ndicate also the will of the public in
some respects; not that I think that "will" always wise, but I think you
would then have pointed out in what way those who are teaching the
public should best regulate the teaching; and also it would give the
public itself an interest in art, and a sense of responsibility, which
in the present state of things they never can have.

Will you explain more fully the precedent of music to which you have
just adverted?--The fame of any great singer or any great musician
depends upon the public enthusiasm and feeling respecting him. No Royal
Academy can draw a large audience to the opera by stating that such and
such a piece of music is good, or that such and such a voice is clear;
if the public do not feel the voice to be delicious, and if they do not
like the music, they will not go to hear it. The fame of the musician,
whether singer, instrumentalist, or composer, is founded mainly upon his
having produced a strong effect upon the public intellect and
imagination. I should like that same effect to be produced by painters,
and to be expressed by the public enthusiasm and approbation; not merely
by expressions of approbation in conversation, but by the actual voice
which in the theater is given by the shout and by the clapping of the
hands. You cannot clap a picture, nor clap a painter at his work, but I
should like the public in some way to bring their voice to bear upon the
painter's work.

170. Have you formed any opinion upon the position of the Associates in
the Royal Academy?--I have thought of it a little, but the present
system of the Academy is to me so entirely nugatory, it produces so
little effect in any way (what little effect it does produce being in my
opinion mischievous), that it has never interested me; and I have felt
the difficulty so greatly, that I never, till your lordship's letter
reached me, paid much attention to it. I always thought it would be a
waste of time to give much time to thinking how it might be altered; so
that as to the position of Associates I can say little, except that I
think, in any case, there ought to be some period of probation, and some
advanced scale of dignity, indicative of the highest attainments in art,
which should be only given to the oldest and most practiced painters.

From the great knowledge which you possess of British art, looking to
the most eminent painters, sculptors, and architects at this time,
should you say that the nu