The Sun.
London, England, 1866-03-13 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

Phe Edinburgh Review. No. 251.

The first article in the Edinburgh discusses the
difficult question of Modern Fresco Painting, and
inquires into the various suggestions made to ac-
count for its rapid decay. It is remarked that
modern times have exactly reversed the sentence ,of
the olden days, for while the most successful of
English painters have found their experiments in
fresco received with polite indifference, many of the
early Italian painters owed their fame exclusively to
this branch of their art. " Michael Angelo con-
sidered such arts unworthy of the efforts of a man.
The painters who preceded him seem to have toyed
with the easier vehicle, and put forth their real
strength on the wall. And even such men as Cor-
regio and Parmigiana whom we generally associate
with a softer and less masculine school of painting,
cast off these especial attributes when they decorated
the churches of Parma. The result is that we
scarcely ever find a fresco by an early painter below
the level of his easel pictures, while we And many
easel pictures of the early painters below the level
of their frescoes." The writer goes on to give an
interesting account of the various styles of fresco
painting, and the different experiments made in
modern times to attain the colours and composition
best calculated to produce effect and preserve their
qualities on the wall. A criticism on M. Cousin's
recent work on " The Youth of Cardinal Mazarin"
follows, which gives a vivid summary of the
prelate statesman's brilliant career, and renders
due honour to the ability of his biographer.
Another historical essay deals with a character of
less celebrity. Nicholas Oresme, also an ecclesias-
tical dignitary, lived a good many years before the
famous diplomatist. He lived in the reign of
Charles le Sage of France, and was one of his wisest
counsellors. The production which brings him
under notice in the current number of the Edin-
burgh is not a little singular in its character. It is
a treatise " written in France about the year 1373,
at one of the darkest and most turbulent periods of
the history of that kingdom, a few years after the
battle of Poictiers, an exposition of the theory of
money, so clear that it might have proceeded from
the pen of ADAM SMITH, and so correct that it would
not be disowned by any member of the Political
Economy Club." An interesting essay on " Re-
cent Changes in the Art of War" traces...the gradual
alteration in the tactics of great campaigns till they
rose to that highly developed system of strategy which
modern generals must master ,if they would acquire
lasting reputation. Speaking of the natural genius,
which alone gives pre-eminence, the writer observes,
" So great are the impediments to the full execution
of any plan on a grand scale, that no thought or
care can supply the place of that gift in which lies
the sublimer part of the science of war. Over-con-
fidence in his own powers hurries a second-rategene-
ral to ruin—witness the fatal advance of Hood into
Tennessee ; the self-doubt, more common to such
commanders, brings hesitation, leading no less to
disaster—witness the vacillation of Giulay at the
opening of the war in 1859. Nay, he who is suc-
cessful to the full on a moderate terrain, as Grant
at Vicksburg, may be unequal to a combined opera-
tion on a larger, as was the same general in Vir-
ginia last year. Supreme genius itself may fail to
solve every problem, as Napoleon's unsuccessful
strategy in 1812 and 1813 plainly shows to the un-
prejudiced observer." The writer separates a genius
for strategical combination from the mere ability of a
skilful tactician. Of the former gift he accepts
Napoleon as the highest example, and as supporting
his view of the superiority of innate genius over
any advantages conferred by experience or study,
he remarks that practice on the grandest scale
never enabled the greatest of modern conquerors
to improve on the prodigies of his youth. " Had
he died when the treaty at Campo Formio closed
his first campaign, he would yet have left behind
him an unsurpassed reputation as strategist ; for
with an army notorious for its unfurnished com-
missariat and irregular discipline, he overthrew by
pure generalship a succession of hosts equal or
superior to his own in all material respects—the
one secret of his success (as it has been happily
summarised) to turn every position and beat tho
enemy in detail before they were able to unite
their forces." The all-engrossing topic of the cattle
plague cames next under consideration in an article
headed " Corn and Cattle," which commences by
enlarging upon the remarkable progress of our
agriculture within the last generation, and
ends by drawing a vivid picture of the
possible evils resulting from the cattle plague.
" The Erckmann-Chatrian Novels" is the title of
an interesting criticism on the productions of two
of the most successful and talented writers of
modern French fiction. The wonderful ability and
life-like vigour shown in the portrayal of the
thoughts, words, and feelings of the lower ranks of
French life, are scarcely more remarkable than the
ingenuity with which the two authors have blended
their styles, and then produced their combined
narratives. The romantic story of " Mary Tudor
and Brandon, Duke of Suffolk," stripped however
of a little of its romance, reappears in a brief essay
founded on Mr. Brewer's Calendar of State Papers.
The political article of the month is on the " Exten-
sion of the Franchise," beginning naturally enough
with a tribute to the memory of Lord Palmerston.
It is remarked, in taking a brief retrospect of that
eventful career, that the first thought which strikes
the observer is how singularly fortunate was the lot
of the late statesman. Surely, exclaims the writer,
it was all that a student's day-dreams could picture
even to its close. "He did not die like Chatham,
with the clouds which were to dismember the empire
hovering over him. He did not die like the younger
Pitt, all but despairing of his country. He did not
die like Fox, called too late to rule. He did not
outlive his fame, his popularity, his faculties, or his
enjoyment of life. He went down in his full
brightness of glory, without a stain on his
escutcheon, and with scarcely a defeat to chronicle.
There may have been greater, there never was a
more successful or fortunate Minister—fortunate in
his life—happy even in the circumstances of his
death." It was a strange thought, he observes a
little further on, which would come over the
spectator who watched the veteran statesman ex-
changing hard knocks in the Parliamentary arena,
" that man was a Minister when Napoleon the
Great was Emperor ! Sixty years ! They had
seen Napoleon culminate and set —they had seen
the Bourbons restored and ejected—they had seen
a new French Monarchy--a new French Republic
—a new French Empire. They had seen Castle-
reagh and the Holy Alliance—Canning and the
dawn of European liberation—Grey and Russell
and the Reform Bill—Cobden and Bright and
and the abolition of the Corn Laws ; yet there he
was. He had his part in all—had belonged to
Perceval, and Liverpool, and Canning—to Grey,
and Melbourne, and Rusgell, as his chiefs ; yet
there he was fresh and buoyant, pugnacious and
defiant, as if Time could not touch him, as lively
and not more assuming than the youngest and
newest hope of the House. These reverenced his
ability, bowed to his experience, but never had
any temptation to treat him with the tolerance
due to old age. To the last he fought as a con-
temporary, claiming no favour and requiring none.
Yet that man had been in office in the days of
their grandfathers, and almost ever since !" The
political part of the article—to which we shall refer
at another opportunity—deals with the great ques-
tion of the coining Reform.

AN UNFORTUNATE ACCIDENT.--A Highland laird
was addicted to card-playing and had been engaged in it
till a late hour on Saturday evening. Next morning in
church ho accidentally pulled out of his pocket with his
handkerchief a pack of cards, which flew about in every
direction. The attention of the minister was called to this
untoward circumstance, and looking straight at the offender
he exclaimed, " Hoot, mon, but your psawlm book is unco
ill bound."

A CONVICT REVOLT.—An attempt to incite a
revolt among the convicts in the Penitentiary of Rom has
cost the lives of two of the keepers. A shoemaker, who had
been more than once convicted, armed himself with a knife
and excited the other prisoners in his ward to attempt their
escape. The ringleader stabbed two of the turnkeys to the
heart, and it required a strong force of the gendarmerie to
disarm him. He was committed to the city prison on a
charge of murder.