the vilest cabaret in France, or the lowest gin-
shop in England. Two almost naked
carpenters, master and journeyman, worthy
companions of this agreeable female, are working
at their trade; a boy, with some small flavor
of humanity in him, is entering with a vessel
of water; and nobody is paying any attention
to a snuffy old woman who seems to have
mistaken that shop for the tobacconist's next
door, and to be hopelessly waiting at the
counter to be served with half an ounce of
her favourite mixture. Wherever it is
possible to express ugliness of feature, limb,
or attitude, you have it expressed. Such men
as the carpenters might be undressed in any
hospital where dirty drunkards, in a high
state of varicose veins, are received. Their
very toes have walked out of Saint Giles's.

This, in the nineteenth century, and in the
eighty-second year of the annual exhibition of
the National Academy of Art, is the Pre-
Raphael representation to us, Ladies and
Gentlemen, of the most solemn passage which
our minds can ever approach. This, in the
nineteenth century, and in the eighty-second
year of the annual exhibition of the National
Academy of Art, is what Pre-Raphael Art can
do to render reverence and homage to the
faith in which we live and die! Consider this
picture well. Consider the pleasure we should
have in a similar Pre-Raphael rendering of
a favourite horse, or dog, or cat; and, coming
fresh from a pretty considerable turmoil
about "desecration" in connexion with the
National Post Office, let us extol this great
achievement, and commend the National
Academy!

In further considering this symbol of the
great retrogressive principle, it is particularly
gratifying to observe that such objects as the
shavings which are strewn on the carpenter's
floor are admirably painted; and that the Pre-
Raphael Brother is indisputably accomplished
in the manipulation of his art. It is gratifying
to observe this, because the fact involves
no low effort at notoriety; everybody knowing
that it is by no means easier to call
attention to a very indifferent pig with five
legs, than to a symmetrical pig with four.
Also, because it is good to know that the
National Academy thoroughly feels and
comprehends the high range and exalted purposes
of Art; distinctly perceives that Art includes
something more than the faithful portraiture
of shavings, or the skilful colouring of drapery
—imperatively requires, in short, that it shall
be informed with mind and sentiment; will
on no account reduce it to a narrow question
of trade-juggling with a palette, palette-knife,
and paint-box. It is likewise pleasing to
reflect that the great educational establishment
foresees the difficulty into which it
would be led, by attaching greater weight
to mere handicraft, than to any other
consideration—even to considerations of common
reverence or decency; which absurd principle,
in the event of a skilful painter of the figure
becoming a very little more perverted in his
taste, than certain skilful painters are just
now, might place Her Gracious Majesty in a
very painful position, one of these fine Private
View Days.

Would it were in our power to congratulate
our readers on the hopeful prospects of the
great retrogressive principle, of which this
thoughtful picture is the sign and emblem!
Would that we could give our readers
encouraging assurance of a healthy demand for
Old Lamps in exchange for New ones, and a
steady improvement in the Old Lamp Market!
The perversity of mankind is such, and the
untoward arrangements of Providence are
such, that we cannot lay that flattering
unction to their souls. We can only report what
Brotherhoods, stimulated by this sign, are
forming; and what opportunities will be
presented to the people, if the people will but
accept them.

In the first place, the Pre-Perspective
Brotherhood will be presently incorporated, for
the subversion of all known rules and
principles of perspective. It is intended to swear
every P. P. B. to a solemn renunciation of the
art of perspective on a soup-plate of the willow
pattern; and we may expect, on the occasion
of the eighty-third Annual Exhibition of the
Royal Academy of Art in England, to see some
pictures by this pious Brotherhood, realising
HOGARTH'S idea of a man on a mountain
several miles off, lighting his pipe at the upper
window of a house in the foreground. But
we are informed that every brick in the house
will be a portrait; that the man's boots will
be copied with the utmost fidelity from a pair of
Bluchers, sent up out of Northamptonshire for
the purpose; and that the texture of his hands
(including four chilblains, a whitlow, and ten
dirty nails) will be a triumph of the Painter's
art.

A Society, to be called the Pre-Newtonian
Brotherhood, was lately projected by a young
gentleman, under articles to a Civil Engineer,
who objected to being considered bound to
conduct himself according to the laws of gravitation.
But this young gentleman, being reproached
by some aspiring companions with the timidity
of his conception, has abrogated that idea in
favour of a Pre-Galileo Brotherhood now
flourishing, who distinctly refuse to perform
any annual revolution round the Sun, and
have arranged that the world shall not do
so any more. The course to be taken by
the Royal Academy of Art in reference to
this Brotherhood is not yet decided upon; but
it is whispered that some other large
Educational Institutions in the neighbourhood of
Oxford are nearly ready to pronounce in
favour of it.

Several promising Students connected with
the Royal College of Surgeons have held a
meeting, to protest against the circulation of
the blood, and to pledge themselves to treat
all the patients they can get, on principles
condemnatory of that innovation. A Pre-