Note 162 — HOGARTH ILLUSTRATED. (continued 3)

These angry strains had, I suppose, their origin in Hogarth having on some occasion charged Churchill with falsehood. The accusation might probably allude to personal satire, and the bard's warmest admirers must admit, that though his characters are highly drawn, and still more highly coloured, they are rather political than historical, rather poetical than biographical. An uneducated painter, who had not taste enough to conceive that poetry, however animated, could make that truth which he knew to be falsehood, might possibly give his opinion in very displeasing terms.