Page 117

" The Builder" versus " The New Path."
"THE BUILDER" versus "THE NEW PATH."
We have received a copy of "The
Builder " for May 20th, in which we find
the following:
"T he New Path for April contains a
paper on Miss Hosmer's statue of Zeno-
bia, and one titled ' Our Furniture:
what it is, and what it should be.' The
writer of the first, instead of taking a
new path, follows an old one, and a
wrong one, in asserting that the Ameri-
can works sent to the 1862 Exhibition
were treated with the same 'studious
disrespect which everything American
instinctively received in England at that
time.' Mr. Page's portraits, says the
writer, were left to shiver by themselves
in the gloomy American department;
Mr. Story's fine statues were placed so
that they could not be seen; and Miss
Hosmer's 'Zenobia' had an 'ignomin-
ious position ' at the 'back door ' of
Gibson's Temple. Such evil misrepre-
sentations are to be regretted; and,
when made, as in this case, by one pro-
fessing to write with high aims, and
with truth for a watch-word, to be won-
dered at. The position of Mr. Page's
pictures was determined by the small
committee of Americans who at the last
moment arranged their department:
one of Mr. Story's striking statues was
placed so that it was the first thing that
met the eye on entering the Roman
Court, and the other so that it was the
last object seen on quitting it; while
Miss Hosmer's ' Zenobia,' set up by spe-
cial arrangement in connexion with her
master's works, had one of the most
prominent sites possessed by statue in
the whole exhibition. Not the least
curious part of the matter is that, after
these unfounded complaints, the writer
proceeds to show, by nine columns of
print, that the 'Zenobia' is a thoroughly
worthless statue, unworthy of any place
at all!
" We have pointed to these observa-
tions because we revolt against any at-
tempt that is made to foster unkind
feelings between two kindred nations,
speaking the same tongue and animated
to a great extent by the same motives;
and would reprobate it strongly from
whichever side of the Atlantic it might
proceed."
As we had no intention to do any in-
justice, and not the least wish in the
world to foster any unkind feelings be-
tween England and our own country, we
make room on the first opportunity for
thtis counter-statement on the part of the
"Builder."
With regard to Mr. Page's pictures
we have nothing to say if " The Builder"
is well informed. It, of course, means
to imply that other and better positions
were to have been obtained for these fine
works,but that the Americans in London
did not choose to accept them, but hung
their countryman's works deliberately
in the barn-like apartment which con-
tained the other trophies of American
skill,-the patent cow-milker, and the
Great American Dessert, "Pop-Corn."
If the Builder does not mean thus to be
understood, we do not see that it has
helped the matter much. Doubtless, if
there could have been obtained no bet-
ter place for the pictures of Delaroche,
Cabanel, and Luys-the French and
Belgian commissioners would have felt
obliged to put their countrymen's
masterpieces along with the silks, laces,
and furniture, in the part of the build-
ing allotted to their contributions in
that kind.
The simple truth we take to be, that
the American gentlemen had to choose
between the place assigned to the cow-
milker, and no place at all; and they
took what they could get. It seems to
us that, if the English people had felt in-
1865.]
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