The old lady's habit, formed of stiff brocade, gives her the appearance of a squat pyramid, with a grotesque head at the top of it. The young one is fondling a little black boy, who on his part is playing with a petite pagoda. This miniature Othello has been said to be intended for the late Ignatius Sancho, whose talents and virtues were an honour to his colour. At the time the picture was painted he would have been rather older than the figure; but as he was then honoured by the partiality and protection of a noble family, the painter might possibly mean to delineate what his figure had been a few years before.

The little monkey, with a magnifying glass, bag-wig, solitaire, laced hat, and ruffles, is eagerly inspecting a bill of fare, with the following articles pour dinner: cocks' combs, ducks' tongues, rabbits' ears, fricasey of snails, grande d'œuts beurre.[92]

In the centre of the room is a capacious china jar; in one corner a tremendous pyramid composed of packs of cards; and on the floor, close to them, a bill inscribed, "Lady Basto D^r to John Pip, for cards—£300."

The room is ornamented with several pictures; the principal represents the Medicean Venus on a pedestal, in stays and high-heeled shoes, and holding before her a hoop petticoat somewhat larger than a fig-leaf; a Cupid paring down a fat lady to a thin proportion, and another Cupid blowing up a fire to burn a hoop petticoat, muff, bag, and queue wig, etc. On the dexter side is another picture representing Monsieur Desnoyer, operatically habited, dancing in a grand ballet, and surrounded by butterflies, etc., inscribed "Insects," and evidently of the same genus with this deity of dance. On the sinister is a drawing, denominated "Exotics," consisting of queue and bag-wigs, muffs, solitaires, petticoats, French-heeled shoes, and other fantastic fripperies.

Beneath this is a lady in a pyramidical habit walking the park; and, as the companion picture, we have a blind man walking the streets.

The fire-screen is adorned with a drawing of a lady in a sedan chair—

As Hogarth made this design from the ideas of Miss Edwards, it has been said that he had no great partiality for his own performance, and that, as he never would consent to its being engraved, the drawing from which the print is copied was made by the connivance of one of her servants.[93] Be that as it may, his ridicule on the absurdities of fashion,—on the folly of collecting old china,—cookery,—card-playing, etc., is pointed, and highly wrought.

At the sale of Miss Edwards' effects at Kensington, the original picture was purchased by the father of Mr. Birch, surgeon, of Essex Street, Strand.

FARINELLI, CUZZONI, AND SENESINO,

IN THE CHARACTERS OF

PTOLEMY, CLEOPATRA, AND JULIUS CÆSAR.

are here the representatives of "the majesty of Egypt, a morsel for a monarch," and "the foremost man of all this world;"[95] they were the three principal performers in Handel's opera of Ptolomeo, performed in the year 1728. There have been some suspicions of its not being Hogarth's design, and from the characters more than bordering on caricature, etc., I once inclined to that opinion; but from the general spirit of the satire, and the same figures being introduced in nearly the same attitudes in the first print Hogarth ever published (see p. 22), there is little doubt of its being his production.

The position (for it can hardly be called an attitude) in which the painter has placed Farinelli, is fully warranted by the writer of a pamphlet, entitled Reflections on Theatrical Expression in Tragedy, etc., published in 1755. These Reflections are admirably contrasted by the exaggerated compliment with which the author of the Divine Legation honours the divine Senesino. The two quotations follow:—

"I shall therefore, in my further remarks on this article, go back to the old Italian theatre, when Farinelli drew everybody to the Haymarket. What a pipe! what modulation! what ecstasy to the ear!—but, heavens! what clumsiness! what stupidity! what offence to the eye! Reader, if of the city, thou mayst probably have seen in the fields of Islington or Mile-End, or if thou art in the environs of St. James's, thou must have observed in the park, with what ease and agility a cow, heavy with calf, has rose up at the command of the milkwoman's foot. Thus from the mossy bank sprung up the divine Farinelli. Then with long strides, advancing a few paces, his left hand settled upon his hip in a beautiful bend, like that of an old-fashioned caudle-cup, his right hand remained immoveable across his manly breast till numbness called its partner to supply its place, when it relieved itself in the position of the other handle to the caudle-cup, etc."—Reflections, etc.

With respect to the other genius of Italian song, Mr. Nichols very justly observes that his dignity must have been wonderful, or the following passage in Dr. Warburton's Inquiry into the Causes of Prodigies and Miracles (printed in 1727) affords a most notorious example of the bathos:—

"Observe," says he (p. 60), "Sir Walter Raleigh's great manner of ending the first part of the History of the World: 'By this, which we have already set down, is seen the beginning and end of the three first monarchies of the world, whereof the founders and erectors thought that they never could have ended; that of Rome, which made the fourth, was also at this time almost at the highest. We have left it flourishing in the middle of the field, have rooted up or cut down all that kept it from the eyes and admiration of the world; but after some continuance it shall begin to lose the beauty it had, the storms of ambition shall beat the great boughs and branches one against another, her leaves shall fall off, her limbs wither, and a rabble of barbarous nations enter the field and cut her down.' What strength of colouring! what grace, what nobleness of expression! with what a majesty does he close his immortal labour! It puts one in mind of the so much admired exit of the late famed Italian singer!" (Senesino.[96]) What a climax!

A WOMAN SWEARING HER CHILD TO A GRAVE CITIZEN.

These curious rhymes, engraven under the original print, in a degree describe the plot of the play, and the characters of the performers in this religious ceremony; for as such does Picart class a copy which he has introduced in the fourth volume of his work,[98] accompanied with the following explanation:—

"Many other customs might find a place here, and delight the readers by their comical singularity, but we dare not crowd in too great a number of those trifles, as not being properly religious ceremonies; which therefore, till approved of by the church, or by the governor of it, prescribed by ecclesiastical laws or formularies, we shall omit, except two or three of the most remarkable. The first is what the description here annexed calls the breeding woman's oath,—a custom not to be met with in other countries,—which is so fantastical, or rather unjust, that it would be a prejudice to the laws of England if we were to judge of their equity by that practice. Suppose any of these girls, which may be called amphibious (being neither wives nor virgins), is found to be with child. She does not, or will not, pretend to know the father of this child. In order to free herself from the trouble of maintaining it when born, she looks out for some rich man, upon whom she intends to father it. Generally they say she pitches upon some good citizen, though she does not know him, or maybe has never seen him. Then she goes before a Justice of the Peace, summons the pretended father to appear before him, and in his presence swears upon the Bible, which the clerk holds to her, that she owns and declares that such a one whom she has summoned to appear is the father of the child. How far the equivocal expressions and restrictions of that oath may excuse her from perjury, let a good casuist be the judge. However, the man thus named and sworn to by this formality of law is obliged to pay an arbitrary fine, and to agree upon a sum of money for the maintenance of the child."—Picart's Religious Ceremonies, p. 83.

The original picture from which this print was engraven was one of Hogarth's early productions, and is in the possession of the Rev. Mr. Whalley, at Ecton, Northamptonshire. In the disposition of the figures, etc., it has a more than accidental resemblance to a picture by Heemskirk, which was in the possession of Mr. Watson, surgeon, Rathbone Place, where all the male figures are monkeys; all the females, cats; and which in the year 1772 was engraved in mezzotinto by Dickinson, and entitled "The Village Magistrate."

A small copy from Hogarth's print is introduced as the headpiece to a tale printed in Banks' Works, vol. i. p. 248, entitled "The Substitute Father."

THE FOUNDLINGS.

Hogarth, by presenting some of his works to the Foundling Hospital, was in fact an early benefactor to the charity. He made the annexed design for the use of this institution; it was engraved by F. Morellon la Cave, as the headpiece to a power of attorney from the trustees of the charity to those gentlemen who were appointed to receive subscriptions towards the building, etc.

In the other corner are three boys coming out of a door with the king's arms over it; as emblems of their future employments, one of them poises a plummet, a second holds a trowel, and a third, whose mother is fondly pressing him to her bosom, has in his hand a card for combing wool. The next group, headed by a lad elevating a mathematical instrument, are in sailors' jacket and trousers; those on their right hand, one of whom has a rake, are in the uniform of the school.

The attributes of the three little girls in the foreground—a spinning-wheel, sampler, and broom—indicate female industry and ingenuity.

It must be admitted that the scene here represented is a painter's anticipation, for the charter was not granted until October 1739, and this design was made only three years afterwards; but the manner in which the charity has been since conducted has realized the scene.

FRONTISPIECE TO TERRÆ FILIUS.

The work to which this is a frontispiece was written by Nicholas Amhurst, author of the Craftsman, and published in the year 1726. The leading object of this writer is to satirize the Tory principles of the University of Oxford; but as the book does not abound in subjects for the pencil, Hogarth has selected a scene described in No. 33, published 8th May 1721, which contains "Advice to all gentlemen schoolboys, etc., who are designed for the University of Oxford." In the part which forms the subject for this print, the writer thus cautions them:—

"Have a particular regard how you speak of those gaudy things which flutter about Oxford in prodigious numbers in summer time, called 'Toasts;' take care how you reflect on their parentage, their condition, their virtue, or their beauty,—ever remembering that

'Hell has no fury like a woman scorn'd;'

especially when they have spiritual bravoes on their side, to revenge their cause on every audacious contemner of Venus and her altars.

"Not long ago a bitter lampoon was published on the most celebrated of these petticoat professors. As soon as it came out the town was in an uproar, and a very severe sentence was passed upon the author of this anonymous libel, to discover whom no pains were spared. All the disgusted ill-natured fellows in the University were, one after another, suspected upon this occasion. At last, I know not how, it was peremptorily fixed upon one, whether justly or not I cannot say; but the parties offended resolved to make an example of somebody for such an enormous crime, and one of them (more enraged than the rest) was heard to declare, 'that right or wrong, that impudent scoundrel (mentioning his name) should be expelled by G—; and that she had interest enough with the President and Senior Fellows of his College to get his business done.' Accordingly, within a year after this, he was (almost unanimously) expelled from his fellowship, in the presence of some of the persons injured, who came thither to see the execution.

'Felix quam faciunt aliena pericula cautum'

was the thesis pitched upon by the excluding doctors for the under-graduates to moralize upon, in a public exercise upon this occasion; and as it is a very wholesome maxim, I leave it, my little lads, to your serious meditation."

To the figures introduced in this print the original artist has given a spirit worthy of Callot; and the copy hereto annexed has been thought correct and animated.

THE SEPULCHRE.

The centre division, which is much the largest, represents the Ascension. The rays emanating from the ascending Deity, and beaming through the interstices of the surrounding clouds, are tenderly and brilliantly touched. In the foreground, St. Thomas on one knee, with his hands clasped together, is eagerly looking up with an expression of wonder and astonishment. On the other side is St. Peter, in a reclining posture. Near the centre, St. John, with a group made up of the other Apostles, attentively listening to the two men in white, who appeared on this occasion. The background is on one side closed with tremendous rocks; on the other, under the skirts of low-hung clouds in the distance, appears part of the magnificent city of Jerusalem, illuminated by a flash of lightning, which, darting from a darkened sky, casts a livid gloom over the whole.

The compartment on the right hand represents the rolling of the stone and sealing the sepulchre in the presence of the high priest; the exertion displayed in this is happily contrasted by the tenderness and elegant softness displayed in the companion picture here copied, where the Marys approach the empty sepulchre. The angel, speaking and pointing up to heaven with an expression which explains itself—to singular beauty, sweetness, and benevolence, unites great elevation of character, and the native dignity of a superior being.

The foregoing remarks, with some little variations, are extracted from an article in the Critical Review for June 1756, which, being written while the artist was living, were possibly seen and approved by himself.

The writer concludes by remarking, that the purchasing such a picture for their church does great honour to the opulent city for which it was painted, and is the likeliest means to raise a British School of Artists; though it would be a just subject of public regret if Mr. Hogarth should abandon a branch of painting in which he stands alone, unrivalled and inimitable, to pursue another in which so many have already excelled.

From the "Sealing the Sepulchre" and this print there are two large mezzotintos by J. Jenner. The centre compartment has not been engraved.

THE POLITICIAN.

One of our old writers gives it as his opinion, that "there are only two subjects which are worthy the study of a wise man, i.e. religion and politics." For the first, it does not come under inquiry in this print; but certain it is, that too sedulously studying the second has frequently involved its votaries in many most tedious and unprofitable disputes, and been the source of much evil to many well-meaning and honest men. Under this class comes the "Quidnunc" here portrayed; it is said to be intended for a Mr. Tibson, laceman in the Strand, who paid more attention to the affairs of Europe than to those of his own shop. He is represented in a style somewhat similar to that in which Schalcken painted William the Third,[100]—holding a candle in his right hand, and eagerly inspecting the Gazetteer of the day. Deeply interested in the intelligence it contains concerning the flames that rage on the Continent, he is totally insensible of domestic danger, and regardless of a flame which, ascending to his hat,

"Threatens destruction to his three-tail'd wig."

From the tie-wig, stockings, high-quartered shoes, and sword, I should suppose it was painted about the year 1730, when street robberies were so frequent in the metropolis that it was customary for men in trade to wear swords; not as now (1803), to preserve their religion and liberty from foreign invasion, but to defend their own pockets from domestic collectors.

The original sketch Hogarth presented to his friend Forrest; it was etched by Sherwin, and published 1775.

THE MATCHMAKER.

"Wanted immediately—A Husband."
—Vide the daily papers.

The two agreeable persons here introduced formed part of a group in an unfinished picture painted by Hogarth. They were some years since engraved on two copperplates; but as I thought that was placing still further apart the hands of those twain whom the holy service of matrimony was soon to unite, I have here brought them into one, and in this we are presented with the bride and that useful agent of Hymen, denominated a Matchmaker. We see nothing of the bridegroom but his hand and arm; from which, the countenance of the lady, and the character of the go-between, we may fairly infer he is young, and regret that the artist did not complete the trio, and place him as a contrast to the antiquated virgin with whom he is to be united. By the beauty spots on her face, she wishes to conceal the ravages of time; and from her laced lappets, cuffs, robings, and brocaded silk, we may suppose she is rich. As to the share which the venerable person who provides her with a husband is to have for his reward—it depends upon the bargain. I have been told that in this masquerade matrimony, the master of the ceremonies, or lord of the bedchamber (which the reader pleases), is paid by both the contracting parties.

Some of my readers may possibly imagine that the tribe of Matchmakers, like the race of wolves, is extinct in England; but this is so far from being the case, that there is now in the neighbourhood of Piccadilly a regular office,[101] where any gentleman or gentlewoman, first paying a stipulated sum for entrance money, may disclose their virtuous wishes, and be provided with partners for life,—or as long as they can agree.

THE MAN OF TASTE.

"Mr. Pope published in 1731 a poem called False Taste, in which he very particularly and severely criticises the house, the furniture, the gardens, and the entertainments of Timon, a man of great wealth and little taste. By Timon he was universally supposed, and by the Earl of Burlington, to whom the poem is addressed, was privately said, to mean the Duke of Chandos, a man perhaps too much delighted with pomp and show, but of a temper kind and beneficent, and who had consequently the voice of the public in his favour. A violent outcry was therefore raised against the ingratitude and treachery of Pope, who was said to have been indebted to the patronage of Chandos for a present of a thousand pounds, and who gained the opportunity of insulting him by the kindness of his invitation. The receipt of the thousand pounds Pope publicly denied; but from the reproach which the attack on a character so amiable brought upon him, he tried all means of escaping. The name of Cleland was employed in an apology[102] by which no man was satisfied; and he was at last reduced to shelter his temerity behind dissimulation, and endeavoured to make that disbelieved which he never had confidence openly to deny. He wrote an exculpatory letter to the Duke, which was answered with great magnanimity by a man who accepted his excuse without believing his professions. He said, that to have ridiculed his taste or his buildings had been an indifferent action in another man, but that in Pope, after the reciprocal kindness that had been exchanged between them, it had been less easily excused."—Johnson's Life of Pope.

Soon after the publication of the poem alluded to, Hogarth made this design, which presents a view of Burlington Gate. On the front, as a crooked compliment to the noble proprietor, he has inscribed the word "Taste;" and as a standing proof of the projector being entitled to the appellation, placed a statue of his grand favourite William Kent triumphantly brandishing his palette and pencils on the summit, with two reclining figures representing Raphael and Michael Angelo for his supporters.[103] Standing on a scaffold board beneath them, Mr. Pope, in the character of a plasterer, is whitewashing the front, and whirling his brush with a spirit that produces a shower of liquid pearl which dismays and defiles the passengers beneath; the principal of these, intended for the Duke of Chandos, holds his hat over his head to shelter himself in his retreat. The torrent is not confined to his Grace's person, but lavishly scattered over his carriage and attendants, among whom is a blackamoor in the way of being whitewashed. The clergyman, whom I believe intended for the duke's chaplain,[104] is escaping round the carriage.

An old military character, who as well as the chaplain is got out of the poet's vortex, is rubbing off the stains which he has previously contracted.

Climbing a ladder reared against the scaffold, we have Lord Burlington doing the office of a labourer, and arrayed in a tie-wig, with a pair of compasses[106] suspended to the riband of his order, and carrying to his little active workman a hand-hawk, on which is a portion of what I am told the bricklayers call "fine stuff," to mix up more whitening for beautifying the front of his own gate, and defiling the garments of every passenger. This, it must be acknowledged, our poetical plasterer performs with distinguished dexterity: he at the same time covers the corrosions in the front, dashes a plenteous shower on those that come near it, and so kicks the bottom of a pail which hangs to his short ladder, that a copious stream flows on the head of a gentleman beneath.

This double distribution of flattery and satire is amply exemplified in the Epistle to Lord Burlington; where the poet, by contrasting the feeble and imperfect efforts of those he abuses with the superior and superlative genius of the peer,[107] elevates the powers of his own patron, and sinks those of all his competitors.

The print from which this is copied was prefixed to a pamphlet, entitled A Miscellany of Taste, by Mr. Pope, etc., containing his epistles, with notes, etc. There are two other engravings from the same design, one larger and one smaller than the print annexed. In the former of these, Mr. Pope has a tie-wig on.[109]

HENRY FIELDING.

Henry received the first rudiments of his education from the Rev. Mr. Oliver, to whom we may judge he was not under very considerable obligations, from the humorous and striking portrait given of him afterwards, under the name of Parson Trulliber, in Joseph Andrews. From Mr. Oliver's care he was removed to Eton school, where he had the advantage of being early known to many of the first people in the kingdom,—namely, Lord Lyttelton, Mr. Fox, Mr. Pitt, Sir Charles Hanbury Williams, and the late Mr. Winnington.

At this great seminary of education he gave distinguished proofs of strong and peculiar powers; and when he left the place, was said to be uncommonly versed in the Greek authors, and an early master of the Latin classics: for both which he retained a strong predilection in all the subsequent periods of his life. Thus accomplished, he went from Eton to Leyden, and there continued to show an eager thirst for knowledge, and to study the civilians with unwearied assiduity for two years; when, remittances failing, he was obliged to return to London, not then quite twenty years old.

The comedy called Don Quixote in England, was planned at Leyden, and completed on his return to London; where, from some cause or other, he was induced to bring it on the stage before it was properly wrought up, so that by this first essay he gained no dramatic reputation. Nor were his other productions for the playhouse much more popular; for though he wrote eight comedies and fifteen farces, they have not generally proved what are termed stock plays;[110] and yet from several of them, particularly Pasquin, succeeding and successful writers for the stage have borrowed some of their best speeches.

He died at Lisbon, to which place he went for the recovery of his health, in the year 1754, aged 47.

Of his talents, he has left memorials that will never die while the English nation retains a taste for genuine and Cervantic humour: his features posterity would have only known by description, had not his friend Hogarth, to whom he had often promised to sit, made this drawing; for, singular as it may seem, though this admirable writer lived on intimate terms with the best artists of the day, no portrait of him was ever painted.

Many strange stories have been told of the manner in which the drawing was made, such as, the hint being taken from a shade which a lady cut with scissors; of Mr. Garrick having put on a suit of his old friend's clothes, and making up his features and assuming his attitude for the painter to copy, etc. etc. These are trifling tales to please children, and echoed from one to another, because the multitude love the marvellous.

The simple fact is, that the painter of the "Distressed Poet," and the author of Tom Jones, having talents of a similar texture, lived in habits of strict intimacy; and Hogarth being told, after his friend's death, that a portrait was wanted as a frontispiece to his works, sketched this from memory.

The drawing was engraved by Mr. Basire, and is said, by those who knew the original, to be a faithful resemblance. This print is copied from a proof I had from Mrs. Lewis, and taken before the ornaments were inserted.[111]

SIMON LORD LOVAT.

Buchanan relates a marvellous story of the family at the battle of Loch Lochlie, 1544. In this battle Lord Lovat, his four brothers, his three sons, and the whole clan of the Frazers, were cut to pieces; but if we are to believe this tale, the clan was afterwards restored by a kind of miracle. The passage is curious:—

"About this time, by the instigation, as it is thought, of the Earl of Huntly, a battle was fought in which almost the whole clan of the Frazers was exterminated. There was an old quarrel between the Frazers and the Macdonalds, which had been rendered illustrious by the many bloody engagements to which it had given birth. Huntly, in the meantime, was deeply irritated that the Frazers alone, among so many neighbouring clans, should reject his protection. He had just collected the neighbouring islanders, and made an incursion upon the estates of the Earl of Argyll; and while every other clan had exerted its whole force in his favour, there was scarcely an individual in the whole clan of Frazer that had not ranged himself under the enemy's standard. For this time, however, the feud was composed without an engagement; and the forces of each party having disbanded themselves, returned to the respective clans. The Macdonalds meantime, instructed by the Earl of Huntly, collected their whole force, and, having taken their enemy by surprise, engaged in a most obstinate battle. The unfortunate clan, overpowered by the greatest inequality of numbers, were killed to a man. Thus a family the most numerous, and who had often deserved well of the Scottish weal, had wholly perished, unless, as it seems just to believe, the Divine Providence had not interfered in their favour. Of the heads of the clan, eighty persons had left their wives pregnant at home, and each of them in her turn was delivered of a male child, who all attained safe to man's estate."—Buchanan, lib. xv. p. 532. Pity but they had been twins!

Thus much may suffice for the character of his progenitors; as to his own,[112] he wrote a narrative in French stating his conduct, connections, treatment at the Court of St. Germains, etc. These memoirs,[113] which are brought no further than the year 1715, were translated and printed several years ago; but, for some political or family reasons, not published until 1797. They contain many curious particulars of his life, much of which, both then and in every subsequent period, had great need of an apology. On his tergiversation in the rebellion of 1745, Sir William Young, one of the managers appointed for conducting the prosecution, makes the following observations:—"Your Lordships have already done national justice on some of the principal traitors who appeared in open arms against his Majesty by the ordinary course of law; but this noble Lord, who in the whole course of his life has boasted of his superior cunning in wickedness, and his ability to commit frequent treasons with impunity, vainly imagined that he might possibly be a traitor in private, and rebel only in his heart, by sending his son and his followers to join the Pretender, and remaining at home himself, to endeavour to deceive his Majesty's faithful subjects; hoping he might be rewarded for his son's services if successful, or his son alone be the sufferer for his offences if the undertaking failed. Diabolical cunning! Atrocious impiety!"—State Trials, vol. iv. p. 627.

These are hard and heavy accusations; but the fact is, that whoever becomes the biographical advocate of Lord Lovat will find it useful to adopt the plan recommended to the writer who wished to draw a fair character of that all-accomplished statesman, William Pulteney, Earl of Bath:

Notwithstanding all this, his conduct previous to execution was manly and spirited. When advised by his friends to throw himself at his Majesty's feet and petition for mercy, he absolutely refused, said that he was old and infirm, and his life not worth asking. When informed that an engine was to be made for his execution like that called "the Maiden," provided long since for state criminals in Scotland, he commended the contrivance, observing that, as his neck was short, the executioner would be puzzled to find it out with his axe; and if such a machine were used, it would get the name of "Lord Lovat's Maiden."[114]

When he was brought from Scotland to be tried in London, Hogarth having previously known him, went to meet him at St. Albans for the purpose of taking his portrait, and at the "White Hart" in that town found the hoary peer under the hands of his barber. The old nobleman rose to salute him (according to the Scotch and French fashion) with so much eagerness, that he left a large portion of the lather from his beard on the face of his old friend.

He is drawn in the attitude of enumerating by his fingers the rebel forces, "Such a general had so many men," etc.; and I am informed the portrait is in air, character, and feature, a most faithful resemblance of the original.

NINE PRINTS FOR DON QUIXOTE.

The first of these prints is copied from a plate in Jarvis' quarto translation of this inimitable work; it has neither painter nor engraver's name, but carries indisputable marks of the pencil and burin of Hogarth. The second is from an unfinished print in my possession, which I think by the same artist. The six which follow were designed for Lord Carteret's Spanish edition, published in the year 1738; but as they are etched in a bold and masterly style, I suppose the noble peer did not think they were pretty enough to embellish his volume, and therefore laid them aside for Vandergucht's engravings from Vanderbank's designs. Hogarth's six plates remaining in the hands of Mr. Tonson, his Lordship's publisher, were at his death bought by Mr. Dodsley, from whom they were purchased by Messrs. Boydell, in whose possession they now remain. While in Dodsley's hands, references to the chapters and corresponding pages in Jarvis' translation were engraved under each.

The last scene, representing "Sancho's Feast," is copied from an incomparable print engraved at an early period of Hogarth's life, and published by Overton and Hoole, price one shilling. The subject of this is exactly consonant to Hogarth's genius, and was probably selected by the artist to show how happily he could enter into the spirit of a writer whose turn of mind seems so congenial to his own. Had Cervantes been an Englishman, I think he would have contemplated our national follies through the same medium that they were seen by Hogarth, and probably selected similar scenes as subjects for his satire. He lived in an age and country where one gigantic folly

"In proud pre-eminence stalk'd through the land!"

He touched the phantom with his pen, and it vanished; but as folly is in some cases the parent of virtue, may not chivalry and romance, ridiculous as they are in the eye of reason, give birth to an ardour of spirit which aggrandizes and elevates a nation? To a sedate and saturnine people, a spice of absurdity may have its use, were it only to give motion to those virtues which without it might stagnate. Divested of that frenzy, which at the same time that it ruffles and impairs their reason, awakes and rouses their spirits, a whole nation, like a man-of-war becalmed, may be undulated by ineffectual motion, until they drop into a sort of mental stupor, unmarked by any other distinctions than those that arise from stately indolence, haughty solemnity, and supercilious dignity.

I will not presume to say that Spain is exactly in this situation; but if it were, other causes may have contributed to the change. If such are to be the consequences of a nation's becoming wise, a tincture of folly is rather to be desired than dreaded.

As to the hero of this admirable tale, the Knight of the Sorrowful Countenance, who has been the cause of more laughter than either the Knights of Arthur's Round Table, or any other knights ancient or modern, how can we sufficiently admire him! A paragon of patience and perseverance, unconquerable fortitude and proud honour, who in his lucid intervals reasoned like a philosopher, and was invariably actuated by the most exalted motives; deemed himself bound to defend the weak against the strong, chastise indolence, redress injuries, and free those who were in bonds! That this ardent, heroic, and dignified character, with motives so pure, an heart so excellent, and virtues that elevate, adorn, and irradiate human nature, should be led by an enthusiasm which fevered his imagination into absurdities that expose him to derision, and, like Samson, brought forth to make sport for the multitude, is mortifying to humanity; and I must confess, that with me, the laugh which the author's irresistible humour invariably excites is accompanied by a pitying sigh for the hero of this history, who is, after all, so superlatively happy in his ideal importance, that there is a degree of cruelty in destroying the illusion. The adage, "You think you are happy because you are wise; I think I am wise because I am happy," is not easily confuted.[115]

But this admirable romance carries me further than I intended. I was led into it by considering the comparative merit of Cervantes and Hogarth, in doing which, it is proper to observe that the motley follies of England (diametrically opposite to those of Spain) are changeable as an April day. Our English moralist (for surely he is worthy of the title) transferred them to his canvas or copper, and exposed them by pointed ridicule.

But his satiric histories had a higher and still more useful direction. They were calculated to encourage industry, and promote humanity in the lower orders of society, by exhibiting the baneful consequences of idleness and cruelty; and to check the ostentatious follies of those in a higher rank, by pointing out the happiness attendant on the practice of virtue, and the consequent misery of dissipation, sensuality, and vice.

I hope the warmest admirers of Cervantes will not be offended if I venture to assert that these were objects of more national and individual importance than was the extirpation of knight-errantry.

Both these great men may be considered as universal classics; for while Cervantes delights the learned and the illiterate in his own country, and is translated and eagerly read in France, Italy, Germany, and England, while the artists of all these nations emulate each other in delineating the scenes he has described, and every age and rank peruse Don Quixote with pleasure,—the fame of Hogarth is not bounded by the shores of Albion, but takes as wide a circuit through Europe, and his pictured stories are contemplated with admiration by men of every clime.[116]

Could their congenial spirits witness the tribute posterity pay to their talents, how would they be gratified! Large as is their portion of fame, they were little favoured by fortune. Hogarth, after a long life of persevering industry, died comparatively poor. As to the maimed hero of Spain, when the learned Don Gregorio Mayans y Siscar, at the request of Lord Carteret, collected materials for his life, he could neither learn where he was born nor where he died. Sevilla, Madrid, Esquivias, Toledo, Lucena, and Alcazor de San Juan, contended for the honour of his birth, whom living they had suffered to languish in a prison.

He was born in Alcala de Henares, in the year 1547, and died at Madrid, April 23, 1616, on the same nominal day with Shakspeare; so that Spain and England lost their two great luminaries at the same period, nor have succeeding centuries produced a successor worthy of ascending either of their vacant thrones.

From the similarity of their genius, it was reasonable to expect that Hogarth would excel in delineating the scenes described by Cervantes; and though our great painter of nature succeeded better in subjects drawn from the rich storehouse of his own mind than in those described by others, yet in the portraits of the knight, and knight companions, he has adhered very closely to their leading characteristics, which are thus depicted by Cervantes:—

"The age of our gentleman bordered upon fifty years; he was of a robust constitution, spare-bodied, of a meagre visage, and a very keen sportsman.

"Rozinanté was so long and lank, so thin and lean, so like one labouring with an incurable consumption, as did clearly show with what propriety his master so entitled him. Sancho Panza, or Canzas, was so called, because he had a great belly, a short stature, and thick legs."[117]

To attempt a description of the nine following prints in any other words than those of Cervantes, would be absurd and vain; to suppose that the greatest part of my readers had not perused Don Quixote, would be an insult on their taste. I will therefore take it for granted that the following scenes are in their recollection. The few that have not read this admirable romance have a pleasure to come; as an inducement to their embracing it, I will insert little more than a reference to the page in Shelton, whose quaint old English has perhaps more serious Cervantic humour than either Jarvis' or Smollett's modern translations. My edition is that of 1675.

PLATE I.
THE FIRST SALLY IN QUEST OF ADVENTURES.