Part 17

"The donations in painting which several artists presented to the Foundling Hospital were among the first objects of this nature which engaged the public attention. The artists observing the effects that these paintings produced, came, in the year 1760, to a resolution to try the fate of a public exhibition of their works. This effort had its desired effect. The public were entertained, and the artists were excited to emulation."--_Strange's Inquiry into the Rise and Establishment of the Royal Academy_, p. 63.

This gives Hogarth a right to be classed, if not among those who were founders of the Royal Academy, as one of the first causes of its establishment.

[55] Be this as it may, certain it is that the boy, who was afterwards so great a Jewish legislator, bears a very strong resemblance to the Egyptian princess. That the artist meant by this family likeness to hint that he was of royal descent, I do not presume to assert.

[56] The head is said to be copied from a youth of the name of Seaton. The attitude and general air very much resemble that of Delilah, in a picture painted by Vandyke, of Samson seized by the Philistines, now in the Emperor's gallery at Vienna.

[57] These prints were promised to the subscribers sooner than they could be completed; and in consequence of their being delayed, the following advertisement was inserted in the _Public Advertiser_ of February 28, 1757:--

"Mr. Hogarth is obliged to inform the subscribers to his Election prints that the three last cannot be published till about Christmas next, which delay is entirely owing to the difficulties he has met with to procure able hands to engrave the plates: but that he neither may have any more apologies to make on such an account, nor trespass any further on the indulgence of the public by increasing a collection already sufficiently large, he intends to employ the rest of his time in portrait-painting; chiefly this notice seems more necessary, as several spurious and scandalous prints have lately been published in his name," etc.

This fretful appeal must have been written under the influence of momentary spleen, which might possibly originate in his coadjutor's disappointing, and by that means forcing him to violate his engagements with the public. There is no other apology for his indulging a thought of quitting that walk in which he indisputably led, for another in which he must not only follow, but be far behind some of his contemporaries.

[58] Sir George Saville saw this in its true light. One of the supporters of the Bill of Rights being desirous of introducing Sir George's name among the members of the society, made application to the worthy Baronet for his permission to propose him. Sir George declined the honour, and pleaded his engagements being so numerous that he had not time to attend, etc. etc. "We do not expect your attendance," replied his friend; "we do not expect your constant attendance; but the sanction of your name would be a tower of strength to the society; and as you see by the public prints, the manner we conduct ourselves, and the business we do, you must approve, I think you cannot refuse us your name." "I do not," said Sir George, "make any objection to your conduct, which I have thought very regular and systematic, but I really dislike the title you have adopted; I observe that you meet, read a string of observations, and then make a motion for adjourning to dinner in the next room; there each man drinks his two bottles to most patriotic and constitutional toasts. In the next paper appear advertisements, that on the following Monday the supporters of the Bill of Rights will meet again. Dinner on table precisely at four o'clock. You dine, and drink your wine; your secretary gives us the same information in the succeeding prints, and again adds, that--dinner will be on the table precisely at four o'clock. All these circumstances induce me to think you should alter your title; instead of 'Supporters of the Bill of Rights,' call yourselves what you really are, 'Supporters of the Bill of Fare!'"

[59] This has been pronounced, I know not upon what authority, to be intended for the late Thomas Potter, Esq.

[60] In page 21 of a quarto pamphlet published in 1755, and entitled, "The Last Blow, or an unanswerable vindication of the society of Exeter College, being a reply to the Vice-Chancellor, Dr. King, and the writers of the _London Evening Post_," is the following paragraph:--

"The next character to whose merits we would do justice is the Rev. Dr. C--ss--t (Cosserat). But as it is very difficult to delineate this fellow in colours sufficiently strong and lively, it is fortunate for us and the Doctor that Hogarth has undertaken the task. In the print of 'An Election Entertainment,' the public will see the Doctor represented sitting among the freeholders, and zealously eating and drinking for the sake of the new interest. His venerable and humane aspect will at once bespeak the dignity and benevolence of his heart. Never did aldermen at Guildhall devour custard with half such an appearance of love to his country, or swallow ale with so much the air of a patriot. These circumstances the pencil of Hogarth will undoubtedly make manifest; but it is much to be lamented that his words also cannot appear in this print, and that the artist cannot delineate that persuasive flow of eloquence which could prevail upon copyholders to abjure their base tenures and swear themselves freeholders. But this oratory (far different from the balderdash of Tully and Doctor King, concerning liberty and our country), as the genius of mild ale alone could inspire, this fellow alone could deliver."

[61] I think it is recorded in Mr. Joseph Miller's _Reports_, that our British Solomon often asserted that scratching was too great a luxury for a subject to enjoy.

[62] This woman was remarkable for performing at fairs, country hops, etc. in the neighbourhood of Oxford, and known by the name of Fiddling Nan.

[63] This is a portrait of the present Sir John Parnell, nephew to the poet. He was introduced into this print by his own request, declaring at the same time that, from his being so generally known in Ireland, his face would help the sale of the engraving.

[64] It is supposed to be the portrait of an Oxford bruiser who went by the name of Teague Carter.

[65] A mashing-tub seems a sufficiently capacious vessel, but sinks to nothing when compared with a bowl which, it is recorded, was filled with punch on the 15th of October 1694, at the expense of Admiral Russel. The Admiral's punch was made in a fountain situated in the centre of a large garden, the terminus to four long gravel walks, canopied with orange and lemon trees. In each walk was a table the length of the avenue, covered with a cold collation, consisting of every luxury which the season produced; and in the basin of the fountain, which the gallant seaman chose to call a little basin, for the entertainment of a few friends, were the following ingredients:--Four hogsheads of brandy, eight hogsheads of water, twenty-five thousand lemons, twenty gallons of lime juice, thirteen hundredweight of fine Lisbon sugar, five pounds of grated nutmegs, three hundred toasted biscuits, and lastly, a pipe of dry mountain Malaga. Over the fountain was erected a large canopy to keep off the rain, and in a little boat, built for the purpose, a boy belonging to the fleet rowed round the basin, and served this cordial beverage to the company. More than six thousand men partook of this mighty bowl.

[66] This alludes to the alteration of the style in the year 1752, a measure which gave great umbrage, and excited a violent clamour among the advocates for old customs and adherents to ancient forms.

[67] Kirton was a tobacconist in Fleet Street, but injured his circumstances and destroyed his constitution by his active zeal in the Oxfordshire election of 1754.

[68] This is said to be intended for the late Duke of Newcastle, his Grace having exerted all his influence in support of the Naturalization Bill: the nose of the effigy gives some probability to the conjecture.

[69] Under the portrait of a Mr. Cholmondeley of Vale Royal, in Cheshire, engraved about the same time with these prints, are the following quaint lines:

"In this plain garb a senator is shown, Who never bought a vote, nor sold his own."

[70] This print undoubtedly gave the hint for a transaction in which Punch was made the principal agent at a late Shaftesbury election.

[71] By the condescending humility of men of high rank, and the aspiring ambition of men of no rank, they to all appearance become equal at every general election. The following is one among the few instances of an independent spirit in a candidate's address:--

"TO THE GENTLEMEN, CLERGY, AND FREEHOLDERS OF THE COUNTY OF YORK.

"GENTLEMEN,--I have had the honour to represent the county of York in three successive Parliaments: I have been diligent in my attendance, and have performed my duty with a clear and unbiassed conscience. I have now an opposition declared against me, for what reasons I do not know, except that I am not disposed to obey the dictates of the associators at York. I do not wish to serve you upon such terms. I will never go to Parliament in fetters; nor did I, nor ever will I disguise my principles, which all go to the support of our excellent constitution in Church and State. I avow myself an enemy to tumults, sedition, and rebellion, and will never support any but a British interest. Consistently with that, I am a friend to the people, and am determined to preserve my independency, yielding neither to any influence of ministers, nor to any clamours of a faction.

"Upon these principles I shall esteem it a high honour to be returned for this great county, and shall be thankful for your support.--I am, gentlemen, etc.,

"EDWIN LASCELLES.

"_September 12, 1780._"

In Mr. Edmund Burke's speech to the electors of Bristol, on the 3d of November 1774, he gave such cogent reasons for not signing any engagement to obey in all cases the instructions of his constituents, that I cannot resist the temptation of inserting an extract, for the contemplation of those who are advocates of a contrary system:--

"Certainly, gentlemen, it ought to be the happiness and glory of a representative to live in the strictest union, the closest correspondence, and the most unreserved communication with his constituents. Their wishes ought to have great weight with him; their opinion high respect; their business unremitted attention. It is his duty to sacrifice his repose, his pleasures, his satisfaction to theirs; and above all, ever and in all cases to prefer their interest to his own. But his unbiassed opinion, his mature judgment, his enlightened conscience, he ought not to sacrifice to you, to any men, or to any set of men living. These he does not derive from your pleasure; no, nor from the law and the constitution. They are a trust from Providence, for the abuse of which he is deeply answerable. Your representative owes you not only his industry, but his judgment; and he betrays instead of serving you, if he sacrifices it to your opinion.

"My worthy colleague says his will ought to be subservient to yours. If that be all, the thing is innocent. If government were a matter of will upon any side, yours, without question, ought to be superior. But government and legislation are matters of reason and judgment, and not of inclination; and what sort of reason is that in which the determination precedes the discussion, in which one set of men deliberate and another decide, and where those who form the conclusion are three hundred miles distant from those who hear the argument?

"To deliver an opinion is the right of all men; that of constituents is a weighty and respectable opinion, which a representative ought always to rejoice to hear, and which he ought always most seriously to consider. But authoritative instructions; mandates issued, which the member is bound blindly and implicitly to obey, to vote, and to argue for, though contrary to the clearest conviction of his judgment and conscience; these are things utterly unknown to the laws of the land, which arise from a fundamental mistake of the whole order and tenor of our constitution.

"Parliament is not a congress of ambassadors from different and hostile interests; which interests each must maintain, as an agent and advocate against other agents and advocates; but Parliament is a deliberative assembly of one nation, with one interest, that of the whole; where not local purposes, not local prejudices ought to guide, but the general good resulting from the general reason of the whole. You choose a member, indeed; but when you have chosen him, he is not a member of Bristol, but he is a member of Parliament. If the local constituent should have an interest, or should form an hasty opinion, evidently opposite to the real good of the rest of the community, the member of that place ought to be as far as any other from any endeavour to give it effect."

[72] In the year 1739 Admiral Vernon took Portobello with six ships only. The public gratitude to him was boundless: he was sung in ballads; at the ensuing general election in 1741 he was returned for three different corporations; but above all, his portrait covered every signpost; and he may be, figuratively, said to have sold the ale, beer, and purl of all England for six years.

[73] This sign has a very whimsical appearance: it represents our merry monarch in a great tree, enveloped in a black wig, decorated with a point lace cravat, and environed with three crowns. Two Parliamentary troopers, riding beneath the branches, do not perceive that this faithless "Defender of the Faith," and so forth, is immediately above them. This curious delineation is evidently copied from some country sign, and gives a very exact representation of one I remember to have seen in a village in Shropshire, with the following _poetical_ inscription:--

"This oak, the glory of the wood, may well be called a royal thing, For once upon its branches there perched a great king; And while the king was perched upon the branches so high, The Roundhead rebels under him they all passed by."

[74] When Ware the architect was told of this piece of satire, he said the artist must be a very foolish fellow; for if he had painted the coachman as a shorter man, or made him stoop, he might have driven through the gateway with his head upon his shoulders.

[75] John Shoreditch, in the reign of Edward III., sued the county of Middlesex (for which he was returned to Parliament) to recover his wages. In some letters from the dead to the living, published about the year 1761, one signed with his name concludes as follows:

"If I was now upon earth--either nobleman or commoner--I should choose peace and quiet, both public and private: I should be happy in preserving religion and morality among my countrymen, instead of suborning them to take the oath falsely about bribery and corruption; debauching their minds, by giving them money that is of no use to their families, and keeping them in continual drunkenness, that renders them incapable of serving themselves or their country.

"To this I attribute the loss of that which was common in my time, but in yours is found only in romances and novels--I mean simplicity of manners among the country people. Rustic innocence was then as common among the men as among the women; but there is scarce any mode of vice or folly which is not at this period equally known and practised by both sexes; and in the most obscure villages to as great a degree as in the most polished cities. Let us consider that a million of money was spent in treats and bribery at the last general election; and if we take into the calculation the contested elections, for some of which there were three or four candidates, and the money that is spent by their friends on these occasions, we shall not find the computation too high. What place, then, will not the influence of this immense sum extend to? Not even the smallest hamlet can escape; and you may as well look for purity of manners, innocence and simplicity, among the Capuans of old, or in your Covent Garden, as in any place that an election guinea has found its way to.--I am, etc."

[76] I am tasteless enough to prefer this to Garrick between Tragedy and Comedy. From Hogarth the hint was indisputably taken; but exquisite as is the face of Thalia, the countenance of the actor, from the contention of two passions, has assumed a kind of idiotic stare, of which our honest farmer has not an iota. In the true spirit of Falstaff, he says, or seems to say, "D'ye think I do not know ye? Ha! ha! ha! he! he! he!!"

[77] Swift boasted that he made it a rule never to give his voice for the appointment of any man to any situation for which that man was not better qualified than his opponent. Being once applied to for his interest in the recommendation of a curate, because he was a very good sort of man, though a very vile preacher, he said he would willingly, if in his power, recommend him to be a bishop, because that was a business in which preaching was not wanted, but in a curate it was wanted every week. Being once asked by one of his parishioners which of two candidates he would advise him to vote for as a Parliament man, in a warmly contested Irish election, Swift desired he would first consider what was the business of a Parliament man; and secondly, which of the parties was best qualified for that business; and then he would want no advice. If your vote, added he, could make a lord or a duke, as they are people who need not do any business at all, you might toss up a halfpenny, and vote for the man who came up heads.

[78] By a letter we see out of his pocket, this appears to be Doctor Shebbeare, who was put on the pillory, and confined in prison; not for writing in the cause of his country, but for printing and publishing the sixth letter to the people of England, in which he most impudently and audaciously abuses George the First and the present royal family. The Doctor frequently said in a public coffeehouse, that he would have a pillory or a pension. In each of these points he was gratified; Lord Mansfield complimented him with the first, and Lord Bute rewarded him with the second. The honour he enjoyed long ago, the emolument he died in the receipt of a very few years since.

[79] The late Doctor Barrowby persuaded a dying man, that being much better he might venture with him in his chariot to the hustings in Covent Garden, to poll for Sir George Vandeput. The unhappy voter took his physician's advice, and in less than an hour after his return--expired.

[80] This sagacious-looking gentleman is said to be intended as a portraiture of the late Bub Doddington, afterwards Lord Melcombe.

[81] It has been thought that this carries some allusion to a circumstance which happened at the contested Oxfordshire election in 1754, when an outrageous mob, in the old interest, surrounded a post-chaise and attempted to throw it into the river; but Captain T----, who was in the carriage, shot a chimney-sweeper that was a ringleader in the assault, and his followers dispersed.

[82] About the year 1740, when party disputes ran very high, a gentleman of superior talents and undeviating integrity offered himself as a candidate for a town in the West of England. The first person whose vote he solicited asked him if he was a Whig or a Tory? "Neither," was the reply; "I profess myself a moderate man, and when administration act right, will vote with them,--when wrong, against them." "And be these really thy principles!" said the elector; "be these really thy principles! Then thou shalt not have my vote; but I'll give thee a piece of advice. Thou seest my door; it leads into the street, the right-hand side of which is for the Tories, the left for the Whigs; and for a cold-blooded moderate man like thee, there is the kennel, and in it I advise thee to walk, for thee be'st not decided enough for any other situation."

[83] This must indisputably be considered as the lawyer's mansion, not merely because it has a better appearance than any house we have seen in the foregoing prints, but because a parchment label, which hangs out of an upper window where a clerk is writing, is inscribed "Indintur." Had the artist thought it worth while to have consulted Master Henry Dilworth, or any other eminent schoolmaster, this orthography had been corrected.

[84] When many of those gentleman who had been very active in the Revolution, and materially contributed to the success of our great deliverer, applied to a nobleman high in office for the first places in the State, he answered their requests by referring them to the Roman history: "There," says he, "you will find that geese twice saved the Capitol; but I never heard that those geese were made Consuls."

[85] "Vermin" is a coarse phrase, but I think in a degree appropriate. How similar are the effects attendant on a swarm of pettifogging lawyers settling in a country town, to those resulting from a swarm of noxious and destructive insects settling in a garden!

[86] A nobleman, whose name it is not necessary to record, was so struck with the wit of this motto, that he had it inscribed upon a common eight-day clock.