prompt realization. Bullion and precious gems then formed the only real medium of value, and the habits of personal display and pomp of pageantry, so passionate a characteristic of the middle ages, irresistibly prompted the possessors of wealth to display it in the most effective and dazzling manner. Rich cups and salvers, hanaps, coffrets, ewers, jewelry, every object of use or luxury in fact on which the precious metals and gems could be lavished, which would otherwise have lain idle and useless as in their native mines, were accumulated by nobles and princes in an abundance that their descendants at the present day would never dream of rivaling. It will not perhaps be out of place to state, in confirmation of this, that, at the present time, the richest collection in Europe of works analogous to those we are now endeavoring to collect is actually an ancient royal treasury; the almost inestimable riches of the green vaults at Dresden still occupy the same ancient locality, and are in fact the accumulated hoards of the earlier princes of the royal house of Saxony. By an easy and natural transition the treasuries both of the laity and the church became the repositories of every rare and curious, and consequently precious, object-an ostrich's egg, a cocoa-nut, a nautilus shell, or a specimen of Chinese porcelain, an elephant's tusk, or a narwal horn, to say nothing of saintly relics innumerable, things little thought of now, were then curiosities of great actual value, and were immediately mounted and adorned in the most exquisite taste with the most precious materials, presented as offerings at some famous shrine, or deposited in the iron-bound chests of potent seigneurs, to be displayed on state occasions to their curious guests or dependents.

Thus connoisseurship, or the taste for collecting, prevailed as strongly in the middle ages as at present, while there can be no doubt but that artisans and the people generally found little difficulty in gaining access to these collections. The church treasuries, we know, were then as now standing exhibitions, accessible alike to the devotee and to the merely curious visitor.

We need but allude to the storied walls of churches and public buildings, to the painted windows, glowing with saintly histories and the richest ornaments; to the armies of statues and innumerable relievi which adorned the noble edifices of the middle ages: these edifices are still the best museums of high art. How far more powerful must their influence have been when in their first blaze of freshness, complete, where now we find but faded and moldering remains!

Modern mechanical contrivances and the division of labor, moreover, have tended to deaden the taste and intelligence of the artisan, by narrowing the field for their exercise, whilst the exigencies of mechanical processes, and other economical reasons, have imposed fresh restraints on the designer; but these again are strong reasons for the extension of instructional facilities. Moreover, the modern artisan, being virtually debarred from obtaining that distinction which is the meed of recognized personal talent, is now less than ever likely to spend his hours of relaxation in the acquisition of knowledge which, though certain to be of great eventual benefit to him, involves additional and present exertion, while it brings no immediate profit or consideration. Thus, again, the means of study and self-improvement must be brought home to the artisan, or he will scarcely go out of his way to obtain them. And as respects uneducated students making a wrong use of the treasures got together for their instruction, even the power of mere lifeless imitation, which is so much dreaded, can scarcely be acquired without a great amount of valuable historical and technical information accruing at the same time. But on this score it may be roundly said, that the man of dull parts, whatever be his previous training, will in all probability always be an imitator, while the taste and judgment of the gifted student will be chastened and refined, not unduly warped, by the influence of good models. It is an indisputable truth that the ignorant or the sostyled self-instructed artist is always the least original. In short, there is nothing to fear and every thing to hope from the influence of well-chosen and wellarranged Art collections.

Distinctive Character of the Art Museum.

It should first be clearly understood that the Art Museum has no connection with the various other collections grouped with it-the Educational Museum, the Museums of Patent Inventions, of Animal Produce, &c., which, as has been

explained on previous occasions, are distinct and separate collections, having nothing in common except the fact of their temporary juxtaposition under the same roof, and their being administered by the same Department of Government. There are, however, other national establishments in the metropolis with which our Museum has some analogy, in particular the National Gallery and the British Museum-the one entirely, the other incidentally devoted to the illustration of art; and it will here not be out of place to state, that from the first the acquisitions to the Kensington Museum have been confined to classes of objects not systematically represented in those collections.

The National Gallery at present occupies a well-defined ground with which the Art Museum is little likely to interfere. This institution confines itself to the collection of paintings as monuments of fine art only, while it may be observed in passing, by an anomalous arrangement, the Print Room of the British Museum takes possession of the drawings and cartoons of ancient masters which have served for the production of pictures. The scope of our own Museum does, however, to a certain extent, approximate to that of both these institutions, and one or more instances of this approximation may with propriety be now adduced. In the first place the decorative works of great painters executed in embellishment of architecture or furniture may be specified. As far as this important branch can be illustrated by means of full-sized copies from fresco or other paintings, or reduced drawings of works in situ, and likewise by the original sketches and designs of artists for such works, the work is now being done at Kensington, where already a very extensive series is exhibited. Again, the Print Room of the British Museum contains an inestimable treasure of engravings, which, from want of space, it is impossible to exhibit; but there is one section even here, which obviously falls within the province of the Kensington Museum-it is that of engravings of an ornamental or decorative character, the literally-innumerable engraved designs of industrial artists of every speciality, of goldsmiths, armorers, watchmakers, enamelers, embroiderers, cabinet-makers, house-docorators, &c.; these had never been adequately collected at the Print Room, because the scheme of that establishment was to illustrate the history and development of engraving as an art, and not ornamental design exemplified by engravings. In the space of a few months a collection in this speciality numbering several thousand specimens has been got together at Kensington, and a more numerous collection than is probably visible in any other public museum is already arranged and exhibited in glazed frames.

The substantive design of this Museum may be defined as the illustration, by actual monuments, of all art which is materially embodied or expressed in objects of utility. This comprehensive scheme obviously includes works of all periods and countries, from the earliest dawnings of art in classical antiquity to the elaborate products of contemporary art-industry; and a historical or chronolog ical arrangement has been especially, though not exclusively, adhered to. It is not desirable to enter on a lengthy disquisition as to scientific methods of arrangement, and a free description of some of the leading sections of the Collection will alone be possible within the limits of this lecture. It will be as well previously to state, however, that in a chronological point of view few of the specimens hitherto acquired actually go further back than the commencement of the middle ages, and for this reason, that in the British Museum the nation already possesses a most extensive collection illustrative of the arts of antiquity; not, it is true, selected or arranged from the point of view of art, but still mainly valuable in that aspect. We have, then, taken up the chain of development at the point where it has been left by that institution, and which may be broadly said to end with the era of Pagan antiquity.

Sculpture.

The decorative arts in immediate alliance with architecture are of the highest importance, and objects of an architectural nature in stone, marble, wood, terra cotta, bronze, &c, under the general head of sculpture, may very properly be first noticed. An enumeration of a few of the leading specimens will, perhaps, be the best mode of illustration. On entering the new galleries now being arranged, the visitor will remark the great chimney-piece in carved stone from

Antwerp. A beautiful cast of the fine quattrocento chimney-piece from Padua, in the Soulages Collection, is erected in the main building, and at the present time a magnificent specimen of the same period is, it is hoped, on its way from Italy. In the same room is one of the finest and most important works extant of the Florentine sculptor, Luca della Robbia; this is the large altar-piece in glazed terracotta representing the Adoration of the Kings. In the iron building is the elaborate stone retable or altar-piece from Troyes, in Champagne, and the equally beautiful one in carved oak from the cathedral of St. Bavon, at Ghent; a door, with its architrave, pediment, &c., in marqueterie, from the Hotel de Ville at Antwerp; the complete carved oak paneling of a room, from an ancient house at Exeter. Minor specimens, fragments of architectural works, are, of course, too numerous to specify.

These objects are, moreover, illustrated with drawings, casts, photographs, &c., of similar specimens in situ, or in other collections, and already many interesting original designs by ancient artists have been acquired. Among them may be specified the ancient drawings of a chimney-piece, and a garden fountain or pavilion at old Nonsuch Palace, attributed to Zucchero; an original working drawing, with plans, sections, &c., of a lofty stone tabernacle for the receptacle of the Host, by a German architect of the fifteenth century, with many others by ancient artists, both painters, sculptors, and architects. In the category of sculpture also may be mentioned a lavatory or domestic fountain in Istrian marble, upwards of ten feet high, a noble work of the beginning of the sixteenth century, brought from Venice, which is about being acquired; and as a work of an architectonic character, the beautiful pavement of the Audience Chamber of the Petrucci Palace at Sienna, composed of majolica tiles exquisitely painted, with an immense variety of arabesque designs, several hundreds of these tiles, all in fact that remained of the pavement, have been acquired.

Mosaics.

Mosaics form another well-defined section. Here will be found antique Greek and Roman wall and floor mosaics, important fragments dating from the fifth to the fifteenth century, of Italian glass paste mosaics, of which specimens from Milan and Ravenna respectively may be specified, and this section also is well illustrated by original drawings of works in situ.

Painted Glass.

Painted glass is represented by an increasing series of original works. First may be noticed a small window of the highest beauty and historical interest, from Torcello, in Italy-this specimen dates from the twelfth century; a large window in three lights, originally brought from Winchester College, one of the very finest examples of English fifteenth century glass; another window, fifteen feet high, in two lights, with tracery complete, from Cologne Cathedral; a window, in three divisions, of French early renaissance glass from Normandy; another in two lights from Belgium; and one of the finest specimens of modern German glass painting may be seen in a fine window executed at the Royal Glass Painting Establishment at Munich. There are also many specimens of old Flemish and Swiss armorial glass, and the latter class is illustrated in a remarkably interesting manner by upwards of fifty original cartoons and drawings by ancient glass painters of the school of Basle, in many instances signed and dated by the artists: of these a large proportion are framed and exhibited along with the specimens of glass. Like the preceding, this section also is being amply illustrated by original drawings and colored engravings of existing monuments of the art, arranged in chronological order.

Decorative Processes.

We will now pass to classes of objects of a less monumental characterdecorative furniture, coffers, cabinets, chairs, tables, bedsteads, &c., exhibiting as great a diversity of decorative processes as of periods and styles, beginning with the medieval works of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and descending to the master-pieces of modern cabinet-work, acquired from the Universal Exhibitions of 1851 and 1855. It should be remarked that while the Collection remained at Marlborough House the confined space did not allow of any great

increase in this section, the specimens being nearly always bulky, but no endeavors are now being spared to make up for former neglect.

Ceramic Section.

The Ceramic section has, on the contrary, from the first been actively developed, and has already conduced in a very marked manner to the advancement in design of British art-pottery. The ancient Italian painted earthenware-the majolica, so striking and beautiful a development of industrial art, has in particular been sedulously collected, and it is doubtful if at this moment so complete a series exists any where else. The art-pottery of Wedgwood is likewise well represented, while the beautiful modern works of Minton and other manufacturers in this country, and of Sèvres in France, are illustrated by many of the most costly and extraordinary specimens executed of late years.

Work in Metal, Bronze, &c.

Of objects which may be generally described as works in metal the Collection comprises probably about fifteen hundred specimens. It would be impossible to specify other than a few of the leading sections. First, goldsmiths' work, comprising decorative plate, all kinds of cups, salvers, chalices, ecclesiastical vessels and utensils, ornamental objects in rare and precious materials, such as agates, crystals, shells, cocoa-nuts, &c., elaborately mounted in gold and silver, make a goodly show.

A collection of knives and forks, spoons, and similar utensils, is certainly unique, both as to the number, variety, and beauty of the specimens.

Art-bronzes, especially of the quattrocento and renaissance periods, form another attractive section, in which many striking works might be specified. Decorative arms and armor, lock work-in the latter division, in particular, is an extensive series of richly-decorated locks and keys-damascening, niellowork, and the processes of chasing, engraving, etching on metals, repoussé work, &c, are illustrated in a great variety of objects of use. Here also drawings and colored photographs, from specimens in continental collections, have been added in illustration, and a special series of original engravings by goldsmiths, watch-chasers, armorers, &c., accompanies the section of goldsmiths' work.

Of jewelry and objects of personal adornment, there are many fine specimens of the medieval and cinque cento periods, oriental jewels, and modern examples of the most eminent French jewelers, selected from the 1855 Exhibition.

The section of clocks and watches is still richer, nearly all the remarkable examples from the Bernal Collection having been acquired. Here also should be mentioned a curious series of unique impressions or rubbings from the various ornamental details of watches, and likewise numerous engraved designs by watch-chasers.

Textile Fabrics.

Textile fabrics are, perhaps now for the first time, systematically collected in a public museum. This section, so important and so dependent on ornamental design, is rapidly growing, and already numbers several hundred specimens, among which may be mentioned a numerous selection of rich oriental tissues acquired from the Exhibition of 1851; ancient European examples of stuffs, lace, &c., of every description and period are also by no means wanting.

Ornamentation of Books.

An endeavor is here being made to get together a systematic series of initial letters, vignettes, title-pages, and every description of illuminated and typographical ornaments employed in the decoration of books, from the earliest period of the middle ages to the present day, and likewise of ornamental bindings. Already a collection, calculated to be of great practical use to publishers, book illustrators, binders, &c., has been accumulated; and it is intended, as soon as space and opportunity will allow, to exhibit every specimen. Several hundred cuttings from ancient illuminated manuscripts, which have been cut up at various times by ignorant possessors, from the smallest initial letter to the splendid pages of grand choral books blazing with gold and colors, are already acquired, and here alone will be found a mine of medieval ornamentation of great value to the student.

From this enumeration it will be evident that very considerable progress has been made towards the formation of a collection worthy of the nation; indeed, the chief work has been the acquisition of specimens. It is to be regretted, however, that this work did not commence earlier; the nation inevitably follows the lead of individuals, but unfortunately it has also been the last competitor in a field in which other countries have long labored. In an economical point of view this is to be regretted, inasmuch as for nearly every work of art now acquired the nation pays in pounds, where, a few years ago even, the price was shillings.

Economical reasons of this kind, however, are really unworthy of serious discussion. This great and wealthy nation can readily afford to spend even five times the pittance it now disburses on works of art; and it will be a national disgrace to us if we are content to allow our collections to remain, as is at present the case, inferior to those of many a third-rate continental State.

Loan Exhibition.

Besides the permanent acquisitions to the property of the nation, the Museum is enriched by a constant succession of works of art, contributed on loan by private collectors. This system, although not entirely without previous example in this country, the British Institution having successfully carried out this practice, as regards ancient pictures, from the beginning of the present century, is a novelty as respects institutions supported by the State, and one not as yet imitated in any other country. Nevertheless, the guarantee which stable and responsible Government institutions were best able to offer to possessors of works of art, was sure to remove their chief objection to parting with their treasures, and as might have been expected, this system of receiving objects on loan for temporary exhibition to the public has been entirely successful. The number of interesting works contributed from all classes of collectors has been limited only by the amount of space that could be allotted for their reception; and following the example of Her Majesty the Queen, who has been alike the earliest and the principal contributor, noble and wealthy connoisseurs have by voluntary offers, rather anticipated than awaited application from us.

Reproduction of Original Works.

Original specimens, whether permanently acquired or temporarily contrib uted, however, do not form the only attractions of the Collection. Modern processes of reproduction have rendered practicable the most extraordinary and faithful imitations of original works, and without mingling together originals and copies in bewildering confusion, it is intended that these facilities for the reproduction of notable objects in foreign collections or elsewhere should be developed on the very widest scale.

Objects in relief are reproducible by improved processes of molding in plaster, and likewise by the marvelous agency of the electro-deposit system, by which imitations of works in metal may be produced in absolute fac-simile. Photography, likewise, is largely available, and in the beautiful series of copies from the works in precious materials, preserved in the collection of the Louvre, and now exhibited in the Museum, may be seen an example of the extraordinary accuracy and truth, amounting indeed almost to illusion, which may be attained by making use of this art in conjunction with the technical resources of watercolor painting. Casts, electrotype copies, and colored photographs, will be procured, if possible, from all European collections; and an interesting undertaking, and one which may probably be attempted, would be the grouping together those copies from each continental collection, so that the untraveled student might study and enjoy at his leisure at home, the accumulated art riches of the world.

Another use of reproductions, which has been already alluded to, is to serve as illustrations to the analogous original specimens in our own Collection, near which they would be placed. Judicious illustration of this kind can not fail to be most useful. And, lastly, provincial Museums of Art which, it is to be hoped, will soon arise on all hands, will be largely dependent on reproduction, in default of original examples, which they can never hope to obtain to an adequate extent.