The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-08-23

may DC enjoyed even with these: but without
virtue both riches and honor seem to me like
the passing cloud"
The great principles which he taught were
cchehy based on family affection and duty.
He taught kings that they were to treat their
subjects as their children; subjects to respect
the kings as parents; and these ideas 50 pene-
Iated the national mind that emperors are
obllged to seem to govern thus. even if they
do not desire it. Confucius was teacher of
reyerence-reyerence for God respect for
parents, respect and reverence for the past
and Its legacies, for the great men and great
ideas of former times. lie taught men also to
regard each other as brethren, and even the
golden rule, in its negative if not its positive
form, is to be found in his writings
Cunously enough, this teacher of reverence
was distinguished by remarkable lump on
the top of his head, where the phrenologists
have placed the organ of veneration. Rooted
IN his organization, and strengthened by all
his convictions, this element of alteration
seemed to him the crown of the whole moral
nature of man. But, while full of veueration.
he was absolutely deficient in the sense of
spiritual things. personal God was un-
known to him; SO that his worship was
directed not to God, but to anti luity. to
ancestors, to propriety and usage, to the State
as father and mother of its subjects to the
ruler as in the place of authority. Perfectly
sincere, deeply and absolutely assured Of all
that he knew, he said nothing he did not be-
Eeve. His power came not only from the
depth and clearness of his convictions, but
from the absolute honesty of his soul.
We quote a portion from the article on
''Ihe Genius of Dore;'-
The dominating trait of Dore is fondish
horror That which devils most enjoy he
most heartily depicts. Added to this is q
tecuudity of invention and a darlsoms flow
of creative poweri which place him the fore
most of his terrible kind Even Dante.
reared in medieval notions of theology and
politics, finds some springs of tenderness.
and always of faith, in his soul. But DOre
in translating his Inferno into pictorial
French, discards al humanity. and presents
the horrors of the Dantesque imagery in
forms more appalling than the original
Before him we got no entirely adequate con-
ccpGon of diabolism. Other Interpreters Of
Dante had given glimpses of its features in a
grand way, but it was reserved to DOre to let
MS into its utter horror. He finds in it a salts
faction akin III depth to the ecstacy which
prompted the celestial visions of Fra Angelica.
! 1t is no cOldly studied design. but a spOnta-
neous outflow like seethiug lava Alike re-
| mmkable is the unceasiug activity OF his
| phantom creations; they are superuatmally
| endowed with vitality. He transforms all ma
| the weird scenery evoked by his imagination.
IN the Wandering jew. untrammelled by
the necessity of illustrating the ideas OF
another he gives his own freer play. The
! powers of darkness are let loose. Heaven
itself catches the vindictve spirit of hell.
| This is art undergoing the delirium tremens.
with rawlings as blasphemous as they are foul
! and hideous This may seem harsh iudg-
ment; but an art that distorts and misrepre-
| sents the divine attributes, engendering hate
or fear in place of love or charity, is not to
be gingerly dealt with. A sensitive imagina-
| ton cannot look on it without risk of night
mare. In almost every sense it is unwhOle-
some art. Coupled with the cruelty that en-
joys human suffering in its most eXcruciat-
ing conditions, and peoples the world
with fends whose bestal grotesque-
ness of shape and ferocity of torment
make one shudder, is a coarse obscenity. a
witty Righteousness, the spintHW element in
! its mocling aspect which comes naturally in
such company. The lascivious pretty is not
| found in his compositions Dores intellect
is too deep for light sins. With him there is
no dainty disguise or tempting display, but
plain outspoien passion, lust, and indiffer-
ence to virtue. The four hundred and twenty
five cuts of the 'COntes Drolatiques' form a
unique monument to his brilliant debauchery
of design: a consuming fire to the weak in
ton to the well-hained brain which can ap-
preciate its wit and satire without being con-
taminated by its smut; and an object of dis
gust to the One-sided pious mind.
AS landscaplst, DOre shows qualities of
Interpretation that place him above all others
of his school. Thus far I know it only by
designs like those of At0lU. But these mani
fest his consciousness of the sublime in a re-
markable degree. They are ideal compost
tions interpenetrated with the gloom
and mystery Of a nature torn by hel
own wrath, terrified by her own mystic
solitude, in general dissociated from
man, or when associated with him, akin
to his fellest passions, untamed and savage a.
he was before civilization began. They real
ize our conceptions of primal creation. There
is no caricature in them, but a vast creative
or disturbing sense, which makes and destroys
with equal facility. Dore grasps the forma
tive idea and shapes his creations to express
the animating feeling. 1t is organic spiri
even more than nature that we see in hi,
designs. He thus insists upon the high
est triumphs of art. One who doe
this may not always be, or intend t.
be, perfect in drawing, or eXactin perspective
If, like Dore, one works immensely he viii
often be careless and superficial We fine
Dore sometimes laundering in details, veal
i'll consequence of departing from his imme
diate fields of strength, but almost always
making apparent the intended idea and artistic
effect. Dealing largely with the supernatu
raj and with caricatue, he must eXaggeratt
known forms, or invent new, to create thu
impressions he has in view. He cannot, there
fore, be bound down to the ordinary rules o.
realistic art. His success depends on hi
being free of them at will. The grotesque
terrible, and supernatural. or the sublime
| lqN a, An,