I had made so many sketches in Seoul, that at last a rumour reached the Court of the rapidity with which I portrayed streets and people.  The consequence was that both king and princes were very anxious to see what “European painting” was like, as they had never yet seen a picture painted by a European; so one fine day, to my great astonishment, through the kindness of Mr. Greathouse and General Le Gendre, I was able to induce one of the Queen’s nephews, young Min-san-ho, to sit for his likeness in his Court dress.  The picture, a life-size one, was painted in the course of an afternoon and was pronounced a success by my Corean critics.  In Cho-senese eyes, unaccustomed to the effects of light, shade, and variety of colour in painting, the work merited a great deal of admiration, and many were the visitors who came to inspect it.  It was not, they said, at all like a picture, but just like the man himself sitting donned in his white Court robes and winged cap.  So great was the sensation produced by this portrait, that before many days had passed the King ordered it to be brought into his presence, upon which being done he sat gazing at it, surrounded by his family and whole household.  The painting was kept at the Palace for two entire days, and when returned to me was simply covered with finger marks, royal and not royal, smeared on the paint, which was still moist, and that, notwithstanding that I had been provident enough to paste in a corner of the canvas a label in the Corean language to the effect that fingers were to be kept off.  The King declared himself so satisfied with it that he expressed the wish that before leaving the country I should paint the portraits of the two most important personages in Cho-sen after himself, viz.:  the two Princes, Min-Young-Huan, and Min-Young-Chun, the former of whom was Commander-in-chief of the Corean land forces, and the other, Prime Minister of the kingdom, in fact, the Bismarck of Cho-sen.

No sooner had I answered “yes” to this request than the sitting was fixed for the next morning at 11 o’clock.  The crucial matter, of course, was the question of precedence, and this would have been difficult to settle had not the Prime Minister caught a bad cold, which caused his sitting to be delayed for some days.  Hence it was that at 11 o’clock punctually I was to portray prince Min-Young-Huan, the commander-in-chief of the Corean troops.

[Illustration:  H.R.H.  PRINCE MIN-YOUNG-HUAN]

General Le Gendre, with his usual kindness, had offered me a room in his house, in which I could receive, and paint His Royal Highness.  The excitement at Court on the subject of these pictures, had apparently been great, for late at night a message was brought me from the palace to the effect that the King, having heard that I preferred painting the two princes in their smartest dark blue gowns of lovely silk instead of in their white mourning ones, had given Min orders to comply with my wish.  The grant of such a privilege