The Sun.
London, England, 1856-04-22 00:00:00

On Saturday afternoon, at the well-known
gallery of the New Society of Painters in Water
Colours-53, Pall-mall—we had the satisfaction
(according to custom) of attending the "private
view" of their Annual Exhibition. It is the
twenty-second collection displayed year after year
since the date when the society was first incorpo-
rated. The specimens hung round the four walls
of the apartment, and upon the two screens flank-
ing the table of the Secretary and Treasurer, num-
ber just 349 altogether, landscapes, sea views,
genre pictures, historical paintings, scriptural com-
positions, flowers, fruit, in fact (as ever) works of a
character the most miscellaneous. The President
--Henry Warren—is still, after all, about the most
conspicuous among the contributors. Apart from
his official pre-eminence—by reason of his very re-
markable powers as a water colourist, aided as
those powers are, in their claims upon popular
attention, by the admirable selection of the subjects
usually adopted by this master for illustration.
Ex. gr. 77, and 191—the latter a representation of
Hagar and Ishmail going forth into the wilderness
—the former an ambitious delineation of " Rebe-
kah first beholding Isaac." This last mentioned
being in effect a work of art of reallyremarkable ex-
cellence, and one which the discerning majority will
not fail to recognise on the ins'ant as something
extraordinary. The grouping of the figures in the
foreground—conspicuously elevated as the heroine
of the painting is upon the apex of the hous-
ings of the camel —is contrived at one and
the same time with consummate adroitness
and infinite originality. The distant form of the
advancing Isaac indicates with wonderful effect
he perspective of the sterile waste—while the green
and orange haze of sky and sand suffuses the whole
scene with a marvellous intimation of the sultriness
of the Oriental atmosphere. Au intimation not
slightly aided in its general forcefulness by the very
aot of Rebekah daintily veiling herself from the
view of the approaching son of Abraham. Another
very noticeable contributor to the gallery of the
New Society of Water Calourists, Louis Haghe,
avours us with productions the like of which we
have seen, over and over again, we don't know how
many seasons in succession. In merit as always
remarkable but in subject and general
treatment, for the most yirt, exceedingly monoto-
nous. No. 50, an " Antichambei of the Tribu-
nal of the Inquisition," reveals to us the same pen-
live lady hanging in the same attitude of anguish
about the neck of the same ill-fated nobleman—
the same supplicative little boy in the same minia-
ture trunk and hose and the same satin-slashed
velvet doublet, on his knees, pleading in the same
utterly futile manner to the same inexorable old
curmudgeon, who stands forth as a type of the
ghastly, ghostly, grimly, ghoul like Inquisition.
Again, No. 64, the " Town Hall of Oudenarde—
Meeting of the Corporations"—Don't we know it
all by heart at a glance ? The stupendous chim-
• ney-piece with its gothic carvings and those
burly, old, red-faced, purple-nosed, slouch-hatted,
short-cloaked, gesticulating, theatric, burgomas'ers,
who appear to be always conspiring in full fig
against a De Witt, or getting ready with corporate
Pomp to " put down" like Dutch Lauries, some in-
surrectionary movement some where or other out-
side that big Town Hall, with its ornate monster
of a chimney-piece. Edward Corbould—one of the
most charming, as he is one of the most popular of
our water colourists—appears this list year to
have been in a merry mood enough, all things
considered. No. 211, his most elaborate and pre-
tentious composition, entitled for the nonce " Ye
Lymnere hys Dreame," being proof positive of the
fact, as the artist's own explanation of it in the
catalogue will sufficiently well indicate—that ex-
planation being as follows :—" Falling into a fitful
and uneasy sleep, after a long-protracted reading of
varied and antagonistic character, he dreams of
patrons of art departed to the Crimea, of himself—
as not having a leg left—of falling into the waters
of oblivion,' and vainly struggling to call for the
drags of the Humane Society, whose men are gone
to Greenwich Fair." There, on one side, is "ye
Lymnere" himself—Ed ward H. Corbould—as sound
as a church door, with his nose in the air, his meer-
schaum smoked out lying beside him on the littered
table at his elbow, and the air full of all imaginable
and unimaginable shapes, kings and goblins, mailed
knights and pretty girls in Jenny Lind wide-awakes,
gorgons, chimaeras, the heroic, the homely, the
beautiful, and the grotesque. tis a very " painted
nightmare"—a dream that might have been dreamt
partly by Ariel and partly by Caliban. Talking of
which Shaksperian personages—yonder, in No. 96,
will be found Corbould's capital delineations of
Goodman "Bottom, the Weaver," carolling about—
" The ousel cock, so black of hue,
With orange tawny bill,
The throttle with his note so true,
The wren of little quill : "
The singer's ass-bead plaintively lipping the words
with a relish, and his sturdy legs staggering in the
ecstasy of his song—Titania (or as the cata-
logue has it, " Titiana,") coming forth be-
witched from among the flowers. The same
artist has a protby grace! ul "0 imeltia," In Nu. 27,
and a humorous illustration of the old song about
the milkmaid, ending " Nobodie axed you, Sir"
—for the Knieat's visage, in which J. B.
Buckstone might have sat—in a daze ! Plea-
santest, however, and at the same time most
' prolific among the contributors to the Gallery,
this season is an old favourite—John Absolon.
There is the " Kiss" (No. 16) to greet the young
lady visitors delightfully, almost the instant they
have crossed the threshold. .There are the four
sweet little pictures grouped together in one frame
(the property of Herbert Ingram, Esq., M.P.),
N°B- 70, 71, 72, 73, rather unaccountably entitled
"Norfolk, Derby, Sussex, Rutland"—as if that
pretty gleaner with her sheaf of corn, that piquante
beauty in her striped silk, that dainty damsel with
' the antique coiffure, and so forth, got christened
somehow strangely each like a pet racer ! However,
names and all, delightful symbols may be for the
.four counties, there they are—" the cynosures of
' neighbouring eyes." And so too with the "Baptism'
(No. 105) from the same hand, and again with
"Dora" (No. 202), the gentle, genial, pensive
- "Dora "of Tennyson. There are one or two exe-
crable things in the gallery—say, for example, that
-Wretched daub "On Leave" (No. 259), by G. B.
Campion—or that ridiculous " Eventide ' (No.
311), with its leopard skin sky—or that absurd
"Judy Callaghan' (No. 165), by W. H. Kearney
or, worst of all, that horrible representation by the
same artist of "The Fulfilment" (No. 121), with
its sacred faces tear-bedabbled, blowsed, and drivel-
Quite refreshing it is to turn from things
like these to scraps of natural beauty, like (No.
295) " Lilac and Hedge Sparrow's Nest," by Mrs.
Margetts—moss one can almost handle, lilac one can
almost scent the fragrance of ! Charming, too, for a
similar reason, the "Dead Birds" (No. 325) and the
ripe " Fruit " (in 332) by the camel hair brush of
that whilorne mythic being—Mrs. Harris ! Exqui-
site, too, in their way are Robert Carrick's two lit-
tle pictures, one (313) "Boys Fishing," the other
(331) " Boy at Prayer," with all the truth of Hunt
—truth howbeit seen through a medium of grace
rather than through one of grotesqueness. The
landscapes and sea views—generally the glory of '
the Gallery—appear to us this season somewhat
deficient both in variety and excellence. Among
the happiest efforts in this branch of the art, to
our thinking, are two, by S. Cook—(No. 44), a
" blaming Breeze," and (No. 83), " Sunset after
a Gale"—the latter, especially, beautiful in its
healthful freshness. Aaron Penley has a noble
view of the " Back of Skiddaw, with Bassenthwaite
Lake in the distance," and Edmund G. Warren,
a wonderful picture (No. 262) of " The Wye at
New Weir"—wonderful in many ways, from the
very apple-gathering in the foreground, to the dim
beauty of the far-stretching perspective. Turning
from which with gladdened senses, we pass out
again into the streets from the crowded Gallery.

MARKET NEWS.—(This Day.)

HAY MARKETS.

SMITHFIELD.—Meadow hay, 3115 s to 5114 s ; clover do.,
4/ 5s to '1 15s; and straw, 11 6s to 11 lls per load.
Trade steady.
CUMBERLAND.—Meadow hay, 41 Os to 51155; clover do.,
41 8s to 61 12s ; and straw, 11 6s to 1/ I!.s per load.
A moderate supply, and a sluggish demand.
WHITECLIA.PEL.—Meadow h.y, 4/ Os to 5/ 15s ; clover
do., 41 104 to 61 15s ; and straw, 1/ 5s toll 10s per load.
A fair demand.

COLONIAL.
TEA.—The market has been quiet, but no further de-
pression is anticipated. Common Crngou is 9d. Flowery
kinds from 11d. to ls. 2(1. have been in most demand.
B"AR---The market has slightly recovered from its late
depressed
state, full rates having been obtained for both
eolonial and foreign, principally for exportation. The re-
fined market has been more active at improved prices.
C.PITE.—The rates continue firm, although the busi-
ness (lone has been small— holders demanding fully pre•
violin rates.
RICE—There is little business doing in this article, and
Prices are without change.
RUM has been in good demand, and previous quotations
have been well maintained.
TALLOW —The market still wears a quiet aspect, and
quotations have slightly given way. P.Y.C., spot, 475,
and last three months 46s 9d per cwt.

A. contemporary says :—Mr. Just,ce Williams did not
open the Cardiganshire assizes on the 6th till 12 o'clock
at night, having been detained on the road by the break-
Lug down of hie carriage, and the supposed intoxication
of the postilion. He had to proceed 15 miles on foot
into Cardigan.
A detailed account of the ironworks in Austria has
Just aupeared, arid we learn that 1,000,000 e t. of rail•
can be manufactuired annual'y, and 100,000 cwt. ot
4letreel, tires for wheels, &c.