Art Criticism, 161 



honest farmer who had mistaken him for a 

 groom. The story is not much in itself, but 

 the mode of telling made it irresistibly comic. 



Some time after this, when his niece had 

 married again, Mr. Smith was invited to ac- 

 company her husband's brother, Mr. Stephens, 

 to Castle Howard, where, by the united efforts 

 of many guns, a heavy bag of game was got, 

 which was forwarded to the Earl of Carlisle, 

 who was then Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. 

 This business being finished early, Mr. Smith, 

 in compliance with a request from Mrs. Ste- 

 phens, went into the picture-gallery, where 

 were several paintings which she had most 

 admirably copied. There he found an artist 

 engaged in copying the Three Maries — a pic- 

 ture that he had often heard highly praised ; 

 and he asked how it was that one hand of our 

 Saviour is painted fleshless, like that of a 

 skeleton, whilst the other is full -sized and 

 plump. The artist replied, '' Sir, you have 

 discovered the only fault in the picture." 



M 



