witchery, that one is almost beguiled into a belief that she will speak and ask you to cull a nosegay. This inimitable performance will prove one of the greatest attractions in the present Exhibition; and if any thing could add to the fame of the masterly hand that produced it, this exquisite picture would stamp Sir Thomas as the first artist of the age."

On the 14th of July, this year, the Gazette contained his Majesty's permission to Sir Thomas Lawrence to wear the insignia of the Legion of Honour, bestowed upon him by the King of France. The University of Oxford had conferred the honorary degree of Doctor of Civil Laws upon him; and he had been elected member of several foreign academies. He had now attained all his distinctions of this nature, and we may enumerate his honours. He was knighted, and was the President of the Royal Academy, principal Portrait Painter to his Majesty, LL.D. in the University of Oxford, Member of the Academies of Rome, Venice, Florence, Vienna, and New York, Member of the Dilettanti Society, and Fellow of the Royal Society.

He had received many splendid and honourable presents; among which may be specified, a diamond ring from the Emperor of Russia; a diamond ring from the King of Prussia, with the letter F. (Frederick) in brilliants, on a purple enamel ground, set round with diamonds; at Vienna, a diamond ring from the Emperor of Austria, and four very brilliant paintings, on large China saucers, of the palace and public buildings of that capital. From the sister of Princess Esterhazy he received the present of a rich cup and saucer, that had been brought to England from Italy by the late Duchess of Devonshire. 'Sir Thomas Lawrence' in gilt letters, had been burnt in round the edge, and a wreath of flowers was painted in the inside. A picture of the Coliseum, in mosaic, from the Pope, two feet by one, with the arms of his Holiness gilt on the top. From Cardinal Gonsalvi, a valuable gem of the Holy Family, two inches long, and one broad. From the King of France, the Sêvre China, a magnificent clock, and two superb China jars. The Duchess of

Berry presented him with a breakfast service; the tea-board having a beautiful painting on it, representing the court of Louis XIV. The whole of this was in a green morocco case, lined with crimson velvet, and with white satin covers. Besides these, he had received presents of paintings, snuffboxes, valuable books, &c. &c. from Prince Metternich, and other eminent foreigners.

On the delivery of the prizes at the Royal Academy, on 11th of December, 1826, Sir Thomas Lawrence made the following Address to the Students: *

"GENTLEMEN,-If the distribution of the prizes of the Royal Academy affected only the interests and feelings of the candidates, it would still be formed with the most guarded care; for it being the duty of the General Assembly to distinguish superior merit, it is their obvious policy, to implant in the minds of the students that reliance on the justice of the Academy, which may leave them unchecked in their competition, by the slightest fear of prejudice or neglect.

"But a further duty is imposed on the council and members of this Academy. The chief purpose of its institution is the advancement of the arts; and the progress of the schools. being essential to this object, it becomes necessary, not only to be just in the immediate decision, but to see what relation the works now presented, bear to those of a former yearhow far they have improved upon, or kept pace with them or to what cause, whether from carelessness or erroneous mode of study, their failure may be assigned.

"If any doubt, Gentlemen, of your success has existed in the present instance, that doubt must appear to have been unimportant, since all the prizes are awarded.

"But while a result so gratifying seems to render your longer attendance unnecessary, you must permit me to offer a few considerations to your attention, which I have reason to

* We quoted a portion of this address in the Memoir of the late Mr. Flaxman, in the 12th volume of the Annual Biography and Obituary; but it is so honourable to the good feeling of Sir Thomas Lawrence, that we are sure we shall be pardoned for repeating it here.

believe are sanctioned by the opinions of my academical friends, and which the duties assigned to me author ise me to suggest.

"They relate, in the first place, to the drawings from the life.

"I need not remind you, that if the surest clue to knowledge of the living figure be faithful imitation, that mode of drawing is best adapted to it which in itself is the most simple since it is with the pencilling of a picture, or the execution of a drawing, as we are told it is with style in writing—that being considered the purest which least attracts us from the subject.

"It is on this point that some of the drawings appear to be defective. We see in them a slight, yet obtrusive mode of hatching, which, though it may have the appearance of facility, cannot belong to accuracy and truth.

"I know that there is some temptation to this error — that it seems to give evidence of power, and to show how much knowledge the artist must possess, who can afford to be so careless in its display. We have even the revered authority of your late Professor of painting, for the term 'gracefulness being applied to the execution of a picture, as giving it a certain ease and lightness, which conceal its real labour.' But this, however pleasing in the finished works of the established painter, becomes a dangerous attempt in the efforts of the student; and, indeed, is contrary to every mode of study, by which past excellence has been achieved. We find, in the first thoughts of the greatest masters, and in the details for their noblest works, no attempt at style, or manner of execution. The mind is solely bent on its important object; and the hand is accurate or careless, as the attention is more or less directed to it. Your present studies, Gentlemen, may be considered as details for your future works. It is here that you are acquiring knowledge, and collecting materials for those performances which are hereafter to render you valuable to your country; and in proportion to their truth, is the promise of the excellence to which they lead.

"There is, Gentlemen, another defect, the very opposite to this, which attaches to both the schools, but, I think, chiefly to the Antique Academy. It is that exclusive attention to the relief, and high finishing of the parts of the figure, which too much diverts the mind from its general proportions.

"We acknowledge the usefulness of the most careful finishing, when it is not accompanied by this defect; and we sometimes find it difficult to condemn a drawing, which presents so many beautiful details, and affords such pleasing evidence of the patient labour that produced them. Yet I know not any fault, that should more firmly and constantly be checked, than the inattention to which it leads.

"In the great works of the ancients, proportion is every thing. It stamps the character of their divinities-of the demigod, the hero, the athleta, and the slave; and these, fixed in the mind, supply the like scale for the historical characters of the painter. Even in that second department of the art which I practise, there is no defect more fatal to the resemblance of the whole, than deviation from the proportion of the parts.

"The features may each be accurately like, and convey their just expression; but if either be too large, or small, or too widely separated from each other, the striking part of the resemblance is gone, and while a something of likeness cannot be denied, its impression on the spectator is unsatisfactory and

vague.

*

"If in these remarks I appear to intrude on the province of the Keeper, who so anxiously, and so ably, presides over your studies, I still have reason to believe that they are in unison with his sentiments; and I need not say, that in their application to historical painting, those sentiments are of the highest authority and weight.

"The limited number of examples from the Painting Aca→ demy, and their confined subject in composition, render it less necessary for me to address the students of that school.

*Henry Thompson, Esq. R. A.

"I feel some regret that they had not a more extensive field for their labours-but it would be great injustice in me not to congratulate them on their success. The merit of the

pictures has been generally acknowledged by the council and the assembly; and the gentleman who has failed, has shown sufficient power, to justify our hopes from his talent in a future year.

"We are sorry that only one specimen from the life has been presented to us in sculpture. Still the premium has been given for it; from a mixed motive-that of marking our approbation of the successful parts of the model, and of showing to the students, that the Academy take no advantage of any temporary want of combined effort, to withhold from them its rewards.

"In voting the premium for the best architectural drawing of a known building, a prevailing sentiment in its favour has arisen from the completeness of its study, and the neat accuracy of its various measurements and details. It is this attention to the whole of your allotted task—this absence of all narrow reservation of that labour, which cold minds are too often contented to limit to what they imagine is sufficient end-it is this generous impulse to do the utmost that is expected from you, that, in its enlarged principle, will fit you for communion with the eminent and good,—and give you kindred right to lament at their extinction!

"I know that the regulated proceedings of this evening might justify or impose my silence; but why, when the form of that estimable being, whose death we are deploring, is not yet consigned to earth-why should we not speak to you, Gentlemen, who may be considered as part of the family of this mansion, of the loss we have mutually sustained? Why should we hesitate to offer to you sympathy and condolence, and to claim them from you?

"It is just that you should admire and revere him—it is just, on every principle of taste and virtue, that you should venerate his memory! And is it not equally so, that you should grieve for him WHO TOILED TO DO YOU SERVICE?