196 On the Early Life of Sir Thomas Lawrence, P.R.A. 



Thomas in Town, he enquired what had become of it, and expressed 

 a hope, when. he eame into Wiltshire, of being able to call upon me, 

 and look again at one of his earliest productions. 



" And here I can not help remarking on the great kindness with 

 which I have always been received by the late President whenever 

 I called upon him, which was as often as I visited London, and the 

 pleasure which he took in describing to me the portraits on which 

 I found him engaged." 



[To this testimony of the kindness of Sir Thomas Lawrence, I 

 must be permitted to add my own. On Mrs. Nalder's last visit to 

 him in town, she was speaking of my fondness for paintings, when 

 he very kindly gave her a note for me as an introduction to his 

 studio, in case I should call when he was from home. This 

 introduction however I never had an opportunity of presenting, 

 but gave it to the Queen when I sold her the picture of Miss White, 

 as I shall presently relate.] 



" To return to the artist's boyish days. I often remember his 

 father saying with tears in his eyes, when looking at his early 

 productions, that he had no doubt but that I should live to see him 

 a great man, though he himself might not. And years afterwards, 

 when Sir Thomas was lodging in Piccadilly, and his portraits were 

 beginning to engage the attention of the fashionable world, I called 

 upon his father in Gerard-street, Soho, and was reminded by him 

 of the predictions which he had so often uttered, in the Bear Inn 

 at Devizes, of the future greatness of his son. 



" With regard to the elder Lawrence himself, I may add, that he 

 was a man of somewhat eccentric habits. Although remarkably 

 neat in his dress and general appearance, yet he had so great an 

 aversion to new clothes, that whenever his wife noticed that any 

 portion of his attire was getting worn or shaby, she used to send to 

 the tailor to replace it, effecting the exchange while he was asleep. 

 He was remarkably fond of politics, theatricals, and recitations, and 

 prided himself on his readings of Milton and Shakespeare. He was 

 also a great favourite of Garrick's, who frequently visited the house, 

 staying sometimes a week or a fortnight at a time, during one of 

 which visits he presented his host with a folio copy of the Spectator, 



