The Sun.
London, England, 1860-11-05 00:00:00

2W' MAGAZINES.

Blackwood.
The most interesting article is that entitled
" Ary Scheffer;" it is most worthy of perusal alike
from its subject and from the manner in which it
is treated. It commences by stating that " the
painter of Francesca di Rimini has, we rejoice to
say, been fortunate in a biographer. The history
of so true a man, the development of a genius so
great and benign, a career so chequered, and in an
epoch so troublous—the ever forward progression
of an art which at length essayed suck sublime
argument—such a life and such a history well de-
serve to be recorded. It was Ary Scheffer who,
beyond all his contemporaries, strove to make a
picture the exponent of noble thought; and now
in these memoirs we are glad to find that the beauty
and the pure emotion which breathe from his works
were but the expression of an eatriest life devoted
to virtue and religion." In tr.-ating of the style of
his works it is said that, " 'oeauty—a heaven-born
beauty, let it be known in these days of inveterate
and cherished ugliress—was the idol of Scheffer's
worship ;" and that, by general consent, his master-
piece was Francesca di Rimini, which for conception
composition and treatment may take rank with the
greatest pictures of any age or country. The last
moments of the departed genius are narrated in a
most touching and impressive manner. It is a
solemn and a beautiful coincidence connected with
his last hours that he was engaged in painting a
work entitled the " Angel announcing the Resur-
rection of Jesus," " a few days told all hope had
ceased, and on the 15th of Rile this great and vir-
tuous man :fielded up his last breath. It was a
beautiful summer's evening the calm splendour of
which irradiated the scene of his departure from
earth, not more calm however—not more serene
Was the aspect of the heavens, than were
the conscience and pure spirit of him who
thus passed to eternal rest to suffer, to
strive no more." The following passage aptly
illustrates the prevailing tone of his works, and in
eloquent language informs us how the ruling spirit
that guided his latter days was a grand one, and
sustained him till he passed from the hard triumphs
of this state to the blessedness of the world where
he could gaze on the glories he had here fore-
shadowed, and, in the words of Christie Johnstone,
the great painter could behold a grander scene
" than human hand has ever painted the great
meadows on the other side of Jordan, which are
bright with the spirits of the just who dwell there,
and are warmed with an eternal sun, and ring with
the triumphs of the humble and the true, and the
praises of-
God for ever,"

Scheffer had long in his art hovered on the shadowy con-
fines of existence. He had for years, as we have said, been
a denizen of Hades, and figures were accustomed to come
to him from the dreamlike land of spirits. We have seen
that during the later years of his life the New Testament
was his constant study, and accordingly we naturally find
that Scripture narrative, and subjects taken from the Chris-
tian's hope, were, after all, his most cherished themes. In
his .' Christ Consolateur" and "Christ Remunerateur,"
WC see the highest types of a spiritual ideal ; the peace too,
and the blessedness, which come as the gifts of hope and.
faith. Christ is seated in the midst of imploring suppli-
ants, and gives freedom to the captive and consolation to
the afflicted. This is the noble theme. It would seem, in-
deed, that Scheffer had now, after sore conflict—
after a life racked on the rude world—after, even in his
chosen art, much painful struggling for a perfection which
over eluded his grasp—it would seem, we say, that at length
in his later works ho realised high spiritual longings, and
entered in a newly created world upon a final repose and
bliss. It was touching to see, in the exhibition to which
we have already made frequent reference, pictures which,
bearing as their date the very year of his death, seemed as
by anticipation of only a few short days, to hold converse
with those serene heavens into which he himself was soon
to enter. He appears, indeed, in imagination to have
already passed through the gates of death, and to have seen
the portals of that city whence so oft had issued pure and
beauteous beings, the ministers of his art. " The Angel an-
nouncing the Resurrection" to attendant and awakening
mortals, still loft unfinished when the grave opened at his
feet, shows with solemn emphasis the ruling passion strong
even in death. But he had lived long enough to give to
his art that perfected body which waits on immortality.
"Norman Sinclair" is continued, and is rather ex-
citing this time for a novelty. It relates chiefly
to the quarrel of Norman with Mr. Beaton on the
subject of some securities and payments. " The
Courtesies of \Var" is an interesting sketch, and
tends to demonstrate the fact that " the brave can
never hate the brave." " Judicial Puzzles" this
month is filled with the Annesley Case. Uniese
some very energetic and clear-sighted justices and
judges are found, the next generation can cite the
Road case as ample evidence that our day is very
far behind perfection in the detection of criminals
and the elucidation of mysteries. " The Romance
of Agostini" is proceeded with, and is becoming
very interesting as it is deveioped. The misfor-
tunes of the young Italian are really very great ;
ho has much to contend with. There is an article
on " Civil Service Appointments," which observes
that the work done upstairs in the house is more
useful though less pretentious than what is
done in the great national debating hall,
and the select committee —of which Lord
Stanley was chairman that sat during the
months of March, April, May, and June to take
evidence and report on the subject of civil service
appointments, have done much to deserve notice.
The following remarks are very just on the im-
portance of improving the prospects of those who
are to enter on the service :

We repeat, that what is really required to supply the
Civil Service of the country with young men of mark and
likelihood, and to keep the general efficiency of the servic,:*.
is net a phalanx of cramming tutors, a board of erudite
examiners, or a sytem of competition, open or limited, but
sufficient attractions into the service itself to induce young
men of promising abilities to enter it in preference to all
other professions. There can hardly be a more important
subject of parliamentary inquiry, but it appears to us that
our investigations have hitherto begun at the wrong end.
When a man strips himself to fight a battle, or girds him-
self to run a race, you may be sure that he has ascertained
beforehand that the prize for which ho is to contend is
worthy of his prowess. If he has really any good stuff in
him he will not contend for an ignoble prise. Let us make
the civil service of the country worthy of the best intelli-
gence in it, and we may be sure that the best intelligence
will eater its ranks. We trust that, in the course of the
ensuing session of Parliament, the whole subject will be
submitted to inquiry. The question of initial appointment
is really a small, and, as we think, a comparatively unim-
portant part of it. There is no more fear of our not get-
ting good men for a good service, than of our not seeing
good horses entered for the Derby, so long as to win that
race is to win "the blue riband of the turf," with a rich
pecuniary accompaniment.'
There are some very judicious reflections in the
paper called " The Administration of India," which
arc most worthy of attention, od at the present
time are most appropriate and appliCable•

Dublin University Magazine.

The first article is called " The Vice of our Cur-
rent Literature." It:contains some solid remarks,
and on the whole it is well worthy of notice. Here
and there it is impossible to coincide with the con-
clusions arrived it, as, for instance, in the stricture
on " Adam Bede," where we find the following
passage :—" We laugh at Mrs. Nickleby, but we
can only yawn over Mrs. Poyser. The latter may be
drawn more outwardly true to life, but what good
or pleasure can the reader gain from studying her
small ways or listening ever so patiently to her
small talk ?" He goes on to say—" What rational
being cares to see the everyday talk of common-
place people repeated word for word, with all its
gushing pettiness of thought and poorness of lan-
guage, in works ostensibly designed to interest and
amuse us This is not exactly correct, for it is
always desirable to dwell on the portrait and linger
over the details 'when it is so admirably executed
and so graphically narrated as the sketch of Mrs.
Poyser. Again the writer is too hard upon Miss
Yonge's books, which, though they may suffer
from the drawbacks of being too sectarian or pre-
judiced on some points, are remarkable works, and
we do not at all agree with this idea—" Whatever
else we may be tricked into learning from the pages
of a seeming romance, the rubbish of theological
small talk had better be shot elsewhere." The
wise and learned who scorn instruction and scoff at
advice are never obliged to read these little volumes,
which in an unpretending form and earnest spirit
set forward truths and contain principles which, if
these sncerers acted upon, it might be mole profit-
able for themselves and pleasing for their friends.
Still the reader will find much to interest him in
the pages of this criticism, and the concluding pas-
sage is very just in its views, and holds out useful
warnings to the literary world in general :
" In short, the plague of words, from whatever source
arising, has spread already so fast and far, that unless it
soon take a more measured turn, we are like to ipso sight
for ever of the few landmarks that still remind us of a
healthier and more reticent age. Among living writers of
any mark, can any one think of half a dozen, whose faith
fulness to the higher aims and conceptions of their art can
make us mere hopeful of the future? How manymodern
novels or histories are there, to which Sidney Smith's plan
of blotting out every other word might not be applied with
remarkable success ? How many poems, save perhaps.
those of Tennyson, will be read and treasured by our great t
ratndchildren, should the taste of their day rise above that
of ours ? Of course, there is such a thingas toomuch
compression, but that, unless it be found inday. the
works of
Dean Milman, is no vice of the present It is the re-
verse of that against which a modern critic should cry out
on faults, we have na-
longest and loudest. In an essay
turally been sparing of our praise, but a little censure ho-
nestly bestowed will not perhaps be an unpleasant relief to
ears Wag sated with uncliscernuag flattery, Literature, Q 4

- -
the whole, has derived but doubtful benefit from the affected
geniality of that new school of criticism that disowns the
severer system applied by the helpmates of Jeffrey and
Glurd. A timely warning may check the growth of that
rage for long•drawn sentiment, petty sermonising, and su-
perfluous details, which has already eaten much too far
into the life of our best literature. No one who has any
real concern for the national influence of such writers as
Carlyle or Thackeray can help being stirred to warn them,
however vainly, against the foolishness of pandering to
those popular tastes which their own superior genius was
given to them to cultivate and control."

" Vonvecl, the Dane," is concluded, and it will most
likely take many by surprise, as its brightest mo-
ments are certainly its last. Instead of a gloomy
end, it is all gay and glittering.

" No more of death or dying pang,
No more of trump or bugle clang."
A general reconciliation takes place, and the
renowned outlaw is recognised by his Sovereign as
the first subject of the realm. The courtiers were
as much astonished as those of King James, when
he exclaimed :--

" Ask nought for Douglas. Yester even
His prince and he have much forgiven ;
And Bothwell's lord henceforth we own,
The friend and bulwark of our throne."
There are some interesting remarks on Maine de
Biran, and in referring to a work published, called
" Sa vie and Ses Pensees," it is stated that in the pre-
sent day, when the study of philosophy has so
wonderfully revived, we can only be thankful for
such a book as the "Pensees." From the home
into which earth's kings enter there is nothing to
exclude the crowned ones of thought. The alle-
gory of Bunyan is grandly true as far as it
goes ; only other Christians by thousands have had
to fight with enemies of whom he never dreamed,
and there are paths leading into the narrow road
which he never saw. This book indicates some
such enemies, and points out one such by-path. In
the words of an unpublished poem :

" The city of our God, which lies four square,
[lath avenues to every human heart."
and De Biran has traced one avenue from the
heart of the psychologist to the golden
street's. A new story commences, called " A House
Divided against Itself," and perhaps some will be
disappointed to learn that it concerns the os.d tale
of the Royalists and Roundheads. " The Cid," by
Professor Vericour, is an article that is excellent
in its style and tenour. It refers to a character
inseparably associated with chivalry and connected
with courage. Of course the readers of this wise
age are prepared to find that the immortal Chimene
was his second wife, and not the young maiden of
romance that hitherto has been supposed. The
subjoined passage is fully illustrative of the merits
of one of Spain's greatest heroes :

" Christian Spain has adopted the Cid as the ideal of
greatness. The greatest kings of the Peninsula have
honoured his memory. All the popular poets of the middle
ages have exulted in selecting him for the object of their
songs and tales. During ages the aatne of the Cid has been
associated in Spain with everything that is beautiful, great,
and pious. The people have created round that name an
imaginary world of adventures, unearthly powers, and
heavenly virtues. Time has seen the figure of the Cid rise
in splendour and influence. He is the hero, the idol, of
the Spaniards, and therefore, even in our own age, not
many years ago, when liberal Spain was rousing from the
the torpor of despotism, the Spaniards, in the hymn of
Riego, loved to invoke the name of their hero. They sang
Tranquil, joyous, valiant, full of audacity, soldiers, let
us sing the hymn of battle! Let the earth even be moved
by our accents! Let the world recognise in ue the children
of the Cid 1 ' "

Fraser's .Magazine.

Fraser this month is scarcely equal in interest to
its general character. The Manchester Man, who
has before contributed to these pages, furnishes an
essay on the philosophy of marriage studied under
Sir Cresswell Cresswell, not the most favourable
exhibition of the votaries of Hymen. This medita-
tive discourse on some of the various phases of
domestic life is followed by the second paper on
" France and Paris, forty, thirty, and twenty years
ago." The changes which have taken place in the
chief towns of France since the days of Louis the
Eighteenth are duly chronicled, and afford inte-
resting reading for these who like to watch the
variations produced by time and circumstance in
the busiest as well as the most retired localities.
Dieppe in 1860 is "very different, he thinks, from
Dieppe in 1827, although the alteration has not
taken place in the town itself or in the increase of
the population or visitors, but in the class of people,
whether French or English who frequent it. He
gives us a full account of the early days of Charles X.
whose entry into his capital he witnessed. We
have also an elaborate description of the old king's
hunting establishment at Fontainebleau, for "le
chasse," if it may be so termed, was his ruling pas-
sion although conducted on a system which de-
manded neither skill nor courage. On the subse-
quent fall of Charles the Tenth, the writer says he
could not help reflecting en the Chinese proverb,
" Empereur chasseur-dynastie perdue." The expen-
diture in costumes and banquets at Court in those
days seems to have been of the most extravagant
character. The prices of articles of consumption
appear, however, to have greatly increased since
the epoch referred to ; indeed, the writer expresses
his belief that " eatables and drinkables have risen
twenty, thirty, and fifty per cent. within thirty
five years." There are many entertaining details
of a similar character in the paper in question,
although it is somewhat diffuse. " Gryll
Grange" is continued, and the perplexities of the
various lovers appear likely to be solved in a very
satisfactory manner. Alexander Bain proceeds with
his examination of the sentiments according to
phrenology, and takes a careful survey of the
various qualities and predispositions, as developed
in the phrenological systems of Combo and others.
Mr. MoncktonMilnes takes a review of the posi-
tion of Alexander von Humboldt at the Court of
Berlin, in which he remarks that the annoyance
felt at the supposed breach of confidence in the
publication of the correspondence between the
great philosopher and Varnhagen von Ense, as
well as the malicious character of some largely
circulated extracts, have prevented many from
appreciating the merits of the volume, and of per-
ceiving all its interest, as illustrating the career
and character of its chief writer. There are some
verses suggested by Ward's picture of the parting
of Marie Antoinette and her hapless son, which are
forcible and pathetic. The " Chronicle of Current
History is continued, and gives a fair general out-
line of the course of events, foreign and do-
mestic.

Bentley's Miscellany.
The Ontremanche Correspondence has lost a good
deal of its zest, the subject of criticism is again
Italy, and although we can afford to laugh at our
own short comings with our neighbours on the other
side of the herring pond, we all take too much in-
terest in the important transactions taking place in
Italy, where a brave people are struggling for that
liberty which we all hold so dear, to care to joke
on the subject. The " Shingleton Mystery," by
Dudley Costello, is a lively tale of the adventures
of a retired brushmaker, who becomes enamoured
of a mysterious young lady at a certain retired
watering. place. "Tile Shipwrecked One," by E.
A. Eo wring, may be very clever, but we confess
that its beauties are beyond our comprehension,
having searched in vain for poetry or common sense
ii; the composition. The review of the " French
Alintznacs " is well worth reading, numerous ridi-
culous extracts being Liven, half in jest half in
earnest, to show the notions of our Gallic friends.