Volume 3 > Half-Volume 5

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English Hobbima, although his style was liker that
of Wynants. It was from the minuteness of his touch
and finish that he resembled the great Flemish
painter, for he could not pretend to Hobbima's bold-
ness and vigour. Nasmyth's pictures show much
attention to detail, but his minute style of execution
seldom detracts from force and breadth of effect. His
scenes, especially his English ones, are extremely
pleasing. They abound in objects of quiet beauty,
such as rivers with wooded margins, meadows, and
gently rising grounds, reposing tranquilly beneath
an untroubled sky, and secured him a reputation as
a landscape-painter superior to that of his father.
His Scottish scenery is not so excellent; as its wild
grandeur and massiveness were not so suited to his
style and general mode of treatment. Hobbima and
Ruysdael were his favourite guides; but while he
endeavoured to acquire their spirit, he was far from
being a copyist: on the contrary, he had a delicacy
which was all his own, and gained for him the fore-
most place in that distinguished family which has
obtained the name of the "Nasmyth School."
The success with which his excellences were re-
warded was such as to animate him in his labours,
and his productions were so highly prized as to be
in general request among the lovers of art. The
most choice collections of England contain the works
of his pencil, and when any of his pictures are brought
to sale they generally command great prices. He is
sometimes spoken of as Peter, but his pictures are
signed Palk. Nasmyth. But while patronage was at
the height, and orders steadily flowing in upon him,
he was dying before his day�not a martyr, however,
to the ennobling art he loved so well, and which
would have cherished him so affectionately, but to a
vice which degrades the highest intellect and most
refined tastes to the level of the meanest. At the early
age of seventeen Patrick Nasmyth, in consequence of
sleeping in a damp bed, was seized with deafness,
which continued with him to the last; and being thus
in a great measure shut out from the healthful excite-
ment of conversation, he endeavoured to console
himself by the stimulus of the bottle�and that, too,
in the retirement of his study, where the usual checks
were not likely to enter. Of course the habit grew
rapidly upon him, so that he became old and feeble
while still young in years. At last, being attacked
by influenza, he ventured, before he had recovered,
to go to Norwood, to make a sketch of a scene which
he had particularly admired; but he paid dear for his
enthusiasm by a return of the disease, against which
his enfeebled constitution had no power to rally.
Even then his dying gaze was still in quest of the
grand and the beautiful; and in a thunder-storm which
occurred while he was dying, he besought his sisters
to raise him up in bed, that he might see its passing
splendour and its effects before he had himself de-
parted. Thus he passed away, on the 17th of August,
1831, at his lodgings in South Lambeth, at the age
of forty-five years.
NEILL, GENERAL JAMES GEORGE. This gal-
lant soldier, who won for himself a high name in the
suppression of the Sepoy mutiny of 1857, was the
eldest son of Colonel Neill of Burnweill and Swen-
dridge Muir, in Ayrshire, and was born in the neigh-
bourhood of Ayr on the 26th of May, 1810. The dar-
ing and decisive spirit by which his military career
was distinguished displayed itself in early boyhood.
Before he was fully five years old he had strayed from
home unattended; and after an absence of several
hours, his anxious father, who had gone in search of
the truant, saw him coming homeward across a long
dangerous embankment which confined the water of
Burnweill Loch. "Where have you been, Jamie?"
cried the colonel; to which the boy coolly answered,
"Well, I just thought I'd like to take a long walk,
and look at all things as I went on, and see whether
I could get home by myself. And I have done it!"
he added triumphantly, "and now I am to have
no more nursery-maids running after me: I can
manage myself." "You are quite right, Jamie,"
replied the father; and from that moment the bold
urchin was manumitted from nursery control.
Having received his education at the academy of
his native town until he had reached the age of
fifteen, James George was sent to the university of
Glasgow, to complete it. It was intended that he
should devote himself to the profession of the law,
but his devotedness to active sports soon showed
that he was not likely to shine as a lawyer: he was
a daring rider and a good shot, and preferred the
liberty of the fields to the seclusion of the study.
These tendencies showed his inclination; he would be
a soldier; and when the events of the Burmese war
were exciting general attention in Britain, he threw
his heart enthusiastically into the subject, expressed
his eagerness to be in the field of action, and declared
that distinction could only be won in India. It was
a modification of Napoleon's well-known declaration,
"All glory arises in the East." The father of
Neill, like a true soldier, sympathized in the youth's
ardour, and obtained for him an Indian cadetship
before he had reached the age of seventeen. In
January, 1827, young Neill set sail for Madras, and
on arriving there, Sir Thomas Munro, who was
governor of the presidency, and had married a rela-
tive of Neill, got him appointed to the 1st European
regiment. It was a corps that had won a high re-
putation in many a well-fought engagement; and
being one of the very few European regiments in the
Company's service, it was likely to find abundant
employment in the first war that might break out.
But at present there was profound peace in India,
and Neill devoted himself to his regimental duties
and the study of his profession. During the first
years of his service his regiment was stationed at
Masulipatam, and his diligence obtained for him,
promotion to the post of fort-adjutant, afterwards
that of quarter-master, and subsequently he was
appointed adjutant of the Madras Europeans. In
this last situation, upon which so much depends,
and where the talents and activity of an officer are
brought into full exercise, Lieutenant Neill distin-
guished himself by the pains he took to improve the
moral character, as well as professional efficiency, of
the soldiers under his command. He regulated the
sale of intoxicating liquors, so that indulgence in
their use should be limited to what was necessary,
and kept the men in healthy activity by adult schools,
workshops, and the encouragement of athletic exer-
cises. When years had been passed in such occu-
pations, he, in October, 1835, married Isabella,
daughter of Colonel Warde, of the 5th regiment of
Bengal cavalry, and in the society of his "dearest
Isy" enjoyed a domestic happiness that made amends
for the monotony of his professional occupations.
In 1837, when he had now been ten years in India,
the effect of the climate upon his health required the
wonted relief, and he returned home on a leave of
absence for three years. But in his native country
he was roused by reports of those commotions in
Central India which afterwards terminated in the
Afghan war. Hoping to have now a chance of
active employment in the field, after so many years
of peace, Neill hurried back to India in 1839, long
before his leave of absence had expired, and volun-
teered for service in Afghanistan; but instead of get-