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    A ^ lmrlgr , gauzziedielderf ia gaasaagr , aearsfcainad garments , coutrastingoddLyrwitfcth < hus&ieaold chain about his < n * ck ,. waddleav up * ac : if he had' been bonn ,. and > haiLlwedi . eveirsiiice ,. in . a gfdeof . wind * at sea . Thus- upper > half o £ his * braadi visage seems off briek-redr leather * the lower of badger ' s fur- ; and ,, as he claps Drake : oir tfic bacfcj and ^ . withxabroad Devon . twang , shouts , " Be yon . a- coming to drink your wine * Erancis Drake , or be you not ?—saving your presence , my lord , " the Lord High Admiral only laughs , and . bids Drake go and drink his wine ; for- John Hawkins , admiral of . the porty is the patriarch-of Plymouth ' seamen ,, if Drake be their hero , andsaysand does pretty much what he likes in auy < company on earth . ' ' " ¦ So they push- through the : crowd , wherein . i » many another man whom one- would John

    gladly have-spoken with face to ^ face-on- earth . Ma ** far Erobisher and Davas are-sitting on that bench * smoking ' tobacco front long silver pipes ; and by them are Fenton and Withrington , who have both tried to follow Dnafee ' s path round the world , and failed , though by no fault of their own . The man who pledges-them better luck next time , is George Fenner , known to " the seven Portugals , " Leicester's pet , and captain of the galleon which Elizabeth bought of him . That short prim man in the huge yellow ruff , with sharp chin , minute imperial ; and self-satisfied smile , is Richard Hawkins * the complete seaman , Admiral John ' s- hereafter famous and hapless son ; The elder'who is talking- with him is his-good uncle William , whose monument still stands ; orshould stand , in Deptford Church ; for Admiral John set it up there the true

    but one y ear after this time ; and on it record howhe was "A worshipper or religion-, an especial benefactor of poor sailors , a most just- arbiter in most difficult causes , and of a singular faith , piety , and prudence . " That , and the fact that he got creditably through some sharp work at Porto Rico , is all I know of William Hawkins : but if you or I , reader , can have- as much or half as much said of us when we have to follow him , we shall have no reason to complain . Mr . Kingsley ' s is a vehement , daring manner of painting . He dashes his colour on . The art of the book suffers a little from his zeal about the subject . But of this presently . Meanwhile , what say our constituted authorities to this account of

    HOW THE W- " 1 ^ A'nnror A-T AGErKXCEELED OUE . OWN . . Well it was for England , then , that her Tudor sovereigns had compelled ^ eweryman : ( though they kept : up no standing army ) to be a- trained , soldier . Wellifr was tirat Elizabeth ,, even- in . those dangerous days of intrigue and rebellion ; had trusted her people-enough ,, not only to leave them their weapons , but ( what we ,, forsooth , in these more " free " and " liberal" days dare not do ) to teach . them howto use them . We ^ it . was that , by easeful legislation for the comfort and employment of " the masses " / teem , then , thank . God ,, unknown ) , she- had both won their hearts , and-kept their bodies ha fighting order . Well it was ; , that , acting as fully as Napoleon did on "la carrUsce ouverte auac talens , " she had raised to the highest posts in her-councils , her army , and her navy , men of business , who had not been ashamed to buy and sell as merchants and adventurers . Well for England , in a word , that Elizabeth had pursued for thirty years a very different course to that which we have been pursuing for the laafe thirty , with . one exception , namely , the leaving , as much as ^ possible to private enterprise * . . . . .. . othermatters !

    'EhEce-we haw copied-her : would to Heaven that we had in some - It ? ia the fashion , now to call her a despot ; but unless every monarch is to be branded with ; that epithet whose power is not as circumscribed as Queen " Victoria ' s is now , we ought rather to call , her the most popular sovereign , obeyed of their own free will by tHa freest . subjects which England- has ever seen ; confess the Armada fight to have bean as great a moral triumph as it was a political one ; and ( now that our late boasting » is . a little silenced by Crimean disasters ) inquire whether we-have not something to ) learn from those old Tudor times ,, as- to how to choose officials , how to . train a people , and how to defend a country . When we say that the " art of the book suffers , ' we mean that the preacher overcomes the painter often , which , though creditable to the writer ^ earnestness and honesty , injures his work as a mere work of art . It is as if a painter in colour were to write " Oh , you villain ! " under his Jesuits or murderers ; or to have , a strip flowing from a hero's mouth , with " Imitate me , my man ! " on it . No doubt the villain is to ba hated , and the hero of them

    laved 5 . but we ought to see that sufficientl y , in the . figures . We < 3 < jn . ' fcwant a man with , a-wand , going about the gallery and haranguing us . Art is art , and : tells its own- story . We do not think Westward Ho ! equal , for instance , to Thackeray ' s Esmond , where the illusion of living in a past -age is so delightfully kept up . This is our only literary objection to the book ; it by no means prevents our most fully recognising the manly earnestness ^ the glowing vivacity * the liearfcy humanity , the glorious bits of vivid painting . Mr . Kingsley ' s faculty as a novelist seems to us very dramatic , and the strength of the book is in " scenes . " There is one scene especially where old Salterne , the merchant ,, whose daughter has run away with Don Guzman , takes Auxyas Leigh ( who was one of her lovers ) into her deserted bedroom , which we defy any woman to read without tearsnay ,, over which the adamantine reviewer confesses to have felt what Frederick Bayham calls " manly emotion . " Mr . KLugslcy ' s eye for natural scenery : is excellent likewise ; and in the latter part . of the tale —the chase of the Spanish , shi p by Amyos—he rises to a . force of picturesque sea and storm description which it . would not be easy to match in prose out of that best . of all sea novels , Tom Cringle ' s Log . Mr ; Kiiigsloy proved himaelf a . man of geniuslong ago ; but if he had not done so , Westward Ho ! would have proved it forniin now . In purpose and execution it is a worthy and very brilliant book , and we hereby commend it to all wba think with Burke and Macintosh , as well as with less literary individuals , that " a good novel is a good thing . "

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    BOOKS ON OUR TABLE . Eaaaya , Ecclesiastical and Social , Uoprint&d , witto AiUlitiona , from tiu * Edinburgh Review By W . J . Gonyboare , ALA . Longman ,. Brown , Green , and Longmans . A . Vacation , Tour in the United / States * and Canada . By Charles Richard Wold . Longman , Brown , Green , and Longmans . The Poetical . Works of Ttiomaa Moore , complete , in Otto Volume . Longman , Brown , Green , and Longmans . The Calendar- of Victory : being a Jiecond of British Valour and Conque&t , by / Sea and Land , on every JJay , in the Year . Projected find commenced by tlio late Major Johns , J& . M . Continued and completed by Lieut P . II . Nicholas , H . M . Longman , Brown , Greon , and Longmans . TliaFidl of Poland in 171 ) 1 : an Historical Trwjk Drama , in Four Acts . By u Patriot . Longman , Brown , Greon , and Longmans . The Hour and the Man : an Historical Homance . By Harriot Martineau . New Edition . , - GL Koutlodge und Co . T 1 M . Annals of England : an Epitome of English History , from Cotemporary Writers , tin Rolls of Fturluumnt . and other Public licaorda . Vol * 1 . J . H . and J . Parker .

    Selections fromthebestItaUam Writers , for the-UaeofSttU ^ t ^ - . of ^ heJtaliaMilMnffitagei By James Philip Lacaita * LL . D . Longmanj . Browny Greenland . 'Longmans : Lecture on the Method . of Teaching- Grammar ^ delivered before the United : Association * of Schoolmasters ,, at the jinst Annual Meeting . By James Filleard ; F-B . GkSv Longman , Browm , Greeny and Longmans ; Beatrice ; or , the . Unknown . Relatives . By Catherine Sinclair . Simpkin , Marshall ; , and Co .

    To Love , and to be Loved . By the Author of " I ' ve been Thinking . Simpkin , Marshall , and Co ^ Rational Godliness , after the Mind of Christ , and the Written Voices of his Church . By Rowland Williams , B . D . BeU and Daldy * The-Leading Statutes , and 19 Victoria , 1854-5 ; being a Companion to the Common Lam and Equity Reports in all the Courts : together with full Abstracts of those not Required in . General Practice ; Tables of the Titles of all the Aate of Parliament Public , General , Local , and Personal , and Private—Michaelmas Term , 1854 , ta Michaelmas Term , 1855 . ; and a copious Index to each Glass . ( Part 1 . ) Edited by .: Alexander Edward Miller , Barrister-at-Law . George Edward Eyre and William Spottiswoode . Mew Method of Reading French toithout Spelling , or complete Pronunciation of tlic French Tongue Explained in Five Lessons . By M . Maximilien Lardeur ; ^ Dulau and Co . Brittany and La . Vendee : Tales and Sketches ; with a Notice of the Life and Literary Character of Emile Souvestre . ( Constable ' s Miscellany of Foreign Literature y j . 7 ) - Thomas Constable and Co .

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    THE ROYAL ACADEMY EXHIBITION . Beeokb- the Exhibition was opened for a Private View , rumours were circulated through the-world of Art of anew picture , which represented " Cimabues Aladonna carried in Procession , through the Streets of Florence , " and which was said to be one of the most wonderful first works ever produced . Urwas wins * pered that the name of this new genius was Leighton ; and the Academicians composing the Council and Hanging Committee were described as baring fallen into ecstasies of admiration the moment they saw his picture—some of the more morbidly modest among them even turning their backs on tneir own canvases , and exclaiming ,, dolefully , " Oh that we could paint hke this gifted young maai" The next report was that the Queen had bought toe : new work : and ,, after that circumstance had occurred , its triumph was considered to be complete Visitors to the Academy on the Private View day being mostly

    .. " persons of quality , " followed , the lead of HeeMajesct and the Hanging ; Committee . The new picture was an immense success , until the Exhibition , opened to the public . It had , been confidently prophesied that Mr . Lbhghto « -would draw the crowd before his work ; but he has done nothing of the . kindi Uon * sidering the great size of hi * picture , he gets astonishingly few people tastop any length of timeto look at it .. The plain fact is that the " general mob have an ugly habit of peering close into a picture—and Mr . Leighton ' s large composition will not bear being looked into . It is a successful scenic trick—not a picture at all . Seen from a distance , the procession sweeps along magnificently enough : and the colouring is brilliant in a garish way . Looked at close , not a figure in the composition will bear inspection . The drawing is mannered and feeble ; the lighting of the figures false ; the painting of the draperies tricky ? and carelesa- in the extreme . Hardly any one of the faces shows an attempt aft illustrating character , and none of them look as if they had been studied , either model to incidentthere is

    in regard to drawing or colour , from the living . As , * a man suddenly stopping the procession to tune his fiddle ; and as to expression ,, there is a woman by his side ( much admired by the Hanging Committee ) who gaze&downat the obstructive musician with the serenest satisfaction , as it ne had the rest of the afternoon before him to tighten the strings of his instrument - Some of the faces show the most unartist-like carelessness ^ - and some loolc scarcely human . Thefaee of the boy with the wreathed cross , and the face ( and figure ) of the child in blue who walks by the . side of the men carrying the Madonna , may serve as examples . We have heard that Mr . Lbiohtjow is a * very young man , and he may , therefore , greatly improve in his art ; but we candidly confess- that we have little hope-of him , for the one plain-reason that he has started by shirking his work . When- a young man begins by doing this , in any intellectual Art—and in Painting more especially—he begins badly . The progress of all great painters has been from good detail gradually onward tw fine effect . Mr . Lbiohtow has' begun at the wrong end ; and on that account ,

    yonnir as he- is ,- we * feel some distrust of his future as an artist . We-have devoted wetra space to this picture , because its merits have teen absurdly-exaggerated , and . because its size and prominent place in the West Boom * of the Exhibition render it accidentally remarkable among surrounding works . Proceeding into the Middle Boom , we are reluctantly obliged to say of Mr ; H . O'Neil's picture ( No . 393 ) what we have already said of Mr ; Solomon ' s—it is hung so badly that we catmot venture to criticise it . ^ it seems , so far as we can tell , to be the painter ' s best work' —a Bad story of error ana repentance most tenderly and interestingly told—a picture which for its good also deservedto be treated

    purpose alone deserved ( as Mr . SocoMON'a- work ) * with decent justice and consideration . Mr . Dobson ' s " Almsdeeds of Dorcas * , though too glaring in effect , shows refined study-of expression , especially in the * two most prominent female-faee » , Mr . GoodaWs " Arrest of a ^ eas ^ itttoyahst . in Brittany" is successful in the observation and rendering of JPrencfrc ^ acter particularly in the excellently-painted heads of the two Republican , soldiers , but the picture is not satisfactory a « a wholo-it is too pro tty and conventi ^ xaim the general treatment . Mr . Pool ' s " Decameron" hrthe ^ eZ ^ J ^ cio ave , M clever man . The ladies , the valley , and the » teautiftil lake "; ° ^ ° ^* 8 e a _^ bathed in a yellow-London fog : and the attitudes of . the stoning flgores arc

    afmostiudicrously unnatural . ' Mr . Poox , E is unquestionaDly jjfi- ™^ ^ ability ; but in straining afterorig inality-or rather odd » ty ~ lw »«• ctone ^ im selfgJe ' at injustice of late years . Mr . Baa ' s « Jifa . and ^^ ^^^ we have already alluded' to > as one of the . \^ , "Vl . rODoatcdiv- looked at . present Exhibition . This noble picture gains by being 1 ^™ g £ . ^" d" £ The compartment in which the deserted court-favourite ^^^ . ^ "g of his tattered bed' ( as if he had been s"P ™^ . S * S ° JS 4 eTS 2 e I 00 S of the most impressive P ^ ^ ifStis ' Kl SciSiJTot ff SF £ ? E 3 s £ £ S 33 * s £ i 5 % 2 * ££ ? 2 > % 2 $ ui wita . onaatioa it ta » Mmto . ttU

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• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), May 19, 1855, page 475, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2091/page/19/