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Jan. 14, I860] The Leaderand'Saturday'An...
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CARICATU11A. • ' '• ' IF we consider, fo...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Hifle Clubs. I N Advocating The Formatio...
NEW MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT . . XTrHATEYER the amount of moral weight the new members VV may have brought to the parliament of 1859 , it can hardly be predicated that they have added much oratorical force or political strength to either side of the House . Certainly , the election in May did' restore to the speaking portion of the members a gentleman who , if he . does not stand in the first rank of finished classical orators , doubtless takes a foremost place as one of the most forcible , and with a certain qualification , one of the most practical debaters in the House—Mr . Hichakd Cobpen . It is also true that among the reappearances were Mr . B . Osborne , Mr . Digby Seymour , Colonel Dunne , and several other orators of equivalent mental calibi-e , who are heard in the House on multifarious questions with good humourand not unfrequently with marked attention ; but
, the gain does not , by any means , overbalance the loss , when we call to recollection those whom death has summoned before a more awful tribunal than a House of Commons , and those who relinquished their seats from various causes . Fewer changes occurred in the parliament of 1859 than has ever been the case since the Reform measure of 1832 . The number of new members when the new parliament assembled in May last , did not exceed 144 . Since that period about twenty-five seats have been vacated , either by promotion to the Hotise o . f-Lords ,. by'death , or by surrender . At present , the epithet " respectable" is all that can be said in favour of the new members , whether claimed by the Liberal or by the Conservative party . Possibly there may be some second Pitt or waits for the
Canning , some " Heaven-born genius , " who only proper time to show the world that he is the " proper man ; " but as matters stand at present , the revelation is not yet made , nor has any clue to his whereabouts been afforded by the keenest scrutiny . As far as votes are concerned , the Liberal ( not the pure Whig ) party has had most reason to rejoice . The Conservatives have certainly lost strength lately , though tin ' s we know they are disposed unreservedly to deny . Bodmin , for instance , has seen Dr . Michei / l , who took his place on the Conservative benches , replaced by Mr . W . yld , who sits vis-a-vis to the great but erratic Conservative leader . Beverley has yet to make its choice . Berwick has exchangedMr . EaeIe for Mr , Ma joiu banks , and here the Liberals have no cause to-lament . Dartmouth , oncerejoicing in a Schenley ,
now glories in a Dunx . Devonport has lost her twin representatives , — -Mr . Wilson ( who is trying his hand as a regenerator ^ Indian finances ) and Sir E . Pebiiy ; the borough finds its politics . .. now harmoniously reflected in Sir M . Seyjioijr and Sir A . Bullek . Gloucester yet waits for its representative .. Hull , Conservative in predilection , exchanges aHoAREfor a Somes ; the latter gentleman , from'his position as a shipowner , by far the more fitting—we _ do not say the more able—representative of a seaport cbnstitiiency . Liskeard las parted with no honour in replacing : a Grey with a , Bekxal Osborne . Lewes'sustained a loss by the death of the Right Hon . IIeney Fitzroy , albeit that right lion , gentleman once took rankg with the Tory party , but in older and perhaps wiser years boldly resigned his " old lamps " oil Conservative benches , to take
fondly to " new" ones on Liberal seats . At present Lewes is unrepresented , but very few days will elapse before the vacancy is filled . Norwich is in the same temporary predicament . Northampton lost her . member by translation to the Upper House , and found a congenial substitute in Lord Henley . Pontefract has its seat yet unfilled . Heading 1 - mourns for that man of true talent whom ifc delighted to honour , and who now adorns the Bench , Sir H . Keating . The vacancy is supplied by Sir F . Goldsmid . Whitby ' s loss was perhaps the severest of all . Death robbed it of one of the sons of genius , whom an admiring world will ever rank amongst -its ' most gifted men . Kobicrt Stepkcenson is known at Whitby no more , and Mr . Thompson fills his place . Why Mr . Thompson should have succeeded against Mr . Chapman , who ,
if not a shipowner , is -closely connected with the shipping interest , mid who had the united influence of the Shipowners' Society in Jus favour , is an electioneering niystory that nobody appears able to solve . Mr . Thompson , however , is a man of acknowledged ability , and tho Liberal party will have no cause to regret this latest accession to their ranks . Wakefield waits unrepresented , for the present ; Taunton , following the wake of . 'Hull , has added another item to tho Conservative body by substituting for an enrjobled Laboucherij Mr . G . C . Bhntinck . This closes bur list of vacancies and replacements in tho English boroughs , and next week wo shall briefly onumorato the Scotch nnd Irish . Wo have more particularly referred
to tho English members who have found their way into tho Parliament since the General Election . Tho new members returned nt tho general contest have already had their political claims tolerably woll sottjod , as far ns public estimation of their political weight and tendencies -are concerned . Bufc tho later untried members have , mi interest all their own , because their elections afford a kind of prospective indication of the class on which popular suffrages will most liborally be bestowed . The recent members generally have boon returned not so much as political adherents of this or that party—of this or that leader $ but they have been returned as exponents of the liberal , or rather tho " popular " party . This may . prove significant of tho probable composition of tho next House , " when the anticipated lteform Bill comes into operation .
Jan. 14, I860] The Leaderand'saturday'an...
Jan . 14 , I 860 ] The Leaderand'Saturday ' Analyst . 41
Caricatu11a. • ' '• ' If We Consider, Fo...
CARICATU 11 A . ' '• ' IF we consider , for a moment the fact , that a certain weekly paper has existed for very nearly twenty years , and has reached its thirtyninth half-yearly volume , having for its solo purposo badinage , and social and political caricature , wo nnittt admit that the English us a
nation are tolerably fond of the pastime . When we inquire further we shall find that Mr . Punch has been carried forward upon one uninterrupted tide of success ; that he has spared no one , from the lowest to the highest personage in the realm , from the costermonger to the archbishop ; that , in the words of Pope , " No place is sacred * not •¦ the . Church is free . "; from the intrusions of this mime , who , deals on . all sides very shrewd raps ; and that , after all , few have been seriously offended , and none have been outraged by him , we must own that the nation has shown very general good sense and a high appreciar tion of the work , and that the conductors " of it have carried forward
their design with consummate ability . The modern caricaturist has not been without rivals ; the Penny Punch , Judy , the Puppet-Show , Toby , the Clown , the Grreat GrUri , Man in the Moon , Pasquin , Diogenes , and other rivals , more or less insignificant , have troubled his reign , and have shared with him some little of his popularity . But one by one these empty bladders have collapsed , and the -artists and authors who conducted them have sought other rafts or have gone down in the stream . It is all very well for people who are so much wiser than their own generation to sneer at Punch . They who sneer are frequently the most hurt by his baton ; he could safely retort upon them with the old saying , —Do better if you can ; joke every week for twenty years with greater success ; hit the passing folly as it flies more frequently than I do ,
but si non 7 iis utere mecum . The plain fact seems to be that the work is itself worthy of great admiration , nay more , of respect ; that it has done great good , instilled a general cheerfulness and good humour , and that in no nation or time could a parallel example of the success and beneficial effects of caricature be pointed out to that afforded by Punch . Weak he often is , foolish sometimes ; less frequently he is snobbish ; but in the immense mass of matter which has for twenty years made us laugh it would indeed be curious if we did not find stains and blemishes ;—the wonder is . that we find so few . The tide of caricature has flown evenly since the establishment of the Journal alluded to . It is quite true that there must be a confind certain
siderable strain on the professional joker , who has to a number of objects upon which lie must be funny in the events of every week ; but they who make a wonder of this quite overlook the fact that there is a solid substratum of humour in the English character , which affords a perpetual and rich mine to those who choose to dig . Joking becomes habitual , and caricature has existed in air ages . Only the other day , a learned Italian made the public aware of the existence . of a quantity of rude caricatures on the walls of Pompeii , drawn by the loiterers about the city , or those who waited for the opening of the Circus , or the commencement of the Comedy . On the walls of the buried city are the chalk scratches of humorists who lived two thousand years ago ,
distinguished , rude as they are , by the same intentions as our own of yesterday . Addison defines the art as consisting " in preserving amidst distorted proportions and aggravated features , some distinguishing 1 likeness of the person . " Hence the gigantic noses , the tricks of the eye , . the mouth , the curl of the hair , which caricaturists preserve but exaggerate . Hence , also , the derivation of the word from the Italian caricarc , to overload . In painting , caricature has much the same affinity to the historical , as burlesque to the epic in poetry . A finely drawn caricature would bear the same analogy to the Last Judgment of Michej , Angelo as the lorn Thumb of Fielding does to the Eumenides of iEscilVLUS , pr the Hamlet of Shakspkre . One . caricaturist we English have had , unequalled in invention and in fine drawing , and who may not inappropriately be termed the Michel Angelo of his art , —the renowned James- Gilray . English History , of the later and inosfc interesting pcrior ] , owes somo . of its best elucidations to caricature ; and the riso of these pictures may be traced to the Dutch . The great Protectoy ( Mr . Cahlyle might shudder at the -foot ) was continually subject to tho wicked wit of the artist , and the gross drawings wore bought by hundreds among the king ' s party . Some of these were ol so obscure and stupid a nature , thufc . it has been supposed that old plates were purchased to supply the market , the legends being cnised , and others appropriate to the time substituted . The same dishone s t but profitable game was carried on during the time ol the fcmvth bea bubble ; and a collection of such pictures , bound in one volume , was issued under tho Dutch title of the " Oreat Picture of 1 < oily . Our own Hogarth followed , unapproachod in his wit , pungency , and observation , who may-claim to bo the prince of caricaturists , and the wits of his day soon perceived his power . Fieldjno , in " lom Jones , " the great prose epic of human i attire , as Byron hath sonteritiously called it , continually appeals to Hooa-ktii . bwivx
apostrophised him thus :- —• " How I want thoo , humorous Hogurfc ! Thou , I hear , a pleasant rogue art . Were but you and I acquainted , Every monster should bo painted ; You should try your gruvin / j tools On this odious group of foola . J ) va , Yf thorn like , for I asaure-ft , JTou'll ncod no aarlvntitra . Draw thorn bo that wo may trace AH tho soul in ovory fuoe . "
What Hogarth ( Swiet is right , by the way , in dropping tho final h ) made-of caricature , all who have studied lus works am ton . There is no need now to panegyrise him . Ho was ft -grout inomlist , and every touch of his , from tho first picture lie pamtdd to the . lust auction card he etched , nns »» it-a profuse ent . ro which was ovoi meant to injure , but always to improve . Ho who d ^ ' ;;™ * ' " *{? luurnt inoreout of HuuAUTJi ' a W ^ ,. Uiau of any other , »«><> the
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 14, 1860, page 13, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_14011860/page/13/
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