DURING the first Sunday in April and the last Sunday in March, the ateliers of the R.A.'s and eminent outsiders have, according to the now consecrated custom, been thrown open to the Critics and the Patrons of Art. Although busily engaged in electioneering like everyone else, Mr. Punch's Representative found time to jot down a few notes that may serve as an overture to the Burlington House Opera. Here are a few of the entries in our own Scamperer's pocket-book, arranged in alphabetical order. L. ALMA TADEMA, A.R.A.-"Fredegonde," the Divorced Queen, seated at a casement, draws aside the curtain and gazes with resentful looks on the re-marriage of her husband. The marble in the picture is (as usual) dashed in anyhow, and without the slightest regard to nature. The egg, however, which the Queen is on the point of throwing at her faithless lover, is very precious in its fulness of thoughtful meaning. G. H. BOUGHTON, A.R.A.-"A Music Lesson." A little Italian Lad being taught to play the flageolet by his Grandfather, seated on an old-fashioned terrace overlooking a river. The excited Paterfamilias in the background directing a Policeman to order the nuisance to move on, is a very noble piece of work, at once strenuous and subtle. E. BURNE-JONES.-"The Golden Stairs," representing a company of Girls in white descending a flight of winding stairs. As might have been expected from the previous work of this Artist, the girls are maidenly yet majestic models of lusty health and rich physical development. They are dashing down the stairs with a virginal vigour that seems to echo the glad music of primitive races, and proclaims the delicious dawn of gladness in hearts that have not yet learnt life's sad lesson.- Vanitas vanitatum. THOMAS FAED, R.A.-" Hand to Mouth," representing an aged and needy Clarinetplayer, accompanied by a little boy with a monkey, making his frugal purchases in a Chandler's shop. One of those chapters from the Simple Annals of the Village Poor, which this gifted Artist records with so right a hand, and a mind so far above the conventional and commonplace, W. P. FRITH, R.A.-"The Prawn Seller." A scene at Tenby. A deeply significant presentment of a practical joke. The Prawn Seller has nothing but shrimps in his basket! SIR JOHN GILBERT, R.A.-"The Murder of the Duke of Gloucester." The delicate half tones of this dainty picture are in the Artist's most serene manner. The chief defect of the work is the lack of energythere is no dash in the colour, no bravura in the drawing, no "chic" in the composition. H. HERKOMER, A.R.A.-" Grandfather's Pet." Old man kicking out intruder. Why paint a subject so painful? If the aged are subject to sudden bursts of passion, is this a reason for consigning them to canvass-particularly in these electioneering times, when irritation at a Canvasser's call is surely excusable ? J. C. HORSLEY, R.A.-"Leading Strings." Sweetly illustrating the lovely old way of training children up in the way they should go. Next year we may look out for a companion-picture called "Little Toddlekins"the first softly staggering steps of unassisted babyhood-a subject as new as it is touching to the deep heart of maternity. SIR FREDERICK LEIGHTON, P.R.A.-A series of ideal Female heads remarkable for the strenuousness of their forms and the glowing life blood of their flesh tints. The vitality and vigour of the President's virile hand may be traced in every touch. J. E. MILLAIS, R.A.-A noble portrait of "True THOMAS of Chelsea," and for companion, another hardly less memorable, 64 True JOHN EVERETT of Kensington." It is but right that a grand old master of the pen should be balanced by a mighty young master of the pencil. J. O'CONNOR.-" Sunrise from Waterloo Bridge." A companion picture to "We won't Go Home till Morning." E. J. POYNTER, R.A." Visit of Venus to Esculapius," to whom the Goddess, attended by the Three Graces, is holding up her foot. Esculapius indignantly explains that he is not a chiropodist. The contrasted expres-, sions of the God of Physic and the Goddess of Beauty may have suggested the second title, "Corn in Egypt." V. C. PRINSEP, A.R.A.-"The Durbar, Delhi." A wonderful mêlée-with Major BARNES in his tabard, Lord LYTTON shining as the Star of India, in sky-blue, if not blue sky, and all the Rams, Jams, Ramjams, Nizams, Salaams, and other Indian Princes under our rule, hailing VICTORIA, by grace of BEACONSFIELD, Empress. This glowing little canvass will, no doubt, be the centre of attraction in the Miniature Room. BRITON RIVIERE, A.R.A.-"The Night Watch." Not to be confounded with "The Day Clock." The attempt of the owner of the night watch to wind up his time-piece with a corkscrew has apparently been unsuccessful, and his feelings under failure are very tenderly touched. G. F. WATTS, R.A.-A fine portrait of himself, which will not be exhibited with the time-honoured title of "Portrait of a Gentleman," but under the jeu de mot "What's his name?" It is destined for the Painters' Portrait Gallery in the Uffizi, Florence, where it will take the distinguished place it deserves in the Uffizial Catalogues. of its daughters. The founders are in debt some £6,200 for borrowed money, and want to pay it off. To this appeal for help towards this good purpose, Punch is glad to see appended besides the names of Lady STANLEY OF ALDERLEY for £500, and Lady GOLDSMID for £100, with other less imposing handsome contributions, that of the Clothworkers' Company for £315, and the Brewers' Company for £100. Better such gifts, oh, my worthy Guild-friends, than many dinners! Punch would sooner have your Companies than your rooms, while you so spend your revenues! Here Our Own Scamperer's Note-book ends. N.B.-Punch's O. S. does not disguise the fact that he has seen none Punch gladly gives his publicity to the growth and glory of of the above pictures, and knows nothing about Art; but in these Girton, and direction to those who feel inclined to give on its behalf, enlightened days of aesthetic enlightenment, easy manners, and free either to the Treasurer, Miss DAVIS, 17, Cunningham Place, London, thought, is there anything in either of these details to prevent him the "Girton College Account," at the London and County Bank, from exercising the functions of an Art-Critic ? A right-minded or its Secretary, Mrs. CROOM ROBERTSON, 31, Kensington Park echo will assuredly answer, Certainly not!" And Mr. Punch's Gardens. Own Scamperer is a right-minded echo, and repeats the substance of what he hears, if occasionally with variations. 66 "A little more sleep, And my wars, big Over vanishing "I passed Jingo's That on Russia's big bogey blazed higher and higher, Common sense had found access, at length, to his mind, AN APPEAL FOR MANY YOUNG WOMEN AND ONE OLD ONE. I.-For the Young Women. "Sweet girl graduates in their golden hair." GIRTON is growing-in numbers as in honours. Opened in 1869 with six Students in a humble hired house at Hitchin, in 1879 the humble lodging-house had swelled to a handsome College, within easy reach of Cambridge-as it has shown at the last mathematical examination-with 60 regular students, of whom thirty-six have received degrees, certificates, and twenty-four have been declared up to the standard of honours in one of the Triposes. The Council of the Senate of the University of Cambridge, in acknowledgment of these proofs of vitality and vigour, have wisely. appointed three representative members of the College. If things go on as they have begun, the 60 Girton girls will, six years hence, be 220. The friends of the College are anxious to prepare for this increase II.-For the Old Woman. Having paid his debt to the young women, Punch passes on to what he is glad to own as a debt-and not his debt only, but all his readers', and all English and Scottish working-men's-to an old woman-a poor old woman-JANET HAMILTON, of Coatbridge, near Glasgow, who died in October, 1873, at the age of seventy-eight. After the stories (so well told by SAMUEL SMILES) of ROBERT DICK, the baker-geologist and botanist of Thurso, now dead, and THOMAS EDWARDS, the shoemaker-naturalist of Banff, still living, there are few records, even in the annals of the Scottish poor-so rife, to their honour, in lives of self-devotion and self-culture-more remarkable than that of this poor old woman. Born in October 1795, the daughter of a small shoemaker, afterwards a field labourer, of Old Monkland in Lanarkshire, JANET HAMILTON was brought up from early girlhood to the hard work of the spinning wheel and the tambour frame, married her father's journeyman in 1809, bore him ten children, and after a happy and laborious married life of sixty-three years, died in October 1873, leaving behind her such utterances of her thought in prose and verse, as are not unworthy for singing power of a countrywoman of ROBERT BURNS, while they bespeak a spirit as high above temptation, as devoted to duty, and as cheerful under self-sacrifice, as his was impatient, unrestrained, and irregular. Having taught herself to read without so much as a start from the village school, she rapidly exhausted the scanty libraries about her, and, while never neglecting her hard" day's darg," read, learned, marked, and digested so much of the best poetry and the best history as came within her reach. She was full besides of the abundant folk and ballad lore of her region, and loved nature and flowers as keenly as books. She was fifty before she taught herself to write-out of printed books; and after that age, living in Coatbridge, one of the grimiest and squalidest suburbs of Glasgow, among some of the roughest and most drunken of its iron-working population, keeping her house in order, bringing up her large family, working all day till nine or ten at night, then reading till two in the morning, and up again at seven, through many years of this life of labour, she uttered in song much that is always tender and refined, and much that is wonderfully beautiful, considering her circumstances and surroundings. And all this while she did more to promote good causes, and, above all, the cause of temperance, in the drunken population round about her, than all the teachers and preachers. For the last ten years of JANET HAMILTON'S life she was blind, her eyes having failed her from over-labour; but in her blindness she was good and cheerful as ever, and she sang to the last-better, perhaps, for her blindness, as cruel folks say caged singing-birds do. Two volumes of her prose and poetry have been published and sold off, and deserve to be reprinted better than most remains. When she died in 1873, after a model life, not only of such selfculture as has been described, but of courtesy and charity, kindliness and piety, quiet dignity, and warm affection as a wife, mother, friend, neighbour, and example, she was followed to the grave by many thousands, who knew what her daily existence had been, and many of whom had been turned from evil ways by her influence. Punch now tells his readers of this remarkable life's work, because it is proposed to erect in Coatbridge, where she lived and died, a drinking fountain in honour of her, who so well deserved a memorial, and to whom such a memorial is so appropriate. The Treasurer of the Fund is Mr. JOHN COWPER, National Bank, Coatbridge; and some £40 of the money for the memorial is still wanting. It is little to the credit of Glasgow that any appeal beyond her borders should be necessary; but it is hardly to be regretted, if it serves to make more widely known the name and life of JANET HAMILTON! BENJAMIN TO BRITANNIA.-Nunc dimittis! ERRATUM." They also serve, who only stand and wait." MILTON'S, of course, not WORDSWORTH'S. The blunder is Mr. Pawkie's, not Mr. Punch's, but he ought to have corrected it. TO CORRESPONDENTS.-The Editor does not hold himself bound to acknowledge, return, or pay for Contributions. In no case can these be returned unless accompanied by a stamped and directed envelope. Copies should be kept. ELECTIONS ON THE BRAIN. "LOOK-LOOK, PAPA! HE'S AT THE TOP OF THE POLE!" [Poor Papa, an unsuccessful Conservative Candidate, can't stand it, and seeks refuge in the Monkey-House. OUR REPRESENTATIVE MAN. At the Gaiety to see the "Voyage en Suisse." HAVING heard great things of the HANLON-LEES at the Gaiety, in Le Voyage en Suisse, I went expecting to be highly diverted by these Pierrots; and, as far as they are concerned, the performance more than realised my anticipations. A Pantomime in Three Acts sounds formidable; but there is just a thread of a story, and the action is so rapid, and executed with such marvellous neatness and precision, as never to weary the spectator, though it does bewilder him considerably, and, while watching the absurd feats of the two comic servants, it leaves him, at the end of each Act, uncertain as to whether he is on his head or his heels, but quite sure that he has been laughing at it most heartily. That I am unable to say with any precision as to what the piece is about, may be owing to my having unfortunately missed the commencement; but as to what the HANLON-LEES and M. AGOUST are about there is no difficulty whatever in ascertaining, come in when you will. They are certainly wonderful Pantomimists, and the sprightliest of acrobatic performers. So intensely droll are they, and so fixed is the attention of the audience on these the central figures of this eccentric performance, that the business and the dialogue of the speaking actors who are engaged in assisting the story, and allowing the HANLON-LEES breathing time, go for very little, except in the Second Act, when the situations in which Mr. PENLEY, Mr. RIGHTON, and Miss LAWLER are concerned carry along briskly what, after the rattling comic pantomime, might be a trifle slow. The Train Scene, showing the compartments while the train is in motion, is very ingenious, and the rapidity of the action is startling and always amusing. THE Government have been beaten all over the country by an overwhelming majority. Reasons for this are as plenty as Blackberries. Among them we may mention those of A Keen Political Observer-"Because the weather has been dead against them all along." The Country Tory-"Because that fellow GLADSTONE'S a match for Old Nick himself." The North-Country Whole-Hogger-"Because BEACONSFIELD has had rope enough." The Metropolitan Conservative-"Because your average Working Man is such an ungrateful fool." The Suburban Slogger-Because your Jingoes are such a set of blatant idiots." The Unsuccessful Candidate-"Because that lying agent didn't half work up the canvass." His Amiable Better Half-" Because, as I told him before he began, to please the mob he ought to have gone in as one of those horrid Radicals." His Son The Captain-"Because the Governor ought to have known that it's only Cads and Attorneys that put up for Parliament." The Music-Hall Baritone-" Because that new Jingo Chorus was as flat as ditch-water." The Rational Tradesman-" Because they didn't come down hammer and tongs on those infernal Stores." The Humanitarian Enthusiast-" Because they kept the country in a fever, threatened everybody, and unsettled everything all over the world." The Irrepressible Patriot-"Because they didn't throw a hundred thousand men into Gallipoli, and pitch the Russian Ambassador into the Channel." An Exultant Antagonist-"Because they've outraged all the sound sense and Christian sentiment of the country." A Disappointed Supporter-" Because they've been so shy of trusting themselves to the National feeling." The Right Hon. Mr. Tadpole-"Because they have been monstrously too good." The Right. Hon. Mr. Taper-"Because they've been awfully too bad." Lord Beaconsfield-"Because popular praise is as passing as it is palling." ADVICE TO FAGOT-VOTERS.-" Cut your stick!" TRAMPLING ON THE FALLEN. Had it been all in action, without any speaking, and only in the hands of pantomimists, with suitable musical illustrations and occasional concerted pieces and choruses, it might go even sharper, as it seems to me, than it now does,-and that is saying a good deal. The scene in the Third Act, where the HANLON-LEES represent of the "late-present" PREMIER as "Benjamin Disraeli-just out!" VOL. LXXVIII. THE News-boys at the stations are hawkihg the latest biography |