Page:Anecdotes of painters, engravers, sculptors and architects, and curiosities of art (IA anecdotesofpaint01spoo).pdf/153

 *morrow, thus to be neglecting me and your promise! How can you answer it to me or to yourself?'

"'Sir,' said I, 'do not condemn me without examining the easel. I have finished the picture: please to look at it.' He did so, complimented me highly, and I had ample revenge for his, 'It will do well enough.'"

STUART'S SCHOLARSHIP.

Trumbull, speaking of Stuart as he knew him in London, says, "He was a much better scholar than I had supposed he was. He once undertook to paint my portrait, and I sat every day for a week, and then he left off without finishing it, saying, 'he could make nothing of my dd sallow face.' But during the time, in his conversation, I observed that he had not only read, but remembered what he had read. In speaking of the character of man, he said, 'Linnæus is right; Plato and Diogenes call man a biped without feathers; that's a shallow definition. Franklin's is better—a tool-making animal; but Linnæus' is the best—homo, animal mendax, rapax, pugnax.'"

STUART'S RULE OF THE PAYMENT OF HALF PRICE AT THE FIRST SITTING.

Stuart thus explains how he came to adopt a custom, which, when practicable, commends itself to others. "Lord St. Vincent, the Duke of Northumberland, and Colonel Barre, came unexpectedly into my room, one morning after my setting up an inde