supplemented by running errands and hopping in summer. In a wealthy neighbourhood, frequented by several members of Parliament, who were regular customers, a very diligent young sweeper told me he made on an average in winter 2s. 6d. a week; but he added contemptuously: "Business ain't what it used to be. Neighbour'ood's goin' down, depend on it. I'm thinkin' of turnin' it up." This young gentleman supplemented _his_ income by successful racing speculations, obtaining his information about "tips" from his good-natured clients. It seems sad to think how much good material is lost in these smart street boys, whose ability and intelligence could surely be turned to better account. The most satisfactory point--and one which no unprejudiced person can fail to recognise--in connection with the subject of child-labour is that healthy children do not feel it a hardship to work; and that, therefore, considering, in addition, how materially their earnings add to their own comfort, all legislation in the direction of restriction and prohibition ought to be very carefully considered. I must express my best thanks to Mr. Redgrave, of the Home Office, for his help in obtaining entrance to factories, and to Mr. Hugh Didcott, the well-known theatrical agent, for his kind services in the matter of acrobats. [Illustration: MASTER SORINE.] _Portraits of Celebrities at different times of their Lives._ WILSON BARRETT. BORN 1846. MR. WILSON BARRETT, who is the son of a gentleman who farmed his own estate in Essex, received his education at a private school. During his school-days, at the age of thirteen, he one night spent his only sixpence in visiting the gallery of the Princess's Theatre, where Charles Kean was playing _Hamlet_; and he has himself described how he was therewith fired with two ambitions--to play _Hamlet_, and to marry Miss Heath, a charming actress who was appearing in the piece--and how he afterwards achieved both objects. His first appearance as the Prince of Denmark took place in 1884, on the very stage on which he had first seen the character performed. At twenty-two, the age of our first portrait, Mr. Wilson Barrett was studying his art in that great school for actors--the provincial stage. At the present day, as represented in our second portrait, his fine features are well known to every playgoer, as equally adapted to the picturesque melancholy of the _Silver King_, the classical countenance of _Claudian_, or the boyish and pathetic beauty of the _Chatterton_ of seventeen. [Illustration: _From a Photo. by_| AGE 22. |_Window & Grove._] [Illustration: _From a Photo._| PRESENT DAY. |_by J. Thomson._] For these portraits we are indebted to the kindness of Mr. Wilson Barrett. SIR PROVO WALLIS. BORN 1791. [Illustration: _From a_| AGE 22. |_Painting._]