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Leader (1850-1860), 30th June 1860, Edition 1 of 2, Page 612, Untitled Article

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    • RUSKTN'S MODERN PAINTERS.*
    • HOLIDAY LITERATURE*
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      Untitled Article

      dissented from the Established Church and founded a Free Church of their own . The self-sacrifice of the non-intrusionist clergy on that occasion was very remarkable . Some hundreds of them merely because they disapproved the system of landlord patronage , tfave- up their salaries and comfortable manses to live in squalid lodgings upon the scanty offerings of their flocks , and to pretich in barns . Now the confliction in the Church of England arises , in reality , out of this question of patronage . ir the parishioners of St . George's-in-the-East were not compelled to accept any pastor whom the patron chooses to appoint , they would not be outraged bv doctrines which they do not approve . If they

      were free to choose their own pastor they would also choose their own doctrine . At this period of time , when the Established Church is rent by so many dissensions , and when church-rates have been condemned by the voice of the nation , the moment would seem to have arrived for something like combined action on the part ot those who are pining for religious freedom . We are told that there are many clergymen in the Church who have strong conscientious objections not only to the ritual , but to the doctrines to which they have subscribed . Why should not these orthodox Protestants the parishioners f St

      men and such militant as <> . Geor-e ' s come together . If they dislike the name of dissenters let them " form a free church . Let a convocation of free clergy meet at Westminster , or Exeter Hall if they prefer it , and draw up a new prayer-book , and a new set of articles . Let the people ^ their part settle how they are to build and maintain their churches , and pay their pastors . If the clergy are conscientious they will gladly make this sacrifice , and if the people love peace and tf tie religion they will prefer this peaceful solution of the great difficulty to a prolonged and hopelessly embittered quarrel , tending only to destroy respect for holy things , and bring the most sacred doctrine of religion into contempt .

      Untitled Article

      H OW to enjoy a holiday , and what the conditions are of enjoyment , are questions of more importance than they are generally considered . The author of " Evenings on the Thames' proposes to answer them . He sets about his work in right earnest vein * and with an ostentation"M learning which at first sight is in these . days sufficiently alarming . His penchant is , indeed , to treat all things in the manner of the ancients , but , for the things to be so treated , to select the most modern and popular . The title . of the volume is pleasantly suggestive , and is , indeed , made to stand for many things --for - anythin" - or for everything-. The whole book , in the anthor s estimation , resembles" the Diapason of Homer , embracing ' with its sweep things small and things great , things sublime and things homely—all objects that experience has suggested , and all thoughts that the soul of man has ^ imagined or received . " . that have under review

      raeter must be natural , and we must love nature ; at Battersea Reach we must have a taste for pleasure in the open air , and in all places we must have a good conscience and a loving heart in order to be supremely happy . They who can enjoy a book written in this spirit will find this one of the most enjoyable of books ; and with this commendation we dismiss it to the sympathetic reader .

      The * reader will now perceive we an ambitious work , one in which learning contends with humour for the mastery . .- ¦ . The writer has read extensiveljv and quotes ostenta ^ tiouslV ; he takes : the round of the classics , and omits not . the romancers . The Greek and Roman authors are his delight and the jearly poe ^ ts of England and France are his familiars . Sages , ancient and Imodern , are referred to—saints and ^ tilo ^ oplreTST-essayists and . preachers . Horace and Montaigne are his favourites , but not less so Augustin and Balzac . Withal , like Malvolio , he " thinks nobly of the soul / ' and would " preserve the intelligence of those great ideas of which the traces begin to be effaced amongst the literary classes . In a word , this is a work for advanced readers whether they peruse it on an excursion or in the study . It will exercise and strengthen the mental faculties , and stimulate the development of the moral powers . .

      . Our anonymous author is both an ingenious and loquacious ( not to say eloquent ) advocate in favour of holidays and " serene hours . " He fills his first two chapters with reasons and citations , and traditions , and illustrations , poetic , musical , pictorial , and prosaic , for festival relaxations and anniversary visits to favourite spots , for the frequenting of tea-gardens and watering-places , for the temporary sojourn in retired nooks , alone or in company , where you may show yourself to be happy , and see that other people are so , for occasional boat-rowing on the Thames , and whatsoever other pleasure may be proper to an interval of leisure . But for the due enjoyment of these opportunities , appropriate states of mind are desirable . " The mind / ' after nil , " is its own place , " and the place

      must be in harmony with the mind , and the mind in harmony with the place , before perfect pleasure is possible . The places visited by this suburban tourist are : —Bush y Park and Hampton Court , Kew Gardens , Kingston , Battersea Reach , the Lock at Teddington ; Kew Green , Eel-pie Island , Eton Meadows , Ouzeley , Windsor , Strawberry Hill , Fulham , Putney , Petersham Meadows , Twickenham , and Ditton . We liavo besides some Reminiscences of a Foreign Expedition , and a Yoyage from London Bridge to Westminsfcerr JJufe-ifc is not sa much witha description ofthese places as with the disposition and . mood of mind with which they ought to be visited , that our intollectual tourist deals . Thus he requires , before we visit Bushy Park and Hampton Court , that we should possess a sense of beauty , without which all would be . barren from Dan to Beersheba . And it comes to this at last , that only tlie beautiful mind can appreciate the beauty of nature . Similar disquisitions illustrate other chnpters . Thus , to enjoy Kew Gardens we must be youthfully disposed ; to enjoy Kingston , our cha-

      Untitled Article

      TVT OTWITHSTANDING all the confessed errors and short-com-IN ino-s of Mr . Ruskin ' s books , such is the brilliancy of his style and the extent of his observation , that they must always command attention and admiration . The present volume has been suspended in the writer ' s mind ever since 1855 , owing to interruptions from other studies , and other labours , public and private , which he details in his preface . The chief interruption arose from his task of arranging the Turner drawings for the National Gallery , consisting of some nineteen thousand pieces of paper , 1 he task both excited and exhausted him . Never ^ indeed , he tells us , had he felt so exhausted as when he " locked the last box , and gave the keys to Mr . Wornnni , in May , 1858 . " A worthy task , and worthily performed . Afterwards he found , solace and instruction in travelling in Italy , and during a residence in Turin . He then visited Berlin , Dresden , and Munich , but at last got home to his book . The result lies before us , in the shape of this handsome book , with

      its exquisite mgravmgs . ^ , . 3 T Leaves and clouds furnish the subjects of the two first parts . What things—nay creatures , these are to Ruskin ! How they live and love , arid will ! How wonderful are their most familiar traits How they grow , and he grows with them—grows with their growth , and strengthens with their strength . The race of plants demands , and has his boundless admiration ! „ ,...,, ¦ - For their sakes , he loves all that belongs to the country . With him a rustic shall not signify a rude and untaught person . He will

      not yield to the vulgar usage of words . He will not quietly concede that country people are necessarily rude , and town people " entle . His belief is ; ?' that the result of each mode of life may , in some stages of the world ' s progress , be the exact reverse , and thafc another Use of words may be forced upon us by a new aspect of facts , so that we may find ourselves saying such and such a person fcveiy gentle and kindr-he is quite rustic ; and ^ such and- such another person is very rude and ill-taught—he is quite urbane . " So be it ; with all our hearts . -

      Mr . Ruskin disposes plants in categories of his own naming , though of nature ' s making . Two great classes—the . tented and the building—broadly include all : the former , such as lilies , lichens , and mosses ; the latter , trees in general , . .,, . V The latter class are again divisible into two : — " Builders witn the Shield / ' and " Builders with the Sword . This nomenclature is fanciful , but it is expressive ; and what is even better , rememberable . We have then chapters upon " The bud , " " The leaf , " " The aspects of the leaf , " " The branch , " " The stem , " " The leaf monuments , " " The leaf shadows , " and " Leaves motionless . " On each and all of these topics Mr . Ruskin writes with a loving reverence for Hature , and with a minuteness of observation that seems intuitive ^ The true artist has , of course , made similar remarks for

      himself , and does , as it were instinctively wharh ^ eTe ~ bre ^ Trmstrncted to do by rule . Nevertheless , it is well t 6 have these things systematised—arranged and labelled for use . Genius does not reject such aids . The poet and orator complain not of the existence of grammars , and scorn not all reference to syntax and prosody . Nor will the rightly earnest student of art neglect to profit by Mr . Ruskin ' s diagrams and directions . As we read , we feel more and more grateful for the wise and loving , though occasionally erring , spirit who has undertaken the responsibility of writing such a book as this before us—a book valuable for its technical qualities , bufc still more for the soul in it , animatiug and making interesting tfie driest details . The laws here wrung from the secrecy of nature

      are the condition of true art-working ; and to have them set in order , and made plainly intelligible , is a service which must lay the young artist under obligation all his life long . Take the following living picture :- — " The leaves are the feeders of the plants . Their only orderly habits of succession must not interfere with their main business of finding food . Where the sun and air are the leaf must go , whether it be out of order or not . So therefore in any group , the first ; consideration with the young leavesis much like that of young bees—how to keep out of each other ' s way , that every one may at once leave its neighbours as much freeitself

      air pasture as possible , and obtain a relative freedom for . This would be quite a simple matter , and produce other simplybalanced forms , if each branch , with open air all round it , had nothing to think of bub reconcilement of interests among its own leaves . But every branch has others to meet or to cross , sharing with them , in various advantage , what shade , or sun , or rain is to be hud . Hence every single leaf-cluster presents the general aspect of a little family , entirely at unityftmong "~ themselvea , bufc obliged to get their living by various shitts , concessions , and infringement of the family rules , in order nofc to invade the privileges of other people in their neighbourhood . " And in the arrangement of these concessions there is an exquisite sensibility among the leaves . They do not grow each to

      Untitled Article

      612 The ladder and Saturday Analyst . [ June 30 , 1860 .

      Untitled Article

      ? JSveninq / i on the Thames ; or , Serone Hours , and What they Require . Two Tola . ' Longman , Green , Longman and Roberts .

      Untitled Article

      * Modern Painters . Vol . V ., completing the work , and containing Parta VI . Of Leaf Beauty . VII . Of Cloud Beauty . VIII . Of Ideas of Relation ; 1—of Invention Formal . IX . Of Ideas of Relation ; 2—of Invention Spiritual , By JonN RcsKlN , M . A . Smith , Elder , and . Co ., 65 > Cornhill . * '

      Rusktn's Modern Painters.*

      RUSKTN'S MODERN PAINTERS . *

      Holiday Literature*

      HOLIDAY LITERATURE *

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), June 30, 1860, page 612, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2354/page/12/