Vernet
then wiped out the figure, and gave it to the gentleman, who seemed
perfectly satisfied. Whenever he saw strangers to whom he showed the
picture, he said, "Here you see a picture by Vernet, with St. Jerome
in the cave." "But we cannot see the saint," replied the visiters.
"Excuse me, gentlemen," answered the possessor, "he is there; for I
have seen him standing at the entrance, and afterwards farther back;
and am therefore quite sure that he is in it."
* * * * *
BLACK MAN'S DREAM.
A number of years bygone, a black man, named Peter Cooper, happened to
marry a fair lady of Greenock, who did not use him with that
tenderness that he conceived himself entitled to. Having tried all
other arts to retrieve her lost affections in vain, Peter at last
resolved to work upon her fears of punishment in another world for her
conduct in this. Pretending, therefore, to awake one morning
extravagantly alarmed, his helpmate was full of anxiety to know what
was the matter; and having sufficiently, as he thought, whetted her
curiosity, by mysteriously hinting that "he could a tale unfold," at
length Peter proceeded as follows:--"H--ll of a dream last night.
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