“I hear you can draw,” said Kang Shenseng to his new apprentice.

“Miserable daubs, I assure you,” replied Seng-teh.

“It is usual for me to receive a fee; but having heard of your bravery, the kilnowner who recommended you to me has made that right for the first six months.”

“I do not dare.”

“Can you read? That is good. Then I recommend you to buy the Mustard Seed Garden, and study it well.”

An Art Treatise.

Seng-teh bought the book, paid a small sum for punctuating it to a poor scholar whom his new friend recommended to him (he was of the same surname, and indeed wore the same hat and boots, as it happened), gave a feast to his fellow-apprentices and one former scholar, and so commenced his studies.

The volumes in question were first published in the year 1680. The plates had evidently suffered much from the recutting and recutting of the boards, but the type was unaltered, and contained much that might interest even a Western reader.

The compiler described himself as an invalid, who, being debarred from the contemplation of the finer landscapes of the Empire, was wont to while away the weary hours in company with his collection of pictures.