252 
OLLA PODRIDA. 
[Nature anil Art, December 1, 18'ill. 
shortly to be re-published), is ail amusing specimen of the 
lighter portions of “ Travelling in Spain.” 
“ As for the middle class — the shopkeepers — their non- 
chalance was most amusing. We went into a confectioner’s 
one day to purchase some chocolate, and were deliberately 
told that, if we liked to get it down from a high shelf, we 
could have it : no assistance was offered, and we had to go 
empty away. In another "place we had been selecting some 
photographs and prints, and suddenly found that we had not 
time to conclude our purchase that day. Never shall we 
forget the air of relief with which the man shut up the 
portfolios and lighted his cigarito. If wo would but leave 
him in peace, and come ‘ mafiana,’ he would be for ever 
grateful.” 
Small wonder then that countless acres of this nature- 
favoured land lie idle, while irrigation- works, planned by the 
Paynim before his expulsion from Europe, are yet unfinished ; 
or that priceless stores of chemical and mineral wealth 
effloresce vainly from her plains, or slumber unwrought and 
unprofitable (since Roman days) in her thousand hills ! 
Each traveller but adds one more to the heap of proofs that 
this “to-morrow and to-morrow and to-morrow,” “to the 
last syllable of recorded time,” is a better-fitting key than 
the oft-tried one of religion, to the mystery of the poverty 
and degeneracy of Spain. 
Mr. Blackburn and party- — for truth and gallantry demand 
that the share the ladies had in the joint performance should 
not be ignored— have extensively and advantageously availed 
themselves of the co-operation of their able predecessors ; 
and their richly-bound pages, decorated with a score and 
more of beautiful wood-engravings, after John Phillip, R.A., 
E. Lundgren, Walter Severn, and other artists of no small 
excellence, will be welcomed in the drawing-room if not in 
the study. 
A Rubric Edition of the Booh of Common Prayer ; with Titles 
and Borders designed and drawn by R. B. Holmes, 
F.S.A., and engraved on wood by O. Jewitt. (Riving- 
tons.) 
There is no book which has furnished such an oppor- 
tunity for decorative display as the “ Book of Common 
Prayer.” Its typo, binding, rubrication, initial letters, 
borders, illuminations, and pictorial illustrations, have 
each in • its turn engaged the attention of the artist. 
We have Prayer-books in which not only the borders and 
illustrations, but the whole of the letterpress, are copper- 
plate engravings. A specimen of ■ this is to be found in one 
engraved by John Baskett, and published in 1717. 
The desire for decoration in ecclesiastical matters has 
latterly rather inundated us with ornamental Prayer-books. 
We have had all kinds, good, bad, and indifferent, from the 
spiritless imitations of mediaeval illuminations, where colour 
(laid on without taste or discrimination) has been supposed 
to compensate for vulgarity and want of meaning, to the 
refined and artistic productions, where ornament and illus- 
tration have kept their proper place and have not been 
obtruded on the eye to the distraction of the minds of those 
who would confine their attention to the text. 
One of the latter kind has just come under our notice, and 
we have much pleasure in inviting the attention of our 
readers to it. It is published by Messrs. Rivington ; the 
titles and borders are from the designs of Mr. R. R. Holmes, 
E.S.A. Though these may appear to have been founded 
on mediceval illuminations, especially in the titles, they are 
all original, and show good taste, feeling’, and refinement on 
the part of the artist. Many of the borders are particularly 
pleasing. 
OLLA POD RIDA. 
Art-teaching by Correspondence. — A gentleman on 
whose sound judgment we rely, writes as follows : — 
“ In the artistic portions of your periodical much space 
has been deservedly, and I doubt not to many of your 
readers very beneficially, devoted to instructions in painting 
— in water-colours by Mr. Penley, in oils by Miss Constance 
Clarke. The public will, I am sure, be thankful for all the 
valuable directions which these talented contributors have 
given. They will tend to create a love for the art itself, 
and to facilitate its practice. The method of teaching by 
written communication, however, is by no means new. It 
has been successfully followed for many years by a well- 
known and accomplished artist, Mr. William's, of Upper 
Park Place, Southampton; and the efficacy of the system, 
as carried out by him, has been thus very strongly attested 
by the first of living art-critics 
“ 1 Dear Mr. Williams, — I like your plan of teaching by 
letter exceedingly ; and not only so, but have myself adopted 
it largely, with help of an intelligent under-master, whose 
operations, however, so far from interfering with, you will 
much facilitate, if you can bring this literary way of teach- 
ing into more accepted practice. I wish we had more 
drawing-masters who were able to give instruction definite 
enough to be expressed in writing ; many can teach nothing 
but a few tricks of the brush, and have nothing to write, 
because nothing to tell. 
“ ‘ With every wish for your success — a wish which I 
make quite as much in your pupils’ interest as in your own 
■ — believe me always, faithfully yours, 
“ 1 J. Buskin. 
“ ‘ Denmark Hill, November, I860.’ 
“ To those who maybe inclined to doubt the efficiency, or 
the ease and convenience, with which a master may by cor- 
respondence direct the studies of a pupil, it may be well to 
state in a few words the method adopted. The power of 
the pupil being- first ascertained, drawings are selected for 
him as nearly as possible of the right strength, and sent 
with written instructions for his guidance in working. His 
copies from them are reviewed by the master, and returned 
with practical hints for the correction of faults. When 
desirable, drawings are prepared, expressly, for individual 
pupils, and sent to them in the successive stages of pro- 
gress ; their copies being in each stage examined, commented 
on, and re-transmitted by the Post. 
The Art Union of London have in the hands of the 
engraver the national pictures “ Here Nelson Fell ” and 
“ The Meeting- of Wellington and Blucher,” and have just 
acquired (for engraving) the beautiful work by Mr. Armitage, 
lately exhibited at the Royal Academy, and called “ The 
Parents of Christ seeking Him.” 
We cannot help drawing the attention of all admirers of 
Chromo-Lithography to the Society’s splendid specimen of 
the art by Messrs. Hanhart, after Birket Foster, called 
“Wild Roses.” Copies were given, some years since, as 
prizes, but are now to be had, besides one chance in the 
general drawing-, by the three-g-uinea subscribers of the 
year 1867. 
No more curious illustration of the diffusion of the art of 
design and the value to that art of the elegant process by 
whose aid we are enabled to deck our pages with high-class 
works, could be given than the pictorial almanacks of the 
period. The Insurance offices long enough ago inaugurated 
the custom ; traders of all sorts have followed it ; and per- 
haps the gem of all possible almanacks has now been issued 
by the indefatigable Mr. Bimmel. Albeit comparisons are 
odious, we must say that this exquisite production, com- 
prising a dozen of the most comical little fancies, chromo- 
lithographed in the daintiest manner, is from a French 
atelier. Let the London houses look to their laurels. Fas 
cst ab hoste doceri. 
WV3IAN AXH SONS, PRINTERS, GREAT QUEEN STREET, LONDON, Tv’.C. 
