ge

where, in more modern centuries, such glories of nius have shone; where now the roughest lithograph bears the stamp of merit, and the poorest peasant, crushed as he is by despotic rule, swells with the thought that the land which schools the world in Art is his own. The same change, despite of our AngloSaxon lineage, may pass over us, and with more than Grecian freedom, and ancient Roman valour, we may acquire the taste to feel that national character loses nothing of its dignity by being draped with grace.

Yet, I repeat, this can only be accomplished by reaching the mass of our people who must control the national sentiment. Modern improvements in Art furnish great facilities for this work of refinement.* Those, whose means are too narrow to purchase original designs, can find a cheap, but delightful gratification from the engraver's art, so successfully cultivated by some of our own countrymen, among whom are estimable associates of your own. Engraving is the true child of Painting,

"Mater, pulchra filia, pulchrior;"

and with filial zeal does she advance her mother's honour. Indeed, the burin deserves far higher estimation, gratitude and encouragement, than we are wont to give it, for bringing within the reach of many, what must otherwise have remained the privilege of a few, and thus preparing the way for a * Appendix (A.)

wide-spread influence of higher Art. A good engraving of a good picture, in its effect on the mind, is incomparably superior to a painting of ordinary merit. It gives us the drawing, the shadows, the composition and air of the master, refining the eye and taste, perhaps the more, because the colouring is not imitated. If it be true, as a critic of the best rank has asserted, that a connoisseur in prints is more than half accomplished as a judge of painting, it must also be true that a general diffusion of good prints would secure a general relish for Art in its more elevated and original forms. The painter, therefore, should regard the engraver as his best friend, and one who, never aspiring to be a rival, is content to serve under his shadow for a humble portion of the larger profit and praise which he assists to win.

It is certainly most pleasing for the generous admirer of Art, and lover of human happiness, to think of the vast numbers, whom the ingenuity of recent years has admitted to a share in his enjoyments. The prolific family of Annuals, long after their feeble literature has ceased to attract, amuse and delight by their elegant embellishments the vacant hours of those, who have received those offerings of affection, and of the visiter, who awaits, beside their centre tables, the anxious toilet's slow delay. The very bullionist smoothes his brow while contemplating the bank note's graceful ornaments, and though lamenting that

"So fair

A promise should deceive th' admiring trust,

And be not what it seems,"

must confess that the vignette is worth something, though the security be never so doubtful. The invention of lithography, and the great advance in wood-cutting, besides the service they render to science, have enlivened with glimpses of Art the walls of many a humble dwelling, once poor and mean; and allure the tasteful school-boy through a flowery maze to orthography and syntax, which it required our utmost courage to approach, when the aditus to their mysteries was guarded by a frowning "vera effigies" of Noah Webster, unlike any possible thing but a nightmare realization of the nursery hobgoblin. The Penny Magazines, as they are published in Europe, (and I hope soon to be able to say in this country also,) carry to the poorest of the people, wood engravings of master pieces in Art, and specimens of natural history, which the most finished critic would not disdain to admire; and there may be as much heartfelt enjoyment in the evening circle of the poor man's home, around a fresh-cut number of the weekly visiter, as an amateur can feel before a Corregio or a Claude. I have often thought that I could forego the pleasure of listening to Mozart's best overture, for the sake of witnessing the delight dancing in the eyes, and dimpling the cheeks of a group of country children around a Savoyard's hand

organ, or some unwashed minstrels singing the songs of their far-off Rhine; but, I am sure that I never see an Italian cast-monger staggering beneath his load of Graces and Napoleons, Tuscan vases, Walter Scotts and Dianas, without wishing him well as an unconscious missionary of Art, come from his sunny land to minister pleasure to the lowly, and refinement to the rude; for, though the moulds, from which they are taken, be worn and old, his casts yet retain something of the stamp of genius, and give sufficient gratification to excite a wish for more. The lithographs may be rude and gaudy, cinerary urns be turned into flower vases, goddesses made to hold candles, and cross-legged Cupids to read little books; but you will rarely find, in a humble family, a taste for these ornaments unaccompanied by neatness, temperance, and thrift. They are like the cherished plants in the window, the green creepers in the yard, or the caged singing-bird on the wall, signs of a fondness for home, and a desire to cultivate those virtues which make home peaceful and happy.

But, gentlemen, independently of benevolent considerations, we must not allow ourselves to despise such methods of Art, because we have been educated by fortunate circumstances, or inspired, as you are, by a more fortunate genius to perceive its higher beauties. It is chiefly from them, that we must hope for the awakening of a national taste. The ancient states where Art most flourished, were small in territory.

Every citizen of Attica could look often upon the glories of the Parthenon and the Pocile. The temples of Elis, of Delphi, and the sacred Delos, and even the desert shrine of the Lybian Ammon, attracted vast crowds of religious pilgrims. The various public games brought together the most generous youth and sage elders, not merely to engage in exercises which displayed the finest forms in the finest attitudes, but also to enjoy the poet's noblest lays, the painter's best pictures, and the sculptor's most finished works. The aristocratic forms of Europe call around the sovereign in his capital those who represent the wealth and power of the nation, and it is both policy and pride which employs Art to give magnificence to abodes of authority, and to cover with grace the deformities of oppressive rule. Our people, on the contrary, are widely scattered. We have, and can have, but few great cities, and none of general resort. The country, in national questions, must rule the town. Large wealth can rarely be acquired, and yet more rarely be transmitted to a third generation. Happily for our liberties, the political power must remain with those who are not beyond the necessity of personal toil. As, therefore, the influence of the pencil and the chisel can reach immediately but few, the many are to be sought out by means which admit of greater multiplication and wider extent. Yet we. may believe, that if our people could have placed before them such cheap exhibitions of Art, and were