Chapter VIII: Part 8

[47] I hope I shall not be censured for inserting a quotation from Fingal as the motto to an imitation of Rembrandt. Both poet and painter delighted in darkness, and each of them sometimes introduced a sublime and majestic figure, which beamed through the gloom "like the new moon seen through a gathered mist, when the sky pours down its flaky snow, and the world is silent and dark."

[48] This little winged periwinkle is engraven in a very different style from the rest of the plate, much of which is a sort of _aquæ_ tint. Many impressions were taken off without this figure.

[49] On the blade is engraven a dagger, the arms of our metropolis.

[50] This has been generally thought intended for a portrait of Hume Campbell, who, like some of his boisterous brethren of the present day, distinguished himself by a sort of savage elocution more consonant to Billingsgate than a court of law. Others have said it was designed for Doctor William King, Principal of St. Mary Hall, Oxford, and in proof of their assertion refer to an ascertained portrait in Worlidge's view of "Lord Westmoreland's Installation," 1761, to which it has a striking resemblance.

[51] On the scraps are inscribed, "We have found this man a pestilent fellow, a mover of sedition among the Jews, ringleader of the sect," etc. etc. etc.

[52] While the plate remained in the hands of Mrs. Hogarth impressions were sold at that price, but were afterwards reduced to three shillings.

[53] With each infant was then sent some little memorial by which it might be known at a future day. The following lines were written by an unfortunate widow, and pinned to the breast of a child who was received into the hospital:

"Go, gentle babe, thy future life be spent
In virtuous purity and calm content;
Life's sunshine bless thee, and no anxious care
Sit on thy brow, and draw the falling tear;
Thy country's grateful servant may'st thou prove,
And all thy life be happiness and love."

Some fifteen or sixteen years ago, a person of respectable appearance went to the hospital, and requested to see the chapel, great room, etc. He then desired to speak with the treasurer, to whom he presented a ten-pound bank note, expressing a wish that it might be recorded as a small but grateful memorial from the first orphan who was apprenticed by the charity. He added, "I was that orphan, and in consequence of the education I here received, have had the power of acquiring an independence with integrity and honour."

[54] Several other pictures were presented to the hospital by the few eminent painters who then lived in London.

"The donations in painting which several artists presented to the Foundling Hospital were among the first objects of this nature which engaged the public attention. The artists observing the effects that these paintings produced, came, in the year 1760, to a resolution to try the fate of a public exhibition of their works. This effort had its desired effect. The public were entertained, and the artists were excited to emulation."--_Strange's Inquiry into the Rise and Establishment of the Royal Academy_, p. 63.

This gives Hogarth a right to be classed, if not among those who were founders of the Royal Academy, as one of the first causes of its establishment.

[55] Be this as it may, certain it is that the boy, who was afterwards so great a Jewish legislator, bears a very strong resemblance to the Egyptian princess. That the artist meant by this family likeness to hint that he was of royal descent, I do not presume to assert.

[56] The head is said to be copied from a youth of the name of Seaton. The attitude and general air very much resemble that of Delilah, in a picture painted by Vandyke, of Samson seized by the Philistines, now in the Emperor's gallery at Vienna.

[57] These prints were promised to the subscribers sooner than they could be completed; and in consequence of their being delayed, the following advertisement was inserted in the _Public Advertiser_ of February 28, 1757:--

"Mr. Hogarth is obliged to inform the subscribers to his Election
prints that the three last cannot be published till about
Christmas next, which delay is entirely owing to the difficulties
he has met with to procure able hands to engrave the plates: but
that he neither may have any more apologies to make on such an
account, nor trespass any further on the indulgence of the public
by increasing a collection already sufficiently large, he intends
to employ the rest of his time in portrait-painting; chiefly this
notice seems more necessary, as several spurious and scandalous
prints have lately been published in his name," etc.

This fretful appeal must have been written under the influence of momentary spleen, which might possibly originate in his coadjutor's disappointing, and by that means forcing him to violate his engagements with the public. There is no other apology for his indulging a thought of quitting that walk in which he indisputably led, for another in which he must not only follow, but be far behind some of his contemporaries.

[58] Sir George Saville saw this in its true light. One of the supporters of the Bill of Rights being desirous of introducing Sir George's name among the members of the society, made application to the worthy Baronet for his permission to propose him. Sir George declined the honour, and pleaded his engagements being so numerous that he had not time to attend, etc. etc. "We do not expect your attendance," replied his friend; "we do not expect your constant attendance; but the sanction of your name would be a tower of strength to the society; and as you see by the public prints, the manner we conduct ourselves, and the business we do, you must approve, I think you cannot refuse us your name." "I do not," said Sir George, "make any objection to your conduct, which I have thought very regular and systematic, but I really dislike the title you have adopted; I observe that you meet, read a string of observations, and then make a motion for adjourning to dinner in the next room; there each man drinks his two bottles to most patriotic and constitutional toasts. In the next paper appear advertisements, that on the following Monday the supporters of the Bill of Rights will meet again. Dinner on table precisely at four o'clock. You dine, and drink your wine; your secretary gives us the same information in the succeeding prints, and again adds, that--dinner will be on the table precisely at four o'clock. All these circumstances induce me to think you should alter your title; instead of 'Supporters of the Bill of Rights,' call yourselves what you really are, 'Supporters of the Bill of Fare!'"

[59] This has been pronounced, I know not upon what authority, to be intended for the late Thomas Potter, Esq.

[60] In page 21 of a quarto pamphlet published in 1755, and entitled, "The Last Blow, or an unanswerable vindication of the society of Exeter College, being a reply to the Vice-Chancellor, Dr. King, and the writers of the _London Evening Post_," is the following paragraph:--

"The next character to whose merits we would do justice is the
Rev. Dr. C--ss--t (Cosserat). But as it is very difficult to
delineate this fellow in colours sufficiently strong and lively,
it is fortunate for us and the Doctor that Hogarth has undertaken
the task. In the print of 'An Election Entertainment,' the public
will see the Doctor represented sitting among the freeholders,
and zealously eating and drinking for the sake of the new
interest. His venerable and humane aspect will at once bespeak
the dignity and benevolence of his heart. Never did aldermen at
Guildhall devour custard with half such an appearance of love to
his country, or swallow ale with so much the air of a patriot.
These circumstances the pencil of Hogarth will undoubtedly make
manifest; but it is much to be lamented that his words also
cannot appear in this print, and that the artist cannot delineate
that persuasive flow of eloquence which could prevail upon
copyholders to abjure their base tenures and swear themselves
freeholders. But this oratory (far different from the balderdash
of Tully and Doctor King, concerning liberty and our country),
as the genius of mild ale alone could inspire, this fellow alone
could deliver."

[61] I think it is recorded in Mr. Joseph Miller's _Reports_, that our British Solomon often asserted that scratching was too great a luxury for a subject to enjoy.

[62] This woman was remarkable for performing at fairs, country hops, etc. in the neighbourhood of Oxford, and known by the name of Fiddling Nan.

[63] This is a portrait of the present Sir John Parnell, nephew to the poet. He was introduced into this print by his own request, declaring at the same time that, from his being so generally known in Ireland, his face would help the sale of the engraving.

[64] It is supposed to be the portrait of an Oxford bruiser who went by the name of Teague Carter.

[65] A mashing-tub seems a sufficiently capacious vessel, but sinks to nothing when compared with a bowl which, it is recorded, was filled with punch on the 15th of October 1694, at the expense of Admiral Russel. The Admiral's punch was made in a fountain situated in the centre of a large garden, the terminus to four long gravel walks, canopied with orange and lemon trees. In each walk was a table the length of the avenue, covered with a cold collation, consisting of every luxury which the season produced; and in the basin of the fountain, which the gallant seaman chose to call a little basin, for the entertainment of a few friends, were the following ingredients:--Four hogsheads of brandy, eight hogsheads of water, twenty-five thousand lemons, twenty gallons of lime juice, thirteen hundredweight of fine Lisbon sugar, five pounds of grated nutmegs, three hundred toasted biscuits, and lastly, a pipe of dry mountain Malaga. Over the fountain was erected a large canopy to keep off the rain, and in a little boat, built for the purpose, a boy belonging to the fleet rowed round the basin, and served this cordial beverage to the company. More than six thousand men partook of this mighty bowl.

[66] This alludes to the alteration of the style in the year 1752, a measure which gave great umbrage, and excited a violent clamour among the advocates for old customs and adherents to ancient forms.

[67] Kirton was a tobacconist in Fleet Street, but injured his circumstances and destroyed his constitution by his active zeal in the Oxfordshire election of 1754.

[68] This is said to be intended for the late Duke of Newcastle, his Grace having exerted all his influence in support of the Naturalization Bill: the nose of the effigy gives some probability to the conjecture.

[69] Under the portrait of a Mr. Cholmondeley of Vale Royal, in Cheshire, engraved about the same time with these prints, are the following quaint lines:

"In this plain garb a senator is shown,
Who never bought a vote, nor sold his own."

[70] This print undoubtedly gave the hint for a transaction in which Punch was made the principal agent at a late Shaftesbury election.

[71] By the condescending humility of men of high rank, and the aspiring ambition of men of no rank, they to all appearance become equal at every general election. The following is one among the few instances of an independent spirit in a candidate's address:--

"TO THE GENTLEMEN, CLERGY, AND FREEHOLDERS OF THE COUNTY OF YORK.

"GENTLEMEN,--I have had the honour to represent the county of
York in three successive Parliaments: I have been diligent in my
attendance, and have performed my duty with a clear and unbiassed
conscience. I have now an opposition declared against me, for
what reasons I do not know, except that I am not disposed to obey
the dictates of the associators at York. I do not wish to serve
you upon such terms. I will never go to Parliament in fetters;
nor did I, nor ever will I disguise my principles, which all go
to the support of our excellent constitution in Church and State.
I avow myself an enemy to tumults, sedition, and rebellion, and
will never support any but a British interest. Consistently with
that, I am a friend to the people, and am determined to preserve
my independency, yielding neither to any influence of ministers,
nor to any clamours of a faction.

"Upon these principles I shall esteem it a high honour to be
returned for this great county, and shall be thankful for your
support.--I am, gentlemen, etc.,

"EDWIN LASCELLES.

"_September 12, 1780._"

In Mr. Edmund Burke's speech to the electors of Bristol, on the 3d of November 1774, he gave such cogent reasons for not signing any engagement to obey in all cases the instructions of his constituents, that I cannot resist the temptation of inserting an extract, for the contemplation of those who are advocates of a contrary system:--

"Certainly, gentlemen, it ought to be the happiness and glory of a representative to live in the strictest union, the closest correspondence, and the most unreserved communication with his constituents. Their wishes ought to have great weight with him; their opinion high respect; their business unremitted attention. It is his duty to sacrifice his repose, his pleasures, his satisfaction to theirs; and above all, ever and in all cases to prefer their interest to his own. But his unbiassed opinion, his mature judgment, his enlightened conscience, he ought not to sacrifice to you, to any men, or to any set of men living. These he does not derive from your pleasure; no, nor from the law and the constitution. They are a trust from Providence, for the abuse of which he is deeply answerable. Your representative owes you not only his industry, but his judgment; and he betrays instead of serving you, if he sacrifices it to your opinion.

"My worthy colleague says his will ought to be subservient to yours. If that be all, the thing is innocent. If government were a matter of will upon any side, yours, without question, ought to be superior. But government and legislation are matters of reason and judgment, and not of inclination; and what sort of reason is that in which the determination precedes the discussion, in which one set of men deliberate and another decide, and where those who form the conclusion are three hundred miles distant from those who hear the argument?

"To deliver an opinion is the right of all men; that of constituents is a weighty and respectable opinion, which a representative ought always to rejoice to hear, and which he ought always most seriously to consider. But authoritative instructions; mandates issued, which the member is bound blindly and implicitly to obey, to vote, and to argue for, though contrary to the clearest conviction of his judgment and conscience; these are things utterly unknown to the laws of the land, which arise from a fundamental mistake of the whole order and tenor of our constitution.

"Parliament is not a congress of ambassadors from different and hostile interests; which interests each must maintain, as an agent and advocate against other agents and advocates; but Parliament is a deliberative assembly of one nation, with one interest, that of the whole; where not local purposes, not local prejudices ought to guide, but the general good resulting from the general reason of the whole. You choose a member, indeed; but when you have chosen him, he is not a member of Bristol, but he is a member of Parliament. If the local constituent should have an interest, or should form an hasty opinion, evidently opposite to the real good of the rest of the community, the member of that place ought to be as far as any other from any endeavour to give it effect."

[72] In the year 1739 Admiral Vernon took Portobello with six ships only. The public gratitude to him was boundless: he was sung in ballads; at the ensuing general election in 1741 he was returned for three different corporations; but above all, his portrait covered every signpost; and he may be, figuratively, said to have sold the ale, beer, and purl of all England for six years.

[73] This sign has a very whimsical appearance: it represents our merry monarch in a great tree, enveloped in a black wig, decorated with a point lace cravat, and environed with three crowns. Two Parliamentary troopers, riding beneath the branches, do not perceive that this faithless "Defender of the Faith," and so forth, is immediately above them. This curious delineation is evidently copied from some country sign, and gives a very exact representation of one I remember to have seen in a village in Shropshire, with the following _poetical_ inscription:--

"This oak, the glory of the wood, may well be called a royal thing,
For once upon its branches there perched a great king;
And while the king was perched upon the branches so high,
The Roundhead rebels under him they all passed by."

[74] When Ware the architect was told of this piece of satire, he said the artist must be a very foolish fellow; for if he had painted the coachman as a shorter man, or made him stoop, he might have driven through the gateway with his head upon his shoulders.

[75] John Shoreditch, in the reign of Edward III., sued the county of Middlesex (for which he was returned to Parliament) to recover his wages. In some letters from the dead to the living, published about the year 1761, one signed with his name concludes as follows:

"If I was now upon earth--either nobleman or commoner--I should
choose peace and quiet, both public and private: I should be
happy in preserving religion and morality among my countrymen,
instead of suborning them to take the oath falsely about bribery
and corruption; debauching their minds, by giving them money that
is of no use to their families, and keeping them in continual
drunkenness, that renders them incapable of serving themselves or
their country.

"To this I attribute the loss of that which was common in my
time, but in yours is found only in romances and novels--I mean
simplicity of manners among the country people. Rustic innocence
was then as common among the men as among the women; but there
is scarce any mode of vice or folly which is not at this period
equally known and practised by both sexes; and in the most
obscure villages to as great a degree as in the most polished
cities. Let us consider that a million of money was spent in
treats and bribery at the last general election; and if we take
into the calculation the contested elections, for some of which
there were three or four candidates, and the money that is spent
by their friends on these occasions, we shall not find the
computation too high. What place, then, will not the influence
of this immense sum extend to? Not even the smallest hamlet can
escape; and you may as well look for purity of manners, innocence
and simplicity, among the Capuans of old, or in your Covent
Garden, as in any place that an election guinea has found its way
to.--I am, etc."

[76] I am tasteless enough to prefer this to Garrick between Tragedy and Comedy. From Hogarth the hint was indisputably taken; but exquisite as is the face of Thalia, the countenance of the actor, from the contention of two passions, has assumed a kind of idiotic stare, of which our honest farmer has not an iota. In the true spirit of Falstaff, he says, or seems to say, "D'ye think I do not know ye? Ha! ha! ha! he! he! he!!"

[77] Swift boasted that he made it a rule never to give his voice for the appointment of any man to any situation for which that man was not better qualified than his opponent. Being once applied to for his interest in the recommendation of a curate, because he was a very good sort of man, though a very vile preacher, he said he would willingly, if in his power, recommend him to be a bishop, because that was a business in which preaching was not wanted, but in a curate it was wanted every week. Being once asked by one of his parishioners which of two candidates he would advise him to vote for as a Parliament man, in a warmly contested Irish election, Swift desired he would first consider what was the business of a Parliament man; and secondly, which of the parties was best qualified for that business; and then he would want no advice. If your vote, added he, could make a lord or a duke, as they are people who need not do any business at all, you might toss up a halfpenny, and vote for the man who came up heads.

[78] By a letter we see out of his pocket, this appears to be Doctor Shebbeare, who was put on the pillory, and confined in prison; not for writing in the cause of his country, but for printing and publishing the sixth letter to the people of England, in which he most impudently and audaciously abuses George the First and the present royal family. The Doctor frequently said in a public coffeehouse, that he would have a pillory or a pension. In each of these points he was gratified; Lord Mansfield complimented him with the first, and Lord Bute rewarded him with the second. The honour he enjoyed long ago, the emolument he died in the receipt of a very few years since.

[79] The late Doctor Barrowby persuaded a dying man, that being much better he might venture with him in his chariot to the hustings in Covent Garden, to poll for Sir George Vandeput. The unhappy voter took his physician's advice, and in less than an hour after his return--expired.

[80] This sagacious-looking gentleman is said to be intended as a portraiture of the late Bub Doddington, afterwards Lord Melcombe.

[81] It has been thought that this carries some allusion to a circumstance which happened at the contested Oxfordshire election in 1754, when an outrageous mob, in the old interest, surrounded a post-chaise and attempted to throw it into the river; but Captain T----, who was in the carriage, shot a chimney-sweeper that was a ringleader in the assault, and his followers dispersed.

[82] About the year 1740, when party disputes ran very high, a gentleman of superior talents and undeviating integrity offered himself as a candidate for a town in the West of England. The first person whose vote he solicited asked him if he was a Whig or a Tory? "Neither," was the reply; "I profess myself a moderate man, and when administration act right, will vote with them,--when wrong, against them." "And be these really thy principles!" said the elector; "be these really thy principles! Then thou shalt not have my vote; but I'll give thee a piece of advice. Thou seest my door; it leads into the street, the right-hand side of which is for the Tories, the left for the Whigs; and for a cold-blooded moderate man like thee, there is the kennel, and in it I advise thee to walk, for thee be'st not decided enough for any other situation."

[83] This must indisputably be considered as the lawyer's mansion, not merely because it has a better appearance than any house we have seen in the foregoing prints, but because a parchment label, which hangs out of an upper window where a clerk is writing, is inscribed "Indintur." Had the artist thought it worth while to have consulted Master Henry Dilworth, or any other eminent schoolmaster, this orthography had been corrected.

[84] When many of those gentleman who had been very active in the Revolution, and materially contributed to the success of our great deliverer, applied to a nobleman high in office for the first places in the State, he answered their requests by referring them to the Roman history: "There," says he, "you will find that geese twice saved the Capitol; but I never heard that those geese were made Consuls."

[85] "Vermin" is a coarse phrase, but I think in a degree appropriate. How similar are the effects attendant on a swarm of pettifogging lawyers settling in a country town, to those resulting from a swarm of noxious and destructive insects settling in a garden!

[86] A nobleman, whose name it is not necessary to record, was so struck with the wit of this motto, that he had it inscribed upon a common eight-day clock.

[87] The life of Andrew Marvel forms a fine contrast to the life of a modern patriot. He was the son of a clergyman who resided at Kingston-upon-Hull, in Yorkshire, at which town he was born in the year 1624. His first appearance in public business was as an assistant to John Milton, when that inspired poet was Latin secretary to the Protector. A little before the Restoration he was chosen representative for his native town, and afterwards re-elected for the same place, and had a seat in that Parliament which began at Westminster, May 8, 1661. In this station he discharged his trust with the utmost fidelity, and always displayed a particular regard for those by whom he was elected; for he regularly sent the particulars of every proceeding in the House to the heads of the town which he represented, and to these accounts always joined his own opinion. This gained so much upon their affections, that they allowed him an honourable pension during the whole time he sat in Parliament, which was until his death. By his actions and writings he rendered himself obnoxious to the ruling powers; notwithstanding which, Charles the Second much delighted in his company. Having one evening passed some hours with this good-humoured monarch, his Majesty next morning sent Lord Treasurer Danby to find out his lodgings. Mr. Marvel's apartments were up two pair of stairs, in a little court in the Strand, where he was writing when the Lord Treasurer rather abruptly opened the door. Surprised at so unexpected a visitor, Mr. Marvel told his Lordship he believed he had mistaken his way. Lord Danby replied, "Not, now I have found Mr. Marvel;" adding, "I come with a message from his Majesty, who wishes to know what he can do to serve you." "I know," replied Marvel, "the nature of courts too well to lay myself under the obligation; for whoever is distinguished by a prince's favours, is certainly expected to vote in his interest." Lord Danby told him that his Majesty was sensible of his merits, and on that account alone desired to know if there were any place at Court which he would be pleased with. These offers, though urged with the greatest earnestness, had no effect. He told the nobleman, that to accept them with honour was impossible; because, added he, "I must either be ungrateful to the King in voting against him, or false to my country in giving in to the measures of the Court. The only favour therefore which I beg of his Majesty is, that he will esteem me to be as dutiful a subject as any he has; and more in his proper interest by refusing these offers than if I had accepted them." The Lord Danby, finding that no argument would prevail, told him that the King had ordered him a thousand pounds, which he requested him to receive as a token of royal favour. This last offer was rejected with the same stedfastness as the first, though, soon after the Lord Treasurer was gone, he was under the necessity of sending to a friend to borrow a guinea. The greatest temptations of riches or honours could never bribe him to depart from what he thought the interest of his country, neither could the most imminent dangers deter him from pursuing it.

He died, not without strong suspicions of being poisoned, August the 16th, 1678, in the fifty-eighth year of his age, and was interred in the Church of St. Giles' in the Fields. Highly to the honour of the inhabitants of Kingston-upon-Hull, they in the year 1683 contributed a sum of money for a monument to the memory of this best of men and most incorruptible of senators; but the then minister of St. Giles' forbade its being erected in that church, on account of the following epitaph which was inscribed on it:--

"Near this place lieth the body of Andrew Marvel, Esq., a man so endowed by nature, so improved by education, study, and travel; so consummated by experience and learning, that joining the most peculiar graces of wit with a singular penetration and strength of judgment, and exercising all these in the whole course of his life with unalterable steadiness in the ways of virtue, he became the ornament and example of his age; beloved by good men, feared by bad, admired by all, though imitated, alas, by few, and scarce paralleled by any. But a tombstone can neither contain his character, nor is marble necessary to transmit it to posterity; it is engraved in the minds of this generation, and will be always legible in his inimitable writings. Nevertheless, he having served near twenty years successively in Parliament, and that with such wisdom, dexterity, integrity, and courage as became a true patriot, the town of Kingston-upon-Hull, from whence he was constantly returned to that assembly, lamenting in his death the public loss, have erected this monument of their grief and gratitude.

"Heu fragile humanum genus! Heu terrestria vana!
Heu quem spectatum continet urna virum!"

In Mr. Mason's animated _Ode to Independency_, the dignified virtue of this truly patriotic character is described

"In thoughts that breathe, and words that burn."

[88] "Such were the words of the bards in the days of song, when the king heard the music of harps, and the tales of other times."--_Songs of Selma_, p. 302.

[89] In the early impressions it is spelt _Prusia_. It has been said with great confidence, that after twenty-five were worked off, this error in orthography was discovered and amended. I have seen at least fifty, and think it probable that all which were subscribed for were delivered before any alteration was made in the spelling.

[90] This word is explained in the _Slang Dictionary_ as a cant expression for the threat of a blow.

[91] The fifer is designed for the portrait of a young lad who was much noticed by the late William Duke of Cumberland; and who, from the propriety of his conduct, was first rewarded with a halberd, and afterwards promoted to a pair of colours.

[92] This is said to be the portrait of a fellow known by the name of Jockey James, a most frequent attendant on the nursery for bruising, under the management of the mighty Broughton. Jockey had a son who rendered himself eminent by boxing with Smallwood, and many other athletic pugilists. The French pieman, grenadier, and chimney-sweeper, are also taken from the life, and said, by those who recollect their persons, to be very faithful resemblances of the persons intended.

[93] This gentleman displays the great difference between _an_ officer, and _a officer_: he comes under the latter description.

[94] This is Mr. Thornton's remark, and rather too severe. Lord North once declared in the House of Commons that he saw no harm in the officers of the Guards. "They have nothing to do," added he, "but walk in the park, kiss the nursery-maids, and drink the children's milk."

[95] This figure is introduced in the very curious print of "Enthusiasm Delineated," and in the eleventh print of "Industry and Idleness," and was designed as a portrait of Mother Douglass of the Piazza.

[96] Lavater's character of this people is not exactly similar to Hogarth's delineation; it is, however, curious: "The form of a Frenchman is different from that of all other nations, and difficult to describe in words. No other man has so little of the firm or deep traits, or so much motion. He is all appearance, all gesture; therefore the first impression seldom deceives, but declares who and what he is. His imagination is incapable of high flights; and the sublime in all arts is to him offence. Hence his dislike of whatever is antique in art or literature, his deafness to true music, his blindness to the highest beauties of painting. His last most striking trait is, that he is astonished at everything, and cannot imagine how it is possible men should be any other than they are at Paris."

[97] Among the number of ingenious allusions which the seekers of Hogarth's meanings have pointed out, I have never heard it remarked that the standard waves immediately over this under-sized hero, who is consequently _under the standard_!

[98] Let not the reader imagine that this quotation alludes to the Duke's ponderous equestrian statue in Cavendish Square. That glittering monument of burnished brass bears no very striking resemblance to either an angel or a fiery Pegasus. It must, however, be considered as a monument of the taste, vanity, and gratitude of Colonel Salter.

[99] Grotesque delineations have more influence upon the populace than the philosopher is apt to imagine. Sir Robert Walpole inspected every political print and political ballad that was published, and said that from these vulgar effusions he could form a certain judgment of the genuine spirit and local prejudices which actuated the multitude.

[100] Election is, I believe, in its general sense, the act of choosing. We see by the application of the word in this book, it was not then confined to choosing a member of Parliament, but applied indiscriminately to either bird or beast.

[101] This is mere conjecture; but from Jackson the humpbacked jockey, and some other sedate personages who were present, I think it is more likely to be designed for that place than any other.

[102] A man of rank with these plebeian propensities might in the year 1759 be considered as a phenomenon: in this age of elegant accomplishment and universal refinement, the thing is common. We now see men of family and fortune ambitious of becoming umpires in battles between Big Ben and the Ruffian!

[103] The "March to Finchley."

[104] When Garrick first came on the stage, and one very sultry evening in the month of May performed the character of Lear, he in the first four acts received the customary tribute of applause. At the conclusion of the fifth, when he wept over the body of Cordelia, every eye caught the soft infection--the big round tear ran down every cheek. At this interesting moment, to the astonishment of all present, his face assumed a new character, and his whole frame appeared agitated by a new passion: it was not tragic, for he was evidently endeavouring to suppress a laugh. In a few seconds the attendant nobles appeared to be affected in the same manner; and the beauteous Cordelia, who was reclined upon a crimson couch, opening her eyes to see what occasioned the interruption, leapt from her sofa, and with the majesty of England, the gallant Albany, and tough old Kent, ran laughing off the stage. The audience could not account for this strange termination of a tragedy in any other way than by supposing the _dramatis personæ_ were seized with a sudden frenzy; but their risibility had a different source. A fat Whitechapel butcher, seated on the centre of the front bench in the pit, was accompanied by his mastiff, who being accustomed to sit on the same seat with his master at home, naturally thought he might enjoy the like privilege here. The butcher sat very back, and the quadruped finding a fair opening, got upon the bench, and fixing his fore-paws on the rail of the orchestra, peered at the performers with as upright a head and as grave an air as the most sagacious critic of his day. Our corpulent slaughter-man was made of melting stuff, and not being accustomed to a playhouse heat, found himself much oppressed by the weight of a large and well-powdered Sunday peruke, which, for the gratification of cooling and wiping his head, he pulled off, and placed on the head of his mastiff. The dog being in so conspicuous, so obtrusive a situation, caught the eye of Mr. Garrick and the other performers. A mastiff in a churchwarden's wig (for the butcher was a parish officer) was too much: it would have provoked laughter in Lear himself, at the moment he was most distressed; no wonder, then, that it had such an effect on his representative.

[105] In the second canto of a poem entitled _The Gamblers_, are the following notes:--

"By the cockpit laws, the man who cannot or who will not pay his debts of honour, is liable to exaltation in a basket."

"Stephen's exaltation in a basket, and his there continuing to bet though unable to pay, is taken from a scene in one of Hogarth's prints, humorously setting forth that there are men whom a passion for gaming does not forsake, even in the very hour that they stand proclaimed insolvents."

[106] Frequently called Deptford Nan, and sometimes dignified with a title--Duchess of Deptford! She was a famous cock-feeder, well known at Newmarket, and did the honours of the gentlemen's ordinary at Northampton, while a bachelor presided at the table appropriated to the ladies.

[107] A small print published in the year 1732, of which there are three copies.

[108] I have inserted the name of Gay on the authority of Mr. Nichols' _Anecdotes_, in page 177 of which is the following remark from a correspondent:--

"That Pope was silent on the merits of Hogarth (as one of your readers has observed) should excite little astonishment, as our artist's print on the South Sea exhibits the translator of Homer in no very flattering point of view. He is represented with one of his hands in the pocket of a fat personage, who wears a horn-book at his girdle. For whom this figure was designed is doubtful; perhaps it was meant for Gay, who was a fat man, and a loser in the scheme, etc. The horn-book he wears at his girdle perhaps refers to the fables he wrote for the Duke of Cumberland. The conclusion to the inscription under this plate--'Guess at the rest, you'll find out more'--seems also to imply a consciousness of such personal satire as it was not prudent to explain."

The conjecture that this is designed for Gay is fair, but I think not quite conclusive. Hogarth would not have represented the translator of Homer diving into the coat pocket of a brother bard for coin, and Gay could not be robbed of anything else. May not the label with A--B--, etc., be intended to point out Arbuthnot: he also was a fat man, and so careless of fame, that he suffered Pope, and some other eminent contemporary authors, to plunder him of the best part of his writings, which they afterwards modestly published as their own; _vide_ a very large portion of _Martinus Scriblerus_, particularly Pope's own edition, published in 1742.

Pope is again introduced in a print published about the year 1728, entitled "Rich's Glory, or The Triumphant Entry into Covent Garden," improperly said to be the production of Hogarth.

[109] This satire is wound up with a well-turned apology for the folly, but even here a dart must be hurled at the Duke.--The dart recoils, and returns to him who threw it; for although his Grace was vainly ostentatious, and absurdly extravagant, he was kind-hearted and beneficent to a fault:--

"Yet hence the poor are cloth'd, the hungry fed:
Health to himself, and to his infants bread,
The lab'rer bears: what his hard heart denies,
His charitable vanity supplies.
Another age shall see the golden ear
Embrown the slope, and nod on the parterre;
Deep harvests bury all his pride has plann'd,
And laughing Ceres re-assume the land."

It is a singular circumstance that the prophecy in the last four lines (for a prophecy it must be called) should be fulfilled, I had almost said in the poet's lifetime. A very few years after his death, when Hallet the upholsterer purchased Canons, the park was ploughed up and sown with corn.

I have somewhere seen an epigram, written soon after the publication of this epistle:--

"What Chandos builds let Pope no more deride,
Because he took not Nature for his guide,
Since, mighty Bard--in thy own form we see
That nature may mistake, as well as he."

[110] We have amateurs of boxing, and why not of cock-fighting?

[111] This noble diversion may with more propriety be called royal in India than in England, for it is not peculiar to Great Britain, neither is it confined within the narrow boundaries of Europe. In a picture which Mr. Zoffani designed from nature, he has exhibited the Nabob of Oude, and a crowd of his courtiers, dressed in their robes of state surrounding a cockpit. The Asiatic Sovereign, his brother, and his attendants, display as much eagerness for gain, and rapacity of physiognomy, as is to be seen in the most notorious of our Newmarket gamblers.

[112] Throwing at cocks on this day is, I hope and believe, a less prevalent custom than it once was. Our ancestors must have formed strange notions of the duties that were acceptable to the Deity on commencement of Lent, when they set apart the eve as a proper time for the martyrdom of this inoffensive animal.

[113]

"Wilt thou draw near the nature of the gods,
Draw near them then in being merciful;
Sweet mercy is nobility's true badge."

[114] "A beautiful Diana, with her trussed-up robes, the crescent alone wanting, stands on the high altar to receive homage in the character of St. Agnes, in a pretty church dedicated to her (_fuor della Porte_), where it is supposed she suffered martyrdom: and why? Why, for not venerating that very goddess Diana, and for refusing to walk in her procession at the new moons, like a good Christian girl. Such contradictions put one from oneself, as Shakspeare says."--Mrs. Piozzi's _Letters_.

[115] A catalogue of the massacres, slaughters, and assassinations which have taken place for little differences of opinion, would fill a library. Superstition has been the general cause of man destroying man.

[116] The infatuation of the lower order of the people during the drawing of a lottery is hardly to be conceived. They cannot consult Virgil, but they consult every star in the firmament, and every male and female astrologer in the parish, to find out lucky numbers. Figures chalked on the wall, and dreams, have great credit; and much respect is paid to the year of their birth, a husband's or wife's death, etc. etc. The destructive consequences of this thirst for divination it is not necessary to enumerate,--they are recorded in the annals of Bethlehem Hospital and the Newgate Calendar.

[117] A field preacher in one of the provinces, from the strength of his lungs and length of his extemporary harangues, being for some months attended by a more numerous congregation than the parson of the parish, began to think himself the more orthodox man. Fraught with this idea, he one Sunday evening went to the vestry-room, waited until the service concluded, and then very rudely attacked the clergyman, telling him he came to convince him, to confound him, and to convert him by the word! This was followed by the recital of a thousand texts from various parts of the Holy Scriptures, so combined as to prove whatever he wished; and concluded by, "This is all from the Bible, and by the Bible I desires to abide.--Answer me by the same book." The clergyman being a man of some humour, after hearing him with much patience, very coolly asked this labourer in the vineyard if he recollected a text in the book of Kings, where it is written, "Then Ahithophel set his house in order, and went and hanged himself." "Certainly," replied the man, "I know it to be scripture." "Good," added the divine; "examine the Gospel of St. Luke, and you will find it written, 'Go and do thou likewise.' This I earnestly recommend, and so farewell."

[118] "Some witches, examined and executed at Mohra, in Sweden, in 1670, confessed that the devil gives them a beast about the bigness and shape of a young cat, which they call a carrier, etc."--Glanville _On Witches_, p. 494.

"For their being sucked by their familiar, we know so little of the nature of demons and spirits, that it is no wonder we cannot certainly divine the reason of so strange an action. And yet we may conjecture at some things that may render it less improbable. For some have thought that the Genii (whom both the Platonic and Christian antiquity thought embodied) are re-created by the reeks and vapours of human blood, and the spirits that proceed from them: which supposal (if we grant them bodies) is not unlikely, everything being refreshed and nourished by its like. And that they are not perfectly abstracted from all body and matter; besides the reverence we owe to the wisest antiquity, there are several considerable arguments I could allege to render it probable: which things supposed, the devil's suckling the sorceress is no great wonder, nor difficult to be accounted for. Or perhaps this may be only a diabolical sacrament and ceremony to confirm the hellish covenant."--_Glanville_, p. 10.

In the above, and any future quotations I may find it necessary to make from this great and sagacious author, I beg it may be observed that I quote from the fourth edition, published in 1726.

[119] Master Lilly remarketh that angels (and he must unquestionably mean to include fallen angels) very rarely speak unto any one; but when they do, it is like the Irish--very much in the throat.--_Lilly's Life_, p. 88.

[120] Curses are not peculiar to one church; John Boys, D.D., Dean of Canterbury, 1629, educated at Clare Hall, in Cambridge, was famous for his postils in defence of our liturgy, and was also much esteemed for his good life. He gained great applause by turning the Lord's Prayer into the following execration, when he preached at Paul's Cross:--"Our Pope which art in Rome, cursed be thy name; perish may thy kingdom; hindered may thy will be, as it is in heaven, so in earth. Give us this day our cup in the Lord's Supper, and remit our monies which we have given for thy indulgences, as we send them back unto thee; and lead us not into heresy, but free us from misery, for thine is the infernal pitch and sulphur, for ever and ever. Amen."

[121] "Several of the female devotees have waxen images in their hands. Master Glanville observeth that the devil frequently bringeth unto witches a waxen picture, which they, having christened it by the name of the person they wish to torment, thrust pins into; using these words as they perform their ceremonies, _Thout tout, a tout, tout, throughout and about.--Rentum, tormentum, etc. etc._"--_Glanville_, p. 297.

How wonderful has Shakspeare appropriated these idle tales in his tragedy of _Macbeth_! He did not build upon the fables of Greece and Rome; but leaving the mob of heathen deities to range over the classic ground which gave them birth, leaving those writers who draw all their supplies from the fountain of antiquity to take their copious draughts unmolested, he adopted the creed of his own nation, and on the dim legends of superstition, and oral traditions of credulity, raised a superstructure which has stood the test of ages, become more admired as it has been more minutely examined, and is now gazed at with an almost idolatrous veneration.

[122] The influence of these men is astonishing. They have the mind, body, and outward estate of their proselytes under their absolute direction; all their assertions are considered as prophecies, and every request has the force of a command.

Men seem to have a natural tendency to a belief in divination; and we have many instances where the commanders of armies have made great use of this easy faith. When Cromwell was in Scotland, a soldier stood with Lilly's _Almanac_ in his hand, and as the troops passed him, roared out, "Lo! hear what Lilly saith: you are promised victory! Fight it out, brave boys; and when you have conquered--read the month's prediction."

[123] Whosoever wisheth to know more of this Surrey Semiramis and her brood of rabbits, may consult the _Memoirs of M. St. Andre_, and some twelve or fifteen ingenious pamphlets, published about the year 1726, at which time a number of surgeons subscribed a guinea each to Mr. Hogarth, for a print from a whimsical design he had previously made on this very philosophical subject.

[124] The figure is, I believe, intended for the boy of Bilson, who, with an ostrich-like appetite, swallowed as many tenpenny nails as would have furnished a petty ironmonger's shop. This young gentleman, who in his day deceived a whole county, was only thirteen years of age. His extraordinary fits, agitations, and the surprising distempers with which he seemed to be afflicted, induced those who saw him to believe he was bewitched, and possessed with a devil. During the time he was in fits, he appeared both deaf and blind; writhing, groaning, and panting; and although often pinched, pricked with needles, tickled, severely whipped, and otherwise corrected, never seemed sensible of what was done to him. When he was thought to be out of his fits, he digested nothing that was given him for nourishment, but would often astonish those present by bringing up thread, straw, crooked pins, nails, needles, etc. At this period his throat swelled, his tongue grew rigid, and he appeared to be incapable of speaking.

This juvenile impostor accused a poor honest industrious old woman of witchcraft, and asserted that she had bewitched him. By his artful behaviour when she was brought into the room where he was, he raised in the minds of those about him a strong presumption of his accusations being founded. Under these impressions, the woman was tried at Stafford assizes, but the jury had sense enough to acquit her. By the judge's recommendation, the boy was committed to the care of the Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry, who happened to be present in court. His Grace took him to his palace at Eccleshall, and there, having the previous advice of several physicians, intended to try the effect of severity; but being in the meantime informed that the boy always fell into violent agitations upon hearing that verse of St. John's Gospel, "In the beginning was the Word," etc., resolved to try another experiment. Assuming a grave and austere countenance, he thus addressed him:--

"Boy, it is either thou thyself or the devil that abhorrest these words of the Gospel; and if it be the devil, there is no doubt of his understanding all languages, so that he cannot but know and show his abhorrence when I recite the same sentence out of the Gospel in the Greek text; but if it be thyself, then thou art an execrable wretch, who playest the devil's part in loathing that portion of the Gospel of Christ, which above all other scripture doth express the admirable union of the Godhead in one Christ and Saviour, which union is the arch pillar of man's salvation. Wherefore look unto thyself, for now thou art to be put unto trial, and mark diligently whether it be the same scripture which shall be read unto thee out of the Greek Testament, at the reading whereof in the English tongue thou dost seem to be so much troubled and tormented."

This experiment succeeded, for neither the boy nor the devil understood the Greek version.

[125] It was deemed an approved remedy for witchcraft, to put a small wax model of any one under this baneful influence into a quart bottle with water, cork it up to confine the spirit, and place it before the fire. Notwithstanding all these precautions, the spirit sometimes forced the cork, and cast the contents of the bottle a considerable height.

[126] Of the writings of this paragon of English monarchs--so wise that he was called the Solomon of Great Britain--it has been truly said, "They are to be found in chandlers' shops even unto this day."

[127] A very grave historian relates, that the ghost of Sir George Villiers appeared to one who had been his servant, charging him to inform his son of the plan laid to destroy him! The servant obeyed his instructions, and informed his Grace, but the Duke wanted faith--was negligent--and was assassinated: though it does not seem probable that the crazed enthusiast who committed the murder had sufficient coherence of mind to lay any regular plan.

[128] Drelincourt's _Defence against the Fears of Death_ is well written; and in the confidence that a translation would sell, the bookseller struck off a very large impression. They lay undisturbed in his warehouse until Daniel Defoe added this ridiculous narrative, which carried the book through one-and-twenty editions.