-1808.] 
nent native painters or sculptors; nor 
‘did their more refined descendants as- 
pire to form the secoud epoch of painting, 
“until that art had received so great a 
share of the homage of fame as to render 
excellence in it worthy the ambition of 
genius. 
To apply this to ourselves, I an afraid 
the sentence which so aptly describes the 
Greek nation, cannot be hazarded of us 
by a lover of truth; at least, a prepos- 
session in favour of the maxim it licul- 
cates is not popular among us, There 
subsists, in’ this respect, a radical differ- 
rence between our motives of action, and 
those of the Grecians. The mind of the 
painter may indeed, atan early period of 
his career, show jtself susceptible of that 
highest incentive to exccllence—the avas 
Tice of praise; but oa what ground shail 
he preteud long to cherish a sentiment, 
“whose utmost gratification is not censi- 
dered by avy around bin either as the 
“pdbulumpy the recompense of exertion. 
No one, it is true, will deny the high 
sense which an Englishman entertains of 
‘honour, or the devout respect which he 
‘pays to it. Public opinion prefers it to 
life. Glory is pursued through tracks of 
‘danger with an ardour beyond all paral- 
del of former aves or nations: bat it will 
‘be recollected that this pursuit exists 
‘eluiefly in those professions which afford 
Occasions to display great personal da- 
ring, together with equal intrepidity of 
mind, and where the hero rushes forward, 
‘unappalled, though all the paths of ho- 
nour and renown conduct but to the 
grave. Nelson stands, in our own day, 
the pre-eminent, but not the uncontested, 
possessor of the highest patriotic glory. 
_« Whither, except in that hero’s line of 
y 
action, or its associate classes, shall we 
turn to find a second example of this pre- 
dominant passion of glory? In most 
other departments of life it would scarce- 
ly be satire, and still less hyperbole, to 
assert tliat praise, fame, merely as praise 
‘and fame, are derided or lamented by the 
“majority of thisyreat metropolis. Relate 
‘to any opulent citizen a scheme which 
you have just formed of social improve- 
_ ment :—you wait his reply—his first con- 
sequent question is, How much do you 
teed to get by it ?—It is not past the 
yelief of some whom L[ bave met with, 
that, in a most eminently patriotic Lite- 
rary Institution, recently established in 
‘the city of London, slinres were recom- 
ake for purchase, not by—at least 
not only by, the social advantages which ~ 
"the plan was sufficiently calculated to 
The Enguirer.—No. XXVI. 
439 
promote, but by the rise in value, which 
every share was likely to experience 
witlfin three months from its opening! 
“Good heavens! (exclaims the hermit) 
are all human sensations to be estimated 
by a per-centage? Cannot men be in- 
duced to think that there is an enjoyment 
if conscious desert or social utility, on- 
attended by views of opulence?” The 
hermit does not live upon Change, 
Vhese reasonings, indeed, ave formed 
on instances taken from tbe ranks of ine- 
diocrity;—and wherefore should we look 
hivher? Shall we, by directing our views 
upward, find there examples of the love 
of glory exempt from that of wealth? or 
shall we encounter the recent records of 
the highest situation to which the ambi- 
ton of an English subject can aspire, 
twice accepted on stipulations by which 
a source of wealth was previously secured, 
and provision for life and luxury rendered 
independent of success or miscarriage ?— 
But polities are not to my present pur- 
pose; itis only to my purposé to infer 
frou’ what has been stated, that, if the 
desire of praise be the sele spring of ex- 
cellence in the arts, that excellence can 
scarcely be hoped to arise among us in 
the present state of the public knowledge 
and public sentiment respecting them. 
Conscious probably of this situation 
ef the public mind, and convinced of the 
dithiculties in which painters were involy-~ 
ed trom the general imperfect knowledge 
of the nature of their pursuits, the bene- 
ficent patrons of the British Institution 
assembled to consult ov their hardships, 
and resolved to demonstrate the esteem 
to which they were entitled, by conferring 
ample pecuniary rewards on their labours. 
This is. certainly a mark of distingtion, 
which speaks a language intelligible to all, 
and will have no inconsiderable effect in 
persuading the more opulent classes of 
society of the real value and importance 
of the arts. 
That zealous Institution, perfectly uni- 
form and consistent in its views, com- 
menced a market (so long in vain desired) 
for the pictures and sculptures of British 
artists, and, as appears by some late state- 
ments of its accounts, has already dis- 
tributed more than four thousand pounds 
sterling among the open and empty pock- 
ets of persons of that description, In ad- 
dition to these bounties, it has proceeded 
tu offer pecuniary prizes to young pain- 
ters, whom it likewise furnishes with some 
restricted assistance in the opportunities 
of copying from ancient pictures. This 
is hitherto the task which it has proposed 
to 
