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    A/Tr *l ti> (£f i4iX ^Vdbijl M UU ¦

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    a little above the dead level of the rest , and in the tale of Ariadne , more especially there is some pretty writing ; bat common-place is the rule , and real poetical feeling the exception . Mr . Blackie would probably have been more a poet had he been less a pedant . ¦ ¦ Here is another volume of poems by a Scotchman—The Wanderer : Fantasia and Vision , & c . By the Smith of Smitheden . ( Edinbiirgh : Hogg . )—We do not know whether or not the writer is really a workfng smith ; but , as it may be so , we shall content ourselves with simply notifying to the reader that such a volume has been published , as there is always something that commands respect and sympathy in untutored literary efforts , however great the failure , and in the present instance we find it impossible to congratulate the writer on success . Nor can we congratulate Mr . W . Attfield , M . A ., Oxon-who publishes a York Saunders

    few pa « es of verse called The Neptune ' s Car : a Tale ofNew ( and Ofley)—upon anything else than the good feeling which inspires his writing . He has versified a narrative of real life , recently published in the Daily News , the heroine of which is a Mrs . Patton , a young American lady of twenty , who , when her husband was stricken with brain fever at sea in the commercial vessel which he commanded , took his place , though having to attend on him , conducted the ship through the rest of her voyage ( she was circumnavigating the globe ) , defeated the evil designs of the mate , whose conduct was refractory and suspicious , and brought the valuable caro-o safely into port , though she was near her confinement . A nobler or more pathetic story was never acted in truth or invented by fiction ; but Mr . Attfield , though evidently moved by the tale , seems incapable of relating it with the earnest simplicity it demands . be the

    Poems by Alastor ( Saunders and Otley ) must assuredly productions of some sentimental youth in a Byronic collar , stupidly fond of moonlight and concertinas . He publishes two dedications—one to the memory of B 3-ron , the other ( inverse ) to a " fair thing" who is asked if she will " have it say ? " The first poem we come to—The Belfry—is a tale of the author ' s passion for a certain Maude , a " ¦ pale , marble girl , " like Tennyson's , although " from a robust woman sprung . " Of the young gentleman ' s admiration of this damsel we are told that it extended To the brink Of feelings where the soul doth sink . As a consequence of his soul being in this perilous position , Alastor behaves with rude gallantry one day to Maude ; then goes well nigh out of his wits with remorse , but is finally forgiven and made happy by the marble fair one . The style in which these things are told may be gathered from

    this choice specimen of inversion : — Quietly answered Maude me thus- — " Than friends there'll be no more 'twixt us . " Alastor ' s heart is evidently exceedingly susceptible . If he makes love as often in fact as he does in verse , we shall probably hear of it in the law courts ; but no doubt he reserves many of his raptures for the woods and the printers . Several of his poems are addressed " To ; " and we cannot help suspecting that he- has previously sent them through the post in the form of Valentines . It is to be hoped the fair " " approves of them ; but , for ourselves , great as our sympathy is with these modest stammerings of the heart , we could wish the author had first learnt a few of the plain rules of grammar , metre , and composition .

    A volume of verse with a map for the frontispiece is a novelty ; yet here it is in the shape of The Poetical Legends of the Channel Islands . By the Rev . W . Langley Pope , M . A ., Pembroke College , Oxford . ( Saunders and Otley . ) - ^ - " Gloria Deo" is the motto which , in no very good taste , Mr . Pope puts on his title-page ; but he dedicates to the Earl of Shaftesbury , and probably thinks it necessary to appear in full canonicals . In his epistle to that nobleman ,. he says he submits the Legends to his Lordship's " attentive perusal "—which is really demanding too much—and adds that , at the same time , he considers it his duty " to commend them to the Catholic Church of Christ . " Turning the page , we find this

    PREFACE . Most courteous Reader ! aakest thou me , why Legends my theme ? Pray , know they Truth supply . This must surely be regarded as a parody on a deceased wit ' s burlesque of the elaborate nothings which Martial used to weave into verse : — Jones eats his lettuces undress'd : D ' you ask the reason ? 'Tis confeaa'd—That is the way Jones likes them best .

    The use of the map in Mr . Pope ' s volume is to point out , by moans of rod numbers , the sites of the legends here immortalised . If tho reader wants a further taste of the poems , here it is : — The loveliest of villago maidens she : Her deep blue eye glistened with purity . Young , graceful , fair , of chastest soul , Bold usher Hubert bow'd to her control . Thia will probably be enough . Mr . Langley Pope is certainly widely distinct from Mr . Alexander Pope .

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    DON GIOVANNI AT THE TWO HOUSES . ^^ Tins lias been a Mozaut week in tho height of a Vkhui season , a , disrespect to Vkkdi , without joining in a hypercritical howl t » gni i ^ which all tho world ( whoso opinion la worthy of f f ^ ° ' SSSJ ulUftin 9 " enjoys , wo must confess that a deep draught of tf perj 1 »« J cIoyed by strengthening , and refreshing to tho musical sense , a little P ftUca * ' dJ ^ not Traviata and Trovatore , Trovatorc and Traviata , dtotea r « ' « 'j " ; . " i a l «>*« ' recognize in tho old masters a majestic « an » n ° « ' VTJInlv J , tho I »««" rt 11 !? a clearness , a deep tranquillity of strength which tol p ngonfytoW * a ^ In the music of theso latter days is there not a «™ r sh P « J »*™ , ' | , aracimmaturity , a hectic languor , a tumultuous excite nc . it b " » J d { w 8 iiuclo ? teristic of ft jaded and dissolving socioty , and of an ago of note * h " emn [ l ) . In Mobab * wo have art in its eternal youth , and soionco » iw » w ( jftllh 0 What a rhythm , what an accent , what symmetry of tor '" » J '™ , mnstcry oi harmony , what inexhaustible melodic invention , what a sua aim . rccor jillg expression ! Hut wo are running away from our » implo a uiy ^ ( lft } . the appearance of Don Giovanni at tho Two Houses tl iswe ok . lbrnlnii c tho town had been atartlod by numerous placards annou cwe » I „ kil )( | 8 f Of « Mt )» A . ttT'B C'hefd ' muvro' witli restorations , mnJ ^ JJJ J £ in tho ««' important discoveries . Mozart wa 8 to bo taken in an 1 do « o 0 ^ . atw * market , with tho same magnificent patronage as Shaks a « iii «> ^^ cl Meantime , without any ceremony , JJon Uwvimnl was quiouy v

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    ¦ * 11 O Y A L ACADEMY . V . —VAHIETIIiS . Anothbu glance at the whole face of the Exhibition discovers eonio works that we have passed in looking out for specimens to illustrate the particular point that we have in hand . We still observe the same tendency to improve the matter-of-fact , and to decline in the inventive . Tho portraits show this aa much as anything . We havo excellent Ulltenossae , ' few designs in portraiture . i . no artist alms to emulate the photograph rather than Titian ; and since the one ia easier than the other , upon tho whole tho effect is satisfactory , lake tho portrait of Captain MHJllntooh , by S . Fuarok , an artist whos <» naine we do not remember to have frequently quoted : it ia excellent , full ot * lio and reality .

    One of its closest rivals is the portrait of Sir Roderick Murehisnn w * u " ^ hand . A more ambitious painting , but excellent also for thi « i satne vigour , is Puhxips's portrait of Sir John Burgoyne . Other J ! , cter of be the portrait of David Cox , by Boxall - | portrait of Bft * *»» If night , and of Professor Ward , by the same ; George Combe bvSfrw * by Gordon , aud Mr . Dallas , the American Minister , by Eddis ' thl i AT 80 N painter had a capital subject ; for Mr . Dallas is a fine specimen nf nn a the With his dignified and cheerful countenance , his bearii " ? 5 iP . T ^ - hair , he might very well stand to all time as the model of an A . rcKbislmn " We have passed over two of the most remarkable p ictures in the EvfrVv not perhaps even naming " Rough and Ready , " one of Landsefb ' s « n n 1 paintings . It is excellent . A hen has laid an egg , and is in tlie usual * Z I fuss which follows that operation ; while a horse looks on as if willim ? <¦ the sympathy that the hen demands , but scarcely understanding the natnr ^ the situation . The ^ characteristics of the animals are more vigorously sented than in Landseer ' s later works , because , while the handling is irJX is more firm and precise : he attempts less of effect by the short course if manufacturing clouds of white paint over grey , as in his Braemar JL " Uncle Tom and his Wife for Sale" is a catch , so far as the title is concerS " It represents two bull-dogs in a fine state of preservation and ugliness Unel Tom is sitting with his mouth open , his tongue out , panting under the on pression of his own comfortable state and the heat of the weather- while hi wife turns to him with an appealing tenderness . Of course youmay ' name J » and his

    dog Uncle Tom" companion " Uncle Tom's wife ; " but the wag of an artist lias either christened his work with much humour , or he lias really de signed a satire . There 'is a resemblance between the black-muzzled , snub-nosed bulldog and the Negro . The Uncle Tom in the picture has a sort of ostentatious contentedness , which quite equals that portrayed by Mrs . Beecher Stowe- and the look of humble affection in the wife , regarded from a Nigger point of view , is truly laughable . We only wonder how Sir Edwin Landseer can settle accounts with the Duchess of Sutherland ! Amongst the landscapes which we have passed , and which would have well illustrated some of our remarks , is " A Scene in a Welsh Valley . " by Y W

    Holme : , it is full of life and conscientious labour . The picture is worked out with a high degree of finish . The artist has taken the side of a chain of tali hills , which are clothed with vegetation ; and every one knows how endless is the variety of form , Of shadow , and . tint in such a surface . By a careful fidelity to the scene itself , the artist has preserved all this aspect of varietyhas caught the whole character of the mountain surface , the sharpness and almost the movement of the foliage . In comparison with the most perfect landscape of the Exhibition , there is perhaps less variety , less exactness in following the infinite change of forms in nature . For instance , the trees which stand in front of the mountain rise in the middle of the picture , are too

    exactly parallel in the uprightness of their stems , too precise in the imitation of each other ' s general form . Again , more to the dexter side of the picture , where the branches of the trees diverge , the angles of divergence are too equal . Another defect is strange in an artist who has done so well . In nature , the forms that stand near the foreground , are sharp and clearly defined , the details visible ; as the distance increases , the forms blend into each other , until at the extremity they become vague ; and it is the same with clouds : but in this picture , the dimness that comes over the forms of the mountain range as it recedes from the foreground is not paralleled in the perspective of the clouds that overhang the range . It is , however , a very fine picture * Two other landscapes we ought to have noticed in our survey . One is Willis ' s scene with cattle . Is it an imitation of Sidney Cooper ' s treatment ? A better model could not be found .

    But above all we ought to have pointed out one of Cooper ' s own most per feet works—a small landscape with cattle , who are settling down to their re < pose under the falling night . The picture ia almost in darkness ; but the eye , growing accustomed to the dim light , can gradually discern even the distance and tho calm repose of the coming sleep of nature is beautiful . Amoni ? those which we ought not to have passed is " Crimea , 185 a-A Welcome Arrival , " by J . G- Luakd . It is an officer ' s hut ; the inmates engaged in breaking up a package from home , with its newspapers , its letters , its Eortnuni-and-Masonica , and its beloved photograph . There are in the Exhibition many scenes from the Crimea , and many Crimean heroes among to portraits ; but there is not one which gives us a glimpse of life *» . »» WJ ] amongst the residents of the Crimea so vividly and vigorously as this ; it to a

    portrait history . . , i „ Goodai . l ' 8 jVfe in Brittany is an advance upon Ins recent works-leas man nered iu the roundness of its forms , more characteristic . . But one of the prettiest bits is Goodall ' s sketch of the B reton lo ver , « jing < Veux-tu la tenarcsse , Jenny ? " . Tho scene in which the : rust co « Pto ¦ a bank rising up under the trees-is painted in harmony « i h the ^ i ' tho story is the thing . The lover is seated rather ^ hind Uie girl ^ PW very close to her , his face anxious , earnest , fixed , fj der . a ^ pstiLrt ne ^ look of a man who is urging home a sustained and truthful pita on ^ vw relies , and yet anxiously watches the effect . The girl , herfac tow , irrt j listens ; she has not yet yielded , but she is moved , and she delays we y » that she may draw out tho pleasing importunity .

    A/Tr *L Ti&Gt; (£F I4ix ^Vdbijl M Uu ¦

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    572 THE LEAPEB . [ No . 377 . . Bt ^ ..

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), June 13, 1857, page 572, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2197/page/20/