MASACCIO by himself, and a good Portrait of a
Lady by ZELOTTI. Still none of these, not even
the admissible, ones, are remarkable pictures, or
such as will evoke any degree of enthusiasm;
while there is one of the purchases of this period,
the Infancy of Jupiter by JULIO ROMANO, which
cost £920., and which is so vile as to call for an
especial censure and reprobation. It is so bad
a picture that if one saw it on the blind of a
coffee-shop window, one would feel no surprise.
It is hung in a central position, and is framed
and glazed in a manner so magnificent, as only
to make its badness more conspicuous. This
plan of putting vile pictures in the most costly
and magnificent frames and glasses does nothing
to mitigate their vileness, arid is a system
carried so far at the National Gallery as to be
highly suggestive of jobbery. The two
RUYSDAELS purchased about this time are not
satisfactory examples of the master, and were
bought of a certain COUNT STOLBERG for
£1187. 15s. 6d., and £1069. 15s. 3d. respectively.

Sir George Beaumont remarks that he is well
acquainted with the pictures in question, and
that it seems to him that they want that rich
brown tone which should always pervade the
works of this master, and without which no
landscape is complete.

The Eye-witness, in resuming his evidence,
observes that the next purchases made for the
National Collection are comprised in what is
called the BEAUCOUSIN lot, which came into the
possession of the country in this present year
I860. Here, again, a number of bad pictures
have to be bought, in order to secure one or two
good, and three or four that are unobjectionable,
but which the collection would do just as well
without. Indeed, this is a sorry bargain at
£9205. 3s. Id., and one looks daily in the Times
for an acknowledgment on the part of the
Chancellor of the Exchequer of the receipt of this
sum from M. BEAUCOUSIN as conscience-money.
The gem of this collection, for which probably
it was purchased, is the Head of Ariosto, by
TITIAN. Besides this, there are some nine or
ten allowable pictures, good characteristic
portraits, or works which their high finish renders
admissible. The disgusting but highly-wrought
BRONZINO, placed in a conspicuous position in
the principal room, is not included among these.
Do these allowable pictures, and the one prize of
the Ariosto, justify the Beaucousin purchase?

Dr. Waghorn remarks —- not for the first time
—- that it is desirable that the different masters
of the different periods should be represented in
our National Collection.

Witness replies, that, to carry this to excess,
as has been recently done, is to turn that collection
into a museum. A specimen of GIOTTO, of
TADDEO GADDI, of VAN EYCK, of PERUGINO
would be enough for every chronological
purpose; there would be no necessity for spending
thousands on endless repetitions of the same
things by these men, and their obscure disciples.
The public money has been frittered away in
timid purchases, when by concentration some
half-dozen or even fewer fine pictures might
have been acquired to the country. What is
there to show for the £78,185. 4s. 9d. which has
been spent in Art by the Trustees of the National
Gallery since the year 1844. The finest picture
acquired since that time is unquestionably the
PAUL VERONESE which was secured by this very
plan of concentration, which witness
recommends. A nation like this wants, for its national
collection, the finest pictures in the world, not
merely curious pictures, or such as are to be
found in many private houses. Witness hopes
that the Jury will perceive that he goes to no
excesses in his views, that he commends some
of the purchases made by the trustees while he
condemns others; and that he does not affirm
that the school of the pre-Raphaelite painters
should not be represented at all, but only that
it should not altogether overwhelm us, and that
a collection paid for by the public, and got
together for the public, should give that public
pleasure.

The PAUL VERONESE was a single picture
acquired at an enormous, an almost
unprecedented, price. Still that is not a thing to be
complained of, as we were not paying for a
quantity of things we did not want, but simply
giving an immense sum for what we did want.
Would it not be better to save the money that
goes in these timid purchases of a quantity of
paltry pictures at paltry prices, and let our fund
for Art-purchases accumulate till it reaches an
amount which may be large enough to tempt
some of the proprietors of the really fine works
which are lighted now by the dirty windows of
the Italian palaces?

The ghost of Sir George Beaumont having
discovered at this juncture that he was expected
in a distinguished Art-circle, where an eminent
medium was at that moment awaiting his rap very
impatiently, the inquiry on the subject of the
National Collection was adjourned for a week.

NELSON.
AN OLD MAN-O'-WAR'S-MAN'S YARN.

AY, ay, good neighbours, I have seen.
Him! sure as God's my life;
One of his chosen crew I've been;
Haven't I, old goodwife?
God bless your dear eyes! didn't you vow
To marry me any weather,
If I came back with limbs enow
To keep my soul together?

Brave as a lion was our Nel,
And gentle as a lamb:
Tell you it warms my  blood to tell
The tale —- grey as I am—-
It makes the old life in me climb,
It sets my soul a-swim;
I live twice over every time
That I can talk of him.

Our best beloved of all the brave
That ever for freedom fought;
And all his wonders of the wave
For fatherland were wrought!
He was the manner of man to show
How victories may be won;
So swift, you scarcely saw the blow;
You look'd —- the deed was done.