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58 * THE LEADER . [ No . 4 fr 6 , May 7 . lftfio . ^ M ^ n ^ B ^ BPIMMiMBMWttBBMBMMMBCMI ^^ CaJWBWiWMBMBPBMWBBBBCMMMWMWMM ^^^ MMMMMi ^ MBBI ^ MMMIM ^ BPMBOMPBBBWWW ^ BMWHWMWMBMI ^ MBBMB ^^
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rere most of them thrown down , besides many prirate residences . The houses not thrown down were 10 injured as not to be habitable . The damage was jstimated at 3 , 000 , 000 dols . The deaths were re-? 6 rted at 5 , 000 , but this was believed to be greatly Exaggerated . A number'of small towns to the north > f the capital had also been destroyed , and in Gruayaquil the shock was felt severely and did some damage . , .
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EXTIiniTIO ^ T OF THE HOT At , ACADEMY . The exhibition of 1859 is not so striking as usual , in the particular of large canvases by the academician , and is therefore pretty generally pronounced " below the average . " But although the number o f enormous posters is decreasing , because picture galleries are filling fast , and artists find email works more profitable ; though some of mark court ridicule instead of applause ; and though some of the greatest favourites are inadequately represented , it must bo allowed that these walls , no less , than those of previously opened exhibitions , prove a , powerful onward movement by the whole mass of ? British Art . The projections , are in fact , to use a second figure
less notable because the , level is rising around them . We have so little spaqe at our disposal that criticism is almost out of the question here . We have not room for rovorie or diatribe or interpretation . So our good reader must perforce content himself , as regards our dealings with him , with a few dashes at the truth about some paintings that happened to strike us on our one short visit , under conditions highly unfavourable to maturity of opinion . We shall , no doubt , continually recur to this collection ; and though we cannot talk of all that is remarkable in one notice , it is probable that ere wo have done wo shall hayo indicated most of tho works
that deserve notoriety or claim good report . To hogin , as probably every one else bogJns , with tho object of everybody ' s curiosity ,. Millais , exhibitor of Nos . 15 , 208 , and 482 , called respectively « The Valb of Rest , " " Spring , " and « The Love of James I . of Scotland . " This poor , dear man has extorted , by his convulsive clutchos after fancy , which is not in him , and his deplorable decay In other respeota , for the which ho should bo pitied , not blamed , more newspaper space than was once allotted to the late Mr . Turner , R . A . A good deal of this is waste , because the offender has been treated as an accomplished but wayward and insolent pot , of whom stupendous things wore to be demanded , instead of a loyal
, " y P . H . ; alogued aa " French Peasants Finding their Stolen Chiid " ( 634 ) . This picture well tells its affecting storr In a country fair a peasant couple have recoo-nised their kidnapped child in the troupe of a travelling show . They have called in a gendarme , who extemporises j ustice , and summarily disposes , we can see of all the claim for maintenance , See , set up by the showwoman . The indifference of the child , rery credible under similar circumstances , is finely rendered , and though there is hardly enough intensity in the mother , the picture is an interesting one . Mr . Wyburd , in 666 , " Undine Discovers Herself to the Knight Hulbrand , " shows steady progress . His canvas is larger than usual , but he has covered it well and evenly . It is imperfect—of course—for
and Foundb Calderoncat Gruneisen , the well-known journalist andConserva tjve-land man . Mr . Pickersgill , the AcadeiSt painted him , and there he sits , largei c W ^ S benign , that the practical may not go unrepresmtp , ? in one of the chattiest and most ideal corSnfS room . . ™ Not being bees , we cannot settle where -we lilro to-day ,, so we must drift with the crowd , and iust look and long at Mr . Hargett ' s fine expansive lam * scape , /' The Dargle , Wicklow " ( 628 )? nX eSl able by cockneys for the true green colour of ' ft * verdure .: though W . Iannell ' s " Harvest , " where orange dominates , must be admitted by the samp country-sick soul as about the grandest landscarif . here . But somewhere between these hangs " Lost
though a more luminous pair of eyes were never painted than those of the golden-haired fair one , she is saying never a word , and her feet are exceptionably long . Going round the West Room—we shall come to the dii majores of the others some other day—we find , in 4 SQ , " The Burgess of Calais , " by II . Holiday , a picture of great mark . Bareheaded , barefooted , and in his shirt , with halter round his neck , the patriot about to yield himself , in the ¦ words of . old Froissart , ' •' purely to the will of the besieging king , " bids adieu to his wife . His face is full of unbending resolution and determination to bear up against his own grief , while ' a faint attempt to console is excellently indicated . The Ja'dv , on the
other hand , is a true picture of passionate ^ isolation . Hard by is Mr . Millais'" Love of , Tames I . " ( No . 482 ) . A great deal has been said , because this is the least obtrusive of the Associate ' s works , about its poetry and paramount excellence in point of drapery . Let those who think so enjoy their fond belief The monarch is indicated by a hand outstretched from prison window . The ladylove is a tall , slim , " inexpressive she . " Her rich blue robe is certainly well painted , but is far outdone by the white siolc of the burgess , which is provokingly handy for this odious comparison . Another grand landscape , this time by J . T . Linnell , hangs in the north-west angle of the room . It is culled , "A Thunder Shower . " The metallic- glitter of the leaves under the thunder-cloud , and the delicacy of the cut hay , must bo looked and wondered at . One this is Hicks
of the most popular pictures year Mr . s ( 519 ) , " Dividend Day at tho Bank . " Everybody can understand the scene and the characters ; bur , as a whole , though the British public do mob it as though it wqre another " Derby Day , " it is clearly only progressive . " Sandsfoot Castle , Weymoutn ( 539 ) , by E . W . Cookc , is curiously hard and true . We do not believe in the extravagant clouds in Mr . J , Linnoll , senior ' s , « Evening " 0 > 4 G ) . We know and have seen what ho moans , hub ho lias not quite hit it . His attempt is singularly like tliq lima smoko of a glass-house rising in volume , anil is , consequently , as a landscape fanturo , a dead Mumro . In tho school of Salvator , Mr . W . D . Kennedy Jos blended the styles of tho sceno-puintcr nncl iur . Zoittcr . Tho result , though very quaint , is not altogether unpootical , and deserves a look en passant to Mr . Solomon ' s " Not Guilty . "
SOCIETY VOB TUB EXCOUKAGEWENX OP THE VVX ^ A UTS . This fourth conversazione of tho above socioty took place on Tuesday ovening , at tho Portland a * W « Regent-street , kindly lout for tho occasion byt"e Institute of Fine Arts . Thoro was a »« moroua attendance of ladies and gentlemen , who « PP ™ to take considerable interest in tho P » " » t ln Sf JJ 0 hlblted in the three rooms which compoBO tno ffft Mr 7 iloraud road an interesting paper "O ' f J in Connexion with the Mno Arts . ' . PoJ / T work of art j and tho word poot , winch was > « e " " from a Greek word , signified a creator . -Wow * mnn lilimuilfwoi ) tl ) G WOl'k Of mail . A l Cllu " , '„ ,, i
struggler who honestly does all he can and fails , like others of that tribe , to please everybody . In our opinion , Mr . Millais draws his best , paints his best , and thinks his hardest : but in all particulars , he has passed the culm of his capability , and should be leniently , dealt with accordingly . " The Vale of Rest" is , as all the world knows , a very striking picture of two . ugly nuns in a Walled grave-yard ; the latter painted ( some way ) after Anthony . One of the uglies—a brawny one too—digs a grave : the other returns vacantly the stare of the spectator . There is no vale , but a plain English churchyard , very unpicturesque indeed , and no rest for the eye on the canvas . An infelicitous cloud , stuck against the wall , has caused , and will yet cause , a good deal of artists
upon a bough while an intensely " wretched little lover breathes passionate songs on his bended knoc to a mediaeval hurdy-gurdy . He , too , absurdly enough , has elderly furrows of age on his childish brow , but the sentiment of the legend is stamped on his features so truthfully that he must be admired . Tlio third in this group is a toddling baby , who plucks flowcrp in a corner with all the insouciance of an infant and a disinterested party . The faces of these dear human blossoms are all as mai'vellously wrought as their quaint and gorgeous raiment , and the apple flowers are as far superior in execution to those of Mr . Millais , as they are in drawing ; while the drooping green tail-feathers of some bird of paradise , humming-bird , or otherXinnean curiosity ,
etatuo . a musical composition , or n- droma , n vr » last all tho arts unite , wns nn ovjdonco of oroativo power . In that sense , every man was by nutur * J artist . Tho child involved tho P ° VorB of unlyorjj nature , and ift remained to bo soon w J ' " - ^ was to be pro-qmlnent to tho man . 01 » o truo io » datlon for all creative power was tliojW » Without a high moral fooling thoro couia do w
merriment . We ought to add , that many are of opinion that Mr . Millais has a gift of powerwonderful power ( with the brush they mean ) , but we apprehend we are not writing to artists . If this " power " of theirs contributes aught to the charm or elevation that , painting should effect , what an infinitesimal remainder would be left were it here subtracted ! With the " Spring" people are , also , pretty familiar by this time ; but there is plenty yet unsaid about it . On a stone terrace , it would seem , overhanging or adjoining Jin apple orchard , are disposed in a row , and in various postures , a number of young females . If we had any belief in Mr . Millais' sestheticism , we should fancy this was intended
to flout womankind , by contrasting the spring time of some family he hated with the luxuriance and beauty of nature . The apple blossoms are gigantesque—the maidens' heads ¦ diminutive . They arc nearly all " old folks '" children , having old heads on young shoulders , and siich a strong family likeness that we almost fear they may be portraits . They are as small and -wizened in growth as'the grass in the orchard is rank , and straight , and tall . On the whole , a more evil-looking little party were seldom collected in one picture ; and > to add to this defect , the work , as a piece of painting , is " nor ¦ where , " when compared with that of a Mr . Hughes , whom we may as well notice .
Mr . Hughes has two pictures , one of which ( No . 609 ) , an intensely Prae-Raphaelite , * claims notice among the first . It is called " The King ' s OrchardJ ;" it is , perhaps , the most lustrous picture in these rooms , and would be a glaring eyesore in a boudoir ; but it is , for all that , a thing of intense beauty and sentiment , as well as fidelity . The legend runs thus : — " Songs tell how many a page pined for the grace of one so far above his power of doing good to , as a queen-7- ' never could be wronged ; be poor , ' he sighed , ' for him . to help her ; ' " and our artist has expounded this dictum of the ballad . The scene is an apple orchard ; the queen is a fairy-like little girl ( with a head a trifle too large , if her arm is not too small ) , who reclines in superb indifference
sitting overhead ( we confess ourselves unable to name it , but apply to tho British Museum , or the nearest birdstuffbr ) , are so . imitated , that we at first believed thoy were natural ones , incorporated , by way of a new vagary , with tho painting . Wo have now used up our expletives . Wo fool like tho foreigner , who , beginning with " Wonderful ! Magnificent ! Superb ! " had nothing loft for a climax stronger than " Pretty Well ! " So we must only say , reader , if you do , or if you don't believe , you may go and look . On tho whole , this the best . work of its school and class that wo have had tho good fortune to see . Within a yard or so , and something put out of countenance , is one of Mr . Harry Johnson ' s regulation sunsots , " Hierapolia" ( 008 ) . A few / gaunt lo in the waste
pillars nely , a stagnant eodgy pool at their foot , stand oloar against tho sky , and show the fulfilment of tho prophecy , " I will make it a possession for tho bittern , and pools of water . " No . 021 is a glorious flower piece , by Miss Mutrio . Good bye , dear Miss Mutrio—thanks to Ruskin and you—to the stereotyped gold vase and tho sculptured staircase , and wolcome tho homely crock , with its mottled rod face as faithfully painted as tho treasures of tho garden it holds . Hurd by is tho " Travollors Joy , " by Miss A . 3 T . Mutrio--another group of nature ' s children nestling under and , coiling roxmd some hillside mossy stone . But not tho bravo colour ' s of nature that outvied King Soloman nor those of Mr . Hughes , whoso textures wore never dreamed of in Tyro or Bosrah , have put out tho light of Mr .
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GAPE OF GOOD HOPE . T » e second Cape Parliament was opened on the 17 th of March . The Governor congratulated the colony on the proceedings of the first Parliament , at whose request he had mediated between the Orance Free State and the Basuto Chief Mosh ' esh . He enjoyed the confidence of both contending parties , and had succeeded in negotiating peace on a permanent basis . He had felt it his duty to continue the employment of the mounted border police in advance of the Cape Territory , to prevent a large vacant tract from being occupied by thieves and turbulent characters . On the other hand , schools for children had been established in the peaceable states * and every effort made to secure their welfare . The beneficial introduction of Oaffre labour into the Cape colony had been attended with some danger , and additional guarantees for public security would be required . The number of immigrants already landed is 2 , 078 ; they have proved most valuable to the colony , . and many have applied to have their relatives and friends sent out to them . The estimated revenue for 1859 is 450 , 000 ? . The revenue for 1855 was 270 , 000 ? . ' The Orange Free State having solicited a federal union , his Excellency recommends both Houses to consider the whole question of the possibility of uniting the several portions of South Africa under some common Government . The Governor was to perform the ceremony of turning the first sod of the Cape Town and Wellington Railroad on the 31 st of March , at Salt Uiver , about two miles from Cape Town . The breakwater in Table Bay is to be proceeded with . Mr . Coode , C . E ., from Portland , has been appointed chief engineer ; and Mr . Andrews , of the JiOndon Docks , is to be the resident engineer . A disease called the hoof sickness is very prevalent among " cattle . The Government is making searching inquiries regarding the symptoms ,
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BRAZED . The Avon lias arrived from Rio with the usual monthly Brazil mails . The opposition with which the Cabinet is met appears to have weakened and rendered it undecided what line of policy to adopt in the administration of internal affairs .
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Leader (1850-1860), May 7, 1859, page 584, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2293/page/8/
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