MOUR.

He was employed by the Duke of Somerset, commonly called "the Proud
Duke," to paint the portraits of his horses at Petworth, who
condescended to sit with Seymour (his namesake) at table. One day at
dinner, the Duke filled his glass, and saying with a sneer, "_Cousin_
Seymour, your health," drank it off. "My Lord," said the artist, "I
believe I _have_ the honor of being related to your grace." The proud
peer rose from the table, and ordered his steward to dismiss the
presumptuous painter, and employ an humbler brother of the brush. This
was accordingly done; but when the new painter saw the spirited works of
his predecessor, he shook his head, and retiring said, "No man in
England can compete with James Seymour." The Duke now condescended to
recall his discarded cousin. "My Lord," was the answer of Seymour, "I
will now prove to the world that I am of your blood--_I won't come._"
Upon receiving this laconic reply, the Duke sent his steward to demand a
former loan of L100. Seymour briefly replied that "he would write to his
Grace." He did so, but directed his letter, "Northumberland House,
opposite the Trunkmaker's, Charing Cross." Enraged at this additional
insult, the Duke threw the letter into the fire without opening it, and
immediately ordered his steward to have him arrested. But Seymour,
struck with an opportunity of evasion, carelessly observed that "it was
hasty in his Grace to burn his letter, because it contained a bank note
for L100, and that _therefore_, they were now quits."

PRECOCITY OF LUCA GIORDANO.

At the age of five years, the natural taste of Lucia Giordano for
painting, led him to adopt the pencil as a plaything; at six he could
draw the human figure with surprising correctness. The Cav. Stanzioni,
passing by his father's shop, and seeing the child at work, stopped to
see his performances, and is said to have predicted that "he would one
day become the first painter of the age." Before he was eight years old
he painted, unknown to his father, two cherubs in a fresco, entrusted to
that artist, in an obscure part of the church of S. Maria
Nuova--figures so graceful as to attract considerable attention. This
fact coming to the knowledge of the Duke de Medina de las Torres, the
Viceroy of Naples, he rewarded the precocious painter with some gold
ducats, and recommended him to the instruction of Spagnoletto, then the
most celebrated painter in Naples, who accordingly received him into his
stud