48

A Painter having promised the finest of all his Pictures, to one who had no skill in them, this Man came and told him cunningly, that his House was on Fire: The Painter cry’d presently to his Prentice, Be sure you save such a Picture: By that means he found that this must be the best, and he asked it of him assoon as his Trouble was over, and that he was satisfied that it was but a false Alarm

48

Un Peintre ayant promis le plus beau de tous ses Tableaux à une Personne qui ne s’y connoissoit pas, elle lui vint dire adroitement que le Feu étoit en son Logis: le Peintre s’écria d’abord à son Eleve, qu’on me sauve un tel Tableau. Elle reconnut par là que, c’étoit le meilleur, et le lui demanda aprés que son émotion fut appaisée, et qu’il eût appris que cette allarme étoit fausse.