e was, the colour of his hair, his air and gait. So a committee
was formed some time ago, which is still sitting; that is, they dine with
the mayor every day to talk over the subject. A few days since, to my
great surprise, they made their appearance in my poor studio, and desired
to be favoured with a sight of some of my paintings; well, I showed them
some, and, after looking at them with great attention, they went aside
and whispered. 'He'll do,' I heard one say; 'yes, he'll do,' said
another; and then they came to me, and one of them, a little man with a
hump on his back, who is a watchmaker, assumed the office of spokesman,
and made a long speech (the old town has been always celebrated for
orators) in which he told me how much they had been pleased with my
productions (the old town has been always celebrated for its artistic
taste), and, what do you think? offered me the painting of the mayor's
portrait, and a hundred pounds for my trouble.

"Well, of course I was much surprised, and for a minute or two could
scarcely speak; recovering myself, however, I made a speech, not so
eloquent as that of the watchmaker, of course, being not so accustomed to
speaking; but not so bad either, taking everything into consideration,
telling them how flattered I felt by the honour which they had conferred
in proposing to me such an undertaking; expressing, however, my fears
that I was not competent to the task, and concluding by saying what a
pity it was that Crome was dead. 'Crome,' said the little man, 'Crome;
yes, he was a clever man, a very clever man in his way; he was good at
painting landscapes and farm-houses, but he would not do in the present
instance, were he alive. He had no conception of the heroic, sir. We
want some person capable of representing our mayor striding under the
Norman arch out of the cathedral.' At the mention of the heroic, an idea
came at once into my head. 'Oh,' said I, 'if you are in quest of the
heroic, I am glad that you came to me; don't mistake me,' I continued, 'I
do not mean to say that I could do justice to your subject, though I am
fond of the heroic; but I can introduce you to a great master of the
heroic, fully competent to do justice to your mayor. Not to me,
therefore, be the painting of the picture given, but to a friend of mine,
the great master of the heroic, to the best, the strongest, [Greek
text],' I added, for, being amongst orators, I thought a word of Greek
would tell."