British Manufacturing Industries: Pottery, Glass and Silicates, Furniture and Woodwork.

It is enough to look at modern London, to listen to the disputes of committees of management or selection for a public monument, a street, or a gallery, and to take a glance at their choice, to see what we are in these respects. But Englishmen are not wanting in genius, and in the matter of which these pages treat, they have played their part well in the past.

When buyers know what is ugly, they will not tolerate it about their houses; the eagerness to possess something new or original will give place to a just judgment of what is good, whether new or old. Most periods of good sumptuary art owe their designs to a few old types constantly reproduced under new and agreeable varieties, that are not radical changes. To know good from bad in these matters, is the result not of a natural instinct altogether, but of such a sense instructed by study, experience, and reflection. Nor, on the other hand, does such an instinct accompany great intellectual acquirements naturally, and as a matter of right. A man may possess a vast amount of learning, statesmanship, or professional knowledge, and be no judge of painting, sculpture, marquetry furniture, or blue porcelain. Nor, though he knows something of the history of these objects, will he necessarily admire and like the best or most beautiful examples. It is this sense of what is becoming, that has to be learned, though it is occasionally a natural gift. When whole nations have become used to good domestic art, public opinion will be sound, and will perpetuate itself as regards this subject matter, till some great national convulsion reduces sumptuous living, and refined social manners and habits, to ruin.

1

These numbers are approximate translations of the numbers given in the communication: no object could be gained in giving complex fractions.

2

1 ounce avoirdupois weighs 28·349 grammes.

3

1 mètre equals 39·37 English inches.

4

1 kilogramme = 2·2 lbs. avoirdupois.

5

Cat. Brit. Section Exhibition, 1867, Introduction, p. 61.

6

See also Q. de Quincy, Le Jupiter Olympien.

7

Supplementary Report, chap. xxx.