"To nature and yourself appeal,
Nor learn of others what to feel."--_Anon._
[Illustration: TIME SMOKING A PICTURE.]
This animated satire was etched as a receipt-ticket for a print of
Sigismunda. It represents _Time_, seated upon a mutilated statue, and
smoking a landscape, through which he has driven his scythe, to give
proof of its antiquity,--not only by _sober, sombre_ tints, but by an
injured canvas. Beneath the easel on which it is fixed the artist has
placed a capacious jar, on which is written VARNISH,--to _bring out_
the beauties of this inestimable assemblage of straight lines. The
frame is dignified with a Greek motto:
_Crates_,--Ὁ γὰρ χρόνος μ' ἔκαμψε, τέκτων μὲν σοφὸς,
Ἅπαντα δ' ἐργαζόμενος ἀσθενέστερα.
See _Spectator_, vol. ii. p. 83.
This, though not engraved with precise accuracy, is sufficiently
descriptive of the figure.
_Time has bent me double; and Time, though I confess he is a great
artist, weakens all he touches._
"From a contempt" (says Mr. Walpole) "of the ignorant virtuosi
of the age, and from indignation at the impudent tricks of
picture-dealers,[32] whom he saw continually recommending and vending
vile copies to bubble-collectors, and from having never studied,
indeed having seen few good pictures of the great Italian masters, he
persuaded himself that the praises bestowed on those glorious works
were nothing but the effects of prejudice. He talked this language
till he believed it; and having heard it often asserted, as is true,
that Time gives a mellowness to colours, and improves them, he not
only denied the proposition, but maintained that pictures only grew
black and worse by age, not distinguishing between the degrees in
which the proposition might be true or false."
Whether Mr. Walpole's remarks are right or wrong, Hogarth has
admirably illustrated his own doctrine, and added to his burlesque,
by introducing the fragments of a statue, below which is written,
As statues moulder into worth. P. W.
By part of this print being in _mezzotinto_ and the remainder etched,
it has a singularly striking and spirited appearance.
Hogarth, the following year, published that admirable satire, _The
Medley_, which completely refutes the reproach thrown on his
_declining talents_ by his political opponents, whose violent, and in
some respects vindictive attack, is erroneously said to have hastened
his death. That he was _wounded_ with a barbed spear, hurled by the
hand of a friend, it is reasonable to suppose; but armed with the
_mailed coat_ of conscious superiority, he could not be _wounded
mortally_. What!--_broken-hearted by a rhyme!_--_pelted to death
with ballads!_--He was too proud! I am told by those who knew him
best, that the little mortification he felt, did not arise from the
severity of the satire, but from a recollection of the terms on which
he had lived with the satirist.
To the painter's recriminations in this party jar, Mr. Nichols I
suppose alludes, page 97 of his Anecdotes, where he says, that
"_in his political conduct and attachments, Hogarth was at once
unprincipled and variable_." These are harsh and heavy charges, but
I am to learn on what they are founded. He never embarked with any
party, nor did he publish a political print before the year 1762; and
the principles he there professes he retained until his death.
In the same page of the Anecdotes, I find, after a complimentary
quotation from one of Mr. Hayley's poems, several severe strictures
to which I cannot assent.[33] The assertion, that _all his powers of
delighting were confined to his pencil_, is in a degree refuted by
the Analysis. That _he was rarely admitted into polite circles_, I
can readily believe; but if by _polite circles_, Mr. Nichols means
those persons of honour who deem _dress_ the grand criterion of
distinction, think making _an easy bow_ the first human acquirement,
and Lord Chesterfield's code _the whole duty of man_,--the artist
had no great cause to regret the loss of such society. But _his
sharp corners not being rubbed off_ by collision with these polite
circles, he was, _to the last, a gross, uncultivated man_. Engaged in
ascertaining the principles of his art, he had not leisure to study
the _principles of politeness_; but by those who lived with him in
habits of intimacy, I am told he was by no means gross.
"_To be member of a club consisting of mechanics, or those not many
degrees above them, seems to have been the utmost of his social
ambition._"--Yet we find in the list of his social companions,
Fielding, Hoadley, Garrick, Townley, and many other names who were
an honour to their age and country. Though excluded from _polite
circles_, by these and such men he was received as a friend. Some of
his evenings were probably passed among his neighbours, and being
above dissimulation, I suppose he resented what he disliked, and
was, as Mr. Nichols informs us, often _sent to Coventry_. "_He is
said to have beheld the rising eminence and popularity of Sir Joshua
Reynolds with a degree of envy; and, if I am not misinformed, spoke
with asperity both of him and his performances._" It has been said,
and I believe with equal truth, that Rubens _envied_ the rising
eminence and popularity of Vandyke: neither the Englishman nor the
Fleming were capable of so mean a passion. The walk of William
Hogarth was diametrically opposite to that of Sir Joshua Reynolds.
They saw nature through a different medium: one of them almost
invariably dignifies his characters; whilst the other, from the
nature of his subjects, sinks, and in some measure degrades them.
The man whose portrait is painted by the President feels exalted;
whilst he who looks in the mirror displayed by Hogarth, finds a
resemblance better calculated to gratify his _good-natured friends_
than himself. These circumstances considered, I can conceive Hogarth
might have been pleased if he could have united the elegance of Sir
Joshua to his own humour, and that the knight might be proud of
adding the powers of Hogarth to his own taste, without either of them
possessing a particle of the diabolical passion alluded to by Mr.
Nichols, who thus winds up the character: "_Justice, however, obliges
me to add, that our artist was liberal, hospitable, and the most
punctual of paymasters._" This is fair and unequivocal praise,--but
justice obliges _me_ to add, seems given _upon compulsion_. _Why_
the biographer feels so much reluctance at being _thus obliged_ to
commend the hero of his own history, we are not told,--though the
cause of a lady being most _indecently caricatured_, is, in the same
book, frankly acknowledged.
"_She is still living, and has been loud in abuse of this work,
a circumstance to which she owes a niche in it!_"--Nichols'
_Anecdotes_, p. 114.
Hogarth, with all the indelicacy of which he is accused, would have
blushed at the perusal of this overcharged character. Though _nothing
fastidious_, I cannot quote so disgusting a combination of abominable
images. In page 59 we are presented with a series equally delectable.
Mr. Walpole remarks that the Flemish painters, as writers of farce
and editors of burlesque nature, are the _Tom Brownes_ of the mob;
and in their attempts at humour, when they intend to make us laugh,
make us sick; that Hogarth resembles Butler,--amidst all his
pleasantry, observes the true end of comedy, REFORMATION, and has
always a moral. To prove this truth, is one great object of these
volumes. But Mr. Nichols, thinking it necessary to _examine whether
the scenes painted by our countryman are wholly free from Flemish
indelicacies_, has with laudable industry culled some sixteen or
eighteen _delicious_ examples, to convince us that they are not. _I
omit the catalogue_; yet let me be permitted to suggest, that without
the aid of _a commentary_, these indelicacies are not generally
obtrusive. I once knew a very grave and profound critic, who employed
several years of his life in collecting all Shakspeare's _double
entendres_; these he intended for _publication_, to _prove_ that
his plays were not fit for the _public_ eye, but was prevented, by
a friend suggesting that it would be thought he had acted like the
birds--_pecked at that fruit which he liked best_.
Leaving these and all other indecencies to the contemplation of those
_who seek for them_, let us return to our narrative.
Finding his health in a declining state, Hogarth had some years
before purchased a small house at Chiswick.[34] To this he retired
during the summer months, but so active a mind could never _rust
in idleness_;--even there he pursued his profession, and employed
the last years of his life in retouching and superintending some
repairs and alterations in his plates. From this place he, on the
25th October 1764, returned to Leicester Square, and though weak and
languid, retained his usual flow of spirits; but being on the same
night taken suddenly ill, died of an _aneurism_, in the arms of his
friend Mrs. Lewis, who was called up to his assistance.
"The hand of him here torpid lies,
That drew th' essential form of grace;
Here cloath'd in death th' attentive eyes,
That saw the manners in the face."[35]
His will, which bears date August 16, 1764, has the following
bequests:--
"I do hereby release, and acquit, and discharge my sister Ann
Hogarth, of and from all claims and demands which I have on her
at the time of my decease on any account whatsoever; and I do
hereby give and bequeath unto my said sister Ann, eighty pounds
a year, to be paid her during her natural life, by my executrix
hereinafter named, out of the profits which shall arise from
the sale of the prints taken from my engraved copperplates;
which yearly payment shall commence within three months after
my decease, and be paid in quarterly payments: and my will
is, that the said copperplates shall not be sold or disposed
of without the consent of my said sister, and my executrix
hereinafter named; but the same shall remain in the custody or
possession of my executrix hereinafter named, for and during her
natural life, if she continues sole and unmarried; and from and
immediately after her marriage, my will is that the three sets of
copperplates, called Marriage à la Mode, the Harlot's Progress,
and the Rake's Progress, shall be delivered to my said sister, by
my said executrix, during her natural life; and immediately after
the decease of my said executrix, the said copperplates, and the
whole profits arising from such prints as aforesaid, shall be and
of right belong to my said sister; and in case my executrix shall
survive my sister, the same shall in like manner become the sole
property, and of right belong to my said executrix hereinafter
named: and I hereby give and bequeath unto Mary Lewis, for her
faithful services, one hundred pounds, to be paid her immediately
after my decease by my executrix hereinafter named: and my
will is, that Samuel Martin, Esq., of Abingdon Buildings, be
requested to accept of the portrait which I painted of him for
myself. _Item_, that a ring, value ten guineas, be presented to
Doctor Isaac Schomberg, in remembrance of me. _Item_, that Miss
Julian Bence be presented with a ring, value five guineas: and my
will is, that the remainder of my money, securities for money,
and debts due to me, shall of right belong to my said executrix
hereinafter named; and all my other goods, pictures, chattels,
and estates, real or personal whatsoever, I do give and bequeath
the same and every part thereof unto my dear wife Jane Hogarth,
whom I do ordain, constitute, and appoint my sole executrix of my
will. And I do hereby revoke all the other wills by me made at
any time. In witness thereof, I do hereunto set my hand and seal,
this day, August 16th, 1764.
"WILLIAM HOGARTH (L.S.).
"Signed, sealed, and published, and delivered by William Hogarth,
to be his last will and testament, in the presence of us, who in
the presence of each other have subscribed our names as witness
thereto.--_Richard Loveday_, _George Ellsom_, _Mary Graham_."
His remains were removed to Chiswick, where, on a plain but neat
pyramidical monument, are the following inscriptions:--
On the first side is engraven:
"HERE LIETH THE BODY
OF WILLIAM HOGARTH, ESQ.,
WHO DIED OCTOBER 26, 1764,
AGED 67 YEARS.
MRS. JANE HOGARTH,
WIFE OF WILLIAM HOGARTH, ESQ.
OBIT 13 NOVEMBER 1789,
ÆTAT: 80 YEARS."
On the second:
"HERE LIETH THE BODY OF
DAME JUDITH THORNHILL,
RELICT OF SIR JAMES THORNHILL, KNIGHT,
OF THORNHILL, IN THE COUNTY OF DORSET:
SHE DIED NOV. 12, 1757,
AGED 84 YEARS."
On a third:
"HERE LIETH THE BODY OF MRS. ANNE HOGARTH,
SISTER TO WILLIAM HOGARTH, ESQ.
SHE DIED AUGUST 13, 1771,
AGED 70 YEARS."
On the front, in _basso-relievo_, is the comic mask, laurel wreath,
rest-stick, palette, pencils, a book inscribed _Analysis of Beauty_,
and the following admirable lines by his friend Mr. Garrick:--
"Farewell, great painter of mankind,
Who reached the noblest point of art;
Whose pictured 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 honoured dust lies here."[36]
_Time_ will obliterate this inscription, and even the pyramid must
crumble into dust; but his fame is engraven on tablets which shall
have longer duration than monumental marble.
During the twenty-five years which his widow survived, the plates
were neither repaired nor altered,[37] but being necessarily
entrusted to the management of others, were often both negligently
and improperly taken off.[38] On Mrs. Hogarth's demise, in 1789, she
bequeathed her property as follows:--
"_Imprimis_, I give and devise unto my cousin Mary Lewis, now
living with me, all that my copyhold estate, lying and being at
Chiswick, in the county of Middlesex, to have and to hold, during
the term of her natural life; and after her decease, I give and
devise the said copyhold estate unto Richard Loveday, surgeon,
of Hammersmith, to have and to hold during his natural life;
and after his decease, to his son Francis James Loveday, to him
and his heirs for ever. _Item_, I give and bequeath unto the
said Mary Lewis all my personal estate, of what kind soever, the
legacies hereinafter mentioned excepted. _Item_, I give unto my
god-daughter Jane Amelia Loveday, the sum of one hundred pounds.
And I do make, constitute, and appoint my said cousin Mary Lewis,
my sole executrix of this my last will and testament, written
with my own hand, this third day of August, in the year of our
Lord, 1770. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and
seal.
"JANE HOGARTH (L.S.).
"Witnesses--_Michael Impey_, _Jane Sarah Home_.
"This stock of £479, 10s. 3d. I give to M. Lewis; and to Charles
Stilewell, if he is with me at the time of my death, twenty
pounds.--May the 17th, 1789.
"JANE HOGARTH."
Mrs. Lewis, soon after the death of her friend, on condition of
receiving an annuity for life, transferred to Messrs. Boydell her
right in all the plates; and since in their possession, they have
not been touched upon by a _burin_. It may be proper to add, that
every plate has been carefully cleaned; and the rolling-presses now
in use being on an improved principle, the paper superior, and the
art of printing better understood, impressions are more clearly and
accurately taken off than they have been at any preceding period.
Thus much may suffice for the state of his plates: their general
intention and execution is the proper basis on which to build his