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    OMpid ie waiting outside the teat , —and the grand and fearfully-beautiful "Siper ai" Weseai such a combination of majestic truth and poetry of sentiment , of . juperbly vigorous composition , and of gorgeous perfection of colour , as distance ? , in our opinion , all competition ob his own ground by any men of hja ejwn age . His smaller works are , in the same manner , as pieces of ^ qwisitel y-peculiar Faney , entirely unique in their kind . " The Cupid Sheltering hia Darling , " and the lovely . ** Diana and Endy-mion , " among many others , have a luxuriant grace , a quiet , melting tenderness , especially Etty ' a own * If we want to see him really and formidably rivalled at his best , we

    must go to Venice , and judge him by Tintoret and Titian . Even then , lie iujlds nis ground so firmly , tfacat none of his admirers need fear the effect on their , own minds of making the comparison . Some years have passed since JEUty ' s death ; young men have risen , and are rising , with a wider and better choice of subjects than his was , to do probably as good service to English Art , Jn their way , as he onee did in his ; but the place that he left vacant , vyfeen the brush dropped for ever from his hand , no man since has filled . Exhibit his pictures , at this day , with any others—English , French or German , which you please—and they will still stand out characteristically alone the works of a great original genius on that account , if on no other .

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    THE G OVERNESS AND THE TRADESWOMAN . Maternal Counsels to a Daughter . By Mrs . Pullan . Darfcon and Co The thing most worthy of note in this little book is its strong common sense—the result of natural shrewdness and varied experience combined . The , usual advice to young . ' ladies , a la Chapone , is followed by further advice in the style of Benjamin Franklin . And tbis last we recommend especially to our readers , for its novelty as well as for its practical utility . After speaking with force and truth about the absurdity of all young women who are . compelled to earn their livelihood turning governesses , when not one in tea has any inclination for the employment , and not one in a hundred the proper qualifications , Mrs . Pullan proceeds to show in what other ways the unintellectual and the untaught may maintain themselves , and yet make themselves respected in the world : — It is a great pity that the science of book-keeping is not made a more prominent study with the young ladies of the present day . "Very many would be earning liberal salaries who can now barely find bread ., Why should not an Englishwoman be as accomplished a book-keeper as her French sister ? How seldom in Paris do we see men acting as cashiers or book-keepers in any large business . There , women are . allowed to be for more efficient , more safe , and more trustworthy . Hundreds of Paxisian women earn liberal salaries as accountants . Why should we not do tke same ? Mea ^ are required for other labours . Every day they are called on to fulfil more important duties to the stateand to themselves . Why should not women fit themselves for . such occupations as are not incompatible with their sex and their abilities ? It seems to me a libel on both sexes when men are handling ribbons and gauzes , earning wcguen ' s wageSj and doing women ' s work , while ¦ women cannot find employment at alL Xt is * state of things that must terminate if it is not to result in misery to thousands . At this moment , when tens of thousands of our strongest are engaged in war , wh « n like numbers are departing for the colonies , when labour of every sort is becoming too much fox the number of hands to perform it , it is incumbent on every yo « ng girl who does not possess a fortune to find some channel for the exercise of the faculties with which she is endowed ; and , whether in her own family or in that of a stranger , to have Borne fixed pursuit in life which shall render that life itself a blessing to her and to all with whom she is connected . And let no Englishwoman , in selecting her occupation , forget that the pride and boast of her country is its commerce . That all the greatest institutions of our land , it * schools , its hospitals , its libraries , its wealth at home , and the civilisation it has diffused abroad , it owes to its merchants and its trade . In remembering all this , she wiU cease to think it a degradation to be termed a tradeswoman . If Mrs . Pullan could succeed in making her own sex appreciateher wisdom , we should soon see the advertising columns of the Times shorn of their governesses , and the unmarried women far happier than they are .

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    - 3 DITERARY FABLES . Literary Fables , from the Spanish of Yriarte . By Robert Eockliff . Longman and Co . A . second edition of Yriarte ' s " Fnbulas Literarias" in a fitting English dress is proof sufficient that they are as popular as they ought to be in this country . We use the word ought advisedly , for they cannot , from their nature , be universally popular like those of JEsop and La Fontaine , seeing that the public which they address is restricted to the republic of letters . "Within that republic " every gentleman ' s library " should contain a copy , in . Yriarte ' s sonorous , brilliant Spanish , if the owner be fortunate enough to

    understand it ; if not , he should certainly possess himself of Mr . Rockliff ' s version . We confess honestly that " our havings in Spanish are but n younger brother ' s portion "—not more , perhaps , than ShakspeareV * havings " in . Greek ; therefore we cannot say positively that the English translation is as good as Yriarte ' b Spanish , but we can say truthfully that the fables are very good fables , and that the English is very good English . For the variety , ingenuity , and finish of the versification , the translator deserves great praise . It often reminds us of our own Hood , and of all the world ' s La Fontaine .

    The fables themselves are , as many of our renders know , sharp satires upon the faults of authors and critics . Indoed , the whole duty of critics may be gathered from this little volume , and all professors of the unkindly craft would do well to heed its lessons . Our author was well aware that hi& opuotrymen are not the only writers who might profit by his teaching . Tfre moral of his introductory fable xuns thus : — My fables , in their application , Refer to ovory ago and nation ; For authors , just as dull and vain

    As any who abound in Spain , Have perpetrated prose and rhyme In every land in every time . But , though I solemnly disclaim All personality of aim , If any scribbler , conscience-smitten , Should wince at aught that I have written—Should find , in short , the cap to fit , The fool is welcome unto it . There are sixty-seven of these fables—a few of them we remember to have seen in BlacJcwood . . None of them are without the-distinctive mark of the author's genius , and most of them are very witty . The following is an average specimen : — THE OSTRICH , THE DROUEDAfiT , AND THE FOX . Although they never meet like men To play at hazard or e ' earte ' , The beasts assemble now and then , And hold in some sequester'd glen A conversazione party . And thus it chanced one evening , that A troop of them had got together , When , after some prelusive chat—Some twaddle , just as stale and fiat As Englishmen ' s about the weather—They straight proceeded to descant And comment on the different merits Which every creature—from the ant Unto the mighty elephant—According to its kind , inherits . " Of all the animals that live , " The Ostrich cried , " and with all deference For others * sentiments , I give , Without a single ' but' or * if , ' The Dromedary much the preference . " The Dromedary , thus preferr'd , Repaid in kind the obligation , And said in . language as absurd : " In aught that may become a bird , The Ostrich ' whips' the whole creation . " The lest , who heard them with surprise = And laughter which they scarce obuld smother , Were sorely puzzled to surmise What motive such a pair of " Guys " Could have for praising one another . — Was it , perchance , because the twain Had" scraggy nects and burly bodies , — — And heads too little to contain A greater quantity of brain . Than might be lodged within a noddy ' Or might it be that both possess'd Peculiar organs of digestion ? — - * \ Or was it—but in vain they guess'd , And tried to solve what seem'd , at best , A difficult and doubtful question . Till just as they began to pause , B ^ ewilder'd in their speculation , '" The ¦ pox " ^ cli ^ 'dT ~ "rthxnTt '" tn ^ ca uSe' Of this reciprocal applause Admits of easy explanation . " The creatures are compatriots , born And bred in Araby the Stony ; And hence , despite the general scorn , With fancied charms they each adorn Arid overrate their brother crony . " The Fox conjectured not amiss ; And , in the commonwealth of letters , A wretched author often is , From motives as absurd as this , Prefcrr'd and praised above his betters . Yriarte ' s fame as an author ( and ho has written many things besides these Fables ) has not gone far beyond his own country . ^ He is not nearly so well known in Europe ns Johnson , Burke , and Goldsmith , whose contemporary he was , and with whom , as a thinker and original writer fc he deserves to be classed ; although he may not be placed side by side with Goldsmith and Burke , as a master of style . The English and the Spaniards ^ have so many mental characteristics in common , that it is somewhat surprising the lofty Castilian tongue should not be more generally cultivated among us than it is . The gravity and the humour of Spanish authors would bo heartily relished by many people here , who , in their inmost brains , do not really care very much for the very different gravity and very diflorcnj ; humour of the German authors . Cervantes is really more akin to usi than Jean Paul . Fashion , the only autocrat to whom the free-born Briton bends his still-necked mind and body , will probably set all the young ladies and gentlemen of the rising generation to learn Russian—or , how will uiey oe able to speak with thefr enemy in the g&te" of Sebastopol or St . Petersburg ? We hope sho will remember how the past generation spoke with tJietr enemy in the last war , and will caution their grandchildren against . " The school of Stratford atte Bow . " We have one other hope concerning the power of Fashion / m such matters , viz ., that it should constrain every educated man to bo familiar with Spanish—that strong bastard Latin .

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    J * yg * ffg 37 , 1855 . ] THBLIADEIL ® L

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 27, 1855, page 91, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2075/page/19/