Of this celebrated man no portrait was ever painted, for he would never
sit to any artist. After his return from one of his journies to the
continent, he was showing to a friend the various things he had brought
with him, and among others a new dress made in Saxony: "it was a sort of
great coat, yet graceful in its appearance, and ornamented with sober
magnificence. His visiter exclaimed, 'This is the robe in which you
should be painted by Romney; I will implore the favour on my knees if
you will let me array you in this very picturesque habiliment, and
convey you instantly in a coach to Cavendish-square.'--'O fie!' replied
Howard, in the mildest tone of his gentle voice, 'O fie! I did not kneel
to the emperor.'--'And I assure you,' said the petitioner in answer to
the tender reproof, 'I would never kneel to you, if you were not above
an emperor in my estimation!' The philanthropist was touched by the
cordial eulogy, but continued firm in his resolution of not granting his
portrait to all the repeated requests of important affections."--
_Hayley's Life of Romney_.