174 
ing, at an immenfe expence, a vaft number 
of fine prints, and endeavouring to efta- 
biith an“Enelith hiftorical {choo} of paint- 
ing, he has expended more than’ three 
hundred and filty theufand pounds. The 
benefits that were thus obiained by the 
arts and artifts muft be obvious to every 
one; but the incalculable advantages that ° 
will accrue to numerous branches of bu- 
finefs “connected with them, and to the 
commerce of the country, though equally 
certain, are not at firit fight quite fo ob- 
vious. They branch out into a number 
of particulars, and lead to confequences 
that give this highly refpectable charac- 
ter a right to be clafled among the moft 
uleful members of the community, and te 
the tile of a benefactor to his country. 
We muti poftpone a few thoughts on this 
fobje&t until the next Retrefpect, by which 
time we may be enabled to fay fomething 
more of the plan, and correct any error 
that may poflibly be in the following 
ftatement. From ali theimformation we have 
been able to obtain, we believe, that it 3s 
inten fed to draw the lottery in Guilchall; 
that there are fixty prizes confifling of 
capital piétures, drawings, and books of 
prints; that the capital prize, confiting 
of the whole of the pictures now exhibit- 
ing at the Shakefpeare Gallery, and in- 
cluding the premifes for an unexpired 
term of fixty-four years, has coft the pro- 
prieters upwardsof thirty thoufand pounds, 
Ir is intended to have 21,000 tickets, at 
three gu neas exch, and the hoider of every 
unfuccefs'ul ticket will be entitled to 
one guinca’s worth of prints, so that 
this will be literally a lottery without a 
blank. 
For Sir W. Ander|on. 
“pear sir, Cheapfide, Feb. 4, 1804. 
‘¢ The kindnefs with which you have under- 
taken to resrefent my cafe, cails upon me to 
lay open to you with the utmoft candour the 
circumf@ances attending it, which I will now 
endeavour to do as briefly as poffible. 
<< Jrisabove fixty years fince I began to ftudy 
the art of engraving, in the courfe of which 
time, befides employing that long period of 
life in my profeflion, with an induftry and af- 
fiduity that would be improper in me to de- 
{cribe, I have laid out with my brethren, in 
promoting the commerce of the Fine Arts in 
this country, above three hundred and fifty 
thoufand pounds 
«s When I firft began bufinefs, the whole 
commerce of prints in this country confifted 
in importing foreign prints, principally from 
France, to fupply the cabinets of the curious 
in this kingdom. Impreffed with the idea 
that the genius of our own countrymen, if 
properly encouraged, was equal to that of fo- 
reigners, 1 fet about eftabling @ Schaol of 
Monthly Retrofped of the Fine Arts. 
[March Ks 
Engraving in England, with what fuccefs, the 
public are well acquainted. It is perhaps at 
prefent fufficient to fay, that the whole 
_courfe of that commerce ischanged; very few 
prints being now imported into this countrys 
while the foreign market is principally fup- 
* plied with prints from England. 
<< fn effe€ting this favourite plan, I have not — 
only fpent a long life, but have employed 
near forty years of the labour of my nephews 
Jofiah Boydell, who has been bred to the bu- 
finefs, and whofe affiftance during that pe- 
riod has been greatly inftrumental in pro- 
moting a School of Engraving in this coun- 
try. By the bleffing of Providence, thefe 
exertions have been very fuccefsful; not only — 
in that refpect, but in a commercial point of 
view ; for the large fums I regularly received 
from the Continent, previous to the French 
Revolution, for impreflions taken from the 
numerous plates engraved in England, encou- 
raged me to attempt alfo an Englifa School of 
Hifiorical Painting. 
‘¢ ] had obferved with indignation, that the 
want of fuch a fchool had been long made-a 
favourite topic of opprobrium againf# this 
country by foreign writers on national tatte. 
No fubjett therefore could be more appropri- 
ate for fuch a national attempt, than Eng~- 
land’s infpired poet and great painter of na- ~ 
ture, Shakefpeare; and I flatter myfeif the 
, moft prejudiced foreigner muft allow, that 
the Shakefpeare Gallery will convince the 
world, that Englithmen want nothing but the 
foftering hand of encouragement to bring 
forth their genius in this line of art. I might 
go farther, and defy any of the Italian, Fle- 
mifh, or Freneh fchools, to fhow in fo fhort 
a fpace of time, fuch an exertion as the 
Shakefpeare Gallery : and if they could have 
made fuch an exertion, the pictures would 
have been marked with all that monosonous 
famenefs which diftinguifhes the differeat 
fchools; whereas in the Shakefpeare Gal- 
lery, every artit partaking of the freedom of 
his country, and endowed with that origina- 
licy of thinking fo peculiar to its natives, 
has chofen his own road to what he conceived 
to be excellence, unfhackled by the flavith 
imitation and uniformity that pervade all the 
foreign fchools. ' 
‘€ his gallery I once flattered myfelf with 
being able to have left to that generous pub- 
lic, who have for fo long a period encouraged 
my undertakings ; but unfortunately for thofe 
conneG&ed with the Fine Arts, a Wandalift 
Revolution has arifen, which, in convulfing © 
all Europe, has entirely extinguifhed, except 
in this happy ifland, all thofe who had the 
tafte or the power to promote thofe arts 5 
while the tyrant that at prefent governs 
France, tells that believing and befotted na- 
tion, that, in the midit of all his robbery and 
rapine, he is a great patron and promoter of 
the Fine Arts; juft as if thofe arts that hu- 
manize and polifh mankind, could be pro- 
moted by fuch means, and by fuch a man. 
¢* You will excufe, my dear Sir; 1 am fure, 
; fome 
