appointed to revise the working of the Society, and that body recommended that a council to manage the affairs of the Society should be instituted. The committee in its report also gave expression to the conviction that "the Society cannot continue to exist on the plan of proceeding which is at present pursued," and that "the object of the Society is the promotion of the useful arts rather than the personal gratification of the members." It was further recommended that six committees should be established, of five members each, and many other valuable pieces of advice were tendered, but nothing came of all this for the time being. At length, however, measures were taken for obtaining a royal charter of incorporation, finally granted in 1847, and in the mean time it was proposed that an exhibition of English industry, analogous to those held abroad, should be instituted. The first action taken in this direction was an offer of special prizes for articles of manufacture, and a special fund was obtained for this purpose by private subscription. It was deemed necessary to stimulate the makers of English pottery to efforts toward an artistic combination of form and color. A committee of artists was appointed to adjudge the prize for a tea-service, and this was awarded to a set designed by "Felix Summerly," and manufactured by Messrs. Minton. The identity of "Felix Summerly" was then disclosed, and the Society's silver medal was presented to Mr. Henry Cole (who has since received the Companionship of the Bath), on the 12th of June, 1846. From this date a notable change came over the constitution of the Society. Yearly exhibitions were held. It is true that these were of a sectional character, and only proposed to illustrate certain branches of English industry; but it is not the less true that they were the immediate precursors of the great Exhibition of 1851. Prizes for modern industrial art were offered, and were eagerly competed for. Manufactures and artistic productions were got together at great expenditure of cash and industry, with the effect of rapidly increasing the number of members. In 1847 the members of the Society numbered scarcely five hundred; but within three years these numbers had tripled. But, in 1849, there were "croakers" in the camp. Not a few of the ruling spirits were inclined to "look back from the plough." As an instance of this may be quoted a recommendation of the Finance Committee of 1849, that "the exhibitions be discontinued," and another, passed in December of the same year, that "it is expedient to reconsider the policy of an Art Manufacture Exhibition in the year 1850." But the advanced spirits of the Society were not to be balked. Against the council of the ancients a formidable opposition was organized. Mr. Cole resigned his seat on the council, and, biding his time till the general meeting, effected a noteworthy coup d'état. On election-day the reactionary party were ousted by an immense majority, and an entirely new council elected. The Exhibition of Ancient and Mediaeval Art was duly held, and resulted in a splendid success, and a com-
