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    l<m ; ¦ : THi ! EEp;|R._;r: ^ ; : ;:;H: ...

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    / HANNAY'S NAVAL jS*ETOHES. .' ' . ... ....

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    Buskin's Last Volume. The Stones Of Veni...

    from the book ol-record . It is not Ms business either to think , to judge , to argue , or to know . His . place is neither in : the closet , nor oh the bench , nor at ^ the bar , nor in the Hbrary . v They are for other men and other work . He may think , in a by-way ; reason , nW and then , when he has nothing better to do ; know , such fragments of knowledge as he can gather without stooping , or reach without pains ; but none of these things are to be his care . The work of his life is . to be two-fold only ; to see , to feel , . , , " Nay , but , the reader perhaps pleads with me , one of the great uses of knowledge is to open the eyes ; to make things perceivable which never would have been seen , unless first they bad been known .

    " Not so . This could only be said or believed by those ^ who do not know what the perceptive faculty of a great artist is , in comparison with that of other men . There is no great painter , no great workman in any art , but he sees more with the glance of a moment than he could learn by the labour of a thousand hours .. God has made every man fit for his work ; He has given to the man whom He means for a student , the reflective , logical , sequential faculties ! and to the man whom He means for an artist , the perceptive , sensitive , retentive faculties . And neither of these men , so far from being able to do the other ' s work , , can even comprehend the way in which it is done . The student has no understanding of the vision , nor the painter of the process ; but chiefly , the student has no idea of the colossal grasp of the true painter ' s vision and sensibility . " We cannot afford to extract all we would ; but we must liear . Mr . Kuskin qualify liis assertion : ¦—

    " What , then , it will be indignantly asked , is an utterly ignorant and unthinking man likely to make the best artist ? No , not so neither . Knowledge is good for him so long as he can keep it utterly , servilely , subordinate to his own divine work , and trample it under his feet , and out of his way , the moment it is likely to entangle him . " And in this respect , observe , there is an enormous difference between knowledge and education . An artist need not be a learned man , in all probability it will be a disadvantage to him to become so ; but he ought , if possible , always to

    be an educated man : that is , one who has understanding of . ms own uses and duties in the world , and therefore of the general nature of the things done and existing in the world ; and who has so trained himself , or been trained , as to ; turn to the best and most courteous account whatever faculties or knowledge he has . The mind of an educated man is greater than the knowledge it possesses ; it is like the vault of heaven , encompassing the earth which lives and flourishes beneath it : but the mind of an uneducated and learned man is like a caoutchouc band , with an everlasting spirit of contraction in it , fastening together" papers which it cannot open , and keeps others from opening *

    " Half our artists are ruined for want of education , and by the possession of knowledge ; the best that I have known have been educated , and illiterate . The ideal of an artist , however , is not that he should be illiterate , but well read jn'the best books , and thoroughly high bred , both in heart and in bearings In a word , he should be . fit for the best society , and should keep out of it . * " - ..-.-. Mr . Ruskin feels , to its full extent , tile responsibility of the artist . Much is given to him , much will be required of him ; his duty is to spcaic out , as clearly , and forcibly , and persuasively as he may , the part which is entrusted to him of the great message to man . It may be a word only , a feeble and faltering word ; it may be a volume , powerful and trumpettongued ; but the true artist will not repine , because his own share in the work is a trifling one , and will feel that , provided something great is gained for humanity , it matters little if the doer be he or another .

    To the end that the artist should execute his work efficiently , it is necessary he should conceive it in its true spirit . Let us hear , in Mr . lluskin ' s words , what that spirit is : —¦ " Here , therefore , let me finally and firmly enunciate the great principle to which all that lias hitherto been stated is subservient ; - —that art is valuable or otherwise , only as it expresses the personality , activity , and living perception of a good and great human soul ; that it may express and contain this with little help from execution , and loss from science ; and that if it have not this , if it show not the vigour , perception , and invention of a mighty human spirit , it is worthless . Worthless , 1 mean , as art ; it may be precious in some other way , but , as art , it is nugatory . Once let this bo well understood among us , and magnificent consequences will soon follow . Let me repeat it in other terms , so that I may not

    be misunderstood . All art is great , and good , and true , only so far as it is distinctively the work of manhood in its entire and highest sense ; that in to say , not the work of limbs and fingers , but of the soul , aided , according to her necessities , by the inferior powers ; and therefore distinguished in essence from all products of those inferior powers unhelpurl by the soul . For as a photograph is not a work of art , though it requires certain delicate manipulations of paper and acid , and subtle calculations of time , in ordux to bring out a good result ; so , neither would a drawing like a photography made directly from nature , be a work of art , although it would imply many delicate manipulations of the pencil and subtle calculations of effects of colour and shade . It is no mow art to manipulate a camel ' schina and

    hair pencil , than to manipulate a tray a glass vial . j ; t is no moro art to lay on colour delicately , than to lay on acid delicately . It is no more art to use the cornea and retina for the reception of an imago , than to use a lens and a piece of silvered paper . But the moment that inner part of the man , or rather that entire and only being of the man , of which cornea and retina , lingers and hands , pencils and colourrt , ait ; all the ni « : re servants and instrumentH ; that manhood which has light in itself , though the eyeball bu sightleHS , ami can gain in Htrengfch when the hand and tho foot are bmvn off and cast into tho fire ; tho moment this , part of the man stands , forth with its solemn , ' Behold , it is j ; ' then tho work becomes art indeed , perfect m honour , priceless in value , boundlesN in

    power . . But the whole responsibility does not ; rest with our teach oth . They can do much for us , but they cannot do sill . Wo hear a great deal of the inferiority of modern artists ; " but . may not some of it , be traced to ' tho inferiority of modern audiences P J ) o we , in thi « ago of resiles /* activity , rapid invention , and fierce competition , oflon turn aside , to paumj ami ponder over art , in puch a thankful . and rovoronl ; spirit as the followingp "Wo have just hcoh that till groat ait w ' tlni work of the whole living creature , * " Ho < : iot , y nlwayn him a destructive influijnoo . upon an artist : first , by i ( n Hyinpntny wi ( h Him nieaucHt , ' . powers ; ducondly , by its-chilling wiinl , of undorutnikding of ' liin groukfof , and , thirdly , by it . M vain occupation of Iuh tune and thoughts . Ofcourne a painter of men muHt bo a ' moiu / men i but it ought to bo aa a watcher , not ua a , companion . "

    body and soul , and chiefly of the soul . But it , is not only ihe work of the whole creature , it likewise addresses the whole creature . That in which the perfect being speaks , must also have the perfect being to . listen .. '; I am not to spend' utmost spirit , and give all my strength and life to my work , while you , ^ specta tor or hearer , will give me only the-attention of half your soul . You must be all mine , as I am allyours ; it isthe only condition on which wecan meet « ach otKefi All your faculties , all that is in you of greatest and best , must be awake in you , or I have no reward . The painter is not to , cast the entire treasure of hi 8 human nature into his labour , merely to please a part of the beholder : not merely to delight his senses , not merely to amuse his fancy , not merely to beguile Kua into emotion , not merely to lead him into thought ; but to do all this . Senses .

    fancy , feeling , reason , the whole of the beholding spirit , must be stilled in attention or stirred with delight ; else the labouring spirit has not done its work well . For observe , it is not merely itsrigM to be thus met , face to face , heart to heart ; but it is its duty to evoke this answering of - the other soul : its trumpet call must be so clear , that though the challenge may by dulness or indolence l ^ e uaanawer ^ d , there shall be no error as to the meaning of the appeal ; there must be a summons in the work , which it shall be our own fault if we do not obey . We require this of it , we beseech this of it . Most men do ^ iot know what js i $ thency tiU they receive this sumrnons from their fellows , their hearts diei' ' wi ^ . n \ ' th ^ m , : sli ^ . 'lae ^ tl ^ s -updn them , the lethargy of the world ' s miasmata ; there is nothing for . whichthey are so thankful as for that cry , ' Awake , thpu that sleepiest . ' And this cry must be

    most loudly uttered to their noblest faculties ; first of all , to the imagination , for that is the most tender , and the soonest struck into numbness by the poisoned air : so that one of the main functions ofart , in its serviceto man , is to rogsejihe imagination from its palsy , like the ; : aAgel-t ^ ubUng . the :. ^ B ^ bes ( i ^; . p 9 Ql '; .:- ^ dt ;^ e art which does not do this isfalse to its- duty , and degraded in its n * ture ; i \ ftis not enough that it be well imagined , it must task thV beholder also : to imagine well ; and this so imperatively , that if le does npt choose to ' rousehimself to meet the work , he shall not taste it , nor enjoy it in any wise . Once iHat he is well awake , the guidance which the artist gives Mm should be full and' authoritativ ^ :

    the beholder ' s imagination must riot be suffered to take its . pwn way , or wander hither and thither ; but neither muBt it be left at rest ; and the right pointpf realization , for any given work of art , is that which will enable the spectator to complete it for himself , in the exact way the artist would have him , "but not that which will save him the trouble of effecting the completion . So soon- as the idea is entirely conveyed , the artist ' s labour , should ; cease : ; and every touch whichhe adds beyond the point when * with the help of the .: beholder's imagination , the story ought to have been told , is a degradation to his work ., . go that the art is wrong , which either realizes its subject completely , or fails in giving such ,, definite aid as shall enable it to be realized by the beholding imagination . "

    We glance sadly from our still numerous extracts to our lessening space 1 We would gladly have culled a passage , pr two , from the i ; chapter on Grotesque [ Renaissance , — -from the masterly and ; philosophical analysis of the true essence of the grotesque spirit , offspring of that playfulness , arising out of the necessity for recreation felt byhuinau nature , in its highest and healthiest development . ''" . "'"' "For man is not as God , But then most Godlike , being most a man . " ' Such playfulness do we find side by side with the deepest and most serious thought , in the works of our greatest minds ; or ^ to use Mr . Euskin ' s own words , " from Plato to a veiy wise book of our own time , not Unworthy of being named in such companionship , Friends in , Ooitilci-l . ' ;! We had intended to conclude with an extract on the decline of art , but

    it is impossible to do so with fitting justice to Mr . Huskin ' s , views on that subject , in the space that remains to us . He states the two great causes to have been " pride and infidelity . " He believes that art declined in proportion as religion , or as earnest conviction , faded out of the minds of men , shaken and weakened by the internal dissensions of the church , and dazzled , overwhelmed , and lost in the revival of letters , in the 16 th century . Very eloquent ; graphic , and interesting is the rapid sketch of this " Decline and Fall . " Wo cannot trust ourselves to enter dn it * . but-must refer the reader to the work itself . We would further direct his attention to

    the notes on modern education , printed in the Appendix . And we cannot quit the volume without noticing the excellent , and copious " Indices , " which greatly enhance the value of such a work ! They ore four , —personal , local , topicaL and Venetian , which , last is a perfect " gluide" to tho works of art in Venice , mc-st valuable to the-student , who may bo so fortunate as to read Mr . Jtuslcin ' s Stones of Venice , under tho shade of her nn . ln /» ns . with t , hr » AtouTUil innrmnf nfT » # vr « i * sV >^/< . h > V > o i « liia <» n-r ¦

    L<M ; ¦ : Thi ! Eep;|R._;R: ^ ; : ;:;H: ...

    l < m ; ¦ : THi ! EEp ;| R . _; ^ ; ; : ; H J |^

    / Hannay's Naval Js*Etohes. .' ' . ... ....

    / HANNAY'S NAVAL jS * ETOHES . . ' ' . ... ... ' ¦ Sketches tit Ultra Marine , lly . Tumos llannivy ,- lato of horMajefity ' d NTavy , Author of " iSiufrloton I' \ mtenoy , " Ac " .., 2 voIh . 1 ' rico 20 h . '¦ ' .. ' - Awhiy ' andiCo . Ar / nionarr thoso / Skfitcftes ' avo all repiiblicationfl , some Jiaving appoarqd in the United Service Magazine , and others being booklets published during 18-1 . 8 and 1840 , very well , known both to naval readers and lpvers of wit , we may squeeze in « , word of recommendation , if merely to announce their republication in a convenic ^ nt collected form , for tlio benefit of tlioaci who may want ; to malco , or to r ^ nmk < vacquaintance with Mr . Tfannay ' fl feenm of nrtvallife , —viz ., tho ' Personal Jicinmivcences of J ^ erciim ^ S'UV' ¦ % &; Sni <} shy ' s " } r aeht , Pip ' s Cruise In llu . ' Pi old , and JCinq' J ) qbl \ s .

    in one nx \ d nil of thefw wtorics , avo B ( u ) an earnest spirit , randor- a Jig " Harcastii */ mask ; there in a purpOHo in his watiro , nnd a real de ^ i ro for naval roforuiH , whi (; h hiw experience at ncn Vati long enough to ^ ike hiin J , J ' and not long enough to huvo ' blunted , by riujiiiijnr \ ly , ' inti perception ottho want . iMiero iwu imiialionB Of * ri ' ^<;( i ; oray ' B ninnner , hffi'O . tu , xd thW ° » natuml t , o » , young man with a « atiri < Mji ) , tuWi , but , ho ; Jhih h : fltylo of his own—a cloiu % nwi !" t , trenchant , epigrammatic -stylo , which will hooii relooH « itself from all traces of imitation , atulrtiike itself Mt ^ ^ a 'thb stylo of an indepondont man . Criticw will note , pbrhaps , a tendcney'in ! theso volumes

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 15, 1853, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_15101853/page/18/