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.