Now, for a boy to go in swimming with his hands tied, and for a dog to swallow his head so as to drag him out, appears to us the awfulest foolishness on earth.' "You will probably be surprised to learn that your critic is here referring to a very beautiful study of a Christian martyr who has been thrown among the wild beasts of the arena, and who is engaged in being eaten by a lion.

The animal is not a yellow dog; that human being has not been in swimming; and the reason that he is smaller than the lion is that I had to make him so in order to get his head into the lion's mouth.

Would you have me represent the lion as large as an elephant?
Would you have me paste a label on the Christian martyr to inform the public that 'This is not a boy who has been treading water with his hands tied'?
Now, look at the matter calmly.

Is the _Patriot_ encouraging art when it goes on in this manner?
Blame me if I think it is." "It certainly doesn't seem so." "Well, then, what do you say to this?
What do you think of a critic who remarks, "'But the most extraordinary thing in the picture is the group in the foreground.

An old lady with an iron coal-scuttle on her head is handing some black pills to a ballet-dancer dressed in pink tights, while another woman in a badly-fitting chemise stands by them brushing off the flies with the branch of a tree, with a canary-bird resting upon her shoulder and trying to sing at some small boys who are seen in the other corner of the field.