THE PRESERVATION OF LEIGHTON HOUSE FOR THE PUBLIC.
[To THE EDITOR Os THE "SPECTATOR.") Sin,—On behalf of the Leighton House Committee kindly allow me to make an appeal through your columns for the necessary funds in order that Leighton House should remain accessible to the public. £3,000 for the purchase of the free- hold, and £15,000 for maintenance is what is wanted. If it is not forthcoming the proprietors of the leases feel they must, though with deepest regret, close the house, and the public be deprived of a privilege which many thousands have enjoyed and greatly appreciated for the past sixteen years. When presiding over a meeting at Leighton House, Lord Alverstone, Lord Chief Justice, began his speech by these words : "The idea of Leighton House not being retained as a centre of art, as it has been now for many years, would not only be dis- tasteful, but something of a national reproach, the more so as the sisters of Lord Leighton have made—I will not call it a sacrifice, for no labour of love can be called a sacrifice—but a most munificent gift."
Setting aside all sentiment and association, the intrinsic value of the contents of Leighton House is very great. When lecturing at Leighton House the late Lord Crawford and Balcarres made the following notable remarks: "Many Persian. tiles are sold in Persia. They are made in Birmingham. If you possess one genuine old Persian tile, treasure it—it is a rarity. In this house you have hundreds of these rare treasures." More than this, in Leighton House these rare treasures are not seen in meaningless isolation as in a museum, but they form part of a beautiful creation in which some of the best work of great English artists is incorporated. In a letter to the Times M. Choisy, the distinguished French
architect, wrote of this creation : "One passes into a twilight corridor, . . . a transition which prepares the eye for a jewel of Oriental art; . . . this gradation, perhaps unique in con- temporary architecture, was Leighton's idea." More artistically choice even than this treasure-mine of exquisite colour are the drawings and sketches by Lord Leighton which hang in hundreds on the walls of Leighton House.
The future of the Leighton House Institution has been hitherto somewhat insecure, owing to the fact that the property was not freehold, and that, till lately, no society existed which could exactly carry out the idea of the memorial. These hindrances have now been removed. Mary Lady Ilchester has consented to part with the freehold, and the present proprietors have found in the Imperial Arts League an incor- porated body of artists working for artists to whom they can with full confidence transfer their responsibilities. Donations may be sent to Messrs. Drummond's Bank, on account of "The Leighton House Preservation Fund."—I am, Sir, &c.,
12 Holland Park Road, W. Honorary Secretary.
[We are delighted to hear that a thousand pounds has already been subscribed towards this most excellent object. It is greatly to be hoped that the rest of the money required will be obtained.—En. Spectator.]
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