198 RIVERSIDE LETTERS XXV 



regret. I had expressed my admiration for a 

 beautifully painted group of dead ptarmigan, 

 hares, &c., in a picture of his which also con- 

 tained many people's portraits ; the next 

 morning I was extremely astonished and 

 mortified at finding the whole group rubbed 

 out, some rocks and heather being substituted 

 in its place. I asked him why he had done 

 this, as the group had appeared to me so 

 exquisitely painted ; he replied, " Yes, that's 

 just it, I am not going to have the fellows 

 say how much better I can paint fur and 

 feathers than flesh." 



The picture on which this destruction 

 took place was that large one of the Queen 

 and the Prince Consort with the Prince 

 of Wales, Lady Jocelyn, and a number 

 of Highland attendants, which no doubt 

 you remember was exhibited in the ex- 

 hibition of the Royal Academy in 1870. 

 It had been exhibited once before in a some- 

 what unfinished state in 1854. I remember 

 quite well that it looked a much finer picture 



