MR. JOHN BURNS AS PRERAPHAELITE.
!TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.")
STR,—Most of your readers are aware of the high intellectual qualities of the Member for Battersea; but it is possible that 'some of them are ignorant of the fact that he is regarded in 'France as a disciple of Rossetti. In the" Journal des Goncourt," 'under the date of September 2nd, 1894, is the following entry:- "Il est question . . . de l'admiration enthousiaste de Mirbeau
-pour les peintres Anglais siècle, et de son mepris pour les John Burns et les preraphaelites"! And M. Edmond 'de Goncourt, who thus confused the name of Mr. Burns with that of the painter of " Love Amongst the Ruins " and " Laus 'Veneris," was a fervent connoisseur, and would have evinced raepris enough for any one who wrote " Hokusei " for " Hokkei," or "Lippo Lippi" for " Filippino Lippi." Is not this a characteristic instance of the haughty contempt for English spelling exhibited in most French writers,—contempt which Hugo possessed when he gave to the fourth book of
"Les Travailleurs de la Mer " the title of "The Bug-pipe" P 25 Langham Mansions, Earl's Court Square.
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