3. Judith and Holofernes. "Per vulnera servor, morte tuâ vivens." W. Hogarth inv. Ger. Vandergucht sc. A frontispiece to the Oratorio of Judith.—Our heroine, instead of holding the sword by its handle, grasps it by its edge, in such a manner as should seem to have endangered her fingers. (Judith was an Oratorio by William Huggins, Esq. set to musick by William De Fesch[1] late Chapel-master of the cathedral church of Antwerp. This piece was performed with scenes and other decorations, but met with no success. It was published in 8vo, 1733.)—The original plate of the frontispiece is in the possession of Dr. Monkhouse. This design has little of Hogarth; yet if he furnished other engravers with such slight undetermined sketches as he himself is sometimes known to have worked from, we cannot wonder if on many occasions his usual characteristics should escape our notice. Whoever undertakes to perfect several of his unpublished drawings, will be reduced to the necessity of inventing more than presents itself for imitation.

4. Boys peeping at Nature. "The subscription-ticket to the Harlot's Progress." A copy in aqua-tinta from this receipt was made by R. Livesay in 1781, and is to be had at Mrs. Hogarth's house in Leicester-square.

1733 and 1734.

1.[1] The Harlot's Progress,[2] in six plates. In the first is a portrait of Colonel Chartres. "Cette figure de viellard (says Rouquet) est d'aprés nature; c'est le portrait d'un officier très riche, fameux dans ce tems-là pour de pareilles expéditions, grand séducteur de campagnardes, et qui avoit toujours à ses gages des femmes de la profession de celle qui cajole ici la nouvelle débarquée." Behind him is John Gourlay a Pimp, whom he always kept about his person. The next figure that attracts our notice, is that of Mother Needham. To prove this woman was sufficiently notorious to have deserved the satire of Hogarth, the following paragraphs in The Grub-street Journal are sufficient.

March 25, 1731. "The noted Mother Needham was yesterday committed to The Gatehouse by Justice Railton."

Ibid. "Yesterday, at the quarter-sessions for the city and liberties of Westminster, the infamous Mother Needham, who has been reported to have been dead for some time, to screen her from several prosecutions, was brought from The Gatehouse, and pleaded not guilty to an indictment found against her for keeping a lewd and disorderly house; but, for want of sureties, was remanded back to prison."

Ibid. April 29, 1731. "Oh Saturday ended the quarter-sessions for Westminster, &c. The noted Mother Needham, convicted for keeping a disorderly house in Park Place, St. James's, was fined One Shilling, to stand twice in the pillory, and find sureties for her good behaviour for three years."

Ibid. May 6, 1731. "Yesterday the noted Mother Needham stood in the pillory in Park Place, near St. James's-street, and was roughly handled by the populace. She was so very ill that she lay along, notwithstanding which she was so severely &c. that it is thought she will die in a day or two."—Another account says—"she lay along on her face in the pillory, and so evaded the law which requires that her face should be exposed."—"Yesterday morning died Mother Needham. She declared in her last words,[3] that what most affected her was the terror of standing in the pillory to-morrow in New Palace-yard, having been so ungratefully used by the populace on Wednesday."

The memory of this woman is thus perpetuated in The Dunciad, I. 323.

"To Needham's quick the voice triumphal rode,
But pious Needham dropt the name of God."

The note on this passage says, she was "a matron of great fame, and very religious in her way; whose constant prayer it was, that she might 'get enough by her profession to leave it off in time, and make her peace with God.'[4] But her fate was not so happy; for being convicted, and set in the pillory, she was (to the lasting shame of all her great Friends and Votaries) so ill used by the populace, that it put an end to her days."

Rouquet has a whimsical remark relative to the clergyman just arrived in London. "Cet ecclesiastique monté sur un cheval blanc, comme ils affectent ici de l'être."—The variations in this plate are; shade thrown by one house upon another; London added on the letter the parson is reading; change in one corner of the fore-ground; the face of the Bawd much altered for the worse, and her foot introduced.

Plate II. Quin compared Garrick in Othello to the black boy with the tea-kettle,[5] a circumstance that by no means encouraged our Roscius to continue acting the part. Indeed, when his face was obscured, his chief power of expression was lost; and then, and not till then, was he reduced to a level with several other performers. In a copy of this set of plates, one of the two small portraits hanging up in the Jew's bedchamber, is superscribed, Clarke; but without authority from Hogarth. Woolston would likewise have been out of his place, as he had written against the Jewish tenets. Of this circumstance, Hogarth was probably told by some friend, and therefore effaced a name he had once ignorantly inserted.

In Plate III.[6] (as already observed) is the portrait of Sir John Gonson. That Sir John Gonson was the person intended in this print, is evident from a circumstance in the next, where, on a door in Bridewell, a figure hanging is drawn in chalk, with an inscription over it, "Sir J. G." as well as from the following explanation by Rouquet: "La figure, qui paroit entrer sans bruit avec une partie de guet, est un commissaire qui se distinguoit extrêmement par son zèle pour la persecution des filles de joye."

Respecting another circumstance, however, in the third plate, Rouquet appears to have met with some particular information that has escaped me. "L'auteur a saisi l'occasion d'un morceau de beurre qui fait partie du déjeuné, pour l'enveloper plaisamment dans le titre de la lettre pastorale qu'un grand prelat[7] addressa dans ce tems-là à son diocese, & dont plusieurs exemplaires eurent le malheur d'être renvoyés à l'epicier."—The sleeve of the maid-servant's gown in this plate is enlarged, and the neck of a bottle on the table is lengthened.

For variations in Plate IV. see the roof of the room. Shadow on the principal woman's petticoat, and from the hoop-petticoat hanging up in the back ground. The dog made darker. The woman next the overseer has a high cap, which in the modern impressions is lowered.

In Plate V. Roof of the room. Back of the chair. Table. Dr. Misaubin's waistcoat. Name of Dr. Rock on the paper lying on the close-stool. Dish at the fire.

In a despicable poem published in 1732, under the fictitious name of Joseph Gay, and intituled "The Harlot's Progress, which is a key to the six prints lately published by Mr. Hogarth," the two quacks in attendance on the dying woman are called Tan—r and G—m. It is evident from several circumstances, that this Mr. J. Gay became acquainted with our author's work through the medium of a copy.

In Plate VI. the woman seated next the clergyman was designed for Elizabeth Adams, who, at the age of 30, was afterwards executed for a robbery, September 10, 1737. The common print of her will justify this assertion.

If we may trust the wretched metrical performance just quoted, the Bawd in this sixth plate was designed for Mother Bentley.

The portrait hanging up in the Jew's apartment was originally subscribed "Mr. Woolston." There was a scriptural motto to one of the other pictures; and on the cieling of the room in which the girl is dying, a certain obscene word was more visible than it is at present. The former inscription on the paper now inscribed Dr. Rock, was also a gross one. I should in justice add, that before these plates were delivered to the subscribers, the offensive particulars here mentioned were omitted.

The following paragraph in The Grub-street Journal for September 24, 1730, will sufficiently justify the splendid appearance the Harlot makes in Bridewell. See Plate IV. Such well-dressed females are rarely met with in our present houses of correction.

"One Mary Muffet, a woman of great note in the hundreds of Drury, who, about a fortnight ago, was committed to hard labour in Tothill-fields Bridewell, by nine justices, brought his Majesty's writ of Habeas Corpus, and was carried before the right honourable the lord chief justice Raymond, expecting to have been either bailed or discharged; but her commitment appearing to be legal, his lordship thought fit to remand her back again to her former place of confinement, where she is now beating hemp in a gown very richly laced with silver."

Rouquet concludes his illustration of the fifth plate by observing, that the story might have been concluded here. "L'auteur semble avoir rempli son dessein. Il a suivi son heroine jusques au dernier soupir. Il l'a conduite de l'infamie à la pauvreté, par les voies séduisantes du libertinage. Son intention de tâcher de retenir, ou de corriger celles qui leur foiblesse, ou leur ignorance exposent tous les jours à de semblables infortunes, est suffisament executée; on peut donc dire que la tragedie finit à cette planche, et que la suivante est comme le petite piece. C'est une farce done la defunte est plustôt l'occasion que le sujet."—Such is the criticism of Rouquet; but I cannot absolutely concur in the justness of it. Hogarth found an opportunity to convey admonition, and enforce his moral, even in this last plate. It is true that the exploits of our heroine are concluded, and that she is no longer an agent in her own story. Yet as a wish prevails, even among those who are most humbled by their own indiscretions, that some respect should be paid to their remains, that they should be conducted by decent friends to the grave, and interred by a priest who feels for the dead that hope expressed in our Liturgy, let us ask whether the memory of our Harlot meets with any such marks of social attention, or pious benevolence. Are not the preparations for her funeral licentious, like the course of her life, as if the contagion of her example had reached all the company in the room? Her sisters in iniquity alone surround her coffin. One of them is engaged in the double trade of seduction and thievery. A second is admiring herself in a mirror. A third gazes with unconcern on the corpse. If any of the number appear mournful, they express at best but a maudlin sorrow, having glasses of strong liquor in their hands. The very minister, forgetful of his office and character, is shamefully employed; nor does a single circumstance occur, throughout the whole scene, that a reflecting female would not wish should be alienated from her own interment.—Such is the plate which our illustrator, with too much levity, has styled a farce appended to a tragic representation.

He might, however, have exercised his critical abilities with more success on Hogarth's neglect of propriety, though it affords him occasion to display his wit. At the burial of a wanton, who expired in a garret, no escutcheons were ever hung up, or rings given away; and I much question if any bawd ever chose to avow that character before a clergyman, or any infant was ever habited as chief mourner to attend a parent to the grave.—I may add, that when these pictures were painted (a time, if news-papers are to be credited, when, having no established police, every act of violence and licentiousness was practised with impunity in our streets, and women of pleasure were brutally persecuted in every quarter of the town), a funeral attended by such a sisterhood would scarcely have been permitted to reach the place of interment. Much however must be forgiven to the morality of Hogarth's design, and the powers with which it is executed. It may also, on the present occasion, be observed, that in no other scene, out of the many he has painted, has he so widely deviated from vraisemblance.

The following verses, however wretched, being explanatory of the set of plates already spoken of, are here re-printed. They made their appearance under the earliest and best of the pirated copies published by Bowles. Hogarth, finding that such a metrical description had its effect, resolved that his next series of prints should receive the same advantage from an abler hand.

Plate I.
See there, but just arriv'd in town,
The Country Girl in home-spun gown,
Tho' plain her dress appears, how neat!
Her looks how innocent and sweet!
Does not your indignation rise,
When on the bawd you cast your eyes?
Fraught with devices to betray;
She's hither come in quest of prey;
Screens her designs with godly airs,
And talks of homilies and pray'rs,
Till, by her arts, the wretched Maid
To vile Francisco is betray'd.
And see, the lewd old rogue appears,
How at the fresh young thing thing he leers!
In lines too strong, too well exprest
The lustful satyr stands confest.

On batter'd jade, in thread-bare gown,
The Rural Priest is come to town—
Think what his humble thought engages;
Why—lesser work and greater wages.

Plate II.
Debauch'd, and then kick'd out of doors,
The fate of all Francisco's whores,
Poor Polly's forc'd to walk the streets,
Till with a wealthy Jew she meets.
Quickly the man of circumcision
For her reception makes provision.
You see her now in all her splendour,
A Monkey and a Black t' attend her.
How great a sot's a keeping cully,
Who thinks t' enjoy a woman solely!
Tho' he support her grandeur, Miss
Will by the bye with others kiss.
Thus Polly play'd her part; she had
A Beau admitted to her bed;
But th' Hebrew coming unexpected,
Puts her in fear to be detected.
This to prevent, she at breakfast picks
A quarrel, and insulting kicks
The table down: while by her Maid
The Beau is to the door convey'd.

Plate III.
Molly discarded once again,
Takes lodgings next in Drury-lane;
Sets up the business on her own
Account, and deals with all the town.
At breakfast here in deshabille,
While Margery does the tea-pot fill,
Miss holds a watch up, which, by slight
Of hand, was made a prize last night.
From chandler's shop a dab of butter,
Brought on his lordship's Pastoral Letter,
A cup, a saucer, knife, and roll,
Are plac'd before her on a stool.
A chair behind her holds a cloak,
A candle in a bottle stuck,
And by't a bason—but indecent
T'would be in me to say what is in't.
At yonder door, see there Sir John's
Just ent'ring with his Myrmidons,
To Bridewell to convey Miss Molly,
And Margery with her to Mill Dolly.[8]

Plate IV.
See Polly now in Bridewell stands,
A galling mallet in her hands,
Hemp beating with a heavy heart,
And not a soul to take her part.
The Keeper, with a look that's sourer
Than Turk or Devil, standing o'er her:
And if her time she idles, thwack
Comes his rattan across her back.
A dirty, ragged, saucy Jade,
Who sees her here in rich brocade
And Mechlin lace, thumping a punny,
Lolls out her tongue, and winks with one eye.
That other Maux with half a nose,
Who's holding up her tatter'd cloaths,
Laughs too at Madam's working-dress,
And her grim Tyrant's threat'ning face,
A Gamester hard by Poll you see,
In coat be-lac'd and smart toupee.
Kate vermin kills—chalk'd out upon
A window-shutter, hangs Sir John.

Plate V.
Released from Bridewell, Poll again
Drives on her former trade amain;
But who e'er heard of trading wenches
That long escap'd disease that French is?
Our Polly did not—Ills on ills,
Elixirs, boluses and pills,
Catharticks and emeticks dreary,
Had made her of her life quite weary;
At last thrown into salivation
She sinks beneath the operation.
A snuffling whore in waiting by her
Screams out to see the wretch expire.
The Doctors blame each other; Meagre,
With wrath transported, hot and eager,
Starts up, throws down the chair and stool,
And calls her brother Squab a fool.
Your pills, quoth Squab, with cool disdain,
Not my elixir, prov'd her bane.
While they contend, a muffled Punk
Is rummaging poor Polly's trunk.

Plate VI.
The sisterhood of Drury-lane
Are met to form the funeral train.
Priss turns aside the coffin lid,
To take her farewell of the dead.
Kate drinks dejected; Peggy stands
With dismal look, and wrings her hands.
Beck wipes her eyes; and at the glass
In order Jenny sets her face.
The ruin'd Bawd roars out her grief;
Her bottle scarcely gives relief.
Madge fills the wine; his castle-top
With unconcern the Boy winds up.
The Undertaker rolls his eyes
On Sukey, as her glove he tries:
His leering she observes, and while he
Stands thus, she picks his pocket slily.
The Parson sits with look demure
By Fanny's side, but leaning to her.
His left hand spills the wine; his right—
I blush to add—is out of sight.

Over the figure of the Parson is the letter A, which conducts to the following explanation underneath the plate. "A. The famous Couple-Beggar in The Fleet, a wretch who there screens himself from the justice due to his villainies, and daily repeats them."

All but the first impressions of this set of plates are marked thus †. None were originally printed off except for the 1200 subscribers. Immediately after they were served, the plates were retouched, and some of the variations introduced.

2. Rehearsal of the Oratorio of Judith. Singing men and boys. Ticket for "A Modern Midnight Conversation." This Oratorio of Judith, which was performed in character, was written by Mr. Huggins, as has been already observed in p. 187; and the line taken from it,

"The world shall bow to the Assyrian throne,"

inscribed on the book, is a satire on its want of success.—The corner figure looking over the notes, was designed for Mr. Tothall.

3. A Midnight Modern Conversation. W. Hogarth inv. pinx. & sculp. Hogarth soon discovered that this engraving was too faintly executed; and therefore, after taking off a few impressions in red as well as black, he retouched and strengthened the plate. Under this print are the following verses:

Think not to find one meant resemblance here,
We lash the Vices, but the Persons spare.
Prints should be priz'd, as Authors should be read,
Who sharply smile prevailing Folly dead.
So Rabilaes laught, and so Cervantes thought,
So Nature dictated what Art has taught.

Most of the figures, however, are supposed to be real portraits. The Divine and the Lawyer,[1] in particular, are well known to be so.

A pamphlet was published about the same time, under the same title as this plate. In Banks's Poems, vol. I. p. 87. the print is copied as a head-piece to an Epistle to Mr. Hogarth, on this performance. In a note, it is said to have appeared after The Harlot's Progress; and that in the original, and all the larger copies, on the papers that hang out of the politician's pocket at the end of the table, was written The Craftsman, and The London Journal.

Of this print a good, but contracted copy, was published (perhaps with Hogarth's permission), and the following copy of verses engraved under it.

The Bacchanalians; or a Midnight Modern Conversation. A Poem addressed to the Ingenious Mr. Hogarth.

Sacred to thee, permit this lay
Thy labour, Hogarth, to display!
Patron and theme in one to be!
'Tis great, but not too great for thee;
For thee, the Poet's constant friend,
Whose vein of humour knows no end.
This verse which, honest to thy fame,
Has added to thy praise thy name!
Who can be dull when to his eyes
Such various scenes of humour rise?
Now we behold in what unite
The Priest, the Beau, the Cit, the Bite;
Where Law and Physick join the Sword,
And Justice deigns to crown the board:
How Midnight Modern Conversations
Mingle all faculties and stations!

Full to the sight, and next the bowl,
Sits the physician of the soul;
No loftier themes his thought pursues
Than Punch, good Company, and Dues:
Easy and careless what may fall,
He hears, consents, and fills to all;
Proving it plainly by his face
That cassocks are no signs of grace.

Near him a son of Belial see;
(That Heav'n and Satan should agree!)
Warm'd and wound up to proper height
He vows to still maintain the fight,
The brave surviving Priest assails,
And fairly damns the first that fails;
Fills up a bumper to the Best
In Christendom, for that's his taste:
The parson simpers at the jest,
And puts it forward to the rest.

What hand but thine so well could draw
A formal Barrister at Law?
Fitzherbert, Littleton, and Coke,
Are all united in his look.
His spacious wig conceals his ears,
Yet the dull plodding beast appears.
His muscles seem exact to fit
Much noise, much pride, and not much wit.

Who then is he with solemn phiz,
Upon his elbows pois'd with ease?
Freely to speak the Muse is loth—
Justice or knave—he may be both—
Justice or knave—'tis much the same:
To boast of crimes, or tell the shame,
Of raking talk or reformation,
'Tis all good Modern Conversation.

What mighty Machiavel art thou,
With patriot cares upon thy brow?
Alas, that punch should have the fate
To drown the pilot of the state!
That while both sides thy pocket holds,
Nor D'Anvers grieves, nor Osborne scolds,
Thou sink'st the business of the nation
In Midnight Modern Conversation!

The Tradesman tells with wat'ry eyes
How Credit sinks, how Taxes rise;
At Parliaments and Great Men pets,
Counts all his losses and his debts.

The puny Fop, mankind's disgrace,
The ladies' jest and looking-glass;
This he-she thing the mode pursues,
And drinks in order—till he sp—s.

See where the Relict of the Wars,
Deep mark'd with honorary scars,
A mightier foe has caus'd to yield
Than ever Marlbro' met in field!
See prostrate on the earth he lies;
And learn, ye soldiers, to be wise.

Flush'd with the fumes of gen'rous wine
The Doctor's face begins to shine:
With eyes half clos'd, in stamm'ring strain,
He speaks the praise of rich champaign.
'Tis dull in verse, what from thy hand
Might even a Cato's smile command.
Th' expiring snuffs, the bottles broke,
And the full bowl at four o'clock.

March 22, 1742, was acted at Covent-Garden, a new scene, called A Modern Midnight Conversation, taken from Hogarth's celebrated print; in which was introduced, Hippisley's Drunken Man, with a comic tale of what really passed between himself and his old aunt, at her house on Mendip-Hills, in Somersetshire. For Mr. Hippisley's benefit.

1735.

1. The Rake's Progress, in eight plates.

"Subscriptions will be taken at Mr. Hogarth's, the Golden-Head, in Leicester-fields, till the 23d of June, and no longer, at half a guinea to be paid on subscribing, and half a guinea more on delivery of the prints at the price above-mentioned, after which the price will be two guineas.

"N. B. Mr. Hogarth was, and is, obliged to defer the publication and delivery of the abovesaid prints till the 25th of June next, in order to secure his property, pursuant to an act lately passed both houses of parliament, now waiting for the royal assent, to secure all new invented prints that shall be published after the 24th of June next, from being copied without consent of the proprietor, and thereby preventing a scandalous and unjust custom (hitherto practised with impunity) of making and vending base copies of original prints, to the manifest injury of the author, and the great discouragement of the arts of painting and engraving."

In The Craftsman, soon afterwards, appeared the following advertisement:

"Pursuant to an agreement with the subscribers to the Rake's Progress, not to sell them for less than two guineas each set after publication thereof, the said original prints are to be had at Mr. Hogarth's, the Golden-Head, in Leicester-fields; and at Tho. Bakewell's, print-seller, next Johnson's Court, in Fleet-street, where all other print-sellers may be supplied.

"In four days will be published, copies from the said prints, with the consent of Mr. Hogarth, according to the act of parliament, which will be sold at 2 s. 6 d. each set, with the usual allowance to all dealers in town and country; and, that the the publick may not be imposed on, at the bottom of each print will be inserted these words, viz. 'Published with the consent of Mr. William Hogarth, by Tho. Bakewell, according to act of parliament.'

"N. B. Any person that shall sell any other copies, or imitations of the said prints, will incur the penalties in the late act of parliament, and be prosecuted for the same."

This series of plates, however, as Mr. Walpole observes, was pirated by Boitard on one very large sheet of paper, containing the several scenes represented by Hogarth. It came out a fortnight before the genuine set, but was soon forgotten. The principal variations in these prints are the following:

Plate I. The girl's face who holds the ring is erased, and a worse is put in.[1] The mother's head, &c. is lessened. The shoe-sole, cut from the cover of an ancient family Bible, together with a chest, is added; the memorandum-book removed into another place; the woollen-draper's shop bill,[2] appended to a roll of black cloth, omitted; the contents of the closet thrown more into shade.

In Plate II. are portraits of Figg, the prize-fighter;[3] Bridgeman, a noted gardener; and Dubois, a master of defence, who was killed in a duel by one of the same name, as the following paragraphs in The Grub-street Journal for May 16, 1734, &c. will testify: "Yesterday (May 11) between two and three in the afternoon, a duel was fought in Mary-le-bone Fields, between Mr. Dubois a Frenchman, and Mr. Dubois an Irishman, both fencing-masters, the former of whom was run through the body, but walked a considerable way from the place, and is now under the hands of an able surgeon, who has great hopes of his recovery."

May 23, 1734, "Yesterday morning died Mr. Dubois, of a wound he received in a duel."

The portrait of Handel has been supposed to be represented in the plate before us; but "this," as Sir John Hawkins observes to me, "is too much to say. Mr. Handel had a higher sense of his own merit than ever to put himself in such a situation; and, if so, the painter would hardly have thought of doing it. The musician must mean in general any composer of operas." On the floor lies a picture representing Farinelli, seated on a pedestal, with an altar before him, on which are several flaming hearts, near which stand a number of people with their arms extended, offering him presents: at the foot of the altar is one female kneeling, tendering her heart. From her mouth a label issues, inscribed, "One God, one Farinelli;" alluding to a lady of distinction, who, being charmed with a particular passage in one of his songs, uttered aloud from the boxes that impious exclamation. On the figure of the captain, Rouquet has the following remark: "Ce caractere ne paroit plus Italien qu'Anglois." I am not sufficiently versed in Alsatian annals to decide on the question; but believe that the bully by profession (not assassin, as Rouquet seems to interpret the character) was to be found during the youth of our artist. More have heard and been afraid of these vulgar heroes, than ever met with them. This set of prints was engraved by Scotin chiefly; but several of the faces were touched upon by Hogarth. In the second plate the countenance of the man with the quarter-staves was wholly engraved by Hogarth. In some early proofs of the print, there is not a single feature on this man's face; there is no writing either in the musician's book, or on the label; nor is there the horse-race cup, the letter, or the poem that lies at the end of the label, that being entirely blank. I mention these circumstances to shew that our artist would not entrust particular parts of his work to any hand but his own; or perhaps he had neither determined on the countenance or the inscription he meant to introduce, till the plate was far advanced. With unfinished proofs, on any other account, this catalogue has nothing to do. As the rudiments of plates, they may afford instruction to young engravers; or add a fancied value to the collections of connoisseurs.

In the third plate is Leather-coat,[4] a noted porter belonging to The Rose Tavern, with a large pewter dish in his hand, which for many years served as a sign to the shop of a pewterer on Snow-Hill. In this utensil the posture-woman, who is undressing, used to whirl herself round, and display other feats of indecent activity: "II suffit" (I transcribe from Rouquet, who is more circumstantial) "de vous laisser à deviner la destination de la chandelle. Ce grand plat va servir a cette femme comme à une poularde. Il sera mis au milieu de la table; elle s'y placera sur le dos; et l'ivresse et l'esprit de débauche feront trouver plaisant un jeu, qui de sang-froid ne le paroit guères." Rouquet, in his description of an English tavern, such as that in which our scene lies, mentions the following as extraordinary conveniencies and articles of magnificence: "Du linge toujours blanc[5]—de tables de bois qu'on appelle ici mahogani—grand feu et gratis." Variations: Pontac's head is added in the room of a mutilated Cæsar. Principal woman has a man's hat on. Rake's head altered. Undrest woman's head altered. Woman who spirts the wine, and she who threatens her with a drawn knife, have lower caps, &c.

So entirely do our manners differ from those of fifty years ago, that I much question if at present, in all the taverns of London, any thing resembling the scene here exhibited by Hogarth could be found. That we are less sensual than our predecessors, I do not affirm; but may with truth observe, we are more delicate in pursuit of our gratifications.—No young man, of our hero's fortune and education, would now think of entertaining half a score of prostitutes at a tavern, after having routed a set of feeble wretches, who are idly called our Guardians of the Night.

Plate IV. Rakewell is going to court on the first of March, which was Queen Caroline's birth-day, as well as the anniversary of St. David. In the early impressions a shoe-black steals the Rake's cane. In the modern ones, a large group of blackguards[6] [the chimney-sweeper peeping over the poll boy's cards, and discovering that he has two honours, by holding up two fingers, is among the luckiest of Hogarth's traits] are introduced gambling on the pavement; near them a stone inscribed Black's, a contrast to White's gaming-house, against which a flash of lightning is pointed. The curtain in the window of the sedan chair is thrown back. This plate is likewise found in an intermediate state;[7] the sky being made unnaturally obscure, with an attempt to introduce a shower of rain, and lightning very aukwardly represented. It is supposed to be a first proof after the insertion of the group of black-guard gamesters; the window of the chair being only marked for an alteration that was afterwards made in it. Hogarth appears to have so far spoiled the sky, that he was obliged to obliterate it, and cause it to be engraved over again by another hand.[8] Not foreseeing, however, the immense demand for his prints, many of them were so slightly executed, as very early to stand in need of retouching. The seventh in particular was so much more slightly executed than the rest, that it sooner wanted renovation, and is therefore to be found in three different states. The rest appear only in two.

In Plate V. is his favourite dog Trump. In this, also the head of the maid-servant is greatly altered, and the leg and foot of the bridegroom omitted.

From the antiquated bride, and the young female adjusting the folds of her gown, in this plate, is taken a French print of a wrinkled harridan of fashion at her toilet, attended by a blooming coëffeuse. It was engraved by L. Surugue in 1745, from a picture in crayons by Coypel, and is entitled, La Folie pare la Decrepitude des ajustemens de la Jeunesse. From the Frenchman, however, the Devonshire-square dowager of our artist has received so high a polish, that she might be mistaken for a queen mother of France.

Mr. Gilpin, in his remarks on this plate, appears not to have fully comprehended the extent of the satire designed in it. Speaking of the church, he observes, that "the wooden post, which seems to have no use, divides the picture disagreeably." Hogarth, however, meant to expose the insufficiency of such ecclesiastical repairs as are confided to the superintendance of parish-officers. We learn, from an inscription on the front of a pew, that "This church was beautified in the Year 1725. Tho. Sice, Tho. Horn, Churchwardens."[9] The print before us came out in 1735 (i. e. only ten years afterwards), and by that time the building might have been found in the condition here exhibited, and have required a prop to prevent part of its roof from falling in.—As a proof that this edifice was really in a ruinous state, it was pulled down and rebuilt in the year 1741.

Fifty years ago, Marybone church was considered at such a distance from London, as to become the usual resort of those who, like our hero, wished to be privately married.

In Plate VI. the fire breaking out, alludes to the same accident which happened at White's, May 3, 1733. I learn from a very indifferent poem descriptive of this set of plates (the title is unfortunately wanting), that some of the characters in the scene before us were real ones:

"But see the careful plain old man,
M——[10], well-known youth to trepan,
To C———sh[11] lend the dear bought pence,
C———sh quite void of common sense,
Whose face, unto his soul a sign,
Looks stupid, as does that within.
A quarrel from behind ensues,
The sure retreat of those that lose.
An honest 'Squire smells the cheat,
And swears the villain shall be beat:
But G——dd wisely interferes,
And dissipates the wretch's fears."

The original sketch in oil for this scene is at Mrs. Hogarth's house in Leicester-fields. The principal character was then sitting, and not, as he is at present, thrown upon his knees in the act of execration.

The thought of the losing gamester pulling his hat over his brows is adopted from a similar character to be found among the figures of the principal personages in the court of Louis XIV. folio. This work has no engraver's name, but was probably executed about the year 1700.

Plate VII. The celebrated Beccaria, in his "Essay on Public Happiness," vol. II. p. 172, observes, "I am sensible there are persons whom it will be difficult for me to persuade: I mean those profound contemplators, who, secluding themselves from their fellow-creatures, are assiduously employed in framing laws for them, and who frequently neglect the care of their domestic and private concerns, to prescribe to empires that form of government, to which they imagine that they ought to submit. The celebrated Hogarth hath represented, in one of his moral engravings, a young man who, after having squandered away his fortune, is, by his creditors, lodged in a gaol. There he sits, melancholy and disconcerted, near a table, whilst a scroll lies under his feet, and bears the following title: 'being a new scheme for paying the debt of the nation. By T. L. now a prisoner in The Fleet.'"

The Author of the poem already quoted, intimates that the personage in the night-gown was meant for some real character:

"His wig was full as old as he,
In which one curl you could not see.
His neckcloth loose, his beard full grown,
An old torn night-gown not his own.
L———, great schemist, that can pay,
The nation's debt an easy way."

In Plate VIII. (which appears in three different states) is a half-penny reversed (struck in the year 1763) and fixed against the wall, intimating, that Britannia herself was fit only for a mad-house. This was a circumstance inserted by our artist (as he advertises) about a year before his death. I may add, that the man drawing lines against the wall just over the half-penny, alludes to Whiston's proposed method of discovering the Longitude by the firing of bombs, as here represented. The idea of the two figures at each corner of the print appears to have been taken from Cibber's statues at Bedlam. The faces of the two females are also changed. That of the woman with a fan, is entirely altered; she has now a cap on, instead of a hood, and is turned, as if speaking to the other.

Mr. Gilpin's opinion concerning this set of prints is too valuable to be omitted, and is therefore transcribed below.[12] The plates were thus admirably illustrated by Dr. John Hoadly.

Plate I.
O Vanity of Age, untoward,
Ever spleeny, ever froward!
Why these Bolts, and massy chains,
Squint suspicions, jealous Pains?
Why, thy toilsome Journey o'er,
Lay'st thou in an useless store?
Hope along with Time is flown,
Nor canst thou reap the field thou'st sown.

Hast thou a son? in time be wise—.
He views thy toil with other eyes.
Needs must thy kind, paternal care,
Lock'd in thy chests be buried there?
Whence then shall flow that friendly ease,
That social converse, home-felt peace,
Familiar duty without dread,
Instruction from example bred,
Which youthful minds with freedom mend,
And with the father mix the friend?

Uncircumscrib'd by prudent rules,
Or precepts of expensive schools
Abus'd at home, abroad despis'd,
Unbred, unletter'd, unadvis'd;
The headstrong course of youth begun,
What comfort from this darling son?

Plate II.
Prosperity (with harlot's smiles,
Most pleasing when she most beguiles)
How soon, sweet foe, can all thy train
Of false, gay, frantic, loud, and vain,
Enter the unprovided mind,
And Memory in fetters bind;
Load Faith and Love with golden chain,
And sprinkle Lethe o'er the brain!

Pleasure, in her silver throne,
Smiling comes, nor comes alone;
Venus comes with her along,
And smooth Lyæus ever young;
And in their train, to fill the press,
Come apish Dance, and swol'n Excess,
Mechanic Honour, vicious Taste,
And Fashion in her changing vest.

Plate III.
O vanity of youthful blood,
So by misuse to poison good!
Woman, fram'd for social love,
Fairest gift of powers above;
Source of every houshold blessing,
All charms in innocence possessing—
But turn'd to Vice, all plagues above,
Foe to thy Being, foe to Love!
Guest divine to outward viewing,
Ablest Minister of Ruin!

And thou, no less of gift divine,
"Sweet poison of misused wine!"
With freedom led to every part,
And secret chamber of the heart;
Dost thou thy friendly host betray,
And show thy riotous gang the way
To enter in with covert treason,
O'erthrow the drowsy guard of reason,
To ransack the abandon'd place,
And revel there in wild excess?

Plate IV.
O vanity of youthful blood,
So by misuse to poison good!
Reason awakes, and views unbarr'd
The sacred gates he watch'd to guard;
Approaching sees the harpy, Law,
And Poverty, with icy paw,
Ready to seize the poor remains—
That Vice has left of all his gains.
Cold Penitence, lame After-thought,
With fears, despair, and horrors fraught,
Call back his guilty pleasures dead,
Whom he hath wrong'd, and whom betray'd.

Plate V.
New to the School of hard Mishap,
Driven from the ease of Fortune's lap,
What schemes will Nature not embrace
T' avoid less shame of drear distress!
Gold can the charms of youth bestow,
And mask deformity with show:
Gold can avert the sting of Shame,
In winter's arms create a flame;
Can couple youth with hoary age,
And make antipathies engage.

Plate VI.
Gold, thou bright son of Phœbus, source
Of universal intercourse;
Of weeping Virtue soft redress,
And blessing those who live to bless!
Yet oft behold this sacred truth,
The tool of avaricious Lust:
No longer bond of human kind,
But bane of every virtuous mind.

What chaos such misuse attends!
Friendship stoops to prey on friends;
Health, that gives relish to delight,
Is wasted with the wasting night;
Doubt and mistrust is thrown on Heaven,
And all its power to Chance is given.
Sad purchase of repentant tears,
Of needless quarrels, endless fears,
Of hopes of moments, pangs of years!
Sad purchase of a tortur'd mind
To an imprison'd body join'd!

Plate VII.
Happy the man, whose constant thought
(Though in the school of hardship taught)
Can send Remembrance back to fetch
Treasures from life's earliest stretch;
Who, self-approving, can review
Scenes of past virtues, which shine through
The gloom of age, and cast a ray
To gild the evening of his day!

Not so the guilty wretch confin'd:
No pleasures meet his conscious mind;
No blessings brought from early youth,
But broken faith and wrested truth,
Talents idle and unus'd,
And every trust of Heaven abus'd.

In seas of sad reflection lost,
From horrors still to horrors toss'd,
Reason the vessel leaves to steer,
And gives the helm to mad despair.

Plate VIII.
Madness! thou chaos of the brain;
What art, that pleasure giv'st and pain?
Tyranny of Fancy's reign!
Mechanic Fancy! that can build
Vast labyrinths and mazes wild,
With rule disjointed, shapeless measure,
Fill'd with horror, fill'd with pleasure!
Shapes of horror, that would even
Cast doubt of mercy upon Heaven!
Shapes of pleasure, that but seen
Would split the shaking sides of spleen.

O vanity of age! here see
The stamp of Heaven effac'd by thee!
The headstrong course of youth thus run,
What comfort from this darling son?
His rattling chains with terror hear;
Behold Death grappling with despair;
See him by thee to ruin sold,
And curse Thyself, and curse thy Gold.

On this occasion also appeared an 8vo pamphlet, intituled, "The Rake's Progress, or the Humours of Drury-Lane, a poem in eight canto's, in Hudibrastick verse, being the ramble of a modern Oxonian, which is a compleat key to the eight prints lately published by the celebrated Mr. Hogarth." The second edition with additions, particularly an "epistle to Mr. Hogarth" was "printed for J. Chetwood, and sold at Inigo Jones's-Head against Exeter Change in The Strand, 1735." This is a most contemptible and indecent performance. Eight prints are inserted in some copies of it; but they are only the designs of Hogarth murdered, and perhaps were not originally intended for the decoration of the work already described.

The original paintings, both of the Rake's and Harlot's Progress, were at Fonthill, in Wiltshire, the seat of Mr. Beckford,[13] where the latter were destroyed by a fire, in the year 1755; the former set was happily preserved. Mr. Barnes, of Rippon, in Yorkshire, has the Harlot's Progress in oil. It must, however, be a copy. Mr. Beckford has also twenty-five heads from the Cartoons by Hogarth, for which he paid twenty-five guineas.

There is reason to believe that Hogarth once designed to have introduced the ceremony of a Marriage Contract into the Rake's Progress, instead of the Levee. An unfinished painting of this scene is still preserved. We have here the Rake's apartment as now exhibited in Plate II. In the anti-room, among other figures, we recognize that of the poet who at present congratulates our hero on his accession to wealth and pleasure. The bard is here waiting with an epithalamium in his hand. The Rake has added connoisseurship to the rest of his expensive follies. One of his purchases is a canvas containing only the representation of a human foot. [Perhaps this circumstance might allude to the dissection of Arlaud's Leda. See Mr. Walpole's Anecdotes, &c. vol. IV. p. 39.] A second is so obscure, that no objects in it are discernible. [A performance of the same description is introduced in our artist's Piquet, or Virtue in Danger.] A third presents us with a Madona looking down with fondness on the infant she holds in her arms. [This seems intended as a contrast to the grey headed bride who sits under it, and is apparently past child-bearing.] The fourth is emblematical, and displays perhaps too licentious a satire on transubstantiation. The Blessed Virgin is thrusting her Son down the hopper of a mill, in which he is ground by priests till he issues out in the shape of the consecrated wafer, supposed by Catholicks to contain the real presence. At a table sits a toothless decrepit father, guardian, or match-maker, joining the hand of the rake with that of the antiquated female, whose face is highly expressive of eagerness, while that of her intended husband is directed a contrary way, toward a groom who is bringing in a piece of plate won at a horse-race.[14] On the floor in front lie a heap of mutilated busts, &c. which our spendthrift is supposed to have recently purchased at an auction. The black boy, who is afterwards met with in Plate IV. of Marriage Alamode, was transplanted from this canvas. He is here introduced supporting such a picture of Ganymede as hangs against the wall of the lady's dressing-room in the same plate of the same work.