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sculpture which gave a soul to the objects of sense , and a body to the abstractions of mind , was surely not completed when artists dared to work perfection instead of fragments , and appeal to natural instead of conventional purity . Moreover , Mr . Symington is rash in his assertions , as when he speaks of the unbearable glare of new white-cut marble , and assumes the truth of the hypothesis that all the works of Grecian sculpture and architecture were more or less coloured . We had thought this controversy td have ended in a compromise . An analysis of ancient literature will prove distinctly to any one interested in the subject that not only were many of the monuments and statues left white , but were admired especially on account of their similitude to snow . If authorities are to be quoted , criticism should find its way to one book as well as to another . We think Mr . Symington has busied himself too much with his compilations among the moderns to do more than judge hastily of the antique . Apparently , too , he is unconscious that his work falls short of being an analysis of the laws of beauty , which it is not in any respect . That the that its classincacions aim
analogies and sympathies of Art are discussed , capabilities are pointed out , that the artiaf is admonished , and that the idea of mathematical ratios in connexion wifffi Grecian and Gothic architecture is developed , may he admitted in favorfr of the work , under its educational aspect ; but that the principle of beauty in philosophy has been reduced to a metaphysical precipitate is perhaps what not even the author himself believes . Of sculpture we think his theory totally inadequate ; m poetry he seems to nave a generous catholic taste ; in painting his eulogies wander far and near , and are at times characteristically exaggerated ; in music he finds the spirit of all art and beauty . Into his essay on the beautiful m life we have not ventured far : it combines mysticism with exuberance .
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A MONTH IN THE FORESTS OF FRANCE . A Month in the Forest * of France . By the Hon . Grantler F , Berkeley . Longman and Co . Since the well-remembered Colonel Thornton , of Thomville Royal , abqut half a century ago , published one , if not two , large quarto volumes containing his hunting reminiscences of France , no similar contribution to our literature has occurred until the appearance of the present modest work . But Thornton was a sportsman merely , his intellectual endowments being not of a very high grade , and we look in vain for that enthusiastic examination of * Great Nature's Book of Mystery , ' which forms a leading attraction in the present work . Mr . Berkeley observes in his preface that ^ his aim has "been to render the narrative of this month ' s sojourn in an ancient French
chateau , the welcome he enjoyed , how he was feasted beneath the greenwood tree , with his adventures among the wild-boar , the roebuck , and the wolf—amusing not merely to sportsmen but worthy of being placed even upon the table of a lady ' s boudoir . We think he has succeeded . Equally observant with the amiable historian of Selbourne , like him a lover of the free denizens of the woods , he possesses that more enlarged experience and wider range of observation which a constant devotion to the mysteries of woodcraft must necessarily confer . ^ The kennel at Beacon Lodge numbers among its tenants a noble bloodhound named Druid . The extraordinary size , strength , and sagacity of this
dog have by his master been frequently described in many interesting papers published in the columns of a contemporary . Indeed , this splendid specimen of a generous race literally enjoys a European celebrity with sportsmen . His performances in pulling down the deer unassisted , which had been ordered to be destroyed throughout the Royal New Forest , reached the ears of the Vicomte d'Anchald , of Chateau Sauvage , two hundred miles south of Paris . Being of congenial sylvan tastes , and moreover Louvetier , or lieutenant of the wolf-hounds , in his department , he came over expressly to see the English chase , and , it is scarcely necessary to add , received all the warmhearted hospitality in which an English country mansion , especially when tenanted by a sportsman , is rarely deficient .
He came to me at Beacon Lodge ; was out with Druid when he hunted down hia deer ; rode well , and only missed giving " the doe the coup de grdce by not knowing the locality aa well as I did . He joined me in my aea fishings and shared in all that ( he season afforded , bought some of my bloodhounds , accepted others that I was too happy to place at his disposal , and bought several couples of fox hounds from the best English kennels . Hjs object accomplished—that of seeing Druid hunt down his deer , and taking my advice as to forming a contemplated pack of hounds—he repaired to France with a pledge from me that I would return the visit And fraternize with him .
Accordingly in September , 1856 , our author , accompanied b y a portion of his kennel , amongst which were several of Druid ' s descendants , embarked at Southampton in happy mood , full of excitement at the prospect of the novel kind of chase which awaited him in the great primaeval forests of France . On board the packet , he gota acquainted with an odd fish—an American merchant skipper—who , though professing to be a slavery - hatipg abolitionist , ' exhibits some extraordinary vugaries totally at variance lyith his liberal professions : — On the deck stood my friend , the Captain , drawn up to his full height , and sternly Intent upon the form of some receding passenger then perambulating ' forward . ' " Hallo , Captain ! " I exclaimed , what ' s up and in the wind now ? You don't lookjjlposed . '' "Pleased ! " he sternly replied ; " and how should I be ? look what ' s coming now I " An Jntelllgent-lookfng coloured gentleman , well dressed , was advancing aft the —funneht- ^ Oh !~ I ^ see . —What horin-ls . hejdghigJC ^_____ „ " fittrm't why just look At him ? There he goes , walking infrbnt < ff" ? hose ladies fchtot « re seated ! There ' s impudence in him ! Why / wouldn't do sol What toifow has he abaft the funnel ? I wonder some one don ' t drop into him ?" . " Well , now , Captain , " I said , " if you go down to breakfast , and he oomai too ,
what will you , do ? You can ' t drop into him ; so what course would you take ?" ., " Takol" he cried , " why , if I was half famished , I'd quit the table as long as he w »» there , that I would . " . Ottfr , Englishman , however , in whose veins circulated tho blood of the old P fttneh fl « A king 9 , as is inscribed on the tomb of one of tho FitzUarUingca of Beifatfv , buried in Bristol Cathedral aix hundred yearn ago , hud none of ttyt prejudices of this underbred Yankee . Ho liked tho appearance P $ file 0 t # bfer t' » veritable black from head to foot / ascertained who he
was , and in the spirit of a Christian gentleman at once made his acquaintance : ——I showed him my bloodhound ; and talking a great deal to him , found that he was perfect in the English language , understood French , and was altogether a gentleman of very considerable information . Travelling by railway , he at length reaches the Guetin station , and there a friendly hand presses his shoulder , and M . d * Anchald welcomes him to France . The morning which succeeded Mr . Berkeley's arrival at Chateau Sauvage was exactly the one a sportsman delights to revel in : — With * a swin" I leaped from my bed , and entering the recess of the window
caused by the thickness of the walls , I threw the casement open . Beneath my window was a terrace , whence arose the aroma of mignonette and other flowers , while below its wall were splendid meadows as green and rich as those beneath the battlements of Berkeley Castle , filled with white cattle . Beyond the meadows the undulating ground rose in some arable land , abutting the edge of the luxuriant wild or copse-wood forest . Oh ! what a balmy , elastic , invigorating air ; how soft the sky * , how green the fields and woods ! I looked on them all with heartfelt veneration , and wished for eyes that were far away , and thought of hours that I had shared with them in beautiful prospects something like the one now before me . That did not enervate the sportsman ' s arm nor render me less anxious to bring a boar
to bay . The French Vicomte ' s ideas of utilitarian agriculture are worthy of our illustrious compatriot Mr . Mechi , of Tiptreeand draining celebrity : — The meadows I gazed on in olden times had been an immense lake . " Oh ! why , " I once exclaimed to my friend , " did you not keep it for the sake of the wild swans and all the varieties of fowl and fish upou and within it ? " " The bullocks are better , " was his reply ; * ' a bullock to an acre is better than the ducks . " And , in one sense of the word , I could offer no contradiction . After breakfast the author repairs to his host ' s kennel . The healthy and efficient condition in which hounds should be maintained is , of course , a capital point of observance with all sportsmen , and with none more decidedly than one who is recognized as the ' p remier chasseur' of Britain . The reader may therefore easily picture the regret and dismay excited by the melancholy picture which presented itself to his view : —
I beheld about seventeen couple of hounds in every possible and impossible stage of disease and incapability , and not above two or three among them that even looked fit to follow an animal of chase . There tottered Saxon—the great able young bloodhound , in the prime of life , that , single-handed , had often hunted down , in runs of from two to four hours' duration , the wild New Forest deer , and which 1 had sold to M . d'Anchald in the previous spring—scarce able to sustain himself , nor possessed of energy enough to know me ; as thin as a whipping post , as hollow in his coat as a ' French hen , ' and nearly blind from the yellow matter accumulated in the corners of his eyes . " What on earth is the matter with Saxon ? " I exclaimed . " Nothing . " " Nothing !
why he is dying , as are three parts of the hounds . All are skeletons save one or two , which areas fat as pig 3 ; all are more or less eaten up with mange , and even the bestlooking are in no condition : what makes the most of them so thin ? " "I don't know ; they eat what they like . " " What makes that one so fat . " " I don't know , he has the same chance as the others . " " How do you feed them ? " " We let them in all together . " " Ventre saint-gris ! what do you give them to eat ? " " Barley bread soaked in hot water . " "No flesh ? " "Oh yes , sometimes . " " Well , th « hounds are' dying ; how do you account for it ? " "We took them out the other day to an attack of some wolves , and after that they all lay down , and have looked bad ever since . " ....
Dear brother sportsman , will you believe it ? these poor hounds had lain cooped up in their kennel from March till the end of August , and then , without any previous exercise or trot on the roads , or rule as to the quantity of fat they carried , and not having had any meat , they were taken out into the severest and best scenting woods imaginable to hunt cub wolves , in a climate warmer than that of England , on a very hot day . Well might they tire and lie down . I wonder they did not all fall off in fits , die at once , or go mad . Accompanied by * the roguish cripples , ' as he afterwards , and with reason , ludicrously nicknames the babbling French pack , they went to hunt the wolf , enlivened by an absurd and noisy fanfarrade of winding horns . A couple or two of staunch English fox-hourids , perhaps of the famous old Berkeley breed , ' go with them , and , as might be anticipated , do more than their fair share of the work : —
There was a very remarkable sullen bay proceeding from a single hound , a long way off . I had taken up a position against a tree , listening to that bay again , when down the path , right for my legs , came a splendid cub-dog wolf , quite beaten , and by his side , and touching him , a powerful French hound , able to go twice as fast as the wolf , but not daring to stop him—the wolf going with his head very low , his hind quarters very high , his brush between his legs , and every bristle on his back set up the wrong way ; his tongue out , and his eyes flashing fire , while from his capacious jaw s he emitted the fathers and mothers of all the snarls I had ever heard , by way of tolling the hound to keep his jaws off . The hound kept growling , sometimes behind his
him , nudging his hind "quarters with his chin ; at other times alongside , licking lips and pushing his nose against the top of the wolf's neck , just as you see a dog do when ho meditates pitching into another ) all this done in a long heavy gallop , and beautifully illustrating my expressed opinion , that the reason hounds in Franco cannot catch a wolf is , that they do not come up with him in force sufficient to roll him over . On they came , until within two yards of my boots , when 1 suddenly raised one leg in the wolf ' s face , which made him dash on one side clear of the hound , and 1 at onco fired , The green cartridge never exploded , but like a ball it just went over his shoulder and missed him . He then crossed the ride behind me , going away aslant ; and on tho first opportunity afforded by tho trees I rolled him over .
The chase of the wild boar , which may bo enjoyed in its highest perfection in the French forests , is attended with much more serious peril to both hounds and huntsmen than that of the wolf : — I was flying tho shortest way to another bond of the wood , when I saw under ft-, hedge , ^ mptlonleB 9 _« nd ^ r ed ^ wjJh _ bJpod , poor _ Barrloade , one of our best foxhounds , ripped open , the blood in a jet as thick aa tlieTHttlSTlHgerislHl ^ pouring-out from behind her ear . I never saw so miserable an object' —her beautiful faoo so different in expression to what it was when I cheered her in the run ; nnablo to walk , she seemed fb stand up transfixed with pain ; so , fearing that more mischief might be going on while I was away , I cried to a peasant who was standing close by , " Le pauvre , pauvre chion , a . voub I" pointing to her ' at the same time with a look of pity { and again I plunged inj . o tho woods . The death of un vieux solitaire : — The boar had received eight balls before ho died—topping the fence of the wood Uke a greyhound wilh seven ballu in him , and falling at loot by a ball fired by Maurice M he jumped the fence , which struck him behind , and raked quite up Into the vital part * A more splendid creature I never saw . From hia small And , far a boar , boautlwjljr-
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16 THE . Ii E A I ) EB . CjfeM'gg ? J ^ ^ r 2 , 1858 .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 2, 1858, page 16, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2224/page/16/
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