8 Dr Whe well's Inaugural Lecture. 



mond to the mighty bulk of the colossus ; true to that which 

 belongs to every part of the earth ; and this, with the effects 

 which the arts produce, not at the intervals of the traveller's 

 weary journey, but everywhere at the present hour. And, 

 further, let him see the whole population of the land — thou- 

 sands upon thousands, millions upon millions, streaming to 

 this sight, gazing their fill, day after day, at this wonderful 

 vision, inviting the men of neighbouring and of distant lands 

 to gaze with them ; looking at the objects, not like a fairy 

 picture in the distant clouds, but close at hand ; comparing, 

 judging, scrutinizing the treasures produced by the all-boun- 

 teous earth, and the indomitable efforts of man, from pole to 

 pole, and from east to west ; or, as he would learn more truly 

 to measure, from east to east again. When we have sup- 

 posed such a vision, do we not seem to have gone beyond 



'* Quicquid Grecia mendax 

 Audit in historia;" 



all the wonders of that wondrous ancient Odyssean tale ? 

 And yet, in making such a supposition, have we not been 

 exactly describing that which we have seen within these few 

 months 1 Have not we ourselves made part of the population 

 of such a charmed isle, — of the crowds which have gazed on 

 such a magic spectacle '? 



But now that we have had the spectacle before us, let us 

 consider for a moment what the vision was, and what were 

 the reflections which it excited. We had, offered to our re- 

 view, the choicest productions of human art in all nations ; 

 or, at least, collections which might be considered as re- 

 presenting all nations. Now in nations compared with 

 nations there is a difference ; in a nation compared with 

 itself at an earlier time, there is a progress. There may 

 not always be a progress in good government ; there may 

 not necessarily be, though we would gladly hope that there 

 is, a progress in virtue, in morality, in happiness. But 

 there always is, except when very adverse influences roll 

 back the common course of things, a progress in art, and 

 generally in science. In the useful and ornamental arts 

 nations are always going forwards, from stage to stage. 

 Different nations have reached different stages of this pro- 

 gress, and all their different stages are seen at once, in 



