CATALOGUE OF HOGARTH'S PRINTS.[1] (continued 3)

"It is easily discernible that the two females are of different parties. The ballad of God save our noble King, and a print of the Duke of Cumberland, in the basket of the girl, and the cross upon the back of the wife, with the implements of her occupation, sufficiently denote the painter's intention: and, what is truly beautiful, these incidents are applicable to the march.

"The hard-favoured serjeant directly behind, who enjoys the foregoing scene, is not only a good contrast to the youth, but also, with other helps, throws forward the principal figure.

"Upon the right of the grenadier is a drummer, who also has his two Remembrancers, a woman and a boy, the produce of their kinder hours; and who have laid their claim by a violent seizure upon his person. The figure of the woman is that of a complainant, who reminds him of her great applications, as well in sending him clean to guard, as other kind offices done, and his promises to make her an honest woman, which he, base and ungrateful, has forgot, and pays her affection with neglect. The craning of her neck shews her remonstrances to be of the shrill kind, in which she is aided by the howling of her boy. The drummer, who has a mixture of fun and wickedness in his face, having heard as many reproaches as suit his present inclinations, with a bite of his lip, and a leering eye, applies to the instrument of noise in his profession, and endeavours to drown the united clamour; in which he is luckily aided by the ear-piercing fife near him.

"Between the figures before described, but more back in the picture, appears the important but meagre phiz of a Frenchman, in close whisper with an Independent. The first I suppose a spy upon the motion of the army, the other probably drawn into the croud, in order to give intelligence to his brethren, at their next meeting, to commemorate their noble struggle in support of Independency. The Frenchman exhibits a letter, which he assures him contains positive intelligence, that 10000 of his countrymen are landed in England, in support of liberty and independency. The joy with which his friend receives these glorious tidings, causes him to forget the wounds upon his head, which he has unluckily received by a too free and premature declaration of his principles.

"There is a fine contrast in the smile of innocency in the child at the woman's back, compared with the grim joy of a gentleman by it; while the hard countenance of its mother gives a delicacy to the grenadier's girl.

"Directly behind the drummer's quondam spouse, appears a soldier pissing against a shed; and some distortions in his countenance indicate a malady too indelicate to describe; this conjecture is aided by a bill of Dr. Rock's for relief in like cases. Directly over him appears a wench at a wicket, probably drawn there to have a view of the march; but is diverted from her first intention by the appearance of another object directly under her eye, which seems to ingross her whole attention.

"Behind the drummer under the sign of the Adam and Eve are a group of figures; two of which are engaged in the fashionable art of bruising: their equal dexterity is shewn, by sewed-up peepers on one side, and a pate well-sconced on the other. And here the painter has shewn his impartiality to the merit of our noble youths, (whose minds, inflamed with love of glory, appear, not only encouragers of this truly laudable science, but many of them are also great proficients in the art itself,) by introducing a youth of quality, whose face is expressive of those boisterous passions necessary for forming a hero of this kind; and who, entering deep into the scene, endeavours to inspire the combatants with a noble contempt of bruises and broken bones. An old woman, moved by a foolish compassion, endeavours to force through the croud and part the fray, in which design she is stopped by a fellow, who prefers fun and mischief to humanity. Above their heads appears a little man[3] of meagre frame, but full of spirits, who enjoys the combat, and with fists clenched, in imagination deals blow for blow with the heroes. This figure is finely contrasted, by a heavy sluggish fellow just behind. The painter, with a stroke of humour peculiar to himself, has exhibited a figure shrinking under the load of a heavy box upon his back, who, preferring curiosity to ease, is a spectator, and waits in this uneasy state the issue of the combat. Upon a board next the sign, where roots, flowers, &c. were said to be sold, the painter has humorously altered the words, and wrote thereon, Tottenham-Court Nursery; alluding to a bruising-booth in this place, and the group of figures underneath.

"Passing through the turnpike, appears a carriage laden with the implements of war, as drums, halberts, tent-poles, and hoop-petticoats. Upon the carriage are two old women-campaigners, funking their pipes, and holding a conversation, as usual, in fire and smoke. These grotesque figures afford a fine contrast to a delicate woman upon the same carriage, who is suckling a child. This excellent figure evidently proves, that the painter is as capable of succeeding in the graceful style as in the humorous. A little boy laes at the feet of this figure; and the painter, to shew him of martial breed, has placed a small trumpet in his mouth.

"The serious group of the principal figures, in the center, is finely relieved by a scene of humour on the left. Here an officer has seized a milk-wench, and is kissing her in a manner excessively lewd, yet not unpleasing to the girl, if her eye is a proper interpreter of her affections: while the officer's ruffles suffer in this action, the girl pays her price, by an arch soldier, who in her absence of attention to her pails, is filling his hat with milk, and, by his waggish eye, seems also to partake of the kissing scene. A chimney-sweeper's boy with glee puts in a request to the soldier, to supply him with a cap full, when his own turn is served; while another soldier points out the fun to a fellow selling pyes, who, with an inimitable face of simple joy, neglects the care of his goods, which the soldier dexterously removes with his other hand. In the figure of the pye-man, the pencil has exceeded description——here the sounding epithets of prodigious—excellent—wonderful—and all the other terms used by Connoisseurs (when speaking of the beauties of an old picture, where the objects must have lain in eternal obscurity, if not conjured out to the apprehension of the spectator, by the magic of unintelligible description) are too faint to point out its real merit.

"The old soldier divested of one spatter-dash, and near losing the other, and knocked down by all-potent gin, upon calling for t'other cogue, his waggish comrade, supporting him with one hand, endeavours to pour water into his mouth with the other, which the experienced old one rejects with disdain, puts up his hand to his wife who bears the arms and gin-bottle, and who, well acquainted with his taste, is filling a quartern. And here the painter exhibits a sermon upon the excessive use of spirituous liquors, and the destructive consequences attending it: for the soldier is not only rendered incapable of his duty, but (what is shocking to behold) a child begot and conceived in gin, with a countenance emaciated, extends its little arms with great earnestness, and wishes for that liquor, which it seems well acquainted with the taste of. And here, not to dwell wholly upon the beauties of this print, I must mention an absurdity discovered by a professed connoisseur in painting—'Can there,' says he, 'be a greater absurdity than the introducing a couple of chickens so near such a croud—and not only so—but see—their direction is to go to objects it is natural for 'em to shun—is this is knowledge of nature?—absurd to the last degree!'——And here, with an air of triumph, ended our judicious critic. But how great was his surprize, when it was discovered to him, that the said chickens were in pursuit of the hen, which had made her escape into the pocket of a sailor.

"Next the sign-post is an honest tar throwing up his hat, crying 'God bless King George.' Before him is an image of drunken loyalty; who, with his shirt out of his breeches, and bayonet in his hand, vows destruction on the heads of the rebels. A fine figure of a speaking old woman, with a basket upon her head, will upon view tell you what she sells. A humane soldier perceiving a fellow hard-loaded with a barrel of gin upon his back, and stopped by the croud, with a gimblet bores a hole in the head of the cask, and is kindly easing him of a part of his burthen. Near him, is the figure of a fine gentleman in the army. As I suppose the painter designed him without character, I shall therefore only observe, that he is a very pretty fellow, and happily the contemplation of his own dear person guards him from the attempts of the wicked women on his right hand. Upon the right hand of this petit maitre is a licentious soldier rude with a girl, who screams and wreaks her little vengeance upon his face, whilst his comrade is removing off some linen which hangs in his way.

"You will pardon the invention of a new term—I shall include the whole King's Head in the word Cattery, the principal figure of which is a noted fat Covent Garden lady,[4] who, with pious eyes cast up to heaven, prays for the army's success, and the safe return of many of her babes of grace. An officer offers a letter to one of this lady's children, who rejects it; possibly not liking the cause her spark is engaged in, or, what is more probable, his not having paid for her last favour. Above her, a charitable girl is throwing a shilling to a cripple, while another kindly administers a cordial to her companion, as a sure relief against reflection. The rest of the windows are full of the like cattle; and upon the house-top appear three cats, just emblems of the creatures below, but more harmless in their amorous encounters."

There is likewise another explanation in The Old Woman's Magazine, vol. I. p. 182. To elucidate a circumstance, however, in this justly celebrated performance, it is necessary to observe, that near Tottenham Court Nursery was the place where the famous Broughton's amphitheatre for boxing was erected. It has been since taken down, having been rendered useless by the justices not permitting such kind of diversions. This will account for the appearance of the Bruisers at the left hand corner of the print. One of Hogarth's ideas in this performance also needs the assistance of colouring, to render it intelligible. The person to whom the Frenchman is delivering a letter, was meant for an old Highlander in disguise, as appears from the plaid seen through an opening in his grey coat; a circumstance in the print that escaped me, till after I had seen the picture, and perused Rouquet's explanation of this particular circumstance, which I shall add in his own words, with his reflections at the end of it. "A droite du principal group paroit une figure de François, qu'on a voulu representer comme un homme de quelque importance, afin de lui donner plus de ridicule; il parle à un homme dont la nation est indiquée par l'etoffe de sa veste, qui est celle dont s'habillent les habitans des montagnes d'Ecosse: le François semble communiquer à l'Ecossois des lettres qu'il vient de reçevoir, & qui ont rapport à l'evenement qui donne lieu à cette marche. Les Anglois ne se réjouissent jamais bien sans qu'il en coute quelque chose aux François; leur theatre, leur conversation, leurs tableaux, et sur tout ceux de notre peintre, portent toujours cette glorieuse marque de l'amour de la patrie; les romans même sont ornés de traits amusans sur cet ancien sujet; l'excellent auteur de Tom Jones a voulu aussi lâcher les siens. Mais le pretendu mépris pour les François dont le peuple de ce pais-ci fait profession, s'explique selon moi d'une façon fort équivoque. Le mépris suppose l'oubli; mais un objet dont on médit perpetuèllement est un objet dont on est perpetuèllement occupé: la satire constitue une attention qui me feroit soupconner qu'on fait aux François l'honneur de les haïr un peu."

All the off tracts from the faces in the original picture of the March to Finchley, in red chalk on oiled paper, are still preserved.

This representation may be said to contain three portraits, all of which were acknowledged by the artist: a noted French pye-man; one of the young fifers then recently introduced into the army by the Duke of Cumberland; and a chimney-sweeper with an aspect peculiarly roguish. The two latter were hired by Hogarth, who gave each of them half a crown, for his patience in sitting while his likeness was taken. Among the portraits in the March to Finchley (says a correspondent) that of Jacob Henriques may also be discovered. I wish it had been pointed out.

With this plate (of which the very few proofs in aqua-fortis, as well as the finished ones, are highly valuable) no unfair stratagems have been practised, that a number of the various impressions, taken off at different times, might be mistaken for the earliest. On copper nothing is more easy than to cover, alter, efface, or re-engrave an inscription, as often as temporary convenience may require a change in it.[5] Witness, the several copies of The Lottery, three of which exhibit the names of three different publishers: the fourth has none at all.

The possessors of this March to Finchley need not vehemently lament their want of the original. The spirit of it is most faithfully transfused on the copper. As to the colouring, it will hardly delight such eyes are are accustomed to the pictures of Steen or Teniers. To me the painting of the March to Finchley appears hard and heavy, and has much the air of a coloured print.

I should not, on this occasion, omit to add, that Mr. Strange, in his Inquiry into the Rise and Establishment of the Royal Academy of Arts in London, observes, that "the donations in painting which several artists presented to The Foundling Hospital," first led to the idea of those Exhibitions which are at present so lucrative to our Royal Academy, and so entertaining to the publick. Hogarth must certainly be considered as a chief among these benefactors.

1751.

1. Beer-street;[1] two of them, with variations, (the former price 1 s. the latter 1 s. 6 d.), and Gin Lane. The following verses under these two prints are by the Rev. Mr. James Townley, Master of Merchant Taylors School:

Beer-Street. Beer, happy product of our isle, Can sinewy strength impart, And, wearied with fatigue and toil, Can chear each manly heart. Labour and Art, upheld by thee, Successfully advance; We quaff thy balmy juice with glee, And water leave to France. Genius of Health, thy grateful taste Rivals the cup of Jove, And warms each English generous breast With Liberty and Love. Gin-Lane. Gin, cursed fiend! with fury fraught, Makes human race a prey; It enters by a deadly draught, And steals our life away. Virtue and Truth, driven to despair, Its rage compels to fly, But cherishes, with hellish care, Theft, Murder, Perjury. Damn'd cup! that on the vitals preys, That liquid fire contains, Which madness to the heart conveys, And rolls it thro' the veins.

Mr. Walpole observes, that the variation of the butcher lifting the Frenchman in his hand, was an after-thought;[2] but he is mistaken. This butcher is in reality a blacksmith; and the violent hyperbole is found in the original drawing, as well as in the earliest impressions of the plate. The first copies of Beer-street, Gin Lane, and The Stages of Cruelty, were taken off on very thin paper; but this being objected to, they were afterwards printed on thicker. The painter, who in the former of these scenes is copying a bottle from one hanging by him as a pattern, has been regarded as a stroke of satire on John Stephen Liotard, who (as Mr. Walpole observes) "could render nothing but what he saw before his eyes."[3]

It is probable that Hogarth received the first idea for these two prints from a pair of others by Peter Breugel (commonly called Breugel d'enfer, or Hellish Breugel), which exhibit a contrast of a similar kind. The one is entitled La grasse, the other La maigre Cuisine. In the first, all the personages are well-fed and plump; in the second, they are starved and slender. The latter of them also exhibits the figures of an emaciated mother and child, sitting on a straw-mat upon the ground, whom I never saw without thinking on the female, &c. in Gin Lane.[4] In Hogarth, the fat English blacksmith is insulting the gaunt Frenchman; and in Breugel, the plump cook is kicking the lean one out of doors. Our artist was not unacquainted with the works of this master, as will appear by an observation on the Lilliputians giving Gulliver a clyster.

On the subject of these two plates, and the four following ones, was published a stupid pamphlet, intituled, "A Dissertation on Mr. Hogarth's Six Prints lately published, viz. Gin-Lane, Beer-street, and The Four Stages of Cruelty, Containing, I. A genuine narrative of the horrible deeds perpetrated by that fiery dragon, Gin; the wretched and deplorable condition of its votaries and admirers; the dreadful havock and devaluation it has made amongst the human species; its pernicious effects on the soldiers, sailors, and mechanicks of this kingdom; and its poisonous and pestilent qualities in destroying the health, and corrupting the morals of the people. II. Useful observations on wanton and inhuman cruelty, severely satirizing the practice of the common people in sporting with the lives of animals. Being a proper key for the right apprehension of the author's meaning in those designs. Humbly inscribed to the Right Honourable Francis Cockayne, Esq; Lord Mayor of the City of London, and the worshipful Court of Aldermen, who have so worthily distinguished themselves in the measures they have taken to suppress the excessive use of spirituous liquors. London: Printed for B. Dickinson on Ludgate-Hill. 1751. Price one shilling;" and eleven pence three farthings too dear, being compiled out of Reynolds's "God's Revenge against Murder," &c.

2. The Stages of Cruelty, in four prints. Designed by Wm. Hogarth, price 4 s. Of the two latter of these there are wooden plates[1] on a large scale, Inv^d. and published by Wm. Hogarth, Jan. 1, 1750. J. Bell sculp. They were done by order of our artist, who wished to diffuse the salutary example they contain, as far as possible, by putting them within the reach of the meanest purchaser; but finding this mode of executing his design was expensive beyond expectation, he proceeded no further in it, and was content to engrave them in his own coarse, but spirited manner. Impressions from the wooden blocks are to be had at Mrs. Hogarth's house in Leicester-fields. This set of prints, however, is illustrated with the following verses:

First Stage of Cruelty. While various scenes of sportive woe The infant race employ, And tortur'd Victims bleeding shew The tyrant in the boy; Behold! a youth of gentler heart, To spare the Creature's pain,[2] O take, he cries—take all my tart, But tears and tart are vain. Learn from this fair example—you, Whom savage sports delight, How Cruelty disgusts the view, While pity charms the sight. Second Stage of Cruelty. The generous steed, in hoary age, Subdu'd by labour lies; And mourns a cruel master's rage, While Nature strength denies. The tender Lamb, o'erdrove and faint, Amidst expiring throes, Bleats forth it's innocent complaint, And dies beneath the blows. Inhuman wretch! say whence proceeds This coward Cruelty? What int'rest springs from barb'rous deeds What joy from misery? III. Cruelty in Perfection. To lawless Love when once betray'd, Soon crime to crime succeeds; At length beguil'd to Theft, the maid By her beguiler bleeds. Yet learn, seducing man, not night With all its sable cloud, Can skreen the guilty deed from sight: Foul Murder cries aloud. The gaping wounds, the blood-stain'd steel, Now shock his trembling soul: But oh! what pangs his breast must feel, When Death his knell shall toll. IV. The Reward of Cruelty. Behold, the Villain's dire disgrace Not death itself can end: He finds no peaceful burial-place; His breathless corse, no friend, Torn from the root, that wicked Tongue, Which daily swore and curst! Those eye-balls, from their sockets wrung, That glow'd with lawless lust. His heart, exposed to prying eyes, To pity has no claim; But, dreadful! from his bones shall rise His monument of shame.[3]

3. Boys peeping at Nature, with Variations.

Receipt for Moses brought to Pharaoh's Daughter, and St. Paul before Felix.

The burlesque Paul, &c. being the current receipt for these two prints, I know not why our artist should have altered and vamped up his Boys peeping at Nature (see p. 188.) for the same purpose. This plate was lately found at Mrs. Hogarth's, but no former impressions from it appear to have been circulated. It might have been a first thought, before the idea of its ludicrous successor occurred. Hogarth, however, with propriety, effaced all the wit in his original design, before he meant to offer it as a prologue to his uninteresting serious productions.

4. Paul before Felix, designed and scratched in the true Dutch taste, by W. Hogarth. This was the receipt for Pharaoh's daughter, and for the serious Paul and Felix; and is a satire on Dutch pictures. It also contains, in the character of a serjeant tearing his brief, a portrait of Hume Campbell, who was not over-delicate in the language he used at the bar to his adversaries and antagonists. This, however, is said by others to be the portrait of William King,[1] LL. D. Principal of St. Mary Hall, Oxford. In a variation of this print, the Devil is introduced sawing off a leg of the stool on which Paul stands. In the third impression, as is noted in the collection sold last at Christie's, "Hogarth has again taken out the Devil. By these variations of Devil and no Devil, he glances at Collectors, who give great prices for such rarities; and perhaps he had in his eye the famous print of the Shepherd's Offering by Poilly, after Guido, which sells very dear, without the Angels." This, however, is erroneous. After the dæmon was once admitted, he was never discarded. The plate in Mrs. Hogarth's keeping confirms my assertion. In the first proof of Poilly's Shepherd's Offering, the angels are lightly sketched in; in the finished proof they are totally omitted; but were afterwards inserted. There are similar variations relative to the arms at the bottom of it.

Of this burlesque Paul, &c. none were originally intended for sale; but our artist gave them away to such of his acquaintance, &c. as begged for them. The number of these petitioners, however, increasing every day, he resolved at last to part with no copies of it at a less price than five shillings.[2] All the early proofs were stained by himself, to give them that tint of age which is generally found on the works of Rembrandt. Of this plate, however, there are two impressions. The inscription under the first is "Paul before Felix. Design'd and scratch'd in the true Dutch taste by &c." Under the second, "Designed and etch'd in the ridiculous manner of Rembrant, &c." From the former of these Hogarth took off a few reverses. He must have been severely mortified when he found his ludicrous representation of Paul before Felix was more coveted and admired than his serious painting on the same subject.

1752.

1. Paul before Felix, from the original painting in Lincoln's-Inn Hall, painted by W. Hogarth. "There is much less Dignity in this, than Wit in the preceding." Under the inscription to the first impressions of this plate is "Published Feb. 5, 1752. Engraved by Luke Sullivan." To the second state of it was added the quotation which, in p. 64, I have printed from Dr. Joseph Warton's Essay on the Genius of Pope. It was covered with paper in the third impression, and entirely effaced in the fourth.

2. The same, "as first designed, but the wife of Felix was afterwards omitted, because St. Paul's hand was very improperly placed before her." I have seen a copy of it, on which Hogarth had written, "A print off the plate that was set aside as insufficient. Engraved by W. H." On the appearance of Dr. Warton's criticism on this plate, Hogarth caused the whole of it to be engraved under both this and the next mentioned print, without any comment.

3. Moses brought to Pharaoh's daughter, from a picture at The Foundling Hospital. Engraved by W. Hogarth and Luke Sullivan.

In the early impressions from this plate (exclusive of its necessary and usual inscription) the words "Published February 5, 1752, according to Act of Parliament," and "W. Hogarth pinxit," are found. In subsequent copies they are obliterated; and we have only "Published as the Act directs" in their room. These were left out, however, only to make room for the quotation from Dr. Warton's book already mentioned.[1]

1753.

1. Columbus breaking the egg. "The subscription-ticket to his Analysis." First payment 5 s. Hogarth published this print as a sarcasm on those artists who had been inclined to laugh at his boasted line of beauty, as a discovery which every one might have made.

2. Analysis of Beauty. Two plates. Mr. Walpole observes, that Hogarth's "samples of grace in a young lord and lady are strikingly stiff and affected. They are a Bath beau and a county beauty." The print is found in three different states. "In the original plate the principal figure represented the present king, then prince, but Hogarth was desired to alter it. The present figure was taken from the last duke of Kingston; yet, though like him, is stiff, and far from graceful."[1] In Plate I. Fig. 19. the fat personage drest in a Roman habit, and elevated on a pedestal, was designed, as Hogarth himself acknowledged, for a ridicule on Quin in the character of Coriolanus. Essex the dancing-master is also represented in the act of endeavouring to reduce the graceful attitude of Antinous to modern stiffness. Fig. 20. was likewise meant for the celebrated Desnoyer, dancing in a grand ballet.

Dr. Beattie, speaking of the modes of combination, by which incongruous qualities may be presented to the eye, or the fancy, so as to provoke laughter, observes "A country dance of men and women, like those exhibited by Hogarth in his Analysis of Beauty, could hardly fail to make a beholder merry, whether he believed their union to be the effect of design or accident. Most of those persons have incongruities of their own in their shape, dress, or attitude, and all of them are incongruous in respect of one another; thus far the assemblage displays contrariety or want of relation: and they are all united in the same dance; and thus far they are mutually related. And if we suppose the two elegant figures removed, which might be done without lessening the ridicule, we should not easily discern any contrast of dignity and meanness in the group that remains.

"Almost the same remarks might be made on The Enraged Musician, another piece of the same great master, of which a witty author quaintly says, that it deafens one to look at it. This extraordinary group forms a very comical mixture of incongruity and relation; of incongruity, owing to the dissimilar employment and appearances of the several persons, and to the variety and dissonance of their respective noises; and of relation, owing to their being all united in the same place, and for the same purpose of tormenting the poor fidler. From the various sounds co-operating to this one end, the piece becomes more laughable, than if their meeting were conceived to be without any particular destination; for the greater number of relations, as well as of contrarieties, that take place in any ludicrous assembly, the more ludicrous it will generally appear. Yet, though this group comprehends not any mixture of meanness and dignity, it would, I think, be allowed to be laughable to a certain degree, merely from the juxta-position of the objects, even though it were supposed to be accidental." Essay on Laughter and Ludicrous Composition, 4to Edit. 608.

"I have no new books, alas! to amuse myself or you; so can only return yours of Hogarth's with thanks. It surprized me agreeably; for I had conceived the performance to be a set of prints only, whereas I found a book which I did not imagine Hogarth capable of writing; for in his pencil I always confided, but never imagined his pen would have afforded me so much pleasure. As to his not fixing the precise degree of obliquity, which constitutes beauty, I forgive him, because I think the task too hard to be performed literally: but yet he conveys an idea between his pencil and his pen, which makes one conceive his meaning pretty well." Lady Luxborough's Letters, p. 380.

I shall here transcribe as much from the Analysis as is necessary to communicate our artist's design relative to the various figures that compose the country-dance in the second plate. The reader who neither possesses the book, nor wishes to accompany the author throughout his technical explanations, may desire some intelligence concerning the present subject.

"CHAP. XIV.

"Of Attitude.

"—As two or three lines at first are sufficient to shew the intention of an attitude, I will take this opportunity of presenting my reader with the sketch of a country-dance, in the manner I began to set out the design; in order to shew how few lines are necessary to express the first thoughts as to different attitudes [see fig. 71. T. p. 2.], which describe, in some measure, the several figures and actions, mostly of the ridiculous kind, that are represented in the chief part of plate II.

"The most amiable person may deform his general appearance by throwing his body and limbs into plain lines; but such lines appear still in a more disagreeable light in people of a particular make; I have therefore chose such figures as I thought would agree best with my first score of lines, fig. 71.

"The two parts of curves next to 71, served for the old woman and her partner at the farther end of the room. The curve and two strait lines at right angles gave the hint for the fat man's sprawling posture. I next resolved to keep a figure within the bounds of a circle, which produced the upper part of the fat woman between the fat man and the aukward one in a bag-wig, for whom I had made a sort of an X. The prim lady, his partner, in the riding habit, by pecking back her elbows, as they call it, from the waist upwards, made a tolerable D, with a straight line under it, to signify the scanty stiffness of her petticoat; and a Z stood for the singular position the body makes with the legs and thighs of the affected fellow in the tye-wig; the upper part of his plump partner was confined to an O, and this, changed into a P, served as a hint for the straight lines behind.[2] The uniform diamond of a card was filled by the flying dress, &c. of the little capering fellow in the Spencer wig; whilst a double L marked the parallel position of his poking partner's hands and arms [N. B. This figure was copied from that of an uncouth young female whom Hogarth met with at Isleworth assembly]: and, lastly, the two waving lines were drawn for the more genteel turns of the two figures at the hither end.

"The drawing-room is also ornamented purposely with such statues and pictures as may serve to a farther illustration. Henry VIII. [Fig. 72. P. 2] makes a perfect X with his legs and arms; and the position of Charles [Fig. 51. P. 2.] is composed of less-varied lines than the statue of Edward VI. [Fig. 73. P. 2.]; and the medal over his head is in the like kind of lines; but that over Q. Elizabeth, as well as her figure, is in the contrary; so are also the two other wooden figures at the end. Likewise the comical posture of astonishment expressed by following the direction of one plain curve, as the dotted line in a French print of Sancho, where Don Quixote demolishes the puppet-show [Fig. 75. R. P. 2], is a good contrast to the effect of the serpentine lines in the fine turn of the Samaritan woman [Fig. 75. L. p. 2.] taken from one of the best pictures Annibal Carache ever painted."

Respecting the plate numbered I. there are no variations. In its companion the changes repeatedly made as to the two principal figures are more numerous than I had at first observed. It may, however, be sufficient for me to point out some single circumstance in each, that may serve as a mark of distinction. In the first, the principal female has scarce any string to her necklace; in the second it is lengthened; and still more considerably increased in the third. In the first and second editions also of this plate, between the young lord and his partner (and just under the figure of the man who is pointing out the stateliness of some of K. Henry VIIIth's proportions to a lady), is a vacant easy chair. In the third impression this chair is occupied by a person asleep. I have lately been assured that this country-dance was originally meant to have formed one of the scenes in the Happy Marriage. The old gentleman hastening away his daughter, while the servant is putting on his spatter-dashes, seems to countenance the supposition; and having since examined the original sketch in oil, which is in Mr. Ireland's possession, I observe that the dancing-room is terminated by a large old-fashioned bow-window, a circumstance perfectly consistent with the scenery of the wedding described in p. 46, &c.

I may add, that in this picture, the couple designed for specimens of grace, appear, not where they stand in the print, but at the upper end of the room: and so little versed was our painter in the etiquette of a wedding-ball, that he has represented the bride dancing with the bridegroom.[3]

When Hogarth shewed the original painting, from which this dance has been engraved, to my informant, he desired him to observe a pile of hats in the corner, all so characteristic of their respective owners, that they might with ease be picked out, and given to the parties for whom they were designed.

3. The Political Clyster. Nahtanoi Tfiws.[1] Dr. O'Gearth sculp. Nll Mrrg. Cht Nf. ndw Lps ec ple &c. &c. shd b. Prgd. See Gulliver's Speech to the Honble. House of Vulgaria in Lilliput.

This was originally published about 1727, or 1728, under the title of "The punishment inflicted on Lemuel Gulliver, by applying a Lilypucian Fire Engine to his posteriors for his urinal profanation of the Royal Pallace at Mildendo; which was intended as a Frontispiece to his first volume, but omitted. HogEarth sculp." The superiority of the impressions thus inscribed is considerable.[2]

More than the general idea of this print is stolen from another by Hellish Breugel, whom I have already mentioned in a remark on Beer-street, and Gin-lane. The Dutchman has represented a number of pigmies delivering a huge giant from a load of fæces. His postern is thrust out, like that of Gulliver, to favour their operations. Breugel has no less than three prints on this subject, with considerable variations from each other.

"When Hogarth's topics were harmless," says Mr. Walpole, "all his touches were marked with pleasantry and fun. He never laughed, like Rabelais, at nonsense that he imposed for wit; but, like Swift, combined incidents that divert one from their unexpected encounter, and illustrate the tale he means to tell. Such are the hens roosting on the upright waves in the scene of the Strollers, and the devils drinking porter on the altar." The print now before us is, however, no very happy exemplification of our critick's remark.

1754.

1. Crowns, mitres, maces, &c. A subscription-ticket for the Election entertainment. This print has been already described. See p. 39. The engraved forms of a receipt annexed to it do not always agree. In one copy (which I suppose to be the eldest) it contains an acknowledgement for "Five Shillings, being the first payment for a print representing an Election Entertainment, which I promise to deliver, when finished, on the receipt of five shillings and sixpence more." The second is for "one guinea, being the first payment for four prints of an Election, which I promise, &c. on the receipt of one guinea more." The third for "fifteen shillings, being the first, &c. for three prints, &c. on the payment of sixteen shillings and sixpence more."

2. Frontispiece to Kirby's Perspective.[1] Engraved by Sullivan. Satire on false perspective. Motto, "Whoever maketh a design without the knowledge of Perspective, will be liable to such absurdities as are shewn in this frontispiece." The occasion of engraving the plate arose from the mistakes of Sir E. Walpole, who was learning to draw without being taught perspective. To point out in a strong light the errors which would be likely to happen from the want of acquaintance with those principles, this design was produced. It was afterwards given to Kirby, who dedicated Dr. Brook Taylor's Method of Perspective to Mr. Hogarth. The above anecdote is recorded on the authority of the gentleman already mentioned. The plate, after the first quantity of impressions had been taken from it, was retouched, but very little to its advantage. Mr. S. Ireland has the original sketch.

1755.

1. Four prints of an Election.[1] These, by Hogarth, came out at different times, viz. Plate I. Feb. 24, 1755 (inscribed to the Right Hon. Henry Fox); Plate II. Feb. 20, 1757, (to his Excellency Sir Charles Hanbury Williams, Ambassador to the Court of Russia); Plate III. Feb. 20, 1758, (to the Hon. Sir Edward Walpole, Knight of the Bath); Plate IV. Jan. 1, 1758, (to the Hon. George Hay,[2] one of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty). The original pictures are now in the possession of Mrs. Garrick, at Hampton. The inscription on the banner, "Give us our eleven days," alludes to the alteration of the Style in 1752; in which year, from the 2d to the 14th of September, eleven days were not reckoned by act of parliament. In the election-dinner, Mr. Hogarth assured the writer of this paragraph, that there is but one at table intended for a real portrait and that is the Irish gentleman [the present Sir John Parnell, nephew to the poet, and remarkable for a very flat nose], who is diverting the company by a face drawn with a burnt cork upon the back of his hand, while he is supposed to be singing—An old woman cloathed in grey. This gentleman (then an eminent attorney) begged it as a favour; declaring, at the same time, he was so generally known, that the introduction of his face would be of service to our artist in the sale of his prints at Dublin. Notwithstanding Hogarth's assertion, the handsome candidate is pronounced to be the late Thomas Potter, esq. and the effigy, seen through the window, with the words "No Jews" about its neck, to be meant for the late Duke of Newcastle. Of yet another real personage we receive notice, from a pamphlet intituled "The last Blow, or an unanswerable vindication of the Society of Exeter College, in reply to the Vice-chancellor Dr. King, and the writers of The London Evening Post." 4to. 1755. p. 21.—"The next character, to whose merits we would do justice, is the Rev. Dr. C—ff—t (Cofferat). But as it is very difficult to delineate this fellow in colours sufficiently strong and lively, it is fortunate for us and the Doctor, that Hogarth has undertaken that task. In the print of an Election Entertainment, the publick will see the Doctor represented sitting among the freeholders, and zealously eating and drinking for the sake of the New Interest. His venerable and humane aspect will at once bespeak the dignity and benevolence of his heart. Never did alderman at Guildhall devour custard with half such an appearance of love to his country, or swallow ale with so much the air of a patriot. These circumstances the pencil of Mr. Hogarth will undoubtedly make manifest; but it is much to be lamented, that his words also cannot appear in this print, and that the artist cannot delineate that persuasive flow of eloquence which could prevail upon Copyholders to abjure their base tenures, and swear themselves Freeholders. But this oratory (far different from the balderdash of Tully and Dr. King, concerning liberty and our country) as the genius of mild ale alone could inspire, this fellow alone could deliver."—The very paper of tobacco, inscribed "Kirton's Best," has its peculiar significance. This man was a tobacconist by St. Dunstan's Church in Fleet-street, and ruined his health and constitution, as well as impaired his circumstances, by being busy in the Oxfordshire election of 1754. Plate II. In the painted cloth depending from the sign-post, the height of The Treasury is contrasted with the squat solidity of The Horse-Guards, where the arch is so low, that the state-coachman cannot pass through it with his head on; and the turret on the top is so drawn as to resemble a beer-barrel. Ware the architect very gravely remarked, on this occasion, that the chief defect would have been sufficiently pointed out by making the coachman only stoop. He was hurt by Hogarth's stroke of satire. Money is likewise thrown from The Treasury windows, to be put into a waggon, and carried into the country. George Alexander Stevens, in his celebrated "Lecture on Heads," exhibited the man with a pot of beer, explaining, with pieces of a tobacco-pipe, how Porto Bello was taken with six ships only. In Plate III. Dr. Shebbeare, with fetters on, is prompting the idiot; and in Plate IV. the old Duke of Newcastle appears at a window. A happy parody in the last of these plates may, perhaps, have escaped the notice of common observers. Le Brun, in his battle of the Granicus, has represented an eagle hovering above the laurel'd helmet of Alexander. Hogarth has painted a goose flying over the periwig'd head of the successful candidate. During the contested Oxfordshire election in 1754, an outrageous mob in the Old Interest had surrounded a post-chaise, and was about to throw it into the river; when Captain T——, within-side, shot a chimney-sweeper who was most active in the assault. The captain was tried and acquitted. To this fact Hogarth is supposed to allude in the Monkey riding on the Bear, with a cockade in his hat, and a carbine by his side, which goes off and kills the little sweep, who has clambered up on the wall. The member chaired is said to bear more than an accidental resemblance to Mr. Dodington, afterwards Lord Melcombe.

In 1759 appeared "A Poetical Description of Mr. Hogarth's Election Prints,[3] in four Cantos. Written under Mr. Hogarth's sanction and inspection," which I shall with the less scruple transcribe at large below,[4] as it was originally introduced by the following remarkable advertisement, dated Cheapside, March 1, 1759. "For the satisfaction of the reader, and in justice to the concealed author, I take the liberty, with the permission of Mr. Hogarth, to insert in this manner that gentleman's opinion of the following Cantos, which is, 'That the thoughts entirely coincide with his own; that there is a well-adapted vein of humour preserved through the whole; and that, though some of his works have been formerly explained by other hands, yet none ever gave him so much satisfaction as the present performance.' John Smith."

In the second state of the first of these plates few variations are discoverable. The perspective in the oval over the stag's horns is improved. A shadow on the wainscot, proceeding from a supposed window on the left side, is effaced; the hand of the beldam kissing the young candidate, is removed from under her apron, and now dangles by her side: a saltseller is likewise missing from the table. In the first impression also, the butcher who is pouring gin on the broken head of another man, has For our Country on his cockade; in the second we find Pro Patria in its stead. The lemons and oranges that once lay on a paper, by the tub in which the boy is making punch, are taken away; because Hogarth, in all probability, had been informed that vitriol, or cream of tartar, is commonly used, instead of vegetable acids, when a great quantity of such liquor is prepared at public houses on public occasions. In the third impression a hat is added to those before on the ground, and another on the bench. The whole plate has also lost much of its former clearness. The original inscription at one corner of it was—"Painted, and the whole engraved by Wm. Hogarth."[5] The two Words in Italicks were afterwards effaced.

I may here observe, that this performance, in its original state, is by far the most finished and laborious of all Hogarth's engravings. Having been two years on sale (from 1755 to 1757) it was considerably worn before the publication of Plate the second; and was afterwards touched and retouched till almost all the original and finer traces of the burin were either obliterated or covered by succeeding ones. In short, there is the same difference between the earliest and latest impressions, as there was between the first and second state of Sir John Cutler's stockings, which, by frequent mending, from silk degenerated into worsted.

I learn also, on the best authority, that our artist, who was always fond of trying to do what no man had ventured to do before him, resolved to finish this plate without taking a single proof from it as he proceeded in his operation. The consequence of his temerity was, that he almost spoiled his performance. When he discovered his folly, he raved, stamped, and swore he was ruined, nor could be prevailed on to think otherwise, till his passion subsided, and a brother artist assisted him in his efforts to remedy the general defect occasioned by such an attempt to perform an impossibility.

In Plate II. we meet with a fresh proof of our artist's inattention to orthography; Party-tool (used as a proper name) being here spelt parti-tool. This plate was engraved by C. Grignion, and has been retouched, as the upper-row of the lion's teeth are quite obliterated in the second impression.

Plate III. The militia (or, as Hogarth spells it, milicia) bill appearing out of the pocket of the maimed voter, is only found in the second impression. This print was engraved by Hogarth and Le Cave.[6]

The dead man, whom they are bringing up as a voter, alludes to an event of the same kind that happened during the contested election between Bosworth and Selwyn. "Why," says one of the clerks, "you have brought us here a dead man."—"Dead!" cries the bringer; "dead as you suppose him, you shall soon hear him vote for Bosworth." On this, a thump was given to the body, which, being full of wind, emitted a sound that was immediately affirmed to be a distinct, audible, and good vote for the candidate already mentioned.—This circumstance, however, might have reference to the behaviour of the late Dr. Barrowby, who persuaded a dying patient he was so much better, that he might venture with him in his chariot to go and poll for Sir George Vandeput in Covent-Garden. The unhappy voter took his physician's advice, but expired in an hour after his return from the hustings. "If Hogarth," says Mr. Walpole, "had an emblematic thought, he expressed it with wit, rather than by a symbol. Such is that of the whore setting fire to the world in The Rake's Progress. Once indeed he descended to use an allegoric personage, and was not happy in it. In one of his Election prints [plate III.] Britannia's chariot breaks down, while the coachman and footman are playing at cards on the box."

In the second impressions of Plate IV.[7] (which was engraved by W. Hogarth and F. Aviline) the shadow on the sun-dial, denoting the hour, and the word indintur (commonly spelt indenture) on the scroll hanging out at the attorney's window, are both added. The fire from the gun is also continued farther; the bars of the church-gate are darkened; and the upper sprigs of a tree, which were bare at first, are covered with leaves.

By these marks, the unskilful purchaser may distinguish the early from the later impressions. I forbear therefore to dwell on more minute variations. The ruined house adjoining to the attorney's, intimating that nothing can thrive in the neighbourhood of such vermin, is a stroke of satire that should not be overlooked.

The publick were so impatient for this set of prints, that Hogarth was perpetually hastening his coadjutors, changing some, and quarrelling with others. Three of the plates therefore were slightly executed, and soon needed the reparations they have since received.

The following curious address appeared in the Public Advertiser of Feb. 28, 1757.

"Mr. Hogarth is obliged to inform the subscribers to his Election Prints, that the three last cannot be published till about Christmas next, which delay is entirely owing to the difficulties he has met with to procure able hands to engrave the plates; but that he neither may have any more apologies to make on such an account, nor trespass any further on the indulgence of the public by encreasing a collection already sufficiently large, he intends to employ the rest of his time in portrait-painting; chiefly this notice seems more necessary, as several spurious and scandalous prints[8] have lately been published in his name.

"All Mr. Hogarth's engraved works are to be had at his house in Leicester-fields, separate or together; as also his Analysis of Beauty, in 4to. with two explanatory prints, price 15s. With which will be delivered gratis, an eighteen-penny pamphlet published by A. Miller, called The Investigator, written in opposition to the principles laid down in the above Analysis of Beauty, by A. R.,[9] a friend to Mr. Hogarth, an eminent portrait-painter now of Rome."

The foregoing advertisement appears to have been written during the influence of a fit of spleen or disappointment, for nothing else could have dictated to our artist so absurd a resolution as that of quitting a walk he had trod without a rival, to re-enter another in which he had by no means distinguished himself from the herd of common painters.

1756.

1. France and England, two plates; both etched by himself. Under them are the following verses, by Mr. Garrick:

Plate I. France. With lanthern jaws, and croaking gut, See how the half-starv'd Frenchmen strut, And call us English dogs! But soon we'll teach these bragging foes, That beef and beer give heavier blows Than soup and roasted frogs. The priests, inflam'd with righteous hopes, Prepare their axes, wheels, and ropes, To bend the stiff-neck'd sinner; But, should they sink in coming over, Old Nick may fish 'twixt France and Dover, And catch a glorious dinner. Plate II. England. See John the Soldier, Jack the Tar, With sword and pistol arm'd for war, Should Mounseer dare come here! The hungry slaves have smelt our food, They long to taste our flesh and blood, Old England's beef and beer! Britons, to arms! and let 'em come, Be you but Britons still, Strike home, And lion-like attack 'em; No power can stand the deadly stroke That's given from hands and hearts of oak, With Liberty to back 'em.

2. The Search Night, a copy. J. Fielding sculp. 21st March, 1756.[1] "A very bad print, and I believe an imposition." On this plate are sixteen stupid verses, not worth transcribing. It was afterwards copied again in two different sizes in miniature, and printed off on cards, by Darly, in 1766. The original, in a small oval, was an impression taken from the top of a silver tobacco-box; engraved by Hogarth for one Captain Johnson, and never meant for publication.

1758.

1. His own portrait,[1] sitting, and painting the Muse of Comedy; Head profile, in a cap. The Analysis of Beauty on the floor. W. Hogarth, serjeant-painter to his Majesty. The face engraved by W. Hogarth.

I should observe, that when this plate was left with the person employed to furnish the inscription, he, taking the whole for the production of our artist, wrote "Engraved by W. Hogarth" under it. Hogarth, being conscious that the face only had been touched by himself, added, with his own hand, "The Face" Engraved, &c.

In the second impression "The Face Engraved by W. Hogarth" is totally omitted.

In the third impression "Serjeant-painter, &c." is scratched over by the burin, but remains still sufficiently legible.

The fourth impression has "the face retouched, but not so like as the preceding.[2] Comedy also has the face and mask marked with black,[3] and inscribed, Comedy, 1764. No other inscription but his name, William Hogarth, 1764."

The original from which this plate is taken, is in Mrs. Hogarth's possession at Chiswick. A whole-length of herself, in the same size, is its companion. They are both small pictures.

2. The Bench. Over the top of this plate is written in capitals—CHARACTER. Under it "of the different meaning of the words Character, Caracatura, and Outrè, in painting and drawing," Then follows a long inscription on this subject. The original painting is in the collection of Mr. Edwards.

1759.

1. The Cockpit. Designed and engraved by W. Hogarth. In this plate is a portrait of Nan Rawlins, a very ugly old woman (commonly called Deptford Nan, sometimes the Duchess of Deptford), and well remembered at Newmarket. She was a famous cock-feeder, and did the honours of the gentlemen's ordinary at Northampton; while, in return, a single gentleman was deputed to preside at the table appropriated to the ladies. The figure with a hump-back, was designed for one Jackson, a once noted jockey at Newmarket. The blind president is Lord Albemarle Bertie, who was a constant attender of this diversion. His portrait was before discoverable in the crowd round the bruisers in the March to Finchley.

By the cockpit laws, any person who cannot, or will not pay his debts of honour, is drawn up in a basket to the roof of the building. Without a knowledge of this circumstance, the shadow of the man who is offering his watch would be unintelligible.

The subject of The Cockpit had been recommended to Hogarth so long ago as 1747, in the following lines, first printed in The Gentleman's Magazine of that year, p. 292.

"Where Dudston's[1] walks with vary'd beauties shine, And some are pleas'd with bowling, some with wine, Behold a generous train of Cocks repair, To vie for glory in the toils of war; Each hero burns to conquer or to die: What mighty hearts in little bosoms lie! "Come, Hogarth, thou whose art can best declare What forms, what features, human passions wear, Come, with a painter's philosophic sight, Survey the circling judges of the fight. Touch'd with the sport of death, while every heart Springs to the changing face, exert thy art; Mix with the smiles of Cruelty at pain Whate'er looks anxious in the lust of gain; And say, can aught that's generous, just, or kind, Beneath this aspect, lurk within the mind? Is lust of blood or treasure vice in all, Abhorr'd alike on whomsoe'er it fall? Are mighty states and gamblers still the same? And war itself a cock-fight, and a game? Are sieges, battles, triumphs, little things; And armies only the game-cocks of kings? Which fight, in Freedom's cause, still blindly bold, Bye-battles only, and the main for gold? "The crested bird, whose voice awakes the morn, Whose plumage streaks of radiant gold adorn, Proud of his birth, on fair Salopia's plain, Stalks round, and scowls defiance and disdain. Not fiercer looks the proud Helvetians wear, Though thunder slumbers in the arms they bear: Nor Thracia's fiercer sons, a warlike race! Display more prowess, or more martial grace. But, lo! another comes, renown'd for might, Renown'd for courage, and provokes the fight. Yet what, alas! avails his furious mien, His ruddy neck, and breast of varied green? Soon thro' his brain the foe's bright weapon flies, Eternal darkness shades his swimming eyes; Prostrate he falls, and quivering spurns the ground, While life indignant issues from the wound. Unhappy hero, had thy humbler life Deny'd thee fame by deeds of martial strife, Still hadst thou crow'd, for future pleasures spar'd, Th' exulting monarch of a farmer's yard. "Like fate, alas! too soon th' illustrious prove, The great by hatred fall, the fair by love; The wise, the good, can scarce preserve a name, Expung'd by envy from the rolls of fame. Peace and oblivion still through life secure, In friendly glooms, the simple, homely, poor. And who would wish to bask in glory's ray, To buy with peace the laurel or the bay? What tho' the wreath defy the lightning's fire, The bard and hero in the storm expire. Be rest and innocence my humbler lot, Scarce known through life, and after death forgot!"

2. A small oval of Bishop Hoadly, ætat. 83. Hogarth pinx. Sherlock sculp.

1760.

1. Frontispiece to Tristram Shandy. Of this plate there are two copies; in the first of which the hat and clock are omitted. S. Ravenet sculp. In this plate is the portrait of Dr. Burton, of York, the Jacobite physician and antiquary, in the character of Dr. Slop.

Sterne probably was indebted for these plates (especially the first of them) to the following compliment he had paid our author in the first volume of Tristram Shandy. "Such were the outlines of Dr. Slop's figure, which, if you have read Hogarth's Analysis of Beauty, and, if you have not, I wish you would, you must know, may as certainly be caracatured, and conveyed to the mind by three strokes as three hundred."

2. Frontispiece to Brook Taylor's Perspective of Architecture.[1] With an attempt at a new order. W. Hogarth, July 1760. W. Woollet sculp. Lest any reader should suppose that this idea of forming a new capital out of the Star of St. George, the Prince of Wales's Feather,[2] and a regal Coronet, was hatched in the mind of Hogarth after he had been appointed Serjeant Painter, the following passage in the Analysis will prove that many years before he had conceived the practicability of such an attempt: see p. 40. "I am thoroughly convinced in myself, however it may startle some, that a completely new and harmonious order of architecture in all its parts might be produced, &c." Again, p. 46. "Even a capital, composed of the aukward and confined forms of hats and perriwigs, as Fig. 48. Plate I. in a skilful hand might be made to have some beauty." Mr. S. Ireland has the original sketch.

3. Mr. Huggins. A small circular plate. Hogarth pinx. Major sculp. On the left, a bust, inscribed, "Il divino Ariosto." "Dante l'Inferno, il Purgatorio, il Paradiso." Mr. Huggins (of whom see p. 19.) had this portrait engraven, to prefix to his translation of Dante, of which no more than a specimen was ever published.

The bust of Ariosto was inserted by the positive order of Mr. Huggins (after the plate was finished), though much against the judgement of the engraver, who was convinced that a still ground would have shewn the countenance of the person represented to much greater advantage. Mr. Major's charge was only three guineas, and yet eleven years elapsed before he received even this trifling acknowledgement for his labour. Dr. Monkhouse has the plate.

1761.

1. Frontispiece and tail-piece to the catalogue of pictures exhibited at Spring Gardens. W. Hogarth inv. C. Grignion sculp. There is a variation of this print; a Latin motto under each in the second edition. In the earliest impressions obit, corrected afterwards to obiit. The same mark of ignorance, however, remains unamended over the monument of the Judge in the first plate of the Analysis.

2. Time blackening a picture. Subscription-ticket for his Sigismunda. "This, and the preceding tail-piece, are satires on Connoisseurs."

3. The Five Orders of Perriwigs at the Coronation of George III.[1] Many of the heads, as well as wigs, were known at the time. The first head of the second row was designed to represent Lord Melcombe; and those of Bishops Warburton, Mawson, and Squire, are found in the groupe. The advertisement annexed, as well as the whole print, is said to have been a ridicule on Mr. Stewart's Antiquities of Athens, in which, with minute accuracy, are given the measurements of all the members of the Greek Architecture. The inscription under the print affords a plentiful crop of false spellings—volumns—advertisment—baso—&c. The second e in advertisement was afterwards added on the neck of the female figure just over it. The first and subsequent impressions will be known by this distinction.

4. Frontispiece to the Farmer's Return from London, an Interlude by Mr. Garrick,[1] acted at Drury Lane. W. Hogarth delin. J. Basire sculp. In Mr. Foster's collection is a bad copy of this plate, no name, the figures reversed. The original drawing was given to Mr. Garrick, and is supposed to be in the possession of his widow at Hampton. Mr. S. Ireland has a sketch of it. An excellent copy of this plate is sometimes sold as the original.

5. Another frontispiece to Tristram Shandy (for the second volume). His christening. F. Ravenet sculp.

6. The same engraved by Ryland. This, as I am informed, was the first, but was too coarsely executed to suit that prepared for the first volume of the same work.

1762.

1. Credulity, Superstition, and Fanaticism. "Satire on Methodists." "For deep and useful satire," says Mr. Walpole, "the most sublime of all his works."

This print, however, contains somewhat more than a satire on Methodism. Credulity is illustrated by the figure of the Rabbit-breeder of Godalming, with her supposed progeny galloping from under her petticoats. St. André's folly furnished Hogarth with matter for one of his latest, as well as one of his earliest performances.

Primâ dicte mihi, summâ dicende Camænâ.

2. The Times. Plate I. In one copy of this print Henry VIII. is blowing the flames; in another Mr. Pitt has the same employment: As this design is not illustrated in Trusler's Account of Hogarth's Works, I shall attempt its explanation, and subjoin, by way of note, a humourous description of it, which was printed in a news-paper immediately after it's first appearance in the world.[1]

Europe on fire; France, Germany, Spain, in flames, which are extending to Great Britain. This desolation continued and assisted by Mr. Pitt, under the figure of King Henry VIII. with bellows increasing the mischief which others are striving to abate. He is mounted on the stilts of the populace. A Cheshire cheese depends from his neck, with 3000 l. on it. This alludes to what he had said in Parliament—that he would sooner live on a Cheshire cheese and a shoulder of mutton, than submit to the enemies of Great Britain. Lord Bute, attended by English soldiers, sailors, and Highlanders, manages an engine for extinguishing the flames, but is impeded by the Duke of Newcastle, with a wheel-barrow full of Monitors and North Britons, for the purpose of feeding the blaze. The respectable body under Mr. Pitt are the aldermen of London, worshiping the idol they had set up; whilst the musical King of Prussia, who alone is sure to gain by the war, is amusing himself with a violin amongst his miserable countrywomen. The picture of the Indian alludes to the advocates for retaining our West Indian conquests, which, it was said, would only increase excess and debauchery. The breaking down of the Newcastle-arms, and the drawing up the patriotic ones, refer to the resignation of that noble Duke, and the appointment of his successor. The Dutchman smoking his pipe, and a Fox peeping out behind him, and waiting the issue; the Waggon, with the treasures of the Hermione; the unnecessary marching of the Militia, signified by the Norfolk jig; the Dove with the olive-branch, and the miseries of war; are all obvious, and perhaps need no explication.

To those already given, however, may be added the following doggrel verses:

Devouring flames with fury roll Their curling spires from Pole to Pole, Wide-spreading devastation dire, Three kingdoms ready to expire; Here realms convulsive pant for breath, And quiver in the arms of death. Ill-fated isle! Britannia bleeds; The flames her trait'rous offspring feeds: Now, now, they seize her vital parts— O save her from his murd'rous arts! In air exalted high, behold! Fierce, noisy, boisterous, and bold, Swol'n, like the king of frogs, that fed On mangled limbs of victims dead, With larger bellows in his hand, Than e'er a blacksmith's in the land, The flames that waste the world to blow, He points unto the mob below: 'Look, Britons, what a bonfire there! Halloo, be d——'d, and rend the air.' Aldermen, marrow-bones and cleavers, Brokers, stock-jobbers, and coal-heavers, Templars, and knaves of ev'ry station, The dregs of London, and the nation; Contractors, agents, clerks, and all Who share the plunder, great and small, Join in the halloo at his call. Higher they raise the stilts that bore The shapeless idol they adore: He, to increase his weight, had slung A Mill-stone round his neck, which hung With bulk enormous to the ground, And adds thereto Three Thousand Pound; That none may dare to say henceforth, He wanted either weight or worth. He blows,—the flames triumphant rise, Devour the earth, and threat the skies. When lo! in peaceful mien appears, In bloom of life, and youthful years, George, Prince of Men; a smile benign That goodness looks, prognostic sign Of soul etherial, seems to bode, A world's deliv'rer sent from God. Array'd in Majesty serene, Like heav'nly spirits when they deign, In pity to mankind, to come, And stop avenging judgement's doom; Behold, and bless! just not too late T' avert a sinking nation's fate, He comes, with friendly care to stay Those flames that made the world their prey. Born to reform and bless the age, Fearless of faction's madd'ning rage, Which, with united malice, throngs, To reap the harvest of our wrongs, He labours to defeat our foes, Secure our peace, and ease our woes. Before him Faction dare not shew Her ghastly face and livid hue, But back retires to Temple-Bar, Where the spectator sees from far Many a traitor's head erect, To shew what traitors must expect. Upon that barefac'd figure look, With empty scull and full peruke; For man or statue it might pass; Cæsar would call't a golden ass. Behold the vain malicious thing, Squirting his poison at his king, And pointing, with infernal art, Th' envenom'd rancour of his heart. Higher in parts and place appears His venal race of Garretteers; A starving, mercenary tribe, That sell, for every bidder's bribe, Their scantling wits to purchase bread And always drive the briskest trade, When Faction sounds with loudest din, To bring some new Pretender in. This tribe from their ærial station, Deluge with scandal all the nation: Below contempt, secure from shame, Sure not to forfeit any fame, Indifferent what part to choose, With nothing but their ears to lose. Not Virtue on a throne can be From tongues below resentment free. Of human things such the distraction, With Liberty we must have Faction. But look behind the Temple-gate, Near the thick, clumsy, stinking seat, Where London's pageant sits in state; What wild, ferocious shape is there, With raging looks and savage air? Is that the monster without name, Whom human art could never tame, From Indian wilds of late brought o'er, Such as no Briton saw before? I mean the monster P* * * presented To the late King, who quickly sent it, Among his other beasts of prey, Safe in a cage with lock and key. Some said he was of British blood, Though taken in an Indian wood. If he should thus at large remain, Without a keeper, cage, or chain, Raging and roaming up and down, He may set fire to half the town. Has he not robb'd the Bank?—Behold, In either hand, what bags of gold! Monsters are dangerous things let loose: Old Cambrian, guard thy mansion-house. But here, what comes? A loaded car, Stuff'd, and high pil'd, from Temple-Bar. The labouring wretches hardly move The load that totters from above. By their wry faces, and high strains, The cart some lumpish weight contains. 'North Britons—Gentlemen—come, buy, There's no man sells so cheap as I. Of the North Briton just a score, And twenty Monitors or more, For just one penny—— North Britons—Monitors—come, buy, There's no man sells so cheap as I.' 'North Britons! Monitors! be d——'d! Is that the luggage you have cramm'd Into your stinking cart? Be gone, Or else I'll burn them every one.' 'Good Sir, I'm sure they are not dear, The paper's excellent, I swear— You can't have better any where. Come, feel this sheet, Sir—please to choose— They're very soft, and fit for use. All very good, Sir, take my word— As cheap as any can afford. The Curate, Sir, Lord! how he'll foam! He cannot dine 'till we get home. The Colonel too, altho' he be So big, so loud, so proud, d'ye see, Will have his share as well as he.' While on a swelling sack of cheese The frugal Dutchman sits at ease, And smokes his pipe, and sees with joy The flames, that all the world destroy, Keep at a distance from his bales, And sure thereby to raise the sales; Good Mr. Reynard, wiser still, Displays you his superior skill: Behind the selfish miser's back, He cuts a hole into the sack, His paunch well cramm'd, he snugly lies, And with himself the place supplies; And now and then his head pops out, To see how things go round about; Prepar'd to run, or stand the fire, Just as occasion may require, But willing in the sack to stay, And cram his belly while he may, Regardless of the babbling town, And every interest but his own. On yonder plain behold a riddle, That mighty warrior with his fiddle, With sneering nose, and brow so arch, A-scraping out the German march; Bellona leading up the dance, With flaming torch, and pointed lance, And all the Furies in her train, Exulting at the martial strain; Pale Famine bringing up the rear, To crown with woe the wasteful year. There's nought but scenes of wretchedness. Horror and death, and dire distress, To mark their footsteps o'er the plains, And teach the world what mighty gains From German victories accrue To th' vanquish'd and the victors too. The fidler, at his ease reclin'd, Enjoys the woes of human kind; Pursues his trade, destroys by rules, And reaps the spoils of Knaves and Fools. * * * * Multa desunt.

The first impressions of this print may be known by the following distinction. The smoke just over the Dove is left white; and the whole of the composition has a brilliancy and clearness not to be found in the copies worked off after the plate was retouched.

I am told that Hogarth did not undertake this political print merely ex officio, but through a hope the salary of his appointment as Serjeant Painter would be increased by such a show of zeal for the reigning Ministry.

He left behind him a second part, on the same subject; but hitherto it has been withheld from the public. The finished Plate is in the possession of Mrs. Hogarth.

There seems, however, no reason why this design should be suppressed. The widow of our artist is happily independent of a court; nor can aught relative to the politics of the year 1762 be of consequence to any party now existing. Our Monarch also, as the patron of arts, would rather encourage than prevent the publication of a work by Hogarth, even though it should recall the disagreeable ideas of faction triumphant, and a favourite in disgrace.

3. T. Morell, S. T. P., S. S. A. W. Hogarth delin. James Basire sculp. From a drawing returned to Mr. Hogarth. Of this plate there is an admirable copy, though it has not yet been extensively circulated.

4. Henry Fielding, ætatis 48. W. Hogarth delin. James Basire sculp. From a drawing with a pen made after the death of Mr. Fielding. "That gentleman," says Mr. Murphy, "had often promised to sit to his friend Hogarth, for whose good qualities and excellent genius he always entertained so high an esteem, that he has left us in his writings many beautiful memorials of his affection. Unluckily, however, it so fell out that no picture of him was ever drawn; but yet, as if it was intended that some traces of his countenance should be perpetuated, and that too by the very artist whom our author preferred to all others, after Mr. Hogarth had long laboured to try if he could bring out any likeness of him from images existing in his own fancy, and just as he was despairing of success, for want of some rules to go by in the dimensions and outlines of the face, Fortune threw the grand desideratum in the way. A lady, with a pair of scissars, had cut a profile, which gave the distances and proportions of his face sufficiently to restore his lost ideas of him. Glad of an opportunity of paying his last tribute to the memory of an author whom he admired, Mr. Hogarth caught at this outline with pleasure, and worked, with all the attachment of friendship, till he finished that excellent drawing which stands at the head of this work, and recalls to all, who have seen the original, a corresponding image of the man." Notwithstanding this authentic relation of Mr. Murphy, a different account of the portrait has been lately given in one of the news-papers. Mr. Garrick, it is there said, dressed himself in a suit of his old friend's cloaths, and presented himself to the painter in the attitude, and with the features, of Fielding. Our Roscius, however, I can assert, interfered no farther in this business than by urging Hogarth to attempt the likeness, as a necessary adjunct to the edition of Fielding's works. I am assured that our artist began and finished the head in the presence of his wife and another lady. He had no assistance but from his own memory, which, on such occasions, was remarkably tenacious.[1]

1763.

1. John Wilkes, Esq. Drawn from the life, and etched in aquafortis by Wm. Hogarth. Price 1s. It was published with the following oblique note. This is "a direct contrast to a print of Simon Lord Lovat."[1]

Mr. Wilkes, with his usual good humour, has been heard to observe, that he is every day growing more and more like his portrait by Hogarth.

In the second impressions of this plate there are a few slight variations, sufficient at least to shew that the face of the person represented had been retouched. I have been told, by a copper-plate printer, that near 4000 copies of this caricature were worked off on its first publication. Being kept up for two or three following nights on the occasion, he has reason to remember it.

2. The Bruiser C. Churchill,[1] in the character of a Russian Hercules, &c. The Russian Hercules was thus explained, in August, 1763, by an admirer of Hogarth: "The principal figure is a Russian Bear (i. e. Mr. Churchill) with a club in his left paw, which he hugs to his side, and which is intended to denote his friendship to Mr. Wilkes: on the notches of the club are wrote, Lye 1, Lye 2, &c. signifying the falsities in The North Briton: in his other paw is a gallon pot of porter, of which (being very hot) he seems going to drink: round his neck is a clergyman's band, which is torn, and seems intended to denote the bruiser. The other figure is a Pug-dog, which is supposed to mean Mr. Hogarth himself, pissing with the greatest contempt on the epistle wrote to him by C. Churchill. In the centre is a prison begging-box, standing on a folio, the title of which is, Great George-Street. A list of the Subscribers to the North Briton: underneath is another book, the title of which is, A New Way to pay Old Debts, a Comedy, by Massinger. All of which allude to Mr. Wilkes's debts, to be defrayed by the subscriptions to The North Briton."

The same design is thus illustrated by a person who thought somewhat differently of our artist: "The Bear, with the shattered band, represents the former strength and abilities of Mr. Hogarth: the full pot of beer likewise shews that he was in a land of plenty. The stump of a headless tree with the notches, and on them wrote Lye, Signifies Mr. Hogarth's former art, and the many productions thereof, wherein he has excelled even Nature itself, and which of course must be but lies, flattery, and fallacy, the Painter's Prerogative; and the stump of the tree only being left, shews that there can be no more fruit expected from thence, but that it only stands as a record of his former services. The Butcher's Dog pissing upon Mr. Churchill's epistle, alludes to the present state of Mr. Hogarth; that he is arrived at such an age to be reduced so low, as, from the strength of a Bear, to a blind Butcher's Dog, not able to distinguish, but pissing upon his best friend; or, perhaps, giving the public a hint to read that Epistle, where his case is more fully laid before them. The next matter to be explained is the subscription-box, and under it is a book said to contain a list of the Subscribers to the North Briton, as well as one of a New Way to pay Old Debts. Mr. Hogarth mentioned The North Briton, to avoid the censure of the rabble in the street, who, he knew, would neither pity nor relieve him; and as Mr. Churchill was reputed to be the writer of that paper, it would seem to give a colour in their eyes of its being intended against Mr. Churchill. Mr. Hogarth meant only to shew his necessity, and that a book, entitled A List of the Subscribers to the North Briton, contained, in fact, a list of those who should contribute to the support of Mr. Hogarth in old age. By the book entitled A New Way to pay Old Debts, he can only mean this, that when a man is become disabled to get his livelihood, and much in debt, the only shift he has left is, to go a-begging to his creditors.

"There are likewise some of his old tools in this print, without any hand to use them."

On the same occasion were published the following verses, "on Mr. Hogarth's last delicate performance:"

"What Merit could from native Genius boast, To civilize the age, and please us most, In lasting images each scene to grace, And all the soul to gather in the face, In one small sheet a volume to conceal, Yet all the story finely to reveal, Was once the glory of our Hogarth's name; But see, the short-liv'd eminence of fame Now dwindles like the exit of a flame, From which when once the unctuous juice is fled, A stinking vapour rises in its stead: So drops our Painter in his later day, His former virtue worn, alas! away, What busy dæmon, for thy cursed design'd, Could thus induce the rancour of thy mind To strike so boldly, with an impious hand, Against the blessings of thy native land? Open and unabash'd thy fury flies, And all regard for liberty denies. "When Catiline, with more than human hate, Resolv'd the ruin of the Roman state, In secret he pursu'd the hellish plan, Nor did his wickedness survive the man. His cruel arts are all by others shown, And thou the brave assertor of thy own: Nay, thy grim sheets thy principles will show, When Charon wafts thee to the realms below, Where all like thee shall unlamented go."

And also what the writer called,

"A Slap at Both Sides." "Whilst Bruin and Pug contend for the prize Of merit in scandal, would parties be wise, And with honest derision contemn the dispute, The Bear would not roar, and the Dog would be mute: For they equally both their patrons betray, No sense of Conviction their reasons convey; So neither may hope one convert to gain, For the Rhime makes me sick, and the Print gives me pain."[2]

This plate, however, originally contained our artist's own portrait (see p. 295). To shew the contempt in which he held the "Poetical Epistle to Hogarth,[3] he makes the pug-dog water on it, but in a manner by no means natural to his species. Perhaps there is the same error relative to the Monkey in the print of the Strollers. This kind of evacuation, however, appears to have been regarded by Hogarth as a never-failing joke. On the palette he exhibits the North Britons, and a begging-box to collect subscriptions for them. Designed and engraved by W. Hogarth.

In the first impression of this print three of the upper knots on the club or ragged staff (viz. 1. 3. 5.) are left white. In the second impression they are completely shaded; the ruffle on the hand that clasps the pot of porter is likewise hatched over, and the shoulder of the animal made rounder. Minute differences occur in the other knots, &c. The inscription, instead of Russian, reads Modern Hercules.

3. The same; but on the palette is introduced the political print described in p. 91. In the second impressions of the plate thus altered,[1] we find the letters N B added on the club, as well as the epithet infamous prefixed to the word Fallacy. The shadows on the political print are likewise changed, and deepened; and the words "Dragon of Wantley" are added at the end of "I warrant ye."

4. Print Of the Weighing-house to "Clubbe's Physiognomy;" a humourous pamphlet in quarto, published in 1763, by Mr. Clubbe[1] (editor of the History and Antiquities of Wheatfield in Suffolk), and dedicated to Hogarth. W. Hogarth del. L. Sullivan sculp. It was likewise printed in a collection of this author's works, published at Ipswich, 2 vols. 12mo. no date, with a new engraving of the plate. There is also a third engraving of the same design, perhaps executed in the country, for some octavo edition of Mr. Clubbe's pamphlet.

5. Frontispiece to a pamphlet written by Dr. Gregory Sharpe, Master of The Temple, against the Hutchinsonians, but never published. "It represents a witch sitting on the moon, and watering on a mountain, whence issue mice, who are devouring Sir Isaac Newton's Optics; one mouse lies dead on Hutchinson's works, probably to imply being choaked. The conundrum signifies, Front-is-piss." The few impressions from this plate that have strayed into the hands of dealers, were originally presents from Dr. Sharpe to his friends.

1764.

1. Finis, or the Tail-piece. The Bathos, or manner of sinking in sublime painting, inscribed to the dealers in dark pictures.[1] Time breathing out his last, a ruinous tower, and many other allegorical devices; among the rest, he has introduced his own "Times."[2]

2. The Bench.[1] The same described under the year 1758; but with additions. The plate thus varied occurs in two states. In the first of these we have only "This plate could have been better explained, had the author lived a week longer." In the second impression of it we are told, that "The unfinished group of heads, in the upper part of this print, was added by the author in October 1764; and was intended as a farther illustration of what is here said concerning Character, Caracatura, and Outrè. He worked upon it a day before his death, which happened the 26th of that month." This plate exhibits the inside of the Common Pleas, with portraits of the following judges then belonging to that court:

Hon.Sir Edw. Sir JohnHon. Mr. Justice

Wm. Noel. Clive.Willes, Ld. (now Earl)

Ch. Justice. Bathurst.

Mr. Edwards's picture on this subject (see p. 367.) differs from both the plates.

3. Hell-Gate, Satan, Sin, and Death. Milton's Paradise Lost. Book II. A large print. Engraved by C. Townley, and intended to have been published April 15, 1767. It was dedicated to the late Mr. Garrick, who possessed the original (unfinished) picture painted by Hogarth. The plate was destroyed, and only a few of the prints are now remaining. The original is in the possession of Mrs. Garrick.

It is impossible to conclude my account of it without observing, that the united labours of Teniers, Heemskirk, and Callot, could not have furnished a more absolute burlesque of this noble subject, than Hogarth, who went seriously to work on it, has here produced. "How art thou fallen, O Lucifer, thou son of the Morning!" will be the exclamation of every observer, on seeing this unaccountable performance, in which Satan and Death have lost their terrors, and Sin herself is divested of all the powers of temptation.

1772.

1. The Good Samaritan; by Ravenet and Delatre.

In The Grub-Street Journal for July 14, 1737, appeared the following paragraph: "Yesterday the scaffolding was taken down from before the picture of The Good Samaritan,[1] painted by Mr. Hogarth, on the Stair Case in St. Bartholomew's Hospital, which is esteemed a very curious piece." Hogarth paid his friend Lambert for painting the landscape in this picture, and afterwards cleaned the whole at his own expence. To the imaginary merits of his coadjutor, the Analysis, p. 26, bears the following testimony: "The sky always gradates one way or other, and the rising or setting sun exhibits it in great perfection; the imitating of which was Claud de Lorain's peculiar excellence, and is now Mr. Lambert's."

2. The Pool of Bethesda; large, by Ravenet and Picot. A small one, by Ravenet, has been mentioned under 1748. Both very indifferent. Mr. Walpole justly observes, that "the burlesque turn of our artist's mind mixed itself with his most serious compositions; and that, in The Pool of Bethesda, a servant of a rich ulcerated lady, beats back a poor man [perhaps woman] who sought the same celestial remedy." To this remark I may add, that the figure of the priest, in The Good Samaritan, is supremely comic, and rather resembles some purse-proud burgomaster, than the character it was designed to represent.

On the top of the staircase at St. Bartholomew's Hospital, and just under the cornice, is the following inscription, "The historical paintings of this staircase were painted and given by Mr. William Hogarth, and the ornamental paintings at his expence, A. D. 1736." Both pictures, which appear of an oblong square in the engravings, in the originals are surrounded with scroll-work which cuts off the corners of them, &c. All these ornaments, together with compartments carved at the bottom, were the work of Mr. Richards. Mr. Boydell had the latter engraved on separate plates, appended to those above them, on which sufficient space had not been left.—Hogarth requested that these pictures might never be varnished. They appear therefore to disadvantage, the decorations about them having, within these few years past, been highly glazed. The Pool of Bethesda has suffered much from the sun; and The Good Samaritan, when lately cleaned, was pressed so hard against the straining frame, that several creases have been made in the canvas.

1775.

1. The Politician [Mr. Tibson, lately a laceman in The Strand], from a sketch in oil, by Hogarth. Etched by J. K. Sherwin. Published Oct. 31, 1775.

1781.

1. Portrait of Solfull,[1] a maker of punches for engravers. W. Hogarth del. S. J. fecit aqua fort. Mr. S. Ireland has the original sketch. This portrait is mentioned by Mr. Walpole under the title of "Two small heads of men in profile in one plate, etched by Mr. Ireland, from a sketch in his own collection."

2. Thomas Pellet, M. D. President of the College of Physicians. W. Hogarth pinxit. C. Hall sculpsit.

3. William Bullock the Comedian. W. Hogarth pinxit. C. Hall sculpsit. It is by no means certain that these two last portraits were painted by Hogarth.

4. North and South of Great Britain. W. Hogarth delin. F. B. [i. e. Francis Bartolozzi] sculp. This little print represents a Scotchman scrubbing against a sign-post; no sign on it; with Edenborough castle in the back ground:—and an Englishman reposing on a post, with a pot of London porter in his hand; the sign of an Ox, with roast and boild, by way of inscription, over his head; and a view of St. Paul's at a distance. I do not believe it was designed by our artist, whose satire was usually of a more exalted kind: neither are the figures at all in his manner.

A sketch imputed to Hogarth, and engraved by this matchless Italian, however, carries a double temptation with it, as it unites with the works of both artists, which are so much the present objects of pursuit. No man can entertain too high an idea of Barlolozzi's talents; but yet, being sometimes apt to sacrifice similitude to grace,

Emollit mores, nec finit esset feros.

He therefore is the last person from whom justice to the strong marked characters of Hogarth could be expected.

Since the above observations were communicated, a new impression of this plate has appeared with the name of Sandby annexed to it. The history of so extraordinary a change deserves notoriety. The publisher was at first assured that the sketch, from which he designed the engraving, was not the production of Hogarth. He, however, on his own judgement, pretended to affirm the contrary, being at least convinced that, during the late rage for collecting the works of our artist, no name was so likely as his to draw in purchasers. Having disposed of as many copies as he could in consequence of hanging out such false colours, he now sets sail again under those of Sandby, and would probably make a third voyage with Mr. Bunbury's flag at his mast head, were not our second Hogarth at hand, to detect the imposture.—The price of this etching, originally 2 s. 6 d. is now sold at 1 s. though the proprietor has incurred the fresh expence of decorating it in aqua tinta. Should it henceforward fail to meet with buyers, I shall not be ready to exclaim, with Ovid,

Flebam successu posse carere dolo.

The three last published by John Thane, Rupert-street, Haymarket.

5. First sketch of arms for The Foundling Hospital. Wm. Hogarth inv. 1747. Over the Crest and Supporters is written—A Lamb—Nature—Britannia. In the shield is a naked Infant: the Motto Help.

This is an accurate fac simile from a drawing with a pen and ink by Hogarth. Published as the Act directs July 31, 1781, by R. Livesay, at Mrs. Hogarth's, Leicester Fields. The original is in the collection of the Earl of Exeter.

6. Two Figures, &c. Hogarth inv. F. B. [i. e. Francis Bartolozzi] sculp. These figures were designed for Lord Melcombe and Lord Winchelsea. From a drawing with a pen and ink by Hogarth. Published as the Act directs, 31 July, 1781, by R. Livesay at Mrs. Hogarth's, Leicester-fields. I am informed, however, that this drawing was certainly the work of Lord Townshend. The original is in the collection of the Earl of Exeter.

7. A mezzotinto portrait of Hogarth with his hat on, in a large oval, "from an original begun by Wheltdon, and finished by himself, late in the possession of the Rev. Mr. Townley. Charles Townley fec." The family of Hogarth affect to know nothing of this painting; and say, if there is such a thing, it was only slightly touched over by him. It must be confessed that it bears little, if any, resemblance to the representations of our artist edited by himself. The original is now in the possession of Mr. James Townley, as has been mentioned in p. 98.

1782.

1. The Staymaker.

2. Debates on Palmistry.

The humour in the first of the two preceding prints is not very strong, and in the second it is scarce intelligible. The Male Staymaker seems to be taking professional liberties with a female in the very room where her husband sits, who is playing with one of his children presented to him by a nurse, perhaps with a view to call off his attention from what is going forward. The hag shews her pretended love for the infant, by kissing its posteriors. A maid-servant holds a looking-glass for the lady, and peeps significantly at the operator from behind it. A boy with a cockade on, and a little sword by his side, appears to observe the familiarities already mentioned, and is strutting up fiercely towards the Staymaker, while a girl is spilling some liquor in his hat.

The figures employed in the study of Palmistry seem to be designed for Physicians and Surgeons of an Hospital, who are debating on the most commodious method of receiving a fee, unattentive to the complaints of a lame female who solicits assistance. A spectre, resembling the Royal Dane, comes out behind, perhaps to intimate that physick and poison will occasionally produce similar effects. A glass case, containing skeletons, is open; a crocodile hangs overhead; and an owl, emblematic of this sapient consistory, is perched on an high stand. I suspect these two to have been discarded sketches—the first of them too barren in its subject to deserve finishing, and the second a repented effort of hasty spleen against the officers of St. Bartholomew's, who might not have treated some recommendation of a patient from our artist with all the respect and attention to which he thought it was entitled. But this is mere supposition.

3. Portrait of Henry Fox Lord Holland.

4. Portrait of James Caulfield Earl of Charlemont.

The above four articles are all etched by S. Haynes, pupil to the late Mr. Mortimer, from original drawings in the possession of Mr. S. Ireland.

The six prints which follow, were published by subscription by Mrs. Hogarth in April 1782; of these No. 5. was engraved by Bartolozzi, and the rest by R. Livesay.

5. The Shrimp Girl, a head, from an original sketch in oil, in the possession of Mrs. Hogarth.