George Morland 



his wife, and for a time resumed his extravagant way of bestow- 

 ing lavish hospitahty upon a crowd of new acquaintances. This 

 mode of Hfe, adopted by a stranger who evidently desired to hide 

 his identity, and whose habits of only going out after dusk were 

 mysterious, aroused the suspicions of his neighbours. One of 

 them, who chanced to overhear Morland discussing " copper- 

 plates " and "engraving" with one of his friends at an inn, 

 immediately, with a power of deductive reasoning worthy of a 

 predecessor to Mr. Sherlock Holmes, jumped to the conclusion 

 that Morland was a forger of bank-notes. He gave information to 

 the bank, and a force of police startled the artist almost out of his 

 senses by suddenly raiding his house. Morland naturally took 

 them for bailiffs, and escaping hurriedly out of the back door, made 

 off post-haste to London, leaving his wife to receive the strangers. 



The police would not listen to Mrs. Morland's explanations, but 

 made a systematic search of the house, turning out all the drawers 

 and otherwise ransacking the place. But all they could find was 

 Morland's paints, palettes, brushes, and canvases, his unfinished 

 works and rough sketches, and his usual disorderly collection of 

 bottles and jugs, pipes, and tobacco boxes. 



Wedd, the solicitor, who had always devoted himself to Morland's 

 interests, made the bank pay for the folly of its police officers, 

 threatening to prosecute them for trespass, and demanding com- 

 pensation for the loss of a week's work to Morland. The bankers 

 were willing to recognise their mistake, and sent a handsome letter 

 of apology to the artist with a cheque for twenty guineas. 



After several other changes of address, Morland accepted an 

 invitation from a friend named Lynn to stay at a house in the Isle 

 of Wight. Mrs. Morland with a servant preceded him, and he then 

 followed on with his man, rejoiced at the prospect of getting away 

 from the haunting fears of arrest, and of enjoying a change of scene 

 and life. But, as the leopard cannot change its spots, so Morland 

 could not get away from his bohemian nature. Although living in 

 a friend's house, he did not scruple to entertain an extraordinary 

 crowd of acquaintances, with whom, in his characteristic way, he 

 had quickly made friends. They were mostly fishermen, sailors, 

 and smugglers, who found Morland a man after their own heart, 



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