Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 32.djvu/285

Lawrence Bristol, on 4 May 1769, and was the youngest of sixteen children, most of whom died in infancy. His father was the son of a presbyterian minister, and had been well educated and articled to a solicitor; but when his articles had expired he preferred idleness and verse-making to the pursuit of his profession. During a varied career he was at different periods an actor and a supervisor of excise, and made a runaway match with Lucy, daughter of William Read, vicar of Tenbury and rector of Rocheford, both in Worcestershire. He had sunk to be the landlord of the White Lion in Broad Street, Bristol, when his son Thomas was born. This venture not prospering, he removed in 1772 to the Black Bear Inn at Devizes, at that time a favourite resting-place of the gentry on their way to Bath. Here the precocious talents of his youngest son soon formed a notable feature of the entertainment provided for his guests. The father taught him to recite passages from Pope, Collins, and Milton, standing on a table before his customers. Thomas, moreover, developed early an astonishing talent for drawing, so that when he was but five years old his father usually introduced him to his visitors with ' Gentlemen, here's my son. Will you have him recite from the poets or take your portraits?' Apart from these accomplishments, he appears to have been a boy of spirit, fond of athletic games, with a passion for pugilism. The earliest portraits of which there is a distinct record are those of Mr. and Mrs. (afterwards Lord and Lady) Kenyon, which were drawn in 1775, the lady in profile, because, the child said, ' her face was not straight.' About this time he was sent to his only school at 'The Fort.' near Bristol, which was kept by a Mr. Jones. With the exception of a few lessons in fVench and Latin from a dissenting minister in Devizes named Jervis, this was the only regular education he received ; but it would appear from an anecdote related of him in mature life that he had some acquaintance with Greek.

Notwithstanding the gentlemanly manners of the father, who was always fashionably dressed, and the astonishing talents of his beautiful boy, with his bright eyes and long chestnut hair, the Black Bear did not succeed much better than the White Lion, and when Lawrence was ten years old or a little more the family left Devizes. It is hinted that the infant prodigy was too much pressed upon the attention of the ordinary guests ; but his talents were too decided not to attract the attention of the more intelligent. Among these are noted the names of Garrick, Foote, Wilkes, Sheridan, Burke, Johnson, Churchill, Sir William Chambers, and Mrs. Siddons. Prince Hoare [q. v.] not only praised the drawing of Lawrence's hands and eyes, but painted his portrait at the age of seven (or ten), which was engraved by Snerwin and exhibited at the Royal Academy. Before he left Devizes he had been taken to Lord Pembroke's at Wilton, and to Corsham House, the seat of the Methuens, where he was permitted to study some copies of 'old masters,' of which he made imitations at home, apparently from memory. One of these, 'Peter denying Christ,' is particularly mentioned by the Hon. Dairies Barrington. He was also taken to London when about ten years old by Hugh Boyd, and introduced at several houses, where he displayed his talents. From the time they left Devizes young Lawrence's pencil seems to have been the main support of the family. After successful visits to Oxford, where he took the likenesses of the most eminent persons of the university, and to Weymouth, the Lawrences settled at Bath, to their great benefit. His brother Andrew obtained the lectureship of St. Michael's, and contributed to the family income. His sisters after a while obtained employment, one as companion to the daughters of Sir Alexander Crawford, and the other at a school at Sutton Coldfield, Warwickshire, while Thomas soon became recognised, not only as a prodigy, but as an artist of taste and elegance, and his price was soon raised from a guinea to a guinea and a half. His portraits were mostly half-life size and oval, and executed in crayons. One in pencil of Mrs. Siddons as Zara and another of Admiral Barrington were engraved, and the same honour was paid later to another drawing of Mrs. Siddons as Aspasia. To his attractions as an artist and a reciter were added those of personal beauty and agreeable manners. The beautiful Duchess of Devonshire patronised him, Sir H. Harpur wished to adopt him as a son, and William Hoare, R.A., proposed to paint him as a Christ. His studio (2 Alfred Street, Bath), before he was twelve years old, was the favourite resort of the beauty and fashion of Bath. Here he also made the acquaintance of Ralph Price. He had, nevertheless, an inclination for the stage, as a readier means of assisting his family ; but this his more prudent fatner, with the assistance of Bernard the actor, adroitly contrived to divert. At the house of the Hon. Mr. Hamilton on Lansdowne Hill he copied (in crayons on glass) some copies of 'The Transfiguration' of Raphael, 'The Aurora' of Guido, and 'The Descent from the Cross' of Daniel de Volterra, and in 1784 he obtained a