phonographs, how precious would their records be now!

Few men have ever led a fuller or happier life than Reynolds. One of the most sympathetic of his biographers - his pupil Northcote says of him: "He most heartily enjoyed his profession, and I agree with Mr. Malone (another biographer), who says he appeared to him to be the happiest man he ever knew." Dr. Johnson, who seldom paid compliments, said of him that if they should quarrel Reynolds would have him at a great disadvantage, because he could not say one word to his detriment. His literary powers were of a high order; but he never could have written such a book as that strange production of a great artist of a later century "The Gentle Art of Making Enemies"; for his whole life was an unceasing practise of the still gentler and more difficult art of making friends. One secret of his success may be found among the code of rules which he had composed for himself: "The great secret of being happy in this world is, not to mind or be affected by small things."

In politics he belonged to the small minority, so splendidly led by Burke and Chatham, who steadfastly believed in the ultimate success of those rebels in America who were giving King George the Third so much trouble; and he even won several wagers on the result.

The Royal Academy of Arts was founded in 1768, when Reynolds was elected president by acclamation and was knighted by the King. His

majesty was probably as blind to the real merits of the artist as he was to those of most other great men of his time (though, by the way, George the Third believed in Handel when that great musician was neglected by the fashionable world of London). Notwithstanding Sir Joshua's many occupations, he was tireless in advancing the interests of the Royal Academy, and continued to labor for it to the end of his life. It was he who inaugurated the annual Academy dinner, which in our day is attended by the greatest personages of the land, including royalty; and the yearly discourses which he delivered as president have taken rank as unquestioned classics in the art lore of the world. They were soon translated into several continental languages, and the Empress Catherine the Great of Russia sent their author her portrait set with diamonds, and an autograph letter thanking him for the pleasure and instruction which their perusal had afforded her. The great success of these discourses was too much for Sir Joshua's detractors, and though they could not deny their merit, they were fain to declare that their high literary quality was due to the pen of Edmund Burke or Dr. Johnson. Burke simply denied the report, and Johnson declared that he would as little think of presuming to write for Reynolds as he would to paint for him. Charles Blanc, the French Academician, while bestowing unstinted praise on Reynolds as a painter, declares that these Academy discourses are still his greatest work; but the eminent critic goes on to say

that the artist's practise did not always accord with his precepts; as when he ranks drawing above color, while his pictures really are stronger in color than in drawing; or when he declares that Michael Angelo was the king of all artists, while he (Reynolds) imitated Rembrandt in his pictures. It is hard to understand what so acute a critic as Charles Blanc can mean when he reproaches Reynolds with imparting "an altogether British aspect" to his portraits. What else would he have them?

Ruskin calls Sir Joshua the "prince of portrait painters" and "one of the seven colorists of the world," ranking him in this respect with Turner and five of the great Italian masters. Reynolds did not attain this mastery of color without working for it. He even went to the extreme of purchasing pictures by Titian and Rubens and decomposing their pigments, thereby hoping to "pluck out the heart of their mystery." Sir Joshua's zeal for improvement was insatiable. He never began a picture without resolving that he would make it a better one than he had ever painted before. One result of this ambition was, that, in general, the quality of his work became better and better to the end of his life. But in one particular he certainly exercised a "zeal, but not according to knowledge"; for having inherited from his father a taste for making experiments in chemistry, he applied it to the composition of his colors-sometimes with disastrous results. Thus, I remember that twenty-five years ago his

Size of the original print, 19 by 10 inches.

From the stipple engraving by Francesco Bartolozzi (1725-1815), after the painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds. Engraved in 1792.

Thais, the protégée of Alexander the Great, bearing the torch to fire the Persian palace at Persepolis. This is a good example of the stipple or dotted manner of engraving.

LADY COCKBURN AND HER CHILDREN

Size of the original print, 20 by 15 inches.

From the stipple engraving by Charles Wilkin (1750-1814), after the painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds. Engraved in 1791. This beautiful picture, although painted in 1773, is, unlike many of Sir Joshua's works, as fresh and glowing as it could have been when it first left the painter's easel.