From 1793 to 1796 Turner’s advance in power was steady. His subjects were varied--English and Welsh cathedrals, old castles, ruined abbeys, village churches, country towns, waterfalls and trout streams--the latter generally with a bridge and always with an angler. He was himself a keen fisherman, and his anglers’ attitudes are always carefully drawn and at once recognisable. Occasionally some striking atmospheric effect, seen probably on the spot, is introduced. Sometimes the picture is strikingly enhanced by the play of sunlight, occasionally by boldly treated _chiaroscuro_. The architecture is invariably drawn with accuracy and taste, both as regards perspective and detail. His colouring was a dainty harmony of broken tints in pale blues, greens, browns, and neutral greys. Many good drawings of this time are in private collections, and the Print Room of the British Museum contains some fine examples which have been preserved from light, and are consequently in perfect, unfaded condition--notably _Lincoln and Worcester Cathedrals_, and _Tintern Abbey_. Most of the English cathedrals were drawn by him between 1793 and 1796, including, in addition to the two just named, Canterbury, Ely, Peterborough, Rochester, Salisbury, and York; as well as Bath, Kirkstall, Malmesbury, Malvern, Tintern, Ewenny, Llanthony, Waltham and many other abbeys, together with castles innumerable--all in the delicate, “tinted manner.” He also made a large number of studies of boats and shipping at Dover, one of which is reproduced here (Plate IV.). It was probably there and at Margate that he laid the foundation of the extraordinarily accurate knowledge of everything connected with the sea and shipping which distinguished him all his life. His works of this early period are usually signed. The earliest signature known to me is the one alluded to on page 5, “W. Turner, 1786.” For the next few years he signed either simply “Turner,” or oftener “W. Turner,” occasionally adding the date. In 1799, when he was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy, he changed to “W. Turner, A.R.A.,” and in 1802, on receiving the honour of full membership, he became “J. M. W. Turner, R.A.” A few years later he was appointed Professor of Perspective to the Royal Academy, and much to the amusement of his fellow academicians he now sometimes added “P.P.” In the works of his later life, it is the exception to find any signature.