Provincial.

and such enlightened men as the Messrs . Adams , and many others conducting business in the town , and see that their testimony universally concurs in the fact of the improvement of design in Nottingham , and that it is attributable to the school of design , I think I may conclude that that part of the question is settled . ( Hear , hear . ) These objects have been attained partly by the excellence of the Masters , partly by the attention to local claimsand partly to the various improvements which

, have been from time to time introduced by the central departpartment . I allude to this matter for this reason : For some years past the money given by the Government has been given for results . When , originally , it was given to means there was no impetus , no temptation to excel ; but now it is given to results , and you see the consequence . It is a great improvement , which the commission who sat upon the subject of popular

education two or three years ago , strongly recommended . It had been previously adopted by the schools , and has been of the greatest value in urging pupils to aim at excellence . ( Hear , hear . ) There is another feature to which I may refer . Wherever prizes are distributed , wherever a youth receives a local medal , lie confers a benefit on the school to which he belongs ; because the Government gave 10 s . for each medal , and in tho case of a

national medallion £ 10 , to the schools for tho purpose of purchasing works of art . ( Hear , hear . ) I think I need not say a word more to prove to you how unquestionably useful these schools have been ; but if there is no question as to the utility of these schools , there is still some question as to the best mode of teaching in them . At any rate it is a moot point with many persons . Some persons think that , instead of endeavouring to apply the fine arts to mechanics and manufactures , it would be

much better to educate artists and to trust to the future application of the talents of those artists to manufacturesand mechanics ; and there can be no doubt that if you secure a supply of perfect artists this might be the case ; but rare indeed are the men who combine these two great elements of power of design and power of execution . You have in one period a Benvenuto Cellini , and in another period a Flaxman who can do this ; but such men are rare , and if you waited until you procure that supply , the manufactures of the country would derive little benefit from these schools . Such men are not made bv schools .

You are told that a poet cannot be made—that , if he is a poet at all , he is a poet from the hour of his birth . Such is unfortunately the case , but the reinirk is equally applicable to art , and a first-rate artist , such as those to whom I have referred , will never be formed by a school , but must have that native genius in him which may be developed but never can be created by a school . ( Hear , hear . ) Many gentlemen will tell you that it is in the lace of this town that such remarkable proofs of

success have been given . But it is not in lace alone ; it is in all the great staple manufactures of tho town and country . But there are great . incidental advantages arising from this success . I have been assured that the quality of smith ' s work , in consequence of the necessity of its application to finer parts of machinery , has been improved in delicacy of touch . You see improvement in the architecture of the countryand more especiall

, y in this town . I read the excellent speech recently made by Lord Stanley on schools of art . His lordship commented with great , and in many eases with just , severity on the state of architecture in our towns . His lordship has , I believe , since the delivery of that address , been in this county . I am afraid he did not come to Nottingham . If he had done so , I think he would have been inclined to modify his censure , so far at least

as this town is concerned ; for there has been the greatest progress in architecture of all kinds—in mills , and warehouses , and dwelling-houses , and public buildings , which in almost every street are showing a most remarkable improvement in the way of taste . Do I attribute this to these schools ? Yes I do . ( Hear , hear . ) I know that many of the best architects in the town are of such an age that they cannot have

studied in the schools . I do not believe that even the younger men—the able architect of this building—has had this opportunity ; but I think it tells on the architects of this town , upon the manufacturers , upon the masters . They want enlightening —they want to be taught art just as much as the operatives , and they have , by a desire to instruct the mass , obtained the advantages of a knowledge of the style of artgreatlimproved

, y their taste , and are no longer content with those hideous masses of brick and mortar with which the streets were formerl y disfigured . ( Hear , hear . ) It is the taste of the richer classes , who spend a small additional sum on the decoration of their houses and factories for the pleasure which it gives to their

enlightenment , and this necessitates a better educated class of workmen . I believe there is no class and age which is not susceptible of such impressions . Even to a child , the form of a school which is most pleasing to the sight finds the greatest favour . But I am certain that if a child is not able to tell you that it prefers that school to another , the influence produced on that child ' s mind is by no means unimportant . ( Hear , hear . ) It is , as has already been stated , 20 years since a school of design was

established in this town . AVe were satisfied with small beginnings , and I believe we were wise in being so satisfied . There is often danger in doing too much at once . You get up a public meeting , and solicit subscriptions , and get up an amount of factitious interest in the institution , and then it falls off ' , and the end is the decadence and death of the institution altogether . But we began here on a small scale . For 10 years we were content with a humbb ? place iu Beck-street . The school was afterwards removed

to another place still more inconvenient . Our next step was to give , up housekeeping altogether , and then we went into lodgings —( laughter )—highly respectable , no doubt , and through the liberality of the owner we had them for nothing . ( Hear , hear . ) But now the time has come for making a great push . AVe have felt our strength . If anything which is likely to make its wayis to be opposed , it should be opposed , as the old adage says , in

the beginning . If the supporters of ignorance , and the admirers of ugliness , had wished to stop these schools , they should have taken steps for doing so twenty years ago . Their day has gone by . Perhaps the supporters of ignorance and the admirers of ugliness have not existed in Nottingham for twenty years ; and when I look around me here I think they must have fled from Nottingham . ( Hear , hear , and laughter . ) But ,

be that as it may , an enlightened advocacy of art , as applied to manufacturing establishments , cannot be thwarted , for this plain reason , that every one knows that it is for his own interest . ( Hear , hear . ) You seem here to have been in a tremendous hurry . I am here expecting to have to lay a stone , but I did not expect to see a great mass of building towering above me . I don't think you have behaved quite fairly to us . You have invited me and my brother Masons to assemble here to-day , and have left us nothing to do ; and I actually saw the workmen on the building looking down and laughing at us , as if they

were saying , " Why , there is hardly a stone apiece for you . " ( Laughter . ) But if we come to celebrate its completion , instead of its commencement , we are equally happy , and all of us , whether belonging to this town or coming from other parts of the county , are very glad to have attended this celebration ; and I am sure I am speaking the feelings of all when I say , may this school prosper ; may it tend to the extension and benefit of the rising trade of this great town ; may it tend

equally to the advantage of the enterprising manufacturers who belong to it ; and , lastly , but by no means least , may it tend to the future increase of its work , and , consequently , to the wealth and happiness of its operatives—to those working men of Nottingham who have , 1 regret to say , for the last few years suffered very great privations , but who have borne their privations with the most exemplary fortitude and patience . ( Loud

cheers . ) His Grace then laid the stone with the usual Masonic formalities , and at its conclusion the band played " God save the Queen , " the whole company joining in chorus . The procession was then re-formed , and returned to the Exchange Hall , where a luncheon was provided . The Mayor presidedsupported by his Grace the Duke of NewcastleMr

, , . Close , Mr . Heard , Mr . Kelly , Dr . March , Dr . Fearnley , Lieutenant A . Alcock , the Rev . C . Jackson , and a large number of other gentlemen . The . usual loyal toasts having been given and duly honoured , The MAYOR proposed " The Health of the Lord Lieutenant of the County , " which was drunk amidst loud and enthusiastic

cheers . The Duke of NEWCASTLE , in acknowledging the compliment , said that he looked upon the duties which devolved upon a large landed proprietor as greater than that of the representative of the Queen , because they involved such complicated soeial relations , not merely with regard to those with whom they were in the habit of associatingbut with that

, great and important body , the middle classes of the country . Referring to the more immediate business of the day , ho said he had felt great difficulty in making the address which lie had delivered sufficiently short . But he was certain that the objects of such institutions could not be overrated