well regulated, powerfully subserve other purposes by no means unimportant. For the study which must form the solid foundation of excellence in the Fine Arts must be the study, not alone of the artist, but of the people: and the larger the number of those who can appreciate Art, the broader and surer the foundation on which the fabric of its excellence may be reared. And although schools of design may rank as a very secondary means in the training of the creative artist, they are the primary means of insuring the effectual application of Art to manufacture, (thus entwining it with commercial prosperity;) and they are the only means of adequately providing for the general estimation of Art, throughout the length and breadth of a whole population. For of the Art which adorns life, as of the Religion which hallows it, the less men have, the less they seek to have. But the excitement of a dormant appetency in the public at large is a branch of the work of general EDUCATIONAL REFORM. And we must first provide a sufficiency of schools of Religion, Morals, and the rudiments of learning (all so wofully deficient in our land), before we talk of providing schools of design, for the general population. There remain the schools intended specially for the application of Art to Manufacture. It is to this part of the subject I now address myself. I propose first, briefly to show the existing want in this respect; secondly, to enquire how far it is the province of the government to interpose for its supply; and then to submit certain propositions with reference to the principles which should govern that interposition. The claims to certain remedial measures of legis lation, in favour of the Arts, which have occupied us hitherto, rest upon the certain ground of equal protection of property; those which we now approach partake of the character of premiums or bounties, and are to be justified rather by special circumstances than by general reasonings. As regards Schools of Design, these special circumstances appear to be a lamentable want of the means of instruction in the rudiments of Art amongst the manufacturing population; the inability of individuals by their unassisted efforts to supply this want in its present formidable extent;* and the certainty, derived from the experience of other countries, that the public will be amply repaid for a judicious expenditure towards this object from public funds. Had there been a real and adequate protection for inventive design in manufactures in this country, it is highly probable that good schools of design would have been established and maintained by the manufacturers themselves, and the necessity for the interposition of government altogether prevented. But the absence of this protection has been operating injuriously for a long period, and very vigorous efforts are now necessary to obviate its natural results. The necessity of interposition having therefore been acknowledged by the grant made during the last session of Parliament, for the establishment of a Normal School of Design, it remains to be ascertained what are the principles which ought to govern such establishment, in the first instance, and what further measures are * That the unaided efforts of societies, although made with the utmost good will, are quite insufficient is manifest by the failure (as regards the education of artisans) of the Society of Arts at Birmingham, and of many similar societies at Norwich, Worcester, and other places. On this subject the Evidence, before the Arts' Committee, of Mr. William Wyon, (I. 1699); of Mr. Philip Barnes, (ib. 1324); and of Mr. J. T. Howell, (II. 114), may be consulted with advantage. Normal required of government in order to the full attainment of the object in view. With respect to the central normal school, it would seem to be of the first importance that it be really a school for teachers, and not merely a model school, however good; for if it be only the latter, especially if established in London, its influence must for a long time be almost null as regards any real improvement in the application of design to our manufactures. Every one, practically familiar with the subject, is aware that persons qualified to teach design (as applied to manufacture) are even more rarely to be met with than good designers and pattern-drawers. And for any efficient training of the last mentioned, the schools must be established in the locality of each several manufacture. If it be attempted to train designers, modellers, and pattern-drawers, in a school at Somerset House, the pupils will be those least in need of assistance, being able to help themselves. For the same reason little good can be fairly expected from this central school, so long as it remain alone. It will first come into full and efficient operation when there are local schools to which its most successful the vicinity pupils can be sent as qualified teachers. Local schools in of the chief manufactures. On what plan then ought these local schools to be established? There is, I conceive, ample reason to expect the best results from a system of grants from public funds, proportionate to the sums locally raised, for the first establishment of schools of design, beginning in the places where they are most wanted; and from the further grant of a small but certain annual sum in aid Evidence of of the teacher's salary. Perhaps, in course of time, James the latter might be dispensed with, but experience has before Arts' shown in the operations, for instance, of the Board of 1114, etc. Trustees for the Encouragement of Manufactures in Skene, esq. Commit. I. Scotland, that for the first years it is indispensable: above all, provision must be made for an efficient periodical inspection, at the public expense, of all schools so assisted. schools In the practical conduct of these local schools there Local appear to be three points which are pre-eminently must comimportant: the first, that the course of instruction in prise techeach school shall embrace the direct application of struction; design to the prevalent manufacture of the district, in nical in and be all its branches, so that they shall not only be schools of the rudiments of Art, but also, to some extent, schools of industry; the second, that such schools shall, whenever it is possible, be connected with what may be termed Museums of Ornamental Art (as distinguished from the higher works of painting and sculpture); and thirdly, that they be open at a very low seums; rate of charge, so as to be really accessible to the humblest of the operative class. connected with mu and be cheap. lectures. At first, a very great want of fit books and examples Books, of ornamental design will be felt, and recourse must be prints, and had to foreign works, not always easily to be procured; but it may be hoped that, after a time, the central normal school will be able to render important assistance to the local schools, not only in this respect, but also in respect of the provision of able lectures, so that all improvements may be rapidly diffused. And here, at the outset, seasonable aid from government may do much good.* It will also be necessary to guard against these * Much good too might be done by the extensive circulation, amongst manufacturers and artisans, of plain and brief addresses on the importance of sound instruction in design, and the means of obtaining it. See the excellent address of Baron Charles Dupin, at the opening of the Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers, in Paris, productive of such good effects both amongst masters and workmen. The Laws, &c. 3d edit. Edin. 1836, p. 59. Evid. ut sup. 1133. Prizes. schools being made schools for producing mediocre painters and sculptors, instead of good ornamental draughtsmen and modellers. They cannot be too strictly confined to their special object. Mr. Hay, of Edinburgh (in a note to his excellent Treatise on the Laws of Harmonious Colouring as adapted to Decoration), justly condemns the absurd "mania of becoming artists, so prevalent among young men who have had opportunities of studying the art of drawing;" and Mr. Skene, the Secretary to the Board of Trustees for the Encouragement of Manufactures in Scotland, makes a similar complaint with reference to the academy maintained by that Board. Many a man whose life is now spent, miserably enough, in caricaturing the human countenance and spoiling good canvass, might, under better auspices, have lived in comfort and aided in advancing the manufactures of his country. Care must be taken that the new schools of design do not multiply cases of this kind. The establishment of prizes for the best models for castings in metal, of various kinds, and for original designs (including the ruling or mise-en-carte) of fabrics in silk, cotton, lace, &c., is another point not to be overlooked in the constitution of these schools. Recently in Scotland, so far as the limited means of the Board of Trustees enabled it to adopt them, such prizes were found highly serviceable. Probably no existing School of Art, having special reference to Manufacture, is more worthy of attention, both as regards its comprehensive plan and its actual success, than that of Lyons, first established by Napoleon (towards the close of his reign), with a view to the improvement of the silk manufactures of France. In addition to general instruction in design and in the |