LAWRENCE, Sir Thomas, a celebrated English painter, was born at Bristol, on the 13th of April 1769. His father, who kept an inn, first in Bristol, and afterwards in Devizes, made some pretensions to literary taste, and was in the habit of reciting poetry; an accomplishment which his son acquired at a very early age, as well as that of taking likenesses with striking fidelity. One of the earliest instances recorded of young Lawrence’s genius is to be found in an incident which occurred to Lord and Lady Kenyon, some years previous to the time when the former was elevated to the peerage. Happening to remain for a day at the inn of the elder Lawrence, they were introduced by Boniface to his son, who, he said, “although then only in his fifth year, could recite them poetry or speeches, or take their likenesses.” The visitors agreed that the boy’s skill with the pencil should be put to the test; and the future president having been lifted on the table, and seated in an arm-chair, took their likenesses, with a rapidity, a spirit, and a correctness, which astonished them. With the exception of a few lessons in Latin and French, obtained through a private channel, all the education which young Lawrence received, he acquired between his sixth and eighth year; but his was a mind capable of educating itself, and long ere the young artist attracted public attention, he had treasured up a more than ordinary stock of knowledge. But drawing, particularly taking likenesses, chiefly occupied his attention until he was ten years of age, when he began of his own accord to attempt original compositions of the highest class. The subjects which he chose were of the most ambitious description, such as Peter denying Christ, Haman and Mordecai, and the like. His fame as an artist now spread amongst the fanjilies of distinction in the surrounding counties; and not long afterwards, the Honourable Daines Barrington noticed him in his Miscellanies, as a striking instance “of early genius in children.” The elder Lawrence having failed in business, removed to Bath, where he placed his son for some time with a celebrated crayon painter, under whom he made surprising progress. At this time he executed, at half a guinea each, likenesses of the fashionables of Bath; and this initiatory exercise in drawing individuals in high life, arrayed in their gay and elegant costume, had, doubtless, considerable influence in forming the style of the artist, and preparing him to become the painter of patricians. He now numbered amongst his warm admirers and patrons persons of rank and fortune; but the mostjemarkable incident in his early career, was his receiving the great silver pallet from the Society of Arts, with a present of five guineas. These marks of distinction were conferred upon him for executing in crayons the Transfiguration of Raphael, when he was only thirteen years of age. His large crayon drawings became in great request; and in Oxford, Salisbury, and other places which he visited, he obtained considerable employment for his pencil. When in his sixteenth year, he conceived a strong desire to appear upon the stage; but the remonstrances of his friends induced him to abandon this project; and about a year afterwards, he made his first attempt in oil painting. In 1787 he removed to London, where he availed himself of the public institutions for instruction in his art, and commenced that career which terminated so triumphantly. He was received at the house of Sir Joshua Reynolds, and encouraged by the great head of the English school of art. His admission as a student at the Royal Academy, and his first appearance in the exhibition at Somerset House, soon followed his arrival in the metropolis. Each succeeding year he increased the number of the performances which he sent in; and his reputation growing apace, he was elected an associate of the Royal Academy on the 10th of November 1791.

The death of Sir Joshua Reynolds in 1792 opened up a fair field of competition for aspiring genius; and although Mr Lawrence was then only in his twenty-third year, it soon became apparent that he was destined to bear away the palm from the most gifted artists with whom he had to contend. The Dilettanti Society unanimously chose him as their painter in the room of Sir Joshua; and his majesty George III. also appointed him to succeed the deceased president, as his principal painter in ordinary. On the 10th of February 1794<, Mr Lawrence was elected a royal academician; and employment now flowed upon him from all quarters. He made the most rapid progress in his profession, and his reputation grew steadily until he came to be generally considered as the first portrait painter of the age. An enumeration of the works of this description which he executed would comprehend all the rank, fashion, and intelligence which distinguished the times in which he lived, including those of most of the crowned heads of Europe. The royal family, the nobility and gentry, distinguished men of letters and statesmen, actors and actresses, all sat for their portraits to Lawrence. It may be justly said of him as it was said of Sir Joshua Reynolds, that “he painted three generations of beauties.” In 1815 the Prince Regent conferred on him the honour of knighthood; and in 1818, at the request of the same illustrious individual, he was induced to proceed to Aix-la-Chapelle, to take likenesses of the most distinguished statesmen who had there assembled for diplomatic purposes. Having executed his mission at Aix-la-Chapelle, Sir Thomas proceeded to Vienna, and thence to Rome, where he had an opportunity of contemplating for the first time the great masterpieces of ancient art. During the whole of his residence on the Continent, he was received by the sovereigns of the different countries he visited, and entertained with marked distinction; and the propriety and elegance of his deportment made an impression highly favourable to his character as an English artist and gentleman. After an [7:13:154]absence of eighteen months, he returned to England; but, before reaching his native country, he had been unanimously elected to succeed Mr West as president of the Royal Academy; and this office he continued to hold till his death, which took place on the 7th of January 1830.

In portrait-painting, the branch of art which he made his profession, Sir Thomas Lawrence was the most distinguished artist of the day. He was one of the few English painters who attained a proficiency in their art before visiting Italy, or without studying the old masters; a circumstance which must be attributed to his strong native genius and exquisite taste. The distinguishing characteristic of his style was the power of conveying a faithful resemblance, with, at the same time, a singularly delicate sense of beauty, grace, elegance, and dignity. An able writer thus speaks of him: “No painter who ever lived seemed to have dived more deeply into individual character, as conveyed by the conformation of the visage, and the expression of the features; and none knew more skilfully how to avail himself of the changeful appearances which they betrayed in those conversations which were dexterously introduced during the sitting, and which destroyed or relaxed a rigidity of muscle assumed on such occasions, and which frequently baffles the utmost ingenuity of the artist. In his female portraits (the great test of talent) he had more grace and a greater variety of attitude than Vandyke, although he certainly did not equal him in colouring. It is a general opinion also, among painters, that he had less nature and less breadth than Sir Joshua Reynolds; and that opinion is probably well founded. Sir Thomas, especially in the latter periods of his practice, exhibited more detail in his portraits, and appeared to paint with a smaller pencil, than his illustrious predecessor, who in his effects of light and shade seemed to take Correggio as his model. The hair in Sir Thomas’s pictures was painted in fine masses, in a way peculiar to himself; and his eyes, to the splendour of which he sometimes made great sacrifices, were divine. The late Mr Fuseli, who was by no means a thorough-going admirer even of Sir Thomas, has been heard to say of him, ‘ But he paints eyes better than Titian.’”

His drawing was admirable, and some of his chalk sketches are considered by the best judges as fine as Michel Angelo or Raffaelle 'could have executed. Sir Thomas did not confine himself to portrait-painting alone, but executed paintings of a far higher order of art. Of these it has been observed by Mr Westmacott, “His illustrations of Cato, Coriolanus, and Hamlet, may be considered historical works, and examples of his creative genius, possessing a vigour of imagination, a propriety of sentiment, a breadth and chasteness of composition, worthy to be ranked with the classical and distinguished efforts of the sixteenth century; whilst his more comprehensive powers were displayed in the admirable picture of Satan: all eminent proofs that he possessed talents equal to the accomplishment of the highest designs in the art.” In private life Sir Thomas Lawrence was most exemplary, being-kind and liberal to artists, and ready to encourage rising merit. In discharge of his duties connected with the high station which he filled in relation to the academy, he displayed unremitting diligence and zeal; “and no man,” says an academician, “died with better claims to the respect of his brother members.” (r. R. R.)

Lawrence, St,' a river of North America, and one of the largest in the world. It takes its origin in the magnificent basin of Lake Superior, in Upper Canada, and has a course to the sea of nearly 3000 miles. It is the grand outlet by which the immense Lakes Superior, Huron, Michigan, Erie, and Ontario, pour their surplus waters into the ocean through the Gulf of St Lawrence. The remotest spring of this great river is the stream called St Lewis, in lat. 48. 30. N. and long, about 93. W. From its source the general direction through Lakes Superior and Huron is south-east to Lake Erie, nearly due east from that lake, and then north-east to the sea. It receives in its vast course almost all the rivers that rise in the extensive range of mountains to the northward, called the Land’s Height, which separate the waters falling into Hudson’s Bay from those that descend into the Atlantic, together withall the rivers that have their sources in the ridge which commences on its southern bank, running nearly south-west to where the ridge falls on Lake Champlain. In different parts of its course this great river is known by different names. From the sea to Montreal it is called St Lawrence; from thence to Kingston in Upper Canada, the Cataraqui or Iroquois ; between Lakes Ontario and Erie, the Niagara ; between Lakes Erie and St Clair, the Detroit ; between Lakes St Clair and Huron, the St Clair ; and between Lakes Huron and Superior, the distance is called the Narrows or Falls of St Mary. There is thus formed an uninterrupted connection of upwards of 2000 miles. It is navigable for ships of the line to Quebec, about 400 miles; and to Montreal, a distance of 580 miles from the sea, for ships of 600 tons burden. The distance from Montreal to Lake Ontario is about 200 miles. The breadth of the river between Montreal and Quebec is from half a mile to four miles, the average breadth being about two miles. Below Quebec it gradually widens till it enters the gulf, where, from Cape Rosier to the Mingan settlement on the coast of Labrador, it is about 105 miles in breadth. The St Lawrence discharges annually into the ocean about 4,277,880 millions of tons of fresh water, of which 2,112,120 millions of tons may be reckoned melted snow; the quantity discharged before the thaw comes on being 4512 millions of tons per day for 240 days, and the quantity after the thaw begins being 25,560 millions per day for 125 days, the depth and velocity when in and out of flood being duly considered. Hence, a ton of water being nearly equal to fifty-five cubic yards of pure snow, the St Lawrence frees a country of more than 2000 miles square covered with it to the depth of three feet. The embouchure of this mighty stream is that part of the Gulf of St Lawrence where the island of Anticoti divides the mouth of the river into two branches. The solid contents of the St Lawrence, embracing Lakes Superior, Huron, Michigan, Eric, and Ontario, have been estimated at 1,547,792,360,000 cubic feet, and the superficial area being 72,930 square miles, the water therein would form a cube of nearly twenty-two miles on each side. The river, and the whole country, from the lowest parishes to Quebec, unfold scenery, the magnificence of which, in combination with the most delightful physical beauty, is certainly unequalled in America, and probably in the world. As the eminence is ascended, over which the post-road passes, or in sailing up or down the St Lawrence, there are frequently prospects which open a view of from fifty to one hundred miles of a river from ten to twenty miles in breadth. The imposing features of these vast landscapes exhibit lofty mountains, wide valleys, bold headlands, luxuriant forests, cultivated fields, pretty villages, and settlements (some of them stretching up along the mountains); fertile islands overspread with cottages, pastures, and flocks; rocky islets, and tributary rivers, some of them rolling over precipices, and one of them, Saguenay, like an inland mountain lake, bursting through a perpendicular chasm in the granitic chain; whilst, on the surface of the St Lawrence, majestic ships, large brigs, and vessels and boats of every description, present a spectacle at once sublime and beautiful, and calculated to charm the mind of the beholder. Of course the trade carried on by means of this river is very great. An account of it will be found in the article Canada. (r∙ R∙ R∙) [7:13:155]Lawrence, Gulf of St, the gulf which receives the waters of the numerous lakes and rivers of the Canadian portion of the American continent, and is formed by the western coast of Newfoundland, the eastern shores of Labrador, the eastern extremity of the province of New Brunswick, and by part of Nova Scotia and the island of Cape Breton. It communicates with the Atlantic by three different channels, namely, by the Gut of Canso, which divides Cape Breton from Nova Scotia, by a wider and main channel between Cape North in Cape Breton Isle and Cape Ray in Newfoundland, and by the narrow straits of Belleisle, which separate the coast of Labrador from Newfoundland. The distance from Cape Rosier, Gaspe Bay, to Cape Ray in Newfoundland, is seventy-nine leagues; and from Nova Scotia to Labrador, the distance is one hundred and six leagues. Several islands are situated in the gulf, of which the one most dangerous to navigators is St Paul’s, a small barren isle lying between Newfoundland and Cape Breton. On the south side of the bay is St John’s or Prince Edward’s Island; to the northward are the small Magdalen Islands, eleven in number; north of the Magdalens is Brion’s Island; and beyond this are the Bird Isles or Rocks, the most northerly of which is in lat. 47.50.28. north, and long. 61.12.53. west. On this island it is proposed to erect a light-house.