The Sun.
London, England, 1856-07-18 00:00:00

THE BUFFO,

(SECOND NOTICE.)
As the collection now on view upon the walls of
this popular Gallery, the collection constituting
the thirty-third annual exhibition of pictures by
the " Society of British Artists," is announced to
close almost immediately—we hasten to supplement
by a few remarks the opinions expressed by us at
some considerable length in its regard at the pe-
riod when the annual " view" for the season
(about two months since) commenced. The prin-
cipal contributions to the collection we then
took occasion to particularise. Several pictures,
however, of more than average excellence
were nevertheless at the same time allowed to pass
almost unnoticed, not quite unaccountably,, we
conjecture, in a single survey of upwards of "eight
hundred" separate paintings—large and small,
good, bad, and indifferent ! Besides the distraction
of the attention by the mere numerical array of 800
and more productions displayed upon the walls of the
five apartments, it should be observed, moreover,
that other obstacles not unfrequently stand
in the way of the merits, or, for that matter some-
times, even, of the very existence of a picture being
recognised. For example, there is No. 192, hung
a little too low, and No. 246 hung a great deal too
high ! The latter (No. 246) being-30 far at least
as we can perceive its excellence at such an absurd
elevation—a work of no inconsiderable merit, a
view "On the Towey, Carmarthenshire," by W. L.
Banks. The rolling up of the white clouds from the
horizon ; the crisp outline of the rocky eminence to
the left, "shouldering," as it does, into the heavens,
far above the green tree-tops ; the jumble of the
huge boulders in the fore ground where the angler is
flinging his delicate length of baited-hair into
the trout stream—all appear to us to be ren-
dered with the master hand of one skilled
in Art hardly less than he is manifestly observant
of Nature. It seems to us a positive injustice to
the painter of this graceful glimpse of mountain
scenery, to lift him up so very loftily above the
heads of his contemporaries, bringing his production
(elevated though its pretensions may be) into such
very close proximity to the ceiling of the principal
apartment. The former picture already alluded to
(No. 192) is a lovely little cottage interior—
" Feeding the Bird," by R. Holingdale—so true
to the reality that one could almost unhook the
bellows from the wall to have a blow at the fire ;
Lbrust one's hand inside the cage, at the open door
of which the hero of the scene iS pecking cheerily ;
or take up from that table yonder, in the full light
of the lattice, that green apple, there, seeming
to
tempt one to take a juicy bite out of it,
from mere greediness. The old fish-salesman in
No. 173, " The First of the Season," is evidently
meditating in the corners of his cunning eyes the
takein of some salmon-loving customer. As for No.
139, " The Expectant Wee Things," by E. Cock-
burn, there is surely no one but will at once admire the
exquisite beauty of the idea of the picture—the
sweetest and prettiest conceivable ! The " wee
things" at the sunlit doorway, the tinniest upon
tiptoe, greeting the unseen " Dad" whose shadow
is cast forward by the evening light full upon the
shining wall in the back,rouud. In No. 121,
" Portrait of Captain Morgan of the 17th Lancers,"
by R. Buckner, will be seen the soldier-like effigy,
lancer's cap in hand, of the heir to a historic name,
estate, and reputation, those of Sir Charles
Morgan of Tredegar. Painfully like, we conjec-
ture, must be No. 222, " Portrait of a Lady,"
by G. G. Bullock, in reference at once to
the simpering, self-satisfied mouth and the
prevailing glory in face and figure of rather pre-
mature embonpoint. Portions of the white drapery
in 248, " Prophecy of the Destiny," by t•-:. Ander-
son, remind one of that marvellous white scarf coiled
by the magical brush of Mr. Egg about the felt wide-
awake of Lord Raglan, in his admirable picture of
the Council of War on the morning of the taking
of the Mamelon. Such, in brief, are among a few
of the more noticeable pictures, either for merit or
demerit, in the prE sent year's exhibition of the
Society of British Artists in Suffolk-street—pic-
tures unobserved at first among the more obtrusive
characteristics of the chief
.contributions to the
gallery—among the sea-views of Pyne, and the rus-
tic groups of Hill, and the half-nude heroines and
gaudy draperies of Woolmer, and the tawny, dark-
eyed, pearly-toothed Italian urchins of the Presi-
dent Hurlstone.

LITERATURE.

The Edinburgh Review. No. CC XL
Decidedly the irost attractive paper in the
newly-published number of the Edinburgh, is the
one simply entitled " Samuel Rogers." Although
there is a respectful but altogether rather depre-
ciatory article (among the eleven contributions
making up the aggregate bulk of the contents) in
reference to that portion of the " Memoirs of
Sir Robert Peel," which relates to the memorable
part taken by that illustrious and self-sacrificing
statesman in regard to the " Catholic Question !"
Although immediately afterwards comes an earnest
and patriotic digost of the correspondence recently
affecting so very seriously the friendly relations of
Great Britain and the United States ! Although
there is a learned treatise upon the " Coins of
Greece "—a chapter of historic gossip interesting
alike to the numismatist and the antiquarian
Although these and several other contributions of
importance lend their charms to the number be-
fore us—still, for our part, we cannot but regard
• as the paper in this 211th instalment of the Edin-
burgh, the genial and anecdotal biographic-criticism
upon the author of the " Pleasures of Memory,"
the lettered nonogenarian who recently expired at
22, St. James's-place, overlooking the Green-park,
the spot henceforth to be remembered as his classic
London residence. The unobtrusive benevolence of
Samuel Rogers, his caustic wit, his graceful and
harmonious Tomes, his exquisite and most fasti-
dious taste, his spiteful personalities, his many
illustrious friendships, his breakfasts, his gro-
tesque features, his pedestrianism, his intui-
tive aptitude for the discovery of anything
in the shape of a fault anywhere, his
choice pictures, his celebrated mots—all these
things, in this one brief but appreciative article
upon himself and his writings, meet, at the hands
of the reviewer, with a succinct but adequate ccle-
, bration. Absolute scorn is expressed, and,
we conceive, not undeservedly by the writer
4 for the catchpenny volume recently published.
1 by Mr. Moxon, under the title of the "Table Talk"
t of the Poet of Memory. Several excellent and
characteristic anecdotes of Mr. Rogers are
introduced in the course of the paper under
notice, becoming more plentiful towaTds its
conclusion. Altogether, the estimate formed of
Samuel Rogers by the reviewer in the Edinburgh
appears to us to be in the main very just indeed,
whether viewed in reference to his heart or in re-
ference to his intellect. " Sir G. C. Lewis on
the Credibility of Early Roman History" is the
theme of the first article in this new number
of the Edinburgh--due credit being given to the
censorship of Niebuhr's scepticism, adventured
upon by that shrewd and speculative scholiast, the
Chancellor of the Exchequer in Lord Palmer ston's
Government. A critical notice of the " Diary
of General Patrick Gordon" (carrying us back
in imagination, while we read to the Sweden,
Poland, and Russia of the seventeenth century) is
followed by a very curious epitome , of re-
markable facts and figures relating to the
metropolis, under the suggestive heading,
"Growth of the Map of London." Besides
these, moreover, should be noticed a hasty tribute
to the genius of " Heinrich Heine ;" a sketch of
a rather extraordinary historic episode under the
twin title of " Cavallier and the Camisards ;"
-a----brief dissertation upon the " Supreme
Courts of Appeal ;" and a scrutinising
glance at the literary " Remains of William Ar-
cher Butler," recently deceased—a man who, al-
though he died comparatively young, occupied
in the University of Dublin, for ten years, the
chair of Moral Philosophy :—articles completing
the eleven varied contributions comprised in this,
the latest, instalment of our eminent Whig Quar-
erly Contemporary.