Art Subjects and their Treatment. 365 



protracted siege. Milton's Penseroso gives a title to one piece, 

 and Tennyson's lines — 



" O swallow flying from the golden woods, 

 Ply to her, and pipe, and woo her, and make her mine. 

 And tell her — tell her — that I follow thee," 



have cansed Millais to paint one of the most truthful and 

 beautiful things he has yet achieved. A young girl in a black 

 dress, with a blue bodice, looks and listens eagerly to a 

 swallow who brings her lover's message from the " golden 

 woods." For a pleasant wonder Mr. Millais did not choose an 

 ugly model for his lady, and the antique furniture of the room, 

 with the lights glinting on the carved and polished chair — all 

 are in exquisite taste. One or two Shakspeare pieces we did 

 not think successful. Browning — whose works are rich in 

 themes for true artists — has not received a single illustration; 

 but Mrs. Browning, whose writings would well repay any 

 artist's study, has found in Mrs. F. L. Bridell an elegant in- 

 terpreter for her pretty story of the " Romance of the 

 Swan's Nest." " Little ElhV is sitting musing on her dis- 

 covery, and indulging in childhood's romantic dreams. 



Thus our artists seem to have got as little from the poets 

 as they did from the historians. Let us now survey their 

 labours from another point of view. 



Scenes of oriental life are conspicuous in this exhibition, 

 and in the first rank of these is a work which, for many rare 

 qualities, is the finest in the whole collection. That we mean 

 Mr. GoodalPs " Eising of the Nile" will be obvious to all 

 readers who have seen the pictures of this year. When the 

 fertilizing floods of the Egyptian river exceed, by a few feet, 

 their average rise, many villages are submerged, and desolation 

 and ruin await their surviving inhabitants. Mr. Goodall 

 represents the waters reaching such a village, and a family 

 making its escape. An old man with a green turban, seated 

 on a refractory camel, urges the affrighted beast to make the 

 last effort by which safety will be gained. A dark-skinned 

 servant gives his aid. In front is a little girl in a loose pearl- 

 yellow robe, with a green sheen upon it ; she holds a lamb in 

 her arms. Near her is a woman carrying a baby ; her outer 

 garment is of a rich and varied purple hue, the under one of a 

 singularly fine deep tone of crimson, mostly in shadow, but 

 flashing like a gem where its silken tassels catch the light. 

 An old, bedridden man is carried by picturesque figures, and 

 several other characters fill up the scene. This splendid work 

 is remarkable for several peculiarities. The time is early 

 morning, and the humid sky diffuses a cold, clear light, 

 differing widely from the gorgeous, sunset hues for which 



