The Sun.
London, England, 1847-09-14 00:00:00

THE LAND WE LIVE

Hampton Court, the Isle of Thanet, Manchester,
and Norwich form the four subjects of illustration
and description in the August part of this new
periodical. Several of the wood-cuts, such as " .ol-
sey's Hall," " Margate," " Ramsgate," and " N or-
wich,". are of superior excellence, and the letter-
press is throughout of that sensible and vigorous
Lind which is always found in the publications of
Mr. Knight.

FINE ARTS.
THE LORD'S SUPPER. Engravedfrom the re-
nowned Fresco of Leonardo da Vinci, by A. L. Dick.
As a specimen of American art, this splendid line
engraving, covering a surface of 17 by 3.5 inches,
would, from its own unquestionable merits, arrest our
attention. From the circumstances, however, con-
nected with its production, it is invested with a pecu-
liar interest. The artist was animated with a desire
to perpetuate the beauties of the celebrated plate en-
graved by Raphael Morghen—a single copy of which
was valued in the United States at no less than 50
guineas—by engraving another plate himself of some-
what similar dimensions, and which should be of a
price so moderate as to render it accessible to ordinary
purchasers. While in the midst of his undertaking
his eyes failed him, and the work commenced by Mr.
Dick was completed by Messrs. Durand and Doney,
engravers of some eminence in New York. Such is
the melancholy history o, perhaps, the finest repre-
sentation of the celebrated fresco at Milan, after that
copy by Raphael Morghen, which Sir David Wilkie
has justly termed admirable. When it is remembered
that the great painting of Leonardo was the first pic-
ture of such magnitude produced by modern art,
and that it is now almost entirely obliterated b...
time, by accident, by ignorance, by the evanescence
of the colouring material, by the brittleness of the
plaster, and by wilful erasure both by monks and
soldiers, it will be thought a matter of some consi-
deration that a line engraving of it, possessing the
extraordinary merits of this one, from the studios 01
Messrs. Dick, Durand, and Doney, can be obtained
for a single guinea! The masterpiece of Da Vinci--
one of the masterpieces of modern art—for a guinea :
This is in truth another token—and no small one—
of the enterprise of these times. The size of the im-
pression submitted to us we have already mentioned,
it is one which has enabled the (engravers to pre-
serve the' expressions of the thirteen memorable
heads traced by the Florentine. That of Christ is
the least remarkable, because the imagination of
Leonardo bowed before the unimaginable aspect of the
Divine countenance. St. John, Judas Iscariot, St.
Peter, St. Andrew, St. James the Greater, St. Phi-
lip, St. Thomas, St. Thaddeus, or Jude, St. Simon,
St. Matthew, Sr. Bartholomew, and St. James the
Less, are severally delineated with all those expres-
sions of " love, scorn, fear, and grief," which are
noted by Gio Gherardo De Rossi. As Mrs. Sigour-
ney has beautifully said :
" I would speak
Of him who poured such bold conception forth
O'er the dead canvass. But I dare not muse
Now of a mortal's praise. Subdued I stand
In thy sole, sorrowing presence, Son ofGod—
I feel the breathing of those holy men,
From whom thy gospel, as on angel's wing,
Went on thro' all the earth."

The three artists have, in this noble picture,
afforded us a high notion of the present position of
American art.

THE BOTTLE. By George Cruikshank.
Numerous and inimitable as have been the artistic
labours of George Cruikshank, it was reserved for the
September of 1847 to witness the publication of his
best work. " The Bottle " is a series of eight en-
gravings, illustrative of the miseries and crimes
which are produced by drunkenness. These mas-
terly plates are as eloquent in the cause of humanity
as the career of Father Mathew ; they tell a story of
horror and sadness, and suffering, as powerfully as
the pen of a romancist. Never has the pencil of
George Cruikshank approached so nearly to the
brush of William Hogarth in the delineation of a
life of immorality, of passion, of squalor, of vice, and
abasement. These eight pictures of the bottle should
be framed and glazed, and hung upon the walls of
every workshop and school-room. There is a truth-
fulness in them more impressive than that of a
homily, and more lasting in its remembrance than
" thoughts that breathe and words that burn."
We think it is the author of " Wine and
Walnuts" who says that he recollects see-
ing in the ',antechamber of a large factory in
London a series of engravings from the "Indus-
trious and Idle Apprentices." It was a fitting
embellishment to that antechamber, and one that
should adorn every building of the kind in the United
Kingdom. We would see the like done by the
" Bottle " of George Cruikshank ; and we do believe
it would be found no unimportant aid in the advance-
ment of national education. Plate I. shows how
" The Bottle is brought out for the first time : the
husband induces his wife just to take a drop." It is
the prologue. The scene is a sitting-room filled with
domestic comfort, and cleanliness, though humble in
its furniture. The kitten nibbling the tail of the cat
on the hearthrug is in keeping with the whole cha-
racter of the sketch—quiet and homely. The hus-
band holds out a "glassful" cheerily at arms-length,
which the wife playfully rejects, and yet there is an
evident satisfaction and consent in her eye. Plate 11.
shows how "He is discharged for Drunkenness :
they pawn their clothes to supply the bottle." It is
the beginning of sorrow and destitution. The carpet
is gone ; the rug is crumpled up; the grate is
fireless ; the fender is upset ; the cupboard is empty ;
the cat, pinched with hunger, is scanning an empty
plate on the table. The wife is sending her eldest
daughter out to the pawnbroker's and the gin-shop,
while the husband is sitting huddled up "any how,"
with his hands in his breeches pockets and his pipe in
his mouth. It is impossible to give any description in
words of the stupid, dirty, drunken languor of the
man's face—it must be seen. Plate 111. shows how
" An:execution sweeps off the greater part of their
furniture : they comfort themselves with the bottle."
11 Almost every scrap of furniture is bundled together
in one corner of the room ; porters are removing
the clock and the chest of drawers, and the broker,
" with spectacles on nose," is glancing through the
inventory. The wife's face is sullen and bloated
with partial intoxication, and her eyes are red with
crying. The children are amazed at the prospective
discomfort of their home, and their father is sipping a
glass of spirits with the most intense relish imagin-
able. Plate Unable to obtain employment,
they are driven by poverty into the streets to beg,
and by this means they still supply the bottle." The
scene is an accurate sketch of the back streets that
may be penetrated in any morning's walk
about the metropolis. By this time the fa-
mily are in rags and destitution. In one
corner the boy is begging, in another the father is
emerging from a gin-palace, in the act of pocketing
the replenished bottle. Plate V. is an affecting pic-
ture—" Cold, misery, and want destroy their youngest
child : they console themselves with the bottle."
The daughter, looking at the half-opened coffin, her
face being averted, is beautifully imagined. Plate
VI. is, perhaps, the finest in the series : " Fearful
quarrels and brutal violence are the natural conse-
quences of the frequent use of the bottle." The
group is conceived most artistically. It is pyramidal
in form, and is wonderfully animated. In the coun-
tenance of the wife there are blended together the
passions of terror and rage. Plate VII.—" The hus-
band in a state of furious drunkenness kills his wife
with the instrument of all their misery." In the
me Aug-
menta of the bottle, and catching hold of
the chimney piece, and staggering under
the fierce gripe of the policeman, is the
murderer. Cruikshank alone could have pour-
trayed a face so distorted by the agonies of dismay,
repentance, and fear. Plate VIII. is at once tile
conclusion and the moral of the narrative. " The
bottle has done its work—it has destroyed the infant
and the mother, it has brought the son and the
daughter to vice and the streets, and has left the fa-
ther a hopeless maniac." A whole history of wicked-
ness is unfolded in the callous features of the chil-
dren—the boy, a sort of " Artful Dodger,' and the
girl a something worse than " Nancy." George
Cruikshank has,here shown himself the Artist, as Father
Mathew has proved himself the Apostle of Tem-
perance.

ALLEGED DEATH FROM !IMPROPER DRIVING.--
Yesterday an inquest was held at the London Hospital,
before Mr. W. Baker, upon a man named Richard l)ean,
who died from injuries received by being run over by a
a improper
d
riving , alleged to have been occasioned by the impror
cart,
riNing of a young man named Christopher Lucking, a
general dealer, residing in Ceningham, Essex. On
Thursday- evening, about six o'clock, deceased was talk-
ing with some friends, and standing in the Commercial-
road East, when a cart, driven by Lucking, came ;
the near wheel knocked the deceased down. Luel. ng
still kept driving on. The deceased was removed to In,
hospital, where he expired shortly afterwards. It was
said that blame attached to Lucking, in consequence of
his having passed on the off side, when there was
sufficient room on the near side, which was his proper
side. The jury said it was a very improper place for
men to converse together in the centre of a public road,
and returned a verdict of " Accidental death.
ED/NEIIRGH AND LEITH RAILWAY .—A pro.siT,,,-etuens
of a railway to be worked by locomotive powerbfa
e It i rro-
Eclinburgh and Leith has just been
the Exchange-rooms, Leith, with intern._
posed to commence at the Low Caltonsasnudddi.taetremisintsattiJonast
at Blenheim-place, Sco6lnan.
and Duke-stree

DONCASTER RACES.
DONCASTER, MONDAY AFTERNOON, FIVE O'CLOC%X•
ST. LEGER BETTING.
.11 to 8 agst Cossack 7 to 1 agst Van Tromp
sto 1 agst Foreclosure 15 to 1 agst Philosopher
6 to 1 agst Planet
No others mentioned, and betting very flat.
ENTRIES FOR THE PLATES, &C.
TUESDAY.—The Fitzwilliarn Stakes of 10 sous. each,
&-,:t.—Conspiracy, Chanticleer, Gaiety, Wilderness.
Corporation Plate of 501.; Red-house in.—Brown Bees,
Volley, Bowstring, Vice-Consul, Sylvan; Discontent,.
Fear Eagle.
WEDNESDAY.—The Corporation Plate of 60/. ; Cup
Course.—Aristotle, Luminous, Lady Mallorie, Cherr3-.
Tier Majesty's Place of 100 guineas; Cup Courae.._
atiing of the Forest, Tim Whiffler, Luminous, La ly
31allorie, Lightning, The Hero.
FRIDAY.—The Town Plate of 1001.; heats, two mil( Is.
—Cherry. Blackbird, Luminous, Lady Mallorie, Qui a-
,druped, Tim Whiffler.