President and Council of the Royal Academy. 25 



veniently situated for communication with each other, and 

 which, together with the surrounding country, make up tie 

 great university of Italy, which may be said immediately or 

 mediately to have produced ail the great restorers of arts and 

 letters. The collections of Rome are not in the same danger 

 of being dispersed as formerly ; for all the fine works of art 

 which have been found or purchased for many years past 

 are lodged in the Clementine museum, and belong to the 

 Roman people ; the nephews of popes do not now marry 

 into the families of crowned heads, and by that means give 

 their powerful relations the power to seize their collections 

 by inheritance; besides which, the Reman government will 

 in future permit only duplicates of antique siatues or inferior 

 works to pass out of the state. 



I can assure the petitioners that the Barberini and GiuS- 

 tinian collections are not " wholly carried off:" it is true 

 that a few years back some few articles were injudiciously 

 sold out of them ; but they are at this time great and valua- 

 ble collections : I can assure them likewise that four of the 

 best statues and some other articles from the Negroni col- 

 lection are in the Clementine museum in Rome. 



Having gone through an examination of the object and 

 principal arguments of the petition, it only remains to say 

 something concerning those by whom it is signed. Several 

 of them are persons highly esteemed for their industry and 

 talents in painting, sculpture, and architecture. In this 

 latter study the French have been particularly successful ; 

 and in this place I cannot forbear doing justice to the merits 

 of my former friend and fellow -student in Rome, M. Percier, 

 although he is not of the number of the petitioners : he is 

 a man of uncommon virtue, his compositions are the most 

 beautiful architectural assemblages; his' drawings have been 

 much admired, and sold for large sums in England. From 

 a considerable knowledge of several of the petitioners whilst 

 we pursued our studies at the same time in Rome, 1 shall 

 set down the following anecdote only : — About ten years 

 since, a M. Drouvais died, who was a pensioner of the 

 French academy in that city. He was universally regretted 

 for his extraordinary talents in painting. His fellow-stu- 

 dents, eleven in number, instantlv agreed to honour him 

 with a marble monument. M. Michalton, one of the pre- 

 sent petitioners, was the sculptor employed, and nobly gave 

 his labour; the other students p?id by subscription for the 

 marble and other expenses out of their lirtle pensions of six 

 shillings per week allowed bv their government to each, ex- 

 clusive of their board and' lodging in the academy. The 



design 



