NATURE 



277 



THURSDAY, AUGUST 8, 1872 



THE GOVERNMENT AND THE SOCIETY OF 

 ANTIQUARIES 



THE Government has outdone itself. Mr. Lowe and 

 Mr. Ayrton have added another to their many 

 claims on the esteem of their admiring fellow-country- 

 men, another to their many eftbrts to place England at 

 the front in all matters relating to culture, and let us add 

 another to the many indications that if science and culture 

 are to go on in any large senss here at all, there must be 

 some very considerable change in our present arrangements. 



This time it is not a question of refusing a monument 

 to Faraday or a search after Livingstone, of insulting a 

 distinguished man of science at Kew, or any point relating 

 to the investigation of any phenomena, such as the tides, 

 which it will be recollected " My Lords," after having given 

 their " anxious attention " to, were good enough to charac- 

 terise as of an " interesting nature.'' This time the Govern- 

 ment has changed its tactics altogether. Not content with 

 hurling refusals at those societies whose duty it is to remind 

 the Government of the claims of the sciences to which they 

 devote themselves, the Government has singled out a 

 society, begged it to do certain work, of course at the 

 expense of the members, and after this work has been 

 well and promptly done, it has turned round, and practically 

 told the society that it is a fool for its pains. This, of 

 course, is a coup dc maitre, one admirably adapted to 

 keep the societies, as well as architects, sculptors, and 

 gardeners down, and we can well imagine that IMcssrs. 

 Lowe and Ayrton have enjoyed their Bank holiday with 

 a greater relish with this on their mind. But there is 

 another point of view in which the transaction is less 

 satisfactory, and to point this out it is necessary to men- 

 tion some details. 



We gather from the Times that prior to Mr. Layard's 

 appointment as Chief Commissioner for Works and 

 Buildings in 1868, " the office had usually been bestowed 

 on some member of the party in power for whom there 

 was no convenient place in the Cabinet, yet whose clauns 

 could not safely be disregarded. Sir William Molesworth 

 had occupied the position as a distinguished champion of 

 Radical opinions. So had Lord Morpeth as a scion of 

 the Whigs, and Lord John Manners as a representative of 

 the Tories. Sir Benjamin Hall succeeded to the place 

 not so much because he represented, like his predecessors, 

 a great political party, as that he secured for the Ministry 

 of which he was a member the confidence of the metro- 

 politan vestries. After Lord John Manners' second term 

 of office the place ceased to be one of Cabinet rank ; but 

 when, after a third trial of Lord John Manners, Mr. 

 Layard came into office with Mr. Gladstone, a new theory 

 as to the duties of the place appears to have been initiated. 

 Mr. Layard, setting aside his political claims, was well 

 known to the public as a distinguished archaeologist and 

 man of letters." One of Mr. Layard's first acts was to 

 courteously request the Society of Antiquaries to furnish 

 him with " a list of regal and other historical tombs or 

 monuments existing in cathedrals, churches, and other 

 public places and buildings," such as it might be desirable 



VOL. VI. 



to " place under the protection and supervision of the 

 Government, with a view to their proper custody and pre- 

 servation." 



Thereupon the Society of Antiquaries, whose aid Mr. 

 Layard's predecessors — whose only thoughts had been of 

 place and party — had never required before, set to work 

 in a most vigorous manner. They passed resolutions 

 which were forwarded to the Government ; they corre- 

 sponded with their local secretaries, they appointed a 

 numerous "Sepulchral Monuments Committee;" they 

 divided England and Wales into districts, and made 

 most minute inquiries ; prepared a list of 53 1 monuments, 

 which they considered to be included in the terms of Mr. 

 Layard's letter ; and communicated them to the Govern- 

 ment with a report pointing out the desirability of the pro- 

 posed Government action as evidenced by the demolitions 

 which had already occurred, and stating that tlie work 

 had been one of enormous labour. 



By the time the report was sent in, however, Mr. Layard 

 had left the Office of Works, and Mr. Gladstone having ap- 

 parently come to the conclusion that no culture was requi- 

 site for the head of that office, Mr. Ayrton had been 

 appointed. When the Prime Minister rewarded the im- 

 portant services rendered by Mr. Ayrton to his country 

 by placing him in a position of considerable emolument, 

 it can readily be understood that the lucre formed but a 

 small part of the reward ; and on the receipt of a letter 

 from the Society of Antiquaries, in March, this gentleman 

 entered upon the sweets of office with a vengeance. The 

 Society was very quickly informed (i) that Mr. Layard's 

 letter, on which they had acted with such alacrity and 

 dihgence, had been written " without the authority of the 

 Treasury having been at any time obtained ; " (2) "that 

 the First Commissioner has now been informed by their 

 Lordships that they must decline to authorise him to un- 

 dertake any duties in respect to the regal and historical 

 tombs or monuments referred to ; " (3) " that the object 

 contemplated could not apparently be accomplished with- 

 out legislation ; " and (4) that there was " no intention 

 either of introducing a Bill or of laying before Parliament 

 the report which has been made by the Sepulchral Monu- 

 ments Committee." 



The Times, in commenting upon this strange conduct, 

 distinguishes, in reviewing Mr. Ayrton's conduct, between 

 "the responsibilities which weighed upon him and those 

 which encumbered his predecessor;" because "Mr. 

 Layard, plainly owing to the enervating influence of his 

 artistic training and literary associations, felt that in the 

 Office of Works it was his business to encourage the fine 

 arts, to protect the great historic monuments of the 

 country, and to preserve from the ravages of time or 

 ignorance those priceless memorials of the past which 

 may be neglected by their casual owners ;" while " Mr. 

 Ayrton came into office inspired with a faith the very 

 opposite of this, and flushed with the success which his 

 convictions, not wholly to the satisfaction of those with 

 whom he came into contact, had obtained at the 

 Treasury." 



But we think that the Times is hard upon Mr. Ayrton, 

 inasmuch as the Lords of the Treasury are let off scot- 

 free. Any one acquainted with the ordinary working of 

 our political system will have a shrewd suspicion that, if 

 ithadb:en a qrestioa of giving a place to so ne little 



