done enough (and that unwillingly) to save themselves from the shame of having done nothing. But he has never cooled nor tired, and, surely, his opening his house for an exhibition of our pictures is the crowning of all. I am now too old to bustle about; but I will join my brother artists in any thing; by the public celebration of his birth-day yearly, or by any other public testimony, to do honour to our noble patron."

Sir Henry Raeburn, the Reynolds of Scotland, also expressed his deep sense of Sir John's patriotism, in a letter from St. Bernard's, his country-seat, near Edinburgh, to the writer of these particulars, in December, 1819, of which the following is an extract, in reference to an engraved portrait of the baronet :"I again assure you I value the print, because it is the likeness of a man I venerate, who, rising superior to common prejudices, has shown himself the munificent patron and encourager of native genius, and who has so nobly, and so much to his own honour, set an example to other men of fortune, which I hope will soon be followed by many. The more I think of what this gentleman has done the more I am convinced in my own mind, that the good consequence of his exertions will be felt in this country for generations to come; and when you have heard me express my opinion of his public spirit before now, I only spoke the common sentiments of all my brother artists, who never mention his name but with sentiments of respect and esteem." The elegant poet and painter, Shee, the royal academician, whose "Rhymes on Art." have had such an important effect in improving the public taste, and invigorating public opinion, has also as warmly expressed his admiration of the baronet's zeal and munificence. The following appropriate observations are extracted from a letter by that artist to the writer of these memoirs in 1819:"Sir John Leicester, indeed, appears to be actuated by the noblest impulse of public spirit. His intercourse with the arts is of the most liberal and disinterested character. To him the pleasures of taste must be heightened by the honours of pa

tronage and dignified by the feelings of patriotism: he has done all that the arts can expect from an individual, and more than any other individual has attempted to do. By purchasing extensively and liberally the works of living artists, he has encouraged their exertions, and contributed to their fortune; by forming a public exhibition of these productions, in circumstances so well calculated to display their merits to advantage, he has endeavoured to sanction their pretensions, and contribute to their fame. That his motives may be mistaken or misrepresented, and his merits may be depreciated or denied, he must be prepared to expect; it is the lot of all who obtain any distinction in society for talent or for worth. They who have not the generosity to follow the example he has set may decry it as injudicious, or calumniate it as vain. The disappointed artist may possibly dispute his liberality; the heartless connoisseur may disparage his taste; all the hornets of the time, in short, may buzz and fret around him; but they will dart their little stings in vain towards a man whose merits can be disputed only in the libel of his motives; and who, if he be ambitious of distinction, seeks it only in an honourable effort to raise the drooping genius, and encourage the neglected arts of his country.'

Beside the letters from which the preceding extracts are here inserted, this writer has in his possession upwards of one hundred letters from other eminent artists, literary men, and amateurs, containing similar sentiments on the happy change in public opinion, produced by Sir John Leicester's taste, his liberal patronage, and his splendid Exhibition of British pictures in the Hill-street Gallery.

The fame of the paintings by the old masters, in the principal collections of the princes and nobles in Italy, France, Holland, and Germany, had been exceedingly diffused by the publication of critical and descriptive catalogues, which circulated to an unlimited extent. These publications had also the good effect of spreading a correct taste for the Fine Arts, as there is not a prejudice against modern genius in those

countries; but in England no private gentleman of rank and fortune had published a catalogue of English pictures in his own possession. As Sir John had been foremost on so many occasions, he was also the first English gentleman, who gave the British artists this advantage. The author of the Critical Description of Stothard's painting of the Canterbury Pilgrims had just then published his Critical and Descriptive Analysis of "Death on the Pale Horse," painted by Benjamin West, President of the Royal Academy. A perusal of that tract induced Sir John to confer upon the writer the very delicate and difficult task of drawing up a descriptive catalogue of the paintings in his Gallery, in which he had the honour of being assisted by Sir Richard Colt Hoare, Bart.. the learned and accomplished friend of Sir John. The catalogue, forming a royal octavo of 152 pages, was published in March, 1819: a copy was presented to the Prince Regent, who graciously acknowledged it, by his private secretary, as a gratifying favour, and paid a just and warm compliment to Sir John Leicester's taste and public spirit. Presentation copies were also handsomely acknowledged in congratulatory terms by his Royal Highness the Duke of Gloucester, by other branches of the Royal Family, and by several public bodies.

While the British and Scotch ar tists reaped the advantages, and expressed their sense of Sir John's unweared exertions in their favour, in Ireland the same feeling prevailed.

In 1819 and 1820, Sir John again opened his Gallery, in Hill-street, to the public on free tickets of admission. He was detained in the country this present year by ill health, but his anxiety to keep alive the flame of emulation induced him to have the Gallery opened as formerly to the public. It was on one of those occassions that Mr. Henry Bone, R.A., whose exquisite pictures in enamel have been so long the admiration of the public, respectfully presented one of his performances to Sir John Leicester, "In token of his early, zealous, and continued patronage of British art." This superb gift was copied from

a peasant girl, in a landscape by Gainsborough, in the possession of Lord de Dunstanville. The tasteful transcript is nine inches high, and seven wide, executed in the charming delicacy and mellowness, which characterise the style of Bone, and is valued at two hundred guineas. The memorable sensation excited by the opening of the Gallery in 1818, and 1819, did not expire with the latter year; in 1820, and 1823, the crowds of distinguished visitors were, if possible, greater. The pictures were examined with increased enthusiasm; and good sense, true taste, and British feeling, again triumphed over folly, apathy, and anti-contemporary prejudice.

Another memorable instance of Sir John Leicester's zealous spirit arose out of the following circumstances. The Royal Irish Institution for promoting the Fine Arts, founded in Dublin in 1813, made public their intention, in February last, to erect a National Gallery in the Irish capital. That body has been honoured with marks of the King's especial favour: without any offcial communication from Dublin, as soon as the existence of the Irish Institution became incidentally known at Carlton-House, that illustrious personage manifested a warm interest in its success. Within less than three months after its formation the Institution was favoured, through the bands of its secretary, with a letter from the Right Hon. Robert Peel, Secretary of the Lord Lieutenant, dated Dublin Castle, August 20, 1813, informing him that he had received a letter from Lord Viscount Sidmouth, Secretary of State for the Home Department, London, intimating the gracious pleasure of his Royal Highness the Prince Regent, that his name should be placed as patron at the head of the Irish Institution for the promotion of the Fine Arts; and also acquainting the Secretary that His Royal Highness had been graciously pleased to direct the sum of two hundred guineas, on his account, to be paid in aid of the funds of the Irish Institution.

This first act of royal condescension has been followed by other instances of favour, which has awakened the deepest feelings of grati