The Sun.
London, England, 1870-06-11 00:00:00

LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND ART.

The Atheneum says Miss Glyn will give a farewell read-
ing from Shakspere on Tuesday, June 21st.—There is to
be an exhibition of Church decorations at the Crystal
Palace, in the middle of July.—The Albert Gold Medal
of the Society of Arts has this year been awarded to M.
F. de Lesseps for services rendered to arts, manufactures,
and commerce by the realisation of the Suez Canal.— Mr.
Markham, the English Consul at Chefoo, is preparing; a
narrative of his journeys and experiences.—Mr. Robert
Buchanan's new work, " Ballads of Life," will appear
immediately. It will have not only its serious but its
humorous side ; the latter in a poem called " The Wake
of Tim O'Hara." Satire will not be absent. Con-
temporary Bards will be passed in review in a
piece to be named " The Session of the Poets."—
Mr. Leland (Hans Breitmann) has arrived in London.
He is writing an addition to his ballads, in which Hans
Breitmann is represented as making the European Tour,
as Americans and people who have made money in
America are fond of doing. —Colonel Meadows Taylor, is pre-
paring a "Student's Manual of the History of India. "—The
secretaryship of the Newspaper Press Fund is now vacant.
—The acting manager of the Italian Opera, Drury Lane,
has secured the services of Madame Barbot, who a few
years back held a high position in Paris and St. Peters-
burg. This artist's return to the lyric stage will be an
event of interest, especially as at Drury Lane a dramatic
soprano will supply an obvious want.
The Graphic has the following :—" The life of Madame
La Mothe Guyon " (Sampson Low) is a re-issue of a
volume of very curious religious history. Madame Guyon
was befriended and upheld by Fenelon, Archbishop of
Cambray.—The severe attack upon Mr. Disraeli and his
novel " Lothair," published in Blackwood, is, we are in-
formed, from the pen of Colonel Hawley, the author of
" Lady Lee's Widowhood," and the newly selected presi-
dent of the Staff College.—The Emperor Napoleon has
his double in the person of an American who is now in
Paris. The natural resemblance between the two is said
to be marvellous, and it is heightened by the double
imitating the original's tricks of manner.—lt has been
decided to erect a statue to Lamartine in the Plate
d'Armes at Macon. The cost of the work is estimated at
£2,000, and it is to be open to competition.

SALE OF PICTURES BY THE OLD
MASTERS. .

For the past few days a highly valuable collection of
pictures by masters of the Italian, Spanish, and Dutch
schools, formed by Mr. Philip Hinds, of Portland-place,
have been exhibited in London previous to a sale whiCh
takes place to-day. The paintings are hung up in the
gallery of Messrs. Christie, Manson, and Woods.
There are few Italian works presented, but of
these the Garofalo " Noli me tangere " is a fine
example of the master, who took his nickname
from the little flower which he painted generally in his
foregrounds, his real name being Benvenuto Tisio. The
picture is remarkable for the strong impasto and brilliant
effect of light and colour over the landscape. The " Si.
Peter," by Ribera (called Spagnoletto, not Zurbaran, as la
recently published dictionary has it), is a very striking and
characteristic work of the master. There are also two
good works of Sasso Ferrato ; but the most noticeable
picture among the Italians is the large work which.prii-
fesses to be the " Leda " of Leonardo da Vinci. It ss
painted on canvas in a rather cold tone of grey oviw
the landscape and brownish flesh tints, the swan being
also dark grey. Two little first sketches by Murillo are
interesting as being similar to two of the large pictures,
forming a set of five. illustrating the Parable of the
Prodigal Son, which Lord Dudley bought at the recent
sale of the Salamanca Collection, and which are known to
have been painted by Murillo for the King of Spain, who
gave one of the set to the Pope, which is now in the Vat-
can. The Dutch pictures are, however, the most impor-
fant, and of those to be noticed especially are the large
" Boar Hunt," by Paul Potter, signed and dated 1648,
which was once in Lord Shaftesbury's collection. This is
a work which admirably displays the wonderful vigour tiif
the painter and his perfect knowledge of his subject. The
boar is fighting with one dog, while three others surround
him, one, however, having got his quietus. On the hfil
side appear the sportsmen, riding up to be in at the death.
There is a fine Isaac Osade, Dutch village with figures;
a good Wynants, with figures by Lingelbach ; an excel-
lent moonlight piece by A. Van der Neer ; and an un-
usually fine landscape, with grand waterfall by
" Everdingen," who chews in this work how
fairly he rivalled Ruysdael, a younger painter, who sur-
passed him in reputation, and of whomthere is a fair speci-
men," Landscape with Cascade." By Solomon de Komng,
whose works are sometimes attributed to Rembrandt,
there is a very fine example in a life-size portrait of ,a
Rabbi with a long white beard, which is painted on panel.
The Van Stry copy of the Duke of Bedford's Cuyp, " a
winter scene with figures skating," is an excellent work of
the painter ; And there are several good pictures by the
modern Dutch painters, Van Hamme, Linnig, and De
Wilde.

At the conclusion of the Ross competition at
Irvine on Wednesday, Captain Ross selected as the re-
presentatives to shoot in the contest for the Elcho Chal-
lenge Shield, Colour-Sergeant Clews, Renfrew ; Private
Brownlie, Ist Lanark ; Private M`Vittie, Dumfries
Private Fraser, Edinburgh; Private Dunlop and Sergeant
Ferguson, Inverness.

WILLS AND BEQUESTS.—The Illustrated News
states that Mr. William Mercer, of Kingston-on-Thames,
has left the following charitable bequests :—To the British
and Foreign Bible Society and the Church Missionary
Society, each £100; and to the Society for the Conversion
of the Jews, the Deaf and Dumb Asylum. Blind Asylum;
National School, Kingston, and the Cambridge Military
at Kingston, each a legacy of £5O. The late Mr. John
Adolphus Snee, of Ramsgate, formerly of New Ton,
Strand, has left a legacy of £3OO to the Church Missionary
Society ; £lOO to the Moravian Missionary Society ; and
£5O each to the British and. Foreign Bible Society, the
Church Pastoral Aid Society, the London City Mission;
the Sailors' Home, in Wells-street, London Docks ; the
London Society for Teaching the Blind to read, and the
Society for Promoting Female Education ill the East.