Few think so nobly as you do, Sir; though they are certainly very well done, and very cheap, I have not yet been able to find a purchaser. CHARLES. I like these pieces so well I shall be very happy to have them that I may copy them; I should be very proud, indeed, if I could draw but half as well. It is very inhuman not to pay an ingenious man the full price for his labour, or to undervalue the productions of an unfortunate gentleman. The subject was now dropped, but when we took our leave, Charles gave Mr. Landbergen fifty guilders for the pictures; and as we walked home they were the subject of our conversation. CHARLES. I am glad that chance threw those pictures in my way, they are painted in a masterly style. EDWARD. They are well executed, I believe, but confess now Charles that you bought those pictures rather to be serviceable to the painter, than to please yourself. CHARLES. Pray, Edward, who made you my father confessor? EDWARD. You need not try to hide it, I saw you was determined not to buy a bargain. CHARLES. The pieces are worth the money, and it was incumbent on me to give fifty guilders for them. Believe me, he who will not, or cannot, give the full value for a thing should let it alone, and not attempt to defraud a person in distress. EDWARD. Do not suppose that I mean to blame you; you are frugal and sparing in every thing that respects your own private gratification, only to have it more in your power to be generous to others; you even chearfully bear inconveniences which you endeavour to guard your friends from; nay, you are as indulgent to them as severe on yourself. CHARLES. You are very obliging, Edward, but let us be serious. Must it not be very painful to an artist to hear his labour and trouble undervalued, by those who are unable to produce any thing like it themselves; nay, is it not unjust to endeavour to cheapen a thing, when you are conscious that only a reasonable price was demanded for it? In the present case, the French gentleman was impelled by his distress to offer them as a bargain; and could I take advantage of the distress of a fellow-creature? WILLIAM. My mother is entirely of your opinion. She has often told me that I should regulate my actions by an invariable rule of right, and, above all, never take advantage of the misfortunes of others to benefit myself. CHARLES. I feel a particular respect for men of abilities, and should think wealth indeed a blessing, if it enabled me to be of use to them. We now reached home, as I have the bottom of my paper. Farewell, WILLIAM.