extraordinary merit to deserve it. He becomes impatient of a slow and sure progress, and is sadly tempted to substitute eccentricity for boldness; glare for brilliancy; or dark confusion for depth of shadow. He varies his pursuit, and, forgetting the maxim, "Non omnes omnia," undertakes to excel where his genius does not lead. All this, the more prudent and experienced among you know well, but a word of caution may not be lost. Let us all remember, that the truest friendship is that which points out faults with kindness, and praises with faithful caution. We learn best from those who tell us when we are wrong. The most ignorant can thus teach something, as the cobbler who criticised the shoe of Apelles, or an indignant laundress, who protested that she never washed the shirt with which Jarvis had indued her master.

There is a fault in our country, now less rarely met with, of condemning without measure or exception, every thing American. It is chiefly to be found among those who return

"from foreign tour,

Grown ten times perter than before;"

too good to be plain republicans, after having uncovered their heads to royalty, or stood within the threshold of an aristocratic ball room; who can talk of nothing but dinners at Very's; ices at the

D

Café de Paris, or green oysters at the Rocher de Cancale; who have either not mind enough, or not heart enough, to love their own land above all others. These men will pass through your exhibitions, "naso adunco," full of scraps from foreign languages, and abusing, by misuse, the terms of Art, give you to understand that, in their opinion, nothing which you can produce, is worth looking at by one who has seen the Buckingham Gallery, the Louvre, the Vatican, or the Bourbon Collections. They will often parade upon their walls miserable dark daubs, imposed upon them by scheming picture dealers, as works of the old masters, but cannot think, for a moment, of buying an American picture. Heed them not. The true lover of Art sees some beauty even in an inferior picture, and can detect a latent power in the new and nameless pencil. He must prefer the best; but, as a critic and a patriot, he will acknowledge the good if a countryman has produced it; and, for Art's sake, he is sure to encourage merit, however slight it may seem at first to be. There is, for instance, a sign of a horse in Market street, which I often see in my walks; faulty it may be, in many particulars, and injured by exposure to all weathers, and yet, I venture to assert, that one who can look at it without some degree of pleasure, would scarcely enjoy Paul Potter's bull.

Notwithstanding these opposite errors, we may rely with confidence upon our strong sense of national reputation for the support of Art. Let it be shown

by your skill and devotion, that the Arts do embellish and exalt our country, and they shall receive a grateful return of reward and honour.

It is well for those, who have sufficient wealth, to bring among us good works of foreign or ancient masters, especially if they allow free access to them for students and copyists. The true gems are, however, rare, and very costly. A single masterpiece would swallow up the whole sum, which even the richest in this country would be willing to devote in the purchase of paintings. I hope, however, soon to see the day, when there shall be a fondness for making collections of works by American Artists, or those resident among us. Such collections, judiciously made, would supply the best history of the rise and progress of the Arts in the United States. They would, more than any other means, stimulate Artists to a generous emulation. They would reflect high honour upon their possessors, as men who love Art for its own sake, and are willing to serve and encou rage it. They would be gratifying in a high degree to the foreigner of taste, who comes curious to observe the working of our institutions and our habits of life. He does not cross the sea to find Van Dycks and Murillos. He can enjoy them at home; but he wishes to discover what the children of the West can do in following or excelling European example. The expense of such a collection could not be very great. A few thousands of dollars, less than is often lavished upon the French plate glass and lus

tres, damask hangings, and Turkey carpets, of a pair of parlours, (more than which few of our houses can boast) would cover their walls with good specimens of American Art, and do far more credit to the taste and heart of the owner. Rich furniture, to say nothing of the bad taste of crowding it into such petty apartments, is little better than a selfish and rude ostentation of wealth, to excite the envy of guests; and it is not in human nature to think better of others, who insist upon showing that they are richer than we. Riches, though they gain, for obvious reasons, outward deference, when they are mere riches without taste or refinement, are always secretly despised, and their possessors are, in the judgment of the world, like vile pottery upon which gold has been wasted in useless gilding. There are those, who cannot look upon a mirror without seeing within it a beautiful picture, dearer to their eyes than any other upon earth; but many of us would prefer a landscape by Coles or Doughty, to any such personal reflections of ourselves; and care little whether we trod upon Brussels or ingrain, sat upon velvet or hair cloth, if we might, by the kind bounty of our entertainer, enjoy the genius of our dear native land. It has become, I am told, unfashionable to put pictures upon the walls, except it be in a gallery, which few can afford to have. If so, it is a bad habit, which should be amended; a habit which must lower us in the scale of true refinement, and greatly impede the progress of true taste.

Our national enterprise, in pursuit of wealth, will also serve the cause of the liberal arts, when their value is better understood. A large portion of the population of Italy, and other countries of the old world, live upon the Arts alone; and our Artists, if properly encouraged, would, instead of being compelled, as many of them are, to reside abroad, induce the flow of wealth, the rewards of their skill, into their native land. There can be no multiplication of wealth so great as that which may be secured by the application of colours to a sheet of canvass, of the chisel to a block of stone, or of the graver to a plate of copper, when directed by the hand of genius. The colours which combined to make a masterpiece, now worth a prince's revenue, were originally purchased for a few dollars. A slight etching, by Rembrandt, sold at auction, a few years since, in London, for a hundred and twenty guineas; and the late William Carey, whose zeal for the Arts expired only with his life, asserts, in his Address to your Association, that the copper plate on which Woollet engraved West's Death of Wolfe, produced a gain of not less than fourteen thousand pounds.

The influence of Art upon necessary trades and manufactures is very valuable. The more graceful forms are ever the more simple, useful, and even economical; and the most common articles of household service may be profitably modified after the lines of a true taste. It is the taste displayed in the colours