1797-] 
and delightful in fituation, commanding a 
_ beautiful profpect of the river Towy and 
its. fertile vale. 
joining the houfe will be allotted for the 
exclufive ufe of the young gentlemen. 
Subferiptions will be received by the 
treafurer, Mr. W. Morgan, merchant, in 
Caermarthen, from whom any additional: 
information may be obtainéd. 
SEE 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
T is frequently contended, by thofe who 
comfider a monarchical government 
alone calculated to produce real happenc/s 
and profperity to a nation, that the fine 
arts cannot flourifh ina republic: becaufe, 
fay they, individual wealch 1s effentially 
neceflary to encourage the labours of the 
-artift ; and that, confequently, where pro- 
perty is more equally diftributed, the 
ftimulatives to exertion being lefs, the 
atts will not experience any progrefs. 
From this opinion I beg leave to dif- 
fent, and to offer to the public, through 
the medium of your ufeful and entertain- 
ing Repofitory, my humble opinion ; folely 
with a view to excite fome enquiry, which 
may elucidate a fubje& of no fmall im- 
‘portance at the prefent moment, when 
a neighbouring nation, after crufhing the 
ftupendous fabric of the moft cruel def- 
potifm, and ereéting on its ruins a fyftem 
deftined to be the pride of the univerfe, is 
tran{porting to its capital thofe wonderful 
produétions of the fine arts, which, for 
ages paft, have been the envy of the artift, 
and the boaft of the Italian fchool. 
When’ we review the page of ancient 
hiftory, we fhall find, that when Rome 
was free, the fine arts gradually attained 
to greater perfection, till the fetters of 
tyranny-and opprefsion deprived her of 
het rights and liberties: ineGrecce, they 
appear to have arrived at their height 
about the time of Alexander the Great: 
hut from that moment they rapidly de. 
clined, with the energy of a free people. 
Petronius Arbiter afcribes the. decline 
of the fine arts in Rome, to opulence, 
avarice, and luxury. ‘‘ Immerfed,” he 
fays, ** im drunkenne/s and debauchery, we 
(: want the {pirit to cultivate the arts we pof- 
Ses; we fudy vice alone, and vice ts all we 
teach.” From this it may be inferred, 
that opulence, with its attendants, tend to 
depre{s rather than to encourage the fine 
arts; and although by the immenfe wealth 
of individuals, many artifts are in- 
troduced to public notice, who might 
etherwife have pafled their lives in obfcu- 
One acre of ground ad- . 
Liberty favourable to the Arts. | 429 
rity, yet how {mall is the number of fuch, 
when compared with thofe on whofe fu~ 
perior abilities Fortune has never deigned 
to fmile, who, are doomed to pafs their 
days the inhabitants of a garret, the 
miferable children of penury and woe ! 
[f, therefore, opulence and luxury are 
unfavourable to the progrefs of the fine 
arts, they will flourith in that nation, 
where the government holds facred the 
libertiés of the fubjeét, and into which 
thefe vices have made {mall inroads; the 
people being alike interefted to ferve each 
other, and increafe the general happinefs, 
a fpirit of laudable emulation will arife, 
genius will fhine in its native {plendour, 
and true merit univerfally meet with its 
juft reward. . 
‘It cannot be denied, that the fine arts 
have rifen to great perfeétion in this king. 
dom during the laft two centuries: but 
where have been the models for the 
ftatuary ? Where the greateft defigns for 
the paint¢r ?—In Italy; and were ‘they 
not, many of them, the productions of 
artifts when Itely was free ? 
_The revolutions of empires, no doubt, 
frequently alter national charafters ; but 
mankind are not yet fo depraved, nor 
fo deftitute of reafon, as to be deaf to 
the voice of liberty. And in that ftare 
where true freedom exifts, the fine arts will 
increafe in perfe€tion, in a much greater 
degree, than where the gorgeous palace, 
and the {plendid equipage, alone are per- 
mitted to demand the moft fervile refpect ; 
but where numbers of honeft and ingenious 
artifts are fuffered to drag through life, 
cold and deftirute, contemned and ridiculed 
by pride and ignorance. 
ce ky T9707. M. L. 

To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
UPON reading the letter of your corre- 
fpondent, S, M. in your laft Num- . 
ber, I expected, that before he ventured 
to recommend the writing of words as 
they are pronounced, he would refute the 
old (and I think as yet unanfwered) ob- 
jection, that fuch a mode would confound 
all etymology, and thereby introduce great 
confufion into the Englifh language. For 
inftance, by the new method, all words 
ending in “0, or #92, would, I fuppofe, be 
{pelled in /Zo and Jhon; as, mofhon, quefifoon, 
nafbon, &c. Bs 
of their etymology would be erafed : and - 
the fhorter the word, as in xo/hon, mofoca, 
the more effeétually would this be done. 
Befides, I will venture to fay, that jit is © 
impra¢hieable, by any arrangement of let- 
ters, 
By which means every trace - 

