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history and principles of the Arts, it includes special instruction in all the branches of ornamental drawing and modelling; technical instruction in mise-en-carte, or the transferring the paper drawing to the fabric; a botanical garden for drawing plants and flowers from nature; a cabinet of natural history; a library of books and prints; and a collection of models. But excellent as was the object in view, and undeniable the need of such an institution, it was far from being at once hailed with gratitude by those whom it was most to benefit. "When first founded," says one thoroughly acquainted Dr. Bowwith these schools, "there was little disposition on the part of the labouring classes to avail themselves of these advantages; there was a great deficiency of students, particularly in some of the branches where the inferiority of the French workmen was most generally recognized." But last year so great was the change that the school of Lyons contained two hundred students, every class was full, and the candidates for admission so numerous as quite to embarrass the professors; who, in their last report, speak thus of the results already attained:

ring.

sur l'Ecole

1835-6.

"If collections of ancient patterns be compared with Rapport those which are produced at the present time, the ex- des Arts de traordinary distance which separates them will be Lyons, obvious to everybody, and every step will exhibit the progress made in abandoning the mere routine of production, and also the beauty and perfection which able artists have now thrown upon manufactures. The influence of superior models, the counsels of intelligent professors, and the emulation of zealous students and artisans, will be everywhere discovered. Already the influence of the school is seen in our streets; our architecture is enriching itself with classical ornaments, and the part which Lyons took and the honours which were

done her in the late 'Exposition,'* at Paris, sufficiently attest that the attention bestowed on the schools of Art have had their influence upon the prosperity and reputation of the town and neighbourhood."

Shall not we go and do likewise?

NOTE.

Since the foregoing pages have been written, I have had the pleasure of learning that the chief suggestions I have submitted with reference to the Government School of Design at Somerset House, have been brought under the consideration of the Council, in a Report from the able Director of the School, Mr. Dyce.

L'Exposition de l'Industrie Nationale, of the plan and effects of which some account will be found in the Appendix to this volume.

CHAPTER V.

OF THE MAINTENANCE AND MANAGEMENT OF PUBLIC

GALLERIES AND MUSEUMS.

"Whether pictures and statues are not in fact so much treasure? And whether Rome and Florence would not be poor towns without them?"BERKELEY-The Querist, § 71.

"The great examples of Art are the materials on which genius is to work, and without them the strongest intellect may be fruitlessly or deviously employed. By studying these authentic models, that idea of excellence, which is the result of the accumulated experience of past ages, may be at once acquired, and the tardy and obstructed progress of our predecessors may teach us a shorter and easier way."-REYNOLDS-Discourses.

"The best means of forming the taste of the people is by the establishment of accessible collections of the most remarkable monuments of antiquity, and of the middle ages.”—WAAGEN.

CHAPTER V.

OF THE MAINTENANCE AND MANAGEMENT OF PUBLIC

GALLERIES AND MUSEUMS.

THAT it is only from the government we can expect any adequate provision of National Galleries of Art, coextensive with the wants of the people, is an opinion in which all who have displayed any interest in the subject seem now to be fully agreed; and in this respect the present branch of enquiry is free from a difficulty attaching, in the minds of some, to that regarding schools of design.

No country has more cause than our own to be proud of that munificent spirit of liberality which leads private individuals to present or bequeath to the community valuable collections, which it has been the labour of their lives to form; but to give due effect to this liberality, and to make that effect permanent, it is necessary that the state step in, and contribute its sanction and its assistance. And in many cases the very munificence of spirit which has formed an immense collection, and given birth to the wish to make it national, has, by its own excess, made that wish powerless without the active aid of the legislature. The actual cost, and still more the inherent value, of the collections of Sloane, Elgin, and Angerstein made them in reality gifts to the nation, although they could never have been acquired (without gross injustice to the descendants of the large-minded collectors,) had not Parliament made certain pecuniary

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