As he always painted from the live model, he
sent down to the Home Farm for two sheep, which he wanted driven
upstairs into his bedroom, to the furious indignation of the
housekeeper, who declared, with a certain amount of reason, that
it was impossible to keep a house well if live sheep were to be
allowed in the best bedrooms. So Landseer, his easel and colours
and his sheep were all transferred to the garden.
On another occasion there was some talk about a savage bull.
Landseer, muttering, "Bulls! bulls! bulls!" snatched up an album
of my sister's, and finding a blank page in it, made an exquisite
little drawing of a charging bull. The disordered brain repeating
"Bulls! bulls! bulls!" he then drew a bulldog, a pair of
bullfinches surrounded by bulrushes, and a hooked bull trout
fighting furiously for freedom. That page has been cut out and
framed for fifty years.
CHAPTER II
The "swells" of the "sixties"--Old Lord Claud Hamilton--My first
presentation to Queen Victoria--Scandalous behaviour of a brother--
Queen Victoria's letters--Her character and strong common sense--
My mother's recollections of George III.
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