The House of Lords is not a literary body, but
on Monday the Peers showed a very wise appreciation of the spirit, if not of the letter, of Milton's Immortal apophthegm, " The State shall be my governors, but not my critics," when Lord Stanmore tried to induce the House and the Government to appoint a standing Royal Commission on the Fine Arts. Lord Stan- more argued that because the Prince Consort's Fine Arts Commission did good work, therefore a permanent Fine Arts Commission would be of real national use and value. Lord Salisbury, in a characteristic speech, flouted the whole proposal, and called up the vision of the Chancellor of the Exchequer in order to damp the ardour of the Peers. Lord Rosebery agreed as to the general inadvisibility of fostering art by Government action, but aired a private and particular hobby, which is that the National Portrait Gallery should be allowed a certain sum of money in order to commission artists from time to time to paint the portraits of distinguished men.
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