made to them, when the natural influence of the scenes represented, exciting the zeal of devotees, should also extend the influence of their system of religion; and with it that of the power they held, and were desirous to preserve. So great and so important was the end for which paintings of religious subjects, or subjects involving reflections tending to impress religious feelings were wrought; and such the men and the motives which led onwards the cultivation, and the useful application of the art through successive centuries; and stimulated others, endowed with the most brilliant genius, to devote their minds and lives to the study of it. It had the intended effect for a while; but it is past and is gone, at least with us; disappearing with the establishment of Protestantism. There can however, be no greater proof of the efficacy of painting when judiciously applied, than the apprehension, which has been repeatedly evinced, of danger to the purity of religious worship should pictures be permitted to adorn our churches.

If, then, painting, when properly directed, could stimulate, as it did, to religious feeling, may it not also aid in the admiration and love of justice, of charity, of morality, or of any other powerful and valuable impulse of the human

mind; and would it not be wise in our rulers to imitate the example which has been set them by the church, and cultivate among the people the exercise of those amiable and serviceable qualities by the use of so important an agent?

Were our halls of justice to be adorned with pictures illustrative of subjects which exemplify the power and certainty with which crime is accompanied by sorrow and misery, and sooner or later punished; or how honesty and rectitude of conduct is blessed and rewarded: Were there, in like manner, exhibited in our rooms devoted to public meetings pictures relative to the subjects usually discussed there, to the value of moral principles, or to illustrate facts whereby mankind had obtained great benefits or suffered great privations: Were our corporations and great communities to suspend in their halls, from time to time, paintings representing those circumstances which gave rise to their establishment, or of events illustrative of their object, or of their charitable and useful proceedings: Were the chambers of our palaces to be adorned with scenes commemorative of great and public important events, beneficial and honourable to the nation, such as occupy a large portion of its history, and furnish records for remote periods: were, I say, these conjoined and important influences once

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set in motion for the employment of the historical painter, it can scarcely be supposed that no benefit would accrue to each and all concerned; or that much important and beneficial instruction and information could not be conveyed to the minds of the public by such means. By such a mode of proceeding, national points of interest might be created for the employment of the art, which would most effectually tend to advance its cultivation to a state of worthy and honourable rivalry with the best of other countries; and without which it must of necessity languish, and remain at a comparatively lower degree of importance.

I. But setting aside the possible good to be derived from such a national employment of painting, which by many is deemed problematical, and is the less required in these days, when the small craft of the press have overspread the wide ocean of literature and open to us new sources of information weekly, daily, and almost hourly; is there nothing worthy of regard in the elevation and purity given to the pleasures of society by the embellishments of taste, or in the honour and the dignity which has always accompanied the cultivation of the liberal arts!

To preserve mementos of the exalted reputation thus gained by others, we are now about

to erect a temple to their fame, a rich abode for their productions; and those productions we have purchased at a vast expense: having professedly done so with the view of promoting the growth of taste, and the knowledge of the science of art here; and deeming them worthy of such tokens of esteem.

Surely, it will be an incongruity in the judg ment of those concerned in creating such a dwelling-place for art of other times and countries, should they neglect to furnish to our own artists, the means whereby alone full rivalry with it may be effected. Surely, it will involve an absurdity, if, when the governors and legislators of the country are convinced, that the successful efforts of painters, the product of long cultivation of their art under one great public impulse, are worthy of so rich and costly preservation; the conviction should be unaccompanied by a willingness to devote some portion of the wealth of the country at their disposal, to secure the result professedly sought for from it: viz. by the public employment of painting, on national principles and for national purposes.

Besides, the good that might ensue from its adoption would most probably not end with the public employment of artists in labours specifically directed to important ends. It is reason

able to suppose that such honourable and useful patronage would act as a stimulus to private taste and feeling, and extend the influence of the limited zeal and liberality on which it now alone reposes;-that it would provide more widely, occupation for painters upon miscellaneous subjects; and so assist in enlarging the growth, and improving the polish of the arts. And there can be little doubt, that, if such a combined liberal and fertile field of patronage were once fairly opened for the employment of the highest branch of painting, many men of superior talent would be added to those who have already devoted their minds to the cultivation of it: men, who now, driven by the necessities of life, or very wisely considering its cares and its enjoyments, confine their attention to portraiture, to landscapes, or to subjects of common life.

This kind of call for the public encouragement of painting has been so often ineffectively pressed upon the notice of the government and of the public, that it seems a useless, because almost a hopeless task to repeat it. Yet it so naturally appertains to the subject of the following Lectures, that I should have felt like a deserter from my duty had I omitted the expression of my own opinions and feelings concerning it.