The Express.
London, England, 1849-10-18 00:00:00

THE REv. J. Oiimms, D.D.

Canonry of Rochester
Vicarage of Bosley
Vicarage of Thornton Curtis

THE REV. EDWD. HAWKINS, D.D.
_

Canonry of Rods( ster
Rectory of Porleigh
Provost of Oriel

Titz REP. M. Invuto, D.D.
Canonry of Rochts*er
Suspended Canonry
Vicarage of Sytchat Minster
Perpetual curacy of Chatham

22,661
THE Hox. AND Rm.. F. HOTHAX.

Canonry of Rochester
Rectory of Dennington
Rectory of Bambara

£2,134

ARCHDZACOW SING.
Canonry of Alehester £oo
Vicuna of Stone 765

LIMS

Pretty pickings these oat of mother church! But
even they do not fully exhibit the advantages enjoyed
by these reverend pluralists ; for, not content with the
good livings they themselves hold, instead of giving
the next best benefices in their gifts, as Dean and
Chapter of Rochester, to the minor canons of that
cathedral, they have showered them upon their own
sons and relatives. The foilowiog is a list of livings
in the gift of the Dean and Chapter, held by the
canons connexions :

VICARAGE OF WATERT/1011CM%
The Rev. W. Stevens, the son of the dein, incumbent
Value
VICARAGE OF SUTTON-AT.HORE.

Th. Rsv. J.H.WDoi Caoon HOthw. Value £519

VICARAGE 07 WOODNEBBOROCOR..

The Rev. H. Hotham, another son of Canon Hotham.

Value

£219

VICARAGE UP GOCDRIIRST,

The lily. G. Intng, son of Canon £432
VICARAGE OF LARBERFICEET.
The Rev. R. Hawkins, brother of Canon Hawkins
Value

This distribution of patronage will, at all events,
take the Dean and Chapter of Rochester out of the
apostolic classification of " worse than heathens,"
whatever other category it may place them in.

THE School of Design seems destined to be &perma-
nent incubus on the City of London. Twelve years
have elapsed since its foundation, and though it may
Lave effected some Food in developing the national
taste, the direct object for which these schools were
founded, that of nurturing able designer., so as to make
us independent of continental ingenuity, has been
completely frustrated.
In despite of this experience, according to the re-
port of the select committee now i.sued, not only the
old system is to be carried on, but it is recommended
to increase the annual parliamentary grant of 10,0001.
to 16,0001.

The institution is avowedly formed on the Paris
and Lyons models, and may or not be a fair copy.
But the great mistake has been to take from these
models the " Ecole Gratuite " alone, this establish-
ment being but a small particle of a vast scheme of
art-education. France, by its schools and noble
endowments for teaching design, and other
branches of the arts, raises annually an immense
and, indeed, over-abundant crop of able designers, in
much greater numbers than the pursuit of legitimate
art can employ or remunerate. Of these numbers,
only the best or most ambitious, or the beet provided,
aim at the higher walks of their profession. The
others turn to industrial art, and bring to it the edu-
cation and acquirements of the genuine artist.
But this is not the case in England, where students
persist in aiming at the profession of the artist, and
have no idea, much less experience, of those humbler
walks into which the French designer descend..
Indeed, instead of the English industrial schools and
walks being filled from the failures and overpowering.
of the higher schools, the School of Design itself, in-
stead of educating designers of ornamental art, has
been converted into a hot-bed for ambitious youths, who
nee Somerset-house as a convenient stepping-stone to
the Royal Academy. The flux of students to Trafal-
gar-square is notorious, and, it seems, from 13,000 to
16,000 students have sifted through the schools
of design without any credit being gained by the
latter.

It is difficult to see how any change in the work-
ing of the system, or the granting more power and
confidence to the professor, will mitigate this evil;
it may sound very well to say that the masses of
mechanics are gradually improving in taste, and that
in time able designers will arise out of these schools ;
the hope certainly accords with art history. Still it
does seem monstrous that not oce man has been found
educated in the schools of design capable of furnish-
ing a single pattern that could be worked. We must
own we never expected anything else. Experience
shows that the most beautiful pattern on paper will
often be the reverse when worked out. This is reme-
died in France by the designer and the tnetteur en
carte being one and the same ; when he sees his de-
sign set up, if anything goes wrong he is there to
correct and retouch, to obviate failure, and save the
market from being overstocked with an inferior article
of design.
Our students of the School of Design are far too
proud and too ambitious to dream of such a thing as
this. They scorn to follow their design into the mys-
tery of fabrication, although in reality this is the im-
portant point. When a jacquard machine and other
necessary apparatus for the manufacture of silk were
provided at the school, the attendance was so thin as
not to warrant the expense of tuition. So that whilst
the professors feel they are making way and educating
students, they know they are doing so for a purpose
quite different from that of the institution.
Another difficulty of these schools of design has been
to find masters of sufficient skill and ability to teach
decorative art. Mr. HERBERT asserts that there are
not in this country Ave persons competent to teach
ornamental art. The natural inference is, that the pro-
vincial schools are under the mastery of incompetent
people. This is but too evident from the disgust
shown by the manufacturers, especially in Manches-
ter, to which a larger grant than usual was allowed
for the purpose. And an idea of their vast importance,