,,the ,,langham ,,series ,,an ,,illustrated ,,collection ,,of ,,art ,,monographs ,,edited ,,by ,,selwyn ,,brinton1 ,m4,a4 ,,the ,,langham ,,series ,,of ,,art ,,monographs ,,edited ,,by ,,selwyn ,,brinton1 ,m4,a4 ,vol4 ,i4--,,bartolozzi ,,and ,,his ,,pupils ,,in ,,england4 ,by ,,selwyn ,,brinton1 ,m4,a4 ,vol4 ,,ii4--,,colour-,,prints ,,of ,,japan4 ,by ,,edward ,f4 ,,strange1 ,assistant ,keeper in the ,victoria and ,albert ,museum4 ,vol4 ,,iii4--,,the ,,illustrators ,,of ,,montmartre4 ,by ,,frank ,l4 ,,emanuel4 ,vol4 ,,iv4--,,auguste ,,rodin4 ,by ,,rudolf ,,dircks1 ,author of ,verisimilitudes1 ,the ,libretto1 c4 ,vol4 ,v4--,,venice ,,as ,,an ,,art ,,city4 ,by ,,albert ,,zacher4 ,vol4 ,,vi4--,,london ,,as ,,an ,,art ,,city4 ,by ,mrs4 ,,steuart ,,erskine1 ,author of ,lady ,diana ,beauclerk1 c4 ,vol4 ,,vii4--,,nuremberg4 ,by ,h4 ,,uhde-,,bernays4 ,vol4 ,,viii4--,,the ,,eighteenth ,,century ,,in ,,english ,,caricature4 ,by ,,selwyn ,,brinton1 ,m4,a41 ,author of ,bartolozzi and his ,pupils in ,england1 c4 ,in ,preparation ,,rome ,,as ,,an ,,art ,,city ,,and ,,italian ,,architecture ,these volumes will be artistically presented and profusely illustrated1 both with colour plates and photogravures1 and neatly bound in art canvas4 #as4 #f;d4 net1 or in leather1 #bs4 #f;d4 net4 ,,recruits4 ,by ,h4 ,w4 ,bunbury4 ,,the ,,eighteenth ,,century ,,in ,,english ,,caricature ,,by ,,selwyn ,,brinton1 ,m4,a41 ,author of ,,bartolozzi ,,and ,,his ,,pupils ,,in ,,england1 ,,etc4 ,a4 ,,siegle #b ,,langham ,,place1 ,,london1 ,w4 #aijd ,to ,friends beyond the ,seas this ,study ,of a ,common ,heritage in ,english ,art ,all rights reserved ,,contents ,page ,i4 ,,introductory #a ,,ii4 ,,the ,,comedy ,,of ,,vice #h ,,iii4 ,,the ,,comedy ,,of ,,society #bi ,,iv4 ,,the ,,comedy ,,of ,,politics #ed ,v4 ,,the ,,comedy ,,of ,,life #gd ,,illustrations ,,recruits4 ,by ,henry ,william ,bunbury ,frontispiece ,,shrimpers 7,tail-piece74 ,by ,thomas ,rowlandson ,page #g ,,morning4 ,by ,william ,hogarth ,facing page #aj ,,the ,,distrest ,,poet4 ,by ,william ,hogarth #ab ,,marriage ,,la ,,mode4 ,by ,william ,hogarth #bj ,,the ,,family ,,piece4 ,by ,h4 ,w4 ,bunbury #db ,a ,,fashionable ,,salutation4 ,by ,h4 ,w4 ,bunbury #dh ,,lumps ,,of ,,pudding4 ,by ,h4 ,w4 ,bunbury ,page #ec ,,britannia ,,between ,,death ,,and ,,the ,,doctors4 ,by ,james ,gillray ,facing page #fd ,,armed ,,heroes4 ,by ,james ,gillray #ff ,,buonaparte ,,as ,,king-,,maker4 ,by ,james ,gillray #fh ,,nelson ,,recruiting ,,with ,,his ,,brave ,,tars ,,after ,,the ,,battle ,,of ,,the ,,nile4 ,by ,thomas ,rowlandson #hb ,,filial ,,affection7,colour-print74 ,by ,thomas ,rowlandson #hf ,a ,,ball ,,at ,,the ,,hackney ,,assembly ,,rooms4 ,by ,thomas ,rowlandson #ij ,a ,,theatrical ,,candidate4 ,by ,thomas ,rowlandson #ib ,,old ,,joseph ,,nollekens ,,and ,,his ,,venus4 ,by ,thomas ,rowlandson #id ,i ,,introductory ,the word ,caricature does not lend itself easily to precise definition4 ,etymologically it connects itself with the ,italian caricare1 to load or charge1 thus corresponding precisely in derivation with its ,french equivalent ,charge2 and--save a yet earlier reference in ,sir ,thomas ,browne--it first appears1 as far as ,i am aware1 in that phrase of ,no4 #ecg of the ,spectator1 ,those burlesque pictures which the ,italians call caracaturas4 ,putting the dry bones of etymology from our thought the essence1 the life-blood of the thing itself1 is surely this--the human creature's amusement with itself and its environment1 and its expression of that amusement through the medium of the plastic arts4 ,so that our caracatura1 our burlesque picture of life1 stands on the same basis as comedy or satire1 is1 in fact1 but comedy or satire finding its outlet in another form of expression4 ,and this is so true that wherever we find brilliant or trenchant satire of life there we may be sure1 too1 that caricature is not far absent4 ,pauson's grotesques are the correlative of the ,comedies of ,aristophanes2 and when the development of both is not correlative1 not simultaneous1 it is surely because one or other has been checked by political or social conditions1 which have been inherently antagonistic to its growth4 ,those conditions--favourable or antagonistic--it becomes part of our inquiry at this point to examine4 ,we have this to ask1 even granting that our burlesque picture is a natural1 almost a necessary1 accompaniment of human life1--was found1 we may quite safely assume1 in the cave-dwelling of primitive man1 who probably satirised with a flint upon its walls those troublesome neighbours of his1 the mammoth and the megatherium1--peers out upon us from the complex culture of the ,roman world in the clumsy graffito of the ,crucifixion1--emerges in the ,middle ,ages in a turbulent growth of grotesque1 wherein those grim figures of ,death or ,devil move through a maze of imagery often quaint and fantastic1 sometimes obscene or terrible--takes a fresh start in the ,passionals of ,lucas ,cranach1 and can be traced in ,england through her ,rebellion and ,restoration up to the very confines of the eighteenth century4 ,why1 we have to ask1 even granting that ,william ,hogarth's monster ,caricatura is thus omnivorous and omnipresent1 does he tower aloft in some countries and under some conditions to the majesty of a new art1 and in others dwindle down to puny ridicule8 ,taking the special subject of this little volume1 the eighteenth century itself1 we find little to interest us in ,french pictorial satire until that monstrous growth of political caricature created by the ,revolution4 ,italy in the same period has but little to offer us1 ,germany as little or less2 and it is to ,england that we must turn for the pictorial humour1 whether social or political1 of that interesting epoch4 ,and this because the ,england of that time is a self-conscious creature1 emergent from a successful struggle for freedom1 and strong enough to enjoy a hearty laugh--even at her own expense4 ,while the ,bastille still frowns over ,france1 the ,inquisition and the ,jesuits are an incubus upon ,spain and ,italy1 while ,germany is split up into little principalities1 ,dukedoms1 ,bishoprics1 ,palatinates1 ,england has already won for herself the great boon of freedom of thought1 freedom of speech1 freedom of religious and political opinion4 ,the satirist could here find expression and appreciation4 ,the birth of the pictorial satirist who is the subject of my first chapter coincides pretty closely with the creation of that ,tale of a ,tub1 of which ,dean ,swift1 in all the ripeness of his later talent1 exclaimed3 ,good ,god6 what genius ,i had when ,i wrote that book2 and no print from the artist's graver--even his ,stages of ,cruelty1 or his ,players dressing in a ,barn--could excel in coarseness of fibre the great satirist's ,strephon and ,chloe4 ,the pen of ,swift and the graver of ,hogarth in the early eighteenth century found in ,england conditions not very dissimilar to those which awaited ,philipon and ,honor ,daumier#a in ,paris of the early nineteenth century--that is1 a public which had come through a period of intensely active political existence to a complete and complex self-consciousness1 and which enjoyed 7just as in ,paris ,la ,caricature1 when suppressed1 found a speedy successor in ,le ,charivari7 sufficient political freedom to render criticism a possibility4 ,and from ,hogarth through ,sandby and ,sayer and ,woodward to ,henry ,william ,bunbury1 and onwards to that giant of political satire1 ,james ,gillray1 and his vigorous contemporary ,thomas ,rowlandson1 what a feast of material is spread before us2 what an insight we may gain1 not only into costume1 manners1 social life1 but into the detailed political development of a fertile and fascinating period of history4 ,in the earlier age ,hogarth is ready to present the very ,london of his time in the leve and drawing-room1 in the vice and extravagance of the rich1 in the industrious and thriving citizen1 and those lowest haunts where crime hoped to lurk undisturbed4 ,in the century's close ,gillray's pencil notes every change of the political kaleidoscope4 ,in his prints we seem almost to hear the muffled roar of the ,parisian mob1 clamorous for more blood in those days of ,terror2 or we watch the giant forms of ,pitt and ,buonaparte fronting each other as the strife comes nearer home to ,britain4 ,to attempt within the limits of this little volume to exhaust a subject so rich in magnificent material would be obviously impossible4 ,all that is permitted me here by imperative limits of space is a sketch1 where my matter tempts me sorely to a comprehensive study4 ,yet even the sketch may claim for itself a place beside the finished work of art1 if--while omitting the detail which it was unable to include--it has yet secured for us the main outlines1 the swing of the figure1 the balance of light and shadow1 the sweep and spacing of the horizon2 just as the massed clouds in a ,constable study can give us as keen artistic pleasure as the ,valley ,farm1 or his ,salisbury ,cathedral4 ,and thus ,i have attempted here not so much the history of the men1 the catalogue of their achieved work--interesting or valuable though such a history or catalogue might be--as to show the spirit of the age itself reflected most faithfully1 even when it seems most caricatured or burlesqued1 by their brush or graver or pencil2 to watch the grotesque visage and ignoble form of ,vice traced by ,hogarth's genius from the homes of ,london's luxury to her dens of hidden crime2 to study the more refined1 if somewhat weaker1 social satire of ,henry ,william ,bunbury2 to admire those magnificent political cartoons of ,james ,gillray--colossal and overwhelming1 even in their brutality or obscenity2 and finally1 to lose ourselves in the luxuriant and living growth of ,thomas ,rowlandson's pencil1 recreating for us the features of an age that was1 like himself1 vigorous1 buoyant1 and expansive1--that true ,age of ,caricature1 which is also known as the ,eighteenth ,century4 7,illustration without caption7 ,shrimpers4 ,,ii ,,the ,,comedy ,,of ,,vice ,the eighteenth century1 which was to witness the magnificent and1 in its own way1 unequalled achievement of ,english art in the paintings of ,reynolds1 ,romney1 ,gainsborough1 ,hoppner2 in the engravings of ,bartolozzi1 ,dalton1 ,john ,raphael ,smith1 and ,william ,henry ,ryland2 in the caricatures1 which we have just noted1 of ,bunbury1 ,rowlandson1 and ,gillray1 was to open1 not inappropriately1 with the appearance and speedy recognition of a very individual and very characteristic genius--with the pictured comedies of ,william ,hogarth4 ,a first survey of my subject led me for a moment to doubt how far my title would cover the creations of that incomparable humourist4 ,he is1 indeed1 more than caricaturist in the sense in which we shall use this term of his artistic successors4 ,his pictured moralities teem with portraits drawn from the very life4 ,he is a satirist1 as mordant and merciless as ,juvenal1 or1 in his own day1 the terrible ,dean of ,st4 ,patrick's2 from his house in ,leicester ,fields he looks out upon the ,london of his day1 and probes with his remorseless brush or graver to the hidden roots of its follies1 its vices1 and crimes4 ,he may be said to have created1 says one of his early biographers1#b a new species of painting1 which may be termed the moral comic2 meaning1 thereby1 that the instinctive humour of the man's art is generally 7not1 as we shall see1 always7 directed to some moral purpose1 some lesson of conduct to be thence derived4 ,that is just where ,hogarth connects himself1 inevitably and intimately1 with the ,puritan ,england which had preceded him4 ,not for nothing had that century1 into whose last years he was born1 seen the great uprising of ,puritan ,england1--the struggle for civil and political liberty1 and its achievement1--the ,ironsides of ,cromwell with ,bible and uplifted sword4 ,that intensity of moral and spiritual conviction1 that earnestness about life and its issues was yet in the nation's blood1 and must find some outlet in the returning world of art1 which its own austerity had banished2 but1 in another sense1 mark how truly ,hogarth connects himself with the later caricaturists of the coming age4 ,by ,william ,hogarth ,,morning ,beauty does not enter into his art1--most of all in that highest sense of plastic beauty of form1 which the great ,italians had so intensely felt1 which the great ,english school1 uprising in his own day1 was in some measure to recover4 ,at most a comely buxom wench steals sometimes slyly into his canvas or copper-plate--the two servant-maids in his print of ,morning at ,covent ,garden1 whom the roysterers turning out from ,tom ,king's coffee-house are kissing in the ,piazza2 the demure and pretty ,miss ,west1 looking over a joint hymn book with the amorous--but industrious--apprentice2 or that coy minx--most delicious of them all--who has just dozed off amid ,the ,sleeping ,congregation1 with her prayer-book opened at the fascinating page of ,matrimony1 and to whose luxuriant charms of face and form the eyes of the fat old clerk are stealthily directed4 ,to ,hogarth these are the incidents1 not the inspiration1 of his art4 ,lavater1 that keen observer1 aimed near to the mark when he wrote3 ,il ne faut pas attendre beaucoup de noblesse de ,hogarth4 ,le vrai beau n'toit gure la porte de ce peintre4 ,it is1 indeed1 one of the unconscious ironies of art history that the artist1 whose work shows least of its influence or attraction1 should have devoted the one offspring of his pen to an ,analysis of ,beauty4 ,but it is when we turn to the humour of life1 even in its most sordid tragedies1 that his real strength appears4 ,quelle richesse inexprimable--says ,lavater again1 and no less justly--dans les scnes comiques ou morales de la vie4 ,none like ,hogarth has characterised the lowest types of modern humanity1 has better depicted the drunken habits of the dregs of the people1 the follies of life1 and the horrors of vice4 ,and it is just here1 as ,i have hinted1 that ,hogarth connects himself with the later caricaturists4 ,it were quite possible to treat a purely moral story1 such as that of ,the ,industrious and the ,idle ,apprentice1 in a purely moral sentiment2 but this is just what our artist cannot bring himself to do4 ,he must have that touch of nature1 and of humour1 which makes the whole world kin4 ,he must introduce the quarrelling cat and dog into the office scene between ,west and ,goodchild1 or the feline visitant whose apparition through the chimney disturbs ,thomas ,idle's unhallowed slumbers2 he must accentuate the gormandising guests in the ,sheriff's banquet1 and the humours of the crowd even in a ,tyburn execution4 ,and in other subjects--where the moral lesson is either absent or less intrusive--the man's fancy runs absolutely riot in humorous observation4 ,the ,distressed ,poet1 with the baby squalling in his bed1 the poor wife stitching at his solitary pair of breeches1 and a strapping milkmaid clamouring for payment of her account2 ,the ,enraged ,musician1 with every conceivable pandemonium of noise congregated beneath his window2 above all1 ,the ,sleeping ,congregation1 collected in a conventicle of very early ,georgian design1 and unanimously occupied in carrying out the precept of their reverend pastor's text1 ,come unto me 444 and ,i will give ,rest--save only those two vigilant old ladies1 perhaps pillars of the edifice1 and the clerk to whose interest in the sleeping nymph of the next pew ,i have already alluded--are studies in pure humour4 ,by ,william ,hogarth ,,the ,,distrest ,,poet ,but to multiply examples of ,hogarth's humour would come very near to cataloguing his every work4 ,let us turn now from that work to the man himself1 and study something of those conditions of life of which his genius gives us our most vivid impress4 ,william ,hogarth was born in #afig or #afih1 in ,london1 but of a ,westmorland family 7,hoggard would seem to have been the earlier spelling71 one member of which1 the artist's father1 after working as a schoolmaster in ,westmorland1 had settled in ,london as corrector of the ,press4 ,he must have been a man of some education1 since we hear of a ,latin-,english ,dictionary of his composition1 though there seems some uncertainty as to whether it ever got beyond the initial stage of ,,ms42 and his son ,william was early in life bound 'prentice to a silversmith named ,gamble1 his business being to learn the graving of arms and ciphers upon plate4 ,his marvellous gift for caricature soon showed itself2 and a tavern quarrel at ,highgate seems to have afforded subject for an early manifestation of his talent in this direction4 ,as the period of his 'prenticeship came to its close he entered an ,academy of drawing in ,st4 ,martin's ,lane1 where he may have come under ,sir ,james ,thornhill's notice2 but seems to have failed to show any exceptional proficiency in his life studies4 ,form1 we have seen already1 lay outside--in certain manifestations entirely outside--the peculiar limits of his temperament4 ,shop-bills and coats-of-arms were probably the mainstay of his livelihood at this period1 though plates for books were beginning1 little by little1 to come in his way2 but when in #agcj he clandestinely married the daughter of ,sir ,james ,thornhill1 the ,court painter was so incensed at this msalliance that he refused the young couple any acknowledgment4 ,it was at this very time that ,hogarth created his first work of individual genius in that superb series of plates to which he gave the name of ,the ,harlot's ,progress2 and it is said that ,lady ,thornhill designedly placed one of the plates in her husband's way1 only to elicit the grudging praise of3 ,the man who can produce these can also maintain a wife without a portion4 ,but the ice was broken1 and the ensuing thaw led to a complete reconciliation4 ,sir ,james ,thornhill treated his daughter and son-in-law more generously1 and lived with them in future till his death in #agcc4 ,at the same time the ,series which had brought about domestic reconciliation1 had also brought fame and fortune to the artist4 ,the third scene of the ,progress1 in which the erring girl is arrested1 contained1 it would seem1 a clever portrait of ,sir ,james ,gonson1 a magistrate whose energies were famous in this direction4 ,the print is passed around at a meeting of the ,board of ,treasury1 at which ,sir ,james is present2 every ,lord must repair to the print-shop1 to obtain for himself a copy2 the vogue was started1 and twelve hundred subscribers entered their names for the ,series1 the price of each set being one guinea4 ,william ,hogarth was now well started in his career of fame2 and deservedly so1 for in some respects ,the ,harlot's ,progress is one of the most characteristic and the most brilliant of his creations4 ,its popularity was immense and instantaneous2 it was played in pantomime1 and reproduced on ladies' fans4 ,but if he did not surpass the genius of his first invention he certainly came very close to it1 both in the ,rake's ,progress and in his ,marriage la ,mode4 ,each of these ,series1 as well as that of the ,industrious and ,idle ',prentices are complete stories1 worked out to their dnoment-- tragedies1 one might say1 written with a burlesque pencil1 of eighteenth-century life4 ,and if the note struck seem sometimes too insistent1 if the ,industrious one be too sleek1 too self-complacent1 the prodigal too immersed in sensual folly and indulgence2 if the blacks seem too black1 and the whites too white1 and those half-tones which accord the values of life be generally missing2 if a more refined age demands a subtler analysis1 a more artistic treatment1 can we yet deny the truth and necessity of the eternal lesson8 ,have we yet reached1 or shall we ever reach1 an age in which ineptitude1 insolence1 idleness1 fail to work out their inevitable resultant8 ,or is it less true for us than for those earlier ages--the message which the writer of that magnificent thirty-eighth ,psalm reiterates1 as though he would drive deep into our souls its lasting verity4 ,put thou thy trust in the ,lord and be doing good2 dwell in the land and verily thou shall be fed4 ,delight thou in the ,lord2 and he shall give thee thy heart's desire4444 ,yet a little while and the ungodly shall be clean gone 444 the ,lord shall laugh him to scorn1 for he hath seen that his day is coming4 ,just as insistent1 just as certain of his concluding verdict as the ,psalmist is the eighteenth-century engraver and humorist4 ,even his own day may already have seen the ungodly set high above men in social position1 quoted with respect in financial circles1 perhaps even a regular attendant at the local conventicle1--flourishing1 in short1 to quote that inimitable phrase of the same ,psalmist1 like a green bay-tree2 but he1 at least will admit no doubt of the ultimate conclusion4 ,in all his delineation1 says ,mr4 ,austin ,dobson1#c with fine insight1 as in that famous design of ,prudhon1 we see ,justice and ,vengeance following hard upon the criminal4 ,he knew1 no doubt1 as well as we1 that not seldom 7humanly speaking7 the innocent are punished and the guilty go at large4 ,what matter6 that message should not be preached by him at any rate4 ,so he drew his ',bogey' bigger 444 and drove his graver deeper in the copper4 ,yet it is to be noted that from the first his genius is attracted to social satire4 ,the ,masquerades and ,operas1 ,burlington ,gate1 #agbd 7which he calls in his own notes ,the ,taste of the ,times7--the first plate which he published on his own account1--was popular enough to be freely pirated4 ,the ,wanstead ,assembly brings him close to the later caricaturists2 ,the ,burning of ,rumps shows us a ,london crowd beside old ,temple ,bar1 with its ghastly trophies of ,jacobite relics2 and all these lead up to his later success in the two ,progresses and the ,marriage ,series4 ,in #agcc he had settled in his house in ,leicester ,fields1 with its gilt sign of the ,golden ,head--the sign which he had fashioned and gilded himself1 in the similitude of the painter ,van ,dyck2 and here the most of his life was to be spent1 varied by visits in later years to the villa which he then acquired at ,chiswick4 ,he is now fairly facing his life work1 and a brief survey of this is all we can hope to attempt in the limits of this chapter4 ,i have already mentioned ,the ,harlot's ,progress1 and its immediate successor1 ,the ,rake's ,progress1 the subjects of which speak for themselves4 ,the country maiden's arrival in ,london1 the breakfast scene with her ,jewish admirer1 and the scene in ,bridewell are to be noted among the prints of the first ,series2 but all are full of character and interest4 ,in ,the ,rake's ,progress the second plate introduces us to a side of ,hogarth's talent which he was to develop later on more fully in his ,marriage la ,mode--namely1 his satire of eighteenth-century life of fashion4 ,the awkward youth who in the plate before had come into his fortune is now in the full of its enjoyment3 become a fine gentleman1 he holds his morning leve of those numerous parasites who minister to his vanity or pleasure4 ,the foreign element 7which ,hogarth in his heart detested7 is here to the front in the figure of the ,french dancing-master1 trying a new step1 with the fiddle in his hand2 behind him the matre d'armes1 ,dubois1 is making a lunge with his epe de combat1 while ,figg1 a noted ,english prize-fighter1 watches his movements with an expression of contempt4 ,another portrait is ,bridgman1 a well-known landscape gardener of the time1 who is proposing to our young hero some scheme for his estate2 while the seated and periwigged figure who runs his fingers over the harpsichord has been suggested as that of the great composer ,handel4 ,but when we start forth to knock down the watch1 beat the rounds1 intrigue with the fair1 and generally keep up the character of a young blood or macaroni1 a little timely assistance is often welcome2 and is here proffered 7with hope of due remuneration7 by the villainous-looking figure on the prodigal's left1 whose recommendation is seen in the letter he presents3 ,the ,capt4 is a man of honour1 his sword may serve you4 ,meanwhile1 a jockey holds before his master the cup he has won2 and a tame poet in the corner seems to be invoking the ,muses in unmerited praise of the same patron4 ,by ,william ,hogarth ,,marriage ,,la ,,mode ,,plate ,,ii ,in his next plate ,hogarth passes to a scene of indescribable orgy2 but all this satire on fashionable extravagance1 which we have just noted in detail1 is still more fully developed in his masterly ,series of ,marriage la ,mode4 ,hogarth's oil paintings of this complete ,series are in the ,london ,national ,gallery1 and it is instructive to compare these with the prints1 the two first pictures of the ,series being especially attractive in treatment4 ,the second of these1 representing the morning1 when husband and wife awake to ennui from a night of dissipation1 is peculiarly happy in spacing and composition1 as my illustration may show2 while ,plate ,,iv4 of this ,series1 showing a reception of the ,countess while at her toilet1 gives an opening for a clever satire by our artist of the fashionable society of his day1 which is as brilliant as any ,venetian scene by ,longhi1 and the ensuing plates point the sequel to a life of folly4 ,nor has the artist forgotten here to give a side blow to the foreign element--which aroused his hostility1 from the ,french dancing-master or perruquier to the great ,italian ,masters--,correggio's ,jupiter and ,io finding a place on the walls of her ladyship's bedroom1 just as the ,choice of ,paris had been included in the ,rake's leve2 and we shall note very soon that these allusions were not incidental1 but far more probably intended4 ,for ,hogarth had now in these three series attained a reputation which he probably increased by his delightful studies of pure humour1 among which ,modern ,midnight ,conversation1 ,the ,sleeping ,congregation1 ,strolling ,players in a ,barn1 ,the ,laughing ,audience1 ,the ,enraged ,musician1 and ,the ,distressed ,poet are to be especially commended1 as well as that fine series of ,the ,four ,times of the ,day1 in which last ,morning 7of which ,i am able to give an illustration7 is certainly a masterpiece4 ,his estimate of his own powers had increased1 and now led him to leave that path in which his genius had already found its intimate expression1 and to seek to become that which he was not and never could be--a great imaginative and historical painter4 ,without ever having really studied the great ,masters of the past1 without comprehending either their merits or demerits1 he declared that it were an easy task for him to surpass even ,correggio on his own ground3 the result was1 if not disaster1 at least something very near to it4 ,the ,sigismunda1 which he had painted with the above object1 was returned on his hands by the purchaser4 ,it hangs now1 indeed1 in the ,national ,gallery1 but ,i do not imagine many serious critics will prefer it to the marvellous chiaroscuro1 the refined ideal beauty of the ,master of ,parma4 ,yet that delicious ,shrimp ,girl which hangs near it1 painted with almost a ,fragonard's gaiety of palette1 shows what our artist might have achieved had he gone1 like ,morland1 for his subjects to the common life of his own country4 ,the staircase paintings of ,st4 ,bartholomew's ,hospital are not likely1 ,i think1 to induce us to revise the above opinion2 and ,sir ,joshua's criticism is here so apposite and so just that ,i need no excuse for quoting it in some detail4 ,after this admirable artist had spent the greater part of his life in an active1 busy1 and1 we may add1 successful attention to the ridicule of life2 after he had invented a new species of dramatic painting in which probably he will never be equalled2 and had stored his mind with infinite materials to explain and illustrate the domestic and familiar scenes of common life which were generally1 and ought to have been always1 the subject of his pencil1--he very imprudently1 or rather presumptuously1 attempted the great historical style1 for which his previous habits had by no means prepared him3 he was indeed so unacquainted with the principles of this style that he was not even aware that any artificial preparation was necessary4 ,it is to be regretted that any part of the life of such a genius should be fruitlessly employed4 ,this criticism1 which is all the more telling from its reticence1 was keenly felt1 and probably never forgiven1 by our artist2 to us it is of value critically as marking the cleavage between himself and the great ,english school of the eighteenth century1 which sought its inspiration otherwise than in his comedy of life4 ,but with a tenacity1 with a stubborn faith in his genius which we cannot but admire1 he holds firm to his own view of art4 ,that is in the character of the man--sound1 honest1 sincere even where he is mistaken or narrow--just as we see him in his self-portrait of the ,london ,gallery1 with his faithful ,trump sitting in front1 as who should say1 ,this is my master1 ,hogarth--and let me just see the dog who will dare bark at him4 ,and so when his critics barked or railed he held but the more stubbornly to his opinion2 he rated the more mercilessly those black masters1 whose faults or whose supreme genius it needed a deeper study than he had given them to understand2 and when ,sigismunda1 that was to rival ,allegri1 comes back upon his hands he prices it obstinately at #djj1 even in his will insisting that it should not be sold below that sum4 ,but now1 not content with attempting to eclipse the great ,italian masters1 not content with quarrelling with the critics1 in the same reckless confidence1 with the same bull-dog courage and tenacity he will descend from his artistic charger to meet these last upon their own ground1 and armed only with those weapons so dear to them1 but new to his untried hands--the goose quill and the ink bottle--will tear down the veil that conceals ,beauty1 and teach them what in future to write1 what to select1 what to admire6 ,i am treating in this chapter ,william ,hogarth as a delineator of the comedy of life1 not as an art critic1 nor as a philosopher2 and it is not my painful duty to drag the gentle reader through the verbose ,preface to a no less verbose ,introduction1 to find ourselves at the end of these still in front of the author's main problem of the ,analysis of ,beauty4 ,the work probably suffered from the presence of more than one obliging literary--or would-be literary--friend4 ,we hear of a ,mr4 ,ralph1 from ,chiswick1 volunteering his services in this direction1 of a ,mr4 ,nichols following him2 and of the ,rev4 ,mr4 ,townley being much busied on that ,preface1 wherein ,lomazzo rubs shoulders with ,michelangelo and ,protogenes1 and where the modern mortal hears with astonishment of the sublime part which is a real je ne sai quoi1 and which1 being the most important part to all connoisseurs1 ,i shall call a harmonious propriety1 which is a touching or moving unity1 or a pathetic agreement1 c4 ,but it would be unfair to judge the ,analysis by this preface1 which admittedly befogged even poor ,hogarth himself4 ,suffice to say here that he seeks to divide his elusive element1 which might have defied even the dialectic of ,socrates1 into its principles of ,fullness1 ,variety1 ,uniformity1 ,simplicity1 ,intricacy1 and ,quantity2 all which co-operate in the production of beauty1 mutually correcting1 and restraining each other occasionally2 and that the essay1 even if entirely inadequate as a philosophical treatment of the subject1 contains many useful suggestions and shrewd observations4 ,it had been enough surely for one short life-time to have been the greatest pictorial humorist of his age1 to have tried to climb above ,allegri and ,titian1 and to have traced in thought ,beauty's self to her hidden source2 but behold our ill-judged artist plunging now1 with equal assurance and courage1 into that tumultuous sea of ,english eighteenth-century political strife4 ,the result was this time fatal to his peace1 and probably even to his life4 ,john ,wilkes was not a very safe man to attack carelessly1 nor yet likely to remain quiescent under this treatment2 and ,hogarth's print of the ,times1 published in ,september of #agfb1 provoked a very savage rejoinder in ,no4 #ag of the ,north ,briton4 ,hogarth's reply was a caricature of the popular leader2 who then engaged one of his supporters1 named ,churchill1 to retaliate in an angry epistle to the artist4 ,hogarth again replies with the graver--that terrible weapon in his practised hands--and draws a portrait of ,the ,bruiser1 once the ,reverend ,churchill1 shown in the form of a dancing bear1 with club plastered with lies1 and a tankard of porter at his side4 ,never1 says one of his earlier critics1 did two angry men with their abilities throw mud with less dexterity2 but during this period of pictorial and poetic warfare 7so virulent and disgraceful to all the parties7 ,hogarth's health declined visibly4 ,a presentiment of his end seems to have come to him at his own table among his friends1 and he said to them3 ,my next undertaking shall be the ',end of all things4' ,the next day his graver was already busy with the strange plate which he called ,the ,bathos1 where ,father ,time is seen dying1 his broken scythe and hour-glass beside him1 amid a chaos of ruin all around4 ,this was actually his last work1 for a month later1 on the #bhth of ,october1 #agfd1 having returned in weak health from ,chiswick to his house in ,leicester ,fields1 he died suddenly of an aneurysm on his chest4 ,his tomb at ,chiswick1 where his widow came to join him twenty-five years later 7in #aghi71 was adorned in relief with the mask of ,comedy1 the wreath of laurel1 the palette and the book on ,beauty2 and it was his friend ,garrick who is said to have composed those lines of his epitaph1 with which we too may take our farewell of the great artist of comedy3 444 ,whose pictur'd morals charm the mind1 ,and through the eye correct the heart4 ,if genius fire thee1 reader1 stay2 ,if nature touch thee1 drop a tear2 ,if neither move thee1 turn away1 ,for ,hogarth's honoured dust lies here4 ,,iii ,,the ,,comedy ,,of ,,society ,in the work of ,henry ,william ,bunbury we strike an entirely different note to that of the artist we have just studied4 ,the contrast is1 in its way1 refreshing as well as instructive4 ,just as ,hogarth appears 7b4 #afih7 at almost the first years of the eighteenth century1 so ,bunbury dates 7b4 #agej7 from exactly its dividing year2 therefore he belongs no longer to those days of ,swift and ,bolingbroke and ,walpole1 of ,jacobite intrigue and ,hanoverian power1 but to the period of the ,american war1 and those ominous thunderclouds preceding the ,french ,revolution4 ,again1 just as ,william ,hogarth belongs entirely to the people1 and shares profoundly both their best and worst qualities1 so the artist we are now considering belongs no less definitely to the aristocratic class--is a member of a ,suffolk family which dated its ,english origin to the ,conquest1 which had gained its knighthood from ,queen ,elizabeth1 and its baronetcy from the ,merry ,monarch2 and had himself in his younger days made the grand tour of ,france and ,italy1 and later held a commission in his ,majesty's ,militia1 and the post of equerry to the ,duke of ,york4 ,something of the amateur--,i have written elsewhere#d--remains through all the work of ,bunbury1 who left politics practically out of his field of subjects1 and whose social qualities were one of his greatest charms4 ,he married ,catherine ,horneck1 whose sister ,mary had been painted--and1 it is said1 proposed to--by ,sir ,joshua ,reynolds1 who had elsewhere painted these two pretty women together2 and when he settled in the country with his young wife1 his circle of friends came to include ,oliver ,goldsmith1 the actor ,garrick1 ,hoppner1 and ,sir ,joshua--the latter being godfather to his second son1 ,henry1 and painting his eldest as ,master ,bunbury in #agha--;and last1 but not least1 ,dr4 ,samuel ,johnson4 ,the great ,doctor had in fact presented to the young couple their family ,bible--a fact which is recorded upon the fly-leaf in our artist's own handwriting4 ,of the two sons that were born to ,henry and ,catherine ,bunbury1 their special hopes seem to have centred on the eldest1 ,charles ,john1 the lovely child for whom ,sir ,joshua himself had improvised fairy tales to keep him amused while busy on his portrait2 but those hopes were not fulfilled1 for his manhood did not bear out the promise of his schooldays1 and he died comparatively early4 ,bunbury's caricatures commence as early as his foreign tour1 though some of the best refer to his later military life in ,england2 especially to the time when he was in camp at ,coxheath1 during the troubled days of the ,american ,war4 ,for we have now left far behind the days of ,swift and ,bolingbroke and ,oxford1 of ,marlborough's battles1 and of the great political settlement which marked the ,hanoverian succession4 ,dettingen and ,fontenoy are now old soldiers' tales1 and the invasion of ,england by ,charles ,stuart1 the younger ,pretender--in which connection we may remember ,hogarth's print of the march of the ,guards to ,finchley--lies equally behind us3 we have passed through the long ,ministry of ,walpole and that of the elder ,pitt1 we have seen the war with ,france1 and been stirred by ,wolfe's victory and heroic death upon the ,heights of ,abraham4 ,in a word1 we have turned the corner with the year of our artist's birth1 and are going downwards into the latter half of the eighteenth century4 ,george ,,iii4 has now taken his father's place upon the throne of ,england3 the ,tories have returned again to be a power in political life as in the days of ,bolingbroke1 and against the ,king's friends1 the party subservient to ,court influence1 there appears in the nation a very strong democratic movement with ,john ,wilkes as its leader and idol4 ,meanwhile the fatal policy of ,grenville had led to the alienation of the great ,american colonies1 and the passing of the ,stamp ,act in #agfe brought a complete rupture4 ,but this phase of politics enters but little into our present subject4 ,it is of more interest to inquire1 apart from this complex turbulent world of home or foreign politics1 what were the people themselves in their home life1 their outdoor life1 their tastes1 aspirations1 sympathies1 social surroundings8 ,i think we shall get an answer to some of these questions--an answer none the less valuable because it comes to us indirectly--from the study of ,henry ,william ,bunbury's social caricatures4 ,these appear to commence with 7or are in some special cases even earlier than7 his ,grand ,tour4 ,the delightful ,courier ,franois--published by ,bretherton at #acd ,new ,bond ,st4--belongs surely to this period2 and ,thomas ,wright1 in his valuable ,history of ,caricature1#e seems to bear this out when he says of ,bunbury that his earlier prints were etched and sold by ,james ,bretherton1 who published also the works of ,james ,sayer--an artist whom we shall meet in our next chapter4 ,in this print the ,courier cracks a long whip as he covers the ground1 mounted upon a steed almost as long1 as tough and wiry-looking as himself4 ,a short sword is at his side1 and he wears enormous jack-boots4 ,in the distance rise peaked mountains1 perhaps those of ,southern ,france or ,savoy2 and the inn to which he seems bound bears the legend1 ,poste ,royale1 with the three fleur-de-lys4 ,our ,courier belongs evidently to the ancien rgime1 and might indeed have stepped--or galloped--to us out of ,sterne's ,sentimental ,journey4 ,the drawing of these prints is clumsy and coarse in technique1 though full of character2 and1 in fact1 ,bunbury1 who seems to have begun to publish as early as #agga1f when he was only twenty-one years of age1 had little knowledge or skill in engraving1 and seems1 after some preliminary efforts which were not very successful1 to have entrusted the most of his work to be engraved by other hands4 ,thus ,james ,bretherton1 who was an engraver as well as a publisher1 was engaged on ,bunbury's prints from #aggb onwards2 though later we shall find ,rowlandson working as an engraver on ,bunbury's humorous sketches1 and necessarily1 from his strong individuality1 imparting to them much of his own character4 ,the pendant to the print just described is the ,courrier ,anglois1 and this was in fact both engraved and published by ,bretherton in #aggd 7it bears the inscription1 ,h4 ,w4 ,bunbury1 delineavit2 ,j4 ,bretherton1 fecit74 ,in fine contrast to the hurry of the lean ,frenchman his ,english counterpart ambles leisurely along1 as if time were for him a matter of entire indifference2 his horse is loaded with a heavy pack1 against which the rider comfortably leans1 while he puts a long horn to his lips4 ,he has no sword1 or any weapon of defence2 but the two grisly figures by the roadside dangling on a gibbet1 and his own inimitable expression of contented ease1 seem to imply that travelling is secure for him1 and ,justice prompt and keen-eyed4 ,to this period of the ,grand ,tour belong also1 in my judgment1 the ,tour to ,foreign ,parts 7drawn by ,bunbury1 engraved by ,bretherton1 published in #agii by ,j4 ,harris of ,cornhill71 the ,cuisine de la ,poste1 or ,the ,kitchen of a ,french ,post ,house 7,h4 ,bunbury1 invt41 published #agga by ,harris71 ,the ,englishman at ,paris1 #agfg1 the earliest in date of these 7,mr4 ,bunbury1 del42 ,js4 ,bretherton1 fecit1 published #agii by ,j4 ,harris71 and lastly the ,view on the ,pont ,neuf at ,paris 7,h4 ,w4 ,bunbury1 invt4 ,the engraver's name1 in my example1 is cut74 ,these prints are as precious in their detailed evidence of costume and methods of life as they are amusing4 ,they are snapshots caught--not with a camera1 but with an eye and pencil which were almost as quick--of the life of that old monarchic ,france as it was seen by the ,english traveller1 posting along the great high-roads1 or taking his walk through the town4 ,soon1 very soon1 all that life was to be swept away in the hurricane of political passion1 never in any of its quainter features to return2 that is why these jottings of our artist are to the student of this period so inestimably precious4 ,our travellers1 three in number1 and evidently portrayed from the life1 have just descended 7,a ,tour in ,foreign ,parts7 from the two-horse chaise1 which the postilion is driving into the yard4 ,the smallest of the three ,englishmen1 with ,chesterfield's ,letters under his arm1 approaches the obsequious host of the ,poste ,royale with a conciliatory smile2 the while the landlady is engaged in an assault upon her hen-roost1 and the servant-girl seems to aim at a similar result with the domestic cats4 ,and now 7,la ,cuisine de la ,poste7 we are introduced to the interior4 ,the pot-au-feu hangs in the great chimney over the blazing logs2 the village gossips are there--the postilion in his clumsy jack-boots1 the housewife1 and the cur with a friend sipping his glass of red wine--and on the walls ,louis le bien-aim1 with baton and perruque1 is balanced by ,sanctus ,paulus1 with a sword much bigger than himself1 or by the ,ordonnances de ,monsieur le ,duc de ,choiseul1 ,grand ,matre des ,postes et ,relais de ,france4 ,or1 again1 our travellers have arrived at last in the great city 7,englishman at ,paris71 and take their walk in the streets of ,la ,ville ,lumire4 ,a fat monk and a thin peasant seem both to regard our tourist with astonishment2 a dandy of the period is driving his chariot with a lackey hanging on behind1 and the indispensable perruquier is hurrying to an appointment4 ,or--in its way most curious of all--we see the ,pont ,neuf of those old days1 with the costumes and characters which then thronged its thoroughfare4 ,huge muffs seem to have been then the fashion1 often combined in use with umbrellas1 such as we now should call ,japanese sunshades2 the perruquier here1 too1 must have his muff1 though both hands are filled with the shaving-pot and curling tongs2 the trim abb in his short cassock1 even the truculent-looking postilion are all provided4 ,in the corner a poodle is being clipped1 just as we may see to-day beside the ,seine1 and is loudly vociferating his complaints2 and1 above all1 we see the quaint ensign of the trade1 which combined the shoeblack's lower art with that of the dog-barber4 ,aux ,quarante ,lions ,st4 ,louis ,dcrotte l',anglaise et ,tond des ,chiens ,proprement ,allons1 ,messeigneurs1 ,allons4 ,we must turn now to our artist's later prints of ,english eighteenth-century social life1 which are as full of humorous observation1 even though they have not the special interest of these notes on old ,france4 ,for1 like ,collet and ,sandby1 his predecessors in ,english caricature1 ,bunbury gave but little attention to political caricature4 ,sandby belongs almost 7b4 #agbe7 to the later years of ,hogarth's ascendency2 and1 though not a professional caricaturist1 being perhaps annoyed at that artist's depreciation of other painters1 many of his caricatures are directed against ,hogarth himself4 ,but ,sandby's best claim to our interest lies outside our present subject2 for his landscape work in steel engraving1 in aquatint and oil-colour1 had led him up to the discovery of the beauty and interest of water-colour painting1 in which art he may claim to be a pioneer4 ,he outlived ,john ,collet1 who had been born in the same year 7#agbe7 as himself1 and is said to have been a pupil of ,hogarth1 though ,lambert1 a landscape-painter1 is mentioned as giving him his first instructions4 ,certainly there is something which recalls ,hogarth in his drawings1 which deal1 as ,i have said1 with social satire rather than politics4 ,a ,disaster treats of a lady who has lost both hat and wig together by the same gust of wind2 her footman behind has caught one of these in each hand1 and the rustics1 who have preserved nature's covering1 laugh at her plight4 ,collet's picture of ,father ,paul in his ,cups1 or ,the ,private ,devotions of a ,convent1 was one of a series by our artist intended to illustrate ,sheridan's comedy of ,the ,duenna1 produced in #agge4 ,this was close upon the period of ,lord ,gordon's riots 7#aghj71 and the ,no ,popery feeling which then prevailed finds illustration in this work of ,collet's4 ,like ,sandby1 he worked also in water-colour1 and two of his sketches in this medium are mentioned by ,bryan as in the ,victoria and ,albert ,museum4 ,we have now returned with ,bunbury from his grand tour abroad1 and have to study him at his best in his sketches of ,english social life in town and country4 ,he was probably himself a good horseman1 and at any rate understood1 as thoroughly as even ,caran d',ache himself1 the humorous side of the equestrian art4 ,a whole series of his smaller prints deal with the rider and his steed4 ,how to pass a carriage1 ,how to lose your way1 ,how to travel on two legs in a frost1 are among the best of these4 ,another clever print shows the rider of a pulling animal with a mouth of cast-iron just clearing an old woman's barrow2 while among the larger prints we have ,richmond ,hill1 ,hyde ,park1 ,coxheath ,ho1 and ,warley ,ho1 and his inimitable print of a ,riding ,house1 published by ,bretherton in #aghj4 ,bunbury's caricatures of military subjects naturally connect themselves with the period when he was actively connected with the ,suffolk ,county ,militia1 more especially when1 in #aggh1 he was in camp at ,coxheath at the time of the war in ,america4 ,recruits1 of which ,i give an illustration1 may be included among these1 as well as the ,militia ,meeting and ,the ,deserter1 while ,a ,visit to the ,camp and ,a ,camp ,scene belong to the same class of subject4 ,the characterisation of ,recruits is excellent1 from the smart young officer to the rustic awkwardness of the two recruits1 and the more dangerous self-approval of the third2 behind we see a chawbacon grinning at the scene1 beneath the portentous sign of ,the ,old ,fortune1 with its painting of a wooden-legged and armless veteran4 ,a ,visit to the ,camp gives just such a scene--save that the characters are in eighteenth-century costume--as might be witnessed even to-day1 when parents1 aunts and cousins visit their young hopeful amid the martial surroundings of his volunteer camp2 and here1 too1 may be mentioned a series of single figures in military costume--a ,life-guardsman1 ,light ,infantryman1 ,light-horseman and a ,foot-soldier4 ,these were all published by ,macklin4 ,the foot-soldier's uniform appears in ,recruits2 the handsome uniform of the ,light-horseman1 with its plumed helmet and high boots1 in ,a ,visit to the ,camp1 and again in ,the ,deserter4 ,while ,bunbury was thus occupied with his military career his wife1 whom he had left in lodgings in ,pall ,mall1 gave him their second son1 to whom ,sir ,joshua ,reynolds stood godfather4 ,is it too much to suggest that this latter is the artist caricatured in that delightful ,family ,piece1 of which ,i also hope to give an illustration2 and which may have been suggested to our artist by the scene in his friend ,oliver ,goldsmith's masterpiece1 ,the ,vicar of ,wakefield8 ,to the next period of ,bunbury's life--when war's alarms were over and the camp at ,coxheath broken up--belong many of his best prints of ,english country life4 ,he was living now in ,suffolk1 and his print of the ,country ,club is said to have depicted to the life an institution of that nature in quiet old ,bury ,st4 ,edmunds2 while ,conversazione and the ,sulky ,club display the social efforts of the period1 and his famous ,barber's ,shop1 which ,knight engraved in #aghc1 comes into this part of his career4 ,by ,h4 ,w4 ,bunbury ,,the ,,family ,,piece ,to his visits to the ,west of ,england and ,north ,wales about this time we owe some charming sketches--the two ,wynnstay ,theatre ,tickets1 for instance1 dating from some visit to ,sir ,watkin ,williams ,wynn when theatricals were in the air at ,wynnstay1 and that lovely print of ,the ,modern ,graces1 drawn1 it is said1 from the three beautiful ,misses ,shakespere during the stay of our artist at ,aston2 while those two prints of ,peasants from the ,vale of ,llangollen hint at some pleasant ramble in the ,welsh hills4 ,bunbury excelled1 in fact1 in a class of subject which does not strictly fall within our notice1 since we are treating him here as a caricaturist1 but which must by no means be neglected by those who appreciate his work4 ,these are what may be characterised as fancy sketches1 which are often1 in his hand1 singularly graceful and charming in treatment and conception4 ,the ,song1 ,the ,dance1 and ,morning ,employments may be mentioned especially among these1 all these three having been entrusted to the graver of the famous ,bartolozzi4 ,indeed1 in writing of ,bartolozzi1#g ,i found it impossible to leave ,bunbury out of my subject1 and said of this artist3 ,he supplied the engraver with some charming drawings1 mostly of ,english girls in simple country dress--such as the ',sophia and ,olivia1' drawn for ,goldsmith's ',vicar of ,wakefield1' where one of the girls touches a guitar and the other holds a roll of music2 or1 again1 that very lovely print1 a copy of which is in the ,victoria and ,albert collection1 where three young girls dance hand in hand to the strain which a country lad seated near them is piping4 ',the ,song1' ,i added1 a pendant to this1 is no less charming4 ,love and ,honour is another of ,bartolozzi's prints from ,bunbury1 representing a ,light-,cavalry soldier taking leave of a pretty country girl1 and bearing the legend3 ,hark6 the drum commands ,honour6 ,i attend thee6 ,love1 ,i kiss thy hands6 ,lucy of ,leinster and ,bothwell's ,lament1 it may be noted1 are by the same engraver4 ,apart from its own beauty the engraving of ,the ,dance is of especial interest1 since the three figures dancing are said to be taken from those famous beauties of the time1 the ,misses ,gunning2 and in his ,love and ,hope1 ,love and ,jealousy1 and a ,tale of ,love1 which ,bartolozzi's pupil1 ,j4 ,k4 ,sherwin1 engraved for him1 he follows with success the same class of subject4 ,it is the sentimental charm1 which streams from the fair ,angelica ,kauffman's pencil and kept busy the best engravers of the time1 notably ,bartolozzi1 ,ryland1 ,sherwin1 and ,tomkins1 which here attracts the soldier and caricaturist1 who was also the devoted lover and husband2 and in these prints1 though the initiative and conception is certainly our artist's1 it is difficult to know how much we may not owe to the practised hand of such an engraver as ,francesco ,bartolozzi4 ,but certainly this side of art was treated by ,henry ,bunbury freely1 and with marked success1 and the list would be a long one if we were to attempt to chronicle all4 ,edwin and ,ethelinda1 ,black-eyed ,susan1 ,auld ,robin ,gray 7a charming colour-print1 also engraved by ,bartolozzi71 ,adelaide in the ,garden 7by the same engraver71 the charming ,songstress1 ,charlotte and ,werther's meeting1 ,margaret's ,tomb1 ,the ,girl of ,snowdon1 ,the ,girl of ,modena1 ,marianna1 ,cicely1 and that sweet ,country ,maid engraved by ,j4 ,r4 ,smith in #aghb1 and whose legend tells us3 ,no care but ,love can discompose her breast1 ,love of all cares the sweetest and the best4 ,his illustrations to ,macklin's ,shakespeare come nearer to our subject proper1 and here we have the whole ,falstaff episode very fully and very humourously illustrated2 while ,launce and his dog1 whom he would have to behave as a dog at all things1 may be compared in our artist's treatment of canine life with his ,black ,george1 the ,suffolk gamekeeper4 ,was it1 we may here ask1 in returning to the story of our artist's life1 that fatal quality1 the artistic temperament1 or was it his charming social qualities1 his frequent visits to great houses and corresponding expenses1 which had brought ,henry ,bunbury at this time into financial difficulties8 ,his military connection1 which had led to his appointment as ,a4,d4,c4 to the ,duke of ,york1 was too important to be neglected even under these conditions4 ,hence it is that in #aghh we find the ,bunburys settled in ,london at ,whitehall4 ,our artist was now1 from his ,court position and his own tastes1 thrown into the midst of ,london social life2 and this new life in all its features begins to reproduce itself in his caricatures4 ,hyde ,park1 ,the ,coffee ,house ,patriots1 ,the ,chop ,house1 ,richmond ,hill1 ,bethnal ,green1 and the large print of a ,fte at ,carlton ,house 7at which no doubt he was present in attendance on the ,duke71 belong to this period of his life4 ,bath he no doubt knew well already from his visits to the ,west of ,england1 where it was at this time the great rendezvous for fashionable society2 he must have himself moved in this society1 and enjoyed the study of its follies and foibles1 its airs and graces1 which the dramatists of the time love to reproduce4 ,for here certainly it was that he gained his inspiration for the ,long ,minuet1 as danced at ,bath1 with its line of stately dancers and its classical inscription-- ,longa ,tysonum minuit ,quid velit et possit rerum concordia discors4 ,this is one of ,bunbury's most famous prints2 and justly so1 for nothing could be truer to life1 especially to eighteenth-century life1 and probably to ,bath of the period1 than these bowing and pirouetting figures4 ,in his ,lumps of ,pudding we have the same theme1 but treated with a coarser note2 and yet some of the figures are excellent--notably the stout gentleman in the corner1 who has removed his wig to mop his heated brow--the enthusiast near him who is setting before a dame with a three-decker and its anchor in her hair1 and the group of four who are next the lady dancing with her pet dog4 ,the ,long ,minuet and this last belong to that class of caricatures in which the figures form a continued story--a line of humour which the ,germans have developed in ,fliegende ,bltter1 which ,caran d',ache has used with success in ,france1 and which ,pick-,me-,up1 when it was under the able direction of ,mr4 ,leslie ,willson1 scored many a good point with4 ,by ,h4 ,w4 ,bunbury ,a ,,fashionable ,,salutation ,to this class1 too1 belongs ,bunbury's famous ,propagation of a ,lie1 published in #aghg4 ,male figures only appear in this wonderful series2 though 7alas67 many of us have learnt from experience that the fair sex1 with all its charm1 is not always averse to broder the simple truth1 especially when a prospect of scandal is concerned4 ,bath1 we may feel sure1 would have offered in those days every facility of this nature1 if required2 and it may be fairly assumed that the mise-en-scne for this print was the same as that of the ,long ,minuet4 ,from ,dear me6 ,you don't say so6 we proceed through the stages of ,heigh ho6 ,o fye6 ,indeed6 ,there now6 to that lively dandy who exclaims ,ha6 ,ha6 and that irascible old gentleman who is shaking his fist at him with the reply1 ,god's zounds6 hold your tongue6 ,to the same line of social satire belong the ,front1 side1 and back view of a modern ,gentleman1 ,sunday ,evening1 ,morning1 or the ,man of ,taste1 and ,evening1 or the ,man of ,feeling 7engraved by ,j4 ,r4 ,smith in #agha71 and a ,fashionable ,salute1 called ,salutation ,tavern1 of which ,i give a plate from the print in my own collection4 ,the same engraver1 ,j4 ,r4 ,smith1 produced ,bunbury's sketch of ,lord ,derby on ,horseback1 following the coach of the lovely ,miss ,farren1#h which has the motto3 ,when ,i followed a lass that was froward and shy4 ,but the lass in question became less shy later1 and complied to his request to become ,countess of ,derby4 ,,lord ,,derby ,patience in a ,punt1 one of our artist's best-known prints1 was engraved by ,rowlandson1 and has acquired a good deal of his characteristic drawing in the process2 and ,i may mention briefly here some prints dealing with ,cambridge life--,the ,hope of the ,family1 ,admission at the ,university1 and ,pot ,fair1 ,cambridge 7dated #aggg71 as well as a series of very interesting original etchings by our artist in the ,british ,museum collection4 ,professor ,colvin tells me that a recently acquired collection there of ,italian prints included several by ,bunbury2 and among these may have been ,john ,jehu--,l',inghilterra1 #aggb1 and ,the ,dog-,barber--,la ,francia1 #aggb 7a theme which we have noted in his print of the ,pont ,neuf71 as they by their titles seem to be evidently intended for the ,italian market4 ,by far the most interesting1 in one way1 of these etchings by our artist--which date from the beginning of his career and are often very weak in drawing--is one which shows two boys1 or men1 one of whom is riding a pig2 and which belongs to the time when ,bunbury was a boy at ,westminster ,school1 being thus1 as ,i believe1 his earliest existing caricature4 ,the ,british ,museum is1 in fact1 very rich in ,bunbury's prints2 and his series there of the ,arabian ,nights 7in colour1 engraved by ,ryder7 may be noted here 7the print of ,morgiana's ,dance being especially charming71 ere we turn back to our artist's life story4 ,in #agig the ,bunburys had taken a small house at ,oatlands1 near ,weybridge1 to be near the ,duke and ,duchess of ,york1 who were then residing at ,oatlands ,park2 and it was here that in #agih ,henry ,bunbury had a terrible blow1 in the loss of his wife at the early age of forty-five years4 ,the beautiful face and figure of ,catherine ,horneck had often appeared in our artist's fancy subjects2 their life together seems to have been a very happy one1 and we may believe that he never entirely recovered from this loss1 for the next thirteen years of his life after her decease were spent by him in comparative retirement4 ,he left ,oatlands1 and probably also1 then or later1 his official post at ,court1 and came to live in the ,lake ,country1 where he had ,robert ,southey as his friend2 it was at ,keswick that he died1 in #ahaa1 and lies buried there far away from the grave of his wife in ,weybridge ,church4 ,his prints form a link in our knowledge of eighteenth-century social life in ,england which we could ill afford to lose4 ,not always very strong in drawing1 his humour is genuine1 wholesome1 spontaneous2 his sense of beauty1 in subjects outside of pure caricature1 often very fascinating and refined2 while in both classes of subject he remains happily free from that coarseness which disfigures to some extent the great caricaturists whom ,i shall treat of in my next two chapters4 ,a charming personality--all his work seems to tell us--and a lovable man2 ,english to the core1 in the best sense1 fond of his home1 fond of outdoor life1 fond of his joke1 but a joke whose laughter has no bitterness or malice1 and leaves no bad taste behind4 ,,lumps ,,of ,,delight ,,by ,h4 ,w4 ,,bunbury ,,lumps ,,of ,,pudding ,,by ,h4 ,w4 ,,bunbury ,,iv ,,the ,,comedy ,,of ,,politics ,in treating here of ,english eighteenth-century caricature1 ,i find that the conditions of space at my command in this work compel me1 in order to do my subject any justice at all1 to focus my reader's interest on certain central figures1 who typify1 each in themselves1 one side or other of their art2 and to pass by more slightly some of the lesser men1 whose interest is either divided or secondary4 ,such a towering personality in caricature as ,james ,gillray comes necessarily into the first of these categories2 such draughtsmen as ,woodward or ,sayer into the second4 ,woodward comes near to ,bunbury in style and subject1 and like him seems to have preferred social satire1 though occasionally--as in his ,general ,complaint1 of #agif--;he touches political topics of the time4 ,sayer1 belonging to the period of ,gillray1 is1 like him1 essentially a political caricaturist4 ,james ,sayer was the son of a merchant captain1 and had been put to the profession of attorney3 but caricature attracted him more than law1 and1 having gained the notice and interest of the younger ,pitt1 he attached himself to his service with such industry and success that ,charles ,james ,fox is said to have remarked that ,sayers' caricatures had cost him more votes than all the speeches in the ,house of ,commons4 ,in fact1 just as certain modern ,english politicians1--,lord ,palmerston in earlier days1 and1 in later1 ,mr4 ,gladstone and ,mr4 ,joseph ,chamberlain--seem to have been singled out 7a compliment this to the public interest in their personality7 as especial targets for the caricaturist's shaft1 so ,fox was throughout the object of ,sayer's constant devotion4 ,his first effort was directed against the ,rockingham ,ministry of #aghb2 but far happier was his ,paradise ,lost1 published on the fall of that ,administration1 which shows the once happy pair1 ,fox and ,burke1 turned away from their previous ,paradise1 the ,treasury1 over whose gate appears the menacing head of ,lord ,shelburne--who succeeded them at the head of the ,cabinet1 ,pitt being ,chancellor of the ,exchequer--with others of his ,ministerial colleagues above 444 444 the gate ,with dreadful faces thronged and fiery arms4 ,some natural tears they dropt1 but wiped them soon2 ,the world was all before them1 where to choose ,their place of rest1 and ,providence their guide4 ,james ,gillray made his entry into ,english political caricature almost at the same date as ,sayer--namely in #aghb--with his caricatures on the subject of ,rodney's naval victory4 ,his father was of ,scotch descent1 and having been wounded as a soldier at the battle of ,fontenoy--where he lost his arm--he became in later life an out-pensioner of ,chelsea ,hospital2 so that it was in ,chelsea that ,james1 his son1 was born4 ,like ,william ,hogarth he too was put in his early years to letter engraving2 but1 becoming tired of this rather dull employment1 he ran away and joined a company of strolling players1 sharing in the hardships and adventures of their roving life1 perhaps taking part in such scenes as ,hogarth had depicted in his famous print1 where the company have successfully stormed their barn and are getting ready--dressing-rooms being at a discount--for the next performance4 ,but ,gillray's bent towards the plastic arts must have been too strong to let him remain long in the theatre3 when he returned to ,london he became a student of the ,royal ,academy1 and seems to have worked hard at improving his drawing4 ,he also studied under the engraver ,bartolozzi2 and the result of his training begins to show itself in his engravings of ,the ,deserted ,village and ,the ,village ,train1 published in #aghd to illustrate ,goldsmith's poem1 and in his imitations of drawings by ,lavinia1 ,countess ,spencer4 ,but1 though successful as an engraver1 and even as a painter1 it was as a caricaturist that he was destined to win his lasting fame4 ,here his individuality came at once to the front2 though even when a professional caricaturist he continued the practice of engraving and painting1 as his portraits of ,william ,pitt and numerous engravings bear witness4 ,the political history of ,england was then approaching a most dramatic epoch1 and this--even apart from ,gillray's marvellous natural aptitude in this direction--might well have tempted him to choose politics as his special subject4 ,the ,french and ,american wars had scarcely yet left men's memories2 a ,king was on the throne who had joined to no great political sagacity or insight a stubborn determination to govern2 and the clash of political issues1 the struggle of the two great traditional ,english parties1 was intensified and rendered more brilliant by the figures of famous statesmen or orators--such as ,pitt1 ,fox1 ,burke1 and ,sheridan1 and1 but in a lesser degree1 ,thurlow and ,shelburne4 ,but yet further1 before this very generation the tremendous and 7as we shall see it to have been7 world-absorbing spectacle of the ,french ,revolution was to unrol itself1 touching every individual in his most intimate interests and convictions1 awaking everywhere feelings of passionate enthusiasm1 or of corresponding hatred2 and then1 gradually1 out of that sea of blood which we know in history as the ,terror1 the sinister form of ,buonaparte1 ,general1 ,consul1 ,dictator1 ,emperor1 came to detach itself1 to blot out all lesser figures1 to become a menace to the world4 ,all this had passed before the eyes of ,gillray and his fellow-countrymen4 ,he saw the thundercloud arise that was to darken the horizon4 ,he saw the energy and genius of ,pitt create one ,coalition after another1 only to find them melt away before the victorious armies of ,france4 ,he saw at length--and his trumpet-call at that crisis gave no uncertain sound--,england stand alone1 and find in herself the forces that were to bring her safely through the storm4 ,we have noted already ,sayers' caricature of the triumph of the ,shelburne ,ministry in #aghb2 a print which had been followed by his still more clever satire--called ,carlo ,khan's ,triumphant ,entry into ,leadenhall ,street--on ,fox's ,india ,bill of #aghc4 ,in that same year ,shelburne's ,ministry had been overthrown1 and ,fox and ,burke came back into office with ,lord ,north4 ,against these statesmen1 whether in or out of office1 ,gillray's pencil became largely employed1 though he was never a hired caricaturist or kept in fee like ,sayer1 and all sides of politics 7including the ,court and even the ,king himself7 felt the edge of his satire2 while ,lord ,thurlow1 the great ,lord ,chancellor1 was in no way neglected4 ,thus we find a ,new ,way to pay the ,national ,debt 7#aghf71 ,ancient ,music 7#aghg71 ,monstrous ,craws 7#aghg71 ,frying ,sprats 7#agia7 and ,anti-,saccharites1 or ,john ,bull and his ,family leaving off the use of ,sugar 7#agib71 are all directed against the reigning ,house1 and allude frequently to the parsimonious habits of ,george ,,iii4 and his ,queen4 ,the story goes that this monarch1 having remarked of ,gillray's drawings1 ,i don't understand these caricatures1 the artist drew him 7,a ,connoisseur ,examining a ,cooper1 #agib7 studying minutely with a glass the miniature of ,oliver ,cromwell1 remarking at the time3 ,i wonder if the ,royal ,connoisseur will understand this8 ,but if the economy of the ,king was a subject for his satire1 the opposite qualities in the ,prince of ,wales met with as little mercy4 ,the ,voluptuary under the ,horrors of ,digestion 7#agib7 gives a very clever treatment of this latter theme2 and in a ,morning after ,marriage1 or a ,scene upon the ,continent1 we seem to find the same distinguished person1 with a lady who may be the charming ,mrs4 ,fitzherbert4 ,about this period1 too1 ,lord ,thurlow1 in a ,westminster ,hunt 7#aghh7 and ,market ,day 7also #aghh1 where the motto1 ,every man his price1 seems aimed at the fat kine of the ,house of ,commons71 is not forgotten2 while in ,dido ,forsaken1 where the ,queen of ,france stands deserted and desperate on her own shores1 and ,fox and his friends in a row-boat are steering for ,dover ,castle with the remark1 ,i never saw her in my life6 7,no6 never in his life1 damme6 adds ,fox at the rudder71 we seem to be already getting drawn into the melstrom of the ,french ,revolution4 ,perhaps to the average student the period of ,gillray's work which we are here approaching will be of most interest1 because a fairly exact knowledge of ,english party politics is necessary to follow with enjoyment his earlier prints on home affairs4 ,gillray had treated a ,french subject with success in his amusing ,landing of ,sir ,john ,bull and his ,family at ,boulogne-sur-,mer1 which recalls ,bunbury to our thought both in its humour and treatment4 ,this latter artist had thoroughly appreciated ,james ,gillray's genius1 and said of his great contemporary that he was a living folio1 every page of which abounded with wit4 ,following the order of time1 which is perhaps our safest guide1 ,the ,bengal ,leve is a large print1 full of clever portraits1 made on the spot by an ,amateur2 and ,the ,dagger ,scene1 or the ,plot discovered1 is a political print which must not be omitted4 ,but now we find ourselves suddenly launched into the midst of the ,french ,revolution in ,french ,liberty and ,british ,slavery 7showing a starving ,jacobin praising his own ,government1 and a fat ,john ,bull at dinner abusing his72 and ,sansculottes feeding ,europe with the ,bread of ,liberty1 this latter a most inimitably clever print1 whose centre is formed by ,john ,bull1 with ,fox and a sympathiser administering the ,bread of ,liberty on the dagger's point1 while ,germany1 ,holland1 and ,italy are at the corners4#i ,gillray had already1 as we see here1 taken a strongly anti-,french attitude1 which he never altered1 and which1 no doubt1 faithfully reflected the mass of ,english public opinion1 horrified at the excesses with which ,paris had in those days sullied the pure name of ,liberty4 ,i say advisedly the mass1 for ,charles ,james ,fox next appears in ,dumourier dining in ,state at ,st4 ,james's 7#agic71 serving up to the ,french ,general the head of ,pitt upon a dish1 with the ,british crown thrown in as an entremet4 ,a very striking print of the same year shows the heroic ,charlotte ,corday upon her ,trial 7,july #ag1 #agic71 and a figure very like ,gillray's usual rendering of ,talleyrand1 with two other judges1 upon the bench beneath the cap of ,liberty4 ,the ,blessings of ,peace and the ,curses of ,war1 with its inscription--,such ,britain was1 such ,flanders1 ,spain and ,holland now is 7sic72 from such a sad reverse1 ,o ,gracious ,god1 preserve our country6--is an eloquent1 if slightly ungrammatical1 appeal 7,jan4 #ag1 #agie7 to his fellow-countrymen1 an appeal to which our artist must have been stirred by the horrible carnage and misery which the ,french armies were then inflicting upon the continent of ,europe2 while ,john ,bull ground down 7,june #a1 #agie7 shows the guineas being extracted from that long-suffering person1 despite his cries of ,murder2 and in ,blind-man's ,buff1 or ,too ,many for ,john ,bull 7,june #ab1 #agie7 he is being handed over1 with ,pitt's assistance1 to the kicks and plunder of the ,powers of ,europe4 ,we reach the full horrors of the ,terror in ,paris1 and trace its effect on outside opinion1 in a very clever print in my own possession entitled ,promised ,horrors of the ,french ,invasion1 or ,forcible ,reasons for ,neglecting a ,regicide ,peace4 ,the print is so full of masterly detail that it almost defies description4 ,in the centre a figure 78 that of ,pitt7 is being flogged by ,fox beneath the ,tree of ,liberty1 planted at the ,piccadilly end of ,st4 ,james's ,street1 with three human thigh-bones at its base2 beside it the ,french troops march up ,st4 ,james's ,street1 leaving the ,palace in smoke and flames1 and invade ,white's ,club on their right1 pitching its ill-fated members on to the bayonets in the street1 but are received by the members of ,brookes's ,club on their left with cries of welcome1 and a set of heads neatly arranged upon a plate1 with the motto1 ,killed for the ,public ,good6 ,october #bj1 #agif1 is the date of this magnificent cartoon of our artist1 which must have found an echo in public opinion3 but ships1 troops1 and subsidies mean taxation1 and ,pitt's continued demands on the ,treasury are satirised in ,the ,nuptial ,bower 7,february #ae1 #agig7 and ,political ,ravishment1 or ,the ,old ,lady of ,threadneedle ,street in ,danger 7,may #bb1 #agig74 ,,the ,,jacobin ,,drummer ,by ,james ,gillray ,,britannia ,,between ,,death ,,and ,,the ,,doctors ,in the year following 7#agih7 the form of ,nelson makes its appearance in the print of ,the ,british ,hero cleansing ye ,mouth of ye ,nile1 and in ,john ,bull ,taking a ,luncheon--off a captured ,french three-decker4 ,for now1 too 7,november #ba1 #agii71 the figure of ,buonaparte1 which was to occupy so fully ,gillray's pencil1 makes his entry into these caricatures in the cartoon of ,exit ,libert1 a la ,francois 7sic7 or1 ,buonaparte closing the ,farce of ,egalit at ,s4 ,cloud1 near ,paris1 ,november #af1 #agii4 ,another print1 however1 touching the ,directorate period is too important to be entirely omitted from our list4 ,it is called ,ci-devant ,occupations1 or ,madame ,tallien and the ,empress ,josephine dancing naked before ,barras in the ,winter or #agig--;a ,fact4 ,the dancers can be traced behind a veil of gauze1 while ,barras sits at table1 very drunk1 beneath an infant ,bacchus wearing the ,cap of ,liberty1 and ,buonaparte watches the scene from the side in front of a pile of skulls4 ,madame ,tallien1 we are here informed1 is a beautiful woman1 tall and elegant3 ,josephine is smaller and thin1 with bad teeth2 in which case she must be the figure nearest ,buonaparte1 and must have gone up in weight--in ,gillray's view--before she appears in his ,handwriting on the ,wall4 ,it would be impossible within the limits of this series to give a detailed list of all the superb series of ,gillray's satires on the ,napoleonic struggle4 ,i have been fortunate enough to obtain for this work reproductions of three among the best ones2 but my account may do well to commence with that delightful print 7another hit at ,charles ,james ,fox7 of the ,introduction of ,citizen ,volpone and his ,suite at ,paris2 might note further ,the ,vexation of ,little ,boney2 and strike a higher note in ,the ,handwriting upon the ,wall1 where1 in the hour of his triumph1 ,buonaparte1 seated at table beside an enormously stout ,josephine1 with gigantic and savage-looking ,guards and very dcolletes and ringleted maids-of-honour waiting in service on them1 sees with dilated eyes on the wall the warning of his doom4 ,by ,james ,gillray ,,armed ,,heroes 7,,william ,,pitt ,,and ,,buonaparte7 ,of course the threatened invasion of ,england finds its echo in ,gillray's prints4 ,french ,invasion1 or ,buonaparte ,landing1 ,armed ,heroes 7of which ,i give here a reproduction71 and the ,king of ,brobindnag and ,gulliver all belong to this theme of the nation's peril2 as does that interesting print1 which ,i also reproduce1 of ,britannia between ,death and the ,doctor1 where the sick lady is threatened on the one side by ,buonaparte as ,death1 the while ,pitt1 as chief physician1 executes a war dance at the expense of his professional rivals1 planting his heel very neatly in the mouth of the prostrate ,charles ,james ,fox4 ,napoleon's ,european victories find comment in the ,surrender of ,ulm1 and in another of my plates1 ,tiddy ,doll1 the ,great ,french ,gingerbread ,maker1 drawing out a ,new ,batch of ,kings1 where ,talleyrand seems1 very appropriately1 to be the figure in the background kneading the dough 7note1 too1 the rubbish heap74 ,but the worst danger was past already at the time 7as we know now7 of that fine plate that commemorates the ,death of ,admiral ,lord ,nelson in the ,moment of ,victory1 published by ,humphrey of ,st4 ,james ,street1 on ,december #bc1 #ahje4 ,gillray1 after trying various publishers--,kent1 ,brown1 ,holland of ,oxford ,street1 ,fores of ,piccadilly--seems to have settled down with ,humphrey1 first in the ,strand1 then in ,bond ,street1 and later ,st4 ,james ,street1 whose shop-windows became famed for his prints4 ,joseph ,grego1 a known authority on our artist1 relates that ,fox and ,burke once walked into the shop together1 alarming the worthy proprietress by this sudden invasion of ,gillray's favourite subjects4 ,but ,burke reassured her with a smile3 ,were ,i to prosecute you it would be the making of your fortune2 and that favour1 excuse me1 ,mrs4 ,humphrey1 you do not entirely merit at my hands4 ,we may terminate our study or ,gillray's ,napoleonic caricatures very appropriately with the ,spanish ,bullfight1 in which ,buonaparte is tossed by the ,spanish bull 7,peninsular ,war of #ahjh7 before the assembled ,powers of ,europe 7dated ,july #aa1 #ahjh72 and the fine print of the ,valley of the ,shadow of ,death 7,september #bd1 #ahjh71 in which the prediction of an earlier print 7,the ,handwriting on the ,wall7 seems near its fulfilment1 and the ,powers of ,europe in grim demonic shapes surround the terrified ruler1 the ,british lion charging him full in front1 while the ,russian bear takes an ugly snatch from behind at his legs4 ,by ,james ,gillray ,,buonaparte ,,as ,,king-,,maker 7,,with ,,talleyrand ,,to ,,help7 ,james ,gillray's political caricatures are so interesting and so important1 they form such a priceless commentary on the history of the time1 that ,i have given them the priority of space over his amusing social satires1 which scourge without mercy the follies of dress and fashion4 ,a ,lady putting on her ,cap 7#agie71 ,lady ,godiva's ,rout 7#agif71 ,high ,change in ,bond ,street 7#agif71 ,a ,modern ,belle at ,bath 7#agif71 and ,a ,fashionable ,mamma come into this class1 as well as ,following the ,fashion1 ,characters in ,high ,life1 and many others4 ,it was the epoch when ,english ladies' waists seem to have risen nearly to their arm-pits1 and when their hair towered up correspondingly into a forest of feathers2 and all the above prints--as well as the series of ,faro's ,daughters1 directed at the gambling craze1 ,the ,graces in a ,high ,wind 7as seen from ,nature in ,kensington ,gardens71 and the still more risky series of ,three ,stages of a ,lady's ,toilet1--depict these extreme fashions4 ,tales of ,wonder1 ,advantages of ,wearing ,muslin ,dresses1 dedicated to the ,fashionable ,ladies of ,great ,britain1 ,a ,broad ,hint of not ,meaning to ,dance1 ,a ,company shocked at a ,lady getting up to ,ring the ,bell1 belong to a slightly later period of costume1 say #ahjb-jd4 ,dido in ,despair is evidently a satire on the beautiful ,lady ,hamilton1 who is however represented in this print as enormously fat4#aj ,gillray has evidently no sympathy or mercy for the frail and famous beauty2 for here she is tumbling out of bed in nightcap and nightdress1 from which a huge foot protrudes1 while she waves her fat arms in despair4 ,a flask of ,maraschino is on the dressing-table near the rouge pot2 on the floor lie broken antiques2 and a work on ,studies of ,academic ,attitudes1 with scarcely academic illustrations1 lies near the window1 through which is seen a line of ,british battleships standing out to sea4 ,ah where and oh where is my gallant sailor gone8 ,he's gone to fight the ,frenchmen for ,george upon the throne1-- is the motto of this print1 which was published by ,humphrey on ,february #f of #ahja4 ,the ,bulstrode ,siren 7,mrs4 ,billington71 where she is seen warbling to the ,duke of ,portland1 fares little better than ,emma herself2 and ,sir ,william ,hamilton appears1 in another of ,gillray's satires1 as ,a ,conoscenti contemplating ye beauties of ye ,antique4 ,among these last objets d'art a battered ,lais and a ,bacchante who has lost her head seem as full of cryptic allusion as the dancing figures on a ,greek vase and the ,cupid with a bent arrow2 while quite in ,hogarth's best vein is the ,mark ,antony framed upon the wall1 in a cocked hat and admiral's uniform1 the ,cleopatra with a gin bottle1 and a view of ,vesuvius in full eruption4 ,sheridan is a frequent figure in ,gillray's political caricatures2 but perhaps he was never more happily treated than when he enters as ,harlequin1 armed with a goose quill1 and assisted by ,john ,kemble and the famous ,mrs4 ,siddons1 in ,blowing up the ,pic ,nics4 ,to the same class and subject of satire belongs the ,pic ,nic ,orchestra and ,dilettante ,theatre--this last a ,green-room scene which seems reminiscent of ,hogarth's print of a similar subject4 ,two-penny ,whist and ,push-pin are filled with contemporary portraits2#aa and the two series of ,cockney ,sportsmen 7#d plates1 #ahjj7 and ,elements of ,skating 7#d plates1 #ahje7 must not be overlooked any more than such weirdly hideous creations as ,comfort to the ,corns1 as ,begone dull ,care1 ,i prithee1 and ,the ,gout4 ,interesting1 however1 though much of ,gillray's social satire certainly is1 it scarcely reaches the same level as his political work4 ,he was a magnificent engraver1 and was able in his best time to build up his cartoon with the smallest possible scaffolding1 a few lines pencilled upon a card being enough to enable him to commence at once upon the copper2 while the freedom and facility of his design is witnessed amply by all his prints--those prints which we have now studied in some measure together1 though anything in the nature of a comprehensive catalogue is denied me by the space at my command4 ,his influence1 too1 upon ,isaac ,cruikshank is to be marked1 as a link in the evolution of ,english caricature4 ,in his later years ,james ,gillray resided almost entirely with his kindly publisher1 ,mrs4 ,humphrey1 of whom1 as ,i have noted1 he has left a whimsical portrait1 with her faithful maid giggling ,betty1 in his print of ,two-penny ,whist4 ,mrs4 ,humphrey appreciated her client's genius1 and at one time their mutual understanding got so far on the road to matrimony that they had already reached the door of the church 7their parish church of ,s4 ,james1 ,piccadilly7 when this eccentric bridegroom remarked1 ,this is a foolish affair1 ,mrs4 ,humphrey4 ,we live very comfortably together--better let well alone6--and walked home to work on his copper plate4 ,but even if this legend of blighted hopes be correct1 the good spinster in any case devoted herself no less to the artist's comfort and welfare2 and the tragedy of his later years was due to himself alone4 ,intemperance weakened his powers2 and in the last years of his life he lapsed1 from this cause probably1 into a condition of mental imbecility1 which contrasts sadly with those busy and successful years of his life1 from #aggg to close on #ahaj4 ,he died upon the #ast of ,june1 #ahae1 and was buried near the rectory of ,s4 ,james1 ,piccadilly2 within reach of the busy roar of that ,london whose complex multitudinous life he had lived amongst and loved and studied1 and which still surges around his last resting-place in changed and ever-changing forms4 ,v ,,the ,,comedy ,,of ,,life ,thomas ,rowlandson1 the last and in some ways the greatest of the caricaturists whose work illustrates the eighteenth century1 was born in ,london in #agef1 being thus just six years younger than ,bunbury1 and one year older than ,gillray2 so that all these artists cover very much the same period1 although their work has elements of the greatest diversity4 ,in ,bunbury we have seen the really gifted amateur1 who entrusted his clever sketches to other hands to be engraved1 who kept in touch with social life in ,london and county society1 and pursued his career in the army and at ,court1 while throughout devoting himself to art as his greatest hobby4 ,again1 later1 we have traced briefly ,gillray's supreme talent1 both as engraver and draughtsman1 more especially in his magnificent series of contemporary political cartoons4 ,but in ,rowlandson we touch a genius as fertile1 but of a different order1 and1 ,i incline to think1 of a considerably wider grasp2 and if ,i call this chapter1 which ,i am devoting especially to his work1 the ,comedy of ,life--in contrast to pictorial morals1 to society or politics--it is because life in all its exuberance1 all its variety and fertility1 seems to stream on us from the gifted artist's pencil4 ,but ,life contains--thanks be--not only coarse1 distorted types of humanity1 exaggerations of foolish fashion1 and political antagonisms1 but grace and beauty1 even with the changing form of the time-spirit2 and it is just here that ,rowlandson infinitely surpasses those contemporaries whom we studied in our last chapter4 ,his female figures have often that rich ,english beauty which we find in ,reynolds1 ,hoppner1 or sometimes in ,morland2 and his landscape has qualities of very exceptional merit4 ,he might1 we are frequently tempted to think1 have been a painter worthy to take a front rank even in that magnificent ,english eighteenth-century school1 which included ,reynolds1 ,gainsborough1 ,romney1 ,hoppner1 among its glories2 but as we come to study his life we shall find in the insouciance of his character1 in the very facility of his genius1 the causes which made him--not1 indeed1 entirely to our loss--only the greatest caricaturist of his time4 ,as a boy already1 at ,dr4 ,barrow's academy in ,soho1 he had attracted notice by his humorous sketches of his fellow pupils2 and in his sixteenth year he went to ,paris at the invitation of his aunt1 a ,mlle4 ,chatelier1 with the object of pursuing art study in that city4 ,he had already been admitted as a student in the ,royal ,academy2 and his life studies in ,paris are said to have possessed great merit4 ,paris itself at this time 7about #aggb-d71 with ,louis ,,xv4 still on the throne1 must have been very fascinating to the young ,english lad1 living with a relative who treated him with affection and generosity1 in the first consciousness too of his genius1 in the midst of a most brilliant capital1 and with every prospect of fortune waiting for him4 ,these years left1 without doubt1 an indelible impression on his mind4 ,mr4 ,grego1 an authority on this artist as well as ,gillray1 expresses this#ab very happily when he says3 ,it was the more romantic ,paris of ,sterne that ,rowlandson first viewed1 and he seems to have recognised and noted down the characteristics of the same typical personages described by ',yorick'2 their two satirical points of view were identical4 ,it was indeed the ideal artistic centre3 ,fragonard1 ,lavrience1 ,eisen1 ,st4 ,aubin1 and the school of followers of ,boucher and ,lancret--elegant triflers in their way1 but unequalled for dash and brilliancy--were the leading spirits as ,rowlandson imbibed his first inspiration from these attractive fonts4 ,his two years' residence in the midst of these appetising surroundings must have been the happiest of ,rowlandson's career2 the seeds sown amid these gayer scenes blossomed forth in later years1 and influenced the artist in gradually devoting his gifts from the dull routine of portrait-painting to the indulgence of his fruitful imagination4 ,whether indeed all the influence which the critic here mentions was entirely for good1 is1 ,i think myself1 open to question4 ,it is quite possible that our artist acquired at this time the taste for gambling which led him to the brink of ruin more than once in later life2 and ,i have suggested already that had he kept to painting he might have achieved in that medium a fame far above even that which he now possesses4 ,for on his return to ,london he resumed his studies at the ,royal ,academy ,schools1 and in #agge exhibited at the ,academy ,samson visited by ,delilah1 which he followed up by the portraits on which he was busy now in ,wardour ,street from #aggh to #agha4 ,his work must have shown considerable power to be hung beside the canvases of ,reynolds1 ,romney1 and ,hoppner2 but at the later date of #aghd his exhibited drawings--,vauxhall ,gardens1 ,the ,serpentine1 and ,an ,italian ,family--show already a tendency to the lighter side of art1 and between the above date and #aghg the direction of his art has changed in favour of caricature4 ,his imagination was as fertile as his pencil was facile4 ,the market was easy--,fores 7for whom ,gillray also worked71 ,ackermann1#ac and others offering a ready sale for his satires2 and1 since we are treating of him here as a caricaturist1 it is at this point that we must take his work in detail4 ,the purely humorous prints commence as early as #agha 7,the ,village ,doctor1 published in ,june of that year by ,humphrey71 and are followed up 7,november #bg1 same year and publisher7 by ,charity ,covereth a ,multitude of ,sins1 and that unpleasing subject 7published by ,fores1 #aghc7 of ,the ,amputation2 but it is in his political cartoons of #aghd--such as ,britannia roused1 or the ,coalition ,monster destroyed--that we begin to recognise the distinctive touch of ,thomas ,rowlandson4 ,this vigorous print shows a half-draped female figure catching ,charles ,james ,fox by the ankle and ,lord ,north by the throat2 in this print he takes the same political attitude as his contemporary ,gillray1 whom he resembles1 though far less virulently1 in his anti-,french prints1 while he shows less marked hostility to the reigning house4 ,the famous ,westminster election of the same year 7#aghd7 brought ,rowlandson still further into political satire1 in which ,charles ,james ,fox and the beautiful ,georgina1 ,duchess of ,devonshire1 are leading figures4 ,in ,the ,devonshire1 or the most approved manner of securing votes1 the lovely duchess is bestowing a warm embrace on a voter1 in the shape of a fat butcher1 while another lady1 perhaps the ,duchess of ,gordon1 looks on approvingly with the words ,huzza6 ,fox for ever6 ,in the ,lords of the ,bedchamber1 ,georgina1 seated in her boudoir beneath ,reynolds' portrait of her duke1 is entertaining to tea two privileged visitors1 ,fox and his leading supporter1 ,sam ,house--brave1 bald-headed ,sam as he was then called4 ,the enthusiastic support which her ,grace gave to ,fox's candidature gave an opening which was used--often too freely--by the caricaturists4 ,in ,wit's last stake1 or the ,cobbler's vote1 she is seated upon ,fox's knee1 the while a cobbler puts a stitch into her shoe1 so that she may have the excuse of pouring a handful of guineas into his wife's hand4 ,in another print she appears neglecting the infant heir of the ,cavendishes for a fox1 dressed up in baby clothes2 and upon ,fox's triumphant return is made by the artist to carry him pick-a-back1 and to stop at ,mungo's ,hotel for a drop of gin4 ,it is but fair to our ,caricaturist to say that the fair ,pittite champion1 ,lady ,buckingham1 is treated no less mercilessly2 and that1 even while he was aiming the most outrageous shafts of ridicule and innuendo at the ,duchess1 his pencil did justice to her extraordinary beauty and charm1 both in the prints above mentioned1 and in a ,procession to the ,hustings after a successful ,canvass1 in which she leads the way in a big picture hat1 and carrying a perfectly indescribable ensign with ,the ,man of the ,people as its legend4 ,finally1 ,the ,westminster ,mendicant and the ,westminster ,deserter drummed out complete this really brilliant series of election caricatures1 of which ,i have only detailed the most interesting4 ,in the last-named print it is brave baldheaded ,sam ,house who beats the drum1 while on his left is the triumphant candidate1 ,charles ,james ,fox1 who addresses the crowd with the time-hallowed words1 ,friends and fellow citizens1 ,i cannot find words to express my feelings1 etc41 and on his right the defeated ,sir ,cecil ,wray2 while behind are the ,irish chairmen who had fought 7in every sense of the word7 so lustily for ,fox1 and a procession of ,london maidservants1 armed with mops and brooms4 ,in my account of this series of prints 7which all fall within the dates of ,april and ,may of #aghd7 ,i shall note briefly one remaining print1 ,for the ,benefit of the ,champion1 in which ,fox and ,lord ,north1 in female attire1 and the ,duchess in her large picture hat1 but dcollette1 and with bare arms1 are busy singing a dirge on the defeated opponent4 ,georgina1 a figure of delicious sprightliness and beauty1 points to the tombstone marked ,here lies poor ,cecil ,ray1 while the spectacled profile of ,burke peeps into the door4 ,and here ,i may remark again how astonishingly to my own experience a study of these prints makes history real1 vivid1 and living4 ,these dry bones of bygone politics become clothed with flesh2 and names which we had studied with colder interest become friends1 and almost intimates4 ,ere we leave the theme of politics1 it may be noted that in the great ,french ,war ,rowlandson does not come behind ,gillray in his patriotic enthusiasm4 ,a whole series of prints1 from ,july to ,september #ahjh1 was directed against ,napoleon2 while ,nelson appears in a print of which1 by the kindness of its possessor1 ,mr4 ,newman1 a great collector of ,nelson relics1 ,i am able to give a plate--,admiral ,nelson recruiting with his brave tars after the glorious ,battle of the ,nile 7published by ,ackermann1 ,october #bj1 #agih72 and both contemporary figures are alluded to in ,napoleon ,buonaparte in a ,fever on ,receiving the ,astounding ,gazette of ,nelson's ,victory over the ,combined ,fleets 7,ackermann1 ,november #ac1 #ahje74 ,by ,thomas ,rowlandson ,,nelson ,,recruiting ,,with ,,his ,,brave ,,tars ,,after ,,the ,,battle ,,of ,,the ,,nile ,but it is time for us to betake ourselves to ,rowlandson's social caricatures1 which after all represent the best of his life work2 and ,i am tempted to quote--in seeking illustration of that wonderful sense of life which seems to stream upon us from his pencil--some words of my own in an earlier work1 in which ,i had occasion to treat of this artist4 ,these creatures of his scenes of comedy--drawn boldly in outline with the reed pen dipped in ,indian ink and vermillion1 with the shadows then washed in1 and the whole slightly tinted in colour--seem full-blooded1 vigorous1 overflowing with animal life and energy4 ,his women above all are delicious4 ,rather voluptuous1 perhaps1 and full in form1 but yet indescribably charming in their mob caps1 or those big 'picture' hats that ,george ,morland loved1 in the tight sleeves and high-waisted gowns falling in long folds about their limbs--their eyes sparkling with roguery1 and their whole being breathing the charm of sex4#ad ,we may commence our study of his social satires here1 in following to some extent the sequence of time1 with ,a ,sketch from ,nature--published by ,j4 ,r4 ,smith in ,january of #aghd1 and engraved by him in stipple with great beauty and finish4 ,the subject here recalls a very similar scene in ,hogarth's ,rake's ,progress1 for here1 as there1 a merry company of both sexes is engaged in riotous revel2 and the wine and punch flowing freely has got into the heads1 and found expression in the behaviour1 of the nymphs and their attendant swains4 ,money-lenders1 ,councillor and ,client1 and ,bookseller and ,author 7all #aghd7 are excellent character-studies of male figures3 the eighteenth century evidently needed the presence of ,sir ,walter ,besant1 for the bookseller is fat1 prosperous1 and overbearing1 the author terribly thin1 poorly dressed1 and looking overworked4 ,in ,the ,golden ,apple or the ,modern ,paris 7#aghe7 the fair ,georgina again appears before us with her rival beauties1 the ,duchesses of ,rutland and ,gordon3 ,here ,juno ,devon1 all sublime1 ,minerva ,gordon's wit and eyes1 ,sweet ,rutland1 ,venus in her prime4 ,the three ladies appear before the ,prince of ,wales1 afterwards ,george the ,fourth--the ,modern ,paris who has the difficult task of awarding the apple4 ,the ,prince re-appears in ,rowlandson's famous print of ,vauxhall ,gardens 7published by ,j4 ,r4 ,smith in #aghe7 with a star upon his breast1 where he is paying much attention to ,mrs4 ,robinson--the lovely ,perdita1 whose portrait now hangs in the ,wallace ,collection4 ,the ,duchess of ,devonshire and her sister1 ,lady ,duncannon1 are well in the centre of the picture2 ,captain ,topham takes in the gay scene through his glass2 ,doctor ,johnson1 in a supper box1 seems deeply engaged upon his meal1 though ,mrs4 ,thrale is on his right and ,bozzy and ,goldsmith are of the party4 ,captain 7later ,colonel7 ,topham1 the macaroni1 man of taste and editor of ,the ,world1 appears in another plate of #aghe--;as ,captain ,epilogue1 and as ,colonel ,topham endeavouring to extinguish the ,genius of ,holman 7the actor72 and to the same date belong ,grog on ,board and ,tea on ,shore1 as well as the print in colour chosen for illustration to this chapter4 ,filial ,affection1 as this is called1 depicting a runaway trip to ,gretna ,green1 speaks so fully for itself that it needs no further description from my pen2 but ,i may mention here its companion print 7also published by ,mr4 ,hinton on ,december #ae of #aghe71 and called ,the ,reconciliation1 or ,the ,return from ,scotland1 in which the pair of fugitives--whom we have just seen presenting their horse pistols at the parental poursuivant--have now returned1 all penitence and submission1 and have won their forgiveness4 ,a very curious and somewhat grisly adaptation of ,filial ,affection is reproduced by ,messrs4 ,bell1 to illustrate the article upon ,rowlandson in their new and valuable edition of ,bryan's ,dictionary4 ,it is a plate from ,the ,dance of ,death1 an illustrated volume published by ,ackermann in #ahae1 and resembles the earlier print--save that the figure behind the angry parent is a skeleton rider mounted on a skeleton steed4 ,at this point1 in touching these two periods 7of #aghe and #ahae7 we may note how far fresher and more spontaneous is the figure-work in that rich period from #aghe onwards4 ,rowlandson had gained1 perhaps1 in what we may call his ,dr4 ,syntax period1 in the treatment of landscape perspective or the massing of crowds1 but had become more of the caricaturist1 had lost the rich organic beauty which really irradiates some of his earlier prints4 ,,filial ,,affection4 ,by ,thomas ,rowlandson4 ,a print in colour from my own collection1 published by ,fores only sixteen days earlier 7,november #cj1 #aghe7 than ,filial ,affection1 may help here to illustrate my meaning4 ,intrusion on ,study or ,the ,painter ,disturbed1 shows a very charming model1 attired in nothing but the prettiest of mob caps1 posing for some goddess on the canvas of the artist1 who turns to wave his palette and brushes--a most effective weapon of defence--in the faces of two unwelcome visitors of his own sex1 who have just broken in open-mouthed upon his study4 ,the details of the studio1 the expressive faces of the artist and his visitors 7especially the second71 are in ,rowlandson's best mood2 but what is more interesting1 because more exceptional1 is the exquisite feeling of line1 as subtle as anything ,beardsley has recorded1 in the girl's recumbent figure--in the flow of the shoulder into the right arm1 and in the sweep of the right hip1 and faultless drawing of the right hand--which touches a note of purely plastic beauty entirely beyond the reach of either ,hogarth or ,gillray4 ,joseph ,grego says of our artist very justly3 ,rowlandson's sense of feminine loveliness1 of irresistible graces of face expression and attitude1 was unequalled in its way2 several of his female portraits have been mistaken for sketches by ,gainsborough or ,morland1 and as such1 it is possible1 since the caricaturist is so little known in this branch1 that many continue to pass current4#ae ,an engraving which came into my own hands1 some years ago1 of three young girls by ,rowlandson1 might be an exact illustration of these words1 and as the above writer says1 be a portrait group by ,gainsborough or ,hoppner--so refined and yet so masterly was the treatment4 ,i alluded to this print with others1 when speaking of ,rowlandson as what might be here called a feminist in my study of ,bartolozzi and his contemporaries1 and found illustration there of this peculiarly charming type of his women in ,luxury 7typified1 for this artist1 by breakfast in bed71 ,house ,breakers1 ,the ,inn ,yard on ,fire 7where the ladies are making a very impromptu exit71 in the lovely model of ,the ,artist ,disturbed1 and 7for women of fashion7 in the series 7twelve prints in all7 of the ,comforts of ,bath4 ,i mention there1 too1 that delightful print of ,lady ,hamilton at ,home1 where poor ,sir ,william 7whom the caricaturists never neglected7 is suffering from an acute attack of gout1 while the lovely ,emma1 in very classic garb1 is watering a flower-pot1 and ,miss ,cornelia ,knight1 also dressed after the antique1 touches the strings of a lyre1 and warbles poems of her own composition4 ,in treating1 however1 of ,rowlandson's women1 other prints1 such as ,tastes ,differ1 ,opera ,boxes1 ,harmony1 ,a ,nap in ,town1 and ,in the ,country1 ,interruption1 or ,inconvenience of a ,lodging ,house 7published ,april #aghi71 and ,damp ,sheets 7,august #agia71 have a strong claim on our notice4 ,nor must ,i entirely neglect here ,rowlandson's print called ,preparation for the ,academy1 or ,old ,joseph ,nollekens and his ,venus 7#ahjj74 ,it is perhaps the ,miss ,coleman here upon the model-stand who nearly caused a domestic breach between old ,nollekens and his jealous spouse--the group on which he is at work being his ,venus ,chiding ,cupid1 which was modelled for ,lord ,yarborough4 ,the ,life of the ,sculptor ,nollekens1 by his pupil ,john ,thomas ,smith1 contains some amusing contemporary gossip4 ,he describes the sculptor much as we see him in this plate--his figure short1 his head big1 his shoulders narrow1 his body too large4 ,his worthy better half held strong opinions upon the sculptor's models--abandoned hussies1 with whom she had no patience2 and ,miss ,coleman having ventured to visit the scene of her early labours in a carriage and pair1 the wrath of the virtuous ,mrs4 ,nollekens became unbounded4 ,words indeed 7perhaps a rare defect with the good lady7 seem to have failed her at this crisis2 in a later interview with ,joseph they were not wanting4 ,by ,thomas ,rowlandson ,a ,,ball ,,at ,,the ,,hackney ,,assembly ,,rooms 7,,remember ,,the ,,graces67 ,but here ,i would also point out that not only was our caricaturist an unequalled illustrator of lovely woman 7and as such makes us often regret that the becoming mob cap has disappeared from use71 but also a magnificent landscape artist4 ,i came to notice this especially last year in a very interesting exhibition of ,rowlandson's drawings at the ,leicester ,gallery in ,london4 ,a ,country ,fte1 a ,village ,scene with ,bridge1 and the ,promenade on ,richmond ,hill1 were good examples of his delightful handling of ,english landscape4 ,the last of these formed part of a very interesting set of the artist's original drawings1 which were not exhibited1 but which ,i was able to study by kind permission4 ,greenwich ,park was among these drawings1 with merrymakers racing and tumbling down the hill1 and a delicious perspective of the park and hospital2 a ,review of ,guards in ,hyde ,park1 where1 upon the soldiers firing1 two of the spectators' horses have bolted into the crowd2 the charming drawing in pencil and colour work of two girls called ,the ,sirens2 rustic scenes such as ,eel ,pie ,island at ,richmond1 ,playing ,quoits1 and a ,rustic ,maid ,crossing a ,stile1 to her sweetheart's admiration2 such echoes too of war as the crowd cheering the great battleships at ,portsmouth1 or the print of ,invaders ,repulsed1 where ,british troops are seen driving out the ,french invaders4 ,drawn most delicately in pencil with a wash of pure colour1 these drawings bring us nearer to the feeling of the artist than even his prints1 and it was interesting to compare ,greenwich ,hill in the print and drawing1 and to see how much the transcript had lost4 ,yet seen by themselves the prints were interesting and characteristic4 ,a ,visit to the ,uncle and to the ,aunt1 ,travelling in ,france1 #agij--;a signed work showing a large clumsy diligence1 which the artist is sketching--,angelo's ,fencing ,room1 full of contemporary portraits1 ,the ,pleasure of the ,country1 where fine ladies struggling through the mud find a litter of piglets rushing in among their skirts1 were among the best of these1 while a print of ,girls ,dressing for the ,masquerade1 and the ,dutch ,academy1 with a fat model posing before solid ,dutchmen1 were among those not infrequent prints of our artist whose satire comes near--if not over--the confines of good taste4 ,by ,thomas ,rowlandson ,a ,,theatrical ,,candidate ,some clever prints of ,dr4 ,syntax himself were here--a subject this which1 published by ,ackermann under the title of a ,tour of ,dr4 ,syntax in search of the ,picturesque in #ahji1 was republished in #ahab1 and occupied the artist in various developments during his later life4 ,to the same period of ,rowlandson's career belonged ,the ,microcosm of ,london 7#ahjh71 ,a ,mad ,dog in a ,coffee ,house 7#ahji71 and ,in a ,dining ,room 7#ahji71 the print called ,exhibition ,stare-case1 ,somerset ,house 7#ahaa7--where the visitors of both sexes are tumbling headlong downstairs1 the extraordinary cleverness of drawing scarcely compensating for the doubtful taste of the subject2 and later followed ,the ,world in ,miniature 7#ahaf71 ,richardson's ,show1 ,the ,english ,dance of ,death 7#ahad-af71 and ,dance of ,life 7#ahag71 which leads on to the later ,tour of ,dr4 ,syntax in search of ,consolation 7#ahbj71 and 7#ahba7 ,in search of a ,wife4 ,although ,fores of ,piccadilly seems to have published many of our artist's prints during the last years of the eighteenth century1 throughout his whole career ,rudolph ,ackermann remained his constant friend2 to the suggestion of this latter was due the idea of a monthly publication1 which gave ,rowlandson regular employment in his later years1 and resulted in the series of prints which ,i have just detailed1 among which the quaint1 angular form of ,dr4 ,syntax1 with his thin legs1 black coat and breeches1 and hooked nose1 claims a prominent place4 ,these subjects lead us already into the early nineteenth century1 and1 as doing so1 fall outside our present limit2 but ,rowlandson himself belongs in his art1 as much as ,bunbury or ,gillray1 to the earlier age4 ,an artist of extraordinary genius1 we have it on record that two successive ,presidents of the ,academy in his day1 ,sir ,joshua ,reynolds and ,sir ,benjamin ,west1 in expressing their admiration of his drawings1 added their opinion that1 had he chosen a higher branch of art1 he might have stood in the forefront of ,english contemporary painting4 ,instead of this he preferred to devote his genius and his best years to caricature1 and in doing so1 has bequeathed to us a rich and most precious heritage4 ,he was happy in his friendships4 ,james ,gillray was well known to him2 ,george ,morland1 that brilliant artist with whom he had so much in common1 ,henry ,angelo1 whom he loved to depict among his pupils of the foil 7,angelo's ,fencing ,room and ,signora ,cigali ,fencing at ,angelo's71 ,bannister1 and ,ackermann the art publisher were among his intimates4 ,he was less happy in the conduct of his life4 ,extravagance and carelessness were combined with a passion for gambling which made him a frequent figure in the fashionable playhouses of ,london2 and these habits placed the fortune1 which should have been his by industry and inheritance1 beyond his reach4 ,the legacy of #gjjj bequeathed him by his ,french aunt1 who had treated him so generously in his student days1 was speedily dissipated in this way4 ,indeed1 but for the frequent advice and assistance of his friend and publisher1 ,rudolph ,ackermann1 he might have found himself in serious difficulties2 and the story runs that on one occasion he sat for thirty-six hours at the cards1 and that on another1 after losing all he had1 he sat down coolly to his work and 7raising that facile pencil of his7 said1 ,here is my resource4 ,thus it was that1 after many years of fertile labour1 he died a poor man in lodgings at the ,adelphi1 on the #bbnd of ,april1 #ahbg4 ,his faithful friends of earlier days1 ,henry ,angelo1 ,bannister1 and ,rudolph ,ackermann1 followed to his grave the last great caricaturist of the bygone century4 ,by ,thomas ,rowlandson ,,old ,,joseph ,,nollekens ,,and ,,his ,,venus ,in these pages we have traced together the record of that century in ,english ,caricature2 and if we have been compelled to note but hastily the lesser men1 have1 in so doing1 at least gained breathing space to study four great and typical figures4 ,we saw how ,william ,hogarth1 when he handles the graver as humourist and delineator of character1 stands forth immortally great2 how1 when he sought to place himself at the head of the nascent ,english ,school1 he fell beneath his own level4 ,we saw in ,henry ,william ,bunbury the cultured artist1 soldier1 and man of society1 the welcome guest in many a great country-house1 who could bring his host's pretty daughters into some charming sketch1 or take his part in the improvised theatricals2 but whose prints have real humour1 charm1 and the sweet1 wholesome breath of ,english country life4 ,then we watched ,gillray tower aloft in political satire1 and ,rowlandson's pencil touch every side of life4 ,if we noticed at the same time a certain coarseness of fibre come to the surface in much of their work1 finding expression often both in subject1 and still more in treatment and in type1 we must remember that this quality belongs not to the men alone1 but to the age4 ,the more sensitive modern may feel himself at first repelled rather than attracted1 and many a print of ,rowlandson or ,gillray find a place in his ,index ,expurgatorius2 but the brutality of these men is the brutality of ,nature in some of her moods1 and their work1 like ,nature1 fertile1 fresh1 and vigorous1 attracts us 7as all strong work will and must7 the more we study it by its masterly drawing1 its free1 open humour1 and often its high imaginative grasp4 ,behind these men1 these ,masters of ,english ,caricature1 appears1 never entirely absent from our thought1 the history of the century1 with its magnificent record of ,english achievement4 ,behind them1 too1 a corrective and a stimulant to their best effort1 is that wonderful revelation of ,english eighteenth-century pictorial art4 ,for just as when1 in years to come1 men think on that stirring epoch1 the two words ,england and ,liberty will leap unbidden to their thought2 so1 too1 in the record of the greatest epoch of our country's art1 a place must be found for the ,english ,caricaturists of the ,eighteenth ,century4 ,printed by ,,ballantyne1 ,,hanson ,,co4 ,london ,edinburgh ,footnotes3 #a ,a fine collection of lithographs of ,honor ,daumier 7#ahjh-ahgi7 has this year been exhibited in the ,victoria and ,albert ,museum4 #b ,the ,works of ,william ,hogarth1 elucidated by ,descriptions4 ,by ,t4 ,clerk4 ,london1 #ahaj4 #c ,william ,hogarth1 by ,austin ,dobson2 with a valuable technical introduction by ,sir ,w4 ,armstrong4 ,london1 #aijb4 #d ,bartolozzi and his ,pupils in ,england 7,langham ,series74 ,by ,selwyn ,brinton4 ,london1 #aijc4 #e ,history of ,caricature and of ,grotesque in ,art4 ,by ,thomas ,wright1 ,m4,a41 ,f4,s4,a4 ,london1 #ahfc4 #f ,his ,englishman at ,paris even predates this by four years 7#agfg74 ,the ,british ,museum etchings1 to which ,i allude later1 are early work1 one even dating from his schooldays at ,westminster6 #g ,op4 cit4 p4 #fc4 #h ,i give a plate of this beautiful ,eliza ,farren 7painted by ,lawrence1 engraved by ,bartolozzi7 in my work on ,bartolozzi in this ,series 7facing p4 #fc74 ,gillray has an amusing print of the diminutive ,lord ,derby1 standing on his coronet to admire himself in the glass4 #i ,they are all enjoying their new diet under similar conditions4 ,in ,italy 7perhaps the cleverest hit of all7 the old ,pope1 seated1 is having the bread shot into his open mouth from a ,french soldier's blunderbuss1 while an assistant at the same moment neatly removes from his head the triple crown4 #aj ,mme4 ,vige le ,brun1 in her delightful memoirs1 gives some justification to ,gillray's severe treatment4 ,visiting ,lady ,hamilton soon after ,sir ,william's death she found this ,andromache draped in black1 and extremely fat4 #aa ,in ,two-penny ,whist appear the worthy ,mrs4 ,humphrey and her maid ,betty2 in ,push-pin the ,duke of ,queensbury and the ,duchess of ,gordon4 #ab ,the ,magazine of ,art1 #aija4 #ac ,rudolph ,ackermann occupies almost the same position to ,rowlandson that ,mistress ,humphrey did to ,gillray1 as his early and faithful friend and principal publisher4 #ad ,bartolozzi and ,his ,pupils in ,england1 p4 #df4 #ae ,rowlandson1 the ,caricaturist4 ,by ,joseph ,grego4 #ahhj4 ,transcriber's ,notes3 ,passages in italics are indicated by italics4 ,illustration captions are represented by caption4 ,additional spacing after some of the quotes is intentional to indicate both the end of a quotation and the beginning of a new paragraph as presented in the original text4 ,missing quotation marks have been added4 ,misprint and and corrected to and 7page #hb74 ,otherwise1 text matches original printing4