quitting the precepts of Pacheco, he formed his style from the works of Tristan.

TRISTAN AND EL GRECO.

Tristan was the favorite pupil of El Greco, to whom his master made over many commissions, which he was unable to execute himself. In this manner he was employed to paint the Last Supper, for the Hieronymite monastery of La Sisla. The monks liked the picture; but they thought the price which the artist asked for it, of two hundred ducats, excessive. They therefore sent for El Greco to value it; but when this master saw his pupil's work, he raised his stick and ran at him, calling him a scoundrel and a disgrace to his profession. The monks restrained the angry painter, and soothed him by saying that the young man did not know what he asked, and no doubt would submit to the opinion of his master. "In good truth," returned El Greco, "he does not know what he has asked; and if he does not get five hundred ducats for the picture, I desire may be rolled up and sent to my house." The Hieronymites were compelled to pay the larger sum!

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ALONSO CANO.

This eminent Spanish painter, sculptor, and architect, was born at Granada, according to Bermu dez, in 1601. He early showed a passion for the fine arts, and exhibited extraordinary talents. He

excelled in all the three sister arts, particularly in painting. There are many excellent works by Cano in the churches and public edifices at Cordova, Madrid, Granada, and Seville, which rank him among the greatest Spanish painters. As a sculptor, he manifested great abilities, and executed many fine works, which excited universal admiration. He also gained considerable reputation as an architect, and was appointed architect and painter to the king.

CANO'S LIBERALITY.

Cano executed many works for the churches and convents gratuitously. When he was young, he painted many pictures for the public places of Seville, which were regarded as astonishing performances. For these he would receive no remuneration, declaring that he considered them unfinished and deficient, and that he wrought for practice and improvement.

CANO'S ECCENTRICITIES.

Palomino relates several characteristic anecdotes of Cano. An Auditor of the Chancery of Granada bore especial devotion to St. Anthony of Padua, and wished for an image of that saint from the hands of Cano. When the figure was finished, the judge liked it much. He inquired what money the artist expected for it: the answer was, one hundred doubloons. The amateur was astonished, and asked, "How many days he might have spent upon

it ?" Cano replied, "Some five-and-twenty days." Well," said the Auditor, "that comes to four doubloons per day." "Your lordship reckons wrong," said Cano, "for I have spent fifty years in learning to execute it in twenty-five days." "That is all very well, but I have spent my patrimony and my youth in studying at the University, and in a higher profession; now here I am, Auditor in Gra nada, and if I get a doubloon a day, it is as much as I do." Cano had scarce patience to hear him out. "A higher profession, indeed!" he exclaimed; "the king can make judges out of the dust of the earth, but it is reserved for God alone to make an Alonso Cano." Saying this, he took up the figure and dashed it to pieces on the pavement; whereupon the Auditor escaped as fast as he could, not feeling sure that Cano's fury would confine itself to the statue.

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CANO'S HATRED OF THE JEWS.

Another characteristic of Cano, was his insuperarepugnance for any persons tainted with Judaism. It appears that in Granada the unhappy persons of that nation who were penitenciados (i.e. who had been subjected to penance by the Inquisition) were in the habit of getting what they could to support themselves, by selling linen and other articles about the streets; they wore of course the sambenito, or habit prescribed by the Inquisition as the mark of their penance. If Cano met one of these

men in the street, he would cross to the other side, or get out of his way into the passage of a house. Occasionally, however, in turning a corner, or by mere accident, one of these persons would sometimes brush the garment of the artist, who then instantly sent his servant home for another, whether cloak or doublet, and gave the polluted one to his attendant. The servant, however, did not dare to wear what he had thus acquired, or his master would have turned him out of the house forthwithhe could only sell it. It is added that the manifest profit which the servant derived from his master's scruples, made the people doubt whether in all cases the Jew had really brushed against the artist, or whether the servant had himself twitched the cloak as the Jew passed. At any rate the servant has been heard to remonstrate, and urge that "it was the slightest touch in the world, sir-it cannot matter." "Not matter?-you scoundrel, in such things as these, everything matters;" and the valet got the cloak.

On one occasion, Cano's housekeeper, with an excess of audacity, had actually brought one of these penitenciados into the house, and was buying some linen of him; a dispute about the price caused high · words, and the master came, hearing a disturbance. What could he do? he could not defile himself by laying hands on the miscreant, who got away while the wrathful artist was looking for some weapon that he could use without touching him. But the

housekeeper had to fly to a neighbor's; and it was only after many entreaties, and performing a rigorous quarantine, that she was received back again.

CANO'S RULING PASSION STRONG IN DEATH.

His passion for art, and his eccentric notions respecting the Jews, were strongly manifested in his last sickness. He lived in the parish of the city which contained the prison of the Inquisition. The priest of the parish visited him upon his death-bed, and proposed to administer the sacraments to him after confession, when the artist quietly asked him whether he was in the habit of administering it to the Jews on whom penance was imposed by the Inquisition. The priest replying in the affirmative, Cano said, "Senor Licenciado, go your way, and do not trouble yourself to call again; for the priest who administers the sacraments to the Jews shall not administer them to me." Accordingly he sent for the priest of the parish of St. Andrew. This last, however, gave offence in another form; he put into the artist's hands a crucifix of indifferent execution, when Cano desired him to take it away. The priest was so shocked at this, that he thought him possessed, and was at the point of exorcising him. "My son," he said, "what dost thou mean? this is the Lord who redeemed thee, and who must save thee.""I know that well," replied Cano, "but do you want to provoke me with that wretched thing, so as to give me over to the devil? let me