tion gives results accordant with another. Hydraulic movement has yet to be reduced to the laws of exact science. And Mr. Slagg's book furnishes yet further proof, were it requisite, that such is the case. IN A Text-Book of Elementary Biology (Longmans & Co.) Mr. Gibson aims at filling a gap by "dealing with the relation of botany to zoology, and of both to the fundamental sciences of physics and chemistry," but it is as difficult to to what class of student it appeals as to see what advan tage its reader will have over those who use a text-book of the same grade by another author. While the botanical types are sufficiently comprehensive, great gaps are left in the zoological the frog does duty for all vertebrata. Mr. Gibseries; no mollusc crustacean is noticed, and son may be congratulated on the accuracy of his statements; but such reasoning as that on the plant nature of Protococcus on p. 71 should not be laid before an elementary student without qualification. If the multiplication of short and easy roads to a knowledge of biology were likely to produce a wider interest in the science, the appearance of this text-book would be received with acclamation. Unfortunately the only result likely to accrue from the present increase of such works is that it will shortly become possible for a student to forget a subject at an even earlier date after his examination than is now the case. We have received Decades XVI. and XVII. of the Prodromus of the Zoology of Victoria, by Prof. F. McCoy (Melbourne, Brain; London, Trübner). For the descriptions of the comparatively large number of Polyzoa figured the editor is again indebted to Mr. McGillivray. Gould's monitor lizard is as ill-mannered as a member of the House of Commons, for it "hisses loudly when much vexed"; it is to be hoped, however, that the resemblance does not go further, for the lizard at other times gives "a gentle snuffling sort of cough, such as babies emit before they are weaned." There is quite a striking figure of a gorgeously coloured parrot - fish the Labrichthys laticlavius of Richardson; but Prof. McCoy's new wrasse, Heteroscarus macleayi, is still more magnificently marked with broad bands of rich Indian-yellow with intermediate reddish spaces. This excellent work keeps up its character. IN The Play-Time Naturalist (Chatto & Windus) Dr. J. E. Taylor, who is a practised writer of popular essays in natural history, has followed the prevailing fashion of writing a kind of story. The basis of his is the formation of a scientific society at Mugby School, and it is easy to imagine the way in which it is worked; we will only say of it that it does not interfere with the author's account of natural objects. A book of this kind should always be well supplied with figures, and Dr. Taylor does not fail in this matter, for he has 364 figures to 282 pages; they vary, of course, in value and accuracy, but on the whole they serve his purpose very well. The book will, we think, serve to interest those for whose use it is written, and appears to be generally accurate, the curious blunder about the "beetles called Gamasus " on p. 168 being, fortunately, an exceptional instance to the contrary. The Zoological Record for 1887. Vol. XXIV. (Gurney & Jackson.) - In the latest volume of this most useful publication the only innovation is the use of capitals throughout to designate the authors of memoirs, a distinct gain where long lists of genera and species are in question. The introductory list of the periodicals consulted is becoming yearly, not only larger, but more valuable for purposes of general reference, though it has by no means as yet reached the ideal standard of completeness or accuracy: such an entry as "Am. Geol. univ. Paris-Annuaire géologique universel-Revue de géologie et paléontologie (Carey & Douville:" is a mass of typographica errors, but is fortunately exceptional. The most difficult, and certainly not the least useful, section of the volume is the "Record Jahresbericht; but a little more sorting of the recorded memoirs into smaller subject-groups, index of subjects should supply the key, would tend to lubricate a machine which must at best thus named after its discoverer, a Capt. Sandwich, into a Sandwigs Hafen? SOCIETIES. GEOLOGICAL.-April 17.-Dr. W. T. Blanford, President, in the chair.-Rev. R. Baron, J. F. Braga, C. A. V. Butler, T. T. Groom, Prof. J. B. Harrison, and W. L. Meredith were elected Fellows. The following communications were read: 'On the Production of Secondary Minerals at Shear-zones in the Crystalline Rocks of the Malvern Hills, by Mrac and 'The Northern Slopes of Cader Idris,' by Messrs. G. A. J. Cole and A. V. Jennings. SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES. - April 30.- Anniversary Meeting.-Dr. J. Evans, President, in the chair.-Messrs. A. C. King and E. J. Barron were sent issue does not appear to fall below the appointed scrutators of the balloth The following GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES. We learn with pleasure that the diaries of Dr. H. Meyer and Mr. Baumann have been recovered through the kind intervention of Col. Euan-Smith, and are safe in Germany. Of the 12,000 rupees paid by Dr. Meyer as a ransom, only 700 were handed over to Bushiri. The remainder was pocketed by the Indian trader who acted as middleman. Our indefatigable consul has compelled this disloyal negotiator to disgorge his unlawful gains, and the 11,300 rupees, having been returned to Dr. Meyer, have been presented by him to the Geographical Society at Leipzig. Major Regnauld de Lannoy de Bissy is to be The Scottish Geographical Magazine publishes members of officers of the Society for the ensuing year: President, J. Evans; Treasurer, E. Freshfield; Director, H. S. Milman; Secretary, Hon. H. Dillon; Other Members of the Council, Rev. W. Benham, S. Clarke, Earl of Crawford, C. I. Elton, C. D. E. Fortnum, Lord Justice Fry, G. W. G. Leveson Gower, H. A. Grueber, W. J. Hardy, R. R. Holmes, H. Jenner, C. T. Martin, G. Payne, Sir J. C. Robinson, W. Smith, E. M. Thompson, and J. Watney. The President delivered his annual address, in which he drew special attention to the losses the Society had sustained by death during the past twelve months. He also commented on the completion of a general index to the first fifty volumes of the Archæologia, on the unnecessary proposal to demolish the beautiful church of St. Mary-le-Strand, and the projected enlargement of Westminster Abbey. ROYAL INSTITUTION. - May 1.- Annual Meeting -Sir J. C. Browne, V.P., in the chair. The Annual Report of the Committee of Visitors for the year 1888, testifying to the continued prosperity and efficient management of the Institution, was read and adopted. The real and funded property now amounts to above 81,000l., entirely derived from the contributions and donations of the Members. Forty-five new Members were elected. Sixty-four lectures and nineteen evening discourses were delivered. A total of 866 volumes were added to the library in the year. -The following were elected as officers for the ensuing year: President, Duke of Northumberland; Treasurer, H. Pollock; Secretary, Sir F. Bramwell; Managers, Sir F. Abel, Sir J. C. Browne, W. Crookes, F. Galton, Col. J. A. Grant, Right Hon. Sir W. R. Grove, W. Huggins, D. E. Hughes, Rev. J. МасW. H. Preece, W. O. Priestley, J. Rae, W. C. Roberts-Austen, Lord A. Russell, and B. W. Smith; Visitors, W. Anderson, J. Birkett, A. Carpmael, CYMMRODORION.-April 24.-Mr. H. W. Lloyd in the chair.-Mr. E. Owen read a paper On Welsh. Monasteries and Monasticism.' The author, while pointing out that the history of Welsh monasticism divided itself into two distinct periods, pre-Norman and post-Norman, dealt almost exclusively with the latter. The favourite religious order with the Welsh was the Cistercian, several of the most famous abbeys of the order, as Strata Florida, Vale Crucis, and Conway, having been erected by Welsh princes. Some fresh evidence bearing on the condition of the Welsh religious houses, drawn more especially from the poems of contemporary bards still remaining in manuscript, was produced. These poems, though of no artistic merit, throw considerable light upon the condition of society in Wales during the dark period of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and prove that the abbeys and priories of Wales continued to be centres of literary and social activity up to the period of their suppression. ARISTOTELIAN.-April 29. Mr. S. H. Hodgson, President, in the chair. -Prof. J. Brough was elected a Member.-Canon A. Moore read a paper 'On some Curious Parallels between Greek and Chinese Thought in the Fourth and Fifth Centuries B.C.' In a brief introduction Mr. Moore pointed out that there were only two systems which could properly claim to be indigenous to China, viz., Confucianism and the Taoistic philosophy, Bouddhism being introduced in the post-Christian period, while the religion of Taoism is a fusion of Bouddhism with the older superstitions of the country. In the systems of Confucianism and philosophical Taoism we find morals and metaphysics, the practical and the speculative reason, not only separated, but developing by antagonism to one another, while in Greek thought in its best days such a separation did not exist. In spite, however, of this contrast, there is a remarkable parallelism between Confucianism and Greek ethics on the one hand, between Taoism and Greek metaphysics on the other. Mr. Moore confined himself to (1) a comparison between the Aristotelian doctrine of the mean and the Confucianist treatise, by Tzŭ Tzŭ, grandson of Confucius, on virtue as a state of equilibrium and harmony, translated by Dr. Legge for the "Sacred Books of the East"; and (2) a comparison between the philosophy of Heracleitus and that of Chuang Tzů, a Taoist philosopher of the fourth century, recently translated by Mr. H. A. Giles. In the treatise of Tzŭ Tzŭ virtue is represented not only as a mean between extremes of more and less, but as the realizing of the law of human nature, the perfect man being one who "embodies the mean," and becomes thereby not only a law to himself, but a standard for others. The long chapter in Chuang Tzu on the identity of contraries presented striking parallelisms of thought, and even of language, to the extant fragments of Heracleitus; while his account of the moral life as human and second best in comparison with "the more excellent way," the divine life of speculation, recalls the well-known Aristotelian view of the relation of πρᾶξις and θεωρία. The mystical character of Chuang Tzu's philosophy, and the emphasis laid upon the doctrine of inaction, Mr. Moore explained by the philosopher's antagonism to the now dominant system of Confucianism, and represented it as the protest of idealism against a positivism which would limit reason to the human and the finite. V.P., in the chair. Mr. A. S. Murray read two HELLENIC.-April 29. Mr. E. M. Thompson, papers. In the first he explained how from a number of fragments discovered under the foundation of the temple of Artemis at Ephesus-the temple built in the time of Alexander the Great he had been able to reconstruct a column and part of the cornice of the older temple which had been destroyed by fire. Between the lions' heads, which served as spouts for the rain collecting on the roof, this archaic cornice had been decorated, not with foliage, as in later architecture, but with elaborately sculptured groups, including among much else a combat of a Lapith and a Centaur. The columns of the archaic temple were shown to have been sculptured with reliefs like the columnæ cælate of the later temple, but only in the lowermost drum, the rest of the shaft having been fluted. On a torus moulding underneath this sculptured drum were remains of an inscription recording a dedication by Cræsus, the king of Lydia, who, as we learn from Herodotus, had borne the expense of most of the columns of this archaic temple. Of the capital of the column certain fragments have remained, enough to enable Mr. Elsey Smith to reconstruct a capital in many respects resembling that of the archaic temple at Samos. So far as they go these fragments are remains of the temple built in the time of Cræsus. In his second paper Mr. Murray described a series of five Etruscan paintings on slabs of terra-cotta, which had been found at Cære in 1874. and have quite recently been acquired by the British Museum. These paintings he assigned to a date about 600 в.с., tracing in them a combined influence of Corinth, of the Greeks settled in the Delta of Egypt in the seventh century B.C., of the Greeks in Asia Minor, and ultimately an influence reaching westward from Assyria. Etruscan paintings of this archaic class have not been hitherto seen in this country. Indeed, very little of the kind exists except the series in the Louvre, which also were found at Cære, but are at least half a century later. The new paintings remind us of the statement of Pliny about the great antiquity of painting at Cære, and the skill they dis played considering how short a time had elapsed since the Trojan war! In certain conventional matters, such as the drawing of profiles, of the eye, and of knee bones, the new paintings point to strong influence originating in Assyria, while, on the other hand, not a little of the costume indicates a strictly Etruscan origin. Both papers will be published in the next number of the Journal of Hellenic Studies. MEETINGS FOR THE ENSUING WEEK. MON. Royal Institution, 5-General Monthly. Society of Engineers, 7-Recent Developments in High Ex- Victoria Institute, 8-Cuts on Bone as Evidence of Man's Society of Arts, 8.- Heat Eagines other than steam,' Lecture TUES. Roval Institution, 3.- Italian Renaissance Painters, Dr. J. P. Richter. Biblical Archæology, 8. 'Jehovistic and Elohistic Proper Civil Engineers, 8.- Treatment of Steel by Hydraulic Pressure, Zoological, 8-'New Indian Lepidoptera, Col. C. Swinhoe; WED. United Service Institution, 3.- Lancers and Lances, Lieut.-Col. Cymmrodorion. 8.- Ancient Terrace Cultivation in Wales and Geological, 8.- Rocks of Alderney and the Casquets, Rev. E. Society of Arts, 8.- Origin and Manufacture of Playing Cards,' WED. Microscopical, 8.- Additional Note on the Foraminifera of the London Clay,' Messrs. C. D. Sherborn and F. Chapman; New Peritrichous Infusoria from the Fresh Waters of the United States, Mr.A C. Stokes. THURS. Royal Institution, 3.- Animal Locomotion, Mr. E. Muybridge. FRI. SAT. Royal, 4). Electrical Engineers, 8.-Discussion on Dr. O Lodge's Paper on Lightning, Lightning Conductors, and Lightning Protectors." Mathematical, 8.-'On the Solution in Integers of Equations of the Form 23+3+As1=0. Mr. S. Roberts; On the Concomitants of k-ary Quantics, Mr. W. J. C. Sharp; On the Motion of an Elastic Solid strained by Extraneous Forces,' Signor Batti; On Cyclotomie Functions: Section III., The Cyclotomics belonging to the f-Nomial Periods of the pth Roots of Unity, when p is a Prime Number, Prof. L Tanner; On the Complete Eliptic Integrals K E, G, I, Dr. Kleiber. Antiquaries, 8.-Latten Crucifix found in Holderness, Rev. J. C. Cox; Bas-relief personifying Music in the Cathedral Church of Rimini, Mr. J. G. Waller; 'Benefactions to Lichfield Cathedral Church by Thomas Heywood, Dean, 1457-92,' Rev. J. C. Cox. United Service Institution, 3. -'Battle Training of Regimental Officers, Col. A. P. Tulloch. New Shakspere, 8.- A Study on "Julius Cæsar," Rev. F. C. Royal Institution, 9-'Oxygen and Ozone,' Prof. Dewar. Botanic, 31.-Election of Fellows. Science Gossiy. The annual conversazione of the Royal Society will be held on Wednesday next (May 8th) at Burlington House. A SPECIAL general meeting of the Marine at the rooms of the Royal Society, to consider Biological Association is to be held on May 8th, an amendment of the by-laws which will allow of the admission of "Associate Members," who are to be elected "from among persons connected with marine fisheries or interested in marine botany or zoology." A SIXTH edition of Mr. Lynn's handy little book 'Celestial Motions,' revised and enlarged, is in the press, and will be published by Mr. Stanford in the course of the present month. FINE ARTS ROYAL SOCIETY of PAINTERS in WATER COLOURS.-The HUNDRED and ELEVENTH EXHIBITION is NOW OPEN, 5, Pall Mall East, from 10 till 6.-Admission, 18; Catalogue, 1. ALFRED D. FRIPP, R.W.S., Secretary. The NEW GALLERY, REGENT STREET.-The SECOND ANNUAL SUMMER EXHIBITION NOW OPEN from 9 till 7-Admission, 18.; Season Tickets, 5s. J. W. BECK, Secretary. THE VALE OF TEARS.'-DORE'S LAST GREAT PICTURE, completed a few days before he died, NOW ON VIEW at the Doré Gallery, 35, 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 Dally.-Admission, la. THE ROYAL ACADEMY. (First Notice.) THE one hundred and twenty-first exhibition of the Royal Academy (which will be opened to the public on Monday next) comprises nearly 2,200 contributions, all told; so it is the most numerous gathering the Academy has had, for it contains sixty-two more examples than the exhibition of 1885, which till now was the largest on record. This increase is not due to any addition of wall space. The upper rows of pictures seem higher than before, i. e., the "sky" has been raised, and this must have been done to some extent in order to admit not only more pictures, but a greater number of large canvases. Indeed, the size of the canvases strongly impresses the visitor when he enters the galleries for the first time. So far as a somewhat hasty survey enables us to form an opinion, it seems that, while there are many able works works, an unusually large number are below mediocrity. There are more big portraits of nonentities, which are, to say the best of them, simply so disagreeable that it is hard to guess why they are here, but harder to guess why they were painted at all. Little or no (doubtless no) solid improvement is visible in studies of a high kind, choice technique, or research of any kind. Beginning in the first room, we may name the following, which are not to be overlooked, before we proceed to speak at length of the most important pictures. Mr. Armitage appears for the first time as a humourist in depicting the interior of a yacht's cabin and the voyagers at table; his work is No. 39, 'Yachting Souvenir.' Mr. H. W. B. Davis's 'Overlooking the Loch' (55) portrays a serene, calm, and sunny evening in the Highlands. Mr. W. L. Wyllie yllie in 'The Phantom Ship' (81) is not quite successful as a painter of spectacles, but he has produced a fine picture of the sea. Mr. Prinsep's 'Carmen' (96) is a glowing figure of a Spanish brunette. Mr. G. D. Leslie's 'Berkshire Mill Stream' (107), which we described some weeks ago, is charmingly warm and silvery. Mr. F. Dicksee's 'Passing of Arthur' (150), a meritorious piece of moonlight on the sea, will be very popular. In its sentiment and effect there is a good deal that, at a certain distance, recalls Poole's work. Mr. H. Woods's 'On the Steps of the Scuola, San Rocco' (173), a number of cloverly painted figures, is one of his best efforts. Mr. Prinsep's 'First Awaking of Eve' (204) is a graceful and spirited nudity in a sunny landscape. Mr. Poynter's 'On the Terrace' (188) is a pretty figure of a girl with a palm fan and peacock's feather. A very large and verdant landscape panorama by Mr. F. Goodall, named 'Harrow on the Hill' (213), is unique among his works. 'Ophelia' (222) in white, lying in a green meadow, is by Mr. J. W. Waterhouse, Millaistuleritance, nations he and is not unlike, at a distance, one of Sir John era capitally painted. Mr. J. B. Burgess has sent a sympathetic and ably painted portrait of 'Muriel, Daughter of J. Collett, Esq.' (229), dressed in blue. Mr. Yeames's 'Baby's Opera (230), a nurse and child at a pianoforte, will not be overlooked. Mr. M. Stone's 'First Love Letter' (236) is a picture of two graceful ladies in a sunny garden. 'The Young Duke' (243) of Mr. Orchardson, gentlemen after dinner vigorously cheering their host, shows the painter's zest for his subject, and great ability in dealing with colour and chiaroscuro. Mr. H. W. B. Davis's 'On the Low Ground' (256), deer on a moorland, is brilliant and solid. Mr. A. Gow will sustain his reputation for putting historical incidents cleverly on canvas, and adding a dash of satire, by his 'Visit of King Charles I. to Kingston-on-Hull, 1642' (260). The 'Sun and Moon Flowers' (266) of Mr. G. D. Leslie, two fair English damsels in a bright chamber, shaded from the sun, is a charming exercise in dark blue and warm white. Mr. P. Graham's mountain scene (279), with mists resplendent in the sun, and in the shadow gloom itself, is very telling indeed. Mr. Poynter's 'Corner in the Villa' (291), two Roman ladies and a child in a room of marble, we have already described. Mr. T. Faed is himself in the homely pathos of 'Hush! let him sleep' (317), a Scottish interior. Mr. G. A. Storey never, within our knowledge, painted a life-size nudity like 'Godiva' (326), a naked damsel stepping from her chamber. Mr. A. J. Hook's News on the Reef' (350), a boat visiting a Millet's humorous illustration of 'Knickerlighthouse, is capital in all respects. Mr. F. D. bocker' called 'Anthony Van Corlear, the Trumpeter' (378), should make a strong impression. The Lion, the Lizard, and the Stags (417) is Mr. J. Brett's brilliant coast piece we wrote about lately. 'The Hermit and the Pelicans' (428) has all Mr. Marks's sense of fun, and more than his usual share warmth and good colouring. 'On the Banks of the Liane, Picardy' (435), is one of Mr. W. H. B. Davis's best landscapes; on the whole we like it the best of his contributions. There is a good deal of fun in Mr. J. Clark's 'Christmas Dole' (444). The 'Festa' (514) of Mr. Melton Fisher is a spirited portrait of Venetian girls in a café. We can on various grounds commend to the visitor Mr. B. Hook's Thurlestone Rock' (600); Mr. A. Goodwin's 'Passage of the Red Sea' (603); Mr. W. M. Egley's 'A New Acquisition' (639), a naturalist with an owl; two pictures by Mr. R. W. Macbeth, his dashing Diana' (699) and 'The Miller's Daughter' (763); Mr. W. H. Bartlett's A Venetian Faction Regatta' (733); Mr. of M. R. Corbett's 'A Golden Afternoon' (774) and his 'On the Tuscan Coast' (1154); and Mr. A. C. Tayler's very striking lamplit scene at a concert 'The Encore' (1132). Among the absentees of note are Mr. T. O. Barlow, Mr. Bodley, Mr. Burne Jones, Mr. E. J. Gregory, Mr. G. Richmond, Mr. R. N. Shaw, and Mr. L. Stocks. We have so lately described at length several of the leading pictures in this exhibition, that of them at least it will be needful to give but a few words of criticism on their merits and shortcomings. On many grounds, personal, official, and artistic, the contributions of Sir F. Leighton are entitled to the foremost place in this article. His Greek Girls playing at Ball (No. 300) is among the more important and elaborate of his works, and is more animated and gayer in colour than ordinary. The scene is the lofty terrace of a palace in ancient Greece, from which we look over a city near the seashore and its harbour; beyond, a low promontory juts into the sea, and from it the cliffs recede until they reach another point. The horizon glows with golden light, while the smooth ocean is of the richest azure, dashed with reflections of the clouds. It is a charming and noble seascape inspired by classic taste, and as Greek as the artist, who is always in sympathy with the antique, can make it. The architecture of the foreground is equally fine, but the picture owes most of its charm to the graceful figures of two damsels who are playing at ball on the terrace. The nearer figure is dressed in ample purple robes, the more distant is attired in a dress of golden citron. The latter is the more original and vigorous figure, and she, leaping up, stretches out both hands to catch the ball flying to her from the hands of her companion. Her draperies cling close to her, and flutter in the air with striking grace. They are beautifully designed, painted, and modelled. Her companion, who has apparently thrown the ball, makes a quick step forward and secures her drapery at the girdle. It has been, with some reason, suggested suggested that there would not be time for these movements during the ball's flight through so small a space, and therefore doubtless the President means us to suppose that a third girl, not figuring in the picture, has thrown the ball, and that the nearer damsel is preparing to catch it when her friend in citron sends it to her. The point thus raised is nice. However it may be decided, there is no doubt of the loveliness of the distant figure, the charm of the landscape, or the refinement of the whole picture. The artist was exceptionally inspired when he designed the expressive Invocation (31), a Greek maiden standing before the pedestal of the statue of the god to whom she appeals. Her pure features are instinct with awe; her white raiment, descending from her uplifted wrists, falls behind her head, and the light passing through the fabric makes it much brighter than the face. The effect of a halo is thus obtained by perfectly natural means, a look of holiness is added to the the expression, and something of mystical beauty is given to the whole. Sibyl (25) is a fair woman, with something less than the sternness of Michael Angelo's ideal, seated brooding by the side of a tripod on which the Sacred Books are slowly smouldering, her face resting upon her hand, while her legs are crossed, so as to suggest the secret-keeping function of a sibyl; the austere mystery of the subject is indicated by the gloom of the background and sad purple and grey of her voluminous robes. The whole is a thoroughly well-studied decorative piece. A bust of a beautiful damsel wearing a wreath, and with a sad expression on her down-looking face, excels most of the President's numerous pictures of this class. Its carnations are less smooth than he generally makes them, while the expression is as tender as the face is refined and natural. Its title, Elegy (187), is perfectly suitable. Mr. Alma Tadema's picture, At the Shrine of Venus (313), depicts the sumptuous interior of a Roman hair-dresser's saloon behind his shop, where two pretty damsels are reclining on cushioned benches, waiting their turn to be attired. The girls seem to have been gossiping in girlish fashion, and appear to be startled by the entrance of a lady in the fulness of her prime, who, dressed in white, sweeps past them to a seat apart. The dainty luxury of the figures and the accessories, the rich, strong, and deep, yet very broad and soft coloration, to say nothing of the beauty of the women and their admirably designed, drawn, and painted draperies, are elements hard to praise too highly. There is unusual humour in the designing of the girls' looks, and, even for Mr. Tadema, unusual grace and freedom in the movements of the new-comer. In the shop customers are being served with essences in bottles and alabastra; a noble vase of blue glass, incrusted, like the Portland Vase, with white enamel, stands on the counter. Sir John Millais has sent the two fine landscapes we have already mentioned. The Old Garden (242) is a picture of twilight descending on a quaint Jacobean fountain, tall box and yew hedges, the formal enclosures of oldfashioned parterres, a line of trees, the shining roofs and gables of an ancient stone mansion, and a few homing birds in the glowing air. The breadth of the effect and the rich and beautiful coloration of this fine work are admirable. It possesses the pathos that serenity and repose confer. Though less finished than many of Sir John's landscapes, it lacks nothing but elaboration of details to make it perfect. In keeping and soundness it has few rivals. The other landscape has no sentiment about it ; it is a literal study of nature on a considerable scale, frankly painted, bright, and extremely faithful. The brilliancy of its colour makes it pleasing to eyes accustomed to clear Northern weather in autumn, when the fern has faded and the foliage reddens more and more every day. Called Murthly Water (74), it is a view of the Tay rippling under the quick soft breeze which drives clouds athwart the light blue sky and sweeps their shadows over the hillsides beyond the stream. Dunkeld is under the further hill. Although it is not one of Sir John's best pictures, we like the portrait of Mrs. Paul Hardy (306), a standing, three-quarters-length, life-size figure, full of animation and movement. A portrait of 'Mr. Wertheimer' has gone to the Grosvenor with 'Shelling Peas, both of which we shall notice in due course. The pictures of Mr. Hook display unabated vigour. We have already described them, and now need only to add a few criticisms. The most important of them, which is called Wreckage from the Fruiter (249), tells the fate of a schooner gone to pieces somewhere near the Cornish coast, and thus strewing the sea with her cargo of oranges, which have floated shorewards upon the currents until chests shattered and unbroken, spars and waste of timber, have been washed into the little cove of dark rock where the waves break furiously and pound themselves into spray, which spreading in the air forms a dark mist, dense enough to hide the bases of the cliffs. The swift gale tears off the crests of the billows and turns them landward. The effect is a new one in Mr. Hook's practice, and it gains in interest from the sunbeam which, slanting from the cliff-top, adds dull fire to the mist it strikes through on its way to the beach. Three men are hauling an orange chest ashore, while in the immediate foreground two girls have collected straying fruit, and one loads with it the creel upon her companion's shoulders. Apart from the general wealth of colour and animation of this admirable picture, the impetuosity of the great billows is beyond praise, and the painting is one of the finest instances of the kind for which the world is in the artist's debt. In addition to these natural and technical beauties, he has achieved a great success by bringing into apposition with these splendid colours and the movements of the waves the sumptuous gold of the floating oranges. The perspective of colours on the sea's surface from the charging billow to the horizon is exceedingly fine. The Fowler's Pool (32), a shining pond in a hollow upon the summit of a cliff, whence we look over the dark blue sea and a long perspective of headlands clad in green, will attract all lovers of natural colour and brilliant pure light. Mr. Hook has chosen a bright November day in the West, and the hues of autumn prevail in the herbage of the pool, giving to it the charms of contrast and harmony in regard to its silvers, azures, and greens. Most telling of all is the singular beauty of the sea, an enamel-like tract of infinitely varied tints most subtly mixed in one great whole of blueness, and so dealt with that its vastness strikes us with a kind of awe, the more intense because of the pool's smallness and its great diversity of colours. It is a lovely picture, and a novelty from Mr. Hook's hands. A third painting is not very different from many of Mr. Hook's former productions, but it excels in bringing before us the beauty of the beach, the calm sea, and summer sky. Indeed, it would be hard to say that he ever painted better than in The Seaweed Raker (19) the effect of hot sunlight in pure air or in water, where it sometimes reveals the sandy bottom, sometimes beds of weeds, sometimes tawny masses of rock and beds of black mussels. He knows how to give lustre to surfaces that reflect the sun, how to treat deeps impenetrable by the light and charged with a sort of dusky green, and where to let the shallower waters take their tints from their surroundings. One of the finest portions of this picture is the large tract of rocks which tends from the front nearly to the middle distance on our right. The skies of 'The Fowler's Pool' and 'The Seaweed Raker' are as fine as any of Mr. Hook's. ex Mr. B. Riviere has made a new mark in a picture with a laughable subject, so cleverly designed that it will add much to his reputation: "Of a fool and his folly there is no end" (231). Here we have a sunlit road by a forest side along which a company of men-at-arms are riding, in all the pomp of shining armour, bright - hued bannerols, and caparisons embroidered sumptuously. A laughing and crowing fool, mounted upon his ass and armed with a bauble which he flourishes in the air, causes its rattle to make such an uproar as to set the war horses capering about the road in all sorts of ways, giving their masters more than enough to do. The humour lies in the way in which the warriors take the matter: one is indignant because his dignity has been upset; another is more angry than he cares to be let seen; a third, whose charger nearly unseats him, can hardly keep his stirrups for laughing; one has lost his lance and tries in vain to bring his terrified animal where he can regain it. A squire is struggling with his jennet, and laughs merrily. Artists will admire the deft painting, crisp touches, and brilliant manipulation of the armour and arms, the felicity with which the horses have been painted and the faces drawn. The fool is a capital figure. Pale Cynthia (363), on the other hand, is one of Mr. Riviere's sentimental pictures. The shepherd of Latmos stands on a lofty plateau attended by his dogs, his sheep having strayed a little, and, leaning on a staff, looks heavenward at the moon, which fading twilight has left visible where a huge veil of nacreous clouds is withdrawn and her lustre fills the atmosphere and seems to make in the distance Innumerable mountains rise, and rise, The sky is the best Mr. Riviere has painted. The figure is designed with sympathy for the subject, ably drawn and deftly modelled, but the flesh is a little ruddier than refinement demands. A fine and masculine motive characterizes the work. Mr. Henry Moore is well represented by his "Cynthia's shining orb was made Heaven to clear when day did close" (97), a noble picture of the open sea and the half-full moon, where, behind a great veil of vapour, her presence is indicated by the pearly lustre of the upper clouds whose dark bases overhang a world of waters, to which their far - spreading shadows impart a mystery which is really poetical. The splendour of the moon as reflected in a wide track upon the sea, and the multitudinous movements of the waves leaping into light and subsiding into gloom, are not better painted than the sky. Shine and Shower (200), which has a more obvious, but not more natural charm, portrays a grand expanse of weltering blue, upon which the waves rise and spread themselves as they roll onwards. Spaces of light and their complements of dark colours distinguish the view, and give breadth where the details glitter. The sky is, perhaps, the finest part of this work, and it contains elements of grandeur of the truest kind. The whole horizon is loaded with white clouds, whose summits reach half-way to the zenith, and thus seem to pierce the blue of the firmament, across which elsewhere veils of pale vapour are drawn. Very striking indeed are the shadows projected from the clouds to the sea, which are finely arranged to give the spaciousness of nature to the view, and make it doubly impressive. Titian would not be ashamed of the gorgeousness of the blue sea here, nor of the splendour of the white clouds above. No seascape excels in vigour, strength, or veracity this artist's extremely original "As when the sun doth light a storm" (50), a motto from 'Troilus and Cressida,' not inaptly applied to a striking picture of old boats drawn out of reach of the sea which invades the beach, charging it again and again in huge masses which have been churned to perfect whiteness ere they fall. So far as the spray and low-lying vapours permit, we see a wilderness of waves in prodigious confusion, such as demanded a hand as masculine and learned as Mr. Moore's before any part of their expressiveness could be secured. A vast white cloud flies landward, and the air opens, so to say, revealing the clear blue firmament, and admitting a flood of glorious light upon the scene. THE SOCIETY OF PAINTERS IN WATER COLOURS. (First Notice.) WHAT is, on questionable grounds, called the hundred and eleventh exhibition of the "Old Society" is of exceptional interest on account of the merit of several of its figure pictures, a class of works in which this gallery is generally very weak. Less than half a dozen of them are, it must be confessed, first rate; still there are several that are above the average. So much as this can seldom be said. There are likewise a good many excellent landscapes such as generally distinguish these gatherings. Still the mass of the drawings are neither better nor worse than usual, although the absentees are not more than ordinarily numerous and important. Some of the leading members, such as Mrs. Allingham, Mr. Bradley, Mr. A. W. Hunt, Mr. A. Moore, Mr. Naftel, and Sir J. Gilbert, are well, but insufficiently represented by one or two drawings only each, but most of these so charming as to raise the character of the collection as a whole; to them, in fact, the exhibition owes most of its distinction, and they may therefore be noticed first. are The most powerful, brilliant, and solid of these works is the smallest, Mr. W. H. Hunt's Recollections of the 'Arabian Nights' (No. 249), a gem of a picture, painted, no doubt, long ago, and marked by splendid colour and exquisite modelling. It embodies the sentiment of the design which appeared, as a woodcut, in the fine edition of Lord Tennyson's works Moxon published, with illustrations by Sir J. Millais, D. G. Rossetti, and other able men. The dreamer who, "in the golden prime of good Haroun Alraschid," In a like manner too grey, and almost melanwas borne adown the Tigris, By Bagdat's shrines of fretted gold, is reclining in his shallop with its sail set and floating through the pure and pearly morning air, upon the blue and shining river. The fine style, the choice and exhaustive draughtsmanship, the deep, glowing tints of the figure, and the elegance of his attitude, rank among the best of the painter's achievements. The face is beautiful and beautifully drawn; the expression has high poetic value, because it renders the languor without affectation and the serene mood of the dreamer. The landscape is lovely, the river is a study of itself, and the picture, small as it is, is quite large enough, so fine is its style, to embody all the suggestions of the subject. Mr. A. W. Hunt's drawing of Windsor Castle (19) has occupied a great deal of his time, and has been much talked of. It proves to be a picture to be proud of, but unfortunately, by a mishap very uncommon in this gallery, it has been hung between and above several drawings which, although at least two of them are excellent and one of them is beautiful, are most objectionable neighbours for a delicate drawingsubtly toned and subtly tinted. The time is summer afternoon, just before twilight begins, and after the sun's direct light has left the sky. It is an almost shadowless time; a little vapour adds a pearly whiteness to the atmosphere, softens the scene in every part, and reduces the stronger tints to a lovely greyness. It is so very bright that but for this haze the effect might belong to summer noon. The view of the long range of the walls and buildings of the castle is taken from the north-east. The river hardly ripples in the front; some boats are moored to the nearer bank, and the foreground is a meadow. The half-tones and tints are exquisitely tender, and, rich as they are, they are broad. One of the charms of this lovely drawing is the fine harmony of its colouring and chiaroscuro. Mr. Wallis contributes but one picture (an Eastern subject, such as he has so often chosen of late), and it is of very exceptional beauty indeed. It is called A Do'ruck and Chool'leh Merchant [seller of pots and pans], Cairo (101). The figure is very well drawn-much better, indeed, than some of Mr. Wallis's. The distinguishing qualities of the work are its softened brilliance, its strength of colour, and the depth and clearness of the shadows. The visitor should notice the large space of deep shadow cast upon the wall by a projecting balcony near the top of the picture, as well as the lustre of the glowing space into which it falls, with edges sharply, but not harshly defined. This is a beautiful piece of painting, and it could not be purer in colour, softer, or more harmonious. A contrast to No. 101 in many respects is Mr. Poynter's Mulgrave Woods (27). It is less admirable in chiaroscuro than might be desired. While it is drawn as a piece of sculpture should be, it lacks breadth and brilliancy. It is a view over treetops and a deep valley to a high plateau beyond, where the famous churches of Whitby stand, and if pure outlining were the perfection of art it would be supremely fine. We should have supposed that the local colours of the foliage, rich as they must have been in autumnal hues, would be much more affected by the shadows which dot the view like dark spots. Another fine piece of draughtsmanship pure and simple, the Walls of Old England (8), comes from the same learned artist, and is one of a series of coast studies some of which we have already admired. It depicts a lofty coast quarry, probably in Purbeck, where stone has been excavated so as to leave terraces open to the sea and sun, and slopes, each of which looks like the talus of a mighty fort. Accept it as almost a monochrome, and accept, too, the blackness of the shadows, whose huge forms are grand, as true to nature, while the sunlight is very pale, and we have a dignified view with a noble motive. of choly in its low notes, is the grand perspective promontories thrusting themselves out like bastions against the warring sea, called Near Whitby (205), by the same painter: a learned piece of draughtsmanship, with little "colour," technical or natural, to disturb its serious and stately sentiment. Near it hangs a brilliant, beautifully drawn, and truly coloured study of a deep hollow in a coast dune, sympathetically named A Sandy Solitude (206), the work of Mr. W. Crane. It is most enjoyable for the freedom with which each tiny ridge and rounding swell is traced upon the slopes of sand glowing in the sunlight, which seems to have blanched them. A long line of dark blue mountains in the distance adds romantic dignity to the scene, besides supplying the beautiful "colour." The most important of Mr. Crane's contributions, Flora (169), has unluckily been placed below the line, where its perspective suffers, and even the action of the beautiful figure figure is marred. The goddess walks swiftly over a meadow and bids it glow in splendid flowers, which spring to life at her word. She is a noble, decorative figure, full of life and grace, and her face is beautiful. She is clad in a loose white robe which hides none of her contours, and, as drapery, is quite Phidian. Pegasus (176) is an even more powerful example. The passion of the conception and the spontaneity of the design deserved better drawing and "Muse's horse," who, as here shown, would neither "ride nor drive," and in his head and tail is but a poor creature. The colour of this fine piece is most ably suited to the subject.Mr. A. Moore's Face in the Audience (5) may have reference to a fine passage of Mr. Browning's poetry, and, in its vagueness, will admit of any interpretation fancy may choose to give it. All depends upon the visitor, who is supposed to see a suggestive countenance like this among a host of insignificant ones. The idea, indefinite and undefined as it is, was worth developing by the aid of features of unchallengeable fairness and vitality, of drawing less dubious, and of modelling showing more self-respect. The ability not less than the reputation of the artist, to say nothing of his election by the Society, demanded more than he has given in this case, yet we are bound to say that the drawing has considerable merits, and aims it is our duty to respect. It has colour of the true kind, if needing refinement; pathos which is suggestive, but not powerful enough; drawing of which the style at least is noble; and force without violence. a nobler model for the Ambition, taste, some spirit, and masculine vigour more than usual are present in the finely drawn, capitally modelled half figure of a damsel Shelling Peas (82) in a flame-coloured dress, by Miss E. Martineau. This accomplished artist has seldom sent a work so spontaneous and free from sentimentality. No. 51, also by Miss Martineau, named Potato Harvest, may be intended to exhibit some of that mournful pathos Millet taught his countrymen to feel in the dull drudgery of the paysanne. If so, Miss Martineau has missed her mark, and produced a most respectable piece of prose in her strapping English wench laden with a basket of potatoes, who walks in a thoroughly wellpainted field while a man and a woman are taking their harvest out of the earth. The colour of the potatoes is too nearly like that of the earth from which they have been taken, and even the learned draughtsmanship of the picture does not prevent its forms from being a little heavy, while the brownness of the shadows suggests more of the lamp than we like. No visitor should overlook Miss Martineau's contributions named Her Dearest Doll (69) and A Sower (185), of which the latter is ill placed on one of the screens. Those who love nature's graver moods will like a very fine, modest, and faithful, yet highly " artistic coast piece by Mr. M. Hale, entitled Fishing Boats leaving Falmouth Harbour (123), and showing brown-sailed craft flitting seawards on a plain of indigo-coloured water, where the last flush of evening fades almost to whiteness, and grey twilight pervades the scene. A difficult and very beautiful effect has been rendered with sympathy for its choice and severe colouring, which in itself is poetry, and the gradations of the air and space. The white lighthouse and the ship with dark sails in the distance have been delineated with rare art and true success. An Evening in Autumn (32) depicts beechen woodlands in too hot and foxy colours, and the draughtsmanship is less solid than we expect from one so well qualified to paint and draw as Mr. Hale. The effect of twilight on a forest scene, while autumnal vapours prevail, is not one of sharp definitions, but, on the other hand, it is depicted in a manner conspicuous for thinness and the absence of research. Venice, a Misty Morning (45), is very clever, artistic, and attractive; and A Winter Evening (268) deserves praise. - Not far from Mr. Hale's 'Fishing Boats' hangs another capital study, by a most accomplished painter of the sea in misty calms or gentle breezes. This is Mr. F. Powell's Gleam of Sunshine (140). That should hardly be called a gleam which, without form or outline of any sort, makes itself known by touching the tips of a thousand wavelets that rise-one cannot say how or why-on the pallid level-as smooth as glass and as green -of the sea, where a universal mist veils everything but the fishing boat which creeps silently away from us. Whitby Old Town (89) is a telling and broad picture of the place. Notice the gleam on the otherwise shadowed cliff and ancient houses. - Mr. E. Waterlow has sent a nice bright study of sea and yellow sands in his Wrack Cart, Connemara (2). The pearly and truthful shadow on the foreground indicates more study of nature than the slurred sky would seem to indicate. The Dusk (21) of Mr. Waterlow, a dusty road in twilight, is good; the same may be said of Dawn (264). -Mr. C. Davidson's At Penberth Cove (3) is a good subject, and there is great merit in its effect and composition; but the foreground, which has next to no solidity, lacks brightness and force. The same artist has other noteworthy contributions. 'A DEDICATION TO BACCHUS,' of SUCH is the title of Mr. Alma Tadema's new work which will be exhibited on and after Monday at Mr. Lefèvre's Gallery in King Street. It comprises no fewer than sixty figures, the most important of which are full length. The time represented is the third century after Christ, the country Greece. Notice of the dedication of a child and of an offering of wine has been given to the priests of a grand temple of Bacchus, which stands high above the sea on its platform of white marble overlooking a dark green bay, girt by a rocky coast. The priests have assembled their choir maidens and dressed the chief altar of the god, which stands under its purple awning close to the front of the podium. Some of the sculptures the temple, a frieze representing a battle with the centaurs, glow in the sunlight on our right. The maidens have ranged themselves in a line enclosing the altar, and the chief priest and priestess stand at their head, one holding a patera of silver, the other a vase of the same metal for libations to be poured at the proper moment. The sunlight passing through the velarium strikes on some of the standing figures, or, reflected from the podium, outlines their forms in gold. On the whole this group is in translucent shadow, and thus contrasts strongly with the rest of the figures, who are approaching the altar and are traversing the sunlit part of the platform till they stand in that greater shadow which is thrown from buildings behind us all over the foreground, and is painted with amazing skill in dealing with direct light and its shadows, as well as with light reflected into those shadows and projecting shadows of its own. Commissioned by the officers of the temple, a maiden descended the rock on which the fane stands when the music and voices of the newcomers were heard. She has led them up and brought them in front of the altar. Then turning round suddenly, with the passion of a bacchante, she faces the procession, tosses her thyrsus on high, causing its silver bells to ring, and, raising her hands, bids the new-comers welcome, calling on them to approach the god, his assembled ministers, and his altar. The devotees are headed by two charming young girls bearing long green garlands. Continuing the dance which brought them to the spot, they bow before the shrine with a sort of graceful enthusiasm. One of them whirls herself round rapidly on her left foot, and stoops so low that her auburn tresses, tinged with bright gold and glittering in the sunlight, spread fan-like upon her shoulders. The girls swing their garlands behind them in long festoons. These form the front rank of the procession. Next come four stalwart sons of the winegrower whose granddaughter is to be dedicated, bearing on their shoulders an offering of the first wine in a mighty ox-skin on a sort of litter. They acclaim the god with hands upraised. A company of girls bearing timbrels, youths carrying, some of them torches, and others thyrsi, follow, clashing their instruments and singing. A little to the left of these and nearer the front is the most important group in the design, the aged owner of the vineyards, his son-in-law with a fife, his daughter, on whose shoulder he leans, and her little daughter, a pretty child, who is clad only in a semi-transparent purple tissue. Upon the little one these relations look with tender anxiety, while her aunt, a fair and graceful maiden of fifteen, stoops over her, and reassures her while calling her attention to the altar. Many more figures and incidents will reward the admirer of this splendid and harmonious picture, which in colour, finish, and draughtsmanship is inferior to none the painter has given to the world. 1 CYPRUS EXPLORATION. Poli tes Chrysochou, Cyprus, April 11, 1889. DURING the past fortnight several sites have been worked with very various success. To the south-east of Poli we have finished off all the sites on which we have been able to acquire the right to dig; in the village we have continued our excavations on the small area which alone seems to contain tombs that can be found; and to the north two trials have been made which revealed nothing but late walls and a fragment of the foundations of a more important building. Returning once more to the east, we have opened a few tombs north and south of the vineyard. Those to the north proved of little value, being either of Roman date or earlier tombs used again in later times and subsequently robbed. It was with difficulty that we extracted per mission to dig half a dozen trials to the south of the vineyard. The site seems a promising one, but the owner is hard to deal with, and has sown a valuable crop. This piece of land and another to the south-east of the village are, apart from the Chiftlik lands, so far as we have been able to discover, the only remaining tombsites here worth excavating, and it is not to be expected that the right to dig on either of them can be acquired until the crops are cut. We are accordingly anxiously awaiting application for leave our the answer to to excavate at Limniti, and hope to be able to start work there before Easter. To note the more important finds of the fortnight: with the exception of four Cypriote inscriptions from the tombs, and one more which has come to light in the village, they have been almost entirely confined to pottery. One tomb produced seven black-glazed cylices with a band a of palmette and lotus-bud pattern outside, but only two are unbroken. From the same tomb came a black-figured cylix with a horseman and another figure in the centre, and a black-figured lecythoid vase with four figures on the body and two smaller on the shoulder. Two more blackfigured cylices have also been found, the one with little figures on the rim, the other with a band of figures outside. Important is a redfigured cotylus, in fragments, but complete : on the one side a figure holding thyrsus, with an altar behind; on the other a figure holding torch and patera, of the later fifth century style, and inscribed καλος and καλε. Unique in our experience are the fragments of a large Cypriote diota with artist's signature in Cypriote characters. Two white and black lecythi, the one with palmettes, the other with ivy pattern, may also be mentioned. Minor variations from the ordinary types are two broken circular lamps with red animal figures round them; a late, but not inelegant red-glazed three-handled pot with lid; a lamp of red and black glazed ware in the form of a duck; and a glass cup bearing the word Εὐφροσύνη in relief. J. ARTHUR R. MUNRO. fint-Art Gossiy. The A PRELIMINARY conference of gentlemen officially interested in the meeting of the Royal Archæological Institute which is to assemble at Norwich on the 6th of August was held at Castle Acre on the 24th ult. Among those present were the three chairmen of sections: Mr. C. R. Manning (Archæology), Mr. J. W. Clark (Architecture), and Dr. Jessopp (History). Society of Antiquaries was represented by Mr. St. John Hope. Mr. Gosselin attended as secretary to the Institute, Mr. Mottram as local secretary, Rev. W. Hudson as secretary of the Norfolk and Norwich Archæological Society, and Mr. Davey as agent for the Earl of Leicester, Lord Lieutenant of the county and lord of the manor of Castle Acre, with some other eminent antiquaries. The party made a rapid survey of the great earthworks (erroneously called British on the Ordnance map), which appear to have been added to a previously existing Roman camp, visited the noble and interesting church, and went over the extensive ruins of the Cluniac Priory. It was definitely arranged that Mr. J. W. Clark should open the Architectural Section with a paper on Norwich Cathedral; Mr. G. E. Fox, F.S.A., promised to discourse upon Roman Norfolk; Mr Mr. Hudson undertook to prepare a paper on municipal development as illustrated by the very large collection of thirteenth century documents, never hitherto adequately examined, which are to be found in the archives of the city of Norwich; Mr. Hope promised to deal with the Castle Acre Priory. It was understood that Lord Leicester would allow excavations to be made on the spot, provided that adequate funds were guaranteed for conducting the works on a systematic plan; and it was resolved that a subscription should be set on foot to cover the expenses. The examination of the various objects of interest at Castle Acre is likely to make the day spent there a memorable one in the history of the Institute. The arrangements for excursions to other places of interest in the county during the session are at present incomplete. BESIDES the picture by Mr. Alma Tadema, which we criticize at length this week, Mr. Lefèvre exhibits at his gallery a new and very vigorous work by Mlle. R. Bonheur, her latest finished production, called 'Scotch Cattle at Rest, Glencoe,' which we shall notice next week. SIR JOHN MILLAIS's picture entitled 'Gossips,' little girls taking afternoon tea in a meadow, which we described not long ago, was not sufficiently advanced for exhibition this season. THE Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts intends to hold an autumn exhibition of works |