and attired like a trooper of Cromwell's Ironsides, and Jael dressed like a modern maid-of-all-work. In the Shakespearian pictures Hubert of the thirteenth century, and Richard III. of the fifteenth century, alike wear the dress of Elizabeth's day. Wat Tyler and the murderers in the Tower wear the same armour, which belongs to the Stuart period. Such mistakes, however, were common among all painters of his time. [Illustration: CHARITY. _By_ NORTHCOTE. A.D. 1783.] JOHN OPIE (1761--1807), the rival and friend of Northcote, was like him a West countryman, and like him rose from the ranks. Born at St. Agnes, near Truro, the son of a carpenter, Opie early showed intelligence and quickness in acquiring knowledge which marked him out for a higher sphere than a carpenter's shop. After evincing taste for art, and disgusting his father by decorating a saw-pit with chalk, he found patrons in Lord Bateman and Dr. Wolcot, the famous _Peter Pindar_. Some biographers have described Opie as becoming the doctor's footboy, but this is a mistake. Walcot brought the young painter to London and introduced him to Sir Joshua Reynolds, but the selfish patronage of the doctor soon came to an end. Opie was at first vigorously advertised in London as "the Cornish Wonder"-- "the Cornish boy, in tin-mines bred, Whose native genius, like his diamonds, shone In secret, till chance gave him to the sun." Reynolds told Northcote that Opie was "like Caravaggio and Velasquez in one." In 1782 the painter married his first wife, from whom he was subsequently divorced owing to her misconduct. Although Opie was no longer the wonder of the hour in fickle London, he was achieving more enduring fame. His defective education, both in literature and art, left much to be learned, and he set himself to supply his defects with a laborious zeal which finally affected his brain and prematurely ended his life. His earliest works in London were studies of heads and portraits. In 1786, he produced the _Assassination of James I. of Scotland_, a _Sleeping Nymph_, and _Cupid stealing a Kiss_. Next year saw his _Murder of David Rizzio_. He was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy in 1787, and a full member within a year. In the next seven years he exhibited twenty pictures, all portraits. Opie was engaged to paint for Boydell's Shakespeare Gallery, and contributed five pictures, which improved as they progressed. Portrait-painting continued to be, however, the most lucrative pursuit, and having been introduced to some patrons at Norwich, Opie saw and married Amelia Alderson, who afterwards wrote Memoirs of her husband, and described the hard struggles which he had at times to encounter. His love for art and untiring industry remained to the last. Even when dying, and at times delirious, he gave advice about the finishing of pictures which he wished to send to the Academy. It was said of him, that "whilst other artists painted to live, he lived to paint." He was buried in St.