Sixty Years a Queen Part 39

The researches of Daguerre and Niceph.o.r.e de Niepce had established, before Queen Victoria ascended the throne, the possibility of obtaining permanent images by the action of light on silver-plated copper, but the first notable advance in the new art of photography was the invention of the calotype by Fox Talbot, who applied iodide of silver to paper, which was rendered sensitive to light by further treatment. Then, in 1850, came the collodion process, and the subsequent discovery of dry-plate processes brought photography within easy compa.s.s of amateurs, and greatly enhanced the value of photography as an aid to science. The exposure of thirty minutes, required under the Daguerrotype process, has been reduced to one-fifteenth of a second by the use of gelatine emulsion. The latest manifestation of photographic skill is certainly very marvellous, namely, the kinematograph. By a rapid succession of instantaneous exposures a series of plates is obtained so closely consecutive that when the images are reflected in equally rapid succession upon a screen, men and animals may be seen the size of life in natural movement.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE BUILDING OF A WARs.h.i.+P.

Finis.h.i.+ng the upper works of H.M.S. _Jupiter_ at Clydebank. In the dock are also five torpedo-boat destroyers.]

[Sidenote: Its Effect on Painting and Engraving.]

Photography has had a powerful effect on the art of painting, not only by the cheap reproduction of acknowledged masterpieces, which is not without risk of encouraging conventionalism in design, but by creating a more exacting standard of fidelity to nature. While it has caused some painters to seek after intense realism, it has led others to a reactionary course which they term impressionism. Judging roughly from the vast numbers of pictures painted and exhibited each year, and from the immense prices given for the works of favourite masters, both living and dead, it is difficult to believe that, however great may be the aggregate expenditure by the purchasing public on photographs, it has interfered appreciably with the sale of pictures.

One branch of art certainly has suffered by the rivalry of sun pictures, namely, the various kinds of engraving. Wood-engraving, indeed, had already run to seed during the present century, from the affectation of craftsmen to a freedom and rapidity of which the material was not really capable: but engraving on copper and steel, etching, lithography, and, above all, mezzotint engraving (said to have been the joint invention of Prince Rupert and one of his officers named Siegen), had lost none of their delicacy and power when photography invaded their province.

Excellent results are obtained from the best methods of photogravure and photolithography, and, where absolute accuracy of detail is required, they leave little to be desired; but the extent to which cheap "process"

plates have supplanted the older arts of book ill.u.s.tration affords much to deplore from an artistic standpoint.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE FIRST SELF EXCITING DYNAMO.

Made by Mr. S. A. Varley in 1866. The principle of the dynamo was discovered also, and almost simultaneously, by Sir Charles Wheatstone and Dr. Werner Siemens.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _D. Maclise, R.A._} {_From the original sketch in the Dyce and Forster Collection, South Kensington._

MICHAEL FARADAY, 1791-1867.

Son of a blacksmith, and apprenticed to a bookseller, he developed a pa.s.sion for science which ultimately led to most important discoveries in electricity and magnetism. The sketch represents him lecturing as Fullerian professor at the Royal Inst.i.tution.]

[Sidenote: Victorian Architecture.]

In one respect the reign of Queen Victoria offers a strange and rather melancholy contrast to all that have preceded it, inasmuch as it is the first during which the architects of this country have been totally dest.i.tute of any peculiar style of building. Never were builders more ingenious or more skilful, never was there such vast expenditure in the erection of private or public buildings, but never before were architects so completely reliant on the past for design. Is it proposed to build a church, a public inst.i.tution, or a dwelling-house? If you have the money you shall have one as well built as human hands can accomplish. But you must name your style--Greek, Palladian, Norman, Early English, Tudor, Jacobean, or Georgian--your architect will carry out a masterpiece in any one of them; but if you say Victorian, or the style of the day, he will give you Francois Ier to-day, Queen Anne to-morrow, and Pericles the day after. Buildings grow apace, and they are soundly and tastefully constructed, but British architecture is dead.

The same may be said of design in general. People of taste look with horror upon the fas.h.i.+ons of the early years of the reign; the heavy mahogany furniture, the flowered wall-papers, the tapestry, the plate, the ornaments, are all condemned as barbarous; and the mode consists of Chippendale and Sheraton furniture and so-called "art" fabrics and papers. But how little this depends on more than fleeting fancy may be seen when it is considered how the taste has changed within a few years in the matter of table-gla.s.s. Ten years ago nothing would please but blown gla.s.s of the thinnest; Mr. Ruskin convinced us that the two qualities of gla.s.s which should be emphasised in the design were transparency and ductility. But we have thrown that doctrine to the winds now, and a visit to one of the leading warehouses will show how completely we have reverted to the brilliant, many-facetted bottles and gla.s.ses of fifty years ago.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _From a Photograph_} {_By Eyre & Spottiswoode._

ELECTRIC LIGHTING STATION, DAVIES STREET, WESTMINSTER.]

[Sidenote: Universal Education.]

It is natural, in considering the phenomenon of a great nation wholly without any stable principles to guide it in art, to ask what has the State done during sixty years in the matter of public education? Ask rather, what it has left undone! Certainly our rulers cannot be charged either with negligence or parsimony in this respect. Five years before the accession of Queen Victoria not a s.h.i.+lling of money was voted by Parliament towards elementary education. In 1833, for the first time, a grant of 20,000 was made for that purpose; at the present day the vote annually made for Education, Science, and Art exceeds ten millions. Even this is not enough to satisfy some people, as was made plain by the question addressed by an elector to a candidate for a Scottish const.i.tuency at a recent election. "Is Maister Wilson," asked this enthusiast, "in favour of spending 36,000,000 a year on the Airmy, and only 12,000,000 on eddication? That's to say, twelve millions for pittin' brains into folks' heads, and thirty-six millions for blawin'

them oot."

[Ill.u.s.tration: _From a Photograph_} {_by F. Frith & Co., Reigate._

MANCHESTER TOWN HALL.

During the present reign most of our leading towns have built handsome and commodious Town Halls. That of Manchester, designed by Mr. Alfred Waterhouse, R.A., is a well-known example. It was opened in 1877. Its clock-tower is 285 feet high; the interior of the hall is decorated with historical paintings by Ford Madox Brown.]

A generation has grown up under universal compulsory education, and it is possible already to calculate some of the effects of that far-reaching measure on the material prosperity, moral character, and literary habits of our people. In regard to the first two, statistics go to show that, notwithstanding an increase of nearly 35 per cent. in the population since the introduction of compulsory education in 1871, there had been a decrease between that year and 1894 of nearly 25 per cent. in the number of paupers, from 1,079,391 to 812,441. The convictions for crime showed a corresponding diminution from 12,953 to 9,634, or rather more than 25 per cent.; while, during a similar period, the number of "juvenile offenders" had been reduced to the enormous extent of over 71-1/2 per cent.

[Sidenote: The Predominance of Fiction.]

As to the impulse given to the demand for literature by the extension of education, there need be no doubt whatever; the enormous supply continually pouring from the press of the country is sufficient proof of that. In respect of books, the returns from the numerous public libraries in the country show that works of fiction are in request far beyond all the other branches of literature put together. Some sinister conclusions have been drawn from that fact, but it is not always remembered that most of those who frequent free libraries are hard-working people, who turn to books for recreation rather than instruction. On the whole, English fiction remains wholesome, a result which, notwithstanding the democratic nature of our Const.i.tution, is owing, undoubtedly, in large measure to the tone maintained in her Court by our present Monarch.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Valentine & Sons, Dundee._

TRURO CATHEDRAL.

This is the only Anglican Cathedral built in England during the Queen's reign. The foundation-stone was laid by the Prince of Wales, May 20, 1880, and the Cathedral was opened in his Royal Highness's presence, November 3, 1887. A portion of the nave and the central tower have yet to be built. The architect is Mr. J. L. Pearson, R.A.]

[Sidenote: The Growth of Journalism.]

That ephemeral, but not the less potent, form of literature known as the Press, may be said almost truly to be the creation of the Victorian age.

Newspapers, as we know them, are the outcome of two circ.u.mstances, the removal of the paper tax in 1861 and the spread of telegraphic communication. Every industry, every sect, every amus.e.m.e.nt, every shade of opinion, now has its special organs in the press; and perhaps nothing is more remarkable than the enterprise and high quality of the provincial journals, as distinguished from those published in the Metropolis. British journalism differs in several important respects from that of all other European countries. In the first place, it is absolutely free: there is nothing approaching a censors.h.i.+p of the Press, and in those rare instances in which, during the present reign, publishers have been interfered with by the State, as has occasionally happened in Ireland, the offence has not been a political one, but such incitement to crime or disorder as would be punishable in any private individual. It is matter for just pride that this liberty is exceedingly seldom abused. Another point of difference is that the British Government has no official or semi-official organ in the press. Official announcements are communicated, when necessary, to press agencies, and through them find their way into journals of all shades of politics.

Lastly, the British press has maintained, as a rule, its impersonality.

There has been a slight tendency of recent years to exchange the editorial "we" for a more familiar style, but this has been confined so far to journals of little influence. Leading articles and critical reviews are almost invariably anonymous, whereas in France the weight attached to these is proportioned to the repute of the name by which they are signed. In order to give some idea of the daily output of the newspaper press in London alone the following instance may be given:--On Monday, February 13, 1893, Mr. Gladstone introduced his second Home Rule Bill in the House of Commons. On the following morning there were despatched from a single establishment, that of W. H. Smith and Son, 374,218 newspapers, weighing upwards of 44 tons.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Eyre & Spottiswoode._

CENTRAL PARCELS POST OFFICE, MOUNT PLEASANT.

This s.p.a.cious but unimposing building occupies the site on which, a few years ago, stood the Clerkenwell House of Correction. Parcel postage was first introduced on August 1, 1883, and the number of parcels forwarded between post offices in the United Kingdom during the succeeding twelve months was about 25,000,000. During twelve months of 1895-96 the number of "inland" parcels despatched reached the enormous total of 60,500,000.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _L. Tuxen._} {_From the Royal Collection._

THE MARRIAGE OF THE CZAR OF RUSSIA TO PRINCESS ALIX OF HESSE, GRANDDAUGHTER OF THE QUEEN, AT ST. PETERSBURG, November 26, 1894.]

[Sidenote: The Advance of Natural Science.]

It would be impossible within due limits to pa.s.s in review, even in the most sketchy fas.h.i.+on, the advance made in natural science, especially as each province of the whole realm of knowledge has become divided and sub-divided into sections, each the peculiar department of specialists.

Three hundred years ago it was possible for Francis Bacon to survey the entire firmament of human understanding, but in the nineteenth century the task accomplished in the _Advancement of Learning_ and the _Novum Organum_ has developed to a scale only to be compa.s.sed in such a prodigious publication as the "Encyclopaedia Britannica," of which the latest edition consists of twenty-five volumes in quarto, containing upwards of 20,750 pages printed in double columns, contributed by no less than 1,200 different writers, besides translators and revisers.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _From a Photograph_} {_by R. Milne, Aboyne._

HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN, THE PRINCE OF WALES, THE CZAR AND CZARINA AND THEIR INFANT DAUGHTER.

Photographed at Balmoral, November 1896.]

[Sidenote: Surgery and Medicine.]

In no department of science, perhaps, has progress brought such immediate benefit to the people as in that of surgery and medicine. The introduction of anaesthetics has been mentioned in an earlier chapter; the present year, 1897, is the jubilee anniversary of that blessed event. The vaccination laws were consolidated in 1871, and universal vaccination insisted on, with the result that a loathsome disease, which formerly brought unspeakable misery upon all civilised nations has been practically vanquished. The deaths from small-pox in England, which, at the close of the last century, were reckoned at 3,000 per million, had sunk in the decade from 1878-87 to 54 per million. Attempts have been made persistently by a small minority to resist compulsory vaccination.

Persons inclined to listen to arguments against this legislation on the score of undue interference with liberty, should study the Report of the Local Government Board upon an outbreak of small-pox in Sheffield in 1887-88. Of 6,088 persons attacked 590 died; among children under ten years of age, 5 per 1,000 of those vaccinated were attacked and 09 per 1,000 died; of the unvaccinated, 101 per 1,000 were attacked and 44 per 1,000 died.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Miss Acland._

PROFESSOR RUSKIN.

John Ruskin was born in London in 1819, and matriculated at Christ Church, Oxford, in 1836. He published the first volume of "Modern Painters" in 1841, and was elected first Slade Professor of Art in the University of Oxford, 1870.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Elliott & Fry._

LORD LISTER, P.R.S.