any one who is not wholly ignorant in matters of art, knows well that every antique statue, bronze, gem, coin or vase, is more esteemed in proportion as, to its other intellectual and visible merits, it adds the recommendation of being more entire, better preserved, and retaining in a greater degree the very polish of the ancient tool, or the very lustre of the ancient varnish.

It is those repositories of ancient art, first established by sovereigns, afterwards imitated by private individuals, that have been the most effectual nurseries of that modern art, which, in general, its worst judges are those that affect most to extol above the former. It is those collections that inspired and that guided in the path of beauty a Raphael, a Michael Angelo, and all the most celebrated artists of Italy and other countries, who, uniformly, were the foremost to acknowledge the source, whence they derive their excellence; and to this hour the most eminent among the artists of our

own island, a Flaxman, a Nollekins, a Westmacott, and others; nay, the most elegant among British manufacturers, a Wedgwood and a Rundle, will own that, to the study and imitation of the chefd'œuvres of the ancients, they owe the superiority which they already have attained; and that only, in proportion as the collections of such works are more resorted to and more studied, their productions can still be expected to improve in taste and in beauty.

WITH a view to facilitate this necessary study, to our artists and manufacturers of every description, Parliament last year voted the purchase of Mr. Townley's statues and bas-reliefs: and hitherto sovereigns have considered the acquisition of such collections, for such a purpose, as among their highest titles to the gratitude of their own subjects, and to the applause of foreigners. They have been celebrated for their judgment, as well as their liberality, by men of taste and learning, in all ages and countries.

It was reserved for England to find among its natives, nay, among its literati, men, either so unenlightened as not to feel the policy and the wisdom of such a measure, or so unpatriotic, as, feeling these, still to condemn it, merely because their vanity is of so morbid a description, as to view with impatience and ill humour every object of public attention, in which they themselves are not enabled to bear a direct share.

I remain, Sir,

Your most obedient humble Servant,

A. Z.

Sir,

To the Editor of the Director.

In your amusing weekly journal, I perceive that you have occasionally stepped aside from the severity of literary and scientific pursuits, and have indulged your readers by the perusal of facetious and witty productions. Your Art of good Living', 'Remarks on the Drama,' 'Modern Beaus and Belles,' and A Walk in London,' are all written with much urbanity, and in a proper strain of satire. I sincerely hope the world may be benefited by such publications.

The literature of the present day has not yet formed a subject of discussion with you, or your correspondents: whether it be considered unworthy, or unfit for the particular purposes, of your Journal, I will not take upon me to pronounce; in the present instance, all the indulgence I claim is to call your attention to some of the literature of former times.

WHATEVER be the defects of modern genius, or of the present general public spirit, there are certainly none in regard to the paying of a proper deference and respect to the works of past ages. I have nothing to do with Homer and the Greeks, nor with Virgil and the Romans; it were a waste of words and of time to devote one period to their praises. Of our own countrymen, the same may be said in regard to Chaucer, Milton, and DrydenAll these have received, and continue to receive, our unbounded admiration:

Whose honours with increase of ages grow,
As streams roll down, enlarging as they flow.
Nations unborn their mighty names shall sound,
And worlds applaud that must not yet be found,

BUT, Sir, our gratitude to our ancestors is still more widely extending itself. We have reprinted BURTON'S Melancholy, FROISSART's andJOINVILLE's Chronicles, JEREMY TAYLOR's Holy Living and Dying, and are now meditating a new edition of HOLINSHED'S CHRONICLES. These literary undertakings reflect great honour