Art in England | Page 3

navigation, riding, fortification, architecture,
painting, etc., which, if taught, were yet not practised in the universities
or courts of law. Many of these sciences, it was admitted, were taught
in London, 'in dispersed places;' but it was convenient to reduce and
unite them in one certain place, and not to teach them perfunctorily and
rather for gain than for any other respect--desirable, too, that youth
should have, in a virtuous society, generous and fitting recreations as
might divert them from too much frequenting places of expense and of
greater inconvenience. The intention of the Academy was also to
benefit gentlemen going abroad, by giving them language and
instruction, with other ornaments of travel. 'There is no understanding
man,' says the prospectus or advertisement of the institution, 'but may
resent how many of our noblemen and young gentlemen travel into
foreign countries before they have any language or knowledge to make
profit of their time abroad, they not being any way able to get
knowledge for want of language, nor language for want of time; since
going over so young, their years of license commonly expire before
they can obtain to sufficient ripeness of understanding; which no nation
is known to do but the English: for what children of other nations come
over to us before they are of able age and ripeness?' Another
inconvenience arising from the want of the Musæum Minervæ was
stated to be the necessity many gentlemen were under of sending their
sons beyond seas for their education, 'where, through change of climate

and dyat, and for want of years of discretion, they become more subject
to sickness and immature death.'
It was required of gentlemen admitted into the Musæum that they
should pay fees of at least £5 each, and should bring a testimonial of
their arms and gentry, and their coat armour, 'tricked on a table, to be
conserved in the museum.' There was to be a Liber Nobilium always
kept, in which benefactors and their benefits were to be recorded,
beginning with King Charles, 'our first and royal benefactor;' and it was
provided that if any gentleman should have any natural experiment or
secret, and should communicate it to the Musæum and upon trial it
should be found true and good, his name and experiment should be
recorded in Liber Nobilium for a perpetual honour to him.
The regent was required to instruct personally, or to superintend
instruction in 'heraldry, blazon of coates and armes, practical
knowledge of deedes, and evidences, principles and processes of
common law, knowledge of antiquities, coynes, medalls, husbandry,'
etc. The Doctor of Philosophy and Physic was to read and profess
physiology, anatomy, or any other parts of physic. The Professor of
Astronomy was to teach astronomy, optics, navigation, and
cosmography. Instruction in arithmetic, analytical algebra, geometry,
fortification, and architecture, was to be given by the Professor of
Geometry. A Professor of Music was to impart skill in singing, and
music to play upon organ, lute, viol, etc. Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Italian,
French, Spanish, and High Dutch were to be taught by the Professor of
Languages. In addition, a Professor of Defence inculcated skill at all
weapons and wrestling (but not pugilism apparently), and ample
instruction was to be afforded in riding, dancing, and behaviour,
painting, sculpture, and writing. A preparatory school was also to be
annexed for the young gentlemen whose parents were desirous of
having them brought up in the Musæum from their first years. Finally,
it was expressly provided that no degrees were to be given, and the
Academy was not to be conceived in any way prejudicial 'to the
Universities and Inns of Court, whose foundations have so long and so
honourably been confirmed.'

For no long time did the Musæum Minervæ flourish. The King's
troubles began; and in the storms of civil war the Academy for teaching
the upper classes science and the fine arts, manners and
accomplishments, fell to the ground and disappeared utterly. So bitter
and inveterate was the feeling against the King, that, as Walpole says
(and Walpole, be it remembered, cherished no reverence for Charles
the First--quite otherwise--under a facsimile of the warrant for the
King's execution, he wrote 'Magna Charta,' and he often found pleasure
in considering the monarch's fall), 'it seems to have become part of the
religion of the time to war on the arts because they had been
countenanced at Court.' So early as 1645, the Parliament had begun to
sell the pictures at York House. On the 23d July in that year votes were
passed ordering the sale, for the benefit of Ireland and the North, of all
such pictures at York House 'as were without any superstition.' Pictures
containing representations of the Second Person in the Trinity, or of the
Virgin Mary, were judged to be superstitious,