PLYMOUTH INSTITUTION. 165 



bespeak the poet as well as the painter. Since the death of Sir T. 

 Lawrence, Pickersgill has taken the lead in portrait ; his picture of 

 Baron Humboldt has added much to his reputation ; Wilkie has 

 exhibited a picture, entitled the " Confession of a monk," which has» 

 been contemplated with great admiration ; Etty has produced a 

 picture, from Spencer's " Amoret rescued by, Britomart," which 

 fully sustains his reputation ; Turner, always great, has even exceed- 

 ed himself in the " Rotterdam ferry-boat,'^ he has also brought out 

 a picture of the " Bridge of Sighs," very high in merit ; Haydon is 

 painting the " Reform Banquet," for Earl Grey, several prominent 

 literary characters have sat to him. 



Mr. Ball considered that we stand unrivalled in water-colour ex- 

 hibitions, and mentioned that the works of Miss Sharp, Messrs. 

 Prout, Coply Fielding, &c. &c. were equal to any thing hitherto 

 produced in their several departments. 



He judged it a fact worthy of record that out of 1,100 pictures in 

 the Royal Academy 600 were portraits, and that the historical sub- 

 jects were few; this department being now, almost wholly, in the 

 hands of Etty, Wilkie, Hilton, and Eastlake. After alluding to the 

 numerous provincial exhibitions, and paying a just tribute to the 

 genius of Sir Joshua Reynolds and Sir Thomas Lawrence, Mr. Ball 

 proceeded to notice the intended National Gallery, for which the 

 reformed parliament has voted a grant of £80,000. 



This building is to be erected in Trafalgar Square, and to it will 

 be added the Royal Academy ; Mr. Wilkins has the superintend- 

 ance of the work. Mr. Ball expressed his fear that this edifice will 

 be on too small a scale for such a great nation as Britain, and re- 

 gretted that want of taste and judgment which is multiplying small 

 buildings, instead of aiming to produce some such noble structure 

 as St. Paul's or the Louvre. Had a large palace been begun, in- 

 stead of Carlton House, Brighton Pavilion, and Buckingham Palace, 

 it might have been completed by this lime, and, besides being hon- 

 orable to the nation, would be of advantage in disseminating good 

 taste through the empire. 



In alluding to the triumphal arch (copied from the Louvre) which 

 is being erected in front of Buckingham Palace, he considered it 

 beautiful in itself, but badly situated, being too near the building : 

 he was also of opinion that the money voted by parliament for the 

 Waterloo Monument would have been well expended in erecting a 

 triumphal arch across Piccadilly, decorated by symbols and trophies 

 of our great generals and brave soldiers in the peninsular wars : 

 such an arch would be a momento to succeeding ages that Britain, 



