"The other sections are a rara We admire the ing we dissent from Mr. Furneaux' interpretation, but have only space for one or two. It is tantalising to have no reason given for departing from the old explanation of promptam possessionem, &c., in ii. 5. Orelli and Prof. Holbrooke understand it to mean that it would be easy, if Germanicus took his army by sea, to seize a position in Germany without the knowledge of the enemy; but Mr. Furneaux, following Nipperdey, but without argument, takes the words of the sea itself—"it was an element which they could readily occupy, and was unfamiliar to the enemy.' In ii. 36, domus, which he takes of family connexions, might at least possibly be understood of the numerus liberorum, comparing c. 51. iii. 3 we do not see why the description of Antonia as Tiberio et Augusta cohibitam "must be" equivalent to Tiberii et Augustae exemplo. The passages in the Introduction to which Mr. Furneaux refers us support the construction and the simpler sense of "kept at home by Tiberius and Augusta." FRANKLIN T. RICHARDS. In SOME ARABIC BOOKS. PROF. DIETERICI's text of the so-called Theology of Aristotlo-Die sogenannte Theologie des Aristoteles: aus arabischen Handschriften zum ersten Mal, herausgegeben von Dr. Fr. Dieterici, Professor an der Universitat Berlin (Leipzig: Hinrichs) is a useful contribution to our knowledge of the philosophical works which influenced the great Arab and Persian intellectual movements of the ninth and tenth centuries. The book is, of course, not Aristotle's, but it is not therefore unimportant. Every work which played a part in the learned discussions of the time of the earlier Abbaside Khalifs-the "Theology" appears to have been translated from Greek into Arabic in 834-43, under El-Mu'tasim-deserves the attentive study of the historian of Arabian civilisation. The translator of the tracts of the Ikhwan 8-Safa, or Brothers of Purity, is the right man to deal with a book to which they refer by name, and which must have had its effect upon their doctrine. Like much of the philosophic speculation which attracted these early Arab and Persian enthusiasts, the Theology of pseudo-Aristotle is of a Neoplatonic cast. A paraphrase was published at Rome in 1519 under the title "Sapientissimi Aristotelis Stagiritae Theologia sive mistica philosophia secundum Aegyptios noviter reperta et in Latinum castigatissime redacta," and the work was reprinted by Carpentarius at Paris in 1572. es ge of Tacitus is reT the help of the ef, and of other be Furneaux' Pre dering whether t foreign work verbal Inder afr nuel College, C I edition of In eaux, if we are t irely on such ften seem they an and some ustrating are ppositely. 4to see elec or where a zee a slove words trea rn to int Spectator the attr Ueber Leben und Werke des 'Abdallah ibn ul Mu'tazz. Von Otto Loth. (Leipzig: Hinrichs.) This is the late Dr. Loth's thema, or "promotionsabhandlung," extracted by Dr. August Müller from the Acts of the Philosophical Faculty of Leipzig. It was worthy of a wider audience, and Dr. Müller has done well to edit it, and to prefix a few words on Loth's work and life. The essay itself begins with an interesting sketch of the times in which Ibn-elMo'tezz, the royal poet, and for a brief moment Khalif himself, occupied so prominent a place. A pupil of El-Mubarrad and Tha'lab, Ibn-elMo'tezz was well trained for such poetical composition as was the vogue in the days of the Baghdad Khalifate; and his temperament fitted him for his place as boon companion, laureate, and friend of El-Mo'tadid, on whose Court his poems throw an interesting light. His characteristics as poet are well set forth by Dr. Loth in the second part of the treatise, and a selection of his poems, chiefly in praise of wine, serves to corroborate the writer's views. Ibn-el-Mo'tezz was, however, a versatile genius, and wrote a book of tropes, a history of Arabic poetry, a compendium of the art of song, and many other works, chiefly on literary criticism. The monograph is interesting and thorough, and intro. duces the reader to a pleasing and notable character in Eastern history and literature. that THE Rev. Anton Tien's Egyptian, Syrian, and North-African Handbook (W. H. Allen) looks to us like a reprint of an old Crimea book, but this may be merely the result of the very antiquated manner in which it is arranged. The book will be utterly useless to the British forces, civilians, and residents in Egypt, for whom it is intended. Nobody could possibly make out the pronunciation of the words from the spelling here employed. Who would guess, for example, "itnîne is to be pronounced "itneyn," or that "koll youm" should be spoken "kull yome"? Not only are the Arabic words (which are given only in Roman characters) so written that they cannot be properly pronounced, but the words are often wrong. A peninsula is not "gazirah" (where, by-theby, there is no indication that the accent is on the second syllable- gezeera); ice is not "bouz," but "thalg;" study is not "dars," but " dirasa; a chair is not "kirseh," but "kursy," in Egyptian Arabic; pepper is not "foolfol," but filfil; a bedstead is not "kerewet," but " sereer; a railway station is not "almanzal," but "mahatta; a train is "katr," not "zeyl;' an engine-driver is sawak," not "tsharkji; a rope is "habl," not "salbi." Nobody calls a nobleman "Shah. zadeh" in Egypt, or a road "iddiroob." In fine, if the book were ever of any use, it would be in Syria; and even there it would not be worth its room in one's pocket, though it measures only 5 × 4 × inch. SCIENCE NOTES. A CONFERENCE of the Society of Telegraph Engineers and Electricians will be held at the International Health Exhibition on Friday next, July 4. At 11 a.m. Mr. R. E. Crompton will read a paper on "Electric Lighting in relation to Health," and at 2.30 p.m. Mr. W. H. Stone will read a paper on "The Physiological Bearing of Electricity on Health." THE current number of the Proceedings of the Geologists' Association contains a variety of interesting papers, among which may be singled out, as quite novel, one by Prof. Rupert Jones, in which he describes, from a stones exhibited in the antiquarian departments geological point of view, the various polished of the British Museum. A great amount of information is pleasantly conveyed concerning the granites, syenites, and diorites of the Egyptian figures; the alabaster, or gypsum, of the Assyrian bas-reliefs; and the marbles, porphyries, and other stones of the Greek and Roman sculptures. WE have also received:--Life, Function, Health: Studies for Young Men, by Dr. H. Sinclair Paterson (Hodder & Stoughton); Death and Disease behind the Counter, by Thomas Sutherst (Kegan Paul, Trench, & Co.); The Guild of Good Life: a Narrative of Domestic Health and Economy, by Dr. Benjamin Ward Richardson, "The People's Library (S. P. C. K.); Homely Hints on Health, by Mrs. W. T. Greenup (Marcus Ward): What to do and How to do it: a Manual of the Law affecting the Housing and Sanitary Condition of Londoners, issued by the Sanitary Laws Enforcement Society (Kegan Paul, Trench, & Co.); Health Studies, by Dr. H. Sinclair Paterson, Cheap Edition (Hodder & Stoughton); Series of Diet-Rolls for Special Diseases-Diabetes, Gout, Dyspepsia, by Harvey J. Philpot (Sampson Low); &c., &c. A GREAT number of books dealing more or less closely with health have accumulated on our table. Foremost we would mention seven fresh handbooks issued in connexion with the International Health Exhibition (Clowes), among which Health in the Village, by Sir Henry Acland, is conspicuous both for its literary merit and for its abundant illustrations. In the same series Capt. Shaw treats of Fires and Fire Brigades, Mr. Sept. Berdmore of The Principles of Cooking, Surgeon-Major Evatt of Ambulance Organisation, and Dr. Attfield of Water and Water Supplies. PHILOLOGY NOTES. THE next volumes in Messrs. Macmillan's "Classical Series" will be Xenophon's Oeconomicus, edited by the Rev. Dr. H. A. Holden, with a lexicon; and Ovid's Metamorphoses, Books XIII. and XIV., edited by Mr. C. Simmons. THE current number of the Journal of Philology (vol. xiii., No. 25) contains a third portion of Mr. Henry Jackson's elaborate examination of "Plato's Later Theory of Ideas," dealing with the Timaeus; "Notes on Latin Lexicography," by Prof. Nettleship and Mr. F. Haverfield; and a first instalment of Bentley's notes on Books I. to VI. of the Iliad, transcribed by Messrs. Aldis Wright and Walter Leaf from a MS. in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge. THE first number of the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal for 1884 (vol. liii., part i.) contains the following articles:-"The Trade Dialect of the Naqqásh, or Painters on Papiermaché, in the Panjab and Kashmir," by Capt. R. C. Temple; "Tiomberombi, a Nicobar Tale," by the late F. A. de Roepstorff; "The History of Religion in the Himalaya of the North-west Provinces," by Mr. E. T. Atkinson; and "The Psychological Tenets of the Vaishnavas," by Dr. Rajendralála Mitra. WE quote the following from the New York Nation: "The continued deciphering of the collection of papyri with which the literary zeal of Herr Theodor Graf and the munificence of Archduke Rainer and more reveals the vastness of that antiquarian have enriched the Imperial Austrian Museum more treasure. The scientific examination is carried on in the Egyptian division by Dr. J. Krall; in the classical by Dr. K. Wessely; and in the IranoSemitic by Prof. Karabacek. The twenty papyri in hieratic style almost three thousand years old, belonging to pre-Christian times include a letter a funerary tableau containing the well-preserved legends, and a mathematical writing in demotic image of the dead Amasis, with hieroglyhic characters. The Coptic pieces number about one thousand, all the three dialects being represented. There are some interesting new fragments of the Bible version in the Central-Egyptian dialect. A masterpiece of Alexandrian caligraphy contains a hitherto unknown speech against Isocrates. There are fragments of poetic, dramatic, philosophical, ance) of the beginning of the fourth century, and patristic writings, and a Metanoia (Repentwhich is perhaps the oldest Christian MS. in existence. Official documents issued under the Roman and Byzantine emperors, from Trajan to Heraclius, are exceedingly numerous. The hundreds of documents in Pehlevi, written on papyrus, parchment, or skin, are still more interesting. One of them, composed during the Sassanian occupation of Egypt in the time of Heraclius, is expected to furnish an important key for Pehlevi decipherments. Of the Arabic papyri, upwards of The oldest dates from the fifty-fourth year of the a thousand have been read by Prof. Karabacek. Hegira, another from the ninetieth. No equally ancient Islamic documents, supplied with dates, have hitherto been known. The Arabic collection also embraces upwards of 150 writings on cottonpaper, some dating from the beginning of the eighth century—that is, from the very time of the invention of this writing material." MEETINGS OF SOCIETIES. ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY.-(Monday, June 16.) SIR WILLIAM MUIR, President, in the Chair.Prof. Terrien de La Couperie read a paper on "Three Embassies from Indo-China to the Middle Kingdom, and on the Trade-routes thither, Three Thousand Years Ago." During the first years of the reign of Tch'ing, the second king of the Tchen dynasty, about 1100 B.C., three embassies came to him from Indo-China, before his power was firmly established to the south of the Yangtze Kiang. These were, really, travelling parties of merchants, who had heard from the tribes of West and South China, who had helped the Tchen to overthrow the preceding dynasty, of the great wealth of the new rulers. The original record of these visits was, probably, destroyed in one or other of the five great fires in which most of the historical literature of China perished. Only a few fragments of information about them have survived, and these in a much altered state. Curiously enough, these disastrous alterations have been caused chiefly through the conflict of the rival schools of Confucius and Lao-tze, the result of which was that the traditions were amended and completed by the addition of marvellous circumstances, or by the attribution to the earliest period of happy and glorious events similar to those of later times. One of such events would have been the arrival at Court of foreigners from distant regions. The three embassies were (1) that of merchants from the Nili, or Norai country, north of Burmah, by the Bhamo road; (2) that of merchants from the Kudang country, in the Southwest of Yunnan, bringing monkeys, the geographical position and the details of the story showing the existence of Karen tribes in Northern Burmah and of Dravidians in the North-east parts of India; (3) that of merchants from Yueh-shang, or Cochin-China, who are said to have been sent back. At the close of his paper, the Professor passed in review six trade-routes between India, Cochin-China, and China previous to the Christian era. Of these, two are important-viz, the one through Assam to India, and the other to Tung-King by the Red River. It was by the latter that the sea-traders of Kattigara (Hanci) heard of the important trading State of Tsen (in Yunnan), this name being, in fact, the antecedent of that of China.-Dr. Theodore Duka exhibited forty pieces of Tibetan printed books, or MSS., which the late Alexander Csoma di Körös gave, in 1839, to the Rev. S. C. Malan, then secretary of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, and which this gentleman has just presented to the Hungarian Academy of Sciences at Buda-Pesth. Dr. Duka has been for many years past collecting authentic data for a biography of this eminent Hungarian scholar, as, hitherto, little has been known of him, and very erroneous opinions have been promulgated with regard to his philological researches. SOCIETY FOR PRESERVING THE MEMORIALS OF THE DEAD.-(Wednesday, June 18.) THE second annual meeting of this society was held, under the presidency of the Bishop Suffragan of Nottingham, in the rooms of the Royal Archacological Institute.-In opening the proceedings the Chairman congratulated the society on its steady advance. They had now over six hundred members. Their work was valued by the poor as well as the rich, for the poor had quite as keen an affection for the memorials of their dead as any other class in society.The Report, which was read by the Secretary (Mr. Vincent), showed that by the exertions, directly and indirectly, of the society several wellknown monuments, &c., had been replaced in their proper positions, from which they had been re Hants, an important case of removal of memorial slabs is still in hand; intervention in the removal of the tomb of the great Countess of Cumberland at St. Lawrence's, Appleby; at Lusk, in Ireland, the Barnewell tomb, for the preservation of which the council desires funds. It was also stated that the tombs of Mrs. Siddons, of Banks, of Nollekens the sculptor, and of Haydon the painter, in Paddington churchyard, were to be repaired.Several letters had been received explaining nonattendance. Among them was one from Mr. Henry Irving, who forwarded a contribution to the funds of the society. Another was from a member of the Darwin family, who wrote that the Darwin monuments in Breadsall church, which had been removed unknown to the family, have been restored to their proper places, after eight years' displacement, entirely owing to the exertions of the society and the publicity given to counsel's opinion on the law as to monuments. Several other instances of the restoration of interesting monuments were given, and a resolution was passed-"That the meeting hereby expresses its great satisfaction at the successful progress of the society, and confidently believes that its efforts to preserve memorials of the dead, which serve as illustrations of national history, will be followed by increasing support and the means of carrying out the objects it has in view in all parts of the United Kingdom." SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES.—(Thursday, June 19.) C. S. PERCEVAL, ESQ., Treasurer, in the Chair. Mr. Freshfield gave an account of the palace of the Greek emperors at Nymphio, near Smyrna, which was built by Michael Palaeologus during the rule of the Courtenais. It was during Michael's reign (1261) that Constantinople was retaken. The central hall of the palace only is left. Not far from these remains there is a bas-relief cut in the rock, which is one of the images of Sesostris mentioned by Herodotus. It does not, however, stand on the road from Smyrna to Sardis, as supposed by some travellers, but on the road from Ephesus to Phocaea. Major Cooper Cooper exhibited some fragments of clay furnace bars and post-Roman pottery found near Ox-bones accompanied the pottery. Luton. PHILOLOGICAL SOCIETY.-(Friday, June 20.) PROF. SKEAT, President, in the Chair.-A paper on "Irish Gaelic Sounds" was read by Mr. James Lecky. The pronunciation described was that of Mr. Thomas Flannery, a Celtic scholar resident in London, but a native of Connaught. Mr. Lecky read and analysed a list of 116 key-words, exemplifying the elementary sounds and their combinations. The visible speech symbols with which it was proposed to identify these sounds were given, and a Roman transliteration. At present, the phonetic distinctions in Irish are extremely numerous and minute. The so-called "slender" effect of certain consonants, several of which were then described for the first time, was due to three different modes of vocal action, with reference to the "front" part of the tongue. Criticising current views respecting the analysis of the broad t and d in Irish, Mr. Lecky thought that the peculiar quality of these consonants was not necessarily connected either with the dental or interdental position, but was due rather to the extreme flatness and sideward spreading of the tongue. This formation was also found in the broad in and ll. There are several obscure vowels, somewhat resembling the English err. In the mixed position there are four series of vowels-two rounded and two unrounded. Nasality is much weaker than in French, but affects consonants and diphthongs, as well as simple vowels. moved by careless "restorers." Among other Specimens of spoken Irish in prose and verse were instances cited were the restoration of the tomb of given in phonetic spelling, and were read. The Lord Dacre in Saxton churchyard (by the Earl of study of the modern language was described as Carlisle); the replacement of Dean Cannon's greatly hampered by the unhistorical and unetymomural monument near its original place in West- logical character of the native spelling. Ten minster Abbey: the tomb of Morant, Essex's letters, a, j, k, æ, q, v, w, x, y, z, though nearly all historian, renovated; the Deane monuments at of them might be usefully employed, were absent Great Maplestead, for which £17 towards £50 is from the Irish alphabet. The remaining eighteen promised for preservation from absolute decay; letters were totally inadequate to symbolise a the De la Beche effigies at Aldworth, the pre-system of sounds so extensive and symmetrical as servation of which is under consideration; at Feckenham, the Culpeper monument; at Milford, was indicated by an acute accent, which in some that which the language now possesses. Quantity founts of type was not provided. Besides these defects of material, Irish spelling was extremely irregular, and filled with silent letters. This unphonetic orthography must be reckoned among the causes which were hastening the extinction of the language.-Mr. Sweet, who is at present in Germany, sent a communication dwelling on the importance of having the Irish dialects analysed and recorded while they were yet spoken. They were valuable (1) in themselves on account of the extreme delicacy of their phonetic structure; (2) as showing the sound-changes through which other languages, such as French and English, had passed in prehistoric times; (3) as the natural key to the forms, idioms, and phonetic laws of Middle and Old Irish.-Mr. Ellis said that a description of Irish sounds was especially useful on account of the irregularity of the native orthography. He thought Irish spelling worse than English. He also urged the necessity of comparing Irish sounds with those of the Slavonic and Scandinavian languages.-Prof. Rhys said that, hitherto, Celtic philologists had too much neglected the earliest and the latest stages of Irish-the ancient inscriptions and the modern dialects. Herr Zimmer, however, paid more attention to the phonetics of Irish than his predecessors. Nothing was being done in Ireland to investigate the modern speech. A Welshman in learning Irish would find the idioms familiar enough, and could guess his way through a great part of the vocabulary. But he would encounter a difficulty in the sounds, owing 66 slender" conto the large number of mouillé or sonants, which did not exist in Welsh.-Mr. Furnivall said that the Philological Society would be glad to receive as members all Celtic students, and to learn the results of their researches. FINE ART. GREAT SALE of PICTURES, at reduced prices (Engravings, Chronos, and Olcographs), handsomely framed. Everyone about to purchase pictures should pay a visit. Very suitable for wedding and Christmas presenGEO. REES, 115, Strand, near Waterloo-bridge. The Art of the Old English Potter. By L. Solon. (Bemrose.) Ir is somewhat strange that it should have been left to a foreigner to do justice to the art of the Old English potter. The subject has no doubt engaged the attention of English men. The science and history of it have been carefully investigated by the late Sir Henry de la Beche and Mr. Trentham Reeks in their admirable handbook to the collection in the Geological Museum; and Mr. Llewellyn Jewitt has taken great pains to gather together information, and his Ceramic Art of Great Britain is a mine of material, archaeological and documentary. But the artistic and the human aspects of the art were left pretty well alone until the publication of this beautiful volume. their modest estimate of the beauty and skill It is partly, perhaps, from of their ancestors' work of this kind that Englishmen have hesitated to make it a subjcct of artistic study. The achievements in earthenware of Greece and Italy, of Persia and Damascus, of France and Germany, nay, even of the ancient Peruvians and the modern Kabylese, and the splendours of porcelain from China to Chelsea, have presented attrac tions which have overwhelmed the sombrecoloured, ill-potted, and uncouth tygs and posset-pots of early England, primitive not only in shape, but in decoration. When such collections have been made as those of Col. Enoch Wood and Mr. Willett the sight of them, with their rude attempts at portrait, their doggerel rhymes, and general want of refinement and aesthetic feeling, has suggested material for social and political history rather than for a treatise upon art. In a word, till we come to the middle of the eighteenth century and Wedgewood, the "Art" of the Old English potter is to most eyes most conspicuous by its absence. Here, where it would be the tendency of ordinary writers on art to begin, M. Solon ends, judging that at this period all that was most native and (from the peculiar point of his study) interesting had ceased. The mécanique had been perfected; the decorations had become exotic, if exquisite; and the Old English potter, with his centuries of sincere and home-bred labour, was finally dead and buried in the material of his art. How M. Solon came to be interested in this extinct species of his own race he himself tells us. Having transferred his services from Paris to Stoke, he, a stranger without many companions, was accustomed, after the hard labours of the week, to spend his Saturday half-holidays in taking long walks. Having exhausted all the ins and outs of the neighbourhood, his interest in these excursions began naturally to flag, till one day he discovered, on peering through the window of a cottage, a new thing-indeed, two new things. What made this discovery the more attractive was that they were new things in pottery, the art in which he had spent his life, and (we, at least, may add) achieved the highest distinction. It was their strangeness, probably, rather than their loveliness which arrested his attention, for they turned out to be two pieces of old salt glaze ware, a curious ware of a dull white, with a smeary glaze often forced into remarkable shapes, and decorated with elaborate ornament by means of pressure in a mould. These two pieces were promptly acquired, and became the nucleus of a collection and the germ of the present book. His walks regained their interest now, for he had an object; the chase of china and pursuit of pots became a weekly sport. He not only collected, but studied; and, when he made a prize of which he was unusually proud, he drew it for the admiration and envy of his brother huntsmen. Of the drawings, no less than of the study, we have ample and delightful evidence in this magnificent volume, illustrated with numerous etchings of a quality which is rare indeed. What the late Jules Jacquemart did for Nankin and Dresden, M. Solon has done for "tortoiseshell" and "Toft." As a writer of English and as an etcher M. Solon has achieved success, as it were, at a blow. He may be as modest as he pleases as to his composition, but no revision of proofs by English experts could account for his pleasant style or command of the language. His birthplace has not affected the manner of his book, and its matter has gained not a little from the author's knowledge and experience of foreign wares. Although the essays of which the book is composed do not pretend to be exhaustive, they contain a fairly complete history of the subject, with valuable illustrations and comments which are not to be found elsewhere; and the reader after one perusal of their pages will have gained, easily and pleasantly, a knowledge of the different kinds of Old English pottery which he would otherwise have to extract with much labour from various sources. More than this; he will probably increase not a little his respect and admiration for the Old English potter and his art. houses (two of which date from the commencement of the thirteenth century), a fine bridge over the Scheldt of the thirteenth century, and Henry VIII.'s tower are well worth visiting, as also the public library, picture gallery, and museum. The latter is, perhaps, the most desirable result of this book, which I hope will be reproduced in a cheaper form, for indigenous art in England is comparatively so little studied that many are scarcely aware of its existence. If, as is usually taken for granted, Strange to say, there was, until now, no good there is very little, and this little is of poor local Guide. The present volume, evidently the quality, the less can we afford to neglect it. result of careful research, will be most welcome But there is a world of human nature, if not to those who visit the locality. The descripEach tive portion is preceded by a brief historical of art, in these old cups and dishes. one tells its tale of domestic gathering and notice of the town, occupying twenty-five genial festivity, of feasts and christenings, of pages, and by an excellent sketch of its art history. The typography of the book is fairly sorrowful leavetakings and merry meetings. good; we must, however, take exception to There is a social and national spirit still the bastard Gothic used for the inscriptions, It is well lingering about the parting cups with their which is most painful to read. two handles, and the loving cups with many, illustrated with near upon a hundred cuts, inabout the mugs "published" in rejoicing at cluding ground plans of the churches. The a victory, and the baking-dishes with the ivory plaque in the Fauquez Collection, repreportrait of King Charles or King William, senting the death of the Blessed Virgin (p. 96), was, however, not worth reproducing, as it is which is scarcely to be detected in the pottery most certainly a forgery; indeed, several of the of more "artistic" nations. But they have other ivories in the same collection have a very their "artistic" joys also-the rich harmonies suspicious appearance. The value of this of brown and yellow in ancient tyg, the handbook would be much enhanced by the delicate linen-like texture of the salt glaze, addition of a good index-a want which we the elegant shapes and fine substance of the hope will be supplied in the next issue. Elers ware, and many a bold and naïf essay at decoration. They have also the qualities of freshness, of appropriateness, of simplicity, THE ACQUISITIONS OF THe british of sincerity; and these are qualities which become more and more precious to all true lovers of art. How much of interest M. Solon has found in these old-fashioned products may be seen in the vigour with which he has drawn them, and the care which he has taken to reproduce their peculiar qualities of surface. He has made his point, with a skill which is sometimes marvellous, show us how the light falls on the rich, treacley glaze of the old brown earthenware and the dull, fine body of Elers. He has made us feel not only the thickness, but the consistency, of the different wares; he gives us the smoothness of "slip" and the peculiar sharpness of an ornament cut with a metal mould. A tall mug of white salt glazed ware, embossed all over with low reliefs, is one of the most noticeable of these technical triumphs. Tournai COSMO MONKHOUSE. THE ART TREASURES OF TOURNAI. W. H. JAMES WEALE. MUSEUM FROM THE CASTELLANI THE antiquities recently purchased for the a arms with a short sword, which looks very dangerous should she overtake Hippomenes; the presence of Victory on his side indicates the effect of the apple which he holds in his hand as he runs. But there are several other figures and groups of figures in the composition which it is difficult to connect clearly with the legend as it has been handed down. It would not be altogether strange if the Etruscan artist, when he had used up the figures ordinarily employed for this subject, and still had some space left on his cista, had filled it in with attractive figures from quite different designs. One of these figures, an old man leaning on his staff, looks as if drawn from the east frieze of the Parthenon, in particular from a figure of which only a cast now remains. The Etruscan artist, while trying to be true to his Greek models, generally ended in infusing into them a good deal of his North-Italian nature-a rough expressiveness which the use of Greek models Even figures which at first sight appear to be purely Greek in the drawing reveal, on close examination, The other cista this North-Italian element. to which we have alluded is particularly interesting from its being one of the very few representations of strictly Roman legends. On the lid of the cista is engraved a scene, in the centre of which stands King Latinus in the act of accepting Aeneas (on the left) as the successful suitor of his daughter Lavinia (on the right). The dead body of Turnus is being carried away on the left; Amata rushes away frantically on the right; in the foreground lies the river god Numicius, with a thick bunch of reeds in one never wholly expelled. hand, and with long, sluggish limbs. At his feet reclines a nymph, whom Brunn (Annali dell' Inst. arch., 1864, p. 356) identifies as the nymph of the fons Juturnae (see the engraving in the Monumenti dell' Inst. arch. viii., pl. 7). At the head of Numicius reclines a satyr. With this explanation of the scene on the lid, there is no difficulty in understanding the terrific battle on the body of the cista as the battle which preceded the death of Turnus at the hands of Aeneas. It seems very probable that the date of the cista may be assigned to the latter part of the fourth century B.C., and we have thus in it an illustration of the legend which Virgil found ready to hand concerning the Trojan origin of Rome. The Castellani purchase includes also a number of curious objects of toilet use found in cistae; two mirrors with incised designs, one of which has just been published in the continuation of Gerhard's Etruskische Spiegel; a mirror case, with a design in relief, representing Ganymede carried off by the eagle; two draped statuettes of female figures slightly archaic, and characterised, as usual, by much of the grace of the Greek models from which they had been studied, and not a little of the rough expressiveness of the native Etruscan spirit; and, lastly, a bronze axe-head made to be dedicated to the goddess Hera, and bearing an archaic Greek inscription to that effect. an From the Castellani Sale in Rome, of which account appeared at the time in the ACADEMY, the British Museum obtained, among other things, two gold rings, with designs in intaglio of very unusual beauty, the one representing a figure on horseback, the other a female head. THE FOUNTAINE SALE. THE third day of the Fountaine Sale was memorable as the occasion of its crowning extravagance, for the last object of art offered for competition on that afternoon, or rather on that evening for the auctioneer was unusually slow-was the large oval dish of coloured Limoges, representing a Feast of the Gods with portraits of a French monarch of the time and of his relations and of his most celebrated mistress. The work, which was undoubtedly of the very finest quality, and which united historic and romantic interest to its charm of beauty, was both signed and dated by the artist who wrought it-Leonard le Limousin. It was put up at we forget exactly what figure, but the biddings were soon among the thousands of pounds; and, after a scene of excitement in which ladies were apparently as much interested as ever was any English lady in a struggle between the rival Eights or any Spanish lady in the most delightful crisis of a bull-fight, the precious dish fell to the bid of seven thousand guineas. Mr. Wertheimer had secured it. A leading newspaper was informed that the purchase was made on his own account, and that Mr. Wertheimer would retain it as he has retained some of the finest pieces in the great Hamilton Collection of furniture; but it appears that the fortunate dealer has since disposed of it-perhaps even when he bought it, was already aware of its eventual destination and that it has now gone to swell the treasures of the Rothschilds. On the fourth and last day of the sale the most noticeable object was to be found among the small collection of ivories. This was a large and exquisitely carved ivory horn a miracle of design-worthy to bear upon it the inscription which does actually figure on an ivory casket wrought by a Moor of Spain in the eleventh century: Beauty has cast upon it a robe bright with gems. There is nothing so admirable as the sight of it. It enables me to bear with constancy the things which happen in my house." The horn has also been acquired by a Rothschild. It would be superfluous to add that, in the "house" to which it goes, nothing is likely to happen to cause its owner to have recourse to the consolation of its presence. NOTES ON ART AND ARCHAEOLOGY. WE are glad to hear that Mr. J. D. Linton's picture of the wedding of the Duke of Albany, which had been laid aside for a time, is now to be resumed, and may probably, on its completion, be shown to the public at a West End gallery, together with the series of five pictures, "Incidents in the Life of a Warrior," the last of which in point of painting, and the first in point of sequence, figures in this year's Royal Academy. To make the display more thoroughly representative of Mr. Linton's art it would be desirable to add some water-colour drawings. THE Fine Art Society will hold, we hear, during the autumn an exhibition of selected drawings in black and white, to which many of have been invited to contribute. the most noted book-illustrators of the day MR. ARTHUR EVANS has been appointed Keeper of the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford, in succession to the late Mr. John Henry Parker. We understand that, in accordance with the prevailing tendency of "reform" at Oxford, the duty of lecturing has been imposed upon the new Keeper. THE July number of To-Day contains an article by Mr. William Morris on the Royal Academy and the pictures now on view at Burlington House. THE Leigh Court Collection will fall under the hammer at Christie's to-day. Without following the example of one of the daily describing with diffuseness each great collecnewspapers, which has adopted the course of tion announced as shortly to be sold, we may mention that the picture sale to-day will be, without doubt, the most important of the If the Leigh Court Lionardo is a little doubtful, the Rubens are beyond dispute, and the Claudes almost without rival; and there remain, besides, the agreeable Stothard and a couple of quite genuine and quite vivacious season. Hogarths. THE sale of the collection of china, enamels, &c., left by the late Mr. J. Haslem took place at Derby on June 26. It contained many rare and valuable pieces of Old Derby, Pinxton, and other English china. Mr. Haslem, who commenced life in the Derby China Works, and wrote the History of the Old Derby China Factory-a volume full of valuable information -attained considerable eminence as a painter of portraits on china and in water-colours, and also as an enameller upon copper. Some of the best and most interesting specimens in his collection were presented by him to the Art Gallery at Derby on its formation. They included Billingsley's "Prentice Plate" and Pegg's "Thistle Plate." THE pictures "by a group of artists of the French school" now to be seen at the Dudley Gallery do not equal in interest the similar collection of last year; and of sculpture here the only representative is Mdme. Besnard, who sends some strange and clever, but not very agreeable, experiments in coloured plaster. The most notable work is the portrait of Victor Hugo, by Léon Bonnat, a finely modelled and impressive work. If anything, it is too impressive-too suggestive of Homer, in a frock coat. Here is Henry Gervex's huge "First Communion at the Eglise de la Trinité," which has been 'purchased by the State." He has painted with great dash and cleverness this mass of white muslin, and has won what is called a triumph of technique. Viewed at the right distance, you can make a good guess as to which folds belong to which dress, but we are getting tired of the treatment of "white upon white," which is becoming a common and not very interesting accomplishment. The contrast between the devout faces of the girls as they retire from the altar and those of their interested seniors who have long past "this sort of thing" is almost repulsive. Such is life," however, and your modern painter seeks no other motive. Some pastels by de Nittis of fashionable life, which are not more extraordinary than the prices at which they are assessed, are worth seeing, Fortunately, the cult of the commonplace and the ugly is not universal, and extends with greater difficulty to landscape-painting. The cattle pieces of Barillon are very good, and the landscapes of Damoye, Barau, Flameng, Montenard, and Jourdain deserve attention. Especially noteworthy are Jourdain's large, uncleverly painted interesting, but very carefully observed and "Road to Quesnoy," and Damoye's "Spring-time," with its river seen through a fringe of trees. The effect is almost stereoscopic. MR. HAMPSON THORNTON, of Southport, is publishing a series of etchings from nature from the needle of Mr. T. Greenhalgh, a young local painter, whose work has excited a good deal of interest. As an etcher, Mr. Greenhalgh must be classed among amateurs, but in the prints we have seen there is nothing that can fairly be called amateurish; indeed, considering that experience counts for more in etching than, perhaps, in any other form of art, he has really achieved a noteworthy success. THE "restoration" of another of the famous Burgundian tapestries at Bern, part of the spoil taken by the Swiss at Grandson and Murten, has just been completed. The work was commenced the sister of the heraldic artist. Experts say some years ago by Fräulein Katharina Bühler, that no one else could have executed the task so skilfully and reverently. Without some sort of "restoration," it appears that the tapestry must have soon fallen to pieces. One of its companions, the tent-carpet of Charles the Bold. was restored in the atelier of Frau Carey-Bay about five years ago. These works are judged from their weft" to have been in part wrought 66 at Arras, on the frontier of the industrial Flanders, and in part at Bruges. They are en haute lisse, in wool, interwoven with gold and silver thread, and were made piece-wise and afterwards joined together. The subjects are partly religious, partly historical, and partly heraldic. One of them represents the legend of the " Heiligsprechung" of the Emperor Trajan. DURING the restoration of the tower of the Stiftskirche at Zurzach, in Aargau, consecrated 1347, it was necessary to take down the socalled " Güggel.' In the metal globe on the little turret were found three well-preserved documents, dated 1585. They were folded round with straw, and enclosed in glass. An account of this very interesting church, which stands upon a site said to have been occupied by a church of the fourth century, is given by Prof. R. Rahn in his History of the Arts in Switzerland. in "Play" which was ill-suited to him, and Mr. Arthur Cecil has now taken that rôle in "Play" which he might even earlier have assumed with advantage. WEDNESDAY next will see the production, at the Avenue Theatre, of the drama by Mr. W. E. Henley and Mr. Louis Stevenson, called "Deacon Brodie." THE last series of tableaux at Lady Freake's were in illustration of Schiller's "Das Lied von der Glocke," and were charmingly arranged by Mr. Carl Haag and other artists. Mr. Clifford Harrison, one of the most natural and agreeable of Gur "elocutionists"-to adopt an ugly Americanism-read the passages which offered themselves for illustration, and Romberg's beautiful music was sung under the guidance of Mr. Malcolm Lawson. By the choice of "The Song of the Bell," opportunity was given for the display of an order of costume-early German costume-little seen by the frequenters of tableaux vivants. Classic dress has hitherto been more popular. THE management of the Savoy Theatre are making a new departure in the matter of theatrical programmes. They have just ready a little eight-page dainty-a picture chronicle of the Play, by Miss Alice Havers, the chief tableaux of "The Princess Ida" being chosen for illustration. A study of Prince Hilarion and his friends Cyril and Florian is first given; then comes a picture of the Princess and a grouping of her fair pupils, which is followed by a series of vignettes in monotone, and characteristic portraits, in costume, of Mr. Rutland Barrington and Mr. George Grossmith. At the end the three big brothers, Arac, Guron, and Seynthius, are depicted. MUSIC. to the large audience. In our first notice we 66 Fidelio," the greatest of classical Operas, attracted a large audience on Wednesday evening last. Herr Richter wisely commenced with the real Vorspiel to the Opera-that is, with the "Leonora" overture No. 3, an introduction after the manner of Gluck and Mozart and their sucLeipzig, was the Fidelio; she obtained great cessors Weber and Wagner. Frau Lugar, from success with the scena of the first act, and she sang throughout with dramatic feeling. What acting; in the prison scene, whether in her specially impressed us, however, was her earnest grief while digging the grave, in her compassion for the prisoner, or in her defiant behaviour towards Pizarro, she was equally admirable. The other rôles were in good hands; Herr Wiegand, except for a lack of tone in his low notes, was a capital Rocco. Besides we would mention Herr Scheidemantel (Minister) and Herr Schroedter (Jacquino). Band and chorus were excellent; the performance, indeed, as a whole was most praiseworthy. J. S. SHEDLOCK. RECENT CONCERTS. Mr. THE ACADEMY. If obtained of a Newsvendor or of the United Kingdom. Including Postage to any part of France, Germany, India, YEARLY. HALF- QUARYEARLY. TERLY. £ s. d. s. d. £ s. d. 0 13 0 066 03 3 0 15 2 077 0 3 10 0 17 4 088 POYNTER'S 0 4 4 THE fifth concert of the St. Cecilia Society was GERMAN OPERA AT COVENT GARDEN. "Die Meistersinger" was given for the fourth time last Saturday afternoon. The singing of the principals was not all that could be desired, but, nevertheless, the piece went smoothly, and afforded, indeed, great pleasure LESSONS in MARINE Twelve Facsimiles of Original Water. Colour Sketches UNIFORM WITH THE ABOVE. SIMPLE LESSONS in FLOWER and numerous Outline Drawings of Flowers, after SIMPLE LESSONS in LANDSCAPE Eight Facsimiles of Original Water-Colour Drawings, and Thirty Vignettes, after various Artists. With Full Instructions. In 4 parts, 4to, 6d. each; or 1 vol., cloth, 3s. London: BLACKIE & SON, 49 and 50, Old Bailey. |