CHAPTER X. 



THE SKETCH -LECTURES (continued']. 



Defects in the Drawing-frame A Series of Experiments The Canvas Screen, and 

 how it was constructed Stretching the Canvas Painting and " flatting " 

 The Packing-case Stopped by the Railway Officials- " Lord Crawford" 

 Labour of erecting the Frame Hostile Hall-keepers Extreme Measures 

 Taking the Frame down Constant Repairs and Alterations Practising the 

 Drawings Dr. Wendell Holmes' Opinion The Marlburian on the Sketch- 

 LecturesCriticism in the Altrincham and Bowdon Guardian Experiments 

 and Failures Difficulty of obtaining the Coloured Pastils Variety of Hues 

 Taking a Hint from a Scene-painter A Natural Talent for Drawing 

 Illustrations of College Life Footlights and their uses The Combat of 

 the Ants " Ars est celare artem." 



ALTHOUGH the large portable blackboard which my 

 father had had specially made for these lectures had 

 proved satisfactory in many ways, he soon discovered 

 that, like all experiments, it was open to a great deal of 

 improvement. It was far too heavy, for one thing, 

 weighing no less than 178 Ib. when packed in its 

 three boxes ; so that excess railway fares and extra cab 

 hires formed a very important item in the travelling 

 expenses. And it was often difficult, when arriving at 

 a hall, to find helpers sufficiently strong to carry the 

 boxes from the cab to the platform. 



Then, again, in spite of its quite unusual dimen- 

 sions, the board was far too small ! My father had 

 taken to drawing whales and other sea-monsters upon a 

 large scale, and found that a board only eight feet long 



