PROCEEDINGS.

SUMMER EXCURSIONS.

There were two excursions in the summer, one to Bolton Abbey, June 16th, and one to Disley and Lyme, July 26th, 1883.

OPENING CONVERSAZIONE.

MONDAY, OCTOBER IST, 1883.-The winter session opened with a conversazione at the Grosvenor Hotel. There was a large attendance of members and friends, including Sir Thomas Baker, Dr. J. G. Greenwood (Victoria University), Mr. Edwin Waugh, Miss A. M. Bulley, Mr. C. Dyall (Liverpool), Miss S. M. Backhouse, Mr. W. Dawes, Rev. W. A. O'Conor, Rev. E. F. Letts, and many others.

Mr. GEORGE MILNER, president of the Club, took the chair, and delivered an address, in which he said: We come together to-night after much wandering to and fro on the face of the earth. As Emerson says in "The Adirondacs "—

The holidays are fruitful, but must end
Into cach mind intruding duties creep-

and so, with the first sign of approaching winter, we return to work-to work which in some kinds may be irksome and, as we say, against the grain. Certainly our duties here are never of that nature. During the recess, however, our members have not been entirely idle. With Mr. Sutton's help I am able to give the

following indication of work done since we last met in this room. There was Mr. Legge's book entitled A Life of Consecration, and Mr. Newbigging's Tales and Sketches. Mr. Newbigging has recently brought out a new edition of his successful work The Gas Manager's Handbook. Mr. O'Conor has issued a second volume of The Irish People. Sir James Picton's book on Liverpool archives is quite recent. Mr. Axon's Lancashire Gleanings and his excellent and exhaustive introduction to Caxton's Game of the Chess are the chief works of that versatile litterateur. His volume on Cheshire will be forthcoming shortly, as will also Mr. Langton's book on Charles Dickens. Dr. Samelson has printed his sanitary paper on the dwellings and death-rate of Manchester, and Mr. Fred Scott has been busy with his Health Journal. Mr. Stuart Reid has published an address on Longfellow. Much has been done in magazines and newspapers by Mr. J. E. Bailey, Mr. Axon, Mr. H. H. Howorth, Mr. Kirk, Mr. Mortimer, Mr. J. W. Southern, Mr. Christie, and Mr. Fox Turner. There was also the work in Mr. Ben Brierley's Journal, and Mr. Edwin Waugh's Limping Pilgrim. Mr. Ireland's Book-Lover's Enchiridion has reached a second edition, and a third is nearly ready. The pictures exhibited in the room were the work of the artist members, and included sketches and paintings by Messrs. W. Robinson, F. J. Shields, R. Wane, Ward Heys, and W. Percy. There were also some contributions by Miss E. G. Thomson. Mr. Peter Cameron exhibited a picture in which, with great archæological research, he had tried to image the great war galley built for Ptolemy Philopator. As among the prominent citizens of Manchester at large, so among the members of this Club, death has been exceptionally busy during the past few months. No fewer than five members-a large proportionhave been thus lost. A passing word must be given to the late Mr. James Crossley. Although his age and a certain rooted antipathy to a form of indulgence which was not his form of indulgence prevented him from attending our meetings he took a lively interest in all our proceedings. The maxim De mortuis has not prevented some criticism of Mr. Crossley's character. We have to regard him here only as a man of letters. In that relation he was certainly in Manchester a figure of mark, and we are painfully the poorer for his loss. I will venture to add that, for myself, I always regarded Mr. Crossley as a personal boon. His invariable cheerfulness and geniality, even youthfulness of temper in view of the closely approaching and inevitable end, took away one of the terrors from old age. What Coleridge said of poetry is true for us of literature in general, "it is its own exceeding great reward; it has soothed our afflictions, it has multiplied and refined our enjoyments." In the pursuit of letters we find a relief from the strain of existence as it goes on in such a city as Manchester. To-night

even we seem to have taken refuge here from a more than usual turmoil. We hear the noise of political battle and the cries of the combatants. We are not indifferent to the issues. Many of us indeed are keenly interested, and our sympathies are indifferently distributed; but we agree to put off, now and at other times when we enter this place, the armour of contest, whether it be polemical, social, or political. And it is good for us that it should be so. The world of strife is too much with us, late and soon. We need all the influences that literature can bring to enlarge the judgment, to soften asperities, and to widen the bounds of sympathy. It is sometimes urged, and not without reason, that the pursuit of literature and of art, in and for themselves, relaxes too much the stern fibres of character. But in a city like Manchester, and in a community like ours, such a result need not be feared. The hard realities of material life press closely upon us. A crowd of practical duties are for ever claiming our attention, and while we would let none of these claims pass unregarded, we recognize the wisdom of escaping into a region where party spirit and social prejudices and the bustle of philanthropy are for a time forgotten. (Applause.)

The remainder of the proceedings were of an informal character, readings, music, and singing being combined to make up a very pleasant evening.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 8TH, 1883.-The first meeting of the winter session of the Manchester Literary Club was held at the Grosvenor Hotel. Mr. GEORGE MILNER in the chair.

Mr. J. E. BAILEY, F.S. A., read a short paper on the "Buxton Beggar's Petition," which has since been printed in the Palatine Note-book.

Mr. A. STANSFIELD read some metrical translations from the German of Uhland.

The principal paper of the evening was read by Sir JAMES PICTON, who gave an account of a recent pilgrimage to Olney and other places associated with the name of Cowper.

A conversation followed, in which the President, Mr. Stansfield, Mr. Kirk, and Mr. Mortimer joined.

ANNUAL SERMON.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 14TH, 1883.-The Rev. W. A. O'Conor, at the request of the Council, preached a special sermon to the members, who assembled in considerable numbers, at the Church of St. Simon and St. Jude, of which he is the rector.

398

MANCHESTER ART GALLERY: NEGLECTED PICTURES.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 15TH, 1883.-Mr. GEORGE MILNER in the chair.

Mr. T. C. HORSFALL read a short paper entitled "The Manchester Art Gallery: Neglected Pictures." In this he referred in terms of high commendation to a number of the pictures now in the City Art Gallery, and proceeded: "But though every year has given Manchester people the chance of seeing some good pictures, very few of them have made use of the chance. The attendance at the Royal Institution was always extremely small. This year the transfer of the institution to the Town Council and the enlargement of the gallery have made more persons think about the place than have thought about it before. This year also the autumn exhibition contains a larger number of good pictures than any previous autumn exhibition, and in it there are some pictures of exceptionally great interest. Mr. Millais's 'Grey Lady' proves his possession of other great powers besides those which he has hitherto shown. 'Beatrice Cenci' is the only other picture which seems to me to belong to the same class. Is it a ghost we see or a living woman? We feel as little certainty as we should do if we saw that beautiful face and form gliding noiselessly along the corridors of an old crime-stained house at midnight; but we feel at least certain that here is such stuff as ghosts are made of. The sense of hopeless sorrow caused by some terrible wrong or loss could not be felt more keenly in the darkness of a haunted room than before that picture. Then there is Mr. Watts's beautiful Love and Life.' Was a poet's healthy criticism of life ever more beautifully expressed than in that picture where the tender girl gains from the firm grasp and the smile of love, strength, and courage to pass with defenceless feet over the sharp rocks of life towards the bleak ridge of the future? It seems to me that that picture helps one to feel the high value of kindness; that the old truth which the picture tells gains power to influence life from the beauty in which Mr. Watts has clothed it. A third picture that I should like to mention is Mr. Burne Jones's Cupid's Hunting Ground,' which also contains a poet's beautiful and thoughtful criticism of life. Any one of these three pictures, or the other pictures without any one of these three, ought to fill the galleries. But though the attendance is this year larger than it has ever been before, it is still very much smaller than one would wish it to be. The general neglect of our picture gallery seems to me to be regretted for many reasons. No class among us, as a class, can be supposed to be fully provided with wholesome occupation for its leisure hours, and looking at pictures is at lowest a perfectly innocent way of passing time." Mr. Horsfall proceeded to make some suggestions which he thought would increase the usefulness and popularity of the gallery. One was that frequent social meetings should be held in the gallery, and that those who had

MANCHESTER ART GALLERY: NEGLECTED PICTURES. 399

the leisure should make a point of visiting it upon some particular day. Music would also be an excellent adjunct, and attract many who at present are not seen at the exhibition. What is wanted is a system of training people to look carefully at pictures with the settled purpose of getting enjoyment from them. We need every year a series of lectures dealing in the simplest way with the elements of the subject and delivered in front of the pictures referred to. A handbook containing notices of a few of the best pictures in each of the autumn exhibitions, and sold at a small price, would be most useful. Could not the Literary Club undertake both these kinds of work?

The Rev. W. A. O'CONOR said that there was an especial need of explanations being given of pictures of an allegorical character. Critics sometimes found wonderful things in them, but the artist's own meaning was sometimes forgotten. The late Bishop Lee once observed to him in reference to a difference of opinion as to the meaning of a certain passage, "You are thinking so much of what he meant that you forget what he said." That was true also of painters and the critics. (Applause.)

Mr. H. H. HADFIELD, referring to the many conjectures as to the meaning of the "Grey Lady" of Millais, said that in reality it was merely a study of a staircase in the Tower made when the artist was getting material for his picture of the "Princes in the Tower," and the figure was entirely an afterthought.

Mr. H. H. HOWORTH thought that some of Mr. Horsfall's suggestions were very practical, but he did not think that the mere assembling of a large number of people in a large room containing many pictures would lead to an increase in the love of art. He was strongly of opinion that copious explanations should be given, and he would apply to pictures the remark of Dr. Birch as to antiquities under his charge in the British Museum, "We cannot label too much."

Mr. MORTIMER thought that the increased price charged for season tickets was a mistake and had deterred a large number of those who had been habitual visitors in previous years.

Mr. BENNETT endorsed this view, and further thought that the diversity of opinion shown in the criticisms that did appear was a sufficient indication of the difficulty of the task suggested by Mr. Horsfall.

Mr. Axon said that anyone who visited the Liverpool Art Gallery must be struck by the crowds that thronged it. So far as the working classes were concerned, the present arrangements practically debarred them from seeing the pictures which Mr. Horsfall had so warmly and deservedly praised.

Mr. MILNER cordially joined in the suggestion that the gallery ought to be open in the evening, and at a price within the reach of all.