time to the pursuit; as the expense of purchasing and rearing up the eagles, together with able assistants, would be considerable. Then he should have for his principal manager in the business one of those patient and persevering charac ters who have been accustomed from their youth to teach poodle-dugs and monkeys a variety of astonishing feats and tricks. It is almost incredible what these animals may be taught to accomplish. I have seen at a theatre at Naples wonderful performances of the sort, such as a poodle-dog coachman driving a coach with a footman in livery, in which were two poodle ladies, and pulling up before a street-door, at which the footman knocked, then opened the carriage-door and handed the ladies out. The same dogs I saw gallop at the word of command round the stage upon any two of their hind and fore legs; their action when balancing themselves upon their two off or near legs was particularly striking and beautiful.

I mention the above to give an idea of the vast pains, and I fear cruelty, which must have been bestowed upon these sagacious animals, and to give me an opportunity of stating my opinion, that had similar pains been taken to train up eagles to fly in a body, it would have been accomplished to a much better purpose, and would have been a most lucrative speculation by its novelty and usefulness; indeed, my principal inducement for troubling you with this communication is the hope that some persevering projector will take up the affair in good earnest, to the successful accomplishment of it; and if so, to him be due all the praise.

As to the manner of training up the eagles, it appears to me only necessary when young to attach them to the wickerwork machine, which should be properly weighted, and never suffer them to fly singly, but collectively, with it; this might be managed in various ways, by placing their daily food on the top of a tower or hill, and habituating them to take their meals there; this method would enable the trainer to ascertain exactly the weight they could easily fly with, for although I have mentioned the quantity as 6lbs. each bird, that is mere supposition, as experience alone can determine that point, together with the distance they would be able to fly with any given weight, and their velocity.

Could a desideratum of this sort be accomplished without the assistance of a balloon, it would be welcomed as a thing really useful and valuable. With a balloon it would be difficult, and often dangerous, to alight on a windy day; there would be at least the liability of damaging it, together with the trouble and expense of replenishing the gas which had escaped. It would also meet with so much resistance in the air, that it would probably take as many eagles or other birds to propel it with the same velocity as the other, so that instead of a gain, there would be an expensive incumbrance; whereas, by placing all dependence upon the eagles, descending or ascending, might be done with the greatest facility and safety, and thus a journey in the air might be performed with equal ease, though with considerably greater velocity than one by land or sea, but only with a very light weight.

I will not trouble you any more on a subject which may now appear in its childish state, as bordering on the ridiculous I remain, however, Mr. Editor, in earnest,

Your obedient servant,

MINUTES OF EVIDENCE.

(Concluded from last Number, p. 191.)

Mr. Joseph Clinton Robertson, examined:

What obstructions do you refer to ?-To the heavy tax on paper, for one thing. Drawing papers are exceedingly expensive to persons of small means, and inferior papers are often used in copper-plate printing, when but for the tax, which is in proportion to the weight, much finer papers would be used, papers better calculated to do justice to the engraving.

Would not the withdrawing of such obstructions by Government be in fact an assistance by Government?-It would amount to the same thing.

Instead of giving additional speed to the machine, you remove the load that obstructs its progress?-Exactly so; and I would recommend the removal of all duties upon the importation of foreign prints; and also, that the Government should do their best to induce foreign Governments to do so likewise by our works of art. The import duty into this country is small, I believe, but still it operates to a certain extent.

Would you think it desirable that any

national assistance should be given, as in the case of building the schools without the slightest interference on the part of the Government, but simply that where the local resident population had advanced a certain sum, the Government should assist in the completion of the design?-I should think it highly expedient that the Government should give such limited assistance for the establishment of buildings, and probably some allowance also to the professors.

You think that the interference of Government is a burden?-It is too apt to lead to jobbing, but benefactions simply can do no harm. Supposing the inhabitants of a place were to come forward with two-thirds, Government might with great propriety, and without the least risk of evil consequence, assist with the other third.

Supposing that by the residents in any given district an offer was made to contribute a certain considerable proportion towards the formation of a gallery of casts, or a public library, or a collection of works of art, open freely to all the public, you think it would be wise in the Government, without the slightest degree of interference, simply to assist in the completion of the design?—I should think it highly expedient and highly honourable in the Government to give every encouragement in that way, to promote by all possible means the establishment of museums and galleries, so that they leave the management of them to the people themselves.

Is not it probable that eventually the nation would be repaid for the passing liberality of the Government?-I am satisfied of it; the more the taste of the country is improved, the more our manufactures will be improved; and the country that has the best manufactures will of course command the greatest export trade in the long run.

Are there any fiscal impediments to the circulation of abundant copies of drawings about the country?-Nothing but the expense; the duty upon paper is heavy; there are duties too of various kinds which make provisions and wages higher than they need be, and there are duties upon the importation of foreign prints; I believe also that our prints are not admitted to the Continent as freely as they ought to be.

Does the Excise duty on paper materially obstruct the circulation of works of art among the people?—I should think it does; it enhances the price very much.

Do not you think that our machinery and our capital offer to us a new mode of circulating a knowledge of the principles of art among the people in the application of that machinery and that capital to embellished works?-I believe that if books could be more generally and abundantly embellished than they are, if the embellishments could

be as readily furnished on a large as on a small scale, and particularly if designers and artists could give fac-similes of their own designs, that would raise the arts to a much higher standard than they have ever yet attained in this country; and all this I believe to be now within our reach; encouragement and protection alone are wanting. By such an art as that of Albert Durer's, the standard would infallibly be greatly raised. It would not only abridge the time, labour, and expense of production themselves, and cause works of art to circulate among the people to twenty times the present amount, if not more, but make the people familiar with works of a much higher character than they have ever been before accustomed to. By the present mode of printing engravings with the roller-press, you cannot produce above 400 copies a day, whereas you might produce 20,000 from a plate in metallic relief, with equal ease, and all excellent impressions; impressions, too, not from copies, as even the best of engravings are, but of the artist's own original designs. You cannot, by the finest engravings in intaglio, give by any means so just a representation of the works of a Raphael or Michael Angelo, as a copy of the works of Milton or Shakspeare, executed by the meanest printer, conveys of the genius of either of these great writers. An engraving, by a secondary artist, of a good painting, like an ordinary translation of a first-rate poem, is always sure to lack much of the beauty of the original.

Is there any thing else you wish to state to the Committee?-1 would mention one instance, to show the great importance of multiplying copies of good designs, and making them as cheap and easily attainable as possible. An ingenious mechanic in Scotland, of the name of Hunter, has invented a machine, a stone-planing and stone-turning machine; he cuts vases out with it; he will cut a large vase out in one day, hollowed and every thing complete, which would take a man a week to produce by hand. He is now fitting up a turning-apparatus for the purpose of producing a large supply of vases next winter, and he wrote to me to get him copies of the vases at the British Museum and in other collections in town. I have accordingly made a collection, which I shall send down at considerable expense to him. I mention this as an illustration of the importance of having cheap copies of all our good works of art; for copies will find their way, as in this instance, where museums

cannot.

When you say copies, do you mean casts or drawings?-Drawings would do very well for the purpose I have just mentioned; but casts would be much better.

William Wyon, Esq., Chief Engraver of the Royal Mint, examined:

I came originally from Birmingham; I have left Birmingham twenty years. The result of my observations on the manufactures at that time was decidedly that there was a want of proper and due encouragement to the arts, as related to manufactures in that town. My attention about ten years ago was particularly directed to that subject; and on the establishment of the Society of Arts in Birmingham, I expressed to one of the committee a strong desire, that instead of having a society simply for the encouragement of the higher departments of the arts, it would be also desirable to direct the attention of the society to that species of decorative design required in the manufactures of the town, principally referring to silversmiths, or plated and brass work, in which they are obliged to have continual recourse to the works of the French. For example, when one series of designs have run out of fashion, there is frequently a want of supply for another, and they are obliged again to have recourse to the French. Some few years ago I recollect that the style that prevailed about the time of Louis XIV. was very much in fashion. Now it is changed to the modern style of the French; but still it is French that they look to, rather than originating designs of their own. I attribute this use of French designs to the want of encouragement and protection given to the arts in Birmingham. It is almost invariable, that those that draw for the manufacturers are obliged, for want of proper and due encouragement, to go to other departments of the art-to painting and sculpture; they become, instead of good designers for ornamental work, second, or third, or fourth-rate artists in painting and sculpture. The principal defects are want of originality in correctness of outline and proportion. Correctness is a very important ingredient in the education of an artist for manufactures. The taste that I should like to see would be derived from studying nature and the works of the goldsmiths of the 15th century, and works of that class; I think it would greatly improve them, if they had an opportunity; but they are generally very poor, and have not the means of obtaining access to the works that I think would be advantageous to them. The slightest impediment thrown in the way of any person frequently prevents him from doing that which he would do if there were an exhibition gratuitously open to him. A very slight impediment existed in the admission of persons to the British Museum; it was simply that of signing the name upon the admission, and since that slight impediment was done away with the number of persons that have been to see the Museum

has greatly increased. The plan which I proposed some years ago, when the Society of Arts was being established, was that there should be the kind of connexion formed which I have already mentioned, and that premiums should be given for the most successful designs for candelabra and for epergnes, and for that particular class that is most manufactured in Birmingham; if in addition to this there was a good library, containing works of an ornamental character, it would be very beneficial. I should create the means of producing that which I wish to be imitated by models to draw from, that is, casts from the most beautiful pieces of the antique, particularly casts from the works of the goldsmiths of the fifteenth century, which have not been sufficiently attended to; and by this means I see no reason why we should not have a Benvenuto, Cellini, or a Flaxman, who has done more for that branch of the art than any other person, by his Shield of Achilles, and other deisgns of a similar kind. I should have a school for instructing them in their particular branch of art. Instead of studying simply from casts of figures, although very essential, I should like to have them also study from those particular ornamental kinds of work in demand. I would let them have, first, a general education in design, and afterwards superadd the application of that particular knowledge of design to the particular manufacture, and the particular material upon which the artisan was to employ his labour. I think the people themselves require education in art in order properly to appreciate art, and at the present time the public are just as likely to encourage a very inferior pattern as any thing that is really beautiful, for want of a general dissemination of taste throughout the country. The supply of art would create a demand for art, and the demand for art would in its turn create a supply of art, and the morals of the country would be greatly improved by creating a new taste. In the state of art as applied to metals now, as contrasted with its state a few years ago, there is no great improvement. Chasing, which is a very important branch of the arts, is at quite as low an ebb as it was some years ago. There is no perceptible improvement within the last twenty years, and it frequently occurs that when good designs have been obtained, they have been injured by inferior execution; the demand for manufactured works in the precious metals have increased. The finest bronzes in existence are derived from the ancient Greeks; but the gold and silver works of Cellini and his time are eminently beautiful; there are also remarkably fine works from Germany and France about the 15th century; and also about the period of Louis XIV, In England I have seen very

fair specimens about the time of Elizabeth and James I., the period of Charles the First and Second; there are many beautiful productions. The metal dies of Thomas Simon, in the time of Charles I. and the Commonwealth, had a very remarkable effect in encouraging the taste for art: the coins of Simon were very fine, and very superior to those of his foreign rivals the Roettiers. I think a very unfortunate thing in this country is the circumstance of there being no medallic establishment; we have no me. dals except those which emanate immediately from the enterprise of individuals, which are struck in haste and worked off without much consideration. It appears to me that if a series of medals were promoted by the Government, it would tend very greatly to the dissemination of taste throughout the country. The influence of the great circulation of the different medals struck by Buonaparte in relation to the interesting events of history, had a great deal to do with the creation of the love of art which is universally allowed to exist in France. A cheap and more extensive circulation of medals among the people might be made instrumental in creating both a love and a knowledge of art; and I have been very anxious that the copper coinage should become to a certain extent historical; I should like to have recorded upon the coinage the most remarkable events, and likewise any discoveries in science. The infinite variety of coins that issued from the mints of Grecce and Rome, with the multitudinous designs on the reverses, and their very various character, must have been an important element in the creation of the taste of Greece and Rome. In the copper coinage the head of the monarch might be constantly preserved, and the reverse frequently changed to accommodate itself to the events of the time; but it might be attended with inconvenience to the public if the designs for the reverses of the gold and silver coinage were frequently changed, from the difficulty of identifying the legal coinage. I should keep the gold and silver to one type, that is a type that is well understood by the country at large, and reserve the variety of designs to the copper coinage. In the periods of antiquity a great variety is to be found in the silver coinage; but I apprehend that arose from a great many small states each coining their own money. There would be no difficulty in accommodating a great variety of design to a perfect identity of weight; the difficulty would be with regard to relief; we cannot imitate the ancients in relief, our mode of coinage would not allow it. The most beautiful coins of antiquity be reproduced or imitated in the present day in coins not for ordinary circulation; coins of twenty or thirty guineas in gold, or of ten or twenty

shillings in silver, which should be made legal tenders, but which should only be used to a certain limit for the purposes of circulation; it is a matter which has occupied my mind very seriously of late to improve the coinage of the country by having a fivepound piece of this description. Proof impressions of the present coinage in fine gold and silver are sought for with great eagerness; collectors of late are much increased. I think a threepenny piece in silver would be very desirable. I think that the artists in this country are superior in most branches of the fine arts, in reference to designs for metals; Flaxman's Shield of Achilles is superior to any thing of the kind in existence; but artists of that eminence have been rarely employed by manufacturers, except in the instance of Rundell and Bridge, and a few others, who employed Flaxman and Bailey, Stodhard and Howard, and other artists of celebrity, some years ago. There is no want of native talent for art in this country; it only wants development. I attribute the fact of beautiful specimens having been so little copied in the general class of productions which have been executed in this country, to the want of access to them. It is a curious circumstance, that occurred to me two days ago. An artist from Birmingham applied to me, asking me to put him in the way of getting designs from the French works, and

was lamenting with him the difficulty he experienced. Being himself very poor, he had no means of purchasing the works, and he had no means of copying them. There is a great want of protection to the inventors of original designs in this country, and that the manufacturers have frequently complained of their works being pirated; that after having gone to a very great expense in the production of any article to suit the taste of the time, it had been pirated, and therefore it is not worth their while to employ the best artists for the purpose.

Sir,-There are some instances where vehicles are obliged to run in the same track or rut, either owing to the sloping sides of a road, its inequality, or to facilitate the journey of the horses on account of its being buggy.

In the first case, they run on the crown of the road, consequently in the same rut; and as the traffic increases, the rut becomes greater. The inequalities of a road are a great evil; and when the road is boggy as well, the sides are still more avoided, as the water in run

ning over the sloping sides is absorbed in the yielding substance, and renders passage over them impossible. Ruts cease to exist if the roads are worn equally in every part; therefore, if the roads are perfectly level or nearly flat, every vehicle will take a separate track. The first thing to be considered in the construction, of bog-roads; after the ground is well drained, is the making the surface perfectly level; and after that has been effected, if concrete, similar to what is used in securing the foundations of buildings, and mixed with broken stone, were thrown in, and exposed for a considerable time, it would be superior to any other method previously adopted. When hardened sufficiently for constant use and friction, time alone would soon prove whether it would not be more serviceable and efficacious than either the method of laying branches of trees on the level of the strata," or "firm heathy sods." When such roads are situated near any place from whence lime may be obtained, or gravel could be had in abundance, additional facilities would be offered for effecting this method, which, as it becomes by exposure as firm as a rock, would certainly be found beneficial. The additional expense attending the construction of such a road, if the work is properly performed, would also be compensated by the permanent and substantial road which would be the result. Yours, &c.

66

FREDERICK LUSH. Charles-square, Hoxton, Nov. 20, 1835.

ENGLISH AND FOREIGN WORKMEN.

Sir,-In behalf of the workmen of England, I beg to offer my most sincere thanks for the very able and just remarks delivered before the "Select Committee of the House of Commons on Arts and Manufactures" by the Editor of the Mechanics' Magazine, in vindication of the capability and taste of British artists and mechanics to produce works of art and design of the most elaborate description, provided an adequate remuneration can be awarded for the labour and skill expended in their production. In support of this position, I will furnish a case from the silk trade, as the attention of the Committee seems to have been more particularly directed to this branch

of manufacture; and, in my opinion, one case well-authenticated is worth a dozen general statements.

In the beginning of the year 1831, I was engaged by a house in London to fit up a large factory in the west of England with power-looms for the purpose of manufacturing silk goods. We had also the machinery for silk-throwsting; so that the whole process from the raw state until it is finally fit for the silk-mercer's shop was begun and finished upon the premises. I fitted up the machinery and afterwards conducted the business up to the close of 1834. In these power-looms we manufactured figured silks of the richest descriptions, which were sold in Regent-street as fancy French silks," of the newest pattern just imported." Under this colour we have sold thousands of yards of British manufactured goods, to gratify the morbid taste of a whimsical female public, craving after foreign rarities. So much for the superiority of French patterns. Possibly some of these goods have been produced to prove how much we are behind the French in art and design!

Besides, we have artists from the city of Lyons now practising in England, and could have plenty more if they were really superior, or we could afford to pay them. Those who are at present amongst us are employed, but I am not aware of any pre-eminence which they possess, nor are they sought after in preference to native artists.

I have no doubt that the establishment of schools of design would have a tendency to improve the national taste in works of art; but whether this improvement in art would cause an extension of our commercial intercourse, is quite another question. The truth of the inatter is, that in the race of commerce the British manufacturer carries weight; and all the assistance he requires, is to have his load lightened that he may have a fair chance with his competitors. In highly-wrought works of art the price of labour forms a large proportion of the value; and unless the Committee can suggest some means to equalise the value of labour in the manufacturing countries of Europe, it is to be feared that very little real benefit will accrue to the British manufacturer from their labours, at least so far as our foreign trade is to