223 Plan/or erecting Builditigs for National Collections, f April f, 



National School, ami tlic improvement Hie galleries of painting; ami sculpture 



of general taste. What miffht be added, 

 espcriallv in the department ot" painting, 

 is altogether matter of conjecture. 

 But, when we recollect that various col- 

 lections of high merit in the several de- 

 partments of the tine arts (Mr. Bour- 

 geois's and Lord Fitzwilliam's jiictures, 

 Dr. Hunter's medals, and others less 

 publicly known) have within these few 

 years been bequeathed in other direc- 

 tions, and might, it is generally' sup- 

 posed, have been left to the Biitisli 

 Museum, it is imj)ossibIe not to indulgo 

 the anticipation, that, were there suita- 

 ble accommoilalion, so situated as to 

 occupy public attention, and to satisfy 

 the feelings of the country, many would 

 lie the valuable donations with wliicii 

 pafriotio individuals would enrich tiio 

 uational collections. 



Had this subject been taken up before 

 the ground of the King's Mews had 

 been otherwise applied, that spot 

 would have afforded a most eligible 

 situation for such an edifice. Still, 

 however, proper space might no dcfubt 

 be found on the crown-lands, near St. 

 James's, the south of Pall Mall, per- 

 haps in the Green Park, &c. &c. 



Should it appear that funds are 

 already provided for the erection of 

 snfflcient buildings on the grounds be- 

 longing to Montague-house, the question 

 of the expense may not be one of diffi- 

 culty.— There are however two views 

 bearing upon the point, which seem to 

 deserve consideration. 



The first is, whether such an edifice as 

 is here contemplated (and more esjie- 

 cialiy if on a sufficient scale, as no 

 doubt it ought to be, to contain all the 

 national deposits, whether in literature, 

 science, or the fine ;ir(s,) would not be 

 the proper description of building to 

 erect as the national monument for 

 which parliament has already voted a 

 large sum of money. That patriotic 

 intention has lain dormant, much more 

 on account of the difficulty of deciding 

 upon an ai))propriate purpose and cha- 

 racter of building, tlian ovving to any 

 want of arciiitectural talent in the 

 country, for the exercise of which, a 

 definite object of (his description would 

 be the most fair and the most favoura- 

 ble subject of competition that possibly 

 could be desired. 



The next resource presents, on its 

 first aspect, an objection that must be 

 fatal to it, uidess over-ruled by a candid 

 review of all the facts and circumstances 

 of the case. It is, that admittance to 



should be on the footing established at 

 the Royal Exhiitition at Somerset- 

 house, and the British Institution in 

 Pall Mall. 



If there existed in England any fund 

 out of which the National Museum 

 were supplied, as is the case in many 

 countries in Europe, — if it were not in- 

 dispensably necessary to go to parlia- 

 nient for all its wants, then the demand- 

 ing entrance-money would be alto- 

 gether out of the question : but as mat- 

 ters now stand, and the public must, in 

 one way or another, create the funds 

 necessary for such an establishment, it 

 does unquestionably seem far more 

 rational, that the supplies should be fur- 

 nished thus voluntarily by tliosc who 

 frequent it, than for government to have 

 the odium of proposing, and the coun- 

 try the burden, of a tax for such a pur- 

 pose. Such an arrangement, among 

 other inconveniences, must place the 

 welfare and ini|)rovement of the esta- 

 blishment in dependance upon the cir- 

 cumstiinccs and character of the minis- 

 ter of the day. 



If the objeclion, on the score of deli- 

 cacy, be successfully met on an unpre- 

 judiced examination of the real state of 

 the ca?e, there can remain little doubt o.f 

 the advantages that would accrue from 

 this plan to the general purposes of a 

 national collection, as well as to its- 

 pecuniary interests. In London, for 

 instance, the doors of any public exhi- 

 bition could not M'ith safety be laid 

 open indiscriminately, as in the midst of 

 the police of Paris. So that, on consi- 

 dering the different expedients which 

 arc resorted to on that account, we sec, 

 tiiat, though tiie trustees of the British 

 ]\Tuseum are animated by the most 

 anxious possible desire to adoi)t the 

 most liberal arrangements in regar<l to 

 visitors; still there, where admission is 

 without payment, a degree of restraint 

 and apprehension is unavoidably thrown 

 in tlio way of access to their collection, 

 totally unfavourable to the freedom and 

 encouragement of genius; while unli- 

 miteil gratificatiiin is, with perfect 

 security, granted and enjoyed at the 

 Royal Exhibition, ami the Britisli 

 Institution, where entrance-money is 

 taken. 



It is equally unquestionable, and 

 well known to all who have taken any 

 concern in such matters, that in this 

 country people flock much more rea- 

 dily, and with a far different degree of 

 interest, to exhibitions for which a 

 moderate 



