Note 72 — HOGARTH.
Reading edition
It may be worth observing, that in "Independence," a poem which was not published by Churchill till the last week of September, 1764, he considers his antagonist as a departed Genius:
"Hogarth would draw him (Envy must allow) E'en to the life, was Hogarth living now."
How little did the sportive Satirist imagine that the power of pleasing was so soon to cease in both! Hogarth died in four weeks after the publication of this poem; and Churchill survived him but nine days. In some lines which were printed in November 1764, the compiler of these Anecdotes took occasion to lament that
"——Scarce had the friendly tear, For Hogarth shed, escap'd the generous eye Of feeling Pity, when again it flow'd For Churchill's fate. Ill can we bear the loss Of Fancy's twin-born offspring, close ally'd In energy of thought, though different paths They sought for fame! Though jarring passions sway'd The living artists, let the funeral wreath Unite their memory!"