18 AUGUST 1866, Page 2

The Government has made a grand present to the Royal

Academy, viz., Burlington House, which, with the wall in frout thrown down, is to serve as vestibule to their new galleries. These structures being built of brick, and concealed by the house, may be erected at a cost of between 40,0001. and 50,0001., and may be made to cover three times the space allotted to them in Trafalgar Square. The upper story of Burlington House will be turned into permanent galleries, and the House itself used as a residence for the keeper, the registrar, and the servants of the Academy. The offer has of course been accepted, and seems incomparably the most sensible as well as most liberal of all yet made. It preserves us, too, from all danger of the transfer of the galleries to a distant village.