The Sun.
London, England, 1863-05-25 00:00:00

CARDINAL WISEMAN ON ART,

-
At the recent distribution of prizes to the students
of the School of Art, in connection with the South
Kensington Museum, Mr. Henry Cole presided.
The CHAIRMAN having briefly opened the pro-
ceedings,

His Eminence Cardinal WISEMAN delivered an
address of some length, of which the following is a
brief summary :—He considered it an honour to
speak to them on the question of art. He would
not deliver any formal lecture, and he would address
them on the supposition, not that they followed art
as a profession, but that they regarded it as an
agreeable recreation. A few years ago a tendency
had been manifested to the effect that the recreation
for the working men should be found at mechanics'
institutes in the study of science. But experience
had shown that after men had worked eight or ten
hours in heavy mechanical labour they could not be
expected to sit down and study science. He did not
for a moment desire to decry the Study of science,
but he believed he might say it was now
considered that art was a better recreation
for the working classes than science, an d
more adapted to their tastes. Art was sooth-
ing and encouraging, considered as a recreation,
They all required recreation. A French philosopher
had said that change of study was recreation to
him, but that could be said only of a small number
of the French
pofhiploerssoopnhse; Ahnadexbameepniesoeefnthiensatyhienglate Sir G. C.
Lewis. That statesman, after having been for a
lengthened period engaged in politics, could readily
turn his mind to the study of astronomy and of an-
cient literature. But for recreation the great ma-
jority required a change of employment. The
grandson of Sir Thomas More had told them that
that great man had said—" Let virtue be your meat
and play your sauce." They all knew the proverb
that all work and no play made Jack a dull boy.
The application of all this was patent to their
minds. It was his desire to encourage them in the
prosecution of art, but they would not be surprised
if he said something which might seem to be dis-
couraging. He wished to guard them against the
danger of imagining that because they had a cer-
tain amount of skill in art they were therefore to
suppose they were possessed of genius, and under
that influence to neglect their ordinary calling. No
mistake could be greater than that. He would say
that the skill which enabled young men to excel to
a certain extent, and to elicit the admiration of those
in their own circle, did not necessarily constitute
genius. It might be compared to a meteor in the
heavens, whereas genius was like the sun, which
feared nothing and overcame every obstacle. Ge
nius required no assistance. It gave to the possessor
a calm confidence which did not cause him to look
with contempt on the efforts of others, but enabled
him to feel that be had within him a spark of the
heavenly light which not only illuminated his own
mind, but disposed him to transmit that light to
those around him. The Cardinal then went on to
observe that genius, although placed in the most
unfavourable circumstances, would be sure to ma-
nifest itself in some way or other. In support
of the statement he adduced the names of men
who had been eminent in painting, poetry, the
knowledge of languageit mechanics, &e., and
among others those of Burns, Hogg, the Ettrick
Shepherd, Tynner, the professor of geometry at
Berlin, Elihu Burritt, and Cardinal Mezzofanti.
He next proceeded to remark that the students in
their ordinary calling would find that their know-
ledge of art would meet with commercial apprecia-
tion. He advised all the students to persevere, re-
iterating at the same time his argument that their
genius would, if they possessed it, find an oppor-
tunity for making itself known. He closed his ad-
dress, which was listened to with marked attention
throughout, and frequee
pply
tly applauded, b
the students never to a y warning
a ll
beingthey f dmi da n
kitheirnd adnudt yt
kNee their pencils to the pro-
duction of vicious works, but to remember that in
of God.
the we)'agsl o troy

Disgusting Extravagances of Fashion.

We are glad to quote from our elegant contem-
porary The Queen of Saturday, the following ear-
nest protest against the unseemly Full Dress (in
reality nearly No Dress At All) now coming into
fashion with some ladies, even at the Royal Draw -
ing-rooms :
" The great opportunity for studying the fashions,
was on the last Drawingroom, when an examina-
tion of any one of the long lines of carriages which
converged from every point of the compass upon St.
James's Palace, could not fail to leave behind it
some curious matter for reflection as to theprogr,„
which we are making towards the worst extrava-
gancies in dress of which M. Eugene Pelletan and
other French moralists have been complaining.
From Hyde-park-corner to St. James's, and from
Regent's-park to the same point, along the most
public thoroughfares in the metropolis, were lines
of carriages which, in the broad light of day, exhi-
yof night. A gal-
niost degages speci-
bited indecencies which have hitherto been reserved
lfoorrystewcroemt
iplacesleslonag fi
ndutehde
with
bcmt
mens of Frost, Etty, and Titian could
this(in every way)
could scarcely have
was obliged to take to
msooaysiinogniesxhbedibtihtieommodoesnteeyyoenansg di
gentleman, of unble-
mished morals and exemplary modesty, has declared
to us that, seeing in a carriage—a eoroneted one too—a
youngbut
adiamondperson w
necklace, arhis heels and fly. Another young lady was so pro-
noncee in her costume that the not unnatural atten-
nhkalppee, he appeared
to
have nothing on her
atten-
tions of the crowd compelled her to renounce her
intention of attending the Drawing
-room, and to
return home again. An ingenious observer has
stated to us that a side view of many of the carriages
irresistibly suggested the notion that some of their
occupants had entirely disrobed, and had thrown
, L,
their discarded garments upon the opposite seats ;
for on one aide might be seen the upper portion of
Eve au naturel, and on the other vast heaps and
swelling billows of her garments. All this may be
food for amusement viewed from one aspect, but from
another point of view it affords, to our thinking,
matter for sadness. Ever prone to imitate the worst
extravagancies of those volatile neighbours whom
we affect to despise, it would seem as if the long
sleep to which Fashion has been condemned by the
period of royal mourning, is to be followed by a
realisation of the worst and most hideous dreams
which have visited her during her slumbers. This
is serious to the highest degree, for we cannot
afford to lose that most precious of
all our national
possessions—the innate virtue of our women.
Wealth is a good gift, fine dress is good to look at,
and beauty is charming; but if these be unaccom-
panied by, modesty, they are like those fabled fruits
of the East which were outside lovely to look at,
but inside were filled with rottenness and ashes.