Wm. Dalziel brothers
Edward Duncan, George Dodgson and F. W. Topham, with a few other members of the "Old Society of Painters in Water Colours," formed a club for outdoor sketching, the rule being that at a selected spot all should sit down as close to each other as possible, taking various points of view according to individual taste. One day whilst at work in a field on the banks of the Upper Thames, they saw a sturdy farmer coming towards them looking very fierce and angry. When he got near the party he said:
"What be you lot o' lazy devils a-doing in my field?"
"Sketching, sir, sketching!"
"Is that fit work for men? When the young ladies from Miss Gray's boarding school come down to 'sketch' I say let 'em; if it pleases them, it don't hurt me, an' there be no harm; but when I see a lot of great hulking men like you fellows about such nonsense it makes me fair angry! Why, domn it, you might be doing a lot o' good work o' some sort! I would rather break stones by the roadside for a shilling a day than fool away my time like you be doing. You ought to be ashamed o' yourselves, you ought!"
They tried to explain to him that they made their living by painting pictures. After some strong expressions of doubt the farmer sobered down a little and asked Dodgson how much he would get for the one he was "doing." Dodgson, knowing the sort of man he had to deal with, said:
"Perhaps as much as ten shillings, or maybe twenty if I can find a friend who fancies it."
The answer came, "Thee be a domned liar as well as a lazy lout!" Then with a look of contempt the tiller of the soil stumped away.