leader of society in London where Landseer was present, the guests had
been talking about skill with the hands. One of the guests said that
no one had ever been found who could draw two things at once. Landseer
remarked, "Oh, I can do that; lend me two pencils, and I will show you."

He then quickly drew the head of a horse with one hand, at the same
time drawing a deer's head and antlers with the other hand. Both
sketches were so good that they might well have been drawn with the
same hand and with much more study.

Landseer made a special study of lions, too, and painted many pictures
of them. The great lions at the base of the famous Nelson Monument in
Trafalgar Square, London, were modeled by him.

Although Landseer painted so many wild animals, birds, and hunting
scenes, he did not care to hunt or shoot. Sometimes he would hire
guides to take him into the wildest parts in search of game. But these
guides felt thoroughly disgusted with him when, a great wild deer
bounding toward them, he would merely make a sketch of it in his book.

Landseer knew how to use a gun, however, and sometimes did use it with
great success. But it was the study of live animals that interested
him most. He often said that to kill a bird was to lose it.

He believed that animals understand, feel, and reason just like people;
so he represented them in his pictures as happy, sad, gay, dignified,
frivolous, rich, poor, and in all ways just like human beings.

Landseer did and said all he could against the custom of cutting, or
"cropping," the ears of dogs. He said that nature intended to protect
the ears of dogs that "dig in the dirt," and man should not interfere.
People paid a great deal of attention to what he said, and the custom
lost favor.

In 1850 the honor of knighthood was conferred upon Landseer. He was
popular alike with patron and peasant, and no English painter has ever
been more appreciated in his own country.

Landseer died in London in 1873, at the age of seventy-one.

=Questions about the artist.= What can you tell about the artist who
painted this picture? Where did he live when he was a boy? How many
brothers and sisters did he have? Where did they often walk with their
father? What separated the two fields? How many of you ever saw a
stile? What animal did Edwin sketch first? Where was "Edwin's studio"?
What became of the pictures Edwin drew and painted when he was a boy?
Tell about the keeper of the Royal Acad