the cultivation of the public taste, -that education in the beautiful can only be properly carried out by submitting articles of beauty frequently to the eye, and accustoming it to their influence. No mere reading about beauty or taste will ever give a love for the one or form the other. It is not many years ago since England became fully alive to the fact that, notwithstanding her enormous capital and the perfection of her machinery, many of her manufacturers were excluded from the foreign market, and solely on account of their inferiority of design. So much was this then felt that a committee of the House of Commons was appointed in 1836 to inquire into the facts of the case. We remember that Mr. Martin, the celebrated painter, complained of the want of correct design in the china trade; Mr. Papworth of the inferiority of decorative interior architecture and furniture; Mr. Cockerell of the bad styles of architecture arising from a want of education in the arts. The same want of artistic skill was complained of in many other branches of decorative art, and thus the sad spectacle was exhibited of a nation enabled to produce a better article as regards material, yet unable to compete with the foreigner solely for want of artistic power. It was out of this inquiry that the "schools of design" arose, which have since been modified and become what we now have as "schools of art." To develop properly any branch of trade, there are two parties to be considered: the producer and the consumer-the seller and the buyer. Unless we have a steady demand for an article, we shall never have a steady supply. Unless we have persons who can appreciate improved and beautiful designs when placed before them, and purchase them in preference to inferior ones, we shall never get artists fulfilling the conditions we want. The education of the producer, therefore, and that of the buyer must go on simultaneously, or works in good taste will not be permanently produced. Our designers will always be in marketable art very much what our taste makes them. Decorative art is always in much more danger in this respect than the fine arts. The painter and sculptor depend for the sale of their works on the educated few-men who are rich, and purchase individual works at large prices. But designers for manufactured goods produce articles which must be sold by thousands in order to give a profit, and if the people do not know good from bad works, there is no certainty that any attempts will be made at improvement, since it is better to continue a well-known selling pattern than to produce a better whose sale would be uncertain. It may be very fairly questioned, whether we have not always had artists amongst us skilful enough to produce fine designs, had the manufacturer been justified by the educated state of the buyer in paying the artists their price. The want in this country has never been of skill to produce, but of taste to appreciate what is produced; and the only safe method now to insure improvement in design is to thoroughly cultivate the taste of the people. England has never been without eminent artists, and the great designers of all times have been the eminent masters, and not persons merely educated for trade-art. Flaxman, Bailey, Stothard, Bell, &c., have all been designers of trade articles, but such men require to be properly recompensed; and where there is no certainty of sale, the manufacturer must speculate the higher by employing such talent, which all safe and careful tradesmen are unwilling to do. A well organized arrangement for bringing before the people at all convenient seasons objects of beauty and utility, has become a work of national importance; and this Society, in taking the initiative in the matter, has begun a great work, and made a movement which, if successful, will go further. Moreover, in these days, when every effort is made for the moral improvement of the people, it must be borne in mind that there is a closer connexion between correct taste and correct morals than is generally supposed. A learned writer says: "A taste for the fine arts goes hand in hand with moral sense, to which indeed it is nearly allied: both of them discover what is right and what is wrong; fashion, temper, and education may vitiate both, or preserve them pure and untainted: neither of them is arbitrary or local, being rooted in human nature and common to all men." Exhibitions of arts and manufactures were first commenced by the French in the year 1798, since which time they have held several. Every successive exhibition has shown a marked improvement over the one which preceded it. At the first there were only 110 exhibitors, and in the one held in 1844 there were 3969 exhibitors; while in the Crystal Palace of 1851 there were no less than 5084 persons who received medals or honorary mention for their articles shown. In commencing exhibitions in England it was thought that trade jealousies might arise which would have an injurious tendency, but the contrary has been the result: for every exhibitor seems to feel that if he has secrets to tell his neighbour, so his neighbour has something to teach him ; aud thus a fair exchange of advantages takes place. Those public collections have also enabled us to compare the manufactures and art of various countries, and to observe the strength and weakness of the workmen of each. Thus it has been noticed that the English workmen beat the French in veneering and fixing the joints of furniture, while French workmen beat ours in the management of the lathe and chasing tools. Such are the practical lessons that workmen get from these collections, independent of the general benefits they bestow on all. P While these advantages, however, have existed so long for the residents of populous districts, and those wealthy enough to travel long distances, there are still large numbers of people to whom they are a dead letter; and the time appears now come to remedy the evil. The Council of the Bath and West of England Society formed a distinct Committee to carry out the needful arrangements; which Committee appointed Mr. Acland its Chairman. The first step of this Committee was to collect a sufficient sum to meet the expenses such a movement would involve. Mr. Drewe was appointed the Chairman of a Subscription Committee for this purpose, and he has since placed in the Treasurer's hands a considerable sum as the result of his unremitting labours. The Council have, therefore, without drawing on the resources of the Society raised for agricultural purposes, anticipated the wishes of the people in adding this branch to its already interesting and instructive exhibition. In the memorandum prepared by Mr. Acland it is stated that there were two modes of carrying out the exhibition: "either to endeavour to arrest public attention by a large and improving collection of objects of interest, or to begin on a small scale, commensurate with the means already at command, looking forward to further expansion if called for by the wants of the Society." The latter plan has been adopted; taking care at the same time to make the collection as perfect both in kind and quality as the means would permit. In providing for the security of valuable and perishable articles it was thought essential to provide at least one building which should combine the qualities of perfect stability, resistance to the weather, and good light, and which should at the same time admit of being removed at little cost and without difficulty. After much discussion, a plan embracing most of these requisites was agreed upon. The design was furnished by Mr. Nicholson, a well-known agricultural engineer of Newark. In the arrangements for this building, as well as in the adaptation of the canvas-sheds, very valuable assistance was rendered by Mr. Gray, the steward of shedding. The building is 100 feet long by 40 feet wide; the roof is supported by trusses constructed partly of wood and partly of iron at intervals of 20 feet: no rafters are required. The roof is formed of strips of corrugated iron, 7 feet × 2 feet, which reach from purlin to purlin. The wood is all fastened together by pieces of angle iron joined by bolts and screws. Light is admitted along the whole length of the roof for about 5 feet on each side of the ledge. Under the glass are louvre boards, which provide for ventilation. The sides are boarded, and in the event of wet weather an additional wall of canvas will be added to secure an interval of dry air as a protection to pictures and other works of art. The next care of the Committee was to draw up forms of preliminary inquiry to be distributed to persons likely to become exhibitors, with the view of ascertaining what objects would be sent, the quantity of room each person would require, and the nature of the protection which the articles would need. For all articles, except water-colour drawings, space was to be paid for, at prices according to the nature of the building in which they were to be placed. The following is the tariff of prices charged : Kind of Protection provided for the Articles. Uncovered Ground U. G. O. S. 1. 2. Enclosed Shedding E. S. 1. دو price 6d. per square yard. price 2s. per foot run, 20 feet wide (the Society's ordinary shedding). price 31. 10s. for Compartments, 20 feet wide, 14 feet frontage. price 3s. 6d. per foot run, 20 feet wide.Regulation 6. N.B. Half the space must be left vacant as a passage for visitors. 2. price 2s. 6d. per foot run for space for counters not exceeding 5 feet wide under sheds similarly enclosed. (This charge does not include the cost of the counters. Carpenters will be in attendance at fixed rates of charge.) 3. price 1s. per square foot for small articles requiring less than 20 square feet. Special Protection S. P. price 1s. per square foot horizontal, for trade and Glass Light articles including Ornamental Art, &c. also 1s. per square foot hanging space for ditto. [If Exhibitors send their own glass-cases these charges will be open to revision in the particular instance. The Society does not undertake to pay carriage except under very special circumstances.] The 1st of April was at first fixed as the day on which these papers were to be returned, but it was afterwards found necessary to lengthen the period till the 16th of April. From the papers now returned, it is found that several branches of manufacture will be well represented at the Exhibition. We shall have good collections of cutlery and other hardware, of philosophical instruments, decorative ironwork, bronzes, firearms, carriages, harness, furniture, &c., &c. But the most extensive, and probably the most attractive, part of the exhibition will be its glass, pottery, and lamps-branches of manufacture to which England, during the last few years, has paid great attention, and in which it has indisputably made much progress. On the latter two of these important articles of daily use we shall make a few further remarks. EXHIBITION OF CANDLES AND LAMPS. No necessity or comfort of domestic use has undergone a more marked improvement in modern times than the means of producing artificial light. The uncertain flicker of the old tallow dip has been replaced by the elegant "stearic mould," or classic "moderator." The flambeaux by which we were formerly lighted through dark thoroughfares of our cities by half-drunken linkmen, are things of history, while street-lamps shine on the passers-by with such brilliancy as almost to make us forget there is such a thing as darkness. The chief exhibitors at Barnstaple in this department will be " Price's Patent Candle Company," and the Messrs. Thomas of Exeter. The Messrs. Price, or rather their intelligent representative, Mr. Wilson, has done much for candle-making. He has raised the trade from a dirty piece of empiricism to an interesting scientific pursuit; and to instruct the visitors to the exhibition he is to send a variety of articles which will show the different materials used in their manufacture, and the changes they undergo. The following is a list he has furnished of the specimens to be sent to Barnstaple : No. 1. Palm-oil in its raw state as boiled out from the pulp surrounding the nut of the Elais Guineensis on the west coast of Africa. No. 2. Palm-oil after treatment with sulphuric acid at a high temperature. No. 3. Palm-oil after treatment with sulphuric acid and distilled. No. 4. Acid treated distilled palm-oil after cold and hot hydraulic pressure -"Belmont sperm." No. 5. Liquid expressed from the distilled acidified palm-oil-" oleic acid." No. 6. Residuum of distillation. No. 7. Raw palm-oil. No. 8. Pure palmitic acid. No. 9. Oleic acid. No. 10. Pure distilled glycerine. Such are more particularly the stages of the material used in Price's patent candle making. The Company also exhibit the following as more or less connected with the subject of their manufacture. No. 11. Wood-shavings to escape the paper duty (160 cuts to the inch of plank) for making night-light cases. oil. No. 12. Coir or cocoa-nut fibre used as press mats. No. 13. Petroleum in its raw state as imported from Rangoon. No. 14. Sherwoodole. No. 15. Belmontine oil for burning in lamps. No. 16. Belmontine. No. 17. Oil for lubricating spindles, machinery, &c.--a substitute for sperm No. 18. Night-lights and glasses - not drop-grease candles-Belmontine candles-Belmontine oil and lamps-Glycerine soap and Gishurst compound for killing the blight on plants. On reading over this list of articles we learn that in addition to the animal fats so long used for candle making, two other |