Aphil G, 1883.] 



♦ KNOWLEDGE 



209 



memory, but we can answer for it the principal peculiarities 

 are rather softened than exaggerated. 



The legs we can especially answer for, while the appen- 

 dages which come where a horse has his feet and pasterns, 

 are perfect transcripts — they are things we never could 

 forget We have not the faintest idea what they really 

 are. We would not insult Mr. Wliistler by supposing lie 

 tried to draw a horse with the customary equine legs, and 

 30 failed as to produce these marvels. Perhaps Dr. Wilson 

 knows of some animal limbed thus strangely. 



It is because of such insults as these to common sense 

 and common understanding, and from no ill-will we bear 

 him, tliat we refuse seriously to criticise such work as Mr. 

 Whistler has recently brought before the public. Wliat- 

 ever in it is good adds to his otlence, for it shows the 

 offence to be wilful, if not premeditated. 



Mr. Whistler, who sometimes nearly draws correctly, and 

 the host of those, from the late !Mr. Rossetti downwards, who 

 cannot draw at all, probably look with contempt on honest 

 John Leech. To him w;is otlered what Mr. Oscar Wilde re- 

 gards as the supreme insult (the only insult not yet offered to 

 Mr. Whistler) popxl/trih/. Leech was popular because he 

 was HONEST. He took the public fancy, at the beginning 

 of his career, rather by the promise of good things than 

 by what he actually did. There was a good deal of 

 incorrect drawing in liis earliest sketches ; but as 

 time went on he steadily advanced, till at last he acquired 

 the mastery which characterised unfailingly the last ten 

 years of his work. One of his drawings of a breezy land- 

 scape, with men and women and dogs and horses, was worth 

 — to our mind — Mr. Whistler's whole collection of etchings 

 (when due deduction is made from the good points on 

 account of those features which cause real pain to the 

 artistic mind). We venture — we trust J//-. J^uncJi will forgive 

 tis — to draw a slight sketcli from one of Punch's Almanacs, 

 to give our readers relief after the monstrosities we have 

 recalled above. 



f ■■-\r-v.ii ■:-.-. 



Part XVII. of Knowledge (containing Nor. 70 to 74 inclusive) 

 J3 now ready, price la. 



SERIALS RECEIVED. 



The Welcome, for April, 1S83 (S. W. Partridge & Co., 

 London). A capital sixpence worth. It contains good 

 likenesses of Rosa Bonheur and jNIr. John Ruskin, and 

 many admirable engravings. (Tlie picture. Chestnut-street, 

 Colorado, gives a good idea of this mining city ; but the 

 description gives little idea of the wildness of life there.) 

 The W'elcoDtt:^ ought to be welcome. — The Sidereal Messenger, 

 December, 1882 (Northtield, Minnesota). This little maga- 

 zine contains chiefly borrowed articles and editorial notes. 

 A paper from Knowledge, on Comet 1882, should not 

 have been reprinted without some remark to the effect 

 that the observations on whicli IMr. Proctor based his 

 opinion respecting the speedy return of the comet 

 were inexact, — The Medical Press and Circular. Full, 

 as usual, of useful information and interesting medical 

 matter. — The Scientijic American. Always good. — 

 Cassell's Diclionanj of Cookery (Part I.). We shall have 

 more to say of this later ; at present we only note that it 

 promises to be the most complete and valuable work of the 

 kind yet published. Regarded merely as scientific reading, 

 it is full of interest ; but no one who wishes to see economy 

 and common sense in the kitchen, and wholesome and 

 pleasant food on the table, should leave unstudied such 

 science problems as are here considered, and as Mr. 

 W. M. Williams is discussing in his papers on the 

 " Chemistry of Cookery " in our columns. — The Leopold- 

 Shakespeare. Part X. (Cassell's). This completes 

 the issue of a really useful, convenient, and cheap 

 edition of Shakespeare. We shall have occasion to 

 review at length the complete work. Of this part 

 we simply note that, besides " Cymbeline," " Henry 

 VIII.," and "The Tempest," it contains two most in- 

 teresting plays (portions of which are certainly from 

 Shakespeare's pen), "The Two Noble Kinsmen," and 

 "Edward III." — The Librarij of Enylish Literature, by 

 Henry Morley (Cassell's), parts 2 and 3, — a perfect godsend 

 for young students of literature, who (as is the case with 

 most), cannot afford time to study more than a portion of 

 the works of British authors. Here suitably selected 

 matter from authors of the fifteenth and sixteenth century 

 is judiciously provided with just that amount of old and 

 quaint illustration which is necessary to make the lesson 

 from that era of British literature complete. — Ilistorij of 

 the Franco-German War, by Edm. Oilier (Cassell's), parts 2. 

 and 3. An interesting and well-illustrated account of the 

 most remarkable war of modern times, to be completed in 

 24 parts, price 6d. each. 



(To he continued.) 



The inereasiDg; importanco of colonies to all countries possessing 

 them has already invested the forthcoming exhibition at Amster- 

 dam with unusual interest. Tho exhibition is to open on May 1, 

 and will suqiass any previous show of colonial products ever at- 

 tempted in Europe. All the colonies of the world, with but a few 

 exceptions, are to be represented, and, strangely enough, some of 

 these exceptions, due to a singular parsimony, are furnished by 

 Great Britain herself, that fruitful mother of world-wide senti- 

 ments. It is believed that the influx to Amsterdam — that Venice 

 of the Xorth — will be very great, and probably this expectation 

 will be realised. Amsterdam — literally, the dj-ke or dam of Amstet 

 — is a remarkable city, in that it nearly all stands on oaken 

 piles driven deep into tho ground, and it is so intersected 

 with canals that 300 bridges hardly suffice for the land 

 traffic. Amsterdam is not a very ancient city. It was founded 

 1203 .\.D., fortified in 1-182, and .surrendered to Prussia 1787. It was 

 captured by the French in 1705. An epoch in the history of what 

 has always been a great seat of commerce rather than of politics 

 was the opening of the great Industrial Exhibition in 1864. We 

 make no doubt that the Colonial Exhibition of this year will mark 

 another epoch in the history of this singularly industrious city. — 

 P. R. 



