Mr. Cooper's first work of importance was founded on his first love. The Cathedral and its precincts was one of the dearest spots on earth to him, and he did some excellent drawings on stone of the Cathedral and Canterbury in general. The gateway of St. Augustine's Monastery and High Street, Canterbury, showing the coach waiting outside the "George and Dragon," are good examples of these--particularly the latter, as it tends to show something of what the Cathedral city was like when Mr. Cooper was unconsciously stepping to fame with the aid of a school slate and pencil. At last he got to London and gained a studentship at the Royal Academy, then held at Somerset House. It filled his heart with hope--he realized all his longings; but his uncle, who had promised to support him while working away at the Academy, suddenly threw him over, and young Cooper was forced to go back to Canterbury, and was obliged to paint coaches once more and give lessons in drawing. It was an important step when he, together with his friend William Burgess, decided to try the Continent. The young artist was now twenty-four years of age. He positively painted his way from Calais to Brussels by doing likenesses of the proprietors of small hostelries, together with their families, in return for his board and lodging. [Illustration: A BROOK IN THE MEADOWS. _From the Painting by T.S. Cooper, R.A._] "I got on very well in Brussels," said Mr. Cooper, "giving lessons there, and began to make money--indeed, I must have made some five or six thousand francs a year after I had been settled there some time. It was at Brussels I met Verböckhoven, the great animal painter, whose drawings of animals were absolutely faultless. At that time I was confining myself to old buildings, Gothic architecture, picturesque bridges, etc., and putting them on the stone. One day Verböckhoven was looking at some of my pencil drawings and said:-- "'You could paint cattle.' "I assured him I could not. "'Oh, yes,' he said; 'here is a palette--try.' "Some of his studies were tacked on the wall, and I began to paint a black spotted cow. Just at that moment a Miss Searle, one of my pupils, came in accompanied by her father, and Mr. Searle said to me:-- "'What! are you taking lessons?' "'No,' I answered; 'Monsieur Verböckhoven thinks I can paint, so I am copying that cow.' "'I wouldn't try another,' said Verböckhoven, looking over, 'if they think you are taking lessons I shall lose all my pupils! Never mind--let it go--go in and win, Cooper!'