The Sun.
London, England, 1871-02-06 00:00:00

LITERATURE

Art. Nos. I.—VIII. Sampson Low, Son, and

Marston,

Photography is here most happily applied to the diffu-
sion of a purer taste for art. Art is here, in other words,
reproduced and reflected in a wonderful manner by the
magical aid of the lens of the camera and the marvellous
agency of collodion. The thought out of which this
exquisite serial publication has sprung into existence is
eminently felicitous. It brings the luxuries of wealth
within reach of the most moderate competence. Replicas,
so to speak, of an entirely new kind are, in these pictured
pages of Art, brought to homes as unpretending as the
suburban villa and the rural cottage. Precisely as the

totographic album comprises
_within it " counterfeit

.
presentments" of the "human face divine," so does Art,
aided by the same wonder-working application of science,
place in our hands, month after month, the vera effigies now
of an oil painting, now of a water-colour drawing, now of
a crayon sketch, now of some rare specimen of the
ceramic art, of the noble art of the sculptor, of the more
utilitarian art of the metal-worker, of tangled glimpses of
Nature herself, peeps of woodland scenery, and nooks and
corners of hedgerow vegetation. The result is altogether
charmingly varied, singularly attractive, and, appraised
though the publication is by the publishers at half-a-
crown per monthly instalment, in many respects to the
student both of art and of nature, it is simply invaluable.
illustrative of the extraordinary richness of effect which
As photography is capable of producing upon occasions,
we would:simply direct attention to the noble portrait from
Vandyck. Then, again, as chewing how a masterpiece in
the shape of a line engraving can be reproduced by the
photographer's apparatus, nothing could be happier in the
way of what we may call a proof positive than the lovely
copy here given of Raffaelle's La Belle Jardinière. To
see how much can be made of an exquisite interior, it
will suffice to turn either to the Picture Gallery or the
Drawing Room at Strawberry Hill, near Richmond. For
statuary as thus shadowed forth again with all the round-
ness and substance of the stereoscope, the reader could
hardly do better than examine the masterly manner in
which one plate mirrors Theed's statue of the late Earl of
Derby, who is there pourtrayed, by the way, not as is
said erroneously in the letter-press in his robes as a peer,
but in the far more gorgeous robes and badges and
paraphernalia peculiar to a Knight of the Garter. Another
admirable reproduction of a sculptor's masterpiece is here
given also in Milne's group of " Samson strangling the
Lion." There are, besides these, the " Flora" of Greuze,
from Prince Demidoff's collection ; a reflex of Sir Joshua's
" Holy Family ;" a copy of the " Charles I. in Vandyck's
Studio," from the original of Escosura ; and various other
illustrations worthy of careful examination in this diversi-
fied and admirably well selected series of photographs.
The publication is altogether, though in appearance
costly, in reality a very marvel of cheapness. It is
ably and carefully edited—the list of contributors in-
cluding such competent hands in the way of criticism as
Blanchard Jerrold and Edmund Oilier. In the interests
of Art as a study, it is earnestly to be hoped that Art as
a periodical may long flourish, for it unmistakeably takes
rank at once as among the number of our practical
civilizers.

Nasmitk's Practical Linguist—German. Two volumes.

Daid Nutt.

The Hamiltonian system of tuition in foreign languages
is well known, a system describable as interlinear, or
translating made easy. It has long been popular. It
elears away no doubt many difficulties. But it is for the
most part, as we may say, like learning to swim with
bladders. It is like teaching a child to walk by putting
him in an old fashioned go-cart. It is like a flagrant
reversal of all the laws of the schoolroom by legalising
what is known in schoolboy phrase as " crib." Starting
upon the Hamiltonian system in search of the requisition
of that new sense, as it has been happily called, another
foreign language, the student is seldom, or ever, or at any
rate not for a long time afterwards, self-reliant. He has
been, so to speak, coddled overmuch. He walks with a
stick, or rather hobbles with the aid of crutches. He
breathes through a respirator. His sight is guarded
and dimmed by green-goggles. The system is hardly, for
these reasons, to be encouraged—for some of these reasons
indeed, it is, on the contrary, to be deprecated.
A wholeSomer, sounder, far more bracing and invigo-
rating system has long been what the hackneyed phrase
of the prospectus-framer terms a desideratum. That long-
hoped-for system we seriously believe has, in the " Prac-
tical Linguist " of David Nesmith, been at length disco-
vered. Mr. Nasmith's name as that of a great intellectual
benefactor we have long been familiar with, by reason of
his extraordinary compilation of the " Chronometrical
Chart of the History of England." That masterly per-
formance, the fruit of enormous labour, and of perfectly
inimitable dexterity in the manner of its arrangement
and classification, we have taken occasion years ago
in these columns to commend in the strongest
terms at our command. The lingual scheme now
propounded by our author and illustrated, or, in other
words, very clearly and succinctly set forth in these two
pamphlet-volumes upon German, appears to us, after
mature consideration, and a most carefully examination
of it, as an entirely original and eminently practice
system, to be worthy of the brain that conceived and the
hand that executed the Chronometrical Chart already
mentioned. Mr. Nasmith's plan admits of very ready
explanation. It is the result, as lie tells us in his intro-
duction, of many years' meditation upon the study of
foreign languages. It is designed to facilitate the study
and acquisition of any one of the foreign languages. Mr.
Nesmith begins with German, but promises to
follow the present work •up with others a
a similar character on English, French, and
Latin--" Practical Linguists " that we for one are pre"
pared to welcome, when they do appear, most cordially.
Mr. Nasmith's system is based upon the numerical value
of words—the idea, here, as it seems to us, being capable
of illustration upon the instant by reference to the nume-
rical value of letters in a compositor's case, as is very weli
known alike to the.printer and the typefounder. Calling
in
statistical
of wordsatistical with the
inquirytohis
utmosta
atidingeptotainsigble ur
the numerical
meriot
u
author built up gradually two catalogues, called respee"
tively a Permanent Vocabulary and an Auxiliary Voca-
bulary. Knowing only 15Q words of the Permanent
Vocabulary, anyone of ordinary intelligence can at one°
carry on a conversation of considerable range in the lan-
guage which he has thus far, and only thus far, acquired-
Then follow exercises in English, and after that exercise°
in German, word by word. Subsequently the German L 9
then translated into English without any regard totot
meaning of it as English—the whole being a faithful trans"
cript in English from the German verbal, arrangement-
This Mr. Nesmith terms, for want of a better phrase,
Anglicised German. It accustoms the reader to "tb
' in the foreign mould." Afterwards, as the foreign vocabir
lary increases, the words naturally, as he says, drop int°
their proper places. Then come the Grammatical Coy
mentaries, containing all the essential rules of. Gerrneu
grammar. To recapitulate ; First, the words ; secondly'
the combinations ; thirdly, the grammatical rules :
each of these in the order of their value. Let any stilt-10
apply himself thoughtfully to the study of the plan bel
set forth by Mr. Nesmith with admirable lucidity, 5%.
we are satisfied he will find the toil of acquiring a lanp',neg
so taught, as compared with other systems of tuiti°ll'
diminished by one-third at the very least.

iT
Lord Elcho, according to John Full, will in -
probability move an amendment to the Address.
Sir Edwin Landseer has been suffering frora ear
treme illness ; but he is now progressing favourably.
We have it on good authority that French ager;
in London are still giving out contracts for war suPP.:
The Inverness Courier says: "Mr. John Bright i 9
expected tocome to Invergarry about the end of Felons"'
for salmon fishing."
An Order in Council has been issued, setting ,-°,
,0
rof
that, under the provisions of the Naturalisation Ac:;,-
last session, her Majesty has entered into a convell";ef
with the United States to the effect that any citizel!t'o
those States who have been naturalised as 13r/ 00
subjects may now divest themselves of their status
such subjects.
The Queen has appointed Ernest Alexander Cie:el l-;
dinning Schalch to be Attorney-General for Jsra3eer
He has practised at the Common ILAN'? Bar, and is 3 To j. 4
ber of the Home Circuit. The Law Journal believes, roey-
the first gentleman appointed to the office of -A-tb% the
General of Jamaica from the ranks of practitionerlfreo
English bar, all his predecessors having been seleet°l-`
the local advocates. tbst
Official announcement is made in the GaZette lop
the Queen has granted unto Sir Thomas Erski nets,
K.C.8., the office of Under Clerk of the Parliara7.
ryrid
the room of Sir Denis Le Marchant, Bart., resigile`Areat
has directed Letters Patent to be passed under tlle-1.,
Seal appointing the Rev. John Manley. forthWal 4,;iitca
Prebend in the Cathedral, Exeter ; and also r
of Treasurer of the said church. next
ERRATUM.—In the second paragraph of our so
Friday, art should have been act ; and the two 1.17... jar
tences ehould have run as follows :—lt will throLis,
light upon the dark places, happily now verY
not en ours a bi
numbers, but it prevents, or at least does n dopte
the fuller and more complete publicity alreadY t
is drawn forth by the newly-issued balancenUeecoot,
those offices who have notAing to hide. This 9130r0cf3
Provident Clerks' Association, whose report a d a 4;
for the thirtieth year lie before us,

e diffu-
words,
by the
rvellous
ch this
tence is
wealth
eplieas,
dctured
as the

as the
mterfeit

oes Art,

science,