The Sun.
London, England, 1853-03-26 00:00:00

to that of their genuineness. He says (p. 19)—
and the italics are his own—" The mere genuineness
of the works is chiefly to be had regard to in the
first instance." As Mr. SOLLY had declared, as
far back as 1837, when examined before a Com-

mittee of the House of Commons on Arts and

Manufactures—" If it (the National Gallery) is
to be a complete collection, it must commence, of

course, from the time of Giorro and CIHABITE."
Consequently—this being admitted—" the collec-
tion must take a far wider range than it has done
hitherto," (p. 13)--it " can aim at no lower
object than to exhibit the whole development of
the art of painting ; the examples of which it
consists must, therefore, range over its whole
history" (ditto)—it ought, in fact, as Mr. DYCE
had already remarked in a previous part of his
pamphlet, to be "an institution where the learned
study art, and the unlearned enjoy it" (p. 10), an
institution where docti artis rationum
indocti sentiunt voluptatem. While endeavouring
to enforce the necessity of rendering the collec-
tion thus comprehensive, Mr. DYCE, we conceive,
allows himself to be carried away into the utterance
of a somewhat extravagant, not to say absurd,
illustration. This occurs in the passage when he
observes (p. 10)--" Suppose that the formation of
a collection of English dramatic poetry were in
question, what should we think or say of the
Trustees of the British Museum if they were to
decide who were the best English dramatists—
what were their best works—and to exclude from
the library all but the comparatively few produc-
tions they might happen to think desirable 1"
Agreeing heartily with the purport of Mr. DYCtE'S
argument as applied to the National Gallery, in
regard to its completeness or comprehensiveness, we
must, nevertheless, object to his illustration of that
argument as a case inno respect whatever analogous.
A Library, whether dramatic or otherwise, has faci-
lities for assuring its completeness wholly out of
the question in regard to a Gallery of Paintings.
The Bibliotheque Imperiale of Paris, the British
Museum, and the vast collection of books at the
Vatican, may each of them, without detriment to
the others, comprise the whole of the works of
&LIMPER; or of any other of the great masters
in dramatic literature ; whereas it were folly to
insist seriously upon the fact that neither the
Louvre, nor the National Gallery, nor the Royal
Museum, nor the Pinacothek, could by the merest
possibility acquire possession of all the works of
any one of the great masters in the art of paint-
ing, of BARTOLOBIBO, or of GozzoLl, or of GHIR-
LANDAIO. The instances are altogether different.
Howbeit, apart from this, the truth asserted by
Mr. DYCE is none the less incontrovertible. His
argument is good, though his illustration is rather
inexact and blundering. In following out that
argument he enlarges forcibly enough upon the
advantages of various kinds which could
not fail to accrue from insuring to the
National Gallery this paramount merit of com-
pleteness. He reminds us, for example, of the
benefits likely to result from our obtaining speci-
mens of the school of Bologna, as implied in that
opinion expressed by Mr. J. LEIGH, in 1837, be-
fore the Parliamentary Committee on Arts and
Manufactures—" It is a school whose works we
are exceedingly in want of to enable us to correct
the tendency of the English style towards weak-
ness of design, effeminacy of composition, and
flauntiness of colouring." He remarks himself,
in reference to the value of the earlier schools in
the art (p. 12), after sententiously notifying the
circumstance, that painting had its adolescence as
wellas its infancy and its manhood—"lf the maturity
of judgment and technical skill of later times were
wanting in its adolescent state, they were more
than compensated for by a freshness of thought
and intuition, a vivacity, a gaiety, a vividness of
impression, an innocence, simplicity, and truth-
fulness, which belong to first efforts, and which
technical imperfection tended even to develope in
greater force than the more universal aims of later
art permitted." As to the feasibility of this
scheme of forming a really complete or 'compre-
hensive collection of paintings for the new Na-
tional Gallery, we cannot overlook, any more than
Mr. DYCE could lose a recollection of the fact,
(p. 18) that within fifteen years from the time of
its commencement, the Royal Museum of Berlin
possessed works of all classes " from the rude
Byzantine down to productions of the last cen-
tury," to the number of very nearly twelve hun-
dred—a circumstance sufficiently encouraging and
significant.
In reference to Mr. DYCE'S project for the
future management of the National Gallery when
ultimately reorganised, we need here only remark
that it is, for many reasons, entitled to separate
and serious consideration.

The electioneering drama at Derby has come at
last to a very appropriate termination. After the
" safe man " has figured rather conspicuously on
the stage ; after the famous W. B. has assumed a
very distinguished position among our polite letter-
writers ; after the respectable FRAIL and the re-
spectable MORGAN, arcades arab°, have vied with
each other in their claims upon popular considera-
tion ; after so many delightful incidents, and still
more delightful revelations, the report has been
formally drawn up by the Committee, and, on
examination, turns out to be sufficiently explicit
and comprehensive. The results of the whole of
this elaborate and protracted inquiry are, more-
over, precisely what any reasonable observer could
alone, from the very outset, have anticipated.
Not merely is Mr. HORSFALL summarily unseated,
not merely is Mr. HEYWORTH, in his stead, declared
duly elected—but Mr. Bess has the delight of
witnessing the petition against him rejected, and
rejected, too, upon the ground that it is both vexa-
tious and frivolous. Happily we shall begin after
this to hear somewhat less frequently, we presume,
of the redoubtable FLEWKER and his confreres.
Even poor Major BERESFORD may hope at length
to have his political merits aired not quite so re-
peatedly as of late in the columns of the public
newspapers, whether provincial ox metropolitan.
Doubtless, the Right Hon. Gentleman had come
long since to be scarcely less sick of the entire
transaction than the mass of the general com-
munity. Howbeit, we may all of us now look
forward to the time when these melancholy proceed-
ings may be simply referred to incidentally by way
of illustration—in lieu of being dragged forward,
again and again, in all their repulsive details to
disgust even the most infatuated upholder of the
existing system with especial regard to the man-
agement as hitherto of the machinery of popular
representation. Unfortunately, there are exam-
ples "enough and to spare" of the rottenness of
that complex and enormous machinery—registered,
one might say, for the manufacture of model Mem-
bers of Parliament—to preclude us from the
necessity of harping perpetually upon this abomi-
nable case at Derby, or of ventilating exclusively
any one man's reputation. Remembering rather
painfully all that has, in this matter, been spoken,
written, and printed about W. 8., about
FRAIL, about FLEWKER, about MORGAN, about
" safe men," and barbers, and bricklayers—we
must confess that we are heartily rejoiced to ob-
serve the completion of this prolonged and scruti-
nising investigation.

After all that ill-blood engendered by the
wrangling over this deplorable Derby Election,
it is gratifying to perceive, at least,
one tardy indication of good feeling dis-
played towards one of the most honourable
and distinguished Members of the constitu-
ency. Allusion is here made to the tribute of
respect now being proferred to the Mayor of Derby,
Mr. Moss, in his professional capacity as a lawyer,
and in his political capacity as a Liberal, and
especially in consideration of his frank and manly
character, his eminent abilities, his unflinching
resolution, and his unbending consistency. As a
token of the respect inspired by these eminent
qualities, it is proposed that the Mayor of Derby
shall become very shortly the recipient of a public
testimonial. The suggestion of this very graceful
proceeding appears to have emanated from one of
the friends and pupils of Mr. Moss, and one who,
having resided under that gentleman's roof-tree
during four years and upwards, and having thus
been afforded anadmirable opportunity for " judg-
ing fairly of his hidden motives," now comes for-
ward bravely "at a pincii," describing him to be