Page:Over fen and wold; (IA overfenwold00hissiala).pdf/84

 inn by way of refinement, and above the weather-tinted roof uprose a fine stack of clustering chimneys. The chance light and shade effect of the moment suited well the unpretending but pleasant bit of old-time architecture, so we proceeded to photograph it, not, however, before the landlord had divined our intention, and had placed himself in a prominent position, so that he might be included in the picture. A worthy man the landlord proved to be, as we found out in after conversation with him, and we promised to send him a copy of the photograph; but "the best-laid schemes o' mice an'" amateur photographers "gang aft agley," for it happened we had forgotten to change the plate, and so took the old inn right on the top of a previous photograph of another inn, and the photographic mixture was not favourable to clearness or an artistic result! The negative when developed showed two sign-*boards on separate posts in different positions and at different angles, two roofs, one just over the other, a hopeless jumble of windows, and two stacks of chimneys occupying, the same place at the same time, in spite of the well-known axiom that no two things can do so. The Astwick landlord truly was there, but converted into a veritable ghost, for through his body you could plainly trace the door-*way of the first inn! Certainly the result amused sundry of our friends, but then the photograph—photographs, I mean,—were not taken for that purpose, and friends are so easily amused at one's failings! This reminds me that a famous artist once told me, speaking of experiments in painting,