"ALIEN'S" LETTER FROM ENGLAND.

Otago Witness, Issue 2883, 23 June 1909, Page 83

"ALIEN'S" LETTER FROM ENGLAND.

(Specially Written for the Witness Ladies' Page.)

MAY.

England in May! Every exile dreams of it, for nowhere else the wide world over is there such a May. None who Have ever seen it can ever foTget it, or help longing for a sight of the flowering trees, with their countless greens, and all the wonder of the woods. The wanderer upon the veldt, upon the Australian plains, in lonely backwoods' stations, must conjure up the vision of England's incomparable spring— the sense of renewal of life, the multiplicity of living things ; ponds and streams and trees alive — especially the ■trees, for from, dawn till sunset the feathered songsters are" - Thanking the Lord for a' life so sweet. Tlie feathery flowers of the beeoh hang 'oetween leaves of red copper, the blue cedar and oak are in leaf, and in every forest gAade wild violets and primroses and ' jyacinth spread their blue and yellow carpets upon which the golden sunshine dapples, thro.ugih the saented branches overhead. The green woodpeckers and the jays and the starlings are busy with the insects. The chatter of the tits mingles with the soft low cooing of the doves ; the blackcap and the ~thrush- are crying with the blackbird, and the robin and the lark, and from deeper thickets the cuckoo vnd the nightingale; are heard. , ■ London in May is at its best and freshest. jLiie parks, with their vivid, velvety lawns and long, green, scented avenues, have all the delightful freshness that is lost later in the year. Kew Gardens is an enchanted spot of colour. The miles of its walks, the hothouses and greenhouses are a delight, and thousands visit it each day, either by .river or road approach. The first Sunday of May saw the first "church parade" of the season, and the park was very lovely, the trees in tenderest leaf, and narcissi and daffodils and the cherry and may trees in full -bloom. The number of large hats worn, raised on one side, was remarked upon, also the black silk and satin coats worn by young giTls — t*he little mites had beehive hats of drawn silk, — and the wreath of roses on iats with large brims was very noticeable. The bands in the parks have begun again with May, indeed all the season's pleasures and pastimes have now begun — cricket, polo, the river season, including the -river steamers which go up, to Richmond and Hampton Court. On Sunday week Bushy Park will probably see its famous chestnut avenue at its best, for the six- days of May sunshine have already burst the chestnut ' blooms. The streets are gay- with pedestrians, and the West ±>nd looks already full. Over 100,000 Americans are expected to visit London this season, and even so early the best hotels report that there are quite a large number already here, with their plans drawn up for what they intend to do each day by way of sight-seeing, even to the time at wliich to start on each jaunt; even their getting^up time and meai times are all arranged. Already, too, many French visitors are here ; but they do not take ±heir pleasure so rigidly. The opening of the Royal Academy on May 1 drew crowds to Burlington House. At the private view there was also a large number to whom invitations had been issued. The general opinion of the critics eeems in accord that gmong this year's pictures there are none of startling originality, although there is a good deal uniform excellence. There is not even a problem picture by- Mr Collier. One of the pictures which is attracting most attention is "The Eleventh Commandment" {Thou shalt not be found out), by Mr F. Howard Michael, which is the picture of a young and beautiful wife discovered by her husband having supper with another man. The girl — for she looks little more — has risen and has turned her startled face away from her husband, who, stern and forbidding-looking, has entered the room, and- the spectator gets a full view of its beauty, with the fear of the great wide-open • eyes. She is probably only vain and silly, but she has evidently got a scare. . Mr Sargent is alone in his genius for portrait painting, and this year's Academy is more of a portrait academy than ever. Opinions are divided as to Mr Sargent's best work this year, whether it be his beautiful portrait of Mis Astor, or his masterly portrait of Lord Wemyes, or a picture of great fascination which represents a procession of women wrapped in cashmere shawls, "gliding in slow, rhythymic movement along the grassy elope tliat fills the background." The -Jiawls are wonderful ; they look as though you could take them in your hand and feel their baautiful fabric. One of the first criticisms says : — t Many of the older members of jfce Eoyal I Academy seem to have regained their youthful vigour, as though, they have been sudJenly stirred up to competitive effort. This does not refer so much to Sir W. Q. Orchardson, who even in his comparative decline never lost his distinction, an^d who will this year astonish the world with his wonderful portraits of Mrs Moss-Cockle and of Sir Lewrentfe Jenkins.. Chief Justice of the High Court of Calcutta; but more particularly to Mr Cope, Mr Briton Riviere, Mt "Watexhouse, Mr Seymour Lucas, and a few others. For the first time permission has been given to exhibitors to glaze pictures hung "on th-e line," to the infinite advantage of many works, although in some cases the reflections in the glass are a oause of annoyance. In the sculpture section it is impossible to close one's eyes to the fact tbat t !l e steady advfnce of the last f«w years, which justified the greatest hope in the future cf British sculpture, has b&en suddenly, arid let us hope temporarily, checked. On ■ t'< c whole, the' sculpture of the your is ex:e~>•titmally poor. Mt Derwent "Wood's " A ■alanta," shown two years ago in plaster, and now executed in marblo. sexvojs as standard i

for comparison. Not only is there no reason to modify the praise bestowed upon it on its first appearance, but the gulf has been widened that separates it from the indifferent works by which it is now surrounded. Portraiture predominates more than ever. Statesmen and judges in their robes of office, soldiers in uniform, fair wmen isolated and in groups of three are to ba found on every wall. Imaginative art — which must not be confounded with the art of telling a story in paint, or of illustrating a<n historic Or legendary incident — is all to rare. Mr Obarles Sims, a true poet of "the brush, shows nothing that in importance ox perfection can rival his memorable *■' Little Faun" and' "The Fountain of last year, although " The Night Piece to Julia " delights by its richness of fancy and impulsive freeness of handling — one of the rare instances of inspired paint. The presence of two portraits from his brush raises the fear tbat success may lead Mr Sims from the sphere in which he rules supreme. Mt Cadogan Cowper justifies his early election to the Associateship of the Eoyal Aoa~ demy by the perfect craftsmanship and opulent sense of beauly tbat distinguish his "' Venetian Ladies Listening to the Serenade." Reminiscences of Rossetti's " Lady Lilith " in the lady combing her glorious tressea, and of Parniigiano in the sumptuous dress of the central figures must be set -down to accident with a painter whose conscientiousness does not allow him to depart a hair's breadth from what he sees before 'his eyes, even if his subject belongs to a distant past. That his Venetian ladies are Venetian only in .apparel and English in physiognomy is the natural result of his method, and does not affect the beauty of his conceit. That the monotonous yellow of the glare of artificial illumi nation is spread over the light passages of this night scene is due tc the same cause, and is a lnote serious matter, in so far as it detracts ftrom the beauty of the sumptuous" colour scheme. Most amusing of the criticisms are those of scientific experts — the tailors' experts have a lot of funny remarks to pass on the pictured gentlemen's clothes. No hole in the coat lappet for the bouquet, buttons that wouldn't meet the buttonholes, seams where no seam.'l should be. '"That's a perfectly- fitting suit of clothes" was the praise one tailor bestowed on the portrait by A. R. A. Then Sandow, the physical culture expert, '"did" tlie Academy, and pointed out numerous physical defects : muscles unstrained in the legs where the act of pulling Avould have strained them, feet turned in, and numerous, other defects, — but the sculptury was perfect. A famous doctor gave his scientific opinion on the flesh tints. One man, he pronounced, judging by the colour of his skin, was suffering with jaundice; another was rouged, and another on the verge of appoplexy, while a child's foet were as red as they would be if burnt. Other flesh tints "were "perfect." The Academy seascapes have come ir for better criticism. An officer of the mercontile msTine, who has msde three trips round the world in sailing veessels, said *o the Daily Mirror: — From my point of view, I think Mr T. J. Somerscales's picture (No. 213), " The Entrance to the Bay of Valparaiso," the finest in the exhibition. I toadied from that port several yaars and know all the landmark's well. Mr Somerscales has painted! a very true picture, which every sailor will appreciate. The vessel on the right-hand side of the canvas is leading the port and beating to the southward on tihe port tack. The other ship is entering on the starboard tack under shortened canvas. The vessel entering is a modern iron ship, and all the details about her are perfect. The sea is excellent, and altogether the picture is just like the entrance to Valaraiso as I know it. Mr Soinerscales's other picture (No. 694), " The Lifeboat of the North Sea," is another very faithful study, particularly appealing t' the ma.Tin.-er. Next in favour I judge to be No. 267, Mi A. J. Warne Browne's picture of a Red Star liner passing the Lizard and signalling at night time. The colouring and the detail alike are perfect. No 140 is » magnificent sea study by Mr David Murray, R.A. It is full of poela-y. No. 138 is " The Whitby Lights," I take it, in a rain squall at sunset. In No. 112 the sea is good No. 209, " Abandoned," by Mr Arthur J. \Y. Burgess, is very good indeed ; ~while No. 212, " Towards the Setting of the Sun," by Mr W. Ayerst Ing-ram, is an excellent picture of the modern iron sailingship. I wish No. 344, " The Cornish Sea," by llr A Wilde Parsons, wee mine It i<! a splendid seascape. The tints are lovely .and very real. I have visited the art galleiries of all the principal places I have visited in different parts of the world, but none of the exhibits, in mv opinion, come up to those we have in London, in the works both of past and of present artists. Ti:2 f.ifhion experts have their word, too, on the j^ortraits of ladies in the galleries 'Evj^yone knows the sad misi take of a picture dated by some freak ! of fashion." Whether it be a portrait or a painting the frp.-ik of fashion can dato it, to th<= month sometimes, and it is only perhaps when it is hundreds uf years old and an historic record of dress that it is properly appreciated. But this j ear's drftss portraiture has '"frock aft/T trock, its soft fichu drapery of transparent muslin ; sleeve after sleeve shows a length of gauze simply wound' round the arms almost without form, and looking us though untouched by such mundane instruments as scissors and needle and thread . . . Visitors will discover after the first 9hock of the medley of hues is over, that Lady Ronaldshay's mauve dress, with its scarf of deeper purple, is very graceful, and that Lady Binning — they are both painted by George Henry — wears a royal blue gauze dress of great effect, with a long and barbaiiclooking jewelled chain." The pannier dress, with the long-pointed bodice, about which Fashion is, undecided, is evidently in favour with several of the artists, and used with great effect:

Pure white muslin with, an azure sash f reminds us on many a pretty girl's, portrait of the goodly return we are contemplating to the fa-shions of 1830, when summer and gossamers are with us again. It is a pleasure, too, to recognise the obvious objection our great masters have for raiment that is pretentious and grand, overweighted with trimming and laden with evidences of wealth. It is easy to imagine futur.e generations of the house of Astor delighting in the Sargent portrait of Mrs Astor, which has so ; aptly been called aji "embodiment of youth," ■ and looking not in v&in for sartorial inspiration at her filmy white ev-ening frock with its floating sash of shrimp-pink satin. There is as much beauty in the pose and the suggestion of rapid movement in this picture as in a Roumey, and the dress adds to the freshness and joyousness of the" whole design, and is Komney-like also in its sweet simplicity. They say, those mysterious autocrats who are arbitrators for the modes, '•hat we are to have a white summer, and the portraits at Burlington House say the same. In these are numbers oi wihite gowns, and mainly white muslin ones. But of coloured di'esses +here are many. J Pearls seem to be the chief jewels of portraiture, and this year's pictures show | many beautiful ropes of them. I Visitors will not be wanting for thrills. Earl's Court opens to-morrow with a Wild West drama, in which a white maiden is scalped by real Red Indians : then another of the shows is the world destroyed by the Deluge ; and still another, San Francisco overthrown by earthquake and fire ; and quite a long list of other "nerve-shakers." i-he May type of London's visitors is varied and interesting. Many vicars and their wives are up for the May meetings of the clergy. At the Diocesan Conference, when the church pageant, which is to take place in June in the Bishop of London's palace grounds at Fulham, was discussed, the Bishop said that his only responsibility in the matter was in lending his grounds and losing his hay crop. Among other subjects discussed at the meetings was the decline in church membership and the falling away of the congregations. "The peril," it was agreed, was that people were falling away from the churches because they worked at fever pitch all the week in" the hurly-burly of modern life, and grudged every minute of their brief spare time that is not spent in what they consider genuine relaxation. For the remedy there must be nothing perfunctory in church work nowadays. It must be the aim of each locality to create an active "church life" with social inducements, and a strong furtherance Oi the axiom, "bring the church to the people." The committee on the Police Weekly Holiday Bill, which has been formed to give the London policemen one day off in seven, is unanimous in thinking that the strain of guarding London and its treasures is unparalleled The report of the meeting is : — These features give rise to State functions, processions, demonstrations, and other gatherings which attract crowds unequalled in magnitude and in their heterogeneous elements. The mere volume of oidinary traffic (with the added difficulties due to the rise and development of the motor), flowing 1 as it does for the most part through more or less n*rrow, irregular streets, is to be seen nowhere else. Greater mobility to meet certain emergencies is r*quired of the London police thai* is the case elsewhere. Special vigilance, too, is demanded from them to deal with certain elements present to an extent unknown in other cities throughout the kingdom. It is acknowledged that a oertain number of years spent under such conditions exhaust the vital energy, both physical and mental, of its members. It is a surprise to many that these patient and valiantj guardians of the public have no seventh day's rest in their week, and it is to be hoped that it will be granted them before the season, with its enormous demand, is further advanced.