TURNER'S LOBSTER-SALAD.
[To THE EDITOR Or THE " SPECTATOR."]
SIR,—I see that in your article upon "Mr. Frith's Autobio- graphy," you quote his anecdotes of Turner the artist. One of them has particularly attracted my notice. "At a dinner where I was present, a salad was offered to Turner, who called the attention of his neighbour at the table to it in the following words,—' Nice cool green, that lettuce, isn't it? and the beet- root, pretty red—not quite strong enough ; and the mixture, delicate tint of yellow, that. Add some mustard, and then you have one of my pictures.'" In looking through the Almanack of the Month for June, 1846 (a periodical conducted by my father, the late Gilbert Abbott h Beckett), I find a critique on the Royal Academy which bears his signature. At p. 3O, I observe the following passage :—" We must not omit our friend Turner, at one of whose pictures, No. 237, we now find ourselves. The subject is 'Hurrah for the Whaler 'Erebus '—another fish ;' but it should be called Hallo, there !—the oil and vinegar,—another lobster- salad.'" In the margin is a small cut by Richard Doyle showing Turner painting a picture with a mop. It would be interesting to know the date of Mr. Frith's meeting with Turner, when he heard the great painter's self-criticism.—I am,
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