6 Dr WhewelPs Inaugural Lecture. 



ginning taken a lofty, and comprehensive, and hopeful view 

 of the great undertaking of which the first act is now com- 

 pleted ; and especially to that mind which has always taken 

 the most lofty, and comprehensive, and hopeful view. 



And in order to carry into effect this suggestion, it has 

 been determined that persons well qualified to draw from the 

 spectacle the series of scientific morals which it offers, should 

 present them to you here ; — that critics should analyse for 

 you some of the fine compositions with which you have be- 

 come acquainted ; — that men of science should explain to 

 you what you ought to learn from such an exhibition of art. 

 And it has been thought that it might not be useless that 

 you should be reminded, in the first place, how great and 

 unique the occasion is, and how peculiar are some of the les- 

 sons which even the most general spectator, unfit to enter 

 into the details of any of the special arts, may draw from it. 



For indeed it is obvious, at a glance, how great and unex- 

 ampled is the opportunity thus given to us, of taking a sur- 

 vey of the existing state of art in every part of the w^orld. 

 I have said, that if, in the sixteenth century, an intelligent 

 spectator could have travelled from land to land, he might, 

 in that way, have seen a wonderful collection of the works of 

 man in many different countries ; and combining all these 

 in his thoughts, he would have had in his mind a represen- 

 tation of the whole progress of human art and industry, up 

 to the last moment, and a picture of the place which each 

 nation at that moment occupied in the line of that progress. 

 But what time, what labour, what perseverance, what hard- 

 ships, what access to great and powerful men in every land, 

 what happiness of opportunity, would be implied in the com- 

 pletion of such a survey ! A life would scarcely sufiice for it; a 

 man could scarcely be found who would achieve it, with all ap- 

 pliances and means which wealth and power could give. He 

 must, lik the philosophers of ancient days, spend all his 

 years of vigour in travelling ; must roam in the varied regions 

 of India ; watch the artisan in the streets of the towns of 

 China ; dive into the mines of Norway and of Mexico ; live 

 a life in the workshops of England, France, and Germany ; 

 and trace the western tide of industry and art as it spreads 



