The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1882-01-28

looks anu uukn ike u lnhu WIZ WIS ln1ul- |
ierably lazy. His words came slowly, were
not seldom miIpronounced and not few
syllables were altogether dropped. His |
position was essentially indolent-he even
didn't keep his knees steady. And yet,
when one secs his face, dreamy and not
over strong, for all his immense chin, the
feeling aronsedis not anger, but something
akin TO the pity which one would give 10
Tennyson's "mild.eyed, melancholy lotus
caters" His elocItion one Immediately
pronounceS abOminable, but AZ the ears
grow accustomed to the peculiar information
and absence Of emphasis, II becomes more
nearly beQrablC, and ut the end, whether
because Of the musical monotonySOf his
not unpleasant voice, or because the eff
feet Of Ills lo.us-like dreams has stolen over
one, 1t Is fascinating. Surely the aesthetics
have chosen good high priest. 1t isim-
possible to listen to the man without be-
lieving him in earnest, and II Is equally
impossible 10 listen TO him long without
exclaiming with the Lady saphir In Pa.
thence, Nonsense, yes, but what precious
nonsenSeW For while there was much IN
bis lecture that was too misty for ordinary
hearers to comprehend, and much that
was altogether incorrect, there was also
much that was very beautiful, and this was
rendered more SO by the fascination Of his
manner.
1t is impossible to begin at the begin
ming and give synopsis oil the lecture, for
it Is one which would not bear strict
philosophical analysis. The ideas did not
seem to be evolved, one from another, but
to be separate thoughts placed together for
tuitously. Not that would say that there
was no connection between them, for there
was-if no other, at least the connection
ton which lay in the fact that they were
unlike the ideas Of ordinary people. But it
did seem to me that there WIS no. very
exaCt logical sequence between them. am
accordingly forced 10 pick out what bits Of
thought II may be supposed you would care
to hear and leave 1t 10 your Imagination to
discover the path by which the lecturer got
from one to the other.
Tho speaker began with the assertion
that the present romantic school Of art in
England was not an attempted revival Of
the methods Of ancient Greek art, but
rather IN accommodation Of the simplicity
and purity OF ancient Greece and Of the
artistic principles Of the middle ages to the
more intricate and involved course OF ideas
OF the present day. In other words, the
aesthetics do not wish to carry us back to
the ages Of antiquity, but TO bring antiqui.
~, or at least antiquity's art, which, ]
take it, must mean antiquity's modes OF
thougln'Sfor art in great measure reflects
the ideas Of its age and society-but to
bring antiQuity's habits OF thought, then,
down to lis. l have heard OF the Journey
between two places being longer one way
than the other, but it was usually when a
sweetheart was at one Of the places. II
may be that some such influence assists an
tiQuity, who must be something stiff OF
sc" to skip down to our nimble days
Mr.. Wilde said much about the ''ioy OF
art" which | am OF the opinion, was too
super aesthetic for any but the initiated.
He spoke, then, ut some length on the
Storm" OF artistic productions, as dis.
tinguished from their subject, and again oil
the subject as distinguished from the form;
but it needed no light degree OF culture to
know that not every subject can be readily
made thoroughly artistic, and that it is an
artists peculiar manner OF execution which
marks his individuality.
At length, he delivered u sentiment from
which much ought TO have been concluded
by him, Tor should fancy from the prac.
teal manifestations of aestheticsm that
much Of its theory depended on it. lie
said that things artistic besides their didac-
tic value, or their value as educators, have
another importance from the simple fact
that they are beautiful Whether they are
Of any use, or whether they mean any
thing, or not, provided they are beautiful,
they are artistic and TO be desired. Mere
beauty, then,-a harmonious arrangement
OF colors signifying nothing, is something
TO be striven for, something for which a
man will not have given too much il he
have given the best lAbors OF manly in
tellect. That there is this beauty Of which
he speaks cannot, perhaps, be denied, but
may not the poet give it too high rankI
Certainly, feather from peacock's tail is
pretty, but is it worthy Of an hours media.
ton?
All great eras in the progress Of art, &c.
cording to Mr.. Wilde, begin, not with some
great social revolution, or with the birth OF
some great, new idea; but with the discov-
cry OF new means by which the artist
may reproduce his thought. Thus came
the change from the Nngularity OF Egyptian
art to the voluptuousness OF Greece when
the discovery Of marble furnished substi-
tute for the hard, pink granite OF the desert;
and thus came another change with the
invention OF canvas as an artistic accessory.
perfectly agree with Mr.. Wilde in one
thing. lie thinks that he is no true lover
Of art who does not love it in all things
and ut all times-in times OF labor and oil
leisure, in pictures, in furniture, or in
dress. | do not see why we should not
adopt his ideas 10 their fullest extent, u;
least in the decoration OF our houses. II is
not the promiscuous inSertion.of the sun.
flower in every corner where there is room
for its elephantine, rather than leonine
beauty, that he wishes; but our houses be
made artistic-that they be filled with OBJ.
jects beautiful in. themselves, and in har-
mony with one another, with the house
and with the occupants. That does not
seem so prepostcrQus an ideA. But OF
course we laugh at its exaggeration in
Punch, when Mr.. Cemabue Browne tells
Dir. De ToCqueville Jones that his engage
ment is broken off because his tiancec that
was did not harmonize with his Florentine-
toultcenth-century furniture.
But whatever may be Mr.. Wilde's phi.
losophy, his language and descriptions are
beautiful. His delineations Of the town OF
Pisa, in the middle ages, and Of the town
OF Oxford, now, were magnificent. One
could almost see the great river rolling
down through Pisa, banked on either side
by sloping parks filled with green trees and
cleaning statues and melodious fountains,
while on the balconies Of the gorgeous pal
aces Of the rear and through the graceful
walks fingered fair ladies and guy gallants,
clothed in the Joyous colorings OF those an.
tiQue days. Mr.. Wilde may be great
dreamer, perhaps not a logical dreamer,
but he is certainly a most musical poet.
Listen, without smiling at the pedantry Of
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