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Leader (1850-1860), 17th March 1855, Edition 1 of 2, Page 259

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      weakness , but not being able t 6 get over it . She returns the compliment , but without an atom of amiable weakness ; witlreweiy appearance , on the contrary , so far a * externals go , of disliking the man of her choice most < 5 or 4 ialiy . Various chances aod changes , fortunes and misfortunes ^ understandiMgs <« nd « usunderstandings , affect the Joves of both lady and gentlemac ; but through two . whole volumes and a half > of the book their relative sexual'positions towards each other never change . Chapter follows chapter ; and still " Miss Grace Lee" is tlie impersonation of womanly strength , and ¦ " Mr . John Owen" the impersonation of manly weakness . Towards all the rest of the world he is , in firmness and energy , a perfect Napoleon of private fife ; towards " Miss Lee" he is the most miserably undecided and self-reproachfiilly compliant of men . Tlrere is no species of small amorou * persecution to which he is not subjected . If he gets up in one scene , and kicks at his treatment like a hero , he is sure to be down on his knees in the next , begging pardon liJte a coward . He tries to forget this ferociously coythis grimly moral mistress of his , and to make himself

      happy—, the poor kicked , persecuted , limp , dangling wretch I—by offering marriage to a pretty widow , in the first place , and to a pretty school-girl , in tlie second ; but he is not man enough to carry matters to fair hymeneal extremities , even under the hottest provocation- He breaks off both matches — wanders after " Diana Volumnia Amazonia Monte-Christo Lee ** ( who has fairly run away from him altogether , to have the pleasure of making him run after her and beg pardon again for the hundred and fiftieth time)—finds D . V . A . M .-C . L . in a relenting , compliant humour at last , and ( it being the end of Vol . III . ) gets her to marry him . Even then , all the weakness is on his side , all the strength" on hers . " Miss Lee's" feelings are affected ; her " dark eyes fill with tears ; " but she is quite vigorous enough to give him a kiss on the forehead , nevertheless , in sign that it is all made up , while he , limp to the last , has only heart enough to return the compliment by letting his head sink on her shoulder . Miserable " Mr . John Owen ! " we know what a married life yours must have been , in spite of all that the biographer of " Miss Grace Lee" can tell

      us to the contrary . . . We have made merry—perhaps rather irreverently—with the absuraun ? s of this book . But although we believe , to speak now in sober seriousness , that Miss Kavanagh ' s two principal characters are ridiculously false to nature , and consequently total mistakes in art ; and although we cannot congratulate her on the manner in which she has managed the construction of what little story there is in her novel , we are by no means blind to the fact that she has a real " call" to her vocation , a genuine capacity for writing a good book , if she will only give herself fair play . In this very nerveVsarae of-tlne minor characters— . " -tiie old priest , " and "ike rich , eccentric old maid , " especially—show true observation of nature , and delicate accountIf Miss

      dexterity in turning that observation to good literary . Kavanagb will only clear her mind of ideal standards of female , perfection and independence , and of ab 3 nrd transcendental conventionalities on the subject of love ; if she will let her observation guide her imagination , go where it may , and will test what she does boldly , while she is doing it , by its truth to the honest realities ^ of human lifej finally , if she will devote a little more time than we suspect she has devoted thus far * to the construction of the story before sitting down to write it , we believe she will be able to produce a novel which will throw Grace Lee altogether into the shade , even in-her otrn estimation—a novel which we shall be only too glad to welcome with the warmest words of praise that can be critically bestowed upon it .

      Untitled Article

      BOOKS ON" OTTH TABLE . Ik FoeandIGXtn-cXHl . By John Foster . Reprinted with-additions , from tlie Edinburgh Review . 2 parts . The Travellers' Library , 76 and 77 . Longman , Brown , Green , and Longmans . The Development of the Religious Idea . in Judaism , Christianity , amd Mahomedanism , considered in Twelve Lectures on the History and Purport of'Judaism , delivered' m Magdeburg , 1847 . By Ludwig Philippsohn . Translated from the German , -with Notes , by Anna Maria Goldamid . Longman , Bbowji , Green , and Longmans . Elements < xf Geometry and Mensuration ; with Early Exercises , designed for Schools and Adult Classes . Geometry as an Art . By Thomas Lund . B . D . Part 2 .

      . Longman , Brown , Green ,, and Longmans . The Cfoiden . Colony , w Victoria e » 1854 ; idtib Remark * an die Geology of the Australian Gold Fields . By George Henry Wathen . Longman , Brown , Green , and Longmans-The Jsttobiograp fip of Francis Arago , translated from tlie French . By the ltov . Bflden Powell , M . A ., &c The Travellers' Library , No . 78 . Longman , Brown , Green , and Longmans Autobiograp hy of James Silk Bucking ham ? including Ida Voyages , Travels , Adventures , . Speculations , Successes and Failures , faithfully and frankly narrated ; wUersjm-sed with Characteristic Sketches of Public Men with whom he has had intercourse , during a period ofmore than fifty years . "With a Portrait . 2 vols . nnd

      Longman , Brown , Green , Longmans . . Letters on the . Philosop hy of the Human Moid . By Samuel Bailey . ( First Series . ) Longman , Bnmn , ( stoeco , and Longmans . American liberty' and Government Questioned . By Thomas ltyle . Longman , Brown , Green , and Longmans . Poetical Enigma . By Frederick J . Waltuew . Clarke and Beeton . Tfo Step-mtfhe * . By G . P . It . . Tamos . ( PariLour Library . ) Thomas Hodgaon The Family . Hand . By Adam Hornbook . G . Routledge and Co The YoutV * Magazine . John F . Slww Sketches , Legal ami Politiaul . By Vie late Right Honaunaufo Richard Lalor Sheil Editedwith Notes . By M . W . Savage . 2 Vola . Hurst and Blackett .

      , The Historical Pocket Annual fur 1855 . liy Dr . Bergol . TrUbnor and Co . HotftU Instructor . Ho . 20 . Groombridgo and Sons . An £ rm \ in tke IAfitofa Living Statesman . By a Consorvutivo . Ward and . Lock , / tomato < md Modern' Greek compared witk one Anotfter , ¦ and un ' th Ancient Greek . By James Clyde , M . A . Simpkin , Marshall , and Co . 'I \ oo Photographic and Panoramic Sketches , representing the Advanced Lines of Attack , and the Russian Defence * in Front of Sebastopol , with a Description and Remarks Tko Sketches by Captuin M . A . Biddulpli , K . A ., Acting as Aasistant-Kngiiwer OJfcer in the Trenches . Chapman and Hall . 6 ' oldiars arid SaX * rx in Peace as in W ( tr . By Herbert Byng Hall , K . S . F . ¦ , Chapman and Hull

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      THE EXPOSITION OF THE FINE ARTS IK PARIS . . Letter I . . , . ' On the outskirts of the Champs Ely sees—not far from the Crystal Palace of tlw French—a vast new building is rapidly assuming a finished appearance . It is intended to contain , the iixposition of the Fine Arts for 1855 , which will be in some sort a supplement to the Universal Exhibition . Here foreign painters and sculptors are invited to measure themselves with the French on their own ground . What is passing in other parts of the world I know not , but in Paris the activity is great . The ateliers are closed to all but intimate friends , and every one is resolved to appear in his best colours . Art is determined to show that it has progressed as vrell as Industry .

      I might indulge in very serious speculations on the consequences—good or evil—which must necessarily flow from this marriage of two branches of human labour so very distinct . For the present , however , let us not annoy the future overmuch with impertinent questioning . There are points of more immediate interest to talk of—facts to record which , even if they were less pregnant than they are , would he worthy of attention from us , because others have none to bestow . With the exception of a few gossiping paragraphs , in wlaich . statements , for the most part incorrect , on pictures and other works in progress by crack masters , and on the intentions of Government , are put forward , one of the most singular facts in tlie history of Art is allowed to approach in silence . The Fine Arts Exposition of 1855 has quite a novel character , which I shall endeavour to bring out . Iu the first place it must be observed that , so far as France is concerned , it has absorbed the ordinary annual Exposition—a fact oi no little significance , however natural it may appear at first sight . In truth ; has

      the solemn occurrence of the Universal Exposition compromised—though most people , taken by surprise , have not becouie aware of this circumstancethe result , at present sanctioned by the experience of a quarter of a century and by undoubted success , of the struggle carried on by all real independent artists , for along series of years , to obtain annual Exhibitions . It was in 1830 , in one of those rare and fleeting moments when the voice of the greater number is listened to , when disinterested and liberal motives , Usually not conversant with public affairs , have full sway , that this great boon was won . The benefit tbence arising to the corporation of artists , the increase of their independence , this stimulus supplied to progress was enormous . Young men who had until then looked at fame from a distance—just as a hopeless adventurer may eye the charms of a high-born lady he can never even speak to—suddenly found their position totally changed . Art seemed at least to have reached its Plains of Promise . At any rate , in the annual Expositions , tlie young and independent inWithout this

      school , of-which France now legitimately boasts , had its orig .. assistance , whatever they may now think—I say ^ this advised ^—the elite of Freneh-painters ~ Avould never have reached their present glory ; and , kept in the background by a jealous corporation , would not have met with the valuable encouragement furnished by tlie public and by the State that enabled them to show the * strength they possessed . Tlie regular recurrence of these Expositions , exciting and enlightening public opinion , alone enabled rising genius to struggle against -the authority of an official school , the traditions of which it deserted and the discipline of which itTcoutemhed . It was at that time appeared—under previous circumstances they could scarcely have appeared—Gericault , Sigalon , Bonuington , Leopold Bobert—so prematurely lost by the new French schoolwith Messrs . Ingres , Scheffer , Horace Vernet , Delaroche , Delacroix , Decamps , Isabey , Roqueplan , Gudin > Meissonier , Corot , Jeanron , Rousseau , Dupre , Diaz , e tutti quana \ . who now adoen tlie salons and fill the shop-fronts of picture-deulers with their workswhich taste or , fashion instantly bids for .

      , It is probably well known that the annual Exposition was interrupted during the past year ; but it may not have occurred to many that , after the great excitement of the Universal Exposition , things will not fall back into the old channel . ~ Genius was told to rest in' 54 j it will probably be told to rest in ' 56 . We may well say , theni that an institution , which all who have studied the history of art beyond the current years know to have been most laboriously struggled for and hardly attained , is greatly compromised . A little acquaintance with the administrative spirit—so much deepened in intensity during this period of authority and non-discussion—so influential on the destiny of the most precious things in France—will increase the alarm of all who feel interested in such matters . There is every reason to believe that the Expositions will no longer be regular , but will depend entirely on ministerial caprice and

      con-. . . , . The explanation is simple enough . The annual Expositions have always been looked on with an evil eye by authority . Art in France is subvcntionn 6—supported by Government c ontributions , as are all theatres and all religious sects , not to speak of certain newspapers . Perhaps in this case necessity legislates . The French people lay particular stress on their artistic superiority , which flatters their vanity , and at tlie same tiine enables them to add so much extensive value to their works all round the circle of production . But their aristocracy is not rich , and their bourgeoisie is passably stingy . Support , therefore , must eomo from tlie State . That is admitted on all hands . But , unhappily , when we . speak of Government contributions—that is to say , of contributions ooming from all—wo speak at the same time of money passing through the notion of uutuitnmi

      hands of a few . Wo would not suggest the vulgar positive - ues 8— tlutf ; ia a weapon we leave at the disposal of reactionary parties lighting against democracy ; but the spirit of justice and the intelligence of the distributors of tlio public funds in this particular may well bo called iu question . 1 hoylike to do good to their friends , and nre usually not very nice in their choice-Ho who flutters most is loved best . But whatever authority may bo wielded by a minister , by the bureaux wfco advieo him , by the corporations aud t-otonos who besic ^ o or coax him , annual expositions irresistibly compel the allocation of at least aome portion of the money voted or taken for Art . patronage ««««} - maynowbeeaciipedfrom-, and this m the chief reason why it scenna probable

      that the old system will not be returned to . . ^ . i ^ i . f wi . w . ii It will not be long , however , before French artists , cured of the dohght w ch the Univaraal Exposition has caused them , and , perhaps , soiwewhat d sappointed in- the material-reWtB tliereof , begin , ) to regret their conquos a of IWO ; ami , ux so far aa they can venture , under present eircuaiatancoe , to , eta in U je r rcfltoiation . I already hear the answer that will bo n mle to thon * ; > J J »« •» "J " gestedbytho Institute and by the greater number ; of tho " ^ ^» J *^ above enumerated . These gentlemen who won celebrity m Expositions , and by

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  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), March 17, 1855, page 259, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2082/page/19/