The Project Gutenberg eBook of Biographical Anecdotes Of William Hogarth, by John Nichols.

[12] "The first print of this capital work is an excellent representation of a young heir, taking possession of a miser's effects. The passion of avarice, which hoards every thing, without distinction, what is and what is not valuable, is admirably described.—The composition, though not excellent, is not unpleasing. The principal group, consisting of the young gentleman, the taylor, the appraiser, the papers, and chest, is well shaped: but the eye is hurt by the disagreeable regularity of three heads nearly in a line, and at equal distances.—The light is not ill disposed. It falls on the principal figures: but the effect might have been improved. If the extreme parts of the mass (the white apron on one side, and the memorandum-book on the other) had been in shade, the repose had been less injured. The detached parts of a group should rarely catch a strong body of light.—We have no striking instances of expression in this print. The principal figure is unmeaning. The only one, which displays the true vis comica of Hogarth, is the appraiser fingering the gold. You enter at once into his character.—The young woman might have furnished the artist with an opportunity of presenting a graceful figure; which would have been more pleasing. The figure he has introduced, is by no means an object of allurement.—The perspective is accurate, but affected. So many windows, and open doors, may shew the author's learning; but they break the back ground, and injure the simplicity of it.

"The second print introduces our hero into all the dissipation of modish life. We became first acquainted with him, when a boy of eighteen. He is now of age; has entirely thrown off the clownish school-boy; and assumes the man of fashion. Instead of the country taylor, who took measure of him for his father's mourning, he is now attended by French barbers, French taylors, poets, milleners, jockies, bullies, and the whole retinue of a fine gentleman.—The expression, in this print, is wonderfully great. The dauntless front of the bully; the keen eye, and elasticity of the fencing-master; and the simpering importance of the dancing-master, are admirably expressed. The last is perhaps a little outré. The architect [A] is a strong copy from nature.—The composition seems to be entirely subservient to the expression. It appears, as if Hogarth had sketched, in his memorandum-book, all the characters which he has here introduced; but was at a loss how to group them; and chose rather to introduce them in detached figures, as he had sketched them, than to lose any part of the expression by combining them.—The light is ill distributed. It is spread indiscriminately over the print; and destroys the whole—We have no instance of grace in any of the figures. The principal figure is very deficient. There is no contrast in the limbs; which is always attended with a degree of ungracefulness.—The execution is very good. It is elaborate, and yet free.—The satire on operas, though it may be well directed, is forced and unnatural.

"The third plate carries us still deeper into the history. We meet our hero engaged in one of his evening amusements. This print, on the whole, is no very extraordinary effort of genius.—The design is good; and may be a very exact description of the humours of a brothel.—The composition too is not amiss. But we have few of those masterly strokes which distinguish the works of Hogarth. The whole is plain history. The lady setting the world on fire is the best thought: and there is some humour in furnishing the room with a set of Cæsars; and not placing them in order.—The light is ill managed. By a few alterations, which are obvious, particularly by throwing the lady dressing into the shade, the disposition of it might have been tolerable. But still we should have had an absurdity to answer, whence comes it? Here is light in abundance; but no visible source.—Expression we have a little through the whole print. That of the principal figure is the best. The ladies have all the air of their profession; but no variety of character. Hogarth's women are, in general, very inferior to his men. For which reason I prefer the Rake's Progress to the Harlot's. The female face indeed has seldom strength of feature enough to admit the strong markings of expression.

"Very disagreeable accidents often befall gentlemen of pleasure. An event of this kind is recorded in the fourth print; which is now before us. Our hero going, in full dress, to pay his compliments at court on St. David's day, was accosted in the rude manner which is here represented.—The composition is good. The form of the group, made up of the figures in action, the chair, and the lamp-lighter, is pleasing. Only, here we have an opportunity of remarking, that a group is disgusting when the extremities of it are heavy. A group in some respect should resemble a tree. The heavier part of the foliage (the cup as the landscape painter calls it) is always near the middle; the outside branches, which are relieved by the sky, are light and airy. An inattention to this rule has given a heaviness to the group before us. The two bailiffs, the woman, and the chairman, are all huddled together in that part of the group which should have been the lightest; while the middle part, where the hand holds the door, wants strength and consistence. It may be added too, that the four heads, in the form of a diamond, make an unpleasing shape. All regular figures should be studiously avoided.—The light had been well distributed, if the bailiff holding the arrest, and the chairman, had been a little lighter, and the woman darker. The glare of the white apron is disagreeable.—We have, in this print, some beautiful instances of expression. The surprise and terror of the poor gentleman is apparent in every limb, as far as is consistent with the fear of discomposing his dress. The insolence of power in one of the bailiffs, and the unfeeling heart, which can jest with misery, in the other, are strongly marked. The self-importance too of the honest Cambrian is not ill portrayed; who is chiefly introduced to settle the chronology of the story.—In point of grace, we have nothing striking. Hogarth might have introduced a degree of it in the female figure: at least he might have contrived to vary the heavy and unpleasing form of her drapery.—The perspective is good, and makes an agreeable shape.—I cannot leave this print without remarking the falling band-box. Such representations of quick motion are absurd; and every moment the absurdity grows stronger. You cannot deceive the eye. The falling body must appear not to fall. Objects of that kind are beyond the power of representation.

"Difficulties crowd so fast upon our hero, that at the age of twenty-five, which he seems to have attained in the fifth plate, we find him driven to the necessity of marrying a woman, whom he detests, for her fortune. The composition here is very good; and yet we have a disagreeable regularity in the climax of the three figures, the maid, the bride, and the bride-groom.—The light is not ill distributed. The principal figure too is graceful; and there is strong expression in the seeming tranquillity of his features. He hides his contempt of the object before him as well as he can; and yet he cannot do it. She too has as much meaning as can appear thro' the deformity of her features. The clergyman's face we are all well acquainted with, and also his wig; tho' we cannot pretend to say, where we have seen either. The clerk too is an admirable fellow.—The perspective is well understood; but the church is too small;[B] and the wooden post, which seems to have no use, divides the picture very disagreeably.—The creed lost, the commandments broken, and the poor's-box obstructed by a cobweb, are all excellent strokes of satirical humour.

"The fortune, which our adventurer has just received, enables him to make one push more at the gaming-table. He is exhibited, in the sixth print, venting curses on his folly for having lost his last stake.—This is upon the whole, perhaps, the best print of the set. The horrid scene it describes was never more inimitably drawn. The composition is artful, and natural. If the shape of the whole be not quite pleasing, the figures are so well grouped, and with so much ease and variety, that you cannot take offence.—In point of light, it is more culpable. There is not shade enough among the figures to balance the glare. If the neck-cloth and weepers of the gentleman in mourning had been removed, and his hands thrown into shade, even that alone would have improved the effect.—The expression, in almost every figure, is admirable; and the whole is a strong representation of the human mind in a storm. Three stages of that species of madness, which attends gaming, are here described. On the first shock, all is inward dismay. The ruined gamester is representing leaning against a wall, with his arms across, lost in an agony of horror. Perhaps never passion was described with so much force. In a short time this horrible gloom bursts into a storm of fury: he tears in pieces what comes next him; and, kneeling down, invokes curses upon himself. He next attacks others; every one in his turn whom he imagines to have been instrumental in his ruin.—The eager joy of the winning gamesters, the attention of the usurer, the vehemence of the watchman, and the profound reverie of the highwayman, are all admirably marked. There is great coolness too expressed in the little we see of the fat gentleman at the end of the table. The figure opposing the mad-man is bad: it has a drunken appearance; and drunkenness is not the vice of a gaming table.—The principal figure is ill-drawn. The perspective is formal; and the execution but indifferent: in heightening his expression, Hogarth has lost his spirit.

"The seventh plate, which gives us the view of a jail, has very little in it. Many of the circumstances, which may well be supposed to increase the misery of a confined debtor, are well contrived; but the fruitful genius of Hogarth, I should think, might have treated the subject in a more copious manner. The episode of the fainting woman might have given way to many circumstances more proper to the occasion. This is the same woman, whom the rake discards in the first print; by whom he is rescued in the fourth; who is present at his marriage; who follows him into jail; and, lastly, to Bedlam. The thought is rather unnatural, and the moral certainly culpable.—The composition is bad. The group of the woman fainting is a round heavy mass: and the other group is very ill-shaped. The light could not be worse managed, and, as the groups are contrived, can hardly be improved.—In the principal figure there is great expression; and the fainting scene is well described. A scheme to pay off the national debt, by a man who cannot pay his own; and the attempt of a silly rake, to retrieve his affairs by a work of genius; are admirable strokes of humour.

"The eighth plate brings the fortune of our hero to a conclusion. It is a very expressive representation of the most horrid scene which human nature can exhibit.—The composition is not bad. The group, in which the lunatic is chained, is well managed; and if it had been carried a little further towards the middle of the picture, and the two women (who seem very oddly introduced) had been removed, both the composition, and the distribution of light, had been good.—The drawing of the principal figure is a more accurate piece of anatomy than we commonly find in the works of this master. The expression of the figure is rather unmeaning; and very inferior to the strong characters of all the other lunatics. The fertile genius of the artist has introduced as many of the causes of madness, as he could well have collected; but there is some tautology. There are two religionists, and two astronomers. Yet there is variety in each; and strong expression in all the characters. The self-satisfaction, and conviction, of him who has discovered the longitude; the mock majesty of the monarch; the moody melancholy of the lover; and the superstitious horror of the popish devotee; are all admirable.—The perspective is simple and proper.

"I should add, that these remarks are made upon the first edition of this work. When the plates were much worn, they were altered in many parts. They have gained by the alterations, in point of design; but have lost in point of expression."

[A] The architect. Mr. Gilpin means—the gardener.

[B] I am authorized to observe, that this is no fault in our artist. The old church at Marybone was so little, that it would have stood within the walls of the present one, leaving at the same time sufficient room for a walk round it.

[13] Afterwards twice lord mayor of London. See p. 44.

[14] The same as that introduced in Plate II.

1736.

1. Two prints of Before and After. The two pictures, from which these prints are taken, were painted at the particular request of a certain vicious nobleman, whose name deserves no commemoration. The hero of them is said to have been designed for Chief Justice Willes. Hogarth repented of having engraved them; and almost every possessor of his works will wish they had been with-held from the public, as often as he is obliged to shew the volume that contains them to ladies. To omit them, is to mutilate the collection; to pin the leaves, on which they are pasted, together, is a circumstance that tends only to provoke curiosity; and to display them, would be to set decency at defiance. The painter who indulges himself, or his employers, in such representations, will forfeit the general praise he might have gained by a choice of less offensive subjects. We have an artist of no common merit, who has frequently disgraced his skill by scenes too luxuriant to appear in any situation but a brothel; and yet one of the most meretricious of his performances, but a few years ago, was exhibited by the Royal Academy. These prints, however, display almost the only instance in which Hogarth condescended to execute a subject proposed to him; for I am assured by one who knew him well, that his obstinacy on these occasions has often proved invincible. Like Shakspeare's Tully,

In the later impressions from these plates, the scroll-work on the head-cloth, &c. of the bed, is rendered indistinct, by an injudicious attempt to strengthen the engraving. Mr. S. Ireland has the first sketch in oil of "Before."[1]

[1] The originals of both are at the earl of Besborough's seat at Roehampton.

2. The Sleeping Congregation. The preacher was designed as the representative of Dr. Desaguliers. This print was first published in 1736. It was afterwards retouched and improved[1] by the author in 1762, and is found in three different states. In the first, Dieu & Mon Droit is wanting under the King's Arms; the angel with one wing and two pair of thighs, that supports this motto, is smoking a pipe; and the lion has not his present magnificent genitals. In the second, the words already mentioned are added; the angel's pipe is obliterated; the insignia of the lion's sex rendered ostentatiously conspicuous; and the lines of the triangle under the angel are doubled. The other distinctions are chiefly such as a reiteration of engraving would naturally produce, by adding strength to the fainter parts of the composition. Changes of this slender kind are numberless in all the repaired prints of our artist. There is also a pirated copy of this plate. It is not ill executed, but in size is somewhat shorter than its predecessor, and has no price annexed. In the original picture, in the collection of Sir Edward Walpole, the clerk's head is admirably well painted, and with great force; but he is dozing, and not leering at the young woman near him, as in the print.

[1] I wish, for the sake of some future edition of the present work, these improvements could be ascertained. To me they are invisible, like those in the re-published March to Finchley.

3. The Distressed Poet.[1] In a back ground, a picture of Pope threshing Curll. Over the head of Pope we read, Pope's Letters; out of his mouth comes Veni, vidi, vici; and under Curll lies a letter, directed—to Curll. The distressed bard is composing Poverty, a poem. At the bottom of the plate are the following lines from The Dunciad, I. iii.

In the subsequent impressions, dated December 15, 1740, the triumphs of Pope are changed to a view of the gold mines of Peru; and our hero of the garret is employed in celebrating the praise of Riches. The lines already quoted are effaced. The original painting is at lord Grosvenor's house at Milbank, Westminster.

[1] In The Craftsman, March 12, 1736-7, occurs, "This day is published, price 3s. a print representing a Distressed Poet. Also, five etchings, of different characters of heads in groups, viz. a Chorus of Singers; a pleased Audience at a Play; Scholars at a Lecture; and Quacks in Consultation; price 6d. each. To be had either bound together with all Mr. Hogarth's late engraved works (except the Harlot's Progress), or singly, at the Golden Head, in Leicester Fields; and at Mr Bakewell's, printseller, next the Horn Tavern, Fleet-street." And April 2 and 9, 1737, "Just published, price 3s. A print representing a Distressed Poet. Designed and engraved by Mr. Hogarth. Also four etchings, viz. A pleased Audience; a Chorus of Singers; Scholars at a Lecture; and a Consultation of Quacks, price 6d. each. To be had at the Golden Head, in Leicester Fields; and at Mr. Bakewell's, print-seller, next the Horn Tavern, in Fleet-street. Where may be had, bound or otherwise, all Mr. Hogarth's late engraved works, viz. A Midnight Conversation; Southwark Fair; the Rake's Progress, in eight prints; a sleepy Congregation in a Country Church; Before and After, two prints."

4. Right Hon. Frances Lady Byron. Whole length, mezzotinto. W. Hogarth pinxit. J. Faber fecit. The most beautiful impressions of this plate were commonly taken off in a brown colour.

6. Consultation of Physicians. Arms of the Undertakers. In this plate, amongst other portraits, is the well-known one of Dr. Ward[1] (who was called Spot Ward, from the left side of his face being marked of a claret colour); and that of the elder Taylor,[2] a noted oculist, with an eye on the head of his cane; Dr. Pierce Dod,[3] Dr. Bamber;[4] and other physicians of that time. The figure with a bone in its hand, between the two demi-doctors (i. e. Taylor and Ward), is said to have been designed for Mrs. Mapp, a famous masculine woman, who was called the bone-setter, or shape-mistress. I am told, that many of her advertisements may be found in Mist's Journal, and still more accounts of her cures in the periodical publications of her time. Her maiden name was Wallin. Her father was also a bone-setter at Hindon, Wilts; but quarrelling with him, she wandered about the country, calling herself crazy Sally. On her success in her profession she married, August 11, 1736,[5] one Hill Mapp, a servant to Mr. Ibbetson, mercer on Ludgate-Hill. In most cases her success was rather owing to the strength of her arms, and the boldness of her undertakings, than to any knowledge of anatomy or skill in chirurgical operations. The following particulars relative to her are collected from the The Grub-street Journal, &c. and serve at least to shew, that she was a character considerable enough to deserve the satire of Hogarth.

August 19, 1736, "We hear that the husband of Mrs. Mapp, the famous bone-setter at Epsom, ran away from her last week, taking with him upwards of 100 guineas, and such other portable things as lay next hand."

"Several letters from Epsom mention, that the footman, whom the female bone-setter married the week before, had taken a sudden journey from thence with what money his wife had earned; and that her concern at first was very great: but soon as the surprize was over, she grew gay, and seemed to think the money well disposed of, as it was like to rid her of a husband. He took just 102 guineas."

September 2, 1736, "On Friday several persons, who had the misfortune of lameness, crowded to The White-hart Inn, in White-chapel, on hearing Mrs. Mapp the famous bone-setter was there. Some of them were admitted to her, and were relieved as they apprehended. But a gentleman, who happened to come by, declared Mrs. Mapp was at Epsom, on which the woman thought proper to move off."

"Whereas it has been industriously (I wish I could say truly) reported, that I had found great benefit from a certain female bone-setter's performance, and that it was to a want of resolution to undergo the operation, that I did not meet with a perfect cure: this is therefore to give notice, that any persons afflicted with lameness (who are willing to know what good or harm others may receive, before they venture on desperate measures themselves) will be welcome any morning to see the dressing of my leg, which was sound before the operation, and they will then be able to judge of the performance, and to whom I owe my present unhappy confinement to my bed and chair.

September 16, 1736. "On Thursday, Mrs. Mapp's plate of ten guineas was run for at Epsom. A mare, called 'Mrs. Mapp,' won the first heat; when Mrs. Mapp gave the rider a guinea, and swore if he won the plate she would give him 100; but the second and third heat was won by a chestnut mare."

"We hear that the husband of Mrs. Mapp is returned, and has been kindly received."

September 23, 1736. "Mrs. Mapp continues making extraordinary cures: she has now set up an equipage, and on Sunday waited on her Majesty."

Saturday, October 16, 1736. "Mrs. Mapp, the bone-setter, with Dr. Taylor, the oculist, was at the play-house, in Lincoln's-Inn Fields, to see a comedy called 'The Husband's Relief, with the Female Bone-setter and Worm Doctor;' which occasioned a full house, and the following epigram:

October 19, 1736, London Daily Post. "Mrs. Mapp, being present at the acting of The Wife's Relief, concurred in the universal applause of a crowded audience. This play was advertised by the desire of Mrs. Mapp, the famous bone-setter from Epsom."

October 21, 1736, "On Saturday evening there was such a concourse of people at the Theatre-royal in Lincoln's-Inn Fields, to see the famous Mrs. Mapp, that several gentlemen and ladies were obliged to return for want of room. The confusion at going out was so great, that several gentlemen and ladies had their pockets picked, and many of the latter lost their fans, &c. Yesterday she was elegantly entertained by Dr. Ward, at his house in Pall-Mall."

"On Saturday and yesterday Mrs. Mapp performed several operations at The Grecian Coffee-house, particularly one upon a niece of Sir Hans Sloane, to his great satisfaction and her credit. The patient had her shoulder-bone out for about nine years."

"On Monday Mrs. Mapp performed two extraordinary cures; one on a young lady of The Temple, who had several bones out from the knees to her toes, which she put in their proper places: and the other on a butcher, whose knee-pans were so misplaced that he walked with his knees knocking one against another. Yesterday she performed several other surprizing cures; and about one set out for Epsom, and carried with her several crutches, which she calls trophies of honour."

November 18, 1736, "Mrs. Mapp, the famous bone-setter, has taken lodgings in Pall-Mall, near Mr. Joshua Ward's, &c."

December 16, 1736, "On Thursday, Polly Peachum (Miss Warren, that was sister to the famous Mrs. Mapp) was tried at The Old Bailey for marrying Mr. Nicholas; her former husband, Mr. Somers, being living, &c."

December 22, 1737, "Died last week, at her lodgings near The Seven Dials, the much-talked-of Mrs. Mapp, the bone-setter, so miserably poor, that the parish was obliged to bury her."

The plate is thus illustrated by the engraver: "The Company of Undertakers beareth Sable, an Urinal proper, between twelve Quack Heads of the second, and twelve Cane Heads, Or, Consultant. On a Chief,[8] Nebulæ,[9] Ermine, one compleat Doctor [10] issuant, checkie, sustaining in his right hand a baton of the second. On his dexter and sinister sides two demi-doctors issuant of the second, and two Cane Heads issuant of the third; the first having one eye couchant, towards the dexter side of the escutcheon; the second faced per pale proper and gules, guardant, with this motto—Et plurima mortis imago."

[1] Joshua Ward was one of the younger sons of an ancient and respectable family settled at Guisborough in Yorkshire, where he was born some time in the last century. He seems, from every description of him, to have had small advantages from education, though he indisputably possessed no mean natural parts. The first account we have of him is, that he was a associated in partnership with a brother named William, as a dry-salter, in Thames-street. After they had carried on this business some time, a fire broke out in an adjoining house, which communicated itself to their warehouses, and entirely destroyed all their property. On this occasion Mr. Ward, with a gentleman from the country who was on a visit to him, escaped over the tops of the houses in their shirts. In the year 1717 he was returned member for Marlborough; but, by a vote of the House of Commons, dated May 13, was declared not duly elected. It is imagined that he was in some measure connected with his brother John Ward (who is stigmatized by Mr. Pope, Dunciad III. 34.) in secreting and protecting illegally the property of some of the South Sea directors. Be this as it may, he soon after fled from England, resided some years abroad, and has been frequently supposed to have turned Roman Catholic. While he remained in exile, he acquired that knowledge of medicine and chemistry, which afterwards was the means of raising him to a state of affluence. About the year 1733 he began to practise physic, and combated, for some time, the united efforts of Wit, Learning, Argument, Ridicule, Malice, and Jealousy, by all of which he was opposed in every shape that can be suggested. At length, by some lucky cures, and particularly one on a relation of Sir Joseph Jekyl Master of the Rolls, he got the better of his opponents, and was suffered to practise undisturbed. From this time his reputation was established: he was exempted, by a vote of the House of Commons, from being visited by the censors of the college of physicians, and was even called in to the assistance of King George the Second, whose hand he cured, and received, as a reward, a commission for his nephew the late General Gansel. It was his custom to distribute his medicines and advice, and even pecuniary assistance, to the poor, at his house, gratis; and thus he acquired considerable popularity. Indeed, in these particulars his conduct was entitled to every degree of praise. With a stern outside, and rough deportment, he was not wanting in benevolence. After a continued series of success, he died Dec. 21, 1761, at a very advanced age, and left the secret of his medicines to Mr. Page, member for Chichester, who bestowed them on two charitable institutions, which have derived considerable advantages from them. His will is printed in The Gentleman's Magazine, 1762, p. 208.