[66] Though Mr. Malton's description is built on fancy as much as Mr. Hogarth's design, it must be acknowledged that some of his criticism is just. With respect to the column, nothing either elevated or grand has yet been produced by violently deviating from the first models. Mr. Emlyn, in the year 1782, published a proposition for a sixth order, which in some points resembles Hogarth's. The plan of his column is to represent the particular character of our English chivalry in its most illustrious order—the order of the Garter: it is to be composed of the single trunks of trees; his capitals are to be copied from the plumage of the knights' caps, with the Ionic volutes interwoven and bound together in the front, with the star of the order between them. The fluting of the trunk is cabled, and the cables hollow and filled with the English arrow, the feathered end rising out of each of them. The ornament of the frieze over the columns is a plume of three ostrich feathers, etc. etc. etc.

Sir Joshua Reynolds, in his discourse delivered December 10, 1776, gives the following strong reasons against any new order succeeding:—

"Though it is from the prejudice we have in favour of the ancients, who have taught us architecture, that we had adopted likewise their ornaments; and though we are satisfied that neither nature nor reason are the foundation of those beauties which we imagine we see in that art; yet if any one, persuaded of this truth, should therefore invent new orders of equal beauty, which we will suppose to be possible, yet they would not please; nor ought he to complain, since the old has that great advantage of having custom and prejudice on its side. In this case we leave what has every prejudice in its favour, to take that which will have no advantage over what we have left, but novelty, which soon destroys itself, and at any rate is but a weak antagonist against custom."

[67] "On our own stage we have seen dances in which the ingenious composer thought he represented the four seasons, the four elements, and the five senses. These jigs conveyed about as much meaning as dancing odes or dancing sermons."

[68] Mr. Rouquet, enamel painter to the King of France, in his book on The Present State of the Arts in England, printed for Nourse in 1755, after enumerating chasing, engraving, painting, sculpture, architecture, etc., as arts that are practised in England, concludes with a chapter on the Art of Cookery, which he thus gravely introduces:—

"There is an art, the only one that can justly pretend to unite pleasure with absolute utility; but this art, born in servitude, to which it is still condemned, notwithstanding its extreme importance, is reckoned ignoble, for which reason some perhaps will be surprised at seeing me give it a place in this work; I mean the art of preparing aliments."

[69] This is a palpable hit at Handel. In a caricatured portrait, entitled "The Charming Brute," this great composer is delineated sitting on a hogshead with the profile of a boar, a bill of fare, and other emblems of voluptuousness scattered round him. Published March 21, 1754. Motto on a scroll, "I am myself alone," and under the print these lines:—

When Handel had once a large party to dinner, the cloth being removed, he introduced plain port. Having drank four or five glasses with his guests, he suddenly started up—exclaimed—"I have a thought!" and stalked out of the room, to which after a short absence he returned. Having drank a few more glasses he uttered the same sentence—again retreated, and again returned. It was naturally supposed that he wished to commit to paper some idea that struck him at the moment, and passed over; but, when in less than an hour he a third time started—growled out—"I have a thought!" and a third time left the company, one of the gentlemen privately followed, and traced him into another apartment, where, on looking through the keyhole, he saw this great master of music kneel down to a hamper of champagne, that he might more conveniently reach out a flask, which having nearly finished, he returned to his friends!

[70] In Hogarth's time the forms of nature were tortured and disguised by stiff stays: the ladies of the present day are not guilty of this error. As to the bloom of Circassia, the less that is said about it the better.

[71] However unimportant Hogarth thought the cut of a coat, certain adepts in the art, about two years since, published a half-guinea book, on the scientific acquisitions necessary to make a perfect tailor!

"This day is published, price 10s. 6d., The Tailor's Complete Guide, or a Comprehensive Analysis of Beauty and Elegance of Dress; containing rules for cutting out garments of every kind, and fitting any person with the greatest accuracy and precision. Also plain directions how to avoid the errors of the trade in misfitting, and pointing out the method of rectifying what may be done amiss; to which is added a description to cut out and make the patent plastic habits and clothes without the usual seams, now in the highest estimation with the nobility and gentry, according to the patent granted by his Majesty; the whole concerted and devised by a society of adepts in the profession.

⁂ "This work was undertaken solely for the benefit of the trade, to instruct the rising generation, and perfectly to complete them in the art and science of cutting out clothes. The copperplates consist of each separated part, which will on the first view convince the uninformed mind that with a little attention he may be a complete tailor."

[72] Hogarth might conceive that, by rendering the habits of his early figures more conformable to the fashion of the times, when they were altered he improved them. Collectors are of a different opinion, though it must be acknowledged that, in Plate IV. of "The Rake's Progress," the humour is much heightened by introducing a group of vulgar minor gamblers in the place of the shoeblack.

[73] The picture was exhibited at Spring Gardens in the year 1761, with the title of "Piquet, or Virtue in Danger," and is still in the collection of the nobleman for whom it was painted.

It may fairly be considered as a moral lesson against gaming. The clock denotes five in the morning. The lady has lost her money, jewels, a miniature of her husband, and the half of a £500 bank note, which, by a letter lying on the floor, she appears to have recently received from him. In fine, all is lost except her honour; and in this dangerous moment she is represented perplexed, agitated, and irresolute. A print of it has lately been finely engraved by Mr. Cheesman.

[74] In the little memorandum book from which I extracted this, Hogarth has inserted the following note (without the translation) from Horace. I do not produce it as a proof that he was a Latin scholar, but suppose that the lines were pointed out by some literary friend, and he thus applied them:—

[75] The artist requested his widow would not sell it during her lifetime for less than £500. She abided by his injunction. Since her death it was put up to auction at Greenwood's rooms, and purchased by Messrs. Boydell: it is in their possession now.

I some years since saw a picture of "Lucretia," by Domenichino, in the collection of Mr. Welbore Ellis Agar, which in air, attitude, and expression, bore a strong resemblance to Hogarth's "Sigismunda."

[76] "The Altar-piece to St. Mary Redcliffe's, Bristol," for which he received five hundred pounds, and the "Paul before Felix," painted for Lincoln's-Inn Hall.

[77] That this picture was much abused is certain, but it is equally certain that the painter had occasionally some consolatory compliments. Robert Lloyd, in one of his fables, asserts that "Sigismunda"

A writer in the Public Advertiser, March 7, 1761, honours it with the following stanzas:—

"Upon seeing the picture of 'Sigismunda,' painted by Hogarth.

[78] N.B.—At Sir Luke Schaub's sale, Sir Richard Grosvenor bid four hundred pounds for a less picture, said to be a "Correggio," but really painted by an obscure French artist.

[79] It appears by the subscription-book that it closed March 26. During this time there were fifty subscribers at half a guinea each; the receipts were given on the print of "Time Smoking a Picture." The first name is that of Dr. Garnier, for two prints; the last, who also subscribes for two prints, is Mr. Thomas Hollis. This gentleman would not receive back the guinea he had paid, and it was given to a public charity. Among the names are the late Philip Thicknesse, Dr. Hunter, Samuel Curteis of Wapping, and David Garrick; against each of the subscriptions is marked, "Money returned."

Under the direction of Hogarth, Mr. Basire made an etching from "Sigismunda," but it was never finished. A drawing in oil was made from it by Mr. Edwards, and it was a few years since engraved in mezzotinto by Dunkerton. Mr. Ridley engraved it for Messrs. Boydell, and a reduced copy is in the first volume of Hogarth Illustrated.

[80] The chosen band who then directed the storm, having dragged poor "Sigismunda" into their political vortex, the cannibal caricaturists of the day tore her in pieces as a carcase for the hounds, and rioted over her mangled remains.

One of these political slaughtermen, in a print entitled "The Bruiser Triumphant," describes Sigismunda in the character of a harlot blubbering over a bullock's heart. In another, elegantly inscribed "Tit for Tat," Hogarth is represented painting Wilkes' portrait, and a bloated and filthy figure displayed in the background baptized Sigismunda. Many other wretched and contemptible squibs were hurled about on the same occasion. Besides this public abuse, some of the anonymous versifiers of the day, who were not yet important enough to figure in a newspaper or flutter in a magazine, condescended to notice his political errors, and for the gratification of the artist transmitted their effusions to Leicester Fields.

The following stanzas I found among his other papers, addressed

"To the Author of the Times.

Christening the author of the North Briton "his country's and his monarch's glory," leads us to suspect that the ingenious gentleman who fabricated the above rhymes had some little portion of party prejudice. The Quaker who wrote the annexed letter and epigram, which, as well as the verses that follow, were amongst Hogarth's manuscripts, was moved by a very different spirit:—

"Of the eighth month, the 20th day, 1763.

An Epigram.

To the Rev. Charles Churchill, Esquire, etc.

To Mr. Hogarth.

"Brighthelmstone, July 9, 1763.

"Sir,—You see the effects of the salt waters here; they incline us to scribble by way of amusement. I have sent you the following stanzas, which you may print or do what you please with:—

To the Rev. C. Churchill.

"Non ut pictura poesis."

[81] I think the reader will agree with me, that such assertions as the following demanded an apology:—

"His (Hogarth's) works are his history. As a painter he had but slender merit; in colouring he proved no greater a master: his force lay in expression, not in tints and chiaroscuro."—Anecdotes of Painting, vol. iv. p. 160.

How was it possible for Mr. Walpole to have written the foregoing lines after having seen the pictures of "Marriage à la Mode"?

[82] The last volume was not published till October 9, 1780, though printed in 1771.—Advertisement to vol. iv.

[83] The reader is referred to Vol. II. Plate 70, where the picture is given in its perfected state.

[84] Archbishop Tillotson remarks in one of his sermons, that Hocus Pocus is derived from Hoc est Corpus.

[85] "This new dispensation (Methodism) is a composition of enthusiasm, superstition, and imposture. When the blood and spirits run high, inflaming the brain and imagination, it is most properly enthusiasm, which is religion run mad. When low and dejected, causing groundless terrors, or the placing the great duty of man in little observances, it is superstition, which is religion scared out of its senses. When any fraudulent dealings are made use of, and any wrong projects carried on under the mask of piety, it is imposture, and may be termed religion turned hypocrite."—Lavington's Enthusiasm of Methodists and Papists Compared, vol. i. p. 79.

[86] Mahomet being once asked, What is this Alla, whom thou declarest unto the people? with much more exalted and sublime ideas, replied, "It is he who derives being from himself; from whom all others derive their being; and to whom there is no likeness in the whole extent of space."

[87] Bishop Lavington, after quoting many of the legends of St. Catherine and St. Teresa, and the journals of modern Methodists, which in a very similar style describe their divine love, concludes as follows:—

"'Tis true indeed, as the legendaries own, that St. Catherine was slandered as a fond and light woman, and St. Teresa kept such bad company, that most persons concluded celestial visions were not compatible with her kind of life; but all this may be reconciled; for these excesses of the spiritual and carnal affections are nearer allied than is generally thought, arising from the same irregular emotions of the blood and animal spirits; and the patient is hurried on either way, according to the nature of the object; and I am much mistaken, and so is history too, if some of the warmest and most enthusiastic pretenders to the love of God have not entertained the same violence of passion (not quite so spiritual) for their neighbours."—Lavington's Enthusiasm of Papists and Methodists Compared, vol. i. p. 57.

[88] Let it not be supposed that because the female mendicant and her handcuffed neighbour are half naked, they are in any degree ashamed. "Among the Papists there are religious orders who profess to prefer food, bed, and raiment of the vilest sort for their greater spiritual proficiency; and St. Philip Nerius was such a lover of poverty, that he frequently besought Almighty God to bring him to such a state as to stand in need of a penny, and find nobody that would give him one."—Lavington's Enthusiasm, etc.

[89] What renders this still more curious is, that the word signifies "oxen."

[90] When this circumstance was once mentioned to Dr. Rundle, as a striking instance of Abraham's obedience, the Doctor in reply said, that however it might be generally understood,—if he had been a Justice of Peace in Abraham's parish, he would have committed him till he found sufficient bail for his good behaviour. Some good-natured friend repeated this speech to Queen Caroline, and it retarded Rundle's promotion for many years.

[91] Of the plate in its first state there are only two impressions, both of them in the possession of the Editor, who has published a correct copy of the same size, which may be had from him or from Messrs. Boydell.

On the margin of these two prints Hogarth has inserted slight pen-and-ink sketches of "A Monk as a Windmill," "the Hopper of a Mill," etc. These are copied in the annexed plate of reference, and in a degree elucidated by the following passage in Burnet's Travels through Switzerland, etc., p. 232:—

"Over a popish altar at Worms is a picture one would think invented to ridicule transubstantiation. There is a windmill, and the Virgin throws Christ into the hopper, and he comes out at the eye of the mill all in wafers, which some priest takes up to give to the people. This is so coarse an emblem, that one would think it was too gross even for Laplanders; but a man that can swallow transubstantiation will digest this likewise."

Of painters presuming to explain the Trinity by a triangle, Hogarth and Swift thought alike:

"If God should please to reveal unto us this great mystery of the Trinity, or some other mysteries in our holy religion, we should not be able to understand them unless He would bestow on us some new faculties of the mind."—Swift.

[92]

[93] Since the publication of the first edition of this volume, a print of a larger size has been copied from the picture by Mr. T. Philips.

[94] These raptures were expensive. The lavish profusion which our people of rank then displayed in their presents to this band of quavering exotics is scarcely credible. The Daily Advertiser gives a list of some of the contributors, and states Farinelli's share at more than £2000 a year; to which if we add his salary £1500 and casual presents, his annual income must have been more than four thousand pounds!

[95] See Shakspeare's Julius Cæsar and Antony and Cleopatra.

[96] Of this gentleman there is a tolerably good mezzotinto print, engraved by Kirkall from a picture by Goupy, with the following curious inscription from the Italian:—

There is a portrait of Carlo Broschi Detto Farinelli, Amiconi pinxit. C. Grignion sculp. small circle.

[97] Art of Spelling, The Complete Justice, etc. This austere magistrate has been said to be intended for Sir Thomas De Veil, who raised himself from the rank of a common soldier to a station in which he made a considerable figure; but De Veil wrote French and English, and was both intelligent and active.

[98] Religious Ceremonies of all Nations, published at Amsterdam in 1735. He entitles this print, "Le Serment de la Fille qui se trouve enceinte." On the same page he has introduced a copy from Sympson's print of orator Henley christening a child, and calls it "Le Baptême Domestique."

[99] The gates of this charity were for several years open to the orphans of those who fell in the battles of their country. A great number of the children who became orphans by the battle of Minden were admitted into this Hospital.

[100] When Schalcken once painted a portrait of King William, he requested his Majesty to hold the candle; this the monarch did till the tallow ran down upon his fingers. To justify this piece of ill-breeding, the painter drew his own portrait in the same situation.

[101] The conductors of this office have printed proposals, stating their terms, etc.; but the business is sometimes transacted by individuals, through the medium of the public prints. The following advertisements are copied from the daily papers:—

[102] The apology here alluded to was made in a letter to the author of the Beggars' Opera, dated December 16, 1731, and ushered into the world as written by a Mr. Cleland, who had a few years before sent a letter to the publisher of the Dunciad, explaining the author's motives for writing the poem, and subjoining a list of the books in which he had been abused, etc. This Pope printed; and this, as well as the letter to Mr. Gay, it was universally believed was written by Pope. In a note to the letter to Gay, printed in the same volume with the Dunciad, the poet, after giving Mr. Cleland a very high character for diligence, punctuality, etc., concludes: "and yet for all this, the public will not allow him to be the author of this letter."

[103] Hogarth has introduced these three figures in rather a better style, in his print of "The Small Masquerade Ticket, or Burlington Gate."

[104] Mr. Pope has honoured this dignified divine with a slight stroke in the Epistle to Lord Burlington, and note on the lines—

[105] "A reverend Dean, preaching at Court, threatened the sinner with punishment in a place he thought it not decent to name in so polite an assembly."—P.

[106] To this architectural ornament he has an unquestionable right. His Lordship (besides other buildings) designed the Dormitory at Westminster School, the Assembly Room at York, Lord Harrington's at Petersham, and General Wade's in Cork Street. The latter, though ill-contrived and inconvenient, had so beautiful a front, that Lord Chesterfield said, "As the General could not live in it at his ease, he had better take a house over against it, and look at it."

[107]

His Lordship was then publishing copies from the designs of Palladio and Inigo Jones.

The elegant but ill-natured stanzas which allude to the Duke of Chandos, beginning, "At Timon's villa let us pass a day," everybody knows. The delicately turned compliments to Lord Burlington display the poet's art; his precepts on ornamental gardening prove his taste and judgment. I cannot resist the temptation of recalling six or eight lines to the reader's recollection, were it only to subjoin Dr. Warburton's curious note, which admirably illustrates the remark that

[108]

THE NOTE!

"First, the Genius of the place 'tells the waters,' or only simply gives directions: then he 'helps the ambitious hill,' or is a fellow-labourer: then again, he 'scoops the circling theatre,' or works alone, or in chief. Afterwards, rising fast in our idea of dignity, he 'calls in the country,' alluding to the orders of princes in their progress, when accustomed to display all their state and magnificence. His character then grows sacred, 'he joins willing woods,' a metaphor taken from one of the offices of the priesthood, till at length he becomes a divinity, and creates, and presides over the whole."—Warburton's edit. of Pope, 1752, vol. iii. p. 285.

Would the reader wish a better specimen of the Bishop's taste!

[109] An artist in the year 1762 stole Hogarth's thunder, and aimed the bolt at the head of him who had forged it. In a print entitled "The Butifyer, or a Touch upon the Times," he is represented in the character of a shoeblack, blackening a great jack-boot, and bespattering the surrounding crowd.

Beneath is inscribed, "With what judgment ye judge, shall ye be judged."—Matt. chap. vii. ver. 2; and,

"In justice to Mr. Hogarth, the engraver of this plate declares to the public he took the hint of 'The Butifyer' from a print of Mr. Pope whitewashing Lord Burlington's gate, and at the same time bespattering the rest of the nobility."

[110] Fielding and Hogarth had in some respects similar powers and similar want of success in things for which they seemed peculiarly gifted. Admirable as was the dialogue of the comic characters in Fielding's novels, he was unable to give them stage effect; and though Hogarth saw nature in all her varieties, and gave to every face the index of their mind, he rarely succeeded in historical pictures.

[111] This etching is so nearly a fac-simile of the original, that when it was brought home Hogarth mistook it for his own drawing, which, considering of no value, he threw into the fire, whence it was snatched by Mrs. Lewis, though not before the paper was scorched.

Hogarth made a very whimsical design for Fielding's tragedy of tragedies, Tom Thumb the Great. It was engraved by Vandergucht, and is prefixed to the play published by Lowndes, etc.

[112] Mr. King, in his Observations on Ancient Castles, observes that "Lord Lovat was one of the last chieftains that preserved the rude manners and barbarous authority of the early feudal ages. He resided in a house which would be esteemed but an indifferent one for a very private plain country gentleman in England, as it had properly only four rooms on a floor, and those not large. Here, however, he kept a sort of court, and several public tables, and a numerous body of retainers always attending. His own constant residence, and the place where he always received company, even at dinner, was the very same room where he lodged; and his lady's sole apartment was her bedroom; and the only provision for the lodging of the servants and retainers was a quantity of straw, which they spread every night on the floors of the lower rooms, where the whole inferior part of the family, consisting of a very great number of persons, took up their abode!"—Archæologia, vol. iv.

[113] By a book on the table, inscribed Memoirs, Hogarth seems to allude to the manuscript.

[114] In the name by which the old peer supposed the Maiden was to be distinguished in a future age, he was mistaken. The Guillotine is an improvement of the Maiden; so that, though France has been the first to bring it into universal practice, Scotland is entitled to the whole honour of the invention.

[115] The mad peer in Pope's imitation of Horace was not very grateful to the d—d doctor:

[116] A complete set of reduced copies from his prints are now publishing at Gottingen, with illustrations in the German and French languages.

[117] Jarvis and Smollett have strangely translated it "spindle-shanked," which by no means accords with the rest of his figure.