Caricatures of the students of course
were passing constantly among them, and in revenge for one which a huge
red-haired Scotch student, Mr. Sandy M'Collop, had made of John James,
Clive perpetrated a picture of Sandy which set the whole room in a roar;
and when the Caledonian giant uttered satirical remarks against the
assembled company, averring that they were a parcel of sneaks, a set of
lick-spittles, and using epithets still more vulgar, Clive slipped off
his fine silk-sleeved coat in an instant, invited Mr. M'Collop into the
back-yard, instructed him in a science which the lad himself had acquired
at Grey Friars, and administered two black eyes to Sandy, which prevented
the young artist from seeing for some days after the head of the
'Laocoon' which he was copying. The Scotchman's superior weight and age
might have given the combat a different conclusion, had it endured long
after Clive's brilliant opening attack with his right and left; but
Professor Gandish came out of his painting-room at the sound of battle,
and could scarcely credit his own eyes when he saw those of poor M'Collop
so darkened.
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