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- T » RESg —The usual aud the sole apparel of the men , the year through , night and aJZ is our common white or red blanket fastened at the neck , and worn like the Roman toga . Shirts and trousers , however , are now frequently worn ; and near the towns on high days and holidays , some Exquisite will array himself in dress-coat or surtou ' t , and ogle the girls in tall hat , stiff collar , and tight boots . The ladies ( s , mpSmunditib ) are chiefly arrayed in pink and blue cotton roundabouts " ( a bed-Jowu sort of garment , cut short ) with a blanket for a mantle ; but they often have Ilka and satins in the 'Host" at home- ; and gay damsels ,, at feast and races , will take the saddle with gauntlets and silver whip , habit , hat , and plume . Ihe Maori likes , to partake of the amusements of the settlers ; is a bo d rider at races ; and enjoys him-Jelf at regattas , anniversary fates , and merry-makings with something of that cheerful vivacity and [ good-humour which delight us in the French . A chief , asked to dine with the Governor , will acquit himself with a grave elegance worthy of Bel--ravia- and on his return , relate to his listening village the minutest features of the feast what he had to eat and drink , what the Governor said to him and what he saM to the Governor * how the lady who sat next him was not so pretty as the Governor ' s wife , but wore more rings ; and how another fair creature pestered him > vith silly questions , and even asked him to dance .
Mr . Hursthouse ' s two volumes form a compendious manual of all such information as is necessary to the New Zealand colonist . Its plan is good , and it seems to have been carefully constructed by a writer thoroughly familiar -with his subject . We will not flatter the author so warmly as he flatters himself , but we may . accredit his work as one with which an emigrant to New Zealand may profitably occupy the leisure hours of his voyage . The substance is neatly packed together , und the classification of topics is admirable .
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ROYAL ACADEMY . I . THE STOIIY TELLING . The impulse or the power of art to tell a story ia poorly exemplified in the present exhibition . The stories best told are of the slightest conceivable character ; the most powerful stories , with a few exceptions , are told feebly , and sometimes unintelligibly . Tried by its highest test , therefore , art may be considered at a grave discount this season—much below the average ; and the exhibition must be tried by some other test to find what it is really doing to carry on the work of progress . The remark applies most especially to the best-known painters , young as well as old . Mr . Eiuxu , who has been able to give us ia brilliant form some of Moliero ' s most piquant scenes , this year comes down to the portrait of a very insignificant " London Flower-girl , " and " Kate Nickleby at Madame MantnliniV— Kate , a very fair specimen of middle-class young ladyhood in a humble position , but nothing more . Hkiujkkt leaves the telling of stories , profane or sacred , to tell the story of a sea-beach on the const of
trance . And Millais , besides the first trifle from his pencil , only tells one simple story in a quuint manner , and half tells a more stirring tale , The trifle , " News from Home , " represents a soldier in the trenches reading a letter . The work of the trench , the occupation of figures in the background , the costume of the Highlander—the fur cap , the red coat , tho ruddy complexion—nre all unmistakable , likewise the letter ; and the expression of the countenance is appropriate . But tho picture is very small , it is scarcely finished on the scale of its miniature size , and it is not particularly striking in any way , except as a tour de force in colouring to fetch out the intensity of red . The tale which it tolls most forcibly is , that tho regiment of Highlanders wear stunning red coata . Mr . Pickisksqill puts before us a "JDuko Orsino and Viola "—tlio disguised lady telling her sorrows in disguised language . Tho subject in as old as the hills ; it haa been told hundreds of times exactly in tho sumo way ; and the best that can bo said is , that the Duke looks gentlemanly and sincere , and Viola sad : but what then ?
One of tho best works ever produced by C . W . Cope is called " Breakfnsttime—Morning Gamesi" and it points our moral . A little girl is mounted on u footstool ; she is told to shut her eyes und open her mouth ; she has duly done so , und she ia waiting with great impatienco to find how largo shall be the lump of sugar which a young Lady is putting into her mouth ; while a third
girl , of intermediate age , is watching the countenance of the young one with amusement . Now the whole of this story , all its hopes and fears , and the characteristics of the drama , come out with great strength ; the morning costume , not yet forgetful of the toilet , fs finished off with a perfect knowledge of young ladies' arrangements , of pinafore and socks , and even of tablecloths . It seems that British art is able to present in perfection the vicissitudes of a lump of sugar , and Mr . Cope attains absolute success in this part .-Mr . Leslie attempts to illustrate the Spectator by a picture called " Sir Roger de Coverley in Church . " Landlord of the whole congregation , Sir Roger is exercising his duty as moral policeman , in seeing that nobody sleeps at church ; and he is awakening a dozing Hodge . There is the church , with its penlike pews ; a clergyman in unmistakable surplice , an old woman , who is old ; a few of the gentry ; and a few of the rustics ; the whole tinted with a certain lilac blush , which has a tendency to creep over the colouring of Mr . Leslie ; but the picture conveys nothing whatever beyond the bare fact , which is quite sufficiently told in the five lines that are quoted in the catalogue . Perhaps , if the painter had quoted those lines , and left a blank space on the wall , the intelligent visitor would have conjured up a more living likeness of Sir Roger than the
diagram before him . We come , indeed , to a very different style of subject in the " Prison Window —Sevilla , 1857 , " by Mr . J . Philip , with its companion , " Charity—Sevilla , 1857 . " In the prison is some rough fellow of Seville—he . have been takea up for a brawl or for an insurrection ; he is a strong-armed , sti-ong-bearded man , rather below the middle age . Beneath the window , outside , stands a young woman in rough clothes tinted with the brilliant colours that are favoured in Spain , but worn almost to rags ; she is lifting up an infant , in order that the imprisoned father may kiss it . The man is straining through the bars , and is just able to reach the infant ' s forehead . Themqther has her cheek against the back of the uplifted child ; her countenance is downcast , and her left hand reaches up to clasp her husband ' s , as that is placed round the child ' s head .
The countenance of the woman is not distorted by grief , but it yields entirely to a grave sadness . Her action is simple ; her figure , although much concealed by the coarseness of her clothing , is lithe and shapely ; and the whole effect , with natural action and natural emotion , is that of perfect grace . The strong feeling of natural passion—the affection between child and parent , husband and wifeis brought out in great strength , and there is a powerful effect without grimacing or posture-making . The colouring of the picture is characteristic and vigorous . It is somewhat too opaque ; and there is a degree of English mannerism blended with a style adapted to the glowing climate of Seville . For instance , the light on the child ' s head is expressed too much by dabs of grey , so that at the distance where the spectator can read the expression of the countenances , the raw material in the handling makes itself too apparent .
We contrast this picture , on the fourth wall of the great room , with the painting by Maclise on the opposite wall- William HI . is visiting Peter the Great at his shipwright labours . Peter , a young man of large stature and vigorous limbs , is reposing from work , and receives William in an attitude that Mr . Macready might have conceived for the purpose . He stands on one leg ; the other leg raised upon a block , his elbow on the raised knee , his chin on the bent wrist , the other arm akimbo upon the rather strongly pronounced hip . A Russian companion is hacking away at a block of wood so near Peter that the courage of the great man is shown in his indifference to strokes that menace the calf of his leg . A dwarf attendant on the Czar turns round to stare in humorous fashion at the intruding William , whose homely manner , in the quiet Eng lish dress , becomes exaggerated by the contrast with the Russians at their scarcely-suspended arsenal toils . Now , we are quite certain that when William went to see Peter the Great , the Russian Prince left off work , stood on both feet , and conversed with the English King in a very sensible and unpretending manner . He did not stand as if he formed part of a tableau vivant at the Adelphi , enjoying the applause of an undiscriiuinating audience . Mr . criticism it to the le of
Maclise ' s colour is beyond ; belongs sty colouring adapted to paper for hanging rooms—an opaque chalky mixture , laid on with a certain sweep of outline , convenient for the material , but not well suited to the expression of organic form . With a caprice that cannot be reduced to reason the muscles of Mr . Maclise ' s men start out into prominent exertiou where ' there is no necessity , as in the case of Peter ' s half quiescent posture , or they sink into smooth generalization . They are in the convulsive state of a wrestler overcoming a foe , or in the dormant state of a mere muscular diagram . There is a vein run down the forearm and across that appears to be common in Mr . Maclise ' s mankind ; though where one vein is prominent in God's human nature , it usually has companions that bring out a venous network . The subject of this picture is a simple matter of fact , involving no feeling whatever . It could illustrate nothing but the character of the persons—William ' s character , Peter ' character , or the contrast between tho Russians and the English ; but where is the authenticity of the phases we have here ? where the verisimilitude ? Nowhere . Tho simple mutter of fact which the picture was to illustrate is not illustrated ; tho whole spread of canvas tells nothing ; it attempts to tell a mechanical falsehood , and fails .
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THE OPERAS . Madlle . Piccolomini essaycJ on Thursday , for the first time in England , tho great part of J .-uciu di JLammvrmoor—an opera we can never separate from the memory of Pkiihiani , whose wonderfully brilliant and passionate impersonation of tho heroine must bo u memorable tradition to a London audience Vocally and dramatically the part ia a . most arduous one , demanding tho highest powers in the singer and tho actress . Wo cannot honestly profess a belief that Madlle . Piccoiomini , with all the charm and fascination of her youth and genius , has boon able to efface tho recollection of 1 / kksiani . She cannot , in truth , sing tho music aa . it is written , nor oven as she desires to aing it . Ib is beyond the natural powers of her voice , anil equally beyond her acquired skill in its management . Wo hoard it observed more than once too much foher
during tho evening , that tho music was r , and that sho was overweighted ) and this is , we fear , the simple truth . To every artist thero is a certain range of faculty , and however reluctantly we may confess it , Madllc . Picoolomini appears to us to have passed out of the domain of her delightful supremacy in attempting Lucia . And yet whilo wo write regretfully these words , wo aro half inclined to draw tho pen through them , and to tell only half tho truth ; for would not the Bpoilod darling of tl » o public persuade Justice itself to break its pen ? That she look * enohantingly , that her noting ia instinct with true feeling' and genius , who doubts ? Whatever may bo wanting in perfection , critically regarded , is almost effaced by tho victorious charm that carries all before iL GxuaxiNi ' a voice was under a cloud on Thursday evening , but ho fully sustained his reputation ia Edyardo . Bmllkttx , if ho does not give to Enrico tho dramutic importanco and intensity whicu
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Max 9 . 1857 . 1 THE lEADJBE . _ 451
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A BOOK ON TROUT FISHING . The Practical Angler ; or , the Art of Fly Fishing . More particularly applied to Clear Water . By TV . C . Stewart . Edinburgh : Adam Black and Co . If a Cockney sportsman , brandishing a rod and line , hurries out for a day to Richmond , to Hampton , to the banks of the Lea , or any other piscatorial resort , and , after painfully dancing his fly on the surface of the stream , returns home at night with an empty pannier , he feels himself privileged to curse the sport as slow , and to stigmatize all men who patiently sit for hours in their quiet punts as a set of fools , never failing to apply the pedantic definition of Johnson to the whole race of anglers . But fishing , let it be well understood , is not a slow occupation except to those who are unskilled in its practices . It requires constant watching , constant attention , and is full of excitement . Less time and labour are necessary to make a man a good shot than a good angler . For , after all , there is much to be learnt and studied to become proficient in this art . Neatness of hand ,
quickness of eye , energy and perseverance—all-these qualifications may appertain to the young artist , and yet he may be still unskilful , and why ? Because he fails in the most necessary qualification—observation . He must become acq uainted with the habits of the fish , the places to -which they resort in search of particular kinds of food , and of the influence of the weather upon them . This knowledge he can only attain by constant observation and as patient study . We must not , however , be led to write a dissertation on the subject instead of a notice of the book . Mr . Stewart ' s manual appears very apropos for those who delight in angling . He lays down good rules for ascertaining in what streams the best fish may be found , and the most skilful method of angling for them . His subject is confined to trout fishing , but then it includes every branch of it— artificial flyfishing , ' ' angling with the worm , ' ' May-flyfishing , ' minnow and partail fishing , ' ' lock fishing , ' &c , whilst a short chapter or two is devoted to fly dressing , and the angler ' s equipment . TVe readily recommend the work to amateurs of the rod and line .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), May 9, 1857, page 451, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2192/page/19/
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