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Leader (1850-1860), 26th December 1857, Edition 1 of 2, Page 1239, "Yv» ILtT^TtlitirB' * . . ' ' '

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    • "Yv» ILtT^TtlitirB' * . . ' ' '
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      Untitled Article

      Wokdbhtol , for wit , humour , fancy , grace , fun , and picturesque beauty , is Punch ' s Almanack for 1858 . We allude more especially to Leech's iUustratrations , for , though the letter-press of-this delightful annual is always -sparkling and merry , the pictures are undoubtedly the main attractions . The publication this year is eveu more than ordinarily good , aud unfolds , page after page , some fresh triumph of comic art . Mr . Luech has a singular faculty for seizing the happiest and most graceful phases of life / at the same time that -nil humour , is . of the most affluent and abundant kind . The caricaturist has hitherto revelled in the hideous , the vulgar , aud the morbid : Mr . Leech , on the contrary ,, fliugs a sunshine of beauty over his drawings , but beauty of real

      a . , recognizable Mud , not . vapid idealism . His women , his children , his animals , . his bits of landscape and sea-scape , are exquisite in their truth and gracefulness . The large centre illustration , < The Mermaids' Haunt / in the Almanack } ust issued , is full of this feeling ; and so are many of the smaller cuts . ^ Even when he touches poverty and squalor ( not that he does so on this occasion ) , lie elevates them into something poetical by the warmth of genius and of sympathy . And then how full of fun and dramatic truth of character are his little bits of letter-press beneath the cuts ! In short , Leech is nothing less than a benefactor in this cold northern land ; and , thanks to him iii particular , Pmic 7 i's Almanack for 185 S will , not merely make us merry at Christmas , but will leave a golden memory behind it throuerh the comingyear . . - ... :. - . ¦ ¦ - . - " . ¦¦ ¦ ¦/ ¦ " ' ..,.. . ¦ : - . - . . , :. . ;¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ - PuncVsPocket-Book , of course , . , comes with the holly , and with its store of good things is as pleasant as Christmas itself . ¦' .

      Untitled Article

      A , new fortnightly European illustrated Art-Review of a very ambitious kind is announced for the beginning of the . year in Paris . The title will be Gazette des \ Beaux Arts , Courner Europeeit , deVArt etcle la Curiosite xznd the chief editorship is entrusted to M . Chables Blanc , sometime Director of the Fine Arts , whose letters ou the Manchester Art Treasures Exhibition we mentioned a yeek or two since . The distinguishing characteristic of the new Gazette des Beaitx Arts ahII be a special Art correspondence from all parts of Europe . Under the direction of M . Giiakxes Bia ^ c , whose relations in the European world of art are , from his previous official position , widespread and influential , such a correspondence will doubtless prove of high . value and authority . The

      title implies that every branch of pictorial , plastic , and decorative art will be represented in the pages of the Kcview , and it is no slight guarantee of success that it will be . conducted by a critic of known judgment and experience , with so fine a sympathy for what is earnest , and so fine a sense of wliatis true in Art , as M . Charles Bla ^ c , who enjoys the distinction . of being not only a subtle critic , but an admirable writer . In a language singularly pure and elegant , he expresses with discrimination what he feels with enthusiasm . The illustrations are promised to be in the highest style of execution , and we . are told that capital is not wanting to ensure the success of tlie publication .

      There is one of M . Ciiakles Blanc ' s letters on the Art Treasures Exliibition , where he is commenting upon the fallacy of the pre-llaphaelite theory pushed to extravagance , which will give our readers a good idea of the critic and the writer . Here it is : — Chncuir s ' efibrce d ' etre naif , mais conime il cst difficile de le devenir , au lieu d ' etre ingenus , ils soiit indiycrets . Enfants terriblea do l ' art , ils nc savent ni rien saciifier ni rien taire . Do meme quel ' ceil inexorable de l'iristrument pliotograpliique nous apjiorte des details eloignos quo nous ne lui demandions pasde mcine le pcintrc

      , anglais , croynnt toute ve ' rite bonne a dire , nous choijue pnrmille inconvenances , met touto chose sur le m 6 me plan , devieutlYuix U force d ' etre vrai , et , sous pretextc qu'il a pit lea . voir dans la nature , il offense notre rmdeur par tous les scandales de l'dcni-latc ot de l ' outromer . Ainsi ]'

      We need not suggest that this criticism applies only to the weaker brothers o £ the ¦ prc-Kaphaclite school . Of Ihe painter of the ' Huguenot / and the ' Order of Release , ' it may truly be said ( taking into account the cdiquamlo dormildtof all great artists and poets alike ) that in the marvellous career of his still earl y manhood he has already iu his own person traversed , so to speak , the entire field of ( he struggles and the victories of Art . If he begun as a contemporary of M . vsaccio , he has gone on to prove himself the legitimate successor of IUimiakl and Leonardo . Whatever maybe the fallacy of the theory which the feebler mon arc unable to shake oil " , it is not to be denied that the influence and example of the school have left their mark upon English aTt-inthnt thoroughness of workmanship , and that devoted , reverential , selfdenying conscientiousness of feeling which arc . becoming every day more and more the clumietcristies of the English school , although it is but a school of genre ,, and lms few historical commissions from the State .

      Untitled Article

      M . Louis Vr . vnnoT , -well known by his excellent History of the Arabs and Moors in Spain anil his artistic Guides , has just published a very curious little volume , entitled , Les Jc . suUcs jugtk pur Urn liois , les Ectqnes et ' le Pnpo , Nonvellfrllidoire- de FExtinction de rOrd / e , ecrito . fur las Jkcumens' Orif / hianx .

      It consists chiefly of extracts from , an elaborate " History of . the Beignof Charles III . in Spain" by Don ' Antonio Ejjeuer del Rio , but forms a ' complete and interesting narrative in . itself . When we consider the immense ramifications , the ingenuity , the subtlety , nay , the genius and the perseverance of the Jesuits , it is not surprising that they have until now . succeeded in concealing the truth as to the onost remarkable fact in their career . We should rather be astonished that since they ' came up from underground' they have not attempted to destroy , or rather to falsify , the documents contained in the Archives of Simancas , which the Spanish historian has consulted with so much fruit . M . Ferrer del Bio , it should be observed , is a fervent Catholic

      and a most loyal subject . He enumerates among the crimes of the Jesuits their resistance to lawful authority aud their admission of Turks into heaven as well as Catholics . As M . Viaedot remarks , such an objector speaks with more authority to true believers than . to sceptics . The tendency of his revelations is to destroy a great many popular anecdotes , chiefly accredited by the Jesuits , and to give to the extinction of the Order its true dignity and importance . We cannot say that we admire his style of composition , and for our pleasure would have , rather seen the materials melted into shape by M . Viaedot himself ; but the solemn testimony of Don Antonio Ferrer del Rio , so pious and so much in earnest , ' will probably haye more weight with the public .

      Untitled Article

      Mi . Louis Blaxc's appeal against the Marquis of NormanbY' will probably excite more attention than the work of the noble Gossip . It will not be a mere refutation , but a . disclosure of history as illustrated "by the Year of Revolution . M . Louis BiAN . c tells of his visit to the prisoner of Ham in' 41 , and of his relations with that distinguished foreigner iu London . After the events of June , 1848 , M . Louis Blanc , proscribed and chased out of Trance stayed a short time at an hotel in Jermyn-street . The very first visit of condolence from his friends was one from the present Emperor of the French , who burst into the room—to say he walked would faintly describe , his generous fervour—and ,, embracing the expatriated member of the Provisional Government , exclaimed , " Ah , les misarables 1 Us tous out proscrit ! ' * M . Louis Blanc may be expected to publish , for the first time , a variety of similar reminiscences . . ; ¦

      Untitled Article

      FAIRYTALES . Four-and-Twenty Fairy Tales , selected from those of Perrault , and other Popular . ' ¦ Writers . Translated by- J . R . Plauche . With . Illustrations by Godwin , Corbould , and Harvey . .. Routledge and Co . If there ever was a writer whom the whole world of English juveniiity ought to deify , and at whose shrine they should offer yearly sacrifices of cakes and oranges , it is Mr . Planehe . Not content ( so inappeasable is his benevolence to the young-eyed generation ) with delighting crowds of happy holidaymakers at Christmas and Easter by his exquisite extravaganzas , which sparkle with , airy wit , exhaustless animal spirits , and buoyant fancy , he has of late put his claims to the gratitude of the young into more enduring forms , by translating those charming stories which have been ; the origin of

      Ins chief dramatic successes . Between two and three years ago , he gave us a collection of Madame d'Aulnoy ' s fairy legends ; and he now issues a companion volume , containing the analogous creations of Perrault , the Countess de Murat , Mademoiselle de la . Force , Mademoiselle de Lubert , Madame de Yilleneuve , the Count de Caylus , &c . In these volumes , a . rich body of fairy fiction is presented to the English public , by one whom , nature and art seem to have specially endowed for this delicate and radiant filagreework . Mr . Planchu is deeply read in old French literature ; Le is a master of his own native English . ; he has an intense sympathy with the world of enchantment , and particuLai'ly with , that province which , combines the

      wonders of magic with the formal etiquette of courts ; he has qualities of his own , kindred to those which he finds in the original stories ; and the bright stream of Trench blood running in his veins , from the Protestant ancestor who / led into England about the time when this species of literature was first developing , itself in Paris , has probably quickened and nourished the original tendency of his mind . In connexion with these fictions , therefore , we Inive in Mr . Planehe emphatically the right man in the right place . Madame d'Aulnoy was one of the earliest , and perhaps the best ,, of these novelists—for such they may be called ; but P « rrault and the other authors whose fictions have contributed to the work now before us were

      worthy labourers in the same field , and some of their tales have acquired a European reputation . ' Blue Beard , ' for instance , is the work of Perrault . This azure-chinned Sepoy appears to ha-vo some connexion with a real person —one Gillcs de Laval , Seigneur de Kaiz , created Mare " chal de France in 1429 . Mr , Planchc " , who appends some interesting notes to his volume , gives a few details of this Chevalier ' s life . Laval made himself famous by his defence of Orleans against the English ; yet he was a consummate knave , notwithstanding , and became so odious in Brittany that he was tried , found

      guilty , banged , and burnt . But , inasmuch as he had exhibited some signs of repentance at the lust ( extorted from him , probably , by four ) , his body was taken out of the flumes , and buried in the church of the Carmelites at Nuntes . lio was a great libertine , and so extravagant that be never travelled without being accompanied by a great retinue of cooks , musicians , unU dancers of both sexes , by pucks of hounds , and two hundred saddle horses . His name is a bugbear in Brittany to this day . It was Coleman the Younger , in his play on the subject , who first turned Blue Beard into a Turk .

      Among the other tales in this volume known of old to the nursery and play-room are ' The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood , ' ' Puss in Boots , ' ' Cinderella , ' liiquet with tbo Tuft , ' and ' Beauty and the Beast . ' "What memories and visions cling to tlioso mimes 1 How we used to withdraw ourselves , with an abstraction now hardly possible , into those rich and golden lands , those true El Dorado .-, thoao veritable Fortunate Islands and nior ^

      "Yv» Iltt^Ttlitirb' * . . ' ' '

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      Untitled Article

      • ¦ ¦ ¦ - ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ . . —? - — . ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ . . ¦ ¦ ¦ ' ¦ ¦ . CritlC £ i * l ?*?™ £ i ?" ^ ' ? t the judges and police of literature . Thej do not ma- ^ elaws-they interpret and try to enforce th . Qux . —Edinburgh EeviBw .

      Untitled Article

      » 6 if ; . 4 Q 5 S B ^ oetmbeb 261185 T . 1 0 ? H E LMMR . 19 ^ q

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 26, 1857, page 1239, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2223/page/15/