In painting this portrait (for which he is said to have received £600) Lawrence was happy in his sitter. The child has good looks and a very intelligent face, but unfortunately he is over-posed. One misses the simplicity, the natural attitude, the spontaneous gesture, found in portraits of children by Sir Joshua, and feels that although Lawrence made an attractive picture, his sitter has been made too self-conscious for childhood.] LAWRENCE BY S. L. BENSUSAN ILLUSTRATED WITH EIGHT REPRODUCTIONS IN COLOUR [Illustration: IN SEMPITERNUM.] LONDON: T. C. & E. C. JACK NEW YORK: FREDERICK A. STOKES CO. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Plate I. Master Lambton Frontispiece In the collection of the Earl of Durham Page II. Mrs. Siddons 14 In the National Gallery III. Portrait of Mr. and Mrs. John Julius Angerstein 24 In the Louvre IV. Miss Georgina Lennox, afterwards Countess Bathurst 34 In the collection of Earl Bathurst V. Miss Maria Siddons 40 In the Wallace Collection VI. Portrait of a Lady 50 In the Wallace Collection VII. Portrait of Countess Blessington 60 In the Wallace Collection VIII. King George IV. 70 In the Wallace Collection I The prodigy is no unfamiliar figure in our midst to-day--indeed the world’s wonder children tend ever to increase in numbers and attainments. For the most part they belong to the realm of music; poets and artists must be made as well as born. We are but mildly excited when the papers announce the arrival in town of a child who can play the piano like Rubinstein or the violin like Paganini; we know that though the statement be a gross and misleading exaggeration, we shall at least hear work that is little short of marvellous from hands that might well have known no heavier burden than toys. We know, too, that these precocious children tend to make their début and disappear, making way for others. If they are to develop their promise, a long spell of study is inevitable, and for the most part parents and guardians are more intent upon present profit than future prestige.