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description, and the remarks of the Archbishop,
that he immediately began to compose a sketch
for the picture, and finished it before going to
bed. Next morning he carried it to His
Grace, who, equally surprised and delighted
to find his own conception so soon embodied
in a visible form, requested the Artist to
proceed without delay in the execution of the
picture.
In
the interim,
the
Archbishop
endeavoured,
by all the means in his power, to procure
encouragement for Mr. West to devote himself
exclusively to historical colilposition ; and with
this view he set on foofc a scheme to raise three
thousand guineas to constitute a fund, which
would be a sufficient inducement for the Artist,
in the first instance, to,forego, at least for a
time, the drudgery of portrait painting. But the
attempt failed : so little was the public disposed
to patronise historical subjects from the pencil
of a living artist, that after fifteen hundred
pounds were subscribed, it was agreed to
relinquish the undertaking. As this fact is
important to the history of the progress of the