OLD STREETS BY MOONLIGHT.-BY DOBÉ. Shakspeare ridiculous, but he might Doré. In this brief review of the history of caricature America claims little space. For thirty years past caricatures, so called, have been published in America; but with very rare exceptions nothing more sad and depressing could have been devised than the mass of these publications. Many funerals are conducted in a manner far better calculated to minister to the sense of the ridiculous. They have generally been intricate and pointless examples of the emblematic style of satirical drawing, with no intrinsic power of exciting laughter; whereas the designs in Punch, or the Paris Charivari, or the German Fliegende Blätter, are laughable in themselves, even to those who do not know the incidents which they illus trate, or understand the language in which they are explained. This defect was the radical fault of Yankee Doodle-a satirical paper published in New York about twelve years ago. Its literary matter was good, far better than Punch's is nowadays, and its illustrations were full of sharp hits, but there was no fun in them; the figures failure of the caricatures which, till recently, have been published here, in the essential quality of such drawings, is no proof of the lack of humor in America; for, until within the last few years, our caricatures have been drawn by English or Irish artists. It is indeed but quite recently that Americans have thought it worth while to turn their attention to this branch of art; and the readers of Harper's Magazine, who for ten years back have been delighted with the fruits of Mr. M'Lenan's humor and penetrative observation, or who know his illustrations of the "Fisher's River Sketches," need not be told that our aptitude for caricature is no longer to be disputed. readable to most Frenchmen; but admirable, I were as serious as so many drum-majors. This whether for its wit, its ingenuity of construction, or the faithfulness with which the author has thought in the spirit of the times whose language he adopted. The examples of Doré's style which accompany this article are from the illustrations to the Contes Drolatiques. His illustrations to the legend of the "Wandering Jew" are marvelous combinations of the awful and the grotesque, the element of humor being almost entirely eliminated. But although in these he had larger space in which to work, there is little in them, even in grandeur of effect, which can not be found in the illustrations to the first-named book. Doré has just published a set of illustrations to Dante's Inferno, which teems with subjects congenial to his pencil. He has furnished a most important addition to our modes of enjoying Dante; but it is to be hoped that the report that he is engaged upon illustrations of Shakspeare is unfounded. He could not make Many attempts at caricature fail because they endeavor to make that ridiculous which, however unreasonable or disagreeable, has not the elements which make it a fit subject for ridicule. As it has been remarked before in this paper, caricature is a kind of reverse ideal. High art places its ideal in the attainment of a typical | themselves are painful and ridiculous, only atrepresentation of a species: caricature attains tains an inferior object by puerile means and in its effects by heightening exceptional deviations a cruel manner. Caricature, to be effective, from that type. The one concerns itself with that need not be malicious, or wound by making its which is general, the other that which is partic- subject himself personally ridiculous. When ular. A man or an incident must present some used for the gratification of private pique, and thing salient to be a fit subject for caricature. with the mere purpose of giving pain, it is as Thus, it would be almost impossible to carica- base and mean as any scandal, or slander, or ture the Venus of Milo, or the Antinous of the anonymous attack. Nay, even baser and meanCapitol, or the Apollo Belvidere; yet in the er: for to ridicule there is no reply; against it latter a certain assumed scornfulness of expres- there is no redress. What is ridiculous is rision might be ludicrously overcharged, and a diculous, and no explanation or vindication will caricature be the result. But close observation make it otherwise. This, so often forgotten, and keen perception are important elements in should ever be remembered by those who have the genius of a caricaturist, whose success will the gift of ridicule in any form. For ridicule is be great in proportion as he sees peculiarities a terrible weapon, but an unjust balance. It is where the general eye does not see them. Sur- the deadly foe of folly, but it is not the test of prise is one of the sensations excited by good truth. What is foolish and base it makes apcaricature; incongruity joined with consistency, pear more foolish and more base; but it aims its one of its most effective weapons. You laugh dazzling shafts with equal readiness, and often at a caricature because it is so unlike, and yet with equal success, against wisdom and honor. looks so like, a figure at which you do not laugh. Its purpose only justifies it. That may make it That which merely heightens defects which in harmless, even commendable. W look through the ship-yards, and see the building of a ship. THE BUILDING OF THE SHIP. HETHER it was the example of the nautilus, or that of the broad-tailed squirrel, that first taught man to go down to the sea in ships, it is impossible to say. Only this much we do know that the time has been when the race were as innocent of the navigation of the sea as they were of the air. Even within the time of historical record nations can be found who repudiated utterly the art of navigation as an impracticable thing. The first ship upon record was the ark-a structure which, though built with high regard to the rules of construction, was not, as far as we have Scriptural history, preluded by other great vessels; and, what is stranger still, did not seem to teach the posterity of its builders any thing beyond the original coracles and rafts. Through thousands of years of attempts at navigation of the sea, it was reserved unto our own day to achieve any thing approaching to scientific control of the great waters, and the combination of beauty, safety, and speed in the ships that sail upon them. With this short introduction let us together The first thing that will strike you, as we enter the territory of the ship-builder, will be the army of stalwart men, bronzed by the sun and weather, and armed every one with a broad, gleaming axe, which they fling with an apparent recklessness that bodes little safety to the groups of eager children who cluster about them, intent on filling their baskets with the scattered chipsrealizing once again in our own day the poetry of the gleaners. You will observe that I said "apparent recklessness," for the hundreds of little snatching fingers and obtrusive toes need be under no apprehension. The blow of that axman is as true and certain as that of the Indian master of the sword, who cleft an apple held upon the open palm of his friend by one sweeping stroke without touching the skin. There are quite as marvelous stories told of these wielders of the broad-axe; of the feats they have performed; of their truth of hand and certainty of eye. You will look over to your right, where, un and plank, to aid in putting together the wonderful structure that shall arise at our bidding. der a shed, you will see sundry men performing strange movements, which, naturally enough, you will associate in your mind with those of Cast your eyes over the left, where you will the gymnast. We will approach nearer, when see an oblong box raised upon a frame a few you will find that the half score of bowing men feet from the ground, and about thirty feet in are top sawyers, bending in response to another length. This is the steam-box; the receptacle half score who are in the pit below-the whole of such pieces of timber as may be required, esscore spending their days in pulling this great-pecially flexible. To make them so they are toothed saw backward and forward, through log inclosed within it for about an hour and a half, the steam is introduced, the timber is saturated, and is easily bent the required curve. Modern vessels require much less of this steam-box than those of a quarter century ago, being straighter in all their lines and larger in their proportions. Beside this steambox is the blacksmith's shop, the forge whereon all articles of ironwork appertaining to the ship are made, exIcepting such as anchors, heavy chain, and whatever massive work may be beyond its limited calibre. We will now cross the yard to the spot where our ship is to be built. THE SHEER PLAN. carving. As you will naturally do the thing wrong, allow me to suggest that, on the first slash of the knife, you will divide Mr. Turkey in two parts, from the neck to the pope's nose. That is the Sheer Plan. Or, as there is more As you step occasionally over the great squared | imagine yourself called on at dinner to dissever logs, can you not let your mind run for a mo- a turkey without being posted in the ways of ment back to the solemn, quiet woods where for centuries they dwelt and grew in grandeur, until one day the foot of a man rustled the autumn leaves beneath them? How he gazed up to the lofty branches and along the stout trunk! How he calculated the number of knees, cross-than one way to do the thing wrong, we will pieces, futtocks, and plank! How he laid his broad-axe to the noble tree, and, unresisted, hewed away unceasingly until the great dweller of the forest came thundering down, and was borne away piecemeal, that art may show what great works she can achieve! But we have no time to be poetical. We stand upon the spot where our task must commence; and yet before, as naval constructors, we can commence our work, we are dependent on the skill of the architect equally with the mason and the carpenter, who await his plans before the house goes up. With a bit of chalk let me show you the duty of the naval architect. The first duty to be performed is the making of the model. This is done by doweling certain thin pieces of cedar and pine together alternately, and from the mass so joined hewing out the form required. This model is from three to six feet in length, and is finished with the utmost care and precision. Upon this model each line of the future ship is carried out in miniature. The displacement of water is calculated, and the two great points for which the naval architect and constructor work are sought for. They are, firstly, that the stem and water-line should be so formed, that while they offer the least possible resistance to the water, they shall at the same time have great buoyancy. Secondly, this water-line must run with perfect smoothness the entire length of the ship, thereby insuring free action of the rudder and good steerage. In the attainment of these ends it is that all the science of the naval architect is lavished. When this model is finished the naval architect commences his drawings. The first or principal drawing is called the Sheer Drawing. This is divided into three parts, called the Sheer Plan, the Half-Breadth Plan, and the Body Plan. To understand these drawings and the mode of making them, it is only necessary to suppose that you see fit to divide the bird by From this sheer drawing we, as prac tical builders, go to work and make construction drawings, which shall show the exact position of every plank and timber in the ship we are about to build. The end gained by this proceeding will be, that every plank and timber can be accurately cut according to the shape wanted, and when brought to its place on the growing ship, can be fitted with little or no trouble. To show this, I here give you, with a few touches of my chalk, a portion of the outer planking or skin of a ship, according to the construction drawing, that you may see how easy it is, by reducing feet to inches and inches to hundredths, to get out each plank of the required width, length, and thickness to cover certain places. THE HALF-BREADTH PLAN. |