A Hundred Years Ago THE " SrEcraTort," JUNE 18TH, 1830.
THE BRITISH SCHOOL OF ART.
Sir,—I am an old man, fourscore and one come next May. I remember the foundation of the Royal Academy, sixty-two years ago. I remember the anticipations of noble and simple, when that event took place. I remember, the King and all thought and all said that we should do great things ; but I said then what I say now, we shall never do great things if you leave the Royal Academy to struggle on by itself ; I said, you will see, that we shall be hardly much further in fifty years than we are now. And I was asked why ; and I replied, This is the reason—now you will educate a great many clever young men, and you will give them gold medals, and you will send them to Italy, and you will tell them fine things about the grand style in your lectures, and when they come back, I said, if they have no fortune, what must they do P—Why, they replied,—do—oh,—yes- very true,—why, they must paint portraits ! To be sure, said I, they must ; but they can do that just as well without all this fuss, as they have been doing these three hundred years. So you found an academy, said I, and you read them lectures on anatomy, and you teach them to draw the Apollo, and you send them to Italy ; and all this to make them paint portraits in the end
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