And now, in this summer of 1866, all the world may see (I hope) this Master in Lord Derby's Portrait Gallery, and those who have drunk of that 'well of English undefiled,' which he left for his countrymen, will fairly sound the calm depths of his tranquil eyes.*

But if we give all due credit to Lord Derby for his great Portrait Exhibition of 1866, we must not forget that other Portrait Exhibitions had already been inaugurated, and that there has been for

* There is another portrait I hope—I am afraid vainly—to see in the Exhibition, that of William Caxton, the good man and honest printer. He printed Chaucer's Canterbury Tales twice. The first was taken from an imperfect manuscript, and as soon as he found this out, he began another-" for to satisfy ye auctore, whereas tofore by ignoraunce, I had erred in hurting and defamyng his boke." Caxton had a great veneration for the great poet. 'We ought,' he says, 'to give a singular laud unto that noble and great philosopher, Geoffrey Chaucer, the which, for his ornate writings in our tong, may well have the name of a laureate poet. For, to fore that he embellished and ornated and made faire our English, in this royaume was had rude speech and incongrue, as yet it appeareth by old bokes, which, at this day, ought not to have place, ne be compared among unto his beauteous volumes and ornate writings, of whom he made many books and treatyses of many a noble historie as well in metre as in rhyme and prose: and then so craftily made, that he comprehended his materes in short, quicke, and high sentence, eschewing perplexity; casting awaye the chaff of superfluity, and showing the quick grain of sentence, uttered by craftie and sugared eloquence."

some years open to the public one of their own (now containing more than 200 interesting English portraits) called the National Portrait Gallery. This was established in 1857, and, although at present badly housed, is gradually progressing in favour and extent under the government of Lord Stanhope and his co-trustees, and the able superintendence of Mr. Scharf, the keeper. In 1857, in the Art-Treasures Exhibition at Manchester, there was a Department, called the British Portrait Gallery, admirably arranged by Mr. Peter Cunningham, which contained nearly 400 pictures, kindly lent by personages of all ranks, the Queen herself setting her Nobles and Commoners a worthy example. And only last year, at South Kensington, there was an unparalleled "Loan Collection" of miniature likenesses, that for several months drew crowds never tired of admiring them. Doubtless these successive Exhibitions have led to the desire, and to the practicability, of forming one of the extent and importance which Lord Derby sketched out in placing his proposal before the world; and the last, in particular, seems to have thoroughly prepared the public for the new treat in store for them. These great public collections call to mind many private galleries, and he

would deserve well of his country' who would undertake to give a comprehensive view of these as they lie scattered in princely seats throughout the length and breadth of the United Kingdom.

This compendium should be not only of oil pictures but of collections of portraits in every style. The only regret would be that it would prove the impossibility, almost, for any one to form for himself now a considerable portrait gallery, unless it be one of Engravings, about which I shall elsewhere speak. When there are so many portraits accessible to the public it may seem a selfish thing to wish to appropriate a collection to oneself: but, let us think of the Collector' with respect, notwithstanding that he may be occasionally afflicted with a 'mania.' I deem it a fair desire to wish to possess these objects that are so valuable, not only as works of art but as portraits' in their associations and suggestiveness; for it is only when we are surrounded with them as household gods that we can thoroughly appreciate them. And sometimes Galleries are dispersed, and chances are offered to the wealthy or influential of securing for themselves some of those treasures which have appeared quite out of reach; so, if they cannot have altogether what they love, they learn to love what

they have many things are preserved together that would otherwise be scattered piecemeal; and, thus, much learning and information are augmented, and the love of art "doth grow by what it feeds on."

W

II.

Portrait Collections.

ERE it not that some few other animals seem, in a small degree, to have some

what of the same faculty, man might be

defined a scraping or collecting animal, for there is scarcely an individual of the genus but manifests this peculiarity; some in scraping or collecting for their own subsistence or that of their offspring; many for the gratification of their senses or intellect, irrespective of physical wants of increase or preservation. Ages and ages ago, thousands of years before MM. Boucher, or Lartet, or Christie, Evans, Brown, or Blackmore, formed their collections of flint implements, there were doubtless other gentlemen known by synonyms of "Big-flint-splitter," "Neat-chip-chopper," "Through-ice-catchee-fishflint-flaker," who prided themselves on wonderful collections of flint arrow-heads and skin-scrapers. Since that time collections of all sorts of things then undreamed of have been formed. Pictures, Statues,