to make those about me tolerably happy and my greatest enemy cannot say I ever did an intentional injury; though, without ostentation, I could produce many instances of men that have been essentially benefited by me. What may follow God knows! Finis!"

Such is the candid appeal, which, in the consciousness of sound principle and rectitude of heart, this excellent artist and well-intentioned man made to his contemporaries, and to posterity. Let the human weakness he exhibited in common with his fellow men, teach them, like his works (which necessarily lead to moral reflection), that strict government of the heart and mind, and kind indulgence to the infirmities of others, are the best guides to happiness, here as well as hereafter.

His last original production he termed "Finis, the Bathos, or the Art of sinking in Sublime Painting." This print was published in March 1764; and in the October following death put a finis to the labours of this extraordinary man, and deprived society of one of its most useful members; who contributed alike to its amusement and its improvement, and has left a perpetual fund of both for the benefit of future ages.*

VI. BY RICHARD PAYNE KNIGHT, ESQ.

Hogarth adopted a new line of art, purely English; his merits are known to the public, more from his prints than from his paintings: both deserve our attention. His pictures often display beautiful colouring, as well as accurate drawing his subjects generally convey useful lessons of morality, and are calculated to improve the man, as well as the artist: and he teaches with effect, because he delights while he in

* Rees's Cyclopedia.

structs. It has been said of him, that in his pictures he composed comedies; his humour never fails to excite mirth, and it is directed against the fit objects of ridicule or contempt. The powers of his pencil were not perverted to the purposes of personal attack; the application of his satire was general, and the end at which he aimed was the reformation of folly or of vice.*

VII. BY JOHN BRITTON, ESQ. F.S.A.

It is incompatible with the constitution of man and the qualifications of genius, to excel in the different branches of art, or to acquire positive pre-eminence in two distinct departments of science. The productions of Hogarth, among those of several other justly-famed artists, serve to illustrate this maxim. In pictures of comic character, rich humour, and moral satire, and particularly in displaying the human figure and countenance in its common and popular forms, he certainly excelled all other painters. Many of his pictures were also executed in a masterly style of colouring, grouping, and effect. Like the generality of artists, he was occasionally required to paint subjects from ancient and sacred history; but he then wandered out of his element, and at once betrayed a want of judgment and of taste. In the three pictures in Redcliffe Church, this is exemplified. As specimens of colouring, however, they possess much merit, and may be viewed with advantage by the young artist; but in the forms and expression of the figures, and in their attitudes and grouping, we seek in vain for propriety, dignity, or elegance. Hogarth was certainly an artist of peculiar and distinguished talents. He stood alone in art, and

* Exhibition Catalogue of the British Gailery, 1814.

formed a school of his own. He was at once the Pictorial Satirist, Moralist, and Historian of the age in which he lived. I use the latter term, from the conviction that his pictures will always be referred to with pleasure and advantage, as recording the features, costume, and corporeal characteristics of many eminent and illustrious persons, and of many public and private events of his time.*

VIII. BY ALLAN CUNNINGHAM, ESQ.

William Hogarth was rather below the middle size; his eye was peculiarly bright and piercing; his look shrewd, sarcastic, and intelligent; the forehead high and round. He was active in person, bustling in manner, and fond of affecting a little state and importance of a temper cheerful, joyous, and companionable; fond of mirth and good fellowship; desirous of saying strong and pointed things;-ardent in friendship-and in resentment. His lively conversation -his knowledge of character-his readiness of speech-and quickness of retort, made many covet his company, who were sometimes the objects of his satire; but he employed his wit on those who were present, and spared or defended the absent. His personal spirit was equal to his satiric talents; he provoked, with his pencil, the temper of those whom it was not prudent to offend; with him no vice nor folly found shelter behind wealth, or rank, or power. As to the license of his tongue, he himself often said that he never uttered that sentence about a living man which he would not repeat gladly to his face: as to his works, he always felt conscious of their merit, and predicted with equal openness that his name would descend with no de

* Account of St. Mary Redcliffe Church.

crease of honour to posterity. He loved state in his dress, good order in his household, and the success of his works enabled him to indulge in the luxuries of a good table and pleasant guests.

The character of William Hogarth as a man is to be sought for in his conduct, and in the opinions of his more dispassionate contemporaries; his character as an artist is to be gathered from numerous works, at once original and unrivalled. His fame has flown far and wide; his skill as an engraver spread his reputation as a painter; and all who love the dramatic representation of actual life—all who have hearts to be gladdened by humour-all who are pleased with judicious and well-directed satire-all who are charmed with the ludicrous looks of popular folly-and all who can be moved with the pathos of human suffering—are admirers of Hogarth. That his works are unlike those of other men, is his merit, not his fault. He belonged to no school of art; he was the produce of no academy; no man living or dead had any share in forming his mind, or in rendering his hand skilful. He was the spontaneous offspring of the graphic spirit of his country, as native to the heart of England as independence is, and he may be fairly called, in his own walk, the first-born of her spirit.

He painted life as he saw it. He gives no visions of bygone things-no splendid images of ancient manners; he regards neither the historian's page nor the poet's song. He was contented with the occurrences of the passing day -with the folly or the sin of the hour; to the garb and fashion of the moment, however, he adds story and sentiment for all time.

The morality of Hogarth has been questioned; and indeed the like has befallen Crabbe. We may smile as we look at his works, and we may laugh-all this is true;-the

victims whom Hogarth conducts pass through many varied scenes of folly, and commit many absurdities; but the spectacle saddens as we move along, and if we commence in mirth, we are overwhelmed with sorrow at last. His object was to insinuate the excellence of virtue by proving the hideousness of vice ;-and, if he has failed, who has succeeded? As to other charges, preferred by the malice of his contemporaries, time and fame have united in disproving them. He has been accused of want of knowledge in the human form, and of grace and serenity of expression. There is some truth in this perhaps; but the peculiar character of his pictures required mental vigour, rather than external beauty, and the serene Madonna-like loveliness could not find a place among the follies and frivolities of the passing scene. He saw a way of his own to fame, and followed it; he scorned all imitation, and by word and works recommended nature for an example and a monitress in art.

His grammatical accuracy and skill in spelling have been doubted by men who are seldom satisfied with any thing short of perfection, and they have added the accusation that he was gross and unpolished. Must men of genius be examples of both bodily and mental perfection? Look at the varied works of Hogarth, and say, could a man, overflowing with such knowledge of men and manners, be called illiterate or ignorant. He was of no college-but not therefore unlearned ;-he was of no academy-yet who will question his excellence in art? He acquired learning by his study of human nature—in his intercourse with the world— in his musing on the changes of seasons—and on the varying looks of the nation and the aspect of the universe. He drank at the great fountain of information, and went by the ancient road; and till it is shown that his works are without knowledge, I shall look on him as a well-informed man.