difficulty in the sale of it; and, when disposed of in the fleece, the price was much inferior to that of wool of the same quality coming from Spain.

Mr. Hall, with his usual spirit, endeavours to introduce the same method in other parts of the kingdom: he is well situated, near Bristol, which, from its neighbourhood to the clothing counties, should be the grand mart for the sale of superfine wools.'

The object of these details is, to give such a view to our foreign and domestic trade in wool and woollens, as may enable us to judge of the value of both. I shall now add the prices given at the late fairs in different parts of the kingdom. At Monmouth, Ryeland wool sold at 2s. Sd. per lb. At Hereford, the price was better; the common Ryeland sold from 2s. 10d. to 3s. 13d. per lb.; Merino crosses from 3s. 7d. to 5s. Od. per lb. At Ross fair, Ryeland wool sold at 3s. 2 d. per lb. ; no Spanish or AngloMerino wools were offered for sale. In Cheshire, wool grown on Delamere Forest has been sold from 2s. 6d. to 3s. per lb. Mr. Wilbraham sold at 2s. 9d. per lb. part mixed Merino, but rather more than five parts in six South Down wool. One half mixed Merino, the other half South Down, sold at 3s. 6d. per lb. Another flock of mixed Merinos and Ryeland, with a few fleeces of real Spanish, at 4s. 6d. per lb. The fleeces average 4lb. each.

The sale of wool in those parts had been slack, and the buyers alledged as a reason, that the success of the Allies in Spain will increase the export of wool to this country. At Colchester fair, South Down sold at 2s. 3d., 2s. 4d., and 2s. 6d. per lb.; Mr. Western sold at the latter price; and since the fair it has been sold at 2s. 6d. and that price has been refused. At Thetford, the wool buyers, as usual, were not disposed to buy in the fair in the evening, some was sold at 2s. 3d., and the Merino crosses at 4s. per but since the fair, there has been a very brisk sale of the best South Down at 2s. 6d. per lb. Mr. Coke refused that price. The most considerable wool growers in these parts keep back their wool, in expectation that the speculation for the American market, on the suspension of the Orders in Council, will raise the value of it; and this leaves the market in an unsettled state.

lb.;

* Mr. Hall has 2000 ewes, and during the month of September (1812) he sold his sorted wools for £2000. and upwards. His pure Merino, washed on the back of the sheep, obtained from 58. to 6s. 6d. per lb.

I now come to the most disagreeable part of my business; that is, to give an opinion respecting the value of our wool. It appears from the statements I have laid before you, that, notwithstanding the unprecedented, adverse, and acrimonious conduct of the enemy, and the accumulation of difficulties occurring at the same time, the general trade of the British empire has prospered beyond example: that every temporary decline of trade, in particular branches, and to particular countries, has been most amply compensated by a great increase in other branches, and an increase of exports to other countries; that, however the variations and change of direction in trade may for a time diminish profits, or distress individuals, such are the energies of our commercial men, that new channels are soon struck out, manufactures are varied, and new ones adopted; that commerce seems readily to recover, and every diminution of export is fully made up on an average of a very few years. It has been remarked how inconsiderable a proportion of the whole of our manufactures is exported to foreign parts; and that the want of employment often arises from an overstock of particular manufactures, and glutted markets abroad; from all which we may draw this comfortable conclusion, that we are not liable to be essentially hurt by the machinations of the enemy against our commerce, and that we have little to fear in respect to commerce, except from party spirit, and from our own mistakes. I cannot, therefore, admit that there is any reason for a reduced price of wool, unless it may be that the market is overstocked with the article; but, even in that case, we cannot put the price for the best wool below what has been given almost generally in other counties for South Down wool, certainly inferior to our best. At the same time I should observe, it is generally said that speculations, in consequence of the suspension of the Orders in Council, had already raised woollens from 15 to 20 per cent.

I have mentioned that Mr. Western, of Essex, has sold at 2s. 6d. per lb.: Mr. Coke, and others, have refused that price. Since Thetford fair there has been a brisk sale for South Down at 2s. 6d. per lb.

There is such a difference in the quality of our wool, that it would be ridiculous to name an uniform price; therefore, after consultation with those most capable of judging, my opinion is,

that the price should be from 2s. to 2s. 6d. per lb.; which puts the lowest price at 3d. per lb. less than the lowest I have heard of at any of the fairs. And I am clearly of opinion, that there is a difference of at least 6d. per lb. between our best and our worst fleeces.

I must add, that I put the prices so low in consideration of the stock of foreign wool now in this country; of the possible effects of the late bankruptcies; and of the insulting hostile temper of a prevailing party in the American States, which no forbearance, no concession, will conciliate; and with which, if we longer temporize, we shall deserve all the consequence of want of firmness, and of that conduct which alone can maintain the power and preserve the safety of the empire.

N.B. Since the fair, a considerable quantity of inferior wool has been sold at 2s. per lb.; but the principal wool growers seem determined not to take less than 2s. 6d. per lb. for their best wool; which it is probable they will obtain when the real state of our trade is well understood.

His Lordship's Report made at the meeting at Lewes Wool Fair, July 26, 1813, will be inserted in No. VII.

A Letter

то

THOMAS HOPE, ESQ.

HEREDITARY GOVERNOR AND DIRECTOR

OF THE

BRITISH INSTITUTION

FOR PROMOTING THE

FINE ARTS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM, &c. &c.

ON

The insufficiency of the existing establishments for promoting the Fine Arts, towards that of Architecture and its professors; attempting to show the cause of the decline of pure taste in that branch of the Fine Arts, and with some hints towards its better encouragement.

BY JAMES ELMES, ARCHITECT.

Late Vice President of the London Architectural Society, Author of a Series of Popular Lectures on Civil Architecture, delivered before the Mathematical Society of London, &c. &c.

De pictore, sculptore, fictore, nisi artifex judicare non potest. PLINY.

VOL. III. Pam.

Original.

1814.

No. VI.

Y

A

LETTER

To THOMAS HOPE, Esq. &c. &c.

To

SIR,

you, as to one of the earliest and most liberal patrons of the British Institution for promoting the FINE ARTS in the United Kingdom, as to one of the best Architectural critics of the present day, and as a munificent patron of the fine arts in general, I take the liberty of addressing myself, on a most important subject, intimately connected with the welfare and even the existence of those arts in that degree of perfection, to which every lover of the character and prosperity of the nation would wish to see them elevated.

The state into which Architecture, as a fine art, is now declining, cannot have escaped your penetrating eye. It has been even too visible in the annual display of designs in the Royal Academy of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture, but far more apparent in the meagre, common-place erections, copied one from the other without end, with which the new parts of London,' and other cities and

■ The shortness of the building leases, granted by the proprietor of the soil, or ground-landlord, as he is technically called, may be pleaded as some excuse for this complaint, which must vanish on investigation, as the same quantity of materials and labor expended on a chaste and elegant design would produce as large and convenient a house at no more expense. The remedy is easy, the ground-landlord should produce a design for the exte rior, and make it a part of the conditions of letting, that such external design should not be altered.