Either
his clouded reason or some remnant of his old sense of fun led him
to talk of Mrs. Pritchard as his "pocket Venus." To people staying
with us (who, I think, were a little alarmed at finding themselves
in the company of a lunatic, however closely watched he might be),
he would say, "In two minutes you will see the loveliest of her
sex. A little dainty creature, perfect in feature, perfect in
shape, who might have stepped bodily out of the frame of a Greuze.
A perfect dream of loveliness." They were considerably astonished
when a little wizened woman, with a face like a withered apple,
entered the room. He was fond, too, of descanting on Mrs.
Pritchard's wonderfully virtuous temperament, notwithstanding her
amazing charms. Visitors probably reflected that, given her
appearance, the path of duty must have been rendered very easy to
her.
Landseer painted his last Academy picture, "The Baptismal Font,"
whilst staying with us. It is a perfectly meaningless composition,
representing a number of sheep huddled round a font, for whatever
allegorical significance he originally meant to give it eluded the
poor clouded brain.
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