FIFTY YEARS OF A SHOWMAN'S LIFE 



then Prince of Wales. His Royal Highness in- 

 spected the picture gallery among other depart- 

 ments of the exhibition, and had no sooner entered 

 the gallery than he asked to be shown a picture, 

 painted by a lady whose name he mentioned, 

 and whom he had been given to understand was 

 among the artists represented in the gallery. 

 Owing to the fact that we had always more 

 pictures sent in than there was space for in the 

 building, a selection had to be made by the 

 hanging committee of those best fitted by their 

 intrinsic merits for exhibition, the rejected ones 

 being stowed away in an adjoining building free 

 from the glare of publicity. Included among 

 them, of course, was a certain proportion of 

 artistic mis-fits to describe them by as mild a 

 term as possible hence, the shrine containing 

 them was known as the Chamber of Horrors* 

 On this occasion some of the horror was trans- 

 ferred to the officials of the gallery itself when it 

 was realized that a picture, upon a sight of which 

 the Heir- Apparent had set his heart, had actually 

 been included among those rejected, and was 

 wasting its sweetness on the desert air of the 

 Chamber of Horrors. Of course, it had to be 

 produced somehow, and was found to be a Study 

 of Dogs and to be no worse than are many other 

 portraits of canine favourites. The artist evidently 

 had a friend at Court who appreciated her talent, 

 and the Prince, with his proverbial good nature, 

 was ready enough to do her a good turn by dis- 

 playing a knowledge of her work. Possibly, too, 

 the aforesaid Court-friend may have marked the 

 absence of the picture from the gallery and used 



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