CHAPTER XLIV 



BEGINNING OF HIS LAST ILLNESS (1911) 



(Age 77) 



It was in July of this year that Lord Avebury 

 sat to Sir Hubert von Herkomer for that admir- 

 able portrait of which a reproduction forms the 

 frontispiece of this volume. It shows him very 

 much as he had been for the last thirty years — 

 spare and active of figure, bright and youthful 

 in complexion, with a look of sagacity and at the 

 same time of the greatest kindliness in his eyes. 

 When this picture was exhibited in the Academy 

 one of the family was greatly amused, standing 

 behind some unknown young lady who was 

 looking at it, to hear her exclaim to her com- 

 panion in the vernacular of the day, " Oh, isn't 

 he a darling ? " with immense emphasis on the 

 word of affection. Her appreciation was really 

 not amiss, and is justified by the characteristic- 

 ally gentle expression in the eyes, which the 

 painter has given well. 



It was the moment for the portrait. On and 

 off, from June 27 to July 13, he was sitting for it, 

 noting that the painter made the sittings very 

 pleasant ; and at the end of the month he became 



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