other side. It shows that juries are fallible; | by Judge Caton; but his personal observa and happily, where a jury palpably errs, the tenegro, Bulgaria, and Bosnia, in Europe, THE stupidity that may characterize a jury is illustrated by a ludicrous scene which recently took place in an English court. A lady, having been injured in a railway-accident, was taken to an hotel, where she was laid up for several weeks. When the bill was presented to her she refused to pay it, and referred the landlord to the railway company for settlement. Thereupon the landlord brought an action against his guest to recover. The question whether she was liable for the claim was submitted to her in the persons of twelve substantial peers and rural jurymen. After solemn conclave EVEN to the city man, who never smells a ripe apple-orchard or dances at a corn-husking, there is something welcomely refreshing in the accounts of the merry-makings which attend the garnering of the harvest. Just now the agricultural fairs are in full career. Orators from the town are gracefully sounding the praises of peace and the ploughshare; the peddler is in clover; the monster pumpkins and prize cheeses turn aside the bucolic thought from politics and floods; and happily there is little reason, in any part of the land, to do other than rejoice at the bounteous yield of the earth, guided by the skill and patient labor of men. On both sides of the ocean the long-waited and worked-for harvest is being gathered. Rural England is pitalities of the harvest-home, while down in they returned to court with the verdict that JUDG the railway company was liable. The judge informed them rather sharply that it was the liability of the defendant, and not of the railway company, that was in question. Another solemn delay resulted in a verdict for the defendant for one hundred pounds! The judge, waxing impatient, told them that the defendant did not and could not claim any thing, and sent them out again. A third verdict was to the effect that the railway company was responsible for every thing except the luxury items. Once more they had to march off, to come back at last with a verdict of a few pounds in the landlord's favor. There is a flavor of such persistent stupidity in the anecdote that it will be no wonder if the advocates of the abolition of juries seize upon it as an apt illustration. But it should be remembered that the very fact that such glaring blunders are rare, and that this case has occasioned remark by reason of its unusual character, is really an argument on the Literary. CATON'S "A Summer in Nor- A Summer in Norway; with Notes on the Industries, Habits, Customs, and Peculiarities of the People; the History and Institutions of the Country; its Climate, Topography, and Productions. Also an Account of the Red Deer, Reindeer, and Elk. By John Dean Caton, LL. D. Chicago: Jansen, McClurg & Co. tions and experiences are fresh, and reveal much of the inner life of a people whom we like better the more we know of them. The popular idea among "the most favored nations is that these Scandinavians are little better than barbarians, whose virtues, if they have any, partake of the rough and sturdy qualities of vikings, whom unkindly circumstance has converted into fishermen ; and this idea continues to prevail, notwithstanding the uniform testimony of travelers that they are the most amiable people in Europe. From the beginning to the end of his book, Judge Caton is constantly recurring to this feature of the national character, especially to the courtesy and politeness which mark every class from the peasant to the noble. He says: seen. "I have traveled much and have carefully observed many peoples, and, beyond all comparison, the Norwegians are the politest people I have met. There is a heart, a soul about their politeness, without rigid formality or affected frigidity, which I have nowhere else If politeness in French society is more elaborate, it is more formal, and on its face tells you it is false and mere affectation, while in Norway they make you feel that every thing they have is quite at your service, and that they are ready to go to any trouble to oblige you, without saying the least word to that effect. If they promise nothing and profess nothing, they perform every thing." It is due to Judge Caton to say that his own overflowing good-humor and amiability would secure a certain reciprocity anywhere, but he gives examples enough to prove conclusively that among the Norwegians politeness is truly a national trait. Here is an illustrative incident which occurred during his stay in Trondhjem (pronounced Tronyem): "After dinner, I took a stroll through the town. It was a time when laborers, merchants, and bankers, were either walking for recreation or passing to their homes, so that many were on the streets, which before seemed quite deserted. Whoever I met, whatever his social rank, the hat was removed and brought down to a level with the breast, and I was saluted with a bow, which I returned as best I could, but the hod-carrier could do this with so much more grace and ease than I could command, that I was really ashamed of my awkwardness, although I never before felt the deficiency. Constant practice from childhood, with careful training by the mother, must secure to all a high degree of proficiency in this act of courtesy, so universal here among all classes. . . . I had walked but a little way when a young gentleman addressed me in English, and inquired if I were an American, and volunteered to give me any information about the place which I might desire. He was a clerk in the bank of the British vice-consul, and was now taking his evening walk for exercise. He spoke English very well, was evidently well educated and intelligent. We walked together for perhaps an hour, while he During all this walk the same salutations were furnished me a great fund of information. exchanged with all we met. I asked him to show me where I could get some matches, and he took me to a tobacco-shop. The man behind the counter was uncovered, while his hair was carefully dressed. The moment we entered the door my conductor removed his bat, and remained uncovered till we left the shop. Of course, I did the same-and this I found to be the universal custom throughout Norway. It is considered very rude for any one-except he be an Englishman-to wear his hat in any store or shop, precisely as in the parlor of a mansion." This universal courtesy, however, never degenerates into mere formality, for no people are more entirely easy and unaffected in their social intercourse than the Norwegians. They are, moreover, intelligent and usually well educated. Substantially every one above ten years of age can read and write, and among the wealthier classes several of the modern languages are nearly always spoken. This, indeed, is to a certain extent a matter of necessity, for no young man can hope to obtain official position or any desirable business occupation without being at least tolerably proficient in English, French, and German, as well as Norsk. In addition to all this, the hotels and modes of conveyance are better than one might reasonably expect, and the charges are ridiculously cheap. The benighted condition of the people in this respect could hardly be more forcibly demonstrated than by the fact that as yet they have not learned to practise extortion even upon Americans; and a stranger can actually procure lodgings, a boat, a carriole, or a carriage, on about the same terms as a native. Still more surprising but true is it that in any of the rare cases of misunderstanding on these matters, the spectators are more likely than not to take the stranger's part, and, at worst, are genuinely anxious to defeat any attempt at palpable fraud. Mr. Caton's itinerary was from Hull by steamer direct across the North Sea to Trondhjem, the ancient capital of Norway; thence by coasting-steamer to Bodo and Tromsö, above the Arctic Circle; thence, also by steamer, to Hammerfest, the most northern town in the world, lying within excursion-distance of the North Cape; thence southward to Bosekop, at the head of Alten Fjord; thence back to Trondhjem; thence by railway to Stören, in the interior; thence by carriage over the Dovre Fjeld to Lillehammer; thence by steamer to Eidsvold; and thence by rail to Christiania. It will be seen by this that Mr. Caton did not diverge at any point from the beaten highways of travel (if highways can be described as "beaten "which are so little traveled); but he made the trip in a leisurely manner, stopping long at all important places, and acquainting himself thoroughly with the history and antiquities of the people, as well as with their present habits and customs. On all these points his book is instructive as well as entertaining, and to any one proposing to make the tour of Norway we can commend it as likely to prove a serviceable guide in more ways than one. The author seems to feel an especial interest in questions of natural history, and his remarks on the red deer, reindeer, elk, etc., and their correlation with American members of the family, are not without scientific value. His anxiety to see the reindeer in their natural baunts brought him into contact with that peculiar people, the Lapps, who inhabit Northern Finmark. He describes them as a race of small, hardy men and women, stocky or stout in propor tion to their height, which is several inches below the Norwegians among whom they live. They have in general broad faces, short chins, and high cheek-bones, dark complexions, brown hair, and some light and some dark (but never black) eyes. They look more like smoked white men than men naturally tawny, and he is inclined to think that they owe their dark complexions to smoke and mountain-soil. Some of the men have a wonderfully pleasing and winning expression of countenance, but the women are generally extremely plain, and not over-particular in the matter of dirt: "The Lapps have no tribal organizations, and affect no independent form of government, like our Indians. The patriarchal influence is pronounced among them. While individuals do not acquire titles to the land they occupy, in general they confine their range within certain limits more or less broad, and their preferred right to their campinggrounds is respected, while they are not jealous of those who wander into the territories thus occupied. "There are distinctions of rank among them, arising largely from considerations of wealth. Their wealth consists almost exclusively of reindeer, which are bought and sold, inherited and given as marriage - portions. Some of the most wealthy have many thousand reindeer, and have hired servants to tend them. But their aristocracy is of the primitive kind, and does not depart from the simple habits and modes of life of their ancestors. The rich man lives in the same smoky and filthy hut as the poor, only it is larger, because it must be so to accommodate his larger family; for his servants or herders are strictly members of his family, and live on an apparent equality with himself. The great kettle is hung over the fire in the middle of the hut and filled with the flesh of the reindeer, and when it is boiled all go up and help themselves alike, with fingers or sticks, or with forks and spoons made of the bones or antlers of the deer, or their sheath-knives, which always hang at the hip of young and old. All sleep together in the hut, on the pallets of deer-skins, wherever they can find room. "The most wealthy as well as the poorest dress in the deer-skin trousers and coat, which comes nearly to the knees, and are girded by a broad belt about the waist. These skins are tanned and made into garments in each household. All that I saw were tanned with the hair on, and were made up with the hair on the inside. . . . Their shoes are a kind of moccasin, made from the skin taken from the legs of the deer where the hair is short and firm, and much more durable than from other parts of the deer. They are constructed with the hair outward. They come up around the ankles, have a seam under the hollow of the foot, forward of which the hairs have a backward set, and behind which the hairs have a forward set, which prevents slipping. They differ from the Indian moccasin in having a regular sole, which, however, is but one thickness of the skin.. The Lapps wear them considerably larger than the feet, so that they can wrap the feet in a good coating of dried grass, which is placed in most of them. Nearly all the Lapps wear caps of a uniform style, mostly made of cloth, so far as I saw, but some of skins. They consist of a heavy broad band around the forehead, surmounted with a large, square crown, with sharp points or angles, to some of which small tassels were attached." These quotations give a fair idea of the literary quality of the book. It is easy to see that it is not the work of a ready writer, or of one who labored much after effect; but is, in truth, just such a record of a summer's journey as a good-natured and well-informed gentleman might write down for the amusement and instruction of his friends and the public. PROFESSOR ANDERSON claims for his work on the "Norse Mythology "that it is "the first complete and systematic presentation of the Norse mythology in the English language;" and it is this and more too. It is a treatise on the science of education, and a singularly powerful plea for giving the preference to the Scandinavian languages as against Greek and Latin in the curriculum of American colleges. The greater part of the introduction, which fills considerably more than a third of the volume, is occupied with his argument (presented under many different aspects) on this point; and, indeed, the entire book may be said in a certain sense to be designed to give emphasis to this thesis. For Roman mythology, as for Roman literature, Professor Anderson expresses profound contempt. Of Roman mythology he says that, "properly speaking, there is no such thing;" and he declares it to be "an historical fact that nearly the whole of Roman literature, especially that part of it which may be called belles-lettres, is scarcely any thing but immitation. It did not, like the Greek and Old Norse, spring from the popular mind, by which it was cherished through centuries; but at least a large portion of it was produced for pay and for ornament, mostly in the time of the tyrant Augustus, to tickle his ear and gild those chains that were artfully forged to fetter the peoples of Southern Europe." He concedes that Greek should be studied, "for that is no imitation. It is indigenous. It is a crystal-clear stream flowing unadulterated from the Castalian fountain of Parnassos." After all, however, "we free-born Goths, the descendants of Odin and Thor, ought to begin our education and receive our first impressions from our own ancestors," and the true medium for this is the study of the Scandinavian languages, and especially of Icelandic, "which is the only living key to the history of the middle ages, and to the Old Norse literature. It is the only language now in use in an almost unchanged form, through a knowledge of which we can read the literature of the middle ages. We must by no means forget that we have Teutonic antiquities to which we stand in an entirely different and far closer relation than we do to Greece and Rome. And the Norsemen have an old literature, which the scholar must of necessity be familiar with in order to comprehend the history of the middle ages. When we have thus done justice to our own Teutonic race, we may turn our attention to the ancient peoples around the Mediterranean Sea, the most important of which, in literary Norse Mythology; the Religion of our Forefathers. Containing all the Myths of the Eddas, systematized and interpreted. With an Introduction, Vocabulary, and Index. By R. B. Anderson, A. M. Chicago: S. C. Griggs & Co. and historical respects, are the Hebrews, Greeks, and Romans." more interest should attach to the views of For Greek mythology Professor Anderson entertains a hearty admiration, but his enthusiasm is reserved for the Norse mythology, which he regards as the grandest system of cosmogony and theogony of which we have record. Perhaps the finest of several very fine chapters in the book is the one in which he draws an elaborate comparison between the two systems; and after reading it -especially after reading the fuller exposicious tion to be found in the body of the work-the reader will agree with Carlyle's verdict when he says: "To me there is in the Norse system something very genuine, very great and manlike. A broad simplicity, rusticity, so very different from the light gracefulness of the old Greek paganism, distinguishes this Norse system. It is thought, the genuine thought of deep, rude, earnest minds, fairly opened to the things about them, a face-to-face and heartto-heart inspection of things-the first characteristic of all good thought in all times. Not graceful lightness, half sport, as in Greek paganism; a certain homely truthfulness and rustic strength, a great rude sincerity, discloses itself here." The exposition, analysis, and interpretation of the Norse mythology, which constitute of course, the most important feature of the book, leave nothing to be desired. The whole structure and framework of the system are here; and, in addition to this, copious literal translations from the Eddas and Sagas show the reader something of the literary form in which the system found permanent record. Occasionally entire songs or poems are presented, and, at every point where they could be of service, illustrative extracts accompany the elucidations of the text. Professor Anderson, indeed, has left little to be performed by future workers in the special field covered by his present work. Keeping in view the fact that it was not designed to be a record of original investigation or speculation, but simply to present the fruits of the labors of other scholars in a systematic and popular form, his work is very nearly perfect. Imperfections of style, indeed, might be pointed out; but it would be churlish to insist upon verbal infelicities in an author who is writing in an alien tongue, and, at the worst, these do not affect in the slightest degree the value of a highly instructive and interesting book. WE can easily agree with Mr. Charles F. Wingate in his estimate of the preeminent importance of journalism in our day, and still fail to perceive how the good cause-namely, the public recognition of that importance-is to be aided by a performance such as his "Views and Interviews on Journalism" (New York: F. B. Patterson). No doubt young men, with journalistic aspirations, will find it useful to know what ideas, as to the aims and function of journalism, and the conditions of success in it, are entertained by those who have attained eminence in the profession; but for that general public to which the book evidently appeals, we cannot see why The truth is, Mr. Wingate's book is a bad example of that uneasy self-consciousness on the part of journalists, that straining after effects outside of purely professional success, and that evident desire to compel public recognition, instead of earning it, which have done more than any thing else to retard the progress of journalism to its due position among the professions. Even if the plan of the book had been well carried out, it would not have been worth doing, but, as it is, it is a poor piece of book - making. There are scarcely half a dozen genuine interviews with men whose opinions are of consequence; and in these the questions put are singularly commonplace, futile, and monotonous; the rest of the volume consists of extracts from editorials and addresses, rehashes of old biographical sketches, and inferences from published opinions. Aside from the personal gossip, which is plentiful and not seldom entertaining, we can discover no particular in which the book rises, in point of interest, above the level of the ordinary newspaper scrap-book. And the mechanical execution is on a par MR. WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT is said to have completed his introduction to the "History of the United States " which Messrs. Scribner, Armstrong, & Co. are to publish, and the first volume of the work is nearly finished. The work is to be richly illustrated, and will be sold by subscription. . . . Edmund Yates is said to have already made a success of his new London paper, The World. The Pall Mall Gazette is informed that a royal commission on copyright, eminently representative in character, and with Eart Stanhope for its chairman, has been appointed by the government, and awaits the royal sanction, prior to its session, about January next, for the consideration of the direction and extent to which international, colonial, and domestic copyright can be improved. . . . A lady writes to the Athenæum, from Vienna, to give various reasons why Mr. Murray should change the color of his guide-books (they are red), one of which is that she has been nearly tossed by a bull for carrying them. . . . In his will the late Hans Christian Andersen leaves the bulk of his property to the Collin family, in gratitude for the aid Mr. Collin gave him in early life. He also makes bequests for the benefit of the school and workmen's library of Odensee, his native town. He gives the Royal Library of Copenhagen a large album, two smaller ones, and four copies of the complete works of Charles Dickens, with inscriptions in the author's handwriting. He directs that his correspondence, which was very large, shall be placed in the hands of M. Bille, who was formerly an editor, and of M. Bōgh, a literary young man with whom he read over the letters, and who knows his wishes in regard to them. . . . Mr. George Sauer, who has for several years represented in Europe the interests of the New York Herald, is engaged in the preparation of a book on European commerce, which will serve as a guide to the manufact with its literary character. The proof-read-uring districts of Continental Europe. LITTLE remark seems called for by Mr. Gladstone's new pamphlet on the "Speeches of Pope Pius IX." (New York: Harper & Brothers). It is strictly controversial in character, and is the latest word in the heated discussion evoked by Mr. Gladstone's "Vatican Decrees." This whole discussion has seemed to us unnecessary, and extremely unlikely to be productive of good results, either in the religious or the political field; and the present pamphlet, beyond furnishing those who have always believed Pio Nono to be an exceedingly foolish, quick-tempered, and deluded old gentleman, with chapter and verse for their belief, and enlarging the popular knowledge of the "cursing vocabulary' of "the living Christ," can subserve no useful purpose. There is no doubt, however, that it furnishes some very lively reading, and it is amusing to note how skillfully Mr. Gladstone defeats the attempts of his antagonists to place him on the defensive. His tone is fully as aggressive as at the beginning; and he certainly offers Cardinal Manning some nuts which that hardy controversialist will find it somewhat difficult to crack. The London Examiner pays the following handsome compliment to Professor W. D. Whitney: As a comparative philologist Professor Whitney has many peers and some superiors; in the general application of the results of comparative philology to the solution of such problems as have been enumerated, he is, as yet, unequaled." The Arts. NE of the most promising of our young specialty is the painting of animals and of landscapes. He is the son of the well-known landscape-painter, and has evidently inherited much of his father's genius. Last spring we gave some account of his pictures, made principally in Italy, of the long-horned cattle of the Campagna, and of his studies in Paris under Bonnat, and with his father. The past season he has spent in Conway, New Hampshire, and an examination of his summer's work justifies our first impression of his talents. In his portfolio are to be found a multitude of large sketches of cattle, sheep and pigs, horses and dogs, in a great variety of attitudes, and with very varied accessories of light, and shade, and color. Among the most interesting of these are a pair of oxen yoked together in an old country wagon. The creatures are reddish brown and white, big and lazy. They stand nearly facing the be holder, who observes above their long, crooked horns the irregular, bony ridges of their backs, and the pointed hip-bones powerfully indicated under their loose hides. Another vivacious picture represents a dog gazing through the boards of a fence at a rat on the other side, which be cannot get at. The tail, the paws, and the wriggling back of the animal, all equally express his intense interest in the prey which he is prevented from reaching. In another of these sketches a longlegged, shambling calf stands sucking bis mother, and, though not one of his limbs seems to have any particular shape to give it | distinctiveness, long lines, which, analyzed, look like crooked sticks only, have yet a tout ensemble of grace and impatience at once comical and pathetic. Many of Mr. Inness's pictures possess a grim humor entirely distinct from caricature or the exaggeration which gives piquancy to works like those of Beard or F. C. Church. One of these, for instance, is of a rough hog rooting in her sty. The animal, with pointed snout, the curved back coming nearly to points at the shoulders, the hips, and along the spine, shows a great deal of rugged strength, which is well represented in the firm drawing and in the steadily anatomized structure of the skeleton beneath the massed flesh. The sight of the beast's avaricious greediness gives one a sense of cynical amusement at the same time laughable and sad. The hog might be a transmigrated sinner from Dante's Inferno. The expression of grace and strength in horses, and timidity and delicacy, with restlessness, humor, and grand power, in some of the other animals, exhibits a range of appreciation very rare among animal-painters. Young Inness has inherited his father's brilliant talent for color and a perception of combination of forms, which, setting aside the highest faculty-the expres sion of the distinctive life of his subjects would insure him a high place among artists. His pictures show strongly the influence of the modern schools of painting with which his residence abroad has made him familiar. His technique is already excellent, far beyond the average, but the animation, grace, and sense of beauty shown in his works, are such as make it certain that with perseverance and industry he is capable of reaching the highest eminence as an artist. THE Woman's Art-School of the Cooper Institute, which opens October 1st, will add to its former branches a class for preparing teachers of drawing in the public schools of the State, for which the Legislature at its last session made provision, by the act passed May 14th. As a result of the law, it is expected that there will be a great demand for drawing-teachers, and accordingly a special class will be organized at the Cooper Institute, of which a competent teacher will have charge. The class will be composed chiefly of graduates from the Woman's Art-School and from pupils of the Academy, whose long study in those schools have prepared them to readily acquire the technicalities of this particular class of work. It is hoped that by the 1st of January they will be sufficiently skilled in the necessary duties of teachers of the State drawing-schools to be able to fill such situations. arrangements in New York for the collection of the works were made under the supervision of Mr. William H. Beard, the well-known In connection with this subject, we sub-animal-painter. Mr. Beard was also selected join an extract from the "Circular in Relation to Industrial Drawing," by the Superintendent of Public Instruction at Albany, in which he says: "The act takes effect on the 1st of October next, and by that time the Board of Education of each city and the lo cal board of each normal school, in which drawing does not now constitute a part of the regular course of study, should be prepared to comply with its requirements." The Woman's Art - School will also this year have a special class for instruction in porcelain - painting and for tile-painting in oils, the latter to be used chiefly for decora tive purposes. The photograph-class has been an entire success for the past three years, and from the Cooper Institute have gone out many drawing - teachers of private classes and into the public and private schools. By the addition of these new branches of industrial art, it is hoped to increase still further the usefulness of this institution. THE thirty-first reception, preliminary to the opening of the usual autumn exhibition of paintings and sculptures of the Brooklyn Art Association, is announced to take place on Monday evening, November 29th. The exhibition will be continued two weeks. Circular letters announcing the proposed exhibition will be issued to artists during the coming week. The announcement is made at this early date so as to enable our artists to paint new pictures, if they are so disposed, for the occasion. The exhibition committee, however, do not apprehend any difficulty in securing enough new pictures, or those which have never been exhibited in New York or Brooklyn, to make a good display. The exhibitions of this Association are largely made up of paintings selected from the private collections of its members. From this source some of the finest foreign pictures owned in this country have been exhibited from time to time, and the call for the coming exhibition will also be extended to the owners of this class of works both in New York and Brooklyn. During the past summer the Association has maintained a summer exhibition comprising about two hundred and fifty paintings. This will be continued until the middle of November. The exhibitions of the Association, except on the occasion of the receptions, are maintained at all times free to the public. THE demands made upon Eastern artists this year, by the art and industrial expositions at Chicago, Cincinnati, Louisville, and Indianapolis, have been unprecedented, but all appear to have been well filled, and attractive displays of pictures are now in progress in all of the places named. The exhibition at Chicago contains upward of nine hundred works; of this number, at least one-half are by American artists, and the display is said to be the finest ever organized in this country. It embraces some old pictures, but a large proportion are new works, and were painted expressly for the exhibition. The to supervise the exhibition generally, but more particularly to attend to the hanging of the pictures. This duty he has successfully accomplished. About thirty of our leading artists contributed from four to six paintings each to the display, and these have been hung in groups, that is to say, the works of each artist are grouped by themselves. The effect is said to be very striking, as each group is tastefully arranged and appropri ately draped. At Cincinnati the art-department of the Industrial Exposition contains four hundred and sixty paintings; and at Indianapolis and Louisville the displays are equally large. Great efforts will be made during the progress of the several exhibitions to make sales of the contributed works, but none of the artists appear to be very sanguine in regard to a successful result. In Chicago, last season, an attempt was made at the close of the exposition to make a general sale of the contributed paintings by auction; it was a failure, however, as nearly all of the paintings were held at a high limit, and were bid in. Of the twelve hundred paintings sent West last year, not more than five per cent. of the number were sold. This result was unsatisfactory, as may be inferred, and it is to be hoped that it will not be repeated this year. The events lately occurring in Herzegovina and the neighboring provinces will probably recall to the minds of many persons who visited the Paris art-exhibitions and galleries last year a picture by E. Gautier, which was then exhibited for the first time in that city. The picture was entitled "Une Jeune Fille de l'Herzegovine," and was one of the favorites of the Paris Salon of that year. The subject comprises the figures of a young girl, the daughter of a wealthy Herzegovinian cattlebreeder, and of two horses belonging to the very handsome and serviceable breed, usually of a fine white color, with which the country abounds. According to the common custom in that part of the world, the girl has led the horses to drink at a fountain near her father's house, and stands holding one of them by the mane as they quench their thirst. Her attitude is admirably free and graceful: her back resting against the shoulder of the horse whose mane she holds, while her other arm hangs negligently at her side. But the steady, forward gaze of the eyes, and the somewhat fixed expression of the whole face, are rather too suggestive of the artist's pose to be quite in unison with the ease and naturalness of the figure. Her face is a little too square to conform to the most orthodox notions as to female beauty; but the features are good, and the large, dark, expressive eyes, shaded by their long black lashes, and overarched by very shapely brows, harmonize well with the sunbronzed skin, and the whole effect is very striking and attractive. Her costume is picturesque and becoming, and is remarkably rich, according to our ideas, for a young woman who has the care of horses: for the necklace that hangs down upon her bosom is composed of thick gold cordage, and the embroidered frontlet of the velvet hood which crowns her forehead is stiff with heavy threads of gold. The horses are splendid animals, and the one the girl holds has much of that suggestiveness of speed and endurance which pervades the wild steeds of our far Western prairies, and the almost equally untamed coursers of the South-Russian steppes. The scene of M. Gautier's picture is in the neighborhood of Trebigne, and the background is formed by a wide-stretching open plain. The fountain at which the horses are drinking is adorned with some remains of ancient Roman sculpture, and is evidently one of the vestiges of early Illyrian civilization which are stili found in many parts of Northwestern Turkey. This picture is one of the results of the artist's travels in Eastern Europe, and shows him to be possessed of much talent, as well as of a very praiseworthy capacity for faithful, conscientious labor. It has been reproduced, in the form of engravings, in several French and English illustrated journals. AN article in a recent number of the Gazette des Beaux Arts, on Mohammedan art, by M. Lavoix, gives new light upon the question of the employment of figures by the Mussulman artist. It is generally thought that the followers of the prophet are forbidden in the Koran to make for themselves any graven image, or likeness of God, man, or beast, but the Arabic word ansab, translated statues, merely applies to certain sacred stones used as altars, and on which oil was poured in sacrifice. It is only in the commentaries on the sacred volume that painters are assigned to perdition if they venture to represent any animate objects. In spite, however, of this prohibition, and the fearful consequence of disobedience, there were many artists at different periods among the Mussulmans who painted the human form, and at last, custom becoming stronger than religious prohibition, figures were everywhere employed even upon the Arab money, on which portrait-heads of the caliphs were often represented. Animals also were often depicted in Moresque decoration. Music and the Drama. THE BAIREUTH FESTIVAL AND THE T NIBELUNGEN CYCLE. HE interest felt by the world of culture in the art-battle fought by Wagner and his disciples is culminating in the great national stage - play, called the "NibelungenRing," for which such extensive preparations are being made at Baireuth, Germany. It need hardly be said that for several years Wagner has been devoting his whole energies to effecting this end; that, after many disappointments and delays, there seems every probability that next summer will witness the consummation of what will gratify a profound curiosity. The most bitter opponents of the new school of music, while firm in the belief that for general use and pleasure it will never supplant the old established forms, even if it modifies them, have been content to rest their judgment of the radical value of its pretensions on the test which the composer himself has invited and prepared. The Wagner music has gradually forced its way to a recognized place in the world, not merely by the determined pugnacity of its adherents, but by its own intrinsic worth and power. For orchestral purposes, its merits have never been disputed; as operatic form, the production of " 'Lohengrin" in England and America within the last year has opened the eyes of the lovers of music in a notable fashion to its astonishing possibilities. The latest work of the poet-composer, based on the great German Iliad, the "Epic of the Nibelungs," is the final develop ment of the school; and, to present it properly, a national theatre has been built, and the whole resources of Germany taxed, the most eminent vocalists and instrumentalists having contributed their services. The accounts of the progress of rehearsals now going on have been such as to fully justify expectations of the extraordinary nature of a work so colossal in proportion as to require four days for its presentation. Before saying something of the "Nibelungen-Ring," | a few words about the general characteristics of the Wagner music, as opera, will be of value to make the matter clear. The apostles of the new musical philosophy hold that the art is something more than a vehicle of the mere beautiful in sound; that its highest function is found in its union with poetry, making thereby something new and different from both, a creation as unique and perfect as that typified by Goethe's character of Euphorion, in the "Helena." Music, as speaking the most spiritual language of any of the art-family, is thus burdened with the responsibility of raising the drama, the highest form of poetry, to its ultimate possible beauty and suggestiveness. To make this marriage perfect as an art-form the two partners come as equals to the sacrament, neither one being the drudge of the other. Each contributes its best to emancipate art from its thralldom to the merely trivial, accidental, and commonplace. To accomplish this, music is made to sacrifice something of its power as a merely suggestive force, the key which unlocks the vague pictures of fancy and feeling, and forced to something like definiteness of expression and meaning. In other words, it is not merely used as the organ of a lyric emotion, but compelled to describe and color thought in strict consonance with the dramatic purpose of the poetry. In the development of his plan, Wagner was led, not arbitrarily, but by a necessity, to do away with what was artificial and conventional in music. The utter variance of music and poetry was a stumbling-block, to remove which required him to crush all the hard, arid forms which had previously existed in the lyric drama, such as duets, arias, and finales, set with an exact mechanical precision in a flimsy web of recitativo secco, without reference to dramatic economy. The musical energy is made to concentrate in the dialogue, and fashioned entirely according to the requirements of the action. For set forms is substituted the continuous flow of melody, and each dramatic element is characterized by a distinct musical phrase, which comes into play whenever the movement of the story calls it forth. Wagner was made to believe that it was rather in the land of myth and legend than that of history or everyday life that he must seek the true material of his musicdrama. Characters even in the near background of history are too closely related to our familiar surroundings to permit music to be the artistic expression of the life of emotion and sentiment. But with the vague, heroic shapes of legend, the case is widely different. Here is found a drama of the demigods with a distinct poetic atmosphere of its own, and the medium of music ceases to be an artificial medium for those who dwell in the magic land of the imagination. In the old German epos, the "Lay of the Nibelungs," Wagner found the subject which alike suited his æsthetic theories and his national love. The story is vast and complicated, and it is impossible to do more than to give some general indications how it has been treated for musical purposes. The latter portion of the "Nibelungen-Lied," relating to purely human scenes of bloodshed and vengeance, is entirely untouched, and Wagner's use of the legend ends with the death of Siegfried and Brunhilde, which in the original is followed by a long and intensely dramatic sequel. The trilogy of operas, "Walküren," 66 Siegfried," and "Götterdämmerung " ("Dusk of the Gods"), is preceded by a prologue, "Rheingold," which furnishes the motive and gives the key of the whole drama. The first scene of "Rheingold" is laid in the waters of the river, where the naiads watch over a great golden treasure intrusted to their keeping, with which mysterious Fate, superior in Northern as well as Greek myths to both gods and men, bas linked mighty issues. The gnome Alberich ascends from his subterranean kingdom to gain one of the daughters of the Rhine to his amorous purposes. To divert him from his purpose they tell him of the fatal power of the gold, to exercise which all thought of love must be given up. The dwarf's desire of rule is excited, and he steals the treasure from its guardians. The spectator is next introduced to the domain of Wotan (Odin), the father of the gods, where the All-father is sleeping in a meadow. He is awakened by his spouse, who reminds him that Freia, the goddess of beauty, is in pledge to the giants for payment of their labor in building the castle Walhalla, and that they demand either payment or forfeiture. Wotan discovers from Loge, the Northern Mephistopheles, or Satan, that the only treasure the giants will accept is the Nibelung treasure, stolen by the gnome Alberich from the Rhine maidens, which had been transformed into a ring, at once the means and symbol of universal power. Wotan and the other gods at first conceive the idea of stealing the gold for themselves, but at last conclude to accede to the giants' wish, and descend to the subterranean abodes for the purpose of getting the gold either by fair or foul means. Alberich, in the mean time, by the power of his ring, has subjected all the other dwarfs to his command, and compelled his brother, Mime, to forge for him a tarn-cap, a helmet which has the power of making him invisible or transforming him into any other shape at will. The dwarf recognizes the gods, and threatens them with the powers of his ring. But the suave seductions of Loge persuade him to exhibit the possibilities of the magic helmet. He transforms himself into a serpent or |