There are no examples in the history of painting, of such noble
disinterestedness as has ever been shown by the English Historical
Painters. Hogarth and others adorned the Foundling for nothing; Reynolds
and West offered to adorn St. Paul’s for nothing, and yet were refused!
Barry painted the Adelphi without remuneration; but, as Burke
beautifully says, “the temple of honour ought to be seated on an
eminence. If it be open through virtue, let it be remembered, too, that
virtue is never tried but by some difficulty and some
struggle.”--_Haydon’s Lectures._