copy in the Print Room of the British Museum. This Club commenced, say the Editors (the late Sir Thomas Dyke Acland and Sir James Buller East), "with a few College friends, who lived together in the most cordial intimacy at Christ Church during the years 1805-6-7-8, and most of whom, after leaving Oxford, re-assembled in Edinburgh for attendance on the lectures of Dugald Stewart, Playfair, Hope, and other distinguished Professors of that University." In the winter of 1812-13 was laid the foundation of the present Society. The entire number enrolled from 1812-13 to 1863 was 155, and the living members in the latter year were 80, of whom 55 assembled on the 6th May to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the Club, under the Presidency of the late Earl of Derby. The meetings have always taken place at Grillion's Hotel, Albemarle Street, W., whence the name of the Club. The 66 portraits by Slater were engraved by F. C. Lewis, R. J. Lane, and other artists.

The collection took its rise from a commission given to him by Sir T. Dyke Acland in 1819 to execute the portraits of some twenty ChristChurch and other friends. In or about 1824 the Members of the Club whose portraits had thus been taken, agreed each to cause his own to be engraved, and to present it to the rest. Since that time, it has been the rule that each Member who shall present his own engraved portrait to the Club shall be entitled to the complete collection, which is not to be obtained on any other terms. In the rare cases in which copies of the completed volumes have occurred for sale, they have brought very high prices. The portraits in the second volume are 67, five by Slater and 62 by George Richmond, R.A., to whom, on the death of Slater, his commission was transferred, and by whom it was held with universal approval until his resignation in 1864. Mr. Slater died in or about 1836. His "Grillion Portraits," embracing many of the most distinguished men of his day, will probably be the works by which he will be best remembered.

XXIV.

PORTRAIT BY LESLIE. 1824.

A half-length, painted by C. R. Leslie, R.A., in 1824, for Mr. Ticknor of Boston, New England, is now in that gentleman's possession. I never saw this picture in its finished state, but the beginning promised well, and I am assured it is worthy of the artist's high reputation. It has not been engraved-in this country, I mean-but a reduced copy of it furnished an indifferent print for one of the Annuals.”—LOCKHART.

Mr. George Ticknor, the accomplished author of the History of Spanish Literature, a native of Boston, Massachusetts, was born August 1, 1791. After spending two or three years on the Continent, he came to Scotland, and was kindly received at Abbotsford, in the year 1819. In a letter, sent through Mr. Constable to Sir Walter Scott, dated at Boston, May 7, 1824, he requested, as a special favour, that Sir Walter would sit for his Portrait, by any artist he chose to employ. Sir Walter having consented, Mr. Constable recommended Mr. Leslie, then a rising artist, who had furnished some admirable designs for Waverley. It was finally arranged that Leslie, for this purpose, should visit Abbotsford in July that year.

GEORGE TICKNOR, Esq., was for several years Professor of Modern Languages and Literature in Harvard College. He died in 1871.

As there seemed some doubt respecting Leslie's portrait, Mr. Ticknor's representatives were communicated with on the subject, and in reply Messrs. James R. Osgood and Co. wrote: "We have applied to the family of the late Mr. George Ticknor for permission to make a photograph of Leslie's portrait of Scott, painted for Mr. Ticknor. During Mr. Ticknor's life, several applications were made to him for photographing and engraving this portrait. These applications were uniformly NO. XXIV.]

declined, and for this reason the family are reluctant to grant any such permission. They have, however, given their consent to the use of photographs for purposes of this Catalogue only, with the understanding that it shall not be engraved, and that only such number of photographs shall be printed as are needed for the Catalogue."

In acknowledging this letter, Mr. Laing, while expressing the thanks of the Committee to Messrs. Osgood and to Mr. Ticknor's family for this obliging offer, said that ordinary photographs would not suit their purpose for Illustration, besides the want of time, as it was then expected that no delay would occur in completing the Catalogue. He requested, however, to be favoured with a description of the portrait, which was complied with in the following polite note :

"BOSTON, July 12, 1872.

"DEAR SIR,-On behalf of the family of the late George Ticknor, Esq., I beg leave to answer the inquiries contained in your letter of June 29, addressed to Messrs. Osgood and Co.

"The Portrait of Sir Walter Scott, by Leslie, is a half-length, shewing both the hands. The figure is seated. The right hand rests upon a staff, the left lies upon the left thigh. It represents him in a morning dress; the coat is green, the waistcoat drab or yellow, the cravat black, the collar limp and turned over. In the upper left-hand corner are the arms of Scott. The dimensions of the canvas are three feet in height and two feet four inches in width. It is an excellent work of art, and the likeness was pronounced by the late Mr. George Combe to be admirable.—Your obedient servant, G. S. HILLARD.

"To D. LAING, ESQ."

It was imagined from the words of Sir David Wilkie, September 15, 1824, that it had been a full-length portrait." Leslie," he says, "is painting a portrait of Sir Walter Scott as large as life." The above description settles the question that the portrait was a half-length, of which Mr. Leslie may have retained a duplicate, besides painting the one for Mr. Constable, from which there are two or three small engravings, in England.

In a volume in the British Museum, containing the Correspondence of Abraham Cooper, Esq., R.A., the celebrated animal painter, and purchased from his widow, February 13, 1869, there are many letters relating to portraits and other illustrations for Sir Walter Scott's works; among