The International Monthly Magazine Volume V to No II

V >> Various >> The International Monthly Magazine Volume V to No II

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32

"Mr. Turner seldom took much part in society, and only displayed in the
closest intimacy the shrewdness of his observation and the playfulness of
his wit. Every where he kept back much of what was in him, and while the
keenest intelligence, mingled with a strong tinge of satire, animated his
brisk countenance, it seemed to amuse him to be but half understood. His
nearest social ties were those formed in the Royal Academy, of which he
was by far the oldest member, and to whose interests he was most warmly
attached. He filled at one time the chair of Professor of Perspective, but
without conspicuous success, and that science has since been taught in the
Academy by means better suited to promote it than a course of lectures. In
the composition and execution of his works, Mr. Turner was jealously
sensitive of all interference or supervision. He loved to deal in the
secrets and mysteries of his art, and many of his peculiar effects are
produced by means which it would not be easy to discover or to imitate.

"We hope that the Society of Arts or the British Gallery will take an
early opportunity of commemorating the genius of this great artist, and of
reminding the public of the prodigious range of his pencil, by forming a
general exhibition of his principal works, if, indeed, they are not
permanently gathered in a nobler repository. Such an exhibition will serve
far better than any observations of ours to demonstrate that it is not by
those deviations from established rules which arrest the most superficial
criticism that Mr. Turner's fame or merit are to be estimated. For nearly
sixty years Mr. Turner contributed largely to the arts of this country. He
lived long enough to see his greatest productions rise to uncontested
supremacy, however imperfectly they were understood when they first
appeared in the earlier years of this century; and, though in his later
works and in advanced age, force and precision of execution have not
accompanied his vivacity of conception, public opinion has gradually and
steadily advanced to a more just appreciation of his power. He is the
Shelley of English painting--the poet and the painter both alike veiling
their own creations in the dazzling splendor of the imagery with which
they are surrounded, mastering every mode of expression, combining
scientific labor with an air of negligent profusion, and producing in the
end works in which color and language are but the vestments of poetry. Of
such minds it may be said in the words of Alastor:

"Nature's most secret steps
He, like her shadow, has pursued, where'er
The red volcano overcanopies
Its fields of snow and pinnacles of ice
With burning smoke; or where the starry domes
Of diamond and of gold expand above
Numberless and immeasurable halls,
Frequent with crystal column and clear shrines
Of pearl, and thrones radiant with chrysolite.
Nor had that scene of ampler majesty
Than gems or gold--the varying roof of heaven
And the green earth--lost in his heart its claims
To love and wonder...."

[Illustration: THE LATE J. W. M. TURNER]

THE LATE J. W. M. TURNER

BASIL MONTAGU, an eminent philosophical and legal writer, was the
illegitimate son of the well-known statesman, John fourth Earl of
Sandwich, many years First Lord of the Admiralty, by the unfortunate Miss
Margaret Reay, who was assassinated, in 1779, by her affianced lover, the
Rev. Mr. Hackman. The tragic affair, which excited immense interest at the
time, and which gave rise to various romantic stories, is to be found in
most series of judicial investigations, and especially in a collection of
celebrated trials recently published. It appears that Margaret Reay was
the daughter of a stay-maker in Covent-garden, and served her
apprenticeship to a mantuamaker. Having attracted the attention of Lord
Sandwich, he treated her from that period until her assassination, with
the greatest tenderness and affection. He introduced to her a young ensign
of the 68th Regiment, then in command of a recruiting party at Huntingdon,
in the neighborhood of the mansion of the Montagues. Mr. Hackman from the
first moment was desperately in love with her, and his passion increased
with the daily opportunities afforded by invitations he received to Lord
Sandwich's table. With the object of continuing his attentions, and the
hope of ultimately engaging her affections, he quitted the army, and,
taking orders, obtained the living of Wiverton, in Norfolk. That Miss Reay
had given him some encouragement, is proved by the tenor of their
correspondence; but prudential motives induced her afterwards to refuse
the offer of his hand, and to intimate a necessity for discontinuing his
visits. Stung by this unexpected termination of his long-cherished
expectations, Hackman's mind became unsettled; on the 7th of April, 1779,
he was occupied all the morning in reading Blair's _Sermons_; but in the
evening, as he was walking towards the Admiralty, he saw Miss Reay pass in
her coach, accompanied by Signora Galli. He followed, and discovered that
she alighted at Covent-garden Theatre, where she went to witness _Love in
a Village_. He returned to his lodgings, armed himself with a brace of
pistols, went back to the theatre, and when the performance was over, as
Miss Reay was stepping into her coach, he took a pistol in each hand, one
of which he discharged at her, and killed her on the spot, and the other
at himself, but it did not take effect. He then beat his head with the
butt of the pistol, to destroy himself, but was, after a struggle, secured
and carried before Sir John Fielding, who committed him to Bridewell, and
he was shortly after tried at the Old Bailey, before the celebrated
Justice Blackstone, found guilty, and hanged at Tyburn on the 19th of the
month.

Basil Montagu was born in 1770, and received his education at the Charter
House. He was called to the English bar by the Society of Gray's Inn, the
19th of May, 1798, and soon obtained considerable practice as a
conveyancer. It was, however, by his legal authorship and reporting that
he became particularly distinguished in the profession. His various works
and reports on the subject, principally of the Law of Bankruptcy, were of
high estimation and lasting utility. In 1801, he produced his _Summary of
the Law of Set Off_, with an Appendix of Cases, argued and determined in
the Courts of Law and Equity, in one volume, octavo; in 1804-5, in four
volumes, _A Digest of the Bankrupt Laws_, with a Collection of the
Statutes and of the Cases, which reached three editions, and brought him
into immediate notice and considerable practice; and, some time afterward,
he printed a pamphlet on Bankrupts' Certificates. His fame in this branch
of forensic learning procured him the appointment of a Commissioner of
Bankruptcy. Mr. Montagu wrote also on philosophical subjects. Among his
productions of this tendency were _Thoughts of Divines and Philosophers;
Selections from Taylor, Hooker, Bishop Hall, and Bacon_. He edited an
edition of Lord Bacon's works, in seventeen volumes. Another bent which
his mind took, placed him by the side of Romilly and Mackintosh in the
cause of Humanity. He had in his nature an abhorrence of depriving any
living thing of life, and with regard to his own diet he totally abstained
from animal food. This led him to bestow his active attention towards
putting a stop to capital punishment. In 1809 he published _Opinions of
Different Authors on the Punishment of Death_. The work was so well
received, that he added a a second and third volume to it. In 1811, when
the important question occupied Parliament, he edited _The Debates on a
Bill for Abolishing the Punishment of Death for Stealing in a Dwelling
House_. In 1815 he reprinted a tract originally published in 1801, called
_Hanging not Punishment enough for Murderers_. Mr. Basil Montagu, who had
some years ago been made a Queen's counsel, died at Boulogne on the 27th
of November, in the eighty-second year of his age.

REAR-ADMIRAL HENRY GAGE MORRIS, entered the navy at the early age of
twelve, and served as midshipman throughout the French and American wars.
He was promoted to the rank of lieutenant, April 2, 1793. He was engaged
at the capture of the French frigate _Sybille_, in 1783, and at the attack
on Martinique, in 1793. He was promoted to post rank August 12, 1812, and
was made rear-admiral in 1847. He died at Beverley, 24th ult. aged
eighty-two. Admiral Morris was younger brother of the late Captain Amherst
Morris, being second son of Colonel Roger Morris, a member of the
Governor's Council at New-York, by Mary, daughter of Frederick Phillipse,
of this city. This family of Morris is one of great antiquity, deriving
its descent from Elystan Glodrydd, a famed chieftain of Wales in the
eleventh century.

MR. SAPIO the once celebrated tenor singer, was born in London, in 1792.
In his early life he was page to Queen Caroline, consort of George IV. He
made his first appearance on the metropolitan stage at Drury Lane, the 1st
December, 1824, as the _Seraskier_, in the "Siege of Belgrade," and he
soon attained and long preserved a high vocal reputation. He died in
obscurity, in London, about the end of November.

One of the most distinguished chiefs of the war of Greek independence,
General JATRAKO, is just dead at Athens. He was one of the primates of
Marna; his family, as his name indicates, have for many generations back
been famous for their hereditary medical talents, and the tradition exists
among them that a branch of their family formerly passed from Sparta to
Italy, translated their name into Medici, and gave rise to the celebrated
family of that name.

PRIESSNITZ, the celebrated founder of hydropathy, died at Graefenberg on
the 26th of November, at the age of fifty-two. In the morning of that day
Priessnitz was up and stirring at an early hour, but complained of the
cold, and had wood brought in to make a large fire. His friends had for
some time believed him to be suffering from dropsy of the chest, and at
their earnest entreaty he consented to take a little medicine, exclaiming
all the while, "It's of no use!" He would see no physician, but remained
to the last true to his profession. About four o'clock in the afternoon of
the 26th he asked to be carried to bed, and upon being laid down he
expired! In early life he received serious injury in the chest from an
accident, and he used to say himself that his constitution was bad; that
nothing but his own mode of life and his own "cure" would have sustained
him. It is not known what attempts will be made to carry on the
establishment at Graefenberg, which was in full activity at the moment of
his death. The most probable conjecture is, that his eldest daughter and
her husband (a Hungarian of property) will carry it on, with the aid of
some physician who has studied Priessnitz's method. This may succeed to a
certain extent, for the place and neighborhood are admirably adapted for
taking the water-cure, and the _prestige_ of Priessnitz's name, as well as
the tradition of his practice, will long survive him: but the attraction
which brought patients, not only from the neighboring cities, but from the
remotest parts of the world, is gone. It is not exactly known what amount
of property Priessnitz left, but it is supposed to be nearly L100,000.
When it is considered how small, compared to that given to other
physicians, was the remuneration he received from his patients, and that
thirty years ago, Priessnitz was a poor peasant, this fortune gives some
measure of his immense success.

GEORGE DUNBAR, the distinguished Professor of Greek Literature in the
University of Edinburgh, died on the 6th of December, at his residence in
that city. The natural decay attending even an otherwise green old age has
been for some years aggravated by a virulent internal malady, which at the
commencement of the present season compelled him to relinquish his
academic duties. He was born at the village of Caldingham, in
Berwickshire, in 1774. In early life he labored as a gardener, but an
accidental lameness, which lasted throughout his subsequent life,
incapacitated him from active bodily employment. His attention was then
devoted to literature. He soon became a scholar, and in truth a ripe and
good one. Going to Edinburgh, he readily obtained, on proof of his
acquirements, a tutorship in the family of Lord Provost Fettes. Having
been shortly after selected as assistant to Professor Dalziel, he was
appointed, on that professor's death, to the Greek chair in the Edinburgh
University, in 1805. The duties of this responsible position he discharged
most zealously and ably. The published works of Professor Dunbar are well
known. The _Collectanea Minora_, the _Collectanea Majora_, and the _Greek
Grammar_, have all had great reputation. His chief production--massive in
every sense--the main object of his life of learned toil, was his Greek
Lexicon, which was given to the world with his name in 1840.

MR. HENRY LUTTRELL, one of the ornaments of a society of what may be
termed conversational wits, died on the 19th of December, at the advanced
age of eighty-six. He was the friend and companion, _hand impari passu_,
of Jeckyll, Mackintosh, Jeffrey, Alvanley, Sydney Smith, and others of
that brilliant school, and of which the Misses Berry, Rogers, Moore, and
but a few others, are still left. A correspondent of the _Times_ says: "He
charmed especially by the playfulness and elegance of his wit, the
appropriateness and felicity of illustration, the shrewdness of his
remarks, and the epigrammatic point of his conversation. Liveliness of
fancy was tempered in him with good breeding and great kindness of
disposition; and one of the wittiest men of his day, he could amuse and
delight by the keenness of playful yet pungent sallies, without wounding
the feelings of any one by the indulgence of bitterness and ill-nature."

English journals notice with expressions of regret the death in
Philadelphia of R. C. TAYLOR, on the 26th of October, aged sixty-two. Mr.
Taylor emigrated in the year 1830, being previously well known as a Fellow
both of the Antiquarian and of the Geological Societies. He had published
a work of great care and research while resident in his native county,
Norfolk, _Index Monasticus for East Anglia_; and had made some useful
explorations into the fossil remains on the coast of Norfolk. In America
he wrote for various philosophical societies, and published, in 1848, his
work on the Statistics of Coal, by which alone he was much known to the
public of this country.

The Royal University of Berlin has lost by death since Christmas, MM.
Lachmann, Stuhr, Jacobi, Erman, and Dr. CHARLES THEODORE FRANZ, who died
at Breslaw early in January, at the untimely age of forty-five. For eleven
years Dr. Franz occupied the chair of Classical Philology in the
University of Berlin. He is the author of a variety of works: in the first
rank of which stand his Criticisms on the Greek Tragic Poets, and his
several collections of Greek and Latin inscriptions before unpublished.
The London Morning Chronicle remarks that the continent never before lost
so many great scholars in one year as in 1851.

WILLIAM JACOB, F.R.S., a profound writer on science and agriculture, was
born in 1762. His work, _An Inquiry into the Precious Metals_, has been
held in high estimation. His other principal productions were
_Considerations on the Price of Corn_; _Tracts on Corn-Laws_; and a _View
of Agriculture in Germany_. Mr. Jacob, who was formerly Comptroller of
Corn Returns in the Board of Trade, died on the 17th of December, at his
residence in London, aged eighty-eight.

MR. PAUL BARRAS, died in Paris from wounds received in the contests
between the people and the military, on the second day of the usurpation
of Louis Napoleon. M. Barras resided in New-York about twenty years, and
was engaged here as a teacher of his native language, and as a
correspondent of one of the Parisian journals. He was an amiable man, of
considerable talents, and enthusiastic in his attachment to Republicanism.
He wrote several articles on American subjects in the _Revue de Paris_.

LADIES' FASHIONS FOR FEBRUARY.

[Illustration]

In matters of fashion there have been very few changes since our last
publication. We are in the midst of the gay season, but its modes, until
disturbed by the approach of spring, were fixed before the holidays, and
for the most part have already been reported. The Paris journals, we may
remark, however, dwell much on the unusual ascendency of black, in furs,
velvets, cloths, and other heavy stuffs, for walking and carriage dresses,
and on the greater demand than in recent winters for every species of
embroidery.

In the first of the above figures, representing a promenade costume, we
have a high dress of rich silk; the skirt has plaided tucks woven in the
material; it is long, and very full. Manteau of velvet, very richly
embroidered; a broad black lace is set on round the shoulders in the style
of a cape, and the cloak is embroidered above it. Capote of white silk, of
a very elegant form, with deep bavolet or curtain; a droop of small
feathers on the left side.

The second figure, or visiting costume, of heavy silk, with four flounces,
and corresponding waistcoat. The waistcoat now takes the first place in a
lady's toilette, and may be considered a triumph of luxury and elegance,
reviving every description of embroidery, and forcing the jewellers to be
constantly bringing out some novelty in buttons, &c. It is made very
simple or very richly ornamented: for instance, those of the most simple
description are made either of black velvet, embroidered with braid, and
fastened with black jet buttons, or of cachemire; and a pretty style, of
straw color, embroidered in the same colored silk, and closed with fancy
silk bell buttons, whilst a few may be seen in white, quilted and
embroidered with oak leaves and rose-buds. The rich style of waistcoat
being covered with embroideries, and being closed up the front with
buttons of brilliants. As a general rule, the waistcoat is made high up
the throat, round which is a fall of lace, or opens _en coeur_, having a
_fichu a plastron_ of embroidery, worn under. The waistcoat has also two
pockets.

FOOTNOTES

1 The large outer porch of Cowley's house had chambers above it and
beneath the window in front a tablet was affixed, upon which was
inscribed the epitaph "upon the living author" which Cowley had
written for himself, whilst living in retirement here, commencing

"Hic, O Viator, sub lare parvulo,
Couleius hic est conditus hic jacet."

It is represented in its original condition in the two views we have
engraved.

2 Some additional rooms have been added to the house by the same
occupant, who has, however, religiously preserved all the old rooms,
which still exhibit the "fittings" that existed in Cowley's time.
The bed-chambers are wainscotted with oaken panels. The staircase is
a very solid structure, with ornamental balusters, leading toward
the small study in which the poet wrote,--a little back room, about
five feet wide, looking upon the garden. It may be distinguished in
our back view of the house, by a figure placed at the window. Cowley
ended his life in this house at the early age of forty-nine.

3 Brayley, in his History of Surrey, states that Cowley accompanied by
his friend Dean Spratt, having been to see a "friend," did not set
out for his walk home until it was too late, and had drunk so deep,
that they both lay out in the fields all night; this gave Cowley the
fever that carried him off. Brayley's authority for this slander
(which is not borne out by the poet's previous course of life), is
"Spence's Anecdotes."

4 Life and Letters of Joseph Story, Associate Justice of the Supreme
Court of the United States, and Dane professor of law at Harvard
University. Edited by his son, William W. Story. Two vols. Boston:
Little & Brown, 1851.

5 As an example of the gravity and formality with which proceedings in
matters of this nature were conducted, even as late as the end of
the sixteenth century, take the subjoined palinode or recantation of
a Flemish ecclesiastic, who had been guilty of the offence of
doubting the evection, or bodily transport through the air, of
witches and wizards. The original may be found in Delrio, at the end
of the Appendix, in his 5th book:--

"I Cornelius Loseus Gallidius, born in the town of Gouda, in
Holland, now, by the command of the renowned and illustrious Lord
Nuncio Apostolic, the Lord Octavius Bishop of Tricaruis, arrested
and detained in the Imperial Monastery of St. Maximin, near Treves,
on account of certain tracts 'On True and False Witchcraft,' rashly
and presumptuously by me written, published, and sent to be printed
at Cologne, without the perusal or permission of the superiors of
this place: whereas I am informed for certain that in the aforesaid
books, and also in certain of letters on the same subject, sent
clandestinely to the clergy and senate of Treves, and others, for
the purpose of impeding the course of justice against witches and
magicians, there are contained many articles which are not only
erroneous and scandalous, but also suspected of heresy, and savoring
of sedition: I therefore hereby revoke, condemn, reject, and
repudiate, as if they had never been said or asserted by me, the
said articles, as seditious and temerarious, contrary to the common
judgment of learned theologians, to the decision and bulls of the
supreme Pontiffs, and to the practice, and statutes, and laws of the
magistrates and judges, as well as of this Archdiocese of Treves, as
of the other provinces and principalities, in the order in which the
same are hereunto annexed.

"1. _Imprimis._ I revoke, condemn, reject, and hold as disproved,
what both in words and writing I have often and to many persons
pertinaciously asserted; and what I would have had taken as the head
and chief ornament of my disputations, to wit, that what is written
touching the corporeal evection or translation from place to place
of witches and magicians, is to be held as a vain superstition and
figment, as well because that opinion savors of heretical pravity,
as because it partakes of sedition, and so also savors of the crimes
of _lese majeste_. 2. In the second place, I revoke what I have
pertinaciously, but without solid reasons, alleged against the
magistracy, in letters secretly sent to several, that is to say,
that the course of procedure against witches is erroneous and
fantastical: asserting, moreover, that those witches were compelled
by the severity of torture to confess acts that they had never done;
that innocent blood was shed by a cruel judicature; and that by a
new alchemy gold and silver were extracted from human blood. 3.
Thereby, and by the like assertions, partly diffused by private oral
communications among the vulgar, partly by various letters addressed
to both branches of the magistracy, imputing to superiors and judges
the exercise of tyranny towards the subjects. 4 And consequently,
inasmuch as the most reverend and illustrious Archbishop and Prince
Elector of Treves not only permits witches and magicians to be
subjected to deserved punishment in his diocese, but has also
ordained laws regulating the mode and cost of the procedure against
witches, thereby with inconsiderate temerity tacitly insinuating the
charge of tyranny against the said Elector of Treves. 5. _Item._ I
revoke and condemn these following conclusions, to wit, that there
are no such beings as sorcerers, who renounce God and worship the
Devil, who bring on tempests, and do the work of Satan and such
like, but that all these things are dreams. 6. Moreover that magic
is not to be called sorcery, nor its practisers to be deemed
sorcerers, and that that that place of Exod. xxii, ('Ye shall not
suffer sorcerers to live') is to be understood of those who slay
with material poison, naturally administered. 7. That no contract
exists or can exist between man and the demon. 8. That demons do not
assume bodies. 9. That the life of Hilary, written by St. Jerome, is
not authentic. 10. That the demon cannot carnally know mankind. 11.
That neither demons nor witches can excite tempests, rain, hail,
&c., and that what is alleged in that behalf is mere dreams. 12.
That spirits and forms can be seen by mankind separate from matter.
13. That it is rash to assert that whatever demons can do magicians
can also by the help of demons. 14. That the assertion that the
superior demon can expel the inferior is erroneous and derogatory to
Christ.--Luke xi. 15. That the Popes in the bulls do not allege that
magicians and sorcerers perpetrate such acts as above mentioned.

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32