January 8th, 1849.

J. B. YATES, Esq., in the Chair.

Mr. HOLT and Mr. R. LowNDES were elected Members of the Society.

Mr. YATES exhibited Seals connected with Chester Cathedral and Vale Royal. Also original documents respecting the formation of the first Dock in Liverpool. Up to that time all vessels ran upon the mud, and discharged their cargoes at low water. Great opposition was set up by the London traders. The estimate for constructing the dock was £10,000; calculation of dues £600 per annum. Reign of Anne, 1708.

Mr. FINCHAM read a Paper on the disinfecting power of the Chloride of Lime; illustrating it by many instances in which it had appeared to prevent the spread of disease.

A discussion followed, in which many members took part. The general impression appeared to be, that there was no real disinfecting power in the chlorides of lime or of soda, any more than in the other substances which had been more recently promulgated as such.

That the chlorides possessed the power of destroying fetid odours, and of decomposing sulphuretted hydrogen, and thus were now classed as deodorants.

That the chlorides of lime and soda and others which acted by evolving chlorine gas slowly, were not more efficacious deodorants than Sir W. Burnett's fluid, Ledoyen's, and others, from which no free chlorine escaped.

That the latter, having no smell themselves, were usually preferred to the former, whenever the saving of expense was no object, because it was found that the fumes of chlorine were always disagreeable to those exposed to them, unless their evolution was managed with great care.

January 22, 1849.

R. RATHBONE, Esq., in the Chair.

Messrs. H. THORP, H. CURRY, and J. CAMPBELL were elected Members of the Society.

Mr. BARBER then read the following Essay on the Characteristics of the English School of Painting :-

In a Paper of this kind I cannot attempt a full description of any particular School of Painting, but refer to those Masters whose acknowledged fame has made the possession of their works an object of importance to men of taste,' whose resources enable them to procure the best examples of both ancient and modern times; but before I enter upon the immediate object of this Paper it may not be improper to remark that, in speaking on works of art, we must give to each department its due portion of merit, differing in rank, according to the degree of mind employed in its production: as an instance, we cannot bestow upon a simple imitation of nature, a mere copy of animate or inanimate objects, the same rank with works which require a mind stored with creative powers, or with the imaginings of a brilliant and vivid fancy. When we contemplate an accurate and carefully painted imitation of such objects as painters call "still life," we must consider them as mere fac-similes of that class of nature, differing widely, and having no claim to imaginative art; as a piece of patient labour such a picture will have its reward, but not as a work of mind. They will, however, in general, be estimated by the power of judgment in the spectator, rather than by any abstract rules which either artists or amateurs may have formed; and to the mass of mankind such works will always claim a large share of attention, simply because they do not

require any exercise of thought, and are perfectly understandable by the smallest share of capacity. I must not, however, here attempt to define the susceptibilities of men's minds to the impressions of beauty; but I must remark, that I do not wish to cast any reflections upon those persons whose judgment in art is feeble; such men may possess, on other subjects, the deepest powers of reflection, and, like Watt, have grappled successfully with the difficulties of the steam engine, yet have no taste either for painting or poetry.

When our attention is directed to the celebrated Masters whose works are yet before us, we are left in astonishment, that in the lapse of ages so little should have been done, in even an attempt to approach them; they stand at the present period in the same elevated position which they held at the moment of their production; and a Phidias, a Raphael, and a Michael Angelo are yet the masters of the world. With these great names it is in vain we look for any parallel in this or past ages. We are left at a most humiliating distance, with but a faint ray of hope for the future, and are naturally led to ask, Why is this? Why do we thus stand without even an effort to rise, while every other department of art has advanced in a degree equal, if not superior, to that of any other period? Can it be, that in a country where a long and destructive war closed the Continent of Europe to our artists, and while the works of Italy and Greece were known only through the instrumentality of prints, that the progress of painting in this country was more rapid, more successful, and more original than that of any other school in modern times? Can it be, that where such efforts as these were made, that we want the power to rise? Are we to be told, in these times, which have produced men possessing claims to distinction of no ordinary nature are we to be told the silly story that our climate is too cold-that the genius of our country is damped by the sordid love of gain? Happily, the time for such chilling reflections is gone, when we must look forward to a brighter

day, when the genius of our great country shall be called from its inactive and torpid state into new life and energy. Sir M. A. Shee, in one of his letters, says, "that the natives of these islands are not disqualified by constitution or climate for attaining to excellence in art, is a position which the extraordinary efforts of some of our countrymen, even under the most mortifying discouragements, have sufficiently proved. If the higher classes of art, therefore, have not eminently flourished among us, to some other cause than that of incapacity must it now be ascribed; and, as judicious and liberal patronage has never failed to produce great artists and great works in every other country where it has been employed, to the want of this essential stimulus here we are warranted in ascribing the deficiency; that this is the true root of the evil it requires but little investigation to show."

Allow me to add to these remarks of the President of the Royal Academy, by asking, Had not Phidias the honour-the stimulus of decorating the temple of his country? Had not Raphael and Michael Angelo the Vatican, the Sistine Chapel, and the friendship of Julius II. and Leo X.? Apply then the same lever, and our country will show efforts of mind equal to any the world has yet produced. The late feeble efforts of the government have clearly proved this: I of course allude to the Fine Arts' Commission. From these, out of many other instances which might be brought before you, it is clear that national patronage is the lever which gives the impetus, and propels the mighty power of genius into motion: it raised the arts in Greece, and revived them in Italy; and while it excites genius it gives dignity to its country. Without it, Phidias might look in vain for a Temple of Minerva to employ him; Raphael and Michael Angelo would be reduced to exhaust their powers in portraits and petty productions, before a Vatican or Sistine Chapel could be found to furnish them with an opportunity of displaying the dignity of their art, or celebrating the exploits of their age; and it must be remem

bered, that these great men, prior to the time of their being thus employed, had not shown how much they could do, or to what extent their noble daring could be carried. It was employment which called them forth, which gave new life and energy to their genius, and created a lasting monument of their country's greatness; and while the renowned names of Greece and Rome are mere matters of historical record, these alone remain to mark their splendour, their beauty is untarnished by the rude hand of time, and are an enduring and undying witness of their learning and their power. In thus speaking of patronage, I do not mean to say that, however splendid it may be, it will create such talent as that which I have named, but that it will excite and call it forth, and display its powers, which, but for such stimulating causes, might have been lost to their possessors and the world; "for such is the constitution of the human mind, that if once it is agitated the emotions often spread beyond the occasion which caused them; when the passions are roused their course is unrestrained; when the fancy is on the wing its flight is unbounded; and, quitting the inanimate objects which first them their spring, we may be led, by thought above thought, widely differing in degree, but still corresponding in character, till we rise from familiar subjects to the sublimest conceptions, and are wrapt in the contemplation of whatever is great or beautiful, which we see in nature, feel in man, or attribute to the Divinity."

With reference to the Elgin Marbles, we can only speak of such exquisitely beautiful pieces of sculpture in comparison with those which we had been taught to consider as perfection in art; these (when compared with most of the other antique statues which time has left to us) have a highly poetical feeling, combined with a truth and fidelity to nature which is truly admirable; they appear to be produced by a single effort, and to spring intuitively into almost life and existence; while the Apollo, the Laocoon, the Venus de Medici, and