The record-union., 1898-10-09

We lived in small house in High
street, nearly opposite Magdalen COL
1ege, and our establishment was not
calculated to receive sudden guests,
particularly a poet laureate. He step
ped In one day during a long vacation,
when Oxford was almost empty. Wish
ing to show the great man all civility,
we asked him to dinner that night and
breakfast the next morning. At that
time almost all the shops were in the
market, which closed at l o'clock. My
wife, young housekeeper, did her
best for our honered guest. He was
known to be a gourmand, and at din
ner he was evidently put out when he
found the sauce for the salmon was not
the one he preferred. He was pleased,
however, with the wing of a chicken,
and said it was the only advantage he
got from being poet laureate, that he
generally received the liver-Wing of the
chicken. The next morning at break
fast we had rather plumed ourselves on
having been able to get a dish of cut
let's and were not a little surprised
when our guest arrived to see him whip
off the cover of the hot DISH and to
hear the eXclamation: Mutton chops!
the staple of every bad inn in England
However, these Were but minor mat
ters, though not without Importance at
the time in the eyes of a young wife
TO whom Tennyson, had been like one of
the 1nnortals. He was simply de-
lightful and full Of inquiries about the
East, more particularly about Indian
poetry, and I believe that it was then
that 1 told him there was no rhyme
IN Sanskrit poetry, and ventured to ask
him why there should be in English. He
was not so offended as Samuel John
son seems to have been when asked the
same question. The old bear would
probably have answered my question
by You are a great fool, sor; use your
own Judgment while Tennyson gave
the very sensible answer that rhyme
assisted the memory y.'-Professor Max
Muller's AUD Lang Syne"
-
New York Times: The small collec-
ton of the late CA. Dana was famous
among those who purchase Chinese
porcelains at fabulous prices and
are able to indulge in pas
sion for the romantic land
scapes of the French school of 1880.
The greatest picture Mr.. Dana had to
show was Corot's Dance of Cupids,"
which is figured here-a big upright,
containing a classic temple on an ele-
walton to the right outlined against a
bright sky, and a group of celebrants
round an altar nearer the right fore
ground, while in the shady valley to
the left center. another group of wing
less Cupids dance on the grass. The
time is just after sundown; the sky is
pearly and pink like the interior of
conch, and in the foliage and grass
seen through the approaching dusk
there is wealth Of subdued colors. It
is, In fact, canvas that seems to glow
with a deep, rich effulgence. Compare
TINS product of his later style with the
big salon picture by Corot in 1888
which hangs in the Knoedler gallery.
The latter shows so wonderfully dis
tinct the impression that Constable's
landscapes had been making on the
Paris painter during the previous five
or six years that one needs the assur-
ance of Corots signature to overcome
the first impression that a Constable
Is before one. On examination, the
ngures of horses and men in this early
Corot are better drawn than Constable's
usually are, but the distance and sky
are not up to Constable. Nearly half
century lay between the making of
that and the masterpiece owned by Mr.
Dana The figures are less carefully
defined; they blend more with the land
scape and the mood; they are part of
the whole. being, in fact. god figures.
scarcely human save in outline. But
The landscape as an entirety IS sur
charged with poetic sentiment. while
the old salon piece is dry and hard. al
though this bit from the edge of Fon-
talnebleau woods is by no means lack
ing In nobility. AS a matter of fact.
however, 1t is notable that Corot bepan
by falling in love with the natlIraIness
and realism of ConstabIe's landscapes
but in the long run turned again to tho
classic" thing found in Salvador Rosa
the Poussins and Claude Lorrain. but
more particularly the Poussins. French
art, like French literature, seems nat
urally to gravitate toward the classic.
However 1t may seem at first to move
in Some northern romantic or realistic
direction
Mr.. Dana had Millet that is almost
as we'll known as the lovely big Corot.
it is a landscape with high horizon.
Over the ridge one sees the roof of q
cottage. A woman in a great cloak.
with hood like a monks cowl stands
on the left, with back turned; about
her are turkeys. Charles Jacque rarely
painted a better thing than Mr.. Dana's
specimen Of his sheep shepherd and
grove of trees. The trees are OF won
derful strength and vigor. There is also
small Rousseau of considerable beau
~ and a fine big ByZantineV Venetian
piece from the color factory of Ziem.
But it is the porcelains that have
made Mr.. Dana's collection noted, in
Guiding, as they do, one Of the famous
specimens Of blue jars decorated with
the hawthorn blossom, a design by
which some other flower is really indi-
Gated, probably the plum blossom.
These names for porcelain are vener-
able with the age of their erroneous
ness. like the so-called onion" pattern
bodily lifted a hundred years ago and
more from the patient Chinese and still
the cornnonest motive for the decora-
ton Of ordinary European china. An
other piece that brings water into the
mouth of the collector is the little vase
of the solid color called Rose de Barry.
Like the hawthorn jar, it has the
seal Of one of the great epochs of por-
celain-making in the Celestial kingdom.
Richmond Richie, the husband OF
Trackeray's daughter, is Lord George
Hamilton's principal private secretary
at the India Office. He was formerly
connected with the finance department
in that office.
Jules Verne. at 20, Is living on a diet