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last ten years, although there 15 prac tically nothing the matter with his eyes. He 15 a most accomplished linguist, and at his Sunday “ At Homes,” where there are somectimes representatives of many nationalitics and tongucs at his hous, he will converse with them all onc after the other in their own language. His kindness of heart is proverbial ; he never fails to cncourage ;

and he 15 refined geniality itsclf. As an 1nstance of his

kindly spirit for cverybody, a capital story 15 told : On the occastion of a Royal Academy Ex- hibition the Presi-

dent was walking down the stairs of his housce in full

dress, on which two medals were dis- played, to his car- riage, when, wishing to enter a small room 1n the vicinity, he found that the door was locked, It scems that his housckecper, who had only been with him a few days, had hid herself in the little room with a view to catching sight of Sir Frede- rick departing for the Royal Academy. On opening the door she nearly fell into his arms. Sir Fre- derick happily rcal-

1sed the situation, & STUDY FOR A FIGUKE and 1 the most genial manner possible turned himsclt

round and round, and laughingly asked his housckeeper what she thought of him. Sir Frederick Leighton's birth took place at Scarborough on December 3,1830. There seciis to be some little doubt as to which was the house in which this very interest- ing event took place. One thing is certain, that it was situated in Brunswick-terrace. A large private hotel and boarding-house has becn erected on the old site. It seems that the old building was not entirely de-

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molished, but the present one was built over ity the walls of several of the rooms being utilised as they stood. The lady who owns the hotel has stated that when her late husband purchased the place, they were given to understand that Sir IFrederick was born in No. 1 room. The next-door neigh- bour, howecver, claimed for his housce the honour of being connected with Sir Irederick. They de- termined to decide the dispute some years ago by an appeal to the grcat artist himsclf, and wrote to him accord- mely. Hewas, how- cver, unable to de- finitely locate the place of his birth, and so both houscs still claim the dis- tinction,

At a very carly age the future Pre- sident of the Royal Academy cvineed a strong talent for painting. It is a curious fact that whilst both his fathcr and orand- father were doctors, and many other members ol his family were talented I music, with the one exception of his mother's brother nonc of his rclations showed any aptitude for drawing. 1lis parcnts never for a moment doubted his qualifications for an artist, cven at this carly age; they simply decined to trust their own judgment in allowing their boy to follow art as a profession. Stll, little Leighton never lost an opportunity of using his pencil. Every facility was given to him to follow out his inclinations, and his father, being a medical man, naturally saw that his son was well instructed in anatomy. At ten years of age his family went to Rome, and Sir Frederick began taking lessons from Signor Mcli, but it was not until he was fourteen, when in

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