en sold by auction after his death, fetched, under the
hammer, upwards of L4,000. About twenty years ago an old friend of
mine in Leicestershire, who had met with some heavy losses, desired
to sell a fine Stradivarius violin, which had been in his family more
than a century, and he sent it to me that I might offer it to Mr.
Gillott. I called upon him to ask permission to bring it to him for
inspection. I can recall now the frank, honest, homely Yorkshire tone
with which he said, "Nay, lad! I shan't buy any more fiddles; I've got
a boat-load already." He wouldn't look at it, and I sent it back to
its owner, who is long since dead.

World-wide as was his reputation as a manufacturer, he was almost
equally renowned as one of the most munificent and discriminating
patrons of Art. Possessing, naturally, a most refined taste, and
having very acute perceptive powers, he instinctively recognised the
_true_ in the work of young artists; and when he saw tokens of more
than common ability, he fostered the budding talent in a very generous
spirit. So much was thought of his judgment, that the fact of his
having bought a picture by an unknown man was quite sufficient to give
the artist a position. I heard a story from a Liverpool artist the
other day, very characteristic of Mr. Gillott's firm and determined,
yet kind and generous, nature. It is well known that he very early
recognised the genius of the gifted Mueller, and became his warm
supporter. One result of his patronage was that others sought the
artist, and by offers of large prices and extensive commissions,
induced him to let them have some of his pictures, which Gillott was
to have bought. Mueller appears to have become inflated by his great
success, and he, in this or some other way, managed to annoy his early
friend and patron in a very serious manner. His punishment was swift,
severe, and sure. Gillott immediately packed off every Mueller picture
he possessed to an auction room in London, with directions that they
should be extensively advertised as his property, and sold without
the slightest reserve. This step so frightened the Art-world that
"Muellers" became a drug in the market, and poor Mueller found himself
neglected by his quondam friends. He soon came in penitence to
Gillott, who again took him by the hand, and befriended him until his
untimely death in 1845, at the age of 33. At the sale of Mr. Gillott's
pictures after his decease, Mueller's celebrated picture