ART IN ITS TRIBULATIONS.
"Is London," asks the Times, apropos to the " enthusiastic " re- ception of Ylir. Buchanan the new tragedian, "engaged in a con- spiracy to put down histrionic art altogether P" Whether of malice prepense or by unconscious instinct, London does appear to be en- gaged in such a conspiracy. There is a sort of painstaking assi- duity in the cultivation of bad art which almost implies intention. Catch a good artist, and his best successes at the worst of houses are converted into the means of degrading him to a buffoon. An- other, heir to admirable comic talents, engages himself in rewriting excerpts of French pieces, and contrives to maintain a position in the domain of art by a sort of cosmopolitan tenure. But it is one of the national houses which is engaged for the appearance of a gentleman whose portraiture of passion lies in a prolonging of " oh's ! " and "alt's ! "—who expresses emotion by empha- sis on prepositions ; and who by thus throwing the force of accent, as musicians would say, upon the half-bar, makes a London audience believe that he must express strong feel- ing; London audience accordingly in a state of enthusiastic admiration. It may be said, indeed, as extenuation for the London audience, that it can know nothing of strong feeling; that it is so thoroughly civilized, so hedged in from the adventures of ruder worlds, so mechanized to the routine of shop and business, that it has forgotten everything of rude nature; and so it applauds the artistic reflex on conjecture. There would be something in this excuse, were it not that, by research and the investigation of works of art, at times when society at large knew something of emotion and passion, a sort of test might be applied to the professors of histrionic art at the present time. On the other hand a taste thoroughly alienated from nature is not only misinformed, but is actually depraved in its inclinations; and it may be that the Lon- don audience is not only ignorant of the true type, but that it ac- tually prefers the forgery, as the uneducated palate prefers mock- turtle to turtle. This would go far to account for the assiduity with which the Londoners cultivate false artists. London botany is ahead of London art : there was a time within the memory of men still living when the only flower cultivated within the range of the Post-office was "London pride " : in art we are at about the same stage, only that we cultivate poor exotics.
The assiduity in cultivating the bad actor genus is only equalled by the zeal and anxiety which the most distinguished persons are bestowing upon the great work of the day, the recutting of the Koh-i-noor. We have works of necessity that await the diligence of influential people. Drainage for all London may be an example. The stage is languishing; poets are silent and Tennyson is in office ; the Royal Academy is in a state of anarchy, and derives its hopes from those young revolutionist-reactionaries the Prie-Raphaelites : all of which eommotions in the world of art go on and move those whom they concern, or do not move them, as the case may be ; but your high people are not much troubled. There is, however, a little stone which was possessed not long since by an Oriental barbarian. It cannot compare in size with a penny "pat o' butter" at an eating-house, but it is bigger than almost any of its kind. It is a beautiful specimen of crystal. Not more beautiful, indeed, than many natural things easy to obtain—as a lily or a rose. Not more beautiful than many a work of art whose materials are "as cheap as dirt." But it is rare, and therefore an object of competitive search. It was exposed at the Great Exhibition, and the public were disappointed. "The mountain of light" was not so alpine as a mole- hill; the light paled its ineffectual fire before many specimens of common glass in the same place. The Royal owner was mortified, and the diamond is to be put to its mettle. The Prince Consort invokes a state machinery for the purpose ; cunning workmen are called to the discussion from Holland ; a special engine is constructed ; the Conqueror of Napoleon cuts the first facet ; Dukes, Generals, and Senators, visit the process daily ; and a more enduring anxiety is expressed in action than if a new prince were added to the house which secures the succession of our regal line. There is almost as much enthusiasm in watching the renewal of surface for the little crystal as there is in cultivating the bad actor. Art is an orphan, and, obliged to go out to service, has obtained a place as maid of all work to that great and fashionable dame jewellery.
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