CHAP. VIL] HOGARTH AND REYNOLDS.
man was really known, it may he doubted if there was one 1753.
who grudged him a good fortune, which was worn with &t~35
generosity and grace, and justified by noble qualities;
while few indeed should have been the exceptions, whether
among those who knew or those who knew him not, to the feel-
ing of pride that an Englishman had at last arisen, who could
measure himself successfully with the Dutch and the Italian.*
This was what Reynolds had striven for; and what common
men might suppose to be his envy or self-sufficiency. Not
with any sense of triumph over living competitors, did he
listen to the praise he loved; not of being better than
Hogarth, or than Gainsborough, or than his old master
Hudson, was he thinking continually, but of the glory of
being one day placed by the side of Vandyke and of Rubens.
Undoubtedly he must be said to have overrated the effects of
education, study, and the practice of schools; and it is
matter of much regret that he should never have thought of
Hogarth but as a moral satirist and man of wit, or sought for
his favourite art the dignity of a closer alliance with such
philosophy and genius. But the difficult temper of Hogarth
himself cannot be kept out of view. His very virtues had
a stubbornness and a dogmatism that repelled. What
Reynoldsrnost desired,—rto bring men of their common calling
together, and, by consent and union, by study and co-opera-
tion, establish claims to respect and continuance,—Hogarth
had been all his life opposing; and was now, at the close of

" 'for my picture of the three ladies Waldegrave.' Walpoliana." This latter
picture contained half-lengths of the three ladies on one canvas. For curious lists
of his prices, see Malone's Account of Eeynolds, in the Works, L Ixii-lxxi, and
Northcote, ii. 847-56.

* " I remember once going through astute of rooms where they were showing me
'' several fine Vandykes; and we came to one where there were some children, by
" Sir Joshua, seen through a door : it was like looking at the reality, they were
1' so fall of life ; the branches of the trees waved over their heads, and the fresh
" air seemed to play on their cheeks—I soon forgot Vandyke !" Conversatwns of
Northcote,
163, 164.