- 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-
