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470 THE L. E A D E It. [No. 373, Saturda...
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A BATCH OF BOOKS. Oude: its Princes and ...
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ROYAL ACADEMY. II. THE STORY TELLING. Th...
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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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Londoners At Ease. The Night Side Of Lon...
With beaded bubbles winking at the brim And purple-stained mouth . O for a draught of vintage that hath been Cooled a long age in the deep-delved earth , while the other never thinks of a grape or a goblet but to maunder over the maddening influences of drink , to talk of glazed eyes , suicide , the gallows , and Tartarus ? Mr . Ritchie , however , does not confine himself to the temple of that genius which with gin , or viler liquors , Inspires the "Withers , Prynnes , and Vickers of these latter days . He is also hard upon billiard-players . Why ? ' Drinkin " often o-oes on . ' Then why not include the domestic dinner-table among the shadows of the Night Side ? Thsre was a billiard-room opened in a certain town . Several youths were eventually ruined . The inference is obvious . Dancins fares better : —
Dancing , instead of speech-making , is a sign of the times . Accompanied as it is by less drinking , let us hope it is a favourable sign . Let us judge in the spirit of charity and hope . But let us not be too sanguine , —it was during the terrors of the French Directory , when the " Streets ran so red with the blood of the dead That they blush'd like the waves of hell , " that Paris became a city of dancers , and that the art reached a climax unknown before or since . We are bound to say that a great part of this book is fustian , coarselydyed in glaring colours . It is the mistake , we repeat , of a clever man , who has fallen among the Philistines , and has been persuaded that Pandora ' s box was a case of sherry with delirium tremens at the bottom .
470 The L. E A D E It. [No. 373, Saturda...
470 THE L . E A D E It . [ No . 373 , Saturday ,
A Batch Of Books. Oude: Its Princes And ...
A BATCH OF BOOKS . Oude : its Princes and its Government Vindicated . By Moullee Mohummud Musselhood-deen , Khan Bahadoor , Hereditary Native of Oude . ( London : Davy and Sons . ) This is an account of the events connected with Oude , its princes , and its governments , since the first political connexion of that country with the East India Company in 1765 , as seen through a native medium . Of course the charges brought against the Government of Oude , and which led to the annexation of the kingdom , are combated . We cannot say that the pamphlet is written with the temper and moderation or knowledge of the subject to which its author lays claim in the preface . _ We have to notice the first and second numbers of Tlie Comprehensive History of England ( Blackie and Son , London ) , published in parts . The numbers are accompanied by numerous excellent engravings on wood and steel , and bring the history down to the death of Harold and the ascendancj' of William the Conqueror .
The Life and Enterprises of Robert William Elliston , Comedian . By George Raymond , Author of " Drafts for Acceptance / 3 & c . ( Routledge and q \ The biographies of some men owe their chief attractions to the imagination and skill of the biographer . Others are intended to give tlKit ° c temporary immortality '—we quote the apt phrase of a venerable contemporary—which vain men love to acquire in the small circle of friends to whom alone they have been eminent . A third class owe their popularity if not to the public interest in the subject , at least to the force of anecdote and incident with which the works abound . To this class the Life of Ellis - ton belongs . He was not only a public character ; he was ever busy in that hih int als
which interested the public , and made that wcwas eresting o amusing . Perhaps no person ever realized more the personification of whim , and eccentricity than the ' great Lessee , ' as Elliston was called . His extraordinary conceit , his superlative vanity , his daring spirit , his ever practical joking , his wit and humour , made him a great favourite with the public , and he treated all alike , peasant and prince , and felt that where ha was none could be greater . Mr . Raymond had little more to do when preparing the present Memoir of the departed comedian , some ten or twelve years ago , than to collect the various anecdotes of this 'joyousest of once embodied spirits , ' and give them order and shape . The manner in which he discharged his duty is shown in the call for a second edition .
The Spirit of Travel . By Charles Packe , of the Inner Temple . ( Chapman and Hall . )—Mr . Packe enunciates some heavy platitudes by way of moralising on the * spirit of travel , ' and at Rouen exemplifies how much in need he stood of the care , or at least advice , of judicious guardians . The book is little interesting . It is nn egotistic account of an excursion through Switzerland , devoid of pictorial description or scientific utility . English and Scotch Sketches . By an American . ( London : William White and Co . ) — It is always pleasing to hear an American express sympathy with his old mother-country . We are not of those who imaginethat any traditional or hereditary hostile spirit exists on tho part of the muss maintain the
of American people towards this country . We perfect harmony in heart and interest of the two greatest nations of tho earth . A feeling of gratification always steals over us when wo find this conviction confirmed by new instances . The present work is written ' to express the thoughts and feelings of an American in visiting some of the interesting scenes of his fatherland ; ' and as such we recommend it . Essays . By Theophilus Parsons . ( London : William White and Co . ) —Thia is a scries of essays on religious subjects . The first series was published ton years ago ; tho success of the former has induced tho author to publish a second , from a conviction that ' it is not right to withhold what may do some good , only because it cannot do much . '
The Old Farm and the New Farm : a Political Allegory . By Francis Hopkinson . With an Introduction , & c , by Benson Jf . Lossing , M . A . ( Xiow and Co . )—Francis Hopkinson was among the . founders of tho American Commonwealth , a Judge of the Supremo Court , a true patriot , a faithful friend of Washington , and this was his fashion of appealing to New England against tho injustice of Old England . Tho allegory ( a elegant and ingenious , and is rendered doubly interesting by moans of Mr . Loasing ' fl notes . It would bo difficult to recommend this pretty volume too strongly to the attention of young political learners .
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Royal Academy. Ii. The Story Telling. Th...
ROYAL ACADEMY . II . THE STORY TELLING . The rntercst of Thackeray ' s Esmond lies entirely in the story of the feelings with a slighter interest inthe development of character ; to illustrate it the artist should be familiar with powerful emotions , even when kept under restraint , and h e should be able to portray the delicate but distinct characteristics of suppressed emotions In the painting of " Esmond after his return from the battle of Wynendel , " Mr . ' Ego has by no means neglected the emotions of the scene where the young hero is endeavouring to suppress the display of his feelings , and there is a cross plav
of affections ; but the effect is imperfect . In a scene of the kind , the strongest impressions should be produced by the countenances , next by the action or attitude , and comparatively slight thought would be bestowed upon the costume : in Mr . Egg's picture the costume is finished with considerable care ; the action of the people , with the exception of Esmond , who stands in an attitude of constrained self-possession , is exceedingly quiescent . More than one of the figures is seen in profile , and the emotion of the countenances is upon the whole placid and indeterminate . It is a delicate and highly-finished painting , which has a general air congenial to the spirit of Esmond ; the difficulty of painting halfconcealed emotion is not quite overcome .
We have already got in the Middle Room , and our account of it is much the same as that which we gave of the first room . Upon the whole , stories are completely told in proportion to their simplicity , in proportion almost to the absence of a story . One perfectly understands Frank Stone ' s passing cartload of French peasantry , which he entitles " Bon jour , Messieurs ; " a cartload of simple chattering gaiety . It is not so easy to realize the scenes of " spiritual tyranny in Scotland" in the time of Charles II . from Mr . Poole ' s " Field Conventicle : " a Presbyterian minister seems to be delivering a soliloquy in the presence of half a dozen men , women , and girls , who are grouped around him in attitudes which imply more attention to the painter than to the preacher . Mr . Poole has a manner of treating all substances in his picture , whether human form , draper }* , or ground , as if it were made of crumbling materials , like stale gingerbread—a literal departure from truth which spoils even the moral verisimilitude of a picture . You cannot believe that you see a scene of Presbyterian piety contending with temporal tyranny , when the human beings , the clothingand the scenery , seem all made of the same materials .
, Last year Mr . Wallis delighted us with a picture of Chatterton as he lay on his bed of suicide . The painting was highly finished ; the beauty of the young man , the carking anxiety , the placidity of death , the tarnished dress , the homely furniture , the open lattice window with a delicately touched view of town roofs under the sun , were all portrayed with great force ; and the quiet of death was almost audible in the picture . This year Mr . Wallis seems to have laboured to produce yet greater force in his pictures , but the effect is weaker . " A Sculptor ' s Shop , Stratfbrd-on-Avon , a . d . 1617 , " represents a youug labouring sculptor executing the well-known half-length bust of Shakspeare , under directions from a friend of the poet ' s , with the aid of a mask taken after death . Two children are loitering at the sculptor ' s door , and there is a view of the town without . Much thought has been bestowed on the design . The contrast between the death-like mask and the more living '^ bust gives the key to that iintended
struggle between mortality and immortality which the quiet scene s to realize , and which to a great extent it does . It is a realistic view ot the subject an endeavour to recal the veritable scene as if it were photographed ; hence there is nothing ideal in the artist , who is a comely and intelligent-looking man , but not handsome . The children , who are looking in with a Haltperception of the work , fairly enough dramatize the imperfect appreciation ot the passing generation for those spirits that are departing from it ; while trie nobler wisdom of the poet ' s friend , and the instincts of the artist , help them to a better perception . The picture fails in its execution . It is elaborated witli great care and power ; but although realistic in its treatment , it departs . trom fact . The landscape , seen through the open door , is too heavy in i « touches , too positive in its tints . The same defects , in a less degree , are shown in the handling of the flesh and the costume ; the hair is too red , the > tiii ^ e in the checks too purple . More complete in treatment is " Montaigne in is Library , " with Mademoiselle de Gournay at the feet of the philosopher , ino handling is more precise , the colouring better mastered , the story more
It does not suffice to produce with whatsoever historical exactness the persons of a story , or even to handle the general emotion of the scene . In organic life there is always a strong individuality ; the emotions in most cases have a fleeting expression dependent upon the play of the features , which caii ot oo fixed , Tnnsklike . Hence Mr . Cope ' s somewhat striking group of the 1 ilgnm Fathers" pushing off their boat from Leydcn , gives « ftun * ™ P ™ " ™ J ^ historical scene . More is told by Mr . J . Abohbk ' s " limo ot War iwine * child is inquiring of his mother about his father ; because in this hit | e pc tie the pl « y of the features is freer . Still more is told in Mr . Solomon s ^'"[ "g for the Verdict " -a family group outside a court of justice . In every notion " every expression of the face , you can sec lassitude contcM ^ lnis vvitU cea ^ e and intense anxiety . The father sits listlessly on a bond , his head bur cu his hands ; other figures are leaning about , weary , yet unab et c t . U ^ sits with her hands grasping her knees-her facecontra dw' O ) le ffSnoss . anticipation , though she listens for tho word with an ^ V " ) ^ X ., ^ " the The artist has aimed with groat success at exactness in tl p m ^ 'lli » t ° » forms ; and in the tensity of the features , especially of the nose ami oy . while the eyes arc looking parallel at nothing , one can detect the tc is ty > i There is violence of action in this ¦ picturc but me re ihu «« - ... ----- «¦
ear , listening . no ^ ear , listening , xnuru » » 'W" ^ " ...., --- , - „ p . ji . i i o 8 lls going More of tho talc is brought out than in Mr . Dohson s C In M ob us down with his parents to Nazareth . " Joseph ia bearing tho cInl , « o m t -I tho . nan ' s arm with a certain simple ease intended to imply *\™™ ^; n ° ple , than common nature . The attitudes of the advancing P * 'J ™^ ' ^^ 8 , 0 U and designed after tho historic manner . The fault of tl e l f jc lies that tho expression of tho countenances does not rise ^ ov ° ™ o cor ^ olont oW might bo any young Spanish girl ; Joseph any regular-featured , buievoi man ; tho chief figure , any promising , studious child . , t Hoo mj We Lave passcu tho mo 8 t striking pictures in the M > ddlo anil vv « bp | l 9 hero aro Mi . xais ' s two principal works- " A Dream ot tho i-as bir 1 b i ^ at the Ford , " and the » Escape of a Heretic , 1559 . Sir 1 b i or « ^ . knight ' . noun ted on his ' ground destroro' Launcival ; it «^ bo Uu ^ . i 8 BOs a horsbutbyhhiidco . nodsmaUe . By a ' woocle Bc-hawo >> £ ^ mun tll 0 ford , lyllllo knave , ' with a nmydon ' who asks } » " »*« c " , io boy ontlio horse ' s The old knight places the muid on tho saddle-bow , J ° ° J id ™ thr 0 l , g | , the crupper , and gets up himself between ; and tho stout stood strides
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), May 16, 1857, page 20, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_16051857/page/20/
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