NA TURE 



{Feb. 5) 1885 



carrying out some parts of the reform, and ultimately he 

 was taken from the Records Office to assist in remodelling 

 the postal system. 



His next dealings were with railway administration, and 

 he took part in the "battle of the gauges," but this work 

 was, we should think, somewhat out of his line. It is 

 dull and heavy reading after the fun and energy shown 

 over postal reform. At length he emerges from dealings 

 with railways and docks into the more pleasant paths of 

 art. Under the nom de plume of Felix Summerly he 

 produced handbooks on art. In this connection he threw 

 himself into wood-engraving, and so " mastered the 

 technicalities of etching on copper that my works obtained 

 admission (vol. i. p. 103) to the Royal Academy." In 

 Summerly's handbooks, also, essays in bookbinding were 

 made, and the beautiful designs of Holbein, as well as 

 the fifteenth century patterns for leather still remaining in 

 Durham Cathedral, gave suggestions which were used. 

 The Summerly tea-service, which won a prize offered bv 

 the Society of Arts, is still much admired. An engraving 

 is given in vol. ii. p. 17S. Out of his work under this 

 head sprang his connection with the Board of Trade and 

 their School of Design. 



Henry Cole as Felix Summerly strove to "make 

 art common " — a reproach he would have accepted 

 joyfully. Assisted by the best art of his day, he 

 produced artistic books for children, prepared descrip- 

 tive catalogues of the art treasures of the country, and 

 endeavoured to realise Gibson's ideal panel, in which is 

 represented the marriage of Art and Commerce. His next 

 move in this direction was to persuade the Society of 

 Arts to get up a national exhibition of British manu- 

 factures. Prince Albert was the active President of this 

 Society. It was he who developed the idea into a uni- 

 versal exhibition — the Great Exhibition of 1S51. At this 

 part the notes are particularly full. It is as if Henry Cole 

 had never done anything remarkable before or since. If 

 this gigantic undertaking was a gigantic success, the 

 credit is largely due to the energy and ability of Henry 

 Cole, who was rewarded with the decoration of C.B. 



The work of the Great Exhibition and the other exhibi- 

 tions which followed interfered for a while with the deve- 

 lopment of the two greatest undertakings of this busy 

 creative life. We refer to the South Kensington Museum 

 and the Science and Art Department. The Museum 

 stands by general admission first of such institutions. 

 Here the designer and the artisan may study a vast col- 

 lection of the products of human ingenuity. The idea 

 seems to have sprung naturally from the Great Exhi- 

 bition of 1851. If such a show be good for the deve- 

 lopment of manufacturing and mechanical ingenuity and 

 for creating artistic taste, why not have one in perman- 

 ence ? When the question arose what was to be done 

 with the surplus profits of the Great Exhibition, it occurred 

 to the Prince Consort and the Executive to found a 

 museum for a permanent exhibition. Accordingly, on 

 accepting from the Board of Trade the task of reforming 

 it instruction throughout the land, Cole recommended 

 Uie purchase of art objects from the Exhibition. The 

 usual objections of red tape stopped the way for a time, 

 but the indefatigable reformer, backed by the Prince 

 Consort and Lord Granville, triumphed as usual, and a 

 Committee was appointed, empowered to spend a sum of 



5000/. This transaction is the real origin of South Kens- 

 ington Museum. The collection then purchased (185 1) 

 was the nucleus of a museum of art manufactures "which 

 should have its connection through the whole country and 

 help to make the schools of art as practical in their working 

 as those of France and Germany " (vol. i. p. 283). We may 

 here remark that though there is a circulating department 

 at South Kensington Museum it is by no means in a 

 forward state. A few pictures are lent for six weeks at a 

 time to local schools of art, and whenever an exhibition 

 is got up, South Kensington contributes specimens with 

 not too liberal a hand ; but Mr. Mundella has promised 

 more, though in indefinite terms. Wherever a local 

 museum is maintained in fair efficiency there should be a 

 division supplied continuously from South Kensington. 

 It is not enough to wait for local action. The department 

 should invite applications and raise public attention by 

 means of a letter (not circular) sent now to this mayor 

 and now to that. The subject would then probably be 

 brought forward in the Town Council and discussion and 

 inquiry would result. This proceeding would be dread- 

 fully unofficial no doubt ; but South Kensington, which 

 inherits the traditions of a sagacious chief, is perhaps the 

 most hitman of all government departments. It can 

 stoop to consider ideas from outside. Possibly steps have 

 been already taken in this direction as regards the Liver- 

 pools and Birminghams of our land. The writer's expe- 

 rience with much smaller towns has led to the conclusion 

 that temporary aid of the kind above indicated is much 

 needed in the interests of art development; temporary, 

 for with regard to the Government and local effort, the 

 aim should be to throw the dependency as soon as prudent 

 on its own resources. First the child is nursed and 

 coddled, then he is placed " under tutors and governors," 

 who harden him off, and at last he is left to manage for 

 himself and to pick himself up when he falls. A vigorous 

 son of the north, whose heart was in this work, laid this 

 down as the best policy : " First a stick and then a kick." 

 It is remarkable, indeed, how small a part of the aid 

 given by the Government reaches the institution for 

 which it is intended. For scientific apparatus teachers 

 have again and again gone into the open market and 

 done better than with the Government aid of 50 per cent- 

 through accredited agents. In books we have known a 

 great part of the aid given by the Science and Art De- 

 partment to be swallowed up by insufficient deduction 

 from the published price and by unusual charges for 

 packing. The supply of art specimens also is faulty in 

 this respect. It is probable that competition would not 

 permanently remove these objections. The Department 

 should in our opinion give, and give not needful things 

 but accessories — not the beef but the condiments — and 

 having thus evoked a more cultivated appetite should 

 leave it to seek its own gratification. 



Those who wish to know with what painful steps and 

 slow the magnificent collection at South Kensington was 

 got together, will find full particulars in the latter part of 

 the first volume of this interesting memoir. It was started 

 at Marlborough House, beginning with the art specimens 

 which had been collected for the old Schools of Design 

 and the purchases from the Great Exhibition. Subse- 

 quently, grants were made by Parliament for purchasing 

 specimens of artistic specimens of all ages, and the never- 



