"who scrawls
With desperate charcoal on the blaokentd walls."
Whatever the work to which he was set—and his friends gave him more than one trial—he would draw ; and he was right, for he could draw. We get some very interesting details of his early efforts. "A Mrs. Gray, who had a small shop next to the entrance to our court, was the first person who gave me a commission. This was a bill to be pat in her shop-window, printed in large Roman letters, PENS, INK, AND PAPER SOLD HERE: She paid twopence for the job." When he was ten, he got sixpence for painting a coat of arms. At fifteen he painted two copies of an oil-painting, and received three shillings for the two. House-painting was his first approach to the art he loved ; but after a short time at this, he began scene. painting. This profession he followed, sometimes with no small risk of starvation, for it was at one theatre only (the Pavilion Theatre, for its name certainly deserves to be recorded) that his salary was regularly paid. His highest pay was three guineas and a half per week. He was in a great measure self-taught; but he received valuable hints from Clarkson Stanfield and David Roberts. Mr. Anderson, a stockbroker, has the credit of having given him his first commission for a regular picture. When ha was twenty-nine he went to Italy, where he stayed four years. In 1842 (he was then thirty- -eight) he gave lessons in drawing and painting to the Queen. This he continued to do for many years ; and all the Queen's children have been taught by him. One of the illustrations of the volume is a little drawing of Marie Antoinette and the Dauphin, by the Princess Alice. The narrative of this part of his life is very interesting. The Old Society of Water-Colours refused to elect him ; the New Society, with more discrimination, immediately offered him its membership, and afterwards made him Vice-President. This is a very pleasant account of an interesting life.
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