appears to have any claim to publication.

"PRINTING HOUSE SQUARE, Dec. 1, 1886."

"To the Editor of the _Times_:

"Dear Sir--I beg to acknowledge the consummate sense of
opportunity displayed by the Editor of the _Times_, in his
cunning production of a part of my letter.

"Amazing! _Mes compliments!_"

[Illustration]

Without further comment I hand you a copy of the rejected letter.

"To the Editor of the _Times_.--Sir--In his article upon the
Society of British Artists, your Art gentleman ventures the
opinion of the 'plain man.'

"That such opinion is out of place and stultifying in a question
of Art never occurs to him, and it is therefore frankly cited as,
in a way, conclusive.

"The _naif_ train of thought that justified the importance
attached to this poor 'plain' opinion at all would seem to be the
same that pervades the writing throughout; until it becomes
difficult to discover where the easy effrontery and
self-sufficiency of the 'plain one,' nothing doubting, cease, and
the wit and wisdom of the experienced expert begin--so that one
unconsciously confounds the incautious critic with the plausible
plain person, who finally becomes the same authority.

"Blind plainness certainly is the characteristic of the solemn
censure upon the fine work of Mr. Stott, of Oldham--plain
blindness the omission of all mention of Mr. Ludovici's dainty
dancing-girl.

"Bewilderment among paintings is naturally the fate of the 'plain
man,' but, when put forth in the _Times_, his utterances, however
empty, acquire a semblance of sense; so that while he gravely
descants with bald assurance upon the engineering of the
light in the galleries, and the decoration of the walls, the
reader stands a chance of being misled, and may not discover at
once that the 'plain' writer is qualified by ignorance alone to
continue.

"Permit me, therefore, to rectify inconsequent impressions, and
tell your readers that there is nothing 'tentative' in the
'arrangement' of colour, walls, or drapery--that the battens
should _not_ 'be removed'--that they are meant to remain, not
only for their use, but as bringing parallel lines into play that
subdivide charmingly the lower portion of the walls and add to
their light appearance--that the whole 'com