Part 4
In this book, the leading idea of which was hieroglyphically thrown out in a frontispiece to his works in 1745, he acknowledges himself indebted to his friends for assistance, and particularly to one gentleman for his corrections and amendments of at least a third part of the _wording_. This friend, I am assured, was Dr. _Benjamin Hoadly_ the physician, who carried on the work to about a _third_ part, Chap. IX. and then, through indisposition, declined the friendly office with regret. Mr. _Hogarth_ applied to his neighbour, Mr. _Ralph_; but it was impossible for two such persons to agree, both alike vain and positive. He proceeded no farther than about a sheet, and they then parted friends, and seem to have continued such. In the _Estimate of the Manners and Principles of the Times_, vol. I. p. 47, published in 1757 by Dr. _Brown_, that author pays a compliment to Mr. _Hogarth's_ genius. Mr. _Ralph_, animadverting on the work, amongst other things, says, "It is happy for Mr. _Hogarth_, in my humble opinion, that he is brought upon the stage in such company, rather for the sake of fastening some additional abuse upon the public, than of bestowing any special grace upon him. 'Neither the comic pencil, nor the serious pen of our ingenious countrymen (so the Estimator or Appraiser's Patent of Allowance runs) have been able to keep alive the taste of Nature or of Beauty.' For where he has chosen to be a niggard of his acknowledgements, every other man would chuse to be a prodigal: Nature had played the _Proteus_ with us, had invited us to pursue her in every shape, but had never suffered us to overtake her: Beauty all had been smitten with, but nobody had been able to assign us a rule by which it might be defined: This was Mr. _Hogarth's_ task; this is what he has succeeded in; composition is at last become a science; the student knows what he is in search of; the connoisseur what to praise; and fancy or fashion, or prescription, will usurp the hacknied name of taste no more. So that, whatever may be said in disparagement of the age on other accounts, it has more merit and honour to claim on this, than any which preceded it. And I will venture for once to prophesy, from the improvements already manifested, that we shall have the arts of designing to value ourselves upon, when all our ancient virtues are worn out."
The office of finishing the work, and superintending the publication, was lastly taken up by Dr. _Morell_, who went through the remainder of the book.[40] The preface was in like manner corrected by the Rev. Mr. _Townley_. The family of _Hogarth_ rejoiced when the last sheet of the _Analysis_ was printed off; as the frequent disputes he had with his coadjutors, in the progress of the work, did not much harmonize his disposition.
This work was translated into _German_ by Mr. _Mylins_, when in _England_, under the author's inspection; and the translation, containing twenty-two sheets in quarto, and two large plates, was printed in _London_, price five dollars.
Of the same performance a new and correct edition was (_July_ 1, 1754) proposed for publication at _Berlin_, by _Ch. Fr. Vok_, with an explanation of Mr. _Hogarth's_ satirical prints, translated from the _French_; the whole to subscribers for one dollar, but after six weeks to be raised to two dollars.
An _Italian_ translation was also published at _Leghorn_ in 1761, 8vo, dedicated "All' illustrissime Signora Diana _Molineux_, Dama _Inglese_."
"This book," Mr. _Walpole_ observes, "had many sensible hints and observations; but it did not carry the conviction, nor meet the universal acquiescence he expected. As he treated his contemporaries with scorn, they triumphed over this publication,[41] and irritated him to expose him. Many wretched burlesque prints came out to ridicule his system. There was a better answer to it in one of the two prints that he gave to illustrate his hypothesis. In the ball, had he confined himself to such outlines as compose awkwardness and deformity, he would have proved half his assertion; but he has added two samples of grace in a young lord and lady, that are strikingly stiff and affected. They are a _Bath_ beau and a county Beauty."
_Hogarth_ had one failing in common with most people who attain wealth and eminence without the aid of liberal education. He affected to despise every kind of knowledge which he did not possess. Having established his fame with little or no obligation to literature, he either conceived it to be needless, or decried it because it lay out of his reach. His sentiments, in short, resembled those of _Jack Cade_, who pronounced sentence on the clerk of _Chatham_, because he could write and read. Till, in evil hour, this celebrated artist commenced an author, and was obliged to employ the friends already mentioned to correct his _Analysis of Beauty_,[42] he did not seem to have discovered that even spelling was a necessary qualification; and yet he had ventured to ridicule[43] the late Mr. _Rich's_ deficiency as to this particular, in a note which lies before the Rake whose play is refused while he remains in confinement for debt. Previous to the time of which we are now speaking, one of our artist's common topicks of declamation was the uselessness of books to a man of his profession. In _Beer-street_, among other volumes consigned by him to the pastry cook, we find _Turnbull on ancient Painting_, a treatise which _Hogarth_ should have been able to understand, before he ventured to condemn. _Garrick_ himself, however, was not more ductile to flattery. A word in favour of _Sigismunda_, might have commanded a proof print, or forced an original sketch out of our artist's hands. The furnisher of this remark owes one of his scarcest performances to the success of a compliment, which might have stuck even in Sir _Godfrey Kneller's_ throat.
The following authenticated story of our artist will also serve to shew how much more easy it is to detect ill-placed or hyperbolical adulation respecting others, than when applied to ourselves. _Hogarth_ being at dinner with the great _Cheselden_, and some other company, was told that Mr. _John Freke_, surgeon of _St. Bartholomew's Hospital_, a few evenings before at _Dick's Coffee-house_, had asserted, that _Greene_ was as eminent in composition as _Handel_. "That fellow _Freke_," replied _Hogarth_, "is always shooting his bolt absurdly one way or another! _Handel_ is a giant in music; _Greene_ only a light _Florimel_ kind of a composer."--"Ay," says our artist's informant, "but at the same time Mr. _Freke_ declared you were as good a portrait-painter as _Vandyck_."--"_There_ he was in the right," adds _Hogarth_; "and so by G-- I am, give me my time, and let me choose my subject!"
With Dr. _Hoadly_, the late Chancellor of _Winchester_, Mr. _Hogarth_ was always on terms of the strictest friendship, and frequently visited him at _Winchester, St. Cross,_ and _Alresford_. It is well known, that Dr. _Hoadly's_ fondness for theatrical exhibitions was so great, that few visitors were ever long in his house before they were solicited to accept a part in some interlude or other. He himself, with _Garrick_ and _Hogarth_, once performed a laughable parody on the scene in _Julius Cæsar_, where the _Ghost_ appears to _Brutus. Hogarth_ personated the spectre; but so unretentive was his memory, that, although his speech consisted only of two lines, he was unable to get them by heart. At last they hit on the following expedient in his favour. The verses he was to deliver were written in such large letters, on the outside of an illuminated paper-lanthorn, that he could read them when he entered with it in his hand on the stage. _Hogarth_ painted a scene on this occasion, representing a sutling booth, with the _Duck of Cumberland's_ head by way of sign. He also prepared the play-bill, with characteristic ornaments. The original drawing is still preserved, and we could wish it were engraved; as the slightest sketch from the design of so grotesque a painter would be welcome to the numerous collectors of his works.
_Hogarth_ was also the most absent of men. At table he would sometimes turn round his chair as if he had finished eating, and as suddenly would return it, and fall to his meal again. I may add, that he once directed a letter to Dr. _Hoadly_, thus,--"To the Doctor at _Chelsea_." This epistle, however, by good luck, did not miscarry; and was preserved by the late Chancellor of _Winchester_, as a pleasant memorial of his friend's extraordinary inattention.
Another remarkable instance of _Hogarth's_ absence was told me, after the first edition of this work, by one of his intimate friends. Soon after he set up his carriage, he had occasion to pay a visit to the lord-mayor (I believe it was Mr. _Beckford_). When he went, the weather was fine; but business detained him till a violent shower of rain came on. He was let out of the Mansion-house by a different door from that at which he entered; and, seeing the rain, began immediately to call for a hackney-coach. Not one was to be met with on any of the neighbouring stands; and our artist sallied forth to brave the storm, and actually reached _Leicester-fields_ without bestowing a thought on his own carriage, till Mrs. _Hogarth_ (surprized to see him so wet and splashed) asked where he had left it.
Mr. _Walpole_, in the following note, p. 69, is willing to expose the indelicacy of the _Flemish_ painters, by comparing it with the purity of _Hogarth_. "When they attempt humour," says our author, "it is by making a drunkard vomit; they take evacuations for jokes; and when they make us sick, think they make us laugh. A boor hugging a frightful frow is a frequent incident, even in the works of _Teniers_." Shall we proceed to examine whether the scenes painted by our countryman are wholly free from the same indelicacies? In one plate of _Hudibras_, where he encounters a _Skimmington_, a man is making water against the end of a house, while a taylor's wife is most significantly attending to the dirty process. In another plate to the same work, a boy is pissing into the shoe of _Ralpho_, while the widow is standing by. Another boy in the _Enraged Musician_ is easing nature by the same mode; and a little miss is looking earnestly on the operation. In the _March to Finchley_, a diseased soldier has no better employment; and a woman is likewise staring at him out of a window. This circumstance did not escape the observation of _Rouquet_ the enameller, whose remarks[44] on the plates of our artist I shall have more than once occasion to introduce. "Il y a," says he, "dans quelques endroits de cet excellent tableau, des objets peut être plus propres à peindre qu'à décrire. D'ou vient que les oreilles sont plus chaste que les yeux? Ne seroit ce pas parce qu'on peut regarder certains objets dans un tableau, et feindre de ne pas les voir; et qu'il n'est pas si aisé d'entendre une obscénité, et de feindre de ne l'entendre pas! L'objet, dont je veux parler, est toutefois peu considérable; il s'agit seulement d'un soldat à qui le voyage de _Montpelier_ conviendroit mieux que celui d'_Ecosse_. L'amour lui a fait une blessure, &c." Was this occurrence delicate or precious enough to deserve such frequency of repetition? In the burlesque _Paul before Felix_, when the High Priest applies his fingers to his nose, we have reason to imagine that his manœuvre was in consequence of some offensive escape during the terrors of the pro-consul of _Judea_, who, as he is here represented, conveys no imperfect image of a late Lord Mayor, at the time of the riots in _London_. In this last instance, indeed, I ought to have observed that _Hogarth_ meant to satirize, not to imitate, the painters of _Holland_ and _Flanders_. But I forbear to dwell any longer on such disgusting circumstances; begging leave only to ask, whether the canvas of _Teniers_ exhibits nastier objects than those of the woman cracking a louse between her nails in the fourth plate of the _Harlot's Progress_; a _Scotch_ bag-piper catching another in his neck while he is performing at the Election feast; _Aurora_ doing the same kind office for a _Syren_ or _Nereid_, in the _Strollers_, &c.; the old toothless _French_ beldams, slobbering (_Venus_ forbid we should call it kissing) each other in the comic print entitled _Noon_; the chamber-pot emptied on the Free Mason's head, in the _Rejoicing Night_; or the _Lilliputians_ giving a clyster to _Gulliver_? In some of these instances, however, the humour may compensate for the indelicacy, which is rarely the case with such _Dutch_ pictures as have justly incurred the censure of Mr. _Walpole_. Let us now try how far some of the compositions of _Hogarth_ have befriended the cause of modesty. In the _Harlot's Progress_, Plate VI. we meet with a hand by no means busied in manner suitable to the purity of its owner's function. _Hogarth_ indeed, in three different works, has delineated three clergymen; the one as a drunkard; the second as a glutton; and the third as a whoremaster, who (I borrow _Rouquet's_ words) "est plus occupé de sa voisine que de son vin, qu'il repand par une distraction qu'elle lui cause." He who, in the eyes of the vulgar, would degrade our professors of religion, deserves few thanks from society. In the _Rake's Progress_, Plate the last, how is the hand of the ideal potentate employed, while he is gazing with no very modest aspect on a couple of young women who pass before his cell numbered 55? and to what particular object are the eyes of the said females supposed to be directed?[45] Nay, in what pursuit is the grenadier engaged who stands with his face toward the wall in Plate 9. of _Industry and Idleness_? May we address another question to the reader? Is the "_smile_ of _Socrates_," or the "_benevolence_ of the designer," very distinguishable in the half dozen last instances? It has been observed indeed by physiognomists, that the _smile_ of the real _Socrates_ resembled the _grin_ of a _satyr_; and perhaps a few of the particulars here alluded to, as well as the prints entitled BEFORE and AFTER, ought to be considered as a _benevolence_ to speculative old maids, or misses not yet enfranchised from a boarding school. Had this truly sensible critic, and elegant writer, been content to observe, that such gross circumstances as form the chief subject of _Flemish_ pictures, are only incidental and subordinate in those of our artist, the remark might have escaped reprehension. But perhaps he who has told us that "_St. Paul's_ hand was once _improperly_ placed before the wife of _Felix_" should not have suffered more glaring insults on decency to pass without a censure. On this occasion, though I may be found to differ from Mr. _Walpole_, I am ready to confess how much regard is due to the opinions of a gentleman whose mind has been long exercised on a subject which is almost new to me; especially when I recollect that my present researches would have had no guide, but for the lights held out in the last volume of the Anecdotes of Painting in _England_.
_Hogarth_ boasted that he could draw a Serjeant with his pike, going into an alehouse, and his Dog following him, with only three strokes;--which he executed thus:
[Illustration: see below]
A B | \ | \ | \ | \| | | | | C | ʅ| | |
A. The perspective line of the door. B. The end of the Serjeant's pike, who is gone in. C. The end of the Dog's tail, who is following him. There are similar whims of the _Caracci_.
A specimen of _Hogarth's_ propensity to merriment, on the most trivial occasions, is observable in one of his cards requesting the company of Dr. _Arnold King_ to dine with him at the _Mitre_.[46] Within a circle, to which a knife and fork are the supporters, the written part is contained. In the center is drawn a pye, with a _mitre_ on the top of it; and the invitation of our artist concludes with the following sport on three of the _Greek_ letters--to _Eta Beta Pi_.[47] The rest of the inscription is not very accurately spelt. A quibble by _Hogarth_ is surely as respectable as a conundrum by _Swift_.
"Some nicer virtuosi have remarked, that in the serious pieces, into which _Hogarth_ has deviated from the natural biass of his genius, there are some strokes of the ridiculous discernible, which suit not with the dignity of his subject. In his PREACHING OF ST. PAUL, a dog snarling at a cat;[48] and in his PHARAOH'S DAUGHTER, the figure of the infant _Moses_, who expresses rather archness than timidity; are alledged as instances, that this artist, unrivalled in his own walk, could not resist the impulse of his imagination towards drollery. His picture, however, of _Richard_ III. is pure and unmixed, without any ridiculous circumstances, and strongly impresses terror and amazement." As these observations are extracted from the _first_ edition of Dr. _Warton's_ "Essay on the Genius and Writings of _Pope_," it would be uncandid if we did not accompany them with the following note from a subsequent edition of that valuable performance: "The author gladly lays hold of the opportunity of this third edition of his work to confess a mistake he had committed with respect to two admirable paintings of Mr. _Hogarth_, his PAUL PREACHING, and his INFANT MOSES; which, on a closer examination, are not chargeable with the blemishes imputed to them. Justice obliges him to declare the high opinion he entertains of the abilities of this inimitable artist, who shines in so many different lights, and on such very dissimilar subjects; and whose works have more of what the ancients called the ΗθΟΣ [Greek: Ethos] in them, than the compositions of any other Modern. For the rest, the author begs leave to add, that he is so far from being ashamed of retracting his error, that he had rather appear a MAN OF CANDOUR, than the best CRITIC that ever lived."[49]
In one of the early exhibitions at _Spring Gardens_, a very pleasing small picture by _Hogarth_ made its first appearance. It was painted for the earl of _Charlemont_, in whose collection it remains.[50] It was intituled, _Picquet, or Virtue in Danger,_ and shews us a young lady, who, during a _tête-à-tête_, had just lost all her money to a handsome officer of her own age. He is represented in the act of returning her a handful of bank bills, with the hope of exchanging them for a softer acquisition, and more delicate plunder. On the chimney piece is a watch-case and a figure of Time over it, with this motto--NUNC. _Hogarth_ has caught his heroine during this moment of hesitation, this struggle with herself, and has marked her feelings with uncommon success. Wavering chastity, as in this instance, he was qualified to display; but the graceful reserve of steady and exalted virtue he would certainly have failed to express. He might have conveyed a perfect idea of such an _Iphigenia_ as is described by Mr. _Hayley_, in one of the cantoes of his beautiful poem on the _Triumphs of Temper_; but the dignity of the same female at the _Tauric_ altar would have baffled the most vigorous efforts of his pencil.
_Hogarth's_ Picquet, or _Virtue in Danger_, when exhibited at _Spring Gardens_, in _May_, 1761, produced the following explanation:
Ye fair, be warn'd, and shun those arts, That faithless men do use for hearts: Weigh o'er and o'er the destin'd man, And oft this little lesson scan; If he his character don't fear, For yours he'll very little care: With scorn repulse the wretch so bold, Nor pawn your virtue for his gold! Of gaming (cards or not) beware, 'Tis very often found a snare; But, lest my precept still should fail, Indulge me--whilst I tell a tale:
_Dorinda_, chearful, young, and gay, Oft shone at Balls, at Park, and Play; Blest with a free, engaging air, In short, throughout quite debonnair; (Excuse me--shall I tell the truth?) That bane of misled, heedless youth, Gaming--had quite possess'd her mind, To this (no other vice) inclin'd: She oft would melancholy sit, No partner near for dear Picquet! "At last a cruel spoiler came," And deeply learn'd in all the game; A son of _Mars_, with iron face, Adorn'd with impudence and lace! Acquaintance with her soon he gains, He thinks her virtue worth his pains: Cards (after nonsense) came in course, By sap advances, not by force. The table set, the cards are laid, _Dorinda_ dreams not she's betray'd; The cards run cross, she fumes and frets, Her brilliant necklace soon she betts, She fears her watch, but can't resist, A miniature can scarce be mist! At last both watch and trinkets go, A prey to the devouring foe: Nay more (if fame but tells us true), She lost her di'mond buckles too! Her bracelets next became his prize, And in his hat the treasure lies. Upon her Virtue next he treats, And Honour's sacred name repeats: Tenders the trinkets, swears and lies, And vows her person is a prize! Then swears (with hand upon his breast) That he without her can't be blest! Then plies her with redoubled pains, T' exchange her virtue for his gains: Shame's purple wings o'ershade her face, He triumphs over her disgrace; Soon turns to jest her scruples nice, In short, she falls!--a sacrifice! Spoil'd of her virtue in her prime, And, knowing Heaven detests the crime, Is urg'd, perhaps, to dare his rod, "And rush unsummon'd to her God!"
Ye fair, if happiness ye prize, Regard this rule, Be timely wise.
In the "Miser's Feast," Mr. _Hogarth_ thought proper to pillory Sir _Isaac Shard_, a gentleman proverbially avaricious. Hearing this, the son of Sir _Isaac_, the late _Isaac Pacatus Shard_,[51] esq. a young man of spirit, just returned from his travels, called at the painter's to see the picture; and, among the rest, asking the _Cicerone_ "whether that odd figure was intended for any particular person;" on his replying, "that it was thought to be very like one Sir _Isaac Shard_;" he immediately drew his sword, and slashed the canvas. _Hogarth_ appeared instantly in great wrath; to whom Mr. _Shard_ calmly justified what he had done, saying, "that this was a very unwarrantable licence; that he was the injured party's son, and that he was ready to defend any suit at law;" which, however, was never instituted.
About 1757, his brother-in-law, Mr. _Thornhill_, resigned the place of king's serjeant-painter in favour of Mr. _Hogarth_; who soon after made an experiment in painting, which involved him in some disgrace. The celebrated collection of pictures belonging to Sir _Luke Schaub_ was in 1758 sold by public auction;[52] and the admired picture of _Sigismunda_ (purchased by Sir _Thomas Sebright_ for 404. _l._ 5 _s._) excited Mr. _Hogarth's_ emulation.