atrons, and, after giving his thousands to opera girls, he wandered
about Calais in rags and poverty. Farinelli, after accumulating a
fortune in England, built a superb mansion in Italy, which he called
the _English Folly_.[1]

[1] Here is a card "extraordinary" of one of our humble English
dancing-masters:--"As Dancing is the poetry of motion, those who
wish to sail through the mazes of harmony, or to 'trip it on the
light fantastic toe,' will find an able guide in John Wilde, who
was formed by nature for a dancing-master.--N.B. Those who have
been taught to dance with _a couple of left legs_, had better
apply in time, as he effectually cures all bad habits of the
kind."

The oddity of some ideas of dancing is really ludicrous. The
Cambro-Britains, in a very late period, used to be played out of
church by a fiddle, and to form a dance in the church-yard at the
end of the service. But the ideas which the Chinese have of dancing
exceeds all others. When Commodore Anson was at Canton, the officers
of the _Centurion_ had a ball upon some court holiday: while they were
dancing, a Chinese, who very quietly surveyed the operation, said,
softly, to one of the party, "Why don't you let your servants do this
for you?"

* * * * *

FINE ARTS.

SCHOOL OF PAINTING AT THE BRITISH INSTITUTION.

_(To the Editor of the Mirror.)_

I beg to present you with a brief notice of the School of Painting at
the British Institution, Pall Mall; you may rely upon its correctness,
as I have been extremely cautious in making my notes, and in
ascertaining every particular relative to the subject.

The students at this excellent institution have, for several weeks,
been arduously engaged in copying the fine pictures which were
entrusted to the directors by his majesty, and the nobility, for that
purpose. In general, the students have been very successful, and
deserve much praise; I must, however, in my prescribed limits, only
mention a few.

Vandyke's _Duchess de St. Croix_ has been cleverly copied by Mr. Boden
and Mr. Faulkner; the latter gentleman has well imitated the color and
the beautiful finish of the original. Messrs. Frisk, Child, Howell
and M'Call have likewise made clever copies of this _chef d'oeuvre_
of art. Many bold efforts have been made to copy Hobbima's large
_Landscape_; Mr. Laporte's is the most complete, though not quite
spirited enough in the handlin