MEISSONIER'S MODELS.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2155, 1 May 1886, Page 2 (Supplement)

MEISSONIER'S MODELS.

Mkissonier's models rective princely wages, though they earn their money hardly enough. They aro liable to pose six hours at a stretch, almost without a change' of position, and in attitudes which often are the reverse of comfort' able. "The Quarrel" contains five figures, each of which is a marvel of anatomical draughtsmanship. Meissonier took seventeen sketches ot it before he put brush to canvas. Fancy a dispute in which the would-be combatants try to get at each Other, while two friends on one side and one on the other endeavour to separate them. And the five models stodd in this attitude three hours' each day for sixty consecutive days, " They were better off still than the fellow who shammed death beneath a real dead horse on a winter's day when the snow lay a foot deep in my garden,' said M. Meissonier. No doubt they were.

Entering an asylum for inebriates, he asked : 'Do yon treat drunkards here ?' 'Yes, sir.' 'Well, I'm one. Where's

yer bar ?' The Otago Daily Timei says:— We understand that Major Atkinson intends oohiing down here to deliver an address, and we have no doubt that it will be well worth listening to. But that it will not have the slightest effect upon public opinion in these parts is equally certain. It ii becoming increasingly evident that Major Atkinson is performing the *arne useful service to the present Government as Sir George Grey did to the Continuous Ministry. He is the "bogey" of this Parliament, and for just as good reason M Sir George Grey was the bogey of the last Parliament. Not that we would wish to see Major Atkinson left out of any Ministry that may replace the present Government. He is too good a debater and tactician and would be altogether too dangerous an opponent for that. More than this, he is an experienced, industrious, and conscientious public servant. But he has not got the qualities which command public confidence as a leader — neither the initiative faculty nor the grasp of principles, nor the resolution and firmness, nor the dignity which proceeds from commanding qualities. Everyoue respects Major Atkinson, and everyone who knows him personally must like him. What is more, we believe that he is so thoroughly public-spirited and ready to sink personal pride, co long ai he retains self-respect, that we will ultimately re cognise the duty of taking a secondary, so long as it not distinctly minor, position. He is first among lieutenants, but as a commander he is out of his depth,