1 6 Sm EDWIN LANDSEER, R.A: 



His breast was white, his touzie '^ back. 

 Weal clad wi' coat o' glossy black ; 

 His gaucie ^* tail, wi' upward curl, 

 Hung o'er his hurdles ^^ wi' a swirl. 



" Nae doubt but they were fain o' ither. 

 An' unco pack an' thick thegither ; 

 Wi' social nose whyles snufPd an' snowkit,'* 

 Whiles mice and moudieworts " they howkit. 

 Whiles scour'd awa in lang excursion, 

 An' worry'd ither in diversion ; 

 Until wi' daffin ^^ weary grown. 

 Upon a knowe ^^ they sat them down. 

 And there began a lang digression 

 About the lords o' the creation." 



Burns' s inimitably humorous poem need not to be further quoted ; but thus much 

 seemed necessary to describe the animals sitting in judgment on the "lords o' the 

 creation," and which the artist has represented with such truth and spirit. The 

 debate, if it may be so called, has become lively ; the head of each dog shows remark- 

 able animation as they warm up in the discussion — one, as the rest of the poem 

 shows, in no way complimentary to those who are the subjects of this canine debate, 

 but who are not " in court " to justify themselves either in person or by counsel. 



The principal contributions to the Academy in 1836 were "A Scene in Chil- 

 lingham Park," with a group of the famous wild cattle found there; a portrait of 

 the Marchioness of Abercorn in a masquerade dress, entitled " Twelfth Night, or, 

 What you will" — a picture which was engraved very finely by Mr. J. H. Robinson ; 

 and "Portraits of Ladies Harriet and Beatrice Hamilton," children of the Marquis 

 and Marchioness of Abercorn. In these, as in almost every portrait-picture by 

 Landseer, we find the usual accompaniments of horses, or dogs, or both. 



In the year following he sent to the Academy as many works as the rules 

 of the institution permit any artist to exhibit in one year— namely, eight. Of 

 these was one which, for poetic feeling and for pathos, must always take precedence 

 of any Landseer ever placed on canvas. This is "The Old Shepherd's Chief 

 Mourner," now in the Sheepshanks Collection, and I know of nothing in the 

 whole range of Art, whatever its character, more simply yet more deeply 

 affecting, though a single dog is the only living creature that is visible. The 

 picture is small in size, but immeasurably great in conception. The scene is the 

 interior of a Highland shepherd's hut, for it can scarcely be called a cottage 



" Shaggy. ■' Moles. 



" Plump. >8 Merriment. 



" Loins. " Knoll. 

 ■' Scented. 



