4tfO JACOB BELL. 



1859. at Oxford Street, contains illustrations that would do credit to 

 Punch. In fact, his keen sense of the ridiculous was innate, 

 and, coupled with an originality of expression, it characterized 

 what he wrote from childhood upwards, 



But although drawing was no longer pursued by Mr. Bell as 

 a study, his associations with art were not discarded. Though 

 he could not aspire to be an artist, he looked with admiration 

 upon those whom he felt were more favoured than himself. 

 With such tastes he naturally soon formed the nucleus of a 

 collection, which in after years, when in the possession of more 



Collection of ample means, he enriched by the acquisition of some of the 

 Paintings. fi nest productions of the modern school. Of the celebrated 

 works in his collection we may enumerate the Sleeping Blood- 

 hound, the Shoeing, Alexander and Diogenes, Dignity and 

 Impudence, the Defeat of Comus, the Maid and the Magpie, by 

 Sir Edwin Landseer ; the Horse Fair, by Rosa Bonheur ; the 

 Derby Day, by Frith; James IT. receiving the News of the 

 Landing of the Prince of Orange, by Ward ; and some delight- 

 ful cattle pieces, by Lee and Cooper. These, together with 

 some other paintings, in all about twenty, were found, after 

 Mr. Bell's death, to have been bequeathed by him to the national 

 collection. The value of the legacy has been stated, we believe 

 with correctness, at from 18,000 to 20,000. 



Art copyright. But it would be wrong to suppose that it was only as a 

 liberal purchaser that Mr. Bell showed his sympathy for art. 

 His service was perhaps equally important in another way, and 

 that was in placing artists in their proper position with regard 

 to copyright. Regarding the subject from a business point of 

 view, he perceived the full value of the privilege ; and, by the 

 advice and assistance which he gave, he enabled artists to claim 

 advantages which they had previously but very partially appre- 

 ciated. 



In the year 184 ' Mr< Bel1 accom P anied his friend Mr - ( the 

 late Sir) Edwin Landseer, then in poor health, upon a journey 



on the Continent. Belgium, the Rhine, and Switzerland, were 

 visited ; but arrived at Geneva, Mr. Bell was taken ill, and the 

 travellers had to change their respective positions of patient and 



