, and of a dazzling splendour,--we do not mean to speak
slightingly of this architectural adjunct;--but there is little room for
the _sobriety_ of great art; and be it remembered that art, to be great,
must have in it a certain sobriety, awe, and majesty, that does not quite
accord with our style of decoration. We require a kind of furniture
decoration. We doubt if in our Houses of Parliament and palaces, much room
will be spared to what is so facetiously termed "High Art." Nor can we
expect to be always building Houses of Parliament; and, therefore, too
soon the magniloquent patronage must come to an end. Domesticity is the
habit of modern life, (for even our club-houses are of that character, and
assume the appearance of a home;) and, for such habits, easel pictures
will ever have the greatest charm. Nor would it be correct to deny to them
a very scope in the field of art. We doubt if we can recur to any
extensive patronage for frescoes; and their great cost must exclude them
from our churches, which we are more desirous of multiplying than of
ornamenting. Nor can we wonder at this; for, whereas the churches and all
public buildings in Italy, were and are open at all times, and the great
works they contain, are to be seen every day, and at every hour of the
day, with us it is a great thing to have them open once or twice in the
week, for an hour and a half at a time. So that we fear the Commission for
the promotion of the Fine Arts are, as far as we can judge of their
ostensible object, in a labyrinth, from which if they find an exit, they
will not have enlarged their prospect, and will have to congratulate
themselves, at best, on being where they were when they entered it.

We do not here express a doubt as to the advantage of our having a
Commission of the Fine Arts. We only doubt their judgment in the
exclusiveness of their aim, and the largeness of their implied promises.

But if there be a suspicion of failure in the ostensible object, in some
of its working the greatest benefit will have been conferred upon modern
art. A more judicious or more fortunate choice could not have been made,
than that made in the appointment of the Secretary to the Commission. Much
as the world has reason to regret that this appointment has for a long,
too long a period, been a sore let and hinderance to Mr Eastlake in the
practice of his art,--the conscientious view he has taken of the duties of
his office, and his entire faithfulness