SWEET-SCENTED TUSSILAGE. 
203 
scenery amidst which he lived. His master’s 
mill and cattle, an admirable verdure, the effects 
of the sky, clouds, vapour, light, and shade, 
were transferred with exquisite truth to the 
canvass by his untutored pencil. No sooner had 
he finished one picture than he carried it to the 
colourman and exchanged it for materials to 
paint another. It happened that the innkeeper 
of the place, expecting company at his house, 
wished to decorate the apartment destined for 
their reception, and bought two of the pictures 
for that purpose. An eminent painter, chancing 
to stop at the inn, admired the truth of these 
landscapes, offered one hundred florins for what 
had cost but a crown, and, on paying for them, 
promised to take all the works of the young 
miller at the same price. Thus was the repu¬ 
tation of the latter established and his fortune 
made. In his prosperity he never forgot his 
dear mill, the figure of which is to be found in 
all his pictures, which are so many master¬ 
pieces. Who would imagine that plants, like 
men, need a patron in order that their merits 
may be duly appreciated! 
