The Sun.
London, England, 1846-06-30 00:00:00

FROM HAVANNAH.

By an arrival at New Orleans, from Havanna', we have
advices from the latter place to the 9th inst.
The Mexican steamers Montezuma and Guadaloupe had
arrived at Havannah, and were delivered up to their builders
in default of payment for the vessels.
English officers had announced that Commodore Conner
had notified the United States Government that it was use-
less to attempt the taking of the Castle of St. Juan d'Ulloa,
as it was impregnable.
Several failures took place in Baltimore on Saturday, in
consequence of the tightness of the money market.

THE LATE B. R. HAYDON, THE

HISTORICAL PAINTER.
(From the Plymouth Times.)

It is with feelings of regret we record the death of Mr.
Benjamin Robert Haydon, the historical painter, whose
mortal career was brought to a sudden termination at
his late residence in Burwood-place, London, on Monday
last, under particularly melancholy and distressing cir-
cumstances, the nature of which we give appended to the
following historical details relating to the deceased,
which, through the kindness of some of his friends and
admirers in his native town, we have been enabled to
compile and place before our readers for their gratifica-
tion, and, perchance, for their information also.
Mr. Haydon was a native of Plymouth. His father,
at the time of his birth, kept a bookseller's and book-
binder's shop, on the premises in Whimple-street, now
occupied by Messrs. Cornish and Lewin, chemists and
druggists. He was a lineal descendant of the Haydons,
of Cadhay, in the parish of Ottery St. Mary, in this
county, which estate was in the possession of the pain-
ter's progenitors for several generations ; but was sold
by order of Chancery some time early in the last cen-
tury. Cadhay House was built by John Haydon in
' the reign of Elizabeth, and shows that an artistic taste
has been possessed by the family for several generations.
Robert Haydon, the great-grandfather of the deceased
artist, died in Ottery in 1757, and was buried in the vault
of the Haydons at Cadhay. By the sale of the estate, the
family became reduced, and the son of the above, Robert,
was bound to the late Mr. Savery, of Slade, the pre-
sent residence of the Pode family, near Ply mpton, with
whom he conducted himself with so much propriety that
he became steward to the family, in which capacity he
saved money, and about a century ago came into Ply-
mouth and opened a bookseller's shop. Benjamin, his
son, and father of the painter, succeeded in the busi-
ness of bookseller, &c., in the premises in Whimple-
street, as before stated, and here the great historical
painter was born in January, 1786.
The remark made above about the John Haydon, of
Queen Elizabeth's time, shows that a love of art was in-
herent in the familiy ; and this is further shown by the
recollections of deceased, who remembered his grand-
father's painting, and mentioned more especially an old
head of his. He used also to relate the following inte-
resting reminiscence :—" Northcote told me my grand-
father consulted his father as to the colour of elephants'
ears, and he told him they were pinkish ; my grandfa-
ther painted them a fine brilliant vermillion." The North-
cote alluded to in the above recollection was the distin-
galshed:Academician, who was also a Plymouth man.
The love of art was very early manifested in Hayden.
Amongst his early recollections, he used to mention the
fact of his being placed by the nurse in a chair to the
table, with a brush and some colours for his playthings ;
but what more effectually contributed to develop and
strengthen this love of art was, that whilst yet a child,
his father had for an apprentice Thomas Williams, who
afterwards attained considerable reputation as a painter.
Williams had, with a great love of art, sound taste and
feeling, and, when an apprentice, he used to draw on the
walls of the binding-room, and, amongst other figures,drew
that of the embryo historical painter. These efforts were
never forgotten by Haydon; but being conducted on sound
principles, and being afterwards confirmed by the study
of the great works of the masters of the art, may be
reasonably supposed to have had great influence in the
young artist's early perception of the leading points of
objects. In consequence of his perpetual devotion to
drawing rather than to book-binding the Older
Haydon gave up to his apprentice, Williams, his
time ; who then went to London, and drew at the
Academy, and re urned to Plymouth, and set up
a drawing-school. Among his first scholars were Hay-
don, S. Trout, and the lamented William Gaudy, who,
according to Hayden, drew the best of the whole.
Under the tuition of Williams, his scholars made some
progress; and Haydon made copies from some small casts
from the antique belonging to his tutor—among which
were llercules, Actaeon, and a series on the pas-
sions. On showing these drawings to Mr. Samuel
Northcote,. the brother of the Academician, who
lived a few doors from the shop of the elder Haydon,
Mr. Nortcote observed to the youthful artist, " My
dear boy, you do not know the construction of the
figure ; have you no book on anatomy ?" This was an
important, and, as it appears:to us, the grand turning
point in the history of the artist, and we shall, therefore,
give this portion of his experience as much as may be in
his own language. To a correspondent in this town,
in a letter now before us, referring to the remark of Mr.
Northcote, he observes :—" I immediately went home
and hunted my father's shop, and found an Encyclo-
rla, with plates of the muscles ; studied them
cano'lnstLiaraunedts made another drawing of the figures ;
Y patron said, 'Now you know more of the
is a word"isc.ifehthee fiure ; for do you not see anatomy
yoak,:wsist„,:;n4.tyiyiii,inudnedreirts:tanTdhae hbianstisaobfoevel
mthye
in English art, as shown
may be permitted to
fsuktiunreif practice
say, the basis of the rapieireas.
Landseers,
Lance,irithe works
Prentice, of my
Harvey, pupils,
and ethers' --4'e
from the sagacity of this worthy man. uaaY be dated
He certainly
and which made
through every obstacle, 1" ready to
gave me the right scent, whichlha.vesonowed
sine
alndsaw
The Mr. Northcote
Elgin
alludedmarbles
vt
ea t
comprehend the El who 0
pears by trade a watchmaker,
to have exerted so powerful an influence on
the character of Haydon, was
and is gratefully,
was a most estimable character,
and the elder brother of Mr. James Northcote : he
d with all the
Ply-
mouth. He was intimately acquainted remembered b many of the older inhabitants of Ply-
y
branches of Natural Philosophy, and possessed a com-
prehensive mind, a vast fund of information, and a
happy mode of communicating it to others : but
although eminently fitted for a much wider sphere of
operation, he never quitted the small circle of friends by
whom his society and valuable qualities were appreciated
and honoured.
Ilaydon went to school to Dr. Bidlake, who was then
master of the Grammar School. Dr. Bidlake was a man
of considerable talent, not only as a divine, but also as
a poet, painter, and musician. " He was," says his dis-
tinguished pupil, " fond of painting; but he had not the
ballast of Northcote; he was a sort of miniature Lorenzo—
Williams, Northcote,Johns, and Rogers, were always with
him; ho inculcated a love of nature and idle habits—he
hated labour, the price of everything valuable on earth."
The following was also told by Haydon of Dr. Bidlake:-
-" On the Doctor's painting days, Elias Dunstervple
and I were his attendants : Dunsterville was once sent
to cut off the skirt of an old black coat to clean( the
palette with ; without the least care he cut off the skirt
of the Doctor's Sunday coat ; so that when he caine to
Stonehouse Chapel on Sunday and took offsis rest

coat, the clerk exclaimed, " Good gracious, Sir, some-
body has cut off your skirt. Oh ! said Dr. Bid-
lake, it must be those wretches Punster-
vide and Hay-don ; and I, who was perfectly innocent,
was kept on Monday, as well as my friend, at
a severe task." It does not appear that Haydon made
much progress in the Classics under Dr. Bidlake ; but
this deficiency was afterwards supplied by the Rev. W.
Hayne, of Honiton, who came to Plympton, and where
Haydon and Eastlake completed their studies ; sad,
curious enough, in the very building which has the
honour of being the birth-place of Sir Joshua Reynolds.
With all his pupils Dr. Bidlake did much to give them
a love of nature : he used to take them to Bickleigh Vale
and to other lovely spots in the neighbourhood to sketch.
Mr. Johns and Mr. Prout contributed to the instruc-

tion of Haydon in painting. Prout used to tell him he
did not touch with sufficient spirit—at the same time
givinc, him some of his remarkably vigorous examples
in the use of the brush. It was through Mr. Johns
that Haydon became more intimately acquainted with
the Antique, who in 1802 brought to Plymouth some
small casts, and to purchase two of which the youthful
enthusiast exchanged a two guinea piece given by
his godfather before his remembrance. Mr. Johns set
up a library, which was used by the young men; and
here it was that the deceased artist first met with the
Discourses of Sir Joshua Reynolds. These were read
through by him in one night, and the next morning he
cams to his breakfast with new feelings and new ideas—
in his own language, it was "as if a fury had seized
me: my mind had expanded ; my nature was altered ;
I bore down all opposition by the bitterest sarcasms."
His father and mother became alarmed with respect to
his state, and not a few of the parties with whom he
was brought into contact thought he was going mad.
The father sent his friends to reason with him, but with-
out calming the uproarious state of his feelings ; and
his mother sent for Mr. Northcote and Mr. Eastlake,
as men of intellect, to converse with her son. To

these gentlemen Haydon at once explained the nature o
his feelings—laid open his soul before them, telling them
he had made up his mind to introduce a better method
of study. Mr. Eastlake said, "My dear boy, you are
right ; I say to you as Horace says, Habet and God
bless ye with success." Northcote was calmer, but
decidedly approved of the plans of the young enthusiast.
These friends having talked the matter over with them,
the parents became calmer, and it was eventually agreed
to send their son to London with 201. in his pocket, at
the same time predicting that he would be glad to come
back again. This was during the May of 1804.
We have at present neither time nor space to follow
Mr. Haydon's metropolitan progress in detail ; but to
this subject we purpose to return in a future paper. It
must suffice for the present to say, that among his
earliest pictures were some quite equal, if not surpas-
sing, anything of their kind accomplished by either his
competitors or predecessors among English painters ;
as a proof, we will now merely mention the " Judgment
of Solomon," than which it is almost impossible
to find, in the range of English art, anything
conceived in a finer or more correct taste, or
execu •d with a more vigorous or masterly touch.
This picture ought at the present moment to have
graced the walls of one of the public buildings of the
town which had the honour of being the birth-place of
him who produced it ; but, alas ! while Plymouth con-
tributes painters of the highest talent, she has been
little disposed to patronise either high art or her own
gifted sons. Mainly through the influence of Mr. Johns,
Sir W. Elford and Mr. Tingcombe were induced to pur-
chase this picture, we believe at a cost of 800/. This
purchase was made in London, and the picture was
brought to Plymouth; but instead of two-thirds of its cost
being raised to reimburse its purchasers, who had gene-
rously offered to subscribe the remaining third, only
about 501. was subscribed, and the picture was conse-
quently sold again, and so removed from Plymouth—much
to the discredit of the good taste and public spirit of the
inhabitants. It would seem as though the inhabitants
were then, and we fear they still are, most miserably in-
insensible to the honour which the productions of such
men as Haydon, Northcote, Prout, Eastlake, and Rey-
nolds, bestow upon them, or they certainly would be
desirous of possessing some of the matchless works as-
sociated with these distinguished names, and of showing
them to visitors, and of handing them down to posterity
as mementos of what Plymouth men had done. We do
venture to hope, that we shall soon find that at least
some effort is being made to remove this stigma, by the
establishment of something like a public collection of
pictures in Plymouth.
For more than forty years Mr. Haydon followed his
profession as an historical painter, in London, with an
amount of enthusiasm and industry seldom equalled—
produced pictures which were an honour to his country
and to the age; and yet he was not fortunate, but, on
the contrary, was ever struggling with difficulty. This.
no doubt, arose partly from the fact, that during
the greater part of his artistic life he was
at variance with the leaders in the art, and
more especially with the Royal Academy. His
zeal early excited prejudices in the authorities, and this
exasperated him (who was, as Dr. Johnson would say,
" a good hater"), and he revenged it, and unfortunately,
when one party was disposed to conciliate, the other re-
sisted, and thus the contention has ended only with Hay-
dons's death, if indeed it be permitted to end ❑ow. Like
most men of strong and original minds, Mr. Haydon had his
eccentricities, and these were, by some, regarded as faults
so grave as to obscure the brilliance of his genius—but
this was assuredly a narrow and most unworthy view, for
his eccentricities principally lay in the sterling honesty,
and in the force of his most energetic character. Oppo-
sition but urged him to surpass and repel his opponent,
and thus the mere fact of his being opposed by the
Academy, gave him an isolated reputation, which in
other circumstances he never could have attained ; it
urged him to give the country a school of art which will
not be " willingly let die."
As a husband, father, and friend, Haydon was tender,
affectionate, and faithful ; his loss is therefore most
acutely felt by his family, and in his immediate circle of
friends.
He ever retained his love for Plymouth and the neigh-
bourhood, and when on a visit to the scenes and friends
of his youth last summer, he exhibited the warmth,
constancy, and depth of his affection in a way that the
few favoured with his friendship will not forget. Had he
lived, it was his intention to visit Plymouth during the
present summer, and to this effect he wrote a letter to Mr.
Johns, towards whom he always entertained a friendship
the most glowing. He rated, with his usual good taste,
Mr. Johns's ability as an artist, much higher than he
has hitherto had credit for, and would frequently chide
him for his timid and retiring disposition.
In a further paper we hope to give a list of Mr.
Haydon's works, both in art and literature—among the
latter, we believe the most distinguished are the article
on Painting in the Encyclopcedia Brittanica, and his Lec-
tures on the Art of Design and on Painting.
The deceased has left to mourn their painful bereave-
ment an amiable and affectionate widow and four chil-
dren, on the behalf of whom we trust an immediate sub-
scription will be commenced in Plymouth. As the na-
tive place of the artist, Plymouth owes it to his memory
to be foremost in the exercise of liberality towards his
mourning family. We shall be happy to receive any pro-
position or hint as to the best way of carrying this ob-
ject into effect.

RETURN OF SIR MOSES
MONTEFIORE.

The following was the prayer and thanksgiving offered
up in the Great Synagogue, Duwe's-place, on the occa-
sion of Sir M. Montetiore's return from Russia:—

TRANSLATION.

" Shepherd of Israel ! Verily, like a scattered flock
was thy people in the far north ; there was none to
bring back the missing sheep, none to restore the strayed
lamb, until thou didst raise a help from amidst our
brethren in this country, to the succour of an afflicted
mad dejected people. Even as on a former occasion, so
did thy chosen one, Sir Moses Montefiore, again stand
boldly forward to speak to the heart of royalty, to the
Czar, to his ministers, and to the governors of the land,
and his words have fructified ! Wherever he turned his
steps, the serene countenance of Moses enlightened the
dark abodes of antiquated prejudices, and mitigated hos
tile feelings.
"In thy presence, 0 Lord, we now appear to give
thanks unto thie for thy exceeding gco 'ness ; for thou
didst protect him, and graciously guide his steps in his
going forth, and in his coming ; on his journey thither,
and on his return hither.

" Thou who tendest the outcast lambs, though thou
do afflict, thou also relievest ; though thou do wound,
thine own hand hetileth ; as thou hast begun to
deal kindly with our brethren, so mayest thou con-
tinue to magnify thy mercy, and to realise the pro-
mises of the Emperor, in order that thy children may
dwell in safety and tranquillity, under the shadow of un-
interrupted peace, and live in brotherly union and
harmony with their neighbours.
" 0 All-bountiful Lord, who payest every man ac-
cording to his work, remember, we beseech thee, what
Sir Moses, and his eminently distinguished consort,
Lady Montefiore, have done; how they did hazard their
lives, in order to bring relief to the iedigent, to ad-
minister comfort to the afflicted in mind, and to revive
the spirits of the broken-hearted.
" We beseech thee, 0 Lord, let them enjoy the fruit of
their deeds, and delight their souls with the quickening
consciousness of success. The father shall tell his
children of their pious and self-imposed missions ; the
memory of their nobleminded advocacy in behalf of the
many shall be perpetuated, and the lustre of their names
continue unfaded, throughout all generations.
" Accept, 0 Lord, our prayer, and let thy countenance
shine upon us. Amen."

notice which they rarely
think f fit todi
9rceomntoens receive
erica, et
i n :
GREEDINESS OF PRAlSE.—Authors, artists, and pub-
lic performers are ae.ly satisfied with the most favourable
reason to be more thanievefrom the press, and they sometimes
and complain when they have every
pleased. The habit, however, of ex-
pressingsoauyas theand last
b Gazette
prevalent in France than among
f,
us. "We are overwhelmreed'
" with letters, sometimes pr
modest and suppliant. We have a volumaLgoY, sometime,
these epistles, among which, not the least curious is one (for
the authenticity of which we vouch) beginning thus :—' I
am much obliged to you for the little noticewhich you have
had the goodness to insert in your journal, only
r 1
these reg sretyou
have called me a distinguished artist, while, fo
years past you have always called me a celebrated artist three
years •
A NOVEL NEWSPAPER CARRIER.—At
the present
time a little black bull-headed terrier, belonging to M
Powell, carpet manufacturer, of the Cros, comesto Deightorl:;
library every every evening of publication of theJounigl, with-
out an attendant, and fetches the paper, which it duly con-
veys with all punctuality and dispatch to its master. If the
publication has not commenced it will leave the premises and
return ; and on one or two occasions has unfortunately dropped
the paper in the street, when it immediately started back to
the shop, and would not leave until furnished with a second
copy.— Worcester Journal.
REPRESENTATION OF PRESTON..—!t is stated in Pres-
ton, but we do not vouch for the truth of the rumour, that
the Tories of that town are about to forward a requisition to
Lord Stanley's son to become a candidate for the borough, in
the event cf a general election taking place.....ganchestee
Examin