ware with figures on them in bas-relief; others have pale back-grounds, with figures of a deep reddish maroon colour; then come others with black figures upon red or orange back-grounds. The figures are, for the most part, in an early and formal style of art, many of them grotesque, and all less remarkable for artistic taste than as illustrations of the mythology and train of thought at that period.

The rooms and galleries southward of the Etruscan Room, on the west side of the building, though finished and open, are not yet filled with specimens.

THE UPPER ROOMS:-ETHNOGRAPHICAL ROOM.

At the south-west corner of the building we turn again to the left, and enter a long gallery called the Ethnographical Room. Now, it would not be amiss if the superintendents of the Museum would condescend a little to the wants of their visitors, in respect to such a 'hard word' as this. The word is a rare puzzle to many an unlearned person. The Chinese bell, and the bows and arrows, and the skin dresses, and the grotesque figures-how do they become 'ethnographical,' and what does it mean? It might be worth while to adopt some secondary inscription, to denote that ethnos is the Greek name for nation or tribe, and that national manners and customs, arts and implements, are illustrated by the specimens deposited in this room. room is divided into nations, and in that sense it becomes ethnographical.

The

The nations whose productions are here exhibited to us, have certainly displayed very curious and varied ingenuity. Look at the Chinese department, with its little figures of beggars, mandarins, gods, and goddesses: its trinkets in ivory and hard wood. Look in succession at the Burmese, the Hindoo, and the Japanese departments. There is the gilt image of Guadama, the Burmese idol, in all its hideous glitter; the Hindoo deities, in wood and bronze; the Hindoo measures, and vessels, and arms; the Chinese and Japanese matchlocks, bows, arrows, shoes, mirrors, screens, musical instruments, inlaid boxes; the collection of half-clothed little figures, six or eight inches in height-all, if not beautiful, are at least curious specimens of the things which meet with admiration in the East. The stands in the middle of the room, too, contain two specimens of much interest. One is a Chinese bell, about five feet in height, which was cast about seven years ago, and was captured by the British troops from a temple at Ningpo, in 1844. The figures of Buddha, on the upper part; the Buddhist inscriptions beneath; the handle formed of a crouching dragon-all are worthy of close inspection, as a very creditable specimen of Chinese manufacture in metal. The other article on the floor-stands is a model of a gaudy moveable temple, such as would excite the reverence of the inhabitants of the Carnatic, in the southern part of India.

Pass on from thence to the compartments containing the African, the North American, the Peruvian, the Guianian, the Chilian, and the Mexican antiquities; and see the numerous illustrations there afforded of the religion, the arts, and the industrial occupations of those nations. How creditable to the weavers of Central Africa is that richly-decorated piece of cloth, woven in narrow strips; and the Foulah cloak, from Sierra Leone; and the striped specimens from Ashantee! Then the Ashantee loom, by which such fabrics are wrought, is worth looking at. As for the other Ashantee curiosities-the umbrellas, the padlocks, the tobacco-pipes, the flyflappers, the sandals, the musical instruments-they meet the eye by scores. stone and terracotta figures of the Mexican collection, mostly purchased from Mr. Bullock's museum, carry the thoughts back to a period in the history of America long anterior to the time of Columbus; and so likewise do the Aztec vases, idols, and ornaments; the Peruvian mummies, silver ornaments, vessels, silver images; and

The

Chilian antiquities of a similar kind. Nations once flourished where now forests abound; and large portions of the human family have passed away in America, with hardly any relics left behind to say who or what they were.

Thus may the visitor go round the Ethnographical Room, cultivating acquaintance with each nation in succession. The Esquimaux of North America, the Friendly and Sandwich Islanders, the Australians, and our own British ancestors-all are presented to our view. The fur dresses, the whalebone nets, and the fishing implements of the Esquimaux ; the winter and summer dresses, the ornaments and implements and vessels of the Tahitians; the New Zealand weapons and cordage and carvings; the tortoise-shell bonnet, from one of the Polynesian islands-all have their points of interest to those who regard them as a sort of book, in which to read the social history of distant and rude nations. The models of the ancient Druidical cromlechs, in the centre of the room, and some of the metal and earthenware specimens in the northern wall-cases, belong to the early curiosities of our own country. There is also deposited in a case on the floor of the room a model of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem. But perhaps the most extraordinary model here placed is that of a body of Thugs murdering a traveller in India; there is a multitude of figures, all a few inches in height, and dressed in proper costume; and the outlying, the waylaying, the strangulation, the digging of the grave, the burial, the partition of the booty-all are depicted, or rather modelled, by a native artist.

Thus have we taken a hasty glance at this great national collection, a collection which is honourable to the country and the individuals by whom it has been gradually accumulated. The expenditure on the collection has, of course, been very great. In the first place, Sir Hans Sloane's collection, which cost him £50,000, was, at his request, offered to the nation for £20,000; and this sum was paid for it. £10,000 was paid for the Harleian collection of MSS., £10,000 for Montague House, £13,000 for altering and repairing the house, and £30,000 were set apart as a fund for salaries and wages of keepers, &c. The purchases then went on with such rapidity that we cannot follow them. Among them was the Lansdowne MSS., £4925; the Arundel MSS., £3560; Colonel Greville's minerals, £13,727; the Hamilton vases, £8400; Phigaleian sculptures, £20,000; Elgin sculptures, £35,000--it is in vain, however, to enumerate all the purchases. For many years past the House of Commons has voted very large sums annually for these purposes connected with the Museum : to make additions to the various collections, to build the new structure, and to pay the various salaries and current expenses of the establishment.

It is pleasant to think that a spirit is now abroad which will probably lead to the formation of museums in towns which have hitherto had nothing of the kind. On referring to the statutes passed in 1845, we shall find that one relates to the formation of museums, by enacting that "it shall be lawful for the council of any municipal borough, the population of which exceeds 10,000 persons, if such council shall think fit so to do, to purchase lands, and to erect thereon buildings suitable for museums of art and science;" and by arranging how the expenses are to be defrayed. The rate of admission is "not to exceed one penny for each person;" but if the expenses are provided by a borough rate, it becomes a question whether a gratuitous admission would not be far preferable. If only a single penny were charged at the British Museum or the National Gallery, it would make a most enormous difference in the daily number of visitors. As matters now stand, visitors need not think about money at all in connection with their visits; and this is far preferable.

XXXI. EXHIBITIONS OF ART.

THE art exhibitions of London may be classed into those which belong to the nation, those which belong to public bodies, the annual exhibitions of societies of artists, and the collections of private individuals. These various collections are manifestly very far too numerous and too important to be properly noticed in a single number of our work; all that we shall attempt, therefore, will be to glance hastily at them, and give a cursory notice of the more important.

THE NATIONAL GALLERY.

The national collections, though valuable in themselves, are quite unworthy of a great nation. One cannot but wish that the National Gallery had either a less ambitious title, or that those who have influence over its destinies would endeavour to make the collection worthy of such a designation. There is something to our mind painful in contemplating the conduct of those who may be said to have represented the nation in this matter. From the time (1823) that the ministry was induced, with some difficulty, to purchase the Angerstein pictures, 38 in number, private benefactors have continually stepped forth, sometimes even giving their entire collections, the fruits of long years of research and industry, and involving the expenditure of very large sums of money, to promote the formation of an institution they deemed so desirable. Thus, in 1825, Sir George Beaumont, who had half bribed the ministry into the former purchase by a promise of his collection, gave 16 pictures, valued at 7500 guineas; in 1831, the Rev. Holwell Carr bequeathed 35 pictures; in 1837, Lieut.Colonel Olney bequeathed 17; in 1838, Lord Farnborough bequeathed 15; and at various periods numerous other benefactors have presented or bequeathed some 69 more a total of 152 pictures, for which we are indebted to private munificence, before Mr. Vernon's donation of his gallery of modern English paintings, containing no less than 155 pictures. And while all this has been doing for the people, what has the people done for itself? Tremble, public economists, as we announce the profligate system of expenditure which must have been carried on! Great Britain, in the first 28 years of its labours in the formation of a Gallery, has actually purchased on the average above two pictures a year-we fear, almost three. But this rapid rate has not been maintained of late years. In 1847 one picture was purchased, but not one of any kind has been purchased since! It is a fact that, in this year of grace 1851, we possess not less than 220 pictures (exclusive of the Vernon Gallery), filling very nearly three moderate-sized apartments and one small one; and that of these 220 pictures acquired in 28 years, no less than 68 have been purchased!

But, seriously, if we really do believe in the value of such exhibitions, how are we to account for our faith being so very unproductive of tangible results? There is a collection at Frankfort, of recent date, and owing its existence to an individual, which already nearly doubles our collection in the National Gallery; at Berlin a Gallery was commenced about the same period as our gallery, and it has already about 1200 pictures; the Dresden Gallery contains about 1850; the Louvre, 1406, exclusive of the Spanish pictures; the Florentine, 1200; whilst Louis of Bavaria and his people possess, in the magnificent Pinacothek at Munich, a new Gallery numbering nearly 1300 pictures. Is it that the people of England have no taste for these things?