"To conclude, I think that this ostentatious establishment can answer no one valuable purpose to the arts, nor be of the least use to any individual, except those who are to be elected professors and receive salaries for the kind superintendence they will exercise over such of their brethren as have not so much interest as themselves.[40]
"Many of the objections which I have to the institution of this Royal Academy apply with equal force to the project of the Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce, for distributing premiums for drawings and pictures; subjects of which they are totally ignorant, and in which they can do no possible service to the community.
"It is extremely natural for noblemen, or young people of fortune who have travelled and seen fine pictures and statues, to be planet-struck with a desire of being celebrated in books, like those great men of whom they have read in the lives of the painters, etc.; for it must be recollected that the popes, princes, and cardinals who patronized these painters, have been celebrated as creators of the men who created those great works:
'Shar'd all their honours, and partook their fame.'
"The 'Dilettanti' had all this in prospect when they offered to establish a drawing-school, etc. at their own expense; for here they expected to be paramount. But when those painters who projected the scheme presumed to bear a part in the direction of the school, the 'Dilettanti' kept their money, and rejected them with scorn,—the whole castle fell to the ground, and has been no more heard of.[41]
"This society of castle-builders have a similar idea. They wish first to persuade the world that no genius can deserve notice without being first cultivated under their direction, and will ultimately neither foster nor encourage any artist that has not been brought up by themselves.
"The sounding title of a society for the encouragement of arts, manufactures, and commerce, with two or three people of rank at their head, attracted a multitude of subscribers. Men when repeatedly applied to were unwilling to refuse two guineas a year; people of leisure, tired of public amusements, found themselves entertained with formal speeches from men who had still more pleasure in displaying their talents for oratory. Artificers of all descriptions were invited, and those who were not bidden strained every nerve to become members, and appear upon the printed list as promoters of the fine arts. By this means they were consulted in their several professions, and happy was he who could assume courage enough to speak, though ever so little to the purpose.
"The intention of this great society is unquestionably laudable; their success in subscriptions astonishing. How far their performances have been equal to their promises, it is not my business to inquire; but as, while I had the honour of being a member, my opinion was frequently asked on some points relating to my own profession, I venture to lay it before the reader with the same frankness that I then gave it.
"When the society was in its infancy they gave premiums for children's drawings, and for this—'Let children lisp their praise.'[42] It was asserted that we should thus improve our own manufactures, and gravely asked by these professed encouragers of the commerce of their country, if the French children being instructed in drawing did not enable that people to give a better air to all the articles they fabricated. I answered positively, NO; and added, that thus trumpeting their praise was a degradation of our own country, and giving to our rivals a character which they had no right to. Were this point debated, French superiority would be supported by fashionable ladies, travelled gentlemen, and picture-dealers. In opposition to them, would be those who are capable of judging for themselves, the few that are not led away by popular prejudices, and the first artists in the kingdom. These, I am conscious, would be a minority, but composed of men that ought to have weight, and whose opinion and advice should have been taken before the plan was put in execution.
"Of the immense improvement that is to take place in our manufactures from boys of almost every profession being taught to draw, I form no very sanguine expectations.