are so often reproached. That man, who is now an idol of the populace, and for whom they are disturbing the peace of London, and endangering their own safety, was long in my pay at three guineas a-week, when I was Secretary of State, and he was one of the secretaries of the Reform Society. Every week he used to bring me the correspondence, minutes, and private books of the Society, and acquaint me with all the open and concealed members, and with the whole arcana of what was going on; and when I was fully satisfied that he had told me everything, and with veracity, I used to pay him his weekly bribe of three guineas." This confession to Lawrence, on the part of Lord Melville, must have argued extreme candour, or extreme insensibility to the nature of the transaction. "His Lordship," Mr. Williams adds, “must be exonerated from the subsequent practice which prevailed, of not using information thus obtained, at a time when moderate punishment would check the disaffected, but of allowing the informer to stimulate to crime, or at least of renewing the information, until the criminals were deemed fit for the executioner!"

But we willingly pass to a pleasanter reminiscence of 1810 -the fourth picture-A group of Portraits, consisting of Mrs. Wall, and her brother, T. Baring, Esq., and the sons of the late Lady Baring.

In a letter to Miss Lee, Lawrence describes this picture as "a work embracing many difficulties in the art. A group of five portraits comprising a single domestic scene, from its design approaches more to historical character than is usually seen in pictures of this kind; yet I think, with a great deal of nature in it, the colouring and effect are carried farther and on higher principles than in any other I have painted, and this with more general harmony and freedom from my defects. It has less manner and more style."

DEATH OF MR. LOCK, AND MR. HOPPNER, R.A.

This year, (1810,) Lawrence had the misfortune to lose his intimate friend, Mr. W. Lock, of Norbury Park, Surrey, a zealous protector of the arts, and an enlightened amateur. Mr. Lock, early in life, made a choice collection of pictures, models, and fine works of sculpture. He was the associate or patron of Reynolds, Barry, Hoppner, and Cipriani; of Wilson, Barrett and Sandby; and West and Fuseli. He was a man of excellent taste and judgment, and his scholarship pro

cured him a public testimony from Dr. Johnson. In the mansion of his beautiful seat, Norbury Park, one of the most picturesque estates in the country, he left a memorial of his taste in a magnificent saloon, the walls of which were painted according to Mr. Lock's plan, by Barrett, Cipriani, Gilpin, and Pastorini; these embellishments being intended as a seeming continuation of the views through the saloon windows-the vale included by Box-hill, and the hills of Norbury and Dorking. Mr. Lock was a fine example of the English gentleman, and we are familiar with his name and family through Madame D'Arblay's interesting Diary. At Norbury, they were beloved, and almost venerated. Mr. Lock died at the age of seventy-eight. Lawrence attended his funeral, which was conducted in the simplest manner, exactly as that of his mother had been-a walking funeral, and the coffin borne by his labourers, to the fine Anglo-Norman church at Mickleham.

In the same year died Hoppner, the formidable rival of Lawrence, who called several times upon him during his last illness in the spirit of friendship and sympathy; but Hoppner unfeelingly denounced these visits as merely the gratification of a rival's joy at his approaching dissolution! Assuredly no such feeling ever actuated Lawrence, whose kindness to Mr. Owen, and to all his friends, in sickness, was excessive. In a letter, Lawrence writes: "The death of Hoppner leaves me, it is true, without a rival, and this has been acknowledged to me by the ablest of my present competitors; but I already find one small misfortune attending it, viz., that I have no sharer in the watchful jealousy, I will not say hatred, that follows the situation." In a previous letter, he had written with this fine feeling: "You will be sorry to hear it, my most powerful competitor, he whom only (to my friends) I have acknowledged as my rival, is, I fear, sinking to the grave-I mean, of course, Hoppner. He was always afflicted with bilious and liver complaints, (and to these must be greatly attributed the irritation of his mind,) and now they have ended in a confirmed dropsy. But though I think he cannot recover, I do not wish that his last illness should be so reported by me. You will believe that I can sincerely feel the loss of a brother artist, from whose works I have often gained instruction, and who has gone by my side in the race these eighteen years."

CONSTABLE AND SIR THOMAS LAWRENCE.

Constable called, according to custom, after he had been chosen Academician, to pay his respects to the President, Sir Thomas Lawrence, who did not conceal from his visitor that he considered him peculiarly fortunate in being chosen an Academician at a time when there were historical painters of great merit on the list of candidates. So kind-hearted a man as Lawrence could have no intention to give Constable pain; but their tastes ran in directions so widely different, and the President, who attached great importance to subject, and considered high art to be inseparable from historical art, had never been led to pay sufficient attention to Constable's pictures to become impressed with their real merit; and there can be no doubt but that he thought the painter of, what he considered, the humblest class of landscape, was as much surprised at the honour just conferred on him, as he was himself. Constable was well aware that the opinions of Sir Thomas were the fashionable ones; he felt the pain thus unconsciously inflicted, and his reply intimated that he looked upon his election as an act of justice rather than favour.

* *

Shortly after this interview, at the opening of the year 1830, Constable wrote to Leslie as follows: "January, 1830. My dear Leslie,-I send the 'Churchyard,' which my friends in Portman-place are welcome to use for any purpose but to go into it. The motto on the dial is, Ut umbra, sic vita.'" This note was singularly followed by his next : "January 8th. My dear Leslie,-I have just received the distressing intelligence of the death of poor Sir Thomas Lawrence. This sad event took place last night, in consequence of internal inflammation. I could not help sending to you; the Council is called in consequence."

Constable, though always on friendly terms, had never been very intimate with Sir Thomas Lawrence; but he felt, in common with every artist in the kingdom, the magnitude of the loss of so eminent a painter, cut off with such apparent suddenness; at a time, too, when he was pursuing his art with all the energy of youth, though in his sixty-first year; and when, indeed, so far from betraying any diminution of power, he seemed to be improving on himself. This (says the writer) I think was acknowledged by all who had an opportunity of seeing the scarcely finished but very fine portrait of

the Earl of Aberdeen, in the Exhibition at the Academy that followed the death of the President.

When the painting materials of Sir Thomas were sold, Constable purchased a palette which had belonged to Sir Joshua Reynolds, and had been given by him to Sir George Beaumont, who gave it to Lawrence. He presented this interesting relic to the Academy, with its history inscribed on a silver plate inlaid on it.-Selected from Memoirs of the Life of John Constable, Esq., R.A., composed chiefly from his Letters, by C. R. Leslie, R.A. 1845.

"MR. CALMADY'S CHILDREN."

This group of two lovely infants, in its history, exhibits Sir Thomas Lawrence in a most amiable point of view.

It appears that Mr. Lewis, the engraver, had often suggested to Mrs. Calmady, that her two children, Emily and Laura, would make excellent subjects for a painting; and he assured her that if Sir Thomas Lawrence were to see the children, he would be glad to paint them on any terms. But the question of terms was one of great difficulty with the parents.

In July, 1823, Sir Thomas saw the two girls. The terms, upon his card, on his mantelpiece, descended from 600 guineas to 150, which was the price of the smallest head size. Having two in one frame increased the price by twothirds, and thus the regular charge for the portraits would have been 250 guineas.

Sir Thomas, captivated by the loveliness of the children, and sympathising with the feelings of the mother, asked only 200 guineas. "I suppose," says Mrs. Calmady, "I must still have looked despairingly, for he immediately added, without my saying a word, 'Well, we must say 150 pounds, for merely the two little heads in a circle, and some skyand finish it at once.""

Sir Thomas commenced his task the next morning at halfpast nine; and never did artist proceed with more increasing zeal and pleasure.

Upon the mother expressing her delight at the chalk drawing, as soon as the two heads were sketched in, he replied that "he would devote that day to doing a little more to it, and would beg her acceptance of it, as he would begin another."

The public, in one sense, must be glad at this liberality; for a more beautiful sketch was scarcely ever made it even gave promise of a more exquisite work than that which Lawrence afterwards completed. Both the faces were full, and that of the child now in profile was more lovely than the side-face; and both were more soft and delicate than in the finished picture.

During the progress of the painting, Sir Thomas kept saying that "it would be the best piece of the kind he had ever painted;" and not only would he detain the children many hours, with their father and mother, keeping them in good humour by reading stories to them, or otherwise amusing them, but he often kept them to dinner, that he might get another sitting that day. Sir Thomas was once seen with one child on his knee, feeding it with mashed potatoes and mutton chop, whilst he was coaxing and caressing the other fed by the servant. Whenever he kept the children for the day, he always fed them himself, and played with them; and when the meal and sport were over, they were again placed in the chair, and the business of the portrait proceeded.

At one sitting he was interrupted by the arrival of a packet from the King of Denmark, which he opened and read to Mr. and Mrs. Calmady. It contained his election to the rank of Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Denmark, signed by the King. After reading the compliments paid to him by his Majesty, Sir Thomas smiled, and said: "The fact is, they have heard I am painting this picture."

At one sitting, after Sir Thomas had the shoe of little Emily Calmady often taken off, and had attempted to catch her playful attitudes and expressions, he could not help exclaiming : "How disheartening it is, when we have nature before us, to see how far-with our best efforts and all our study-how very far short we fall of her."

One day having fed the children with their dinner, as they sat on his knees, he drew to the table to take his luncheon; but when he rose, to his surprise, he found that the child had got hold of his palette and paints, and with her hands had daubed her face in a ludicrous manner; and when Mrs. Calmady entered the room, she found Sir Thomas and his servant busily washing the child's face and hands.

These anecdotes and traits are trifling, but they show Sir Thomas's kindly nature. Sir Joshua Reynolds's delight at