  THE HARLOT'S PROGRESS.PLATE I."The snares are set, the plot is laid, Ruin awaits thee, hapless maid! Seduction sly assails thine ear, And gloating, foul desire is near; Baneful and blighting are their smiles, Destruction waits upon their wiles: Alas! thy guardian angel sleeps, Vice clasps her hands, and virtue weeps."—E. THE HARLOT'S PROGRESS, PLATE I. The general aim of historical painters has been to emblazon some signal exploit of an exalted and distinguished character. To go through a series of actions, and conduct their hero from the cradle to the grave, to give a history upon canvas, and tell a story with the pencil, few of them attempted. Mr. Hogarth saw with the intuitive eye of genius, that one path to the temple of Fame was yet untrodden: he took Nature for his guide, and gained the summit. He was the painter of nature; for he gave not merely the ground-plan of This series of prints gives the history of a Prostitute. The story commences with her arrival in London, where, initiated in the school of profligacy, she experiences the miseries consequent to her situation, and dies in the morning of life. Her variety of wretchedness forms such a picture of the way in which vice rewards her votaries, as ought to warn the young and inexperienced from entering this path of infamy. The first scene of this domestic tragedy is laid at the Bell Inn, in Wood Street, and the heroine may possibly be daughter to the poor old clergyman who is reading the direction of a letter close to the York waggon, from which vehicle she has just alighted. In attire, neat, plain, unadorned; in demeanour, artless, modest, diffident; in the bloom of youth, and more distinguished by native innocence than elegant symmetry; her conscious blush and downcast eyes attract the attention of a female fiend who panders to the vices of the opulent and libidinous. Coming out of the door of the inn we discover two The old procuress, immediately after the girl's alighting from the waggon, addresses her with the familiarity of a friend rather than the reserve of one who is to be her mistress. Had her father been versed in even the first rudiments of physiognomy, he would have prevented her "The wreck of flower-pots, and the crash of pans!" From the inn she is taken to the house of the procuress, divested of her home-spun garb, dressed in the gayest style of the day, and the tender native hue of her complexion encrusted with paint and disguised by patches. She is then introduced to Colonel Chartres, and by artful flattery and liberal promises becomes intoxicated with the dreams of imaginary greatness. A short time convinces her of how light a breath these promises were composed. Deserted by her keeper, and terrified by threats of an immediate arrest for the pompous paraphernalia of prostitution, after being a short time protected by one of the tribe Neither the painter of a sublime picture nor the writer of an heroic poem should introduce any trivial circumstances that are likely to draw the attention from the principal figures. Such compositions should form one great whole: minute detail will inevitably weaken their effect. But in little stories which record the domestic incidents of familiar life, these accessory accompaniments, though trifling in themselves, acquire a consequence from their situation; they add to the interest, and realize the scene. In this, as in almost all that were delineated by Mr. Hogarth, we see a close regard paid to things as they then were; by which means his prints become a sort of historical record of the manners of the age. The balcony, with linen hanging to dry; the York Of elegant beauty Mr. Hogarth had not much idea; but he has marked his heroine with natural simplicity. To the old procuress he has given her physiognomical distinction, and to the Colonel his appropriate stamp. PLATE II."Ah! why so vain, though blooming in thy spring; Thou shining, frail, adorn'd, but wretched thing! Old age will come; disease may come before, And twenty prove as fatal as threescore!" THE HARLOT'S PROGRESS, PLATE II. Entered into the path of infamy, the next scene exhibits our young heroine the mistress of a rich The subjects of two pictures with which the room is decorated are, David dancing before the ark, and Jonah seated under a gourd. Under the protection of this disciple of Moses she could not remain long. Riches were his only attraction, and though profusely lavished on this unworthy object, her attachment was not to be obtained, nor could her constancy be secured; repeated acts of infidelity are punished by dismission; and her next situation shows that, like most of the sisterhood, she had lived without apprehension of the sunshine of life being darkened by the passing cloud, and made no provision for the hour of adversity. In this print the characters are marked with a master's hand. The insolent air of the harlot, the astonishment of the Jew, PLATE III."Reproach, scorn, infamy, and hate, On all thy future steps shall wait; Thy form be loathed by every eye, And every foot thy presence fly." THE HARLOT'S PROGRESS, PLATE III. We here see this child of misfortune fallen from her high estate! Her magnificent apartment is quitted for a dreary lodging in the purlieus of Drury Lane: she is at breakfast, and every object exhibits marks of the most wretched penury; her silver tea-kettle is changed for a tin-pot, and her highly-decorated toilet gives place to an old leaf-table, strewed with the relics of the last night's revel, and ornamented with a broken looking-glass. Around the room are scattered tobacco-pipes, gin measures, and pewter pots,—emblems of the habits of life into which she is initiated, and the company which she now keeps: this is further intimated by the wig-box of James Dalton, a notorious street-robber, who was afterwards executed. In her hand she displays a watch, which might be either presented to her, or stolen from her last night's gallant. By the nostrums which ornament A magistrate, PLATE IV."With pallid cheek and haggard eye, And loud laments, and heartfelt sigh, Unpitied, hopeless of relief, She drinks the bitter cup of grief. In vain the sigh, in vain the tear, Compassion never enters here; But justice clanks her iron chain, And calls forth shame, remorse, and pain."—E. THE HARLOT'S PROGRESS, PLATE IV. The situation in which the last plate exhibited our wretched female was sufficiently degrading, but in this her misery is greatly aggravated. We now see her suffering the chastisement due to her follies; reduced to the wretched alternative of beating hemp, To show that neither the dread nor endurance of the severest punishment will deter from the perpetration of crimes, a one-eyed female, close to the keeper, is picking a pocket. The torn card may probably be dropped by the well-dressed gamester, who has exchanged the dice-box for the mallet, and whose laced hat is hung up as a companion trophy to the hoop-petticoat. One of the girls appears scarcely in her teens. To the disgrace of our police, these unfortunate little wanderers are still suffered to take their nocturnal rambles in the most public streets of the metropolis. What heart so void of sensibility as not to heave a pitying sigh at their deplorable situation? Vice is not confined to colour, for a black woman is ludicrously exhibited as suffering the penalty of those frailties which are imagined peculiar to the fair. The figure chalked as dangling upon the wall, with a pipe in his mouth, is intended as a caricatured portrait of Sir John Gonson, and probably the pro In this print the composition is tolerably good: the figures in the background, though properly subordinate, sufficiently marked; the lassitude of the principal character well contrasted by the austerity of the rigid overseer. There is a fine climax of female debasement, from the gaudy heroine of our drama to her maid, and from thence to the still lower object who is represented as destroying PLATE V."With keen remorse, deep sighs, and trembling fears, Repentant groans, and unavailing tears, This child of misery resigns her breath, And sinks, despondent, in the arms of death."—E. THE HARLOT'S PROGRESS, PLATE V. Released from Bridewell, we now see this victim to her own indiscretion breathe her last sad sigh, and A picture of general, and, at this awful moment, indecent confusion, is admirably represented. The noise of two enraged quacks disputing in bad English, the harsh vulgar scream of the maid-servant, the table falling, and the pot boiling over, must produce a combination of sounds dreadful and dissonant to the ear. In this pitiable situation, without a friend to close her dying eyes or soften her sufferings by a tributary tear,—forlorn, destitute, and deserted,—the heroine of this eventful history expires; her premature death brought on by a licentious life, seven years of which had been devoted to debauchery and dissipation, and attended by consequent infamy, misery, and disease. The whole story affords a valuable lesson to the young and inexperienced, and proves this great, this important truth, that A DEVIATION FROM VIRTUE IS A DEPARTURE FROM HAPPINESS. The emaciated appearance of the dying figure, the boy's thoughtless inattention, and the rapacious, unfeeling eagerness of the old nurse, are naturally and forcibly delineated. The figures are well grouped; the curtain gives PLATE VI."No friend's complaint, no kind domestic tear, Pleas'd thy pale ghost, or grac'd thy mournful bier: By harlots' hands thy dying eyes were clos'd; By harlots' hands thy decent limbs compos'd; By harlots' hands thy humble grave adorn'd; By harlots honoured, and by harlots mourn'd." THE HARLOT'S PROGRESS, PLATE VI. The adventures of our heroine are now concluded. She is no longer an actor in her own tragedy; and there are those who have considered this print as a farce at the end of it: but surely such was not the author's intention. The ingenious writer of Tristram Shandy begins the life of his hero before he is born; the picturesque biographer of Mary Hackabout has found an opportunity to convey admonition, and enforce his moral, after her death. A wish usually prevails, even among those who are most humbled by their own indiscretion, that some respect should be paid to their remains; that their eyes should be closed by the tender hand of a surviving friend, and the tear of sympathy and regret shed upon the sod which covers their grave; that those who loved them living should In this plate there are some local customs which "When Hopkins dies, a thousand lights attend The wretch who, living, saved a candle's end." The figures have much characteristic discrimination: the woman looking into the coffin has more beauty than we generally see in the works of this artist. The undertaker's gloating stare, his companion's leer, the internal satisfaction of the parson and his next neighbour, are contrasted by the Irish howl of the woman at the opposite side, and evince Mr. Hogarth's thorough knowledge of the operation of the passions upon the features. The composition forms a good shape, has a proper depth, and the light is well managed. Sir James Thornhill's opinion of this series may be inferred from the following circumstance. Mr. Hogarth had without consent married his daughter: Sir James, considering him as an obscure artist, was much displeased with the connection. To give him a better opinion of his son-in-law, a common friend one morning privately conveyed the six pictures of the "Harlot's Progress" into his drawing-room. The veteran painter eagerly inquired who was the artist; and being told, cried out, "Very well! Very well indeed! The man who can paint such pictures as these, can maintain a wife without a portion." This When the publication was advertised, such was the expectation of the town, that above twelve hundred names were entered in the subscription book. When the prints appeared, they were beheld with astonishment. A subject so novel in the idea, so marked with genius in the execution, excited the most eager attention of the public. At a time when England was coldly inattentive to everything which related to the arts, so desirous were all ranks of people of seeing how this little domestic story was delineated, that there were eight piratical imitations,—besides two copies in a smaller size than the original, published, by permission of the author, for Thomas Bakewell. The whole series were copied on fan-mounts, representing the six plates, three on one side, and three on the other. It was transferred from the copper to the stage, in the form of a pantomime, by Theophilus Cibber; and again represented in a ballad opera, entitled, The Jew Decoyed, or the Harlot's Progress. A Joseph Gay, and several other wretched rhymers, published what they called poetical illustrations of Mr. Hogarth's six plates: but these effusions of dulness do not deserve enumeration; nor would they deserve mention, but as collateral proofs of the great The six original pictures were sold on the 25th of January 1744-5, and produced eighty-eight pounds four shillings. Mr. Beckford, a late Lord Mayor of London, was, I believe, the purchaser. At a fire which burnt down his house at Fonthill, Wiltshire, in the year 1755, five of them were consumed. When a messenger brought him intelligence of this unfortunate event, he said nothing, but took out his pocket-book, and wrote down a number of figures, which he seemed inspecting with the cool precision of a true disciple of Cocker, when a friend who was present, expressing some surprise at his being so collected after so heavy a loss, asked him what was the subject of his meditation? to which he answered, with the most philosophical indifference, "I am calculating how much it will cost me to rebuild my house." THE RAKE'S PROGRESS.PLATE I."Oh, 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 up an useless store? Hope along with Time is flown; Nor canst thou reap the field thou'st sown. Had'st 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, heartfelt 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 life begun, What comfort from thy darling son?" —Hoadley. THE RAKE'S PROGRESS, PLATE I. In the last series of prints Mr. Hogarth delineated, with a master's hand, the miseries attendant upon a female's deviation from virtue. In this he presents to us the picture of a young "Who sees pale Mammon pine amidst his store, Sees but a backward steward for the poor; This year a reservoir, to keep and spare; The next a fountain, spouting through his heir." It represents a young man taking possession of a rich miser's effects, and is crowded with the monuments of departed avarice. Everything, valuable or not valuable, has been hoarded. A chest of old plate, an old coat, a worn-out boot, and the caul of a periwig, are preserved with equal care. The thread-bare garments are hung up; the rusty spur put into a closet; and even a spectacle-frame, without glasses, is thought worthy of preservation. The contents of his armoury are curious, and valuable as the lumbering furniture of his room: they consist of two swords, which may be considered as trophies of his youthful prowess, or protectors of his cankered pelf. "No mouse e'er lurk'd, no rat e'er sought for food." The iron-bound chests, the hidden gold falling from the breaking cornice, and indeed every article that is displayed in this dreary tomb of buried wealth, give additional marks of a suspicious and sordid disposition. The picture of a miser counting his gold; the escutcheons, those gloomy ornaments of departed wretchedness, with the armorial bearings of avarice, three vices hard screwed, are adjuncts highly appropriate to the place; the motto, BEWARE, inscribed under the arms, is a well-directed caution, and ought to be seriously considered by those who feel a propensity to this meanest of passions. An old shoe, The introduction to this history is well delineated, and the principal figure marked with that easy, unmeaning vacancy of face which speaks him formed by nature for a DUPE. Ignorant of the value of money, and negligent in his nature, he leaves his bag of untold gold in the reach of an old and greedy pettifogging attorney, The figure of the young woman with a wedding-ring is not alluring, neither is her face attractive; but her being pregnant, and accompanied by her mother with an apron full of letters, gives her a claim to our pity, as it clearly intimates that this is meant as a In this print the drawing and disposition of the figures are tolerably good, the light is properly distributed, and the perspective accurately represented; but the whole wants mass. To display the hoards, it was necessary to open the boxes and doors; and though an exhibition of the heterogeneous collection heaped together by this wretched defrauder of himself most forcibly describes the disposition of the man, it hurts the repose of the picture. Breaking the background into so many parts, destroys that breadth which ought to be considered as a leading excellence. 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, on 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 swoln Excess, Mechanic Honour, vicious Taste, And Fashion in her changing vest." —Hoadley. THE RAKE'S PROGRESS, PLATE II. The sordid avarice of the wretched miser is in this print contrasted by the giddy profusion of his prodigal heir. The old man pined in the midst of plenty, starved while surrounded by abundance, and refused himself enjoyment of the absolute necessaries of life from an apprehension of future poverty. "Not so his son; he mark'd this oversight, And quite mistook reverse of wrong for right." Three years have elapsed, and our giddy spendthrift, throwing of the awkwardness of a rustic, assumes the character and apes the manners of a modern fine gentleman. To qualify himself for performing the part, he is attended by a French tailor, a milliner, a Parisian dancing-master, How exactly does Bramston describe the character in his Man of Taste: "Without Italian, and without an ear, To Bononcini's music I adhere. To boon companions I my time would give, With players, pimps, and parasites I'd live; I would with jockeys from Newmarket dine, And to rough riders give my choicest wine. My evenings all I would with sharpers spend, And make the thief-taker my bosom friend; In Figg the prize-fighter by day delight, And sup with Colley Cibber every night." On the back of the musician's chair hangs a list of presents which Farinelli, an Italian singer, received the day after his performance of a favourite character at the Opera House. Among others, a gold snuff-box, chased with the story of Orpheus charming the brutes, from T. Rakewell, Esq. Another memento of musical extravagance is the frontispiece to a poem lying on the floor, and dedicated to Esquire Rakewell, in which the ladies of Great Britain are represented as sacrificing their hearts to this idol of sound, and crying out with great earnestness, One God, one Farinelli! This intimates the violent rage of the fashionable world for that most frivolous of all amusements, the Italian Opera. The taste which our prodigal has imbibed for the turf is pointed out by the jockey presenting a silver punch-bowl, which one of his horses is supposed to have won; his passion for another royal amusement, by the portraits of two fighting-cocks, hung up as the ornaments of his saloon. A picture which he has placed between them bears a whimsical allusion; it Of the expression in this print we cannot speak more highly than it deserves. Every character is marked with its proper and discriminative stamp. It has been said by a very judicious critic, The light, it must be acknowledged, is very ill distributed, and the figures most inartificially grouped. To infer from hence, with Mr. Gilpin, that the artist was at a loss how to group them, is not quite fair: his others compositions prove that he was not ignorant of the art, but in many of them he has been inattentive to it. In this he may have introduced in his print figures which were not inserted in the sketch, merely because they were appropriate to his story. The expression of the actors in his drama was always his leading object; composition he considered as secondary, and was little solicitous about their situation on the stage. PLATE III."O vanity of youthful blood, So by misuse to poison good! Woman, framed for social love, Fairest gift of powers above, Source of every household 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 abandoned place, And revel there with wild excess?" THE RAKE'S PROGRESS, PLATE III. This plate exhibits our licentious prodigal engaged in one of his midnight festivities: forgetful of the past, and negligent of the future, he riots in the present. Having poured his libation to Bacchus, he concludes the evening orgies in a sacrifice at the Cyprian shrine; and, surrounded by the votaries of Venus, joins in the unhallowed mysteries of the place. The companions of his revelry are marked with that easy, unblushing effrontery which belongs to the servants of all work in the isle of Paphos;—for the maids of honour, they are not sufficiently elevated. He may be supposed, in the phrase of the day, to have beat the rounds, overset a constable, and conquered a watchman, whose staff and lanthorn he has brought into the room as trophies of his prowess. In this situation he is robbed of his watch by the girl whose hand is in his bosom; and, with that adroitness peculiar to an old practitioner, she conveys her acquisition to an accomplice, who stands behind the chair. Two of the ladies are quarrelling; and one of them delicately spouts wine in the face of her opponent, This design may be a very exact representation of what were then the nocturnal amusements of a brothel;—so different are the manners of the year 1805 from those of 1734, that I much question whether a similar exhibition is now to be seen in any tavern of the metropolis. That we are less licentious than our predecessors, I dare not affirm; but we are certainly more delicate in the pursuit of our pleasures. The room is furnished with a set of Roman emperors,—they are not placed in their proper order; for in the mad revelry of the evening this family of The shattered mirror, broken wine-glasses, fractured chair and cane; the mangled fowl, with a fork stuck in its breast, thrown into a corner, and indeed every accompaniment, shows that this has been a night of riot without enjoyment, mischief without wit, and waste without gratification. With respect to the drawing of the figures in this curious female coterie, Hogarth evidently intended several of them for beauties; and of vulgar, uneducated, prostituted beauty, he had a good idea. The hero of our tale displays all that careless jollity which copious draughts of maddening wine are calculated to inspire; he laughs the world away, and bids it pass. The poor dupe without his periwig, in the background, forms a good contrast of character: he is maudlin drunk, and sadly sick. To keep up the spirit of unity throughout the society, and not leave the poor African girl entirely neglected, she is making PLATE IV."O vanity of youthful blood, So by misuse to poison good! Reason awakes, and views unbarr'd The sacred gates he wish'd to guard; Approaching, see 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 fear, despair, and horror fraught, Call back his guilty pleasures dead, Whom he hath wrong'd, and whom betray'd." THE RAKE'S PROGRESS, PLATE IV. The career of dissipation is here stopped. Dressed in the first style of the ton, and getting out of a sedan chair, with the hope of shining in the circle, and perhaps forwarding a former application for a place or a pension, he is arrested! To intimate that being plundered is the certain consequence of such an event, and to show how closely one misfortune treads upon the heels of another, a boy is at the same moment picking his pocket. The unfortunate girl whom he basely deserted is The high-born, haughty Welshman, with an enormous leek, and a countenance keen and lofty as his native mountains, establishes the chronology, and fixes the day to be the first of March; which, being sacred to the titular saint of Wales, was observed at court. The background exhibits a view of St James's Palace, and White's Chocolate House, then the rendezvous of the first gamesters in London. At this fountainhead of dissipation the artist has aimed a flash of lightning; and to show the contagion of example, and how much this ruinous vice prevails even in the lowest ranks of society, he has in one corner of the print represented an assembly composed of shoe-blacks, chimney-sweepers, etc., "The fate of empires, and the fall of kings." A chimney-sweeper peeping at the postboy's cards, and informing his adversary that he has two honours, by holding up two fingers, is a fine stroke of humour; as the inscription Black's, being on a post The grouping is good, the perspective agreeable, 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." THE RAKE'S PROGRESS, PLATE V. To be thus degraded by the rude enforcement of the law, and relieved from an exigence by one whom he The ceremony passes in Marybone Church, which was then considered at such a distance from London, as to become the usual resort of those who wished to be privately married. In his demeanour we discover an attempt to appear at the altar with becoming decorum: but internal perturbation darts through assumed tranquillity; for though he is plighting his troth to the old woman, his eyes are fixed on the young girl who kneels behind her. The parson and clerk seem made for each other: a sleepy, stupid solemnity marks every muscle of the divine, and the nasal droning of the lay brother is most happily expressed. Accompanied by her child and mother, the unfortunate victim of his seduction is here again introduced, endeavouring to enter the church and forbid the banns. The opposition made by an old pew-opener, with her bunch of keys, gave the artist a good opportunity for indulging his taste in the burlesque, and he has not neglected it. A dog The Commandments are broken: On one of the pew-doors is the following curious specimen of churchyard poetry and mortuary orthography:— These : pewes : vnscrud : and tane : in : svnder A glory over the bride's head is whimsical. The bay and holly, which decorate the pews, give "When Winter linger'd in her icy veins." Addison would have classed her among the evergreens of the sex. It has been observed, that "the church is too small, and that the wooden post, which seems to have no use, divides the picture very disagreeably." The grouping is good, and the principal figure has the air of a gentleman. The light is well distributed, and the scene most characteristically represented. PLATE VI."Gold, thou bright son of Phoebus, source Of universal intercourse; Of weeping Virtue soft redress: And blessing those who live to bless: Ye oft behold this sacred trust, 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." THE RAKE'S PROGRESS, PLATE VI. Though now, from the infatuated folly of his antiquated wife, in possession of a fortune, he is still the slave of that baneful vice which, while it enslaves the mind, poisons the enjoyments, and sweeps away the possessions of its deluded votaries. Destructive as the earthquake which convulses nature, it overwhelms the pride of the forest, and engulfs the labours of the architect. Newmarket and the cock-pit were the scenes of his early amusements; to crown the whole, he is now exhibited at a gaming-table, where all is lost! His countenance distorted with agony, and his soul "In heartfelt bitter anguish he appears, And from the bloodshot ball gush purpled tears! He beats his brow, with rage and horror fraught; His brow half bursts with agony of thought!" That he should be deprived of all he possessed in such a society as surround him, is not to be wondered at. One of the most conspicuous characters appears, by the pistols in his pocket, to be a highwayman: from the profound stupor of his countenance, we are certain he also is a losing gamester; and so absorbed in reflection, that neither the boy who brings him a glass of water, nor the watchman's cry of Fire! can arouse him from his reverie. Another of the party is marked for one of those well-dressed Continental adventurers, who, being unable to live in their own country, annually pour into this, and with no other requisites than a quick eye, an adroit hand, and an undaunted forehead, are admitted into what is absurdly enough called good company. At the table a person in mourning grasps his hat, and hides his face in the agony of repentance, In the background are two collusive associates eagerly dividing the profits of the evening. A nobleman in the corner is giving his note to an usurer. So engrossed is every one present by his own situation, that the flames which surround them are disregarded, The grouping of the figures in this print is masterly; but the light, being reflected from various sources, overbalances the shadow, and fatigues the eye. The perspective, though formal, is natural. 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." THE RAKE'S PROGRESS, PLATE VII. It is pithily and profitably observed by Mr. Hugh Latimer, or some other venerable writer of his day, that "the direct path from a gaming-house is unto a In the plate before us this remark is verified. Our improvident spendthrift is now lodged in that dreary receptacle of human misery—a prison. His countenance exhibits a picture of despair; the forlorn state of his mind is displayed in every limb, and his exhausted finances by the turnkey's demand of prison fees not being answered, and the boy refusing to leave a tankard of porter unless he is paid for it. We learn by a letter upon the table, that a play which he sent for the manager's inspection "will not doe;" "Chaos and anarchy assume the sway." That balm of a wounded mind,—the recollection of connubial love, parental joys, and all the nameless tender sympathies which calm the troubled soul,—in his blank and blotted memory find no place. Remorse "A fiend, in evil moments ever nigh, Death in her hand, and frenzy in her eye! Her eye all red, and sunk! A robe she wore, With life's calamities embroidered o'er. From me (she cries), pale wretch, thy comfort claim, Born of Despair, and Suicide my name." He attempts to take away that life which is become hateful to him; is prevented, and removed to a cell more dreadful than even a prison: "Where Misery and Madness hold their court." But let us for a moment return to the present scene. The wretched, squalid inmate who is assisting the fainting female, bears every mark of being naturalized to the place: out of his pocket hangs a scroll, on which is inscribed, "A scheme to pay the national debt, by J. L., now a prisoner in the Fleet." So attentive was this poor gentleman to the debts of the nation, that he totally forgot his own. The cries of the child, and the good-natured attentions of the two women, heighten the interest, and realize the scene. Over the group are a large pair of wings, with which some emulator of Dedalus intended to escape from his confinement; but finding them inadequate to the The grated gate, secured with tenfold bars of iron, reminds us of Milton's "Infernal doors, that on their hinges grate Harsh thunder!" The principal figure is wonderfully delineated. Every muscle is marked, every nerve is unstrung; we see into his very soul. The poor prisoner who is assisting the fainting woman is ill drawn; the group of which she is the principal figure is unskilfully contrived: it forms a round heavy mass. The opposite group, though better, is not pleasing. 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!" THE RAKE'S PROGRESS, PLATE VIII. "Last scene of all,—which ends this strange eventful history!" But in this scene, dreary and horrid as are its accompaniments, he is attended by the faithful and kind-hearted female whom he so basely betrayed. In the first plate we see him refuse her his promised hand. In the fourth she releases him from the harpy fangs of a bailiff; she is present at his marriage. In the hope of relieving his distress, she follows him to a prison. Wishing to soothe his misery and alleviate his woe, she here attends him in a madhouse! What a return for deceit and desertion! The Reverend Mr. Gilpin, in his elucidation of these eight prints, asserts that "this thought is rather unnatural, and the moral certainly culpable." The female mind is naturally credulous, affectionate, and—in its attachments—ardent. If, in her peculiar situation, her assiduities must be deemed in any degree culpable, let us remember that this is but a frail vessel of refined clay. When the awful record of her errors is unrolled, may that sigh which was breathed for the misery of a fellow-mortal waft away the scroll, and the tears which flowed for the calamities of others float the memorial down the stream of oblivion! On the errors of women, let us look with the allowance and humanity of men. Enchanting woman! thou balm of life! soother of sorrow! solace of the That warm and tender friend, who in the most trying situations retains her enthusiastic fondness, and in every change of fortune preserves unabated love, ought to be embraced as the first bension of heaven, the completion of earthly happiness! Let man but draw such a prize in the lottery of life, and glide down the stream of existence with such a partner, and neither the cold averted eye of a summer friend, nor the frowns of an adverse fortune, should ever produce a pang or excite a murmur. But enough,—let not the chaste feelings of blushing innocence be wounded by this rhapsody, or for a moment suppose that the episode, or effusion, or e'en whatever she pleases, is intended as a vindication of female folly; in good truth it is not. The writer would not wish it delivered to the cold-fingered portress of Diana's temple, but it may be laid upon that altar which is sacred to Friendship, to Hymen, to Love.—There we will leave it, and return to the plate before us. A gentleman "Moody madness, laughing wild, amid severest woe." The instant this line was read to him, he opened a portfolio, took out the eighth plate of the "Rake's Progress," and pointing to the principal figure, exclaimed, "Sir, if I had never seen this print, I should say it was not possible to paint these contending passions in the same countenance. Having seen this, which exactly displays Mr. Gray's idea, I dare not attempt it. I could only make a correct copy; for the alteration of a single line would be a departure from the character." The reclining figure, with a cross leaning near him, is in a high degree terrific. "With horror wild, 'Tis Devotion's ruin'd child, Sunk in the emphasis of grief; Nor can he feel, nor dares he ask relief." In the cell are the portraits of three saints, whose systems were built on the necessity of propagating the religion of mercy by the sword and the wheel. Near him are two astronomers, one with a paper rolled up to imitate a telescope, gazing at the roof, in the idea that it is "The spacious canopy of heaven, fretted with golden fires." The other, delineating the firing off a bomb and a ship moored at a distance, is an immediate ridicule of Whiston's project for the discovery of the longitude,—an object which at this time engaged the attention of the philosophical world, and in the fruitless search after which many a feeble head hath become mad, north—north-west! The opposite group form a whimsical trio. A mad musician, a counterfeit presentment of St. Peter, and a poor gentleman, with his hands clasped together, that appears by the inscription of "Charming "Craz'd with care, and cross'd by hopeless love." He is absorbed in thought, and his whole soul so engrossed by the charms of his Dulcinea, that neither the discordant sounds of the fiddler, whose trembling strings "Grate harshly on the nerve auricular," nor the roar of the pope, who is furiously denouncing destruction on all heretics, nor the ear-piercing noise of a barking cur, can awake him from his reverie. A crazy tailor and a mimic monarch complete this congregation of calamity. Two women, impelled by a most unaccountable curiosity, are walking in the background. Devoid of that delicacy which gives beauty new attractions, they forget that an eagerness to witness woe which they cannot alleviate, gives strong indication of an hardened and unfeeling heart. The halfpenny stuck against a wall, and dated 1763, was inserted by Mr. Hogarth the year before his death, and is designed to intimate that Britannia was then mad. This is one of the few instances wherein he has called in the aid of allegory, but his allegory was always seasoned with wit. Of the expression I have already spoken. The disposition of the figures is good. That group in which the usurper of St. Peter's chair is the principal "Protract not, curious ears, the mournful tale; But o'er the hapless group low drop Compassion's veil." The eight prints of the "Rake's Progress," with "Southwark Fair," were advertised in the London Daily Post to be delivered June 25th, 1735, with an apology for the publication being deferred, which Mr. Hogarth states to have been occasioned by his waiting until the royal assent was given to an Act intended to secure all new invented prints from being copied, etc. This series are in every respect superior to those which preceded them, but were not honoured with an equal attention by the public. From what did this arise? Were the town more interested in the story of an harlot than in the adventures of a rake, or had this new mode of engraving history lost its novelty? On this occasion was published an octavo pamphlet, entitled, "The Rake's Progress, or the Humours of Drury Lane, a Poem in eight Cantos, in Hudibrastic verse; being the Rambles of a modern Oxonian: which is a complete Key to the eight Prints lately published by the celebrated Mr. Hogarth. Printed for John Chetwood, and sold at Inigo Jones' Head, There is reason to believe that the artist once intended to have introduced the ceremony of a marriage contract, instead of the levee, as an unfinished painting of the scene is still preserved. In this sketch he appears to have thought of taking the same ground with Mr. Pope: "What brought Sir Visto's ill-got wealth to waste? Some demon whisper'd, 'Visto, have a taste.'" For our Rake is there turned connoisseur; and among a number of articles which prove him a man of virtu, is a canvas containing the representation of a human foot. In the year 1745 the eight pictures were sold by auction, at Mr. Hogarth's in Leicester Fields, and produced twenty-two guineas each; total, one hundred and eighty-four pounds, sixteen shillings. They are now, I believe, in the possession of Mr. Beckford of Fonthill, in Wiltshire. SOUTHWARK FAIR."The crowded scene will please us then, And the busy hum of men; The Thespian throng, and champions bold, Their jubilee of triumph hold: With store of wenches, whose bright eyes Rain influence, and judge the prize Of hat or shirt,—while all contend To catch her glance whom all commend. Come, Sport, that wrinkled Care derides; And Laughter, holding both his sides; And puppet-show, and quaint device, And Troy in flames, and rattling dice: And Comedy, with wreathed smiles; And Music, that dull care beguiles; Here let the droning bagpipe be, And there the cheerful fiddle see. Nor be our joys to earth confin'd,— But, light as air, swift as the wind, Let Cadman cut the liquid sky, And on the rope Violante fly. Our trumpet's loud clangour Excites not to arms; No shrill notes of anger, No horrid alarms, The double, double, double beat Of the thundering drum, Tells—the actors are come; Let us follow, nor think of retreat. I'll to the well-trod stage anon, If Settle's Or heavy Howard, In native nonsense soareth wild. These joys if Southwark Fair can give, In Southwark Fair a week I'll live." SOUTHWARK FAIR. At a time when martial hardihood was the only accomplishment likely to confer distinction, when war was thought to be the most honourable pursuit, and agriculture deemed the only necessary employment, there was little social intercourse, and so few retail dealers, that men had no As men grew more polished their wants increased, their intercourse became more general, and the importance of commerce was better understood. The merchant deposited his goods in a warehouse, and the trader opened a shop. Fairs, deserted by men of business, gradually changed their nature, and, instead of being crowded by the active and the industrious, were the haunts of the idle and the dissolute. "When sweetest Shakspeare, Fancy's child, Warbled his native woodnotes wild." In these humble representations some of our greatest actors made their first appearance; and not a few of them, even after they had attained high eminence, ranted, strutted, and bellowed through all the days the fairs were kept open, to their own emolument, and the heartfelt pleasure of the Wapping beaux and the black-eyed beauties of Saltpetre Bank. The play now enacting appears to be the Fall of Bajazet, The Amazonian, with a hat, feather, and drum, is a beauty of Mr. Hogarth's school, belongs to a company of comedians, and is beating up for an audience. The gaping astonishment of two rustics who are looking at her is inimitably described. One of them, awe-struck by her figure, has pulled off his hat in reverence of her charms; the other "wonders with a foolish face of praise." A buskined hero, arrayed perhaps for an Alexander, has his career of glory stopped by a sheriff's officer, who pays no respect "To Macedonia's madman, or the Swede." The hero puts his hand to his sword, but the bailiffs follower secures his other arm, and aims a bludgeon at his head. A younger branch of the family of the Simples, with a whip in one hand and the other hooked on a young girl's arm, is so lost in gaping astonishment at the variety of objects around him, that he neglects his pockets, which an adroit candidate for Tyburn is clearing of their contents. While one fellow kisses a A juggler, in a senatorial wig, displays magic wonders with the cups and balls; and above him is a fellow with a pair of artificial legs extended on a board: one of these legs a man beneath is either attempting to break, or using as a lever to give a summerset to a tumbler, who kneels upon the other. A hat displayed on the end of a pole is the prize of the best wrestler on the green; and a holland chemise will reward the fair racer swiftest of foot. A quack doctor, in laced hat, long periwig, and embroidered coat, mounted upon a stage and attended by his merry-andrew, dispenses his infallible medicines. To attract the notice of a gaping crowd, this iron-throated descendant of Paracelsus eats fire. That ancient puppet-show joke of Mr. Punch's horse picking the pocket of the chequered fool of the farce, is exhibited in a balcony, on one side of which is a bout at cudgels by puppets all alive! Under a show-cloth, which announces "The Siege "Relieve a wretched parent's pain, And give ChryseÏs to his arms again." ChryseÏs, however, is perfectly satisfied with her situation. Seated in all the pride of conscious beauty close to the haughty Atrides, and glorying in his protection, she prefers the lover to the parent. The inexorable chief nods his plumed crest, grasps his truncheon, and "looks with threatening brow on all around." "No tears subdue him, no entreaties move, He dares avenging Phoebus, son of Jove." A little fellow with long hair, playing upon the bagpipes, Having despatched the herd "Perhaps where Lear has rav'd and Hamlet died, On flying cars new sorcerers may ride; Perhaps (for who can guess th' effects of chance?) Here Hunt may box, or Mahomet may dance." The man descending from a steeple represents one Cadman, who, in the memory of some persons now living, performed the same feat at St. Martin's in the Fields, from the steeple of which he descended into the Mews. In an experiment of the like nature at Shrewsbury, the rope breaking, he was dashed to pieces. A show-cloth over the Fall of Bajazet is almost a direct copy from a very coarse etching made by John Laguerre, son of Louis Laguerre, whom Pope has immortalized for his sprawling saints. On the upper The patent for Drury Lane being renewed, Mr. Booth, who found his health decline, began to think it was time to dispose of his share and interest in the theatre. The purchaser was John Highmore, Esq., a gentleman who had unhappily contracted an attachment to the stage, from having one night performed the part of Lothario for a wager. Upon this circumstance is built the print from which the show-cloth was copied; it probably an In 1740, a pamphlet was published for J. Mechell, at the King's Arms, Fleet Street, entitled, "An Apology for the Life of T—— C——, Comedian; being a proper sequel to the Apology for the Life of Mr. Colley Cibber; with an historical view of the stage to the present year. Supposed to be written by himself, in the style and manner of the poet-laureate:" but in reality the work of Harry Fielding. The following passage, relative to this subject, occurs in page 16, etc:—"In that year, when the stage fell into great commotions, and the Drury Lane company, asserting the glorious cause of liberty and property, made a stand against the oppressions of the patentees;—in that memorable year, when the theatric dominions fell in labour of a revolution, under the conduct of myself; that revolt gave occasion to several pieces of wit and satirical flirts at the conductor of the enterprise. I was attacked, as my father had been before To return to the show-cloth. The figure seated in the corner, with his head bound with laurel, is intended to represented old Cibber, then poet-laureate. With a bag of money upon his knee, he rejoices in the sum The show-cloth underneath, with the tall figure and two spectators, is a representation of Maximilian, a giant from Upper Saxony. That with the wooden horse is explained by the inscription above it, "The Siege of Troy is here." Mr. Victor, in an eulogium upon Boheme the actor, says that "his first appearance The Adam and Eve upon another show-cloth may probably allude to the representation of somewhat compiled from an old mystery called The Creation. The old puppet-show joke of Punch wheeling his wife into the jaws of destruction, which is underneath, is well known. By the paper lantern, dwarf drummer, and little figure at a temporary door, it appears that the royal waxwork and whole Court of France are at the Royal Oak. It is a little remarkable, that in this almost endless variety of holiday amusements there should be no exhibition of wild beasts The amusements of the fair at this period continued a fortnight, "Would bring an angel down!" For those who delight in pointing out examples of Hogarth's bad spelling, this print affords a fine field. The name of Cibber is spelt with only one b. In the Fall of Bajazet, the z appears to have been originally an s. "We'l starve them out." The e final in waxworke, these syllable dissectors may perhaps deign to acknowledge was then customary. In my enumeration of some of the actors who appear on the show-cloth, etc., I may sometimes be wrong: let it be received as conjecture founded on the best information I could obtain; and let it be remembered, that to procure positive information of circumstances which happened near fifty years ago is not easy. The memoranda to be found in magazines, and other perishable prints of the day, are not always to be depended upon. Even now these authentic documents sometimes lead those who implicitly believe them into error.
A MIDNIGHT MODERN CONVERSATION."Think not to find one meant resemblance there; 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 Rabelais laught, and so Cervantes thought; So Nature dictated what Art has taught." Notwithstanding this inscription, which was engraved on the plate some time after its publication, it is very certain that most of these figures were intended for individual portraits; but Mr. Hogarth, not wishing to be considered as a personal satirist, and fearful of making enemies among his contemporaries, would never acknowledge who were the characters. Some of them the world might perhaps mistake; for though the author was faithful in delineating whatever he intended to portray, complete intoxication so far caricatures the countenance, that, according to the old though trite proverb, "the man is not himself." His portrait, though given with the utmost fidelity, will scarcely be known by his most intimate friends, unless they have previously seen him in this degrading disguise. Hence it becomes difficult to identify men whom the painter did not choose to point out at the time; and "Shake hands with dust, and call the worm their kinsman." Mrs. Piozzi told me that the divine with a corkscrew, "No loftier theme his thought pursues, Than punch, good company, and dues. Easy, and careless what may fall, He hears, assents, and fills to all; Proving it plainly by his face, That cassocks are no signs of grace." The roaring Bacchanalian who stands next him, The lawyer who sits near him is a portrait of one Kettleby, a vociferous bar-orator, who, though an utter barrister, chose to distinguish himself by wearing an enormous full-bottom wig, in which he is here represented. He was further remarkable for a diabolical squint and a Satanic smile. In the Causidicade are a number of lines dedicated to the honour of this amiable person. They begin with— "Up Kettleby starts with a horrible stare." A poor maudlin miserable who is addressing him, when sober, must be a fool; but, in this state, it would puzzle Lavater to assign him a proper class. He seems endeavouring to demonstrate to the lawyer Next to him sits a gentleman in a black periwig. He politely turns his back to the company, that he may have the pleasure of smoking a sociable pipe. The justice, "in fair round belly, with good capon lin'd,"—the justice, having hung up his hat, wig, and cloak, puts on his nightcap, and with a goblet of superior capacity before him, sits in solemn cogitation. Meditating severe punishments on the dissolute peasant who tipples ale or viler liquors, he resolves for the future to act with magisterial harshness, that he may convince his neighbours of his zeal for the law, and detestation of drunkenness. His left elbow supported by the table and his right by a chair, with a pipe in one hand and a stopper in the other, he puffs out the bland vapour with the dignity of an alderman, and fancies himself as great as Jupiter seated upon the summit of Mount Olympus, enveloped by the thick cloud which his own breath has created. With folded arms and open mouth another leans back in his chair. The fallen hero, who with his chair and goblet has tumbled to the floor, by the cockade in his hat we suppose to be an officer. His forehead is marked, perhaps with honourable scars. To wash his wounds and cool his head, the staggering apothecary bathes it with brandy. A gentleman in the corner, who, from having the Craftsman and London Evening in his pocket, we determine to be a politician, very unluckily mistakes his ruffle for the bowl of his pipe, and sets fire to it. The person in a bag-wig and solitaire, with his hand upon his head, The company consists of eleven, "What have we with day to do? Sons of Care, Sons of Care, 'twas made for you." The clock, like the company, is irregular; for the minute finger and hour hand do not agree. Over the chimney-piece is a picture, of which we can discover enough to guess that it has once been a landscape; but, like the understandings of the gentlemen present, is so obscured by smoke and vapour as to appear a mere chaos, without one clear and distinct form. The fumes of punch, the smoke of pipes, and The different degrees of drunkenness are well discriminated, and its effects admirably described. The poor simpleton who is weeping out his woes to honest lawyer Kettleby, it makes mawkish; the beau it makes sick; and the politician it stupifies. One is excited to roaring, and another lulled to sleep. It half closes the eyes of justice, renders the footing of physic unsure, and lays prostrate the glory of his country and the pride of war. On the 22d of March 1742, for the benefit of Mr. Hippisley, was acted at Covent Garden Theatre a new scene, called A Modern Midnight Conversation, taken from Hogarth's print, in which was introduced Hippisley's Drunken Man, with a comic tale of what really passed between him and his old aunt, at her house on Mendip Hills, in Somersetshire. Having described the individuals of which this print is composed, let us for a moment reflect upon the vice it is intended to satirize; and considered in a moral point of view, it may have as good an effect as the sight of an intoxicated slave had upon the young men of Sparta. This people sometimes made a slave drunk, that their sons, disgusted by the sight, might avoid the practice. In a book published about a century and a half I have been told that the original picture was some years since found at an inn in Gloucestershire, and is now in the possession of J. Calverley, Esq., of Leeds, in Yorkshire. THE SLEEPING CONGREGATION."Beneath this antique roof, this hallow'd shade, Where wearied rustics holy Sabbath keep, Compos'd as if on downy pillows laid, The sons and daughters of the hamlet sleep." THE SLEEPING CONGREGATION. The shepherd is not much more awake than his sleeping flock, whose appearance convinces us that, though there is no organ, there is much melody. The nasal music of the congregation, joined to the languid monotony of the preacher, "In one lazy tone, Through the long, heavy, painful page, drawls on. Soft creeping words on words the sense compose; At every line they stretch, they yawn, they doze. As to soft gales top-heavy pines bow low Their heads, and lift them as they cease to blow, Thus oft they rear, and oft the head decline, As breathe or pause by fits the airs divine: And now to this side, now to that they nod," etc. The clerk, In the pew opposite are five swains of the village; "Each mouth distended, and each head reclin'd, They soundly sleep." To render this rural scene more pastoral, they are accompanied by two women who have once been shepherdesses, and perhaps celebrated by some neighbouring Theocritus as the Chloe and Daphne of their day. Being now in the wane of their charms, poetical justice will not allow us to give them any other appellation than old women. They are awake. Whether the artist intended by this to show that they are actuated by the spirit of contradiction, for the preacher entreats them to go to rest, or meant it as a compliment to the softer sex, as being more attentive than men, I cannot tell; let those who have studied their characters more than I have, determine as seemeth best in their eyes. In the gallery are two men joining in chorus with the band below. One of them has the decency to hide his face; but the other is evidently in full song. The heavy architecture and grotesque decorations lead us to conjecture that this now venerable edifice was once the cottage of Baucis and Philemon, so exquisitely described by Swift: "Grown to a church by just degrees— —— The ballads pasted on the wall, Of Joan of France, and English Moll, Fair Rosamond, and Robin Hood, The little Children in the Wood, Now seem to look abundance better, Improv'd in picture, size, and letter, And, high in order plac'd, describe The heraldry of every tribe." The "Children in the Wood" are now exalted above the Gothic windows. One of them we see transformed to an angel; which, to prove its being of a more exalted species, and no longer a mere mortal, has four thighs. "The pretty Robin Redbreasts, which Did cover them with leaves," have undergone a transmigration much to their advantage. It has somewhat sullied their plumage, but they have assumed a more important appearance, and the loss of beauty is compensated by an abundant increase in bulk and dignity. Exalted to the upper part of a fluted pillar, and seated in heraldic state, they seem to mortal eyes the emblems of wisdom, the symbols of Minerva. A lion and companion unicorn, concealed by the pillar, was originally an headpiece to that excellent old ballad, beginning with "The fierce lyon of faire Englonde Didde swallowe the lillie of France." With jaws extended wide enough to swallow a bed of lilies, he is one of the supporters to the king's arms. The pews carry evident marks of having been once a Gothic bedstead. The cumbrous load of oak with which it was canopied, still supported by large square posts, is become a gallery. The lower part retains much of its original form, and answers its original purpose; but why should I attempt to describe that which is already described by the Dean? "A bedstead of the antique mode, Compact of timber many a load; Such as our ancestors did use, Is metamorphos'd into pews, Which still their ancient nature keep, Of lodging folks dispos'd to sleep." The pulpit in which our dozing divine is groaning out the gospel, was once a groaning-chair for the good wife of the cottage. The cushion on which she sat for many a winter's eve is now ornamented with tassels. The arm still retains its original form, though somewhat more upright than when it served for a rest to the old dame's elbow. Swift describes the exact manner of the metamorphosis: "The groaning-chair began to crawl, Like an huge snail against the wall; There stuck aloft, in public view, And with small change a pulpit grew." The crutches, which erst supported Dame Baucis, now prop the clerk's reading-desk. The triangle, environed by a glory, was placed in the church by old Philemon. In his youth he had been a very good carpenter, and, when become a divine, retained so much of his original disposition as to suppose he could explain an awful mystery by a mechanical representation. The only misfortune which attended this curious delineation was, that not one of his parishioners could understand it: they however, were silent; they thought it too serious an affair to dispute or call names about. It would perhaps have been as well if many of our learned and right grave divines had been silent upon this subject on the same principle. Swift says that the jack was turned to a clock; in this circumstance he must have been mistaken, for the hour-glass, which was the constant companion of Dame Baucis at her wheel, retains its old form, and is placed at the parson's left hand. The windows are evidently intended for companions, but there is a considerable difference in their proportions, panes of glass, etc. At the time this massy temple was erected, our countrymen neither studied Vitruvius, nor considered uniformity as a requisite in architecture. This print was published on the 26th of October 1736; but we learn, by an inscription on the sinister side of the plate, that on the 21st April 1762 it was retouched and improved by the author. There is a printed copy, tolerably executed, but not quite so large, nor has it any price affixed beneath. The original picture was in Sir Edward Walpole's collection; who is the present proprietor I do not know. There are some variations in it; the face of the clerk is different from the print, and he does not appear leering at the girl, but, to keep in unison with the rest of the congregation, is half asleep. THE DISTRESSED POET."Furnish'd with paper, pen, and ink, He gravely sat him down—to think: He bit his nails, and scratch'd his head, But wit and fancy both were dead: Or, if with more than usual pain, A thought came slowly from his brain, It cost him Lord knows how much time To shape it into sense or rhyme; And what was yet a greater curse, Long thinking made his fancy worse." THE DISTRESSED POET. Such is the fate of many a miserable scribbler who usurps the sacred name of a poet. Parnassus must be peopled, and the fashionable versifiers that have no other aim than feeding on the mountain have sometimes cropped better pasturage at the foot of the hill than has been found by those hallowed bards who have attained the summit. Of gentle readers that demand the strains of gentle writers, there are in this our city an innumerable host. They are sober and well-disposed persons, good subjects to their king, and useful members of the community; but being by their various avocations confined to a smoky town, are debarred from the cheering prospects of purling streams, waving woods, and shady groves. They have nevertheless great comfort and delectation in reading descriptions of scenes so profusely beautified "The misty mountains lift their cloud-capt heads; The enamell'd mead its velvet carpet spreads; The groves appear all drest with wreaths of flowers, And from their leaves drop aromatic showers." Upon the same principle with our town-made rhymers, who have generally written about things which they have neither seen, felt, heard, nor understood, this our distressed poet is now spinning a poem upon riches. Of their use he probably knoweth little; and of their abuse, if judgment can be formed from externals, certes he knoweth less. Seated upon the side of his bed, without a shirt, but wrapped in an old night-gown,—enchanted, impressed, inspired with his subject,—he is disturbed by a nymph of the Lactarium. Her shrill sounding voice awakes one of the little loves, whose chorus disturbs his meditations. A link of the golden chain is broken!—a thought is lost! To recover it, his hand becomes a substitute for the barber's comb: enraged at the noise, he tortures his head for the fleeting idea; but, ah! no thought is there! Proudly conscious that the lines already written are sterling, he possesses by anticipation the mines of Peru, a view of which hangs over his head. Upon the table we see Byshe's Art of Poetry; His wife, mending that part of his dress in the pockets of which the affluent keep their gold, is worthy of a better fate. Her figure is peculiarly interesting. The sloping roof and projecting chimney prove the throne of this inspired bard to be high above the crowd;—it is a garret. The chimney is ornamented with a dare for larks; and a book, a loaf, the tea-equipage, and a saucepan, decorate the shelf. Before the fire hangs half a shirt and a pair of ruffled sleeves. His sword lies on the floor; for though our professor of poetry waged no war, except with words, a sword was in the year 1740 a necessary appendage to every thing which called itself gentleman. At the feet of his domestic seamstress, the full-dress coat is become the resting-place of a cat and two kittens: in the same situation is one stocking; the other is half immersed in the washing-pan. The broom, bellows, and mop are scattered round the room. The open door shows us that their cupboard is unfurnished, and tenanted by an hungry and solitary mouse. In the corner hangs a long cloak, well calculated to conceal the threadbare wardrobe of its fair owner. Mr. Hogarth's strict attention to propriety of The original picture is in the collection of Lord Grosvenor. THE ENRAGED MUSICIAN."With thundering noise the azure vault they tear, And rend, with savage roar, the echoing air: The sounds terrific he with horror hears; His fiddle throws aside,—and stops his ears."—E. THE ENRAGED MUSICIAN. The last plate displayed the distress of a poet; in this the artist has exhibited the rage of a musician. Our poor bard bore his misfortunes with patience, and, rich in his Muse, did not much repine at his poverty. Not so this master of harmony—of heavenly harmony! To the evils of poverty he is now a stranger; his adagios and cantabiles have procured him the protection of nobles; and, contrary to the poor shirtless mendicant of the Muses that we left in a garret, he is arrayed in a coat decorated with frogs, a bag-wig, solitaire, and ruffled shirt. Waiting in the chamber of a man of fashion, whom he instructs in the divine science of music, having first tuned his instrument, he opens his crotchet-book, shoulders his violin, flourishes his fiddlestick, and "Softly sweet, in Lydian measure, Soon he soothes his soul to pleasure." Rapt in Elysium at the divine symphony, he is "An universal hubbub wild, Of stunning sounds, and voices all confus'd, Assails his ears with loudest vehemence." Confounded with the din, and enraged by the interruption, our modern Terpander starts from his seat, and opens the window. This operates as air to a kindling fire; and such a combination of noises burst upon the auricular nerve that he is compelled to stop his ears,—but to stop the torrent is impossible! "A louder yet, and yet a louder strain, Break his bands of thought asunder! And rouse him, like a rattling peal of thunder, At the horrible sound He has rais'd up his head, As awak'd from the dead, And amazed he stares all around." In this situation he is delineated; and those who for a moment contemplate the figures before him, cannot wonder at his rage: "A crew of hell-hounds never ceasing bark, With wide Cerberean mouth, full loud, and ring A hideous peal." Of the dramatis personÆ who perform the vocal parts, the first is a fellow in a tone that would rend hell's concave, bawling, "Dust, ho! dust, ho! dust!" Next to him, an amphibious animal, who nightly pillows his head on the sedgy bosom of old Thames, A sweep, shrill twittering on the chimney-top. A little French drummer, singing to his rub-a-dub, and the agreeable yell of a dog, complete the vocal performers. Of the instrumental, a fellow blowing a horn with a violence that would have almost shaken down the walls of Jericho claims the first notice; next to him, the dustman rattles his bell with ceaseless clangour, until the air reverberates the sound. The intervals are filled up by a pavior, who to every stroke of his rammer adds a loud, distinct, and echoing "Haugh!" The pedestrian cutler is grinding a butcher's cleaver with such earnestness and force, that it elicits sparks of fire. This, added to the agonizing howls of his unfortunate dog, must afford Thus much we may be almost said to hear; and we see, by the flag displayed at the church, that the fanciers of corals for grown gentlemen are performing a round of double bob-majors in the belfry. "John Long, pewterer," is inscribed over a door, and intimates the business going on in the house, where the strokes of some thirty or forty hammers ringing incessantly upon pewter, produce a sound more sonorous than that which is echoed from the forge of Vulcan. This delineation originated in a story which was told to Hogarth by the late Mr. John Festin, The whole of this bravura scene is admirably represented. A person quaintly enough observed that it deafens one to look at it. The roar of the fisherman, with one hand so placed as to become a sort of sounding-board, and give reverberation, is admirably depicted. You perceive that he has, professionally speaking, not merely a volume, but a folio volume of voice. As well as that of the dustman, it is a thorough bass; and, added to the tenor and treble of the other performers, must form a concert, though not quite so harmonious, yet nearly as loud, as those which have been graced with the royal presence in Westminster Abbey. The scene seems to be taken from the lower part of St. Martin's Lane; it is certainly intended to represent the steeple of St. Martin's Church. A heap of bricks, scientifically piled up close to the A play-bill on the wall describes the unaccountable run of that very popular and pernicious performance, The Beggar's Opera, to have been sixty-two nights. In a copy of this opera, published in 1729, the dramatis personÆ are printed as here written; and the good fortune which followed Miss Fenton's attractions in Polly are universally known. The figures are well grouped and judiciously characterized: those in the background have great force; but the boy with a drum is ill drawn, and the milk-pail is too large. In the London Daily Post for November 24, 1740, is the following advertisement:—"Shortly will be published, a new print, called The Provoked Musician, designed and engraved by Mr. William Hogarth; being a companion to a print representing a Distressed Poet, published some time since. To which will be added, a third on painting, which will complete the set; but as this subject may turn upon an Humphry Parsons was at that time Lord Mayor; but the business alluded to not being in the city records, must remain obscure until some one who knows more about it than I do shall explain it. In Dr. Beattie's Essay on Laughter and Ludicrous Composition, quarto edition, p. 608, speaking of the modes of combination by which incongruous qualities may be presented to the eye or the fancy, so as to provoke laughter, he observes, that "this extraordinary group form a very comical mixture of incongruity and relation: of incongruity, owing to the dissimilar employment and appearances of the several persons, and to the variety of dissonance of their respective noises; and of relation, owing to their being all united in the same place, and for the same purpose of tormenting the poor fiddler. From the various sounds co-operating to this one end, the piece becomes more laughable than if their meeting were conceived to be without any particular destination; for the greater number of relations, as well as of contrarieties, that take place in any ludicrous assembly, the more ludicrous it will generally appear. Yet though this group comprehends not any mixture of meanness and dignity, it would, I think, be allowed to be laughable to a certain degree, merely from the Of the immense fortunes realized by the Italian professors of music, we have many examples in this island; but the success of Lully, in France, was greater than any of his countrymen ever experienced here. He was by birth a Florentine. By his fiddle and his impudence, he raised himself from the Queen of France's kitchen to be chief of the band of music, and carried the art to a degree of perfection hitherto unknown in that kingdom. Louis XIV. gave him letters of nobility, and on his account enacted that the profession of music should consist with the quality of a gentleman. He died by excessive drinking, and left an immense fortune. The nobleman who had entertained him when he drank what proved his quietus, paying him a visit, "Ah! my lord," said his wife, with a deep sigh, "you are the last who made my husband drunk." Lully, who was dying, heard the remark, and had just voice enough left to add, "He shall be the first who makes me so again, when I get upon my legs!" THE FOUR TIMES OF THE DAY.In the "Progress of an Harlot," and the "Adventures of a Rake," Mr. Hogarth displayed his powers of painting history. Holding the mirror up to Nature, he shows "Virtue her own feature, Vice her own image, and the very age and body of the time his form and pressure." Had he exhibited no other specimen of his art, these fourteen prints would have given him a right to the title of a moral painter; and thus was he denominated by the late Mr. Fielding, in his Adventures of Joseph Andrews. In the series before us he treads poetic ground. A description of the day, particularly the morning, has been generally deemed the bard's peculiar province. Considering Homer as the father of poesy, the whole family of Apollo have echoed his notes, and run their divisions of fancy upon his scale. With one of them, "The morn, wak'd by the circling hours, Unbars the gates of light." With another, she "sows the earth with orient pearl." At one time, with a star as her gentleman usher, she "Draws night's humid curtains, and proclaims The new-born day forth dawning from the east;" is now the grey Aurora, then the meek-ey'd morn, array'd in a dewy robe, with saffron streamers, placed in a glittering chariot, and drawn by etherial coursers, where, holding the reins with her red hands, she drives the day. These heathenish descriptions may be very beautiful in their way; but hear our own Shakspeare: "Night's tapers are burnt out, and jocund day Stands tiptoe on the misty mountain's top." Again: "The glow-worm shows the matin to be near, And 'gins to pale her ineffectual fire." This comes home to all men's business and bosoms: it is picturesque, it is poetical; it is intelligible to the peasant or the philosopher, to the classic admirer of ancient mythology, or the man who never heard that the gates which Aurora unbars are made of the purest crystal. The pictures drawn by Homer, and those feeble imitators who debase his splendid images by the mixture of their own dross, have their scenes laid in the country; but Hogarth has represented his dramatis personÆ in the centre of a great city. Had the learned author of Hudibras been a painter, I believe he would have done the same. It will not be easy to select two "Now, like a lobster boil'd, the morn From black to red began to turn." This is appropriate to either city or country. In Mr. Hogarth's "Four Times of the Day" there is only one scene laid out of town; and that may, I think, be properly enough called a London pastoral, for it is at the pleasant village of Islington. The three others are described as in the most public parts of the metropolis, and exhibit a picture which will give a very correct idea of the dresses and pursuits of the inhabitants of London in the year 1738. MORNING."Keen blows the blast, and eager is the air; With flakes of feather'd snow the ground is spread; To step, with mincing pace, to early prayer, Our clay-cold vestal leaves her downy bed. . . . . . . . And here the reeling sons of Riot see, After a night of senseless revelry. . . . . . . . Poor,—trembling,—old,—her suit the beggar plies; But frozen chastity the little boon denies."—E. MORNING. This withered representative of Miss Bridget Alworthy, with a shivering footboy carrying her prayer-book, never fails in her attendance at morning service. She is a symbol of the season, "Chaste as the icicle That's curdled by the frost from purest snow, And hangs on Dian's temple," she looks with scowling eye, and all the conscious pride of severe and stubborn virginity, on the poor girls who are suffering the embraces of two drunken beaux that are just staggered out of Tom King's Coffeehouse. One of them, from the basket on her arm, I conjecture to be an orange girl: she shows no displeasure at the boisterous salute of her Hibernian lover. That the hero in a laced hat is from the banks of the Shannon, is apparent in his countenance. The female whose face is partly concealed, and whose neck has a more easy turn than we always see in the works of this artist, is not formed of the most inflexible materials. An old woman, seated upon a basket; the girl, warming her hands by a few withered sticks that are blazing on the ground; and a wretched mendicant, On the opposite side of the print are two little schoolboys. That they have shining morning faces we cannot positively assert, but each has a satchel at his back, and, according with the description given by the poet of nature, is "Creeping like snail unwillingly to school." The lantern appended to the woman who has a basket on her head, proves that these dispensers of the riches of Pomona rise before the sun, and do part of their business by an artificial light. Near her, that immediate descendant of Paracelsus, Doctor Rock, A fatigued porter leans on a rail; and a blind beggar is going towards the church: but whether he will become one of the congregation, or take his stand at the door, in the hope that religion may have warmed the hearts of its votaries to "pity the sorrows of a poor blind man," is uncertain. The clock in the front of Inigo Jones' barn has the motto, "SIC TRANSIT GLORIA MUNDI." Had Mr. Hervey of Weston Favel written upon the works of Hogarth, he would have expatiated for ten pages upon the relation which this motto has to the smoke which is issuing from the chimney beneath; he would have written about it, and about it, and told his readers that the glory of this world is typified by the smoke, and like the smoke it passeth away; that man himself is a mere vapour, etc. etc. etc. Snow on the ground, and icicles hanging from the pent-house, exhibit a very chilling prospect; but, to dissipate the cold, there is happily a shop where spirituous liquors are sold pro bono publico, at a very little distance. A large pewter measure is placed upon a post before the door, and three of a smaller size hung over the window of the house. The character of the principal figure The church dial, a few minutes before seven; marks of little shoes and pattens in the snow; and various productions of the season in the market, are an additional Covent Garden is the scene, but in the print every building is reversed. The propriety of exhibiting a scene of riot in Tom King's Coffeehouse is proved by the following quotation from the Weekly Miscellany for June 9, 1739:—"Monday, Mrs. Mary King, of Covent Garden, was brought up to the King's Bench bar, at Westminster, and received the following sentence for keeping a disorderly house, viz. to pay a fine of two hundred pounds, to suffer three months' imprisonment, to find security for her good behaviour for three years, and to remain in prison till the fine be paid." When her imprisonment ended, she retired from trade, built three houses on Haverstock Hill, near Hampstead, and in one of them, on the 10th of September 1747, she died. Her mansion was afterwards the residence of Nancy Dawson, and with the two others constitutes what is still distinguished by the appellation of Moll King's Row. NOON."Hail, Gallia's daughters! easy, brisk, and free; Good-humour'd, debonnaire, and degagÉe: Though still fantastic, frivolous, and vain, Let not their airs and graces give us pain: Or fair, or brown, at toilet, prayer, or play, Their motto speaks their manners,—'Toujours gai.' But for that powder'd compound of grimace, That capering he-she thing of fringe and lace; With sword and cane, with bag and solitaire, Vain of the full-dress'd dwarf,—his hopeful heir, How does our spleen and indignation rise, When such a tinsell'd coxcomb meets our eyes, So twisted out of God and Nature's plan,— Yet know that coxcomb must be call'd a man!"—E. NOON. Among the figures who are coming out of church, an affected, flighty Frenchwoman, with her fluttering fop of an husband, and a boy, habited À-la-mode de Paris, claim our first attention. In dress, air, and manner, they have a national character. The whole congregation, whether male or female, old or young, carry the air of their country in countenance, dress, and deportment. Like the three principal figures, they are all marked with some affected peculiarity. Affectation in a woman is supportable upon no other ground than that general indulgence we pay to the omnipotence of beauty, which in a degree sanctifies whatever it adopts. In a boy, when we consider that the poor fellow is attempting to copy what he has been taught to believe The old fellow in a black periwig has a most vinegar-like aspect, and looks with great contempt at the frippery gentlewoman immediately before him. The woman with a demure countenance seems very piously considering how she can contrive to pick the embroidered beau's pocket. Two old sibyls joining their withered lips in a chaste salute, is nauseous enough, but, being a national custom, must be forgiven. The divine seems to have resided in this kingdom long enough to acquire a roast-beef countenance. A little boy, whose woollen night-cap is pressed over a most venerable flowing periwig, and the decrepid old man, leaning upon a crutch-stick, who is walking before him, I once considered as two vile caricatures, out of nature, and unworthy the artist. Since I have seen the peasantry of Flanders and the plebeian youth of France, I have in some degree changed my opinion, but still think them rather outrÉ. Under a sign of the Baptist's Head is written, "Good Eating;" and on each side of the inscription is a mutton chop. In opposition to this head without a body, unaccountably displayed as a sign at an eating-house, there is a body without a head, hanging out as the sign of a distiller's. This, by common consent, has been quaintly denominated "The Good A girl, bringing a pie from the bakehouse, is stopped in her career by the rude embraces of a blackamoor, who eagerly rubs his sable visage against her blooming cheek. Good eating is carried on to the lower part of the picture. A boy, The scene is laid at the door of a French chapel in Hog Lane,—a part of the town at that time A kite blown from an adjacent field, By the dial of St. Giles' Church, in the distance, we see that it is only half-past eleven. At this early hour, in those good times, there was as much good eating as there is now at six o'clock in the evening. From twenty pewter measures, which are hung up before the houses of different distillers, it seems that good drinking was considered as equally worthy of their serious attention. The dead cat and choked kennels mark the little Even at this refined period, there would be some use in a more strict attention to the medical police of a city so crowded with inhabitants. We ridicule the people of Paris and Edinburgh for neglecting so essential and salutary a branch of delicacy, while the kennels of a street in the vicinity of St. Paul's Church are floated with the blood of slaughtered animals every market day. Moses would have managed these things better: but in those days there was no physician in Israel! EVENING."One sultry Sunday, when no cooling breeze Was borne on Zephyr's wing to fan the trees; One sultry Sunday, when the torrid ray O'er nature beam'd intolerable day; When raging Sirius warn'd us not to roam, And Galen's sons prescrib'd—cool draughts at home; One sultry Sunday, near those fields of fame Where weavers dwell, and Spital is their name, A sober wight, of reputation high For tints that emulate the Tyrian dye, Wishing to take his afternoon's repose In easy-chair, had just began to doze, When, in a voice that sleep's soft slumbers broke, His oily helpmate thus her wishes spoke: "'Why, spouse, for shame!—my stars! what's this about? You's ever sleeping!—come, we'll all go out;— At that there garden,—pr'ythee, do not stare!— We'll take a mouthful of the country air; In the yew bower an hour or two we'll kill; There you may smoke, and drink what punch you will. Sophy and Billy each shall walk with me, And you must carry little Emily. Veny is sick, and pants, and loathes her food; The grass will do the pretty creature good. Hot rolls are ready as the clock strikes five— And now 'tis after four, as I'm alive!' "The mandate issued, see the tour begun, And all the flock set out for Islington. Now the broad sun, refulgent lamp of day, To rest with Thetis, slopes his western way, O'er every tree embrowning dust is spread, And tipt with gold is Hampstead's lofty head. The passive husband, in his nature mild, To wife consigns his hat, and takes the child; But she,—a day like this hath never felt— 'Oh! that this too, too solid flesh would melt, Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew!'— Such monstrous heat—dear me!—she never knew. 'Adown her innocent and beauteous face, The big, round pearly drops each other chase;' Thence trickling to those hills, erst white as snow, That now like Ætna's mighty mountains glow, They hang like dew-drops on the full-blown rose, And to the ambient air their sweets disclose. Fever'd with pleasure, thus she drags along; Nor dares her antler'd husband say 'tis wrong; The blooming offspring of this blissful pair, In all their parents' attic pleasures share. Sophy the soft, the mother's earliest joy, Demands her froward brother's tinsell'd toy; But he, enrag'd, denies the glittering prize, And rends the air with loud and piteous cries. Thus far we see the party on their way; What dire disasters mark'd the close of day, 'Twere tedious, tiresome, endless to obtrude: Imagination must the scene conclude."—E. EVENING. It is not easy to imagine fatigue better delineated than in the appearance of this amiable pair. In a few of the earliest impressions, Mr. Hogarth printed the hands of the man in blue, to show that he was a dyer, and the face and neck of the woman in red, to intimate her extreme heat. Nothing can be better imagined than the group in the alehouse. They have taken a refreshing walk into the country, and, being determined to have a cooling From a woman milking a cow, we conjecture the hour to be about five in the afternoon; and from the same circumstance, I am inclined to think this agreeable party are going to their pastoral bower rather than returning from it. The cow and dog appear as much inconvenienced by heat as any of the party: the former is whisking off the flies; and the latter creeps unwillingly along, and casts a longing look at the crystal river in which he sees his own shadow. A remarkably hot summer is intimated by the luxuriant state of a vine creeping over an alehouse window. On the side of the New River, where the scene is laid, lies one of the wooden pipes employed in the waterworks. Opposite Sadler's Wells there still remains a sign This print is engraved by Baron, but some touches of Mr. Hogarth's burin are visible on the faces. Dr. Johnson, I think it is, who observes, that an ardent pursuit of pleasure generally defeats its own purpose; for when we have wasted days and nights, and exhausted our strength in the chase, it eludes our grasp, and vanishes from our view. NIGHT."Now burst the blazing bonfires on the sight, Through the wide air their coruscations play; The windows beam with artificial light, And all the region emulates the day. "The moping mason, from yon tavern led, In mystic words doth to the moon complain That unsound port distracts his aching head, And o'er the waiter waves his clouded cane."—E. NIGHT. Mr. Walpole very truly observes, that this print is inferior to the three others; there is, however, broad humour in some of the figures. The wounded freemason, who, in zeal of brotherly love, has drank his bumpers to the craft till he is unable to find his way home, is under the guidance of a waiter. This has been generally considered as intended for Sir Thomas de Veil, and, from an authenticated portrait which I have seen, I am inclined to think it is, notwithstanding Sir John Hawkins asserts that "he could discover no resemblance." When the knight saw him in his magisterial capacity, he was probably sober and sedate: here he is represented a little disguised. The British Xantippe showering her favours from the window upon his head, may have its source in that respect which the inmates of such The waiter who supports his worship seems, from the patch upon his forehead, to have been in a recent affray; but what use he can have for a lantern it is not easy to divine, unless he is conducting his charge to some place where there is neither moonlight nor illumination. The Salisbury flying coach oversetting and broken, by passing through the bonfire, is said to be an intended burlesque upon a right honourable peer, who was accustomed to drive his own carriage over hedges, ditches, and rivers; and has been sometimes known to drive three or four of his maid-servants into a deep water, and there leave them in the coach to shift for themselves. The butcher and little fellow who are assisting the terrified passengers, are possibly free and accepted masons. One of them seems to have a mop in his hand;—the pail is out of sight! To crown the joys of the populace, a man with a pipe in his mouth is filling a capacious hogshead with British Burgundy. The joint operation of shaving and bleeding, performed The poor wretches under the barber's bench display a prospect of penury and wretchedness which I hope is not so common now as it was then. In the distance is a cart laden with furniture, which some unfortunate tenant is removing out of the reach of his landlord's execution. There is humour in the barber's sign and inscription: "Shaving, bleeding, and teeth drawn with a touch. Ecce signum!" The Rummer Tavern still retains its old situation. It was then quaintly distinguished as the New Bagnio. By the oaken boughs on the sign, and the oak leaves in the freemasons' hats, it seems that this rejoicing night is the 29th of May, the anniversary of our second Charles's restoration; that happy day when, according to our excellent old ballad, "the king enjoyed his own again." This might be one reason for the artist choosing a scene contiguous to the beautiful equestrian statue In the distance we see a house on fire,—an accident very likely to happen on such a night as this. The original pictures of "Morning" and "Noon" were sold to the Duke of Ancaster for fifty-seven guineas; "Evening" and "Night" to Sir William Heathcote for sixty-four guineas. STROLLING PLAYERS.As the Act prohibiting performance of any play or interlude which was not sanctioned by the Lord Chamberlain passed about the time that this print was published, and is particularly referred to in the engraving, a short view of the English drama, and the circumstances which occasioned the Bill's being brought into the House of Commons, seems immediately connected with the subject. Our first theatrical exhibitions had a religious tendency; In the reign of that most righteous prince Henry VIII., very properly distinguished from the monarchs who preceded him as "Defender of the Faith," and so forth, an Act was made for the promoting of true religion. In this Act a clause is inserted, "restraining all rimours or plaiers from singing in songs, or playing in interludes, anything that should contradict the acknowledged doctrines." It was customary at this time to enact these moral and religious dramas in private houses; and the dramatis personÆ were so contrived, that five or six actors might represent twenty characters. "Players," says honest John Stowe, "were in former times retainers to noblemen; and none had the privilege to act plays but such as were so retained. These divertissements were then a recreation, and used, therefore, now and then occasionally; but afterwards, by abuse, they became a trade and calling, and so remain unto this day." In 1574, Sir James Hawes being Mayor, the Common Council of London passed an Act, wherein it was ordained that no play should be openly acted within the liberties of the city, wherein should be uttered any words, examples, or doings, of any unchastity, sedition, or such like unfit or uncomely matters, under the penalty of five pounds, and fourteen days' imprisonment. And further, that no plays should be acted till first perused and allowed by the Lord "Immortal Shakspeare rose; Each change of many-colour'd life he drew, Exhausted worlds, and then imagin'd new: Existence saw him spurn her bounded reign, And panting Time toil'd after him in vain: His pow'rful strokes presiding truth confess'd, And unresisted passion storm'd the breast." From that period to this, theatrical amusements have undergone many changes, which do not come into my plan to relate, and the Legislature have passed many Acts to check their licentiousness, which it is not my province to enumerate. A short time previous to the publication of this print, our dramatic writers thought proper to dip their pens in the sea of politics. To check this growing evil, it has been said that the minister contrived to have a very indecent performance (fabricated for the express purpose of showing the enormities of writers for the theatre) presented to one of the managers. It was brought from the manager to the minister, shown to a number of persons in power, and made a pretence for bringing in a Bill to prohibit the performance of any play or interlude until it had been perused and received the sanction of the Lord Lord Chesterfield, in a very long speech, reprobated the principle upon which it was founded, and exerted all his eloquence to prevent its passing into a law. This oration gave a temporary popularity to the speaker, but did not serve the cause for which it was made. The Bill passed; but the people were so irritated that the power which it gave the Lord Chamberlain should be exerted in favour of foreigners, that in the year 1738, when some French actors, authorized by his licence, attempted to perform a French play at the Haymarket, a mob in the street broke the windows, and attempted to pull down the house, though many persons of high rank, and the French ambassador, were in the boxes. The print to which this little account is introduc STROLLING ACTRESSES DRESSING IN A BARN."Since Thespis, mighty father of the art, Declaim'd, and rav'd, and ranted in a cart, His wandering offspring, to their parent true, Have kept their great original in view: Patents they scorn, as modern innovation, And here have humbly made a barn their station: A barn!—in which though time has made a breach, They cleave the general air with horrid speech. "The wearied rustic now the flail suspends, And the drum's thunder all the region rends; Where erst the reapers sung their Harvest Home, The martial trumpet echoes through the dome; Remov'd, the chaff-dispersing, winnowing fly, Lo! the Norwegian banners flout the sky: Where perch'd the moping owl, we now behold The Roman eagle wave his wings in gold; And where the circling bat each night was seen, Medea's dragons draw their barbarous queen: On that oak floor, once pil'd with sheaves of corn, See Juliet's bier in sad procession borne; Where the sleek rat was wont to pilfer grain, The fiery Tibbald falls, and Hamlet's slain! And where each night the cunning weazel crept, Richard has roar'd, and Desdemona wept."—E. STROLLING ACTRESSES DRESSING IN A BARN. Mr. Horace Walpole thinks that this print, for wit and imagination, without any other end, ought to be ranked as the first of Hogarth's works; and Rouquet, in the only mention he makes of it, says: "Les comÉdiens de campagne sont reprÉsentÉs dans une grange, au milieu d'un mÉlange ridicule de misere et de pompe thÉatrale, se prÉparant À jouer une tragÉdie." The scene is laid in a barn, Seated upon an inverted wheel-barrow, which may occasionally serve for a triumphal car, a lady, who by her haughty demeanour and imperial crown we know to be the ox-eyed Juno, is majestically stretching out her leg, and pathetically rehearsing her part. Descended from her ebon car, with a sooty face, and star-bespangled robe sweeping the ground, the sable goddess Night is mending her majesty's stocking. The Star of Evening, which sheds its sober light above her head, is apparently formed of a brass instrument used in making pastry. A venerable female, with one eye, who by the dagger in her mantle we conjecture to be the Tragic Muse, "The mailed Mars may on his altar sit Up to the ears in blood." But this savage amputation, which seems to excite no emotion in the operator, is warmly resented by the feline sufferer, who, enraged at the pain, revenges this "Cursed the blood that let this blood from hence." Two little devils, with horns just budded, are eagerly contesting the right in a flagon of ale, out of which one is drinking, and seems determined to get to the bottom, if it were a mile. The flagon has been placed on a Grecian altar, with a loaf of bread and a pipe of tobacco, which being still lighted, the smoke ascends in curling eddies; the grateful incense is inhaled by all present, "And heavenly fragrance fills the circuit wide." The fascinating female stripped to her chemise, her head decorated with feathers and flowers, is marked by her crescent to be the goddess of the silver bow—the chaste Diana. A principal figure in the picture, with one foot resting upon her hoop, the other behind the altar, "She stands like feather'd Mercury New lighted on a heaven-kissing hill;" impressed with the dignity of her character, and inspired with divine fervour, she is rehearsing her part. At her right hand the blooming Flora is seated at Apollo and Cupid are jointly engaged in reaching down a pair of stockings that are hung to dry on a cloud. The little archer— "Regent of love-rhymes, lord of folded arms, The anointed sovereign of sighs and groans, Liege of all loiterers and malcontents"— the little archer has wings, but they will not exalt him to the clouded canopy; he is obliged to mount a ladder. On the ground, beneath him, is Aurora, designated by "the bright morning star, day's harbinger," glittering in her hair. Her rosy fingers are employed in the service of the charming though intoxicated siren, who offers the hero (that is perhaps intended to per "There was never yet philosopher That could endure the toothache patiently; However they have writ the style of gods, And made a pish at chance and sufferance." In one corner a lady, who personates Jove's eagle, is feeding a child. "Within the hollow crown That rounds the mortal temples of a king," is placed a tin saucepan with the infant's food. The child, terrified with the enormous beak hanging over its head, refuses the proffered nourishment. This crown once pressed the brow of haughty Bolingbroke: "And when young Harry did the crown purloin, He wept—because it was not current coin." In the other corner, a monkey, in a long cloak, a bag-wig, and solitaire, is degrading the plumed helmet of Alexander. Two kittens seem happily engaged: one of them, in a style that shows she has a fine finger, "touches A mitre filled with tragedies and farces, and a dark lantern, are placed upon a pulpit-cushion. Whether the artist intended these for symbols of the church, and designed to hint at the dark cloud which long enveloped the mysteries of religion, or had any other meaning, must be determined by those who have studied polemic divinity, and considered ecclesiastical history. A trunk, which has occasionally served for the concealment of Iachimo, and been displayed as the coffin of Juliet, is now placed with the end upwards, and become the reading-desk of the ox-eyed Juno. Upon it is a tinder-box, and the thunderbolt of Jove, a salt-box, and a rolling-pin. The two last articles have much importance in the catalogue of the properties of their orchestra. Their leading musical instrument, Ten small tallow candles, stuck in clay, will be fastened to a hoop, which, suspended by a packthread over the centre of the stage, must form a most magnificent chandelier. On that bed which has been pressed by the gentle Desdemona, and softened the sleep of beauteous Imogen, are two play-bills and four eggs. One of the eggs is broken: the others may perhaps be intended to render the silver-toned siren's voice more softly musical. Two sets of waves, which gave the tempest-tossed vessel an appearance of being suspended "'Twixt the green sea and cloudy canopy Of o'er-arching heaven," are in a dead calm, resting against the wall. One of them is become the roosting place of a hen and chickens. The frieze, festooned column, and arched door, form part of their grand scene; but they, as well as the vase with flowers, are in too elegant a style for their accompaniments. The spirit-stirring drum, martial trumpet, and enchanted besom, make an admirable trophy. The two first may serve to call the shallow Richmond to arms, or rouse Macbeth to more than mortal deeds; The two dragons will astonish a rustic audience; and the rattling car, rolled over elastic planks, will make dreadful thunder. The British flag must wave for every nation upon earth; The straw deposited in a corner may serve for the bed of Lear, the head of Edgar, or the hands of the fair Ophelia. Canopied by an opaque cloud, inscribed "Oedipus" and "Jocasta," and evidently intended as a scene in A fellow, clambered to the top of the barn, is profanely prying into the hallowed mysteries of the green-room. A little lower is the Roman eagle and standard; close to them a paint-pot, palette, and pencils. The very natural appearance of two rural scenes which lean against the wooden wall, evince that some eminent artist has united the two professions, and is both painter and hero to the company. "Hills and dales are of his dressing." He can delineate the blasted oak or nodding turret, the lofty castle or humble cottage, with such brilliancy of colouring and splendour of effect, that the astonished connoisseur sometimes exclaims, "There is something in this more than nature, If philosophy could find it out." A target, close to the altar, is richly embossed with Medusa's head. A salt-box, before the divine Juno, is chalked with hieroglyphic marks that might have been originally made by this sovereign daughter of the drama as a check upon an alehouse score. This "He who to-night is seated on a throne, Calls subjects, empires, kingdoms, all his own, Who wears the diadem and regal robe, Next morning shall awake as poor as Job. "Hard is the fortune of a strolling player, Necessity's rough burden doom'd to bear; And scanty is the pittance he can earn, Wandering from town to town, from barn to barn. Where are my forty knights? cries frantic Lear. A page replies, Your majesty, they're here,— When, lo! two bailiffs, and a writ appear." The chemise, apron, cap, and ruffles, hanging upon a rope to dry, display marks of a laudable industry, and prove that these dignified personages, maugre their exalted rank, wash their own linen. The gridiron, close to the bed, intimates that they are not above broiling their own beefsteaks. The expression of the figures in this print is admirable. A little devil, who has his fist clenched, and threatens the other for drinking so deep, is admirably marked; from the eyes of his twin-brother, with the vessel to his mouth, we see that he highly relishes and greedily inhales the delicious draught. The group, formed by the five preceding characters, Notwithstanding the candle that is near setting fire to the hamper of jewels, we see through a breach in the thatch that this is a daylight picture; in so shattered a tenement, it is not easy to determine from what source the figures are illuminated. From the Act of Parliament which lies upon the bed, we learn that this diabolical drama will be their last performance; and when this abstract and brief chronicle of the times have fretted their little hour "Rich harvests bury all their pride has plann'd, And laughing Ceres reassume the land." That time come, "This glittering show Of canvas, paint, and plaister shall lie low; These gorgeous palaces, yon cloud-capt scene— This barn itself will be a barn again: The spirit-stirring drum will cease to roar, The prompter's whistle will be heard no more; But echoing sounds of rustic toil prevail, The winnowing hiss, and clapping of the flail: Hither once more may unhous'd vagrants fly, To shun the inclement blast and pelting sky: On Lear's own straw gipsies may rest their head, And trulls lie snug in Desdemona's bed." The original picture is in the possession of Mr. Wood of Lyttlecote, who purchased it for twenty-six guineas! MR. GARRICK IN THE CHARACTER OF RICHARD III."Give me another horse,—bind up my wounds,— Have mercy, Jesu!—Soft; I did but dream.— O coward conscience, how dost thou afflict me!— The lights burn blue!—Is it not dead midnight? Cold, fearful drops hang on my trembling flesh." GARRICK AS RICHARD III. Such is the exclamation of Richard, and such is the disposition of his mind at the moment of this delineation. In character and expression of countenance the artist has succeeded, but in resemblance—he has failed. The features have no likeness to the features of Mr. Garrick, and the figure gives an idea of a larger and more muscular man. The lamp, diffusing a dim religious light through the tent, the crucifix placed at his head, the crown and unsheathed sword at his hand, and the armour lying on the ground, are judicious and appropriate accompaniments. His helmet is crested with a boar passant, the armorial ensign of his family. Near it lies a piece of paper, on which is written, "Jockey of Norfolk, be not too bold, For Dickon thy master is bought and sold." This paper was put in the Duke of Norfolk's tent the The figures in the distance, two of whom, "Like sacrifices by their fires of watch, With patience sit, and inly ruminate The morning's danger," are properly introduced, and highly descriptive. The tents of Richmond are so near, "That the fix'd sentinels almost receive The secret whispers of each other's watch." Considered as a whole, the composition is simple, and the figures well drawn. The drapery illustrates his own precepts in the Analysis, where he says: "The robes of state are always made large and full, because they give a grandeur of appearance suitable to offices of the greatest distinction. The judges' robes have an awful dignity given them by the quantity of their contents; and when the train is held up, there is a noble waving line descending from the shoulders of the judge to the hand of his train-bearer. So, when the train is gently thrown aside, it generally falls into a great variety of folds, which again employ the eye, and fix its attention. "The grandeur of the Eastern dress, which so far surpasses the European, depends as much on quantity as costliness. In a word, it is quantity which adds greatness to grace." There was some propriety in Hogarth choosing to paint Mr. Garrick in this character. It was the first he appeared in, on the 19th of October 1741, at Goodman's Fields, and his performance gave proof of talents which merited the celebrity he afterwards attained. At that time Quin was the popular player; but his laboured action, hollow tones, and the manner in which he heaved up his words, were not borne after Garrick's easy, familiar, and yet forcible style had been seen by the town. The surly actor's remark upon this heresy of the critics was, that "all this was a new religion; but though Whitfield was followed for a time, the people would soon return to the true church." Garrick's epigram, in reply, has some point: "Poor Quin, who damns all churches but his own, Complains that heresy corrupts the town: 'Schism,' he cries, 'has turned the nation's brain; But eyes will open,—and to church again!' Thou great infallible forbear to roar, Thy bulls and errors are rever'd no more; When doctrines meet with general approbation, It is not heresy, but reformation." His soliloquy, written in the character of Quin, on seeing Duke Humphrey at St. Albans, has humour: "A plague on Egypt's arts, I say, Embalm the dead!—on senseless clay Rich wines and spices waste! Like sturgeon, or like brawn, shall I Drown'd in a precious pickle lie, Which I can never taste! "Let me embalm this flesh of mine With turtle fat and Bourdeaux wine, And spoil the Egyptian trade; Than Humphrey's Duke, more happy I— Embalm'd alive, old Quin shall die, A mummy ready made." By Lord Orrery's Mr. Garrick's profession was not adopted from necessity, but choice; and to him the profession is very materially obliged, for he has placed it in a much more respectable point of view than it ever had before. His various powers as an actor, to those who have seen him, it is unnecessary to describe; to those who have not, it is impossible. His abilities as a writer were not of the first order, but they were by no means of the last. It has been remarked, that his prologues and epilogues had generally some allusion to eating: considered as local and temporary compositions, they have merit; and his epigrams, which usually turned upon some little circumstance of the day, have point. They sometimes drew forth additional flashes from his friends, and sometimes the retort of those at whom they were aimed; as in the following, addressed to the redoubted and eccentric Doctor Hill:— "For physic and farces, Thy equal there scarce is; Thy farces are physic, Thy physic a farce is." The two next were afterwards inserted in the public prints, and said to be the productions of some of Mr. Garrick's friends:— "Thou essence of dock, of valerian, and sage, At once the disgrace and the pest of this age, The worst that we wish thee for all thy d—-d crimes, Is to take thy own physic, and read thy own rhymes. —"The Junto." Answer to the Junto. "Their wish in form must be revers'd To suit the doctor's crimes; For he who takes his physic first, Will never read his rhymes. —"Another Junto." This was too bad, and the Doctor sent the following answer to one of the papers:— "Ye desperate Junto, ye great, or ye small, Who combat dukes, doctors, the devil and all, Whether gentlemen scribblers, or poets in jail, Your impertinent curses shall never prevail: I'll take neither sage, dock, nor balsam of honey: Do you take the physic, and I'll take the money. —"Anti-Junto." Like his brethren of the sock and buskin, our English Roscius was honoured with much attention from the public prints. They gave us critical examinations of his powers, and critical disquisitions "Of praise a mere glutton, he swallow'd what came, And the puff of a dunce—he mistook it for fame; Till his relish grown callous almost to disease, Who pepper'd the highest was surest to please. But let us be candid, and speak out our mind, If dunces applauded, he paid them in kind: Ye Kenricks, ye Kellys, ye Woodfalls so grave, What a commerce was yours, while you got and you gave! How did Grub Street re-echo the shouts that you rais'd, While he was be-Roscius'd, and you were be-prais'd! But peace to his spirit, wherever it flies, To act as an angel, and mix with the skies," etc. The ode to the memory of Shakspeare, which he wrote and spoke at Stratford, with many weak lines, has some that show strong marks of a fervid imagination and vigorous mind. To instance the following: "When Philip's fam'd, all-conquering son, Had every blood-stain'd laurel won, He sigh'd that his creative word, Like that which rules the skies, Could not bid other nations rise, To glut his yet unsated sword. "But when our Shakspeare's matchless pen, Like Alexander's sword, had done with men, He heav'd no sigh, he made no moan; Not limited to human kind, He fir'd his wonder-teeming mind, Rais'd other worlds and beings of his own." Many of his jeu d'esprits are related; the following I never saw recorded. When he and Quin strutted at the same theatre, and in the same play, the performance ending, and the night being rainy, each of them ordered a chair, and walked to the door of the playhouse. To the mortification of Quin, Garrick's chair came first: "Let me get into the chair," cried The little tribute which Doctor Johnson has paid to his memory is written from the heart: I cannot resist transcribing it:— "At this man's (Mr. Walmsley's) table I enjoyed many cheerful and instructive hours with companions such as are not often to be found; with one who has heightened, and who has gladdened life: with Dr. James, whose skill in physic will be long remembered; and with David Garrick, whom I hoped to have gratified with this character of our common friend. But what are the hopes of man! I am disappointed by that stroke of death, which has eclipsed the gaiety of nations, and impoverished the public stock of harmless pleasure."—Life of Edmund Smith. Mr. Hogarth lived in habits of intimacy with David Garrick, who being President of the Shakspeare Club at the time of the Stratford Jubilee, our painter made him a drawing of a chair, which was afterwards wrought in mahogany. A medallion of Shakspeare, carved by Hogarth from a piece of the Stratford mulberry-tree, is suspended to the back of it. The paintings of the "Harlot's Progress," and "Strolling Players," produced little more than a hundred guineas; but in such estimation are portraits, INDUSTRY AND IDLENESS.The following description of Mr. Hogarth's design in these twelve plates is copied from his own handwriting:— "Industry and Idleness exemplified in the conduct of two fellow-'prentices; where the one by taking good courses, and pursuing points for which he was put apprentice, becomes a valuable man, and an ornament to his country; the other, by giving way to idleness, naturally falls into poverty, and ends fatally, as is expressed in the last print. As the prints were intended more for use than ornament, they were done in a way that might bring them within the purchase of those whom they might most concern; and lest any print should be mistaken, the description of each print is engraved at top." Such is the professed intention of the artist, and such his apology for the manner in which these plates are engraved; for, as Mr. Walpole justly remarks, they have more merit in their intention than execution. As a contrast to an idle and vicious character, who is brought to consequent misery and shame, his fellow-'prentice is depicted moral, attentive, and industrious; The hint for contrasting these two very opposite characters is taken from the old play of Eastward Hoe, written by Ben Jonson, George Chapman, and John Marston, printed for William Aspley, 1605, and reprinted in Dodsley's collection. In this comedy, Touchstone, a plain and honest old citizen and goldsmith, has two apprentices, Golding and Quicksilver: the former is a counterpart of Hogarth's Goodchild, and the latter has many of the dispositions of Mr. Thomas Idle. Touchstone, in a proverbial and formal style, advises all who wish to become respectable, and acquire independence, to conduct themselves on the same principles that he had done, and by adherence to which he had gained his fortune: "I hired me a little shop, bought low, took small profits, kept no debt book; garnished my shop (instead of plate) with good, wholesome, thrifty sentences: such as, 'Touchstone, keep thy shop, and thy shop will keep thee;' 'Light gains make a heavy purse;' 'It is good to be merry and wise,' etc. etc. 'Seek not to go beyond your tether, But cut your thong unto your leather; So shall you thrive by little and little, 'Scape Tyburn, Counter, and the Spittal.'" The prologue concludes with what may serve as an explanatory apology for the prints as well as the play: "Bear with our willing pains,—or dull or witty, We only dedicate it to the City." Golding marries Touchstone's favourite daughter; and the old citizen, in the quaint style of that day, wishes he may live to see him "one of the monuments of the city, and reckoned among her worthies; to be remembered the same day with Lady Ramsey and grave Gresham, when the famous fable of Whittington and his puss shall be forgotten, and thou and thy acts become the posies for hospitals; when thy name shall be written upon conduits, and thy deeds played i' thy lifetime by the best company of actors, and be called their 'Get-penny;' this I divine and prophesy." In the comedy, as in the prints, one of the scenes is laid at Cuckold's Haven; young Golding becoming a magistrate, Quicksilver is brought before him as a criminal, etc. etc. PLATE I.THE FELLOW-'PRENTICES AT THEIR LOOMS. "The drunkard shall come to poverty; and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags."—Proverbs xxiii. 21. "The hand of the diligent maketh rich."—Proverbs x. 4. INDUSTRY AND IDLENESS, PLATE I. At the time these twelve prints were published, the business of a silk weaver was considered as much more respectable and important than it has been since the general fashion of wearing linen. The first view we have of the two heroes of our history, is at the looms of their master, an inhabitant of Spitalfields. The assiduity of one of these young artisans is manifested in his countenance, and attention to the business he is engaged in. Over his head hang those two excellent old ballads, Turn again, Whittington, Lord Mayor of London, and The Valiant Apprentice. On the floor near him is the 'Prentice's Guide, a book which our citizen probably presented to every young man he had under his care; for we see the same title on a mutilated volume at the feet of Mr. Thomas Idle, who, being asleep, has dropped his shuttle, which a cat is playing with. On the wall hangs the ballad of Moll Flanders, and very near him is a tobacco-pipe Thus far is admirably thought, and intelligibly depicted; but the delineation, as far as regards the picturesque effect, is beneath criticism. The head of Master Francis Goodchild, placed between two square posts, looks as if it were stuck in the pillory; the physiognomy of Mister Thomas Idle is correctly correspondent with his depraved character; but the introduction of such a number of angles and parallel lines as the scene demanded, the artist's eye could never have borne upon any other principle than that given in his introductory declaration, "that the prints were intended for use more than ornament." PLATE II.THE INDUSTRIOUS 'PRENTICE PERFORMING THE DUTY OF A CHRISTIAN. "O how I love Thy law! it is my meditation all the day."—Psalm cxix. 97. INDUSTRY AND IDLENESS, PLATE II. This plate displays our industrious young man attending divine service, in the same pew with his master's daughter, where he shows every mark of decent and devout attention. Mr. Hogarth's strong bias to burlesque was not to be checked by time or place. It is not easy to imagine anything more whimsically grotesque than the female Falstaff. A fellow near her, emulating the deep-toned organ, and the man beneath, who, though asleep, joins his sonorous tones in melodious chorus with the admirers of those two pre-eminent poets, Hopkins and Sternhold. The pew-opener is a very prominent and principal figure; two old women adjoining Miss West's seat are so much in shadow, that we are apt to overlook them: they are, however, all three making the dome ring with their exertions. "Ah! had it been King David's fate To hear them sing...." The preacher, reader, and clerk, with many of the small figures in the gallery and beneath, are truly PLATE III.THE IDLE 'PRENTICE AT PLAY IN THE CHURCHYARD DURING DIVINE SERVICE. "Judgments are prepared for scorners, and stripes for the back of fools."—Proverbs xix. 29. INDUSTRY AND IDLENESS, PLATE III. While the industrious and sedate apprentice is engaged in such exercises as mend the heart and improve the understanding; while properly devoting the seventh day to the praise of his Creator, he attends divine service, returns thanks for the blessings he enjoys, and prays for their continuance, an inmate of the same house, about the same age, and of the same rank in society, who might have participated in all his advantages, is stretched upon a grave-stone in the churchyard, and gambling with a group of The figures in this print are well grouped, and the countenances of the gamblers and beadle admirably marked. PLATE IV.THE INDUSTRIOUS 'PRENTICE A FAVOURITE, AND ENTRUSTED BY HIS MASTER. "Well done, thou good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things."—Matthew xxv. 21. INDUSTRY AND IDLENESS, PLATE IV. From attention to business and propriety of conduct, the industrious apprentice has gained the confidence of his employer. He is now in the counting-house, entrusted with the management of the business; has the day-book, purse, and keys in his hands, and attentively listens to the directions of his friendly master, who, with a face expressive of the highest partiality and regard, familiarly leans upon his shoulder. A partnership, on the eve of taking place, is covertly intimated by a pair of gloves upon the writing-desk. The young merchant's sedulous application is well PLATE V.THE IDLE 'PRENTICE TURNED AWAY AND SENT TO SEA. "A foolish son is the heaviness of his mother."—Proverbs x. 1. INDUSTRY AND IDLENESS, PLATE V. Corrupted by sloth, and contaminated by bad company, the idle apprentice, having forfeited the regard and tired the patience of his master, is sent to sea, in the hope that a separation from his associates, joined to the inevitable hardships of a maritime life, may in some degree reclaim him. He is exhibited in the ship's boat, accompanied by his afflicted mother, That great geographer of the human face, Lavater of Zurich, has very properly thought a copy of this print worthy a place in his Essays on Physiognomy. His observations deserve attention:— "Here are the traits of drunkenness combined with thoughtless stupidity. Who can look without disgust? Would these wretches have been what they are, had they not by vice erased nature's marks? Can perversion be more apparent than in the middle profile?" PLATE VI.THE INDUSTRIOUS 'PRENTICE OUT OF HIS TIME, AND MARRIED TO HIS MASTER'S DAUGHTER. "The virtuous woman is a crown to her husband."—Proverbs xiii. 4. INDUSTRY AND IDLENESS, PLATE VI. The reward of industry is success. Our prudent and attentive youth is now become partner with his master, A footman and butcher at the opposite corner, compared with the other figures, are gigantic; they might serve for the Gog and Magog of Guildhall. It has been said that the thoughts in this print are trite, and the actions mean, which must be in part acknowledged; but they are natural and appropriate to the rank and situation of the parties, and to the fashions of the time at which it was published. PLATE VII.THE IDLE 'PRENTICE RETURNED FROM SEA, AND IN A GARRET WITH A COMMON PROSTITUTE. "The sound of a shaken leaf shall chase him."—Leviticus xxvi. 36. INDUSTRY AND IDLENESS, PLATE VII. The profligate and degraded apprentice, returned from his voyage, is now exhibited in a garret with a PLATE VIII.THE INDUSTRIOUS 'PRENTICE GROWN RICH, AND SHERIFF OF LONDON. "With all thy gettings, get understanding. Exalt her; and she shall promote thee; she shall bring thee to honour, when thou dost embrace her."—Proverbs iv. 7, 8. INDUSTRY AND IDLENESS, PLATE VIII. From industry become opulent, from integrity and punctuality respectable, our young merchant is now Sheriff of London, and dining with the different companies in Guildhall. A group on the left side are admirably characteristic; their whole souls seem absorbed in the pleasures of the table. A divine, The backs of those in the distance, behung with bags, major perukes, pinners, etc., are most laughably ludicrous. Every person present is so attentive to business, that one may fairly conclude "they live to eat, rather than eat to live." But though this must be admitted to be the case with this party here exhibited, the following recent instance of city temperance proves that there are now some exceptions:— When the Lord Mayor, Sheriffs, Aldermen, Chamberlain, etc. of the city of London were once seated round the table at a public and splendid dinner at Guildhall, Mr. Chamberlain Wilkes lisped out, "Mr. Alderman B—ll, shall I help you to a plate of turtle or a slice of the haunch,—I am within reach of both, sir?" "Neither one nor t'other, I thank you, sir," replied the Alderman; "I think I shall dine on the beans and bacon which are at this end of the table." "Mr. Alderman A——n," continued the Chamberlain, "which would you choose, sir?" "Sir, I will not trouble you for either, for I believe I shall follow the example of my Brother B—ll, and dine on beans and bacon," was the reply. On this second refusal the old Chamberlain rose from his seat, and with every mark of astonishment in his countenance, curled up the corners of his mouth, cast his eyes round the table, and in a voice as loud and articulate as he was able, called "Silence!" which being obtained, he thus addressed the prÆtorian magistrate, who sat in the chair: "My Lord Mayor, the wicked have accused us of intemperance, and branded us with the imputation of gluttony. That they may be put to open shame, and their profane tongues be from this day Notwithstanding all this, there are men who, looking on the dark side, and perhaps rendered splenetic, and soured by not being invited to these sumptuous entertainments, have affected to fear that their frequent repetition would have a tendency to produce a famine, or at least to check the increase, if not extirpate the species of those birds, beasts, and fish with which the tables of the rich are now so plentifully supplied. "On the 29th October 1727, when George II. and Queen Caroline honoured the city with their presence at Guildhall, there were nineteen tables covered with 1075 dishes. The whole expense of this entertainment to the city was £4889, 4s." To return to the print! A self-sufficient and consequential beadle, reading the direction of a letter to Francis Goodchild, Esq., Sheriff of London, has all the insolence of office. The important and overbearing air of this dignified personage is well contrasted by the humble simplicity of the straight-haired messenger behind the bar. The gallery is well furnished with musicians busily employed in their vocation. "Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast, And therefore proper at a sheriff's feast." Besides a portrait of William III. and a judge, the hall is ornamented with a full length of that illus PLATE IX.THE IDLE 'PRENTICE BETRAYED BY A PROSTITUTE, AND TAKEN IN A NIGHT-CELLAR WITH HIS ACCOMPLICE. "The adulteress will hunt for the precious life."—Proverbs vi. 26. INDUSTRY AND IDLENESS, PLATE IX. From a picture of the reward of diligence, we return to the consequence of sloth. The idle and incorrigible outcast, mature in vice, and lost to society, is here represented in a night-cellar. PLATE X.THE INDUSTRIOUS 'PRENTICE ALDERMAN OF LONDON; THE IDLE ONE BROUGHT BEFORE HIM, AND IMPEACHED BY HIS ACCOMPLICE. "Thou shalt do no unrighteousness in judgment."—Leviticus xix. 15. "The wicked is snared in the work of his own hands."—Psalm xix. 16. INDUSTRY AND IDLENESS, PLATE X. He who was an industrious apprentice is now an alderman and a magistrate; his depraved and atrocious contrast, who was once his fellow-'prentice, and the last plate exhibited in a night-cellar, is now brought handcuffed before him, and accused of robbery, aggravated by murder. Shocked at seeing the companion of his youth in so degraded a situa His distressed and heart-broken mother intercedes with the swollen and important constable to use his interest for her unhappy son. This application the mighty magistrate of the night answers by—"We that are in power must do justice!" A number of watchmen attend the examination, and one of them holds up the sword and pistols which were found on the prisoner. A young woman This debased villain was first introduced to us gambling on a grave-stone; his second appearance was in a night-cellar, where he divided the evening's plunder with the man he now deliberately betrays! The alderman's clerk is making out a warrant of commitment directed to the turnkey of Newgate. PLATE XI.THE IDLE 'PRENTICE EXECUTED AT TYBURN. "When fear cometh as desolation, and their destruction cometh as a whirlwind: when distress cometh upon them, then they shall call upon God, but He will not answer."—Proverbs i. 27, 28. INDUSTRY AND IDLENESS, PLATE XI. After a life of sloth, wretchedness, and vice, the career of our degraded character terminates at Tyburn. His pale and ghastly look denotes the remorse and horror of his mind; and it must embitter his last moments to hear a Grub Street orator proclaim his dying speech. The ordinary of Newgate leads the procession, but the criminal's spiritual concerns are left to an enthusiastic follower of John Wesley, who zealously exhorts him to repentance. A carrier pigeon is despatched at the time the criminal arrives at Tyburn. In the background we have a view of Highgate and Hampstead hills. The arch look of a young pickpocket, the savage ferocity of a woman tearing a fellow's face, and the yell of another crying the dying speech, are admirably expressed. Many of the smaller figures are full fraught with character; for the grouping, let us hear Mr. Gilpin, with whom I entirely agree:— "We seldom see a crowd more beautifully managed than in this print. If the sheriff's officers had not been placed in a line, and had been brought a little lower in the picture, so as to have formed a pyramid with the cart, the composition had been unexceptionable."—Gilpin's Essay. Two skeletons hanging on the outside of the frame are emblematical; the body of a murderer being usually consigned to Surgeon's Hall. The trophies, composed of fetters, whips, and halters, with the swords, maces, gold chains, etc., with which the framework of the preceding prints are decorated, must be admitted to be beneath the dignity of historical painting; but considered as addressed to young persons, and exhibiting a view of the different consequences of industry and sloth, are strictly proper. PLATE XII.THE INDUSTRIOUS 'PRENTICE LORD MAYOR OF LONDON. "Length of days is in her right hand, and in her left hand riches and honour."—Proverbs iii. 16. INDUSTRY AND IDLENESS, PLATE XII. In the last print we saw a crowd witnessing the ignominious death of a murderer; in this are a cheerful assembly joining the procession of a chief magistrate; some reeling, some roaring, and all rejoicing. The scene is laid at the east side of St. Paul's Church, just turning into Cheapside; and in particular honour of this day, the artist has introduced the late Prince and Princess of Wales at a balcony, in view of the pageant. A group on the scaffolding beneath is formed of the most comic characters. Who can abstain from laughter at the city militia, which are below? They were at that time composed of undisciplined men, of all ages and descriptions; young, old, tall, short, crooked, straight, fat, and lean, made up the motley band. The man in a grenadier's cap, with a pot of porter in his left hand, might perform the part of Sir Tunbelly Clumsy. Near the left corner, a blind man, conscious that he has but a poor chance in a crowd, endeavours to preserve his hat and wig from the depredating multitude. The Bunhill Fields trooper, who leans against a post, with one of his bandeliers in his left hand, has made a little mistake. A young man in the booth above, not having the fear of dignity before his eyes, is eagerly kissing a girl: the lady, irritated at this indecorum, seems likely to leave marks of her talons upon his forehead. At the opposite corner, a vendor of the Grub Street classics proclaims "a full, true, and particular account of Numberless spectators, upon every house, and at every window, dart their desiring eyes on the procession. Of the figures on a tapestry, hanging from a balcony Many of the characters in this and the foregoing print bear a strong resemblance to some which Mr. Hogarth etched about twenty years before for Butler's Hudibras. The following year was published a pamphlet, entitled, "The Effects of Industry and Idleness, illustrated in the life, adventures, and various fortunes of two fellow-'prentices of the city of London: showing the different paths, as well as rewards, of virtue and vice," etc. Printed for C. Corbet, at Addison's Head, Fleet Street. In the chamber of London where the apprentices The late Mr. James Love, comedian (otherwise Dance), dramatized this eventful history, and Mr. King performed the good apprentice. ROAST BEEF AT THE GATE OF CALAIS."O the roast beef of Old England," etc. ROAST BEEF AT THE GATE OF CALAIS. The thought on which this whimsical and highly characteristic print is founded, originated in Calais, to which place Mr. Hogarth, accompanied by some of his friends, made an excursion in the year 1747. Extreme partiality for his native country was the leading trait of his character; he seems to have begun his three hours' voyage with a firm determination to be displeased at everything he saw out of Old England. For a meagre powdered figure, hung with tatters, À-la-mode de Paris, to affect the airs of a coxcomb and the importance of a sovereign, is ridiculous enough; but if it makes a man happy, why should he be laughed at? It must blunt the edge of ridicule to see natural hilarity defy depression; and a whole nation laugh, sing, and dance under burdens that would nearly break the firm-knit sinews of a Briton. Such was the picture of France at that period, but it was a picture which our English satirist could not contemplate with common patience. The swarms of grotesque figures who paraded the streets excited his indignation, and drew forth a torrent of coarse abusive So mortifying an adventure he did not like to hear recited, but has in this print recorded the circumstance which led to it. In one corner he has given a portrait of himself, making the drawing; and to show the moment of arrest, the hand of a serjeant is upon his shoulder. Mr. Hogarth's friend Forest soon afterwards wrote the following cantata, which contains so whimsical a description of the principal figures, that I make no apology for inserting it:— THE ROAST BEEF AT THE GATE OF CALAIS. RECITATIVE. 'Twas at the gate of Calais, Hogarth tells, Where sad despair and famine always dwells; A meagre Frenchman, Madame Grandsire's cook, As home he steer'd, his carcase that way took, Bending beneath the weight of fam'd sirloin, On whom he often wished in vain to dine; Good Father Dominick by chance came by, With rosy gills, round paunch, and greedy eye; And when he first beheld the greasy load, His benediction on it he bestow'd; And while the solid fat his fingers press'd, He lick'd his chops, and thus the knight address'd: AIR. O rare roast beef, lov'd by all mankind, Was I but doom'd to have thee, Well dress'd, and garnish'd to my mind, And swimming in thy gravy; Not all thy country's force combined, Should from my fury save thee! Renown'd sirloin! ofttimes decreed The theme of English ballad, E'en kings on thee have deign'd to feed, Unknown to Frenchman's palate; Then how much must thy taste exceed Soup-meagre, frogs, and salad! RECITATIVE. A half-starv'd soldier, shirtless, pale, and lean, Who such a sight before had never seen, Like Garrick's frighted Hamlet gaping stood, And gaz'd with wonder at the British food; His morning mess forsook the friendly bowl, And in small streams along the pavement stole; He heav'd a sigh, which gave his heart relief, And thus in plaintive tones declar'd his grief: AIR. Ah, sacre Dieu! vat do I see yonder, Dat look so tempting red and vite? Begar, it is the roast beef from Londre! O grant to me one letel bite. But to my guts if you give no heeding, And cruel fate this boon denies, In kind compassion to my pleading, Return, and let me feast mine eyes. RECITATIVE. His fellow guard, of right Hibernian clay, Whose brazen front his country did betray, From Tyburn's fatal tree had hither fled, By honest means to get his daily bread: Soon as the well-known prospect he espy'd, In blubb'ring accents dolefully he cried: AIR. Sweet beef that now causes my stomach to rise, Sweet beef that now causes my stomach to rise, So taking thy sight is, My joy, that so light is, To view thee, by pailfuls runs out of my eyes. While here I remain my life's not worth a farthing, While here I remain my life's not worth a farthing, Ah! hard-hearted Lewy, Why did I come to ye? The gallows, more kind, would have saved me from starving. RECITATIVE. Upon the ground hard by poor Sawney sate, Who fed his nose and scratched his ruddy pate; But when old England's bulwark he descried, His dear lov'd mull, alas! was thrown aside. With lift'd hands he blest his native place, Then scrubb'd himself, and thus bewailed his case: AIR. How hard, O Sawney, is thy lot, Who was so blithe of late, To see such meat as can't be got, When hunger is so great. O the beef, the bonny bonny beef, When roasted nice and brown, I wish I had a slice of thee, How sweet it would gang down! Ah, Charley! had'st thou not been seen, This ne'er had hapt to me; I would the de'il had pick'd mine e'en Ere I had gang'd with thee. O the beef, etc. RECITATIVE. But see my muse to England takes her flight, Where health and plenty cheerfully unite; Where smiling Freedom guards great George's throne (And chains, and racks, and tortures are not known), Whose fame superior bards have often wrote, An ancient fable give me leave to quote: AIR. As once on a time a young frog pert and vain, Beheld a large ox grazing over the plain, He boasted his size he could quickly attain. O the roast beef of Old England, And O the Old English roast beef! Then eagerly stretching his weak little frame, Mamma, who stood by like a knowing old dame, Cried, 'Son, to attempt it you're greatly to blame.' O the roast beef, etc. But deaf to advice, he for glory did thirst, An effort he ventur'd more strong than the first, 'Till swelling and straining too hard, made him burst. O the roast beef, etc. Then, Britons, be valiant, the moral is clear, The ox is Old England, the frog is Monsieur, Whose puffs and bravadoes we never need fear. O the roast beef, etc. For while by our commerce and arts we are able To see the sirloin smoking hot on our table, The French may e'en croak, like the frog in the fable. O the roast beef, etc. The French sentinel is so situated as to give some idea of a figure hanging in chains: his ragged shirt is trimmed with a pair of paper ruffles, on which is written "Grand Monarch. P." The old woman, and a fish which she is pointing at, have a striking resemblance. The abundance of parsnips and other vegetables indicate what are the leading articles in a Lenten feast. Mr. Pine the painter sat for the friar, and from thence acquired the title of Father Pine. This distinction did not flatter him, and he frequently requested that the countenance might be altered, but the artist peremptorily refused. Part of the print was engraved by C. Mosley, but the heads are evidently by Hogarth. A copy has been repeatedly engraven as an head-piece to the cantata before mentioned: the profile of the artist was traced for a watch-paper; and a wooden representation of the starved soldier has frequently decorated advertisements for recruits, where it is opposed to the figure of a well-fed gourmand, characteristically christened a valiant British soldier. The original picture is in the possession of Lord Charlemont. Soon after this painting was finished, a nail was by some accident run through the cross at the top of the gate. Hogarth strove in vain to repair the blemish with paint of the same colour; he therefore introduced a half-starved crow looking down on the beef, and thus completely covered the defect. THE COUNTRY INN YARD, OR THE STAGE-COACH."The poet's adage, 'All the world's a stage,' Has stood the test of each revolving age; Another simile perhaps will bear, 'Tis a Stage-coach, where all must pay the fare; Where each his entrance and his exit makes, And o'er life's rugged road his journey takes. Some unprotected must their tour perform, 'And bide the pelting of the pitiless storm:' While others, free from elemental jars, By fortune favour'd, and propitious stars, Secure from storms, enjoy their little hour, Despise the whirlwind, and defy the shower. Such is our life,—in sunshine or in shade, From evil shelter'd, or by woe assay'd: Whether we sit, like Niobe, all tears, Or calmly sink into the vale of years: With houseless, naked Edgar, sleep on straw, Or keep, like CÆsar, subject worlds in awe,— To the same port our devious journeys tend, Where airy hopes and sickening sorrows end; Sunk every eye, and languid every breast, Each wearied pilgrim sighs, and sinks to rest."—E. THE COUNTRY INN YARD. Among the writers of English novels, Henry Fielding holds the first rank. He was the novelist of nature, and has described some scenes which bear a strong resemblance to that which is here delineated. The artist, like the author, has A portly gentleman, with a sword and cane in one hand, is deaf to the entreaties of a poor little deformed postilion, who solicits his customary fee. The old woman smoking her short pipe in the basket, pays very little attention to what is passing around her: cheered by the fumes of her tube, she lets the vanities of the world go their own way. Two passengers on In the window are a very curious pair: one of them blowing a French horn, and the other endeavouring, but without effect, to smoke away a little sickness, which he feels from the fumes of his last night's punch. Beneath them is a traveller taking a tender farewell of the chambermaid, who is not to be moved by the clangour of the great bar-bell, or the more thundering sound of her mistress's voice. The background is crowded with a procession of active citizens; they have chaired a figure with a horn-book, a bib, and a rattle, intended to represent Child, Lord Castlemain, afterwards Lord Tylney, who, in a violent contest for the county of Essex, opposed Sir Robert Abdy and Mr. Bramston. The horn-book, bib, and rattle are evidently displayed as punningly allusive to his name. Under the sign of an angel, who seems dancing a minuet on a cloud, is inscribed, "The Old Angle In Toms Bates from London." Some pains have been taken to discover in what part of Essex this scene is laid; but from the many alterations made by rebuilding, removal, etc., it has not been positively ascertained, though it is probably Chelmsford. END OF VOL. I. "To Mr. Nichols. "I must leave you to the annals of fame for the rest of the anecdotes of this great genius, and shall endeavour to show you that his family possessed similar talents; but they were destined, like the wild rose, 'To waste their sweetness in the desert air.' "Happy should I be to rescue from oblivion the name of auld Hogarth, whose songs and quibbles have so often delighted my childhood! These simple strains of this mountain Theocritus were fabricated while he held the plough, or was leading his fuel from the hills. He was as critical an observer of nature as his nephew, for the narrow field he had to view her in: not an incident or an absurdity in the neighbourhood escaped him. If any one was hardy enough to break through any decorum of old and established repute; if any one attempted to overreach his neighbour, or cast a leering eye at his wife, he was sure to hear himself sung over the whole parish, nay, to the very boundaries of the Westmoreland dialect! so that his songs were said to have a greater effect on the manners of his neighbourhood, than even the sermons of the parson himself. But his poetical talents were not confined to the incidents of his village; I myself have had the honour to bear a part in one of his plays (I say one, for there are several of them extant in MS. in the mountains of Westmoreland to this hour). The play was called The Destruction of Troy; it was written in metre, much in the manner of Lopez de Vega, or the ancient French drama. The unities were not too strictly observed, for the siege of ten years was all represented: every hero was in the piece, so that the dramatis personÆ consisted of every lad of genius in the whole parish. The wooden horse;—Hector dragged by the heels;—the fury of Diomede;—the flight of Æneas;—and the burning of the city, were all represented. I remember not what fairies had to do in all this; but as I happened to be about three feet high at the time of this still talked of exhibition, I personated one of these tiny beings. The stage was a fabrication of boards, placed about six feet high, on strong posts; the green-room was partitioned off with the same materials; its ceiling was the azure canopy of heaven; and the boxes, pit, and galleries, were laid into one by the great Author of nature, for they were the green slope of a fine hill. Despise not, reader, this humble state of the provincial drama: let me tell you, there were more spectators, for three days together, than your three theatres in London would hold; and let me add, still more to your confusion, that you never saw an audience half so well pleased. "The exhibition was begun with a grand procession from the village, to a great stone (dropped by the Devil, about a quarter of a mile off, when he tried in vain to erect a bridge across Windermere; so the people, unlike the rest of the world, have remained a good sort of people ever since),—I say, the procession was begun by the minstrels of five parishes, and followed by a yeoman on bull-back. You stare—stop then, till I inform you that this adept had so far civilised his bull, that he would suffer the yeoman to mount his back, and even to play upon the fiddle there. The managers besought him to join the procession; but the bull not being accustomed to much company, and particularly to so much applause,—whether he was intoxicated with praise, thought himself affronted and made game of, or whether a favourite cow came across his imagination, certain it was that he broke out of the procession, erected his tail, and, like another Europa, carried off the affrighted yeoman and his fiddle over hedge and ditch, till he arrived at his own field. This accident rather inflamed than depressed the good humour arising from the procession; and the clown, or Jack Pudding of the piece, availed himself so well of the incident, that the lungs and ribs of the spectators were in manifest danger. This character was the most important personage in the whole play; for his office was to turn the most serious parts of the drama into burlesque and ridicule; he was a compound of Harlequin and the Merry-Andrew, or rather the arch-fool of the ancient kings. His dress was a white jacket covered with bulls, bears, birds, fish, etc., cut in various-coloured cloth; his trousers were decorated in like manner, and hung round with small bells; and his cap was that of folly, decorated with bells, and an otter's brush impending. The lath sword must be of great antiquity in this island, for it hath been the appendage of a Jack Pudding in the mountains of Westmoreland time out of mind. "The play was opened by this character, with a song, which answered the double purpose of a play-bill and a prologue, for his duty gave the audience a foretaste of the rueful incidents they were about to behold; and it called out the actors one by one to make the spectators acquainted with their names and characters, walking round and round, till the whole dramatis personÆ made one great circle on the stage. The audience being thus become acquainted with the actors, the play opened with Paris running away with Helen, and Menelaus scampering after them. Then followed the death of Patroclus, the rage of Achilles, the persuasions of Ulysses, etc. etc., and the whole was interlarded with apt songs, both serious and comic, all the production of auld Hogarth. The bard, however, at this time had been dead some years, and I believe this fÊte was a jubilee to his memory: but let it not detract from the memory of Mr. Garrick to say, that his at Stratford was but a copy of one forty years ago on the banks of Windermere. Was it any improvement, think you, to introduce several bulls into the procession instead of one?—But I love not comparisons, and so conclude.—Yours, etc., "Adam Walker." "The Hogarth mania is as strong as ever. On Thursday the 6th of April,—it should have been the first,—the Roman Military Punishments, a paltry work for which no bookseller seven years ago would have offered more than a few shillings, was sold at Greenwood's for six pounds, on account of some trifling plates in it by Hogarth." In the sale of Doctor Lort's library at Leigh and Sotheby's, in 1790, a copy of Bever's book produced a still larger sum. From his shop-bill, and every preceding print, I am inclined to think he never had more than one mode of spelling his name. The concluding h being in this instance omitted, might arise from carelessness, or a failure of the aquafortis. His father's Latin letter, dated 1697, proves that he inserted the final h, and I can discover no reason why his son should discard it. This ticket is now in the possession of Mrs. Lewis, of Chiswick. "The late edict of the Emperor, for selling the pictures of which he has despoiled the convents, will be a very fortunate circumstance for many of the artists of this country, whose sole employment is painting old pictures; and this will be a glorious opportunity for introducing modern antiques into the cabinets of the curious. "A most indefatigable dealer, apprehensive that there might be a difficulty, and enormous expense in procuring from abroad a sufficient quantity to gratify the eagerness of the English connoisseurs, has taken the more economical method of having a number painted here. The bill of one of his workmen, which came into my hands by an accident, I think worth preservation, and have taken a copy for the information of future ages. Every picture is at present most sacredly preserved from the public eye, but in the course of a few months will be smoked into antiquity, and may probably be announced in manner and form following:— "TO THE LOVERS OF VIRTU. "Mr. —— has the heartfelt pleasure of congratulating the amateurs of the fine arts upon such an opportunity of enriching their collections, as no period from the days of the divine Apelles to the present irradiated era ever produced; nor is it probable that there ever will be in any future age so splendid, superb, brilliant, and matchless an assemblage of unrivalled pictures as he begs leave to announce to the connoisseurs are now exhibiting at his great room in ——, being the principal part of that magnificent bouquet which have been accumulating for so many ages, been preserved with religious care, and contemplated with pious awe, while they had an holy refuge in the peaceful gloom of the convents of Germany. By the edict of the Emperor they are banished from these consecrated walls, and are now emerged from obscurity with undiminished lustre! with all their native charms, mellowed by the tender, softening pencil of time, and introduced to this emporium of taste! this favourite seat of the arts! this exhibition-room of the universe; and when seen, must produce the most pleasing and delightful sensations. "When it is added, that they were selected by that most judicious and quick-sighted collector, Monsieur D., it will be unnecessary to say more; for his penetrating eye and unerring judgment, his boundless liberality and unremitting industry, have ensured him the protection of a generous public, ever ready to patronize exertions made solely for their gratification! "N.B.—Descriptive catalogues, with the names of the immortal artists, may be had as above." THE BILL. "Monsieur Varnish to Benjamin Bister, debtor.
The following piece, published in the St. James's Evening Post of June 7th, is by the first painter in England, perhaps in the world, in his way: "Every good-natured man and well-wisher to the Arts in England, must feel a kind of resentment at a very indecent paragraph, in the Daily Post of Thursday last, relating to the death of M. de Morine, first painter to the French king, in which very unjust as well as cruel reflections are cast on the noblest performance (in its way) that England has to boast of,—I mean the work of the late Sir James Thornhill, in Greenwich Hall. It has ever been the business of narrow, little geniuses, who by a tedious application to minute parts have (as they fancy) attained to a great insight into the correct drawing of a figure, and have acquired just knowledge enough in the art to tell accurately when a toe is too short or a finger too thick, to endeavour, by detracting from the merits of great men, to build themselves a kind of reputation. These peddling demi-critics, on the painful discovery of some little inaccuracy (which proceeds mostly from the freedom of the pencil), without any regard to the more noble parts of a performance (which they are totally ignorant of), with great satisfaction condemn the whole as a bad and incorrect piece. 'The meanest artist in the Emelian square, Can imitate in brass the nails or hair; Expert at trifles, and a cunning fool, Able to express the parts, but not the whole.' "There is another set of gentry, more noxious to the art than these, and those are your picture-jobbers from abroad, who are always ready to raise a great cry in the prints, whenever they think their craft is in danger; and indeed it is their interest to depreciate every English work as hurtful to their trade of continually importing ship-loads of Dead Christs, Holy Families, Madonnas, and other dismal dark subjects, neither entertaining nor ornamental, on which they scrawl the terrible cramp names of some Italian masters, and fix on us poor Englishmen the character of universal dupes. If a man, naturally a judge of painting, not bigoted to those empirics, should cast his eye on one of their sham virtuoso pieces, he would be very apt to say: Mr. Bubbleman, that grand Venus, as you are pleased to call it, has not beauty enough for the character of an English cook-maid. Upon which the quack answers, with a confident air: 'Sir, I find that you are no connoisseur; the picture, I assure you, is in Alesso Baldminetto's second and best manner, boldly painted, and truly sublime: the contour gracious: the air of the head in the high Greek taste; and a most divine idea it is.—Then spitting in an obscure place, and rubbing it with a dirty handkerchief, takes a skip to t'other end of the room, and screams out in raptures, 'There's an amazing touch! A man should have this picture a twelvemonth in his collection before he can discover half its beauties!' The gentleman (though naturally a judge of what is beautiful, yet ashamed to be out of the fashion, by judging for himself) with this cant is struck dumb; gives a vast sum for the picture, very modestly confesses he is indeed quite ignorant of painting, and bestows a frame worth fifty pounds on a frightful thing, which, without the hard name, is not worth so many farthings. Such impudence as is now continually practised in the picture trade must meet with its proper treatment, would gentlemen but venture to see with their own eyes. Let but the comparison of pictures with nature be their only guide, and let them judge as freely of painting as they do of poetry, they would then take it for granted, that when a piece gives pleasure to none but these connoisseurs, or their adherents, if the purchase be a thousand pounds, 'tis nine hundred and ninety-nine too dear; and were all our grand collections stripped of such sort of trumpery, then, and not till then, it would be worth an Englishman's while to try the strength of his genius to supply their place, which now it were next to madness to attempt, since there is nothing that has not travelled a thousand miles, or has not been done a hundred years, but is looked upon as mean and ungenteel furniture. What Mr. Pope in his last work says of poems, may with much more propriety be applied to pictures: 'Authors, like coins, grow dear as they grow old; It is the rust we value, not the gold.' "Sir James Thornhill, in a too modest compliance with the connoisseurs of his time, called in the assistance of Mr. Andre, a foreigner, famous for the fulness of his outline, to paint the Royal Family at the upper end of Greenwich Hall, to the beauties or faults of which I have nothing to say; but with regard to the ceiling, which is entirely of his own hand, I am certain all unprejudiced persons, with (or without) much insight into the mechanic parts of painting, are at the first view struck with the most agreeable harmony and play of colours that ever delighted the eye of a spectator. The composition is altogether extremely grand, the groups finely disposed, the light and shade so contrived as to throw the eye with pleasure on the principal figures, which are drawn with great fire and judgment; the colouring of the flesh delicious, the drapery great and well folded; and upon examination, the allegory is found clear, well invented, and full of learning: in short, all that is necessary to constitute a complete ceiling-piece is apparent in that magnificent work. Thus much is in justice to that great English artist. "Britophil. "N.B.—If the reputation of this work were destroyed, it would put a stop to the receipt of daily sums of money from spectators, which is applied to the use of sixty charity children." From this visionary writer he could not borrow much, great part of his book treating of the different important consequences which had resulted from the study of the proportions of the human body. It is dedicated to the Right Worshipful Thomas Bodley, Esquire, warmly recommended by John Case, doctor of physic; and in the following quaint lines, the translator apologizeth for thus employing himself:— "TO THE INGENIOUS READER. R. H. "How hard a matter it is to withstand any natural instinct, and habitual inclination whatsoever, the storie of the Syracusane Archimedes (besides divers others to this purpose) may sufficiently persuade; who was so rapt with the sweetness of his mathematical conclusions, that even then when the enemie had entered the gates of the citie he was found drawing of lines upon the sand, when perchance it had bin fitter for a philosopher to have bin advising in the counsell-house. "Not much unlike to whome I may peradventure seeme, who at this time especially, when the unappeasable enimies of health, sicknesse, and mortality have so mightily prevailed against us, am here found drawing of lines and lineaments, portraitures, and proportions, when (in regard of my place and profession) it might much better have beseemed mee to have bin found in the colledge of physicians, learning and counselling such remedies as might make for the common health; or if I must needes be doing about lines, to have commented upon this proposition, mors ultima linea rerum. "Howbeit, as I find not him much taxed in the storie for this his diligent carelessness, because he was busied about matters which were not onlie an ornament of peace, but also of good use in warre, so my hope is (ingenious reader), that my sedulous trifling shall meete with thy friendliest interpretation; insomuch as the arte I now deale in shall be proved not onlie a grace to health, but also a contentment and recreation unto sickeness, and a kind of preservative against death and mortality; by a perpetual preserving of their shades, whose substances physicke could not prolong, no, not for a season," etc. etc. In his treatise of colours, he makes the following addresse to his faire countrie wommen:— "Having intreated of so many and divers thinges, I could not but say something of such matters as woemen use ordinarilly in beautifying and imbelishing their faces; a thing well worth the knowledge, insomuch as many women are so possessed with a desire of helping their complexions by some artificial meanes, that they will by no meanes be diswaded from the same." He then enumerates ceruse, plume alume, juice of lemons, oil of tartarie, camphire, and sundry other cosmetics of the day, all which he takes many pages to prove are enemies to health, and hurtful to the complexion, and thus adviseth: "Wherefore if there bee no remedie, but women will be meddling with this arte of pollishing, let them, instead of those mineral stuffes, use the remedies following. "Of such helpes of Beauty as may safely be used without danger. "There is nothing in the world which doth more beautifie and adorne a woman than chearfulness, contentment, and good temper. For it is not the red and white which giveth the gracious perfection of beauty, but certaine sparkling notes and touches of amiable chearfulness accompanying the same. The truth whereof may appear in a discontented woman, otherwise exceeding faire, who atte that instant will seem yll favoured and unloovely; as contrariwise, an hard-favoured and browne woman, being merry, pleasaunte, and jocund, will seem sufficient beautiful." "We have had recourse to the works of the ancients, not because the moderns have not produced some as excellent, but because the works of the former are more generally known; nor would we have it thought that either of them has ever yet come up to the utmost beauty of nature. Who but a bigot to the antiques will say, that he has not seen faces and necks, hands and arms, in living women, that even the Grecian Venus doth but coarsely imitate?" In an early impression of the print I have seen written (I believe by Hogarth) on the pedestal upon which this figure is placed, tu Brute. That he greatly disliked Quin, is evident from the following epigram, with the injustice or justice of which I have nothing to do, but to the painter it is attributed:— "Your servant, Sir," says surly Quin.— "Sir, I am yours," replies Macklin.— "Why, you're the very Jew you play, Your face performs the task well."— "And you are Sir John Brute, they say, And an accomplished Maskwell." Says Rich, who heard the sneering elves, And knew their horrid hearts, "Acting too much your very selves, You overdo your parts." "No awkward heir that o'er Campania's plain, Has scamper'd like a monkey in his chain; No ambush'd ass, that, hid in learning's maze, Kicks at desert, and crops wit's budding bays; No baby grown, that still his coral keeps, And sucks the thumb of science till he sleeps; No mawkish son of sentiment who strains Soft sonnet drops from barley-water brains; No pointer of a paragraph, no peer, That hangs a picture-pander at his ear; No smatterer of the ciceroni crew, No pauper of the parish of VirtÚ; But starts an Aristarchus on the town, To hunt full cry dejected merit down; With sapient shrug assumes the critic's part, And loud deplores the sad decline in art." "MINUET DE LA COUR, DEVONSHIRE, LE ROI, STATUTE, SURPRISE. "A gentleman of merit, well educated and properly qualified by seven of the best masters that ever trod on English ground, teaches the above minuets to noblemen and real ladies only, for the sum of five guineas, paid down, with all the excelled graces of the head, body, arms, wrists, hands, fingers, toes, sinks, risings, bounds, rebounds, twirls, twists, fourfold mercuries, coupees, borees, flourishes, demi-corpus, curtseys À-la-mode, hat on, off, giving hands and feet, in an advanced octagon adorned style, and divided into one, two, three, or four steps exact to time or bars; introducing at the same moment the À-la-mode form, Chassa's springs, five and nine orders of the graces, and annexed with the rigadoon, Louvre, cotillion, and ancient and modern hornpipe steps and elegant country-dance positions.—The said gentleman is no common dancing-master, has some character to lose; therefore ladies of a common capacity may soon attain to dance equal to the best French or Italian dancer in this kingdom, only for five guineas, on applying to Number 79 in the Haymarket, between ten and eleven in the morning, and four and six in the afternoon, and they will be seen by the aforesaid gentleman himself." In his Analysis, Mr. Hogarth thus writeth:— "The minuet is allowed by dancing-masters themselves to be the perfection of all dancing. I once heard an eminent dancing-master say, that the minuet had been the study of his whole life, and that he had been indefatigable in the pursuit of its beauties, yet at last could only say with Socrates, he knew nothing; adding, that I was happy in my profession as a painter, in that some bounds might be set to the study of it." "How could you dare, advent'rous man, To execute so bold a plan, Or such unheard of truths advance? At once so rashly to oppose Those fierce, outrageous, hardy foes, Fraud, Prejudice, and Ignorance! "To their despotic, cruel sway, Fair Science long has been a prey, All modern art they trampled down; The rising genius they deprest, The British taste they turned to jest, And damn'd at once—because our own. "The slavish principle I caught, The southern land of merit sought, And learn'd to think, to see, to say Eager I ran through every town, Penn'd every observation down, And gather'd judgment by the way. "On foreign tales and terms of art, On scraps of French, got well by heart, And learned guides, was my reliance; With light and shade my head I fill, The style of schools was all my skill. The painter's name was all my science. "Thus deeply tutor'd, I return'd, And o'er my tasteless country mourn'd; I pitied first, then laugh'd and sneer'd; Then curs'd the crude unfinish'd tints, The statues, busto's, vases, prints, When lo! th' Analysis appear'd. "I smil'd and read; grew grave—read on; Was pleas'd; the truths apparent shone; Nor could my prejudice resist 'em. The Line of Beauty I survey'd, The arguments I fairly weigh'd, And then acknowledg'd all your system. "With reverence, and respect, like you, The ancient works of art I view; But, like you, see with my own eyes; Abhor the tricks so grossly play'd, Lament the science sunk to trade, And dealers from my soul despise. "Pursue, unrivall'd yet, that art, Which bounteous nature did impart (Ne'er to be so profuse again): Our sons, in time to come, shall strive Where the chief honour they shall give, Or to your pencil or your pen." Hogarth had previously presented this gentleman with a volume of his prints, in return for which he received the following very flattering testimony to his talents:— "Trinity Lane, Feb. 28, 1750. "Dear Sir,—Having been confined to my house by a violent cold, I have had many hours for contemplation, which at such a time generally turns on my friends, among whom you have been so good to let me call you one. Your late kind intention came into my mind, and gave me an uncommon degree of satisfaction; not on my own account only, but with respect to my family. Your works I shall treasure up as a family book, or rather as one of the classics, from which I shall regularly instruct my children, just in the same manner as I should out of Homer or Virgil. You will be read in your course,—and it will be no unusual thing to find me in a morning in my great chair, with my three bigger boys about me, construing the sixth chapter of the Harlot's Progress, or comparing the two characters in the first book of the 'Prentices. "You are one of the first great men I ever was acquainted with, and the first great man I desire to be acquainted with, because you have neither insolence nor vanity. Your character has been sketched in different pieces, by different authors, and great encomiums bestowed on you here and there in English, French, Latin, and Greek: but I want to see a full portrait of you. I wish I were as intimate with you, and as well qualified for the purpose, as your friend Fielding,—I would undertake it. I have made an humble attempt here towards something, but I am afraid it has more of a death's head than the face of a man.—You won't be dispirited because my character of you is in the form of an epitaph, for you will observe at the bottom that I have given you a great length of days. "In the corner, near Shakspeare, in Westminster Abbey, on a monument, elegant only by neatness and symmetry, the next generation may see something like the enclosed inscription, the freedom of which you will excuse, and consider it as coming from a man confined to his room, but from one who is ever, dear sir, your constant admirer, and most obliged servant, "James Townley. "To Mr. Hogarth in Leicester Fields. "AD GULIELMUM HOGARTH, A new and correct edition was (July 1st, 1754) proposed for publication at Berlin by Ch. Fr. Vok, with an explanation of Mr. Hogarth's satirical prints, translated from the French; the whole to subscribers for one dollar, but after six weeks to be raised to two dollars. An Italian translation was published at Leghorn, 1761, octavo, dedicated Al illustrissime Signora Diana Molineux dama Inglese. That Sterne had read the Analysis, appears by the following reference recommendatory, in the first volume of Tristram Shandy:— " ... Such were the outlines of Doctor Slop's figure, which, if you have read Hogarth's Analysis of Beauty, and if you have not, I wish you would, you must know may be as certainly caricatured and conveyed to the mind by three strokes as three hundred." Hogarth's engraving of the air-balloon figure is said to be intended for Doctor Burton, the Jacobite physician of York; a microscopic miniature of the plate (so small that it requires the aid of a glass) is in the engraved frontispiece to these volumes. "Hogarth's Sigismunda. "He placed that picture, which in spite of all the critics could say against it, had infinite merits in the view of the public, and at the same time placed a man in an adjoining room to write down all objections that each spectator made to it. Of these there were a thousand at least, but Hogarth told the writer of this "Yet, Genius, mark what I presage, Who look through every distant age: Merit shall bless thee with her charms, Fame lift thy offspring in her arms, And stamp eternity of grace On all thy numerous, various race. Roubiliac, Wilton, names as high As Phidias of antiquity, Shall strength, expression, manner give, And make e'en marble breathe and live, While Sigismunda's deep distress, Which looks the soul of wretchedness; When I, with slow and soft'ning pen, Have gone o'er all the tints agen, Shall urge a bold and proper claim To level half the ancient fame; While future ages yet unknown, With critic air shall proudly own, Thy Hogarth first of every clime, For humour keen, or strong sublime, And hail him from his fire and spirit, The child of Genius and of Merit." —Lloyd's Works, p. 204. " ... A word in favour of Sigismunda might have commanded a proof print, or forced an original sketch out of our artist's hand. The furnisher of this remark owes one of his scarcest performances to the success of a compliment which might have stuck even in Sir Godfrey Kneller's throat."—Nichols' Anecdotes, p. 55. "Notwithstanding the deep-rooted notion, even amongst the majority of painters themselves, that Time is a great improver of good pictures, I will undertake to show that nothing can be more absurd. Having mentioned the whole effect of the oil, let us now see in what manner Time operates on the colours themselves, in order to discover if any changes in them can give a picture more union and harmony than has been in the power of a skilful master with all his rules of art to do. When colours change at all, it must be somewhat in the manner following; for as they are made, some of metal, some of earth, some of stone, and others of more perishable materials, Time cannot operate on them otherwise than as by daily experience we find it doth, which is, that one changes darker, another lighter, one quite to a different colour, whilst another, as ultra-marine, will keep its natural brightness even in the fire. Therefore, how is it possible that such different materials, ever variously changing (visibly, after a certain time), should accidentally coincide with the artist's intention, and bring about the greater harmony of the piece, when it is manifestly contrary to their nature; for do we not see, in most collections, that much time disunites, untunes, blackens, and by degrees destroys, even the best preserved pictures? "But if, for argument's sake, we suppose that the colours were to fall equally together, let us see what sort of advantage this would give to any sort of composition: we will begin with a flower-piece. When a master hath painted a rose, a lily, an african, a gentinnella, or violet, with his best art and brightest colours, how far short do they fall of the freshness and rich brilliancy of nature! And shall we wish to see them fall still lower, more faint, sullied, and dirtied by the hand of Time, and then admire them as having gained an additional beauty, and call them mended and heightened, rather than fouled, and in a manner destroyed? How absurd! instead of mellowed and softened, therefore, always read yellow and sullied; for this is doing Time, the destroyer, but common justice. Or shall we desire to see complexions, which in life are often literally as brilliant as the flowers above mentioned, served in the like ungrateful manner? In a landscape, will the water be more transparent, or the sky shine with a greater lustre, when embrowned and darkened by decay? Surely no.—These opinions have given rise to another absurdity, viz. that the colours now-a-days do not stand so well as formerly; whereas colours well prepared, in which there are but little art or expense, have, and will always have, the same properties in every age; and without accidents, damps, bad varnish, and the like (being laid separate and pure), will stand and keep together for many years in defiance of Time itself." ALAS, POOR DICK! Beneath the inscriptions are two cross bones of birds, surmounted with a heart and death's head. The sculpture was made with a nail, by the hand of Hogarth, and placed there in memory of a favourite bullfinch, who is deposited beneath. "If thou hast genius, reader, stay; If thou hast feeling, drop the tear;— If thou hast neither,—hence, away, For Hogarth's dear remains lie here. His matchless works, of fame secure, Shall live our country's pride and boast, As long as nature shall endure, And only in her wreck be lost." "HOGARTH'S ORIGINAL WORKS. "As an opinion generally prevails, that the genuine impressions of Hogarth's works are very bad, and the plates retouched, Mrs. Hogarth is under the necessity of acquainting the public in general, and the admirers of her deceased husband's works in particular, that it has been owing to a want of proper attention in the conducting this work for some years past that the impressions in general have not done justice to the condition of the plates; and she has requested some gentlemen, most eminent in the art of engraving, to inspect the plates, who have given the following opinion:— "London, January 21, 1873. "We, whose names are underwritten, having carefully examined the copperplates published by the late Mr. Hogarth, are fully convinced that they have not been retouched since his death. "Francis Bartolozzi. "Mr. Walpole once invited Gray the poet and Hogarth to dine with him; but what with the reserve of the one, and a want of colloquial talents in the other, he never passed a duller time than between these two representatives of tragedy and comedy, being obliged to rely entirely on his own efforts to support conversation."—Nichols' Anecdotes, p. 97. Johnson, though his colloquial powers were gigantic, could not speak in the Society of Arts: he could not, as he himself expressed it, get on. "He could not bear that any one should in their absence be evil spoken of; and in such cases frequently recommended the person who censured to peruse that verse in Leviticus xix. 14, which says, Thou shalt not curse the deaf"; adding, "Those that are absent are deaf."—Life of Rev. Philip Henry, Orton's edition, p. 252. Here continueth to rot, "Though laws severe to punish crimes were made, What honest man is of these laws afraid? All felons against judges will exclaim, As harlots tremble at a Gonson's name." Pope has noticed him in his Imitation of Dr. Donne, and Loveling in a very elegant Latin Ode. Thus, between the poets and the painter, the name of this harlot-hunting justice is transmitted to posterity. He died on the 9th of January 1765. "One Mary Moffat, 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." These disputes, I have been told, sometimes happen at a consultation of regular physicians, and a patient has been so unpolite as to die before they could determine on the name of his disorder. "About the symptoms, how they disagree, But how unanimous about the fee!" When her death was announced, he grasped his remaining child by the hand, and, pointing to her emaciated sister, pathetically exclaimed, "Look there!"—and sunk down in a swoon, from which he was with difficulty recovered. A FIGG FOR THE IRISH. "Grove nods at grove, each alley has a brother, And half the platform just reflects the other." This gunpowder hero being introduced, and evidently waiting for orders, seems covertly to intimate that Thomas Rakewell, Esq., in addition to his other excellent qualities, is a coward. It appears from an examination of the registers, etc., that Thos. Sice and Thos. Horn were really churchwardens in the year 1725, when the repairs were made. This print came out only ten years afterwards; and the present state of the building seems to intimate that Messieurs Sice and Horn had cheated the parish, when they officially superintended the affairs of their church. The coat, shoes, and stockings of the charity-boy convey a similar satire, though that is directed to another quarter. "Ye black and midnight hags,—what do ye do? Live ye, or are ye aught that man may question? Quickly unclasp to me the book of fate, And tell if good or ill my steps await!" First Witch. "All hail, C——e! all hail to thee! All hail! though poor thou soon shalt be!" Hecate. "C——e, all hail! thy evil star Sheds baleful influence—oh, beware! Beware that Thane! beware that Scott! Or poverty shall be thy lot! He'll drain thy youth as dry as hay— Hither, sisters, haste away!" At the concluding word, whirling a watchman's rattle which she held in her hand, the dome echoed with the sound; the terrified peer shrunk into himself,—retired,—vowed never to lose more than a hundred pounds at a sitting, abode by the determination, and retrieved his fortune. Episodium: Res extra argumentum assumpta.—Ainsworth. "Poor Elkannah, all other changes past, For bread, in Smithfield-dragons hiss'd at last; Spit streams of fire, to make the butchers gape; And found his manners suited to his shape." In some of the provinces distant from the capital, their dramatic exhibitions are still given out in the quaint style which marked the productions of our ancestors. This sometimes excites the laughter of a scholar, but it whets the curiosity of the rustic; and whatever helps to fill a theatre or a barn, must be the best of all possible methods. From the recent modes of announcing new plays at the two Royal Theatres, there seems some reason to expect that the admirers of this kind of writing will soon be gratified by having it introduced in the London play-bills, or at least in the London papers, where hints of "the abundant entertainment which is to be expected sometimes make their appearance in the shape of 'a correspondent's opinion.'" But leaving them to their admirers, let us return to humbler scenes, and give one example out of the many which the provinces annually afford. A play-bill, printed some years ago at Ludlow, in Shropshire, was nearly as large as their principal painted scene, and dignified with letters that were truly CAPITAL, for each of those which composed the name of a principal character were near a foot long. The play was for the benefit of a very eminent female performer, the bill was said to be written by herself, and thus was the evening's amusement announced: "For the benefit of Mrs. ——. By particular desire of B—— G——, Esquire, and his most amiable lady: This present evening will be performed a deep tragedy, containing the doleful history of King Lear and his three daughters; with the merry conceits of his Majesty's fool, and the valorous exploits of General Edmund, the Duke of Glo'ster's bastard.—All written by one William Shakspeare, a mighty great poet, who was born in Warwickshire, and held horses for gentlemen at the sign of the Red Bull, in Saint John's Street, near West Smithfield; where was just such another playhouse as that to which we humbly invite you, and hope for the good company of all friends round the Wrekin. "All you who would wish to cry, or to laugh, You had better spend your money here than in the alehouse, by half; And if you likes more about these things for to know, Come at six o'clock to the barn, in the High Street, Ludlow; Where, presented by live actors, the whole may be seen: So vivant Rex, God save the King, not forgetting the Queen."—E. "For his broad shoulders fam'd, and length of ears." "Some men there are love not a gaping pig, Some that are mad if they behold a cat; And others 'if the bagpipe sing i' the nose.' etc." "Theese curious peeces of antiquitie I did purchase from a glazyer at Windsor, who informed me that he had them from his father, who was in the same business, and lived for to be very old; and told unto him, that while he was yet but a little scrubbed boy, being apprenticed, his master did send him to put some newe paines of glasse in a cazement at the Olde Kinges Armes in that towne; the old glasse being rendered dimme and obscured, by wicked fellowes having at sundrie times scribbled naughty and unseemly words and verses thereon. Upon the enclosed paines were the fairest inscriptions; he therefore had kept them, and recommended unto his sonne to doe the like. For a small peece of gold they became mine, and I do beleeve were truelie written by the handes of those verie menne whose names are put under each verse, and that Falstaff his lines are meaned to convey a sort of sporting resentmente against his old companion, once Prince Henrie, surnamed of Monmouth, but nowe become kinge, for having banyshed him from his royal presence; though perhappes it may onlie meane to allude unto the signe of the taverne where they did holde their merrie meetinges." The inscriptions were as follow:— "Kingis Armes taverne atte Winsor, firste daie of Maye, A.D. 1414. Presente,—I John Falstaff, knight,—Mistris Dorothy,—Ned Poins,—and myne Ancient. "Onne Mistris Dorothy. "Doll in the Kingis Armes hath ofte times slept, And Doll if you will give her halfe a crowne, If from the Kingis Armes she should be kept,— Will sleepe in yours, or anie armes in towne.—Falstaff. "On the feathers which Mistriss Dorothy weareth in her hatte: "Under Doll's feathers, let 'Ich Dien' bee; 'I serve,' we translate this.— I own righte welle shee serveth mee, And would serve you I wisse.—E. Poins. "On Dol Tearsheete her Garters; the mottoe 'Honi soit qui mal y pense' being worked with worsteades thereon: "Avaunt, ye peasant slaves! and see from whence The mottoe 'Honi soit qui mal y pense.' Dare of Dol's garters but to whisper eville, With rapier's biting blade I'll drive ye to the deville!—Pistol." —E. These verses are copied verbatim et literatim from the brittle memorial on which they were found; but should any obstinate sceptic be hardy enough to doubt their antiquity, and, notwithstanding the internal evidence which beams through every line, suppose them the productions of modern days, let him read the numerous volumes of those gentlemen who debated so learnedly and so long about the workis of Maister Rowlie, the Bristowe poet, and the giftis of Maister Cannynge, the Bristowe patron; and if, after he has waded through these clear streams of ancient lore, a doubt remains in his mind—he must be an infidel. When the Doctor first became acquainted with David Mallet, they once went with some other gentlemen to laugh away an hour at Southwark Fair. At one of the booths where wild beasts were exhibited to the wondering crowd, was a very large bear, which the showman assured them was "cotched in the undiscovered desarts of the remotest Russia." The bear was muzzled, and might therefore be approached with safety, but to all the company except Johnson was very surly and ill-tempered; of the philosopher he appeared extremely fond, rubbed against him, and displayed every mark of awkward partiality and subdued kindness. "How is it," said one of the company, "that this savage animal is so attached to Mr. Johnson?" "From a very natural cause," replied Mallet; "the bear is a Russian philosopher, and he knows that LinnÆus would have placed him in the same class with the English moralist. They are two barbarous animals of one species." The Doctor disliked Mallet for his tendency to infidelity, and this sarcasm turned that dislike into positive hatred. He never spoke to him afterwards, but has gibbeted him in his octavo Dictionary under the article alias. "There Yeates and Pinchbeck change the scene To slight of hand, and clock machine; First numerous eggs are laid, and then, The pregnant bag brings forth a hen," etc. From the above lines, I should suppose that the late Mr. Pinchbeck, with his wonderful and surprising piece of mechanism the Panopticon, was at this fair; though he frequently spoke of one of his brothers, "who," he said, "was a showman, and who once gave a very large sum for an elephant, and took a room at Southwark Fair, with an intention of exhibiting it; but the passage to this room," added he, "was so narrow, that though my poor brother 'got the beast into it, a'never could get un out on't; a' stuck in the middle on't and died!' So, sir, you sees my poor brother lost all his money. Ah! he was a most unfortunate dog in everything he took in hand! and so was I, God knows." CÆtera desunt. "I never," says a person who knew little about the doctor, "saw Orator Henley but once, and that was at the Grecian Coffeehouse, where a gentleman he was acquainted with coming in, and seating himself in the same box, the following dialogue passed between them:— Henley. "Pray what is become of our old friend Dick Smith? I have not seen him for several years." Gentleman. "I really don't know. The last time I heard of him he was at Ceylon, or some of our settlements in the West Indies." Henley (with some surprise). "At Ceylon, or some of our settlements in the West Indies! My good sir, in one sentence there are two mistakes. Ceylon is not one of our settlements, it belongs to the Dutch; and it is situated, not in the West, but in the East Indies." Gentleman (with some heat). "That I deny!" Henley. "More shame for you! I will engage to bring a boy of eight years of age who will confute you." Gentleman (in a cooler tone of voice). "Well,—be it where it will, I thank God I know very little about these sort of things." Henley. "What, you thank God for your ignorance, do you?" Gentleman (in a violent rage). "I do, sir. What then?" Henley. "Sir, you have a great deal to be thankful for." "Alas! that pictures should decay; That words alone can wit convey: But words remain—Oh, may this verse Remain, etc. etc." Little did this rival of Stephen Duck imagine that the words "which alone can wit convey," would not have preserved his two volumes from the trunkmaker, to whom every verse had been long since consigned, had not this little print, and another copy from the same artist, sometimes induced a collector to purchase the volumes. The concluding lines of his poem are not, however, so contemptible: "In vain we ransack Rome and Greece To match this Conversation piece; In vain our follies would advance The names of Italy and France; Labour and art elsewere we see, But native humour strong in thee; In thee—but parallels are vain, A great original remain. Go on to lash our reigning crimes, And live the censor of the times." "The feast of reason and the flow of soul," would find some use in adopting the old threadbare adage, "Not more than the Muses, nor fewer than the Graces." Poor Mortimer the painter, whose convivial talents were hardly to be paralleled, had such a dislike to large companies, that he used to say, "If he invited the twelve apostles to supper, he would certainly take two evenings to receive them, six being a sufficient number, be the society ever so good." "God not a beast did make, but me a man; And not a Turk, but a true Christian; And by His grace I am a schoolmaster; None of the meaner kind, I dare aver." The cross on an escutcheon in one of the windows is there placed to the memory of the learned and Reverend Ebenezer Muzz; who, his epitaph declareth, after "painfullie labouring in this vineyard for one and fortie years, now sleepeth with his fathers." "When the fresh spring in all her state is crown'd, And high luxuriant grass o'erspreads the ground, The lab'rer with the bending scythe is seen Shaving the surface of the waving green; Of all her native pride disrobes the land, And meads lays waste before his sweeping hand." —Gay's Pastorals, p. 5, l. 39, etc. "The pleasure-ground is comprised in a space of eleven acres, encompassed with ha-ha! and grub walls. The elegant disposition of the ground is beautifully improved with vistas, groves, and plantations, through which walks wind in extensive circuit. Store-ponds and elevated basons occupy the areas, regale those fragrant coverts, and afford a constant and inexhaustible supply of water for the house, by means of lead pipes, aqueducts, etc. "Nature, propitious, hath luxuriantly featured the circumadjacent grounds, and art hath been judiciously introduced to give richness and effect. The lawn swells with gentle rise and easy slopes; clumps of trees are placed in pleasing irregularity; a serpentine stream flows through the vale, heightening the verdure of the divided pasture; and the villages of Chigwell, Woodford, and Woodford Bridge, dawn through that mass of prolific richness which fills the wide expanse." "Studious he sate, with all his books around, Sinking from thought to thought, a vast profound: Plung'd for his sense, but found no bottom there; Then wrote and flounder'd on in mere despair." All his books, amounting to only four, was, I suppose, the artist's reason for erasing the lines. A reduced copy, with some variations, is placed as the headpiece of an Epistle to Alexander Pope, Esq., by Mr. Banckes. One of the variations is, a cobweb over the grate. If this good gentleman had consulted his own headpiece, he would have recollected that, as even a poet must sometimes eat, and the poor bard had no other room, or grate, it was natural to think he must sometimes have a fire to dress his scanty meal. In almost every other respect he is indeed a much more unaccommodated man than was Stephen Duck when he was a thresher. Duck, having made some rhymes, which for a thresher were deemed extraordinary, was taken out of his barn, furnished with a stock in trade, and set up as a poet. After that time he never wrote a stanza; his Muse forsook him; he was haunted by the foul fiend, and hanged or drowned himself, because Queen Caroline, who had made him a parson, could not make him a bishop. In one of the journals of the day, dated June 30, 1736, I find written as follows:—"A handsome entertainment was this day given at Charlton, in Wiltshire, to the threshers of that village, by the Lord Viscount Palmerston, who has given money to purchase a piece of land, the produce of which is to be laid out in an annual entertainment, on the 30th of June, for ever, in commemoration of Stephen Duck, who was a thresher at that place." Happy man! patronized by the Queen's Majesty, and "So lov'd, so honour'd, in the House of Lords!" "Fam'd Vine Street, Where Heaven, the kindest wish of man to grant, Gave me an old house, and an older aunt," lost a considerable legacy; and it is related that Hogarth, by the introduction of this withered votary of Diana into this print, induced her to alter a will which had been made considerably in his favour: she was at first well enough satisfied with her resemblance, but some designing people taught her to be angry. He was a native of Denbigh, in North Wales, and a citizen and goldsmith of London. Though there were three Acts of Parliament empowering the freemen of London to cut through lands, and bring a river from any part of Middlesex or Hertfordshire, the project had always been considered as impracticable, till Sir Hugh Middleton undertook it. He made choice of two springs, one in the parish of Amwell, in Hertfordshire, the other near Ware, each of them about twenty miles from town. Having united their streams with immense labour and expense, he conveyed them to London. This most arduous and useful work was begun on the 20th of February 1608, and brought into the reservoir, at Islington, on Michaelmas day, 1613. Like many other projectors, he ruined his private fortune by his public spirit. King James I., however, created him a baronet; and his descendants, in lieu of a very considerable estate, had the honour of being called Sirs. For the benefit of the poor members of the Goldsmiths' Company, he left a share in his New River water; and his portrait is still preserved in their hall. The seventy-two shares into which this great liquid property was divided, originally sold for one hundred pounds each, and for thirty years afforded scarce any advantage to the proprietors. In the year 1780, shares were sold at nine and ten thousand pounds each; and their price is increasing in proportion to the increase of the dividends, by which their value is regulated. "Death in her hand, and murder in her eye." The sage Melpomene herself could not go through the business with more philosophic indifference. "Yarmouth Gaol, 27th May 1761. "Sir,—When I parted from you at Lincoln, I thought long before now to have met with some oddities worth acquainting you with. It is grown a fashion of late to write lives: I now, and for a long time, have had leisure sufficient to undertake mine, but want materials for the latter part of it; for my existence now cannot properly be called living, but what the painters term still life, having ever since March 13th been confined in this town gaol for a London debt. As the hunted deer is always shunned by the happier herd, so am I deserted by the company, my share taken off, and no support left me except what my wife can spare out of hers: 'Deserted, in my utmost need, By those my former bounties fed.' "With an economy which till now I was ever a stranger to, I have made a shift hitherto to victual my little garrison; but then it has been by the assistance of some good friends; and, alas! my clothes furnish me this week with my last resort; the next, I must atone for my errors upon bread and water. "Themistocles had many towns to furnish his tables, and a whole city had the charge of his meals. In some respects I am like him, for I am fed by the labours of a multitude. A wig has kept me two days; the trimmings of a waistcoat as long; a ruffled shirt has paid my washer-woman; a pair of velvet breeches discharged my lodgings; my coat I swallow by degrees, the sleeves I breakfasted upon for three days, the body, skirts, etc. served me as long; and two pair of pumps enabled me to smoke several pipes. You would be surprised to think how my appetite, barometer-like, rises in proportion as my necessities make their terrible advances. I here could say something droll about a good stomach, but it is ill jesting with edged tools, and I am sure that is the sharpest thing about me. "You may, perhaps, think I am lost to all sense of my condition, that while I am thus wretched I should offer at ridicule; but, Sir, people constitutioned like me, with a disproportionable levity of spirits, are always most merry when most miserable, and quicken like the eyes of the consumptive, which are brightest the nearer the patient approaches his dissolution. But to show you that I am not lost to all reflection, I here think myself poor enough to want a favour, and humble enough to ask it. Then, Sir, I could draw an encomium on your good sense, humanity, etc. etc.; but I will not pay so bad a compliment to your understanding as to endeavour by a parade of phrases to win it over to my interest. If at the concert you could make a gathering for me, it would be a means of obtaining my liberty. "You well know, Sir, the first people of rank abroad perform the most friendly offices for the sick; be not therefore offended at the request of the unfortunate. "George Alexander Stevens." "Hail, vulgar goddess of the foul-mouth'd race! (If modest bard may hail without offence), On whose majestic, blush-disdaining face, The steady hand of Fate wrote—IMPUDENCE! Hail to thy dauntless front, and aspect bold! Thrice hail! magnificent, immortal scold! "The goddess, from the upper gallery's height, With heedful look the jealous fishwife eyes; Though early train'd to urge the mouthing fight, She hears thy bellowing powers with new surprise; Returns instructed to the realms that bore her, Adopts thy tones, and carries all before her. "From thee the roaring Bacchanalian crew, In many a tavern round the Garden known, Learn richer blackguard than they ever knew: They catch thy look,—they copy every tone; They ape the brazen honours of thy face, And push the jorum with a double grace. "Thee from his box the macaroni eyes; With levell'd tube he takes his distant stand, Trembling beholds the horrid storm arise, And feels for reinhold when you raise your hand; At distance he enjoys the boisterous scene, And thanks his God the pit is plac'd between. "So, 'midst the starry honours of the night, The sage explores a comet's fiery course; Fearful he views its wild eccentric flight, And shudders at its overwhelming force: At distance safe he marks the glaring ray, Thankful his world is not within its way. "Proceed then, Catley, in thy great career, And nightly let our maidens hear and see, The sweetest voice disgust the listening ear, The sweetest form assume deformity: Thus shalt thou arm them with their best defence, And teach them modesty by impudence." Orrery. "David, I congratulate you: I inquire not about the success of your theatre; with yourself and Mossop, it must be triumphant. The Percy and the Douglas both in arms, have a right to be confident. Separate, you were two bright luminaries; united, you are a constellation—the Gemini of the theatric hemisphere. Excepting yourself, my dear David, no man that ever trod on tragic ground has so forcibly exhibited the various passions that agitate, and I may say agonize, the human mind. He makes that broad stroke at the heart which, being aimed by the hand of nature, reaches the prince or the peasant, the peer or the plebeian. He is not the mere player of fashion; for the player of fashion, David, may be compared to a man tossed in a blanket: the very instant his supporters quit their hold of the coverlet, down drops the hero of the day. However, as general assertions do not carry conviction, I will arrange my opinions under different heads, not doubting your assent to my declarations, which shall be founded on facts, and built upon experience. First of the first,—his voice; his voice is the vox argentea of the ancients, the silver tone, of which so much has been written, but which never struck upon a modern ear till Mossop spoke,—'then mute attention reigned.'" Garrick. "Why, my Lord, as to his voice, I must acknowledge that it is loud enough; the severest critic cannot accuse him of whispering his part; for, egad, it was so sonorous, that the people had no occasion to come into the theatre: they used to go to the pastrycook's shop in Russel Court, and eat their custards, and hear him as well as if they had been in the orchestra: 'he made the welkin echo to the sound.' No one could doubt the goodness of his lungs, or accuse him of sparing them; but as to—" Orrery. "What! you have found out that he roars! you have discovered that he bellows!—Upon my soul, David, you are right; he bellows like a bull. We used to call him 'Bull Mossop'—'Mossop the Bull;'—we had no better name for him in the country. But then, David, his eye is an eye of fire; and when he looks, he looks unutterable things: it is scarce necessary that he should speak, for his eye conveys everything that he means, and excepting your own, David, is the brightest, most expressive, most speaking eye, that ever beamed in a—" Garrick. "Why, my Lord, with the utmost submission to your Lordship, from whose accurate taste and comprehensive judgment I tremble to differ,—does not your Lordship think there is a—a—a dull kind of heaviness,—a blanket, a—" Orrery. "What! you have discovered that he is blind?—Egad, David, whatever his eye may be, nothing can escape yours. He is as blind as a beetle. There is an opacity, a stare without sight, a sort of filminess, exactly as you describe. But, notwithstanding I allow that he bellows like a bull, and is blind as a beetle, his memory has such peculiar tenacity, that whatever he once receives adheres to it like glue! he does not forget a syllable of his part." Garrick. "Upon my honour, my Lord, if his memory was what you describe in Ireland, he must have forgot to bring it with him to London; for here, the prompter is obliged to repeat every sentence, and a whole sentence he cannot retain: there is absolutely a necessity for splitting it into parts." Orrery. "What! you have found that his head runs out. Upon my soul, it never would hold anything: Lady Orrery used to call him 'Cullender Mossop'—Mossop the Cullender:' the fellow could not remember a common distich. But, notwithstanding this, his carriage is so easy, his air so gentleman-like, his deportment has so much fashion, that you perceive at a glance he has kept the best company; and no one who sees him conceives him a player. He looks like one of our house: he has the port of nobility." Garrick. "As to his port, my Lord, I grant you that the man is tall, and upright enough; but with submission, the utmost submission to your Lordship's better judgment, don't you think there is an awkwardness, a rigid, vulgar, unbending sort of a—a—. We had fencing masters, dancing masters, and drill sergeants, but all would not do; he looked more like a tailor than a gentleman." Orrery. "What! you think that he is stiff? By the Lord, David, you are right,—nothing escapes you: he is stiff—stiff as a poker: we used to call him 'Poker Mossop;'—we had no better name for him in the country. But however his body might want (as I must acknowledge it did) the graceful, easy bend of the Antinous, his mind was formed of the most yielding and flexible materials: any advice which you gave him, he would take; from you, I am persuaded, a hint was sufficient." Garrick. "Why, in this, my Lord, I must be bold enough to differ from you in the most pointed and positive terms; for of all the obstinate, headstrong, and unmanageable animals I ever dealt with, he is the most stubborn, the most untractable, the most wrongheaded. I never knew one instance where he followed my instructions in any the smallest degree. If I recommend him to dress a character plain, he comes upon the stage like a gingerbread king; if I advise him to be splendid in his apparel, he endeavours to get a Quaker's habit from the keeper of our wardrobe; and in everything, he—more than I thought belonged to human nature—had that impenetrable, that—that—that—" Orrery. "So!—you think him obstinate? Upon my soul he is—as obstinate as a pig; he has more of that animal's pertinacity than any man I ever knew in my life. But yet, David, with all these faults, he is—I have not time to enter into particulars.—Be what he will, you have engaged him? I sincerely wish you may agree together, and am, my dear fellow, your most obedient. Say no more.—Farewell.—To Mrs. Garrick present my compliments." "When Philip's fam'd, all-conquering son, Had every blood-stain'd laurel won, He sigh'd that his creative word, Like that which rules the skies, Could not bid other nations rise, To glut his yet unsated sword. "But when Le-Stue's unrivall'd spoon, Like Alexander's sword, with flesh had done, He heav'd no sigh, he made no moan; Not limited to human kind, To fire his wonder-teeming mind, He rais'd ragouts and olios of his own." "Where London's column, pointing to the skies, Like a tall bully rears its head, and lies," etc. The Duke of Buckingham's epigram on this magnificent pillar is not so generally known: "Here stand I, The Lord knows why; But if I fall— Have at ye all!" "A WARNING TO BIRDS, BEASTS, AND FISHES. "Bustards, pheasants, woodcocks, widgeons, Wild-ducks, plovers, snipes, and pigeons; Every fowl of every sort, To your native haunts resort. Turbot, salmon, herring, soles, Plunge into your native holes. Bucks, and does, and hares, and fawns, Speed ye to your native lawns. Each to your closest covers haste! Beware! beware the man of taste! All that can escape, away! You're surely slaughter'd, if you stay, For Monday next is Lord Mayor's day." "This day is published, price 5s., a Print, designed and engraved by Mr. Hogarth, representing a PRODIGY which lately appeared before the gate of Calais, 'O the Roast Beef of Old England!' "To be had at the Golden Head in Leicester Square, and at the print-shops." SEASON 1874. A LIST OF BOOKS PUBLISHED BY Chatto & Windus (Successors to John Camden Hotten), 74 & 75, PICCADILLY, LONDON, W. THE FAMOUS FRASER PORTRAITS. MACLISE'S GALLERY OF ILLUSTRIOUS LITERARY CHARACTERS. With Notes by the late WILLIAM MAGINN, LL.D. Edited, with copious Notes, by William Bates, B.A., Professor of Classics in Queen's College, Birmingham. The volume contains the whole 83 Splendid and most Characteristic Portraits, now first issued in a complete form. In demy 4to, over 400 pages, cloth gilt and gilt edges, 31s. 6d.; or, in morocco elegant, 70s. "What a truly charming book of pictures and prose, the quintessence, as it were, of Maclise and Maginn, giving the very form and pressure of their literary time, would this century of illustrious characters make."—Notes and Queries.
————— THE WORKS OF The Caricaturist, With the Story of his Life and Times, and full and Anecdotal Descriptions of his Engravings. Edited by THOS. WRIGHT, Esq., M.A., F.S.A. Illustrated with 90 full-page Plates, and about 400 Wood Engravings. Demy 4to, 600 pages, cloth extra, 31s. 6d.; or, in morocco elegant, 70s. BEAUTIFUL PICTURES BY BRITISH ARTISTS. A Gathering of Favourites from our Picture Galleries, 1800-1870. By Wilkie, Constable, J. M. W. Turner, Mulready, Sir Edwin Landseer, Maclise, Leslie, E. M. Ward, Frith, Sir John Gilbert, Ansdell, Marcus Stone, Sir Noel Paton, Eyre Crowe, Faed, Madox Brown. All Engraved in the highest style of Art. With Notices of the Artists by Sydney Armytage, M.A. A New Edition. Imperial 4to, cloth gilt and gilt edges, 21s.; or, in morocco elegant, 65s. Uniform with "Beautiful Pictures." COURT BEAUTIES OF THE REIGN OF CHARLES II. From the Originals in the Royal Gallery at Windsor, by Sir Peter Lely. Engraved in the highest style of Art by Thomson, Wright, Scriven, B. Holl, Wagstaff, and T. A. Deane. With Memoirs by Mrs. Jameson, Author of "Legends of the Madonna." New and sumptuous "Presentation Edition." Imp. 4to, cloth gilt and gilt edges, 21s.; or, in morocco elegant, 65s. "This truly beautiful and splendid production is equally a gem among the Fine Arts and in Literature."—Quarterly Review. Companion to the "History of Signboards." Advertising: its History, in all Ages and Countries, with many very Amusing Anecdotes and Examples of Successful Advertisers. Crown 8vo, with numerous Illustrations, coloured and plain, cloth extra, 7s. 6d. [In preparation. Are You Engaged? If so, get Advice to Parties About to Marry. A Series of Instructions in Jest and Earnest. By the Hon. Hugh Rowley. With Humorous Illustrations. Price 3s. 6d., elegantly bound, and enclosed in tinted wrapper, beautifully scented by Rimmel. ? Before taking the "awful plunge" be sure to consult this little work. If it is not a guarantee against life-long misery, it will at least be found of great assistance in selecting a partner for life. American Happy Thoughts. The finest collection of American Humour ever made. Foolscap 8vo, illustrated covers, 1s. [Preparing. Anacreon. Illustrated by the Exquisite Designs of Girodet. Translated by Thomas Moore. Bound in vellum cloth and Etruscan gold, 12s. 6d. ? A beautiful and captivating volume. The well-known Paris house, Firmin Didot, a few years since produced a miniature edition of these exquisite designs by photography, and sold a large number at £2 per copy. The Designs have been universally admired by both artists and poets. Armorial Register of the Order of the Garter, from Edward III, to the Present Time. The several Shields beautifully emblazoned in Gold and Colours from the Original Stall Plates in St. George's Chapel, Windsor. All emblazoned by hand. A sumptuous volume, bound in crimson morocco, gilt, £20. ARTEMUS WARD'S WORKS. Artemus Ward, Complete. The Works of Charles Farrer Browne, better known as "Artemus Ward," now first collected. Crown 8vo, with fine Portrait, facsimile of handwriting, &c., 540 pages, cloth neat, 7s. 6d. ? Comprises all that the humourist has written in England or America. Admirers of Artemus Ward will be glad to possess his writings in a complete form. ————————— Artemus Ward's Lecture at the Egyptian Hall, with the Panorama. Edited by the late T. W. Robertson, Author of "Caste," &c., and E. P. Hingston. Small 4to, exquisitely printed, bound in green and gold, with numerous Tinted Illustrations, 6s. Artemus Ward: his Book. With Notes and Introduction by the Editor of the "Biglow Papers." One of the wittiest books published for many years. Fcap. 8vo, illustrated cover, 1s. The Saturday Review says:—"The author combines the powers of Thackeray with those of Albert Smith. The salt is rubbed in by a native hand—one which has the gift of tickling." Artemus Ward: his Travels among the Mormons and on the Rampage. Edited by E. P. Hingston, the Agent and Companion of A. Ward whilst "on the Rampage." New Edition, price 1s. ? Some of Artemus's most mirth-provoking papers are to be found in this book. The chapters on the Mormons will unbend the sternest countenance. As bits of fun they are IMMENSE! Artemus Ward's Letters to "Punch," Among the Witches, and other Sketches. Cheap Popular Edition. Fcap. 8vo, in illustrated cover, 1s.; or, 16mo, bound in cloth extra, 2s. ? The volume contains, in addition, some quaint and humorous compositions which were found upon the author's table after his decease. Artemus Ward among the Fenians: with the Showman's Experiences of Life at Washington, and Military Ardour at Baldinsville. Toned paper, price 6d. Army Lists of the Roundheads and Cavaliers in the Civil War, 1642. Second Edition, Considerably Enlarged and Corrected. Edited, with Notes, by Edward Peacock, F.S.A. 4to, half-Roxburghe, 7s. 6d. ? Very interesting to Antiquaries and Genealogists. The Art of Amusing. A Collection of Graceful Arts, Games, Tricks, Puzzles, and Charades, intended to amuse everybody, and enable all to amuse everybody else. By Frank Bellew. With nearly 300 Illustrations. Crown 8vo, 4s. 6d. ? One of the most entertaining handbooks of amusements ever published. —————————— Awful Crammers. A New American Joke Book. Edited by Titus A. Brick, Author of "Shaving Them." Fcap. 8vo, with numerous curious Illustrations, 1s. A Fine Edition is also published, in crown 8vo, printed on toned paper, and bound in cloth gilt, at 3s. 6d. "Rarer than the phoenix is the virtuous man who will consent to lose a good anecdote because it isn't true."—De Quincy. Babies and Ladders: Essays on Things in General. By Emmanuel Kink. A New Work of Irresistible Humour (not American), which has excited considerable attention. Fcap. 8vo, with numerous Vignettes by W. S. Gilbert and others, 1s. 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A Gathering of the Best Humour, the Wittiest Sayings, the Drollest Quips, and the Best Things of Thackeray, Hood, Mayhew, Albert Smith, A'Beckett, Robert Brough, &c. With about One Thousand Woodcuts and Steel Engravings by the inimitable Cruikshank, Hine, Landells, &c. Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, a very thick volume, price 7s. 6d. Cruikshank's Comic Almanack. Second Series, 1844-53, Completing the work. Uniform with the First Series, and written and illustrated by the same humorists. Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, a very thick volume, price 7s. 6d. ? The two volumes (each sold separately) form a most extraordinary gathering of the best wit and humour of the past half-century. The work forms a "Comic History of England" for twenty years. THE BEST GUIDE TO HERALDRY. Cussans' Handbook of Heraldry; with Instructions for Tracing Pedigrees and Deciphering Ancient MSS.; also, Rules for the Appointment of Liveries, &c., &c. By John E. Cussans. Illustrated with 360 Plates and Woodcuts. Cr. 8vo, cloth extra, gilt and emblazoned, 7s. 6d. ? This volume, beautifully printed on toned paper, contains not only the ordinary matter to be found in the best books on the science of Armory, but several other subjects hitherto unnoticed. Amongst these may be mentioned:—1. Directions for Tracing Pedigrees. 2. Deciphering Ancient MSS., illustrated by Alphabets and Facsimiles. 3. The Appointment of Liveries. 4. Continental and American Heraldry, &c. VERY IMPORTANT COUNTY HISTORY. Cussans' History of Hertfordshire. A County History, got up in a very superior manner, and ranging with the finest works of its class. Illustrated with full-page Plates on Copper and Stone, and a profusion of small Woodcuts. Parts I. to VI. are now ready, price 21s. each. ? An entirely new History of this important County, great attention being given to all matters pertaining to the Family History of the locality. Uniform With the "Charles Dickens Edition." Dickens: The Story of his Life. By Theodore Taylor, Author of the "Life of Thackeray." Uniform with the "Charles Dickens Edition" of his Works, and forming a Supplementary Volume to that Issue. Cr. 8vo, crimson cloth, 3s. 6d. "Anecdotes seem to have poured in upon the author from all quarters.... Turn where we will through these 370 pleasant pages, something worth reading is sure to meet the eye."—The Standard. Also Published: The "Best Edition" of the above Work, illustrated by Photographic Frontispiece of "Dickens as Captain Bobadil," Portraits, Facsimiles, &c. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 7s. 6d. The "Cheap Edition," in 16mo, paper wrapper, with Frontispiece and Vignette, 2s. Uniform with the "Charles Dickens Edition." Dickens' Speeches, Social and Literary, now first collected. Uniform with, and forming a Supplementary Volume to, the "Charles Dickens Edition." Crown 8vo, crimson cloth, 3s. 6d. "His speeches are as good as any of his printed writings."—The Times. Also Published: The "Best Edition," in crown 8vo, with fine Portrait by Count D'Orsay, cloth extra, 7s. 6d. The "Cheap Edition," without Portrait, in 16mo, paper wrapper, 2s. Dickens' Life and Speeches, in One Volume, 16mo, cloth extra, 2s. 6d. BALZAC'S CONTES DROLATIQUES. Droll Stories, collected from the Abbeys of Touraine. Now first Translated into English, Complete and Unabridged, with the whole 425 Marvellous, Extravagant, and Fantastic Illustrations (the finest he has ever done) by Gustave DorÉ. Beautifully printed, in 8vo, cloth extra, gilt, gilt top, 12s. 6d. ? The most singular designs ever attempted by any artist. So crammed is the book with pictures, that even the contents are adorned with thirty-three Illustrations. A few copies of the French Original are still on sale, bound half-Roxburghe, gilt top—a very handsome book—price 12s. 6d. The Danbury Newsman. A Brief but Comprehensive Record of the Doings of a Remarkable People, under more Remarkable Circumstances, and Chronicled in a most Remarkable Manner. By James M. Bailey. Uniform with Twain's "Screamers." Fcap. 8vo, illustrated cover, 1s. "A real American humorist."—Figaro. The Derby Day. A Sporting Novel of intense interest, by a well-known writer. Fcap. 8vo, illustrated cover, 1s. Disraeli's (Rt. Hon. B.) Speeches on the Conservative Policy of the last Thirty Years, including the Speech at the Literary Fund Dinner, specially revised by the Author. Royal 16mo, paper cover, with Portrait, 1s. 4d.; in cloth, 1s. 10d. D'Urfey's ("Tom") Wit and Mirth; or, Pills to Purge Melancholy: Being a Collection of the best Merry Ballads and Songs, Old and New. Fitted to all Humours, having each their proper Tune for either Voice or Instrument: most of the Songs being new set. London: Printed by W. Pearson, for J. Tonson, at Shakespeare's Head, over-against Catherine Street in the Strand, 1719. An exact and beautiful reprint of this much-prized work, with the Music to the Songs, just as in the rare original. In 6 vols., large fcap. 8vo, antique boards, edges uncut, beautifully printed on laid paper, made expressly for the work, price £3 3s.; or Large Paper Copies (a limited number only printed), price £5 5s. ? The Pills To Purge Melancholy have now retained their celebrity for a century and a half. The difficulty of obtaining a copy has of late years raised sets to a fabulous Price, and has made even odd volumes costly. Considering the classical reputation which the book has thus obtained, and its very high interest as illustrative of the manners, customs, and amusements of English life during the half century following the Restoration, no apology is needed for placing such a work more within the reach of general readers and students by re-issuing it for the first time since its original appearance, and at about a tithe of the price for which the old edition could now be obtained. For drinking-songs and love-songs, sprightly ballads, merry stories, and political squibs, there are none to surpass these in the language. In improvising such pieces, and in singing them, D'urfey was perhaps never equalled, except in our own century by Theodore Hook. The sallies of his wit amused and delighted three successive English sovereigns; and while his plays are forgotten, his songs and ballads still retain the light abandon and joyous freshness that recommended them to the wits and beaux of Queen Anne's days. Nor can the warm and affectionate eulogy of Steele and Addison be forgotten, and D'urfey may now take his place on the bookshelves of the curious, side by side with the other worthies of his age. The Earthward Pilgrimage, from the Next World to that which now is. By Moncure D. Conway. Crown 8vo, beautifully printed and bound, 7s. 6d. Edgar Allan Poe's Prose and Poetical Works; including Additional Tales and the fine Essays by this great Genius, now First Published in this Country. With a Translation of Charles Baudelaire's "Essay on Poe." 750 pages, crown 8vo, with fine Portrait and Illustrations, cloth extra, 7s. 6d. Poe's Cottage at Fordham. Mrs. Ellis's Mothers of Great Men. A New Edition of this well-known Work, with numerous very beautiful Portraits. Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, over 500 pages, 7s. 6d. [In preparation. The Standard Work on the Subject. Emanuel on Diamonds and Precious Stones; Their History, Value, and Properties; with Simple Tests for ascertaining their Reality. By Harry Emanuel, F.R.G.S. With numerous Illustrations, Tinted and Plain. A New Edition, with the Prices brought down to the Present Time. Crown 8vo, full gilt, 6s. "Will be acceptable to many readers."—Times. "An invaluable work for buyers and sellers."—Spectator. ? The present, which is greatly superior to the first edition, gives the latest market value for Diamonds and Precious Stones of every size. The Englishman's House, from a Cottage to a Mansion. A Practical Guide to Members of Building Societies, and all interested in Selecting or Building a House. By C. J. Richardson, Architect, Author of "Old English Mansions," &c. Second Edition, Corrected and Enlarged, with nearly 600 Illustrations. Crown 8vo, 550 pages, cloth, 7s. 6d. ? This Work might not inappropriately be termed "A Book of Houses." It gives every variety of house, from a workman's cottage to a nobleman's palace. The book is intended to supply a want long felt, viz., a plain, non-technical account of every style of house, with the cost and manner of building. Our English Surnames: Their Sources and Significations. By Charles Wareing Bardsley, M.A. Crown 8vo, about 600 pages, cloth extra, 9s. Indispensable to every Household. Everybody Answered. A Handy Book for All; and a Guide to the Housewife, the Servant, the Cook, the Tradesman, the Workman, the Professional Man, the Clerk, &c., &c., in the Duties belonging to their respective Callings. One thick volume, crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 4s. 6d. [In preparation. Family Fairy Tales; or, Glimpses of Elfland at Heatherstone Hall. Edited by Cholmondeley Pennell, Author of "Puck on Pegasus," &c. Adorned with beautiful Pictures of "My Lord Lion," "King Uggermugger," and other Great Folks, by M. Ellen Edwards, and other artists. Handsomely printed on toned paper, in cloth, green and gold, price 4s. 6d. plain, 5s. 6d. coloured. Faraday's Chemical History of a Candle. Lectures delivered to a Juvenile Audience. A New Edition of this well-known volume, which has been so long out of print, Edited by W. Crookes, Esq., F.S.A., &c. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, with all the Original Illustrations, price 4s. 6d. Faraday's Various Forces of Nature. A New Edition, with all the Original Illustrations, Edited by W. Crookes, Esq., F.S.A., &c. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 4s. 6d. FLAGELLATION AND THE FLAGELLANTS. A History of the Rod in all Countries, from the Earliest Period to the Present Time. The use of the Rod in the Church, Convent, Monastery, Prison, Army, Navy, in public and private; the use of the Birch in the Family, Ladies' Seminaries, Boys' Schools, Colleges, the Boudoir, Ancient and Modern. By the Rev. W. Cooper, B.A. Second Edition, revised and corrected, with numerous Illustrations. Thick crown 8vo, cloth extra gilt, 12s. 6d. "A remarkable, and certainly a very readable volume."—Daily Telegraph. The Fiend's Delight: A "Cold Collation" of Atrocities. By Dod Grile. New Edition, in illustrated wrapper, fcap. 8vo, 1s.; or crown 8vo, cloth extra, 3s. 6d. "A specimen of 'American Humour' as unlike that of all other American humourists, as the play of young human Merry-Andrews is unlike that of a young and energetic demon whose horns are well budded."—New York Nation. The Finish to Life in and out of London; or, The Final Adventures of Tom, Jerry, and Logic. By Pierce Egan. Royal 8vo, cloth extra, with Spirited Coloured Illustrations by Cruikshank, 21s. ? An extraordinary picture of "London by Night" in the Days of George the Fourth. All the strange places of amusement in the neighbourhood of Covent Garden and St. James's are fully described, and very queer places they were too! Walk up! Walk up! and see the Crown 4to, with nearly 200 immensely funny Pictures, all beautifully coloured, bound in extra cloth gilt, price 7s. 6d. The Professor's Leetle Music Lesson. A Second Series is now Ready, called Crown 4to, with the Pictures beautifully Coloured, uniform with the First Series, in extra cloth gilt, price 7s. 6d. A Companion to all French Dictionaries. French Slang; or, Eccentricities of the French Language. A DICTIONARY OF PARISIAN ARGOT, including all recent expressions, whether of the Street, the Theatre, or the Prison. Handsomely bound in half-Roxburghe, illustrated with 30 large Wood Engravings. Price 7s. 6d. ? This book is indispensable to all readers of modern French literature. It is, besides, amusing in itself, and may be taken up to while away an idle half-hour. It does for French what our "Slang Dictionary" does for English. Fun for the Million: A Gathering of Choice Wit and Humour, Good Things, and Sublime Nonsense, by Dickens, Jerrold, Sam Slick, Chas. H. Ross, Hood, Theodore Hook, Mark Twain, Brough, Colman, Titus A. Brick, and a Host of other Humourists. With Pictures by Matt Morgan, Gilbert, Nast, Thompson, Cruikshank, Jun., Brunton, &c. In fcap. 4to, profusely illustrated, with picture wrapper, 1s. The Genial Showman; or, Show Life in the New World. Adventures with Artemus Ward, and the Story of his Life. By E. P. Hingston. Third Edition. Crown 8vo, Illustrated by Brunton, cloth extra, 7s. 6d. ? This is a most interesting work. It gives Sketches of Show-Life in the Far West, on the Pacific Coast, among the Mines of California, in Salt Lake City, and across the Rocky Mountains; with chapters descriptive of Artemus Ward's visit to England. RUSKIN AND CRUIKSHANK. German Popular Stories. Collected by the Brothers Grimm, and Translated by Edgar Taylor. Edited by John Ruskin. With 22 Illustrations after the inimitable designs of George Cruikshank. Both Series complete. Square crown 8vo, 6s. 6d.; gilt leaves, 7s. 6d. ? These are the designs which Mr. Ruskin has praised so highly, placing them far above all Cruikshank's other works of a similar character. So rare had the original book (published in 1823-1826) become, that £5 to £6 per copy was an ordinary price. By the consent of Mr. Taylor's family a New Edition is now issued, under the care and superintendence of the printers who issued the originals forty years ago. A few copies for sale on Large Paper, price 21s. Gesta Romanorum; or, Entertaining Stories, invented by the Monks as a Fireside Recreation, and commonly applied in their Discourses from the Pulpit. A New Edition, with Introduction by Thomas Wright, Esq., M.A., F.S.A. Two vols. large fcap. 8vo, only 250 copies printed, on fine ribbed paper, 18s.; or, Large Paper Edition (only a few copies printed), 30s. Gladstone's (Rt. Hon. W. E.) Speeches on Great Questions of the Day during the last Thirty Years. Collated with the best public reports. Royal 16mo, paper cover, 1s. 4d.; cloth extra, 1s. 10d. Golden Treasury of Thought. The Best EncyclopÆdia of Quotations and Elegant Extracts, from Writers of all Times and all Countries, ever formed. Selected and Edited by Theodore Taylor, Author of "Thackeray, the Humorist and Man of Letters," "Story of Charles Dickens' Life." Crown 8vo, very handsomely bound, cloth gilt, and gilt edges, 7s. 6d. Grose's Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. 1785. A genuine unmutilated Reprint of the First Edition. Quarto, bound in half-Roxburghe, gilt top, price 8s. ? Only a small number of copies of this very vulgar, but very curious, book have been printed, for the Collectors of "Street Words" and Colloquialisms. Hall's (Mrs. S. C.) Sketches of Irish Character. With numerous Illustrations on Steel and Wood, by Daniel Maclise, R.A., Sir John Gilbert, W. Harvey, and G. Cruikshank. 8vo, pp. 450, cloth extra, 7s. 6d. "The Irish sketches of this lady resemble Miss Mitford's beautiful English Sketches in 'Our Village,' but they are far more vigorous and picturesque and bright."—Blackwood's Magazine. Companion to "The Secret Out." Hanky-Panky. A New and Wonderful Book of Very Easy Tricks, Very Difficult Tricks, White Magic, Sleight of Hand; in fact, all those startling Deceptions which the Great Wizards call "Hanky-Panky." Edited by W. H. Cremer, of Regent Street. With nearly 200 Illustrations. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, price 4s. 6d. Hans Breitmann's Ballads. By J. G. Leland. The Complete Work, from the Author's revised Edition. Royal 16mo, paper cover, 1s.; in cloth, 1s. 6d. Hatton's (Jos.) Kites and Pigeons. A most amusing Novelette. With Illustrations by Linley Sambourne, of "Punch." Fcap. 8vo, illustrated wrapper, 1s. —————————— Hawthorne's English and American Note Books. Edited, with an Introduction, by Moncure D. Conway. Royal 16mo, paper cover, 1s.; in cloth, 1s. 6d. Holidays with Hobgoblins, and Talk of Strange Things. By Dudley Costello. Fcap. 8vo, illustrated boards, with Picture by George Cruikshank. 2s. OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES' WORKS. Holmes' Autocrat of the Breakfast Table. An entirely New Edition of this Favourite Work. Royal 16mo, paper cover, 1s.; in cloth, neat, 1s. 6d. Holmes' Poet at the Breakfast Table. From January to June. Paper cover, 1s. Holmes' Professor at the Breakfast Table. A Companion Volume to the "Autocrat of the Breakfast Table." Royal 16mo, paper cover, 1s.; cloth neat, 1s. 6d. Holmes' Wit and Humour. Delightful Verses, in the style of the elder Hood. Fcap. 8vo, illustrated wrapper, 1s. THE ONLY COMPLETE HOGARTH EVER PUBLISHED. Hogarth's Works; with Life and Anecdotal Descriptions of the Pictures, by John Ireland and John Nichols. The Work includes 150 Engravings, reduced in exact facsimile of the Original Plates, specimens of which have now become very scarce. The whole in Three Series, 8vo, cloth, gilt, 22s. 6d. Each series is, however, Complete in itself, and is sold separately at 7s. 6d. Hogarth's Five Days' Frolic; or, Peregrinations by Land and Water. Illustrated with Tinted Drawings, made by Hogarth and Scott during the Journey. 4to, beautifully printed, cloth, extra gilt, 10s. 6d. ? A graphic and most extraordinary picture of the hearty English times in which these merry artists lived. Hood's Whims and Oddities. The Entire Work. Now issued Complete, the Two Parts in One Volume, with all the Humorous Designs. Royal 16mo, paper cover, 1s.; cloth neat, 1s. 6d. Hunt's (Leigh) Tale for a Chimney Corner, and other charming Essays. With Introduction by Edmund Ollier, and Portrait supplied by the late Thornton Hunt. Royal 16mo, paper cover, 1s. 4d.; cloth neat, 1s. 10d. Hunt's (Robert, F.R.S.) Drolls of Old Cornwall; or, Popular Romances of the West of England. New Edition, Complete in One Volume, with Illustrations by George Cruikshank. Crown 8vo, extra cloth gilt, 7s. 6d. ? "Mr. Hunt's charming book on the Drolls and Stories of the West of England."—Saturday Review. Jennings' (Hargrave) One of the Thirty. With curious Illustrations. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 10s. 6d. ? An extraordinary narrative, tracing down one of the accursed pieces of silver for which Jesus of Nazareth was sold. Through eighteen centuries is this fated coin tracked, now in the possession of the innocent, now in the grasp of the guilty, but everywhere carrying with it the evil that fell upon Judas. —————————— Jennings' (Hargrave) The Rosicrucians: Their Rites and Mysteries. With chapters on the Ancient Fire and Serpent Worshippers, and Explanations of the Mystic Symbols represented in the Monuments and Talismans of the Primeval Philosophers. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, with about 300 Illustrations, 10s. 6d. Joe Miller's Jests; or, The Wit's Vade Mecum. Being a collection of the most brilliant Jests, the politest Repartees, the most elegant Bon-Mots, and most pleasant short Stories in the English Language. London: Printed by T. Read, 1739. A remarkable facsimile of the very rare Original Edition. 8vo, half-Roxburghe, 9s. 6d. ? Only a very few copies of this humorous and racy old book have been reproduced. Josh Billings: His Book of Sayings. With Introduction by E. P. Hingston, Companion of Artemus Ward when on his "Travels." Fcap. 8vo, illustrated cover, 1s. Kalendars of Gwynedd; or, Chronological Lists of Lords-Lieutenant, Sheriffs and Knights for Anglesey, Caernarvon, and Merioneth. With Lists of the Lords-Presidents of Wales, and the Constables of the Castles of Beaumaris, Caernarvon, Conway, and Harlech. Compiled by Edward Breese, F.S.A. With Notes by William Watkin Edward Wynne, Esq., F.S.A., of Penairth. Only a limited number printed. One volume, demy 4to, cloth extra, 28s. Lamb's (Charles) Essays of Elia. The Complete Work. Beautifully printed, and uniform with the "Essays of Leigh Hunt." Royal 16mo, paper cover, 1s.; cloth neat, 1s. 6d. Leigh's Carols of Cockayne. Vers de SociÉtÉ, mostly descriptive of London Life. By Henry S. Leigh. With numerous exquisite Designs by Alfred Concanen and the late John Leech. Small 4to, elegant, uniform with "Puniana," 6s. Uniform with "Dr. Syntax." Life in London; or, The Day and Night Scenes of Jerry Hawthorn and Corinthian Tom. With the whole of Cruikshank's very Droll Illustrations, in Colours, after the Originals. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 7s. 6d. ? One of the most popular books ever issued. It was an immense favourite with George IV., and as a picture of London life fifty years ago was often quoted by Thackeray, who devotes one of his "Roundabout Papers" to a description of it. Literary Scraps. A Folio Scrap-Book of 340 columns, with guards, for the reception of Cuttings from Newspapers, Extracts, Miscellanea, &c. A very useful book. In folio, half-roan, cloth sides, 7s. 6d. Little Breeches, and other Pieces (Pike County Ballads). By Colonel John Hay. Foolscap 8vo, illustrated cover, 1s. 6d. The Little London Directory of 1677. The Oldest Printed List of the Merchants and Bankers of London. Reprinted from the Exceedingly Rare Original, with an Introduction by John Camden Hotten. 16mo, in a beautiful binding, after the original, 6s. 6d. The Log of the Water Lily, during Three Cruises on the Rhine, Neckar, Main, Moselle, Danube, Saone, and Rhone. By R. B. Mansfield, B.A. Illustrated by Alfred Thompson, B.A. Fifth Edition, revised and considerably enlarged. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, gilt, 5s. Longfellow's Prose Works, Complete, including his Stories and Essays, now for the first time collected. Edited, with a Preface, by the Author of "Tennysoniana." With Portrait and Illustrations, drawn by Valentine Bromley, and beautifully engraved, 650 pages, crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 7s. 6d. Lost Beauties of the English Language. An Appeal to Authors, Poets, Clergymen, and Public Speakers; with an Introductory Essay. By Charles Mackay, LL.D. In crown 8vo, cloth extra, uniform with the "Slang Dictionary," 6s. 6d. Uniform with "The Magician's Own Book." Magic and Mystery. A Splendid Collection of Tricks with Cards, Dice, Balls, &c., with fully descriptive working Directions. Crown 8vo, with numerous Illustrations, cloth extra, 4s. 6d. [Preparing. Companion to "The Secret Out." The Magician's Own Book. Containing ample Instructions for Performances in Legerdemain with Cups and Balls, Eggs, Hats, Handkerchiefs, &c. All from Actual Experience. Edited by W. H. Cremer, Jun., of Regent Street. Cloth extra, with 200 Illustrations, 4s. 6d. MARK TWAIN'S WORKS. Mark Twain's Choice Works. With extra passages to the "Innocents Abroad," now first reprinted, and a Life of the Author. 50 Illustrations by Mark Twain and other Artists, and Portrait of the Author. 700 pages, cloth gilt, 7s. 6d. Mark Twain's Innocents Abroad: The Voyage Out. Crown 8vo, cloth, fine toned paper, 3s. 6d.; or fcap. 8vo, illustrated wrapper, 1s. —————————— Mark Twain's New Pilgrim's Progress: The Voyage Home. Crown 8vo, cloth, fine toned paper, 3s. 6d.; or fcap. 8vo, illustrated wrapper, 1s. —————————— Mark Twain's Burlesque Autobiography, First MediÆval Romance, and on Children. Fcap. 8vo, illustrated cover, 6d. Mark Twain's Eye-Openers. A Volume of immensely Funny Sayings, and Stories that will bring a smile upon the gruffest countenance. Fcap. 8vo, illustrated wrapper, 1s. Mark Twain's Jumping Frog, and other Humorous Sketches. Fcap. 8vo, illustrated cover, 1s. "An inimitably funny book."—Saturday Review. Mark Twain's Pleasure Trip on the Continent of Europe. (The "Innocents Abroad" and "New Pilgrim's Progress" in one volume.) 500 pages, paper boards, 2s.; or in cloth, 2s. 6d. Mark Twain's Practical Jokes; or, Mirth with Artemus Ward, and other Papers. By Mark Twain, and other Humorists. Fcap. 8vo, illustrated cover, 1s. Mark Twain's Screamers. A Gathering of Delicious Bits and Short Stories. Fcap. 8vo, illustrated cover, 1s. Mayhew's London Characters: Illustrations of the Humour, Pathos, and Peculiarities of London Life. By Henry Mayhew, Author of "London Labour and the London Poor," and other Writers. With nearly 100 graphic Illustrations. Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, about 500 pages, 7s. 6d. [Preparing. Magna Charta. An exact Facsimile of the Original Document, preserved in the British Museum, very carefully drawn, and printed on fine plate paper, nearly 3 feet long by 2 feet wide, with the Arms and Seals of the Barons elaborately emblazoned in Gold and Colours, A.D. 1215. Price 5s.; or, handsomely framed and glazed, in carved oak, of an antique pattern, 22s. 6d. A full Translation, with Notes, has been prepared, price 6d. ENTIRELY NEW GAMES. The Merry Circle, and How the Visitors were entertained during Twelve Pleasant Evenings. A Book of New Intellectual Games and Amusements. Edited by Mrs. Clara Bellew. Crown 8vo, numerous Illustrations, cloth extra, 4s. 6d. ? A capital Book of Household Amusements, which will please both old and young. It is an excellent book to consult before going to an evening party. Monumental Inscriptions of the West Indies, from the Earliest Date, with Genealogical and Historical Annotations, &c., from Original, Local, and other Sources. Illustrative of the Histories and Genealogies of the Seventeenth Century, the Calendars of State Papers, Peerages, and Baronetages. With Engravings of the Arms of the principal Families. Chiefly collected on the spot by the Author, Capt. J. H. Lawrence-Archer. One volume, demy 4to, about 300 pages, cloth extra, 21s. Mr. Brown on the Goings-on of Mrs. Brown at the Tichborne Trial, &c. Fcap. 8vo, illustrated cover, 1s. Mr. Sprouts: His Opinions. Fcap. 8vo, illustrated cover, 1s. Uniform with "Tom D'Urfey's Pills." Musarum DeliciÆ; or, The Muses' Recreation, 1656; Wit Restor'd, 1658; and Wit's Recreations, 1640. The whole compared with the originals; with all the Wood Engravings, Plates, Memoirs, and Notes. A New Edition, in 2 volumes, post 8vo, beautifully printed 011 antique laid paper, and bound in antique boards, 21s. A few Large Paper copies have been prepared, price 35s. ? Of the Poets of the Restoration, there are none whose works are more rare than those of Sir John Mennis and Dr. James Smith. The small volume entitled "Musarum DeliciÆ; or, The Muses' Recreation," which contains the productions of these two friends, was not accessible to Mr. Freeman when he compiled his "Kentish Poets," and has since become so rare that it is only found in the cabinets of the curious. A reprint of the "Musarum DeliciÆ," together with several other kindred pieces of the period, appeared in 1817, forming two volumes of FacetiÆ, edited by Mr. E. Dubois, author of "The Wreath," &c. These volumes having in turn become exceedingly scarce, the Publishers venture to put forth the present new edition, in which, while nothing has been omitted, no pains have been spared to render it more complete and elegant than any that has yet appeared. The type, plates, and woodcuts of the originals have been accurately followed; the notes of the Editor of 1817 are considerably augmented, and indexes have been added, together with a portrait of Sir John Mennis, from a painting by Vandyke in Lord Clarendon's Collection. The Mystery of Mr. E. Drood. An Adaptation. By Orpheus C. Kerr. Fcap. 8vo, illustrated cover, 1s. The Mystery of the Good Old Cause: Sarcastic Notices of those Members of the Long Parliament that held Places, both Civil and Military, contrary to the Self-denying Ordinance of April 3, 1645; with Sums of Money and Lands they divided among themselves. Small 4to, half-morocco, 7s. 6d. Never Caught in Blockade-Running. An exciting book of Adventures during the American Civil War. Fcap. 8vo, illustrated cover, 1s. Napoleon III., the Man of His Time; from Caricatures. Part I. The Story of the Life of Napoleon III., as told by J. M. Haswell. Part II. The Same Story, as told by the Popular Caricatures of the past Thirty-five Years. Crown 8vo, with Coloured Frontispiece and over 100 Caricatures, 400 pp., 7s. 6d. ? The object of this Work is to give Both Sides of the Story. The Artist has gone over the entire ground of Continental and English Caricatures for the last third of a century, and a very interesting book is the result. Nuggets and Dust, panned out in California by Dod Grile. Edited by J. Milton Sloluck. A new style of Humour and Satire. Fcap. 8vo, illustrated cover, 1s. ? If Artemus Ward may be considered the Douglas Jerrold, and Mark Twain the Sydney Smith of America, Dod Grile will rank as their Dean Swift. The Old Prose Stories whence Tennyson's "Idylls of the King" were taken. By B. M. Ranking. Royal 16mo, paper cover, 1s.; cloth extra, 1s. 6d. THE OLD DRAMATISTS. Ben Jonson's Works. With Notes, Critical and Explanatory, and a Biographical Memoir by William Gifford. Edited by Lieut.-Col. Francis Cunningham. Complete in 3 vols., crown 8vo, Portrait. Cloth, 6s. each; cloth gilt, 6s. 6d. each. George Chapman's Plays, Complete, from the Original Quartos. With an Introduction by Algernon Charles Swinburne. Crown 8vo, Portrait. Cloth, 6s.; cloth gilt, 6s. 6d. [In preparation. Christopher Marlowe's Works: Including his Translations. Edited, with Notes and Introduction, by Lieut.-Col. F. Cunningham. Crown 8vo, Portrait. Cloth, 6s.; cloth gilt, 6s. 6d. Philip Massinger's Plays. From the Text of Wm. Gifford. With the addition of the Tragedy of "Believe as You List." Edited by Lieut.-Col. Francis Cunningham. Crown 8vo, Portrait. Cloth, 6s.; cloth gilt, 6s. 6d. Original Lists of Persons of Quality; Emigrants; Religious Exiles; Political Rebels; Serving Men Sold for a Term of Years; Apprentices; Children Stolen; Maidens Pressed; and others who went from Great Britain to the American Plantations, 1600-1700. With their Ages, the Localities where they formerly Lived in the Mother Country, Names of the Ships in which they embarked, and other interesting particulars. From MSS. preserved in the State Paper Department of Her Majesty's Public Record Office, England. Edited by John Camden Hotten. A very handsome volume, crown 4to, cloth gilt, 700 pages, 31s. 6d. A few Large Paper copies have been printed, price 50s. Parochial History of the County of Cornwall. Compiled from the best authorities, and corrected and improved from actual survey. 4 vols. 4to, cloth extra, £3 3s. the set; or, separately, the first three volumes, 16s. each; the fourth volume, 18s. Companion to the "Bon Gaultier Ballads." Puck on Pegasus. By H. Cholmondeley Pennell. In 4to, printed within an India-paper tone, and elegantly bound, gilt, gilt edges, price 10s. 6d. ? This most amusing work has passed through Five Editions, receiving everywhere the highest praise as "a clever and brilliant book." In addition to the designs of George Cruikshank, John Leech, Julian Portch, "Phiz," and other artists, Sir Noel Paton, Millais, John Tenniel, Richard Doyle, and M. Ellen Edwards have now contributed several exquisite pictures, thus making the New Edition—which is Twice the Size of the old one—the best book for the Drawing-room table published. By the same Author. Modern Babylon, and other Poems. Small crown 8vo, cloth extra, gilt, 4s. 6d. Companion to "Cussans' Heraldry." The Pursuivant of Arms; or, Heraldry founded upon Facts. A Popular Guide to the Science of Heraldry. By J. R. PlanchÉ, Esq., F.S.A., Somerset Herald. To which are added, Essays on the Badges of the Houses of Lancaster and York. A New Edition, enlarged and revised by the Author, illustrated with Coloured Frontispiece, five full-page Plates, and about 200 Illustrations. Beautifully bound in cloth, with Emblematic Design, extra gilt, 7s. 6d. PICCADILLY ANNUAL FOR 1874. The Knowing Ones at Home. Stories of their Doings at a Local Science Meeting, at the Crystal Palace, at St. Paul's, at a Foresters' FÊte, &c., &c. A New and entirely Original Humorous Story, crammed with Fun from the first page to the last. Profusely Illustrated by Brunton, Matt Morgan, and other Artists. 4to, handsome wrapper, 1s. Policeman Y: His Opinions on War and the Millingtary. With Illustrations by the Author, John Edward Soden. Cloth, very neat, 2s. 6d.; in paper, 1s. For Gold and Silversmiths. Private Book of Useful Alloys and Memoranda for Goldsmiths and Jewellers. By James E. Collins, C.E., of Birmingham. Royal 16mo, 3s. 6d. ? The secrets of the Gold and Silversmiths' Art are here given, for the benefit of young Apprentices and Practitioners. It is an invaluable book to the Trade. "An Awfully Jolly Book for Parties." Puniana: Thoughts Wise and Otherwise. By the Hon. Hugh Rowley. Best Book of Riddles and Puns ever formed. With nearly 100 exquisitely Fanciful Drawings. Contains nearly 3000 of the best Riddles, and 10,000 most outrageous Puns, and is one of the most Popular Books ever issued. New Edition, small quarto, uniform with the "Bab Ballads." Price 6s. "Enormous burlesque—unapproachable and pre-eminent. We venture to think that this very queer volume will be a favourite. It deserves to be so; and we should suggest that, to a dull person desirous to get credit with the young holiday people, it would be good policy to invest in the book, and dole it out by instalments."—Saturday Review. By the same Author. 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Sheridan's (Richard Brinsley) Complete Works, with Life and Anecdotes. Including his Dramatic Writings, printed from the Original Editions, his works in Prose and Poetry, Translations, Speeches, Jokes, Puns, &c.; with a Collection of Sheridaniana. Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, with Portrait and Illustrations, 7s. 6d. [Preparing. Shirley Brooks' Amusing Poetry. A Collection of Humorous Poems. Selected by Shirley Brooks, Editor of Punch. Fcap. 8vo, paper boards, 2s. [Preparing. ? This work has for many years been out of print, and very scarce. Signboards: Their History. With Anecdotes of Famous Taverns and Remarkable Characters. By Jacob Larwood and John Camden Hotten. Seventh Edition. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 580 pp., 7s. 6d. Bull and Mouth. "It is not fair on the part of a reviewer to pick out the plums of an author's book, thus filching away his cream, and leaving little but skim-milk remaining; but, even if we were ever so maliciously inclined, we could not in the present instance pick out all Messrs. Larwood and Hotten's plums, because the good things are so numerous as to defy the most wholesale depredation."—The Times. ? Nearly 100 most curious illustrations on wood are given, showing the various old signs which were formerly hung from taverns and other houses. CHARLES DICKENS' EARLY SKETCHES. Sketches of Young Couples, Young Ladies and Young Gentlemen. By "Quiz" (Charles Dickens). With 18 Steel-plate Illustrations by "Phiz" (H. K. Browne). A New Edition, crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 4s. 6d. [Preparing. The Slang Dictionary: Etymological, Historical, and Anecdotal. An Entirely New Edition, revised throughout, and considerably Enlarged, containing upwards of a thousand more words than the last edition. 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Swinburne's William Blake: A Critical Essay. With facsimile Paintings, Coloured by Hand, after the Drawings by Blake and his Wife. Thick 8vo, cloth extra, price 16s. Swinburne's Atalanta in Calydon. New Edition. Foolscap 8vo, price 6s. Swinburne's Bothwell. A New Poem. [In preparation. Swinburne's Chastelard. A Tragedy. New Edition. Price 7s. Swinburne's Poems and Ballads. New Edition. Price 9s. Swinburne's Notes on his Poems, and on the Reviews which have appeared upon them. Price 1s. Swinburne's Queen Mother and Rosamond. New Edition. Foolscap 8vo, price 5s. Swinburne's Song of Italy. Foolscap 8vo, toned paper, cloth, price 3s. 6d. WILLIAM COMBE'S BEST WORK. Dr. Syntax's Three Tours. With the whole of Rowlandson's very droll full-page Illustrations, in Colours, after the Original Drawings. Comprising the well-known Tours— 1. In Search of the Picturesque. 2. In Search of Consolation. 3. In Search of a Wife. The Three-Series Complete and Unabridged, with a Life of the Author by John Camden Hotten. 8vo, cloth extra, gilt, in one handsome volume, price 7s. 6d. ? One of the most amusing and laughable books ever published. A Smaller Edition, with Eight Coloured Plates, the text complete, price 3s. 6d. Theodore Hook's House, near Putney. Theodore Hook's Ramsbottom Papers. The whole 29 Letters, complete and unabridged, precisely as they left the pen of their genial and witty Author. Fcap. 8vo, illustrated cover, 1s. Taylor's History of Playing Cards. With Sixty curious Illustrations, 550 pp., price 7s. 6d. ? Ancient and Modern Games, Conjuring, Fortune-Telling, and Card Sharping, Gambling and Calculation, Cartomancy, Old Gaming-Houses, Card Revels and Blind Hookey, Picquet and Vingt-et-un, Whist and Cribbage, Tricks, &c. Thackerayana. Notes and Anecdotes illustrative of Scenes and Characters in the Works of William Makepeace Thackeray. With nearly Four Hundred Illustrations, coloured and plain. In 8vo, uniform with the Library Edition of his works, 7s. 6d. [Preparing. —————————— Theodore Hook's Choice Humorous Works, with his Ludicrous Adventures, Bons-mots, Puns, and Hoaxes. With a new Life of the Author. Portraits, Facsimiles, and Illustrations. Cr. 8vo, 600 pages, cloth extra, 7s. 6d. ? "As a wit and humorist of the highest order his name will be preserved. His political songs and jeux d'esprit, when the hour comes for collecting them, will form a volume of sterling and lasting attraction!"—J. G. Lockhart. The Subscription Room at Brookes's. Timbs' Clubs and Club Life in London. With Anecdotes of its Famous Coffee Houses, Hostelries, and Taverns. By John Timbs, F.S.A. New Edition, with Numerous Illustrations, drawn expressly. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 600 pages, 7s. 6d. ? A Companion to "The History of Sign-Boards." It abounds in quaint stories of old London Clubs—the Blue Stocking, Kit Kat, Beef Steak, Robin Hood, Mohocks, Scriblerus, One o'Clock, the Civil, and hundreds of others; together with Tom's, Dick's, Button's, Ned's, Will's, and the famous Coffee Houses of the last century. A full account of the great modern clubs of Pall Mall and St. James's is also given. The book is a mine of anecdote. Timbs' English Eccentrics and Eccentricities. Stories of Wealth and Fashion, Delusions, Impostures and Fanatic Missions, Strange Sights and Sporting Scenes, Eccentric Artists, Theatrical Folks, Men of Letters, &c. By John Timbs, F.S.A. An entirely New Edition, with numerous Illustrations. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 600 pages, 7s. 6d. [Preparing. Uniform with "The Turf, Chase, and Road." "Tom Smith." Reminiscences of the late Thomas Assheton Smith, Esq.; or, The Pursuits of an English Country Gentleman. By Sir J. E. Eardley Wilmot, Bart. 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An entirely new edition of the best work on Fox-Hunting. Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass. The Complete Work, precisely as issued by the Author in Washington. A thick volume, 8vo, green cloth, price 9s. "Whitman is a poet who bears and needs to be read as a whole, and then the volume and torrent of his power carry the disfigurements along with it and away. He is really a fine fellow."—Chambers's Journal. Warrant to Execute Charles I. An exact Facsimile of this important Document, with the Fifty-nine Signatures of the Regicides, and corresponding Seals, admirably executed on paper made to imitate the original document, 22 in. by 14 in. Price 2s.; or, handsomely framed and glazed in carved oak of antique pattern, 14s. 6d. Warrant to Execute Mary Queen of Scots. The Exact Facsimile of this important Document, including the Signature of Queen Elizabeth and Facsimile of the Great Seal, on tinted paper, made to imitate the Original MS. Price 2s.; or, handsomely framed and glazed in carved oak of antique pattern, 14s. 6d. Wonderful Characters: Memoirs and Anecdotes of Remarkable and Eccentric Persons of Every Age and Nation. From the text of Henry Wilson and James Caulfield. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, with Sixty-one full-page Engravings of Extraordinary Persons, 7s. 6d. ? There are so many curious matters discussed in this volume, that any person who takes it up will not readily lay it down until he has read it through. The Introduction is almost entirely devoted to a consideration of Pig-Faced Ladies, and the various stories concerning them. Wright's (Andrew) Court-Hand Restored; or, Student's Assistant in Reading Old Deeds, Charters, Records, &c. Half Morocco, a New Edition, 10s. 6d. ? The best guide to the reading of old Records, &c. Wright's History of Caricature and the Grotesque in Art, in Literature, Sculpture, and Painting, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day. By Thomas Wright, Esq., F.S.A. Profusely illustrated by Fairholt. Small 4to, cloth extra gilt, red edges, 21s. Wright's Caricature History of the Georges (House of Hanover). A very Entertaining Book of 640 pages, with 400 Pictures, Caricatures, Squibs, Broadsides, Window Pictures, &c. By Thomas Wright, Esq., F.S.A. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 7s. 6d. A few copies of a Large Paper Edition are still on sale, with extra Portraits, bound in half-morocco, 30s. "A set of caricatures such as we have in Mr. Wright's volume brings the surface of the age before us with a vividness that no prose writer, even of the highest power, could emulate. Macaulay's most brilliant sentence is weak by the side of the little woodcut from Gillray, which gives us Burke and Fox."—Saturday Review. ALL THE BEST AMERICAN HUMOUR. Yankee Drolleries. Edited by George Augustus Sala. Containing Artemus Ward, His Book; Biglow Papers; Orpheus C. Kerr; Major Jack Downing; and Nasby Papers. 700 pages, cloth, 3s. 6d. More Yankee Drolleries. 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TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE Obvious typographical errors and punctuation errors have been corrected after careful comparison with other occurrences within the text and consultation of external sources. Footnotes have been moved to the end of the book text, and before the publisher's Book Catalog. Some Footnotes are very long. The 3-star asterism symbol in the Catalog is denoted by ?. On some handheld devices it may display as a space. To avoid duplication, the page numbering in the publisher's Book Catalog at the back of the book has a suffix C added, so that for example page [23] in the Catalog is denoted as [23C]. Footnotes [13] and [29] are referenced from the prior Footnotes [12] and [28], not from the text itself. For consistency and to follow the intent of the publisher, the PLATE illustrations have been moved to the beginning of the section describing them. In most cases this was only one or two paragraphs earlier than the original book layout. Except for those changes noted below, all misspellings in the text, and inconsistent or archaic usage, have been retained. For example, enniched; biasses; dismission; disquisitions; threadbare, thread-bare; shoeblack, shoe-black. Pg 17, 'Leonarda da Vinci' replaced by 'Leonardo da Vinci'. |
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