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KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



FINE ARTS 



HISTORICAL PAINTINGS 



BY THE BROTHERS F0GK3O. 



There are now on private view at Mr. John 

 Amor's, 135, New Bond Street — tickets obtainable 

 on application — three very beautiful pictures by 

 the brothers Foggo — James and George. 



The f r t represents the " Barons' League." 

 The subject may be thus explained. At St. 

 Edmund's Bury, in 1214, under pretence of the 

 Festival of St. Edmund, Arch. Langton, a worthy 

 descendant of the Saxons, met the Barons of 

 England before the altar ; and showing them a 

 charter of ancient rights and liberties (supposed 

 to be that of Henry I.) causes them to swear to 

 obtain its confirmation by King John, whose 

 tyranny was become intolerable. The oldest 

 Baron, each in succession, takes the pledge kneel- 

 ing, amidst a burst of national enthusiasm. In 

 the corner, Earl Fitzwalter, in mourning for his 

 daughter inhumanly murdered by King John, 

 prays that the tyrant may come within reach of 

 his sword ; and mothers lament the untimely fate 

 of their first-born, victims of the fears and ferocity 

 of the wicked king. De-Roos, who to avoid the 

 jealousy of John had hidden himself in a monas- 

 tery, throws off the monastic garb, and appears 

 armed for the coming contest. The trophy of 

 Richard the Lion-hearted, the standard of Cyprus, 

 and that of St. Edmund's Abbey — add to the 

 solemnity. — This picture has had ample justice 

 done it. The conception and execution are -alike 

 excellent. 



The second is a beautiful painting of '■ Magna 

 Charta," representing King John forced to sign 

 the Deed of National Freedom. This being a 

 full subject, much skill was requisite to give 

 proper effect to the grouping. It has been very 

 cleverly arranged, and all the characters are ad- 

 mirably brought out. 



The third exhibits equal artistic excellence. 

 Perhaps from the position of the characters repre- 

 sented, it affords better scope for the full develop- 

 ment of the artists' powers. The subject is 

 " Hampden and Sir John Elliot, before the Privy 

 Council." They are appealing to Magna Charta 

 against forced Loans. 



In every one of these paintings there is much 

 to admire. We have seen them several times, 

 and on each occasion with increased pleasure. 



THE SIMPLICITY OF NATURE. 



Man loves the green, sunny spots of earth. 

 A tradition seems to lurk in the memory even of 

 the dweller amidst bricks and mortar, which in- 

 clines his soul with an undefined longing towards 

 nature arrayed in her unadorned simplicity. 

 There is a charm about the idea of the greenwood 

 Bhade, and a couch of velvet grass, which fasci- 

 nates the man in his childhood, and grows with 

 him, as years increase, into absolute fondness ; as 

 if the capacity for the original new-made existence 

 he enjoyed was destined by the unalterable laws 

 of his constitution never to be eradicated. Hence 

 the flowers we see tended with so much care in 

 squalid districts of our large towns, and the and ; 



patches, with plants pining in the shade, cultiva- 

 ted with an assiduity which apologises for many a 

 grave error. But of all the places which Provi- 

 dence, by the instrumentality of an advanced 

 degree of civilisation, has created for the comfort 

 of man, there is none like home ; and of all homes 

 the English one is the best. An Englishman in- 

 stinctively loves the russet and green amid which 

 his remote ancestors freely roved ; but he also 

 loves his home, and, when he can, places it on the 

 margin of the huge town from which he draws 

 the means of subsistence ; so that he may, in his 

 hours of relaxation, scent the thorn, and watch 

 those pretty day-stars, — the daisies, dot the green 

 fields, over which comes the healthful breeze that 

 brings the bloom to his cheeks. 



SAGACITY OF THE MULE. 



We have elsewhere given an extract 

 from " Gerstaecker's Journey round the 

 World." The following is from the same 

 source, and it is interesting on several ac- 

 counts. If the danger incurred whilst cros- 

 sing the Cordilleras was great, how much 

 more remarkable was the instinct displayed 

 by the mules 1 



The path, says the author, was now so narrow 

 that it seemed to me as it wound itself round a 

 projecting rock, absolutely to terminate. I could 

 see nothing more than a thin light streak, as if 

 drawn with a piece of chalk, and I could not 

 believe that this was our path. The rock round 

 which it went did not show the least cut or notch, 

 where even a goat could have planted its feet ; 

 let alone our clumsy mules. The little crumbling 

 pieces of stone which our mules' hoofs kicked 

 over the precipice made me sensible of the dan- 

 ger falling straight down to a depth that made 

 my blood freeze to think of. 



But this was no place to stop at ; and I obser- 

 ved closely the cautious manner in which my 

 guide raised himself in his right stirrup, not doubt- 

 ing, that we were now at the spot of which he 

 had told me before, and where mules and riders 

 were often thrown over. I was, therefore, care- 

 ful not to irritate my mule at a place where it 

 certainly knew far better how to go than I did — 

 accidents have happened from travellers pulling 

 their bridles at the wrong time. My guide went 

 on very coolly, along a trail where mules had to 

 keep the very edge of the precipice. Mules fre- 

 quently carry a load over this track, when they 

 are very careful not to knock against the over- 

 hanging rock, as they know the least push would 

 send them over the precipice. Our mules, it is 

 true, had no load, but they were accustomed to 

 carrying one ; and therefore kept the extreme 

 edge, to my great discomposure. But I left my 

 mule entirely to its own instinct, only lifting my 

 left foot in the stirrup, as I saw the vaquiano do, 

 so that, in case of an accident, I might throw my- 

 self off its back, and cling to the rock. But why, 

 the reader may ask, did you not get off the mule 

 at once, and pass dangerous places on foot? In 

 the first place, because the danger is the same 

 for many miles ; and secondly, because those men 

 who pass their lives in leading travellers over 

 these mountains know best where to walk, and 



