the gambols of children was equally in accordance with his amiable manners and kind heart; and to this we owe his exquisite paintings of infants and children, some of which may survive his best historical or fancy pictures.

At length, Sir Thomas finished the painting of the Calmady children, when he declared: "This is my best picture. I have no hesitation in saying so-my best picture of the kind, quite—one of the few I should wish hereafter to be known by.'

This picture was sent to the Royal Lodge, Windsor Park, for the inspection of the King, who had heard of it from the Duchess of Gloucester. The engraving of it had a very large sale; and so much did that of the chalk drawing please Sir Thomas that he insisted upon the engraver, Mr. Lewis, taking eighty instead of sixty guineas for his production.

It has been stated that "Sir Thomas Lawrence lost large sums of money, by trying to bring young engravers into notice, and to get them employed." About the time of engraving these two children, there was a young engraver, to whom Sir Thomas gave a drawing to execute. When he brought the plate, Lawrence, in paying him his demand, observed, "it is of no use to me." The poor engraver, from these words being spoken "in so kind a manner," had no idea that he alluded to the worthless plate, but thought he referred to the money; and he observed that it was very odd, though it was very polite, in Sir Thomas saying when he paid him the money, "that it was of no use to him."

PORTRAIT OF THE HON. C. W. LAMBTON.

This beautiful picture was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1828, and the admiration which it then excited was extended by the mezzotinto print from it, which became extremely popular. A smart critic of the time described it as one of the most exquisite representations of interesting childhood that he had ever beheld. The simple action and sweet expression of infantile nature which we see in this portrait, were never excelled by Sir Joshua Reynolds, in his happiest moments. The boy is seated amid some rocky scenery, enjoying, apparently, a waking dream of childhood, and, for the moment, unconscious of external objects. attitude is simple and natural-just as a child might throw himself down on a green bank, after being fatigued with sport,

X

His

when the flow of his animal spirits subsides, without being exhausted. His dress being of crimson velvet, is, of course, very rich; yet it never attracts the attention for an instant from that soft look of innocence, and those engaging eyes, which reflect the loveliest light of a pure and happy mind. It is, indeed, one of those works that make the painter forgotten in the reality of the creation which he has produced. The colouring is warm and chaste; the execution is marked with equal feeling and accuracy.

Allan Cunningham, however, gives a very different account of the work. "It is a magnificent piece of colour; but there is a total absence of all simplicity. He has seated the boy on a rock, his legs and arms extended for the purpose of covering space, and his look fixed above, with all the upturned intensity of a Newton."

The young gentleman upon whom the painter had bestowed so much of his art, was the eldest son of J. G. Lambton, afterwards Earl of Durham, by his second wife, daughter of Charles, Earl Grey, and was born in January, 1818. He was seven years of age when Sir Thomas Lawrence painted the above portrait: he died in 1831, the year after that in which the painter laid down his pencil for ever.

It is hardly possible to look upon this interesting picture of innocent childhood, of imitative art and beautiful nature, without feeling one's heart more than "idly stirr'd" at the brief existence of this graceful scion of a noble house. reader may lament that

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,

And summer's lease hath all too short a date.

The

But it is better to take refuge in the home philosophy of our great metaphysical poet :

Thus fares it still in our decay;

And yet the wiser mind

Mourns less for what Time takes away

Than what he leaves behind.

PORTRAIT OF THE HON. MRS. HOPE.

This truly splendid portrait of the amiable wife of the author of Anastasius was one of the bright stars of the Academy Exhibition of 1826. Sir Thomas Lawrence's judg ment is evinced by choosing a picturesque costume and national character, to which the lady's face was adapted; and the colouring, with every minor adjunct, combines to produce

an unity of expression. Mrs. Hope's features and complexion were of the Grecian cast, prominent and aquiline, though delicate, with a fine oval contour; and a lively, intellectual air, heightened by a clear dark complexion. Sir Thomas has represented the lady as an oriental Fatima, in a turban superbly embroidered with gold, and a dress of rich, glowing red, ornamented with splendid jewels. The hands are small and delicate, and free from that dark colour with which the painter so often tinged the hands of his sitters.

Time has brought the whole colour of this beautiful picture to an excellent tone: it is glowing, rich, and gorgeous, without being meretricious, or in the least over-painted. By giving the name of an individual to a painting, it is taken from the highest branch of art, and considered only as a portrait; but this work may be enjoyed as the emanation of a rich and fertile fancy-a picture of great art, and in the school of imagination. (Williams's Life of Lawrence, vol. ii.) This picture is the gem of the family portraits at the Deepdene, in Surrey. Here also is a portrait of Thomas Hope, Esq., in a Turkish dress, a full-length, painted by Sir William Beechey. Sir Thomas Lawrence also painted Master Charles Hope (who died young), as the Infant Bacchus : an excellent mezzotint has been executed from this picture by Cousens. Here likewise are portraits of Lady Decies, (the mother of the Hon. Mrs. Hope,) and her infant daughter, painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds.

COWPER AND LAWRENCE.

The following is one of the poet's graceful letters of renewed invitation to the painter to visit him in the country:

"DEAR SIR,

"As often as I have comforted myself with the hope of seeing you again soon, I have felt a sensible drawback upon that comfort, from the fear of a disappointment, which, considering your profession and your just pre-eminence in it, appeared to me extremely probable.

"Your letter, most welcome otherwise, gave me this most unwelcome information the moment I saw your name at the bottom of it. We all feel our loss, and much as I suppose you are beloved by my friend Rose, who has pretty acute discernment, I will venture to say he is not more mortified than myself. You do me justice, if you believe that my in

vitation did not consist of words merely: in truth, it was animated by a very sincere wish that it might prove acceptable to you and once more give the same assurance, that, at any time when you shall find it possible to allow yourself some relaxation in the country, if you will enjoy it here, you will confer a real favour on one whom you have already taught to set a high value on your company and friendship. I am too old to be very hasty in forming new connexions; but, short as our acquaintance has been, to you I have the courage to say, that my heart and my door will always be gladly open

"Mrs. Unwin sends her compliments, and sincerely joins me in the wish that you will never hereafter consider us strangers, or give us reason to think you one.

"I remain, dear sir, affectionately yours,

"Weston, Oct. 13, 1793.

"WILLIAM COWPER.

"When will you come and give me a drawing of the old oak?

"To Thomas Lawrence, Esq.

Old Bond-street, London."

LAWRENCE'S PORTRAIT OF WILBERFORCE.

There are few of the portraits of Lawrence in which the accomplished President was more happy in hitting off the character of his subject-his inner man, as well as his outward mien and manner than in that of Wilberforce, the respected champion of Slave Trade abolition. There is here none of the grandiose "make up" of his princes and ministers -none of the haberdashery display which we find in some of his lords and ladies of fashion; nothing but the homely, honest features of an accomplished and benevolent gentleman as he sat in his easy-chair conversing on matters of, to him, engrossing interest with some familiar friend. This fine portrait, dated 1828-9, was left unfinished by the artist, only the face, the collar of the coat, cravat, &c. being completed— the rest of the figure being loosely sketched in. But it is, perhaps, on that very account all the more interesting to the connoisseur and student, every touch being unquestionably that of the great master of modern portraiture. This picture was presented to the National Portrait Gallery by the executors of Sir Robert Harry Inglis, Bart. in 1857.

୬

J. M. W. TURNER, RA.

BIRTH-PLACE OF TURNER.

SOME ninety years ago, when Covent Garden was a fashionable part of the town, it was famed for its perruquiers, or hair-dressers, and dealers in articles of dress and personal ornament, and the streets were crowded with carriages at shopping hours. Tavistock-street and Henrietta-street appear to have been especially noted for perruquiers, who have scarcely disappeared altogether. Some thirty years since, we remember two of these court hair-dressers, one in each of the above streets, where, during the operation of hair-cutting, might be heard some gossip of the fashionable celebrity of the locality. A minor street shared this distinction, in addition to other fame : this was Maiden-lane, extending from Southampton-street to Bedford-street. There is evidence of this celebrity in the sign of the White Peruke, in Maiden-lane, at which lodged. Voltaire, who was in England three years.

As

you proceed through Maiden-lane, near its west end, on the right hand, opposite the Cyder Cellars, (opened about 1730,) is a small paved place, with an arched entrance, named Hand-court; and here, at the corner of the court, in the house No. 26, lived William Turner, who "dressed wigs, shaved beards, and in the days of queues, top-knots, and hair-powder, waited on the gentlemen of the Garden at their own houses, and made money by his trade, then a more flourishing profession than that of a hair-dresser of the present day." Here, in the spring of 1775, in the chamber over the shop, was born the barber's son, Joseph Mallord (supposed to have been originally Mallard) William Turner, "the most prolific, the most varied, and the greatest landscape-painter of the English school." Neither his mother's name, nor the day of his birth is known; but his baptism is recorded in the register of St. Paul, Covent Garden, on the 14th of May, in the same year in which he was born.*

*With regard to the home of Turner's childhood, Mr. Alaric Watts states, on the authority of Mr. Duroveray, that it may have been even lowlier than was at first represented; since that gentleman believed that it was the cellar under the hairdresser's shop in Maiden lane which ".

was