ART AND SCIENCE AT KENSINGTON GORE.
IT is by degrees only that the scheme contemplated by the Com- missioners-of the Exhibition of 1861 has come before the public; and, without hastening to a premature judgment upon it, we may glance at one consequence which would follow its fulfilment. The Commissioners, whose report is just published, appear to have' out their coat according to their cloth in the most exact' manner ; that is to say, their scheme is suggested by the resources in hand, or available. They had in hand the surplus of the Exhibition-fund, 170,0001. They have long been in friendly alliance with the So- ciety of Arts, which now has affiliated to it more than two hun- dred societies of the Mechanics Institution order. The department of Practical Art is an offspring of the Exposition ; and under it are placed twenty Schools of Design, established throughout the country. The Commissioners possess the nucleus of a Trades Mu- seum, valued at 90001., and now temporarily deposited at Ken- sington Palace. There are also various incorporated societies in London for the promotion of practical science, which are in want
of accommodation to carry out their objects—the Royal Society, the School of Mines, and the College of Chemistry. The British Museum will probably require larger space ; the National Gallery, and the Royal Academy, the same. It has been proposed to leave the British Museum for the Library alone, removing the anti- quities and art to some other building.
Such are the resources. With only 170,0001. in hand, the Com- missioners have felt that they have not sufficient to establish or to construct any great National. Institution ; they can only afford fa- cilities or mark out a ground, which Parliament or the public might subsequently fill up. On that plan they have proceeded, and, without awaiting the general sanction of their scheme, have half- bought the ground which might be its basis-70 acres of land ex- tending from Kensington Gore towards Brompton. On that ground they propose to concentrate the institutions to which we have al- luded, for the development of manufactures, of science, and art. The new National Gallery would front Hyde Park; the Museum of Manufactures, the Brompton Road; the sides being left to Practical Art and Practical Science.
There is some speculation as to the probability that the incor- porated institutions would fall in with this plan. Perhaps the Commissioners have been cunning not to wait the adoption of the whole, but to open the facilities. The offer of land and accommo- dation may operate upon the societies to be captured, like an open cage, gay and well stored with food, placed before a bird. The societies may hop in. Should they do so—should the vacant site behind Kensington Gore become a great park, between four public institutions of the kind—a result will be effected that might in some respects change the whole metropolis. With regard to many of the purposes of the institutions in question, proximity of resi- dence would be desirable for professors and pupils. This is less felt when institutions are in a central position; but it is not so convenient to pass from one suburb to another : hence, the grand bait of the agglomerated institutions would probably draw round it a population peculiar to itself. Kensington and Bromp- ton, indeed, have already been selected as the residence by a large proportion of professional men. Of the whole quadrant extending from Chelsea to Camden Town, to which such residents princi- pally resort, Brompton and Kensington are the most crowded. They would be still more so in the case supposed; and we should have in that district a kind of " Quartier Latin " of a dignified and popular sort—a quarter devoted to science and art. We do not point out this possible result as an objection—rather the reverse, but as a curious incident in the scheme proposed. The lodging- house-keepers and house-owners of Kensington and Brompton ought to view the scheme with great favour ; as probably they do. But it is not likely that the acquisitions of that quarter would be robbed from the other suburbs. To some extent the new popula, Lion would be added to the mass of the metropolis. The pecu- liarity, however, would be the select character of the district and its people.
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