THE SCHOOL OF DESIGN.
The defects in the system of instruction pursued at the Government School of Design have been from time to time pointed out in this journal; and the justness of our strictures has been confirmed by the opinions of manufac- Meer& and ornamentists. These remonstrances have now found echoes within the walls of Somerset House; and the dissatisfied students have given publicity to their grievances, by expressing in plain but temperate and respectful language their conviction of the inefficiency of the teaching in the school, and the incompetency of the Director, Mr. Wilson, on the ground of his want of practical knowledge and experience. --A little pamphlet has been sent to us, containing certain Letters and De- positions of the Students, addressed to the Council of Management and the Board of Trade; in which the reasons for their discontent are set forth in detail. It is stated, that the study of ornament is confined almost exclu- sively to the Arabesque and Pompeian; that no attempt is made to teach the principles of any style ; and that Gothic decoration, now so much in re- quest, is not only not taught but discouraged. These are grave al- legations, that cannot be suffered to remain unanswered, or be put aside as the opinions of discontented schoolboys. The thirty or forty stu- dents who make these statements are grown men, in the upper classes of the school ; and they are as warm in their praises of the know- ledge and ability of one of their instructors, Mx. Herbert, R.A., as they are strong in disparagement of Mr. Wilson. That there is a difference• existing between these two teachers, does not affect. the question at issue—Is the instrnctioa at the School of Design what it ought to be? This will not be settled by the exclusion of con- tumacious students or the resignation of their instructor. It is not a nest. personal squabble, but a matter involving the utility of Schools of Deaiga in every part of the kingdom, and affecting the progress of British arts and manufactures.
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