€4 Notices respecting Xav Booh. 



fnmilv, arid his yoinhful companions, when he became 5C- 

 cidentallv known to Dr. Walcott, then residing at Truro, 

 (and since so celebrated under the title ut' Pe/er Pifidar,} 

 who having himself some skill in painting, a sound judg- 

 ment, and a few tolerable pictures, was well fitted to afford 

 instn.ictiffn, and various advantages, to the young scholar. 



" Thus assisted and recomme\ided, his iame found its way 

 through the cf)nntry ; and so rapid was his progress, that he 

 now coninienecd professed porirait-painler, and went ta 

 niany of the ncighl^ouring towns, wilfi letters of introdue- 

 tion to all the considerable families resident in them. 



*' One of these exwditions was to Padstow, whither he 

 set forward, dressed, as usual, in a boy's plain short jacket, 

 and canving with him all prt)pcr apparatus for portrait 

 paiutijig. Ik-re, a\nongst others, he painted the whole 

 household of the ancient and respectable family of Pridemix; 

 even to the dogs and cats of the family. He remained so 

 lonsx absent from home, that sonje uneasiness began to arise 

 on his account; but it was dissipated by his reluming dress- 

 ed in a handsome coat, \\ ith very long skifts, laced ruffles, 

 and silk stockings. On seeing his mother, he ran to her, 

 and, taking out of his pocket twenty guineas, which he had 

 earned by his pencil, he desired her to keep them; adding, 

 that, in future, he should niainlain himself. 



" The first efforts of his pencil, thouoh void of that gra-ce 

 which can only be derived from an intimate knowledge of 

 the art, were true to nature, and in a stvlc far superior to 

 any thinir in frcneral produced by countrv artists. He paint- 

 ed at that time with smaller pencils, and finished more high- 

 ly than he afterwards did when his hand had attained a 

 broader and more master! v execulion : but several of his 

 cirlv portraits would not hnve disi.';rHced even the high name 

 he has since ai'aned. Towards the end of llie year 1777, 

 when he was sixteen years of age| he broncrht to Penryn a 

 head he had painted of hin):>elf for ihe late lord Batenian, 

 who was then at that place with his regiment (the FJereford 

 militia), and who was an carlv patron of Mr. Opic, em- 

 plovins: him to paint pictures of old men, beegars, &:c. in 

 Jtubjecs of which kind he was princioallv engagetl, and 



\%hich 



