CATALOGUE OF HOGARTH'S PRINTS.[1]

I am now engaged in an undertaking, which from its nature will be imperfect. While Hogarth was yet an apprentice, and worked on his master's account, we may suppose he was not at liberty to affix his name to his own performances. Nay, afterwards, when he appeared as an independent artist, he probably left many of them anonymous, being sometimes obliged to measure out his exertions in proportion to the scanty prices paid for them. For reasons like these, we may be sure that many of his early plates must have eluded search; and, if gradually discovered, will serve only to swell the collections they will not adorn.—The judicious connoisseur, perhaps, would be content to possess the pictures of Raffaelle, without aiming at a complete assemblage of the Roman Fayence that passes under his name.

In settling the dates of his pieces there is also difficulty. Sometimes, indeed, they have been inferred from circumstances almost infallible; as in respect to the Rabbit-breeder,&c. which would naturally have been published in the year 1726. On other occasions they are determined within a certain compass of time. Thus the Ticket for Milward, then a player at Lincoln's-Inn Fields, must have preceded 1733, when he removed with Rich to Covent Garden; and it is equally sure, that Orator Henley christening an Infant, and A Girl swearing a child to a grave citizen, came out before 1735, in which year we know that J. Y. Schley, one of Picart's coadjutors, had re-engraved them both for the use of the fourth volume of the Religious Ceremonies, published at Amsterdam in 1736. But how are we to guess at the period that produced Sancho at Dinner, or The Discovery?

The merits and demerits of his performances would prove deceitful guides in our researches. As our artist grew older, he did not regularly advance in estimation; for neither the frontispieces to Tristram Shandy, the Times, the Bathos, or the Bear, can be said to equal many of his earliest productions.—Under such difficulties is the following chronological list of our author's pieces attempted.

The reader is likewise entreated to observe, that throughout the annexed catalogue of plates, variations, &c. J. N. has mentioned only such as he has seen. Alike unwilling to deceive or be deceived, he has suppressed all intelligence he could not authenticate from immediate inspection. He might easily have enlarged his work by admitting particulars of doubtful authority, sometimes imperfectly recollected by their several communicators, and sometimes offered as sportive impositions on an author's credulity. Of this weakness every one possesses some; but perhaps no man more than he who ambitiously seeks opportunities to improve on the labours of another. J. N. is sure, however, that Mr. Walpole, whom none can exceed in taste and judgment, will be little concerned about the merits of a performance that founds its claim to notice only on the humbler pretences of industry and correctness.

1720.

1. W. Hogarth, engraver, with two figures and two Cupids, April 28, 1720.

1721.

1. An emblematic print on the South Sea. W. Hogarth inv. & sc. Sold by Mrs. Chilcot in Westminster-hall, and B. Caldwell, Printseller in Newgate-street. "Persons riding on wooden horses. The Devil cutting Fortune into collops. A man broken on the wheel, &c. A very poor performance." Under it are the following verses:

See here the causes why in London
So many men are made and undone;
That arts and honest trading drop,
To swarm about the Devil's shop (A),
Who cuts out (B) Fortune's golden haunches,
Trapping their souls with lots and chances,
Sharing 'em from blue garters down
To all blue aprons in the town.
Here all religions flock together,
Like tame and wild fowl of a feather,
Leaving their strife religious bustle,
Kneel down to play at pitch and hustle (C):
Thus when the shepherds are at play;
Their flocks must surely go astray;
The woeful cause that in these times
(E) Honour and Honesty (D) are crimes
That publickly are punish'd by
(G) Self-Interest and (F) Vilany;
So much for mony's magic power,
Guess at the rest, you find out more.
Price One Shilling.[1]

It may be observed, that London always affords a set of itinerant poets, whose office it is to furnish inscriptions for satirical engravings. I lately overheard one of these unfortunate sons of the Muse making a bargain with his employer. "Your print," says he, "is a taking one, and why won't you go to the price of a half-crown Epigram?" From such hireling bards, I suppose, our artist purchased not a few of the wretched rhimes under his early performances, unless he himself be considered as the author of them.

Of this print emblematic of the South Sea, there are, however, two impressions. The second, printed for Bowles, has been retouched.

2. The Lottery.[1] W. Hogarth inv. & sculp. Sold by Chilcot and Caldwell. "Emblematic, and not good." This plate is found in four different states. In one there is no publisher's name under the title. Another was sold by Chilcot, &c. A third was printed and sold by S. Sympson, in Maiden-lane, near Covent Garden. A fourth was printed for John Bowles, in whose possession the plate, which he has had retouched, remains. The following explanation accompanies this plate: "1. Upon the pedestal, National Credit leaning on a pillar, supported by Justice. 2. Apollo shewing Britannia a picture representing the Earth receiving enriching Showers drawn from herself (an emblem of state lotteries). 3. Fortune drawing the blanks and prizes. 4. Wantonness drawing the numbers. 5. Before the pedestal, Suspence turned to and fro by Hope and Fear. 6. On one hand, Good Luck being elevated is seized by Pleasure and Folly, Fame persuading him to raise sinking Virtue, Arts, &c. 7. On the other hand, Misfortune oppressed by Grief, Minerva supporting him points to the sweets of Industry. 8. Sloth hiding his head in the curtain. 9. On the other side, Avarice hugging his money. 10. Fraud tempting Despair with money at a trap-door in the pedestal." Price One Shilling.—Had not Hogarth, on this occasion, condescended to explain his own meaning, it must have remained in several places inexplicable.

1723.

1. Fifteen plates to Aubry de la Motraye's "Travels through Europe, Asia, and Part of Africa." W. Hogarth sculp. on fourteen of them; viz. plates V. IX. X.[1] XI. XV. XVII. b. XVIII. XXVI. XXX.[2] XXXII. XXXIII. 1. XXXIII. 2. XXXV. XXXVIII. One of these (viz. XXX.) contains a portrait of Charles the XIIth of Sweden. Several of the pictures, from which the Seraglio, &c. were engraved, are still in being, and are undoubtedly authentic, being painted in Turkey, and brought home by De la Motraye, at his return from his travels. They were sold about twenty-five years ago at Hackney, for a mere trifle, together with the plates to the present work. The latter, in all probability, are destroyed. This book was originally published in English at London, 1723; afterwards in French at The Hague, in 1727; and again in English[3] at London, revised by the author; with the addition of two new cuts, in 1730. In the French edition, Plate V. Tom. I. is engraved by R. Smith, instead of Hogarth, so that this intermediate copy contains only fourteen plates by him. It is probable also, that some other anonymous ones, in all the editions, were by the same engraver. His reputation, indeed, will save more than it loses by the want of his signature to establish their authenticity.

2. Five Muscovites. This small print appears at the corner of one of the maps to the second volume of the foregoing work. It has no intelligible reference; but, in the English copy now before me, is the last plate but one, and is marked. C—T. II. In a former edition of the present catalogue, it was enumerated as a separate article, but must now be reckoned as one of the fifteen plates to Motraye's Travels.

To these I might add three plates more. If Hogarth engraved the Muscovites at the corner of the map already mentioned, he likewise furnished the figures in the corner of another, marked T. I.—B. And Plate T. I.—XVI. and T. I.—XXXVII. I have likewise reason to suppose were the works of our artist; eighteen plates in all; though the three latter being only conjectural, I have not ventured to set them down as indisputed performances. Of the Muscovites there is a modern copy.[1]

I have just been assured by a gentleman of undoubted veracity, that he was once possessed of a set of plates engraved by Hogarth for some treatise on mathematicks; but, considering them of little value, disposed of them at the price of the copper. As our artist could have displayed no marks of genius in representations of cycloids, diagrams, and equilateral triangles, the loss of these plates is not heavily to be lamented.

1724.

1. Seven small prints to "The New Metamorphosis of Lucius Apuleius of Medaura. London, printed for Sam. Briscoe, 1724." 12mo. 2 vol. I. Frontispiece. II. Festivals of Gallantry, which the noblemen of Rome make in the churches for the entertainment of their mistresses. III. The banditti's bringing home a beautiful virgin, called Camilla, from her mother's arms, the night before she was to have been married. Vol. I. p. 113. No name to this plate. IV. Fantasio's arrival at the house of an old witch, who is afterwards changed into a beautiful young lady. V. The provincial of the Jesuits' recovery of his favourite dog from the cooper's wife. VI. Psyche's admission of her unknown husband in the dark, who always departed before the return of light. VII. Cardinal Ottoboni and his niece's visit to an Hermitage in the holy desart, called Camaldule; the Cardinal's discourse against solitude to the hermit, who had not been out of his cell, nor spoke a word, for forty years together. Plate IV. is the only one that has the least trait of character in it.

2. Masquerades and operas. Burlington-gate. W. Hogarth inv. & sculp. Of the three small figures in the center of this plate, the middle one is Lord Burlington, a man of considerable taste in Painting and Architecture, but who ranked Mr. Kent (an indifferent artist) above his merit. On one side of the peer is Mr. Campbell, the architect; on the other, his lordship's postilion. On a show-cloth in this plate is also supposed to be the portrait of King George II. who gave 1000 l. towards the masquerade; together with that of the Earl of Peterborough, who offers Cuzzoni, the Italian singer, 8000 l. and she spurns at him.[1] Mr. Heidegger, the regulator of the Masquerade, is also exhibited, looking out at a window, with the letter H. under him. The substance of the foregoing remarks is taken from a collection lately belonging to Captain Baillie,[2] where it is said that they were furnished by an eminent Connoisseur.[3] A board is likewise displayed, with the words—"Long Room. Fawks's dexterity of hand." It appears front the following advertisement in Mist's Weekly Journal for Saturday, December 25, 1725, that this artist was a man of great consequence in his profession. "Whereas the town hath lately been alarmed, that the famous Fawks was robbed and murdered, returning from performing at the Dutchess of Buckingham's house at Chelsea; which report being raised and printed by a person to gain money to himself, and prejudice the above mentioned Mr. Fawks, whose unparalleled performances have gained him so much applause from the greatest of quality, and most curious observers: We think, both in justice to the injured gentleman, and for the satisfaction of his admirers, that we cannot please our readers better than to acquaint them he is alive, and will not only perform his usual surprizing dexterity of hand, posture-master, and musical clock; but for the greater diversion of the quality and gentry, has agreed with the famous Powell of The Bath for the season, who has the largest, richest, and most natural figures, and finest machines in England, and whose former performances in Covent Garden were so engaging to the town, as to gain the approbation of the best judges, to show his puppet-plays along with him, beginning in the Christmas holidays next, at the old Tennis-court in James-Street, near The Haymarket; where any incredulous persons may be satisfied he has not left this world, if they please to believe their hands, though they can't believe their eyes."—May 25," indeed, "1731, died Mr. Fawkes, famous for his dexterity of hand, by which he had honestly acquired a fortune of above 10,000 l. being no more than he really deserved for his great ingenuity, by which he had surpassed all that ever pretended to that art." Political State, vol. XLI. p. 543.

This satirical performance of Hogarth, however, was thought to be invented and drawn at the mitigation of Sir James Thornhill, out of revenge, because Lord Burlington had preferred Mr. Kent before him to paint for the king at his palace at Kensington. Dr. Faustus was a pantomime performed to crowded houses throughout two seasons, to the utter neglect of plays, for which reason they are cried about in a wheel-barrow.[4] We may add that there are three prints of this small masquerade, &c. one a copy from the first. The originals have Hogarth's name within the frame of the plate, and the eight verses are different from those under the other. It is sometimes found without any lines at all; those in the first instance having been engraved on a separate piece of copper, so that they could either be retained, dismissed, or exchanged, at pleasure. In the first copy of this print, instead of Ben Jonson's name on a label, we have Pasquin, N° XI. This was a periodical paper published in 1722-3, and the number specified is particularly severe on operas, &c. The verses to the first impression of this plate, are,

Could now dumb Faustus, to reform the age,
Conjure up Shakespear's or Ben Johnson's ghost,
They'd blush for shame, to see the English stage
Debauch'd by fool'ries, at so great a cost.
What would their manes say? Should they behold
Monsters and masquerades, where useful plays
Adorn'd the fruitfull theatre of old,
And rival wits contended for the bays.
Price 1 shilling 1724.

To the second impression of it:

O how refin'd, how elegant we're grown!
What noble Entertainments charm the town!
Whether to hear the Dragon's roar we go,
Or gaze surpriz'd on Fawks's matchless show,
Or to the Operas, or to the Masques,
To eat up ortelans, and t' empty flasques,
And rifle pies from Shakespear's clinging page,
Good gods! how great's the gusto of the age.

In this print our artist has imitated the engraving of Callot.

To the third impression, i. e. the copy:

Long has the stage productive been
Of offsprings it could brag on,
But never till this age was seen
A Windmill and a Dragon.

O Congreve, lay thy pen aside,
Shakespear, thy works disown,
Since monsters grim, and nought beside,
Can please this senseless town.

I should have observed, that the idea of the foregoing plate was stolen from an anonymous one on the same subject. It represents Hercules chaining follies and destroying monsters. He is beating Heidegger, till the money he had amassed falls out of his pocket. The situation of the buildings, &c. on the sides, &c. has been followed by our artist. Mercury aloft sustains a scroll, on which is written "The Mascarade destroy'd." The inscription under this print is "Hei Degeror. O! I am undone." Price One Shilling.

1725.

1. Five small prints for the translation of Cassandra, in five volumes duodecimo. W. Hogarth inv. & sculp.

2. Fifteen head pieces for "The Roman Military Punishments, by John Beaver, Esq. London. From the happy Revolution, Anno xxxvii." (i. e. 1725.) Small quarto, pp. 155. From the preface it should seem that the author had been Judge Advocate. The book is divided into seventeen chapters, each of which, except the second, third, seventh, and twelfth, have small head-pieces prefixed, of ancient military punishments, in the manner of Callot's Small Miseries of War. W. Hogarth inv. & sculp. In 1779, were first sold by a printseller ten of these prints, together with two others not in the book, being scenes of modern war; a pair of drums being in one, and a soldier armed with a musket in the other. Thus are there three prints in the book not in this set; viz. Chap. 9. Soldiers sold for slaves. 10. Degradation. 16. Banishment. There is also in the title-page a little figure of a Roman General sitting; probably done by Hogarth, though his name is not under it.

In the year 1774, these plates were in the possession of a Button-manufacturer at Birmingham. There are only eleven, one of them being engraved on both sides. They were given by him, however, to my informant, who parted with them to S. Harding an engraver, who sold them to Humphry the printseller near Temple-Bar, their present proprietor. How they fell into the hands of the Birmingham manufacturer (who took off a few impressions from them), is unknown.

Query. Does the plate engraved on both sides contain the two modern designs?

In a Catalogue of Books sold by W. Bathoe, was included "Part of the Collection of the late ingenious W. Hogarth, Esq. Serjeant Painter to his Majesty;" in which was Beaver's "Roman Military Punishments," with twelve plates by Hogarth.

The plate to Chap. XVII. viz. "Pay stopt wholly, or in part, by way of punishment"—"Barley given to offenders instead of wheat, &c." differs in many instances from that sold with the set. At the bottom of the former, in the book, we read, "W. Hogarth, Invent. sculpt." The latter has "W. Hogarth, invent. & fec." The former has a range of tents behind the pay-table. These are omitted in the latter; which likewise exhibits an additional soldier attendant on the measuring out of the corn, &c.

I do not mean to say that the plate sold with the set is spurious. Had it been a copy, it would naturally have been a servile one. Some reason, now undiscoverable, must have prevailed on our artist to re-engrave it with variations.

N. B. The two "scenes of modern war," mentioned also in p. 134, were designed for a continuation of the same work, which was never printed, as I guess from the conclusion of the Author's preface. "This regularly divided my book into two parts; one treating of the Roman, the other of the Modern Military Punishments. The first I now send into the world, as a man going into the water dips his foot to feel what reception he is like to meet with; by that rule resolving, either to publish the second part, or sit down contented with the private satisfaction of having, by my studies, rendered myself more able worthily to discharge the duties of my office."

I have since been assured, that our Author's heir was a pastry-cook, who used all the copies of this book for waste-paper.

3. A burlesque on Kent's altar piece at St. Clement's, with notes. "It represents angels very ill drawn, playing on various instruments." Speaking of this print, Mr. Walpole in one place calls it a parody; and in another, a burlesque on Kent's Altar-piece. But, if we may believe Hogarth himself, it is neither, but a very fair and honest representation of a despicable performance. The following is our artist's inscription to it, transcribed verbatim & literatim.

"This Print is exactly Engraiv'd after y^e celebrated Altar-Piece in St. Clements Church which has been taken down by Order of y^e Lord Bishop of London (as tis thought) to prevent Disputs and Laying of wagers among the Parrshioners about y^e Artists meaning in it. for publick Satisfaction here is a particular Explanation of it humbly Offerd to be writ under the Original, that it may be put up again by which means y^e Parish'es 60 pounds which thay nifely gave for it, may not be Entirely lost.

"1st. Tis not the Pretenders Wife and Children as our weak brethren imagin.

"2dly. Nor St. Cecilia as the Connoisseurs think but a choir of Angells playing in Consort.

This picture produced a tract, intituled, "A Letter from a Parishioner of St. Clement Danes to Edmund [Gibson] Lord Bishop of London, occasion'd by his lordship's causing the picture over the altar to be taken down: with some observations on the use and abuse of Church-paintings in general, and of that picture in particular, 1725." 8vo. See Appendix II. The proofs of this plate are commonly on blue paper, though I have met with more than one on white. The original, after it was removed from the church, was for some years one of the ornaments of the music-room at The Crown and Anchor in the Strand. As this house has frequently changed its tenants, &c. I am unable to trace the picture in question any further. There is a good copy of this print by Livesay.

4. A scene in Handel's opera of Ptolomeo, performed in 1728, with Farinelli, Cuzzoni, and Senesino, in the characters of Ptolemy, Cleopatra, and Julius Cæsar. Those who are inclined to doubt the authenticity of this performance, will do well to consult the representation on a painted canvas in the small print on masquerades and operas, where the same figures occur in almost the same attitudes. I do not, however, vouch for the genuineness of this plate. In Southwark Fair, our artist has borrowed the subject of his show-cloth from Laguerre; and might, in the present instance, have adopted it from another hand.

The appearance Farinelli makes on this occasion may be justified by the following quotation from a Pamphlet, intituled, Reflections upon Theatrical Expression in Tragedy, &c. printed for W. Johnston, &c. 1755. "I shall therefore, in my further remarks upon this article, go back to the Old Italian Theatre, when Farinelli drew every body to the Haymarket. What a pipe! what modulation! what extasy to the ear! But, heavens! what clumsiness! what stupidity! what offence to the eye! Reader, if of the city, thou mayest 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 Milk-woman'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 the handle of an old-fashioned caudle-cup, his right 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." p. 63, &c.

Under a copy of the print abovementioned, which must have been made soon after its publication, appear the following inscription, and wretched ungrammatical lines:

The three most Celebrated Singers at the Opera.

Scire tuum nihil est, nisi te scire hoc sciat alter.

Sigra the great, harmoniously inclin'd,
Who charms the ear and captivates the mind.

Cuzzoni.
Thou little slave an emblem is of those
Whose hearts are wholly att y^e worlds dispose.

Great Barrenstadt[1] encomiums great and true
is very short of whats your right and due.

The characters in the print under consideration, might have been new-christen'd by the copier of it.

Either the dignity of Senesino must have been wonderful, or the following passage in Dr. Warburton's "Enquiry into the Cause 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 could never 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 her 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."