, his fine bust, by Chantrey, unaccompanied by which they were
not to receive the unparalleled gift! When Tomkins applied to have his
bust, our great sculptor abated the usual price, and, courteously kind
to the feelings of the man, said that he considered Tomkins as an
artist! It was the proudest day of the life of our writing-master!

But an eminent artist and wit now living, once looking on this fine bust
of Tomkins, declared, that "this man had died for want of a dinner!"--a
fate, however, not so lamentable as it appeared! Our penman had long
felt that he stood degraded in the scale of genius by not being received
at the Academy, at least among the class of _engravers_; the next
approach to academic honour he conceived would be that of appearing as a
_guest_ at their annual dinner. These invitations are as limited as they
are select, and all the Academy persisted in considering Tomkins _as a
writing-master_! Many a year passed, every intrigue was practised, every
remonstrance was urged, every stratagem of courtesy was tried; but never
ceasing to deplore the failure of his hopes, it preyed on his spirits,
and the luckless caligrapher went down to his grave--without dining at
the Academy! This authentic anecdote has been considered as "satire
improperly directed"--by some friend of Mr. Tomkins--but the criticism
is much too grave! The foible of Mr. Tomkins as a writing-master
presents a striking illustration of the class of men here delineated. I
am a mere historian--and am only responsible for the veracity of this
fact. That "Mr. Tomkins lived in familiar intercourse with the Royal
Academicians of his day, and was a frequent guest at their private
tables," and moreover was a most worthy man, I believe--but is it less
true that he was ridiculously mortified by being never invited to the
Academic dinner, on account of his caligraphy? He had some reason to
consider that his art was of the exalted class to which he aspired to
raise it, when this friend concludes his eulogy of this writing-master
thus--"Mr. Tomkins, as an artist, stood foremost in his own profession,
and his name will be handed down to posterity with the _Heroes_ and
_Statesmen_, whose excellences his _penmanship_ has contributed to
illustrate and to commemorate." I always give the _Pour_ and the
_Contre_!

Such men about such things have produced public contests, _combats a
l'outrance_, where much ink was spilled by the knights in a joust of
goose-quill