* * * * *

Before the portrait of little Miss Alexander went to the Grosvenor Gallery, Tom Taylor, the art-critic of the Times, called at the studio to see it.  “Ah, yes—­’um,” he remarked, and added that an upright line in the paneling of the wall was wrong and that the picture would be better without it, adding, “Of course, it’s a matter of taste.”

To which Whistler rejoined:  “I thought that perhaps for once you were going to get away without having said anything foolish; but remember, so you may not make the mistake again, it’s not a matter of taste at all; it is a matter of knowledge.  Good-by!”

* * * * *

To a critic who remarked, “Your picture is not up to your mark; it is not good this time,” Whistler replied:  “You shouldn’t say it is not good.  You should say you do not like it, and then, you know, you’re perfectly safe.  Now come and have something you do like—­have some whiskey.”

* * * * *

Stopped at an exhibition by an attendant who wished to check his cane, Whistler laughed:  “Oh, no, my little man; I keep this for the critics.”

His troubles with the Royal Society of British Artists bred a round of biting remarks.  When he and his following went out he said, consolingly:  “Pish!  It is very simple.  The artists retired.  The British remained!”

Another shot at the same subject: 

“No longer can it be said that the right man is in the wrong place!”

* * * * *

When an adverse vote ended his leadership of the Royal Society, Whistler said, philosophically, “Now I understand the feelings of all those who, since the world began, have tried to save their fellow-men.”

* * * * *

Commenting on B.R.  Haydon’s autobiography, Whistler said:  “Yes; Haydon, it seems, went into his studio, locked the door, and before beginning to work prayed God to enable him to paint for the glory of England.  Then, seizing a large brush full of bitumen, he attacked his huge canvas, and, of course—­God fled.”

* * * * *

Starr once asked Whistler if the southern exposure of the room in which he was working troubled him.

“Yes, it does,” he answered.  “But Ruskin lives in the North, you know, and a southern exposure troubled him, rather, eh?”

* * * * *

Much that was characteristic of the artist’s wit and temper came out during the famous libel suit he brought against Ruskin.  The most amusing feature of it was the exhibition in court of some of the “nocturnes” and “arrangements” which were the subject of the suit.  The jury of respectable citizens, whose knowledge of art was probably limited, was expected to pass judgment on these paintings.  Whistler’s counsel held up one of the pictures.