"
The neatest answer I ever heard came from the late Lord Houghton.
Queen Victoria's predilection for German artists was well known. She
was painted several times by Winterhalter, and after his death was
induced by the Empress Frederick to give sittings to the Viennese
artist, Professor von Angeli. Angeli's portrait of the Queen was, I
think, exhibited in the Royal Academy in 1876. Some one commenting on
this, said that it was hard that the Queen would never give an English
artist a chance; after Winterhalter it was Angeli. "Yes," said Lord
Houghton, "I fancy that the Queen agrees with Gregory the Great, and
says, 'non Angli sed Angeli.'"
Of minor neatness was an answer made to my mother by a woodman at
Baron's Court. Apparently at the time of her marriage the common
dog-wood was hardly known in England as a shrub, although in the moist
Irish climate it flourished luxuriantly. Every one is familiar with
the shrub, if only on account of its bark turning a bright crimson
with the early frosts. My mother on her first visit to Baron's Court
saw a woodman trimming the dog-wood, and inquired of him the name of
this unfamiliar red-barked shrub. On being told that it was dog-wood
she asked, "Why is it called dog-wood?" "It might be on account of its
bark," came the ready answer.
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