Xanfcseer an& /IDillais 613 



so absorbed in sport as to forget his art. He was 

 always, even in the deer-forest or by the salmon-riven 

 the artist first, and the instincts of the sportsman 

 sometimes gave way at the most exciting moments 

 of the chase to those of the painter. Mr. F. G. 

 Stephens, in his Life of Landseer, gives the following 

 anecdote in illustration of this trait in the painter's 

 character : 



" This story we obtain from a painter who, while 

 sketching in the Highlands, fell in with Ewen Cameron, 

 an old forest-keeper of Glencoe, who for more than 

 four-and-twenty years accompanied Landseer with the 

 sketch-book and the gun ; he had been with him from 

 his first shooting excursion, and described the knight 

 as but a poor shot at first, but one who improved as 

 he grew elder. He was, nevertheless, often laughed 

 at. But one day Sir Edwin had the laugh of all the 

 party, for, knowing that he was not the best of shots, 

 they had deliberately posted him where the herd was 

 not expected, * when/ as the old forester said, ' it so 

 happened that the greater number of the stags went 

 his way, and he just made by far the biggest bag of 

 the party ' ; in fact ' we found him surrounded with 

 dead stags lying all about.' 



On another occasion the gillies were astonished, 

 just as a magnificent shot came in the way, to have 

 Sir Edwin's gun thrust into their hands, with ' Here, 

 take, take this,' hastily ejaculated, while the sketch 

 book was hastily pulled out. The gillies were often 

 disgusted by being led about the moors, walking, with 

 more sketching than shooting ; and they grumbled 



