Chapter III: Preface: To the GERMAN READER (2)

Among the faces of the principal figures, none but that of the young lady was completely finished. _Hogarth_ had been often reproached for his inability to impart grace and dignity to his heroines. The bride was therefore meant to vindicate his pencil from so degrading an imputation. The effort, however, was unsuccessful. The girl was certainly pretty; but her features, if I may use the term, were uneducated. She might have attracted notice as a chambermaid, but would have failed to extort applause as a woman of fashion. The parson, and his culinary associate, were more laboured than any other parts of the picture. It is natural for us to dwell longest on that division of a subject which is most congenial to our private feelings. The painter sat down with a resolution to delineate beauty improved by art; but seems, as usual, to have deviated into meanness; or could not help neglecting his original purpose, to luxuriate in such ideas as his situation in early life had fitted him to express. He found himself, in short, out of his element in the parlour, and therefore hastened, in quest of ease and amusement, to the kitchen fire. _Churchill_, with more force than delicacy, once observed of him, that he only painted the _backside_ of nature. It must be allowed, that such an artist, however excellent in his walk, was better qualified to represent the low-born parent, than the royal preserver of a foundling.

The sketch already described (which I believe is in Mrs. _Garrick's_ possession) was made after the appearance of _Marriage à la Mode_, and many years before the artist's death. Why he did not persevere in his plan, during such an interval of time, we can only guess. It is probable that his undertaking required a longer succession of images relative to domestic happiness, than had fallen within his notice, or courted his participation. _Hogarth_ had no children; and though the nuptial union may be happy without them, yet such happiness will have nothing picturesque in it; and we may observe of this truly natural and faithful painter, that he rarely ventured to exhibit scenes with which he was not perfectly well acquainted.

Let us, however, more completely obviate an objection that may be raised against the propriety of the foregoing criticism. Some reader may urge, that perhaps, all circumstances considered, a wedding celebrated at an old mansion-house did not require the appearance of consummate beauty, refined by the powers of education. The remark has seeming justice on its side; but _Hogarth_ had previously avowed his intent to exhibit a perfect face, divested of vulgarity; and succeeded so well, at least in his own opinion, that he carried the canvas, of which we are now speaking, in triumph to Mr. _Garrick_, whose private strictures on it coincided with those of the person who furnishes this additional confirmation of our painter's notorious ignorance in what is styled--THE GRACEFUL. From the account I have received concerning a design for a previous compartment belonging to the same story, there is little reason to lament the loss of it. It contained no appeal either to the fancy or to the heart. An artist, who, representing the marriage ceremony in a chapel, renders the clerk, who lays the hassocks, the principal figure in it, may at least be taxed with want of judgement.

Soon after the peace of _Aix la Chapelle_, he went over to _France_, and was taken into custody at _Calais_, while he was drawing the gate of that town, a circumstance which he has recorded in his picture, intituled, "O the Roast Beef of _Old England_!" published _March_ 26, 1749. He was actually carried before the governor as a spy, and, after a very strict examination, committed a prisoner to _Grandsire_, his landlord, on his promising that _Hogarth_ should not go out of his house till it was to embark for _England_. This account, I have good authority for saying, he himself gave to his friend Mr. _Gostling_ at _Canterbury_, at whose house he lay the night after his arrival.

The same accident, however, has been more circumstantially related by an eminent _English_ engraver, who was abroad when it happened. _Hayman_, and _Cheere_ the statuary, were of the same party.

While _Hogarth_ was in _France_, wherever he went, he was sure to be dissatisfied with all he saw. If an elegant circumstance either in furniture, or the ornaments of a room, was pointed out as deserving approbation, his narrow and constant reply was, "What then? but it is _French_! Their houses are all gilt and b--t." In the streets he was often clamourously rude. A tatter'd bag, or a pair of silk stockings with holes in them, drew a torrent of imprudent language from him. In vain did my informant (who knew that many _Scotch_ and _Irish_ were often within hearing of these reproaches, and would rejoice at least in an opportunity of getting our painter mobbed) advise him to be more cautious in his public remarks. He laughed at all such admonition, and treated the offerer of it as a pusillanimous wretch, unworthy of a residence in a free country, making him the butt of his ridicule for several evenings afterwards. This unreasonable pleasantry was at length completely extinguished by what happened while he was drawing the Gate at _Calais_; for though the innocence of his design was rendered perfectly apparent on the testimony of other sketches he had about him, which were by no means such as could serve the purpose of an engineer, he was told by the Commandant, that, had not the peace been actually signed, he should have been obliged to have hung him up immediately on the ramparts. Two guards were then provided to convey him on shipboard; nor did they quit him till he was three miles from the shore. They then spun him round like a top, on the deck; and told him he was at liberty to proceed on his voyage without farther attendance or molestation. With the slightest allusion to the ludicrous particulars of this affair, poor _Hogarth_ was by no means pleased. The leading circumstance in it his own pencil has recorded.

Soon after this period he purchased a little house at _Chiswick_; where he usually passed the greatest part of the summer season, yet not without occasional visits to his dwelling in _Leicester Fields_.

In 1753, he appeared to the world in the character of art author, and published a quarto volume, intituled, "The Analysis of Beauty, written with a view of fixing the fluctuating Ideas of Taste." In this performance he shews, by a variety of examples, that a curve is the line of beauty, and that round swelling figures are most pleasing to the eye; and the truth of his opinion has been countenanced by subsequent writers on the subject.

Among the letters of Dr. _Birch_ is the following short one, sent with the "Analysis of Beauty," and dated _Nov._ 25, 1753; "Sir, I beg the favour of you to present to the Royal Society the enclosed work, which will receive great honour by their acceptance of it. I am, Sir, your most obedient humble servant, WM. HOGARTH."

In this book, the leading idea of which was hieroglyphically thrown out in a frontispiece to his works in 1745, he acknowledges himself indebted to his friends for assistance, and particularly to one gentleman for his corrections and amendments of at least a third part of the _wording_. This friend, I am assured, was Dr. _Benjamin Hoadly_ the physician, who carried on the work to about a _third_ part, Chap. IX. and then, through indisposition, declined the friendly office with regret. Mr. _Hogarth_ applied to his neighbour, Mr. _Ralph_; but it was impossible for two such persons to agree, both alike vain and positive. He proceeded no farther than about a sheet, and they then parted friends, and seem to have continued such. In the _Estimate of the Manners and Principles of the Times_, vol. I. p. 47, published in 1757 by Dr. _Brown_, that author pays a compliment to Mr. _Hogarth's_ genius. Mr. _Ralph_, animadverting on the work, amongst other things, says, "It is happy for Mr. _Hogarth_, in my humble opinion, that he is brought upon the stage in such company, rather for the sake of fastening some additional abuse upon the public, than of bestowing any special grace upon him. 'Neither the comic pencil, nor the serious pen of our ingenious countrymen (so the Estimator or Appraiser's Patent of Allowance runs) have been able to keep alive the taste of Nature or of Beauty.' For where he has chosen to be a niggard of his acknowledgements, every other man would chuse to be a prodigal: Nature had played the _Proteus_ with us, had invited us to pursue her in every shape, but had never suffered us to overtake her: Beauty all had been smitten with, but nobody had been able to assign us a rule by which it might be defined: This was Mr. _Hogarth's_ task; this is what he has succeeded in; composition is at last become a science; the student knows what he is in search of; the connoisseur what to praise; and fancy or fashion, or prescription, will usurp the hacknied name of taste no more. So that, whatever may be said in disparagement of the age on other accounts, it has more merit and honour to claim on this, than any which preceded it. And I will venture for once to prophesy, from the improvements already manifested, that we shall have the arts of designing to value ourselves upon, when all our ancient virtues are worn out."

The office of finishing the work, and superintending the publication, was lastly taken up by Dr. _Morell_, who went through the remainder of the book.[40] The preface was in like manner corrected by the Rev. Mr. _Townley_. The family of _Hogarth_ rejoiced when the last sheet of the _Analysis_ was printed off; as the frequent disputes he had with his coadjutors, in the progress of the work, did not much harmonize his disposition.

This work was translated into _German_ by Mr. _Mylins_, when in _England_, under the author's inspection; and the translation, containing twenty-two sheets in quarto, and two large plates, was printed in _London_, price five dollars.

Of the same performance a new and correct edition was (_July_ 1, 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 also published at _Leghorn_ in 1761, 8vo, dedicated "All' illustrissime Signora Diana _Molineux_, Dama _Inglese_."

"This book," Mr. _Walpole_ observes, "had many sensible hints and observations; but it did not carry the conviction, nor meet the universal acquiescence he expected. As he treated his contemporaries with scorn, they triumphed over this publication,[41] and irritated him to expose him. Many wretched burlesque prints came out to ridicule his system. There was a better answer to it in one of the two prints that he gave to illustrate his hypothesis. In the ball, had he confined himself to such outlines as compose awkwardness and deformity, he would have proved half his assertion; but he has added two samples of grace in a young lord and lady, that are strikingly stiff and affected. They are a _Bath_ beau and a county Beauty."

_Hogarth_ had one failing in common with most people who attain wealth and eminence without the aid of liberal education. He affected to despise every kind of knowledge which he did not possess. Having established his fame with little or no obligation to literature, he either conceived it to be needless, or decried it because it lay out of his reach. His sentiments, in short, resembled those of _Jack Cade_, who pronounced sentence on the clerk of _Chatham_, because he could write and read. Till, in evil hour, this celebrated artist commenced an author, and was obliged to employ the friends already mentioned to correct his _Analysis of Beauty_,[42] he did not seem to have discovered that even spelling was a necessary qualification; and yet he had ventured to ridicule[43] the late Mr. _Rich's_ deficiency as to this particular, in a note which lies before the Rake whose play is refused while he remains in confinement for debt. Previous to the time of which we are now speaking, one of our artist's common topicks of declamation was the uselessness of books to a man of his profession. In _Beer-street_, among other volumes consigned by him to the pastry cook, we find _Turnbull on ancient Painting_, a treatise which _Hogarth_ should have been able to understand, before he ventured to condemn. _Garrick_ himself, however, was not more ductile to flattery. A word in favour of _Sigismunda_, might have commanded a proof print, or forced an original sketch out of our artist's hands. 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.

The following authenticated story of our artist will also serve to shew how much more easy it is to detect ill-placed or hyperbolical adulation respecting others, than when applied to ourselves. _Hogarth_ being at dinner with the great _Cheselden_, and some other company, was told that Mr. _John Freke_, surgeon of _St. Bartholomew's Hospital_, a few evenings before at _Dick's Coffee-house_, had asserted, that _Greene_ was as eminent in composition as _Handel_. "That fellow _Freke_," replied _Hogarth_, "is always shooting his bolt absurdly one way or another! _Handel_ is a giant in music; _Greene_ only a light _Florimel_ kind of a composer."--"Ay," says our artist's informant, "but at the same time Mr. _Freke_ declared you were as good a portrait-painter as _Vandyck_."--"_There_ he was in the right," adds _Hogarth_; "and so by G-- I am, give me my time, and let me choose my subject!"

With Dr. _Hoadly_, the late Chancellor of _Winchester_, Mr. _Hogarth_ was always on terms of the strictest friendship, and frequently visited him at _Winchester, St. Cross,_ and _Alresford_. It is well known, that Dr. _Hoadly's_ fondness for theatrical exhibitions was so great, that few visitors were ever long in his house before they were solicited to accept a part in some interlude or other. He himself, with _Garrick_ and _Hogarth_, once performed a laughable parody on the scene in _Julius Cæsar_, where the _Ghost_ appears to _Brutus. Hogarth_ personated the spectre; but so unretentive was his memory, that, although his speech consisted only of two lines, he was unable to get them by heart. At last they hit on the following expedient in his favour. The verses he was to deliver were written in such large letters, on the outside of an illuminated paper-lanthorn, that he could read them when he entered with it in his hand on the stage. _Hogarth_ painted a scene on this occasion, representing a sutling booth, with the _Duck of Cumberland's_ head by way of sign. He also prepared the play-bill, with characteristic ornaments. The original drawing is still preserved, and we could wish it were engraved; as the slightest sketch from the design of so grotesque a painter would be welcome to the numerous collectors of his works.

_Hogarth_ was also the most absent of men. At table he would sometimes turn round his chair as if he had finished eating, and as suddenly would return it, and fall to his meal again. I may add, that he once directed a letter to Dr. _Hoadly_, thus,--"To the Doctor at _Chelsea_." This epistle, however, by good luck, did not miscarry; and was preserved by the late Chancellor of _Winchester_, as a pleasant memorial of his friend's extraordinary inattention.

Another remarkable instance of _Hogarth's_ absence was told me, after the first edition of this work, by one of his intimate friends. Soon after he set up his carriage, he had occasion to pay a visit to the lord-mayor (I believe it was Mr. _Beckford_). When he went, the weather was fine; but business detained him till a violent shower of rain came on. He was let out of the Mansion-house by a different door from that at which he entered; and, seeing the rain, began immediately to call for a hackney-coach. Not one was to be met with on any of the neighbouring stands; and our artist sallied forth to brave the storm, and actually reached _Leicester-fields_ without bestowing a thought on his own carriage, till Mrs. _Hogarth_ (surprized to see him so wet and splashed) asked where he had left it.

Mr. _Walpole_, in the following note, p. 69, is willing to expose the indelicacy of the _Flemish_ painters, by comparing it with the purity of _Hogarth_. "When they attempt humour," says our author, "it is by making a drunkard vomit; they take evacuations for jokes; and when they make us sick, think they make us laugh. A boor hugging a frightful frow is a frequent incident, even in the works of _Teniers_." Shall we proceed to examine whether the scenes painted by our countryman are wholly free from the same indelicacies? In one plate of _Hudibras_, where he encounters a _Skimmington_, a man is making water against the end of a house, while a taylor's wife is most significantly attending to the dirty process. In another plate to the same work, a boy is pissing into the shoe of _Ralpho_, while the widow is standing by. Another boy in the _Enraged Musician_ is easing nature by the same mode; and a little miss is looking earnestly on the operation. In the _March to Finchley_, a diseased soldier has no better employment; and a woman is likewise staring at him out of a window. This circumstance did not escape the observation of _Rouquet_ the enameller, whose remarks[44] on the plates of our artist I shall have more than once occasion to introduce. "Il y a," says he, "dans quelques endroits de cet excellent tableau, des objets peut être plus propres à peindre qu'à décrire. D'ou vient que les oreilles sont plus chaste que les yeux? Ne seroit ce pas parce qu'on peut regarder certains objets dans un tableau, et feindre de ne pas les voir; et qu'il n'est pas si aisé d'entendre une obscénité, et de feindre de ne l'entendre pas! L'objet, dont je veux parler, est toutefois peu considérable; il s'agit seulement d'un soldat à qui le voyage de _Montpelier_ conviendroit mieux que celui d'_Ecosse_. L'amour lui a fait une blessure, &c." Was this occurrence delicate or precious enough to deserve such frequency of repetition? In the burlesque _Paul before Felix_, when the High Priest applies his fingers to his nose, we have reason to imagine that his manœuvre was in consequence of some offensive escape during the terrors of the pro-consul of _Judea_, who, as he is here represented, conveys no imperfect image of a late Lord Mayor, at the time of the riots in _London_. In this last instance, indeed, I ought to have observed that _Hogarth_ meant to satirize, not to imitate, the painters of _Holland_ and _Flanders_. But I forbear to dwell any longer on such disgusting circumstances; begging leave only to ask, whether the canvas of _Teniers_ exhibits nastier objects than those of the woman cracking a louse between her nails in the fourth plate of the _Harlot's Progress_; a _Scotch_ bag-piper catching another in his neck while he is performing at the Election feast; _Aurora_ doing the same kind office for a _Syren_ or _Nereid_, in the _Strollers_, &c.; the old toothless _French_ beldams, slobbering (_Venus_ forbid we should call it kissing) each other in the comic print entitled _Noon_; the chamber-pot emptied on the Free Mason's head, in the _Rejoicing Night_; or the _Lilliputians_ giving a clyster to _Gulliver_? In some of these instances, however, the humour may compensate for the indelicacy, which is rarely the case with such _Dutch_ pictures as have justly incurred the censure of Mr. _Walpole_. Let us now try how far some of the compositions of _Hogarth_ have befriended the cause of modesty. In the _Harlot's Progress_, Plate VI. we meet with a hand by no means busied in manner suitable to the purity of its owner's function. _Hogarth_ indeed, in three different works, has delineated three clergymen; the one as a drunkard; the second as a glutton; and the third as a whoremaster, who (I borrow _Rouquet's_ words) "est plus occupé de sa voisine que de son vin, qu'il repand par une distraction qu'elle lui cause." He who, in the eyes of the vulgar, would degrade our professors of religion, deserves few thanks from society. In the _Rake's Progress_, Plate the last, how is the hand of the ideal potentate employed, while he is gazing with no very modest aspect on a couple of young women who pass before his cell numbered 55? and to what particular object are the eyes of the said females supposed to be directed?[45] Nay, in what pursuit is the grenadier engaged who stands with his face toward the wall in Plate 9. of _Industry and Idleness_? May we address another question to the reader? Is the "_smile_ of _Socrates_," or the "_benevolence_ of the designer," very distinguishable in the half dozen last instances? It has been observed indeed by physiognomists, that the _smile_ of the real _Socrates_ resembled the _grin_ of a _satyr_; and perhaps a few of the particulars here alluded to, as well as the prints entitled BEFORE and AFTER, ought to be considered as a _benevolence_ to speculative old maids, or misses not yet enfranchised from a boarding school. Had this truly sensible critic, and elegant writer, been content to observe, that such gross circumstances as form the chief subject of _Flemish_ pictures, are only incidental and subordinate in those of our artist, the remark might have escaped reprehension. But perhaps he who has told us that "_St. Paul's_ hand was once _improperly_ placed before the wife of _Felix_" should not have suffered more glaring insults on decency to pass without a censure. On this occasion, though I may be found to differ from Mr. _Walpole_, I am ready to confess how much regard is due to the opinions of a gentleman whose mind has been long exercised on a subject which is almost new to me; especially when I recollect that my present researches would have had no guide, but for the lights held out in the last volume of the Anecdotes of Painting in _England_.

_Hogarth_ boasted that he could draw a Serjeant with his pike, going into an alehouse, and his Dog following him, with only three strokes;--which he executed thus:

A
B |
\ |
\ |
\ |
\|
|
|
|
|
C |
ʅ|
|
|

A. The perspective line of the door. B. The end of the Serjeant's pike, who is gone in. C. The end of the Dog's tail, who is following him. There are similar whims of the _Caracci_.

A specimen of _Hogarth's_ propensity to merriment, on the most trivial occasions, is observable in one of his cards requesting the company of Dr. _Arnold King_ to dine with him at the _Mitre_.[46] Within a circle, to which a knife and fork are the supporters, the written part is contained. In the center is drawn a pye, with a _mitre_ on the top of it; and the invitation of our artist concludes with the following sport on three of the _Greek_ letters--to _Eta Beta Pi_.[47] The rest of the inscription is not very accurately spelt. A quibble by _Hogarth_ is surely as respectable as a conundrum by _Swift_.

"Some nicer virtuosi have remarked, that in the serious pieces, into which _Hogarth_ has deviated from the natural biass of his genius, there are some strokes of the ridiculous discernible, which suit not with the dignity of his subject. In his PREACHING OF ST. PAUL, a dog snarling at a cat;[48] and in his PHARAOH'S DAUGHTER, the figure of the infant _Moses_, who expresses rather archness than timidity; are alledged as instances, that this artist, unrivalled in his own walk, could not resist the impulse of his imagination towards drollery. His picture, however, of _Richard_ III. is pure and unmixed, without any ridiculous circumstances, and strongly impresses terror and amazement." As these observations are extracted from the _first_ edition of Dr. _Warton's_ "Essay on the Genius and Writings of _Pope_," it would be uncandid if we did not accompany them with the following note from a subsequent edition of that valuable performance: "The author gladly lays hold of the opportunity of this third edition of his work to confess a mistake he had committed with respect to two admirable paintings of Mr. _Hogarth_, his PAUL PREACHING, and his INFANT MOSES; which, on a closer examination, are not chargeable with the blemishes imputed to them. Justice obliges him to declare the high opinion he entertains of the abilities of this inimitable artist, who shines in so many different lights, and on such very dissimilar subjects; and whose works have more of what the ancients called the ΗθΟΣ [Greek: Ethos] in them, than the compositions of any other Modern. For the rest, the author begs leave to add, that he is so far from being ashamed of retracting his error, that he had rather appear a MAN OF CANDOUR, than the best CRITIC that ever lived."[49]

In one of the early exhibitions at _Spring Gardens_, a very pleasing small picture by _Hogarth_ made its first appearance. It was painted for the earl of _Charlemont_, in whose collection it remains.[50] It was intituled, _Picquet, or Virtue in Danger,_ and shews us a young lady, who, during a _tête-à-tête_, had just lost all her money to a handsome officer of her own age. He is represented in the act of returning her a handful of bank bills, with the hope of exchanging them for a softer acquisition, and more delicate plunder. On the chimney piece is a watch-case and a figure of Time over it, with this motto--NUNC. _Hogarth_ has caught his heroine during this moment of hesitation, this struggle with herself, and has marked her feelings with uncommon success. Wavering chastity, as in this instance, he was qualified to display; but the graceful reserve of steady and exalted virtue he would certainly have failed to express. He might have conveyed a perfect idea of such an _Iphigenia_ as is described by Mr. _Hayley_, in one of the cantoes of his beautiful poem on the _Triumphs of Temper_; but the dignity of the same female at the _Tauric_ altar would have baffled the most vigorous efforts of his pencil.

_Hogarth's_ Picquet, or _Virtue in Danger_, when exhibited at _Spring Gardens_, in _May_, 1761, produced the following explanation:

Ye fair, be warn'd, and shun those arts,
That faithless men do use for hearts:
Weigh o'er and o'er the destin'd man,
And oft this little lesson scan;
If he his character don't fear,
For yours he'll very little care:
With scorn repulse the wretch so bold,
Nor pawn your virtue for his gold!
Of gaming (cards or not) beware,
'Tis very often found a snare;
But, lest my precept still should fail,
Indulge me--whilst I tell a tale:

_Dorinda_, chearful, young, and gay,
Oft shone at Balls, at Park, and Play;
Blest with a free, engaging air,
In short, throughout quite debonnair;
(Excuse me--shall I tell the truth?)
That bane of misled, heedless youth,
Gaming--had quite possess'd her mind,
To this (no other vice) inclin'd:
She oft would melancholy sit,
No partner near for dear Picquet!
"At last a cruel spoiler came,"
And deeply learn'd in all the game;
A son of _Mars_, with iron face,
Adorn'd with impudence and lace!
Acquaintance with her soon he gains,
He thinks her virtue worth his pains:
Cards (after nonsense) came in course,
By sap advances, not by force.
The table set, the cards are laid,
_Dorinda_ dreams not she's betray'd;
The cards run cross, she fumes and frets,
Her brilliant necklace soon she betts,
She fears her watch, but can't resist,
A miniature can scarce be mist!
At last both watch and trinkets go,
A prey to the devouring foe:
Nay more (if fame but tells us true),
She lost her di'mond buckles too!
Her bracelets next became his prize,
And in his hat the treasure lies.
Upon her Virtue next he treats,
And Honour's sacred name repeats:
Tenders the trinkets, swears and lies,
And vows her person is a prize!
Then swears (with hand upon his breast)
That he without her can't be blest!
Then plies her with redoubled pains,
T' exchange her virtue for his gains:
Shame's purple wings o'ershade her face,
He triumphs over her disgrace;
Soon turns to jest her scruples nice,
In short, she falls!--a sacrifice!
Spoil'd of her virtue in her prime,
And, knowing Heaven detests the crime,
Is urg'd, perhaps, to dare his rod,
"And rush unsummon'd to her God!"

Ye fair, if happiness ye prize,
Regard this rule, Be timely wise.

In the "Miser's Feast," Mr. _Hogarth_ thought proper to pillory Sir _Isaac Shard_, a gentleman proverbially avaricious. Hearing this, the son of Sir _Isaac_, the late _Isaac Pacatus Shard_,[51] esq. a young man of spirit, just returned from his travels, called at the painter's to see the picture; and, among the rest, asking the _Cicerone_ "whether that odd figure was intended for any particular person;" on his replying, "that it was thought to be very like one Sir _Isaac Shard_;" he immediately drew his sword, and slashed the canvas. _Hogarth_ appeared instantly in great wrath; to whom Mr. _Shard_ calmly justified what he had done, saying, "that this was a very unwarrantable licence; that he was the injured party's son, and that he was ready to defend any suit at law;" which, however, was never instituted.

About 1757, his brother-in-law, Mr. _Thornhill_, resigned the place of king's serjeant-painter in favour of Mr. _Hogarth_; who soon after made an experiment in painting, which involved him in some disgrace. The celebrated collection of pictures belonging to Sir _Luke Schaub_ was in 1758 sold by public auction;[52] and the admired picture of _Sigismunda_ (purchased by Sir _Thomas Sebright_ for 404. _l._ 5 _s._) excited Mr. _Hogarth's_ emulation.

"From a contempt of the ignorant virtuosi of the age," says Mr. _Walpole_, "and from indignation at the impudent tricks of picture-dealers, whom he saw continually recommending and vending vile copies to bubble collectors, and from having never studied, indeed having seen, few good pictures of the great _Italian_ masters, he persuaded himself that the praises bestowed on those glorious works were nothing but the effects of prejudice. He talked this language till he believed it; and having heard it often asserted, as is true, that time gives a mellowness to colours and improves them, he not only denied the proposition, but maintained that pictures only grew black and worse by age, not distinguishing between the degrees in which the proportion might be true or false. He went farther: he determined to rival the ancients--and unfortunately chose one of the finest pictures in _England_ as the object of his competition. This was the celebrated _Sigismunda_ of Sir _Luke Schaub_, now in the possession of the Duke of _Newcastle_, said to be painted by _Correggio_, probably by _Furino_, but no matter by whom. It is impossible to see the picture, or read _Dryden's_ inimitable tale, and not feel that the same soul animated both. After many essays, _Hogarth_ at last produced HIS _Sigismunda_--but no more like _Sigismunda_, than I to _Hercules_. Not to mention the wretchedness of the colouring, it was the representation of a maudlin strumpet just turned out of keeping, and, with eyes red with rage and usquebaugh, tearing off the ornaments her keeper had given her. To add to the disgust raised by such vulgar expression, her fingers were bloodied by her lover's heart,[53] that lay before her, like that of a sheep, for her dinner.[54] None of the sober grief, no dignity of suppressed anguish, no involuntary tear, no settled meditation on the fate she meant to meet, no amorous warmth turned holy by despair; in short, all was wanting that should have been there, all was there that such a story would have banished from a mind capable of conceiving such complicated woe; woe so sternly felt, and yet so tenderly. _Hogarth's_ performance was more ridiculous than any thing he had ever ridiculed. He set the price of 400 _l._ on it, and had it returned on his hands by the person for whom it was painted. He took subscriptions for a plate of it; but had the sense, at last, to suppress it. I make no more apology for this account than for the encomiums I have bestowed on him. Both are dictated by truth, and are the history of a great man's excellencies and errors. _Milton_, it is said, preferred his _Paradise Regained_ to his immortal poem."[55]

_Hogarth_, however, gave directions before his death that the _Sigismunda_ should not be sold under 500 _l._ and, greatly as he might have been mortified by _Churchill's_ invective, and the coldness with which the picture was received by the rest of the world,[56] he never wholly abandoned his design of having a plate prepared from it. Finding abundant consolation in the flattery of self-love, he appealed from the public judgement to his own, and had actually talked with the celebrated Mr. _Hall_ about the price of the engraving, which was to have been executed from a smaller painting,[57] copied by himself from the large one. Death alone secured him from the contempt such obstinacy would have riveted on his name. To express a sorrow like that of _Tancred's_ daughter, few modern artists are fully qualified. We must except indeed Sir _Joshua Reynolds_, with whose pencil Beauty in all her forms, and the passions in all their varieties, are equally familiar.

Since the preceding paragraph was written, the compiler of this volume has seen an unfinished plate of _Sigismunda_, attempted after the manner of _Edelinck_, etched by Mr. _Basire_, but not bit-in, and from which consequently no proof can have been taken. The size of the plate is 18 inches by 16½. The outlines in general, and particularly of the face, were completed under the immediate direction of Mr. _Hogarth_.[58] It was intended to be published by subscription.[59] The plate itself is still in the hands of Mr. _Basire_.

This unfortunate picture, which was the source of so much vexation to Mr. _Hogarth_, at least made a versifier of him, and furnished vent to his anger in the following lines; which, as I know of no other specimen of his poetry,[60] may serve to gratify the curiosity of the reader. The old adage _facit indignatio versum_, seems scarcely to have been realised in this splenetic effusion, which is intituled "An Epistle to a Friend," occasioned by Sir _Richard Grosvenor_ (now lord) returning the picture of _Sigismunda_ on our artist's hands:

"To your charge, the other day
About my picture and my pay,
In metre I've a mind to try,
One word by way of a reply.

"To risque, you'll own, 'twas most absurd,
Such labour on a rich man's word;
To lose at least an hundred days
Of certain gain, for doubtful praise;
Since living artists ne'er were paid;
But then, you know, it was agreed,
I should be deem'd an artist dead.
Like _Raphael, Rubens, Guido Rene,_
This promise fairly drew me in;
And having laid my pencil by,[61]
What painter was more dead than I?
But dead as _Guido_ let me be,
Then judge, my friend, 'twixt him and me
If merit crowns alike the piece,
What treason to be like in price;
Because no copied line you trace,
The picture can't be right, you're sure;
But say, my critic connoisseur,
Moves it the heart as much or more
Than picture ever did before?
This is the painter's truest test,
And this Sir _Richard's_ self confess'd.
Nay, 'tis so moving, that the knight
Can't even bear it in his sight;
Then who would tears so dearly buy,
As give four hundred pounds to cry?
I own, he chose the prudent part,
Rather to break his word than heart;
And yet, methinks, 'tis ticklish dealing,
With one so delicate--in feeling.

"However, let the picture rust,
Perhaps time's price-enhancing dust,
As statues moulder into earth,
When I'm no more, may mark its worth;
And future connoisseurs may rise,
Honest as ours, and full as wise,
To puff the piece and painter too,
And make me then what _Guido's_ now."

"The last memorable event in our artist's life," as Mr. _Walpole_ observes, "was his quarrel with Mr. _Wilkes_, in which, if Mr. _Hogarth_ did not commence direct hostilities on the latter, he at least obliquely gave the first offence, by an attack on the friends and party of that gentleman. This conduct was the more surprizing, as he had all his life avoided dipping his pencil in political contests, and had early refused a very lucrative offer that was made to engage him in a set of prints against the head of a court-party. Without entering into the merits of the cause, I shall only state the fact. In _September_ 1762, Mr. _Hogarth_ published his print of _The Times_. It was answered by Mr. _Wilkes_ in a severe _North Briton_.[62] On this the painter exhibited the caricatura of the writer. Mr. _Churchill_, the poet, then engaged in the war, and wrote his epistle to _Hogarth_, not the brightest of his works,[63] in which the severest strokes fell on a defect that the painter had neither caused nor could amend--his age;[64] and which, however, was neither remarkable nor decrepit; much less had it impaired his talents, as appeared by his having composed but six months before one of his most capital works, the satire on the Methodists. In revenge for this epistle, _Hogarth_ caricatured _Churchill_, under the form of a canonical bear, with a club and a pot of porter--_et vitulá tu dignus & hic_--never did two angry men of their abilities throw mud with less dexterity."

The concluding observation of Mr. _Walpole_ is mortifyingly true. It may be amusing to compare the account given of this squabble, which long engrossed the attention of the town, with the narrative of it printed by Mr. _Wilkes_; who states the circumstances of it in the following manner:

"Mr. _Hogarth_ was one of the first who, in the paper war begun by lord _Bute_ on his accession to the Treasury, sacrificed private friendship at the altar of party madness. In 1762, the _Scotch_ minister took a variety of hirelings into his pay, some of whom were gratified with pensions, others with places and pensions. Mr. _Hogarth_ was only made _serjeant-painter_ to his majesty, as if it was meant to insinuate to him, that he was not allowed to paint any thing but the wainscot of the royal apartments. The term means no more than _house-painter_, and the nature of the post confined him to that business. He was not employed in any other way. A circumstance can scarcely be imagined more humiliating to a man of spirit and genius, who really thought that he more particularly excelled in _portrait-painting_.

"The new minister had been attacked in a variety of political papers. _The North Briton_ in particular, which commenced the week after _The Briton_, waged open war with him. Some of the numbers had been ascribed to Mr. _Wilkes_, others to Mr. _Churchill_, and Mr. _Lloyd_. Mr. _Hogarth_ had for several years lived on terms of friendship and intimacy with Mr. _Churchill_ and Mr. _Wilkes_. As the _Buckinghamshire_ militia, which this gentleman had the honour of commanding, had been for some months at _Winchester_ guarding the _French_ prisoners, the Colonel was there on that duty. A friend wrote to him, that Mr. _Hogarth_ intended soon to publish a political print of _The Times_, in which Mr. _Pitt_, Lord _Temple_, Mr. _Churchill_, and himself, were held out to the public as objects of ridicule. Mr. _Wilkes_, on this notice, remonstrated by two of their common friends to Mr. _Hogarth_, that such a proceeding would not only be unfriendly in the highest degree, but extremely injudicious; for such a pencil ought to be universal and moral, to speak to all ages, and to all nations, not to be dipt in the dirt of the faction of a day, of an insignificant part of the country, when it might command the admiration of the whole. An answer was sent, that neither Mr. _Wilkes_ nor Mr. _Churchill_ were attacked in _The Times_, though Lord _Temple_ and Mr. _Pitt_ were, and that the print should soon appear. A second message soon after told Mr. _Hogarth_, that Mr. _Wilkes_ should never believe it worth his while to take notice of any reflections on himself; but if his friends were attacked, he should then think he was wounded in the most sensible part, and would, as well as he was able, revenge their cause; adding, that if he thought the _North Briton_ would insert what he sent, he would make an appeal to the public on the very _Saturday_ following the publication of the print. _The Times_ soon after appeared, and on the _Saturday_ following [_Sept._ 25, 1762,] N° 17, of the _North Briton_, which is a direct attack on the king's _serjeant-painter_.[65] If Mr. _Wilkes_ did write that paper, he kept his word better with Mr. _Hogarth_, than the painter had done with him.

"It is perhaps worth remarking, that the painter proposed to give a series of political prints, and that _The Times_ were marked Plate I. No farther progress was however made in that design. The public beheld the first feeble efforts with execrations, and it is said that the caricaturist was too much hurt by the general opinion of mankind, to possess himself afterwards sufficiently for the execution of such a work.

"When Mr. _Wilkes_ was the second time brought from the _Tower_ to _Westminster-hall_, Mr. _Hogarth_ skulked behind in a corner of the gallery of the Court of _Common Pleas_; and while the Chief Justice _Pratt_,[66] with the eloquence and courage of old _Rome_, was enforcing the great principles of _Magna Charta_, and the _English_ constitution, while every breast from him caught the holy flame of liberty, the painter was wholly employed in caricaturing the _person_ of the man; while all the rest of his fellow citizens were animated in his _cause_, for they knew it to be their own cause, that of their country, and of its laws. It was declared to be so a few hours after by the unanimous sentence of the judges of that court, and they were all present.

"The print of Mr. _Wilkes_ was soon after published, _drawn from the life by William Hogarth_. It must be allowed to be an excellent _compound caricatura_, or a _caricatura_ of what nature had already _caricatured_. I know but one short apology can be made for this gentleman, or, to speak more properly, for the _person_ of Mr. _Wilkes_. It is, that he did not make himself, and that he never was solicitous about the _case_ of his soul, as _Shakspeare_ calls it, only so far as to keep it clean and in health. I never heard that he once hung over the glassy stream, like another _Narcissus_, admiring the image in it, nor that he ever stole an amorous look at his counterfeit in a side mirrour. His form, such as it is, ought to give him no pain, because it is capable of giving pleasure to others. I fancy he finds himself tolerably happy in the _clay-cottage_, to which he is _tenant for life_, because he has learnt to keep it in good order. While the share of health and animal spirits, which heaven has given him, shall hold out, I can scarcely imagine he will be one moment peevish about the _outside_ of so precarious, so temporary a habitation, or will even be brought to own, _ingenium Galbæ male habitat. Monsieur est mal logé._

"Mr. _Churchill_ was exasperated at this _personal_ attack on his friend. He soon after published the Epistle to _William Hogarth_,[67] and took for the motto, _ut pictura poesis_. Mr. _Hogarth's_ revenge against the poet terminated in vamping up an old print of a pug-dog and a bear, which he published under the title of The Bruiser _C. Churchill_ (once the Revd.!) in the character of a _Russian Hercules_, &c."

The Editor of the _Monthly Review_ for _November_, 1769, in an account of Mr. _Wilkes's_ correspondence, remarks, "The writer of this article had in substance the same relation from the mouth of Mr. _Hogarth_ himself, but a very little while before his death;[68] and the leading facts appeared, from his candid representation, in nearly the same light as in this account which our readers have been just perusing."

I have been assured by the friend[69] who first carried and read the invective of _Churchill_ to _Hogarth_, that he seemed quite insensible to the most sarcastical parts of it. He was so thoroughly wounded before by the _North Briton_, especially with regard to what related to domestic happiness, that he lay no where open to a fresh stroke. Some readers, however, may entertain a doubt on this subject. A man feels most exquisitely when the merit of which he is proudest is denied him; and it might be urged, that _Hogarth_ was more solicitous to maintain the character of a good painter, than of a tender husband.

One quotation, however, from _Churchill's_ Epistle the warmest admirers of our matchless artist must be pleased with:

"In walks of humour, in that cast of style,
Which, probing to the quick, yet makes us smile;
In Comedy, his natural road to fame,
Nor let me call it by a meaner name,
Where a beginning, middle, and an end,
Are aptly join'd; where parts on parts depend,
Each made for each, as bodies for their soul,
So as to form one true and perfect whole,
Where a plain story to the eye is told,
Which we conceive the moment we behold;[70]
_Hogarth_ unrival'd stands, and shall engage
Unrival'd praise to the most distant age."

_Hogarth_ having been said to be in his dotage when, he produced his print of the Bear, it should seem as if he had been provoked to make the following additions to this print, in order to give a further specimen of his still existing genius.

In the form of a framed picture on the painter's palette, he has represented an _Egyptian_ pyramid, on the side of which is a _Cheshire_ cheese,[71] and round it 3000 _l. per annum_; and at the foot a _Roman_ Veteran in a reclining posture, designed as an allusion to Mr. _Pitt's_ resignation. The cheese is meant to allude to a former speech of his, wherein he said that he would rather subsist a week on a _Cheshire_ cheese and a shoulder of mutton, than submit to the implacable enemies of his country.

But to ridicule this character still more, he is, as he lies down, firing a piece of ordnance at the standard of _Britain_, on which is a dove with an olive-branch, the emblem of peace. On one side of the pyramid is the City of _London_, represented by the figure of one of the _Guildhall_ giants, going to crown the reclining hero. On the other side is the king of _Prussia_, in the character of one of the _Cæsars_, but smoking his pipe. In the center stands _Hogarth_ himself, whipping a Dancing Bear (_Churchill_) which he holds in a string. At the side of the Bear is a Monkey, designed for Mr. _Wilkes_. Between the legs of the little animal is a mop-stick, on which he seems to ride, as children do on a hobby-horse: at the top of the mop-stick is the cap of liberty. The Monkey is undergoing the same discipline as the Bear. Behind the Monkey is the figure of a man, but with no lineaments of face, and playing on a fiddle. This was designed for Earl _Temple_.

At the time these hostilities were carrying on in a manner so virulent and disgraceful to all the parties, _Hogarth_ was visibly declining in his health. In 1762, he complained of an inward pain, which, continuing, brought on a general decay that proved incurable.[72] This last year of his life he employed in retouching his plates with the assistance of several engravers whom he took with him to _Chiswick_. On the 25th of _October_, 1764, he was conveyed from thence to _Leicester-fields_, in a very weak condition, yet remarkably chearful; and, receiving an agreeable letter from the _American_ Dr. _Franklin_, drew up a rough draught of an answer to it; but going to bed, he was seized with a vomiting, upon which he rung his bell with such violence that he broke it, and expired about two hours afterwards in the arms of Mrs. _Mary Lewis_, who was called up on his being taken suddenly ill. To this lady, for her faithful services, he bequeathed 100 _l._ After the death of _Hogarth's_ sister, Mrs. _Lewis_ succeeded to the care of his prints; and, without violation of truth, it may be observed, that her good nature and affability recommend these performances which she continues to dispose of at Mrs. _Hogarth's_ house in _Leicester-square_. Before our artist went to bed, he boasted of having eaten a pound of beef-steaks for his dinner,[73] and was to all appearance heartier than he had been for a long time before. His disorder was an aneurism; and his corpse was interred in the church-yard at _Chiswick_, where a monument is erected to his memory, with this inscription, under his family arms:

"Here lieth the body
Of _William Hogarth_, Esq.
Who died _October_ the 26th, 1764;
Aged 67 years."

On another side, which is ornamented with a masque, a laurel wreath, a palette, pencils, and a book, inscribed "Analysis of Beauty," are the following verses by his friend Mr. _Garrick_:

"Farewell, great painter of mankind,
Who reach'd the noblest point of art;
Whose pictur'd morals charm the mind,
And through the eye correct the heart.
If _genius_ fire thee, reader, stay,
If _nature_ touch thee, drop a tear;
If neither move thee, turn away,
For _Hogarth's_ honoured dust lies here."

On a third side is this inscription:

"Here lieth the body
Of Dame _Judith Thornhill_,
Relict of Sir _James Thornhill_, knight,
Of _Thornhill_ in the county of _Dorset_.
She died _November_ the 12th, 1757,
Aged 84 years."

And on the fourth side:

"Here lieth the body
Of Mrs. _Anne Hogarth_, sister
to _William Hogarth_, Esq.
She died _August_ the 13th, 1771,
Aged 70 years."

Mr. _Hayley_, in his justly admired _Epistle to an Eminent Painter_ (Mr. _Romney_), has since expressed himself concerning our artist in terms that confer yet higher honours on his comic excellence:

"Nor, if her favour'd hand may hope to shed
The flowers of glory o'er the skilful dead,
Thy talents, _Hogarth!_ will she leave unsung;
Charm of all eyes, and Theme of every tongue!
A separate province 'twas thy praise to rule;
Self-form'd thy Pencil! yet thy works a School,
Where strongly painted, in gradations nice,
The Pomp of Folly, and the Shame of Vice,
Reach'd thro' the laughing Eye the mended Mind,
And moral Humour sportive Art refin'd.
While fleeting Manners, as minutely shown
As the clear prospect on the mirror thrown;
While Truth of Character, exactly hit,
And drest in all the dyes of comic wit;
While these, in _Fielding's_ page, delights supply,
So long thy Pencil with his Pen shall vie.
Science with grief beheld thy drooping age
Fall the sad victim of a Poet's rage:
But Wit's vindictive spleen, that mocks controul,
Nature's high tax on luxury of soul!
This, both in Bards and Painters, Fame forgives
Their Frailty's buried, but their Genius lives."

Thus far the encomiast, who seeks only for opportunities of bestowing praise. A more impartial narrative will be expected from the biographer.

It may be truly observed of _Hogarth_, that all his powers of delighting were restrained to his pencil.[74] Having rarely been admitted into polite circles, none of his sharp corners had been rubbed off, so that he continued to the last a gross uncultivated man. The slightest contradiction transported him into rage. To be member of a Club consisting of mechanics, or those not many removes above them, seems to have been the utmost of his social ambition; but even in these assemblies he was oftener sent to _Coventry_ for misbehaviour, than any other person who frequented them. To some confidence in himself he was certainly entitled; for, as a comic painter, he could have claimed no honour that would not most readily have been allowed him;[75] but he was at once unprincipled and variable in his political conduct and attachments. He is also said to have beheld the rising eminence and popularity of Sir _Joshua Reynolds_ with a degree of envy; and, if I am not misinformed, frequently spoke with asperity both of him and his performances. Justice, however, obliges me to add, that our artist was liberal, hospitable, and the most punctual of pay-masters; so that, in spite of the emoluments his works had procured to him, he left but an inconsiderable fortune to his widow. His plates indeed are such resources as may not speedily be exhausted. Some of his domestics had lived many years in his service, a circumstance that always reflects credit on a master. Of most of these he painted strong likenesses on a canvas still in Mrs. _Hogarth's_ possession.