frame." "I hope Mr. West," said Kirby," that you intend to exhibit this picture?" "It is painted for the palace," said West," and its exhibition must depend upon his Majesty's pleasure.' "Assuredly," said the King, "I shall be very happy to let the work be shown to the public. "Then, Mr. West," said Kirby, "you will send it to my exhibition." "No!" interrupted his Majesty, "it must go to my exhibition-to that of the Royal Academy. The President of the Associated Artists bowed with much humility and retired. He did not long survive this mortification, and his death was imputed, by the founders of the new Academy, to jealousy of their rising establishment, but by those who knew him well to a more ordinary cause, the decay of nature. The Royal Academy was founded, and in its first exhibition appeared the Regulus.

A change was now to be effected in the character of British art; hitherto historical painting had appeared in a masquing habit: the actions of Englishmen seemed all to have been performed, if costume were to be believed, by Greeks or by Romans. West dismissed at once this pedantry, and estored nature and propriety in his noble work of "The Death of Wolfe." The multitude acknowledged its excellence at once. The lovers of old art, the manufacturers of compositions called by courtesy classical, complained of the barbarism of boots, and buttons, and blunderbusses, and cried out for naked warriors with bows, bucklers, and battering rams. Lord Grosvenor, disregarding the frowns of the amateurs, and the cold approbation of the Academy, purchased this work, which, in

spite of laced coats and cocked hats, is one of the best of our historical pictures. The Indian warrior, watching the dying hero to see if he equalled in fortitude the children of the deserts, is a fine stroke of nature and poetry.

The King questioned West concerning the picture, and put him on his defence of this new heresy in art. To the curiosity of Galt we owe the sensible answer of West. "When it was understood," said the artist, “that I intended to paint the characters as they had actually appeared on the scene, the Archbishop of York called on Reynolds, and asked his opinion; they both came to my house to dissuade me from running so great a risk. Reynolds began a very ingenious and elegant dissertation on the state of the public taste in this country, and the danger which every innovation incurred of contempt and ridicule, and concluded by urging me earnestly to adopt the costume of antiquity, as more becoming the greatness of my subject than the modern garb of European warriors. I answered that the event to be commemorated happened in the year 1758, in a region of the world unknown to the Greeks and Romans, and at a period of time when no warriors who wore such costume existed. The subject I have to represent is a great battle fought and won, and the same truth which gives law to the historian should rule the painter. If instead of the facts of the action I introduce fictions, how shall I be understood by posterity? The classic dress is certainly picturesque, but by using it I shall lose in sentiment what I gain in external grace. I want to mark the place, the time and the people, and to do this

I must abide by truth. They went away then, and returned again when I had the painting finished. Reynolds seated himself before the picture, examined it with deep and minute attention for half an hour; then rising, said to Drummond, West has conquered-he has treated his subject as it ought to be treated-I retract my objections. I foresee that this picture will not only become one of the most popular, but will occasion a revolution in art." "I wish," said the King, "that I had known all this before, for the objection has been the means of Lord Grosvenor's getting the picture, but you shall make a copy for me.

West had now obtained the personal confidence of the King and the favour of the public-his commissions were numerous, but of course the works for the palace had precedence. His Majesty employed him to paint the death of Epaminondas, as a companion to that of Wolfe-the death of the Chevalier Bayard-Cyrus liberating the family of the King of Armenia-and Segestus and his daughter brought before Germanicus. The air of the palace had some influence on the mind of the prudent Quaker. The great Leibnitz had pointed out the descendants of Segestus in our own royal line, and West communicated a little of the lineaments of the living to the images of the dead. The good King was much pleased with the work.

It is said, that Sir Joshua Reynolds now began to observe West's favour somewhat resentfullythinking that a ray or two of the royal sunshine might in fairness have fallen upon himself. President was not fool enough to complain-but his friends did so for him; while West, too pru

The

dent to carry himself loftily because of his good fortune, enjoyed his success in secret, and continued in the outward man submissive and thankful. To Reynolds had fallen the whole portrait department of church and state, which lay without the gates of the palace; while within, West reigned triumphant. Thus they divided the British world of art between them, while Barry and Wilson, by toiling without distinction, were earning precarious bread.

West was not a man to remain insensible to the advantage of having a young, amiable, and patriotic sovereign for his patron. The painter expressed his regret that the Italians had dipped their pencils in the monkish miracles and incredible legends of the church, to the almost total neglect of their national history: the King instantly bethought him of the victorious reign of our third Edward, and of St. George's Hall in Windsor Castle. West had a ready hand-he sketched out the following subjects, seven of which are from real, and one from fabulous history:

1. Edward the Third embracing the Black Prince, after the Battle of Cressy. 2. The Installation of the Order of the Garter. 3. The Black Prince receiving the King of France and his son prisoners, at Poictiers. 4. St. George vanquishing the Dragon. 5. Queen Phillipa defeating David of Scotland, in the Battle of Neville's Cross. 6. Queen Phillipa interceding with Edward for the Burgesses of Calais. 7. King Edward forcing the passage of the Somme. 8. King Edward crowning Sir Eustace de Ribaumont at Calais. These works are very large. They were the fruit of long

study and much labour, and with the exception of the Death of Wolfe and the Battle of La Hogue, they are the best of all the numerous works of this artist. Their lustre is fresh and unfadedtheir colouring natural and harmonious: they present a lively image of the times and the people; but they are deficient in strength and variety of character-they seize attention, but are unable to detain it.

West, however, had the good fortune to maintain his influence at Windsor. When the King grew weary of courts and camps and battles, the observing artist took new ground, and appealed to the religious feelings of his royal patron. He suggested to the King a series of pictures on the progress of revealed religion: a splendid Oratory was projected for their reception; and half a dozen dignitaries of the church were summoned to consider the propriety of introducing paintings into a place of worship. "When I reflect," said the King," that the Reformation condemned religious paintings in churches, and that the Parliament in the unhappy days of Charles the First did the same, I am fearful of introducing anything which my people might think popish. Will you give me your opinions on the subject?" After some deliberation Bishop Hurd delivered, in the name of his brethren and himself, their unanimous opinion, that the introduction of religious paintings into his Majesty's Chapel would in no respect whatever violate the laws or the usages of the Church of England. "We have examined too," continued Hurd, "thirty-five subjects which the painter proposed for our choice, and we feel that there is not