bow--"Gentlemen, I return you many thanks for bringing me off with _flying
colours_."


Richardson, in his anecdotes of painting, says, a gentleman came to me to
invite me to his house: "I have," says he, "a picture of Rubens, and it is
a rare good one. There is little H. the other day came to see it, and says
it is _a copy_. If any one says so again, I'll _break his head_. Pray, Mr.
Richardson, will you do me the favour to come, and give me _your real
opinion of it?_"


Gainsborough.--A countryman was shown Gainsborough's celebrated picture of
"The Pigs." "To be sure," said he, "they be deadly like pigs; but there is
one fault; nobody ever saw three pigs feeding together but what one on 'em
had a foot in the trough."


Turner.--Once, at a dinner, where several artists, amateurs and literary
men were convened, a poet, by way of being facetious, proposed as a toast
the health of the _painters and glaziers_ of Great Britain. The toast was
drunk, and Turner, after returning thanks for it, proposed the health of
the British _paper-stainers_.


Lely and the Alderman.--Sir Peter Lely, a famous painter in the reign of
Charles I., agreed for the price of a full-length, which he was to draw for
a rich alderman of London, who was not indebted to nature either for shape
or face. When the picture was finished, the alderman endeavoured to beat
down the price; alleging that if he did not purchase it, it would lie on