analogies, the position of thinkers on electrical subjects at the present time. The book begins by assuming an elementary knowledge of facts, and then gradually developes first the "incompressible fluid" idea of electricity, and thence leads on slowly to some of the most recent speculations and opinions concerning the structure of ether, the nature of light, the conceptions of electricity, of elasticity, and of matter, and the relationship existing between them. It thus aims at placing its readers on a higher platform, whence they can follow the still further progress which is now being so rapidly accomplished.

MR. BENJAMIN LOEWY, of the London International College, has in the press a 'Graduated Course of Natural Science for Elementary and Technical Schools and Colleges. The author's object is to place the teaching of natural science in schools upon an exclusively experimental basis, and to make it at the same time systematic, by proceeding gradually from known and easily understood facts to less known and more difficult results. Each chapter will contain a number of simple experiments, from which conclusions are drawn calculated to lead learners on to a sound grasp of the great principles which form the foundations of physics and chemistry. The course will consist of three parts, of which the first will be ready about Easter. Messrs. Macmillan & Co. are the publishers.

SIR JOSEPH FAYRER will take the chair at the Sanitary Institute, Parkes Museum, on Thursday next, when Prof. Jeffrey Bell will lecture on 'Worm Parasites of Human Food.'

MESSES. MACMILLAN & Co. will shortly publish an elementary treatise on hydrostatics by Mr. F. W. Sanderson, assistant master at Dulwich College. It is intended for the use of beginners, and is based on the author's experience of teaching physics to large classes of boys, and of arranging and conducting each class in laboratory work.

THE death is announced at Christiania, on the 11th inst., of Prof. Worm-Müller, one of the leading surgical writers of Scandinavia.

THE planet Venus will be at her greatest eastern elongation from the sun on the morning of the 18th prox., when she will be in Pisces, very near the star e in that constellation, and will not set until nearly ten o'clock in the evening. Mars is in the western part of Pisces, and sets about an hour before Venus. Jupiter throughout February will be in the constellation Sagittarius, and rise between three and four o'clock in the morning. Saturn, being in Leo and on the meridian about midnight, will continue to be visible throughout the night.

A NEW Comet (a, 1889), described as faint," was discovered by Mr. W. R. Brooks at the Smith Observatory, Geneva, N. Y., on the morning of the 15th inst. Its place at the time of discovery was R.A. 18h 4m, N.P.D. 111° 20' (in the constellation Sagittarius), and it was found to be moving rapidly towards the west.

A NEW observatory, well furnished with astronomical instruments, has recently been founded at Tokio, Japan. Prof. H. Terao is the director, and observing work has already been commenced.

THE number of the Comptes Rendus for the 14th inst. contains the results of some observations (the last of which was made on the 5th inst.) of Faye's periodical comet at the Algiers Observatory. The comet, it will be remembered, passed its perihelion in August, and being very faint, but few observations of it have been obtained.

FINE ARTS

ROYAL SOCIETY of PAINTERS in WATER COLOURS -The WINTER EXHIBITION of SKETCHES and STUDIES is NOW OPEN. -6, Pall Mall East, from 10 till 5-Admission, Is. Catalogue, 6d. ALFRED D. FRIPP, R.W.B., Secretary.

ROYAL HOUSE of STUART. EXHIBITION of PORTRAITS MINIATURES and PERSONAL RELICS connected with the ROYAL HOUSE of STUART. Under the Patronage of Her Majesty the Queen.

our compiler to quote freely from that library of eloquence which he has, so to say, in

5s. New Gallery, Regent Street.

THE VALE OF TEARS.'-DORE'S LAST GREAT PICTURE, completed a few days before he died, NOW ON VIEW at the Doré Gallery, 35, New Bond Street, with Christ leaving the Prætorium,' Christ's Entry into Jerusalem.' The Dream of Pilate's Wife,' and his other great Pictures. From 10 to 6 Daily-Admission, 18.

A Popular Handbook to the National Gallery. Compiled by E. T. Cook. (Macmillan & Co.) This book will not serve the purposes of a guidebook very long. The compiler has committed the surprising mistake of commenting on the pictures in Trafalgar Square in the order they at present occupy on the walls, as if that order was destined never to be changed. When any slight change, such as is constantly occurring, has been effected, the visitor who arms himself with this book must needs turn to a troublesome "Numerical Index, Appendix II.," which will direct him to the page on which any notice of the painting sought for occurs. In this work the pictures are not grouped chronologically. The only classification there is is due to Sir F. Burton and his assistants having massed roughly the works of the larger schools, their subdivisions and the minor schools coming in as well as they could, and being subject to shiftings of all kinds, which are often due to the sizes of the canvases admitting new specimens here and there as required, and the whole being subject to those rules of decorative effect which are very powerful in picture-hanging. Mr. Cook has not, in the greater number of cases, attempted to describe the pictures. His work will, therefore, be of little use for home reference, and where descriptions occur he shows little tact in selecting essentials and omitting non-essentials. He excuses the absence of technical criticism in his book by honestly admitting that it was not in his power to offer it. The raison d'être for his attempt seems to be that he was "permitted catalogue" of a small temporary exhibition at to edit [whatever that might have been] the Whitechapel. Did ever compiler show more courage than that which prompted Mr. Cook to transfer himself, evidently with no other equipment than a pair of scissors and a pot of paste, from St. Jude's Schools to Trafalgar Square? It is a fine thing to be brave, but prudence might have hinted that other gifts besides fortitude were requisite for one treading where the wise have hesitated. Mr. Cook needed technical knowledge, not, as he seems to think, to enable him to discourse on pigments, drawing, colour, and what not, but to discriminate rightly and indicate for popular use the elements of the art of each painter. How incompetent he is to deal with technical matters is shown by his quoting, without any apparent knowledge of its meaning, a speech of Stothard's to Leslie. He has industriously brought together a vast body of notes by writers of all sorts of authority and experience or inexperience: a note from a morning newspaper, a scrap of verse supposed to suit the motive of a painting, a bit of prose here, and, despite disclaimers of any intention to be technical, various opinions on highly technical points delivered by writers who knew as much about them as, according to Iago, Michael Cassio knew of "the division of a battle." Of course an olla podrida so large must contain many acceptable morsels. Among these are numerous portions of Mr. Ruskin's writings, not a few of them being gems of English, glittering with enthusiasm, and full of force; but even these have been selected with so little judgment that the crude dicta of the "Oxford Graduate's" younger days are placed beside remarks of his prime, excerpts from books which are interesting as showing where the critic took new departures, and subtle and recondite thoughts unfit for a handbook. When Mr. Ruskin gave leave (as he is wont to give on even less worthy occasions) to

66

expected to find himself in good company! But it is difficult to be forbearing towards Mr. Cook when he says of Mulready that he "is most widely known by the Mulready envelope," which surely not one visitor to the National Gallery in ten thousand ever saw, while half of them never heard of it. It is hard upon poor T. S. Good that he should be dubbed an "imitator of Wilkie" (p. 498); and it is a cruel scandal to write of De Loutherbourg (p. 430) that he " carried on the business of faith-healer' with pecuniary success in his house (near Garrick's) facing the river at Chiswick Mall." This is truly a monstrous piece of nonsense. De Loutherbourg may have been in this matter a simpleton, but he was anything but a charlatan in his "faith healing." But what is to be said of a compiler who has ventured to write of Romney that a professional model," i. e., Lady Hamilton, is "the source of half the charm associated with the name of Romney"? How little must a writer know of Maclise who declares (p. 520) that he "covered acres of canvas," and never adds a word of praise for those noble pictures at Westminster the painter broke his heart upon, which Mr. Cook calls "frescoes." We wonder who told him that Rubens painted the 'Chapeau de Poil' "almost entirely in three pigments" (see p. 286), and that that picture's "fame among artists depends to no slight extent on its being a tour de force." Why in the index does "Van Dyck" appear with the V's while "Van Eyck" is under E? Why, when commenting on the technical qualities and history of "Jean Arnoulphini and his Wife," did not Mr. Cook refer to Eastlake's exhaustive essay on the processes of painting by the Van Eycks, and forbear quoting a less wellinformed writer? He might have added to the history of this picture Albert Dürer's opinion of it and a note on that great master's dealings for its possession with the Archduchess Regent. Much is made of the so-called "Index List of Pictures," Appendix II., before us, which is a mere reprint of certain parliamentary returns, the only intelligible reason for the appearance of which in a popular handbook is that suggested by the note on p. 677, "that the curious reader may discover the use made by these officers [the successive Keepers or Directors of the gallery] of the funds at their disposal." But what is the use of this in judging the matter unless the amount of the sums annually granted and a history of the picture market of each year had been added? A pretty inquiry for the "curious" is thus suggested, while chances are opened for great injustice to dead men. The details of the purchases should have been given, if at all, with the account of each picture. It was easier, no doubt, to reprint the official reports as appendices. A little even judgment in technical knowledge, or choosing authorities, would have enabled the compiler to inform his readers that "No. 3," p. 167, called 'A Concert,' is not a Titian. A little knowledge of the building he describes would have told him that it was not owing to the absence of sculptures in the niches of its façade that the National Gallery was never "considered an architectural success.' Wilkins the architect complained more of the difficulties imposed by having to design galleries with a top light in a limited space, by the necessity of using the columns removed from Carlton House, by the afterthought of the dome, and the necessity of making a passage thoroughfare for soldiers going to the barracks behind his building.

The Vanity Fair Album. With Notices by "Jehu Junior." Vol. XX. (Vanity Fair Office.) That Vanity Fair has completed its twentieth year, and thus almost attained its majority, certainly reached years of discretion, is a fact calling for congratulation. That it has not fallen into bad company is much

in its favour, although it is obvious that its constituents are 66 a good deal mixed." The best portraits are those of gentlemen of the long robe, an unprecedentedly numerous company. The best satires are those which prick certain parliamentary windbags. In the company we, on one ground or another, prefer Bandmaster Godfrey,' Mr. T. P. O'Connor' (by "Spy "), "Lord Rodney,'' Mr. B. C. C. Graham,' "Lord Bessborough,' 'Mr. Grossmith, Lord Justice Cotton,Sir John Hannen,' and 'Mr. W. Gilbey.' Spy" and "Ape' never, on the whole, did better than in this volume. It is to "Jehu Junior's" credit that he has at least one commendatory line for each victim of his clever pen.

The Year's Art, 1889 (Virtue & Co.), has been raised in price, and its contents improved in variety and quality. One of its new features is a collection of portraits of the Associates of the Royal Academy, some of which are very good, while the majority, if they hardly deserve so much praise, are acceptable enough. A section on "Art in the House of Commons" illustrates what Parliament has done, but it omits to mention what it has not done with regard to design; chief among the abstentions is that of providing a fit and conveniently accessible home for the National Portrait Gallery. We are glad to notice that the space devoted to the Science and Art Department, the internal details of which are not of much public interest, has been most effectually curtailed. There is still more of this nature than students at large care for, and much matter which ought to be, and is, supplied by the Department itself to its alumni. "Art societies," which collectively concern a much greater number of the public and the profession at large than South Kensington and its offshoots, are fairly, but by no means exhaustively dealt with. There is a section on Art Sales which will be useful as a record, and is interesting at present. It mentions one picture which fetched nearly 6,000l., one that fetched more than 5,000l., three that brought more than 4,000l., four that went for over 3,000l., and twenty-six the prices of which brought over 1,000l. each, the aggregate of the last being very large. The total of sums exceeding 1,500l. each was more than 90,000l. The highest sum was 5,8271., given for Mdlle. Rosa Bonheur's 'Denizens of the Highlands' at the Bolckow sale. Reynolds's 'Mrs. Payne Gallwey and Son' (or 'Pig-a-back') changed hands with Lord Monson's collection, and obtained 4,3051. The most costly picture by a living English artist was Sir J. Millais's North-West Passage (4,000 guineas). The list of engravings published during 1888 shows-as, indeed, our critical columns describing most of the finest prove--not only the great numbers of such works, but their general excellence and considerable variety. The obituary of 1888 seems to be fortunate in containing few names of men of the first rank, Frank Holl and Paul Rajon being those that we in England have to lament. The list is imperfect in containing only a few of the days of the deaths it records. The list of books published would be better if it contained the names of the months in which the works have come out. The abstract of the report on the action of light on water colours might with advantage have been fuller, but in its compact form it is extremely valuable, and ought to be in the hands of every painter, because it is a good compendium of knowledge, very little indeed of which is new.

Poynter's South Kensington Drawing-Books: Freehand for Children (Blackie & Son), may, like the snake in Broderip's famous story, or like the stage soldiers of a martial melodrama, be always appearing and reappearing, so that a few do duty for many. Doubtless we have, among the numerous "Drawing Books" bearing Mr. Poynter's name, not already seen the capital series, book i. to book iv., with the above

titles, which lie before us. They are all good, and only inferior in clearness and grace of draughtsmanship to the famous "Dyce's Outlines," which are incomparably the best of their kind. The rudimentary progressive instances, such as those which represent playing cards, envelopes, elevations of buildings, toys, and utensils of simple forms, are all excellent. Some of them, such as those giving dog kennels, and forms requiring a rudimentary knowledge of perspective, are unsuitable, unless model drawing has already been mastered by the pupils.

THE GROSVENOR GALLERY.-WINTER EXHIBITION. (First Notice.)

ALTHOUGH this collection is in many respects inferior to that which was in the same gallery last year, there are a number of noteworthy pictures of various kinds, especially of modern habits of life, the dimensions of the rooms in genre paintings of cabinet size, which suit our which our climate compels us to live, and the traditions of our art. The exhibition will be

remembered as containing not fewer than eighty-three Constables, about half of which line the walls in the Fifth Room. They are the property of various members of the painter's family, and have never been exhibited before. All of them are of moderate dimensions, and some are very small, yet none of them is without the charm arising out of Constable's delight in nature, his feeling for breadth in tone, effect, and colour, and his devotion to style and simplicity in landscape painting. They are all English, and, with very few exceptions, depict the scenes Constable has taught his admirers to love on the Thames, the Stour, and the sea-beach, in the parks and woodlands of Suffolk, in the outskirts of Salisbury, and at Hampstead. Among the most valuable are some studies of clouds, such as the highly original Sky Study (No. 236); Cloud Study (238), presaging a September storm with prodigious dignity and grandeur; and Cloud Study (280), ment of lines. Lovers of Constable will turn with which emphasizes a fresh idea and a noble arrangegreat interest to the original sketches for some of his most famous works, representing his first impressions, not a few of which gained little by development into pictures proper. On the other hand, the Sketch for the Opening of Waterloo Bridge (247) is so much below the standard of the picture (R.A., 1824) as to prove that sometimes, at all events, "second thoughts are best." No. 254 will be enjoyed by the admirers of Dedham Vale.' Dedham Mill (263) is the original sketch, embodying nearly all its best elements, of the famous work at South Kensington. Brighton Beach (279) is an inadequate, yet still admirable version of one of the artist's best pic tures, which was lately at the Royal Academy. No. 294 is the sketch, evidently made on the spot, for one of the more important Salisburys. No. 298 is the Study for The White Horse,' a renowned work, which, being sent to Lille in 1825, added immensely to the impression made on the Continent by Constable's works at the Salon of the preceding year. No. 302 is the Sketch for 'Salisbury from the Meadows,' 1831-4, which was here last year. It will be noticed that as a rule these original sketches for pictures, even more than the studies from nature which were made with no special object, lack the general silveriness and that rich purity of the shadows which are the greatest charm of Constable's finished paintings. The most valuable of these sketches and studies are Sketch for Dedham Vale' (254); Hampstead (256), under the influence of a gentle wind from the south-west slowly gathering moisture in the higher regions of the air; Hampstead Heath, looking towards London (275); Beach Scene (273), which might be purer, but is rich in energy and spontaneous impressions of nature; Portrait of Mrs. Constable (282), a sympathetic likeness of that devoted, but most clear-headed and self-possessed Englishwoman whom Leslie made

6

known to us; Landscape (287); and last, but not least, Study for the large Picture known as The White Horse' (298). Hadleigh Castle (250), although quite different from the large picture of 1829, which was here last year, shows how very fond Constable was of a superb subject, and what he might have made of this picture had the other failed to gratify his fastidious taste for panoramic views. It is a pleasant thing about these pictures that, unlike certain Constables that were left unfinished, they have never been touched by other hands than the artist's.

Of the larger Constables, Yarmouth Jetty (37) in the West Gallery is a telling composition, rather better than the average, but not in the artist's best style or of the purest execution. Mr. Morrison's picture of The Lock (85) justifies the warm praise lavished by the artist on his own work and endorsed by S. W. Reynolds, who however, he did not live to finish. There are began from it one of his best engravings, which, many copies, versions, and replicas of this picture, of which the famous engraver wrote, "Take it for all in all, since the days of Gainsborough and Wilson, no landscape has been painted with so much truth and originality, so much art, so little artifice." Lucas engraved one of the versions of The Lock' as a companion to his plate of The Cornfield,' which is in the National Gallery. The Valley Farm (94), which Mr. Ashton lends, is one of many versions of the view and Constable's love for effect and colour. The Sea Piece (132) is good.

The pastel pictures by deceased painters, which form a second group in this exhibition, are hung in the Third and Fourth Rooms, but are not, on the whole, particularly attractive. Among the best is Portrait (203) of a lady in a white muslin dress, the work of John Russell, R.A., one of the ablest professors of the art of painting in pastels that England has produced. It is, like most of his works, exceedingly bright, pure in the carnations, and skilfully modelled; the features have and flat, not to say chalky. Mrs. Bell (205), by the an agreeable expression, but the whole is rather dry same artist, possesses more colour, more force, and more spirit. The black velvet ribbon round the lady's neck is an element much valued and often employed by pastellists, whose method did not favour the production of strong colours, and made contrasts of hues, such as black and the carnations afford, highly desirable.—Daniel Gardner's performances as a pastellist may interest many connoisseurs who have never seen works of his, which were once more admired than his contributions to this gallery would lead us to suppose. His three pictures, Nos. 200, 201, and 202, do not increase our desire to see any more of them.-There is a noteworthy group in this mode by an unknown painter, being No. 210, Portrait of Georgiana, Countess Spencer, and her Daughter, which possesses many good technical qualities, but is most interesting in representing the mother of the famous Georgiana, afterwards Duchess of Devonshire, and Henrietta, afterwards Countess of Bessborough. Sir Joshua, as all of us remember who attended the exhibition of Reynoldses held in this gallery in 1884, painted Countess Spencer (born Poyntz) on more than one occasion, and always with success. best known of these pictures is that which J. Watson engraved in 1770, representing the young matron with the little Georgiana standing upon a table (Grosvenor Gallery Catalogue, 1884, No. 157). Another group is almost as interesting; it is unfinished and now Chatsworth (G. G., 1885, No. 199). The face of neither of the children resembles that in this work of an anonymous draughtsman, No. 210, and we are not told of which of the countess's daughters this is a likeness. is even less like the Lady Henrietta than her elder sister. The number of good pastellists likely to be employed by the owners of Chatsworth in or near 1756, when the Lady Georgiana was born, or 1761, when her younger

The

at

It

sister entered the world, was very few. The most likely artist of the period to be employed on such a task was Catherine Read, by whom Earl Spencer has a capital group in oil of these children and their elder brother and younger sister. Miss Read, who is known to readers of Walpole as having been concerned in the runaway match of Lady Susannah Strangways and O'Brien the actor, painted many pastels (they were then called 66 crayons") of children. Her manner greatly resembled that of the example before us, and to her we are strongly inclined to attribute this excellent drawing, of which the author's name has been forgotten. In 1760 she contributed, at the Great Room of the Society of Arts in the Strand, a work of this kind to the first exhibition held in England, and, in later years, to the Free Society of Artists and Incorporated Society of Artists, as well as to the Royal Academy. Her charming portrait of Elizabeth (born Gunning), Duchess of Hamilton, which Finlayson (not Lowry, as Redgrave has it) engraved, has preserved the name of a very able artist, none of whose works is included in Sir Coutts's catalogue, although we should like to have seen the original of the beautiful "Gunning girl," who was "double-duchessed." Catherine Read was not surpassed by J. Russell as a pastellist. This is saying much in her favour, although we do not owe so much to her as to the betterknown R. A., who is well represented in this gallery, and whose 'Elements of Painting with Crayons,' 1777, formed a text-book of the method which had gone out of vogue, although, numerous artists adopting it occasionally, it was never quite out of use. Being much the easiest way of painting, and, besides its simplicity, offering facilities other kinds could not offer on equally easy terms to draughtsmen, there was never any chance of pastel painting being, as some writers have styled it, "a forgotten art," supposed to have been revived in London last year. Excellent as are most of the pastels before us, there can be no doubt that in this country must be preserved a much larger number of specimens, which, barring violence, are practically imperishable, and, with reasonable care, do not deteriorate, as many oil and water-colour paintings have done, into something unsightly. The costumes in the pastels at the Grosvenor are all of one period, which shows that pastel painting was fashionable for a comparatively short time. Half the women represented wear fichus of white and bonnets or coiffure of one type. All the men are dressed alike. John Russell was the only Royal Academician who was a pastel painter per se, although Gainsborough, Romney, Cotes, and many other artists of note, occasionally used this method of portraiture, and some of them, as several accomplished Frenchmen of our Own days do, applied it to landscape painting with considerable success. All this indicates the brief and limited popularity of the method in the last century. The best specimen, besides those named above, is G. Knapton's Portrait of Mrs. Brocas (221), distinguished by its peculiar warmth and those golden hues which are rare in such examples. Mary [born Panton], Duchess of Ancaster (220), represents admirably the clever and handsome lady whom Walpole rather harshly called the daughter of a horse-jockey. Mr. Panton was Master of the King's Running (Race) Horses, a post of considerable trust, if not of dignity, and his daughter married, as his second wife, that rather loose person, Peregrine, third Duke of Ancaster, and thus became mother of the scapegrace fourth duke, who, having been, as she alleged, betrothed to Walpole's niece, Lady Horatia Waldegrave, died in 1779. The Countess Gower told Mrs. Delany an amusing story of the Duchess Mary, then dowager, snubbing the fair Horatia when she asked leave to go into mourning for the fourth duke. The duchess was one of those high and mighty managers of the Pantheon who refused to allow Mrs. Baddeley admittance. Whereupon the macaronies drew their swords,

and, despite the constables' resistance, introduced her under an arch of steel formed by crossing their blades over her head. It was said, but no doubt falsely, that the Duchesses of Ancaster and Northumberland were compelled personally to welcome the Baddeley. The Town and Country Magazine tells us that at the famous Pantheon masquerade of 1772 the duchess before us, Lady Melbourne, and the Hon. Mrs. Damer (the sculptress whom Walpole adored) appeared in male dominoes as "Billy Whiffles (i. e., macaronies of the daintiest sort), and met Sir Joshua, who went in a sort of mufti, and Goldsmith wearing what he took to be the dress of an old English gentleman, and in charge of the lovely Horneck girls (the "Jessamy Bride" and "Little Comedy "), who, the magazine says, looked with their brother, "notwithstanding the sex of one of the group, like the three Graces." It says much for the lady whose portrait is before us that, although supposed to be the illegitimate daughter of Panton, whom a man like Walpole could call " disreputable," she was sent with other great ladies of the court to meet the Princess Charlotte when she arrived at Harwich to be married to the young king; she became Mistress of the Robes to the new queen, and continued long in office; she is said to be one of the ladies represented by Hogarth in the Five Orders of Perriwigs.' So far we have adopted the opinion of the owner of this picture, but we confess to a suspicion that it represents not Mary, born Panton, but the next duchess Mary (born Layard), second wife of Brownlow, fifth Duke of Ancaster (brother of the third), when she was not yet duchess, i. e., previous to 1779. The face before us is unlike that of Mary (Panton), whom Reynolds painted twice, and of whom Hudson produced the masterly portrait which J. Dixon engraved admirably. The costume and age agree best with the lady we have suggested. Mary (Panton) was married in 1750, and in 1763 Walpole wrote to Mann: "The Duchess of Ancaster, who is not young, was at best a pretty figure, is now repaired with very evident art, and is a heap of minauderies and affectations which have not even the stamp of a woman of quality." She died in 1793. Students of Hogarth remember that the blind Lord Albemarle Bertie, the brother who came between the third and fourth Dukes of Ancaster (ob. 1765), is the central figure in Hogarth's Cock-Pit'; he appears likewise in 'The March to Finchley.' We do not see how J. Russell could have drawn the portrait of General Washington (222).

It will be remembered that this gallery last year contained two versions of the famous 'Scene from "The Beggar's Opera" (25 and 251, the property of the Duke of Leeds and Mr. Louis Huth respectively). It is believed that there exist in all four versions of this capital Hogarth, which we need not describe, having already done so when criticizing last year's Grosvenor. The work is, apart from its technical merits, extremely interesting on account of the portraits of Macheath, Hippisley, Mrs. Egleton, Miss Fenton, the Duke of Bolton, Rich, John Gay, and others, and as comprising the only known view of the interior of the famous Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre. The original was painted for Rich and sold to Walpole, at whose sale in 1842 it passed to Mr. Willett; in 1869 it was again sold. Last year's catalogue gave the history of the various paintings under No. 25. Of the four known instances No. 9, which belongs to Mr. John Murray, now before us, is the third. It is nearly, if not quite equal to the Duke of Leeds's version (of which we gave the history while describing in "The Private Collections of England" the treasures of Hornby Castle), which belonged to Rich, who probably had two copies, both the finished work and the sketch. It was the Duke of Leeds's version W. Blake engraved. Mr. Murray's picture deserves attentive examination in the minor points in which it differs from the other examples. It is in size

intermediate to Nos. 25 and 251, and was at the British Institution in 1847, at Manchester in 1857 with Mr. Willett's version, at the International Exhibition in 1862, and at the Academy in 1876.

A certain number of pictures here bear the name of Hogarth which have but slender claims to that distinction. If Hogarth painted the Portrait of S. Richardson (31), which we doubt very much, it was probably executed in the house, once the novelist's, at Fulham (now occupied by Mr. E. Burne Jones), in which we know the painter frequently visited Richardson, and where one day, while they were gossiping in a room, seemingly that looking into the garden, the artist was astonished by seeing a person standing at the window in the room, shaking his head and rolling himself about in a strange, ridiculous manner. He concluded that he was an idiot whom his relations had put under the care of Mr. Richardson, as a very good man." He was still more astonished when the stranger stalked forward and burst into a violent invective against George II. This was Dr. Johnson, whom Hogarth had not seen before. There is no record of Hogarth painting the author of 'Clarissa Harlowe.' Unequal as was the art of our painter, this portrait is below his mark altogether. The Thornhill Family (102), lent by Mrs. Wollaston and ascribed to Hogarth, may be the picture which was in the collection of J. B. Nichols, who had it from Mr. Anderson, although it does not closely agree with J. B. Nichols's description in his 'Anecdotes,' 1839, p. 375. It is certainly not by Hogarth, but may be the work of Pugh. The figure supposed to be Thornhill is not at all like him. Both the Nicholses refrained from positively affirming that their picture represented Sir James.

If

It is quite impossible to accept the crude and dull picture here called The Punch Club (103) as a Hogarth. It seems to be an adaptation, with one figure fewer, of the famous 'Midnight Modern Conversation,' of which there is a good print _by_Riepenhausen published with the title 'Les Buveurs de Ponche,' to which it probably owes its designation. it be genuine we must believe that Hogarth painted like this in 1734, which was the year of the Conversation,' and immediately after 'A Harlot's Progress' and 'A Rake's Progress.' The 'Conversation' was popular in France, and immensely so in Germany, where the circulation of Hogarth's engraving from his picture was very great, and where that work gave him a fame which soon equalled his British reputation. Many copies of all sorts in oil, to say nothing of piracies of his prints, are known to exist from the picture by Hogarth; some of them are painted over impressions of the large print (34 in. by 21 in.) which was published by John Bowles at the Black Horse in Cornhill. Lord Egremont has a copy 5 ft. or 6 ft. long. This picture is from Basildon, where Dr. Waagen found that "it did not quite answer the expectations raised by the etching [engraving]." J. B. Nichols mentioned other copies, including one which belonged to John Ireland, a third which was found at an inn in Gloucestershire, a fourth which Lord Northwick had. He said the original was, in 1839, at Mr. Wightman's at Hampstead. Mr. G. Redford's Art Sales,' just published, tells us that Lord Northwick's version, which had belonged to Admiral Vernon, was bought in at his sale in 1838 for 60l. 18s.; it was sold in 1859 for 481. Mr. Colnaghi sold another in 1868 for 102l. 18s. For the design and prints from the original see the 'Catalogue of Satirical Prints in the British Museum,' No. 2122, where the names of persons represented are given. In Germany, according to Riepenhausen, wax groups were modelled to represent the figures in Hogarth's work. At Drary Lane a dramatic piece was, in 1742, acted with great éclat, "taken from Hogarth's celebrated print." No Hogarth called 'The Punch Club' has hitherto been exhibited in

London, nor mentioned by any critic of repute except Waagen. There is not the slightest reason for saying that the so-called portrait of Handel at the organ in No. 116, named A Musical Study, is really so. It simply consists of the back view of a three-tailed wig, not unlike that of Handel which Lady Burlington (or Goupy) etched in a satirical design well known to collectors. That this very questionable picture belonged to Nichols is no proof that Hogarth painted it. The figure said to be Mrs. Fox Lane (afterwards Lady Bingley) is suspiciously unlike that of her in plate iv. of Marriage à la Mode.' The picture is said to contain a likeness of Farinelli, but the only thing that can possibly be supposed to be a portrait of him 18 the portrait in an oval frame. Probably the notion that the figure of the player on the organ in No. 116 is a portrait of Handel arose from its resemblance to the figure of a man who is playing on a harpsichord on our left of the second plate in 'A Rake's Progress,' a figure which was formerly said to be that of Handel, to whom it had no sort of likeness. That a blunder of this nature has occurred in naming the picture now before us is suggested by the fact that its original title, which is not that given in the Catalogue of this exhibition, mentioned a "portrait of Handel at the harp

sichord," on which instrument the musician in 'A Rake's Progress,' plate ii., is playing, whereas it is an organ the supposed Handel is using. The confusion between the titles helps us to see why No. 116 is called a Hogarth, although, on technical grounds alone, it cannot for a moment be classed with his work.

RESTORATION AND DESTRUCTION.

I VENTURE to draw your attention to another act of contemplated "restoration." It is only a country church (a village church it might be called) with which the "restorer" proposes to deal, but such a church! Once seen it lives in the memory, and we might well believe that its "long_narrow avenue of fine yew trees" is unique. The whole recalls to the mind one of those beautiful etchings of Creswick's, and is full of the deep indescribable sentiment we find in Gray's Elegy.' Mr. Thackeray Turner, on behalf of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, wrote last year to a local newspaper urging those who had not seen Bentley Church, near Farnham, to see it before Christmas, as the "restoration was to be begun early in the new year. After alluding to its extreme beauty and interest he advises those who would realize what "restoration means to visit the churches of Chiddingfold, Bramley, and Linchmere.

Mr. Turner may not have been aware of a circumstance far more remarkable than that this exquisite relic of antiquity is about to be made as trim and symmetrical as any fashionable congregation could desire-the fact (for so I am told it is) that Bentley Church is regarded as "a disgrace to the diocese"! This seems incredible till we call to mind what has been done and what is proposed by "restorers "; till we remember that ancient buildings require the protection of a society; and that, in spite of this society's efforts, they are gradually disappearing or suffering mutilation.

Yet it is difficult to realize that a nation believing itself to be very highly civilized should not only permit, but often complacently regard, the destruction or defacement one by one of the monuments which form its noble unwritten history. It is surely possible to save them from decay and preserve them for future generations by more gentle means than those which have become notorious and a byword with men of taste. The soft influence and touch of Time falling from generation to generation upon some noble building give it a beauty apart from that which is merely architectural, and invest it with the associations which are, as it were, the soul to the body. It is surely these associations that

a civilized nation should preserve and cherish, but it is these that the "restorer" first destroys. We are led to conjecture that though those in authority may be very highly educated men in many ways, they have not that education of the eye which would enable them to see the ruin which they allow-to see the difference between a thing which time, working ceaselessly and silently for centuries, has perfected far beyond mere human handiwork, and that which the architect and builder of to-day have renovated by contract.

The question may be asked whether men who are ignorant of the very elements of art, who are destitute of the merest spark of imagination men to whom the difference between a very ancient building and a very modern one is merely a question of the state of repair-should be suffered to work their pleasure again and again on the most priceless and lovely bequests of antiquity.

The housemaid who diligently scoured her master's old Cremona acted from a praiseworthy motive, and so, no doubt, do deans and chapters and diocesan architects; but the result of their industry appears to be pretty much the same. In conclusion, I can only echo Mr. Thackeray Turner's warning, and urge those who wish to see Bentley Church while it is "a disgrace to the

diocese" to go at once.

A. H. PALMER.

Fine-Art Gossip.

his extraordinary gift was made known by a mere chance at a time when he was in dire straits. Thenceforth he was the mainstay of Vanity Fair, being, with only a short interval - which was, it is said, due to differences of opinion concerning the value of his aid, differences settled by an inevitable compromise-constantly attached to that publication, where his signature was always welcomed by the public. His companions are or were, for some have left-MM. Tissot and Delfico, as well as "Spy," i. e., Mr. Leslie Ward, son of the late Academician. Personally no one was more liked than the deceased artist, who had attained that rare gift, ability so to identify himself with the people he lived among, that, although a foreigner, he seemed to be an English satirist.

MR. MORTIMER MENPES has invited connoisseurs to inspect his dry-point plate after F. Hals's Banquet of the Harquebusiers of Haarlem,' which is at Messrs. Dowdeswell's Gallery, New Bond Street.

THE Society of Painter - Etchers' exhibition will in future be held at the gallery of the Society of Painters in Water Colours. Mr. McLean has on view a number of pictures and sketches by Mr. J. Webb.

On

THE death of Signor Carlo Pellegrini, which is recorded as having occurred on the 22nd inst. at his rooms in Mortimer Street, Cavendish Square, has left a greater gap in the ranks of satiric artists than any that has occurred since the decease of John Leech, A. Daumier, and R. Doyle. Of a much more limited capacity than the three we have mentioned, Pellegrini was within his own rangethat very limitation favouring concentration of power and intensity of expression-equal to any of his contemporaries. Not one of them surpassed "Ape' of Vanity Fair in delineating single figures. To compare him with Daumier or with Leech, as some have done, is simply absurd. the other hand, not even Mr. Tenniel, masterful in many single figures, has given us a Mr. Lowe standing on a match-box, casts of finer thing than the statuette in red plaster of which are already extremely scarce. It was produced in 1871, and greatly increased the already high reputation of the artist. An excellent sketch of Mr. Gladstone with a Pecksniffian aspect will survive to give zest to the "historic doubts" of the future. The function of the satiric artist has become so important nowadays that of him it might almost be said, as of the balladmakers of another age, "give me your sarcastic or your sardonic draughtsman, and you may make the laws." If this is true-and it will be very nearly true when the echoes of political wrangling have died away-what will be the position of Signor Pellegrini? Leech and Mr. Tenniel dealt with Mr. Gladstone in many of his phases, but the Italian's record is the truest, fairest, and most incisive. The same may be said of some of his studies of other statesmen; but not of Lord Beaconsfield, Earl Russell, the Emperor Nicholas, or the Emperor Louis Napoleon. The first three were better treated by the English humourists, while Daumier was the Nemesis of the French Emperor. Pellegrini was born at Capua in 1838, of a good provincial family; he was embroiled in the political troubles of his youth, took part with Garibaldi, and was distinguished by activity and energy. It was not, however, we believe, on this account he left Italy, and came to London in 1865 with anything but radiant prospects. About 1868

A PAINTER of European renown has passed away in M. Cabanel. He was born in 1823, and was a pupil of Picot. Like the two artists we mentioned last week, he first exhibited at the Salon of 1844. He gained a Second Medal in 1852, a First in 1855, and, the Legion of Honour in the same year. Another medal followed in 1865, and he was made an Officer of the Legion in 1864. He succeeded to the vacancy caused by the death of Horace Vernet at the Académie des Beaux-Arts in 1863, and was made a professor at the École des Beaux-Arts in the same year. We shall perhaps say something about his pictures next week.

THE French papers record the death, aged seventy, of Signor A. Gastaldi, a painter of historical subjects, Knight of the Legion of Honour, and Director of the School of Painting at Turin. He had long studied the processes used by the ancients in wax-painting. It is feared that his researches into this subject are not advanced enough for publication.

DR. SCHLIEMANN, supported by the Syllogos of Candia, is at present in treaty for the purchase of a hillock named Kephálaton Tshelebí, on the site of the ancient city of Cnossos, in Crete, in order to clear out a large archaic building, amongst the ruins of which have been lately found pithoi and vases of the so-called Mycenae period. Mr. Stillman has pronounced this building to be the Labyrinth of Dædalos, but it is more likely to prove to be an andreion, or a hall for the syssitia of the inhabitants of Cnossos, or at any rate a public building of a remote epoch. At present all that is to be seen are some very thick walls of local gypsum stone, which were partially disinterred by the Spanish vice-consul, M. Calocherinós, in 1877. Some of these stones bear figures of ancient character, probably masons' marks. The form of the building appears to be rectangular, about 44 mètres by 55, and both the walls and mode of construction have striking points of resemblance with the prehistoric palace of Tiryns. Dr. Schliemann has been induced to enter on this work by the information given him in 1884, and first published in 1886 by Dr. Fabricius; but when he and Dr. Dörpfeld visited Crete at that time the nego

tiation, of which a detailed account appeared in the Athenæum, did not meet with the success it now seems likely to obtain.

Ar Carasso, Canton Ticino, Switzerland, a marble altar has been disinterred 68 centimètres high by 60 wide, being 40 centimètres thick at the base. From the inscription it appears to be a votive altar to Jupiter and Mercury, erected by one Fronto, son of Quintus. It has the cantharus and patera on the sides.

MUSIC

DR. FRANCIS HUEFFER.

ALTHOUGH it was known that this excellent musical critic and scholar was unwell, the news that death had claimed him last Saturday came as a surprise. Dr. Hueffer was only in his forty-fourth year, and until a fortnight before his death he had enjoyed excellent health. Born at Münster in 1845, he came to England in 1869, and soon became an authority on musical matters. He became connected with several weekly papers, and in 1878 he succeeded the late Mr. J. W. Davison on the Times. He also edited the short-lived Musical Review, and for a few months recently the Musical World. These statements, however, do not convey a full idea of his labours and capabilities. He was much interested in Provençal music and literature, and after editing a critical edition of the works of Guillem de Cabestanh-whom he afterwards made the principal figure in the libretto of his opera 'The Troubadour,' which Dr. Mackenzie set to music-he published a work entitled 'The Troubadours: a History of Provençal Life and Literature. At one time he contemplated a translation of Schopenhauer's 'Das Welt als Wille und Vorstellung, but the project fell through. His study of Schopenhauer, however, undoubtedly led to his championship of Wagner. He was not an unreasoning partisan of the poetcomposer, but he recognized his genius at a time when it was but little understood in England, and by his enlightened criticism he did much to pave the way for the more just estimation in which Wagner is now held by musicians and by educated persons generally. Many of the musical articles in the new edition of the "Encyclopædia Britannica' are from the pen of Dr. Hueffer. His literary style was grave, but clear and incisive; and however much one

know not, the programme offering no information on the subject. The little piece is in two brief movements, the first in D and the second, somewhat in the style of a polacca, in E flat. It is pretty, and there are touches of the true Weber manner. The orchestra was in better form than at any previous concert this season, and there was much to praise and little to condemn in the rendering of Mozart's 'Jupiter' Symphony, Schumann's Genoveva' Overture, and a selection from 'Die Meistersinger.' Mrs. Henschel gave a charming_and unaffected rendering of Mendelssohn's "Hear my prayer," with the aid of Mr. M'Naught's able Bow and Bromley Choir.

80.

THE last of the Patti Concerts took place at the Albert Hall on Tuesday, the programme being of the usual character. Madame Trebelli was announced to reappear for the first time since her serious illness, but was unable to do Madame Néruda, Miss Alice Gomes, Mr. Lloyd, and Mr. Santley took part in the concert. THERE was much to commend in the performance of Elijah' at Novello's Oratorio Concerts on Wednesday. Mr. Henschel does not identify himself with the principal character in the way to which Mr. Santley has accustomed us, but he sings the music to perfection. Miss Lizzie Neal, a new comer, has the making of a fine artist, but she should guard against forcing her sufficiently powerful voice. Of Madame Nordica, Madame Patey, and Mr. Lloyd nothing need be said. The choruses were splendidly interpreted, but the orchestra was painfully uncertain.

THE programme of Mr. Dannreuther's first Musical Evening, on Thursday in last week, was very interesting. The first item was an Octet in F, for strings and two horns, by Mr. Henry Holmes. Five of the executants were students at the Royal College of Music, and the rendering was highly satisfactory. The work itself is clever, and in places effective; but, on the whole, it must be pronounced rather dry and laboured. Mr. Dannreuther played Schumann's Sonata in F sharp minor in his best manner, and the programme likewise included Bach's Suite in B minor for flute and strings, the edition of Robert Franz, recently published, being used.

THE programme of Sir Charles Halle's concert at the Free Trade Hall, Manchester, on Thursday included Brahms's Symphony in E minor, No. 4; the overtures to 'Les Abencerrages' and 'La Dame Blanche'; Beethoven's 'Kreutzer' zeppa,' for the first time.

CRITERION.-'Still Waters Run Deep,' a Comedy in Three Acts. By Tom Taylor.

OPERA COMIQUE.- Tares,' a Drama in Three Acts. By Mrs. Oscar Beringer.

CURIOUSLY old-fashioned seems, on its revival at the Criterion, Tom Taylor's comedy of 'Still Waters Run Deep.' Like many other works of uncertain derivation from the same author, it is a model of conventional construction. Now, however, beside more recent workmanship it looks like a locomotive engine of the same date, 1855, beside one of to-day. The fault is not with an author if his ideas, fresh enough at the time, become jejune and familiar. In the present case a measure of new interest attaches to the play in consequence of the By conditions attendant upon its revival. giving for the first time a rendering wholly serious of the character of Mrs. Sternhold the play becomes to a certain extent a psychological study. Hitherto Mrs. Sternhold has been shown as a woman partly comic and wholly disagreeable. As played with admirable judgment and feeling by Mrs. Bernard Beere she inspires a certain brother's pecuniary interests to those of her measure of sympathy. Her betrayal of her

was impossible not to admit that he spoke with authority as well as conviction.

Musical Gossip.

BEETHOVEN'S Septet and Haydn's Quartet in c, Op. 76, No. 3, with the variations on "God preserve the Emperor," were the concerted works at last Saturday's Popular Concert. Madame Haas gave a somewhat remarkable rendering of Beethoven's Sonata in A flat, Op. 110, investing it with a dreamy tenderness by no means out of keeping with the general

character of the work.

SCHUBERT'S Octet was the principal item in Monday's programme. Madame Haas and Signor Piatti played Mendelssohn's Sonata in B flat, Op. 45, for piano and violoncello; and the pianist gave Liszt's transcription of Bach's Organ Prelude and Fugue in a minor. We are distinctly of opinion that arrangements of this nature should not be heard at the Popular Concerts. The piano is not a sustaining instrument, and, however cleverly Liszt may have done his work, Bach's ideas cannot be realized. Miss Helen D'Alton was fairly commendable in a song by Miss Maude White.

A FAMILIAR programme, save as to one item, was put forward at the Symphony Concert on Tuesday evening. The exception was an entr'acte from Weber's unfinished comic opera 'Die Drei Pintos,' whence obtained or by whom scored we

MADAME ILMA DI MURSKA, who died last week, had long outlived her reputation. Twenty years ago she was highly popular on the boards of the Italian stage, her voice fitting her for parts in which an exceptional range is required, such as the Queen of Night, Dinorah, and Marguerite de Valois. Perhaps she will be best remembered by her creation in this country of the part of Senta at Drury Lane in 1870.

We hear that the late Dr. Hueffer's new work, 'Half a Century of Music in England, 1837

1887,' is in the press, and will be issued by

Messrs. Chapman & Hall early in February.

THE Berlin journals speak very favourably of the new works by Dr. Villiers Stanford performed in the Philharmonic Society's hall of that city on the 14th inst. The symphony especially is described in glowing terms, the Kreuz Zeitung declaring that there is not a weak moment in the entire work, while the Berliner Reichsbote says that it "sets him in the front rank of the composers of our own day." Other papers are equally flattering.

A PIANOFORTE quartet in E minor, by Mr. Harvey Löhr, will shortly be published by subscription.

A WAGNER cycle, consisting of nine performances, is announced at the Darmstadt Hoftheater

in March.

'DAS RHEINGOLD' was performed for the first time at the Metropolitan Opera-house, New

It is not, is, of course, a repulsive trait. She is, however, moreover, the only one. "cornered." She is in the power of an unprincipled man, and until she is convinced of his infidelity she loves him. An altogether new interest is thus imparted to her proceedings, and her arraignment of the traitor, her appeal for protection to the man whose happiness she has all but wrecked, and her gratitude and humility on finding what service has been rendered her by the undemonstrative hero whom she has treated as an imbecile furnish opportunities for acting of which Mrs. Bernard Beere was not slow to avail herself. Dress is now an important adjunct to a theatrical representation, and the diaphanous textures of startling colours which Mrs. Bernard Beere wears, becoming as they are, are such as few actresses dare have donned.

Mr. Wyndham's assumption of John Mildmay is a bold and a successful experiment. Known hitherto as the almost solitary transmitter of the traditions of light comedy, Mr. Wyndham, who has long worn the mantle of Charles Mathews, now essays serious parts. A step in this direction was, of One course, made in 'David Garrick.' act, at least, of this gave room for the