22 APRIL 1837, Page 19

FINE ARTS.

Fr is proposed shortly to call a public meeting for the purpose of con- sidering the propriety of petitioning Parliament "that all depositories of public monuments, and exhibitions of the fine arts, in national buildings, be opened gratuitously to the public." It is almost needless to explain, that the " public monuments" alluded to, are those in Westminster Abbey and St. Paul's Cathedral ; to view which, an un- authorized and a disgraceful tax is levied on the public. The " exhi- bitions of the fine arts" alludes more particularly, to the Royal Aca- demy; which ought not to be permitted to make use of a National Gallery for raising money by exhibition, to the prejudice of other societies.