scene painter. His most famous pictures were: "The Destruction of the Spanish Armada,” and “Lord Howe's Victory." Several of his marine subjects may be studied in the gallery at Greenwich Hospital.

I think we may take it, that neither of these men, though distinctly notable in the history of marine painting, were the constant students of Nature that Vandevelde appears to have been.

As the greatest maritime power, it is not surprising that it is in this country that the most remarkable developments in marine painting have taken place.

J. M. W. Turner led the way in this direction, thus adding to his immense achievements in landscape that of being a great marine painter. If the enthusiastic description by Mr. Ruskin of the "Slave Ship" be justified in the work itself, then must it be the greatest of sea pictures. Unfortunately for the student, this picture is said to be in a private collection in America, and no adequate reproduction of it has appeared in this country. Samuel Palmer tells us of the great impression made upon his mind by Turner's "Wreck of an Orange Merchantman," exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1819, and how it decided him to become a painter. In studying those sombre seapieces of Turner's earlier period, we might be struck with their resemblance to the older conventional art; but looking more closely we catch instance after instance of the revolution instituted by the great artist, that power of catching the momentary effect, of infusing life and motion into his rendering of wave and cloud.

Turner was ably seconded by Clarkson Stanfield, whose choppy, muddy seas are very true to our southern coast. In my opinion the greatest marine painting of this century is Stanfield's "Abandoned," which has been twice exhibited in Manchester, viz., at the Art Treasures Exhibi

tion of 1857, and at Old Trafford in 1887. An excellent engraving of the picture by Henry Linton appears on p. 138 of the Art Treasures Examiner, 1857. This picture is one of the memories of that never-to-beforgotten Jubilee Exhibition. The subject, a derelict vessel seen under a burst of light through a canopy of heavy cloud, is treated with great dignity and power. The drawing of the hull, with its piteous list to starboard, telling of leak or shifted cargo, the majestic waves, the proportions of its spaces of light and shade, the balance of its masses, the almost monochromatic scheme of greys in which it is executed, combine to make it a noble work of which our illustration can but give an inadequate impression.

Several good examples of Stanfield's marine works in water colours may be seen at the Whitworth Gallery, in particular the spirited drawing "Wreck of the Avenger." E. W. Cooke, R.A., who published a book of "Shipping and Fishing Craft"; R. C. Leslie, author of “A Sea Painter's Log"; Walter May, Oswald Brierley, who held the post of Marine Painter to the Queen, and G. H. Andrews, R.W.S., have worthily sustained the traditions of the British school; whilst Prout, Copley Fielding, Francia, and R. P. Bonington, though not especially marine painters, have each left us excellent works in this class.

In recent years the realistic and forcible works of Messrs. Wyllie, C. Napier Hemy, Colin Hunter, Hook, and Brett, and the late Henry Moore are thought to have quite surpassed the achievements of the artists of the middle period of the century; and certainly their seas are as near the real thing as painting is likely to get.

Of these the greatest is Henry Moore, although his work does not aspire to be more than observation of

the sea. He has given us seas such as have never been painted before. The "Mount's Bay" in our Art Gallery is a fair example of his attainment. He drives directly at one impression, and does not entangle his first intention with extra facts. In this restraint, combined with true and beautiful rendering of Nature, lies the distinctive qualities of Henry Moore's work.

The latest comer of note in this department of fine art is Thomas Somerscales, who brings an original report of dark seas under bright sun, with the interest centreing upon some incident of seafaring, "Corvette Shortening Sail," "Taking to the Boats," &c., which affects one with the same sensations as a chapter by Kipling or Stevenson. We may look for good things in marine painting from Mr. Somerscales in the future.

Of marine painters on the Continent at the present day, the Dutch artist, Hendrick Willem Mesdag, is easily first. On the shore at Scheveningen, where nearly three centuries ago Bakhuyzen and the Vandeveldes, the fathers of marine painting, sought their models, this most modern of artists still finds the themes of his works. In his pictures the attention of the spectator is focussed upon some incident connected with the North Sea fishery and the humble craft engaged therein, the whole wrapped in the grey and sombre hues of bleak shores and lowering skies.

I have thus briefly indicated the marine painters of the past and present, whose works are to be studied in our public galleries and exhibitions. Beginning with W. Vandevelde, who studied Nature closely, yet produced pictures about which there can be no question as to their being works of Art, we trace the representation of the sea down to such extreme forms of naturalism as those shown by Mr. Brett, whose paintings would seem to be scientific

attempts "to reproduce on canvas the phenomena of natural light and colour, without reference to any possible use of pictures other than the recording of such phenomena," we close with mention of Mr. Whistler's few but exquisite marine subjects. In his "Valparaiso Harbour” the shipping lying at anchor, ghostly and mysterious; "The Thames in Ice," with shipping frozen up, like a dream of the Arctic regions, he has succeeded in combining a representation of common things, seen under exquisite phases, with those decorative and poetic qualities which are to be found in all fine pictures.

The bonnie Bush aboon Traquair,
And Mary Scott of Yarrow, fair ;
Tweedside, and Oh I wish I were
Where Helen lies !

He play'd in tones that suit despair,
When beauty dies.

The Siller Gun, by JOHN MAyne.

distinct from the "Christmas

THE "Waits" are distinct are

Singers," though the two are often confounded. To most people they are one and the same.

The true Waits are the band, consisting, usually, of four or five performers or players, their instruments being the violin, violoncello, flute or clarionet, and the French horn.

During the December nights up to New Year's Day, they perambulate the streets of the larger townschiefly those of Scotland. It is in these larger towns that they are oftenest to be heard, and heard too, to most advantage.