afford a sufficient proof of the impossibility of succeeding but by the influence of MAJESTY. But there have perhaps, been times, when even the influence of MAJESTY Would have been ineffectual; and it is pleasing to reflect, that we are thus embodied, when every circumstance seems to concur from which honour and prosperity can probably arise.

There are, at this time, a greater number of excellent artists than were ever known before at one period in this nation; there is a general

one to whom it was lent, the mode of admission was changed next year. They now reversed their plan, the catalogue was given gratis and a shilling charged from each person; but fearful of giving offence, they prefixed an advertisement to their catalogue, which I will give, though long. It is from the pen of Dr. Johnson, the intimate friend of Reynolds, and affords us a clear view of the case.

"The public may justly require to be informed of the nature and extent of every design for which the favour of the public is openly solicited. The artists who were themselves the first promoters of an Exhibition in this nation, and who have now contributed to the following Catalogue, think it therefore necessary to explain their purpose and justify their conduct. An exhibition of the works of Art, being a spectacle new in this kingdom, has raised various opinions and conjectures among those who are unacquainted with the practice in foreign nations. Those who set their performances to general view, have been too often considered the rivals of each other, as men actuated, if not by avarice, at least by vanity, and contending for superiority of fame though not for a pecuniary prize. It cannot be denied or doubted that all who offer themselves to criticism are desirous of praise; this desire is not only innocent but virtuous, while it is undebased by artifice and unpolluted by envy; and of envy or artifice those men can never be accused who, already enjoying all the honours and profits of their profession, are content to stand candidates for public notice, with genius yet unexperienced, and diligence yet unrewarded: who, without any hope of encreasing their own reputation or interest, expose their names and their works only that they may furnish an opportunity of appearance to the young, the diffident, and the neglected. The purpose of this exhibition is not to enrich the artist, but to advance the Art; the eminent are not flattered with preference nor the obscure insulted with contempt; whoever hopes to deserve public favour is here invited to display his merit. Of the price put upon this exhibition some account may be demanded. Whoever sets his work to be shown naturally desires a multitude of spectators; but his desire defeats its own end, when spectators assemble in such numbers as to obstruct one another. Though we are far from wishing to diminish the pleasures or depreciate the sentiments of any class of the community, we know however what every one knows, that all cannot be judges or purchasers of works of Art: yet we have already found by experience that all are desirous to see an exhibition. When the terms of admission

desire among our Nobility to be distinguished as lovers and judges of the Arts; there is a greater superfluity of wealth among the people to reward the professors; and, above all, we are patronized by a Monarch, who, knowing the value of science and of elegance, thinks every art worthy of his notice, that tends to soften and humanise the mind.

were low, our room was thronged by such multitudes, as made access dangerous and frightened away those whose approbation was most desired. Yet because it is seldom believed that money is got but for the love of money, we shall tell the use which we intend to make of our expected profits. Many artists of great abilities are unable to sell their works for their due price; to remove this inconvenience an annual sale✶ will be appointed, to which every man may send his works, and send them if he will without his name. These works will be reviewed by the Committee that conduct the Exhibition; a price will be secretly set on every piece, and registered by the secretary if the piece exposed for sale is sold for more, the whole price shall be the artist's; but if the purchasers value it at less than the Committee, the artist shall be paid the deficiency from the profits of the Exhibition." This is well written; but to have acted up to it artists would require to be more amiable than the rest of mankind: to love one's neighbour as yourself is much, but here the artists were held up as doing something more. But to return to our subject. The squabbles of the different artists of the period showed them not only to be men, but actuated by the feelings and failings that have marked the race throughout all ages. The Society at the Adelphi, having the means of granting premiums and other patronage, retained the younger members of the profession who were willing, for their own advantage, to exhibit in their rooms for a few years longer, subject to the control of the Committee of the Society: while the body of Exhibitors at the Spring Gardens Rooms having obtained a charter from the king in 1765, exhibited as the Chartered Body of Artists of Great Britain. At the Spring Gardens meetings, the worst painters, who are always the most numerous, carried every measure in their own favour, until the Society at last was broken up by most of the artists of eminence seceding from it, and procuring a fresh charter of incorporation under the title of The Royal Academy. The patronage of the public enabled both societies to exist for a short time, but the new body having passed a law that no artist should be eligible to be elected into the Royal Academy who belonged to any other body, the parent Society gradually became extinct. Sir Joshua Reynolds's first Lecture was delivered in 1769 in their large room, opposite to Market Lane, Pall Mall. The ninth in 1780 commenced the series of those delivered in Somerset House.

* This proposal was tried a short time afterwards, and a sale by auction was made of the works of many of the then living Artists, at Langford's room in the Piazza, Covent Garden; but the success of the scheme was not answerable to the wishes of its promoters, and therefore it was never afterwards repeated.-Edwards' Anecdotes, p. xxviii.

2 After so much has been done by HIS MAJESTY, it will be wholly our fault, if our progress is not in some degree correspondent to the wisdom and generosity of the Institution: let us show our gratitude in our diligence, that, though our merit may not answer his expectations, yet, at least, our industry may deserve his protection.

But whatever may be our proportion of success, of this we may be sure, that the present Institution will at least contribute to advance our knowledge of the Arts, and bring us nearer to that ideal excellence which it is the lot of genius always to contemplate, and never to attain.

3 The principal advantage of an Academy is, that, besides furnishing able men to direct the Student, it will be a repository for the great

Here in the first Edition the following passage occurs, so full of ingenuity and hope :"It has been observed that the Arts have ever been disposed to travel westward. Greece is thought to have received them from her more eastern neighbours. From the Greeks they migrated into Italy; from thence they visited France, Flanders, and Holland, enlightening, for a time, those countries though with diminished lustre; but, as if the ocean had stopped their progress, they have for near an age stood still, and grown weak and torpid for want of motion. Let us for a moment flatter ourselves that they are still in being, and have at last arrived at this island. Our Monarch seems willing to think so, having provided such an Asylum for their reception, as may induce them to stay where they are so much honoured."

3 As a School of Drawing, the Academy has furnished the most substantial proofs of its efficacy: not only are the finest specimens of Greek sculpture placed before the Student, but the best Masters are provided to direct his studies, and point out the leading beauties of the original; so that while he is learning the principles of correct drawing, he imbibes something of the refined excellence which is inherent in those relicks of antiquity. So it is in our learning to read; for the mere purpose of syntax and orthography, many works are sufficiently eligible; but if the best are selected, the mind becomes improved in a double proportion; nevertheless, it cannot be imagined that a School is capable of forming a genius. A painter is but a poetical mind, operating through the means of a palette and brushes: an Academy can therefore only teach a command over the materials; the invention of the structure, both in poetry and painting, claims a higher source. In all ages, the most eminent men have had the advantage of the thoughts of their predecessors; and though not exactly, in the literal sense, from an academical education,

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examples of the Art. These are the materials on which Genius is to work, and without which 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. The Student receives, at one glance, the principles which many Artists have spent their whole lives in ascertaining; and, satisfied with their effect, is spared the painful investigation by which they came to be known and fixed. How many men of great natural abilities have been lost to this nation, for want of these advantages! They never had an opportunity of seeing those masterly efforts of genius, which at once kindle the whole soul, and force it into sudden and irresistible approbation.

Raffaelle, it is true, had not the advantage of studying in an Academy; but all Rome, and the works of Michael Angelo in particular, were to him

have, by a combination of fortuitous circumstances, received that impulse which was most congenial to the developement of their genius. Michael Angelo seems to have been led into a desire to animate and vivify the early works of Italy, from a contemplation of the efforts of Signorelli; and his studies from the antique, with his knowledge of anatomy, enabled him to embody the creations of his sublime imaginations: a hint of his style was sufficient to enable Raffaelle to break the fetters of his master Perugino, and give his future works greater action and expression. The accidental employment of Shakspeare, in remodelling and adapting the older dramas for the stage, paved the way for his own immortal productions; while the scholastic education of Milton enabled him to enrich his poetry, with the melodious terminations of other tongues. An Academy may therefore be said to furnish the means of preparing the mind to grasp, with more certainty, the unembodied images of thought; for as Sir John Herschell has remarked, "the sublime conceptions of Sir Isaac Newton might have remained in darkness, had he not been in possession of the highest mathematical powers to work out the results, and thereby establish their truth."

♦ As a school of design, the models from which the Student is to draw his instruction can be procured, and have been procured, from the best examples of Greek and Roman sculpture, since plaster casts convey all the excellence of proportion and much of the beauty of the original

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an Academy. On the sight of the Capella Sistina, he immediately from a dry, Gothic, and even insipid manner, which attends to the minute accidental discriminations of particular and individual objects, assumed that grand style of painting, which improves partial representation by the general and invariable ideas of nature.

Every seminary of learning may be said to be surrounded with an atmosphere of floating knowledge, where every mind may imbibe somewhat congenial to its own original conceptions. Knowledge, thus obtained, has always something more popular and useful than that which is forced upon the mind by private precepts, or solitary meditation. Besides, it is generally found, that a youth more easily receives instruction from the companions of his studies, whose minds are nearly on a level with his own, than from those who are much his superiors; and it is from his equals only that he catches the fire of emulation.

One advantage, I will venture to affirm, we shall have in our Academy, which no other nation can boast. We shall have nothing to unlearn. To

marbles. As a school of painting, the Academy is upon a very different footing; whatever might have been the original intention of making it a repository for the great examples of Art, very few have been purchased, neither does it possess many copies which can at all serve as guides for the Pupils; the pictures that supply the school of painting, from time to time, are derived from the Dulwich Gallery, and a few private sources. As it is a Royal Institution, founded and patronised by the Monarch, for the benefit of the Country, the Royal Galleries, and what can be spared from the National Gallery, ought always to be available. It may be said that these sources are open to the Student, both at the British Institution and elsewhere; but he is left entirely to himself in such cases; and unless he is instructed in the mode of proceeding, his whole time will be spent in endeavouring to find out the principles upon which the originals are painted. The colouring of the fine works of Art is too complicated for any one to discover, without long investigation, and practical experience; if it can be perceived at a glance, it must be too much on the surface to merit imitation. The advantage of private over Academical instruction is more obvious in this branch of the Art than in any other, for the Pupil sees the progress of the work as his Master advances it, which is rarely the case with the public tuition conveyed by Directors and Visitors of an Academy.