Part 26

The will was contested by relatives, and, after four years of litigation, the testator's intention to provide for aged artists was disregarded, and the property given to the "nearest of kin." Such instances are teaching our great men to carry out their benevolent wishes in _their lifetime_. Though Turner had great faults,--it is stated that he drank to excess in later years,--he had great virtues. Though parsimonious with himself, he was generous to others. Ruskin tells these incidents:

"There was a painter of the name of Bird, and when Bird first sent a picture to the Academy for exhibition, Turner was on the hanging committee. Bird's picture had great merit; but no place for it could be found. Turner pleaded hard for it. No, the thing was impossible. Turner sat down and looked at Bird's picture a long time; then insisted that a place must be found for it. He was still met by the assertion of impracticability. He said no more, but took down one of his own pictures, sent it to the Academy, and hung Bird's in its place.... At the death of a poor drawing-master, Mr. Wells, whom Turner had long known, he was deeply affected, and lent money to the widow until a large sum had accumulated. She was both honest and grateful, and, after a long period, was happy enough to be able to return to her benefactor the whole sum she had received from him. She waited on him with it; but Turner kept his hands in his pocket. 'Keep it,' he said, 'and send your children to school and to church.' He said this in bitterness; he had himself been sent to neither."

Once, after sending an importunate beggar from his house, he relented, ran after her, and gave her a five-pound note.

Says Thornbury: "An early patron of Turner, when he was a mere industrious barber's son, working at three-shilling drawings in his murky bedroom, had seen some of them in a window in the Haymarket, and had bought them. From that time he had gone on buying and being kind to the rising artist, and Turner could not forget it. Years after, he heard that his old benefactor had become involved, and that his steward had received directions to cut down some valued trees. Instantly Turner's generous impulses were roused; his usual parsimony (all directed to one great object) was cast behind him. He at once wrote to the steward, concealing his name, and sent him the full amount; many, many thousands--as much as twenty thousand pounds, I believe.

"The gentleman never knew who was his benefactor; but, in time, his affairs rallied, and he was enabled to pay the whole sum back. Years again rolled on, and now the son of Turner's benefactor became involved. Again the birds of the air brought the news to the guardian angel of the family; again he sent the necessary thousands anonymously; again the son stopped the leak, righted himself, and returned the whole sum with thanks."

Ruskin says: "He had a heart as intensely kind and as nobly true as God ever gave to one of his creatures.... Having known Turner for ten years, and that during the period of his life when the highest qualities of his mind were in many respects diminished, and when he was suffering most from the evil speaking of the world, I never heard him say one depreciating word of living man or man's work. I never saw him look an unkind or blameful look. I never saw him let pass, without some sorrowful remonstrance or endeavor at mitigation, a blameful word spoken by another. Of no man but Turner whom I have ever known could I say this; and of this kindness and truth came, I repeat, all his highest power; and all his failure and error, deep and strange, came of his _faithlessness_." Probably Mr. Ruskin means lack of religious faith, as Mr. Thornbury says Turner feared that he would be annihilated.

Turner was a most pains-taking worker. "Every quarter of an inch of Turner's drawings," says Ruskin, "will bear magnifying; and much of the finer work in them can hardly be traced, except by the keenest sight, until it is magnified. In his painting of 'Ivy Bridge,' the veins are drawn on the wing of a butterfly not three lines in diameter; and I have one of his smaller drawings of 'Scarborough' in my own possession, in which the muscle shells on the beach are rounded, and some shown as shut, some as open, though none are as large as the letters of this type: and yet this is the man who was thought to belong to the 'dashing' school, literally because most people had not patience or delicacy of sight enough to trace his endless details."

He loved poetry, and sometimes attempted to write it. He was seldom true to nature in his work. Hamerton says: "With an immense and unwearied industry, Turner accumulated thousands and thousands of memoranda to increase his knowledge of what interested him, especially in the mountains, rivers, and cities of the Continent, and the coasts of his native island. Amidst all this wealth of gathered treasure, his imagination reigned and revelled with a poet's freedom. With a knowledge of landscape vaster than any mortal ever possessed before him, his whole existence was a succession of dreams. Even the hardest realities of the external world itself, granite and glacier, could not awaken him; but he would sit down before them and sketch another dream, there, in the very presence of the reality itself. Notwithstanding all the knowledge and all the observation which they prove, the interest of Turner's twenty thousand sketches is neither topographic nor scientific, but entirely psychological. It is the soul of Turner that fascinates the student, and not the material earth."

With little education from the schools, without distinguished ancestry, in the midst of many disappointments and much censure, Turner came to great renown. He had talent, but he had also untiring industry and unlimited perseverance.

NEW BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE.

1 JED. A Boy's Adventures in the Army of '61-'65.

A story of battle and prison, of peril and escape. By WARREN LEE GOSS, author of "The Soldier's Story of his Captivity at Andersonville and other Prisons," "The Recollections of a Private" (in the Century War Series). Fully illustrated. 12mo. Cloth. $1.50.

In this story the author has aimed to furnish true pictures of scenes in the great Civil War, and not to produce sensational effects. The incidents of the book are real ones, drawn in part from the writer's personal experiences and observations as a soldier of the Union, during that war. The descriptions of the prison are especially truthful, for in them the author briefly tells what he himself saw. One of the best war stories ever written. Boys will read it with avidity.

2 THE WALKS ABROAD OF TWO YOUNG NATURALISTS.

From the French of Charles Beaugrand. By DAVID SHARP, M.B., F.L.S., F.Z.S., President of the Entomological Society of London. Fully illustrated. 8vo. $2.00.

A fascinating narrative of travel and adventure, in which is introduced much valuable information on natural history subjects, and a reading of the book will tend to foster an interest in zoölogy.

3 FAMOUS MEN OF SCIENCE.

By SARAH K. BOLTON, author of "Poor Boys who became Famous," etc, Short biographical sketches of Galileo, Newton, Linnæus, Cuvier, Humboldt, Audubon, Agassiz, Darwin, Buckland, and others. Illustrated with 15 portraits. 12mo. $1.50.

4 THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. Pictures of the Reign of Terror.

By LYDIA HOYT FARMER, author of "Boys' Book of Famous Rulers," etc. With 35 illustrations. 12mo. $1.50.

To those who have not the leisure to make an exhaustive study of this remarkable epoch in the world's history, this volume offers a rapid and clear _résumé_ of its most important events and thrilling scenes.

5 ROLF AND HIS FRIENDS.

By J A K, author of "Birchwood," "Fitch Club," etc. Illustrated, 12mo. $1.25.

A healthful, stimulating story, showing the advantage that every boy must necessarily gain from association with intelligent, progressive young people, no matter what their color or condition in life may be. The incidents are fresh and natural, the conversations bright and piquant, and the interest well sustained, while incidentally there is a valuable leaven of information.

6 CECIL'S KNIGHT.

By E. B. HOLLIS, author of "Cecil's Cousins," etc. A story of no impossible knight, but of a very real, natural, and manly boy, who, through perseverance, good sense, and genuine courage, fought his way from poverty to success. Illustrated, 12mo. $1.25.

"We recommend 'Cecil's Knight' as an excellent book to put into a boy's hand."--_Beacon._

7 RED CARL.

By J. J. MESSMER. A story dealing with the labor question, socialism, and temperance, and one of the best, all points considered, that treats of these subjects popularly. Illustrated, 12mo. $1.25.

"It would be difficult to find a healthier, more stimulating, and more suggestive story to put into the hands of the young."

For sale by all booksellers.

THOMAS Y. CROWELL & CO. NEW YORK.

FAMOUS BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE.

FAMOUS MEN OF SCIENCE.

By SARAH K. BOLTON. Short biographical sketches of Galileo, Newton, Linnæus, Cuvier, Humboldt, Audubon, Agassiz, Darwin, Buckland, and others. Illustrated with 15 portraits. 12mo. $1.50.

POOR BOYS WHO BECAME FAMOUS.

By SARAH K. BOLTON. Short biographical sketches of George Peabody, Michael Faraday, Samuel Johnson, Admiral Farragut, Horace Greeley, William Lloyd Garrison, Garibaldi, President Lincoln, and other noted persons who, from humble circumstances, have risen to fame and distinction, and left behind an imperishable record. Illustrated with 21 portraits. 12mo. $1.50.

GIRLS WHO BECAME FAMOUS.

By SARAH K. BOLTON. A companion book to "Poor Boys Who Became Famous." Biographical sketches of Harriet Beecher Stowe, George Eliot, Helen Hunt Jackson, Harriet Hosmer, Rosa Bonheur, Florence Nightingale, Maria Mitchell, and other eminent women. Illustrated with portraits. 12mo. $1.50.

FAMOUS AMERICAN AUTHORS.

By SARAH K. BOLTON. Short biographical sketches of Holmes, Longfellow, Emerson, Lowell, Aldrich, Mark Twain, and other noted writers. Illustrated with portraits. 12mo. $1.50.

FAMOUS AMERICAN STATESMEN.

By SARAH K. BOLTON. A companion book to "Famous American Authors." Biographical sketches of Washington, Franklin, Jefferson, Hamilton, Webster, Sumner, Garfield, and others. Illustrated with portraits. 12mo. $1.50.

BOYS' BOOK OF FAMOUS RULERS.

By LYDIA HOYT FARMER. Lives of Agamemnon, Julius Cæsar, Charlemagne, Frederick the Great, Richard Coeur de Lion, Robert Bruce, Napoleon, and other heroes of historic fame. Fully illustrated with portraits and numerous engravings. 12mo. $1.50.

GIRLS' BOOK OF FAMOUS QUEENS.

By LYDIA HOYT FARMER. A companion book to "Boys' Book of Famous Rulers." Lives of Cleopatra, Queen Elizabeth, Catherine de Medici, Josephine, Victoria, Eugénie, etc. 12mo, cloth. 85 illustrations. $1.50.

LIFE OF LA FAYETTE, the Knight of Liberty.

By LYDIA HOYT FARMER. A glowing narrative of the life of this renowned general, with 58 illustrations. 12mo. $1.50.

As a large portion of the material presented in this volume has been gathered from French works never before translated and which are now out of print, and also from original files of newspapers, and various manuscripts written by members of the La Fayette family, a more complete life of General La Fayette is here offered than has before appeared, either in this country or in Europe.

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. Pictures of the Reign of Terror.

By LYDIA HOYT FARMER. With 35 illustrations. 12mo. $1.50.

To those who have not the leisure to make an exhaustive study of this remarkable epoch in the world's history, this volume offers a rapid and clear _résumé_ of its most important events and thrilling scenes.

THOMAS Y. CROWELL & CO., NEW YORK

End of Project Gutenberg's Famous European Artists, by Sarah K. Bolton