Page:Anecdotes of painters, engravers, sculptors and architects, and curiosities of art (IA anecdotesofpaint01spoo).pdf/162



Stuart was an inveterate punster. Mr. Allston, calling on him a short time before his death, asked him how he was. "Ah!" said he, drawing up his pantaloons, and showing his emaciated leg, which in his youth had been his pride, "you can judge how much I am out of drawing."

STUART BORN IN A SNUFF-MILL.

Stuart was an inordinate snuff-taker. He used to jocosely apologize for the habit, by saying that "he was born in a snuff-mill," which was literally true, for his father was a manufacturer of snuff. He said, "a pinch of snuff had a wonderful effect upon a man's spirits." An old sea captain once observed to him, "you see, sir, I have always a nostril in reserve. When the right becomes callous after a few weeks' usage, I apply for comfort to the left, which having had time to regain its sense of feeling, enjoys the blackguard till the right comes to its senses." "Thank you," said Stuart, "it's a great discovery. Strange that I should not have made it myself, when I have been voyaging all my life in these channels."

STUART'S NOSE.

Stuart always maintained that a likeness depended more on the nose, than any other feature, and in proof of his theory, he would put his thumb under his own large and flexible proboscis, and turning it