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October 7, 1854.] THE LEADER. 953
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HISTORY OF THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT. The Hi...
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THE CENSUS. The Census of Great Britain ...
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FENN'S COMPENDIUM. Fenn's Compendium of ...
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BOOKS ON OUR TABLE. A Voice from the Eas...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Pictures And Dirt. Dirt And Pictures Sep...
Had varnishes always kept as hard , clear , and durable as glass , the preservation of the works of the old painters had been an easy matter ; but , unfortunately , the colours of many of the finest pictures are rendered almost invisible by the discoloration and cracking of the varnishes themselves . The simple removal of these injurious incrustations is the work of the modern picture cleaner . It is this removing of the old varnish -with its accumulated dirt that is so dangerous ; the use of solvents such as alcohol or naphtha is often fatal ; scraping and rubbing are perbaps even more hazardous on account of the varied surface of the old painting . It is a process that cannot be conducted too cautiously , and only adopted when the picture is invisible from dirt or actually decaying before our eyes . When valuable pictures have once been cleaned they should "be glazed over , especially if shown in large smoky cities , and the backs well sealed up from the attacks of insects and the settling of dust : — b
Whole galleries of fine pictures have perished of neglect , arising from an utter indifference to their beauties and ignorance of their worth . It is easier to understand sucli a state of things in private families , than in public "bodies . Pictures bought by and for the public for daily contemplation , ought to be made an example of precaution , -which private owners and collectors might follow . For it is too true that here and there the sense of responsibility is dead as regards the preservation of the work 3 of genius , which are in their royal nature a legacy to the nation in which they exist , and to the inhabitants of successive ages . legitimate restoring is confined to supplying actual deficiencies in a picture , not attempting to improve upon , the master . Neither should it turn the work of aa inferior master into a picture that maybe called a Correggio by the application of the tricks of the trade . The following remarks show a conscientious study of the subject : —r .
The practical restorer should study to the end , that his mind may become , as it weie , ^ an index of the variofts styles of painting practised by the masters whose works are his care . Be the style of apainter simple or complex , graceful or ungraceful it should be registered in . its place . The restorer , like the physician , should have no bias . It is for him to trace with untiring industry , and unerring precision , the many fine distinctions in each , particular work he may have to treat . He ought to comprehend , not only the meaning and spirit of each work , but . be able to trace , bit by bit with microscopic exactness , the means and the method which the artist employed to accomplish it . It is not enough for the restorer to know the results , he must also penetrate their causes—that the effects may not suffer . It would seem that nothing less than a master mind could achieve the successful treatment of a master work , but it eomes out in the end , that restorers of inferior power , profiting by the creations of the artist , may be able to appreciate their excellencies though unable to produce them : just as the critic discovers in another the qualities he could never have invented himself . In , a word , the restorer has wholly to devote Mmself to the study of pictures , until he has made himself as familiar with the productions of many pencils as the ambitious painter does with a few select examples .
Mr . Merritt ' s book consists principall y of papers contributed to the Leader and Aihenaitm . They have a special value , as coming from , a practical man ^ and one well acquainted witti the style and method of painting followed by the old masters . After such dangerous experiments performed by ^ the professors upon our Rubenses and Claudes in the national collection , it h most desirable that all that the practical and thoughtful men know of the subject should be told : we may then eventually know for certain which is the best way of cleaning , restoring , and preserving a picture .
October 7, 1854.] The Leader. 953
October 7 , 1854 . ] THE LEADER . 953
History Of The Chartist Movement. The Hi...
HISTORY OF THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT . The History of the Chartist Movement , from its Commencement down to the Present Time With an Appendix , By R . G . Gammage . Part I . Ilolyoake and Co ., Fleet-street . We have here the first part of a work which appears , so far as we have yet read , to supply a very fair historical resume of the Chartist movement . It is of course from the Chartist point of view , but , as we might expect from the house of publication , it presents neither a violent nor an unphilosophical version of the Chartist statement ; and if it continue in the same strain , it will be useful to tlie political inquirer and historian . We shall , however , be able to judge better when we have the work complete .
The Census. The Census Of Great Britain ...
THE CENSUS . The Census of Great Britain in 1851 , comprising an Account of the Numbers and Distribution of the People , their Ages , Conjugal Condition , Occupations , and Birthplaces , with Returns of the Blind , Deaf and Dumb , and the Inmates of Publio Tnstitutiom , and an Analytical Index . Reprinted , in a , Condensed Form , from the Official Reports and Tables . Longmans . This volume is ono which every man ought to possess who really desires to know the actual condition of his country , so far as that is indicated by its numerical distribution . Tho numerical distribution of the peoplo is brought alDout by many circumstances connected , for example , -with the past history , tlie existing industry , tho moral state of tho community ; and it has in turn a material influence on tho intelligence , actions , moral condition , and
material progress of that community . It is of course quite impossible that a numerical Census of tlxo people should comprise an exposition of these circumstances , but by a masterly comprehension of treatment tho assistants of tlio Registrar-General have dono much to show the relation which tho figures of tho Census havo to tho explanatory literature existing . Tho Census , so far as it sots forth the numbers and distribution of tho people , itw ages , conjugal condition , occupation , birthplace , infirmities , crime , and public institutions , is hero rc-compresscd , without losing much of the elucidatory comment that gives so much value to tho whole . Take the chapter on the conjugal condition of tho peoplo alone , and see what a key is hero given to understand tho past , to estimate the present , and to guide the moralist in tho consideration of the future .
Fenn's Compendium. Fenn's Compendium Of ...
FENN'S COMPENDIUM . Fenn ' s Compendium of the English and Foreign Funds , with Statements of the Debts and Revenues of all Nations , also of Banks , Railways , Mines , and the Principal Joint Stock Companies ; forming an Epitome of the various objects of Investment and Speculation which are Negociable in London , with Laws and Regulations of the Stock Exchange Tables , ej-c . Fourth Edition , revised and corrected , and brought down to tie present time , by Edward Ayres , Editor of the " Banker ' s Circular . " Not very long since there was a prevalent opinion that financial or monetary affairs required some special genius to understand them . We have made some advance since that time , and although we are inclined to think that a very profound perception of financial matters demands qualities seldom found combined in one man , yet there is no doubt that a competent knowledge of the subject is open to most who have sufficient faculty to cast up an inn-bill , or attain the end of a railway journey with a solvent purse . The whole is made up of the parts ; big funds belonging to nations do not essentially differ from little funds belonging to private persons . The only difference lies in arbitrary regulations to which very fine names have been given , and in devices by which , the uninitiated are made to understand that one thing is accomplished when another is really done . We doubt , for example , whether there were not really people who believed that Mr . Pitt borrowed a hundred pounds at a moderate per centage , when by some wonderful hocus pocus the capitalists had to pay something less than 60 / . for 1002 . stock . They called it 1 O 0 / ., and they called it stock , and they professed to pay 5 per cent , for it . The great profound monopolizers of monetary knowledge , the practical men who pocketed round sums by the transaction ! declared that the minister was heaven-born ; the vulgar felt that they could not understand it ; and by favour of that submissive ignorance
such things were done . In our days We disbelieve the mystery , —we ask / what is really borrowed , —we learn the real price for the loan , and we will not support ministers who are for hurrying us into liabilities on the heayenbom plan . One of the reasons why we have arrived at this more practical view of the subject in its hunibler relations , is the existence of manuals like the present book . Here , in a small octavo volume , we have a complete account of the English funds / . their origin in various loans contracted at different times , their vicissitudes , redemptions , conversions , reductions , con ^ Bolidations , additions , & c , their present state , and equivalent Values . We have the same explanation , rapidly of course , respecting foreign funds ; we have also an account of that important body the Stock Exchange , with its rules and regulations ; the standing rules and practices respecting bills of exchange , and other instruments current in the commercial world ; equations
of foreign moneys , state of railway stocks , with a mass of other things bearing on the great trade in money . Fenrts Compendium of the Funds had acquired repute , but in taking it up to fit it for republication in our own day , Mr . Ayres found that so much had happened since the last edition , in 1840 , to alter the very substance of the book , that it necessarily became to a great extent a new work . And so it is . The niere enlargement of financial operations is but a small part of the change within the last fourteen years . Opinions on the subject have been materially modified in this country ; and within the last twelve months immense light has been thrown upon some important sections of the subject at home and abroad . To take one example , —the reputed solvency and high principle of Russia have been completely exploded by the events of the present year . AH such facts are brought down to the
present time . The most recent events , for example , respecting the foreign debt of Spain , the financial efforts of Turkey , the reckless measures of Russia , are all here given . We even find extracted from the official French jpurnal that expose of the singular relation between the Russian Government " and tho land-owners , who are the principal tax-payers , which exhibits the Imperial Government in partnership -with its own debtors to the extent of 120 , 000 , 000 / . It is , we say , to the ready command which the public has of works like the present that we must ascribe the general diffusion of intelligent comprehension on the subject of finance 5 placing the best of all checks upon the heaven-born antics which have plunged this country more deeply into debt than any state in tho world , and for which our humblest classes to this day are paying far more than will be demanded from them for making the Emperor of Russia know his place .
Books On Our Table. A Voice From The Eas...
BOOKS ON OUR TABLE . A Voice from the East . By Mrs . St . John . Saundera and Otlov . Tho Principles of School Architecture . By Henry Bamardi Trlilmer and Oo . Houses with the Fronts off . By Hein Friswcll . Illustrated by \ V . M'Connell , London : T . B luck wood The British Commonwealth ; a Commentary on the Institutions and Principles of British Government . By Homcrslitun Cox , M . A ., & c . Longman , Brown , Grcon , and Longmans Outlines of Botany : being an Introduction to the Study of the Structure , Functions , Claatiificutiou , and Distribution of Phints . By John llutton Bnlfour , M . D ., F . L . S ., F . K . S . 1 C , & o . Adam and Glmrlcs B luck , 27 < e Lofty and the Lowly : or , Good in All , and Nona alt Good . By M . I . Mclntoah .
Gcorgo RouLlodgo and Oo My Comrade and My Colours : or , Men who know not when they ' re Beaten . By tho Hev Evwlcino Noiilo , J \ 1 . A . Trubnor and Co The Sujnodicon . Parts I . to IV . Edward Thompson Tho Mosaic Record in Harmony , with the Geological , Thomiis Constable midUrr , Milton ' s Puradiuo Lost and Puradiae Itvouhivd , with Explanatory Notes . By th « }{< 1 V- J Kdinonnton . ' T . Nol « " » «¦> ' ! bons . The Flower of the Family . A Tale . ' *'• N « Ia " «»«' Sous . Rauder «? ian , the Irish Fain / man : and Loyeuds of Currkh . By John O'Neill . WiLliun liitmduclilinliyMrH . « . 0 . IK . tlf . W . 1 woodi * .-, The Pro / huonint , and Ma < jazii « sJ \ , r tho People . Van 1 . , > rm ] l " I 1 ( l Kl " ' " - Cholera Chemically Considered . By I ) . Grinilh JoncH , M . D ., M- " - ' - ,, ^ ,, , lSl , irma . The Palace of the Foul vcrouH the Crystal Palace , In ro Wine '"^ " ^ J ^^^^^ Life ' s Lesson . AT . k ^ mpaon Lw , Son and Co .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 7, 1854, page 17, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_07101854/page/17/
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