The Sun.
London, England, 1864-02-12 00:00:00

THE SON, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 12, 1864.

as he was penniless. This was not an easy matter
to decide, but the skipper of a coasting ship, carry-
ing a cargo of leather for a London wharf, offered
him a berth in the hold. There, rolled up in hides,
with a hide for his pillow, he stowed himself away'
and finally reached London in safety, although with
his convictions that "there was nothing like leather"
very much shaken, at least so far as feather beds
were concerned. Another time at a provincial
town the now:popular dramatist, actor, and manager
was again the victim of an illusory engagement.
But the misdoings of the manager were amply
compensated for by a model landlady. She had
been cook at the Rose Tun, where lived the pretty
barmaid, celebrated by GAY, and, perhaps, in defe-
rence to the literary traditions of the house she
encouraged the young author, who remained
valiantly writing his tragedy, telling him he
would certainly be somebody some day. Happily,
for landlady and lodger, a temporary engagement
as accountant brought more immediate relief from
difficulties than the tragedy of an unknown
writer was likely to do, but these misadventures
which Mr. BIICKSTONE tells us had little effect on
his youthful energy and spirits, would have been
terrible to many less sanguine, less courageous, less
physically fitted for the battle of life. Doubtless
many a hopsful career has been cut short for
want of timely aid, many a bright hope has died
out, many a cherished project has been abandoned,
many a chance has been missed, and many a favour-
able opening closed for lack of the helping hand
which this association stretches out. And if such
necessities press hardly on the young aspirant for
dramatic honours at the outset of his career, they
fall with treble force on the sick, the aged,
the broken down, the weary with overwork
and worn with disappointment and anxiety. To
such straitened means are a terrible evil, for they
deprive them of the chance of retrieving their for-
tunes. If the actor cannot find the money to pro-
cure the comforts necessary to recruit his strength,
if he cannot pay the expenses of conveyance to the
place where he is offered an engagement, if his
mind is harassed by the prospects of the future, all
the while he is lying in enforced stillness, what
chance has the feeble frame to regain its force,
the fretted nerves to recover their tone ? Toe pro-
fession of an actor is peculiar, its successes are
prompt but brief, its triumphs intoxicating but
evanescent. For a time he wields that
" Spell of hearts
Which only acting lends,"

and the public bends unreservedly to his sceptre,
but when age or infirmities overtake him, woe betide
the popular idol if he have made no provision for
the evil day. Another fills his place upon the stage,
another name is on the tongue, another's triumphs
have dimmed even the memory of his former sue
cesses. His name is scarcely heard, his fortunes are
uncared for, and few trouble themselves to inquire
what has become of the old favourite. If this be
the case with the great stars of the profession, how
much more is it so with the crowds of minor
actors and secondary performers, who yet
spend the best of their lives and energies i❑
catering for the public amusement. There is
therefore urgent need for some certain means of
supplying all these wants and requirements, and
the principal members of the dramatic profession
have come nobly forward to acknowledge the obli-
gations which weigh especially on them as the
favourites of fame and fortune. But the pubic is
not released from its share of the duty by their
warm hearts and open hands. Oa the contrary,
they who derive so much pleasure from the labours
of the actor should be the foremost to come to his
aid in the hour of distress and trouble.

It is quite time that the state of things in Bethnal-
green was made the subject of inquiry, It is really
a scandal to the community that so much want and
misery are suffered to prevail. If some stringent
measures be not shortly adopted, the very unhealthy
atmosphere which prevails in these localities must
spread its noxious influence and exercise a delete-
rious effect on other places. There is nothing so
detrimental to health, so encouraging to disease,
and so fatal to life as bad air and impure dwellings.
It is astonishing to reflect that so much indifference
exists on the subject. People will pity almost any
other grievance, and seek to remedy every other
evil, before they turn their attention to the
sanitary condition of dwelling-houses. Yet rightly
considered, what affliction can be greater than for a
poor family to be fixed in a house badly drained,
badly ventilated, and altogether unfit for human
occupancy. Perhaps non-payment of some arrears
of rent, the want of means to migrate to ►healthier,
fresher dwellings, or the many other hindrances of
which the rich know nothing, yet which the poor
feel so acutely, intervene to prevent a removal.
Meanwhile the children sicken and die, the adults
drag on a miserable existence, until some epidemic
occurs which carries off its victims by scores in such
places. There is no decimatio❑ like a fever in these
dreadful localities. The influences which a strong
frame can throw off in a comparatively healthy dis-
trict are unconquerable where the poisonous exhalas
tions have prevailed for some time, and enervated
the health and wasted the strength. Now it seems
a mistake, in so far as regards political economy,
for our rulers to suffer so unsatisfactory a condition
of affairs to prevail for so long a period,
without endeavouring to circumvent the evil and
remedy the deficiencies. It is also a reproach to
the well-disposed members of society, who do so
much in various quarters to aid the unemployed,
provide for the destitute and relieve the sufferer,
that they do little or nothing to stop not the effects,
but the cause of such horrors. It is all very well
to afford temporary succour, but it is a permanent
improvement that is required, and which is so im-
peratively called for. The statements made by
Mr. GAY, the senior surgeon to the Great Northern
Hospital, is in itself sufficient to warrant the
strongest measures being adopted, and the fullest
reform being instituted. In commenting on the
circumstances that attended the death of a child
the most fearful disclosures were made. The child
died during convalescence from the scarlet fever, in
consequence of the state of the house in which it
was. No wonder the medical man gave it as his
opinion that the premises were the cause of the
illness of the child, and of other persons. The de-
scription of the place conjures up a frightful picture
to the mind. " The ground was saturated with filth,
the air stank, and the rooms were dilapidated and
unwhitewashed ; the air was so impure that the
child could not throw off the vitiation of the blood,
which was the proximate cause of death." Could
a more painful case be presented to the mind, and
more glaring instance of the want of proper accom-
modation for residence than in these details. It is
not the notion of a quixotic philanthropy which
calls for an inquiry into the state of things which
creates such horrors ; it is not a morbid desire
to dwell upon the dark side of things which bids
us ponder on the lamentable issue of these disas-
trous occurrences. It is surely enough for such
things to be made public, to awaken the desire of
all who aro right-minded and well-meaning to in-
vestigate the cause, and put a period to the recur-
rence of such calamities. Private endeavours may
do much, but it is not right that the authorities
should no nothing. What is the use of a Poor-Law
Board, of what avail are sanitary inspectors or any

other portion of the cumbrous machinery of the
State, if nothing can be done to mitigate the
misery of which one striking instance has been
prominently put forward to-day. A commission of
inquiry should be instituted, or a committee ap-
pointed, or some other form entered upon which
shall in time do something effectual to remove such
nuisances from the neighbourhood of the metro-
polis, as the places before described. They are by
courtesy called houses, but they are not the
sort of places in which any one would allow a
valuable animal to be located, and must therefore be
totally unfit for human habitation. We can hardly
suppose a more cruel thing than for a young child,
suffering from a disease to be exposed to such im-
pure atmosphere that the little frame cannot battle
with the attack, and fades away, adding another
victim to the long list of tnose prematurely cut off
from the unwholesome state of their locations.
It is quite out of character that any one
should be ?ermitted to take money for
such houses as those described in the ac-
count above alluded to. The present condition
of the sanitary regulations of Bethnal-green
is a disgrace to the community, and those
who have the authority to do so are imperatively
called upon to interefere. This is their duty, and
nothing slaouk deter them from fulfilling it. It is
sufficient to know that a portion of the population
of the metropolis is exposed to such horrible evils,
and the nest Step taken in the affair should be to
put a stop to the grievance if the regulations of the
law, and the appliances of the statutes will enable
them do so. If they will not, the sooner they are
altered the better, for nothing can make a country
secure, or a people prosperous, if the public health
is sapped at tte foundation by such deteriorating
iafluences, and the air whiclt is their life is vitiated
by the corrupt state of the dwelling-houses, which
bear more affinity to charnel-houses than abodes
for living persons. There is a selfish consideration
to impress these who can only feel for tnemselves
that the spread of such diseases as those
generated by these foul abodes will penetrate in
time to the comparatively healthy divisions of the
town, and the fever which originated with want
attack the homes of plenty, and lay low the posses-
sors of wealth and ail that renders existence enjoy-
able. But there must be few who require selfish
inducements to incite them to exertion when they
know that more than life depends on their efforts,
for death is a merciful b)on in comparison with the
life of torture which is superinduced by these noxi-
ous exhalations. The greatest benefactors of their
kind have often been found among those who went
about doing good in an unassuming form, and the
results of whose labours have called down the
blessings of Heaven upon those who have aided
the poor and afflicted dwellers upon earth. It is
not likely, with the best endeavours, that the
wealthiest community may realise the description of
the Psalmist, that there should be no complaining
in our streets ; but when want, wretchedness, and
decrepitude pay out of their scanty portions for a
covering for their heeds, let not the shelter within
be worse than the storm without, and the spot
they seek for repose or refuge be more injurious
to their welfare than any exposure or privations
they can encounter elsewhere.

LATEST INTELLIGENCE.

LREUTER'S TELEGRAMS.]

LITERATURE.

The Fine Arts Quarterly Review. No. 111.

Chapman and Hall.

The Second Volume of this superb periodical—
the quarterly organ of the fine arts—is now (by
the publication of this third number) commenced.
As a periodical, therefore, it may already be re•
garded as so far established with security among
its contemporaries, that its initial instalments have
been honourably relegated, or, it might perhaps
be said more correctly, promoted, from the
library table to the book-shelf—from the quarterly
s►one-coloured paper to the half-yearly half-calf.
And the work, it will be apparent even upon a
superficial glance, is one more adornment to any
library—to an artist's or a connoiseur's library,
indeed, an invaluable aquisition. As yet, the
contents of the three numbers already published,
have to the full justified the goodly promise put
forth in the prospectus. They have now, during
three successive quarterlies, put the subscriber com-
pletely au courant with the general condition, pro-
gress, and development of art among civilised
nations. European art, especially, may be said,
during these three quarters last past, to have had, in
this, its fitting representative in the world of
literature. The third number, now lying before us,
is in no one appreciable respect any falling off from
its predecessors. In one or two particulars,
it is even in some senses an im-
provement upon them. The accomplished and
(evidently in the fulfilment of his task) conscientious
Editor of the publication, the Queen's Librarian in
Ordinary at Windsor Castle, Mr. Woodward, the
Keeper of the Royal Collection of Prints and Draw-
ings, has evidently got his hand well " in" to the
particular work of selection among the great mass
of valuable contributions doubtless submitted, by
competent authorities in art, to his consideration.
Hence the papers grouped together, in number
three, are more varied both in theme and in
treatment than those comprised in either
the first or the second instalment of the periodical.
" The Vase of Camirus" leading off the third number
and the second volume is, although brief, not un-
worthy of its conspicuous position. It is embellished
with a brilliantly coloured folding illustration of
the design and the hues of this wonderful specimen
of antique art—an amphora, in height about one
foot five inches and a quarter, found as recently as
in 1862, during the excavations then making by
Messrs. Salzmann and Biliotti, in the necropolis
of Camirus in Rhodes. Hence the name
given to this same treasure trove, " The
Camirus Vase," a not unworthy companion to that
exquisite Portland Vase some years back swished
to atoms by a mischievous idiot in search of noto-
riety, and now marvellously patched together at
the British Museum, in the centre of the little room
still set apart there for its preservation. The
Camirus Vase, at least, is a not unworthy companion
to The Portland Vase in all except the shape—the
shape of the latter, to our mind, being just
simply incomparable. It is in the desig❑
upon the Camirus Vase that lies its especial
and distinguishing beauty. How eminently
beautiful that design is, the illustration, already re-
ferred to, and the accompanying descriptive letter-
press, beginning the current number of the Fine
Arts Quarterly. reveal quite distinctly to our ap-
prehension. The elaborate article upon " The
Loan Collection at South Kensington," too long
to be compressed within the compass of a single con-
tribution, is here concluded. Then follows a charming
disquisition upon " Raphael's ' School of Athens,"
illustrative in a wonderful manner of the marvellous
thought lavished by that consummate Painter upon
a single work. Genius, in this, emulating Nature—
of course at the infinite distance separating the
power Human from the power Divine I Nature
applying the same exquisite care (so to express it)
upon the creation and rolling forth of a planet, and
upon the germination and effloresence of each indi-
vidual blossom upon the tenderest and most fragile
shrub. The blossoms every season being so afflu-
ently squandered, squandered in absolutely in-
calculable abundance over the earth's surface
as it turns and basks and blooms in the
sunbeams—and yet each one of those minute
and countless blossoms, as we well remem-
ber Leigh Hunt remarking to us a very few
evenings before his demise, each one of those
numberless and tiny blossoms touched into perfect
loveliness, as though it had been the one especial
care of some beneficent Fairy. As with Nature, so
relatively with true Genius—the whole and the
minutest parts being alike cared for with an
exquisite particularity. Instance, this any one among
the great works of the greatest master of Painting
who ever lived, the Divine Raphael—as in
this very masterpiece of his School of Athens.
Instance, in our own time, that matchless
deliaeator of fruit and flowers in water colours—
William Hunt, now, alas, we grieve to learn, no
more! Who that knows old William Hunt's water
colour paintings of fruit—ripening apples, delicate
primrose blossoms, shreds of moss, pilfered birds'
nests with eggs in them, square inches of marl and
granite, tasselled sprays of cranberry, and so forth—
but knows, thereby, full well the tender minuteness
of touch peculiar to the hand of true genius in art,
no matter what the department in art selected by
that true genius for its manifestation. After
a most interesting chapter upon Modern French
Etchings—a chapter, the value as well as the inte-
rest of which are enhanced by the accompaniment
of some curious specimen illustrations—another
serial contribution is brought to a close, namely,
that devoted to the " Early History of the Royal
Academy." HORACE VERNET, it should be especi
ally remarked, has been selected most judiciously ae
the subject for the most attractive papers in the
whole of this present number of the Fine Arts'
Quarterly—a paper at one and the same time
a Criticism and a Biography. A third serial con-
tribution, it should also be remarked, is here
brought to a conclusion, meaning the one entitled
interrogatively, " Who was Francesco da Bo-
logna ? " Due note is taken of the recent addi-
tions made, here to the National Gallery, here to the
National Portrait Gallery. Besides the before-
mentioned contributions, and two others hardly
necessary to particularise—one a❑ account of the
"Drawings by Nicolas Poussin in the Royal Col-
lection," the other a very curious Catalogue
Raisonne of the Pictures (at Somerset House) in
the possession of the Society of Antiquaries—
No. 111. of the Fine Arts Quarterly closes, as
usual, with a carefully compiled record
of the Fine Arts, both abroad and in the United
Kingdom. Among the contributions unavoidably
postponed, but immediately forthcoming, we are
interested to see announced, that there are papers on
Ancient Stained Glass and on the Old Abbey at
Westminster.

THE EARL OF DERBY, at the opening of Par-
liament, had no sooner risen than it became evident
that he meant mischief. An eye-witness says :—A gentle-
man near us (not, surely, a member of the P. It.) said he
" went to work with the gloves off," And there can be no
doubt about it that he certainly gave Earl Russell some hard
and ugly knocks, beginning with the betrayal of Reform,
the "meddle and muddle" policy attributed to the Foreign
Secrete' y—a description which won't soon be forgotten—
fastening upon him the part of Moonshine, and comparing
him to Bottom the Weaver. Vero was a burst of laughter
at the lion similes; and wit must be very good in the House
of Lords to create such loud and general amusement. Earl
Russell retorted with Sheridan's taunt. The noble Earl
was relying for wit upon his memory, and for facts upon
his imagination. " The facts aro his own ; the wit is
Shakspere's.' But it was not conveni4nt for Earl Russell
to see just then that the wit was more in the application
than in the words employed. And tho laugh in the end
certainly remained with " the Rupert of debate."
ANOTHER TITTLEBAT TITMOUSE AND LADY
CECILIA DRELINCOURT.--We aro told, says th.
Court Journal, that a young lady of title, quite of the a one
de la creme in society, has determined to ally herself to an
exceedingly wealthy manufacturer in the North, but whose
undesirable obscurity of origin is quite a trifle compared
with the utter want of the commonest refinement in his
habits and manners. Every possible family remonstrance
is being brought to bear in the matter, but the young lady,
it is said, is inexorable.

A SHAKSPERE PERFORMANCE is apparently
meditated by the managers of the Handel Festival
Choir. The programme of tho last rehearsal at Exeter
Hall :included five well-known settings of Shaksperian
words : Stevens's " Blow, blow," and " Spotted snakes,"
Lord Mornington's "As it fell upon a day," Macfarren's
" Orpheus with his lute," and Purcoll's " Sea nymphs
hourly ring his knell."