In 1807, after a brief visit for the benefit of his health to the manse of Cults, Wilkie painted "The Card Players" and "The Rent Day." The latter was for the Earl of Mulgrave, and it was declared to be equal if not superior to any he had produced. The figures were all striking. "Who can forget," says his biographer, "the harsh, overbearing, moneycalculating, and money-counting factor, ready either to flatter or explode, as the rent may be forthcoming or not; the old tenant, seized with a fit of coughing which actually seems to ring from the canvas; the farmer, eating, or rather cramming, at the well-furnished table, and apparently mindful of the adage that fingers were made before knives and forks; the butler, who struggles with the rebellious cork, which refuses to quit its hold; the fortunate tenants, who have paid up in full, and are regaling themselves at the table with beef and pasty; and the luckless tenants, whose business is not yet despatched, and who are either unable to pay, or are prepared to pay with a protest? Even the little fat pug dog of the mansion, and the lean, hungry dog of the rent-racked farmer, indicate the wealth and luxury of the landlord, and the means by which all this profusion is supplied."

Wilkie became celebrated over the whole kingdom when he was only twenty-three! But even then he still attended the academy and took lessons in art. He was determined to become a master, and wherever he was he took heads or scenes for future use. His next pictures were— "The Sick Lady," "The Jew's Harp," "The Cut Finger," "A Man Teasing a Girl by Putting on her Cap," "The Village Festival." These were produced by the time he was five-andtwenty. He had been chosen an associate of the Royal Academy as soon as he ceased to be a pupil, in 1809, and in 1811 he was made a Royal Academician. He then ven

tured on the public exhibition in London of all his paintings executed between the years 1804 and 1811. There were no fewer than twenty-nine works. The venture was not successful financially; but when his "Blind Man's Buff,” “The Bagpiper," "The Letter of Introduction," and "Distraining for Rent" appeared within five years more, the achievements of Wilkie's youth had placed him high and for ever on the pinnacle of fame. The British Institution actually purchased the last-named painting for £600. In 1836 he was knighted.

Wilkie preserved his fame by means of all his future works, and added many ever-memorable pictures to the gallery of British art. He died in 1841. Most of his great works were engraved in the finest style, and also in the cheapest; and perhaps there are no pictures more universally known or more popular than the striking scenes representing so many varied characters from the brush of Sir David Wilkie.

THOMAS DUNCAN (1807-1845) died when only thirtyeight, yet left memorials of youthful work in art which will long survive. He was born at Kingclaven, Perthshire, and educated at Perth. His parents wished him to become a lawyer, and bound him to a writer; but by the time he had finished his articles, he felt less inclination to the law as a profession. All his tastes had been toward art, and when at length he entered the academy as a pupil at the age of twenty, he became an artist before his probation was finished. He had already painted "The Milkmaid," "Old Mortality," and "The Braw Wooer," which were so highly appreciated that he was appointed to the mastership of colouring and subsequently of drawing in the Edinburgh Academy, though under the usual age of teachers there. His national subjects of "Prince Charles Edward and the Highlanders Entering

Edinburgh after the Battle of Prestonpans," "Prince Charles Asleep after the Battle of Culloden, Protected by Flora Macdonald," and "The Martyrdom of John Brown," were highly appreciated, and were widely circulated by engravings. Duncan achieved great success also as a portrait-painter.

Isaac Disraeli remarks that "in the first years of life the education of youth may not be the education of his genius." That has had to make its own way, often amidst adverse circumstances, but it invariably attains its end. "This faculty of genius," he says again, "can exist independent of education, and where it is wanting, education can never confer it; it is an impulse, an instinct, always working in the character of the chosen mind

But it is good to set before youth what will stimulate genius and develop taste. Prince Albert, a lover of art, wished his children to love it. He desired to make it aid their education. Having obtained a beautiful statuette of the youthful King Edward VI., he placed it conspicuously at the top of one of the grand staircases at Windsor Castle, intending it as a present to the Prince of Wales. It represents the young king with a sceptre in his hand pointing to an open Bible at the text (2 Chron. xxxiv. 1, 2), “Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign; and he reigned in Jerusalem one and thirty years. And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the ways of David his father, and declined neither to the right hand nor to the left."

M

VI.

YOUNG MUSICAL COMPOSERS.

USIC often runs in families, and there are thousands

of examples of precocious talent in youth born in such homes. Young composers are more rare, but there is a goodly array of these.

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685-1750), "the father of modern music," belonged to a great musical family, and "he was himself the direct ancestor of about sixty of the bestknown organists and church composers of Germany." He was a native of Eisenach, and at the age of eighteen was appointed court musician at Weimar. The promise of his youth was kept up for fifty years, and brought forth a long series of musical works.

GEORGE FREDERICK HANDEL (1685-1759) was a native of Halle, in Germany, but spent most of his life in England. His father, perceiving his musical inclinations, did not permit him to go to a public school, lest he should learn music. He desired his son to become a physician like himself. The boy, however, found opportunity of learning through the connivance of his nurse. On one occasion, when his father took him to the ducal palace at Saxe-Weissenfels, he was found playing upon the organ in the chapel. His father was angry; but the duke interceded for him, and he was placed under competent masters in music. He made rapid progress, and

astonished the composer Bononcini, who challenged the youth to play an elaborate piece at sight. He did it with great precision, and secured the friendship of the jealous musician. When Handel was nineteen he had the offer of the organ at Lübeck if he would marry the daughter of the retiring organist. The maiden did not captivate him. Before he was twenty he composed two operas, "Almira" and "Nero," but they were not successful. When twenty-one he went to Florence, and derived new inspiration in a city so renowned. He produced his "Rodrigo" there shortly after his arrival. He then went to Venice, and took the city by storm by his playing. At a masked ball he was present in disguise, and electrified the assembly. He also composed his "Agrippina" there. He next visited Rome, and composed three operas and two oratorios. In Naples he published his "Acis and Galatea." Returning to Germany, he visited Hanover, and was invited to England by the Elector. Before he was twenty-five he appeared in London, got the favour of George I., and became the greatest Protestant composer of oratorios, and the glory of sacred music in England. He died on a Good Friday, as he had desired.

NICOLO PICCINI (1728-1800) was the son of a musician, and was born at Bari, in Southern Italy. Brought up amidst music, it was his great delight to play upon the harpsichord. The Bishop of Bari having heard him play, advised that the boy should be placed at a school of music. The first teacher was inferior, and the pupil sought his own way of advancement. He began to compose a mass. The teacher heard of this daring exploit, and sent for the culprit. The youth said, "Excuse me, sir; I could not help it." When required to show it, he was rebuked by the stern master before the whole school for giving way to his ill-regulated imagination. He played the piece at the command of the professor. "I