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day, when the genius of our great country shall be called 

 from its inactive and torpid state into new life and energy. 

 Sir M. A. Shee, in one of his letters, says, " that the natives 

 of these islands are not disqualified by constitution or climate 

 for attaining to excellence in art, is a position which the extra- 

 ordinary efforts of some of our countrymen, even under the most 

 mortifying discouragements, have sufficiently proved. If the 

 higher classes of art, therefore, have not eminently flourished 

 among us, to some other cause than that of incapacity must it 

 now be ascribed ; and, as judicious and liberal patronage has 

 never failed to produce great artists and great works in every 

 other country where it has been employed, to the want of this 

 essential stimulus here we are warranted in ascribing the de- 

 ficiency ; that this is the true root of the evil it requires but 

 little investigation to show." 



Allow me to add to these remarks of the President of the 

 Royal Academy, by asking, Had not Phidias the honour — the 

 stimulus — of decorating the temple of his country ? Had not 

 Raphael and Michael Angelo the Vatican, the Sistine Chapel, 

 and the friendship of Julius II. and Leo X. ? Apply then the 

 same lever, and our country will show efforts of mind equal to 

 any the world has yet produced. The late feeble efforts of the 

 government have clearly proved this : I of course allude to 

 the Pine Arts' Commission. Prom these, out of many other 

 instances which might be brought before you, it is clear that 

 national patronage is the lever which gives the impetus, and 

 propels the mighty power of genius into motion : it raised the 

 arts in Greece, and revived them in Italy ; and while it ex- 

 cites genius it gives dignity to its country. Without it, 

 Phidias might look in vain for a Temple of Minerva to employ 

 him ; Raphael and Michael Angelo would be reduced to ex- 

 haust their powers in portraits and petty productions, before 

 a Vatican or Sistine Chapel could be found to furnish them 

 with an opportunity of displaying the dignity of their art, or 

 celebrating the exploits of their age ; and it must be remem- 



