The Sun.
London, England, 1853-04-25 00:00:00

FINE ARTS.

EXHIBITION OF THE OLD SOCIETY OF
WATER-COLOUR PAINTERS.
On Saturday afternoon we had the gratification of at-
tending the private view of this annual and popular
exhibition. The present, which is the fortieth display
made by the Old Society of Painters in Water Colours,
may be numbered, in several respects, among the ranks
of some of its most successful predecessors. We believe
this was pretty generally the impression of those who
passed through the porch of 5, Pall-Mall East, and
crowded the gallery during 'the fashionable hours (for
even time in civilised life haiportions that are and other
portions that are not fashionable) the day before yester-
day. Nevertheless, while we must in justice speak thus
in ungrudging terms of commendation, we must perforce
assert at the outset that an annual visit to the collection
distributed over the walls of, that department becomes
in the end somewhat monotonous. Our taste grows
sated by that inevitable uniformity, even though it be
(as it is in many instances) the uniformity of excellence.
It is possible to imagine beforehand exactly what we are
going to witness at No. 5, Pall Mall East, as the season
comes round when we are invited by that agreeable
fragment of pasteboard to inspect the treasures of the new
Exhibition. We can foresee the general appearance of the
room before we ascend that almost perpendicular stair-
case. Somebody recently writing in one of the Quar-
terlies lamented the improbability of any one making
away with that everlasting suit of armour—fluted—
which glitters in almost all the products of the easel of
Mr. Corbould. Somebody else, long ago, declaimed—
we cannot but think rather unwisely—against the eter-
nal repetition of yellow and green, green and yellow, in
the paintings of Mr. Poole. Unwisely we say in this
case, seeing that the artist may well be pardoned for
any sort of partiality or predilection yielding to the
world—as in "Solomon Eagle during the plague of Lon-
don," or as in " Job and the Messengers"—such incom-
parable masterpieces. Yet the principle implied in.the
objection commands our hearty recognition. Whenever
we see the same old story told (in the manipulation at
least) over, and over, and over again--we long for a
change, even though it were at the risk of its proving a
change from merit to mediocrity. We yearn to see the
genius of art rising above the deteriorating level
of mere mannerism. We long to see Mr. Frost,
for example, giving us something else than those
enamelled crudities of his—exquisite though they
We pine to see Mr. Maclise devoting more
care (as he used " once upon a. time") to the
grouping, and the passion, and the poetry of his com-
positions, and less to the delineation of rusty nails and
minute May-blossoms. We are beginning to dread
more and more the dogged repetition of the same wearying
peculiarities, until we can scarcely look without a sup-
pressed shudder at those abominably clever rustic boys
of Mr. Hunt, and those detestably ingenious Italian
mendicants of Mr. Mir:stone. It is with feelings like
these—half of pleasure, half of indignation—that we visit
each year the collection of the Old Society of Water
Colourists. The chiefs of the society are wonderfully
gifted, but they are also wonderfully given to the vice of
repeating themselves. There is Copley Fielding, the
President, with his masterly sea-pieces— always the
ssaaymineg—:v—erywashe
pairdoifhtuhpoemh
a "as
neutral-tint
like
a s twogr
ground,
pins,"
with
t thh
ae
touch that has come at last to be very nearly indeed
the touch of perfection. There is Frederick Tayler again,
with his mountain scenery, enlivened by figures who
are always " bringing home the deer." And so on, to the
end of the chapter. It would really seem that
having once succeeded in some particular method, the
same path is pursued by the artist thenceforth and for
ever—the same ground is traversed perpetually, the same
walk is trodden and re-trodden, until it becomes worn
out like the steps of some old shrine or confessional.
Notwithstanding this extraordinary curse of sameness,
our galleries are each season adorned with works in some
instances highly meritorious. It is thus in the present
case with the Old Water-Colour Exhibition. Several
pictures hanging at this moment on the walls of the
gallery are really admirable specimens of the masters
from whose blended skill and industry they have
emanated. No. 50, "The Water Meadows, Droxford,
Hants," by W. Evans, of Eton, is a delicious land-
scape— a landscape worthy of being coupled through the
catalogue with that daintily suggestive line from dear old
Izaak Walton--" Trust me, I have caught many a trout
in this particular meadow: The production, we re-
peat, is delicious as a limning fronf nature—but
then W. Evans, of Eton, is always delightful—
a keen and appreciative observer of that sub-
lime subject, the contemplation of which Harold
Skimpole did not wish to be obstructed by "the
absurd figure of an angry baker." No. 68, " Marino
Faliero," by Carl Haag— one of the most attractive pic-
tures in the Gallery— is a brilliant example of colouring,
the situation of the two figures introduced, the Doge
and the Spy, being marvellously effective and dramatic.
No. 62. " Highland Peat Girl, Banavie, Inverness-
shire," by T. M. Richardson, though a small and un-
pretending sketch hung out of the way, at rather too
great an elevation, is noticeable especially for the grace-
ful form of the lassie and the natural repose of her atti-
tude. No. 73, " Old Mill at Ringwood, Hants ;" and
No. 84, "A Showery Day," both by George Fripp, are
charming glimpses of that home-scenery George Fripp
knows so well how to pourtray, without overlooking the
main source of their fascination. No. 77, "Richard
11. resigns his Crown to Bolingbroke," by John Gilbert
about the most pretentious work in the col-
lection is, to our thinking, also, about the
least satisfactory. Its indefatigable artist fails in
proportion to the ascent of his ambition. No.
82, " Italian Landscape—composition," by T. M.
Richardson, is chiefly conspicuous for the merit displayed
in that same composition. The rustics grouped together
in the foreground are introduced with a freedom and
grace quite inimitable. There are two capital little
gleams of Irish humour in Nos. 110 and 121, by H. P.
Riviere, respectively entitled (and the very titles are
comically suggestive of the fun in each) " A Bit of
Blarney" and " A little Botheration." Alfred Fripp
has two extraordinary productions, productions to our
mind as extravagant as extraordinary. No. 124, "Il
dolce far niente, ' as raw in colouring as tasteless in de-
sign, displays the domestic evolutions of a sort of Oriental
Professor Risley. The other extravagance alluded to, is
No, 165, " Pompeii the city of the dead," by the same
artist—a work ghastly with blue-lights and ruin, being,
in short, little better than a Vauxhall transparency.
Carl Haag has, besides the picture already noticed,
another, No. 172, representing his Royal Highness the
Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (brother of the Prince
Consort) and his Serene Highness the Prince Leiningen
(half-brother of her Majesty the Queen of England)—
returning from a chamois hunt, in the valley of the
Inner-Riss, Tyrol. The oddity of the costumes worn
by the Princes imparts a piquancy to the composition.
We observe that the painting is announced to be the pro-
perty of her Majesty, according to the catalogue. A horrid
subject is treated rather preposterously by J. Stepha-
noff—meaning No. 190, " A Party of Huntsmen an-
noying a Congregation in a Church." The work in
question is altogether detestable, and, looking at it, we
cannot but regret that the artist ever glanced at
" Smith's Games and Amusements." It would be un-
fair not to notice as commendable. No. 191, " Elizabeth
Castle, Jersey—storm clearing off," by C. Bentley. A
variety of pictures in the gallery might be particularised
in terms of deserved eulogium, especially several among
the contributions of Cox and Callow, of Duncan and
Gastineau. -
Among the visitors we observed the Duke and Duchess
of Argyll, the Marquis and Marchioness of Camden, the
Marquis and Marchioness of Ailesbury, the Marquis of
Lansdowne, the Earl and Countess Grey, Earl Grosve-
nor, the Earl of Carlisle, the Earl of Bradford, the
Bishops of London and Winchester, Lords Colborne,
Overstone, Galway, St. Leonards, Campbell, &c., &c. ;
together with several of the Foreign Ambassadors and
Royal Academicians.

are.

ROYAL SOCIETY.—The Earl of Rosse, as President of
the Royal Society, gave his first soiree for the season on
Saturday. Among thosa present were, the Duke of
Leinster, Earl of Lanesborough, Earl of Enniskillen,
Earl of Sheffield, Lord Colchester, Lord Trimlestown,
Lord Berriedale, Lord Mahon' Lord Radstock, Lord
Carew, Lord Beaumont, Baron Goldsmid, the Austrian
Minister, the Prussian Minister, Bishop of Oxford,
Bishop of St. Asaph, the Lord Chief Baron, Sir P. Eger-
ton, Sir W. Harris, Sir W. Ross, Sir H. Douglas,
Sir G. Phillips, Sir J. Clarke, Sir J. Staunton, Sir
R. Inglis, Sir W. C. Trevelyan, Sir H. Ellis, Sir J.
Boileau, Sir J. Hansler, Sir D. Brewster, Sir B. Brodie,
Sir J. South, Sir C. Lemon, Sir C. Fellows, Sir L. Ot-
way, Sir H. Holland, the President of the College Phy-
sicians, the Astronomer Royal, Professors, Farcday,
Sharpey, Whaatsone, and Tennant, General Wavell,
Adr_rui. -al Bowles, Mr. Babbage' Colonel York, Colonel
Sanderson, Mr. Cardwell, M.P., .Mr. Hume, M.P., Mr.
Heywood, M.P., Mr. Tite, Hon. Mr. Parsons, Mr.
Weld, Mr. Murray, Mr. Lefroy, Colonel Sabine, R.A.,
Captain Beechey, Dr. Farre, Dr. Playfair, Dr. Bence,
Jones, Dr. Thompson, Dr. arre, Dr. Owen Rees Dr.
Twiss, Dr. Sibson, Mr. Rennie, Rev. J. Barlow, Colonel
Chesney, Dr. Lee, Mr. Tupper, Mr. Bishop, Mr. Hind,
Mr. Godwin, Mr. Burk, Mr. Neville, Mr. Everett, Mr.
Barclay, Mr. Auldjo, Mr. Partridge, Mr. Pickersgill,
&c.,.. &c.
PROGRESS OF THE CHOLERA.—In the last sitting of
the Academy of Medicine, Professor Jules Cloquet com-
municated a letter which he had received from Teheran,
from his nephew, who is physician to the Shah of _Persia,
in which he gives some interesting details on the subject
of the cholera. He says : We are threatened with cholera
this spring, and I am obliged to do the honours of
this
the
coUntry to this disagreeable visitor. The malady in
instance follows a progress quite unusual. It broke out at
Bussorah in 1851 ; it has already Como up the course of
the Tigris as far as Bagdad; from Bagdad, in crossing the
Kurdistan it directed its course towards the province of
Azerbaidjan. After having ravaged that country, and
particularly Tauris, the capital of it, it proceeds to the
south and south-east, following the borders of the Cas e
earanc
pian Sea, and It is stated that itlhas made its app
at Cashin, which is only 22 leagues from Teheran. Ac-
cording to this itinerary it is not probable that on this
occasion it will direct its course towards Europe, and
there is every reason to hope that after having levied its
quota on Persia, the malady will proceed to India, its
native el:wintry, which it ought never to have quitted.

COURT CIRCULAR.

The Duchess of Kent and the Duchess de Nemours
visited the Queen on Saturday afternoon at Buckingham
Pal ace.

Prince Albert rode out on horseback on Saturday
morning attended by Lieut.-Col. F. H. Seymour.

Prince Arthur and the Princesses Helena. and Louisa
took a drive on Saturday forenoon in an open carriage
and four.

Prince Albert, with the Prince of Wales, the Princess
Royal, and the Princess Alice, and the Duchess of Kent
and the Princess Adelaide of Hohenlohe, attended divine
service yesterday morning in the private chapel of Buck-
ingham palace. The ladies and gentlemen in waiting
and the domestic household also attended the service.
The Hon. and Rev. Gerald Wellesley officiated.
The Duchess of Kent, accompanied by the Princess
Adelaide of Hohenlohe, and attended by Lady Anna
Maria Dawson and Sir George Couper, honoured the
performance of the French Plays on Saturday evening
with her presence.

The Duke and Duchess de Nemours visited the
Duchess of Kent on Saturday at Clarence House, St.
Jamess.

The Duchess of Kent visited the Duchess of Gloucester
yesterday at Gloucester House, Piccadilly.
The deputation from the Atlantic and Pacific Junc-
tion Company ...had an interview with the Earl of
Clarendon on Saturday at the Foreign Office. The de-
putation consisted of Lord Wharncliffv (chairman), Mr.
J. Pemberton Heywood, Mr. T. Crampton, Mr. Win.
John Hamilton, Mr. H. T. Hope, Mr. L. H. Hasle-
wood, Mr. Alex. Wilson, Mr. George Cowan, Sir Char.
Fox, Capt. Mackinnon, Mr. Charles Freshfield, Mr.
Lionel Gisborne, Dr. Black, and Dr. Cullen.
A deputation on the subject of the Royal Albert
Park, for the City and the borough of Finsbury, had an
interview with the Earl of Aberdeen and the Chancellor
of the Exchequer, at the official residence of the First
Lord of the Treasury in Downing-street, on Saturday.
The deputation consisted of Lord Robert Grosvenor,
M.P., the Lord Mayor, M.P., Mr. T. S. Duncombe,
M.P., Mr. Joseph Hume, M.P., Mr. Josiah Wilson,
J.P., Mr. Charles Pearson, Mr. G. W. Alexander, Mr.
Jacob Vincent, Mr. Frederick Sandoz, Mr. Thosi. Dix,
Mr. William Tyler, Mr. John Barnett, and Mr. James
Lloyd.
A deputation of the chairman and directors of London
and Limerick Steam Ship Company, contisting of Mr.
W. Russell,. M.P., Alderman M'Donnell, and Mr.
Henry O'Shea, had an interview with the Right Hon.
E. Cardwell, on Saturday, at the Board of Trade.
A deputation on the subject of the repeal of the at-
torney's certificate duty had an interview with 11he Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer, on Saturday, at his official
residence in Downing-street. The deputation consisted
of Lord Robert Grosvenor, M.P., Sir Wm. Verner,
M.P., Mr. Fitzgerald, M.P., and Mr. Hinderley (vice
president), Messrs. Keith Barnes, Cookson, Dr. Leman
(members of the Council), and Mr. Maugham, secretary
of the Incorporated Law Society. •
Dispatches were received at the Colonial-office on Sa-
turday from the Governors of the West India Islands.
A Cabinet Council was held at the Foreign-office,
Downing-street, on Saturday. The ministers present
were—the Earl of Aberdeen, Lord John Russell, the
Lord Chancellor, Earl Granville, the Duke of Argyll,
the Marquis of Lansdowne, Viscount Palmerston, the
Earl of Clarendon, the Duke of Newcastle, the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer, Sir James Graha Sir Charles
Wood, the Right Hon. Sidney Herbert, and Sir William
Molesworth. The council sat three hours and a half.
A Commission is about to be issued to proceed on a
complimentary visit to the American Exhibition of In-
dustry at New York. It is to be headed by the Earl of
Ellesmere and Sir Henry de la Beche.

SYDNEY.

Accounts have been received from Sydney vie/ Pana-
ma, dated the 15th of January, and consequently more
than a fortnight later than those by the last arrival.
With regard both to the gold-mines and the general
course of trade, they are interesting and satisfactory.
The production of gold, it is stated, was rapidly in-
creasing, and the accounts were equally favourable from
almost all districts.. At Turon the water was rapidly
subsiding, and great results were expected,' the average
return of each claim being alleged to amount to about
10 ounces per day. At the Southern diggings, in the
neighbourhood of Braidwood, the returns are reported
to continue large, the average weekly sum per man
being 30 to 40 ounces. In the north, at the Hanging
Rock, the diggings are said to be nearly deserted ; but
at a spot called Rocky River, all employed were doing
well. The statements from the Victoria frontier, in rela-
tion to the yield at the Ovens were very encouraging. New
discoveries had been made, and the number of miners at
work was estimated at 6,000. A private escort company
had been formed at Sydney to proceed to these mines,
and had started its first expedition on the 13th of Jan.
According to general report, a very large quantity of
gold was waiting for transmission to Sydney, and it was
thought likely that the escort would return with a ton
weight. The difficulties with respect to vessels getting
away appear to have diminished. The Kate had sailed
for London on the 12th with 28,977 ounces of gold,
worth 115,0001. ; and the Cuthberts on the following
day, with 445 ounces. The John Taylor had also sailed
with 11,847 ounces, the Joshua with 5,732 ounces, and
the Sir Robert Sale with 13,836 ounces ; the latter all
from Victoria. The steamer Sarah Sands was to sail
from Sydney for Liverpool, via Melbourne and the Cape
of Good Hope, on the 27th of January. Among the
sailing-vessels about to depart for England were the
Washington Irving, on the 17th ; the Lydia, Windsor,
and Waterloo, on the 20th ; and the Cheapside on the 21st
of January ; the Cyrus, on the Ist of February ; the An-
glesey, on the 10th ; the Templar, on the 12th ;
the Carnatic, on the 20th ; and the Vimiera, Black
River, and Catherine Jameson, at dates not specified.
The Peninsular and Oriental Company's steamer Shang-
hai was expected from Singapore about the Ist of Feb.,
and would be dispatched during the same month. The
price of gold was 725. 9ad. for Victoria, and 70s. 9d. for
New South Wales. The discovery that spurious gold
had been mixed with the genuine had caused much ex-
citement. Some of the persons had been apprehended,
and a man named Carey was committed for trial. It
was not supposed that much of it had reached Sydney,
but that a large quantity had been shipped from Mel-
bourne. The demand for consumable goods continued
very large, especially for beer, spirits, wines, spices,
coffee, cheese, hams, pickles, and cured fish. Flour was
in less request, and sugar, although taken in large quan-
tities, had, declined 30s. per ton. Metals, paints, &c.,
owing to the scarcity of mechanical labour, were not sale-
able to any extent. The Sydney Herald contains an
article intended to discourage the new English banks,
in which the enormous profits of the existing banks
are attributed to the fact that they employ very
little capital, and that the gains from their large deposits
have consequently to be distributed only upon a small
amount of shares. At the same time, however, there is
no attempt to deny that these deposits are employed
with ease, and at rates sufficiently high to show that
there is a fair field for competition. A meeting of the
Commercial Banking Company of Sydney was to be held
on the 25th of January to arrange for the establishment
of a branch in London with a local board. Among the
new companies lately started at Sydney was an Austra-
lian Clothes Washing Association in 5,000 shares of 1/.
each. Subjoined are the latest quotations of the prin-
cipal lßbaanlickienfgandgc:ld Australasia,nonecompanies
:
offered ; Union Bank, 62
per cent. premium ; Bank of New South Wales, 201. paid,
36; Commercial Bank, 251. paid, 41; Australian Joint
Stock, 1/. paid, 2 ; Sydney Gas Company, 61. paid, 8a ;
Sydney Railway, guaranteed 5 per cent. interest on secu-
rity of public land fund, 3/. ss. paid, 2i dil. ; Wentworth
Mining Company, par ; Australasian Mining Company,
par. ; Turon -Gold Ridge Company, par; Great Nugget
Vein Company, pm."

NEWLY-INVITED DIVING APPARATUS.—We mentioned
some days ago that an experiment had been made
in the Seine of a diving apparatus invented by a M.
Simon Sicard. A second trial has just taken place:
M. Victor de Grandchamp, a friend of the inventor,
was let dowh into the river at twenty-three minutes
after one o'clock, seated on an iron chair at a part of
the river near the Ile des Cygnes, where the water is
not less than 15 feet deep. On reaching the bottom M.
de Grandchamp quitted the chair, and commenced his
subaqueous promenade, and again came up at 48 minutes
after one, thus making 25 minutes that the experiment
lasted. The apparatus is very simple. It consists
principally of a metal box, which the diver carries on
his back like a knapsack, and in which is produced
an artificial atmosphere, which remains the secret
of the inventor. To this box there are two openings
corresponding to a kind of helmet, which forms the head-
dress, and which terminates at the back by two tubes in
caoutchouc, about 20 centimetres long ; these tubes con-
duct the artificial air contained in the box to the interior
of the helmet. The dress is in caoutchouc, and reaches from
the shoulders to the feet. The extremities of the arms have
the form of gloves, in order to give free action to the
fingers, and the legs are terminated by socks. This
dress opens on the breast, and is arranged in such a
manner that it can be closed hermetically enough to
entirely exclude water. The part over the chest is
strengthened on the inside by a kind of cuirass, in
order that the pressure of -the water may not prevent
free respiration. The helmet is of a round form, and
large enough to admit of the head moving about in
every way. It is furnished in front with three round
glasses—one in the middte opposite the eyes, and the
others on the sides. To the waist belt of the dress are
adapted several leaden weights, heavy enough to act as
equalibrium to the water. The aocks are composed of
leaden sandals, fixed to the legs by means of straps.
The system is completed by a lantern, which burns under
water. Three times during the experiment, which was
attended with the most complete success, M. Grand-
champ came to the surface, bringing with him stones
from 201 b. to 301 b. weight, without requiring any f
supply of air beyond that at first contained in the box.
—Galignani's Messenger.
EXPORTS OF SPECIE.—The official statement of the ex-
ports of the precious metals from the port of London
during the week ending Thursday last is as follows:--
Goldfollows:--
Gold bars to Boulogne
"to Belgium lO,OOO oz.
" Coin to Melbourne and Port Phillip., 93 2001.
" " to Bekum ,
" "to Hamburg ............. 80,000 oz.
„ to Sydney
16,146 „

Total g01d...... £93,200 and 127,126 oz.

Silver Bars to Bombay 146,389 oz.
to Boulogne 6OO
Coin to Boulogne 2OO „

Total silver 147,189 oz.
The shipments from the oetports have been to the
extent of about.3oo,ooo/.