The record-union., 1898-06-05

Truth" Gondon) notes that Kate
Greenaway's drawings have revolu-
tiOnized the dress Of the children of this
generation, and continues: 1.-The late
Mr.. Du Maurier did much to pOpularize
black stockings for awhile among little
girls The late Sir John Millais, too,
to some extent, affected feminine fash
ion by the costumes he painted in GER
tain Of his pictures. Marcus Stone,
George Leslie and Luke Fildes have,
doubtless. given hints in some of their
paintings which milliners and modistes
have been glad to avail themselves Of T;
but Miss Kate Greenaway, as I have
already said, has done much more than
this" The critic remarks that she
might proudly say. with Sir Christie
pher Wren, IF you seek for my mon
ument. look around you
All admirers of Japanese art" says
"St James Gazette" will regret to
hear Of the death of Natsuo, the great
worker in metal, who died on the I'd
OF February last at the age of 72. He
was certainly far and away the most
skilled Of all the modern producers, and
evidence Of this was afforded in the
high prices which his work attained.
Those who are familiar with Japanese
metal workers will indorse the opin-
ion that there is no one with perhaps
the exception Of Kaneiye, who was his
superior in technical achievements or
artistic power. In these days Of shoddy
production, Of which, unfortunately, so
much has emanated from Japan, he did
his utmost to maintain the reputation
of the craftsman for perfect work, and
in this respect the majority Of that
which emanated from his hand was
matchless."
A new edition Of Mrs. Browning's
poetical works inspires the London
Saturday Review" to the following
effect: mo faults Of style-and they
are more serious and offensive than
exist in any other poet known to fame
no deficiencies as an artist, no er
rors of undisciplined energy, no lack
of breadth, of sanity, of repose, can
shake Mrs. Brownings claim to a first
place among British poetesses.
She stands alone, alone in her ex-
traordinary gifts, alone in her unpar-
alleled fertility and many sidedness. A
scholar whose attainments aStonished
all who know her, she resembles Macau-
lay in her devotion to books, being not
only versed in the Hebrew, Greek, Lat
in, Italian, French, Spanish and Portu-
guese languages, but, as her poems,
prefaces, letters and dissertations on
the Greek Christian poets prove, in
their literature we'll. Her knowl-
edge Of our literature, particularly our
poetry from Chaucer to Scott and
Wordsworth, was as minute and extern
sive as Southey's. And If she touched
Macaulay on one side, she touched ia
cob Boehmen and Swedenborg on the
other. She was a Mystic, and never
since Norris Of Bemerton had rapt
mysticism found such a voice as it finds
in The Seraphim' and in The Rhapso-
dy Of Life's Progress But she was
neither a pedant nor dreamer She
entered heart and soul into all the So
cial and political questions Of her time,
both in England and in Italy. A re-
ligious devotee, it would not be going
too far to describe her as the poet
missionary Of the creed which for her
summed up all spiritual and ethical
truth. In the Inni Sacri' Of Manzoni
alone have we any modern parallel to
the fervor and rapture of her sacred
poetry. But, above all things, she was
a woman-'very woman of very wo-
man. and here lies the secret of her
real power and charm as poetess."
Sir Charles Murray, who died in 1895
at the age of SO, had wide experience
as traveller and diplomatist in Europe,
America, and the East, and the Mem
OR of him just published contains many
recollections and anecdotes of famous
Sir Charles (xoft h<a n 1k.S0
and records Of him that his countenance
was still one of the most striking that
had ever met my eyes He tells a
story about Beckford, author Of the
once-famous ''Vathek." Beckford and
his daughter possessed extraordinary
vocal gifts. The father took it into
his head to practice in a back room
the shrill cry Of a peacock" He had
noticed that when one peacock
screamed another on the opposite side
of the house generally screamed in de-
fiance." At last, believing himself
proficient he gave his peacock cry
hiding himself behind a tree:
To his great delight the peacock on
the opposite side of the lawn screamed
defiantly. Immediately after this,
which occurred just before breakfast
he came into the breakfast-room, say
ing with triumph to his daughter:
And, Susan, the other peacock an
swered met
To his great annoyance. instead of
congratulating him on his success, his
daughter only burst into loud fit OF
laughter. Rather provoked at this, he
said:
well. I think you might have con-
graduated mel"
And then, though still hardly able to
speak for laughter, she said:
why, papa, 1 was the peacock that
answered you!"
New York Post: Apropos Of white
and gold schemes of interior decoration.
one Of our painters remarked that 1t is
the last resort of incompetency. 1t
would be more correct to say that it is
the first and only one. Some Of our
architects and decorators seem una
ware Of the possibility Of any other ar
ranpement. Perhaps they are afraid
of the extra difficulty involved in a real
color problem; though really 1t would
seem as If the cause were prevailing
blindness to the charm Of color. The
first instructive impression OF land
scape is almost certainly of masses OF
color. but when the impression Is con-
sciously analyzed it becomes resolved
into lines and forms. AS has been
pointed out before, it is probable thar
the students habit Of learning to de-
sign in a medium of black ana White
has much to do with discouraglng ms