The Sun.
London, England, 1869-02-01 00:00:00

THEATRE-ROYAL, OLYMPIC.

Tiffs EVENING, at 7. SLA SHER & CRASHER : Messrs Atkins,
raughan, G. Vincent, &c.: Miss Lennox Grey and Mrs Caulfield.
After which. at 7.45, THE YELLOW PASSPORT : Messrs. H
Ne• ille, G. Vincent, E. Atkins, H. Vaughan, H. Cooper, and H.
Wigan; Mesdainaa Furtado, Lennox Grey, and Caulfield

ROYALTY THEATRE.
Under the Management of Miss M. Oliver.
Tuts EVENING, at 7.30, A LOVING CUP. Mr. Dewar, Miss
M. Oliver. To be followed by CLAUDE DITVAL; Mr. Dewar,
&c. To conclude with EVERYBODY'S UUSBAND•

PRINCE OF WALES'S ROYAL THEATRE.
Under the Management of Miss Marie Wilton
This EVENING, SCHOOL: Messrs. Hare, H. J. Montagne,
Addison, Glover. and Bancroft: Mrs. Buckingham White, Miss
C. Addison, and Miss Marie Wilton. After which, A WINNING
HAZARD. And INTRIGUE.

CHRISTY MINSTRELS. St. James's Hall, ETery Night, at 8
Wednesdays and Saturdays, at 3 and 8 all the year round.

ROYAL ALHAMBRA PALACE. THREE BALLETS,
Promenade Concert. Band of 60. Begin at 8. le. Box-office
open from 11 to 4.

ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS, Regent's-park, OPEN daily (ex-
cept Sundays). Admission, ls.; on Mondays, 6d.; Children
under twelve, Ad.

• n
/6U >,

LOADON, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 1869.

Some interest naturally attaches to the proceed-
ings of the new Lord-Lieutenant. The Viceregal
office, although often spoken of as a sinecure, involves
serious responsibilities. The necessity for its existence

might be superseded, but while it does exist the
nobleman who fills it occupies a post of no light
weight and importance. He is closely watched by
contending factions, by two strong parties in religion
and in politics, who are each eager to construe his
lightest word and action into some special signifi-
cance. He is painfully conscious of the unpleasant-
ness that may arise from appearing to favour one
particular branch of the community, and while he is
anxious to conciliate all and offend none, he is
called upon to give a decided answer to a whole host
of unreasonable appeals and petitions. He has to
ingratiate himself with a people who are probably
strangers to him, and yet be must go over
the old beaten ground, which so many Lord-Lieu-
tenants have trodden before him, that it is actually
impossible to put the old thoughts and congratula-
tions into new words. Lord SPENCER has as yet
been very successful in his manner of discharging the
somewhat embarrassing duties of his new office, and
on Thursday evening he was fortunate in his subject.
The Royal Dublin Society and the School of Art
offered a haven of repose to the statesman wearied
with suggestions about disestablishment and re-esta-
blishment, about the dangers of Popery, and the
cruelties of Orangemen; with plans for adjusting the
question of tenant-right, and of reconciling all pos-
sible differences between tenant and landlord ; with
proposals to be forthwith transmitted to Downing-
street respecting the assistance to be shown to Irish
railways, the facilities to be given to emigration, and
the countenance which ought to be afforded to Irish
manufactures. At least, on matters of art and study,
the Lord-Lieutenant might speak freely, follow-
ing only the dictates of his own taste and judg-
ment, seeking only to clothe a plain and straight-
forward meaning in fitting words. There was nothing
in the crowded theatre to awake the echoes of pos-
sible discord, to arouse the memories of traditional
hate and feudal animosities. Men can agree to differ
about art if they must wage deadly war over the
principles of primary education ; a student may be
rejected at the examination without the too stern
examiner being found lifeless by the wayside. And so,
forgetting Fenianisni, and putting on ono side the
angry questions which surged outside the walls of
the School of Art. Earl SPENCER on Thursday spoke
freely on those p.)ints on which all interests are iden-
tical, all sympathies are common.
The school itself is not unworthy
of especial no-
tice. It has already proved how great is the na-
tional aptitude of the quick witted, quick feeling
Irish people for art in all its branches. The Dublin
School of Art has held its own against the competi-
tion of the whole United Kingdom, and now holds
a rank only second to that of the great metropo-
lis, although its standard of merit is more elevated
than many. The fine arts schools in connection
with the Royal Society have been in existence
for 140 years, and have sent forth artists like SnEE,
DANBY, and FOLEY. The secretary of the school,
with natural pride, informed the Lord-Lieutenant
that the Dublin school stood actually the first in the
kingdom in the proportion of its awards to the num-
ber of its pupils. The South Kensington school
with 992 pupils, possessing, moreover, great advan-
tages, had carried off 17 national awards. Dublin
had obtained 11, Edinburgh 9, and others obtained
a lesser number. In the proportion of prizes to the
number of scholars, the list stood as follows :—Bir-
mingham 1, for 202; South Kensington 1, for 58 ;
Edinburgh 1, for 69 ; and Dublin 1, for 39.
Earl SPENCER, in his speech, referred to this gratify-
ing fact, and also to the circumstance that the teacher
belonging to the Society has gained the second place
among the teachers of all England for the success of
his instruction. Another point which attracted Lord
SPENCER'S notice was the success which has
happily attended the designs connected with the
staple manufactures of the country. There could
hardly, as his lordship remarked, be a more impor-
tant object than the improvement of the designs
connected with their manufactures. The capabilities
of Ireland havr never yet been fully developed, and
the more that native talent can be devoted to the
cultivation of the national resources, the better it
will be for all parties. Lord SPENCER was very
happy in his remarks upon the influence of art in
educating a country. " Many have not time," ob-
served the Lord-Lieutenant, "to read long writings
on hittory, but they may possibly see the works of
painters or of sculptors. Many of us are familiar
with the death of WOLFE through the fine picture
which came from the hand of WEST. We are re-
winded of Trafalgar by the noble work of STANS-
FELD. Our rulers, our statesmen, our patriots, our
soldiers, are recalled to us through the canvas of
HOLBEIN, VAN DYCK, KNEELER, GAINSBOROUGII, and i
REYNOLDS, and through the chisel of CIIANTREY."

The Lord-Lieutenant, in the course of his ad-
dress, expressd his belief that the qualities belonging
to the Irish people were singularly propitious
to the development of high art. They hai the po-
etic imagination and the warm heart which gave the

extended sympathies indispensable to the true artist.
They had, too, the love of the beautiful, which is his
special prerogative, and the development of these
national qualities was undoubtedly a noble work. In
the earlier ages, as Lord SPENCER reminded his bearers,
the statesmen of a country were the moulders of its
arts. Further on, in mediaeval times, the art of a
country was strongly tinctured by its religion, while
at a more recent date the men of newly acquired
riches and the great nobles were its chief promoters.
In our own days the artist must look to no other

guides nor patron than the public, and by
immortal-
'sing the great deeds that 6.(1 been done they would
do a work worthy of their country. Lord SP %NCER
quoted the fine lines of LONGFELLOW, telling ho w the

earnest and faithful worker might leave " pintfoots
n the sands of time," for the guidance and encou-
ragement of those who came after him. We congra-
tulate the new Viceroy on having so successfully in-
augurated the troublesome and diffizult duties of his
office ; and we hope that he will not only realise all
the eager anticipations that have been formed of his
career, but help to fulfil his own aspirations by en-
couraging the culture of the fine arts in the sister
country.