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114*4* ________" THE LEAD E it. TOo. 401...
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ART COLLECTIONS IN GREAT BRITAIN". Galle...
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NOVELS AltfD TALES. The Riding Passion. ...
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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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.Rambles Of A Naturalist. The Ramltcs Of...
There wasfun , as well as science to be had outof rock-pools : One day , for instance , I threw a large Arenicola into a pool of several ftet in extent . A troop of little shrimps , who were sedately enjoying themselves in the clear element , dispersed in alamo , startled by the noise made by the fall of this strange body , but , recovering themselves in a moment , they rallied , and whilst the annelid was endeavouring to bury itself in the sand , one of the youngest , and , consequently , alao the most venturous of the party , seized the creature by the middle of its body . Emboldened by this example the others lost no time in imitating it , and the poor Areuicola was pulled about in all directions until a full-grown shrimp , darting from behind a tuft of Corallines , dispersed his feebler comrades and appropriated the booty to himself . I soon saw , however , that he would be compelled to divide the spoil , for at that very instant there poured forth from the moving sand some score of small Turbos and Buccinums , who conscious that a victim was at hand , wished to
participate in the feast- Without any sign of uncertainty or hesitation they moved straight forward towards the Arenicola , whose body was covered in the twinkling of an eye with these voracious molluscs . 1 thought his fate definitively settled , when a small shore-crab ( Cancer Mcenas ) issued from beneath a stone , put to flight the shrimp , and by dragging off the Arenicola very nearly upset all the Turbos , -who forthwith hurried back to their sandy haunts . Then , however , a large edible Crab ( Cancer Pagiirus ) appeared upon the scene , and the poor little Mcenas was obliged in his turn to beat a retreat in order to escape out of reach of the formidable pincers of his stronger kinsman . But he still kept a watchful eye over the dainty morsel which , he had once tasted , and taking advantage of a moment when the larger crab was -withdrawing from the field from some temporary emotion of alarm , he rapidly seized the long-disputed Arenicola , and carried it for safety to some distance from the water ' s ^ edge , where he might devour it at his ease on drv ground . . " p
Hissecond visit was to Brehat , on the shore of Brittany . His third was to Sicily , "when he formed one of a Government commission , in company with Blanchard and Milne Edwards . They hired their own boat , and ex plored the Sicilian coast with passionate eagerness : — - I saw the sea here under an aspect entirely new to me . The ocean does not exhibit those absolute and profound calms which are observed in inland seas where the surface of the water is often as smooth as a mirror , permitting the eye to distinguish the minutest details at an incredible depth . I was at first often deceived by this marvellous transparency into the belief that I could grasp some Annelid or Medusa , which seemed to be swimming : at only a few inches' distance from me . Our patrone watched the proceeding-with a sarcastic smile , and talcing a long pole with a small net attached to one of its extremities , he , to my intense astonishment , plunged it many feet below the surface before it came in contact with the objects which Iliad imagined I could grasp in my hand .
This marvellously limpid condition of the wa . ter produced another charming illnsion . leaning over the side of the boat we could see flitting beneath our eyes a vision of plains , valleys and hills , in one place with bare and rugged sides , in another , clothed with verdant herbage , or dotted over with tufts of brownish shrubs , and in all respects calling to mind the distant view of a passing- landscape . But it was not the varied outlines of a terrestrial scene on which our eyes were riveted , for we were scanning the rugged contour of rocks , more than a hundred feet below us , amid submarine precipices , along ' which the undulating sands , the sharply cut angles of the stone , and the rich tufts of brightly coloured red weeds and glossy fucus fronds , lay revealed to sight-with such incredible preciseness and clearness , as completely to deprive us of the power of separating the real from the ideal . Afer gazing intently for a while at the picturesque scene beneath our eyes , we scarcely perceived the intervening liquid element which , served for its atmosphere and bore us on its clear surface . We seemed to be suspended in empty space , or , rather , realising one of those dreams in which the imagination often indulges , We ' appeared to be soaring like a bird , and to contemplate from some a & rial height the thousand varied features of hill and dale .
Among other phenomena , M . Quatrefages gives a lengthy account of the volcanic eruptions of Etna . He then takes us to the Bay of Biscay , to Biarritz , Guettary , and St . Jean de Liuz , winding up with visits to \ La Rochelle , Chatelaillon , and Esnandes . As a pleasant addition to our scientific literature , and as a book of travels far more informing and suggestive than nine out of every ten which are published , these Rambles of it Naturalist deserved the careful translation they have received ; and , although they contain nothing new in the way of science , jet they bring in an accessible shape much that is valuable to naturalists ¦ whi ch was scattered through memoirs and monographs within the reach of few .
114*4* ________" The Lead E It. Too. 401...
114 * 4 * ________ " THE LEAD E it . TOo . 401 , November 28 , 1857 .
Art Collections In Great Britain". Galle...
ART COLLECTIONS IN GREAT BRITAIN " . Galleries and Cabinets of Art in Great Britain . Being an Account of more than Forty Collections of Paintings , Drawings , Sculptures , MSS ., & c . By Dr . Waagen . Murray . Dr . Waagen ' s new volume is supplementary to the three published by him on the Treasures of Art in Great Britain . Since the year 1854 , he lias visited numerous collections , carefully describing the pictures , sculptures , drawings , manuscripts , and antiquities brought under his notice . His idea , has been to put together such exact details of every work as might suffice in future for its identification , and this , as he remarks , is the more important from the number of galleries continually stripped bv the auctioneer . Thus , since the appearance of Dr . Waagen's former massive book , the collections of Lord Colborne , Mr . Rogers , Miss Rogers , the Earl of Oxford , the Earl of Shrewsbury , and others , have been totally dispersed ; but if these are intended as guides , the author must toe careful to verify them with especial
minutes , and not to incur the charge of occasional inaccuracy , to which at present lie appears liable . Considerable improvements might be introduced into A second edition , in the treatment and , perliaps , in the plan . Dr . Waagen . has a formal set of phrases which he continually applies , so that his p ages are encumbered with technicalities . But all art students will acknowledge the interest and value of his researches , the more particularly so , in that this volume is partially a criticism of the Manchester Exhibition , many of the pictures mentioned having been exhibited there in a hotter light than that in -which the Doctor saw them . Perhaps it is on account of this circumstance that some of his descriptions are overcoloured , and even absolutely incorrect , it being obviously difficult to appreciate any -work of art in a dim , old-fashioned gallery , half full of shadows , and adapted only for portraits of ancestral ugliness . In all probability , however , Dr . Waagen will speedily find an opportunity to be his own corrector , since ho lias omitted to notice several important collections . In ita actual shape , however , the supplementary volume is very acceptable , as may ho inferred -when vre say that Cftnalctto ' s pictures occur in twelve of the collections
described , the Carraccis' in twenty , Claude ' s in twenty-seven , Corregio ' s in eight , Cuyn's in twenty-one , Carlo Dolce ' s in eleven , Francesco Franeia ' s in seven , Muriilo ' s in thirty-one , Raphael ' s in fourteen , Rembrandt's in twentythree , Guido ' s in twenty-four , Salvator Rosa ' s in twenty-eight ., Rubens's in forty , Tintoretto ' s in fourteen , and Titian ' s in twenty-nine . Some of the examples , of course , are doubtful , but there can be no question that the forty collections enumerated , and now first described , are of abundant richness and beauty . They include the British Museum and the National Gallery in their additions and changes , Lord Yarborough ' s , the Marquis of Hertford ' s , the late Mr . Morrison's , Sir Charles Eastlake ' s , Lord Overstone ' s the Due d'Aumale ' s , Lord Warwick's , the Prince Consort ' s at Kensington Palace , Lord Folkestone ' s , Lord Amherst ' s at Knoll Park , Mr . Banke ' sthe
, Duke of Northumberland ' s at Almvick and Sion , the Duke of Newcastle ' s at Princely Chamber , the Duke- of Portland ' s at Welbeclc , Mr . Baring's , Mr . St . John Milmay ' s , Mr . Beresford Hope ' s , and others of inferior importance ; Mr . Speaker Denison ' s Annibale Caracci and Lord Abei-corn ' s Tintoretto remain as yet unnoticed . We glanced with curiosity at the account of the art treasures atBasildon Park , the residence of the late millionnaire merchant , James Morrison , whose latter years were clouded by nibnomaniacal anticipations of beggary . The old gentleman who received two pounds sterling a week from his steward , to guarantee him against destitution , lived in th e midst of Oriental luxury . In his front hall stood an ancient quadrangular altar of Roman marble , sculptured with heroic figures , eagles , and rams , and bearing an exquisite cinerary urn . In the hall itself hung a magnificent
Turner landscape , glowing with the light and life of Italy ; in , the octagon , wprks by Hilton , Eastlake , Turner , Constable , Collins , Webster , Hogarth , Pickersgill , Wilson , Nasrnyth , Wilkie , Stanfield , and Ward ; evincing the proprietor ' s taste for the modern schools . On the library wall -was one of the warm bacchanals of Poussln , with a Rembrandt portrait , a Rubens Yirgin , and a Parmegian © group of Amorini . A bronze Maenad tossed her arms and displayed her beauty in this chamber , concerning which Dr . Waagen adds , " The front part of the bookcase consists of a beautiful brow n marble with shells , which is framed m a black marble . " Then in the drawing-room Morrison hung a Da Vinci Grace , garlanded with flowers ,
with an ivory relief by Francois du Quesnoy , the only other object of art in this room being a superb crystal vase marvellously cut . The oak room contained a series of fine old pictures , the greater part of the Netherland school , with a few varieties of the French and German . Clearly , Mr . Morrison was a man of taste with but a moderate sympathy with the fine arts . At his house in Karley-street he had made a more considerable collection , though not upon a scale commensurate with his gigantic acquisitions of property . We can imagine Dr . Waagen ' s work attaining no little value as historical material when our posterity examines the aspects of this age , for it will inform the inquirer as to the condition of art in the nineteenth century , and point to the classes and the individuals by which it has been admired and encouraged . To artists of the present day the publication is of great importance .
Novels Altfd Tales. The Riding Passion. ...
NOVELS AltfD TALES . The Riding Passion . By Rainey Hawthorne . 3 vols . ( Bentley . )—The Rtding Passion is the story of a family feud , arising out of an unrighteous will . Its purpose is . good . The main idea is worked out -with persistency , and sometimes with effect ; but the writer has a hopelessly false idea of dialogue , which tempts him continually into the composition of inflated colloquies between the several personages of his drama . The moral is , that unnumbered woes may proceed from an unjust disposition of property ; but the plot is made up of a variety of materials , a concealed birth and a recovered son being among the most important . The character-painting is devoted chiefly to the portraits of the rival brothers and the contrasted lawyers . If , as we believe , The Ruling Passion is a first work , it may be described as generally very meritorious ; the interest of the narrative is considerable , and the incidents of the tale are worked out carefully and consistently . .
Almost ; or , Crooked Ways . A Tale . By Anna Leslie . ( Groombridge and Sons . )—Miss Leslie is the authoress of ' Self and Self-Sacrifice , ' a story produced last autumn , which commanded some attention . Almost belongs to the same school . It is a didactic exposition of a certain idea of duty . The writing , though not vigorous , is graceful , and the tone throughout is admirably pure , and calculated to inspire healthy moral sentiments . Generalship . A Tale . By George Ray . ( Griffin and Co . )—Here we have an elaborate Scottish story , with humorous episodes . It is intended as an illustration of the evils likely to spring from manoeuvring on the part of wives and housekeepers . Mr . Kay lias published his book in the interest of ? the peace of the family , ' and may consequently claim a word of grateful recognition . , The Rival Kings ; or , Overbearing . By the Author of * Sidney Grey . ( Kent and Co . )—A boy ' s book for Christmas . It is cheerful , sensible , and entertaining—a volume profitable for young persons to read .
The lions of London . No . I . ( Lawrence . )—The author has much to relate of romance made up of deep lights and shadows , and , in his earlier chapters , moves forward with vivacity . The Prisoner of the Border . A Tale of 1838 . By P . Hamilton Myers . ( Low and Co . )— -This is a rough , well-told story of adventure and vicissitude . The author is popular in Amcricu , and maintains his reputation as a weave of close-spun romance , coloured with more or less of reality . Captain Molly : the Story of a Brave Woman . By Thrace Talmon . ( Low and Co . )—The title of this hook is derived from an incident in the
history of the French Revolution . Molly was a woman who actually figured m the war of independence , and she is here imagined , rather than described : the result is , a sprightly series of hairbreadth escapes , heroic achievem ents , and all kinds of melodramatic encounters . Many English readers may bo glad to make the acquaintance with the ' bravo woman represented in the engravings ns fighting a gun' or braining a lted Indian with a hatchet . Wild Northern Scenery ; or , Sporting Adventures with the Rifle and the Rod . By S . H . Hammond . ( Low and Co . )—Mr . Hammond is a somewhat commonplace wr iter , and , although he has abundance of inventions , W addition perhaps to some interesting reminiscences , appears at a loss to
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 28, 1857, page 16, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_28111857/page/16/
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