DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42348#0021
15
wordly advantage be the motive of such men ? Alas ! that
is so remote and uncertain, so much the result of mere
chance, that most of those, who have to rely on it as their
recompense, too frequently pass their whole life in a struggle
between the miserable privations of penury and their de-
votedness to the favorite object of their pursuit.
I have not advocated the advance of money* in aid of the
funds of Societies, or to enable them to confer pensions or
bestow pecuniary rewards on the members of such bodies.
I feel that such a proceeding might prejudice science, and
render the members less active in their duties—their energies
will never be so alert as when they have difficulties with
which to struggle. I plead for the cause of science, not for
the personal interests of her followers, for they will be best
rewarded by her success.
I have also purposely abstained from enlarging upon the
assistance, which our manufactures and our commerce in
general derive from the researches of the Chemist, the
Engineer, the Geologist, the Astronomer, the Artist, and
the Mechanician. The investigations of the Committees of
the House of Commons, and the step taken by Government
in establishing a school of design, carry with them a proof
of the importance attached by the Ministers of the Crown to
the subject. But I could venture to appeal to history and
experience, whether a brighter page could be found in the
annals of any monarch, than that which records a gene-
* I would wish to call the attention of the reader to Mr. Millingen’s able
pamphlet entitled “ Some Remarks on the state of Learning and the Fine Arts
in Great Britain,” &c. 8vo. 1831. Although I do not concur in the remedies
proposed by the learned author, his reasoning is unanswerable as to the
claims of learning and the fine arts on the support of Government. The two
letters to George Stanley, Esq. M.P., by Mr. Richard Westmacott, and the
pamphlet of Sir Martin Arthur Shee, President of the Royal Academy, to
the same effect, offer important suggestions for the consideration of the
Government.
wordly advantage be the motive of such men ? Alas ! that
is so remote and uncertain, so much the result of mere
chance, that most of those, who have to rely on it as their
recompense, too frequently pass their whole life in a struggle
between the miserable privations of penury and their de-
votedness to the favorite object of their pursuit.
I have not advocated the advance of money* in aid of the
funds of Societies, or to enable them to confer pensions or
bestow pecuniary rewards on the members of such bodies.
I feel that such a proceeding might prejudice science, and
render the members less active in their duties—their energies
will never be so alert as when they have difficulties with
which to struggle. I plead for the cause of science, not for
the personal interests of her followers, for they will be best
rewarded by her success.
I have also purposely abstained from enlarging upon the
assistance, which our manufactures and our commerce in
general derive from the researches of the Chemist, the
Engineer, the Geologist, the Astronomer, the Artist, and
the Mechanician. The investigations of the Committees of
the House of Commons, and the step taken by Government
in establishing a school of design, carry with them a proof
of the importance attached by the Ministers of the Crown to
the subject. But I could venture to appeal to history and
experience, whether a brighter page could be found in the
annals of any monarch, than that which records a gene-
* I would wish to call the attention of the reader to Mr. Millingen’s able
pamphlet entitled “ Some Remarks on the state of Learning and the Fine Arts
in Great Britain,” &c. 8vo. 1831. Although I do not concur in the remedies
proposed by the learned author, his reasoning is unanswerable as to the
claims of learning and the fine arts on the support of Government. The two
letters to George Stanley, Esq. M.P., by Mr. Richard Westmacott, and the
pamphlet of Sir Martin Arthur Shee, President of the Royal Academy, to
the same effect, offer important suggestions for the consideration of the
Government.