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    Untitled Article

    * h « do&r of -each pew and aimonacijag his arrival tto the ioxnates with a clear , loud , - —" Here am I . " This move had the desired effect . ^ far , in a very few moments , « yery ejre was turned upon ottr hero . The worthy parson finding himself in a decided snnority , and perceiving broad grins coming over the befare solemn faces of his flock , 4 * t « nce ptopped the service tuad desired the clerk to eject tk « intruder . But the order . waaraore eaaaly given titan executed . Jack -was determined not to leave , and so , finding himself pursued , took refuge in a forest of legs belonging to his young fciende , ihe school-children , who did not appear at all unwilling to -afford him shelter . The ¦ clerk rushed « n , intent upon catching the enemy and putting an end to this unortliodlox proceeding , and over , first a bench , . and then a child , he stumbled , in . his attempts to pounce upon the fugitive , who easily evaded his grasp and always appeared just where the clerk was not , informing him ever and anon of iis whereabout by the old cry— - 'I Here am L" At last , with th = e help of two or three of the congregation who tad joined in the pursuit , a capture 1 was effected , and Jack was ignominiously turned out and the door closed upon him . After th-e lapse of a few minutes , order and solemnity were restored io the church ; and the prayers were recommenced and ended without further ¦ disturbance .

    tainly , but there is an honest dishonesty about him aftoi- nil tio mni ' to superior sanctity . He does not take high moral -rouac \ viS vl W ° ****?**' finger your purse , and have doi »* tth thf tus ^ "ST sot / telis y « ^ ButS your snivelling wretch , who is , . « ver pinning a sham conscience on his Sleeve whi ? f he is rolbang a neighbour of what is more valuable than J , ; = ™ , ~ sieeve , \\ nile crite who is conc ^ lng hateful lies under te ^ ts o ? Script ^ Sf 2 F ° S | ^ ^ ° " under a love of the Decalogue , why , we sav nothing SrtvlTwS ^* 7 1 ^ him . And yet , is it not illustrative of the English ^ Js felLZ ^ rT ? kind of man will often snarl through seventy years , and die in his bed unkiclasd Fmser contains , besides , a good article on < Naval Education , ' as Blackwood does on Military Education . ' The Dublin University Magraziae is quite as good as usual , iu some respects better , the ' stories " by Shirley Brooks and Blaxchard Jeruold beino- con . tiiiued iu the preseut number , and gaining iu interest as they proceed .

    The parson , in due time , ascended to the pulpit . He gave out his text and ccm-¦ caenoed a discourse calculated , no doubt , to be of much beuefit to his hearers ; but lie iad not proceeded far when he was interrupted by a loud noise accompanied by rap-3 > ing at the little window at the back of the pulpit . Turning round to ascertain the * ause , he befceld our friend Jack pecking away at the window , flapping his wings -against it , and screaming at the top of his voice— " Here am I—Here am I "—a fact which no on « could gainsay or resist laughing at . The worthy parson finding his own jgcaviiy , jwd that of ois congregation so entirely upset by what had occurred , brought his sermon to a speedy conclusion , and dismissed the congregation . Sentence of death was recorded against the offender , ; but , upon the petition of a number of the parishioners , it was commuted to banishment for life from the precincts of the church . JEtach is the story of friend Jack . The magpie is , as vre kaiow , a leading character in moTe than one celebrated -diama , and the following anecdote shows tliat the drama may become a tragedy of ihe saddest kind-:

    —few readers are not familiar wittTLady Mosgan ' s Italy , though some may not remember a sad story there told . Opposite to the lofty Doric column raised to commemorate tte defeat of Pietro Strozzi , and the taking of Sienna , stood , when Xady Morgan wrote , and , probably , still stands , a house wherein aS nohle lady resided . Cosmo I . lost a -valualle pearl necklace , and a young girl wa 3 accused of the rthef t , which-she solemnly denied . According to the detestable custom of the time , she was pat to the torture . The terrible infliction was more than her delicate nerves ¦ could bear , and like the fragile and innocent Esmeralda , she declared that she was guilty , and without further trial was , like Esmeralda , hung . Soon after this cruel execution , & tremendous storm broke over Florence . A thunderbolt fell on the figure of Justice and split the scales , one of which fell to the earth—and , with it , fell the xuins of a . magpie ' s nest containing the pearl Becklace . e An J 3 ssay on Crotchets' is a quaint moral dissertation ontlie peculiarities of character which Englishmen are reputed to possess to a greater extent than ihe Jiatives of any otlier country . Here is a speculation on a curious subject ¦ that greatly perplexes most readers of the Times . ——

    We occasionally see an acknowledgment from the Chancellor of the Exchequer of 41 bank-note which has been transmitted to him as conscience-money . Not long ago , we observed that one hundred pounds had been sent to him ' from one who had "Of ten shot without a license in Ms youth . ' Had the man been addicted to poaching ? had 1 t been his ' delight on a shiny night , in th . e season of the year ? ' Then perhaps he had taten . a game and provision shop , and got on rn the world . We often winder what kind of-a person he is who ponrs his money so recklessly into Her Majesty ' s ^ Exchequer . W-e -are not aware that we ever met with a man who put such a screw on his conscience . Is he a Puseyitc awaking to a sense of the truth ? Or a Methodist compounding for sanding his sugar and watering his tobacco ? Or a Quaker who abrjures all compulsory levies whatever ? Or i 3 the advertisement a deception in toto—a mere dodge on the part of tire Chancellorof the Exchequer to make the cation

    believe that our taxes are just—a decoy-duck for the slaughter of genuine tax > "jjayerB . If , however , a bond fide transmitter of conscience-money exists , we have a -notion'tii&t he is a crotchety being . A person maybe all conscience or no conscience , either vX .-which conditions is a dangerous one . "We pity our friend ' s -wife ; she has a "weary time with him , tio-doubt . My youthful lady reader , never -marry a man who Ao your knowledge has sent conscience-money to the Chancellor of the Exchequer , if you Ta ' ae your future peace . B « tter take ourselves , an old bachelor subject to periodical fits of the gout . He may be , it is true , a-well-meaning but crotchety tfellow , acting simply on the impulse of a freak—a pig-headed animal who determines 4 » do like n-obody else—a 3 unpersuadable as the simpleton who adopts the maxim of ' every man his own doctor , ' and coaxes for himself a chronic complaint—as im-• practteable as he who acts upon the principle of ' every man his own lawyer , ' leaves a snug lawsuit For his descendants to the fouTth generation .

    On the whole , the writer is justly lenient to crotchety mca , hut some of tlie . species , sach as the Tallowing , for example , rouse his bile : — _ ¦ Wb . ere . Ter you turn ia life you meet with this species of cur , snarling and suapgnng at erery decent woan ' s trousers . He ia now , suppose , sitting iu committee , and nthe jreaotntion to be passed is , that two and two make four . There seems to ho a general unanimity on the subject . One gentleman , remarkable for his caution , has -certainly-wished to try the problem on tlie duodecimal principle . Another , who has the reputation of being a groat logician , has argued the point at some length , and with much fairness . But all appear to bo agreed that two and tw « make four . The chairman is on the . point of putting the motiou , when up . jumps Mr . Joggcrson - ha has reserved himself for a great effort . Two and two make four , gentlemen '• Con anything bo more absurd than to affirm this as a general rule ? It is contrary to Scripture—downright infidelity ! Ho thanks Providence that lie haa now been married eight years 4 o bis dear -wife , Johanna , ( he had kicked her only the evening

    faefooe ) , Mid did not Scripture say that they two wore one fleBh ? Then , ho had two ¦ d arling children ( ho had seat them to bed without their supper , for no reason whatever , before he came to tho meeting ) . Would any mau . say , iu the case of hiniBelf , ion wife , and family , that two and two were four ? He now turns his asperity on Jus . fcUow-committecmen . His friend , Mr . Gripenll—he is eupposod to lend out ¦ m oney « t t \ usurious rata of interest—makes two « nd two into twonty ^ then leaving &bc aritluufitical question he launches out into bitter imiendocR and provoking mUu «| cns wJiiftli may apply to same wi « o « ro present , and many who are absent ; and sitting down in * atat » of piotu i > erapjration , ho declares that liis conscience will not aUow him to neauun . longer « member of a committee which can affirm that two and two m » k « £ » w . New , what annoys us most with tbe genus J&ggereou is , thai tho impoitora « r « « yer jtalkmg « f tlioir opoacieaaoe—a property aubout which U »« ykuow as mawdiJta . mmmm horn hliud datta of neutral tint . It a iiighwayman comas up to yen . imitk . m rwAror , aau deuin—In your purse , wliy , you donotlovo the man , ccr-

    Untitled Article

    R , USKIN'S ELEMENTS OF DRAWING . Tlie Ele ?) ients of Draacing , ' in Three Letters to JBeginmrs . By John Iiuskin MA Anthor of Modern Painters , Seven Lamps of Arcliitecture , Stones of Venice Lectures on Arcliitecture and Painting , cj-c . $ c . With Illustrations drawn bv the Author . Smith , Elder , and Co . In this book Mr . Huskin writes for th re use of cnililren of twelve or fourteen years old . He assumes that , for many and weighty reasons , drawing is a good -thing to be taught , and justly . If Mr . Thomas-Dyke Acland is correct in saying that the study and practice of music teach the child to discipline his feelings and his tastes in association witli others , giving at once the habit of co-operation and refinement of feeling , so drawing accustoms men to brijig their observations to a definite shape , and to acquire the power of conveying their remarks in a tangible form . You will usually find the practised draughtsman , not only illustrating his statements with bis

    pencil , but pressing his observation as much ' as " possible in a concrete shape , that is , in a tangible and practical shape . Mr . Iiuskin also thinks that with one hour ' s pi'actice in the day for six months , or of every other day for twelve months , the pupil will acquire sufficient power of drawing faithfull j what lie wants to draw , and have judgment "up to a certain point of other persons work . Here , again , "wo believe that he is correct . One of the faults of teaching is the attempt to teach too much at a time , and for too long a time together ; a practice which prevents the pupil fi-orn really learning what he is taught , and forces'hun into a habit of

    jjretending to learn what he does not master . The book , however , is a curious illustration of Mr . Ruskin ' s leading defect in the observation and explanation of art . He has a peculiar notion with regard to draughtsmanship , based upon an optical tlieory , —that everything one sees around presents itself to the eye only as an . arrangement of patches of colour variously shaded . Guided by ' nature / therefore , he avoids outline study ; and tve shall presently see whither this leads him . It is quite true that objects present themselves only in patches of colour ; but those patches have boundaries which form "what is called ' outline . ' Nowin order to jrive that

    complete outline in its actual shape , by patchwork , the work must be absolutely finished ; if it be done with any degree of rouglmess or incompleteness ihe outline which principally expresses the shape is not simply absent , it is disturbed and distorted . To a certain extent the outline of ordinary draughtsmanship is an arbitrary character ; it is that postulate with which nil human work must begin—a something to be granted ; but it . is that with which begins the clearest conception of the form to he delineated—the clearest and the most definite . And it is that part of draughtsmanship upon which Mr . Ruskin ' s observation appears to have been the weakest , lie says that the

    best books to put into the hands of a child are those illustrated by George Cruikshank or by Hichter . Now , why ? George Cruikshnuk conveys character by the help of arbitrary lines , outline , ox shading w « ll enough suited to liis own particular genius , but altogether unavailing for the plodding draughtsmen . And his forms , though sometimes happy , are often , and in certain cases always , against nature . Por instance , he almost invariably makes the thorax of a -woman ' s form so small that it is impossible to account for the anatomy of the figure between the throat and waist . And wliy Kioliter ? —a man who represents gentle feelings , but has no capacity -whatever for the exact iuiitation of the human anatomy . consider

    In this instruction book Mr . Iiuskin -works nauch at what we may the accessories of . art—landscape-painting , scene-painting , architecture , and costume . He gets to the human part only so far ae its moral aspect i ^ concerned . For example , h « has so mo excellent re marks upon the Will-o ' -thewisp freedom of hnnd -. ¦—Ttf iscliief ( lie says ) may easily he done quickly , "but good and "beautiful "work is generally done slowly . You -will find no boldness in the way . A , flower or a bird rf wing is painted ; and if Nature is not bold at her work , do you think you ouglit to bo at _ youra ? So never mind what people say , but work with your pencil-pnint very patiently ; and if you enn trust me in ' anything , trust ine when I tell you , that though there are all kinds and ways of art—large work for largo places , small work for narrow places , slow work for people who can wait , and quick -work for people who and art

    cannot—there is one quality , and , 1 thank , only one , in which nil great good . agrees—it is all delicate art . Coarso art is always bud art . While his instructions in the morality of drawing have much in them that is good , if ho wishes his book to become serviceable to heginners he wiU extricate any future edition from the criticism and hypercritici . sin with which he has overclouded it—bothering , not to say bewildering , the child oi ' Uyelvc or fourteen , to -whom it is addressed . Ho is like that other ' eminent writer' tho ' Roving Knglielinmn ;" he cannot resist tho impulse to dictate ns well as to teach , to declaim , to pour himnelf out on every subject he touches , lie cannot ( p . 14 ) advise the use of a piece of stale broad m preference to a piece of india-rubber -without a foot-note lecture , ten lines J ° nB upon making a mess on ihe floor with bread-crumbs , and npon the wrong ol wasting good bread . 'Ilierc is , Indeed , ji curious moral twist jji ihus teacher—he Is full of adorn-

    Untitled Article

    - JHE ; . LEAl ) Bi ,. J ^ aJSg SjPig ^^^ . fi , 1 . 857 .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 5, 1857, page 858, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2208/page/18/