Ye ice-falls! ye that from the mountain's brow Who made you glorious as the gates of heaven GOD! sing, ye meadow streams, with gladsome voice! Utter forth GOD! and fill the hills with praise! rounding objects. 1 Chä'mouni, a celebrated village and | flects the first rays of light long before survalley in Savoy, at the foot of Mont Blanc. --This hymn should be compared with Adam and Eve's Morning Hymn," from Milton's Paradise Lost; and also with Thomson's "Hymn" appended to The Sea sons. 2 Blanc, the highest mountain in Europe; lit. the white mountain," from its peak being perpetually snow-clad. Height, 15,744 feet. It is in France, on the borders of Savoy and Piedmont. The Ar've and Arvei'ron, torrents which have their sources in the glaciers of Mont Blanc. Ec'stasy, transport; a degree of delight which absorbs the whole mind; lit. a standing out of oneself. [Gr. ek-stasis, a standing out.] Sovereign of the vale, an apostrophe, or address to Mont Blanc. 6 Five wild torrents.-Besides the Arvë and Arveiron, already mentioned, five outstanding torrents rush down the sides of the mountain. • Motionless torrents.-This and the preceding lines describe glaciers-slowly moving streams of ice which are formed in the higher parts of the Alps, and gradually move down to the warmer regions, where they melt away. In point of fact glaciers are not "motionless," and not always "silent." Their motion, which resembles that of a river-the centre advancing faster than the sides-varies in rate from 100 to 400 feet in a year. The different rates at which the different parts of a glacier move often cause rents to be made across it, and these are accompanied by loud explosions like the reports of cannon. Earth's rosy star, a reference to beau- 10 Living flowers of loveliest bluetiful colours which the snow, crystals as- the blue gentian, which grows luxuriantly sume in the sunshine, especially at sunrise. on the very skirts of the glaciers. See also 7 Of the dawn co-herald.-Because, seven lines below-"Ye living flowers," from its great height, it catches and re &c. "WITH BRAINS, SIR." PRAY, Mr. Opie,1 may I ask what you mix your colours with?" said a brisk dilettante2 student to the great painter. "With Brains, sir," was the gruff reply-and the right one. It did not give much of what we call 'information; it did not expound the principles and rules of art: but, if the inquirer had the 'commodity referred to, it would awaken him; it would set him a-going, a-thinking, and a-painting to good purpose. If he had not the wherewithal, as was likely enough, the less he had to do with colours and their mixture the better. Many other artists, when asked such a question, would have either set about detailing the mechanical composition of such and such colours, in such and such proportions, compounded so and so; or perhaps they would have shown him how they laid them on: but even this would have left him at the critical point. Opie preferred going to the quick and the heart of the matter: "With Brains, sir.' 66 Sir Joshua Reynolds3 was taken by a friend to see a picture. He was anxious to admire it, and he looked over it with a keen and careful but favourable eye. Capital composition; correct drawing; the colour and tone excellent: but-but-it wantsit wants-That!" snapping his fingers; and wanting "that," though it had everything else, it was worth nothing. Again: Etty, who was appointed teacher of the students of the Royal Academy, had been preceded by a clever, talkative, *scientific expounder of æsthetics,5 who had delighted to tell the young men how everything was done-how to copy this, and how to express that. A student went up to the new master: "How should I do this, sir?" 66 Suppose you try."-Another: "What does this mean, Mr. Etty?" Suppose you look." "But I have looked." "Suppose you look again." 66 And they did try, and they did look, and look again; and they saw and achieved what they never could have done, had the how or the what (supposing that possible, which it is not in its full and highest meaning) been told them, or done for them. In the one case, sight and action were immediate, exact, intense, and secure; in the other, mediate, feeble, and lost as soon as gained. But what are "Brains"? what did Opie mean? And what is Sir Joshua's "That"? what is included in it? And what is the use or the need of trying and trying, of missing often before you hit, when you can be told at once and be done with it? or of looking, when you may be shown? Everything depends on the right answers to these questions. What the painter needs, in addition to, and as the 'complement of, the other elements, is genius and sense; what the doctor needs, to crown and give worth and safety to his accomplishments, is sense and genius: in the first case, more of this than of that; in the second, more of that than of this. are the "Brains" and the "That." These And what is genius? and what is sense? Genius is a peculiar in-born 'aptitude, or tendency, to any one calling or pursuit over all others......It was as natural, as inevitable, for Wilkie to develop himself into a painter, and into such a painter as we know him to have been, as it is for an acorn when planted to grow up an oak. But genius, and nothing else, is not enough, even for a painter: he must likewise have sense; and what is sense? Sense drives, or ought to drive, the coach: sense 'regulates, combines, 'restrains, commands, all the rest-even the genius; and sense implies exactness and soundness, power and 'promptitude of mind. But it may be asked, how are the brains to be strengthened, the sense quickened, the genius awakened, the affections raised -the whole man turned to the best account? You must invigorate the containing and sustaining mind; you must strengthen him from within, as well as fill him from without; you must 'discipline, nourish, edify, relieve and refresh his entire nature; and how? Encourage not merely book knowledge, but the personal pursuit of natural history, of field botany, of geology, of zoölogy. Give the young, fresh, unforgetting eye exercise and free scope upon the infinite diversity and combination of natural colours, forms, substances, surfaces, weights, and sizes. Give young students everything, in a word, that will educate their eye and ear, their touch, taste, and smell, their sense of 'muscular resistance. Encourage them to make models, preparations, and collections of natural objects. Above all, try to get hold of their affections, and make them put their hearts into their work. But one main help is to be found in study; and by this we do not mean the mere reading, but the digging into and through, the energizing upon and mastering, the best books. Taking up a book and reading a chapter of lively, manly sense, is like taking a game at cricket or a run to the top of a hill. Exertion quickens your pulse, expands your lungs, makes your blood warmer and redder, fills your mouth with the pure waters of relish, strengthens and supples your legs: and though on your way to the top you may encounter rocks and baffling 'débris, just as you will find in serious and honest books difficulties and puzzles, still you are rewarded at the top by a wide view. You see as from a tower the end of all. You see the clouds, the bright lights and the everlasting hills on the far horizon. You come down from the hill a happier, a better, and a hungrier man, and of a better mind. But, as we said, you must eat the book-you must crush it, and cut it with your teeth and swallow it; just as you must walk up, and not be carried up the hill, much less imagine you are there, or look upon a picture of what you would see were you up, however accurately or artistically done: no - you yourself must do both. He who has obtained any amount of knowledge is not truly wise unless he appropriates and can use it for his need. accurately, correctly. achieved', accomplished. anxious, desir'ous. appropriates, assim'ilates. ap'titude, fit'ness. artistically, tastefully. commodity, article. com'plement, what supplies a defi'ciency. débris', (da-bree) rubbish. invigorate, strength'en. 4 J. BROWN, M.D. mechan'ical, physical. mus'cular, physical. promp'titude, read'iness. proportions, quantities. regulates, controls'. relieve', suc'cour. restrains', curbs. scientific, theoretical. sup'ples, makes pli'ant. 1Opie, John, an eminent English painter. | Burke, Goldsmith, and of the leading literFrom being the son of a Cornish carpenter, who discouraged his taste for art, he rose to be Professor of Painting in the Royal Academy, London. Born 1761; died 1807. 2 Dilettan'te, a superficial dabbler in art or science. ary men of his time. Born 1723; died 1792. Etty, William, a distinguished English artist. Born 1787; died 1849. 5 Esthetics, the principles of taste; the theory or science of the beautiful in art. The word is derived from a Greek verb meaning "I feel." • Wilkie, Sir David, a celebrated Scottish painter, well known by his works, The Village Politicians; The Rent Day; Blind Sir Joshua Reynolds, an unrivalled English portrait painter. He was the first president of the Royal Academy of London. He was also the friend of Johnson, | Man's Buff, &c. QUESTIONS.-What question did the student ask Opie? What kind of student was he? What answer did Opie give him? What might many other artists have replied? What did Sir Joshua Reynolds say his friend's picture wanted? What did Etty reply to students who asked him how to do things, and what things meant? What did all these answers point to as necessary to the painter? What is Genius? What is the office of Sense? What must be done to awaken genius and quicken sense? To what is reading a chapter of lively, manly sense compared? How must a book be read, that it may do good? He who has obtained any amount of knowledge is not truly wise unless-? LIFE IN SAXON ENGLAND.* PART I. WHEN the sun rose on Old England, its faint red light stirred every sleeper from the sack of straw, which formed the only bed of the age. Springing from this rustling couch, and casting off the coarse sheeting and coverlets of skin, the subjects of King Alfred donned the day's dress. Men wore linen or woollen tunics, which reached to the knee; and, over these, long furlined cloaks, fastened with a brooch of ivory or gold. Strips of cloth or leather, bandaged cross-wise from the ankle to the knee over red and blue stockings; and black, pointed shoes, slit along the instep almost to the toes, and fastened with two thongs, completed the costume of an Anglo-Saxon1 gentleman. The ladies, wrapping a veil of silk or linen upon their delicate curls, laced a loose-flowing gown over a tight-sleeved bodice, and pinned the graceful folds of their mantles with golden butterflies and other tasteful trinkets. The breakfast hour in Old England was nine o'clock. This meal consisted 'probably of bread, meat, and ale, but was a lighter repast than that taken when the hurry of the day lay behind. It was eaten often in the bower. Between breakfast and noon-meat at three lay the most active period of the day. Let me picture a few scenes in Old English life, as displayed in the chief occupations of the time. Leaving the ladies of his household to linger among the roses and lilies of their gardens, or to ply their embroidering needles in some cool recess of the orchard, festooned with broad vine leaves and scented with the smell of apples, the earl or thane went out to the porch of his dwelling, and, sitting there upon a fixed throne, gave alms to a horde of beggars, or presided over the assembly of the local court. Autumn brought delightful days to the royal and noble sportsmen of Old England. Galloping down from his home, perched, as were all great English houses, on the crest of a commanding hill, the earl, with all care or thought of work flung aside, dashed with his couples of deep-chested Welsh hounds into the glades of a neighbouring forest, already touched with the red and gold of September. Gaily through the shadowy 'avenues rang the music of the * Adapted from History of the British Empire (Advanced Class-Book), by W. F. COLLIER, LL.D. T. Nelson and Sons. |