I described a table standing under the window, on the left-hand side of the room, containing on the end nearest to the spectator, not two pewter flagons, as I at first thought, but one glass and one pewter flagon. On the end of this table, which is presented to the spectator, is an inscription, which, as I have said, had hitherto escaped my notice, having been partially concealed by the frame—a modern one, not originally intended for this picture, and partly obscured by dirt which had accumulated in the corner. I can now make out very distinctly the following words, with the date, which fixes beyond a question the age of the picture:
"Hier moet men gissen
Glasen te wasser
Daer in te pissen
En soú niet passen.
1659."
I may also mention, that the floor of the chamber represented in the picture is formed of large red and blue square tiles; and that the folio book standing on end, with another lying horizontally on the top of it, which I said in my former description to be standing on the end of the table, under the window, is, I now see, standing not on the table, but on the floor, next to the chair of the grave and studious figure who sits in the left-hand corner of the room.
These corrections of my first description have been in a great measure the result of a little soap and water applied with a sponge to the picture.
James H. Todd, D.D.
Trin. Coll., Dublin.