xxxviii Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria. 



one real poet in a million of men, there may be many 

 eloquent writers who are no poets ; and of these, I am sure 

 there is a large quota in Victoria. I should like to gather 

 some of them together under Section G. 



Then of the " Fine Arts, including Architecture." Con- 

 cerning this hitter, if I were to say all I think at this 

 moment, I should make every Victorian architect my deadly 

 enemy, for this Marvellous Melbourne, in my judgment, is 

 only a large collection of architectural eyesores. It is an 

 ocean of ugliness, with a very few small islets of beauty ; a 

 wilderness of brick and stucco, with here and there an oasis 

 of honest masonry. 



Of sculpture we have not much, and this little is chiefly 

 imported. The examples at the National Gallery are many 

 of them melancholy illustrations of probably good intention^ 

 but disastrous ill-judgment on the part of the buyer. I except 

 the majority of the casts, especially from the antique. It is the 

 marbles, for the most part, that make me sad. The latest of 

 these illustrations of imperfect judgment in the selection is The 

 Bull and the Herdsman by Boehm. The sculptor of this work, 

 R. A. though he be, furnishes, I think, another instance of mis- 

 directed talent. It is especially the purpose of sculpture, I take 

 it, to elevate, to refine, to exalt the mind above gross surround- 

 ings. And I do not think a bull and a bull-keeper suggest any 

 thoughts that are elevated, refined, or exalted. The work- 

 manship of this piece of statuary is excellent, no doubt. The 

 thing is as like a bull as it is possible to make it in marble, 

 but I will not believe that excellence of technical handicraft 

 represents the highest condition of art. A turnip, a pumpkin, 

 a mangel-wurzel, a stump of a tree, a sack of potatoes, a 

 wheelbarrow, might all be carved in marble, and they might 

 demand from the sculptor great manij^ulative skill, but what 

 then? They would still be severally turnips, ])umpkins, 

 mangel-wurzels, tree-stum]:)s, potato-sacks, and wheelbarrows. 

 They would lead you up to nothing higher than themselves ; 

 and so of this marble bull. Such a work would be appro- 

 priate enough for a tavern sign, or as the centre-piece of an 



