MUSEUM GUIDES.
[To vris Rome or me " SPECTATOR.") SIR,—I read with much interest the article in your issue of April 12th on " Museum Guides.". I am a Londoner born, and more than half my life was spent in that great city. Often in my young days I have wandered through the picture galleries, admiring the wonderful collections, but understanding little of what I saw. In 1914, after thirteen years' absence from the Old Country, I travelled from this small island, rid New York, the Mediterranean, Naples, Rome, and Paris, to England, visiting on my way many of the world's most famous galleries and museums, and the visit that has impressed itself on my memory most was paid to the National Gallery ..bout May of that year. As I turned from the big entrance hall to the first salon on the left, I saw a little knot of people gathered round a young man who was explaining in a pleasant voice one of the masterpieces with which its walls are adorned, and joined the group. Then, for the first time in all my travels, I listened to a really interesting and instructive lecture on the paintings displayed, very different from the jargon which the hired foreign guide rattles off by the hour to the unfortunate tourists on whom he forces his services. I still treasure the recollection of that all too short visit, and hope some day I may be able to repeat it. By all means provide " guides " to explain to the public the wonderful collections with which England abounds. But I would suggest that the name " Guide " be changed to "Artist" or "Lecturer." To those who, like myself, have travelled about the world, the word " guide " suggests a very different class of man, from the culti- vated gentleman I had the pleasure of listening to before the war.—I am, Sir, &c., C. A. Miami. Green Vale, Bybrook, Portland, Jamaica, May 23rd.
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