Chapter V (4)

It may be observed of this print (the inside of Bedlam), in addition to what has been before said, that the scene portrayed is not only a most faithful representation of those doleful regions, but that most of the persons are certainly intended as real portraits. One at least may, with every appearance of probability, be added to the list of names of those already identified--the man sitting by the figure inscribed "Charming Betty Careless," who is supposed to have gone mad for love. Such a person was actually confined there for that malady some years previous, whose history so exactly corresponds with Hogarth's representation, and whom he must have remembered, that it can scarcely be doubted but he had him in his eye. The portrait of the person alluded to is thus described in a modern biographical work: "William Ellis. Printed and sold by Sutton Nichols, in Aldersgate Street, Æt. 45, 1709." Sitting on the rails of Moorfields. Printed with his life and character written by himself, etc. This poor maniac lost his reason through love for his Betty, who seems to have been a real character. Ellis is represented with a chaplet of laurel on his right, and a Cupid drawing his bow on the left. Under the chaplet is inscribed--

"Tell her I burn with noble vestal fire,
Tell her she's all I wish or can desire."

And under the Cupid, amongst others, these lines:

"My years of minority I spent at school;
But love--that sweet passion--my reason would rule;
And yielding obedience to its potent sway,
The charming dear Betty my heart stole away.
Deny'd her enjoyment, at last I grew mad,
And nothing but Betty, dear Betty, I cry'd:
Such charms has that phœnix, she shall be my bride.
But Bedlam became my sad portion and lot,
By loving a fair one that knew of it not."

The eight paintings of "The Rake's Progress," which had been originally purchased of Hogarth by Francis Beckford, Esq., for £88, 4s., were, at the sale of William Beckford, Esq. of Fonthill, in 18--, sold by the elder Mr. Christie for the sum of 850 guineas. The buyer was Colonel Fullarton, M.P.

IDLE AND INDUSTRIOUS APPRENTICE.

VOL. I. P. 284.

PLATE VIII.--Speaking of the disposition of a crowd in a picture, Mr. Gilpin says:--"I do not recollect having seen a crowd better managed than Hogarth has managed one in the last print of his 'Idle 'Prentice.' In combining the multifarious company which attends the spectacle of an execution, he hath exemplified all the observations I have made. I have not the print before me, but I have often admired it in this light; nor do I recollect observing anything offensive in it, which is rare in the management of such a multitude of figures."--_Observation on the Wye_, p. 123.

THE TIMES.

VOL. II. P. 180.

The wild Indian painted on a show-cloth, with the inscription underneath, "Alive from America," is meant as a satire on Alderman Beckford, for whose recent uncourtly speech to Majesty (see the _Guildhall Statue_) the painter has represented him as a savage.

FOUR TIMES OF THE DAY.

VOL. I. Pp. 222-226.

PLATE II.--_Noon._--The boy who has had the misfortune to break the baked pudding, a commentator on Hogarth asserts was the late Mr. Henderson the player, who often sportively assured his friends that he stood to Hogarth for the sketch when he was with Fournier the drawing-master. But this is impossible, as the prints in the receipt are promised to be delivered by Lady-day 1738, several years before Henderson was born. A correspondent has assured us that he has repeatedly heard his grandfather, an individual unknown to the public, refer to that figure in the print as a portrait of himself, asserting that he had just such an accident when a boy on the very spot, and was at that period remarkable for such a head of hair (which was of a very light colour) as is shown in the print.

_But query._--With more certainty we may venture to suggest, that the idea of the woman throwing the shoulder of mutton out of the window is borrowed from the old song:

"Now John he was no great eater, and Joan she was no great glutton,
So the better to pamper their stomachs, they bought them a
shoulder of mutton:
But Joan in an angry mood took the shoulder of mutton in hand,
And out of the window she threw it,--poor John, he was at a stand,"
etc.

Plate III.--_Evening._--The scene of this picture is laid at Islington, near Sadlers Wells, which was then a famous place for tea-drinking, and the antitype for low dissipation of the late "Dog and Duck." The view represents it correctly previous to its being rebuilt in its present form, and exactly similar to a small copperplate delineation of it over an old song, called "A Song in praise of Sadlers Wells," in which its various amusements are described. The adjoining alehouse window, in which we behold a group enveloped in their own smoke, is the "Sir Hugh Middleton's Head," a sign still remaining. A celebrated knot of drinkers and smokers actually met at this place about the period alluded to, at the head of which was old Rosamond, the proprietor of the Wells; and it is not improbable but that Hogarth might have known and meant to satirize this fraternity. The portraits of these gentlemen are still preserved in a large painting at the very same public-house, under the name of the "Sadlers Wells Club."

ENRAGED MUSICIAN.

VOL. I. P. 206.

Cervetto, well known by the name of "Nosee," has been generally supposed to be intended by the character of the musician; but there are others who apply it to Dr. Arne; for though not a strict likeness of that great composer, the figure and face bear so near a resemblance (and he was extremely remarkable) as fully to authorize the application. The known irritability of the Doctor in musical business might not have been the only cause of Hogarth's placing him in this ludicrous situation; his habits of intrigue, and singularly plain person, made him so fair an object for caricature, that one of his portraits, printed with a song of his composing, has ironically written under it, "Beauty and Virtue." This song, with the portrait, was eagerly purchased up, and is now very scarce. Some years since Mr. Colman got up a little interlude at the Haymarket Theatre from the idea of this print, called "Ut Pictura Poesis, or the Enraged Musician," when the character of the musician was purposely given to a performer who was thought in figure and face to resemble Dr. Arne.

SIGISMUNDA.

VOL. I. P. 75.

This celebrated picture, which, at the time of first publishing the preceding volumes, was in the possession of Messrs. Boydell & Co., but has since been in other hands, was advertised to be sold by auction, with other effects, by Mr. Jacques, May 12, 1812, on the premises, Great James Street, Bedford Row, and was to be seen by applying for tickets for that purpose to the auctioneer.

THE BEGGARS' OPERA.

VOL. II. P. 292.

In addition to the value of this print as a collection of portraits, it may be observed that it contains the only known representation of the inside of the Lincoln's-Inn Fields Theatre. This playhouse was opened under the management of Betterton, with the comedy of _Love for Love_, which had a very considerable run. The _Beggars' Opera_, however, was of still superior attraction, and it carried all before it. After continuing open with various success for several seasons, the Lincoln's-Inn Fields playhouse finally closed, on the removal of the company to the new theatre in Covent Garden, and the building (the exterior of which is still entire) is now occupied as Spode's pottery warehouse.

SLEEPY CONGREGATION.

VOL. I. P. 192.

The clergyman preaching is supposed to represent Dr. Desaguliers. But why Hogarth has assigned him this post of honour, does not appear. This gentleman was the son of a French Protestant clergyman; was educated at Cambridge, and held the donative of Whitchurch, in Middlesex. He was the first lecturer on experimental philosophy in the capital, and published his lectures in two vols. 4to. He died at his lodgings at the Bedford Coffeehouse, Covent Garden, Feb. 29, 1744, and was buried, March 26, at the Savoy. He is spoken of as a man of considerable talents, but possibly might have had a peculiarly inanimate mode of delivering his sermons, which occasioned Hogarth's satire. The original painting from which this print was engraved was lately in the possession of the late John Follett, Esq., of the Temple, London. It differs in some little particulars from the print.

CHRONOLOGICAL LIST

OF

HOGARTH'S WORKS,

WITH THE VARIATIONS, ETC.

1720.

1. W. Hogarth, engraver, with two figures and two Cupids, "April y^e 20. 1720." I have seen a print on which was written, in Hogarth's hand, "Near the Black Bull, Long Lane." Of this card there is a modern copy.

1721.

1. An Emblematic Print on the South Sea; W. Hogarth, _inv. et sc._ Sold by Mrs. Chilcot in Westminster Hall, and B. Caldwell, printseller, in Newgate Street. _Second state_--Printed for Bowles. _Third state_--Without any publisher's name. Some wretched stanzas are engraved beneath the print.

2. The Lottery; W. Hogarth, _inv. et sculp._ Sold by Chilcot and Caldwell, price 1s. _Second state_--Printed for Chilcot. _Third state_--For Sympson. And in a _fourth_--For Bowles--"price 1s." is erased. An explanation with references is engraved beneath.

The allegory of both these prints is obscure, but the figures are in the manner of Callot, and in a spirited and masterly style.

1723.

Eighteen plates to Aubry de la Mottraye's _Travels_. Hogarth's name on fourteen of them. As these prints have such references as are hardly intelligible, and as Mr. Nichols' numbers and mine do not exactly agree, I have given a slight hint of the subject of each.

5. Vas mirabile ex integro Smaragdo, Genoæ, etc.

Tom. i. No. 9.--Tiara Patriarchalis Græca.

Tom. i. No. 10.--A Lady and Black in a Bath. No name legible.

Tom. i. No. 11.--Dance of Elegant Female Figures. _Vide_ p. 125.

No. 15.--A Procession.

Tom. i. No. 17.--A Group of Figures in Turbans.

Tom. i. No. 18.--A Scene in the Seraglio.

Tom. ii. No. 3.--Park of the Artillery.

Tom. ii. No. 5.--"Bender."--Portrait of Charles XII.

Tom. ii. No. 8.--Head of Charles XII., etc.

Tom. ii. No. 9, Plate I.--Fodina Argentea Sahlensis.

Tom. ii. No. 9, Plate I.--Ditto.

Tom. ii. No. 11.--Fodina Terrea Danmorensis.

Tom. ii. No. 14.--A Lapland Hut, with Reindeer, etc.

To this catalogue, I think we may add No. 13, Tom. i., and Tom. i. No. 16, as well as the figures at the comers of Tom. ii. No. 26 A, and those in Tom. ii. C, of which there is a modern copy under the name of The Five Muscovites.

1724.

1. Seven small prints to the new _Metamorphosis of Lucius Apuleius of Medaura_; printed for Sam. Briscoe, 12mo, 2 vols.; one of the plates without Hogarth's name. The hints for these figures are taken from the prints in a translation, 2 vols. octavo, printed for the same bookseller in 1708. A most contemptible modern imposition sometimes appears under the title of _An Eighth Apuleius_.

2. Masquerades and Operas--Burlington Gate; W. Hogarth, _inv. et sculp._ _Vide_ p. 22. In the early impressions, the name of Pasquin, No. 11, is inserted as a label on a book in a wheel-barrow, where we have now Ben Jonson. Eight lines engraved on a separate piece of copper are sometimes found under the first impression: they begin--

"Could now dumb Faustus, to reform the age," etc.

Beneath them is, "price 1s." To the second impression--

"O how refined, how elegant we're grown!" etc.

The print is sometimes found without any lines. In this Hogarth's name is inserted within the frame of the plate. To the copy there are also eight lines, beginning--

"Long has the stage productive been," etc.

1725.

1. Five Small Prints for the translation of _Cassandra_, in 5 vols. duodecimo; W. Hogarth, _inv. et sculp._

2. Fifteen Headpieces for the _Roman Military Punishments_, by John Beaver, Esq., engraved in the style of Callot.

The Plate to chap. xvii., "Pay stopped wholly or in part," etc., differs from that sold with the set. At the bottom of the former, in the book we read, "W. Hogarth, _invent. sculpt._;" the latter has, "W. Hogarth, _invent. et fec._" The former has a range of tents behind the pay-table. These are omitted in the latter, which likewise exhibits an additional soldier, attendant on measuring out the corn, etc.

A little figure of a Roman General in the title-page may possibly be by Hogarth, though his name is not to it.

3. A Copy from Kent's Altar-Piece, _vide_ p. 23. This was usually printed on blue paper. In the original the word "_wings_" is terminated with a long _ſ_. In a modern copy this error is corrected.

4. A Scene in Handel's opera of _Ptolomeo_. _Vide_ p. 184. There is a copy of the same size.

5. Booth, Wilkes, and Cibber, contriving a Pantomime.

1726.

1. Frontispiece to _Terræ-filius_. _Vide_ p. 193.

2. Twenty-six Figures on two large sheets; engraved for a _Compendium of Military Discipline_, by J. Blackwell. No engraver's name.

3. Twelve Prints for _Hudibras_--the large set. In Plate II (the earliest impressions) the words, "Down with the Rumps," are not inserted on the scroll. "Printed and sold by P. Overton, near St. Dunstan's Church, in Fleet Street, and J. Cooper, in James Street, Covent Garden."

Now printed for Sayer, Fleet Street.

A Print representing Hudibras and Sidrophel, and taken off in colours, was in 1782 engraved by T. Gaugain.

3. Seventeen Small Prints for _Hudibras_, with Butler's head. The portrait is evidently copied from White's mezzotinto of John Baptist Monnoyer. The same designs on a large scale, with some slight variations, were engraved by J. Mynde for Grey's edition of _Hudibras_, published in 1724. Hogarth has evidently taken the hints for his figures, grouping, etc., from a small edition of this poem published in 1710.

Copies are inserted in Townley's translation of _Hudibras_ into French, published in 1757.

Many of them were copied by Ross, with violent alterations, for Dr. Nashe's splendid edition of _Hudibras_, published in 1795.

4. Cunicularii, or the Wise Men of Godliman in Consultation. A burlesque on the Believers in Mrs. Tofts, the rabbit-breeder.

1727.

1. Music introduced to Apollo by Minerva; Hogarth, _fecit_. Frontispiece to some book of music, or ticket for a concert.

2. Large Masquerade Ticket. _Vide_ Frontispiece and p. 230. In the earliest impressions, the word "Provocatives" has instead of V the open vowel U. It was afterwards amended, but the mark remains.

3. Frontispiece to _Leveridge's Songs_; no engraver's name. Mr. Molteno informs me he has seen an impression of this, with the sky partly erased, and a player's ticket engraved in the place. The title-page to this work is, I believe, also by Hogarth.

1728.

1. Head of Hesiod, from the bust at Wilton; for Cook's translation.

Rich's Glory, or his Triumphant Entry into Covent Garden. W. H. E^t SULP. Contemptible!

Of this there is a modern copy.

3. The Beggars' Opera. The title over the print in letters disproportionably large.

4. The same; the lines under it engraved in a different manner. "Sold at the print shop in the Strand," etc.

5. A copy of the same, under the title of "The Opera House, or the Italian Eunuchs' Glory," etc.

1729.

1. Henry Eighth and Anne Bullen; with lines by Allan Ramsay, beginning--

"Here struts old pious Harry, once the Great."

2. The same plate without any verses.

There is a coarse copy, I think engraved on pewter.

The original picture was painted for the portico at Vauxhall.

3. Frontispiece to Miller's _Comedy of the Humours of Oxford_; engraved by Vandergucht.

1730.

1. Two Prints for _Perseus and Andromeda_.

2. Gulliver presented to the Queen of Babilary; engraved by Vandergucht. Frontispiece to Lockman's translation of _John Gulliver's Travels_. A wretched design.

1731.

1. Frontispiece to Molière's _L'Avare_.

2. To _Le Cocu Imaginaire_; prefixed to Molière's Plays in French and English.

3. Frontispiece to Fielding's _Tom Thumb_; engraved by Vandergucht. Grotesque, and good.

4. Frontispiece to Mitchell's _Opera of the Highland Fair_; engraved by Vandergucht.

1732.

1. Sarah Malcolm, executed March 7th, 1732, etc.; W. Hogarth (_ad vivum_), _pinxit et sculpsit_.

2. An engraved copy of ditto.

3. Ditto mezzotinto.

4. Part graven and part mezzotinto.

5. Another copy, with the addition of a clergyman holding a ring.

6. A wooden cut in the _Gentleman's Magazine_ for March 1733.

7. A small copy from a small whole length, in the possession of Josiah Boydell, Esq.

The first, Hogarth _sculpsit_, is very scarce.

8. The Man of Taste. Pope with a tie-wig on.

9. The same in a smaller size; Pope in a cap. Prefixed to a pamphlet entitled "_A Miscellany of Taste_, by Mr. Pope, etc." _Vide_ p. 201.

10. The same, in a still smaller size, coarsely engraved.

1733.

1. The Laughing Audience. Subscription-ticket to the Rake's Progress, and Southwark Fair, which were originally delivered to subscribers at a guinea and a half.

The receipt was afterwards cut off. Of this print there is a coarse copy.

2. Southwark Fair. The show-cloth, representing the Stage Mutiny, is copied from an etching by John Laguerre. The paint-pot and brushes, which Hogarth has added to the figure with a cudgel in his hand, has been said to allude to John Ellis the painter; is it not quite as probable that it alludes to Jack Laguerre?

3. Judith and Holofernes. Engraved by Vandergucht. Frontispiece to the Oratorio of Judith, by William Huggins, Esq.

4. Boys Peeping at Nature. Subscription-ticket to the Harlot's Progress. The receipt was afterwards erased, and the following receipt, very neatly engraved, supplied its place:

"Received ----, 1737, half a guinea, being the first payment for five large prints--one representing a Strolling Company of Actresses dressing themselves in a barn; and the other four--Morning, Noon, Evening, and Night; which I promise to deliver on Lady-day next, on receiving half a guinea more."

"_N.B._--They will be twenty-five shillings after the subscription is over."

A modern copy of this receipt in aquatinta was published in 1781.

2. Another print on the same subject, with considerable variations, designed as a receipt for Moses brought to Pharaoh's Daughter, and St. Paul before Felix, for which he afterwards substituted the burlesque Paul.

In one of Hogarth's MSS., introductory to his intended description of his prints, I find the following notices of the pictures of the Harlot's and Rake's Progresses:

"Mr. Rouquet's account of my prints finishes with a description of the March to Finchley. The picture was disposed of by lottery (the only way a living painter has any chance of being paid for his time) for three hundred pounds; by the like means most of my former pictures were sold. Those of the Harlot's and Rake's Progress have, it seems, been since destroyed by fire,[122] with many other fine pictures, at the country house of the gentleman who bought them.[123] It is reported, and very remarkable if true, that a most magnificent clock-work organ, being left exposed to the conflagration, was heard in the midst of the flames to play several pleasing airs."

1733 and 1734.

The Harlot's Progress, in six plates.

Plate 1. _Second state_--Feet to the old woman. Shadow thrown by one house upon another. London added to the letter the parson is reading. Cross put in the centre of the margin, as indeed it is to the second state of the five that follow.

Plate 2. The shadows on the black boy's drapery, etc. are so sudden that he looks like a magpie. I have a copy of this print, of the same size, and well engraved; the situation of the figures reversed, with the strange variations of a shepherd and shepherdess, in the two pictures that were of Jonah and David, in the original.

Plate 3. A sort of sugar dish placed near the punch-bowl, in the first state, is in the second changed to a bottle. In a set of wretched copies, possibly made from the original pictures, and exhibited at Christie's in the year 1792, the woman dangling a watch is painted without stockings.

Plate 4. _Second state_--Damages in the ceiling stopped up: shadow added on the wall close to the hoop petticoat: the dog much blacker. In a print in my possession, the cross is inserted before any of these variations were made.

Plate 5. _Second state_--Dr. Rock's name inscribed on the paper: cap of the woman near the dying figure lowered.

Plate 6. The mask on the bottle inscribed "Nants," has a most ludicrous appearance. The shadows, especially that on the forehead of the girl near the clergyman, are much heightened in the _second state_.

2. Rehearsal of the Oratorio of Judith.

Ticket for a Modern Midnight Conversation. The singers of the different parts of bass, tenor, and treble, may be easily distinguished; and it is worthy of remark, that the notes before them are in the same key with the performers' voices. The receipt was afterwards cut off the plate.

3. A Midnight Modern Conversation.

_Second state_--The right hand and skirt of a man fallen on the ground stronger shadowed, and the lines over a vessel in the corner intersected.

1735.

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

Plate 1. _First state_--A book "Mem^{dum} 1721, May 3d. My son Tom came from Oxford. 4th, dined at the French Ordinary. 5th of June, put off my bad shilling." _Second state_--The book erased to insert the cover of a Bible as the sole of a shoe. The girl's face altered for the worse. Woollen-draper's shop-bill omitted.

Plate 2. _First state_--"Prosperity with Horlots smile." _Second state_--Altered to Harlots.

Plate 3. _First state_--Dated June y^e 24th, 1735. _Second state_--June 25th, and a laced hat put on the head of the girl sitting next to the Rake. Pontac's head introduced in the place of a mutilated Cæsar.

Plate 4. _Second state_--Shoeblack stealing the cane, erased, and his place supplied by a group of gambling boys. This design is unquestionably much improved by the alterations.

Plate 5. _Second state_--The right foot of the bridegroom, which gave a tottering awkwardness to the figure, omitted. The maidservant's face altered. The hand of the figure looking out of the gallery blackened. In this print the artist has introduced a portrait of his favourite dog Trump.

Plate 6. _Second state_--Rays round the candle stronger.

In the original sketch, the principal figure was not, as now, upon his knees, but seated.

Plate 7. In the very earliest impressions, Plate 7 is not inserted in the margin.

Plate 8. _Second state_--Head of the woman with a fan altered, and affectedly turning away from the mad monarch. A halfpenny, with a figure of Britannia, 1763, fixed against the wall, to intimate what the artist thought the state of the nation. "Retouch'd by the author, 1763."

It should seem that the man sitting by the figure inscribed "Charming Betty Careless," went mad for love. Dr. Monro, I am told, asserts that not more than one or two men have become mad from love in the course of a hundred years. Shakspeare has not, as I recollect, drawn one _man_ mad from that cause. I find by Hogarth's memorandum that the original pictures were sold to Francis Beckford, Esq., for £184, 16s.

1736.

1. Two prints of Before and After. See p. 26.

2. The Sleeping Congregation.

_First state_--"Dieu et mon droit," under the king's arms, not inserted: the angel has a pipe in his mouth. _Second state_--The above motto added, the angel's pipe effaced, and the lines of the triangle doubled. _Third state_--Inscribed on the side of the print: "Retouched and improved, April 21, 1762, by the author."

3. The Distressed Poet.

_First state_--Pope thrashing Curl, and four lines from the _Dunciad_ inscribed under the print. _Second state_--In the place of Pope, etc., view of the gold mines of Peru; and the four lines from the _Dunciad_ erased. This has been conjectured to be a portrait of Lewis Theobald, and in 1794 a copy of the head with his name annexed to it was published for Richardson. The original picture is in the collection of Lord Grosvenor.

4. Right Honourable Frances Lady Byron.

Whole-length mezzotinto by Faber. The best impressions are usually in brown ink. The plate was afterwards cut down to a half-length.

5. Arms of the Undertakers' Company.

The three figures at top are Dr. Ward, Chevalier Taylor, and Mrs. Mapp, the bone-setter; though it has been said, that the figure supposed to be Mrs. Mapp was intended for Sir Hans Sloane. _First state_--"One compleat Docter," etc. _Second state_--The spelling corrected.

1737.

1. The Lecture, "Datur vacuum." In the early impressions, the words "datur vacuum" are not printed. Hogarth sometimes wrote them in with a pen.

Æneas in a Storm.

1738.

1. The four parts of the Day.

Morning. The sky singularly muddy to express snow. The figure of the shivering boy was, in 1739, copied by F. Sykes, and is strangely enough christened by collectors, The Half-starved Boy.

Noon. In the _second state_--Shadows heightened.

Evening. In early impressions the man's hands are printed in blue, and the woman's face and neck in red; but they have been sometimes so stamped in later impressions, where the rail-post is crossed with intersecting lines, and the clearness of the water much injured.

In Hogarth's first design (engraved by Baron), the little girl with the fan was omitted; but the artist thinking his delineation would be improved by it, afterwards inserted it with his own burin. I have seen three impressions in this state; one of them, then thought to be unique, was purchased at Greenwood's Rooms, at Mr. Gulston's sale, by Mr. Thane, for the late Mr. G. Stevens, at the price of £47.

Night. The Salisbury flying coach has been thought to be a burlesque on a late noble peer, who delighted in driving his own horses.

I find by Hogarth's memorandum, that Sir William Heathcote purchased the picture of Morning for twenty guineas, and that of Night for £27, 6s. Noon was sold for £38, 17s., and Evening for £39, 18s., to the Duke of Ancaster.

2. Strolling Actresses dressing in a Barn.

_Second state_--The woman holding a cat has her coiffure lowered, and the female greasing her hair with a candle is divested of her feathers. Head of the sable goddess Night blacker, and her hair more woolly. Damages in the roof of the barn repaired; all the shallows darker.

By an account in one of Hogarth's books, the original picture was first sold to Francis Beckford, Esq., for £27, 6s. By him, though at so low a price, returned! and afterwards sold for the same sum to Mr. Wood of Littleton, in whose possession it still remains.

1739.

1. The Foundlings.

Engraved by Morrellon la Cave. _Vide_ p. 191.

1741.

The Enraged Musician.

Mr. Cricket has an impression, taken before the man blowing a horn, cats, steeple, play-bill, or drag were introduced. In this very curious, and I believe unique print, the dustman is without a nose, the chimney-sweeper has a grenadier's cap on, and a doll is placed under the trap, composed of bricks, etc.

In the early impressions, the horse's head is white; in its present state, black: and the dog, drag, hatchet, etc. considerably darker than when first engraved.

1742.

1. Martin Folks, Esq., half-length; W. Hogarth, _pinxit et sculpsit_. In early impressions, the name of W. Hogarth, etc. is not inserted.

2. The same, in mezzotinto, engraved by Faber. The original picture from which both these prints are taken is in the meeting-room of the Royal Society, Somerset Place.

3. The Charmers of the Age. A sketch, no name. Of this there is a spirited modern copy.

4. Taste in High Life. _Vide_ p. 186.

1743.

1. Benjamin Hoadley, Bishop of Winchester; engraved by Baron.

A small oval from the same picture was, in 1759, engraved by Sherlock.

2. Captain Thomas Coram; a three-quarters mezzotinto; admirably engraved by M'Ardell.

3. Coarsely copied in the _London Magazine_.

A copy of the full-length picture in the Foundling Hospital was, in 1797, engraved by Nutter, and published by Mr. Cribb of Holborn. _Vide_ p. 47.

5. Characters and Caricaturas; subscription-ticket to Marriage à la Mode. "For a further explanation of the difference betwixt Character and Caricatura, see y^e Preface to _Jo^h Andrews_."

"Received April ----, of ----, half a guinea, being the first payment for six prints called Marriage à la Mode, which I promise to deliver when finished, on receiving half a guinea more.

"_N.B._--The price will be one guinea and an half after the time of subscribing."

On this print Hogarth makes the following remark:--

"Being perpetually plagued, from the mistakes made among the illiterate, by the similitude in the sound of the words _character_ and _caricatura_, I, ten years ago, endeavoured to explain the distinction by the above print; and as I was then publishing Marriage à la Mode, wherein were characters of high life, I introduced the great number of faces there delineated (none of which are exaggerated), varied at random, to prevent, if possible, personal application when the prints should come out.

'We neither this nor that Sir Fopling call,
He's knight o' th' shire, and represents you all.'

This, however, did not prevent a likeness being found for each head, for a general character will always bear some resemblance to a particular one."

1745.

1. Marriage à la Mode, in six plates.

Plate 1. The coronet impressed on the dog in the print is not in the picture. I have this series of prints in the state they were left by the original engravers, and all of them, though delicately engraved, are in some degree spotty. In the _second state_ of Plate 1, there are evident marks of the burin of Hogarth in the faces of the Citizen and Peer; and each of the characters, especially the latter, is improved. The French portrait he has designedly thrown more out of harmony than it was at first; the fringe to the canopy over the nobleman is much darker; a shadow thrown on the building seen out of the window, and on the light parts of the two dogs. _Third state_--All the shadows blacker. Engraved by G. Scotin. Guido's Judith, which forms the subject of one of the pictures, Hogarth copied from a print engraved by Dupuis.

Plate 2. _First state_--A lock of hair on the forehead of the lady, generally inserted with Indian ink, but sometimes left without. _Second state_--Lock of hair engraved, and shadows on the carpet, etc. stronger. Engraved by B. Baron.

Plate 3. In the original picture, an alembic under the table is seen through the cloth. In the _second state_ of the print, the character of the nobleman's face is altered; the bow under his chin is broader, and the shadows on the sole of his right shoe considerably strengthened. Girl's cloak and woman's apron darker than at first. _Third state_--I discover no alterations, except the shadows being darkened. Engraved by B. Baron.

Plate 4. One of the newspapers of March 1798, in a critique upon the opera, remarked, that "in playing upon the pianoforte, the celebrated Dusek displayed _a brilliancy of finger_ which no eulogium could do justice to!" This is lofty language, and might be very properly applied to the figure of Carestini in this print, for that mountain of mummy displays a glittering ring upon every finger of his left hand. His face, as well as that of the Countess, is in the third impression essentially altered; the curtains, frames, etc. are also of a much darker hue. Engraved by S. Ravenet.

Plate 5. _Second state_--All the lights, figures on the tapestry, etc., are kept down, and the whole print brought to a more still and sombre hue. Woman's eye, eyebrow, and neck strengthened: nostril made wider. Counsellor's leg and thigh intersected with black lines, instead of the delicate marks and dots first inserted. _Third state_--Bears evident marks of a coarser burin than that of Ravenet. Engraved by R. F. Ravenet.[124]

Mr. Nichols states that this background was engraved by Ravenet's wife; but I am informed by Mr. Charles Grignion, who at that period knew the family intimately, that she could not engrave. That, concerning the background of this print, Ravenet had a violent quarrel with Hogarth; who, thinking the figures in the tapestry, etc. too obtrusive, obliged him to bring them to a lower tone (without any additional remuneration), a process that must have taken him up a length of time, which no man but an engraver can form an idea of.

Plate 6. With a slight alteration, the crying old woman would be very like one of the laughing old women in the Laughing Audience. _Second state_--The whole of the print rendered less brilliant, but more in harmony. Drapery of the dying woman improved. _Third state_--The shadows of this, as of the other five, were rendered still stronger by the last alterations, made a short time before Hogarth's death.

Of the original pictures, now in Mr. Angerstein's collection, I have already spoken. If considered in the various relations of invention, composition, drawing, colouring, character, and moral tendency, I do not think it will be easy to point out any series of six pictures, painted by any artist of either ancient or modern times, from which they will not bear away the palm.

Among Mr. Lane's papers was found a written description of Marriage à la Mode, which the family believe to be Hogarth's explanation, either copied from his own handwriting, or given verbally to Mr. Lane at the time he purchased the pictures. This was copied and inserted in the second edition of _Hogarth Illustrated_, and may be had gratis by any of the purchasers of the first.

Messrs. Boydell have employed Mr. Earlom to engrave the whole series, in the same size as the original pictures.

2. A small portrait of Archbishop Herring, surrounded with a trophy, placed as a headpiece to the printed speech addressed to the Clergy of York, September 24th, 1745. William Hogarth, _pinx._; C. Mosely, _sculp._

3. The same head was afterwards cut off the plate, and printed without the speech.

A larger portrait was in the year 1750 engraved by Baron.

4. The Battle of the Pictures. Ticket to admit persons to bid for his works at an auction.

5. Mask and Palette. Subscription-ticket to Garrick in Richard III. A copy from this was published in 1781.

1746.

1. Simon Lord Lovat. _Vide_ p. 209.

The second impressions are marked "price 1s."

Of this there have been several copies; I have one of the head in a watch paper.

Lavater has introduced this print in his _Essays on Physiognomy_.

2. Mr. Garrick in the character of Richard III.

Engraved by Wm. Hogarth and C. Grignion.

Mr. Charles Grignion (whose professional talents have for more than half a century been an honour to the arts) informed me that Hogarth etched the head and hand, but finding the head too large, he erased it and etched it a second time, when seeing it wrong placed upon the shoulders, he again rubbed it out, and replaced it as it now stands, remarking--"I never was right until I had been wrong."

3. Subscription-ticket to the March to Finchley, which was originally published at 7s. 6d.

Among a stand of various weapons, bagpipes, etc., the artist has introduced a pair of scissors cutting out the Arms of Scotland.

1747.

1. The Stage Coach, or Country Inn Yard. In the very earliest impressions, a flag behind the wheel of the coach is without an inscription. In the second, "No Old Baby;" which words, in the present state of the plate, are done away, and the flag obliterated.

2. Industry and Idleness, in twelve plates, designed and engraved by Wm. Hogarth.

Plate 1. In the very early impressions, Plate 1 is not inserted. _Second state_--Shadows strengthened.

Plate 2. _Second state_--Shadows on the organ, etc. deeper.

Plate 3. _Second state_--Lines stronger.

Plate 4. _Second state_--Lines strengthened. The cat in this print is vilely drawn.

Plate 5. Tender lines in the offing worn out, broader lines in the faces. Lavater has introduced a small outline of this print in his _Essays on Physiognomy_.

Plate 6. _First state_--Goodchild and West, instead of West and Goodchild, to which the sign was afterwards altered.

Plate 7. _Second state_--Darker shadows behind the broken cup, and bottles on the chimney-piece, etc.

Plate 8. _Second state_--Shadows strengthened. The head of the fat Citizen in a tie-wig has been copied in a larger size by Bartolozzi. The scene is laid in Fishmonger's Hall, where the effigies of Sir William Walworth still remain, with the following quaint and memorable inscription beneath:--

"Brave Walworth, knight, Lord Maior, that slew
Rebellious Tyler in his alarms;
The king therefore did give in lieu,
The dagger to the city arms."

Plate 9. _Second state_--Character of the woman taking a bribe altered; the whole print more black.

Plate 10. _Second state_--Shadows heightened.

Plate 11. _Second state_--Shadows in the parson's face, pigeon, etc., stronger.

Plate 12. _Second state_--Coachman's coat darker, and a stripe of lace down the arm obliterated. The mass of figures that surround the coach made much darker. In the original they come too forward, but the characters are now hurt by the intersecting lines.

Of these twelve plates there are tolerably correct copies of the same size.

The following memoranda relative to this series, which I found among Hogarth's papers, seems addressed to some one whom he intended to continue Rouquet's descriptions:--

"The effects of Idleness and Industry, exemplified in the conduct of two fellow-'prentices. These twelve prints were calculated for the instruction of young people; and everything addressed to them is fully described in words as well as figures. Yet to foreigners a translation of the mottoes,[125] the intention of the story, and some little description of each print, may be necessary. To this may be added, a slight account of our customs--as boys being usually bound for seven years, etc.

"Considering the persons they were intended to serve, I have endeavoured to render them intelligible, and cheap as possible.[126] Fine engraving is not necessary for such subjects, if what is infinitely more material, viz. character and expression, is properly preserved. Suppose the whole story were made into a kind of tale, describing in episode the nature of a night-cellar, a marrow-bone concert, a Lord Mayor's show, etc.

"These prints I have found sell much more rapidly at Christmas than at any other season."

3. Jacobus Gibbs Architectus; W. Hogarth, _delin._; J. M'Ardell, _fecit_. Partly mezzotinto, partly graved. No date.

4. Ditto, engraved by Baron.

5. Ditto, by ditto.

6. Another copy, with the addition of "Architectus, A.M. and F.R.S.," was published 1750. Of the last print I have an impression where the background is completed, but nothing more of the head than the bare outline. This is a curiosity somewhat similar to a picture without a horse by Wouvermans.

Besides these, there is a small profile of Gibbs in a circle, which I do not think Hogarth's,--at least it is uncertain.

7. Arms of the Foundling Hospital, printed on the tops of the indenture.

8. The same in a smaller size, employed as a vignette to _Psalms, Hymns, and Anthems_, and also to an account of the institution of the hospital, etc.

Of the original pen-and-ink drawing there is a modern copy.

9. A Wooden Cut--headpiece to the _Jacobites' Journal_; a newspaper set up and supported by Henry Fielding. This print (of which there is a modern copy in aquatinta) was prefixed to six or seven of the earliest papers, and then set aside. Mine is dated "2d January 1747. No. 5."

1748.

1. View of Mr. Ranby's House at Chiswick; etched by Hogarth, without any inscription. Afterwards "published for Jane Hogarth," etc., 1st May 1781.

2. Hymen and Cupid; two figures, with the view of a magnificent villa in the distance. No inscription. This was engraved as a ticket for the _Masque of Alfred_, performed at Cliveden House before the Prince and Princess of Wales on the Princess Augusta's birthday. It was afterwards intended to be used as a receipt to the Sigismunda; on the earliest impressions, "£2, 2s." is usually _written_.

1749.

The Gate of Calais; engraved by C. Mosely. The original picture is in the possession of the Earl of Charlemont.

Of this print Hogarth thus writes:--"After the March to Finchley, the next print I engraved was the Roast Beef of Old England,[127] which took its rise from a visit I paid to France the preceding year. The first time an Englishman goes from Dover to Calais, he must be struck with the different face of things at so little a distance. A farcical pomp of war, pompous parade of religion, and much bustle with very little business. To sum up all, poverty, slavery, and innate insolence, covered with an affectation of politeness, give you even here a true picture of the manners of the whole nation. Nor are the priests less opposite to those of Dover than the two shores. The friars are dirty, sleek, and solemn; the soldiery are lean, ragged, and tawdry; and as to the fishwomen, their faces are absolute leather.

"As I was sauntering about and observing them, near the gate which, it seems, was built by the English when the place was in our possession, I remarked some appearance of the arms of England on the front. By this and idle curiosity I was prompted to make a sketch of it, which being observed, I was taken into custody; but not attempting to cancel any of my sketches or memorandums, which were found to be merely those of a painter for his private use, without any relation to fortification, it was not thought necessary to send me back to Paris.[128] I was only closely confined to my own lodgings till the wind changed for England, where I no sooner arrived than I set about the picture; made the gate my background; and in one corner introduced my own portrait,[129] which has generally been thought a correct likeness, with the soldier's hand upon my shoulder. By the fat friar who stops the lean cook that is sinking under the weight of a vast sirloin of beef, and two of the military bearing off a great kettle of _soup maigre_, I meant to display to my own countrymen the striking difference between the food, priests, soldiers, etc. of two nations so contiguous, that in a clear day one coast may be seen from the other. The melancholy and miserable Highlander, browsing on his scanty fare, consisting of a bit of bread and an onion, is intended for one of the many that fled from this country after the rebellion in 1745."

2. Portrait of John Palmer, Esq.; W. Hogarth, _pinx._; B. Baron, _sculp._ A small head inserted under a view of the church of Ecton, Northamptonshire.

3. Head of Hogarth in a cap, with a pug dog, and a palette with the line of beauty, etc.; inscribed "Gulielmus Hogarth _se ipse pinxit et sculpsit_, 1749."

The same portrait in mezzotinto.

(The engraving was copied from a picture now in the collection of J. J. Angerstein, Esq., from which another copy, engraved by Benjamin Smith, was in 1795 published by Messrs. Boydell. In this the three books are lettered _Shakspeare_, _Swift_, _Milton's Paradise Lost_, and the line on the palette inscribed, "The Line of Beauty and Grace.")

In the year 1763 Hogarth erased his own head from the plate, and in its place inserted "The Bruiser, C. Churchill (once the Rev^d.!), in the character of a Russian Hercules, regaling himself after having killed the monster Caricatura, that so sorely galled his _virtuous_ friend the heaven-born Wilkes."

_First state_--Three of the upper knots on the club are left white (white lies), and a line inscribed "the line of Beauty," drawn on the palette. _Second state_--The knots shaded, and a political print introduced on the palette.

_Third state_--The letters "N. B.," and the word "Infamous" inscribed on the club; and "Dragon of Wantley" added at the end of "I warrant ye." "Price 1s. 6d." instead of "1s."

In the year 1758 Hogarth published a full-length of his own portrait, painting the Comic Muse; inscribed "W. Hogarth, serjeant painter to his Majesty,"--"Engraved by W. Hogarth." This being a mistake of the writing engraver, the painter altered it to "the face engraved by W. Hogarth." _Third impression_--"The face engraved by W. Hogarth" omitted. _Fourth state_--"Serjeant painter," etc. scratched over with the graver. _Present state_--The face retouched. Comedy also has the face and mask marked with black; and on the pillar is written, "Comedy, 1764." No other inscription beneath the print but "W. Hogarth, 1764."

The original small whole-length picture from which it is copied was sold by Greenwood after Mrs. Hogarth's death. The companion portrait of Mrs. Hogarth is in the possession of Mrs. Lewis of Chiswick.

A portrait of Hogarth was in 1781 engraved in mezzotinto by Charles Townley from a picture painted by Weltdon, and finished by Hogarth, now in the possession of James Townley, Esq. A portrait, copied from that in the Gate of Calais, I have seen prefixed to a dull pamphlet, published in 1781, entitled _A Dissertation on Mr. Hogarth's six Prints lately published, viz. Gin Lane, Beer Street, and the Four Stages of Cruelty_. I have a small engraving of his head, I believe done for the _Universal Magazine_, in which he looks like a village schoolmaster. An etching of his head by S. Ireland was prefixed to a catalogue of Hogarth's works, sold by Christie, in May 1797. Two small portraits have been engraved for watch-papers. A head in the dotted style has been engraved for Mr. Jeffrey, Pall Mall, but is not published.

1750.

The March to Finchley; engraved by Luke Sullivan. Dedicated to the King of Prusia: thus was the word spelt in the prints delivered to the subscribers. A few early impressions were dated 30th December 1750; but the 30th being that year on a Sunday, it was altered to the 31st. A print in the collection of Dr. Ford is inscribed "Printed and published by W^m. Hogarth," instead of " Printed for W^m. Hogarth, and published," etc. In the etching, of which very few were struck off, the woman to whom an officer presents a letter on the point of a pike, turns her head the contrary way to what she does in the print.

_Second impression_--The spelling of Prussia corrected; bunch of grapes at the Adam and Eve enlarged; catching lights given to the laced hats in the group beneath it; belt added to the Duke of Cumberland's portrait. _Third state_--"Retouched and improved by W^m. Hogarth; and republished June 12th, 1761."

I have an early impression of this print in which the dedication to the King of Prussia does not appear, and it might pass for a proof. On inquiry I find that, upon one of Hogarth's fastidious friends objecting to its being dedicated to a foreign potentate, he replied, "If you disapprove of it, _you_ shall have one without any dedication;" and took off a few impressions, covering the dedication with fan paper.

Sullivan was so eccentric a character, that while he was employed in engraving this print, Hogarth held out every possible inducement to his remaining at his house in Leicester Square night and day; for if once Luke quitted it, he was not visible for a month. It has been said, but I know not on what authority, that for engraving it he was paid only one hundred pounds.

In the original picture, which is in the Foundling Hospital, the old man to whom a Frenchman is giving a letter has a plaid waistcoat.

1751.

1. Beer Street. In the _first state_--The blacksmith is lifting up a Frenchman; in the _second_--The Frenchman is properly discarded, and a shoulder of mutton supplies his place.

2. Gin Lane. I have been told that in a print in the collection of Lord Exeter there are numerous though trifling variations; but I never saw it.[130]

Of their intentions, Hogarth gives the following account:--"When these two prints were designed and engraved, the dreadful consequences of gin-drinking appeared in every street. In Gin Lane, every circumstance of its horrid effects is brought to view _in terrorem_. Idleness, poverty, misery, and distress, which drives even to madness and death, are the only objects that are to be seen; and not a house in tolerable condition but the pawnbroker's and gin-shop.

"Beer Street, its companion, was given as a contrast, where that invigorating liquor is recommended in order to drive the other out of vogue. Here all is joyous and thriving: industry and jollity go hand in hand. In this happy place the pawnbroker's is the only house going to ruin; and even the small quantity of porter that he can procure is taken in at the wicket, for fear of further distress."

3. The Four Stages of Cruelty--

Plate 1. Shadows strengthened.

Plate 2. Shadows heightened.

Plate 3. The whole print somewhat darker.

Plate 4. This, and the five last-mentioned prints, were, on common paper, marked "price 1s.;" on superior paper, "1s. 6d." The stamp by which the artist marked the "6d." was cut by himself on a halfpenny, now in my possession. Of Plates 3 and 4 there are wooden cuts, which were engraved under Hogarth's inspection.

The motives by which Hogarth was induced to make the designs, he thus describes:--

"The leading points in these as well as the two preceding prints, were made as obvious as possible, in the hope that their tendency might be seen by men of the lowest rank. Neither minute accuracy of design nor fine engraving were deemed necessary, as the latter would render them too expensive for the persons to whom they were intended to be useful; and the fact is, that the passions may be more forcibly expressed by a strong, bold stroke, than by the most delicate engraving. To expressing them as I felt them, I have paid the utmost attention; and as they were addressed to hard hearts, have rather preferred leaving them hard, and giving the effect, by a quick touch, to rendering them languid and feeble by fine strokes and soft engraving, which require more care and practice than can often be attained, except by a man of a very quiet turn of mind. Masson, who gave two strokes to every particular hair that he engraved, merited great admiration; but at such admiration I never aspired, neither was I capable of obtaining it if I had.

"The prints were engraved with the hope of, in some degree, correcting that barbarous treatment of animals, the very sight of which renders the streets of our metropolis so distressing to every feeling mind. If they have had this effect, and check the progress of cruelty, I am more proud of having been the author than I should be of having painted Raphael's Cartoons.

"The French, among their other mistakes respecting our tragedies, etc., assert that such scenes could not be represented except by a barbarous people. Whatever may be our _national character_, I trust that our _national conduct_ will be an unanswerable refutation."[131]

4. Paul before Felix; "designed and scratched in the true Dutch taste by W^m. Hogarth." Under the second impression, "designed and etched in the ridiculous manner of Rembrandt by W^m. Hogarth." The drowsy angel was (I have been told) intended as a portrait of Luke Sullivan. The advocate is said to be designed for Dr. King. See Worlidge's _View of Lord Westmoreland's Installation_.

_Second state_--A little devil sawing off the leg of the apostle's stool.

This very whimsical print was originally given as a receipt to the Pharaoh's Daughter and the serious Paul before Felix, and sealed with a palette and pencils, engraven on a small ring which Hogarth usually wore, and which Mrs. Lewis has since presented to me. The early proofs are usually stained with bister. Hogarth always gave the print to such of his friends as wished for it; but finding demands too frequent, cut the engraved receipt from the copper, and sold it at 5s. From this print in its first state he took a few reverses.

1752.

1. Paul before Felix.

"And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled."

"Engraved by W^m. Hogarth, from his original painting in Lincoln's-Inn Hall, and published as the Act directs, Feb. 5, 1752."

2. The same subject, with fewer figures, and those reversed on the plate. This, though not good, is, in arrangement, design, and engraving, much superior to the preceding. The same text and inscription, "from his original painting," etc., is continued, though that first mentioned is the copy from the picture in Lincoln's-Inn Hall.

"Published Feb. 5, 1752. Engraved by Luke Sullivan."

In the _second state_--A quotation from Dr. Warton's _Essay on the Genius and Writings of Pope_ was inserted in one corner of the margin; but the critique which it contained being founded in a mistake, which the Doctor in the second edition very liberally retracted, Hogarth, in some of the succeeding impressions, covered the quotation with paper when the print was taken off, and afterwards entirely effaced it from the copper.

In the present state of the plate, the date of publication and name of the engraver are taken out.

3. Moses brought to Pharaoh's Daughter.

"From the original painting in the Foundling Hospital; engraved by Will^m. Hogarth and Luke Sullivan."