International studio (36.1908/1909(1909))

71%



"RUE DE BOURG, CHARTRES"
f 7?; //<6'

and as it never was intended by him to become a
permanent feature of their city he refused to con-
sider the offer. The Corporation about this time
had purchased Meersbrook Park, a short distance
from the city; and, as it contained a disused
old Georgian mansion, an arrangement was come
to by which, on condition that the Corporation
housed the coliection in
a suitable manner and
paid the saiary of the cura-
tor and staff, the ioan of
the coiiection should be
granted for twenty years,
and on these terms it was
removed thither eariy in
1890.
The mansion is built of
bricks of small size, now
meliowed with age, with
a roohng of siate. Stand-
ing by the iibrary windows
a magnihcent view is ob-
tained of the distant city
and terraced hiiis which
surround it. At the front
of the museum the ground
rises to the terraces, and
as it contains many ancient
trees, some charming waiks,
128

and has even the remnants
of a trickiing woodland
stream faiiing in its descent
through brushwood and
rocks, it certainly seems to
the visitor to be an ideal
situation for such a mu-
seum. Within recent years,
however, the Corporation
has aiiowed buiidings to
be erected ah round the
borders of the park for the
housing of its citizens, and
has thus in great measure
allowed the natural beauty
of the park to be consider-
abiy diminished, not to
say destroyed.
What strikes the visitor
first of aii who enters the
oid-fashioned mansion in
the park is the smaiiness of
BY T. M. R00KE the space provided for the
coiiection. On entering,
one hnds oniy three smail
rooms set apart for exhibits, but what is iacking in
quantity is certainiy made up in quaiity. It is, with-
out question, one of the most valuabie coiiections
in Engiand, and to the iover of art it is certainly
a piace of true education. The visitor cannot
faii to notice that the arrangement for instruction
is of an admirabie character, for a fuil letterpress

THE MtNERALS ROOM, RUSKtN MUSEUM, SHEFFtELD