DEDICATION

TO

SIR MARTIN ARCHER SHEE,

PRESIDENT Or THE ROYAL SOCIETY,
ETC., ETC., ETC.

Dear Sir,
If, when first promulgated, your magnificent
and disinterested proposal for the encouragement
of the Fine Arts had been carried into effect, it
would have afforded an inducement to cultivate,
and an opportunity to display their higher
qualities; the character of the English school
would have been elevated in a corresponding
degree; and by this time, a really National
Gallery would have been established, at much
less expense than has been incurred in obtaining
the small collection of pictures by the Old
Masters which is honoured with that designation,
although it cannot vie with those of private