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hibition of the cartoons in Westminster Hall, liberal prizes having been offered by the Government for the best designs in historical and imaginative composition. The general defect of the English school was peculiarly visible in these performances as regards the want of expression and character and feeling which they displayed, while in each the drawing and grouping were scrupulously correct. General insipidity, and want of individual appropriate character in the persons represented, while the composition was in entire accordance with all the formal rules of art, were the leading and marked features of these productions.

Tasks, however, seldom call forth any great efforts of original genius, which does not stand in need of such stimulants to exertion. It may be inferred, indeed, that precisely such a result would be produced by offering prizes for historical designs, as would have occurred if similar prizes in poetry had been offered with a view of ascertaining the degree of talent of this kind in the nation. Abundance of rhyming compositions would have been sent in which would have astonished all those who did not understand such matters, remarkable for high finish and correctness of composition; but which, like the cartoons in Westminster Hall, would be utterly wanting in original conception, real feeling, expression, and suitableness of character. Any one with proper practice may draw a correct figure or compose smooth rhymes; but these acquirements will no more enable him to rival Raphael or Shakspeare, than possessing a good pen will confer the gift of writing with eloquence. Efforts of this kind will be successful so far as regards the strict observance of the principles of delineation; but in all the higher qualities which a work of this character should possess as regards the principles of the picturesque, they will be found to be entirely deficient.

II. Among the various causes which have contributed to the deficiency in works of high artistical merit in this country, one of the first and most influential must be considered to be the want of adequate patronage of painting and sculpture, that is said to have been peculiarly experienced in England, while that branch only of these arts which consists in the production of

portraits and of busts and statues of real persons has been encouraged; not, indeed, from any love of art, but because it has ministered to our social and domestic feelings, or has contributed to gratify family or personal vanity. The existence of this deficiency or limitation of patronage cannot be denied, and has been peculiarly characteristic of this country, as I have already observed in the preceding chapter when speaking of the present condition of the arts in England. This, in its turn, must be owing to various causes. As regards painting, the number of works of the old masters, and the still greater number of supposed works, of themselves supply the artistical market, and at any rate take precedence of those of our own age, especially as regards the productions of living artists whose fame has not yet been established. The vast multitude of purchasers of works of art, who consist, not of those of most genius and discernment, but of those of most wealth, are so from fashion more than from taste; and are, therefore, induced to prefer having their mansions decorated with paintings by those whose names sound high as artists of celebrity.

The mercantile spirit of the nation seems, indeed, to pervade all ranks and classes, and to bias their conduct in matters apparently the most remote from its influence. Thus, the purchase and possession of works of art is looked upon as a mere pecuniary adventure. They are selected mainly as an investment, a sort of refined and ornamental mode of laying out superfluous capital; consequently, it is not so much works of merit as works of value that are sought out. The productions of living artists, however excellent they may be, are disregarded, because they have not as yet reached their ultimate sterling market value, and are liable to depreciation by the production of better works from the same artist. On the other hand, the works of the old masters have always attached to them a specific amount of value, and are never liable to deteriorate from the same cause which may affect the former. Their worth, in fact, depends in most cases, not on their intrinsic merit but on the proofs of their genuineness.

The deficiency of compositions at the present day as regards striking intellectual merit, by which the world at large must

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judge of works of art, is another cause of the want of patronage of painting. Indeed, where performances have been produced, which from their sterling excellence have attracted general admiration among those capacitated to estimate such qualities, although they may not have been of the highest rank in this respect,-they have not failed, even in these days, to meet with liberal patronage. As a composition of this nature is intended to excite the admiration of all, it should doubtless be so capacitated, and ought not to require every person who views it to understand the mechanical subtleties of art, in order to discover its value; any more than to perceive the beauties of a poem an oration or an oratorio, it is necessary for him who admires it that he should be skilled in the art of versification, of eloquence, or of music.

But the most extensive and direct cause of the want of patronage of works of art in England, is the poverty of the nation, occasioned by our immense national debt, and the many taxes to which we are in consequence subjected. For, although we are accounted the richest nation in Europe, yet, as is often the case with those who have large incomes, our customary and, indeed, almost necessary expenses are equally great in proportion, leaving but little for luxuries, of which the patronage of painting, and the possession of choice works of art is accounted one of the most dispensable, delightful as it may be deemed. Such, indeed, has been our national penury in regard to matters of art, that the most lavish expenditure which has ever been conceived for the promotion of the arts in England, falls far below what was actually freely voted for the same noble purposes in Athens. The fact of this want of patronage being established, it does not require much skill to point out in what way it operates to retard the progress of the higher branches of the arts among us. Hence it is that men of genius and of really great power, are drawn off from the pursuit of art to others which are more profitable, and more certain of rendering a return for their skill and labour. Not improbably also the extensive advancement of the sciences to which I have before referred, and the patronage which has been bestowed on poetry and eloquence and music, have had considerable influence indi

rectly in retarding painting and sculpture, as men of high acquirements and extensive talent have been induced to adopt those professions where ample rewards are offered to their followers; while painting and sculpture, from want of a fair amount of remuneration to their professors, have been left to men of inferior minds who were allured to them mainly from the prospect of no formidable rivalry appearing there. Hence also it is that we have had so many who have been eminent as poets and for their eloquence, who might, had they devoted themselves to epic compositions in painting, have rivalled the great masters of old, and produced the most sublime and grand works. Shakspeare and Milton, and Burke and Macaulay, might each of them, no doubt, have attained high eminence had they devoted themselves to epic composition in painting or sculpture. The mechanical part of the arts is always to be acquired; it is in mind chiefly that the efforts of our modern artists in historical composition have been deficient.

Indeed, we may be the more convinced that there is in this country the capacity to produce works of high intellectual vigour, such as characterized the schools of ages gone by, from the occasional productions of this class which are frequently to be met with in engravings and etchings and woodcuts, combined with the manual dexterity and skill exhibited by some of our artists in their finished paintings. All that is actually required is such an amount of patronage as will induce persons gifted with the double capacity of designing and executing really great paintings, to devote their full energies and time to this noble undertaking. As it is, men of genius who can design meritorious works, find no encouragement to complete them; and those who could produce perfect productions of this class, are induced to execute only performances of a trivial character.

So powerful, nevertheless, has been the effect of this want of patronage, or the belief of its existence, that even artists by profession who have been gifted with powers for excelling in the loftier department, have almost confined themselves to portrait painting, as in the case of Sir Joshua Reynolds and Sir Thomas Lawrence, and also of Holbein and Vandyke, whose minds were imbued with the highest principles of the art, and executed their performances with a great degree

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of manual skill rivalling that of the ancients. Both Holbein and Vandyke, however, although they had previously practised historical composition, when they came to England degenerated into mere portrait painters.

Sculpture, like painting, has been patronized only so far as it served to gratify family vanity or affection. Perhaps, while the latter art owes most to the living, the former has been best befriended by the dead.

Music poetry and eloquence have fared better. The first has been more liberally patronized, because it has contributed to afford amusement and recreation to the greatest number. But, notwithstanding this fact, except in a very few instances, the professional income derived from this art has been but inconsiderable; and, indeed, the composition of new original great works here is very rare. Poetry has been more independent of patronage, because it is an art which may be followed with other pursuits, and does not require the person engaging in it to devote himself to it as a sole occupation, as in the case of a painter. Eloquence, although not of the highest order, has fared the best of all, because it has been largely patronized, it being the surest aid to preferment in the senate, the pulpit, and at the bar.

Architecture must be entirely dependent on the patronage which is extended to those who adopt it as a profession, as without patronage even practice is not afforded to the followers of this art, as in the case of those of painting sculpture and poetry; inasmuch as the works on which it is employed are of such magnitude that no private individual can undertake them. No architect could, of himself, venture to build cathedrals and churches and public edifices for the mere purpose of proving his skill, as a painter or sculptor or poet occupies himself in his pursuit. On the other hand, the architect has one great advantage in this respect over the followers of other branches of art, in that he has the opportunity of evincing his taste and genius by the production, at a very trifling cost, of designs for architectural edifices, in which may be exhibited all the mental power and originality which the building itself could display. In the erection of prisons, barracks, courts of justice, and

VOL. II.

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