The Portland daily press., 1882-05-20


and 81 per ton on straw and hay, together
with duties on fence, posts, railroad ties, etc.
.ecent Publication
Victor Hugo and His Time. By Alfred
Barbou. Translated by Ellen Frewer. (New
York: Harpers; Portland; Loring, Short &
Harmon) One of the most imposing figures OF
the century is the lionlike poet, Victor Hugo.
Among the sons of Liberty he is in the fore
most rank, and his is landmark of
progress and freedom in literature In the
hands of Victor Hugo the sword of Hermann
struck apart the letters of Tragedy in France,
with blows not less effective than those which,
in his character of political liberator he aimed
in the contests of the AIMEE Terrible. War
has been the natural element of his life, and
wherever he has been, there was the midnlost
circle of smoke and fire. 1t is not easy for
American readers, who find themselves inherit
tors of freedom in literature as in politics, to
appreciate the actual heroism involved in the
direct dep arturo from the set formulas of the
classic school to the daring innovations of the
modern romantic dramatists of France. From
the beginning of his career, M. Hugo encoun-
tered the iiveliest opposition. When Hermann
was in process of rehearsal Mile. Macs fatty re-
fused to address the hero as "naon lion, brace
ct genereu1," considering that monsieur would
be more polite and according to stage tradi-
lions. The whole conservative people of Phil
istia aroused against the new Samson who, all
the same, carried away not merely the gates
but the e.ltire house. Theophile Gautier and
a small army of artists, poets and journalists
formed an astonishing claque, and M. Gautier's
red waistcoat became the oriflamme of victory
for the Roma nticists. M. Barbou's memoir OF
Hugo is full of anecdote and possesses the dou-
BILE charm of enthusiasm and eloquence. 1t is
difficult to define the worth and force Of Hu-
COS work. He is unique. Made Of the volcan-
ic clay Of which the great reformers are all
moulded, he sometimes offends taste, never hui
mainly. The purity of his life, the unfailing
patriotism greater than his country, the SUI
perb rhapsodies and intense drama fire which
stream like sunshine and the sea about the
large horizon of his writings, attest that Victor
Hugo is one of the greatest men OF his time,
poet and leader of men. The volume is in
Messrs. Harper's peculiarly attractive style OF
shape, print and paper; and the illustrations
include several sketches by M. Hugo, scarcely
less strong and haunting than such work by
Gustave Dore and also many interesting illus
trations by various French artists
The Graphic Arts. By Philip Gilbert Ham,
erton Boston: Roberts Brothers; Portland:
Loring, Short & Harmony
One Of the difficulties that every artist
knows in the course of his endeavor to make
his art u derstood, is a sort of wilful deafness
or blindness on the part of the pubic-accord-
ing as his form of art be graphic or lyric
which meets him like blank wall. OF course
he bames the public and he does well to blame
alternately and exhort them for their lack of
imaginative interest. And yet this is some
thing which he may himself and indeed must
in some sort amend. There are two ways of
getting hold upon art; the first and best is
the rich, luminous instinct which is a gift from
above as the sunlight 49, which takes little con-
scious thought of its pleasure and absorbs its
studies Of technique as matter of course natu-
rally and directly. This is to have the genu-
inc artistic temperament and without a good
share of it the best work is not to be done. But
there are many workers not SO provided, and it
is we'll for them and for the public, who must
set the market value upon best and second-best
work, to have enough definite training to fit
them to copy or to buy intelligently the origi-
nal performance of their betters in Art 1.-THE
buyer complain that an aquarelle wants the
depth and opacity of ol-color, if the listener to
a string quartette misses the tinabre of the wood
and brass of the full orchestra, if new rhyme
ster complains that fourteen lines are too few
or many for the ideas that he had planned to
embody in a sonnet or if the reader of daily
paper compares the reporter with Addison to
the detriment of the journalist of to-day,-it is
time that all these people should read this
book of Mr.. Hamerton's For, changing mu-
table things, precisely the thought that this
volume suggests is that which is needed to har-
monte and make liberal the relations between
Art and its public. 1t sets forth in the most
practical and agreeable fashion the limits and
capabilities of the various graphic arts, such as
oil and water color, engraving, etching, mono
chrome, charcoal &C., &c. The work could
not have been better done, nor is any man bet
Yer Hbt6u luz uOiHS ~ tAaA 10 ulIs IlduOIbOus
He is sound and unaffected critic, his expert
ence is large and he is too thorough an artist to
neglect or despise the details of technical work.
He is, too, possessed by an enthusiasm which
is so clear and contagious that the reader, how
ever little of the processes of arts handiwork
he may know, is interested and instructed
by these pages as by actually watching,
if he might have had SO choice
chance, the movements of Mr.. Ham,
erton's hands at easel or etching-plate with the
accompaniment of the artists comment The
motif of the book may be summed up very
briefly and barely after this fashion: That
each form of graphic art land this is not less
true of all other arts) has its own excellences
and limits, its peculiar points of contact with
nature and unique aptitudes to express certain
things; that we may not look for all traits in
any one form of artistic utterance, but must
consider how to express what is to he said or
done most conformaby to the best traits OF the
form OF art which we have chosen. Mr. Ham
erton draws remarkably strong line between
useful and aesthetic drawing, which will great
ly benefit both, and is notable chapter of crit
ical thought. Such a work as this is good for
artists and public alike, it gives instruction
with liberal authority and must tend to the
better knowledge of artistic processes and so
help on the good days when the lordship OF Art
shall be of the people, by the people and for
the people
Notable Thoughts about Women. By M. M.
Ballou. Boston: Houghton, Miffiin q Co.; |
Portland: Loring, Short & Harmony This is
a volume belonging rather to the department
of bookmakin 6 than to literature 1t 10 co.