SAMUEL PROUT, ARTIST. 
275 
A few of these were engraved for trie Beauties of England, and 
others for a small publication called The Antiquarian and Topo- 
graphical Cabinet. After some little negotiation, it was agreed 
that he should visit London to prosecute his studies as an artist, 
and he came to reside, board, and lodge with me, in Wilderness 
Row, Clerkenwell, where he remained about two years. During 
that time he was employed in copying some of the best sketches 
and drawings I possessed by Turner, Hearne, Alexander, Mackenzie, 
Cotman, and others. I introduced him to Northcote, and to 
Benjamin West, the last of whom gave him most valuable and 
practical advice on the principles of light and shadow, by making 
a drawing of a ball or globe, on which was shown all the gradations 
and attributes of exhibiting rotund bodies on flat surfaces. It was 
a most valuable lesson given in a few minutes, and accompanied by 
such theoretical and kind remarks as served to characterise the 
profound master, and make indelible impression on the mind of the 
pupil. Prout often referred to this important interview with 
gratitude and delight. In 1803 and 1804 I employed my young 
protege to visit the counties of Cambridge, Essex, and Wilts, to 
make sketches and studies of buildings, monuments, and scenery. 
My instructions, both verbal and written, were to be scrupulously 
accurate in the delineation of architectural and sculptural forms, 
proportions, and details, to make studies and notes of effects on the 
spot, also of light and shade. Many of the sketches, drawings, 
and manuscript notes he then made are now in my possession, and 
have often been referred to and examined with sincere gratification. 
Some of the subjects have been engraved for the Beauties, and 
others for the Architectural Antiquities. In the year 1805 he 
returned home, partly on account of his health, as frequent attacks 
of bilious headache rendered him unfitted to prosecute his studies 
with ease, and any degree of energy. " The young artist appears to 
have been rather unwilling to leave his native town, but eventually 
he did, seldom returning. I hope he did not think of Plymouth 
as the faithless swain did of Chloe — 
" My heart still hovering round about you, 
I thought I could not live without you ; 
Now we have lived six months asunder, 
How I lived with you is the wonder." 
Prout finally left Plymouth to settle in London in 1806 or 1807. 
It will be interesting to Plymothians to know that the responsi- 
s 2 
