Queries" published in the Ipswich Journal during 1877-8. After this tale was read in full, abstracts of

variants from Cornwall, Scotland, Sweden, Iceland, Germany, Austrian Hungary, Spain, Mongolia, &c.,

with references from archaic legends in Grimın and in the 'Corpus Poeticum Boreale,' were given. The philosophy at the core of each story, the nucleus of primitive thought round which the incidents had gathered, was shown to be the widespread notion that the name of any being, whether human or superhuman, is an integral part of that being, and that to know it puts its owner in the power of another. This notion is a part of that general confusion between names and things which is a universal fea

ture of barbaric modes of thought, and is closely related to fetishism, shamanism, and other products of uncultured intelligence. Examples from the lower and the higher culture were cited, and conclusions deduced as to the like attitude of the mind before like phenomena which awakened man's fears until the true nature of those phenomena was explained by science. In the discussion which followed, Mr. A. Nutt said Mr. Clodd had rescued an English folktale, 'Tom, Tit, Tot,' which was second to none, and drew attention to the phase of this group of folk tales which had not been dwelt upon by Mr. Clodd, namely, the idea that the products of civilization, weaving, spinning, gold-producing, church-building, &c., were all obtained from shade-land.-Dr. Gaster expressed his opinion that all the incidents could be referred to parallels in mediæval magic and in the Biblical narrative. - The Chairman drew attention to the importance of the main incident in this group of tales being comparable to a belief which was current among the savage races, using the word savage to roughly represent the nonAryan peoples of the world, and suggested that, inasmuch as most of the folk-tales which had been subjected to an exhaustive analysis exhibited strong traces of savage culture as the groundwork of their incidents, it might be possible to venture upon another theory for the wide diffusion of folktales, namely, that they were the relics of the preAryan races which had spread over Europe and Asia and had left in monumental archæology evidence of their existence.

MEETINGS FOR THE ENSUING WEEK.

MON. London Institution, 5.-'Marriage Laws, Ancient and Modern,'

Dr. E B. Tylor.

Aristotelian, 8.-Symposium: What takes place in Voluntary
Action? Mr. B. Bosanquet and others.
Institute of British Architects, 8.-Special General Meeting.
Society of Arts, 8.- Decoration and Illustration of Books,'
Lecture II., Mr. W. Crane (Cantor Lecture,.
Geographical. 84 - The Trans-Caspian Railway.' Hon. G. Curzon.
TUES. Horticultural.-Fruit and Fioral Committees, 11; Scientific Com-
mittee. 1; Lecture, 3

Royal Institution, 3.-'Before and After Darwin,' Prof. G. J.
Romanes.

Civil Engineers, 8.-'Indian Railways: the Broad and the Metre
Gauge Systems Contrasted, Mr. F. J. Waring.

Anthropological Institute, 8) -Exhibition of an Artificially De-
formed Skull from Mallicollo, Prof. Flower; Exhibition of
some Examples of Prehistoric Trephining and Skull Boring
from America, Prof. V. Horsley: 'Note on the Use of "Elk"
Teeth for Money in North America, Mr. H. Balfour; 'Com-
parative Anthropometry of English Jews, Messrs. J. Jacobs
and I. Spielman.

WED. Cymmrodorion, 8-'The Celt and the Pleasantness of Nature,'
Rev. H. E. Lewis.
Society of Arts, 8.-'Aluminium and its Manufacture on the
Deville-Castner Process, Mr. W. Anderson.

Microscopical, 8-Psamothiomya pectinata, a New Dipterous
Insect, Mr. J. Deby.

Huguenot, 8.- 'The Huguenots in North Britain, Miss F. Layard.
THURS. Royal Institution, 3.The Venem of Serpents and Allied
Poisons, Dr. S. Martin.
Royal, 44.

FRI.

=

SAT.

London Institution, 6.-'Algeria and Morocco, Mr. H. Blackburn. Linnean, 8.

Electrical Engineers, 8.-Discussion on 'Some Electric Lighting Central Stations in Europe, and their Lessons,' Prof. G. Forbes. Mathematical, 8.- Notes on Plane Curves: IV. Involution. Condition of a Cubic and its Hessian; V. Figure of a certain Cubic and its Hessian, 'the President; The Problem of Duration of Play,' Major Macmahon; 'Some Results in the Etementary Theory of Numbers, Mr. C. Leudesdorf; 'The Characteristics of an Asymmetric Optical Instrument,' Dr. J. Larmor.

Antiquaries, 8].-'Remarkable Monumental Brass from Brown Candover, Hants, Mr. J. G. Waller; British Urns found in Bucks, Mr. J. Parker; Discoveries in Toots Wood, near

Beckenham.' Mr. W. J. Nichols.

United Service Institution, 3.

Philological, 8-English Etymologies,' Rev. Prof. Skeat. Royal Institution, 9.-'Beacon Lights and Fog Signals,' Sir J. N. Douglass.

Royal Institution, 3.- Experimental Optics, Lord Rayleigh.

Science Gossip.

DR. Roux, of the Pasteur Institute, is to deliver the Croonian Lecture before the Royal Society this year. The subject of the lecture is to be 'Preventive Inoculation, and it will be founded on observations made in the Institute. It is expected that M. Pasteur will himself be present at the lecture if his health permits. The date of the event is not yet fixed, but it is not unlikely to be in the month of May.

of a magnificent geological map of Rhenish Prussia and Westphalia, in thirty-five sheets, West accompanied by two volumes of text. He also published smaller geological maps of Germany and the neighbouring countries. Living in Bonn, he was naturally much interested in the volcanic districts of the Rhine, and was the author of some standard works on the Eifel and the Siebengebirge. For many years he edited, jointly with Karsten, the Archiv für Mineralogie. Von Dechen's contributions to scientific societies hundreds; but he was also the author of several and to serial literature are to be reckoned by solid treatises, such as 'Die nutzbaren Mineralien und Gebrigsarten im Deutschen Reiche.' At the Berlin session of the International Geological Congress Dr. von Dechen acted as honorary president, and it was hoped that he would have been present last autumn at the London meeting, but he was compelled by failing strength to abandon his intention. In early life he travelled much in this country, and was elected a Foreign Member of our Geological Society as far back as 1827, having thus stood in friendly relationship with English geologists for more than sixty years.

Our readers will remember that on the opening of the Marine Biological Laboratory at Plymouth, Mr. Robert Bayly presented the Association with 500l., to be expended on researches relating to the use of artificial bait. The first step in the investigation will, it has been arranged, be undertaken by Mr. William Bategon-no joke is intended-who will make an inquiry into the organs of smell and taste in fishes.

THE Rev. J. G. Wood, whose sudden death we regret to see recorded, was held in higher esteem by the general public, who bought his books largely, than by naturalists. He had recently handed to Messrs. Bentley the manuscript of his new and, as it turns out, his last work, The Dominion of Man over Animals,' which is to be published in October.

FINE ARTS

The STUART EXHIBITION of PORTRAITS, MINIATURES, and PERSONAL RELICS connected with the ROYAL HOUSE of STUART. Under the Patronage of Her Majesty the Queen. OPEN DAILY from 10 A.M. to 7 P.M.-Admission, Is.; Season Tickets, 5s. New Gallery, Regent Street.

'THE VALE OF TEARS.'-DORE'S LAST GREAT PICTURE, completed a few days before he died, NOW ON VIEW at the Doré Gallery, 85, New Bond Street, with 'Christ leaving the Prætorium,' 'Christ's Entry into Jerusalem,' The Dream of Pilate's Wife,' and his other great Pictures. From 10 to 6 Daily. Admission, 18.

A History of Miniature Art, with Notes on Collectors and Collections. By J. L. Pro

pert. Illustrated. (Macmillan & Co.) THIS is a handsome book, and the beautiful illustrations are, except the frontispiece, as charming as they are faithful and brilliant. They are due to a process admitting, within certain limits, of the reproduction of the essential qualities, barring the colours, of a long series of miniaturists who placed and maintained this country in the very first rank with regard to the delightful art they practised. The frontispiece does not illustrate the old advice that one should put one's best face before the world; it is a tolerable copy of old engravings after miniatures by the "Fathers of the English school." These are good specimens of engraving in pure line, but, at the best, they are but translations, to reproduce which was surely less wise than to employ that orthochromatic process which, although a translation and confessedly imperfect, at least gives results at first hand, and has been adopted in the majority of the illustrations. In passing let us say that we dare

among the "Fathers of the English school," in the common sense of the term. The same might be said of Zincke; Levina Teerlinck, who painted Queen Elizabeth; Liotard, who worked here; Boit, who worked for Queen Anne; John Faber, the Dutch draughtsman in ink; and the Petitots, père and fils; to say nothing of those mysterious Bordiers who are here, there, and everywhere in Europe, or our candid visitor Rouquet (the friend of Hogarth), who wrote of English art in his time, “We are now arrived at the period in which the arts have sunk to the lowest ebb in Britain," and were employed on what he styled "a dissolute kind of painting." Still he took it on himself to defend us islanders against the Abbé Le Blanc, who, nevertheless, was right when he said (it was in the Hudsonian epoch) that the portrait painters of London were more numerous and worse than they had ever been. Walpole said the same thing. It is true, however, that not only Hudson (1701-79), but Jervas (1675-1739), to say nothing of Richardson (1665-1745), painted many excellent portraits. The fact is that like Lely-who sometimes almost touched Van Dyck's standard, and at last sank below Hudson's level these painters had latterly so much to do they could not do it well. Kneller died in the year in which Reynolds was born, and the criticisms of Walpole, Rouquet, and Le Blanc are at least partially true of the period when Sir Joshua was growing up, and design was at its lowest in this country, if we neglect Hogarth, whom Mr. Propert does not reckon among the miniaturists, although some of the faces of his likenesses are not more than an inch long, and are as fully finished as the crispest touches can make them. Hogarth, on his marriage in 1729, made it his profession to paint "in small," for instance, his own likeness in the National Portrait Gallery; and if Clouet III. (Janet), whose studies were often of life size, is reckoned as a miniature painter, Hogarth should be also. Besides, Hogarth painted miniatures proper in the narrower sense of the term.

We do not find the Clouets mentioned as

painters in oil, although Lady Lindsay has a beautiful portrait named 'Isabella of Portugal' (R.A. 1888, No. 56), which is a miniature, if ever there was one. No doubt Mr. Propert found his task laborious beyond expectation. His interpretation of his duties as an historian is extremely liberal, and enables him to include the painters of many European countries, although he omits all reference to Indian art of this kind; and while he mentions many artists of France, Germany, Holland, and Italy, the miniaturists of Spain and Portugal, once renowned for their skill, have escaped him. We are not the less grateful to him for what he has done. It is true that Walpole (by means of Vertue), Labarte, Laborde, Westwood, Dibdin, Shaw, D'Agincourt, M. Bonnaflé, and Lady Dilke have all contributed information on branches of the history of painting in miniature, and Mr. Bradley has issued some volumes of his 'Dictionary of Miniaturists.' But till Mr. Propert took it in hand no one seems to have cared to produce a history of the art on anything like the scale of this fine quarto, while only a magazinearticle or two, or the catalogues of public collections, have attempted anything at all comprehensive on a subject which, apart from its artistic and technical qualities, is, as this book shows, full of anecdote, and of both tragedy and comedy. No other set of copies of miniatures, except those published by Messrs. Colnaghi in the 'Photographic Historical Portrait Gallery,' 1860, can compete with the illustrations of this work, in which a less brilliant, if less risky process has been employed. Mr. Bradley's book was, of course, too late to help our author, who, with due acknowledgments, quotes from all the other authorities we have named, and has made liberal use of their writings.

From M. Bonnaflé he has borrowed some materials for a most amusing chapter on "Collectors and Collections," especially those of ancient Rome. Two bright, but brief chapters are devoted to collections and collectors from the fall of Rome until the end of the eighteenth century. From this portion of the book the reader will not learn much, and he will fail to find the names of Fouquet, Prince Eugene, and one or two more of note, among whom Rembrandt and Rubens deserved a line. On the other hand, we have a lively sketch of the period in France during which, as Mr. Propert puts it, "the fortress gave way to the château, and the great collectors seemed determined that their habitations should be worthy of their collections."

The concluding portions of the volume are more strictly compilations, and are less worthy of Mr. Propert. To judge of his work we must begin at the beginning. A good idea of his merits may be obtained from the following passage in his introductory chapter:

"We are a little too apt to talk glibly of the early middle ages as the dark ages,' and to date our consideration of pictorial art from the first faint glimmerings of the Italian Renaissance; but art, especially in its branches, never really

slept. No doubt for many ages men were grop

ing feebly in the dusky twilight of an unæsthetic atmosphere and surroundings, and for the first few centuries of these early times but little evidence remains to us of the excellence, or

otherwise, of art-work. Still, as I shall hope to show in the succeeding chapter, we have, in a few illuminated manuscripts of a very early date, a certain amount of material at our command upon which to form a judgment. Now, as it is absurd to suppose that the art which adorns their pages sprang into existence at once, like Minerva, from the head of Olympian Jove, we must regard these precious relics as the gradual outcome and development of preceding artideas, carried on in a regular chain, though unfortunately its links are lost."

This idea, which is not new, is fairly well illustrated in the succeeding chapters, and Mr. Propert specially refers to the influence of Byzantine missionaries travelling into England and Ireland upon the nascent art of those islands. If he had said that it is very doubtful how much of ancient Hibernian and Anglo-Irish design (which, after all, is only an elaborate and wonderfully delicate sort of decoration on the narrowest principles) is due to wanderers from Constantinople, and how much to their native pupils, if there were any, he would have put the matter clearly before his readers, and avoided dangerous speculations on the influence of these Byzantine wanderers east and south, in which no reference is made to the effect on their pupils of those

Oriental influences from which they could not escape. It is far from being quite true that Arabic artists drew their ideas from the art-missionaries of Byzantium, and it is impossible to accept without reserve the assertion that the miniatures of the Hibernian or Anglo-Celtic school, e.g., the relics of Holy Island, are "quite free from either Byzantine or Roman teaching."

When Mr. Propert enters, so to say, his own country in the sixteenth century, he is not dependent upon other books. Of Holbein, it is true, he writes as if the date of his death were still a matter of doubt. But the share of the Hornebolts in art produced in England is duly insisted upon, although nothing is added to our knowledge of them or their works. As to the latter, Mr. Propert will find matter at his hand when he likes to exercise his acumen and knowledge on the subject. We think he makes too much of Wornum's doubt as to whether Holbein painted miniatures at all. Wornum's hesitation was but part of his over cautious temper, and there is no reason whatever to question the testimony of tradition, the style of the best works attributed to Holbein, and the direct statement of Hilliard, who, as he was born in 1547, or only four years after Holbein's death, and painted persons who knew him, may betaken as a trustworthy witness when he wrote, "Holbein's manner of limning I have ever imitated and hold it for the best." As Hilliard's miniatures confirm this statement it is difficult to ask for better testimony on this point. The evidence of Hollar, too, is good, and to the same effect as Hilliard's. Mr. Propert ably dissects the histories of some capital miniatures bearing Holbein's name, and easily proves that several of them must have been painted before that master came to England, while many more were produced after his death. As to who could have painted some of these anonymous instances, it is safe to say that neither Hans Baldung nor Justus Van Cleef, whom Mr. Propert mentions in this connexion, ever painted in a manner likely to be mistaken for Holbein's by any one possessed of technical knowledge. Mr. Propert is wise in stating the claims of Levina Teerlinck, Gwillim Stretes, and Lucas and Susannah Hornebolt to be the painters of miniatures which neither time nor circumstance permits us to ascribe to Holbein, although most of them are quite worthy of him.

is wise

that the will of this fine artist was proved by his widow and sole legatee December 15th, 1648. He probably died at Isleworth, where we know he lived; but Mr. Propert has discovered that he was buried with his father Isaac (ob. 1617) at St. Anne's, Blackfriars, December 22nd, 1647. In his notes on Cooper our author has omitted to repeat the little-known anecdote of the painter being at work at Hampton Courtwe think it was there and surreptitiously copying a miniature he had begun of Oliver Cromwell, who had given certain sittings on the condition that no copy or repetition should be made. Unluckily Cooper became so deeply absorbed in his task as not to hear a footstep behind him, but he heard the strong and stern voice of the Protector when, stretching over the painter's shoulder, he took possession of both the miniatures and said, "Ho! ho! Master Cooper. None of that, sir!" The works were never finished, but, after passing through the hands of the Countess of Falconberg and her descendants, they were sold separately, and parted ed for awhile, only, however, to meet again in a famous collection where they now are. About half of the face in each is in white.

In commending this history we may suggest some emendations for another edition. It is more than doubtful if Leonardo da Vinci died in the arms of Francis I., as stated on p. 135; the Castle Howard drawings ascribed to Clouet and others were not, as p. 138 says, "reproduced in photography by Lord Ronald Gower"-we wish they had been; Lady Strange's maiden name was Lumisden, not Lumsden, p. 103; Hoadley, p. 102, should be Hoadly; we are not sure that George Jameson was, as stated in the note on the so-called "Scottish Van Dyck," really a pupil of Rubens. Memlinc did not paint any part of the Grimani Breviary. Mr. Propert should add to his list of noteworthy miniaturists the names at least of Hoefnagel and "Il Monaco." Of Hilliard's charming portrait of Mrs. Holland, of which we have a good print, it would be worth while to say that the lady was one of Queen Elizabeth's Maids of Honour, not one of the four tall and stately maidens, clad all in white, whose beauty was too much for the Venetian ambassador when he saluted their mistress. The date of the miniature is 1593, when the fair Holland was twenty-six years old. It is, no doubt, honourable testimony to the merit of the miniatures of the late Mr. Egley to say that he "was, perhaps, the very last artist who did really good work"; but miniature painting has not fallen so low as that implies, and we join with Mr. Propert in hoping that as life-size portraiture in oil has revived, so the lovely art of Hilliard and the Coopers may before long flourish again.

Fairfax, Cromwell, Lilburn, Thurloe, and other celebrated men, as it was the luck of Mrs. Beale to delineate the gracious face of Andrew Marvell, of Loggan to paint Samuel Butler, and of Flatman to paint Algernon Sidney (his best work). Mr. Propert has been enabled to correct the date, long doubtful, of the death of Peter Oliver, given by

(Second and Concluding Notice.)

THE View of Spencer House in the Green Park (No. 176), lent by Lord Spencer, has long enjoyed the reputation of being a Hogarth, and

was called a Hogarth at the Art Treasures Exhibition in 1857, not, however, without exciting many doubts and some protests. In the foreground is to be seen the long and narrow reservoir which, until a few years ago, occupied the

enclosed by a footpath, much used, as we see here, by beaux and belles for afternoon promenades. The picture is noteworthy for the brilliant yet naïve manner in which these figures are reflected on the lustrous surface of the water. The evident sincerity of the artist is refreshingly apparent throughout the work. The landscape is not first rate, but, of course, its topographical value is considerable. That it is by S. Scott, Hogarth's friend and companion in many a junketing, will not be doubted by those who compare its technique with that of No. 172, here called The Thames, the property of Lord Aylesford.

The

figures in No. 176 may be by Hogarth, and this seems to be confirmed by the circumstance that an artist is seated on a railing in front of the design with a sketch-book in one hand and is pointing with the other to the distant Abbey. This figure is not Hogarth, and it is rather like Scott, whose portrait by Hudson was not long since added to the National Gallery. It is much more probable that Hogarth would put a figure of Scott into a landscape of Scott's making

making (espe

cially as the figure is pointing to the landscape) than a likeness of himself. In no instance did Hogarth introduce his own portrait into a subject picture. This work was doubtless painted by Scott for the Lord Spencer of his day, and has been attributed to Hogarth on account of the figures, which are such as Hogarth placed in other works of the kind, e. g., those belonging to the Earl of Pembroke.

No. 2, by Opie, Portrait of S. Padley, is no doubt, as the Catalogue suggests, an early picture and of extraordinary merit, considering that Padley was a boy of ten when it was painted (and therefore likely to be a bad sitter) at Swansea in 1783, while Opie himself was then only twenty-two years of age. Its technique is so highly artificial, and so evidently founded on that to which Reynolds had attained at the outset of the "Cornish boy's" career, as to refute the claim of Opie to be self-taught in any right sense of the term. The por portrait is obviously not such a work as an untaught artist would, or indeed ever could, produce by study of nature alone. It is, in fact, the effort of a clever youth who founded himself upon highly developed pictorial conventions. This is confirmed by the admiration of Opie's contemporaries, who declared that he rivalled Sir Joshua and painted like Rembrandt. The visitor who turns to No. 3, Reynolds's portrait of Lady Elizabeth Keppel, and to No. 5, his Mrs. Morris, will find our remark justified. During the same visit to Swansea, which he made in company with Dr. Wolcot, the "Peter Pindar" of later days, Opie painted the equally meritorious group of Elizabeth and Mary Padley (169), twins, and sisters of Sylvanus. This was in the year following the king's commission to paint Mrs. Delany, which Opie did with such success that we remain his debtors to this hour. The portrait of Dr. Johnson without a Wig (171), although of great interest on account of the somewhat different reading of the doctor's countenance it affords from any of Reynolds's pictures, is, in its unfinished state, hardly worthy of Opie. It has, however, great value as one of the latest (if not, as we think, the very latest) of the likenesses of the doctor. It is mentioned by Boswell. It was left unfinished in 1784, when Johnson died.

Reynolds's Lady Elizabeth Keppel (3) was till lately one of the glories of Quiddenham, and belonged to the series of eleven portraits of Keppels. Our readers may remember it in this gallery with other Sir Joshuas. It shows that a slight loss of the carnations has hardly disturbed the choice harmonies of its tones and tints. The roses in the lady's bosom have fortunately faded in keeping with those on her cheeks. It possesses all the qualities of a mezzotint, and was undoubtedly painted on principles which, probably designedly, favoured its reproduction by that method of engraving, on the popularity of which not a little of the

and popularity of the artist depended. It was exhibited in 1760 at the Society of Arts Room, the first public exhibition in England (painted in 1759), and engraved on a famous plate by E. Fisher. The lady was the youngest of the three daughters of William Anne, second Earl of Albemarle, and Lady Anne Lennox (daughter of the first Duke of Richmond of that creation, whose portrait was lately added from the Quiddenham Collection to the National Gallery). Lady Elizabeth became Marchioness of of Tavistock, Tav and, it is said, died of grief because, in 1767, the marquis broke his neck while hunting. She sat to Reynolds in 1761 as one of the queen's bridesmaids adorning a term of Hymen with flowers, a well-known picture. The Portrait of Mrs. [Henrietta] Morris (5), by Reynolds, is noteworthy on account of the elegant affectation of the design and its quasiclassic air; in this respect it resembles a Romney. The lady was the daughter of Sir P. Musgrave, of Eden Hall, and she married Mr. John Morris, who was created a baronet in 1806. J. R. Smith engraved her picture, for which she, then unmarried, sat in 1774 and 1775; her sister, Mrs. Mordaunt, was painted at the same time. This portrait was at the Academy in 1875, at the Grosvenor Exhibition in 1884. There is a note in Reynolds's pocket-book, 1775, about the materials used for this picture, which, looking at its present sound condition, cannot but be of considerable interest to artists. The painter named a group of works produced at this period as executed "First olio e poi colori con cera senza olio." The same note applies to the portrait of Mrs. Mordaunt and the picture at Blenheim called 'The Young Fortune-Tellers' or 'Lord Henry and Lady Charlotte Spencer,' No. 46 at the Grosvenor Gallery, 1884. The Portrait of Lady Skipwith (14), painted in 1787, is worth studying as one of Sir Joshua's later works as well as because it was never before exhibited. The Masters Gawler (50), two little boys with a Newfoundland dog, is a well-known Reynolds. The boys were John Bellenden and Henry, sons of Mr. John Gawler, of the Inner Temple, whom Reynolds painted, and Caroline, daughter of John, Lord Bellenden. The print by J. R. Smith, one of his best works, is well known as 'The Schoolboys.' The picture, painted in 1777, was at the British Institution in 1842, and has not been exhibited since. Better known still is the so-called Crossing the Brook (57), which the Catalogue surely ought to have told us is a portrait of Miss H. F. Cholmondeley carrying her dog over a rivulet-a capital picture painted in 1768, and engraved by G. Marchi, Reynolds's factotum, whom the future President brought from Italy. The sturdy child, whose action and expression are among the finest things we owe to Sir Joshua, was a daughter of Peg Woffington's sister, who married the Hon. and Rev. R. Cholmondeley, often mentioned by Fanny Burney and others. In 1783 the daughter in her turn married Pitt's secretary, Mr. W. Bellingham, M.P. for Reigate, who became a baronet in 1796. The picture was No. 134 at the Spring Gardens Exhibition in 1768, at the British Institution in 1813 and 1858, and No. 57 at the Grosvenor Gallery in 1884. No Reynolds has changed hands oftener. In the Portrait of Sterne (65), lent by the Marquis of Lansdowne, a strain of humour, as much sardonic as sarcastic, marks the expressive face, which is full of self-consciousness. This portrait was painted in 1760 for the Earl of Upper Ossory (who had married the divorced Duchess of Grafton, born Ravensworth, and thus became father of "Collina" and "Sylvia"); and at his death it was sold to Lord Holland, and in 1840 to the present owner. It was exhibited as No. 81 at the Society of Artists in 1761, at the British Institution in 1813, 1823, and 1841, at the National Portrait Exhibition in 1867, and at the Academy in 1871. The picture has darkened since 1841. It has been engraved scores of times; the best plate is E. Fisher's capital mezzotint.

The

It was characteristic of Sterne that he alleged, quite untruly, Reynolds had painted his portrait for nothing. It is one of the very few pictures on which Reynolds wrote his name. Marquis of Granby (76) is one of the numerous versions of a fine picture of the "signboard hero," which was burnt at Belvoir Castle, with eighteen other Reynoldses (including the whole-length Marquis, hussar, and horse), on October 26th, 1816. Louisa, Fourth Countess of Aylesford (91), is noteworthy for the white dress, the elegant taste shown throughout, and the glowing painting. It was at the Academy in 1782 (when Walpole praised its "great simplicity"), and engraved by Val. Green. The countess was the Hon. Miss Thynne (daughter of Lord Weymouth, afterwards first Marquis of Bath). She survived till 1832. There are several admiring testimonies to her merits in Mrs. Delany's letters. The Countess of Dartmouth (46), standing in a park - like landscape, and leaning against a tree, is excellent. The visitor should notice the way in which the black silk scarf, deep in tone and tint as it is, has been harmonized with the grey dress, rich complexion, and powdered hair. The picture is in remarkably fine condition for a Reynolds. The lady-Frances, daughter of Sir Charles Nicholl - and her husband, see Lord Dartmouth (95), sat to Sir Joshua from 1757 to 1761. She married William, second Earl of Dartmouth, in 1755. Viscount Lewisham, their eldest son (third earl), when a boy of six, sat, in a Van Dyck dress, to Reynolds (October, 1761). The picture belongs to the present Earl of Dartmouth, who lent it to this gallery (No. 149) in 1884; it is well known by Spilsbury's print. The next son, the Hon. William Legge (ob. October 19th, 1784), sat to Sir Joshua for a portrait, likewise engraved by Spilsbury and exhibited here in 1884 (No. 131). There is no note of the date, and the note-book for 1763, when he probably sat, is lost. The Earl of Feversham sent to the Art Treasures, Manchester, an early Reynolds of the mother of these lads. The earl's portrait was at the British Institution in 1813, with other Reynoldses.

The Mall in St. James's Park (4), painted in 1786 (so said Fulcher), is one of the most attractive Gainsboroughs of its class. In the centre is a brilliant group of the young princesses. A party of ladies nearly as graceful is seen moving from their path, while several excellently designed groups sit on the benches or stand looking at the crowd of stately damsels Gainsborough has devised with an exquisite sense of their vitality and grace. The artist has introduced himself sketching the scene; his favourite dog is on our right. The silvery and nacreous tints of the draperies, the delicate carnations and fine keeping of the whole picture place it high among his works. Mr. Skirrow gave, as Fulcher tells us, 115l. 10s. for this picture; it afterwards passed to Mr. Kilderbee, of Ipswich, who sold it in 1829 to Mr. Bone for 183l. 15s. It was at the Academy in 1876. Mrs. Gainsborough (according to Mr. Redford's 'Art Sales') sold 'Kew [? Mall], St. James's Park, figures,' for thirty guineas, which, we suppose, is the same Sir F. Leighton bought in 1883 for eighty guineas, and which was given by Gainsborough to W. Pearce, who gave it to J. W. Croker. Northcote said of the picture before us: "You would suppose it would be stiff and formal with the straight rows of trees and people sitting on benches-it is all in motion, and in a flutter like a lady's fan. Watteau is not half so airy."

The Portrait of a Lady (42), lent by Lord Burton, looks like an unfinished and very unsatisfactory picture of one of the princesses. With all its faults it is luminous, homogeneous, rich in tone and colour, and a capital illustration of Gainsborough's sketchy manner, so different from that of the admirably painted Lady Maynard, which was here last year. The noble whole-length of Admiral Earl Howe (70), in a post-captain's uniform, is one of the finest Gainsboroughs of the class of which 'Lady Maynard' is the best. Not only are the finish, breadth, and solidity of the picture remarkable, but the acute, masterful, and energetic character of the admiral pervades his whole figure. Would that all Gainsboroughs were so thoroughly well preserved, and so worthy of being preserved! There is another 'Earl Howe' at the Trinity House. This picture (which was at the Manchester Art Treasures, 1857) was engraved in 1778 in an oval by J. Watson. The Landscape (98), lent by Mr. Colquhoun, is a fine, solemn view of a sandy road much shadowed by trees, and is notable for the glowing twilight. Gainsborough seldom tried to put any pathos into his landscapes, which are generally "rustic" and commonplace in their sentiments and motives. Lady Suffolk when a Child (106) is a good and noteworthy picture. The Second Earl of Aylesford (173) has not been exhibited till now.

John Linnell's Woodcutters (6) might, with profit, be compared with Gainsborough's No. 98, which is its antithesis in execution, style, and spirit. It is a good, but rather commonplace example of Linnell's middle period, far inferior to the works at the Academy of this year. The red cap of the boy is a conventionality the painter rarely condescended to till a later period than the date of this work. The Lady on Couch (12), by the little-known H. Walton, is a slight, but striking and extremely clever adaptation of colours and tones in harmony with each other; the grey couch and darker grey dress are ably dealt with. Walton imitated Morland, and his pictures have, it seems, been sold for Morlands. After this we should like to see more of him. His Peasant Boy and Girl (154) is not nearly so good and intelligent.

Bonington's Scene from 'The Bride of Lammermoor' (10) is excellent, but his Scene from 'Quentin Durward' (18) is only second rate. It is an exaggerated design approaching the low type of Cattermole. Shore Scene (32), one of his favourite subjects, painted at Calais sands, is a little faded and foxy, yet it retains all the original charms of the aerial perspective of the flat sands and the prodigious vastness of the level sea. Vincent's pictures are always welcome, his views of Greenwich Hospital (see No. 16) most of all. Lovers of nature must enjoy the silvery and pure sunlight on the glassy grey water in the bright and clear sky, full of "colour" as it is. The light of the sun is cleverly treated, and a cloud before it, although it embodies the tritest of pictorial expedients, has nothing commonplace or exaggerated about it. The vessels are composed without any appearance of artifice, and each is in its proper place. The breadth of the effect and the massive arrangement of the materials impart simplicity to the picture. On the Yare (24), by the same painter, depicts with brilliancy and solidity sunlight on water, sails of craft, and old buildings; clear, but a little hard, it is firm and rich in colour, yet far inferior to the work of Vincent's fellow pupil Stark, The Woodland Road (22), which hangs next to it. The View in Suffolk (43) is a capital illustration of Vincent as a landscape painter; the same may be said of Harbour Scene (92).

If Beechey had always painted as pleasantly, and with as little hardness and crudity of colour and touch, as in Lady Godolphin (17), we should have had one more capital portrait painter; indeed, if the expression were less prosaic the picture might pass for an excellent Hoppner, or, if the arm were in better proportion to the rest of the figure, and the modelling were a little less hazy, it would do for a Romney. The companion portrait of Lord Godolphin is No. 177. This collection is strong in Romneys. Mrs. Jordan (20) is not first rate, and, apart from the attractions of the subject and the outrageously bad drawing of the face a most unusual defect in a Romney-is memorable for character-reading, which has involved reproduction of the audacious, insouciant expression of a

very intelligent countenance. The picture was ❘ sitely drawn, and modelled with the firmness

never finished, the right foot, so to say, resting on nothing. So popular was this actress that the name of Dorothy came into vogue again from its being hers. She took the name of “ "Pretty Peggy" from her favourite character in the ' the Country Girl.' Besides Romney, who painted her twice (once as "Peggy"), she sat to Lawrence, Russell, Gainsborough, Stothard, Chalmers, and Hoppner (twice). There are ten good engraved portraits of her. This picture was sold in 1884 for 735l. Lady Hamilton as Miranda (7) is characteristic, but not a first-rate example of either Romney or his model. The visitor will be interested in Romney's Portrait of Himself (81). The Portrait of Miss F. Sage (99) is pretty, virginal, and simple; the white of the dress is less pure than Romney generally made it. The Boy in a Brown Dress (138) is so beautiful that, like the boy and girl in the Countess of Warwick's portrait now at the Academy, it justifies those who say that Romney painted children as well as Reynolds. ❘ Romney's boys were invariably little gentlemen -a thing that could not be said of those of Hoppner, Gainsborough, or Lawrence, all leading painters of children. John Fane (142) is a charming instance of Romney's power to deal with infants, in which respect Sir Joshua himself was not always successful. The expression is delightfully sincere and innocent. Lord Burghersh (146) - a youthful peer who likewise sat to Reynolds, and lived to be, perhaps, the last survivor of those men of note who were thus fortunate in their infancy-is playing with a dog (Romney painted dogs most dog-like and delightful) in a sunlit landscape. Other Romneys here deserve an attention which our space forbids.

The Woodland Road (22) is a subject Stark so often painted in the manner of Ruysdael or Hobbema that it was at one time asserted he could do nothing else. It is clear, firm, and homogeneous, without being either so soft or so broad as a better master would have made it. It is a pity Stark could not command the brilliant golden hues of Vincent's daylight, or the rich colouring of their common master, Crome. The Water-Cart (162), lent by Mr. A. McKay, should not be overlooked among the Starks here. The Lake Scene (33) of R. Wilson, being the Alban Lake and Alban Mount, is-compared with Stark's firm prose, Constable's perfect rusticity, Crome's fresh English woodlands, Cotman's sterling skill and scholarship, and the weak conventions of Gainsborough's landscapes, all of which may be studied here-like the picture of a dream of beauty, wholly artificial, yet stately and reserved. It immortalizes Wilson's impressions of the sun-saturated air where huge white clouds-which are themselves "classics"-loiter over the landscape ere they fade. Every one who looks at them will enjoy the cliff-like bank of the lake, the deep turquoiseblue of its water, and the lovely serenity of the scene. Sion House (44) has a history too long to relate here, but of great importance in Wilson's life. Lake Nemi (75) is one of his innumerable pot-boilers, yet its beauty remains to shame those who, with taste to appreciate and education enough to understand it, allowed themselves to be piqued into neglecting "poor Dick."

Lord Wharncliffe has lent Turner's picture of the Avalanche in the Val d'Aosta (27), one of the noblest pictures of that school of poetic landscape which we owe to De Loutherbourg; but the general conception of the design is almost all that is now discoverable in this once glorious work. The figures, too, are interesting, and the vigour of the artist is astounding. It was the property of Mr. Munro, and was exhibited at the Academy in 1837. Lord Wantage's High Street, Oxford (34), belongs to quite another period, that of 1812, when this picture was at Somerset House as No. 161. It was engraved by Charles Heath. Being exqui

Turner had acquired in working for quasiarchitectural publications, it is as veracious as it is successful in preserving the aspect a famous street before it was

of

dis

figured with modern buildings. Landscape with Bridge (38) has more of the lamp than is common with Turner; it is most sunny, and full of repose, and unites the graceful sentiment of Claude at his best with delicate execution, thorough veracity in all its details, and, besides higher finish, a choice touch the Lorrainer never attained to. Pope's Villa (41), engraved by Heath and Pye in 1811, retains of its original qualities only enough to convey that lovely and wholesome effect of early morning and pure sunlight which Turner liked so much and painted so often. The white buildings in the middle distance exist to this day less altered than is usual near London. The river is too narrow. It is a fine and thoroughly sincere picture, most characteristic of the period to which it belongs. Cotman, the antithesis of Turner in many respects, and always sincere, though his art is comparatively limited, yet by no means narrow or mannered, is fairly well represented by Homeward Bound (35). It is, we suppose, a relatively late work, and shows more of the lamp than Cotmans usually do. A happy composition of ships, the sea, and clouds, the whole full of vigour and character, it is more artificial than realistic. The swift movement of the big ship through the water has been reproduced with excellent skill and force. Rough in its way, the picture is still a noble one. Sea Piece (100) is a good and energetic work, worthy of Cotman except at his very best. The Scene on the East Coast (141) was at the Academy lately; we do not care about seeing it again, although its merit and character are not to be denied.

Wilkie's Blind Man's Buff (45) is always welcome, although it has darkened much. It retains its many admirable qualities, chief of which is the excellent and thoroughly studied, but not laboured design. The spontaneity of the figures, the natural grace of the women, the vigorous expressions and attitudes of the men, the many well-conceived incidents, and the (for Wilkie) unusually good colour of this picture show how much he had improved since he painted 'The Blind Fiddler.' We are sorry to see that, as in nearly every Wilkie known to us, the background has become obscure, while there are extensive cracks (more seem to have been filled up) wherever the detestable bitumen or asphaltum has been employed. Saving much labour, these handy but deceitful pigments tempted Wilkie only to betray him; but the loss Will consequent on their employment falls on the owners of the pictures. The figures, being otherwise painted, have escaped. This picture was painted for the Prince Regent (the price being 500 guineas) in 1812-3, immediately after 'The Village Festival,' for which Mr. Angerstein gave 800 guineas, and these were by far the highest prices Wilkie had then obtained. The picture before us was at the Academy in 1813 and (No. 23) 1882. In 1809 Wilkie, when painting his 'Villag 'Village Festival,' went with Seguier "to Hope's [in Duchess Street, Portland Place], where I looked for a long time at the little Ostade, which astonished me very much; it seems to be produced by very thin and clear coats of paint [superimposed one on the other]." It was while seeking for the quality which astonished him in Ostade's famous picture-which, by the way, was here a short time ago-that Wilkie had recourse to the detestable asphaltum, which affords a factitious resemblance to the "thin and clear coats" desired, and for its application needs neither the skill nor the pains Ostade expended on his picture.

The design of Wilkie's Penny Wedding (47), a generous loan from Her Majesty, is even happier and more spirited than that of 'The

Village Festival' or of 'Blind Man's Buff,'

Dr. Johnson (77); Stothard's Rape of the Lock

had tempted him to give up working in 1819, when he finished No. 47 and sent it to the Academy, with the same devotion as he had exhibited in earlier days. The picture looks much thinner, more flimsy and showy in execution, when, not having seen it for many years, we study it again. As Cunningham truly said, "It breathes with life throughout its length and breadth "; but whether that was due to the aid of "young Watson of Edinburgh," for which Wilkie liberally bestowed on him a 10l. note, or not, we do not know; it is certainly far from equalling Wilkie's previous pictures in solidity, finish, and research. It owes a great deal to the fine engraving which learnedly and theroughly gives gives all its finest elements. It is

very hot in colour and dark in tone, but is less cracked, or has been more deftly repaired, than 'Blind Man's Buff'; but is, doubtless from the same cause, in a bad state. The Interior, with Figures (79), painted by Wilkie after Ostade, illustrates what we have quoted of his ardent study of that master; it was a work of

1809.

Crome's Gibraltar Watering Place (51) is unusually serious and poetical; but it has darkened greatly. The Portrait of a Lady with a Pug (62), by an unknown artist, is said to represent the pretty and unhappy wife of George Morland, born Ward, but it does nothing of the kind. E. Bristow's Old White Mare (71) is, in its way, very good indeed; there is much pathos in the looks and action of this worn, but still obedient and strong beast. Mrs. Brocas (78) is by F. Cotes, a man who deserves to be better known. Some of his pictures have been attributed to Reynolds, whose works, when they have faded, but while the under-work of solid painting is good, are often not superior to those of Cotes, who was a much better draughtsman than Reynolds. The Hay Barges (82) of Crome the Elder is exceedingly fine. The foremost vessel rushes through the silvery shadow of the sunlit cloud which dominates the sky; rainy vapours obscure

the distance in a manner Crome was a master of; the sky is most admirable in colour, though, without being opaque, rather flat. The composition, not always the best part of a Crome, is good enough for a Cotman, which is the best that could be said. Compare it with the capital Sea Piece (100) of Cotman, which hangs near and gains by attentive study of its colour and illumination.

Stothard's Speech Day at Christ's Hospital (101) is a masterpiece in its way; it invests with all the charms of fine art a most unpromising subject, it is as true as it is pure and choice in taste, and shows the right mode of dealing with themes of this nature. The little sketchy figures are combined with all the grace and tact of the painter. Hoppner's Mrs. Arbuthnot (110) is the original of the fine mezzotint, named 'Marcia,' which we lately admired. It proves that the engraver has added sentiment to the eyes. Hudson's Countess of Dumfries (117) shows that his early reputation was founded on technical skill and care, though he was an inherently dull painter. In its limited way it is a fine thing. Abbotsford Dogs (137), by Landseer, must not be overlooked. The Highland Shepherd's Home (149) is well known. The same may be said of Crome's Seu Piece (145), lent by Lord Wantage, one of Crome's noblest pictures of a storm of wind and rain driving across a harbour-mouth, and tremendous masses of dark clouds. Its vigour shows how great were the resources of one who could, as in his work now at the Academy, impressively and sympathetically depict the softest and warmest calm and the most stupendous elemental turmoil.

We conclude by calling attention to the following works, the interest of which is great rather on account of their subjects than their art: Morland's Poachers (59) and Portrait of Himself (88); Raeburn's Lady Inchiquin (69); Opie's ❘

rence's Lord Castlereagh (126); Ashby's J. Spilsbury (139), the engraver; Wright of Derby's Sir R. Arkwright (147); Raeburn's Sir W. Scott (164); W. Blake's The Rainbow (184); and Cotes's Miss Kitty Gunning (229) and Miss E. Gunning (230).

NOTES FROM CYPRUS.

February 15, 1889.

trial proofs of this plate which connoisseurs have caught sight of excited the warmest wishes for the completion (which did not, of course, depend upon the engraver) of a masterpiece promising to be one of the best of mezzotints after Turner. We are happy to say that, thanks to the generosity of the present Earl of Yarborough, the picture is now in the hands of Mr. Barlow, who is finishing the plate which has been so long lying in his cabinet.

On Thursday of last week Messrs. G. Clausen and G. L. Bulleid were elected Associates of the Society of Painters in Water Colours from

tempted; the winter in Cyprus has been exceptionally wet, and would have made excavation difficult, if not impossible. Though the last few days have been fine for the most part, we have been obliged to stop work this afternoon owing to rain; we may, however, now hope for more settled weather during the next two or

three months.

In accordance with the instructions of the Cyprus Exploration Committee, I applied from Athens by letter on the 4th of January for leave to excavate at Polis tes Chrysochou. On the 26th I received an answer that this leave was granted to us; and by the next boat of the 1st of February, Mr. J. A. R. Munro and I left reached Larnaca Athens, and Nicosia on the 7th. By the kindness of H.E. Sir Henry Bulwer, G.C.M.G., and the chief secretary to Government, Col. Warren, C. M.G., we were enabled to arrange without delay all necessary preliminaries, and to leave Nicosia on the 9th, reaching the site on the evening of the next day.

on the 6th, and

Mr. Thompson, the Commissioner of Paphos, came over at once when he heard of our arrival; we were thus able to have our sites verified on the 13th, and to begin work the next day.

We have our old overseer, Gregorios Dimitorion of Larnaca, whose acuteness in finding tombs is well known both in Cyprus and beyond it. The first site we attacked was the vineyard belonging to Mr. Williamson; one-half of this was excavated two years ago, and in it were found most of the finest vases then discovered, two of which have attracted so much attention at the British Museum. The other half still remains to be tried. We have not yet succeeded in entering any good tombs, but have not been working long enough to expect much result at present.

One oblong hole after descending 20 ft. led to a subterranean aqueduct cut in the rock, about 4 ft. high by 2 ft. wide. We explored it for some distance in each direction till we came to holes, blocked with stones, like that by which we had descended. These holes doubtless served for removing the rock cut away in constructing the channel, which proceeds from one to another in curved lines, turning here and there at a sharp angle. It seems to run towards the ancient city

from the east.

ERNEST A. GARDNER.

Fine-Art Gossip.

THE Stuart Exhibition, New Gallery, will be closed on the 30th inst.

LOVERS of fine engravings have long lamented that Mr. T. O. Barlow's large and noble plate after Turner's 'Vintage at Macon,' a picture lately seen at the Academy and Grosvenor exhibitions, has remained unfinished for more than a quarter of a century. The very few

whose works sent in competition formed a whole equal to an ordinary exhibition.

A CORRESPONDENT wishes to know why the fine life-size, whole-length portrait of Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia, lent by the Duke of Norfolk to the Stuart Exhibition as No. 74, is described as a Honthorst, which it does not at all, he says, resemble, while it bears the name of Michael Mierevelt, in his customary Italian capitals of two inches high each, upon the border of the table-cloth near which the lady is standing. We presume the picture was sent for exhibition with the wrong name. The error probably arose from the fact that Honthorst painted, and, by command of Charles I., R. Van Voerst engraved, the queen's portrait at the age of thirty-five, and Delph engraved her portrait, by Mierevelt, at the age of thirty-three; Bolswert and John Faber, sen., severally engraved Mierevelt's portraits (there were several of these) of Elizabeth. No. 74 was exhibited as a Mierevelt at the Academy in 1880, No. 127. The Catalogue of the Stuart Exhibition says that the famous so-called diptych from Holyrood, No. 8 in the gallery, is "possibly by Van der Goes, circa 1480." As this would require the portrait of James IV. to represent him as not more than eight years old, whereas he is clearly not less than twelve, it would seem to be impossible. Van der Goes died in the Red Cloister at Louvain in 1482, after that considerable period of insanity which gave so deep a melancholy to his history. This is quite apart from the technical considerations set forth in our notice of the picture, p. 221 ante. The same Catalogue says, on the authority of the owner, that No. 92, a portrai portrait of Anne, daughter of Charles I., is supposed to be the only likeness of the princess." dently a mistake; she appears in the group of Henrietta Maria and her other daughters, Elizabeth and Mary, which was engraved and sold by Garrett, as well as in the famous and beautiful group by Van Dyck-now at Windsor-of five children of Charles I., comprising Charles with the dog, James, Mary, Elizabeth, and Anne (or Anna). Henrietta (of Orleans) was not born when Van Dyck died. Earl Spencer has at Althorp a portrait of the Princess Anne by Van Dyck. There is another engraving entitled 'The Lady Anna,' sold by T. Jenner. Granger quoted a pretty story of her death-bed, where she said she could not repeat her long prayer (the Lord's Prayer), but she would say her short one, "Lighten mine eyes, O Lord, that I sleep not the sleep of death," which she had no sooner said than death took her.

This is evi

LAST Saturday Messrs. Christie, Manson & Woods sold the collections of Mr. W. A. Duncan, the late Mr. C. C. Grimes, and the late Capt. T. Davison. Among them 'Harvesting near Henley,' by Mr. Vicat Cole, fetched 194l. 'A Scotch Mist,' by Mr. P. Graham, 309l. 'The Wye and the Severn,' by Mr. C. E. Johnson, 183l. 15s. 'Water Crowsfoot,' by Mr. Keeley Halswelle, 2521. 'Pollenta,' by E. de Blaas, 231l. These were from Mr. Duncan's collection. From others were: 'Seeking Advice,' by W. Dyce, 220l. 'John Knox at Holyrood,' by Mr. W. P. Frith, reproving the ladies and gentlemen of the Court playing at kiss-in-the-ring, 215l. 'Morning,' 'Noon,' and 'Night,' by Mr