this scene in his “Tour of London,” 1772: “Agreeably to this rural
simplicity, most of these cows are driven about noon and evening to
the gate which leads from the park to the quarter of Whitehall. Tied
to posts at the extremity of the grass plots, they swill passengers
with their milk, which, being drawn from their udders upon the spot,
is served, with all the cleanliness peculiar to the English, in
little mugs at the rate of a penny a mug.”--A TEA GARDEN (Plate XV.).
Bagnigge House had been the country residence of Nell Gwyn, and in
1757 the then tenant accidentally discovered a chalybeate spring in
his grounds, which two years later he turned to profit. Bagnigge
Wells then developed a tea garden, with arbours, ponds with fountains
and gold-fish, a bun-house, music, and a reputation for the amorous
rendezvous. The place was very popular, and much favoured, especially
on Sundays, by the would-be fashionable wives of well-to-do city-folk.
In the character of “Madam Fussock” Colman took this off in his
prologue to Garrick’s Drury Lane farce, “Bon Ton; or High Life above
Stairs,” 1776.--THE LASS OF LIVINGSTONE (Plate XVI.). A popular old
Scotch song, words by Allan Ramsay. There is also an older version,
“The Bonnie Lass o’ Liviston,” associated with an actual person who
kept a public-house in the parish of Livingstone.
LADY COCKERELL AS A GIPSY WOMAN (Plate XIX.). One of the beautiful
daughters of Sir John and Lady Rushout, whose miniatures are, perhaps,
Plimer’s masterpieces.--LADY DUNCANNON (Plate XX.). One of the
“Portraits of Four Ladies of Quality,” exhibited by Downman at the
Royal Academy in 1788. There are also colour-prints of Viscountess
Duncannon after Lavinia, Countess Spencer and Cosway, and, with her
more famous sister, Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, after Angelica
Kauffman; while they both figure, with other fashionable beauties, in
J. K. Sherwin’s picture “The Finding of Moses,” also in Rowlandson’s
“Vauxhall,” and two prints in which the same artist celebrated their
triumphant share in the Westminster election of 1784, when it was
said that “two such lovely portraits had never before appeared on
a canvass.” The Countess of Bessborough, as she became, was the
mother of Lady Caroline Lamb. Her distinguished grandson, Sir Spencer
Ponsonby-Fane, kindly lent the print reproduced here.
RINALDO AND ARMIDA (Plate XXII.). The enchantment of Rinaldo, the
Christian Knight, by Armida, the beautiful Oriental sorceress, in
Tasso’s “Gerusalemme Liberata.” LOVE AND BEAUTY: MARCHIONESS OF
TOWNSHEND (Plate XXIV.). One of the three beautiful daughters of Sir
William Montgomery immortalised by Reynolds on the large canvas now in
the National Gallery, called “The Graces decorating a terminal figure
of Hymen.” She married the distinguished general who finished the
battle of Quebec when Wolfe had fallen.
TWO BUNCHES A PENNY, PRIMROSES (Plate XXV.). KNIVES, SCISSORS AND
RAZORS TO GRIND (Plate XXVI.). Numbers 1 and 6 of the CRIES OF
LONDON. The other plates are: 2, _Milk below, Maids_. 3, _Sweet China
Oranges_. 4, _Do you want any Matches?_ 5, _New Mackerel_. 7, _Fresh
Gathered Peas_. 8, _Duke Cherries_. 9, _Strawberries_. 10, _Old Chairs
to Mend_. 11, _A new Love-song_. 12, _Hotspice Gingerbread_, two
plates. 13, _Turnips and Carrots_. There are still in existence two
or three paintings of similar character by Wheatley--one depicting a
man selling copper kettles--which would suggest, besides the belated
publication of the thirteenth plate, that it was originally intended
to issue a larger number of the “Cries” than those we know, had
the public encouragement warranted it. The colour-printing of the
earliest impressions was superlatively fine, and in the original pink
board-wrappers these are, of course, extremely rare, and would realize
to-day as much as a thousand pounds.
MRS. CREWE (Plate XXVII.). The famous beauty, Fulke Greville’s
daughter. It was to her house in Lower Grosvenor Street that the
triumphant “true blues”--the Prince of Wales among them--crowded
in the evening to toast Fox’s victory at Westminster. Reynolds has
perpetuated Mrs. Crewe’s rare beauty on three canvasses, and Sheridan
in dedicating to her “The School for Scandal” did reverence to her
mind as well as her features. Fox poetised in her praise, and Fanny
Burney said “She is certainly the most completely a beauty of any
woman I ever saw! She uglifies everything near her.”--THE DANCE (Plate
XXVIII.). The tradition, lately repeated in book and periodical, which
gives the figures in this print as those of the Gunning sisters, is
obviously absurd. When Bunbury was an infant in arms the beauty of
the Gunnings first took the town by storm; next year Maria became
a countess, Elizabeth a duchess, and, when this print was done the
one had been dead twenty-two years, the other already widowed and
“double duchessed,” as Horace Walpole put it.--MORNING EMPLOYMENTS
(Plate XXIX.). The name on the harpsichord should obviously be Jacobus
Kirkman; there was no Thomas. The instrument with the double keyboard
is exactly like that in my own possession, which Dr. Burney selected
from Jacob Kirkman’s shop in 1768. When a fashionable craze for the
guitar was sending the makers of harpsichords and spinets very near to
bankruptcy, Kirkman bought up all his own fine instruments, which the
ladies were practically “giving away” for guitars; then he purchased
a lot of cheap guitars and presented them to milliner’s girls and
street-singers, so that they were twanged everywhere and became vulgar,
the ladies bought harpsichords again, and he made a large fortune.
MADEMOISELLE PARISOT (Plate XXXVII.). A noted dancer in the opera
ballets at the King’s Theatre in the Haymarket. There is a beautiful
mezzotint of her, dated 1797, by J. R. Smith after A. W. Devis. This
is very rare, and in colours extremely so. Mdlle. Parisot also figures
as one of the three dancers in Gillray’s caricature “Operatical
Reform, or La Danse à l’Evêque,” published in 1798 to ridicule
the Bishop of Durham’s protest against the scanty attire of the
ballet-dancers.--MARIA (Plate XXXVIII.). Maria of Moulines, in Sterne’s
“Sentimental Journey.”
MALCOLM C. SALAMAN.
[Illustration:
PLATE I.
“_Jane, Countess of Harrington,_
_Lord Viscount Petersham and the_
_Hon. Lincoln Stanhope._”
_Stipple-Engraving by F. Bartolozzi, R.A., after_
_Sir Joshua Reynolds, P.R.A._
(_Published 1789. Size 8¾″ × 11⅛″._)
_From the collection of Major E. F. Coates, M.P._]
[Illustration:
PLATE II.
“_Robinetta._”
_Stipple-Engraving by John Jones, after Sir Joshua_
_Reynolds, P.R.A._
(_Published 1787. Size 8⅞″ × 10½″._)
_From the collection of Major E. F. Coates, M.P._]
[Illustration:
PLATE III.
“_Master Henry Hoare._”
_Stipple-Engraving by C. Wilkin, after Sir Joshua_
_Reynolds, P.R.A._
(_Published 1789. Size 7⅝″ × 9⅝″._)
_From the collection of Major E. F. Coates, M.P._]
[Illustration:
PLATE IV.
“_The Duchess of Devonshire and Lady Georgiana Cavendish._”
_Mezzotint-Engraving by Geo. Keating, after Sir Joshua Reynolds, P.R.A._
(_Published 1787. Size 15⅞″ × 12¼″._)
_From the collection of Frederick Behrens, Esq._]
[Illustration:
PLATE V.
“_The Mask._”
_Stipple-Engraving by L. Schiavonetti, after Sir Joshua Reynolds,
P.R.A._
(_Published 1790. Size 9¼″ × 7⅜″._)
_From the collection of Major E. F. Coates, M.P._]
[Illustration:
PLATE VI.
_“Bacchante” (Lady Hamilton)._
_Stipple-Engraving by C. Knight, after George Romney._
(_Published 1797. Size 10½″ × 12⅝″._)
_From the collection of Frederick Behrens, Esq._]
[Illustration:
PLATE VII.
“_Mrs. Jordan in the character of_
_‘The Country Girl’_” (“_The Romp_”).
_Stipple-Engraving by John Ogborne, after George Romney._
(_Published 1788. Size 9⅝″ × 12⅛″._)
_From the collection of Major E. F. Coates, M.P._]
[Illustration:
PLATE VIII.
“_Hobbinol and Ganderetta._”
_Stipple-Engraving by P. W. Tomkins, after_
_Thos. Gainsborough, R.A._
(_Published 1790. Size 14⅛″ × 18¼″._)
_From the collection of Basil Dighton, Esq._]
[Illustration:
PLATE IX.
“_Countess of Oxford._”
_Mezzotint-Engraving by S. W. Reynolds, after_
_J. Hoppner, R.A._
(_Published 1799. Size 8-1/″ × 10⅛″._)
_From the collection of Frederick Behrens, Esq._]
[Illustration:
PLATE X.
“_Viscountess Andover._”
_Stipple-Engraving by C. Wilkin, after J. Hoppner, R.A._
(_Published 1797. Size 6⅝″ × 8⅛″._)
_From the collection of Major E. F. Coates, M.P._]
[Illustration:
PLATE XI.
“_The Squire’s Door._”
_Stipple-Engraving by B. Duterreau, after George Morland._
(_Published 1790. Size 12-/4″ × 15⅛″._)
_From the collection of Basil Dighton, Esq._]
[Illustration:
PLATE XII.
“_The Farmer’s Door._”
_Stipple-Engraving by B. Duterreau, after George Morland._
(_Published 1790. Size 12¾″ × 15⅛″._)
_From the collection of Basil Dighton, Esq._]
[Illustration:
PLATE XIII.
“_A Visit to the Boarding School._”
_Mezzotint-Engraving by W. Ward, A.R.A., after George Morland._
(_Published 1789. Size 21¾″ × 17⅜″._)
_From the collection of Basil Dighton, Esq._]
[Illustration:
PLATE XIV.
“_St. James’s Park._”
_Stipple-Engraving by F. D. Soiron, after George Morland._
(_Published 1790. Size 19¾″ × 16″._)
_From the collection of Basil Dighton, Esq._]
[Illustration:
PLATE XV.
“_A Tea Garden._”
_Stipple-Engraving by F. D. Soiron, after George Morland._
(_Published 1790. Size 19¾″ × 16″._)
_From the collection of Basil Dighton, Esq._]
[Illustration:
PLATE XVI.
“_The Lass of Livingstone._”
_Stipple-Engraving by T. Gaugain, after George Morland._
(_Published 1785. Size 11¾″ × 9¾″._)
_From the collection of Major E. F. Coates, M.P._]
[Illustration:
PLATE XVII.
“_Rustic Employment._”
_Stipple-Engraving by J. R. Smith, after George Morland._
(_Published 1788. Size 9¾″ × 12¼″._)
_From the collection of Frederick Behrens, Esq._]
[Illustration:
PLATE XVIII.
“_The Soliloquy._”
_Stipple-Engraving by and after William Ward, A.R.A._
(_Published 1787. Size 7½″ × 11″._)
_From the collection of Frederick Behrens, Esq._]
[Illustration:
PLATE XIX.
“_Harriet, Lady Cockerell as a Gipsy Woman._”
_Stipple-Engraving by J. S. Agar, after Richard Cosway, R.A._
(_Published 1810. Size 8⅛″ × 11⅜″._)
_From the collection of Frederick Behrens, Esq._]
[Illustration:
PLATE XX.
“_Lady Duncannon._”
_Stipple-Engraving by F. Bartolozzi, R.A., after John_
_Downman, A.R.A._
(_Published 1797. Size 6⅜″ × 7¾″._)
_From the collection of Rt. Hon. Sir Spencer Ponsonby-Fane, G.C.B._]
[Illustration:
PLATE XXI.
“_Cupid bound by Nymphs._”
_Stipple-Engraving by W. W. Ryland, after_
_Angelica Kauffman, R.A._
(_Published 1777. Size 11½″._)
_From the collection of Major E. F. Coates, M.P._]
[Illustration:
PLATE XXII.
“_Rinaldo and Armida._”
_Stipple-Engraving by Thomas Burke, after_
_Angelica Kauffman, R.A._
(_Published 1795. Size 10¼″ × 13″._)
_From the collection of Frederick Behrens, Esq._]
[Illustration:
PLATE XXIII.
“_Angelica Kauffman in the_
_character of Design listening to the_
_Inspiration of Poetry._”
_Stipple-Engraving by Thomas Burke, after_
_Angelica Kauffman, R.A._
(_Published 1787. Size 12⅜″._)
_From the collection of Major E. F. Coates, M.P._]
[Illustration:
PLATE XXIV.
_“Love and Beauty”_
_(Marchioness of Townshend)._
_Stipple-Engraving by Thomas Cheesman,_
_after Angelica Kauffman, R.A._
(_Published 1792 and 1795. Size 10⅜″ × 12⅝″._)
_From the collection of Basil Dighton, Esq._]
[Illustration:
PLATE XXV.
_“Two Bunches a Penny, Primroses”_
_(“Cries of London”)._
_Stipple-Engraving by L. Schiavonetti,_
_after F. Wheatley, R.A._
(_Published 1793. Size 10¾″ × 14″._)
_From the collection of Basil Dighton, Esq._]
[Illustration:
PLATE XXVI.
_“Knives, Scissors and Razors to Grind”_
_(“Cries of London”)._
_Stipple-Engraving by G. Vendramini,_
_after F. Wheatley, R.A._
(_Published 1795. Size 11″ × 14″._)
_From the collection of Mrs. Julia Frankau._]
[Illustration:
PLATE XXVII.
“_Mrs. Crewe._”
_Stipple-Engraving by Thos. Watson, after Daniel Gardner._
(_Published 1780. Size 6⅜″ × 8-1/″._)
_From the collection of Major E. F. Coates, M.P._]
[Illustration:
PLATE XXVIII.
“_The Dance._”
_Stipple-Engraving by F. Bartolozzi, R.A., after_
_H. W. Bunbury._
(_Published 1782. Size 11⅞″._)
_From the collection of Major E. F. Coates, M.P._]
[Illustration:
PLATE XXIX.
“_Morning Employments._”
_Stipple-Engraving by P. W. Tomkins, after H. W. Bunbury._
(_Published 1789. Size 14¼″._)
_From the collection of Basil Dighton, Esq._]
[Illustration:
PLATE XXX.
“_The Farm-Yard._”
_Stipple-Engraving by William Nutter, after_
_Henry Singleton._
(_Published 1790. Size 9¾″ × 11⅞″._)
_From the collection of Basil Dighton, Esq._]
[Illustration:
PLATE XXXI.
“_The Vicar of the Parish receiving his Tithes._”
_Stipple-Engraving by Thomas Burke, after Henry Singleton._
(_Published 1793. Size 12″ × 14⅛″._)
_From the collection of Basil Dighton, Esq._]
[Illustration:
PLATE XXXII.
“_The English Dressing-Room._”
_Stipple-Engraving by P. W. Tomkins, after Chas. Ansell._
(_Published 1789. Size 7½″ × 9½″._)
_From the collection of Frederick Behrens, Esq._]
[Illustration:
PLATE XXXIII.
“_The French Dressing-Room._”
_Stipple-Engraving by P. W. Tomkins, after Chas. Ansell._
(_Published 1789. Size 7½″ × 9½″._)
_From the collection of Frederick Behrens, Esq._]
[Illustration:
PLATE XXXIV.
_“January” (“The Months”)._
_Stipple-Engraving by F. Bartolozzi, R.A., after_
_Wm. Hamilton, R.A._
(_Published 1788. Size 10″ × 12″._)
_From the collection of J. H. Edwards, Esq._]
[Illustration:
PLATE XXXV.
_“Virtuous Love” (from Thomson’s “Seasons”)._
_Stipple-Engraving by F. Bartolozzi, R.A., after_
_Wm. Hamilton, R.A._
(_Published 1793. Size 6¼″ × 5″._)
_From the collection of Frederick Behrens, Esq._]
[Illustration:
PLATE XXXVI.
“_The Chanters._”
_Stipple-Engraving by J. R. Smith, after_
_Rev. Matthew W. Peters, R.A._
(_Published 1787. Size 7⅝″._)
_From the collection of Frederick Behrens, Esq._]
[Illustration:
PLATE XXXVII.
“_Mdlle. Parisot._”
_Stipple-Engraving by C. Turner, A.R.A.,_
_after J. J. Masquerier._
(_Published 1799. Size 6⅝″ × 8⅜″._)
_From the collection of Mrs. Julia Frankau,_
_to whom it was presented by
the late Sir Henry Irving._]
[Illustration:
PLATE XXXVIII.
“_Maria._”
_Stipple-Engraving by P. W. Tomkins, after J. Russell, R.A._
(_Published 1791. Size 4¾″ × 6¼″._)
_From the collection of Frederick Behrens, Esq._]
[Illustration:
PLATE XXXIX.
“_Commerce._”
_Stipple-Engraving by M. Bovi, after J. B. Cipriani, R.A._
_and F. Bartolozzi, R.A._
(_Published 1795. Size 18⅜″ × 7⅝″._)
_From the collection of Basil Dighton, Esq._]
[Illustration:
PLATE XL.
“_The Love-Letter._”
_A very rare Stipple-Engraving, probably by Thos. Cheesman._
_and F. Bartolozzi, R.A._
(_Size 8¾″ × 6¾″._)
_From the collection of Major E. F. Coates, M.P._]