No 20 My First Commission for a Picture 42

Amongst my friends & the admirers of my works was M^r Thos Erskine, ⁴³ who introduced [me] to some relations a M^rs Erskine & her two daughters ⁴⁴ – a small sketch I made in pencil of King Lear & Cordelia watching at his bed side after the storm induced M^r Erskine to offer me a commission to do him a picture in oils for £50 at which I was greatly pleased as it was my first for a work of imagination