bably its value was not enhanced by its postpone ment. It was transmitted to London in the following letter: "AL CHIARISSIMO SIG. CAV. TOMMASO LAW- "Presidente della Reale Accademia di Londra, Socio Onorario della I. R. Accademia di Belle Arti, in Venezia. "Questo Corpo Accademico quanto industrioso nel non avvilir prodigandoli i proprii omaggi, altrettanto giusto nel renderli a chi li merita, si recò a gloria di tributare un contrassegno specioso di stima alla S. V. acclamandola a suo Socio Onorario. "Niuno più di me poteva applaudire siffatta nomina, che se da un canto va a crescere il lustro di questo Istituto, suggella dall' altro i titoli singolari ch' Ella ha acquistati col sapere, e coi meriti ad una perenne celebrità. "Possa io, nel farmi relatore a Lei del voto Accademico, esserlo del di Lei aggradimento a chi con tanta spontaneità, e pienezza lo ha espresso; ed Ella mi creda quale col più profondo rispetto mi onoro di essere. L. CICOGNARA, Presid. dell' Accad. "Dalla I. R. Accademia di Belle Arti, Venezia, 11 Maggio, 1823." I may here remark, that in Venice, certainly not the school of a severe style, or of chaste colouring, Lawrence's pencil is deemed rather exuberant of colour, whilst at Florence he is considered deficient in drawing, an absurd imputation, in which some of our most eminent countrymen residing in that city were pleased to avow their concurrence. The Academy, "Accademia Pontificia," of the Fine Arts at Bologna, very soon followed the example of that of Venice. The diploma is rather more courteous than the others, as it commences, "Si reca a gloria questà Pontificia Accademia di aggregare al suo Corpo nella qualita di Accademici d'onore, &c. &c." The election took place on the 19th of March, and the diploma is signed on the 31st of March, 1824. The last of the Italian Academies that conferred any honorary degree upon our countryman, was that of Turin. The diploma is dated 14 March, 1826. It was transmitted with the following letter: "Reale Accademia delle Belle Arti di Torino. "CHIARISSIMO Signore, "Frà gli atti coi quali La Maestà del Rè nostro Signore ha inteso di provvedere, pel maggior Lustro dell' antichissima da lui recentemente instaurata Torinese Accademia delle Belle Arti, e la creazione di quella Classe di Accademici, nella quale vi è compreso il picciol numero di quei più insigni professori delle arti del disegno, de' quali il nome va più glorioso nelle varie contrade della dotta Europa. "Tanto per ciò, maggiormente onorevole per me riesce il carico di trasmettere, come fò con questo mio foglio, a V. S. chiarissima, il diploma per cenno Sovrano, spedito dal Gran Ciamberlano di S. M. nostro Eccellentissimo Presidente il Marchese Asinari di S. Marzano, e col quale, nella detta Classe, è stata così meritamente ascritta La S. V. Chiarissima. "E ben mi sarà grato, dippoi che le piaccia aver me, come sempre ho ambito di essere annoverato, trà le persone che le professano, non che reveenza ed ossequio, schietta e pienissima Servitù, co' quali sensi appunto me le dedico. Devotmo. obbedmo. Servitore e Collega, CAV. CESARE Saluzzo. "Torino li 14 Marzo, 1826." SIR TOMAS LAWRENCE. Of the sovereigns of Germany, only two conferred similar honours on Sir Thomas LawChristian Frederick the sixth, King of Denmark, elected him an honorary member of the Danish Academy, by a diploma, bearing his rence. VOL. II. с royal sign manual, dated in the ides of December-" Decembribus, Idibus, 1823." It will be seen, that Sir Thomas was in the act of painting Mrs. Calmady's children when this document unexpectedly arrived. It is very sensibly composed in Latin, the immutable language, best adapted to give general currency and permanency to documents addressed solely to the learned. The Emperor of Austria's diploma is of prior date-22 March, 1820. "Wien den 22ten Marz im Jahre Tausend Acht hundert und Zwanzig." This diploma does not bear the royal sign manual, like those of England and Denmark; it is merely signed by the president and secretary of the Royal Academy of Vienna. It now only remains to notice the honours conferred upon him by the King of France. The following letter from the Duke de Rochefoucault first informed Sir Thomas Lawrence, that his most Christian Majesty had conferred upon him, probably the most unobjectionable honour of Europe, in reference to the fine principle upon which the order was established, and the noble deviation which it formed from the hackneyed orders of knighthood in other kingdoms, and which were, in fact, little else than the orders of courts, in contradistinction to orders of merit. Lord Byron's apostrophe to the Star of the Legion of Honour must be well remembered— "Star of the brave-whose beam has shed Thou radiant and adored deceit ! Which millions rushed in arms to greet- Why rise in heaven to set in earth?" Before this star, however, was granted to Lawrence, we must say with the noble poet- "Star of the brave-thy ray is pale !" The painting particularly alluded to in the Duke's letter, was the portrait of Mrs. Calmady's children, a work which peculiarly captivated the French. "Ministère de la Maison du Roi. -Département des Beaux Arts. "Paris, le 26 Janvier, 1825. "Le Roi de France, Monsieur, en visitant au Louvre les productions des peintres modernes, a remarqué parmi les tableaux dignes de fixer son attention, ceux que vous avez envoyés à ce brilliant concours, et pour donner un témoignage de la satisfaction qu'il en a éprouvé, il a voulu, que leur auteur, participat aux récompenses qu'il s'est |