Art [pp. 27-29]

FINE ARTS.
from her bored and unsympathetic, longing for
" A Passion in Tatters," or " Not Wisely but
Too Well."
The whole discussion of the " prayer-gauge "
problem has always seemed to us in a high
degree unprofitable and unsatisfactory; and
we are not especially glad to see any new contribution to its literature. Argument about
what appears an axiom to both sides alike, and
what is in its nature incapable of absolute proof
to either, is a waste of time which might certainly be employed in a more philosophic spirit.
When Professor Tyndall proposed (with less
thought, we fancy, than he is accustomed to
give to his propositions) the application of the
practical prayer-test suggested by his friend,
he might have foreseen, as he doubtless has
appreciated since, the fruitlessness of placing
such a method of experiment before people,
the very nature of whose belief would render it
perfectly unavailing even if carried out to the
exact letter.
Those who have enjoyed the faithful perusal
of that excellent narrative work, "Father Tom
and the Pope," will remember that the worthy
Hibernian prelate celebrated therein, when finally brought to the point by the pope's asking
him, " Would you have me doubt the ividence
of my sinses " puts the pregnant question behind himn by saying that, if his holiness proposes to trust to " them seven deludhers,"
argumnent is useless. So say the churchmen to
Professor Tyndall; the converse is what Professor Tyndall says to the churchmen.
That it is impossible, in the light of recent
discussions, to treat the subject with the eariest reverence that it deserves, proves in itself
how miuchl harm (in the sense of one party, at
least), and how little good, the whole argument
has done.
Itf the controversy must go on, it is certainly refreslhing to see it conducted as in the work
that has recently come to us-President Hopkins's little book, "Prayer and the PrayerGarLge." It is the frankest, the most temperat(,, aidl the most sensible, contribution to the
discussion that we have had from his party.
First of all, because it meets the question
fairly, without evasion or dodging; and then,
becatuse it as firankly and fairly acknowledges
that the parties to the argument are arguing
from irreconcilable points of view, and that
each misconceives the other's opinion if he imagmines that he can produce conviction by a line
of proof which is inherently unacceptable to
the othler's mind.
It is easy to see that Dr. Hopkins comes to
the discussion unwillingly; indeed, he says as
much at the beginning of his essay; and we
can well imagine that, with his clear habit of
thought, and perfect consciousness of the uselessness of the whole argument, he must have
been reluctantly dragged into controversial
writing on the subject. That he has written
coolly and courteously, candidly and fairly, is
all the strongdr token of his control over his
own weapons; and, in spite of the unprofitable
nature of the work on which it was expended,
his essay deserves to live as a clear and wellput exposition of individual belief.
Messrs. Harper & Brothers have added to
their excellent edition of Wilkie Collins's writings his " Miscellanies;" papers which we are
glad to see reproduced in such good, permanent
form, for they were lost to the majority of readers, astray in old magazines. Some of them,
especially " Cases worth looking at," give us
some idea of Collins's method in "working
up" his more ambitious worlds.
The samie house have published "My Moth
er and I," a sad little story by the always popular Mrs. Craik (Miss Mulock). Its beauty excuses what we believe to be the error of putting
unnecessary sadness and trouble before readers
of the class that will chiefly read this book —not
that we advocate the omission of all that gives
thile deeper side to life, but that positively tearful books seem to us a little out of place in the
hands of a young girl at that age which always
inclines of itself to a somewhat unhealthy shade
of melancholy in its reflections.
Of Swinburne's "Bothwell" the Spectator says:
Mr. Swiuburne's dramatic fire shows perhaps at
its best in passages of this tragedy, but the tragedy
itself is not worthy of its finest portions. It is too
long, and very considerable portions of it drag
heavily upon the reader. The subject is one which
needs swift movement, and the movement is not
swift. Mary Stuart's character itself, whether an
accurate historic study or not, is very finely drawn,
but even it is studied at too great length, and in
parts the diffuseniess of her passion for Bothwell
becomes utterly wearisome. The pictures of Darnley and of John Knox are perhaps the only things
in the play which are perfect of their kind. Though
the whole interest of the play turns upon Bothwell, the picture of Bothwell himself is by no
means a striking one. Doubtless it is true enough,
so far as it goes. The fierce, bloody, and brutal
soldier, who has so passionate a love of power and
so little state-craft, whose idea of strength is violence, who finds it hard even to pretend to love the
queen whose sceptre he longs to wield, who sacrifices what of heart he has to his ambition when he
divorces a wife, whom he to some extent loves, for
the sake of marrying the queen, and whose genuine admiration for Mary Stuart's dauntlessness on
the field of battle extorts from him the only really
lover-like speeches he ever makes, is no doubt not
only a strongly outlined, but a very real drawing;
yet there is a certain want of variety of treatment
and wealth of resource in the devices by which
Mr. Swinburne presents Bothwell to us."
" Religion in Rome from Augustus to Antonius,"
by Gaston Boissier, has just appeared in Paris. The
author has endeavored to trace the progress of the
religious movement developed in Rome during the
first century of our era. He follows it, rising with the
empire and developing under the double influence
of Greek philosophy and Oriental forms of faith.
His laborious researches restore in some measure
the missing link between the decline of paganism
and the triumph of Christianity, and enable us to
understand more clearly under what influences
Christianity grew and flourished, and give us a
vivid idea in regard to the religious forms of belief
prevalent previous to the introduction of Christianity, showing, at the same time, what was adopted or rejected by the purer system of faith, and
what were the facilities or degrees of resistance it met with in the religious state of society
during the first century. These grave questions
are treated by M. ~Boissier without prejudice or
partiality. Setting aside the foregone conclusions i
of those who accept the preconceived opinions of
others on this weighty subject, he honestly sifts
what he considers to be the best evidence, and admirably succeeds in reconciling venerable traditions with historic truths.
A reviewer in the Academy of a collected edition of Mr. Robert Buchanan's poems does what
many will consider great injustice to the poet. The
review is signed'" George Saintsbury," and closes
as follows: "It is no light charge to bring against
a poet, that he has forgotten entirely that he is, or
ought to be, above all things an artist. But this is
exactiy what Mr. Robert Buchanan has done. In
his hurry to be prophet, seer, politician, city missionary, and what not, he has neglected-in fact,
he has willfully despised-the art which nevertheless he professes. No doubt there is in his work
plenty of that vague and delusive quality which is
sometimes called power and sometimes promise.
Bat in matters poetical, amid above all in poems deliberately and systematically reproduced, we expect performance, not promise. With due study
and due repression, Mr. Buchanan might have
turned out something not wholly worthless. But
he has preferred, for some fifteen years, to clothe
his crude thoughts in cruder language without hesitation or reflection, and now we fear that it will
take more than his own immeasurable self-confidence, and more than the unintelligent laudations
of certain critics, to make of him a great or even a
tolerable poet."
A new series of essays by M. Taine has just
been published in Paris. The most interesting
are "The Travels ill Spain of Madame d'Aulnoy; "
"Fine Arts in France;' " Sainte-Odile and Iphigenie in Tauride; " "Public Opinion in Germany
and the Conditions of Peace;" "Notice of Mdrimde
and Criticism of his Letters to an Unknown." "In
this new series of essays, says a critic, "we find,
in the highest degree, the faculties of observation
and the unrivaled talent of style which peculiarly
belong to this author. The article on Iphigdnie is
in itself a gem of the first order. Never before
were the incomparable beauties of this masterpiece
better understood and expressed. Goethe, in his
treatment of the same subject, signally failed to do
it justice, while M. Taine has admirably succeeded
in bringing out its aesthetic perfection and the elevation of its historical and moral aims."
The Royal Academy Exhibition.
[Our regular art-critic, who is abroad for th
summer, gives here the first of a series of coin
munications on art-matters in EnglaInd anid on
the Continent:]
HE Royal Academy of Arts, whose an nual exhibition of pictures and sculpture
opened early in May, is in Burlington Hiouse,
a very handsome old palace, leading out of
Piccadilly-. Piccadilly, as every American familiar with London is aware, is a street of
much the same character, with its shops and
places of amusement, as Broadway, New York,
or Washington Street, Boston.
The entrance to Burlington House is throughl
a high, stone-covered gate-was, with one archl
for carriages anil others for passengers on foot,
into a square-paved court-yard, about an acre
in extent, on three sides of which is the main
building of the palace, with wings extending
down to the right and left sides. The building, like most London structures, is very dark;
the tone of our granite after it has been exposed a great many years to the action of
water.
The galleries of the Royal Academy are up
one flight of stairs, and consist of ten large
chambers, opening by marble arches into one
another; and, besides these apartments, there
are three rooms for sculpture, going from front
to rear in the middle of the palace.
The Exhibition consists of more than sixteen hundred works ol'art, paintings and sculpture, and compares in magnitude with the NewYork Spring Exhibition, in about the same way
that Schaus's or Snedecor's gallery compares
with the galleries at the National Academy of
Design. Entering the Royal Academy at any
hour, from ten o'clock, when the doors open, till
six or seven at night, the rooms at this season of
the year are as crowded as on a reception night
at the National Academy. Rows of people half a
dozen deep stand in front of the pictures, which
are hung one above another as high as thirty
feet from the ground, while in the centre of
the rooms a stationary crowd of people sit on
divans, and endeavor to get good views of the
large pictures. What strikes a stranger at first
is the intelligent interest of the crowd in the
paintings before them. Parties of men and
of women discuss knowingly the various
I points" of the paintings, while nearly every
other person has a pencil in hand, either to
mark their favorites in the catalogue, or to
1874.]
27