Punch (20.1851)

PUNCH. OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.

201

PEINCE ALBERT AND THE CRITICS.

ccording to "Voltaire,
"Honest criticism is
the tenth muse." But

pruned; or rather criticised—" fast " criticised. Happy we are to
find, for the true interests of art, that the Chronicle keeps a donkey!

In conclusion, we trust that Prince Albert will reconsider
his opinions : in their mistaken benevolence, they may tend to an
effeminate consideration of the claims of art and letters. No, no ; let
us still dab mud on the palette of the painter; let us still mis dirt in
this"saying is only the ink of the writer,
another venomous j Wild and rank indeed would be the vineyards of art and letters, but
falsehood of the philo- j for the judicious asses—both fast and slow—that prune the shoots !

sopher; only one of | _

the huge sheaf of poi-
soned arrows still fly-
ing downward. We
are much grieved to
find Prince Albert
inclined to a fallacy—

THE "ALARMING FAILURE" GOVERNMENT.

The present Ministry puts us much in mind of those commercial
concerns which seem to exist upon " alarming failures," " awful
sacrifices," and "extensive bankruptcies." Every week brings forth a
happily not very popu-! fresh intimation of something new in the "enormous depreciation"
lar—that the claims of line; and yet the Government goes on as usual. Among the novelties
literature and art I of the season, the Budget has been continually ticketed, first, as simply
should be considered! "a failure;" then, "a terrific failure;" but it is, nevertheless, brought
with good temper, and | forward again, with the energetic words, "must have cash" attached
even with delicacy, to it. Scarcely ten days are allowed to elapse without our attention
This is a weakness, j being called to a significant " Look here ! Down again! Must go!"
Mere common ink, i as appropriate to something or other offered to the public by the firm of
good enough to make Russell and Company. We believe there are some houses in the
an entry in a ledger, haberdashery trade that exist for ever on their failures; and the same
or even to chronicle fate or fortune seems to support the firm or infirm which deals in
a dreadful accident,; hashery and balder-dashery as its chief commodities. Being really
a daring robbery, or anxious for the credit and character of the Ministerial concern, we wish
an ingenious act of , we could see it lay in a stock of useful articles for national wear,
swindling, is not the sort of fluid to drop upon a book, or to spatter instead of endeavouring to keep afloat, by displaying now and then some
on a picture. Treat the author as something only a little above bits of patch-work, or some old remnants of stuff that nobody cares
a begging letter-writer; consider the artist as merely bent upon ob- about. The Ministerial Mart is getting as indifferent a character for
taining money under false pretences, and—nineteen times out of i its measures, as some of the cheap tailoring establishments ; and instead
twenty—writers and painters are fitly'entertained. This is an axiom! of going on trying to cut their coats according to their cloth, the

of certain fast critics; an axiom valorously carried out upon the
opening of the Royal Academy. For instance, a day or two since,
how gallantly was Maclise bespattered—how nobly was he bullied
before all the faces of the seven hundred subscribers of the Morning
Chronicle! And if we suppose that every Chronicle is read by three
persons, why here is an R.A. made to look very small and very dirty
indeed, in the eyes of one thousand one hundred of the population and
visitors of Great Britain ! Is this nothing ?
However, come we to the opinions of Prince Albert, delivered a
! few days since at the Royal Academy Dinner. The speeches of the
I Prince have ever been distinguished by such fine sense, such _ delicacy
of appreciation, and such deep, unostentatious humanity—wide away
from the tinkling philanthropy, the brassy benevolence of _ many plat-
i forms—that we the more especially regret the short-coming of His
! Royal Highness when addressing the R.A.s. He said:—

" Gentlemen, the production of all works in art or poetry requires, in their con-
ception or execution, not only an exercise of the intellect, skill, and patience, but
particularly a concurrent warmth of feeling, and a free flow of imagination."

Now, if these opinions of the Prince become widely acknowledged,
what will be the fate of " fast " criticism ? Your fast critic should look
upon a picture as he would look upon an iron pothook—a thing
hammered out to order, and to_ be done by the hundred by the mere
hand of man; his heart and brain having just as much, and no more, to
do with the picture, than has the farrier, who whistles while he
rounds a horse-shoe. Again, for literature : a book is to be considered
as an attempt to beguile the good-will of the reader, and to be treated,
nine times out of ten, as the petition of an impostor. Nevertheless,
hear what the good-hearted, but mistaken, Prince says of the claims of
art and letters. They are produced by feeling and imagination, and—

" This renders them most tender plants, which will thrive only in an atmosphere
calculated to maintain that warmth; and that atmosphere is one of kindness—kindness
towards the artist personally, as well as towards Ms production. An unkind word of
criticism passes like a cold blast over their tender shoots, and shrinks them up,
checking the flow of the sap which was rising to produce, perhaps, multitudes of flowers
and fruit."

What mistaken benevolence is this ! Art, like a foot-ball, bounds the
higher the more you kick it: and for the effect^ of " cold blasts " on
" tender shoots," why, the colder and more cutting the wind, the more
luxuriant the blossoms. We believe that artists and authors are
persons of a peculiar organisation, with a good deal of walnut-sap in
their frames; the more you thrash them, the better they flourish.
And we think it the especial duty of the critic, in order to test the
vital strength of flowers in the bud, and fruit in the blossom, to drench
them well with a solution of vitriol; or, what may be readier at
hand, a copious flow of Day and Martin. It is also an excellent
custom—as geese are sometimes turned in to bite down vegetation
that promises to become rank—to put a "fast" critic on a young painter's
picture, or young author's book, to bite the thing to the heart. We
have also read it to be the custom in certain vineyards to send in an
ass or two to feed off the too luxuriant shoots. And thus they were

Government will be, eventually, obliged to cut it altogether. Though
the opposition that has been started has, hitherto, been rather weak,
the proprietors have commenced showing patterns of something better,
and designs decidedly newer, than those of the Government shop,
which—unless there is more spirit and activity—will have to be,
ultimately, vacated by its present occupants.

A day or two ago, as we were passing along Trafalgar Square, strain-
ing our eyes for some object that would keep them off the Fountains,
our notice was _ attracted to our poor friend of the " glass ship," who,
accosting us with, " The very same ship, your honour, that was smashed
on Ludgate Hill," solicited our pence and our sympathy. Not having
a heart of steel, but being burdened with a pocket full of coppers, we
indulged the feelings of the one, by lightening the burdens of the other.
As we passed on, we immediately thought of Lord John, who seems to
take up his position by the side of the vessel of the State, and ask our
commiseration for the smashes and collisions it is continually encounter-
ing. There is, however, one important distinction to be drawn; for
while the ship of glass was damaged by no fault of its proprietor, the
state vessel gets knocked about for want of bold and skilful seaman-
ship. As Lord John seems to be inevitably at the helm, he should keep
a good look-ou*", go a-head a little, and steer the vessel in its right
course; but he is not justified in asking our sympathy for disasters
which, with a little spirit and tact, he might very easily guard against.

REFORM YOUR INCOME-TAX.

Tax, tax, Income and Property;

Why the deuce don't ye tax both in fair order?
Tax, tax, Genius and Industry—
Aye ; but not so as on plunder to border !

Many, by hand or head

Earning precarious bread,
Suddenly ruin'd's an often-told story.

Do, Johnny Russell, then,

Justice to working men ;
If you refuse, we must call in a Tory !

Sibthorp's Himself Again.

Colonel Sibthorp's objection to great organs is becoming every day
more decided; and it is rumoured that he intends asking the Home
Secretary, " Whether the police have had orders to put down that great
organ of public opinion, the Times newspaper ?" The gallant Colonel's
crusade against advertising carts, has been unfairly alluded to as an
impeachment of his military courage; for it is hinted that nothing but
an attachment to the rear, can account for a soldier's decided objection
to the van.

A New Title for Mr. Roebuck.—Le M<oniteur Officiel.