OLIYER GOLDSMITH'S LIFE AND TIMES.

1763. admirer could not under better circumstances have seen
m. 35. "William Hogarth. He might see, in that little incident, his
interest in homely life, his preference of the real in art, and his
quick apprehension of character; his love of hard hitting, and
his indomitable English spirit. The admirer, who, at the close
of his own chequered life, thus remembered and related it, was
James Barry of Cork; who had followed Mr. Edmund Burke
to London with letters from Doctor Sleigh, and whose birth,
genius, and poverty soon made him known to Goldsmith.

Between Goldsmith and Hogarth existed many reasons for
sympathy. Few so sure as the great, self-taught, philosophic
artist, to penetrate at once, through any outer husk of dis-
advantage, to discernment of an honest and loving soul.
Genius, in both, took side with the homely and the poor;
and they had personal foibles in common. No man can be
supposed to have read the letters in the Ptiblic Ledger with
heartier agreement than Hogarth; no man so little likely as
Goldsmith to suffer a sky-blue coat, or conceited, strutting,
consequential airs, to weigh against the claims of the painter
of Manage a-la-Mode. How they first met has not been
related, but they met frequently. In these last two years of
Hogarth's life, admiration had become precious to him; and
Goldsmith was ready with his tribute. Besides, there was
Wilkes to rail against, and Churchill to condemn, as well as
Johnson to praise and love. " I'll tell you what," would
Hogarth say: " Sam Johnson's conversation is to the talk of
"other men like Titian's painting compared to Hudson's :
" but don't you tell people, now, that I say so ; for the
" connoisseurs and I are at war, you know; and because I
" hate them, they think I hate Titian—and let them!" *

* Mrs.Piozzi's Anecdotes, 136. " Many were the lectures," adds the lively little
lady, "I used to have in my very early days from dear Mr. Hogarth, whose regard...... 020