The statue was nearly done: a few
days' work sufficed to prepare it for exhibition; the
master was approached; he gave his consent; and one
cloudless morning of May beheld us gathered in my
studio for the hour of trial. The master wore his
many-hued rosette; he came attended by two of my French
fellow-pupils--friends of mine, and both considerable
sculptors in Paris at this hour. "Corporal John" (as
we used to call him), breaking for once those habits of
study and reserve which have since carried him so high
in the opinion of the world, had left his easel of a
morning to countenance a fellow-countryman in some
suspense. My dear old Romney was there by particular
request; for who that knew him would think a pleasure
quite complete unless he shared it, or not support a
mortification more easily if he were present to
console? The party was completed by John Myner, the
Englishman; by the brothers Stennis--Stennis-AINE
and Stennis-FRERE, as they used to figure on their
accounts at Barbizon--a pair of hare-brained Scots; and
by the inevitable Jim, as white as a sheet and bedewed
with the sweat of anxiety.
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