American does not trouble himself about beauty of work, his object is to clear ground. To a certain extent the same consideration will apply here. We have had a strong pressure of competition with all quarters of the world, and we have thought a great deal about useful and cheap production. But, until lately, we have thought very little about the beautiful in production. But since schools of art have been in existence I am glad to say that in many branches of industry we see already the vast effect that has been produced. For example, thirty years ago all patterns for our cotton goods were obtained from France, but now we take patterns from France, and send patterns back to France. 8. So also with the manufacture of glass and porcelain. English glass for services, wine glasses, and a variety of portable articles of that kind, has now become extremely beautiful, and also very convenient. It is an entire contrast with what it was forty or fifty years ago. It was then a great deal dearer, and a great deal uglier. A sense of valuable beauty has also found its way into the manufacture of porcelain, and there is reason to believe that the same love of beauty is finding its way into the production of metalwork. 9. Do not suppose, because improvement is at work, that therefore there is no more to do. We want to carry this work of improvement to such a length that it shall not depend on the spirit or enterprise of this or that master, or of this or that factory. We want to get it into the mind and brain and heart and feeling of the working men. There are workmen who have it already. ' Portable, that can be carried. Most interesting exhibitions are sometimes held in London and other places, in which nothing but works produced by workmen themselves, after their ordinary hours of labour, are shown; and it is most interesting to witness the arduous and successful efforts these men will make, outside their hours of labour, to produce things which are beautiful. 10. But these workmen, after all, are individual exceptions. We want that spirit to spread. We want a workman to understand, that if he can learn to appreciate beauty in production he will thereby do good to himself, first in the improvement of his mind and the pleasure he derives from his work, and secondly by increasing his own capital, which is his labour. He is increasing his own capital as truly and as substantially as if he could add to the muscles of his arms by doubling their force all at once. He is introducing into the work he produces an element which will add to its value, to the price it will bring in the market, and to the comforts he can provide for his wife and family. II. I think the matter so plain that I am almost ashamed to seem to dwell upon it as if it required explanation. But we have an object in view; we want to infuse into the minds of the population generally an idea which as yet they have not sufficiently embraced, and which it is now of especial value and necessity that they should come thoroughly to understand-namely, that the pursuit of the beauty of those things that they make is as important as the pursuit of their utility. 12. There are, I know, difficulties in the way; and one very great difficulty arises from the system of modern production : namely, the division of labour, which confines a workman to some portion, perhaps a comparatively trifling portion, of the manipulation' of the thing he produces, and naturally diminishes. his interest in it as a whole. We are told that it takes I do not know how many people to make a pin ; and probably the man who has to shape the head of the pin does not much care about the goodness, neatness, and efficiency of the pin as a whole. I can understand that this is an obstacle and a difficulty; but at the same time it is a difficulty which can be overcome, and there is no reason why we should extinguish the feeling I have been describing. case. 13. Labour is not always so divided as it is in this In many of the great industries there is plenty of room for appreciation of beauty. A great many people for instance, those who are engaged in moulding earthenware-are concerned directly in that which must be beautiful or the reverse. We must not expect too much; but what we may reasonably look for is progress-progress in the adoption of principles recommended by the surest investigation we make, as well as by the surest testimony of long experience; which shows that to unite all forms of beauty, all the varied qualities of beauty, with the different characteristics that make up the utility of industrial productions, is the true way to the success of our national enterprise and commerce. Speech of the RIGHT HON. W. E. GLADSTONE on opening a 'Manipulation, use of the hands in an artistic or skilful manner. I. ONCE more unto the breach, dear friends, once more; Or close the wall up with our English dead! In peace, there's nothing so becomes a man But when the blast of war blows in our ears, 10. Let it pry through the portage1 of the head, 'Portage, the same as port-hole; that opening in a ship of war through which the cannon show. Like the brass cannon; let the brow o'erwhelm it, 4 O'erhang and jutty 3 his confounded base, 5 Swill'd with the wild and wasteful ocean. Now set the teeth, and stretch the nostril wide; 6 Fathers, that, like so many Alexanders, 20. Have in these parts from morn till even fought, And sheath'd their swords for lack of argument. Dishonour not your mothers; now attest That those whom you called fathers did beget you! And teach them how to war!-And you, good yeomen, Whose limbs were made in England, show us here That you are worth your breeding; which I doubt For there is none of you so mean and base, 30. That hath not noble lustre in your eyes. I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips, 'As fearfully, as truly as does the head of a rock, whose base has been washed away by the action of the sea, overhang the foundation. 2 Galled, worn out. Confounded, confused. "Fet, fetched. 'Mettle of your pasture, the manner of your bringing up. |