The Sun.
London, England, 1863-09-14 00:00:00

S ON, LONDON, MO :\ DAY E VENING, SEPTE MBE R 14, 1863.

state there arose that discontent of their position
which in some degree is the cause of progress. The
reason and the imagination exercised themselves,

and they began to desire, not only to lire securely,
but to understand what was about them, and to

gratify the love of beauty, which seems universal.
There is a bad and barbarous art, the same as there
exists a rude and primitive literature; but there is
no nation that has long existed securely that has
not had something it meant for literature,
and also something which it meant for
art." This is a very true definition of
the rise and progress of art in the infancy of nations,
and serves to typify its necessity to every state that
at all contains the germs of progress in its existence,
or that is powerful enough to carry on indepen-
dently of others. Lord STANLEY then went on to
explain the first appearance of artistic creations.
They were always distinguished for vastness, but
gradually came the higher development of taste ;
and when the feeling for art reached this stage it
became popular, and was the " property and pos-
session of an entire nation." As an illustration of
this, he went on to show how things that were
sumptuous and splendid might yet not show to ad-
vantage beside articles which, inferior in intrinsic
value, were to the eye of taste more characteristic
of beauty. As for architecture, you might look, un-
fortunately, in many English towns at some building
of note, to raise which estates have been sold, and
yet some simpler edifice at not a hundredth part of
the cost may strike " the eye as conforming to those
rules of beauty from which the more sumptuous
edifice departs." This is the right way to impress
upon the minds of others the inherent principles of
art, that its triumphs do not depend upon the dis-
play of money or the lavishness of the style em-
ployed, but that humble efforts may in their way
be more successful. Lord ETANLET forcibly
brought out his meaning in these words :

" What is the result of all this ? why that
art ought not to be, cannot be, the mere
plaything of luxury or the slave of wealth."
He then expatiated on the universality of the prin-
ciples of art, which were unlimited in extent, and
not confined to narrow boundaries, or influenced by
sordid motives. "I hardly understand a •man of
sense and feeling," he said, " setting great store on
pleasures which cannot be shared by the great
bulk—at least, of educated men. We value art,
we honour it, we seek to promote it, be-
cause it is in its nature universal—popular
in the true sense—because, like all sources
of enjoyment, which are intellectual, not material,
it belongs to all those, and to those only,
who have within themselves the power to appreciate
it—who are students and scholars, not merely pur-
chasers and patrons." His lordship next commented
on the necessity of art, especially in the present
day, to counteract the growing tendencies of the age
to monetary considerations alone. From the lawyer,
with his briefs, to the operative who tends the loom
and those who labour, all take to one serious pur-
suit, and keep to it during the greater part of their
lives. However good for society this may be, it

is injurious to the individual, for the absorption
begets a narrowness, and also produces a craving
for excitement and pleasure. To gratify these
feelings is a difficult thing, and well it is that art
can do so much, His lordship remarked on the
great improvements that had been made by Eng-
lish manufacturers of late years. M. CHEVALIER,
in his report on the late Exhibition, had mentioned
this striking and satisfactory movement. lie even
dreaded lest the pre-eminence of France, in the
regions of taste, might be injured by the progress
and skill exhibited by English workmen. Some
other French gentlemen have expressed themselves
to this effect, and attributed the success
to the Schools of Design. Finally, Lord
STANLEY made some admirable remarks on the
absurd notions that prevail in some quarters regard-
ing the impossibility of English taste being culti-
vated. There is no want of a love of beauty in the
English mind, remarked his lordship. No people
in Europe, except the Dutch, were so sensitive to
dirt and disorder, negligence and slovenliness, as
the English. If it is too early to boast, it is also too
early to give up, At one time a gentleman im-
ported his pictures as he imported his wine, from
necessity, for no English school of painting existed.
It was therefore patent to observation that England
had during the present generation made great and
rapid progress. "In promoting these schools of design
intended for the better culture of art, we are sup-
plying a real want, and representing the real ten-
dency of our time," It is satisfactory when those
in a high position come forward like Lord STANLEY
to afford their assistance towards carrying out these
interesting and important objects. It is to be
hoped that his earnest and impressive words will
not be thrown away upon those to whom they were
addressed, but that they will persevere in their
efforts, and by their success inspire others to follow
their example. The benefits that accrue to a country
from the right understanding and true ap-
preciation of art are incalculable, and no efforts
should be spared to encourage its progress,

ANOTITER COLONELCY VACANT !—The colonelcy
of the 2d Life Guards is again vacant by the death
of Earl Beauchamp, who enjoyed the honour only for a few
months. We believe it is the rule, that none but peers
shall have the colonelcies of theliousehold Cavalry, and the
accompanying Court office of Gold Sack in Waiting. It
may be fairly presumed then, that the Marquis of Tweed-
dale is not unlikely to be the new colonel, as he is the only
peer who is a full general. He was never a cavalry officer,
but neither were Lord Gough, nor Lord Seaton, nor other
possessors of these posts. Long and distinguished service
has been generally held to furnish a claim, irrespectively
of ,the arm of the service in which it was rendered, and
these qualifications Lord Tweeddale very well fulfils--
Army and _Navy Gazette.

CAMPDEN HOUSE—we have from the Court
Journal—Somewhere about the middle of the last
century, became a fashionable ladies' boarding school.
Here George Selwyn visited a protegee of his, Mdlle.
Fagniani, who married the late Marquis of Hertford.
Campden House, which had fallen into the hands of a Mr.
Pitt, continued to be a boarding-school up to a considerable
period of the present century. Mr. Wolley's residence
there has lately been made known to the public. Offering
no comment upon the trial, we content ourselves with con-
gratulating Mr. Wolley on the result, which we consider
was a most just one. When leaving Croydon, Mr. Wolley
and Miss Coape were loudly cheered by the populace. The
bells at Kensington rang when the news reached there of
the verdict; and the neighbourhood of Notting-hill seemed
delighted at the result of this protracted trial. And last,
though not least, nearly all the numerous friends and tics-
quaintances who partook of the hospitality of Campden
House have warmly expressed their sympathy at the
result.

THE RUSSIAN ANSWER AND COMING REFORMS.

—lf we are well informed (says the Independance),
and we believe we are, the Russian answer which is ex •
petted in London, Paris, and Vienna, whilst maintaining
the principles already laid down by Russia in previous
despatches, and reiterated in the last article of the St.
Petersburg Journal, will likewise contain
.an indication of
the reforms projected by the Government of the Czar.
These reforms will consist of the introduction of the prin-
ciple of decentralisation, on representative bases, into the
administration of the empire. Provincial institu-

tions, similar to those of the arrondissement and
departmental councils of France will be established. The
members will bo chosen by election. The functions of these
councils will be more extensive than the similar ones in
France, and will more resemble iii character those of the
provincial councils in Belgium. With respect to Poland
the institutions indicated in the treaties of 1815, with per-
haps some extension, will be granted, but only after its
pacification, and without the least mixture of interference
on the part of foreigners. The answer will soon be sent
from St. Petersburg, but its contents are already known by
ovenertnirme esnattsisoffaetion France,to tw
Eno of : the meaninggiven glandt,haenmdlustria,andh ofave
which is that the third will also have to accept them.

LATEST INTELLIGENCE.

CANADA.

MONTREAL, SEPT. 3.
Mr. Sicotte's motion of want of confidence in the
Ministry has been defeated in the Assembly by a
majority of 63 against 60 votes.

DRURY LANE THEATRE,

The winter season of this national establishment
commenced on Saturday evening, under the
management of Messrs. Falconer and Cnatterton.
Although in the company the names of many of the
favourites of last season are not to be found, yet
amongst those already engaged by the combined
management we have Messrs. Walter Lacy, Ryder,
Addison, G. Belmore, Charles, Barrett, and Neville,
Misses C. Saunders, Murray, Rose Leclerq, Mrs.
Melville, and Mrs. Edmund Falconer. Mr. Phelps
is also under engagement to Messrs. Falconer and
Chatterton, and the piece in preparation for this
gentleman is Lord Byron's tragedy of Manfred,
which is to be produced with extraordinary splen-
dour. The opening piece on Saturday was a three-
act comedy from the pen of Mr. Falconer, entitled
entitled "Nature's above Art," the plot of which
is certainly neither brief nor simple. On the
contrary, it is difficult, nay almost impossible, to see
the intention of the author, yet as nearly as we
could make it out it is as follows. An elderly
country gentleman, one Mr. Mordaunt, residing in
Warwickshire, is awaiting the return of his son
Edgar from his travels, when, through the mysteri-
ous hints of a certain romantic chambermaid, one
Sally Stiggins, we begin to imagine the above men-
tioned Edgar is not that personage. This impres-
sion is strengthened when we find that Mr. Edgar,
instead of applying the proceeds of the large cheques
he has been in the habit of receiving from Mr.
Mordaunt in improving his intellectual capacities,
has been squandering them in low life and dissipation
with a member of the P.R., one Bill Paddick, and
another individual, a little more polished but not
less unscrupulous, a Mr. Meander Wilderspoon.
. Before the conclusion of the first act the doubt re-
lative to Edgar being Mordaunt's son becomes a
certainty, and then arrives an interesting young
lady, Miss Ellen Lacy, with a companion and
schoolfellow, Blanche Maydew,at the Squire's home.
Blanche is a foundling, and when the old man en-
deavours to recollect where he has seen her before,
we begin to suspect that she is the personage whose
arrival is so anxiously lcoked for. In the second
act we expect to find the identity of Blanche
Maydew established, but it is not so, and again we
are left to puzzle ourselves who the "real Simon
Pure" is. We now learn that just at the time
Squire Mordaunt's lady became a mother, Mrs.
Stiggins, a domestic in the service, also gave birth
to a daughter, and both infants being females, we
are informed by the housekeeper that a change of
babies took place, and that the romantic and heroic
Sally Stiggins is no other than the daughter of
Squire Mordaunt. Sally now assumes high impor-
tance, and the once wealthy Edgar now sinks into
comparative poverty, at the same time his name, of
course, changes from that of high sounding Mordaunt
to that of vulgar Stiggins. Sally, now a lady, finds
she cannot stoop to marry Edgar Stiggins, and not
withstanding the appeals of her once adored lover,
she gives him the cold shoulder. All seems going
on satisfactorily when a Mr. Oldacre arrives at the
hall, and he creates the utmost consternation by his
inferming them that the child, imagined to be a
girl, was in fact a bay ; then the fortunes of Sally
begin to decline, and Edgar thinks there's yet a
chance left for him. The complicated matter, how-
ever, is taken in hand in the third act by the house-
keeper, and she calls in an aged nurse who
declares that a mistake has been made about
the change, that the son of Squire Mordaunt is n
other than Meander Wilderspoon, who, during the
action of the piece, has become a penitent and re-
formed gentleman, and whose identity can be esta-
blished by the mark of a pickled walnut (!)on his left
arm. Blanche Maydew turns out to be the lost
daughter of Mr. Oldacre, and everything ends to the
satisfaction of all parties engaged in the play, if not
to those who have been witnessing its representa-
tion "before the curtain." We must say that great
perplexity evidently prevailed amongst the
audience, and they seemed inclined to agree in the
opinion expressed by BillPuddick,when he exclaimed
"I'm blessed if I know who's who, or what's what."
Mr. Lacy, Mr. Addison, Mr. Ryder, and Mr. G.
Be!more sustained capitally the respective parts of
Meander Wilderspoon, Bill Puddick, Squire Mor-
daunt, and Edgar; whilst Miss Charlotte Saunders
as Sally Stiggins, and Mrs. Falconer as the house-
keeper, acted with their accustomed spirit and
effect. The great fault of the piece is over-elabo-
ration, but when the play has undergone the com-
pression that usually takes place after a first repre-
sentation there seems to be no reason why
" Nature's above Art " should not become attrac-
tive, notwithstanding its peculiar construction.
The good old Lyceum farce, " A Day Well Spent,"
in which in former days poor Wrench and Oxberry
used in the old time to delight the public, brought the
entertainments to a very satisfactory conclusion.
Mr. Falconer received a very hearty and enthu-
siastic welcome on his appearkg before the curtain
to acknowledge the honour of " a call," and every
person present seemed to be animated with the wish
and desire that his present season may result in a
solid and substantial success.