intention to do this at once, against which the Frenchmen had been
so earnestly remonstrating; and had Captain Long persevered in
detaining him, nothing could have prevented the discovery, even if the
American himself had not made the disclosure. A little ebullition of
temper was to be expected when the news of what they had missed was
circulated among the squadron. The captains' shares might be
considered as worth L.40,000 or L.50,000, a sum which it would require
considerable philosophy to resign with equanimity. Whether the country
could properly have benefited by the capture, may be a question for
jurists. It might have been argued, that the captor of stolen goods
could not be entitled to retain them against the original owner. It is
probable, however, that no very nice inquiry would have been made into
the title of the French possessors, and that it would have been
considered a case in which, to use the language of Roderick Dhu, it
was perfectly justifiable--

'To spoil the spoiler as we may,
And from the robber rend his prey.'

PAINTERS' MONOGRAMS.

One of the most curious among the studies of a professed connoisseur,
is that of the signatures or marks, technically called 'monograms,' by
which painters, sculptors, engravers, and other artists, are
accustomed to distinguish their works. The dishonesty of the modern
picture-market, however, has made it now little more than a curious
study. As a practical guide in determining the genuineness of a work,
the monogram, from the skill and precision with which fraudulent
dealers have learned to counterfeit it in almost all its varieties,
has long been far worse than equivocal, and the authorship of a
picture must, now-a-days, often be decided on entirely independent
grounds. But the history of the subject is, in many respects,
extremely curious and interesting, although few have ever thought of
bestowing attention upon it, except those whose actual experience as
amateurs or collectors has brought it directly under their notice.

The practice of artists signing their works with their name appears to
be as old as art itself. The odium excited against Phidias for his
alleged impiety in inscribing his name upon the shield of his
celebrated statue of Minerva, is a familiar example, which will occur
to every reader; and there can be no doubt that the usage was also
known to the painters of the classic times. But if we may judge from
the Grecian and Roman re