208 



i)isr.f)Vi:HY 



against him, and Wolcot had to use all his social in- 

 fluence and pay over a hundred pounds before the 

 matter blew over. Towards the end of that year one 

 of the periodical drawings for apprentices took place, 

 and Wolcot received this letter : 



Sir. 



Truro. November 28/A, 1779. 



I'm ordered by the Mayor and Deputy Recorder of this 

 Borough, to acquaint you that there will be a regular Drawing 

 for apprentices to-morrow morning by ten o'clock, at the 

 Vestry Room, within the said Borough, when and where you 

 are desired to show cause, if any, why you should not have an 

 apprentice. 



John Buckland, Overseer. 

 To Mr. Wolcot. 



But, hke a good general, Wolcot had anticipated 

 this, and had decided to remove himself from their 

 jurisdiction. He replied as follows : 



Sir, 



I have received your official note. Be so good as to 

 present my most humble and respectful compliments to his 

 Worship the Mayor, and also to the Deputy Recorder of this 

 honorable Borough, and inform them that their blunder- 

 busses have missed fire. You will let the Worshipfull Gentle- 

 men know, that tho' I can by no means accept their well meant 

 favour. I'm truly sensible of the intended obligation. As my 

 house is taken by another tenant, the furniture except a few 

 immaterial articles removed to Helston, and the servant dis- 

 charged. I'm tolerably certain that I do not come within the 

 description of a person entitled to that good fortune. I must 

 therefore desire them to transfer their favour to some dearer 

 friend. Should they, however, through violence of affection 

 insist on placing an apprentice on the House (for the Mayor 

 and Deputy Recorder of the honorable and independent Borough 

 of Truro are almost omnipotent) be so good, Mr. Buckland ! 

 to attend the aforesaid gentlemen to my door with the appren- 

 tice, and desire them to thrust him through the kev-hole. 



Wolcot. 



To Mr. John Buckland, Overseer of the honorable and 

 independent Borough of Truro. 



If this were all, it is doubtful if Wolcot would have 

 come to London or have become famous. But about 

 fovu: years before this an incident happened which 

 changed the whole course of his life. And this, it is 

 pleasant to observe, came about not through self- 

 seeking, but by doing someone a good turn. 



The Nankivells, including Sukey and Joyce, lived at 

 Mithian, in the parish of St. Agnes, some eight miles 

 from Truro, and Wolcot often used to ride over to see 

 them. One day Wolcot was criticising a print that 

 hung in the parlour ; " a busy scene," he said, " but ill 

 executed," whereupon one of the Miss Nankivells 

 rejoined that " it was greatly admired by many, and 

 particularly by John Opie, a lad of great genius." 

 Wolcot went off at once in search of the boy, and found 

 him working in a saw-pit. He asked him if he could 

 paint, and the boy ran off to get his productions. " I 

 shall always hear," said Wolcot, years afterwards, " the 



sound of the boy's leather apron clattering between 

 his knees." The relationship between the two soon 

 developed into that of master and pupil, and before U 



long Opie came to live with Wolcot at Truro. Here ^ 



in the midst of his doctoring and quarrellings and 

 dinings-out he found time to teach all he knew of 

 painting and drawing to the enthusiastic lad, throwing 

 in also instruction in French and Latin. Opie was a 

 mere boy, but before long he was tramping the distrit, 

 with no lack of orders from count}' families. When the 

 final disturbance took place between Wolcot and the 

 Corporation of Truro, Opie moved with him to Helston. 

 In 1780 one of Opie's pictures was exhibited in London 

 at the Society of Artists. About this time Wolcot got 

 into correspondence with a Mrs. Boscawcn, who held a 

 distinct position in London society. It seems to have 

 been in the month of December, 1781. that Wolcot and 

 Opie cut themselves adrift from the West Country and 

 tried London as a field for fame and fortune. They 

 made a compact : the earnings of both were to be 

 pooled and halved. 



The success of Opie, though he paid for it later by 

 loss of popular favour, was immediate and complete ; 

 Mrs. Boscawen took him to Mrs. Delany ; an audience || 



of the king followed. Wolcot played his part as- | 



siduously and well, calling several times on Sir Joshua 

 Reynolds with Opie's pictures. Re\-nolds was im- 

 pressed, and compared him to Caravaggio. The king, 

 careful as always in matters that involved money, 

 smiled and spent a little. Two letters, the tirst written 

 by Wolcot to a friend at St. Agnes, the second by 

 Opie himself, best describe the situation, and show 

 how piquant the rustic painter must have been to 

 London societ\'. 



[Undated, probably February 1782] 



I have at length got Jan introduced to the King and Queen. 

 The night before he went, I was employed in teaching him how- 

 to make King and Queen bows ; to keep his hands out of his 

 breeches pockets, and blow his nose before he got into Bucking- 

 ham House ; in enjoining him. not to make a comb of his 

 fmgers. and scratch his pate with his claws, on the approach of 

 their Majesties ; in insisting on his not spitting about the 

 carpet, and twirling his hat upon his thumb. All this Jan 

 promised to observe faithfully. As he was carrying his pictures 

 into the room of the Palace, Jan was followed by the Queen, 

 who treated him with great kindness, so much indeed, that he 

 is now turned Quixote, and is ready to tight up to the knees in 

 blood, for her Majesty. The King came in after ; with a skip 

 (not a very proper pace I think for Majesty). West was with 

 him. I mean West the famous painter, a monstrous favourite 

 of George's. George asked Jan a number of questions, which 

 (from Jan's history of himself after his return) he answered with 

 a St. Agnes intrepidity. The Pictures were placed in order, 

 and the British Monarch applauded the Artist ; the Queen 

 turned up the whites of her eyes marvelling ; the little princes 

 lisped praises, and Jan, to be sure, was in an ecstacy. He 

 remained nearly an hour and half with them, and then took 

 his leave. The pictures he carried were : An Old Jew, A 



