John Smith, aspiring painter

I am a man, bearing the common appellation of John, and am generally called John Smith. I am, at present, of the age of twenty-eight, a single man, and a foot passenger. I am a native of London, but have been educated at a country school. I have been bred a shoe-common, through the medium of the press, to such of my fellow-creatures as may be disposed to enter into my views. They are these: I wish to learn a few of the lower branches of the art of painting, such as drawing, and the like, that I may, in time, become a tolerable dauber of houses, or, at the worst, a tolerable pretender to the art of painting. I have a desire, also, to learn to sing