Sir Thomas Lawrence, when attending the funeral of Mr. Dawe, R.A., in
the vault of St. Paul’s Cathedral, was observed to look wistfully about
him, as if contemplating the place as that to which he himself would
some day be borne; and, when the service was concluded, it was remarked
that he stopped to look at the inscription upon the stone which covers
the body of his predecessor, West. Within three months from the date of
this incident, the vaults were re-opened to receive Lawrence’s remains.
“IT WILL NEVER DO.”
“Oh, how I hate this expression!” said poor Haydon, in his famous
Lectures. “When Wellington said he would break the charm of Napoleon’s
invincibility, what was the reply? _It will never do!_ When Columbus
asserted there was another hemisphere, what was the reply? _It will
never do!_ And when Galileo offered to prove the earth went round the
sun, the Holy Inquisition said, _It shall never do!_ _It will never do_
has been always the favourite watch-cry of those, in all ages and
countries, who ever look on all schemes for the advancement of mankind
as indirect reflections on the narrowness of their own petty
comprehensions.”