BY M. PHILIPPOTEAUX AND THE RUSSIAN, GAY. E have devoted so much attention in THE REVIEW OF REVIEWS to the Oberammergau Passion Play, and to pictures of the Passion, that I am very glad to be able to reproduce on the preceding page a photograph of the great painting, "Christ Entering Jerusalem," by M. Paul Philippoteaux. This picture, which is now on exhibition at Campbell's Art Gallery in Glasgow, is the best effort of the great French artist, who is best known as the painter of "Niagara," "The Siege of Paris," and "The Battle of Gettysburg.' 66 THE ENTRY INTO JERUSALEM." The picture speaks for itself. There is vigor, grace, the expression of movement and of enthusiasm seen in the multitude which eagerly surrounds the prophet of Nazareth. It is a great painting, with all the effect of the panorama. the penitent thief on the cross, Jesus of Nazareth immediately after death, and a suggestion, rather than a picture, of the Roman soldier who, after breaking the legs of the thief, and seeing that Jesus was already dead, is disappearing on the right. Christ is treated as Gay always treats the author of our redemption. He is pale, wan, and miserable exceedingly. The form of the cross is also different from that which is conventionally employed. There is no head-piece. The cross consists of two logs, one nailed on top of the other. The feet are at rest upon a block on the ground. The hands are nailed not to the sides but to the top of the transverse piece. The head has fallen backwards upon this log. Even in a photograph the effect is terrible. But in the original canvas the painter has exhausted his art in the most startling The deadly pallor of the corpse on the cross, contrasting with the blood which has dripped from the head and from the wound in His side, create the impression of a shambles. But the figure of Christ, ghastly and pathetic though it be, would not have attracted so much attention were it not for the extraordinary impression that is portrayed on the face of the penitent thief. effect. The various groups surrounding the central figure are each of them capable of being studied separately, and could with little effort be expanded to form an extensive panorama. The Christ is no doubt conventional and far removed from the pictured conception of the Man of Sorrows, according to the great Russian painter, Gay, whose death I regret to record. Philippoteaux and Gay may be regarded as occupying the opposite extremes. Philippoteaux is French and Gay is Russian. gives us a Christ who is beautiful and attractive, charming and débonnaire; the other shows Him as the Man who is acquainted with grief, in whom there is no form or comeliness. Gay's effort has always been directed to give us the Christ as He was, the Man more or less hunted from pillar to post, scourged, tormented, betrayed, deserted, and haggard. GAY'S " CRUCIFIXION." The one He has undoubtedly in his last composition produced that effect to an extent which has scandalised the ordinary Christian. At the time when Gay died I was in negotiation for the removal of his picture of the Crucifixion" to a London gallery. It was painted, as all Gay's pictures are painted, for Russia, but its exhibition in that country was prohibited. The story of the prohibition is interesting. When Gay's picture was hung on the line the director of the Academy was scandalised and ordered it to be removed. An appeal was made from him, however, to the President of the Academy, one of the Grand Dukes. He also declared that it was impossible for it to remain on exhibition. But an appeal was made from him to the Emperor himself. The Emperor was extremely shocked when he saw Gay's masterpiece, and declared that it must be removed. But next day he returned and remained a long time studying the picture, lost in thought. The picture, however, was removed on account of the shock which it gave to the conventional tradition of the Crucifixion. The painting was removed to Gay's lodging, where it was exhibited to his personal friends. By one of them negotiations were opened with London, in order to secure the exhibition of so remarkable a specimen of Russian sacred art in the capital of the Western world. These negotiations were still pending when they were interrupted by the sudden death of the great artist. CHRIST ON THE CROSS. The painting itself is remarkable enough to provoke reflection even among the most thoughtless. It is in many respects the most ghastly picture of the Crucifixion that we have seen. There are only two figures shown THE PENITENT THIEF. This man is represented as a bullet-headed ruffian, a criminal who is tied to his cross by the arms and by the body, the sharp cords cutting into his flesh. His legs are nailed to each side of the cross through the ankles. The painter's conception is that the thief was an unwilling victim, whereas Christ sacrificed Himself willingly. Astrong man could have wrenched his hands and feet from the nails, whereas it was impossible for the thief, tied as he is, to free himself from the tree of torture. The novelty of his cross is, however, completely forgotten when you look at his face. Upon it there is an expression of amazement and of horror the like of which has seldom been depicted in art. That face is the puzzle of the picture. The artist tried to paint what the penitent thief thought when Christ died,-Christ who had assured him of entering into Paradise Christ whom he had just recognised as his Lord,-and has attempted to express the blank dismay, the unutterable despair and horror with which the penitent thief might be expected to regard the falsification of all his hopes by the death of Christ. It is this expression more than anything else which gives the keynote to the whole picture. A GAY EXHIBITION IN LONDON. I do not know whether I shall succeed in bringing the picture over to London, but if I am able to do so the English public will have an opportunity of forming their own opinion upon this remarkable painting. I will only add that when the picture was first shown to Count Tolstoi, he fell upon Gay's neck, kissed him, and said, sobbing amid his streaming tears, "Ah, my friend-yes! that is the way in which they crucified Him." Those who remember the reproduction of Gay's pictures, notably of his "Christ before Pilate," which appeared in the first Christmas number of THE REVIEW OF REVIEWS, will naturally look with interest to see this latest masterpiece of the Russian painter. Gay was a profound Christian of the Tolstoian cult, and I do not think that much better service could be done in enabling the common man to realise how Christ actually appeared to the men of His day, than the exhibition of the whole gallery of the Russian painter's pictures. THE NEW PUBLISHING OFFICE OF "THE REVIEW OF REVIEWS." HE REVIEW OF REVIEWS has changed its publishing office from Fleet Street to the Thames Embankment. The editorial office of THE REVIEW remains, as before, at Mowbray House, overlooking the Temple Station, but its publishing offices have followed Messrs. Horace Marshall and Son in their migration from their familiar offices in Fleet Street to the imposing structure which they have reared on the vacant lot near the City of London School. At present there is no publishing office in London that occupies so commanding a site. The new building, with its convenient and handsome clocktower, looks out over the great extent of land on which in time to come the new Old Bailey may arise, and the Central Criminal Court of London stand between the river and Messrs. Marshall's publishing house. But sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof, and the delay which has taken place in providing new accommodation for justice in London has been so great that we may assume that some years will elapse before our publishing office ceases to enjoy the river frontage. Messrs. Marshall and Son, who have taken possession of their new home, are the second largest wholesale publishing house in London. That is to say, among newsagents. At present their publishing business, so far as books are concerned, is comparatively small. Their speciality is the handling of newspapers and periodicals of all kinds, and in this respect they are distanced by one firm, and by one firm alone. Messrs. W. H. Smith and Son have long possessed the first place. This is due almost if not entirely to their practical monopoly of the bookstalls, and almost every railway company in the country is in their grasp. Messrs. Marshall and Son have no such advantages, but they run a good second. Figures as to comparative business are always difficult to obtain, and until quite the other day it was not known how many papers Messrs. Smith and Son sent out from their Strand house in a morning. In the life of the Right Hon. W. H. Smith, however, for the first time exact information was given on the subject. The figures were only quoted for a single day, but they suffice to enable us to form a fairly good estimate of the comparative amount of business of the two houses. On the 14th February, 1893, the day after the introduction of the Home Rule Bill for Ireland, W. H. Smith and Son sent out from their establishment, 186, Strand, 374,150 copies of the London morning dailies. On the same day Messrs. Horace Marshall and Son sent out from their premises in Fleet Street 214,972 copies between the hours of four and six in the morning. No other wholesale newsagent sent out anything approaching so large a quantity. The demand for newspapers on that day was no doubt phenomenal. The number of papers delivered by Messrs. Marshall on January 1st, 1893 was 172,198, and the average number delivered daily in the year 1893 would be between 180,000 and 190,000, so that the sale on the Home Rule Bill would represent an extra of 10 or 15 per cent. over the normal number. This would be equally true of Messrs. W. H. Smith and. Son. We may take it, therefore, that the number of daily papers handled every morning by the two firms at these head offices is well on to 500,000 copies, of which Messrs. W. H. Smith and Son supply 300,000, while Messrs. Marshall supply 200,000. These two firms do the great bulk of the trade both in town and in country. The growth of the wholesale business is aptly illustrated by the figures now before me of Messrs. Marshall's business. In 1864, on January 1st, they sent out only 46,590 copies of the morning papers. Ten years later this number was more than doubled, having risen to 95,550. Ten years later again, on January 1st, 1884, they sent out 131,144, and on January 1st, 1890, the total number of papers sent out from Fleet Street was 194,479, Their business, therefore, has multiplied four-fold in thirty years. That relates to morning papers alone. If we were to compare the figures in relation to other periodicals we should probably find the increase even greater. The story of Marshall and Son's publishing house is very interesting; they were the pioneers of railway bookstalls. W. H. Smith and Son, who at present monopolise the business, did not come into the trade until the Marshalls had proved the possibility of doing good business on the railway book-stalls. It was in the year 1840 when they first began business in Leadenhall Street. They then traded under the name of William Marshall and Son, William Marshall being the father of the present head of the firm, who at that time was a young man, or, rather, a boy just entering his teens. The first bookstall for the supply of newspapers and other reading matter that was ever opened in England was established by them at Fenchurch St. Station. Subsequently they opened stalls at Stepney and Tilbury on the same line. In 1850 they launched out into what might be regarded as more distinctly the pioneer business when they obtained concessions to open bookstalls on the Great Western Railway, as far as Bristol in one direction and Swansea at the other. This they held down to the year 1860, when like other firms who were doing business on railways they made way for the great monopoly. Messrs. Marshall remained in Leadenhall Street from 1840 to 1855, when they removed to 44, Ludgate Hill, from which they were compelled to remove by the opening of the London, Chatham, and Dover Railway, and they made their office in 125, Fleet Street. There they carried on business until last month, when they established themselves in new and commodious offices on the Thames Embankment. They have not given up their office in Fleet Street, but the whole of their newspaper business will henceforth be transacted on the Thames Embankment, where every accommodation will be provided for the transaction of their ever increasing trade. The success of Messrs. Marshall is due to the same cause which brings success in every department of life. The foundation of the business was laid by the untiring industry and close attention to business of the present senior partner. Mr. Horace Marshall for thirty-five years has always continued, and those who have done business with Messrs. Marshall have always delighted to bear testimony to the urbanity and generosity which have characterised all their business dealings. Mr. Morgan, the manager of their house, has been continuously employed by them for the last thirty-six years, and Mr. Marshall, like other successful men, is a firm believer in continuity of employment. Notwithstanding his close attention to the details of his business Mr. Marshall has always made time to discharge the duties of citizenship. He is a Member of the Corporation of the City of London, a Justice of the Peace, and he has been a member of the Board of Guardians for twenty years. These are only some of the public functions which he has discharged with credit to himself and to the advantage of the community. opened the warehouse at half-past one o'clock in the morning, and during the whole of that time only missed one day. Such a record of early morning work speaks volumes, not merely for the punctuality and automatic regularity of Mr. Marshall, it is hardly less eloquent as to the state of his health and his physical vigour. A man so equipped with the regularity of an automaton and a constitution of iron has naturally a considerable advantage over his rivals. In the struggle for existence Mr. Marshall has always conducted his affairs with a strict regard to the ethics of business and of human relationship. No business is done at a greater drive than publishing business. Between four o'clock and six o'clock every morning, when 200,000 newspapers are being made up into parcels to be sent to all parts of the country, it has been calculated that six complete parcels are packed up every minute. throughout the whole business the utmost good feeling But MR. HORACE MARSHALL, JUN. Of the new premises, of which I give an illustration, it is unnecessary to speak in detail. They are commodious, well lighted, and afford ample accommodation for all the business that is done. How long they will continue to be large enough depends upon many things. Judging by the past it is safe to say that, large as they are, and commodious as they appear to be at present, before many years have passed they will be found inadequate to accommodate the increasing demands which are made upon the resources of Messrs. Marshall and Son to supply the trade with newspapers and books, of which they are one of the greatest sources of wholesale supply. Mr. Horace Marshall, jun., is coming on to take his father's place. He was educated at Dulwich College and Dublin University (where he took his M.A. degree), and began business life later than his father. HE weather in June has been, until the last week of the month, too wet for any one to dream of camping out or even of cycling tours. The tent by Benjamin Edgington-not Messrs. Edgington, as I erroneously stated last month-supplied me for my garden has stood the test of the continuous downpour perfectly. In default of cyclists, kept away by the weather, my children have been sleeping in the tent, and the bedclothes are as dry as if they were under slated roof. The weather was so hot in the last days of June that even a tent was unnecessary. It is far pleasanter to sleep in a hammock under the spreading brauches of the oak or the pine than in a tent. If it rains, there is always the tent to retreat to. The season, however, has hardly begun. The cartoon, reproduced from one of the cycling papers, is cleverly drawn, but it is an exercise of the imagination only. So far, those who have offered to accommodate cyclists have certainly not been overwhelmed with applications. The Western Morning News quotes the scheme as outlined in our May number, and proceeds: This excellent suggestion has already been acted upon in at least one instance in the county of Devon. Mr. Carpenter, proprietor of the charming health resort at Huntly, Bishopsteignton, two and a half miles from Teignmouth, on the road to Newton and Torquay, has put up a tent in close proximity to his spacious lawn, and is ready and willing to receive cyclists on the terms and conditions laid down by Mr. Stead. Indeed, Mr. Carpenter, with his character istic generosity, goes beyond this, and in the event of a cold or wet night a more substantial habitat will be available. From Cycling.] an idea that occurred to me when on a holiday tramp the summer before last. In company with a young cousin of mine I started to walk from Bedford to the south coast, and on the way we discovered how much the enjoyment was enhanced by keeping to footpaths instead of roads; so much so indeed that with many persons no footpath would mean no walk. But keeping to footpaths we often found meant many difficulties, hence my idea. Why not establish a footpath association? It would be an immense boon to holiday seekers of limited means and refined tastes. The first thing to be done, as it seemed to me, was to issue a good reliable footpath map at a A STEADFAST SUPPORTER. [June 23, 1894. BEETLE-BROWED BILLY.-"Wot, Timmy, old pard, I took yer for a bloomin' dook!" TIMOTHY THE TERROR.-Y' see, Billy, arter the first outlay of finding the cycycle, it mes cheaper. We cyclers doss on Mr. Stead's lawn-free!" Why limit this offer to cyclists? I have been asked. I do not limit it to cyclists. They seemed to me to be the most likely to take advantage of it, but if such limited hospitality could encourage pedestrians to take long walks, I should be delighted to widen its scope. I have received a letter from distant Arizona, in the United States, in this connection, which I gladly quote. The writer, Mr. Alfred Walker, says: Your suggestions about camping for cyclists reminds me of low price similar to the cyclist's maps; and as the cyclist map shows the best roads for the wheel, so the footpath map would show the best paths for the pedestrian (in some districts, East Kent, for instance, there is quite a network of them). Next to the map comes accommodation (eating and sleeping). Now I believe there are thousands of people in England who would delight in, and benefit by, a walking tour through one of the lovely agricultural districts-people who are not robust or youthful enough for cycling-if that accommodation question were devoid of difficulty or anxiety. (Such walks I look back on as the golden spots in my life.) Now it seems to me that the footpath society might do what the Great Eastern Railway have done. In that company's time table will be found a list of farmhouses and cottages in all the rural districts within their system where accommodation may be obtained, for how many and at what price. What the walking tourist wants to know is how far it is to the next meal. The information given by the G.ER. is of little or no value to the pedestrian. The places do not lie in any line of march, and casual customers are not invited. The Footpath Society, as well as giving information to tourists, might also protect those who entertained them. The Footpath Society could issue to its members a passport or certificate that would be the means of ensuring a kindly greeting to the weary tourist as well as setting his entertainer's mind at ease. Indeed, with a little organisation the tourist might be relieved of the anxiety of carrying any considerable sum of money in his pocket. Lastly, the list of houses of entertainment might be numbered, and corresponding numbers placed on the map showing their position. OHN HYSLOP BELL of Darlington was formerly proprietor of the Northern Echo. Even before that halfpenny organ of stalwart Radicalism began its eventful existence Mr. Bell had made himself a name and a position as a doughty party fighting man as proprietor and editor of the South Durham Mercury at Hartlepool. For the lifetime of a generation Mr. Bell has been in the forefront of the Liberal ranks in the county of Durham, nor has he ever been known to flinch or falter in his allegiance to the Gladstonian cause. I am heartily glad to see that, somewhat tardily, the chiefs of the party which he has served so long, so loyally, and so well, have set on foot a movement for making some solid recognition of his services in the shape of a substantial testimonial. If he in some respects had not been so good a man, there would have been less justification for this movement than there is to-day, for both merits and need are often due to the same high qualities, and such is the case with Mr. Bell. John Hyslop Bell, who is now in his th year, was born in Scotland, in Carlyle's county. He crossed the Tweed in his early manhood, married and settled down in the bishopric of Durham. Although he spent some of his early years in the northern division, the real pith of his lifework has been put into South Durham and Cleveland. As the proprietor, and at one time the editor, of the only morning paper published in the county, he had more to do than any other man in maintaining and in strengthening and in deepening the devotion of the electors of Durham to the Liberal cause. Mr. Bell was no mere fairweather friend of the party which he served. He was far more than a mere party man. He was a Radical who has a wide and comprehensive range of those principles which are ridiculed as fads before they are adopted as planks of the party platform, but none of his fads ever led him to play a scurvy trick to those in whose hands he sincerely believed the interests of the country would be safe. Like all North Country Radicals he deplored the 25th Clause of the Education Act by which denominational schools were subsidised from the rates. He really worried over that wretched Clause, wrote endless analyses of the way in which it was slipped into the Bill, made speeches against it, and generally did what he could to rouse public opinion on the subject. But when Parliament was dissolved in 1874, so far was he from sulking in his tent or from punishing the party for Mr. Forster's sins, that his district was almost the only one in England that showed a Liberal victory. When counties and boroughs all over the land were going Tory with the most appalling unanimity, the county of Durham alone among the English counties returned an unbroken phalanx of thirteen Liberal members. It was a great and notable victory, which unfortunately was spoiled by the violence. encouraged if not instigated by a Tyneside organ which cost us one of the seats for North Durbam, and in its achievement the Northern Echo had the foremost part. Mr. Bell always fought elections well. He never forgot that a newspaper, even though a little one, must be a fighter. The Northern Echo was, while he owned it, a bantam of the game, by far the heartiest fighting morning paper between Leeds and Edinburgh. It was the Northern Echo, too, which, in the hour and power of the Conservative reaction, was first in the provinces to rally the scattered and dispirited ranks of the Liberals, and to revive the good old cause by the enthusiasm and dogged pertinacity with which it championed the cause of liberty in the Balkan Peninsula. When Bulgaria was liberated one of the first acts of the Bulgarian Assembly was to pass unanimously a resolution of gratitude to Mr. Gladstone, M. de Laveleye, the Daily News, and the Northern Echo. Both Mr. Gladstone and M. de Laveleye, as well as all the leading anti-Jingoes, rcpeatedly recognised the inestimable services which Mr. Bell's paper had rendered to what at first seemed an almost hopeless cause, In the field of domestic and industrial politics Mr. Bell has always used his pen and his paper to promote the cause of labour, the cause of peace, and the cause of woman. It is owing in no small degree to the strenuous and enthusiastic support which Mr. Bell ever gave to the cause of arbitration and conciliation that the Board of Arbitration in the finished iron trade, with which the name of Mr. David Dale was so long and so honourably associated, was able to triumph over all its difficulties, and so afford to the world the most successful practical illustration of arbitration. The Northern Echo was founded just when the Cleveland iron field was be |