Henry Edward Manning, at the age of four, had his portrait taken by a
miniature-painter, who depicted him upon a cliff above the sea, absorbed
in listening to the murmur of a shell. This most interesting picture of
the future Cardinal, together with companion portraits of his little
brothers and sisters, long hung upon the wall of the library of his
father's house at Totteridge. But one night the house was broken into by
a gang of burglars, and, among other valuables, the miniatures were
carried off. The vexation of the family was extreme; but by a curious
freak of fortune the portraits were at length discovered in an old
curiosity shop in London, and, after years of absence, resumed their old
position on the library wall. The second of our portraits shows the
future Cardinal as Archdeacon of Chichester, at a time when he was
universally regarded as one of the strongest pillars of the English
Church. Alas for human foresight! Seven years later, on Passion Sunday,
1851, he felt himself compelled to make the great renunciation, and laid
before the footstool of the Pope the costly offering of such a character
as in its blend of saintly life, of strength of intellect, of eloquence
alike of tongue and pen, and of unrivalled knowledge of the world, has
rarely been bestowed on any of the sons of men.
For these portraits we are indebted to the courtesy of Cardinal Manning,
of Mr. Wilfred Meynell, and of Messrs. Henry Graves & Co., Pall Mall.