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HOGARTH'S 
LONDON 


I  ]  •  B 
WHEATLEY 


HOGARTH'S    LONDON 


'To  the  student  of  History,  these  admirable  works  must  be 
invaluable,  as  they  give  us  the  most  complete  and  truthful 
picture  of  the  manners  and  even  the  thoughts  of  the  past 
century.  We  look  and  see  pass  before  us  the  England  of  a 
hundred  years  ago— the  peer  in  his  drawing-room,  the  lady  of 
fashion  in  her  apartment,  foreign  singers  surrounding  her, 
and  her  chamber  filled  with  gewgaws  in  the  mode  of  that  day  ; 
the  church  with  its  quaint  florid  architecture  and  singing 
congregation ;  the  parson  with  his  great  wig  and  the  beadle  with 
his  cane ;  all  these  are  represented  before  us,  and  we  are  sure  of 
the  truth  of  the  portrait." — THACKERAY'S  English  Humourists. 


HOGARTH'S    LONDON 

Pictures  of  the   Manners  of  the 
Eighteenth   Century 


BY 


HENRY  B.  WHEATLEY,  F.S.A. 


ILLUSTRATED 


LONDON 

CONSTABLE  AND  COMPANY  LTD. 
1909 


TO 

AUSTIN  DOBSON,  ESQ.,  LL.D. 

DEAR  DOBSON, — Some  thirty  years  ago  or  more  Dr.  John 
Percy,  F.R.S.,  the  well-known  metallurgist  and  Hogarth  col- 
lector, after  referring  to  the  study  of  Hogarth's  works  as  too 
big  a  subject  for  one  man  to  deal  with,  advised  me  to  under- 
take the  division  of  Hogarth's  London.  I  was  pleased  with  the 
suggestion  and  I  set  to  work  to  collect  materials.  This  was 
before  the  publication  of  your  first  book  on  Hogarth,  a  volume 
of  the  greatest  interest  which  has  increased  in  value  with  each 
new  edition  until  it  is  now  the  chief  authority  on  the  subject. 
From  various  causes  I  put  the  work  aside,  although  I  did  not 
relinquish  the  idea.  I  have  now  taken  it  up  again  and  com- 
pleted it  for  publication. 

You  have  done  so  much  towards  the  elucidation  of  Hogarth's 
life  and  work  that  your  name  has  become  indissolubly  linked 
with  that  of  the  great  artist  and  satirist.  I  am  therefore 
naturally  anxious  to  associate  your  name  with  this  book,  in 
which  an  attempt  is  made  to  illustrate  a  side  of  Hogarth's  art 
upon  which  you  have  expressed  the  opinion  that  it  has  not 
been  sufficiently  treated.  You  are  so  thoroughly  master  of 
this  literature  that  I  can  scarcely  hope  to  put  forward  anything 
that  is  not  a  commonplace  to  you.  It  is,  however,  a  true 
pleasure  to  thank  you  publicly  for  constant  help  and  to  express 
my  respect  and  esteem  for  a  friend  of  many  years'  standing. 

You  have  delighted  generations  of  readers  with  poetry  and 
prose  on  a  variety  of  subjects  which  are  as  illuminating 
and  convincing  as  they  are  charming,  and  I  am  proud  to  range 
myself  among  your  admirers, — adding  that  I  am  always 
sincerely  yours, 

HENRY  B.  WHEATLEY. 
October  1909. 


PREFACE 

To  attempt  the  illustration  of  the  manners  of  the 
eighteenth  century  as  seen  in  London  by  the 
greatest  graphic  delineator  of  manners  that  ever 
lived,  has  been  my  object  for  several  years. 

Hogarth  was  a  devoted  Londoner,  and  while 
illustrating  the  manners  of  Englishmen  of  his  time, 
he  drew  his  subjects  from  the  inhabitants  of  London 
with  whom  he  was  in  daily  intercourse.  Repre- 
sentations of  streets  and  buildings  in  all  parts  of 
London  are  to  be  found  in  the  collection  of  his  works, 
and  most  of  these  are  discussed  in  this  book. 

It  might  be  thought  that  enough  has  already  been 
done,1  but  I  hope  it  will  be  found  that  there  is  still 
room  for  a  book  specially  devoted  to  one  branch  of 
Hogarth's  work. 

I  had  at  first  the  intention  of  arranging  my 
materials  in  topographical  order,  but  on  second 
thoughts  I  felt  that  this  would  scarcely  be  the 
fittest  manner  of  treating  the  subject,  because  it 

1  A  short  note  on  the  literature  which  has  sprung  from  the  study  of 
Hogarth's  works  will  be  found  at  the  end  of  this  book  (Chapter  xiv.). 


viii  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

was  not  specially  the  object  of  the  artist  to  repro- 
duce the  topographical  features  of  the  Town. 
Rather  is  it  the  general  appearance  of  the  streets 
and  the  people  that  filled  the  streets  that  make  so 
many  of  his  pictures  of  such  extraordinary  interest 
to  us  now. 

The  late  Mr.  James  Hannay  well  said — '  London 
had  been  much  described  before  the  days  of  which 
we  are  speaking,  and  especially  by  the  Comic  Writers 
of  Charles  the  Second's  time ;  but  there  is  a  depth 
of  philosophical  humour  in  the  way  that  Hogarth 
and  his  contemporaries  undertake  this  task,  such  as 
had  not  been  brought  to  bear  upon  it  before.  From 
their  era  dates  town  literature  and  town  art.' 

Hogarth  attained  great  fame  in  his  own  lifetime, 
and  was  the  first  English  artist  to  be  known  and 
admired  abroad.  He  was,  however,  admired  for  one 
side  of  his  art,  while  the  other  side  was  neglected. 
His  engravings  were  largely  bought,  but  in  many 
cases  his  pictures  remained  on  his  hands. 

The  engravings  were  talked  about  on  every  side, 
and  great  anxiety  was  shown  in  order  to  find  out 
the  inner  meaning  of  the  plates  and  the  characters 
of  those  who  were  satirised.  Several  authors  came 
forward  to  give  the  information  the  public  were 
thirsting  to  obtain. 

The  first  exhibition  of  his  pictures  in  the  year  1814 


PREFACE  ix 

was  a  revelation  to  the  many  who  knew  him  only 
from  his  engravings  ;  and  from  that  time  to  this  his 
fame  as  a  very  great  painter  has  continued  to  in- 
crease. 

How  great  an  attraction  Hogarth's  prints  afforded 
to  the  sightseers  of  London  may  be  seen  in  the 
remarks  of  the  author  of  a  pamphlet,  published 
in  1748,  on  The  Effects  of  Industry  and  Idleness 
Illustrated,  in  which  *  the  moral  of  twelve  celebrated 
Prints  lately  published  and  designed  by  the  in- 
genious Mr.  Hogarth '  is  set  forth.  The  author  went 
the  round  of  the  print-shops  of  London,  and  found 
a  crowd  gathered  at  all  of  them,  but  he  was  dis- 
appointed to  find  that,  instead  of  alluding  to  the 
moral,  the  crowd  gave  all  their  attention  to  the  re- 
marks of  those  who  could  point  out  the  individuals 
from  whom  the  various  characters  were  drawn. 

A  selection  of  some  of  Hogarth's  finest  pictures 
and  engravings  have  here  been  reproduced  as 
illustrating  the  subjects  of  the  different  chapters. 
In  the  preface  to  the  valuable  Catalogue  of  the  British 
Museum  Satirical  Prints,  the  late  Mr.  F.  G.  Stephens 
wrote,  '  The  Collection  of  "  Hogarths  "  in  the  British 
Museum  is  incomparably  the  largest  and  most  select 
in  existence ;  the  same  may  be  said  for  the  copies, 
piratical  as  well  as  legitimate,  which  abound  in  the 
national  depository. 


x  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

'But  with  regard  to  the  copies,  even  the  Print 
Room  and  the  Library  do  not  contain  all  the 
English  examples.  ...  It  may  be  said  that  every 
nation  which  has  attained  Civilisation  continues  to 
produce  such  copies.  In  a  very  large  number  of 
cases  these  copies  bear  names  differing  from  those 
Hogarth  gave.'  I  have  been  greatly  indebted  to  the 
descriptions  in  this  Catalogue  for  much  information 
and  for  numerous  references  to  the  literature  of  the 
time. 

In  conclusion,  I  wish  to  express  in  this  place 
my  cordial  thanks  to  Mr.  Austin  Dobson  for  his 
valuable  suggestions;  to  the  Earl  of  Portsmouth, 
Mr.  D' Arcy  Power,  Mr.  George  Peachey,  Mr.  Robert 
Grey,  Treasurer  of  the  Foundling  Hospital,  and  Mr. 
J.  L.  Spiers,  Curator  of  the  Soane  Museum,  for  kind 
assistance;  and  to  the  Duke  of  Newcastle,  John 
Murray,  Esq.,  the  Governors  of  St.  George's 
Hospital,  the  President  and  Council  of  the  Royal 
Academy,  for  allowing  their  pictures  to  be  repro- 
duced; and  especially  to  the  authorities  of  the 
National  Gallery,  the  British  Museum,  and  the 
Soane  Museum  for  assistance  in  respect  to  the 
reproduction  of  pictures  and  engravings. 


CONTENTS 


PAOE 


DEDICATION,     ........        r 

PREFACE,          ........      vii 

CHAPTER  I 

INTRODUCTION 

Interest  of  the  eighteenth  century.  Admirers  of  Hogarth's  Engrav- 
ings. Hogarth  a  writer  of  Comedy.  Praises  of  Fielding, 
Coleridge,  Lamb,  and  Hazlitt.  Acknowledgments  of  Hogarth's 
Merits  as  a  Painter  after  the  Exhibition  of  his  Pictures  in  1814. 
Increase  of  this  appreciation  at  the  present  time.  Delineator  of 
Manners  and  Illustrator  of  London  Topography.  Gay's  Trivia. 
Hogarth's  reason  for  designing  the  '  Four  Stages  of  Cruelty.'  Char- 
acteristics of  the  century.  Hogarth  as  a  Moralist.  Analysis  of  the 
different  chapters  of  the  book.  Love  of  London.  London  Localities 
illustrated  by  Hogarth, 1 

CHAPTER  II 
HOGARTH'S  LIFB  AND  WORKS 

Particulars  of  Hogarth's  life.  Kichard  Hogarth,  Auld  Hogart. 
Hogarth's  want  of  Education.  Apprenticed  to  a  silver  engraver. 
Set  up  in  business  as  an  engraver,  maker  of  bookplates,  and  book 
illustrator.  First  two  satirical  engravings  not  successful.  Attend- 
ance at  Sir  James  Thornhill's  School  of  Painting.  Illustrations  of 
Hudibras.  Mary  Tofts,  the  rabbit-breeder.  Law  case  against 
Joshua  Morris.  Hogarth  runs  away  with  Thornhill's  daughter. 
Father  reconciled.  Acquaintance  with  Tyers  of  Vauxhall  Gardens. 
Objections  to  Academies.  Painted  Conversation  Pieces.  'Harlot's 
Progress.'  Important  works  following  th'aFseries.  Attainment  of 
success.  Prey  of  pirates.  Copyright  Act  for  artists  called 
Hogarth's  Act.  His  gratitude  to  Parliament.  Attempts  in  the  great 
style.  Life  in  Leicester  Square.  J.  T.  Smith's  absurd  condemnation 
of  Hogarth's  character.  Hogarth's  fame  abroad.  Troubles  in  France. 
Quarrels  with  the  Connoisseurs.  Battle  of  the  Pictures.  Sale 
of  some  of  his  pictures.  Marriage  a  la  Mode.  Athenian  Stuart. 


xii  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

PAGE 

'  Sigismunda.'  Bonnel  Thornton's  Exhibition  of  Sign-Paintings. 
Enmity  of  Paul  Sandby.  Society  of  Arts.  Analysis  of  Beauty. 
Sterne's  Praise.  Pictorial  Satires  on  Hogarth.  Proposed  History 
of  the  Arts.  ' No  Dedication.'  'The  Times,  No.  1.'  Hogarth's  own 
justification.  Quarrel  with  Wilkes.  The  North  Briton.  Portraits 
of  Wilkes  and  Churchill, 22 


CHAPTER  III 
HIGH  LIFE 

Resorts  of  Fashion.  'Lady's  Last  Stake.'  Conversation  Pieces. 
'  Wanstead  Assembly.'  Wellesley  Pole.  Portraits  and  other  Con- 
versation Pieces*  Lord  Charlemont's  friendliness.  Mrs.  Thrale 
(Piozzi).  Sir  Richard  Grosvenor  and  'Sigismunda.'  .  Lord 
Charlemont's  earldom.  Scenes  in  Marriage  a  la  Mode.  The 
Wallop  family.  Dr.  Misaubin.  Italian  Singers  and  Flute-players. 
Turk's  Head  Bagnio.  'Rake's  Progress.'  Farinelli.  Pope  and 
Burlington  House.  '  Taste  in  High  Life,' 92 


CHAPTER  IV 

LOW   LIFE 

Extracts  from  the  book  on  Low  Life.  Betty  Ireland.  '  Four  Times  of 
the  Day.'  Tom  King's  Coffee-House.  French  Church  in  Hog  Lane. 
Charing  Cross.  The  Cockpit.  Art  of  Self-Defence  :  Figg  Taylor, 
and  Broughton.  Gin  Lane  and  Beer  Street.  Acts  against  the  sale 
of  gin, 128 


CHAPTER  V 
POLITICAL  LIFE 

Hogarth  not  a  politician.  Bribery  and  Corruption.  Tibson  the 
Politician.  The  House  of  Commons.  Lord  Lovat.  'The  Stage 
Coach,  or  Country  Inn  Yard.'  The  Sailor  from  the  Centurion.  Four 
Pictures  of  the  Election.  '  The  Times,  Plate  1.'  Wilkes's  attack  in  the 
North  Briton.  Churchill's  Epistle  to  William  Hogarth.  Portraits 
of  Wilkes  and  Churchill.  '  The  Times,  Plate  2,'  ....  164 


CONTENTS  xiii 

CHAPTER  VI 

CHURCH  AND  DISSENT 

FADE 

Want  of  earnestness  in  Church  and  State.  'The  Centaur  not 
fabulous.'  Bishops  Gibson  and  Hoadly.  Archbishop  Herring.  '  The 
Sleeping  Congregation.'  Dr.  Desaguliers.  London  Churches. 
Johnson  and  the  'Idle  Apprentice.'  Kent's  Altarpiece.  Orator 
Henley.  '  Enthusiasm  Delineated '  and  '  Credulity,  Superstition, 
and  Fanaticism,' 198 

CHAPTER  VII 

PROFESSIONAL  LIFE 

Law. — '  The  Bench.'  The  Lawyer  in  Butler's  Hudibras.  '  Paul  before 
Felix.'  Medicine. — Portraits.  Consultation  of  Physicians.  St. 
Andr6  and  Mary  Tofts.  Literature. — 'The  Distressed  Poet.' 
Theobald  and  the  Dunciad.  Fielding's  portrait.  Sterne  and 
Hogarth.  Portrait  of  W.  Huggins.  Art. — '  The  Enraged  Musician.' 
'  The  Modern  Orpheus,' .  216 

CHAPTER  VIII 

BUSINESS  LIFE 

Business  Cards  and  Shop-bills.  Book-plates.  Funeral  tickets.  '  In- 
dustry and  Idleness.'  Spitalfields  Weavers'  Workshop.  Goodchild's 
Marriage.  Banquet  at  Fishmongers'  Hall.  Trial  in  the  Guildhall. 
Lord  Mayor's  Show.  Bun  upon  Child's  Bank,  and  Sarah,  Duchess 
of  Marlborough.  '  The  South  Sea  Bubble.'  '  The  Lottery,'  .  .  244 

CHAPTER  IX 

TAVERN   LIFE 

Taverns  and  City  Inns.  Pontack's.  Devil  Tavern.  The  Mitre. 
'  Midnight  Modern  Conversation.'  Chorus  of  Singers.  The  Elephant. 
Covent  Garden.  'The  Frolic.'  Button's  Coffee-House.  Old 
Slaughter's.  Isaac  Hawkins  Browne.  Eummer  Tavern.  Man 
loaded  with  Mischief.  White's  Chocolate  House,  and  White's  Club,  272 

CHAPTER  X 

THEATRICAL  LIFE 

'  Laughing  Audience.'  Beggar's  Opera.  Benefit  tickets  for  actors. 
Portraits  of  actors  :  Theophilus  Gibber,  Garrick  as  '  Richard  in.' 


xiv  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

PAOE 

Portrait  of  Garrick  and  his  wife.  '  The  Farmer's  Return.'  Garrick 
and  Churchill.  Green-room  of  Drury  Lane  Theatre.  Miss  Pritchanl. 
Fielding's  plays.  Pasquin  ticket.  Plays  illustrated  by  Hogarth. 
Private  Theatricals.  Rich's  Glory,  Chorus  of  Singers.  Burlington 
gate.  Attack  on  Masquerades  and  Italian  Operas.  Heidegger. 
Fielding's  condemnation  of  Masquerades, 302 

CHAPTER  XI 

HOSPITALS 

Foundling  Hospital.  Hogarth's  gifts  to  the  Hospital.  Pictures  at 
St.  Bartholomew's  Hospital.  Accuracy  of  Hogarth's  representation 
of  diseases.  London  Infirmary.  Bedlam.  Picture  of  St.  George's 
Hospital, 360 

CHAPTER  XII 
PRISONS  AND  CRIME 

Incompetence  of  the  watchmen.  Magistrates. — Fielding,  Saunders 
Welch,  Sir  Thomas  de  Veil,  Sir  John  Gonson.  Prisons. — The  Fleet. 
Examination  of  Bambridge.  Bridewell.  Sarah  Malcolm.  Elizabeth 
Canning.  Earl  Ferrers.  Theodore  Gardelle.  The  Idle  Apprentice  at 
Tyburn.  '  Four  Stages  of  Cruelty.'  Surgeons'  Theatre  in  Monkwell 
Street, 377 

CHAPTER  XIII 

THE   SUBURBS 

'  March  to  Finchley.'  Tottenham  Court.  Old  Marylebone  Church  out- 
side and  inside.  Executions  at  Tyburn.  Spitalfields.  Vauxhall 
Gardens.  Sadler's  Wells.  Southwark  Fair.  Johnson  and  Mallet 
at  the  Fair.  Chiswick,  Twickenham,  and  Cowley,  ....  404 

CHAPTER  XIV 

LITERATURE  OF  HOGARTH 

Books  on  Hogarth.  Editions  of  his  Works.  Pamphlets  on  the 
principal  series  of  his  Engravings, 439 

INDEX,      .        .        . 456 


LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 

WILLIAM  HOGARTH Frontispiece 

From  Charles  Townley's  Mezzotint  of  an  Original  Portrait 
begun  by  Weltdon  and  finished  by  Hogarth,  1781. 

TO  FACE  PAGE 

DESIGN  ON  A  SILVER  TANKARD  BY  HOGARTH  .        27 

Reproduced  from  S.  Ireland's  Graphic  Illustrations,  i.  77. 

SIR  JAMES  THORNHILL  .  .  .  .    .        .        31 

From  S.  Ireland's  Graphic  Illustrations,  i.  86.  The  Original 
Oil  Painting  belonged  to  Mrs.  Hogarth,  who  sold  it  to  S.  Ireland, 
and  it  was  esteemed  by  her  to  be  an  excellent  likeness. 

LADY  THORNHILL  ....  .38 

From  S.  Ireland's  Graphic  Illustrations,  ii.  12. 

LIFE   SCHOOL   AT   THE  ACADEMY   IN  PETER  COURT, 

ST.  MARTIN'S  LANE 41 

From  the  Original  Painting  in  the  possession  of  the  Royal 
Academy. 

FRONTISPIECE  TO  'CATALOGUE  OF  PICTURES,'  1761     .        57 
TAILPIECE  TO  '  CATALOGUE  OF  PICTURES,'  1761  .        58 

BATTLE  OF  THE  PICTURES,  1745  .  .  .        59 

TIME  SMOKING  A  PICTURE,  1761      ....        63 

From  Hogarth's  Etching.  (Subscription  ticket  for  '  Sigis- 
munda.') 


xvi  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

TO  FACE  PAGE 

A  STATUARY'S  YARD  (The  Analysis  of  Beauty,  Plate  1),  1753         82 

JOHN  THORN  HILL  (Brother-in-Law  of  Hogarth)  .  .        84 

From  S.  Ireland's  Graphic  Illustrations,  ii.  14. 

MRS.  HOGARTH 91 

From  S.  Ireland's  Graphic  Illustrations,  ii.  4. 

'  THE  LADY'S  LAST  STAKE,'  1759        .  .103 

From  the  Original   Painting  in  the   possession  of  Mr.   J. 
Pierpont  Morgan. 

THE  MARRIAGE  A  LA  MODE :  No.  1,  THE  CONTRACT         .      110 
From  the  Original  Painting  in  the  National  Gallery. 

THE  MARRIAGE  A  LA  MODE  :  No.  6,  THE  DEATH  OF  THE 

COUNTESS  .......      120 

From  the  Original  Painting  in  the  National  Gallery. 

THE  MAN  OF  TASTE,  1731  (BURLINGTON  GATE)         .  .      125 

From  Hogarth's  Engraving. 

TASTE  IN  HIGH  LIFE,  1746 126 

MORNING  (COVENT  GARDEN)        .  .  .  .  .132 

'  Four  Times  of  the  Day,'  1738.     (The  scene  is  reversed  in 
the  Engraving.) 

THE  COCKPIT,  1759          .  .       141 

From  the  Original  Engraving. 

THE  HOUSE  OF  COMMONS,  1730         .  .  .  .166 

By  Hogarth  and  Thornhill.     From  the  Original  Engraving, 
1803.     (A  portion  of  the  Picture  is  omitted.) 

THE  ELECTION  :  No.  2,  CANVASSING  FOR  VOTES,  1757  .      178 

From  the  Painting  in  the  Soane  Museum. 


XV11 

TO  FACE  PAGE 

'THE  TIMES,  PLATE  1,'  1762 190 

From  the  third  state  of  the  Original  Engraving  with  the 
figure  of  Pitt  on  stilts,  which  had  previously  represented 
Henry  VIH. 

THE  SLEEPING  CONGKEGATION,  1736  .      205 

From  the  Original  Engraving. 

OKATOR  HENLEY  CHRISTENING  A  CHILD  .      212 

From  S.  Ireland's  Graphic  Illustrations,  i. 

'  THE  BENCH,'  1758  .  .  .216 

From  the  third  state  of  the  Original  Engraving. 

A  CONSULTATION  OF  PHYSICIANS,  1736    .  .  .223 

THE  SHRIMP  GIRL  .  .      240 

From  the  Painting  in  the  National  Gallery. 

HEAD  OF  DIANA 240 

From  S.  Ireland's  Etching,  1786,  Graphic  Illustrations, 
i.  170.  The  Original  Sketch  in  oil  was  in  Ireland's  possession. 

HOGARTH'S  SIX  SERVANTS 241 

From  the  Painting  in  the  National  Gallery. 

THE  ENRAGED  MUSICIAN,  1741         .  .  .  .242 

From  the  Original  Engraving. 

HOGARTH'S  BUSINESS  CARD,  1720    .  .      244 

SARAH,    DUCHESS    OF    MARLBOROUGH,    AT    CHILD'S 

BANK 263 

From  S.  Ireland's  Graphic  Illitstration/s,  ii.  117.  The 
Original  Painting,  which  belonged  to  Ireland,  was  sold  in 
June  1899  at  the  Forman  Sale  for  £53,  11s. 

THE  INN  YARD  ('HARLOT'S  PROGRESS,'  PLATE  1)        .  .273 

From  the  Original  Engraving. 
I 


xviii  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

TO  FACE  PAGE 

BURNING  OF  THE  KUMPS  AT  TEMPLE  BAR  (Hudibras, 

PLATE  11),  1726  .......      276 

From  Twelve  large  Prints  for  Hudibras. 

WHITE'S    CHOCOLATE    HOUSE    ('A   RAKE'S    PROGRESS,' 

No.  6),  1735 .295 

From  the  Painting  in  the  Soane  Museum. 

ST.  JAMES'S  STREET  ('A  RAKE'S  PROGRESS,'  No.  4)  .  .      298 

From  the  Painting  in  the  Soane  Museum. 

THE  LAUGHING  AUDIENCE,  1733      .  .303 

(Subscription  ticket  for  '  A  Rake'a  Progress '  and  '  South- 
wark  Fair.') 

SCENE  FROM  THE  BEGGAR'S  OPERA,  ACT  3         .  .      305 

From  the  Painting  in  the  possession  of  John  Murray,  Esq. 

LAVINIA  FENTON  (POLLY  PEACHUM),  AFTERWARDS  DUCHESS 

or  BOLTON          .  ...  -.  .  .      310 

From  the  Painting  in  the  National  Gallery. 

DAVID  GARRICK  AND  MRS.  GARRICK,  1757         .        ;  .-      327 

GARRICK  IN  THE  FARMER'S  RETURN,  1762        .  .329 

From  James  Basire's  Engraving. 

PERFORMANCE  OF  DRYDEN'S  INDIAN  EMPEROR  AT 

MR.  CONDUITT'S  HOUSE,  1731      .  .  .  .341 

From  Robert  Dodd's  Engraving,  1792. 

MASQUERADES  AND  OPERAS  (BURLINGTON  GATE),  1724   .      348 
From  the  first  state  of  the  Original  Engraving. 

THE  FOUNDLINGS  ....  .362 

Heading  to  a  power  of  attorney.    The  Hospital  still  possesses 
the  Original  Plate. 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS  xix 

TO  FACE  PAGE 

CAPTAIN  THOMAS  CORAM,  1739  .      362 

From  Nutter's  Engraving,  1796. 

BEDLAM  ( '  A  RAKE'S  PROGRESS,'  No.  8)  ...      370 

From  the  Painting  in  the  Soane  Museum. 

MICHAEL    SOLEIROL   WITH   ST.   GEORGE'S   HOSPITAL 

IN  THE  DISTANCE,  1748     .  .  .  .      374 

From  the  Painting  in  the  Hospital. 

There  is  some  difficulty  as  to  the  spelling  of  the  name,  so 
that  the  title  on  the  plate  does  not  exactly  agree  with  this 
description,  which  is  probably  the  most  correct. 

SCENE    IN    THE    FLEET  PRISON  ('BAMBRIDGE  BEFORE  A 

COMMITTEE  OF  THE  HOUSE  OF  COMMONS'),  1729        .  .      389 

From  the  Original  Engraving. 

BRIDEWELL  ('A  HARLOT'S  PROGRESS,'  PLATE  4),  1732  .      393 

From  the  Original  Engraving. 

THE  IDLE  APPRENTICE  EXECUTED  AT  TYBURN  ('!K-\ 

Srf 

DUSTRY  AND   IDLENESS,'   PLATE   11),    1747  .  .  .         399 

From  the  Original  Engraving. 

THE  MARCH  TO  FINCHLEY,  1750       .  .  .      v      .       404 

From  the  Original  Engraving. 

MARYLEBONE  CHURCH  ( '  A  RAKE'S  PROGRESS,'  No.  5),  1735      411 
From  the  Painting  in  the  Soane  Museum. 

SOUTHWARK  FAIR,  1733 424 

From  the  Painting  in  the  possession  of  the  Duke  of 
Newcastle. 


CHAPTER  I 

INTRODUCTION 

To  those  who  live  in  the  twentieth  century  a  study 
of  the  manners  of  the  eighteenth  century  is  singularly 
fascinating,  as  that  is  near  enough  for  its  aims  to  be 
understood  and  its  philosophy  to  be  sympathised 
with,  and  yet  distant  enough  to  be  fresh  and  piquant 
to  those  of  a  later  age. 

It  may  be  said  to  have  been,  not  so  very  long  ago, 
the  Cinderella  of  the  Centuries,  inasmuch  as  many 
writers  have  not  tired  in  declaiming  against  it.  Mr. 
Frederic  Harrison  is  its  most  valiant  defender,  and 
completely  answers  the  unmeasured  abuse  of  Carlyle.1 
He  justly  styles  it  '  the  turning  epoch  of  the 
modern  world,'  and  asserts  that  although  it  was  an 
age  of  prose,  it  was  not  prosaic.  We  are  just  at  the 
right  distance  from  this  period  to  judge  it  without 
bias.  At  present  the  nineteenth  century  is  too 
near  us  to  be  treated  historically.  Therefore  we 
ought  to  understand  the  eighteenth  century  better, 
and  to  admire  it  in  spite  of  its  glaring  faults.  We 
know  it  better  than  most  other  centuries,  because 

1  'The  age  of  prose,  of  lying,  of  sham,  the  fraudulent  bankrupt  century, 
the  reign  of  Beelzebub,  the  peculiar  era  of  Cant.' 

A 


2  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

its  authors  have  painted  the  manners  and  social  life 
of  their  times  more  minutely  than  the  authors  of 
previous  periods  have  done  theirs.  It  was  specially 
a  friendly  social  century,  and  as  we  read  the  pages 
of  Fielding,  Richardson,  Boswell,  Walpole,  Cowper, 
Fanny  Burney,  and  Jane  Austen  we  follow  the  life 
of  the  time  in  all  its  phases  with  breathless  interest. 

What  is  most  striking  in  this  body  of  literature 
is  that  all  classes  are  depicted.  We  never  tire  of 
reading  of  the  men  and  women  who 
by  artificial  barriers  into  different  worlds, 
did  Walpole' s  world  know  of  Johnson's  world  ? 
what  did  Cowper  care  for  either  ? 

There  was,  however,  one  man  who • 
all  the  others  put  together  to  help  us  to  ~  under- 
stand the  lif e  of  the  eighteenth  century — at  all  events 
how  it  was  lived  by  Londoners,  for  he  appeals  to 
the  eye  as  well  as  to  the  intellect ;  and  that  man 
was  Hogarth.  He  was  seldom  absent  from  London, 
and  no  day  passed  without  his  eye  finding  something 
to  record — a  line  if  not  a  picture,  perhaps  a  thumb- 
nail sketch  for  future  enlargement.  Hogarth  was 
immediately  recognised  by  his  contemporaries  as  a 
great  pictorial  satirist,  and  it  was  not  long  before 
his  engravings  became  well  known  abroad.  It  has, 
however,  taken  longer  for  his  other  great  qualities 
to  be  universally  acknowledged. 

Horace  Walpole  had  a  great  admiration  for 
Hogarth,  and  he  was  one  of  the  first  to  set  the 
fashion  of  collecting  Hogarth's  prints.  In  com- 


I 

INTRODUCTION  3 

mencing  the  chapter  on  this  great  artist  in  his 
Anecdotes  of  Painting  (vol.  iv.  1771),  he  writes : 
'  Having  dispatched  the  herd  of  our  painters  in  oil, 
I  reserved  to  a  class  by  himself  that  great  and 
original  genius,  Hogarth  ;  considering  him  rather 
as  a  writer  of  comedy  with  a  pencil,  than  as  a 
painter.  If  catching  the  manners  and  follies  of  an 
age  living  as  they  rise,  if  general  satire  on  vices 
and  ridicules,  familiarized  by  strokes  of  nature,  and 
heightened  by  wit,  and  the  whole  animated  by 
proper  and  just  expressions  of  the  passions  be 
comedy,  Hogarth  composed  comedies  as  much  as 
Moliere  ;  in  his  "  Marriage  a  la  Mode  "  there  is  even 
an  intrigue  carried  on  throughout  the  piece.  He  is 
more  true  to  character  than  Congreve  ;  each  per- 
sonage is  distinct  from  the  rest,  acts  in  his  sphere, 
and  cannot  be  confounded  with  any  other  of  the 
dramatis  personce.' 

Carrying  on  his  comparison  of  Hogarth  with  the 
great  French  dramatist,  Walpole  writes :  '  Moliere, 
inimitable  as  he  has  proved,  brought  a  rude  theatre 
to  perfection.  Hogarth  had  no  model  to  follow  and 
improve  upon.  He  created  his  art  and  used  colours 
instead  of  language.' 

Mr.  Austin  Dobson  has  drawn  attention  to  an 
article  in  the  Gray's  Inn  Journal,  Feb.  9,  1754, 
apparently  written  by  Arthur  Murphy,  in  which 
Walpole' s  description  of  the  painter  as  a  '  writer 
of  comedy  with  a  pencil'  is  forestalled.  Replying 
to  Voltaire,  who  had  been  accusing  the  English  of  a 


4  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

lack  of  genius  for  Painting  and  Music,  the  author 
of  this  article  wrote:  'Hogarth,  like  a  true  genius, 
has  formed  a  new  school  of  Painting  for  himself. 
He  may  be  truly  styled  the  Cervantes  of  his  art, 
as  he  has  exhibited  with  such  a  masterly  hand  the 
ridiculous  follies  of  Human  Nature.  .  .  .  He  may 
be  said  to  be  the  first,  who  has  wrote  Comedy  with  his 
pencil.  His  "  Harlot's  Progress,"  and  "  Marriage  a  la 
Mode  "  are,  in  my  opinion,  as  well  drawn  as  anything 
hi  Moliere,  and  the  unity  of  character  which  is  the 
perfection  of  Dramatic  Poetry,  is  so  skilfully  pre- 
served, that  we  are  surprised  to  see  the  same  person- 
age thinking  agreeably  to  his  complexional  habits 
in  the  many  different  situations  in  which  we  after- 
wards perceive  him.' 

Mr.  Dobson  also  quotes  from  a  literary  case  in 
July  1773,  when  Lord  Gardenstone,  a  Scottish  judge, 
after  defining  Hogarth  as  '  the  only  true  original 
author  which  this  age  has  produced  in  England,' 
went  on :  '  I  can  read  his  works  over  and  over  .  .  . 
and  every  time  I  peruse  them  I  discover  new 
beauties,  and  feel  fresh  entertainment.' 

Fielding  was  one  of  Hogarth's  greatest  admirers. 
The  first  time  we  find  their  names  united  was  in  1731, 
when  Hogarth  engraved  a  frontispiece  for  Fielding's 
Tragedy  of  Tragedies.  In  the  preface  to  his  first 
novel,  Joseph  Andrews,  the  novelist  takes  the 
earliest  opportunity  of  introducing  a  brilliant 
criticism  of  the  artist's  insight  in  his  own  remarks  on 
the  Ridiculous :  *  He  who  should  call  the  ingenious 


INTRODUCTION  5 

Hogarth  a  burlesque  painter,  would,  in  my  opinion, 
do  him  very  little  honour :  for  sure  it  is  much  easier, 
much  less  the  subject  of  admiration,  to  paint  a  man 
with  a  nose,  or  any  other  feature  of  a  preposterous 
size,  or  to  expose  him  in  some  absurd  or  monstrous 
attitude,  than  to  express  the  affections  of  men  on 
canvas.  It  hath  been  thought  a  vast  commendation 
of  a  painter,  to  say  his  figures  seem  to  breathe ;  but 
surely,  it  is  a  much  greater  and  nobler  applause, 
that  they  appear  to  think.'  In  Tom  Jones  the 
references  to  Hogarth  are  continually  occurring  as 
illustrations  of  some  of  the  characters. 

Three  great  writers,  about  the  same  time,  claimed 
the  highest  position  in  his  art  for  Hogarth : 
Coleridge  in  1809,  Charles  Lamb  in  1811,  and 
Hazlitt  in  1814.  Hazlitt  classes  Hogarth  with 
the  Comic  Writers,  and  Lamb  says :  '  His  graphic 
representations  are  indeed  books.  They  have  the 
teeming,  fruitful,  suggestive  meaning  of  words. 
Other  pictures  we  look  at — his  prints  we  read.'1 
Coleridge  beautifully  expresses  his  appreciation  of 
that  sense  of  beauty  which  many  ignorantly  denied 
to  Hogarth.  He  writes  in  The  Friend  (No.  16,  Dec.  7, 
1809) :  '  One  of  those  beautiful  female  faces  which 

1  A  great  friend  of  Charles  Lamb  was  amusingly  enthusiastic  on 
Hogarth's  art.  This  was  Martin  Burney,  son  of  Admiral  James  Burney, 
and  nephew  of  Dr.  Charles  Burney.  Barry  Cornwall  (B.  W.  Procter)  in 
his  Memoirs  of  Lamb  (1866)  thus  refers  to  Martin  :  '  The  last  time  I  saw 
Burney  was  at  the  corner  of  a  street  in  London,  when  he  was  overflowing 
on  the  subject  of  Raffaelle  and  Hogarth.  After  a  long  and  prolonged 
struggle,  he  said  he  had  arrived  at  the  conclusion  that  Raffaelle  was  the 
greater  man  of  the  two.' 


6  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

Hogarth,  in  whom  the  satyrist  never  extinguished 
that  love  of  beauty  which  belonged  to  him  as  a 
Poet,  so  often  and  so  gladly  introduces  as  the 
central  figure  in  a  crowd  of  humorous  deformities, 
which  figure  (such  is  the  power  of  true  genius  !) 
neither  acts  nor  is  meant  to  act  as  a  contrast ;  but 
diffuses  through  all,  and  over  each  of  the  group  a 
spirit  of  reconciliation  and  human  kindness  ;  and 
even  when  the  attention  is  no  longer  consciously 
directed  to  the  cause  of  this  feeling,  still  blends  its 
tenderness  with  our  laughter  ;  and  thus  prevents  the 
instructive  merriment  at  the  whims  of  nature  or 
the  foibles  of  our  fellow-men  from  degenerating  into 
the  heart  poison  of  contempt  or  hatred.' 

Walter  Savage  Landor  wrote  to  John  Forster: 
'  What  nonsense  I  see  written  of  Hogarth's  defects 
as  a  colourist.  He  was  in  truth  far  more  than  the 
most  humorous,  than  the  most  pathetic,  and  most 
instructive,  of  painters.  He  excelled  at  once  in 
composition,  in  drawing  and  in  colouring  ;  and  of 
what  other  can  we  say  the  same  ?  In  his  portraits 
he  is  as  true  as  Gainsborough,  as  historical  as  Titian.' 

The  need  of  acknowledging  the  realism  of 
Hogarth's  art  is  very  important  for  our  present 
purpose,  as  half  the  value  of  it  to  us  would  be  lost 
if  we  did  not  understand  the  truthfulness  of  his  work. 
We  have  the  authority  of  Walpole  for  this. 

In  a  letter  to  Sir  David  Dalrymple  (Lord  Hailes), 
Dec.  11,  1780,  he  writes,  '  I  believe,  Sir,  that  I  may 
have  been  overcandid  to  Hogarth,  and  that  his 


INTRODUCTION  7 

spirit  and  youth  and  talent  may  have  hurried  him 
into  more  real  caricatures  than  I  specified ;  yet  he 
certainly  restrained  his  bent  that  way  pretty  early.'  l 

Although  so  just  and  full  of  praise,  for  one  side 
of  Hogarth's  art,  Walpole  was  singularly  blind  to 
his  merits  on  the  technical  side,  for  he  says,  '  As  a 
painter  he  had  but  slender  merit.'  The  distinction 
of  his  paintings  was  strangely  ignored  in  his  own  time, 
and  was  not  generally  acknowledged  until  1814, 
when  fifty  of  his  original  pictures  were  exhibited 
at  the  British  Institution.  Richard  Payne  Knight, 
the  writer  of  the  preface  to  the  Catalogue,  ventured 
to  praise  the  high  qualities  of  his  work,  and  he 
somewhat  timidly  wrote,  '  His  pictures  often  display 
beautiful  colouring  as  well  as  accurate  drawing.' 

When  the  public  had  the  opportunity  of  seeing 
Hogarth's  original  pictures,  and  were  able  to 
criticise  them  as  distinct  from  his  engravings,  they 
began  to  realise  that  the  painter  was  a  great  master 
worthy  to  rank  with  the  chief  of  his  predecessors ; 
they  found  that,  besides  being  a  writer  of  comedy 
with  a  pencil,  he  was  a  brilliant  artist  in  colour 
as  well  as  in  draughtsmanship. 

During  a  severe  illness  when  James  Whistler 
was  little  over  twelve  years  old,  he  had  the  oppor- 
tunity of  studying  a  large  volume  of  Hogarth's 
engravings.  His  mother  relates  that  he  said  on 
one  occasion,  '  Oh  how  I  wish  I  were  well,  I  want 
so  to  show  these  engravings  to  my  drawing  master, 

1  Letters,  ed.  Cunningham,  vol.  vii.  p.  472. 


8  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

it  is  not  every  one  who  has  a  chance  of  seeing 
Hogarth's  own  engravings  of  his  originals,'  and 
then  added,  in  his  own  happy  way,  '  And  if  I  had 
not  been  ill,  mother,  perhaps  no  one  would  have 
thought  of  showing  them  to  me.' 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Pennell  remark :  '  From  this  time 
until  his  death  Whistler  always  believed  Hogarth 
to  be  the  greatest  English  artist  who  ever  lived, 
and  he  seldom  lost  an  opportunity  of  saying  so. 
The  long  attack  of  illness  in  1847  is  therefore 
memorable  as  the  beginning  of  his  love  of  Hogarth, 
which  became  an  article  of  faith  with  him.' l 

In  an  article  by  Mr.  Sidney  Colvin  (Portfolio,  iii. 
p.  153),  Hogarth's  high  qualities  as  a  painter  are 
ungrudgingly  praised : 

'  Hogarth,  in  his  best  works,  catches  with  a 
perfect  subtlety  the  colour  of  rich  or  poor  apparel, 
indoor  furniture  and  outdoor  litter,  the  satin,  bows, 
jewels,  ribbons  of  the  bride,  the  fur  coat  and  hose 
and  waistcoat  of  the  beau,  lace,  silk,  velvet,  broad- 
cloth, spangles,  and  brocade,  rich  carpets,  rich 
wall  hangings,  the  look  of  pictures  on  the  wall ; 
or,  on  the  other  hand,  the  coarse  appurtenances  of 
the  market-place  or  the  street  crossing  :  he  catches 
them,  and  their  tone  and  relations  in  the  indoor 
or  outdoor  atmosphere  with  a  perfect  subtlety 
and  sense  of  natural  harmony.  And  not  only  so, 
but  without  a  school,  and  without  a  precedent 
(for  he  is  no  imitator  of  the  Dutchmen)  he  has 

1  Life  o/J.  M.  Whistler,  by  E.  R.  and  J.  Pennell,  1908,  vol.  i.  p.  21. 


INTRODUCTION  9 

found  a  way  of  expressing  what  he  sees  with  the 
clearest  simplicity,  richness  and  directness.' 

Sir  Walter  Armstrong,  in  his  Essay  prefixed  to 
Dobson's  folio  edition  of  his  Hogarth,  has  done 
full  justice  to  Hogarth's  claim  to  a  high  place  as  a 
painter.  He  styles  him  a  creator  of  beauty,  a 
master  of  grace  and  a  perfect  craftsman,  affirming 
that  his  '  supreme  achievement  as  a  painter  lies 
in  the  completeness  with  which  he  gave  artistic 
expression  to  ideas  which  were  not  essentially 
pictorial  in  themselves.' 

Now  his  position  as  a  painter  has  been  com- 
pletely established,  and  we  can  forgive  the  ill- 
judged  remarks  of  Walpole,  in  the  spirit  of  which, 
by  the  way,  he  was  supported  by  the  opinion  of 
many  of  his  contemporaries. 

While  pointing  out  Hogarth's  high  position  when 
he  followed  his  natural  bent,  we  have  regretfully 
to  acknowledge  that  he  had  his  limits,  and  it  is 
necessary  to  refer  to  the  mistake  he  made  when  he 
endeavoured  to  essay  a  style  entirely  unsuited  to 
his  genius,  although  even  in  his  religious  subjects 
there  are  merits  which  have  been  unfairly  overlooked. 

Mr.  Dobson  quotes  the  painter's  extraordinary 
utterance  respecting  the  great  style  of  history 
painting,  where  he  appears  to  value  the  Scripture 
scenes  at  St.  Bartholomew's  Hospital  (1736)  more 
than  such  pictures  as  the  *  Harlot's  Progress.' 

Hogarth  in  his  autobiography  writes — *  I  have 
endeavoured  to  treat  my  subjects  as  a  dramatic 


10 

writer :  my  picture  is  my  stage,  and  men  and 
women  my  players,  who  by  means  of  certain  actions 
and  gestures,  are  to  exhibit  a  dumb  show.  Before 
I  had  done  anything  of  much  consequence  in  this 
walk,  I  entertained  some  hopes  of  succeeding  in 
what  the  puffers  in  books  call  the  great  style  of 
History  painting  ;  so  that  without  having  had  a 
stroke  of  this  grand  business  before,  I  quitted  small 
portraits  and  familiar  conversations,  and  with  a 
smile  at  my  own  temerity,  commenced  history 
painter,  and  on  a  great  staircase  at  St.  Bartholo- 
mew's, painted  two  Scripture  stories,  "  The  Pool  of 
Bethesda"  and  "  The  Good  Samaritan,"  with  figures 
seven  feet  high.'  l 

It  is  impossible  with  any  success  to  compare 
Hogarth  with  other  painters,  as  he  stands  absolutely 
alone.  Mr.  Dobson  writes  :  *  He  was  an  exceptional 
genius,  not  to  be  conveniently  ticketed  off,  by  any 
preconceived  theory  respecting  his  race,  his  epoch, 
or  his  environment.' 

We  can  now  pass  on  to  consider  Hogarth  as  a 
delineator  of  manners  and  an  illustrator  of  London 
Topography. 

The  manners  and  morals  of  a  period  form  com- 
plex subjects  for  consideration.  In  order  therefore 
to  obtain  any  true  understanding  of  the  time,  it 
is  necessary  to  sort  out  the  various  subjects  into 
classes,  and  when  we  have  done  this  we  shall  find 

1  Anecdotes  of  W.  Hogarth,  written  by  Himself.  Edited  by  J.  B.  Nichols. 
London,  1833,  p.  9. 


INTRODUCTION  11 

how  completely  the  works  of  Hogarth  cover  the 
ground  in  respect  to  the  manners  and  life  of  the 
eighteenth  century.  The  plan  of  this  work  is  to  deal 
with  these  subjects  in  separate  chapters,  but  here  a 
more  general  view  of  the  whole  field  may  be  taken. 

The  first  thing  to  note  is  the  similarity  of  aims 
among  all  classes  of  Society  during  a  large  part  of 
the  century.  What  has  been  styled  The  World 
was  the  pervading  influence  in  the  eighteenth 
century.  Even  then  there  were  several  Worlds, 
but  they  all  had  points  of  contact  one  with  another. 
Now  in  the  twentieth  century  the  World  has  become 
too  large  to  hang  together,  and  the  one  is  disinte- 
grated into  the  many,  all  of  these  having  different 
orbits.  In  the  eighteenth  century  good  society 
met  in  London,  in  Bath,  and  abroad.  Its  members 
renewed  old  acquaintanceship  at  the  different 
seasons  in  different  places.  But  we  must  not 
generalise  overmuch,  for  there  are  shades  of  difference 
which  must  be  accounted  for.  The  literary  world 
of  Johnson  was  very  different  from  the  fashionable 
world  of  Horace  Walpole,  and  there  were  few  points 
of  contact  between  them,  but  there  were  some. 

For  our  present  purpose  that  remarkable  picture 
of  Old  London  in  Gay's  Trivia  is  a  help  to  the 
understanding  of  our  subject,  for  Gay  painted  the 
very  London  that  Hogarth  loved  and  depicted, 
but  he  only  drew  the  exterior  of  the  streets,  while 
Hogarth  delineated  the  humours  both  of  the  insides 
and  outsides  of  the  houses. 


12  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

We  ought  to  understand  the  eighteenth  century 
because  it  has  a  special  fascination  for  us,  although 
it  has  strongly  marked  features  which  are  often 
repulsive. 

The  characteristic  qualities  are  strength  and  unity 
of  aims.  No  period  exhibits  more  remarkably  these 
qualities,  shown  at  the  beginning  of  the  century  hi 
calm  chequered  by  Rebellion,  and  at  the  end  in  the 
fire  of  Revolution.  Both  of  these  characteristics 
had  their  evil  side,  the  strength  developed  into 
coarseness,  and  the  unity  was  largely  a  unity  of 
want  of  refinement.  There  is  no  evidence  in 
Walpole's  Letters  that  the  higher  classes,  who 
might  be  expected  to  have  exhibited  good  manners 
(if  not  morality)  were  any  better  than  other  classes. 
In  some  respects  they  were  much  inferior  to  the 
middle  classes.  It  is  always  dangerous  and  unjust 
to  make  sweeping  charges  against  a  whole  nation, 
but  all  we  read  and  all  we  see  of  the  eighteenth 
century — at  all  events  parts  of  it — seem  to  point  it 
out  as  one  of  the  worst-mannered  periods  in  our 
history.  There  is  much  to  disgust  us  in  Hogarth's 
pictures  of  life,  but  the  worst  of  all  are  the  '  Four 
Stages  of  Cruelty,'  which  are  simply  appalling  in 
their  atrocity. 

The  Restoration  period  is  sometimes  considered 
to  be  one  of  the  worst  in  our  annals,  but  there  is 
some  reason  to  think  that  after  the  Revolution 
there  was  exhibited  a  depth  of  turpitude  in  public 
and  private  life  that  had  not  been  so  widespread 


INTRODUCTION  13 

before.  Great  intellectual  vigour  and  goodness 
within  well-defined  limits  were  also  distinguishing 
features  of  the  age ;  among  its  many  faults  hypocrisy 
was  not  to  be  numbered.  One  of  the  striking  faults 
of  the  century  was  its  hatred  of  enthusiasm  and  its 
distrust  of  ideals,  yet  in  studying  its  history  we  see 
the  gradual  emergence  of  a  new  spirit  and  a  new 
life  from  the  dull  apathy  of  the  early  years  to  the 
burning  hopes  and  faith  in  the  future  as  exhibited 
in  the  midst  of  troubles  at  the  end  of  the  century. 

In  referring  to  Hogarth's  reproduction  of  the 
striking  contrasts  of  his  age,  Mr.  Dobson  says : 
c  He  has  peopled  his  canvas  with  its  dramatis 
personce,  with  vivid  portraits  of  the  more  strongly 
marked  actors  in  that  cynical  and  sensual,  brave 
and  boastful,  corrupt  and  patriotic  time.' 

The  truth  of  Hogarth's  pictures  of  his  age  has  been 
acknowledged  by  all,  and  by  no  one  more  com- 
pletely than  by  Horace  Walpole,  who  was  one  of 
the  best  of  judges.  Of  the  painter's  interiors  he 
wrote :  '  It  was  reserved  to  Hogarth  to  write  a  scene 
of  furniture.  The  rake's  levee-room,  the  nobleman's 
dining-room,  the  apartments  of  the  husband  and 
wife  in  "  Marriage  a  la  Mode,"  the  alderman's  par- 
lour, the  poet's  bedchamber,  and  many  others,  are 
the  history  of  the  manners  of  the  age.' 3 

Hogarth  is  styled  a  moralist,  and  in  his  great  work, 
the  '  Marriage  a  la  Mode,'  he  is  truly  that.  He  has 
taken  as  his  subject  a  life-history,  which  must 

1  Walpole's  Anecdotes  of  Painting,  1876,  vol.  iii.  p.  7. 


14  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

have  been  repeated  in  every  age,  but  he  has  treated 
it  with  so  much  of  the  power  and  insight  of  genius 
that  he  points  a  moral  which  we  feel  to  be  that  of 
a  drama  worthy  of  the  greatest  tragic  writer.  In 
the  *  Progresses,'  and  '  Industry  and  Idleness,'  he 
also  shows  himself  a  moralist,  but  in  a  more  con- 
ventional manner. 

In  some  of  his  other  works  there  is  rather  too 
evident  a  zest  and  interest  in  the  incidents  of  a 
vicious  life  to  allow  the  moral  to  be  so  strongly 
marked.  He  was  in  these  more  the  moralist  in  the 
sense  of  an  exhibitor  of  manners. 

Mrs.  Oliphant  speaks  of  his  unimpassioned 
tragedy,  and  Mr.  Dobson  elaborates  this  point  with 
his  usual  insight.  He  writes  :  '  He  was  a  moralist 
after  the  manner  of  eighteenth  century  morality, 
not  savage  like  Swift,  not  ironical  like  Fielding, 
not  tender-hearted  like  Johnson  and  Goldsmith ; 
but  unrelenting,  uncompromising,  uncompassionate. 
He  drew  vice  and  its  consequences  in  a  thoroughly 
literal  and  business-like  way,  neither  sparing  nor 
softening  its  features,  wholly  insensible  to  its 
seductions,  incapable  of  flattering  it  even  for  a 
moment,  preoccupied  solely  with  catching  its 
fugitive  contortion  of  pleasure  or  of  pain.' 

In  order  to  obtain  an  idea  of  the  chief  features  of 
the  manners  of  the  eighteenth  century,  it  has  been 
thought  well  to  arrange  the  particulars  under 
certain  headings,  which  it  is  hoped  will  comprise 
all  that  need  be  discussed  in  this  connection. 


INTRODUCTION  15 

The  headings  of  the  chapters  of  this  book  are 
the  following,  and  some  general  remarks  may  here 
be  set  down,  leaving  discussion  of  the  various  points 
for  the  chapters  themselves. 

High  Life  seems  at  first  sight  to  be  outside  of 
Hogarth's  ken,  but  his  knowledge  of  human  nature 
helped  him  to  picture  correctly  a  life  which  he  had 
not  lived.  His  many  portraits  were  largely  chosen 
from  among  the  aristocracy,  and  the  follies  of  the 
upper  classes  were  as  patent  to  the  satirist  as  were 
those  of  men  and  women  in  a  less  exalted  sphere. 
The  picture  of  the  nobleman  in  the  '  Marriage  a  la 
Mode '  is  as  successful  a  portrait  as  Hogarth  ever 
painted. 

The  delineation  of  Low  Life,  however,  was  more 
congenial  to  Hogarth's  taste,  and  he  gloried  in  the 
humours  which  were  to  be  found  on  all  sides — in 
the  streets,  in  the  prize-fighter's  amphitheatre,  in 
the  cockpit,  the  prison,  and  the  brothel. 

Such  a  view  of  the  streets  of  London  as  we  see  hi 
'  The  Four  Times  of  the  Day '  is  not  elsewhere  to  be 
seen.  The  dangers  of  the  streets  must  have  been 
appalling,  and  yet  Gay,  who  points  out  some  of 
the  dangers,  apostrophises 

'  Happy  Augusta !  Law-defended  town ! 
Here  no  dark  lanthorns  shade  the  villain's  frown ; 
No  Spanish  jealousies  thy  lanes  infest, 
Nor  Roman  vengeance  stabs  th'  unwary  breast ; 
Here  tyranny  ne'er  lifts  her  purple  hand, 
But  liberty  and  justice  guard  the  land ; 
No  bravos  here  profess  the  bloody  trade, 
Nor  is  the  Church  the  murd'rer's  refuge  made,' 


16  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

There  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  inhabitants 
of  London  who  walked  in  the  streets  after  dark 
took  care  to  possess  means  of  protection,  and  those 
who  were  defenceless  kept  within-doors. 

The  man  of  quality  had  his  sword  which  he  could 
ordinarily  use  with  skill,  and  others  were  pro- 
ficient with  their  fists.  Johnson  was  a  powerful 
man,  and  was  well  able  to  take  care  of  himself  as  we 
know  from  several  recorded  adventures,  especially 
the  one  in  Grosvener  Square  when  he  caught  the 
man  who  had  stolen  his  handkerchief  and  knocked 
him  down  before  the  thief  knew  where  he  was. 

Swift  paints  a  sorry  picture  of  the  state  of  the 
streets  in  his  description  of  a  City  Shower,  and  Gay 
advises  the  walker  to  wear  strong  shoes.  It  was 
evidently  a  serious  matter  for  men  in  decent  apparel 
to  walk  the  streets,  for  they  were  subject  to  the 
drippings  of  roofs  as  well  as  the  splashing  of  passing 
carts  and  coaches : 

'  When  dirty  waters  from  balconies  drop, 
And  dextrous  damsels  twirl  the  sprinkling  mop, 
And  cleanse  the  spatter'd  sash,  and  scrub  the  stairs ; 
Know  Saturday's  conclusive  morn  appears.' 

The  streets  were  cleansed  in  the  middle  ages,  but  they 
were  evidently  neglected  in  the  eighteenth  century. 
Political  Life  is  well  represented  by  Hogarth. 
He  drew  the  tradesman-politician  reading  his  paper, 
and  a  sitting  of  the  House  of  Commons ;  the  Humours 
of  a  Country  Election,  and  the  unfortunate  print  of 
'The  Times,'  which  made  enemies  of  some  of  his 


INTRODUCTION  17 

former  friends  and  caused  much  ill-will  to  be  poured 
out  upon  the  artist. 

In  Church  and  Dissent  we  see  the  picture  of  the 
deadest  time  in  the  religious  life  of  the  country, 
when  congregations  slept  and  churchman  and 
dissenter  were  alike  the  butt  of  the  wits. 

Professional  Life  is  well  represented  by  the 
lawyers,  the  doctors  and  the  soldiers  as  well  as  by 
the  artists  and  the  authors,  but  none  of  these  classes 
was  flattered. 

Business  Life  is  seen  in  Hogarth's  shop  bills.  In 
his  pictures  the  creaking  sign-boards  are  visible  on  all 
sides,  and  carts  and  drays  lumber  along  the  streets. 

This  was  the  time  of  street  cries,  and  artists 
have  left  us  pictures  of  the  men  and  women  follow- 
ing peripatetic  trades,  all  with  their  distinctive  cries. 
Sleep  fled  from  the  eyes  of  the  weary  when  these 
commenced  their  work  in  the  early  morning. 

'  Successive  cries  the  season's  change  declare, 
And  mark  the  monthly  progress  of  the  year. 
Hark,  how  the  streets  with  treble  voices  ring, 
To  sell  the  bounteous  product  of  the  spring ! 
Sweet-smelling  flowers,  and  elder's  early  bud, 
With  nettle's  tender  shoots,  to  cleanse  the  blood  : 
And  when  June's  thunder  cools  the  sultry  skies, 
Ev'n  Sundays  are  profan'd  by  mackerel  cries.'1 

The  streets  were  doubtless  noisier  in  the  eigh- 
teenth century  than  now  (although  some  of  us 
complain  of  the  present  condition  of  things),  and 
we  are  shown  in  the  'Enraged  Musician'  how  difficult 

1  Trivia,  Book  u. 
B 


18  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

was  the  life  of  the  intellectual  worker  in  the  midst  of 
the  turmoil  around  him.  In  his  Voyage  to  Lisbon 
Fielding  declared  that  to  look  at  this  picture  was 
enough  to  make  a  man  deaf. 

Tavern  Life  was  a  special  feature  of  the  century, 
and  here  social  life  flourished.  Hogarth  has  per- 
petuated the  names  of  many  of  the  London  taverns 
and  coffee-houses  which  were  largely  patronised. 

Theatrical  Life  is  painted  very  effectively  in 
Hogarth's  works.  The  playhouses  and  many  of 
the  actors,  with  Garrick  at  their  head,  are  shown. 
The  pictures  of  the  Beggar's  Opera,  which  was 
said  to  be  the  first  great  popular  success  known  to 
the  English  stage,  exhibit  to  us  the  audience  on  the 
stage,  apparently  very  much  in  the  way  of  the  actors. 
This  evil  was  not  done  away  with  altogether  until 
Garrick  made  some  of  his  chief  improvements. 

In  Hospitals,  which  found  a  true  friend  in  Hogarth, 
we  obtain  a  glimpse  of  the  better  side  of  human 
nature  in  the  eighteenth  century. 

Prisons  and  Crime,  on  the  other  hand,  show  us  some 
of  the  worst  evils  of  the  age,  and  the  impotence  of 
the  system  of  police  to  deal  effectively  with  Crime. 
Pickpockets  and  cheats  were  found  on  all  sides. 

The  Suburbs  in  the  eighteenth  century  were  at 
the  very  doors  of  the  City,  although  they  have  long 
since  been  swallowed  up.  The  citizen  walked  with 
his  family  in  the  afternoon  and  evening  to  the  tea- 
gardens  of  Hoxton,  Islington,  Hampstead,  Totten- 
ham Court  and  Marylebone,  and  the  humours  of  these 
places  are  to  be  found  displayed  in  Hogarth's 


INTRODUCTION  19 

works.  The  general  effect  of  the  scenes  painted  by 
Hogarth  and  described  by  Gay  is  to  impress  upon  us 
the  evils  of  the  time,  and  to  leave  us  unimpressed 
by  much  good  which  must  have  existed,  although 
it  is  left  unnoticed. 

London  has  always  exerted  a  great  influence  over 
its  children,  for  it  is  a  city  of  unique  and  indescrib- 
able charm.  The  Londoner  is  spoiled  for  living  in 
other  places,  and  however  far  he  may  have  wandered, 
he  is  forced  eventually  to  return  to  London,  as  the 
one  place  in  which  life  is  lived  in  all  its  completeness. 

Hogarth  was  a  thorough  Londoner.  He  was  born 
in  Bartholomew  Close,  lived  in  London  all  his  life, 
and  died  in  Leicester  Square.  He  is  known,  with 
Londoners  like  himself,  to  have  made  a  cockney 
tour  from  London  to  Sheerness  and  back  again,  but 
this  five-days'  trip  comprised  nearly  the  whole  of  his 
travels,  and  his  life  was  spent  chiefly  between 
Leicester  Square  and  Chiswick.  From  boyhood  to 
his  latest  hour  he  never  tired  of  exhibiting  the  life 
around  him,  and  he  may  be  said  to  bring  that  life 
before  our  eyes  in  a  way  no  other  artist  before  or 
since  his  time  has  ever  done.  From  the  East  to  the 
West,  from  the  North  to  the  South,  the  London  of 
Hogarth's  day  can  be  traced  topographically  in  his 
pictures  and  sketches. 

Mr.  Dobson  points  out  the  need  of  a  Commentary 
to  illustrate  some  of  the  intricacies  of  Hogarth's 
London  Topography,1  and  it  is  hoped  that  this  book 

1  '  If  the  chief  circumstances  of  the  painter's  career  should  remain 
unsupplemented,  there  will  always  be  a  side  of  his  work  which  must 


20  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

may  to  some  extent  carry  out  the  object  he  has  in 
view. 

It  may  be  well  here  to  set  down  a  short  indication 
of  the  extent  of  the  topographical  illustrations. 

Hogarth's  picture  of  the  streets  is  singularly 
vivid,  the  kennels  and  the  cobbled  roads,  the  creak- 
ing sign-boards  and  the  oil  lamps  and  the  atten- 
dant inconveniences  are  all  brought  before  our  eyes. 
The  traffic,  consisting  of  heavy  carts  and  carriages 
and  the  lighter  chairs  with  their  chairmen,  made  the 
art  of  walking  the  streets  as  expounded  by  Gay  in 
his  Trivia  a  specially  difficult  one. 

The  localities  represented  in  Hogarth's  pictures 
may  be  divided  into  the  City,  the  West  End  and 
Westminster,  and  the  Suburbs;  and  there  is  little 
that  goes  to  the  making  of  the  Great  London  of  the 
eighteenth  century  which  is  unrepresented  in  this 
gallery.  This  London  was  large  in  itself,  although 
when  compared  with  the  London  of  to-day  it  may 
seem  small  to  us. 

Taking  the  City  first,  there  is  the  district  round 
Fleet  Street,  and  that  round  the  Bank.  Newgate 
is  shown  in  the  scene  from  the  Beggar's  Opera  ;  the 
Old  Bailey  ('  Industry  and  Idleness,'  Plate  10) ; 

continue  to  need  interpretation.  In  addition  to  delineating  the  faults  and 
follies  of  his  time,  he  was  pre-eminently  the  pictorial  chronicler  of  its 
fashions  and  its  furniture.  The  follies  endure  ;  but  the  fashions  pass  away. 
In  our  day — a  day  which  has  witnessed  the  demolition  of  Northumberland 
House,  the  translation  of  Temple  Bar,  and  the  removal  of  we  know  not 
what  other  time-honoured  and  venerated  landmarks, — much  in  Hogarth's 
plates  must  seem  as  obscure  as  the  cartouches  on  Cleopatra's  Needle.  Much 
more  is  speedily  becoming  so ;  and  without  guidance  the  student  will 
scarcely  venture  into  that  dark  and  doubtful  rookery  of  tortuous  streets 
and  unnumbered  houses — the  London  of  the  eighteenth  century.' 


INTRODUCTION  21 

Bridewell  in  the  '  Harlot's  Progress,'  Fleet  Prison  in 
the  '  Rake's  Progress  '  ;  Temple  Bar  in  the  eleventh 
plate  of  Hudibras  ('  Burning  of  the  Rumps ')  is  Wren's 
Bar  (1672),  of  a  later  date  than  the  scene  itself 
(1660)  ;  Hanging  Sword  Alley,  Water  Lane,  Fleet 
Street  in  '  Industry  and  Idleness '  ;  Chick  Lane, 
West  Smithfield  in  the  same  series  ;  Little  Britain 
Gate  (King's  Arms),  and  the  Cock  Lane  Ghost  in 
1  A  Medley.5 

Round  the  Bank  we  find  the  Lord  Mayor's  Show 
in  Cheapside  ('  Industry  and  Idleness,'  Plate  12), 
the  Bell  in  Wood  Street  ('  Harlot's  Progress,' 
Plate  1),  Old  London  Bridge  through  the  Window 
('  Marriage  a  la  Mode,'  Plate  6),  Fishmongers  Hall 
('  Industry  and  Idleness,'  Plate  8),  the  base  of  the 
Monument  on  Fish  Street  Hill  in  the  same  series, 
Plate  6,  and  Bedlam,  Moorfields  ('  Rake's  Progress,' 
Plate  8).  West  of  the  City  there  are  still  more  scenes 
as  in  St.  Giles's,  Soho,  Co  vent  Garden,  Drury  Lane, 
St.  Martin's  Lane,  and  last  and  best  of  all,  St. 
James's  Street  ('  Rake's  Progress,'  Plate  4) — an 
admirable  view  of  London's  premier  street.  In  the 
Suburbs  we  see  Tyburn  in  the  execution  of  the  Idle 
Apprentice  at  the  Triple  Tree  (Plate  11),  Marylebone 
Church  ('  Rake's  Progress,'  Plate  5),  Tottenham 
Court  in  the  '  March  to  Finchley '  and  Sadler's 
Wells  (Evening).  This  is  only  a  selection  of  places 
in  London  represented  in  Hogarth's  pictures  and 
prints,  but  it  is  sufficient  to  show  the  wealth  of 
illustrations  which  is  to  be  found  in  the  wonderful 
variety  of  his  works. 


22  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 


CHAPTER  II 
HOGARTH'S  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

FROM  one  point  of  view  the  life  of  Hogarth  may 
be  said  to  have  been  uneventful,  but  when  we  con- 
sider the  amount  of  varied  work  which  he  carried  on 
with  a  single-minded  aim  throughout  a  long  life,  as 
well  as  the  sterling  character  of  the  man  himself, 
which  enabled  him  to  carry  out  all  his  undertakings 
with  decision,  we  shall  find  his  life  full  of  stirring 
events  and  replete  with  interest. 

The  main  object  of  this  work  is  to  direct  special 
attention  to  the  illustrations  of  London  life  and 
manners  to  be  found  in  Hogarth's  work,  but  in  order 
to  show  the  relation  of  this  part  to  the  whole,  it  is 
necessary  to  set  down  the  leading  particulars  of  his 
life,  and  mark  his  position  in  the  world  in  respect  to 
friends  and  enemies,  completing  this  chapter  with  a 
chronological  notice  of  his  most  famous  productions. 

William  Hogarth  was  born  in  Bartholomew 
Close,  West  Smithfield,  on  the  10th  of  November 
1697,  and  baptized  on  the  28th  of  the  same  month 
at  the  parish  church  of  St.  Bartholomew  the  Great.1 

1  Hogarth's  two  sisters— Mary,  born  Nov.  23,  1699,  and  Ann,  born  Oct. 
1701,  were  baptized— Mary  also  at  St.  Bartholomew's  on  Dec.  10,  and  Ann 
at  St.  Sepulchre's  on  Nov.  6. 


HOGARTH'S  LIFE  AND  WORKS          23 

His  father,  Richard  Hogarth,  was  the  third  son 
of  a  yeoman  farmer  who  lived  in  the  vale  of 
Bampton,  about  fifteen  miles  north  of  Kendal.  He 
was  educated  at  Archbishop  Grindal's  Free  School 
at  St.  Bees,  and  afterwards  kept  a  school  in  his 
native  county  of  Westmorland.  This  proving  un- 
successful, he  removed  to  London.1  He  married 
Anne  Gibbons,  and  he  and  his  wife  were  living  in 
Bartholomew  Close  when  their  distinguished  son 
was  born.  Afterwards  he  kept  a  school  in  Ship 
Court,  on  the  west  side  of  the  Old  Bailey.  The 
house,  with  others,  was  pulled  down  in  1862  to  make 
room  for  the  warehouse  of  Messrs  John  Dickinson 
and  Co.,  paper-makers,  which  was  built  on  the  site. 

He  was  also  employed  as  a  hack  writer  and 
corrector  of  the  press  to  Mr.  Downinge  the  printer, 
whose  acquaintance  he  probably  made  when  he  was 
Irving  next  door  to  him  in  Bartholomew  Close.  He 
appears  to  have  been  a  man  possessed  of  much  out 
of  the  way  learning,  for  he  made  large  additions  to 
Littleton's  Latin  Dictionary,  but  these  marginal 
additions  were  never  printed,  and  his  interleaved 
copy  remained  in  the  possession  of  his  son.  In  1689 
he  published  Thesaurarium  Trilingue  Publicum, 
a  copy  of  which  is  in  the  possession  of  Mr.  Austin 
Dobson,  and  in  1712  was  issued  his  little  work 
entitled  Disputationes  Grammaticales. 

1  '  He  came  to  London  in  company  with  Dr.  Gibson,  the  late  Bishop  of 
London's  brother,  and  was  employed  as  corrector  of  the  press,  which  in 
those  days  was  not  considered  as  a  mean  employment.'— John  Ireland, 
Hogarth  Illustrated,  vol.  iii.  p.  6. 


24  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

Richard  Hogarth  made  scarcely  enough  to  live 
upon,  and  he  was  able  to  give  his  son  little  or  no 
education.  As  his  son  himself  says  in  his  autobio- 
graphical sketch  (John  Ireland,  1798),  *  My  father's 
pen,  like  that  of  many  other  authors,  did  not  enable 
him  to  do  more  than  put  me  in  the  way  of  shifting 
for  myself.' 

There  has  been  much  discussion  as  to  the  origin 
of  the  family,  and  some  have,  with  very  little  cause, 
supposed  the  surname  to  come  from  France.  There 
is  a  village  in  Westmorland  named  Hogarth,  but 
doubtless  the  family  originally  came  from  Berwick, 
or  even  further  north.  The  name  Hoggert  has 
been  found  in  Scotland  as  early  as  1494,  and  an 
Aberdeen  family  of  the  name  has  been  traced. 
There  was  a  George  Hogarth  in  London  in  the  reign 
of  Elizabeth.  The  name  was  originally  pronounced 
hard  and  the  final  h  was  not  sounded,  as  Swift 
rhymes  it  in  his  satire  on  the  Irish  Parliament  en- 
titled 'A  Character,  Panegyric  and  Description  of 
the  Legion  Club,  1736.'  These  lines  are  more  than 
interesting  as  proving  this  point,  and  are  worth 
transcribing  in  full: 

'  How  I  want  thee,  humorous  Hogarth ! 
Thou  I  hear  a  pleasant  rogue  art. 
Were  but  you  and  I  acquainted, 
Every  monster  should  be  painted ; 
You  should  try  your  graving  tools 
On  this  odious  group  of  fools ; 
Draw  the  beasts  as  I  describe  them  : 
From  their  features,  while  I  gibe  them ; 


HOGARTH'S  LIFE  AND  WORKS         25 

Draw  them  like ;  for  I  assure  you, 
You  will  need  no  car'catura ; 
Draw  them  so  that  we  may  trace 
All  the  soul  in  every  face.' 

There  was  little  likeness  between  father  and  son, 
but  Thomas  Hogarth  of  Troutbeck,  an  uncle  of 
William,  known  as  Auld  or  Aid  Hoggart,  was  a  rustic 
dramatist  and  satirist.  He  is  referred  to  by  Nichols 
as  an  original  genius,  but  his  Remains  are  very 
commonplace.  Nevertheless  some  of  his  Remnants 
of  Rhyme,  selected  from  an  old  MS.  collection  of 
his  writings  preserved  by  his  descendants,  were 
published  at  Kendal  as  late  as  1853.1 

From  boyhood  to  his  latest  hour  William  Hogarth 
devoted  himself  to  the  study  of  the  life  around  him, 
and  he  never  tired  of  exhibiting  that  life  in  his 
pictures  and  engravings.  Moreover,  to  the  end  he 
ceaselessly  strove  to  excel.  He  himself  refers  in  his 
autobiography  to  this  early  bent :  '  As  I  had 
naturally  a  good  eye,  and  a  fondness  for  drawing, 
shows  of  all  sorts  gave  me  uncommon  pleasure 
when  an  infant ;  and  mimicry,  common  to  all 
children,  was  remarkable  in  me.  An  early  access 
to  a  neighbouring  painter  drew  my  attention  from 
play ;  and  I  was,  at  every  possible  opportunity, 
employed  in  making  drawings.  I  picked  up  an 
acquaintance  of  the  same  turn,  and  soon  learnt  to 

1  Professor  G.  Baldwin  Brown,  in  Appendix  iv.  to  his  interesting  little 
book  on  Hogarth  (1905),  quotes  one  of  Aid  Hoggart's  songs  (Momus  and 
Marina),  and  says  that  a  selection  of  Hoggart's  poems  has  been  reprinted 
by  Mr.  George  Middleton,  Ambleside. 


26  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

draw  the  alphabet  with  great  correctness.  My 
exercises  when  at  school  were  more  remarkable  for 
the  ornaments  that  adorned  them  than  for  the 
exercise  itself.' l 

As  a  boy  he  was  in  the  habit  of  making  pencil 
sketches  on  his  thumb-nails  of  whatever  struck  him. 
This  practice  he  continued,  and  J.  Ireland  says  that 
when  he  came  home  he  copied  the  sketch  on  paper 
and  kept  it  for  future  use.  He  adds,  '  Several  of 
these  sketches  I  have  seen,  and  in  them  may  be 
traced  the  first  thoughts  for  many  of  the  characters 
which  he  afterwards  introduced  into  his  works.' 2 

His  schooldays  were  soon  brought  to  an  end,  and 
he  entered  in  1712  into  an  apprenticeship  to  Ellis 
Gamble,  a  silver-plate  engraver  in  Cranbourne  Alley, 
which  ended  about  1718.  Mr.  Dobson  points  out 
that  Gamble  was  probably  a  connection  of  the 
Hogarth  family,  as  there  is  a  notice  in  1707  of  the 
marriage  of  a  Sarah  Gambell  to  Edmund  Hogarth 
in  Colonel  Chester's  London  Marriage  Licenses, 
1521-1869. 

Hogarth  must  have  done  much  good  work  when 
hi  the  employment  of  Gamble,  although  he  himself 
refers  to  his  engraving  on  silver  as  causing  him  to 
have  to  do  with  '  the  monsters '  of  heraldry  instead 
of  learning  *  to  draw  objects  something  like  nature.' 3 

1  John  Ireland's  Hogarth  Illustrated,  1798,  vol.  iii.  p.  4. 

3  Hogarth  Illustrated,  vol.  iii.  p.  12  (note). 

3  There  is  a  list  of  prints  of  coats-of-arms  from  those  engraved  by 
Hogarth  in  John  Ireland's  Hogarth  Illustrated,  vol.  iii.  p.  369  ;  and  another 
in  J.  B.  Nichols's  Anecdotes,  1833,  p.  292. 


HOGARTH'S  LIFE  AND  WORKS         27 

John  Thomas  Smith  in  his  Life  of  Nollekens  says, 
4 1  am  inclined  to  believe  it  very  possible  that  some 
curious  specimens  of  Hogarth's  dawning  genius 
may  yet  be  rescued  from  future  furnaces,'  and  he 
mentions  two  silversmiths  who  collected  articles 
of  the  artist's  handicraft.  Panton  Betew,  of  Old 
Compton  Street,  Soho,  was  intimate  with  Hogarth, 
and  frequently  purchased  pieces  of  plate  engraved 
with  armorial  bearings  by  him.  Richard  Morison, 
a  silversmith  hi  Cheapside,  took  off  twenty-five 
impressions  of  the  coat-of-arms  of  Sir  Gregory  Page 
engraved  on  a  silver  tea-table  by  Hogarth.  These 
impressions  he  not  only  numbered,  but  also  attested 
each  by  his  signature.  Morison  after  taking  the 
impressions  melted  the  plate,  which  he  had  bought 
at  Sir  Gregory's  sale.  J.  T.  Smith  is  wrong  in 
stating  that  the  engraving  was  on  a  large  silver  dish. 
Another  of  his  works  was  an  elegant  design  engraved 
on  a  large  silver  tankard  used  by  the  members  of 
the  weekly  club  (of  which  Hogarth  was  a  member) 
held  at  the  Spiller's  Head  in  Clare  Market.  A  copy 
of  this  was  given  by  Samuel  Ireland  in  his  Graphic 
Illustrations  (1794).  One  of  the  earliest  of  Hogarth's 
works  to  be  catalogued  is  a  reproduction  of 

'  Sir  Plume,  of  amber  snuff-box  justly  vain, 
And  the  nice  conduct  of  a  clouded  cane,' 

in  the  Eape  of  the  Lock,  taken  from  the  lid  of  a 
gold  snuff-box  supposed  to  have  been  engraved 
about  the  year  1717.  How  successfully  Hogarth 
engraved  the  heraldic  subjects  he  undertook,  may 


28  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

be  seen  from  the  very  fine  etching  of  the  arms  of 
the  Duchess  of  Kendal,  mistress  of  George  I., 
also  reproduced  by  Samuel  Ireland.  In  spite  of  his 
success,  he  felt  truly  that  for  him  there  was  no 
future  in  silver-plate  engraving,  and  in  his  auto- 
biography he  writes :  *  Engraving  on  copper  was,  at 
twenty  years  of  age,  my  utmost  ambition.'  He 
probably  practised  this  art  while  he  was  still  with 
Gamble,  for  he  engraved  a  charming  little  book- 
plate as  well  as  a  bold  and  effective  shopbill  for  his 
master.1 

An  anecdote  which  John  Thomas  Smith  relates 
in  his  Nollekens  comes  in  at  this  time,  and  shows 
Hogarth's  kindly  nature — '  I  have  several  times 
heard  Mr.  Nollekens  observe  that  he  frequently 
had  seen  Hogarth,  when  a  young  man,  saunter 
round  Leicester  Fields  with  his  master's  sickly 
child  hanging  its  head  over  his  shoulder.' 

Richard  Hogarth,  then  residing  in  Long  Lane, 
West  Smithfield,  died  at  that  place  in  May  1718. 
Soon  afterwards  his  son  William  set  up  in  business 
for  himself.  His  shop  card  is  inscribed  '  W. 
Hogarth,  Engraver.  Aprill  ye  23,  1720.'  A  copy 
on  which  Hogarth  had  written  '  Near  the  Black 
Bull,  Long  Lane,'  was  seen  by  John  Ireland.  From 
this  address  it  might  be  assumed  that  he  continued 
for  a  time  to  live  with  his  mother  and  sisters,  but 

1  The  name  of  '  Ellis  Gamble  of  Leicester  Fields,  Goldsmith,'  is  among 
the  list  of  bankrupts  in  1733  printed  in  Gentleman's  Magazine,  vol.  iii. 
(1733),  p.  48. 


HOGARTH'S  LIFE  AND  WORKS         29 

Nichols's  copy  (Genuine  Works,  ii.  20)  has  the  inscrip- 
tion— '  At  ye  Golden  Ball  ye  Corner  of  Cranborne 
Alley,  little  Newport  Street.  April  ye  29,  1720.' 

In  the  new  business  which  he  started  by  himself 
Hogarth  began  to  design  and  engrave  plates  for  the 
booksellers  and  printsellers,  and  he  continued  the 
making  of  book-plates  which  he  apparently  com- 
menced when  he  was  an  apprentice  of  Gamble. 
In  the  preface  to  the  British  Museum  Catalogue  of 
the  Franks  Collection  of  Book-plates  (1903,  vol.  i.), 
it  is  stated  that  '  perhaps  the  most  interesting 
plates  of  the  eighteenth  century  are  the  four  engraved 
by  Hogarth,  viz.  Gamble  ;  the  two  states  of  the 
plate  of  John  Holland,  the  Herald  painter  ;  George 
Lambart  (sic) ;  and  a  plate  engraved  for  some  mem- 
ber of  the  Paulet  or  Powlett  family.  The  impressions 
of  the  Gamble  and  Lambart  plates  are  believed  to 
be  unique,  and  to  be  the  same  from  which  [Samuel] 
Ireland  made  his  well-known  copies.' 

Hogarth's  own  plate,  which  consists  of  a  mono- 
gram of  his  initials  W.  H.  in  a  Jacobean  frame,  is 
not  here  mentioned.  The  late  Mr.  Walter  Hamilton, 
Treasurer  of  the  Ex-Libris  Society,  adopted  and 
copied  Hogarth's  plate  as  his  own,  the  initials  being 
the  same. 

In  his  autobiography  Hogarth  writes :  '  The 
instant  I  became  master  of  my  own  time,  I  deter- 
mined to  qualify  myself  for  engraving  on  copper. 
In  this  I  readily  got  employment ;  and  frontispieces 
to  books  .  .  .  soon  brought  me  into  the  way.  But  the 


30  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

tribe  of  booksellers  remained  as  my  father  had  left 
them,  when  he  died  ...  of  an  illness  occasioned 
partly  by  the  treatment  he  met  with  from  this  set 
of  people  ...  so  that  I  doubly  felt  this  usage.' 

Hogarth  found  his  proper  sphere  in  1721  when  he 
produced  his  two  earliest  satirical  engravings — 
'  An  Emblematical  print  on  the  South  Sea  Scheme,' 
and  '  The  Lottery.'  He  thus  early  commenced 
what  was  to  be  the  main  feature  of  his  life-work, 
but  these  prints  were  wanting  in  the  chief  merits 
of  his  later  productions,  which  stand  easily  at  the 
head  of  their  class.  They  did  not  catch  the  popular 
taste,  and  he  continued  his  work  for  the  booksellers 
for  some  years. 

The  late  Mr.  Frederic  George  Stephens,  in  the 
British  Museum  Catalogue  of  Satirical  Prints  (vol.  ii. 
p.  15),  says,  *  Hogarth,  the  originator  of  English  art 
in  its  modern  and  current  phase,  began  about  1725 
to  do  for  English  artistic  satire  almost  as  much  as 
he  afterwards  did,  technically  and  intellectually,  for 
English  painting.  In  fact  Hogarth  created  modern 
English  satire  :  he  needed  no  help  from  inscriptions 
or  textual  side  of  any  kind,  and  after  1725  only 
once  employed  the  former ;  he  drew  and  there  is 
no  mistaking  his  meaning.' 

Mr.  Stephens  goes  on  to  refer  to  the  two  prints 
of  1721 :  '  The  first  work  of  this  designer  is, 
however,  strikingly  enough,  cumbrous,  and  its 
humour  is  far-fetched  ..."  The  Lottery  "  is  hardly 
less  cumbrous,  but  its  humour  is  spontaneous.' 


S?  JAMES  THQRNHILL 

Lhl'.l   6y  if/re/and  from.  n.  par fra.it  mi  aU  ik<?  fame  , 

• 


PORTRAIT  OF  SIR  JAMES  THORNHILL. 


HOGARTH'S  LIFE  AND  WORKS          31 

Hogarth  was  twenty-eight  years  of  age  in  1725, 
so  that  this  date  fairly  coincides  with  what  he 
himself  says :  '  Owing  to  this  and  other  circum- 
stances, by  engraving  until  I  was  near  thirty,  I 
could  do  little  more  than  maintain  myself  ;  but 
even  then  I  was  a  punctual  paymaster.' 

He  is  reported  to  have  said  of  himself  on  one 
occasion,  '  I  remember  the  time  when  I  have  gone 
moping  into  the  city  with  scarce  a  shilling  in  my 
pocket ;  but  as  soon  as  I  had  received  ten  guineas 
there  for  a  plate  I  have  returned  home,  put  on  my 
sword,  and  sallied  out  again  with  all  the  confidence 
of  a  man  who  had  ten  thousand  pounds  in  his 
pocket.' 

The  great  turning-point  in  Hogarth's  life  was 
his  attendance  at  the  painting-school  of  Sir  James 
Thornhill,  in  the  Piazza  at  the  east  corne.n  o£  James 
Street,  Covent  Garden,  which  was  established  in 
1724.  Hogarth  appears  from  his  autobiography 
to  have  been  early  moved  by  Thornhill' s  painting, 
which  he  wished  to  emulate.  He  writes  :  '  I  soon 
found  this  business  in  every  respect  too  limited. 
The  paintings  of  St.  Paul's  Cathedral  and  Green- 
wich Hospital,  which  were  at  that  time  going  on, 
ran  in  my  head,  and  I  determined  that  silver-plate 
engraving  should  be  followed  no  longer  than 
necessity  obliged  me  to  it.' 

From  this  it  became  certain  that  Hogarth  would 
take  the  very  first  opportunity  of  obtaining  the 
advantage  of  instruction  from  an  artist  he  so  much 


32  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

admired.  He  is  said  to  have  gained  the  good 
graces  of  his  master  by  '  Masquerades  and  Operas, 
Burlington  Gate,'  also  called  by  Hogarth  '  The 
Taste  of  the  Town '  (1724),  in  which  he  attacked  the 
feeble  Kent.  This  was  followed  in  the  following 
year  by  the  severe  satire  of  Kent's  altar-piece  at 
St.  Clement  Danes.  Kent  was  the  b&te  noire  of 
Thornhill,  and  Hogarth  completely  sympathised 
with  him  in  his  dislike.  Kent  was  a  bad  painter,  a 
passable  architect,  and  a  good  landscape  gardener. 

The  plates  which  Hogarth  designed  for  books 
had  their  merits,  but  they  are  distinctly  uninterest- 
ing, and  this  was  probably  caused  by  reason  of  the 
artist  not  having  a  free  hand,  and  being  interfered 
with  by  the  booksellers.  In  1726  Hogarth  produced 
the  most  important  of  these  in  a  series  of  illus- 
trations-^ Hudibras,  which  he  specially  mentions 
in  his  autobiography  as  representative  items  in  this 
department  of  his  work.  He  must  have  been 
peculiarly  interested  in  the  pleasant  task  of  illus- 
trating the  wonderful  poem  of  so  congenial  a  spirit 
as  Butler's.  The  history  of  these  illustrations  is  a 
very  curious  one,  and  can  only  be  stated  briefly  here, 
but  as  we  have  little  or  no  information  besides  what 
is  contained  in  the  books  themselves,  there  are 
many  points  which  are  difficult  to  understand. 
The  whole  subject,  consisting  largely  of  the  relative 
chronology  of  the  engravings,  the  paintings  and  the 
drawings,  requires  full  investigation.  Hudibras  was 
first  published  in  1663-64,  and  the  first  edition 


HOGARTH'S  LIFE  AND  WORKS          33 

*  adorned  with  cuts '  was  printed  for  John  Baker 
in  1710  with  a  correct  portrait  of  Butler.  In  the 
following  year  another  edition  with  plates  from  the 
same  designs  was  issued  by  R.  Chiswell.  In  1716 
another  edition  '  adorned  with  cuts '  was  printed 
for  T.  Home  [and  others].  This  contains  the 
same  plates  as  the  previous  edition,  but  they 
are  somewhat  varied,  and  a  correct  likeness  of 
Butler.  It  is  not  stated  who  was  the  artist  who 
produced  these  plates.  In  1726  appeared  the 
edition  which  was  illustrated  by  Hogarth,  printed 
for  D.  Browne  [and  others].  The  plates  were 
founded  upon  those  in  the  former  illustrated  editions, 
but  were  considerably  altered,  and  not  always  for 
the  better.  The  portrait  which  serves  as  frontis- 
piece is  not  that  of  Butler,  but  a  copy  of  White's 
mezzotint  of  Jean  Baptiste  Monnoyer  the  painter. 
This  edition  was  reprinted  in  1732  and  1739,  and 
each  of  these  reprints  contains  a  correct  portrait  of 
Butler.  All  these  are  printed  in  duodecimo,  and 
there  are  sixteen  small  prints  by  Hogarth. 

Early  in  the  year  1726  (February  24)  Hogarth 
issued  twelve  large  prints  entirely  different  from  the 
small  ones  and  of  an  altogether  superior  character. 
The  title-page  is  as  follows :  '  Twelve  Excellent 
and  most  Diverting  Prints  ;  taken  from  the  cele- 
brated Poem  of  Hudibras,  wrote  by  Mr.  Samuel 
Butler.  Exposing  the  Villany  and  Hypocrisy  of 
those  Times.  Invented  and  Engraved  on  Twelve 
Copper-Plates  by  William  Hogarth  .  .  .  Printed 


34  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

and  sold  by  Philip  Overtoil,  Printer  and  Map- 
seller  at  the  Golden  Buck  near  St.  Dunstan's  Church 
in  Fleet  street ;  and  John  Cooper  in  James  street 
Co  vent  Garden,  1726,'  l  and  are  humbly  dedicated 
to  William  Ward,  Esq.,  of  Great  Houghton  in 
Northamptonshire,  and  Mr.  Allan  Ramsay  of 
Edinburgh. 

There  must  be  some  secret  history  respecting  these 
illustrations  of  which  at  present  we  know  nothing. 
It  is  an  extraordinary  circumstance  for  Hogarth  to 
bring  out  almost  simultaneously  two  sets  of  illustra- 
tions— one  published  with  the  text  by  the  booksellers, 
and  the  other  without  text  by  printsellers.  It 
would  seem  as  if  the  smaller  set  had  been  in  hand  for 
some  time  before  publication,  and  the  artist  being 
discontented  with  it  as  being  mostly  an  adaptation 
of  other  men's  work  had  set  to  work  on  his  own 
account  and  with  a  free  hand  to  produce  something 
worthier  of  the  great  classic  of  which  he  might  be 
truly  proud.  These  twelve  larger  prints  must  have 
taken  a  considerable  time  '  to  invent  and  engrave,' 
and  their  publication  can  scarcely  have  been  con- 
sidered as  a  friendly  act  by  the  publishers  of  the 
small  prints. 

They  do  the  greatest  credit  to  Hogarth's  invention 
and  skill,  and  form  without  question  the  most  im- 
portant piece  of  work  which  up  to  this  year,  1726, 
he  had  produced.  In  some  subsequent  editions  of 

1  The  author  possesses  a  series  of  the  first  impressions  of  these  prints 
which  form  a  fine  (in  fact  a  magnificent)  volume. 


HOGARTH'S  LIFE  AND  WORKS         35 

Hudibras  the  small  series  of  prints  were  repeated, 
and  in  one  at  least  Hogarth's  name  is  omitted. 
The  plates  were  enlarged  and  slightly  varied  by 
J.  Mynde  for  Dr.  Zachary  Grey's  octavo  edition. 

Some  pictures  of  incidents  in  Hudibras  attributed 
to  Hogarth  were  exhibited  at  the  Winter  Exhibition 
of  the  Royal  Academy  (1908). 

Mr.  Dobson  mentions  four  series  of  paintings  of 
subjects  from  Hudibras  on  the  authority  of  J.  B. 
Nichols  (Anecdotes,  1833,  pp.  349-50). 

1.  A  set,  since  sold  in  November   1872  at  the 
death  of  Mrs.  Sawbridge,  the  owner  of  East  Haddon 
Hall,  Northamptonshire,  is  supposed  to  have  been 
painted  by  Hogarth  subsequent  to  the  issue  of  the 
large  series  of  prints.     Mr,  Dobson  points  out  that 
the  proprietor  of  East  Haddon  in   1726  was  the 
William   Ward   to   whom   Hogarth   dedicated   the 
prints,  and  that  therefore  it  is  probable  that  the 
pictures   were    painted  from  the    prints    by  com- 
mission. 

2.  A  set  belonging  to  John  Ireland  and  believed 
by  him  to  be  Hogarth's  originals,  but  thought  by 
others  to  be  by  Heemskirk.      These,  Mr.  Dobson 
informs  me,  now  belong  to  Mrs.  G.  E.  Twining,  of 
Dulwich. 

3.  A  set  of   twelve  designs  on  panel   belonging 
in  1833  to  J.  Britton  and  believed  by  him  to  be 
Hogarth's.    Sir  Thomas  Lawrence  pronounced  them 
to  be  by  Vandergucht. 

4.  A  set  belonging  in  1816  to  Mr.   W.   Davies, 


36  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

bookseller  in  the  Strand.  Attributed  to  Francis 
Le  Piper  or  Lepipre.  Several  drawings  in  illustration 
of  Hudibras  attributed  to  Hogarth  were  exhibited 
at  Whitechapel  in  1906.  There  are  also  specimens 
of  the  same  series  at  Windsor  Castle.1 

Three  painted  sketches  illustrating  scenes  from 
Hudibras,  cantos  n.  and  m.,  were  lent  to  the  Royal 
Academy  Winter  Exhibition  of  Old  Masters,  1908 
(Nos.  97,  98,  and  101),  by  Mrs.  Howard  Stormont. 

In  connection  with  these  illustrations,  an  instance 
of  Hogarth's  familiarity  with  Hudibras  may  be  seen 
in  the  print  of  '  Cunicularii  or  the  Wise  Men  of 
Godliman  in  Consultation '  : 

'  They  hold  their  Talents  most  adroit 
For  any  Mystical  Exploit.' — Hvdib. 

which  was  published  in  December  26,  1726,  at  the 
time  when  the  mind  of  the  public  was  much  exer- 
cised by  the  impostures  of  Mary  Tofts,  the  rabbit- 
breeder.  It  is  referred  to  here  on  account  of  an 
interesting  fact  recorded  by  John  Nichols  in  his 
Biographical  Anecdotes  (1785,  p.  23).  *  In  the  year 
1726,  when  the  affair  of  Mary  Tofts,  the  rabbit- 
breeder  of  Godalming,  engaged  the  public  attention, 
a  few  of  our  principal  surgeons  subscribed  their 
guinea  a-piece  to  Hogarth,  for  an  engraving  from  a 

1  John  Ireland  writes  (Hogarth  Illustrated,  1793,  vol.  i.  p.  xxxii.) : 
'  Seven  of  the  drawings  are  in  the  possession  of  Mr.  Samuel  Ireland,  three 
are  in  Holland  ;  and  two  are  said  to  have  been  in  the  collection  of  a  person 
in  one  of  the  northern  provinces  about  twenty  years  ago,  but  are  now 
probably  destroyed.  Thus  are  the  works  of  genius  scattered  like  the 
SybilPs  leaves.' 


HOGARTH'S  LIFE  AND  WORKS         37 

ludicrous  sketch  he  had  made  on  that  very  popular 
subject.'  Some  further  notice  of  this  print  will  be 
found  in  Chapter  vi.  in  connection  with  the  prints 
*  Enthusiasm  Delineated,'  and  *  Credulity,  Supersti- 
tion and  Fanaticism :  a  Medley.' 

In  1728  Hogarth  found  it  necessary  to  go  to  law 
with  a  tradesman,  who  refused  to  pay  for  work  done 
for  him.  The  artist  in  December  1727  agreed  with 
Joshua  Morris,  an  upholsterer,  who  kept  a  shop  in 
Pall  Mall  at  the  sign  of  the  Golden  Ball,  to  furnish 
him  with  a  design  on  canvas,  representing  the 
element  of  Earth  as  a  pattern  for  tapestry, 
apparently  a  very  intractable  subject.  Morris 
when  he  received  the  work  was  so  dissatisfied  with 
it  that  he  rejected  it  and  refused  payment.  He 
had  previously  been  uneasy  on  being  told  that 
Hogarth  '  was  an  engraver  and  no  painter.' 

Hogarth  sued  him  for  the  money,  and  the  suit 
was  tried  before  Lord  Chief -Justice  Eyre  at  West- 
minster on  May  28,  1728.  Nichols  prints  the 
defendant's  case  in  his  Biographical  Anecdotes,  and 
says  that  the  suit  was  determined  in  favour  of 
Hogarth.1  Mr.  Dobson  writes  :  '  As  to  the  fate  of 
the  Element  of  Earth  history  is  silent.  It  is  not 
likely,  however,  that  it  was  more  fortunate  than 
some  of  Hogarth's  subsequent  efforts  in  the  "  grand 
style."  ' 

1  This  is  the  statement  in  the  third  edition  (1785).  In  the  second  edition 
(1782)  it  is  written  :  '  What  was  the  event  of  the  suit  we  do  not  learn,  but 
it  is  probable  that  Hogarth  was  non-suited.'  Between  these  two  dates  the 
author  may  be  supposed  to  hare  learned  the  truth. 


38  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

One  of  the  artist's  witnesses  to  ability  was  Sir 
James  Thornhill,  who  was  interested  in  his  future 
son-in-law  as  a  pupil  and  a  critic  of  his  arch-enemy 
Kent.  Hogarth  returned  his  good  offices  by  gaining 
the  affections  of  the  painter's  daughter.  He  felt 
sure  that  his  suit  would  not  receive  the  sanction  of 
Thornhill,  so  he  took  the  matter  in  his  own  hand, 
and  running  away  with  his  sweetheart  was  married 
at  old  Paddington  Church  on  March  23,  1729,  as 
appears  by  the  parish  register. 

It  is  supposed  that  the  young  couple  had  the 
active  sympathy  of  Lady  Thornhill,  and  there  is 
no  doubt  that  it  was  not  long  before  the  pair  were 
forgiven.  In  1730,  Hogarth  was  certainly  engaged 
with  his  father-in-law  in  the  production  of  the  well- 
known  picture  entitled  '  The  House  of  Commons,' 
which  contains  portraits  of  the  Speaker  Onslow, 
Sir  Robert  Walpole,  Sidney  Godolphin,  Colonel  R. 
Onslow,  Thornhill  and  the  two  clerks. 

There  is  a  tradition  that  Hogarth  was  engaged  at 
the  time  of  his  marriage  in  preparing  for  his  first 
great  series  of  pictures,  *  A  Harlot's  Progress,' 
which  are  dated  1731.  The  judicious  placing  a  few 
of  the  sketches  in  the  way  of  the  father-in-law 
caused  him  to  exclaim,  '  The  man  who  did  those  can 
afford  to  keep  a  wife.'  For  a  time  Hogarth  and  his 
wife  went  to  live  at  South  Lambeth,  but  Thornhill 
soon  seems  to  have  relented,  and  we  find  that  at  the 
time  of  engraving  of  the  '  Harlot's  Progress '  Hogarth 
was  domiciled  in  the  Piazza  with  his  father-in-law, 


PORTRAIT  OF  LADY  THORNHILL. 


HOGARTH'S  LIFE  AND  WORKS         39 

who  found  the  assistance  of  a  competent  artist 
in  some  of  his  pictures  of  use  to  him.  According  to 
Nichols,  when  Thornhill  painted  an  allegorical 
ceiling,  illustrating  the  story  of  Zephyrus  and 
Flora,  at  Headley  Park,  Hants,  the  figure  of  a 
satyr  was  put  in  by  Hogarth,  some  of  whose  work 
is  also  to  be  seen  in  the  staircase  pictures  painted 
by  Thornhill  at  the  house  No.  75  Dean  Street, 
Soho. 

About  this  time  Hogarth  appears  to  have  been 
initiated  into  Masonry,  probably  through  the 
influence  of  Thornhill,  who  was  Senior  Grand 
Warden  in  1728.  The  dates  are  rather  uncertain, 
but  Hogarth  was  certainly  a  Grand  Steward  in 
1735. 

Mr.  G.  W.  Speth  gives,  in  a  note  on  the  picture  of 
Night,  some  particulars  of  Hogarth's  Masonic  career. 
In  the  Grand  Lodge  Register  he  appears  as  a  member 
of  the  lodge  meeting  at  the  *  Hand  and  Apple  Tree,' 
Little  Queen  Street.  This  lodge  was  constituted 
10th  May  1725,  met  in  1728  at  the  '  King's  Arms/ 
Westminster,  in  1729  at  the  '  Vine,'  Holborn,  and 
was  erased  in  1737.  It  cannot  be  determined 
whether  he  remained  a  member  of  the  lodge  till 
its  erasure  or  at  what  period  he  joined  it.  The 
Grand  Lodge  Register  shows  that  he  was  also  a 
member  of  the'  Corner  Stone  Lodge '  in  1731.  This 
name,  however,  was  not  assumed  till  1779.  It 
started  in  its  career  in  1730  at  the  '  Bear  and 
Harrow '  in  Butcher  Row,  and  its  list  of  members 


40  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

shows  it  has  been  one  of  the  most  distinguished 
lodges  of  the  day.1 

When  Hogarth  lived  at  South  Lambeth  he 
renewed  his  acquaintance  with  Jonathan  Tyers, 
who  re-founded  Vauxhall  Gardens  hi  1732,  and 
helped  him  with  advice  as  well  as  more  material 
services.  He  presented  Tyers  with  his  picture  of 
Henry  vni.  and  Anna  Bullen  in  1729,  which  was  hung 
in  the  Rotunda.  While  preparing  for  the  opening 
of  the  gardens,  Tyers  became  very  depressed  respect- 
ing the  probable  success  of  his  undertaking.  Hogarth 
suggested  that  the  gardens  should  be  opened  with  a 
Ridotto  al  fresco,  which  took  place  on  Wednesday, 
the  7th  of  June  1732,  and  proved  a  great  success. 
Several  years  afterwards  he  allowed  Francis  Hayman 
to  copy  his  *  Four  Times  of  the  Day.'  In  consequence 
Hayman's  pictures  at  Vauxhall  were  often  mistaken 
for  the  work  of  Hogarth. 

In  return  for  all  his  valuable  assistance,  Tyers 
presented  Hogarth  with  a  free  pass  (gold  ticket)  to 
admit  a  coachful  (six  persons)  to  the  gardens.  Mrs. 
Hogarth  had  it  after  her  husband's  death,  and  in 
1856  it  was  in  the  possession  of  Mr.  Frederick 
Gye,  who  bought  it  for  £20.  It  was  subsequently 
sold  at  Sotheby's  for  £310.  The  design  of  the  pass 
was  attributed  to  Hogarth,  but  Mr.  Warwick  Wroth 
thinks  that  probably  it  was  the  work  of  Richard 
Yeo. 

We  have  now  come  to  the  parting  of  the  ways. 

1  Transactions  of  the  Lodge  Quatuor  Coronati,  vol.  ii.,  1889,  p.  116. 


HOGARTH'S  LIFE  AND  WORKS         41 

The  artist  was  beginning  to  be  recognised,  but  he 
was  only  recognised  as  *  an  ingenious  designer  and 
engraver.'  Sir  James  Thornhill  died  on  May  13, 
1734,  and  in  an  obituary  notice  after  a  mention  of 
his  only  son  it  is  added,  '  He  left  no  other  issue  but 
one  daughter,  now  the  wife  of  Mr.  Wm.  Hogarth, 
admired  for  his  curious  miniature  conversation 
paintings.'  This  is  about  the  earliest  mention  of  the 
paintings,  and  these  were  soon  to  be  eclipsed  by  his 
brilliant  satires  which  gave  him  a  European  reputa- 
tion. His  marriage  had  stirred  him  to  greater 
endeavours,  and  he  had  begun  to  mount  the  ladder 
of  success. 

On  the  death  of  Thornhill,  the  properties  con- 
nected with  the  art  school  formed  by  him  in  a  room 
built  at  the  back  of  his  house  came  into  the  pos- 
session of  Hogarth,  and  were  transferred  to  the 
studio  in  Peter's  Court,  St.  Martin's  Lane,  which 
Roubiliac  had  left.  '  Thinking,'  Hogarth  remarks, 
'  that  an  academy  conducted  on  proper  and  moderate 
principles  had  some  use,  [I]  proposed  that  a  number 
of  artists  should  enter  into  a  subscription  for  the  hire 
of  a  place  large  enough  to  admit  thirty  or  forty 
people  to  draw  after  a  naked  figure.'  Hogarth  did 
not  approve  of  the  plan  adopted  by  Thornhill  of 
admitting  all  who  required  admission  without  pay- 
ment, and  he  writes :  '  I  proposed  that  every 
member  should  contribute  an  equal  sum  to  the 
establishment,  and  have  an  equal  right  to  vote  in 
every  question  relative  to  the  society.  As  to 


42  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

electing  presidents,  directors,  professors,  etc.,  I 
considered  it  as  a  ridiculous  imitation  of  the  foolish 
parade  of  the  French  Academy.'  He  adds,  writing 
in  1762  :  '  To  return  to  our  own  Academy;  by  the 
regulations  I  have  mentioned,  of  a  general  equality, 
etc.,  it  has  now  subsisted  near  thirty  years,  and  is, 
to  every  useful  purpose,  equal  to  that  in  France  or 
any  other  ;  but  this  does  not  satisfy.' 

Hogarth  disapproved  of  the  formation  of  the  Royal 
Academy  (which  was  largely  formed  by  the  members 
of  his  own  society),  and  '  refused  to  assign  to  the 
society  the  property  which  I  had  before  lent  them. 
I  am  accused  of  acrimony,  ill-nature,  and  spleen, 
and  held  forth  as  an  enemy  to  the  arts  and  artists. 
How  far  their  mighty  project  will  succeed,  I  neither 
know  nor  care  ;  certain  I  am  it  deserves  to  be 
laughed  at,  and  laughed  at  it  has  been.' 

After  his  marriage  Hogarth  had  to  undertake 
work  which  was  likely  to  be  more  profitable  than 
what  he  had  previously  been  engaged  in,  so  he  took 
in  hand  the  painting  of  portraits  and  conversation 
pieces,  but  these  did  not  pay  him  so  well  as  he 
expected.  He  writes  in  his  autobiography :  '  I 
then  married  and  commenced  painter  of  small 
conversation  pieces,  from  twelve  to  fifteen  inches 
high.  This  having  novelty,  succeeded  for  a  few 
years.  But  though  it  gave  somewhat  more  scope 
to  the  fancy,  was  still  but  a  less  kind  of  drudgery ; 
and  as  I  could  not  bring  to  act  like  some  of  my 
brethren  and  make  it  a  sort  of  a  manufactory,  to  be 


HOGARTH'S  LIFE  AND  WORKS         43 

carried  on  by  the  help  of  background  and  drapery 
painters,  it  was  not  sufficiently  profitable  to  pay  the 
expences  my  family  required.  I  therefore  turned 
my  thoughts  to  a  still  more  novel  mode,  viz.  painting 
and  engraving  modern  moral  subjects,  a  field  not 
broken  up  in  any  country  or  any  age.' 

Joseph  Mitchell,  for  whose  opera,  The  Highland 
Fair,  Hogarth  designed  a  frontispiece,  wrote  in 
1730  'A  Poetical  Epistle  to  Mr.  Hogarth,  an 
eminent  historical  and  Conversation  Painter,'  in 
which  he  introduced  this  couplet : 

'  Large  families  obey  your  hand ; 
Assemblies  rise  at  your  command.' 

These  family  pictures  were  styled  respectively 
Conversations  and  Assemblies.  A  Conversation  was 
a  group  of  persons,  generally  of  one  family,  and  an 
Assembly  was  a  still  larger  collection  of  persons ; 
but  now  that  the  special  meaning  of  the  two  words  is 
lost  there  has  been  some  confusion  in  the  use  of  the 
terms.  Thus  the  picture  which  was  sold  on  June  3, 
1905,  by  Messrs.  Christie,  amongst  Lord  Tweed- 
mouth's  collection,  and  was  exhibited  at  the  Winter 
Exhibition  of  the  Royal  Academy  in  1906  by  Mr. 
C.  Morland  Agnew,  was  catalogued  as  an  Assembly 
at  Wanstead  House,  although  it  was  described  on 
the  frame  as  *A  Conversation.'  This  picture  is 
further  alluded  to  in  Chapter  m. 

Most  of  these  Conversation  pieces  were  painted 
within  a  few  years  of  the  painter's  marriage, 


44  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

although  it  has  been  difficult  to  fix  the  date  of  many 
of  them.  Samuel  Ireland  engraved  in  the  Graphic 
Illustrations  (1799)  a  '  Conversation  in  the  Manner  of 
Vandyck,'  from  a  painting  which  he  bought  from 
Charles  Catton,  R.A.  It  was  said  to  be  painted  by 
Hogarth  to  prove  he  could  do  as  good  work  as 
Vandyck,  a  pretension  which  was  disputed  by  his 
colleagues  in  the  Academy  of  St.  Martin's  Lane. 
Ireland  declares  that  the  picture  was  painted  about 
1740.  He  illustrates  his  narrative  by  the  well- 
known  and  amusing  anecdote  of  John  Freke,  the 
famous  surgeon. 

'  Hogarth  one  day  dining  with  some  friends, 
amongst  whom  was  Cheselden,  a  surgeon  of  great 
eminence,  was  told,  that  it  had  been  asserted  by 
Mr.  Freke,  a  surgeon,  in  a  public  company,  that  Dr. 
Greene,  the  musician,  was  as  eminent  and  skilful 
a  composer  as  Handel.  On  which  Hogarth  replied  : 
That  Freke  is  always  shooting  his  bolt  absurdly: 
Handel  is  a  giant  in  music  ;  Greene  is  only  a  light 
Florimel  kind  of  composer.  True,  said  another  of 
the  company,  but  that  same  Freke  declared  you 
were  as  good  a  portrait-painter  as  Vandyck.  There 
he  was  in  the  right,  adds  Hogarth,  and  so  I  am,  give 
me  my  time  and  let  me  choose  my  subject.' 

His  composition  of  these  small  pictures  with 
numerous  figures  taught  him  the  great  art  of 
arranging  his  materials  with  skill — an  art  which  he 
can  scarcely  be  said  to  display  in  his  illustrations  of 
books  except  in  the  case  of  the  plates  to  Hudibras. 


HOGARTH'S  LIFE  AND  WORKS         45 

He  thus  taught  himself  to  become  pre-eminent  in 
the  orderly  arrangement  of  a  multitude  of  details 
in  his  pictures,  where  the  less  important  accessories 
are  always  subordinated  to  the  main  theme  of  the 
composition. 

Hogarth  himself  admirably  describes  the  ideas 
he  had  formed  in  his  own  mind  as  to  the  plan  of 
composition  of  his  great  series  of  moral  satires : 
'  The  reasons  which  induced  me  to  adopt  this  mode 
of  designing  were,  that  I  thought  both  writers 
and  painters  had,  in  the  historical  style,  totally 
overlooked  that  intermediate  species  of  subject, 
which  may  be  placed  between  the  sublime  and 
grotesque.  I  therefore  wished  to  compose  pictures 
on  canvas,  similar  to  representations  on  the  stage, 
and  farther  hope,  that  they  will  be  tried  by  the  same 
test,  and  criticised  by  the  same  criterion.  .  .  . 
Ocular  demonstration  will  carry  more  conviction 
to  the  mind  of  a  sensible  man,  than  all  he  would 
find  in  a  thousand  volumes  ;  and  this  has  been 
attempted  in  the  prints  I  have  composed.  Let  the 
decision  be  left  to  every  unprejudiced  eye  ;  let  the 
figures  in  either  pictures  or  prints,  be  considered 
as  players  dressed  either  for  the  sublime, — for 
genteel  comedy,  or  farce, — for  high  or  low  life.  I 
have  endeavoured  to  treat  my  subjects  as  a 
dramatic  writer ;  my  picture  is  my  stage,  and  men 
and  women  my  players,  who  by  means  of  certain 
actions  and  gestures,  are  to  exhibit  a  dumb  show.9 

During  the  period  between  1728  and  1735,  which 


46  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

saw  his  marriage  and  the  death  of  his  father-in-law, 
Hogarth  did  an  immense  amount  of  work,  both  in 
painting  and  engraving,  and  doubtless  much  of  his 
progress  in  painting  was  due  to  what  he  learned 
from  his  association  with  Thornhill. 

His  time  was  chiefly  employed  in  the  production 
of  illustrations  to  books,  conversation  pieces,  the 
six  pictures  and  plates  of  the  *  Harlot's  Progress ' 
(1731-2),  and  such  important  pictures  and  engrav- 
ings as  the  '  Committee  of  the  House  of  Commons 
examining  Bambridge  '  (1729),  'Scene  in  the  Indian 
Emperor'  (1731),  '  Southwark  Fair'  (1733),  and 
'  A  Midnight  Modern  Conversation  '  (1733).  These 
pictures  will  be  considered  in  later  chapters.  '  The 
Rake's  Progress'  was  undertaken  in  1735,  and  the 
'Four  Times  of  the  Day'  in  1738.  He  had  there- 
fore already  proved  to  the  world  what  a  great  and 
original  artist  he  was,  although  it  was  not  until  the 
year  1745  that  he  produced  his  masterpiece — the 
six  pictures  of  the  '  Marriage  a  la  Mode.' 

This  was  the  turning-point  in  Hogarth's  career. 
He  had  been  gradually  preparing  himself  for  the 
position  which  he  knew  he  was  capable  of  occupying, 
and  now  the  world  was  ready  to  acclaim  him  victor. 
He  exhibited  a  rare  instance  of  the  union  of  the 
man  of  business  with  an  original  genius.  He 
entirely  made  his  own  career  by  continued  progress 
and  experience,  and  by  so  working  as  to  cause 
everything  to  lead  to  the  desired  end. 

With  the  brilliant  power  of  original  conception, 


HOGARTH'S  LIFE  AND  WORKS         47 

but  escaping  the  impetuosity  of  genius,  he  was  willing 
to  work  continuously  in  the  most  laborious  manner 
to  perfect  himself  in  whatever  he  undertook. 
Genius  has  been  denied  to  him  by  some,  but  it  is 
safe  either  to  claim  or  deny  because  it  is  impossible 
to  define  genius.  Whatever  else  it  may  be, 
originality  is  its  very  essence,  and  there  never 
lived  a  man  with  a  more  original  mind  than  Hogarth. 
In  his  own  particular  line  the  world  has  never  seen 
his  equal,  and  probably  never  will. 

Though  success  came,  it  was  not  unalloyed. 
Annoyance  and  persecution  followed  the  man  during 
the  remainder  of  his  life.  The  popularity  of  his 
work  caused  him  to  become  the  prey  of  the  pirates 
who  instantly  copied  and  spoiled  the  sale  of  his 
original  engravings;  for  instance,  Steevens  tells  us 
that  he  had  seen  eight  piratical  imitations  of  the 
'  Harlot's  Progress.'  The  earliest  and  best  of  these, 
published  by  Bowles,  contained  verses  on  the 
different  scenes.  Hogarth  saw  the  advantage  of 
these,  and  added  verses  written  by  Chancellor 
Hoadly  to  the  plates  of  the  '  Rake's  Progress.' 

The  evils  of  this  widespread  practice  of  piracy 
were  so  great  that  it  became  imperative  to  take 
action  in  the  matter.  In  concert  with  George 
Vertue,  Gerard  Vandergucht,  Pine,  and  Lambert, 
besides  several  others,  he  petitioned  Parliament  for 
leave  to  bring  in  a  bill  to  vest  in  designers  and 
engravers  an  exclusive  right  to  their  own  works 
and  to  restrain  the  multiplying  of  copies  without 


48  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

their  consent.  Hogarth  applied  to  William  Huggins, 
author  of  the  oratorio  of  Judith,  who  drafted  the 
bill  on  the  statute  of  Queen  Anne  in  favour  of 
literary  property.  It  was  not  satisfactory  in 
practice,  and  as  Mr.  Stephens  says,  '  gave,  although 
it  did  not  secure,  copyright  to  artists.'  In  a  cause 
which  came  before  Lord  Hardwicke  in  Chancery, 
he  determined  that  no  assignee,  claiming  under  an 
assignment  from  the  original  inventor,  could  take 
any  benefit  by  the  Act.  According  to  Sir  John 
Hawkins,  Hogarth  lamented  to  him  'that  he  had 
employed  Huggins  to  draw  the  Act,  adding  that 
when  he  first  projected  it,  he  hoped  it  would  be  such 
an  encouragement  to  engraving  and  printselling 
that  printsellers'  would  soon  become  as  numerous 
as  bakers'  shops,  which  hope,  notwithstanding  the 
above  check,  does  at  this  time  seem  to  be  pretty 
nearly  gratified.' 

In  the  London  Daily  Post,  June  27,  1735,  there  is 
a  special  reference  to  the  acts  of  the  pirates. 
'  Certain  Printsellers  in  London,  intending  not  only 
to  injure  Mr.  Hogarth  in  his  Property,  but  also  to 
impose  their  base  imitations  on  the  Publick,  which 
they  being  oblig'd  to  do  only  [by]  what  they  could 
carry  away  by  memory  from  the  sight  of  the 
Paintings,  have  executed  most  wretchedly  both  in 
Design  and  Drawing,  as  will  be  very  obvious  when 
they  are  expos' d.' 

The  '  Rake's  Progress  '  was  printed  by  Boitard  on 
one  very  large  sheet  of  paper,  and  came  out  about 


HOGARTH'S  LIFE  AND  WORKS         49 

a  fortnight  before  the  genuine  set.  Hogarth's 
originals  were  kept  back  until  '  Hogarth's  Act ' 
(8  Geo.  n.  cap.  13)  received  the  Royal  Assent  on 
May  15,  1735.  His  attempt  to  issue  cheap  sets  in 
order  to  drive  out  the  pirates  was  not  successful. 
In  spite  of  the  faults  of  the  new  Act,  Hogarth  seems 
to  have  been  fairly  satisfied  with  the  result  as  an 
improvement  upon  the  previous  lawless  condition 
of  things. 

He  wrote  in  his  autobiography:  'After  having 
had  my  plates  pirated  almost  in  all  sizes,  I  in  1735 
applied  to  Parliament  for  redress,  and  obtained  it 
in  so  liberal  a  manner,  as  hath  not  only  answered 
my  own  purpose,  but  made  prints  a  considerable 
article  in  the  commerce  of  this  country ;  there 
being  now  more  business  of  this  kind  done  here, 
than  in  Paris,  or  any  where  else  and  as  well.  The 
dealers  in  pictures  and  prints  found  their  craft  in 
danger  by  what  they  called  a  new-fangled  innova- 
tion. Their  trade  of  living  and  getting  fortunes  by 
the  ingenuity  of  the  industrious  has  I  know,  suffered 
much  by  my  interference  ;  and  if  the  detection  of 
this  band  of  public  cheats,  and  oppressors  of  the 
rising  artists,  be  a  crime,  I  confess  myself  most 
guilty.' 

Hogarth  commemorated  the  passing  of  the  Act  by 
publishing  a  small  print  with  emblematical  devices 
entitled  '  Crowns,  Mitres,  Maces,  etc,'  and  the  follow- 
ing inscription  quoted  from  Nichols's  Biographical 
Anecdotes : 


50  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

In  humble  and  grateful  acknowledgment 
of  the  grace  and  goodness  of  the  Legislature 

Manifested 

In  the  Act  of  Parliament  for  the  Encouragement 
Of  the  Arts  of  Designing,  Engraving,  &c. 

obtained 

By  the  Endeavours,  and  almost  at  the  sole  Expence, 
Of  the  Designer  of  this  Print  in  the  Year  1735 ; 

By  which 

Not  only  the  Professors  of  those  Arts  were  rescued 
From  the  Tyranny,  Frauds,  and  Piracies 

Of  Monopolizing  Dealers, 
And  legally  entitled  to  the  Fruits  of  their  own  Labours ; 

But  Genius  and  Industry  were  also  prompted 
By  the  most  noble  and  generous  Inducements  to  exert  themselves  ; 

Emulation  was  excited, 

Ornamental  Compositions  were  better  understood  ; 
And  every  Manufacture,  where  Fancy  has  any  concern, 
Was  gradually  raised  to  a  Pitch  of  Perfection  before  unknown  ; 
Insomuch,  that  those  of  Great-Britain 

Are  at  present  the  most  Elegant 
And  the  most  in  Esteem  of  Any  in  Europe. 

This  etching  was  converted  into  a  receipt  for  the 
subscription  to  the  Election  Series,  and  inscribed 
'  Designed,  Etch'd  and  Publish'd  as  the  Act  directs 
by  Wm.  Hogarth,  March  20th,  1754.' 

On  a  scroll  is  written,  '  An  Act  for  the  Encourage- 
ment of  the  Arts  of  Designing,  Engraving,  and  Etch- 
ing, by  vesting  the  Properties  thereof  in  the  Inventors 
and  Engravers,  during  the  time  therein  mentioned.' l 
About  this  time  the  engravings  of  Hogarth  began 

1  After  Hogarth's  death  his  widow  was  granted  (7  Geo.  in.  cap.  38)  a 
further  exclusive  term  of  twenty  years  in  the  property  of  her  husband's 
works.  Mr.  Stephens  remarks  respecting  this,  '  Even  "  Mrs.  Hogarth's 
Act,"  which  became  law  many  years  after  this  date,  did  little  more  than 
declare  the  wishes  of  Parliament.' — B.M.  Catalogue,  vol.  iv.  p.  55. 


HOGARTH'S  LIFE  AND  WORKS         51 

to  attract  crowds  around  the  shop  windows  which 
contained  them,  and  besides  these  the  frequent 
satires  on  the  artist  were  eagerly  sought  after. 

Mr.  Stephens  writes  of  a  rather  later  date  :  '  His 
figure  was  so  well  known  that  everybody  recognised 
it  in  "A  Stir  in  the  City,"  where  he  appears  in  a 
crowd  before  the  Guildhall.'  ] 

It  seems  strange,  after  Hogarth  had  mastered 
the  secret  of  success  by  a  series  of  carefully  considered 
steps,  each  of  which  led  him  higher  on  the  ladder  of 
fame,  that  he  should  for  a  time  have  turned  aside 
to  follow  a  style  of  art  that  was  not  in  accord  with 
his  taste  and  practice.  He  makes  in  his  auto- 
biography a  sort  of  '  Apologia '  for  doing  this, 
although  he  is  far  too  modest  in  the  opening 
sentence  as  to  the  importance  of  the  two 
'  Progresses '  already  published :  '  Before  I  had  done 
anything  of  much  consequence  in  this  walk,  I 
entertained  some  hopes  of  succeeding  in  what 
the  puffers  in  books  call  the  great  style  of  history 
painting  ;  so  that  without  having  had  a  stroke  of 
this  grand  business  before  :  I  quitted  small  portraits 
and  familiar  conversations,  and  with  a  smile  at  my 
own  temerity,  commenced  history  painter,  and  on 
a  great  staircase  at  St.  Bartholomew's  Hospital, 
painted  two  Scripture  stories,  "  The  Pool  of 
Bethesda,"  and  "  The  Good  Samaritan,"  with  figures 

1  A  further  proof  of  Hogarth's  popularity  is  to  be  seen  in  the  note 
of  publication  of  this  print,  '  Sold  by  John  Smith  at  Hogarth's  Head 
opposite  Wood  Street,  Cheapside.'— B.M.  Catalogue,  vol.  iii.  p.  911. 


52  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

seven  feet  high.  These  I  presented  to  the  Charity, 
and  thought  they  might  serve  as  a  specimen,  to 
show  that  were  there  an  inclination  in  England  for 
encouraging  historical  pictures,  such  a  first  essay 
might  prove  the  painting  more  easily  attainable 
than  is  generally  imagined.  But  as  religion,  the 
great  promoter  of  this  style  in  other  countries, 
rejected  it  in  England,  I  was  unwilling  to  sink  into 
a  portrait  manufacturer,  and  still  ambitious  of  being 
singular,  dropped  all  expectations  of  advantage  from 
that  source,  and  returned  to  the  pursuit  of  my 
former  dealings  with  the  public  at  large.  This  I 
found  was  most  likely  to  answer  my  purpose,  pro- 
vided I  could  strike  the  passions,  and  by  small 
sums  from  many,  by  the  sale  of  prints,  which  I 
could  engrave  from  my  own  pictures,  thus  secure 
my  property  to  myself.' 

We  here  see  that  Hogarth  was  not  altogether 
satisfied  with  the  result.  Although  he  condemns 
the  attitude  of  Protestantism  towards  the  inclusion 
of  religious  pictures  in  churches,  he  must  have  felt 
that  such  painting  was  uncongenial  to  him.  He 
did,  however,  return  to  the  painting  of  religious 
subjects  after  1736,  for  in  1748  he  painted  'Paul 
before  Felix '  for  the  Honourable  Society  of 
Lincoln's  Inn  ;  in  1751  '  Moses  brought  to  Pharaoh's 
Daughter'  for  the  Foundling  Hospital,  and  in  1756 
the  altar-piece  for  St.  Mary  Redcliffe,  Bristol. 
The  latter  consists  of  three  compartments:  the 
centre  division,  which  is  much  the  largest,  represents 


HOGARTH'S  LIFE  AND  WORKS         53 

the  Ascension,  and  has  not  been  engraved.  The 
subject  of  the  right  compartment  is  '  The  Sealing 
of  the  Sepulchre,'  that  of  the  left  '  The  Three  Maries 
visiting  the  Sepulchre.'  The  two  side  pictures  were 
engraved  by  Isaac  Jenner. 

Some  further  remarks  will  be  found  in  subsequent 
chapters  on  the  pictures  at  St.  Bartholomew's  and 
Foundling  Hospitals  and  at  Lincoln's  Inn,  but  as 
those  at  Bristol  have  nothing  to  do  with  London  life 
a  few  words  respecting  them  may  be  added  in  this 
place.  Hogarth  received  £525  for  these  pictures, 
but  they  have  never  been  favourites,  and  by  some 
have  been  unconditionally  condemned.  They  were 
presented  by  the  Vestry  of  St.  Mary  Redclifife  to  the 
Fine  Arts  Academy  of  Clifton  in  1857. 

A  writer  in  the  Critical  Review  (June  1756),  just 
after  the  completion  of  the  altar-piece,  remarks 
'  that  the  purchasing  such  a  picture  for  their  church 
does  great  honour  to  the  opulent  city  for  which  it 
was  painted,  and  is  the  likeliest  means  to  raise  a 
British  School  of  Artists,'  although  he  adds,  '  It 
would  be  a  just  subject  for  public  regret  if  Mr. 
Hogarth  should  abandon  a  branch  of  painting  in 
which  he  stands  alone,  unrivalled  and  inimitable, 
to  pursue  another  in  which  so  many  have  already 
excelled.'  Britton  in  his  Historical  and  Architectural 
Essay  on  Redcliffe  Church,  1813,  says  of  the  pictures 
'  they  possess  much  merit,  and  may  be  viewed  with 
advantage  by  the  young  artist,  but  in  the  forms  and 
expressions  of  the  figures,  and  in  their  attitudes 


54  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

and  grouping,  we  seek  in  vain  for  propriety,  dignity 
or  elegance.'  This  is  too  severe  a  criticism,  and  the 
chief  objection  to  Hogarth's  religious  pictures  is 
that  they  are  not  conceived  with  the  spirituality 
and  the  lofty  aim  which  we  expect  in  religious 
subjects,  but  we  know  Hogarth  was  not  capable 
of  throwing  into  his  work.  It  is  necessary  to 
remember,  however,  that  few  if  any  painters  of  the 
eighteenth  century  rose  to  this  height. 

Professor  Baldwin  Brown  in  his  book  on  Hogarth 
has  some  admirable  remarks  on  this  subject.  He 
writes  :  '  The  blunderers  in  the  matter  of  historical 
painting  were  not  Hogarth  or  his  predecessors, 
but  the  later  men  of  the  period  after  Reynolds,  who 
took  themselves  seriously  as  professed  votaries  of 
the  "  grand  style."  .  .  .  Reynolds' s  own  efforts 
in  the  grand  style  are  theatrical  and  unreal,  while 
Haydon  and  other  men  of  genius  who  broke  their 
hearts  over  unsuccessful  efforts,  were  stumbling 
in  the  dark  with  no  guidance  but  a  noble  ambition. 
...  If  Hogarth's  work  in  this  style  is  cold  and 
uninspired,  at  any  rate  it  is  better  than  the  blunder- 
ing efforts  of  some  of  his  successors  in  the  school.' 

Hogarth  appears  to  have  lived  nearly  the  whole 
of  his  working  life  in  Leicester  Square  and  its 
immediate  neighbourhood.  Although  he  occasion- 
ally frequented  the  lowest  haunts  of  London  life 
for  the  purposes  of  his  art,  he  was  no  Bohemian. 
He  lived  a  quiet  and  respectable  life,  and  kept  a 
comfortable  home  for  his  wife  and  himself. 


HOGARTH'S  LIFE  AND  WORKS         55 

John  Thomas  Smith  in  his  Nollekens  absurdly 
attacks  his  moral  character,  and  sets  down  in  his 
Table  of  Contents  the  entry  '  Immorality  of 
Hogarth.5  In  justification  of  this  he  writes : 
'  Great  as  Hogarth  was  in  his  display  of  every 
variety  of  character,  I  should  never  think  of 
exhibiting  a  portfolio  of  his  prints  to  a  youthful 
inquirer  ;  nor  can  I  agree  that  the  man  who  was  so 
accustomed  to  visit,  so  fond  of  delineating,  and 
who  gave  up  so  much  of  his  time  to  the  vices  of  the 
most  abandoned  classes,  was  in  truth  a  "  moral 
teacher  of  mankind."  My  father  knew  Hogarth 
well,  and  I  have  often  heard  him  declare,  that  he 
revelled  in  the  company  of  the  drunken  and  the 
profligate  :  Churchill,  Wilkes,  Hayman,  etc.,  were 
among  his  constant  companions.  Dr.  John  Hoadly, 
though  in  my  opinion  it  reflected  no  credit  on  him, 
delighted  in  his  company ;  but  he  did  not  approve 
of  all  the  prints  produced  by  him,  particularly  that 
of  the  first  state  of  "  Enthusiasm  Displayed  "  (sic) 
which  had  Mr.  Garrick  or  Dr.  Johnson  seen,  they 
could  never  for  a  moment  have  entertained  their 
high  esteem  of  so  irreligious  a  character.' 

It  is  quite  possible  to  condemn  several  of  Hogarth's 
prints  without  agreeing  with  this  sweeping  con- 
demnation, which  contains  nothing  that  can  justify 
a  charge  of  immorality.  The  character  of  the 
friends  who  will  be  specially  mentioned  later  on  is 
sufficient  answer  to  such  an  unwarrantable  attack. 
When  a  boy,  as  we  have  already  seen,  Hogarth  was 


56  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

apprenticed  to  Ellis  Gamble  in  Cranbourne  Alley. 
After  living  for  a  short  time  with  his  family  in  Long 
Lane,  he  set  up  for  himself  in  1720,  apparently  at 
the  corner  of  Cranbourne  Alley  by  Little  Newport 
Street,  but  we  have  no  evidence  as  to  how  long  he 
remained  there. 

After  his  marriage  he  moved  about  for  a  time ; 
but  in  1733  he  had  taken  the  house  at  the  south- 
east corner  of  Leicester  Fields,  which  was  rebuilt  a 
few  years  ago. 

Here  he  remained  for  the  rest  of  his  life,  with  the 
villa  at  Chiswick  as  his  country  house.  His  widow 
remained  in  the  Square  after  her  husband's  death. 
Taking  up  again  the  chronology  of  Hogarth's  life, 
we  find  that  after  finishing  his  Scripture  pictures 
at  St.  Bartholomew's  Hospital  he  occupied  himself 
with  success  in  painting  portraits.  His  grand  por- 
trait of  Captain  Coram  at  the  Foundling  Hospital 
was  painted  in  1739,  that  of  Martin  Folkes,  P.R.S., 
in  1741,  and  his  own  portrait  in  the  National  Gallery 
in  1745,  the  year  of  the  publication  of  the  '  Marriage  a 
la  Mode,'  his  masterpiece,  which  was  preceded  in  1738 
by  the  '  Four  Times  of  the  Day,'  the  most  interest- 
ing of  his  London  prints.  Other  great  works  by  him 
which  should  be  mentioned  here  are  the  '  March  to 
Finchley'  (1750),  and  the  Four  Pictures  of  an 
Election  (1755).  To  these  must  be  added  the 
twelve  prints  of  '  Industry  and  Idleness  '  (1747). 

Comparatively  early  in  his  career,  Hogarth's 
prints  were  known  on  the  Continent ;  in  fact  he  was 


FRONTISPIECE  TO  "CATALOGUE  OF  PICTURES."     1761. 


HOGARTH'S  LIFE  AND  WORKS         57 

little  over  thirty  years  of  age  when  his  pictures 
were  copied  on  fans  and  pottery  and  reproduced 
for  the  benefit  of  foreigners.  The  '  Midnight 
Modern  Conversation '  (1733)  was  the  first  English 
print  to  be  re-engraved  and  republished  abroad; 
and  a  passage  in  one  of  Walpole's  Letters  to  Sir 
Horace  Mann  (Dec.  15,  1748),  referring  to  '  The 
Gate  of  Calais '  (1749),  seems  to  show  that  the 
Governor  and  the  people  about  him  were  acquainted 
with  Hogarth's  fame,  and  in  spite  of  the  satire 
enjoyed  the  humour  of  his  sketches. 

Hogarth  went  to  France,  and  was  so  imprudent 
as  to  take  a  sketch  of  the  drawbridge  at  Calais. 
He  was  seized  and  carried  to  the  Governor,  where 
he  was  forced  to  prove  his  vocation  by  producing 
several  caricatures  of  the  French ;  particularly  a 
scene  of  the  shore,  with  an  immense  piece  of  beef 
landing  for  the  'Lion  d' Argent,  the  English  inn  at 
Calais,  and  several  hungry  friars  following  it.  They 
were  much  diverted  with  his  drawings,  and  dis- 
missed him.'  This  occurrence  was  immediately 
after  the  Peace  of  Aix  la  Chapelle.  There  are  three 
versions  of  the  story,  the  first  by  the  painter  him- 
self, another  in  Nichols's  Biographical  Anecdotes, 
and  the  third  as  above.1  Hogarth  was  ready  on  all 

1  The  original  picture  of  Calais  Gate  was  bought  from  the  painter  by  the 
Earl  of  Charlemont.  It  was  sold  in  1874  for  .£945  and  formed  part  of  the 
Bolckow  collection  until  May  1891,  when  it  was  bought  by  Messrs.  Agnew 
for  2450  guineas.  It  was  afterwards  in  the  collection  of  the  Duke  of 
Westminster,  who  in  July  1895  presented  it  to  the  National  Gallery. 
The  picture  was  engraved  and  published  in  March  1749,  and  entitled  '  0 
the  Roust  Beef  of  Old  England,  etc.'— DOBSON. 


58  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

occasions  to  condemn  the  connoisseurs  and  those 
who  advocated  'foreign  fashions.'  He  was  con- 
tented with  English  Art,  but  he  was  not  so  narrow- 
minded  as  his  enemies  attempted  to  prove.  He 
did  not  care  to  waste  his  time  in  arguing  or  answering 
his  opponents.  He  launched  his  thunderbolts  and 
was  satisfied  if  they  took  effect. 

Soured  by  the  neglect  of  his  pictures,  on  the  sale 
of  which  alone  he  could  not  have  existed,  we  cannot 
be  surprised  at  his  strong  opinions  adverse  to  those 
who  neglected  English  painters  but  spent  large 
sums  upon  what  he  was  pleased  to  call  the  '  Black 
Masters.'  There  is  no  doubt  that  these  connoisseurs 
laid  themselves  open  to  his  satire,  and  this  was  often 
exceedingly  good,  as  for  instance  the  tailpiece  to 
the  catalogue  of  pictures  exhibited  in  Spring  Gardens 
(1761),  when  a  travelled  Monkey  with  fine  clothes  and 
an  eye-glass  is  seen  watering  '  exoticks '  in  two  pots. 

In  one  of  Mrs.  Piozzi's  anecdotes  of  Hogarth  we 
learn  how  he  really  felt  with  respect  to  the  great 
masters.  He  said  that  Johnson's  conversation  was 
to  that  of  other  men  like  Titian's  painting  com- 
pared with  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  ! ' 

We  have  excellent  authority  for  Reynolds's 
contempt  of  ignorant  criticism : 

'  When  they  talked  of  their  Raphaels,  Correggios,  and  stuff, 
He  shifted  his  trumpet  and  only  took  snuff.' 


I-     ' 

o,*_i 


o  b 


TAILPIECE  TO  "CATALOGUE  OF  PICTURES."    1761. 


HOGARTH'S  LIFE  AND  WORKS         59 

Hogarth  was  indignant  with  and  intemperate  in 
his  language  towards  the  connoisseurs  from  the  time 
he  first  began  to  paint,  and  it  must  be  allowed  that 
he  had  cause.  His  first  pictorial  attack  was  con- 
tained in  '  The  Battle  of  the  Pictures,'  prepared  in 
the  beginning  of  the  year  1745,  as  a  ticket  for  the 
sale  of  his  paintings  which  was  arranged  to  take  place 
at  this  time.  Above  the  design  is  engraved  :  '  The 
bearer  hereof  is  entitled  (if  he  thinks  proper)  to  be  a 
bidder  for  Mr.  Hogarth's  pictures,  which  are  to  be  sold 
on  the  last  day  of  this  month '  (February  1744-5). 

It  is  the  old  battle  between  the  Moderns  and  the 
Ancients,  which  fired  Swift  in  the  Battle  of  the  Books. 
In  this  print  there  are  at  the  left  of  the  plate 
three  rows  or  battalions  of  old  pictures,  true  and 
false,  ready  to  be  sold,  and  above  them  there  is  a 
flag  with  an  auctioneer's  hammer  displayed.  The 
outside  of  the  saleroom  is  surmounted  by  a  vane 
having  the  four  points  of  the  compass  lettered 
p,  u,  f,  s.  The  weathercock  is  intended  as  a  play 
upon  the  name  of  the  fashionable  auctioneer  Cock, 
of  the  Piazza,  Covent  Garden.  Some  of  the  ancient 
pictures  are  flying  in  the  air,  attacking  and  injuring 
some  of  Hogarth's  works,  but  the  Moderns  are  not 
allowed  to  be  beaten,  and  in  the  end  the  damage 
to  each  side  is  about  equal.  An  old  '  St.  Francis  ' 
injures  the  modern  '  Noon,'  and  a  copy  of  the 
antique  mural  painting  styled  '  The  Aldobrandini 
Marriage '  makes  a  serious  rent  in  one  of  the  scenes 
in  the  tragedy  of  the  '  Marriage  a  la  Mode,'  but 


60  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

Hogarth's  pictures  have  their  opportunity  and  are 
enabled  to  injure  some  of  the  Black  Masters. 

If  the  English  painter  was  mad  before  the  sale, 
he  must  have  been  madder  when  he  found  what 
ridiculous  prices  his  pictures  fetched. 

It  is  strange  that  Hogarth,  who  was  business-like 
in  his  work,  should  be  so  thoroughly  unbusiness-like 
in  so  important  a  matter  as  the  selling  of  his  pictures. 
He  published  rules  and  regulations  respecting  the 
biddings,  which  must  have  been  singularly  irritating 
to  those  who  proposed  to  be  purchasers.  The 
biddings  were  to  remain  open  from  the  first  to  the 
last  day  of  February.  No  person  was  to  bid  on 
the  last  day,  except  those  whose  names  were  before 
entered  in  the  book.  The  printed  proposals  con- 
clude with  this  note :  '  As  Mr.  Hogarth's  room  is  but 
small,  he  begs  the  favour  that  no  persons,  except 
those  whose  names  are  entered  in  the  book,  will  come 
to  view  his  paintings  on  the  last  day  of  sale.' 

The  miserable  result  of  the  sale  of  nineteen  of 
Hogarth's  chief  pictures  under  these  absurd  con- 
ditions was  the  realisation  of  £427,  7s.  Od. 


'Harlot's  Progress,'  six  at  14  guineas  each,  .  £88  4  0 

'  Rake's  Progress,'  eight  at  22  guineas, .         .  184  16  0 

'  Morning,' 20  guineas,  .         .         .    '     ;         .  21  0  0 

'  Noon,'  37  guineas,       .         .         .         .         .  38  17  0 

'  Evening,'  38  guineas,  .         .         .         ...  39  18  0 

'  Night,'  26  guineas, 27  6  0 

'  Strolling  Players,'  26  guineas,      .  07  «  n 


27     6     0 


£427     7     0 


HOGARTH'S  LIFE  AND  WORKS         61 

At  this  sale  it  was  announced  that  the  six  pictures 
of  the  '  Marriage  a  la  Mode '  would  be  sold  in  the 
same  manner  as  soon  as  the  plates  then  being  taken 
from  them  should  be  completed. 

The  sale  was  delayed  until  June  1751,  when  these 
masterpieces  were  obtained  by  the  highest  bidder 
for  £126  or  twenty  guineas  each,  that  is,  a  little 
more  than  the  '  Harlot's  Progress,'  and  less  than 
the  '  Rake's  Progress.'  As  the  frames,  which  cost 
the  painter  four  guineas  each,  were  included,  the 
actual  receipt  was  only  sixteen  guineas  each.  The 
purchaser  was  Mr.  Lane,  of  Hillingdon  near  Ux- 
bridge,  who  was  the  only  attendant  in  Leicester 
Square  on  June  6  (the  last  day  of  sale),  with  the 
exception  of  Hogarth  himself,  and  his  friend  Dr. 
James  Parsons.  It  was  announced  that  the  highest 
written  offer  was  £120,  on  which  Lane  offered 
guineas,  with  the  expression  of  a  desire  that  they 
should  wait  until  the  fixed  hour  of  closure  in  case  a 
purchaser  willing  to  give  more  should  arrive. 

The  painter  allowed  his  hatred  of  the  picture- 
dealer  to  injure  the  value  of  his  property  by  ruling 
that  '  no  dealers  in  pictures  were  to  be  admitted 
as  bidders,'  thus  greatly  limiting  the  possibility  of 
competition.  Surely  some  of  these  men  would  have 
had  the  wisdom  to  prevent  the  sale  of  such  precious 
works  of  art  at  so  low  a  price. 

Hogarth  satirised  the  Society  of  Dilettanti  and 
'  Athenian '  Stuart  in  his  print  '  The  Five  Orders  of 
Perriwigs  as  they  were  worn  at  the  late  Coronation, 


62  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

measured  Architectonically,'  in  1761,  which,  oddly 
enough,  is  intended  to  make  fun  of  a  book,  the  first 
volume  of  which  was  not  published  until  the  follow- 
ing year,  viz.  The  Antiquities  of  Athens  measured 
and  delineated  by  James  Stuart  and  Nicholas 
Revett,  1762.  The  explanation  of  this  anticipation 
of  the  book  is  given  in  the  History  of  the  Society 
(1898),  where  in  a  note  we  read,  '  It  would  appear 
that  even  before  the  publication  of  the  work,  Stuart 
had  expatiated  freely  upon  its  merits  and  those  of 
the  artists  concerned.' 

John  Ireland  quotes  from  Hogarth's  MSS.  the 
foUowing  passage,  which  shows  the  object  of  his 
satire :  '  It  requires  no  more  skill  to  take  the 
dimensions  of  a  pillar  or  cornice,  than  to  measure  a 
square  box,  and  yet  the  man  who  does  the  latter  is 
neglected,  and  he  who  accomplishes  the  former 
is  considered  as  a  miracle  of  genius,  but  I  suppose 
he  receives  his  honours  for  the  distance  he  has 
travelled  to  do  his  business.'  Stuart  took  all  this 
in  good  part,  and  was  willing  that  the  public  should 
think  that  he  himself  was  pleased  even  with  the 
adverse  criticism  of  a  genius.  J.  T.  Smith  in  his 
Nollekens  says  his  parlour  in  his  house  on  the 
south  side  of  Leicester  Square  *  was  decorated 
with  some  of  Hogarth's  most  popular  prints,  and 
upon  a  fire-screen  he  had  pasted  an  impression  of 
the  plate  called  the  "  Periwigs,"  a  print  which  Mr. 
Stuart  always  showed  his  visitors  as  Hogarth's 
satire  on  his  first  volume  of  Athenian  Antiquities.' 


As  StatuesmoulderintfAVbrth.^/V//- 


r ~f>- //////r 0m/ ;  v w ' 

f  ^1  ,'/-/Sfr/vt  i>    i-//ifj;/,Tt'I>rlf'fo 


"TIME  SMOKING  A  PICTURE."    1761. 

Subscription  Ticket  for  Sigismunda. 


HOGARTH'S  LIFE  AND  WORKS         63 

Horace  Walpole,  in  a  letter  to  George  Montagu, 
Nov.  7,  1761,  referring  to  a  copy  of  the  '  Periwigs,' 
which  he  sent,  writes,  '  The  Athenian  head  [the 
barber's  block]  was  intended  for  Stuart ;  but  was 
so  like,  that  Hogarth  was  forced  to  cut  off  the  nose.' 
A  curious  satire  on  Hogarth's  satire  entitled  '  A 
Sett  of  Blocks  for  Hogarth's  wigs,'  was  published  in 
October  1762.1 

To  return  to  the  subject  of  Hogarth's  warfare 
against  the  '  Black  Masters,'  which  about  this  time 
became  a  specially  deadly  struggle  owing  to  the 
personal  interests  introduced  by  the  malignant 
criticism  of  his  painting  of  '  Sigismunda,'  in  1759. 
He  kept  up  the  feud  until  his  death,  for  the  tail- 
piece '  Finis '  or  '  The  Bathos  or  Manner  of  Sinking, 
in  Sublime  Paintings,  inscribed  to  the  Dealers  in  Dark 
Pictures,'  was  his  last  published  work  (March  3, 1764). 

'  Time  Smoking  a  Picture '  (1761)  was  the 
subscription  ticket  for  the  print  of  '  Sigismunda,' 
which  did  not  appear  until  many  years  after 
Hogarth's  death. 

Time  as  an  aged  man  seated  on  a  fragment  of  a 
statue,  is  seen  puffing  smoke  from  his  pipe  against 
the  surface  of  a  landscape  painting  on  an  easel 

1  Mr.  F.  G.  Stephens  gives  a  very  full  account  of  this  etching  in  the 
B.M.  Catalogue  (vol.  iv.  p.  11),  and  quotes  the  Advertisement  below  the 
design.  '  In  about  seventeen  years  will  be  compleated  in  six  volumes  folio, 
price  fifteen  guineas,  the  exact  measurements  of  the  Perriwigs  of  the 
ancients  ;  taken  from  the  Bustos  and  Basso  Eilievos  of  Athens,  Palmira, 
Balbec  and  Home  ;  by  Modesto,  Perriwig-meter  from  Lagado.  N.B.  None 
will  be  sold  but  to  Subscribers.'  A  description  of  '  a  Sett  of  Blocks '  will 
be  found  in  the  same  catalogue  (vol.  iv.  p.  137). 


64  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

before  him,  and  near  the  easel  is  a  large  jar  of  varnish. 
Time's  scythe  is  seen  to  have  pierced  the  canvas, 
so  that  here  are  figured  the  various  causes  for  the 
dark  character  of  some  of  the  pictures  of  the  old 
masters  that  have  been  looked  upon  as  giving  added 
value  to  them.  Mr.  Stephens  says  of  the  original 
print,  '  In  order  to  enhance  the  characteristic 
depth  of  tone  in  the  representation  of  the  picture 
on  which  Time  is  operating,  Hogarth  mezzotinted 
the  landscape,  and  etched  the  remainder  of  the 
work.  This  distinction  of  parts  is  not  observable 
in  copies  from  this  print.'1  This  subscription 
ticket  contains  a  very  effective  attack  upon  the 
artist's  enemies,  who  had  greatly  increased  in  con- 
sequence of  the  painting  of  '  Sigismunda.' 

The  story  of  this  picture  is  so  well-known  that 
any  notice  of  it  here  must  be  brief,  but  as  it  formed 
one  of  the  most  important  incidents  in  this  quarrel 
that  embittered  Hogarth's  later  years,  the  case  must 
be  stated. 

We  have  Hogarth's  own  narrative  of  the  origin 
of  the  painting  of  '  Sigismunda  weeping  over  the 
heart  of  her  murdered  lover  Guiscardo,'  from 
Dryden's  version  of  Boccaccio's  story.  Sir  Richard 
Grosvenor  urged  Hogarth  to  paint  him  a  picture, 
which  was  undertaken  with  reluctance,  although  the 
choice  of  a  subject  was  left  to  the  artist.  Having 
been  disgusted  at  the  high  prices  paid  for  the  old 
masters  at  Sir  Luke  Schaub's  sale,  and  especially  at 

1  .B..lf.  Catalogue,  vol.  iv.  p.  43. 


HOGARTH'S  LIFE  AND  WORKS         65 

£400  being  realised  for  a  picture  of  '  Sigismunda ' 
attributed  to  Correggio,  but  believed  to  be  by 
Furini,  Hogarth  chose  the  same  subject  and  at  once 
put  himself  in  competition  with  the  Italian  in  order 
to  prove  that  he  could  paint  a  better  picture.  While 
it  was  being  painted  the  patron  expressed  himself 
pleased  with  it,  but  subsequently  he  changed  his 
mind  in  consequence  of  adverse  criticism  which  was 
aroused  by  the  enemies  of  Hogarth,  who  himself 
expressed  himself  strongly  on  the  subject.  He  wrote : 
*  As  the  most  violent  and  virulent  abuse  thrown 
on  "Sigismunda"  was  from  a  set  of  miscreants, 
with  whom  I  am  proud  of  having  been  ever  at  war, 
I  mean  the  expounders  of  the  mysteries  of  old 
pictures;  I  have  been  sometimes  told  they  were 
beneath  my  notice.  This  is  true  of  them  individu- 
ally, but  as  they  have  access  to  people  of  rank,  who 
seem  as  happy  in  being  cheated,  as  these  merchants 
are  in  cheating  them,  they  have  a  power  of  doing 
much  mischief  to  a  modern  artist.' 

The  correspondence  between  Grosvenor  and 
Hogarth  has  been  printed  in  the  third  volume  of 
John  Ireland's  Hogarth  Illustrated,  and  it  does  not 
do  much  credit  to  Sir  Richard  Grosvenor 's  courtesy 
or  good  taste.  Hogarth  fixed  the  price  of  the 
picture  at  £400,  for  which  sum  the  old  picture  sold, 
but  he  gave  Sir  Richard  the  option  of  refusing  it. 
He  only  asked  him  to  make  up  his  mind,  as  Hoare 
the  banker  wanted  a  picture  painted.  In  answer 
Sir  Richard  did  not  give  his  real  reason  for  being 

E 


66  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

disappointed  with  the  picture,  but  wrote  :  '  If  he 
[Mr.  Hoare]  should  have  taken  a  fancy  to  the 
"  Sigismunda,"  I  have  no  sort  of  objection  to  your 
letting  him  have  it ;  for  I  really  think  the  per- 
formance so  striking  and  inimitable,  that  the 
constantly  having  it  before  one's  eyes  would  be  too 
often  occasioning  melancholy  ideas  to  arise  in  one's 
mind,  which  a  curtain's  being  drawn  before  it  would 
not  diminish  in  the  least.' 

This  letter  was  not  likely  to  give  much  satis- 
faction to  Hogarth,  and  he  settled  the  matter  as 
soon  as  he  could  by  giving  the  picture  to  his  wife  and 
desiring  her  not  to  sell  it  for  less  than  £500.  What 
hurt  the  painter  in  this  most  unfortunate  affair  was 
the  disgusting  manner  in  which  his  enemies  de- 
scribed 'Sigismunda'  as  a  representation  of  a  vile 
woman,  although  they  knew  well  enough  that  the 
figure  was  taken  from  his  beloved  wife.  But  if 
Wilkes  and  Churchill  mixed  abuse  of  the  picture  with 
their  attack  upon  the  painter  on  political  grounds, 
Robert  Lloyd,  their  friend  and  his,  wrote  : 

'  While  Sigismunda's  deep  distress, 
Which  looks  the  soul  of  wretchedness, 
When  I  [i.e.  Time],  with  slow  and  soft'ning  pen, 
Have  gone  o'er  all  the  tints  agen, 
Shall  urge  a  bold  and  proper  claim 
To  level  half  the  ancient  fame ; 
While  future  ages  yet  unknown 
With  critic  air  shall  proudly  own 
Thy  Hogarth  first  of  every  clime, 
For  humour  keen,  or  strong  sublime, 
And  hail  him  from  his  fire  and  spirit, 
The  Child  of  Genius  and  of  Merit.' 


HOGARTH'S  LIFE  AND  WORKS         67 

Walpole,  who  chose  to  praise  the  older  painting  in 
extravagant  terms  and  in  contrast  to  abuse  Hogarth's 
picture  most  unjustly,  adopted  the  same  image 
respecting  the  strange  woman  in  an  exaggerated 
form.  We  have  the  privilege  of  seeing  the  picture 
in  the  National  Gallery  and  knowing  how  ludicrously 
untrue  Walpole' s  criticism  is  :  '  Hogarth's  per- 
formance was  more  ridiculous  than  anything  he  had 
ever  ridiculed.'  Hogarth  wishing  to  vindicate  his 
fame  by  the  production  of  a  good  engraving  of 
the  picture,  engaged  Ravenet  to  undertake  the 
work,  but  afterwards  it  appeared  that  Ravenet 
was  under  articles  not  to  work  for  any  one  except 
Mr.  Boydell  for  three  years  then  to  come,  so  the 
subscription  was  stopped  and  the  money  returned 
to  the  subscribers.'1  The  following  notice  (dated 
January  2,  1764)  was  issued :  *  All  efforts  to  this 
time  to  get  the  picture  finely  engraved  proving  in 
vain,  Mr.  Hogarth  humbly  hopes  his  best  endeavours 
to  engrave  it  himself  will  be  acceptable  to  his  friends.' 

Under  the  painter's  direction,  a  drawing  in  oil 
was  made  by  Edward  Edwards,  A.R.A.,  and  from 
this,  Basire  made  an  outline ;  but  it  was  not  until 
1793  that  Dunkarton's  mezzotint  was  published. 
In  1795  appeared  Benjamin  Smith's  engraving. 

The  vicissitudes  of  the  picture  itself  are  interesting. 
Mrs.  Hogarth  kept  it  during  her  lifetime  as  her 

1  In  a  MS.  volume  in  the  British  Museum  (Add.  MSS.  22,394),  there  is 
a  list  of  subscribers'  names  to  a  Print  of  Sigismunda  and  Guiscardo, 
March  2,  1761.  Most  of  the  names  are  struck  through  with  the  note 
'  money  returned.'  In  one  or  two  cases  there  is  a  note  '  money  refused.' 


68  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

husband  wished,  and  at  the  sale  of  her  effects  (1790) 
it  was  bought  by  Alderman  Boy  dell  for  £58,  16s. 
It  was  sold  again  in  1807  for  £420,  and  was  be- 
queathed to  the  National  Gallery  in  1879  by  Mr. 
James  Hughes  Anderdon. 

In  1762  Bonnel  Thornton  opened  an  Exhibition 
of  Sign  Paintings  at  *  the  large  Room  the  Upper  End 
of  Bow  Street;  Covent  Garden,  nearly  opposite  the 
Playhouse  Passage,'  in  which  Hogarth  took  some 
interest.  This  was  a  freak  and  a  joke  on  the  part 
of  Thornton,  but  as  it  gave  an  opportunity  for  a 
gibe  at  the  buyers  of  old  pictures,  Hogarth  entered 
into  the  joke  with  deadly  earnest  intention.  John 
Nichols  (Biographical  Anecdotes)  was  informed  that 
Hogarth  '  contributed  no  otherwise  towards  this 
display,  than  by  a  few  touches  of  chalk.  Among 
the  heads  of  distinguished  personages  finding  those 
of  the  King  of  Prussia  and  the  Empress  of  Hungary, 
he  changed  the  cast  of  their  eyes  so  as  to  make 
them  leer  significantly  at  each  other.  This  is 
related  on  the  authority  of  Mr.  Colman.'  * 

The  catalogue  of  the  Exhibition  presents  many 
evidences  of  Hogarth's  hand  both  hi  the  notes  and 
various  satirical  touches  such  as  '  Portrait  of  a 
justly  celebrated  Painter,  though  an  Englishman 

1  These  two  portraits  are  numbered  in  the  Catalogue  53  and  54,  but 
Nichols  is  not  accurate  in  the  description,  which  stands  thus  in  the 
Catalogue — '  53,  an  Original  Portrait  of  the  present  Emperor  of  Russia. 
54,  Ditto  of  the  Empress  Queen  of  Hungary.  Its  antagonist.  Drawn  by 
Sheerman.'  Colman  was  a  good  authority  for  the  information,  as  he  was  an 
intimate  friend  of  Bonnel  Thornton. 


HOGARTH'S  LIFE  AND  WORKS         69 

and  a  Modern,'  or  this  note,  *  N.B.  that  the  merit 
of  the  Modern  Masters  may  be  fairly  examined  into, 
it  has  been  thought  proper  to  place  some  admired 
works  of  the  most  eminent  old  masters  in  this  room, 
and  along  the  Passage  thro'  the  Yard.'  Several 
of  the  paintings  are  stated  to  be  by  Hagarty. 

In  the  St.  James's  Chronicle  for  Tuesday,  23rd  of 
March  1762,  there  was  published  a  notice  of  the 
forthcoming  exhibition : — '  The  Society  of  Sign- 
painters  are  preparing  a  most  magnificent  Collection 
of  Portraits,  Landscapes,  Fancy  Pieces,  Flower 
Pieces,  History  Pieces,  Night  Pieces,  Sea  Pieces, 
Sculpture  Pieces,  etc.  etc.,  designed  by  the  ablest 
Masters  and  executed  by  the  best  Hands  in  these 
kingdoms.  The  Virtuosi  will  have  a  new  oppor- 
tunity of  displaying  their  taste  on  this  occasion  by 
discovering  the  different  stile  of  the  several  masters 
employed  and  pointing  out  by  what  hand  each 
piece  is  drawn.  A  remarkable  cognoscente  who 
has  attended  at  the  Society's  great  Room  with  his 
glass  for  several  mornings,  has  already  piqued  him- 
self on  discovering  the  famous  Painter  of  the  Rising 
Sun,  a  modern  Claude  Lorraine,  in  an  elegant 
Night-piece  of  the  Man-in-the-Moon.  He  is  also 
convinced  that  no  other  than  the  famous  artists 
who  drew  the  Red  Lion  at  Brentford,  can  be 
equal  to  the  bold  figures  in  the  London  'Prentice, 
and  that  the  exquisite  colouring  in  the  piece  called 
Pyramus  and  Thisbe  must  be  by  the  same  hand 
as  the  Hole-in-the-Wall.' 


70  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

The  public  seem  to  have  supposed  that  the  whole 
announcement  was  merely  intended  as  a  hoax,  but 
this  soon  proved  to  be  a  mistake  by  the  opening  of 
the  exhibition  in  April.  The  hours  of  admission 
were  from  nine  till  four.  The  price  of  the  tickets, 
which  included  a  catalogue,  was  one  shilling.  It  is 
said  that  the  names  of  the  sign-board  painters  given 
in  the  catalogue  were  those  of  the  journeymen  in 
Baldwin's  printing  office  where  it  was  printed. 

The  exhibition  naturally  created  a  sensation, 
and  the  newspapers  of  the  day  were  full  of  corre- 
spondence respecting  this  very  original  show. 
Churchill  refers  to  it  in  his  poem  of  The  Ghost 
(Book  iii.) : 

1  Of  sign-post  exhibitions,  raised 
For  laughter  more  than  to  be  praised, 
(Though  by  the  way  we  cannot  see 
Why  praise  and  laughter  mayn't  agree) 
Where  genuine  humour  runs  to  waste, 
And  justly  chides  our  want  of  taste, 
Censured,  like  other  things,  though  good, 
Because  they  are  not  understood.' 

The  exhibition  was  an  admirable  subject  for  the 
pictorial  satirists,  and  the  chief  of  the  prints  of  the 
time  alluding  to  it  was  '  A  Brush  for  the  Sign- 
Painters,  lustitia  Rubweel  Inv.  et  del.  Aquafortis 
Sculp.  Price  6^.,'  which  was  published  in  April. 
In  these  satires  Hogarth  and  his  works  occupy 
prominent  positions.  Advantage  is  taken  of 
several  of  the  items  in  the  catalogue  which  bear 
some  allusion  to  Hogarth.1 

1  See  British  Museum  Catalogue,  vol.  iv.  pp.  48-50. 


HOGARTH'S  LIFE  AND  WORKS         71 

It  is  unfortunate  that  we  know  so  little  as  to 
Hogarth's  connection  with  this  exhibition.  As  has 
already  been  pointed  out,  his  hand  is  to  be  suspected 
in  many  of  the  descriptions  in  the  catalogue,  but  at 
the  same  time  he  allowed  many  allusions  to  himself 
to  appear,  which  were  eagerly  taken  up  by  the 
critics;  thus  No.  2  is '  A  crooked  Billet  formed  exactly 
in  the  Line  of  Beauty,'  and  No.  5  '  The  Light  Heart. 
A  Sign  for  a  Vintner.  By  Hagarty.  [N.B.  This  is 
an  elegant  Invention  of  Ben  Jonson,  who  in  The 
New  Inn  or  Light  Heart,  makes  the  landlord  say, 
speaking  of  his  Sign  : 

An  Heart  weighed  with  a  feather,  and  outweighed  too ; 
A  Brain — child  of  my  one  and  I  am  proud  on 't.'] 

This  is  alluded  to  in  '  A  Brush  for  the  Sign-Painters,' 
where  there  is  a  signboard  on  an  easel  showing  a 
caricature  of  Sigismunda  bearing  the  inscription 
'  The  sign  of  a  Heavy  Heart.'  Below  the  figure  is 
a  caricature  of  the  '  Line  of  Beauty,'  designated 
'  A  Lame  Principle.' 

In  the  King's  Library  at  the  British  Museum  is  a 
small  pamphlet  strangely  printed  as  follows,  to 
form  a  sort  of  companion  to  the  exhibition : 

First  Leaf. 

Gentlemen  and  Ladies  |  are  desired  |  to  tear  off  this 
Leaf,  |  which  |  will  serve  as  a  Ticket  to  introduce  j  them  to 
the  |  London  |  Printed  for  W  Nichol  at  the  Paper- 
Mill,  in  |  St  Paul's  Churchyard  |  MDCCLXH  | 

Second  Leaf. 

Ha!  Ha!  Ha!  |  and  |  in  due  Time  |  they  |  will  gain 
admission  to  the  I 


72  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

Third  Leaf. 
He!  He!  He! 

Pages  7-24  a  succession   of  short  paragraphs   plentifully 
supplied  with  dashes. 

It  is  impossible  not  to  charge  Hogarth  with  incon- 
sistency in  his  action  connected  with  the  training 
of  artists,  because  although  he  did  great  things  by 
means  of  his  school  in  St.  Martin's  Lane,  yet  he 
set  himself  in  opposition  to  the  natural  outcome  of 
his  own  work  in  the  establishment  of  an  '  Academy 
for  the  Better  Cultivation,  Improvement  and  En- 
couragement of  Painting,  Sculpture,  Architecture, 
and  the  Arts  of  Design  in  General.'  His  opposition 
to  this  scheme  set  many  of  his  fellow-artists  against 
him,  and  of  these  enemies  Thomas  and  Paul  Sandby 
were  prominent. 

Hogarth's  reasons  for  his  opposition  in  this 
matter  are  set  out  by  himself  in  manuscripts  which 
were  printed  by  John  Ireland  in  the  third  volume  of 
Hogarth  Illustrated. 

He  further  stated  that  '  Many  of  the  objections 
which  I  have  to  the  institution  of  this  Royal 
Academy,  apply  with  equal  force  to  the  project  of 
the  Society  for  the  encouragement  of  Arts,  Manu- 
factures, and  Commerce,  distributing  premiums  for 
drawings  and  pictures  ;  subjects  of  which  they  are 
totally  ignorant,  and  in  which  they  can  do  no 
possible  service  to  the  community.' 

Hogarth  had  been  a  member  of  the  Society,  and 
chairman  of  one  of  the  committees;  therefore  at 


HOGARTH'S  LIFE  AND  WORKS         73 

one  time  he  had  approved  generally  of  its  action, 
but  subsequently  he  changed  his  mind,  and  parodied 
the  inscription  of  '  Arts  Promoted.'  He  was  quite 
consistent,  for  he  had  early  satirised  the  Dilettanti 
Society.  It  would  be  improper  to  leave  this  instance 
of  Hogarth's  individualism  without  notice,  but  this 
is  not  the  place  to  discuss  it  fully. 

By  entering  fully  into  Hogarth's  quarrel  with  the 
advocates  of  the  Black  Masters,  we  have  passed 
over  the  period  of  the  publication  of  the  Analysis 
of  Beauty,  in  1753,  which  first  caused  his  enemies 
to  swarm  around  him  and  satirise  him  on  his  own 
ground. 

It  is  now  therefore  time  to  turn  back  a  few  years, 
and  to  point  out  briefly  the  position  that  this 
remarkable  book  occupies  in  the  author's  life. 
Wilkes  chooses  in  his  vindictive  remarks  to  refer  to 
the  Analysis  as  attributed  to  Hogarth ;  such  a 
sneer  is,  as  he  must  have  known,  perfectly  ground- 
less. Men  of  learning  such  as  Townley  and  Morell 
gave  what  literary  help  to  the  author  he  required 
for  the  production  of  his  book,  not  that  he  himself 
was  without  considerable  ability  in  expressing  in 
suitable  terms  the  view  he  wished  to  present  to 
his  readers.  Hogarth  had  long  thought  over  the 
central  idea  and  drawn  the  line  of  beauty  in  his 
own  portrait  (1745),  thus  appropriating  the  symbol 
to  himself. 

The  idea  was  elaborated  in  his  own  mind  and 
grew  out  of  the  teaching  of  the  ancient  philosophers. 


74  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

This  is  seen  from  a  passage  in  the  book  itself, 
quoted  by  Mr.  Dobson,  where  Hogarth  gives  his 
version  of  a  story  from  Pliny :  *  Apelles  having 
heard  of  the  fame  of  Protogenes  went  to  Rhodes  to 
pay  him  a  visit,  but  not  finding  him  at  home  asked 
for  a  board,  on  which  he  drew  a  line,  telling  the 
servant-maid,  that  line  would  signify  to  her  master 
who  had  been  to  see  him  ;  we  are  not  clearly  told 
what  sort  of  a  line  it  was  that  could  so  particularly 
signify  one  of  the  first  of  his  profession :  if  it  was 
only  a  stroke  (tho'  as  fine  as  a  hair  as  Pliny  seems 
to  think),  it  could  not  possibly,  by  any  means, 
denote  the  abilities  of  a  great  painter.  But  if  we 
suppose  it  to  be  a  line  of  some  extraordinary  quality, 
such  as  the  serpentine  line  will  appear  to  be,  Apelles 
could  not  have  left  a  more  satisfactory  signature 
of  the  compliment  he  had  paid  him.  Protogenes 
when  he  came  home  took  the  hint,  and  drew  a 
finer,  or  rather  more  expressive  line,  within  it  to  show 
Apelles  when  he  came  again,  that  he  understood  his 
meaning.  He  soon  returning  was  well  pleased  with 
the  answer  Protogenes  had  left  for  him,  by  which 
he  was  convinced  that  fame  had  done  him  justice, 
and  so  correcting  the  line  again,  perhaps  by  making 
it  more  precisely  elegant,  he  took  his  leave.  The 
story  thus  may  be  reconcil'd  to  common  sense, 
which,  as  it  has  been  generally  receiv'd  could  never 
be  understood  as  a  ridiculous  tale.'  Matthew  Prior 
versified  this  tale,  from  which  the  following  lines  are 
taken  : 


HOGARTH'S  LIFE  AND  WORKS         75 

'  Piqued  by  Protogenes's  fame 
From  Co  to  Ehodes  Apelles  came 
To  see  a  rival  and  a  friend, 
Prepar'd  to  censure  or  commend. 

Does  squire  Protogenes  live  here  1 
Yes,  sir,  says  she,  with  gracious  air, 
And  court'sy  low,  but  just  call'd  out 
By  lords  peculiarly  devout. 

And  sir,  at  present  would  you  please, 
To  leave  your  name  ?    Fair  maiden,  yes, 
Reach  me  that  board.     No  sooner  spoke 
But  done.    With  one  judicious  stroke, 
On  the  plain  ground  Apelles  drew 
A  circle  regularly  true. 

Again  at  six  Apelles  came, 
Found  the  same  prating  civil  dame, 
Sir,  that  my  master  has  been  here, 
Will  by  the  board  itself  appear. 
If  from  the  perfect  line  he  found 
He  has  presum'd  to  swell  the  round, 
Or  colours  on  the  draught  to  lay, 
'Tis  thus  (he  order'd  me  to  say) 
Thus  write  the  painters  of  this  isle  : 
Let  those  of  Co  remark  the  style.' 

Horace  Walpole  related  the  same  story  in  Mdzs 
Walpoliance,  and  made  the  line  a  straight  one. 

John  Ireland  printed  the  following  anagram 
containing  an  amusing  prediction  which  he  found 
among  Hogarth's  papers  in  the  handwriting  of  his 
friend  Townley : — '  From  an  old  Greek  fragment. 
There  was  an  ancient  oracle  delivered  at  Delphos, 
which  says,  "  That  the  source  of  beauty  should 
never  be  again  rightly  discovered,  till  a  person 


76  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

should  arise,  whose  name  was  perfectly  included 
in  the  name  of  Pythagoras  ;  which  person  should 
again  restore  the  ancient  principle  upon  which  all 
beauty  is  founded. 

TlvOdyopas,  .  .  PYTHAGORAS. 

"QyapO,         .  .  .  HOGARTH.'1 

The  Analysis  of  Beauty  was  no  ordinary  book, 
although  it  may  have  outlived  any  utility  it  once 
possessed,  and  it  attracted  no  ordinary  attention. 
A  work  which  was  translated  into  German,  Italian 
and  French,2  and  was  praised  by  such  men  as  Burke, 
Lessing  and  Goethe,  must  be  treated  as  something 
out  of  the  common  run.  Doubtless  Hogarth  was 
possessed  of  a  brilliant  idea  and  saw  its  boundless 
possibilities,  but  he  had  not  the  philosophic  grasp 
of  mind  to  save  him  from  confusion  in  the  present- 
ment of  his  case. 

Burke' s  Essay  on  the  Sublime  and  Beautiful  was 
first  published  in  1756,  three  years  after  the  publica- 
tion of  the  Analysis,  but  it  contains  no  allusion  to 
the  book.  In  the  second  edition,  published  in  1757, 
Burke  mentions  Hogarth's  work  with  approval. 

The  German  translation  contained  a  preface  by 
Lessing,  and  the  book  was  enthusiastically  welcomed 
by  him  in  the  Vossische  Zeitung  in  1754.  Mr. 
Bosanquet  says  that  in  his  preface  the  great  German 

1  Hogarth  Illustrated,  vol.  iii.  p.  146. 

2  German :   Zergliederung   der  Schoenheit,   die  schwankenden   Begriffe 
von  dem  Geschmack  festzusetzen,  von  C  Mylius.     Berlin,  1754.     Italian  : 
L'Analisi  della  Bellezza,  con  figure.    Livorno,  1761.     French  :  Analyse  de 
la  Beaut^  de  Guillaume  Hogarth.     Paris  an  xm  (1805). 


HOGARTH'S  LIFE  AND  WORKS         77 

authority  '  lays  his  finger  on  the  point  of  difficulty 
in  its  conception,  viz.  the  question  of  determining 
on  general  grounds,  the  degree  and  kind  of 
curvature  that  constitutes  beauty  of  line.'  The 
same  writer  further  remarks  that  '  Hogarth's  un- 
dulating line  supplied  Goethe  with  a  name  for  the 
tendency  which  he  ranks  as  the  polar  opposite  of 
the  characteristic.' l 

The  French  translation,  which  was  made  by 
Henri  Jansen,  librarian  to  Talleyrand,  contains  also 
a  translation  of  Nichols's  Biographical  Anecdotes, 
and  was  published  in  two  volumes.  It  will  be  seen 
that  Hogarth  had  done  a  considerable  thing,  but 
unfortunately  he  had  made  many  enemies,  and 
these  men,  waiting  for  the  opportunity  to  attack, 
chose  the  subject  of  this  book  as  the  battle-ground 
for  which  they  had  long  sought.  The  author, 
however,  preferred  censure  to  neglect,  and  cared 
little  for  attacks  so  long  as  these  did  not  touch 
his  private  life. 

His  friends  stood  by  him  and  lauded  his  discovery. 
Laurence  Sterne  was  one  of  these,  who  highly 
praised  the  Analysis  in  the  second  volume  of 
Tristram  Shandy,  and  Bishop  Warburton  expressed 
his  opinions  in  a  letter  to  the  author  thus  :  '  I  was 
pleased  to  find  from  the  public  papers  that  you 
have  determined  to  give  us  your  original  and 
masterly  thoughts  on  the  great  principles  of  your 
profession.  You  owe  this  to  your  country,  for  you 

1  History  of  the  Esthetic,  1892,  pp.  207-208, 


78  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

are  both  an  honour  to  your  profession,  and  a  shame 
to  that  worthless  crew  professing  virtu  and  con- 
noisseurship,  to  whom  all  that  grovel  in  the  splendid 
poverty  of  wealth  and  taste  are  the  miserable 
bubbles.' 

Hogarth's  enemies — both  literary  and  artistic 
critics — forgot  their  manners  and  good  sense. 
Benjamin  West's  opinion  of  the  book  is  therefore 
worth  something.  He  said  in  answer  to  J.  T. 
Smith's  question  as  to  his  opinion  of  the  Analysis — 
'It  is  a  work,  my  man,  of  the  highest  value  to 
every  one  studying  the  Art.  Hogarth  was  a  strut- 
ting, consequential  little  man,  and  made  himself 
many  enemies  by  that  book  ;  but  now  that  most  of 
them  are  dead,  it  is  examined  by  disinterested 
readers,  unbiassed  by  personal  animosities,  and  will 
be  yet  more  and  more  read,  studied,  and  under- 
stood.' 

A  satirist  must  expect  to  be  satirised,  but  Hogarth 
was  more  bitterly  attacked  than  he  deserved  to  be 
because,  although  he  was  very  severe  in  his  satire, 
he  was  never  personal  except  under  severe  pro- 
vocation, as  in  the  quarrel  with  Wilkes  and  Churchill. 

The  pictorial  satires  are  fully  dealt  with  by  F.  G. 
Stephens  in  the  British  Museum  Catalogue.  Some 
of  these  satires  were  contemptible  and  produced 
by  unknown  men,  but  it  is  specially  painful  to  find 
so  distinguished  a  man  as  Paul  Sandby  attacking  in 
so  violent  and  unkind  a  manner  his  brother  artist. 

*  Burlesque  sur  le  Burlesque,'  published  December 


HOGARTH'S  LIFE  AND  WORKS         79 

1,  1753,  is  full  of  violent  ridicule  of  Hogarth's  work 
and  represents  various  insulting  ways  of  disposing 
of  the  Analysis  of  Beauty.  '  Pugg's  Graces  etched 
from  his  original  Daubing'  contains  an  infinity  of 
abuse,  an  item  of  which  is  an  open  book  inscribed 
'  No  Salary,  Reasons  against  a  Publick  Academy,' 
1753,  and  '  Reasons  to  prove  erecting  a  Publick 
Academy  without  [space]  a  wicked  Design  to 
introduce  Popery  and  Slavery  in  to  this  Kingdom.5 
Beneath  a  figure  of  a  decrepit  old  man  whose  person 
is  curved  to  ridicule  Hogarth's  '  line '  is  this 
scurrilous  inscription : 

'  Behold  a  wretch  who  Nature  form'd  in  spight, 
Scorn'd  by  the  Wise ;  he  gave  the  Fools  delight, 
Yet  not  contented  in  his  Sphere  to  move 
Beyond  mere  Instinct,  and  his  Senses  drove 
From  false  examples  hop'd  to  pilfer  fame 
And  scribl'd  nonsense  in  his  daubing  name. 
Deformity  her  self  his  figures  place, 
She  spreads  an  Uglines  on  every  face, 
He  then  admires  their  ellegance  and  grace, 
Dunce  Connoisseurs  extol  the  author  Pugg, 
The  senseless,  tasteless,  impudent  Hum  Bugg.' 

Another  of  Sandby's  discreditable  productions  is 
'  The  Author  run  mad,'  an  etching  showing  Hogarth 
in  a  lunatic  asylum,  clad  in  a  fantastic  dress,  wearing 
a  crown  of  straw,  and  holding  an  ink-bottle  as  a 
crown  stuck  on  his  head,  one  of  his  legs  being  bound 
with  straw,  his  palette  hanging  round  his  neck, 
his  mahlstick  being  curved  to  resemble  the  '  Line 
of  Beauty.'  ]  Among  the  multiplicity  of  references 

1  Mr.  Stephens's  description  in  the  British  Museum  Catalogue  of  Satires, 
vol.  iii.  p.  894. 


80  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

to  the  painter  in  this  plate  there  is  a  special  attack 
on  his  paintings  of  religious  subjects  with  this 
epigram  : 

'  Shou'd  we  thy  Study'd  Labours  trace 
In  search  of  Beauty — Air  or  Grace 

Are  they  to  us  ye  Rule  1 
Has  Phara's  daughter  got  them  all  1 
Are  they  in  Felix  seen  1  or  Paul 

or  at  Bethesda's  pool  1 ' 

It  is  not  necessary  to  describe  the  whole  series  of 
these  deplorable  exhibitions  of  rancour  which  are  fully 
analysed  in  Mr.  Stephens's  British  Museum  Catalogue, 
but  astonishment  must  be  expressed  that  an  artist 
so  capable  of  appreciating  the  beauty  of  the  '  March 
to  Finchley '  could  caricature  that  picture  as  '  The 
Painter's  March  from  Finchly,'  or  throw  mud  upon 
a  man  he  knew  to  be  an  honour  to  English  art, 
and  style  him  a  '  Mountebank  Painter,'  and 
inscribe  on  his  print  such  lying  words  as  these  : 
'  This  arrogant  Quacking  Analist  who  blinded  by 
the  darkest  ignorance  of  y6  principles  of  painting, 
has  spoke  so  foolishly  of  the  works  of  ye  greatest 
masters — is  hereby  challeng'd  to  produce  one  piece 
of  his  either  in  painting  or  on  Copper  plate,  that 
has  ye  least  grace,  beauty  or  so  much  knowledge 
in  Proportion  as  may  be  found  in  common  signs  in 
every  street — 0  Will  thy  impudence  is  the  certain 
consequence  of  thy  ignorance.' 

Hogarth  was  not  without  friends  to  support  him 
against  these  attacks  by  satirising  his  opponents, 
but  he  himself  did  not  retaliate,  for  he  was  too  proud 


HOGARTH'S  LIFE  AND  WORKS         81 

to  descend  to  such  methods.  We  have,  however, 
the  good  fortune  to  be  able  to  read  in  his  auto- 
biography his  own  admirable  expression  of  the 
natural  disgust  he  felt  at  the  unworthy  treatment 
he  had  received.  He  wrote  : 

'  I  have  been  assailed  by  every  profligate  scribbler 
in  town,  and  told,  that  though  words  are  man's 
province,  they  are  not  my  province ;  and  that 
though  I  have  put  my  name  to  the  Analysis  of 
Beauty,  yet  (as  I  acknowledge  having  received 
some  assistance  from  two  or  three  friends)  I  am 
only  the  supposed  author.  By  those  of  my  own 
profession  I  am  treated  with  still  more  severity. 
Pestered  with  caricature  drawings,  and  hung  up  hi 
effigy  in  prints ;  accused  of  vanity,  ignorance  and 
envy ;  called  a  mean  and  contemptible  dauber ; 
represented  in  the  strangest  employments  and  pic- 
tured in  the  strangest  shapes  ;  sometimes  under  the 
hieroglyphical  semblance  of  a  satyr,  and  at  others, 
under  the  still  more  ingenious  one,  of  an  ass. 

*  Not  satisfied  with  this  ;  finding  that  they  could 
not  overturn  my  system,  they  endeavoured  to 
wound  the  peace  of  my  family.  This  was  a  cruelty 
hardly  to  be  forgiven ;  to  say  that  such  malicious 
attacks,  and  caricatures,  did  not  discompose  me, 
would  be  untrue ;  for  to  be  held  up  to  public 
ridicule  would  discompose  any  man ;  but  I  must 
at  the  same  time  add,  that  they  did  not  much 
distress  me.  I  knew  that  those  who  venture  to 
oppose  received  opinions,  must  in  return  have 

F 


82  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

public  abuse:  so  that  feeling  I  had  no  right  to 
exemption  from  the  common  tribute,  and  conscious 
that  my  book  had  been  generally  well  received,  I 
consoled  myself  with  the  trite  observation,  that 
every  success  or  advantage  in  this  world  must  be 
attended  by  some  sort  of  a  reverse  ;  and  that  though 
the  worst  writers  and  the  worst  painters  have 
traduced  me  ;  by  the  best  I  have  had  more  than 
justice  done  me.  The  partiality  with  which  the 
world  have  received  my  works,  and  the  patronage 
and  friendship  with  which  some  of  the  best  characters 
in  it  have  honoured  the  author,  ought  to  excite  my 
warmest  gratitude,  and  demands  my  best  thanks  ; 
it  enables  me  to  despise  this  cloud  of  insects  ;  for 
happily,  though  their  buzzing  may  tease,  their 
stings  are  not  mortal.' 

In  1753,  the  date  of  the  publication  of  the 
Analysis  of  Beauty,  most  of  Hogarth's  great  works 
had  been  produced,  although  he  had  still  to  paint 
his  fine  series  of  four  pictures  of  the  '  Election ' 
(1755),  and  the  '  Lady's  Last  Stake  '  (1759),  so  that 
his  maligners  had  no  excuse  in  respect  to  any 
incompleteness  in  the  brilliant  harvest  of  the 
greater  portion  of  his  life.  Mr.  William  Sandby,  in 
his  account  of  Thomas  and  Paul  Sandby  (1892), 
makes  the  best  of  Paul  Sandby 's  libels  and  praises 
them  highly,  but  in  spite  of  artistic  design  they  form 
a  pitiable  instance  of  unjust  defamation  of  a  great 
man. 

It  is  said  that  Hogarth  proposed  to  draw  up  a 


HOGARTH'S  LIFE  AND  WORKS         83 

succinct  history  of  the  Arts  in  his  own  time,  as  a 
sort  of  supplement  to  the  Analysis :  some  notes  for 
this  were  printed  by  John  Ireland  in  his  Hogarth 
Illustrated  (vol.  iii.)  in  connection  with  dispersed 
portions  of  autobiography,  but  nothing  continuous 
has  survived,  and  nothing  to  prove  the  intention  of 
publication  except  the  well-known  '  No  Dedication/ 
of  which  a  facsimile  will  be  found  in  John  Ireland's 
Hogarth  Illustrated,  1798  (vol.  iii.).  The  manuscript 
(which  is  hi  the  Morrison  Collection  of  Autographs) 
was  lent  to  the  Guelph  Exhibition  (1891)  by  the 
late  Mr.  Alfred  Morrison  : 

'  The  No-Dedication  ;  not  dedicated  to  any  Prince 
in  Christendom,  for  fear  it  might  be  thought  an 
idle  piece  of  arrogance  ;  not  dedicated  to  any  man 
of  quality,  for  fear  it  might  be  thought  too  assuming  ; 
not  dedicated  to  any  learned  body  of  men,  as 
either  of  the  Universityes  or  the  Royal  Society,  for 
fear  it  might  be  thought  an  uncommon  piece  of 
vanity,  nor  dedicated  to  any  one  particular  friend, 
for  fear  of  offending  another  ;  therefore  dedicated  to 
nobody ;  but  if  for  once  we  may  suppose  nobody 
to  be  everybody,  as  everybody  is  often  said  to  be 
nobody,  then  is  this  work  dedicated  to  everybody, — 
'  By  their  most  humble  and  devoted 

'  W.  HOGARTH.' 

The  year  1762  is  an  ominous  date  in  the  life  of 
Hogarth,  for  in  that  year  he  made  the  grievous 
mistake  of  producing  a  political  print  entitled 


84  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

'  The  Times,  Plate  1,'  in  which  Lords  Chatham  and 
Temple  were  satirised  and  ridiculed,  and  thus  he 
made  dangerous  enemies  of  two  former  friends — 
Wilkes  and  Churchill. 

Hogarth  was  no  politician  and  had  not  previously 
interfered  hi  politics,  of  which  he  knew  little  or 
nothing.  Mr.  Stephens  seems  to  think  he  shows 
definite  opinions  in  the  pictures  of  the  Election,  but 
there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  he  chose  the 
characters  he  thought  the  most  effective,  without 
any  bias  from  his  own  opinions.  One  would  have 
expected  sufficient  patriotism  in  Hogarth  to  save 
him  from  treating  Pitt's  thoroughly  deserved 
pension  as  discreditable  to  the  great  statesman, 
but  it  may  be  that  he  was  one  of  those  who  yearned 
for  peace  after  *  expensive '  wars.  We  need  take 
no  account  of  the  turbulent  Temple,  although  he 
was  greatly  admired  by  Wilkes  and  Churchill. 

It  may  be  supposed  that  Bute  was  ready  to  pay 
liberally  for  the  support  of  Hogarth,  which  he  so 
much  required,  but  it  is  quite  incorrect  to  say  that 
he  received  a  pension.  He  had  received  the 
appointment  of  Serjeant  Painter  to  the  King  in 
succession  to  his  brother  in-law,  John  Thornhill. 

The  f ollowing  lines  *  To  the  Author  of  the  Times ' 
are  quoted  in  John  Ireland's  Hogarth  Illustrated 
(vol.  iii.  p.  216) : 

1  Why,  Billy,  in  the  vale  of  life, 
Show  so  much  rancour,  spleen  and  strife  1 
Why,  Billy,  at  a  statesman's  whistle, 
Drag  dirty  loads,  and  feed  on  thistle  1 


arikflute'.      '  f/7/,'..v7/..v* 

PORTRAIT  OF  JOHN  THORNHILL.     (BROTHER-IN-LAW  OF  HOGARTH.) 


HOGARTH'S  LIFE  AND  WORKS         85 

Did  any  of  the  long-ear'd  tribe 
E'er  swallow  half  so  mean  a  bribe  ? 
Pray,  have  you  no  sinister  end, 
Thus  to  abuse  the  nation's  friend  ? 
His  country's  and  his  monarch's  glory.' 

In  his  autobiography  Hogarth  catalogued  under 
four  headings  the  chief  causes  of  complaint  against 
him  :  the  first  three  are  too  absurd  for  words  and 
require  no  refutation  from  the  painter,  although  he 
condescends  to  answer  them.  He  writes :  '  The 
chief  things  that  have  brought  much  obloquy  on 
me  are,  first,  the  attempting  portrait  painting. 
Secondly,  writing  the  Analysis  of  Beauty.  Thirdly, 
painting  the  picture  of  Sigismunda  ;  and  fourthly, 
publishing  the  first  print  of  the  Times.' 

Of  the  last  count  in  the  indictment  he  says : 
4  The  anxiety  that  attends  endeavouring  to  recollect 
ideas  long  dormant,  and  the  misfortunes  which 
clung  to  this  transaction,  coming  at  a  time  when 
nature  demands  quiet,  and  something  besides 
exercise  to  cheer  it,  added  to  my  long  sedentary 
life,  brought  on  an  illness  which  continued  twelve 
months.  But  when  I  got  well  enough  to  ride  on 
horseback  I  soon  recovered.  This  being  at  a 
period  when  war  abroad  and  contention  at  home 
engrossed  every  one's  mind,  prints  were  thrown 
into  the  back-ground ;  and  the  stagnation  rendered 
it  necessary  that  I  should  do  some  timed  thing,  to 
recover  my  lost  time,  and  stop  a  gap  in  my  income. 
This  drew  forth  my  print  of  "  The  Times,"  a  subject 
which  tended  to  the  restoration  of  peace  and 


86  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

unanimity,  and  put  the  opposers  of  these  humane 
objects  in  a  light,  which  gave  great  offence  to  those 
who  were  trying  to  foment  destruction  in  the 
minds  of  the  populace.  One  of  the  most  notorious 
among  them,  till  now  rather  my  friend  and  flatterer, 
attacked  me  in  a  North  Briton,  in  so  infamous  and 
malign  a  style,  that  he  himself  when  pushed  even 
by  his  best  friends,  was  driven  to  so  poor  an  excuse 
as  to  say  he  was  drunk  when  he  wrote  it.  Being 
at  that  time  very  weak,  and  in  a  kind  of  slow  fever, 
it  could  not  but  seize  on  a  feeling  mind.  My 
philosophical  friends  advise  me  to  laugh  at  the 
nonsense  of  party-writing — who  would  mind  it  ? 
— but  I  cannot  rest  myself  : 

"  Who  steals  my  purse,  steals  trash ;  'tis  something,  nothing ; 
'Twas  mine,  'tis  his,  and  has  been  slave  to  thousands  : 
But  he  that  filches  my  good  name, 
Robs  me  of  that  which  not  enriches  him, 
And  makes  me  poor  indeed." 

Such  being  my  feelings,  my  great  object  was  to 
return  the  compliment,  and  turn  it  to  some 
advantage.' 

Paul  Sandby  and  others  renewed  their  caricatures 
of  Hogarth  on  account  of  'The  Times,  No.  1,'  but 
these  the  artist  could  treat  with  contempt.  It 
was  the  virulent  defamation  of  his  moral  character 
contained  in  No.  17  of  the  North  Briton  by  Wilkes, 
which  embittered  his  last  days.  He  could  neither 
forget  nor  forgive  the  references  to  his  wife  or  such 
passages  as  this :  '  The  public  never  had  the  least 


87 

share  of  his  regard,  or  even  good  will.  Gain  and 
vanity  have  steered  his  little  light  bark  quite 
through  life.  He  has  never  been  consistent  but  to 
those  two  principles.' 

Mrs.  Hogarth  gave  Samuel  Ireland  a  worn  copy 
of  this  number,  which  had  been  purchased  by  her 
husband  and  carried  in  his  pocket  many  days  to 
show  his  friends. 

We  cannot  but  regret  that  the  print  of  '  The  Times, 
Plate  1,'  was  ever  published,  as  it  has  no  particular 
merits  and  the  consequences  of  its  appearance 
were  disastrous.  We  can  understand  the  disgust 
of  Wilkes  and  Churchill  at  the  position  taken  by 
Hogarth,  but  nothing  can  excuse  their  rancorous 
writings.  The  passage  above  from  the  auto- 
biography is  of  the  greatest  interest  as  expressing 
Hogarth's  feelings  of  the  necessity  of  peace,  and  we 
have  such  confidence  in  his  inherent  truthfulness 
that  we  do  not  doubt  that  his  words  describe 
correctly  his  own  feelings.  Possibly  many  of  the 
public  held  similar  opinions.1 

Mr.  Saunders  Welch,  who  appreciated  the  delicacy 
of  Hogarth's  feelings,  tried  to  persuade  him  not  to 
publish  his  satirical  print  against  Wilkes  and 
Churchill  ('The  Times').  He  observed  'that  the 
mind  that  had  been  accustomed  for  a  length  of 
years  to  receive  only  merited  and  uniform  applause, 
would  be  ill  calculated  to  bear  a  reverse  from  the 
bitter  sarcasms  of  adversaries  whose  wit  and  genius 

1  This  subject  is  more  fully  discussed  in  Chapter  v.  on  Political  Life. 


88  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

would  enable  them  to  retort  with  severity  such  an 
attack.* 

Hogarth  took  his  revenge  when  he  drew  the 
sinister  portrait  of  Wilkes  and  the  caricature  of 
Churchill,  which  have  added  to  the  artistic  wealth 
of  the  world,  and  proved  that  his  powers  of  satire 
continued  to  be  as  great  and  brilliant  as  they  had 
ever  been,  but  nevertheless  the  contemplation  of 
this  enmity  makes  an  unhappy  ending  to  the  story 
of  Hogarth's  life. 

There  is  little  to  record  of  work  done  after  these 
wonderful  portraits,  which  gibbeted  these  men  for 
all  time.  The  artist  was  indeed  revenged  for  the 
libels  of  the  authors. 

Hogarth  was  broken  down  although  he  still 
worked,  and  the  end  came  suddenly  on  October  25, 
1764.  He  was  conveyed  in  a  weak  condition  from 
Chiswick  to  London,  and  soon  after  going  to  bed  in 
his  house  in  Leicester  Square,  he  died  in  the  arms 
of  Mrs.  Mary  Lewis,  who  was  called  up  to  attend 
to  him.  The  cause  of  death  was  the  bursting  of 
an  aneurism.  The  last  thing  he  did  was  to  write  a 
rough  draft  of  an  answer  to  an  agreeable  letter 
received  from  Benjamin  Franklin. 

The  house  in  Leicester  Square  has  been  rebuilt, 
and  his  residence  can  no  longer  be  seen  except  in 
engravings,  but  the  Chiswick  house,  thanks  to 
Lieut. -Colonel  Shipway,  who  bought  it  in  1902,  and 
as  Mr.  Dobson  says,  preserved  it  to  the  nation,1 

1  It  has  now  been  definitely  transferred  to  the  Middlesex  County  Council 
(Evening  Standard,  April  29,  1909). 


HOGARTH'S  LIFE  AND  WORKS         89 

can  be  visited  as  a  museum  sacred  to  the  memory 
of  Hogarth.  Not  far  off  is  the  pleasant  churchyard, 
with  its  important-looking  monument,  upon  which 
can  still  be  read  Garrick's  epitaph  : 

1  Farewel,  great  painter  of  mankind, 

Who  reach'd  the  noblest  point  of  Art, 
Whose  pictur'd  morals  charm  the  mind, 
And  through  the  eye  correct  the  heart. 

If  genius  fire  thee,  reader,  stay ; 

If  Nature  touch  thee,  drop  a  tear ; 
If  neither  move  thee,  turn  away, 

For  HOGARTH'S  honour'd  dust  lies  here.' 

Garrick  submitted  his  first  draft  of  the  epitaph 
to  Johnson,  and  the  latter  rather  severely  criticised 
it  in  a  letter  to  the  former,  dated  December  12,  1771. 
He  considered  *  pictured  morals'  a  beautiful  ex- 
pression which  he  wished  retained,  but  he  praised 
little  else.  It  will  be  seen  from  the  following 
emendation  by  Johnson  that  Garrick  availed  him- 
self of  the  valued  suggestion  : 

'  The  Hand  of  Art  here  torpid  lies 

That  traced  the  essential  form  of  Grace ; 
Here  Death  has  closed  the  curious  eyes 
That  saw  the  manners  in  the  face. 

If  Genius  warm  thee,  Reader,  stay, 

If  Merit  touch  thee,  shed  a  tear ; 
Be  Vice  and  Dulness  far  away  ! 

Great  Hogarth's  honour'd  dust  is  here.' 

Dr.  Townley  wrote  a  laudatory  inscription  to 
Hogarth's  memory  which  was  printed  in  the  Public 
Ledger  of  November  19,  1764,  and  will  be  found  in 
John  Ireland's  Hogarth  Illustrated  (vol.  iii.). 


90  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

In  closing  this  chapter  we  may  record  his  chief 
characteristics.  Rough  and  unpolished,  he  had 
a  kindly  heart ;  honest  and  truthful,  he  did  his 
duty  through  life.  He  was  considerate  to  his 
friends  and  thoroughly  companionable,  full  of  talk 
on  subjects  interesting  to  him,  although,  when 
Horace  Walpole  asked  him  to  meet  Gray  at  dinner, 
the  dilettante  found  the  two  men  equally  silent 
and  unsympathetic. 

He  was  light-hearted,  and  equal  to  playing  the 
fool  when  with  congenial  spirits,  as  he  did  when  on 
that  memorable  Frolic  on  the  Thames  and  Medway 
in  May  1732,  in  the  company  of  John  Thornhill, 
Samuel  Scott,  painter,  William  Tothall,  draper,  and 
Ebenezer  Forrest,  attorney. 

To  his  enemies  he  was  ever  on  his  guard,  as  he 
was  thoroughly  convinced  that  they  were  malignant, 
and  therefore  dangerous.  No  doubt  he  had  a  good 
opinion  of  himself,  but  he  had  reason  for  this 
opinion.  This,  and  a  consequential  air,  are  for- 
givable sins  where  there  are  ever  present  virtues 
to  counterbalance  them,  as  was  certainly  the  case 
in  respect  to  Hogarth. 

We  know  that  the  charge  made  by  some  of  his 
enemies  that  he  was  filled  with  greed  for  money 
was  ridiculously  untrue.  He  was  the  most  indus- 
trious of  men,  and  his  main  object  was  to  make 
a  comfortable  home  for  his  wife  and  himself,  and 
there  is  no  evidence  that  he  lived  extravagantly, 
although  he  was  generous. 


PORTRAIT  OK  MRS.  HOGARTH. 


HOGARTH'S  LIFE  AND  WORKS         91 

He  made  his  chief  income  from  the  sale  of  his 
prints,  the  sale  of  some  of  which  was  considerable, 
but  here  he  was  robbed  on  all  sides  by  piratical 
printsellers.  He  made  but  little  out  of  his  splendid 
paintings,  partly  because  the  market  price  of 
English  pictures  was  not  high,  but  partly  on  account 
of  his  adopting  an  ill-judged  mode  of  selling  them, 
as  we  have  already  seen. 

He  was  able  to  leave  Mrs.  Hogarth  little  but  the 
stock  of  his  plates  and  engravings,  and,  living  as  she 
did  twenty-five  years  after  her  husband,  she  became 
straitened  in  her  means,  so  that  she  was  glad  to 
accept  a  pension  of  £40  from  the  Royal  Academy. 


92  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 


CHAPTER  III 

HIGH   LIFE 

THE  popular  idea  of  Hogarth's  genius  is  probably 
that  he  possessed  little  understanding  of  High  Life, 
and  that  the  study  of  Low  Life  was  his  forte.  There 
is  some  truth  in  this,  because  he  delighted  to  paint 
strong  exhibitions  of  character  which  are  more 
commonly  to  be  found  among  classes  who  do  not 
hide  their  feelings.  Although  it  may  be  said  that  the 
incidents  of  low  life  are  the  chief  objects  of  his 
pencil,  it  is  equally  true  that  he  took  all  human 
nature  under  his  charge,  and  when  he  did  paint 
scenes  of  high  life,  he  showed  himself  equally  at 
home  as  in  those  of  low  life.  Nothing  finer  than 
some  of  the  episodes  in  the  '  Marriage  a  la  Mode ' 
has  ever  been  produced,  and  in  the  first  picture  the 
figure  of  the  Earl  is  superb  in  his  haughty  grandeur. 
In  the  '  Rake's  Progress '  we  see  the  man's  attempt 
to  shine  in  so-called  good  society,  but  perhaps  at 
no  time  in  our  history  were  a  large  portion  of  the 
upper  classes  so  essentially  vulgar  as  in  the 
eighteenth  century. 

Although  we  are  delighted  with  the  vivid  pictures 


HIGH  LIFE  93 

in  the  pages  of  Horace  Walpole  of  those  who  moved 
in  the  highest  circles  of  society,  we  are  not  able 
to  say  that  we  are  edified.  Walpole  himself  was 
fastidious,  but  his  records  of  the  proceedings  of  his 
friends  prove  that  their  doings  must  be  largely 
condemned  as  being  as  low  in  taste  as  in  morals. 
There  is  plenty  of  evidence  of  exclusiveness,  but 
little  of  refinement. 

The  fashionable  parts  of  town  are  shown  in  many 
of  Hogarth's  pictures,  as  St.  James's  Street  in  the 
fourth  plate  of  the  *  Rake's  Progress,'  Lord 
Burlington's  house  in  Piccadilly  in  the  '  Taste  of 
the  Town '  and  in  the  '  Man  of  Taste,'  and  in  St. 
James's  Park — Rosamond's  Pond,  Spencer  House, 
and  the  Treasury  are  all  pictured  by  him. 

The  Park  continued  to  be  the  resort  of  Fashion 
in  the  eighteenth,  as  it  had  been  in  the  seventeenth 
century.  It  was  thronged  before  dinner  between 
twelve  and  two,  and  from  seven  till  midnight  in 
the  summer.  On  Sundays  the  Park  was  crowded 
by  another  class,  who  were  busy  on  week-days. 
'  Taste  in  High  Life '  is  pure  caricature,  but  in  the 
*  Lady's  Last  Stake '  we  find  an  elegant  West  End 
interior  quite  perfect  in  its  design,  with  a  terrible 
story  told  in  a  strong  but  reticent  manner.  It 
exhibits  as  fine  an  instance  of  harmony  as  any 
picture  ever  painted  by  Hogarth.  Everything  is 
in  keeping,  and  nothing  is  exaggerated.  Well  might 
Horace  Walpole  write :  '  The  very  furniture  of 
his  rooms  describe  the  characters  of  the  persons  to 


94  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

whom  they  belong :  a  lesson  that  might  be  of  use 
to  comic  authors.'  ] 

In  his  Portraits  and  Conversation  Pieces,  Hogarth 
exhibited  High  Life  from  the  King  (George  n.)  and 
his  family  downwards.  Many  of  these  require  some 
special  notice. 

It  was  hi  the  painting  of  these  that  he  attained 
that  dexterity  of  treatment  and  brilliancy  of  com- 
position, which  stood  him  in  good  stead  in  his  more 
original  work.  We  can  therefore  trace  in  these 
pictures  the  growth  of  the  painter's  art;  but  this 
could  not  have  been  done  before  the  days  of 
exhibitions,  as  the  pictures  passed  into  the  hands 
of  those  for  whom  they  were  painted.  We  have  to 
bear  this  in  mind  when  we  feel  surprise  at  the  neglect 
of  the  public  for  Hogarth's  eminent  powers  as  a 
painter.  All  knew  the  engravings  and  admired 
them,  but  few  were  acquainted  with  the  pictures. 

The  best  known  of  these  Conversations  is  that 
styled  indifferently  the  '  Wanstead  Assembly,'  or  *  A 
Conversation  at  Wanstead  House.'  This,  belonging 
to  Lord  Tweedmouth,  was  sold  by  auction  by  Messrs. 
Christie  on  June  3,  1905,  when  it  was  bought  by 
Messrs.  Agnew  for  2750  guineas.  The  picture  is 
thus  described  in  the  catalogue  : 

'  An  Assembly  at  Wanstead  House.  Containing 
portraits  of  Richard  Child,  first  Earl  of  Tylney, 
and  many  of  his  friends  and  relations.  Interior  of 
a  saloon  :  twenty-six  full-length  figures  ;  on  the 

1  Anecdotes  of  Painting  in  England,  1876,  vol.  iii.  p.  7. 


HIGH  LIFE  95 

left  [right]  a  gentleman  and  two  ladies  seated  at  a 
table,  drinking  tea  ;  in  the  centre,  a  party  of  four 
people  playing  cards  ;  on  the  right  [left]  a  girl  and 
two  boys  ;  one  of  whom  is  riding  a  poodle,  the  other 
ladies  and  gentlemen  stand  about,  while  the  servant 
lights  the  candles  in  a  chandelier.  Said  to  be  the 
earliest  known  picture  by  the  painter.  Painted  for 
Lord  Castlemain  in  1728  '  [25  in.  by  29J  in.]. 

The  date  here  given  is  certainly  wrong,  for  hi  a 
memorandum  of  Hogarth's  with  the  heading, 
'  Account  taken,  January  1,  1731,  of  all  the  pictures 
that  remain  unfinished — half -payment  received/ 
there  is  this  entry,  '  An  Assembly  of  twenty-five 
figures,  for  Lord  Castlemaine,  August  28,  1729.'  l 

The  picture  must  therefore  have  been  finished 
after  1731,  and  the  extra  figure  added.  The 
painter  himself  describes  the  picture  in  the  above 
memorandum  as  an  Assembly,  but  on  the  old 
frame  was  the  inscription :  '  A  Conversation  at 
Wanstead  House.'  This  same  picture  was  ex- 
hibited at  the  Winter  Exhibition  of  the  Royal 
Academy,  1906  (No.  20),  with  a  similar  description 
to  that  in  Christie's  Catalogue,  but  the  words  '  right ' 
and  '  left '  are  as  given  between  brackets  in  the 
above  quotation. 

J.  B.  Nichols  (1833)  describes  the  picture  thus : 
— '  The  Wanstead  Assembly,  painted  for  Lord 
Castlemain.  This  was  the  first  picture  that  brought 
Hogarth  into  notice.  It  was  exhibited  in  the  British 

1  John  Ireland's  Hogarth  Illustrated,  vol.  iii.  p.  23. 


96  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

Gallery  in  1814,  and  was  then  the  property  of 
W.  Long  Wellesley,  Esq.  It  was  in  the  catalogue 
of  his  effects  in  1822,  but  was  bought  in  by  the 
family.'  Elsewhere  he  writes :  '  A  beautiful  small 
painting,  a  family  group,  was  at  Tilney  House, 
Wanstead,  and  was  in  the  catalogue  of  Mr.  Wel- 
lesley's  effects  in  1822,  but  was  bought  in  by  the 
family.'  l 

Much  confusion  has  arisen  in  this  case  owing  to 
the  fact  that  a  picture  described  as  the  '  Wanstead 
Assembly'  was  known  to  be  hi  the  possession  of 
Mr.  William  Carpenter  of  Forest  Hill.  When  he 
died  he  left  it  to  the  South  London  Art  Gallery, 
and  on  examination  it  turned  out  to  be  the  dance 
in  the  Analysis  of  Beauty,  one  of  the  Happy  Marriage 
set,  and  not  executed  until  1750  or  thereabouts. 
(Of.  A.  Dobson's  Hogarth,  1907,  pp.  196,  198,  310.) 

It  may  be  well  to  add  here  a  note  as  to  Wanstead 
and  its  proprietors  in  order  to  clear  up  the  difficulty 
as  to  the  names  and  titles  of  the  proprietors. 

The  history  of  the  Manor  of  Wanstead,  Essex 
(six  miles  from  Whitechapel  Church),  commences 
before  the  Norman  Conquest,  and  the  manor  is 
registered  in  Domesday.  Coming  to  later  times, 
Pepys  visited  Sir  Robert  Brooke  at  Wanstead  House 
on  May  14,  1665.  Two  years  after  this  the  property 
was  sold  to  Sir  Josiah  Child,  the  great  merchant 
and  banker,  who  spent  large  sums  of  money  upon  it, 
planting  walnut-trees  and  making  fishponds,  as 

1  Anecdotes  of  William  Hogarth,  pp.  350,  376. 


HIGH  LIFE  97 

Evelyn,  who  visited  him  on  March  16,  1682-3, 
tells  us  in  his  Diary.  Sir  Josiah's  son,  Sir 
Richard  Child,  was  created  Viscount  Castlemaine 
in  1718,  and  Earl  Tylney  of  Castlemaine  in  1731, 
both  titles  in  the  Peerage  of  Ireland.  He  it  was 
who  pulled  down  the  old  mansion  about  1715,  and 
erected  a  new  Wanstead  House  from  the  design  of 
Colin  Campbell,  which  was  pronounced  by  con- 
temporaries to  be  '  one  of  the  noblest  houses  not 
only  in  England,  but  in  Europe.'  The  reception- 
rooms  were  very  magnificent,  and  the  walls  hung 
with  pictures. 

It  was  one  of  these  rooms  that  is  depicted  in 
Hogarth's  painting.  On  the  death  without  issue  of 
John,  second  Earl  Tylney,  in  1784,  the  manor  passed 
to  the  Earl's  sister,  from  whom  it  devolved  to  her 
granddaughter,  Catherine,  the  daughter  of  Sir  James 
Tylney  Long.  During  Miss  Tylney  Long's  minority 
the  house  was  the  residence  of  the  Prince  de  Conde 
(father  of  the  Due  d'Enghien),  and  occasionally  of 
Louis  xvni.  The  hand  of  Miss  Tylney  Long  was 
much  sought  after,  and  she  unfortunately  married 
a  very  worthless  man — the  Hon.  William  Wellesley 
Pole,  who  added  his  wife's  name  to  his  own  and 
became  William  Pole  Tylney  Long  Wellesley. 
The  authors  of  the  Rejected  Addresses  thought  the 
names  would  make  a  good  line,  and  introduced 
them  in  their  first  parody — '  Long  may  Long 
Tilney  Wellesley  Long  Pole  live.'  Wellesley  Pole 
soon  dissipated  the  heiress's  wealth,  and  in  June 

G 


98  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

1822  the  contents  of  Wanstead  were  sold  by 
auction  by  George  Robins.  The  sale  occupied 
thirty-two  days,  and  realised  £41,000.  No 
purchaser  for  the  mansion  being  found,  it  was 
pulled  down  and  the  materials  sold.  The  family 
portraits  were  reserved,  but  in  1851  these  too  were 
sold  by  Messrs.  Christie  and  Manson  in  consequence, 
as  the  catalogue  states,  'of  the  non-payment  of 
expenses  for  warehousing  room.' 

Wellesley  Pole  was  Viscount  Wellesley  from 
1842  to  1845,  and  in  the  latter  year  he  succeeded 
his  father  as  Earl  of  Mornington.  He  died  in 
poverty  on  the  1st  July  1857,  at  lodgings  in  Thayer 
Street,  Marylebone. 

There  is  considerable  difficulty  in  fixing  the  date 
of  these  several  conversation  pieces,  but  it  will  be 
seen  from  the  various  pictures  of  distinguished 
families  which  are  known,  that  Hogarth  was  well 
patronised  when  he  undertook  this  branch  of  work. 

A  picture  of  '  The  Devonshire  Family '  was 
exhibited  at  the  Guelph  Exhibition  in  1891  by  the 
late  Duke  of  Devonshire.  The  scene  is  at  Chiswick, 
and  the  persons  represented  are  Lady  Caroline 
Cavendish,  William,  fourth  Duke  of  Devonshire, 
Lord  George  Cavendish,  and  Lord  Frederick 
Cavendish.  The  same  picture  was  shown  in  the 
Winter  Exhibition  of  the  Royal  Academy,  1908. 

Mr.  Dobson  mentions  a  single  portrait  of  the 
fourth  Duke,  signed  '  W.  Hogarth,  Pinx*  1741,' 
which  in  1833  was  in  the  possession  of  the  Hon. 


HIGH  LIFE  99 

Charles  Compton  Cavendish,  at  Latimers,  Bucks. 
Another  ducal  family  is  said  to  have  been  painted 
by  Hogarth.  In  the  Winter  Exhibition  of  the 
Royal  Academy  (1908)  was  a  picture  lent  by  Mr. 
C.  Newton  Robinson  and  described  as  the  Walpole 
family. 

A  picture  of  the  Shelley  family  belonging  to  Sir 
G.  A.  C.  Russell,  Bart.,  of  Swallowfield  Park,  Reading, 
contains  portraits  of  Lady  Shelley,  wife  of  Sir  John 
Shelley,  and  sister  to  Holies,  Duke  of  Newcastle, 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Richard  Shelley,  their  two  daughters 
Fanny  and  Martha  Rose  (who  married  Sir  Charles 
Whitworth),  Captain  the  Hon.  William  Fitz- 
William,  Mr.  Richard  Benyon,  Governor  of  Fort 
St.  George,  and  Mrs.  Beard. 

A  very  interesting  picture,  containing  the  two 
heads  of  the  Fox  family  and  others  styled  '  A  Con- 
versation,' belonging  to  the  Earl  of  Ilchester,  is  at 
Melbury  House,  Dorchester.  Starting  from  the 
left,  Mr.  Villemain,  a  clergyman  in  black  gown  and 
bands,  is  seen  standing  upon  a  chair,  rather  insecurely 
placed,  with  a  telescope  to  his  eye ;  next,  sitting  at 
a  table,  is  Stephen,  first  Earl  of  Ilchester,  then  next 
to  him  is  Henry,  first  Lord  Holland,  with  a  plan  of 
a  building  in  his  hands.  John,  first  Lord  Hervey, 
points  to  the  plan,  both  standing.  To  the  right  of 
these  two  is  Charles,  second  Duke  of  Marlborough 
(died  1758),  sitting,  and  to  the  extreme  right  is 
the  standing  figure  of  the  Right  Hon.  Thomas 
Winnington.  The  scene  is  a  terrace  by  the  side 


100  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

of  a  river  with  a  large  gate  at  the  back.  Hogarth 
painted  a  separate  portrait  of  Lord  Holland,  which 
was  exhibited  at  the  Royal  Academy  Winter 
Exhibition,  1908,  by  Mary  Countess  of  Ilchester. 
Hogarth  told  the  subject  that  he  would  paint  him  a 
good  portrait.  Hogarth,  in  mentioning  his  appoint- 
ment in  1757  to  the  office  of  Serjeant  Painter  to  the 
King,  wrote  in  his  autobiography  that,  as  he  had  to 
paint  some  portraits  of  the  royal  family,  the  position 
might  be  worth  to  him  two  hundred  per  annum. 

The  picture  of  *  George  n.  and  his  family,'  which 
belonged  to  Samuel  Ireland,  and  is  now  in  the 
National  Gallery  of  Dublin,  is  reproduced  in  his 
Graphic  Illustrations  (vol.  ii.  p.  137).  The  portraits 
are  those  of  George  n.,  Queen  Caroline,  the  Prince 
of  Wales  (Frederick),  the  Duke  of  Cumberland, 
the  Princess  of  Hesse,  etc.  The  King  is  much  too 
youthful  in  appearance.  The  Corporation  of  York 
possess  a  portrait  of  Queen  Charlotte  by  Hogarth, 
who  also  painted  portraits  of  two  Dukes  of  Cum- 
berland— William  Augustus  (third  son  of  George  n.), 
K.G.,  and  Captain-General  of  the  Army  (d.  1765) ; 
and  Henry  Frederick  (third  brother  of  George  m.), 
as  a  boy.  He  was  created  K.G.  in  1767,  and  died 
in  1790.  The  former  picture  is  in  the  Jones 
Collection  at  the  Victoria  and  Albert  Museum, 
South  Kensington ;  the  latter  was  exhibited  in 
1888  by  the  late  Sir  Charles  Tennant,  Bart. 

Hogarth  also  painted  separate  portraits  of  many 
distinguished  noblemen.  One  of  Henry  Pelham- 


HIGH  LIFE  101 

Clinton,  second  Duke  of  Newcastle,  K.G.  (1720-94), 
was  exhibited  at  the  Grosvenor  Gallery  in  1888  by 
Sir  John  Fender.  One  of  George  Parker,  second 
Earl  of  Macclesfield,  President  of  the  Royal  Society, 
and  a  prominent  promoter  of  the  change  of  the 
style,  was  exhibited  in  1882  by  the  Earl  of  Maccles- 
field. A  picture  of  Captain  Lord  George  Graham 
(who  commanded  the  Diana  frigate  at  the  reduc- 
tion of  Quebec)  in  his  cabin,  was  exhibited  in  the 
Royal  Naval  Exhibition  in  1891. 

A  portrait  of  Gustavus  Lord  Viscount  Boyne  is 
now  in  the  National  Gallery  of  Ireland.  One  of 
Horace  Walpole  in  his  youth  was  exhibited  at  the 
Guelph  Exhibition  in  1891,  and  at  Whitechapel 
by  Mr.  H.  S.  Vade  Walpole.  Another  portrait 
of  Walpole  at  the  age  of  ten  was  at  Strawberry  Hill, 
and  Mr.  Dobson  tells  us  it  belonged  in  1856  to  Mrs. 
Bedford,  and  in  1866  was  bought  by  Mr.  H.  Farrer 
for  £213,  3s.  The  stated  age  dates  this  picture  as 
painted  in  1727.  A  picture  of  George  William, 
sixth  Earl  of  Coventry,  and  his  wife  (the  beautiful 
Maria  Gunning)  was  exhibited  at  the  Guelph 
Exhibition  in  1891  by  the  Earl  of  Coventry. 

Laurence  Shirley,  Earl  Ferrers,  was  painted  by 
Hogarth,  but  as  he  was  executed  at  Tyburn  on  May 
5,  1760,  he  does  no  honour  to  this  list. 

The  two  children  of  William,  fourth  Lord  Byron, 
with  a  dog  were  painted  by  Hogarth,  and  the 
picture  was  originally  at  Newstead.  It  was  sold 
in  1870  for  £57,  15s.  by  Lord  W.  G.  Osborne.  A 


102  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

portrait  of  Frances  Lady  Byron  was  exhibited  in 
1814  by  the  Earl  of  Mulgrave,  and  is  now  at  Lowther 
Castle.  An  engraving,  '  W.  Hogarth  pinx* ,  I.  Faber 
fecit,'  was  published  and  '  sold  by  Faber  at  the 
Golden  Head  in  Bloomsbury  Square '  in  1736. 
Samuel  Ireland  in  the  Graphic  Illustrations  (vol.  ii. 
p.  102)  gives  an  engraving  by  T.  Ryder  from  a 
sketch  of  Lady  Pembroke  made  by  Hogarth  from 
recollection  about  1740.  He  gave  no  particulars 
of  the  drawing,  nor  any  justification  for  the 
attribution.  The  Lady  Pembroke  of  1740  must 
have  been  Mary,  eldest  daughter  of  Richard,  fifth 
Viscount  Fitzwilliam,  who  married  Henry,  ninth 
Earl  of  Pembroke,  in  1733. 

This  is  a  goodly  list  of  aristocratic  patrons  (and 
possibly  there  were  more  that  have  not  been 
recorded),  which  is  quite  sufficient  to  prove  that 
Hogarth  had  many  opportunities  of  association 
with  people  of  high  social  position.  We  have  no 
information  as  to  how  cordial  the  relations  between 
Hogarth  and  these  patrons  may  have  been,  and 
it  is  therefore  pleasant  to  refer  to  Lord  Charlemont's 
friendly  communications  with  the  painter. 

The  portrait  of  Lord  Charlemont  does  not  appear 
to  have  been  painted  for  the  Earl,  as  it  was  in  the 
possession  of  Samuel  Ireland,  who  published  an 
etching  made  by  Joseph  Haynes  in  1782.  '  The 
Right  Hon.  James  Caulfield,  Earl  of  Charlemount,' 
etc.,  '  From  an  Original  Portrait  by  Hogarth  in  the 
possession  of  Mr.  Samuel  Ireland.' 


"I 


HIGH  LIFE  103 

The  picture  entitled  '  The  Lady's  Last  Stake,'  or 
'  Picquet,'  or  *  Virtue  in  Danger,'  already  referred  to, 
is  one  of  the  artist's  most  charming  works.  Hogarth 
has  himself  given  an  account  of  its  origin  :  '  While 
I  was  making  arrangements  to  confine  myself 
entirely  to  my  graver,  an  amiable  nobleman  (Lord 
Charlemont)  requested  that  before  I  bade  a  final 
adieu  to  the  pencil,  I  would  paint  him  one  picture. 
The  subject  to  be  my  own  choice,  and  the  reward, — 
whatever  I  demanded.  The  story  I  pitched  upon, 
was  a  young  and  virtuous  married  lady,  who,  by 
playing  at  cards  with  an  officer,  loses  her  money, 
watches  and  jewels  ;  the  moment  when  he  offers 
them  back  in  return  for  her  honour,  and  she  is 
wavering  at  his  suit,  was  my  point  of  time* 

'  The  picture  was  highly  approved  of,  and  the 
payment  was  noble;  but  the  manner  in  which  it 
was  made,  by  a  note  inclosed  in  one  of  the  following 
letters,  was  to  me  infinitely  more  gratifying  than 
treble  the  sum.'  The  first  letter  was  dated  from 
Mount  Street,  19th  August  1759,  and  in  it  Lord 
Charlemont  expresses  his  thanks  for  the  picture, 
for  which  he  says  '  I  am  still  your  debtor,  more  so 
indeed  than  I  ever  shall  be  able  to  pay.'  He  also 
says  :  '  I  have  not  been  able  to  wait  upon  you 
according  to  my  promise,  nor  even  to  find  time  to 
sit  for  my  picture  ;  as  I  am  obliged  to  set  out  for 
Ireland  to-morrow.' 

The  second  letter  is  so  pleasing  that  it  must  be 
copied  in  extenso. 


104  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

'DUBLIN,  29^  January  1760. 
1  To  Mr.  Hogarth. 

'DEAR  SIB, — Inclosed  I  send  you  a  note  upon 
Nesbitt,  for  one  hundred  pounds ;  and  considering 
the  name  of  the  author,  and  the  surprising  merit 
of  your  performance,  I  am  really  much  ashamed 
to  offer  such  a  trifle  in  recompence  for  the  pains  you 
have  taken,  and  the  pleasure  your  picture  has 
afforded  me.  I  beg  you  would  think  that  I  by  no 
means  attempt  to  pay  you  according  to  your  merit, 
but  according  to  my  own  abilities.  Were  I  to  pay 
your  deserts,  I  fear  I  should  leave  myself  poor 
indeed.  Imagine  that  you  have  made  me  a  present 
of  the  picture,  for  literally,  as  such  I  take  it,  and 
that  I  have  begged  your  acceptance  of  the  inclosed 
trifle.  As  this  is  really  the  case,  with  how  much 
reason  do  I  subscribe  myself, — Your  most  obliged 
humble  servant,  CHARLEMONT.' 

John  Ireland  adds  to  Hogarth's  own  description 
of  the  picture  :  '  It  may  fairly  be  considered  as  a 
moral  lesson  against  gaming.  The  clock  denotes 
five  in  the  morning.  The  lady  has  lost  her  money, 
jewels,  a  miniature  of  her  husband,  and  the  half  of 
a  £500  bank  note,  which  by  a  letter  lying  on  the 
floor,  she  appears  to  have  recently  received  from  him. 
In  fine, — all  is  lost,  except  her  honour  ;  and  in  this 
dangerous  moment  she  is  represented  perplexed, 
agitated  and  irresolute.'  * 

1  Hogarth  Illustrated,  vol.  iii.  p.  198  (note). 


HIGH  LIFE  105 

The  picture  was  exhibited  at  Spring  Gardens  in 
the  year  1761,  with  the  title  of  '  Picquet,  or  Virtue 
in  Danger.' 

Mrs.  Piozzi  (Hester  Lynch  Salusbury,  1741-1821) 
asserted  that  she  sat  for  the  portrait  of  the  heroine, 
but  Mr.  Dobson  points  out  that,  as  her  accounts 
of  the  circumstance  differed,  we  cannot  consider 
them  to  be  conclusive.  Doubtless  Hogarth  did 
remark  to  her  when  he  was  painting  the  picture, 
'  Take  you  care,  I  see  an  ardour  for  play  in  your  eyes 
and  in  your  heart ;  don't  indulge  it.'  When 
Abraham  Hayward  published  Mrs.  Piozzi' s  auto- 
biography, he  prefixed  an  engraving  from  this 
picture  to  the  second  volume  at  the  suggestion  of 
Lord  Macaulay. 

Lord  Charlemont's  conduct  towards  Hogarth 
was  very  different  from  that  of  Sir  Richard 
Grosvenor,  who  certainly  acted  meanly  in  the 
rejection  of  '  Sigismunda,'  and  the  painter  himself 
alluded  in  his  autobiography  to  the  contrast.  He 
writes,  in  commenting  on  Lord  Charlemont's  letters : 
'  This  elevating  circumstance  had  its  contrast,  and 
brought  on  a  train  of  most  dissatisfactory  cir- 
cumstances, which  by  happening  at  a  time  when  I 
thought  myself  as  it  were,  landed,  and  secure  from 
tugging  any  longer  at  the  oar,  were  rendered  doubly 
distressing.' 

The  acceptance  of  £100  as  '  a  noble  payment ' 
for  such  a  picture  shows  how  little  grasping  the 
painter  was,  and  it  also  illustrates  how  largely 


106  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

he  was  guided  by  sentiment.  He  rated  the 
'  Sigismunda '  at  £400  (four  times  the  price  of 
'  Picquet '),  because  the  so-called  Correggio  was 
sold  for  that  sum,  and  because  his  interest  in  the 
picture  increased  as  the  prejudice  against  it  was 
increased  by  the  active  exertions  of  his  enemies. 
The  atrocious  libels  written  on  the  female  figure 
hurt  him  the  more  in  that  the  original  of  it  was  his 
own  wife.  Therefore  he  requested  her  not  to  sell 
the  picture  during  her  lifetime  for  less  than  £500, 
which  he  had  sufficient  experience  of  the  sale  of  his 
pictures  to  know  was  the  same  as  to  request  her  to 
keep  the  picture  in  her  own  possession  for  life. 

There,  however,  is  something  to  be  said  for  Sir 
Richard  Grosvenor  who,  having  been  pleased  with 
'  Picquet,'  pressed  Hogarth  with  much  vehemence 
to  paint  another  for  him,  and  received  a  picture 
which  was  certainly  very  different  in  subject. 
'  Picquet '  remained  in  the  possession  of  Lord  Charle- 
mont's  family  at  the  Villa  Marina  near  Dublin 
for  many  years. 

It  was  sold  at  Christie's  in  1874  for  £1585,  10s., 
and  is  now  in  the  possession  of  Mr.  J.  Pierpont 
Morgan. 

Lord  Charlemont  was  a  Viscount  when  his 
portrait  and  this  picture  were  painted,  but  he  was 
created  an  Earl  in  December  1763.  As  all  lovers 
of  Hogarth  must  feel  interest  in  Lord  Charlemont, 
it  will  interest  them  to  learn,  on  the  authority  of 
an  old  edition  of  Debrett's  Peerage,  the  remarkable 


HIGH  LIFE  107 

reason  for  this  creation — the  revival  of  an  order 
given  by  James  I.  one  hundred  and  forty  years 
before  :  '  It  appearing  from  the  rolls  of  the  Court 
of  Chancery  that  James  I.  by  letters  under  his  sign 
manual,  dated  at  Westminster,  July  16,  1622, 
directed  the  chief  governor  of  Ireland  to  cause 
letters  patent  to  pass  under  the  great  seal,  containing 
a  grant  of  the  dignity  of  an  earl  to  the  first  Lord 
Charlemont  (Toby  Caulfield),  but  which  was  never 
put  in  execution.'  Hogarth's  Earl  died  on  August  4, 
1799. 

We  now  come  to  consider  two  of  the  great  series 
of  pictured  morals — the  'Marriage  a  la  Mode,'  and 
the  '  Rake's  Progress.' 

Some  have  attempted  to  show  points  of  connection 
between  Dryden's  comedy  of  Marriage  a  la  Mode 
and  Hogarth's  pictures  owing  to  similarity  of 
title,  but  there  is  certainly  no  likeness  between  the 
two.  The  names  of  the  characters  in  the  play 
sufficiently  disprove  this — Polydamas,  Usurper  of 
Sicily,  Leonidas,  Argaleon,  Hermogenes,  Eubulus, 
Rhodophil,  Palamede,  Palmyra,  Amalthea,  Doralice, 
Melantha,  Philotis,  Belisa,  Artemis. 

It  is  almost  equally  difficult  to  see  any  hint  of 
the  incidents  in  the  Clandestine  Marriage  (1766) 
in  the  series  of  plates  illustrating  the  '  Marriage  a 
la  Mode,'  although  Garrick  in  his  prologue  alludes 
very  cleverly  to  the  connection  : 

1  To-night,  your  matchless  Hogarth  gives  the  thought, 
Which  from  his  canvas  to  the  Stage  is  brought, 


108  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

And  who  so  fit  to  warm  the  Poet's  mind, 
As  he  who  pictur'd  Morals  and  Mankind  1 
But  not  the  same  their  characters  and  scenes ; 
Both  labour  for  one  end,  by  different  means : 
Each  as  it  suits  him,  takes  a  separate  Road, 
Their  one  great  Object,  MARRiAGE-A-LA-MoDE, 
Where  titles  deign  with  Cits  to  have  and  hold, 
And  change  rich  blood  for  more  substantial  gold, 
And  honour'd  Trade  from  interest  turns  aside 
To  hazard  happiness  for  titled  Pride.' 

All  the  pictures  of  the  series  are  of  Interiors, 
and  all  these  interiors  are  of  London  houses.  They 
form  Hogarth's  masterpiece  and  his  chief  illus- 
tration of  High  Life. 

The  following  advertisement  appeared  hi  the 
London  Daily  Post,  April  2,  1743:  'Mr.  Hogarth 
intends  to  publish  by  subscription,  Six  Prints  from 
Copper-plates  engrav'd  by  the  best  masters  in  Paris, 
after  his  own  paintings,  representing  a  variety  of 
Modern  Occurrences  in  High  -  Life,  and  called 
Marriage-d-la-Mode.  Particular  care  will  be  taken, 
that  there  may  not  be  the  least  objection  to  the 
Decency  or  Elegancy  of  the  whole  work,  and  that 
none  of  the  characters  represented  shall  be  personal.'  * 
The  engravings  were  issued  at  the  end  of  May  1745. 

Plates  1  and  6  were  engraved  by  Scotin  ;  Plates  2 
and  3  by  Baron ;  Plates  4  and  5  by  Ravenet. 
'  Characters  and  Caricatures,'  *  W.  Hogarth  Fecit 
1743,'  was  the  subscription  ticket  for  the  '  Marriage.' 

1  To  the  advertisement  of  April  4  and  subsequent  issues  was  added  : 
'  The  Heads  for  the  better  Preservation  of  the  Characters  and  Expressions 
to  be  done  by  the  Author.' 


HIGH  LIFE  109 

Under  the  design  is  inscribed :  '  For  a  f arthar  (sic) 
Explanation   of   the   difference   betwixt   Character 
&    Caricatura    See    ye  Preface    to    Joh    Andrews.' 
This  is  a  reference  to  that  delightful  passage  where 
Fielding  repudiates  for  Hogarth  the  charge  of  his 
being    a   Burlesque    Painter,    and    claims  that  his 
figures  not  only  seem  to  breathe  but  appear  to  think. 
The  prints  soon  became  popular,  and  the  subject 
formed   the    groundwork    of    a   novel   called    The 
Marriage  Act,  by  Dr.   John  Shebbeare.     In  1746 
was    published    a    tract    of    59    pages     entitled 
'  Marriage  a  la  Mode :    an  Humourous  Tale  in  six 
Cantos,  in  Hudibrastic  Verse,  being  an  Explanation 
of  the  six  prints  lately  published  by  the  ingenious 
Mr.  Hogarth.     London.  .  .  .' 

In  the  second  quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
the  story  was  dramatised  and  a  broadside  com- 
prising five  woodcuts  of  the  scenes  was  prepared 
as  a  playbill :  *  Davidge's  Royal  Surrey  Theatre. 
On  Easter  Monday,  April  1st,  and  during  the  week 
will  be  presented  an  Original  Pictorial  Drama  in 
five  Tableaux  entitled  the  Curse  of  Mammon  !  or 
the  Earl's  son  and  the  Citizen's  daughter  !  Form- 
ing a  facsimile  embodiment  of  Hogarth's  justly 
celebrated  Pictures :  Marriage-a-la-Mode.' 

Plate  1.— The  Contract. 

This  picture  contains  a  representation  of  an 
ostentatiously  grand  saloon,  the  walls  of  which  are 
covered  with  paintings.  Here  the  beginnings  of  the 


110  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

sad  drama  are  at  work.  The  unfinished  building 
seen  from  the  window  with  no  workmen  about  shows 
that  expensive  tastes  have  exhausted  the  Earl's 
treasury.  The  attentions  of  Councillor  Silvertongue 
to  the  bride  already  appear  to  be  pronounced,  and 
the  young  Viscount  Squanderfield  is  too  much 
engaged  with  his  own  thoughts  to  pay  any  attention 
to  the  merchant's  daughter  soon  to  be  his  wife. 
Hazlitt  says  of  him  :  '  He  is  the  Narcissus  of  the 
reign  of  George  n. ;  whose  powdered  peruke,  ruffles, 
gold  lace,  and  patches  divide  his  self-love  unequally 
with  his  own  person, — the  true  Sir  Plume  of  his  day. ' 
The  prominent  personage  is  the  Earl,  who  appears 
no  more  in  the  drama  after  this.  Racked  with  the 
gout,  he  is  still  grand  in  his  manner,  and  he  presents 
a  wonderful  picture  of  a  haughty  aristocrat.  There 
is  a  tradition,  although  I  have  not  seen  it  referred  to 
in  any  of  the  books  on  Hogarth,  that  this  striking 
character  was  drawn  from  a  man  with  great  pride 
in  his  ancestry,  which  he  traced  farther  back  than 
the  William  Duke  of  Normandy  of  the  Earl's 
pedigree.  John  Wallop,  Baron  Wallop  of  Farleigh 
Wallop  and  Viscount  Lymington,  had  been  created 
Earl  of  Portsmouth  in  1743,  just  about  the  time 
Hogarth  was  engaged  upon  these  pictures,  and  his 
well-known  pride  of  birth  might  cause  Hogarth  to 
take  him  as  a  model.  The  family  of  Wallop  is 
said  in  Burke' s  Peerage  to  have  been  settled  at 
Wallop,  Hants,  at  a  period  antecedent  to  the 
Conquest.  The  building  operations  of  the  Earl 


I.I 


HIGH  LIFE  111 

in  the  painting  may  bear  some  reference  to 
the  fact  that  the  manor-house  of  Farley,  destroyed 
by  fire  in  1667,  was  rebuilt  by  Lord  Lymington  in 
1733.  If  there  is  truth  in  this  tradition,  it  shows 
forcibly  the  spirit  of  Hogarth's  work.  When  he  used 
a  particular  person  as  a  representative  in  his  pictures 
of  a  special  characteristic,  he  took  care  that  nothing 
else  in  the  picture  should  bear  in  any  way  upon 
his  family  history.  Lord  Portsmouth's  son,  Lord 
Lymington,  married  Catherine  Conduit,  great- 
niece  of  Sir  Isaac  Newton,  the  daughter  of  Mrs. 
Barton  (afterwards  Mrs.  Conduit).  His  son  became 
the  second  Earl  of  Portsmouth,  and  by  this  con- 
nection the  Portsmouth  family  became  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  great  philosopher.  The  fourth 
Earl  was  named  Newton  Fellowes,  and  the  fifth 
Earl,  Isaac  Newton  Wallop. 

'  While  the  proud  Earl  of  Rollo's  race 
Points  to  the  peers  his  pompous  parchment  grace, 
Builds  all  his  honours  on  a  noble  name, 
And  on  his  father's  deeds  depends  for  fame  ; 
The  wary  citizen,  with  heedful  eye, 
Inspects  what 's  settled  on  posterity ; 
Pours  out  the  pelf  by  rigid  avarice  pil'd 
To  gain  an  empty  title  for  his  child.' 

It  has  been  said  by  some  that  Lord  Tylney  was 
the  original  of  the  Earl,  but  this  seems  improbable. 
The  person  delivering  the  mortgage  to  the  Earl  is 
supposed  to  be  one  Peter  Walter,  the  '  Peter  Pounce ' 
of  Fielding's  Joseph  Andrews. 


112  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

Plate  2. — The  Breakfast  Scene. 

We  have  here  a  very  handsome  room  finely 
furnished  in  the  style  of  the  day,  although  with 
signs  of  confusion  left  from  the  rout  of  the  previous 
night,  and  with  the  lights  guttering  in  their  candle- 
sticks. The  apartment  is  said  to  be  copied  from 
the  drawing-room  of  No.  5  Arlington  Street,  where 
Horace  Walpole  was  living  at  this  time,  and  where 
he  remained  until  1779. 

Of  this  Hazlitt  wrote  :  '  The  airy  splendour  of 
the  view  of  the  inner  room  in  this  picture  is  probably 
not  exceeded  by  any  of  the  productions  of  the 
Flemish  School.'  The  husband  appears  to  have 
just  come  home  after  a  night  of  debauch,  for  which 
he  left  his  wife  to  attend  to  her  company.  Of  the 
latter  Hazlitt  writes :  '  The  expression  of  the  Bride  in 
the  Morning  Scene  is  the  most  highly  seasoned,  and 
at  the  same  time  the  most  vulgar  of  the  series,'  but 
adds, '  the  figure,  face,  and  attitude  of  the  Husband, 
are  inimitable.'  Francis  Hayman,  Hogarth's  friend 
and  copyist,  is  said  to  have  been  the  model  for 
the  dissipated  husband,  whose  money  has  evidently 
almost  come  to  an  end.  The  poor  steward,  who  can 
get  no  attention  to  his  appeal  and  has  to  leave  the 
room  with  his  unpaid  bills,  is  a  prominent  figure  in 
the  scene.  There  is  considerable  difference  of  opinion 
among  the  critics  as  to  this  man.  The  majority 
speak  of  the  honesty  and  simplicity  of  the  old 
faithful  servant,  and  others  think  he  is  intended  for 
a  hypocritical  fellow. 


HIGH  LIFE  113 

'  Behold  how  Vice  her  votary  rewards, 
After  a  night  of  folly,  frolic,  cards, 
The  phantom  pleasure  flies — and  in  its  place, 
Comes  deep  remorse,  and  torturing  disgrace, 
Corroding  care,  and  self-accusing  fame  ! ' 


Plate  3. — The  Scene  with  the  Quack. 

The  subject  of  this  picture  need  not  detain  us 
long,  as  it  has  rather  to  do  with  low  life  than  with 
high  life,  with  which  it  has  only  an  incidental 
connection.  The  explanations  of  the  commen- 
tators are  very  conflicting,  and  therefore  nothing 
can  be  said  with  certainty  as  to  the  meaning  of  the 
particular  action  although  the  general  idea  of  the 
scene  is  apparent  enough. 

Hazlitt's  remarks  on  the  painting  of  the  girl  are 
as  usual  most  discriminating :  '  The  young  girl 
in  the  third  picture,  who  is  represented  as  the 
victim  of  fashionable  profligacy,  is  unquestionably 
one  of  the  artist's  chefs-d'oeuvre.  The  exquisite  deli- 
cacy of  the  painting  is  only  surpassed  by  the  felicity 
and  subtlety  of  the  conception.  Nothing  can  be  more 
striking  than  the  contrast  between  the  extreme 
softness  of  her  person,  and  the  hardened  indifference 
of  her  character.  The  vacant  stillness,  the  docility 
to  vice,  the  premature  suppression  of  youthful 
sensibility,  the  doll-like  mechanism  of  the  whole 
figure,  which  seems  to  have  no  other  feeling  but  a 
sickly  sense  of  pain — show  the  deepest  insight  into 
human  nature.' 

The  interest  of  the  picture  for  us  is  almost  con- 

H 


114  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

fined  to  its  local  character.  John  Ireland,  in  alluding 
to  the  miscellaneous  contents  of  the  Quack's 
Museum,  quotes  a  passage  from  Garth's  Dispensary, 
which  with  justice  he  thinks  might  have  given 
Hogarth  some  hints  for  the  scene : 

1  Here  mummies  lie,  most  reverently  stale, 
And  there,  the  tortoise  hung  her  coat  of  mail : 
Not  far  from  some  huge  shark's  devouring  head, 
The  flying  fish  their  finny  pinions  spread ; 
Aloft,  in  rows,  large  poppy-heads  were  strung, 
And  near,  a  scaly  alligator  hung ; 
In  this  place,  drugs  in  musty  heaps  decay'd, 
In  that,  dry'd  bladders  and  drawn  teeth  were  laid.' 

J.  T.  Smith,  hi  an  interesting  account  of  St. 
Martin's  Lane  contained  in  the  second  volume  of 
his  Nollekens  and  his  Times,  says  that  the  large 
room  behind  No.  96  was  the  original  of  the  scene 
of  this  picture,  although  he  incorrectly  describes  it 
as  a  part  of  the  '  Rake's  Progress.'  '  The  house  has 
a  large  staircase,  curiously  painted,  of  figures 
viewing  a  procession,  which  was  executed  for  the 
famous  Dr.  Misaubin,  about  the  year  1732  by  a 
painter  of  the  name  of  Clermont,  a  Frenchman, 
who  boldly  charged  one  thousand  guineas  for  his 
labour,  which  charge,  however,  was  contested,  and 
the  artist  was  obliged  to  take  five  hundred.' 

Whether  the  quack  and  the  big  woman  in  the 
picture  were  taken  from  Misaubin  and  his  wife  may 
be  doubted,  although  probably  Hogarth  took  that 
doctor  as  a  type. 


HIGH  LIFE  115 

Bramston,  in  his  *  Man  of  Taste,'  contrasts  him 
with  the  respectable  practitioners  : — 

1  Should  I  perchance  be  fashionably  ill, 
I  'd  send  for  Misaubin,  and  take  his  pill. 
I  should  abhor,  though  in  the  utmost  need, 
Arbuthnot,  Hollins,  Wigan,  Lee  or  Mead ; 
But  if  I  found  that  I  grew  worse  and  worse, 
I  'd  turn  off  Misaubin  and  take  a  nurse.' 

Misaubin's  father  was  a  Huguenot  clergyman  who 
preached  at  the  Spitalfields  French  Church,  and 
was  a  well-known  preacher.  Fielding  says  in  Tom 
Jones,  bk.  xiii.  chap,  ii.,  that  the  Doctor  boasted 
that  the  proper  direction  for  him  was  '  Dr.  Misaubin 
in  the  World.'  He  is  one  of  four  medical  men 
mentioned  in  that  novel,  the  others  being  Syden- 
ham,  John  Freke  and  John  Ranby.  There  is  a 
miniature  of  the  Doctor  and  his  family  by  Joseph 
Goupy  which  Smith  mentions  as  being  in  the  pos- 
session of  Mr.  Henry  Moyley. 

John  Misaubin,  M.D.,  licentiate  of  the  College 
of  Physicians,  25th  June  1719,  brought  a  famous 
pill  into  England,  by  which  he  made  a  fortune  by 
questionable  means. 

Misaubin  died  in  1734,  but  in  August  1749  Martha 
Misaubin  advertised  in  the  London  Evening  Post 
that  she  continued  the  making  and  selling  of  Dr. 
Misaubin's  Pills  at  her  house  in  St.  Martin's  Lane. 
She  affirms  '  I  am  the  only  person  that  prepared 
them  during  the  Doctor's  life  and  since  his  death, 
nobody  else  having  the  secret  but  myself.'  Mr. 


116  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

Stephens  thinks  it  probable  that  this  was  the  same 
woman  as  the  coarse  virago  in  this  picture.1 

Plate  4.— The  Toilette  Scene. 

A  lady's  boudoir  and  bedroom  is  represented 
in  this  picture,  which  is  filled  with  a  company  of 
friends  assembled  at  the  Countess's  levee.  The 
Earl's  coronet,  seen  on  the  bedstead,  may  indicate 
that  the  old  Earl  is  now  dead.  We  are  not  informed 
what  was  the  Earl's  title,  and  it  could  not  well 
be  Squanderfield,  as  some  commentators  seem  to 
suppose  it  was,  because  that  was  the  title  of  his  son, 
Viscount  Squanderfield.  Probably  Hogarth  was 
himself  confused  in  this  matter,  for  the  invitations 
on  the  floor  are  directed  to  Lady  Squander. 

The  new  Countess  and  Silvertongue  (who  is 
pointing  to  representations  of  a  masquerade  on 
the  screen),  are  arranging  an  appointment  at  a 
masquerade.  On  the  couch  where  the  Counsellor 
reclines  is  a  book  inscribed  Sopha,  referring  to  the 
licentious  novel  by  Crebillon  fils  which  was  much 
read  at  this  time.  Hogarth  took  the  opportunity 
of  expressing  his  burning  indignation  against  the 
infatuation  of  the  upper  classes  for  the  Italian 
Opera.  The  singer  at  this  reception  is  said  to  be 
Giovanni  Carestini,2  the  famous  counter-tenor,  who 

1  See  British  Museum  Catalogue,  vol.  iii.  p.  733. 

2  Carestini  made  his  debut  in  London  on  December  4,  1733,  and  with  his 
support  Handel  was  able  to  withstand  the  opposition  of  Farinelli.     Handel 
was  very  indignant  with  him  on  one  occasion  when  he  sent  back  to  the 
composer  the  song  'Verdi  prati'  in  the  Italian  opera  Altina  (1736)  as  not 


HIGH  LIFE  117 

according  to  Burney  was  one  of  the  finest  Italian 
singers  ever  heard ;  he  was  also  a  good  actor,  tall, 
handsome,  and  commanding.  He  died  about  1758. 
Some  have  supposed  the  figure  to  be  intended  for 
Farinelli.  Behind  him  is  the  famous  flute-player 
Weidemann,  who  is  also  the  principal  figure  in  the 
print  of  '  The  Modern  Orpheus,'  published  in  1807, 
from  an  original  sketch  by  Hogarth  in  the  pos- 
session of  the  Marquis  of  Bute  (circa  1745). 

Below  the  engraving  is  printed  in  letterpress 
the  following  announcement :  '  Speedily  will  be 
Published,  Inscribed  to  all  Lovers  of  Tweedledum 
Tweedle,  the  Art  of  Playing  upon  People,  or, 
Memoirs  of  the  German  Flute,  interspersed  with  the 
Character  of  Baron  Steeple  ;  in  which  the  effect 
of  Harmony  will  be  shown  in  instances  of  a  more 
surprizing  Nature  than  any  related  of  Amphion, 
Linus,  Musseus  or  the  most  celebrated  Flutists 
of  Antiquity. 

"  Music  hath  charms  to  wheedle  Guineas  forth ; 
To  draw,  like  Loadstone,  Vituals,  Drink  and  Clothes  ; 
Shirts,  Stockings,  Hats,  Wigs,  Kapiers,  Shoes  and  Boots. 
I  Ve  read  that  Misers  (griping  Sons  of  Mammon !) 
Have,  out  of  Idol  Gold,  been  oft  cajol'd, 
By  Magic  Numbers  and  persuasive  Sound." ' 

Weidemann  was,  soon  after  the  accession  of 
George  in.,  appointed  Assistant-Master  of  Music  to 
the  King  under  Dr.  Boyce,  and  afterwards  Composer 

suited  to  him.  Handel  ran  to  the  singer's  house  and  addressed  him  thus  : 
'  You  tog  !  don't  I  know  petter  as  yourseluf  vaat  es  pest  for  you  to  sing  ? 
If  you  vill  not  sing  all  de  song  vaat  I  give  you,  I  vill  not  pay  you  ein  stiver.' 


118  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

of  Minuets  at  the  Court  of  St.  James,  and  one  of 
the  band  of  musicians.  He  died  May  24,  1782.1 

Mrs.  Fox  Lane  (afterwards  Lady  Bingley),  is 
the  striking  lady  in  a  state  of  excited  admiration 
of  Carestini's  singing.  She  was  the  daughter  of 
Robert  Benson,  Baron  Bingley,  and  wife  of  George 
Fox  Lane,  who  was  created  Lord  Bingley  of  Bingley 
in  1762.  Mrs.  Fox  Lane  had  a  perfect  passion  for 
Italian  music,  and  was  a  zealous  friend  and  patroness 
of  Madame  Regina  Mingotti,2  siding  with  her  in  her 
disputes  with  Vaneschi.  On  one  occasion  she  was 
earnestly  declaiming  to  the  Hon.  General  Crewe  on 
the  claims  of  her  favourite  to  universal  admiration, 
when  her  listener  astonished  her  by  asking,  '  And 
pray,  ma'am,  who  is  Madame  Mingotti  ?  '  '  Get  out 
of  my  house,'  cried  the  lady,  '  you  shall  never  hear 
her  sing  another  song  at  my  concerts,  as  long  as  you 
live.'  Mingotti  performed  exclusively  at  Mrs.  Lane's 
concerts,  so  there  was  no  hope  for  the  General.  This 
anecdote  is  given  on  the  authority  of  Dr.  Burney. 

The  gentleman  in  curl-papers  who  sits  next  to 
Carestini  is  said  to  be  Herr  Michel,  Prussian  Envoy. 
It  is  to  be  hoped  that  he  was  a  better  diplomatist 
than  his  vacant  countenance  would  lead  us  to  expect. 

The  argument  of  the  fourth  canto  of  the  poem  on 
the  '  Marriage  a  la  Mode,'  thus  sums  up  this  scene : — 


1  British  Museum  Catalogue  (F.  G.  Stephens),  vol.  iii.  p.  591. 

2  This  famous  singer,  born  1728  (nee  Valentini),  married  Mingotti,  im- 
presario of  the  Dresden  Opera,  and  when  she  came  to  England  retrieved 
the  fortunes  of  the  Opera. 


HIGH  LIFE  119 

'Fresh  honours  on  the  Lady  wait, 
A  Countess  now  she  shines  in  state ; 
The  toilette  is  at  large  display'd 
Where,  whilst  the  morning  concert 's  play'd, 
She  listens  to  her  lover's  call, 
Who  courts  her  to  the  midnight  ball.' 

Plate  5.— The  Death  of  the  Earl. 

The  end  of  the  great  tragedy  is  now  arrived,  and 
it  takes  two  pictures  to  tell  the  story.  The  dying 
Earl  is  seen  in  the  centre  of  the  bedroom  of  the 
Turk's  Head  Bagnio  killed  by  Silvertongue,  who  is 
escaping  through  the  window.  This  scene  is  too 
serious  in  itself  to  allow  of  many  external  references, 
and  although  there  are  several  of  these  the  con- 
sideration of  them  need  not  detain  us  here.  Hazlitt 
is  not  at  his  best  in  his  criticism  of  this  scene.  He 
says  it  is  inferior  to  the  rest  of  the  series.  'The 
attitude  of  the  husband  who  is  just  killed,  is  one  in 
which  it  would  be  impossible  for  him  to  stand  or 
even  to  fall.  It  resembles  the  loose  paste-board 
figures  they  make  for  children.'  Few  will  agree 
with  this,  and  it  is  well  that  we  have  a  brilliant 
passage,  written  with  wonderful  insight,  to  set 
against  it.  '  Look  on  that  dying  man — his  body 
dissolving,  falling  not  like  his  sword,  firm  and  entire, 
but  as  nothing  but  a  dying  thing  could  fall,  his  eyes 
dim  with  the  shadow  of  death,  in  his  ears  the 
waters  of  that  tremendous  river,  all  its  billows 
going  over  him,  the  life  of  his  comely  body  flowing 
out  like  water,  the  life  of  his  soul — who  knows  what 
it  is  doing  ?  Fleeing  through  the  open  window, 


120  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

undressed,  see  the  murderer  and  adulterer  vanish 
into  the  outer  darkness  of  night,  anywhere  rather 
than  remain :  and  that  guilty,  beautiful,  utterly 
miserable  creature  on  her  knee,  her  whole  soul, 
her  whole  life  in  her  eyes,  fixed  on  her  dying  husband, 
dying  for  and  by  her  !  .  .  .  the  night-watch  with 
their  professional  faces — the  weary  wind  blowing 
through  the  room,  the  prelude,  as  it  were,  of  that 
whirlwind  in  which  that  lost  soul  is  soon  to  pass 
away.  The  man  who  could  paint  so  as  to  suggest 
all  this,  is  a  great  man  and  a  great  painter.' 

This  was  written  by  that  delightful  essayist,  Dr. 
John  Brown,  the  creator  of  Rob  and  his  Friends,  for 
Hugh  Miller's  Witness  in  1846.1 

Plate  6. — The  Death  of  the  Countess. 

The  last  scene  is  far  removed  from  '  High  Life,' 
for  the  unhappy  Countess  has  returned  to  the 
sordid  home  of  her  merchant  father.  She  has  seen 
the  last  dying  speech  of  her  paramour  and  in  despair 
has  taken  laudanum.  The  callous  father  is  seen 
taking  a  valuable  ring  from  his  dying  daughter's 
finger.  The  only  bit  of  feeling  is  exhibited  in  the 
parting  of  the  poor  child  from  her  mother.  Hazlitt 
writes :  '  The  characters  in  the  last  picture,  in 
which  the  wife  dies,  are  all  masterly.  We  would 
particularly  refer  to  the  captious  petulant  self- 
sufficiency  of  the  Apothecary,  whose  face  and  figure 
are  constructed  on  the  same  physiognomical 

1  Horn  Subsecivce,  1862,  pp.  244-5,  quoted  by  Mr.  Austin  Dobson. 


a  •v, 

o  « 

3  -P 

a  i 


a    S 
a  .8 

H   ^ 


HIGH  LIFE  121 

principles;  and  to  the  fine  example  of  passive 
obedience  and  non-resistance  in  the  servant  whom 
he  is  taking  to  task,  and  whose  coat  of  green  and 
yellow  livery  is  as  long  and  melancholy  as  his  face. 
.  .  .  The  harmony  and  gradations  of  colour  in  this 
picture  are  uniformly  preserved  with  the  greatest 
nicety,  and  are  well  worthy  the  attention  of  the 
artist.'  The  point  of  greatest  interest  in  this 
picture  in  relation  to  London  topography  is  the 
view  of  the  old  tumble-down  houses  on  London 
Bridge,  seen  through  the  window  of  the  room. 
This  is  one  of  the  latest  representations  of  these 
houses,  as  they  were  all  cleared  away  about  a  dozen 
years  after  Hogarth  painted  this  scene. 

It  is  fortunate  for  the  world  that  these  splendid 
pictures  are  in  the  possession  of  the  nation,  so  that 
every  one  who  wishes  can  see  them  at  all  times. 
They  bear  repeated  study,  and  the  tragedy  is  so 
vividly  and  truly  painted  that  it  is  impossible  not 
to  feel  you  are  in  the  presence  of  a  great  genius,  who 
lives  again  in  his  great  works.  John  Ireland  very 
truly  says :  '  It  will  not  be  easy,  perhaps  not 
possible,  to  find  six  pictures  painted  by  any  artist, 
in  any  age  or  country,  in  which  such  variety  of 
superlative  merit  is  united.' 

'  The  Rake's  Progress '  does  not,  as  a  whole, 
represent  High  Life  as  the  *  Marriage '  does,  but  as 
Tom  Rakewell  attempts  to  obtain  an  entrance  into 
the  '  inner  circle '  it  is  necessary  to  take  notice  of 
some  of  the  scenes. 


122  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

The  eight  pictures  are  to  be  seen  at  the  Soane 
Museum,  they  having  been  bought  by  Sir  John 
Soane  in  1802  for  £598,  10s.  Hogarth  originally 
sold  them  hi  February  1745  to  Alderman  Beckford 
for  £184,  16s.  They  were  sold  at  the  Fonthill  sale 
to  Colonel  Fullarton  for  £682,  10s.  The  engravings 
were  published  in  June  1735. 

Plate  2,  where  the  Rake  is  surrounded  by  artists 
and  professors  at  his  levee,  may  be  taken  as  a  sort 
of  pendant  to  Plate  4  of  the  '  Marriage '  where 
the  Countess  is  surrounded  by  her  friends.  The 
Rake  is  well  attended  by  his  instructors,  some  of 
whom  are  identified  as  characters  of  the  day,  while 
others  remain  anonymous.  The  bravo  captain 
behind  the  Rake  comes  provided  with  a  letter  of 
recommendation  from  William  Stab ;  a  jockey  in 
front  holds  on  his  knee  a  large  silver  bowl  on  which 
are  engraved  a  racing  horse  and  its  rider  and  the 
inscription  '  Won  at  Epsom,  Silly  Tom.'  The 
dancing-master,  holding  his  kit  and  bow,  capers  on 
the  Rake's  right;  apparently  he  is  a  Frenchman, 
but  it  has  been  affirmed  that  he  was  intended  to 
represent  a  man  named  Essex.  The  fencing-master 
displaying  his  skill  in  making  a  thrust  towards  the 
front  of  the  design  was  Dubois,  a  Frenchman,  who 
was  killed  in  a  duel  fought  in  Marylebone  Fields 
on  May  10,  1734,  by  an  Irishman  also  named  Dubois. 
The  man  with  staves  standing  between  the  fencing- 
and  dancing-masters  was  Figg  the  prize-fighter 
who  died  1734.  At  the  back  between  the  Rake  and 


HIGH  LIFE  123 

the  dancing-master  is  Bridgeman,  the  well-known 
landscape  gardener,  who  holds  in  his  hand  a  design 
which  John  Ireland  does  not  consider  to  be  worthy 
of  the  man  who  attempted  to  'create  landscape, 
to  realise  painting  and  improve  nature.'  Hogarth 
takes  the  opportunity  of  satirising  the  presenters 
of  Italian  Opera,  so  here  is  another  instance  of 
likeness  to  Plate  4  of  the  '  Marriage.' 

At  the  extreme  left  of  the  picture  is  a  harpsichord 
inscribed  '  I.  Mahoan  fecit,'  at  which  a  man  is  seen 
seated ;  his  back  only  is  presented  to  the  spectator, 
but  it  has  been  supposed  by  some  to  represent 
Handel.  This,  however,  is  unlikely.  Over  the  back 
of  the  chair  on  which  the  musician  sits  a  long  scroll 
of  paper  extends  on  the  floor,  which  is  inscribed  : 
'  A  list  of  the  rich  Presents  Signor  Farinello  the 
Italian  Singer  condescended  to  accept  of  ye  English 
Nobility  and  Gentry  for  one  Night's  performance  in 
the  opera  of  ArtaxerxesS  The  last  of  the  presents  on 
the  list  is  '  A  Gold  Snuffbox  chac'd  with  the  Story  of 
Orpheus  charming  ye  Brutes,  by  T.  Rake-well  Esq.' 

On  the  floor  near  the  end  of  the  scroll  is  an 
engraving  representing  Farinelli  seated  on  a 
pedestal,  and  with  an  altar  between  his  feet  on 
which  two  hearts  are  burning ;  many  ladies  are  offer- 
ing burning  hearts  to  the  popular  idol.  In  Plate  4 
we  see  the  Rake  arrested  on  his  way  to  Court,  and 
the  picture  contains  an  admirable  view  of  St.  James's 
Street  with  the  Palace  at  the  foot.  This  street 
was  the  very  centre  of  High  Life  in  London,  and  it 


124  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

still  remains  its  most  distinguished  street.  Its 
position  is  unrivalled,  and  even  now  it  has  a  little 
of  the  air  of  the  eighteenth  century  left,  although 
some  tall  new  houses  at  the  Piccadilly  end  have 
completely  ruined  the  restful  sense  of  proportion 
that  once  existed. 

Plate  4,  and  Plate  6,  representing  the  gaming 
at  White's  Chocolate  House,  and  the  commencement 
of  the  fire  that  destroyed  the  building,  are  more 
fully  dealt  with  in  Chapter  ix.  on  Tavern  Life.  The 
other  pictures  have  little  to  do  with  High  Life,  and 
a  notice  of  Plate  5,  the  Marriage  in  Marylebone 
Church,  will  be  found  in  Chapter  xm.  (Suburbs) ; 
one  on  Plate  7,  the  Fleet  Prison,  in  Chapter  xn. 
(Prisons  and  Crime),  and  on  Plate  8,  Bedlam,  in 
Chapter  xi.  (Hospitals). 

Hogarth  made  three  satirical  designs  on  what 
he  considered  (often  truly),  the  perverted  taste  in 
High  Life.  The  first  in  1724,  called  *  Masquerades 
and  Operas,'  also  styled  '  Taste  of  the  Town,'  which 
contains  the  gate  of  Burlington  House,  Piccadilly 
(described  in  Chapter  x.,  Theatrical  Life).  The 
second  in  1731,  '  The  Man  of  Taste,'  or,  'Burlington 
House  ' ;  and  the  third  in  1742,  '  Taste  in  High  Life.' 

'  The  Man  of  Taste  '  (also  called  '  Taste  a  la  Mode ') 
contains  the  best  view  in  existence  of  the  old  wall 
and  gate  of  Burlington  House  cleared  away  in  1866. 
It  is  a  sort  of  three-sided  satire  on  Burlington, 
Kent,  and  Pope.  Against  Lord  Burlington  because 
he  patronised  Kent,  and  against  Pope  because  he 


"THE  MAN  OF  TASTE."     1731.     (BURLINGTON  GATE.) 


HIGH  LIFE  125 

satirised  the  Duke  of  Chandos  under  the  name  of 
Timon  in  his  Moral  Epistle  (iv.)  to  Burlington  on 
the  false  taste  of  magnificence. 

On  the  engraving  is  the  following  explanation  : 

A  P.  a  Plasterer  white- washing  and  bespattering  [Pope]. 

B  Any  body  that  comes  in  his  way. 

C  Not  a  Dukes  Coach  as  appears  by  ye  crescent  of  one 
corner  [Duke  of  Chandos's  coach]. 

D  Taste  [The  pediment  so  marked]. 

E  A  standing  proof  [statue  of  Kent  between  recum- 
bent figures  of  '  Raphael  Urb.'  and  '  Mi1  Angelo ']. 

F  A  Labourer  [Earl  of  Burlington]. 

The  plate  is  said  to  have  been  suppressed,  but  it 
was  reproduced  as  a  frontispiece  to  a  pirated  edition 
of  the  first  issue  of  the  poem  *  Of  Taste,'  which  was 
described  as  '  A  Miscellany  on  Taste.' 

Pope  never  referred  to  Hogarth  publicly,  but  he 
complained  to  friends,  and  he  was  evidently  afraid 
of  the  satirist. 

Nichols,  however,  in  Biographical  Anecdotes,  refers 
to  a  copy  of  this  piratical  edition  having  the  following 
inscription  written  inside  the  book :  '  BoH  this 
book  of  Mr.  Wayte,  at  The  Fountain  Tavern,  in  the 
Strand,  in  the  presence  of  Mr.  Draper,  who  told  me 
he  had  it  of  the  Printer,  Mr.  W.  Rayner. — J.  Cosins.' 

He  says  Cosins  was  an  attorney,  and  as  Pope  was 
desirous  on  all  occasions  to  make  the  law  the  engine 
of  his  revenge,  he  supposes  this  attested  memoran- 
dum was  intended  for  the  purposes  of  a  prosecution. 

'  Taste  in  High  Life '  was  painted  in  ridicule  of 


126  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

the  craze  of  the  day  for  outre  costumes  and  the 
collection  of  gimcracks  of  all  kinds.  Miss  Edwardes 
of  Kensington,  an  unmarried  lady  of  great  fortune, 
had  been  sharply  satirised  in  Society  for  her 
oddities,  and  she  thought  that  by  employing  Hogarth 
to  perpetuate  the  absurdities  of  the  dress  worn  by 
the  most  exalted  personages  of  her  time  she  would 
have  ample  revenge. 

The  picture  represents  a  room  furnished  in  the 
extreme  of  fashion,  the  chief  figures  being  a  lady 
and  gentleman  extravagantly  dressed  and  '  gushing  ' 
over  the  beauties  of  some  old  china.  The  man  has 
a  saucer  in  his  hand,  and  the  woman  a  cup.  The 
beau  represents  the  Earl  of  Portmore  in  the  dress 
he  wore  at  the  Birthday  Drawing-Room  of  1742. 
A  monkey  in  the  front  of  the  picture  is  dressed  like 
a  gentleman  of  the  period.  The  little  black  boy  is 
said  to  be  taken  from  Ignatius  Sancho  whose 
portrait  in  later  life  was  painted  by  Gainsborough. 

The  woman  who  is  playing  with  the  black  boy  is 
said  to  represent  a  courtesan  of  the  day.  On  the 
wall,  among  a  large  collection  of  pictures,  Desnoyers 
the  great  opera  dancer  is  seen  pirouetting. 

Hogarth  received  sixty  guineas  from  Miss 
Edwardes  for  the  picture,  which  was  bought  by 
Mr.  Birch  at  the  sale  of  her  effects  for  five  guineas. 
It  belonged  to  Mr.  John  Birch,  surgeon,  of  Essex 
Street,  Strand,  son  of  the  former  proprietor,  when 
it  was  engraved  by  Samuel  Phillips  in  1798.  He 
exhibited  it  in  1814.  The  picture  was  sold  at  the 


HIGH  LIFE  127 

M'Murdo  sale  in  July  1889  for  £225,  15s.,  and  is 
now  in  the  possession  of  Mr.  Fairfax  Murray. 

As  this  picture  was  painted  to  the  order  of  another, 
the  painter  took  little  interest  in  it  and  would  not 
allow  it  to  be  engraved.  An  engraver  managed 
surreptitiously  to  obtain  sight  of  the  picture  and 
published  a  print  of  it  at  the  price  of  sixpence. 

The  publication  was  advertised  in  The  General 
Advertiser  of  May  24,  1746.  '  On  Monday  next 
will  be  published  an  entertaining  new  Print,  called 
"  Taste  in  High  Life  "  (a  companion  to  Taste  a  la 
Mode),  from  an  incomparable  Picture  of  Mr. 
Hogarth's  (designed  by  a  lady  lately  deceased) 
proving  beyond  contradiction,  that  the  present 
polite  assemblies  of  Drums,  Routs,  etc.,  are  mere 
exotics  and  the  supporters  of  such  and  other 
Divertissemens  modernes  a  parcel  of  Insects.  To 
be  had  at  Mr.  Jar  vis's  Print-shop  in  Bedford 
Court,  Covent  Garden,  and  the  Printsellers  of 
London  and  Westminster.' 


128  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 


CHAPTER    IV 

LOW   LIFE 

Low  Life  is  exhibited  in  its  many  phases  in  a  large 
number  of  Hogarth's  pictures,  and  so  universally 
has  the  public  opinion  been  directed  to  this  side  of 
the  artist's  art  that  we  find  an  anonymous  writer 
dedicating  to  Hogarth  his  work  on  '  Low  Life,' 
which  we  have  Mr.  Dobson's  authority  for  saying 
was  first  published  in  May  1752  (a  second  edition 
in  November  1754,  and  a  third  in  1764),1  and 
attributing  the  idea  of  its  publication  to  his  pictures 
of  '  The  Four  Times  of  the  Day,'  painted  and 
engraved  in  1738. 

1  '  Low-Life :  or  One  half  the  World,  knows  not  how  the  Other  half  lives, 
being  a  critical  account  of  what  is  transacted  by  People  of  almost  all  Religions, 
Nations,  and  Circumstances,  in  the  Twenty-four  hours  between  Saturday 
Night  and  Monday  Morning.  In  a  true  description  of  a  Sunday,  as  it  is 
usually  spent  within  the  Bills  of  Mortality.  Calculated  for  the  Tenth 
[Twenty-first]  of  June.  With  an  Address  to  the  ingenious  Mr.  Hogarth. 
' Let  Fancy  guess  the  rest.' — Buckingham. 

( London  :  Printed  for  the  Author,  and  sold  by  T.  Legg,  at  the  Parrot  and 
Crown  in  Green  Arbour  Court  in  the  Little  Old  Baily,'  etc.  [n.d.]  [Price 
one  shilling.] 

The  third  edition.  '  London  :  Printed  for  John  Lever,  at  Little  Moorgate, 
next  London  Wall  near  Moorfields,  1764'  [Price  one  shilling  and  sixpence]. 
8vo,  pp.  viii.,  103. 

The  change  of  the  date  on  the  title-page  of  the  third  edition  from  the 
tenth  to  the  twenty-first  is  of  interest  on  account  of  the  change  in  the 
calendar  which  took  place  between  the  publication  of  the  two  editions. 


LOW  LIFE  129 

This  remarkable  book  attracted  the  attention  of 
Thackeray,  Dickens,  Sala  (Twice  Round  the  Clock, 
1859),  and  others,  and  it  requires  some  special 
notice  here,  as  it  contains  a  curious  illustration  of 
the  habits  of  the  Londoners  of  Hogarth's  day.  Sir 
Walter  Besant  in  his  London  in  the  Eighteenth 
Century,  has  a  chapter  on  Low  Life  entitled  '  Twice 
Round  the  Clock.'  He  wisely  remarks  that  the  reve- 
lations of  the  book  must  be  accepted  with  caution, 
as  the  frequent  is  usually  made  to  appear  to  be  the 
universal.  Moreover,  the  author  assumes  the  garb, 
which  he  wears  somewhat  awkwardly,  '  of  the 
moralist  that  deplores  and  the  Christian  who 
exhorts.'  With  this  caution  we  can  proceed  to 
consider  the  author's  revelations  as  they  occur. 

In  the  dedication  to  Hogarth  we  read :  '  I  say 
that  this  essay  owes  its  existence  partly  to  your 
works.  And  who  will  not  believe  me,  when  I  direct 
them  to  those  four  pieces  of  yours,  called  "Morning," 
"  Noon,"  "  Evening,"  "  Night  "  ?  and  where  are 
many  things  made  visible  to  the  eye  in  the  most 
elegant  colours,  which  are  here  only  recorded.  But 
these  I  must  leave  the  judicious  Reader  to 
compare.' 

We  are  told  that  hi  the  first  hour  from  12  to  1  A.M. 
4  The  Salop  man  hi  Fleet  Street  shuts  up  his  Beggar's 
Coffee-house,'  and  hackney  coachmen  are  full  of 
employment  about  Charing  Cross,  Covent  Garden, 
and  the  Inns  of  Court,  carrying  to  their  respective 
habitations  such  people  as  are  either  too  drunk  or 

i 


130  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

too  lazy  to  walk.  Later  on,  the  watchman  cries 
''Past  four  o'clock'  at  half  an  hour  after  three. 
About  this  time  the  beggars  go  to  the  parish  nurses 
to  borrow  poor  helpless  children  at  fourpence  a  day 
each.  The  keepers  of  she-asses  about  Brompton, 
Knightsbridge,  Hoxton  and  Stepney  are  getting 
ready  to  run  with  their  cattle  all  over  the  town  to 
be  milked  for  the  benefit  of  sick  and  infirm  persons. 
From  seven  to  eight  people  are  seen  '  wishing  the 
compliments  of  the  season,  it  being  Whit  Sunday.' 
About  this  time  '  the  whole  cities  of  London, 
Westminster  and  the  Borough  of  Southwark  are 
covered  by  a  cloud  of  smoak,  most  people  being 
employed  in  lighting  fires.' 

The  account  of  the  doings  during  the  dark  hours 
is  full,  and  shows  how  dangerous  the  streets  of 
London  were  at  night,  and  sometimes  in  the 
day-time,  owing  to  the  incompetence  and,  in 
many  cases,  to  the  corruptibility  of  the  old  watch- 
men. 

Being  Sunday  morning,  some  of  the  early  risers 
were  off  to  the  suburbs  to  breakfast  at  Sadler's  Wells, 
but  the  larger  number  of  the  people  waited  till  the 
afternoon  and  walked  to  the  fields  of  Islington  which 
were  then  filling  with  oxen  and  calves,  sheep  and 
lambs,  placed  there  to  be  ready  for  Monday  morning 
market  at  Smithfield.  More  will  be  found  about 
these  suburban  resorts  in  the  chapter  on  Suburbs. 
At  the  end  of  Low  Life,  there  is  an  advertisement 
of  *  The  Secret  History  of  Betty  Ireland,  6th  edition, 


LOW  LIFE  131 

price  6d.,'  with  these  laudatory  lines  on  this 
woman  : 

'  Read  Flanders  Moll,  the  German  Princess  scan, 
Then  match  our  Irish  Betty  if  you  can ; 
In  Wit  and  Vice  she  did  them  both  excel 
And  may  be  justly  called,  a  Nonpareil.' 

In  the  Newgate  Calendar  a  print  called  *  Betty 
Ireland's  Dexterity'  is  borrowed  from  the  woman 
stealing  the  watch  in  Plate  3  of  the  '  Rake's  Progress.' 

Turning  from  the  follower  to  the  originator,  we 
can  now  consider  the  particular  points  of  '  The  Four 
Times  of  the  Day,'  which  series  is  of  the  greatest 
interest  for  our  present  purpose  as  it  illustrates 
London  streets  in  three  of  the  pictures  and  the 
suburbs  in  '  Evening.'  Although  the  engravings 
from  the  original  paintings  were  published  in  1738, 
the  pictures  remained  on  Hogarth's  hands  until  1745, 
when  they  were  sold  by  the  artist's  ill-advised  system 
of  auction  for  ridiculously  low  prices. 

'  The  Four  Times  of  the  Day '  were  exhibited  in 
1814,  and  Mr.  Dobson  tells  us  that  'Night'  and 
'  Morning '  (shown  in  the  Winter  Exhibition  of  the 
Royal  Academy  in  1885),  belong  to  the  Hursley 
Park  Trustees,  and  were  originally  purchased  by  Sir 
WiUiam  Heathcote  for  £27,  6s.  and  £21.  '  Noon  ' 
and  '  Evening '  belonged  to  the  Duke  of  Ancaster, 
who  bought  them  for  £38,  17s.  and  £39,  18s. 
respectively  ;  they  are  now  in  the  possession  of  the 
Earl  of  Ancaster  at  Grimsthorpe  Castle,  Lincolnshire. 

In    the    advertisement    of    the    sale    of   pictures 


132  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

(Daily  Advertiser,  February  6  and  19,  1745),  it  is 
stated  that  they  were  '  All  of  them  his  own  original 
Paintings,  from  which  no  other  copies  than  the 
Prints  have  ever  been  taken.'  Hogarth  allowed 
Francis  Hayman  to  reproduce  the  four  pictures  for 
Jonathan  Tyers  to  ornament  Vauxhall  Gardens, 
but  we  have  not  the  exact  date  when  this  was  done. 
Mr.  Dobson  says  that  '  Evening  '  and  '  Night '  were 
still  there  in  1808. 

*  Morning.' — The  first  picture  presents  an  admir- 
able view  of  Covent  Garden  Market  on  a  cold  winter 
morning,  although  some  of  the  details  are  not  quite 
correctly  depicted  in  the  engraving,  so  that  Lord 
Archer's  house  (long  afterwards  Evans's)  appears 
to  stand  on  the  south  rather  than  on  the  north  side 
of  the  church.  The  hour,  as  appears  by  the  church 
clock,  is  7.55,  and  the  old  maid  followed  by  her 
shivering  page  is  proceeding  to  attend  the  early 
morning  service. 

John  Ireland  refers  to  this  lady  as  '  this  withered 
representative  of  Miss  Bridget  Allworthy,'  but  the 
remark  is  misleading  as  Fielding's  novel  was  not 
published  until  1749.  It  was  Fielding  who 
borrowed  from  Hogarth  and  drew  Miss  Bridget  in 
words  in  accordance  with  the  portrait  of  her  in 
'  Morning.'  He  writes  :  '  The  lady,  no  more  than 
her  lover,  was  remarkable  for  beauty.  I  would 
attempt  to  draw  her  picture ;  but  that  is  done  already 
by  a  more  able  master,  Mr.  Hogarth  himself,  to 
whom  she  sat  many  years  ago,  and  hath  been 


"MORNING"    (COVENT  GARDEN.)    "FOUR  TIMES  OF  THE  DAY."    1738. 


LOW  LIFE  133 

lately  exhibited  by  that  gentleman  in  his  print  of  a 
Winter's  Morning,  of  which  she  was  no  improper 
emblem  and  may  be  seen  walking  (for  walk  she  doth 
in  the  print)  to  Covent  Garden  Church,  with  a 
starved  footboy  behind,  carrying  a  prayer-book.'  ' 

Another  story  told  by  John  Nichols  is  that  this 
figure  was  taken  either  from  an  acquaintance  or 
relation  of  Hogarth.  '  At  first  she  was  well  enough 
satisfied  with  her  resemblance  ;  but  some  designing 
people  teaching  her  to  be  angry,  she  struck  the 
painter  out  of  her  will,  which  had  been  made  con- 
siderably in  his  favour.'  Such  are  the  troubles 
of  the  Satirist. 

Cowper  was  struck  by  this  figure,  and  faithfully 
expounded  it  in  eighteen  lines  of  Truth  commencing : 

1  Yon  ancient  prude,  whose  wither'd  features  show 
She  might  be  young  some  forty  years  ago, 
Her  elbows  pinion'd  close  upon  her  hips, 
Her  head  erect,  her  fan  upon  her  lips, 
Her  eyebrows  arch'd,  her  eyes  both  gone  astray 
To  watch  yon  am'rous  couple  in  their  play.' 

The  church,  which  forms  the  principal  object  in 
the  east  end  of  the  picture,  represents  Inigo  Jones's 
original  church.  This  building  was  entirely  de- 
stroyed by  fire  on  September  15,  1795,  and  was 
rebuilt  by  Thomas  Hardwick,  architect,  on  the  plan 
and  hi  the  proportions  of  the  original. 

'  Tom  King's  Coffee-House,'  a  notorious  resort 
of  the  most  unruly  of  the  London  rakes,  forms  a 

1  Tom  Jones,  book  i.  chap.  XL 


134  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

prominent  feature  in  the  picture.  Tom  King  was 
a  native  of  West  Ashton  in  Wiltshire  and  a  scholar 
at  Eton,  who  early  began  his  ignoble  career.  In 
the  account  of  the  boys  elected  from  Eton  to  King's 
College,  Cambridge,  given  by  Harwood  (Alumni 
Etonensis),  he  writes:  King  'went  away  (1713) 
scholar  in  apprehension  that  his  fellowship  would 
be  denied  him,  and  afterwards  kept  that  coffee- 
house in  Covent  Garden  which  was  called  by  his 
own  name.'  At  the  date  of  this  picture  Tom  King 
probably  had  been  succeeded  in  the  possession 
of  this  place  of  entertainment  by  his  widow,  Moll 
King,  who  became  notorious.  In  October  1737  was 
published  a  print  entitled  '  A  Monument  for  Tom 
K-g.' 

Fielding  frequently  referred  to  King's  Coffee- 
House.  J.  T.  Smith  places  the  shed,  for  it  was 
little  more,  opposite  to  Tavistock  Row,  now  cleared 
away  for  new  market  buildings  with  one  side  in 
Tavistock  Street,  and  not  in  front  of  the  church 
where,  as  Mr.  Dobson  says,  Hogarth  has  by  artistic 
licence  placed  it.  Smith's  localisation  is  corro- 
borated by  the  view  in  '  Tom  K — g*s :  or  the 
Paphian  Grove,  with  the  various  Humours  of 
Covent  Garden  &c.,  the  second  edition  to  which  is 
added,  a  Dedication  to  Mrs.  K — g  .  .  .  London 
1738.' 

In  this  little  book  there  is  a  portrait  of  Mrs.  Mary 
K — g  opposite  to  the  dedication.  In  the  author's 
apology  we  are  told  :  '  I  have  no  private  antipathy 


LOW  LIFE  135 

to  any  person  who  may  suppose  himself  to  be  here 
satyriz'd ;  my  sole  design  being  to  expose  a  place 
that  has  flourish'd  for  some  years,  either  to  the 
shame  of  our  laws  or  the  scandal  of  our  Magistrates.' 
It  is  not  clear  whether  this  low  place  of  entertain- 
ment, which  must  have  been  a  scandal  even  in  a 
scandalous  neighbourhood,  was  ever  changed  in 
its  position.  The  author  of  this  'Mock  Heroic 
Poem '  thus  describes  the  Market : 

1  Where  a  wide  area  opens  to  the  sight 
A  spacious  Plain  quadrangularly  right, 
Whose  large  Frontiers  with  Pallisado's  bound, 
From  Trivia's  filth  inshrines  the  hallo w'd  ground : 
In  which  Pomona  keeps  her  fruitful  court, 
And  youthful  Flora  with  her  Nymphs  resort.' 

Stacie  wrote  :  '  Noblemen  and  the  first  beaux  after 
leaving  court  would  go  to  her  house  in  full  dress 
with  swords  and  in  rich  brocaded  silk  coats,  and 
walked  and  conversed  with  persons  of  every  de- 
scription. She  would  serve  chimney-sweepers, 
gardeners  and  market  people  in  common  with  her 
lords  of  the  knighted  rank.' 

Moll  King  was  not  allowed  much  longer  to  con- 
tinue in  her  evil  courses,  and  as  we  read  in  a  news- 
paper cutting  of  May  24,  1739,  '  Yesterday  Mary 
King,  mistress  of  King's  Coffee  House,  Covent 
Garden,  was  brought  to  the  King's  Bench  Bar  to 
receive  judgment,  when  the  Court  committed  her 
to  the  King's  Bench  prison,  Southwark,  till  they  took 
time  to  consider  of  a  punishment  adequate  to  the 


136  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

offence.'  We  read  further  in  the  Weekly  Miscellany, 
June  9,  1739 :  *  Monday,  Mrs.  Mary  King  of  Co  vent 
Garden  was  brought  up  to  the  King's  Bench  bar 
at  Westminster,  and  received  the  following  sentence, 
for  keeping  a  disorderly  house ;  viz.  to  pay  a  fine  of 
two  hundred  pounds,  to  suffer  three  months  imprison- 
ment, to  find  security  for  her  good  behaviour  for 
three  years,  and  to  remain  in  prison  till  the  fine  be 
paid.'  This  punishment  may  be  said  to  have 
finished  her  career.  She  retired  to  Haverstock 
Hill  and  built  three  houses,  in  one  of  which  she  died 
on  the  17th  of  September  1747.  Nancy  Dawson, 
the  hornpipe  dancer,  lived  here  for  a  time.1  The 
three  houses  remained  until  a  few  years  ago  and 
were  known  as  Moll  King's  Row. 

After  this  woman's  death  a  book  was  published 
entitled  '  Covent  Garden  in  Mourning,  a  Mock 
Heroick  Poem,  containing  some  Memoirs  of  the  late 
Celebrated  Moll  King.' 

There  was  at  Strawberry  Hill  a  large  drawing 
of  the  interior  of  Tom  King's  by  Captain  Laroon 
which  Walpole  bought  from  the  artist.  Another 
interior  will  be  found  in  an  engraving  by  Bickham 
jun.  entitled  '  The  Rake's  Rendez-vous,  or  the 
Midnight  Revels.  Wherein  are  delineated  the 
Various  Humours  of  Tom  King's  Coffee  House  in 

1  Nancy  Dawson  made  her  first  appearance  at  Drury  Lane  Theatre  on 
Sept.  23,  1760.  She  died  May  27,  1767,  and  is  buried  in  the  burial- 
ground  of  St.  George's,  Bloomsbury,  at  the  back  of  the  Foundling  Hospital. 
A  portrait  of  her,  attributed  to  Hogarth,  was  sold  at  the  Johnson  sale  in 
1898  for  ^13,  13s. 


LOW  LIFE  137 

Co  vent  Garden,'  which  is  a  plagiarism  of  the  Tavern 
Scene  in  the  '  Rake's  Progress/ 

In  Boitard's  'Morning  Frolic  in  Covent  Garden' 
Laroon  is  seen  brandishing  an  artichoke,  Captain 
Montague  seated  on  the  top  of  Bet  Careless's  sedan, 
which  is  preceded  by  Little  Casey.  Justice  Welsh 
said  that  Captain  Laroon,  his  friend  Montague,  and 
their  constant  companion,  Little  Casey,  were  the  three 
most  troublesome  of  all  his  visitors  at  Bow  Street. 

In  the  distance  to  the  left  of  the  picture  is  seen 
the  quack  Dr.  Bock  exhibiting  his  medicines  for 
sale  and  expatiating  on  their  virtues.  John  Ireland 
says  that  this  was  considered  to  be  a  striking  likeness 
of  the  man,  who  made  a  practice  of  attending  the 
market  every  morning. 

*Noon.' — This  picture  does  not  properly  come 
under  the  heading  of  Low  Life,  as  it  represents  in 
vivid  colours  the  issuing  out  of  the  congregation  from 
the  French  Church  in  Hog  Lane,  afterwards  Crown 
Street  and  now  a  part  of  Charing  Cross  Road. 
This  district  was  the  centre  of  a  foreign  quarter,  and 
the  church  was  well  attended.  It  had  previously 
been  occupied  as  a  Greek  church,  and  there  is  still  a 
Greek  inscription  over  the  west  door,  to  the  effect  that 
the  temple  was  created  by  the  Greeks  in  1677.  An  In- 
dependent chapel  succeeded  the  French  chapel,  and 
the  building  is  now  the  Anglican  Church  of  St.  Mary. 
The  church  is  set  back  from  the  road,  but  additions 
have  been  made  which  front  Charing  Cross  Road. 


138  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

St.  Giles's  Church  is  seen  in  the  distance;  and 
on  the  whole  this  is  one  of  the  best  of  Hogarth's 
pictures  of  the  London  streets  and  full  of  humorous 
incidents,  especially  the  despair  of  the  poor  boy 
who  has  just  broken  his  dish,  containing  the 
Sunday's  dinner  from  the  baker's,  by  setting  it 
down  too  smartly  on  a  post. 

*  Evening '  will  be  found  referred  to  in  the  chapter 
on  the  Suburbs  (xin.) 

'  Night.' — This,  the  last  of  the  four  pictures,  repre- 
sents the  congested  condition  of  the  narrow  part 
of  Charing  Cross,  at  a  time  of  rejoicing,  before  it  was 
opened  out  to  Whitehall,  and  the  neighbourhood  of 
St.  Martin's  Church.  This  is  the  night  of  the  29th 
of  May,  as  will  be  seen  by  the  oaken  bough  on  the 
barber's  pole  and  the  oak  leaves  fixed  in  some  of 
the  hats  of  the  passers-by.  The  principal  window 
is  fully  illuminated  with  tallow  candles,  and  there 
is  a  bonfire  in  the  middle  of  the  road. 

The  overturned  coach,  with  its  frightened 
passengers,  occupies  a  prominent  position  in  the 
picture.  There  is  a  tradition  that  the  cause  of  the 
disaster  was  the  Earl  of  Salisbury  (James,  fourth 
Earl:  1713-1780),  whose  hobby  it  was  to  drive 
coaches.  Walpole  describes  him  as  driving  the 
Hatfield  stage,  but  this  may  only  be  a  figure  of 
speech.  The  conveyance  is  generally  referred  to 
as  the  Salisbury  Flying  Coach,  but  this  may  merely 
be  some  confusion  with  the  name  of  the  noble 


LOW  LIFE  139 

driver.     Pope  alludes  to  him  in  the  Dunciad  (book 
iv.  11.  587-8) : 

'  From  stage  to  stage  the  licens'd  Earl  may  run, 
Pair'd  with  his  fellow-charioteer,  the  sun.' 

On  either  side  of  the  road  are  the  Rummer  Tavern 
and  the  Cardigan's  Head.  The  former  was  an  old- 
established  place  of  entertainment,  and  was  kept 
in  1685  by  Samuel  Prior,  the  uncle  of  Matthew 
Prior.  (It  was  at  the  Rhenish  Wine  Office  in  Canon 
Row  that  the  Earl  of  Dorset  found  the  young  poet 
reading  Horace.)  In  the  distance  is  seen  the  statue 
of  Charles  I. 

The  intoxicated  freemason  in  the  front  of  the 
picture  who  is  being  led  to  his  home  by  the  tyler 
of  his  lodge  has  been  identified  as  Sir  Thomas 
De  Veil,  the  magistrate.  This  incident  was  fully 
discussed  at  a  meeting  of  the  Lodge  Quatuor  Coronati 
on  the  3rd  May  and  8th  November,  1889.  Brother 
G.  W.  Speth  alluded  to  it  in  a  paper  on  the  Founda- 
tion of  Modern  Freemasonry,  and  Brother  W. 
Harry  Rylands  read  a  paper  on  Hogarth's  Picture 
*  Night '  at  the  latter  date.1  Both  writers  are  willing 
to  agree  to  the  popular  ascription  to  Sir  Thomas 
De  Veil.  Mr.  Speth  writes :  '  The  badge  [of  the 
freemason]  was  a  huge  plain  white  apron,  such  as  the 
drunken  W.M.  and  the  tavern  waiter  or  Tyler  are 
begirt  with  in  Hogarth's  well-known  picture.'  He 
cannot  find  that  any  lodge  met  at  the  Cardigan's 

1  Transactions  of  the  Lodge  Quatuor  Coronati,  vol.  ii.  1889,  pp.  90,  116, 
146. 


140  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

Head  previous  to  the  date  of  the  engraving,  but 
from  1739  to  1742  a  lodge,  which  was  constituted 
15th  April  1728  and  erased  in  1743,  held  its  meetings 
at  the  '  Earl  of  Cardigan's  Head,'  Charing  Cross. 
Mr.  Speth  gives  excellent  reasons  for  believing  that 
the  figure  with  the  lantern  was  intended  for  a  tyler 
and  not,  as  most  commentators  suppose,  a  waiter. 
*  The  dress  and  wig  are  not  those  of  a  menial,  and 
the  masonic  apron  rather  points  also  to  a  contrary 
conclusion.  The  sword  under  the  arm  at  once 
suggests  a  Tyler,  and  distinct  resemblance  may  be 
traced  between  Hogarth's  picture  and  an  engraved 
portrait  dated  1738  of  "  Montgomerie,  garder  to  ye 
Grand  Lodge,"  or  as  we  should  say,  Grand  Tyler. 
The  cut  of  the  coat  sleeve  and  arrangement  of  the 
linen  are  also  identical  in  both  plates.  What  more 
consonant  with  all  we  know  of  Hogarth  than  the 
supposition  that  the  Grand  Tyler  having  issued 
an  engraving  of  himself  in  1738,  the  very  year  of 
Hogarth's  plate,  he  should  seize  the  first  oppor- 
tunity of  caricaturing  it  ?  ' 

Mr.  Rylands  enters  very  fully  into  the  various 
pouits  of  the  picture,  more  especially  of  the  topo- 
graphy, but  it  is  difficult  to  come  to  any  definite 
conclusion  as  to  the  matter.  He  satisfactorily 
disproves  Mr.  Speth' s  suggestion  that  the  scene 
was  laid  in  Hartshorn  Lane  (afterwards  Northumber- 
land Street).  It  probably  looks  towards  Charing 
Cross  from  the  opening  to  Whitehall.  Hogarth 
was  not  very  particular  as  to  these  details. 


LOW  LIFE  141 

The  remarkable  engraving  of  *  The  Cockpit '  is 
one  of  Hogarth's  most  vivid  illustrations  of  the 
manners  of  his  time.  It  was  published  in  1759,  and 
is  therefore  one  of  his  latest  works.  In  1747  he  was 
invited  by  a  writer  of  verses  in  the  Gentleman's 
Magazine  of  that  year  to  take  the  Cockpit  as  a 
subject  for  his  art : 

'  Come,  Hogarth,  thou  whose  art  can  best  declare 
What  forms,  what  features,  human  passions  wear, 
Come  with  a  painter's  philosophic  sight, 
Survey  the  circling  judges  of  the  fight. 
Touch'd  with  the  sport  of  death,  while  every  heart 
Springs  to  the  changing  face,  exert  thy  art ; 
Mix  with  the  smiles  of  Cruelty  at  pain, 
Whate'er  looks  anxious  in  the  lust  of  gain ; 
And  say,  can  aught  that 's  generous,  just,  or  kind, 
Beneath  this  aspect,  lurk  within  the  mind.'1 

Cock-fighting  is  a  very  ancient  game,  and  as  *  the 
sport  of  kings'  cockpits  have  been  attached  tC 
palaces,  the  one  at  Whitehall  gave  its  name  to  the 
Council  Chamber  in  St.  James's  Park.  In  the 
seventeenth  century  London  was  filled  with  cock- 
pits, but  the  most  famous  was  the  Royal  Cockpit, 
which  stood  in  Dartmouth  Street  near  the  top  of 
Queen  Street.  The  winding  stone  steps  leading  from 
Birdcage  Walk  to  the  site  of  the  building  still  exist, 
and  continue  the  name  as  Cockpit  Steps.  Mr.  W.  B. 
Boulton  in  his  Amusements  of  Old  London  gives 
an  advertisement  of  this  place  from  one  of  the 
news  sheets  of  1700. 

*  At  the  Royal  Cockpit,  on  the  south  side  of  St. 

1  John  Nichols,  Biographical  Anecdotes  (1785),  p.  368. 


142  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

James's  Park,  on  Tuesday  the  llth  of  this  instant 
February,  will  begin  a  very  great  cock  match,  and 
will  continue  all  the  week,  wherein  most  of  the 
considerablest  cockers  of  England  are  concerned. 
There  will  be  a  battle  down  upon  the  pit  every  day 
precisely  at  three  o'clock,  in  order  to  have  done 
by  daylight.  Monday  the  9th  instant  March  will 
begin  a  great  match  of  cock-fighting  between  the 
gentlemen  of  the  city  of  Westminster  and  the 
gentlemen  of  the  city  of  London,  for  six  guineas 
a  battle  and  one  hundred  guineas  the  odd  battle, 
and  the  match  continues  all  the  week  in  Red  Lion 
Fields.' 

It  is  the  Royal  Cockpit  which  is  supposed  to  be 
the  scene  of  Hogarth's  engraving.  The  building 
was  taken  down  hi  1816,  as  a  renewal  of  the  lease 
for  the  old  purpose  was  refused.  The  cock-fighters 
removed  to  the  Cockpit  Royal  in  Tufton  Street, 
Westminster,  which  remained  until  the  year  1828. 
A  few  years  afterwards  the  game  was  prohibited 
by  Act  of  Parliament  (5  and  6  Wm.  iv.  cap.  59). 

Mr.  Boulton,  who  gives  a  learned  account  of 
cock-fighting,  highly  praises  Pepys's  word-picture 
of  his  single  visit  to  a  cockpit  (Dec.  21,  1663).  He 
writes  :  '  We  think  this  wonderful  plate  [by  Hogarth] 
may  be  placed  by  the  side  of  Mr.  Pepys's  vivid 
description  of  his  visit  to  Shoe  Lane  as  one  of  the 
best  presentments  of  the  humours  of  the  cockpit 
existing.  The  same  "celestial  spirit  of  anarchy" 
animates  the  other  classic  representation  of  a  cock 


LOW  LIFE  143 

match  by  Thomas  Rowlandson  which  appeared  in 
the  Microcosm  of  London  some  sixty  years  later.' 

The  expression  '  celestial  spirit '  used  above  is  a 
quotation  from  Dr.  Martin  Sherlock's  Letters  to  a 
Friend  at  Paris  referred  to  by  John  Ireland  :  '  It  is 
worth  your  while  to  come  to  England,  were  it  only 
to  see  an  Election  and  a  Cock-match.  There  is  a 
celestial  spirit  of  anarchy  and  confusion,  in  these 
two  scenes  that  words  cannot  paint,  and  of  which 
no  countryman  of  yours  can  form  even  an  idea.' 

Ireland  adds  to  this :  '  Mr.  Sherlock  is  perfectly 
right  in  his  assertion,  that  neither  of  these  scenes 
can  be  described  by  words ;  but  where  the  writer 
must  have  failed,  the  artist  has  succeeded,  and  the 
Parisian  who  has  never  visited  England  may,  from 
Mr.  Hogarth's  prints,  form  a  tolerably  correct  idea 
of  the  anarchy  of  an  election,  and  the  confusion  of  a 
Cockpit.'  We  have  seen  in  the  case  of  Samuel 
Pepys  that  it  is  not  necessary  for  the  writer  to  fail 
in  the  description  of  a  cock-fight.  It  is  a  curious 
coincidence  in  Sherlock's  remarks  that,  though  he 
means  two  things  when  he  speaks  of  an  Election 
and  a  Cock-match,  the  word  election  was  a  recog- 
nised term  in  *  cocking.'  Election  is  the  act  of 
choosing,  and  '  in  the  election  of  a  fighting  cock, 
there  are  four  things  principally  to  be  considered, 
and  they  are  shape,  colour,  courage,  and  sharp  heel.' 

The  number  of  known  characters,  most  of  them 
taken  from  the  life,  in  this  picture  gives  great  value 
to  this  representation  of  a  scene  full  of  the  wildest 


144  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

excitement.  The  worst  qualities  of  human  nature 
are  discovered  in  the  company  consisting  of  all 
classes,  and  on  every  man's  face  is  seen  the  exhibition 
of  the  greed  of  gain. 

An  ornamentation  at  the  foot  of  the  design 
represents  an  oval  medallion  containing  the  figure 
of  a  crowing  cock  ;  on  the  ground  of  the  medallion 
is  inscribed  '  Royal  Sport.'  This  medallion  is 
named  '  Pit  ticket,'  and  represents  a  token  of 
admission  to  witness  a  cock-fight. 

The  engraving  represents  a  cockpit,  as  seen  by 
artificial  light  during  a  combat  between  two  fowls. 
This  is  interesting,  as  the  advertisement  quoted 
above  speaks  of  the  fight  as  taking  place  by  daylight. 
The  central  figure  is  that  of  a  blind  man  who  occupies 
the  central  position.  This  was  intended  for  Lord 
Albemarle  Bertie,  second  son  of  Peregrine,  second 
Duke  of  Ancaster.  This  gambler  is  also  seen  in  the 
'  March  to  Finchley '  as  an  attendant  at  a  boxing 
match.  The  figure  of  the  stout  nobleman  with  the 
star  and  riband  has  not  been  recognised,  but  is 
evidently  a  portrait.  The  reflection  on  the  table  is 
the  shadow  of  a  man  who  has  been  drawn  up  to  the 
ceiling  as  a  punishment  for  having  made  bets  for 
more  money  than  he  can  pay.  John  Ireland 
quotes  from  the  second  canto  of  a  poem  entitled 
1  The  Gamblers  '  the  following  illustrative  notes : 
'  By  the  Cockpit  laws,  the  man  who  cannot,  or  will 
not  pay  his  debts  of  honour,  is  liable  to  exaltation 
in  a  basket.' — '  Stephen's  exaltation  in  a  basket, 


LOW  LIFE  145 

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.' 

Mr.  Dobson  gives  a  further  illustrative  quotation 
from  '  Another  Occasional  Letter  from  Mr.  Gibber 
to  Mr.  Pope '  (1744) — '  As  the  merry  mob  at  a  Cock- 
match  hoist  up  a  cheat  into  the  basket,  for  having 
lost  a  bet  he  was  not  able  to  pay.' 

John  Ireland  says  the  scene  is  probably  laid  at 
Newmarket,  but  adds  :  '  This  is  mere  conjecture, 
but  from  Jackson  the  hump-backed  jockey,  and  some 
other  sedate  personages  who  are  present,  I  think 
it  is  more  likely  to  be  designed  for  that  place  than 
any  other.'  On  the  wall  hung  the  royal  arms, 
and  a  full-length  portrait  of  Nan  Rawlings,  a  famous 
cock-feeder,  well  known  at  Newmarket,  also  known 
as  Deptford  Nan  and  Duchess  of  Deptford. 

The  prominence  of  the  royal  arms  is  a  strong 
argument  in  favour  of  the  supposition  that  the 
scene  was  taken  from  the  Royal  Cockpit,  which  is 
reported  to  have  been  founded  by  Charles  n. 
Hogarth  was  interested  in  pugilism  and  the  Art 
of  Self-Defence,  which,  however  brutal  it  may  be 
considered,  was  found  by  many  in  the  eighteenth 
century  to  be  a  very  useful  accomplishment  at  a 
time  when  little  protection  could  be  expected  from 
the  watchmen  in  any  possible  street  frays.  Some 


146  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

who  remember  how  well  Samuel  Johnson  could  use 
his  fists  when  occasion  called  may  think  it  unfair 
to  place  prize-fighters  in  a  chapter  on  Low  Life, 
but  at  all  events  the  exhibitions  of  pugilism  come 
fairly  under  that  heading,  even  if  they  were  generally 
supported  by  those  who  are  usually  supposed  to 
belong  to  High  Life.  James  Figg,  who  died  on  the 
7th  December  1734,  was  much  appreciated  as  a 
model  by  Hogarth,  who  introduced  him  into 
the  Rake's  Levee  (Plate  2)  and  the  '  Midnight 
Modern  Conversation.'  The  most  important  is  the 
figure  in  the  corner  of  the  picture  of  Southwark 
Fair,  where  Figg,  bald-headed,  seated  on  a  pony,  is 
seen  starting  to  ride  through  the  Fan1.  It  was  the 
practice  of  a  great  Master  of  Defence  to  ride  through 
the  City  preceded  by  trumpets  and  drums  and 
colours  flying.  Figg  kept  a  great  tiled  booth  on 
the  Bowling  Green,  Southwark,  during  the  time  of 
the  Fair.  There  was  a  performance  daily  at  noon, 
which  closed  at  four.  He  established  himself  at  the 
corner  of  Wells  Street  and  Castle  Street  near  the 
Oxford  Road,  and  built  a  wooden  structure  on  a 
piece  of  waste  ground  there. 

Samuel  Ireland  published  in  his  Graphic  Illus- 
trations (vol.  i.  p.  89)  a  copy  by  A.  M.  Ireland  of  an 
etching  by  Simpson  of  Hogarth's  drawing  for  Figg's 
business  card.  Mr.  Dobson  notes  that  an  original 
impression  in  the  possession  of  Mr.  Fairfax-Murray 
is  from  the  Bessborough  Collection.  The  in- 
scription below  figures  on  a  stage  preparing  for 


LOW  LIFE  147 

an  encounter,  and  spectators  around,  reads  as 
follows  : 

'JAMES  FIGG 

Master  of  y°  Noble  Science  of  Defence 

on  y6  right  hand  in  Oxford  Road 
near  Adam  and  Eve  Court  teaches  Gentle- 
men y6  use  of  y6  small  back  sword  & 
Quarter-staff  at  home  &  abroad.' 

This  was  the  first  London  School  of  Arms,  and  Figg 
is  called  the  *  Atlas  of  the  Sword '  in  Captain  John 
Godfrey's  Useful  Art  of  Defence,  1747. 

Dr.  Byrom  wrote  *  Extempore  Verses  upon  a  Trial 
of  Skill  between  the  two  great  Masters  of  Defence, 
Messieurs  Figg  and  Sutton,'  which  are  printed  in 
Dodsley's  Collection  of  Poems  (vol.  vi.  p.  286).  They 
commence  thus : 

'  Long  was  the  great  Figg  by  the  prize-fighting  swains, 
Sole  monarch  acknowledg'd  of  Mary-bone  plains, 
To  the  towns,  far  and  near,  did  his  valour  extend, 
And  swam  down  the  river  from  Thames  to  Gravesend  ; 
Where  liv'd  Mr.  Sutton,  pipe-maker  by  trade, 
Who,  hearing  that  Figg  was  thought  such  a  stout  blade, 
Resolv'd  to  put  in  for  a  share  of  his  fame, 
And  so  sent  to  challenge  the  Champion  of  Thame.' 

The  end  is  a  complete  victory  for  Figg. 

'  Though  Sutton,  disabled  as  soon  as  he  hit  him, 
Would  still  have  fought  on,  but  Jove  would  not  permit  him, 
'Twas  his  fate,  not  his  fault,  that  constrain'd  him  to  yield, 
And  thus  the  great  Figg  became  lord  of  the  field.' 

Samuel  Ireland  says  that  Ellis,  an  artist  who 
imitated  the  style  of  Hogarth  in  small  conversations, 
painted  a  portrait  of  Figg  which  was  engraved  by 


148  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

Faber  in  mezzotint,  and  published  by  Overton  in 
1731.  Mr.  Dobson  mentions  a  painting  of  Figg  by 
Hogarth  which  belonged  to  S.  Ireland,  and  was 
bought  in  1801  by  Mr.  Vernon  for  eleven  shillings, 
from  which  small  sum  it  may  be  guessed  that  it  is 
not  a  genuine  work.  J.  P.  Malcolm  publishes  an 
advertisement  containing  a  challenge  of  Matthew 
Masterson  and  Rowland  Bennet  to  James  Figg,  and 
Figg's  acceptance  of  the  challenge.  He  also  notes 
that  '  in  December  1731  Figg  and  Sparks  contended 
with  the  broadsword  at  the  French  or  Little  Theatre 
in  the  Haymarket  before  the  Duke  of  Lorrain, 
Count  Kinski,  and  many  persons  of  distinction.' 
In  one  of  the  papers  of  the  day  we  are  told  that 
'  the  beauty  and  judgement  of  the  sword  was 
delineated  in  a  very  extraordinary  manner  by 
those  two  champions,  and  with  very  little  bloodshed.' l 

Samuel  Ireland  prints  an  advertisement  of  an 
encounter  '  At  Mr.  Figg's  Great  Room  at  his  house, 
the  sign  of  the  City  of  Oxford  in  Oxford  Road  .  .  . 
the  Nobility  and  Gentry  will  be  entertained  (for 
the  last  time  this  season)  hi  a  most  extraordinary 
manner  with  a  select  trial  of  skill  in  the  Science  of 
Defence,  by  the  four  following  masters,'  viz.  William 
Holmes  and  Felix  MacGuire  against  Figg  and 
Edward  Sutton. 

Chetwood  in  his  History  of  the  Stage  relates  the 
ingenious  way  in  which  Figg  supplied  himself  with 

1  Malcolm's  Anecdotes  of  the  Manners  and  Customs  of  London  during  the 
Eighteenth  Century  (1810),  vol.  ii.  p.  176. 


LOW  LIFE  149 

shirts  at  the  expense  of  others.  He  told  Chetwood 
that  he  had  not  bought  a  shirt  for  years.  It  was 
his  practice  when  he  fought  in  his  Amphitheatre, 
to  send  round  to  some  of  his  scholars  to  borrow  a 
shirt  for  the  ensuing  combat.  As  most  of  the  young 
nobility  and  gentry  were  in  his  train,  he  obtained  a 
good  many  fine  shirts  from  his  admirers,  the  return 
of  which  was  not  accepted  by  the  lenders,  as  they 
saw  the  cuts  in  the  one  Figg  wore,  and  each  man 
supposed  this  to  be  what  he  lent.  Among  Figg's 
chief  pupils  was  George  Taylor,  or  George  the 
Barber,  as  he  was  called,  who  succeeded  his  master  in 
the  occupation  of  the  amphitheatre  in  the  Oxford 
Road.  Captain  Godfrey  treats  Taylor  as  a  link 
between  Figg,  who  was  mainly  a  swordsman,  and 
John  Broughton,  whose  fame  rested  on  his  eminence 
as  a  pugilist. 

Taylor  was  very  successful  and  opened  an 
additional  amphitheatre — the  Great  Booth,  Tot- 
tenham Court. 

There  are  two  plates  engraved  by  Richard  Livesay 
from  the  original  sketches  of  Hogarth  '  in  the 
Collection  of  Mr.  Morrison.'  They  are  entitled: 
*  George  Taylor  the  Pugilist  wrestling  with  Death ' 
(1)  In  which  Taylor  who  was  celebrated  for  his 
skill  in  giving  '  a  back  fall '  has  overthrown  Death 
and  kneels  on  the  chest  of  the  skeleton.  (2)  '  George 
Taylor  the  Pugilist  overcome  by  Death '  is  here 
seen  lying  on  his  back  and  still  grasping  the  wrists 
of  his  conqueror,  who  stoops  over  him.  The  two 


150  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

sketches  were  afterwards  sold  to  the  Marquis  of 
Exeter.  Taylor  died  on  February  21,  1750,  and 
was  buried  in  Deptford  churchyard.  These  prints 
were  published  on  March  1,  1782,  by  R.  Livesay, 
'  at  Mrs.  Hogarth's,  Leicester  Fields,  London.' 

John  Broughton  (1705-1789),  was  apprenticed 
to  a  Thames  waterman,  and  when  at  work  on  his 
own  account  generally  plied  at  Hungerford  Stairs. 
A  quarrel  and  successful  fight  with  a  brother 
waterman  is  said  to  have  settled  his  future  em- 
ployment as  a  pugilist.  He  attached  himself  to 
George  Taylor's  booth  in  Tottenham  Court  Road 
and  remained  there  until  1742,  when  he  quarrelled 
with  Taylor.  He  set  up  a  new  amphitheatre  in 
Hanway  Yard  on  the  10th  March  1743,  and  was 
acknowledged  as  the  founder  of  the  Prize-ring, 
and  the  head  of  his  profession.  He  formed  a  code 
of  rules  which  were  accepted  and  remained  without 
verbal  alteration  until  1838.  Taylor  acknowledged 
himself  to  be  beaten  by  Broughton,  and  joined  his 
rival's  establishment  in  Hanway  Yard. 

Broughton  opened  an  Academy  of  Boxing  in 
the  Haymarket  and  invented  boxing-gloves,  or 
'  mufflers '  as  he  called  them.  His  advertisement  of 
these  novelties  is  quoted  by  Mr.  Boulton  from  the 
Advertiser  of  February  1747. 

*  Mr.  Broughton  proposes  with  proper  assistance 
to  open  an  academy  at  his  house  in  the  Haymarket 
for  the  instruction  of  those  who  are  willing  to  be 
initiated  in  the  mystery  of  boxing,  where  the  whole 


LOW  LIFE  151 

theory  and  practice  of  that  truly  British  Art,  with 
all  the  various  blows,  stops,  cross  buttocks,  etc., 
incidental  to  combatants  will  be  fully  taught  and 
explained ;  and  that  persons  of  quality  and  dis- 
tinction may  not  be  debarred  from  entering  into 
a  course  of  these  lectures,  they  will  be  given  with  the 
utmost  tenderness  and  regard  to  the  delicacy  of 
the  frame  and  constitution  of  the  pupil,  for  which 
reason  mufflers  will  be  provided  that  will  effectu- 
ally secure  them  from  the  inconveniency  of  black 
eyes,  broken  jaws  and  bloody  noses.' 

This  school  was  attached  to  a  public-house  kept 
by  Broughton,  the  sign  of  which  was  a  portrait  of 
himself.  The  house  was  opposite  the  Haymarket 
Theatre.  Mr.  Dobson  mentions  a  portrait  of 
Broughton  by  Hogarth  which  was  exhibited  in 
1817  by  Lord  Camden.  It  afterwards  belonged  to 
Mr.  H.  R.  Willett,  at  whose  sale  in  1869  it  was  sold 
for  £75,  12s.  There  is  a  version  at  Lowther  Castle 
(Earl  of  Lonsdale). 

Less  than  two  months  after  Taylor's  death, 
Broughton  was  defeated  and  his  career  ended. 
He  met  a  Norwich  butcher  named  Slack,  who  was  a 
pugilist  of  some  note  although  he  treated  him  with 
disdain,  and  when  a  meeting  was  arranged  for  llth 
April  1750,  he  had  every  confidence  in  his  own 
success.  Broughton  started  well,  but  suddenly 
Slack  made  a  jump  and  dealt  his  opponent  a  pro- 
digious blow  between  the  eyes  which  blinded  him. 
Broughton' s  patron  the  Duke  of  Cumberland,  who 


152  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

had  backed  him  to  the  amount  of  ten  thousand 
pounds,  was  mad  with  excitement  and  called  out : 
'  What  are  you  about,  Broughton  ?  You  can't 
fight ;  you  're  beat.'  Broughton  replied  :  '  I  can't 
see  my  man,  your  Highness  ;  I  'm  blind,  not  beat. 
Let  me  see  my  man,  and  he  shall  not  gain  the  day.' 
Slack  pursued  his  advantage  and  pummelled  the 
blinded  man  into  submission  '  under  fourteen 
minutes.' 1 

After  this  unfortunate  occurrence  Broughton 
retired  on  a  small  competence  to  Walcot  Place, 
Lambeth.  He  died  on  the  21st  January  1789,  and 
was  buried  at  Lambeth  Church ;  the  pall-bearers  by 
his  own  request  consisted  of  certain  noted  pugilists. 

In  the  second  volume  of  his  Graphic  Illustrations 
Samuel  Ireland  includes  a  sketch  of  Broughton  and 
Slack  fighting,  which  he  says  was  intended  '  as  a 
card  of  admission  to  a  great  contest  of  skill,' 
but  he  gives  no  information  as  to  its  being 
the  work  of  Hogarth;  and  although  there  is  no 
improbability  in  the  artist  doing  something  for 
Broughton,  it  is  rather  unlikely  that  so  late  as  1750 
he  should  compose  a  ticket  of  this  kind.  Mr.  Dobson 
merely  mentions  it,  and  does  not  say  anything 
further  respecting  it.  The  description  of  the  fight 
is  not  very  good,  and  as  Slack  was  only  a  common- 
place boxer  with  a  provincial  reputation  it  is  rather 
absurd  to  speak  of  the  '  two  immortal  heroes  of  the 
pugilistic  art.' 

1  W.  B.  Boulton's  Amusements  of  Old  London,  1901,  vol.  ii.  p.  91. 


LOW  LIFE  153 

In  the  years  1750-51  Hogarth  must  have  been 
very  busy  with  his  remarkable  series  of  prints 
specially  illustrating  some  of  the  most  flagrant 
evils  in  the  Low  Life  of  his  time.  Gin  Lane  and 
Beer  Street  are  of  the  utmost  importance  as 
exhibiting  the  appearance  of  the  streets  of  London. 
The  Four  Stages  of  Cruelty  are  almost  too  horrible 
for  representation,  and  they  belong  more  properly 
to  a  later  chapter  on  Prisons  and  Crimes  (xn.). 

The  announcement  of  the  publication  of  these 
prints  was  made  in  the  General  Advertiser  for 
February  13,  1750-51,  as  f  oUows :  'On  Friday 
next  will  be  publish'd.  Price  1s.  each.  Two 
large  prints  design'd  and  etch'd  by  Mr.  Hogarth, 
call'd  Beer-Street  and  Gin-Lane.  A  number  will 
be  printed  in  a  better  manner  for  the  curious  at 
Is.  6d.  each.  And  on  Thursday  following  will  be 
published,  Four  Prints  on  the  subject  of  Cruelty. 
Price  and  size  the  same.  N.B. — As  the  subjects 
of  these  Prints  are  calculated  to  reform  some 
reigning  vices  peculiar  to  the  lower  class  of  people 
in  hopes  to  render  them  of  more  extensive  use,  the 
Author  has  published  them  in  the  cheapest  manner 
possible.  To  be  had  at  the  Golden  Head  in  Leicester- 
fields,  where  may  be  had  all  his  other  works.' 

Beer  Street  is  usually  put  before  Gin  Lane,  as  in 
this  advertisement,  but  elsewhere  Hogarth  himself 
gives  the  following  account  of  their  origin :  '  When 
these  two  prints  were  designed  and  engraved,  the 
dreadful  consequences  of  gin  drinking  appeared 


154  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

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 
hi  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  farther  distress.' 

G.  Steevens  supposes  that  Hogarth  received  his 
first  idea  for  these  prints  from  a  pair  by  Peter 
Breughel,  commonly  called  Breughel  cFEnfer  to 
distinguish  him  from  his  brother  John,  known  as 
Breughel  de  velours.  Of  the  two  pictures  referred 
to,  '  the  one  is  entitled  La  Gfrasse,  the  other  La 
Maigre  Cuisine.  In  the  first  all  the  personages 
are  well-fed  and  plump ;  in  the  second  they  are 
starved  and  slender.  The  latter  of  them  also 
exhibits  the  figures  of  an  emaciated  mother  and 
child,  sitting  on  a  straw  mat  upon  the  ground, 
whom  I  never  saw  without  thinking  on  the  female, 
etc.,  hi  Gin  Lane.  In  Hogarth  the  fat  English 
blacksmith  is  insulting  the  gaunt  Frenchman,  and 
in  Breughel  the  plump  cook  is  kicking  the  lean  one 
out  of  doors.  Our  artist  was  not  unacquainted 


LOW  LIFE  155 

with  the  works  of  this  master.'  If  this  be  true,  it 
shows  the  remarkable  power  Hogarth  possessed 
of  imbuing  any  idea  he  took  from  others  with  his 
own  special  character. 

Gin  Lane  consists  of  Hogarth's  representation  of 
a  street  in  that  part  of  St.  Giles's  known  as  the 
Rookery,  and  cleared  away  in  the  middle  of  the 
nineteenth  century  for  the  new  junction  of  Oxford 
Street  with  Holborn,  known  as  New  Oxford  Street. 
The  foremost  figure  is  too  horrible  for  pictorial  art. 
It  represents  a  miserable  diseased  woman,  hi 
tattered  and  scanty  clothing,  who  sits  at  the  top 
of  a  flight  of  stone  steps,  and,  drunk  with  gin,  lets 
the  child  she  is  suckling  fall  from  her  arms  over  the 
rail  in  the  area.  On  the  steps  below  her  is  an 
emaciated  being,  little  more  than  a  skeleton,  who 
retails  gin  and  ballads,  but  now  is  in  a  dying  con- 
dition. This  miserable  creature  is  said  to  have 
been  painted  from  nature  after  one  whose  cry  was 
'  Buy  my  ballads,  and  I  '11  give  you  a  glass  of  gin 
for  nothing.' 

The  steps  lead  to  a  gin-cellar,  over  the  doorway 
of  which  a  large  sign  like  a  gin  measure  and 
inscribed  '  Gin  Royal '  is  suspended.  Over  the 
doorway  is  written : 

'  Drunk  for  a  Penny, 
Dead  drunk  for  two  pence, 
Clean  straw  for  nothing.' 

Mr.  Stephens  refers  to  The  Old  Whig  of  February 
26,  1736,  for  the  statement  that  a  strong- water  shop 


156  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

had  lately  been  opened  in  Southwark  with  the 
inscription  on  the  sign  which  Hogarth  fifteen  years 
afterwards  used  on  his  print. 

The  Rev.  James  Townley's  verses  are  engraved 
below  the  design : 

'  Gin,  cursed  fiend  !  with  fury  fraught, 

Makes  human  race  a  prey : 
It  enters  by  a  deadly  draught, 
And  steals  our  life  away. 

Virtue  and  Truth,  driven  to  despair, 

Its  rage  compels  to  fly, 
But  cherishes,  with  hellish  care, 

Theft,  murder,  perjury. 

Damn'd  cup  !  that  on  the  vital  preys, 

That  liquid  fire  contains ! 
Which  madness  to  the  heart  conveys 

And  rolls  it  thro'  the  veins.' 

Gin  or  '  Hollands '  is  said  to  have  been  brought 
to  England  by  William  in.  It  was  cheap  and 
was  sold  in  the  streets,  so  that  the  demoralisation 
caused  by  this  facility  of  purchase  was  grievous 
and  widespread.  The  Middlesex  magistrates  in- 
sisted on  the  necessity  for  legislation,  and  the  first 
Gin  Act  was  passed  in  1729.  By  this  Act  a  new 
and  additional  excise  duty  of  five  shillings  per 
gallon  was  put  upon  gin  and  other  compounded 
spirits,  and  the  retailer  was  to  pay  £20  a  year  for  a 
licence,  hawking  about  the  streets  being  prohibited. 
The  Act  was  quite  ineffectual,  and  led  to  the  invention 
of  new  forms  of  spirit,  one  being  called  in  derision 
'  Parliament  Brandy.'  A  satire  on  gin-drinking 


LOW  LIFE  157 

designed  by  Heemskirck  and  engraved  by  Toms 
was  published  about  1730.  The  Act  was  repealed 
in  1733  on  the  plea  that,  while  doing  no  good,  it 
checked  the  sale  of  barley  to  the  distillers.  This 
repeal  was  disastrous  in  its  effects,  and  the  almost 
universal  orgy  was  terrible. 

Another  attempt  to  mitigate  the  evil  was  made 
by  Sir  Joseph  Jekyll,  Master  of  the  Rolls,  and  the 
second  Gin  Act  was  passed  in  1736.  The  prohibition 
led  to  riots,  and  it  was  found  that  the  law  could  not 
be  put  in  force.1  As  the  29th  September  1736,  the 
day  on  which  the  '  act  for  suppressing  Geneva ' 
was  to  come  into  operation  approached,  the 
retailers  in  gin  put  their  signs  in  mourning,  and 
made  a  parade  of  mock  ceremonies  for  Madame 
Geneva's  lying  in  state  and  her  funeral. 

Mr.  Stephens  quotes  from  the  Grub  Street  Journal, 
the  London  Daily  Post,  the  Daily  Advertiser,  and 
the  Daily  Journal  particulars  of  the  tumults  that 
resulted.2  The  following  are  specimens  :  '  Mother 
Gin  lay  in  state  yesterday  at  a  distiller's  shop  in 
Swallow  Street  near  St.  James's  Church ;  but  to 
prevent  the  ill  consequences  from  such  a  funeral, 
a  neighbouring  justice  took  the  undertaker,  his  men 
and  all  the  mourners  into  custody.' — '  Yesterday 
morning  double  guard  mounted  at  Kensington ; 
at  noon  the  guards  at  St.  James's,  the  Horse  Guards 
and  Whitehall  were  reinforced,  and  last  night  about 

1  Sidney  and  Beatrice  Webb,  History  of  Liquor  Licensing  in  England 
from  1700  to  1830.     1903. 

2  British  Museum  Catalogue  of  Satires,  vol.  iii.  p.  192. 


158  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

300  life  guards  and  horse-granidier  guards  paraded 
in  Covent  Garden,  in  order  to  suppress  any  tumult 
that  might  arise  at  the  going  down  of  Gin.' — '  A 
party  of  foot-guards  was  posted  at  the  house  of 
Sir  Joseph  Jekyll,  Master  of  the  Rolls.' — '  Two 
soldiers  with  their  bayonets  fixed  were  planted  at 
the  little  door  next  Chancery  Lane  in  case  any 
persons  should  offer  to  attack  the  house  .  .  .  which 
the  mob  had  tumultuously  surrounded.' — '  Several 
persons  were  committed,  some  to  prison  and  some 
to  hard  labour,  for  publickly  and  riotously 
publishing,  No  GUI,  No  King.' 

In  the  year  1736  a  large  number  of  pamphlets  on 
the  subject  were  published,  far  too  numerous  to 
record  here.  Two  of  them  may  be  mentioned — 
*  The  Life  of  Mother  Gin  ...  by  an  Impartial 
Hand,'  and  '  The  Deposing  and  Death  of  Queen  Gin 
...  an  Heroic  Comi-Tragical  Farce  written  by 
Jack  Juniper  a  Distiller's  Apprentice,  just  turn'd 
Poet,  as  it  is  acted  at  the  New  Theatre  in  the  Hay- 
market.'  The  Act  of  1736  was  repealed  in  1743, 
largely  owing  to  the  action  of  Lord  Sandys.  Lord 
Hervey  made  three  orations  against  the  repeal. 

Sir  Charles  Hanbury  Williams  wrote  two  poems 
to  ridicule  both  Lord  Sandys  and  Lord  Hervey. 
One  of  these  is  printed  in  The  Foundling  Hospital 
for  Wit : 

1  Deep,  deep  in  S 's  blund'ring  Head, 

The  new  Gin  Project  sunk : 

0  happy  Project !  sage,  he  cry'd, 

Let  all  the  Kealm  be  drunk.' 


LOW  LIFE  159 

On  June  25,  1751,  the  royal  assent  was  given  to 
another  Bill  for  restricting  the  sale  of  spirituous 
liquor,  and  in  the  following  September  an  engraving, 
'  The  Funeral  Procession  of  Madam  Geneva,  Septr 
29,  1751,'  was  published.1  Hogarth's  '  Gin  Lane ' 
was  not  published  until  February  1,  1751-2,  but  a 
drawing  in  Indian  ink  in  the  British  Museum  ('  The 
Gin  Drinkers,  or  the  Gin  Fiend ')  is  supposed  to  be 
a  tracing  from  a  scarce  print  ascribed  to  Hogarth 
and  dated  1736.  This  statement,  however,  must  be 
taken  on  the  authority  of  Mr.  Stephens.2 

It  is  interesting  to  remember  that  Fielding  pub- 
lished his  most  valuable  Enquiry  into  the  Causes  of 
the  late  Increase  of  Bobbers,  etc.,  in  January  1751, 
shortly  before  the  appearance  of  '  Gin  Lane,'  and  in 
the  second  section  of  this  book  ('  Of  Drunkenness, 
a  second  consequence  of  Luxury  among  the  Vulgar '), 
although  he  does  not  specially  refer  to  Gin  Acts, 
he  strongly  argues  that  nothing  but  complete 
prohibition  of  poisonous  spirits  '  will  extirpate  so 
stubborn  an  evil.'  He  concludes  the  chapter  thus  : 
*  But  if  the  difficulty  be  really  insuperable,  or  if 
there  be  any  political  reason  against  the  total 
demolition  of  this  poison,  so  strong  as  to  countervail 
the  preservation  of  the  morals,  health  and  beings, 
of  such  numbers  of  his  Majesty's  subjects,  let  us 
however  in  some  measure,  palliate  the  evil,  and 
lessen  its  immediate  ill  consequences,  by  a  more 

1  British  Museum  Catalogue  of  Satires,  vol.  iii.  p.  808. 
1  Ibid.,  voL  ill  p.  217. 


160  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

effectual  provision  against  drunkenness  than  any 
we  have  at  present,  in  which  the  method  of  con- 
viction is  too  tedious  and  dilatory.  Some  little 
care  on  this  head  is  surely  necessary ;  for  though 
the  increase  of  thieves,  and  the  destruction  of 
morality,  though  the  loss  of  our  labourers,  our 
sailors  and  our  soldiers,  should  not  be  sufficient 
reasons,  there  is  one  which  seems  to  be  unanswerable, 
and  that  is  the  loss  of  our  gin-drinkers ;  since 
should  the  drinking  this  poison  be  continued  in  its 
present  height  during  the  next  twenty  years,  there 
will,  by  that  time,  be  very  few  of  the  common 
people  left  to  drink  it.' 

Another  Act  relative  to  the  distilleries  was  in 
contemplation  in  1759,  and  an  anonymous  letter 
to  Hogarth  was  found  among  his  papers  in  which 
he  was  urged  again  to  take  part  in  the  fray  : 

'December  12,  1759. 

'  SIB, — When  genius  is  made  subservient  to  public 
good,  it  does  honour  to  the  possessor,  as  it  is  ex- 
pressive of  gratitude  to  his  Creator  by  exerting  itself 
to  further  the  happiness  of  his  creatures.  The 
poignancy  and  delicacy  of  your  ridicule  has  been 
productive  of  more  reformation  than  more  elaborate 
pieces  would  have  effected.  On  the  apprehension 
of  opening  the  distillery,  methinks  I  hear  all  good 
men  cry  Fire  ! — it  is  therefore  the  duty  of  every 
citizen  to  try  to  extinguish  it.  Rub  up  then 
Gin  Lane  and  Beer  Street,  that  you  may  have  the 


LOW  LIFE  161 

honour  and  advantage  of  bringing  the  two  first 
engines  to  the  fire  ;  and  work  them  manfully  at 
each  corner  of  the  building,  and  instead  of  the  paltry 
reward  of  thirty  shillings  allowed  by  Act  of  Parlia- 
ment, receive  the  glorious  satisfaction  of  having 
extinguished  those  fierce  flames  which  threaten  a 
general  conflagration  to  human  nature,  by  pouring 
liquid  fire  into  the  veins  of  the  now  brave  Britons, 
whose  robust  fabrics  will  soon  fall  in,  when  these 
dreadful  flames  have  consumed  the  inside  timbers 
and  supporters. — I  am,  Sir,  yours,  etc., 

'  AN  ENGLISHMAN.'  l 

There  is  still  the  companion  picture,  '  Beer 
Street,'  to  be  considered.  The  sentiment  of  this  is 
the  popular  one  of  the  glorifying  our  national  drink, 
which  when  pure  is  well  worthy  of  its  great  fame, 
for  porter  has  been  called  the  4  British  Burgundy.' 

Townley's  lines  on  this  print  are  as  follows  : 

'  Beer,  happy  product  of  our  isle, 
Can  sinewy  strength  impart ; 
And  wearied  with  fatigue  and  toil, 
Can  cheer  each  manly  heart. 

Labour  and  art,  upheld  by  thee, 

Successfully  advance ; 
We  quaff  the  balmy  juice  with  glee, 

And  water  leave  to  France. 

1  J.  Ireland's  Hogarth  Illustrated,  vol.  iii.  p.  353  (note).  This  letter  or 
other  suggestions  seem  to  have  caused  Hogarth  to  draw  attention  to  his 
prints,  as  The  Public  Advertiser,  December  13,  1759,  has  the  following 
announcement :  '  By  Desire.  This  day  are  republished  Price  Is.  each, 
Two  prints  drawn  and  engraved  by  Mr.  Hogarth  call'd  BEER  STREET  and 
GIN  LANE  '  (British  Museum  Catalogue,  vol.  iii.  p.  818). 

L 


162  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

Genius  of  health,  thy  grateful  taste, 

Eivals  the  cup  of  Jove ; 
And  warms  each  English  generous  breast, 

With  liberty  and  love.' 

As  in  Gin  Lane  the  pawnbroker's  house  is  the 
handsome  building,  so  in  Beer  Street  it  is  the  only 
one  falling  to  decay. 

The  scene  is  thus  described  by  Mr.  Stephens  : 
'  A  street  in  London,  with  the  steeple  of  a  church 
visible  over  the  tops  of  some  of  the  houses,  and  near 
the  middle  of  the  design ;  this  structure  being 
decorated  with  a  flag,  and  formed  in  a  peculiar 
manner,  was  probably  intended  for  the  steeple  of 
St.  Martin's  in  the  Fields,  Westminster.  The  day 
was  an  anniversary  of  the  birth  of  George  n. 
[October  30],  the  flag-hoisting  being  a  practice  in 
the  so-called  "  royal  parish "  of  St.  Martin's,  a 
practice  familiar  to  Hogarth  as  a  resident  in  Leicester 
Square.' 

The  sign-painter  is  said  to  have  been  intended  for 
John  Stephen  Liotard,  a  portrait-painter  of  merit, 
but  there  is  little  likeness  in  face,  as  Liotard  grew  a 
long  beard  when  he  travelled  in  the  Levant  and 
was  in  consequence  known  as  '  The  Turk.'  He  lived 
at  the  *  Two  Yellow  Lamps '  in  Golden  Square. 
Two  fishwomen  are  seated  on  the  pavement  in  the 
front  of  the  picture ;  one  reads  from  a  broadsheet  on 
which  is  printed  '  A  New  Ballad  on  the  Herring 
Fishery  by  Mr.  Lockman.'  John  Lockman,  known 
as  '  The  Herring  Poet,'  was  a  friend  of  Hogarth,  who 


LOW  LIFE  163 

designed  for  him  the  frontispiece  to  the  first  volume 
of  his  Travels  of  Mr.  John  Gulliver  (1731).  This 
plate  is  entitled  'Gulliver  presented  to  the  Queen 
of  Babilary.'  Lockman  was  secretary  to  the  British 
White  Herring  Fishery  Company. 

At  the  right-hand  corner  of  the  engraving  is  a 
porter  drinking  his  beer,  who  has  just  set  down 
his  load,  a  large  basket  directed  '  For  Mr.  Pastern 
the  Trunk  Maker  in  Pauls  Ch  Yd,'  which  is  filled 
with  books  the  artist  had  a  dislike  for,  such  as 
Hill  on  Royal  Societies,  Turnbul  on  Antpent] 
Painting,  Lauder  on  Milton.  The  mountebank  Hill 
and  the  forger  Lauder  deserved  their  position.  Dr. 
George  Turnbull  had  been  too  laudatory  of  the 
Black  Masters  to  please  the  artist. 

Fielding's  Causes  of  the  late  Increase  of  Robbers 
contains  so  much  information  and  is  so  full  of 
valuable  suggestions  for  the  correction  of  the 
rampant  evils  of  Low  Life  that  it  may  be  recom- 
mended as  a  useful  help  to  the  intelligent  study  of 
Hogarth's  works. 


164  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 


CHAPTER    V 

POLITICAL   LIFE 

HOGABTH  was  in  no  sense  a  politician,  and  all  his 
interests  in  the  political  life  of  his  time  were  centred 
in  the  remarkable  scenes  which  were  acted  in  periods 
of  excitement  continually  occurring,  and  the  inci- 
dents which  he  introduced  in  his  pictures  as  illus- 
trations of  the  manners  of  eighteenth-century 
men  and  women.  Whatever  private  opinions  he 
may  have  had,  he  was  unable  to  resist  the  represen- 
tation of  striking  humours  even  when  they  were 
exhibited  by  his  own  friends.  He  was  a  friend  of 
demagogues,  as  well  as  of  those  whose  opinions  were 
of  a  diametrically  opposite  character.  At  no  time 
in  our  history  were  party  politics  so  thoroughly 
unsatisfactory  as  they  were  in  the  middle  of  the 
eighteenth  century.  Walpole  with  his  strong  hand 
had  passed  away,  and  parties  had  divided  into 
personal  cliques.  The  division  of  Whigs  and  Tories 
was  of  little  meaning,  because  the  former  had  become 
so  triumphant  during  the  reigns  of  George  I.  and 
George  n.  that  the  condition  of  the  Tories  was 
almost  hopeless  unless  they  joined  with  some  of 
the  discontented  Whigs.  There  were  plenty  of 


POLITICAL  LIFE  165 

Tories  in  the  country,  but  they  had  little  political 
interest  on  account  of  their  possible  connection  with 
Jacobites. 

Bribery  and  corruption  had  eaten  into  the  hearts 
of  all  parties,  and  in  consequence  a  man  like  William 
Pitt  stood  out  as  a  name  to  conjure  with  because  it 
stood  for  political  purity. 

Hogarth's  picture  of  '  The  Politician,'  who  repre- 
sented one  Tibson,  a  lace  dealer  in  the  Strand,  read- 
ing with  absorbed  attention  a  copy  of  the  Gazetteer, 
a  paper  which  supported  Sir  Robert  Walpole,  was 
painted  about  the  year  1730.  An  etching  by 
J.  K.  Sherwin  from  the  picture  was  not  published 
until  1775,  when  Mrs.  Hogarth  issued  it. 

The  painter  gave  the  picture  to  Theodosius 
Forrest,  son  of  one  of  his  companions  of  the  Five 
Days'  Tour  of  1732.  It  belonged  successively  to 
Peter  Coxe,  W.  Davies,  bookseller,  and  George 
Watson  Taylor.  At  the  sale  of  the  latter's  property 
in  1832  it  was  bought  by  Count  Woronzow  for 
thirty  guineas. 

The  picture  represents  a  man  seated  in  a  chair 
and  wearing  a  broad-brimmed  hat,  who  has  taken  a 
lighted  candle  from  the  candlestick  on  the  table 
before  him.  Holding  the  candle  in  his  right  hand, 
he  does  not  notice  that  the  flame  had  set  light  to  the 
projecting  brim  of  his  hat. 

There  is  an  anecdote  of  Bishop  Burnet,  who  took 
precautions  to  prevent  a  similar  accident  which 
Hogarth  may  have  known.  The  Bishop  is  said  to 


166  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

have  made  a  hole  in  the  broad  brim  of  his  hat  and 
passed  his  pipe  through  it  so  that  he  could  puff  and 
write  simultaneously.1 

The  picture  of  the  House  of  Commons,  painted 
in  1730  by  Hogarth  with  the  help  of  his  father-in- 
law,  Sir  James  Thornhill,  is  of  great  interest,  giving 
us  as  it  does  an  authentic  view  of  the  Old  Chamber 
of  the  Lower  House  of  Parliament,  with  striking 
portraits  of  Sir  Robert  Walpole  and  Speaker  Onslow, 
Thornhill  himself,  Sydney  Godolphin,  the  father  of 
the  House,  Sir  Joseph  Jekyll  and  Colonel  Onslow, 
with  Mr.  Edward  Staples,  clerk,  and  Mr.  Aiskew, 
clerk-assistant.  The  picture  is  in  the  possession  of 
the  Earl  of  Onslow.  It  was  engraved  by  A.  Fogg 
and  'published  Nov.  1,  1803,  by  E.  Harding,  No. 
100  PaU  Mall.' 

The  portrait  of  Simon  Eraser,  twelfth  Lord  Lovat 
(1746),  must  be  alluded  to  in  a  chapter  on  Political 
Life,  as  that  Jacobite  intriguer  was  mixed  up  with 
many  of  the  troubles  which  made  the  supporters  of 
the  Hanoverian  dynasty  uneasy.  He  was  said  to 
have  united  the  manners  of  a  wild  Highland  chieftain 
and  general  ruffian,  with  occasionally  those  of  an 
educated  gentleman.  He  was  very  wary,  and  cared 
little  for  the  dangers  of  others  if  he  were  able  to 
save  his  own  skin.  He  had  to  give  hi  at  last  in  spite 
of  all  his  cunning,  and  he  was  taken  prisoner  after 
Culloden.  The  Westminster  Journal  (June  28,  1746) 
contains  the  following  notice  of  the  capture  :  '  We 

1  Kelt's  Flowers  of  Wit,  1814,  voL  L  p.  45. 


I 


"THE  HOUSE  OF  COMMONS."     1730, 

Painted  by  Hogarth  and  Sir  James  Thorn/till. 


POLITICAL  LIFE  167 

have  advice  that  Lord  Lovat  was  actually  taken  in 
a  little  Cabbin,  dress'd  in  an  old  woman's  habit 
a  spining,  and  three  Lords  with  him  ;  and  that  he 
was  taken  by  an  officer  who  had  received  intelligence 
of  his  lodging  and  habit  at  a  little  distance  from 
where  he  was  found.' 

Mr.  Stephens  describes  two  engravings  of  this 
incident  entitled  respectively  '  The  Beautiful 
Simone  '  and  '  Lord  Lovat  a  spinning.' l 

Lovat  was  carried  in  a  litter  to  Fort  William, 
and  from  thence  by  easy  stages  to  London.  When 
he  reached  St.  Albans  he  was  attended  by  Dr. 
Webster,  a  physician  of  the  town,  for  an  alleged 
sickness.  Webster  invited  Hogarth  to  St.  Albans 
to  take  a  likeness  of  the  prisoner  at  the  White  Hart 
Inn.  It  is  stated  that  when,  on  August  14,  Hogarth 
was  introduced  to  Lovat  the  latter  was  being  shaved, 
and  he  rose  to  welcome  the  painter,  kissing  him 
in  the  French  manner.  Owing  to  this  embrace 
Hogarth  received  some  of  the  soap-suds  on  his  face, 
and  he  did  not  accept  the  salute  with  much  satisfac- 
tion. 

There  is  some  doubt  as  to  the  original  sketch  from 
which  the  etching  was  made.  There  is  one  at  the 
National  Portrait  Gallery  which  was  purchased  by 
the  Trustees  in  June  1866,  and  another  was,  in  1879, 
hi  the  possession  of  Mr.  Henry  Graves  of  Pall 
Mall,  and  purchased  by  him  for  £31.  The  original 
drawing  was  said,  hi  the  Illustrated  London  News  of 

1  British  Museum  Catalogue,  vol.  iii.  p.  601. 


168  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

April  30,  1859,  to  be  then  in  the  possession  of  Lord 
Saltoun. 

Lovat  was  not  executed  until  9th  April  1747. 
Four  small  prints  of  Lord  Lo vat's  trial  were  pub- 
lished by  W.  Birch,  Hampstead  Heath,  August  1, 
1791.  These  were  from  sketches  belonging  to 
Horace  Walpole.  One  of  these,  in  Indian  ink  and 
vermilion,  is  in  the  Print  Room  of  the  British 
Museum,  having  been  purchased  in  August  1842 
(Dobson).  A  mezzotint  entitled  '  Lo  vat's  Ghost  on 
Pilgrimage '  was  published  on  June  15,  1747,  but  it 
is  doubtful  as  a  work  of  Hogarth.  Samuel  Ireland 
affirmed  that  this  was  given  to  him  by  Dr.  J.  Webster, 
who  had  it  from  Hogarth  with  an  assurance  that  it 
was  his  own  design.1 

'  The  Stage  Coach,  or  Country  Inn  Yard '  (1747) 
must  be  mentioned  here  on  account  of  its  connection 
with  the  general  parliamentary  election  of  that  year, 
and  its  interest  as  the  precursor  of  the  famous  series 
of  the  '  Election '  (1754).  It  can  also  be  compared 
with  the  first  scene  of  the  tragedy  of  the  '  Harlot's 
Progress '  (1731-2),  which  takes  place  hi  a  London 
inn  yard.  The  engraving  of  the  inn  yard  shows, 
in  the  foreground,  the  coach  ready  to  start  on  its 
journey,  with  the  travellers  seated  and  grouped 
around.  The  fat  woman  entering  requires  to  be 
pushed  in  order  to  pass  through  the  door.  The 
two  men  on  the  roof  look  as  if  they  might  easily  roll 
off  on  the  occurrence  of  a  sudden  jolt.  They  are 

1  British  Museum  Catalogue  of  Satires,  voL  iii.  p.  636. 


POLITICAL  LIFE  169 

an  English  sailor  and  a  French  lackey,  not  very 
congenial  companions.  In  the  '  basket '  is  an  old 
woman  smoking  a  pipe  and  completing  the  picture 
of  the  preparations  for  what  is  likely  to  be  a  very 
uncomfortable  journey,  such  as  we  read  of  in  the  real- 
istic novels  of  the  time.  The  fat  hostess  in  the  bow 
window  of  the  bar  of  the  house,  which  projects  into 
the  yard,  adds  to  the  general  uproar  by  vociferating 
and  vigorously  ringing  a  bell.  The  sailor's  bundle 

is  labelled  ' of  the  Centurion.9     This  was  the 

name  of  the  ship  hi  which  the  famous  Anson  sailed 
from  Portsmouth  on  September  18,  1740,  with  four 
other  vessels  of  war,  and  gained  many  successes 
in  his  attacks  upon  the  Spaniards.  He  was  made 
Rear- Admiral  of  the  Blue  and  took  command  of  a 
fleet  which  left  Plymouth  April  9,  1747,  and  included 
the  Centurion,  a  fifty-gun  ship  with  three  hundred 
men  on  board,  then  under  the  command  of  Captain 
Denis.  In  the  action  off  Cape  Finisterre  on  May  3 
the  Centurion  began  the  battle,  but  in  the  course  of 
the  fight  its  maintopmast  was  shot  away.  Captain 
Denis  dropped  out  of  the  fight  for  a  time  in  order  to 
refit,  and  having  done  so  returned  to  action  and  took 
part  in  the  capture  of  the  enemy's  vessels.  He 
brought  news  of  the  victory  to  England,  and  in 
consequence  the  Admiral  was  raised  to  the  peerage 
as  Baron  Anson.1 

Commander  Charles  Robinson,  R.N.,  in  his  inter- 
esting volume  on  The  British  Tar  in  Fact  and  Fiction, 

1  British  Museum  Catalogue,  vol.  iii.  p.  669. 


170  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

1909,  writes  respecting  this  :  *  The  best  example  of 
the  sailor  of  his  period  to  be  found  in  Hogarth's 
moral  dramas  in  pictoria]  form  is  the  figure  seen  on 
the  top  of  a  coach  in  "  The  Stage  Coach  in  a  Country 
Inn  Yard."  This  sailor  has  just  returned  to  England 
in  the  Centurion.  He  has  been  round  the  world 
with  Anson,  and  is  on  his  way  home.' 

At  the  back  of  the  engraving  (which  was  published 
on  June  26)  is  seen  a  procession  of  men  armed  with 
sticks,  some  of  the  men  carry  a  large  effigy  of  a 
baby  holding  in  one  hand  a  child's  rattle  and  in  the 
other  a  hornbook.  A  flag  is  carried  behind  the 
chair  in  which  the  figure  sits  and  is  inscribed  '  No 
Old  Baby.'  This  refers  to  the  cry  used  by  the 
opponents  of  the  Hon.  John  Child  Tylney,  Viscount 
Castlemaine,  and  afterwards  Earl  Tylney,  who  stood 
as  candidate  for  the  county  of  Essex  as  the  opponent 
of  Sir  Robert  Abdy  and  Mr.  Bramstone.  At  the 
election  a  man  was  placed  on  a  bulk  with  an  infant 
in  his  arms  and  exclaimed  as  he  whipped  it,  '  What, 
you  little  child,  must  you  be  a  member  ?  '  Child 
Tylney  was  at  this  time  only  twenty  years  of  age. 
There  are  three  states  of  the  plate  :  (1)  in  which  the 
flag  afterwards  occupied  by  '  No  Old  Baby '  has  no 
inscription  ;  (2)  in  which  those  words  appear  ;  (3)  in 
which  they  have  been  obliterated.  On  the  wall  of  the 
house  is  the  sign,  a  picture  of  an  angel  at  full  length, 
under  which  is  inscribed  '  The  Old  Angle  In.  Tom 
Bates  from  Lundun.'  The  galleries  in  the  inn  yard 
are  filled  with  spectators. 


POLITICAL  LIFE  171 

Before  dealing  somewhat  fully  with  the  splendid 
series  of  four  pictures  of  '  The  Election '  (1754),  a 
slight  reference  must  be  made  to  the  election  of 
1734,  which  was  largely  fought  on  the  opposition 
party's  cry  of  '  No  Excise.'  An  etching  was 
published  in  this  year  entitled  '  Sir  Robert  Fagg 
bribing  a  Woman,'  which  has  been  attributed  to 
Hogarth.  It  shows  an  old  man  sitting  on  horseback 
holding  a  purse  in  one  hand  offering  a  piece  to  a 
young  woman,  who  stands  at  his  horse's  head  with 
a  basket  of  eggs  on  her  arm  and  laughs  at  him. 
Fagg  was  a  well-known  man  in  his  day  and  interested 
in  horse-racing.  He  was  member  for  Steyning, 
Sussex,  and  is  stated  to  be  one  of  the  audience  hi 
Hogarth's  picture  of  the  '  Beggar's  Opera.'  There 
is  a  reference  to  him  in  Bramston's  '  Art  of  Politicks' : 

'  Leave  you  of  mighty  interest  to  brag, 
And  poll  two  voices  like  Sir  Robert  Fagg.' 

The  baronet  died  on  September  14,  1740. 

In  1734  was  also  published  a  print  in  three  divisions 
entitled  '  The  Humours  of  a  Country  Election,' 
and  John  Nichols  hints  that  Hogarth  may  have 
borrowed  the  idea  of  illustrating  the  election  of 
1754  from  this  outcome  of  the  election  of  1734. 
Mr.  Stephens  gives  a  full  account  of  the  old  print, 
which  certainly  contains  some  points  of  resemblance 
in  idea,  if  not  in  expression.1 

Hogarth's  four  pictures  are  of  the  greatest  interest 

1  British  Museum  Catalogue,  vol.  iii.  p.  23. 


172  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

and  illustrate  the  manners  of  the  time  in  a  very 
remarkable  degree.  They  are  fine  examples  of  the 
artist's  best  manner  of  painting,  and  are  to  be  seen 
hi  an  excellent  state  of  preservation  at  Sir  John 
Soane's  Museum  in  Lincoln's  Inn  Fields.  The 
incidents  of  all  the  scenes  are  in  low  comedy,  but 
Hogarth  has  raised  his  treatment  of  these  incidents 
with  such  distinction  that  they  become  instances 
of  high  comedy,  with  perhaps  the  exception  of  the 
first  picture.  In  passing,  it  may  be  remarked  that 
the  pictures  contain  beauties  of  which  the  engravings 
give  but  little  idea. 

Garrick  with  great  judgment  bought  the  pictures 
for  the  ridiculously  small  price  of  two  hundred 
guineas.  At  Mrs.  Garrick' s  sale  in  1823,  Soane 
bought  them  for  £1732,  10s. 

In  justice  to  Garrick  it  is  necessary  to  give  the 
particulars  of  the  purchase.  Mr.  Dobson,  quoting 
from  Gait's  Life  and  Works  of  West,  1820,  pt.  ii.  17, 
gives  an  account  of  the  disposal  of  the  pictures. 
Hogarth  arranged  that  they  should  be  raffled  for, 
with  two  hundred  chances  at  two  guineas  the  stake. 
Among  a  few  subscribers,  Garrick  was  the  only  one 
who  appeared.  Much  mortified,  Hogarth  insisted 
that  Garrick  '  should  go  through  the  formality  of 
throwing  the  dice,'  but  for  himself  only.  The 
actor  for  some  time  opposed  the  irritated  artist, 
but  at  last  consented.  On  returning  home  he 
despatched  a  note  to  Hogarth  stating  that  he  could 
not  persuade  himself  to  remove  works  so  valuable 


POLITICAL  LIFE  173 

and  admired  without  acquitting  his  conscience  of 
an  obligation  to  the  painter,  and  to  his  own  good 
fortune  in  obtaining  them,  and  knowing  the  humour 
of  the  person  he  addressed,  and  that  if  he  sent  a 
cheque  for  the  money  it  would  in  all  probability 
be  returned,  he  informed  Hogarth  that  he  had 
placed  to  his  credit  at  his  banker's  two  hundred 
guineas,  which  would  remain  there  at  his  disposal  or 
that  of  his  hen's,  if  it  were  not  accepted  by  himself.1 
Garrick  was  very  proud  of  these  pictures  and 
preserved  them  with  care.  When  he  was  in  Italy 
with  his  wife,  he  wrote  to  his  man  conjuring  him  to 
take  care  of  them,  and  to  keep  them  out  of  the 


sun.2 


The  parliamentary  election  following  the  dis- 
solution of  April  8,  1754,  was  a  noteworthy  one* 
The  Jews  Naturalisation  Bill,  passed  in  June  1753, 
greatly  increased  the  unpopularity  of  Henry 
Pelham,  and  after  his  death,  hi  order  that  his 
successors  might  the  better  be  able  to  face  the 
election,  the  Act  was  repealed.  There  were,  how- 
ever, many  other  cries  against  the  administration, 
and  its  members  fought  at  a  great  disadvantage, 
while  the  opposition — the  True  Blue  Interest — 
were  more  than  ever  jubilant  and  hopeful  of  success. 

The  election  for  Oxfordshire  was  marked  by  a 
more  animated  conflict  than  what  took  place  else- 
where. Some  of  the  incidents  in  that  contest 

1  Dobson's  William  Hogarth,  1907,  p.  120. 

2  J.  Knight's  David  Garrick,  1894,  p.  203. 


174  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

survive  in  Hogarth's  pictures.  Although  London 
is  not  the  scene  of  these  election  incidents  they  are 
true  to  the  manners  of  the  eighteenth  century  both 
hi  country  and  town,  so  that  we  may  be  allowed 
to  consider  the  pictures  as  representing  what  also 
occurred  in  London. 

The  engraving  of  these  elaborate  pictures  occupied 
a  considerable  time.  Plate  1,  dedicated  to  the 
Right  Hon.  Henry  Fox,  was  published  on  February 
24,  1755  ;  Plate  2,  to  Sir  Charles  Hanbury  Williams, 
on  February  20,  1757;  Plate  3,  to  Sir  Edward 
Walpole,  on  February  20,  1758 ;  and  Plate  4,  to  Sir 
George  Hay,  Judge  of  the  Prerogative  Court  and 
the  High  Court  of  Admiralty,  on  January  1, 1758-9. 
Hay  was  an  intimate  friend  of  Hogarth,  and  pos- 
sessed several  of  his  paintings.  He  was  a  highly 
esteemed  judge,  praised  for  his  enlightened  judg- 
ment by  Thurlow.  The  first  plate  was  engraved 
entirely  by  Hogarth,  the  second  entirely  by  C. 
Grignion,  the  third  by  Hogarth  and  Le  Cave,  and 
the  fourth  by  Hogarth  and  F.  Aviline. 

There  is  a  folio  volume,  lettered  'Subscribers' 
names  for  Four  Prints  of  Election,  March  19,  1754,' 
in  the  British  Museum  (Add.  MSS.  22,394).  The 
list  is  headed  by  the  names  of  H.R.H.  the  Prince 
of  Wales  and  H.R.H.  the  Princess  Dowager  of 
Wales.  We  can  now  deal  more  particularly  with 
the  incidents  of  the  different  pictures. 

Plate  1,  '  An  Election  Entertainment,'  discovers 
a  large  room  hi  a  country  inn  hi  which  members 


POLITICAL  LIFE  175 

of  one  of  the  political  parties  l  are  holding  a  lively 
debauch  not  unlike  in  general  effect  that  represented 
in  the  '  Midnight  Modern  Conversation '  (1733). 
One  of  the  candidates,  a  young  man,  sits  at  the  head 
of  the  table  (Richard  Slim),  and  on  his  left  is  an 
elderly  man,  his  fellow  candidate  (Sir  Commodity 
Taxem).  A  flag  on  which  is  inscribed  '  Liberty  and 
Loyalty,'  is  fixed  at  the  back  of  the  latter' s  chair. 

The  younger  candidate  was  said  to  be  taken  from 
Thomas  Potter,  the  very  clever  but  worthless  son 
of  Archbishop  Potter,  although  this  has  been  denied 
by  others,  probably  with  truth.  Hogarth  told 
George  Steevens  that  there  was  only  one  portrait 
in  the  picture  ;  this  was  Sir  John  Parnell,  nephew  of 
the  poet  Thomas  Parnell,  who  desired  to  be  put 
in  because  he  was  so  generally  known  that  the 
introduction  of  his  face  would  be  of  service  to  the 
artist  hi  the  sale  of  prints  in  Dublin.  He  is  seen 
diverting  the  company  by  showing  a  face  drawn 
with  a  burnt  cork  upon  the  back  of  his  hand,  while 
he  sings  the  song  entitled  '  An  old  woman  clothed 
in  grey.'  Mr.  Dobson  refers  to  Angela's  Reminis- 
cences (1830,  ii.  425)  to  show  that  this  was  the  way 
in  which  the  song  was  usually  sung. 

1  It  shows  how  impartial  Hogarth  is  in  his  satire  on  the  humours  of  the 
election  that  there  is  a  difference  of  opinion  among  authorities  as  to  which 
party  is  represented  in  this  picture.  John  Ireland  says  that  the  company 
consists  of  the  friends  of  the  Court  party,  while  Dr.  Trusler  expresses  no 
doubt  that  '  the  present  are  tories  under  false  pretences.'  The  '  Poetical 
Description'  said  to  be  written  under  'Mr.  Hogarth's  sanction  and  in- 
spection '  contains  no  hint  either  way.  The  painter  was  content  to  direct 
impartial  attention  to  the  humours  of  both  parties. 


176  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

John  Nichols  refers  to  a  pamphlet  in  which  another 
of  the  characters  is  identified.1  This  is  the  portly 
clergyman  sitting  at  the  table  who,  having  taken 
off  his  wig  with  one  hand,  is  rubbing  his  bald  head 
with  the  other.  The  writer  of  the  pamphlet  says 
this  was  the  Rev.  Dr.  Cosserat,  and  he  deals  not 
over  tenderly  with  '  the  Doctor  represented  sitting 
among  the  freeholders  and  zealously  eating  and 
drinking  for  the  sake  of  the  New  Interest.' 

The  incidents  in  this  riotous  scene  are  so  numerous 
and  appeal  so  vividly  to  the  eye  that  it  is  only 
necessary  to  refer  to  a  few  of  them.  Stones  and 
brickbats  are  supposed  to  be  thrown  in  at  the  open 
window  by  the  opponents  outside ;  one  of  these  stones 
strikes  the  lawyer,  counting  up  the  votes,  on  the 
forehead  so  that  he  falls  back  over  his  chair,  but  the 
compliment  is  vigorously  returned  by  those  inside. 
In  the  tobacco  tray  is  a  paper  of  Kirton's  best,  and 
a  slip  from  the  Act  against  bribery  and  corruption 
has  been  torn  to  light  pipes  with.  Kirton  was  a 
tobacconist  who  kept  a  shop  near  St.  Dunstan's 
Church,  Fleet  Street,  and  impaired  his  circumstances 
as  well  as  ruined  his  constitution  by  wasting  his 
time  on  the  Oxfordshire  election  of  1754.  On  the 
butcher  with  pro  patria  on  his  cap  and  his  wounded 
companion  in  the  front  of  the  picture,  John  Ireland 
found  among  his  papers  the  following  note  by 

1  'The  Last  Blow,  or  an  unanswerable  Vindication  of  the  Society  of 
Exeter  College,  in  reply  to  the  Vice-Chancellor,  Dr.  King,  and  the  Writers 
of  the  London  Evening  Post,  1755,'  4to,  p.  21. 


POLITICAL  LIFE  177 

Hogarth :  '  These  two  patriots,  who,  let  what  party 
will  prevail,  can  be  no  gainers,  yet  spend  their  time, 
which  is  their  fortune,  for  what  they  suppose  right, 
and  for  a  glass  of  gin  lose  their  blood,  and  sometimes 
their  lives,  in  support  of  the  cause,  are,  as  far  as  I 
can  see,  entitled  to  an  equal  portion  of  fame  with 
many  of  the  emblazoned  heroes  of  ancient  Rome : 
but  such  is  the  effect  of  prejudice,  that  though  the 
picture  of  an  antique  wrestler  is  admired  as  a  grand 
character,  we  necessarily  annex  an  idea  of  vulgarity 
to  the  portrait  of  a  modern  boxer.  An  old  black- 
smith in  his  tattered  garb  is  a  coarse  and  low  being  ; 
strip  him  naked,  tie  his  leathern  apron  round  his 
loins,  chisel  out  his  figure  in  freestone  or  marble, 
precisely  as  it  appears,  he  becomes  elevated, — and 
may  pass  for  a  philosopher,  or  a  Deity.'  l 

The  one  of  these  two  men  who  is  having  gin 
poured  upon  his  head  is  said  to  have  been  painted 
from  Teague  Carter  of  Oxford,  a  fighting  man  or 
'  bruiser.'  Another  well-known  character  was  the 
blind  violinist  who  represents  a  woman  called 
'  Fiddling  Nan,'  who  frequented  the  neighbourhood 
of  Oxford. 

The  elector's  arms  on  the  wall,  '  A  chevron,  sable 
between  three  guineas,  or,'  with  the  crest  of  a  gaping 
mouth  and  motto  '  Speak  and  Have,'  are  quite  ap- 
propriate to  the  evident  sentiments  of  most  of  those 
present  at  this  entertainment.  The  various  election 
cries  are  curious,  like  the  inscription  on  the  flag 

1  Hogarth  Illustrated,  vol.  iii.  p.  361. 
M 


178  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

thrown  down  on  the  floor,  '  Give  us  our  eleven  days ' 
— a  shocking  appeal  to  the  ignorance  of  the  populace 
against  the  valuable  Act  passed  1752  for  the  altera- 
tion of  the  Style  in  accordance  with  the  Gregorian 
Calendar. 

'  When  the  country  folk  first  heard  of  this  Act, 
That  old  father  Style  was  condemned  to  be  rack'd, 
And  robb'd  of  his  time,  which  appears  to  be  fact, 

Which  nobody  can  deny ; 

It  puzzl'd  their  brains,  their  senses  perplex'd, 

And  all  the  old  ladies  were  very  much  vex'd, 

Not  dreaming  that  Levites  would  alter  our  text ; 

Which  nobody  can  deny.' 

Outside  the  window  is  seen  a  cavalcade  in  the 
street  following  an  effigy  of  the  Duke  of  Newcastle, 
on  the  breast  of  which  is  inscribed  '  No  Jews.'  The 
flags  have  these  mottoes — '  Liberty  and  Property 
and  No  Excise,'  '  Marry  and  Multiply  in  spite  of 
the  Devil  and  the  [Court],'  alluding  to  the  Marriage 
Act  of  1753. 

Plate  2. — Canvassing  for  Votes. 

In  the  village  street  of  Guzzledown  are  seen  in  the 
foreground  two  places  of  entertainment :  on  the  left 
hand  an  inn  of  some  importance  with  the  sign  of  the 
Royal  Oak,  and  on  the  right  hand  the  Porto  Bello 
alehouse.  At  a  table  in  front  of  the  latter  house 
the  village  cobbler  and  the  barber  are  engaged  in  a 
discussion  as  to  the  taking  of  Portobello  by  Admiral 
Vernon  in  the  year  1739  with  six  ships  only.  The 
barber  is  distinguished  by  the  implements  of  his 
trade  on  the  ground,  and  the  cobbler  by  a  pair  of 


POLITICAL  LIFE  179 

shoes  on  the  table  by  his  side.  The  barber,  to  illus- 
trate his  argument,  has  broken  from  the  stem  of  his 
pipe  six  pieces  which  he  has  arranged  crescent- wise  on 
the  table,  and  points  to  this  arrangement  with  the 
stump  of  his  pipe.  The  cobbler  appears  to  have 
won  the  bet,  as  he  draws  the  stakes  to  himself. 
Over  the  doorway  is  a  signboard  with  a  painting  of 
ships  at  sea  and  the  name  [Por]tobello.  On  the 
barber's  pot  of  beer  is  inscribed  the  owner's  name, 
*  John  Hill  at  the  Porto  Bello.'  Admiral  Vernon 
became  so  popular  owing  to  his  great  victory  that  his 
head  was  painted  on  a  large  number  of  the  signposts 
of  the  country,  and  at  the  next  general  election  in 
1741  was  elected  for  three  different  constituencies. 
In  front  of  the  bow  window  of  the  bar  of  the  Royal 
Oak  is  seen  the  candidate  talking  to  two  ladies  in 
the  balcony.  A  kneeling  porter  offers  him  a  letter 
addressed  to  Tim  Partitool,  Esq. 

Part  of  the  sign  of  the  inn  is  obscured  by  a  large 
show  cloth,  at  the  foot  of  which  is  *  Punch,  Candidate 
for  Guzzledown.'  On  the  cloth  two  subjects  are 
painted,  which  are  divided  horizontally  near  the 
middle.  On  the  upper  picture  the  Horse  Guards 
and  the  Old  Treasury  building  are  represented. 
The  lower  picture  displays  the  destiny  of  the  money 
taken  from  the  Treasury;  in  the  upper  picture 
Punch  is  seen  trundling  a  wheelbarrow  with  one 
hand,  while  with  the  other  he  ladles  out  coins.  In 
the  barrow  are  two  bags  of  money,  respectively 
labelled  9000  and  7000.  Two  men  with  hats  in 


180  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

their  hands  eagerly  meet  Punch  and  catch  the  coin 
he  scatters.  An  old  hunchbacked  woman  holds  out 
her  hand  for  a  bribe.  These  pictures  were  intended 
to  advertise  the  puppet  show  to  be  seen  later  in  the 
inn  yard.  On  one  of  the  boxes  set  down  by  the 
porter  previously  mentioned  is  inscribed  '  Punch's 
Theatre,  Royal  Oak  Yard.' 

In  describing  the  upper  picture  of  the  show  cloth 
the  commentators  seem  to  have  gone  too  far  in 
their  guesses  as  to  Hogarth's  meaning.  J.  Nichols 
writes :  '  The  height  of  The  Treasury  is  contrasted 
with  the  squat  solidity  of  The  Horse  Guards,  where 
the  arch  is  so  low,  that  the  State  Coachman  cannot 
pass  through  it  with  his  head  on  ;  and  the  turret  on 
the  top  is  so  drawn  as  to  resemble  a  beer-barrel. 
Ware  the  architect  very  gravely  remarked,  on  this 
occasion,  that  the  chief  defect  would  have  been 
sufficiently  pointed  out  by  making  the  coachman 
only  stoop.  He  was  hurt  by  Hogarth's  stroke  of 
satire.'  John  Ireland  repeats  this  story,  but  Dr. 
Trusler,  who  wrote  earlier,  says  nothing  about  Ware 
or  the  contrast  between  the  Horse  Guards  and  the 
Treasury.  Both  these  buildings  were  really  designed 
by  Hogarth's  enemy  Kent.  The  Horse  Guards  was 
built  hi  1751-53  by  John  Vardy,  after  a  design 
furnished  by  William  Kent.  The  Old  Treasury,  a 
stone  building  still  fronting  the  Horse  Guards 
Parade,  was  erected  in  1733  from  Kent's  design  for  a 
much  more  extensive  front.  The  explanation  of  the 
intrusion  of  Isaac  Ware's  name  by  Nichols  and 


POLITICAL  LIFE  181 

Ireland  under  the  impression  that  he  was  the 
architect  of  the  Horse  Guards  is  to  be  found  in  the 
life  of  Ware  in  the  Dictionary  of  National  Biography. 
1  In  1751-2  and  again  in  1757-8  he  was  employed  as 
draughtsman  at  a  salary  of  £100  on  the  building  of 
the  Horse  Guards  from  Kent's  designs.' 

There  is  still  to  be  mentioned  the  Crown  Inn, 
which  is  inscribed  *  The  Excise  Office.'  Trusler  notes 
that  in  country  places  the  excise  office  was  generally 
held  at  public-houses.  A  crowd  of  men  are  assembled 
before  this  building  with  the  intention  of  sacking  it. 
Stones  are  thrown  at  the  windows,  and  the  landlord 
fires  a  blunderbuss  which  wounds  one  of  the  crowd. 
Another  man,  determined  to  destroy  the  sign  of  the 
Crown,  has  bestridden  the  beam  which  supports  it, 
and  saws  the  beam,  forgetting  that  he  must  fall 
with  it.  At  the  back  of  the  picture  there  is  a  rising 
ground  with  trees  and  fields,  and  on  the  ridge  is  a 
village  with  a  church. 

We  leave  for  the  last  a  notice  of  the  group  of  three 
men  (a  countryman  between  the  hosts  of  the  rival 
inns  who  both  put  coins  into  his  hands)  in  the  centre 
of  the  picture,  which,  without  demanding  the  special 
attention  of  the  spectator,  forms  the  very  pivot  of 
the  scene  and  gives  a  harmony  to  the  whole,  which 
presents  a  perfect  marvel  of  pictorial  composition. 
It  has  been  said  that  the  idea  of  Reynolds's  picture 
of  '  Garrick  between  Tragedy  and  Comedy '  was 
taken  from  this  elegant  group,  but  this  seems  to  be  a 
rather  far-fetched  suggestion.  John  Ireland  writes : 


182  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

'  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  (and  it  is  perhaps  not  to  be  par- 
alleled in  any  other  picture)  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  !  "  '  l 

The  remarkable  circumstance  about  this  is  that 
the  charm  of  this  group  is  entirely  due  to  the  artist's 
innate  conception  of  beauty  as  the  persons  them- 
selves, although  true  to  life,  are  commonplace,  with 
no  pretence  to  charm. 

Plate  3. — Polling  at  the  Hustings. 

We  have  here  the  election  polling-booth  set  up 
hi  a  meadow  near  the  bank  of  a  river  which  is  crossed 
by  a  substantial  bridge.  The  platform  of  the  booth 
is  approached  by  a  flight  of  wooden  steps.  In  the 
front  is  a  voter,  imbecile  in  body  and  mind.  A  man 
in  a  laced  cocked  hat  is  eagerly  whispering  into  the 
voter's  ear.  It  will  be  seen  that  on  one  of  the  man's 
legs  there  is  a  manacle.  In  his  pocket  is  seen 
'  The  6th  Letter  to  the  [People  of  England],'  which 
proves  that  the  man  was  the  notorious  Dr.  Shebbeare, 
who  was  condemned  by  Lord  Mansfield  to  the  pillory 
for  this  treasonable  letter.  It  was  reported  that  he 

1  Ilogarth  Illustrated,  vol.  ii  p.  113. 


POLITICAL  LIFE  183 

frequently  said  in  the  public  coffee-house  that  he 
would  have  a  pillory  or  a  pension.     He  had  both, 
for  Lord  Bute  gave  him  the  latter.     The  reserve 
voters,   consisting  of  the  blind  and  the  halt,   are 
being  brought  to  the  booth,  and  on  the  top  of  the 
steps  a  dying  man  wrapped  in  a  blanket  is  carried 
by  two  porters.     None  of  these  horrors  appear  to  be 
exaggerated,  for  any  dangers  would  be  risked  to 
get  a  vote.     John  Ireland  relates  that  Dr.  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.     In 
the  midst  of  all  these  realistic  incidents  a  bit  of 
allegory    seems    somewhat    out    of    place — in    the 
right  corner  of  the  picture  Britannia's  state  coach 
is  seen  in  a  dangerous  condition,  while  the  coachman 
dropping  his  reins  plays  cards  with  the  footman  on 
the    box.     Britannia's    attempts    to    attract    their 
attention    by    pulling    the    check-string    are    quite 
unheeded. 

Plate  4. — Chairing  the  Members. 

We  have  here  a  street  in  a  country  town  where  the 
road  passes  between  a  brook  and  the  wall  of  a  church. 
At  the  back  of  the  picture  is  a  building  with  a  belfry 
on  the  roof,  the  pediment  of  which  contains  the 
royal  arms.  On  the  right  are  two  houses ;  the  one  at 
the  back  apparently  has  been  wrecked  by  the  mob  : 


184  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

the  front  one  is  full  of  life ;  it  is  supposed  to  be  the 
committee  room  of  the  defeated  candidate  at  his 
lawyer's  house.  Many  persons  are  at  the  window, 
and  three  cooks  bearing  dishes  are  seen  entering  the 
door. 

A  blind  and  bearded  fiddler  leads  the  mob,  fol- 
lowed by  a  bear  carrying  a  monkey  with  a  carbine 
over  its  shoulder  which  is  accidentally  discharged, 
to  the  imminent  danger  of  the  chimney-sweeps  on 
the  churchyard  wall.  This  is  said  to  allude  to  an 
incident  which  actually  occurred  at  the  Oxfordshire 
election  of  1754.  A  mob  attempted  to  throw  a  post- 
chaise  into  the  river,  when  Captain  T ,  who  was 

in  the  carriage,  shot  a  chimney-sweeper  who  was  a 
ringleader  in  the  assault,  and  his  followers  dispersed. 
The  captain  was  tried  and  acquitted.  Now  comes 
the  new  member  borne  aloft  on  a  chair  by  four 
strong  men.  A  countryman  in  charge  of  a  sow  and 
her  litter  strikes  the  head  of  one  of  the  bearers  at 
his  back  with  his  flail.  The  bearer  staggers  and  the 
member,  terrified  and  in  danger  of  falling,  clutches 
the  arms  of  the  chair  as  his  hat  flies  from  his  head. 
A  young  lady  on  the  wall  of  the  churchyard,  one  of 
the  spectators  of  the  procession,  faints  at  the  sudden- 
ness of  the  accident.  A  crowd  follows  the  first 
member,  amongst  which  is  the  second  member, 
whose  shadow  only  is  seen  on  the  side  of  the  building 
at  the  back. 

The  goose  hovering  over  the  chaired  member  is 
said  to  be  intended  as  a  parody  of  the  eagle  above 


POLITICAL  LIFE  185 

the  laurelled  helmet  of  Alexander  in  Le  Brim's 
picture  of  the  '  Battle  of  the  Granicus.'  The  little 
fat  member  previously  dubbed  Punch  is  generally 
supposed  to  be  a  vivid  representation  of  the  intrigu- 
ing manager  of  the  Leicester  House  party — Bubb 
Dodington  (afterwards  Lord  Melcombe),  although 
he  does  not  seem  to  have  had  anything  to  do  with 
this  election.  This  is  another  instance  of  the 
generality  of  Hogarth's  satire,  which  was  never 
allowed  to  be  completely  personal.  Dodington' s 
figure  was  too  grotesque  to  be  passed  by,  and  his 
head  was  used  as  the  first  in  the  second  row  of 
the  '  Five  Orders  of  Periwigs.'  Hogarth  does  not 
appear  to  have  had  any  prejudice  against  the  man 
himself — in  fact,  he  may  have  felt  some  interest  in 
him  on  account  of  his  connection  with  Sir  James 
Thornhill.  George  Bubb  Dodington  (1691-1762) 
spent  £140,000  hi  completing  a  magnificent  mansion 
begun  by  his  uncle,  George  Dodington,  at  Eastbury 
in  Dorsetshire,  of  which  Vanbrugh  was  architect. 
Thornhill  painted  a  ceiling  there  in  1719,  and  subse- 
quently represented  Weymouth  in  Parliament  as 
Dodington's  nominee.  Dodington's  name  does  not 
stand  high  in  political  history  ;  he  has  been  taken  as 
the  representative  jobber  of  his  day,  partly  owing 
to  the  full  particulars  of  corruption  given  in  his 
Diary.  There  is  therefore  all  the  more  reason  why 
any  incident  in  his  career  that  does  him  credit  should 
be  recorded.  He  showed  great  courage  when,  on 
the  22nd  of  February,  1757,  he  made  a  strong  speech 


186  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

in  the  House  of  Commons  against  the  execution 
(or  rather  judicial  murder)  of  Admiral  Byng.  The 
milestone  at  the  extreme  right  of  the  picture  is 
inscribed  '  xix  miles  from  London ' — another  attempt 
to  confuse  the  locality  of  the  Election. 

The  inscription  on  the  sun-dial  fixed  on  the  church 
contains  an  atrocious  pun.  There  are  two  words, 
'  We  must,'  and  '  die  all '  (dial)  is  inferred. 

Special  reference  is  made  in  the  second  chapter  of 
this  book  to  the  deadly  quarrel  between  Hogarth 
and  Wilkes  near  the  end  of  the  artist's  life,  but  its 
political  character  must  be  more  fully  described  in 
the  present  chapter. 

Hogarth  was  the  aggressor  by  reason  of  his 
publication  of  '  The  Times,  Plate  1,'  which  was  a 
satire  strongly  in  favour  of  Lord  Bute  and  against 
Pitt,  Temple  and  Wilkes.  One  cannot  be  sur- 
prised at  Wilkes' s  anger,  but  the  way  he  exhibited 
this  anger  was  quite  inexcusable,  and  is  difficult 
to  understand,  as  Wilkes  was  naturally  a  placable 
man.  These  are  some  of  the  vitriolic  words  in  No. 
17  of  the  North  Briton  published  on  Saturday, 
September  25,  1762,  which  is  entirely  devoted  to 
Hogarth  :  '  We  all  titter  the  instant  he  takes  up  a 
pen,  but  we  tremble  when  we  see  the  pencil  in  his 
hand.'  '  I  need  only  make  my  appeal  to  any  one  of 
his  historical  or  portrait  pieces  which  are  now  con- 
sidered as  almost  beneath  criticism.'  Then  follows 
a  ridiculous  and  unkind  condemnation  of  *  Sigis- 
munda.'  '  He  never  caught  a  single  idea  of  beauty, 


POLITICAL  LIFE  187 

grace  or  elegance,  but  on  the  other  hand  he  never 
missed  the  least  flaw  in  almost  any  production  of 
nature  or  of  art.  This  is  his  true  character.  He 
has  succeeded  very  happily  in  the  way  of  humour, 
and  has  miscarried  in  every  other  attempt.  This 
has  arose  in  some  measure  from  his  head,  but  much 
more  from  his  heart.  After  "Marriage  a  la  Mode," 
the  public  wished  for  a  series  of  prints  of  a  happy 
marriage.  Hogarth  made  the  attempt,  but  the 
rancour  and  malevolence  of  his  mind  made  him 
very  soon  turn  with  envy  and  disgust  from  objects 
of  so  pleasing  contemplation,  to  dwell  and  feast  a 
bad  heart  on  others  of  a  hateful  cast,  which  he  pur- 
sued, for  he  found  them  congenial,  with  the  most 
unabating  zeal  and  unrelenting  gall.' 

Wilkes  must  have  been  ashamed  of  what  he  had 
written,  as  Hogarth  said  he  was,  and  he  wrote  no 
more  abuse.  In  his  preliminary  note  for  a  reprint 
of  the  '  Epistle  to  William  Hogarth  '  in  the  collected 
edition  of  Churchill's  Poems,  he  writes  with  a 
certain  amenity,  although  he  does  not  express 
regret  for  what  Churchill  wrote :  '  Mr.  Hogarth 
had  for  several  years  lived  on  terms  of  friendship 
if  not  intimacy  with  Mr.  Wilkes.  ...  A  friend  wrote 
to  him,  that  Mr.  Hogarth  intended  soon  to  publish 
a  political  print  of  the  Times,  in  which  Mr.  Pitt, 
Lord  Temple,  Mr.  Churchill  and  himself  were  held 
out  to  the  public  as  objects  of  ridicule.  Mr.  Wilkes 
on  this  notice  remonstrated  by  two  of  their  common 
friends  to  Mr.  Hogarth  that  such  a  proceeding 


188  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

would  not  only  be  unfriendly  in  the  highest  degree, 
but  extremely  injudicious  ;  for  such  a  pencil  ought 
to  be  universal  and  moral,  to  speak  to  all  ages  and 
all  nations,  not  to  be  dipped  in  the  dirt  of  the 
faction  of  a  day,  of  an  insignificant  part  of  the 
country,  when  it  might  command  the  admiration 
of  the  whole.  An  answer  was  sent,  that  neither 
Mr.  Wilkes  nor  Mr.  Churchill  was  attacked  in  the 
Times,  though  Lord  Temple  and  Mr.  Pitt  were,  and 
that  the  print  would  soon  appear.  A  second 
message  soon  after  told  Mr.  Hogarth  that  Mr. 
Wilkes  would  never  think  it  worth  his  while  to  take 
notice  of  any  reflections  on  himself  ;  but  when  his 
friends  were  attacked  he  found  himself  wounded 
in  the  most  sensible  part,  and  would  as  well  as  he 
could  revenge  their  cause  ;  adding  that  if  he  thought 
the  North  Briton  would  insert  what  he  should  send, 
he  would  make  an  appeal  to  the  public  on  the  very 
Saturday  following  the  publication  of  the  print.' 

Churchill's  poem  is  full  of  unjust  and  ill-bred 
abuse.  The  earlier  part  is  poor  stuff  till  we  come 
to  line  309,  where  the  direct  attack  upon  Hogarth 
commences,  and  then  it  becomes  strong.  Here  is 
a  bitter  line : 

'  He  had  desert,  and  Hogarth  was  his  foe.' 

The  vituperation  now  is  in  full  swing  : 

'  When  Wilkes,  our  countryman,  or  common  friend, 
Arose  his  king,  his  country  to  defend  : 

What  could  induce  thee,  at  a  time  and  place, 
Where  manly  foes  had  blush'd  to  shew  their  face, 


POLITICAL  LIFE  189 

To  make  that  effort  which  must  damn  thy  name 
And  sink  thee  deep,  deep  in  thy  grave  with  shame  ? 
Did  virtue  move  thee  ?    No,  'twas  pride,  rank  pride, 
And  if  thou  hadst  not  done  it,  thou  hadst  died.' 

Again : 

'  Oft  have  I  known  thee,  Hogarth,  weak  and  vain, 
Thyself  the  idol  of  thy  awkward  strain, 
Through  the  dull  measure  of  a  summer's  day, 
In  phrase  most  vile,  prate  long,  long  hours  away, 
Whilst  friends  with  friends  all  gaping  sit,  and  gaze 
To  hear  a  Hogarth  babble  Hogarth's  praise. 
But  if  athwart  thee  interruption  came 
And  mention'd  with  respect  some  ancient's  name, 
Some  ancient's  name  who  in  the  days  of  yore, 
The  crown  of  art  with  greatest  honour  wore. 
How  have  I  seen  thy  coward  cheek  turn  pale, 
And  black  confusion  seize  thy  mangled  tale  ! 
How  hath  thy  jealousy  to  madness  grown, 
And  deemed  his  praise  injurious  to  thy  own  ! 
Then  without  mercy  did  thy  wrath  make  way 
And  arts  and  artists  all  became  thy  prey.' 

Churchill  returned  to  his  abuse  in  his  last  poem, 
Independence  (published  late  in  September  1764), 
where  he  parries  the  attack  in  Hogarth's  caricature 
of  him  as  the  Bruiser  and,  accepting  the  figure  of  a 
Bear,  draws  a  spirited  description  of  himself  ending 

thus : 

'  A  subject  met  with  only  now  and  then, 
Much  fitter  for  the  pencil  than  the  pen ; 
Hogarth  would  draw  him  (Envy  must  allow) 
E'en  to  the  life,  was  Hogarth  living  now.' 

In  spite  of  Churchill  taking  the  painter's  death  for 
granted,  he  did  not  die  till  four  weeks  later,  and  the 
poet  only  survived  him  nine  days.  It  is  very 
distressing  that  these  unfortunate  circumstances 


190  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

should  have  arisen  from  the  publication  of  a  print 
which  has  no  particular  merit  and  very  little  interest. 

'  The  Times,  Plate  I.  Designed  &  Engraved 
by  W.  Hogarth.  Published  as  the  Act  directs 
Sept.  7,  1762.' 

This  engraving  represents  a  street  in  London, 
most  of  the  houses  on  one  side  of  which  are  in  flames. 
A  house  on  the  other  side  called  the  Temple  Coffee- 
House  (in  allusion  to  Earl  Temple)  is  occupied  by 
firemen,  who  direct  water  from  syringes,  at  a  fireman 
who  is  aiming  at  the  burning  globe  on  one  of  the 
buildings.  In  the  middle  of  the  space  in  the  fore- 
ground is  the  fire-engine  of  the  Union  Fire  Office 
(distinguished  by  its  emblem  of  the  double  hand-in- 
hand),  worked  by  one  of  their  firemen.  The 
figure  of  Pitt  on  stilts  with  a  pair  of  bellows  in  his 
hand  is  seen  blowing  up  the  flame  hi  opposition  to 
the  fireman's  attempt  to  extinguish  it.  Hanging  from 
his  body  is  a  large  round  object  inscribed  £3000 
per  annum.  This  is  most  probably  intended  for  a 
millstone  with  a  hole  in  the  middle  through  which 
is  drawn  a  rope  that  passes  over  Pitt's  neck.1 

Nichols  calls  this  a  Cheshire  cheese,  and  says 
that  it  refers  to  what  Pitt  said  in  Parliament — *  that 
he  would  rather  live  on  a  Cheshire  cheese  and  a 
shoulder  of  mutton  than  submit  to  the  enemies  of 
Great  Britain.'  John  Ireland  justly  observes  that, 

1  In  the  two  first  states  of  the  print  Pitt  was  considered  as  a  tyrant  and 
made  to  represent  Henry  vni.,  but  in  the  third  state  (the  published 
plate)  the  figure  of  Henry  vni.  was  altered  to  a  direct  portrait  of  Mr.  Pitt. 
(Stephens,  British  Museum  Catalogue,  vol.  iv.  p.  191.) 


POLITICAL  LIFE  191 

as  he  never  saw  a  cheese  with  a  hole  bored  through 
the  middle,  he  ventures  to  pronounce  it  a  millstone, 
which,  by  the  way,  the  doggerel  writer  quoted  by 
Nichols  also  does. 

The  Highlander  (Lord  Bute)  who  helps  to  supply 
water  in  buckets  from  the  spring  to  the  fire  is  driven 
into  by  a  man  with  a  wheelbarrow  loaded  with 
waste  paper  described  as  Monitors  and  North  Britons. 
These  are  to  help  increase  the  fire,  and  the  man  is 
trying  to  destroy  the  waterpipe  with  his  wheel- 
barrow. The  man  is  said  to  be  intended  for  the 
Duke  of  Newcastle.  One  of  the  signs  to  the  left  of 
the  picture  is  the  Newcastle  Arms  ;  this  is  to  be 
superseded  by  the  sign  of  the  Patriot's  Arms  dated 
1762,  which  is  being  hoisted  up  a  ladder.  The 
arms  consist  of  four  clenched  fists  in  direct 
opposition  to  each  other.  These  are  introduced 
here  in  contrast  with  the  double  hand-in-hand  of 
the  Union  Office.  John  Ireland  notes  that  Hogarth 
seems  to  have  had  a  strong  antipathy  to  the  politics 
of  this  year.  In  later  impressions  of  Plate  8  of  the 
*  Rake's  Progress '  will  be  found  a  halfpenny  with 
the  same  date,  *  in  which  Britannia  is  represented  in 
the  character  of  a  maniac,  with  dishevelled  hair.' 

As  the  year  is  specially  distinguished  on  the 
Patriot's  Arms,  so  the  month  of  August  is  marked 
by  the  introduction  of  the  treasure  wagon  marked 
Hermione.  This  treasure  contained  in  twenty 
wagons  passed  through  the  streets  of  London  in  its 
way  to  the  Tower  on  the  12th  of  that  month.  It 


192  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

was  seen  entering  St.  James's  Street  by  the  King 
and  his  Court  from  the  windows  of  St.  James's 
Palace,  a  large  company  being  present,  as  George 
Prince  of  Wales  was  born  on  that  day. 

The  Hermione,  a  Spanish  register  ship,  which  left 
Lima  on  the  6th  January  bound  for  Cadiz,  was  taken 
on  the  21st  May  off  Cape  St.  Vincent  by  three  English 
frigates  and  carried  into  Gibraltar.  The  introduc- 
tion of  this  treasure  of  immense  value  into  the  picture 
is  a  heavy  asset  for  Pitt's  party  against  all  that  is 
figured  against  it.  There  are  many  more  points 
that  might  be  added  to  this  description,  for  the 
incidents  included  are  innumerable. 

The  two  figures  in  the  garret  of  the  Temple  Coffee- 
House  were  intended  to  represent  Hogarth's  former 
friends  and  present  enemies,  Wilkes  and  Churchill. 
Ireland  says  that  previous  to  publication  the  faces 
were  altered  and  adds :  '  If  Hogarth  must  be  so 
unmercifully  abused  for  what  he  inserted,  he  is 
entitled  to  some  credit  for  what  he  erased.  I  hope 
this  blot  in  his  original  design  will  not  be  considered 
as  an  additional  blot  on  his  escutcheon.'  In 
considering  this  plate  of  '  The  Times,'  which  presents 
so  many  points  open  to  severe  criticism,  one  cannot 
but  feel  astonishment  that  two  such  men  as  Wilkes 
and  Churchill  should  so  thoroughly  have  mis- 
managed their  attack  upon  Hogarth.  They  neither 
touch  the  question  at  issue  nor  attempt  to  show 
where  he  is  wrong.  Instead  of  this,  they  merely 
abuse,  and  abuse  in  a  particularly  truculent  and 


POLITICAL  LIFE  193 

objectionable  manner,  which  must  have  disgusted 
any  respectable  person  who  read  their  prose  and  verse. 
They  exaggerate  some  of  his  faults,  but  the  greater 
portion  of  their  words  are  not  only  untrue  but  the 
exact  opposite  of  the  truth.  When  Churchill  saw 
the  portraits  of  himself  and  Wilkes  he  most  certainly 
must  have  known  how  untrue  were  these  words  : 

'  Thy  feeble  age  !  in  which,  as  in  a  glass, 
We  see  how  men  to  dissolution  pass. 
Thou  wretched  being,  whom,  on  reason's  plan 
So  changed,  so  lost,  I  cannot  call  a  man, 
What  could  persuade  thee,  at  this  time  of  life, 
To  launch  afresh  into  the  sea  of  strife  ? 
Better  for  thee  scarce  crawling  on  the  earth, 
Almost  as  much  a  child  as  at  thy  birth, 
To  have  resign'd  in  peace  thy  parting  breath, 
And  sunk  unnoticed  in  the  arms  of  Death.' 

Hogarth's  triumphant  answers  to  Wilkes  and 
Churchill  were  his  portraits  of  them,  which  show 
the  painter  at  his  best  in  all  his  original  vigour  and 
versatility.  The  portrait  of  '  John  Wilkes,  Esq., 
drawn  from  the  Life,  and  Etch'd  in  Aquafortis  by 
Willm  Hogarth,'  was  published  on  May  16,  1763. 
It  can  scarcely  be  considered  as  a  caricature,  and 
Wilkes  himself  acknowledged  that  he  was  daily 
becoming  more  like  it.  The  etching  was  very 
rapidly  made,  for  Hogarth  did  not  draw  the  portrait 
until  May  6th,  when  Wilkes  was  brought  before 
Lord  Chief-Justice  Pratt  (afterwards  Lord  Camden) 
at  Westminster.  Churchill  was  very  indignant  at 
the  artist  skulking  behind  a  screen,  as  he  expressed  it. 


194  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

'  The  Bruiser,  C.  Churchill  (once  the  Revd !) 
in  the  character  of  a  Russian  Hercules,  regaling 
himself  after  having  kill'd  the  Monster  Caricatura 
that  so  sorely  call'd  his  Virtuous  friend,  the  Heaven 
born  Wilkes,'  was  published  on  August  1.  For  this 
caricature  Hogarth  took  the  copper-plate  on  which 
was  engraved  (1749)  his  own  portrait  from  the  picture 
now  in  the  National  Gallery,  and  erasing  nearly  all 
the  work,  leaving  the  dog  and  part  of  the  curtain 
and  palette,  he  drew  the  poet  as  a  bear  with  a  staff 
marked  N.B.  for  North  Briton,  and  covered  with 
knots  inscribed  Lye  1,  2,  3,  etc.  In  the  fourth 
state  of  the  plate  a  framed  picture  representing 
a  tomb  similar  to  that  of  Newton  in  Westminster 
Abbey,  with  Pitt  reclining  in  place  of  Newton, 
concealed  part  of  the  palette. 

The  production  of  these  plates  was  an  act  of 
revenge,  and  instances  of  revenge  are  not  pleasant 
to  contemplate,  but  it  certainly  was  just.  The  two 
men  made  their  mark  in  the  history  of  the  eighteenth 
century  and  are  not  likely  to  be  forgotten,  but  it 
may  truly  be  said  that  they  will  be  remembered 
more  owing  to  Hogarth's  caricatures  than  by  their 
own  writings.  Sandby  renewed  his  attacks  upon 
Hogarth,  and  other  caricaturists  of  less  ability 
made  fun  of  *  The  Times '  and  its  designer,  but  it  is 
scarcely  worth  while  to  deal  with  these  here  because 
then*  very  existence  was  lost  sight  of  by  Hogarth  in 
his  indignation  against  the  two  writers. 

Soon  after  *  The  Times,  Plate  1 '  was  published 


POLITICAL  LIFE  195 

'  The  Times,  Plate  2 '  was  prepared,  probably  in  the 
same  year  1762,  but  the  sky  and  some  parts  of  the 
plate  were  never  finished.  It  is  not  easy  to  under- 
stand the  intended  object  of  the  design.  The 
general  idea  seems  to  be  to  represent  a  state  of  peace 
as  Plate  1  showed  a  state  of  tumult  and  disorder. 
Mr.  Stephens  describes  the  plate  fully  and  writes, 
'  It  is  certain  that  whatever  might  have  been  the 
direction  of  the  satire  in  "  The  Times,  Plate  1,"  it 
was  opposed  in  more  than  one  direction  by  the  sequel 
to  that  design.' l  Hogarth  was  wisely  dissuaded  by 
his  friends  from  publishing  the  print,  and  Mrs. 
Hogarth,  knowing  the  reasons  urged  to  her  husband, 
adhered  to  the  same  resolution.  At  her  death  only 
one  impression  had  been  taken,  and  that  had  been 
sold  to  Lord  Exeter  for  ten  guineas.  All  the  property 
was  left  to  Mrs.  Lewis,  Hogarth's  cousin,  and  she 
sold  the  plate  to  Alderman  Boydell,  who  struck  off 
prints  from  it  in  1790 :  '  Designed  &  engraved  by 
W.  Hogarth.  Published  May  29,  1790,  by  J.  &  J. 
Boydell,  Cheapside,  &  at  the  Shakespeare  Gallery, 
Pall  Mall,  London.' 

John  Ireland  writes  of  Mrs.  Hogarth's  decision: 
*  In  withholding  this  print  from  the  public  she  acted 
prudently,  in  attempting  to  describe  it,  I  may  be 
thought  to  act  otherwise.'  In  a  large  open  space 
among  buildings,  the  centre  of  which  is  a  platform 
surrounded  by  a  trench,  the  sides  of  which  are 
supported  by  a  brick  wall,  is  a  statue  of  George  in. 

1  British  Museum  Catalogue,  vol.  iv.  p.  197. 


196  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

in  his  coronation  robes.  The  base  of  the  statue  is 
inscribed  A.  Ramsay  delfc,  and  as  the  plummet  may 
be  taken  as  a  guide  to  the  squareness  of  the  drapery, 
we  may  believe  this  to  be  a  satirical  reference  to  the 
portrait  painter.  The  pedestal  occupies  the  centre 
of  the  platform  to  indicate  that  here  is  the  fountain 
of  honour.  A  Scotch  gardener,  supposed  to  be  Lord 
Bute,  controls  the  passage  of  water  in  the  pipe  that 
supplies  the  fountain  and  nourishes  the  roses  and 
oranges.  The  other  gardener,  supposed  to  be 
Henry  Fox,  afterwards  Lord  Holland,  casts  away 
the  old-fashioned  plants. 

On  the  left  of  the  plate  is  a  representation  of  the 
House  of  Commons,  with  Sir  John  Gust,  the  Speaker, 
in  the  chair.  Various  members  of  the  House  of 
Lords  are  also  present.  On  the  right  of  the  plate  are 
two  figures  in  the  pillory.  '  Conspiracy,'  '  M8  Fanny ' 
refers  to  the  fraud  of  the  Cock  Lane  Ghost.  The 
other  figure  is  marked  as  Wilkes  and  the  word 
'  Defamation '  is  inscribed  on  the  top  of  the  pillory. 
On  the  roof  of  a  building  which  stands  prominently 
forward  are  many  workmen  hoisting  a  huge  palette 
marked  '  Premium,'  and  having  a  sheaf  of  painters' 
brushes  stuck  hi  the  thumbhole.  This  is  intended 
to  represent  the  Society  of  Arts,  but  the  building  is 
entirely  imaginary,  as  the  Society  did  not  occupy 
a  building  of  importance  until  they  removed  to  the 
Adelphi  hi  1774.  At  this  time  they  had  apartments 
in  Beaufort  Buildings.  In  the  distance  is  seen  the 
steeple  of  the  new  church  of  St.  Mary  le  Strand, 


POLITICAL  LIFE  197 

Still  further  back  is  the  Chinese  pagoda  in  Kew 
Gardens,  designed  by  Sir  William  Chambers,  and  to 
the  left  Somerset  House,  then  in  course  of  construc- 
tion, and  also  the  work  of  Chambers. 

On  27th  September  1762  was  published  an  etching 
intended  as  a  sequel  and  rejoinder  to  '  The  Times, 
Plate  1.'  It  is  entitled  '  The  Times,  Plate  2,'  and 
must  not  be  confused  with  Hogarth's  Plate  2,  which 
was  not  published  until  1790,  and  therefore  unknown 
to  the  public  in  1762.  In  the  middle  of  a  large  open 
space  among  houses  Hogarth  is  seen  standing  in  a 
pillory.  There  are  allusions  to  the  incidents  brought 
into  Hogarth's  Plate  1,  but  one  of  the  best  is  the 
Patriot  Arms,  shown  to  be  two  hands  clasped  and 
enclosing  a  sword  and  an  olive  branch. 

In  this  chapter  we  have  obtained  a  fair  insight  into 
the  political  life  of  the  eighteenth  century,  but  it  is  to 
be  feared  that  most  of  the  methods  of  politicians  are 
seen  to  be  coarse  and  revolting. 


198  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 


CHAPTER    VI 

CHURCH   AND   DISSENT 

HOGARTH  was  keenly  alive  to  the  existence  of  a 
widespread  immorality  throughout  the  country 
during  his  lifetime,  and  set  himself  to  reform  the 
world  by  satire  of  some  of  the  worst  evils  which 
were  open  to  the  day.  He  also  realised  the  want 
of  earnestness  in  religious  life,  but  he  was  equally 
opposed  to  a  religious  revival,  and  could  only  see 
evil  hi  the  great  movement  of  Wesley  and  Whitefield 
which  helped  to  reform  the  world  as  the  Coming  of 
the  Friars  did,  for  a  time  at  least,  in  a  former  age. 

The  maui  cause  of  the  evils  of  the  day  was  a  want 
of  earnestness  in  Church  and  State,  or  in  other  words 
the  universal  dread  of  enthusiasm — a  feeling  which 
overlooked  the  fact  that  enthusiasm,  tempered  it  is 
true  by  judgment,  is  the  moving  spirit  of  the  world. 
Many  of  the  great  men  of  the  eighteenth  century 
were  moved  to  do  their  fine  work  by  enthusiasm, 
but  they  called  the  moving  force  by  another  name. 
Talleyrand's  constant  cry  Pas  de  zele  may  some- 
times be  a  useful  caution,  but  naturally  it  has  a 
deadening  effect  upon  the  soul. 

In   the   middle   of   the   eighteenth   century   Dr. 


CHURCH  AND  DISSENT  199 

Edward  Young,  the  well-known  author  of  Night 
Thoughts,  wrote  a  book  on  the  manners  of  his  time 
which  was  long  a  popular  work.     It  was  entitled 
'  The  Centaur  not   Fabulous,   in   six  Letters  to  a 
Friend  on  the  Life  in  vogue.'     He  found  '  as  in  the 
fabled  centaur  the  Brute  runs  away  with  the  Man,' 
and   reviewing   the   Life   then  lived   showed   how 
Infidelity    and    Pleasure    degraded    the    men    and 
women.     He   then   by   preaching   the   dignity   of 
man  paints  the  centaur's  restoration  to  humanity. 
No    characteristic    of   at   least    a   portion   of   the 
eighteenth   century   was   more   marked   than   the 
deadness  or  somnolence  of  the  Church.    The  stability 
of  the  Hanoverian  dynasty  during  a  dangerous  time 
made  it  necessary  for  the  Ministry  to  choose  the 
governors  of  the  Church  from  men  of  the  same 
political  opinions  as  themselves.     The  High  Church 
party  were  supposed  to  be  too  intimately  connected 
with  non jurors  and  Jacobites  to  be  treated  as  safe 
men  for  office,  and  the  field  was  thus  limited  so 
that  it  was  often  difficult  to  discover  proper  persons 
to  fill  the  office  of  Bishop.     The  Broad  Churchmen 
or   Latitudinarians   were    mostly   lifeless   in   their 
beliefs,  while  highflyers  such  as  Sacheverell  were 
equally    unspiritual.     However,    it    is    unwise    to 
condemn  the  clergy  generally,  for  such  names  as 
those  of   Tillotson,  Stillingfleet,  and  Tenison  must 
not  be  forgotten  on  the  other  side. 

It  is  interesting  to  mark  the  difference  between 
the  government  of  the  Church  hi  the  seventeenth 


200  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

and  eighteenth  centuries  respectively.  In  spite  of 
the  dissoluteness  of  the  Court,  the  appointments  to 
bishoprics  in  the  reign  of  Charles  n.  seem  to  have 
been  carried  out  conscientiously,  and  many  very 
distinguished  men  sat  upon  the  episcopal  bench, 
who  were  the  superiors  of  such  men  as  Gibson  and 
Hoadly,  who  both  find  a  place  hi  the  Hogarth 
gallery.  In  the  eighteenth  century  many  of  the 
Bishops  were  haughty  and  inactive,  although  there 
were  a  few  exceptions  as  Thomas  Herring,  Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury,  whose  portrait  was  painted 
by  Hogarth.  He  was  a  strong  Whig  and  zealous  for 
the  Hanoverian  dynasty.  He  was  colourless  as  a 
theologian,  but  the  practical  side  of  religion  appealed 
to  him,  and  he  did  his  utmost  to  improve  the 
religious  feeling  of  his  age.  He  was  certainly  more 
popular  than  Gibson  and  Hoadly,  who  were  con- 
stantly caricatured  in  the  pictorial  satires  of  the 
day.  Herring  was  Bishop  of  Bangor  in  1737,  and 
Archbishop  of  York  in  1743.  In  the  northern 
archbishopric  he  took  a  prominent  part  in  pre- 
parations against  the  rebellion  of  1745.  As  Arch- 
deacon Coxe  writes  hi  his  Life  of  Horatio  Lord 
Walpole :  '  He  exerted  himself  with  great  zeal  in 
favour  of  government ;  having  convened  a  public 
meeting  in  his  diocese,  he  made  a  sensible  and 
animated  speech,  obtained  a  subscription  to  a 
considerable  amount,  and  contributed  to  raise  and 
embody  volunteers  and  other  corps  of  troops,  who 
performed  essential  services  against  the  rebels.' 


CHURCH  AND  DISSENT  201 

The  younger  Horace  Walpole  writing  to  Sir  Horace 
Mann  (Oct.  4,  1745)  was  even  more  laudatory.  He 
said :  '  Dr.  Herring  has  set  an  example  that  would 
rouse  the  most  indifferent ;  in  two  days  after  the 
news  arrived  at  York  of  Cope's  defeat  (at  Preston 
Pans),  and  when  they  every  moment  expected  the 
victorious  rebels  at  their  gates,  the  Bishop  made  a 
speech  to  the  assembled  county,  that  had  as  much 
true  spirit,  honesty  and  bravery  in  it  as  ever  was 
penned  by  an  historian  for  an  ancient  hero.' 

A  pictorial  satire  was  published  entitled  '  The 
Mitred  Champion ;  or  the  Church  Militant,'  which 
consists  of  a  full-length  portrait  of  the  Archbishop 
in  a  half-clerical,  half-military  costume,  armed  with 
a  drawn  sword,  and  wearing  an  officer's  cocked  and 
laced  hat  instead  of  his  own  mitre,  which  lies  on  the 
ground  at  his  feet.  He  is  marching  at  the  head  of  a 
company  of  armed  clergymen,  who  carry  the  royal 
standard  of  England.  The  Archbishop  cries, 
'  Religion  !  Liberty  !  my  Country  ! '  His  lieu- 
tenant, who  marches  on  the  right  of  the  company, 
says,  '  King  George  and  ye  Church  of  England  for 
ever.'  1 

This  may  be  called  a  satire,  but  it  is  really  little 
more  than  a  representation  of  what  actually  occurred 
by  putting  words  into  action.  The  artist  who  de- 
signed the  satire  evidently  approved  of  the  action, 
and  the  lines  engraved  on  the  print  are  distinctly 
laudatory  and  end  thus  : 

1  F.  G.  Stephens,  British  Museum  Catalogue  of  Satires,  vol.  iii.  p.  508. 


202  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

'  Our  Civil  Rights,  and  Sacred  Worship  shall 
Never  a  sacrifice  to  Bigots  fall, 
But  as  our  Birthright  we  '11  secure  enjoy 
While  Herring  can  his  Sword  and  Eloquence  employ.' 

Hogarth's  portrait  of  Herring  is  dated  in  this  same 
year  1745,  and  was  engraved  as  a  heading  to  the 
Archbishop's  published  speech  at  York,  24th  Sept. 
1745.  The  portrait  was  engraved  subsequently  by 
B.  Baron  and  was  published  in  1750. 

It  is  said  that  Herring  did  not  admire  the  portrait, 
and  an  uncomplimentary  epigram  was  made  at  the 

time : 

'  Lovat's  hard  features  Hogarth  might  command, 
A  Herring's  sweetness  asks  a  Reynolds'  hand.' 

Herring  became  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  in  1747, 
and  a  copy  of  Hogarth's  picture  at  York  is  included 
in  the  gallery  of  Lambeth  Palace. 

Bishops  Gibson  and  Hoadly  were  leaders  of  two 
different  parties,  and  were  both  objects  at  which 
numerous  satires  were  aimed.  The  latter  was  the 
leader  of  the  Low  Church  party,  and  the  former 
of  a  new  High  Church  party  dissociated  from  the 
Jacobites  and  equally  loyal  to  the  Hanoverian 
dynasty  as  the  other  party.  Gibson  is  ridiculed 
in  an  engraving  published  in  1736  and  entitled 
'  Tartuff's  Banquet  (or  Codex's  Entertainment),' 
the  design  of  which  is  ascribed  to  Hogarth,  but  the 
ascription  is  doubtful.  The  engraving  by  G.  Vander- 
gucht  is  described  by  Mr.  Stephens  as  showing  the 
interior  of  a  dining-room  where  a  sleek  divine  is 


CHURCH  AND  DISSENT  203 

seated  at  table  with  three  lean  clergymen.  The 
only  person  provided  with  a  knife  and  fork  is  the 
sleek  divine.  Mr.  Stephens  says  that  this  figure  was 
previously  supposed  to  be  intended  for  Orator 
Henley,  until  he  showed  that  it  was  aimed  at  Dr. 
Edmund  Gibson,  well  known  as  '  Codex '  from  his 
great  work  entitled  Codex  Juris  Ecclesiastici 
Anglicani  (1713).  In  another  satirical  print 
entitled  'The  ParaUel ;  or  Laud  &  C[o]d[e]x 
compared,'  published  also  in  1736,  Britannia  is 
shown  seated  and  holding  her  spear;  she  rests  her 
hand  upon  the  British  royal  shield,  and  by  pointing 
to  medallion  portraits  of  Archbishop  Laud  and 
Bishop  Gibson,  indicates  their  characters  to  be 
equally  autocratic  and  overbearing.  Two  years 
before  he  had  been  satirised  in  an  engraving  entitled 
'  The  State  Weathercocks,'  and  here  he  possesses 
a  fellow-sufferer  in  Bishop  Hoadly.  Gibson  was 
supposed  to  be  ambitious  of  succeeding  Archbishop 
Wake  in  the  Primacy,  but  he  died  Bishop  of  London. 
In  the  verses  attached  to  the  engraving  we  read  : 

'  For  gold  Pastorius  will  exchange  his  soul, 
See  how  to  La[mbe]th  he  does  turn  his  face ; 
And  views  the  Pa[la]ce  with  a  sly  grimace ; 
'Tis  true,  indeed,  Pastorius  pants  for  grace, 
This  right-hand  Man  of  Sidrophel's l  first  troop, 
This  party -tool  to  anything  will  stoop; 
Say  black  is  white  and  white  does  black  appear.' 

The  writer  attacks  both  sides  with  equal  injustice ; 
and  later  on  Hoadly,  who  had  been  Rector  of  St. 

1  Sir  Robert  Walpole. 


204  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

Peter  le  Poer,  Bread  Street,  from  1704  to  1720,  is 
satirised  for  tergiversation. 

'  Whate'er  the  K r  of  St.  P r  P r 


By  dint  of  Argument  maintained  before, 
The  B[isho]p  to  reform  the  sinful  age 
Mounted  with  intrepidity  the  stage, 
Benhada  did  with  Benhada  engage. 
In  publick,  but  yet  mildly,  he  disputes, 
And  all  his  former  Arguments  refutes : 
If  he  no  Kingdom  in  this  World  can  have, 
Close  to  the  Steeple's  pinnacle  he  '11  cleave.' 

The  last  two  lines  refer  to  the  text  of  the  Bishop's 
sermon  at  Court,  '  My  kingdom  is  not  of  this  world.' 
It  was  this  sermon  which  occasioned  the  famous 
Bangorian  Controversy.  In  1709  the  House  of 
Commons  voted  an  Address  to  Queen  Anne  '  that 
she  would  be  graciously  pleased  to  confer  some 
dignity  in  the  Church  upon  him  [Hoadly]  for  his 
eminent  services  to  the  Church  and  State.'  This 
unusual  appeal  had  no  effect,  but  Mrs.  Rowland,  a 
rich  widow,  presented  him  to  the  rectory  of  Streat- 
ham,  '  to  show  that  she  was  neither  afraid  nor 
ashamed  to  give  him  that  mark  of  regard  at  that 
critical  time.'  Promotion  came  with  the  next  reign, 
but  Hoadly  continued  to  hold  both  these  livings 
after  he  became  Bishop  of  Bangor,  which  diocese 
he  never  visited.  He  was  successively  Bishop  of 
Hereford,  Salisbury,  and  Winchester,  and  died  at 
the  latter  city  April  17,  1761. 

Hoadly  and  his  family  were  great  friends  of 
Hogarth,  who  painted  the  Bishop's  portrait  in 


THE  SLEEPING  CONGREGATION.     1736. 


CHURCH  AND  DISSENT  205 

collaboration  with  the  first  Mrs.  Hoadly  (nee 
Sarah  Curtis).  This  is  now  in  the  National  Portrait 
Gallery. 

Hogarth  has  left  a  sad  picture  of  the  deadness  of 
public  services  in  the  eighteenth  century  hi  his 
'  Sleeping  Congregation  '  (1736).  If  common  sense 
was  so  predominant  that  enthusiasm  and  zeal  were 
treated  as  objectionable,  how  was  the  preacher  to 
attract  his  congregation  without  the  exhibition  of 
some  vivid  interest  in  his  theme  ?  The  preacher  in 
Hogarth's  picture  looks  as  if  he  would  have  been 
dull  in  any  age,  but  Churchill  the  poet  was  full  of 
life  and  vigour,  yet  even  he  could  not  fix  the  atten- 
tion of  his  audience. 

'  I  kept  those  sheep, 

Which  for  my  curse,  I  was  ordain'd  to  keep. 
Ordain'd  alas  !  to  keep  through  need,  not  choice, 
Whilst  sacred  dulness  ever  in  my  view 
Sleep  at  my  bidding  crept  from  pew  to  pew.' 

We  are  told  that  Sir  Roger  de  Coverley  would 
suffer  none  to  sleep  in  church  but  himself.  '  The 
Sleeping  Congregation '  is  referred  to  in  Vincent 
Bourne's  Conspicillum.  The  droning  preacher  has 
been  supposed  to  represent  the  Rev.  John  Theophilus 
Desaguliers,  F.R.S.  (1683-1744),  but  there  is  reason 
to  doubt  this  assumption  as  the  head  of  the  preacher 
does  not  resemble  the  portrait  of  Desaguliers  by 
Hyssing.  He  was  extremely  short-sighted  and  his 
personal  appearance  unattractive,  by  reason  of 
being  short  and  thickset,  with  irregular  features,  so 


206  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

the  general  appearance  of  the  man  may  have  been 
copied. 

Desaguliers  was  a  man  of  science  of  some  distinc- 
tion and  held  in  high  esteem  by  Newton.  He 
received  the  Copley  medal  of  the  Royal  Society  in 
1742,  and  his  lectures  on  physics  were  popular.  In 
theology  he  only  printed  a  thanksgiving  sermon 
preached  before  George  I.  at  Hampton  Court  in  1716. 

In  the  advertisement  of  the  print  it  is  stated  that 
it  represents  the  interior  of  a  church  in  the  country 
— *  A  print  representing  a  sleepy  congregation  hi  a 
country  church '  ;  but  Mr.  Stephens  points  out  that 
in  '  one  of  the  windows  is  emblazoned  in  stained  glass 
an  escutcheon  resembling  that  of  the  City  of  London, 
thus  suggesting  it  is  a  city  church.'1 

Desaguliers  was  Rector  of  Whitchurch  or  Little 
Stanmore,  Middlesex,  from  1715  until  his  death  in 
1744.  He  initiated  Frederick  Prince  of  Wales  into 
Freemasonry  at  a  special  lodge  held  at  Kew  on  the 
5th  October  1737.  Hogarth  painted  a  portrait  of  a 
Mrs.  Desaguliers,  wife  of  General  Thomas  Desagu- 
liers, which  Mr.  Dobson  says  is  a  beautiful  head. 

It  is  possible  to  be  too  critical  of  the  methods  of  the 
men  of  the  eighteenth  century,  and  Sir  Walter  Besant, 
after  taking  a  careful  survey  of  the  Church  of  that 
time  in  London,  wrote  that  '  the  chief  reason  for 
calling  the  time  of  George  n.  a  dead  time  for  the 
Church  seems  to  be,  so  far  as  London  is  concerned, 
that  its  clergy  were  not  like  our  own.'  He  analysed 

1  British  Miiseum  Catalogue,  vol.  iii.  p.  204. 


CHURCH  AND  DISSENT  207 

the  services  in  every  London  church  in  1732,  and 
found  that  daily  services  were  general.  He  also  con- 
sidered that  there  was  no  more  immorality  among 
the  middle  classes  than  at  any  other  time. 

The  names  of  several  London  churches  represented 
in  Hogarth's  pictures  may  be  set  down  here.  St. 
Paul's,  Co  vent  Garden,  occupies  a  prominent  position 
in  '  Morning,'  and  the  French  Church,  Hog  Lane,  hi 
4  Noon,'  with  St.  Giles's  in  the  background.  St. 
George's,  Bloomsbury,  in  '  GUI  Lane,'  and  the  in- 
terior of  old  Marylebone  Church  in  the  fifth  plate  of 
the  '  Rake's  Progress,'  and  St.  Martin's  in  '  Industry 
and  Idleness,'  Plate  2.  This  last  is  only  a  sugges- 
tion, but  it  is  a  probable  one. 

Mr.  Stephens  writes :  '  The  church  represented  .  .  . 
is  probably  that  of  St.  Martin's  in  the  Fields,  West- 
minster, in  respect  to  the  architecture  of  which,  and 
that  of  the  print,  there  are  several  resemblances. 
The  probability  of  this  being  the  case  is  strengthened 
by  the  fact  that  a  royal  crown  surmounts  the  chan- 
delier, which  is  pendant  from  the  roof  in  the  design. 
St.  Martin's  in  the  Fields  is  the  so-called  royal  parish 
of  Westminster.  The  design  and  the  church  differ, 
however,  in  many  respects ;  the  architectural  char- 
acteristics of  the  former  are  seemingly  due  to  a  rough 
sketch  of  the  features  of  the  latter,  not  to  an  inten- 
tion on  the  part  of  Hogarth  to  represent  this,  or  any 
particular  church.'  l 

It  is  but  fair  to  refer  to  this  as  a  very  complete 

1  British  Museum  Catalogue,  vol.  iii.  p.  678. 


208  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

contrast  to  the  '  Sleeping  Congregation,'  showing  a 
service  in  which  the  congregation  is  thoroughly 
interested. 

Plate  3  of  the  same  series  shows  the  exterior  of 
another  church  and  '  the  Idle  'Prentice  at  play  in 
the  churchyard,  during  Divine  Service.'  Respecting 
this  Mr.  Stephens  writes  :  *  The  churchyard  has  not 
been  identified,  but  it  must  have  been  in  or  near  the 
City  of  London,  as  appears  by  the  escutcheon  over 
the  door.  There  are  points  of  resemblance  between 
Hogarth's  picture  and  the  churches  of  St.  Michael, 
Crooked  Lane,  and  St.  Paul,  Shad  well.'  l 

Boswell  supplies  us  with  a  delightful  anecdote  of 
the  audacity  of  Topham  Beauclerk,  which  must  ever 
associate  Samuel  Johnson  with  the  Idle  Apprentice 
in  the  mind  of  all  readers. 

'  Johnson  was  some  time  with  Beauclerk  at  his 
house  at  Windsor.  . . .  One  Sunday,  when  the  weather 
was  very  fine,  Beauclerk  enticed  him,  insensibly,  to 
saunter  about  all  the  morning.  They  went  into  a 
churchyard  in  the  time  of  divine  service,  and 
Johnson  laid  himself  down  at  his  ease  upon  one  of 
the  tomb-stones.  Now,  sir,  (said  Beauclerk),  you 
are  like  Hogarth's  Idle  Apprentice.' 

The  Church  of  St.  Clement  Danes,  in  the  Strand, 
must  be  added  to  this  list.  It  is  not,  however,  on 
account  of  a  representation  of  the  church,  but  of  a 
scathing  satire  on  the  altar-piece  by  Kent  which 
once  stood  in  this  church.  Hogarth's  contempt  for 

1  British  Museum  Catalogue,  p.  682, 


CHURCH  AND  DISSENT  209 

Kent  as  a  painter  is  well  known,  and  he  seldom 
lost  an  opportunity  of  publishing  it. 

It  has  sometimes  been  supposed  that  Hogarth's 
engraving  caused  the  removal  of  the  original  picture ; 
but  this  is  a  mistake,  as  the  popular  feeling  against 
the  altar-piece  seems  to  have  been  caused  partly  by 
political  feelings  and  partly  from  the  strong  dislike 
to  the  admission  of  pictures  in  churches.  Hogarth 
took  the  opportunity  of  showing  the  absurdity  of 
the  drawing  itself,  and  he  declared  that  he  neither 
'  parodied '  nor  '  burlesqued,'  but  produced  a  fair  and 
honest  representation  of  a  contemptible  performance. 

The  explanation  of  the  plate  is  as  follows :  '  This 
Print  is  exactly  engraiv'd  after  ye  Celebrated  Altar- 
peice  in  St.  Clement's  Church,  which  has  been  taken 
down  by  order  of  ye  Lord  Bishop  of  London  (as  'tis 
thought)  to  prevent  disputs  and  laying  of  wagers 
among  ye  Parrishioners  about  ye  artists  meaning  hi 
it.  For  publick  satisfaction  here  is  a  particular 
explanation  of  it  humbly  offerd  to  be  writ  under 
ye  Original  that  it  may  be  put  up  again,  by  which 
means  ye  Parish' es  60  pounds,  which  they  wisely  gave 
for  it,  may  not  be  entirely  lost. 

1st.  'Tis  not  the  Pretender's  wife  and  children, 

as  our  weak  brethren  imagin. 
21y.  Nor  St.  Cecilia,  as  the  Connoisseurs  think, 

but  a  choir  of  angells  singing  hi  Consort.' 

[Below  are  letters  from  A  to  K  as  references  to  the 
points  of  the  picture.] 


210  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

A  violently-written  pamphlet  on  Kent's  picture, 
entitled  '  A  Letter  from  a  Parishioner  of  St.  Clement 
Danes,  to  the  Right  Reverend  Father  in  God 
Edmund  [Gibson], Lord  Bishop  of  London,  occasion'd 
by  his  Lordship's  causing  the  picture  over  the  altar 
to  be  taken  down.  With  some  observations  on  the 
use  and  abuse  of  Church  Paintings  in  general,  and 
of  that  picture  in  Particular,'  was  published  on 
September  10,  1725. 

The  author  writes :  '  And  of  all  the  abuses  your 
Lordship  has  redress' d,  none  more  timely,  none  more 
acceptable  to  all  true  Protestants  than  your  last 
injunction  to  remove  that  ridiculous,  superstitious 
piece  of  Popish  foppery  from  our  Communion  table : 
this  has  gain'd  you  the  applause  and  good-mill  of  all 
honest  men,  who  were  scandalized  to  see  that  holy 
Place  denied  with  so  vile  and  impertinent  a  representa- 
tion. To  what  end  or  purpose  was  it  put  there,  but 
to  affront  our  most  gracious  Sovereign  by  placing  at 
our  very  altar,  the  known  resemblance  of  a  Person, 
who  is  wife  of  his  utter  enemy  and  Pensioner  to  the 
Whore  of  Babylon  ?  When  I  say  the  known  re- 
semblance I  speak  not  only  according  to  my  own 
knowledge,  but  appeal  to  all  mankind  who  have  seen 
the  Princess  Sobieski  or  any  picture  or  resemblance 
of  her.'  The  author  further  refers  to  '  a  continual 
hurly  burly  of  loiterers  from  all  parts  of  the  Town  to 
see  our  popish  Earee  Show.1 

When  the  picture  was  removed  from  the  church  it 
was  placed  in  the  old  vestry-room  of  the  parish,  and 


CHURCH  AND  DISSENT  211 

was  occasionally  taken  to  the  Crown  and  Anchor 
Tavern  in  the  Strand  for  exhibition  at  the  music 
meetings  of  the  churchwardens  of  the  parish. 

Of  the  regular  dissenting  ministers  Hogarth  has 
taken  little  or  no  note.  Some  of  these  were  men 
of  repute,  but  as  a  rule  the  worship  in  the  Chapel 
was  as  dull  as  that  in  the  Church  and  a  'revival' 
was  required  equally  in  both. 

John  Henley,  of  St.  John's  College,  Cambridge, 
known  as  Orator  Henley  (1692-1756),  was  a  dissenter 
in  that  he  broke  off  his  connection  with  the  Church 
because  he  considered  that  he  was  not  appreciated, 
but  he  had  nothing  in  common  with  any  of  the 
Nonconformist  bodies. 

He  was  pompous,  but  with  a  ready  wit  and  an 
effective  elocution,  and  about  1726  he  rented  a 
large  room  over  the  market-house  in  Newport 
Market,  and  registered  it  as  a  place  for  religious 
worship.  He  then,  by  advertisements  in  the  papers, 
invited  all  persons  to  come  and  take  seats  for  two- 
pence apiece,  promising  them  diversion  under  the 
titles  of  Voluntaries,  Chimes  of  the  Times,  Rounde- 
lays, College  Bobs,  etc.  Great  numbers  of  people 
flocked  to  witness  his  buffooneries,  until  at  last  these 
were  put  an  end  to  by  a  Presentment  of  the  Grand 
Jury  of  Middlesex  in  January  1729. 

Henley  then  removed  to  Portsmouth  Street,  Clare 
Market,  where  he  was  more  careful  in  the  entertain- 
ment he  provided.  He  called  his  chapel  the  Oratory, 
and  every  Sunday  he  preached  a  sermon  in  the 


212  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

morning  and  delivered  an  oration  in  the  evening  on 
some  special  theological  theme,  and  lectured  on 
weekdays,  sometimes  Tuesdays,  Wednesdays  and 
Fridays,  on  other  subjects. 

The  crowd  of  persons  of  all  classes  who  flocked  to 
his  lectures  was  so  great  that  he  had  to  obtain  more 
commodious  quarters,  which  he  found  in  the  old 
Lincoln's  Inn  Fields  Theatre  in  Bear  Yard,  Vere 
Street. 

Pope  has  pictured  for  us  the  Orator  in  his  '  gilt  tub ': 

'  Embrown 'd  with  native  bronze,  lo  !  Henley  stands, 
Turning  his  voice,  and  balancing  his  hands, 
How  fluent  nonsense  trickles  from  his  tongue  ! 
How  sweet  the  periods,  neither  said,  nor  sung  ! 
Still  break  the  benches,  Henley !  with  thy  strain, 
While  Sherlock,  Hare,  and  Gibson  preach  in  vain.' 

Samuel  Ireland  gave  two  engravings  of  Orator 
Henley  in  the  first  volume  of  his  Graphic  Illustrations. 
One,  Henley  christening  a  child,  he  says  is  from  a 
sketch  in  oil  which  he  bought  from  Mrs.  Hogarth, 
and  supposes  to  have  been  painted  by  Hogarth 
about  the  year  1745.  At  Ireland's  sale,  May  6,  1797, 
it  was  sold  or  bought  in  for  three  guineas.  It 
afterwards  came  into  the  possession  of  Payne  Knight, 
and  with  the  whole  of  his  collection  was  bequeathed 
to  the  British  Museum.  Mr.  Stephens  says  of  the 
sketch,  '  It  is  in  perfect  condition,  painted  with 
Hogarth's  characteristic  skill  and  fine  sense  of 
female  beauty,  and  on  a  piece  of  canvas  which  was 
originally  of  a  slightly  greenish  brown.'  l 

1  British  Museum  Catalogue,  vol.  iii.  p.  630. 


HK.VLKY  r/inh/inin  <W,t  . 


ORATOR  HENLEY  CHRISTENING  A  CHILD. 


CHURCH  AND  DISSENT  213 

The  other  is  the  *  Oratory  Chappel,'  which  Ireland 
says  *  exhibits  a  true  portrait  of  that  place  of  which 
no  other  has  come  within  our  knowledge.'  There  is 
no  doubt  that  this  was  not  the  work  of  Hogarth, 
although  it  is  interesting  in  itself.  Stephens  says  of 
the  original  that  it  is  supposed  to  be  a  forgery  by 
Powell,  although  it  has  '  W.  Hogarth  fee* '  at  one 
corner  of  the  print. 

Stephens  thus  describes  the  print :  '  This  etching 
shows  Orator  Henley  preaching  in  a  chapel ;  his 
clerk  is  armed  with  a  club.  One  side  of  the  pulpit 
is  decorated  with  a  medallion  of  an  imp  resembling 
an  owl.  On  the  top  of  the  sounding  board  is  a 
dancing  dog,  in  Scotch  plaid,  holding  a  board 
inscribed  "  Politicks  and  Divinity."  The  floor  is 
covered  with  men  standing  or  sitting,  and  more  or 
less  attentively  listening  to  the  Orator ;  one  man 
reads  from  a  newspaper,  another  addresses  Henley, 
although  the  latter  is  in  the  heat  of  his  discourse. 
The  gallery  is  filled  with  men  who  are  shouting  and 
brandishing  clubs.  Over  them  is  written,  "It  is 
written  my  house  shall  be  called  ye  house  of  prayer, 
but  ye  have  made  it  a  den  of  thieves."  In  a  pew 
marked  "  Pens  for  ye  Doctors  Friends,  etc,"  is  a  very 
rough-looking  group,  described  thus  on  the  pew : 

"Butcher  Frenchman  Scot  and  Tory, 
Join  to  rob  Britain  of  its  glory." ' l 

Another  engraving  of  '  The  Oratory,'  showing 
*  Henley  in  full  canonicals  addressing  a  few  persons 

1  British  Museum  Catalogue,  vol.  iii.  p.  621. 


214  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

who  are  standing  below,'  by  George  Bickham,  has 
been  attributed  falsely  to  Hogarth.1 

Ireland  says  that  Henley  frequently  made  Pope 
the  object  of  his  satire,  which  caused  the  poet  to 
gibbet  him  in  the  Dunciad.  George  Alexander 
Stevens  of  the  Lecture  upon  Heads  was  a  perpetual 
nuisance  to  the  Orator,  who  prosecuted  him  for 
breeding  riots  in  the  chapel. 

Henley  was  continually  at  loggerheads  with  the 
ministry,  and  on  one  occasion  he  parodied  the  text 
of  Dr.  Croxall  with  some  effect. 

This  Doctor  preached  a  sermon  on  the  30th  June 
1730  before  the  House  of  Commons  from  the  text, 
*  Take  away  the  wicked  from  before  the  King,  and 
his  throne  shall  be  established  in  righteousness.' 
This  gave  so  much  offence  to  Sir  Robert  Walpole 
that  he  prevented  the  thanks  of  the  House  being 
presented  to  the  preacher.  Henley  was  so  pleased 
with  this  that  he  posted  the  following  lines  as  a 
subject  for  his  next  address  : 

1  Away  with  the  wicked  before  the  King, 
And  away  with  the  wicked  behind  him ; 

His  throne  it  will  bless 

With  righteousness, 
And  we  shall  know  where  to  find  him.' 

This  chapter  may  be  concluded  with  a  short  notice 
of  Hogarth's  two  prints,  '  Enthusiasm  Delineated ' 
(n.d.,  published  1795),  and  'Credulity,  Superstition, 
and  Fanaticism :  a  Medley  '  (March  15,  1762). 

1  British  Museum  Catalogue,  vol.  ii.  p.  746. 


CHURCH  AND  DISSENT  215 

'  Enthusiasm  Delineated '  appears  to  be  intended 
as  a  general  satire  upon  the  evils  of  superstition. 
Its  object  is  explained  in  an  advertisement  on  the 
plate :  *  The  intention  of  this  Print  is  to  give  a  lineal 
representation  of  the  strange  effects  of  literal  and 
low  conceptions  of  Sacred  Beings,  as  also  of  the 
Idolatrous  tendency  of  Pictures  in  Churches  and 
Prints  in  Religious  Books,  etc.'  The  plate  was 
dedicated  to  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  but  was 
never  published.  Only  two  impressions  are  in 
existence :  both  belonged  to  John  Ireland,  and  now 
one  is  in  the  British  Museum  and  the  other  in  the 
possession  of  Mr.  Fairfax  Murray. 

At  the  end  of  his  life  Hogarth  took  the  copper-plate 
which  had  been  discarded  and  altered  the  whole 
scheme  of  the  design  completely,  so  as  to  satirise  the 
Methodist  and  Evangelical  revival  and  the  popular 
follies  of  his  own  day.  Almost  every  figure  was 
altered,  some  more  and  some  less.  The  result  was 
the  print  entitled  '  Credulity,  Superstition,  and 
Fanaticism.'  The  most  unintelligible  alteration  is 
the  introduction  of  Mary  Tofts  in  the  later  plate  to 
replace  the  figure  of  Mother  Douglas  in  the  original 
one.  The  Tofts  imposture  took  place  in  1726  before 
the  date  of  the  original  plate,  and  was  almost  forgotten 
in  1762.  The  two  prints  are  reproduced  in  John 
Ireland's  Hogarth  Illustrated,  and  are  placed  opposite 
each  other  for  purposes  of  comparison. 


216  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 


CHAPTER    VII 

PROFESSIONAL   LIFE 

ONE  of  the  Professions — the  Clerical — is  dealt  with 
in  the  previous  chapter.  In  this  we  have  to  consider 
the  Law,  Medicine,  and  the  Army,  as  well  as  later 
additions  to  the  Professions — Art  and  Literature. 
Physic  is  fully  represented  in  Hogarth's  works,  so 
also  is  the  Law.  Soldiers  find  little  place  there,  and 
Art  and  Literature  can  hardly  claim  much  dis- 
tinction, as  exhibited  in  the  *  Enraged  Musician '  of 
the  first  or  the  '  Distressed  Poet '  of  the  second  class. 

Law. — The  engraving  of  '  The  Bench '  was  first 
published  on  the  4th  September  1758.  In  the  first 
state  above  the  heads  of  the  four  judges  is  seen  a 
wall  on  which  is  painted  the  Royal  arms  of  England 
with  the  motto  '  Semper  eadem,'  the  escutcheon  being 
partly  obliterated  by  the  shaft  of  a  column  at  the 
left  of  the  picture.  In  the  second  state  the 
escutcheon  has  been  obliterated  and  replaced  by  a 
row  of  heads,  eight  in  number,  as  examples  of 
caricature.  The  shaft  remains,  and  causes  a  curious 
effect  to  the  caricature  of  an  apostle  which  is  partly 
in  front  and  partly  behind  the  column. 

The  four  judges  are  supposed  to  be  sitting  on  the 


.  ///•</'  nrr  AarM,  in,,,  /„;•  f/,ii,,fi,  /«««•  r/,r,f//<,//,,  ,/,//rrr,,t  //„/„  Cllitnii-trr  „/,,/  Ciinu  iillll-.i  iirivr//,,/,-/.', 
//,,  „  ,irr  ii.ni,,//,/  ,,'ii/',;i,,,/r</,imi  /ni'.,/,i/t,ji/i,rrar/i  ,•///•/•./•«  /,•/,/</,  ,,ff,,,i/,f  ///.'/  i'^,/,in,i/i,,,i  i.,  n/Sr/,,/itr,/ 
.  ' t /,„.',  i;  r/;r I,  ,i//,'/,-i/  f/u// ./,•/„  ii  /r  lluirurtrr  /.'•. •//>•///////  iimr/: i/ ,n  t/ir  /ii'in,/^ /;,fr.  // 1,1,1 ,/  /'r  ri'ii.'ti/'-i;* ,i.,  ' 

//An.-//-/-.  .'    '''/'/•///////'///•/  //i/fi,i'/ /n/ft//rii/:'.  i/ft  t/if  /in i/ir  'V  Otracntura  .  ^.'-  I'Si'/i'//!/  fi'  //  //'///////  ^ir-i.-/,;/ ,>/  ri'i-/-y 


.  .  .  .. 

/•yyrrMSUl  ^miv/,/-/}:'/'r.i^t/iaf/iarfOatIf.  t  /»•//»•//.''  »//  f/inf  '••  *  /<•  ,<, ,,/r,., <!>,:</ /-V  S/H.i  n;v,l ..; 

*'ii/*n//ft<>tt.'/i/  u*'r/ Sr>  Mr/trr/i/f/ffr  /^Clirtrarter.    . . 

'  ' 


"THE  BENCH."     1758. 

From  the  third  state  of  the  original  engraving. 


PROFESSIONAL  LIFE  217 

Bench  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas.  The  chief 
figure,  a  portly  personage  who  is  seen  reading  through 
his  eyeglasses  from  notes  made  in  a  book  held  in  his 
left  hand.  This  was  intended  to  represent  Sir 
John  Willes  (born  1685),  Chief  Justice  of  the  Court 
of  Common  Pleas,  a  man  of  great  learning  and 
ability,  but  little  esteemed  on  account  of  the  gross- 
ness  of  his  manners  and  morals.  He  hoped  to  be 
Lord  Chancellor  in  succession  to  Lord  Hardwicke, 
but  he  had  to  content  himself  with  being  the  first 
of  three  Commissioners  for  the  Great  Seal  (1756-7). 
He  was  offered  the  Chancellorship  in  the  Duke  of 
Newcastle's  and  Pitt's  administration,  but  he 
stipulated  for  a  peerage  which  was  refused,  and  Sir 
Robert  Henley  was  appointed  Lord  Keeper  instead. 
Horace  Walpole  tells  an  anecdote  of  Willes,  which 
shows  the  kind  of  man  he  was.  A  grave  person  came 
to  reprove  the  judge  for  the  scandal  he  gave,  observ- 
ing that  the  world  talked  of  one  of  his  maidservants 
being  with  child.  Willes  said:  'What  is  that  to 
me  ? '  The  monitor  answered :  *  Oh !  but  they  say 
it  is  by  your  lordship.'  '  And  what  is  that  to  you  ? ' 
was  the  reply. 

The  next  figure  is  Henry  Bathurst  (son  of  Sir 
Allan  Apsley,  first  Earl  Bathurst),  born  1714, 
Justice  of  the  Common  Pleas  1754,  and  Lord 
Chancellor  in  1771.  He  succeeded  his  father  as 
Earl  Bathurst  in  1775,  and  died  in  1794.  He  was 
an  amiable  man,  but  not  so  companionable  as  his 
father.  It  is  reported  on  one  occasion  when  the 


218  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

son  retired  from  a  convivial  party  that  Lord 
Bathurst  said,  '  Now,  my  good  friends,  since  the  old 
gentleman  is  off,  I  think  we  may  venture  to  crush 
another  bottle.'  The  third  figure  is  the  Hon. 
William  Noel,  born  1695,  who  is  called  by  Horace 
Walpole  '  a  pompous  man  of  little  solidity.'  On 
the  trial  of  Lord  Lovat  in  1746,  he  was  one  of  the 
managers  for  the  House  of  Commons.  He  became 
a  Justice  of  the  Common  Pleas  in  March  1757,  and 
continued  in  that  Court  till  his  death  on  December 
8,  1762.  Both  Bathurst  and  Noel  are  pictured 
asleep. 

The  fourth  judge  who  is  shown  in  profile  to  the 
left  of  Willes  is  Sir  Edward  Clive,  born  1704.  He 
was  made  a  Baron  of  the  Exchequer  in  1745,  and 
remained  in  that  Court  nearly  eight  years.  He  was 
removed  to  the  Common  Pleas  in  January  1753. 
He  resigned  in  1770,  and  died  in  1771.  Sir 
Edward  Clive's  brother  George  was  the  husband  of 
Kitty  Clive,  the  famous  actress. 

The  row  of  caricature  heads  added  in  the  second 
state  of  the  plate,  already  referred  to,  strengthen 
the  portrayal  of  the  difference  between  '  Character, 
Caricature  and  Outre,'  which  Hogarth  had 
previously  indicated  in  1743,  when  he  published 
'  Characters  and  Caricaturas '  as  the  subscription 
ticket  for  the  '  Marriage  a  la  Mode.'  The  neglect 
of  this  distinction  by  others  was  a  constant  source 
of  annoyance  to  him,  as  he  hated  to  be  treated  as  a 
caricaturist.  He  himself  said  with  regard  to  this 


PROFESSIONAL  LIFE  219 

print  of  '  The  Bench  ' — 'I  have  ever  considered  the 
knowledge  of  character,  either  high  or  low,  to  be 
the  most  sublime  part  of  the  art  of  painting  or 
sculpture ;  and  caricature,  as  the  lowest ;  indeed  as 
much  so  as  the  wild  attempts  of  children,  when 
they  first  try  to  draw  :  yet  so  it  is,  that  the  two 
words,  from  being  similar  in  sound,  are  often  con- 
founded. When  I  was  at  the  house  of  a  foreign 
face-painter,  and  looking  over  a  legion  of  his 
portraits,  Monsieur,  with  a  low  bow,  told  me  that 
he  infinitely  admired  my  caricatures !  I  returned  his 
conge  and  informed  him  that  I  equally  admired  his.' 

The  original  picture  differed  from  the  print  some- 
what. It  was  the  property  at  one  time  of  Sir 
George  Hay,  and  afterwards  of  Mr.  Edwards.  It 
was  exhibited  by  Mr.  Fairfax  Murray  at  the  Winter 
Exhibition  of  the  Royal  Academy,  1908. 

The  representation  by  Hogarth  of  the  Lawyer 
in  Butler's  Hudibras  must  be  mentioned  here,  as 
his  character  is  so  differently  treated  in  Hogarth's 
two  sets  of  illustrations  : 

'  To  this  brave  man,  the  Knight  repairs 
For  counsel  in  his  Law  affairs, 
And  found  him  mounted  in  his  Pew, 
With  Books  and  Money  plac'd,  for  shew, 
Like  Nest-eggs  to  make  Clients  lay, 
And  for  his  false  opinion  pay  : 
To  whom  the  Knight,  with  comely  grace 
Put  off  his  hat,  to  put  his  case.' 

In  the  duodecimo  edition  of  Hudibras  (1726)  the 
Lawyer  is  represented  as  sitting  on  a  settle  and 


220  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

writing  at  a  desk  in  a  corner  of  a  room  in  front  of  a 
window,  and  with  three  shelves  of  books  above 
his  head.  In  the  large  series  of  engravings  published 
by  Hogarth  without  a  text,  the  Lawyer  is  seen  sitting 
in  state  on  a  sort  of  throne  in  a  handsome  apartment. 
In  front  of  the  Lawyer's  desk  sit  two  clerks  busily 
engaged  in  writing.  At  the  side  of  the  room  is  a 
large  bookcase  filled  with  important-looking  books. 
In  front  of  the  bookcase,  and  at  the  right-hand  side 
of  the  picture,  is  a  handsomely  carved  figure  of 
Justice  holding  her  scales. 

The  picture  of  '  Paul  before  Felix,'  which 
Hogarth  painted  for  the  decoration  of  the  old 
Lincoln's  Inn  Hall  in  1748,  is  still  to  be  seen  in 
the  new  buildings  of  Lincoln's  Inn  Hall.  Thomas, 
Lord  Wyndham,  Lord  Chancellor  of  Ireland, 
1726-39,  who  died  in  1745,  left  a  legacy  of  £200  for 
the  decoration  of  the  Hall,  and  Hogarth  obtained  the 
commission  through  the  instrumentality  of  Lord 
Mansfield.  Mr.  Dobson  gives  in  his  book  a  facsimile  of 
Hogarth's  letter  respecting  the  proposed  position  of 
the  picture  hi  the  hall,  with  his  sketch  of  the  de- 
sign of  the  frame.  This  letter  was  found  among 
the  archives  of  the  Society  of  Lincoln's  Inn.  The 
receipt  is  as  follows : 

'July  the  8th,  1748. 

'  Reced  of  Jn°  Wood  Esq.  Treasurer  of  the  Honble 
Society  of  Lincoln's  Inn  by  the  hands  of  Richd 
Farshall  Chief  Butler  to  the  Said  Society  the  sum  of 
two  hundred  pounds  being  the  Legacy  given  by  the 


PROFESSIONAL  LIFE  221 

late  Lord  Wyndham  to  the  Said  Society  laid  out 
in  a  picture  drawn  by  Mr.  Hogarth.  According  to 
order  of  Council  Dated  the  27th  day  of  June  last. 

WILLIAM  HOGARTH.' 
'  £200. 

This  picture  was  engraved  and  published  in  1752, 
and  in  the  previous  year  was  prepared  '  Paul  before 
Felix  Burlesqued.'  '  Design'd  and  scratch'd  in  the 
true  Dutch  taste,  by  Wm.  Hogarth,'  to  serve  as  a 
receipt  for  subscriptions  to  two  prints  to  be  published 
at  the  same  time,  viz.  '  Paul  before  Felix,'  and 
'  Moses  brought  before  Pharaoh's  Daughter.'  These 
receipts  were  not  originally  intended  for  sale,  but 
they  were  given  to  subscribers  and  to  Hogarth's 
friends,  who  begged  them.  The  beggars  became  so 
numerous  that  the  designer  after  a  time  resolved 
to  part  with  none  except  at  the  price  of  five  shillings 
each. 

What  could  have  induced  Hogarth  to  burlesque 
his  own  picture,  which  was  already  too  much  of  a 
caricature,  it  is  almost  impossible  to  understand. 
The  orator  Tertullus  who  was  retained  against 
St.  Paul  is  said  to  represent  Dr.  King,  Principal  of 
St.  Mary  Hall,  Oxford. 

Leigh  Hunt,  in  '  The  Town,'  described  the  serious 
'  Paul  before  Felix '  as  '  Hogarth's  celebrated 
failure.' 

Medicine. — Hogarth  painted  the  portraits  of 
several  well-known  physicians  and  surgeons,  or 


222  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

introduced  them  into  his  works.  The  portrait  of 
Thomas  Pellett,  M.D.,  President  of  the  Royal  College 
of  Physicians,  1735-39,  was  exhibited  at  Whitechapel 
(Georgian  England)  in  1906  by  Mr.  W.  C.  Alexander. 
The  painting  was  engraved  by  Charles  Hall  and 
published  June  1,  1781,  by  J.  Thane.  Pellett  and 
Martin  Folkes  (whose  portrait  was  also  painted  by 
Hogarth),  were  joint  editors  of  Sir  Isaac  Newton's 
Chronology  of  Ancient  Kingdoms  (1728).  The 
College  possesses  a  portrait  of  Pellett  by  Dahl. 

The  portrait  of  Sir  Caesar  Hawkins,  Bart.,  by 
Hogarth  belongs  to  the  Royal  College  of  Surgeons, 
and  was  exhibited  by  the  College  at  Whitechapel 
(Georgian  England)  in  1906. 

Cromwell  Mortimer,  M.D.,  was  a  man  of  consider- 
able importance  in  his  day,  a  friend  of  Sir  Hans 
Sloane,  and  Secretary  of  the  Royal  Society  from 
1730  until  his  death  in  1752.  He  was  very  un- 
popular with  members  of  his  own  profession.  In 
the  Gentleman's  Magazine,  1780,  p.  510,  he  is  styled 
'  an  impertinent  assuming  empiric.'  The  portrait  of 
Mortimer,  engraved  by  Rigou,  from  a  sketch  by 
Hogarth,  is  a  severe  satire,  and  probably  some  of  the 
artist's  professional  friends  suggested  the  need  of 
some  such  satire.  Mr.  F.  G.  Stephens  says  that  the 
date  and  immediate  occasion  of  this  print  is  not 
apparent,  but  he  supposes  that  the  circulation  of 
Mortimer's  letter,  1744,  caused  its  publication.  The 
letter  was  subsequently  published  in  the  Gentleman's 
Magazine,  November  1779,  and  is  described  as  'the 


•^^^fTum^oi^^^ 
///£••  Company  ^Undertakers 

jsrurrtJ!  ,fa£/f,  trn  friiial  finytei-.  jtfnvtn  jt  Quack-Head]  of  e/tr  Jffmtt/  <k  J2  Cane  Heads  (7r, 
•taut,    fln  a*('/i"-/'y~/f?'"/<r,  (jrmtne,  (?nr  (~omn/<e<lt  Dortor    {Jtsaant,  cAtfAte  Jtestatntny 

of-' fAr  *ftf<'tt</,  ff  .tn*o  Cane  Ilradi  g6wa*\f  of  tde.  fAjrf£;t/%e/?ryf  Aaitnp  0>ie.<5ue  cffnfAanf,ttr- 
Et  Hurima  Mortis  Juinj-o  . 


Conful- 
/^ 


A  CONSULTATION  OF  PHYSICIANS.     1736. 


PROFESSIONAL  LIFE  223 

plan  of  Dr.  Mortimer's  present  method  of  practice.' 
In  it  specifics  for  every  disease  are  recommended.1 

The  original  drawing  in  bistre  was  in  the  Standly 
Collection. 

Hogarth  seems  to  have  been  in  doubt  as  to  the 
exact  object  of  his  biting  satire  on  some  of  the 
healers  of  men  when  he  gave  his  gallery  of  medical 
heads  the  double  title  of  *  The  Company  of  Under- 
takers, or  a  Consultation  of  Physicians.'  The  title 
of  the  etching  was  originally  intended  to  be  '  Quacks 
hi  Consultation,'  and  it  was  so  advertised.  This 
was  first  published  on  March  3,  1736,  and  the  follow- 
ing burlesque  heraldic  description  is  engraved  below 
the  design  : 

'  The  Company  of  Undertakers 
Beareih  Sable,  an  Urinal  proper  between  12  Quack- 
Heads  of  the  Second  and  12  Cane  Heads  or  consultant. 
On  a  chief  Nebula,  Ermine,  one  compleat  Doctor 
issuant,  chekie,  sustaining  in  his  Eight  Hand  a  Baton 
of  the  Second.  On  his  Dexter  and  Sinister  sides  two 
Demi-Doctors,  issuant  of  the  second  and  two  Cane 
Heads  issuant  of  the  third  ;  The  first  having  one  eye 
couchant,  towards  the  Dexter  Side  of  the  Escocheon  ; 
the  second  faced  per  pale  proper  and  gules,  guardent. 
With  this  motto — Et  Plurima  Mortis  Imago.' 

The  three  half-length  figures  in  the  upper  portion 
of  the  shield  are  intended  to  represent  Mrs.  Mapp 
in  the  centre,  Chevalier  Taylor  on  her  right,  and  Dr. 
Joshua  Ward,  or  '  Spot '  Ward,  on  the  left. 

1  British  Museum  Catalogue,  vol.  iii.  p.  541. 


224  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

Sarah  Mapp,  the  bone-setter  or  shape  mistress, 
was  a  woman  of  masculine  habits  who  distinguished 
herself  by  some  extraordinary  cures.  Her  father,  a 
man  named  Wallin,  was  also  a  bone-setter  settled  at 
Hindon  in  Wiltshire,  but  his  daughter  quarrelled 
with  him  and  wandered  about  the  country  calling 
herself  Crazy  Sally.  She  married  Hill  Mapp,  a  servant 
of  Mr.  Ibbetson,  mercer,  Ludgate  Hill,  on  August  11, 
1736,  but  the  husband  ran  away  soon  after  the  mar- 
riage, taking  with  him  one  hundred  and  two  guineas. 

Mrs.  Mapp  set  up  a  carriage  and  four,  and  the 
newspapers  were  full  of  her  doings  in  this  year  1736. 
A  mare  was  named  after  her,  and  Mrs.  Mapp's  plate 
for  ten  guineas  was  run  for  at  Epsom ;  but  her  career 
was  a  short  one,  for  she  died  in  Seven  Dials  in 
December  1737  in  great  poverty. 

John  Taylor  (1703-1772)  appears  to  have  been  an 
oculist  of  distinction  who  exhibited  great  skill  as  an 
operator,  but  he  chose  to  advertise  himself  and  act 
generally  as  a  charlatan.  Dr.  Johnson  said  of  him 
that  he  was  '  an  instance  of  how  far  impudence 
would  carry  ignorance.'  He  studied  surgery  under 
the  great  William  Cheselden  at  St.  Thomas's  Hospital, 
and  practised  for  some  time  at  Norwich.  He  then 
travelled  through  the  country  and  abroad,  and  was 
known  as  Chevalier  Taylor.  He  early  obtained  a 
recognised  position  by  his  appointment  as  oculist 
to  George  n.  in  1736.  He  published  a  vain-glorious 
account  of  himself  and  his  adventures  in  1761,  and 
died  in  a  convent  at  Prague  in  1772. 


PROFESSIONAL  LIFE  225 

John  Ireland  says  that  he  saw  Taylor  once  at 
Shrewsbury,  and  he  recognised  the  likeness  in 
Hogarth's  drawing.  He  also  tells  some  good  anec- 
dotes of  him  which  show  his  ready  wit.  On  one 
occasion  when  he  was  enumerating  the  honours  he 
had  received  from  the  different  princes  of  Europe, 
and  the  orders  with  which  he  had  been  dignified  by 
innumerable  sovereigns,  it  was  remarked  that  he 
had  not  named  the  King  of  Prussia.  '  I  suppose, 
sir,  he  never  gave  you  an  order  ?  '  '  You  are 
mistaken,  sir,'  replied  the  Chevalier ;  '  he  gave  me 
a  very  peremptory  order  to  quit  his  dominions.1 

On  his  return  from  a  tour  on  the  Continent  he  met 
a  working  man  who,  addressing  him  with  great 
familiarity,  was  repulsed  with  a  frown,  and  '  Sir, 
I  really  don't  remember  you.'  '  Not  remember  me  ! 
Why,  my  goodness,  doctor,  we  once  lodged  in  Round 
Court '  [out  of  Bow  Street,  Covent  Garden].  '  Round 
Court,  Round  Court !  Sir,  I  have  been  in  every 
court  in  Europe,  but  of  such  a  court  as  Round  Court 
I  have  no  recollection.' l 

Joshua  Ward  (1685-1761)  was  a  quack  doctor,  but 
it  is  said  that  he  was  a  quack  of  genius.  In  1717  he 
was  returned  Member  of  Parliament  for  Marlborough, 
but  by  a  vote  of  the  House  of  Commons  he  was 
declared  not  duly  elected.  It  is  supposed  that  he 
was  mixed  up  with  his  brother  John  Ward  in  the 
troubles  connected  with  the  South  Sea  Bubble,  as  he 
left  England  rather  abruptly.  During  his  exile  he 

1  Hogarth  Illustrated,  vol.  ii.  p.  285  (note). 
P 


226  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

acquired  his  knowledge  of  medicine  and  chemistry, 
and  then  he  became  a  Roman  Catholic. 

About  the  year  1733  he  began  to  practise  medicine. 
Ward's  famous  drop  was  first  made  known  in 
England,  1731-2,  by  Sir  Thomas  Robinson  ('long  Sir 
Thomas '),  whose  zeal  was  ridiculed  in  verse  by  Sir 
Charles  Hanbury  Williams: 

'  Say,  knight,  for  learning  most  renown'd, 

What  is  this  wondrous  drop  ] 
Which  friend  ne'er  knew  nor  can  be  found, 
In  Grah'ms  or  Guerney's  shop.'1 

Horace  Walpole  affirms  that  '  the  Duke  of  New- 
castle dragged  poor  Sir  Thomas  into  light  and  ridi- 
cule.' Ward  when  called  in  to  attend  on  George 
n.  for  an  aifection  of  his  hand,  was  successful  in 
curing  the  disease.  '  In  lieu  of  a  pecuniary  com- 
pensation [he]  was,  at  his  own  request,  permitted  to 
ride  in  his  gaudy  and  heavy  equipage  through  St. 
James's  Park,  an  honour  seldom  granted  to  any  but 
persons  of  rank ;  besides  this,  the  King  gave  a  com- 
mission to  his  nephew,  the  late  General  Gansel.' 

In  1748  when  the  Apothecaries'  Act  was  passed 
to  restrain  unqualified  persons  from  compounding 
medicines,  a  special  clause  was  inserted  exempting 
Ward  by  name. 

Fielding  paid  a  high  tribute  to  Ward's  kindness 
and  sagacity  in  his  Introduction  to  the  Journal  of  a 
Voyage  to  Lisbon  (1755).  He  wrote :  *  Obligations  to 
Mr.  Ward  I  shall  always  confess  ;  for  I  am  con- 

1  Works,  1822,  vol.  ii.  p.  1. 


PROFESSIONAL  LIFE  227 

vinced  that  he  omitted  no  care  in  endeavouring  to 
serve  me,  without  any  expectation  or  desire  of  fee 
or  reward.  The  powers  of  Mr.  Ward's  remedies 
want,  indeed,  no  unfair  puffs  of  mine  to  give  them 
credit ;  and  tho'  this  distemper  of  the  dropsy  stands, 
I  believe,  first  in  the  list  of  those  over  which  he  is 
always  certain  of  triumphing,  yet  possibly,  there 
might  be  something  particular  in  my  case,  capable  of 
eluding  that  radical  force  which  had  healed  so  many 
thousands.' 

Ward  was  generous  to  poor  patients,  and  was  very 
popular  in  consequence.  He  prided  himself  on  the 
sad  loss  his  death  would  be  to  the  poor.  Pope  made 
an  ill-natured  reference  to  this :  '  Ward  try'd  on 
Puppies,  and  the  Poor,  his  Drop.'  Ward  '  left  the 
receipts  for  compounding  his  medicines  to  Mr.  Page, 
member  for  Chichester,  who  bestowed  them  on  two 
charitable  institutions  which  have  derived  consider- 
able advantage  from  the  profits  attending  their 
sale.'  *  Ward  made  a  fortune  by  his  sulphuric  acid 
patent,  1749,  and  it  is  to  his  improvement  in  the 
production  of  this  important  substance  that  he  owes 
the  posthumous  honour  of  having  his  truculent-look- 
ing statue  by  Carlini  preserved  in  the  hall  of  the 
Royal  Society  of  Arts. 

Of  the  dozen  heads  below  the  great  trio  there  is 
little  to  be  said.  John  Ireland  affirms  that  many  of 
them  are  unquestionably  portraits,  but  there  is  no 
advantage  in  trying  to  discover  what  must  at  least 

1  J.  Ireland,  Hogarth  Illustrated,  vol.  ii.  p.  288  (note). 


228  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

be  extremely  doubtful.  Mr.  Stephens' s  remarks 
upon  these  are  very  much  to  the  point :  '  Of  the 
other  doctors  represented  below  the  nebulous 
dividing  line,  each  wears  a  big  wig  and  carries  a 
cane  with  a  large  head.  All  but  two  of  them  hold 
their  canes  at  or  near  their  nostrils  ;  some  affect 
an  air  and  expression  of  prof  oundity  of  thought ; 
some  smell  at  the  heads  of  then*  canes,  thus  illus- 
trating the  original  purpose  of  the  gold  heads,  to 
hold  a  pomander  or  disinfectant.  The  urinal 
referred  to  hi  the  engraved  description  is  in  the  hands 
of  the  quack  in  the  centre  of  the  composition.  He 
is  a  fat  fellow  and  holds  the  vessel,  which  is  filled 
with  liquor,  in  the  palm  of  his  left  hand  ...  he 
has  tucked  his  cane  under  his  arm.  Below  this 
man,  or  in  front  of  him,  two  other  quacks  are  pre- 
tending to  study  the  liquor  through  their  eye- 
glasses. These  heads  are  said  to  comprise  portraits 
of  Dr.  Bamber  and  Dr.  Pierce  Dod.  This  is  ex- 
tremely improbable,  as  these  were  not  considered  to 
be  quacks,  and  were  eminent  in  their  profession.' 1 

The  notorious  quack  John  Misaubin,  M.D.  (who 
died  in  1734),  has  already  been  described  in 
Chapter  m.  (High  Life)  in  connection  with  the 
third  plate  of  the  '  Marriage  a  la  Mode.'  It  has  also 
been  suggested  that  the  two  Doctors  quarrelling  in 
the  fifth  plate  of  the  '  Harlot's  Progress '  represent 
Misaubin  and  Joshua  Ward.  Another  quack  in 
high  places  was  Nathaniel  St.  Andre,  who  made  a 

1  British  Museum  Catalogue,  vol.  iii.  p.  209. 


PROFESSIONAL  LIFE  229 

criminal  blunder  by  supporting  the  gross  imposture 
of  Mary  Tofts,  the  rabbit-breeder.  In  connection 
with  this  '  Cunicularii,  or  the  Wise  Men  of  Godliman 
in  Consultation,'  attributed  to  Hogarth,  has  already 
been  mentioned.  The  reference-table  below  the 
design  of  this  print  describes  the  figure  lettered 
A  as  c  The  Dancing  Master,  or  Praeturnatural 
Anatomist.'  This  is  St.  Andre,  who  is  shown  with 
a  fiddle  under  his  arm  in  allusion  to  his  having 
originally  been  a  dancing-master.  He  was  a 
native  of  Switzerland,  who  is  supposed  to  have 
joined  with  this  business  that  of  teaching  the  French 
and  German  languages,  in  the  knowledge  of  which 
he  was  a  proficient.  He  afterwards  studied  under  a 
surgeon  of  eminence,  and  was  so  fortunate  as  to  be 
appointed  in  1723  anatomist  to  the  Royal  house- 
hold. He  was  also  surgeon  to  Westminster  Hospital 
(then  a  dispensary),  and  delivered  public  lectures 
on  anatomy,  although  apparently  he  was  an  un- 
qualified practitioner.  He  was  living  at  this  time 
in  Northumberland  Court,  Strand. 

Queen  Caroline  was  determined  that  a  thorough 
investigation  should  be  made  of  the  story  that  Mrs. 
Mary  Tofts,  an  illiterate  woman  of  Godalming,  had 
produced  rabbits  instead  of  children.  St.  Andre 
went  to  Godalming  and  was  deceived  by  what  he 
saw.  Sir  Richard  Manningham,  Dr.  Douglas,  Dr. 
Mowbray  and  Mr.  Howard,  surgeon  of  Guildford, 
expressed  themselves  satisfied  of  the  truth  of  the 
miracle.  Tofts' s  imposture  was  so  outrageous,  that 


230  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

it  could  not  have  been  carried  out  unless  she  had 
received  considerable  assistance.  The  nurse  and 
Howard  must,  one  would  think,  have  been  in 
collusion.  The  others  may  have  only  been  foolish. 
The  cheat  was  at  length  discovered  by  Sir  Thomas 
Clarges,  and  the  deluded  medical  men  were  over- 
whelmed with  disgrace.  St.  Andre  was  particularly 
unfortunate,  as  he  had  been  held  in  considerable 
favour  by  George  I.,  but  after  this  exposure,  although 
he  retained  his  office,  he  neither  received  a  salary 
nor  returned  to  Court  again. 

George  Steevens  wrote  a  very  severe  account  of 
St.  Andre  hi  Nichols's  Biographical  Anecdotes,  which 
was  answered,  but  not  very  successfully.  The 
answer  with  a  reply  by  Steevens  was  added  to  the 
Anecdotes,  and  the  remarks  on  St.  Andre  occupy  a 
rather  disproportionate  part  of  the  book.  John 
Nichols  seems  to  have  considered  that  his  colleague 
was  rather  too  severe,  but  there  can  be  no  doubt 
St.  Andre  was  a  worthless  character  even  if  he  did 
not  murder  his  friend  in  order  to  marry  the  widow, 
a  crime  of  which  he  was  accused. 

St.  Andre  married  Lady  Elizabeth  Molyneux 
after  the  death  of  her  husband,  Samuel  Molyneux, 
secretary  to  George  Prince  of  Wales  (afterwards 
George  n.).  She  is  said  to  have  left  the  house  with 
St.  Andre  on  the  night  her  husband  died.  In  con- 
sequence she  was  dismissed  from  attendance  upon 
Queen  Caroline.  St.  Andre  was  well  off  during  her 
lifetime,  but  he  died  poor  in  1776  at  the  age  of  ninety- 


PROFESSIONAL  LIFE  231 

six.  A  portrait  of  Mary  Tofts  was  painted  by 
Laguerre  and  engraved  by  Faber.  '  She  has  a  rabbit 
in  her  lap,  and  displays  a  countenance  expressive 
of  the  utmost  vulgarity.'  This  woman  died  in 
January  1763  at  Godalming. 

Reference  has  already  been  made  in  the  pre- 
vious chapter  to  Hogarth's  late  introduction  of 
Mary  Tofts  into  his  '  Credulity,  Superstition  and 
Fanaticism  '  (1762). 

This  monstrous  imposture  created  some  stir 
abroad,  and  a  print  was  published  entitled  'Mr.  Petit, 
a  French  Surgeon  sent  from  Paris  to  Dr.  Meagre  to 
take  an  exact  account  from  him  of  ye  Preternatural 
Delivery  of  Rabbits,'  etc.  Dr.  Meagre  is  meant  to 
represent  St.  Andre.1 

There  is  little  about  the  Army  in  Hogarth's  works 
except  in  the  case  of  the  contrast  of  the  English 
and  French  soldiers,  and  the  rabble  disorder  of  the 

*  March  to  Finchley '  which,  although  it  is  one  of  his 
finest  pictures,  was  rather  unfortunate  in  that  it 
excited  the  displeasure  of  the  King. 

Literature. — The  one  picture  in  illustration  of 
Literature  by  Hogarth  is  the  spirited  and  charming 

*  Distressed  Poet,'  which  can  scarcely  be  called  a 
satire,  as  one's  sympathy  is  entirely  with  the  unfor- 
tunate poet  and  his  pleasant  and  industrious  wife. 

This  picture  is  the  more  interesting  if  it  be  true 
that  it  was  intended  to  allude  to  the  troubles  of 

1  British  Museum  Catalogue,  vol.  ii.  p.  640. 


232  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

Lewis  Theobald,  the  highly  respected  commentator 
on  Shakespeare,  for  one  of  whose  plays,  Perseus 
and  Andromeda,  1730,  Hogarth  designed  two  illus- 
trations. But  this  point  will  be  again  referred  to 
later  on.  The  picture  is  a  vivid  representation  of  a 
garret  in  a  Grub  Street  house,  which  we  are  told  in 
Johnson's  Dictionary  was  '  much  inhabited  by 
writers  of  small  histories,  dictionaries  and  small 
poems.'  Pope  made  his  Dunciad  the  standard 
epic  of  this  place.  However  much  we  may  admire 
Pope  as  a  poet,  we  cannot  but  feel  disgust  at  his 
rancorous  attack  upon  his  poorer  brethren.  It  is 
therefore  a  satisfaction  to  find  Hogarth  continually 
satirising  the  poet,  who  was  too  afraid  of  the  artist 
to  reply  to  him.  *  The  Distrest  Poet '  was  '  Invented 
Painted  Engraved  and  Publish'd  by  Wm  Hogarth 
March  the  3d,  1736.  According  to  Act  of  Parlia- 
ment, Price  3  Shillings,'  and  was  afterwards  re- 
issued with  some  alterations  on  '  December  the  15. 
1740.' 

The  poet  sits  at  a  table  by  the  window  engaged  in 
writing  '  Poverty,  a  Poem,'  but  disturbed  by  the 
wrangling  milkwoman.  In  front  of  him  is  a  book 
inscribed  '  Bysshe  '  (intended  for  Bysshe's  Art  of 
Poetry,  a  once  famous  rhymers'  manual).  On  the 
floor  is  the  Grub  Street  Journal  and  the  poet's  sword. 
Above  his  head  is  an  engraving  of  Pope  thrashing 
Curll  and  crying  out  '  Veni,  vidi,  vici,  1735.'  On  a 
shelf  below  this  are  four  books  and  three  tobacco 
pipes.  In  the  middle  of  the  room  sits  the  poet's 


PROFESSIONAL  LIFE  233 

comely  wife  mending  a  pair  of  her  husband's 
breeches,  and  at  her  feet  the  poet's  coat  on  which  a 
cat,  with  her  kittens,  has  made  herself  comfortable. 

Hartley  Coleridge  comments  on  the  central  figure 
and  writes,  '  The  poet's  wife  is  perhaps  the  most 
lovable  figure  that  ever  Hogarth  drew  ;  while  the 
milkwoman  has  as  little  milkiness  about  her  as  if 
she  had  been  suckled  on  blue  ruin  [i.e.  gin]  and 
brimstone.'  l  Mr.  Dobson  asks  if  Goldsmith  was 
thinking  of  this  engraving  when  in  1758  he  described 
himself  to  his  friend  Robert  Bryanton  as  '  in  a  garret 
writing  for  bread  and  expecting  to  be  dunned  for  a 
milk-score '  ? 

Mr.  Stephens  explains  the  curious  object  over  the 
mantelpiece  as  *  a  circular  mirror  surrounded  by 
eight  smaller  ones,'  which  seems  to  be  a  complete 
explanation.2  John  Ireland  describes  it  as  *  a  dare 
for  larks  !  ' 

Below  the  design  an  extract  from  the  Dunciad 
(1729)  is  engraved : 

1  Studious  he  sate,  with  all  his  books  around, 
Sinking,  from  thought  to  thought,  a  vast  profound  ! 
Plung'd  for  his  sense,  but  found  no  bottom  there ; 
Then  writ  and  flounder'd  on,  in  mere  despair.' 

In  the  second  state  of  the  print  (1740)  the  title  of 
the  poem  is  changed  from  Poverty  to  Riches,  the 
engraving  of  Pope  thrashing  Curll  replaced  by  a 
view  of  the  gold  mines  of  Peru,  and  the  library  on  the 
shelf  is  reduced  to  two  volumes.  Pope's  lines  are  also 

1  Essays  and  Marginalia,  1851,  vol.  ii.  p.  217. 

2  British  Museum  Catalogue,  vol.  Hi.  p.  213. 


234  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

omitted.  The  original  picture  was  given  by  Hogarth 
to  Mrs.  Draper,  a  midwife,  at  whose  death  it  was  sold 
to  Mr.  Ward  for  five  guineas.  Lord  Grosvenor  gave 
fourteen  guineas  for  it  at  Ward's  sale,  and  it  is  now  in 
the  possession  of  the  Duke  of  Westminster. 

It  was  George  Steevens  who,  being  unable  to  find 
a  portrait  of  Theobald  to  add  to  those  of  the  chief 
Shakespearian  commentators,  copied  the  '  Distrest 
Poet '  for  one  of  these.  Although  Steevens  is  a  very 
doubtful  authority,  there  is  plausibility  in  this,  and 
two  reasons  given  for  associating  Theobald  with 
Hogarth's  picture  have  much  force. 

The  quotation  from  the  Dunciad  just  referred  to  is 
not  from  the  final  form  of  the  poem,  but  is  taken  from 
the  edition  of  1729,  where  Theobald  stands  for  the 
hero  before  he  was  pushed  aside  that  Colley  Gibber 
might  take  his  place.  The  passage  commences  : 

'  In  each,  she  marks  her  image  full  exprest, 
But  chief  in  Tibbald's  monster-breeding  breast.' 

Afterwards  '  Bayes's  '  replaced  '  Tibbald's  '  in  the 
second  line. 

Hogarth  left  out  the  most  offensive  of  Pope's 
allusions,  and  only  printed  what  suited  his  purpose 
in  illustration  of  his  design. 

Another  point  is  that  the  earliest  of  Theobald's 
productions  was  '  The  Cave  of  Poverty,  a  Poem,' 
which  bears  a  striking  likeness  to  the  title  of  what 
the  *  Distrest  Poet '  is  writing.  The  alterations 
made  in  the  second  state  are  significant  if  we  sup- 
pose that  Hogarth  was  wishf  ul  to  obliterate  any  hint 


PROFESSIONAL  LIFE  235 

of  an  allusion  to  a  praiseworthy  author  who  was  no 
dunce,  but  an  editor  of  far  superior  merit  to  Pope, 
and  thus  evoked  the  venomous  poet's  ire.1 

Hogarth's  severe  satire  on  Pope  has  already  been 
alluded  to,  and  it  was  not  likely  ever  to  have  been 
forgiven  by  the  poet,  but  the  latter  had  a  wholesome 
fear  of  the  painter,  and  did  not  venture  to  retaliate. 
But  the  chief  literary  portrait  by  Hogarth  is  that  of 
Fielding,  who  was  one  of  the  artist's  most  ardent 
admirers.  It  is  strange  that  we  should  have  no 
first-rate  portrait  of  so  distinguished  a  man  as  the 
author  of  Tom  Jones  and  the  foremost  magistrate  of 
his  time.  It  is  satisfactory  that  what  we  have  is 
due  to  his  friend  Hogarth.  There  is  a  curious 
history  respecting  this  portrait  which  was  engraved 
by  James  Basire  from  Hogarth's  pen-and-ink  sketch 
prepared  as  a  frontispiece  to  the  edition  of  Fielding's 
works  published  by  Andrew  Millar  in  1762.  Arthur 
Murphy  gave  an  explanation  of  the  origin  of  the 
portrait  in  the  Life  prefixed  to  the  first  volume.  He 
wrote  :  '  After  Mr.  Hogarth  had  long  laboured  to  try 
if  he  could  bring  out  any  likeness  of  him  from  images 
existing  in  his  own  fancy,  and  just  as  he  was  despair- 
ing of  success,  for  want  of  some  rules  to  go  by  in  the 
dimensions  and  outlines  of  the  face,  fortune  threw 
the  grand  desideratum  in  the  way.  A  lady  with  a 
pair  of  scissors  had  cut  a  profile,  which  gave  the 

1  A  reprint  of  the  original  Dunciad  (1729)  which  relates  to  Theobald 
will  be  found  in  Nichols's  Literary  Illustrations  (vol.  ii.  pp.  716-728),  In 
the  same  volume,  pp.  745-747,  are  remarks  by  W.  Richardson  on  the  con- 
nection of  Theobald  with  the  'Distrest  Poet.' 


236  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

distances  and  proportions  of  his  face  sufficiently  to 
restore  his  lost  ideas  of  him.  Glad  of  an  opportunity 
of  paying  his  last  tribute  to  the  memory  of  an  author 
whom  he  admired,  Mr.  Hogarth  caught  at  this  out- 
line with  pleasure,  and  worked,  with  all  the  attach- 
ment of  friendship,  till  he  finished  that  excellent 
drawing  which  stands  at  the  head  of  this  work,  and 
recalls  to  all,  who  have  seen  the  original,  a  corre- 
sponding image  of  the  man.'  This  is  a  high  tribute 
to  the  likeness.  Mr.  Dobson  says  that  the  lady 
mentioned  by  Murphy  was  Miss  Margaret  Collier, 
daughter  of  Arthur  Collier  the  metaphysician,  who 
accompanied  Fielding  and  his  wife  to  Lisbon  in  1754. 

Mr.  Knight  hi  his  Life  of  Garrick  writes  that  the 
story  of  Garrick  making  up  his  face  as  Fielding  for 
Hogarth  to  paint  was  narrated  in  Paris,  and  caused 
some  incredulity.  Garrick  in  order  to  convince  the 
most  sceptical  once  more  personated  Fielding,  and 
his  personation  won  instant  recognition.  This  story 
forms  the  basis  of  a  comedy  entitled  Le  Portrait  de 
Fielding  (1800),  by  M.  de  Segur. 

Neither  George  Steevens  nor  John  Ireland  would 
allow  the  truth  of  either  of  these  stories.  Steevens 
says  in  Nichols's  Biographical  Anecdotes :  '  Our 
Roscius,  however,  I  can  assert,  interfered  no  farther 
in  this  business  than  by  urging  Hogarth  to  attempt 
the  likeness,  as  a  necessary  adjunct  to  the  edition 
of  Fielding's  works.  I  am  assured  that  our  artist 
began  and  finished  the  head  in  the  presence  of  his 
wife  and  another  lady.  He  had  no  assistance  but 


PROFESSIONAL  LIFE  237 

from  his  own  memory,  which  on  such  occasions  was 
remarkably  tenacious.' 

John  Ireland  (Hogarth  Illustrated,  vol.  iii.  p.  291) 
says  much  the  same.  '  These  are  trifling  tales  to 
please  children,  and  echoed  from  one  to  another, 
because  the  multitude  love  the  marvellous.  .  .  . 
Hogarth  .  .  .  sketched  this  from  memory.' 

These  denials  seem  to  be  too  sweeping.  It  is 
quite  possible  that  the  artist  was  helped  by  a 
silhouette — in  fact  a  portrait  entirely  from  memory 
is  scarcely  likely  to  be  a  profile,  and  the  accentuation 
of  the  appearance  of  the  nose  reminds  one  of  a 
silhouette.  Moreover,  it  is  scarcely  likely  that 
Murphy  invented  the  story  which  he  so  particularly 
relates. 

John  Ireland  says  that  the  '  etching  is  so  nearly 
a  facsimile  of  the  original,  that  when  it  was  brought 
home  Hogarth  mistook  it  for  his  own  drawing, 
which,  considering  of  no  value,  he  threw  in  the  fire, 
whence  it  was  snatched  by  Mrs.  Lewis,  though  not 
before  the  paper  was  scorched.' 

There  is  an  engraving  '  from  a  miniature  in  the 
possession  of  Miss  Sophia  Fielding '  in  Nichols's 
Literary  Anecdotes  (vol.  iii.  p.  356),  but  this  is  evi- 
dently taken  from  Hogarth's  portrait. 

Another  great  novelist,  Laurence  Sterne,  was 
friendly  with  Hogarth,  and  praised  the  Analysis  of 
Beauty  in  the  second  volume  of  Tristram  Shandy. 
'  Such  were  the  outlines  of  Dr.  Slop's  figure,  which — 
if  you  have  read  Hogarth's  Analysis  of  Beauty,  and 


238  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

if  you  have  not,  I  wish  you  would — you  must  know 
may  as  certainly  be  caricatured,  and  conveyed  to 
the  mind,  by  three  strokes  as  three  hundred.' 

This  compliment  doubtless  induced  Hogarth  to 
design  the  frontispiece  to  the  novel,  containing  a 
portrait  of  Dr.  Burton  of  York,  the  Jacobite 
physician  and  antiquary  in  the  character  of  Dr. 
Slop,  which  appears  in  the  second  volume  of  Tristram 
Shandy.  He  designed  another  frontispiece  for  the 
fourth  volume. 

Mr.  Dobson  refers  to  a  letter  sold  at  Sotheby's  hi 
November  1891.  'It  was  addressed  by  Sterne  to 
Mr.  Berenger  of  Suffolk  Street,  and  begged  him  to  go 
to  Leicester  Fields,  and  persuade  Hogarth  ("  How- 
garth,"  he  calls  him)  to  make  a  drawing,  to  clap  at 
the  front  of  my  next  edition  of  Shandy.'  .  .  .  '  The 
loosest  sketch  in  Nature  of  Trim's  reading  the 
sermon  to  my  Father  wd  do  the  business — and  it 
w^  mutually  illustrate  his  [Hogarth's]  System  and 
mine  ! ' * 

Hogarth  painted  or  sketched  portraits  of  his 
literary  friends  as  T.  Morell  (engraved  1762),  the 
Hoadlys,  etc.,  which  have  already  been  alluded  to. 
The  portrait  of  William  Huggins,  a  translator  of 
Ariosto  and  Dante,  was  engraved  by  Major  in  1760 
for  the  Dante,  but  was  not  published,  as  Huggins 
died  in  July  1761.  There  is  a  pencil  drawing  of  the 
translator  with  a  bust  of  Ariosto  in  the  Royal 
Collection.  William  Huggins  of  Headly  Park, 

1  Dobson's  William  Hogarth,  1907,  p.  258. 


PROFESSIONAL  LIFE  239 

Hants,  was  the  son  of  John  Huggins,  warden  of  the 
Fleet  and  a  great  friend  of  Hogarth,  who  employed 
him  to  draft  the  bill  to  vest  in  designers  and  en- 
gravers an  exclusive  right  to  their  own  works 
(Act  8,  Geo.  n.  cap.  13),  and  Hogarth  also 
designed  the  frontispiece  to  Huggins' s  oratorio  of 
Judith  (1733).  In  the  official  catalogue  of  the 
Art  Treasures  and  Industrial  Exhibition  at  Brad- 
ford, 1870,  No.  109  is  described  as  a  portrait  of  Dr. 
Johnson  painted  by  Hogarth  and  contributed  by 
the  late  Marquess  of  Ripon  (then  Earl  de  Grey 
and  Ripon).  There  is  no  other  record  of  a  portrait 
of  Johnson  by  Hogarth,  and  it  would  be  interesting 
to  know  more  of  this  picture. 

Art. — Pictorial  art  was  a  subject  so  near  to 
Hogarth's  heart  that  it  naturally  pervades  the  whole 
scheme  of  this  book,  and  need  not  be  mentioned  in  a 
division  of  it.  He  was  chiefly  interested  in  girding 
at  connoisseurs  for  the  neglect  of  British  Art,  and 
did  not  as  a  rule  introduce  his  colleagues  and  rivals 
into  his  works.  He  painted  Bonamy  showing  a 
picture,  and  portraits  of  James  Gibbs  the  architect 
and  Michael  Rysbrach,  sculptor. 

One  of  the  cleverest  of  his  satires  on  the  con- 
noisseurs will  be  seen  in  the  tailpiece  which  he 
produced  for  the  Catalogue  of  the  Exhibition  of 
Pictures  which  was  held  in  1761.  In  the  frontispiece 
to  this  same  Catalogue  he  was  not  so  succesful,  as 
his  humour  is  lost  in  the  elaboration  of  the  allegory. 


240  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

Mention  may  be  here  made  of  three  pictures  which 
have  nothing  to  do  with  London  Topography,  but 
need  some  notice  as  good  examples  of  the  variety 
and  wide  range  of  Hogarth's  pictorial  power.  The 
first  of  these  is  the  beautiful  group  of  heads  repre- 
senting his  six  servants,  which  was  added  to  the 
National  Gallery  quite  recently.  We  have  little 
information  respecting  this  triumph  of  portraiture, 
and  we  are  therefore  unable  to  give  the  names  of 
the  individuals  forming  the  group. 

The  marvellous  oil  sketch  of  the  '  Shrimp-girl ' 
was  added  as  lately  as  1884,  and  is  a  great  addi- 
tion to  the  National  Gallery.  The  critic  Richard 
Muther  uses  strong  words  of  praise  when  he  calls  it 
'  a  masterpiece  to  which  the  nineteenth  century 
can  hardly  produce  a  rival.'  This  picture  was 
engraved  in  1781  by  Bartolozzi. 

The  head  of  Diana  here  reproduced  is  of  special 
interest  as  an  illustration  of  Hogarth's  sense  of 
female  beauty.  We  have  no  further  information 
respecting  the  original  than  that  it  belonged  to 
Samuel  Ireland  in  1794.  The  engraving  was 
published  by  him  in  his  Graphic  Illustrations  (i.  170), 
with  the  following  interesting  anecdote  respecting 
it :  '  Mr.  Garrick  chanced  to  visit  Hogarth  one 
morning,  when  the  artist  was  engaged  in  his  painting- 
room  ;  and  being  about  to  retire  hastily  from  the 
door,  Old  Ben  Ives,  the  servant,  called  out  to  him, 
to  beg  he  would  step  back,  as  he  had  something  to 
shew  him,  that  he  was  sure  would  please  ;  and  then 


THE  SHRIMP  GIRL. 

from  the  original  painting  in  the  National  Gallery. 


HEAD  OF  DIANA. 

Reproduced  from  S.  Ireland 's  etching  from  an  original  sketch  in  oil  by  Hogarth. 


l/j    -3 

^  -s 

X    •*. 


PROFESSIONAL  LIFE  241 

taking  him  into  the  parlour,  exclaimed  in  raptures, 
"  There,  sir !  there 's  a  picture  !  they  say  my 
master  can't  paint  a  portrait,  and  does  not  know 
what  true  beauty  is  ;  there  is  a  head,  that  I  think 
must  confound  and  put  all  his  enemies  to  the  blush." 
One  would  be  glad  to  know  if  Ben  Ives  was  one  of 
those  represented  in  the  group  of  servants. 

Hogarth  advertised  that  the  prints  of  the 
'  Distressed  Poet '  and  the  '  Enraged  Musician  ' 
would  be  followed  by  a  third  on  Painting.  It  is  not 
known  if  this  was  really  contemplated  or  was  merely 
the  notification  of  a  possibility.  There  is  nothing 
extant  to  guide  us  hi  forming  an  idea  as  to  how  the 
subject  would  be  treated. 

An  advertisement  in  the  London  Daily  Post 
(November  24,  1740)  announces:  'Shortly  will  be 
published,  a  new  Print,  call'd  THE  PROVOKED 
MUSICIAN.  Designed  and  Engraved  by  Mr.  William 
Hogarth  ;  being  a  Companion  to  a  Print,  represent- 
ing a  Distressed  Poet,  published  some  time  since, 
to  which  will  be  added  a  Third  on  Painting,  which 
will  compleat  the  set ;  but  as  the  subject  may 
turn  upon  an  affair  depending  between  the  L — d 
M — r  and  the  Author  it  may  be  retarded  for  some 
time.' 

'  The  Enraged  Musician  '  is  one  of  Hogarth's  most 
interesting  prints.  The  arrangement  of  the  mis- 
cellaneous collection  of  discordant  noises  which  the 
artist  has  collected  together  is  perfect,  dominated 
as  the  whole  picture  is  by  the  charming  milkmaid  in 

Q 


242  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

the  centre  of  the  picture.  At  the  same  time  the 
musician  at  the  open  window  gives  the  key  to  the 
effect  of  the  riot  of  confused  sound  that,  as  we 
have  said,  caused  Fielding  to  write  in  his  Journal  of 
a  Voyage  to  Lisbon  that  the  picture  is  'enough  to 
make  a  man  deaf  to  look  at.' 

As  to  the  musician  who  was  used  as  a  model,  a 
great  amount  of  ingenuity  has  been  expended,  and 
the  following  names  have  been  put  forward  :  Signor 
Cervetto,  a  bass  player  at  the  theatres  ;  and  Mr. 
John  Foster,  a  player  on  the  German  flute  when  a 
boy ;  and  Castrucci,  a  violinist  of  repute ;  but  there 
appears  to  be  more  authority  for  supposing  the 
figure  was  taken  from  Michael  Christian  Festin,  who 
was  known  to  Hogarth  and  related  the  circumstances 
of  the  interruption  of  his  studies  which  have  been 
added  to  by  the  artist. 

George  Colman  wrote  a  musical  entertainment  for 
the  Haymarket  Theatre  founded  on  this  picture, 
the  music  for  which  was  composed  by  Dr.  Arnold. 

'  The  Modern  Orpheus,'  which  was  etched  by  D. 
Smith  from  an  original  sketch  in  the  possession  of 
the  Marquis  of  Bute  and  published  in  1807,  is  a  satire 
on  the  performances  of  the  celebrated  flautist,  C. 
Weidemann,  who  is  introduced  into  the  fourth  plate 
of  the  '  Marriage  a  la  Mode.'  The  engraving  dis- 
covers a  street  where  a  man  is  walking  and  playing 
on  a  flute,  while  he  is  attended  by  an  enraptured 
audience.  An  effect  of  his  music  is  to  compel  legs 
of  mutton  and  other  objects  to  move  towards  him 


PROFESSIONAL  LIFE  243 

through  the  air.  In  the  distance  stand  Sir  Robert 
Wai  pole  and  George  n.,  the  latter  speaking  in  delight 
to  the  former,  while  coins  issue  from  his  pocket  and 
pass  to  that  of  Weidemann. 

This  engraving  was  reproduced  in  the  Genuine 
Works  (Nichols  and  Steevens,  1817,  voL  iii.),  but  Mr. 
Dobson  is  doubtful  as  to  the  genuineness  of  'The 
Modern  Orpheus '  as  actually  the  edsign  of  Hogarth. 

We  know  that  Hogarth  had  a  high  opinion  of 
Handel  in  spite  of  his  connection  with  the  hated 
Italian  opera.  Some  one  suggested  that  the  player 
on  the  harpsichord  in  Plate  2  of  the  '  Rake's 
Progress '  was  intended  for  the  great  composer,  but 
this  is  most  improbable.  Mr.  Felix  Cobbold,  M.P., 
is  in  possession  of  an  oil  painting  of  Handel  by 
Hogarth,  which  was  engraved  by  Charles  Turner  in 
1821.  This  engraving  is  dedicated  'To  the  Noble- 
men, Directors  and  Patrons  of  the  Antient  Music,' 
but  it  is  not  stated  in  whose  possession  the  picture 
then  was. 

There  are  other  portraits  of  Handel  attributed 
to  Hogarth,  but  there  is  no  definite  information 
respecting  them. 


244  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 


CHAPTER    VIII 

BUSINESS  LIFE 

THE  subject  of  Business  Life  is  intimately  asso- 
ciated with  Hogarth's  first  start  in  business  by 
himself,  and  we  have  his  own  card  as  an  engraver 
(which  has  already  been  alluded  to)  to  guide  us  as 
to  the  date  of  the  various  business  cards  which  have 
been  attributed  to  him.  The  charming  card — 
'  W.  Hogarth  Engraver  ' — in  an  elegant  border  after 
the  manner  of  Callot  is  dated  1720,  and  most  of  the 
other  cards  can  probably  be  placed  about  the  same 
date.  It  is  a  question  difficult,  or  rather  impossible, 
to  settle  whether  Hogarth  prepared  the  book-plate 
and  shop-bill  for  Ellis  Gamble  before  he  left  the 
service  of  that  goldsmith,  or  after  he  had  set  up  his 
own  business,  in  the  immediate  neighbourhood  of 
his  old  master's  shop. 

The  shop-bill  representing  an  angel  with  a  very 
large  palm  branch  in  her  left  hand  is  a  bold  and 
spirited  production.  Beneath  the  figure  is  inscribed 
Gamble's  name  and  description  in  English  and 
French.  The  English  inscription  to  the  left  is  as 
follows : 


BUSINESS  LIFE  245 

Ellis  Gamble 

GOLDSMITH, 
at  the  Golden  Angel  in 

Cranbourn-Street, 

LEICESTER  -  FIELDS, 

Makes,  Buys  &  Sells  all 

sorts  of  Plate,  Rings,  <Ss 

Jewells  &c. 

Samuel  Ireland  says  of  this  bill :  '  Whether  by 
accident  or  design  we  know  not,  but  he  [Hogarth] 
has  given  to  the  right  hand  of  the  angel  a  finger  too 
much.  A  redundancy  of  the  same  kind,  we  observe 
in  his  print  of  The  Sleeping  Congregation,  where 
he  has  intentionally  added  a  joint  more  to  the  thigh 
of  the  Angel,  than  is  usually  found  in  the  works 
of  Nature.  The  original  of  this  print  is  become 
extremely  scarce,  and  although  an  early  production, 
and  without  name  or  date,  has  yet  established  itself, 
in  the  minds  of  the  most  scrupulous  connoisseur, 
as  a  genuine  work  of  Hogarth.' l 

Hogarth's  book-plates  have  already  been  alluded 
to,  but  it  seems  necessary  to  mention  again  the 
delightful  little  book-plate  which  Hogarth  made  for 
Gamble.  This  goldsmith  must  have  been  a  superior 
man  if  he  possessed  a  sufficient  number  of  books  to 
require  book-labels. 

Respecting  the  Lambert  (engraved  Lambart) 
plate  Samuel  Ireland  writes :  '  Hogarth's  great 
intimacy  with  George  Lambert,  the  landscape- 
painter,  for  whom  the  annexed  coat-of-arms  was 

1  S.  Ireland,  Graphic  Illustrations,  vol.  i.  1794,  pp.  7-8. 


246  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

engraved  by  him  as  a  book-plate,  is  well  known ; 
the  design  is  simple,  and  the  execution  masterly ; 
yet  the  principal  motive  for  introducing  it  here  is, 
that  the  original  is  a  unique  print.  This  circum- 
stance is  the  more  extraordinary  as  I  am  informed 
by  Mr.  Richards,  secretary  to  the  Royal  Academy, 
and  who  was  a  pupil  of  George  Lambert,  that  it  was 
stuck  in  all  his  books  ;  and  that  his  library  consisted 
of  seven  or  eight  hundred  volumes.' 1 

Samuel  Ireland  reproduces  a  shop-bill  of  William 
Hardy  engraved  in  the  manner  of  Callot  from  a 
unique  copy  with  a  corner  torn  off.  He  adds  that 
the  original  was  given  to  him  '  as  an  early  per- 
formance of  Hogarth's  by  his  friend  the  late  Mr. 
Bonneau,  who  received  it  from  him  as  a  very  early 
production.' 2  The  inscription  is  as  follows  : 

Witt*  Hardy 

GOLDSMITH 

and  Jeweller  in  Eatcliff  highway 
near  Sun  Tavern  Fields 

Sells  all  sorts  of 
Gold  and  Silver  Plate  &c. 

In  the  Genuine  Works  (vol.  iii.)  is  reproduced  a 
shop-bill  of  a  Soho  goldsmith  which  presents  the 
interior  of  a  shop  with  figures  and  a  furnace  in  the 
left-hand  corner.  The  inscription  is  : 

Peter  De  La  Fontaine,  GOLDSMITH 

At  the  Golden  Cup  in  Litchfield  Street 

Soho.    Makes  and  Sells  all  sorts  of  Gold  and  Silver 

Plate,  Swords,  Rings,  Jewells,  &c.,  at  y8  lowest  prices. 

1  Graphic  Illustrations,  vol.  i  p.  115.  2  Ibid.,  voL  i.  p.  3. 


BUSINESS  LIFE  247 

The  shop-bill  of  Hogarth's  two  sisters  is  of  great 
interest,  but  must  be  placed  a  few  years  later  in 
date  than  those  already  described,  as  Mary  and 
Ann  Hogarth  did  not  commence  business  until  the 
year  1725.  Samuel  Ireland  writes  :  '  The  originality 
of  this  print  has  never  yet  been  doubted,  even  by 
the  most  scrupulous  ;  its  ornaments  are  bold  and 
animated  ;  and  the  masterly  though  careless  touch 
of  the  graver  justly  gives  it  a  claim  to  approbation  ' 
Mr.  Dobson  notes  that  there  is  an  impression  of  the 
original  bill  in  the  British  Museum.  The  design 
of  the  interior  of  a  shop  of  the  period  is  of  much 
value,  and  is  of  rather  imposing  proportions.  The 
inscription  is  as  follows  : 

Mary  &  Anne  Hogarth 

from  the  old  Frock-shop  the  corner  of  the 
Long  Walk  facing  the  Cloysters,  Removed 
to  ye  King's  Arms  joyning  to  ye  Little  Britain- 
gate,  near  Long  Walk.     Sells  ye  best  &  most  Fashi- 
onable Ready  Made  Frocks,  sutes  of  Fustian, 
Ticken  &  Holland,  stript  Dimmity  &  Flanel 
Wastcoats,  blue  and  Canvas  Frocks  and  bluecoat  Boys  Drars. 

Likewise  Fustians,  Tickens,  Hollands,  white 

stript  Dimity s,  white  &  stript  Flanels  in  ye  piece, 

by  Wholesale  or  Retale,  at  Reasonable  Rates. 

Mrs.  Holt's  shop-bill,  also  reproduced  by  Samuel 
Ireland  in  his  Graphic  Illustrations  (vol.  i.  p.  17)  is 
of  considerable  interest,  and  the  design  shows  much 
originality  of  invention  although  its  ascription  to 
Hogarth  has  been  doubted. 

1  Graphic  Illustrations,  vol.  i.  p.  16. 


248  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

Ireland  writes  thus  of  this  shop-bill :  '  The 
following  print  is  selected  as  a  farther  specimen  of 
the  early  talent  of  Hogarth  in  the  line  of  his  pro- 
fession. .  .  .  This  print,  though  intended  merely 
as  a  shop-bill,  is  put  together  with  no  small  degree 
of  knowledge  in  the  ordinary  affairs  of  commerce 
in  our  quarter  of  the  globe.  Mercury,  the  god  of 
merchandize  and  gain,  whether  lawfully  or  un- 
lawfully obtained,  is  here  judiciously  placed  hi  the 
midst  of  the  scene  of  action :  he  seems  assiduous 
in  executing  the  orders  of  the  civic  figure,  who 
represents  Florence  the  capital  of  Tuscany,  and  who 
is  pointing  to  a  jar  of  oil,  one  of  the  principal  articles 
of  Commerce  of  that  country.  This  fair  city  seems 
pouring  its  richest  treasures  into  the  lap  of  Britain, 
as  we  may  collect  from  the  arms  of  England  seen  at 
the  stern  of  the  vessel,  which  they  are  busily  loading. 
Nor  has  Hogarth  forgot  to  introduce  [at  the  four 
corners  of  the  design]  the  other  principal  states 
of  Italy,  Naples,  Venice,  Leghorn  and  Genoa,  as 
equally  emulous  to  trade  with  our  city  of  London, 
the  great  emporium  of  Europe.'  The  inscription 

is  as  follows : 

AT  MRS.  HOLTS, 
Italian  Ware  House 

at  ye  two  Olive  Posts  in  ye  Broad  part  of  the  Strand  almost 

opposite  to  Exeter  Change  are  sold  all  Sorts  of  Italian  Silks  as 

Lustrings,  Sattins,  Padesois,  Velvets,  Damasks, 

&c. 

Fans,  Legorne  Hats,  Flowers  Lute  tfc  Violin  Strings, 
Books  of  Essences,  Venice  Treacle,  Balsomes} 


BUSINESS  LIFE  249 

And  in  a  Back  Warehouse  all  Sorts  of  Italian 
Wines,  Florence  Cordials,  Oyl,  Olives,  Anchovies, 
Capers,  Vermicelli,  Bolognia  Sausidges,  Par- 
mesan Cheeses,  Maple  Soap, 


This  description  is  very  instructive.  A  particular 
kind  of  grocer's  shop  was  formerly  styled  an  Italian 
warehouse,  and  the  name  is  not  entirely  unused  now. 
This  shows  that  in  the  original  Italian  warehouse 
there  were  two  departments  —  the  silk  mercer's  and 
the  wine  merchant's  and  grocer's. 

Samuel  Ireland  has  reproduced  something  much 
more  doubtful  than  anything  already  described, 
and  that  is  what  he  calls  a  '  Design  for  a  Shop-bill.' 
The  picture  represents  a  room  with  several  persons 
in  different  positions  ;  one,  supposed  to  be  Hogarth 
himself,  is  showing  a  portrait  of  St.  Luke  with  his 
ox  and  book,  inscribed  '  W.  Hogarth  Painter.'  Ire- 
land gives  Charles  Catton,  R.A.,  as  his  authority  for 
supposing  that  Hogarth  for  a  time  worked  as  a  sign- 
painter,  and  he  reproduces  the  two  sides  of  a  sign 
for  a  Paviour  which  he  attributes  to  Hogarth. 
These  were  painted  on  a  thick  piece  of  mahogany 
that  had  been  divided  by  a  saw  before  they  came 
into  the  possession  of  Ireland.  They  are  interesting 
illustrations  of  London  streets  with  paviours  at 
work  mending  the  roads.  In  the  background  of 
one  side  is  a  rough  sketch  of  the  Dome  of  St.  Paul's. 

There  is  another  shop-bill  —  that  of  '  Richard  Lee 
at  ye  Golden  Tobacco  Roll  in  Panton  Street  near 


250  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

Leicester  Fields  ' — which  is  entirely  different  from 
those  which  have  been  previously  described. 

It  is  reproduced  by  Samuel  Ireland  in  his  Graphic 
Illustrations  from  an  original  in  his  possession,  which 
he  supposed  to  be  unique.  There  is  one  in  the 
British  Museum  which  is  dated  circa  1730,  and 
described  by  Mr.  Stephens  as  follows :  '  It  is  an 
oblong  enclosing  an  oval,  the  spandrels  being  occu- 
pied by  leaves  of  the  tobacco  plant  tied  in  bundles  ; 
the  above  title  is  on  a  frame  which  encloses  the  oval. 
Within  the  latter  the  design  represents  the  ulterior 
of  a  room,  with  ten  gentlemen  gathered  near  a  round 
table  on  which  is  a  bowl  of  punch ;  several  of  the 
gentlemen  are  smoking  tobacco  in  long  pipes  ;  one 
of  them  stands  up  on  our  right  and  vomits  ;  another, 
who  is  intoxicated,  lies  on  the  floor  by  the  side  of  a 
chair  ;  a  fire  of  wood  burns  in  the  grate  ;  on  the  wall 
hang  two  pictures  .  .  .  three  men's  hats  hang  on 
pegs  on  the  wall.'  * 

Ireland  expresses  the  opinion  that  this  engraving 
contains  the  germ  of  the  idea  which  at  a  later 
period  was  developed  by  Hogarth  in  a  '  Midnight 
Modern  Conversation.' 

Mr.  Dobson,  however,  doubts  the  '  shop-bill ' 
being  the  work  of  Hogarth,  and  he  suggests  that  the 
design  is  based  upon  the  '  Midnight  Modern  Conversa- 
tion.' This  is  probable,  but  it  is  but  fair  to  Ireland 
to  quote  what  he  says  as  to  its  authenticity.  '  This 
little  print  is  so  very  like  the  other  early  works  of 

1  British  Museum  Catalogue,  vol.  ii.  p.  728. 


BUSINESS  LIFE  251 

Hogarth  both  in  the  style  and  manner  of  engraving, 
as  well  as  the  ornaments  and  even  the  writing  that 
is  round  it,  as  to  place  its  authenticity  out  of  all 
question.  A  farther  proof  might  be  urged  if  neces- 
sary. It  is  totally  unlike  the  manner  of  his  con- 
temporaries ;  amongst  whom  it  stood  in  such  a 
degree  of  repute  as  to  induce  them  repeatedly  to 
copy  it :  three  of  these  copies  are  now  before  us,  and 
so  ill  executed  as  to  be  deemed  mere  servile  imita- 
tions.'1 

Nearly  allied  to  Shop-bills  are  Undertakers' 
Funeral  Tickets,  one  of  which  was  the  work  of 
Hogarth. 

A  reproduction  from  the  scarce  original  will  be 
found  in  Ireland's  Graphic  Illustrations.  It  repre- 
sents the  front  of  a  London  church,  where  a  funeral 
party  is  about  to  ascend  the  steps.  The  pall  over 
the  coffin  is  surmounted  by  plumes  and  enriched  by 
coats-of-arms.  The  mourners  (men  and  women) 
follow  in  pairs.  Below  the  design  is  the  inscription  : 

'  You  are  desired  to  accompany  ye  Corps  of  from 

h        late  Dwelling  in  to 

on  next  at  of  the  Clock  in  the  Evening. 

Perform'd  by  Humphrey  Drew,  Undertaker,  in  King 
Street,  Westminster.' 

Samuel  Ireland  only  knew  of  three  copies  of  the 
original  engraving,  the  one  which  he  reproduced, 
one  belonging  to  Horace  Walpole  on  which  he  wrote 
'  W.  Hogarth  sc.'  This  is  now  in  the  British 

1  Graphic  Illustrations,  vol.  i.  pp.  12-13. 


252  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

Museum.1  The  third  copy  is  in  the  Royal  Collec- 
tion. 

This  funeral  ticket  is  a  gloomy-looking  thing  as  is 
natural,  but  is  also,  as  might  be  expected,  very 
superior  to  those  then  in  general  use.  Mr.  John 
Ashton,  in  a  chapter  on  Death  and  Burial  in  his 
Social  Life  in  the  Reign  of  Queen  Anne,  reprints  one 
of  these  Invitations  to  a  Funeral,  the  ornaments 
round  which  are  Time,  skeletons,  skulls,  cross-bones, 
pick-axe  and  shovel,  shroud,  etc. 

When  the  funeral  was  in  the  evening  the  mourners 
were  usually  supplied  with  wax  tapers.  These 
sometimes  excited  the  cupidity  of  the  roughs  who 
were  always  to  be  found  in  case  of  public  gatherings. 
An  advertisement  in  the  Daily  Courant  for  September 
30,  1713  (quoted  by  Mr.  Ashton)  shows  what  might 
be  expected :  '  Riots  and  Robberies.  Committed 
in  and  about  Stepney  Churchyard,  at  a  Funeral 
Solemnity,  on  Wednesday  the  23rd  day  of  September; 
and  whereas  many  Persons,  who  being  appointed  to 
attend  the  Funeral  with  white  Wax  lights  of  a 
considerable  value,  were  assaulted  in  a  most  violent 
manner,  and  the  said  white  Wax  lights,  taken  from 
them.  Whoever  shall  discover  any  of  the  Persons, 
guilty  of  the  said  crimes,  so  as  they  may  be  convicted 
of  the  same,  shall  receive  of  Mr.  William  Prince,  Wax 
Chandler  in  the  Poultry,  London,  Ten  shillings  for 
each  person  so  discovered,'  etc.  It  may  be  mentioned 
that  at  this  time  it  was  the  custom  to  make  a 

1  British  Museum  Catalogue^  vol.  ii.  p.  725. 


BUSINESS  LIFE  253 

distinction  in  the  mourning  for  the  married  and  the 
unmarried ;  thus  white  and  black  was  used  for  maids 
and  bachelors.  In  the  fine  engraving  of  the  west 
front  of  Covent  Garden  Church  (St.  Paul's)  drawn 
by  Paul  Sandby,  R.A.,  and  engraved  by  E.  Hooker, 
will  be  noticed  the  funeral  of  an  unmarried  girl, 
where  the  women  mourners  are  in  white  and  the  men 
wear  white  sashes. 

The  instructive  series  of  twelve  plates  of  '  Industry 
and  Idleness,'  illustrating  the  Adventures  of  an  In- 
dustrious and  an  Idle  Apprentice,  is  full  of  information 
respecting  the  progress  of  business  life  in  London, 
and  in  this  chapter  we  shall  have  to  deal  almost 
entirely  with  the  Industrious  Apprentice  as  the  Idle 
one  has  little  to  do  with  business. 

Hogarth's  design  in  producing  these  plates  is 
described  by  himself  in  a  paper  published  by  John 
Ireland  in  his  Hogarth  Illustrated  (vol.  i.  p.  185). 
*  Industry  and  Idleness  exemplified,  in  the  conduct  of 
two  fellow  'prentices :  where  the  one  by  taking  good 
courses,  and  pursuing  points  for  which  he  was  put 
apprentice,  becomes  a  valuable  man,  and  an  orna- 
ment to  his  country :  the  other  by  giving  way  to 
idleness,  naturally  falls  into  poverty,  and  ends 
fatally,  as  is  expressed  in  the  last  print.  As  the 
prints  were  intended  more  for  use  than  ornament, 
they  were  done  in  a  way  that  might  bring  them 
within  the  purchase  of  whom  they  might  most 
concern  ;  and  lest  any  print  should  be  mistaken,  the 
description  of  each  print  is  engraved  at  top.' 


254  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

The  General  Advertiser  for  Saturday,  October 
17,  1747,  contains  the  following  announcement: 
'  This  Day  is  publish' d,  Price  12s.  Design' d  and 
Engrav'd  by  Mr.  Hogarth.  Twelve  Prints  call'd 
"  Industry  and  Idleness,"  shewing  the  advantages 
attending  the  former  and  the  miserable  effects  of 
the  latter,  in  the  different  Fortunes  of  Two  Ap- 
prentices. To  be  had  at  the  Golden  Head  in 
Leicester  Fields,  and  at  the  Print-shops.  There  are 
some  printed  on  a  better  paper  for  the  curious  at 
14s.  each  set,  to  be  had  only  at  the  Author's  in  Lei- 
cester Fields.  Where  may  be  had  all  his  other  works.' 

The  moralists  of  the  eighteenth  century  paid  little 
attention  to  fine  distinctions  and  drew  the  difference 
between  good  and  evil  with  the  clearest-cut  contrast. 
It  was  this  that  induced  Thackeray  to  express  his 
sympathy  with  Tom  Idle,  who  he  thought  never  had 
a  chance  in  life. 

Commentators  have  found  considerable  likeness 
in  the  story  of  Hogarth's  prints  to  the  plot  of  the  old 
play,  Eastward  Hoe,  by  Ben  Jonson,  Chapman  and 
Marston  (1605),  and  in  the  year  1751  it  was  revived  at 
Drury  Lane  for  Lord  Mayor's  Day.  This  alteration 
was  not  successful,  but  another  made  by  Mrs.  Lenox 
and  called  Old  City  Manners  was  favourably  received. 

There  is  sufficient  justification  for  calling  attention 
to  the  likeness,  although  there  does  not  seem  much 
probability  that  Hogarth  should  seek  for  so  very 
evident  a  story  in  an  old  play.  Golding  (Goodchild) 
marries  Touchstone's  (West's)  daughter  and  becomes 


BUSINESS  LIFE  255 

a  magistrate,  when  Quicksilver  (Idle)  is  brought 
before  him  as  a  criminal. 

The  first  plate  shows  the  interior  of  a  weaver's 
workshop  in  Spitalfields.  Francis  Goodchild  is 
seen  working  busily  while  Tom  Idle  is  sleeping.  In 
front  of  the  latter  on  the  loom  is  a  quart  pot  which 
has  engraved  upon  it  *  Spittle  Fields.'  The  door  of 
the  room  has  been  opened  by  the  master  of  the 
apprentices,  who  calls  to  the  sleeper  and  threatens 
him  with  his  stick.  In  the  fourth  plate  Goodchild 
has  been  transferred  to  the  office,  and  his  master  is 
seen  leaning  affectionately  upon  his  shoulder.  The 
master  extending  his  right  hand  points  to  the  looms 
in  the  background  *  as  if  he  intended  to  give  the 
apprentice  control  in  his  place.'  John  Ireland 
writes  :  '  A  partnership,  on  the  eve  of  taking  place, 
is  covertly  intimated  by  a  pair  of  gloves  upon  the 
writing-desk.'  The  position  of  the  gloves  indicates 
the  clasping  of  hands,  and  the  London  Almanac 
on  the  side  of  the  desk  is  headed  by  a  design  above 
the  calendar  of  Industry  taking  Father  Time  by  the 
forelock. 

A  city  porter  at  the  left  of  the  plate  is  delivering 
stuffs  from  Backwell  Hall,  addressed  to  '  Mr.  West.' 
These  two  plates  give  an  excellent  illustration  of  a 
business  establishment  in  Spitalfields  where  the 
silk  trade  once  flourished  in  London. 

In  Plate  6  the  Industrious  Apprentice  out  of  his 
time  obtains  the  fulness  of  his  reward  for  good 
conduct  by  marrying  the  daughter  of  his  master 


256  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

and  becoming  a  partner  in  the  firm.  In  the  first 
state  of  the  plate  Hogarth  made  the  mistake  of 
placing  the  junior  partner's  name  first  on  the  sign, 
but  '  Goodchild  and  West '  of  the  first  state  became 
'  West  and  Goodchild  '  in  the  second  state. 

Mr.  Stephens  thus  describes  this  plate:  'The 
engraving  shows  part  of  a  street  in  London,  near 
the  Fire  Monument,  the  Pedestal  of  which  appears 
in  the  middle  distance  with  part  of  an  inscription 
thus :  "  In  remembrance  of  Burning  ye  Pro- 
testant City  by  the  treachery  of  the  Papish  Faction 

In year of  our Lo — d  1666."     A  band 

of  musicians,  including  a  butcher  who  performs 
on  a  cleaver  with  a  bone,  and  his  companion, 
another  such  performer,  are  assembled  before  a 
house  to  celebrate  in  their  noisy  way  the  wedding 
of  the  Industrious  'Prentice  with  the  daughter  of  his 
Master,  Mr.  West.  .  .  .  The  musicians  appear  to 
be  making  a  great  noise,  their  instruments  are 
mostly  drums  .  .  .  One  of  the  drummers  has  ap- 
proached a  window  of  the  house  of  Messrs.  West  and 
Goodchild  ;  the  lower  sash  of  this  window  is  pushed 
up  and  the  Industrious  'Prentice  appears  there, 
holding  a  teacup  in  one  hand  while  with  the  other 
he  gives  a  coin  to  the  drummer,  who  bows  obsequi- 
ously and  has  taken  off  his  hat.  Goodchild  wears 
his  dressing-gown  and  cap,  having  put  aside  his  coat 
and  wig  on  returning  home  from  the  church  after 
his  marriage  to  Miss  West.  The  bride  is  seen  in 
the  interior  of  the  room,  with  a  patch  on  her  fore- 


BUSINESS  LIFE  257 

head  .  .  sipping  her  tea  and  looking  very  happy. 
The  door  of  the  house  is  open  and  a  footman, 
wearing  a  shoulder-knot,  stands  on  the  threshold, 
pouring  a  plateful  of  broken  victuals  into  the  apron 
of  a  woman,  who  kneels  on  the  step  to  receive  the 
alms ;  a  child's  face  appears  at  the  shoulder  of  the 
woman.' l 

John  Ireland  identifies  the  cripple  to  the  left  of 
the  picture  holding  a  broadside  of  the  ballad  of 
'  Jesse  or  the  Happy  Pair '  as  '  a  man  known  by 
the  name  of  Philip  in  the  Tub,  who  had  visited 
Ireland,  and  the  United  Provinces,  and  in  the 
memory  of  many  persons  now  living  [1793]  was  a 
general  attendant  at  weddings.'  ! 

The  abstract  of  the  monstrous  inscription  on  the 
Monument  given  above  is  not  correct,  in  that  the 
inscription  occupied  four  sides  of  the  plinth  and 
therefore  could  not  all  be  seen  at  one  view.  The 
offensive  words  were  not  the  original  inscription, 
but  were  added  at  the  time  of  the  terror  caused  by 
the  so-called  Popish  plot.  They  were  obliterated 
hi  the  reign  of  James  n.,  recut  after  the  Revolution, 
but  finally  erased  by  an  Act  of  Common  Council, 
January  26,  1831. 

Pope  was  unusually  accurate  when  he  wrote  the 
lines  : 

'  Where  London's  column,  pointing  at  the  skies, 
Like  a  tall  bully  lifts  the  head  and  lies.' 

1  British  Museum  Catalogue,  vol.  iii.  pp.  693-694. 

2  Hogarth  Illustrated,  vol.  i.  pp.  198-199. 

R 


258  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

In  Plate  8  we  find  Goodchild  grown  rich  and  become 
Sheriff  of  London,  dining  at  one  of  the  City  Com- 
panies' halls.  John  Ireland  describes  the  Banquet- 
ing Hall  as  the  Guildhall,  but  this  is  clearly  a 
mistake,  and  the  whole-length  figure  of  Sir  William 
Walworth  in  a  niche  between  the  windows  proves 
that  this  is  intended  for  the  old  hall  of  the  Fish- 
monger's Company  which  was  built  by  Edward 
Jerman,  the  City  Surveyor,  after  the  Great  Fire.  The 
present  hall,  built  1831-33,  is  not  on  the  site  of  the 
old  hall,  but  in  an  improved  position  formed  in  con- 
nection with  the  opening  for  the  new  London  Bridge. 

The  imposing  beadle  in  his  state  gown  stands  at 
the  entrance  door  with  a  letter  in  his  hand  directed 

1  To  the  Worship  "  Fra  "  Goodchild  Es.  Sher 

Londo — ,'  which  has  been  delivered  by  a  messenger 
who,  bareheaded  and  holding  a  hat  in  his  hand, 
awaits  an  answer.  The  principal  seats  are  occupied 
by  the  Sheriff  and  his  wife,  and  a  number  of  ladies 
are  seen  sitting  at  the  feast. 

This  picture  is  of  great  interest  as  showing  the 
manners  at  table  in  the  eighteenth  century.  All 
the  dishes  were  put  on  at  once  and  no  wine  was 
placed  upon  the  table.  A  black  waiter  is  seen 
handing  it  round.  Sir  Walter  Besant  says  that  a 
writer  in  1790  notes  the  fact  that  it  had  only  lately 
become  the  fashion  to  put  wines  upon  the  table, 
and  that  the  new  custom  was  then  very  far  from 
being  general.  The  dinner  at  the  time  of  this  print 
was  in  the  daytime,  and  the  company  retired  to~the 


BUSINESS  LIFE  259 

gardens,    which    were    generally    attached    to    the 
various  halls,  for  dessert  and  wine. 

The  trees  in  the  garden  are  seen  through  the 
windows  in  this  plate. 

It  was  not  until  well  on  into  the  nineteenth 
century  when  an  improved  system  of  service  and 
better  manners  among  the  guests  became  general. 

In  Plate  10  the  two  former  fellow-apprentices 
are  brought  together  again  under  most  painful 
circumstances.  Goodchild  having  become  an  Alder- 
man sits  as  a  magistrate  in  the  Guildhall,  when 
Idle  is  brought  before  him  as  a  criminal.  The 
clerk  is  busily  writing  on  a  paper  addressed  '  To 
the  Turnkey  of  Newgate,'  a  warrant  for  the  com- 
mittal of  Thomas  Idle  to  Newgate  on  the  charge  of 
having  murdered  the  man  whose  plunder  was  shown 
in  Plate  9  referred  to  in  the  Chapter  on  Crime. 
The  appearance  of  the  prisoner  is  abject.  Mr. 
Stephens  says  of  the  man  next  him  who  is  swearing 
on  the  book :  '  The  man  in  the  knitted  cap  and 
having  the  patch  over  one  of  his  eyes,  appears  as  a 
witness  against  his  accomplice  and  stands  next  to 
him  in  the  character  of  a  "  King's  evidence," 
swearing  to  the  truth  of  his  deposition  by  placing 
his  left  hand  on  the  book  held  by  an  attendant  of 
the  court,  who  stands  within  the  bar.  This  attendant 
has  one  of  his  hands  behind  his  back,  into  that  hand 
a  slatternly  woman  is  secretly  placing  a  piece  of 
money.  This  act  of  bribery  is  performed  in  order 
that  the  official  may  be  induced  not  to  notice  that 


260  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

the  witness  uses  his  left  instead  of  his  right  hand  in 
attesting  his  oath  on  the  book.  An  assertion  that 
an  oath  taken  in  this  fashion  was  not  binding  on  the 
swearer  was  frequently  made  by  the  vulgar  before, 
at,  and  since  the  period  in  question.5 1 

The  concluding  Plate  (12),  in  which  Francis 
Goodchild  is  seen  to  have  reached  the  summit  of  his 
ambition  as  Lord  Mayor  of  London,  contains  a  view 
of  the  greatest  interest  from  a  topographical  point  of 
view. 

It  is  a  brilliant  representation  of  the  west  end  of 
Cheapside.  Looking  southwards  across  St.  Paul's 
Churchyard,  we  see  the  eastern  extremity  of  the 
cathedral.  In  front  a  balcony  projects  from  the 
first  floor  of  a  house  at  the  corner  of  Paternoster  Row. 
In  the  balcony  are  several  personages,  including 
Frederick,  Prince  of  Wales,  and  his  wife  Augusta 
under  a  canopy  of  state.  As  to  the  persons  attendant 
on  royalty  we  have  no  information,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  '  the  lady  hi  profile  with  a  French  cap, 
lappet  and  cloak'  to  the  extreme  right  of  the 
balcony,  and  we  have  Horace  Walpole's  authority 
for  saying  that  this  figure  is  intended  for  the  Countess 
of  Middlesex,  Mistress  of  the  Robes.2  The  front  of 
the  balcony  is  decorated  with  two  pieces  of  tapestry, 
the  subjects  of  which  have  not  been  recognised. 

The   right   of   using   these   balconies   was   often 

1  British  Museum  Catalogue,  voL  iii.  pp.  708-709. 

8  This  information  is  given  in  a  MS.  note  in  a  copy  of  the  first  edition  of 
Nichols's  Biographical  Anecdotes,  1781  (p.  109),  in  the  author's  possession, 
which  originally  belonged  to  Horace  Walpole  who  annotated  it. 


BUSINESS  LIFE  261 

reserved,  and  John  Ireland  refers  to  Wood's  Body  of 
Conveyancing,  in  which  book  (vol.  ii.  p.  180)  there  is  a 
London  lease ;  one  of  the  clauses  gives  a  right  to  the 
landlord  and  his  friends  to  stand  in  the  balcony 
*  during  the  time  of  the  shews  or  pastimes,  upon  the 
day  commonly  called  Lord  Mayor's  day.' 

The  favourite  place  for  royalty  to  see  the  show 
was  at  Bow  Church,  but  it  is  recorded  that  Frederick, 
Prince  of  Wales,  on  a  previous  occasion,  wished  to  see 
it  privately  and  he  entered  the  city  in  disguise.  He 
was  discovered  by  some  members  of  the  Saddlers' 
Company,  and  was  requested  to  occupy  the  Com- 
pany's stand.  He  accepted  the  invitation  and  soon 
afterwards  became  a  saddler. 

The  old  Seldam  or  shed  which  was  made  by  order 
of  Edward  in.  on  the  north  side  of  Bow  Church  for 
the  purpose  of  accommodating  the  royal  party  on 
the  occasions  of  shows  and  processions,  was  after- 
wards superseded  by  the  balcony.  In  September 
1677  Charles  n.  had  advice  at  Newmarket  that  the 
Fifth  Monarchy  men  had  a  design  to  murder  him 
and  the  Duke  of  York  on  Lord  Mayor's  day  in  this 
balcony. 

The  crowded  scene  of  Hogarth's  plate  is  full  of 
interesting  details  which  it  is  needless  to  particularise 
here,  although  there  is  one  which  requires  special 
attention  as  it  helps  to  complete  the  series  and 
causes  us  to  remember  the  connection  between  the 
two  apprentices.  At  the  right-hand  corner  of  the 
engraving  is  an  emaciated  boy,  a  hawker  of  broad- 


262  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

sides,  who  holds  a  paper  on  which  is  printed,  '  Aiull 
and  true  account  of  ye  Ghost  of  Tho.  Idle  which — ' 

We  have,  however,  Chaucer's  authority  for  the 
fact  that  every  apprentice  who  is  idle  and  neglects 
his  proper  duties  does  not  necessarily  come  to  the 
violent  end  of  Hogarth's  Idle  Apprentice. 

'A  prentis  whilom  dwelled  in  our  citee, 

At  every  bridale  wolde  he  sing  and  hoppe ; 
He  loved  bet  the  taverne  than  the  shoppe ; 
For  whan  ther  eny  Eiding  was  in  Chepe, 
Out  of  the  shoppe  thider  wold  he  lepe ; 
Til  that  he  had  al  the  sight  yseyn, 
And  danced  wel  he  would  nat  come  ageyn.'1 

The  passages  from  the  Bible  which  are  attached  to 
the  several  plates  of  '  Industry  and  Idleness '  were 
selected  by  Hogarth's  friend,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Arnold 
King.  John  Nichols  obtained  this  information  from 
Dr.  Ducarel. 

There  are  a  series  of  drawings  by  Hogarth  for  the 
engravings  of  '  Industry  and  Idleness '  in  the  Print 
Room  of  the  British  Museum.  Some  of  these  are 
first  thoughts,  freely  sketched ;  others  represent  more 
developed  studies ;  others,  again,  are  the  final  designs 
made  for  transfer  to  the  copper.  The  description  of 
these  is  very  interesting  (see  Binyon's  British 
Museum  Catalogue  of  Drawings  by  British  Artists, 
vol.  ii.  p.  316).  There  are  also  drawings  for  two 
subjects  which  were  not  engraved,  viz.  '  The  In- 
dustrious 'Prentice  when  a  Merchant  giving  Money 

1  The  Coke's  Tale. 


Scene    at  a 


.  fir    J!  Ireland  Mav  UJ<JQ. 


SARAH,  DUCHESS  or  MARLBOROUGH,  AT  CHILD'S  BANK. 


BUSINESS  LIFE  263 

to  his  Parents,'  and  '  The  Idle  Apprentice  stealing 
from  his  Mother.' l 

There  is  a  very  interesting  tradition  connecting 
Hogarth  with  sketches  of  the  run  upon  Child's 
Bank,  which  was  stopped  with  the  help  of  Sarah, 
Duchess  of  Marlborough,  but  the  accounts  of  this  are 
so  confused  that  it  is  difficult  to  obtain  a  satisfactory 
solution.  A  plain  statement  may  help  to  draw 
attention  to  the  subject  and  end  in  an  explanation 
being  suggested. 

Samuel  Ireland  published  in  the  second  volume 
of  his  Graphic  Illustrations  (1799)  an  engraving  by 
Barlow  from  a  small  picture  in  oil  by  Hogarth  in  his 
possession,  which  he  entitled  '  Scene  at  a  Banking 
House  in  1745.'  Mr.  Dobson  says  that  the  picture 
was  bought  at  Ireland's  sale  in  1801  by  George 
Baker  for  £3,  10s.  At  Baker's  sale  in  1825  it  fetched 
£60, 18s.  It  was  sold  again  in  June  1899  at  Forman's 
sale  for  £53,  11s. 

Ireland's  account  of  the  picture  is  shortly  as 
follows :  '  The  figure  in  the  chair  was  intended  for 
Sarah,  the  celebrated  Dutchess  of  Marlborough. 
This  circumstance  is  corroborated  by  the  Ducal 
coronet  on  the  back  of  the  chair,  which  is  supported 
by  two  boys.  The  figures  represented  in  a  sitting 
posture,  are  the  principals  of  the  banking-house  of 
Messra  Child  and  Co.,  who  seem  amply  prepared  to 
discharge  all  the  demands  pressing  upon  them.  .  .  . 

1  Hogarth's  original  intention  was  to  call  the  Idle  Apprentice  '  Thomas 
Fowler.' 


264  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

The  wealth  of  the  house  is  allegorically  represented 
by  the  bags  of  gold,  which  are  piled  over  each  other 
in  the  background  of  the  picture.' 

Ireland  then  relates  the  circumstances  of  the  run 
upon  the  bank  and  relief  supplied  by  the  Duchess  of 
Marlborough,  which  he  says  he  obtained  from  an 
authority  not  to  be  doubted.  In  1745,  owing  to  the 
Jacobite  Rebellion,  Bank  of  England  notes  were  at  a 
considerable  discount,  while  the  notes  issued  by 
Child's  Bank  and  that  of  Hoare  and  Co.  maintained 
their  credit  and  circulated  at  par.  The  directors  of 
the  Bank  of  England  attempted  to  injure  the  credit 
of  Child's  Bank  by  collecting  their  notes  with  the 
intention  of  pouring  them  in  for  payment  on  the  same 
day.  The  Duchess  heard  of  this  plot  and  informed 
Messrs.  Child,  at  the  same  time  supplying  them 
*  with  a  sum  of  money  more  than  sufficient  to  answer 
the  amplest  demand  '  that  could  be  made  upon  them. 
The  scheme  was  carried  out,  and  the  Bank  of  England 
was  paid  hi  its  own  paper  to  its  own  very  great  loss. 
This  story  breaks  down  owing  to  Ireland  having 
overlooked  the  fact  that  the  redoubtable  Duchess 
Sarah  was  not  alive  in  1745,  she  having  died  in 
October  1744. 

The  late  Mr.  Hilton  Price,  partner  in  Child's  Bank, 
gave  an  altogether  different  account  of  this  '  run ' 
in  his  octavo  volume  entitled  Ye  Mary  gold,  1875. 
He  wrote :  '  Child's  Bank  was  saved  from  a  run  in 
1689  by  Sarah,  Duchess  of  Marlborough  (then  Lady 
Churchill),  who  collected  among  her  friends  as  much 


BUSINESS  LIFE  265 

gold  as  she  was  able,  which  she  brought  down  to  the 
bank  in  her  coach.  Hogarth  made  a  spirited  sketch 
of  the  Duchess's  coach  stopping  at  Temple  Bar,  and 
another  sketch  of  her  Grace  appearing  in  the  bank 
following  porters  carrying  bags  of  gold.  No  entry 
in  the  books  of  the  firm  respecting  this,  but  there  is 
no  reason  to  doubt  the  fact.' l 

We  are  not  told  where  these  sketches  of  Hogarth's 
are  to  be  found ;  and  if  they  were  made  by  him,  they 
must  have  been  drawn  from  a  relation  of  the  events 
and  not  from  sight,  as  the  painter  was  not  then  born. 

In  1902  Mr.  Hilton  Price  published  a  larger  book 
on  the  same  subject,  entitled  The  Mary  gold  by  Temple 
Bar  (4to).  He  there  repeats  what  is  quoted  above, 
and  adds  an  account  of  the  run  or  *  push,'  as  it  was 
then  called,  made  upon  Child's  from  John  Francis's 
History  of  the  Bank  of  England.  Francis  gives 
Samuel  Ireland  as  his  authority,  but  adds  some 
figures,  and  to  some  extent  gets  over  the  difficulty 
of  the  Duchess  Sarah's  death  by  dating  the  affair 
about  1745.  He  says  that  Child's  *  got  scent  of  the 
plot '  and  '  applied  to  the  celebrated  Duchess  of 
Marlborough  who  gave  them  a  single  cheque  of 
£700,000  on  their  opponents.'  Francis,  while  giving 
all  this  information,  expresses  the  opinion  that  it  is 
difficult  to  believe  that  any  body  of  men  could  act 
so  disgraceful  a  part. 

Mr.  Price  adds  that  '  no  entry  of  the  above  can  be 
met  with  in  the  books  of  the  firm,  but  we  think  it 

1  F.  G.  H.  Price,  Ye  Marygold,  1875,  p.  17  (privately  printed). 


266  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

worth  mentioning  as  we  have  no  reason  for  doubting 
it,  these  and  other  stories  being  mostly  founded  to  a 
certain  degree  on  facts.'  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  some 
further  facts  may  come  to  light  which  will  settle  the 
particular  points  of  a  story  which  is  of  interest  both 
in  the  life  of  the  Duchess  of  Marlborough  and  in  that 
of  Hogarth. 

There  are  two  more  publications  of  Hogarth  which, 
to  a  certain  extent,  belong  to  business  life,  although 
they  are  both  instances  of  gambling  in  its  worst 
form,  viz.  the  *  South  Sea  Bubble '  and  the  *  Lottery.' 
Both  are  dated  1721,  and  they  form  Hogarth's 
earliest  contributions  to  pictorial  satire.  In  the 
preface  to  the  second  volume  of  the  British  Museum 
Catalogue  of  Prints  and  Drawings  (satires)  it  is  said : 
'  The  most  numerous,  the  richest,  and  most  varied 
series  of  satires  in  this  Catalogue  is  that  on  the 
catastrophe  of  the  South  Sea  Company  and  its  allies 
the  Mississippi  and  West  India  Companies,  which 
begins  with  "  The  Bubblers  Medley,"  and  concludes 
with  but  few  intervals  in  the  sequence  of  entries 
with  Hogarth's  early  work,  "  An  Emblematical 
Print  on  the  South  Sea  Scheme,"  comprising  about 
one  hundred  entries  which  describe  not  fewer  than 
two  hundred  and  fifty  distinct  designs.' 

The  '  South  Sea  Bubble  '  print  represents  a  fancy 
London  street  at  the  foot  of  the  Monument,  the 
pedestal  of  which  is  decorated  with  statues  of  two 
foxes,  emblematical  of  the  directors  of  the  South  Sea 
Company,  and  inscribed :  '  THIS  MONUMENT  WAS 


BUSINESS  LIFE  267 

ERECTED  IN  MEMORY  OF  THE  DESTRUCTION  OF  THIS 
CITY  BY  THE  SOUTH  SEA  IN  1720.' 

In  the  centre  of  the  print  is  a  roundabout  worked 
by  South  Sea  directors  and  carrying  persons  of 
various  grades — a  Scotch  nobleman,  with  his  ribbon, 
an  old  woman,  a  shoeblack,  a  divine  and  a  wanton, 
who  chucks  the  last  under  the  chin  as  he  laughs  at 
her.  On  the  top  of  the  machine  is  a  goat  with  the 
label  '  Who  '11  Ride.'  A  crowd  of  women  rush  into 
a  building,  the  gable  of  which  is  surmounted  with 
horns ;  over  the  door  is  written,  '  Baffleing  for 
Husbands  with  Lottery  Fortunes  in  Here.9 1 

In  the  extreme  right  corner  of  the  print  is  a  figure 
lying  exhausted  or  dead,  which  is  labelled  TRADE. 
This  is  one  of  Hogarth's  early  prints  in  which  he 
followed  the  prevalent  custom  of  using  labels  and 
letters  to  inform  the  spectator  as  to  what  is  intended. 
D  is  Honesty,  stretched  upon  a  wheel,  whose  limbs 
are  being  broken  by  G — Self-interest.  F,  a  man 
with  a  dagger  and  mask,  is  flogging  E — Honour 
fastened  to  a  pillory.  In  front  of  the  roundabout 
are  three  men,  one  of  whom  is  said  to  be  intended 
for  Pope.  Respecting  this  group  it  is  said  in  a  note 
by  a  friend  contributed  to  Nichols's  Biographical 
Anecdotes :  '  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  is  no 
very  flattering  point  of  view.  He  is  represented 

1  British  Museum  Catalogue,  vol.  ii.  p.  590. 


268  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

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 
same  scheme.' 

If  these  two  figures  were  intended  for  Pope  and 
Gay,  their  relative  sizes  can  be  illustrated  by  some 
lines  in  Pope's  poem  of  The  Challenge  (1717) : 

'  At  Leicester  Fields  a  house  full  high, 

With  door  all  painted  green, 
Where  ribbons  wave  upon  the  tie 

(A  milliner  I  mean) ; 
There  may  you  meet  us  three  to  three, 
For  Gay  can  well  make  two  of  me.' 

The  widespread  misery  caused  by  the  Bubble 
Companies,  chief  of  which  was  the  South  Sea 
Company,  is  so  well  known  that  it  is  unnecessary  to 
expatiate  upon  it  here.  In  spite  of  all  this  know- 
ledge, it  comes  as  a  shock  to  find  so  many  men 
distinguished  in  the  State,  literature,  science,  and 
even  trade,  who  were  mixed  up  in  the  scandals 
caused  by  this  madness  for  gambling.  Gay's  stock 
given  to  him  by  Young  Craggs  was  once  worth 
£20,000.  He  was  urged  to  sell,  but  he  waited  for  a 
higher  price,  and  even  when  importuned  to  sell  so 
much  as  would  make  him  sure  of  *  a  clean  shirt  and 
a  shoulder  of  mutton  every  day,'  he  still  delayed 
till  he  lost  all.  Pope  was  more  fortunate,  as  his 
stock  was  worth  at  one  time  between  twenty  and 
thirty  thousand  pounds,  and  he  was  one  of  the 


BUSINESS  LIFE  269 

lucky  few  who  had  '  the  good  fortune  to  remain 
with  half  they  imagined  they  had  '  (letter  to  Atter- 
bury).  The  learned  Nonconformist  divine,  Samuel 
Chandler,  D.D.,  F.R.S.  (a  fine  portrait  of  whom,  by 
M.  Chamberlain,  is  in  the  possession  of  the  Royal 
Society),  in  early  life  was  ruined  by  the  loss  of  his 
wife's  fortune,  and  was  forced  to  open  a  bookshop. 
A  grandfather  of  Edward  Gibbon  was  a  Commis- 
sioner of  Customs  and  a  director  of  the  South  Sea 
Company.  He  was  deprived  of  his  whole  fortune 
by  the  House  of  Commons,  but  the  historian  tells 
us  in  his  autobiography  that  his  grandfather  lived 
to  make  another  fortune  which  he  bequeathed  to  his 
son. 

The  South  Sea  Company  was  formed  in  1711  with 
the  object  of  trading  with  Spanish  America,  but  it 
was  a  swindle  pure  and  simple.  It  was  worse  than 
Law's  Mississippi  Scheme,  because  England  had  very 
limited  rights  of  trading  with  South  America,  while 
France  possessed  Louisiana.  The  verses  engraved 
below  the  design  are  sad  doggrel,  and  respecting 
them  Nichols  writes  in  his  Biographical  Anecdotes : 
'  It  may  be  observed,  that  London  always  affords  a 
set  of  itinerant  poets,  whose  office  it  is  to  furnish 
inscriptions  for  satirical  engravings.  I  lately  over- 
heard one  of  these  unfortunate  sons  of  the  Muse  mak- 
ing a  bargain  with  his  employer.  "  Your  print," 
says  he,  "  is  a  taking  one,  and  why  don't  you  go  to 
the  price  of  a  half-crown  epigram  ?  "  From  such 
hireling  bards,  I  suppose,  our  artist  purchased  not  a 


270  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

few  of  the  wretched  rhimes  under  his  early  perform- 
ances ;  unless  he  himself  be  considered  as  the  author 
of  them.' 

The  last  line  of  the  inscription  is  '  Guess  at  the 
rest,  you  find  out  more,'  and  it  has  been  said 
that  seems  '  to  imply  a  consciousness  of  such 
personal  satire  as  it  was  not  prudent  to  explain.' 

'  The  Lottery '  (1721)  is  quite  one  of  the  least 
interesting  of  Hogarth's  productions,  and  does  not 
need  much  description. 

Mr.  Stephens  describes  the  print  as  representing 
'  the  interior  of  a  large  room  with  figures,  having 
various  meanings,  placed  upon  a  raised  platform. 
In  the  centre  is  a  pedestal  of  three  stages,  on  the 
topmost  of  which  is  a  female  figure  representing 
National  Credit  holding  a  church  in  her  right  hand, 
and  resting  her  cheek  on  her  left  hand,  the  elbow 
of  which  is  placed  upon  the  summit  of  a  pillar  ;  on 
the  next  or  middle  stage  sit  Apollo  and  Justice  with 
their  appropriate  emblems.  The  former  points  out 
to  Britannia,  who  sits  on  the  lowest  stage  of  the 
pedestal,  a  picture  which  hangs  on  the  wall  behind 
them.  .  .  .  On  our  right  of  the  platform  is  Fortune, 
a  naked  woman,  blinded  and  standing  on  a  wheel,  in 
the  act  of  putting  her  hand  into  a  great  lottery 
wheel  or  circular  rotatory  box  which  is  placed  on  the 
side  of  the  platform.'1 

There  is  a  description  or  explanation  added  to  the 
design  by  the  artist  himself ;  and,  as  Nichols  says 

1  British  Museum  Catalogue,  vol.  ii.  p.  597. 


BUSINESS  LIFE  271 

in  his  Biographical  Anecdotes,  '  Had  not  Hogarth, 
on  this  occasion,  condescended  to  explain  his  own 
meaning,  it  must  have  remained  in  several  places 
inexplicable.'  The  corrupting  influence  of  lotteries 
on  the  public,  more  particularly  as  they  were 
arranged  by  the  State,  was  considerable,  and  so  far 
was  a  good  subject  for  the  satirist,  but  the  subject  is 
too  confined  to  allow  of  a  broad  arid  interesting 
treatment. 


272  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 


CHAPTER    IX 

TAVERN    LIFE 

THE  eighteenth  century  was  essentially  a  pleasure- 
seeking  period.  The  men  met  nightly  in  taverns 
and  coffee-houses  for  social  converse,  and  often  for 
gaming  and  other  amusements.  There  was  then  a 
greater  mixture  of  classes  than  in  later  times,  and 
here  all  ranks  met  on  equal  terms.  This  doubtless 
became  irksome  to  some,  and  in  order  that  persons 
of  similar  tastes  should  be  able  to  meet  together 
without  mixture  with  uncongenial  spirits  Clubs 
were  formed. 

These  meetings  had  been  general  in  the  sixteenth 
and  seventeenth  centuries,  but  coffee-houses 
increased  greatly  in  the  reign  of  Queen  Anne,  and 
still  more  so  in  the  times  of  the  Georges.  References 
to  many  of  these  are  found  in  Hogarth's  works, 
but  doubtless  he  frequented  many  more  than  we 
have  authority  to  mention.  Nowhere  could  the 
great  satirist  find  more  ample  material  for  his 
pencil  than  in  the  taverns  and  coffee-houses  of 
London. 

In  the  City  mention  may  be  made  of  the  Bell  Inn 
in  Wood  Street,  Cheapside,  Pontack's  Head  in 


TAVERN  LIFE  273 

Abchurch  Lane,  the  Devil,  and  the  Mitre  in  Fleet 
Street,  the  Bible  in  Shire  Lane,  and  the  Elephant  hi 
Fenchurch  Street. 

In  Covent  Garden  the  Bedford  Coffee-House  in 
the  Great  Piazza,  the  Bedford  Arms  in  the  Little 
Piazza,  Button's  in  Russell  Street,  the  Rose  Tavern 
in  Brydges  Street,  and  Tom  King's  in  the  Market. 

In  Clare  Market  the  Spiller's  Head,  in  Gerrard 
Street,  Soho,  the  Turk's  Head,  intimately  associated 
with  Samuel  Johnson,  the  Feathers  in  Leicester 
Square,  and  the  Rummer  at  Charing  Cross. 

The  first  plate  of  the  '  Harlot's  Progress  '  shows 
us  one  of  the  old  inn  yards  so  common  in  the 
eighteenth  century  at  which  the  lumbering  York 
wagon  has  just  arrived.  The  sign  of  the  Bell  is 
seen  by  the  door,  and  John  Ireland  informs  us  that 
this  was  situated  in  Wood  Street,  Cheapside.  It  is 
scarcely  possible  that  Hogarth  intended  the  poor 
clergyman  on  his  half -starved  horse  to  be  the  girl's 
father.  If  he  had  been  such,  he  could  not  have 
allowed  his  daughter  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  the 
brazen  procuress,  who  is  named  as  the  notorious 
Mother  Needham  of  Park  Place,  St.  James's.  This 
woman  in  1731  (three  years  before  the  publication 
of  the  '  Harlot's  Progress)  was  committed  to  the 
Gatehouse  for  keeping  a  disorderly  house,  and  was 
so  ill-used  by  the  populace  during  her  exposure  hi 
the  pillory  that  she  died  shortly  afterwards.  In 
the  doorway  of  the  inn  is  her  employer,  Colonel 
Charteris,  attended  by  his  confidant,  John  Gourlay. 


274  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

The  very  name  of  Charteris  is  a  synonym  for  un- 
mitigated villainy,  and  no  more  withering  condemna- 
tion of  a  human  being  has  ever  been  written  than 
Arbuthnot's  epitaph  on  '  Francis  Chartres,  who 
with  an  inflexible  constancy,  and  inimitable  uni- 
formity of  life,  persisted  in  spite  of  age  and 
infirmities,  in  the  practice  of  every  human  vice, 
excepting  prodigality  and  hypocrisy.  His  insatiable 
avarice  exempted  him  from  the  first ;  his  matchless 
impudence  from  the  second.' 

This  London  inn-yard,  taken  in  conjunction  with 
the  more  lively  and  exciting  '  Stage  Coach  or 
Country  Inn  Yard '  (1747),  gives  us  an  excellent  idea 
of  the  humours  and  troubles  of  travelling  in  Hogarth's 
day. 

Pontack's  eating-house  hi  Abchurch  Lane  was 
the  most  expensive  and  esteemed  resort  of  the 
fashionable  world  from  the  Restoration  to  about  the 
year  1780.  Misson,  the  French  refugee,  did  not 
greatly  esteem  our  mode  of  living,  but  he  made  an 
exception  in  the  case  of  Pontack's.  He  says  in  his 
Travels,  '  Those  who  would  dine  at  one  or  two 
guineas  per  head  are  handsomely  accommodated 
at  our  famous  Pontack's.'  The  place  was  noted 
for  its  wine,  and  Swift  (Journal  to  Stella)  says  : 
*  Pontack  told  us,  although  his  wine  was  so  good, 
he  sold  it  cheaper  than  others ;  he  took  but  seven 
shillings  a  flask.  Are  not  these  pretty  rates  ? ' 

A  tract  entitled  '  The  Metamorphoses  of  the  Town 
or  a  view  of  the  Present  Fashion '  (1730),  shows 


TAVERN  LIFE  275 

the  position  of  Pontack's  as  the  chief  resort  of 
extravagant  epicures.  Among  the  items  in  the  bill- 
of-f are  of  a  guinea  ordinary  figure  '  a  ragout  of 
fatted  snails,'  and  '  chickens  not  two  hours  from  the 
shell.' l 

The  site  of  this  ordinary  was  occupied  before  the 
Great  Fire  by  the  White  Bear,  but  on  the  rebuilding 
a  Frenchman,  described  by  Evelyn  as  M.  Pontack, 
the  son  of  the  President  of  Bordeaux,  owner  of  a 
district  whence  are  imported  to  England  some  of 
the  most  esteemed  claret,  was  encouraged  to  establish 
a  tavern  with  all  the  novelties  of  French  cookery. 
Pontack  was  somewhat  of  a  character,  well  read  in 
philosophy,  but  chiefly  of  the  rabbins,  exceedingly 
addicted  to  cabalistic  fancies  and  '  an  eternal 
babbler.'  He  set  up  as  his  sign  the  portrait  of  his 
distinguished  father.  Pontack's  portrait  is  intro- 
duced in  the  third  plate  of  the  '  Rake's  Progress '  as 
having  been  put  up  in  place  of  that  of  Julius  Caesar. 

In  the  early  years  of  the  Royal  Society  the 
Fellows  dined  at  Pontack's,  and  this  shows  that  the 
philosophers  at  that  day  had  a  taste  for  good 
living.  Mrs.  Susannah  Austin,  who  kept  the 
Pontack's  Head  in  Hogarth's  day,  married  William 
Pepys,  banker  in  Lombard  Street,  at  St.  Clement's 
Church  on  January  15,  1736. 

1  Perhaps  Bramston  was  thinking  of  this  when  he  wrote  in  his  Man  of 
Taste,  1733,— 

'  Dishes  I  chuse  though  little,  yet  genteel, 
Snails  the  first  course,  and  Peepers  crown  the  meal ! ' 

'  Peepers '  are  young  chickens  (Dobson's  De  Libris,  1908,  p.  35  and  notes). 


276  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

The  famous  Devil  Tavern  in  Fleet  Street,  so 
intimately  associated  with  Ben  Jonson,  is  shown  in 
Hogarth's  illustration  of  Hudibras  (Part  iii.  canto  2) 
entitled  '  Burning  the  Rumps  at  Temple  Bar  ' : 

'  That  beastly  rabble — that  came  down 
From  all  the  garrats — in  the  Town, 
And  Stalls  and  Shop-boards, — in  vast  swarms 
With  new  chalk'd  Bills, — and  rusty  arms, 
To  cry  the  Cause — up  heretofore, 
And  bawl  the  Bishops — out  of  door ; 
Are  now  drawn  up — in  greater  Shoals, 
To  roast — and  broil  us  on  the  Coals. 
And  all  the  grandees — of  our  Members 
Are  Carbonading — on  the  Embers ; 
Knights,  citizens  and  burgesses — 
Held  forth  by  Rumps — of  pigs  and  geese, 
That  serve  for  characters — and  badges 
To  represent  their  personages, 
Each  bon-fire  is  a  funeral  pile, 
In  which  they  roast  and  scorch  and  broil, 
And  ev'ry  representative 
Have  vow'd  to  roast — and  broil  alive. 
And  'tis  a  miracle  we  are  not 
Already  sacrific'd  incarnate. 
For  while  we  wrangle  here  and  jar, 
W  are  grilly'd  all  at  Temple-bar. 
Some  on  the  sign-post  of  an  alehouse 
Hang  in  effigy,  for  the  gallows, 
Made  up  of  rags  to  personate 
Respective  Officers  of  State.' 

Although  the  third  part  of  Hudibras  was  not 
published  until  1678,  six  years  after  Wren's  Temple 
Bar  was  built,  Hogarth  would  have  been  more 
correct  if  he  had  drawn  the  old  bar  which  existed 
until  the  Great  Fire  of  1666  ;  as  the  depicted  scene 
occurred  when  that  bar  still  stood  on  its  old  site. 


TAVERN  LIFE  277 

He  could  have  seen  a  figure  of  the  timber  bar  in 
Hollar's  seven-sheet  map  of  London,  but  it  is 
perhaps  too  much  to  expect  such  rigid  accuracy 
from  the  artist.  He  painted  what  he  saw.1 

The  original  sign  of  the  Devil  Tavern  represented 
St.  Dunstan  pulling  the  Devil  by  the  nose,  and 
probably  originated  from  the  house  being  situated 
opposite  to  St.  Dunstan's  Church.  At  the  time  the 
tavern  was  in  chief  repute,  the  Devil  may  be  said  to 
have  been  the  more  popular  of  the  two  personages, 
and  his  name  formed  a  sufficient  designation.  At 
the  latter  end  of  the  eighteenth  century  the  house 
fell  on  evil  days,  and  its  history  and  brilliant  associa- 
tions were  not  sufficient  to  save  it  from  decay. 
Messrs.  Child  the  bankers,  who  occupied  the  next- 
door  house  (which  in  James  the  First's  reign  was  a 
public  ordinary  with  the  sign  of  a  Marygold), 
purchased  in  1787  the  freehold  of  the  Devil,  and 
added  the  premises  to  their  own. 

Close  by  was  the  Mitre,  to  which  tavern  Hogarth 
invited  to  dinner  his  friend  Dr.  Arnold  King,  who 
selected  the  texts  for  the  series  of  prints  of  the  two 
apprentices.  John  Nichols  reproduced  this  drawing 
on  the  engraved  title  to  his  Biographical  Anecdotes, 
and  describes  it  as  follows :  A  specimen  of  Hogarth's 
propensity  to  merriment  on  the  most  trivial  occasions 
is  observable  in  one  of  his  cards  requesting  the 
company  of  Dr.  Arnold  King  to  dine  with  him  at  the 

1  The  history  of  Hogarth's  different  illustrations  of  Hiidibras  is  very  com- 
plicated, and  some  notes  on  the  subject  will  be  found  in  the  second  chapter- 


278  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

Mitre.  Within  a  circle,  to  which  a  knife  and  fork 
are  the  supporters,  the  written  part  is  contained.  In 
the  centre  is  drawn  a  pye,  with  a  mitre  on  the  top  of 
it ;  and  the  invitation  of  our  artist  concludes  with 
the  following  sport  on  three  of  the  Greek  letters — 
to  Eta  Beta  Pi.  The  rest  of  the  inscription  is  not 
very  accurately  spelt.  A  quibble  by  Hogarth  is 
surely  as  respectable  as  a  conundrum  by  Swift.' 

The  complete  inscription  is :  '  Mr.  Hogarth's 
compts  to  Mr.  King  and  desires  the  Honnor  of  his 
company  at  dinner  on  thursday  next  to  Eta  Beta  Py.' 

In  a  note  Nichols  gives  the  information  that  the 
original  is  now  (1782)  in  Park  Place  in  the  possession 
of  Dr.  Wright.  Some  persons  had  doubted  the 
existence  of  the  card.  The  Mitre  was  a  favourite 
sign,  and  many  celebrated  houses  with  this  name 
were  to  be  found  in  different  parts  of  London.  The 
two  most  famous  were  situated  in  Cheapside  and 
in  Fleet  Street.  The  latter  after  many  vicissitudes 
ceased  to  exist,  and  the  site  (No.  39  Fleet  Street) 
was  added  to  the  banking  house  of  Messrs.  Hoare  in 
1829.  This  tavern  was  frequented  (among  other 
celebrities)  by  Ben  Jonson,  Samuel  Pepys,  and 
Samuel  Johnson.  Hogarth  also  appears  to  have 
found  in  it  a  convenient  resort.1 

The  Royal  Society  and  the  Society  of  Antiquaries 

1  In  London,  Past  and  Present  it  is  asserted,  largely  on  the  authority 
of  T.  C.  Noble  and  R.  H.  Burn  (London  Trade  Tokens)  that  Johnson's 
Mitre  was  a  later  house  situated  in  Mitre  Court,  Fleet  Street ;  but  my 
friend  Dr.  Philip  Norman,  Treasurer  of  the  Society  of  Antiquaries,  has 
kindly  given  particulars  which  force  nie  to  the  conclusion  that  this  opinion 
is  untenable. 


TAVERN  LIFE  279 

were  in  the  habit  of  dining  there.     Of  the  latter 
Cawthorn  wrote  : 

'  Some  Antiquarians,  grave  and  loyal, 
Incorporate  by  Charter  Royal, 
Last  winter  on  a  Thursday  night  were 
Met  in  full  senate  at  the  Mitre.' 

'  A  Midnight  Modern  Conversation  '  (1734)  is  one 
of  Hogarth's  first-rate  performances,  in  which  eleven 
persons  are  brought  together  in  various  stages  of 
intoxication.  There  have  been  many  conjectures  as 
to  the  scene  of  these  orgies — two  places  have  been 
suggested — the  St.  John's  Coffee-House  in  Shire 
Lane  and  the  Bible  in  the  same  place.  The  landlord 
of  the  latter  was  a  bookbinder  named  Chandler  who 
worked  for  Hogarth.  John  Ireland  tells  us  this,  and 
adds  that  the  conjecture  is  founded  on  the  strong 
resemblance  of  the  man  with  a  nightcap  to  Chandler, 
who  was  very  deaf.  At  the  same  time  he  himself 
was  inclined  to  pronounce  the  man  from  his  conse- 
quential manner  to  be  a  justice  of  the  peace.  The 
clergyman  who  is  seen  ladling  out  the  punch  is  said 
by  Sir  John  Hawkins  to  be  intended  for  Orator 
Henley,  but  this  has  been  disputed,  and  Dr.  Johnson's 
dissolute  kinsman — Parson  Ford — has  been  named 
by  some  for  the  '  honourable  '  post.  Doubtless  all 
the  characters  introduced  are  taken  from  the  life, 
but  it  was  only  occasionally  that  Hogarth  was 
personal  in  his  satire,  and  he  seldom  named  his 
subjects,  as  alluded  to  in  the  verses  under  the  print : 

'  Think  not  to  find  one  meant  resemblance  there, 
We  lash  the  vices  but  the  persons  spare.' 


280  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

His  annotators  were  not  so  reticent,  and  attempted 
to  name  all  the  persons  in  his  pictures,  often  without 
much  probability.  In  this  picture,  besides  those 
already  mentioned,  one  of  the  characters  is  said  to 
represent  Kettleby,  a  blatant  advocate,  and  another 
John  Harrison  the  tobacconist,  who  sold  papers  of 
tobacco  at  the  taverns  he  frequented.  In  this 
picture  there  is  a  paper  inscribed  *  Freeman's  Best.' 
James  Figg  has  also  been  named  as  one  of  the 
company,  but  this  is  very  doubtful.  John  Ireland 
says  that  he  was  told  that  the  original  picture  was 
found  in  an  inn  in  Gloucestershire,  and  '  is  now  (1793) 
in  the  possession  of  J.  Calverley,  Esq.  of  Leeds.' 

The  engraving  was  very  popular  in  France  and 
Germany  as  well  as  in  England,  and  was  transferred 
to  pottery  and  to  fans.  Mr.  Dobson  mentions 
several  copies — one,  which  had  previously  belonged 
to  Lord  Chesterfield,  was  exhibited  at  Richmond  in 
1881  by  the  late  Mr.  Henry  George  Bohn ;  another 
was  sent  to  the  Guelph  Exhibition  in  1891  by  Mrs. 
Morrison,  of  Basildon.  There  is  a  version  in  Lord 
Leconfield's  gallery  at  Petworth,  and  another  is 
referred  to  by  Mr.  J.  Wade  in  the  Athenaeum 
(September  24,  1881). 

1  A  Chorus  of  Singers  '  (1733)  was  the  subscription 
ticket  for  '  A  Midnight  Modern  Conversation.' 
John  Ireland  reports  that  *  On  the  22nd  of  March 
1742  for  the  benefit  of  Mr.  Hippisley,  was  acted  at 
Covent  Garden  theatre,  a  new  scene,  called  a  Modern 
Midnight  Conversation  taken  from  Hogarth's  print, 


TAVERN  LIFE  281 

in  which  was  introduced  Hippisley's  Drunken  Man, 
with  a  comic  tale  of  what  really  passed  between 
himself  and  his  old  Aunt  at  her  house  on  Mendip 
Hills,  in  Somersetshire.' 

Samuel  Ireland  includes  in  his  Graphic  Illustrations 
(ii.  105)  a  portrait  of  John  Hippisley  as  Sir  Francis 
Gripe  in  the  Busy  Body,  which  shows  the  distortion 
on  the  actor's  face  caused  by  an  accidental  burn  in 
his  youth.  This  portrait  is  not  generally  accepted 
as  Hogarth's  work,  and  as  it  is  signed  as  engraver  by 
Sykes,  who  was  well  known  as  a  forger,  it  must  be 
considered  as  more  than  doubtful. 

Hogarth's  name  is  associated  by  tradition  with  the 
Elephant  Tavern  in  Fenchurch  Street.  The  original 
house,  named  the  Elephant  and  Castle,  existed  long 
before  the  Fire  of  London  and  was  situated  on  the 
north  side  of  the  street  between  the  Mitre  and  the 
Angel.  The  house  was  rebuilt  soon  after  the  Fire, 
and  had  a  long  life  until  1826,  when  it  was  pulled 
down.  Tradition  reported  that  Hogarth  in  his  early 
days  of  poverty  lived  at  the  Elephant,  and  ran  in 
debt  to  the  landlady.  In  order  to  wipe  out  his 
heavy  score  he  is  supposed  to  have  painted  on  the 
walls  of  the  tap-room  four  pictures.  These  repre- 
sented Fenchurch  in  the  eighteenth  century,  a  Parish 
Club  scene,  the  Humour  of  Harlow  Bush  Fair,  and 
the  Hudson  Bay  Company's  Porters  going  to  dinner. 

When  the  building  was  condemned  many  persons 
flocked  to  the  Elephant  to  see  the  supposed  Hogarth 
pictures.  A  picture  dealer  bought  the  pictures  and 


282  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

had  them  carefully  transferred  from  the  walls  to 
canvas.  They  were  exhibited  in  Pall  Mall,  but  it  is 
understood  that  experts  were  by  no  means  convinced 
that  they  were  Hogarth's  work.1 

Covent  Garden  must  have  been  a  happy  hunting- 
ground  for  Hogarth,  and  he  doubtless  knew  every 
inch  of  the  place  where  all  classes  met,  and  where  the 
manners  of  the  society  rakes  were  as  bad  as  those  of 
the  lowest  classes.  First  must  be  mentioned  the 
Bedford  Arms  Tavern  where  Hogarth  and  several 
friends  held  a  club,  a  few  members  of  which  in  1732 
agreed  together  to  go  for  a  short  tour  in  the  Isle  of 
Sheppey,  and  on  their  return  the  journal  of  their 
travels  was  read  to  the  members  of  the  club  collected 
at  the  tavern.  The  original  MS.  with  its  illustra- 
tions is  preserved  in  the  British  Museum. 

Its  title  is  '  An  Account  of  what  seem'd  most 
remarkable  in  the  Five  Days  perigrination  of  the  five 
following  persons  viz*  Messieurs  Tothall,  Scott, 
Hogarth,  Thornhill  &  Forrest.  Begun  on  Saturday 
May  the  27th  1732  and  Finish'd  on  the  31st  of  the 
same  month.'  Of  these  men  William  Tothall  was 
the  son  of  an  apothecary  in  Fleet  Street,  who  after 
many  vicissitudes  became  a  woollen-draper  and 
earned  a  competence ;  Samuel  Scott  was  the  excellent 
painter  known  as  the  English  Canaletto ;  John 
Thornhill  was  the  brother-in-law  of  Hogarth;  and 

1  In  a  highly  fanciful  article  in  the  Builder  of  Sept.  9,  1875,  the  scene  of 
the  meeting  of  the  Parish  Club  is  supposed  to  be  the  original  of  the  '  Mid- 
night Modern  Conversation,' 


TAVERN  LIFE  283 

Ebenezer  Forrest  was  an  attorney  who  lived  in 
George  Street,  Adelphi.  On  the  ninth  illustration 
by  Hogarth — a  comical  figure  of  Nobody,  a  head  and 
two  legs — is  written  by  Forrest  the  following  illustra- 
tion :  '  I  think  I  cannot  better  conclude  than  with 
taking  notice  that  not  one  of  the  Company  was 
unemployed,  For  Mr.  Thornhill  made  the  map,  Mr. 
Hogarth  and  Mr.  Scott  all  the  other  drawings,  Mr. 
Tothall  was  our  Treasurer  which  (tho'  a  place  of 
the  greatest  Trust)  he  faithfully  Discharg'd,  &  the 
foregoing  Memoirs  was  the  work  of  E.  Forrest.' 

This  was  a  most  amusing  freak,  and  the  account 
contains  much  curious  matter.  When  the  party 
stopped  at  Rochester  '  Hogarth  and  Scott  .  .  . 
played  at  hop-scotch  in  the  Colonnade  under  the 
Town  Hall.'  This  is  almost  exactly  opposite  the 
Bull  Hotel. 

The  headpiece  representing  a  sort  of  human  torso 
by  Hogarth,  is  said  to  be  representative  of  the  journey 
which  *  was  a  short  tour  by  land  and  water,  back- 
wards and  forwards  without  head  or  tail.' 

The  travellers  sent  the  manuscript  of  their  tour 
to  the  Rev.  W.  Gostling,  a  minor  canon  of  Canterbury 
and  author  of  A  Walk  in  and  about  Canterbury. 
He  wrote  an  imitation  in  Hudibrastic  verse  with 
additions  of  his  own,  twenty  copies  of  which  were 
printed  in  1781  by  John  Nichols,  who  afterwards 
added  it  to  his  Biographical  Anecdotes  (second  edition, 
1782).  The  original  was  published  in  1782  by 
Richard  Livesay,  who  lived  in  Mrs.  Hogarth's  house 


284  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

in  Leicester  Square.  Two  other  members  of  the 
Club  had  their  portraits  drawn  by  Hogarth,  viz. 
Gabriel  Hunt  about  1733,  and  Benjamin  Read  about 
1757.  These  were  engraved  by  Livesay  in  1781. 

The  original  drawings  hung  for  many  years  on  the 
walls  of  the  club-room,  and  afterwards  came  into  the 
possession  of  Theodosius  Forrest,  son  of  the  author 
of  the  Five  Days'  Peregrination.  He  gave  them 
to  Mrs.  Hogarth,  who  afterwards  presented  them  to 
the  Marquis  of  Exeter.  It  is  said  that  Read  came 
one  night  to  the  Bedford  Arms  after  a  long  journey 
and  fell  asleep  there.  Hogarth  was  about  to  leave 
the  club,  but,  struck  by  his  friend's  appearance,  he 
exclaimed  *  Heavens  !  what  a  character  !  '  and  took 
the  portrait  immediately,  without  sitting  down. 
The  Bedford  Arms  was  situated  in  the  Little  Piazza 
on  the  east  side  of  the  square,  which  was  cleared 
away  and  only  partially  rebuilt. 

The  Bedford  Coffee-House,  in  the  Great  Piazza 
near  the  entrance  to  the  theatre,  was  another  haunt 
of  Hogarth's ;  and  John  Nichols  was  told  by  a  friend 
that,  being  once  there  with  the  painter,  he  observed 
him  to  draw  something  with  a  pencil  on  his  nail. 
Inquiring  what  had  been  his  employment,  he  was 
shown  the  countenance  (a  whimsical  one)  of  a  person 
who  was  then  at  a  short  distance  off. 

In  Tavistock  Street  Richard  Leveridge  the  singer 
kept  a  famous  house  of  entertainment.  Hogarth 
engraved  a  frontispiece  to  '  A  Collection  of  Songs, 
with  the  Musick,  by  Mr.  Leveridge  '  (1727).  Captain 


TAVERN  LIFE  285 

Coram  was  very  poor  in  his  later  days,  and  a  pension 
of  a  little  over  one  hundred  pounds  a  year  was  raised 
for  him  at  the  instigation  of  Sir  Sampson  Gideon  and 
Dr.  Brocklesby  by  voluntary  subscription.  On 
Coram's  death  in  1751  that  pension  was  transferred 
to  Leveridge,  who  at  the  age  of  ninety  had  scarcely 
any  other  prospect  than  that  of  parish  relief.1 

The  Rose  Tavern  in  Russell  Street  and  Brydges 
Street,  Covent  Garden,  was  next  door  to  Drury  Lane 
Theatre,  and  afterwards,  when  that  was  enlarged 
by  Garrick  in  1776,  was  cleared  away  and  the  site 
added  to  that  of  the  theatre.  The  Rose  had  a  bad 
name  as  the  resort  of  the  worst  characters  of  the 
town  both  male  and  female,  who  made  it  the  head- 
quarters of  midnight  orgies  and  drunken  broils  where 
murderous  assaults  were  frequently  occurring  among 
the  bullies  of  the  time.  It  stood  pre-eminent  among 
the  dangerous  houses  in  the  neighbourhood.  We 
learn  this  from  Dryden  and  Shadwell  and  other 
dramatists  of  the  seventeenth  century,  and  it  had  not 
improved  in  the  eighteenth  century.  In  the  '  Rake 
Reformed,'  1718,  we  read  : 

'  Not  far  from  thence  appears  a  pendant  sign, 
Whose  bush  declares  the  product  of  the  vine, 
Where  to  the  traveller's  sight  the  full-blown  Kose 
Its  dazzling  beauties  doth  in  gold  disclose, 
And  painted  faces  flock  in  tallied  cloaths.' 

It  is  supposed  that  the  night  scene  in  the  tavern 
where  Thomas  Rakewell  is  surrounded  by  women  of 
the  town  ('  Rake's  Progress,'  Plate  3)  is  laid  at  the 

1  John  Ireland's  Hogarth  Illustrated,  vol.  iii.  p.  54. 


286  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

Rose.  On  the  rim  of  the  large  pewter  dish  on  which 
the  female  posturist  was  about  to  perform  is  in- 
scribed '  John  Bonvine  at  the  Rose  Tavern  Drury 
Lane.'  The  porter  of  the  Rose,  known  as  Leather- 
coat,  was  a  notorious  man,  and  is  supposed  to  be  the 
bearer  of  the  dish.  Fielding  makes  this  man  a 
principal  character  in  his  highly-objectionable  Covent 
Garden  Tragedy,  although  he  names  him  Leather- 
sides.  It  is  amazing  that  such  a  play  could  have 
been  acted  even  in  the  eighteenth  century,  and  that 
so  distinguished  an  actress  as  Miss  Raftor  (after- 
wards Mrs.  Clive  and  the  '  Clivey  Pivey  '  of  Garrick) 
should  have  demeaned  herself  by  taking  a  part  hi  it. 

Leathercoat  was  a  remarkably  strong  man,  and 
for  a  pot  of  beer  he  would  lie  down  in  the  street  and 
allow  a  carriage  to  pass  over  him.  '  After  his  death 
he  was  dissected  by  Dr.  Hunter,  and  the  appearance 
of  muscular  strength  was  extraordinary,  both  hi 
form  of  the  muscles  and  in  the  remarkable  processes 
of  bones  into  which  they  were  inserted.'  ] 

In  spite  of  its  evil  repute,  some  of  us  are  apt  to  feel 
a  special  interest  in  the  tavern  from  the  mistaken  idea 
that  '  sweet  Molly  Mog '  of  the  Rose  was  a  waitress 
here.  Her  charms  happily  bloomed  in  a  purer  air. 

The  delightful  ballad  we  owe  to  John  Gay — 

'  The  schoolboy's  desire  is  a  play-day, 
The  schoolmaster's  joy  is  to  flog ; 
The  milkmaid's  delight  is  May-day, 
But  mine  is  sweet  Molly  Mog  ' — 

1  London  Chronicle,  Aug.  26-29,  1806. 


TAVERN  LIFE  287 

was  written  at  the  Rose  Inn  at  Wokingham,  in 
Berkshire,  the  landlord  of  which  was  John  Mog, 
the  father  of  Molly.  Mr.  Stander  of  Arborfield, 
who  died  in  1730,  is  said  to  have  been  the  enamoured 
swain  to  whom  the  ballad  alludes. 

It  is  a  curious  fact  that  such  taverns  as  the  Rose 
in  Covent  Garden  were  fairly  respectable  resorts  in 
the  daytime,  and  we  learn  from  the  historian 
Gibbon  that  on  January  19,  1763,  the  night  of  the 
production  of  Mallet's  tragedy  of  Elvira,  he  and  his 
father  went  to  the  Rose  on  their  way  to  the  play- 
house. They  met  Mallet  and  about  thirty  friends, 
dined  together  and  then  went  to  the  pit,  c  where  we 
took  our  places  in  a  body,  ready  to  silence  all  opposi- 
tion. However,  we  had  no  occasion  to  exert  our- 
selves.' 

Tom  King's  Coffee-House  (after  his  death  known 
as  Moll  King's),  described  by  Arthur  Murphy  as 
'  well-known  to  all  gentlemen  to  whom  beds  are 
unknown,'  was  one  of  the  institutions  of  Covent 
Garden.  It  occupies  an  important  position  in 
Hogarth's  '  Morning,'  but  it  is  needless  to  say  more 
about  it  here  as  it  is  fully  described  in  Chapter  m. 
(Low  Life). 

Night  houses  were  common  enough  in  Covent 
Garden,  and  probably  the  death  scene  of  the  Earl 
of  Squanderfield  in  the  fifth  plate  of  the  '  Marriage 
a  la  Mode  '  took  place  in  one  of  them.  On  the  floor 
of  the  room  is  a  bill  inscribed  '  The  Bagnio,'  with  a 
cut  of  the  Turk's  Head. 


288  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

The  'Marriage'  series  was  engraved  by  Ravenet, 
and  John  Nichols  says  that  the  background  of  Plate 
5  was  the  work  of  Ravenet's  wife.  This  is,  however, 
a  mistake,  and  Charles  Grignion,  who  knew  Ravenet 
intimately,  told  John  Ireland  that  Mrs.  Ravenet 
could  not  engrave.  '  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.'1 

Samuel  Ireland  published  in  the  first  volume  of 
his  Graphic  Illustrations  (1794)  four  engravings  of 
characters  at  Button's  Coffee-House,  taken  from 
drawings  in  Indian  ink  in  his  possession,  which 
he  attributes  to  Hogarth.  Ireland  says  that  he 
purchased  the  originals  '  (with  three  of  the  original 
drawings  of  Hudibras)  from  the  executors  of  a 
Mr.  Brent,  an  old  gentleman,  who  was  for  many 
years  in  habits  of  intimacy  with  Hogarth.'  He 
dates  the  drawings  as  having  been  made  in  1720, 
which  is  possible,  although  Addison,  who  is  figured 
in  one  of  the  drawings,  died  in  1719.  Horace 
Walpole  appears  to  have  seen  the  drawings  and 
to  have  named  one  of  the  figures  in  Plate  3  as 
that  of  Count  Viviani,  and  George  Steevens  does  not 
seem  to  have  doubted  the  genuineness  of  the  draw- 

1  Hogarth  Illustrated,  vol.  iii.  p.  345. 


TAVERN  LIFE  289 

ings.1  The  originals  are  now  in  the  Print  Room  of 
the  British  Museum.  Button's  Coffee-House  was 
on  the  south  side  of  Russell  Street.  Dryden  made 
Will's  the  great  resort  of  the  wits,  and  Addison 
lorded  it  at  Button's,  which  house  was  founded  by 
Daniel  Button  in  1713,  the  year  in  which  Addison' s 
great  reputation  was  confirmed  by  the  success  of 
Cato.  James  Moore  Smythe,  writing  to  Teresa 
Blount  on  August  13,  1713,  says,  '  The  wits  are 
removed  from  Will's  over  the  way.' 

Pope  said  that  Button  had  been  a  servant  of 
Addison' s,  but  Johnson  affirmed  that  he  was  a 
servant  in  the  Countess  of  Warwick's  family.  We 
must  remember  that  he  did  not  marry  the  Countess 
until  three  years  after  he  had  become  a  constant 
habitue  of  Button's.  Johnson's  further  statement 
that  when  Addison  suffered  any  vexation  from  the 
Countess,  '  he  withdrew  the  company  from  Button's 
house '  is  incredible,  and  no  one  who  loves  Addison 
can  for  a  moment  believe  in  such  an  instance  of 
littleness. 

Plate  1  contains  a  portrait  of  Daniel  Button 
repulsing  a  mendicant. 

Plate  2. — Martin  Folkes,  afterwards  President  of 
the  Royal  Society,  whose  portrait  Hogarth  painted ; 
and  Addison. 

Plate  3,  four  figures :  the  one  in  the  centre  is  Dr. 
Arbuthnot,  and  the  one  to  the  right  Count  Viviani. 

Walpole    says    that     this    Florentine    nobleman 

1  British  Museum  Catalogue,  vol.  ii.  p.  567. 
T 


290  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

showing  the  triumphal  arch  at  Florence  to  Prince 
San  Severino,  assured  him  and  insisted  upon  it,  that 
it  was  begun  and  finished  in  twenty-four  hours. 
Walpole  writing  to  Mann  on  April  27,  1753,  says, 
*  If  you  could  send  me  Viviani  with  his  invisible 
architects  out  of  the  Arabian  tales  I  might  get  my 
house  ready  at  a  day's  warning.'  Viviani  was  a 
constant  attendant  at  coffee-houses. 

Plate  4,  four  figures :  the  left-hand  one,  Dr.  Garth 
(died  1719),  and  the  middle  one  Pope,  who  was  a 
frequent  visitor  at  Button's.  He  said  that  he  met 
Addison  there  almost  every  day. 

These  sketches  of  coffee-house  frequenters  are 
fully  described  in  Binyon's  British  Museum  Cata- 
logue of  Drawings  of  British  Artists  (vol.  ii.  p.  321). 
The  cataloguer  says :  '  These  drawings  are  un- 
doubtedly by  Hogarth,  but  that  is  all  that  can  be 
said  with  certainty  about  them.  The  assertions  of 
a  man  of  such  unscrupulous  credulity  as  Samuel 
Ireland  must  be  well  sifted.  In  the  first  state  of  his 
engravings  from  these  sketches  he  made  the  date 
1730,  and  this  is  perhaps  about  the  actual  date  to 
which  they  belong,  although  it  is  probably  nearer 
1740.  But  while  publishing  them  as  drawings  of 
1730,  he  boldly  claimed  to  recognise  in  them  portraits 
of  Addison  and  of  Garth,  who  both  died  in  1719. 
The  famous  circle  at  Button's  broke  up  on  Addison's 
death,  and  Pope  quarrelled  with  Addison  and  his 
coterie  in  1713.' 

These  drawings  are  here  critically  discussed  for 


TAVERN  LIFE  291 

the  first  time,  with  the  result  that  we  may  accept 
them  as  Hogarth's,  but  must  reject  most  of  the 
ascriptions.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  further  evidence 
respecting  them  may  be  found,  so  that  we  may 
know  who  it  was  that  Hogarth  sketched. 

Old  Slaughter's  Coffee-House  was  one  of  Hogarth's 
most  favourite  haunts ;  it  was  conveniently  near  his 
home,  and  it  was  largely  the  resort  of  his  most 
intimate  friends.  A  club  of  artists  and  literary  men 
met  regularly  twice  a  week,  and  here  authors,  painters 
and  sculptors  were  in  the  habit  of  showing  any  work 
they  had  produced  before  it  was  exhibited  to  the 
public.  On  these  occasions  the  merits  of  the  special 
work  were  discussed  among  the  members,  and  pos- 
sibly its  demerits  also. 

Highmore,  Roubiliac  and  Jonathan  Richardson 
were  among  Hogarth's  fellow- members ;  so  also  was 
that  curious  character,  Dr.  Mounsey,  the  physician 
to  Chelsea  Hospital,  who,  when  he  met  Fanny 
Burney  there,  asked  if  she  was  the  Queen's  Miss 
Burney.  I  once  possessed  a  letter  from  Mounsey  to 
Garrick  which  was  endorsed  by  the  latter  '  One  of 
Mounsey 's  long  lying  epistles.' 

Samuel  Ireland  says  that  Dr.  Johnson  and  Isaac 
Hawkins  Browne  were  members  also,  and  relates  an 
anecdote  on  the  authority  of  Highmore  of  Johnson's 
remarkably  retentive  memory,  which  is  not  recorded 
in  Boswell. 

On  one  occasion  at  the  club  Browne  '  entertained 
the  company  with  a  recital  of  his  excellent  Latin 


292  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

poem,  De  Animi  Immortalitate  ;  this  recital  met  with 
great  applause  from  the  parties  present,  and  was 
accompanied  by  a  strong  wish  on  the  part  of  some  of 
them,  to  be  favoured  with  the  whole  or  extracts  from 
it ;  to  which  Mr.  Browne  replied  that  he  could  not 
comply  with  their  request,  as  he  had  no  copy  of  it. 
Dr.  Johnson,  who  had  listened  with  great  attention 
during  the  recital,  sent  the  next  morning  a  manu- 
script of  it  to  the  author,  which  he  had  collected  from 
his  memory.' ] 

This  coffee-house  was  established  by  Thomas 
Slaughter  in  the  year  1692  on  the  west  side  of  St. 
Martin's  Lane  three  doors  from  Newport  Street. 
Slaughter  continued  to  be  landlord  for  nearly  fifty 
years,  and  was  an  attendant  at  the  club.  In  1741  he 
was  dead,  and  his  business  was  carried  on  by 
Humphrey  Bailey.  About  1760  another  coffee- 
house called  '  New  Slaughter's  '  was  established  in 
St.  Martha's  Lane,  and  the  original  house  came  to  be 
called  '  Old  Slaughter's,'  a  name  which  it  retained 
until  it  was  demolished  in  1843  to  make  way  for  the 
new  opening  into  Leicester  Square. 

'  The  Complicated  Richardson,'  in  ridicule  of 
Jonathan  Richardson  and  his  son,  is  so  exceedingly 
coarse,  and  unkind  as  well  that  one  can  only  hope  that 
the  engraving  in  the  first  volume  of  Graphic  Illustra- 
tions (p.  118)  is  a  forgery.  Highmore  says  that 
Hogarth  made  a  sketch,  but  finding  that  it  hurt  the 

1  The  poem  in  two  books  was  published  in  1754.  See  Graphic  Illustra- 
tions, vol.  i.  p.  121. 


TAVERN  LIFE  293 

feelings  of  Richardson,  *  he  threw  the  paper  in  the 
fire  and  there  ended  the  dissatisfaction.' l 

The  Rummer  Tavern  at  Charing  Cross  is  intro- 
duced into  the  picture  of  '  Night '  ('  Four  Times  of 
the  Day '),  which  is  said  to  represent  the  annual 
rejoicing  on  the  night  of  the  29th  of  May. 

This  was  a  famous  place  of  entertainment  kept  in 
the  reign  of  Charles  n.  by  Samuel  Prior,  uncle  of 
Matthew  Prior,  who  was  apprenticed  to  him  and  did 
not  like  the  business,  as  is  seen  from  his  poems.  The 
Prior  family  ceased  to  be  connected  with  it  in  1702, 
and  the  tavern  was  burnt  down  in  1750.  A  full 
account  of  the  incidents  in  the  picture  of  '  Night ' 
will  be  found  in  Chapter  iv.  (Low  Life). 

At  a  tavern  in  Oxford  Street,  The  Man  loaded  with 
Mischief,  there  was  a  painted  sign  attributed  to 
Hogarth,  and  an  engraving  of  this  was  exhibited  in 
the  window.  It  represented  a  man  carrying  a 
woman,  a  magpie  and  a  monkey,  the  woman  with  a 
glass  of  gin  in  her  hand.  This  house  was  numbered 
414,  but  some  years  ago  the  painted  sign  was  re- 
moved and  the  name  of  the  public-house  was  cut 
down  to  The  Mischief.  The  house  is  now  numbered 
53,  and  the  sign  is  the  Shamrock.  The  sign  had  been 
so  often  renewed  that  if  it  was  originally  painted  by 
Hogarth  little  of  his  work  can  have  remained  to  our 
day. 

The  last  place  of  entertainment  to  be  mentioned 
is  the  most  important  of  all,  viz.  White's  Chocolate- 

1  Graphic  Illustrations,  vol.  i.  p.  120. 


294  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

House  in  St.  James's  Street.  Clubs  were  established 
at  most  of  the  coffee-houses  and  taverns,  but  these 
were  only  given  accommodation,  and  the  houses 
where  they  were  held  continued  to  be  free  to  the 
public  who  paid  their  fees.  The  clubs  often  moved 
from  house  to  house,  but  the  club  at  White's  became 
so  important  that  in  course  of  time  it  drove  out  the 
public  altogether  and  retained  the  house  for  itself, 
becoming  a  proprietary  club.  This  occurred  in 
1755,  twenty  years  after  the  publication  of  the 
'  Rake's  Progress,'  two  of  the  plates  of  which 
relate  to  White's.  The  history  of  White's  has  been 
found  a  very  complicated  and  difficult  one  to  recount 
by  the  different  writers  on  London  topography,  but 
the  Hon.  Algernon  Bourke  has  now  made  it  clear,  by 
a  thorough  investigation  of  the  books  of  the  Club,  and 
the  memoirs  of  the  men  of  the  time,  in  his  most 
interesting  volumes  entitled  The  History  of  Whites 
(1892).  He  writes:  'When  at  the  end  of  the  seven- 
teenth century  a  company  of  gentlemen  founded  the 
club  at  White's  by  drawing  up  a  few  simple  rules 
to  regulate  their  private  meetings  at  the  Chocolate- 
House,  there  were  few  clubs  in  existence,  and  none 
that  have  survived  to  the  present  day.  Clubs  then, 
were  either  assemblies  of  men  bound  together  by 
strong  political  feeling  like  the  October ;  small  groups 
of  philosophers  and  rhetoricians  who  met  to  discuss 
abstract  theories  of  ethics  like  the  Rota  ;  or  bands  of 
choice  spirits,  such  as  those  whose  very  questionable 
doings  found  a  historian  in  Ned  Ward  of  the  London 


TAVERN  LIFE  295 

Spy.  Club  life  as  we  know  it,  began  with  the  estab- 
lishment of  White's  nearly  two  centuries  ago,  and 
during  those  two  centuries  White's  has  seen  the 
origin  of  every  other  institution  of  its  own  kind 
existing  to-day,  and  the  development  of  club  life 
into  its  huge  modern  proportions.' 

White's  Chocolate-House  was  opened  in  1693  by 
Francis  White  at  a  house  on  the  site  of  Boodle's 
Club  (No.  38  St.  James's  Street).  Francis  White 
removed  the  Chocolate-House  in  1697  to  the  site  of 
the  present  Arthur's  Club  (69  and  70)  on  the  opposite 
side  of  the  street.  About  this  time  the  Old  Club 
was  founded.  White  died  in  1711,  and  his  widow 
succeeded  him  as  proprietress.  John  Arthur  suc- 
ceeded Madam  White  as  proprietor  in  1725. 

On  April  28,  1733,  White's  at  four  o'clock  in  the 
morning  was  entirely  destroyed  by  fire,  with  two 
houses  adjoining.  '  Young  Mr.  Arthur's  wife  leaped 
out  of  a  window  two  pair  of  stairs  upon  a  feather  bed 
without  much  hurt.' 

The  King  and  Prince  of  Wales  came  from  St. 
James's  Palace,  and  stayed  above  an  hour  encourag- 
ing the  firemen  and  people  to  work  at  the  engines. 
The  King  ordered  twenty  guineas  among  the  firemen 
and  others,  and  five  guineas  to  the  guard.  The 
Prince  ordered  the  firemen  to  receive  ten  guineas. 

This  was  the  fire,  the  commencement  of  which  is 
seen  in  Plate  6  of  the  '  Rake's  Progress.'  Here,  as 
John  Ireland  writes,  every  one  present  is  so  engrossed 
by  his  own  situation  that  the  flames,  which  are 


296  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

sufficiently  visible,  are  disregarded,  and  it  needs  the 
entrance  of  the  watchman  crying  '  Fire '  to  draw 
attention  to  the  serious  danger  in  which  all  the 
company  are  placed.  The  Rake  is  seen  kneeling  in 
the  front  of  the  picture  imprecating  vengeance  on 
his  own  head.  He  has  pulled  off  his  wig  and  dashed 
it  on  the  floor  in  a  frenzy  of  rage  and  despair  at  the 
loss  of  his  fortune.  The  loss  of  his  all  drives  him  to 
the  Fleet  Prison  in  the  next  plate,  to  be  followed  in  the 
last  one  by  his  incarceration  in  Bedlam  as  a  hopeless 
maniac.  J.  B.  Nichols  points  out  that  in  the  original 
sketch  in  oil  belonging  to  Mrs.  Hogarth  the  Rake  is 
sitting,  and  not,  as  in  the  finished  picture,  on  his 
knees. 

The  scene  in  the  sixth  plate  shows  how  miscellane- 
ous was  the  company  gathered  together  at  White's. 
By  the  fire  is  a  highwayman,  with  a  horse  pistol  and 
black  mask  in  a  skirt  pocket  of  his  coat.  He  wears 
long  horseman's  boots  with  spurs  and  a  large  riding- 
coat,  and  carries  a  hat  under  his  arm.  He  is  so 
engrossed  hi  his  thoughts  that  he  observes  nothing 
that  is  going  on  around  him,  and  he  does  not  observe 
the  boy  by  his  side,  who  endeavours  to  attract  atten- 
tion to  the  glass  of  liquor  which  he  carries  on  a  tray.1 

In  connection  with  this  we  may  quote  Farquhar's 
Beaux  Stratagem  (act  iii.  sc.  2),  where  Aimwell  says 
to  Gibbet,  who  is  a  highwayman,  '  Pray,  sir,  ha'nt 
I  seen  your  face  at  Will's  Coffee-House  ?'  '  Yes,  sir, 
and  at  White's  too,'  answers  the  highwayman. 

1  British  Museum  Catalogue,  voL  iii.  p.  155. 


TAVERN  LIFE  297 

It  would  appear  that  some  of  the  frequenters  of  the 
Club,  not  satisfied  with  the  possibilities  of  gambling 
in  the  club-room,  searched  for  further  opportunities 
in  the  public  room.  The  figure  in  the  background 
who  is  giving  his  note  of  hand  to  a  usurer  is  said  to 
represent  '  Old  Manners,'  brother  to  the  Duke  of 
Rutland,  who  is  reported  to  have  been  the  only 
person  of  rank  of  his  time  who  amassed  a  consider- 
able fortune  by  the  profession  of  a  gamester. 

White's  was  always  the  headquarters  of  gaming, 
and  Robert  Harley,  Earl  of  Oxford,  in  the  time  of  his 
ministry  never  passed  the  house  '  without  bestowing 
a  curse  upon  that  famous  academy,  as  the  bane  of 
half  the  English  nobility.' l  On  the  left  of  the  picture 
is  a  richly-dressed  nobleman  borrowing  from  a 
moneylender,  who  is  writing  in  a  memorandum  book 
'  Lent  to  Ld  Cogg  5001'  On  the  wall  above  the 
highwayman  is  a  card  bearing  the  royal  arms  and  an 
inscription,  '  R  Justian,  Card-maker  to  his  Majfesty] 
— royal  family.' 

As  an  instance  of  the  serious  losses  of  members  of 
the  aristocracy  by  gaming,  John  Ireland  relates  that 

a  Lord  C lost  in  one  night  thirty-three  thousand 

pounds  to  General  Scott.  He  was  warned  of  his 
probable  complete  ruin  by  three  ladies  dressed  as 
witches  at  a  masquerade.  He  was  much  struck  by 
the  warning,  and  vowed  never  to  lose  more  than  one 
hundred  pounds  at  a  sitting,  and  by  keeping  his  vow 
he  retrieved  his  fortune  ! 

1  Swift's  Essay  on  Modern  Education.   Works  (Bell's  edition),  vol.  xi.  p.  53. 


298  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

After  the  fire  the  Club  and  Chocolate-House  were 
removed  to  Gaunt' s  Coffee-House  on  the  west  side 
of  the  street  and  two  doors  from  the  end  of  the  street 
and  Cleveland  Row.  This  removal  is  announced  in 
the  Daily  Post  of  May  3 :  *  This  is  to  acquaint  all 
noblemen  and  gentlemen  that  Mr.  Arthur  having 
had  the  misfortune  to  be  burnt  out  of  White's 
Chocolate-House  is  removed  toGaunt's  Coffee-House, 
next  the  St.  James's  Coffee-House  in  St.  James's 
Street,  where  he  humbly  begs  they  will  favour  him 
with  their  company  as  usual.' 

The  fourth  plate  represents  St.  James's  Street  with 
the  palace  in  the  background  closing  the  vista ;  the 
clock  on  the  gateway  indicates  the  hour  as  1.40  P.M. 
The  time  of  the  year  is  shown  by  the  Welshman  on 
the  right  of  the  picture  wearing  a  large  leek,  which 
fixes  the  day  as  the  1st  of  March  (St.  David's  Day). 
He  also  carries  a  muff.  The  fact  that  it  was  the 
anniversary  of  St.  David  is  only  an  incident;  the 
really  important  event  connected  with  March  1  then 
was  that  it  was  Queen  Caroline's  birthday  and  there- 
fore a  Court  day.  The  Rake  overwhelmed  with 
debt  is  apparently  proceeding  to  Court,  and  with 
the  blinds  of  his  sedan-chair  drawn  hopes  to  escape 
the  bailiffs  who  are  hi  search  of  him.  He  is, 
however,  stopped,  and  the  faithful  woman  (Sarah 
Young)  whom  he  deserted  sets  him  at  liberty 
by  paying  the  present  demand.  The  lamp-cleaner 
behind  the  Rake  is  so  much  interested  in  the 
arrest  that  he  pours  the  oil  from  his  can  over 


TAVERN  LIFE  299 

the  lamp  to  the  inconvenience  of  any  one  beneath 
him. 

Hogarth  appears  to  have  made  alterations  in  the 
plate  after  the  fire,  as  in  the  second  state  he  indicated 
the  site  of  Gaunt' s  Coffee-House  with  a  label  marked 
Black's,  and  specially  points  to  it  by  means  of  a 
flash  of  lightning.  In  this  second  state  a  group  of 
gambling  boys  take  the  place  of  the  shoeblack  who 
steals  the  Rake's  cane. 

The  posts  which  marked  the  edge  of  the  pavement 
in  most  of  the  London  streets  are  seen  in  this  picture. 
John  Ireland  (i.  43)  alludes  to  this  in  a  note  on  this 
plate.  '  On  new  paving  the  streets  soon  after  his 
present  Majesty's  accession  [George  in.]  they  were 
removed.  During  the  short  time  of  Lord  Bute's 
administration  an  English  gentleman  reprobated  the 
idea  of  making  a  Scotch  pavement  in  the  vicinity 
of  St.  James's.  Being  asked  by  a  North  Briton, 
who  was  present,  how  he  or  any  other  Englishman 
could  reasonably  object  to  even  Scotchmen  mending 
their  ways  in  the  neighbourhood  of  a  palace  ?  "  We 
do  not  object  to  your  mending  our  ways,"  replied 
the  other,  "  but  you  have  taken  away  all  our  posts." 

In  1736  the  Club  was  removed  to  the  premises 
rebuilt  on  the  site  of  the  present  Arthur's  Club. 
Robert  Arthur  succeeded  John  Arthur  as  proprietor. 

In  1753  a  little  book  was  published  entitled  *  The 
Polite  Gamester ;  or  the  Humours  of  Whist :  %  a 
dramatick  satyre  as  acted  every  day  at  White's 
and  other  coffee  houses  and  assemblies.'  Mr.  Bourke 


300  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

quotes  from  this  :  '  In  the  Club  at  White's  being  a 
select  company  above  stairs,  where  no  person  of  what 
rank  soever  is  admitted  without  first  being  proposed 
by  one  of  the  Club.'  Mr.  Bourke  says  that  this  is  the 
last  mention  of  the  Chocolate-House  which  he  has 
found,  and  he  adds  '  there  is  little  doubt  that  the 
Chocolate-House  was  extinguished  on  the  removal  of 
the  Clubs  [Old  and  New]  to  the  present  building  in 
1755.' 

It  is  interesting  to  notice  in  The  History  of  White's 
that,  although  so  great  stress  is  laid  upon  the  im- 
portance and  greatness  of  the  Club,  the  historian  is 
proud  to  illustrate  his  book  with  two  plates  from  the 
'  Rake's  Progress,'  hi  order  to  show  its  interest  is 
enhanced  by  the  fact  that  Hogarth  saw  fit  to  make 
it  the  subject  of  his  satire. 

This  chapter  contains  some  miscellaneous  notes 
on  tavern  life  in  London  in  the  eighteenth  century, 
but  it  may  be  well  to  show  succinctly  how  the  life  of 
the  man  of  the  world  was  daily  spent.  Pope  has 
told  us  how  Addison  apportioned  his  day : 

1  Addison' s  chief  companions,  before  he  married 
Lady  Warwick  (in  1716)  were  Steele,  Budgell, 
Philips,  Carey,  Davenant  and  Colonel  Brett.  He  used 
to  breakfast  with  one  or  other  of  them  at  his  lodgings 
in  St.  James's  Place,  dine  at  taverns  with  them,  then 
to  Button's,  and  then  to  some  tavern  again,  for 
supper,  in  the  evening,  and  this  was  the  usual  round 
of  his  life.' l 

1  Spence's  Anecdotes,  ed.  Singer,  1829,  p.  196. 


TAVERN  LIFE  301 

This  does  not  seem  to  leave  much  time  for  work  or 
study,  but  such  a  life  was  general. 

A  distinction  continued  to  be  made  between 
taverns  and  coffee-houses,  but  the  latter  seem  to 
have  encroached  very  largely  upon  the  privileges  of 
the  former.  Taverns  did  not  sell  coffee,  but  coffee- 
houses occasionally  did  provide  dinners. 


302  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 


CHAPTER    X 

THEATRICAL   LIFE 

HOGARTH  was  quite  at  home  at  the  theatre,  and  he 
was  well  acquainted  with  many  actors,  so  that  we 
find  sufficient  materials  from  his  pencil  to  help  us  to 
form  a  very  accurate  idea  of  the  theatre  in  the 
eighteenth  century.  In  fact  a  very  large  number 
of  his  engravings  bear  upon  the  various  phases  of 
theatrical  life,  so  that  the  present  chapter  has  grown 
to  be  one  of  the  longest  in  the  book. 

The  pleasures  of  all  classes  were  catered  for  with 
eagerness  by  a  large  number  of  persons  who  made 
their  living  by  the  frivolity  of  the  people.  Probably 
at  no  period  of  our  history  were  the  various  forms  of 
dissipation  more  generally  sought  after  by  large 
numbers  of  the  population  of  great  cities  than  in  the 
first  half  of  the  eighteenth  century.  The  satirical 
representation  of  some  of  the  many  features  of  this 
life  was  specially  agreeable  to  Hogarth,  who  found 
on  all  sides  an  endless  exhibition  of  character  suited 
for  his  particular  purpose.  Two  of  his  pictures  give 
us  a  vivid  representation  of  the  interior  of  a  play- 
house of  his  time,  viz.  the  '  Beggar's  Opera '  (1728) 
and  the  '  Laughing  Audience  '  (1733). 


"THE  LAUGHING  AUDIENCE."     1733. 


THEATRICAL  LIFE  303 

The  '  Laughing  Audience  '  was  at  one  time  styled 
'  A  Pleased  Audience  at  a  Play.'  It  was  used  as  the 
subscription  ticket  for  '  Southwark  Fair '  and  a 
'  Rake's  Progress.'  Below  the  design  the  folio  whig 
form  of  receipt  was  engraved  :  *  Recd  of 

Half  a  guinea  being  the  first  Payment 
for  Nine  Prints,  8  of  which  represent  a  Rake's 
Progress  and  the  9th  a  Fair,  which  I  Promise  to 
Deliver  at  Michaelmas  next  on  receiving  One  Guinea 
more,  the  Print  of  the  Fair  being  Deliver'd  at  the 
time  of  Subscribing.' 

There  are  three  varieties  of  this  inscription :  the 
above  is  in  the  first  state  ;  in  the  second  '  when 
finish'd  '  is  substituted  for  '  at  Michaelmas  next,'  and 
the  price  was  raised  after  the  subscription  was  closed. 
Hogarth  filled  in  the  receipt  himself. 

After  this  etching  had  served  its  purpose  as  a 
subscription  ticket  it  was  issued  separately  as  a 
distinct  print. 

The  original  picture  belonged  to  Richard  Brinsley 
Sheridan  in  1814,  when  it  was  exhibited  at  the 
British  Institution.  In  1832  it  realised  twenty 
guineas  at  G.  Watson  Taylor's  sale,  and  in  1848 
forty-nine  guineas,  when  were  sold  the  effects  of 
Richard  Sanderson  of  Belgrave  Square.  In  the 
engraving  a  part  of  the  orchestra,  pit,  and  boxes  are 
represented.  The  heads  of  three  musicians  are 
shown  in  the  orchestra,  and  eleven  men  and  women 
sit  in  the  pit.  The  latter  are  the  only  persons  in  the 
audience  who  seem  to  be  enjoying  the  performance, 


304  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

and  the  expressions  of  their  faces  are  varied  and  full 
of  humour.  The  figures  in  the  boxes  are  too  much 
interested  in  their  own  concerns  to  pay  attention  to 
what  is  going  on  upon  the  stage.  Two  points  are 
worthy  of  special  attention,  one  being  the  iron  spikes 
on  the  wooden  barrier  between  the  orchestra  and  the 
pit.  This  awkward  protection  was  also  common 
to  French  theatres  until  a  serious  mishap  caused  its 
abolition.  A  young  English  nobleman  visiting  Paris 
near  the  end  of  William  the  Third's  reign,  had  a 
quarrel  at  the  opera  with  a  French  gentleman  and 
pitched  him  bodily  from  the  box  tier  into  the 
orchestra.  In  his  fall  the  Frenchman  was  impaled 
upon  the  spikes.  After  this  the  management  cleared 
them  away  from  the  barrier.  In  Churchill's  earlier 
days  in  London,  when  he  was  gathering  materials  for 
his  Rosciad,  he  sat  in  the  front  row  of  the  pit,  and 
it  was  noticed  that  he  grasped  the  spikes  on  the 
partition  between  the  orchestra  and  pit.  Arthur 
Murphy,  in  his  '  Ode  to  the  Naiads  of  the  Fleet 
Ditch,'  described  how  Churchill  used  to  sit 

'  In  foremost  row  before  th'  astonish 'd  pit, 
And  grin  dislike, 
And  kiss  the  spike, 
And  twist  his  mouth  and  roll  his  head  awry.' 

In  those  days  Churchill  was  a  somewhat  unclerical 
fop  with  ruffles,  leathern  breeches,  and  gold-laced  hat. 
The  other  point  for  notice  is  the  mode  of  lighting, 
which  must  have  been  very  inefficient.  Candles  in 
sconces  will  be  seen  in  front  of  the  boxes. 


THEATRICAL  LIFE  305 

This  picture  shows  the  front  of  the  house,  that  of 
the  '  Beggar's  Opera  '  gives  us  a  representation  of  the 
stage  of  the  period. 

The  picture  which  represents  the  scene  of  Lucy 
and  Polly  wrangling  over  Macheath,  and  appealing 
to  their  respective  fathers,  as  represented  in  the  third 
act,  is  said  to  have  been  painted  for  Rich,  the 
manager,  in  1729.  Another  picture  of  the  same  scene 
was  painted  in  the  same  year  for  Sir  Archibald 
Grant ;  this  afterwards  came  into  the  possession  of 
Mr.  William  Huggins,  at  the  sale  of  whose  effects  it 
was  bought  by  Dr.  Monkhouse  of  Queen's  College, 
Oxford.1  John  Ireland  says  that  the  frame  had  a 
carved  bust  of  Gay  on  the  top,  which  proves  that  this 
is  the  picture  now  in  possession  of  Mr.  John  Murray 
who  lent  it  to  the  exhibition  in  the  Whitechapel  Art 
Gallery,  1906,  and  to  the  Royal  Academy  Winter 
Exhibition,  1908. 

At  the  sale  of  Rich's  pictures  in  1762  the  first- 
mentioned  picture  was  purchased  by  the  Duke  of 
Leeds  for  £35,  14s.,  and  it  is  now  in  the  possession  of 
the  present  Duke.  It  was  not  engraved  until  1790, 
when  it  was  undertaken  by  William  Blake  and 
published  by  Messrs.  Boydell.2  Another  picture  was 
in  the  possession  of  Mr.  Louis  Huth. 

The  Beggar's  Opera  was  written  by  Gay  in  1727  on 
the  suggestion  by  Swift  that  a  Newgate  Pastoral 
would  be  effective.  Although  Gay  took  the  hint  so 

1  John  Ireland's  Hogarth  Illustrated,  1793,  vol.  ii.  p.  330. 

2  J.  Ireland  says  that  it  was  '  engraven  by  Mr.  Tew.'    Hogarth  Illus- 
trated, vol.  ii.  p.  328. 

U 


306  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

far  as  to  choose  his  characters  from  the  dangerous 
classes,  he  really  threw  his  work  into  the  form  of  a 
parody  of  Italian  opera,  which,  for  a  time,  he  caused 
to  be  less  popular  than  it  was  before  he  figured  as  the 
Orpheus  of  highwaymen.  John  Ireland  relates  that 
an  Italian  he  knew  '  concluded  an  harangue  calcu- 
lated to  throw  Gay's  taste  and  talents  into  contempt 
with  "  Saire,  this  simple  signer  did  tri  to  pelt  mi 
countrymen  out  of  England  with  lumps  of  pudding  " '  * 
(one  of  the  tunes  used  by  Gay). 

The  Beggar's  Opera  was  first  offered  to  Colley 
Gibber  for  Drury  Lane  Theatre,  but  was  refused  by 
him.  It  was  then  accepted  by  John  Rich  (son  of 
Christopher  Rich),  and  brought  out  at  Lincoln's  Inn 
Fields  Theatre  on  January  29,  1728.  It  was  not 
only  Gibber  who  was  doubtful  of  success,  for,  accord- 
ing to  Boswell,  the  Duke  of  Queensberry  said,  '  This 
is  a  very  odd  thing,  Gay ;  it  is  either  a  very  good 
thing  or  a  bad  thing.'  At  its  first  appearance  success 
was  not  certain  for  some  time  after  the  opening  of 
the  play.  Pope  and  a  party  of  Gay's  friends  at- 
tended the  first  night  '  in  very  great  uncertainty  of 
the  event,'  until  they  overheard  the  Duke  of  Argyll 
in  the  next  box  say,  *  It  will  do,  it  must  do.  I  see  it 
in  the  eyes  of  them.'  Pope  told  Spence  that  this 
gave  them  all  ease  of  mind,  '  for  that  duke  (besides 
his  own  good  taste)  has  a  particular  knack,  as  any  one 
living,  in  discovering  the  taste  of  the  public.  He 
was  quite  right  in  this  as  usual.' 

1  Sogarth  Illustrated,  vol.  ii.  p.  328. 


THEATRICAL  LIFE  307 

Mackliii  was  present  at  the  first  representation, 
and  from  him  we  learn  that  success  was  doubtful 
until  the  opening  of  the  second  act,  when,  after  the 
chorus  song  of  '  Let  us  take  the  road,'  the  applause 
was  as  universal  as  unbounded.  Others  affirm  with 
more  probability  that  success  was  assured  rather 
when  Polly  sang  her  pathetic  appeal  to  her  parents  : 

'  Oh  ponder  well !  be  not  severe ; 

To  save  a  wretched  wife ; 
For,  on  the  rope  that  hangs  my  dear, 
Depends  poor  Polly's  life.' 

There  were  several  circumstances  that  went  to 
make  the  play  a  success.  (1)  It  was  a  thoroughly 
English  production,  so  that  those  who  resented  the 
popularity  of  Italian  opera  were  whole-hearted  in 
their  support  of  the  Beggar's  Opera.  (2)  All  the  wits 
of  the  day  supported  and  assisted  the  author.  (3)  The 
bitter  satire  levelled  at  Sir  Robert  Walpole  and  his 
ministry  was  eagerly  taken  up  by  his  many  enemies. 

The  minister  was  not  a  coward,  however,  and  he 
attended  the  performance.  The  following  anecdote 
of  what  happened  is  related  in  Baker's  Biographia 
Dramatica :  '  Being  in  the  stage  boxes  at  its  first 
representation,  a  most  universal  encore  attended  the 
following  air  of  Lockit,  and  all  eyes  were  directed 
on  the  minister  at  the  instant  of  its  being  repeated  : 

"  When  you  censure  the  age, 

Be  cautious  and  sage, 
Lest  the  courtiers  offended  should  be ; 

If  you  mention  vice  or  bribe 

Tis  so  pat  to  all  the  tribe, 
Each  cries — That  was  levelled  at  me." 


308  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

'  Sir  Robert,  observing  the  pointed  manner  in  which 
the  audience  applied  the  last  line  to  him,  parried  the 
thrust  by  encoring  it  with  his  single  voice,  and  thus 
not  only  blunted  the  poetical  shaft,  but  gained  a 
general  huzza  from  the  audience.' 

In  addition  to  these  causes  of  success  we  must 
remember  that  the  play  had  great  merits,  was  quite 
fresh,  and  the  songs  and  music  were  sufficiently 
pretty  not  only  to  carry  it  triumphantly  through  the 
longest  run  that  the  English  stage  had  ever  known  up 
to  that  date,  but  also  to  continue  it  as  a  stock  piece 
for  considerably  more  than  a  century. 

Not  being  an  experienced  playwright  Gay  did  not 
introduce  his  songs  until  about  the  middle  of  the 
play.  This  had  to  be  remedied,  so  the  wits  set  to 
work  to  help  their  colleague  and  produced  a  series 
of  additional  songs.  '  Virgins  are  like  the  fair 
flower  in  its  lustre,'  was  written  by  Sir  Charles 
Hanbury  Williams ;  '  The  gamesters  and  lawyers 
are  jugglers  alike,'  by  William  Fortescue,  Master  of 
the  Rolls ;  '  When  you  censure  the  age,'  by  Swift, 
and  '  The  modes  of  the  court  so  common  are  grown,' 
by  Lord  Chesterfield.1 

It  was  originally  intended  that  no  music  should 
accompany  the  songs,  as  the  junto  of  wits  objected  to 
it.  Music  was,  however,  tried  at  a  rehearsal,  and  the 
Duchess  of  Queensberry  (Gay's  kind  patroness)  was 
so  strongly  in  favour  of  introducing  an  orchestra 
that  she  settled  its  adoption.  This  was  not  large,  as 

Lady  Townskend  (European  Magazine,  1800,  voL  xxxvii  p.  25). 


THEATRICAL  LIFE  309 

it  consisted  only  of  three  or  four  fiddles,  a  hautboy, 
and  an  occasional  drum.  Dr.  Pepusch  arranged  and 
scored  the  notes. 

Henry  Angelo  in  his  Reminiscences  claims  for  Pope 
the  success  of  the  Beggar's  Opera,  on  account  of  his 
having  contributed  the  most  satirical  hits  at  the 
Court. 

He  wrote  : 

'  And  the  statesman,  because  he 's  so  great 
Thinks  his  trade  is  as  honest  as  mine.' 

These  lines  stood  in  Gay's  MS. : 

'  And  there 's  many  arrive  to  be  great 
By  a  trade  not  more  honest  than  mine.' 

Also  Pope  contributed  these  lines  in  the  song  of 
Macheath : 

'  Since  Laws  were  made  for  every  degree, 
To  curb  vice  in  others  as  well  as  in  me, 
I  wonder  we  hadn't  better  company 
Upon  Tyburn  tree.' 

The  question  must  often  have  been  asked,  What 
was  the  meaning  of  the  title  of  the  Beggar's  Opera  ? 
This  was  answered  in  the  original  edition,  when  in 
the  Introduction  a  beggar  offers  his  opera  to  the 
players.  He  says  : 

'  The  piece  I  own  was  originally  writ  for  the  cele- 
brating the  marriage  of  James  Chanter  and  Moll 
Lay,  two  most  excellent  ballad  singers.  I  have 
introduced  the  similes  that  are  in  all  your  celebrated 
operas  :  the  Swallow,  the  Moth,  the  Bee,  the  Ship, 
the  Flower,  etc.  Besides  I  have  a  prison  scene, 


310  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

which  the  ladies  always  reckon  charmingly  pathetic. 
As  to  the  parts,  I  have  observed  such  a  nice  imparti- 
ality to  our  two  ladies,  that  it  is  impossible  for  either 
of  them  to  take  offence.' 

This  was  not  considered  a  good  beginning,  and 
was  perhaps  wisely  struck  out. 

The  parts  of  the  Beggar  and  the  Player  are  left  in 
at  the  end,  and  therefore  they  appear  to  come  from 
nowhere.  The  Player  complains  that  the  play  has 
an  unhappy  ending,  which  is  against  all  precedent,  so 
the  Beggar  says  that  can  be  easily  changed.  '  So 
you  rabble  there — run  and  cry,  A  Reprieve  !  Let  the 
prisoner  be  brought  back  to  his  wives  in  triumph.' 
Macheath  returns,  and  the  opera  ends  happily  with  a 
dance.  We  all  know  the  saying  that  the  success  of 
the  Beggar's  Opera  made  Gay  rich  and  Rich  gay ;  but 
it  did  more  than  this,  for  it  made  the  fortunes  of  the 
two  principal  actors  who  had  not  previously  been 
possessed  of  much  fame. 

Lavinia  Fenton  (1708-1760)  made  her  first  ap- 
pearance on  the  stage  in  1726  as  Monimia  in 
Otway's  Orphans  at  the  New  Theatre  in  the  Hay- 
market.  John  Rich  was  so  much  struck  with  her 
appearance  as  Cherry  in  the  Beaux'  Stratagem  that 
he  tempted  her  away  from  the  Haymarket  with  the 
'  magnificent '  offer  of  15s.  per  week. 

When  shortly  afterwards  he  was  arranging  for  the 
presentation  of  the  Beggar's  Opera,  in  order  to  secure 
the  services  of  Miss  Fenton  for  the  principal  female 
character,  he  doubled  her  salary.  She  appeared  as 


LAVINIA  FKNTON  (POLLY  PEACH UM),  AFTERWARDS  DUCHESS  OF  BOLTON. 

From  the  original  painting  in  the  National  Gallery. 


THEATRICAL  LIFE  311 

Polly  Peachum  on  the  opening  night,  January  29, 
1728,  and  at  once  became  the  idol  of  the  town.  On 
June  19  the  opera  was  played  for  the  sixty-second 
and  last  time  that  season,  when  she  made  her  last 
appearance  on  the  boards  of  a  theatre,  so  that  her 
career  as  an  actress  was  a  short  one.  She  was 
succeeded  in  the  character  of  Polly  by  Miss 
Warren. 

Charles  Paulet,  third  Duke  of  Bolton,  said  that  he 
was  first  captivated  by  Polly's  song,  '  Oh,  ponder 
well,'  which  has  already  been  alluded  to  as  the 
turning-point  in  the  success  of  the  performance. 
The  Duke  was  a  constant  attendant  at  the  theatre, 
and  after  the  first  season  he  took  Miss  Fenton  from 
the  stage  and  she  remained  his  mistress  for  twenty- 
three  years.  Soon  after  the  death  of  the  Duchess, 
from  whom  he  had  been  separated  for  many  years, 
the  Duke  married  Lavinia  at  Aix  in  Provence  (on  the 
20th  of  September  1751).  She  was  highly  thought  of 
in  her  new  sphere,  and  the  famous  Dr.  Joseph 
Warton  gave  her  a  high  character. 

1  She  was  a  very  accomplished  and  most  agreeable 
companion,  had  much  wit,  good  strong  sense,  and 
a  just  taste  in  polite  literature.  Her  person  was 
agreeable  and  well  made,  though  I  think  she  could 
never  be  called  a  beauty.  I  have  had  the  pleasure  of 
being  at  table  with  her,  when  her  conversation  was 
much  admired  by  the  first  characters  of  the  age, 
particularly  old  Lord  Bathurst  and  Lord  Granville.' 

Hogarth's  portrait  of  her,  now  in  the  National 


312  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

Gallery,  is  a  fine  work,  and  gives  a  pleasing  idea  of 
the  charming  actress.1 

Gay  wished  his  friend  Quin  to  take  the  part  of 
Macheath,  but  that  great  actor  had  no  taste  for  the 
part,  for  which  he  felt  he  was  unfitted,  although  he 
had  a  good  ear  for  music  and  was  famous  for  singing 
ballads  with  ease.  He  did,  however,  drudge  through 
two  rehearsals,  but  at  the  close  of  the  second  Tom 
Walker  was  observed  behind  the  scenes  humming 
some  of  the  songs  in  a  tone  and  manner  that  attracted 
notice.  Quin  laid  hold  of  this  circumstance  to  get 
rid  of  the  part,  and  exclaimed :  '  Ay,  there  is  a  man 
who  is  more  qualified  to  do  you  justice  than  I  am.' 
Walker  was  called  on  to  make  the  experiment,  and 
Gay,  who  instantly  saw  the  difference,  accepted  him 
as  the  hero  of  his  piece. 

Walker  was  an  indifferent  musician  and  knew  little 
of  music  scientifically,  but  he  could  sing  a  song  in 
good  ballad  time.  He  had  a  speaking  eye  and 
admirable  action;  the  ease  and  gaiety  of  his  style  was 
very  marked.  He  showed  great  judgment  in  his 
treatment  of  the  character  which  he  created  and 
made  as  great  a  success  as  Lavinia  Fenton  did  in 
Polly.  He  did  not  make  Macheath  a  town  beau  or  a 
gentleman,  but  his  manner,  deportment,  and  voice 

1  This  picture  was  in  the  possession  of  Samuel  Ireland  who  published  an 
engraving  of  it  by  C.  Aposteel  in  1797.  It  faces  p.  49  of  Graphic  Illustra- 
tions, vol.  ii.  The  picture  was  bought  by  Mr.  William  Seguier  at  Ireland's 
sale  in  1801  for  £5,  7s.  6d.,  and  was  afterwards  in  the  collection  of  Mr. 
George  Watson  Taylor.  He  exhibited  it  in  1814,  and  at  his  sale  it  fetched 
£52,  10s.  It  was  purchased  for  the  National  Gallery  in  1884  from  Sir  Philip 
Miles's  collection  for  800  guineas. 


THEATRICAL  LIFE  313 

all  partook  of  the  roughness  and  simplicity  of  the 
character.  Walker  was  not  famous  before  the 
opportunity  of  his  life  occurred,  but  he  had  made  his 
mark  in  his  profession.  His  Macheath,  however, 
obliterated  all  remembrance  of  his  former  successes. 

Barton  Booth  saw  Walker  playing  Paris  in  a  droll 
named  The  Siege  of  Troy,  and  at  once  recommended 
him  to  the  management  of  Drury  Lane.  Davies  tells 
us  that  his  Bajazet  and  Hotspur  had  hardly  been 
rivalled,  and  that  his  Falconbridge  was  better  than 
that  of  Garrick,  Sheridan,  Delane,  and  Barry,  which 
indeed  is  high  praise. 

In  the  same  year  that  he  gained  his  great  fame  as 
Macheath  he  brought  out  at  Lee  and  Harper's  booth 
in  Bartholomew  Fair  a  sort  of  imitation  of  the 
Beggar's  Opera  entitled  the  Quaker's  Opera. 

During  the  run  of  the  Beggar's  Opera  and  for  many 
years  afterwards  Walker  was  more  in  requisition  with 
the  public  than  the  highest  performers  on  the  stage. 
To  have  spent  an  evening  with  him  at  the  tavern  was 
a  feather  in  the  town  buck's  cap,  and  not  to  know 
him  personally  off  the  stage  was  reckoned  a  piece  of 
gross  incuriosity.  His  portrait  was  set  in  every 
print-shop,  and  all  the  fashionable  fans  and  screens  of 
the  day  represented  some  scene  between  him  and 
Lavinia  Fenton  as  Macheath  and  Polly. 

This  popularity  was  his  ruin,  as  he  gave  way  to 
intemperance  and  lost  his  memory,  with  the  conse- 
quence that  he  was  discharged  from  the  London 
stage.  He  attempted  to  recover  his  character  and 


314  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

went  to  Ireland  to  change  the  scene,  but  bad  habits 
were  too  deeply  fixed,  and  he  died  in  Dublin  in  great 
wretchedness  in  1744. 

Mrs.  Egleton  was  the  original  Lucy  Lockit,  and  she 
shared  with  Polly  much  of  the  appreciation  of  the 
public.  She  had  been  much  admired  as  a  good 
comic  actress  before  she  undertook  this  part. 

John  Hippisley  was  the  original  Peachum,  a  char- 
acter drawn  after  Jonathan  Wild.  He  was  well 
known  for  his  acting  of  many  of  Shakespeare's  low 
comedy  characters,  and  his  representation  of  Fluellen 
was  considered  an  artistic  performance.  Davies  de- 
scribes him  as  a  comedian  of  lively  humour  and  droll 
pleasantry. 

There  is  a  portrait  of  him  at  the  Garrick  Club 
attributed  to  Hogarth. 

John  Hall  was  the  original  Lockit.  He  was  a 
dancing-master  before  he  took  to  the  stage,  and  he 
was  not  much  known  until  he  acted  this  character, 
but  by  it  he  acquired  a  great  reputation. 

Mrs.  Martin  was  the  original  Mrs.  Peachum,  and 
she  also  took  the  character  of  Diana  Trapes. 

To  return  to  Hogarth's  picture  after  this  digression 
respecting  the  chief  actors  and  actresses.  It  repre- 
sents Macheath  in  the  centre  of  the  stage  with  Lucy 
on  the  left  pleading  for  him  to  her  father  Lockit,  and 
Polly  on  the  right  pleading  to  Peachum. 

Hogarth  has  given  us  a  good  representation  of  the 
stage  of  the  theatre  in  Lincoln's  Inn  Fields,  and  no 
other  picture  of  the  interior  of  this  old  playhouse 


THEATRICAL  LIFE  315 

is  known.  It  shows  how  inconvenient  it  must  have 
been  to  have  a  crowd  of  fashionable  loungers  seated 
on  the  stage  and  leaving  little  room  for  the  actors. 
This  was  a  bad  old  custom  which  continued  for  many 
years  in  spite  of  protests.  A  royal  proclamation  of 
Queen  Anne,  dated  November  15,  1711,  forbade  the 
practice,  but  no  notice  was  taken  of  the  prohibition. 

'  Whereas  we  are  informed  that  the  orders  we  have 
already  given  for  the  reformation  of  the  stage  by  not 
permitting  anything  to  be  acted  contrary  to  religion 
or  good  manners,  have  in  great  measure  had  their 
good  effect  we  proposed  and  being  further  desirous 
of  reforming  all  other  indecencies  and  disorders  of  the 
stage,  our  will  and  pleasure  therefore  is,  and  we  do 
hereby  command  that  no  person  of  what  quality 
soever  shall  presume  to  stand  behind  the  scenes,  or 
go  upon  the  stage  either  before  or  during  the  acting 
of  any  opera  or  play,  and  that  no  person  go  into 
either  of  our  houses  for  opera  or  comedy  without  first 
paying  the  established  prices  for  their  respective 
places.' 

Originally  the  portion  of  the  audience  who  were 
allowed  on  the  stage  sat  about  in  chairs,  but  here,  in 
1728,  we  find  that  the  visitors  were  confined  in  boxes 
or  pews. 

It  was  Garrick  who  cleared  away  from  the  stage 
every  one  but  the  actors. 

On  the  right  hand  of  the  stage  we  see  the  Duke  of 
Bolton  (who  sits  in  front)  giving  all  his  attention  to 
Polly ;  next  to  him  is  Major  Paunceford,  and  then  in 


316  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

the  following  order  Sir  Robert  Fagg,  M.P.,  Rich  the 
manager,  Cock  the  auctioneer,  and  Gay  the  author. 

On  the  left-hand  side  is  Lady  Jane  Cook,  Anthony 
Henley,  Lord  Gage,  Sir  Conyers  d'Arcy,  and  Sir 
Thomas  Robinson. 

The  lights  on  the  stage  consisted  of  candles  set 
round  in  a  hoop  of  tin  sockets.  This  mode  of  lighting 
continued  till  Garrick's  return  to  the  stage  in  1765, 
when  he  introduced  side  lights,  invisible  to  the 
audience. 

In  the  same  year  (1728)  Hogarth  produced  a  plate 
entitled  '  The  Beggar's  Opera  Burlesqued,'  of  which 
there  are  five  states.  Under  the  design  are  engraved 
the  following  four  lines  : 

'  Brittons  attend — view  this  harmonious  stage, 
And  listen  to  those  notes  which  charm  the  age : 
Thus  shall  your  taste  in  sounds  and  sense  be  shown, 
And  Beggar's  Op'ras  ever  be  your  own.' 

The  design  is  rather  confused  and  difficult  of 
comprehension.  It  shows  a  representation  of  the 
Beggar's  Opera  and  a  rehearsal  of  an  Italian  opera. 
The  characters  of  the  former  are  drawn  with  the 
heads  of  different  animals,  as  Polly  with  a  cat's ; 
Lucy  with  a  sow's  ;  Macheath  with  an  ass's  ;  Lockit, 
Peachum  and  Mrs.  Peachum  with  an  ox,  a  dog,  and 
an  owl  respectively. 

It  is  not  clear  why  Hogarth  burlesqued  the  char- 
acters in  this  way,  as  he  evidently  wished  to  point 
out  the  inferiority  of  the  Italian  opera. 

Mr.   F.   G.    Stephens   explains   this   as   follows : 


THEATRICAL  LIFE  317 

'  At  our  left  are  the  boxes  of  a  theatre,  and  on  the 
right  is  a  scene  at  the  Italian  Opera,  where  a  female 
singer  is  surrounded  by  noblemen  offering  homage 
and  presents  ;  this,  by  the  motto  at  the  top  of  the 
plate  "  et  cantare  pares  et  respondere  paratae,"  seems 
to  be  held  out  as  worthy  of  equal  estimation  with  the 
satirical  representation  of  The  Beggars  Opera,  which 
occupies  the  left  of  the  design.' l 

A  copy  from  Hogarth's  print  was  published  in 
1735  with  the  title  '  The  Opera  House  or  the  Italian 
Eunuch's  Glory,  Humbly  Inscribed  to  those  Generous 
Encouragers  of  Foreigners  and  Burners  of  England.'2 

The  dangerous  tendency  of  the  Beggar's  Opera  has 
been  the  subject  of  a  considerable  amount  of  dispute. 

Dr.  Herring,  preacher  at  Lincoln's  Inn  and  after- 
wards Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  '  censured  it  as 
giving  encouragement  not  only  to  vice  but  to  crimes, 
by  making  a  highwayman  the  hero,  and  dismissing 
him  at  last  unpunished.'  On  the  other  side  Swift 
defended  the  opera  against  the  attacks  of  his  fellow 
Churchmen. 

Sir  John  Fielding,  the  Bow  Street  magistrate,  tried 
to  stop  the  performance  on  more  than  one  occasion, 
but  unsuccessfully.  He  once  told  Hugh  Kelly  that 
ever  since  the  first  representation  of  this  piece  there 
had  been  on  every  successful  run  a  proportionate 
number  of  highwaymen  brought  to  the  office,  as  he 

1  British  Museum  Catalogue  of  Political  and  Personal  Satires,  voL  ii. 
p.  670. 

3  British  Museum  Catalogue,  vol.  ill  p.  95. 


318  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

would  show  him  by  the  books  any  morning  he  took 
the  trouble  to  look  over  them.  Kelly  had  the 
curiosity  to  do  so,  and  found  the  observation  to  be 
strictly  true.1 

About  the  year  1772  Fielding  sent  letters  to  the 
managers  of  Drury  Lane  and  Covent  Garden  urging 
them  not  to  perform  the  Beggar's  Opera,  as  it  tended 
to  increase  the  number  of  beggars.  Garrick,  not 
having  any  good  singers,  expressed  his  approval  of 
the  magistrate's  suggestion ;  but  Colman  was  not  so 
complacent,  and  sent  this  answer  :  '  Mr.  Colman' s 
compliments  to  Sir  John  Fielding,  he  does  not  think 
his  the  only  house  in  Bow  Street  where  thieves 
are  hardened  and  encouraged — and  will  persist  in 
offering  the  representation  of  that  admirable  satire 
the  Beggar's  Opera.1  (Lee  Lewes' s  Memoirs.) 

John  Ireland  corroborated  Sir  John  Fielding's 
judgment  by  cases  which  came  under  his  own 
observation.  '  With  three  instances  that  I  had  an 
accidental  opportunity  of  seeing,  I  was  very  forcibly 
impressed.  Two  boys,  under  nineteen  years  of  age — 
children  of  worthy  and  respectable  parents — fled 
from  their  friends,  and  pursued  courses  that  threat- 
ened an  ignominious  termination  to  their  lives. 
After  much  search  they  were  found  engaged  in 
midnight  dissipations,  and  in  each  of  their  pockets 
was  the  Beggar's  Opera.' 

The  third  case  was  more  conclusive.  '  A  lad  of 
seventeen,  some  years  since  tried  at  the  Old  Bailey, 

1  European  Magazine,  Jan.  1800,  voL  xxxvii  p.  26. 


THEATRICAL  LIFE  319 

for  what  there  was  every  reason  to  think  his  first 
offence,  acknowledged  himself  so  delighted  with  the 
spirited  and  heroic  character  of  Macheath,  that  on 
quitting  the  theatre,  he  laid  out  his  last  guinea  in  the 
purchase  of  a  pair  of  pistols,  and  stopped  a  gentleman 
on  the  highway.' l 

It  will  be  remembered  that  Dr.  Johnson  took  a 
different  view  both  in  conversation  and  in  writing. 
In  his  Life  of  Gay  (Lives  of  the  Poets),  after  referring  to 
Dr.  Herring's  condemnation  and  the  observation  'that 
after  the  exhibition  of  the  Beggar's  Opera,  the  gangs  of 
robbers  were  evidently  multiplied,'  Johnson  writes : 
'  Both  these  decisions  are  surely  exaggerated.  The 
play,  like  many  others,  was  plainly  written  only  to 
divert,  without  any  moral  purpose,  and  is  therefore 
not  likely  to  do  good  ;  nor  can  it  be  conceived, 
without  more  speculation  than  life  requires  or  admits, 
to  be  productive  of  much  evil.  Highwaymen  and 
house-breakers  seldom  frequent  the  playhouse,  or 
mingle  in  any  elegant  diversion ;  nor  is  it  possible 
for  any  one  to  imagine  he  may  rob  with  safety, 
because  he  sees  Macheath  reprieved  upon  the  stage.' 

Boswell  tells  us  that  Johnson  expressed  the  opinion 
that  more  influence  had  been  ascribed  to  the  play 
than  it  in  reality  ever  had,  and  he  added,  '  At  the 
same  time  I  do  not  deny  that  it  may  have  some  in- 
fluence by  making  the  character  of  a  rogue  familiar 
and  in  some  degree  pleasing !  Then  collecting  him- 
self as  it  were,  to  give  a  heavy  stroke :  There  is 

1  Hogarth  Illustrated,  vol.  ii.  p.  324. 


320  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

in  it  such  a  labefactation  of  all  principles  as  may 
be  injurious  to  morality.' 

This  discussion  on  the  influence  of  the  Beggar's 
Opera  was  a  favourite  one  with  Boswell,  and  he  had 
made  collections  for  the  purpose  of  publishing  a 
quarto  volume.  Mr.  Percy  Fitzgerald  says  that  it  is 
supposed  that  his  many  visits  to  Newgate,  attending 
on  convicts,  etc.,  were  made  with  a  view  to  this 
publication. 

One  can  hardly  expect  any  instance  of  a  bad 
influence  to  follow  a  performance  of  the  opera  in  the 
present  day,  but  in  a  time  when  highwaymen  were 
admired  as  heroes  by  persons  of  weak  and  ill- 
regulated  minds  it  was  likely  to  have  an  evil  effect. 

Samuel  Ireland  mentions  benefit  theatre  tickets 
for  three  of  the  actors  in  the  Beggar's  Opera,  which  he 
attributes  to  Hogarth,  viz.  for  Walker,  Milward,  and 
Spiller.  The  one  *  For  the  benefit  of  Mr.  Walker,' 
represents  the  same  scene  in  the  play  as  Hogarth 
painted  which  has  already  been  described.  It  is 
not,  however,  a  copy,  but  an  entirely  different  treat- 
ment of  the  five  chief  characters.  Below  is  the 
inscription  :  '  Theatre  Royal  Co  vent  Garden.  Pitt.5 
The  etching  is  signed  '  W.  Hogarth  in*,  J.  Sympson 
Jun.  sculp.'  The  original  is  in  the  Royal  Collection. 
S.  Ireland  published  a  copy  '  A.  M.  Ireland  sculp* '  in 
his  Graphic  Illustrations  (vol.  i.  p.  58). 

J.  B.Nichols  (Anecdotes  of  W.Hogarth,  1833,  p.  300) 
quotes  the  following  MS.  note  by  W.  Richardson 
(printseller,  Strand),  in  the  Graphic  Illustrations :  '  A 


THEATRICAL  LIFE  321 

palpable  fiction ;  Sympson  etched  much  better. 
See  the  frontispiece  to  Ned  Ward's  Works.  Powell's 
daughter  brought  me  this,  with  a  few  common 
prints,  for  sale.  She  asked  for  them  15s.  I  said 
'  Why  do  you  ask  me  so  much  for  such  trumpery?" 
She  said  there  was  one  of  Hogarth's  worth  a  good 
deal  more.  She  then  sold  them  to  N.  Smith,  May's 
Buildings,  who  sold  this  print  to  S.  Ireland  for  eight 
guineas — a  proof  that  neither  of  them  was  possessed 
of  much  real  judgement  in  Hogarth's  works.' 

This  is  a  very  interesting  piece  of  information,  but 
Nichols  is  not  inclined  entirely  to  agree  with  Richard- 
son's decision. 

The  benefit  ticket  for  Milward  represents  a  scene 
from  the  Beggar's  Opera,  in  which  that  actor  re- 
presented the  Player  who  disputes  with  the  Beggar, 
the  supposed  author  of  the  play.  The  inscription  is  : 
*  Theatre  Royal,  Lincolns  Inn  Fields,  Tuesday  April 
23.  A  Bold  Stroke  for  a  Wife  wth  Entertainments 
for  ye  Benefit  of  Mr  Milward.' 

John  Nichols  (Anecdotes,  1785,  p.  423)  refers  to  this 
benefit  ticket,  and  writes :  '  This  careless  but  spirited 
engraving  has  more  of  Hogarth's  manner  than 
several  other  more  laboured  pieces  which  of  late  have 
been  imputed  to  him.  Let  the  connoisseur  judge.' 

The  date  of  Milward' s  benefit  is  not  positively 
recorded,  but  it  must  have  been  after  1728  and  before 
1733.  Mrs.  Centlivre's  play,  A  Bold  Stroke  for  a 
Wife,  was  first  performed  in  1718.  Ireland  etched  a 
copy  of  the  original  print  which  was  published  by 


322  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

Motton  and  Co.  in  1788,  and  another  impression  was 
issued  in  the  Graphic  Illustrations  (vol.  i.  p.  98). 

James  Spiller,  who  sustained  the  character  of 
Mat  o'  the  Mint,  was  reduced  to  a  state  of  great 
distress  soon  after  the  first  success  of  the  Beggar's 
Opera.  The  ticket  for  his  benefit  is  mentioned  by 
John  Nichols  and  J.  B.  Nichols.  The  former  describes 
it  as  a  '  beautiful  little  print,'  and  the  latter  expressed 
the  opinion  that '  this  is  immeasurably  superior  to  all 
the  other  tickets  both  in  design  and  execution.  It 
makes  one  suspect  all  the  rest  to  be  not  by  Hogarth.' 
(Anecdotes  of  Hogarth,  1833,  p.  299.)  Samuel  Ireland 
etched  a  copy  from  the  original  print  hi  1788  ;  subse- 
quently it  was  included  in  the  Graphic  Illustrations. 
The  '  print  represents  a  large  balance,  suspended  in 
the  open  space  before  a  prison  on  the  one  hand,  and 
on  the  other  a  tavern,  in  front  of  which  is  the  sign  of 
the  "  Sun."  A  leg  of  mutton  hangs  before  the  ad- 
joining house,  which  is  thus  probably  indicated  to 
be  that  of  Spiller  himself.  Entwined  with  the  beam 
of  the  balance  is  a  label  with  "  For  the  benefit  of 
Spiller."  Under  the  beam  stands  Spiller,  eagerly 
selling  tickets  for  his  benefit  at  the  theatre  in 
Lincoln's  Inn  Fields  to  several  gentlemen.'1 

Spiller  was  a  publican  in  Clare  Market,  where  a 
club  was  held  of  which  Hogarth  was  a  member. 
The  original  sign  was  the  Bull  and  Butcher,  but  on 
Laguerre  painting  Spiller's  portrait,  which  he  pre- 
sented to  the  Club,  it  was  changed  to  the  Spiller's 

1  British  Museum  Catalogue  of  Satires,  vol.  ii.  p.  677. 


THEATRICAL  LIFE  323 

Head.  This  was  the  scene  of  a  picture  by  Hogarth 
called  '  Oysters ;  or  St.  James's  Day.'  l 

Spiller's  last  appearance  on  the  stage  was  on 
January  31,  1729.  He  died  on  February  7  following, 
aged  thirty-seven  years,  and  was  buried  at  the 
expense  of  Rich  the  manager  in  the  churchyard  of 
St.  Clement  Danes.  He  was  a  favourite  of  the 
public,  but  intemperance  was  the  bane  of  his  career. 

Hogarth  produced  several  portraits  of  actors,  and 
he  must  have  had  a  varied  acquaintance  with  the 
players  at  the  different  theatres,  but  his  associations 
were  more  ultimate  with  the  actors  of  the  chief 
theatre — Drury  Lane. 

Joe  Miller  took  his  benefit  as  Sir  Joseph  Wittol  in 
Congreve's  Old  Bachelor  at  Drury  Lane  on  April  25, 
1717.  There  is  a  theatre  ticket  for  this  occasion 
representing  a  scene  in  the  third  act  of  this  play. 
Samuel  Ireland  attributes  this  to  Hogarth,  and 
suggests  that  it  was  designed  about  the  time  of  the 
publication  of  the  *  Rake's  Progress  '  (1735).2 

It  is  generally  believed  to  be  a  forgery,  and  W. 
Richardson  supposes  the  forger  to  have  been  Powell. 

S.  Ireland  also  gives  a  copy  of  a  ticket  for  the 
benefit  of  Fielding,  author  of  the  Mock  Doctor,  which 
occurred  on  April  20,  1732.3  Theophilus  Gibber 
filled  the  part  of  the  Mock  Doctor,  and  the  scene 
represented  in  the  picture  contains  a  portrait  of  him* 
This  is  not  accepted  as  a  true  work  of  Hogarth. 

1  Dobson's  Hogarth,  1907,  p.  218. 

2  Graphic  Illustrations,  vol.  i.  p.  128.  3  Ibid.,  p.  104. 


324  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

'A just  View  of  the  British  Stage, or  three  Heads  are 
better  than  one.  Scene  Newgate,  by  M.  D[e]v[o]to ' 
(1725),  has  been  attributed  to  Hogarth,  but  it  is 
of  very  doubtful  authenticity.  Devoto  was  scene- 
painter  at  Drury  Lane,  Lincoln's  Inn  Fields,  and 
Goodman's  Fields.  This  print  is  called  in  Walpole's 
Catalogue,  '  Booth,  Wilks  and  Gibber  contriving  a 
Pantomime.' 

In  1733  Theophilus  Gibber  produced  at  Drury 
Lane  a  short  grotesque  pantomime  entitled  The 
Harlofs  Progress,  or  the  Ridotto  al  Fresco,  founded  on 
Hogarth's  pictures.  It  was  printed  with  a  dedica- 
tion to  the  painter.  The  tract  is  very  rare,  and 
some  copies  contain  portraits  of  Hogarth  and  Gibber, 
the  latter  in  his  favourite  character  of  Pistol. 

In  this  same  year  Theophilus  Gibber  promoted  a 
quarrel  between  the  manager  of  Drury  Lane  and 
some  of  the  actors,  which  caused  a  secession  of  the 
latter  to  the  Haymarket.  John  Laguerre,  the  scene- 
painter,  produced  an  interesting  etching  on  the 
subject  entitled  'The  Stage  Mutiny,'1  which  is 
worthy  of  special  mention  here  because  Hogarth 
used  the  design  on  a  show-cloth  in  his  representation 
of  Southwark  Fair.  Laguerre  was  a  friend  of 
Hogarth,  who  obtained  his  services  as  a  witness  in 
his  action  against  Joshua  Morris.  He  is  said  also  to 
have  designed  a  benefit  ticket  for  him. 

The  manager  of  Covent  Garden  Theatre  was  glad 
to  have  a  laugh  at  his  rivals,  and  in  1734  a  tragi- 

1  See  British  Museum  Catalogue  of  Satires,  vol.  ii.  p.  794. 


THEATRICAL  LIFE  325 

comi-farcical  opera  called  The  Stage  Mutineers,  or  a 
Playhouse  to  be  Let,  was  produced  with  some  success. 

The  pit  ticket  for  Fielding's  benefit,  already 
alluded  to,  brings  the  names  of  Fielding  and  Theo- 
philus  Gibber  in  conjunction  in  1732,  but  in  the 
following  year  they  are  found  on  different  sides. 
Fielding  considered  that  Highmore,  the  manager, 
was  ill-used,  and  he  stuck  to  the  fortunes  of  Drury 
Lane  Theatre.  He  has  been  said,  on  little  authority, 
to  be  the  author  of  the  'Apology  for  the  Life  of  Mr. 
The.  Gibber,  being  a  Proper  Sequel  to  the  Apology 
for  the  Life  of  Mr.  Colley  Gibber,  Comedian,'  in 
which  the  actor  is  unmercifully  satirised  in  a  vein 
of  sustained  irony.  We  must  now  pass  on  to  notice 
the  friendship  of  Hogarth  and  Garrick,  which  is  in 
every  way  pleasing  to  the  admirers  of  both  men,  for  it 
is  said  that  they  never  had  a  misunderstanding.  Mr. 
Joseph  Knight,  in  his  valuable  Life  of  Garrick  (1894), 
gives  us  several  glimpses  of  their  mutual  relations. 

On  one  occasion  it  had  been  hinted  to  Garrick  that 
he  had  been  remiss  in  his  visits  to  Hogarth.  In 
consequence  of  these  hints  he  wrote  a  very  agreeable 
letter  of  which  this  is  the  concluding  part : 

c  If  Mrs.  Hogarth  has  observed  my  neglect  I  am 
flattered  by  it,  but  if  it  is  your  observation  woe 
betide  you  ! 

'  Could  I  follow  my  own  wishes  I  would  see  you 
every  day  in  the  week,  and  not  care  whether  it  was 
in  Leicester  Fields  or  Southampton  Street,  but  what 


326  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

with  an  indifferent  state  of  health  and  the  care  of  a 
large  family  [Drury  Lane  Theatre],  in  which  there 
are  many  froward  children,  I  have  scarce  half  an 
hour  to  myself.  However,  since  you  are  grown  a 
polite  devil,  and  have  a  mind  to  play  at  lords  and 
ladies,  have  at  you.  I  will  certainly  call  upon  you 
soon ;  and  if  you  should  not  be  at  home  I  will  leave 
my  card. — Dear  Hogarth,  yours  most  sincerely, 

'D.    GARRICK.'1 

Hogarth  painted  Garrick  as  Richard  m.  hi  1746 
for  Mr.  Duncombe  of  Duncombe  Park,  and  he  was 
proud  of  receiving  two  hundred  pounds  forthe  picture, 
which  he  observed  in  his  Autobiography, '  was  more 
than  any  English  artist  ever  received  for  a  simple 
portrait.'  It  still  remains  in  the  possession  of  Mr. 
Duncombe's  descendant,  the  Earl  of  Feversham. 

The  picture  was  engraved  by  Hogarth  and  Charles 
Grignion.  The  latter  informed  John  Ireland  '  that 
Hogarth  etched  the  head  and  hand,  but  finding  the 
head  too  large  he  erased  it,  and  etched  it  in  a  second 
time,  when  seeing  it  wrong  (sic)  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." 

On  October  21,  1746,  Hogarth  sent  a  sketch  of 
Garrick  and  Quin  to  a  member  of  a  literary  society 
at  Norwich,  styled  the  Argonauts.  He  wrote, 
*  Sr,  If  the  exact  figure  of  Mr  Quin  were  to  be 
reduc'd  to  the  size  of  the  print  of  Mr  Garrick  it 

1  Knight's  David  Garrick,  p.  157. 


DAVID  GARRICK  AND  MRS.  GARRICK.     1757. 


THEATRICAL  LIFE  327 

would  seem  to  be  the  shortest  man  of  the  two, 
because  Mr  Garrick  is  of  a  taller  proportion.' 

A  facsimile  of  this  letter  was  published  in  1797  by 
Laurie  and  Whittle,  and  a  print  of  the  two  figures  is 
included  in  Hogarth's  works.1 

The  portrait  of  Garrick  writing  the  prologue  to 
Foote's  comedy  of  Taste,  with  Mrs.  Garrick  behind 
him  taking  the  pen  from  his  hand,  is  interesting  on 
account  of  the  anecdote  connected  with  it.  The 
actor  found  fault  with  the  picture.  Hogarth,  in  a 
fit  of  irritation,  drew  his  brush  across  the  face  of 
Garrick,  and  the  picture  remained  hi  his  possession 
till  his  death.  Mrs.  Hogarth  sent  the  portrait  to 
Garrick  after  the  painter's  death.  At  Mrs.  Garrick's 
sale  in  1823  the  picture  was  bought  by  Mr.  Edward 
Hawke  Locker  of  Greenwich  Hospital  for  £75,  11s. 
Mr.  Locker  sold  it  to  George  iv.,  and  it  is  now 
at  Windsor.  Mr.  Austin  Dobson,  who  gives  this 
account,  quotes  from  Mr.  F.  G.  Stephens  (Grosvenor 
Gallery  Catalogue,  1888)  the  corroboration  of 
Hogarth's  supposed  action:  'The  eyes  of  Garrick 
being  coarsely  painted,  ill-drawn,  and  evidently  by 
another  hand  than  Hogarth's,  attest  the  truth  of 
this  story.'  It  is  related  by  Murphy  that  Hogarth 
saw  Garrick  hi  Richard  III.  on  one  night,  and  on  the 
following  night  in  Abel  Drugger.  He  was  so  much 
struck  that  he  said  to  the  actor,  '  You  are  in  your 
element  when  you  are  begrimed  with  dirt  or  up  to 
your  elbows  in  blood.' 

1  British  Museum  Catalogue  of  Satires,  vol.  iii.  p.  618. 


328  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

Garrick  is  said  to  have  allowed  himself  to  be 
drawn  as  a  rustic  whose  height  is  being  taken  by  a 
recruiting  sergeant  in  Plate  2  of  the  *  Invasion.' 

He  wrote  the  descriptive  verses  to  the  two  prints, 
twelve  lines  each.  The  verses  are  : 

Plate  1,  '  France.' 

'  With  lantern  jaws,  and  croaking  gut, 
See  how  the  half-star v'd  Frenchmen  strut, 

And  call  us  English  dogs  ! 
But  soon  we  '11  teach  these  bragging  foes, 
That  beef  and  beer  give  heavier  blows, 

Than  soup  and  toasted  frogs. 

The  priests  inflam'd  with  righteous  hopes, 
Prepare  their  axes,  wheels  and  ropes, 

To  bend  the  stiff-neck'd  sinner  ! 
But  should  they  sink  in  coming  over, 
Old  Nick  may  fish  'twixt  France  and  Dover 

And  catch  a  glorious  dinner.' 

Plate  2,  c  England.' 

'  See  John  the  soldier,  Jack  the  Tar, 
With  sword  and  pistol  arm'd  for  war, 

Should  Mounseer  dare  come  here  ! 
The  hungry  slaves  have  smelt  our  food, 
They  long  to  taste  our  flesh  and  blood, 

Old  England's  beef  and  beer ! 

Britons  to  arms  !  and  let  'em  come, 
Be  you  but  Britons  still,  strike  home, 

And  lion-like  attack  'em ; 
No  power  can  stand  the  deadly  stroke, 
That 's  given  from  hands  and  hearts  of  oak, 

With  Liberty  to  back  'em.' 

In  1762  Hogarth  drew  an  excellent  frontispiece 
for  Garrick' s  successful  interlude  of  The  Farmer's 


GARRICK  IN  "THE  FARMER'S  RETURN."     1762. 


THEATRICAL  LIFE  329 

Return  from  London,  which  was  dedicated  to  the 
artist  '  as  a  faint  testimony  of  the  sincere  esteem 
which  the  writer  bears  him.' 

Forster,  in  his  Life  of  Goldsmith,  among  some 
disparaging  remarks  on  Boswell,  relates  the  follow- 
ing improbable  story:  'The  youthful  Scot  .  .  . 
had  seen  Garrick  in  the  new  farce  of  the  Farmer's 
Return,  and  gone  and  peeped  over  Hogarth's  shoulder 
as  he  sketched  little  David  in  the  Farmer,  hitting 
off  in  half  a  dozen  minutes  with  magical  facility  of 
pencil,  a  likeness  that  was  held  to  be  marvellous ' 
(vol.  i.  p.  295).1 

Garrick  and  his  wife  went  to  Italy  in  1763.  From 
Savoy  he  wrote  to  his  man  George,  bidding  him 
'  take  care  of  Hogarth's  pictures  and  keep  them  out 
of  the  sun  by  which  they  might  be  spoilt.' '' 

A  little  later,  when  Churchill  was  writing  his 
Epistle  to  William  Hogarth,  Garrick  wrote  to  '  The 
Bruiser '  with  admirable  loyalty  though  without 
success : 

' 1  must  entreat  of  you  by  the  regard  you  profess 
to  me  that  you  don't  tilt  at  my  friend  Hogarth  before 
you  see  me.  .  .  .  He  is  a  great  and  original  genius. 
I  love  him  as  a  man  and  reverence  him  as  an  artist.' 

In  connection  with  the  history  of  Drury  Lane 

1  To  the  recent  Fasciculus  J.  W,  Clark  dicatus,  Cambridge,  1909  (pp. 
406-422),  Mr.  Sidney  Colvin  contributed  a  learned  and  very  interesting 
study  of  Hogarth's  original  sketch  for  The  Farmer's  Return,  now  in  the 
possession  of  the  Hon.  Mrs.  A.  E.  Gathorne-  Hardy.  It  originally  belonged 
to  Mr.  H.  P.  Standly,  afterwards  to  Mr.  William  Mitchell.  Mr.  Colvin's 
paper  includes  a  facsimile  of  Hogarth's  pen-drawing. 

J  Knight's  David  Garrick,  1894,  p.  203. 


330  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

there  are  two  pictures  of  the  green-room  attributed 
to  Hogarth  which  claim  our  special  attention.  Both 
were  exhibited  at  the  Whitechapel  Art  Gallery  in 
1906. 

No.  50,  '  Garrick  in  the  Green  Room,'  lent  by  Mr. 
J.  E.  Reiss,1  and  No.  70,  '  Green  Room,  Drury  Lane,' 
lent  by  the  late  Sir  Charles  Tennant.  '  Garrick  in 
the  Green  Room  '  is  the  title  of  a  picture  which  was 
discovered  early  in  the  nineteenth  century  and 
purchased  for  a  few  shillings.  It  was  '  engraved  in 
mezzotinto  by  William  Ward  Jan.  1,  1829,'  for  the 
possessor,  James  Webb  Southgate,  who  published 
it  at  22  Fleet  Street.  George  Daniel  wrote  a 
description  of  the  picture,  also  published  in  1829,  and 
entitled  '  Garrick  in  the  Green  Room !  a  Biographi- 
cal and  Critical  Analysis  of  a  Picture.' 

The  key  given  of  the  persons  represented  is  as 
follows  :  1,  Mr.  Beard  ;  2,  Mr.  Baddeley ;  3,  Mrs. 
Garrick ;  4,  Mr.  Woodward ;  5,  Unknown ;  6, 
Gentleman  Aickin  ;  7,  Mr.  Macklin  ;  8,  Gentleman 
Smith  ;  9,  Mrs.  Yates  ;  10,  Mrs.  Abingdon ;  11, 
Mr.  Hogarth  ;  12,  Mr.  O'Brien  ;  13,  David  Garrick  ; 
14,  P.  Garrick.  This  is  a  distinguished  party,  and 
the  figures  are  arranged  in  a  well-grouped  picture, 
but  one  would  like  to  know  more  of  its  history  before 
accepting  it  as  an  undoubted  original.  One  would 
have  expected  that  such  collectors  of  Hogarthiana  as 
Walpole,  Nichols,  the  two  Irelands,  and  Trusler 
would  have  heard  of  the  picture  from  Mrs.  Hogarth 

1  This  picture  was  exhibited  in  1880  by  Mr.  Samuel  Addington. 


THEATRICAL  LIFE  331 

if  they  had  not  seen  it  themselves.  J.  B.  Nichols 
expressed  his  doubt  as  to  its  authenticity,  although 
he  considered  it  a  carefully-painted  picture.  He 
writes :  *  I  cannot  believe  it  to  have  been  painted 
by  Hogarth.  It  is  not  unlikely  to  be  a  French 
painting,  with  alterations  adapted  to  the  English 
market.'1 

There  does  not  appear  to  be  any  good  reason  for 
the  latter  suggestion. 

Of  the  picture  styled  '  The  Green  Room,  Drury 
Lane,'  we  know  even  less  than  we  do  of  '  Garrick  in 
the  Green  Room.'  We  have  neither  information  as 
to  the  date  of  the  picture,  nor  of  how  or  where  it 
was  discovered. 

The  catalogue  of  the  Whitechapel  Gallery  contains 
a  very  strongly- worded  eulogy  of  the  picture,  and  the 
writer  places  it  in  the  very  front  rank  of  Hogarth's 
work.  He  writes  :  '  A  magnificent  work,  unequalled 
for  brilliance  among  the  painter's  achievements.  The 
grave  lighting  is  magical  in  its  arresting  power  ;  the 
way  this  light  seems  to  come  and  go,  now  discovering 
and  now  obscuring  the  objects,  means  illumination 
profoundly  understood,  and  the  result  is  a  picture 
inevitable  and  mysterious  as  life  itself.'  I  do  not 
question  this  statement  respecting  the  technique, 
although  it  appears  somewhat  exaggerated,  and  I 
should  not  have  quoted  this  criticism  if  I  had  found 
any  earlier  description  of  the  picture  in  the  literature 
of  Hogarth's  work. 

1  Anecdotes  of  W.  Hogarth,  1833,  p.  314. 


332  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

As  a  picture  it  is  certainly  much  inferior  in  interest 
to  the  '  Garrick  in  the  Green  Room.'  The  figures  are 
fewer  and  not  so  representative  of  '  Old  Drury.' 

The  picture  is  reproduced  in  Mr.  Austin  Dobson's 
folio  Hogarth  (Heinemann),  and  the  names  of  the 
persons  represented  are  there  given,  as  they  appear 
on  the  frame.  They  are  :  Miss  Pritchard,  Mrs.  Prit- 
chard, Barry,  Fielding,  Quin,  and  Lavinia  Fenton. 
The  figures  between  Barry  and  Quin  are  in  the  back- 
ground and  are  very  indistinct ;  one  is  said  to  be 
intended  for  Fielding,  and  the  other  is  unnamed. 

Two  points  in  the  picture  which  are  worthy  of 
special  attention  are  the  portraits  of  Quin  and  Lavinia 
Fenton.  The  former  is  a  mere  caricature  and  quite 
unworthy  of  Hogarth,  who  knew  the  actor  well  and 
painted  his  portrait  more  than  once.  Lavinia 
Fenton  seems  out  of  place  in  this  green-room,  as  she 
never  had  any  connection  with  Drury  Lane,  and  she 
was  not  likely  to  be  a  frequenter  of  a  green-room 
after  1728  when  she  finally  left  the  stage. 

In  dealing  with  the  authenticity  of  the  picture  the 
first  thing  to  find  out  is  the  supposed  date  of  the 
scene  represented.  A  clue  to  this  seems  to  present 
itself  in  the  presence  of  Mrs.  Pritchard  and  her 
daughter. 

Miss  Pritchard  made  her  debut  at  Drury  Lane  as 
Juliet  to  Garrick' s  Romeo  in  1756.  Her  appearance 
caused  a  great  sensation,  but  she  was  not  able  to 
keep  up  her  high  reputation.  We  may  therefore 
take  the  year  1756  as  the  date  of  the  picture,  and  if 


THEATRICAL  LIFE  333 

we  do  so  we  cannot  but  be  astonished  at  the  absence 
from  the  green-room  of  Drury  Lane  of  Garrick 
himself  and  of  such  stars  as  Mrs.  Gibber  and  Kitty 
Clive,  not  to  mention  the  names  of  Woodward, 
Palmer,  and  Mossop. 

Of  those  persons  who  are  represented,  Fielding 
had  been  dead  two  years  in  1756 ;  Quin  was  sixty- 
three  years  of  age,  and  had  retired  from  the  stage 
five  years  before ;  Lavinia  Fenton  was  forty-eight, 
and,  moreover,  was  the  widowed  Duchess  of 
Bolton.1 

Having  referred  to  that  great  actress,  Mrs. 
Pritchard,  one  of  the  mainstays  of  Drury  Lane 
Theatre,  we  cannot  resist  the  temptation  of  inserting 
here  an  anecdote  from  an  old  magazine,  which  places 
her  in  a  pleasing  light. 

4  Mrs.  Pritchard,  in  one  of  her  summer  rambles 
went  with  a  large  party  to  see  the  Beggar's  Opera  at 
a  remote  country  town,  where  it  was  so  mangled  as 
to  render  it  almost  impossible  to  resist  laughing  at 
some  of  the  passages.  Mrs.  Pritchard  perhaps  might 
have  indulged  this  too  much,  considering  one  of  her 
profession  ;  however  she  escaped  unnoticed  till  after 
the  end  of  the  performance,  it  was  necessary  for  her 
and  company  to  cross  the  stage  to  go  to  their  carriages 
— the  only  musician  who  filled  the  orchestra  hap- 
pened likewise  to  be  the  manager,  and  having  no 

1  I  have  no  wish  to  dispute  the  authenticity  of  this  picture,  but  until  -we 
know  more  of  its  history  and  pedigree  it  seems  necessary  to  set  down  the 
apparent  difficulties  in  the  way  of  accepting  it  as  an  undoubted  work  of 
Hogarth. 


334  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

other  way  of  showing  his  revenge,  he  immediately 
struck  up  the  opening  tune — 

"  Through  all  the  employments  of  life, 
Each  neighbour  abuses  his  brother." 

*  This  had  such  an  effect  on  Mrs.  Pritchard  that  she 
felt  the  rebuke,  and  threw  Crowdero  a  crown  for  his 
wit,  as  well  as  a  tribute  of  her  own  humiliation.' l 

Passing  from  Drury  Lane  to  the  Haymarket  we 
have  to  take  note  of  some  of  Fielding's  successes  hi 
which  his  friend  Hogarth  was  interested. 

Fielding's  version  of  Moliere's  Medecin  Malgre  lui, 
which  he  called  The  Mock  Doctor,  or  The  Dumb  Lady 
Cured,  has  already  been  alluded  to  because  it  was 
acted  at  Drury  Lane. 

Fielding's  first  play,  Love  in  Several  Masques,  was 
performed  at  Drury  Lane  hi  February  1728,  and  on 
publication  the  author  acknowledged  in  his  preface 
the  kindness  of  Wilkes  and  Gibber  the  managers. 

His  Tom  Thumb,  a  Tragedy  (hi  two  acts),  was 
brought  out  at  the  Haymarket  in  1730.  In  the  follow- 
ing year  Fielding  enlarged  it  into  three  acts.  It  was 
published  in  1731  with  the  following  title  :  Tragedy 
of  Tragedies,  or  the  Life  and  Death  of  Tom  Thumb 
the  Great .  .  .  with  the  annotations  of  H.  Scriblerus 
Secundus.  London,  J.  Roberts,  1731.'  Hogarth  de- 
signed a  frontispiece  (1731)  for  this  book,  which  was 
engraved  by  G.  Vandergucht. 

This  is  an  excellent  burlesque  written  on  the  same 
principle  as  The  Rehearsal.  The  scene  between 

1  European  Magazine,  1800,  vol.  xxxvii.  p.  26. 


THEATRICAL  LIFE  335 

Glumdalca  and  Huncamunca  is  a  parody  of  the 
meeting  between  Octavia  and  Cleopatra  in  Dryden's 
AH  for  Love.  Swift  told  Mrs.  Pilkington  that  he  had 
only  laughed  twice  in  his  life,  and  one  of  the  occasions 
was  when  he  saw  Tom  Thumb  killing  the  ghost.1 
This,  however,  was  omitted  after  the  first  edition  of 
the  piece. 

On  the  3rd  of  May  1732  the  play  was  transferred 
to  Drury  Lane,  and  was  acted  on  that  day  for  the 
benefit  of  William  Ruf  us  Chetwood,  the  well-known 
prompter  and  bookseller  in  Covent  Garden. 

The  authenticity  of  the  '  Pasquin '  ticket  for  the 
benefit  of  the  author,  Henry  Fielding,  has  been 
doubted,  but  many  will  agree  with  Mr.  Dobson  when 
he  writes :  *  There  is  a  doubt  whether  this  is  really  the 
work  of  Hogarth,  but  the  strokes  at  political  morality 
in  that  "  dramatic  satire  on  the  times  "  would  have 
been  so  much  to  the  taste  of  the  artist  who  later 
designed  the  inimitable  Election  Prints,  that  one  is 
inclined  to  give  him  the  benefit  of  any  uncertainty.' 

Moreover,  Hogarth  was  so  great  a  friend  of  Field- 
ing that  to  assist  him  at  his  benefit  was  just  what  he 
would  be  glad  to  do. 

Mr.  Stephens  gives  a  description  of  this  ticket,  and 
a  facsimile  of  it  by  A.  M.  Ireland  will  be  found  hi 
the  first  volume  of  his  Graphic  Illustrations.  '  The 
design  represents  a  stage  scene,  the  background 

1  '  Mrs.  Pilkington's  memory  served  her  imperfectly,  since  it  is  not  Tom 
Thumb  who  kills  the  ghost,  but  the  ghost  of  Tom  Thumb  which  is  killed  by 
his  jealous  rival,  Lord  Grizzle '  (Dobson's  Fielding,  1907,  p.  22). 


336  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

comprising  a  colonnade  from  the  respective  wings  of 
which  a  tight-rope  is  stretched.  On  this  rope  dancers 
are  performing  and  holding  their  balancing  poles  ; 
an  ape  sits  astride  of  the  rope  on  our  right.' 1 

The  inscription  on  the  ticket  is  '  The  Author's 
Benefit  Pasquin.  At  ye  Theatre  in  the  Haymarket.' 
On  S.  Ireland's  copy  is  written  in  Fielding's  hand- 
writing, '  Tuesday,  April  25th.  Boxes.' 

The  success  of  the  Beggar's  Opera  is  the  first  in- 
stance of  a  long  run  on  the  English  stage,  and  Field- 
ing's Pasquin,  eight  years  afterwards  (1736),  had 
almost  as  long  a  one.  It  contained  severe  satirical 
reflections  on  the  Ministry,  which  were  greatly  ap- 
preciated by  the  audience.  The  Government,  natur- 
ally, did  not  appreciate  the  satire,  and  in  consequence 
they  passed  the  Licensing  Act  by  which  the  number 
of  playhouses  was  limited  and  the  liberty  of  the  stage 
was  restrained.  As  Mr.  Cyril  Maude  says  in  his 
Records  of  the  Haymarket  Theatre,  it  is  indirectly  to 
the  little  theatre  in  the  Haymarket  that  Mr.  George 
Redford  enjoys  '  his  enviable  position  of  Examiner  of 
Plays.' 

The  scene  of  action  shown  in  the  ticket  is  at  the 
conclusion  of  the  fifth  act,  where  the  Queen  of 
Common  Sense  is  stabbed  by  Firebrand,  and  the 
Queen  of  Ignorance  declares  to  Harlequin,  his  allies, 
and  to  Squeekaronelli  that  she  will  be  to  them  all  a 
most  propitious  queen. 

Samuel  Ireland  says  in  his  Graphic  Illustrations 

1  British  Museum,  Catalogue  of  Satires,  vol.  iii.  p.  186. 


THEATRICAL  LIFE  337 

that  he  had  a  larger  print  on  this  subject  from  a 
design  by  Hogarth  that  includes  all  the  characters 
in  the  piece  ;  in  a  corner  of  which  Pope  appears  to  be 
quitting  the  theatre,  and  by  the  label  issuing  out  of 
his  mouth  is  exclaiming,  '  There  is  no  whitewashing 
this  stuff.' l 

This  is  very  suspicious,  and  the  larger  print 
mentioned  is  certainly  a  forgery,  for  Hogarth  did 
not  use  labels  containing  speeches  at  this  date.  It 
may  be  remarked,  however,  that  Pope  was  said  to 
have  been  present  at  one  of  the  performances. 
Some  verses  were  written  on  seeing  '  Mr.  Pope  at  the 
Dramatic  Satire  call'd  Pasquin.'  The  satirists  of  the 
time  were  busy  with  making  fun  over  the  *  illegiti- 
mate '  drama  of  the  period,  and  Hogarth  was  to  the 
fore  with  his  *  Masquerades  and  Operas,'  etc.,  which 
will  be  referred  to  later  in  this  chapter. 

In  this  year,  1736,  was  issued  an  engraving 
entitled  '  The  Judgment  of  the  Queen  o'  Common 
Sense.  Address'd  to  Henry  Fielding,  Esqr.  A  Satire 
on  Pantomimes,  and  the  professors  of  Divinity,  Law 
and  Physic.'  This  is  described  by  Mr.  Stephens  as 
1  representing  the  stage  of  a  theatre,  with  an  alcove 
in  the  background  on  which,  raised  a  step  above  the 
floor,  stands  a  crowned  female,  the  Queen  of  Common 
Sense,  who  holds  in  her  right  hand  a  well-filled  purse, 
and  hi  her  left  hand  an  halter.  On  her  right  kneels 
a  gentleman,  Henry  Fielding,  offering  to  the  Queen 
a  piece  of  paper  inscribed  PASQUIN  ;  to  him  she  is 

1  Graphic  Illustrations,  vol.  i.  p.  131. 

y 


338  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

giving  the  contents  of  the  purse  ;  the  halter  she 
extends  to  her  left,  and  its  extremity  is  in  the  hand  of 
a  harlequin,  who  is  capering  on  the  stage  in  front  of 
the  design.'  The  description  is  too  long  to  copy 
here.  Below  the  design  are  engraved  some  verses 
commencing : 

'  With  bounteous  hands  ye  Queen  of  Common  Sense, 
Appears  her  honest  favours  to  dispence, 
On  Pasquin's  Author  show'rs  of  Gold  bestows, 
And  Hamlet's  Ghost  the  impartial  Poet  shows 
Tho'  Shakespear's  merit  in  his  bosom  glows.' l 

The  last  production  of  George  Colman,  the  elder, 
was  acted  at  the  Haymarket  in  1789.  It  was  a 
slight  musical  interlude  of  little  merit  entitled,  Ut 
Pictura  Poesis,  or  The  Enraged  Musician.  As  its 
title  indicates,  it  was  founded  upon  Hogarth's 
celebrated  picture. 

Hogarth  painted  several  portraits  of  actors  which 
are  of  interest,  such  as  those  of  Lavinia  Fenton, 
already  alluded  to  as  in  the  National  Gallery,  Quin 
and  William  Bullock.  There  are  two  portraits  of 
Peg  Woffington  in  a  reclining  position  at  the  Garrick 
Club,  one  by  Hogarth  and  the  other  by  Mercier. 
Hogarth's  picture  was  sold  by  Henry  Angelo  to 
Charles  Matthews.  The  one  by  Mercier  is  the  more 
pleasing  picture. 

Among  the  books  illustrated  by  Hogarth  are 
several  plays  for  which  he  designed  frontispieces. 
Two  of  these  have  already  been  referred  to,  viz. 

1  British  Museum  Catalogue  of  Satires,  vol.  iii.  p.  200. 


THEATRICAL  LIFE  339 

Fielding's  Tom  Thumb  (1731),  and  Garrick's  Farmer's 
Return  (1762). 

Others  are  *  The  Humours  of  Oxford,  a  Comedy. 
By  a  Gentleman  of  Wadham  College  '  [Rev.  James 
Miller],  1729,  which  was  acted  at  Drury  Lane. 

'  The  Highland  Fair,  or  The  Union  of  the  Clans, 
an  Opera.  Written  by  Mr.  [Joseph]  Mitchell,'  1731, 
also  acted  at  Drury  Lane.  Fielding  tells  us  in  The 
Covent  Garden  Journal  (No.  19)  an  amusing  anecdote 
of  the  dulness  of  the  author : 

'  A  certain  comic  author  produced  a  piece  on  Drury 
Lane  stage  called  The  Highland  Fair,  in  which  he 
intended  to  display  the  comical  humours  of  the 
Highlanders ;  the  audience,  who  had  for  three  nights 
together  sat  staring  at  each  other,  scarce  knowing 
what  to  make  of  their  entertainment,  on  the  fourth 
joined  in  an  unanimous  exploding  laugh.  This  they 
had  continued  through  an  act ;  when  the  author, 
who  unhappily  mistook  the  peals  of  laughter  which 
he  heard  for  applause,  went  up  to  Mr.  Wilks,  and 
with  an  air  of  triumph,  said,  "  Deel  o'  my  sal,  Sare, 
they  begin  to  tauk  the  humour  at  last." 

'  The  Lawyer's  Fortune,  or  Love  in  a  Hollow  Tree, 
a  Comedy,'  1705,  is  somewhat  of  a  curiosity.  It 
was  written  when  its  author,  William  Grimston,  was 
only  thirteen  years  of  age,  and  was  never  acted 
except  by  a  strolling  company  of  actors  at  Windsor. 
The  author  was  in  1719  created  Baron  of  Dunboyne 
and  Viscount  Grimston  in  the  Peerage  of  Ireland. 
He  was  unfortunate  in  the  strong  opposition  of  the 


340  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

old  Duchess  of  Maryborough,  when  he  contested 
successfully  the  borough  of  St.  Albans.  He  had 
attempted  to  suppress  his  play,  but  the  Duchess 
reprinted  it  in  order  to  make  him  ridiculous. 

Lord  Grimston  was  apparently  an  estimable  man, 
but  the  wits  were  against  him.  Alluding  to  his 
residence  at  Gorhambury  Pope  wrote  : 

'  Shades  that  to  Bacon  could  retreat  afford, 
Become  the  portion  of  a  booby  Lord.' 

And  Swift,  attacking  him  for  his  unfortunate  play, 

said : 

'  The  leaden  crown  devolved  to  thee, 
Great  poet  of  the  Hollow  Tree' 

Hogarth's  frontispieces  to  these  three  plays  were 
all  engraved  by  Gerard  Vandergucht. 

The  frontispiece  to  Henry  Carey's  Chrononhoton- 
thologos  (1734)  is  attributed  to  Hogarth,  but  this 
attribution  is  very  doubtful,  and  it  has  not  received 
a  favourable  reception. 

'  The  Tragedy  of  Chrononhotonthologos.  Written 
by  Benjamin  Bounce.  London.  Printed  by  J. 
Suckburgh.' 

The  engraving  represents  a  scene  in  a  prison-cell. 

There  is  a  picture  in  existence  representing  a  scene 
from  Dr.  Benjamin  Hoadly's  Suspicious  Husband. 
This  belonged  to  Mrs.  Hoadly  in  1782. 

Dr.  John  Hoadly,  the  younger  son  of  Bishop 
Hoadly,  had  a  private  theatre  in  his  house.  Few 
visitors  were  allowed  to  leave  until  they  had  ex- 
hibited their  powers  here  as  amateur  actors.  Hogarth 


P  31 


THEATRICAL  LIFE  341 

was  one  of  Hoadly's  failures,  for  when  he  performed 
with  Garrick  and  Hoadly  in  a  parody  of  the  scene  in 
Julius  Ccesar,  where  the  ghost  appears  to  Brutus,  he 
entirely  forgot  the  few  words  he  had  to  recite.  The 
host  was  not  to  be  disappointed,  so  to  help  his  friend 
he  had  the  verses  written  in  large  letters  on  the  paper 
lantern  which  the  ghost  carried  in  his  hand  when  on 
the  stage.  Hogarth  designed  a  playbill  with  char- 
acteristic ornaments  which  was  preserved  but  not 
engraved. 

Hogarth  was  interested  in  two  instances  of  private 
theatricals.  He  painted  a  picture  of  the  perform- 
ance of  Dryden's  Indian  Emperor,  or  the  Conquest  of 
Mexico  at  Mr.  Conduit's  house,  and  designed  a  ticket 
for  an  entertainment  at  Cliefden,  given  on  August  1, 
1740,  before  the  Prince  and  Princess  of  Wales,  that 
being  the  birthday  of  their  daughter  the  Princess 
Augusta.  The  picture  of  the  fourth  scene  of  the 
fourth  act  of  the  Indian  Emperor  is  preserved  at 
Holland  House. 

John  Conduit  was  the  Master  of  the  Mint  in  suc- 
cession to  Sir  Isaac  Newton,  whose  niece  (Mrs. 
Catherine  Barton)  he  married.  Their  only  child 
(also  Catherine),  who  acted  in  this  piece,  married 
on  the  8th  of  July  1740  Viscount  Lymington,  the 
eldest  son  of  the  first  Earl  of  Portsmouth,  who  died 
before  his  father,  and  his  son  succeeded  the  first 
Earl  in  the  title.  The  eldest  sons  of  this  noble 
family  have  usually  borne  the  name  of  Newton. 
The  four  characters  on  the  stage  are :  1,  Cortez, 


342  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

acted  by  Lord  Lempster ;  2,  Cydaria,  by  Lady 
Caroline  Lennox ;  3,  Almeria,  by  Lady  Sophia 
Fermor;  4,  Alibeck,  by  Miss  Conduit. 

Hogarth  appears  to  have  continued  his  acquain- 
tanceship with  Lady  Lymington  from  her  childhood. 
There  is  a  tradition  that  he  was  proud  to  be  allowed 
to  draw  figures  from  her,  and  that  she  was  so 
obliging  as  to  sit  to  him  for  the  Viscountess  in  the 
*  Marriage  a  la  Mode.' 

The  audience  included  in  the  picture  are  :  5,  the 
Duke  of  Cumberland ;  6,  Princess  Mary ;  7,  Princess 
Louisa ;  8,  Lady  Deloraine ;  9  and  10,  her  daughters ; 
11,  Duchess  of  Richmond  ;  12,  Duke  of  Richmond  ; 
13,  Earl  of  Pomfret ;  14,  Duke  of  Montague  ;  15, 
Tom  Hill  or  Captain  Poyntz  ;  16  (on  the  stage),  Dr. 
Desaguliers. 

The  picture  was  engraved  by  Robert  Dodd,  and 
published  by  J.  and  J.  Boydell  in  1792.  There  is  a 
key-plate  in  John  Ireland's  Hogarth  Illustrated 
(ii.  331). 

Leslie  in  his  Handbook  for  Young  Painters  (1855, 
p.  151)  praises  this  picture  very  highly.  He  writes : 
'  Three  girls  and  a  boy  are  on  the  stage,  and  seem  to 
be  very  seriously  doing  their  best ;  but  the  attitude 
and  expression  of  one  little  girl  in  a  front  seat 
among  the  audience,  is  matchless.  She  is  so  entirely 
absorbed  in  the  performance,  that  she  sits  bolt  up- 
right, and  will  sit,  we  are  sure,  immovably,  to  the 
end  of  the  play,  enjoying  it  as  a  child  only  can,  and 
much  the  more  because  the  actors  are  children.' 


THEATRICAL  LIFE  343 

The  ticket  for  the  performance  of  Thomson  and 
Mallet's  Masque  of  Alfred,  written  by  command  of 
the  Prince  of  Wales,  and  performed  in  the  gardens  of 
Cliefden  House  in  1740,  has  had  more  than  one  date 
given  to  it.  It  consists  of  an  oval  with  the  two 
figures  of  Hymen  and  Cupid  in  the  foreground,  and  a 
view  of  a  handsome  mansion  (Cliefden)  in  the  back- 
ground. 

When  originally  acted,  the  chief  character  of  the 
Masque  was  the  Hermit,  taken  by  Quin,  Alfred  by 
Milward,  the  Earl  of  Devon  by  Mills,  Corin  by 
Salway,  Eltruda  by  Mrs.  Horton,  and  Emma  by  Mrs. 
Clive.  Mallet  remodelled  the  Masque,  making  Alfred 
the  chief  character,  when  it  was  acted  at  Drury  Lane 
in  February  1751.  Garrick  took  Alfred,  Berry  the 
Hermit,  Lee  the  Earl  of  Devon,  Miss  Bellamy 
Eltruda,  and  Mrs.  Bennet  Emma.  The  play  was 
revived  at  Drury  Lane  in  October  1773,  when 
Reddish  played  Alfred. 

John  Nichols  (in  his  Biographical  Anecdotes,  1785, 
p.  436),  says  that  the  '  print  was  intended  as  a  ticket 
for  Sigismunda,  which  Hogarth  proposed  to  be  raffled 
for.  It  is  often  marked  with  ink  21.  2s.  The  number 
of  each  ticket  was  to  have  been  inserted  on  the  scroll 
hanging  down  from  the  knee  of  the  principal  figure. 
Perhaps  none  of  them  were  ever  disposed  of.  This 
plate  however  must  have  been  engraved  about  1762 
or  3.  Had  I  not  seen  many  copies  of  it  marked  by  the 
hand  of  Hogarth,  I  should  have  supposed  it  to  have 
been  only  a  ticket  for  a  concert  or  music-meeting.' 


344  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

The  suggested  date  is  much  too  late,  but  the  guess 
as  to  a  ticket  is  a  shrewd  one. 

J.  B.  Nichols  says  that  the  ticket  was  used  as  a 
receipt  for  the  Election  Prints  as  well  as  for  '  Sigis- 
munda.'  The  subscription  for  the  latter  was  10s.  6d. 
and  that  for  the  former  two  guineas.  Mr.  Standly 
had  a  copy  on  which  is  written  '  N°  12  '  in  the  scroll, 
and  under  the  print  '  Election  Entertainment  21  2s 
Wm.  Hogarth.' l 

No  copy  of  the  original  ticket  (1740)  is  registered, 
but  1748  is  given  as  the  date  of  the  reprint  by  John 
Ireland.2 

Hogarth  was  greatly  interested  in  everything  that 
tended  towards  the  amusement  of  the  people,  and  he 
had  many  opportunities  of  understanding  the  history 
of  the  theatre.  He  was  well  acquainted  with  actors, 
and  he  was  the  honoured  friend  of  three  of  the  great 
managers  of  the  chief  theatres  of  London. 

Of  Garrick  at  Drury  Lane  little  further  need  be 
added.  The  Haymarket,  at  which  Fielding  presided 
for  a  time,  was  the  small  theatre  which  was  super- 
seded by  the  present  building  in  1821. 

Fielding's  fame  will  ever  live  in  English  literature 
on  account  of  his  immortal  novels.  His  plays 
occupy  five  octavo  volumes  of  the  most  modern 
edition  of  his  works,3  but  his  fame  cannot  be  aug- 

1  Anecdotes  of  W.  Hogarth,  1833,  p.  334. 

2  Hogarth  Illustrated,  Supplement,  p.  349. 

3  Complete   Works  of  Henry  Fielding.     New  York  :    Printed  for  Sub- 
scribers only  by  Croscop  and  Sterling  Company,  and  published  in  England 
by  W.  Heinemann.     16  vols.  8vo. 


THEATRICAL  LIFE  345 

mented  by  them.  Although  his  Tom  Thumb  and 
Pasquln  are  productions  of  great  power  and  were 
highly  successful  on  the  stage,  they  do  not  affect  the 
truth  of  the  general  verdict  that  his  genius  naturally 
tended  to  narrative  rather  than  to  the  dramatic. 

John  Rich,  the  manager  of  Lincoln's  Inn  Fields 
and  introducer  of  pantomimes,  was  successful,  and 
will  ever  be  remembered  for  his  production  of  the 
Beggar's  Opera.  His  theatre  was  the  third  and  last 
house  to  bear  the  name  of  Lincoln's  Inn  Fields. 

In  December  1732  Rich  removed  to  Co  vent  Garden 
Theatre,  which  was  built  for  him.  There  is  a  print 
entitled  '  Rich's  Glory,  or  his  Triumphant  Entry  into 
Covent  Garden,'  which  is  attributed  to  Hogarth,  but 
is  of  very  doubtful  authenticity.  It  is,  however,  an 
interesting  illustration  of  Hogarth's  London. 

Although  the  works  of  Hogarth,  already  alluded 
to  in  this  chapter,  are  satirical,  the  actors  at  the 
ordinary  theatres  were  acceptable  to  him  because 
they  were  English  and  their  performances  racy  of  the 
soil.  The  most  intense  prejudice  in  Hogarth's 
nature  was  a  hatred  of  the  introduction  of  foreign 
customs  into  this  country,  and  Italian  opera  excited 
his  keenest  displeasure  as  he  considered  it  an  un- 
welcome exotic.  He  satirised  the  great  Italian 
singers  who  were  the  fashion,  and  thus  displayed  his 
national  prejudice.  We  are,  however,  grateful,  be- 
cause his  sketches  help  us  to  understand  the  intense 
feeling  exhibited  in  favour  of  and  against  the  Italian 
opera  which  forced  itself  upon  the  country,  and  in 


346  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

the  end  became  an  established  institution.  Before 
treating  of  Hogarth's  attitude  towards  this  branch 
of  the  stage,  reference  must  be  made  to  his  altogether 
admirable  '  A  Chorus  of  Singers  ;  or,  the  Oratorio.' 
This  was  reproduced  in  small  by  George  Cruik- 
shank  for  Major's  edition  of  Trusler  (1831),  but  the 
later  artist  cannot  be  said  to  have  done  justice 
to  his  original,  although  his  '  Four  Groups  of 
Heads,'  given  in  that  book,  are  excellent  in  them- 
selves. 

The  original  print  was  used  as  the  subscription 
ticket  for  '  A  Midnight  Modern  Conversation.' 

Below  the  design  is  engraved  a  form  of  receipt : 

c  Recd  of 

Five  shillings  being  the  whole  Payment  for  a  Print 
call'd  the  Midnight  Moddern  Conversation  which  I 
Promise  to  Deliver  on  ye  1st  of  March  next  at  farthest. 
But  Provoided  the  number  already  Printed  shall 
be  sooner  Subscribed  for,  then  ye  Prints  shall  be 
sooner  Delivered  &  time  of  Delivery  will  be 
advertiz'd.' 

In  the  British  Museum  copy  the  blank  spaces  are 
filled  in,  probably  by  Hogarth,  thus :  'December  22th, 
1732,'  and  '  Mr  Tho.  Wright.'  In  the  second  state 
of  this  plate  the  word  '  Provoided '  is  corrected  to 
*  Provided.' 

The  print  represents  a  rehearsal  of  '  Judith :  an 
Oratorio  or  Sacred  Drama.'  The  author  of  this  was 
Hogarth's  friend,  William  Huggins,  and  the  com- 
poser of  the  music  was  William  Defesch.  Some  of 


THEATRICAL  LIFE  347 

the  editors  of  Hogarth  supposed  the  composer  to  be 
Handel,  and  stated  absurdly  enough  that  the  con- 
ductor was  intended  for  the  great  composer  himself, 
whose  portrait  he  did  at  one  time  paint.1 

Huggins  was  painted  by  Hogarth  and  his  portrait 
was  engraved.  An  original  of  the  ticket  has  been 
spoken  of,  and  Bishop  Luscombe  bought  such  a 
picture  in  Paris.  Sir  William  Knighton  told  the 
Bishop  that  Hogarth's  picture  had  belonged  to  the 
Dukes  of  Richmond,  and  had  been  in  their  house  in 
Paris  until  the  first  Revolution,  since  which  time  it 
had  not  been  heard  of.2 

Besides  this  design,  Hogarth  prepared  a  frontispiece 
for  the  Oratorio  when  Huggins  published  it  in 
1733. 

In  his  Autobiography  Hogarth  writes :  '  But  here 
again  I  had  to  encounter  a  monopoly  of  printsellers, 
equally  mean,  and  destructive  to  the  ingenious  ;  for 
the  first  plate  I  published,  called  The  Taste  of  the 
Town,  in  which  the  reigning  follies  were  lashed,  had 
no  sooner  begun  to  take  a  run,  than  I  found  copies  of 
it  in  the  printshops,  vending  at  half  price,  while  the 
original  prints  were  returned  to  me  again ;  and  I  was 
thus  obliged  to  sell  the  plate  for  whatever  these 
pirates  pleased  to  give  me,  as  there  was  no  place  of 
sale  but  at  their  shops.'3 

1  A  portrait  of  Handel  was  engraved  by  C.  Turner  and   published  in 
1821  (see  Chapter  VIL,  Professional  Life). 

2  Notes  and  Queries,  First  Series,  vol.  vii.  p.  484. 

3  For  further  particulars  respecting  Hogarth's  fight  with  the  pirates  see 
Chapter  n. 


348  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

John  Ireland  writes  respecting  this :  '  The  print 
here  alluded  to,  I  apprehend  to  be  that  now  entitled 
the  small  Masquerade  Ticket  or  Burlington  Gate, 
published  in  1724,  in  which  the  follies  of  the  town 
are  very  severely  satirised,  by  the  representation 
of  multitudes,  properly  habited,  crowding  to  the 
Masquerade,  Opera,  pantomime  of  Doctor  Faustus, 
etc.,  while  the  works  of  our  greatest  dramatic  writers 
are  trundled  through  the  streets  in  a  wheel-barrow, 
and  cried  as  waste  paper  for  shops.' 1 

This  plate,  also  named  '  Masquerades  and  Operas,' 
is  very  interesting  from  its  richness  of  detail.  In 
the  background  is  the  entrance  gate  of  Burlington 
House,  surmounted  by  a  statue  of  Kent  standing 
between  two  reclining  figures  of  Michael  Angelo  and 
Raphael.  It  is  quite  possible  to  understand  Hogarth's 
hatred  of  Kent,  who  was  a  contemptible  painter  set 
up  as  a  rival  to  Sir  James  Thornhill,  although  he  had 
some  merit  as  an  architect  and  a  landscape  gardener. 
In  the  front  are  three  figures  looking  up  at  the  gate  : 
these  are  the  Earl  of  Burlington,  accompanied  by 
his  architect,  Colin  Campbell,  and  another  person 
who,  as  Mr.  Stephens  says,  has  been  '  erroneously 
called  his  lordship's  postilion.'  We  can  understand 
Hogarth's  feeling  towards  Burlington,  although  we 
may  judge  that  it  was  unjust.  The  inscription  on 
the  gate  '  Academy  of  Arts '  is  prophetic,  for  the 
enlarged  Burlington  House  is  now  the  home  of  the 
Royal  Academy  of  Arts,  which  did  not  then  exist. 

1  Hogarth  Illustrated,  1798,  vol.  iii  p.  16. 


THEATRICAL  LIFE  349 

In  the  foreground  on  the  left  is  the  home  of  Masquer- 
ades. John  Ireland  notes  that  the  leader  of  the 
figures  hurrying  to  a  masquerade  crowned  with  a  cap 
and  bells  and  a  garter  round  his  right  leg,  has  been 
supposed  to  be  intended  for  George  the  Second,  who 
was  very  partial  to  these  nocturnal  amusements,  and 
is  said  to  have  bestowed  a  thousand  pounds  towards 
their  support.  The  purse  with  the  label  £1000, 
which  the  satyr  holds  immediately  before  him,  gives 
some  probability  to  the  supposition. 

Heidegger,  the  great  promoter  of  masquerades,  is 
seen  looking  out  of  a  window.  Of  him  there  will  be 
more  to  be  said  later  on.  A  show-cloth  hanging  from 
the  front  of  the  building  is  inscribed  '  Opera.'  It 
represents  the  famous  singers  Berenstadt,  Senesino, 
and  Cuzzoni.  To  the  right  are  three  figures  kneeling ; 
the  foremost,  the  Earl  of  Peterborough,  a  prominent 
supporter  of  the  opera,  exclaims,  '  Pray  accept 
£8000.'  Cuzzoni  is  seen  raking  in  the  gold  which 
the  Earl  pours  out  of  a  purse.  A  signboard  next  to 
the  show-cloth  is  inscribed  '  The  Long  Room. 
FAUX.  Dexterity  of  Hand.'  Fawkes  was  a  famous 
mounteback  of  the  time,  who  gave  entertainments  at 
Bartholomew  Fair  and  elsewhere.  His  portrait  will 
be  found  in  Caulfield's  Portraits,  etc.,  of  Remarkable 
Characters. 

To  the  right  of  the  plate  opposite  to  the  masquer- 
ade building  is  the  theatre  where  Rich  performed  his 
pantomimes.  A  crowd  is  seen  rushing  into  a  colon- 
nade over  which  is  a  harlequin  pointing  to  a  show- 


350  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

cloth  representing  the  head  of  a  devil,  which  is 
inscribed  *  Dr.  Faustus  is  Here.' 

The  pantomime  entitled  The  Necromancer,  or 
Harlequin  Doctor  Faustus  was  brought  out  at 
Lincoln's  Inn  Fields  in  1723,  and  was  so  great  a 
success  that  Rich's  rival  managers  were  forced  to 
imitate  his  example. 

It  will  be  seen  from  this  description  that  there 
was  but  little  of  topographical  accuracy  in  the 
introduction  of  these  different  buildings  in  one 
picture.  The  print  entitled  '  Berenstat,  Cuzzoni 
and  Senesino  '  has  been  the  cause  of  a  considerable 
amount  of  dispute.  It  represents  the  stage  of  a 
theatre  at  the  performance  of  the  opera  of  Julius 
Ccesar,  the  three  singers  taking  the  characters  in 
the  following  order :  Julius  Csesar,  Cleopatra,  and 
Mark  Antony,  and  a  child  representing  the  train- 
bearer  of  Cleopatra.  This  is  nothing  but  a  caricature, 
and  it  has  been  supposed  not  to  be  Hogarth's  work. 
Mr.  Stephens  points  out  that  under  the  Duchess  of 
Portland's  copy  is  written  '  This  print  of  Senesino, 
Berenstadt  and  Cuzzoni  was  given  me  by  Vanderbank 
the  younger' s  mother.  He  drew  it  from  seeing  it  at 
the  opera.'  The  chief  reason  for  believing  it  to  be 
the  work  of  Hogarth  is  the  fact  that  he  repeated  the 
three  figures  in  his  picture  of  '  Masquerades  and 
Operas,'  already  described,  but  this  is  not  a  very 
strong  argument,  as  Hogarth  imitated  other  artists' 
work  in  some  of  his  pictures ;  as,  for  instance,  we  have 
seen  that  he  copied  Laguerre  in  '  Southwark  Fair.' 


THEATRICAL  LIFE  351 

John  Ireland  replaces  the  name  of  Farinelli  for 
that  of  Berenstadt,  but  this  necessitates  our  dating 
this  print  after  1734,  when  Farinelli  came  to  England, 
and  this  is  not  very  probable,  as  the  'Masquerades 
and  Operas '  was  produced  in  1724.  Ireland  also 
says  that  the  characters  are  Ptolemy,  Cleopatra,  and 
Julius  Csesar,  from  Handel's  opera  Ptolomeo,  which 
was  first  performed  in  1728.1 

A  picture  of  Farinelli  seated  on  a  pedestal  lies  on 
the  floor  hi  the  second  plate  of  the  '  Rake's  Progress.' 

A  print  entitled  '  A  Satire  on  Cuzzoni,  Farinelli  and 
Heidegger  '  has  been  attributed  to  Hogarth,  but  it  is 
believed  to  be  the  design  of  Dorothy,  Countess  of 
Burlington,  who  is  said  to  have  had  it  etched  by 
Goupy.  In  Mr.  Stephens' s  Catalogue  of  Satirical 
Prints  in  the  British  Museum  there  are  notices  of 
several  satirical  prints  connected  with  the  celebrated 
Italian  singers  by  others  than  Hogarth. 

The  opera  dancers  were  not  overlooked,  and 
Hogarth  produced  in  1742  a  print  in  ridicule  of  Des- 
noyers,  the  dancing-master,  and  Signora  Barberini, 
under  the  title  of  '  The  Charmers  of  the  Age.'  An 
original  print  was  in  the  Strawberry  Hill  Collection. 
It  was  re-engraved  by  R.  Livesay,  and  published  by 
him  in  1782  at  Mrs.  Hogarth's. 

At  the  Whitechapel  Exhibition,  1906,  a  picture 
entitled  '  A  Pantomime  Ballet  on  the  English 
Stage  (about  1750),'  attributed  to  Hogarth,  was 
lent  by  Mr.  Charles  E.  Newton  Robinson.  It 

1  The  priat  is  reproduced  in  Hogarth  Illustrated,  vol.  iii.  p.  255. 


352  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

is  an  interesting  picture,  but  the  ascription  is 
doubtful. 

As  has  already  been  noticed,  the  fashion  for 
masquerades  in  connection  with  the  foreign  intro- 
duction of  opera  became  very  general,  and  the 
fosterers  of  these  entertainments  were  in  many 
instances  the  same  persons. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  very  great  evils  were  caused 
by  the  public  welcome  of  masquerades,  and  therefore 
Hogarth's  attacks  upon  them  did  him  credit. 
Reference  has  already  been  made  to  the  print  of 
'  Masquerades  and  Operas,'  or  the  small  Masquerade 
Ticket  (1724).  The  large  Masquerade  Ticket  was 
published  in  1727  at  the  price  of  one  shilling.  This 
is  engraved  as  a  frontispiece  to  the  third  volume  of 
Hogarth  Illustrated  from  the  original  print  given  to 
John  Ireland  by  Sir  James  Lake.  There  is  a  full 
description  by  Ireland,  and  also  one  in  Mr.  Stephens' s 
British  Museum  Catalogue.1  The  print  shows  the 
interior  of  a  large  room  which  serves  as  a  vestibule 
to  the  chamber  where  the  masquerade  is  held.  A 
multitude  of  grotesque  characters  press  towards  the 
door.  It  is  not  necessary  to  describe  fully  the 
surroundings  of  the  place  which  are  all  indicative  of 
the  orgies  performed  there.  The  head  of  the  high 
priest  of  the  mysteries,  the  renowned  Heidegger,  is 
placed  on  the  front  of  a  large  dial,  fixed  lozenge 
fashion  at  the  top  of  the  print.  The  ball  of  the 
pendulum  is  labelled  nonsense.  On  the  minute 

1  Vol.  ii.  p.  661. 


THEATRICAL  LIFE  353 

hand    is   written   impertinence,   and    on    the    hour 
hand  wit. 

Recumbent  on  the  upper  line  of  this  print  and 
resting  against  the  sides  of  the  dial  the  lion  and  the 
unicorn  are  seen  lying  on  their  backs,  and  this 
parody  of  the  royal  supporters  is  supposed  to  allude 
to  George  H.'S  patronage  of  masquerades. 

John  James  Heidegger  was  a  remarkable  man. 
He  was  the  son  of  the  Swiss  pastor  of  Zurich,  and 
came  to  England  at  the  age  of  about  fifty,  after 
having  lived  a  Bohemian  life  for  some  years  in  almost 
every  capital  in  Europe.  In  1713  he  was  manager  of 
the  Opera  House  in  the  Haymarket.  Again  in  1728 
he  was  connected  with  Handel  in  the  same  venture. 
He  was  appointed  by  George  n.  Master  of  the  Revels, 
and  in  his  attempts  to  introduce  masquerades  he 
was  supported  by  the  King. 

For  some  years  great  opposition  to  this  form  of 
amusement  was  set  in  motion  by  the  more  sober 
portion  of  the  population.  On  January  6,  1726,  a 
sermon  was  preached  at  Bow  Church  by  the  Bishop 
of  London  before  the  Society  for  the  Reformation 
of  Manners,  which  created  a  great  effect.  Futile 
attempts  were  made  to  obtain  an  Act  of  Parliament 
for  the  suppression  of  masquerades,  but  a  royal 
proclamation  against  the  evils  produced  by  them 
was  published. 

In  1729  a  Middlesex  Grand  Jury  presented 
Heidegger  '  as  the  principal  promoter  of  vice  and 
immorality.'  In  spite  of  all  this  opposition  there 


354  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

was  no  abatement  of  the  evil,  and  the  only  concession 
to  the  popular  outcry  was  to  change  the  name  of  a 
masquerade  to  a  Ridotto. 

Bramston  in  his  M an  of  Taste  alludes  to  this  : 

'  Thou  Heidegger,  the  English  taste  has  found, 
And  rul'st  the  mob  of  quality  with  sound  ; 
In  Lent  if  Masquerades  displease  the  town, 
Call  'em  Ridottos,  and  they  still  go  down. 
Go  on,  Prince  Phiz,  to  please  the  British  nation, 
Call  thy  next  Masquerade  a  Convocation.' 

The  name  '  Prince  Phiz  '  refers  to  Heidegger's 
ugliness,  which  was  so  patent  to  all  that  he  himself 
made  a  jest  of  it.  Mrs.  Delany  describes  him  as 
'  the  most  ugly  man  that  ever  was  formed.5  Fielding 
introduces  him  as  Count  Ugly  in  the  puppet  show 
called  The  Pleasures  of  the  Town  at  the  end  of  The 
Author's  Farce. 
The  Count  speaks : 

'  I  disdain 

O'er  the  poor  ragged  tribe  of  bards  to  reign. 
Me  did  my  stars  to  happier  fates  prefer, 
Sur-intendant  des  plaisirs  d'Angleterre ; 
If  Masquerades  you  have,  let  those  be  mine, 
But  on  the  Signior  let  the  laurel  shine.' 

When  asked,  '  Hast  written  ?  '  he  answers  : 

'  No,  nor  read. 

But  if  from  dulness  any  may  succeed, 
To  that  and  nonsense  I  good  title  plead. 
Nought  else  was  ever  in  my  masquerade.' 

He  was,  however,  a  highly  successful  man,  and 
starting  with  nothing  he  soon  made  about  five 
thousand  pounds  a  year.  He  was  a  member  of 


THEATRICAL  LIFE  355 

White's  exclusive  club,  and  entertained  George  n. 
at  his  house  at  Barn  Elms. 

John  Nichols  gives  an  anecdote  which  shows  the 
careless  humour  which  caused  him  to  succeed  in  this 
country. 

'  Being  once  at  supper  with  a  large  company,  when 
a  question  was  debated,  which  nationalist  of  Europe 
had  the  greatest  ingenuity ;  to  the  surprise  of  all 
present,  he  claimed  that  character  for  the  Swiss,  and 
appealed  to  himself  for  the  truth  of  it.  "I  was  born 
a  Swiss,"  said  he,  "  and  came  to  England  without  a 
farthing,  where  I  have  found  means  to  gain  £5000 
a  year,  and  to  spend  it.  Now  I  defy  the  most  able 
Englishman  to  go  to  Switzerland,  and  either  to  gain 
that  income  or  to  spend  it  there  in  eating  and 
drinking."  ' 

A  slight  pencil  sketch  entitled  '  Heidegger  in  a 
Rage '  (circa  1740)  belonged  to  John  Ireland,  who 
engraved  it  in  the  third  volume  of  his  Hogarth 
Illustrated.  The  ascription  is  untenable,  but  the 
well-known  anecdote  of  Heidegger's  confusion  which 
is  here  represented  is  just  such  an  incident  as  would 
appeal  to  the  humour  of  Hogarth.  The  sketch  is 
now  in  the  Print  Room  of  the  British  Museum,  and  is 
described  by  Mr.  Stephens  in  his  Catalogue  (vol.  iii. 
p.  360).  Mr.  Binyon  catalogues  it  under  Philip 
Mercier's  name.1 

1  This  little  sketch  (a  black-chalk  drawing)  belonged  to  John  Ireland  who 
inserted  a  facsimile  of  it  by  J.  Mills  in  his  Hogarth  Illustrated,  1798,  vol. 
iii.  p.  323.  He  attributed  it  to  Hogarth  on  little  or  no  evidence,  but 
having  been  given  this  authority  it  has  been  treated  as  one  of  his  works, 


356  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

Heidegger  would  never  allow  any  portrait  of 
himself  to  be  taken,  and  he  managed  to  evade 
George  H.'S  expressed  wish  that  he  should  be  painted. 
What  could  not  be  obtained  by  fair  means  was 
undertaken  by  a  ruse.  The  Duke  of  Montagu,  who 
was  a  prince  of  practical  jokers,  succeeded  where 
others  had  failed.  He  invited  Heidegger  to  make 
one  of  a  choice  party  at  the  Devil  Tavern.  The  rest 
of  the  company,  all  chosen  for  their  powers  of  hard 
drinking,  were  in  the  plot,  and  a  few  hours  after 
dinner  the  Swiss  Count  was  carried  out  of  the  room 
dead  drunk.  A  daughter  of  Mr.  Salmon,  the  wax- 
work maker,  was  in  attendance,  and  took  a  model 
from  the  unconscious  man's  face,  from  which  she 
was  ordered  to  make  a  cast  in  wax,  and  colour  it  to 
nature. 

The  Duke  bribed  Heidegger's  valet  to  give  him 
information  as  to  the  clothes  his  master  would  wear 
at  the  next  masquerade.  A  man  of  a  similar  figure 
was  found,  and  with  the  help  of  the  mask  was  made 
up  into  a  striking  reproduction  of  the  Master  of  the 
Revels. 

George  n.  was  apprised  of  the  plot  and  he  promised 
to  be  present  with  the  Countess  of  Yarmouth.  On 
the  King's  arrival  Heidegger  at  once  bade  the  band 
play  '  God  save  the  King,'  but  no  sooner  was  his 

The  drawing  was  purchased  for  the  British  Museum  in  1858.  Mr. 
Laurence  Binyon  says  that  it  was  originally  attributed  to  Philip  Mercier 
(1689-1760),  and  as  that  ascription  is  doubtless  correct  it  is  described 
under  his  name  in  his  Catalogue  of  Drawings  by  British  Artists  in  the 
Department  of  Prints  in  the  British  Museum  (vol.  ii.  p.  326  ;  vol.  iii. 
p.  102). 


THEATRICAL  LIFE  357 

back  turned  than  the  impostor  with  a  fine  assump- 
tion of  the  voice  and  manner  of  the  true  master 
ordered  the  Jacobite  song  '  Charlie  over  the  Water  ' 
to  be  struck  up.  Heidegger  then  raged,  stamped 
and  swore,  commanding  the  continuation  of  '  God 
save  the  King.'  Immediately  he  retired  the  im- 
postor returned  and  ordered  the  band  to  resume 
'  Charlie.'  The  musicians  thought  their  master  was 
drunk,  but  dared  not  disobey  the  order.  All  this 
confusion  caused  an  uproar,  and  the  courtiers  who 
were  not  in  the  plot  were  in  dismay.  Some  of  the 
officers  of  the  guard  who  attended  the  King  wished 
to  turn  the  musicians  out  of  the  gallery,  but  the 
Duke  of  Cumberland  interposed.  The  Duke  then 
told  Heidegger  that  the  King  was  hi  a  violent 
passion  and  advised  him  to  go  instantly  and  make 
an  apology.  At  the  same  time  he  told  the  impostor 
to  do  the  same.  When  the  two  met  Heidegger 
stared,  staggered,  grew  pale  and  could  not  utter  a 
word.  Montagu  then  explained  the  situation,  but 
Heidegger  swore  that  he  would  never  attend  any 
public  entertainment  if  the  waxwork-maker  did  not 
break  the  mould,  and  melt  down  the  mask  before  his 
face. 

Samuel  Ireland  contributed  to  the  second  volume 
of  his  Graphic  Illustrations  an  etching  by  Le  Coeur 
(1797),  from  a  slight  sketch  by  Hogarth,  entitled 
'  111  Effects  of  Masquerades.'  The  picture  speaks  for 
itself,  but  Ireland  gives  a  rather  florid  description  of 
it  which  may  be  condensed. 


358  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

A  husband  called  away  to  the  country  for  a  short 
time  left  his  young  wife  with  her  sister.  During  his 
absence  the  two  ladies  resolved  to  go  to  a  masquerade, 
the  wife  adopting  the  dress  of  a  gallant  and  the  sister 
acting  as  his  betrothed.  All  went  well,  and  they 
returned  home.  The  husband  unexpectedly  followed 
them,  and  rushing  with  impatience  to  his  wife's 
apartment  saw  on  the  floor  the  clothes  of  a  man. 
Imagining  that  he  had  full  proof  of  his  wife's  in- 
constancy he  stabbed  both  sisters  in  a  frenzy  of 
revenge.  The  picture  shows  the  fatal  ending  and 
the  man's  remorse.  A  not  very  probable  story, 
unless  he  was  completely  blinded  by  passion. 

Mr.  Dobson  notes  that  the  picture  belonged  to  Mr. 
Peacock  of  Marylebone  Street.  There  is  still  another 
picture  of  a  masquerade  attributed  to  Hogarth, 
which  was  engraved  in  1804  by  T.  Cook,  '  from  an 
original  picture  painted  by  Hogarth  in  the  collection 
of  Roger  Palmer,  Esq.'  It  is  described  as  '  Royal 
Masquerade,  Somerset  House.'  There  are  several 
masquerades  recorded  as  having  been  held  at 
Somerset  House ;  thus  one,  in  1716,  which  is  amus- 
ingly described  in  the  Freeholder,  and  the  more 
famous  one  in  1749,  when  the  scandalous  Elizabeth 
Chudleigh  (afterwards  Duchess  of  Kingston)  ap- 
peared so  thinly  clothed  that  the  Princess  of  Wales 
thought  it  expedient  to  throw  a  thick  veil  over  her 
maid  of  honour.  Horace  Walpole  told  Mann  in  one 
of  his  letters  that '  Miss  Chudleigh  was  Iphigenia,  but 
so  naked  you  would  have  taken  her  for  Andromeda.' 


THEATRICAL  LIFE  359 

It  is  difficult  to  fix  the  date  of  the  masquerade 
shown  in  this  picture,  as  the  figures  are  not  very 
accurately  described  in  J.  B.  Nichols's  Anecdotes, 
1833,  p.  287 ;  but  perhaps  this  does  not  matter,  as 
it  is  very  doubtful  if  Hogarth  had  anything  to  do 
with  the  painting  of  it. 

In  concluding  this  long  notice  of  masquerades  and 
Hogarth's  strong  feeling  as  to  the  evils  connected 
with  them,  it  will  be  appropriate  to  quote  from 
Fielding,  who  was  capable  of  giving  an  unbiassed 
opinion.  He  writes :  '  I  cannot  dismiss  this  head, 
without  mentioning  a  notorious  nuisance  which  hath 
lately  arisen  in  this  town  ;  I  mean,  those  balls  where 
men  and  women  of  loose  reputation  meet  in  dis- 
guised habits.  As  to  the  masquerade  in  the  Hay- 
market,  I  have  nothing  to  say  ;  I  think  really  it  is  a 
silly,  rather  than  a  vicious,  entertainment ;  but  the 
case  is  very  different  with  those  inferior  masquerades; 
for  these  are  indeed  no  other  than  the  temples  of 
drunkenness,  lewdness,  and  all  kinds  of  debauchery.' 1 

1  An  Enquiry  into  the  Causes  of  the  late  Increase  of  Bobbers,  etc.,  1751 
(Section  i.). 


360  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 


CHAPTER    XI 

HOSPITALS 

THE  subject  of  the  present  chapter  is  one  that  shows 
Hogarth  on  his  best  side,  and  exhibits  instances  of 
his  great  charity  and  kindness  of  heart.  After  many 
struggles  and  much  hard  work  he  succeeded  hi 
obtaining  a  competence,  but  he  does  not  appear  to 
have  been  at  any  time  what  we  may  call  a  rich  man. 
In  spite  of  this  he  was  munificent  in  his  presenta- 
tions to  the  Foundling  and  St.  Bartholomew's 
Hospitals,  and  of  both  these  institutions  he  was  made 
a  governor. 

The  Foundling  is  not  what  one  now  under- 
stands by  a  hospital,  but  as  in  the  case  of  Christ's 
Hospital,  the  term  is  unalterably  attached  to  it. 

The  Foundling  Hospital  is  one  of  the  most  interest- 
ing institutions  in  London,  and  at  the  same  time  the 
very  form  and  body  of  the  eighteenth  century  at  its 
very  best  pervades  the  buildings  and  the  gardens.  A 
continued  sense  of  responsibility  in  respecting  the 
tradition  of  its  originators  united  with  a  proper 
determination  to  keep  it  abreast  of  the  times  has 
been  the  great  aim  of  the  management.  The  rooms 
are  filled  with  works  of  art,  and  as  the  delighted 


HOSPITALS  361 

visitor  passes  through  them  he  feels  that  a  shrine 
has  been  reserved  for  the  good  men  who  founded 
and  fostered  the  Hospital — Coram,  Hogarth,  Handel, 
and  many  others.  It  is  the  earliest  home  of  repre- 
sentative English  pictorial  art,  and  it  possesses  a 
proud  claim  to  distinction  as  one  of  three  places  in 
London  where  Hogarth  may  be  seen  at  his  best. 
The  National  Gallery  contains  the  '  Marriage  a  la 
Mode '  and  many  other  fine  pictures,  the  Soane 
Museum  the  '  Rake's  Progress '  and  the  '  Election,' 
and  the  Foundling  Hospital  the  grand  portrait  of 
Captain  Coram,  the  '  March  to  Finchley,'  and  '  Moses 
brought  to  Pharaoh's  Daughter.'  The  contents  of 
the  rooms  and  the  beauty  of  the  gardens  glorify  the 
plain  old  building,  and  as  we  look  around  our  eyes  are 
satisfied  and  our  minds  are  full  of  thankfulness  that 
no  imp  of  mischief  has  been  allowed  to  put  into 
the  minds  of  the  governors  a  wish  to  replace  the 
delightful  old  buildings  by  some  important-looking 
new  structure  without  charm  or  association. 

May  the  rural  beauties  of  the  Foundling  Hospital 
in  the  midst  of  London  long  remain  an  oasis  hi  a 
barren  land !  The  house  where  Hogarth  lived  for  so 
many  years  in  Leicester  Square  has  been  rebuilt,  and 
few  of  the  places  associated  with  him  still  exist,  so 
that  the  Foundling  Hospital,  which  he  so  often 
visited,  is  of  special  interest  in  connection  with  his 
fame,  and  the  more  so  that  his  memory  is  specially 
cherished  there,  and  the  rulers  are  proud  of  what  he 
did  for  the  institution.  The  Foundling  Hospital 


362  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

was  founded  by  Captain  Thomas  Coram  in  1739,  the 
date  of  the  charter  in  which  Hogarth  figures  as  '  a 
Governor  and  Guardian.'  Its  first  home  was  in 
Hatton  Garden,  and  the  arms  in  an  heraldic  shield 
which  Hogarth  designed  were  placed  over  the  door 
of  this  house.1  The  engraving  of  the  arms  was 
published  hi  1781,  and  is  described  as  being  engraved 
from  the  original  in  the  possession  of  the  Earl  of 
Exeter.  The  artist  also  designed  the  pleasing 
heading  to  a  Power  of  Attorney  for  collecting 
subscriptions,  the  plate  of  which  is  still  in  the 
possession  of  the  Hospital.  It  represents  Coram 
with  the  charter  under  his  arm  and  a  mother  kneeling 
to  him,  while  a  beadle,  bearing  a  mace  and  carrying 
a  child  in  his  arms,  is  leading  the  way  to  the  door  of 
the  Hospital,  around  which  are  congregated  many 
children.  A  village  church  is  seen  to  the  left  hi  the 
distance,  and  the  sea  with  ships  on  it  in  the  middle 
of  the  design. 

Hogarth  was  busy  with  work  for  the  Foundling  in 
1739-40,  for  in  May  of  the  latter  year  he  presented  the 
noble  full-length  portrait  of  the  founder,  which  is  so 
well  known  from  the  numerous  engravings,  but  the 
painting  itself  requires  to  be  seen  by  any  one  who 
wishes  to  obtain  an  adequate  idea  of  Hogarth's  great 
merits  as  a  portrait  painter.  Although  there  are 
several  good  portraits  in  the  gallery,  one  of  them  by 

1  Hogarth's  original  draft  for  these  arms  will  be  found  in  the  Genuine 
Works  (vol.  iii.  p.  139).  The  arms  are  a  naked  child,  the  crest  a  lamb,  and 
the  motto  '  Help.'  The  supporters  are  '  Nature '  and  '  Britannia.' 


0  0  rtU  f<>  /t  >//<>/// 


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//'iff I////'//  -t/n  .  in //t,-  ft>  i>ii/'-  'n  ir/i i /•<•///  >/  -//if  ft //it  /'fit/if,  •  /ft/ft/if/  'it  -if /i  t/if '/ '/<i //its  o/  t/its 
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0,,,/f  /;   ' 

f./>          .          .        .  .  , 
;  /) // (srf/i'rfy //if  .ttittr  fjt>, 


"THE  FOUNDLINGS."     1739. 


CAPTAIN  THOMAS  CORAM.     1739. 

Front  Nutter  s  engraving,  7796. 


HOSPITALS  363 

Reynolds,  this  picture  dominates  its  surroundings, 
and  proves  itself  pre-eminent  as  a  work  of  art  of 
which  all  Englishmen  may  be  proud. 

The  Hospital  was  opened  on  March  25,  1741,  for 
the  reception  of  nineteen  boys  and  eleven  girls. 
The  first  boy  was  named  Thomas  Coram  and  the 
first  girl  Eunice  Coram,  after  the  Captain  and  his 
wife.  In  an  account  of  the  opening  in  the  Gentle- 
man's Magazine  (vol.  xi.  p.  163)  it  is  said  that  *  the 
orphans  received  into  the  Hospital  were  baptised 
there — some  nobility  of  the  first  rank  standing  god- 
fathers and  godmothers.  .  .  .  The  most  robust  boys 
being  designed  for  the  sea  service,  were  named 
Drake,  Norris,  Blake,  etc.,  after  our  most  famous 
admirals.' 

The  house  in  Hatton  Garden  was  only  a  temporary 
residence,  and  a  very  advantageous  purchase  of 
fifty-six  acres  of  land  in  Lamb's  Conduit  Fields  was 
made  from  the  Earl  of  Salisbury  for  £6500.  It  is 
believed  that  there  was  a  good-humoured  contro- 
versy as  to  price.  The  hospital  would  only  give 
£5000,  and  the  Earl  asked  £7000.  He  offered  to 
take  off  £500,  but  he  would  not  budge  a  jot  from 
his  price  of  £6500.  However,  he  allowed  it  to 
be  understood  that  as  he  was  an  admirer  of  the 
charity  he  would  be  pleased  to  subscribe  £500.  As 
there  was  more  land  than  was  required  for  the 
buildings  and  ground,  the  unused  portion  was  let 
on  building  leases,  which  has  produced  a  valuable 
source  of  income  to  the  institution. 


364  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

The  new  ground  was  laid  out  and  the  building  was 
designed  by  Theodore  Jacobsen,  architect.  The 
west  wing  was  completed  in  December  1746,  and  the 
chapel  in  1747,  in  the  vaults  under  which  the  founder 
was  buried,  pursuant  to  his  own  desire.  Coram  died 
at  his  lodging  near  Leicester  Square  on  March  29, 
1751. 

When  the  new  building  was  ready  for  occupation 
an  annual  dinner  was  instituted.  Many  artists  had 
followed  the  lead  of  Hogarth  in  painting  and  pre- 
senting works  to  the  Hospital,  so  that  the  rooms 
became  a  fashionable  lounge  as  being  a  sort  of  head- 
quarters of  British  art. 

Mr.  Dobson  says  regarding  the  annual  dinners: 
'  The  assembled  painters  were  accustomed  to  com- 
memorate the  landing  of  William  the  Third,  using  for 
their  loyal  libations  a  fine  old  white  and  blue  dragon 
china  punch  bowl,  generally  described  as  Hogarth's, 
which  is  still  carefully  preserved  in  one  of  the  cases 
of  the  Court  room,  and  is  beautifully  copied  in  Pye's 
Patronage  of  British  ArC  In  illustration  of  this 
there  is  an  interesting  entry  in  Stukeley's  Diary: 
'  November  4,  1752.  Dined  at  the  annual  feast  at 
the  Foundling  Hospital :  Present :  Judge  Taylor 
White,  treasurer ;  Hayman,  Wills,  Hogarth,  Hudson, 
Scot,  Brown,  Dalton,  painters ;  Roubiliac,  statuary ; 
Pine,  engraver;  Houbraken,  Jacobsen,  the  archi- 
tect of  the  house,  etc.,  a  cozen  of  my  late  friend, 
Chancellor  Stukeley.' 

The  fine  picture  of  '  The  March  to  Finchley,'  one 


HOSPITALS  365 

of  the  painter's  masterpieces,  was  disposed  of  by 
public  lottery,  and  owing  to  Hogarth's  generosity 
in  giving  the  unsold  tickets  to  the  Foundling 
Hospital  it  came  into  the  possession  of  that  institu- 
tion. 

The  result  is  announced  in  the  General  Advertiser 
of  May  1,  1750,  as  follows :  *  Yesterday  Mr. 
Hogarth's  subscription  was  closed.  Eighteen  hundred 
and  forty-three  chances  being  subscrib'd  for,  Mr. 
Hogarth  gave  the  remaining  hundred  and  sixty- 
seven  chances  to  the  Foundling  Hospital ;  at  two 
o'clock  the  Box  was  open'd,  and  the  fortunate  chance 
was  Number  1941  which  belongs  to  the  said  Hospital ; 
and  the  same  night  Mr.  Hogarth  delivered  the 
Picture  to  the  Governors.' 

J.  B.  Nichols  in  his  Anecdotes  of  W.  Hogarth  (1833, 
p.  360)  quotes  a  very  improbable  story  from  the 
Gentleman's  Magazine  for  November  1832  (p.  390), 
which  is  too  late  in  date  to  be  of  any  value,  but 
must  be  noted  as  he  refers  to  it  in  his  book :  'A  lady 
was  in  possession  of  the  fortunate  number,  and 
intended  to  present  it  to  the  infant  institution  ;  but 
some  persons  having  suggested  that  a  door  would  be 
open  for  scandal  were  any  of  her  sex  to  make  such 
a  present,  it  was  given  to  Hogarth,  on  the  express 
understanding  that  it  should  be  presented  in  his  own 
name.' 

John  Ireland  says  that  Hogarth  acquainted  the 
Treasurer  '  that  if  the  Trustees  thought  proper  they 
were  at  liberty  to  dispose  of  the  picture  by  auction,' 


366  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

but  afterwards  he  changed  his  mind  and  requested 
that  they  would  not  dispose  of  it.1 

This  Hospital  holds  a  remarkable  position  in  the 
history  of  British  art  through  the  liberality  of  our 
painters. 

John  Nichols  quotes  from  Sir  Robert  Strange' s 
Inquiry  into  the  Rise  and  Establishment  of  the  Royal 
Academy  of  Arts  in  London,  1775,  the  author's  opinion 
as  to  the  origin  of  the  Academy :  '  The  donations  in 
painting  which  several  artists  presented  to  the 
Foundling  Hospital,  first  led  to  the  idea  of  those 
Exhibitions  which  are  at  present  so  lucrative  to  our 
Royal  Academy,  and  so  entertaining  to  the  publick. 
Hogarth  must  certainly  be  considered  as  the  chief  of 
these  benefactors.' 2 

Mr.  Dobson  writes  (p.  62  n.):  'To  complete  the 
record  of  Hogarth's  connection  with  the  Foundling 
Hospital,  it  may  here  be  added  that  his  patronage 
of  the  institution  took  the  practical  form  of  watch- 
ing over  the  welfare  of  some  of  the  children,  who 
in  accordance  with  custom  were  put  out  to  nurse. 
In  a  case  in  the  court  room  is  still  to  be  seen  his 
discharged  account  for  the  keep,  etc.,  at  Chiswick, 
of  two  little  girls,  Susan  Wyndham  and  Mary 
Woolaston,  who,  when  he  died,  were  sent  back  to 
the  Hospital  by  his  widow.' 

The  Hospital  was  not  only  distinguished  for  its 
gallery  of  pictures,  but  through  the  liberality  of 

1  Hogarth  Illustrated,  vol.  ii.  p.  134. 

2  Nichols's  Biographical  Anecdotes  (1782),  p.  247. 


HOSPITALS  367 

Handel  it  was  a  gathering-place  for  musicians  and 
lovers  of  music.  The  great  composer  frequently 
performed  his  Messiah  in  the  chapel,  and  as  he 
engaged  most  of  the  performers  to  contribute  their 
assistance  gratis,  the  profits  to  the  charity  were 
very  considerable.  These  performances  were  gener- 
ally crowded,  and  in  the  notices  the  audience  were 
desired  to  leave  at  home — the  ladies  their  hoops  and 
the  men  their  swords.  Handel  bequeathed  the  score 
of  the  Messiah  to  the  Hospital. 

Hogarth's  presentation  of  two  large  pictures  to  St. 
Bartholomew's  Hospital  took  place  before  his  gifts 
to  the  Foundling  Hospital ;  they  are  dated  1736. 
He  was  so  well  acquainted  with  Smithfield  and  its 
neighbourhood  that  he  must  early  have  been 
interested  in  the  Hospital. 

'  The  Good  Samaritan  '  (16  ft.  9  in.  by  13  ft.  8  in.) 
and  '  The  Pool  of  Bethesda '  (20  ft.  3  in.  by  13  ft. 
8  in.)  on  the  grand  staircase  were  painted  gratuitously 
by  Hogarth,  and  for  this  generosity  he  was  made  a 
Governor  of  the  Hospital.  The  subjects  are  sur- 
rounded with  scrollwork  painted  at  Hogarth's 
expense  by  his  pupils.  These  pictures  are  very 
uninspiring,  particularly  '  The  Good  Samaritan,'  but 
the  painter  does  not  appear  to  have  been  dissatisfied 
with  the  result,  although  he  acknowledged  that  they 
did  not  suit  the  taste  of  the  public  at  large.  The 
pictures  were  not  engraved  until  after  his  death,  but 
were  published  by  John  Boydell  in  1772. 

They  have,  however,  an  interest  for  us  which  has 


368  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

not  been  specially  alluded  to  by  writers  on  Hogarth. 
Dr.  Norman  Moore  has  made  a  particular  study  of 
the  pictures  from  a  medical  and  surgical  point  of  view, 
with  the  remarkable  result  that  that  accomplished 
student  is  able  to  praise  the  correct  delineations  of 
disease  by  the  great  painter.  He  says :  '  The  Good 
Samaritan  employs  the  method  of  treating  a  wound 
by  pouring  oil  into  it  which  was  in  use  till  the  time  of 
Ambroise  Pare ;  while  the  Physicians  will  admire  in 
the  painting  of  the  Pool  of  Bethesda  the  accurate 
representation  of  the  distribution  of  psoriasis  on  the 
well-rounded  limbs  of  one  patient,  the  contrast  of 
hypertrophy  and  atrophy  on  the  left  of  the  picture, 
the  wasted  figure  with  malignant  disease  of  the  liver 
and  the  rickety  infant.' 

Dr.  Leonard  Mark,  in  an  interesting  address  on 
'  Art  and  Medicine  '  (1906),  has  given  more  fully  the 
views  of  Dr.  Moore  on  the  subject  with  the  addition 
of  his  own  observations.  He  says  the  tradition  at 
the  Hospital  is  that  the  woman  with  patches  of 
psoriasis  on  both  knees  and  on  her  right  elbow,  who 
turns  her  face  away  from  the  Saviour,  is  a  portrait  of 
a  courtesan  named  Wood  who  lived  at  the  time  in 
the  City.  Gout,  acute  melancholia,  cancer  of  the 
liver,  and  abscess  of  the  breast  are  all  represented  in 
the  picture.  He  adds :  '  The  last  two  female  figures 
represent  the  two  different  forms  of  consumption 
that  used  to  be  talked  of.  The  extremely  emaciated 
woman  is  clearly  a  case  of  very  advanced  phthisis. 
The  other  one  with  the  red  cheeks,  the  thick  lips, 


HOSPITALS  369 

the  short,  thick  nose,  represents  the  strumous  or 
scrofulous  type.  In  the  front  there  is  a  woman 
with  bandaged  feet.'  Dr.  Mark  says  further : 
'  Hogarth  has  been  very  successful  in  representing 
sufferers,  and  no  doubt  had  excellent  opportunities 
for  choosing  his  subjects  from  patients  in  the 
hospital.' 

This  is  a  singularly  interesting  illustration  of  the 
care  with  which  Hogarth  worked  on  his  paintings. 
Doubtless  he  was  not  contented  with  observing  the 
cases  in  the  wards,  but  consulted  the  physicians  and 
surgeons  of  the  Hospital.  If  he  had  not  done  so  he 
would  scarcely  have  escaped  some  rebuke  from  the 
authorities  of  to-day.  John  Freke  (1688-1756),  a 
surgeon  of  St.  Bartholomew's,  we  know  to  have  been 
a  friend  of  the  painter  from  the  well-known  anec- 
dote told  to  Nichols  by  John  Belchier,  F.R.S.,  the 
surgeon.1 

Hogarth  designed  a  ticket  for  the  *  London 
Infirmary  for  relieving  sick  and  diseased  manu- 
facturers, seamen,  etc.,'  with  the  arms  of  the  Duke 
of  Richmond  as  President,  which  was  engraved  by 
T.  Ramsay.  It  was  used  as  a  certificate  for  pupils  in 
surgery  and  anatomy.  The  background  was  after- 
wards altered  to  a  view  of  the  Infirmary.  It  was 
engraved  on  a  large  scale  in  an  oval  by  C.  Grignion, 
1745.  It  is  not  known  whether  this  was  done  in  the 
way  of  business  or  was  a  gift  to  the  institution. 

The  London  Hospital  was  originally  instituted  in 

1  See  ante,  p.  44. 
2  A 


370  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

1740  in  Prescot  Street,  Goodman's  Fields,  but  it  soon 
outgrew  the  accommodation  there  provided,  and  a 
new  site  was  purchased  '  in  an  airy  situation  near 
the  Mount  in  Whitechapel  Road,'  and  the  first  stone 
of  the  new  hospital  was  laid  on  June  10,  1752. 

The  last  scene  (Plate  8)  of  '  A  Rake's  Progress ' 
contains  a  remarkable  picture  of  the  horrors  of 
the  great  madhouse  known  as  Bedlam,  which  was 
situated  in  Moorfields,  on  the  south  side  of  what  is 
now  Finsbury  Square.  The  original  hospital  stood 
in  Bishopsgate  Without  on  the  site  of  the  North 
London  and  Great  Eastern  Railway  Stations  in 
Liverpool  Street.  It  was  originally  founded  as  '  a 
Priory  of  Canons  with  brethren  and  sisters '  in  1246 
by  Simon  Fitzmary,  one  of  the  sheriffs  of  London. 
On  the  petition  of  Sir  John  Gresham,  Lord  Mayor, 
Henry  vni.  gave  hi  1547  the  building  of  the  dissolved 
priory  to  the  City  of  London  in  order  that  it  might 
be  converted  into  a  hospital  for  lunatics.  In  1557 
the  management  was  given  to  the  governors  of 
Bridewell  Hospital. 

The  old  building  escaped  the  Great  Fire,  but  being 
found  to  have  become  very  dilapidated  and  quite 
inadequate  for  its  purpose,  a  new  one  was  built  in 
Moorfields  from  the  designs  of  Robert  Hooke,  which 
was  finished  in  July  1676.  Like  its  predecessor  it 
was  open  as  an  exhibition,  payment  being  made  for 
admission.  There  were  '  spacious  and  agreeable 
walks '  in  front  of  the  building,  which  became  a 
favourite  promenade.  At  one  time  the  Hospital 


H 

22 


HOSPITALS  371 

*  derived  a  revenue  of  at  least  £400  a  year  from 
the  indiscriminate  admission  of  visitants.'  An  illus- 
tration of  the  practice  is  seen  in  Hogarth's  picture, 
where  two  fashionable  and  well-dressed  women 
(apparently  a  lady  and  her  maid)  are  seen  in  the 
background,  their  frivolity  being  singularly  out  of 
place  in  such  a  scene  of  terror.  In  1770  it  appeared 
at  last  to  have  dawned  upon  the  intelligence  of  the 
authorities  that  the  introduction  of  visitors  '  tended 
to  disturb  the  tranquillity  of  the  patients.'  In  May 
1775  Johnson  and  Boswell  visited  the  Hospital,  but 
in  July  1784  Cowper  writing  to  Newton  speaks  of 
the  custom  having  been  abolished.  He  writes :  '  In 
those  days  when  Bedlam  was  open  to  the  cruel 
curiosity  of  holiday  ramblers  I  have  been  a  visitor 
there.  Though  a  boy,  I  was  not  altogether  insensible 
of  the  misery  of  the  poor  captives  nor  destitute  of 
feeling  for  them.  But  the  madness  of  some  of  them 
had  such  a  humorous  air,  and  displayed  itself  in  so 
many  whimsical  freaks,  that  it  was  impossible  not  to 
be  entertained,  at  the  same  time  that  I  was  angry 
with  myself  for  being  so.' 

Hogarth's  picture  of  the  interior  of  a  room  in 
Bedlam  is  one  of  the  most  valuable  of  his  illustrations 
of  London  Life,  which  gives  a  terrible  picture  of  the 
sufferings  of  the  poor  afflicted  patients. 

The  wealth  and  variety  of  physiognomical  display 
in  this  picture  is  extraordinary,  and  it  might  be  made 
the  subject  of  a  volume  of  illustrations  and  comment. 
The  main  incident  of  the  Rake  in  the  foreground  is 


372  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

appalling  in  its  reality,  while  the  faithful  Sarah 
Young,  who,  after  all  her  ill-usage,  is  present  at 
the  last  to  soothe  her  dying  lover  by  her  tears  and 
self-devotion,  helps  to  humanise  the  whole  scene. 

John  Ireland  makes  some  just  remarks  on  the 
preposterous  comment  of  the  Rev.  William  Gilpin 
on  the  presence  of  this  ill-fated  woman.  '  The 
Reverend  Mr.  Gilpin,  in  his  elucidation  of  these  eight 
prints,  asserts  that  this  thought  is  rather  unnatural, 
and  the  moral  certainly  culpable  !  With  the  utmost 
deference  for  his  critical  abilities,  I  must  entertain 
a  different  opinion.  We  have  many  examples  of 
female  attachment  being  carried  still  farther.  If  it 
be  culpable  to  forgive  those  who  have  despitef ully 
used  us,  to  free  those  which  are  in  bonds,  to  visit 
those  which  are  in  prison,  and  to  comfort  those 
which  are  in  affliction,  what  meaning  have  the 
divine  precepts  of  our  holy  religion  ?  ' l 

Respecting  the  Rake  himself  Gilpin  appears  to 
have  affirmed  that  '  the  expression  of  the  principal 
figure  is  rather  unmeaning.'  In  answer  to  this 
Ireland  refers  to  the  opinion  of  John  Hamilton 
Mortimer,  A.R.A.  We  are  told  that  Mortimer  was 
once  requested  to  delineate  several  of  the  Passions  as 
personified  by  Gray.  One  of  the  subjects  proposed 
was  '  Moody  madness,  laughing  wild,  amid  severest 
woe.'  The  instant  this  line  was  read  to  him,  he 
opened  a  portfolio,  took  out  the  eighth  plate  of  the 
'  Rake's  Progress,'  and  pointing  to  the  principal 

1  Hogarth  Illustrated,  1793,  L  61. 


HOSPITALS  373 

figure,  exclaimed,  '  Sir,  if  I  had  never  seen  this  print, 
I  should  say  it  was  not  possible  to  paint  these 
contending  passions  in  the  same  countenance. 
Having  seen  this,  which  displays  Mr.  Gray's  idea 
with  the  faithfulness  of  a  mirror,  I  dare  not  attempt 
it.  I  could  only  make  a  correct  copy ;  for  a  devia- 
tion from  this  portrait  in  a  single  line  would  be  a 
departure  from  the  character.' 

In  the  cell  out  of  the  principal  room  is  seen  a 
reclining  figure  with  a  cross  leaning  against  the  wall. 
Ireland  says  that  it  is  designed  from  one  of  the  stone 
figures  of  Madness  by  Caius  Gabriel  Gibber,  which 
formerly  stood  on  the  outer  gates  of  the  Hospital, 
and  are  now  preserved  in  the  Victoria  and  Albert 
Museum  at  South  Kensington.  J.  B.  Nichols  refers 
to  a  painting  by  Hogarth,  '  A  View  of  Bethlehem 
Hospital,'  exhibited  in  1814  by  Mr.  Jones  (Anecdotes 
of  William  Hogarth,  1833,  p.  364).  The  Hospital 
was  removed  to  St.  George's  Fields  in  1815,  and  it 
still  remains  there. 

In  Low  Life  (1764),  already  referred  to,  we  read 
under  Hour  xiii.,  from  twelve  till  one  o'clock  on 
Sunday  noon :  *  The  nurses  of  Bethlehem  Hospital, 
carrying  the  appointed  messes  in  wooden  bowls,  to 
the  poor  people  under  their  care,  and  putting  by  the 
best  part  of  it  for  their  ancient  relations  and  most 
intimate  friends,  who  are  to  come  and  visit  them  in 
the  afternoon.' 

In  Hour  i.,  from  twelve  o'clock  on  Saturday  night 
to  one  o'clock  on  Sunday  morning,  we  are  told  of 


374  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

*  the  unhappy  Lunaticks  in  Bethlehem  Hospital  in 
Moorfields,  rattling  their  chains  and  making  terrible 
out-cry,   occasioned  by  the  Heat  of  the  weather 
having   too   great    an   effect    over   then1   rambling 
brains.'     We  also  read  of  some  disagreeable  things 
done   by  nurses    and  '  women   called  Watchers   hi 
Hospitals,'  which  need  not  be  quoted  here. 

The  Governors  of  St.  George's  Hospital  possess  a 
picture  of  the  building  at  Hyde  Park  Corner  with 
a  portrait  on  horseback  of  Michael,  the  son  of  the 
last  Count  Soleirol,  a  Huguenot,  who  fled  to  Eng- 
land on  account  of  his  religion.  It  was  exhibited 
at  Whitechapel  (Georgian  England)  in  1906,  No.  26, 
the  horseman  being  described  as  *  Count  Solacio,' 
the  name  given  to  him  by  a  writer  in  Notes  and 
Queries,  sixth  series,  i.  125. 

In  1713  Michael  Soleirol,  the  son  of  John  and 
Jeanne,  was  born  at  Monteile  [?],  and  was  subse- 
quently naturalised  in  England. 

The  picture  was  presented  to  the  Hospital  in  1870 
by  Mr.  Charles  Hawkins,  F.B.C.S.,  perhaps  the 

*  C.  H. '  of  Notes  and  Queries,  who  was  Treasurer  of 
St.  George's  Hospital,  1865-70.     The  following  par- 
ticulars are  obtained  from  a  letter  of  Mr.  Robert 
F.  D.  Campbell,  engineer  and  surveyor,  a  descendant 
of  the  Count,  who  sold  it  to  Mr.  Hawkins,  which  is 
preserved  in  the  Minute  Book  of  the  Hospital.1 

1  I  am  greatly  indebted  to  Mr.  George  Peachey,  who  has  kindly  com- 
municat  ed  this  information  to  me.  The  engraving  here  given  is  taken  from 
the  original  picture,  which  does  not  appear  to  have  been  previously  repro- 
duced. 


X  . 

H  3 

2  -S 

"  I 

<  ^ 

H  •§ 

=•  a 
- 


o  f 


14 


HOSPITALS  375 

The  view  of  the  Hospital  and  Hyde  Park  is  merely 
a  background  for  the  portrait  of  the  horseman 
painted  by  Hogarth.  Michael  Soleirol  was  the 
proprietor  of  the  Cocoa  Tree  Club,  originally  in  Pall 
Mall  and  afterwards  in  St.  James's  Street,  and  was 
friendly  with  Steele,  Addison,  and  others  connected 
with  the  Spectator.  It  has  even  been  hinted  that 
he  wrote  himself  an  occasional  contribution.  The 
picture  is  said  to  have  been  painted  at  the  expense 
of  the  club,  and  a  sum  of  sixty  guineas  was  voted  and 
paid  to  Hogarth.  Apparently  he  only  painted  the 
figure,  as  the  horse  was  the  work  of  John  Sartorius 
(father  of  Francis  Sartorius  and,  according  to  the 
Dictionary  of  National  Biography,  the  first  of  four 
generations  of  animal  painters) ;  and  the  view  was 
by  a  third  artist  whose  name  is  not  recorded.  The 
horse  is  a  portrait,  as  also  is  the  dog  named  Rose. 
Mr.  Peachey  says  that  the  only  signature  he  can 
discover  on  the  picture  is  '  J.  S.  1748.'  The  proprietor 
of  the  Cocoa  Tree  had  four  daughters,  and  one  of 
them  married  Mr.  Burke.  Mrs.  Burke  had  two 
sons  and  one  daughter,  Maria,  who  married  James 
O'Brien.  The  eldest  daughter  of  the  latter,  Eliza- 
beth Helen,  married  a  Mr.  Campbell.  The  picture 
came  into  the  possession  of  Mr.  O'Brien  in  the  early 
part  of  the  nineteenth  century,  and  he  gave  it  to 
Mrs.  Campbell.  She  bequeathed  it  to  her  son, 
who  sold  it  to  Mr.  Hawkins,  so  that  the  history 
of  the  picture  is  fully  traced.  Mr.  R.  F.  D. 
Campbell  says  that  two  of  the  daughters  of  Soleirol, 


376  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

proprietor  of  the  Cocoa  Tree  Club,  were  either 
brought  up  by  Hogarth  or  lived  at  his  house.  They 
survived  to  a  considerable  age,  as  they  did  not  die 
until  a  period  between  the  years  1812  and  1820. 
These  ladies  affirmed  that  the  picture  was  very  much 
approved  of  on  account  of  its  accuracy,  in  respect  to 
the  representations  of  the  man,  the  horse,  the  dog 
and  the  view.  The  pose  of  the  rider  was  said 
to  be  a  faithful  representation  of  his  resolute  air 
and  mien. 


PRISONS  AND  CRIME  377 


CHAPTER    XII 

PRISONS   AND   CRIME 

CRIMES  of  violence  were  common  in  the  eighteenth 
century,  and  at  few  times  in  our  history  was  Society 
coarser  and  more  depraved  than  during  a  portion  of 
the  period  when  there  was  little  or  no  fear  of  public 
odium  on  account  of  ill-conduct.  The  Court,  during 
the  reigns  of  George  I.  and  n.,  did  not  set  a  good 
example  to  those  who  are  apt  to  follow  persons  in 
high  places. 

Criminals  figure  largely  in  Hogarth's  works,  and 
those  in  authority  whose  duty  it  was  to  bring 
criminals  to  justice  were  sometimes  little  behind 
those  whom  they  condemned.  The  system  by  which 
magistrates  were  appointed  and  governed  was  not 
satisfactory,  but  the  magistrates  seem  to  have  been 
vigilant,  and  gradually  a  better  system  grew  up. 

It  is  evident  that  in  the  eighteenth  century  people 
did  not  depend  upon  the  protection  of  the  police. 
The  watchmen  were  quite  incompetent  and  unable  to 
keep  the  roughs  in  order.  The  men  of  the  day 
therefore  took  the  matter  in  their  own  hands  and 
made  themselves  capable  of  carrying  out  their  own 
means  of  protection  by  instruction  in  the  use  of  the 


378  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

sword  or  of  their  fists.  Watchmen  were  either  feeble 
old  men,  or  if  they  were  of  any  use  they  often  received 
pay  from  the  housebreakers  to  keep  out  of  the  way. 
The  author  of  Low  Life  makes  this  special  charge : 
*  Watchmen  taking  fees  from  House-breakers  for 
liberty  to  commit  burglaries  within  their  beats,  and 
at  the  same  time  promise  to  give  them  notice,  if 
there  is  any  danger  of  their  being  taken — or  even 
disturbed  in  their  villainies.' 

Gay's  Trivia  contains  a  description  of  the  watch- 
men's less  criminal  venality.  To  understand  the 
picture  it  is  needful  to  remember  that  the  watch 
consisted  of  watchmen  with  staves  and  lanterns  led 
by  a  constable,  who  carried  a  staff  but  not  a  lantern. 
The  scene  scarcely  differed  in  any  respect  from  the 
immortal  one  in  which  Dogberry  and  Verges  figured. 

'  Yet  there  are  Watchmen  who  with  friendly  light 
Will  teach  thy  reeling  steps  to  tread  aright ; 
For  sixpence  will  support  thy  helpless  arm, 
And  home  conduct  thee,  safe  from  nightly  harm  ; 
But  if  they  shake  their  lanthorns,  from  afar 
To  call  their  brethren  to  confed'rate  war 
When  rakes  resist  their  power ;  if  hapless  you 
Should  chance  to  wander  with  the  scowring  crew ; 
Though  fortune  yield  thee  captive,  ne'er  despair, 
But  seek  the  constable's  consid'rate  ear  ; 
He  will  reverse  the  watchman's  harsh  decree, 
Moved  by  the  rhet'ric  of  a  silver  fee. 
Thus  would  you  gain  some  fav'rite  courtier's  word, 
Fee  not  the  petty  clerks,  but  bribe  my  Lord.' 

Ned  Ward  gives  a  vivid  sketch  of  the  constable's 
authority  when  a  '  strayed  reveller '  is  said  to  be 
drunk.  '  My  friend  puts  his  hand  in  his  pocket, 


PRISONS  AND  CRIME  379 

plucks  out  a  shilling.  Indeed,  Mr.  Constable,  says 
he,  we  tell  you  nothing  but  the  Naked  Truth.  There 
is  something  for  your  Watch  to  drink.  We  know  it 
is  a  late  hour,  but  hope  you  will  detain  us  no  longer. 
With  that  Mr.  Surly  Cuff  directs  himself  to  his  right 
Janizary :  Hem  hah,  Aminadab,  I  believe  they  are 
civil  gentlemen  ;  Ay,  ay,  said  he,  Master  you  need 
not  question  it ;  they  don't  look  as  if  they  had  fire 
balls  about  'em.  Well  gentlemen  you  may  pass  ; 
but  pray  go  civilly  home.  Here  Colly,  light  the 
gentlemen  down  the  hill,  they  may  chance  to 
stumble  in  the  dark  and  break  their  shins  against 
the  Monument.' 

Of  the  more  capable  officers  of  the  law  the 
vocation  of  a  bailiff  or  catchpole  or  a  sheriff's  officer 
was  considered  infamous  by  Englishmen,  and  in 
consequence  of  this  a  large  number  of  them  were 
Dutchmen  or  Flemings. 

Three  active  magistrates  were  associated  with 
Hogarth,  viz.  Saunders  Welch,  Sir  Thomas  de  Veil, 
and  Sir  John  Gonson.  The  first  was  a  personal  friend 
of  the  painter,  the  other  two  were  introduced  in- 
cidentally into  his  pictures ;  but  the  greatest  magis- 
trate was  Henry  Fielding,  who,  with  his  brother  and 
successor  Sir  John  Fielding,  did  more  than  any  one 
else  at  this  period  to  improve  the  police  and  the 
administration  of  justice.  The  novelist  worked  for 
this  improvement  both  as  a  magistrate  and  a  writer. 

Fielding  was  appointed  a  justice  of  the  peace 
for  Westminster,  in  December  1748,  and  moved  to 


380  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

Bow  Street  to  a  house  belonging  to  the  Duke  of 
Bedford. 

In  the  dedication  of  Tom  Jones  to  George  Lyttelton 
(afterwards  Lord  Lyttelton)  Fielding  seems  to  refer 
to  this  appointment.  He  writes :  '  Lastly,  it  is  owing 
to  you  that  the  history  appears  what  it  now  is.  If 
there  be  in  this  work,  as  some  have  been  pleased  to 
say,  a  stronger  picture  of  a  truly  benevolent  mind 
than  is  to  be  found  in  any  other,  who  that  knows  you, 
and  a  particular  acquaintance  of  yours,  will  doubt 
whence  that  benevolence  hath  been  copied  ?  The 
world  will  not,  I  believe,  make  me  the  compliment 
of  thinking  I  took  it  from  myself.  I  care  not :  this 
they  shall  own,  that  the  two  persons  from  whom  I 
have  taken  it,  that  is  to  say,  two  of  the  best  and 
worthiest  men  in  the  world,  are  strongly  and  zeal- 
ously my  friends.  I  might  be  contented  with  this, 
and  yet  my  vanity  will  add  a  third  to  the  number ; 
and  him  one  of  the  greatest  and  noblest,  not  only  in 
his  rank,  but  in  every  public  and  private  virtue. 
But  here,  whilst  my  gratitude  for  the  princely  bene- 
factions of  the  Duke  of  Bedford  bursts  from  my  heart, 
you  must  forgive  me  reminding  you  that  it  was  you 
who  first  recommended  me  to  the  notice  of  my 
benefactor.' 

Fielding  was  shortly  afterwards  qualified  to  act  for 
Middlesex,  and  on  May  12, 1749,  he  was  unanimously 
chosen  Chairman  of  Quarter  Sessions  at  Hicks' s  Hall. 
His  charge  to  the  Westminster  Grand  Jury  on  June 
29,  1749,  was  published,  and  is  well  worth  reading 


PRISONS  AND  CRIME  381 

now.  In  it  he  said,  '  The  fury  after  licentious  and 
luxurious  pleasures  is  grown  to  so  enormous  a  height, 
that  it  may  be  called  the  characteristic  of  the  pre- 
sent age.' 

Fielding's  Enquiry  into  the  Causes  of  the  late 
Increase  of  Robbers,  etc.,  with  some  Proposals  for 
remedying  this  growing  Evil,  is  a  practical  and  most 
interesting  book  which  had  a  great  effect.  Sir  John 
Fielding,  who  was  blind  from  birth,  was  associated 
with  his  brother  as  assisting  magistrate  for  three  or 
four  years,  and  succeeded  him  in  office  on  his  death 
in  1754.  He  carried  on  Henry  Fielding's  plan  for 
breaking  up  bands  of  robbers  and  died  in  1780. 
Sir  Walter  Besant  (Eighteenth  Century]  refers  to  a 
scandalous  book  published  hi  1755  and  entitled, 
'  Memoirs  of  the  Shakespear's  Head  in  Covent  Garden, 
by  the  Ghost  of  Shakespear,'  one  chapter  of  which  '  is 
devoted  to  the  most  venomous  delineation  of  Henry 
Fielding  in  his  official  capacity.  That  there  should 
be  no  possible  mistake  as  to  the  person  intended,  he 
is  mentioned  by  name  without  any  disguise  at  all.' 
One  of  the  most  discreditable  circumstances  con- 
nected with  the  eighteenth  century  was  the  very  exist- 
ence of  such  an  unmitigated  scoundrel  as  Jonathan 
Wild,  and  the  scathing  satire  The  Life  of  Mr.  Jonathan 
Wild  the  Great  will  keep  the  recollection  of  this  mis- 
creant alive.  Fielding  did  honour  to  an  office  which 
sadly  wanted  it.  He  was  partly  paid  in  fees,  and  he 
said  himself  that  his  appointment  did  not  bring  him 
in,  '  of  the  dirtiest  money  upon  earth,'  £300  a  year. 


382  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

Saunders  Welch,  a  magistrate  of  Westminster, 
was  a  great  friend  of  Fielding,  and  saw  the  last  of 
him  when  he  set  forth  on  his  voyage  to  Lisbon. 
The  novelist  wrote  in  his  Journal,  '  By  the  assistance 
of  my  friend  Mr.  Welch,  whom  I  never  think  or  speak 
of  but  with  love  and  esteem,  I  conquered  this  diffi- 
culty.' This  was  when  he  was  getting  into  the  vessel 
at  Rotherhithe.  When  they  were  at  Gravesend, 
Monday,  July  1,  1754,  he  says,  '  This  day  Mr.  Welch 
took  his  leave  of  me,  after  dinner.' 

Welch  was  also  a  friend  of  Johnson,  and  in  a  letter 
from  the  latter  to  him  when  at  Rome,  dated  February 
3,  1778,  we  learn  the  doctor's  feelings  towards  him : 

'  DEAR  SIR, — To  have  suffered  one  of  my  best  and 
dearest  friends  to  pass  almost  two  years  in  foreign 
countries  without  a  letter  has  a  very  shameful 
appearance  of  inattention.  But  the  truth  is  that 
there  was  no  particular  time  in  which  I  had  anything 
particular  to  say ;  and  general  expressions  of  good 
will,  I  hope  our  long  friendship  is  grown  too  solid  to 
want.' 

Welch's  second  daughter  Mary  was  married  to 
Joseph  Nollekens,  R.A.,  and  it  is  said  that  Johnson 
had  serious  thoughts  of  marrying  her,  and  jokingly 
observed  on  one  occasion,  '  Yes,  I  think  Mary  would 
have  been  mine  if  little  Joe  had  not  stepped  in.' 

If  this  were  so,  and  J.  T.  Smith  is  correct  in  his 
character  of  Mrs.  Nollekens,  we  may  consider  Johnson 
as  happy  in  his  escape.  It  was  partly  through 


PRISONS  AND  CRIME  383 

Johnson's  influence  that  Welch  obtained  two  years' 
leave  of  absence  to  visit  Italy  for  his  health. 

Boswell  tells  a  very  amusing  and  instructive 
anecdote  of  Johnson's  power  of  simple  speech,  when 
he  found  it  necessary.  In  his  '  eager  and  unceasing 
curiosity  to  know  human  life  in  all  its  variety '  he 
attended  Welch's  office  for  a  whole  winter  '  to  hear 
the  examinations  of  the  culprits,  but  he  found  an 
almost  uniform  terror  of  misfortune,  wretchedness 
and  profligacy.'  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  happened  to 
be  present  at  an  examination  of  a  little  blackguard 
boy.  '  Welch,  who  imagined  he  was  exalting  himself 
in  Dr.  Johnson's  eyes  by  using  big  words,  spoke  in  a 
manner  that  was  utterly  unintelligible  to  the  boy ; 
Dr.  Johnson  perceiving  it,  addressed  himself  to 
him,  and  changed  the  pompous  phraseology  into 
colloquial  language.  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  who  was 
much  amused  by  this  procedure,  which  seemed  a  kind 
of  reversing  of  what  might  have  been  expected  from 
the  two  men,  took  notice  of  it  to  Dr.  Johnson  as  they 
walked  away  by  themselves.  Johnson  said  that  it 
was  continually  the  case  ;  and  that  he  was  always 
obliged  to  translate  the  justice's  swelling  diction 
(smiling)  so  that  his  meaning  might  be  understood 
by  the  vulgar,  from  whom  information  was  to  be 
obtained.' 

It  speaks  well  for  the  character  of  Welch  that  he 
possessed  three  such  distinguished  friends  as  Hogarth, 
Fielding,  and  Johnson.  He  wrote  an  excellent  de- 
scription of  the  '  March  to  Finchley  '  in  Christopher 


384  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

Smart's  publication  The,  Student.  Hogarth  and 
Welch  differed  on  some  points  in  the  article,  but  very 
amicably,  and  the  former  is  said  to  have  observed, 
'  I  generally  thought  with  the  author  of  this  paper, 
and  whenever  I  differed  from  him  I  have  found  reason 
to  take  shame  to  myself.' 

Miss  (Anne)  Welch  said  that  '  when  Mr.  Hogarth 
advertised  the  sale  of  his  pictures  without  reserve, 
her  father,  apprehensive  of  the  event,  mentioned  his 
intention  of  bidding  for  them  on  his  own  account,  as 
he  knew  Mr.  Hogarth  would  not  permit  a  fictitious 
bidding.  To  this  Mr.  H.  strenuously  objected,  and 
with  great  earnestness  intreated  him  not  to  attempt 
it;  "for,"  said  Mr.  Hogarth,  "you  are  known  to  be 
my  friend ;  I  have  promised  to  sell  my  pictures 
without  reserve,  and  your  bidding  will  ruin  my 
reputation  with  the  public,  as  it  will  be  supposed  I 
have  broke  my  word  and  the  pictures  were  bought 


in." 


J.  T.  Smith,  in  Nollekens  and  his  Times,  tells  us 
that  Welch  was  born  at  Aylesbury,  educated  in  the 
workhouse  of  that  town,  and  apprenticed  to  Mr. 
Clements,  the  trunkmaker  at  the  corner  of  St.  Paul's 
Churchyard.  For  some  years  he  was  a  grocer  in 
Queen  Street,  Bloomsbury  (now  Museum  Street). 

Smith  does  not  tell  us  how  Welch's  improved 
fortunes  came  about,  but  he  states  that  William 
Packer  of  Great  Baddow,  Essex,  and  many  other 
venerable  persons,  recollected  *  seeing  him  as  High 

1  S.  Ireland,  Graphic  Illustrations,  voL  i.  p.  157. 


PRISONS  AND  CRIME  385 

Constable  of  Westminster  dressed  in  black,  with  a 
large  nine-story  George  n.'s  wig,  highly  powdered, 
with  long  flowing  curls  over  his  shoulders,  a  high 
three-cornered  hat,  and  his  black  baton  tipped  with 
silver  at  either  end,  riding  on  a  white  horse  to  Tyburn 
with  the  malefactors.'  Hogarth  painted  (it  is  said 
in  a  quarter  of  an  hour)  a  portrait  of  Welch  in  a  short 
wig,  which  is  engraved  and  published  in  S.  Ireland's 
Graphic  Illustrations  (1794).  Welch  was  popular  on 
account  of  the  justness  of  his  actions  and  his  kindness 
to  the  poor. 

The  questionable  honour  was  done  him  of  taking 
his  portrait  as  the  sign  of  a  low  public-house  in 
Dyot  Street,  Bloomsbury.  A  story  is  told  that  hi 
1766  he  went  unattended  into  Cranbourne  Alley  to 
quell  the  riotous  meetings  of  the  journeymen  shoe- 
makers there  who  had  struck  for  an  advance  of 
wages.  One  of  the  crowd  recognised  him  and  he 
was  at  once  mounted  on  a  beer  barrel,  when  the 
men  patiently  listened  to  his  expostulations.  He 
quieted  the  rioters,  and  prevailed  on  the  master 
shoemakers  to  grant  an  additional  amount  to  the 
workmen's  wages. 

Sir  Thomas  de  Veil  (1684-1746)  was  a  most  un- 
popular magistrate.  John  Ireland  said  that  he 
'  raised  himself  from  the  rank  of  a  common  soldier 
to  a  station  in  which  he  made  a  considerable  figure,' 
and  he  was  '  both  intelligent  and  active.'  *  Mr. 
Dobson  writes  of  him :  '  Sir  Thomas  De  Veil  was  an 

1  Hogarth  Illustrated,  vol.  iii.  p.  260  note. 
2B 


386  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

able  but  not  very  worshipful  Justice  of  the  Peace  for 
London  and  Westminster,  and  a  predecessor  of  Henry 
Fielding  at  Bow  Street.'  His  figure  in  the  picture  of 
'  Night '  as  a  drunken  Freemason  is  fully  described 
in  Chapter  iv.  (Low  Life). 

Fielding's  comedy,  The  Coffee-House  Politician,  or 
the  Justice  caught  in  his  own  Trap,  1730,  contains  an 
exposure  of  Justice  Squeezum's  unmitigated  villainies, 
and  Squeezum  is  believed  to  represent  de  Veil. 

So  well  was  this  man  known  among  the  dangerous 
classes  that  it  is  said  an  elegy  published  on  his  death 
went  through  nine  editions,  and  that  there  was 
hardly  a  thief  or  a  harlot  who  did  not  buy  a  copy. 

John  Ireland  has  a  note  in  the  first  volume  of  his 
Hogarth  Illustrated  to  the  effect  that  '  on  the  resigna- 
tion of  Mr.  [Charles]  Horatio  Walpole  in  February 
1738  de  Veil  was  appointed  Inspector- General  of  the 
imports  and  exports,  and  was  so  severe  against 
retailers  of  spirituous  liquors,  that  one  Allen  headed 
a  gang  of  rioters  for  the  purpose  of  pulling  down  his 
house,  and  bringing  to  a  summary  punishment  two 
informers  who  were  there  concealed.  Allen  was 
tried  for  this  offence,  and  acquitted,  upon  the  jury's 
verdict  declaring  him  lunatic.'  There  is  a  life  of 
de  Veil  in  the  Gentleman's  Magazine,  1747,  p.  562, 
and  Memoirs  of  the  Life  and  Times  of  Sir  Thomas  de 
Veil  were  published  in  the  same  year.  Mr.  Stephens 
says  that  the  justice  in  the  picture  of  '  A  Woman 
swearing  a  Child  to  a  grave  Citizen '  is  intended  to 
represent  Sir  Thomas  de  Veil, 


PRISONS  AND  CRIME  387 

The  magistrate  in  Plate  3  of  the  '  Harlot's  Pro- 
gress,' who  apprehends  the  heroine,  is  intended  to 
represent  Sir  John  Gonson,  who  gained  the  name 
of  the  'harlot-hunting  justice.'  The  introduction 
of  this  figure  conduced  to  the  success  of  the  prints. 

Nichols  relates,  in  the  Biographical  Anecdotes,  an 
interesting  anecdote  respecting  this  plate.  '  At  a 
board  of  Treasury  which  was  held  a  day  or  two  after 
the  appearance  of  that  print,  a  copy  of  it  was  shewn 
by  one  of  the  lords  as  containing  among  other 
excellencies  a  striking  likeness  of  Sir  John  Gonson. 
It  gave  universal  satisfaction ;  from  the  Treasury 
each  lord  repaired  to  the  print  shop  for  a  copy  of  it, 
and  Hogarth  rose  completely  into  fame.  This  anec- 
dote was  related  to  Mr.  Huggins  by  Christopher 
Tilson,  Esq.,  one  of  the  four  chief  clerks  in  the 
Treasury,  and  at  that  period  under  secretary  of 
state.  He  died  August  25, 1742,  after  having  enjoyed 
the  former  of  these  offices  fifty-eight  years.  I  should 
add  however  that  Sir  John  Gonson  is  not  here  intro- 
duced to  be  made  ridiculous,  but  is  only  to  be 
considered  as  the  image  of  an  active  magistrate 
identified.'  In  The  Lure  of  Venus,  or  a  Harlot's 
Progress,  by  Captain  Breval,  under  the  name  of 
Joseph  Gay,  Gonson  is  specially  mentioned  in  the 
third  canto: 

'  Sir  John  and  all  his  myrmidons  appear 'd, 
With  clubs  and  staves  equipt,  a  numerous  Herd, 
The  surly  Knight  intrepid,  led  the  van.' 

Gonson' s  charges  to  juries  were  very  energetic,  and 


388  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

frequently  referred  to  in  the  newspapers  of  the  time. 
Pope  alludes  to  '  the  storm  of  Gonson's  lungs.' 

PRISONS. — Newgate  is  supposed  to  be  represented 
in  the  scenes  from  the  '  Beggar's  Opera,'  but  the 
only  two  prisons  actually  pictured  by  Hogarth  are 
the  Fleet  and  Bridewell.  The  painting  of  the 
Committee  of  the  House  of  Commons  examining 
Bambridge  is  one  of  the  greatest  importance  as 
a  record  of  the  attempted  reformation  of  the  long- 
continued  enormities  permitted  in  ancient  prisons. 
There  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  in  giving 
way  to  his  abominably  cruel  nature  Bambridge 
was  following  the  precedent  set  by  former  Wardens 
of  the  Fleet.  In  the  Calendar  of  State  Papers 
(Domestic,  1619-23)  there  is  note  of  a  letter  from 
Rookwood  to  Sir  Clement  Edmondes  (August  2, 
1619),  in  which  it  is  stated  that  '  the  Warden  has 
put  into  the  dungeon  called  Boulton's  Ward,  a  place 
newly  made  to  exercise  his  cruelty,  three  poor  men, 
Pecke,  Seager  and  Myners,  notwithstanding  the 
express  command  of  the  Council  that  they  should  be 
favourably  dealt  with  till  further  orders,  they  are 
starving  from  want  of  food.'  In  the  spring  of  1727  a 
Committee  of  the  House  of  Commons  was  appointed 
to  inquire  into  the  management  of  Debtors'  Prisons, 
and  they  brought  to  light  a  series  of  extortions  and 
cruelties  which  would  have  been  considered  incredible 
were  not  the  evidence  so  incontrovertible.  When  the 
Committee  paid  their  first  and  unexpected  visit  to 


PRISONS  AND  CRIME  389 

the  Fleet  Prison,  they  found  Sir  William  Rich  con- 
fined in  a  loathsome  dungeon  and  loaded  with  irons 
because  he  had  given  some  slight  offence  to  Barn- 
bridge.  It  was  reported  that  a  poor  Portuguese,  who 
had  been  manacled  in  a  filthy  hole  for  months,  on 
being  examined,  supposed  from  something  that  was 
said  that  Bambridge  might  return  to  his  post,  and 
was  so  overcome  with  fear  that  he  fainted  and 
blood  started  out  of  his  mouth  and  nose. 

The  picture  was  painted  in  1729  by  Hogarth  for 
Sir  Archibald  Grant  of  Monymusk,  a  member  of  the 
Committee,  and  it  is  suggested  that  Hogarth  may 
have  obtained  facilities  for  painting  the  picture 
through  the  good  offices  of  Sir  James  Thornhill,  who 
was  also  a  member  of  the  Committee. 

The  Committee  appointed  February  25,  1728-9, 
'  to  examine  the  state  of  the  gaols  within  the  King- 
dom '  was  a  large  one.  John  Nichols  gives  in 
Genuine  Works,  vol.  iii.  (1817),  the  following  as  the 
principal  members  :  James  Oglethorpe,  Esq.,  Chair- 
man ;  The  Right  Hon.  the  Lords  Finch,  Morpeth, 
Inchiquin,  Percival,  Limerick;  Sir  Robert  Sutton, 
Sir  Robert  Clifton,  Sir  Abraham  Elton,  Sir  Edward 
Knatchbull,  Sir  Humphrey  Herries,  Hon.  James 
Bertie,  Sir  Gregory  Page,  Sir  Archibald  Grant,  Sir 
James  Thornhill,  Gyles  Earle,  Esq.,  General  Wade, 
Humphrey  Parsons,  Esq.,  Hon.  Robert  Byng, 
Edward  Houghton,  Esq.,  Judge  Advocate,  Captain 
Vernon,  Charles  Selwyn,  Esq.,  Vetters  Cornwall, 
Esq.,  Thomas  Scawen,  Esq.,  Francis  Child,  Esq., 


390  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

William  Hucks,  Esq.,  Stampe  Brookshank,  Esq., 
Charles  Withers,  Esq.,  John  La  Roche,  Esq.,  Mr. 
Thomas  Martin.  Many  attended  daily,  and  some 
of  them  twice  a  day. 

In  the  foreground  of  the  picture  a  prisoner  explains 
the  mode  by  which  his  hands  and  neck  were  fastened 
together  by  metal  clasps.  Some  of  the  Committee 
are  examining  other  instruments  of  torture  in  which 
the  heads  and  necks  of  prisoners  were  screwed,  and 
which  seem  rather  to  belong  to  the  dungeons  of  the 
Inquisition  than  to  a  London  debtors'  prison. 

The  chairman  (General  Oglethorpe)  is  seen  in  an 
arm-chair  at  the  head  of  the  table.  Sir  Andrew 
Fountaine  is  on  the  chairman's  left,  and  Lord 
Percival  behind  him.  The  prominent  figure  seated 
to  the  right  of  the  table,  examining  the  instrument  of 
torture  worn  by  a  prisoner,  is  Sir  William  Wyndham. 
The  man  to  the  left  addressed  by  the  chairman  is 
Bambridge.1 

Hogarth  gave  his  oil  sketch  for  the  picture  to 
Horace  Walpole,  who  greatly  appreciated  it.  At  the 

1  This  picture  and  the  '  Beggar's  Opera '  both  belonged  to  Sir  Archibald 
Grant  and  afterwards  passed  into  the  possession  of  William  Huggins,  son 
of  the  (at  one  time)  Warden  of  the  Fleet.  Nichols  thinks  it  probable  that 
Huggins  bought  the  pictures  in  1731  when  Sir  Archibald  was  expelled 
from  the  House  of  Commons  owing  to  an  irregularity  connected  with  the 
financial  affairs  of  a  Corporation  for  Believing  the  Poor.  Both  pictures 
possessed  a  similarity  in  the  ornamentation  of  the  frames.  The  frame  of 
the  '  Committee '  was  surmounted  by  a  bust  of  Sir  Francis  Page  with  a 
halter  round  his  neck,  that  of  the  'Beggar's  Opera'  has  a  bust  of  Gay 
above.  The  picture  of  the  '  Committee '  at  the  National  Portrait  Gallery 
has  no  bust  on  its  frame,  but  Mr.  John  Murray's  picture  of  the  '  Beggar's 
Opera '  is  still  ornamented  with  Gay's  bust. 


PRISONS  AND  CRIME  391 

Strawberry  Hill  sale  it  fetched  £8,  5s.,  and  now  it  is 
in  the  possession  of  Mr.  Fairfax  Murray.  Walpole 
described  this  in  his  Anecdotes  of  Painting : 

'  The  scene  is  the  Committee ;  on  the  table  are  the 
instruments  of  torture.  A  prisoner  in  rags,  half 
starved,  appears  before  them ;  the  poor  man  has  a 
good  countenance,  which  adds  to  the  interest.  On 
the  other  hand  is  the  inhuman  gaoler  [Bambridge]. 
It  is  the  very  figure  that  Salvator  Rosa  would  have 
drawn  for  lago  in  the  moment  of  detection.  Villainy, 
fear  and  conscience  are  mixed  in  yellow  and  livid  on 
his  countenance  ;  his  lips  are  contracted  by  tremor, 
his  face  advances  as  eager  to  lie  ;  his  legs  step  back 
as  thinking  to  make  his  escape  ;  one  hand  is  thrust 
precipitately  into  his  bosom,  the  fingers  of  the  other 
are  catching  uncertainly  at  his  button  holes.  If 
this  was  a  portrait,  it  is  the  most  striking  that  ever 
was  drawn  ;  if  it  was  not  it  is  still  finer.' 

John  Huggins  purchased  the  Wardenship  of  the 
Fleet  (a  patent  office)  from  the  Earl  of  Clarendon 
for  £5000.  The  term  of  the  patent  was  for  his  own 
and  his  son's  life,  but  his  son  William  Huggins 
having  no  wish  to  take  upon  himself  the  responsi- 
bility of  such  an  office,  John  Huggins,  in  August 
1728,  sold  it  to  Thomas  Bambridge  and  Dougal 
Cuthbert  for  the  same  amount  he  paid  for  it. 

Huggins,  no  doubt,  had  much  to  answer  for ; 
but  Bambridge  managed  to  better  such  instructions 
as  he  had  received,  and  bring  things  to  a  crisis  within 
a  year.  The  late  G.  A.  Sala,  in  his  little  book  on 


392  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

Hogarth,  draws  a  sort  of  distinction  between  the  two 
men.  He  says  Huggins's  chief  delight  was  to  starve 
his  prisoners  unless  they  were  rich  enough  to  bribe 
him,  but  Bambridge's  genius  lay  more  towards 
confining  his  victims,  charged  with  fetters,  in  under- 
ground dungeons,  with  the  occasional  recreation  of 
attempting  to  pistol  and  stab  them.  The  moneyed 
debtors  both  rascals  smiled  upon.  Both  Bambridge 
and  Huggins  were  declared  '  notoriously  guilty  of 
great  breaches  of  trust,  extortions,  cruelties,  and 
other  high  crimes  and  misdemeanors.'  They  were 
sent  to  Newgate,  and  Bambridge  was  disqualified 
by  Act  of  Parliament  from  enjoying  the  office  of 
Warden  of  the  Fleet. 

John  Nichols,  in  a  note  on  p.  19  of  his  Biographical 
Anecdotes,  says  that  Mr.  Rayner  in  his  Reading  on 
Stat.  2  Geo.  n.,  chap,  xxxii.,  whereby  Bambridge  was 
incapacitated  to  enjoy  the  office  of  Warden  of  the 
Fleet,  has  given  the  reader  a  very  circumstantial 
account,  with  remarks  on  the  notorious  breaches 
of  trust,  etc.,  committed  by  Bambridge  and  other 
keepers  of  the  Fleet  Prison.  For  this  publication  see 
Worral's  Biblioiheca  Legum,  by  Brooke  (1777),  p.  16. 

The  picture  painted  for  Sir  Archibald  Grant  after- 
wards passed  into  the  possession  of  William  Huggins 
of  Headly  Park,  Hants,  at  whose  death  in  1761  it  was 
purchased  by  the  Earl  of  Carlisle.  It  was  exhibited 
in  1814,  and  in  1892  it  was  presented  to  the  National 
Portrait  Gallery  by  the  present  Earl. 

The  seventh  plate  of  '  A  Rake's  Progress  '  (Prison 


PRISONS  AND  CRIME  393 

Scene)  represents  the  interior  of  a  stone  cell  in  the 
Fleet  where  Rakewell  is  confined  after  his  ruin  in  a 
gambling-house  (White's),  as  seen  in  Plate  6.  Sarah 
Young  falls  into  convulsions  and  is  attended  by  three 
persons.  At  Rake  well's  side  stands  his  one-eyed 
wife,  with  clenched  fists,  vehemently  denouncing 
him.  The  man  sits  helpless,  bewildered,  and  de- 
spairing amid  the  overwhelming  troubles  that  have 
fallen  upon  him.1  He  is  in  the  first  stage  of  that 
madness  that  has  fallen  upon  him  hi  the  eighth  and 
last  scene. 

The  Fleet  Prison  was  burned  down  in  the  Great 
Fire  of  1666,  rebuilt  four  years  later  ;  destroyed  in 
the  Gordon  Riots  1780,  and  rebuilt  in  1781.  It  was 
finally  taken  down  in  1844. 

The  fourth  plate  of  the  '  Harlot's  Progress ' 
exhibits  a  scene  in  Bridewell,  in  which  the  peculiar 
features  of  that  miserable  place  are  shown.  Men 
and  women  are  beating  hemp  under  the  eye  of  a 
savage  taskmaster,  and  a  lad,  too  idle  to  work,  is 
seen  standing  on  tiptoe  to  reach  the  stocks,  in  which 
his  hands  are  fixed,  while  over  his  head  is  written, 
'  Better  to  work  than  stand  thus.'  The  harlot  is  the 
principal  figure  standing  at  the  left  of  the  picture 
handsomely  dressed  in  a  flowered  brocade  petticoat. 
She  is  about  to  beat  with  a  heavy  mallet  a  thick 
hank  of  oakum  which  lies  before  her  on  a  large 
wooden  block ;  very  little  of  her  work  has  been 
performed,  and  the  warder  who  stands  beside  her 

1  British  Museum  Catalogue,  vol.  iii.  p.  162. 


394  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

angrily  points  to  the  state  of  the  oakum  and,  holding 
a  rattan,  is  about  to  beat  his  prisoner. 

The  flogging  at  Bridewell  is  described  by  Ned 
Ward  in  his  London  Spy.  Both  men  and  women 
were  whipped  on  their  naked  backs  before  the 
Court  of  Governors.  The  president  sat  with  his 
hammer  in  his  hand,  and  the  culprit  was  taken  from 
the  whipping-post  when  the  hammer  fell.  The  calls 
to  knock,  when  women  were  flogged,  were  loud  and 
incessant :  '  O  good  Sir  Robert,  knock !  Pray,  good 
Sir  Robert,  knock ! '  This  became  a  common  cry  of 
reproach  among  the  lower  orders,  to  denote  that  a 
woman  had  been  whipped  as  a  harlot  in  Bridewell. 

As  a  specimen  of  the  atrocious  manners  of  the  time 
it  may  be  noted  that  it  was  one  of  the  sights  to  see  the 
women  flogged. 

John  Ireland  quotes  a  paragraph  from  the  Grub 
Street  Journal  (1730)  to  show  that  there  is  no 
exaggeration  in  respect  to  the  dress  of  the  harlot. 
Here  one  Mary  Moffat  is  described  '  as  beating  hemp 
hi  a  gown  very  richly  laced  with  silver.' 

As  a  corroboration  of  the  fact  that  Sir  John 
Gonson  was  the  magistrate  who  apprehended  the 
harlot  and  committed  her  to  Bridewell  is  seen,  in 
the  hanging  figure  drawn  in  chalk  on  the  wall,  with 
the  inscription  over  it,  '  Sir  J.  G.'  Mr  Stephens 
expresses  the  opinion  that  this  print  was  used  as  a 
plea  for  the  amelioration  of  the  treatment  of  these 
unfortunates  in  the  prisons.1 

1  British  Museum  Catalogue,  vol.  iii.  p.  IxL 


PRISONS  AND  GRIME  395 

Bridewell  continued  for  many  years  to  be  used  as  a 
'  house  of  correction,'  but  on  the  erection  of  the  City 
Prison  at  Hollo  way  in  1863  the  materials  of  the 
Bridewell  Prison  were  sold  by  auction  and  cleared 
away  in  the  following  years. 

Hogarth  made  portraits  of  such  criminals  as  Mary 
Malcolm  (1733),  Elizabeth  Canning  (1753),  Lord 
Ferrers  (1760),  and  Theodore  GardeUe  (1761). 

Those  miscreants,  Francis  Charteris  and  Mother 
Needham,  who  are  represented  in  the  first  plate  of  the 
'  Harlot's  Progress,'  have  been  already  mentioned  in 
Chapter  ix.  (Tavern  Life). 

A  highwayman  is  among  the  company  at  White's 
in  the  sixth  plate  of  the  '  Rake's  Progress,'  and  in  the 
third  plate  of  the  '  Harlot's  Progress  '  the  wig-box  of 
James  Dalton,  another  notorious  highwayman,  is 
seen  among  the  miscellaneous  contents  of  the  harlot's 
room,  when  she  is  about  to  be  apprehended  by  Sir 
John  Gonson. 

Sarah  Malcolm,  a  laundress  in  the  Temple,  was 
executed  in  March  1733  at  the  Fetter  Lane  end  of 
Fleet  Street,  opposite  Mitre  Court,  for  three  murders, 
viz.  Mrs.  Lydia  Duncomb  and  her  two  servants, 
Elizabeth  Harrison  and  Ann  Price,  living  in  Tanfield 
Court,  Temple.  When  she  sat  to  Hogarth  for  her 
portrait  in  the  condemned  cell  she  had,  according  to 
Walpole,  put  on  red  to  look  the  better.  When  he 
was  at  work  the  painter  said  to  Sir  James  Thornhill, 
'  I  see  by  this  woman's  features  that  she  is  capable  of 
any  wickedness.' 


396  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

The  portrait  was  painted  for  Horace  Walpole,  who 
gave  Hogarth  five  guineas  for  it.  It  was  sold  at  the 
Strawberry  Hill  sale  in  1842  to  Charles  Kirkpatrick 
Sharpe  for  £24,  3s. 

Hogarth  painted  another  portrait, —  a  whole 
length  (the  original  being  three-quarters),  which  was 
in  the  possession  of  Joshua  Boydell  in  1793.  An 
engraving  of  this  is  to  be  found  in  John  Ireland's 
Hogarth  Illustrated  (vol.  ii.).  It  was  exhibited  in 
1814  by  the  Earl  of  Mulgrave. 

She  was  twenty  years  of  age  when  she  was  executed, 
and  therefore  a  fine  portrait  of  a  comely  middle-aged 
woman  exhibited  by  Sir  Frederick  Cook,  Bart.,  at 
the  Winter  Exhibition  of  the  Royal  Academy  (1908) 
cannot  well  be  a  portrait  of  the  murderess. 

A  portrait  of  Elizabeth  Canning,  painted  in  prison, 
belonged  to  the  Earl  of  Mulgrave  in  1833.  The 
extraordinary  case  of  this  woman's  false  swearing 
produced  a  great  public  excitement.  She  fully  de- 
scribed her  alleged  abduction  and  ill-treatment,  and 
on  her  false  statement  Mary  Squires,  a  gypsy,  and 
Susannah  Wells  were  indicted.  Being  found  guilty 
Squires  was  condemned  to  death,  and  Wells  to  be 
branded  and  imprisoned  for  six  months.  The  case 
is  not  likely  to  be  forgotten,  for  one  reason,  that 
Fielding  was  deceived  by  the  woman  and  wrote  a 
pamphlet  in  her  favour,  entitled  A  Clear  State  of 
the  Case  of  Elizabeth  Canning,  1733.  Sir  Crisp 
Gascoyne,  the  Lord  Mayor,  was  convinced  of  the 
fraud,  and  succeeded  in  obtaining  the  pardon  of 


PRISONS  AND  CRIME  397 

Squires.  Canning  was  brought  to  trial  in  1754  and 
found  guilty  of  perjury.  She  was  transported  to 
New  England,  but  was  afterwards  released,  and  a 
subscription  being  raised  for  her  she  became  a 
schoolmistress.  She  married  a  Quaker  and  lived  till 
1773.  The  public  feeling  was  all  along  strongly  in 
favour  of  Canning,  and  Gascoyne  suffered  much 
obloquy  from  his  labours  in  bringing  her  to  justice. 
The  full-length  portrait  of  Lawrence  Shirley,  Earl 
Ferrers,  the  murderer,  who  was  executed  in  1763, 
was  exhibited  at  Whitechapel  (Georgian  England) 
1906,  by  Mr.  Frederick  M.  Cutbush  of  The  Hobby, 
Maidstone. 

A  portrait  of  Theodore  Gardelle,  engraved  by 
S.  Ireland,  will  be  found  in  his  Graphic  Illustrations, 
1794.  The  sketch  was  by  Mr.  Richards,  and  only 
touched  on  by  Hogarth.  Gardelle  was  born  hi 
Geneva  in  1721,  and  only  arrived  in  London  from 
Paris  in  1760.  He  found  employment  as  a  miniature 
painter,  and  lived  in  Leicester  Square  at  the  house 
of  a  Mrs.  Anne  King.  He  murdered  her  in  a  brutal 
manner  and  concealed  her  body.  He  was  arrested 
on  the  27th  of  February  1761,  and  was  executed  at 
the  corner  of  Panton  Street,  Haymarket,  on  the 
following  4th  of  April.  His  body  was  hung  in  chains 
on  Hounslow  Heath. 

We  have  already  dealt  hi  Chapter  vin.  (Business 
Life)  with  the  incidents  of  the  life  of  the  Industri- 
ous Apprentice,  who  was  Hogarth's  favourite,  which 
are  all  of  the  greatest  interest.  The  incidents  of  the 


398  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

life  of  the  Idle  Apprentice,  naturally,  come  under 
the  heading  of  crime,  but  they  need  not  detain 
us  long.  The  artist  was  not  careful  to  mark  his 
fall  with  the  same  elaboration,  and  in  consequence 
it  seems  to  be  too  violent.  Plate  3,  where  the  Idle 
Apprentice  is  seen  at  play  in  the  churchyard,  is  one 
of  the  best  of  the  series.  Plate  5  shows  him  sent  to 
sea,  and  contains  a  view  of  a  reach  in  the  Thames 
known  as  Cuckold's  Point  in  the  distance,  and  three 
vessels  off  that  promontory ;  the  pathetic  element  of 
the  picture  centres  in  the  poor  widowed  mother,  who 
is  weeping  over  the  sad  state  of  her  son,  and  filled 
with  horror  at  his  recklessness.  In  Plate  7  Tom  Idle 
returned  from  sea  is  in  a  garret  with  a  prostitute. 
In  Plate  9  he  is  betrayed  by  this  woman.  The  cellar 
in  which  he  is  found  is  said  to  have  been  a  notorious 
place  called  Blood  Bowl  House,  Blood  Bowl  Alley, 
Fleet  Street,  afterwards  known  as  Hanging  Sword 
Alley,  Whitefriars.1  The  latter  appears  always  to 
have  been  the  official  name,  and  the  former  to  have 
been  only  the  popular  name.  Dickens  refers  to 
Hanging  Sword  Alley  in  Bleak  House ;  Mr.  Marks,  in 
his  Tyburn  Tree,  gives  an  account  of  the  robbery  of 
Mr.  or  Captain  George  Morgan  by  James  Stansbury 
and  Mary  his  wife.  He  writes  :  '  The  case  is  very 

1  In  Chapter  vm.  (Business  Life)  there  is  a  notice  of  a  series  of  drawings 
by  Hogarth  for  the  engravings  of  '  Industry  and  Idleness ;  in  the  Print 
Room  of  the  British  Museum.  Mr.  Dobson  points  out  that  in  the  sketch 
for  Plate  7  a  rat  is  added,  and  there  is  a  sword  in  place  of  the  petticoat 
over  the  bed,  and  he  suggests  that  probably  this  is  intended  to  indicate 
that  the  garret  was  in  Hanging  Sword  Alley,  the  scene  of  the  cellar  in 
Plate  9.  (See  W.  Hogarth,  1907,  p.  250,  note.) 


PRISONS  AND  CRIME  399 

interesting  as  having  furnished  to  Hogarth  the 
motive  of  one  of  his  prints  in  the  series  of  "  The 
Effects  of  Industry  and  Idleness."  Captain  Morgan 
going  home  in  the  early  hours  of  the  morning  of 
July  17,  1743,  seeing  a  lady  in  the  street,  feared  for 
her  safety  and  gallantly  offered  to  escort  her  home. 
He  was  taken  into  a  house  where  he  was  robbed 
and  assaulted.  The  house  in  Hanging  Sword  Alley, 
Fleet  Street,  bore  an  execrable  reputation,  in  virtue 
of  which  it  was  known  as  *  Blood  Bowl  House.'  At 
the  trial  Mary  Stansbury  asked  a  witness,  '  Have  I 
not  let  you  go  all  over  the  house,  to  see  if  there  were 
any  trap-doors  as  it  was  represented  ?  '  The  witness 
Sharrock  replied  that  he  had  looked  all  over  the  house 
and  saw  no  trap-door.  It  will  be  recollected  that 
in  Hogarth's  print  the  body  of  a  murdered  man  is 
being  thrust  through  a  trap-door.  The  same  witness 
spoke  of  the  house  as  '  Blood  Bowl  House.'  Stans- 
bury asked  him  how  he  came  to  know  of  the  Blood 
Bowl,  to  which  Sharrock  replied  that  he  had  seen  it 
in  the  newspapers.  Mr.  Marks  adds  that  he  had 
been  less  fortunate ;  he  had  not  found  accounts  in 
contemporary  newspapers  referring  to  the  name 
or  to  the  trap-door. 

Plate  10,  where  Tom  Idle  is  brought  up  before 
his  former  comrade,  now  an  Alderman  of  London, 
in  the  Court-house  at  Guildhall,  has  already  been 
referred  to.  We  now  come  to  Plate  11,  the  finest 
picture  of  all,  in  which  Idle  is  executed  at  Tyburn. 
This  is  the  best  view  of  Tyburn  in  existence,  and 


400  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

gives  a  vivid  picture  of  the  scenes  which  were  con- 
stantly occurring.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Gilpin  wrote : 
'  We  seldom  see  a  crowd  more  beautifully  managed 
than  in  this  print,'  and  he  is  quite  right.  The 
composition,  in  spite  of  innumerable  details,  is 
thoroughly  harmonious.  Mr.  Marks  gives  this  as 
the  best  illustration  of  the  Triple  Tree  in  1747  in  his 
interesting  work  on  Tyburn  Tree,  which  is  a  monu- 
ment of  well-planned  research  and  by  far  the  best 
authority  on  the  subject. 

Like  the  '  March  to  Finchley,'  the  picture  of  the 
execution  of  the  Idle  Apprentice  is  admirably  ar- 
ranged and  the  figures  grouped  with  all  Hogarth's 
remarkable  facility.  In  the  background  are  seen 
the  hills  of  Hampstead  and  Highgate. 

An  execution  was  made  the  occasion  of  regular 
holiday-making  and  a  round  of  diversions.  It  was 
one  of  the  sorriest  sights  to  be  seen  in  the  eighteenth 
century,  and  naturally  the  vivid  delineator  of  the 
manners  of  the  century  painted  the  scene.  Neverthe- 
less the  very  thought  of  such  orgies  taking  place  on 
the  occasion  of  the  ignominious  death  of  a  human 
being  fills  one  with  horror,  and  sorrow  for  the 
brutality  of  our  ancestors. 

The  '  Four  Stages  of  Cruelty  '  (1751)  are  the  most 
painful  and  repulsive  of  Hogarth's  works,  and  one's 
first  impulse  is  to  pass  them  by,  but  this  cannot  be 
done.  The  atrocities  of  Tom  Nero  seem  to  be  too 
horrible  for  representation,  but  the  artist  had  his 
reasons  for  his  work.  He  remarks :  '  The  leading 


PRISONS  AND  CRIME  401 

points  in  these,  as  well  as  the  two  preceding  prints 
(i.e.  '  Beer  Street '  and  '  Gin  Lane ')  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  frankly  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  obtained,  except  by  a 
man  of  a  very  quiet  turn  of  mind.  .  .  .  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  Metro- 
polis so  distressing  to  every  feeling  mind.  If  they 
have  had  that  effect  and  checked  the  progress  of 
cruelty,  I  am  more  proud  of  having  been  the  author, 
than  I  should  be  of  having  painted  Raffaelle's 
Cartoons.' l 

We  may  pass  by  the  First  Stage  in  which  Tom 
Nero  is  shown  as  one  of  the  boys  in  St.  Giles's  Charity 
School.  In  the  Second  Stage  he  is  a  hackney  coach- 

1  Anecdotes  of  William  Hogarth,  by  J.  B.  Nichols,  1833,  pp.  64-5. 

2  C 


402  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

man.  The  scene  is  laid  at  the  gate  of  Thavie's  Inn, 
Holborn.  The  longest  shilling  fare  in  London  was 
from  that  Inn  of  Chancery  to  Westminster,  and  the 
foreground  of  the  picture  is  occupied  by  four  lawyers 
in  wigs  and  gowns  who  have  clubbed  their  three- 
pence each  for  the  hackney  coach  No.  24,  T.  Nero, 
driver,  to  carry  them  to  Westminster  Hall.  The 
coach  comes  to  a  stop  from  the  horse  having  fallen 
on  its  knees,  broken  its  legs  and  overthrown  the 
vehicle.  The  driver  beats  the  horse  on  its  head 
with  the  butt  of  a  whip. 

John  Ireland  says  with  respect  to  this  scene : 
'  A  man  taking  the  number  of  the  coach  is  marked  by 
traits  of  benevolence,  which  separate  him  from  the 
savage  ferocity  of  Nero,  or  the  guilty  terror  of  these 
affrighted  lawyers.' 

'  Cruelty  in  Perfection '  shows  Nero  as  a  prisoner 
brought  to  view  the  body  of  his  murdered  mistress. 
The  last  scene,  '  The  Reward  of  Cruelty,'  requires 
some  fuller  comment,  although  it  is  singularly 
repulsive. 

The  scene  of  the  dissection  of  Tom  Nero  takes 
place  in  the  theatre  of  the  Barber-Surgeons  Company 
in  Monkwell  Street.  It  was  built  in  1636-7  after  the 
design  of  Inigo  Jones.  It  was  restored  under  the 
direction  of  the  Earl  of  Burlington  in  1730-1,  and 
pulled  down  in  1783.  It  has  been  supposed  by  some 
that  the  dissecting  theatre  represented  the  Surgeons' 
Hall  in  the  Old  Bailey,  and  there  is  this  reason  for 
the  opinion  that  the  surgeons  separated  from  the 


PRISONS  AND  CRIME  403 

barbers  in  1745.  Although  this  was  the  case,  the 
surgeons  had  not  a  dissecting  theatre  ready,  and  it 
was  necessary  for  a  time  to  continue  at  the  old 
theatre.  The  first  Court  of  Assistants  of  the 
Surgeons  Company  was  held  at  their  new  theatre  in 
the  Old  Bailey  in  August  1751,  but  it  was  not  until 
1753  that  the  first  Masters  of  Anatomy  were  selected 
and  the  first  dissections  were  undertaken  in  accord- 
ance with  the  Act  of  1752. 

Mr.  Marks  gives  in  his  Tyburn  Tree  an  illustration 
of  the  body  of  a  murderer  dissected  according  to  the 
Act  of  1752,  which  is  inscribed  '  The  Body  of  a 
Murderer  exposed  in  the  Theatre  of  the  Surgeons'  Hall 
Old  Bailey.'  This  is  a  different  building  from  that 
represented  in  Hogarth's  print,  which  has  two 
windows  at  the  back  that  are  not  seen  in  the  other 
engraving.  John  Ireland  suggests  that  the  President 
in  the  Chair  much  resembles  the  eminent  surgeon 
John  Freke. 


404  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 


CHAPTER    XIII 

THE    SUBURBS 

THE  suburbs  of  Hogarth's  day  have  now  become  an 
integral  part  of  the  town,  and  in  some  cases  almost  its 
heart.  Marylebone  and  Tyburn  were  in  his  time 
country  villages,  and  in  the  Evening  Post  of  March  16, 
1715,  we  read  that '  On  Wednesday  last,  four  gentle- 
men were  robbed  and  stripped  in  the  fields  between 
London  and  Marylebon.' 

The  New  Road  (now  the  Marylebone,  Euston  and 
Pentonville  Roads)  was  formed  in  1756  through  a 
rural  district,  and  all  north  of  the  road  was  country. 
The  Duke  of  Bedford,  who  then  lived  on  the  north 
side  of  Bloomsbury  Square,  unsuccessfully  opposed 
its  construction  on  the  ground  that  the  dust  created 
by  the  traffic  would  completely  spoil  the  gardens  at 
the  back  of  his  mansion. 

Tottenham  Court  Road  was  quite  rural  until  the 
beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century,  and  on  the  east 
side  of  the  road  there  was  an  extensive  farm. 

Hogarth  has  immortalised  the  upper  part  of  the 
road  where  it  joins  the  Hampstead  Road,  and  the 
turnpike  was  placed  in  one  of  his  finest  pictures, 
presented  by  the  artist  to  the  Foundling  Hospital, 
and  known  as  '  The  March  to  Finchley.' 


THE  SUBURBS  405 

After  the  Jacobite  rising  in  1745  a  camp  was 
formed  at  Finchley,  and  the  Foot  Guards  represented 
in  this  picture,  who  had  been  hurriedly  recalled  from 
the  Low  Countries  and  Germany,  are  bound  for 
Scotland  and  on  their  way  to  the  camp. 

Mr.  Stephens  gives  a  very  full  description  of  the 
incidents  in  the  picture  in  his  Catalogue  of  Satires  in 
the  British  Museum  (vol.  iii.  p.  512). 

The  two  public  -  houses  form  the  prominent 
features  in  the  picture,  viz.  the  Adam  and  Eve  on 
the  west  side  and  the  King's  Head  on  the  east 
side.  The  Adam  and  Eve  still  stands  at  the  corner 
of  the  Hampstead  and  Marylebone  Roads,  and  the 
King's  Head  was  only  taken  down  in  the  summer 
of  1906  in  order  to  allow  of  the  widening  of  the 
Hampstead  Road.  The  Adam  and  Eve  was  originally 
the  manor-house  of  the  prebendal  manor  of  Tothill, 
Totenhall,  or  Tottenham  Court,  described  in  Domes- 
day and  originally  appertaining  to  the  Dean  and 
Chapter  of  St.  Paul's.  The  first  notice  of  it  as  a  place 
of  public  entertainment  is  contained  in  the  books  of 
the  parish  of  St.  Giles's  in  the  Fields  under  the  year 
1645,  when  Mrs.  Stacye's  maid  and  two  others  were 
fined  a  shilling  apiece  'for  drinking  at  Tottenhall 
Court  on  the  Sabbath  daie.'  Ben  Jonson,  however, 
appears  to  allude  to  the  place  at  a  rather  earlier  date, 
when  he  makes  Quarlous  say  to  Win- Wife  in  Bar- 
tholomew Fair,  1614,  '  Because  she  is  in  possibility  to 
be  your  daughter-in-law,  and  may  ask  your  blessing 
hereafter  when  she  courts  it  to  Totnam  to  eat  cream.' 


406  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

The  tea-gardens  were  for  many  years  a  popular 
resort,  and  here  on  May  16,  1785,  Vincent  Lunardi 
effected  the  second  descent  from  his  balloon. 

In  course  of  time  the  gardens  lost  their  credit  and 
became  the  resort  of  highwaymen  and  footpads, 
when  about  1811  the  music-room  was  abolished,  the 
skittle-grounds  destroyed,  and  the  gardens  dug  up  for 
the  foundation  of  the  present  Eden  Street,  a  name 
more  appropriate  to  the  association  with  Adam  and 
Eve  than  to  the  beauty  of  the  situation. 

Under  the  signboard  of  the  inn  is  inscribed 
Tottenham  Court  Nursery,  in  allusion  to  the  boxing- 
booth  at  which  the  celebrated  pugilist  Broughton 
exhibited  his  prowess.  In  the  background  beneath 
the  signboard  are  two  combatants.  John  Ireland 
says  that  a  little  fellow  of  meagre  frame  who  joins  in 
the  fray  is  a  portrait  of  a  well-known  man  usually 
styled  Jockey  James.  '  Jockey  had  a  son  who 
rendered  himself  eminent  by  boxing  with  Smallwood, 
and  many  other  athletic  pugilists.  The  French 
pyeman,  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.' l 

Lord  Albemarle  Bertie,  who  is  the  chief  character 
in  the  picture  of  the  *  Cockpit,'  is  also  introduced  into 
the  '  March  to  Finchley.'  John  Nichols  informs  us 
that  the  chimney-sweeper  and  one  of  the  young 
fifers  were  hired  by  Hogarth,  'who  gave  each  of 

1  Hogarth  Illustrated,  voL  ii.  p.  139  (note). 


THE  SUBURBS  407 

them  half  a  crown  for  his  patience  in  sitting  while  his 
likeness  was  taken.' l 

The  King's  Head  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  road 
has  a  sign  of  the  portrait  of  Charles  n.,  but  the  house 
that  has  lately  been  destroyed  had  the  head  of 
Henry  vm.  On  the  roof  of  the  King's  Arms  is  a 
meeting  of  cats,  which  is  intended  to  give  a  key  to  the 
character  of  the  women  who  fill  every  window  of  the 
house  and  are  presided  over  by  the  infamous  Mother 
Douglas. 

This  picture,  which  represents  a  scene  of  confusion 
and  disorder,  is  a  triumphant  example  of  Hogarth's 
supreme  power  in  the  arrangement  and  grouping  of 
his  characters. 

Arthur  Murphy  in  an  article  in  the  Gray's  Inn 
Journal  draws  attention  to  the  dramatic  power  of  the 
picture,  and  to  the  genius  of  Hogarth  in  speaking 
directly  to  the  spectator  by  means  of  the  eye  alone — 
he,  at  least,  uses  a  universal  language:  'The  aera 
may  arrive,  when,  through  the  instability  of  the 
English  language,  the  style  of  Joseph  Andrews  and 
Tom  Jones  shall  be  obliterated,  when  the  characters 
shall  be  unintelligible,  and  the  humour  lose  its 
relish  ;  but  the  many  personages  which  the  manner- 
painting  hand  of  Hogarth  has  called  forth  into  mimic 
life  will  not  fade  so  soon  from  the  canvas,  and  that  ad- 
mirable picturesque  comedy,  The  March  to  Finchley, 
will  perhaps  divert  posterity  as  long  as  the  Foundling 
Hospital  shall  do  honour  to  the  British  nation.' 

1  Biographical  Anecdotes,  p.  246. 


408  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

An  account  of  how  the  picture  came  into  the  pos- 
session of  the  Foundling  will  be  found  in  Chapter  xi. 
(Hospitals). 

Hogarth  wished  to  dedicate  the  print  of  his  great 
picture  to  George  n.,  and  arrangements  were  made 
for  the  King  to  see  the  painting.  The  incident  of 
its  reception  by  the  man  who  hated  '  bainting  and 
boetry  '  is  too  well  known  to  be  repeated  here  in  its 
entirety.  Suffice  it  to  say,  that  George  n.  ended  his 
inspection  of  the  picture  with  the  indignant  speech, 
*  What !  a  bainter  burlesque  a  soldier  ?  he  deserves 
to  be  bicketed  for  his  insolence  !  Take  his  drum- 
pery  out  of  my  sight.' l 

Hogarth  was  so  chagrined  that  in  revenge  he 
inscribed  the  engraving  to  Frederick  the  Great,  the 
King  of  Prussia,  as  '  an  encourager  of  Arts  and 
Sciences.'  The  '  March  to  Finchley  '  was  engraved 
by  Luke  Sullivan,  who  is  described  by  John  Ireland 
as  follows  :  '  Sullivan  was  so  eccentric  a  character 
that  while  he  was  engraving  this  print  Hogarth  held 
out  every  possible  inducement  to  his  remaining  at  his 
house  in  Leicester  Square  night  and  day,  for  if  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.' 2 

Mr.  Austin  Dobson  refers  to  the  '  March  to 
Finchley '  as  Sullivan's  masterpiece  as  an  engraver. 

1  Hogarth  Illustrated,  vol.  ii.  p.  133. 

2  Ibid.,  vol.  ill  p.  353. 


THE  SUBURBS  409 

He  also  tells  us  that  Sullivan  was  the  angel  in  '  Paul 
before  Felix.' 

Mr.  Stephens  enumerates  nine  states  of  the  plate, 
and  adds  that  the  engraver's  outline  in  pencil  is  in 
the  Print  Room  of  the  British  Museum. 

The  States  1  to  6  are  as  follows  :  * 

1.  The  etching  in  the  British  Museum. 

2.  The  finished  plate  without  writing  below  (very 
rare). 

3.  Inscribed     'Painted    by    Willm    Hogarth    & 
Publish'd   Decbr   30   1750.      According   to   Act   of 
Parliament.     A  Representation  of  the  March  of  the 
Guards  towards  Scotland,  in  the  year  1745.     To  his 
Majesty  the  King  of  Prusia,  an  encourager  of  Arts 
and  Sciences  !     This  Plate  is  most  humbly  dedicated. 
Engrav'd  by  Luke  Sullivan.' 

4.  The  first  part  of  the  inscription  is  changed  to 
'  Painted  &  Publish'd  by  Willm  Hogarth  Decbr  30 
1750.' 

3  and  4  constitute  what  is  called  '  the  Sunday 
print,'  because  it  was  found  that  the  30th  December 
1750  fell  on  a  Sunday. 

5.  The  date  is  altered  to  Decbr  31st. 

6.  The  dedication  line  stopped  out,  preparatory 
to  correcting  the  error  in  spelling  the  word  '  Prussia.' 

In  States  3,  4,  5  and  6  the  word  '  Prussia  '  has  been 
engraved  with  one  '  s '  only,  another  '  s  '  has  been 
added  above  the  line,  but  without  a  caret,  with  a 
pen  and  ink.1 

1  British  Museum  Catalogue,  vol.  iii.  p.  517. 


410  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

Respecting  this  John  Nichols  writes  :  1 1  have 
been  assured  that  only  twenty-five  were  worked  off 
with  this  literal  imperfection,  as  Hogarth  grew  tired 
of  adding  the  mark  -  with  a  pen  over  one  S,  to  supply 
the  want  of  the  other.  He  therefore  ordered  the 
inscription  to  be  corrected  before  any  greater  number 
of  impressions  were  taken.  Though  this  circum- 
stance was  mentioned  by  Mr.  Thane,  to  whose  ver- 
acity and  experience  in  such  matters  the  greatest 
attention  is  due,  it  is  difficult  to  suppose  that 
Hogarth  was  fatigued  with  correcting  his  own 
mistake  in  so  small  a  number  of  the  first  impressions. 
I  may  venture  to  add,  that  I  have  seen,  at  least,  five 
and  twenty  marked  in  the  manner  already  described  ; 
and  it  is  scarce  possible,  considering  the  multitudes 
of  these  plates  dispersed  in  the  world,  that  I  should 
have  met  with  all  that  were  so  distinguished.' l 

With  regard  to  No.  6  John  Ireland  wrote  :  '  I  have 
an  early  impression  of  this  print,  in  which  the  dedica- 
tion 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.' 2 

7.  The  spelling  of  '  Prussia '  is  corrected,  and  the 
following  addition  below  the  engraver's  name : 

1  Biographical  Anecdotes,  1782,  p.  243  (note). 

2  Hogarth  Illustrated,  voL  iii.  p.  353. 


;i 

2     .s 
~"  .'§> 


II 

H 
Z 

o 


THE  SUBURBS  411 

'  Retouched  and  Improved  by  Wm.  Hogarth,  re- 
publish'd  June  12th  1761.' 

Respecting  this  inscription  John  Nichols  writes  : 
'  The  improvements  in  it,  however,  remain  to  be 
discovered  by  better  eyes  than  mine.' l 

8.  Mr.  Stephens  says  the  plate  has  been  worked 
on  by  another  and  less  skilful  hand. 

9.  Much  worked  on  and  used  for  James  Heath's 
edition  of  Hogarth's  works.2 

The  subscription  ticket  for  the  '  March  to 
Finchley '  represents  a  trophy  of  military  weapons, 
tools  and  musical  instruments  used  in  war  (bagpipes, 
etc.)  designed  and  engraved  by  Hogarth. 

The  interior  of  old  Marylebone  Church  (originally 
built  in  the  year  1400)  is  seen  in  the  fifth  plate  of  the 
'  Rake's  Progress,'  which  was  published  in  1735. 
The  church  was  then  nearing  the  end  of  its  days,  for 
in  1741  it  was  pulled  down  and  the  old  church  now 
hi  High  Street,  Marylebone,  was  built  on  its  site. 
The  Bishop  of  London  of  the  day  gave  orders  that 
all  the  old  tablets  should  be  fixed  as  nearly  as 
possible  in  their  former  places,  and  the  inscription 
on  the  front  of  the  gallery  pews  in  the  picture  is  still 
to  be  seen. 

The  great  Francis  Bacon  was  married  in  Hogarth's 
church  in  1606,  and  Sheridan  was  married  to  Miss 
Linley  in  the  still  standing  church  in  1773.  John 

1  Biographical  Anecdotes,  1782,  p.  243. 

2  Mr.  Stephens's  description  of  the  nine  states  is  given  in  the  British 
Museum  Catalogue,  vol.  iii.  pp.  517-18. 


412  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

Ireland  says  that  in  Hogarth's  time  Marylebone 
Church  was  at  such  a  distance  from  London  that  it 
became  the  favoured  resort  of  those  who  desired  to 
be  privately  married.  The  Rake  would  naturally 
not  wish  to  show  his  deformed  wife  before  a  large 
audience.  A  great  change  was  about  to  take  place 
in  the  relative  position  of  the  suburbs  to  the  town, 
for  at  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century  London  had 
joined  Marylebone.  Ireland  notes  that  while  at  the 
date  of  the  Revolution  (1688)  '  the  annual  amount  of 
the  taxes  for  the  whole  parish  was  four  and  twenty 
pounds  ;  in  1788  the  annual  amount  was  four  and 
twenty  thousand.' l  There  are  three  satirical  points 
in  the  picture  which  should  be  noted.  The  Com- 
mandments are  broken  and  the  Creed  is  destroyed  by 
the  damp,  but  the  third  is  the  most  striking — the 
poor-box  is  covered  with  a  cobweb,  so  that  alms- 
giving evidently  had  been  neglected.  Ireland  sug- 
gests that  the  broken  Commandments  '  probably 
gave  the  hint  to  a  lady's  reply,  on  being  told  that 
thieves  had  the  preceding  night  broken  into  the 
church,  and  stolen  the  communion  plate  and  the 
Ten  Commandments.  "  I  can  suppose,"  added  the 
informant,  "  that  they  may  melt  and  sell  the  plate ; 
but  can  you  divine  for  what  possible  purpose  they 
could  steal  the  Commandments  ?  "  "To  break 
them,  to  be  sure,"  replied  she ;  "to  break  them." 
The  Rev.  William  Gilpin  points  out  that  the  church 

1  Hogarth  Illustrated,  vol.  i.  p.  46  (note). 

2  Ibid.,  vol.  i.  p.  47  (note). 


THE  SUBURBS  413 

is  too  small,  and  that  it  is  divided  disagreeably  down 
the  centre ;  but  he  was  answered  that,  although  he 
is  right  in  his  criticism,  Hogarth  painted  what  he 
saw. 

A  dog  making  friends  with  a  one-eyed  comrade  is 
said  to  be  drawn  from  the  painter's  favourite  Trump. 

The  outside  of  Marylebone  Church  is  supposed  to 
be  represented  in  the  Third  Stage  of  '  Cruelty,'  or 
'  Cruelty  in  Perfection,'  where  the  vile  Tom  Nero  is 
taken  prisoner  for  the  murder  of  the  girl  who  trusted 
in  him  and  robbed  her  mistress  for  his  sake. 

'  To  lawless  love,  when  once  betray'd 

Soon  crime  to  crime  succeeds ; 
At  length  beguil'd  to  theft,  the  maid 
By  her  beguiler  bleeds.' 

There  is  little  of  the  church  to  judge  from,  and  it 
may,  as  some  suggest,  represent  old  St.  Pancras 
Church. 

The  scene  of  the  *  Idle  Apprentice  at  Play  in  the 
Churchyard  during  Divine  Service  '  (Plate  3)  has  not 
been  identified,  but  it  is  either  in  London  or  the 
suburbs.  Mr.  Stephens,  as  previously  noted,  sug- 
gests that  there  are  points  of  resemblance  to  the 
churches  of  St.  Michael,  Crooked  Lane,  and  St.  Paul, 
Shadwell.  The  parish  beadle  in  the  background, 
dressed  in  his  gown  and  gold-laced  hat,  as  well  as  the 
shield  bearing  the  arms  of  the  City  of  London  over 
the  door,  seem  to  point  to  its  being  a  City  church. 

Mr.  Austin  Dobson  writes  :  '  There  is  no  more 
eloquent  stroke  in  the  whole  of  Hogarth  than  that  by 


414  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

which  the  miserable  player  at  "  halfpenny  tinder  the 
hat,"  in  Plate  3,  is  shown  to  have  but  a  plank  between 
him  and  the  grave.' 

Tyburn  was  an  extreme  western  suburb  of  London, 
and  executions  took  place  there  for  many  centuries. 
The  last  person  executed  at  Tyburn  was  John  Austin 
on  November  3,  1783,  and  although  the  executions 
before  Newgate  remained  for  many  years  a  gross 
scandal,  the  scenes  exhibited  there  never  equalled  in 
atrocity  those  which  continually  occurred  at  Tyburn. 

Tyburn  gallows  was  a  triangle  in  plan,  having  three 
legs  to  stand  upon.  The  Elizabethan  writers  con- 
stantly alluded  to  it  and  used  it  often  in  an  idealised 
form,  as  Biron  in  Love's  Labour  's  Lost : 

'  Thou  mak'st  the  triumphery,  the  corner  cap  of  society, 
The  shape  of  Love's  Tyburn,  that  hangs  up  simplicity.' 

The  Triple  Tree  first  came  into  existence  in  1571 
at  the  execution  of  Dr.  John  Story,  and  Hogarth's 
picture  (referred  to  in  the  last  chapter)  of  the  execu- 
tion of  the  Idle  Apprentice  shows  it  not  long  before 
its  abolition.  It  was  fixed  in  the  open  space  at  the 
end  of  Edgware  Road,  formed  by  the  junction  of 
the  roads  near  where  the  Marble  Arch  now  stands. 
Between  June  18  and  October  23,  1759,  the  old 
triangular  gallows,  hi  use  for  nearly  two  hundred 
years,  was  removed,  and  the  new  movable  gallows 
superseded  it.  This  was  ordinarily  set  up  near  the 
union  of  Bryanston  Street  and  Edgware  Road. 
The  site  of  the  fixed  gallows  was  afterwards  occupied 


THE  SUBURBS  415 

by  the  toll-house  of  the  turnpike  removed  from  the 
east  corner  of  Park  Lane.1 

Spitalfields,  situated  in  the  east  of  London  between 
Bishopsgate  and  Bethnal  Green,  has  been  the 
favoured  home  of  the  silk  weavers  since  the  French 
Protestant  refugees  settled  in  this  country  after  the 
iniquitous  revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes  in  1685. 
This  suburb  is  the  scene  of  the  first  plate  of  the 
*  Fellow  Apprentices  at  the  Looms,'  where  Thomas 
Idle  is  asleep  and  the  cat  on  the  floor  is  playing  with 
his  shuttle,  while  Goodchild  is  busily  engaged  in  his 
proper  occupation. 

The  two  chief  places  of  entertainment  of  eighteenth- 
century  London  were  Ranelagh  and  Vauxhall 
Gardens.  To  the  first  Hogarth  does  not  appear  to 
have  made  any  allusion,  although  he  must  have  been 
an  attendant  of  the  Gardens.  The  Rotunda  was  a 
favoured  scene  of  the  masquerades  arranged  by  the 
famous  Heidegger,  about  which  something  has  been 
said  in  a  former  chapter.  Ranelagh  flourished  from 
1742  to  1803,  but  no  traces  of  it  exist  now.  The  site 
is  included  in  Chelsea  Hospital  Garden,  between 
Church  Row  and  the  river  to  the  end  of  the  hospital, 
the  roadway,  and  the  barracks. 

Hogarth  was  intimately  connected  with  Jonathan 
Tyers  and  Vauxhall  Gardens.  Although  he  did  not 
make  any  sketch  of  them,  or  introduce  them  into  any 
of  his  pictures,  he  suggested  their  decoration  by 
paintings,  and  helped  that  object  forward. 

1  Alfred  Marks,  Tyburn  Tree,  pp.  69,  70,  249. 


416  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

South  Lambeth  (which  included  Vauxhall)  was 
considered  to  have  a  pleasant  climate,  and  many 
Londoners  went  there  in  the  summer  for  change  of 
air.  Hogarth  married  in  1729,  and  soon  afterwards 
went  with  his  wife  to  South  Lambeth.  In  1733  he 
settled  in  Leicester  Fields.  When  he  was  in  the 
country  he  made  the  acquaintance  of  Tyers.  Vaux- 
hall Gardens  had  a  long  life,  for  we  know  that  it 
was  a  favourite  resort  in  the  time  of  Samuel  Pepys, 
although  its  real  period  of  success  was  inaugurated 
by  Tyers,  who  took  a  lease  of  the  place  in  1728,  and 
eventually  acquired  the  freehold  of  the  original 
Gardens  and  of  some  acres  of  land  which  he  added  to 
them.  For  a  time  he  did  little  with  the  place  until 
in  1732  he  started  his  famous  Ridotto  al  fresco. 

There  is  a  tradition  that  Tyers  was  becoming  tired 
of  his  venture  when  he  took  Hogarth  into  his  con- 
fidence, with  the  result  that  on  the  painter's  advice 
steps  were  taken  which  assured  the  success  of  the 
Gardens.  There  is  no  definite  authority  for  this,  and 
it  seems  strange  that  Hogarth,  who  was  so  violent  an 
opponent  of  Heidegger's  masquerades,  should  have 
suggested  their  adoption  at  Vauxhall.  It  may  be, 
however,  that  his  objection  was  chiefly  to  the  close 
rooms  of  the  Opera  House,  and  that  he  saw  no  harm 
in  a  modified  form  of  the  same  amusement  in  the 
fresh  air.  We  do  know,  however,  that  Hogarth  was 
a  friend  to  Tyers,  and  enthusiastic  hi  the  support  of 
his  friend's  management  of  Vauxhall  Gardens. 

On  Wednesday,  June  7,  1732,  Tyers  held  his  first 


THE  SUBURBS  417 

grand  Ridotto  al  fresco,  the  price  of  admission  to 
which  was  one  guinea.  About  four  hundred  of  the 
elite  of  London  Society  came  in  boat-loads  from  town, 
and  Frederick,  Prince  of  Wales  (who  continued  a 
patron  of  the  Gardens  till  his  death)  came  down  the 
river  from  Kew  in  his  barge. 

Thus  set  in  the  prosperity  of  the  Gardens  which 
continued  well  into  the  nineteenth  century.  Then 
came  a  time  of  decay  and  a  discreditable  old  age 
ending  in  1859. 

For  a  century  the  Gardens  filled  a  distinguished 
place  in  English  life — the  novelists  and  the  essayists 
are  full  of  its  glories  ;  the  letter-writers  also,  for  is 
not  Horace  Walpole's  description  of  the  supper-party 
at  Vauxhall,  of  which  the  writer,  Lady  Caroline 
Petersham,  and  the  '  Pollard  '  Ashe  were  the  princi- 
pal characters,  one  of  the  most  brilliant  and  delightful 
pages  in  the  correspondence  of  that  most  charming  of 
gossips  ? 

Mr.  Warwick  Wroth  tells  us  that  '  when  Tyers 
leased  the  Gardens  there  was  in  the  dwelling-house  a 
"  Ham  room,"  so  that  this  famous  Vauxhall  viand 
must  have  been  already  in  request.  The  thinness  of 
the  slices  was  proverbial.  A  journal  of  1762,  for 
instance,  complains  that  you  could  read  the  news- 
paper through  a  slice  of  Tyers's  ham  or  beef.  A 
certain  carver,  hardly  perhaps  mythical,  readily 
obtained  employment  from  the  proprietor  when  he 
promised  to  cut  a  ham  so  thin  that  the  slices  would 
cover  the  whole  garden  like  a  carpet  of  red  and 

2  D 


418  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

white.' 1  It  was  considered  unsafe  to  carry  a  plateful 
of  ham  from  one  box  to  another  in  case  the  slices 
were  blown  away. 

There  must  have  been  a  long  succession  of  these 
ham-cutters,  for  Thackeray  speaks  of  '  almost  in- 
visible slices  of  ham,'  and  a  friend  of  the  writer's  tells 
how  his  father  enlarged  on  the  wonderful  perform- 
ances of  this  artist. 

Why  was  it  that  these  Gardens  kept  up  their 
character  for  so  long  a  period  of  time  ?  It  was 
because  the  respectable  classes  continued  to  visit 
them,  and  their  presence  kept  the  vicious  in  order. 
Families  went  there  in  glass  coaches  or  boats  and 
kept  together  the  whole  evening.  The  novelists  are 
full  of  the  dangers  attending  those  who  strayed  and 
found  themselves  unprotected  in  the  dark  walks. 

Mr.  W.  B.  Boulton  writes  :  '  During  the  height  of 
their  vogue  there  was  a  certain  etiquette  at  the 
Gardens ;  ladies  came  in  full  evening  dress,  and  the 
men  walked  bareheaded,  with  their  hats  under  their 
arms.  A  stately  promenade  of  the  main  walks  of  the 
garden  was  usually  a  function  which  began  the 
delights  of  the  evening  for  the  more  fashionable  of 
the  company.  Then  followed  the  concert,  invariably 
composed  of  sixteen  pieces,  songs  alternating  with 
instrumental  performances — the  songs  of  a  very 
sentimental  cast — the  sonatas  and  symphonies  for 
the  band  being  often  of  a  higher  musical  quality. 
Tyers,  however,  engaged  the  finest  voices  of  his  day 

1  The  London  Pleasure  Gardens,  1896,  p.  299. 


THE  SUBURBS  419 

to  warble  the  tender  ballads  for  which  the  place  was 
famous  ;  and  men  like  Thomas  Lowe  and  Vernon, 
and  lady  singers  like  Mrs.  Arne,  Miss  Stevenson,  Miss 
Wright,  Mrs.  Baddeley  and  Mrs.  Weichsell,  no  doubt 
supplied  the  charm  which  the  songs  themselves — all 
about  Strephon  and  Delia  and  Cupid — seem  to  lack 
to-day.' l 

To  return  to  Hogarth.  He  painted  for  one  of 
the  larger  saloons  the  picture  of  Henry  the  Eighth 
and  Anne  Boleyn,  which  was  engraved  by  the  artist 
himself  and  published  in  1729.  He  is  said  to  have 
drawn  the  King  from  Frederick,  Prince  of  Wales, 
and  Anne  Boleyn  from  the  Prince's  mistress,  Anne 
Vane. 

'  Yet  Vane  could  tell  what  ills  from  beauty  spring.' 

This  was  not  one  of  the  pictures  sold  in  1841  at 
the  sale  of  movable  property  in  the  Gardens.  Hogarth 
allowed  his  '  Four  Times  of  the  Day '  to  be  copied  by 
Hay  man.  At  the  sale  just  referred  to,  five  pictures 
attributed  to  Hogarth  were  sold  at  the  prices  here 
noted  :  '  Drunken  Man,'  £4,  4s.  ;  'A  Woman  pulling 
out  an  Old  Man's  Grey  Hairs,'  £3,  3s.  ;  '  Harper  and 
Miss  Raftor  (afterwards  Mrs.  Clive),  as  Jobson  the 
Cobbler  and  his  Wife  Nell  in  Coffey's  farce  of  the 
Devil  to  Pay,'  £4,  4s. ;  '  The  Happy  Family,'  £3, 15s.  ; 
'  Children  at  Play,'  £4, 1  Is.  6d.  Whether  any  of  these, 
or  any  part  of  them,  were  by  Hogarth  it  is  impos- 
sible to  say.  Mr.  Dobson  states  that  the  picture  of 
4  Harper  and  Mrs.  Clive '  is  attributed  to  Hayman 

1  The  Amusements  of  Old  London,  1901,  vol.  ii.  p.  27. 


420  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

in  L.  Truchy's  contemporary  print  from  the  paint- 
ing. Certainly  they  were  in  a  bad  condition  from 
constant  exposure ;  the  canvas  was  nailed  to  boards, 
and  little  remained  of  any  beauty  they  once  may 
have  possessed.  The  free  pass  presented  by  Tyers 
to  Hogarth,  which  now  belongs  to  Mr.  Fairfax 
Murray,  has  already  been  referred  to.  (See  ante, 
p.  40.) 

In  the  eighteenth  century  tea-gardens  were  to  be 
found  all  over  the  suburbs,  and  the  author  of  an 
article  in  an  old  magazine  estimated  that  the 
number  of  visitors  to  these  gardens  every  Sunday 
amounted  to  at  least  20,000,  and  the  money  spent 
in  the  course  of  the  day  on  refreshments  to  about 
£25,000.  In  fine  weather  these  gardens  were  not 
large  enough  to  accommodate  all  the  people  that 
came  out  of  the  town  for  entertainment,  and  the 
fields  around  were  also  crowded. 

Hogarth  has  taken  Sadler's  Wells,  or  rather  the 
New  River  opposite  Sadler's  Wells,  as  the  subject  of 
'  Evening.'  This  place  was  opened  in  1684,  in  which 
year  was  published,  by  Dr.  Thomas  Guidott,  a 
pamphlet  setting  forth  the  virtues  of  the  medicinal 
water ;  and  for  a  time  the  gardens  were  styled  New 
Tunbridge  Wells,  but  the  latter  designation  was 
given  up  when  the  Islington  Spa  took  the  additional 
name  of  '  New  Tunbridge  Wells.'  The  natural 
confusion  between  Islington  Wells  and  Sadler's  Wells 
shows  how  close  to  each  other  these  tea-gardens  were 
placed. 


THE  SUBURBS  421 

Sadler,  who  gave  his  name  to  the  gardens,  made 
the  most  of  the  virtues  of  the  waters,  so  that  Epsom 
and  Tunbridge  Wells  found  them  to  be  a  formidable 
rival,  and  a  pamphlet  was  published  in  the  interest  of 
the  country  wells  protesting  against  the  horrid  plot 
to  injure  them.  This  may  have  had  some  effect,  for 
the  Clerkenwell  Gardens  went  out  of  fashion  for  a 
time ;  but  in  the  eighteenth  century  the  water- 
drinking  was  discontinued  and  the  Gardens  became 
a  favourite  resort  of  the  Londoners. 

Hogarth's  picture  was  engraved  in  1738,  and  is 
described  as  follows  by  Mr.  F.  G.  Stephens  in  his 
British  Museum  Catalogue  (vol.  iii.  p.  268) :  '  This 
engraving  represents  a  rural  suburb  on  the  north  side 
of  London,  with  the  entrance  to  a  building  marked 
"  Sadler's  Wells  "  over  the  porch,  a  covered  gateway 
in  the  garden  wall  on  our  left ;  on  our  right,  nearer 
the  foreground,  is  a  public-house  with  a  sign,  com- 
prising in  an  oval  medallion  a  portrait  of  "  Sr  Hugh 
Midleton."  Through  a  window  open  in  the  side  of 
the  house  a  party  of  men  appear  within,  smoking 
most  energetically.  The  background  is  a  landscape 
including  two  cottages,  one  of  which  has  a  pendent 
signboard,  and  hills  and  trees.' 

The  building  at  Sadler's  Wells  was  at  this  time  a 
music  house ;  and  it  was  not  turned  into  a  theatre 
until  later  in  the  century,  although  miscellaneous 
entertainments  of  rope-dancing  and  tumbling  took 
place  in  the  old  house. 

The  rural  character  of  the  Gardens  continued  for 


422  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

many  years,  and  the  man  and  his  wife  who  are 
walking  in  the  heat  along  the  road  one  would  expect 
to  be  eager  to  rest  themselves  under  '  the  shady 
trees  '  in  a  scene  which  is  enthusiastically  described 
in  a  '  New  Song  on  Sadler's  Wells,  1740 ' : 

'  These  pleasant  streams  of  Middleton 
In  gentle  murmurs  glide  along, 
In  which  the  sporting  fishes  play 
To  close  each  wearied  Summer's  day. 
And  Musick's  charms  in  welling  sounds 
Of  mirth  and  harmony  abounds  ; 
While  nymphs  and  swains  with  beaux  and  belles 
All  praise  the  joys  of  Sadler's  Wells. 
The  herds  around  o'er  herbage  green 
And  bleating  flocks  are  sporting  seen, 
While  Phoebus  with  its  brightest  rays 
The  fertile  soil  doth  seem  to  praise.' 

Mr.  Wroth,  who  quotes  this  song,  adds :  '  As  late  as 
1803  mention  is  made  of  the  tall  poplars,  graceful 
willows,  sloping  banks  and  flowers  of  Sadler's  Wells.'1 

The  man  and  his  wife  and  children  in  the  fore- 
ground of  the  picture  are  in  fact  turning  their  backs 
on  Sadler's  Wells.  The  artist  goes  out  of  his  way 
to  show  contempt  for  the  unfortunate  husband  by 
making  the  horns  of  the  cow  behind  fit  upon  his  head. 
John  Ireland  says  of  them  :  '  It  is  not  easy  to 
imagine  fatigue  better  delineated  than  in  the  ap- 
pearance of  this  amiable  pair.  In  a  few  of  the  earliest 
impressions,  Hogarth  painted  the  man's  hands  in 
blue,  to  shew  that  he  was  a  dyer,  and  the  woman's 
face  in  red  to  intimate  her  extreme  heat.  The  lady's 

1  London  Pleasure  Gardens,  1896,  p.  45. 


THE  SUBURBS  423 

aspect  at  once  explains  her  character  ;  we  are  certain 
that  she  was  born  to  command.  As  to  her  husband, 
God  made  him,  and  he  must  pass  for  a  man ;  what  his 
wife  has  made  him,  is  indicated  by  the  cow's  horns, 
which  are  so  placed  as  to  become  his  own.  The  hope 
of  the  family,  with  a  cockade,  riding  upon  papa's 
cane,  seems  much  dissatisfied  with  female  sway.  A 
face  with  more  of  the  shrew  in  embryo  than  that 
of  the  girl,  is  scarcely  possible  to  conceive.' l 

Mr.  Stephens  describes  three  states  of  the  plate. 
Of  the  first,  three  copies  only  are  known  ;  in  this 
the  figure  of  the  scolding  girl  does  not  occur,  nor  the 
inscription  over  the  door  of  '  Sadler's  Wells.'  On 
the  margin  of  the  copy  in  the  Print  Room  of  the 
British  Museum  is  the  following  MS.  note  :  '  This 
proof  was  deliver'd  by  Mr.  Baron  to  Mr.  Hogarth, 
&  it  being  told  him,  this  boy  has  no  apparent  cause 
to  wimper  (sic)  he  put  in  his  sister,  threatening  him  to 
deliver  his  gingerbread  King,  now  he  put  in  Cause. 
The  character  Hogarth  altered  where  he  is  crying.' 
Also  '  Engrav'd  by  M.  Baron  price  5  Shillings.' 2 

It  is  worthy  of  mention  that,  although  the  New 
River  is  only  indicated  by  a  few  lines  in  the  fore- 
ground, yet  its  object  is  clearly  indicated  by  a  piece 
of  wooden  piping  on  the  bank,  such  as  was  used 
to  convey  the  water  to  the  waterworks  and  houses. 

Although  Southwark  was  not  strictly  a  suburb, 
Hogarth's  great  picture,  '  A  Fair,  the  Humours  of  a 

1  Hogarth  Illustrated,  vol.  i.  p.  142. 

2  Catalogue  of  Satires  in  the  British  Museum,  vol.  iii.  p.  269. 


424  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

Fair,'  which  presents  one  of  the  finest  of  his  arrange- 
ments of  a  crowd,  naturally  comes  in  for  notice  in  this 
chapter.  Walpole  refers  to  it  as  Bartholomew  Fair, 
but  this  is  a  mistake  on  his  part  by  reason  of  his 
confusing  the  two  fairs. 

Southwark  Fair  was  called  also  Our  Lady  Fair,  and 
St.  Margaret's  Fair.  It  was  held  in  the  highway  of 
the  borough,  and  in  the  courts  and  inn-yards  between 
the  Tabard  and  the  church  of  St.  George  the  Martyr. 
It  was  one  of  the  three  great  fairs  of  importance 
described  in  a  Proclamation  of  Charles  I.  as  '  unto 
which  there  is  usually  extraordinary  resort  out  of  all 
parts  of  the  kingdom.'  The  others  were  Bartholomew 
Fair,  and  Sturbridge  Fair  near  Cambridge.  Our 
Lady's  Fair  was  of  considerable  antiquity,  and  liberty 
to  hold  it  on  September  7,  8,  9  was  granted  to  the 
City  of  London  by  the  charter  of  2  Edward  iv. 
(November  2,  1462).  It  had  probably  been  held 
informally  long  before  this.  Although  the  time 
allowed  by  charter  was  only  three  days,  the  fair 
continued,  like  other  fairs,  for  fourteen  days.  The 
amusements  of  Southwark  Fair  were  much  the  same 
as  those  at  St.  Bartholomew's,  and  the  booth  pro- 
prietors moved  from  one  to  the  other,  but  at  South- 
wark the  acrobat  and  rope-dancer  were  the  most 
popular  among  the  performers. 

Pepys  went  to  Southwark  Fair  on  September  21, 
1668,  where  he  saw  a  puppet-show  and  was  much 
interested  in  Jacob  Hall's  dancing  on  the  ropes — 
*  mightily  worth  seeing.'  He  asked  Hall  '  whether  he 


THE  SUBURBS  425 

had  ever  any  mischief  by  falls  in  his  time.  He  told 
me  "  Yes,  many,  but  never  to  the  breaking  of  a 
limb."  He  seems  a  mighty  strong  man.'  Rather 
later  than  this,  but  before  Hogarth's  time,  William 
Joyce,  a  strong  man,  exhibited  here.  Ward  describes 
him  as  '  the  Southwark  Sampson,  who  breaks 
Carmen's  Ribs  with  a  hug,  snaps  Cables  like  Twine 
Thread,  and  throws  Dray  Horses  upon  their  backs, 
with  as  much  ease  as  a  Westphalia  Hog  can  crack  a 
Cocoa  Nut.'  When  he  exhibited  before  William  m.  he 
lifted  1  ton  and  14J  Ibs.  of  lead,  tied  a  very  strong  rope 
round  himself  to  which  was  attached  a  strong  horse, 
and  although  the  horse  was  whipped  it  failed  to 
move  him  ;  the  rope  he  afterwards  snapped  like 
packthread.  '  We  are  credibly  inform'd  that  the 
said  Mr.  Joyce  pull'd  up  a  tree  of  near  a  yard  and  a 
half  circumference  by  the  roots  at  Hampstead  on 
Tuesday  last  in  the  open  view  of  some  hundreds  of 
people,  it  being  modestly  computed  to  weigh  near 
2000  pounds  weight.' l 

When  Hogarth  painted  his  picture,  which  was  in 
1733,  the  Fair  was  nearing  its  end,  for  in  1762  it  was 
suppressed.  The  engraving,  although  dated  1733 — 
'  Invented,  Painted  and  Engrav'd  1733 ' — was  not 
printed  and  issued  until  June  1735,  having  been  kept 
back  for  the  purpose  of  securing  the  protection 
afforded  by  the  Act  of  Parliament  known  as 
Hogarth's  Act. 

In  the  London  Evening  Post  for  June  3  and  14, 

1  J.  Ashton's  Social  Life  in  the  Reign  of  Queen  Anne,  1882,  vol.  i.  p.  267. 


426  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

1735,  it  was  announced  that  the  nine  prints  ('  A 
Rake's  Progress  '  and  '  Southwark  Fair  ')  were  '  now 
printing  off  and  will  be  ready  for  delivery  on  the 
25th  instant.  N.B. — Mr.  Hogarth  was,  and  is, 
obliged  to  defer  the  publication  and  delivery  of  the 
aforesaid  Prints  till  the  25th  of  June  in  order  to 
secure  his  property,  pursuant  to  an  Act  lately  passed 
both  Houses  of  Parliament  to  secure  all  new-invented 
prints  that  shall  be  published  after  the  24th  instant, 
from  being  copied  without  the  consent  of  the 
proprietor,  and  thereby  preventing  a  scandalous  and 
unjust  custom  (hitherto  practised  with  impunity)  of 
making  and  vending  base  copies  of  Original  Prints  to 
the  manifest  injury  of  the  Author,  and  the  great  dis- 
couragement of  the  Arts  of  Painting  and  Engraving.' 

4  Southwark  Fair '  is  one  of  the  most  valuable 
of  Hogarth's  pictures  as  a  vivid  representation  of 
a  phase  in  the  life  of  his  times,  and  one  in  which 
he  must  have  been  unusually  interested,  as  he  has 
filled  it  with  an  immense  amount  of  detail.  He  was 
most  careful  in  representing  the  different  groups, 
but  the  topography  is  not  very  clear — in  fact,  some 
critics  have  expressed  doubts  as  to  the  locality. 

Pervading  the  whole  scene  there  is  so  general  a 
feeling  of  varied  life  and  action  that  it  has  been 
described  as  '  painted  noise.'  Hogarth's  amazing 
power  in  harmonising  the  miscellaneous  groups  into 
one  consistent  whole  is  here  displayed  in  an  equal 
degree  to  that  in  the  case  of  the  '  March  to  Finchley.' 

The  chief  figure  in  the  centre  group  of  the  picture 


THE  SUBURBS  427 

is  a  buxom  young  woman  beating  a  drum  to  draw  an 
audience  for  the  entertainment  with  which  she  is 
connected.  She  is  deservedly  admired  by  the  men 
around  her,  and  moreover  she  is  a  worthy  repre- 
sentative of  the  painter's  favourite  style  of  beauty. 
Samuel  Ireland  tells  that  '  the  heroine  of  this  print 
...  is  a  portrait  of  whom  Mrs.  Hogarth  gave  me 
the  following  particulars,  that  H.  passing  through  the 
fair,  on  seeing  the  master  of  the  company  strike  her 
and  otherwise  use  her  ill,  he  took  her  part  and  gave 
the  fellow  a  sound  drubbing  ;  whether  this  chastise- 
ment arose  from  a  liking  to  her  person  or  respect  for 
the  sex  we  know  not,  but  it  is  certain  that  she  was 
the  kind  of  woman  for  whom  he  entertained  a  strong 
partiality.  A  proof  of  this  may  be  adduced  in  many 
of  his  works  ;  where  he  has  occasion  to  introduce  a 
good-looking  female  he  has  generally  given  us  a  form 
not  unlike  hers,  and  it  must  be  confessed  that  her  face 
and  figure  seem  to  be  of  that  attractive  quality  which 
will  never  fail  to  gain  admirers  in  this  country.' l 

Mr.  Stephens,  after  quoting  this  passage,  adds 
that  '  the  strongest  proof  of  this  figure  exhibiting 
something  not  remote  from  Hogarth's  ideal  of 
English  beauty  is  to  be  found  by  comparing  the 
model's  aspect  and  physique  with  the  like  in  his 
portrait  of  Mrs.  Hogarth.' 2  A  striking  scene  is 
being  acted  at  the  left  of  the  picture,  where  an  insecure 
scaffolding  has  given  way,  and  the  actors  are  falling 

1  Graphic  Illustrations,  1794,  vol.  i.  pp.  110-11. 

2  British  Museum  Catalogue  of  Satires,  vol.  ii.  p.  836  (note). 


428  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

in  confusion.  A  lantern  hanging  beneath  the  stage 
is  inscribed  '  Giber  and  Bullock,'  and  '  The  Fall  of 
Bajazet.' 

John  Ireland  tells  us  that  a  booth  was  built  in  the 
year  that  this  picture  was  painted  (1733)  '  for  the  use 
of  T[heophilus]  Gibber,  Bullock  and  H.  Hallam,  at 
which  the  tragedy  of  Tamerlane,  with  the  Fall  of 
Bajazet,  intermixed  with  the  Comedy  of  the  Miser, 
was  actually  represented.' : 

We  thus  see  that  Hogarth  transferred  Gibber's 
booth  from  St.  Bartholomew's  to  Southwark, 
although  it  is  possible  that  Gibber  may  (as  was  com- 
mon then)  have  removed  from  Smithfield  to  South- 
wark Fair.  The  show-cloth  above  the  scaffolding  is 
a  copy  of  '  The  Stage  Mutiny,'  etched  by  John 
Laguerre,  which  has  already  been  referred  to  in 
Chapter  x.  (Theatrical  Life).  This  represents  the 
secession  of  some  actors  from  Covent  Garden  under 
the  leadership  of  Theophilus  Gibber. 

In  the  middle  of  the  picture  but  in  the  background 
is  one  of  the  chief  booths  ornamented  with  a  show- 
cloth  on  which  the  Trojan  Horse  is  painted  with 
an  inscription  announcing  The  Siege  of  Troy  is  here. 
This  was  a  droll  written  by  Elkanah  Settle.  Beneath 
the  show-cloth  is  a  company  rehearsing  some  parts 
of  the  play.  A  lantern  affixed  to  the  booth  is 
inscribed  '  Lee  and  Harper's  Great  Booth.'  Mr. 
Stephens  quotes  an  advertisement  from  The  County 
Journal,  or  The  Craftsman,  September  8,  1733 : 

1  Hogarth  Illustrated,  1793,  vol.  L  p.  72  (note). 


THE  SUBURBS  429 

'  At  Lee  and  Harper's  Great  Theatrical  Booth,  on 
the  Bowling  Green  behind  the  Marshalsea  in  South- 
wark  during  the  Fair,  will  be  performed  that  cele- 
brated Droll,  which  has  given  such  entire  satisfaction 
to  all  that  ever  saw  it,'  etc.,  etc.  The  entertainments 
are  not  the  same  as  are  shown  in  the  picture,  but 
Hogarth  gave  the  correct  representation  of  the  booth 
quite  up  to  date.  In  a  later  advertisement  notice  is 
given  of  '  a  Grotesque  Pantomime  Entertainment 
call'd,  The  Harlot's  Progress  or  The  Ridotto  al 
Fresco,'  which  was  performed  at  Lee's  booth.  This 
was  a  piece  by  Theophilus  Gibber,  first  acted  in 
April  1733  at  Drury  Lane. 

In  connection  with  The  Siege  of  Troy,  J.  Ireland 
quotes  the  following  interesting  information  from 
Victor's  eulogium  on  Boheme  the  actor :  '  His  first 
appearance  was  at  a  booth  in  Southwark  Fair,  which 
in  those  days  lasted  two  weeks,  and  was  much 
frequented  by  persons  of  all  distinctions,  of  both 
sexes.  He  acted  the  part  of  Menelaus,  in  the  best 
droll  I  ever  saw  called  the  Siege  of  Troy.' 1 

To  the  right  of  the  Trojan  Horse  are  show-cloths 
representing  Adam  and  Eve,  and  the  puppet-show 
of  Punch  wheeling  Judy  into  the  jaws  of  destruction. 
At  the  extreme  right  of  the  picture  is  an  alehouse 
with  the  sign  of  The  Royal  Oak,  and  chequers  over 
the  door.  On  a  paper  lantern  is  written,  '  Royal 
Wax  Worke,'  and  '  The  Whole  Court  of  France  is 
here,'  and  at  an  open  window  above  is  a  dwarf 

1  Victor's  History  of  the  Theatres  (1761),  vol.  ii.  p.  74. 


430  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

drummer  and  a  little  wax  figure.  Below  hangs  a 
show-cloth,  and  a  juggler  stands  in  front  with  a  bird 
in  his  hand.  This  was  a  famous  performer  named 
Fawkes,  who  is  said  to  have  acquired  £10,000  by  his 
dexterity  of  hand.  He  is  introduced  into  the  print 
of  Masquerades  and  Operas,  already  alluded  to  in 
Chapter  x.  (Theatrical  Life).  Mr.  Stephens  refers  to 
James  Caulfield's  Portraits,  Memoirs,  and  Characters 
of  Remarkable  Persons  (1819,  vol.  ii.  p.  65),  where 
there  is  a  portrait  of  Fawkes  standing  at  a  table,  and 
in  the  act  of  shaking  balls  from  a  bag.  Below  this 
is  a  representation  of  three  men  tumbling,  one  of 
them  being  like  the  tumbler  painted  on  the  show- 
cloth  of  Hogarth's  picture.  Fawkes  died  May  25, 
1731,  so  that  according  to  strict  chronological 
accuracy  he  should  not  have  been  included  in  a 
drawing  taken  hi  1733. 

In  this  representation  of  all  the  fun  of  the  fair  we 
find  two  well-known  performers  on  the  rope.  To 
the  left  of  the  Trojan  Horse  is  the  celebrated  Violante, 
and  to  the  right  of  the  church  is  a  rope  fixed  from  the 
tower  of  St.  George's  Church  to  the  Mint,  which  is 
out  of  the  picture.  The  performer  on  this  rope  was 
Cadman,  or  Kidman  as  he  is  named  by  John  Nichols. 
Cadman  later  came  to  a  sad  end  by  attempting 
a  similar  feat  of  flying  across  the  Severn  at  Shrews- 
bury. The  unfortunate  man  was  buried  at  that 
town,  and  on  his  tombstone  were  these  lines  inscribed: 

'  No,  no,  a  faulty  cord  being  drawn  too  tight, 
Hurried  his  soul  on  high  to  take  her  flight, 
Which  bid  the  body  here  beneath,  good-night.' 


THE  SUBURBS  431 

A  similar  performance  took  place  at  St.  Martin's 
in  the  Fields  when  an  acrobat  descended  a  slack  rope 
from  the  steeple  of  the  church  to  the  Royal  Mews, 
which  stood  on  the  site  of  the  present  National 
Gallery.  There  is  some  doubt  whether  this  feat  was 
due  to  Cadman  or  Violante.  John  Nichols  and  John 
Ireland  both  give  the  credit  to  Cadman,  but  later 
writers  say  it  was  Violante.  If  we  consult  Walpole' s 
Letters  we  shall  find  that  the  doubt  is  unsolved. 

Walpole,  writing  to  Sir  Horace  Mann  respecting 
balloons  (December  2,  1783),  says  :  '  Very  early  in 
my  life  I  remember  this  town  at  gaze  on  a  man  who 
flew  down  a  rope  from  the  top  of  St.  Martin's  steeple  ; 
now  late  in  my  day,  people  are  staring  at  a  voyage  to 
the  moon.  The  former  Icarus  broke  his  neck  at  a 
subsequent  flight :  when  a  similar  accident  happens 
to  modern  knights  errant,  adieu  to  air-balloons.' 

John  Wright,  in  editing  Walpole,  wrote  :  '  On  the 
1st  of  June  1727,  one  Violante,  an  Italian,  descended 
head-foremost  by  a  rope,  with  his  legs  and  arms 
extended,  from  top  of  the  steeple  of  St.  Martin's 
Church,  over  the  houses  in  St.  Martin's  Lane l  to  the 
furthest  side  of  the  Mews,  a  distance  of  about  three 
hundred  yards,  in  half  a  minute.  The  crowd  was 
immense,  and  the  young  princesses,  with  several  of 
the  nobility,  were  in  the  Mews.'  Here  is  a  definite 
statement,  but  it  will  be  noticed  that  Walpole  says 
that  the  rope-flier  subsequently  broke  his  neck, 

1  It  must  be  remembered  that  at  this  time  St.  Martin's  Lane,  instead  of 
stopping,  as  now,  at  Chandos  Street,  passed  the  church  and  led  to  the  Strand 
opposite  Northumberland  House. 


432  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

and  he  would  therefore  probably  be  thinking  of 
Cadman. 

John  Nichols  records  that  the  latter  applied  to  a 
bishop  for  permission  to  fix  a  line  to  the  steeple  of 
his  cathedral  church.  The  prelate  replied  that  the 
man  might  fly  to  the  church  whenever  he  pleased,  but 
he  should  never  give  his  consent  to  any  one's  flying 
from  it. 

The  Weekly  Miscellany  for  April  17,  1736,  notices 
that  '  Thomas  Kidman,  the  famous  flyer,  who  has 
flown  from  several  of  the  highest  precipices  in 
England,  and  was  the  person  who  flew  off  Bromham 
steeple  in  Wiltshire,  when  it  fell  down,  flew  on 
Monday  last,  from  the  highest  of  the  rocks  near  the 
Hotwells  at  Bristol  with  fireworks  and  pistols  ;  after 
which  he  went  up  the  rope,  and  performed  several 
surprising  dexterities  on  it,  in  sight  of  thousands  of 
spectators,  both  from  Somersetshire  and  Gloucester- 
shire.' It  will  be  seen  from  this  that  Nichols  had 
authority  for  his  form  of  the  man's  name,  viz. 
Kidman. 

One  figure  of  special  importance  at  the  Fair  is 
James  Figg,  the  '  Master  of  the  Noble  Science  of  Self- 
Defence,'  who,  sitting  complacently  on  his  horse  and 
holding  his  sword  with  the  point  upwards,  is  seen  at 
the  extreme  right  of  the  picture.  His  booth  is  round 
the  corner,  and  he  is  about  to  ride  through  the  fair  to 
gather  those  sightseers  who  are  desirous  of  witnessing 
a  fight  between  himself  and  some  other  professor  of 
the  art.  He  has  his  coat  off  and  his  bare  head  is 


THE  SUBURBS  433 

covered  with  black  patches,  indicating  the  scars  left 
from  former  combats.  A  fuller  description  of  James 
Figg  will  be  found  in  Chapter  iv.  (Low  Life). 

We  have  now  considered  the  more  important  of  the 
incidents  illustrated  in  this  remarkable  picture  of 
Southwark  Fair,  but  it  is  so  rich  in  the  illustration  of 
London  life  that  more  might  be  added.  Sufficient 
for  our  purpose  has,  however,  been  said,  and  those 
who  wish  for  a  complete  account  of  the  picture  can 
refer  to  Mr.  Stephens' s  full  description  in  the  British 
Museum  Catalogue  (vol.  ii.  pp.  832-9). 

Other  amusement-providers  might  have  been 
introduced  into  the  picture  had  there  been  room, 
such  as  Timothy  Fielding,  the  actor  (often  confused 
with  Henry  Fielding,  the  author),  who  had  a  booth 
in  the  Fair.  Greater  actors,  such,  among  others,  as 
Powell,  Booth,  and  Macklin,  were  introduced  to  the 
stage  in  these  public  and  by  no  means  select  scenes. 

As  to  the  visitors,  many  men  of  distinction  have 
figured  here,  and  John  Ireland  tells  an  anecdote  of 
Samuel  Johnson  on  one  occasion  visiting  the  Fair  in 
company  with  Mallet. 

'  When  the  Doctor  first  became  acquainted  with 
David  Mallet,  they  once  went  with  some  other  gentle- 
men to  laugh  away  an  hour  at  Southwark  Fair.  At 
one  of  the  booths  where  wild  beasts  were  exhibited 
to  the  wondering  crowd,  was  a  very  large  bear,  which 
the  showman  assured  them  was  catched  in  the 
undiscovered  deserts  of  the  remotest  Russia.  The 
bear  was  muzzled,  and  might  therefore  be  approached 

2  E 


434  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

with  safety,  but  to  all  the  company,  except  Johnson, 
was  very  surly  and  ill-tempered  :  of  the  philosopher 
he  appeared  extremely  fond,  rubbed  against  him,  and 
displayed  every  mark  of  awkward  partiality,  and 
subdued  kindness.  "  How  is  it,"  said  one  of  the 
company,  "  that  this  savage  animal  is  so  attached 
to  Mr.  Johnson  ?  "  "  From  a  very  natural  cause," 
replied  Mallet,  "  the  bear  is  a  Russian  philosopher, 
and  he  knows  that  Linnaeus  would  have  placed  him 
in  the  same  class  with  the  English  moralist.  They 
are  two  barbarous  animals  of  one  species."  ' l 

Johnson  never  liked  Mallet,  and  if  this  anecdote 
is  true  it  is  not  probable  that  after  this  outrageous 
expression  of  contempt  Johnson  had  any  further 
intercourse  with  the  man  whose  name  was  introduced 
into  the  Dictionary  as  an  illustration  of  the  word  alias. 

J.  B.  Nichols  in  his  Anecdotes  of  William  Hogarth 
says  that  the  picture  was  sold  in  1746  at  the  sale  of 
Mrs.  Edwards's  effects  for  £19,  8s.  6d.  It  was  after- 
wards at  Valentines,  Ilford,  Essex,  and  was  sold  in 
1797  and  again  in  1800,  but  the  price  it  realised  is 
not  mentioned.  Nichols  says  that  the  picture  was 
destroyed  in  the  fire  at  Colonel  Thomas  Johnes's 
mansion  at  Hafod  on  March  13,  1807 ;  but  this  is  a 
mistake,  for  it  was  saved  from  the  fire,  and  after  Mr. 
Johnes's  death  Hafod  having  come  into  the  posses- 
sion of  the  Duke  of  Newcastle,  his  son  exhibited  the 
picture  at  the  Manchester  Art  Treasures  Exhibition, 
1857.  In  the  catalogue  of  that  famous  exhibition 

1  Hogarth  Illustrated,  1793,  voL  L  p.  89  (note). 


THE  SUBURBS  435 

there  is  the  following  note :  '  Painted  in  1733. 
Formerly  at  Valentines  in  Essex,  afterwards  the 
property  of  Johnes  of  Hafod  (the  translator  of 
Froissart),  from  whom  it  passed  with  the  Hafod 
estate  to  the  father  of  the  present  possessor.' 

Johnes  himself  lent  it  to  the  Exhibition  of 
Hogarth's  Works  at  the  British  Institution  in  1814. 

Here  ends  the  notice  of  Hogarth's  pictures  of  the 
suburbs,  but  there  are  three  pictures  that  may  be 
mentioned  here.  Chiswick  and  Twickenham  may  be 
treated  as  suburbs,  although  some  may  think  Cowley 
is  too  far  from  town  to  be  mentioned  in  this  chapter. 

Mr.  Dobson  gives  the  following  notice  of  Hogarth's 
etching  of  Mr.  Ranby's  house  at  Chiswick  :  '  There  is 
a  copy  in  the  British  Museum  without  the  writing, 
but  with  the  manuscript  title  "  A  view  of  Mr. 
Ranby  the  Surgeon's  house.  Taken  from  Hogarth's 
window  at  Chiswick."  It  is  there  dated  1748.' 

John  Nichols  writes  :  '  This  view,  I  am  informed, 
was  taken  in  1750  ;  but  was  not  designed  for  sale.' l 

It  was  '  publish' d  as  the  Act  directs  by  Jane 
Hogarth  at  the  Golden  Head,  Leicester  Fields,  1st 
May  1781.' 

Mr.  Dobson  mentions  the  picture  of  'Garrick's 
Villa '  in  his  list  of  paintings  of  uncertain  date,  and 
there  are  some  further  particulars  in  J.  B.  Nichols's 
Anecdotes  (p.  368)  as  follows :  '  Garrick's  villa  by 
Lambert,  with  figures  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Garrick  by 
Hogarth,  was  bought  by  Colnaghi  at  Gwennap's  sale 

1  Biographical  Anecdotes,  1782,  p.  341. 


436  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

April  5,  1821,  for  £7,  17s.  6d.,  and  a  companion  to 
the  above,  a  villa  near  Blackheath,  was  bought  in 
the  same  sale  by  Adams  for  £3,  3s.' 

Samuel  Ireland  has  given,  in  the  second  volume  of 
his  Graphic  Illustrations  (1799),  a  pretty  engraving 
of  a  '  Garden  Scene  at  Cowley,  the  residence  of  the 
late  Thomas  Rich,  Esq.,' a  which  he  dedicated  to 
Abraham  Langf ord,  the  auctioneer,  the  possessor  of 
the  picture.  Cowley  is  situated  near  Uxbridge,  and 
not  far  from  Hillingdon,  the  residence  of  Mr.  Lane  the 
original  purchaser  of  the  Marriage  a  la  Mode.  Cowley 
has  also  an  interesting  association  with  the  great  actor 
Barton  Booth,  the  original  *  Cato '  in  Addison's  play 
of  that  name,  who  was  buried  there.  Two  well- 
known  streets  in  Westminster,  Barton  and  Cowley 
Streets,  were  named  after  the  actor,  who  possessed 
property  in  Westminster.  Rich  the  manager,  already 
referred  to  in  Chapter  x.,  died  at  an  advanced  age 
in  1761,  and  Ireland  supposes  that  the  picture  was 
painted  about  the  year  1750.  It  contains  portraits 
of  Rich  and  his  wife,  and  Mrs.  Cock  to  the  left  of 
the  picture,  and  to  the  right  are  portraits  of  three 
men.  Cock,  the  auctioneer,  is  admiring  a  picture 
held  up  by  a  servant  and  explained  by  Hogarth 
himself.  Ireland  describes  the  picture  at  the  time  of 
the  publication  of  his  book  as  in  as  fine  preservation 
as  when  it  left  the  easel.  At  the  Garrick  Club 
there  is  a  small  picture  by  Hogarth  of  John  Rich 
and  his  family. 

1  This  is  a  blunder  made  by  Samuel  Ireland.     It  should  be  John  Rich. 


THE  SUBURBS  437 

We  here  come  to  the  end  of  these  desultory 
chapters  on  the  associations  of  Hogarth  with  the  life 
of  his  time.  I  trust  that  something  has  been  done 
to  elucidate  the  most  interesting  incidents  of  the 
London  of  the  eighteenth  century,  which  he  did  so 
much  to  make  live  in  his  pictures,  and  also  to  prove 
by  examples  the  enormous  labour  devoted  by  the 
artist  to  his  work.  The  more  we  study  the  outcome 
of  Hogarth's  life  the  more  we  must  admire  his  single- 
minded  devotion  to  his  studies.  It  was  some  time 
before  he  found  his  place,  but  when  he  did  so  he 
ever  pressed  forward,  labouring  hard  in  taking  pains, 
which,  with  ordinary  ability,  in  the  end  always 
achieves  success.  He  was,  however,  guided  through 
all  this  hard  labour  with  the  spirit  which  we  call 
genius — a  something  we  know  exists  but  which  we 
cannot  well  define.  This  genius  is  sometimes  attri- 
buted by  enthusiastic  admirers  to  those  who  have  it 
not ;  but  every  one  who  studies  the  life  and  work  of 
this  great  man,  to  one  side  of  whose  large  heart  and 
mind  this  book  is  devoted,  must  know  that  it  existed 
in  no  small  measure  in  William  Hogarth. 

A  trivial  anecdote  sometimes  tells  more  of  the 
life  of  the  subject  than  others  apparently  of  more 
importance.  Such  is  one  related  by  John  Ireland : 
'  Hogarth  never  played  at  cards,  and  while  his  wife 
and  a  party  of  friends  were  so  employed  he  occasion- 
ally took  the  quadrille  fish,  and  cut  upon  them  scales, 
fins,  heads,  etc.,  so  as  to  give  them  some  degree  of 
character.  Three  of  these  little  aquatic  curiosities 


438  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

which  remained  in  the  possession  of  Mrs.  Lewis,  she 
presented  to  me,  and  I  have  ventured  to  insert  them 
as  a  Tailpiece.'1  This  corroborates  what  is  other- 
wise evident  in  every  incident  of  the  painter's  life — 
that  he  never  was  idle. 

The  fame  of  Hogarth  sprang  into  life  immediately 
the  public  had  the  opportunity  of  admiring  his 
engravings  and  seeing  what  a  wealth  of  meaning 
there  was  crowded  into  the  designs,  but  it  has  taken 
many  generations  to  arise  and  pass  away  before  the 
world  has  awakened  to  the  undoubted  fact  that  he 
was  one  of  the  greatest  painters  of  the  modern  school. 

That  position  he  has  now  attained,  and  he  can 
never  lose  it  while  the  love  and  understanding  of  art 
still  exist  in  our  land. 

1  Hogarth  Illustrated,  vol.  iii.  p.  377. 


LITERATURE  OF  HOGARTH  439 


CHAPTER    XIV 

LITERATURE   OF   HOGARTH 

MR.  AUSTIN  DOBSON  has  compiled  so  comprehensive 
'  A  Bibliography  of  the  Principal  Books,  Pamphlets, 
etc.,  relating  to  Hogarth  and  his  Works  '  that  it 
would  be  useless  to  attempt  to  form  a  new  one. 
Those  who  want  to  know  all  the  literature  of  Hogarth 
must  consult  his  volume.  It  seemed,  however,  ad- 
visable to  say  a  few  words  as  to  the  authorities  which 
will  be  of  most  use  to  the  student  of  Hogarth's 
works. 

First,  Mr.  Dobson's  William  Hogarth  is  indispen- 
sable. This  was  originally  published  in  1879  and 
since  that  date  has  gone  through  several  editions, 
being  continuously  improved  and  enlarged.  The 
last  edition  (1907)  is  published  at  the  small  price  of 
six  shillings ;  it  is  fully  illustrated  and  has  an 
excellent  index,  supplying  the  reader  with  the  infor- 
mation it  contains  in  a  thoroughly  handy  form. 

The  most  important  contemporary  account  of 
Hogarth's  Pictures  and  Engravings  is  the  Biographi- 
cal Anecdotes  of  William  Hogarth  ;  and  a  Catalogue 
of  his  Works  Chronologically  Arranged,  with  Occa- 
sional Remarks,  published  by  John  Nichols,  1781. 


440  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

Nichols  himself  explains  the  origin  of  this  book  in  his 
Literary  Anecdotes  of  the  Eighteenth  Century,  1812 
(vol.  iii.  p.  9),  as  a  note  on  the  reference  to  Trusler's 
Hogarth  Moralized  (1768)  :  *  Of  this  great,  this  inimit- 
able Artist,  I  had  (more  than  thirty  years  ago)  col- 
lected some  materials  with  a  view  to  an  article  in  the 
first  edition  of  these  Anecdotes.  But  my  intelligence 
(aided  by  the  acute  and  elegant  criticism  of  the  late 
George  Steevens,  Esq.)  was  so  greatly  extended 
beyond  the  limits  of  a  note,  that  I  formed  from  them 
a  separate  publication,  intituled,  "  Biographical 
Memoirs  (sic)  of  William  Hogarth,  1781,"  which  by 
the  indulgence  of  the  publick,  arrived  at  a  second 
edition  in  1782,  and  to  a  third  in  1785  ;  and  at  a 
distance  of  25  years,  having  been  revised  and  new 
modelled,  was  again  re-published  in  two  handsome 
quarto  volumes,  illustrated  with  CLX.  beautiful 
Plates  in  1810'  [1808-10]. 

In  the  Library  of  the  British  Museum  is  a  thin 
volume  of  sixty-four  pages,  bound  in  russia  and 
lettered,  Anecdotes  of  Hogarth,  a  Fragment.  At  the 
beginning  is  the  following  MS.  note  by  Isaac  Reed : 
4  This  imperfect  Pamphlet  is  curious  as  being  the 
first  Essay  towards  the  Life  of  Hogarth.  About 
half  a  Dozen  were  printed  and  all  destroyed  except 
this  copy.  Whoever  will  take  the  pains  of  compar- 
ing this  with  the  published  one  will  observe  some 
very  material  alterations.  See  particularly  P.  22 
where  the  severe  reflections  on  Mr.  Walpole  were 
almost  wholly  omitted.  That  part  of  the  Pamphlet 


LITERATURE  OF  HOGARTH          441 

was  written  by  Mr.  Steevens,  much  of  the  remfainder] 
by  myself,  some  by  Mr.  Nichols  and  many  correc- 
tions by  other  hands.  Ic-  REED.' 

The  paragraphs  alluded  to  are  offensive  remarks 
to  prove  that  Walpole  is  '  unfortunate  in  his  attempts 
to  expose  the  indelicacy  of  the  Flemish  painters  by 
comparing  it  with  the  purity  of  Hogarth.' 

The  following  note  on  page  23,  which  was  modified 
in  the  published  work,  is  interesting  : 

'  Might  we  not  however,  on  this  occasion  com- 
pare the  manner  of  the  Artist  with  that  of  his 
Biographer,  who  talks  of  "  eyes  red  with  rage  and 
usquebaugh,"  and  of  a  "  maudlin  strumpet's  fingers 
blooded  by  the  sheep's  heart  designed  for  her  dinner." 
It  is  whispered  (we  know  not  with  how  much  truth) 
that  even  the  delicacy  of  Mrs.  H.  was  shocked  by  this 
description,  and  that  she  returned  no  thanks  for  the 
volume  that  contains  it,  when  it  was  sent  to  her  as  a 
present  by  its  author.' 

Nichols,  in  the  Genuine  Works  of  William  Hogarth 
(vol.  i.  p.  437),  referring  to  Reed's  note,  writes : 
'  Preparatory  to  the  First  Edition,  an  impression  of 
only  twelve  copies  was  printed  for  the  purpose  of 
obtaining  correct  information  from  those  who  were 
best  able  to  communicate  it.'  He  further  expresses 
surprise  that  Reed  should  have  written  as  he  did. 
'  The  above  note  (the  more  curious  as  Mr.  Reed  was 
always  extremely  averse  to  his  name  appearing  in 
print),'  etc.  etc. 

The  author  of  this  book  possesses  Horace  Walpole' s 


442  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

copy  of  the  first  edition  which  is  embellished  with  one 
of  his  bookplates  (containing  a  view  of  Strawberry 
Hill)  and  annotated  with  his  manuscript  criticisms. 
The  printed  note  in  Reed's  fragment  was  only 
partially  omitted,  and  the  paragraph  beginning  '  It 
is  whispered '  is  retained.  Opposite  this,  on  page 
44  of  the  first  edition,  Walpole  inserted  a  '  Copy  of 
my  letter  sent  with  the  4th  vol.  of  my  Anecdotes  of 
Painting  to  Mrs.  Hogarth,  to  which  she  returned  no 
answer. — H.  W.' 

The  letter  is  as  follows  : — 

'  Mr.  Walpole  begs  Mrs.  Hogarth's  acceptance  of 
the  Volume  that  accompanies  this  letter,  and  hopes 
she  will  be  content  with  his  Endeavours  to  do  justice 
to  the  genius  of  Mr.  Hogarth.  If  there  are  some 
Passages  less  agreeable  to  her  than  the  rest,  Mr. 
Walpole  will  regard  her  disapprobation  only  as 
marks  of  the  goodness  of  her  heart  and  proof  of  her 
affection  to  her  Husband's  memory — but  she  will, 
he  is  sure,  be  so  candid  as  to  allow  for  the  Duty  an 
Historian  owes  to  the  Public  and  himself,  which 
obliges  him  to  say  what  he  thinks  ;  and  which  when 
he  obeys,  his  Praise  is  corroborated  by  his  Censure. 
The  first  page  of  the  Preface  will  more  fully  make  his 
Apology  ;  and  his  just  Admiration  of  Mr.  Hogarth, 
Mr.  W.  flatters  himself,  will,  notwithstanding  his 
Impartiality,  still  rank  him  in  Mrs.  Hogarth's  mind 
as  one  of  her  Husband's  most  zealous  and  sincere 
Friends.' 

The  original  letter  is  in  the  British  Museum  Library. 


LITERATURE  OF  HOGARTH          443 

The  second  edition  of  the  Biographical  Anecdotes 
(greatly  enlarged)  was  published  in  1782.  Mr. 
Austin  Dobson  possesses  Nichols's  own  copy  of  this 
edition  filled  with  the  MS.  corrections  and  addenda 
subsequently  inserted  in  the  third  edition  of  1785. 
A  slip  pasted  at  the  beginning  is  inscribed :  '  This 
Vol.  belongs  to  Mr.  Nichols,  Printer,  Red  Lion 
Passage,  Fleet  Street.  Gfeorge]  S[teevens].J 

There  is  a  copy  of  the  third  edition  (1785) 
with  a  large  number  of  MS.  notes,  in  the  British 
Museum  (Add.  MSS.  27,996),  in  which  the  latest 
note  is  dated  1819. 

'  The  Genuine  Works  of  William  Hogarth ;  illus- 
trated with  Biographical  Anecdotes,  a  Chronological 
Catalogue,  and  Commentary.  By  John  Nichols  and 
George  Steevens,'  2  vols.  4to,  1808-10,  and  vol.  iii., 
1817,  is  practically  a  fourth  edition  of  the  Biographi- 
cal Anecdotes  greatly  enlarged,  and  with  the  addition 
of  plates  engraved  by  T.  Cook  from  the  original 
pictures  or  proof  impressions  of  the  original  engrav- 
ings. 

These  books  are  full  of  valuable  information,  and 
the  original  compilation  of  the  Anecdotes  has  a  curious 
history.  The  idea  of  the  book  was  entirely  John 
Nichols's,  but  he  was  considerably  assisted  by  the 
Shakespearean  commentator  George  Steevens,  with 
great  advantage  to  the  literary  value  of  the  book, 
but  with  considerable  injury  to  its  amenity.  Nichols 
was  himself  a  courteous  and  considerate  man,  but 
Steevens  was  reckless  in  assertion  and  determined  to 


444  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

have  his  own  way.  Therefore  if  Nichols  desired  the 
help  of  his  friend  he  was  forced  to  take  it  in  what- 
ever form  Steevens  was  inclined  to  present  it.  Two 
illustrations  of  Steevens' s  venomous  character  may 
be  here  given. 

On  page  30  of  the  third  edition  he  goes  out  of  his 
way  to  make  a  spiteful  remark  respecting  Nicholas 
Hardinge,  Joint  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  which 
was  singularly  untrue.  He  is  referring  to  an 
'  elegant  Sapphic  Ode,'  by  Benjamin  Leveling,  and 
adds :  '  His  style,  however,  appears  to  have  been 
formed  on  a  general  acquaintance  with  the  language 
of  Roman  poetry ;  nor  do  any  of  his  effusions 
betray  that  poverty  of  expression  so  conspicuous 
in  the  poems  of  Nicholas  Hardinge,  Esq.,  who  writes 
as  if  Horace  was  the  only  classic  author  he  had  ever 
read.' 

Hardinge,  a  friend  of  Nichols's  master  Bowyer, 
was  educated  at  Eton  and  became  a  Fellow  of  King's 
College,  Cambridge.  Nichols  says  of  him :  '  At 
Eton  and  Cambridge  he  had  the  fame  of  the  most 
eminent  scholar  of  his  time  ;  and  had  very  singular 
powers  in  Latin  verse,  perhaps  inferior  to  none  since 
the  Augustan  Age.'1 

The  brutal  allusion  to  Mary  Lewis  (Mrs.  Hogarth's 
cousin  and  executrix)  on  page  114,  where  she  is 
likened  to  the  old  maid  in  Hogarth's  'Morning,' 
is  so  disgraceful  that  the  author  is  forced  to  bear 
some  of  the  obloquy  attached  to  its  appearance  in 

1  Literary  Anecdotes,  vol.  v.  p.  339. 


LITERATURE  OF  HOGARTH          445 

his  book.  Steevens  died  July  1800,  and  when  Nichols 
was  free  to  deal  with  his  text  as  he  wished  these 
references  were  expunged.  John  Nichols  is  held  in 
so  high  esteem  by  all  literary  men  that  we  cannot 
but  regret  that  he  allowed  such  a  scandalous  attack 
as  that  on  Mary  Lewis  to  be  printed.  Steevens's 
character  was,  of  course,  well  known,  as  may  be  seen 
by  the  observation  of  two  distinguished  men. 

When  Lord  Mansfield  remarked  that  one  could 
only  believe  half  of  what  Steevens  said,  Johnson 
retorted  that  the  difficulty  was  to  tell  which  half 
deserved  credence.  If  the  collector  possesses  a  set 
of  the  original  plates  of  Hogarth's  Works  he  is 
fortunate,  but  the  fame  of  the  artist  has  been  sadly 
dimmed  by  the  large  number  of  worn  impressions  of 
his  plates  in  circulation. 

George  Steevens  collected  the  first  and  best 
impressions  of  Hogarth's  plates,  and  also  the  last 
and  worst  of  re-touched  plates,  so  that  the  con- 
trast between  them  might  be  seen,  and  the  good 
ones  might  gain  by  comparison  with  the  common 
ones. 

Those,  therefore,  who  cannot  obtain  the  best 
impressions  of  the  original  plates  will  be  wise  to 
content  themselves  with  the  three  volumes  of  the 
Genuine  Works,  published  by  John  Nichols,  1808-17, 
especially  in  large  paper,  as  in  this  form  the  im- 
pressions are  better  than  in  the  small  paper. 

John  Bowyer  Nichols,  son  and  successor  of  John 
Nichols,  published  in  1833  a  very  useful  handbook 


446  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

to  the  study  of  Hogarth,  entitled,  '  Anecdotes  of 
William  Hogarth,  Written  by  Himself  ;  with  Essays 
on  his  Life  and  Genius,  and  Criticisms  on  his  Works, 
selected  from  Walpole,  Gilpin,  J.  Ireland,  Lamb, 
Phillips,  and  others.  To  which  are  added  a  Cata- 
logue of  his  Prints,  Account  of  their  variations  and 
principal  copies ;  Lists  of  Paintings,  Drawings,  etc.,' 
1833. 

The  next  book  of  importance  in  the  literature  of 
Hogarth,  after  Nichols's  Biographical  Anecdotes,  is 
John  Ireland's  Hogarth  Illustrated  (2  vols.  8vo,  1791, 
and  Supplement,  1798,  vol.  iii.),  which  contains  a 
large  amount  of  valuable  matter.  The  Supplement 
contains  Hogarth's  autobiography.  The  first  and 
second  volumes  were  reprinted  in  1793.  The  whole 
work  was  reprinted  in  1806  and  1812. 

The  plates  are  too  small  to  be  of  much  use  as 
pictures,  although  they  are  useful  for  identification. 
This  is,  however,  a  valuable  work,  full  of  important 
information,  and  written  with  much  discrimina- 
tion and  some  authority;  but  it  sadly  needs  an 
index. 

John  Ireland  was  originally  a  watchmaker  in 
Maiden  Lane,  Covent  Garden,  and  was  employed  by 
Messrs.  Boy  dell  to  produce  this  book.1  He  fre- 
quented the  Three  Feathers  Coffee-House,  and  was  a 
friend  of  John  Henderson  the  actor. 

*  Graphic  Illustrations  of  Hogarth,  from  Pictures, 

1  The  third  volume  is  described  as  'Published  March  1798  for  John 
Ireland,  Poet's  Corner,  Palace  Yard,  Westminster.' 


LITERATURE  OF  HOGARTH          447 

Drawings  and  Scarce  Prints  in  the  possession  of 
Samuel  Ireland,  Author  of  this  work,'  is  a  book  of 
considerable  interest,  and  contains  much  useful 
information  respecting  Hogarth,  as  well  as  many 
illustrations  not  elsewhere  to  be  found. 

Knowing  Samuel  Ireland's  character  and  his 
connection  with  the  Shakespeare  forgeries  of  his  son 
William  Henry  Ireland  as  we  do,  it  is  impossible  not 
to  feel  considerable  doubt  respecting  the  genuineness 
of  many  of  his  ascriptions.  It  would  be  of  much 
value  if  some  authority  would  make  a  searching 
investigation  as  to  all  the  plates  that  do  not  occur 
in  other  books  on  Hogarth.  This  would  help  the 
student  greatly,  and  would  doubtless,  in  many 
instances,  restore  confidence  in  the  illustrations  to 
this  book.  Mr.  Laurence  Binyon's  valuable  '  Cata- 
logue of  Drawings  by  British  Artists,  etc.,  preserved 
in  the  Department  of  Prints  and  Drawings  in  the 
British  Museum,'  contains  references  to  such  of  the 
originals  of  the  engravings  as  are  in  the  British 
Museum.1  There  is  no  index  to  S.  Ireland's  book. 
The  '  Catalogue  of  Prints  and  Drawings  in  the  British 
Museum :  Division  I.  Political  and  Personal  Satires,' 
with  full  and  most  elaborate  descriptions  by  the  late 
Mr.  Frederic  George  Stephens,  forms  a  most  valu- 
able help  to  the  study  of  a  large  number  of  Hogarth's 
works,  but  it  is  not  so  well  known  to  the  public  as  it 
deserves  to  be.  I  am  greatly  indebted  for  much 
information  contained  in  it  which  I  have  been  able 

1  Volume  ii.  (1900),  pp.  316-26. 


448  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

to  utilise,  as  will  be  seen  from  many  notes  in  this 
book. 

Mr.  Dobson  writes  of  this  Catalogue :  '  These 
volumes  are,  in  truth,  as  far  as  the  subject  comes 
within  their  scope,  a  vast  storehouse  of  Hogarth- 
iana,  not  to  be  safely  neglected  by  any  student  of 
Hogarth's  work  and  epoch.'1  Having  mentioned 
the  books  that  are  positively  necessary  to  the 
Hogarth  collector,  we  may  return  to  make  a  rapid 
survey  of  the  general  literature  of  the  subject. 

The  first  book  referred  to  in  Mr.  Dobson' s  Biblio- 
graphy is  *  Three  Poetical  Epistles.  To  Mr.  Hogarth, 
Mr.  Dandridge,  and  Mr.  Lambert,  Masters  in  the 
Art  of  Painting.  Written  by  Mr.  Mitchell,'  1781  ; 
which  is  of  considerable  interest,  as  Hogarth  is  called 
in  the  Epistle  to  him,  '  Shakespeare  in  Painting.' 
This  is  dated  June  12,  1730,  just  before  Hogarth  had 
begun  his  triumphant  career  as  social  satirist  by  the 
publication  of  '  The  Harlot's  Progress.'  The  first 
commentator  on  Hogarth  was  Jean  Rouquet,  a 
Swiss  of  French  extraction,  settled  in  England  as  an 
enameller,  who  published  in  1746  '  Lettres  de 
Monsieur  .  .  .  .  a  un  de  ses  Amis  a  Paris  pour  lui 
expliquer  les  Estampes  de  Monsieur  Hogarth.'  In 
this  pamphlet  the  two  '  Progresses,'  '  Marriage,' 

1  The  Hogarth  items  will  be  found  in  volumes  ii.,  iii.,  and  iv.     Vol.  ii. 
(1873),  No.  1722,  first  entry  of  Hogarth's  'South  Sea  Scheme' ;  No.  2012, 

4  Mr  D s  ye  Critick,'  the  last.     Vol.  iii.  (pts.  1,  2,  1877),  2018,  '  The 

Complicated  R n,'  first  entry  ;  3743,  '  Sir  Francis  Dashwood,'  the  last. 

Vol.  iv.  (1883),  3808,  '  Frontispiece  to  the  Catalogue  of  Pictures,'  the  first ; 
4106,  '  Finis,'  the  last. 


LITERATURE  OF  HOGARTH          449 

and  nine  other  prints  are  described.  Walpole  says 
that  it  was  drawn  up  for  the  use  of  Marshal  Belleisle, 
who  was  then  a  prisoner  in  the  Round  Tower  at 
Windsor  Castle  ;  but  Steevens,  in  Nichols's  Bio- 
graphical Anecdotes,  corrects  this  statement  by 
saying  that  it  was  the  '  Description  du  Tableau  de 
M.  Hogarth,  qui  represente  la  Marche  des  Gardes  a 
leur  rendezvous  de  Finchley,  dans  leur  route  en 
ficosse,'  published  a  few  years  later,  "which  alone 
was  the  letter  intended  for  the  Marshal.  Steevens 
also  states  that  the  Letters  (1746)  were  '  certainly 
suggested  by  Hogarth,  and  drawn  up  at  his  im- 
mediate request ' ;  and  he  further  says  :  '  He 
[Rouquet]  was  liberally  paid  by  Hogarth  for  having 
clothed  his  sentiments  and  illustrations  in  a  foreign 
dress.  This  pamphlet  was  designed,  and  continues 
to  be  employed,  as  a  constant  companion  to  all 
such  sets  of  his  prints  as  go  abroad.' x 

Rouquet  also  printed  in  1755  another  work 
entitled  IS  $  tat  des  Arts  en  Angleterre,  in  which  he 
alludes  to  Hogarth's  pictures.  It  was  not  until 
after  Hogarth's  death  that  the  notorious  Dr.  Trusler 
compiled  the  pretentious  commentary  which  he  con- 
tributed to  the  first  collection  of  Hogarth's  Works, 
issued  in  1766-68. 

Hogarth  Moralized  is  a  foolish  attempt  to  point  out 
not  the  philosophy  of  the  painter's  art,  but  that 
which  is  on  the  surface  and  evident  to  the  most 
unimaginative  of  observers.  The  constant  reprint 

1  Biographical  Anecdotes,  ed.  1785,  p.  103. 
2  F 


450  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

of  his  vapid  remarks  has  lowered  the  value  of  much 
of  the  literature  of  Hogarth,  and  the  unfortunate 
circumstance  of  a  cadging  bookmaker  having  by  a 
bit  of  sharp  practice  become  the  first  to  publish  a 
popular  edition  of  these  masterpieces  has  given  his 
commonplace  criticism  a  certain  amount  of  vogue. 
One  can  only  imagine  how  much  disgust  Hogarth 
himself  would  have  felt  if  he  had  had  the  misfortune 
to  live  to  see  the  publication  of  this  book. 

It  was  issued  in  fourteen  parts  at  varied  prices, 
and  the  cost  of  the  bound  volume  was  one  pound 
sixteen  shillings. 

George  Steevens  gives  in  Biographical  Anecdotes 
(1785,  p.  105)  the  following  notice  of  the  book: 
'  Hogarth  Moralized  will  ...  in  some  small  degree  (a 
very  small  one)  contribute  to  preserve  the  memory  of 
those  temporary  circumstances,  which  Mr.  Walpole 
is  so  justly  apprehensive  will  be  lost  to  posterity. 
Such  an  undertaking,  indeed,  requires  a  more  inti- 
mate acquaintance  with  fleeting  customs  and  past 
occurrences,  than  the  compiler  of  this  work  can 
pretend  to.'  In  a  note  the  history  of  the  work  is 
thus  given :  '  The  Rev.  John  Trusler  engaged  with 
some  engravers  in  this  design,  after  Hogarth's  death, 
when  they  could  carry  it  into  execution  with  im- 
punity. Mrs.  Hogarth,  finding  her  property  would 
be  much  affected  by  it,  was  glad  to  accept  an  offer 
they  made  her,  of  entering  into  partnership  with 
them ;  and  they  were  very  glad  to  receive  her, 
knowing  her  name  would  give  credit  to  the  publica- 


LITERATURE  OF  HOGARTH          451 

tion,  and  that  she  would  certainly  supply  many 
anecdotes  to  explain  the  plates.  Such  as  are  found 
in  the  work  are  probably  all  hers.  The  other  stuff 
was  introduced  by  the  editor  to  eke  out  the  book. 
We  are  informed,  that  when  the  undertaking  was 
completed,  in  order  to  get  rid  of  her  partners,  she 
was  glad  to  buy  out  their  shares,  so  that  the  whole 
expense  which  fell  on  her  amounted  to  at  least 
£700.' 

Mr.  Dobson  quotes  from  Mrs.  Hogarth's  own 
advertisement  of  the  first  number  of  Hogarth 
Moralized  in  the  London  Chronicle  for  August  16-19, 
1766,  where  she  says  that  she  has  '  engaged  a  Gentle- 
man to  explain  each  Print,  and  moralize  on  it  in  such 
a  Manner  as  to  make  them  as  well  instructive  as 
entertaining.' 

For  those  who  desire  a  fair  selection  of  Hogarth 
literature  a  good  copy  of  the  first  edition  of  Hogarth 
Moralized  is  worth  adding  to  their  collection,  as  is 
also  Major's  beautiful  edition,  1831,  1841.  There  is 
a  special  interest  in  Major's  edition  in  that  it  contains 
George  Cruikshank's  woodcut  copies  of  the  four 
groups — '  The  Laughing  Audience,'  '  The  Company 
of  Undertakers,'  '  The  Oratorio,'  and  the  '  Public 
Lecture.'  It  is  therefore  possible  to  compare  our 
two  great  satirical  artists. 

The  first  collection  of  Hogarth's  Works  in  atlas 
folio  was  the  Original  Works,  published  by  Boydell 
in  1790.  The  next  collection  was  almost  con- 
temporaneous with  the  publications  of  John  and 


452  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

Samuel  Ireland,  and  emanated  from  Germany.  It 
was  in  octavo  and  was  commenced  in  1794,  being 
continued  for  some  years.  This  was  '  G.  C.  Lichten- 
berg's  ausfiihrliche  Erklarung  der  Hogarthischen 
Kupferstiche,  mit  verkleinerten  aber  vollstandigen 
Copien  derselben  von  E.  Riepenhausen,'  published  at 
Gottingen.1 

Then  came  '  Hogarth  Restored.  The  Whole  Works 
...  as  Originally  published.  Now  Re-engraved  by 
Thomas  Cook.  .  .  .  London  (G.  and  J.  Robinson),' 
1802.  Atlas  folio. 

The  Genuine  Works,  already  referred  to,  were 
published  in  three  volumes,  dated  respectively  1808, 
1810,  and  1817.  4to. 

The  Works  were  published  in  two  volumes  8vo  by 
Thomas  Clerk,  London  (R.  Scholey),  1810. 

Another  edition  of  the  Works,  '  from  the  original 
Plates  restored  by  James  Heath,  Esq.,  R.A.,'  was 
published  in  1822  in  atlas  folio:  'Printed  for  Baldwin, 
Cradock  &  Joy,  Paternoster  Row,  by  J.  Nichols  & 
Son.'  This  has  continued  to  be  re-issued  and 
reprinted  until  there  is  little  pleasure  to  be  obtained 
from  looking  at  the  worn  plates. 

Several  quarto  editions  of  Hogarth's  re-engraved 
works  have  been  published.  One  of  these  is  worthy 
of  special  mention,  as  it  contains  a  very  interesting 
Introductory  Essay  by  James  Hannay,  entitled 
'  Hogarth  as  a  Satirist.'  This  is  '  The  Complete 

1  An  article  on  Lichtenberg  and  Hogarth  was  published  in  the  Foreign 
Quarterly  Review  (No.  xxxn.,  1836). 


LITERATURE  OF  HOGARTH          453 

Works  of  William  Hogarth  :  in  a  series  of  one  hundred 
and  fifty  steel  Engravings.  .  .  .  London  :  Richard 
Griffin  and  Company.'  The  book  is  undated,  but  Mr. 
Dobson  supposes  it  to  have  been  published  in  1860. 
The  descriptive  letterpress  is  not  of  much  value,  as 
it  consists  of  Trusler's  vapourings  and  some  rather 
odd  imaginings  of  E.  F.  Roberts. 

Another  edition,  '  reproduced  from  the  Original 
Engravings  in  permanent  Photographs,'  was  pub- 
lished by  Bell  and  Daldy  in  1872  in  two  volumes 
quarto. 

The  last  folio  edition  of  Hogarth's  Works  is  the 
special  issue  in  1902  of  Mr.  Austin  Dobson' s  Memoir 
by  Mr.  Heinemann  as  one  of  his  art  monographs. 
This  handsome  volume  contains  a  large  number  of 
photogravures  from  the  original  pictures. 

There  is  a  considerable  literature  of  pamphlets 
(mostly  catchpenny  publications)  containing  accounts 
of  the  various  series  of  engravings  by  Hogarth,  of 
some  of  which  the  following  is  a  list : — 

Harlot's  Progress.  The  Lure  of  Venus ;  or  a 
Harlot's  Progress.  An  Heroi-Comical  Poem  by 
Mr.  Joseph  Gay  [Captain  John  Durant  Breval],  1733. 

Rake's  Progress.  Explanation  of  the  Eight  Prints 
copied  from  the  Originals  by  Thomas  Bakewell, 
Printseller,  Fleet  Street,  1735  (broadside). 

The  Rake's  Progress,  or  the  Humours  of  Drury 
Lane,  a  Poem.  (J.  Chettwood),  1735. 

Marriage  a-la-Mode  :  an  Humorous  Tale,  in  six 
Cantos.  (Weaver  Bickerton),  1746. 


454  HOGARTH'S  LONDON 

Industry  and  Idleness.  The  Effects  of  I.  and  I. 
Illustrated.  .  .  .  Being  an  Explanation  of  the 
Moral  of  Twelve  celebrated  Prints.  (C.  Corbett, 
1748.) 

Gin  Lane,  etc.  A  Dissertation  011  Mr.  Hogarth's 
Six  Prints  lately  publish' d,  viz.  Gin  Lane,  Beer- 
street,  and  the  Four  Stages  of  Cruelty.  .  .  .  (B. 
Dickinson),  1751. 

An  Election.  A  Poetical  Description  of  Mr. 
Hogarth's  Election  Prints,  in  four  Cantos.  Printed 
for  T.  Caslon  and  sold  by  J.  Smith,  at  Hogarth's 
Head  in  Cheapside,  1759. 

Roast  Beef  of  Old  England.  A  Cantata.  Taken 
from  a  celebrated  Print  of  the  Ingenious  Mr.  Hogarth. 
(John  Smith),  n.d. 

Enraged  Musician.  Ut  Pictura  Poesis  !  or  the 
Enraged  Musician.  A  Musical  Entertainment 
Founded  on  Hogarth.  Written  by  George  Colman. 
T.  Cadell,  1789. 

In  the  first  two  volumes  of  the  Cornhill  Magazine 
(1860)  George  Augustus  Sala  contributed  a  series  of 
nine  interesting  articles  on  Hogarth  as  Painter, 
Engraver  and  Philosopher,  which  were  republished 
as  a  book  by  Smith,  Elder  and  Co.  in  1866.  There  is 
a  good  deal  of  conjecture  and  not  much  new  matter, 
but  the  book  is  well  worth  reading. 

Mr.  Dobson's  Bibliography  fills  thirty-five  pages 
of  his  work,  and  contains  a  full  description  of  a  large 
number  of  books  and  pamphlets  as  well  as  references 
to  articles  in  reviews  and  magazines. 


LITERATURE  OF  HOGARTH          455 

In  spite  of  the  magnitude  of  this  literature,  there 
is  still  no  absolutely  exhaustive  account  of  all 
Hogarth's  engravings  and  their  various  states.  A 
reprint  of  the  entries  in  Stephens' s  British  Museum 
Catalogue,  with  a  description  of  all  those  engravings 
which  do  not  come  under  the  division  of  Satires 
added,  would  be  of  great  value ;  it  would,  however, 
be  a  work  of  considerable  labour. 

A  rigid  examination  of  some  of  the  pictures 
attributed  to  Hogarth  which  have  no  authenticated 
history  is  also  much  required,  and  a  search  for 
painted  portraits  by  Hogarth  is  imperative.  There 
seems  to  be  good  reason  for  the  belief  that  there  are 
still  many  in  private  hands  which  have  not  yet  been 
registered. 


456 


HOGARTH'S  LONDON 


INDEX 


'  ACADEMY    of  Arts,'  or   Burlington 

Gate,  348. 
Addison  at   Button's,  289  ;   how  he 

apportioned  his  day,  300. 
Apelles  and  Protogenes,  story  of,  74. 
Argonauts,  a  literary  society  at  Nor- 
wich, 326. 
Argyll    (Duke    of),    prophesies    the 

success    of    the    Beggar's    Opera, 

306. 
Arlington  Street,  No.  5,  scene  of  the 

Breakfast  Scene  of  the  '  Marriage  a 

la  Mode,'  112. 
Armstrong  (Sir  Walter),  on  Hogarth's 

high  qualities  as  a  painter,  9. 
Arthur's  Club,  299. 
Arts,   Society   of,    Hogarth    first    a 

member,  and  then  opposed  to  its 

action,  72. 
'  Assemblies  '     and     '  Conversations ' 

distinguished,  43. 

BALCONIES  used  for  observing  Lord 
Mayors'  shows,  260. 

Bambridge  (Thomas),  examined  be- 
fore a  Committee  of  the  House  of 
Commons,  388  ;  members  of  the 
Committee,  389. 

Barber  -  Surgeons  Hall,  Monkwell 
Street,  dissection  theatre,  402. 

Bathurst  (Lord  Chancellor),  217. 

'  Battle  of  the  Pictures,'  59. 

Beauty,  Analysis  of,  73. 

Bedford  Arms  Tavern,  Little  Piazza 
(Hogarth's  club),  282,  284. 

Bedford  Coffee-House,  Great  Piazza, 
284. 

Bedlam,  picture  of  (Plate  8  of  '  A 
Rake's  Progress'),  370;  ill-con- 
sidered criticism  of  Rev.  W. 
Gilpin,  372  ;  view  of  the  hospital 
by  Hogarth,  373. 


'  Beer  Street'  aud  '  Gin  Lane,'  401  ; 

advertisement  of  publication,  153. 
Beggar's      Opera,      illustrated      by 

Hogarth,   305 ;    its   history,   306 ; 

songs  in  it  by  various  wits,  308 ; 

meaning  of  the  title,  309 ;  dispute 

on    its    dangerous  tendency,   317 ; 

benefit  theatre  tickets  supposed  to 

be  by  Hogarth,  320. 
Beggar's  Opera  Burlesqued,  316. 
Bench    (the),    Hogarth's    engraving, 

216. 
'  Berenstadt,  Cuzzoni  and  Senesino,' 

350;  the  print  believed  to  be  by  the 

Countess  of  Burlington,  351. 
Bertie  (Lord  Albemarle),  frequenter 

of  cockpits.  144,  406. 
Betew  (Panton),  collected  specimens 

of  Hogarth's  silver-work,  27. 
Bible  (the),  in  Shire  Lane,  279. 
Binyon's  British  Museum  Catalogue 

of    drawings    by    British    artists 

referred  to,  262,  290. 
Black   Masters,   Hogarth's   abuse  of 

them,  58,  63. 
Blake's  (William)   engraving  of  the 

Beggar's  Opera,  305. 
Blood    Bowl    Alley,    Fleet     Street, 

398. 
Boheme    the    actor,    at    Southwark 

Fair,  429. 
Boitard's  '  Morning  Frolic  in  Covent 

Garden,'  137. 
Bolton   (Duke   of)    marries    Lavinia 

Fenton,  311. 
'Bonamy    showing    a    picture,'    by 

Hogarth,  239. 
Bonvine  (John),  of  the  Rose  Tavern, 

Drury  Lane,  286. 
Boswell's  interest  in  the  discussion  on 

the    dangerous    tendency    of    the 

Beggars  Opera,  320. 


INDEX 


457 


Boulton's    (W.    B.)    Amusements  of 

Old  London,  quoted,  141. 
Bourke's  History  of  White's,  300. 
Boyne  (Gustavus  Viscount),  portrait 

by  Hogarth,  101. 
Bridewell,  scene  of  the  fourth  plate 

of  the   '  Harlot's    Progress,'   393  ; 

flogging  of  men  and  women,  394. 
Briclgeman,  the  landscape  gardener, 

introduced   into    'A   Rake's   Pro- 
gress,' 123. 
Brooke   (Sir  Robert),    at   Wanstead 

House,  96. 
Broughton   (John),   founder   of    the 

Prize  Ring  and  inventor  of  boxing 

gloves,    150 ;   portrait   of   him  by 

Hogarth,    151;    boxing -booth   at 

Tottenham  Court,  406. 
Brown's  (Dr.  John)  criticism  of  the 

dying  Earl   in   the  fifth  scene  of 

'Marriage  a  la  Mode,'  119. 
Browne  (Isaac  Hawkins),at Slaughter's 

Coffee-House,  291. 
Bullock      (William),      portrait      by 

Hogarth,  338. 

Burlington  House,  124,  348. 
Burnet  (Bishop),  and  his  hat,  anecdote, 

165. 
Burney  (Martin),  his  appreciation  of 

Hogarth,  5  (note). 
Business  Life,  17,  244-271. 
Bute  (Earl  of),  supported  by  Hogarth, 

190. 

Butler's   Hudibras,   Hogarth's   illus- 
trations to,  32-36. 

Button  (Daniel),  portrait  of  him,  289. 
Button's  Coffee-House,  characters  at, 

288. 
Byron    (Frances   Lady),   portrait   by 

Hogarth,  102. 
Byron   (fourth    Lord),    his    children 

painted  by  Hogarth,  101. 

C  ADM  AN  or  Kidman,  acrobat  at  South- 

wark  Fair,  430. 
Calais  Gate,  painting  of,  57. 
Canning     (Elizabeth),     portrait     by 

Hogarth,  395,  396. 
Carestini    (Giovanni),   introduced  in 

the  Toilette  Scene  of  the  '  Marriage 

a  la  Mode,'  116. 
Carlyle's    abuse   of    the    eighteenth 

century,  1. 


Carter  (Teague),  of  Oxford,  a  fighting 

man,  177. 
Castlemaine  (Viscount),  at  Wanstead 

House,  97. 
Castrucci,     supposed      original      of 

'  Enraged  Musician,'  242. 
Catalogue  of  Exhibition  of  Pictures 

in    1761  ;    Hogarth's    frontispiece 

and  tailpiece,  239. 
Centurion  (The),  sailor  from,  in   the 

the  '  Country  Inn  Yard,'  169. 
Cervetto    (Signer),  supposed  original 

of  '  Enraged  Musician, '  242. 
Character  and  Caricatura,  distinction 

between,  218. 
Charlemont   (Earl   of),    portrait   by 

Hogarth,  103  ;    '  The  Lady's  Last 

Stake'    painted    for    him,     103; 

Hogarth's     appreciation     of      his 

friendship,     103 ;     origin    of    his 

Earldom,  107. 
Charlotte      (Queen),      portrait      by 

Hogarth,  100. 
'  Charmers  of  the  Age,'  351. 
Charteris     (Colonel    Francis),    273, 

395. 
Child    (Sir    Josiah),     proprietor    of 

Wanstead  House,  96. 
Child's  Bank,  picture  of  a  run  upon 

it  stopped  by  Sarah,  Duchess   of 

Maryborough,  263. 
Child  Tylney,  satires  against,  when 

he  was  candidate  for  Essex,  170. 
Chiswick,  Hogarth's  house  at,  88. 
'Chorus  of  Singers,  or  the  Oratorio,' 

346. 
Chrononhotonthologos,        frontispiece 

attributed  to  Hogarth,  340. 
Church  and  Dissent,  17,  198-215. 
Churches   of    London    in  Hogarth's 

pictures,  207. 
Churchill  (Charles),  at  the  theatre, 

304 ;    his   quarrel   with   Hogarth, 

186;  Hogarth's  portrait  of  him  as 

the  Bruiser,  88,  194. 
Gibber   (Theophilus),   as    the    Mock 

Doctor,  323  ;  his  pantomime  of  The 

Harlot's  Profrress,  324. 
Clarges   (Sir  Thomas),  discoverer  of 

Mary  Toft's  cheat,  230. 
Clive  (Sir  Edward),  218. 
Clubs    in    the    eighteenth    century, 

294. 


458 


HOGARTH'S  LONDON 


'  Cockpit '  (the),  good  illustration  of 

the  ancient  game,  141. 
Coleridge    (Hartley),    on    the    '  Dis- 
tressed Poet,'  233. 
Coleridge      (S.     T.),     criticism      of 

Hogarth,  5. 
Colmau's    (George)    answer    to    Sir 

John   Fielding's   condemnation   of 

the  Beggar's  Opera,  318. 
Colvin  (Sidney),   on  Hogarth's  high 

qualities  as  a  painter,  8  ;  on  original 

sketch  for  the  Farmer's  Return,  329 

(note). 
Conduitt  (John),  Master  of  the  Mint, 

341. 
'  Conversation  in  the  manner  of  Van- 

dyck '   by  Hogarth   at   Vauxhall, 

44. 
Conversation  pieces  by  Hogarth,  41- 

94. 
Coram  (Capt.),  pension  provided  for 

him,   285 ;   portrait   by    Hogarth, 

362. 
Cosserat    (Rev.    Dr.),    in   the    first 

picture  of  the  'Election,'  176. 
Covent  Garden,  282  ;  Church,   133  ; 

Market,  132. 
Coventry    (Earl   and    Countess    of), 

portraits  by  Hogarth,  101. 
Cowper  on  the  old  maid  in  '  Morn- 
ing,' 133. 

Crebillon's  Sopha  alluded  to,  116. 
'  Crowns,  Mitres,  Maces,  etc.,'  49. 
Croxall's  (Dr.)  text  of  his  sermon 

before   the   House    of    Commons, 

214. 
Cruikshank's     (George)     copies      of 

Hogarth's'  Chorus  of  Singers,'  etc., 

346. 
Cumberland  (Henry  Frederick,  Duke 

of),  portrait  by  Hogarth,  100. 
Cumberland  (William  Augustus,  Duke 

of),  portrait  by  Hogarth,  100  ;  his 

brutality  towards  Broughton,  151. 
'  Cunicularii,  or  the   Wise    Men   of 

Godliman,'  36. 

DALTON  (JAMES),  highwayman,  395. 

Daniel's  (George)  description  of 
'  Garrick  in  the  Green  Room,'  330. 

Dawson  (Nancy)  136  (note). 

De  la  Fontaine  (Peter),  his  shop- 
bill  by  Hogarth,  246. 


Desaguliers  (Rev.  John  Theophilus), 
205. 

Desaguliers  (Mrs.),  portrait  by 
Hogarth,  206. 

De  Veil  (Sir  Thomas),  as  a  drunken 
Freemason,  139,  386  ;  an  unpopular 
magistrate,  satirised  by  Fielding 
as  Justice  Squeezum,  386. 

Devil  Tavern  in  Fleet  Street,  276. 

Devonshire  family,  portrait  by 
Hogarth,  98. 

Devoto,  scene-painter  at  Drury  Lane, 
324. 

Diana,  head  of,  240. 

'  Distressed  Poet,'  231. 

Dobson  (Austin),  dedication  of  this 
book  to,  v. ;  on  Hogarth's  excep- 
tional genius,  10;  on  Hogarth  as 
a  moralist,  14 ;  bibliography  of 
Hogarth,  439 ;  opinion  that  Hog- 
arth's London  Topography  requires 
a  commentary,  20. 

Dodington  (George  Bubb),  Lord  Mel- 
combe,  the  Punch  of  the  Election 
Series,  185. 

'  Drury  Lane,  Green  Room,'  330. 

Dryden's  Indian  Emperor,  or  the 
Conqtieft  of  Mexico,  acted  by 
children  at  Mr.  Conduitt's  house, 
341. 

Dubois,  the  fencing-master  in  'A 
Rake's  Progress,'  123. 

Dunciad,  Theobald  as  the  hero,  234. 

'  EARTH,'  subject  for  design  by  Hog- 
arth, 37. 

Edwardes  (Miss),  of  Kensington, 
126. 

Egleton  (Mrs.),  the  original  Lucy 
Lockit  in  the  Beggar's  Opera, 
314. 

Eighteenth  century,  interest  of,  1, 
11. 

Election  (the),  four  pictures  described, 
171;  their  sale,  172. 

Elephant  and  Castle  in  Fenchurch 
Street,  281  ;  supposed  pictures  by 
Hogarth,  281. 

'  Enraged  Musician,'  17  ;  the  founda- 
tion of  musical  interlude,  by  George 
Colman  the  elder,  338. 

Enthusiasm,  dread  of,  in  the  eigh- 
teenth centnrr,  198. 


INDEX 


459 


'Enthusiasm  Delineated,'  compared 
with  '  Credulity,  Superstition,  and 
Fanaticism,'  214. 

Excise  office  at  the  Crown  Inn, 
181. 

Executions  at  Tyburn,  414. 

FAGG  (SiR  ROBERT),  171. 

Farinelli  satirised,  123,  350. 

Fawkes  the  juggler,  430. 

Fenton  (Lavinia),  her  great  success 
in  the  Beggars  Opera,  310;  her 
portrait  at  the  National  Gallery, 
311  ;  in  the  'Green  Room,  Drury 
Lane,'  332. 

Ferrers  (Earl),  portrait  by  Hogarth, 
395-397. 

Festin  (Michael  Christian),  supposed 
original  of  the  '  Enraged  Musician,' 
242. 

Fielding  (Henry),  one  of  Hogarth's 
greatest  admirers,  4,  18  ;  Hogarth's 
portrait  of  him,  230  ;  miniature, 
237  ;  Bridget  Allworthy  from  the 
Old  Maid  in  'Morning,'  132; 
successes  at  Drury  Lane,  334 ; 
plays,  344;  benefit  tickets,  323, 
325,  335  ;  great  success  of  Pas- 
quin,  336 ;  its  satire  offends  the 
Ministry,  who  in  consequence 
passed  the  Licensing  Act,  336 ; 
Tom  Thumb,  a  Tragedy,  frontis- 
piece by  Hogarth,  334 ;  Peter 
Pounce  in  Joseph  Andrews,  111  ; 
allusion  to  Dr.  Misaubin  in  Tom 
Jones,  115  ;  praise  of  Joshua 
Ward,  226 ;  introduction  of 
Leathercoat  into  the  Cove.nl 
Garden  Tragedy,  286  ;  Fielding  as 
a  police  magistrate,  379  ;  Enquiry 
into  the  Cause*  of  the  Increase  of 
Robber*,  163,  381;  deceived  by 
Elizabeth  Canning,  396. 

Fielding  (Sir  John),  carried  out  the 
plans  of  his  brother,  381 ;  condemns 
the  tendency  of  the  Beggar's  Opera, 
317. 

Fielding  (Timothy),  at  Southwark 
Fair,  433. 

Figg  (James),  the  prize-6ghter  in  'A 
Rake's  Progress,'  123;  his  busi- 
ness card,  147;  his  feats,  147; 
at  Sonthwark  Fair,  432. 


'  Finis,'  or  '  The  Bathos  or  Manner  of 
Sinking,'  63. 

Fishmongers  Hall,  banquet  at,  258. 

Fleet  Prison,  388  ;  scene  of  7th  plate 
of  'A  Rake's  Progress,'  392. 

Folkes  (Martiu),  portraits,  289. 

Ford  (Parson),  in  'A  Midnight 
Modern  Conversation,'  279. 

Forrest  (Theodosius),  possessor  of 
drawings  for  'Five  Days'  Pere- 
grination,' 284. 

Foster  (John),  supposed  original  of 
1  Enraged  Musician,'  242. 

Foundling  Hospital,  360 ;  annual 
dinners,  364 ;  presentation  by 
Hogarth  of  '  March  to  Finchley,' 
1  Moses  brought  to  Pharaoh's 
Daughter,'  and  portrait  of  Coram, 
361,  362,  364. 

'  Four  Stages  of  Cruelty,'  400. 

'  Four  Times  of  the  Day,'  131. 

Fowler  (Thomas),  Hogarth's  original 
name  for  the  Idle  Apprentice,  263 
(note). 

'Fox  Family,'  picture  containing 
portraits  of  first  Earl  of  Ilchester, 
and  first  Lord  Holland,  99. 

'  Freeman's  Best, '  280. 

Freemasonry,  Hogarth  a  mason,  39  ; 
Thornhill  a  grand  warden  in  1728, 
39 ;  Hogarth  grand  steward  in 
1735,  39;  Sir  Thomas  Veil  in 
'Night,'  139. 

Freke  (John),  his  opinion  of  Hogarth, 
44. 

Funeral  tickets,  252. 

Furniture  (eighteenth  century),  illus- 
trated by  Hogarth,  13. 

GAMBLE  (ELLIS),  probably  a  connec- 
tion of  the  Hogarth  family,  26 ; 
bookplate  and  shopbill,  28,  29, 
244. 

Gamester  (Polite),  299. 

Gaming  at  White's,  296. 

Gardelle  (Theodore),  portrait  by 
Hogarth,  395,  397. 

Gardenstone  (Lord),  his  description 
of  Hogarth  as  a  true  original 
author,  4. 

Garrick  (David),  as  Richard  in., 
326  ;  price  paid  for  the  picture, 
326  ;  as  a  Rustic  in  Plate  2  of 


460 


HOGARTH'S  LONDON 


Garrick — continued. 

'Invasion,' 328;  in  the  Farmer's 
Return,  sketch  by  Hogarth,  328  ; 
purchase  of  the  four  pictures  of 
•The  Election,'  172;  his  care  of 
the  pictures,  329  ;  portrait  of  him 
with  Mrs.  Garrick,  327  ;  Hogarth 
irritated  because  Garrick  did  not 
like  the  picture,  327  ;  Garrick 
making  up  his  face  for  Hogarth  to 
paint  a  portrait  of  Fielding,  236  ; 
Garrick's  close  friendship  with 
Hogarth,  325 ;  '  Garrick  in  the 
Green  Room,'  330;  epitaph  on 
Hogarth,  89 ;  Samuel  Johnson's 
suggested  alterations,  89 ;  Gar- 
rick's  Villa,  painting  with  figures, 
by  Hogarth,  435  ;  sketch  of  Garrick 
and  Quin,  326. 

Garth  (Dr.),  portraits,  296. 

Gascoyne  (Sir  Crisp),  396. 

Gaunt's  Coffee-House,  298. 

Gay's  (John)  losses  in  the  South  Sea 
Bubble,  268  ;  Trivia  as  a  help  to 
the  study  of  Hogarth's  works,  1 1  ; 
Beggar's  Opera,  18  (see  Beggar's 
Opera). 

George  n.  and  family,  picture  by 
Hogarth,  100. 

Gibbon  and  his  father  at  the  Rose 
in  Coveut  Garden,  287. 

Gibbs  (James),  the  architect,  por- 
trait by  Hogarth,  239. 

Gibson  (Bishop),  satires  on,  202. 

Gin  Lane  and  the  Gin  Acts,  1 53,  401. 

Gonson  (Sir  John),  the  '  harlot-hunt- 
ing Justice,'  387,  394. 

Gostling  (Rev.  W.),  his  paraphrase  of 
the  'Five  Days' Peregrination, '283. 

Gourlay  (John),  273. 

Graham  (Captain  Lord  George),  por- 
trait by  Hogarth,  101. 

Grant  (Sir  Archibald),  390  (note). 

Grimston  (Viscount),  satirised  for  a 
comedy  written  when  he  was 
thirteen  years  of  age,  339. 

Grosvenor  (Sir  Richard),  and  the 
picture  of  'Sigismnnda,'  105. 

Guildhall,  Idle  brought  before  Good- 
child,  259. 

HALL  (JOHN),  the  original  Lockit  in 
the  Beggar's  Opera,  314. 


Sam-cutting  at  Vauxhall,  417. 

Sainpstead  Road,  scene  of  the 
'  March  to  Finchley,'  404. 

Handel,  supposed  introduction  into 
Plate  2  of  the  '  Rake's  Progress,' 
123  ;  Messiah  performed  at  Found- 
ling Hospital,  367 ;  portrait  by 
Hogarth,  243. 

Hanging  Sword  Alley.  Whitefriars, 
398. 

Hardy  (William),  his  shopbill  by 
Hogarth,  246. 

'  Harlot's  Progress,'  38. 

Harpsichord  introduced  into  the 
second  picture  of  '  A  Rake's  Pro- 
gress,' 123. 

Harrison  (Frederic),  defender  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  1. 

Harrison  (John),  the  tobacconist, 
280. 

Hawkins  (Sir  Caesar),  portrait  by 
Hogarth,  222. 

Hayman  (Francis),  the  original  of  the 
husband  in  '  Marriage  a  1£  Mode,' 
112;  his  pictures  at  Vauxhall  mis- 
taken for  Hogarth's,  40. 

Haymarket  Theatre,  344. 

Hazlitt's  remarks  on  the  '  Marriage 
a  la  Mode,'  110,  112,  113,  119. 

Heidegger  (John  James),  the  pro- 
moter of  masquerades,  349  ;  in  a 
rage,  355. 

Henley  (Orator),  satires  on,  211;  in 
the  '  Midnight  Modern  Conversa- 
tion,' 279. 

Hermione,  wagons  containing  the 
treasure  from  the,  in  the  streets 
of  London,  191. 

Herring  (Archbishop),  on  the  dan- 
gerous tendency  of  the  Beggar's 
Opera,  317  ;  his  portrait  by  Hog- 
arth, 200  ;  his  boldness  at  the 
time  of  Rebellion  of  1745,  200. 

High  Life,  15,  92-127. 

Highland  Fair,  an  opera,  frontispiece 
by  Hogarth,  339. 

Highwayman  at  White's,  296. 

Hippisley  (John),  the  original 
Peachum  in  the  Beggar's  Opera, 
314 ;  portrait  at  Garrick  Club, 
314;  drunken  man,  281  ;  portrait 
as  Sir  Francis  Gripe,  281. 

Hoadly  (Bishop),  satires  on,  202. 


INDEX 


461 


Hoadly's  (Dr.  John)  private  theatre, 
340. 

Hoadlys,  portraits  of  the,  by  Hog- 
arth, 238. 

Hogarth  family,  origin  of,  24  ;  pro- 
nunciation of  the  name,  24. 

Hogarth  (Anne),  William's  mother, 
23. 

Hogarth  (Mary  and  Ann),  shopbill  by 
their  brother,  247. 

Hogarth  (Richard),  William's  father, 
23  ;  his  literary  work,  23  ;  died  in 
1718,  28. 

Hogarth  (Thomas), or  '  AuldHoggart,' 
his  songs  and  poems,  25. 

Hogarth  (William),  a  great  pictorial 
satirist,  2  ;  'a  writer  of  comedy 
with  a  pencil,'  3  ;  Fielding  denied 
that  he  was  a  burlesque  writer,  5 ; 
his  love  of  beauty,  6  ;  truthfulness 
of  his  work,  6  ;  his  merits  as  a 
painter,  7  ;  his  mistake  in  trying 
'  the  great  style  of  history  paint- 
ing,' 9 ;  as  a  delineator  of  the 
manners  and  life  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  11;  as  a  moralist,  13; 
a  thorough  Londoner,  19  ;  his  life 
and  works,  22-91 ;  his  education, 

25  ;  his  pencil  sketches  as  a  boy, 

26  ;  apprenticed  to  Ellis  Gamble, 
26 ;   specimens  of  his  silver-plate 
engraving,   27  ;    carried   Gamble's 
child,  28  ;   engraved   book-plates, 

29  ;    earliest  satirical   engravings, 

30  ;   his  shop  card,  28,   244 ;   his 
addresses,  28  ;   supposed  to  have 
been  a  sign   painter   for   a   time, 

249 ;  attendance  at  Sir  James 
Thornhill's  painting  school,  31  ; 
acquaintanceship  with  him,  38 ; 
his  illustrations  of  books,  32  ;  of 
Hudibras,  32-36 ;  married  Jane 
Thornhill,  38 ;  removed  to  South 
Lambeth,  38 ;  reconciliation  with 
Thornhill,  38  ;  living  with  Thorn- 
hill  in  the  Piazza,  38 ;  a  Free- 
mason, 39  ;  grand  steward,  1735, 
39 ;  friendship  with  Jonathan 
Tyers,  and  interest  in  Vauxhall 
Gardens,  40 ;  his  free  pass,  40 ; 
first  mention  of  his  Conversation 
pieces,  41,  42  ;  foundation  of  Art 
school  in  Peter's  Court,  St.  Martin's 


Lane  (removed  from  the  Piazza), 
41 ;     his    '  Conversation     in     the 
manner  of  Vandyck  '  at  Vauxhall, 
44  ;  the  plan  of  composition  of  his 
moral  satires,  45  ;  his  great  success, 
46  ;  prey  to  pirates  who  copied  his 
engravings,  47  ;    '  Hogarth's  Act ' 
(1735)  to  protect  artists,  47  ;  his 
gratitude  to  Parliament  for  pass- 
ing the  Act,  50 ;  popularity  of  his 
engravings,   51 ;    pictures   for   St. 
Bartholomew's  Hospital,  51 ;'  Paul 
before   Felix '   for   Lincoln's   Inn, 
52  ;  altar-piece  for  St.  Mary  Red- 
cliffe,  Bristol,  52  ;  critical  opinions 
on     his    religious     pictures,    53 ; 
settled   in   Leicester    Fields,   56  ; 
fame  of  his  works  abroad,  56  ;  his 
indiscretion    in    painting    '  Calais 
Gate,'  57  ;   sale  of  his  pictures  at 
ridiculously  low  prices,  60  ;  sale  of 
the    'Marriage   a   la   Mode,'   61; 
trouble   over   the   sale   of    '  Sigis- 
munda,'   65 ;    publication   of    the 
Analysis  of  Beauty,  73  ;  portraits 
of  his  six  servants,  240  ;  anagram 
of  his  name,  75  ;  his  protest  against 
unfair  attacks  upon  him,  81  ;  his 
proposed     history     of     the    Arts, 
83  ;  the  'No-Dedication,'  83 ;  his 
ill-omened    print,    'The    Times, 
Plate  1,'  83,  84  ;  his  explanation 
of  reasons  for  publishing  it,  83 ; 
his     death,    88 ;     Garrick's     epi- 
taph, 89  ;   his  character,  90  ;  ap- 
pointment   of    Serjeant    Painter, 
100 ;    value   of    the    office,    100  ; 
sales  of  his  pictures,  132  ;  freedom 
from  party  prejudice,  175  ;  quarrel 
with  Wilkes  and  Churchill,  186  ; 
'  Account  of  the  Five  Days'  Pere- 
grination,' 282;  his  unsuccessful  at- 
tempt to  act  on  the  amateur  stage, 
341  ;  munificence  towards  Found- 
ling Hospital,  366  ;  truthfulness  of 
his  pictures  painted  for  St.  Bartho- 
lomew's  Hospital,  368  ;   engraved 
fish  for  cards,  437  ;  Genuine  Works, 
by    John    Nichols    and     George 
Steevens,   443 ;    folio   editions   of 
Hogarth's    works,    451  ;    smaller 
editions,  452  ;   pamphlets  on  the 
various   series    of    Hogarth's   en- 


462 


HOGARTH'S  LONDON 


gravings,  453  ;  literature  of  Hog- 
arth, 439-455. 

'  Hogarth's  wigs,  Sett  of  Blocks  for,' 
63. 

Holland  (Henry,  first  Lord),  portraits 
by  Hogarth,  99,  100. 

Holt's  (Mrs.)  shopbill  by  Hogarth, 
247. 

Horse  Guards  in  the  second  picture 
of  the  Election  Series,  180. 

Hospitals,  18,  360-376. 

'  House  of  Commons,'  picture  painted 
by  Ho-arth  and  Thornhill,  38, 166. 

Hudibras,  Hogarth's  illustrations  to, 
32-36. 

Huggins  (John),  purchased  the  War- 
denship  of  the  Fleet  from  the  Earl 
of  Clarendon,  391  ;  sold  it  to 
Thomas  Bambridge  and  Dougal 
Cuthbert,  391. 

Huggins  (William),  portrait  by  Hog- 
arth, '238,  346. 

Hunt  (Gabriel),  portrait  by  Hogarth, 
284. 

IDLE  (Toia),  scenes  in  his  life,  397. 

'Industry  and  Idleness,'  object  de- 
scribed by  Hogarth,  253 ;  adver- 
tisement, 254 ;  Industrious  Appren- 
tice, 253  ;  Idle  Apprentice,  398  ; 
(original  in  Eastward  Hoe),  254 ; 
earliest  original  sketches  for  the 
series  in  the  British  Museum, 
262. 

Inn  yards  represented  in  first  plate 
of  'Harlot's  Progress'  and  the 
'  Stage  Coach,'  273. 

Introduction,  1-21. 

Ireland  (Betty),  Secret  History  of, 
130. 

Ireland's  (John)  Hogarth  Illustrated, 
446. 

his  agreement  with  Sir  John 

Fielding's  condemnation  of  the 
Beggar's  Opera,  318. 

Ireland  (Samuel),  Graphic  Illustra- 
tions of  Hogarth,  446  ;  man  of  un- 
scrupulous credulity,  290. 

Italian  Opera  introduced  into  Eng- 
land, 345. 

Ives  (Ben),  his  praise  to  Garrick  of 
his  master's  portrait  painting, 
241. 


JOHNSON  (SAMUEL),  his  suggested 
emendations  to  Garrick's  epitaph 
on  Hogarth,  89  ;  likened  to  the 
Idle  Apprentice  by  Topham  Beau- 
clerk,  2'.i8;  friend  of  Saunders 
Welch,  382;  in  love  with  Mary 
Welch  (afterwards  Mrs.  Nollekens), 
382  ;  sat  on  the  Bench  with 
Welch  and  made  Welch's  fine 
language  intelligible  to  those 
examined,  383  ;  visit  to  Southwark 
Fair  in  company  with  David 
Mallet,  4H3 ;  Mallet's  rudeness  to 
him,  433;  at  Slaughter's  Coffee- 
House,  291  ;  opinion  of  the  Beg- 
gar's Opera,  319;  portrait  attri- 
buted to  Hogarth,  239. 

Judith,  rehearsal  of,  346 ;  frontis- 
piece for  the  Oratorio,  347. 

KKNDAL  (Duchess  of),  her  arms  en- 
graved by  Hogarth,  28. 

Kent  (William),  Hogarth's  satires, 
124,  180,  208,  348  ;  abuse  of  him 
a  bond  of  sympathy  between 
Hogarth  and  Thornhill,  38. 

Kettleby  in  a  '  Midnight  Modern 
Conversation,'  280. 

Kidman  (Thomas),  at  Southwark 
Fair,  430. 

King  (Dr.  Arnold),  selected  the 
mottoes  from  the  Bible  for  'In- 
dustry and  Idleness,'  262,  277. 

King's  (Tom)  Coffee-House,  133, 
iJS7;  Moll  King,  succeeded  her 
husband  as  keeper  of  Tom  King's 
Coffee-House,  133,  287. 

Kirton,  the  tobacconist,  176. 

Knight  (Richard  Payne),  his  praise  of 
Hogarth's  painting,  7. 

'LADY'S  LAST  STAKE,'  by  Hogarth, 

103. 

Laguerre's  '  Stage  Mutiny,'  324. 
Lamb  (Charles),  criticism  of  Hogarth, 

5. 
Lambert  (George),  his  bookplate  by 

Hogarth,  245. 
Lambeth  (South),   a  summer  resort, 

416. 
Landor  (Walter  Savage),  his  opinion 

of    Hogarth   as   a    great    painter, 

6. 


INDEX 


463 


Lane's  (Mr.)  purcnase  of  the  'Mar- 
riage i  la  Mode,'  61. 
Lane  (Mrs.  Fox),    afterwards  Lady 

Bingley,  118. 
Laroon  (Captain),  in  Covent  Garden, 

137. 

'  Laughing  Audience,'  303. 
Lawyer  in  Hudibras,  Hogarth's  two 

engravings,  217. 

Lawyer's   Fortune,  a  comedy,    fron- 
tispiece by  Hogarth,  339. 
Leathercoat,  porter  at  the  Rose,  286. 
Lee  (Richard),  tobacconist,  his  shop 

bill  supposed  to  be  the  original  of 

a '  Midnight  Modern  Conversation,' 

250. 
Leicester  Square,  Hogarth's  house  in, 

88. 
Leveridge    (Richard),   in    Tavistock 

Street,     284  ;      Coram's     pension 

transferred  to  him,  285. 
Lincoln's  Inn  Fields  Theatre,  314. 
Liotard  (J.  S.),  the   sign  painter  in 

'  Beer  Street,'  162. 
Literature  of  Hogarth,  439-455. 
Livesay  (Richard),  283. 
Lloyd  (Robert),  his  praise  of  Hogarth, 

66. 
Lockman  (John),  '  the  Herring  Poet,' 

Hogarth's  friend,  163. 
London,   streets   of,    11,    15;    their 

dangers,  16,  130. 
London  Infirmary,  ticket  for,  369 ; 

title  changed  to  London  Hospital, 

370. 
London     Topography     of     Hogarth 

requires  a  commentary,  19. 
Lord  Mayor's  Day  in  Cheapside,  260. 
'Lottery'  (the),  print   by  Hogarth, 

30,  266,  270. 
Lovat    (Simon    Lord),    portrait    by 

Hogarth,  166 ;  sketches  at  his  trial, 

168. 

Low  Life,  15,  128-163. 
'  Low  Life  ;  or  One  Half  the  World 

knows   not   how  the   Other   Half 

lives,'  1752-64,  128,  373. 
Lymington    (Lady),    great-niece    of 

Newton,  acted  when  a  child  at  her 

father's  house  in  Dryden's  Indian 

Emperor,  341  ;  her  sitting  for  the 

Viscountess  in  the  '  Marriage  a  la 

Mode,'  342. 


MACCLESFIKLD  (Earl  of),  portrait  by 
Hogarth,  101. 

Magistrates  introduced  into  Hogarth's 
works,  379. 

Malcolm  (Sarah),  portraits  by  Hog- 
arth, S95,  396. 

'  Man  loaded  with  Mischief.'  293. 

'Man  of  Taste '(or  '  Taste  a  la  Mode  '), 
124. 

Manners  (Old),  brother  to  Duke  of 
Northumberland,  297. 

Mapp  (Mrs.  Sarah),  223. 

'March  to  Finchky,'  364,  404, 
408. 

Marlborough  (Sarah,  Duchess  of), 
supposed  to  have  stopped  a  run 
upon  Child's  Bank,  263. 

'  Marriage  a  la  Mode,'  description  of 
the  series,  107-122 ;  dramatised, 
110  ;  sale  of  the  pictures,  61. 

Marrow-bones  and  cleavers  at  Good- 
child's  marriage,  256. 

Martin  (Mrs.),  the  original  Mrs. 
Peachum  in  the  Beggar's  Opera, 
314. 

Marylebone  Church,  interior  repre- 
sented in  the  fifth  plate  of  'A 
Rake's  Progress,'  411;  marriages 
of  Bacon  and  Sheridan,  411  ;  out- 
side in  the  Third  Stage  of  'Cruelty,' 
413. 

Masquerade  (large)  ticket,  352. 

(small)   ticket    on  'Burlington 

Gate,'  348. 

(Royal),  '  Somerset  House,'  358. 

Masquerades,  ill  effects  of,  357  ;  and 
operas  (or  'Taste  of  the  Town'), 
32,  124. 

Mercier  (Philip),  probable  designer  of 
'Heidegger  in  a  Rage,'  355. 

Michel  (Herr),  Prussian  Envoy,  in 
'  Marriage  a  la  Mode,'  118. 

Middlesex  (Countess  of),  Mistress  of 
the  Robes,  260. 

'  Midnight  Modern  Conversation, '  sub- 
scription ticket,  279,  346. 

Miller  (Joe),  his  benefit  theatre  ticket, 
323. 

Mingotti  (Madame),  '  boomed  '  by 
Mrs.  Fox  Lane,  118. 

Misaubin  (John,  M.D.),  the  Quack  of 
the  'Marriage  a  la  Mode,'  114, 
228. 


464 


HOGARTH'S  LONDON 


Mitchell's  (Joseph)  Three  Poetical 
Epistles,  448  ;  described  Hogarth  in 
1730  as  an  eminent  historical  and 
conversation  painter,  43. 

Mitre  (the),  in  Fleet  Street,  277 ; 
not  in  Mitre  Court,  278  (note). 

'  Modern  Orpheus,'  242. 

Mog  (Molly),  of  the  Rose  at  Woking- 
ham,  287. 

Moliere  compared  with  Hogarth,  3-4. 

Monument,  inscription  on,  257. 

Morality,  respective,  of  the  seven- 
teenth and  eighteenth  centuries, 
12. 

Morell  (T.),  portrait  by  Hogarth, 
238. 

Morison  (Richard),  collected  speci- 
mens of  Hogarth's  silver-work,  27. 

'Morning,'  view  of  Covent  Garden 
Market,  132. 

Morris  (Joshua),  upholsterer,  37 ; 
lawsuit  with  Hogarth,  37. 

Mortimer  (Cromwell,  M.D.),  portrait 
by  Hogarth,  222. 

Mounsey  (Dr.),  291. 

Murphy  (Arthur),  his  criticism  of 
Hogarth,  3,  407. 

Musician  (Enraged),  241  ;  advertised 
in  November  1740  as  the  'Pro- 
voked Musician,'  241. 

NEEDHAM  (MOTHER),  273,  395. 
New  River  represented  in  '  Evening,' 

420,  423. 
Newcastle  (Henry,  second  Duke  of), 

portrait  by  Hogarth,  101. 
Newgate  represented  in  scene   from 

the  Beggar's  Opera,  388. 
Nichols's  (John)  Biographical  Anec- 
dotes, 439  ;  annotated  copies,  442, 

443. 
Nichols  (J.  B.),  Anecdotes  of  Hogarth, 

445. 

'Night'  (Charing  Cross),  138. 
Noel  (Justice  William),  218. 
'  Noon '  (French  Church  in  Hog  Lane), 

137. 
North  Briton,  No.  17,  savage  attack 

on  Hogarth  by  Wilkes,  86,  186. 

OPERA  (ITALIAN),  satirised  by  Hog- 
arth, 123,  345. 
Opera  Dancers,  35 1 . 


Oxford,  Humours  of,  a  comedy, 
frontispiece  by  Hogarth,  339. 

PARLIAMENTARY  ELECTION  of  1734, 
171  ;  of  1754,  173. 

Parnell  (Sir  John),  his  portrait  in  the 
first  picture  of  '  The  Election,'  175. 

'  Paul  before  Felix,'  painted  for  Lin- 
coln's Inn  Hall,  220. 

Peepers  =  young  chickens,  275. 

Pellett  (Thomas,  M.D.),  portrait  by 
Hogarth,  222. 

Pembroke  (Mary,  Countess  of),  por- 
trait by  Hogarth,  102. 

Pepys's  visit  to  a  cockpit,  142. 

Periwigs,  Five  Orders  of,  61. 

Philip  in  the  Tub,  a  cripple  who 
attended  weddings,  257. 

'  Picquet, '  or  '  Virtue  in  Danger,'  by 
Hogarth,  103. 

Piozzi's  (Mrs.)  anecdotes  of  Hogarth, 
58 ;  supposed  to  be  the  original 
of  the  lady  in  '  Picquet,'  105. 

Pitt  (William)  (1)  and  the  Cheshire 
cheese,  190. 

Police,  insufficiency  of,  in  the  eigh- 
teenth century,  377. 

Polite  Gamester,  299. 

Political  Life,  16,  164-197. 

Pontack's  Eating-House  in  Abchurch 
Lane,  274. 

Pope  (Alexander),  at  Button's,  290 ; 
satirised  by  Hogarth,  124,  232, 
234  ;  contributions  to  the  Beggar's 
Opera,  309 ;  losses  in  the  South 
Sea  Bubble,  268;  Pope  and  Gay 
supposed  to  be  represented  in  Hog- 
arth's 'South  Sea  Bubble,'  267. 

Portobello,  Admiral  Vernon  and  the 
battle  of,  178;  alehouse,  178. 

Portsmouth  (John  Wallop,  first  Earl 
of),  possible  original  of  the  Earl  in 
the  '  Marriage  a  la  Mode,'  110. 

Posts  in  the  streets  of  London,  299. 

Potter  (Thomas),  175. 

Powell,  maker  of  Hogarthian  forg- 
eries, 323. 

Price's  (Hilton)  Ye  Marygold  re- 
ferred to,  264,  265. 

Prior  (Samuel),  293. 

Prisons  and  Crime,  18,  377-403. 

Pritchard  (Miss),  in  the  '  Green 
Room,  Drury  Lane,'  333. 


INDEX 


465 


Pritchard,  Mrs.,  in  the  '  Greeu  Room, 

Drtiry  Lane,'  332. 
Professional  Life,  17,  216-243. 
Puppet   shows   at   Southwark   Fair, 

429. 

QUACK'S  Museum  in  Garth's  Dis- 
pensary, 115. 

Quin,  intended  to  personate  Mac- 
heath,  but  renounced  the  char- 
acter, 312;  portrait  by  Hogarth, 
338  ;  portrait  in  the  '  Green  Room, 
Drury  Lane,'  332. 

and  Garrick,  sketch  of,  326. 

RAKE'S  PROORESS  '  described,  122- 
124. 

Ranby's  house  at  Chiswick,  Hogarth's 
etching,  435. 

Ranelagh  Gardens,  415. 

Ravenet  and  Ravenet's  wife  as  en- 
gravers for  Hogarth,  2S8. 

Read,  Benjamin,  portrait  by  Hogarth, 
284. 

Rich,  John,  manager  of  Lincoln's  Inn 
Fields  Theatre,  345. 

'  Rich's  Glory,  or  his  Triumphant 
Entry  into  Covent  Garden,5  345. 

garden  at  Cowley,  436. 

picture  of  Rich  and  his  family 

at  the  Garrick  Club,  436. 

Richardson,  the  Complicated,  292. 

Rochester,  Hogarth  and  Scott  played 
at  hop-scotch  there,  283. 

Rock,  Dr.,  in  Covent  Garden,  137. 

Rose  Tavern  in  Russell  Street,  bad 
reputation  of,  285  ;  scene  of  Plate 
3  of  '  Rake's  Progress,'  285. 

Rouquet,  Jean,  '  Lettres  a  un  de  ses 
amis  a  Paris  pour  lui  expliquer 
les  Estampes  de  M.  Hogarth,'  448. 

Royal  Academy,  formation  of,  dis- 
approved of  by  Hogarth,  42,  72. 

Rummer  Tavern  at  Charing  Cross, 
293. 

Rysbrach,  Michael,  sculptor,  portrait 
by  Hogarth,  239. 

SADLER'S  WELLS,  420. 

St.  Andre,  Nicholas,  228  ;  married  to 

Lady  Elizabeth  Molyneux,  230. 
St.  Bartholomew's  Hospital,  Hogarth 

presents  two  large  pictures,  '  The 


Good  Samaritan,'  and  '  The  Pool 
of  Bethesda,'  51,  367. 

St.  David's  Day,  298. 

St.  George's  Hospital,  picture  of  the 
building  with  portrait  on  horse- 
back of  Michael  Soleirol,  374. 

St.  Giles's  Church,  138. 

St.  James's  Street,  represented  in  '  A 
Rake's  Progress,'  124;  alterations 
in,  299. 

St.  John's  Coffee-House  in  Shire 
Lane,  279. 

St.  Martin's  Lane,  room  at  No.  26 
the  original  of  the  Quack's  residence 
in  'Marriage  a  la  Mode,'  114. 

Salisbury  (James,  fourth  Earl  of), 
driver  of  coaches,  138. 

Sandby's  (Paul)  rancorous  satires  on 
Hogarth,  78,  86. 

Seldam  or  shed  made  by  order  of 
Edward  in.  on  the  north  side  of 
Bow  Church,  261. 

Shebbeare,  Dr.,  182. 

Shelley  family,  picture  by  Hogarth, 
99. 

Sherlock's  (Martin)  Letters  to  a 
Friend  in  Paris,  143. 

c  Shrimp-girl,'  by  Hogarth,  240. 

'Siege  of  Troy,' by  Elkanah  Settle, 
428,  429. 

'  Sigismunda, '  Sir  Richard  Gros- 
venor's  refusal  of  the  picture,  65  ; 
malignant  criticism  of,  63,  65,  by 
Walpole,  67  ;  delay  in  engraving 
the  picture,  67  ;  in  the  National 
Gallery,  67. 

Sign  Paintings,  Exhibition  of,  pro- 
moted by  Bonnel  Thornton,  assist- 
ed by  Hogarth,  68  ;  Humours  of 
the  Catalogue,  68. 

'  Sir  Plume  '  in  the  Rape  of  the  Lock, 
engraved  on  the  lid  of  a  gold  snuff- 
box, 27. 

Slack  overcomes  Broughton  in  a  box- 
ing match,  151. 

Slaughter's  (New)  Coffee  -  House, 
292. 

(Old)  Coffee-house,  291  ;  club 

of  artists  held  there,  291. 

'Sleeping  Congregation,'  picture  of 
the  deadness  of  public  services, 205. 

Smith  (John  Thomas),  quoted,  27, 
28. 


2G 


466 


HOGARTH'S  LONDON 


Soleirol  (Michael),  374. 

'South  Sea  Bubble'  described,  30, 
266. 

Southwark  Fair,  424 ;  anecdote  re- 
lating to  the  young  woman  beating 
a  drum,  427. 

Spikes  (iron),  between  the  orchestra 
and  pit  in  theatres,  3. 

Spiller  (James),  original  Mat  oj  the 
Mint  in  the  Beggar's  Opera,  322. 

Spiller's  Head,  club  held  there, 
322. 

Spitalfields,  in  the  series  of  '  Industry 
and  Idleness,'  255,  415. 

'  Stage  Coach,  or  Country  Inn  Vard,' 
168. 

'  Stage  Mutiny,'  by  Laguerre,  428. 

Steevens  (George),  his  use  of  the 
'  Distressed  Poet '  as  a  portrait  of 
Theobald  the  Shakespearean  com- 
mentator, 234 ;  his  venomous  re- 
marks in  Nichols's  Biographical 
Anecdotes,  445. 

Stephens  (Frederic  George),  Cata- 
logue of  Prints  and  Drawings  in 
the  British  Museum  Satires,  30, 
447. 

Sterne  (Laurence),  praises  the  Analy- 
sis of  Beauty  in  Tristram  Shandy, 
77,  237  ;  frontispieces  for  Tristram 
Shandy  by  Hogarth,  238. 

Stir  (A)  in  the  City,  51. 

Street  cries,  17. 

Stuart  (Athenian),  satirised  by 
Hogarth,  61. 

Suburbs  of  London,  18,  404-438. 

Swift's  lines  on  '  humorous  Hog- 
arth,' 24. 

TANKARD  (Silver),  used  by  members 

of  the  Club  held  at  the  Spiller's 

Head,  27. 

'Taste  in  High  Life,'  125. 
'Taste  of  the  Town,'  32,  347. 
Tavern  Life,  18,  272-301. 
Taylor  (George),  successor  to  Figg  at 

the  Amphitheatre  in  Oxford  Road, 

149. 

Taylor  (Chevalier  John),  223. 
Temple  Bar  and  the  '  Burning  of  the 

Rumps,'  276. 
Temple  Coffee-House  in  '  The  Times, 

Plate  1,'  192. 


Thavies  Inn,  Holborn,  402. 

Theatrical  Life,  18,  302-359. 

Theobald  (Lewis),  the  supposed 
original  of  the  '  Distressed  Poet,' 
232. 

Thomson  and  Mallet's  Masque  oj 
Alfred,  ticket  for  performance  at 
Cliefden,  343. 

Thornhill  (Sir  James),  Hogarth's 
admiration  of,  31 ;  witness  for 
Hogarth,  38  ;  a  grand  warden  in 
1728,  39 ;  death,  41  ;  his  art 
school  removed  from  the  Piazza  to 
Peter's  Court,  St.  Martin's  Lane, 
41. 

Tibson  (Christopher),  original  of  '  The 
Politician,'  165 ;  387. 

'  Time  Smoking  a  Picture,'  63. 

Times  (The),  Plate  1,  186. 

Plate  2,  by  Hogarth,  left  un- 
published until  1790,  195 ;  re- 
joinder to  Plate  1,  not  to  be  con- 
fused with  Hogarth's  engraving, 
197. 

Titian,  Hogarth's  appreciation  of,  58. 

Tofts  (Mary),  « the  Rabbit  Breeder,' 
36,  215,  229. 

Tothill,  Totenhall,  or  Tottenham 
Court,  405. 

Townley's  (Dr.)  laudatory  inscription 
to  Hogarth's  memory,  89. 

Treasury  (the),  in  the  second  picture 
of  the  Election  Series,  180. 

Trusler's  Hogarth  Moralized,  449 ; 
Mrs.  Hogarth's  advertisement  re- 
specting this  book,  451. 

Turk's  Head  Bagnio,  death  of  the 
Earl  in  the  '  Marriage  a  la  Mode,' 
119. 

Tyburn,  execution  at,  399. 

Gallows  (the  Triple  Tree),  414  ; 

position,  414. 

Tyers  (Jonathan),  refounded  Vaux- 
hall  Gardens  in  1732,  40. 

Tylney  (Earl),  at  Wanstead  House, 
97  ;  supposed  by  some  to  be  the 
original  of  the  Earl  in  the  '  Mar- 
riage &  la  Mode,'  111. 

UNDERTAKERS,  The  Company  of,  or 
a  Consultation  of  Physicians,  223. 

Undertaker's  funeral  ticket  by 
Hogarth,  251. 


INDEX 


467 


VAUXHALL  GARDENS,  Hogarth's  in- 
terest hi  them,  40,  415,  419. 

Violante,  acrobat  at  Southwark  Fair, 

430. 

Virtue   in    Danger,'    by    Hogarth, 
103. 

Viviani  (Count),  as  a  romancer,  288, 
289,  290. 

WALKER  (ToM),  his  great  success  as 
Macheath,  312;  other  characters 
undertaken  by  him,  313. 

Walpole  (Horace),  denies  Hogarth's 
merits  as  a  painter,  7  ;  letter  to 
Mrs.  Hogarth,  442 ;  one  of  the 
first  to  collect  Hogarth's  prints,  2  ; 
portraits  by  Hogarth,  101. 

Walpole  (Sir  Robert),  at  the  perform- 
ance of  the  Beggar's  Opera,  307. 

Walpole  family,  picture  by  Hogarth, 
99. 

Walter  (Peter),  supposed  original  of 
the  Steward  in  the  Breakfast 
Scene  of  '  Marriage  &  la  Mode,' 
111. 

1  Wanstead  Assembly,'  43,  94. 

Manor  of,  96. 

Warbur ton's  (Bishop)  praise  of  the 
Analysis  of  Beauty,  77. 

Ward  (Dr.  Joshua),  223  ;  his  famous 
drop,  226. 


Ware  (Isaac),  180. 

Watchmen,  venality  of,  378. 

Weidemann  the  flautist,  117. 

Welch  (Saunders),  382  ;  praised  by 
Fielding,  382 ;  friend  of  Johnson, 
382 ;  just  and  kind,  therefore 
popular,  385  ;  public-house  named 
after  him,  385  ;  tried  to  persuade 
Hogarth  not  to  publish '  The  Times, 
Plate  1,'  87. 

Wellesley-Pole  (William),  afterwards 
Earl  of  Mornington,  97. 

West's  (Benjamin)  opinion  of  the 
Analysis  of  Beauty,  78. 

Whistler  (James),  his  opinion  that 
Hogarth  was  the  greatest  English 
painter  that  ever  lived,  8. 

White's  Chocolate  House,  124,  293  ; 
fire  at,  295;  head-quarters  of 
gaming,  296. 

Wilkes's  attack  upon  Hogarth  in  the 
Wor'h  Briton,  86  ;  his  quarrel  with 
Hogarth,  186 ;  portrait  by  Hogarth, 
88,  193. 

Willes  (Lord  Chief -Justice),  217. 

Woffington  ( Peg),  portrait  by  Hogarth, 
338. 

YOUNG'S  Centaur  not  Fabulous, 
199. 


Printed  by  T.  and  A.  CONSTABLE,  Printers  to  His  Majesty 
at  the  Edinburgh  University  Press 


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