melting of the flesh into the surrounding light which is seen in the pictures of the first President. Lawrence's work seems more on the surface--indeed, only surface--while his flesh tints have none of the natural purity of those by his two predecessors; we think them pretty in Lawrence, but we forget paint and painting in looking at a face by Reynolds or Gainsborough." The same critics remark of Lawrence's portraits of children that Sir Joshua was greatly his superior in this branch of art, and that the former "had no apparent admission into the inner heart of childhood." On the other hand, Fuseli, his contemporary, considered Lawrence's portraits as good or better than Van Dyck's, and recommended painters to abandon hope of approaching him. In 1797, Lawrence exhibited his _Satan calling his Legions_, now the property of the Royal Academy. Various and conflicting are the criticisms on this picture, a fair specimen of the painter's powers in history. A contemporary critic says of it, "The figure of Satan is colossal, and drawn with excellent skill and judgment." Fuseli, on the other hand, characterizes the principal figure briefly and strongly as "a d--d thing, certainly, but not the devil." Lawrence himself rightly thought _Satan_ his best work. On the death of West, in 1820, Lawrence was unanimously chosen President of the Royal Academy. Five years earlier the Prince Regent had knighted him. Foreign Academies loaded him with honours. He made a foreign tour at the request of the Government to paint portraits of the various illustrious persons who had engaged in the contest with Napoleon I. Ten years after his accession to the President's chair Lawrence died. The best critics declare that no high place among painters may be accorded to him. Much of his popularity was due to the fact that he flattered his sitters, and led the artificial style of the day. He lost in later years the fresh vigour of his prime. It must be allowed, however, that he was no copyist of Reynolds, nor of any one, but treated his subjects in a style of his own. He is accused of introducing "a prevailing chalkiness" into his pictures, derived from his early studies in crayon. When he died there was no one to take his place. The Waterloo Chamber at Windsor Castle contains the pictures of _Pius VII._, the _Emperor Francis_, and _Cardinal Gonsalvi_. Famous among his portraits of children are _Master Lambton_, _Lady Peel and Daughters_, and _Lady Gower and Child_; for the last he received 1,500 guineas. In the National Gallery are nine of his works, including _Hamlet with Yorick's Skull_, and portraits of _Benjamin West_ and _Mrs. Siddons_. The contemporaries of Sir Thomas who practised portraiture were all indebted to Reynolds.