and I hope to present some of them to
the Reader in the progress of the present work.

When the sun shines, small portraits can be obtained by my process in one
or two seconds, but large portraits require a somewhat longer time. When
the weather is dark and cloudy, a corresponding allowance is necessary,
and a greater demand is made upon the patience of the sitter. Groups of
figures take no longer time to obtain than single figures would require,
since the Camera depicts them all at once, however numerous they may be:
but at present we cannot well succeed in this branch of the art without
some previous concert and arrangement. If we proceed to the City, and
attempt to take a picture of the moving multitude, we fail, for in a small
fraction of a second they change their positions so much, as to destroy
the distinctness of the representation. But when a group of persons has
been artistically arranged, and trained by a little practice to maintain
an absolute immobility for a few seconds of time, very delightful pictures
are easily obtained. I have observed that family groups are especial
favourites: and the same five or six individuals may be combined in so
many varying attitudes, as to give much interest and a great air of
reality to a series of such pictures. What would not be the value to our
English Nobility of such a record of their ancestors who lived a century
ago? On how small a portion of their family picture galleries can they
really rely with confidence!

[PLATE XV. LACOCK ABBEY IN WILTSHIRE.]

PLATE XV. LACOCK ABBEY IN WILTSHIRE.

PLATE XV. LACOCK ABBEY IN WILTSHIRE.

One of a series of views representing the Author's country seat in
Wiltshire. It is a religious structure of great antiquity, erected early
in the thirteenth century, many parts of which are still remaining in
excellent preservation. This plate gives a distant view of the Abbey,
which is seen reflected in the waters of the river Avon. The spectator is
looking to the North West.

The tower which occupies the South-eastern comer of the huilding is
believed to be of Queen Elizabeth's time, but the lower portion of it is
much older, and coeval with the first foundation of the abbey.

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In my first account of "The Art of Photogenic Drawing," read to the Royal
Society in January, 1839, I mentioned this building as being the first
"that was ever