THOMAS LAWRENCE, who was born, in 1769, at Bristol; his father, trained as a lawyer, being at that time landlord of an inn. At an early age the future painter was removed with the rest of the family to the "Black Bear" at Devizes, whither the fortunes of the elder Lawrence led him. The inn was a well-known posting-house on the way to Bath, and young Thomas had abundant opportunities for displaying his precocious talents to the guests who stopped there. His father had given him desultory lessons in reading and recitation. Nature furnished him with a wonderful gift of art; and when only five years old the beautiful child, with long flowing hair, was introduced to all customers, and would recite Milton and Collins, or take their portraits, according to their several tastes. We are told of his drawing a remarkably truthful likeness of Lady Kenyon at this early age. Of regular education Lawrence had little or none beyond two years' schooling at Bristol, but he learnt much from the conversation of distinguished patrons and friends in early life. In 1779 the Lawrence family moved from Devizes to Oxford, where the boy drew many portraits. Leaving Oxford and settling at Bath, Lawrence contributed to the wants of the family by drawing portraits in crayons for a guinea and a guinea and a half each. His fame rapidly spread. Mrs. Siddons sat to him, so did the Duchess of Devonshire, and, in 1785, the Society of Arts awarded him their silver pallet, "gilded all over," for a crayon copy of the _Transfiguration_ by Raphael, executed when Lawrence was only thirteen. London was the fittest place for the development of such talents as his, and accordingly the elder Lawrence went thither with his son in 1787, and the latter was entered as a student in the Royal Academy. He contributed seven works to the exhibition of the same year, was introduced to Sir Joshua Reynolds and kindly treated; the great painter encouraged the youthful genius, and advised him to study nature instead of the old masters. Lawrence took this advice, and avoided the temptation to try processes of colouring, which proved fatal to many of Sir Joshua's works. The course of the youth was one of unvarying success. The King and Queen were interested in him. In 1791, he was elected an Associate of the Academy, and a year after was appointed Principal Painter-in-Ordinary to the King, a post rendered vacant by the death of Reynolds. The Dilettanti Society broke its rules to make Lawrence a member, and painter to the society; in 1794, when nearly twenty-five years old, the artist was elected a Royal Academician. Never, perhaps, did painter rise so rapidly and from such slight foundations, and never was studio more crowded by sitters than that of Lawrence. Messrs. Redgrave, in criticising his portraits, say, "After Reynolds and Gainsborough, Lawrence looks pretty and painty; there is none of that power of uniting the figure with the ground--that