We found afterwards,
indeed, that the majority of the portraits had been painted by a Flemish
artist, one John de Witt, who in the year 1684 made a contract, which
was still in existence, whereby he bound himself to paint no portraits
within two years, he supplying the canvas and colours, and the
Government paying him L120 per year and supplying him with the
"originalls" from which he was to copy. We wondered what had become of
these "originalls," especially that of Fergus, 330 B.C., but as no
information was forthcoming we agreed to consider them as lost in the
mists of antiquity.
[Illustration: HOLYROOD PALACE.]
There was much old tapestry on the walls of the various rooms we
inspected in the palace, and although it was now faded we could see that
it must have looked very beautiful in its original state. The tapestry
in one room was almost wholly devoted to scenes in which
heavenly-looking little boys figured as playing in lovely gardens amidst
beautiful scenery. One of these scenes showed a lake in the background
with a castle standing at one end of it. In the lake were two small
islands covered with trees which were reflected in the still waters,
while in the front was a large orange tree, growing in a lovely garden,
up which some of the little boys had climbed, one of whom was throwing
oranges to a companion on the ground below; while two others were
enjoying a game of leapfrog, one jumping over the other's back.
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