4 LIFE OF HOLBEIN. burg, and applying to a very great master in that city for work, was taken in, and ordered to give a specimen of his skill. Holbein finished a piece with great care, and painted a fly upon the most conspicuous part of it; after which he withdrew privily in the absence of his master, and pursued his journey. When the painter returned home, he was astonished at the beauty and elegance of the drawing ; and especially at the fly, which, upon his first casting his eye upon it, he so far took for a real fly, that he endeavoured to remove it with his hand. He sent all over the city for his journeyman, who was now missing ; but after many enquiries, found that he had been thus deceived by the famous Holbein. This story has been somewhat differently told, as if the painting was a portrait for one of his patrons at Basil, but the effect was the same, for before he was discovered, he had made his escape. After almost begging his way to England^ us Patin tells us, he found an easy admit-