Meantime his pictures had been accepted at exhibitions, his first water-color having been exhibited at the Royal Academy when he was only fifteen.

Every one who knew him in these years speaks of his sunny disposition, his love of sports and of fun of all kinds. In later life, after troubles and disappointments, he was not always so cheerful, but he was successful in his artistic career.

He became an associate of the Royal Academy when only twenty-four and a full Royal Academician at twenty-seven.

One of Turner's cherished projects was the publication of the "Liber Studiorum." There were to be one hundred plates issued in numbers, each containing five pictures. But it never reached completion,― the public would not buy. It is said that an engraver, who had a lot of the trial proofs, used them for kindling his fire. Afterwards he was able to sell the few he had left for over seven thousand dollars. Since then a single copy of the book has brought fifteen thousand dollars. "I've been burning bank notes all my life," said the old engraver.

From the time he was thirty-five Turner must have had plenty of money. He moved into a country house, still keeping his city residence. In spite of his wealth, earned by his pictures, he lived like a hermit and had queer habits bad habits, some of them, but amongst them we find golden deeds that are worth telling.

At the death of a poor drawing-master, Mr. Wells, whom Turner had long known, he was deeply affected, and lent money to the widow until a large sum had ac

cumulated. She was both honest and grateful, and, after a long period, was happy enough to return to her benefactor the whole sum she had received from him. She went to him with it; but Turner kept his hands in his pocket. "Keep it," he said, "and send your children to school and to church."

Once, after sending an unfortunate beggar from his house, he relented, ran after her, and gave her a fivepound note.

Another story is told of how, when his earliest benefactor came to financial grief in his later years, Turner, hearing of it, advanced thousands of pounds to the man's manager without allowing his name to be made known.

Yet this man was called stingy and parsimonious. His friends criticized his frugal living only to find when he died that, after giving a hundred thousand dollars to the Royal Academy and a few other bequests to relatives, he had left an immense fortune for the maintenance of poor and decayed male artists, being born in England." This will was broken when contested by relatives.

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Ruskin says that, having known him during that period of his life when he was suffering most from the evilspeaking of the world, he never heard him say one depreciating word of any living man, or man's work. had a heart intensely kind and nobly true.

He

Turner and Sir Walter Scott were good friends. They liked each other, but it seemed that neither man could understand or appreciate the other's art. Scott could not see why any one should want Turner's pictures. "As for your books," said Turner, "the covers of some are very pretty."

It has been said that it was not nature herself that Corot represented but the impression nature made upon him. And yet no one has so faithfully interpreted certain elements of landscape, and he was so far in advance of others of his time that he was the first to present certain effects of light and air.

We know that when a boy at school he used to take long walks with his master, who was an old and solitary man with solitary ways. He was fond of walking in out-of-the-way places and in the evenings about dusk he liked to wander under the big trees in the meadows or by the side of the river.

Ten years later than this, when his father bought a place in the country, for they were Parisians, another scene came into his life which had a great influence upon him and upon his work. This new home was near a pond and many times, when all the rest were asleep, Corot remained up the greater part of the night, leaning out of