
five, seven, ten, fifteen, and twenty thousand pounds per stout exercise in their duties would teach them dexterity
annum. "The reason why" is plain, therefore, of there and method, and the order and efficiency of the whole
being no Hollands, Parities, Brodies, Ciristisons, and machine would be thus insured. The segregation of these
Fergusons found in the army and navy. men from the purely military service would produce coils-
3. The opening of all eminent positions in the naval and teral benefits. Straggling, under pretence of assisting the
and military medical departments to the competition of wounded, would be prevented. At Waterloo, in the lat-
the whole professien. Such a prospect of distinction would ter part of the day, nearly ten thousand men had fallen
excite the emulation both of civil and military function- out of the ranks under this excuse. The conflicts of autho-
aries, and consequently lead to the attainment of great rity now frequently occurring between the medical staff
personal skill and the improvement of the science. and the commanding officers of regiments would also
An anonymous writer, under the signature of " Phio- cease.
Medicus " (recently noticed with favour by the Time), According to this scheme, every corps or enlarged bri-
whilst adopting some of the views previously urged byne gale would thus possess its hospital. When several of these
on the attention of Lord Panmure recommends his Irrd- corps were united, the control of a general medical in-
ship to continue the separation of! the military from he tendant, and superior hospital commissary, would furnish
civil branch of the medical profession. He is evideitly the additional intelligence and authority necessary to the
deceived by the old mistake that there is something in ni- successful conduct of the combined machinery. From these
litary surgery which is not to be, learnt in civil life. 1.10 moveable hospitals, convalescent or incurable patients
late war, while it produced but one military surgeot of should be regularly drafted to permanent military hospi-
enduring reputation, John Hennen, who was carried offiy tale, that should be maintained in our foreign garrisons,
an epidemic in the prime of life, gave birth to a delusi'n and at any convenient points in the three kingdoms, and
that practitioners who might be dexterous in the use if placed in charge of medical men distinguished for their
the knife, must necessarily possess all other medical exci- scientific acquirements or services to the State.
lences. The public partook of the error, and a chair if In the case of small detachments occurring occasionally
" military surgery " was founded in the University ,f in the colonies, or on outpost duties generally, the medical
Edinburgh. As well might the Government have endowd care of the invalids could be accomplished by Assistant-
a professorship of "military bootmaking." Surgeons, furnished with medicine-chests, and, of course,
Since, then, society is better informed. The universiy all serious cases would be transferred to the general hos-
has petitioned for the suppression of this useless chai ; pital.
and it is now known that, even in war, the army does net The concentration and insulation of the army medical
supply any lessons in surgery which are not equaly service into one independent system, would afford occasion
afforded by the emergencies of common life ; whilst durig for restoring to the army, the old office of " physician to
peace, paradoxical as the statement may seem, the se- the Forces; the suppression of which arose from the per-
genies of the manufacturing and mining districts constitue nicious error of supposing that the high therapeutic skill
much better schools of military surgery than the medial of the physician in idiophatic diseases is necessarily pos-
establishments of the army. The questions of primary ad sensed by the surgeon. The habits of thought cultivated
secondary amputations are perfectly familiar to these pr- in the two divisions of the profession are entirely different,
vineial surgeons ; and as to the. subjects of gun-sht and the excellence of one is no substitute for that of the
wounds and general "hygiene," do not the works of Hnntr other.
and Hennen, and the suggestions of common sense, suppl. The proposed mode of recasting the Army Medical
all the doctrine necessary ? Staff, though implying a higher remuneration for each
This idea of making a distinct profession of militar official, would secure a more effective care of our soldiery
surgery has a meaning at. its root. The absurd arrogano at a less expenditure of the public money. To secure
of the " Peninsular" surgeons has descended with then economy, it is not necessary to adopt the method of divided
into the " Capulet vault" of oblivion.. Of the dead, what responsibility, which has been named "the system of check
ever we may think, we should feel nil nisi bonum ; bu and counter-check," and which, by producing a perfect
the half-pay list of the medical, as well as of other depart dead-lock in the entire mechanism of the army, has caused
ments of the State service, whilst burthening the natio] such dire calamities. This scheme of documental evidence
with a heavy expense, is one amongst many othe is based on the theory that every employe of the British
means of Parliamentary influence ! How is a ministe Government, civil and military, except the gentlemen of
otherwise to control refractory votes? the Audit-office, is a knave. ,Ifs ignores all the nobler
4. The reconstruction of the Army Medical Board ex elements of human nature, patriolfsm, professional honour,
elusively of physicians and surgeons of eminence.—Sucl zeal for the serviee, and even common honesty ; and rests
men have a congenial sympathy for merit. Sordid fears o for safety on artifice and cunning.
being eclipsed do not haunt them, whilst they possess the True economy is realised by a speedy attainment of the
intelligence and spirit necessary to the fair regulation or object in view. The Crimean expedition, impeded and all
promotion, and for the utilisation of the professional re- but ruined, by the pedantic rules of the Audit-office, ex-
ports with which they are supplied. Their immediate hibits an amount of waste and loss, exceeding by many
'concurrence with the Secretary for War would be obtained times the value of all the peculations perpetrated during
by his occasional presidence. the last war.
5. The filling all the primary appointments in the lowest Simple tabular statements, and accurate records of all
rank by successful competitors in " contours" before the transactions, assisted by a little faith in the truth of men,
examining " courts" of the medical colleges affords so ob- would be sufficient to prevent all delinquency and serious
vious a security for the supply of good men that it is un- embezzlement.
necessary to back the proposal by a single argument. As an apology for speaking with so much firmness, I can
6. The relief of the medical officers from all but purely only adduce the fact of having had opportunities of in-
technical duties will obviate many inconveniences. The forming myself of the wants of the rank and file under all
valuable time now consumed in minor and irrelevant occu- circumstances, and of witnessing in operation the merits
pations would be devoted to the greater care of the patients, and defects of all departments of the army—an institution
and by the studious practitioner to original speculations. to which the nation is deeply indebted for its safety and
7. The concentration of all the medical departments of its glory.
the army into one organ, and the proper articulation of In conclusion, my lord, I beg to say that I shall not
each member of this service into regular subordination to cease to feel an interest in your lordship's arduous under-
one chief, is indispensable to its efficiency. The principal taking, and, as an obscure unit in the social multitude,
medical officer should be absolute over his subordinates, seek opportunities of promoting the welfare of a noble
and he should be independent of all authority save that of service to which I had once the honour to belong. ---I am,
the general-in-chief, the dictator on the spot. The inter- my lord, most respectfully, your obedient servant,
ferences of commanders of regiments, of quartermasters- D. O. EDWARDS.
general, of military secretaries, of adjutants-general, and
of generals of division, &c., seriously impede medical
functions.
8. The auxiliary chilies which I have proposed tc
transfer to a new establishment, to'be entitled "The Hos.
pital Commissariat," I have explained at length in the
subjoined letter, for which I have received the acknow-
ledgments and thanks of Lord Panmure.
I am, sir, your obedient servant,
Cambridge Villa, May 1. D. 0. E.

DEATH OF SIR ROBERT HARRY INGLIS,
BART.

It is with feelings of the sincerest regret—feelings
which we are sure will be shared throughout the length
and breadth of the land by all who value the estimable
qualities of the gentleman without fear and without re-
proach, the consistent politician, and the sincere Chris-
tian, that we have to announce the death of Sir Robert
Harry Inglis, which melancholy event took place on
Saturday night, at his town residence, 7, Bedford-square,
after a short and painful illness. The deceased baronet
was the eldest son of the first baronet, Sir Hugh Inglis,
by Catherine, daughter of Harry Johnson, Esq., of
Mitton Bryan, county of Bedford. He was born on the
12th of January, 1786, and was consequently in his 70th
year. In 1807 he married Mary, eldest daughter of J.
SeymoutPriscoe, of Penhill, Surrey, and succeeded his
father in the baronetage August, 1820.
Sir Robert Harry Inglis first entered Parliament
as member for Dundalk, which borough he represented
until 1826. In- that year he was returned for Ripon,
and continued its representative until 1828, when the
late Sir Robert Peel, having changed his opinions on
Catholic emancipation, accepted the Chiltern Hundreds
in order to give his constituents of the University of
University,i3sstsi
ehiei
nxtnsi
ri
eauirobts
gdni:tshvdohae brought
seatglct l
ahto.
conduct.
tps
daeepi
eoc rnnt
gu
tnth i
hat
ey of t
torc ue expressing
occasion
Protestant
the their t
Conservatives
character r opinion
his
ofwhicht
he
Sir Robert H
criellmteonhtruiug,ftnolreaitnrasbiwa
tel had even then achieved for him-
oeddu
hr,ht
si
ft
motwror
two years
aytoyi
tpresepaomor largesxsee theirfno retirement
Oxford
ago,
frowa isaf
majority.or
s everywherep sm
rer Parliament
Never
else, he reigned in the regard, the esteem, and the affec-
tions of all who knew him.

(From the Times of this day.)
The death of Sir Robert Harry Inglis, which it is our
melancholy duty to announce to-day, is an event which
will scarcely surprise those who were acquainted with
the circumstances under which the last two years of his
life have been spent. It may be remembered even by
the general reader that, so far back as the time we have
named, Sir Robert felt it his duty to resign his seat for
the University of Oxford, feeling himself no longer phy-
isically equal to attendance upon his Parliamentary du-
ties. With
_him those duties were not discharged in a
careless or indifferent spirit. As long as he was equal
to his task he performed it in a manner which might
Save put to shame many an aspiring senator young
sough to be his son. Whatever may be the difference
if opinion as to the political doctrines of which Sir
lobert Inglis was the embodiment rather than the repre-
entative, there can be no hesitation in saying that a more
onscientious man never entered the !walls of Parlia-
sent, or one who acted a more consistent or honourable
prt. It is needless for us to say that, from many of
lis opinions we entirely disagreed, but we ever found
lira an adversary with whom contention did not mean a
lroil, nor argument ill-feeling or ill-blood. The expla-
stion of thin phenomenon—for so, we fear, it must be
ailed—was simply this—that Sir Robert Inglis was es-
sntially a gentleman—prejudiced and dogmatic enough
a times, but still a gentleman, who respected others be-
ciuse ho respected himself. There was in him a fund of
god sense which always saved him from .the danger of
gelding to the inspirations of the ultras of his party.
Sr Robert Inglis did quite as much for the University
o; Oxford as the ,University of Oxford for Sir Robert
He never !pissed an opportunity of stating their
case tempwately, yet firmly ; but the statement sounded
very differently from the lips of the polished old English
gentleman to what it did when fiercely urged by some
academic recluse excited beyond the level of common
sense by the unaccustomed stimulus of political discus-
sion. Tie disappearance of such a man from the scene
should, taen, be a source of regret even to those who
were consistently opposed to him in politics, inasmuch
as in hint a " representative man" has disappeared from
among us who, in all probability, can never be replaced.
Destroy fifty " able politicians," and twice fifty able ad-
ministrators, and it needs but five minutes' search to re-
place them ; but we much question if there be any man
in England who can take the place Sir Robert Inglis
filled at representative of the University of Oxford. He
belonged to Oxford as completely as the Bodleian.
Passing from public to more private considerations, it
is but fair to his memory to add that he was an ele-
gant wholar, both in classical and English literate,
and, what is far more important, in evebryenspyroi
It waiull be u
memorymembers of
gotten either by his private friends
man.relation,
his place in the
to Westminster, or saunterintg up this buttonhole, ,and with
plroingghtindecehdarhitaefobrlee,
rhiatsnhed
is lfesurt.
house, with the fresh flower
sa
word for every one. He
a genial smile and courteou
for he deserved regret. In
will be regretted universally,
will be found a portrait of
this year's Exhibitionhichis admirably characteristic of
there
the Legislature. We seem to see imoonowetrolling down
him by Richmond, 'ld' w 11 to recall his features and ex-
the and respected Sir Robert
i
to the many who loved
pression
Harry Inglis. the man, and will serve we

The directors of the Bank of London have effected a
purchase of the extensive and central premises called
the Hall of Commerce, in Threadneedle-street, for their
head banking-house. Mr. Frith, late vice chairman of
the London and County Bank, has been elected vice
obairulau of the Beak of Ludo.