MODERN EXHIBITION. 109 



On the left of the spectator, a country schoolmaster addresses a group in an 

 emphatic manner, who are seated at a rude table engagetl in various ways, 

 but all relating to the chief business of the picture. On the right, an old 

 pensioner is teaching a youth how to present a blunderbuss ; addressed to 

 the eye of the spectator — a group of girls are anticipating the report — two 

 figures, one illustrating active, the other passive, drunkenness, complete the 

 group. The one is what they term in Ireland a baccagh, or mock-lame beg- 

 gar, who is supposed to have dispossessed himself of his pretended helps, but 

 real incumbrances, on this great occasion, and is shewing, by whirling his 

 crutch and leg, his willingness to join in whatever is about to be enacted." 



We extract the foregoing description from the catalogue, but it 

 can give no adequate idea of this surpassing picture ; which, as ti 

 representation of present realities, may prove more interesting to the 

 general spectator than the romance and chivalrie of the " Vow of 

 the Peacock." In fact, we are much inclined to pronounce this wild 

 Irish scene, the finer composition of the two. In both, the exquisite 

 beauty of all the female heads, is remarkable ; every variety of 

 countenance and expression is given with a grace, feeling, and spi- 

 rit, we have never yet found united. The assemblage is represented 

 in a ruined church or abbey; and faithfully, though strangely, 

 blended are the passions, habits, and prejudices, of the hot-tempered 

 and superstitious Hibernians. In the foreground of the })icture lies 

 a female figure, stretched upon a grave, and apparently weeping. 

 At the head of the grave the holi/ symbol of a cross is erected ; and 

 immediately behind it are flung down, in close companionship, a 

 good corpulent bottle of the " crathur," and a musket ! — priestcraft, 

 drunkenness, and murder ! How sadly appropriate are the em- 

 blems ! Mac Clise is not a painter only — he is a philosopher and a 

 moralist. The infinite variety of faces, from the smiling and inno- 

 cent child, nestled, in blessed unconsciousness., at its mother's breast, 

 through every gradation of age and temperament, to the wronged, 

 daring, and demoralized leaders of this half savage band, show the 

 result of study and mental powers far beyond the common range of 

 minds. The humourous is mixed with the tragic, in strange and 

 startling contrast. Kneeling at the head of the corpse, in the centre 

 of the picture, is a girl, weeping and clasping her arms frenziedly 

 round the neck of her deceased relative ; while close beside sits an 

 impersonation of " Paddy from Cork, who buttoned his coat behind, 

 to keep him warmer." Among the schoolmaster's auditory, the 

 half-idiotic boy who seems drinking in every word, in blind and im- 

 plicit faith, is admirable ; indeed, every figure is a romance — the 

 true romance of real and stirring life : and, to do any thing like 

 justice to the picture, we should extend our notice to a three- vo- 

 lume illustration. The girl drawing moustaches on her lover's face 

 with a burnt cork — the one pretending fright at the expected mus- 

 ket-shot — the young wife, or bride-elect, tying a green sash round 

 the waist of the newly-installed Captain — and several more fair 

 forms and faces in this motley group, are perfectly beautiful. 



281. Bribery and Corruption. — C. Landseer. An illustration, 

 worthy of the subject ; admirably conceived and beautifully execut- 



