The Sun.
London, England, 1864-12-28 00:00:00

does not seem to have received much encourage.
ment from those around him, and it is not too
mach to say that this case of TIMOTHY DALY
reflects the greatest discredit upon all who had to
do with him while in the infirmary. Those who
had not the authority to assist him ought to have
appealed to those who had, and they failing in
their duty, to have reported them. The public
have nothing to do with the red-tapeism of such
establishments. They care not who is pleased
or displeased, but they do expect that the
sick and suffering should receive due care and
proper treatment. The Coroner stated that the
matter still remained open for the investigation of
the Poor-law Board, and it is certain that it is their
bounden duty to do so. Such a flagrant case of in-
attention has not been made known for years, and
it is not so much the question whether the neglect
was the immediate cause of death or not, as whether
it occurred. Of course, in many diseases, want of
care will accelerate the evil until it may appear
that the deceased persons died from natural causes;
but it is too bad that gross neglect should be
tolerated whether or not fatal consequences ensue.
Nothing less than a thorough investigation of the
whole matter should satisfy the Poor-.law Board,
and they must be very partial and prejudiced if
they do not find something to remedy for the future
in such cases. There must be something very
faulty at the root of the management of these
Infirmaries if such a case as this exicites no par•
ticular interest, nor engages any special attention
by the lookers-on. With them it may be only a
nine days' wonder, but in the sight of those who
reflect upon the grave responsibilities it is far other-
wise. There must have been great mismanagement
for the sick man to keep on complaining of want
of attention, as it is proved that he did. It is too
much be feared that DALY has been a victim to a
system of neglect which is but to) prevalent in
Union infirmaries, and that peculiar circumstances
have brought his case more prominently forward,
and thus exposed what else would have been known
to few, or perhaps altogether buried in oblivion.
When any wrong, public) or private, is brought to
light, those who are mixed up in the affair imme-
diately under notice are very apt to receive all the
blame, which should by rights be attached to others,
and at all events divided among those who have
similarly conducted themselves. Not for the sake
of one man who has evidently suffered from neglect
—not for the improving of one Union infirmary
but in the name of all the sick and suffering hearts
who have no other refuge in their time of trouble
it is the duty of those appointed by law to inquire
into this matter. Let them take up the matter in
a fair spirit, and for once let the general interests
of the community actuate them, and not be biassed
by their own particular views and efforts to carry
out their special theories. It must not be said that
indifference has been exhibited to a cause which so
deeply concerns those who are not able to help
themselves, but who have thus additional claims
upon the authorities of their country.

The development of a national taste for art is no
insignificant or unworthy undertaking. For very
many years it was the fashion to decry the taste
of everything British, and to declare in round
terms that while manufacturing skill was un-
doubtedly our position, in every department of the
arts we were totally and hopelessly deficient. In
architecture, painting, and designs of every kind'
and in every ornamental undertaking we were
outer Barbarians, while in music it was long en
openly avowed conviction that the English were
,‘ not a musical people." The experience of the last
twenty or thirty years has completely altered this
aspect of affairs. JULLIEN effected a good deal in
the way of developing the popular taste for good
music, and since his time the reception which solid
classical works of the great masters have received
in our music-halls has proved that the English
public were not only able to find gratification in
a merry tune or popular air, but to take pleasure
in the performance of oratorios, symphonies, quar-
tetts, and overtures. It is not easy, indeed, to see
how the prejudice should have arisen when BEET,
HOVEN himself experienced the kindness of English.
men, when HANDEL was for many years a resident in
this country, and a leader of its musical world, and
when MENDELSSOUN found his great works were
no where so cordially welcomed. His immortal
" Elijah " was first made public among us, and the
greeting it received was all that the composer could
desire. So that long before good music had become
as popular as it now is among the masses there
were not wanting Englishmen and women who
were bold enough to have a taste of their own.
The Saxon race has always been famous
for its love of song and melody. Even
King ALFRED, according to an old tradition,
was an able performer on the harp, and no better
mode could be devised to lighten the some-
what severe gravity of our nation than the en-
couragement of the most fascinating and delightful
of the arts. But the cultivation of a taste for de.
sign has been long neglected among us, and as such
a taste exercises a considerable influence on the
value and beauty of our manufactures, it is impore
tent in a commercial as well as in an artistic sense.
The establishment of Schools of Design has no
doubt had good effect, for the improvement which
has taken place in the style of our productions
during the last 10 or 15 years is most noticeable.
Formerly when an artisan, or any one of a humbler
class, exhibited a taste or talent for design he had
no opportunity whatever of cultivating or improv-
ing his abilities, and it is a common mistake that
talent of any kind does not require study and ap.
plication for its development. We know that the
great masters of old were most assiduous students,
that they spent long years of their ambi-
tious youth in close application in the
studios of men who were often far in.
ferior to themselves. Yet even if a working
man felt this conviction, where was he to find the
leisure, how to obtain the materials, and how to
pay for suitable instruction ? All these queries are
satisfactorily answered by the Schools of Art, and
in consequence we find large numbers of the working
classes so far advanced in their skill and ingenuity
in handicraft, and still more in their artistic taste,
as to be able to set up exhibitions of their own.
Some of the paintings shown in the recent North
London Exhibition might for their merit
have found admittance into more exclusive
show-rooms, and as the system is as yet
young in years, we may reasonably hope for still
further progress. It is, therefore, with very great
satisfaction that we see its benefits extending to
the sister island. No one ever doubted the genius
or quick wit of Irish men and women, but in art,
as in other walks of life, they have Badly needed the
opportunity of bringing their gifts to fruition. The
ennobling and refining influences of art need no
comment, and the beneficial effects of a cultivation
of the gentler studies world tend to raise and civi-
lize the people. As yet the fair ladies of the sister
isle seem to be the most assiduous votaries of art,
for at the recent distribution of prizes to the suc-
cessful students of the Royal Dublin Society, Lord
WooEisousE could not help commenting on the
marked disparity in the number of the ladies and
the
gentlemen. We do not see why this Should
be', Since there •
ra certainly nothing to be
aehAmed of in a love for art, or in the study