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Leader (1850-1860), 22nd March 1856, Edition 2 of 2, Page 20, . 284 THE LEADER. [No. 313 > &ATUaD

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      . 284 The Leader. [No. 313 > &Atuad

      . 284 THE LEADER . [ No . 313 > & ATUaD

      A Tea-Table Novel. The Daisy Chain. By T...

      A TEA-TABLE NOVEL . The Daisy Chain . By the Author of Tke Heir o / Medcliffe , etc . J . W . Paxker . fHERjE are twoclasses of juvenile books ; we do not * mean the bad and the good , but the books which are the pabulum of children proper , and those which are the delight and refreshment of men and women who have long passed that happy moment of life when almost everything that contributes to amusement , charms . To the former of these two classes of readers no doubt The Daisy Chain will be found to contain much that is pleasing , and in some sort interesting . To young ladies generally , whose sunny ringlets confess to teens , perhaps even to those presumably young ladies who have ceased to count birthdays , the Heir of Redciiffe and the other equally nice and pretty though somewhat lengthy stories which have been flowing from the same facile and agreeable pen are treasures of harmless intellectual recreation . We have heard * of a young lady who is in the habit of perusing that bepraised tale continuously and perennially , beginning it over ; and over again as often as she arrives at the last sentence . x It is not for us fco suggest how well-constituted and well-regulated the mind of that gentle reader must be , how patient , how easily contented , how unsuspicious of ennui . Nevertheless , it is impossible to refrain from imagining young ladies , to whom certain long dialogues to be met with , in these pages will see in a little prosy , and who may deem it something more than a labour of love to get to the end of this new and singularly thick production now before us , recounting as it does , without stint , the very copious sayings , and the very exiguous doings of a large but not remarkable family of eleven brothers and sisters . Let us see for a moment what it is all about , this Daisy Chain . It opens with some painful excitement occasioned by a fatal accident to the mother of the eleven . As the book progresses , we have a sprinkling of births , deaths , and marriages , and an exciting episode in the building of a new church in a very wicked neighbourhood , with church-schools and various ^ other dilettante reforms , chiefly set on foot by one of the eleven aforesaid , whose bereaved father , by-the-bye , is described as a pattern physician ; a . sort of Luke M . D ., of our day . Come , now ) a remorseful voice whispeiss , is it fair for any gross and muscular mind to sit in judgment upon a book , written for the enjoyment and education of a peculiar class of readers , whose feelings it -stirs with innocuous emotions , and whose little world of incident it so pleasantly and faithfully represents ? No : Robinson Crusoe , Miss Edgeworth , and a few others , are for the delight of all ages and of both sexes ; the Daisy Chain is more exclusively for the delight pf that " epidemic sect ** of enthusiastic but severe young devotes , who are addicted to . the cultivation of pastoral theology , with the sister sciences of . Gothic architecture and mediBeval upholstery .

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      € M Ms .

      Exhibition Of The National Institution. ...

      EXHIBITION OF THE NATIONAL INSTITUTION . "We will get over a disagreeable duty at once and say that this is the worst exhibition of pictures we ever saw in the Portland Gallery ; therefore , the worst we ever saw anywhere . We glance down whole columns of the catalogue and can only-bring to mind a doleful recurrence of bad pictures . The landscapes and a few small works of genre , by Provis and Pasmore , nearly e ? haust the stock of redeeming merit . We looked confidently to the name of Laudbr for some relief in this evil case ; but the two pictures by Mr . R . Lauder , and the three by Mr . J . Uuderdo noteven from the dismal

      , , background , show with , any brilliant or impressive effect . For anything comparable with the picture of the Glee Maiden , from the Fair Maid of Perth , exhibited last season by Mr . R . S . Laudeb ( the president of the institution ) , it is vain to search . While the leading members are behindhand m the number and character of their specimens , it is impossible to escape a conviction that the « promising men" of some five years since have gradually receded from their pledges . Again , we have to regret more than one secession—that , for instance , of Mr . Glass , an artist of singular inventive B 2 ^> ^ d possessing , in various degrees , all the qualities that make a nainter . At

      mv . v . . CAMPBELulxas nothing ; Mr . Marshall Claxton , nothing ; Mr . Uukes , only one toleiably well-painted piece of common-place , called The Wanderers . Mr . M'Ian , to whom the term " clever" applies with shocking fitness , would have been a godsend in this dearth of ordinary ability ; but we nuss also the M'Ian patronymic from the alphabetical list of artists . So that , putting out of sight for a moment the respectable works of the two iuAUDERS , and the pleasing , but small and unimportant , pictures of Pasmoke and Frovis , the subject-painting is left , this year , in the hands of Barraud , MlDDLKTON , ROSSITER , WATT , W . A . SMITH , BfcAIKLBY , PaRKEK , toTACY Marks , and the less-lmown crowd of bad painters who are to bo found only at this exhibition , ~ The great picture , superficially speaking , is Mr . J . E . Lauder ' s James tt ttna tfie otea /• j i

      Wa m JVnni . ni ' —/ A * n ,,,,, ™ „ n . <> \ ii ^» + ~^ n . n n- > . . £ , , . am Mngtne—the Daum of the . Nineteenth Century . The ch \ et tault hea in the disproportion of space to matter . There is a loose-Il ¦ - g ] a ? t ' ? Pmvl mS across a vast field of Vandyke brown , and there is n rude model ; of a stennvengine , with its furnace ; and there is a table with plans and inatrumenta and a lamp ; but all these objects , including the giant , do not fill half the picture , tlie prevailing idea of which seems to be background . Mr . J . E . Laudkk ' s two other works ave mere studies ; the first , of An old Jew , very characteristic , and equally hideous : the second , of a certain MiU Dam , Traquar . Mr . It . S . Lauder , uwauy tlio more ambitious and successful of the two artists , exhibits

      K"W' 9 * » 'y pretending nor very attractive , and an exterior studv Sfer ? w Ua ^ ' with sonie clFectivo points of surrounding scenery . ThL n i - raft ^ vvork a cxhib » to < l by Pasmork are of pretty equal merit . J ™ L ™ ° V aintl jy P «™ « d > » s are hia pictures invariably ; and they have , at Sv wTin " ' foicc and cb - »™ cter t" « n such works ordinarily < lis ~ iSi *« v k , m tobe s » pevior to Good all ' s , for instance , and that SufLSJ ^—V ^ artlata Oedve ^ cil < b 03 t inspirations from the c ^ vSy & S m ^ y ^' i ^ U > man « ) . showing a group of gaily plumed wauors ana semi-pastor ^ dames , on the terrace of the old Manor House

      Warlaston , Lincolnshire ; and this little painting , to be found on the fourth screen , is quite equal to any of his other half-dozen productions . tF ° i-u- ! au ( isc r a Pf s are several that would make themselves conspicuous m the exhibition of-the Royal Academy . The Williams family a ?^ contributors of the best . Mr E . C . Williams revels in moonlight , and ! we must add in ridiculous titles , such as the following .-In thf Highlands majestically arises the Lunar Majesty of Night . A night scene , Moonrisel Hastings , by this artist , is remarkable for a fine study of clouds . Mr G A Williams sticks to his famous yellow dawns and evenings . In the Marshes —Mommy , is a piece of bold landscape-painting , as rich in colour and as natural in its arrangement as any landscape of Cuyp's . Mr . H . 13 Willipamts cattle to perfection . His Morning Rest in Ploughing Time display s a team of oxen such as Sidney Cooper might be proud to acknowledge i ™ a w S Tt " last especially—have contributed works of merit " and Mr . A . W . H . Hunt deserves notice for a forcible though rather too rough piece of landscape-painting , called A Summer Eve by Haunted Stream , WLth a bat flitting across the twilight solitude , in a verv snectral manner . A

      P011teait Of Charles Dickens. Ary Bcheff...

      P 011 TEAIT OF CHARLES DICKENS . Ary bCHEFFER has just finished a magnificent portrait of Charles Dickens ; we hear it described as " really a noble picture and likeness . " \\ e are glad to find that it is destined to adorn the Royal Academy Exhibition this year and vye know that it will be welcomed with all the interest and admiration due alike to the subject and to the artist

      The Theatres In Paris. We Extract From T...

      THE THEATRES IN PARIS . We extract from the letter of one who spealss with authority a few bits of pungent gossip on some recent performances in Paris : — . . . What I have seen has been , with one exception , unspeakably disappointing . For example , Ristori in . Mirra is , to my iniud , tlie greatest delusion ( considering her pretensions ) that ever appeared in public . Personally , she lias a very fine profile , but she is too thin . As to her acting , it is the climax of commonplace : vehemently exaggerated in expression and gesture , but alioays commonplace . The old , old stage-walk ; the raising . - the voice suddenly , and then de ] 3 re . 3 sing it , — the speaking sometimes very slowly , and then changing suddenly to rapid- muttering , — all these wretched conventionalities she shows in every sentence she speaks . Her actions are

      all of . tlie old kind , too : unnatural , artificial : mere straddliugs of tire legs and outstretchings of fche arms , like the classical figures in . Lebron ' s pictures . Her face has no medium between distortion and repose : in shorty she is a "bad actress , and it is a disgrace to French , criticism ever to have mentioned lier in a breath with Rachel . On the first night of her re-appearance the theatre was crammed with friends and claqueurs : nothing but snouting , and recalls , and bouquets , before tJie ^ laij was over , -which shows how little of genuinely tragic impression she had produced on fche audience . Irnake sill allowances for the dull bestiality of the play ., in which , she appeared , bnt she-was too fatally commonplace in it for me to have any hope of her in any other part . I am glad to say that the real puMic are coming to their senses about Ristobi . The second night , when the friends were exhausted , I teard there was a very poor audience

      " The next failure has been Frederic Lemajtre in Henri III . —a dull verse-play , with a -wretched part for Fkedekic . . . . . . . . . He did nothing , absolutely nothing , but appear in different dresses , and swing his arms about . I would never have believed that he ' could be an absolute nonentity on the stage unless I had seen it . This lamentable exhibition ofa great actor in the smallest possible view of him has followed ( at the Gaite ) , tlie genuine attraction of the Medicin des Enfants . .... The only pleasant dramatic evening , thus far , has been at the G-Smnase . Two little pieces , both , produced months ago , and both , excellent : Le Camp des Bourgeoises , a farce , making fun . of the present di'aniatic rage for "Unfortunate Female" heroines , and Je dinechez mamirc , the most perfect and pathetic little one act-play since La Joie fait peur , with a charming vein of comedy running through its earlier parts . Both pieces were acted to perfection in every part . TheirjL-un is over no-vv . I would not have missed them for the world . "

      The Great Globe.—Mr. Wyld's Artists Havi...

      The Great Globe . —Mr . Wyld ' s artists having exhibtied for a whole summer the siege operations on the plateaxi before Sebfistopol , ha-ve prepared for the reopening of " tho Great Globe itsolf" on Easter Monday , a dioramie view of tho route , " there and back again . " Hamburg , Berlin , Dresden , Prague , Rtitisbou , Vienna , Buda , Pesth , and tho lino of tho Danube , are introduced ou the wav out , and on the way home , tho Adriatio , Rome , Venice , th . 0 Logo Maggiore , Mouto Rosa , and other haunts of pilgrims in Bearch of tho picturosquo .

      Enqmsh " Insularity" In Duess.—On The Co...

      Enqmsh " Insularity" in Duess . —On the continent of Europe , generally people dress according to their poreonal convenience and inclinations . In that capital which is supposed to aefc tho fashion in affairs of droBS , there is nn oapoo iol independence in this regard . If a man in Puria havo an idiosynoracy on tho subject of any article of attiro between hia hat and his boots , ho gratifies it without tho least idea that it can bo anybody ' s nffair Tbufc his ; nor does anybody else make it his affair . If , indeed , there be anything obviously- oonvoniont or tastoful in tho peculiarity , then it soon ceases to be a peculiarity , and is adopted by others . If not , it is let tvlouo . In the meantime , tho commonest man in tho ntreots does not consider it at all essential to his oharnotor as a truo Frenchman , that ho should howl , Btaro , joox , or othorwino multo himself offensive to tho author of tho innovation . That word h « s oensod to bo Old Boguoy to him einoo he coaeed to bo a uerf , and ho loavua iho particular sample of innovation to oomo in or go out upo . n its merits Our wtroiig English prejudice ) against anything of this kind that is maw to tho oyo , forma one of our dooidod insularities . It is disappearing bofox-o tho oxfcondod ' knowlorfgo of other countries consequent upon steam and olootrioity , but it in not gono yol . Tho honnotionlly-Boalod , black , atiff ohimney-pot , n foot and a half high , which wo oall o , hat , is gouorully admitted to be neither oouvouiout » or gnvooful ; but , tlioro ore vory fow middlo-agod gentlemen within two hours' roach of tho Itoyal Ejcohango , who would boatow their daughtora ou -widoawakos , howovor oatiuuvblo tho woarora . —Household Word * .

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), March 22, 1856, page 20, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_22031856/page/20/