I spent one afternoon this week among I went to the Grafton to 7 collection of old masters, which have been offered by him to and rejected by the Committee of the Guildhall on the recommendation of Sir Edward Paynter, P.R.A. That they are unworthy to find aherne among the works of art at the Guildhall must be evident to the merest outsider, that Mr. Sellar: should have dreamt of offering them is.more surprising. Three pictures Liked; Hampstead Heath, a reputed Constable, Portrait ofa Girl, by John Hoppner, R.A., and an interior which Sir John Paynter believes to be a genuine Velasquez, though Mr. Sellar says he bought it from a dealer for 214. TE genuine itis supposed to be worth £1,400. "The whole collection. was offered for sale at Christie's but the highest bid for any individual picture was about the price of the frame. He is now trying to sell them in the gallery, but so far I hear very fow purchasers have been found and the exhibition closes this week to make room for an Australian col-ection now on its way from the antipodes. My second visit was to the Continental Gallery where I wanted to see a pictur by Jean Veber that is much talked about.
is called The Butcher and is so horrible that I was almost sorry I went. The "butcher" is Bismarck and all the joints exhibited are human; on a table there are quantity of heads, all likenesses, among them I noticed Napoleon III; there are two dogs in the foreground and even they represent leading {Frenchmen—the whole effect is too gruesome for words. The secretary told mo they daily feared that some indignant patriot would. put a stick through the picture, though it is protected bya glass an inch thick. What pleased me far more in this gallery was a collection of silver point drawings and water colours by Charles Sainton, son of the eminent violinist. The former are perfectly charing ing, so delicate and artistic. The Princess of Wales has purchased seven of them and the Duke of York four. Unfortunately the strain upon the eyes has been so severe, the work being so fine, that Mr. Sainton has been advised by his oculist to discontinue his water colours, which are wise very pretty. My third visit was to the Fine Art Society's exhibition where I saw Mr. Allan Stawart's new picture Dargni—the celebrated charge of the Gordon Highland That it is disappointing isnot entirely the fault of the artist. There is such sameness in the uniforms of the men, khaki coats with blue and green kilt skirts, and the rocks which they are clithbing and which are almost exactly the same shade as the men's coats. It is a large picture but uninteresting. "Great prominence is given to Piper Findlater, who is evidently doing his. best to cheer his comrades with his music. The central figure is Major Macbean, who ix wounded and partly recumbent; the ground is strewn with bodies of dead and dying and the whole effect is rather depressing and gives but a poor idea of the glorious charge.
1th March.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.