tect of him, and sent him to Tom Malton to study
perspective. But he failed in the exact branch of the profession, and
neither with Malton nor with the architect Hardwick did he give
satisfaction. While with Hardwick he drew careful sketches of old houses
and churches, and this practice must have been of much use to him in
after-life. His father finally sent him to the Royal Academy, where he
studied hard, drawing from Greek models and the formal classic
architecture. About this time he was employed, at half a crown an evening,
with supper thrown in, to make copies of pictures by Dr. Munro, of Adelphi
Terrace. Munro was one of the physicians employed in the care of George
III. when he had a crazy spell, and owned many valuable pictures by
Salvator-Rosa, Rembrandt, Snyder, Gainsborough, Hearne, Cozens, and
others. He had also portfolios full of drawings of castles and cathedrals,
and of Swiss and Italian scenery, and of sketches by Claude and Titian.
Turner was also employed to sketch from nature in all directions about
London. In these tasks he had for a constant companion "Honest Tom
Girtin," a young fellow of Turner's own age, who afterward married a
wealthy lady, had rich patrons, and died before he was thirty. Had he
lived to mature years, Girtin would have been a powerful rival to Turner.
They were most excellent friends, and when Girtin died in Rome, Turner was
one of his most sincere mourners. Toward the close of Sir Joshua Reynolds'
life, Turner frequented his studio, copied pictures, and acquired some art
secrets. He began to teach water-color drawing in schools, while still a
boy, at from a crown to a guinea a lesson. He made hundreds of sketches in
a part of London now built over compactly with houses in streets and
squares, but then picturesque in hills and dells, in wooded fields and
green lanes. With all his baggage tied in a handkerchief on the end of his
walking-stick, he made a sketching tour through the towns of Rochester,
Canterbury, Margate, and others, in Kent, in 1793, and about this time
began to paint in oil. His first contribution to the Royal Academy was a
water-color sketch in 1790. Within the next ten years he exhibited over
sixty pictures of castles, cathedrals, and landscapes. All through his
life he made sketches. Wherever he was, if he saw a fine or an unusual
effect, he treasured it up for use. He sketched on any bit of paper, or
even on his thumb-nail, if he had nothing better. Nothing esc