New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1856-03-07

satire upon US IN NAHUM SnuAAcTNs
aSote,1 upon us in 9 previously published work,
us msny Of ne considered ss eminently unjust,
slsn6erous. only excusable by ignorance. Nowh
il l. difficult for an Englishman, speaking our Ian
cu.re reading the books read. living under
laws and social conventions similar 70 our own 20
understand our institutions, fortIOri IS II Diff
cult for him or for an American TO understand
consequently TO write with truth and justice OF, the
manners and customs Of people widely separated
from Us By differences Of race, language, religion,
political and social institutions. Therefore, IN
ste,d Of trusting for your view OF Partisan sights
and manners TO the blurred. discolored glasses OF
any compstriOtic or English literary Snowman, LOOK
At Paris et L, PdrisieHs da XIX Stecte, their
manners. arts ard monuments, as they are de-
scribed in an elegant volume, written by dumas,
Gsutier Houssaye and others, who know some
thing Of their themes and illustrated oy GavarnI
and other designers These last have shown them
selves congenisl commentators on the text OF the
witty authors. ..
speskipg Of illustrated works, must not omit
brief mention Of one " hich is held q masterpiece
here in Paris, where excellence in this KIND IL so
abundant. | refer to the COntes Drotditqaes OF
Palzac an edition of which illustrated with
,ome hundreds Of designs by that mad genius, Gus
fave Dore, was issued a few days ago. Inc
Co,te, Droldtques is work in which Balzac took
especial pride and pleasure. To most readers,
certainly 10 foreign readers, unless of very de-
PRAYED moral taste, 1t is CHEEKY interest,"
ipe as a remarkable resuscitaticn OF the
style and language Of Rabelais, OF whose
works Balzac was loving student, with whose
moral and intellectual nature Balzac's had many
characteristics in common. Ii is literary tour de
force of which no other man since Rabelals was
c.pabe. For its immortality, it is but just TO say
that il il. like the immortality of Rabeais, not OF
the irritating most harmful kind; besides that to
those most likely TO be harmed by printed immor-
& .&r fpt mi "a n.
eusge almost as a sealed book. At the time OF
| the publication some two years and more ago, OF
an edition Of Rabelais, illustrated by Dore,, l
| spoke at some length of the character OF the de-
! signs. The remarks then made apply generally
10 this edition of the CoRtes Droiat,ques. l can
saw now as then that the artist has so fully pos
sessed himself of the spirit of the writer that one
| might suppose the book were written up 10 the
| enorayinas almost as well as that the engravings
were designed after the ideas of the writer. The
| present work, however shows more delicate IN
ventons and more graceful forms than are to be
| found in the former.
Another production Of DOr6, composed last VIM
| ter, but only recently published, is OF different
! character in subject and execution. have hard-
| IL the right 10 speak of il in letter about
! book," for the letter-press which accompanies 1t
which BY the way, with the exception OF an Old
song by Beranger, has very little merit oil any
kinds of small volume, aud added TO 1t only in
! the way of Introductory note His topic is the
! Wandering Jew, that fertile theme which, from
| its old form of monksh chronicle and popular bal
| lad and prose legend has grown under the culture
| Of modern poets into numberless forms of novels,
| dramas and narrative poems in all languages. On
| the French stage alone the poor Jew has made ten
distinct apparitions, his last being at the grand
| opera under the guidance OF NJ Halevy and NJ ST.
| George In literature, one will forget Eugene
Sues Juif Errant, and the Isaac Laquedem of Alex
apder Dumas and the Saidthiet OF George Cr0ly;
on one will remember the Ahasuerus of " our own"
Robert Tyler. Dore's inf Errdnt is series OF
! twelve wOOd engrayings, which are remarkable In
their kind merely for their size and cutting. Zach
plate is, to Judge roughly by the eye, sixteen by
tWeny inches and the entire surface is cut in full.
In the best of them the effects of light and shade
are given with a breadth-One might say
| crandeur-quite unusual in this department OF
| art There ID a singular want OF unity OF thought
| in the series, and often singular want OF unity
| in individual plates. In one, DOre follows the old
| legend; in another he follows his own imssna-
! ton mainly. And such an imagination LOT one
| Mcneil to follow So rich, but so yagabond, so
| extravagant, so madly drunk. The solemn, the
| grOtefque and the ravingly absurd, sometimes all
| riot together on one page. Fortunately such In
congruity does not disfgure all of them. With
The general remark that the series abOunds in de-
fects and in faults, of them intOlerabe ones,
| pass to the peasanter part Of my service and
appear no where more strkngly than in the sixth
design. 1t has the qualities of a poem and SER
mon, harmOnized by the philosophical thought
| which it at once suggests and illustrates Ii re-
| presents the ceaseess wanderer passing through
| graveyard where, beneath the scuptured signs Of
the Christian faith, less guilty men lie at rest. On
| their tombstunes, the wretched traveller reads the
request to pray for their repose. Black expresses,
and rising above their tops a square Church
tower stand out against the sky, in outlines hard
and stiff immovable, like inhexible judges, who
| hear DO prayers for change of DOOM The clouds
| drifting across the heavens have assumed, to the
eve of bis tormented imagination, fantastic, dim,
| human forms. Foremost there seems 8 shape as
of man bearing a cross and behind follow con-
fused thrOng, such went up to Calvary. Further
on. planted in a darker stratum OF cloud, he
makes out the forms Of two crosses. Thitherward
drift the airy multitude Shrinking within him.
self for awful horror, his ayerted glance falls
upon another memorial Of his crime. His own
figure, with staff and streaming beard and waving
garments, cast in receding shadow upon the
ground before him, takes fearful likeness to
fallen man, struggling onward as he moves, under
the weight Of heavy cross. The tall graveyard
weeds rank with life drawn from death, swayed
toward him by the evening wind, seem like vexed
ghosts TO chase him from their abode All this is
visible by the lingering light of a sun already set.
The coming night will bring him no rest. You see
the bells IN the churchtOwer swing aslant They
may be ringing for evening prayers for the birth
of q newborn babe, for the christening, mar
risge feast, or funeral. Him they can invite to
no ieass or merry makings to meeting with other
mortals. His death, the most longed for, hope
less blessing, they will never announce Such
are the main traits of this composition on the re-
ligious side--a fine symbOliziDg of the terrOrs of
a. guilty conscience; on the philosophical side,
IRE illustration Of the truth that the phenomena
RI Il