SAMUEL PROUT

1. THE first pages in the histories of artists, worthy the name, are generally alike; records of boyish resistance to every scheme, parental or tutorial, at variance with the ruling desire and bent of the opening mind. It is so rare an accident that the love of drawing should be noticed and fostered in the child, that we are hardly entitled to form any conclusions respecting the probable result of an indulgent foresight; it is enough to admire the strength of will which usually accompanies every noble intellectual gift, and to believe that, in early life, direct resistance is better than inefficient guidance. Samuel Prout-with how many rich and picturesque imaginations is the name now associated!-was was born at Plymouth, September 17th, 1783, and intended by his father for his own profession;¹ but although the delicate health of the child might have appeared likely to induce a languid acquiescence in his parent’s wish, the love of drawing occupied every leisure hour, and at last trespassed upon every other occupation. Reproofs were affectionately repeated, and every effort made to dissuade the boy from what was considered and “idle amusement,” but it was soon discovered that opposition was unavailing, and the attachment too strong to be checked. It might perhaps have been otherwise, but for some rays of encouragement received from the observant kindness of his first schoolmaster. To watch the direction of the little hand when it wandered from its task, to draw the culprit

¹ [What this was is not known, “but it is believed to have been unconnected with art” (J. L. Roget’s History of the Old Water-Colour Society, i. 341).]

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