The Sun.
London, England, 1858-12-31 00:00:00

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PRICE 4D• STAMPED, SD.

nered, though painstaking renderings of Hollo-
way, and Barnet's rough and ready, but
• spirited combinations of the work of the linear-
machine and etching-needle, we are compelled to
turn with a painful sense of insufficiency and in-
completeness. Dorigny's work is the best ; but a
good set of his cartoons at the present day is both
rare and costly. Holloway spent the best part of
a lifetime on fiis series, but they satisfy us, for all
this labmir, even less than the dashing reproduc-
tions of John Burnet, which, up to this time, have
stood unrivalled as vehicles for cheap•and general
disseMination of a knowledge of the cartoons. At
length the sun and science have been set to work,
and the result is the remarkable publication which
gives occasion to this article. By this work Messrs.
Colnaghi and their associates, ignors Caldesi and
Montccchi, have fairly earned the credit of having
made, the most important application as yet seen of
photography to the fine arts. Even the reproduc-
tion by this means of the drawings of old masters
in the Louvre, the Uffizii, the Royal Gallery of
Vienna, and our own Museum; does less for the
noblest class of art than what has 'at length been
done for the cartoons of Raffaelle. In them we
have the master's combined and completed ideas Set
before us ; 'in the drawings we have but rudiments
and detached parts and first intentions. The point
in which photography is at fault—as in its more or
less unfaithful renderingof certain colours—in the
case of cartoons is of minor importance. Their
colour is. their least charm now, whateVer it may
have been when they came from Raffaelle's studio;
and after a detailed comparison of the photographs
with the cartoons we are able to say that in very few
and- altogether unimportant cases have the photo-
graphic, mutations of colour materially affected the
balance of light and shade, still less interfered with
the expression of heads, or impaired the distinct.
ness with which the story is told. -
These photographs arc of three dimensions—the
,largest, about 44 by 28 inches (a size, however,
which varies with the different scales. of the origi-
nals) ; the middle size, about 29 by 18 inches ; and •
the smallest, 14 by 9. The largest set is sold at 14 .
guineas, or at 2;1,- guineas for a separate plate ; the
middle at 7 guineas, or £1 ss. separately ; and the
smallest at 355. the set, or 6s. separately. These
prices are low enough to bring the cartoons within
the reach of even'light purses. Indeed, considering , 1
at once merits of execution- and dimensions, the
publication is not less remarkable for cheapness
than for excellence.
To have thes3 photographs- is to have the car-
toons themselves,. minus their colour, which•must
'always have been of secondary importance, and is
now both faded and falsified. • For 'professional I
students of art the usefulness of this publication 3
cannot be exaggerated. Besides, the photographs
of whole cartoons the portfolio includes, about 30 ;
studies of 'separate heads or portions of groups, for ,
the most part_ofthe same size us the originals. Of
the value of these to loyers and learners of art we
need say nothing. •
As pieces of photographic manipulation -these
reproductions appear to us among the -most re-
markable Plates , yet made public. By the use of
the iron instead of •the pyrogalhe process softness
of ch jar oscuro has been secured without loss of
strength, and even apparent yellows seem to have
been imitated with but little deepening. So with
reds. In the case of both these colours there is
probably a large intermixture of white in the light,
which has rendered the tints comparatively manage-
able. The greens have, as usual, presented the most
insurmountable difficulty. But, allowing for every
abatement due to the laws_ of light, these reproduc-
tions of the cartoons still remain in all essentials
immeasurably above any possible engravings. We
may look at them till the sense of dimension dis-
appears, and we feel as if we had Raffaelle's own
work before us.
_ .

All other copies become flat, stale, and unprofit-
able, in comparison with these untouched products
of the chemical science and mechanical ingenuity
of our time. _ _

The well-known and worthy publishers, among
all the good and great art that they have- helped
to disseminate from Pall-mall east, have given no
set of prints to the world at once so great in their
subject-matter and so perfect in their reproduc-
tion of the originals as this portfolio of photo.;
graphs from the Cartoons of Raffaelle. If the
are not rewarded for their enterprise by a largl
and permanent sale we should recommend them to
renounce high art altogether for dogs and monkeys,
Royal families, and the other ware which enriches
publishers, if it leaves the level of public taste un-
raised.--724inles.

REFORM MEETING AT HULL.

On Monday evening, in compliance with a very
numerously-signed requisition, the Mayor (M.
Samuelson, Esq.) convened a public meeting at the
Town-hall, Hull, on the subject of Parliamentary-
Reform. There was a very large attendance. The
chair was taken by the Mayor, who was supported
by Mr. Clay., Mr. Harvey Lewis, and many other
gentlemen o local influence.
A number of gentlemen addressed the meeting,
and resolutions were adopted in favour of the ballot,
triennial parliaments, and a petition to Parliament
was adopted embodying the sentiments of the
meeting. •
Mr. CLAY, M.P., who was loudly called for, and
heartily applauded, then addressed the meeting as
follows :—Mr. Mayor and gentlemen. I congratu-
late you on having given one more contradiction.to
the nonsense which is so freely spoken, so freely
written, to the effect that no one wants reform.
(Laughter, and hear, hear.) Are we here—wer• the
men at Edinburgh, at Manchester, at Glasgow, and
at Birmingham, were they at their meetings be-
cause they did not want reform ? The reason that is
given to us is because there is no longer the same
excitement, approaching to revolution, which pre-
ceded the original Reform Bill. Of course there is
not, because bad as things are, still we have nothing
like the absurdities, the atrocities to redress which
were redressed by those who went before us. Am I
to refuse to believe a man is ill because he does not go
about the streets doubled up in anguish, and fright- I
enin,g the neighbours by his shrieks ? There is
another way in which I have frequently guessed
whether a man or no was seriously ill. When I
have heard of a consultation among many doctors
at his house I have taken it for granted that there
was something serious the matter with him.
(Laughter.) Now, if there is danger in a multipli-
city of doctors, surely our poor constitution is at
present in a critical state. It is the object of con-
.ultation by all the most experienced State physi-
clans. We havefirst of all the old legitimate prac-
titioner, Dr. Russell—(laughter)—well acquainted
with the disease ; he has treated it, we are bound
to say, sagaciously, and with liberality. There is
also Dr. Palmerston, who recognises the disease of
our constitution,• and who promises us his remedy,
but while we employed him he never found time to
compound his drugs. (Laughter.) There is a younger
practitioner—Dr. Derby. (Laughter.) He for a
very long time denied the existence of the disease—
he acknowledges and will prescribe for it now, but,
as is generally believed, on homoeopathic principles.
(Loud laughter.) And besides these we have the
great water cure doctor—John Bright—(laughter)
—and his is the remedy which we are.disposed
to think will be most efficacious, and likely
to work a radical cure. Now, to lay aside this
metaphor. When we see that every leader of every
party in the country—those who have • held office
long since, those who look to it again, all find them-
selves equally obliged to introduce a reform bill,
can we suppose for a moment that it is not abso-
lutely required ? (Hear, hear.)' For what is par-
liamentary reform ? I take it to be the admission
to the governing power of the working classes, and
the extension of the political power of the people.
Now, it is not in human nature, much less is it in
Tory nature, or in Whig nature, that the posses-
sors of power should part with it short of compul-
sion. (Hoar.) By compulsion Ido not mean physical
force—l.mean that sort of compulsion which every
sagacious statesman must feel when he sees that
concession can no longer be withheld without
general dissatisfaction, and without danger to the
. state. (Hear, hear.) Let us hear no more, then,
of this frequently repeated cry that no one wants
reform. Not only do you want it, but you have
said so in very precise terms, in the different reso-
lutions which you have carried' unanimously.
Your first resolution is as to an extension of the
franchise; and I congratulate the sagacity of this
meeting—l must congratulate the wisdom of
the people in Hull, that- we have not had any
amendment moved in favour of that which I know
has many supporters here—of that which is a very
taking term—registered manhood suffrage—(hear)
—because I am convinced that in asking for it —it
is no use now going into the argument that it is a
natural right—you would have been asking for that
which you could not get ; that to which at present
all the governing classes are opposed, and for which
the middle classes are not ready. (Hear.) Again,
with regard to the resolution you have come to as
to the distribution of the franchise, you- have been
.. very wise indeed in not asking for that which is
also a popular and takifig Phrtt.4—". equal electoral