remarks as he (the learned Doctor) and the
accomplished Ghost, with whom he had the
honour of sharing that bench, had from time
to time delivered as comments upon the
statements of the Eye-witness.

The Jury, without retiring, announced that
they were prepared with their verdict, which
was to the following effect: That they considered
that an undue number of works by those
early masters who were called pre-Raphaelite, had
been purchased by the Trustees of the National
Gallery. That the practice of buying works
irrespective of their merit, merely to represent a
certain name, was highly objectionable: as was
the system of purchasing pictures in a "lot,"
good and bad together. That it had appeared
that since 1844 a sum of upwards of £40.000
had been misapplied, out of £78,000 spent.
That the disregard shown to the decision of
the commission appointed to determine on
the removal or non-removal of the Vernon pictures,
was disrespectful and inexplicable. That
the handing over to an individual of a picture
purchased for the country, on consideration of
the payment of the original purchase money by
that individual, was a transaction requiring
explanation. Finally, that it was most desirable
that, in the existing difficulty of procuring
fine works by the old masters, arrangements
should be made which would render possible the
purchase of the best works of modern artists,
both English and foreign.

Dr. Waghorn begged to inform the Jury that
tin- verdict which they had arrived at— and with
which he entirely disagreed—should be
forwarded to the proper quarter; that it would be
received there, would be recorded as their
verdict, that all the necessary formalities in
connexion with it wonld be gone through, and that
NO RESULT WHATEVER would take place in
consequence of it. He hoped everybody was satisfied,
and he begged to dissolve the commission.

The Jury, the component members of which
appeared to be perfectly contented with the fact
that they had been allowed to express an opinion,
now departed, and the ghost of Sir George
Beaumont, which had been for some time impatiently
rapping the table in evident annoyance at
being detained so long, disappeared with
wonderful celerity. It is understood that Dr. Waghorn
at once betook himself to the National
Gallery, where he was found, some time afterwards,
contemplating The Infancy of Jupiter,
by JULIO ROMANO, with evident symptoms of
satisfaction.

To this Report of the Official Evidence which
the Eye-witness ought to have given, on the
occasion of the inquiry which ought to have
been held, he begs here to add one or two
remarks upon less important matters, and upon
the more social aspects of this dismal exhibition.
The Eye-witness remarked that the
visitors to the National Gallery were jaded and
listless to a pitiable extent. That there were
few persons who appeared to enjoy the pictures.
The greater portion of the visitors walked slowly
and solemnly round; those who were accompanied
by friends seldom speaking to them. ln
fact, they discharged their consciences of a visit
to the National Gallery, and went away again.
The E.-W. remarked a glee and briskness about
the walk and general appearance of the visitors
who were going away which was not observable
in those who were entering.

Under these circumstances, it may not irrationally
be asked why the people go to an exhibition
which they do not particularly enjoy when they
get there? The answer to this question involves
the very subtle principle, that there is
an irresistible force of attraction about open
doors which draws human beings through them.
There are invisible currents that set towards
these places, and which, on certain occasions,
become irresistibly strong. The occasions chiefly
alluded to, are those wnen some great public
holiday dawns upon us, as Easter Monday,
Whit-Monday, or Good Friday. At those times
the power of suction possessed by these open
doors is such that few people are able to resist
them. The extraordinary distances, too, to which
the power of these currents extend is very
remarkable. On such festive days as have been
mentioned above, it is nothing for a respectable
family to be dragged, children, babies, and all,
from distances even as remote as Hoxton or
Camberwell; and with scarce time to snatch a
few provisions together, to victual them by the
way, they are whirled along on this tide to their
ruin, madly grasping as they pass at such
unsubstantial objects as bottles of ginger-beer,
oranges, and the like, with which their dread
progress is only for a moment ineffectually
retarded: their last snatch, when at the very mouth
of the aperture which is yawning to receive
them, being generally made at an institution
called a catalogue, with which they hope to
mitigate their torments, but which is generally
found to add to them considerably.

There is no other principle than this of the
suctional powers of doorways that can at all
account for the presence of many people, who
are evidently exquisitely wretched, in the halls
of the National Gallery. Why, but that he
has fallen into one of these resistless currents,
should that weary old labourer in a white smock-
frock have got into those rooms on a bright
Whit-Monday? The force of the tide, in his
case, must have extended at least to Kingston
or Watford. Why, again, that char-woman and
her little girl, the child asking who was St.
Sebastian, and the char-woman replying that she
don't know? Why the two horse-soldiers, a
young private and an old non-commissioned
officer, who walk round the rooms: the young
man always a few paces behind his senior, and
always looking at the pictures over the other's
head, but not seeing anything? Why did the
young man with the open mouth, who has sat
upon one chair in the Large Room one hour
why did that young man come? He is very
miserable, and would be happier elsewhere.
Why did the polite man come, whose life was
rendered wretched because he was always