and penury of his ancestors; would certainly, whatever dreams of future prosperity he indulged, not have guessed, that without money, without the access to the higher scenes of a city life, which even a peasant may sometimes enjoy, without books, without models, without instruction, he would become one of the most celebrated artists of his country.

PETER HÖRBERG was born in the parish of Virestad, in Smäland, Sweden, January 31, 1746. His parents were very poor, and their child so weak and sickly that he could not walk till his third year. His father taught him to read when he was five years old, and before long, by means of a "copy," borrowed from a soldier, gave him some knowledge of writing. At nine years of age he was obliged to go out to service, and received, as compensation for a summer's labour, a pair of mittens and a violin, valued at twenty-four coppers. The violin was a source of much amusement during the winter which he spent at home. He strung it with horse-hair, and made such progress in learning to play, that in the spring his father bought him another instrument with proper strings. For two summers more, he served the peasants as a shepherd-boy, watching the sheep and cattle as they browsed in the wild pastures of the country, according to the Swedish custom. His taste for painting began to manifest itself even as early as this. The Swedish almanacs and catechisms were ornamented with rude engravings; and, as his means would not allow him to own one of these books, he endeavoured from memory to draw the figures on birch bark. He began also to ornament his father's cottage with carvings in soft wood and fir

bark, among which was an imitation of the altar-piece of the parish church. In the exercise of the same vocation, he carved various figures for cane-heads, at the request of the neighbouring peasants. His chief occupation, however, was in drawing and painting. He soon became dissatisfied with representing the mere figure, and endeavoured to add colour. Having never heard of mixing colours with oil, he discovered for himself a method of using some of the simpler kinds, such as ochre, burnt clay, chalk, and charcoal, in a dry form, as is practised by crayon painters. He used planed boards for canvass; and, if fortune threw in his way a bit of writing paper, "he drew with a pen, using the juice of various berries to colour and shade his drawings." While watching his flocks in the fields, he drew figures upon the smooth rocks, using fir bark for red chalk, and charcoal for black with a sharp stick also he marked out figures upon the white fun guses of the pastures.

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Thus he advanced, struggling against poverty, which in his thirteenth year became so pressing, that his father was compelled to enrol him as a reserve recruit in the army, in order to obtain the bounty of a barrel of grain to save the family from starving. Upon this, mingled with chaff and cut straw, they contrived to live through the winter. In 1759, the famine became so severe, that Peter and his sister were sent out as mendicants, and actually begged their bread for a whole year. Early in 1760, Peter determined to apprentice himself to a painter; and, although his parents did not approve the resolution, they finally gave their consent. He accordingly, at the age of fourteen, set

out for Wexiö, distant about thirty-five miles; this being the nearest place at which a master painter could be found. Everything in this market town filled the young peasant with wonder. He was so much abashed as hardly to be able to answer a question. Fortunately for him, on the way from Virestad he had fallen in with a good-natured peasant who conducted him to the painter, whose name was Johan Christian Zschotzscher. This man had already as many apprentices as he needed; but, on allowing Hörberg to give a specimen of his talents with a piece of chalk upon a black board, and afterwards in drawing with colours on the backside of an oak board used to cut tobacco upon, he was so much astonished, especially on learning that he had received no instruction, that he promised to receive him into his service if he could get discharged from his enrolment. His master (that was to be) kept the figure of St. John the Evangelist, which the boy had painted upon the board, but allowed him to take a copy of it to carry home. To procure his discharge, it was necessary for his father to refund the bounty, which was something less than ten shillings of our money. The poverty of the family was such, that two years elapsed before this could be paid. At last, on the 13th of April, 1762, he was received as an apprentice for five years.

Having obtained leave to spend the Christmas holidays with his father, he took his colours with him, and painted "several pieces of a kind of hangings, called onad, which the peasants in many parts of Sweden ploy to decorate their apartments at Christmas.

These are of linen, and the paintings are generally scenes from Scripture history, with explanatory inscriptions. For these paintings Peter received about half-a-crown; and this was the first money he earned as a painter." "For half this sum," says he, “my mother bought me tow-cloth for an apron; and, with the remainder, I purchased a lock for a little chest, which my father had made for me the preceding autumn, I had no means of conveying my chest to Wexiö but by drawing it on a little sled, which I did. The contents of the chest were my new apron and a pair of wooden shoes, which my father had also made for me."

He remained at Wexiö until the death of his master, about four years afterwards. The instruction which he received was very meagre; his principal employment was "laying on grounds and grinding colours." He had little time for drawing; and, what was worse than all, his master was incompetent to instruct him. By diligence and fidelity, he, however, so gained the good will of Zschotzscher, that, at his death, he bequeathed him about twelve shillings, on condition of his completing the unfinished work in the shop.

Having received the necessary testimonials from the magistrates at Wexiö, he went to Gottenburg to obtain license as a journeyman painter. His worldly wealth amounted to twenty shillings, and this was soon absorbed by official fees and his other expenses; so that when he started on his homeward journey, a distance of one hundred and ninety miles, he was fully six shillings in debt, and had six coppers in his pocket!

After travelling sixty miles, "he was obliged to sell, at half cost, his new red felt hat,' for which he had paid six shillings at Wexiö." After reaching home he immediately began to work, although at disadvantage, until he earned enough to pay his debt at Gottenburg, after which he entered the service of the painter Luthman, at Wexiö.

Within a year from this time, he obtained a license as district painter, which added somewhat to his emoluments, and, what was of more consequence, emancipated him from the control of masters, giving him liberty to follow without restraint the free prompt. ings of his imagination. Before a great while, " concluding," as he says, "that his days would pass more happily in the condition of matrimony," he married a young woman, whose circumstances were quite as humble as his own, and whose mind seems not to have been able to sympathize with that of her husband. So entirely poor were they, that "they had not even a pot, or a wood axe, but managed to make shift by borrowing however, after they had lived together a year and a half, their prosperity increased to that degree, that they were able to purchase that necessary utensil, an iron pot, and now thought themselves independent.” In all this poverty, the gentle and noble character of the man seems never to have given way under accumulated trials. He endured his poverty with firmness, maintained ever a cheerful spirit, and, without murmuring, pursued with earnestess the art which few appreciated, but which was to 1 so dear.

is establishment, as district painter, did not bring