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the Gladiator, beautiful as they are, have an appearance of 

 labour, with a display of art. Perhaps I cannot better convey 

 my ideas on this point than by quoting a passage from the 

 poet Campbell, when speaking comparatively on the quan- 

 tum of learning requisite for a poet ; he says, " When nature 

 takes genius by the hand, she always conducts her pupils to 

 the tender and the beautiful, and by a shorter road than the 

 learned languages. The best of Burns' poems, in my opinion, 

 is his "Tarn o' Shanter •" it was said of the most perfect Greek 

 sculptures, that they seemed rather melted than chiselled mar- 

 ble ; in like manner, this poem always appears to me as if the 

 poet had not written, but improvised it ; as if he had never 

 blotted a line, or clipt off a fragment of its language, but had 

 cast it off, unpremeditated, from the glowing mould of his 

 imagination." Had the great Sculptor of the present day 

 (Gibson) had the same advantages and the same stimulant ap- 

 plied, there is little or no doubt that his name would rank 

 with that of any man the world ever produced. In what he 

 has done he is unsurpassed, and only wants the opportunity 

 to show the greatness of his powers. 



Before I leave this department of my subject, I trust I may 

 be allowed to hope that the day is not far distant when some 

 effort may be made to draw from obscurity these long neglect- 

 ed branches of art. I think it will be admitted that the re- 

 sources of our country are fully adequate to raise its dormant 

 energies. There never was a period when the public mind 

 was so fully prepared to receive impressions from the higher 

 departments of Painting and Sculpture. That there is a de- 

 cided advance in general taste among the higher orders and 

 the middle classes of society we may fairly infer ; that they are 

 prepared to feel and to enjoy them, and to aid in their pro- 

 motion ; — every department of art would grow with their 

 growth, and strengthen with their strength. If our govern- 

 ment is slow to acknowledge the advantages arising from their 

 cultivation, and still slower to act in their promotion, let the 



