Rembrandt was a great humourist. One day when he was painting a large family picture, and one of the subjects was actually sitting to him, his servant informed him of the death of his favourite monkey, which he felt so sensibly, and whimsically, that he immediately ordered the dead body to be brought in, and drew it as one of the group, which he would not expunge, although the family refused to pay for the picture before it was effaced. His finest historical pictures are those of Ahasuerus, Esther and Haman; the woman taken in adultery; and St. John preaching in the wilderness, which are said to be touched with inexpressible fire and spirit. The imagination of this great artist was lively and active, and his invention very fertile: he had a large collection of old draperies, armour, weapons, and turbans, which he used sportively to call his antiques; these he preferred to any of the works of the Grecian artists. He had also a great number of the finest Italian prints, drawings, and designs, many of them taken from the antiques, which afforded him gratification, but do not appear to have ameliorated his taste. His portraits are excellent, and resemble life as near to perfection as possible, but his airs and attitudes are defective of grace and dignity. Many of his heads display such minute exactness, that even the hairs of the beard, and the wrinkles of old age, are given with the most exquisite fidelity. The portrait appears to breathe upon the canvass. It is a curious circumstance that his lights were produced by a colour unusually thick, more resembling modeling than painting, but every tint was so judiciously placed, that it remained on the canvass in full freshness, beauty, and lustre. The etchings of Rembrandt are greatly admired, and are regarded as prime treasures in the cabinets of the curious in most parts of Europe: these productions rival his paintings, every stroke of the graver exhibits expression and life: his genuine works are rarely to be met with, but whenever they are presented for sale, they produce incredible prices. In the splendid collection of Mr. Desenfans, are some exquisite productions of this and other Flemish masters; this collection is, upon the whole, the best in England, and is exhibited to persons of respectability, without cost, by its liberal possessor.