COL. ANSTRUTHER THOMSON 399 



being open to admirers of the great sportsman. I 

 have only to add that I shall be delighted to be the 

 medium for forwarding any sums I may be entrusted 

 with for the above purpose. 



" I am, etc., 



" H. V. HAIG." 



"27 PARK STREET, W., 

 " i^th May, 1869. 



" MY DEAR THOMSON, 



" I have had a long chat with Frank Grant, 

 who you will be sorry to hear is very far from well. 

 He says he is quite used up, what with the incessant 

 duties of the presidency of the Royal Academy and 

 his own professional labours. He suffers great pain 

 from neuralgia in the head, and unfortunately in the 

 right arm, no doubt from its excessive use in painting. 



"He says he cannot undertake to paint a man on 

 a horse, as the picture, in the first place, would be 

 enormous, and, in the next, that it would entail more 

 labour than he could in his present state bestow upon 

 it ; and besides, he has found the necessity of having 

 a horse in the painting-room so very troublesome, 

 that he does not feel disposed to undertake another 

 picture of that class at present. It would, moreover, 

 be 800 guineas. What he suggests is that you should 

 be represented with three hounds (portraits) stand- 

 ing on a fox earth, where you had run to ground, 

 with your cap in one hand and horn in the other. 

 It is a grand idea, and when you consider the 

 commanding appearance of the subject, that cheery, 

 animated countenance which is natural to that subject, 



