292 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 



round a dead young prince's effigy, to be hidden away 

 for ever in a cool, dim chapel. We who studied the 

 little statuette are not likely to forget it, for, as a poet 

 said of his friend : — 



. . . Some, in whom sueli images are strong, 

 Have hoarded the impression in their heart, 



Fancy's fond dreams and memory's joys among, 



Like some loved relic of romantic song, 

 Or cherished masterpiece of ancient art. 



As we passed back into the picture rooms we were 

 pleased to see that Lord Leighton's last work apparently 

 gains so immensely by being unfinished ; and it is in the 

 manner of his youth rather than of his age, rich and 

 harmonious in colour, passionate in sentiment— to be 

 looked at by those who knew him, this ideal President 

 of our Academy of Painting, with ' thoughts which only 

 upon tears can rise.' Far the most striking portraits in 

 the Academy are, alas ! by non-BngUshmen — Mr. Sar- 

 gent, who is an American, and M. Benjamin Constant, 

 who is a Frenchman. Mr. Sargent's 'Portrait of a 

 Lady ' is surely consummate : the painting of the pearls, 

 the smart, bright-coloured cape, are not to be beaten by 

 Vandyck at his best ; and oh ! how far beyond any effort 

 even of the old masters is the sad pathos of that interest- 

 ing nineteenth-century face ! Can we look at it and not 

 say with Balzac, ' Les drames de la vie ne sont pas dans 

 les cireonstances, ils sont dans le ccEur ' ? It seems 

 rather the fashion not to admire Mr. Chamberlain's por- 

 trait, and it is not quite so finished, especially the hands, as 

 one would wish — doubtless for want of time being given 

 for the sittings; all the same, it is a grand portrait of 

 a history-making Late Victorian statesman, and will be 

 looked at with reverent curiosity by the student of the 

 future. 



And now we pass on through two or three rooms, 



