Note (return) — FINE ARTS
Reading edition
Among the fine paintings, I shall notice a few, which appear to me as being perfect master-pieces. But I must first take the liberty of saying a word or two about the gentleman who conducts you through the rooms to explain the several pictures. When I had the pleasure of being with him, his hair was powdered, and he carried a silver-headed cane. He hurried me through the rooms, filling my ears with such gibberish as this:—"That ere picture, sir, up there, was painted, five hundred years ago, for William the Conqueror, by Wandyke."4 This is no mean blunder in chronology!