The Sun.
London, England, 1871-02-03 00:00:00

gable member for Kilkenny city, has been in a delicate

state of health for a considerable period.
Let me refer to Art subjects in a few brief sentences.
The studentships for the Royal Academy have been
awarded this week, and, as usual, much discontent has
arisen among the friends of the unsuccessful candidates at
some of the decisions. One of the best of our R.A.'s has
had no hesitation in saying that the drawing from the
antique, executed by a certain young lady who has
already gained considerable reputation as a sculptor, was
a work of great superiority, and yet she is
not included among the happy mortals who will
be allowed free instruction from the Academicians
for seven years. I understand that out of fifty
candidates for the 1871 studentships the committee have
only selected 15, five of these being ladies. By-the-
bye, I wonder if the ladies in the South Kensington
Art Schools all, over the country are treated as badly in
the matter of water-colour drawings as they are at the
chief schools themselves. There are at South Kensington
innumerable water-colour paintings suitable for young
artists, who' are only too anxious to have an opportunity
of taking water-colour copies ; yet the directors of the
schools will only allow the pupils to execute copies in oils.
There appears some strange absurdity in this, at least to
the parents of the artists and outsiders generally.
The most talked of art question of the day is the author-
ship of No. 40 in the Exhibition of the Old Masters. This
work purports to be by Turner, but it is not ; and even as
an imitation Mr. Ruskin has pronounced it to be by
somebody " not acquainted with the essential qualities of
the master." There can be no moral doubt respecting
the question of forgery, and I have reason to think that
the guilty individual has been discovered ; but there
is a difference in these cases between moral and legal
evidence.
Attempts to increase the number of daily papers in
London appear to have come to nothing. Newspapers,
like discount companies after 1866, are down in the mar-
ket. More than one gentleman in London find themselves
in want of an "organ," but havejalso found themselves un-
able to get assistanca. London has fewer daily papers
than any other large capital in the world. There seems
room for extension, but success will probably be met with
in the halfpenny direction. The expenses of a London
penny daily are too great to permit much competition.
`The Echo, on the other hand, the expenses of which
are comparatively very small, is now successful.
The Christmas burlesques, with the exception of Mr.
Strachan's " Cceur de Lion" at the Strand, and possibly
' Dick Whittington" at the New Royalty, have all proved
lamentable failures. It is to be hoped that this shews an
improvement in the public taste, and that such a heavy
blow to the managers' interests will induce them to look
for something better. A good burlesque is all very well
in its place ; but the stage must be sunk low indeed when
the London theatres are almost exclusively occupied by
this form of entertainment, most of the speci-
mens being execrably bad. However, the attraction of
leg is not invincible. A. burlesque requires, perhaps,
more labour on the part of author and performers than
any other form of stage play but then the thing is over-
done, and the quality is deteriorating.
If burlesque in drama is declining, burlesque in litera-
ture is going up. The most successful literary venture of
the day has been the pamphlet " The Fight at Dame
Europa's School," which has reached its eighty-third
thousand. The author is said by the Record to be
a minor canon of Salisbury Cathedral; and, true to its
nature, the charitable religious journal adds that he " has
published several brochures, from which it appears that
he considers the chief use of cathedrals is to set up a high
standard of musical performance." Probably no one was
so much astonished at the success of this pamphlet
as the author himself—Mr. Pullen is his name. A
second volume of the Daily News \ correspondence is
announced. Mr. Charles Reade is engaged on a
novel for Cassell's Magazine, for which he will receive a
very high price. The book trade is reported
tolerably good. though not so prosperous as was expected;
but it is difficult to imagine what the publishers sell unless
it be educational works, for there is really
nothing in the. field. The magazines, however,
shew pretty well this month, especially the Contemporary,
which has articles by Archbishop Manning and others,
and the Fortnightly, which again beats all its competitors
in the excellence and range of its contributions.

NAVAL AND MILITARY INTELLIGENCE
Many of the guns for the fort at Garrison Point, Sheer.
nese—a work intended to prevent the entrance of a hostile
fleet into the Medway, and to protect the dockyard at
Chatham from danger 'from such a fleet—have now been
placed in position. But the great embrasures in which
the guns are placed will have to be protected by iron
armour. The armour plates to be used for this purpose are
expected to arrive shortly from the North by railway. The
protection for the gunners will consist of several plates bolted
together, so as to make a great thickness of iron, with which
the embrasures will be closed, excepting that an opening
will be left sufficient for the firing of the guns. Such a
protection as this is absolutely necessary for working the
guns in this fort and those in the circular forts on the
Medway, near Chatham, at Hoo and Bishop's Marsh.
If an enemy were expected, torpedoes would also be
sunk in the mouth of the Medway, to be fired from an
observatory at the Garrison Point Battery, by means of
an electric current, when any enemy's ships should pass
over them.
The ships composing the Channelsquadron now at Port-
land are the Agincourt, 28, 6,621 tons, Capt. Henry H.
Beamish, bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral Wilmot ; the
Hercules, 14, 5,234 tons, Capt. Lord Gifford ; the North-
umberland, 28, 6,621 tons, Capt. C. H. May ; the Warrior,
32, 6,109 tons, Capt. the Hon. H. C. Glyn ; the turret
ship Monarch, 7,512 tons, Capt. Charles M. Aynsley ; and
the Inconstant, 16, 4,066 tons. The Achilles, 26, 6,121
tons, Coastguard ship, Captain Richard V. Hamilton, is
also at anchor in the' harbour. The Hercules went outside
the breakwater on Tuesday morning to test the merits of
the new pebble gunpowder. Her great guns were firing
most of the day. The Warrior went out on Monday for a
like purpose. It is probable the fleet will remain at this
rendezvous for some time longer.
The Rupert, ironclad ram, 3,159 tons, 700-horse power,
now building in Chatham Dockyard, has, considering the
time when she was commenced, in June last, made very
satisfactory progress. A great portion of the inner plat-
ing is now on the sides of the vessel ; and the ponderous
armour-plates with which the ram will be covered are now
in the yard, ready to be put on as soon as the vessel is
sufficiently advanced to receive them.

THE CITY OF LONDON VOLUNTEER FUND.—
During the past week the following contributions have
been received in behalf of this fund ;--The Grocers' Com-
pany, £100; Messrs, J. and R. Morley, £lOO ; the Mer-•
cers' Company, £5O; Messrs. Roberts, Lubbock and Co.,
£5O ; and the Sadlers' Company, £2l.
EARLY MACKEREL.—A. few pads of mackerel
from the western coast have begun to arrive at Billings-
gate Market, and have been eagerly bought up at large
prices. Time was when these early mackerel were worth
as much as 3s. or 4s. each upon their first arrival ; but
the great facilities offered now for carriage of fish has
reduced the price three-fourths, and now we look upon
Is. as a very large price at the opening of the season.—
Fishing Gazette.
ME NEW TESTAMENT COMPANY.—The New
Testament Company of Revisors met on Tuesday at the 'Tern-
Belem Chamber for their sixth session. T wenty -one members
were present, including the Archbishop of Dublin, who
took his place among the company for the first time. The
Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol presided. A warm tri-
.bute was paid to the memory of Dean Alford, and a suit-
able resolution passed in commemoration of his earnest
labours in the interpretation of the Holy Scriptures. The
progress was fair, but rather beb w the average.
THE HON. A. HERBERT, M.P., ON THE PRINCESS
LOUISE'S DOWRY.—The Hon. Auberon Herbert, one
of the members for -Nottingham, in an address just
issued to the working mess of that borough, after
stating that we ought not to refuse a dowry, if
reasonable in amount, to the Princess Louise, says
When I recollect the enormous sum yearly
misspent and missmanaged under the name of
charities ; the small returns which come to the nation
from the large estates which are placed under the.
office of Woods and Forests ; the yearly revenue of the
University of Oxford, which, independently of its sister
University of Cambridge, may be placed at £300,000 a
year ; the sums which are wasted under our military
system ; the £1,000,000 which are paid yearly for
full-pay, and half-pay retirement for honorary
colonelcies, distinguished service money, an
id wdows'
pensions ; the £22,000 a year of civil pay pad to
the gentlemen employed in the commander-in-chief 's
office ; the three regiments of Horse Guards kept at a
great expense for purposes of show ; the £40,000 a year
paid without cause to the army agents; the £5,000 a year
devoted to the dinner table of the officers of the Guards
who are on duty, and when I recollect that even this last
might be made more formidable, I can scarcely regret any
difference that exists between some of you and myself on
particular questions, if it is to lead to our labouring toge-
ther more earnestly in the cause of financial reform, and
in the effort to apply every pound belonging to the nation
to really national purposes."