The Portland daily press., 1868-04-02
Varieties.

tasss-ZA paintiBgzof Niagara by Church has lust
boon put exhibition in London, a ne
Morning Post, speaking of the ten years dur
ing which the works of Mr.. Church have been
known in England, says: Throughout all
these years. and with the advent OF each sue
cessive picture. Mr.. Church's European fame
has gone on increasing, and this because he
has all the qualities necessary to great paint
err. He is delicate and accurate draughts-
man. patient student of nature under her
most difficult and perplexiDg aspects, a pure
and brilliant colorist, and master of that su-
preme art of composition which can never be
taught and never be acquired, but which is to
the painter what melody is to the musician
and taste to the critic-a gift, an instinct, an
| inspiration"
| The Journal of Chemistry advises a cor
respondent as follows: eve advise you to re-
move the green room-paper at once. I'm
| doubtedly your family are suffering from the
| poisonous arsenic dust which is detached from
| the paper. Green window shades, green pa
| per, the green leaves of artificial flowers green
| paint, articles of confectionery colored green,
| are all dangerous. We have analysed wall
papers which contained from ten to fifty grains
of arsenic to the square foot"
| John Ruskin, in criticsing Dore's illus
| trations of Balzac, says: Nothing more in
ventively horrible has yet been produced by
the evil art of man. nor can I conceive it pos
| sibe to go beyond them in their specialities Of
corruption, There is not one which does not
violate every instinct of decency and law of
virtue or life written in the human soul" -
An eccentric English nobleman once light
ed bonfire in his park, and walked through
it to get foretaste of hell, and try what it felt
like. 10 -5s
Elastic boot heels are new invention and
said to be good. .,r... ..
There is another confirmation of the
safety of DR.. Livingstone. Who will con-
| firm the confirmation we shall see, if we live
long enough, and the DR.. is really alive. 1t
| is a little odd that so much should be said
about the Doctors safety, and yet nothing pos
| itively be knoacn of him and his whereabouts.
| Specutadvely he is alive, and that is all that
| can be said of the matter, with truth.
-Ofenbach's new opera -"La Belle Helene"
was produced in New York Thursday eve
ming to very large and appreciative audience
1t is, of course, the old story of Helen and
Paris 5urlesqued in way that would have
made Hawthorne's blood run cold. The Trib-
une very severely criticises the performance
and says that sit belongs to class which we
| cannot but regret to see coming into vogue.
Seduction and illicit passion are not made res
pectable by the countenance of the Homeric
| Greeks, and an adulterer is just as wicked in
| tunic and buskins as in dress coat and calf
boots. The portion of the legend of Helen
which has been sele cted for the plot of this
opera is intrinsically unfit for the stage. The
language does not improve it. The gross
points are made more gross; the text is loaded
with indecent innuendoes; the action in sew
eral places is simply vile and the costumes of
certain characters are more lasciyious than
anything we have yet seen in respectable
Theatre" The Times and Herald call it the
most successful hit of the season, and predict
a brilliant future for the new prodution.
"A couple of New Orleans Creoles recent
ly had duel, but not unto death, with shar-
pened French navy broadswords. They de-
sisted after having sliced each other until the
floor became so slippery with blood that foot
ing was insecure.
-One of the notables among the negro del
egates in the South Carolina Convention is
Robert Small, who made himself famous dur
ing the war by his daring escape from Charles.
ton harbor with the steamer Planter.
"A patriaIchal frog was caught near Flint,
Michigan, lately. He measured fifteen inches
from the tip of his nose to the end of his feet,
eight round the body, and six round the neck.
He weighed fifteen ounces, and had quite for
midable teeth. 1 4
u Temple Bar, in London, is to be .demolish-
ed. 1t is one of the most ancient of the city
landmarks.
"A box recently received at a frontier Gus
tom house was invoiced as containing "a
corpse of no commercial value"