_December 4th, 1827._
[Illustration: THE GARRICKS
“The fops that join to cry you down
Would give their ears to get her.”
_Edward Moore on Garrick’s Marriage_]
As Mr. Garrick was married by his friend, the celebrated Dr.
Francklin,[379] who at that time had a chapel in Great Queen Street, I
was anxious to ascertain whether the ceremony took place there or at
the parish church. I therefore applied to my friend, the Rev. Charles
M’Carthy, who favoured me with the following certificate:--
June 22, 1749. David Garrick, of St. Paul, Covent Garden; and
Eva Maria Violetti, of St. James’s, Westminster.
T. FRANKLIN.
C. M’CARTHY, Curate and Reg.[380]
1823.
In 1822, to the disgrace of the Antwerp picture collectors,
notwithstanding their professed zeal for the protection of high works
of art, they allowed the most precious gem, their boasted corner-stone,
to be carried away from their city. However, to the great honour of Mr.
Smith, the picture-dealer, it was secured for England.
This corner-stone, which had been coveted by most of the amateurs in
the world, was no less a treasure than the picture known under the
appellation of the “Chapeau de Paille,”[381] by Rubens, which had been
in the Lunden’s, and then the Steir’s family, from the time it was sold
after the painter’s death, to the 29th of July, 1822, the day on which it
was brought to auction for the benefit of the last possessor’s family.
When the auctioneer ordered the doors of the case in which it was kept to
be thrown open, every person took off his hat, and greeted the picture
with loud and repeated cheerings. After the company had, for some time,
gratified their eyes, the doors were locked and biddings commenced, the
company remaining uncovered till the bidders were silent. It was then
knocked down for the sum of thirty-two thousand seven hundred florins, to
a foreigner displaying an orange ribbon, hired by the real purchaser, Mr.
Smith, who suspected that if an Englishman had offered to bid, he would
have brought down a direful opposition. When it was discovered that it
was to be conveyed to England, the Antwerpers not only shed tears, but
followed it to Mr. Smith’s place of residence, expressing the strongest
desire to take their farewell look. Mr. Smith, not willing to risk its
safety, gave a seaman five guineas to convey it on shipboard by night,
and saw it safely landed on British ground.
Upon its arrival in London, King George IV. commanded a sight of it;
and on the morning of Tuesday, September 3rd, Mr. Smith had it conveyed
from his house in Marlborough Street, to Carlton Palace, where it was
placed in the King’s dressing-room, the King keeping the key of the
case, that only private friends might see it. After the expiration of a
fortnight, the picture was returned; and in the month of March, 1823, it
was publicly exhibited at Stanley’s rooms. The Right Hon. Sir Robert Peel
became its liberal purchaser and protector. This picture is painted on
oak, and has been joined at the lower part across the hands, and there is
every reason for believing that Rubens painted it in the frame, as the
ground was unpainted upon, within the width of the rabbit.
The popular report respecting this picture is, that it was the portrait
of Elizabeth Lunden, a young woman to whom Rubens was particularly
partial, who died of the small-pox, to the great grief of the painter.