The Plough public-house at Kensal-green, on the road to Harrow, was a
favourite resort of George Morland. Here this errant son of genius was
wont to indulge in deep potations. He lodged hard by, and was frequently
in company with Ward, the painter, whose example of moral steadiness was
exhibited to him in vain. While at Kensal-green, Morland fell in love
with Miss Ward, a young lady of beauty and modesty, and soon afterwards
married her; she was the sister of his friend, the painter; and to make
the family union stronger, Ward sued for the hand of Maria Morland, and
in about a month after his sister’s marriage, obtained it.
Morland’s courtship and honeymoon drew him from the orgies at the
Plough, but on returning to the metropolis, he betook himself to his
former habits. Yet, with all his dissipation, Morland was not indolent;
as is attested by four thousand pictures, most of them of great merit,
which he painted during a life of forty years.
Among Morland’s portraits is one which has become of peculiar historical
interest: it is a small whole-length of William the Fourth when a
midshipman. The sailor-prince is looking wistfully upon the sea, which
he loved far dearer than the cumbrous splendour of a crown.