Yesterday Mr. W. P. Frith x. a. attained his ninetieth birthday, end by a kind thought the King commanded him to an audience at Buckingham Palace and invested him with the insignia of a Commandership of the Royal Victorian Order. Mr. Frith, who can still wield the brush effectively in spite of his great age, is now engaged in painting portrait of himself. Although his work is not held in anything like the estimat tion it was thirty or forty years ago, as may be gathered from the prices which his pictures fetch when they appear in the auction room, no one can deny to them a high merit in their particular ling; and the congratulations which he has received upon the honour done to him by the King are genuine and universal. "Derby Day," which first made him famous, was sold for £1,500, and he received a similar sum for the engraving rights, while for the Railway Station" he received no less than £4,500.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.