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J do find that after all his toil and un...
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TWO BOOKS ON PICTURES. Artistic and Desc...
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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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Guillaume De Guilevix.Le. The Ancient Po...
Library , nor do we find that after all his toil and labour there is one reader the less of Sterne ' s masterpiece for all the time consumed by Dr . Ferrier « n those celebrated Illustrations of Sterne . It is true he has bared the base metal ; but the delicate manipulation that converted it into gold is only enhanced by the discovery of the little value of the original ore . Of all religious allegories—and the early literature of modern Europe teems with them—there is only oae which is pre-eminently destined to go down to posterity . It is one of three "books selected by Dr . Johnson as forming the entire catalogue of tnose wliich everybody wishes were longer , and a .
Trork placed on the level in point of lasting popularity with . JZobinson Crusoe and Don Quixote . Yet it is upon the originality of the idea arid construction of this book that the reader is now called , upon to decide ; but this idea had probably another origin than the Pelerinage de VHomine , as we shall iiere suggest . In the year 1780 , Mr . Wontner , of the Minories , by accident met with a copy of Fox ' s Acts and Monuments of Memorable Matters happening in the Church , which is better known as The Book of Martyrs , in which the margins were much scribbled over with , doggrel rhymes , such as : —¦
Hear is one stout and strong indeed , He doth not waver like as doth a Reed ; A sign he gives them , yea last of all , That are obedient to the heavenly call . On the title-page appears in large uncial characters ihe signature JOHN BUNYAN , and scattered through the volume , in \ ariou 3 places , in a greatly amproved style of writing , and occasionally dated , areithe words Jo . Butty an , lib . ij . This precious relic passed afterwards into the hands of Mr . James Bonn , and from him to the Bedford Town library , ilie most fitting place for its preservation .
JounBunyan , as we all know , was born in 162 t > , « t the village of Jilston , near Bedford , and bred to the business of a brazier . The copy of Fox's Acts -and Monuments to which we have alluded was evidently acquired by him about the time that he joined the Parliament forces—perhaps even it may have formed part of the plunder of some noble mansion . According to his own statement it was at that period that he became converted and joined the Baptists . In 1656 he was already a popular preacher , a selfeducated , pious , and truthful man ; but at the Restoration , he was imprisoned on account of his
preacliing , and kept in confinement for twelve years . It is more than probable that during this long conifinement he first planned the allegory of Pilgrim s Progress , which was to make his name immortal , and the marginal dates referred to prove that the Acts and Monuments of John Fox . were the solace of his prison . Shortly after the succession of James It . to the throne , the celebrated declaration for liberty of conscience was issued , and Bunyan , who had been released some few 1 years previously through tike kind offices of Bishop Barlow , settled at Bedford , and became again a popular preacher
-amongst the . Baptists , where he remained to the < late of his death in 1688 . During these last years of his life he completed his celebrated allegory , and , whatever may have been its original plan and form , he would appear , beyond all doubt , prior to its publication , to have borrowed some few ideas from the Pilerinage de VKomme of Guillaume de Guileville . And it is to show how many thoughts , and how much of his plan he owes to a book which in turn ¦ owes its sole celebrity to these circumstances , that the notes of the late Mr . Nathaniel Hill , which are the foundation of this volume , have been so
diligently collected and so carefully edited . Our space will not allow us to follow the curious « nd interesting deductions made by the editors in proof of the premises raised by them . Those who feel interest in tracing the prevalence of allegorical " Writing in the middle ages ; in comparing the earlier productions of De Guileville , of Piers Plowman , Walter Mafer , Hampole , and others , with Bunyan's celebrated allegory ; or in studying the quaint translation , by LicTgate , the Monk of Bury , of the
Pelermage de PHbmna , will look with pleasure upon this beautifully printed and illustrated volume , which is executed in the old st y lo , and illustrated with facsimiles of old cuts and illuminations , after the manner wliich has rendered the twin names of "Whittingham and Pickering so deservedly popular with the lovers of bibliographical curiosities . From the preface we extract tho following fragment from Churn ' s lectures on the PilgrinCs Progress , aa likely to bo both now and interesting to our readers : — The education of Bunyan was ant education for
eternity , under the power of the Bible and the schooling of the Holy Spirit . This is all that the pilgrims in tins world really had to make them good , great , powerful ; he has given an account of his own conversion and life , especially of the workings of Hie grace of God and the guidance of His providence , in a little work entitled Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners . It is powerfully written , though with extreme and studied plainness ; and almost all the material obtained and worked into various shapes by his various I ) iograplier 3 -wag gained in tlii 3 book . In . it you see at every step the work of the Divine Artist on one of the most precious
living stones that ever His wisdom , and . mercy selected in this world to shine in the glory of His living triangle . Nay , to lay aside every figure bat that employed by tlie Holy Spirit , you see the refiner ' s fire , and the crucible , and the gold in it , and the Heavenly Refiner Himself sitting by it , and bending over it , and carefully removing the dross , and tempering the heat , and watching and waiting for His own perfect image . How beautiful , how sacred , how solemn , how interesting , how thrilling the process ! In laying Mr . Hill ' s collection of papers before their readers the editors trust , in the words of Chaucer , that out of them some few grains of corn may be gleaned : —" For out of the olde feldis 3 as men saieth , cometh all the new come fro yere to
yere ; and out of olde bokis in gode faieth cometh all this new science that men lere . " And if , as we know to have been the case , a true knowledge of Greek particles has been sufficient to secure for its possessor high and responsible office , industry like that of the late Mr . Hill must no less merit reward ; and . though not appreciated bv the many , any more than would be a bishop ' s critical acumen as to the value of Greek inseparable prepositions , still there are many who delight in this species of literary geology , and to -whom the beautiful structure is not the less pleasing because they have first ascertained from which quarry every stone has been taken wliich forms part of the harmonious whole . To them we cordially recommend this BokeoftJiePi / lgrymage of Man , as one that is peculiarly suited to please them .
J Do Find That After All His Toil And Un...
810 THjJ J ^ AJBi . J Ma 438 , Atjottst 14 , i 858 .
Two Books On Pictures. Artistic And Desc...
TWO BOOKS ON PICTURES . Artistic and Descriptive Notes of the Most Remarkable Pictures in the British . Institution Exhibition of tlie Ancient Masters , Pall-mall , 1858 . By George Scharf , Jun ., F . S . A ., F . E . S . L . Bosworth and Harrison . A Long Vacation in Continental Picture Galleries . By the Rev . T . W . Jex . Blake , M . A . John W . Parker and Son . Ukder the auspices of the Government , Mr . Ralph Wornum wrote a very admirable catalogue of the pictures in the National Gallery , which had the additional advantage of being carefully revised hy Sir Charles Eastlake ; we have thus the benefit of the combined knowledge of two gentlemen , cither of whom was h y his learning , taste , and antiquarian research relative to the fine arts , as proved by other evidences , well qualified to undertake and to fulfil the specific requirement . "Whereupon Mr . Scharf , F . S . A ., F . U . S . ± j ., Secretary to the National Portrait Gallery , Professor of Fine Art at the Queen ' s College , London , and late Director and Art Secretary of the Manchester Exhibition , an opportunity offering , seizes it to demonstrate , Coriolanus-like , " alone" he'd do it , forgetful of Emerson ' s axiom , "He who imitates commits suicide . " This Mr . Scharf ' s unconscious incapacity soon develops . Because Mr . Wornum in his Catalogue adopts the alphabetical arrangement , Mr . Scharf does " also , but not likewise , " for he forgets that in the National
Gallery every frame round a picture has the name of the painter placed on it as well as "tho number ia the Catalogue , and in tho British Institution the number only ,- the consequence is , as wo know by unpleasant experience , " confusion worse confounded . " So inadequate arc the means to an end , that the first thing Mr . S . does is to break through his own rule of alphabetical order by beginning -with Leonardo da Vinci ! It is true he qualifies this , by a note " that the extraordinary interest of these three pictures" induces a departure from the rule . The question of "
extraordinary interest" is a matter of judgment and taste , and we must confess , from the « videncc before us , ¦ we have no trust in the development of cither as exhibited by Mr . Scharf . Ho prints , " These pa ^ es arc not intended to form a complete catalogue , they are only supplemental notes of the best and most interesting pictures . The latter compriso also that very important class of works which , for want of merit , attractiveness , or a knowledgo of tho circumstances connected with them , would , otherwine be passed over . " Now tho number of pictures in the Gallery arc 187 , and the works mentioned in tho
Twn Pnniq N\R -Ir Cj J. V\U Xjuujvo Ujm Llulukuib
Catalogue 13 J ) , then why did he not ¦ in PiI 1 , ir * "TT ; unnamed ? Was it because t ^ fia dZrt 2 ? iveness , & c ? , But we must c < 4 ss ffafe ^ J " tatiou is an enigma to us . ^ <) - Of Mr . Scharf ' s judgment in exclii ^ r , renders will form their own concluSTXi ° ^ inform them that a very fine "study of a Wp ' u that "last of the Venetians , " Trc 1 , 0 k anKc hy traordinarily interesting oil mSurc ^ on tt screen ) by Haas Holbein , arc amongst the iumhw As a proof of his taste , he writes - "Lnn traying the effect of a raging tempest with swcS ' waves , Backlmysen stands unrivalled ! " Of TJUH sprawling picture , a combination of David ™<\ tI Bruu , by Ca > nuccini , "A truly graud hfibS composition timing in a very rare degree form - uuiBs oest
uau au me qualities of comnositW drawing , and colour ! ! " Botticelli ' s VirriRS - is especially beautiful and grand iu t ! its an proach to a sculptor ' s treatment ! !! " He Ca ]] J ' very poor Moreland " very refined iu feeling and as a proof of his critical acumen ou on < vinal ! tV he doubts not Nos . 71 and 7 S beino- by MurSS S ? ^ 7 - eve ? w *! f I * q ^ tionatlenew of No . 150 being by Hilton ^ With regard to the t ^ o former , let hmi loot again ; and of the latter , let him ask Mr . Utothwcll ' s opinion . Iu writing on a p icture by TJ wins , R A . ( No . ISO ) , he delivers himself of the followinn- extraordinary paragraph : — °
One of those contrasts of grief and mirtli which ensure a certain amount of success to all who adopt it . How different would have been the treatment , had one of the earnest men , called pre-Eapliaelites , undertaken tLe same theme !* Ay , truly ! and if Mr . Scharf had not written tins Catalogue , how would that remarkable body of men called Grub Street have treated the subject ?} And now , a last few words about Mr . Schari ' s - antiquarian knowledge , and that on a subject , in consequence of the -stir that is now being made , and has been agitated for some years , even the mccrest tyro
is thoroughly well acquainted -with , namely , the foundation of the Hoyal Academy . In the biographical notice of Sir Joshua , he writes that Reynolds " travelled i * i Italy and other countries froni 1749 to 1752 . Founded the Royal Academy in 176 S . " Now , so far from the knight having anything to do with the founding he studiously held himself aloof from any public demonstration of knoM'ledge that such formation was going on , and there is little doubt that he played a very astute part throughout the whole game . It is notorious that the Royal
Academy was planned and proposed by Chambers , West , Coatcs , and Moser ; further , it had fcecn arranged with the king , that Reynolds , although not ia the secret nor consulted respecting the formation of the academy , should be president , which honourable position lie first of all refused , hat was afterwards induced to accept through the bribe of knighthood . In justice to other men we avail ourselves of a sentence of one of our contemporaries , adding- thereto one word . " Mr . Scharf is (» of ) our best antiquarian Art-critic . " The Rev . Mr . Blake ' s book is the result of iiotc 3 made during two several ( ours on the Coui incut iu the year 1857 ; it contains historical , critical , and biographical notices of pictures and painters in the following cities and towns : —Antwerp , Berlin , Bologna , Brussels , Dresden , Florence , Frankfort , Ghent , Hesse Cassel , Lilh ; , Mikm , Munich , Padua , Home , Venice , and Vienna , and fully satisfies the pungent necessity of its birth . All who have travelled abroad with a desire to sec tlic art . wealth have suffered from the expense , cumbrous inconvenience , and insufficiency of foreign eii 1 iilo { nies , whilst many have been and are precluded from gaining any information on the subject from the tact ot their being written in a foreign langaftRp-Mr . Blake lias now supplied a desideratum , lucid in style , comprehensive in matter , cheap anil portable in form . The plan upon , which he hsis raised his superstructure is thus st . ntcd : — Pictures ot every school and every kinil nvft noticed freely , from * tho wisli that none might bo missed which could be nt nil worth looking at , rnther tlinn tli : it all slioulil bo omitted wliich were not decidedly lino . Still tho tmveller will find that much timp has been saved by omitting nil really inferior works , # ' »'" £ Htrnig'Ut- to tho boat , and proceeding systematically round tho rooni . This enunciation of prineiplo and dephmiiion of design must ; meet , with our fullest approbation , because it . proves a keen insight of the requirements and develops a power for their fulfilment . rll > ° in " * Wo would cull Mr . Scliiirf ' s especial attention toft quotation underneath , quoted from tho Kov . Mr . liluko .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 14, 1858, page 810, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/ldr_14081858/page/18/
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