SIB JOSHUA EEYNOLDS AND HIS WOEKS. 
 
JMguumtb : 
 
 PRINTED BY ROGER LIDSTONE, 
 George Lane, South 
 

FROM THE Pl( 
 
 
 :TURE IN THE. COTTONIAN 
 
 LIBRARY, PLYMOUTH 
 
 wmm 
 
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS, 
 
 AND HIS WORKS. 
 
 GLEANINGS FROM HIS DIARY, UNPUBLISHED MANUSCRIPTS, AND 
 FROM OTHER SOURCES. 
 
 BY 
 
 WILLIAM COTTON, M.A., 
 
 OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD. 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
 JOHN BURNET, F.R.S., 
 
 AUTHOR OF " PRACTICAL HINTS ON FAINTING/' " REMBRANDT & HIS WORKS," See. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, LONGMANS, AND ROBERTS, 
 
 PATERNOSTER ROW J 
 
 PAUL & DOMINIC COLNAGHI & Co., PALL MALL EAST. 
 PLYMOUTH: ROGER LIDSTONE, GEORGE STREET. 
 
 1856. 
 
 nYD 
 
 4.cn 
 
“ Docti rationem artis intelligunt ; 
 
 Indocti voluptatem.” 
 
 Quintil. 
 
 “ Invention is one of the great marks of genius : but if we consult 
 experience, we shall find it is by being conversant with the inventions 
 of others that we learn to invent ; as by reading the thoughts of others 
 we learn to think.” 
 
 Sir Joshua Reynolds. 
 
 TI4F l DAIII OCTTv kii ten iu 1 mmov 
 
/ 
 
 PREFACE, 
 
 There is a strong and active curiosity in the 
 human mind, which prompts us to inquire into 
 the lives and characters of men, whose names 
 have been rendered famous by their possessing 
 some excellence wherein they surpassed other men 
 of the same age and country. This natural in- 
 quisitiveness is extended even to the most 
 trivial particulars ; and we feel a certain grati- 
 fication in tracing in early youth the germs of 
 that talent, which, by diligent culture and 
 nourishment, afterwards produced such abun- 
 dant fruit. 
 
 The connexion which exists between the 
 history of an event and the character of its 
 author is obvious : and when we contemplate the 
 productions of a great genius, we are strongly 
 
VI. 
 
 FREFACE. 
 
 impelled by this inquisitiveness of our nature to 
 investigate the circumstances which first excited 
 the latent seed, and to trace the gradual progress 
 by which such excellence was ultimately attained. 
 The occupations and amusements of the youth 
 often indicate the future character of the man ; 
 and in his earliest works and school-boy efforts 
 we can frequently perceive the dawning powers 
 of the poet, the soldier, or the painter. 
 
 In the following pages I have abstained 
 altogether from introducing my own opinions 
 and remarks on Sir Joshua Reynolds’ method of 
 painting, and on his merit as an artist, pre- 
 ferring to avail myself of the more valuable and 
 important observations of Wilkie, Hay don, and 
 Burnet. 
 
 The letters of the Rev. Samuel Reynolds, 
 master of Plympton Grammar School — but not 
 Incumbent of Plympton, as erroneously stated by 
 most of Sir Joshua’s Biographers — will be read 
 with interest; as they are now published for 
 the first time, and relate to a very important 
 period of his son’s life, when he became a pupil 
 of Hudson, the portrait painter: they also 
 

 PREFACE. 
 
 Vll. 
 
 induce us to believe that Reynolds, after his 
 quarrel with Hudson, returned to London, and 
 was reconciled to his master, who, it is said, 
 frequently consulted him with regard to the 
 pictures he was painting, and likewise introduced 
 him to the acquaintance of the most distin- 
 guished men in his profession. 
 
 The extracts from Sir Joshua’s private Diary 
 contain much that is interesting and amusing, 
 besides giving proof of the astonishing amount 
 of work accomplished by him ; for we there 
 learn that he was often in his studio from nine 
 o’clock in the morning till four in the afternoon, 
 and received as many as seven or eight sitters 
 in as many consecutive hours. But when absent 
 from home, he appears to have enjoyed the 
 sports of the field, and on one occasaion, in 
 September 1770, we find him hunting and shoot- 
 ing every day during a week’s visit at Saltram. 
 
 Some extracts from Richardson’s Essay on the 
 Theory of Painting — a work now become scarce 
 — are given for the purpose of showing the im- 
 portant influence it had on the conduct and 
 mind of Sir Joshua, and the noble emulation it 
 
Vlll. 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 excited in him, and desire to excel in everything 
 he undertook. 
 
 No apology need be offered for re-producing 
 in a volume of “ Gleanings/’ the valuable and 
 instructive observations of Sir Charles Eastlake, 
 Haydon, and others, on Sir Joshua’s vehicle and 
 method of colouring. 
 
 The Catalogue of Sir Joshua’s portraits now 
 published is more complete than any which has 
 hitherto appeared ; and it is therefore presumed 
 that it will be useful to Picture-collectors, by 
 enabling them to fix the date of some pictures, 
 and by affording the means of identifying others 
 which have been considered doubtful. An in- 
 stance of its utility has, in fact, occurred. 
 
 A whole length portrait of an Officer, in a 
 white uniform richly trimmed with gold lace, 
 resting his hand on the head of a large mastiff 
 dog, was purchased lately by the Duke of Bed- 
 ford. It was believed to be a work of ^Reynolds, 
 and was understood to have come from a seat 
 of the former Earls of Ludlow. On reference 
 to my Catalogue its identity was ascertained, at 
 once, by finding it there mentioned that a Mr. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 IX. 
 
 Ludlow sat to Sir Joshua, in March, 1755, and 
 that Ms dog was specially mentioned. 
 
 My best thanks are due to Miss Gwatkin, and 
 her sister Mrs. St. John, for permission to make 
 extracts from the pocket-books and other papers 
 of Sir Joshua Reynolds, in their possession ; also 
 to Miss Johnson, Mr. Price, of Torrington, and 
 Mr. R. Palmer, for a similar permission ; and 
 to the Rev. J. Mitford, Mr. D. Colnaghi, Mr. 
 Nicol, and Mr. Carpenter, of the British Museum, 
 for much valuable information and assistance. 
 
 Highland House, Ivybridge, 
 
 Nov. 30th, 1856. 
 
Wi je (Catalogue of Sir Sosfjua Eeiwotos' ^ortratte. 
 
 It was originally intended to have published in 
 connection with this Work a Catalogue of Sir 
 Joshua Reynolds’ Portraits, but on more mature 
 consideration it has been thought best to defer 
 its issue until next spring; when it will appear 
 uniform in size with this volume. 
 
 By this delay greater accuracy and complete- 
 ness will be secured, and it is believed that 
 many persons may prefer having the Work and 
 Catalogue in separate volumes. The Catalogue, 
 which w T ill extend to about 120 pages, will be 
 published at a price not exceeding 5s. ; and, as 
 only a limited number will be printed, the pub- 
 lisher will be glad to be favoured with orders at 
 once. 
 
 George Street, Plymouth, 
 9th December, 1856. 
 

 ' 
 
 ■ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Page 
 
 Antiquity of the Town of Plympton ; Sent Members to Par- jj 
 liament in the Twenty-third Year of Edward I. ; The 
 Castle, held by Baldwin de Rivers, in the Reign of King 
 Stephen ; The Church, dedicated to St. Thomas a Becket, 
 afterwards to S. Maurice ; Interior Dimensions ; The 
 Town Hall, erected in 1696; The Grammar School, founded 
 in 1658 ; The School Room; The Cloister, or Arcade; 
 Reynolds’ Juvenile Drawings ; Rough Sketches, mentioned 
 by Wilkie ; His Visit to the Reynolds * Shrine . . , . i 
 
 CHAPTER H. 
 
 Reynolds the Founder of the British School ; his Genius ; 
 
 Born at Plympton, 16th July, 1723 ; Extracts from 
 the Parish Register ; His Father, the Rev. Samuel Rey- 
 nolds, Fellow of Baliol College, Oxford ; Never the 
 Incumbent of Plympton ; Master of the Grammar School ; 
 
 Mrs. Theophila Reynolds ; Canon Reynolds ; His Bene- 
 faction to Exeter College ; Author of a Latin Dissertation; 
 
 His Portrait at Eton ; The Rev. Joshua Reynolds, God- 
 father of the Painter ; Reynolds’ First Portrait, in the 
 possession of Mr. Boger, of Wolsden; Genius; Reynolds’ 
 Opinion ; The Johnsonian Theory ; Quotations from Wil- 
 kie ; Catt’s Emblems ; Richardson’s Essay on the Theory 
 of Painting ; Extracts Showing the Influence his Work 
 had on Sir Joshua’s Mind 21 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Reynolds apprenticed to Hudson ; Mr. Cranch ; Portraits 
 of Mr. and Mrs. Cranch ; Letter to Mr Cutclifle, of 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 0 0 
 XU. 
 
 Page. 
 
 Bideford ; Hudson, the Portrait Painter ; Extracts from 
 Unpublished Letters of the Rev. Samuel Reynolds, to Mr. 
 Cutcliffe, from 1740 to 1745 ; Quarrel with Hudson ; 
 William Gandy, of Exeter ; Pictures in the College 
 Hall, St. Sidwell’s Hospital, See. ; Reconciliation with 
 Hudson ; Death of his Father, in 1746 ; Reynolds at 
 Dock ; Portraits painted at this Period ; Landscape at 
 Port Eliot, dated 1748 ; His Landscape Backgrounds ; 
 Acquaintance with Lord Edgcumbe, and Commodore 
 Keppel ; Sails with him in the Centurion : Visits Italy ; 
 
 His Practice while in Rome • Caricature ; Settles in Lon- 
 don, in 1752 ; His Portrait of Admiral Keppel ; His 
 Fancy Subjects ; Engravings from his Pictures ; The 
 Marquis of Lansdowne, and the Duke of Buccleuch’s 
 Collections ; The Friendship of Burke and Johnson ; The 
 Rev. Zachariah Mudge ; Reynolds’ Prices, when living 
 in St. Martin’s Lane ; Remark of Lord John Russell’s ; 
 Reynolds’ great Application ; Extracts from his Private 
 Pocket Book, for the year 1761 ; The Beauty of his 
 Female Portraits ; Wilkie’s Remarks on Portrait Paint- 
 ing, and a Comparison between Sir Thomas Lawrence and 
 Reynolds. 42 
 
 CHAPTER IY. 
 
 Extracts from Reynolds’ Diary ; Master Mudge’s Portrait ; 
 
 The Duchess of Hamilton ; Kitty Fisher ; Sir Joshua’s 
 Copyist ; House in Lincoln’s Fields ; Exhibition at the 
 Society of Arts, &c. ; Haydon, and Mrs. Gwatkin ; The 
 Contessa Della Rena; Portrait of Sterne ; Hardham’s 37 
 Snuff ; Picture of Garrick, between Tragedy and Comedy ; 
 the Literary Club ; Reynolds’ Illness ; Death of Hogarth ; 
 Chevalier Vanloo ; Sir Joshua’s Prices ; Establishment of 
 the Royal Academy ; Trip to Boulogne and Paris ; Ex- 
 tracts from the Diary; Catalogues of the Exhibitions with 
 Horace Walpole’s Notes ; Miss Morris ; Miss Price ; Sir 
 Joshua in Devonshire, Hunting and Shooting at Saltram ; 
 Pictures at Saltram, Mount Edgcumbe and Port Elliot ; 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Xlll. 
 
 Face. 
 
 Proposed Decoration of St. Pauls ; First Annual Dinner 
 of the Royal Academicians ; Letter from Dr. Johnson ; 
 
 His Portrait in the possession of Miss Lucy Porter ; Sir 
 Joshua’s Letter on being Elected Alderman of Plympton ; 
 Dialogue on Garrick ; Portrait of Mrs. Hartley ; The 
 Strawberry Girl ; Ugolino, purchased by the Duke of 
 Dorset; White, the Paviour; Reynolds at Portsmouth and,, 
 thelsleof Wight; Receives the Honorary Degree of D.C.L. 
 at Oxford; Visits Devonshire, and is Elected Mayor of 
 Plympton ; Anecdote related by Northcote ; His Portrait 
 painted for the Town Hall ; Anecdote told by Sir William 
 Elford; Commissioner Ourry’s Picture; Hone’s Conjuror ; 
 Angelica Kauffman ; Portrait of Charles Rogers ; Hon. 
 Topham Beauclerk ; Mrs. Horneck ; Mrs. Bunbury, and 
 Mrs. Gwynn ; Sir Joshua’s frequent Engagements in 
 Fashionable Society 74 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Extracts from the Diary from 1779 to 1790; Picture of 
 Lord Boringdon’s Children ; The Nativity, and Designs 
 for New College Window ; Rapid Increase in the Value 
 of Sir Joshua’s Works ; Portraits of the King and Queen ; 
 George III. not an Admirer of Reynolds’ Pictures ; Anec- 
 dote of Lord Holland ; Miss Reynolds ; Her Tea Table ; 
 
 Dr. Johnson’s Admiration of her ; Anecdotes related by 
 Northcote ; Her Publications ; Dr. J ohnson’s Letters and 
 Advice ; Painted Portraits for her Amusement ; Her 
 Portraits of Mrs. Montague, Miss Mudge, and Dr. John- 
 son; His Letter to Miss Reynolds on that Occasion ; Sir 
 Joshua’s Portraits of Gibbon and Goldsmith ; Admiral 
 Keppel’s Trial ; Burke’s and Walpole’s Letters ; Charles 
 Catton, Coach-painter ; Reynolds’ Note to Boswell ; Din- 
 ner at Paper-stainer’s Hall ; Sir Joshua’s Carriage ; Visit 
 to Devonshire ; List of Evening Engagements, extracted 
 from the Diary ; Letter from Sir Joshua to his Nephew, 
 William Johnson, at Clacutta ; Mr. Bar well’s Portrait ; 
 Thais, the Portrait of Emily Coventry ; Extract from 
 
XIV. 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Page. 
 
 Madame D’Arblay’s Memoirs ; The Death of Dido ; 
 the Three Ladies Waldegrave ; Walpole’s Estimate 
 of the Merits of Reynolds and Ramsay ; Tour to Hol- 
 land, and the Netherlands ; Letter to Burke from 
 Brussels ; Portrait of Mrs. Robinson, (Perdita) ; Por- 
 trait of Mrs. Baldwin ; Sir Joshua’s slight Paralytic 
 Attack ; Letter from Miss Palmer, (afterwards Lady 
 Thomond), to her Cousin William Johnson ; Mrs. Siddons, 
 as the Tragic Muse ; Duplicate in the Dulwich Gallery ; 
 Quotations from Mrs. Jameson, and Phillips, R.A. ; 
 Portraits of Lady Cockburn, and her Children ; Letter 
 from Dr. Johnson ; Death of Ramsay : Death of John- 
 son, his last Request to Sir Joshua ; Extracts from the 
 Letters of Miss Palmer, and Ozzias Humphrey ; Portrait 
 of George Lord Heathfield; Large Picture for Empress of 
 Russia ; Cupid and Psyche ; Puck, or Robin Goodfellow ; 
 Anecdotes, communicated by Mr. Nicol : Mr. Rogers ; 
 
 First Failure in Sir Joshua’s Eye-sight; Fac Simile of a 
 Page of the Pocket Book ; Miss Palmer’s Letter to 
 her Cousin ; Richmond Villa ; Visit to Mr. Burke, at 
 Beaconsfield ; Extract from Miss Palmer’s Letter ; Mrs. 
 Billington, as St. Cecilia ; Misunderstanding -with the 
 Academy ; Miss Palmer’s Letters during her Uncle’s Last 
 Illness and Death ; His Funeral Honours and Interment 
 in St. Paul’s ; Lady Thomond ; Mrs. Gwatkin ; Talent 
 for Painting Inherited by the Family ; Sale of Sir 
 Joshua’s Collection of Pictures and Drawings ; Boy dell’s 
 Shakspear Gallery ; Sale at Streatham Park ; The Mar- 
 chioness of Thomond’s Sale ; Haydon’s Remarks ; Sup- 
 plementary Sale ; Various Other Sales ; Mr. S. Rogers’ 
 
 Sale 136 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Sir Joshua Reynolds’ MSS. in the possession of Mr. Palmer ; 
 Neither Burke nor Dr. Johnson had any hand in Wri- 
 ting the Discourses ; Reynolds’ Honesty of Purpose ; 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 XV. 
 
 Page. 
 
 Extracts from Papers Headed Self; On the Advantage of 
 Beginning Early to Study a Profession ; Reynolds’ Dis- 
 courses ; Northcote’s and Haydon’s opinion ; Fac Similes ; 
 
 Head of Goldsmith ; Portrait of Charles Rogers ; Of 
 Mere Likeness in Portrait Painting ; Academic Skill ; 
 Quotation from Farrington ; Extracts from Papers Headed 
 Self ; Advantages of beginning Early to Study a Pro- 
 fession ; Extracts from Various Papers ; Sir Joshua 
 an Example of his own Theory ; Haydon’s Objections ; 
 Materials for the Thirteenth Discourse ; Various Obser- 
 vations on Art ; Gainsborough ; The Flemish School ; 
 Reubens ; Painting, an Imitative Art ; Nature not to be 
 Imitated at Second-hand ; Genius does not need Rules ; 
 Correggio; The Pre-Raphaelite School commended by 
 Reynolds for Simplicity and Truthfulness ; Holy Family, 
 by Correggio, at Parma; Various Observations on Art ; 
 
 M. Angelo; First Impressions; Fac Simile of a portion 
 of the Last Discourse 207 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Reynolds’ Grace and Vigorous Style of Colouring; Hay- 
 don’s Remarks on Touchers and Polishers ; Neatness of 
 Execution not the Characteristic of Genius ; Sir Joshua’s 
 Experiments in Colouring ; The Decay of some of his 
 Works ; Injudicious Cleaning ; Burnet’s Remarks ; Hay- 
 don and Wilkie; Extracts from Sir Charles Eastlake’s 
 History of Oil Painting ; Burnet’s Remarks ; Sir Joshua’s 
 Private Notes ; Eastlake’s Remarks ; Sir William 
 Beechy’s and Haydon’s Observations on the same sub- 
 ject ; Quotations from Burnet 234 
 
XVI. 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Page. 
 
 Additional Notes, &c 251 
 
 Johnson and Garrick ; a Dialogue, written by Sir Joshua 
 
 Reynolds 259 
 
 Portraits painted by Sir Joshua of himself and his family. . 272 
 Portraits painted by Miss F. Reynolds 276 
 
WOODCUTS AND OTHER ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 FRONTISPIECE : PORTRAIT OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS, FROM THE PICTURE 
 IN THE COTTONIAN LIBRARY; DRAWN BY JULIAN BREWER. 
 
 PaOE. 
 
 Vignette to Chapter I. — Plympton from Ridgeway 
 Meadow, drawn by S. Cook. ..... 1 
 
 Plympton Church, the same ..... 9 
 
 The Grammar School, the same . . . . .12 
 
 Interior of the School Room, the same .... 14 
 
 Arched Doorway, drawn by Rev. W. J. Coppard . .15 
 
 Cloister or Colonade, by S. Cook . . . . 16 
 
 Perspective Drawing . . . . ’. . .17 
 
 Room in which, it is said, Sir Joshua was born . . 19 
 
 Vignette to Chapter II. — The Town Hall . . .21 
 
 Portrait of the Rev. Samuel Reynolds, from the Picture in 
 the Cottonian Library, drawn by Julian Brewer . 27 
 
 Staircase to School Room . . . . . . 41 
 
 Vignette to Chapter III. — Plympton Castle, by S. Cook . 42 
 
 Vignette to Chapter IV. — The Castle Moat . . 79 
 
 Fac Similes of Two Pages from Sir Joshua’s Pocket Book 90 
 Fac Simile, Hardham’s 37 ..... 93 
 
 Fac Simile of Pen and Ink Sketches in the Pocket Books 98 
 Fac Simile of a Letter from Sir Joshua Reynolds to Capt. 
 
 Ourry . . . . . . . . .116 
 
 Fac Simile of Entry “ Sworn Mayor of Plympton”. . 122 
 Vignette to Chapter V. — Street View in Plympton . 13G 
 
xviii. 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Page. 
 
 Portrait of Miss Frances Reynolds, from the Picture in the 
 Cottonian Library, drawn by Julian Brewer . . 141 
 
 Fac Simile of a Page of the Pocket Book for 1789. . 175 
 
 Engravings from the Impressions of Sir Joshua’s Seals . 187 
 Vignette to Chapter VI. — The Castle from the East 207 
 Fac Similes of a part of the Third Discourse, and a portion 
 
 of the Seventh 211 
 
 Fac Similes of portions of the Last Discourse in Sir 
 Joshua’s hand writing ...... 232 
 
 Vignette to Chapter VII. — Plympton from the Castle 
 Wall . 
 
 234 
 
Sill JOSHUA REYNOLDS AND HIS WORKS. 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 Plympton, the birth place of Sir Joshua Reynolds, 
 is pleasantly situated in a fertile valley, about 
 five miles distant from Plymouth, and contiguous 
 to the high road leading from Exeter; and 
 although it is not perhaps sufficiently attractive 
 to arrest the attention of the mere tourist, yet 
 every lover of the fine arts must view with interest 
 a town rendered celebrated from its being the 
 birth place of our greatest portrait painter, and 
 indeed the founder of the English school in that 
 department of the art. Nor is Plympton destitute 
 of other claims to our notice ; the Archaeologist 
 will see in the ruined walls of its ancient castle 
 
 A 
 
2 
 
 TOWN OF PLYMPTON, 
 
 the remains of a period probably anterior to the 
 Conquest ; the lover of the picturesque will find 
 much to please him in the surrounding scenery ; 
 and he whose delight it is to linger in the haunts 
 of genius, will stop to contemplate the humble 
 and unassuming residence of the schoolmaster, 
 where Joshua Reynolds first saw the light ; and 
 while standing under the arcades of the old 
 Grammar School will picture to himself the 
 youthful artist, sitting apart from his school- 
 fellows, regardless of their sports, and seeking 
 pleasure in his own favourite pursuit, with the 
 Jesuit's Perspective in his hand, busily engaged in 
 applying its rules to the delineation of the 
 building. 
 
 The following memoranda, under the head of 
 “ Plympton Gleanings,” arose from a residence 
 in the neighbourhood, combined with the great 
 admiration I have always felt for the genius, and 
 character of Reynolds. At first they were merely 
 collected as illustrations of my own copy of his 
 life by Northcote; as however they not only 
 increased in size, but also in importance, in 
 consequence of being permitted to make extracts 
 and copies from Sir Joshua’s manuscript papers, 
 letters of his father and other documents, I per- 
 ceived that they assumed an interest not unworthy 
 of being made public, especially as many of them 
 had never previously appeared in print. 
 
GRAMMAR SCHOOL, ETC. 3 
 
 The able and satisfactory memoirs by his 
 contemporaries Malone and Northcote, together 
 with the more recent publications of Beechey, 
 Cunningham, and Eastlake, would apparently 
 have left little more to be gleaned ; but in the 
 lives and progress of eminent men every straw is 
 worth picking up, as frequently they are of the 
 greatest value. But, before entering upon the 
 more immediate subject of this work, it may be 
 desirable to give a brief history of the town of 
 Plympton, including its Castle, Church, and other 
 objects connected with the locality. 
 
 The town of Plympton is of great antiquity. 
 It is described in the Domesday Survey under 
 the title of Terra Regis, as are also Tavistock, 
 Ashburton, and Tiverton. 1 All which places, 
 says Browne Willis, were then the King’s 
 demesne towns, but no burghs, and the making 
 them so is attributed by Dr. Brady to Baldwin 
 de Redvers, Earl of Devon and Lord of the Isle 
 of Wight, as recited in his charter, given by 
 inspeximus, Anno 13, Henry III. The charter 
 does not appear to have been completed till the 
 26th of Henry III., as it bears date March 25th 
 in that year, and was afterwards confirmed, as 
 the records set forth, by Edward III., Richard II., 
 Henry V., and Henry VI. 2 The following 
 
 Brady of Boroughs, p. 41. 
 
 2 Brady of Boroughs, p. 46. 
 
4 
 
 TOWN OF PLYMPTON, 
 
 description of the locality given by Browne Willis, 
 corresponds nearly with its present features. 
 
 This borough is situated in a valley, above a mile from the 
 river Plym, from whence it derives its name, as do several other 
 places lying upon or near this river. It consists of two streets of 
 ordinary buildings, one running from north to south and another 
 from east to west, beginning about the middle of the street, 
 insomuch that the whole is in figure like the letter "]“• It is 
 termed Earls Plympton, and Plympton Maurice, to distinguish it 
 from Plympton St. Mary, heretofore the mother church, though 
 now reckoned distinct from it,) from whence it is distant half a 
 mile, and formerly the inhabitants repaired thither to hear divine 
 service, before the erecting of the church or chapel here, dedicated 
 to S. Maurice. 
 
 Plympton therefore became a borough town, 
 with the privileges of a market and fairs, by a 
 charter or grant from Baldwin de Redvers, Earl 
 of Devon. 
 
 3 Be it known that we have granted to our beloved Burgesses 
 of Plympton, the Borough of Plympton, with the market, fairs, 
 and everything thereto belonging, to have and to hold of me and 
 my heirs for ever, as fully and freely as the citizens of Exeter 
 hold their city, paying yearly £24. 2s. 2 d. 
 
 It was also further granted that the burgesses 
 should be free from toll. The charter is dated 
 March 25th, 1241, the 26th Henry III., and was 
 
 3 Rot. Pat. A. 19, H. 6. Pt. 1. m. 7. 
 
GRAMMAR SCHOOL, ETC. 
 
 5 
 
 afterwards confirmed by Isabella de Forbibus, his 
 heir and successor to the earldom. 4 
 
 This borough sent members to Parliament in 
 the 23rd year of Edward I., and continued to do 
 so until disfranchised by the Reform Act, in 
 1832. The right of election was vested in the 
 free burgesses, about 100 in number, who were 
 sworn in by the corporation, which consists of a 
 Mayor, Recorder, and eight Aldermen, called the 
 Common Council. Since the reign of Queen Ann, 
 the members have been returned to Parliament 
 through the prevailing interest of the families 
 of Edgcumbe and Treby. 
 
 Sir Christopher Wren, Knt., and Rd. Strode, 
 Esq., of Newnham, were members for Plympton, 
 in the reign of James II. 
 
 Sir George Treby, Knt., chief justice of the 
 Common Pleas, was Recorder of Plympton, and 
 one of the representatives of the borough in 
 1680. His son, the Right Hon. George Treby, 
 a privy councillor, in the reign of Queen Ann, 
 represented the borough in 1711, and built the 
 large mansion, called Plympton House. 
 
 Paul Treby Ourry, Esq., (who afterwards took 
 the name of Treby,) the contemporary and friend 
 of Reynolds, was member for Plympton in 1784. 
 His widow, Lsetitia Anne, daughter of Sir Wm. 
 Trelawny, Bart., was buried at Plympton in 
 
 4 Browne Willis, vol. 2, p. 330, edition 1716. 
 
6 
 
 TOWN OF FLYMPTON, 
 
 1845, and a handsome memorial window, with 
 twelve escutcheons of the armorial bearings of 
 the Trelawny family, has been recently erected 
 in the Church by her son Henry Hele Treby, 
 Esq., of Goodamore. 
 
 Leland, the English antiquary, who died in 
 1552, thus speaks of Plympton in his Itenerary: 5 
 
 After that, I passed over Plym river, rode about half a mile 
 along Torry brook, whose color is alwaye redde, by reason of the 
 sand it runneth on, and carryeth from the tynne works with it, 
 and so on to Plympton Marie, so called because the church there 
 is dedicated to our ladye. This glorie of the towne stood by the 
 priory of Black Chanons, then budded and richly endowed with 
 lands. Plymtown Thomas is a quarter of a mile from Plymtown 
 Marie, so called of Thomas Becket ; but now the church there is 
 of St. Mauricius. On the side of the towne is a fair large castelle, 
 and dungeon in it, whereof the waulles yet stand, though the 
 lodgings be clean decayed. 
 
 Of this Castle there are still some remains, and 
 the first object that attracts the eye, and probably 
 will engage the traveller’s attention, (particularly 
 if a lover of antiquity,) is the ruined wall of the 
 ancient Keep or Tower. This, like several other 
 buildings of the same kind in the West of 
 England, is circular, and built upon a lofty 
 conical mound, characteristics which indicate a 
 considerable degree of antiquity, coeval with the 
 Norman conquest if not anterior to that epoch. 
 
 5 Vol. 3, p. 45. 
 
GRAMMAR SCHOOL, ETC. 
 
 7 
 
 The antiquarian Grose, says these circular Keeps 0 
 are almost peculiar to Cornwall and Devonshire. 
 
 In form and dimensions it nearly resembles 
 the Castle of Totnes, which is well known to 
 have been an honor or barony in the time of 
 Edward the Confessor, and was given by Wil- 
 liam the Conquerer to one of his followers, 
 Judhel, or Julian, who in consequence assumed 
 the name of de Totnes. 
 
 Leland (as we have seen) speaks of Plympton 
 Castle as being “ a fair large Castelle ” in his 
 time. Camden describes it as “the miserable re- 
 mains” of a Castle; yet Lysons says, “so lately 
 as 1606, the office of constable of Plympton 
 Castle, was reckoned among those belonging to 
 the royal household, with a fee of £4 4s. 4 d, 
 per annum.” 6 7 
 
 Browne Willis states that the site of the Castle 
 contained about two acres surrounded by a ditch, 
 which in his time was for the most part full of 
 water, with good store of carp; but that the 
 walls were entirely demolished. He describes 
 the mound as being 200 feet in circumference, 
 and about 70 feet high. 
 
 6 Launceston Castle, which is supposed by Borlace to have been built 
 before the year 900, has a circular Keep, raised upon a lofty mound, 
 partly natural and partly artificial ; and Trematon Castle, with a similar 
 tower, and high conical mound, is supposed to have been erected before 
 the conquest. 
 
 7 Archseologia, vol. 15, p. 90. 
 
8 
 
 TOWN OF PLYMPTON, 
 
 It appears from a contemporary historian, that 
 whilst Baldwin de Rivers was holding out Exeter 
 Castle against King Stephen, certain Knights to 
 whom he had entrusted his Castle at Plympton, 
 being apprehensive of the Earl’s danger, and 
 careful for their own safety, treated with the 
 King for the surrender of Plympton — and the 
 historian adds, the King sent a party of 200 men 
 to whom it was delivered up, and by his com- 
 mand levelled with the ground. 8 
 
 It was probably never afterwards occupied as 
 a fortress, if we except the short period during 
 which Plympton was the head quarters of King 
 Charles I., who, according to Lysons had a garri- 
 son there and eight pieces of ordnance. To the 
 above account of Plympton Castle we have little 
 to add. In July, 1848, the Plymouth branch of 
 the Exeter Diocesan Architectural Society, held 
 one of their meetings within its walls ; and 
 from their report we learn that the only relic 
 of the ancient fortress consists of the remains 
 of a grouted wall, which stands on the top of 
 the mound. It possesses no architectural fea- 
 tures beyond its circular form ; nor any of its 
 military attributes, excepting a very curious pas- 
 sage or flue, not more than a foot or so in width 
 and height, which runs through the thickness of 
 
 See Historoc Normanorum Scriptores, p. 935, quoted by Mr. Lysons. 
 
GRAMMAR SCHOOL, ETC. 9 
 
 the wall in a somewhat horizontal direction, but 
 at different heights from the ground. The real 
 purpose for which this was formed, it is impossible 
 to determine. Too small for the passage even of 
 a child, and unfitted for a drain, its only probable 
 use was for the conveyance of sound, or for ven- 
 tilation, similar contrivances being common in 
 other castles of Norman character, as at Rochester 
 and elsewhere. 
 
 13 
 
10 
 
 TOWN OF PLYMPTON, 
 
 The Parish Church of Plympton is a substantial 
 edifice, of a size proportioned to the population. 
 It stands on the north side of the town near the 
 Castle, and has a good tower about 70 feet in 
 height. It appears to have been a chantry chapel, 
 appendant to the Church of Plympton St. Mary, 
 and was first dedicated to S. Thomas a Becket, 
 afterwards to S. Maurice. 9 
 
 Leland says : 
 
 Plympton Thomas is a quarter of a mile from Plymptown 
 Marie, so called of Thomas Becket, but now the Church there is 
 of S. Mauricius, Knight and Martyr. 
 
 And Browne Willis tells us that this chapel 
 of S. Maurice, or Morys, (as it is there called,) is 
 said in the chantry rolls to have been founded 
 by one John Brackeley for the continual finding 
 of a priest to minister therein ; it being distant 
 half-a-mile from the Mother Church, at Plympton 
 St. Mary. 
 
 Bishop Lacy, Mar. 10, 1446, granted an 
 indulgence to all true penitents, who in their 
 charity should assist — “ ad erectionem campanilis, 
 
 9 Saint Mauritius was commander of the Theban legion in the time 
 of the Emperor Maximinian, and suffered martyrdom together with his 
 whole regiment, who were Christians, at Agaunum, in Savoy, (now called 
 St. Maurice) in the presence of the Emperor, about the year 296, in 
 consequence of their refusal to offer sacrifice to the heathen gods. The 
 bones of these holy martyrs were afterwards dug up and sent into divers 
 countries, where many churches were erected to their honour, and that of 
 their leader S. Maurice. 
 
GRAMMAR SCHOOL, ETC. 
 
 11 
 
 seu turris, capellse parochialis Sancti Tliomee de 
 Plympton.” 
 
 The interior dimensions of the Church are — 
 Chancel 29 feet by 17 feet. 
 
 Nave 41 feet by 18 feet 6 inches. 
 
 S. and N. Aisles 58 feet by 13 feet. 1 
 
 The Living, which is a perpetual curacy in the 
 patronage of the Dean and Canons of Windsor, 
 is endowed with £600 parliamentary grant, and 
 £400 Queen Ann’s bounty. The Incumbent 
 has also the small tithes. 2 
 
 The Town contains about 200 houses, some of 
 which in the principal street are built on arcades 
 extending over the foot way. The Town or 
 Guild Hall, which bears the date 1696, is a 
 substantial building, having a paved area in 
 front, over which is the council chamber sup- 
 ported by round arches resting on granite columns; 
 giving a picturesque and quaint character to the 
 street. 
 
 In the corporation dining room, were pre- 
 viously to the year 1832, three pictures by Sir 
 Joshua Reynolds, mentioned in Cunningham’s 
 Life cf Wilkie, one of which, his own portrait, 
 
 1 The east window of modern stained glass was the gift of the Rev. G. 
 M. Scott, vicar of Wemtury. 
 
 * Leland says, the Rectorial Tithes of Plympton, together with the 
 chapels of Plymstock, and Plympton S. Maurice (late parcel of the lands 
 of the dissolved Priory) were granted in the first year of his reign (1547) 
 by Edward V., to the Dean and Chapter of Windsor. 
 
12 
 
 TOWN OF PLYMPTON, 
 
 painted in 1773 upon the occasion of his being 
 elected Mayor of Plympton, will be noticed 
 more particularly in a subsequent chapter. 
 
 The Grammar School of Plympton was founded 
 and endowed in 1658 by Sergeant Maynard, one 
 of the trustees of the estates left by Elize (or 
 Elizeus, probably Elijah) Hele, Esq., of Fardell, 
 in the Parish of Cornwood, to charitable purposes. 
 The Estate of Fardell, anciently Furdile, was for 
 a long time in the possession of the Paleigh 
 family, but having been purchased by Mr. Elize 
 Hele, of Sir Carew Paleigh, son of the celebrated 
 Sir Walter, he bequeathed in 16 35, 3 together 
 
 s The bequest, however, did not take effect as far as related to Fardell 
 which was recovered by the heir at law, and continued in the Raleigh 
 family until the year 1740. — Lysons. 
 
GRAMMAR SCHOOL, ETC. 
 
 13 
 
 with several other estates in the South and West 
 of Devon, to various benevolent objects ; there 
 being few parishes in the neighbourhood which 
 have not derived benefit from his pious and 
 munificent bequests. 
 
 This charitable and worthy man Elize Hele, 
 and his wife, were buried in St. Andrew’s 
 Chantry, in Exeter Cathedral. 
 
 The following inscriptions, on separate grave- 
 stones, may still be seen there. 
 
 1635. 
 
 | Igdlj burteb g* bobg of 
 (ftlqe | fide, late of Jfarbte ht dotmfrroobt, (! 5 sq<, 
 fojjo bbb gt xi of $ammrg, 1635. 
 
 (arms.) A bend fusil : ermine — the difference an annulet. 
 
 1636. 
 
 fi m Igtf h fatemb ge bobg of 
 
 gJJtee pete, fxribofccr, fate ge frrite of €% ftete, <&sq., of Jhrbte, 
 fcrljo bteb ge 20 bag* of $ulg, 1636. 
 
 (arms.) A chevron between three birds’ legs, erased at the knee. 
 
 The sum appropriated to the school is said to 
 have been £1800, with which an estate called 
 Hollands, in Plympton St. Mary, was purchased. 
 This estate is said by Prince, in his Worthies of 
 Devon, to have been let for £120 per annum, 
 and Lysons says in his time it produced £170. 
 The building was erected in 1664. 
 
14 
 
 TOWN OF PLYMPTON, 
 
 The School Room is a spacious apartment, 
 63 feet 6 inches in length, by 26 feet 6 inches in 
 width, and about 19 feet high. It is lighted by 
 large perpendicular windows of five lights at the 
 east and west ends, by three square headed 
 windows of three lights, with granite mullions 
 and transome in the south wall, and by two 
 similar windows in the north. The master’s 
 desk is placed at the east end under the window, 
 and over the entrance door in the centre of the 
 
GRAMMAR SCHOOL, ETC. 
 
 15 
 
 north wall is a small gallery. The plain coved 
 ceiling, and white-washed walls give a mean 
 appearance to the otherwise handsome and well 
 proportioned room, which is only relieved by a 
 rude cornice of no architectural pretensions, and 
 two shields coarsely painted, or restored by some 
 modern hand, with the armorial bearings of Hele 
 and Maynard. 
 
 Beneath the School Room is an open Arcade or 
 Cloister, with a range of six granite columns, 
 having square capitals and seven pointed arches 
 on the south side, forming a convenient play- 
 ground for the scholars in wet weather. 
 
 In the centre of the north wall is a remarkable 
 arched Doorway, with the original Oak Door 
 and fastenings, leading to the staircase. 
 
16 
 
 TOWN OF PLYMPTON, 
 
 This Cloister or Colonnade formed the subject 
 of one of Reynold’s juvenile performances, with 
 the pencil, which excited the astonishment of his 
 father, and is thus related by his pupil and 
 biographer Northcote. 
 
 Young Reynolds had accidentally read the Jesuit's Perspective , 
 when he was not more than eight years old, a proof of his 
 capacity and active curiosity. He attempted to apply the rules 
 of that treatise in a drawing which he made of his father’s school, 
 a building well suited to his purpose, as it stood on pillars. On 
 showing it to his father who was merely a man of letters, it seemed 
 to strike him with astonishment, and he exclaimed, “ How this 
 exemplifies what the author of the Perspective asserts in his 
 preface, that by observing the rules laid down in his book, a man 
 may do wonders, for this is wonderful.” 
 
 There is a deep interest attaching even to the 
 childhood of this truly eminent and amiable 
 man, who raised himself entirely by his own 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 • I 
 
* 
 
 
GRAMMAR SCHOOL, ETC. 
 
 17 
 
 abilities and exertion from a comparatively 
 obscure station in life to the very pinnacle of 
 fashion — the talk and admiration of the town 
 — as well as to the friendship and intimacy of 
 the most celebrated literati of the time, and that 
 too in the palmy days of Burke, Johnson, 
 and Garrick. 
 
 The drawing to which we have alluded is 
 carefully preserved by the Palmer family, together 
 with other specimens of young Reynolds’s pre- 
 cocious talents. Mr. Robert Palmer has also in his 
 possession, three pen and ink sketches, executed 
 with scrupulous care and accuracy. One of them 
 is a perspective drawing on the back of a Latin 
 exercise “ De labore ,” on which his father the 
 schoolmaster, has written, “ This is drawn by 
 Joshua in school out of pure idleness .” How little 
 did he guess to what such idleness would tend ! 
 
 Mr. Palmer permitted me to make a tracing 
 of this first early proof of those mental powers, 
 which were afterwards so signally developed. 
 Northcote and Malone, who probably never 
 saw the drawing, erroneously describe it as 
 the perspective view of a bookcase. Another of 
 Reynolds’ juvenile performances, which I saw at 
 Mr. Palmer’s, was the interior of a bookroom, or 
 library, apparently copied from a small engraving, 
 with all the minuteness and delicacy of Callot, 
 or Della Bella ; the third was the drawing of a 
 
 c 
 
18 
 
 TOWN OF PLYMPTON, 
 
 fish, also done with a pen, and inscribed with the 
 same minute upright character, apparently his 
 father’s hand writing — “ Copied from nature 
 These drawings prove beyond a doubt, that 
 Reynolds in early life did not neglect that 
 accuracy of imitation and correctness of design, 
 without which it is impossible to become a great 
 painter. “ The history of the greatest masters,” 
 as Sir Thomas Lawrence observes, “ is but one ; 
 truth is the key of art, as knowledge is of 
 power.” And in his address to the Students of 
 the Royal Academy, in 1832, he thus speaks of 
 Reynolds. 
 
 That the works, gentlemen, of this illustrious man should 
 have the strongest influence upon you cannot be matter of 
 surprise; that the largest style of painting that perhaps is known, 
 should captivate the scholar, as it charmed the teacher, is the 
 most natural result that could have been produced in minds of 
 sensibility and taste : but let it not mislead them. If they 
 determine to make the labours of Sir Joshua their example, let 
 them first examine by what only means their excellence was 
 acquired. His early pictures bear evidence of the utmost 
 delicacy of finishing, and the most careful imitation. That 
 sensitiveness of taste, which probably from boyhood he possessed, 
 could never have permitted him to enter into the mean details of 
 Denner, and content himself with the insipidity of Cornelius 
 Jansen — but in mere finishing he was inferior to neither. 
 
 “ The gems of Sir Joshua,” says Ilaydon, 
 “ are as broad as Michael Angelo’s execution.” 
 Some rough sketches drawn by Reynolds in 
 
GRAMMAR SCHOOL, ETC. 
 
 19 
 
 his youth, which were seen by Hay don and 
 Wilkie in 1809, have been obliterated by the 
 ruthless hand of some modern renovator. 
 Hay don in his Autobiography, says: “ We visited 
 Underwood, and Sir Joshua’s birthplace, Plvmp- 
 ton, and saw in his bedroom an early attempt 
 at a portrait, drawn with his finger dipped in ink ; 
 it had all the character of his later works.” 
 
 The Room in which it is said Sir Joshua Reynolds was born. 
 
 Wilkie’s visit to the “ Shrine of Reynolds” is 
 thus recorded by Cunningham : 
 
20 
 
 TOWN OF PLYMPTON. 
 
 On the 7th of July, 1809, after having bathed in the sea, 
 Wilkie went with Haydon to Plympton, and visited the house, 
 then occupied by Hay don’s Schoolmaster, in which Sir Joshua 
 was born. He was shown, he says, the room in which Sir 
 Joshua first saw the light, and the schoolroom where he was 
 educated. But as Wilkie was a man of no affectation, he felt 
 himself inwardly cheered, but he exhibited no rapture. From 
 the Reynolds’ Shrine to the Hall of Guild, where he saw, he says, 
 a very fine portrait of Sir Joshua himself, and portraits of two 
 Naval Officers, painted before he went to Italy, which for com- 
 position were as fine as he ever did afterwards. From the Hall 
 he went to the House of an old lady, who showed him a very 
 early picture by Sir Joshua, which in spite of want of spirit, and 
 experience of touch, had much in it which promised future 
 excellence. At the residence of Mrs. Mayo, 4 he likewise saw 
 the portrait of an old man, which though a little faded, was 
 very finely painted : such was her reverence for it, that she 
 would not allow a servant to clean it with either brush or towel, 
 but caused the dust to be blown off with a pair of bellows ; never- 
 theless, added Wilkie, the best schemes are sometimes frustrated; 
 a giddy house -maid one day drove the bellows pipe through the 
 canvass. 
 
 4 Widow of the Rev. W. Mayo, Incumbent of Plympton St. Mary, and 
 niece of Craunch. 
 

 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Sir Joshua Reynolds is justly considered the 
 founder of the British School of Painting. As 
 the greatest artist of his day, he was unanimously 
 elected President of the Royal Academy at its 
 establishment in 1768, and in Hay don’s opinion 
 he was the greatest artist in Europe, since 
 Rembrandt and Velasquez. Before he ap- 
 peared, England had been chiefly indebted to 
 foreigners for what she had witnessed of genuine 
 art; and, as the Drama previously to the birth 
 of Shakspeare was still in its infancy, being 
 
22 
 
 FAMILY OF REYNOLDS, 
 
 almost entirely confined to mysteries, miracle- 
 plays, and court pageants, so was the art of 
 painting before the birth of Reynolds in a state 
 of almost Cimmerian darkness and obscurity. 
 This country had not then produced a single 
 painter of any great repute, with the exception 
 of Hogarth, and he was scarcely known hut as a 
 caricaturist, and an engraver. Haydon admirably 
 observes : 
 
 The genius of Reynolds broke like a sunbeam upon the 
 darkness of his age. He not only eclipsed all his competitors in 
 his own province, but the light of his taste penetrated the whole 
 atmosphere of art. The conceptions of his pencil were rich, 
 glowing, and graceful ; uniting in his style the colouring of 
 Titian, the grace of Correggio, and the vigour of Rembrandt. 
 His broad, masculine touch, his glorious gemray surface, his rich 
 tones, his graceful turn of the head, will be ever a source of 
 instruction to the artist, let him practice in whatever stile he may. 
 It is impossible for any man to look at a picture of Sir Joshua s 
 without benefit, instruction and delight 
 
 Nor is this the opinion of Haydon only. Sir 
 Thomas Lawrence, a short time before his death, 
 expressed to Wilkie his extreme admiration of 
 Sir Joshua Reynolds; who he thought had, with 
 Rembrandt, carried the imitation of nature, in 
 regard to colour, further than any of the old 
 masters. And Burnet adds the weight of his 
 testimony to the fact, that in many of the higher 
 qualities of colour, and chiar-oscuro, Reynolds 
 comes nearer to Rembrandt, than any other artist 
 who has succeeded him. 
 
EARLY SKETCHES, ETC. 
 
 23 
 
 Sir Joshua Reynolds was born at Plympton on 
 the 16th of July, 1723, and was the seventh of 
 either ten or eleven children, five of whom it is 
 said, died in their infancy. 5 His father, 
 grandfather, and two uncles were all in Holy 
 Orders. The Rev. John Reynolds his grandfather, 
 was vicar of St. Thomas the Apostle, in the City 
 of Exeter, and died in 1692, having married at 
 
 5 Beechy and Cunningham assert that Sir Joshua was their tenth 
 child ; and in that respect they differ from the statements of Malone and 
 Northcote, which are more likely to be correct, and also accord with the 
 baptismal entries in the Plympton Register. 
 
 The names and baptisms of their several children, are : 
 
 Humphrey, bom 1713 \ not registered at Plympton. 
 
 Robert, — 1714 J the latter is said to have resided at Exeter. 
 1715. Mary Reynolds was baptized March 7, married John Palmer, Esq., 
 of Torrington, d. 1797. 
 
 1717. Ann, daughter of Samuel Reynolds, Clerk and Schoolmaster, was 
 baptized March ye 9th. 
 
 1719. Jane, daughter of Samuel Reynolds, Schoolmaster, was baptized 
 February ye 9th. 
 
 Elizabeth, born not registered at Plympton, she married 
 
 William Johnson. 
 
 1723. Joseph, (written by mistake for Joshua,) son of Samuel Reynolds, 
 Clerk, baptized, July ye 30th. This mistake is explained by 
 a memorandum in the 47th page of the same register, of 
 which I obtained a fac simile , tracing from the Rev. J. W. 
 Coppard, Incumbent of Plympton St. Mary. It reads thus : — 
 In the entry of the baptisms for the year 1723, the person by 
 mistake named Joseph , son of Samuel Reynolds , Clerk, bap- 
 tized July 30th, ivas Joshua Reynolds, the celebrated painter, 
 who died February 23rd, 1792. 
 
 1727. Samuel, son of Samuel Reynolds, 7 for ye 1st. 
 
 1729. Frances, daughter of Mr. Samuel Reynolds, June 6th (died in 
 1807.) 
 
 1731. Martyn, son of Mr. Samuel Reynolds, baptized July 29th. 
 
24 
 
 FAMILY OF REYNOLDS, 
 
 Antwerp, a lady of the name of Mary Ainsworth. 0 
 
 The great grand-father of Sir Joshua, who also 
 bore the same Christian name John, was born in 
 1609. 7 
 
 His father, the Rev. Samuel Reynolds, was 
 master of the Grammar School, at Ply mp ton, but 
 it is not generally known that he was also a 
 Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford. This fact 
 was first communicated to me by W. E, Price, 
 Esq., of Torrington, who had seen in the 
 possession of his relation Capt. Palmer, a 
 letter from Young, the author of the Night 
 Thoughts, addressed to Mr. Samuel Reynolds, 
 Fellow of Balliol College : and it has since been 
 corroborated by an examination of the College 
 Register. 
 
 On the 23rd February, 1704-5, Samuel Reynolds 
 was elected a Probationary Fellow of Balliol 
 College, but his birth place and parentage are 
 not recorded at the same time, or in connexion 
 with his election. From the Registers of 
 Corpus Christi College, it only appears that 
 Samuel Reynolds a native of the Diocese of 
 Exeter, was admitted scholar there on the 
 25th May, 1699, being then about eighteen 
 years old. But from another Register at 
 
 0 A portrait of this lady we are informed was in the possession of the 
 late Dean of Cashel . She died in 1714. 
 
 7 Family pedigree. 
 
EARLY SKETCHES, ETC. 
 
 25 
 
 Balliol, we learn that on the same day before 
 mentioned, viz., the 23rd February, 1704-5, “Sam. 
 Remolds, films Johannis Remolds, vicarii de 
 parochia Sti Thonue Apostoli juxta civitatem 
 Exoniensem,” was admitted a member of Balliol: 
 and my correspondent the Rev. John Griffiths, 
 Fellow of Wadham, concludes by saying, that 
 the master of Balliol tells him, he has not the 
 slightest doubt that this admission of Samuel 
 Remolds, is that of the same person who was 
 elected on that day Fellow on probation from 
 Corpus Christi. The master, however, cannot 
 tell how long he continued Fellow. 
 
 Northcote seems to have fallen into an error, 
 in supposing that the Rev. Samuel Reynolds was 
 the Incumbent of Plympton. 8 He says : 
 
 The maintenance of a family of six children, was a tax 
 sufficiently heavy on the slender income of one who possessed no 
 other resources than those which he derived from the Living of 
 Plympton, and the Grammar School annexed to it, the whole 
 amounting to a very small sum, for the Church was only a 
 Windsor Curacy. 
 
 8 This error of Northcote's has been followed by most of Sir Joshua’s 
 biographers, and in the Descriptive Catalogue of the Pictures in the 
 National Gallery, recently published by Mr. Wamum, it is stated that 
 Reynolds’ father was Rector of Plympton St. Mary, for which assertion 
 there seems to be no authority. 
 
 The author of Testimonials to the Memory and Genius of Sir Joshua 
 Reynolds is likewise wrong, in saying that his “ father, having no better 
 prospect in view, intended him for the Church, and sent him to one of 
 the Universities.” 
 
 D 
 
26 
 
 FAMILY OF REYNOLDS, 
 
 The Grammar School was not, I believe, at 
 any time annexed to the Living of Plympton, 
 and an inspection of the Parish Register proves 
 that there is no foundation for the statement 
 that Samuel Reynolds was ever the Incumbent. 
 The Rev. John Nathan Darley was Minister of 
 Plympton S. Maurice till the year 1732, and 
 was buried on the 27th July, and in 1736 
 the Register is signed by Geo. Langworthy, 
 Minister. 9 The Rev. Samuel Reynolds was 
 buried at Plympton in 1745. 
 
 Although possessed of a high character for 
 learning, he appears to have been ill fitted for 
 the office of a Schoolmaster, and before his death 
 it is said that the number of his scholars was 
 literally reduced to one. Yet, says Northcote: 
 
 This mortification, which might have overpowered a more 
 irritable temper, the good old man bore without any dejection of 
 spirits, and he continued as much as ever beloved and respected 
 for the variety of his knowledge, his innocence of heart, and 
 simplicity of manners. He was so absent that he one day 
 returned home from a ride on horseback with only one boot, 
 
 9 The Rev. Samuel Reynolds is variously described, in 1717, as Clerk 
 and Schoolmaster. 
 
 1719, as Schoolmaster. 
 
 1723, as Clerk. 
 
 1727, as Samuel Reynolds. 
 
 * [as Mr. Samuel Reynolds, 
 
 l/ol, ) 
 
 1741, as Mr. Samuel Reynolds, Minister, but at the end of the year 
 is the signature of the Rev. W. Langworthy, “ teste Geo. 
 Langworthy, Minister." 
 

 
REV D SAMUEL REYNOLDS. 
 
 From the Original Picture m the Cottonian Library. Plymouth 
 
 
EARLY SKETCHES, ETC. 
 
 27 
 
 having dropt the other on the road without knowing it, and 
 when it was pointed out to him, “ Bless me,” he said, “ it is very 
 true, but I am sure I had them both when I set out from home .” 1 
 
 The mother of Sir Joshua Reynolds was 
 Theophila daughter of the Rev. Mr. Potter of 
 some place near Torrington in the North of 
 Devon. And his maternal grandmother was a 
 daughter of the Rev. Thomas Baker, an eminent 
 mathematician of the seventeenth century, and 
 Vicar of Bishops Dymmet in Dorsetshire. His 
 paternal uncle was the Rev. John Reynolds, S.T.B. 
 Fellow of Eton College and Canon of S. Peter’s, 
 Exeter. Malone states that, this gentleman, who 
 died in 1758, left his library and the greater part 
 of his fortune to Exeter College, Oxford. Pro- 
 bably Mr. Malone was misinformed respecting 
 the extent of Canon Reynolds’ benefaction; for 
 the Rector of Exeter College cannot discover that 
 he gave any thing directly to the College, nor 
 does his name appear in the book of Benefactors, 
 in which the names of all who have given bene- 
 factions to the College are enrolled, from the date 
 of the foundation to A.D., 1781. He founded 
 however three exhibitions for superannuated Eton 
 
 1 A portrait of the Rev. Samuel Reynolds painted by Sir Joshua, which 
 belonged to the late Dean of Cashel is in the Cottonian Library, at 
 Plymouth. It is a profile, and fully bears out this estimate of his 
 character. It represents a countenance of the greatest placidity and 
 good nature ; and the same may be inferred from his letters to Mr. 
 Cutcliffe, which will be found in the following chapter. 
 
28 FAMILY OF REYNOLDS, 
 
 Collegers, and the same number at Exeter Gram- 
 mar School: but Exeter College has nothing to 
 do with the appointment of the exhibitioners, or 
 the management of the funds : nor are the exhi- 
 bitions inseparably connected with the College, 
 as they may enjoy them elsewhere if the College 
 cannot admit them . 2 
 
 The Rev. John Reynolds was the author of a 
 Latin Dissertation on the Census taken at the 
 birth of our Saviour, which was printed in small 
 quarto at the University Press, Oxford . 3 A copy 
 of this work, in my possession, has the autograph 
 of J. Reynolds on the title page. It is entitled : 
 
 Census Habitus Nascente Christo 
 Joannis Reinoldii S.T.B. 
 
 Damnonii Iscani 
 
 e. Beatse Mariae Etonensis Regalis Collegii Sociis 
 et Eccl. Cathedralis St. Petri Exoniensis Canonici 
 Dissertatio. 
 
 Oxonii Academioe typis ac sumtu impressa. 
 
 MDCCXXXVm. 
 
 2 There is a mezzotinto print of the Rev. John Reynolds by Mac 
 Ardell from a picture in Eton College, painted by his nephew. 
 
 3 This treatise by Canon Reynolds shews an intimate acquaintance 
 with the ancient historians, and is evidently a work of great labour and 
 research. It appears to have been written and published at the 
 instigation of Stephen Weston, Bishop of Exeter, a learned and pious 
 divine, who had been under master at Eton School, and afterward Vicar 
 of Maple Durham, in Oxfordshire. He was consecrated to the See of 
 Exeter in 1724, through the interest, (it is said) of Sir Robert Walpole, 
 who was his school-fellow at Eton. 
 
 Two volumes of his Sermons were published in 1740 by Bishop 
 Sherlock. 
 
* EARLY SKETCHES, ETC. 
 
 29 
 
 Sir Joshua had another paternal uncle, who 
 was also a clergyman, the Rev. Joshua Reynolds, 
 Rector of Stoke Charity, Hants. And it is not 
 a little singular that three brothers, Sir Joshua’s 
 father, and two uncles should all have been 
 brought up to the clerical profession. 
 
 This uncle was Sir Joshua’s godfather, and it 
 was after him that the great painter received his 
 baptismal name. Malone asserts, indeed, on the 
 authority of Dr. Percy, Bishop of Dromore, that 
 Sir Joshua’s father was prompted to give him the 
 scriptural appellation, in hopes that such a 
 singular, or at least uncommon name, might at 
 some future period of his life be the means of 
 attracting for him the patronage of some person 
 with a similar prefix. Northcote has however 
 completely refuted this assertion. He says : 
 
 I know from undoubted authority, having seen it in Sir 
 Joshua’s own hand writing — that he had an uncle, whose name 
 was Joshua, and dwelt at Exeter, and who was his godfather, 
 but not being present at the baptism was represented by a Mr. 
 Aldwin. 
 
 On the authority of the Rev. John Palmer, 
 brother of the late Dean of Cashel, and nephew 
 of the illustrious painter, this statement of 
 Northcote has not only been confirmed, but we 
 also learn that the godfather of Sir Joshua was a 
 beneficed clergyman, Rector of Stoke Charity, in 
 Hampshire. 
 
30 
 
 FAMILY OF REYNOLDS, 
 
 Haydon, speaking of Wilkie, observes that it 
 is impossible to say when he first began to paint, 
 because when a great painter dies, a dozen 
 people are ready to make oath they have his first 
 production. This remark however is only in part 
 applicable to Sir Joshua Reynolds, several of his 
 earliest sketches having been preserved. W e have 
 already mentioned a perspective drawing of the 
 school colonnade, and a sketch on the back of a 
 la tin exercise, in which early efforts — although 
 not very remarkable as instances of precocity, and 
 done, according to his father, ‘ in pure idleness ’ — 
 young Reynolds showed beyond all question 
 what was the true direction of his genius. 
 
 Reynolds’ first portrait was painted when he 
 could not have been more than twelve years old. 
 It is not remarkable as indicating any striking- 
 proofs of genius, but rather interesting as a 
 curiosity, if it really was the work of Reynolds, 
 
 e’er yet his age 
 Had measured twice six years. 
 
 We allude to a portrait of the Rev. Thomas 
 Smart, who was Vicar of Maker, near Mount 
 Edgcumbe, and died in March, 1736. This 
 picture was painted, it is said, in 1735, and the 
 tradition in Mr. Smart’s family is, that it was 
 coloured in a boat house at Cremyll beach under 
 Mount Edgcumbe, on canvass which was part of 
 
EARLY SKETCHES, ETC. 
 
 31 
 
 a boat sail, and with the common paint used in 
 shipwrights’ painting sheds. The appearance 
 of the canvass and paint seems to corroborate 
 this, both being of the coarsest description. 
 Mr. Smart was tutor in the family of Richard 
 Edgcumbe, Esq., who afterwards became the first 
 Lord Edgcumbe — the “ Dick Edgcumbe ” men- 
 tioned in Walpole’s Correspondence, and young 
 Reynolds seems to have been passing the holidays 
 at Mount Edgcumbe with one of his sons. The 
 portrait is said to have been painted from a 
 drawing “ taken in church on the artist's thumb 
 nail ." 4 The picture for many years was at Mount 
 Edgcumbe, but was afterwards sent to Plympton, 
 and hung up in one of the rooms belonging to 
 the corporation, of which Mr. Smart was a 
 member. It was subsequently returned to 
 Mount Edgcumbe, and given by the present 
 Earl to Mr. Boger, of Wolsdon, the descendant 
 and representative of Mr. Smart, by whom the 
 circumstances connected with the portrait have 
 been communicated to me . 5 
 
 When this portrait of Mr. Smart was painted, 
 
 ♦Hogarth used to draw on the spot any remarkable face, which parti- 
 cularly struck him, and sometimes with a pencil on his thumb nail. 
 
 5 This portrait of Mr. Smart has been accurately engraved by S. W. 
 Reynolds : it is more finished and better executed than might be ex- 
 pected from the materials said to have been used. Mr. Boger has also 
 a small portrait on panel of the Daughter of Mr. Smart, (who married 
 — Deeble, Esq., of Wolsdon,) which is supposed to have been painted 
 by Reynolds. 
 
32 
 
 FAMILY OF REYNOLDS, 
 
 Sir Joshua’s father was the master of Plympton 
 Grammar School, and Mr. Edgcumbe was one 
 of the Patrons of the Borough of Plympton ; 
 which accounts for the acquaintance between 
 the boys. Young Bichard Edgcumbe had also a 
 good deal of taste for drawing, and some of his 
 paintings are still at Mount Edgcumbe. 
 
 It is always interesting to trace the source from 
 which genius has drawn its inspirations, or by 
 what it has been nourished and matured ; for 
 although it may be true, that real genius will 
 generally work its way, shape out its own 
 path, and make circumstances bend before it ; yet, 
 on the other hand, it is certain that circumstances 
 may contribute much to its development, and may 
 assist materially in cherishing its inspirations, and 
 in directing its actual career. It was Sir Joshua’s 
 opinion, that men are not born poets or painters. 
 This was the Johnsonian theory which pro- 
 nounced genius to be nothing but a mind of large 
 general powers accidentally determined to some 
 particular object : and the following reflection 
 of Wilkie appears to add the weight of his 
 testimony in support of this opinion : 
 
 Though a certain faculty, neither easily defined nor understood, 
 is usually recognised as genius, and is considered the great 
 moving power, without which it is vain to attempt even a 
 beginning, much more by continued efforts to hope for excellence, 
 from all experience of my own I have no consciousness that 
 
EAULY SKETCHES, ETC. 
 
 33 
 
 any attainment which, in the opinion of good natured people, it 
 has been in my power to reach, was either commenced or pro- 
 moted by any such innate impulse ; on the contrary, the attracting 
 and guiding power seems to have arisen from some external 
 cause. The opportunity of seeing what others are pleased with, 
 together with the stimulus of rival success, were both denied 
 me : the single element of all the progressive movements was 
 persevering industry . 6 
 
 We are told, however, that Pope “ lisped in 
 numbers,” and that Giotto, the restorer of paint- 
 ing in Italy, was found by Cimabue, drawing on a 
 stone when tending goats without the walls of 
 Florence. Salvator Rosa was flogged by a monk 
 for defacing the cloisters of the convent with his 
 charcoal sketches; and Benjamin West, Opie, and 
 David Wilkie were all self-taught geniuses. The 
 last, like Reynolds, was the son of a clergyman, 
 and so powerful was his natural bias, Burnet tells 
 us, that the margin of his bible was found filled 
 with heads of characters drawn in Church. 
 
 Sir Joshua’s elder sister had a love for the 
 painters’ art, and he himself used in his early 
 days to copy the drawings which she made. The 
 Jesuit's Perspective has been mentioned as a book 
 which was a favourite companion of his boyhood. 
 He appears to have diligently studied and ap- 
 plied its rules. Another favourite was Jacob 
 Catt’s Emblems, a book which his great grand- 
 
 6 Cunningham’s life of Wilkie, 1. p. 29. 
 
 E 
 
34 
 
 FAMILY OF REYNOLDS. 
 
 mother, by his father’s side, had brought from 
 Holland . 7 But the book, which seems more 
 than any other, to have regulated his conduct as 
 a painter through life, was Richardson’s Essay 
 on the Theory of Painting. 
 
 Richardson’s reflection on the pleasure which 
 the art of painting gives, appears to have made 
 a great impression on Sir Joshua’s mind, as we 
 meet with a very similar remark in one of his 
 own manuscripts : 
 
 The pleasure that painting, as a dumb art, gives us, is like 
 what we have from music ; its beautiful forms, colours, and 
 harmony, are to the eye, what sound and the harmony of that 
 kind are to the ear. 
 
 The following passage from the same author 
 is peculiarly applicable to Sir Joshua, and de- 
 scribes admirably the impression produced by 
 his portraits: 
 
 Painting gives us not only the persons, but the characters of 
 great men. The air of the head, and the mien in general, 
 gives strong indications of the mind, and illustrates what the 
 Historian says more expressly and particularly : Let a man read 
 a character in my Lord Clarendon, (and certainly never was 
 there a better painter in that kind) he will find it improved by 
 seeing a picture of the same person by Van dyck. 
 
 7 “ Catt’s Emblems ” is a very curious book. 
 
 It came into Mrs. Gwatkin’s possession from her uncle, Sir Joshua 
 Reynolds, and by her was left to her grandson, Joshua Reynolds 
 Gwatldn. 
 
EARLY SKETCHES, ETC. 
 
 35 
 
 The idea contained in the first of the above 
 extracts has also been beautifully expressed by 
 Mrs. Jameson. 
 
 The pictures of Reynolds are to the eye, what delicious melodies 
 are to the ear — Italian music set to English words ; for the colour, 
 with its luxurious melting harmony is Venetian, and the faces and 
 the associations are English. There are but two painters, whose 
 pictures immediately bring to my mind associations with perfumes 
 and with music — Titiau and Reynolds — our Reynolds, proud may 
 we be who can call him so. Every year, as the taste, the feeling 
 for art spreads and rises, the works of this great man are more 
 appreciated, and more and more we learn to sympathize with that 
 which is his highest characteristic, and which alone has enabled 
 him to compete with the old masters of Italy ; the amount of mind 
 of sensibility, he threw into every production of his pencil, — the 
 genial, living soul, he infused into forms, giving to them a 
 deathless vitality. I have seen some pictures of Sir Joshua’s, of 
 which the colours had faded, and near them portraits in all the 
 freshness of their pristine vermillions and blues ; and the latter 
 looked like dead things coloured to mock life, and his like spirits 
 that had survived their corporeal attributes, to haunt us ever with 
 their shadowy loveliness. 
 
 Mrs. Jameson has also noticed the important 
 influence which Richardson’s book exercised over 
 the mind of Sir J oshua. 
 
 He has said himself, that the perusal, when a boy, of 
 Richardson’s book had made him a painter. It appears to me 
 that the boy who at eight years old was ever found with a pencil 
 in his hand, copying prints out of books, who, at the same age had 
 mastered the Jesuit’s Perspective , would have been a painter in 
 any case ; but the perusal of Richardson’s book at the age of 
 fifteen or sixteen, elevated and directed his boyish enthusiasm ; it 
 made him the painter which he afterwards became. Ho closed it 
 
36 
 
 FAMILY OF REYNOLDS, 
 
 he says, with the conviction that Raphael was the greatest man 
 who had ever existed. But this was nothing compared with the 
 aspirations of a still higher kind, produced by the same striking 
 book. It is impossible, I think, to look back upon the whole 
 tenour of Sir Joshua’s life, without a perception of the excellent 
 moral influence its perusal left upon his mind and character. The 
 lofty claims which Richardson set forth in behalf of painting as an 
 art ; the union of knowledge and virtue, with creative genius ; of 
 high qualities with great attainments, which he requires in the 
 artist, seem to have made an ineffaceable impression on the 
 thoughtful, dreaming boy, and to have produced, or at least, 
 developed, that singular union of self-respect and pride in his art, 
 with modesty and humility, which distinguished him through life. 
 Some passages of Richardson’s book would seem to have been 
 written since Sir Joshua’s time, and intended to apply to him, if 
 we did not know to the contrary, that it was actually published 
 some years before he was born. For instance, “ In order to assist 
 and inform the invention, a painter ought to converse with, and 
 observe all sorts of people, chiefly the best, and to read the best 
 books, and no other : he should observe the different and various 
 effects of men’s passions, and those of other animals, and in short 
 all nature, and make sketches of what he observes, to help the 
 memory and, in another place, “ The painting-room must be 
 like Eden before the fall ; no joyless, turbulent passions must enter 
 there.” It is clear that Richardson’s ideal of portraiture, and the 
 qualities and aims of a portrait-painter were ever present in Sir 
 Joshua’s mind throughout the whole of his career. If Richardson’s 
 book did not, in the literal sense, make him a painter, I cannot 
 doubt that the whole course of his life, his aims in art, the objects 
 of his emulation and ambition would have been different had he 
 not read and laid to heart, in the first years of generous, glowing, and 
 impressionable youth, such sentiments as the following, of which 
 his social and professional existence were a faithful exposition — 
 “The picture of an absent relation or friend, helps to keep up 
 those sentiments which frequently languish by absence, and may 
 be instrumental to maintain, and sometimes to augment friendship, 
 and paternal, filial, and conjugal love and duty. Upon the sight 
 
EARLY SKETCHES, ETC. 
 
 37 
 
 of a portrait, the character and master-strokes of the history of the 
 person it represents are apt to flow in upon the mind, and to be 
 the subject of conversation, so that to sit for one’s picture is to 
 have an abstract of one’s life written and published, and ourselves 
 thus consigned over to honour or infamy. I know not what 
 influence this has, or may have, but methinks it is rational to 
 believe that pictures of this kind are subservient to virtue ; that 
 men are excited to initiate the good actions, and persuaded to 
 shun the vices of those whose examples are thus set before them.” 
 “ To be a good face-painter, a degree of the historical and 
 poetical genius is requisite, and a great measure of the other talents 
 and advantages which a good history painter must possess ; nay, 
 some of them, particularly colouring, he ought to have in greater 
 perfection than is absolutely necessary for a history-painter.” 
 
 “ It is not enough to make a tame, insipid resemblance of the 
 features, so that every body shall know who the picture was 
 intended for, not even to make the picture what is often said to be 
 prodigiously like, (this is often done by the lowest of face-painters, 
 but then it is ever done with the air of a fool, and an unbred 
 person). A portrait-painter must understand mankind and enter 
 into their characters, and express their minds as well as their 
 faces ; and as his business is chiefly with people of condition, lie 
 must think as a gentleman and a man of sense, or it will be 
 impossible to give such their true and proper resemblances.” 
 What renders these passages more striking is the fact that they 
 were written at a time, when the best portrait painters, including 
 Richardson himself, could not get beyond the head of a sitter, and 
 were obliged one and all to employ hired workmen to paint the 
 attitudes and draperies, always in the most monotonous 
 and wretched taste, and after a certain pattern. To avoid the 
 “tremendous” difficulty of painting the hand, it was usually stuck 
 in the waistcoat or concealed by a nosegay. When Sir Joshua 
 redeemed the art from this vulgar insipidity, he did not so much 
 improve as create. His own exquisite sense of moral beauty and 
 harmony, availed him as much as his keen perception of those 
 which resulted from form and colour. 
 
38 
 
 FAMILY OF REYNOLDS, 
 
 No words can convey a more accurate descrip- 
 tion of the style and character of Reynolds’ 
 portraits than these extracts from Richardson’s 
 work. The two following passages from the 
 same book which has now become scarce will also 
 be read with interest. The first relates particu- 
 larly to the qualifications necessary to an historical 
 painter, and shows how highly Richardson 
 esteemed the art, and how exalted was the 
 standard which he raised. 
 
 It is not every picture-maker that ought to be called a Painter, 
 as every Rhymer, or Grub-Street Tale-writer is not a Poet or 
 Historian. A Painter ought to be a title of dignity and understood 
 to imply a person endued with such excellencies of mind and body 
 as have ever been the foundation of honour amongst men. 
 
 He that paints a history well must be able to write it. He 
 must be thoroughly informed of all things relating to it, and 
 conceive it clearly and nobly in his mind, or he can never express 
 it upon the canvas. He must have a solid judgment, with a 
 lively imagination, and know what figures and what incidents 
 ought to be brought in, and .what every one sliotild say and think. 
 A Painter, therefore, of this class must possess all the good 
 qualities relative to an Historian; unless it be languige (which 
 however seldom fails of being beautiful, when the thing is clearly 
 and well conceived). But this is not sufficient to him ; he must 
 moreover know the forms of the arms, the habits, customs, 
 buildings, &c., of the age and country in which the thing was 
 transacted, more exactly than the other needs to know them. And 
 as his business is not to write the history of a few years, or of one 
 age or country, but of all ages and all nations, as occasion offers, 
 he must have a proportionable fund of ancient and modern learning 
 of all kinds. 
 
EARLY SKETCHES, ETC. 
 
 39 
 
 As to paint a history, a man ought to have the main qualities of 
 a good historian, and something more ; he must yet go higher, 
 and have the talents requisite to a good Poet ; the rules for the 
 conduct of a picture being much the same with those to be 
 observed in writing a Poem ; and Painting, as well as Poetry, 
 requiring an elevation of genius beyond what pure historical 
 narration does. The Painter must imagine his figures to think, 
 speak, and act. as a Poet should do iu a tragedy or epic poem, 
 especially if his subject be a fable or an allegory. If a Poet has 
 moreover the care of the diction and versification, the Painter has 
 a task perhaps at least equivalent to that, after he has well 
 conceived the thing (over and above what is merely mechanical), 
 and that is the knowledge of the nature and effects of colours, 
 lights, shadows, reflections, &c. And as his business is not to 
 compose one Iliad or one ASneid only, but perhaps many, he must 
 be furnished with a vast stock of Poetical, as well as Historical 
 learning. 
 
 Besides all this, it is absolutely necessary to a History-painter, 
 that he understand Anatomy, Osteology, Geometry, Perspective, 
 Architecture, and many other sciences which the Historian or Poet 
 has little occasiou to know. 
 
 He must moreover not only see, but thoroughly study the works 
 of the most excellent masters in paiuting and sculpture, ancient 
 and modern. For though some few have gone vast lengths 
 in the art by the strength of their own genius, without foreign 
 assistance, these are prodigies ; the like success is not ordinarily 
 to be expected, nor have even these done what probably they would 
 have done with the advantages the study of other men’s works 
 would have given them. 
 
 To be an accomplished Painter, a man must possess more than 
 one liberal Art, which puts him upon the level with those that do 
 so, and makes him superior to those that possess but one in an 
 equal degree. He must be also a curious artificer, whereby he 
 becomes superior to one who equally possesses the other talents, 
 but wants that. A Raphaelle, therefore, is not only equal, but 
 superior to a Virgil, or a Livy, a Thucidides, or a Iloraer. 
 
40 
 
 FAMILY OF REYNOLDS, 
 
 The other extract relates to the moral qualifi- 
 cations, necessary to a great Painter. The 
 passage in itself is extremely beautiful ; and the 
 spirit of it was strikingly exemplified in Sir 
 Joshua’s whole life and character. 
 
 As his profession is honourable, he should render himself 
 worthy of it, by excelling in it, and by avoiding all low and 
 sordid actions and conversation, all base and criminal passions. 
 His business is to express great and noble sentiments : let him 
 make them familiar to him and his own, and form himself into as 
 bright a character as any he can draw, llis art is of vast extent, 
 and he stands in need of all the time, and all the vigour of body 
 and mind allowed to human nature. He should take care to 
 husband and improve them as much as possible by prudence and 
 virtue. The way to be an excellent Painter is to be an excellent 
 man, and these united make a character that would shine even in a 
 better world than this. 
 
 The above extracts have been given for the 
 purpose of showing the important influence which 
 Richardson’s book exerted on Sir Joshua’s mind. 
 Its sentiments appear never to have been for- 
 gotten by him, and the impressions it produced 
 remained through life. The high standard of 
 excellence which it establishes excited a noble 
 emulation, and called forth that determination to 
 rise above common-place and to excel in every 
 thing he undertook, by which he was at all times 
 distinguished. It prompted him to aim always 
 at the highest point, to do all in the best manner 
 possible, and never to be satisfied with mediocrity, 
 
EARLY SKETCHES, ETC. 
 
 41 
 
 or even to content himself with a moderate degree 
 of excellence. It appears to have inspired him 
 with the feeling, that nothing which human 
 industry could possibly accomplish, was too lofty 
 for him to aim at, or too great for him to hope 
 for: and it was doubtless, in a great measure, owing 
 to the influence exerted over him by the early 
 study of this book, that he attained such 
 excellence in character, and rose to such dis- 
 tinction in his art. 
 
 i 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 Sir Joshua’s hither appears to have hesitated for 
 some time, respecting the choice of a profession for 
 his son — whether to make him an apothecary or a 
 painter. Seeing however how strong was his 
 son’s propensity towards the latter profession, he 
 happily resolved to gratify his inclination ; and 
 
EXTRACTS FROM PRIVATE LETTERS, ETC. 43 
 
 by the advice of Mr. Cranch, a neighbour and 
 friend of the family, sent him to London, to be 
 placed under Hudson, the most celebrated por- 
 trait painter then in England. 
 
 It is said, that when the arrangement was pro- 
 posed to young Reynolds, he declared he would 
 rather be an apothecary than an ordinary painter, 
 but, that if he could be bound to an eminent 
 master, he should choose the latter. This remark 
 was quite characteristic of the strong desire to 
 excel in everything he undertook, which dis- 
 tinguished him through life. Having seen a 
 print from one of Hudson’s paintings, he was so 
 greatly pleased with it that he at once consented 
 to become his pupil ; and went to London, on the 
 13th of October 1740. The following extracts 
 from letters written by the Rev. Samuel Reynolds, 
 to Mr. CutclifFe, attorney at Bideford, at the time 
 when the arrangement was first thought of, are 
 from autograph copies by Mrs. Gwatkin, and 
 have never hitherto been published. 
 
 Plymton, March 17th, 1740. 
 
 I was last night with Mr. Cranch 6 * 8 — as he was asking me what 
 I designed to do with Joshua, who is now drawing near to 17. I 
 
 6 The portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Cranch, or Craunch, of Plympton, 
 painted by Reynolds before he went to Italy, were lately in the possession 
 of Miss Cliff, of Kingsbridge. They came to her at the death of her 
 relation, Mrs. Mayow, widow of the Incumbent of Plympton St. Mary, 
 
 who was Mr. Cranch’s niece, and are now at Glyn, in Cornwall, the seat 
 
 of Lord Vivian. 
 
44 
 
 REYNOLDS AND HUDSON, 
 
 told him I was divided between two things, one was making him 
 an apothecary, as to which I should make no account of the 
 qualifications of his master, as not doubting, if it please God I 
 live, but he should be sufficiently instructed another way: besides 
 that, he has spent a great deal of time and pains with that view 
 already, and to that purpose I do intend to make a proposal to Mr. 
 Raport of our town, so that I shall have an opportunity of instruct- 
 ing him on the spot, and if Mr. Raport is not inclined, then to make 
 the proposal to my wife’s kinsman, Mr. Baker, of Bideford. The 
 other is, that Joshua has a very great genius for drawing, and 
 lately on his own head, has begun even painting, so that Mr. War- 
 mel, who is both a painter and a player, having lately seen but his 
 first performances, said if he had his hands full of business, he 
 would rather take Joshua for nothing than another with 50 pounds. 
 Mr. Crauncli told me, as to this latter, lie could put me in a way. 
 Mr. Hudson, (who is Mr. Richardson’s 9 son- in-law), used to be 
 down at Bideford, and would be so, he believed, within these two 
 months, he persuaded me to propose the matter to you, and that 
 
 9 Jonathan Richardson, bom in 1665, was undoubtedly one of the best 
 English painters of a head that had appeared in this country. There is 
 a strength, soundness, and boldness in his colouring ; but his men want 
 dignity and his women grace . — Horace Walpole . 
 
 Richardson died in 1745, upwards of 80 years of age, and left a son 
 and four daughters, one of whom married his pupil Hudson. His 
 literary works are : 
 
 An Ess">y on the whole Art of Criticism, as it relates to Painting. 
 
 An Argument in behalf of the Science of a Connoisseur. These two 
 Discourses were published in 1 vol. 8vo. 1719. 
 
 An Essay on the Theory of Painting, 2nd edition in 1725. 
 
 An Account of the Statues, Basreliefs, Drawings, and Pictures in Italy, 
 — 8vo. 1722. 
 
 Notes and Remarks on Milton’s Paradise Lost, with a life of the Author, 
 — 8vo. 1734. 
 
 There are a few etchings by his hand, viz., portraits of Pope, Milton, 
 Dr. Mead, and himself. 
 
 The sale of Richardson’s collection of Drawings in Feb. 1747, lasted 
 eighteen days, and produced £1966 14s. the number of the Drawings 
 was 4749, many of which were bought by his Son-in-law Hudson. — 
 Mr. C. Rogers' priced Catalogue. 
 
EXTRACTS FROM FRIVATE LETTERS, ETC. 45 
 
 you should propose it to Mr. Hudson, that Joshua might show him 
 some of his performances in drawing, and if the matter was likely 
 to take effect, should take a journey to Bideford himself. I 
 mentioned this to Joshua, who said he would rather be an 
 Apothecary than an ordinary Painter, but if he could be bound to 
 an eminent master, he should choose the latter. That he had seen 
 a print from Mr. Hudson’s painting which he had been very much 
 pleased with. Now here I have given you a naked account of the 
 matter, upon which I must desire your judgment and advice. I 
 must only add that what Joshua has principally employed himself 
 in has been perspective, of which, perhaps, there is not much 
 in face painting, his pictures strike off wonderfully, if they be 
 look’d on with a due regard to the point of sight, and the point of 
 distance. You see how free I make with you. 
 
 I am, 
 
 Your most affectionate Friend and Servant, 
 
 S. REYNOLDS. 
 
 In another letter to Mr. Cutcliffe, in June of 
 the same year, he thus gives expression to his 
 feelings of paternal pride and pleasure at the 
 early efforts of his son. 
 
 June 20th, 1740. 
 
 I shall send on Monday next to my daughter 1 at Torrington, to 
 
 1 Mary Reynolds Sir Joshua’s eldest sister, married John Palmer, Esq., 
 of Torrington, and had issue. 
 
 The very Rev. James Palmer, Dean of Cashel. 
 
 The Rev. John Palmer. 
 
 Mary, Marchioness of Thomond. 
 
 Theophila, Mrs. Gwatkin. 
 
 Elizabeth, Mrs. Salkeld. 
 
 Elizabeth Reynolds, another sister, married William Johnson, of Tor- 
 rington, and had issue, William, who died in India, and Mary, married 
 to the Rev. Peter Furse, of Halsdon. 
 
 Frances Reynolds, who resided chiefly with her brother Sir Joshua, 
 died unmarried in 1807. 
 
46 REYNOLDS AND HUDSON, 
 
 be transmitted to you, a specimen of Joshua’s performances in 
 painting, which I think is his first in colours, that which Mr. 
 Warmel saw was only in chalk and charcoal, his colours happened 
 to be brought when Mr. Warmel was with me. * ' * 
 
 The following letter written in October, a short 
 time before Joshua went to London, shows his 
 great satisfaction with the arrangement and his 
 anxiety to have all things settled in the best 
 manner possible to promote the prospects of his 
 son. It is dated, Plympton, October 7th, 1740. 
 And appears to have been taken by Joshua himself 
 to Mr. Cutcliife. 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 As my Son is come to wait on you and to obey orders, I have 
 nothing to do but to thank you for your management and trouble 
 in this affair. Everything that is necessary to be said, my Son 
 will be better able to say by word of mouth. Only one thing, 
 lest it should be forgot, which your Son may be best able to 
 determine, whether Joshua may suffer any prejudice hereafter by 
 being bound for four years, (which undoubtedly in itself is pre- 
 ferable) instead of seven ; if so, then I suppose alterations may be 
 made without any additional charge, for Joshua’s work will then 
 be worth his diet. I am apt to think it otherwise by my brother 
 Potter’s case, who did not serve but a few years in London. 
 Things are much better as they are without any alteration, unless 
 there be a real inconvenience therein, as that he will not be able 
 to practice his trade in London without molestation, or enjoy any 
 other privileges which seven years ’prentices do. 
 
 I am, 
 
 With humble service to your Son, 
 
 Your most obliged Servant, 
 
 S. REYNOLDS. 
 
EXTRACTS FROM PRIVATE LETTERS, ETC. 47 
 
 Joshua reached London, on the 13th of Octo- 
 ber, and shortly afterwards his father wrote to 
 Mr. Cutcliffe the following letter, which he says 
 “ is my letter of thanks to you for what you have 
 done.” 
 
 Plymton, Oct. 2Gtii, 1740. 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 I think myself obliged to let you know that Joshua arrived in 
 London with your Son, on Saturday, October 13th, which gives 
 me the same pleasure as when you carried your Son thither. He 
 had a most prosperous journey, (which is a most prosperous 
 beginning of this affair, and I pray God it may be as happily 
 accomplished). His master 2 as yet is not at home, he is at the 
 Bath. “We see his wife (says Joshua,) she says she will 
 write to him about it, but I am at present at my Uncle’s.” 3 
 When it is ended I shall tell you, you have ended one of the 
 
 2 Thomas Hudson, the scholar and son-in-law of Richardson, enjoyed 
 for many years the chief business of portrait painting in the capital, 
 after the favourite artists his master and Jervas were gone off the 
 stage; though Vanloo first, and Liotard afterwards, for a few years, 
 diverted the torrent of fashion from the established professor. Still the 
 country gentlemen were faithful to their compatriot, and were content 
 with his honest similitudes, and with the fair tied wigs, blue velvet coats, 
 and white satin waistcoats, which he bestowed liberally on his customers, 
 and which with complacency they beheld multiplied in Faber’s mezzo- 
 tintos. The better taste introduced by Sir Joshua Reynolds, put an end 
 to Hudson’s reign, who had the good sense to resign the throne, soon 
 after finishing his capital work, the family picture of Charles, Duke of 
 Marlborough. — W alpole’s Anecdotes. 
 
 Hudson lived in Great Queen Street, Lincoln’s-Inn-Fields, in the 
 house in which Hoole, the translator of Tasso, lived : it is now divided 
 into Nos. 55. and 56. He painted most of the portraits of the Dilettanti 
 Society in their dining-room, at the Thatched-house Tavern, in St. James’s 
 Street. 
 
 3 1 suppose the Rev. John Reynolds, Fellow of Eton. — M.S. Note by 
 Mrs. Gwatkin. 
 
48 
 
 REYNOLDS AND HUDSON, 
 
 most important affairs of my life, that which I have look’d upon 
 to be my main interest some way or other to bring about. And 
 you have not almost brought it about, but as if Providence had 
 breathed upon what you have done, everything hitherto has 
 jumped out in a strange unexpected manner to a miracle. Nor 
 can I see, that if Mr. Treby had many children, an apprenticeship 
 under such a master would have been below some one of his sons. 
 As if a piece of good fortune had already actually befallen my 
 family, it seems to me I see the good effects of it already in some 
 persons behaviour. This is my letter of thanks to you for what 
 you have done, and my request of the continuance of your over- 
 sight and endeavours ’till the matter is completely ended. 
 
 I am, 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 Your most affectionate humble Servant, 
 
 S. REYNOLDS. 
 
 P.S. — Joshua has behaved himself mighty well in this affair, 
 and has done his duty so faithfully, that I am the more concerned 
 in his behalf than I should otherwise have been. 
 
 Hudson, though without taste, or much ability 
 in painting, was nevertheless at that period placed 
 by public patronage at the head of his profession. 
 His accuracy in obtaining individual likenesses, 
 rose above the level of mere industry. His por- 
 traits of Handel, one of which is in the Bodleian 
 Gallery at Oxford, exhibit much character and 
 spirited execution: but having painted the head 
 Hudson’s genius failed him, and he was obliged 
 to employ another to paint the figure and drapery. 
 This important service was rendered by Joseph 
 Vanaken, or Vanhaaken, who, Walpole tells us, 
 was employed by several considerable painters in 
 
EXTRACTS FROM PRIVATE LETTERS, ETC. 49 
 
 this country to draw the attitudes and dress the 
 figures in their pictures, so that it was often 
 difficult to distinguish the works of the re- 
 spective artists. When Vanhaaken died in 
 1749, Hudson, it is said, was nearly driven to 
 quit his profession ; and Hogarth, (whose genius 
 was too great, and his employment too little to 
 require a drapery painter), drew a caricature of 
 his funeral attended by the painters he worked 
 for, exhibiting every mark of grief and despair. 4 
 
 From the following letter we learn that Hudson 
 was to receive the sum of £120, as a premium 
 with his pupil, of which one-half was to be paid 
 by the father, and the remainder, it is presumed, 
 young Reynolds engaged to pay when he was in 
 a position to earn money for himself. 
 
 Plymton, Dec. 30th, 1740. 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 In answer to yours, I accept of Mr. Hudson’s proposals, and 
 
 4 There is a very capital whole length portrait of Lady Catherine 
 Parker by Hudson at Saltram, she is represented in a white 
 satin dress, holding an ostrich feather. 
 
 A portrait of Miss Hudson, in a similar dress, is engraved in mezzo- 
 tinto, by Faber. 
 
 Martin Folkes, F.R.S., engraved by Me. Ardell. 
 
 Archbishop Hutton, Lambeth Palace. 
 
 S“enf ratt ’ } Town HaU, Exeter. 
 
 Portraits of the Corporation at Barnstaple, (said to have been finished 
 by Reynolds.) 
 
 lialpl]^Ancn e ^ t ^ am * } k oar d room of the Exeter Hospital. 
 
 G 
 
50 
 
 REYNOLDS AND HUDSON, 
 
 shall be always his humble Servant, with abundance of thanks, as 
 I should be yours if I could be more so than I am already, for 
 the share you have had in this affair. Joshua is very sensible of 
 his happiness in being under such a master, in such a family, in 
 such a city, and in such an employment, and all by your means. 
 As I have in a manner one half of the money ready provided, if it 
 please God I live so long as to the end of those four years, I have 
 writ this post to my daughter, to desire her to furnish Joshua 
 with the other half, ’till he is able to repay her, and to write to 
 you to that purpose, and I doubt not she will do so, because it is 
 in a manner her own proposal ; for she said in a former letter to 
 me that she would much rather furnish Joshua with £60, than he 
 should be put to a calling at which he would get £50 a year less 
 than he might at another that was better. I am with my hearty 
 thanks, and hearty wishes that you may enjoy many Christ- 
 mases and many happy New Years. 
 
 Your most obliged and affectionate humble Servant, 
 
 S. REYNOLDS. 
 
 Some insight into the progress of the youthful 
 artist while under Hudson, may he gained from 
 the following extracts from his father’s letters. 
 
 January 1st. 
 
 I ought surely to have writ to you upon account of the 
 character which Mr. Hudson was pleased to give of my son, not 
 to inform you of anything, but to tell you that your favours were 
 beyond thanks, and beyond expression * * * 
 
 Mr. Warmel, the painter, was at my house on Sunday last, he 
 look’d upon two or three of Joshua’s drawings about the room, he 
 said not one of Mr. Treby’s rooms had furniture equal to this, that 
 they all deserved frames and glasses. You may see some of them 
 at Molly’s. Just now I had a letter from Joshua, wherein he 
 tells me, “on Thursday next, Sir Robert Walpole sits for his 
 picture, master says he has had a great longing to draw his 
 picture, because so many have been drawn, and none like.” 
 
EXTRACTS FROM FRIYATE LETTERS, ETC. 51 
 
 Joshua writ me some time ago that many had drawn Judge 
 Willes picture, but that by his master was most approved of. I 
 am glad I am able in this manner to express my thanks to you 
 for what you have done for Joshua. You have done me a favour 
 fit for a man of a thousand a year. 
 
 Your most affectionate Servant, 
 
 S. REYNOLDS. 
 
 The following letter contains a prediction of 
 Joshua’s future eminence, which when it was 
 uttered by the worthy Doctor, he little thought 
 would be so remarkably accomplished. 
 
 April 20th, 1742. 
 
 Joshua goes on very well, which I must always acquaint you 
 with. Dr. Huxham, who saw Laocoon, a drawing of his, said, 
 that he who drew that would be the first hand in England. Mr. 
 Tucker, a Painter, in Plymouth, who saw that and three or four 
 more, and admired them exceedingly, as I had it from Mr. 
 Craunch ; yet when he saw some later drawings of Joshua’s in 
 his second year 5 he still saw an improvement. I had forgot to 
 tell you that Mr. Hudson had finished the head of the Earl of 
 Orford 6 entirely to his satisfaction, and likewise to his own. 
 Many gentlemen admired it, and have bespoken copies. Sir 
 Robert asked where he lived, who was his master, and wondered 
 he had heard no more of him, and acknowle lges no other picture 
 to be his likeness but this. # * * 
 
 August 3rd, 1742. 
 
 As for Joshua, nobody, by his letters to me, was ever better 
 pleased in his employment, in his master, in every thing — “ While 
 
 5 The second year of his apprenticeship with Hudson. 
 
 6 Sir Robert Walpole, K.G., Prime Minister of George II. was created 
 Earl of Orford, February 6, 1741. 
 
52 
 
 REYNOLDS AND HUDSON 
 
 I am doing this I am the happiest creature alive ’’ 7 is his 
 expression. How he goes on (’tis plain that he thinks he goes on 
 very well), you’ll be better able to inform me. I do not forget to 
 whom I owe all this happiness, and I hope he will not either. 
 
 Notwithstanding the satisfaction expressed by 
 Reynolds at the arrangement with Hudson, his 
 connexion with him was not of long continuance. 
 It only lasted between two and three years, and 
 was abruptly terminated on some slight misunder- 
 standing taking place between them. The true 
 cause appears to have been that Hudson became 
 jealous of his superior ability, owing to his haying 
 painted a head of an elderly female servant in a 
 taste so superior to the painters of the day that 
 his master was forced to predict his future success . 8 
 
 7 Young Opie when asked by Dr. Wolcott how he liked painting, replied 
 “ Better than my bread and meat.” — Smith's Life of Nollelicns. 
 
 s There are some striking points of resemblance between the early life 
 of Reynolds and that of Titian. 
 
 Titian when he was scarcely ten years old painted a figure of the 
 Virgin, with the juice of flowers, being the only colours probably within 
 his reach, and Reynolds at the age of twelve painted his first portrait 
 with the rough colours used in a boat-builders shed — both began very 
 early in life to show a talent and fondness for drawing ; when little more 
 than ten years old Titian was sent by his father to a maternal uncle, at 
 Venice, where he became the scholar and inmate of Giovanni Bellino, 
 and young Reynolds was sent up to London, and lived in the house of 
 his master Hudson. 
 
 They both excited the envy and jealousy of their respective instructors, 
 for it is said, that Titian painted a picture of Judith with the head of 
 Holophernes, so admirably coloured, that the Venetians greatly extolled 
 it to Giorgione, in whose studio Titian was then painting, supposing it 
 to be by his hand. The consequence was that the young painter was 
 dismissed from the house of his master in the same manner as Reynolds 
 was discarded by Hudson. 
 
EXTRACTS FROM PRIVATE LETTERS, ETC. 53 
 
 Sir Joshua was indebted for much in his style 
 of painting to William Gandy, of Exeter, whose 
 manner he evidently adopted. And it is from the 
 works of this painter that he has been considered 
 to have imbibed the idea of pronouncing the 
 features more effectively by means of their sha- 
 dows. To me however it appears probable that 
 he may have noticed this pecularity, in the first 
 instance, in the portraits by Titian, when he 
 visited Italy; for Hudson used to remark that 
 his style of painting was not so good after, as 
 before he went abroad. The pictures of Gandy 
 were no doubt the first good portraits which 
 had come under his notice previously to his 
 going to London, and seem to have made a 
 deep impression on his mind ; as he has been 
 heard to say, that he had seen portraits by 
 Gandy which were equal to Rembrandt, one in 
 particular of an Alderman in one of the public 
 buildings at Exeter. Some notice of this artist 
 will perhaps be read with interest. 
 
 William Gandy, of Exeter, was the son of 
 James Gandy, a pupil of Vandyke, much patro- 
 nised by the Duke of Ormond, who took him to 
 Ireland in 1661, where he painted the portraits of 
 many distinguished persons in a manner little 
 inferior to Vandyke himself. It is said too 
 that several of his copies from the works of that 
 great master in the Duke’s gallery have been 
 
54 
 
 REYNOLDS AND HUDSON, 
 
 since sold as originals . 9 In Northcote’s brief 
 memoir of William Gandy, he is described as 
 a man of the most intractable disposition, of 
 unbounded pride, and, in the latter part of his 
 life, both idle and luxurious. Northcote men- 
 tions several instances of these failings, which 
 he tells us he heard from his father, who knew 
 Gandy, and had his portrait painted by him 
 when a child. From the same authority we 
 learn that his portraits were slight and sketchy, 
 showing more of genius than labour : yet it is evi- 
 dent there must have been some period of his 
 life when he pursued his profession with assid- 
 uity and energy, which alone could have gained 
 him the facility of practice which he possessed. 
 “ There is little reason to doubt,” says Northcote, 
 “that he might have been the greatest painter 
 of his time if he had not been his own greatest 
 enemy; for I have seen several fine heads of 
 his painting, particularly one of the Rev. John 
 Gilbert, Vicar of St. Andrew’s, Plymouth , 1 and 
 another of the Rev. Nath. Harding, a famous 
 dissenting preacher of Plymouth.” 
 
 The following pictures by Gandy, are in some 
 of the public buildings at Exeter. 
 
 In the College Hall is a portrait of the Rev. 
 Tobias Langdon, Priest Vicar of the Cathedral, 
 
 9 Pilkington’s Diet. vol. i. page 380. 
 
 1 Now at Hemerdon, the scat of Admiral George Woollcombe. 
 
EXTRACTS FROM PRIVATE LETTERS, ETC. 55 
 
 who died in 1712. It is a dark picture, boldly 
 and vigorously painted, but hung up so high 
 upon the wall that I could not see whether it was 
 painted with a thick impasto like cheese or cream. 
 It is nearly square, about 2 feet 3 inches, in an 
 oak frame ; and there are three other portraits 
 in the same hall of like size, apparently executed 
 by the same hand. Northcote says, that Sir G. 
 Kneller saw this portrait of Tobias Langdon at 
 Exeter, and with astonishment enquired who was 
 the artist capable of painting it, and exclaimed, 
 “ Good God, why does he bury his talent in the 
 country end not come up to London, where his 
 merit would be properly rewarded.” 
 
 In the board room of the Exeter Hospital, is a 
 portrait of John Patch, senr., Surgeon, painted by 
 William Gandy, and from the words, “ Johannem 
 Patch pinxit Gandseus, vitae datori vitam 
 Daturus,” 2 the painter, it has been conjectured, 
 presented it in token of his gratitude for the 
 benefits he derived from his professional skill. It 
 has no great merit as a work of art. 
 
 In the chapel of the hospital of the poor in St. 
 Sidwell’s parish is a full length portrait of Sir 
 Edward Seaward, Knt., a great promoter of 
 
 2 1 am informed by Colonel Harding, of Exeter, that this inscription 
 was written by Dr. Musgrave on the back of the picture. As, however, 
 it is no longer to be seen there ; it is probable that it was obliterated not 
 long since, when cleaned and re-backed. 
 
REYNOLDS AND HUDSON, 
 
 56 
 
 this hospital and workhouse, and appointed its 
 first governor, bearing the following inscription — 
 “ This picture was made and given by Mr. 
 William Gandy, 1702.” On the opposite side 
 is another portrait of equal size, and apparently 
 painted by the same artist, of Sir William Elwill, 
 Bart., second governor of this hospital, who was 
 created a baronet of the United Kingdom, in 
 1709. It is by far the best picture of the two, 
 and more in the manner of Vandyke, of whom 
 Gandy’s father was a pupil. I must however, 
 remark that in the book of proceedings belonging 
 to the hospital, though there is a notice dated 20 
 April, 1703, of a vote of thanks by the Committee 
 to Mr. William Gandy, for his gift of Sir Edward 
 Seaward’s picture to the new hospital, no mention 
 is made of any other. William Gandy was buried 
 in St. Paul’s Church, Exeter, the 14th July, 1729. 
 
 The following letter was written by the Rev. 
 S. Reynolds to Mr. Cutcliffe, on the occasion of 
 his son’s removal from Hudson : 
 
 August 19th, 1743. 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 1 have been twenty times thinking to write to you and could 
 not find time, but now I must. As to Joshua’s affair he will 
 give you a full account of it when he waits upon you, as he 
 designs to do, and will be glad to present you with your picture, 
 who have been so good a benefactor to him. I do not know any 
 painter who is capable of doing you justice. I dont speak out 
 of complement, for a painter must have sharp eyes to see one 
 
EXTRACTS FROM PRIVATE LETTERS, ETC. 57 
 
 half of that which is in you ; but I believe Mr. Mudge, who has 
 been here this morning and has seen Joshua’s performances, 
 will agree with me, that he is likely to do you justice, if 
 any other painter can’t. As I have not meddled with Joshua’s 
 affair hitherto, any otherwise than by writing a letter to Joshua, 
 which never came to hand, and which I intended as an answer 
 both to his letter and his masters. This resolution of mine I shall 
 persevere in, not to meddle in it, if I had I should have taken 
 wrong steps. I shall only say, there is no controversy I was ever 
 let into, wherein I was so little offended with either party. In 
 the mean while, I bless God and Mr. Hudson, and you, for the 
 extreme success that has attended Joshua hitherto. I shall write 
 no more to you about him. Joshua shall lay open the whole to 
 you, as to a father, as I know he may. I shall wave all compli- 
 ments to you. He shall hear your reasons, and you shall hear his. 
 
 I am, 
 
 Your most affectionate Servant, 
 
 S. REYNOLDS. 
 
 Malone tells us that Reynolds upon a disagree- 
 ment with his master about a very slight matter 
 returned to Devonshire in 1743, and took a house 
 in Plymouth Dock (now called Devonport), where 
 he resided with his two unmarried sisters. Here 
 he was employed much to his satisfaction in his 
 profession, and wrote to his father, that he had 
 painted the portrait of the greatest man of the 
 place, the Commissioner of the Dockyard. 3 
 
 In a letter to Mr. Cutclilfe, dated January 3rd, 
 1743-4, his father says: “Joshua is painting at 
 
 Philip Vanbrugh, Esq., was the Commissioner from 1739 to 1753. 
 
 H 
 
58 
 
 REYNOLDS AND HUDSON, 
 
 the Dock, he has drawn twenty already, and has 
 ten more bespoke.” 
 
 Some of Reynolds’ early performances of this 
 period are still extant. I am informed that Mr. 
 Kendal, of Pelyn, M.P. for the Eastern Divi- 
 sion of Cornwall, has in his possession some 
 family portraits, with Reynolds’ name and the 
 date 1744, upon them, 4 and doubtless many more 
 of Sir Joshua’s early pictures are still in existence, 
 although not known to be his. 5 
 
 Portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Craunch, painted 
 before Reynolds went to Italy, were lately in 
 the possession of Miss Cliff, at Kingsbridge. 
 The portraits of Captain Chaundy, (who was 
 wounded on board the Ripon , at the taking of 
 Guadaloupe, in 1759), and of his wife Mrs. Mary 
 Chaundy, now in the possession of Mrs. Duins 
 of Plymouth, were probably painted at this time. 
 A portrait of Alderman Facey, in the Athenaeum, 
 at Plymouth, 6 is also said to have been painted by 
 Reynolds. 
 
 4 This information I had from Mr. H. Bolton, of Plymouth, who 
 cleaned the pictures for Mr. Kendal not long since. 
 
 5 There is at Mount Edgcumbe, a portrait of Richard, Lord Edg- 
 cumbe, painted by Sir Joshua when he was an untaught boy at Plymp- 
 ton, and before he went to London. The background with a man of 
 war in it was so ill done (as I am informed by the present Earl of 
 Mount Edgcumbe) that it was painted over by Richard, Lord Edgcumbe, 
 who was himself an Artist. 
 
 6 I give unto the Atheneeum, at Plymouth, the portrait of Alderman 
 Facey, (my great grandfather, thrice Mayor of the said town), painted 
 
EXTRACTS FROM PRIVATE LETTERS, ETC. 59 
 
 Many of the pictures he executed at this 
 period were, says Northcote, indifferent perform- 
 ances, being carelessly drawn, and frequently in 
 common place attitudes, like those of his master 
 Hudson, with one hand hid in the waistcoat, and 
 the hat under the left arm. It is even asserted 
 that Reynolds sent home the portrait of a 
 gentleman, who desired to be painted with his 
 hat on, with one upon his head, and another under 
 his arm ; although Northcote tells the story, 
 he admits that he never saw the picture, and it is 
 scarcely credible that Reynolds’ pains taking and 
 careful habits, would allow him to commit such 
 a solecism. The portraits, however, of Alderman 
 Facey, at the Athenaeum, and of Captain and 
 Mrs. Chaundy, would certainly justify Northcote’s 
 remarks, if they were really painted by Reynolds. 
 But, although it must be confessed that many of 
 his earlier portraits up to this period, do not 
 exhibit those excellencies of colouring and power 
 of expression for which he was afterwards so dis- 
 tinguished, we know both from the testimony of 
 Northcote and others, that he produced several 
 portraits which are acknowledged to be very fine, 
 particularly one of himself, formerly in the 
 
 by Sir Joshua Reynolds at an early stage, being contemporaries, with the 
 two pieces, “ The Old Man’s Head,” and “ The Boy’s having the Sun 
 shining on him .” — Extract from the Will of the late Francis Annesby 
 Hughes , Esq., of Tavistock. 
 
60 
 
 REYNOLDS AND HUDSON, 
 
 possession of Mr. Lane, of Coffleet, which 
 represents him as a young man, with pencils and 
 palette in his left hand, shading the light 
 from his eyes with the right — a work of ex- 
 traordinary merit, and the attitude singularly bold 
 and original. There is also in Captain Palmer’s 
 possession at Torrington, a very beautiful portrait 
 of Mrs. Field, the sister in law of the Rev. J. 
 Reynolds (Sir Joshua’s uncle), which must have 
 been painted before he went to Italy. The 
 carnations are of great delicacy and clearness, 
 and the features well defined, although not so 
 strongly pronounced by means of that depth of 
 shadow which he afterwards adopted from the 
 works of Titian and other Italian masters. This 
 portrait is so finely painted that I am inclined to 
 doubt the authenticity of some of the pictures 
 before mentioned and which are ascribed to 
 Reynolds at this period of his career. 
 
 About the same time, Reynolds painted that 
 portrait of Elizabeth Chudleigh , 7 afterwards 
 Duchess of Kingston, which is engraved in the 
 
 7 In 1749, Miss Chudleigh, maid of honour to the Princess of Wales, 
 appeared at a masquerade given by the Venetian Ambassador at Somerset 
 House, in the character of Iphigenia, so slightly clothed as to appear 
 almost in a state of nudity.— See Wright's England under the House of 
 Hanover. 
 
 She first married the Earl of Bristol, who, it is said, never avowed his 
 marriage, and was supposed to have connived at her subsequent union 
 with the Duke of Kingston. The Duchess was tried and convicted of 
 bigamy by the House of Lords, in 1776. — See Walpole's Correspondence. 
 
EXTRACTS FROM PRIVATE LETTERS, ETC. 61 
 
 third volume of Walpole’s letters to Sir Horace 
 Mann. Cunningham says, she was on a visit at 
 Saltram when this portrait was painted, hut I do 
 not know on what authority. Her father, Colonel 
 Chudleigh, resided at Hall, in the parish of Corn- 
 wood, about eight miles from Plymouth, and I 
 believe Saltram House was not then built, Boring- 
 don being the family residence of the Parkers. 
 
 It has been generally supposed, that young 
 Reynolds, immediately after his quarrel with 
 Hudson, took up his abode and practised his 
 profession at Plymouth Dock, where he resided 
 with his two unmarried sisters. I am inclined to 
 believe that this is a mistake, as it is to be inferred 
 from the following extracts from his father’s let- 
 ters, that, after remaining a few months absent, 
 he returned to London, and was reconciled to 
 his master, who seems not only to have received 
 him kindly, but to have consulted him upon the 
 pictures he had in hand, and also to have intro- 
 duced him to the Society of the most eminent 
 artists of the metropolis. 
 
 jl 
 
 \ 
 
 Plymton, Dec. 7th, 1744. 
 
 I understand that Joshua by his master’s means is introduced 
 into a club composed of the most famous men in their profession. 
 That was the word in Bobs 8 letter, who had it from Molly , 9 which 
 is exceeding generous in his master. 
 
 8 Robert Reynolds, a brother of Sir Joshua, who lived at Exetei 
 
 9 Mrs. Palmer, of Torrington, his eldest sister. 
 
62 
 
 REYNOLDS AND HUDSON. 
 
 And in a subsequent letter, dated 
 
 Plympton, May 24th, 1745. 
 
 * * I understand by a letter which Joshua has writ 
 
 to Mr. Craunch, that Joshua’s Master is very kind to him, he 
 comes to visit him pretty often, and freely tells him where his 
 pictures are faulty, which is a great advantage ; and when lie has 
 finished any thing of his own, he is pleased to ask Joshua’s 
 judgment, which is a great honour. # # * 
 
 From the tenor of these letters it seems more 
 than probable, that Joshua was living in London 
 during the latter end of 1744, and some part of 
 the following year ; and that the misunderstanding 
 with Hudson had been forgotten, or amicably 
 arranged, very much it would appear to the 
 satisfaction of his father, whose illness and death 
 he so soon had to deplore. No doubt Reynolds 
 was again summonsed to Devonshire by this 
 melancholy event, which took place on Chrismas- 
 day, 1746, whereby he lost one of the best of 
 fathers, whose affectionate love towards his gifted 
 son, whose deep interest in all that related to 
 his progress, and paternal pride and pleasure in 
 his success, are beautifully shown in the above 
 extracts from his letters, and serve to embalm 
 the memory of this good old man. 
 
 It was after the death of his father, and when 
 the family were obliged to remove from the 
 schoolmaster’s residence at Plympton, that 
 Reynolds took a house at Dock, as mentioned 
 
EXTRACTS FROM PRIVATE LETTERS, ETC. 63 
 
 by Malone, and lived with his sisters. During 
 his residence there he produced many excellent 
 portraits, as he himself acknowledged on seeing 
 them again after a lapse of thirty years. The 
 portrait of Captain Hamilton, father of the 
 Marquis of Abercorn, was the first of his per- 
 formances at this period, which brought him into 
 notice. It was painted in 1746, and Malone says, 
 when at a later period of his life he again saw 
 this portrait, he was surprised to find it so well 
 done, and comparing it with his later works, 
 lamented, with that modesty which always ac- 
 companies genius, that in such a series of years 
 he should not have made a greater progress in 
 his art. 1 
 
 Another picture of a boy, reading by a reflected 
 light, was painted in 1746. It was sold fifty 
 years afterwards for thirty five guineas, and was 
 some time in the possession of Sir Henry 
 Englefield. 
 
 1 This portrait is now in the possession of the Marquis of Abercorn. 
 Malone tells us that the same gentleman is represented in a small 
 family piece, painted by Reynolds about the same time, in the collection 
 of the Earl of St. Germans, at Port Eliot. It represents Richard Eliot 
 with Harriet his wife, (a daughter of James Craggs, Secretary of State 
 to George I.,) and their children together with Mrs. Goldsworthy, and 
 Captain John Hamilton of the Royal Navy, second son of James, 7th, 
 Earl of Abercorn, who afterwards married Harriet, widow of Richard 
 Eliot. He is represented in the picture carrying one of the younger 
 children on his back; 
 
 This was Reynolds’ first composition of several figures in a group, and 
 is arranged in the pyramidical form. 
 
64 
 
 REYNOLDS AND HUDSON, 
 
 According to Eastlake the earliest portrait he 
 painted of himself was one in the possession of 
 his niece, Mrs. Gwatkin, of Princess Square, 
 Plymouth. It is a fine Vandyke like picture, 
 and in good preservation. 2 
 
 At Port Eliot there is a long narrow landscape, 
 a view of Plymouth and the adjoining scenery, 
 taken from the hill called Catdown, painted by 
 Reynolds in 1748, the year before he went to 
 Italy. 3 
 
 In regular landscape-painting Sir Joshua’s 
 works are very scarce. Northcote refers to one 
 in the possession of Sir Brook Boothby, Bart., 
 another in the collection of Lord Pelham, at 
 Hanmer, and two others which were bequeathed 
 by Sir Joshua to Sir Geo. Baker, M.D., who 
 attended his family. 
 
 The landscape backgrounds introduced by Sir 
 Joshua Reynolds into his whole length portraits 
 were executed with great breadth and freedom of 
 pencilling, rich in colour, and brilliant in effect, 
 many of them not inferior to the works of Titian 
 and Paul Veronese. It is remarkable that 
 although Gainsborough excelled in landscape, 
 yet those which he introduced into the back- 
 grounds of his pictures, were much inferior to 
 
 2 It was exhibited at the British Institution, in 1823. 
 
 3 His name and the date are on the hack of the picture, as I am in- 
 formed by Mr. Bolton. 
 
EXTRACTS FROM PRIVATE LETTERS, ETC. 65 
 
 the choice bits which enrich the portraits of 
 Reynolds; whereas the few landscapes painted 
 by Sir J oshua were by no means equal to those of 
 Gainsborough, for although he made some studies 
 from nature, yet it is not known that he finished 
 more than three pieces, one of which was a view 
 from his own house, on Richmond Hill. This 
 picture, which may be considered rather as an 
 arrangement of rich and brilliant colours, than 
 a defined landscape, was purchased by Mr. 
 Samuel Rogers, at the sale of Lady Thomond’s 
 pictures, in 1821, for 155 guineas. 
 
 At the same sale — “ A woody landscape, one 
 of the few performances of Sir Joshua in this 
 line ” was sold to Mr. Phillips, of Manchester, for 
 £58 5s. and “ a bold landscape with figures 
 in the style of Salvator Rosa,” to Mr. Cunliffe, 
 for £44 2s. 4 
 
 It was during his residence at Plymouth Dock, 
 that Reynolds became acquainted with the third 
 Lord Edgcumbe, and also with Captain (after- 
 wards Viscount) Keppel. His acquaintance with 
 the latter proved important to him, as it led to his 
 visiting Italy to study the works of the great 
 masters which that country has produced. Capt. 
 Keppel having been appointed to the command 
 of a squadron in the Mediterranean, proposed to 
 
 4 Priced Catalogue of the Marchioness of Thomond’s sale. 
 
 I 
 
66 
 
 REYNOLDS AND HUDSON, 
 
 Reynolds to accompany him on his voyage. They 
 sailed from Plymouth in the Centurion , May 1 1 , 
 1749, touching at Lisbon, Cadiz, Gibraltar, and 
 Minorca, where Reynolds received much kindness 
 from the Governor, General Blakeney, and met 
 with a severe accident, which detained him at 
 Port Mahon nearly two months; for being out 
 riding, his horse fell with him down a precipice, 
 and his upper lip was so much cut that the 
 scar was apparent ever after. During his con- 
 finement however, he managed to paint several 
 portraits, and added a considerable sum to his 
 travelling fund. On his recovery he proceeded 
 to Leghorn, and from thence to Rome. 
 
 Few original productions came from the hand 
 of Reynolds while he remained at Rome. 5 His 
 time was chiefly occupied in studying the works 
 of Raphael, and Mich. Angelo, and in acquiring 
 that knowledge of chiaro-oscuro and effect, which 
 he was soon to display in his own paintings. It is 
 scarcely to be credited that the genius of Reynolds, 
 at any period of his professional life, should have 
 led him to practice the art of caricature; and 
 our astonishment becomes still greater, when 
 we learn that he painted during his residence 
 
 5 Cunningham says : “ lie painted a noble portrait of himself while he 
 remained in Rome, and left it in that city.” This must he a mistake, as I 
 believe the only portrait of Reynolds abroad is in the picture gallery at 
 Florence, which he painted on being admitted a Member of the Imperial 
 Academy, in 1775. 
 
EXTRACTS FROM PRIVATE LETTERS, ETC. 67 
 
 at Rome, a sort of parody on the school of 
 Athens: the picture however still exists in evi- 
 dence of the fact. It contains about thirty 
 likenesses of English students, travellers, and con- 
 noisseurs, and among others, that of Mr. Henry, 
 of Straffan, in Ireland, in whose family it still 
 remains. 
 
 A caricature, said to have been painted by 
 Reynolds while at Rome, is in the possession 
 of the Earl of Wicklow, and was exhibited at the 
 British Institution in 1853. It represents Ralph 
 Viscount Wicklow, about to step into a cabriolet. 
 Dr. Benson his tutor, calls his lordships attention 
 to a quarrel between his Valet-de-cjiambre and 
 the Innkeeper, while an avant-courier is attempt- 
 ing to mount a restive horse. 6 Another picture 
 of the same kind, painted by Reynolds in Rome, 
 is in the possession of Mr. Woodyeare, of 
 Crookhill, Yorkshire. 
 
 Northcote says: “I have heard Sir Joshua 
 himself declare, that, although it was universally 
 allowed he executed subjects of this kind with 
 much humour and spirit, he held it absolutely 
 necessary to abandon the practice, since it must 
 corrupt his taste as a portrait painter, whose duty 
 
 6 This picture is a caricature containing portraits of my grandfather, 
 John Woodyeare, of Crookhill, and of his tutor, the Rev. Dr. Drake, 
 together with Sir Charles Turner, Bart., and Mr. Cooke, of Bedford 
 Square, London. The picture was painted in 1751, and was brought 
 from Rome, by Mr. Woodyeare, in whose family it has remained ever 
 since .” — Communicated by Mr. Woodyeare. 
 
68 
 
 REYNOLDS AND HUDSON, 
 
 it becomes to aim at discovering the perfections 
 and not the imperfections of those he is to 
 represent.” The good sense of Sir Joshua soon 
 taught him to abandon an amusement so destruc- 
 tive of true taste. 
 
 On returning to England, in 1752, he settled 
 in London, and immediately attracted general 
 attention by his productions. In the following 
 exquisite passage, Mrs. Jameson speaks of his 
 return from Italy. 
 
 They say the darkness is the most intense just before the 
 morning dawns, and like the breaking up of the morn upon the 
 blackness of night, such was the appearance of Reynolds, after 
 his return from Italy in 1752, he had spent only three years 
 there, not in making copies from famous painters for rich amateurs, 
 but in considering the principles on which those grand old 
 masters worked, till a kindred spirit rose up in his mind, and he 
 learned to look on nature, as they did, with love, with reverence, 
 and a deep spiritual sympathy. 
 
 Sir Joshua was now entering upon a bright and 
 prosperous career. His employment soon became 
 abundant, and his industry untiring. Fame and 
 fortune were within his reach. Ambitious to excel 
 in every thing he undertook, he left all his compe- 
 titors behind, and became without exception the 
 greatest artist of his time. He was the first 
 English painter, as Mrs. Jameson observes, who 
 ventured to give light and gay landscape-back- 
 grounds to his portraits ; and the first who 
 
EXTRACTS FROM PRIVATE LETTERS, ETC. 69 
 
 enlivened them by momentary action and expres- 
 sion as in his justly admired portrait of Adml 
 Keppel, who is represented walking on the sea 
 beach in a storm, his hair dishevelled, and every- 
 thing indicative of a high wind. Under these 
 circumstances the portrait assumes an historical 
 character, the Admiral’s ship having been wrecked. 
 It is a whole length of a low tone and sober 
 character. 
 
 “His fancy pictures,” as Mrs. Jameson observes, 
 “ are enchanting ; they are so many bits of lyric 
 poetry, full of novel and graceful ideas, full of 
 amenity and sweetness.” But, besides portraits, 
 properly so called, Reynolds was most successful 
 in the representation of children, whose naive 
 and unaffected actions, were always pleasing to 
 him. “ In such pictures,” says Dr. Waagen, “ he 
 depicted the youthful bloom and artless manners 
 of children with admirable effect. This it is that 
 makes his celebrated Strawberry Girl, in Mr. 
 Rogers’ Collection so attractive. With her hands 
 simply folded, a basket on her arm, she stands in 
 her white frock, and looks full at the spectator 
 with her fine large eyes. The admirable impasto, 
 the bright golden tone, clear as Rembrandt, and 
 the dark landscape background have a striking 
 effect.” 
 
 Sir Joshua himself looked upon this as one of 
 his best pictures. Another example of the same 
 
70 
 
 REYNOLDS AND HUDSON, 
 
 kind, very similar in treatment and expression is 
 the girl with a muff, at Lansdowne House, 
 purchased at the sale of the Marchioness of 
 Thomonds’ pictures in 1821. It is said to be the 
 portrait of Sir Joshua’s favourite niece, Theophila 
 Palmer. If so, the same young lady was probably 
 his model for several other pictures of a similar 
 character, as a girl with a bird, in the collection 
 at Knowle, and the admired subjects of a girl 
 caressing a lamb, and a girl holding a cat in her 
 arms, called Felina. In all these pictures the 
 female countenance is very much alike, and may 
 be supposed to have been painted from the same 
 model. The girl with a muff 7 was probably 
 painted in 1767 or 1768, when Miss Palmer was 
 eleven or twelve years of age, and is mentioned 
 in Sir Joshua’s private notes: 
 
 Offe’s picture painted with cera and cap, solo, cinabro. 
 
 Miss Gwatkin has herself told me that her 
 mother sat to Sir Joshua for the head of Comedy 
 in the celebrated picture of Garrick. 
 
 Another example of this simple character, 
 is the portrait of Miss Penelope Boothby, who 
 is represented in a plain white dress, sitting 
 with her arms folded, in a meek and pensive 
 attitude. This charming picture of a little girl 
 
 7 Engraved by J. it. Smith in 1777. 
 
EXTRACTS FROM FRIYATE LETTERS, ETC. 71 
 
 who died at the early age of six or seven years, 8 9 
 has been recently purchased by Mr. Windus, of 
 Tottenham. 
 
 9 The earliest mezzotinto engravings which were 
 published from Reynolds’ pictures, are the por- 
 traits of Lady Charlotte Fitzwilliam, with her 
 hair curled and decorated with a feather and 
 beads, and a half length of Lady Ann Dawson, 
 daughter of the Earl of Pomfret, as Diana : both 
 prints are by Me. Ardell, and are dated 1754. 
 
 Of all the various styles of engraving, Sir J. Reynolds consi- 
 dered that of Mezzotinto as the best calculated to express a painter 
 like feeling, particularly in portraits ; and I have often heard 
 him declare, that the productions of Me. Ardell, would perpetuate 
 his pictures when their colours should be faded and forgotten. 
 Fortunate are those collectors who can boast of proof impressions 
 from the portraits of Sir Joshua : they of themselves form a beau- 
 tiful school of art, not only for the grace displayed in their 
 attitudes, but also for the grandeur of their chiaro-oscuro, and for 
 the delightful portions of landscape with which many of them are 
 embellished, and which are not only highly appropriate but are 
 often as rich as those of Titian, Rubens, or Rembrandt. Mr. 
 Nollekens was in possession of a very good collection ; 1 but I 
 believe that of Lord Braybrooke to be the most complete as to 
 the number and excellence of the impressions. 
 
 The finest and most complete collections of 
 engravings from the works of Reynolds are those 
 
 8 Sorrows sacred to the memory of Penelope, folio, printed by Bulmer, 
 1796. 
 
 9 Edwards Anecdotes of Painting. 
 
 1 Smith’s Life of Nollekens, 11. 292. 
 
72 
 
 REYNOLDS AND HUDSON, 
 
 of the Marquis of Lansdowne, and his Grace the 
 Duke of Buccleuch. The latter has been 
 arranged by Mr. Colnaglii, in 17 vols., folio, and 
 contains upwards of 2,000 engravings. 
 
 Reynolds now formed many valuable friend- 
 ships, which proved to be of the greatest benefit, 
 not only as the means of introducing him to those 
 whose patronage might be of consequence, but 
 also as exerting an important influence upon his 
 mind. The friendship of Burke and Johnson was 
 peculiarly beneficial, and to the latter, although 
 he was profoundly ignorant of art, Sir Joshua 
 acknowledged himself to have been much in- 
 debted, “He qualified my mind” he says, “to 
 think justly. The observations he made on poetry, 
 on life, on everything about us, I applied to our 
 art, with what success others must judge.” With 
 such views he was qualified to derive the great- 
 est benefit from his intercourse with others, and 
 attained, notwithstanding the deficiencies of his 
 early education, a high position among the most 
 eminent men of his time in literature and taste. 
 To no one, perhaps, was Reynolds more indebted 
 than to his countryman, the Rev. Zachariah 
 Mudge, Vicar of St. Andrew’s, Plymouth — “A 
 man equally eminent for his virtues and abilities, 
 at once beloved as a companion and reverenced as 
 a pastor,” is the high eulogium of Dr. Johnson. 
 Northcote in his life of Reynolds, quotes Johnson’s 
 
EXTRACTS FROM PRIVATE LETTERS, ETC. 73 
 
 eulogy at length, and then adds : “ In addition to 
 this, I have myself heard Sir Joshua declare that 
 the elder Mr. Mudge was, in his opinion, the 
 wisest man he had ever met with in his life.” 
 
 Reynolds’ portrait of the Rev. Z. Mudge, 2 from 
 which Chantrey executed his admirable bust in St. 
 Andrew’s Church, is still in the possession of the 
 family, and the equally fine portrait of Dr. Mudge, 
 the physician, is in the possession of his grandson, 
 Zachary Mudge, Esq., of Plympton. 
 
 While residing in St. Martin’s Lane, Reynolds’ 
 prices were ten, twenty, and forty guineas, for the 
 three usual sizes of portraits, a head, half length, 
 and whole length ; while those of Hudson at the 
 same time, were twelve, twenty four, and forty 
 eight guineas. He afterwards took a house in New- 
 port Street, where he continued to reside until 
 1761, when he removed to Leicester Fields. At 
 Newport Street, his practice increased so rapidly, 
 that it became necessary to obtain some assistance, 
 and he engaged Mr. Toms, an artist of much 
 ability, whom Hogarth used to call Reynolds’ 
 drapery man, to forward the preparation of his 
 pictures. About the same time he also received 
 Thomas Beach and Hugh Barron as pupils, and 
 raised his prices to a level with those of Hudson. 
 Four or five years later, they both raised them to 
 
 ’In the Index to Engravings from the works of Reynolds, vol. 1, this 
 portrait is said to belong to Lady Chantrey. 
 
 K 
 
74 
 
 REYNOLDS AND HUDSON, 
 
 fifteen, thirty, and sixty guineas. Northcote tells 
 us on the authority of Dr. Johnson, that in 1750, 
 the price of Reynolds for a head was twenty 
 guineas, and he adds that at this time he found 
 his profession most lucrative, having heard him 
 confess that he often received six sitters in the 
 day, and found it necessary to keep a list of the 
 names of those who waited until vacancies 
 occurred. He then received them in the order in 
 which they were set down and many portraits 
 were sent home before the colours were dry. 
 Such was his popularity and the eager desire of 
 numbers to have their apartments graced with 
 productions which possessed the rare quality of 
 uniting the most graceful resemblance, with the 
 happiest traits of expression. 
 
 It has been well remarked by Lord John Russell, 
 that not only would Sir Joshua Reynolds paint 
 better that which was before him, than an ordi- 
 nary limner, but that whatever was before him 
 would be better worth painting; for by agree- 
 able conversation and by quickness in catching 
 the best turn of features he would raise upon the 
 countenance, and fix upon the canvas “the wisest 
 look of the judge, the liveliest expression of the 
 wit, and the most brilliant glances of the beauty.” 
 
 Reynolds’ application was indeed great, but 
 Farington’s assertion that he frequently received 
 five, six, or even seven sitters daily, and some of 
 
EXTRACTS FROM PRIVATE LETTERS, ETC. 75 
 
 them, at the early hour of six or seven in the 
 morning, is not altogether borne out by Sir 
 Joshua’s diary, as we find no one instance re- 
 corded of a sitter coming before nine o’clock. 
 The following extract from the pocket-book for 
 the year 1761, gives us the names of seven sitters 
 in as many consecutive hours, on Saturday, 
 March 7th. 
 
 At 9 o’clock, Captain Wynn, 
 
 10 „ Captain Foot, 
 
 11 „ Colonel Trapaud, 
 
 12 „ Lady Waldegrave, 
 
 Notwithstanding this extraordinary pressure 
 of commissions, Sir Joshua’s care and atten- 
 tion never relaxed : and the great reputation 
 he had gained only made him the more anxious 
 to increase it. The same unabated desire of im- 
 provement occasioned frequent alterations in the 
 progress of his pictures, and it was often long 
 before he could satisfy himself. He was never 
 so happy as when he was in his painting room, 
 and he often confessed that when he had complied 
 with the invitations of the nobility to spend a few 
 days of relaxation at their country seats, although 
 every luxury was afforded which could pos- 
 sibly be desired, he always returned home like 
 one who had been kept so long without his 
 natural food. None of his hours were ever spent 
 in idleness or dissipation. 
 
 At 1 Lord Waldegrave, 
 
 2 Mrs. Trapaud, 
 
 3 Mr. Fane. 
 
76 
 
 REYNOLDS AND HUDSON, 
 
 No representations of female character have 
 surpassed in sweetness and beauty, the portraits 
 of Reynolds : but there appears to have been some 
 truth in the remark, that this was accomplished 
 greatly at the expense of likeness. Hoppner who 
 was himself distinguished for the beauty with 
 which he endowed the female form, remarked, 
 that even to him it was a matter of surprise, that 
 Reynolds could send home portraits with so little 
 resemblance to the originals. This indeed occa- 
 sioned many portraits to be left upon his hands, 
 or turned to the wall, which, since the means of 
 comparing their resemblances no longer exists, 
 have blazed forth in all the splendour of grace 
 and elegance, for which the originals would have 
 been envied, had they ever possessed them. 
 
 The following remarks by Sir David Wilkie, on 
 portrait painting in general, with a comparison 
 between the styles of Reynolds and Lawrence, 
 will be read with interest, as coming from so 
 eminent an artist. 
 
 I may add what is remarked of Sir Thomas Lawrence. His 
 likenesses were celebrated as the most successful of his time, 
 yet no likenesses exalted so much, or refined more upon the 
 originals. He wished to seize the expression rather than copy 
 the features. His attainment of likeness was most laborious : one 
 distinguished person, who favoured him with forty sittings for a 
 head alone, declared he was the slowest painter he ever sat to, 
 and he had sat to many. With all the latitude allowed to Sir 
 Thomas Lawrence in rendering a likeness, still those who knew 
 
EXTRACTS FROM PRIVATE LETTERS. ETC. I J 
 
 and could compare the heads he painted with the originals, must 
 have been struck with the liberties he would take in changing and 
 refining the features before him. Sir Joshua seems to have 
 created and idealized the individual person, as well as the groups 
 when under his pencil, showing a boldness and diversity of 
 arrangement unexampled in the history of portraiture. Lawrence, 
 compared to Reynolds, was confined and limited far more than 
 his powers could have justified, admitting but small deviations in 
 the placing of the heads — small variety of pictorial compositions. 
 The features were painted nearly in all his heads, in the same 
 light and in the same position ; but they derived from this a per- 
 fection of execution not to be surpassed. In the drawing and 
 touching of the human eye, he gave a lustre and life which Rubens 
 and Vandyck have equalled but not excelled. The question, 
 however, will be how far this deviation from actual appearances 
 may be allowed : for it will be said, can anything be a better 
 representation of a man than the transcript of himself or can it be 
 a better likeness by being unlike the man. In regard to actual 
 resemblance, there are those whom nothing will satisfy, but a real 
 striking, startling likeness ; a something that a child might not 
 only know, but mistake for the reality. 
 
 Those who demand such proofs from art may find it in the 
 merest daub, in the harshest of caricatures ; but will look for it in 
 vain in the finest pictures. Experience indeed proves that a too 
 severe and accurate likeness may be in a portrait. In lengthened 
 sittings the features grow tired and relaxed ; a friend of mine used 
 to say there are two things in a picture to be counteracted ; want 
 of movement, and the want of life — to supply these, there must be 
 more of youth, and more of health, than the person who is repre- 
 sented seems to possess. 
 
 This little more of health and of youth is all the painter attempts 
 to bestow in order to enliven the flat surface before him: but 
 instead of success, he is often accused of flattering the vanity of 
 his sitter, though his object is really very different . 3 
 
 3 Life of Sir David Wilkie, 3. 170. 
 
78 
 
 REYNOLDS AND HUDSON. 
 
 Two more extracts, comparing the respective 
 merits of the portraits of Reynolds and Lawrence, 
 will conclude this chapter. 
 
 9th July, 1833, breakfasted with Rogers— he took me to the 
 British Gallery to see the triple collection of Reynolds, West, and 
 Lawrence : and never was there a more fatal juxta position, than 
 that of Reynolds beside Lawrence ; it amounts almost to a death 
 blow to the fame of the latter. 4 
 
 The Reynolds exhibition (says Burnet) was richness itself, and 
 glowing with deep toned brightness, so much so, that the best 
 portraits by Titian or Rembrandt might have been interspersed on 
 the walls without gaining the least ascendency ; the gallery during 
 the Lawrence exhibition, on the contrary looked cold, and many 
 of the pictures chalky ; even the surface though pure white in the 
 draperies had become of a slate-colour, from the absence of a rich 
 vehicle to preserve the white lead from the action of the atmosphere. 5 
 
 4 Lord John Russell’s life of Thomas Moore. 
 
 5 Progress of a Painter in the nineteenth century, 1854. 
 
CHAPTER IV, 
 
 REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 
 
 Haying been permitted to make copies and ex- 
 tracts from several pocket memorandum books of 
 Sir Joshua Reynolds, in the possession of Miss 
 
80 REYNOLDS* DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 
 
 Gwatkin, which contain in his own hand writing 
 a list of all the portraits painted by him, from 
 1755 to 1790, with only a few intermissions. I 
 am enabled to give a more complete list of his 
 works than has hitherto been published, which 
 may lead to the authentication of some doubtful 
 or neglected portraits, and at all events cannot 
 fail to excite our wonder and admiration at the 
 astonishing amount of work which this inde- 
 fatigable artist daily accomplished. The books 
 are nineteen in number, and are entitled : 
 
 THE GENTLEMAN’S NEW MEMORANDUM BOOK IMPROVED, 
 
 OB 
 
 THE GENTLEMAN’S DAILY POCKET JOURNAL. 
 
 B. AND J. DODSLEY, PALL MALL. 
 
 Two of them have a frontispiece, engraved by 
 W. W. Ryland, from a design by Wale, afterwards 
 Lecturer in perspective at the Royal Academy. 
 They contain many interesting facts and memo- 
 randa, besides the names of sitters, and show how 
 much the society of Reynolds was cultivated by 
 the learned and noble of the land. We find 
 frequent entries of the names of J ohnson, Boswell, 
 Goldsmith, Burke, Lords Lansdowne and Pal- 
 merston, Mr. Metcalfe, and others at four and 
 five o’clock, which were his usual hours of dinner. 
 
 Sir Joshua was a regular attendant at the 
 meetings of the Dilettanti Society on Sundays at 
 
Reynolds’ diary, from 1755 to 1790. 81 
 
 five o’clock. He frequently dined also with the 
 Devonshire Club, and with the Literary Club, at 
 the Turk’s Head, in Gerrard Street. 
 
 Certain jottings down, and memoranda in pen- 
 cil, sometimes occur in these hooks of travelling 
 expenses, and the names of places where he rested 
 at night, as in 1768, when he visited Paris; again 
 in July, 1773, when he received the honorary 
 degree of D.C.L., at Oxford, and in October of 
 the same year, when he was elected Mayor of 
 Plympton. 
 
 < ftxtxnctB front t\t £)iarg 
 1755. 
 
 It appears from entries in the pocket book that 
 no less than 120 persons sat to Reynolds for their 
 portraits this year, some of them being of the 
 highest rank among the nobility, as 
 
 The Duke of Grafton, and Duchess of Norfolk. 
 
 Lords Holderness, Anson, Bath, and Scarborough. 
 
 The Ladies C. and E. Keppel , 6 Cardigan, Milbank, and Ann 
 Hamilton. 
 
 6 The friendship of the Hon. Augustus Keppel, (afterwards Admiral 
 Viscount Keppel) was the means of introducing Reynolds to some of 
 the most distinguished families. The two ladies mentioned were his 
 sisters, Lady Caroline, who married in 1759 Robert Adair, Esq., and Lady 
 Elizabeth, who married the Marquis of Tavistock. Viscount Keppel, 
 died un-married in 1786, when the title became extinct. His younger 
 brother, Frederick Bishop of Exeter, married Laura, daughter of Sir 
 Edward Walpole, K.B., and sister of Maria Duchess of Gloucester, whose 
 portraits were painted by Reynolds in the zenith of his fame. 
 
 L 
 
82 REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 
 
 Colonels Haldane, Cornwallis, &c . 7 
 
 The sitters of Reynolds, Burnet observes, notwithstanding 
 the pomatumed pyramids of the female hair, and the stiff formal 
 curls of the male, which set every attempt to beautify the fea- 
 tures at defiance, either by extension of the form, or harmonizing 
 of the several parts of the countenance (serious obstacles to pic- 
 torial beauty) were still in possession of that bland and fascina- 
 ting look which distinguishes people of high breeding. Of 
 Reynolds we know that all the beauty and talent of the land 
 flocked to his painting room, conscious of being handed down to 
 posterity with all the advantages which pictorial science could 
 achieve. 
 
 The Pocket Books for 1756 and 1757 are 
 wanting. 
 
 €*fratis front % 
 
 1758. 
 
 In this year we find the names of between 
 70 and 80 sitters, including the following dis- 
 tinguished persons: 
 
 The Dukes of Cumberland, Ancaster, and Devonshire. 
 
 The Duchesses of Grafton, and Richmond. 
 
 Lords Morpeth, Weymouth, Beauchamp, Sandwich, and Robert 
 Spencer. 
 
 The Ladies E. Keppel, B. Hamilton, Louisa Greville, Caroline 
 Fox, Stanhope, and Standish. 
 
 Sir Matthew Featherstone, General Howard, Mr. Hope, and 
 Master Mudge. 
 
 This last mentioned young gentleman was a 
 
 7 Colonel Haldane, a distinguished officer, who was at the capture of 
 Martinique. 
 
REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 83 
 
 younger son of Reynolds’s early friend, Dr. Mudge 
 of Plymouth ; and the following anecdote, rela- 
 ting to the portrait, is highly characteristic of Sir 
 Joshua’s amiable disposition and graceful fancy. 
 It happened that young Mudge was particu- 
 larly anxious to visit his father on the sixteenth 
 anniversary of his birthday, but being confined 
 to his room in London by illness, this was ren- 
 dered impossible. Having expressed his extreme 
 disappointment to Sir Joshua Reynolds, the latter 
 replied: “Never mind I will send you to your 
 father and he accordingly so painted his portrait 
 that when the case was opened his father should 
 be agreeably surprised by seeing his son peeping 
 at him from behind a curtain. 8 
 
 dSdnuls from % $piarg 
 
 1759. 
 
 This years pocket book contains the names of 
 about 80 sitters. In the month of January we find 
 
 The Prince of Wales, afterwards George III. 
 
 Prince Edward his brother who was created Duke of York 
 the following year. 
 
 The Duchess of Hamilton. 
 
 This last was the celebrated beauty Miss 
 Gunning, who married James sixth Duke of 
 
 8 This arrangement of the picture was probably suggested by a mezzo- 
 tint*) engraving, by B. Lens. 
 
84 REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 
 
 Hamilton. Walpole in a letter to Sir Horace 
 Mann, writes : “ The world is still mad about 
 the Gunnings. The Duchess of Hamilton was 
 presented on Saturday, and the crowd was so 
 great that even the noble mob in the drawing 
 room clambered on tables and chairs to look 
 at her.” 9 
 
 In February the portraits of 
 
 Lord George Sackville, Lord Edgcumbe, Commodore Edgcumbe, 
 and Miss Reynolds 
 
 were painted : and on Sunday, April 8th, the 
 following memorandum occurs : 
 
 Mr. Rogers at 5. 1 Again in August, 1761, 
 
 Thursday at 5£, Mr. Rogers, in St. Lawrence Poultney Lane. 
 
 On Saturday, the 21st, we find the name of 
 
 Kitty Fisher, and again 
 
 Sunday, 27th, at Eleven o’clock, Miss Fischer. 
 
 9 Elizabeth Gunning, Duchess of Hamilton, after the Duke’s death, 
 married General Campbell (Lady Ailesbury’s brother) afterwards 5th 
 Duke of Argyll, she was not so handsome as her sister, Lady Coventry. 
 
 Mrs. Piozzi says: “true perfection of female beauty appeared 
 among us in the person of Maria Gunning, Countess of Coventry ; she 
 was received with repeated bursts of applause by the pit and galleries, 
 when she made her appearance at the Theatre. — A curious picture of 
 the manner of the times.” 
 
 Lady Coventry died at the early age of twenty-eight, and Walpole tells 
 us, “ she lay constantly on a couch, with a small looking-glass in her 
 hand, and when that told her how great the change was, she took to 
 her bed and would not suffer the curtains to be withdrawn . — Letters to 
 Sir H. Mann. 
 
 'Charles Rogers, F.R.S., author of a Collection of Prints in Imitation of 
 Drawings, to which are annexed Lives of their authors, with explana- 
 tory and critical notes. 2 vols. imp. folio, London, 1770. 
 
REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 85 
 
 So spelt by Sir Joshua, but u Miss Fisher ” is also 
 written in a different hand on the same page. 
 She appears to have been a favourite model, 
 as Sir Joshua painted her portrait several times. 
 Her name occurs again in July, and on the fly 
 leaf at the end of the book, the following memo- 
 randum: “ Miss Fisher’s 2 portrait is for Sir Charles 
 Bingham.” 
 
 There is a pleasing portrait of Kitty Fisher, by 
 Sir Joshua Reynolds, at Petworth, in which she 
 is represented with her arms crossed apparently 
 ruminating upon a letter which lies before her, 
 and on the open fold of which is written — “ My 
 dear Kitty Fisher , June 9, 1782.” Mr. H. Bolton 
 of Plymouth, who cleaned the picture, for Lord 
 Egremont, in 1848, gave me this information. 
 
 Another portrait of Kitty Fisher, as Cleopatra 
 dissolving the pearl, is in the collection of the 
 Earl of Morley, at Saltram. 3 
 
 8 In another pocket book we find this address “Anglois in Oxendon 
 Street, at Mr. Fischer’s, Cabinet Maker,” but whether he was any 
 relation of Miss Kitty’s I do not know, and in Cunningham’s Life of 
 Gainsborough, one Fisher, a musician, who played upon the hautboy, is 
 mentioned. 
 
 3 In “Testimonies to the genius of Sir Joshua Reynolds,” is the follow- 
 ing remark on this picture. 
 
 “ Cleopatra dissolving the pearl,” a most beautiful face, being Kitty 
 Fisher’s. Some one wrote under it, 
 
 “ To her famed character how just thy right ! 
 
 Thy mind as wanton, and thy form as bright.” 
 
 Kitty Fisher, we are told, spent in nine months, £12,000. 
 
 S. W Reynolds’s engraving from the Petworth portrait is inscribed, 
 “ Kitty Fisher, afterwards Mrs. Norris.” 
 
86 REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 
 
 A half length, with doves, was sold in 1845, 
 for 190 guineas, and sent to America. A 
 repetition of this picture is in the collection of 
 H. A. Munro, Esq. ; and at Lansdowne House, 
 there is a portrait supposed to be of the same 
 person, a half length with a bird. At the British 
 Institution, in 1841, a portrait of Kitty Fisher, 
 was also exhibited by Lord Crewe. 
 
 In the month of April, we again find the names 
 of Lady Elizabeth Keppel, and her sister Lady 
 Caroline. The former, one of Queen Charlotte’s 
 bride-maids, was painted by Reynolds in the 
 dress she wore upon that occasion. The picture, 
 a whole length, is now one of the chief orna- 
 ments of Woburn Abbey. It has been admirably 
 engraved by Faber. 
 
 Estate from % gliarg 
 
 April. The Lady Northumberland’s portrait to be finished. 
 
 June. The Duke of Portland. 
 
 Frame for the little picture of Master Pelham. 
 
 August. To send Mrs. Fortescue’s and Mr. Shirley’s portraits 
 
 to be copied. 
 
 There are frequent entries of copies to be made 
 from Reynolds’s portraits. These were not repeti- 
 tions painted by himself, but copies executed by a 
 person who was known as Sir Joshua’s copyist. 
 In a letter addressed to Joseph Hill, Esq., (the 
 friend and correspondent of Cowper), dated, 
 October 7, 1786, we find the following passage : 
 
REYNOLDS’ DIARY. FROM 175 5 TO 1790. 87 
 
 “I am sorry that Sir Joshua Reynolds’s copyist is 
 dead, as he was a very excellent one.” Many of 
 these copies have no doubt been sold as Sir 
 Joshua’s own paintings. 4 
 
 The celebrated actors, Garrick and Woodward 
 both sat to Reynolds this month. 5 6 
 
 Biarg, coirtimub. * 
 
 October. Lady Selina Hastings. 
 
 „ Mrs. Moran t and Son. 
 
 „ Mr. Haldane’s picture to be sent home. 
 
 November. Mrs. Hunter’s and Mrs. Fortescne’s pictures to be 
 
 sent to 'Waverley Abbey, near Farnham, Surrey. 
 
 The Duchess of Ancaster to be sent home.* 
 
 In December the little picture of Lord Edg- 
 cumbe is mentioned, and copies to be made of 
 Lord Granby’s portrait for Lady Aylesford, and of 
 the Duke of Richmond for General Conway. 
 
 1760. 
 
 In the beginning of this year Reynolds once 
 more removed his residence to a house in Leicester 
 Square. It appears from the pocket book that 
 the house was purchased on the 3rd of July, 
 
 4 Pack, a native of Norwich, copied many of Sir Joshua's pictures with 
 great accuracy. — NorthcoU , p. 346. 
 
 5 Woodward the comedian, who mostly resided at the Bedford Arms, 
 in Covent Garden, was particularly intimate with Stacey, the landlord, 
 and gave him his portrait with a mask in his hand, one of the early 
 pictures of Sir J. Reynolds. — Smith’s Life of NoUektns, vol. 2, p. 350. 
 
 6 Mary Panton, Duchess of Ancaster, was mistress of the robes to the 
 Queen, in 1761. Walpole says she was the natural daughter of Panton, 
 a disreputable horse -jockey at Newmarket. 
 
88 REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 
 
 for we find the following entry, “ house bought,” 
 and on the 11th of September, “paid the re- 
 mainder of the purchase money, £1,000.” We 
 learn from Faring ton, that he gave £1,650 for a 
 lease of forty seven years, and laid out £1,500 
 more in the erection of a gallery and painting 
 room. Sir Joshua’s house was on the west side 
 of the Square, No. 47, and is now occupied 
 by the Western Literary and Scientific Institu- 
 tion. Hogarth’s house was on the east side of 
 the same Square, then called Leicester Fields, 
 and forms part of the Sabloniere Hotel. It was 
 distinguished by a large Golden Head placed 
 over the door, which head, says Smith in his 
 Life of Nollekens, he cut out himself from pieces 
 of cork, glued and bound together. 
 
 Reynolds now raised his prices to 25, 50, and 
 100 guineas, for the three orders of portraits. 
 
 The year 1760 was render’d memorable in the 
 annals of British art by the opening of the first 
 public exhibitions of the works of modern painters, 
 sculptors, and architects. The result of this 
 scheme exceeded the most sanguine expectations 
 of the projectors. All ranks of people, says a 
 contemporary writer, crowded to see the delightful 
 novelty. It was the universal topic of conversa- 
 tion, and a passion for the fine arts was excited 
 by this first manifestation of native talent, which 
 has ever since been increasing in strength, and 
 
REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 89 
 
 extending its effects throughout the length 
 and breadth of the land. The history of our 
 Exhibitions affords of itself the strongest evidence 
 of their effect upon the public taste. Although at 
 their commencement, some men of enlightened 
 minds could distinguish and appreciate what was 
 excellent, the admiration of the many was con- 
 fined to the most puerile subjects, and the meanest 
 efforts of imitation. But these puerilities have long 
 since ceased to produce astonishment and delight 
 even in the vulgar, and we look back with surprise 
 to find such trifling subjects as the following, in 
 the catalogues of the early Exhibitions. 
 
 A Corner Cupboard. 
 
 A Gazette in a Frame. 
 
 A Bunch of Flowers in tent 
 stitch. 
 
 A Coach Pannel. 
 
 A Cucumber. 
 
 A Lady in a snuff box. 
 
 To this Exhibition, which opened on the 21st 
 of May in the great room of the Society for the 
 encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Com- 
 merce, Mr. Reynolds sent four pictures. 
 
 A whole length portrait of Elizabeth, Duchess of Hamilton. 
 
 Three quarter of Lady Elizabeth Keppel, afterwards Mar- 
 chioness of Tavistock. 
 
 A Gentleman ditto. 
 
 Lord Charles Vernon in armour, (the attitude taken from 
 Vandyke )? 
 
 7 H. Walpole’s M.S. note. 
 M 
 
90 REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 
 
 He was now full of employment, and painted 
 a vast number of excellent portraits, the pocket 
 book for the year containing the names of one 
 hundred and twenty sitters. 
 
 Sir Joshua was an early riser, and Mrs. 
 Gwatkin told Haydon in 1845, that he frequently 
 walked round the park with her before breakfast. 
 “ His usual breakfast hour ” says Beechey, “ was 
 nine o’clock. He entered his studio at ten, exam- 
 ined designs, and touched upon unfinished por- 
 traits until eleven brought a sitter; he then painted 
 till four, dressed and gave the evening to com- 
 pany.” But it is obvious, that, according to this 
 statement, Sir Joshua could never have got through 
 half the work he accomplished : and the pocket 
 books themselves prove that he was very fre- 
 quently in his painting room and received sitters 
 as early as nine in the morning, and continued 
 painting without intermission until three in the 
 afternoon. 
 
 Fac-similies of two pages from Sir Joshua Rey- 
 nolds’ pocket book, for 1761, are here inserted, 
 not so much as specimens of his writing, as to show 
 the number of sitters he received daily. 
 
 Fatigued with such length of work, after dinner 
 he usually took a nap, as his niece informed Hay- 
 don. At this Haydon expressed surprise, and 
 exclaimed: “ ho, ho, did he take a nap]” “To be 
 sure,” replied Mrs. Gwatkin, “Don’t you Mr. 
 
Appointments, Bills due 
 and occafional Mem. 
 
 A P RIL , 1761 
 Monday 27 
 
 I'lj forward. 
 
 / 0 pv^ / J&t 
 
 I // 
 
 
 n rwyrurh' 
 
REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 91 
 
 Hay don? After the fatigue of the brain he liked 
 quiet, and we always let him alone.” 
 
 Among the portraits painted this year, were 
 those of 
 
 Lord Ligonier, Lawrence Sterne, Miss Greville and her brother, 8 
 as Hebe and Cupid, (engraved by Me. Ardell, in 1762). 
 
 Lord and Lady Waldegrave, Miss Nelly O’Brien, and David 
 Garrick. 
 
 €draxfs from % giarg 
 
 1761. 
 
 The noble and distinguished persons whose 
 portraits were painted by Reynolds this year 
 were : 
 
 The Dukes of Cumberland, Ancaster and Gordon. 
 
 Lords Waldegrave, Ossulton, Drogheda and Abingdon. 
 
 The Ladies Waldegrave, Pembroke, Northampton, Spencer, 
 
 C. Russell, Eliz. Keppel, and St. Aubyn. 
 
 La Contessa Della Rena. 
 
 Colonels Trapaud and Fitzroy. 
 
 Admirals Rodney and Broad wick. 
 
 The Contessa Della Rena, a Florentine, came 
 to England with Lord Pembroke, and was a chere - 
 amie of the notorious Lord March, afterwards 
 Duke of Queensberry . 9 
 
 To the second exhibition of the Society 1 of 
 
 8 In the possession of C. Long, Esq. — Northcete. 
 
 9 “ I have had Lord March and the Rena here, which did not raise my 
 reputation in the neighbourhood.” — See Selwyn and his Contemporaries , 
 vol. 11, p. 97, and Walpole's Letters , vol. 4, p. 237. 
 
 1 The Exhibition Catalogue this year contained a frontispiece and 
 tailpiece engraved by Grignion, from the designs of Hogarth. 
 
92 REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 
 
 Artists, which opened on the 9 th of May at their 
 room in Spring Garden, Reynolds contributed 
 five pictures. 
 
 A three quarter portrait of Lady Waldegrave, in a turban. 
 
 A half length of Dr. Sterne, seated and leaning on his hand. 
 
 A whole length of the Duke of Beaufort, in his college robes. 
 
 Ditto of Captain Orme, with a horse. 
 
 A General on horseback. 
 
 This was the large equestrian portrait of Lord 
 Ligonier, now in the National Gallery. 
 
 The portrait of Sterne was painted for the Earl 
 of Ossory, and afterwards came into the possession 
 of the late Lord Holland, on whose death it was 
 purchased for 500 guineas by the Marquis of 
 Lansdowne. Mrs. Jameson justly observes : — 
 “ This is the most astonishing head for truth 
 of character I ever beheld; I do not except 
 Titian ; the character to be sure is different, the 
 subtle evanescent expression of satire round 
 the lips ; the shrewd significance in the eye ; 
 the earnest contemplative attitude, all convey 
 the strongest impressions of the man, of his 
 peculiar genius, and peculiar humour.” 
 
 Sir Joshua, we are told by Goldsmith, was in 
 the habit of taking snuff, 
 
 When they talked of their Raphaels, Correggios and stuff, 
 
 He shifted his trumpet and only took snuff, 
 
 and we learn from an entry in this year’s pocket 
 book, that his favourite mixture was Hardham’s37. 
 
Reynolds’ diary, from 1755 to 1790. 93 
 
 I have heard my father say that this fashionable 
 snuff owed its celebrity to David Garrick’s desire 
 to serve a person of the name of Hardham, who 
 kept a small snuff shop in Fleet Street. That 
 clever and accomplished actor, while enacting the 
 character of a man of fashion on the stage, offered 
 a pinch of his snuff to a fellow comedian, observing 
 that it was the most fashionable mixture of the 
 day, and to be had only at Hardham’s, No. 37, 
 Fleet Street. The scheme succeeded beyond 
 Garrick’s expectation, and Hardham’s 37 was 
 the favourite mixture for many years afterwards. 
 Snuff-taking was in fact the rage and fashion of 
 the time, and a handsome snuff box was as indis- 
 pensable to a well dressed man, as the bag-wig 
 and sword. 
 
 Sir Plume, of amber snuff-box justly vain — 
 
 is immortalized in the verse of Pope ; and it is 
 said, that Reynolds used such quantities of 
 
94 REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 
 
 snuff, and took it so freely when he was painting, 
 that it sometimes inconvenienced those sitters 
 who were not accustomed to it. The following 
 anecdote is told in the life of Nollekens. 
 
 Colonel Phillips assured me that, during the time Sir Joshua 
 was painting the large picture at Blenheim, of the Marlborough 
 family, the Duchess ordered a servant to bring a broom and sweep 
 up Sir Joshua’s snuff from the carpet, but Reynolds, who would not 
 suffer any interruption to take place during his application to 
 his art, desired him to let the snuff remain until he had finished 
 painting ; observing that the dust raised by the broom would do 
 more injury to his picture than the snuff could possibly do to the 
 carpet. 
 
 from % Jliarg 
 
 1762. 
 
 This year Reynolds sent to the Exhibition, in 
 Spring Gardens, his fine whole length portrait of 
 
 Lady Elizabeth Keppel, as one of Her Majesty’s Bride-maids. 
 
 Mr. Garrick between the muses of tragedy and comedy. 
 
 Maria Countess of Waldegrave, in the character of Dido em- 
 bracing Cupid . 2 
 
 These pictures we are told excited universal 
 admiration. The Exhibition room was crowded, 
 and all the lovers of the fine arts exulted in the 
 powerful effect produced by an English artist. 
 The picture of Garrick was purchased by the Earl 
 of Halifax for 300 guineas, and after his death 
 
 8 Walpole’s Exhibition Catalogue. 
 
REYNOLDS* DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 95 
 
 Was sold to Mr. Angerstein for 250 guineas, 
 perhaps the only instance of a depreciation in 
 value of a fine picture, by Sir Joshua Reynolds. 
 It was immediately engraved by E. Fisher, in 
 1762; afterwards by Yal. Green, and C. Corbit, 
 and by Cardon for Britton’s Fine Arts of the 
 English School. 
 
 This picture is executed with the most consummate skill and 
 taste. In the flesh and drapery of the figures there is the 
 most brilliant colouring. Comedy is touched with the gayest 
 colours of the rainbow, yellow, red, and orange, harmoniously 
 blended and arranged. Iris herself could not be more beautiful 
 or more light and elegant in the drapery. In the vest of Garrick 
 the yellow, of rather darker hue, is continued from the dress of 
 comedy, and conducted from his figure into the clouds, through 
 the autumnal tints of the foliage. A cloak or mantle of sober 
 green is thrown obliquely across his body, and by artful manage- 
 ment of light and shade is made the connecting link between 
 orange and the long dark blue robe of tragedy, which in the 
 darkest parts approaches to black . 3 
 
 While this eminent actor’s portrait was in 
 progress he mentioned to Reynolds that he once 
 sat to Gainsborough, whose talents he did not 
 admire, and whom he puzzled by altering the 
 expression of his face. Every time the artist 
 turned his back, the actor changed his counte- 
 nance, till the former in a passion dashed his 
 pencils on the floor, and cried “I believe I am 
 painting from the devil rather than from a man.” 4 
 
 3 Northcote. 
 
 4 Cunningham. 
 
96 REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 
 
 The health of Reynolds having been impaired 
 by constant labour, he now went into Devonshire, 
 accompanied by Dr. Johnson. They were enter- 
 tained at the seats of many noblemen and 
 gentlemen in the West of England : but as Boswell 
 has given a particular account of the tour in his 
 Life of Johnson, we need only refer to it. 
 
 The pocket book for this, and the following 
 year are not in Miss Gwatkin’s possession. 
 
 <t drafts from % pi;trn 
 
 1763. 
 
 Mr. Reynolds sent to the Exhibition four 
 pictures : 
 
 The Ladies Elizabeth and Henrietta Montague, daughters of 
 the Earl of Cardigan, (which Mr. Walpole has marked too 
 chalky)* 
 
 A Nobleman half length, John Earl of Rothes, (engraved by 
 Me. Ardell). 
 
 A Gentleman, three quarters. 
 
 A half length of Nelly O’Brien, (which Mr. Walpole noticed 
 as a very pretty picture). 
 
 In 1764 his contributions were : 
 
 A Lady, whole length. 
 
 A three quarter portrait of the Countess Dowager of Walde- 
 grave, in mourning, (considered by Mr. Horace Walpole one of his 
 highest coloured pictures). 
 
 In this year the Literary Club was established, 
 
 Walpole's Exhibition Catalogue. 
 
Reynolds’ diary*, from 1755 to 1790. 97 
 
 a society, says Malone, which can boast of having 
 enrolled among its members, many of the most 
 celebrated characters of the present century. 
 Reynolds was the first proposer of these meetings. 
 The number of members was originally limited to 
 twelve. They met once a week, on Monday 
 evenings, at the Turk’s Head in Gerrard Street, 
 until 1775, when, instead of supping together, 
 they agreed to dine once a fortnight during the 
 sitting of Parliament: and the number of mem- 
 bers was gradually increased to thirty five or forty. 
 
 On the first of July, Mr. Reynolds went to 
 Blenheim, and there are no entries of any kind 
 in the pocket book until Friday the 20th, when 
 we find the name of Miss Fisher. 
 
 On the 2nd day of August he dined with 
 Mr. Mudge at Lord Edgcumbe’s. During the 
 autumn he was attacked by a serious and alarm- 
 ing illness, which in the words of Nortlicote 
 nearly deprived his associates of one of the best 
 of friends, and the world of one of its brightest 
 ornaments. His illness however was but of short 
 duration, and the anxiety of friends was soon 
 removed. Dr. Johnson, in an affectionate letter 
 dated August 19th, from Northamptonshire, thus 
 expresses his feelings on the occasion : “ If I 
 should lose you I should lose almost the only 
 man I call a friend.” 
 
 The same year (1764) which alarmed England 
 
 N 
 
98 Reynolds’ diary, from 1755 to 1790 . 
 
 respecting the health of Reynolds, deprived it of 
 Hogarth. 6 
 
 From August to the 17th of September, when 
 our artist returned to his studies, there are of 
 course no sitter’s names ; but we find the following 
 memorandum in October : 
 
 Copies to be made from Mr. Greville’s, and Lord Chief Justice 
 Pratt’s portraits. 
 
 Mr. Fox. 
 
 Lord Holland’s picture for Mr. Powell, 4 feet 8 inches by 3 
 feet 6 1 inches. 
 
 In November, Count Lippe, whose fine whole 
 length portrait is in the Royal collection, is men- 
 tioned several times, and on the 
 
 5th, at 11, Mr. Carlo Yanloo. 
 
 This eminent portrait painter, the Chevalier 
 Yanloo, being in England about this time says 
 Northcote, boasted to Mr. Reynolds of his accu- 
 rate knowledge and experience in the works of 
 the great masters: saying, he could never be 
 
 6 Much has been justly said by Hazlitt, Hartley Coleridge, and others 
 in praise of Hogarth, as a painter of great originality and genius ; but 
 when it is asserted that Sir J. Reynolds would hardly have been a great 
 painter, if others had not lived before him, and it is attempted to depre- 
 ciate his extraordinary talents by a comparison with the originality and 
 invention of Hogarth ; we cannot admit the justice of such an inference. 
 Sir Joshua owed nothing whatever to Hogarth, he could have borrowed 
 nothing from his works, their tastes and habits were essentially dis- 
 similar, and Reynolds would have been as great an artist if Hogarth had 
 never lived. Hazlitt says : “We can by no means look upon Sir Joshua 
 as having a claim to the first rank of genius, he gave no new impulse 
 
Z'/z7c &J/ tSzT' J&&2/7Z-&&&?; <7?? 7/s/,/?Jv 
 
 jtysc/bet Ztwfcs Ser* arts// 7/9.9. 
 
REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790 . 99 
 
 deceived or imposed upon by a copy. Reynolds 
 then shewed him the head of an old woman, 
 which he had himself copied from a picture by 
 Rembrandt, asking his opinion of it, and was 
 highly amused when Yanloo pronounced it to be 
 an undoubted original. 
 
 That a copy may be executed so closely to the 
 original picture as even to deceive at first sight 
 the artist himself, may be inferred from the fol- 
 lowing statement in a letter written by Sir Joshua 
 Reynolds to Mr. Charles Smith, a nephew of 
 Mr. Caleb Whiteford : 
 
 I saw the other day, at Mr. Bromels, a picture of a child with 
 a dog, which, after pretty close examination, I thought was my 
 own painting ; but it was a copy, it appears, made by you many 
 years ago. 
 
 Sir Joshua said of Gainsborough, that he could 
 copy Vandyke so exquisitely, that, at a little 
 distance, he could not distinguish the copy from 
 the original. 
 
 to the art, nor did he advance any part of it beyond the point where he 
 found it,” — From this we altogether dissent, being fully persuaded that 
 Sir Joshua’s example and practice had the most beneficial influence 
 upon the art of painting in this country, and that he raised it from the 
 lowest state of degradation to such a pitch of excellence and perfection, 
 as not only to surpass all his competitors, but also to rival the best 
 works of Titian and Vandyke. Hazlitt’s remarks on Reynolds appear 
 to be tinctured with a strong shade of dislike and prejudice, for although 
 he acknowledges “ his rare talents and elegant mind,” there is a spirit 
 of depreciation running through the whole of his remarks, which may 
 have been derived from his intimacy with Northcote, who, in his later 
 years, became morose and censorius. 
 
100 REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790 
 
 < 'fatwtti from % §rarg 
 
 1765. 
 
 Mr. Reynolds sent only two pictures to the 
 Exhibition this year. 
 
 The Portrait of a Lady (Sarah Bunburv) sacrificing to the 
 graces, whole length. 
 
 Ditto, a Kit-Cat. 
 
 1766. 
 
 This year’s pocket-book contains a memorandum 
 of the prices Mr. Reynolds then charged for his 
 portraits : 
 
 
 £ 
 
 s. 
 
 d. 
 
 Whole Length 
 
 150 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 Half Length 
 
 70 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 Kit-Cat 
 
 50 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 Head 
 
 30 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 The following notes 
 
 describe some 
 
 of 
 
 the 
 
 processes adopted by him in painting, which may 
 be useful, as well as interesting to artists, being 
 stamped with his probatum : 
 
 Lake yellow oker and uP 
 De d * col. without lake. 7 
 
 probatum , Sept., 1766. 
 
 7 From the above extract we perceive it must have been Reynolds* 
 practice sometimes to use lake, in the dead colouring, which may be one, 
 amongst other reasons, why his pictures, especially those of his female 
 portraits, have faded. All lakes have a tendency to fly, more or less, the 
 most durable are, lac lake, madder, and dark lake prepared from coch- 
 ineal ; Indian red is generally used in dead colouring, and is indistruc- 
 table, being an oxide of iron. There is a lake that both Rubens and 
 Vandyke have used, which remains unfaded, especially in the Italian 
 and Flemish pictures of the latter. — J. B. 
 
Reynolds’ diary from 1755 to 1790. 101 
 
 Old Beggar-man yellow oker. 
 
 Lake aud black and blue. 
 
 Drapery varnished with oil V. 
 
 Head, &c., with wax. 
 
 Oct. 9, 1766. 
 
 The head of this beggar was a favourite study 
 of the artists at that time, and was frequently 
 painted by Reynolds himself. 
 
 To the Exhibition this year he contributed a 
 whole length portrait of 
 
 Mrs. Hale, 8 wife of General Hale, in the character of 
 Euplirosyne. 
 
 Ditto, of the Marquis of Granby, which H. Walpole says, 
 was painted for the Marshal Broglio. 
 
 A half length of Sir Jeffery Amherst. 
 
 Ditto, of Mr. Paine, the artist, and his Son, (in the Oxford 
 Gallery). 
 
 1768. 
 
 This year Mr. Reynolds exhibited a whole 
 length portrait of 
 
 % 
 
 Miss Anne Cholmondeley, carrying a dog over a brook, 
 
 a picture of great simplicity and beauty, which 
 was the last he sent to the Incorporated Society’s 
 Room, in Spring Gardens. 
 
 That Society, established in 1765, having failed 
 to embrace all the objects necessary for the ad- 
 
 8 This lady was Mary, second daughter of Mr. Chaloner, of Yorkshire, 
 and sister of Anne, Countess of Harewood. The picture was exhibited 
 at the British Institution, in 1850, and is the property of Lord 
 Harewood- 
 
102 REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 
 
 vancement of art, a plan was drawn up this year, 
 1768, for the establishment of the present Royal 
 Academy, and Mr. Reynolds was much occupied 
 in the necessary preparations. He found time 
 however to make a trip to Paris, in company 
 with Mr. William Burke, who in a letter, dated 
 10th of October, says: 
 
 Mr. Reynolds and I made this scamper together, and are both 
 extremely satisfied with our tour. We return in a few days. 
 
 They left London on the 9th of September, 
 and, travelling by Boulogne, Abbeville, and 
 Chantilly, arrived at Paris on the 14th. The 
 following brief memoranda of this journey are 
 written chiefly with a lead pencil in the pocket- 
 book for this year : 
 
 from % giarg. 
 
 September 9th. Friday. Set out for Paris, arrived at Canter- 
 bury. 
 
 Saturday. Dover, sailed at eleven in the morning. 
 
 Sunday the 11th, two in the morning, Calais. Boulogne, 
 axletree broke. 
 
 Monday, dined at Abbeville. Lay at Amiens, saw the Water 
 Tower. 
 
 Tuesday, dined at St. Just ; the axletree broke. Lay at Chantilly. 
 In the palace are two pictures by Vandyck, a man in armour 
 (of which there is a print by Pontius), and a Lady ; and the 
 allegorical portrait of the Prince of Conde, mentioned by the 
 Abbe de Bois. 
 
 Saturday, dined at St. Denis. In the Cathedral or Dome is an 
 excellent statue of an angel, in the act of writing with his 
 fiuger, something in the attitude of the slave with the thorn. 
 Lay at Paris. Hotel Pelletier, Rue Pelletier. 
 
REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 103 
 
 Thursday, dined at Mr. Panchaud’s, 9 saw the Palais Royal. 
 
 Drank tea at Mr. Flint’s, after which the Italian Opera. 
 Saturday, dined with Lord Mulgrave, saw the Luxemburg and 
 the French Comedy, the Misanthrope. 
 
 Sunday, Mr. and Mrs. Flint dined with us. 
 
 Miss Fanny Reynolds was, probably, on a visit 
 to Miss Flint at this time, as Sir Joshua has made 
 the following entry : 
 
 Wednesday, Oct. 9tb, to breakfast with my sister. 
 
 And from an entry, made after his return to 
 London, she appears to have remained in Paris 
 after his departure ; 
 
 Sister living in the Rue St. Hyacinthe. 
 
 Northcote says : “ during part of this year, 
 Sir Joshua seems to have been deprived of his 
 sister’s domestic attentions, by her visit to Paris 
 and Dr. Johnson, in a letter to Miss Flint , 1 a 
 young lady who translated his remarks on Shaks- 
 peare into French, and was then resident in that 
 metropolis, says : 
 
 How can you prevent me from complaining of those charms by 
 which you have gained so much upon Miss Reynolds that she no 
 longer remembers her country nor her friends ? It is but a trifle 
 
 9 Mr. Panchaud, a banker from Paris, broke yesterday for £70,000. — 
 Walpole's Letters , vol. 2, p. 46. 
 
 1 Northcote informs us, that Miss Flint afterwards became Madame 
 Le Reverall, having married one of the Noblesse of France, and being 
 left a widow, the unfortunate lady together with her only son was 
 guillotined during the reign of Terror. 
 
104 REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 
 
 for you to praise us, it is a trifle to spread our literary fame, 
 whilst you deprive us of the pleasure of seeing and conversing 
 with Miss Reynolds. In short, Madam, you must become less 
 amiable if you wish that we should love you more. 
 
 Jttarg tmtfhuueb 
 
 Tuesday, 20th. — The collection of L’Empereur — about six 
 Teniers ; two small sketches of Rubens ; a Boor saying grace, 
 Rembrandt ; Mr. Panchaud. 
 
 Thursday, 10. — Mr. Collins. 
 
 Saturday.— Miss Flint ; Versailles. 
 
 Thursday, 29. — Invalides. 
 
 Friday, 30. — Abbe at the Sulpice ; Hotel Toulouse Gallery ; 
 
 Pietro da Cortona and Guido. 
 
 October 2, Sunday. — Sceaux ; Choisy. 
 
 Monday. — St. Cloud ; Meudon ; Sevres, manufactory of 
 porcelain. 
 
 Wednesday the 12th, 10 to 1. — Luxembourgh ; Minerva in- 
 structing a girl, by Tremolie. 
 
 Tuesday, 18th, set out from Paris. 
 
 Wednesday. — Lay at Peronne. 
 
 Thursday. — Dined at Arras ; the Cathedral not worth seeing ; 
 
 lay in the Fauxburg of Bethune. 
 
 Friday. — arrived at Calais, at 5, in the afternoon. 
 
 Saturday, arrived at Dover at 5; lay at Sittingbourne. 
 
 Sunday 23rd, at 10 in the morning, arrived in London. 
 
 Monday 24. — Dined with Dr. Goldsmith. 
 
 The latter part of this year (1768) was rendered 
 memorable in the history of art by the institution 
 of the Royal Academy, under the patronage of 
 the King, and the direction of forty of the most 
 distinguished artists of the time. 
 
 Reynolds, who had been mainly instrumental 
 in founding it, was unanimously elected president, 
 
REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 105 
 
 and received the honour of knighthood. It is 
 recorded that Dr. Johnson was so much delighted 
 with his friend’s elevation, that he broke through 
 a rule of total abstinence in respect to wine, 
 which he had maintained for several years, and 
 drank bumpers on the occasion. 2 
 
 1769. 
 
 To the first Exhibition of the Royal Academy, 
 Sir Joshua contributed the following pictures : 
 
 The Duchess of Manchester and her Son, as Diana disarming 
 Cupid. 
 
 Lady Blake , 3 as Juno receiving the Cestus from Venus. 
 
 In the Exhibition catalogues, purchased by Mr. 
 Sheepshanks 4 at the Strawberry-hill sale, Horace 
 Walpole has remarked, that, in the former of 
 these pictures, the attitude is had ; and the latter, 
 very had. 
 
 Two Ladies, (half length), Mrs. Bouverie and Mrs. Crewe. 
 
 Frances, only daughter of Fulk Greville, Esq., 
 grandson of the fifth Lord Brooke, married 
 in 1776, John Crewe, Esq., of Madeley Co., 
 Stafford, created Lord Crewe, in 1806. Sir 
 Joshua painted this lady’s portrait several times. 
 
 4 Irving’s Life of Goldsmith, p. 131. 
 
 3 Annabella B unbury. 
 
 4 I am indebted to this gentleman for his kind permission to make 
 Extracts from these Catalogues. 
 
 O 
 
106 REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 
 
 Miss Morris, as Hope nursing Love. 
 
 Mr. Walpole’s remark is pretty, — her head taken 
 from Correggio's Leda. 
 
 According to Northcote, this is the portrait of 
 the daughter of Valentine Morris, Esq., of Pierce- 
 field, in Monmouthshire, and governor of one of 
 the West India Islands. From the reduced circum- 
 stances of her family this very beautiful young lady 
 was advised to attempt the stage as a profession ; 
 and Sir Joshua Reynolds, Dr. Johnson, 5 and 
 others, attended on the first night of her perform- 
 ance of Juliet , at Covent Garden ; but overpowered 
 by timidity, she fainted on her first entrance upon 
 the stage, and was with difficulty prevailed upon 
 to go through her part. She shortly afterwards 
 fell into a decline ; and died in May, 1769. 
 
 There are three repetitions of this subject by 
 Sir Joshua, one at Lansdowne House, another in 
 the possession of Henry Hope, Esq., and a third 
 was sold in 1821, at Lady Thomond’s sale to Mr. 
 Morritt, for 220 guineas. 
 
 It is sometimes said, that Hope nursing Love, 
 is the portrait of Miss Theophila P aimer ; but this 
 I believe is a mistake, as the late Mrs. Gwatkin 
 has drawn her pen through this statement in a 
 catalogue formerly in her possession. 
 
 5 Miss Morris was the daughter of a particular friend of Dr. Johnson. — 
 See Crolcer’s Edition of Boswell , p. 807. 
 
Reynolds’ diary, from 1755 to 1790. 107 
 
 1770. 
 
 The President sent eight pictures to the Royal 
 Academy Exhibition this year, three of which 
 were whole-length portraits, viz. : 
 
 Lord Sidney and Colonel Acland, represented as archers ; on 
 which picture, Mr. Walpole remarks, the trees are very fine* 
 
 A Lady and Child. — Mrs. Bouverie. — Good. 
 
 A Child, (Miss Price, the daughter of Uvedale Price, Esq). 
 A little girl with Sheep. Never was there more grace and 
 character than in this incomparable picture , which expresses at 
 once simplicity , propriety , and fear of her clothes being dirtied , with 
 all the gravity of a poor little innocent. — Nor. Walpole. 
 
 A Lady, half-length. — Indifferent . — Lady Cornwallis. 
 
 The Children in the Wood. — Charming idea! 
 
 Mr. Coleman. 
 
 Dr. Johnson. 
 
 The two last — busts in profile. 
 
 The pocket book contains brief memoranda of 
 two journeys — the first to York in the month of 
 August, which is only referred to in two entries, 
 stating the dates of departure and return. 
 
 August, Tuesday, 7th, set out for York. 
 
 In September, Sir Joshua paid another visit to 
 his native country, and returned to town about 
 the middle of October, The following memo- 
 randa of this journey are written with a lead 
 pencil. They present the clever and indefati- 
 gable artist to us in a new character — enjoying 
 
 Dr. Goldsmith. 
 
 Wednesday, 15th, returned from York. 
 
108 Reynolds’ diary, from 1755 to 1790. 
 
 the amusements of a country life, and exchang- 
 ing for a while the quiet labours of the studio 
 for the exciting pleasures of the chase. From 
 such sports, however, he returned to his ordinary 
 occupations with new zest; devoted to his art, 
 and finding his best amusement in his profes- 
 sional work. 
 
 (Bdntcis from % gtarg. 
 
 September 7th, Five o’Clock, set out for Devonshire. 
 
 „ 8th, Dined with Lord Pembroke, Lay at Blandford. 
 
 „ 9th, Sunday. — Dorchester, fine prospect; Bridport, 
 Axminster. 
 
 „ 10th, Saltram, at One. 
 
 „ 11 tli, Hunting. 
 
 „ 12th, Ride to Plym-bridge; 3, Mount Edgcumbe. 
 
 „ 13th, Hunting. 
 
 ,, 14th, Partridge Shooting. 
 
 „ 15 th, Hunting, 
 
 „ 16th, Sunday. Church, Plympton St. Mary, Burlington. 
 
 „ 17th, Set out from Saltram, arrived at Torrington. 
 
 „ 20th, Returned to Saltram. 
 
 „ 21st, Hunting. 
 
 „ 22nd, Plympton. 
 
 „ 23rd, Sunday. The Dock and P. 
 
 The following memorandum is written with 
 lead pencil on a blank leaf of the pocket book : 
 
 Mr. Parker bets Sir Joshua five guineas, that he does not beat 
 Mr. Robinson — and ten guineas, that Mr. Montagu does not beat 
 Mr. Parker, to shoot with Mr. Treby’s bullet gun at 100 yards 
 distance : and a sheet of paper to be put up, and the person who 
 shoots nearest the centre ivins. 
 
 October 5 th, To dine with Mr. Mudge. 
 
 „ 6th, Laira. 
 
REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 109 
 
 October 7th, Set out from Saltram, arrived at Torrington. 
 
 „ 8th, Dined at Mr. Palmer’s. 
 
 „ 9th, Dined at Mr. Young’s. 
 
 „ 10th, Left Torrington, arrived at Exeter, and went to 
 
 White way. 
 
 „ 11th, Dined at Mamhead, Lord Lisburn. 
 
 „ 12th, Set out from Whiteway, dined at Exeter with 
 
 Bob, arrived at Axminster. 6 7 
 „ 13th, Salisbury — Andover. 
 
 „ 14th, Dined in London. 
 
 In these visits to Devonshire we observe that 
 Sir Joshua was frequently the guest of the 
 Edgcumbes, Parkers, and Eliots : we may there- 
 fore expect to find in the mansions of these noble 
 families some of his finest works. The collection 
 at Saltram is particularly interesting, not only 
 from its containing several family portraits evi- 
 dently painted con amove , but also as having been 
 formed in great measure by Reynolds himself for 
 the first Lord Boringdon. 
 
 The following is a list of the portraits by Sir J. 
 Reynolds at Saltram, copied from his Lordship’s 
 private catalogue : 
 
 bg &ix gugjjua |UjmoIbs at Saltram. 
 
 The Hon. Mrs. Parker, (whole length), engraved by Watson. 
 John, Earl of Morley, and his Sister, (whole length), engraved 
 by S. W. Reynolds. 
 
 6 John Palmer, Esq., of Torrington, married Sir Joshua’s eldest sister, 
 Mary Reynolds. 
 
 7 Robert Reynolds his brother, who was a bachelor, and lived at 
 Exeter. 
 
110 REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 
 
 The Hon. Mrs. Parker and her Son, (whole length), engraved by 
 S. W. Reynolds. 
 
 John, Lord Boringdon, small (whole length), in a landscape, 
 engraved by S. W. Reynolds. 
 
 Theresa, daughter of Lord Boringdon. 
 
 Montague Edmund Parker, Esq. 
 
 Walter Radcliffe, Esq., of Warleigh. 
 
 Sir Thomas Acland, Bart. 
 
 Sir John Chichester, Bart. 
 
 Sir Charles Davies, Bart. 
 
 William, Marquis of Lansdowne. 
 
 Commodore Harrison. 
 
 Bartolozzi, the engraver, 1771. 
 
 Kitty Fisher, as Cleopatra, engraved by Houston and S. W. 
 Reynolds. 
 
 Mrs. Abingdon, as Miss Prue, engraved by S. W. Reynolds. 
 
 Miss Fordyce (Mrs. Greenwood), engraved by S. W. Reynolds. 
 Sir John Chichester, Bart. 
 
 JpAr traits frg $. ^eguolbs at IJmri (Bitot. 
 
 HALF LENGTHS. 
 
 Harriot Eliot, (mother of the first Lord Eliot), and daughter of 
 Jas. Craggs, Esq., Secretary of State. 
 
 Edward, first Lord Eliot. 
 
 Ann Eliot, his Sister, married Captain Bonfoy, R.N. 
 
 Edward Eliot, when young. 
 
 THREE-QUARTERS. 
 
 Edward Eliot, when young. 
 
 Edward, first Lord Eliot, at a later period. 
 
 Richard Eliot, brother of the first Lord. 
 
 John Eliot (another brother), Captain, R.N. 
 
 Edward James Eliot, eldest son of the first Lord. 
 
 Hon. Captain John Hamilton, K.N. 
 
 Sir Joshua Reynolds, by himself. 
 
 The large picture of Richard Eliot and his family. 
 
 A Landscape — View of Plymouth. 8 
 
 8 From information communicated by Mr. Bolton. 
 
REYNOLDS* DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. Ill 
 
 portraits bg i^ir |. JUgmrlb# at Ulount (H%cumb. 
 
 The Hon. Richard Edgcumbe, engraved by S. W. Reynolds. 
 
 Emma Lady Edgcumbe, engraved by S. W. Reynolds. 
 
 George Lord Edgcumbe, engraved by S. W. Reynolds. 
 
 Richard Lord Edgcumbe, in his robes, S. W. Reynolds. 
 
 Captain Edgcumbe. 
 
 Sir Christopher Wren, it is well known, pur- 
 posely designed certain parts of Saint Paul’s 
 Cathedral for the reception of paintings, and 
 left spaces, where they are much wanted to fill 
 up the vast blanks which pervade many portions 
 of the sacred edifice. About the year 1770, Sir 
 Joshua Reynolds, and several of our chief artists, 
 offered to complete this design of Sir Chris- 
 topher’s by adorning St. Paul’s with pictures, 
 taken from the Holy Scriptures, at their own 
 expense; this liberal design, although approved 
 and sanctioned by the King, the Archbishop of 
 Canterbury, and Dr. Newton, Dean of St. Paul’s, 
 (who was afterwards Bishop of Bristol, and distin- 
 guished for his refined taste in the fine arts,) 
 was defeated by the objections of Dr. Terrick, 
 Bishop of London, who, when applied to on the 
 subject, very gravely replied : 
 
 My good Lord, I have already been informed that such an 
 affair is in contemplation, but whilst I live, and have the power, 
 I will never suffer the doors of the Metropolitan Church to be 
 opened for the introduction of Popery. 
 
 Owing to the absurd prejudices of this Bishop, 
 Saint Paul’s Cathedral exhibits, to this day, 
 
112 REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 
 
 the most cold, dreary, and desolate appear- 
 ance ; and I cannot but think that the intro- 
 duction of marble statues of Soldiers and States- 
 men, with a whole pantheon of Heathen Deities, 
 is far more shocking to religious feeling, than 
 paintings from the Life of Christ, or the Acts^ of 
 the Apostles. There are some excellent remarks 
 by Mr. Hartley Coleridge on this subject, and I 
 agree with him in thinking, that to convert our 
 Churches into Picture Galleries, for the admiration 
 of cognoscenti, would be a great mistake, but surely 
 the introduction of a few mural paintings into the 
 vacant spaces left for that purpose by the Archi- 
 tect, would not be liable to such an objection. 
 No one I believe has ever remarked that the nave 
 of St. Peter’s at Rome, has the look of a Picture 
 Gallery, although it is richly adorned with 
 paintings and mosaics, as well as sculpture. A 
 more important objection which Mr. H. Coleridge 
 urges against the admission of Paintings into our 
 Cathedrals and Churches is, that the works of 
 of our modern artists are unsuitable ; their 
 Saints and Madonnas, he observes, have too 
 much of real life about them, are too much like 
 studies from the Magdalen Hospital to be ad- 
 mitted into the sacred edifice. There is much 
 truth in this remark, our artists are not imbued 
 with the same devotional feeling which inspired 
 the works of Fra Angelico and Masaccio: our 
 
REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 113 
 
 religious notions do not encourage it, and even 
 Reynolds’s Holy Family is very deficient in eleva- 
 ted feeling and dignity. The Xave of St. Paul's, 
 would perhaps be better adorned with mosaic 
 copies from the best works of the old masters. 
 
 1771. 
 
 On a blank leaf of the pocket book for this 
 year, we have the dimensions of the different 
 sized canvass used by Sir Joshua. 
 
 A three-quarter 2 ft 6 in. by 2 ft 1 in. 
 
 A half length 4 ft 2 in. by 3 ft. 4 in. 
 
 A kit cat 2 ft. 4 in. by 3 ft 0 in. 
 
 A whole leugth 7 ft 10 in. by 4 ft 10 in. 
 
 On Monday, the 7th January. The President 
 attended a Meeting of the Council, at Somerset 
 House, at Seven in the evening, and at half-past 
 Eight joined the Literary Club, at the “ Turk’s 
 Head coffee house,” in Gerrard Street, where the 
 members met once a week. 
 
 Dr. Johnson and Boswell often supped together 
 in a private room at the Turk's Head coffee house. 
 Johnson said : “ I like to encourage this house, 
 for the mistress of it is a good civil woman, and 
 has not much business.” 
 
 (Brtracts from tbr 9i3ru* 
 
 Tuesday, at Four o’Clock, Messrs. Wartons. 
 
 Wednesday, Three „ Mr. Garrick. 
 
 „ Four „ Mr. Mudgc. 
 
 r 
 
114 REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 179(L 
 
 Sunday, the Dilettanti Society. 
 
 Near the end of the month, Master Lambton, and Lady 
 Melbourne. 
 
 In February, we find the names of Lady Ligonier, and Lady 
 Harriett Acland, and 
 
 In March, Mrs. Abingdon. 
 
 On the 23rd April, St. George’s day, the first 
 Annual Dinner of the Royal Academicians 
 was held in the Great Exhibition Room, the 
 walls of which were covered with Works of 
 Art about to be submitted to public inspection. 
 
 Sir Joshua Reynolds, who was the first to 
 suggest this elegant festival, presided in his 
 official character; Drs. Johnson and Goldsmith 
 of course were present, as professors of the 
 Academy; and besides the Academicians, there 
 was a large assembly of the most distinguished 
 men of the day as guests. 
 
 This Annual Dinner has been continued ever 
 since, and is still regarded as one of the choicest 
 convivial meetings of the London Season, it has 
 not, however, been noticed by Sir Joshua in his 
 pocket book ; neither are the names of any sitters 
 entered during the month of April. Very few 
 appear in May and June. 
 
 Sir Joshua sent the following pictures to the 
 Exhibition this year : 
 
 No. 156 — Venus chiding Cupid for learning to cast accounts, 
 (so described in the catalogue.) Walpole observes, it is a charming 
 \ piece and coloured better than usual f but the drawing faulty . It 
 is now in the collection of Thomas Baring, Esq., M.P. 
 
REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 115 
 
 257 — A Nymph and Bacchus — probably the Nysaean nymph 
 mentioned in Sir Joshua’s private notes : — “ May, 1770. The 
 Nysaean nymph with Bacchus, principiato con cera solo, finito con 
 cera e capivi, per causa it crak’d.” 
 
 This picture is now, I believe, in the collection of Mr. Allnutt, 
 of Clapham. (The portrait of Mrs. Hartley, with the young 
 Bacchus, was not exhibited until 1773). 
 
 258 — A girl reading. — The portrait of his favourite niece 
 (Theophila Palmer) reading Clarissa, which Walpole has marked 
 charming . It is in the possession of the family of the late John 
 Gwatkin, Esq. Miss Palmer was twelve years old when this 
 portrait was taken, and seeing it described in the catalogue as a 
 “ girl reading,” she observed, “ I think they might have said a 
 young lady reading.” 
 
 259 — An old man, (half length). This ivas an old beggar, 
 who had so fine a head, that Sir Joshua chose him for the father 
 in his picture from Dante ; and he painted him several times, as 
 did others in imitation of Reynolds . 9 
 
 Mrs. Abington, the actress, which Walpole commends as being 
 easy and very like, probably the picture in the Earl of Morley’s 
 collection. 
 
 In July, we find the names of Mrs. Hartley, and Mrs. 
 Quorrington, whose portrait as St. Agnes, is well known by the 
 engravings of Chambrey and Bettalini. 
 
 Saturday, 20th, To go to the King. 
 
 Monday, 22nd, General Meeting of the Academy. 
 
 DR. JOHNSON TO SIR J. REYNOLDS. 
 
 Ashbourne, July 17, 1771. 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 When I came to Lichfield, I found that my portrait had been 
 
 161 — Portrait of a Gentleman. 
 
 162 — Ditto of a Lady, 
 
 | three-quarters. 
 
 Jltarg, fnttlhnttb. 
 
 9 H. Walpole’s M.S. Note. 
 
116 REYNOLDS' DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 
 
 much yisited and much admired. Every man has a lurking wish 
 to appear considerable in his native place, and I was pleased with 
 the dignity conferred, by such a testimony of your regard. 
 
 Be pleased therefore to accept the thanks of 
 
 Sir, 
 
 Your most obliged and humble Servant, 
 
 SAM. JOHNSON. 
 
 Compliments to Miss Reynolds. 
 
 This was the second portrait of Dr. Johnson, 
 painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds, with his arms 
 raised and his hands bent. It was probably at 
 that time in the possession of Miss Lucy Porter. 1 
 
 It is now the property of the Duke of Suther- 
 land. 2 
 
 In August Sir Joshua took another trip to 
 Paris, as related by Northcote, and returned to 
 London on the 6 th of September. 
 
 September 6th, arrived in London. 
 
 1772. 
 
 The pocket book for this year is not in Miss 
 Gwatkin’s possession ; but I am indebted to 
 Henry Hele Treby, Esq., of Goodamoor, for the 
 annexed letter, of which a fac simile is given, 
 dated London, September 26 ; it is interesting 
 as fixing the date of Sir Joshua’s election to 
 the Aldermanic gown of Plympton. 
 
 1 Malone. 
 
 * Croker. 
 


 
 
 
 
REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 117 
 
 (Extracts frrnn tlje §iarg 
 
 1773. 
 
 April 5th, dine at home with Captain Ourry. 
 
 „ 21st, Wednesday, 4 Mr. Thrale. 
 
 Boswell, in his Life of Dr, Johnson, says: “On 
 Wednesday, April 21st, I dined with him at Mr. 
 Thrale’s and he relates a conversation w T hich 
 occurred upon the subject of Garrick’s vanity. 
 
 Sir Joshua Reynolds observed with great truth 
 that Dr. Johnson considered Garrick to be as it 
 were his property . He w^ould allow no man either 
 to praise or blame Garrick in his presence without 
 contradicting him. In illustration of this posi- 
 tion Sir Joshua wrote, or rather compiled from 
 collected scraps of Johnson’s conversation, two 
 Dialogues ; in the first of which Johnson attacks 
 Garrick in opposition to Sir Joshua, and in the 
 other defends him against Gibbon. 
 
 These Dialogues, which were printed in 1816, 
 (but not published), will be found in the Ap^ 
 pendix. 
 
 April 22nd, the King at the Exhibition. 
 
 „ 24th, Saturday, the Exhibition opens. 
 
 Gainsborough and Dance, having disagreed 
 with the President, did not send any pictures 
 this year. Sir Joshua exhibited the following, 
 which are thus described in the catalogue. The 
 remarks in Italics are by Mr. Walpole: 
 
118 REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 
 
 No. 232. H.R.H. the Duke of Cumberland, very good. 
 
 „ 233. H.R.H. the Duchess of Cumberland. 
 
 „ 234. A Lady, whole length, the Duchess of Buccleugh. 
 
 „ 235. A Lady and Child, Lady Melbourne. 
 
 „ 236. A Lady half length, Mrs . Darner , 
 
 „ 237. A young Lady, whole length. 
 
 „ 238. A Gentleman and Lady, Garrick and his Wife. 
 
 „ 239. A Gentleman, half length, Mr. Banks. 
 
 „ 240. A Gentleman, three-quarters. 
 
 „ 241. A Nymph with a young Bacchus, Mrs. Hartley , 
 the actress . 3 
 
 No. 242. A Strawberry Girl, charming . 4 
 
 „ 243. CouDt Ugolino and his Children in the Dungeon, 
 as described by Dante in the 33rd Canto of the Inferno, most 
 admirable. 
 
 This last picture was bought by the Duke of 
 Dorset for 4000 guineas, and is now at Knowle. 
 It is generally supposed that the head of Count 
 Ugolino was painted from White, the paviour ; 
 hut Horace Walpole says it was a study from an 
 old beggar man, who had so fine a head that Sir 
 
 3 A portrait of Mrs. Hartley, the actress, which Malone says was 
 bought by the Earl of Carysforfc, is now the property of I. Bentley, Esq., 
 of Portland Place. A repetition of this picture was sold at the 
 Marchioness of Thomond’s sale, in 1821, to Colonel F. G. Howard, for 
 290 guineas. 
 
 Northcotesays : In 1773, Sir Joshua painted an admirable portrait of 
 Mrs. Hartley, as a Gipsy with a child at her back, and began another 
 in the character of Jane Shore. (Bought by Ellison, at Lady 
 Thomond’s sale for £18 7s. 6d.) 
 
 4 Sir Joshua considered this one of his best pictures, observing that no 
 man could ever produce more than about half-a-dozen really original 
 works in his life ; and, he added, pointing to the “ Strawberry Girl,” that 
 picture is one of mine. Northcote says, he repeated it several times, 
 not so much for the sake of profit, as for improvement. 
 
Reynolds’ diary, from 1755 to 1790. 119 
 
 Joshua chose him for the father, in his picture 
 from Dante. 
 
 Miss Gwatkin informs me that she always 
 understood the head of Ugolino was painted from 
 a beggar. This also accords with the state- 
 ment of Northcote, who says the head of Count 
 Ugolino was painted previous to the year 1771, 
 and finished on what artists call a half length 
 canvass, and was in point of expression exactly as 
 it now stands, — but without any intention on the 
 part of Sir Joshua of making it the subject of an 
 historical composition. Being exposed in the 
 picture gallery, along with his other works, it 
 caught the eye of Burke, or Goldsmith, I am not 
 certain which, who immediately exclaimed that it 
 was the precise countenance and expression of 
 Count Ugolino, as described by Dante. 
 
 Another portrait or study from the head of the 
 same old beggar, was exhibited by Sir Joshua the 
 following year, as a Captain of Banditti, (No. 
 210 in the Catalogue) which Walpole remarked 
 was painted in the style of Salvator Rosa , and that 
 there were in the same Exhibition several 
 pictures by different artists, from Beynolds’s 
 beggar man. 
 
 The Banished Lord, in the National Gallery, 
 and Dionysius, the Areopagite, in the possession 
 of Mr. Bentley, were likewise painted from the 
 same model, and it seems very probable that 
 
120 REYNOLDS* DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 
 
 White the paviour, and the old beggar man were 
 identical. 
 
 Besides the names of a considerable number of 
 sitters this year, the pocket book contains notices 
 of three journeys, to the Isle of Wight, in 
 June, to Oxford, in July, and to Devonshire, 
 in September and October. 
 
 His visit to Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight 
 was on the occasion of the King’s going to review 
 the fleet at Spithead, which was a grand sight, 
 and attracted an immense crowd of people. His 
 Majesty left Kew Palace on the 23rd of June, and 
 was received in great state on board the Barfleur , 
 of 90 guns, by Admiral Lord Mount Edgcumbe. 
 
 Sir Joshua made the following memoranda : 
 
 From June 17, to 30. Isle of Wight, Shanklin, Newport, 
 went on board the Ocean. The King in the barge. 
 
 Carisbrook Castle. Sir Rd. Worseley’s. 
 
 Greenway, 5 Mrs. Napier, Major Archer. 
 
 Monday 28, lay at Portsmouth. 
 
 Shortly after his return from this Excursion, 
 Sir Joshua went to Oxford for the purpose of re- 
 ceiving from that University the honorary degree 
 of D.C.L. 
 
 Biarg, wmtimieb. 
 
 July, Tuesday 6th, arrived at Oxford. 
 
 Wednesday, Encenia. 
 
 5 There is a portrait of Miss Green way, of Portsmouth, engraved by 
 Watson, after a picture by Sir Joshua Reynolds. 
 
REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 121 
 
 Thursday, Encenia, Mr. Pitt. 
 
 9th, Friday, ditto, I received Doctors’ degree. 
 
 Saturday 10, Newnham. 
 
 Sunday 11, Blenheim. 
 
 12tb, Monday, dined with Dr. Noel, at St. Mary’s Hall. 
 
 „ Evening arrived at Wickham. 
 
 13th, Tuesday, dined and lay at Gregories. 
 
 14th, Wednesday, arrived in London, by 9 o’Clock. 
 
 Sir Joshua was admitted to this honorary dis- 
 tinction at the installation of Lord North, (after- 
 wards Earl of Guildford), as Chancellor of the 
 University ; and Northcote remarks that Reynolds 
 and Dr. Beattie were the only two out of fifteen 
 persons who were distinguished by an encomium 
 from Dr. Vansittart, the Professor of Civil Law, 
 whose duty it was to present the graduates to the 
 Chancellor, and that they alone received any 
 marks of applause in the Theatre. 
 
 In September, Sir Joshua again paid a visit to 
 his native county, and stopped for a few days at 
 Bath, where he met Mr. Parker, (afterwards Lord 
 Boringdon) ; he was entertained at dinner in the 
 Guildhall, and the following night witnessed the 
 performance of Henderson at the Bath Theatre. 
 
 §iarg, tonfuturfr. 
 
 Thursday at 11, set out from Bath, dined at Bristol with the 
 Bishop, lay at Cross. 
 
 Friday, dined at Escot. 
 
 25th, Sat., Mr. Mudge. 
 
 26th, Sunday, Mr. Bastard. 
 
 27, Monday, at 3, Ourry. 
 
 Q 
 
122 REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 
 
 28, Tuesday, Mount Edgcumbe. 
 
 29, Wednesday, at 4, Port Eliot. 
 
 30, Thursday, Edgcumbe. 
 
 Oct. 1, Friday. 
 
 2, Saturday, Mr. Bastard. 
 
 3, Sunday, Mr. Haywood. 
 
 4, Monday, Plimpton, to be sworn Mayor. 
 
 5, Tuesday, 4, sat out for Torrington, lay at Tavistokc. 
 
 This visit to Plymouth, and the opportunity it 
 afforded him of once more associating with his 
 old and valued friends, must have been a source 
 of peculiar gratification to Sir Joshua, but more 
 especially when he revisited the place of his 
 nativity, and beheld again those scenes amidst 
 which he had passed the happy period of boyhood. 
 His pleasure was also greatly heightened by the 
 honour of being elected Mayor of Plympton. So 
 strongly was he attached to the place of his birth, 
 says Northcote, that he declared the circumstance 
 of his being elected Alderman and Mayor of his 
 native town, gave him more pleasure than any 
 other honour he had received during his life. 
 
Reynolds’ diary, from 1755 to 1790. 123 
 
 Northcote also relates the following anecdote: 
 
 It happened that as he was walking with a party of friends in 
 Richmond Gardens, they suddenly and unexpectedly met the King, 
 accompanied by some of the Royal Family ; and as his Majesty 
 saw him, it was impossible to withdraw. The King, however, called 
 Sir Joshua to him, and entering into conversation said that he 
 was informed of the office he was soon to be invested with, that 
 of Mayor of his native town. Sir Joshua was naturally astonished 
 that so inconsiderable a circumstance should have come so quickly 
 to the knowledge of the King ; he assured his Majesty of its truth, 
 saying that it was an honour which gave him more pleasure than 
 any other he had ever received in his life, but recollecting himself, 
 he immediately added, “ Except that which your Majesty was 
 graciously pleased to confer upon me,” alluding to his knighthood . 6 
 
 Sir Joshua further testified his gratification on 
 this occasion by presenting his portrait to the 
 Corporation, who placed it in the Town Hall. 
 Northcote says — “ It is a good picture with a 
 light sky back ground, and in his academical 
 dress, as Doctor of Laws but the former part of 
 this description is erroneous, as the picture has a 
 dark olive back ground. I have been informed 
 that it was slightly painted, and sent off in such a 
 hurry, that the colours being scarcely dry the 
 picture received some damage from the dust and 
 dirt, which penetrated into the case. 
 
 6 Sir Joshua commemorated the fact of his having been Mayor of 
 Plympton in a Latin inscription, which he inserted on the back of his 
 own Portrait, painted for the Grand Duke’s Gallery, at Florence, in the 
 following terms : — 
 
 Nec non oppidi natalis, dicti Plimpton, Comitatu Devon prsefectus, 
 Justiciarius, morumque censor. 
 
 This portrait has been engraved in mezzotinto by Chas. Townley. 
 
124 Reynolds’ diary, from 1755 to 1790. 
 
 In Reynolds’s private notes we find the follow- 
 ing description of the process used in painting 
 this portrait : 
 
 “My own picture sent to Plympton. Cera poi verniciato senza 
 olio; 7 colori, cologne earth, vermilion, and white and blue, on a 
 common colourman’s cloth, first varnished over with copal 
 varnish.” 
 
 Haydon remarks, “ On reading this, Sir William Beechey has 
 written, good heavens ! But when Wilkie and I saw this 
 picture at Plympton in 1809, it was in perfect preservation. 
 The Corporation have since sold it. It was offered to the 
 National Gallery and ignorantly refused.” 8 
 
 In reference to this portrait Haydon also says, 
 that Sir William Elford, with whom he was dining 
 at Bickham, told him the following anecdote : 
 “When Reynolds had finished his picture for 
 Plympton, he wrote to Sir William requesting 
 him to have it hung in a good situation ; this Sir 
 William attended to, by having it placed between 
 two old pictures, which in his reply to Sir Joshua 
 he observed, acted as a foil, and set it off to great 
 advantage. Reynolds was highly diverted, as 
 these very pictures were two early ones of his 
 own painting.” 
 
 The pictures here alluded to are portraits of 
 two naval officers, painted before Sir Joshua went 
 to Italy. 
 
 One of them being Paul Henry Ourry, Commis- 
 
 7 “ Senza olio,” is equivalent to “ with varnish only.” — Eastlake. 
 
 • Haydon’s Autobiography. 
 
REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 125 
 
 sioner of Plymouth Dockyard, and M.P., for Plymp- 
 tonin 1780, now in the possession of E. Mon- 
 tagu Parker, Esq., of Whiteway. The other 
 Captain, afterwards George Lord Edgcumbe, and 
 First Earl of Mount Edgcumbe, now in the pos 
 session of D. Boger, Esq., of Woolsdon. 9 
 
 The first mentioned picture, represents the 
 gallant Captain, (who was an intimate friend of 
 Reynolds) in naval uniform, with a laced cocked 
 hat under his arm, and attended by a black boy. 
 It was painted by Sir Joshua for the Corporation 
 of Plympton, probably one of his earliest pictures, 
 and I am informed by Mr. H. H. Treby that the 
 price paid for it was only four guineas including 
 the frame — an extraordinary small sum, but my 
 informant, being a member of the Corporation, is 
 no doubt correct as to the fact. The portrait of 
 Jersey, the black boy, was thought to be extremely 
 well painted, and Wilkie, who visited Plympton 
 in 1809, says that this picture and that of Captain 
 Edgcumbe, both in the mayoralty room adjoining 
 the Guildhall, were for composition as fine as 
 anything Sir Joshua ever did afterwards. 1 
 
 It is much to be regretted that soon after the 
 disfranchisement of the borough of Plympton, this 
 
 9 A repetition in the possession of H. H. Treby, Esq. 
 
 1 See Cunningham’s Life of Wilkie. 
 
 This portrait of Capt. Ourry, with the black hoy, is engraved by S. W. 
 Reynolds, but the plate is erroneously inscribed Richard Lord 
 Edgcumbe. 
 
126 Reynolds’ diary, from 1755 to 1790. 
 
 portrait of Sir Joshua Reynolds, was sold by the 
 Corporation. It was purchased by George, 5th 
 Earl of Egremont, for the sum of £150, and re- 
 moved to his Lordship’s seat at Silverton, near 
 Exeter. 2 
 
 It appears that Sir Joshua painted another very 
 similar portrait, of himself, at the time he was 
 engaged on this for Plympton, which he gave to 
 his pupil Northcote. It is mentioned in his pri- 
 vate memorandum book : 
 
 My own, painted at the same time on a raw cloth, ditto. 
 
 A portrait of Sir Joshua, described in the sale catalogue, as 
 having been painted for his pupil Northcote, was sold in 1816, 
 at Christie and Manson’s, for £56 14s. (Mr. Hughes’s sale). It 
 was engraved by S. W. Reynolds, and has the light sky back 
 ground which is attributed by Northcote to the Plympton picture. 
 
 1774. 
 
 To the sixth Exhibition of the Royal Academy 
 in 1774, Sir Joshua sent no less than thirteen 
 pictures, six of which were whole length portraits, 
 nevertheless Horace Walpole considered it a very 
 indifferent one : although it contained the large 
 picture of 
 
 Three ladies adorning a Term of Hymen, (now in the National 
 Gallery) ; and portraits of the Duchess of Gloucester ; The 
 Princess Sophia ; Mrs. Tollemache, as Miranda in the Tempest ; 
 Dr. Beattie ; Mr. Baretti ; and a portrait of a young gentleman, 
 the Son of Lord Edgcumbe, which Walpole admits was excellent. 
 
 2 There are several copies of this picture at Flympton, the best of 
 which have been painted by Miss Jones, sister of the Rev. J. C. Jones, 
 D.D., Rector of Exeter College, Oxford. 
 
Reynolds’ diary, from 1755 to 1790. 127 
 
 The President, in 1775, contributed twelve 
 pictures, among which were the following por- 
 traits : 
 
 Charlotte Walpole, Countess of Dysart, whole length . 3 
 
 Lord Ferrers, son of Lord Townshend. 
 
 Mrs. Sheridan , 4 (Maria Linley), as St. Cecilia, which Walpole 
 characterized as simple and beautiful. 
 
 Dr. Robinson, half length . 
 
 The Duke of Leinster. 
 
 Duchess of Gordon. 
 
 A Gentleman, three-quarters , very good. 
 
 A Beggar Boy and his Sister, one of his best works, strongly 
 coloured. 
 
 1775. 
 
 The pre-eminence of Sir Joshua Reynolds as a 
 painter, notwithstanding the amiability of his tem- 
 per, and general suavity of manner, subjected him 
 to occasional annoyance from the jealousy and 
 malevolence of his rivals. Nathaniel Hone, who 
 had been a fashionable miniature painter, com- 
 menced oil painting about this time, on a large 
 scale ; but in that branch of the art he was not so 
 successful. He found that Reynolds monopolised 
 the chief patronage, and through envy or pique 
 he sent to the Annual Exhibition of the Academy, 
 a picture which he termed the “ Conjurer,” 
 
 3 Charlotte Walpole, third daughter of Sir Edward Walpole, K.B., by 
 Mary Clement, married Lionel, 4th Earl of Dysart. 
 
 4 This exquisite portrait is now in the collection at Bowood, it was 
 purchased after Sheridan’s death by the Marquis of Lansdowne, for £600. 
 The colouring, says Mrs. Jameson, is quite Venetian in its mingled 
 sobriety and richness. 
 
128 REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 
 
 intended as a satire upon Sir Joshua’s method of 
 composing his pictures. It was, of course, rejected 
 by the Academicians with becoming scorn, as a 
 malicious attack upon their President. And Mr. 
 Hone, like other disappointed men, determined to 
 appeal to the public by an Exhibition of his own in 
 1775. Besides the attack upon Sir Joshua, there 
 was also some indelicacy introduced in the centre 
 of the Picture, which, however, was afterwards 
 painted out, in allusion to a slanderous report, con- 
 cerning Angelica Kauffman ; Hone denied that he 
 had introduced, or ever intended to introduce, any 
 figure reflecting upon that lady, and printed, 
 with his catalogue, a short statement of facts, and 
 a letter of explanation to Angelica Kauffman ; 
 Mr. Hone’s denials and explanations, do not 
 seem to have been satisfactory to his brother 
 Artists, as Nollekens thus honestly rebuked him : 
 
 I suppose you are come to get me to join you in the 
 Academy to-night, against Sir Joshua, but you’re very much 
 mistaken ; and I can tell you more, I never will join you 
 in anything you propose ; you’re always running your rigs 
 against Sir Joshua ; and you may say what you please, but I have 
 never had any opinion of you ever since you painted that picture 
 of the Conjurer, as you called it. I don’t wonder they turned it 
 out of the Academy. And pray, what business had you to bring 
 Angelica into it ? You know it was your intention to ridicule her, 
 whatever you, or your printed papers, and your affidavits may 
 say, however, you may depend upon it, she won’t forget it, if 
 Sir Joshua does.” 5 
 
 5 Smith’s Life of Nollekens, vol. 1. p. 132. 
 
REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 129 
 
 1776. 
 
 This year Sir J. Reynolds again sent to the 
 Exhibition thirteen pictures, four of which were 
 whole lengths, namely : 
 
 The Duchess of Devonshire. 
 
 Mrs. Lloyd 5 inscribing her name on the bark of a tree. 
 
 Lord Althorpe, in the style of Vandyke. 
 
 Omiah. 
 
 Lord Temple, a half length , 6 which Walpole says is the finest 
 portrait he ever painted, 
 
 Mrs. Robinson, half length. 
 
 Master Crewe, as Henry the Eighth, and 
 
 Three-quarter portraits of David Garrick and the Duke of 
 Devonshire. 
 
 1777. 
 
 On Tuesday, January 7th, Sir Joshua, after 
 dining with Mr. Montagu, attended the Council 
 of the Royal Academy; and the following day, at 
 four, dined with Lord Edgcumbe. 
 
 On the 9th, Club ; to propose Dr. Warton. 
 
 Dr. Johnson, writing to Boswell this year, says: 
 
 Our club ended its session about six weeks ago. We now only 
 meet to dine once a fortnight. Mr. Dunning, the great lawyer, 
 is one of our members. The Thrales are well. 
 
 5 This Lady afterwards married F. L. Beekford, Esq., of Basing 
 Park, Hants, cousin of the late Mr. Beekford, of Fonthill Abbey. 
 
 6 This picture formed Lot 341 of the Stowe Sale in 1848, and was thus 
 described in the Catalogue: — “Richard Grenville, Earl Temple, in 
 robes of the Garter, half length, by Sir Joshua Reynolds; a remarkably 
 fine picture in his best style, and which would have occasioned a very 
 active competition, but on arriving at this point Mr. Manson announced 
 that this as well as three or four other portraits, would be withdrawn 
 for the family. 
 
130 REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 
 
 Xltarg, tunfimteb. 
 
 January 13th, at 9, Boy with a net ; at 7, Lecture. 
 
 „ 14th, at 9, Shepherd-boy ; at 7, Mrs. Dunbar. 
 
 „ 16 th, at 4, Mr. Flood ; at 7, Mrs. Broadhead. 
 
 „ 26th, Sunday, at 8, Mrs. Vesey. 
 
 February 7th, at 4, Mr. Mudge at home. 
 
 „ 8th, at 4, British Coffee-house. 
 
 „ 10th, at 4, Lord Edgcumbe ; at 7, Lecture. 
 
 „ 11th, at 7, Academy, to elect an Academician. 
 
 March Boy and Mother, several times. 
 
 „ 25th, at 8, Council and supper. 
 
 April 19th, at 4, Mr. Thrale. 
 
 May 21st, at 4, Mrs. Horneck. 
 
 „ 22nd, at 8, Mrs. Gwatkin. 7 * 
 
 In the month of July, this year, Sir Joshua 
 painted the fine Rembrandt-like portrait of Mr. 
 Charles Rogers, 9 which is in my own possession. 
 Eight sittings are recorded in the pocket-book, 
 and always at five o’clock in the afternoon. It is 
 in excellent condition and has never been in the 
 hands of a picture cleaner. 
 
 On the 13th of August Sir Joshua went to 
 Blenheim, and returned to London on the 4th of 
 September. 
 
 7 Miss Theophila Palmer, Sir Joshua’s niece, recently married to 
 Robert Lovel Gwatkin, Esq., being then in her 20th year — a very 
 beautiful portrait of this lady, painted by Sir Joshua on her marriage, 
 is now in the possession of her daughter, Miss Gwatkin, of Princess 
 Square, Plymouth. It was probably painted in this year as there is an 
 
 engraving from it by J. R. Smith, dated 1777. The flesh tints are very 
 delicate and carefully painted, but the drapery being loaded with colour 
 is much cracked. 
 
 s This picture was exhibited at the British Institution in 1855. 
 
REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 131 
 
 gtarg, tonthrarib 
 
 October 13th, at 9, Girls. 
 
 „ 14th, at 9, Miss Angelica (Kauffman). 
 
 „ 15th, at 9, Girls. 
 
 „ 18th, at 4, St. Lukes. 
 
 December, Mr. Hickey. 
 
 „ Mrs. Horneck. 
 
 We find very frequent entries in this and the 
 following year of engagements, at eight and nine 
 o’clock, to the evening parties of Lady Cunliffe, 
 Mrs. Vesey, Mrs. Montagu, and other Ladies of 
 fashion, whose houses were then open to all persons 
 distinguished for taste and the refinement of their 
 manners. So much was Reynolds in request, 
 that the Hon. Topham Beauclerk complained of 
 his desertion of the club. He says in a letter 
 to Lord Charlmont : 
 
 Our club has dwindled to nothing ; Sir Joshua and Goldsmith 
 have got into such a round of pleasure that they have no time. 
 
 Sir Joshua was intimate with a family from 
 Devonshire of the name of Horneck, and intro- 
 duced Goldsmith to them. Mrs . Horneck at home, 
 May 2 1st, has doubtless reference to one of those 
 agreeable parties which were enlivened by the 
 sprightly sallies of Goldsmith and the graceful 
 conversation of Reynolds. This lady 9 was the 
 
 9 There are two prints from portraits of Mrs. Horneck by Sir J. 
 Reynolds ; one represents her sitting with her left hand to her face, 
 leaning on a book, engraved by Me. Ardell. Another is inscribed “ The 
 Plymouth Beauty.” 
 
132 REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 
 
 widow of Captain Kane Homeck, and had two 
 remarkably handsome daughters. Catherine, the 
 eldest, was familiarly known by the name of 
 “ Little Comedy,” and married H. W. Bunbury, 
 Esq., celebrated for the humorous productions of 
 his pencil, the second son of Sir Wm, Bunbury, 
 of Barton Hall, Suffolk. Mary, the youngest 
 daughter, was Goldsmith’s “Jessamy Bride,” for 
 whom he is supposed to have entertained a 
 tender affection ; and it is said that on Goldsmith’s 
 death she caused the lid of the coffin to be un- 
 screwed, in order that she might possess a lock 
 of his hair. 1 
 
 Her portrait by Sir J. Reynolds is at Barton 
 Hall, the seat of Sir H. Bunbury, with others of 
 the same family, and was exhibited at the British 
 Institution in 1855. It is most carefully painted, 
 especially the face and hands ; the white drapery 
 has now a yellowish tone, and from being loaded 
 with colour rather a hard and rocky appearance. 
 
 His diary at this time shows how much Sir 
 Joshua entered into the society of the fashionable 
 world, and how constantly he was engaged. It 
 seems as if the saloons of the rich, the gay, and 
 the learned were not considered complete without 
 his presence ; and surely the ambition of the 
 
 1 This Lady afterwards married General Gwynn, and died in 1840 at 
 the advanced age of 88. Northcote says, she retained much of her 
 beauty even to the last. — See Hazlitt’s Conversations of Northcote , y.94. 
 See also Lord John Russell's Life of Moore , vol. 6,jp. 115. 
 
REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 133 
 
 schoolmaster’s son — the desire of distinction which 
 shewed itself so early in life — must have been 
 amply gratified at this period of his career. 
 
 It would be tedious to enumerate all the 
 engagements we find entered in the pocket-books — 
 not unfrequently two parties in the same evening ; 
 a few extracts will suffice : 
 
 < Extxzrts from % giarg 
 
 1780. 
 
 February 1st, at 5, Turk’s Head ; 9, at home. 
 
 „ 3rd, at 4, Devonshire Club ; 8, Lady Lucan. 
 
 „ 4th, at 5, Mr. Parker. 
 
 ,, 6th, Sunday, Dilettanti. 
 
 „ 8th, at 8, Mrs. Thrale. 
 
 „ 11th, at 8, Boswell. 
 
 „ 14th, at 4, Devonshire Club. 
 
 „ 17th, at 5, Duke of Rutland ; 8, Mrs. Pitt. 
 
 „ 20th, Sunday, at 5, Mr. Sheridan. 
 
 „ 26th, at 5, Bishop of Chester. 
 
 Again, in 1787 we find the following list of 
 engagements during four months in the year : 
 
 Jltarg, tmtltmub. 
 
 .January 1st, at 5, Mr. Hodgkinson. 
 
 „ 2nd, at 5, Mr. Hely Hutchinson. 
 
 „ 5th, at 8, Mr. Pole Carew. 
 
 „ 7th, Sunday, at 5, Mr. Metcalf ; 8, Mrs. Vesey. 2 
 
 2 Mrs. Vesey was an Irish lady, the wife of the Right Honourable 
 Agmondisham Vesey, whose ambition was to unite the fashionable and 
 literary world at her evening assemblies in Bolton Row and Clarges 
 Street. She was the beloved friend of Mrs. Montagu and Mrs. Carter, 
 in whose correspondence she is called “ the Sylph.” — CroJcer. 
 
134 REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 
 
 Janry. 8th, 
 „ 11th, 
 
 „ 12 th, 
 
 13th, 
 14th, 
 17th, 
 31st, 
 Febry. 1st, 
 6th, 
 7th, 
 9 th, 
 18th, 
 25 th, 
 March 5 th, 
 7th, 
 8th, 
 10th, 
 15th, 
 16th, 
 17th, 
 19th, 
 28th, 
 
 April 2nd, 
 
 „ 3rd, 
 
 „ 7th, 
 
 „ 14th, 
 
 „ 15th, 
 
 „ 29 th, 
 
 Lecture. 
 
 Council and Evening. 
 
 at home, Mr. Warton, Mr. Erskine. 
 
 at 5, Sir Joseph Banks. 
 
 Sunday, at 5, Lord Mount Edgcumbe. 
 
 at 5, Mr. Malone ; 8, Lady Lucan. 3 
 
 at 5, Sir J. D’Oyley ; 4 9, Lady Lucan. 
 
 at 5, Alderman Boydell. 
 
 at 8, Lady Ashburton. 
 
 at 5, Shakespeare. 
 
 at 5, Boswell ; 9, Lady Salisbury. 
 
 Sunday, at 5, Lord Macartney, 
 at 5, Mr. Burke, 
 at 5, Sir George Beaumont, 
 at 5, Lord Somers, 
 at 5, Lord Ossory. 
 
 at 5, Lord St. Asaph ; 9, Lady Cunliffe. 
 at home ; Mr. Burke, Dr. Kitog, Mr. Hunter, 
 at 8, Lady D’Oyley ; 9, Mrs. Walsingham. 
 at 5, Lord Aylesford ; 8, Mrs. Bastard, 
 at home ; Hastings, &c. 
 
 at 9, Mrs. Hastings, Lord Somers, and Mrs. 
 Siddons. 
 
 at 5, Mrs. Siddons ; 9, Mrs. Angerstein. 
 at 8, Mrs. Somers Cocks ; 9, Lady Harcourt. ** 
 at 5, Sir H. Englefield ; 9, Lady Harrington, 
 at 4, Boswell ; 6|, Play. 
 
 Sunday, 5, Colonel Fullerton. 
 
 Sunday, Lord Boringdon ; 8, Lord Ossory. 
 
 To the ninth Exhibition, in 1777, the President 
 sent the portraits of 
 
 3 Lady Lucan was daughter and co-heiress of James Smith, Esq. She 
 married in 1769, Sir Charles Bingham, afterwards Earl of Lucan. In 
 1781, her daughter Lavinia, married John, Earl Spencer. 
 
 4 Sir John and Lady D’Oyley were intimate friends of the Palmers. 
 
REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 135 
 
 Lady Frances Masham, Lady Derby, Lady Bamfielde, (whole 
 lengths). 
 
 Duke of Bedford, as St. George, with Miss Caroline Vernon, 
 as Sabrina, Mr. "Walpole says the picture is at Mr. Rigby's at 
 Mistley , in Essex. 
 
 Lady Caroline Montagu, daughter of Charles, the fourth Duke 
 of Buccleugh, in the Snow. 
 
 The Fortune-teller. — Horace Walpole remarks that the girl is 
 too burlesque , 5 
 
 A boy reading, which he says is very fine , in the style of Titian. 
 
 1778. 
 
 Sir Joshua sent to the Exhibition this year his 
 large picture of the Marlborough family, (upon 
 which Mr. Walpole makes this observation: 
 the colouring is flat and had , and killed by a red 
 velvet curtain). And the following portraits, a 
 half length of Dr. Markham, Archbishop of 
 York, (now in Christ Church Hall, Oxford), 
 and two whole lengths of a lady and a gentleman, 
 the latter being the portrait of a Mr. Campbell, 
 with a dog, which Walpole has marked admirable. 
 
 5 The Gipsy Fortune-teller in the possession of Earl Amherst, at 
 Knowle ; a repetition of this picture was purchased at the sale of the 
 Marchioness of Thomond’s pictures, in 1821, by Colonel Fulk Greyilb 
 Howard, for £252. 
 
CHAPTER Y. 
 
 fofratts from lire Jliarg 
 
 1779 . 
 
 It does not appear that Reynolds received more 
 than forty or fifty sitters this year. In the early 
 part of the year we find the names of 
 
REYNOLDS’ DIARY", FROM 1755 TO 1790. 137 
 
 Mr. Banks, (afterwards Sir Joseph); Lady Louisa Mann; Miss 
 and Master Parker. 
 
 Mr. Humphrey ; Lady Jane Halliday, (sister of the Earl 
 of Dysert), Lady Elizabeth Strange, Lady Beaumont, and Mrs. 
 Hale, (probably the wife of Lieut. Colonel Hale, who brought 
 home the news of the conquest of Quebec). 
 
 Lord Camden, Duke of Marlborough, Lord Granby. 
 
 The pleasing picture of Lord Boringdon’s chil- 
 dren, Miss and Master Parker, seems to have 
 been painted con-amor e by Sir Joshua. The 
 following extract from a letter dated April 14, 
 1779, from the Hon. Anne Robinson to her 
 brother Lord Grantham, (then our Ambassador 
 to the Court of Spain), expresses his own opinion 
 of it: “You cannot imagine how much the 
 picture of the children improves ; Sir Joshua said 
 yesterday that the boy’s head was the finest he 
 had ever done.” 7 
 
 Sir Joshua painted two whole length portraits 
 of the Marquis of Granby, one of which was 
 destroyed by fire at Bel voir Castle. 
 
 Jlhrqr, tonfimulL 
 
 Wednesday, April 7, at home, Dr. Johnson. 
 
 Boswell has described this dinner at Sir J oshua 
 Reynolds’s, and tells us that Johnson harangued 
 upon the qualities of different liquors and spoke 
 
 7 Catalogue of the Pictures at Sal tram. 
 
 S 
 
138 REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 
 
 with great contempt of claret ; which he was with 
 difficulty prevailed upon to taste. 
 
 On Saturday 24th, Boswell says : “ I dined with 
 him (Johnson) again at Mr. Beauclerk’s; there 
 were present Sir Joshua Reynolds, Mr. Jones 
 (afterwards Sir William), Mr. Langton, Mr. Ste- 
 vens, Mr. Paradise, and Dr. Higgins.” 8 
 
 Tuesday 20, Academy dinner. 
 
 Thursday 22, the King at the Exhibition. 
 
 To this Exhibition Sir Joshua sent his picture 
 of the Nativity, designed for the window of 
 New College Chapel, Oxford, and emblematical 
 figures of Faith, Hope, and Charity. The grand 
 piece of the Nativity was immediately purchased 
 by the Duke of Rutland; and Mr. Joseph Hill 
 in a letter, dated June, 1792, addressed to Mr. 
 Malone about some pecuniary affairs between the 
 Duke and Sir Joshua Reynolds, says : 
 
 The sum paid for the Nativity was 1,200 guineas, and I 
 remember the Duke of Rutland saying, Sir Joshua desired to have 
 that sum as it was a larger price than was ever paid before for 
 a picture painted in England. 
 
 This fine work of art was unfortunately des- 
 troyed by fire at Belvoir Castle. 
 
 The three emblematical designs exhibited this 
 year, were subsequently purchased by the Earl of 
 
 8 Croker’s Edition of Boswell’s Life of Johnson, p. 269. 
 
REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 139 
 
 Normanton, at the Sale of Lady Thomond’s pic- 
 tures for the sum of 2,550 guineas, although 
 Horace Walpole considered them at the time, 
 very middling , 9 
 
 As a proof of the rapid increase in the value 
 of Sir Joshua’s works it may he here remarked 
 that the seven allegorical figures and other com- 
 partments of the Oxford window, which, (it is 
 said), were offered to a nobleman for £300, were 
 sold after Reynolds’s death for upwards of 
 £ 12 , 000 . 
 
 The King and Queen honoured Reynolds by 
 sitting for their portraits this year, at his particu- 
 lar request, for the Council room of the Royal 
 Academy. His Majesty who was an early riser, 
 sat at 10 o’clock in the morning. 
 
 Friday, May 21, at 10, the King. 
 
 The Queen’s name does not occur until Decem- 
 ber. These were, I believe, the only portraits of 
 their Majesties painted by Reynolds; he was 
 never the court painter, nor were his pictures 
 much admired by George the III., who being 
 near-sighted, and consequently obliged to look 
 close at them, said they appeared to be rough 
 and unfinished. 
 
 This unfinished look which some of Reynolds’s 
 pictures had when they were first sent home caused 
 
 9 Walpole’s Catalogue in the possession of Mr. Sheepshanks. 
 
140 Reynolds’ diary, from 1755 to 1790. 
 
 occasional disappointment; and it is said that 
 Lord Holland when he received his portrait, 
 could not help remarking that it had been hastily 
 executed; and making some demur about the 
 price, asked Eeynolds how long he had been 
 painting it, the offended artist replied, “ All my 
 life, my Lord.” 1 
 
 After dining with Mr. Beauclerk on the 24th 
 of April, as before mentioned, Sir Joshua took 
 Johnson and Boswell home in his coach, where 
 they spent the evening with Miss Eeynolds. 
 This lady was an especial favourite of Dr. John- 
 son, and presided during the early part of his 
 career over her brother’s household. She doubt- 
 less gained much of Johnson’s good will by her 
 indulgence of his extraordinary predilection for 
 tea; which, Northcote says, was so remarkable 
 that once at Mr. Cumberland’s, Sir Joshua re- 
 minded him that he had drunk eleven cups — 
 “ Sir,” said Johnson, “ I did not count your 
 glasses of wine, why then should you number up 
 my cups of tea.” The impromptu verses made 
 by Dr. Johnson at Miss Eeynolds’s tea table in 
 imitation of Dr. Percy’s ancient ballads, are well 
 known : 
 
 Oh ! hear it then, my Renny dear, 
 
 Nor hear it with a frown. 
 
 You cannot make the tea so fast, 
 
 As I can gulp it down. 
 
 1 Northcote’s M.S. in the Plymouth Library. 
 


REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 141 
 
 Frances Reynolds, 2 Sir Joshua’s youngest sister, 
 lived to the advanced age of eighty years, and 
 died in 1807, at her house in Queen Street, 
 Westminster, on the 1st of November. 
 
 Miss Reynolds, we are told, was held in such 
 esteem by Dr. Johnson, that he once exclaimed 
 at Mr. Thrale’s, when the company were specu- 
 lating upon a microscope for the mind, “ I 
 never saw one that could bear it, except that of 
 my dear Miss Reynolds, and her’s is very near to 
 purity itself;” and Northcote relates the following 
 anecdote when Miss Linley (afterwards Mrs. She- 
 ridan) was in the highest repute as a public singer, 
 Dr. Johnson came one evening to drink tea with 
 Miss Reynolds; and when he entered the room, 
 she said to him : “ See, Dr. J ohnson what a pre- 
 ference I give to your company: for I had an 
 offer of a box to hear Miss Linley, but I would 
 rather sit with you, than hear her sing.” “ And 
 I, madam,” replied Johnson “ would rather sit 
 with you than upon a throne.” He would not be 
 surpassed even in a trifling compliment. 
 
 Miss Reynolds was the authoress of a small 
 pamphlet in octavo, of 50 pp., entitled “ An En- 
 quiry CONCERNING THE PRINCIPLES OF TASTE AND 
 
 the Origin of our Ideas of Beauty,” 3 which 
 
 4 A portrait of this lady, painted by her brother, before he went to 
 Italy, which was formerly in the possession of the Dean of Cashel, is 
 now in the Cottonian Library, at Plymouth. 
 
 3 It was printed by Baker and Galabin, for private circulation only, 
 in 1784. 
 
142 REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 
 
 she dedicated to her esteemed friend Mrs. Mon- 
 tague. 
 
 Dr. Johnson was consulted about its publication, 
 and wrote the following complimentary letter to 
 Miss Reynolds on the subject. 
 
 Dearest Madam, 
 
 There are in those few pages, or remarks, such depth of pene- 
 tration, such nicety of observation, as Locke or Pascal might be 
 proud of. This I desire you to believe is my real opinion. 
 However it cannot be published in its present state. Many of 
 your notions seem not to be very clear in your own mind, many 
 are not sufficiently developed and expanded for the common 
 reader. It wants everywhere to be made plainer and smoother. 
 You may by revisal make it a very elegant and curious work. 
 
 I am, my dearest dear, 
 
 Your affectionate and obedient Servant, 
 
 SAMUEL JOHNSON. 
 
 Bolt Court, June 28, 1781, 
 
 Addressed to Miss Frances Reynolds. 
 
 Miss Reynolds likewise printed in 1790, a 
 Pamphlet, entitled “ A Melancholy Tale; Dark 
 Sentences and a Vision,” in verse, from which 
 Northcote has published extracts. 
 
 Dr. Johnson in a letter to Miss Reynolds, dated 
 June 16th, 1780, says in reference to these verses: 
 
 Do not, my love, burn your papers. I have mended little, but 
 some bad rhymes ; I thought them very pretty, and was much 
 moved in reading them. The red ink is only lake and gum, and 
 with a moist sponge will be easily washed off. 
 
 Dr. Johnson writing to Bennet Langton, says : 
 
Reynolds’ diary, from 1755 to 1790. 143 
 
 54 Reynolds has this day (January 9th,) raised his 
 price to twenty guineas for a head, and Miss is 
 much employed in miniatures.” 
 
 She also painted for her amusement in oil ; 
 and Northcote admits she executed many por- 
 traits 44 with great likeness and taste although 
 he often speaks disparagingly of her performances, 
 both in his Life of Reynolds, and in his Con- 
 versations with Hazlitt. Boswell tells us that 
 Mrs. Montague sat to Miss Reynolds in 1778, 
 and a portrait of Miss Mary Mudge by the same 
 Lady was sold at North cote’s sale in 1836. 
 
 The portrait of Hoole, the translator of Tasso, 
 was also painted by Miss Reynolds, at the time 
 when she was lodging at his house in Leicester 
 Square, this portrait was engraved by Anker 
 Smith for the translation of the Rinaldo, printed 
 by Dodsley in 1792, and was considered a good 
 likeness. She objected to have her name in- 
 scribed upon the plate, because as she writes 
 to her cousin William Johnson, of Calcutta, 
 44 I thought it would have the appearance of 
 ostentation, as I do not make a profession of 
 painting.” 
 
 Dr. Johnson himself likewise sat to Miss Rey- 
 nolds, but much as he admired and esteemed 
 the Lady, he did not (according to Northcote) 
 compliment her upon the performance, saying, 
 44 it was Johnson’s grimly ghost,” and as the 
 
144 REYNOLDS* DIARY. FROM 1755 TO 1790. 
 
 % 
 
 picture was to be engraved be recommended, as 
 an appropriate motto, a verse from the popular 
 ballad of William and Margaret. 
 
 A portrait of Dr. Samuel Johnson by Miss Reynolds, three 
 quarter length, life size, was in the possession of Mr. Hatsell, of 
 Cotton Gardens, Westminster . 4 
 
 Dr. Johnson thought portrait painting an im- 
 proper employment for a lady. “ The public 
 practice of any art,” he observed, “ and staring 
 in men’s faces, is very indelicate in a female.” 
 Notwithstanding which, one of the last occupa- 
 tions of Johnson’s life, was to sit for his portrait 
 to Miss Reynolds. 
 
 The following letter dated from Bolt Court, in 
 1780, has reference to this portrait: 
 
 Dead Madam, 
 
 I answer your letter as soon as I can, for I have only just 
 received it. I am very willing to wait on you at all times, and 
 will sit for the picture, and, if it be necessary, will sit again ; for 
 whenever I sit I shall be always with you. 
 
 On the 26th of April, Boswell being unwell, 
 wrote to Dr. Johnson to come and see him, which 
 he did in the evening, and brought Sir Joshua 
 with him. 
 
 During the next three months we find the 
 names of 
 
 Lady Gertrude Fitzpatrick. 
 
 4 Croker’s Edition of Boswell's Life of Johnson. 
 
REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 145 
 
 A charming whole length portrait of a little 
 girl, which was exhibited at the British Insti- 
 tution in 1845. 
 
 Mr. Gibbon, (the historian). 
 
 Gibbon’s portrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds hung 
 over the chimney piece in his house at Lausanne. 
 44 That wonderful portrait,” says Rogers, 44 in 
 which, while the oddness and vulgarity of the 
 features are refined away, the likeness is per- 
 fectly preserved.” 5 
 
 Miss Reynolds remarked, that Sir Joshua never 
 gave a more striking proof of his excellence in 
 portrait painting, than in giving dignity to Dr. 
 Goldsmith’s countenance, and at the same time 
 preserving a strong likeness. To this treatment 
 all Reynolds’s sitters were subjected, so that even 
 the most deficient in grace, came off his easel 
 ladies and gentlemen. 
 
 Admiral Keppel, (whose portrait Sir Joshua painted con 
 amove several times). 
 
 From the following interesting passage in Mr. 
 Burke’s letter to a noble Lord, it will be seen that 
 this picture was presented to him by the Admiral 
 himself at Portsmouth. 
 
 It was but the other day, that I was looking over some fine 
 portraits, most of them of persons now dead, but whose society, 
 
 5 Rogers’ Table Talk. 
 T 
 
146 REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 
 
 in my better days, made this a proud and happy place. Amongst 
 them was the picture of Lord Keppel. It was painted by an 
 artist worthy of the subject, the excellent friend of that excellent 
 man from their earliest youth, and a common friend of us both, 
 with whom we lived for many years without a moment of cold- 
 ness, of peevishness, of jealousy, or of jar, to the day of our 
 final separation. I ever looked upon Lord Keppel as one of the 
 greatest and best men of his age; and I loved and cultivated him 
 accordingly. He was much in my heart, and I believe I was in 
 his to the very last beat. It was at his trial at Portsmouth 
 that he gave me this picture . 
 
 Walpole thus writes to Sir Horace Mann : 
 
 Arlington Street, February 11th, 1779. 
 
 I am only getting ready this letter for to-morrow, when it is 
 to set out with the full triumph of Admiral Keppers acquittal, 
 the news of which is expected in town to night from Ports- 
 mouth. The fronts of several houses are already decorated 
 with lamps, and as soon as the courier arrives, I suppose the 
 whole town will be in a blaze. 
 
 No sooner was it known that Admiral Keppel 
 was fully and honourably acquitted, than a general 
 illumination took place ; and Sir Joshua Reynolds 
 in a letter to the Admiral, says : 
 
 The illuminations were universal, I believe, without the excep- 
 tion of a single house. Lord North, and Lord Bute, had their win- 
 dows broken. The admiralty gates were unhinged ; to night I hear 
 Sir Hugh (Palliser) is to be burnt in effigy before your door. I 
 have taken the liberty to lend your picture to an engraver, to 
 make a print from it. 6 7 
 
 7 The Duke and Duchess of Hamilton ; the Duke of Rutland. 
 
 6 It was engraved by W. Doughty, 1779. 
 
 7 Douglas, 8th Duke of Hamilton, married in 1778, Elizabeth, 
 daughter of Peter Burrell, of Beckenham, Kent. 
 
Reynolds’ diary, from 1755 to 1790. 147 
 
 Dr. Armstrong ; Miss Hickey ; 8 Mr. Mason, (the Poet) ; Mr. 
 ■William Burke ; and Mr. and Mrs. Ourry, (of Plympton, who 
 were intimate friends of Sir Joshua Reynolds, and then living in 
 Wimpole Street). 
 
 In July, August, September, and October, there 
 are very few sitters, but in November and De- 
 cember, we find the following : 
 
 Mr. Macpherson, the (Translator of Ossian) ; Sir John Elliott ; 9 
 the Duke of Marlborough ; Admiral Barrington ; Lord Chatham ; 
 Mrs. Pitt ; 1 Lady Bute ; and Sir Wm. Chambers. 
 
 <£*fratts from % giarg 
 1780. 
 
 January, Monday 3rd, at 4, Mr. Catton. 
 
 Charles Catton, a native of Norwich, was a dis- 
 tinguished coach painter, in London ; he became 
 a member of the Academy in St. Martin’s Lane, 
 where he acquired a knowledge of the human 
 figure, which combined with his natural taste, 
 soon raised him above all others of his profession. 
 At the foundation of the royal Academy, he was 
 appointed one of its members, and in 1784 he 
 served the office of Master of the Company of 
 Painter-Stainers, upon which occasion Sir Joshua 
 Reynolds dined with the Company in their hall 
 
 8 Daughter of Mr. Hickey, an attorney, of whom Goldsmith has given 
 a good humoured sketch in his poem of f< Retaliation.’ ’ 
 
 9 Sir John Elliott, Bart., Physician to the Prince of Wales, died in 
 1786, when the title became extinct. 
 
 1 Mrs. Ann Pitt, frequently mentioned in Walpole’s Correspondence. 
 
148 REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 
 
 on St. Luke’s Day, and invited Boswell to accom- 
 pany him, as we learn from the following note : 
 
 Wednesday, this being St. Luke’s Day the company of Painters 
 dine in their Hall 2 in the City, to which I am invited, and desired 
 to bring any friend with me. As you love to see life in all its 
 modes, if you have a mind to go I will call for you about two 
 o’clock. They dine at half an hour after. 
 
 Your’s, 
 
 J. REYNOLDS. 
 
 James Boswell, Esq. 
 
 Catton was employed by Sir Joshua to paint 
 the panels of his coach, the wheels of which were 
 also carved and gilt ; this circumstance has been 
 mentioned by some of his biographers as an 
 instance of vanity and ostentation ; it is like- 
 wise said that his coachman made money by 
 showing the carriage, this however, may have been 
 done without his master’s knowledge, and I think 
 the charge of vanity can scarcely be sustained, 
 as there was nothing remarkable or singular in 
 his having the panels painted, for coach paint- 
 ing was an honourable profession at that time, 
 and Sir Joshua was perhaps anxious to show 
 
 2 Painter-Stainers Hall was in Little Trinity Lane, on the South Side 
 of Thames Street. These artists formed themselves into a fraternity 
 in the reign of Edward III., but were not incorporated until 1576. 
 They styled themselves Painter-Stainers, their chief work being the 
 staining or painting of glass, illuminating missals, or painting portative 
 and other altars, and occasionally a portrait, as that of Richard II., and 
 of John Talbot, and his wife, preserved at Castle Ashby. — Pennant's 
 London . 
 
REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 149 
 
 his friend Catton’s skill and proficiency in the 
 art. That Reynolds’s carriage was not kept 
 merely for ostentation, but for use, and was fre- 
 quently devoted to the comfort and convenience 
 of his friends, we have an instance mentioned by 
 Boswell ; a party having been invited to dine at 
 Mr. Owen Cambridge’s Villa, at Twickenham, 
 Sir Joshua lent his carriage, and went himself on 
 horseback. 
 
 Sir Joshua now raised his price from thirty to 
 fifty guineas for a head size, which he continued 
 for the remainder of his life. Among the distin- 
 guished persons whose portraits he painted this 
 year, the following are mentioned : 
 
 Prince William, (son of the Duke of Gloucester). 
 
 Duchess of Devonshire, Duchess of Rutland. 
 
 General Oglethorpe , 3 Duke of Dorset. 
 
 Lady Temple ; Lady Waldegrave ; Lady Laura Waldegrave. 
 
 Lord Richard Cavendish. 
 
 In the autumn Sir Joshua paid another visit 
 to his native county. He left London on the 
 25th of August, and after staying a couple of 
 days with his early friend and patron, Admiral 
 
 3 Boswell says, that Dr. Johnson urged General Oglethorpe to give the 
 world his life, saying, “ I know no man whose life would be more 
 interesting, and if I were furnished with the materials, I should be very 
 glad to write it.” His benevolence is celebrated by Pope — 
 
 One, driven by strong benevolence of soul, 
 
 Will fly, like Oglethorpe, from pole to pole. 
 
150 REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 
 
 Keppel, at Bagshot, he slept at Wilton on the 
 28th, at Blanford on the 29th, and arrived at 
 Exeter on the 30th. 
 
 On the 2nd of September he was at Spitchwick, 
 in the forest of Dartmoor, the beautiful residence 
 of John Dunning, Solicitor-General, afterwards 
 Lord Ashburton. 
 
 The following brief memoranda relate to this 
 j ourney : 
 
 September 4th, General Gray, dinner Saltram. 
 
 „ 5th, Saltram. 
 
 „ 10th, Plympton. 
 
 „ 11th, Mr. Bastard. 
 
 „ 14th, Mount Edgcumbe. 
 
 „ 15th, Port Eliot. 
 
 „ 20th, Exeter. 
 
 „ 21st, Salisbury. 
 
 „ 22nd, London. 
 
 From the time of Sir Joshua’s return to Eng- 
 land, says Farington, in 1753 until his death in 
 1792, a period of thirty-nine years, excepting the 
 visits which he paid to the continent, with a view 
 to his improvement in Art, and twice visiting his 
 native county, he was never absent from his paint- 
 ing room for more than a few days at a time: 
 although he occasionally made short visits to his 
 friends, who resided within a moderate distance of 
 the Metropolis. 
 
 The following list of Sir Joshua’s excursions to 
 places at a distance from the Metropolis, during 
 
REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 151 
 
 the period to which Farington alludes, is extracted 
 from the pocket-book : 
 
 In June 
 
 1764 
 
 to Blenheim. 
 
 Aug. 
 
 1770 
 
 York. 
 
 Sep. 
 
 1770 
 
 Devonshire. 
 
 June 
 
 1773 
 
 Portsmouth and Isle of Wight. 
 
 July 
 
 1773 
 
 Oxford. 
 
 Sep. 
 
 1773 
 
 Devonshire. 
 
 Aug. 
 
 1780 
 
 Devonshire. 
 
 June 
 
 1783 
 
 Belvoir Castle, and Lord Harcourt. 
 
 July 
 
 1789 
 
 Earls Court. 
 
 Aug. 
 
 1789 
 
 Brighton, Arundel and Petworth. 
 
 Oct. 
 
 1789 
 
 Beaconsfield. 
 
 Yet this excess of application did not prevent 
 him from maintaining an extensive intercourse 
 with Society, and he may be said to have num- 
 bered among his friends and acquaintance, almost 
 all the celebrated characters of the day ; his 
 house and table, says Northcote, were always open 
 to his friends, with or without invitation. 
 
 It is a remark of Richardson’s that a painter 
 should only frequent the brightest Society ; and 
 Sir Joshua seems to have borne this advice in 
 mind ; he possessed considerable attainments, and 
 was throughout life a most agreeable companion : 
 Johnson, Burke, Garrick, Goldsmith, the two 
 Wartons, Beatie, Mason, Malone, all cultivated 
 and enjoyed his friendship, as well as persons of 
 the highest rank and station, who admired his 
 genius, as much as they respected the excellence 
 of his private character. 
 
152 REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 
 
 The following extracts will show how much 
 Sir Joshua entered at this time into the gay 
 Society of the fashionable world. 
 
 January 20th, 
 „ 28th, 
 
 February 1st, 
 3rd, 
 4th, 
 6 th, 
 8th, 
 11th, 
 14th, 
 15 th, 
 17th, 
 18th, 
 19 th, 
 20th, 
 23rd, 
 26th, 
 30th, 
 4th, 
 
 Siarg, contimufr 
 
 Thursday, 8, 
 
 Friday, 
 
 4, 
 
 » 
 
 » 
 
 a 
 
 99 
 
 99 
 
 99 
 
 9) 
 
 99 
 
 99 
 
 99 
 
 99 
 
 99 
 
 99 
 
 March 
 
 April 
 
 Tuesday, 
 Thursday, 
 Friday, 
 
 Sunday, 
 Tuesday, 
 Friday, 
 Monday, 
 Tuesday, 
 Thursday, 
 Friday, 
 Saturday, 
 Sunday, 
 Wednesday, 4, 
 Saturday, 5, 
 
 4 , 
 
 5 , 
 
 Mrs. Pitt. 
 
 Mr. Gawler; 8, Council and 
 evening. 
 
 Turk’s Head; 9, at home. 
 Devonshire Club; 8, Lady Lucan. 4 
 Mr. Parker. 
 
 Dilettanti. 
 
 Mrs. Thrale. 
 
 Mrs. Boswell. 
 
 Devonshire Club. 
 
 Club. 
 
 Duke of Rutland; 8, Mrs. Pitt. 
 Mrs. Ord; 5 9, Mrs. Boswell. 
 
 Mr. Hoare. 
 
 Mr. Sheridan. 
 
 Mr. Roffee. 
 
 The Bishop of Chester. 
 
 Dr. Johnson. 
 
 Mr. Bastard, 8, Mrs. Vesey. 
 
 Dr. Johnson, writing to Mrs. Thrale at this 
 time says, “ You live in a fine whirl indeed,” 
 but it appears from the Doctor’s own Diary that 
 he was himself a frequent participator in those 
 gay and festive coteries. * 
 
 A Margaret Smith, who married in 1760 the first Lord Lucan, a lady of 
 great taste and talents. — Croker. 
 
 4 This lady, celebrated for her blue stocking parties, was Miss Anne 
 Dillingham, the only daughter of an eminent surgeon : she was early 
 married to Mr. Ord, of Northumberland, who left her a very large for- 
 tune. She died in 1808, at the age of 82. — Croker. 
 
 6 See Croker’s Edition of Boswell’s Life of Johnson. 
 
REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 153 
 
 Sunday, November 3rd, at 10, Mr. Gainsborough. 
 
 Sunday, November 10th, at 10, Mr. Gainsborough. 
 
 Sir Joshua Reynolds sat to Gainsborough for 
 his portrait, but before it was finished he was 
 taken ill and obliged to go to Bath. The paint- 
 ing was never afterwards resumed, although Sir 
 Joshua gave him notice of his recovery and re- 
 turn to London. 
 
 Reynolds once observed that it was impossible for two painters 
 in the same line of art, to live in friendship. Gainsborough dis- 
 liked Reynolds — Reynolds had no good will to Gainsborough ; 
 however, at length they became friends. Gainsborough on his 
 death bed sent for Reynolds, and made atonement for his opposi- 
 tion and dislike ; and Reynolds in his last lecture at the Academy, 
 spoke of his deceased rival with truth, impartiality, and justice. 7 
 
 1781. 
 
 The following extract from a letter written at 
 this time, to his nephew, William Johnson , 8 at 
 Calcutta, is characteristic of Sir Joshua’s style, and 
 shows how deeply he was interested in his 
 nephew’s success. 
 
 It also contains a reference to the picture 
 Reynolds was then engaged in painting for Mr. 
 Warren Hastings, to be sent out to India, and 
 
 7 Cunningham, p. 311. 
 
 8 The eldest son of his sister Elizabeth (Mrs. Johnson, of Torrington) 
 who was Clerk of the Crown at Calcutta. He married in 1787, Theresa 
 daughter of General Tolley, and had issue. — The Rev. Joshua Reynolds 
 Johnson, Vicar of Rattery, and three daughters. 
 
 U 
 
154 REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 
 
 which is now, I believe, in the possession of 
 Captain H. E. Beauchamp, R.N. 
 
 January 17th, 1781. 
 
 1 sincerely rejoice at your success and whatever is 
 
 in my power to promote it you may always command ; I am now 
 drawing a whole length of Mr. Barwell, and his son, for Mr. 
 Hastings, when the picture goes to India, I shall write at the same 
 time in your favour. Mr. Macpherson, who is appointed one of 
 the Supreme Council, has promised me in a very emphatic man- 
 ner, to serve you in whatever you may want his assistance. I 
 have given him your name in writing, and you will of course wait 
 upon him, as soon as he arrives. 
 
 Let me recommend you to make yourself master of the politicks 
 of India of every kind, — with superior knowledge, things fall into 
 your hands, and but little interest is required. I would advise 
 you to learn, at your leisure hours, the Persian language, which 
 would certainly facilitate your progress, and contribute to make 
 you a useful man. To make it people’s interest to advance you, 
 that their business will be better done by you than by any other 
 person, is the only solid foundation of success ; the rest is accident. 
 
 I am, your most affectionate Uncle, 
 
 JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 
 
 My compliments to Sir Robert 9 and Lady Chambers. 1 
 
 Sir Joshua sent twenty-one pictures to the Ex- 
 hibition this year, including the Death of Dido, 
 
 9 Sir Robert Chambers is going a Judge to India. — Boswell's Life of 
 Johnson . 
 
 1 Dr. Johnson writing to Boswell, March 5, 1774, says : 
 
 “ Chambers is either married, or almost married, to Miss Wilton, a girl 
 of 16, exquisitely beautiful.” 
 
 After Sir Robert’s death Lady Chambers returned to England, and died 
 at Brighton in 1839, aged 88. Her daughter married Col. Macdonald, 
 the son of Flora Macdonald. — Croker, p 411. 
 
REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 155 
 
 and the Ladies Waldegrave; they were the 
 following : 
 
 No. 10, Thais. — This, says Horace Walpole, was drawn from 
 a woman of the town , Emily Bertie , and is too masculine, 
 
 A story prejudicial to the character of Reynolds 
 with reference to this picture, was circulated in a 
 contemporary publication called the Earwig ; it is 
 indignantly denied by Northcote, who asserts, from 
 his own knowledge, that Sir Joshua never painted 
 any person of the name of Emily Bertie , and that 
 the whole story is an entire fabrication ; he says, 
 “ the portrait in the character of Thais was 
 painted in 1776, the head only, on a whole length 
 canvass, from a beautiful young girl of the name 
 of Emily Coventry , who accompanied a gentleman 
 to the East Indies, where she died in early life. 
 The picture was not finished until 1781, and then 
 sold to Mr. G , for one hundred guineas.” 
 
 We learn from Mad. D’Arblay’s correspon- 
 dence, that Mr. G , was the Hon. C. Greville. 
 
 Sir Joshua Reynolds is painting a Thais, for which Miss 
 
 Emily a celebrated Courtezan, sat at the desire of the 
 
 Hon. C. Greville. 2 
 
 Malone also informs us the price was one 
 hundred guineas, but that the name of the young 
 lady was Emily Pott, 
 
 3 Memoirs, vol. 2, p. 14. 
 
156 REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 
 
 No. 16. Portrait of Dr. Burney, marked excellent in Mr. 
 Walpole’s catalogue. 
 
 No. 21. Portrait of a Gentleman. — An excellent portrait of 
 himself. — Earwig. 
 
 No. 140. A Nobleman’s Children (the Duke of Rutland’s). — 
 The hoy and dog good, the girl raw . — Walpole. 
 
 Sir Joshua Reynolds is never more successful than in his chil- 
 dren ; it is a sweet group , exquisitely coloured. — Earwig. 
 
 No. 147. A Young Gentleman (Master B unbury). — Charming. 
 
 No. 160. The Death of Dido. — Her head fine. — Walpole. 
 
 This picture from the high rank the artist most deservedly holds , 
 calls for a criticism , and one , we think , more severe than any of his 
 pictures have ever merited. The composition , the lights and 
 shadows are confused, and convey a French fluttering idea; the ex- 
 tended aims of the sister rant upon the canvass, and rob the pic- 
 ture of that solemnity which we find so well understood by Fuseli, 
 (an artist inferior to Reynolds, in the executive part of his pro- 
 fession). The face of Dido is the beauty of an expiring saint, 
 and does not convey the poet's idea of the character of Dido. The 
 drawing is certainly defective ; the neck of Dido is distorted, her 
 back broken, and the body cannot be traced through the drapery. 
 There is no centre light in the picture, the eye cannot rest on it, and 
 the shadows are so thrown as to produce an appearance of hollows ; 
 but the face of Dido is beautiful, and in point of colouring Sir 
 Joshua certainly exceeds all other painters. — Earwig. 
 
 No. 182. Portrait of a Gentleman (Lord Richard Cavendish). — 
 A most noble and masterly picture, and, like all the portraits of 
 this artist, produces a fine effect by the judicious disposition of the 
 masses. — Earwig. 
 
 No. 187. Portraits of Three Ladies. 3 (Laura, Maria, and 
 Horatia Waldegrave, daughters of the Duchess of Gloucester, by 
 
 3 Lady Elizabeth Laura, married in 1782 the Lord Chewton, afterwards 
 fourth Earl of Waldegrave. 
 
 Lady Charlotte Maria, married George Duke of Grafton. 
 
 Lady Anna Horatia, married Lord Hugh Seymour. 
 
REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 1775 TO 1790. 157 
 
 her first husband, James Earl of Waldegrave). — Beautiful , 
 beautiful! ! The painter has displayed wonderful judgment in 
 the disposition of the figures , the design is correct and lively , the 
 light most judicious , and the colouring pearly and chastely beauti - 
 f id. — Earwig. 
 
 Walpole remarks, this is one of Sir Joshua 9 s best and most 
 highly coloured pictures. The portraits are very like , and the 
 attitudes natural and easy. He did another picture of them , 
 and I think still finer. 
 
 * 
 
 This picture of the Ladies Waldegrave was 
 exhibited at the British Institution, in 1823. At 
 the Strawberry Hill sale, it was bought in by the 
 family. I have not been able to acquire any in- 
 formation respecting the duplicate mentioned by 
 Mr. Walpole ; but with reference to this picture 
 he tells us that, he paid one thousand guineas 
 for it, and accuses Sir Joshua of becoming avari- 
 cious in his old age. 4 Britton, however, quotes 
 Walpole as saying — “ My picture of the Ladies 
 Waldegrave is doubtless very tine and graceful, 
 but it cost me eight hundred guineas.” 5 The 
 latter price is, I think, more likely to be correct. 
 
 Walpole writing to Sir David Dalrymple, seems 
 to prefer the female portraits of Ramsay to those 
 of Reynolds ; “ Ramsay and Reynolds (he says) 
 are our favourite painters ; the latter is bold, and 
 has a kind of tempestuous colouring, yet with 
 dignity and grace. The former is all delicacy. 
 
 4 See Walponiana, as quoted by Croker in Boswell’s Life of Johnson. 
 
 5 Beauties of Wiltshire, vol. 1. p. 256. 
 
158 REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 
 
 Mr. Reynolds seldom succeeds in women, Mr. 
 Ramsay is formed to paint them.” 6 7 
 
 We cannot help being surprised at this esti- 
 mate of the two Artists, which posterity has so 
 completely reversed, the public being altogether 
 indifferent to the best female portraits of Ramsay; 
 but when one of Reynolds’s is brought into the 
 market, the competition is always eagerly sus- 
 tained. and the picture is sure to realize an almost 
 incredible sum. 
 
 No. 225, Portrait of a Lady, the Duchess of Rutland. 
 
 „ 241, Portrait of a Lady, Countess of Salisbury. 
 
 ,, 389, Temperance, not very expressive. 
 
 „ 395, A Child asleep. 
 
 „ 402, F ortitude, very good expression? 
 
 421, Boy laughing. 
 
 „ 427, Portraits of a Lady and Child. 
 
 In the month of July, Sir Joshua made a tour 
 to Holland and the Netherlands, with Mr. Met- 
 calfe, for the purpose of examining the celebrated 
 productions of the blemish and Dutch Schools. 
 They left London on the 24tli of July, and em- 
 barked at Margate for Ostend : proceeded from 
 thence to Ghent, Brussels, Antwerp, Dort, the 
 Hague, Leydon, Amsterdam, Dusseldorf, Aix-la- 
 Chapelle, and Liege ; returned to Brussels, from 
 thence to Ostend; landed at Margate, and arrived 
 
 6 Walpole’s Letters, vol. 3, p. 485. 
 
 7 The remarks printed in italics are from Horace Walpole’s Catalogue. 
 
Reynolds’ diary, from 1755 to 1790. 159 
 
 in London on Sunday the 16th of September. 
 Sir Joshua wrote an account of this journey which 
 is published in his works ; it contains very valu- 
 able remarks on the pictures preserved in the 
 various Churches and Cabinets which he visited, 
 together with a masterly character of Rubens. 
 
 The following letter to Burke, written at the 
 commencement of this tour from Brussels, is tran- 
 scribed from the original, in the possession of 
 Miss Gwatkin. 
 
 Brussels, August 2nd, 1781. 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 We arrived at Brussels the thirtieth, and shall 
 probably set out this evening for Antwerp. Nothing hitherto has 
 happened worth mentioning, nor have we seen any pictures better 
 than we have at home. Ghent and Alost have two or three pic- 
 tures of Rubens, and Brussels perhaps a dozen, the people seem 
 to make so much of his works that it requires some circumspection 
 not to run on the other side ; the pictures hitherto have not 
 answered our expectation. We have been very well amused, and 
 pass our time very agreeably. Yesterday we dined at Mr. Fitz- 
 herbert’s with the Duke of Richmond, and Mr. Lenox, and we all 
 behaved very well. I don’t know whether I might not expect too 
 much, but I thought Mr. Fitz. would have laid himself ( out ) more 
 for our amusement, he has returned our visit, and given us a 
 dinner, or rather, let us dine with him, at the same time with the 
 Duke of Richmond, and that’s all. 
 
 The Emperor will probably not return to Brussels, he has left 
 an impression on every rank of people very much to his honor. 
 
 The Duchess of Chandos recommended to him in a very absurd 
 manner the Princess Royal for a wife. The Emperor said he 
 was too old for her, but she would not accept the excuse, and 
 added that her Duke was as much older than she was, and yet 
 
160 REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 
 
 they lived very happily together, Mr. Fitzherbert said the 
 Emperor told this to every person he saw that day. We propose 
 going to Dusseldorf, consequently shall take the Spa in our way. 
 
 I write with continual interruption, having so little to say, and 
 so little time to say that little, that I believe I should not have 
 ventured to have wrote, if I had not had an opportunity of in- 
 closing my letter in a cover to Mr. Frazer. 
 
 The chaise is at the door for Antwerp, where if anything occurs 
 you will hear from me again. We shall stay there, as we do at 
 every other place, just as long as we can amuse ourselves, and 
 hitherto we have been exactly of the same opinion. 
 
 The conclusion of this letter, which is ad- 
 dressed to Edmund Burke, Esq., Charles Street, 
 St. James’s Square, has been torn off apparently 
 for the sake of the Autograph. 
 
 1782. 
 
 The following admirable portraits were painted 
 in the early part of this year : 
 
 Colonel Tarleton, a whole length of considerable merit : though 
 found fault with by Walpole, as exhibiting a confusion of lights. 
 
 Dr. Thomas, Bishop of Rochester. 
 
 Mrs. Robinson , 8 a fascinating and beautiful actress, whose 
 portrait Sir Joshua painted more than once. 
 
 8 Mrs. Mary Robinson, (Perdita) was the daughter of an American trader, 
 of the name of Darby, in early life she was a pupil of Mrs. Hannah More, 
 and in her fifteenth year married a profligate attorney, named Robinson 
 whose extravagance and vices soon ruined him, and his young and 
 beautiful wife was forced to seek a livelihood on the stage. She ap- 
 peared with success in Imogine, Juliet, and Ophelia, but her greatest 
 triumph was in the representation of Perdita in the Winter’s Tale, when 
 she captivated the young Prince of Wales. — Gentleman's Magazine. 
 
 Poor Perdita had some poetic talent, which was acknowledged by 
 Coleridge. — See Tributary Poems prefixed to Mrs. Robinson’s Poetical 
 Works, in 3 vols., 8vo. — Rogers' Table Talk. 
 
REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 175 5 TO 1790. 161 
 
 Lady Althorpe. 
 
 Mrs. Baldwin. 
 
 Mrs. Jameson says, this lady was the wife of 
 the British Consul at Smyrna. She is repre- 
 sented seated on cushions in the Eastern fashion, 
 and habited in a Greek costume. She was a 
 favourite model for painters ; and during her 
 residence in England, Cosway painted her as a 
 Greek Dancing Girl. " 
 
 At the sale of Sir Joshua’s pictures this por- 
 trait was bought by Phillips, the Royal Acade- 
 mician, as a study of colour, and was afterwards 
 purchased by Lord Lansdowne, in whose posses- 
 sion it now remains. 
 
 All the above mentioned pictures were in the 
 Exhibition this year. 
 
 Mr. Beckford, Alderman of London. 
 
 Mr. Cousmaker. 
 
 And in March there is the following entry : 
 
 Mr. Cousmaker’s horse. 
 
 In the Autumn Sir Joshua was attacked by a 
 slight paralytic affection, which greatly alarmed 
 his friends, and called forth the sympathy of Dr. 
 Johnson, in a letter written from Brighton on the 
 I4tli of November, which has been printed by 
 Northcote. The attack was however so slight 
 that all ill effects were removed in the course of 
 
 x 
 
162 REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 
 
 a few weeks; and on the 10th of December he 
 was sufficiently recovered to deliver his usual 
 discourse at the Academy. 
 
 1783. 
 
 Sir Joshua’s niece, Miss Palmer, writing to her 
 cousin William Johnson, at Calcutta, on the 15th 
 June, says: 
 
 I am going very soon with my undo to visit the Duke and 
 Duchess of Rutland 9 at Belvoir Castle, and from thence we go to 
 Lord Ilarcourt’s, in the neighbourhood of Oxford. * * 
 
 You inquire after Dr. Johnson — I wish I could give a good 
 account of him ; but his health seems very much impaired lately, 
 and the world will, I fear, soon be deprived of one of the greatest 
 men in it : he dines with us now and then, and is tolerably 
 cheerful, yet it is easy to see that his constitution is breaking up. 
 If I have time I will copy out some verses 1 he gave me, which 
 he wrote on the death of Mr. Levct, a poor Apothecary, who 
 lived in the house with him, and for whom Dr. Johnson had the 
 greatest regard, and so high an opinion of his skill, that he never 
 took any prescription without first consulting Levet. 
 
 The verses are, in my opinion, the finest that can be, and I 
 believe they made more impression on me as I heard him repeat 
 them himself, with the tears falling over his check at the time. 
 
 In a postcript Miss Palmer adds : 
 
 I forgot to tell you that my uncle has in a manner introduced 
 you to Sir William Jones, who is gone out a Judge, and with 
 
 9 Charles, Duke of Rutland, was a munificent patron of Sir Joshua 
 Reynolds, and possessed some of his finest paintings. It was through 
 the interest of this nobleman that Sir Joshua’s nephew, the Rev. Joseph 
 Palmer, was presented in 1787 to the Deanery of Cashel in Ireland. 
 
 ' The verses are printed in Johnson’s works. 
 
REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 163 
 
 whom you may possibly be well acquainted before you receive 
 this letter : he and his lady left England about six weeks since : 
 she is a daughter of the Bishop of St. Asaph. 
 
 Reynolds was engaged during part of this year 
 in writing his valuable notes to Mason’s Trans- 
 lation of Du Fresnoy’s Art of Painting. He 
 also executed several of his most admired por- 
 traits, and in the Autumn made a second tour 
 in the Netherlands, for the purpose of purchasing 
 pictures, and examining more closely the works 
 of Rubens: but the pocket books for this and 
 three following years are wanting. 
 
 1784. 
 
 The President sent no less than seventeen 
 pictures to the Exhibition of the Royal Academy 
 this year, including a whole length portrait of 
 H.R.H. the Prince of Wales, and his noble 
 picture of Mrs. Siddons, as “The Tragic Muse;” 
 which the late Sir Thomas Lawrence in his 
 address to the Students of the Royal Academy, 
 in December, 1823, pronounced to be a work of 
 the highest epic character, and indisputably the 
 finest female portrait in the world. 
 
 The following is a list of the pictures copied 
 from the Royal Academy Catalogue, with Wal- 
 pole’s remarks : 
 
 No. 14. Portrait of a Lady (Mrs. Abington, in the character 
 of Roxalana in the Sultan). — Very rich . 
 
164 REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 
 
 No. 1G. Dr. Chauncy. — Excellent. 
 
 No. 30. Mr. Pott. — Surgeon. 
 
 No. 31. Dr. Bourke, Archbishop of Tuam. 
 
 No. 58. A Lady and Child (Lady Honey wood). — Bad — in 
 the style of Rubens. 
 
 No. 70. H.R.H. the Prince of Wales. — Fine. Landscape 
 taudry — painted for Lord Melbourne , Brocket Hall. 
 
 No. 108. Charles James Fox. 
 
 No. 112. A Lady and Child (Lady Dashwood). 2 
 
 No. 113. Master Braddyll, (Walpole has written Master • 
 BrummeT). 
 
 No. 138. Sir John Honey wood. 
 
 No. 139. Lord Lewisham. 
 
 No. 177. A Nymph and Cupid (Miss Wilson). — Bad and 
 
 gross. 
 
 No. 183. Miss Kemble (afterwards Mrs. Twiss, the mother of 
 Mr. Horace Twiss). — Good, very simple. 
 
 No. 190. Portrait of Mrs. Siddons, whole length. — Head very 
 fine, left arm loo large. 
 
 No. 218. Portrait of a Gentleman (Dr. Warton). 
 
 No. 320. Portrait of a Young Lady (Lady C. Manners). 
 
 No. 342. Boy Reading. Mr. Walpole has struck out the word 
 reading, and written good expression. 
 
 Mrs. Siddons, as the Tragic Muse, is one of 
 Sir Joshua’s capital works, and has usually been 
 considered the most characteristic, and the sub- 
 limest portrait he ever painted. It was first sold 
 to Mr. Smith, M.P. for Norwich, for the sum of 
 £700, and subsequently purchased by Lord 
 Grosvenor, now Marquis of Westminster, for 
 £1760, in whose gallery it occupies a distin- 
 guished position. 
 
 2 The beautiful Miss Graham, who asked Dr. Johnson to “hob and 
 nob ” with her . — See Boswell’s Life of Johnson, by Crokcr, y. G37. 
 
REYNOLDS* DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 165 
 
 There is a duplicate of this celebrated picture 
 in the Dulwich Gallery, which Mr. Buchanan 3 
 says was the property of M. De Calonne, who 
 paid Sir Joshua 800 guineas for it, although it 
 is allowed to be very inferior to the other. At 
 the sale of the Calonne collection in 1795, it was 
 purchased, together with the Spanish Flower 
 Girl of Murillo, by Mr. Noel Des Enfans, and 
 bequeathed by his heir, Sir F. Bourgeois, to 
 Dulwich College. 
 
 When Mrs. Siddons sat for this portrait in 
 1784, she was in her twenty-eighth year, in the 
 prime of her glorious beauty, and in the full 
 blaze of her popularity. Mrs. Jameson justly 
 observes : 
 
 How admirable, how worthy of all gratitude and praise the 
 feeling and taste of the painter, who, when he undertook to 
 convey to after times the portrait of such a woman, felt that here 
 the ideal was the true, the actual and the literal the false ! This 
 noble portrait is the apotheosis of her genius and her beauty — it 
 was painted for the universe and posterity. We can stand be- 
 fore it, and feel in the presence of that grand creature, of whom 
 we have heard, and read and dreamed ; the impression is not 
 lowered nor enfeebled by the common-places of ordinary dress, 
 or ordinary life, nor falsified, nor confined by the scenic trappings 
 of any one character ; therefore, I should pronounce it the most 
 faithful, as well as the sublimest portrait ever painted. It is one 
 of the rare instances in which the artist has fulfilled his aim, has 
 united the strictest propriety and truth, with all the charm of 
 the ideal and sublime, and realized all that the imagination 
 
 3 Buchanan’s Memoirs of Painting, voL 2, p. 254. 
 
166 REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 
 
 requires in the conception, and in the execution of his subject. 
 Hazlitt’s criticism on this picture is most miserable and flippant. 
 He says, it is neither the tragic muse nor Mrs. Siddons. 
 Whereas it is both, and herein lies its beauty and its truth. 
 
 Richardson, who wrote full sixty years before 
 this picture was painted, has the following beau- 
 tiful remarks on the end and aim of portraiture : 
 
 A portrait is a sort of general history of the life of the person 
 it represents, not only to him who is acquainted with it, but to 
 many others, who upon occasion of seeing it, are frequently told 
 of what is most material concerning him, or his general character 
 at least ; the face and figure is also described, and as much of 
 the character as appears by these, which oftentimes is here seen 
 in a very great degree. These, therefore, many times answer the 
 ends of historical pictures. 
 
 As Sir Joshua frequently adopted actions of 
 figures from the designs of others, it has been 
 supposed that he took a hint from the Isaiah of 
 Michael Angelo, as the basis of his figure of Mrs. 
 Siddons, making a graceful modification of it; 
 but Phillips, in his lectures on painting, says : 
 
 She told me herself that it was the production of pure accident. 
 Sir Joshua had begun the head and figure in a different view ; 
 but while he was occupied iu the preparation of some colour, she 
 changed her position to look at a .picture hanging on the wall of 
 the room. When he again looked at her, and saw the action she 
 had assumed, he requested her not to move ; and thus arose the 
 beautiful and expressive figure we now see in the picture. 
 
 Mrs. Jameson gives a different account, and 
 also quotes Mrs. Siddons’ own version of the 
 story in the following words : 
 
REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 167 
 
 When I attended him for the first sitting, after more gratifying 
 encomiums than I can now repeat, he took me by the hand, say- 
 ing, “ ascend your undisputed throne, and graciously bestow upon 
 me some good idea of the tragic muse.” I walked up the steps, 
 and instantly seated myself in the attitude in which the Tragic 
 Muse now appears. 
 
 This portrait of Mrs. Sicldons, and another of 
 Lady Cockburn with her children, are the only 
 pictures on which Sir Joshua inscribed his name, 
 which is painted in the gold border of the drapery, 
 as some of the old masters painted theirs on the 
 garment of the Madonna. When Mrs. Siddons, 
 stooping down to examine what she supposed to 
 be a piece of classic embroidery, noticed it, he 
 replied, “ I could not lose the honour this oppor- 
 tunity afforded me of going down to posterity on 
 the hem of your garment.” 
 
 Northcote, speaking of the picture of Lady 
 Cockburn and her children, says : 
 
 When it was brought into the Exhibition-room, at Somerset 
 House, in 1775, all the artists then present, struck with its extra- 
 ordinary beauty and splendour, testified their approbation by loud 
 and simultaneous applause. 
 
 In August, Sir Joshua received the following 
 touching letter from Dr. Johnson, who was then 
 staying at Ashborne, only four months before his 
 death : 
 
 Having had since our separation little to say, that could please 
 you or myself by saying, I have not been lavish of useless letters. 
 Poor Ramsay!! on which side soever I turn mortality presents 
 
168 REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 
 
 its formidable frown. I left three old friends at Lichfield, when 
 I was last there, and now found them all dead. I no sooner lose 
 sight of dear Allan , 4 than I am told I shall see him no more. 
 That we must all die, we always know ; I wish I had sooner re- 
 membered it. Do not think me intrusive, or importunate, if I 
 now call on you, dear sir, to remember it. 
 
 Dr. Johnson died on the 13th of December, 
 having appointed Sir Joshua one of his executors, 
 in conjunction with Sir William Scott, and Sir 
 John Hawkins. The great moralist held his 
 friend Reynolds in very high estimation, and on 
 more than one occasion expressed his admiration 
 of his character. “ I know no man,” he said, 
 “ who has passed through life with more observa- 
 tion than Reynolds.” And he had so exalted an 
 opinion of Sir Joshua’s benevolence, that he once 
 said to him, with a smile, “ Reynolds, you hate 
 no person living, but I like a good hater” 
 
 The following circumstance, which occurred 
 during the last hours of Dr. Johnson, well de- 
 serves to be recorded. Sir Joshua used to say, 
 “ he will never make a painter, who looks for the 
 Sunday with pleasure as an idle day and cer- 
 tainly none of his hours were ever spent in idle- 
 ness or lost in dissipation ; on those evenings 
 which he spent at home, after his daily occupa- 
 tion, he employed himself in looking over, and 
 
 4 Allan Ramsay, the King’s painter, died in 1784, and was succeeded 
 by Reynolds. 
 
REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 169 
 
 studying the prints from the old masters, of which 
 he had a large collection; and the pocket journals 
 afford most indisputable proofs of his untiring 
 industry and diligence, and that it was his habit 
 to receive sitters on Sundays, as well as on 
 other days. This was naturally enough displeas- 
 ing to Dr. Johnson, and we are told by Boswell 
 that he made three requests of Sir Joshua, a 
 short time before his death ; one w r as to forgive 
 him £30, which he had borrowed of him, ano- 
 ther was that Sir Joshua would carefully read 
 the Scriptures, and lastly that he would abstain 
 from using his pencil on the Sabbath-day ; to all 
 of them Sir Joshua gave a willing assent. 
 
 1786 
 
 Mr. Walpole says, the Academy exhibition this 
 year was much better than the two preceding, it 
 contained twelve from the pencil of Reynolds, 
 including admirable portraits of 
 
 The Duke of Orleans; Dr. Hunter ; John Lee, the Solicitor 
 General; and Mr. Sharpe, which Walpole characterizes as one of 
 his lest. 5 
 
 The female portraits were those of 
 
 5 A portrait of John Sharpe, the honest lawyer, (so discribed in the 
 Catalogue) seated at a table, with a crimson drapery suspended behind, 
 was offered for sale at Christie and Manson’s in May, 1856, also a por- 
 trait of Lady Taylor (wife of Sir John Taylor, painted in 1782) in a 
 white dress with feathers in her hair. Both pictures were bought in, 
 as I was informed, and are the property of Mrs. Vulliamy. 
 
 Y 
 
170 REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 
 
 The Duchess of Devonshire and child; a three-quarter of Lady 
 de Clifford ; another of the Countess Spencer ; and an extremely 
 lively portrait , (so described by Mr. Walpole), of Miss K. 
 Bingham. 
 
 Miss Palmer writing to her cousin at Calcutta, 
 in the beginning of this year, says : 
 
 My uncle seems more bewitched than ever with his pallet and 
 pencils ; he is painting from morning till night, and the truth is 
 that every picture he does seems better than the former. He is 
 just now going to begin a picture for the Empress of Russia, who 
 has sent to desire he will paint her an historical one ; the subject 
 is left to his own choice, and at present he is undetermined what 
 to choose. * * * * * 
 
 The following extract from a letter, by Ozias 
 Humphrey, a miniature painter and native of 
 Devonshire, addressed to William Johnson, Esq., 
 Calcutta, is also interesting, as it refers to the 
 completion of this picture in 1788. 
 
 March, 31 . 
 
 I breakfasted this morning with Sir Joshua and Miss Palmer ; 
 they are both in perfect health and good spirits. I left Sir 
 Joshua about to give the last finishing to the “ Infant Hercules,” 
 for the Empress of Russia. The subject of this fine picture you 
 will find in Mr. West’s Translation of Pindar, the first Nemean 
 Ode. Sir Joshua looks as well, and paints as well, as ever he 
 did in his life. 
 
 Sir Joshua, who was always thinking of his 
 art, was one day walking with Dr. Lawrence, 
 near Beaconsfield, when they met a beautiful 
 little peasant boy. Reynolds, after looking ear- 
 
REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 171 
 
 nestly at the child, exclaimed “ I must go home 
 and deepen the colouring of my “ Infant 
 Hercules.” 6 
 
 On the 18th of July, at 11, Sir Joshua attended 
 a meeting of Dr. Johnson’s executors, and after- 
 wards dined with Boswell. 
 
 In August we find the names of Lord Heath- 
 field, and the Duchess of Rutland several times. 
 
 In October, the Lady of the Cottage, and in 
 November, Hercules, Mrs. Abington, the Duke 
 of York, and Duchess of Gloucester. 
 
 Hazlitt truly says : 
 
 Reynolds was gorgeous in tone and colour, unimpeachable in 
 composition, deep in light and shadow, beautiful in character, and 
 the purest painter of women and children that ever lived, Greek 
 or Italian. Lord Heathfield’s is a portrait that need not fear any 
 work of Titian for men, and Mrs. Parker, a sweet picture of a 
 woman, was never equalled in sentiment or delicacy by any work 
 of the Venetian or Roman schools. Reynolds’s eye for colour 
 was exquisite ; nor is there in the whole of his works a heated 
 or offensive tint. He did not combine essential detail and breadth 
 so beautifully as Titian ; but place one of his finest portraits by 
 the side of any picture of Titian’s, see them at the proper distance, 
 and Reynolds would keep his station . 7 
 
 1788. 
 
 |)jOTtmts guiufeb litis gear. 
 
 The Duke of York ; Mrs. Fitzherbert ; Lady Grey. 
 
 Lady Grantham ; Mr. and Mrs. Braddyll . 8 
 
 6 Rogers’ Table Talk. 
 
 7 Painting and the Fine Arts, by Hazlitt and Haydon. 
 
 8 A family picture, containing portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Braddyll and 
 their son, was lately in the possession of Mr. Isbell, of Stonehouse. 
 
172 REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 
 
 Lady Harris ; Lords Sheffield and Sommers. 
 
 Lord Rodney ; Dr. Ashe ; Master Hare. 
 
 Miss Boothby, (Penelope, only child of Sir Brooke Boothby, 
 born in 1785, died 1791). 
 
 Sir John Aubrey ; Sir Thomas Humboldt. 
 
 Mrs. Rigby ; Lord John Townsend. 
 
 Mrs. and Miss Macklin, and Miss Potts, as Gleaners. 
 
 Lord Lifford ; Master Stanhope, &c. 
 
 (Gratis from Hjc gxarg. 
 
 February 13th, to be in the lobby of the House of Commons 
 at a quarter before 10 — full dress. 
 
 This was on the occasion of Warren Hastings’ 
 trial, when the members of the House of Com- 
 mons, led by Mr. Burke, went in procession to 
 Westminster Hall. 
 
 February 20th, at home, Mr. Elford, (afterwards Sir William). 
 
 April 1 1 th, 9, Council in the morning ; 5, Lord Monboddo. 
 
 August 8th, Mr. Gainsborough to be buried. 
 
 There were no less than eighteen pictures by 
 Sir Joshua Reynolds in the Exhibition this year, 
 the greatest number he ever sent, including his 
 fine portrait of Lord Heathfield, now in the 
 National Gallery : of which Haydon affirmed he 
 would rather be the painter, than of Vandyke’s 
 Gevartius. “ There is more (he said), of what is 
 understood by the word genius in it, than in the 
 other; and it is astonishing how its breadth and 
 tone comes upon you as you enter the room, it 
 affected me like the explosion of a bomb.” 
 
REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 173 
 
 The large picture which Sir Joshua painted 
 for the Empress of Russia, was also exhibited 
 this year, and the following portraits : 
 
 Lord Sheffield ; Mr. Windham, of Felbridge ; Sir George 
 Beaumont ; Mrs Drummond Smith ; Master Stanhope ; Colonel 
 Mordon, (whole length); Colonel Bertie ; Lord Grantham, and 
 his brothers ; Lord Darnley ; Lady Harris. 
 
 A portrait of a Young Lady and her Brother, which is stated 
 by Mr. Walpole to be Miss Gunning , Maid of Honour . 
 
 A Girl sleeping, 9 marked by Walpole, coarse. 
 
 A Young Gentleman, (Master Stanhope). — Bad. 
 
 1789. 
 
 In the early part of this year Sir Joshua 
 painted the following portraits : 
 
 Mrs. Braddyll (sold at Christie’s in 1854, for 215 guineas, at 
 the sale of Lord C. Townshend’s pictures). 
 
 Lord Rodney ; Mr. Sheridan. 
 
 Mrs. Billington ; Master Braddyll. 
 
 (Estate front % Jltarg. 
 
 February 16th, Mrs. Siddons’s benefit. 
 
 April 23rd, St. Paul’s, (when the King went in state to St. 
 Paul’s Cathedral, to return thanks to Almighty God for his 
 recovery). 
 
 May 6th, Eumelian Society, (founded by Dr. Ashe). 
 
 9 The picture of the Sleeping Girl, which Northcote describes as one 
 of his richest performances , was repeated by Sir Joshua ; there is one 
 at Lansdowne House, which Mrs. Jameson says was purchased at the 
 sale of Lady Thomond’s pictures ; this, however, must be a mistake, 
 as no such picture is mentioned in the sale catalogue. Another 
 was in the possession of the late Mr. S. Rogers, and was sold in 1856 
 for 150 guineas. 
 
174 REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 
 
 Sir Joshua sent twelve pictures to the Exhi- 
 bition. among which were the following : 
 
 The Continence of Scipio ; Cymon and Iphigenia. 
 
 This was, according to Mrs. Jameson, pre- 
 sented to George IV ., by the Marchioness of 
 Thomond ; and is now in the Royal Gallery at 
 Buckingham Palace. 
 
 Cnpid and Psyche, (said to be portraits of Miss GreriUe and 
 her brother', in the possession of Mr. Rogers, which Mr. Wal- 
 pole has marked in his catalogue, glaring and not good. 
 
 Robin Goodfellow, also in the possession of Mr. Rogers. This 
 picture was painted for Alderman BoydelTs Shaksperian Gallery. 
 It appears not to hare pleased Mr. Walpole, as he terms it an 
 ugly little imp, (but with some character) sitting on a mushroom, 
 half as big as a millstone. 
 
 The following anecdote has been communicated 
 to me by Mr. Nichols, of the British Institution. 
 
 Alderman Boydell and ray grandfather were with Sir Joshua, 
 when painting the death of " Cardinal Beaufort,” for the Shak- 
 speare Gallery. Boydell was much taken with the portrait of a 
 naked child, and wished it could be brought into the Shakspeare. 
 Sir Joshua said it was painted from a little child he found sitting 
 on his steps in Leicester Fields. My Grandfather then said, “ well 
 Mr. Alderman, it can very easily come into the Shakspeare, if 
 Sir Joshua will kindly place him upon a mushroom, give him fawns 
 ears, and make a Puck of him.” Sir Joshua liked the notion, 
 and painted the picture accordingly. 
 
 The morning of the day on which Sir Joshua’s 
 Puck was to be sold, Lord Famborough and 
 Dance, the painter, were breakfasting with Mr. 
 

 
 
 
 
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REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 175 
 
 Rogers, and went to the sale together. When 
 Puck was put up, it excited such admiration that 
 there was a general clapping of hands, yet says 
 Rogers, “ it was knocked down to me at a com- 
 paratively trifling price.” 
 
 The portraits exhibited at the same time were : 
 
 Lord Vernon, Lord Rodney, Lord Ilenry Fitzgerald, Mr. Sheri- 
 dan, the Honble. Mrs. Watson, and Miss Gwatkin, the great 
 niece of Sir Joshua, (afterwards Mrs. Lowther), from which there 
 is an engraving styled ‘ Simplicity/ 
 
 In July, 1789, when Sir Joshua had nearly 
 finished the portrait of Lady Beauchamp ; 1 (the 
 last female portrait, according to Malone, he ever 
 painted), he perceived his eye-sight so much 
 affected that he found it difficult to proceed. 
 Cunningham says: “he laid down his pencil, 
 sat a little while in mute consideration, and 
 never lifted it more .” A fac-simile of the page in 
 which Sir Joshua has himself recorded the first 
 appearance of this calamity is here annexed. It 
 happened on Monday, the 13th of July, when 
 he was engaged to dine with Mrs. Garrick at 
 4 o’clock; but as there are several subsequent 
 entries from which it may be inferred that he 
 worked more or less upon the portraits of Mrs. 
 
 1 Isabella, daughter of Charles Ingram, Viscount Irwin, married in 
 1776 Francis Lord Beauchamp, afterwards Marquis of Hertford. 
 
 A fine whole length of this lady, by Sir J. Reynolds, was at Temple 
 Newsome, in Yorkshire, in 1821. 
 
176 REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 175 5 TO 1790. 
 
 Cox, Lady Beauchamp, Lord Rawdon, and 
 others, we may doubt whether Sir Joshua re- 
 linquished altogether the employment of his 
 pencil so suddenly. Miss Palmer, writing to her 
 cousin in March, 1790, speaks of his still painting 
 occasionally ; and the author of the Testimonials 
 dates the period of his entire cessation from 
 painting in Nov. 1791, when he also intimated 
 his intention of resigning the office of President 
 of the Academy on account of bodily infirmities, 
 which disabled him from executing its duties to 
 his own satisfaction. “From this period,” he says, 
 (see Testimonials, p. 89,) “ Sir Joshua never 
 painted more,” and adds : “ His last male portrait 
 was that of Charles James Fox, and when the 
 last touches were given to this picture, the hand 
 of Reynolds fell to rise no more.” 
 
 giarg, ttmtimub. 
 
 Thursday, 16th, 10, Model. 2 
 
 Mr. Windham. 
 
 Friday, 17th, 11, Mrs. Cox. 
 
 Monday, 20th, 5, Mr. Malone. 
 
 „ Children. 
 
 Miss Palmer was on a visit to her relations in 
 Devonshire, hut hastened up to London as soon 
 as she received intelligence of what had hap- 
 
 2 1 find from another leaf of Sir Joshua’s diary that his female 
 model was Mrs. Martin, No. 14, Great Shere Lane, Temple Bar. 
 
Reynolds’ diary, from 1755 to 1790 . 177 
 
 pened. The following letter to her cousin 
 William Johnson, written towards the close of 
 the year, gives an interesting account of all the 
 circumstances, and describes the calm serenity 
 and composure with which he bore this sad 
 affliction, which threatened to deprive him of his 
 chief earthly happiness and enjoyment during 
 the remainder of his life. 
 
 London, December 2Gtii, 1780. 
 * * I went into Devonshire in July last, in hopes 
 
 of paying a long visit to my friends at Torrington, and in 
 Cornwall, but was soon recalled by my uncle, who had, before I 
 went, a complaint in his eye ; but we thought it would be of no 
 consequence. Alas ! he very soon totally lost it, and when I 
 returned to him he was under the most violent apprehension that 
 the other was going too. But, thank God, these fears vanished, 
 and although one eye is gone, he sees as well as ever wdth the 
 other. However, the dread of what may happen, if he uses it 
 much, entirely deters him from either painting, writing, or 
 reading ; for the last four months I have spent all my time in 
 reading to him, and writing all that he wants to have done. He 
 now amuses himself by sometimes cleaning or mending a picture, 
 for his ruling passion still continues in full force, and he enjoys 
 his pictures as much as ever. 
 
 Ilis health is perfect, and his spirits good, surprisingly so, 
 considering what a loss an eye is to him ; and as it is the gutta 
 serena which is affected, there is not the least chance of his ever 
 recovering the sight. I expected he would have been depressed 
 by such an event, almost to melancholy ; but far from it, he enjoys 
 company (in a quiet way), and loves a game of cards as well as 
 ever. He desires his love, compliments, and congratulations, to 
 you and Mrs. Johnson. * * * 
 
 After my return from Devonshire, we spent some time in Rich- 
 mond, a place, to tell you the truth, I hate ; for one has all the 
 
 z 
 
178 REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 
 
 inconveniences of town and country put together, and not one of 
 the comforts : a house stuck upon the top of a hill, without a bit 
 of garden, or ground of any sort near it, but what is as public as 
 St. James’s Park. * * * * 
 
 On Saturday, the 25th July, Sir Joshua was 
 well enough to go to Earl’s Court, and from thence 
 to Mr. Burke’s, at Beaconsfield. On the 6th of 
 August he acknowledged the present of a “ buck 
 from Lord Townsend and in the same month he 
 went to Brighton, and from thence to Arundel and 
 Chichester, visiting Cowdrey also and Petworth : 
 but the pocket book does not contain any obser- 
 vations or memoranda of what he saw. He 
 returned to London on the 14th. 
 
 Hrarg, cflttinnttir. 
 
 August 20th, Mr. Langlois. 
 
 Sept. 4th, At Home. 
 
 „ 5th, 4, Mr. Dcvaincs. 
 
 „ Gtli, Sunday, 5, Mr. Metcalf. 
 
 „ 7th, Dr. Rowley. 
 
 „ 8th, 5, Mr. Malone. 
 
 „ 12th, Mr. Windham. 
 
 „ 30th, Returned to Town from Richmond 
 
 This was probably the last visit Sir Joshua paid 
 to his villa, which was built by Sir William 
 Chambers, and commanded, from the top of Rich- 
 mond Hill, one of the most beautiful prospects 
 in the county of Surrey. We learn from the 
 preceding extract from Miss Palmer’s letter that 
 he remained there several days, which refutes the 
 
REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 179 
 
 assertion that, although he frequently visited it, 
 he never passed a night there. 
 
 Fox observed that Sir Joshua never enjoyed 
 Richmond ; for he used to say that the human 
 face was his landscape. 3 
 
 The villa was let to the Countess Balbi, 4 in 
 September the next year, as we learn from the 
 following note : 
 
 La Comtesse de Balbi took the house at Richmond for one 
 month. 
 
 On the 16th of October Sir Joshua went again 
 to his kind friend Mr. Burke, at Beaconsfield, 
 and on his return alighted from his carriage 
 at the Inn, at Hayes, and walked five miles on 
 the road, in company with Mr. Malone, without 
 stopping or without complaint. He had then, 
 although 68 years old, the look of a man of 50, 
 and seemed, says Malone, as likely to live ten or 
 fifteen years, as any of his younger friends. 
 
 Fie attended the general meeting of the Royal 
 Academicians on the 2nd of November, and on 
 
 3 Rogers’ Table Talk. 
 
 Hudson, after he retired from his profession lived for some years at 
 a house in Twickenham Meadows, and when Sir Joshua built his villa 
 on Richmond Hill, his former master remarked — “ Little did I think we 
 should ever have country houses opposite each other,” “And still less 
 did I think,” replied his pupil, “ when I was a young man, that I should 
 ever look down upon Mr. Hudson.” 
 
 4 Madame de Balbi, the favourite of Louis xviii. — Lamartine's History 
 of the Restoration , vol. 1, p. 257. 
 
180 REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 
 
 tlie 27th a meeting of the Royal Society. During 
 the same month he dined with the Bishop of 
 London, Sir Jos. Banks, Sir Wm. Scott, and with 
 Boswell, Metcalf, and Townley. 
 
 1790 
 
 The last of the pocket books in the possession 
 of the family, contains the names of very few 
 sitters, if any. 
 
 Tuesday, May 11th, 11, Mr. Barry. 
 
 Thursday, „ 13th, 11, Lord Rawdon. 
 
 The latter may perhaps have reference to his 
 portrait, as we find the following memorandum 
 respecting the costume. 
 
 Lord Rawdon, white waistcoat single-breasted, blue collar, and 
 small buttons ; epaulet, white breeches, double-breasted coat, 
 with buttons at equal distances. 
 
 The entries generally consist of dinner en- 
 gagements and evening parties; for Sir Joshua 
 was still able to enjoy the society of his friends 
 with as much pleasure as formerly, and delighted 
 in a quiet game at whist. 
 
 Miss Talmer writing to her cousin on the 
 17th of August, says : 
 
 * * * We have received your letters, dated the 
 
 12th of February, and my uncle joins me in kind thanks for our 
 share of them. You must be content, my dear William, with 
 having my uncle’s thanks through my hands, for he now writes 
 
REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 1 81 
 
 so little, and is so very careful of his remaining eye, that it will,* 
 I am sure, plead his excuse # * # * 
 
 * * * My uncle and I spent a few days last week at 
 
 Beaconsfield, else we have not been out of town this summer. I 
 do not, however, intend to let it slip by, without paying a visit to 
 Torrington ; it can be but short, as I may say without vanity, 
 that my presence is now very necessary to my uncle, as he never 
 reads himself, and his evenings are principally passed in playing 
 at cards, which might possibly not always be the case, if I did 
 not make up his parties ; and I could not bear the thought of his 
 spending much of his time alone. 
 
 The last Academy Exhibition, to which Sir 
 Joshua contributed, was the twenty second. He 
 sent his own portrait, No. 35 in the Catalogue ; 
 Mrs. Billington, as St Cecilia, a whole length, 
 which was purchased at the sale of Mr. Bryan’s 
 pictures, in 1798, by Mr. Hope, for £325 10s., 4 5 
 was again sold at Christie’s, in 1845, for 505 
 guineas, and is, I am told, now in America ; be- 
 sides portraits of Lord Cholmondeley, Lord Eaw- 
 don, and Sir John Leicester. 
 
 The first of these is characterised by Walpole 
 as being very good , and the last very bad. 
 
 Jlinrjr, tnnfmueb. 
 
 May 31st, Monday, 5, Lord Lansdownc. 
 
 June, 1st, Tuesday, Thomas’s trial. 6 
 
 4 Buchanan, vol. 1., p. 292. 
 
 6 A servant of Mr. Thrale, who was found guilty of robbery, and 
 condemned to death at the Old Bailey. Sir Joshua Reynolds was per- 
 suaded by Boswell to witness the execution at Newgate, and it is said 
 that the unfortunate criminal, who had often stood behind his chair, 
 upon seeing Sir Joshua in the crowd, bowed to him with mournful 
 
 civility. — Cunningham's Life of Reynolds , 312. 
 
182 REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 
 
 June 2nd, Wednesday, Lord R. Spencer. 
 
 „ „ Pictures to be seen. 
 
 5, Lord Bayham. 
 Sale at Greenwoods. 
 Academy Dinner. 
 
 5, Boswell. 
 
 6th, Sunday, Dilettanti. 
 
 June 3rd, Thursday, 
 
 » » 
 
 June 4th, Friday, 
 
 „ 5th, Saturday, 
 
 The following extracts from Miss Palmer’s 
 letters to her cousin, William Johnson , 7 at this 
 period, will be read with much interest, as they 
 relate to Sir Joshua’s quarrel with the Poyal 
 Academy, and his resignation of the office of 
 President . 8 
 
 7 A portrait of William Johnson, of Calcutta, painted when a youth 
 by Miss F. Reynolds, is now at the Vicarage, Dean Prior, Devonshire. 
 
 8 The cause of this misunderstanding was, that in the year 1790, Sir 
 Joshua Reynolds (probably at the request of the Earl of Aylesford) 
 possessed a very anxious desire to procure the vacant Professorship of 
 Perspective in the Academy for Mr. Bonomi, an Italian Architect, but 
 as Mr. Bonomi had not yet been elected an Associate, and of course 
 was not an Academician, it became a necessary step to raise him to 
 those situations in order to qualify him for being a professor. The 
 election proceeded, and Mr. Gilpin was a competitor for the associate- 
 ship with the Italian Architect ; the numbers on the ballot proved equal, 
 and the President gave the casting vote in favour of his friend, Mr. 
 Bonomi, who was thereby so far advanced towards the object of his am- 
 bition. On the vacancy of an Academic seat by the death of Mr. 
 Mayer, Sir Joshua exerted all his influence to obtain it for Bonomi, 
 but a spirit of resistance appeared, owing (says the Author of the Testi- 
 monials) to some misconception or informality, and Mr. Fuseli was 
 elected by a majority of two to one. The President then quitted the 
 chair with evident dissatisfaction, and on the following day (the 12th of 
 February) Sir Joshua Reynolds, who had for twenty-one years filled the 
 chair of the Royal Academy with honour to himself and his country, 
 sent his letter of resignation, to Mr. Richards the Secretary.— Testi- 
 monials to the Genius of Sir Joshua Reynolds. 
 
REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 183 
 
 London, March 5 , 1790 . 
 I have the pleasure of telling you, my dear Cousin, that my 
 uncle continues perfectly well in health and spirits, and that his 
 remaining eye does not get worse. He takes so much care of it, 
 as almost entirely to give up painting, and I wonder that his time 
 does not hang heavy on his hands : lately he has been pretty well 
 employed in settling matters about his resignation of the office of 
 President to the Royal Academy. You will see a great deal 
 about it in the newspapers, and various are the opinions, but certain 
 it is that every impartial person must think he has acted perfectly 
 right in giving up a situation that it was no longer an honour to 
 fill, for there has lately been such cabals, and they have proved 
 themselves so very illiberal in some of their proceedings, that my 
 uncle says it is not possible for him to continue a member of such 
 a society any longer. The particular circumstance that has occa- 
 sioned his resignation, and which he still persists in, (although 
 he has been honoured with the express wishes of the king to the 
 contrary), is too long and too intricate for me to express myself so 
 as to be understood, but my uncle himself is preparing an account 
 for the public, as a vindication of his own conduct, and when it 
 is published, I will most certainly send you a copy ; though, ex- 
 cept so far as my uncle is concerned, it must be very uninterest- 
 ing to you — the squabbles and cabals of a set of Academicians. 
 
 Amongst the prints there is one of Master Hare , 9 which I 
 should be obliged to you if you would present to Lady Jones, 
 with my compliments, as it is the portrait of her nephew.* * 
 I meant to have sent you another picture of my painting, but 
 until very lately, every hour of my time almost has been dedi- 
 cated to my uncle. I now begin to relax a little in my attend- 
 ance, as his eye is strong enough again to enable him to write a 
 little himself, and now and then he mends and varnishes a picture. 
 
 London, April 21. 
 
 # * My Uncle sends you some more of the Royal 
 
 Society’s books, as you expressed a desire to have them, and also 
 
 9 Francis George Hare, entitled “Infancy,” engraved by R. Threw, 1790. 
 
184 Reynolds’ diary, from 1775 to 1790. 
 
 his last discourse. His reconciliation with the Royal Academy 
 made any publication on the subject of their differences un- 
 necessary ; I have picked up two or three pamphlets, which go to 
 you with the rest. My Uncle, I know, intended writing to you, 
 and Mr. William Burke, Sir Robert Chambers, and Sir William 
 Jones, but I rather think it will be postponed as usual, until it is 
 too late, and he will content himself with sending verbal remem- 
 brances to you all, he is perfectly well as Richard can tell you. 
 
 In October, 1791, having strong apprehensions 
 that a tumour, accompanied by inflammation, 
 which took place above the eye that had perished, 
 might affect the other also, Sir Joshua became 
 much depressed in spirits. Every means were 
 employed to disperse it without effect, and it was 
 afterwards found to have been occasioned by ex- 
 travasated blood, and to have had no connection 
 with the optic nerve. 
 
 For some time before his death, his illness pro- 
 duced a melancholy, which was the more distress- 
 ing to his friends, as it was indulged in silence : 
 and some weeks his spirits were so low, that he 
 was unable to bear even the consolations of friend- 
 ship. The frequent inquiries of many of the 
 nobility and men of science, at this time, are 
 the best testimony of the value set on him, 
 and of the regret with which they contemplated 
 his dissolution. 
 
 “ His illness,” says Mr. Burke, “ w r as long, but 
 borne with a mild and cheerful fortitude, with- 
 out the least mixture of anything irritable or 
 
Reynolds' diary, from 1775 to 1790. 185 
 
 querulous, agreeable to the placid and even tenor 
 of his whole life. He had, from the beginning of 
 his malady, a distinct view of his dissolution, 
 which he contemplated with an entire composure, 
 that nothing but the innocence, integrity, and 
 usefulness of his life, and an unaffected submis- 
 sion to the will of Providence, could bestow.’’ 
 
 On Thursday night, the 23rd of Febry., 1792, 
 this great artist and accomplished man paid the 
 last debt of nature, in the 69th year of his age. 
 
 On the day after, his body was opened by Mr. 
 Hunter the eminent surgeon, and it was dis- 
 covered that the disease of which he died was a 
 preternatural enlargement of the liver, which 
 had grown to a size almost before unheard of : 
 his liver, which, according to medical report, 
 ought to have weighed about five pounds, had 
 increased to the enormous weight of nearly eleven 
 pounds. So little ground was there for the idle 
 and unfounded rumours which had been spread 
 during his last illness, that he was fanciful, and 
 that his ailments were merely imaginary. Every 
 one knows best what ails himself : and death at 
 last proves the truth of the observation. Thus 
 it fared with Sir Joshua Reynolds. His friends 
 had long thought him low-spirited without a 
 cause : it now appeared, unhappily for genius, that 
 he had too much cause. 4 
 
 4 Testimonies to the Genius and Memory of Sir Joshua Reynolds, p. 90. 
 
 A 2 
 
186 Reynolds’ diary, from 1755 to 1790. 
 
 The following interesting letter from Miss 
 Palmer to her cousin, in India, written a few 
 weeks after her Uncle's death, is transcribed from 
 the original, in the possession of the family. 
 
 London, Mabch 20, 1792. 
 
 My Dearest Cousin, 
 
 I little thought when I wrote to you the beginning of the year 
 that my next letter would be filled with afflicting and melancholy 
 news. There are not many losses you will more sensibly feel, 
 than that we have sustained by the death of my dearest uncle. 
 We have indeed lost him, my dear cousin, and never was man 
 more universally lamented. I am writing with my heart full of 
 affliction and gratitude, and am unable to express either one or 
 the other ; indeed I almost feel myself unequal to giving you such 
 an account of this melancholy event as I ought to do, in order to 
 give you some idea of our past situation, and of the disposition of 
 things at present. I will endeavour, as much as I can, and the 
 time will allow, to tell you all that relates to his illness. In my last 
 I told you of his spirits being extremely low, and the apprehen- 
 sions he laboured under of losing the sight of his remaining eye. 
 But we were all mistaken : his depression was occasioned by a 
 disease of which no one, any more than himself, was conscious, 
 but which was not the less fatal. He was lately attended by all 
 the eminent physicians in London, and not one of them could 
 with certainty pronounce what was the cause of his illness. At 
 length it was suggested that it might be a diseased liver : and so 
 it proved, for after his death it was found that the liver had in- 
 creased to an amazing size. He suffered no pain of any conse- 
 quence during the whole time of his confinement to his bed, 
 which was more than a month, and all he complained of was an 
 oppression with frequent sickness, and a total inability to swallow 
 or digest solid food. On Thursday the 23rd of February, he was 
 released and taken from ns, without leaving his fellow behind 
 him. If one’s mind could admit of pride at such a time, sure 
 those who loved him best must feel it, to see and hear the 
 
REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 187 
 
 unaffected sorrow, praises, and lamentations of all that even knew 
 him but slightly. I will send with this letter the Magazine 
 which gives an account of his funeral, and his character, written 
 by Mr. Burke * * * * * 
 
 The letter then goes on to state the several 
 bequests and legacies mentioned in Sir Joshua’s 
 Will, and thus feelingly expresses her own state 
 of mind and gratitude for his partiality and 
 generosity towards herself and her sister, Mrs. 
 Gwatkin. 
 
 Judge whether there are any words that can express the strong 
 feelings of affliction and gratitude, that by turns occupy my 
 heart. What he has done for me is so infinitely beyond any 
 thing I ever could have expected, that I now can hardly believe 
 it real, and that I was so much beloved by him. 
 
 P.S. I must not omit to mention that the seals are of great 
 value , 2 one is the head of Michael Angelo, and the other a famous 
 figure of Winter, by Falconet. I also enclose two of the cards 
 of thanks, sent by the executors to all the friends who attended 
 the funeral. 
 
 * Sir Joshua Reynolds left his watch and seals to kis nephew, William 
 Johnson, of Calcutta. They are now in the charge of Miss Theresa 
 Johnson, of Broomborough Cottage, Totnes, for her nephew William 
 Johnson, grandson of the above, and great, great nephew of Sir Joshua 
 Reynolds. 
 
188 REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 
 
 The corpse of the late President was removed 
 from his house, in Leicester Fields, to the Royal 
 Academy, on Friday night, the 2nd of March, 
 where it lay in state until 12 o’clock on the 
 following day. A message from the King had 
 commanded that every possible honour should be 
 paid to the memory of the deceased, and the fune- 
 ral procession was conducted with great pomp, 
 amidst an immense concourse of people, from 
 Somerset House to St. Paul’s Cathedral. 
 
 The company who attended the funeral con- 
 sisted of a great number of the most distinguished 
 persons in the kingdom, who were emulous of 
 paying the last honours to the remains of him 
 whose life had been distinguished by the exertion 
 of the highest talents, and by the exercise of 
 every virtue that can make a man respected and 
 beloved. 
 
 The splendid sorrows that adorn’d his hearse, 
 
 The throng that mourn’d, as their dead favourite passed, 
 
 The grac’d respect that claimed him to the last, 
 
 were fully exemplified at the interment of Sir 
 Joshua Reynolds. His body was deposited in 
 the crypt or vault next to that of Dr. Newton, 
 Bishop of Bristol, and close by the tomb of Sir 
 Christopher Wren. Never, says the Author of 
 the Testimonials, was a public solemnity conduc- 
 ted with more decorum, dignity, and respect. 
 
 
 
REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 189 
 
 A marble statue to his memory was afterwards 
 placed in the body of the Cathedral : it is one of 
 Flaxman’s first and best works of the kind, and re- 
 presents the illustrious President of the Academy 
 holding his discourses in his right hand, and 
 pointing to a pedestal with a medaglion of 
 Michael Angelo. There is so much tranquil 
 dignity in the look, says Cunningham, that we 
 may pardon something of ungraceful execution 
 about the knees. 
 
 Sir J. Reynolds was never married, and left the 
 bulk of his large fortuue, estimated at £80,000, 
 to his niece Miss Palmer, the tender and affec- 
 tionate companion of his declining years. 
 
 This lady married in 1792, Murrough O’Brien, 
 5th Earl of Inchiquin, afterwards created Mar- 
 quis of Thomond, and died in 1821, when several 
 of Sir Joshua’s most charming productions were 
 brought to the hammer, and sold for extraordinary 
 high prices, as will shortly be mentioned. 
 
 To his favorite niece, Theophila, the Offe of his 
 private notes, he bequeathed £10,000, she having 
 recently married J. Lovell Gwatkin, Esq., a 
 gentleman of independent fortune in Cornwall. 
 This amiable and accomplished lady died at the 
 advanced age of 91, on the 4th of July, 1848, 
 while on a visit to her daughter, Mrs. Beauchamp 
 St. John, at Ideford Rectory, Devonshire. She 
 was one of the last survivors of the palmy days 
 
190 Reynolds’ diary, from 1755 to 1790. 
 
 of Johnson and Burke, and having with her 
 sister, Lady Thomond, resided several years with 
 their maternal uncle, in Leicester Fields, her con- 
 versation was enriched by remembrances of the 
 distinguished men who formed Sir Joshua’s so- 
 ciety. The taste and accomplishments which Mrs. 
 Gwatkin retained in a wonderful degree even to 
 the very last were quite in keeping with the 
 associations of her girlhood. Throughout life 
 the truthfulness of her disposition was as eminent 
 as the warmth of her affections ; and she was es- 
 pecially characterized by possessing the delicacy, 
 without the artificiality of refinement. 
 
 A remarkable talent for painting seems to 
 have been inherited by the descendants of Sir J. 
 Reynolds. Mrs. Gwatkin was herself an excel- 
 lent artist, and copied some of her uncle’s pictures 
 with great success, and her nephew, Joshua 
 Reynolds Gwatkin, has frequently exhibited the 
 productions of his pencil at the Royal Academy. 
 Captain Palmer, of Torrington, received me in his 
 studio, surrounded by works of his own painting : 
 and Mrs. Colby, Mrs. Price, and Miss Theresa 
 Johnson, great nieces of Sir Joshua, all possessed 
 considerable talents, and painted with delicacy 
 and truth. 
 
 Malone says, that Sir Joshua always con- 
 sidered the possession of the works of Titian, 
 Vandyke, and Rembrandt, the best kind of wealth, 
 
REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 191 
 
 and that, instead of begining to save money, he 
 laid it out faster than he got it, in purchasing 
 the finest examples of art that could be procured. 
 The collection of pictures, prints, and drawings, 
 which he thus acquired, he offered before his 
 death to the Royal Academy, at a sum much 
 below their value; but circumstances prevented 
 the Academicians from availing themselves of 
 the offer, and he therefore determined to make a 
 public exhibition of them. For this purpose 
 he hired a room in the Haymarket, and as he 
 could no longer work at his profession, employed 
 himself in composing and arranging the cata- 
 logue. Sir Joshua gave the profits arising from 
 this exhibition to his old servant, Ralph Kirkley ; 
 hence it was called “ Ralph’s Exhibition.” 
 
 It is much to be regretted, that Sir Joshua did 
 not bequeath his pictures and drawings to the 
 Academy over which he had so long and ably 
 presided : if he had done so, others might have 
 been induced to follow such an example. General 
 Guise gave his collection to the library of Christ 
 Church College, Oxford: and if we now possessed 
 the undispersed collections of Vandyke, and Sir 
 Peter Lely, which were sold after their deaths, 
 and now enrich many private galleries, what a 
 treasure and advantage it would have been to 
 the artists of this country ! 
 
 Horace Walpole says, that, Sir P. Lely’s 
 
192 REYNOLDS’ DIARY, FROM 1755 TO 1790. 
 
 pictures and drawings were most valuable, as he 
 purchased many of Vandyke’s, from the galleries 
 of the Earl of Arundel and Duke of Bucking- 
 ham. Soon after Sir Peter’s death his collection 
 was sold, and produced £26,000. The catalogue 
 published by Bathoe, mentions no less than 
 twenty-six pictures by Vandyke alone. 
 
 Reynolds’ collection of pictures 
 by ancient masters, was sold 
 in 1794, and produced . . £10,319 2 6 
 
 Various fancy pieces and sub- 
 jects of his own painting, and 
 unclaimed portraits, in 1796 . 4,505 18 0 
 
 Drawings and prints in March, 
 
 1798 . 1,903 0 0 
 
 £16,728 0 6 
 
 In Rogers’ Imitations of Drawings, selected 
 from specimens in the cabinets of His Majesty 
 and other distinguished patrons of the fine arts, 
 there are fifteen from the collection of Sir 
 Joshua Reynolds, viz : 
 
 A Madonna and child, by Michael Angelo. 
 
 A Study, by Michael Angelo. 
 
 Three Young Men, by Raffaelle. 
 
 Terroe Motus, by Raffaelle. 
 
 Two Lovers, by Baccio Bandinelli. 
 
 A subject unknown, by Battista Franca. 
 
SALE OF THE SHAKSPEARE GALLERY. 193 
 
 A large composition, by Paulo Veronese. 
 
 Study for a Madonna, by Correggio. 
 
 St. Catherine, by Correggio. 
 
 The Good Samaritan, by Parmegiano. 
 
 Meditation, by Parmegiano. 
 
 Clio, by Guercino. 
 
 An Old Man, by Rembrandt. 
 
 An Old Woman, by Rembrandt. 
 
 A Boy, telling his story, by Rembrandt. 
 
 When Alderman Boydell’s Shakspeare Gallery 
 was disposed of by lottery, in 1805, the chief 
 prize, which consisted of the building and several 
 capital pictures, was gained by Mr. Tassier, of 
 Leicester Square, who divided the property into 
 lots, and sold them by auction. 
 
 The pictures painted by Sir Joshua for the 
 Shakspeare Gallery, produced the following sums, 
 which are here contrasted with the prices paid for 
 them by Boydell. 3 
 
 Original sprier. Sale. 
 
 £ £ s. d. 
 
 Macbeth and the Witches . . 1,000 ... 378 0 0 
 
 Death of Cardinal Beaufort . . 525 ... 535 5 0 
 
 Puck 105 ... 215 5 0 
 
 The two first were purchased by the Earl of 
 Egremont, and the last by Samuel Rogers, Esq. 
 
 The Macbeth had not been paid for at the 
 time of Sir Joshua’s decease, and the price was 
 then fixed at £1,000, by reference between Boy- 
 dell and the executors, the award being signed 
 by Sir George Beaumont, Sir Abraham Hume, 
 
 3 Edwards’ Anecdotes of Tainters. 
 
194 
 
 SALE AT STREATHAM PARK. 
 
 William Lock, Esq., J. T. Batt, and the Bishop of 
 Peterborough. 
 
 The author of this work was present at the 
 sale of the library and effects of Mrs. Piozzi, at 
 Streatham Park, in May, 1816, when the fol- 
 lowing portraits, painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds 
 for Mr. and Mrs. Thrale, were sold by Squibb, 
 the auctioneer. 
 
 LOT. 
 
 56 Lord Sandy s 
 
 
 
 GUINEAS. 
 
 80 
 
 57 Lord Lyttelton . 
 
 
 
 41 
 
 58 Mrs. Thrale and daughter 
 
 
 
 (withdrawn) 
 
 59 Arthur Murphy . 
 
 
 
 98 
 
 60 Oliver Goldsmith 
 
 
 
 127 
 
 61 Sir Joshua Reynolds 
 
 
 
 122 
 
 62 Sir Robert Chambers 
 
 
 
 80 
 
 63 David Garrick . 
 
 
 
 175 
 
 64 Miss Owen 
 
 
 
 (withdrawn) 
 
 65 Mr. Barretti 
 
 
 
 82 
 
 66 Dr. Burney 
 
 
 
 20 
 
 LOT. 
 
 4 5G Sold for 35 guineas according to information I received from Mr. 
 Smith, of Bond Street. 
 
 58 This picture was not put up at the sale, hut was afterwards pur- 
 chased by S. Boddington, Esq., for 78 guineas. 
 
 59 Purchased by G. Watson Taylor, Esq., at whose sale it became the 
 property of Sir Robert Peel, Bart. 
 
 GO Bought by the Tulce of Bedford. 
 
 61 Bought by Richard Sharpe, Esq., M.P., according to Cimningham’s 
 Life of Reynolds, p. 393. 
 
 G3 Bought by Dr. Charles Burney, see Madame D’Arblay’s Life, vol. 7, 
 p. 245. 
 
 G4 Miss Owen’s portrait was bought by Mr. Stuart, see Gentlemans’ 
 Magazine for May, 1833, p. 418, where there is also a letter from 
 Mrs. Piozzi, giving an account of who Miss Owen was. 
 
 G5 Sold afterwards at Watson Taylor’s sale, for 100 guineas. 
 
 GG Bought by Dr. Charles Bumey, nobody bidding against him, Mr. 
 Smith says, it was sold for 80 guineas. 
 
THE MARCHIONESS OF THOMOND’s SALE. 195 
 
 LOT. 
 
 GUINEAS. 
 
 5 67 Edmund Burke . 
 68 Dr. Johnson 
 
 240 
 
 360 
 
 The sale of the Marchioness of Thomond’s 
 pictures, at Christie’s, on the 18th of May, 1821, 
 and the day following, as it contained a larger 
 number of Reynolds’ works than had been before 
 offered to public competition, excited unusual 
 interest. The extraordinarily high prices for 
 which many of the pictures sold gave general 
 satisfaction ; and Haydon, considered it a most 
 triumphant fact, greatly calculated to encourage 
 the Arts in this country. 
 
 The following list of the principal pictures 
 dispersed by this sale, with the prices and pur- 
 chasers names, is extracted from a priced cata- 
 logue given to me by the family of the Rev. 
 John Palmer, brother and executor of the Mar- 
 chioness of Thomond. 
 
 5 67 Bought by Richard Sharpe, Esq., and exhibited at the British In- 
 stitution, in 1820. 
 
 68 Bought by G. Watson Taylor, Esq., at whose sale in 1821, it passed 
 into the possession of Sir Robert Peel, Bart., at the price of 493 
 guineas. It was exhibited at the British Institution, in 1833. 
 
 Cunningham is no doubt wrong in stating that Mr. Thrale’s por- 
 trait of Dr. Johnson was bought by Richard Sharpe, Esq., as the portrait 
 in his possession was purchased at Lady Thomond’s sale, and is de- 
 scribed in the catalogue, as a portrait of Dr. Samuel Johnson, from the 
 original by Sir J. Reynolds, at Knowle. Mr. Sharpe being named as 
 the purchaser for £13 2s. 6d. 
 
 In Britton’s account of the pictures at Earls Stoke Park, we find 
 portraits of Dr. Johnson, Barretti, and Arthur Murphy, by Sir J. 
 Reynolds. — See Beauties of Wiltshire. 
 
 LOT. 
 
196 THE MARCHIONESS OF THOMOND’s SALE. 
 
 FIRST DAY. 
 
 LOT 
 
 £ 
 
 8. 
 
 d. 
 
 purchasers . 
 
 23 His own portrait with a 
 
 
 
 
 book 
 
 245 
 
 14 
 
 0 . 
 
 . Normanton 
 
 45 Tho Hon. Miss Stanhope 
 48 A Woody Landscape, 
 
 42 
 
 0 
 
 0 . 
 
 . Allnutt 
 
 one of the few perform- 
 ances of Sir Joshua, in 
 
 
 
 
 - 
 
 this line 
 
 59 Mrs. Rainsford in a hat 
 
 68 
 
 5 
 
 0 . 
 
 . Phillips 6 
 
 and white feather. 
 
 57 
 
 15 
 
 0 . 
 
 . Stuart Wortley 
 
 GO An Elderly Man seated 
 
 
 
 
 
 in a Chair, called “ Re- 
 signation ” . 
 
 131 
 
 5 
 
 0 . 
 
 . Allnutt 
 
 G1 Lady Hamilton, the face 
 
 
 
 
 
 turned towards the 
 shoulder 
 
 212 
 
 2 
 
 0 . 
 
 . Lambton 
 
 62 Portrait of Himself in 
 
 105 
 
 0 
 
 0 . 
 
 Greenwood, for 
 
 Spectacles . 
 
 63 View from Richmond 
 
 George IV. 
 
 
 
 
 Hill 
 
 162 
 
 15 
 
 0 . 
 
 . Rogers 
 
 64 A Girl with a Kitten 
 
 65 Hon. Mrs. Stanhope, 
 
 309 
 
 15 
 
 0 . 
 
 . Lord Normanton 
 
 Moon-light Scene 
 66 Portrait of a Female 
 
 105 
 
 0 
 
 0 . 
 
 . Allnutt 
 
 Drawing, (companion to 
 the Girl with a Kitten) 
 
 105 
 
 0 
 
 0 . 
 
 . Rogers 
 
 67 Mrs. Hartley, as a Bac- 
 
 
 
 
 
 chante, with an Infant 
 on her Shoulder 
 
 301 
 
 10 
 
 0 . 
 
 . Colonel Howard 
 
 68 Girl with a Scarlet Muff, 
 
 
 
 
 
 with Landscape back- 
 ground 
 
 267 
 
 15 
 
 0 . 
 
 . Lord Lansdownc 
 
 0 G. Phillips, Esq., M.r., (afterwards Sir George Phillips .) — Catalogue 
 in the British Museum. 
 
THE MARCHIONESS OF THOMOND’s SALE. 197 
 
 lot. £ s. d. ^purchasers. 
 
 69 The Gipsy Fortune-tel- 
 ler, engraved by Sher- 
 win, 3ft. 8in., by 4ft. 
 
 7|in. . . 252 0 0 .. Col. Howard 
 
 70 The Piping Shepherd 
 with his Dog, landscape 
 
 with a Flock of Sheep 430 10 0 . . Phillips 
 
 72 Lady llchester with two 
 
 Children . . 74 11 0 . . Lord Lansdownc 
 
 SECOND DAY. 
 
 £ s. d . IPurcafyscrs. 
 
 6 Portrait of Himself 
 
 when Young . 31 0 0 . . Cunliffe 
 
 16 Portrait of a Lady, with 
 
 a Hat and Feather, un- 
 finished . . 31 10 0 . . Allnutt 
 
 17 Portrait of Lady Spencer 7 57 15 0 . . Wansey 
 
 18 Portrait of Earl Shel- 
 burne . . 21 10 6 . . Taylor 
 
 19 Hope nursing Love, the 
 
 admired original picture 225 15 0 . . Morritt 
 23 A bold Landscape, with 
 figures in the style of 
 
 S. Rosa . . 44 2 0 . . Cunliffe 
 
 37 A Young Shepherdess 
 
 with Lambs . 220 10 0 . . Col. Howard 
 
 44 Early Portrait of Him- 
 self, sitting with a Paper 
 
 in his Hand. . 22 1 0 . . Sir C. Pole 
 
 45 Contemplation, a Fe- 
 
 male in White Drapery 
 in a pensive attitude, 
 painted with fine Rem- 
 brandt-like effect . 152 5 0 . . Allnutt 
 
 7 Lavinia Countess of Spencer, in a straw hat, now in the possession 
 of Dr. Hamilton, 22, Grafton Street. 
 
198 the marchioness of thomond’s sale. 
 
 LOT. 
 
 £ 
 
 
 d. 
 
 ISurrhascrs. 
 
 46 
 
 Earl of Dunmore, in a 
 Highland Dress, whole 
 length 
 
 119 
 
 14 
 
 0 . 
 
 . Woodburn 
 
 47 
 
 A Girl’s Head with 
 Pearls in her Hair . 
 
 44 
 
 2 
 
 0 . 
 
 Lord De 
 Dunstanville 
 
 4 8 
 
 Portrait of a General 
 Officer 
 
 11 
 
 0 
 
 6 . 
 
 . Phillips, R.A. 
 
 49 
 
 Portrait of Miss Basil 
 
 21 
 
 10 
 
 6 . 
 
 . Geddes 
 
 ©rigiuai designs for tbc (TcrOTpartmmts of % Jlcb (Tolkge 
 SHrobob, ©tforb. 
 
 LOT. 
 
 60 Portraits of Sir J. Rey- 
 
 J? 
 
 8. 
 
 d. 
 
 \3urcijasrrs. 
 
 nolds and Jarvis as 
 Shepherds . 
 
 430 
 
 10 
 
 0 . 
 
 . E. Fitzwilliam 
 
 61 Girl and Children with 
 
 
 
 
 
 a Torch 
 
 420 
 
 0 
 
 0 . 
 
 . Zachary 
 
 62 Shepherd Boy and Dog 
 
 63 Young St. John and the 
 
 183 
 
 15 
 
 0 . 
 
 . E. Fitzwilliam 
 
 Lamb 
 
 630 
 
 0 
 
 0 . 
 
 . Danby 
 
 64 Charity . . 1575 
 
 0 
 
 0 . 
 
 . Lord Normanton 
 
 65 Faith 
 
 420 
 
 0 
 
 0 . 
 
 . Lord Normanton 
 
 66 Hope 
 
 682 
 
 10 
 
 0 . 
 
 . Lord Normanton 
 
 67 Temperance. 
 
 630 
 
 0 
 
 0 . 
 
 . Lord Normanton 
 
 68 Justice . .1155 
 
 0 
 
 0 . 
 
 . Lord Normanton 
 
 69 Fortitude . 
 
 735 
 
 0 
 
 0 . 
 
 . Lord Normanton 
 
 70 Prudence . 
 
 367 
 
 10 
 
 0 . 
 
 . Lord Normanton 
 
 72 Dido on the Funeral 
 
 
 
 
 
 Pile 
 
 735 
 
 0 
 
 0 . 
 
 . The Kmg 
 
 73 Lord Rodney, in Naval 
 
 
 
 
 
 Lmiform, his Right Arm 
 resting on an Anchor 
 
 120 
 
 15 
 
 0 . 
 
 . Trist 
 
 74 The Snake in the Grass 
 
 75 The Duchess of Marl- 
 
 535 
 
 10 
 
 0 . 
 
 . Soane, R.A. 
 
 borough, whole length 
 
 94 
 
 10 
 
 0 . 
 
 . Woodburn 
 
THE MARCHIONESS OF TIIOMOND’s SALE. 199 
 
 Haydon says, in reference to this sale, 44 I have 
 gained immense knowledge by an examination 
 of these pictures.” He avowed his preference 
 of the “ Charity,” one of the designs for the 
 New College windows, to any of the larger 
 productions. “ It may take its place.” he tri- 
 umphantly exclaimed, 44 by the side of any Cor- 
 reggio on earth” — and the large sum given for 
 it by Lord Normanton justified Haydon’s pre- 
 ference. Next to this he thought the “ Piping 
 Shepherd” one of the finest emanations of the 
 painter’s genius ; and he persuaded Mr. (after- 
 wards Sir George) Phillips to buy it for 400 
 guineas: 44 but, it is worth” says Haydon, 44 a 
 thousand : it is the completest bit of a certain 
 expression in the world — a thing I could dwell 
 on for ages.” 8 
 
 On the following day Haydon went again to the 
 sale. 44 1 found,” he says, 44 the 400 guineas of 
 yesterday had made a great sensation, and Phillips 
 was assailed by every one, as he came in. The 
 moment it was known that I was the adviser, they 
 all began to undervalue it. Northcote said 4 ah, 
 yes — it was a very poor thing, I remember it.’ 
 Mr. Phillips, with evident disappointment, whis- 
 pered to me 4 you see people have different tastes.’ 
 It served him right, and I was heartily glad of it. 
 He does not deserve the prize he has got.” 
 
 Haydon’s Autobiography. 
 
200 THE MARCHIONESS OF THOMOND’s SALE. 
 
 On the 25th of the same month there was a 
 supplementary sale, comprising : — 
 
 gUmain&jer of tire Valuable grafeings, 
 
 BY OLD MASTERS. 
 
 SEVERAL ORIGINAL SKETCH BOOKS, 
 
 AND ALL THE 
 
 ficmairantj Oil Stocks raft Infmisltir portraits 
 
 OF 
 
 SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 
 
 The following extracts are from priced cat- 
 alogues in the Print room of the British Museum, 
 and in the possession of Miss Gwatkin. 
 
 SMmdjcb ^portraits nab ^hdtljta- 9 
 
 lot. £ s. d. purchasers, 
 
 4 Portrait of his present 
 Majesty when young, 
 ditto of her late Majesty, 
 the Children of Lady 
 Ilchester and Admiral 
 
 Keppel, a Sketch 
 5 Five Fancy Sketches, 
 
 7 
 
 7 
 
 0 . 
 
 . Wansley 
 
 one on panel 
 
 6 Two, Lady in Asiatic 
 
 18 
 
 7 
 
 6 . 
 
 . Zachary 
 
 Costume, and Mrs. Stan- 
 hope, a Copy 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 0 . 
 
 . Emmerson 
 
 7 Two, Mrs. Barrington, 
 
 17 
 
 17 
 
 0 . 
 
 . Sir T. Barnard 
 
 and Portrait of an Actress 12 
 
 12 
 
 0 . 
 
 . Russell 
 
 10 Admiral Lord Keppel, a 
 
 
 
 
 
 Sketch, and the Duchess 
 of Devonshire 
 
 5 
 
 10 
 
 6 . 
 
 . Turner, R.A. 
 
 9 It is probable that many of these sketches and unfinished portraits 
 purchased at Lady Thomond’s sale, have been worked up, and since sold, 
 as undoubted originals by Sir J. Reynolds. 
 
THE MARCHIONESS OF TIIOMOND’s SALE. 201 
 
 lot. £ s. d. 3j3urd;nscrs. 
 
 11 Portrait of Sir Joshua, 
 
 unfinished . . 33 12 0 . . Jackson 
 
 15 Sketches of Hope nurs- 
 ing Love, and the Snake 
 
 in the Grass . 5 15 6 . . Phillips 
 
 22 Four, Sketch for the 
 portrait of Miss Ridge, 
 
 and Three others . 4 4 0.. Phillips 
 
 23 Three early Portraits of 6 16 G . . Turner 
 
 Sir Joshua Reynolds, 9 19 6 . . Rutley 
 
 Sketches . . 6 6 0.. Tudor 
 
 25 Portrait of Perd ita, Mrs. 
 
 Robinson . . 6 6 0.. Danby 
 
 31 Portrait of Miss Beau- 
 
 clerk, as Una . 38 17 0 . . Lord Normanton 
 
 34 Portrait oi a Lady, the 
 
 head finished . 5 5 0.. 
 
 38 A beautiful Portrait of 
 
 Miss Ridge, the head Trist, for 
 
 finished . . 32 11 0 . . Mr. Gwatkin 
 
 61 A Sketch Book, filled 
 
 with Designs, by Sir J. . 
 
 Reynolds, 84 leaves, in 
 
 a parchment cover . 32 10 6 . . Gwatkin 
 
 62 A ditto, containing 78 
 Sketches, with M.S. re- 
 marks on paintings in 
 
 Italy . . 105 10 6 . . Gwatkin 
 
 63 A ditto, 96 leaves . 26 5 0 . . Soane 
 
 64 Three Small ditto 31 10 0 . . Herschel 
 
 65 Three ditto, one not 
 
 bound 1 . . 16 5 6 . Rogers 
 
 66 Sundry Sketches, by Sir 
 
 J. Reynolds . 2 17 0 . . Wansley 
 
 1 These sketch-books were again sold after the death of Mr. Rogers, 
 in 185G, for twenty-eight guineas and a half. They were purchased by 
 Mr. Colnagbi, for an American, who sent a commission as high as 
 £100 for them. 
 
202 
 
 VARIOUS OTHER SALES. 
 
 The following pictures by Sir J. Reynolds 
 have likewise been sold, at various times, since 
 the publication of Mr. Malone’s list; and fur- 
 nish a striking proof of the increasing value of 
 his works : 
 
 Mrs. Billington, as St. Cecilia, at Mr. Bryant’s 
 sale, in 1798, bought by Mr. Henry Hope, 
 (Buchanan). ..... £325 
 
 Garrick, between Tragedy and Comedy, Mr. 
 Angerstein. .... 250 guineas. 
 
 Mr. Spranger Barry, at Caleb Whiteford’s sale, 
 in 1810, (Smith). . . . 32 guineas. 
 
 Mrs. Baldwin, in Greek Costume, at Phillips’ 
 sale, 1813, bought by the Marquis of Lans- 
 downe. . . . . 100 guineas. 
 
 Mrs. Siddons, as the Tragic Muse, at Mr. Wat- 
 son Taylor’s sale, in 1823, bought by Lord 
 Grosvenor. . * . . 1745 guineas. 
 
 Portrait of Barretti, at Mr. Watson Taylor’s 
 sale, (Smith). . . . 100 guineas. 
 
 Mrs. Sheridan, as St. Cecilia, bought by the 
 Marquis of Lansdowne. . 600 guineas. 
 
 Lawrence Sterne, bought by the Marquis of 
 Lansdowne. . . . 500 guineas. 
 
 Venus chiding Cupid, at Mr. Wright’s sale, 
 in 1845, bought by Mr. Thomas Baring, 
 M.P. .... 505 guineas. 
 
 Portrait of Admiral Keppel, at the same sale, 
 bought by Sir Robert Peel, Bart. 500 guineas. 
 
VARIOUS OTHER SALES. 
 
 203 
 
 Mrs. Billington, as St. Cecilia, at the same 
 sale, (gone to America). . 500 guineas. 
 
 The Age of Innocence, at Mr. Harman’s sale, 
 in 1844, bought by Mr. Vernon. 2 1,520 guineas. 
 
 Sir Joshua Reynolds, holding a Palette and 
 Brushes, and shading his eyes with his left hand, 
 at Mr. Knight’s sale, in 1845, 280 guineas. 
 
 Miss Maria Archer, at Mr. Knight’s sale, bought 
 by Mr. Thomas Baring, M.P. 270 guineas. 
 
 Sir Joshua Reynolds, painted for the Town 
 Hall of Plympton, bought by Lord Egrc- 
 mont 150 guineas. 
 
 Sir Joshua Reynolds, painted for Northcote, at 
 Mr. Hughes’s sale, 1848, . . £56 14 s. 
 
 Sir Joshua Reynolds, in Early Life, at Mr. 
 Lake’s sale, in 1845, bought by Sir Robert Peel, 
 Bart. . . . . . 155 guineas. 
 
 Kitty Fisher, with Doves, in 1845, (Newen- 
 huys) 90 guineas. 
 
 Girl with a Spaniel, (Miss Bowles), at Chris- 
 tie’s, in 1850, bought by the Marquis of Hert- 
 ford. ..... 1,020 guineas. 
 
 Boy holding a Pen, Mr. Metcalfe’s sale, in 
 1850. . . . 162 guineas. 
 
 Mary, Marchioness of Buckingham, with her 
 
 2 The highest price ever given for a picture, by Sir Joshua Reynolds 
 of this class, until the recent sale of Mr. Rogers’ collection, when 
 the “ Strawberry Girl” sold for 2,100 guineas, to the Marquis of 
 Hertford, a proof of the still increasing value and estimation of his 
 works. 
 
204 
 
 MR. ROGERS’ SALE. 
 
 son, whole length, at the Stowe sale, bought by 
 the Dean of Windsor. . . 130 guineas. 
 
 The Marquis of Granby, whole length, leaning 
 on a mortar, an engagement in the back-ground, 
 at the Stowe sale, bought by Norton, of Soho 
 Square. .... 200 guineas. 
 
 Miss Penelope Boothby, at Philips’s in 1851, 
 bought I believe, by Mr. Windus, of Totten- 
 ham 290 guineas. 
 
 Portrait of Mrs. Braddyll, at Lord Charles 
 Townshend’s sale, in 1854. . 215 guineas. 
 
 The Penn Family, 1854. . 340 guineas. 
 
 Lady Anne Hamilton, afterwards Countess of 
 Derby, when a child, holding a bouquet of flowers 
 in her lap, at Christie and Manson’s, in 1855, 
 bought by the Earl of Derby. . . £800 
 
 1856. 
 
 SALE OF THE COLLECTION 
 
 OP THE LATE 
 
 Samuel Eogers, ©5 q. 
 
 The first half of the paintings were disposed 
 of on Friday, May 2nd, and realized extraor- 
 dinary prices. The great room at Christie’s was 
 crowded to excess, and the greatest excitement 
 prevailed. 
 
 The first picture by Sir Joshua Beynolds, 
 which was put up, was — 
 
MR. ROGERS’ SALE. 
 
 205 
 
 Lot 581. The Mob Cap. The principal 
 figure in the celebrated composition of the 64 In- 
 fant Academy.” A round of applause followed 
 the ushering in and knocking down of this 
 favourite picture. It was put up at 250 guineas, 
 and the biddings finally closed by Mr. Radclyffe, 
 for the sum of . . . 780 guineas. 3 
 
 Lot 588. A Girl with a Bird, was knocked 
 down for . . ' . . 230 guineas. 
 
 Lot 591. A Girl Sketching. This picture 
 formed the companion to the Girl with a Kitten, 
 in the Earl of Normanton’s collection, and was 
 purchased by Mr. Rogers, at the Marchioness of 
 Thomond’s sale, for 100 guineas 350 guineas. 
 
 Lot 691. The Strawberry Girl. This was 
 the great gem of the collection, and was knock- 
 ed down amid great applause, to Mr. Agnew 
 (for the Marquis of Hertford) at the price 
 of . . . . . .2,100 guineas. 
 
 Lot 604. A Romantic Woody Landscape, in 
 the manner of Titian . . 105 guineas. 
 
 The remainder of the pictures were disposed 
 of on the following day, and realized equally 
 high prices. The great room at Christie and 
 Manson’s was again crowded by nobility and 
 gentry, and by all the noted picture dealers 
 in town. 
 
 3 Bought I believe for Miss Coutts. 
 
206 
 
 MR. ROGERS’ SALE. 
 
 The Sir Joshua’s sold were : 
 
 Lot 695. The Sleeping Girl, described by 
 Northcote as one of his richest performances : sold 
 for . . . . . . 150 guineas. 
 
 Lot 702. A Study from the Window of his 
 Villa on Richmond Hill, one of his happiest 
 productions in this style.— This picture was pur- 
 chased by Mr. Rogers at Lady Thomond’s sale, 
 for 155 guineas . . . 430 guineas. 
 
 Lot 706. Cupid and Psyche. One of the 
 most beautiful of his fancy subjects, was knocked 
 down to Mr. Radclyffe for . 400 guineas. 
 
 Lot 714. Puck, or Robin Good-fellow. Per- 
 haps one of the most popular works of our great 
 English master, was purchased by Earl Fitz- 
 william, for .... 980 guineas. 
 
 This picture was purchased by Mr. Rogers, as 
 before stated, at the sale of the Shakspeare 
 Gallery, for . . . . 105 guineas. 4 
 
 4 The following paragraph appeared in the Illustrated London News, 
 of June 7, 1856 : 
 
 “ We are assured by a well-informed friend that Lord Fitzwilliam is 
 not the last survivor of the sitters to Sir Joshua ; that another remains 
 in the grown-up person of the sitter for Puck ; and that the merry hoy, 
 late a porter at Elliott’s brewery, in Pimlico, was in Christie and 
 Manson’s Rooms during Mr. Rogers’ sale, when that master-piece of 
 Sir Joshua’s pencil was knocked down to Lord Fitzwilliam ; the ex- 
 porter at the Brewery and model for Puck, was standing next to his 
 Lordship at the time.” 
 

 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Sir Joshua in his last Discourse observed 4; I could 
 not be said to come to this work totally unpro- 
 vided with materials. I had seen much, and had 
 thought much upon what I had seen. I had 
 something of a habit of investigation, and a dis- 
 position to reduce all that I had observed and 
 felt in my own mind to method and system.” 
 Northcote also tells us that at the time when Sir 
 Joshua contributed to the Idler, he committed to 
 paper a variety of. remarks, which afterwards 
 
 served him as hints for his Discourses . 
 
 * 
 
208 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM 
 
 A great number of manuscripts in Sir Joshua’s 
 handwriting came into the possession of the Rev. 
 John Palmer, and are now the property of his 
 son, R. L. Palmer, Esq. Besides a complete copy 
 of the Travels in Flanders, made by an amanu- 
 ensis and corrected for the press by Sir Joshua 
 himself, there are said to be, at least, 2,000 
 sheets of composition, mostly foolscap. Some of 
 the subjects are continuous for several pages, 
 others being only loose memoranda, and observa- 
 tions to be considered as materials : they are 
 contained in a general cover, marked Sketches 
 hy Sir J. R One parcel is marked Analogy. 
 Others are marked Reason , Mode , Preface to 
 Flemish Tour , Vatican , Discourses not used, 
 Sketches for the Discourses on Painting by Sir 
 Joshua Reynolds , Part of the Ninth Discourse . 
 There are others headed Self Method of Study , 
 Colouring , Michael Angelo , fyc., fyc. 
 
 Had not the controversy respecting the Au- 
 thorship of Sir J. Reynolds' Discourses long 
 been set at rest, the inspection of these papers 
 and rough draughts of his composition would 
 abundantly have proved the fact. They are evi- 
 dently the work of a clear intelligent and observant 
 mind, and appear to have been reflections and 
 remarks on various subjects, jotted down and 
 committed to paper just as they occurred at the 
 moment, without much care given to accuracy 
 
MISCELLANEOUS MANUSCRIPTS. 
 
 209 
 
 of expression. We may suppose Sir Joshua 
 walking up and down his room, in the evening 
 when it was too dark to paint, ruminating on 
 the theory and principles of his art, and think- 
 ing over and forming in his mind the sub- 
 stance of his Discourses ; while every now and 
 then he stopped to write down his thoughts 
 on the back of a letter, or on any other piece 
 of paper which happened to be at hand, with 
 any stump of a pen he could find. It is indeed 
 stated by members of his family that this was 
 his habit. 
 
 Sir Joshua frequently lamented that he did 
 not acquire that facility of composition, both 
 in painting and writing, which is only to be 
 obtained in early life. These disadvantages how- 
 ever he overcame to a great extent by persevering 
 industry, and a determination always to do his 
 best. We consequently find, in the rough draughts 
 alluded to, the same thought or idea expressed 
 in different ways, and repeatedly altered and 
 amended — like th epentimenti (as they are termed) 
 which we see in artists drawings — until the most 
 graceful outline and expression was attained. 
 
 It is quite evident, however, that Sir Joshua 
 was fully equal to the composition of his Dis- 
 courses, nor can it be any longer doubted that 
 they are all his own, although the manuscript 
 may have been submitted either to Burke or 
 
 d 2 
 
210 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM 
 
 Johnson, who may have improved the arrange- 
 ment and mode of expression in some passages. 
 
 Northcote, in his conversations with Hazlitt, is 
 stated to have said, “ I can’t help thinking that 
 Burke had a hand in the Discourses — that he 
 gave some of the fine graceful turns : ” but this 
 assertion seems to be contradicted by Northcote 
 himself, in another passage quoted by Bryan in 
 his Dictionary of Painters, when he observes, in 
 speaking of Sir Joshua Reynolds’ Discourses, 
 “ I can only say, that at the period when it was 
 expected he should have composed them, I have 
 heard him walking at intervals in his room, as if 
 in meditation, till one or two o’clock in the 
 morning, and I have on the following day, at an 
 early hour, seen the papers on the subject of his 
 art, which had been written the preceding night. 
 I have had the rough manuscript from himself 
 in his own handwriting, in order to make a fair 
 copy of it to read in public. I have seen the 
 manuscript also when it had been revised by Dr. 
 Johnson, who has sometimes altered it to a wrong 
 meaning, from his total ignorance of the subject, 
 and of art ; but I never saw the marks of Burke’s 
 pen on any of the manuscripts .” 5 
 
 On the subject of Sir Joshua’s Discourses Hay- 
 don says : 
 
 5 Vol. ii. p. 291. 
 
FAC SIMILE OF A PART OF THE THIRD DISCOURSE IN SIR JOSHUA'S 
 HAND WRITING. 
 
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 HAND WRITING. 
 
 
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MISCELLANEOUS MANUSCRIPTS. 
 
 211 
 
 So ignorant were the English of the degree of intellect re- 
 quired to be a great painter, that Reynolds was suspected, for 
 years, not to have written his own Discourses. Burke was ac- 
 cused : but the fact is, in style they are too pure for Burke. As 
 a curious evidence of their being his own writing, at the sale of 
 his works, in Pall Mall many years ago, when everything was 
 scraped together that could be found, in a portfolio of sketches 
 I saw a part of one of the Discourses, copied fairly by an aman- 
 uensis, and a very important and intellectual correction, in 
 Reynolds’s own handwriting, put in between the lines. Though 
 Burke may have dictated this, it is rather far-fetched to believe it. 
 
 Fac similes of a portion of the third Discourse, 
 in Sir Joshua’s own hand- writing, word for word , 
 as in the printed copy, ( [see page 43, of Mr. 
 Burnet's edition J and of a portion of the seventh 
 Discourse, ( see page 123J are here inserted as 
 evidences of the fact. 
 
 These miscellaneous papers afford abundant 
 examples of Sir Joshua’s indefatigable and zea- 
 lous endeavours always to do his best, or as he 
 himself calls it, “ his honesty of purpose.” Every 
 fresh portrait that he painted, he both wished 
 and intended should be his best ; however un- 
 promising the subject he always studied to make 
 it a good and creditable picture: and this first 
 and principal object, weighing more with him 
 than the individual likeness, was the cause of his 
 having many portraits returned on his hands. 
 The fine poetical head which he painted of Gold- 
 smith, for instance, gives a far different impression 
 of the man than his ordinary appearance would 
 
212 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM 
 
 have excited ; for we arc told by one of his con- 
 temporaries that Goldsmith was fond of exhibiting 
 his muscular little person in the gayest apparel, 
 to which was added a bag wig and sword. Mr. 
 Charles Rogers, whose portrait is in my possession, 
 wore a close brown wig, as he is represented in a 
 miniature by James Deacon, painted in 1729. 
 The wig, of course, gave a totally different ex- 
 pression to the head ; but as it was merely the 
 fashion of the day, an accidental circumstance, like 
 the cut of a coat or the arrangement of a cravat, 
 Sir Joshua was no doubt justified in painting his 
 sitter in the most pictorial manner, and giving 
 his own natural and luxuriant bushy hair. 
 
 Of mere likeness in portraiture Reynolds 
 thought very little, and used to say that he could 
 instruct any boy that chance might throw in 
 his way, to paint a likeness in half-a-year ; but 
 to give an impressive and just expression and 
 character to a picture, or to paint it like 
 Velasquez, was quite another thing — “What we 
 are all,” he said, “ attempting to do with great 
 labour, he does at once.” 
 
 Burnet remarks, that Rembrandt’s etching of “ Old Haring,” 
 has always struck him as one of the foundations of Reynolds’ 
 style in portraiture, a fine impression of this print, on India paper, 
 he observes, is more like Sir Joshua than many prints after his 
 own pictures. Hudson had an excellent collection of Rembrandt’s 
 works, and therefore he must have been early ernbued with their 
 merits and peculiarities. 
 
MISCELLANEOUS MANUSCRIPTS. 
 
 213 
 
 In the portrait of Utenbogardus we notice the large book, 
 which Rembrandt was so fond of introducing into his portraits 
 as a means of giving breadth of light and employment, a circum- 
 stance which both Reynolds and Lawrence have availed them- 
 selves of in some of their finest works . 6 
 
 Northcote in his conversations with Hazlitt 
 says — “ It must be confessed that Sir Joshua 
 was in some degree ignorant of what may be 
 termed the grammatical part of the art, the 
 scholarship of academic skill, which unless it be 
 acquired in early life, can seldom or never, be 
 learned afterwards.” 
 
 That he never could draw firmly and correctly, 
 Sir Joshua himself confessed ; and lamented with 
 characteristic modesty his deficiencies in this 
 respect; he endeavoured to hide it by the charms 
 of expression, and sentiment and by the splendour 
 and fascination of his colour, yet, as Farrington 
 very justly observes : 
 
 The great practice and indefatigable industry of Sir Joshua 
 gave him an extraordinary facility of execution ; his pencil was 
 never mannered, but free, easy, and varied : his touch gave life 
 and character ; it had something magical in it, expressing the 
 form intended without the least appearance of labour, and leaving 
 no marks of a mechanical process, so that in copying his 
 pictures, it is impossible to trace, either the mode of producing 
 them, or the stages of their progress. 
 
 The following extracts from the bundle of 
 papers headed Self, contain allusions to the dis- 
 
 6 Burnet’s Life anti Works of Rembrandt. 
 
214 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM 
 
 
 advantages he laboured under, and liis want of 
 facility in drawing. * 
 
 Tho disadvantages I have been under cannot be enough 
 regretted. 
 
 I began late. Facility of invention was therefore to be given 
 up. I considered it impossible to arrive at it, but not impos- 
 sible to be correct, though with more labour. I had the grace 
 not to pretend to despise the riches I could not attain, and 
 sometimes administered to myself some comfort in observing how 
 often this facility ended in common place : though this is arguing 
 from the abuse, for there is no necessity that it should always 
 be the case, and it certainly may be prevented by caution. 
 
 The following passage is entitled — On the 
 Advantages of Beginning Early to Study any 
 Profession . 
 
 Tho art of writing, as every body learns early, and writes 
 with facility, no body is surprised at. But excellence in any of 
 those arts, which perhaps require not more parts or exertion, but to 
 which few people apply themselves — such as walking on a slack 
 rope, or eloquence, though they do no more than in the art of writing 
 — how it amazes people. So in painting and oratory. But our 
 painters and orators do not begin till they are twenty, when it is 
 too late. A senator’s is a trade to be learned. As far as know- 
 ledge or good sense is concerned, general education qualifies a 
 man. But the power of exhibiting those qualities is a matter 
 of habit — I mean to exhibit them with all the graces of elocution 
 and action, and we may add even the disposition and arrange- 
 ment of the matter. The execution of every art requires certain 
 mechanical habits. The mechanical habits of all arts should be 
 acquired when young. The profession ought to be determined 
 iu the cradle. No diligence afterwards will perfectly supply 
 such neglect. What we learn so easily when children, such as 
 
 
MISCELLANEOUS MANUSCRIPTS. 
 
 215 
 
 reading and writing, if neglected till we are men, is not only a 
 difficult operation, but perhaps can never be perfectly accom- 
 plished. If we were not used to see this done every day, and 
 to see likewise that it is within the compass of the most ordinary 
 capacity, if (let me add) there were only two or three people 
 in an age that applied themselves to writing, we should, I am 
 confident, in viewing the facility of the acquirement, consider it 
 a most extraordinary effort of genius. Few people practice walk- 
 ing upon a slack wire; therefore we stand astonished, though we 
 are certain there is no particular power originally in the man, 
 and that we are all capable, with the same practice, of doing the 
 same thing. Apply this to the Arts. — In Poetry, the Impro visa- 
 tore. In Oratory, Mr. Pitt. 
 
 This deficiency in Sir Joshua’s education was, 
 however, abundantly made up for by an eye for 
 nature, or rather a natural feeling of harmony and 
 beauty ; and Northcote remarks, “ that notwith- 
 standing the defects of proportion and drawing, 
 he throws his figures into such natural and 
 graceful attitudes, they seem to be the very 
 people sitting or standing before you. An arm 
 might be critically too long or too short, but in 
 the apparent ease of the position, it looked like 
 a real arm, neither too long nor too short.” 
 
 The following extracts relate to the same 
 subject. 
 
 My labour and time was employed altogether in changing and 
 in trying different ways. 
 
 Colouring is a part of the Art which I have ever been least 
 settled in, and here let me extract some compliment to myself 
 from this circumstance. It proceeded from an inordinate desire 
 
216 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM 
 
 to possess every kind of excellence that I observed in the works 
 of others, without considering sufficiently that there are in 
 colouring, as well as in style, excellencies which are incompata- 
 ble with each other. However this pursuit, or indeed any other, 
 prevents the Artist from being tired of his art. Though I have 
 no intention of discontinuing either till the infirmities of old age 
 oblige me. 
 
 It may be interesting to observe that the above 
 extract is written on the back of a letter addres- 
 sed to “Sir Joshua Reynolds, Knt., Leicester 
 Fields,” from the Duke of Richmond, whose 
 crest and coronet are on the seal, and that on 
 the margin is also written the following memo- 
 randum : 
 
 I am come as you see to read my Discourses with spectacles, 
 a hint not very long either to practise my art, or continue my 
 periodical addresses to you. 
 
 The following extracts are taken from the 
 papers headed Self : 
 
 Continually improving — which proceeds from always endea- 
 vouring to do my best, by which means I have acquired a 
 power of doing that spontaneously with facility, which at first 
 required the effort of my whole mind. Honesty is the best 
 policy — never tired of my art ; this proceeds from some scheme 
 always in my mind to advance. 
 
 One of the reasons why I have continued to improve may be 
 reduced to a principle of honesty. I have always endeavoured 
 to do my best , if great or vulgar, good subjects or bad. 
 
 I will now mention a practice which I have used myself, and 
 which I will boldly recommend for imitation, that is honesty, 
 
MISCELLANEOUS MANUSCRIPTS. 
 
 217 
 
 always endeavouring to do my best . 7 The advantages are three- 
 fold — honesty, the pursuit after excellence, which is pleasure and 
 improvement. 
 
 I never doubted the truth of the vulgar proverb, that honesty 
 is the best policy, even politically considered : I myself am an 
 instance of it. 
 
 In the same bundle of papers, headed Self, 
 there are several observations which would induce 
 a belief that Sir Joshua contemplated, towards 
 the conclusion of his lectures, making some more 
 particular allusions to his own career and practice 
 than he had hitherto done. It is to be lamented 
 that this intention was afterwards abandoned. 
 From these papers I have made the following 
 extracts : 
 
 Since I have said so much of Gainsborough, may I take the 
 liberty of speaking a little of myself. 
 
 I am of course approaching to a conclusion. Before it is too 
 late, I shall take the opportunity, which I hope will not be the 
 last, of giving some account of myself, and of what has passed 
 in my own mind — my advantages and disadvantages. 
 
 In another paper he expresses himself similarly 
 on the same subject: 
 
 7 Dr. Johnson, when asked by Reynolds by what means he had at- 
 tained his extraordinary accuracy and flow of language, told him 
 that he had early laid it down as a fixed rule to do his best on every 
 occasion, and in every company, to impart whatever he knew in the 
 most forcible language he could put it in, and that by constant practice, 
 and never suffering any careless expression to escape him, it became 
 habitual to him. 
 
 E 2 
 
218 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM 
 
 In the conrse of nature, I cannot be supposed to be able to 
 address you many years longer, and may be supposed to be 
 drawing towards a conclusion, the uncertainty of which induces 
 me to take the present opportunity of giving you some account of 
 myself . 8 From the uniformity in the construction of our minds, 
 what has been found useful to one may be equally so to another, 
 provided a candid account is given and the purpose of it be in- 
 struction, and not vanity or ostentation. Of the first you must 
 yourself judge, and determine ; of the latter, as you will see, I 
 can have very little pretension, though at first appearance a man’s 
 giving an account of himself seems to imply and insinuate such 
 a supposing. 
 
 I am well aware how open such a discourse is to ridicule, and 
 how tiresome to the hearers : however, this I shall risk, and in 
 regard to its being tedious or uninteresting, I should hope this 
 might find a counterpoise from the hints or warnings that may 
 be taken, and by which you may learn to regulate your own 
 conduct. 
 
 Most of the above extracts have been inserted 
 by Mr. Malone, in his life of Reynolds: but 
 although the substance has been given, Malone 
 has altered and combined them, and frequently 
 expressed the sentiment in other language. The 
 very words of Sir Joshua are here given, trans- 
 cribed from his private manuscripts. 
 
 8 “ I know no man,” says Dr. Johnson, “who has passed through life 
 with more observations than Reynolds.” 
 lie admired much the manner in which Sir Joshua treated of his art 
 in his Discourses to the Royal Academy, and observed of a passage one 
 day — “ I think I might as well have said this myself.” And when Mr. 
 Langton was sitting by him he read one of the Discourses very eagerly, 
 and expressed himself thus — “ Very well Master Reynolds, very well 
 indeed, but it will not be understood.” — Boswell’s Life of Johnson, 
 vol. 2, p. 527. 
 
icscniA5K>r? 3fur?€iim 
 
 219 
 
 Sir Joshua was an eminent example of Lis 
 
 own theorv. which, was in feet founded on ex- 
 
 # J 
 
 perience. He says — ~ Excellence is ne^er granted 
 to man, bnt as the reward of labour.” And it 
 was by intense study and close application, that 
 he made himself the great painter he became. } 
 
 Havdon asserts that Remolds. in Lis beautiful 
 
 * * 
 
 Discourses, is perpetually contradicting himself : 
 but I am inclined to think he often mis-states Sir 
 Joshua’s meaning, and is too apt to jump at con- 
 clusions not warranted by the premises. 
 
 Haydon quotes the following passage — - It 
 you hare great talents, industry wiL improve 
 them : if you hare moderate abilities- industry 
 will supply their deficiency.” ~ This,” he says, 
 ~ is a most seducing doctrine, but as likely to lead 
 virtuous young men to misery, and a mad Louse. 
 as to happiness and reputation.” Haydon there- 
 fore implies that Sir Joshua meant to assert 
 that mere industry would succeed without abili- 
 ties. I believe this is not Sir Joshua s meaning. 
 He says — **If you have great natural abilities, 
 industry cannot fail to improve them, and if you 
 
 J We VtTv* prfeocslj irm o- -_a. supers :t Sir 
 
 Joskm's Thsorv : re nij b«ere ni l zhg szlI rn.iaa axzii>:eisj d 
 
 Porson- wfeo insisiol zr.ir. ill wa. ▼ere bore -viei I:ai=MS ■eorfr 
 — “Aiy om,* ke imJ to ny t s vgkt kcow ■ graft a wriar 
 
 1 1 id. if ke ▼ooli oair ule tis*? creailf &> tuXcs iixxstii so- I z^r< 
 m*tr» myself ▼has I ia by bsscitse tabcar ; 5im.ecia.cs is irier to im- 
 press i thm^- upon hit aeisocT, I read is a Tines. m*i 
 
 transcribed it six .’ — *vm R*pm Tilt 
 
220 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM 
 
 are possessed of only moderate abilities, industry 
 will enlarge tlieir powers, and make up for their 
 deficiency.” But he never asserts, as Hay don 
 would have us believe, that industry will supply 
 the want of abilities altogether. Haydon says 
 again — “ If you have great genius, industry can 
 alone prove it ; but, if you have not, although 
 it may increase the power of your mind and 
 hand, it will never supply the original deficiency 
 of nature.” That Sir Joshua was of the same 
 opinion, may be inferred from the following 
 passage which I have seen in his own hand writ- 
 ing, among the papers in Mr. Palmer’s posses- 
 sion. “ I agree therefore with all those who say 
 that labour is in vain without this genius, this 
 feeling, or good sense : but I differ in supposing 
 that it is not to be acquired.” 
 
 Haydon likewise blames Sir Joshua for saying 
 “ you must have no dependence upon your own 
 genius,” and asks, “was this the feeling of 
 Michael Angelo, when he painted the Capella 
 Sistina ; of Raphael when he entered the Vatican ; 
 or of Phidias when he adorned the Parthenon V 9 
 Certainly not — but it seems to me that Reynolds 
 only meant that you must not depend solely 
 and entirely on your own genius, “ but look out of 
 yourself,” as he elsewhere expresses himself, 
 “ and enrich your own mind by the thoughts 
 of others.” For in another paper we find the 
 
MISCELLANEOUS MANUSCRIPTS. 
 
 221 
 
 same idea thus expressed, “ It has been likewise 
 a great object with me to convince the students 
 that taste or genius, as well as the practical part 
 of our art, is to be acquired ; and I have therefore 
 endeavoured, by recommending the frequent 
 filling the mind with those ideas which the works 
 of the great masters inspire, to put the mind into 
 that train of thinking, by which it is acquired.” 
 
 The following extracts seem to have been the 
 rough materials for the Thirteenth Discourse, and 
 may be compared with the printed Lecture. 
 
 Our art, in its highest and most refined state, has perhaps a 
 little (of what, I apprehend, Music has still more), depending upon 
 convention , to understand which requires some study and atten- 
 tion, in order to habituate the mind to have certain ideas excited 
 by certain marks or sounds. Music proceeds upon a groundwork 
 of natural sounds, till at last it becomes so refined, that to feel 
 the effect which is intended to be excited, requires long habit 
 and skill in that art : and we have been told that savages whose 
 skill never went beyond the natural notes, have no taste for this 
 refined style, to the great astonishment of musicians ; but no 
 more than was expected by Dr. Burney, who is both a philosopher 
 and a musician. And in regard to our art, how few would be 
 struck with the grandeur of style of M. Angelo or Rubens, 
 without a previous preparation. 
 
 I conclude from hence, that a highly cultivated taste for Art 
 is so far from natural, that it requires habitual sagacity, as the 
 convention of writing. And as taste is known by giving its due 
 degree of excellence, habit is required in that art. A man 
 cannot say any object is great or little, who has seen but that 
 individual object. 
 
 I infer from this the necessity of study to form the artist’s 
 
222 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM 
 
 mind — to be convinced that it will not come to us unsought. We 
 must go to it, and acquire it by continual solicitations. It has 
 been recommended to affect a feeling even if you have it not, and 
 to use every artifice upon your own mind to acquire the necessary 
 ingredients in art. 
 
 The following extracts contain various allu- 
 sions to the art, with observations on the 
 principles by which he himself was governed, 
 and on those which have been exemplified in 
 the works of other painters. 
 
 The painters of the Dutch school arc like those travellers who 
 describe the domestic life of the lower sort of people, their 
 pleasures and occupations. 
 
 The Venetians like the wild imaginations of Tasso and 
 Ariosto — the same mixture of serious and ludicrous. If Paul 
 Veronese introduces boys playing with monkeys, dogs and cats 
 fighting for a bone ; so Ariosto treats you with a ludicrous 
 episode in the midst of a grave narrative. 
 
 Le Brun, who may be said to be the head of what we call the 
 French school, had that correctness which is exacted from their 
 poets, and which ill supplies the place of originality and vigorous 
 imagination. 
 
 An artist should know the principles of his Art, and have some 
 other reason for his style than that it was recommended to him by 
 fashion, or that his master used it. 
 
 When I recommend the enriching and manuring the mind with 
 other men’s thoughts, I suppose the artist to know his Art, so as 
 to know what to choose, and what to reject. 
 
 An artist begins by an implicit confidence and in humble imita- 
 tion of his predecessors. He begins by stealing a part from one 
 and a part from another, making what the Italians call a Pasticcio, 
 
I 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS MANUSCRIPTS. 223 
 
 till those excellencies, which he from time to time selects, are 
 wrought into his mind, he looks at all their works with this view. 
 After some habit in this mode of study, he begins to distinguish 
 the difference of styles — that many excellencies are incompatible 
 with each other. When the mind is thus stored, he has a right 
 to follow his own feelings, and his own fancy and imagination. 
 And till he does, and is qualified to do so, he cannot call himself 
 a master. Every part of his work will appear to proceed from 
 the same mind, and from the same taste, whether his disposition 
 leads him to the style of M. Angelo, or of Rembrandt, of Paolo, 
 or Rubens, or of Poussin. 
 
 The most striking circumstance in all those great masters is 
 their uniformity. Add Rubens’ drapery, or background, or his 
 rich colouring and trick of art, to Poussin’s simplicity, or the re- 
 verse, and their uniformity and totality, as it may be called, is 
 entirely destroyed. 
 
 There is an elegance and an order in the drapery of Guido, 
 which perfectly corresponds to the character of his mind. The 
 heavy folds and continuous lines of M. Angelo perfectly corres- 
 pond with the style and character of his figures. 
 
 The following extracts are from papers headed 
 Gainsborough , and appear to have been materials 
 for the Fourteenth Discourse, which is entitled — 
 Character of Gainsborough , his Excellencies and 
 Defects . It may be interesting to compare these 
 fragments with the completed Discourse, and to 
 observe how they have been made use of, and 
 matured. 
 
 The recent loss which the Academy has sustained in the death 
 of one of its most considerable members and greatest ornaments 
 seems to require some attention. 
 
224 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM 
 
 I need make no apology if now, instead of general obser- 
 vations on Art, I speak of an individual artist — an artist 
 who certainly holds a rank in the department of the art which he 
 cultivated, which will transmit his name to posterity as one of 
 the first of the English school, if this school is ever fated to 
 produce a sufficiency of genius to arrive at that celebrity which 
 is found in every other great nation. I must do myself the credit 
 of saying, that, however powerful a rival I considered him to 
 be, I always spoke of his merit as it deserved. 
 
 The grand style, which may be said to be completely artificial, 
 is not to be acquired in this manner, but what Gainsborough ex - 
 celled in may. 
 
 The Flemish School of Imitation. 
 
 I have seen copies after Vandyck and Teniers, which it would 
 be very difficult for the most accurate connoisseur to distinguish 
 from originals. I remember on my declaring that I had looked 
 at a copy by Gainsborough, after a portrait of Vandyck, a great 
 while before I could determine whether it was a copy or an original 
 — a man of wit politely said — ‘ You may venture to say so much, 
 but the generality of connoisseurs could not afford it;’ observing 
 that ‘they would think it a great disgrace to be in the least 
 doubt.’ The truth is, there is not often occasion for doubt, as 
 few, who can paint such originals as Gainsborough, have em- 
 ployed any of their time in copying, and none but such can copy 
 with such effect. 
 
 One great advantage of knowing what art has produced is the 
 knowledge that such excellent things can be performed, which a 
 man without such knowledge might think unattainable by skill or 
 industry. 
 
 Rubens, though he dealt so largely in poetical mythology, yet 
 I hold had very little of the true painter’s poetical genius ; for 
 though we can hardly wish that he had never meddled with it, 
 since it afforded him so many more opportunities of displaying 
 his great abilities in composition, yet certainly there is wanting 
 
MISCELLANEOUS MANUSCRIPTS. 
 
 225 
 
 that necessary uniformity which there always should be between 
 the subject, and the manner in which it is treated. To see 
 heathen deities conversing with ladies draped in modern silks and 
 satins, naturally offends common sense and perception. The lady 
 as well as her dress are familiar to us, we see such every day ; but 
 the seeing her thus accompanied by a deity is certainly not so 
 common. Rubens seems to accommodate the difference between 
 the mortals and the immortals, by bringing down the latter to 
 the likeness of human beings, instead of taking those dignified 
 ideal characters which are transmitted to us in the antique 
 sculptures, and raising the human figures to their level. In short 
 it is not only in the character, but there may be said to be a 
 familiarity, in the general style and effect of his pictures, that ill- 
 suits with sublime or poetical subjects. But wo are so over- 
 powered with the splendour of his composition, the truth of his 
 colouring, and the facility of his pencil, that were his works now 
 before us, what has been said would appear a cold and invidious 
 criticism. 
 
 This digression on Rubens was suggested by observing the 
 uniformity of Gainsborough. It was said of him, that he was 
 self-educated ; that is, in other words, instead of a living 
 master, the world was his Academy, he took for his instruction 
 the dead, and borrowed from them such of their virtues as were 
 congenial to his own mind. In this self-instruction, there is 
 undoubtedly an animation in the pursuit, and self gratulation in 
 the success that is flattering. But it must bo observed on the 
 other hand, that there are generally in such artists some de- 
 ficiencies, which instruction added to early habits in an Academy 
 would have easily removed. If Gainsborough had had the good 
 fortune, which the present students have, of being taught in an 
 Academy, we should not now regret, what perhaps was his 
 greatest deficiency, a want of precision in the form of his objects. 
 And this would not have prevented or interfered with that truth 
 of effect and other excellencies which he possessed in so high a 
 degree. 
 
 Perhaps I have imperfectly expressed my own ideas of this 
 
 F 2 
 
226 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM 
 
 extraordinary man. I wish not to appear like a panegyrist, nor 
 to have stinted him in his lawful claims to our admiration. I 
 hope to apply to those who think I might on this occasion have 
 overlooked his deficiencies what was said of a professed and 
 enthusiastic admirer of Shakespeare. A more sober and judi- 
 cious critic observed “he was certain he did not feel that 
 superior excellence, from his indiscriminate admiration of his 
 defects, as well as of his beauties.” 
 
 Whilst I am paying this last duty to Gainsborough’s memory, 
 I must not forget the duty I owe to the Academy, and I may add 
 to myself. I should be sorry to be the occasion, by partial or false 
 criticisms, to vitiate the minds or corrupt the taste of young 
 students by indiscriminate praise. 
 
 The following passages have reference to paint- 
 ing as an imitative art, and to its relation to 
 poetry. They may be compared with the thir- 
 teenth Discourse as printed : 
 
 Painting is an imitative, but not more a deceptive art than the 
 Theatre ; neither is it the object of the writer or the painter to 
 deceive us. I can no more impose upon myself the reality of the 
 business on the Stage, than I can believe real figures sur- 
 rounded by a gilt frame . 1 
 
 1 Mr. Burnet in his notes to Reynolds’ Discourses, says : bad portraits 
 produce the same disagreeable effect as wax-work : for every part being 
 made out -with painful fidelity they look like painted stone figures ; and 
 the peculiarities being strongly pronounced, they become caricatures. 
 
 To make a coloured map of the human face for the ignorant to 
 wonder at, requires but little skill, but to paint the mind and character 
 of the man is the achievement of genius. Sir Walter Scott, whose 
 beauty of mind was so superior to his outward appearance, having sat 
 for his portrait to one of these imitators of detail unaided by science, 
 was asked by the painter’s friends whether he considered it like. 
 “ Like,” replied the poet, “ it is infernally like.” 
 
MISCELLANEOUS MANUSCRIPTS. 
 
 227 
 
 The object of all imitation is nature. But art does not 
 approximate perfection, in proportion as it approaches to de- 
 ception so as to mistake the imitation for the reality. Supposing 
 this to be the state of any art, the pleasure of comparison, which 
 Plato says is the cause of our pleasure in painting, ceases. It is 
 then the thing itself. The art therefore of imitation in painting 
 consists in the genius and judgment of the artist in selecting 
 what are dominant or striking features, which may be sufficient 
 to impress the idea of the original object strongly on the spec- 
 tator. He feels that consummate pleasure which proceeds from 
 the skill and address of the artist, who with the appearance of so 
 little labour has expressed so much. This is the buon maniera. 
 
 From no garden can a landscape painter make a landscape. 
 No scene, as represented on the stage, would make a good 
 picture. No event in history, treated with the fidelity of an 
 historian, would make either a poem or a picture. 
 
 Nature must not be imitated at second hand. The artist in 
 either of those arts must take his ideas from the fountain head, 
 from nature herself, and accommodate the subject to the 
 principles of his art. A subject that has been bent and modified 
 to suit another art is no longer in a state for a painter to 
 imitate. 
 
 The same turn of mind is necessary both to the painter and the 
 poet. He must look at nature with the eye of a poet, and 
 habituate his mind to what is great and elevated, in order to know, 
 with as much precision as the nature of things will allow, what 
 the circumstances are which confer or destroy dignity. The 
 same knowledge of the power of imagination of man, and what 
 affects and moves it, is required in both. 
 
 It often happens that the painter would be embarrassed, if he 
 should think it indispensably necessary to copy the poet, (with 
 whose art our’s has a nearer connection than with any other), 
 from whom he has borrowed his subject, literally, and to introduce 
 all the circumstances which the poet mentions. For instance, the 
 gaudiness of Iris, as described by Virgil, would destroy the repose 
 of the picture, and be unsuitable to the solemnity of the subject. 
 
228 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM 
 
 A man of genius does not need rules, who draws immediately 
 from nature. Supposing a portrait painter possessed of a thousand 
 rules which are to be observed when he paints a portrait, as that 
 the light is to be kept about the middle of the face, that the 
 lights and shadows of children must be more blended and deli- 
 cate than in men, &c., &c. ; though all those thousand rules may 
 be all true, a painter that has arrived at a facility of imitating 
 the nature he has before him will succeed, whether he is con- 
 scious of acting by rule or not. All the use those rules can 
 be is for novices, to look for in nature what might otherwise be 
 overlooked. 
 
 Whoever has carefully observed the works of Correggio, and 
 remarked the expression of his hands, and the correspondence of 
 the whole action to the expression of the countenance, will ac- 
 quire the habit of observing in nature similar circumstances. 
 
 History-painting certainly bears a greater resemblance to 
 'Dramatic Poetry than to any other kind. It may be observed that 
 the most shining passages, the most expressive and most feeling, 
 are when noble sentiments are expressed in the most obvious 
 terms, and even in the most familiar words. It is sufficient that 
 vulgarity be avoided, and the sentiment correspond to the charac- 
 ter of the speaker. A painter, in the same manner, must not be 
 thinking of Academical attitude, when he should be attending to 
 what is the natural attitude of a figure under the influence of the 
 passion he represents, whatever it be. 
 
 Genius lies in the accurate distinction between naturalness and 
 vulgarity, in order to preserve dignity. 
 
 The simplicity and truthfulness of the Pre- 
 Raphaellite School is recommended by Sir Joshua 
 Reynolds to the especial attention of the students 
 in the following passages : 
 
 It must be confessed that simplicity and truth of which we are 
 now speaking, is oftener found in the old Masters that preceded 
 
MISCELLANEOUS MANUSCRIPTS. 
 
 229 
 
 tho great age of painting, than it was ever in that age, and cer- 
 tainly much less since. We may instance Albert Durer, and 
 Masaccio, from the latter of whom Raffaelle borrowed his figure 
 of St. Paul preaching. 
 
 The old Gothic artists, as we call them, deserve the attention 
 of a student, much more than many later artists. In other 
 words, the painters before the age of Raffaelle, are better than the 
 painters since the time of Carlo Marratti. The reason is, the 
 former have nothing but truth in view ; whereas the others do 
 not even endeavour to see for themselves, but receive by report 
 only, what has before passed through many hands, and consequently 
 acquired the tinge of a mannerist, or as a poet would say, mixed 
 with fable, having no longer the simplicity of truth. As we say 
 of wine, it has lost its raciness. 
 
 Well coloured pictures are in more esteem, and sell for higher 
 prices, than in reason they appear to deserve, as colouring is an 
 excellence, acknowledged to be of a lower rank than the qualities 
 of correctness, grace, and greatness of character. But in this 
 instance, as in many others, the partial view of reason is cor- 
 rected by the general practice of the world : and among other 
 reasons which may be brought forward for this conduct, is the 
 consideration, that colouring is an excellence which cannot be 
 transferred by prints or drawings, and but very faintly by copies. 
 The famous Holy Family of Correggio, at Parma, was offered 
 to the late Lord Orford for £3000, but judging only from the 
 print, which was shown to him at the time, he declined the pur- 
 chase, though I, who have seen the picture, am far from thinking 
 the price unreasonable ; yet, Lord Orford cannot be blamed in 
 refusing to give a price for a composition that promised so little 
 from the appearance of the print, though it was engraved by no 
 less a man than Agostino Carracci. 
 
 It does not follow that every attitude, thongh natural, is there- 
 fore proper. Instances — ‘The Adam sleeping, of Michael 
 
 Angelo,’ and the ‘Jacob asleep, in Raffaelle’s Bible.’ 
 
230 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM 
 
 It is necessary to make drawings, to see the effect with the 
 corporeal eye, as well as with the mind’s eye ; but this only to 
 see the general effect of the composition. 
 
 Borrowing, or demanding assistance from others, ought not to 
 be considered so much a mark of any peculiar weakness as a true 
 judgment of the difficulty of the task — of the narrowness and 
 confined views of an individual mind. 
 
 An artist should entertain a respectable deference for the 
 united sense of mankind, as discoverable in their approbation of 
 the higher department of art. 
 
 The dangers to which the study of every kind of excellence in 
 art is liable — in life as well as in art. 
 
 Michael Angelo who, to avoid insipidity, gave action to every 
 part, may beget a Golzius or a Spranger, who seem to imagine 
 the further they depart from nature, and are the more unnatural, 
 the more like Michael Angelo. They may depart from nature, 
 and be forced and constrained, without arriving at grandeur: 
 like Foote, who in his mimicry, went out of himself, but not into 
 another character. They lost nature, without finding art. 
 
 The art of seizing the imagination is sometimes by cheating 
 and imposing upon it, by representing things greater or less than 
 they really are. But this legerdemain is as much a part of the 
 art, and has its foundation in our nature, and has its rules, as well 
 as any other part of the art. 
 
 Men of superior genius strike out in practice the secret of their 
 art, without knowing it, as a matter of speculation : yet it may 
 be of use to know a priori , that there is such an ideal point of 
 genius existing in every part of our art, which it is our business 
 to discover and to express. 
 
 The following paragraph seems to have been 
 designed as the conclusion of his last Lecture. 
 
MISCELLANEOUS MANUSCRIPTS. 
 
 231 
 
 Before I conclude, I cannot help mentioning for fear the 
 warmth with which I have spoken of M. Angelo 2 and others 
 who neglected the ornamental part, may be misunderstood, as if I 
 held those ornaments (which were by them neglected) in little 
 account. I must now repeat, that art cannot be perfect without 
 it : whoever desires the favour of mankind must add grace to 
 strength, and make his thoughts agreeable as well as powerful. 
 
 It cannot be expected that the patrons of art should be always 
 able to discover excellencies which their possessors shade and 
 disguise by a dress uncouth or ill-adjusted. 
 
 The number of those whom custom has enabled to judge of the 
 charms of colour and the embellishments of art, is much greater 
 than those whom study has qualified to judge of the more 
 profound and abstract part of the art. 
 
 The solid foundation of our art is to fix the attention upon 
 those higher excellencies on which the rank and dignity must 
 depend. 
 
 In the margin of the manuscript Sir Joshua has 
 written, against the last extract, undoubted . 
 
 The following is taken from a paper headed 
 8. Johnson. 
 
 Simplicity gave him no pleasure. He could more easily fill 
 the ear with some splendid novelty, than awaken those ideas that 
 slumber in the heart. 
 
 *When Wilkie, in 1825, was contemplating the last judgment of 
 Michael Angelo in the Sistine Chapel, together with Phillips, Hilton, 
 and Cook, all of them standing upon a high scaffolding, half way up the 
 picture, and holding on by one another’s shoulders — he says, “ on my 
 demanding of my companions whether Sir Joshua Reynolds was 
 justified in his professions of admiration for M. Angelo, all replied by 
 pointing out the resemblance in heads and figures, and even in groups 
 and hues of colour, to portions of this great work : and one and all 
 declared that in his recorded wish that the name of M. Angelo might be 
 his last words from the chair of the Academy, he was, and must have 
 been sincere . — Life of Sir David Wilkie , vol. 2,p. 193. 
 
232 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM 
 
 The following is headed An Essay on First Im- 
 pressions. It contains hints which Sir Joshua 
 probably intended to work up into an essay on 
 that subject : 
 
 In writing, in criticism, and in life, in all these, first impressions 
 are to be preserved. 
 
 The great business of life is to watch over yourself. Second 
 thoughts have novelty, to guard against that. 
 
 Second thoughts in life is a cunning imposing on one’s self, by 
 an endeavour to make our reason conform to our will . 3 
 
 The following passages are from various loose 
 papers on a variety of subjects : 
 
 Late springs produce the greatest plenty. 
 
 Ideas not represented by sensible objects, are fleeting, variable, 
 and evanescent. We are not able to judge of the degree of con- 
 viction which operated at any particular time upon our thoughts, 
 but as it is recorded by some certain and definite effect. 
 
 The advice that was given by an eminent speaker in the House 
 of Commons to a young member is so far applicable to the present 
 purpose, as it enforces the necessity of acquiring a general, in- 
 stead of a partial power over our art, which is to serve only for our 
 present purpose. ‘ If you expect,’ says he, 4 to become an able 
 debater, you must leave off the habit of learning your speeches 
 by heart before you speak them in the House, and habituate your 
 mind to exert itself on the immediate occasion.’ 
 
 Two fac similies are here given as specimens of 
 Sir Joshua’s composition and hand writing. 
 They are portions of the last Discourse, in which 
 
 3 Hay don also gives the same advice, “ Always attend to the first 
 
 ideas. I never altered but to repent.” 
 


 I 
 
 I 
 
MISCELLANEOUS MANUSCRIPTS. 
 
 233 
 
 he eulogizes the grand style of M. Angelo, and 
 are written in a free, bold hand, not unlike that 
 of Robert Burns — large and manly. In the 
 printed lecture the first paragraph is as follows, 
 and may here be compared with the original 
 manuscript : 
 
 That Michael Angelo was capricious in his inventions cannot be 
 denied; and this may make some circumspection necessary in study- 
 ing his works; for though they appear to become him, an imitation 
 of them is always dangerous, and will prove sometimes ridiculous. 
 
 Within that circle none durst walk but he. 
 
 To me, I confess, his caprice does not lower the estimation of his 
 genius, even though it is sometimes, I acknowledge, carried to the 
 extreme, &c., &c. 
 
 The only corrections in the printed copy, are : 
 
 Always dangerous, and will prove sometimes ridiculous — 
 durst walk. 
 
 The second specimen is part of a passage near 
 the conclusion of the same lecture, and has 
 undergone more alteration; as will be seen by 
 reference to the lecture. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 * SIR JOSHUA’S VEHICLE & METHOD OF PAINTING. 
 
 It has been said that the grace of Correggio 
 was grafted by Reynolds on the strong stem of 
 Rembrandt’s colouring. This is very exalted 
 praise, but not the less true. Reynolds was one 
 of those great geniuses who strike out a path for 
 
235 
 
 METHOD OF PAINTING, ETC. 
 
 themselves, and leave their competitors far 
 behind. After he had seen the works of the 
 great painters in Italy, he totally changed his 
 style, so that Hudson, on his return to England 
 said — “ Why Joshua you do not paint so 
 well as you did before you went abroad;” be- 
 cause he had abandoned the stiff, insipid, formal 
 manner of his master and his immediate prede- 
 cessors, who contented themselves with exhibiting 
 as correct a likeness as they could ; whereas 
 Reynolds sought to enliven the canvass by giving 
 an historical air to his portraits, making them 
 pictures as well as likenesses. Very early in life 
 a feeling for colour and boldness of effect appears 
 to have developed itself in him, for we find his 
 father, in one of his letters to Mr. Cutcliffe, re- 
 marking that Joshua’s drawings looked extremely 
 well when seen at the proper distance and true 
 point of sight . 4 It would seem, therefore, that 
 a certain boldness of effect and clxiar ’ oscuro were 
 the characteristics of Reynolds’ drawings, even at 
 that early age. 
 
 There can be no doubt, I think, that he first ac- 
 quired the rough, Rembrandt-like style of colour- 
 ing from seeing the pictures of Gandy at Exeter, 
 
 4 The large pictures by Pvubens of the Elevation of the Cross, and 
 Descent from the Cross, have been recently cleaned, and as the pictures 
 stood on the ground an opportunity was afforded of observing their 
 bold, almost it may be said, coarse manipulation, although so wonder- 
 ously effective at a suitable distance. 
 
236 
 
 sir Joshua’s vehicle, 
 
 one of whose quaint expressions it was, that a 
 picture ought to have a richness in its texture, 
 as if the colours had been composed of cream or 
 cheese. In after life, the examples of Rem- 
 brandt and Rubens confirmed him in this manner. 
 
 The artists of the world are divided into Touchers and Pol- 
 ishers. The Touchers — M. Angelo ; Raffaelle, in his cartoons ; 
 Titian ; Bartolomeo ; Giorgione ; Tintoretto ; Veronese ; Ru- 
 bens ; Velasquez ; David Teniers ; Rembrandt ; Reynolds ; 
 Wilson ; Vandyke ; Wilkie ; and Gainsborough — are the great 
 men who had discovered the optical principles of imitating 
 nature to convey thought. The Polishers are the little men, 
 who did not see the whole at a time, but only parts of a whole, 
 and thus made up the whole by a smooth unison of parts : 
 whereas the great men see the whole by the leading points of 
 which it is composed, and on optical principles, leave the inter- 
 mediate parts to be united by distance . 5 
 
 Reynolds himself entertained a very mean 
 opinion of mere finish and execution in a picture : 
 speaking of his rival Liotard, who was at one 
 time the most fashionable portrait painter of the 
 day, but whose works were devoid of imagination, 
 he says — “ The only merit in Liotard’s pictures 
 is neatness, which as a general rule is the charac- 
 teristic of a low genius, or rather no genius at all. 
 His pictures are just what ladies do when they 
 paint for their amusement, nor is there any 
 person, how poor soever his talents may be, 
 but in a very few years, by dint of practice, may 
 
 5 Haydon, vol. iii., p. 300. 
 
METHOD OF PAINTING, ETC. 
 
 237 
 
 possess himself of every qualification in the art, 
 which this 6 great man ’ has got.” 
 
 Burnet justly observes, that in many of the 
 higher qualities of colour and chiar 9 oscuro , 
 Reynolds comes nearer to Rembrandt, than any 
 other artist who has succeeded him. And the 
 late Sir David Wilkie acknowledged that Rey- 
 nolds and Rembrandt had carried the imitation 
 of nature in regard to colour, further than any 
 of the old masters. Sir Joshua Reynolds having 
 thus out-stripped all his competitors in the rich 
 and brilliant style of his colouring, it may be 
 useful to ascertain by what process he arrived at 
 that excellence, and what were the principles he 
 adopted in his method of painting ; and in so 
 doing I am glad to avail myself of the valuable 
 remarks of Sir Charles Eastlake and other dis- 
 tinguished artists, which have been published on 
 the subject. 
 
 Sir Joshua tells us himself that colouring was 
 a part of the art, which he had ever been least 
 settled in, and for this very reason, that he was 
 always reaching after and endeavouring to obtain 
 excellence. “My labour and time,” he says, 
 “ was always employed altogether in changing, 
 and in trying different ways ” — and it is even said, 
 that he bought old pictures for the sole purpose 
 of analizing the colours, and observing the man- 
 ner in which they had been used. 
 
238 
 
 sir Joshua’s vehicle, 
 
 Hence the premature decay of some of Sir 
 Joshua’s works is attributable to the variety of 
 his vehicles, which he was ever changing, through 
 an anxiety to get a nearer approach to the look 
 and appearance of nature, as well as to the fact 
 of his making use of perishable materials. But 
 it must also be allowed that many of his pictures 
 have suffered quite as much, if not more, from 
 injudicious cleaning ; and in support of this 
 opinion, I quote the authority of Mr. Burnet. 
 He is commenting upon the following passage in 
 Sir Joshua’s Second Discourse : 
 
 % 
 
 I must inform you, however, that old pictures, deservedly 
 celebrated for their colouring are often so changed by dirt and 
 varnish, that we ought not to wonder, if they do not appear 
 equal to their reputation in the eyes of inexperienced painters. 
 
 Mr. Burnet says : 
 
 This passage has given sanction to a long course of destruction, 
 carried on with the most impudent assurance. A numerous class 
 of men have risen up in this country, and indeed in all countries 
 where the pictures of old masters are in demand, who, although 
 unable either to draw or paint, assume a knowledge superior to 
 the artists whose province it is to produce tints and tones of 
 colour of a corresponding quality. It is in vain to tell these 
 men that deep toned brightness is produced only by repeated 
 glazings, and that these glazings are composed of little more 
 than varnish and transparent colour. Many deny that such a 
 thing as glazing existed, and consequently in removing what 
 they consider dirt and varnish, they remove every particle of 
 richness of tint. What spirits will not reach, they follow into 
 every crevice with the point of a lancet, until the picture becomes 
 
METHOD OF PAINTING, ETC. 
 
 239 
 
 not fresh and bright, as it is termed, but raw and crude in the 
 highest degree. * * * * * * 
 
 As a judgment upon Sir Joshua no works have suffered more 
 iu this respect than his own, many of which have been cleaned 
 down to the preparation for glazing ; and when pointed out as 
 examples of this destructive course, it is impudently asserted that 
 his colours have fled. 
 
 Age it is true may give a certain fancied value 
 to pictures, although it is questionable whether it 
 really adds to their beauty. As among human 
 beings, there are persons, whom we greatly 
 respect and admire in their old age, but whose 
 superior grace and beauty, we should have ad- 
 mired still more, if we had seen them in their 
 youth. This may be applied to pictures — but it 
 is undoubtedly necessary to remove the dirt and 
 dust which must have accumulated, even on the 
 best pictures, in order to see them as they came 
 from the painters easel: and he must certainly be 
 considered the best judge, whether the dirt of 
 age, or brilliancy of colour, was most desirable 
 for the effect he intended to produce ; for he 
 might easily have deadened his colours, if he had 
 wished to do so. We can scarcely believe that 
 the old masters painted more to please the eye of 
 future generations, than the contemporaries, 
 for w 7 hom they worked. Upon this subject 
 Haydon has recorded a conversation with Wilkie: 
 
 We talked, he says, of the effect of time, and both agreed that 
 Titian painted his pictures to please his own eye, and never 
 
240 
 
 SIR JOSHUA S VEHICLE, 
 
 considered how they would look one hundred years hence. He 
 (Wilkie) told me that Northcote said — ‘If Sir Joshua had 
 known the effect of time on his pictures, he would have painted 
 differently’ — but, I do not think so, nor did he. Sir Joshua could 
 not have painted otherwise. Was not his Heath field as fine, 
 when it was first painted, as it is now ? He was a great man: 
 and I think Reynolds, Hogarth, Wilson, Gainsborough, and 
 Wilkie, keep their ground. The English School will rise. 
 
 The fine Rembrandt-like portrait of Charles 
 Rogers, painted by Sir J. Reynolds in 1777, 
 which is in my possession, and has never been in 
 the hands of a picture cleaner, retains all its 
 original brilliancy and richness of colour, neither 
 is it so much cracked as some of his portraits 
 are, where the impasto is thicker. 6 
 
 Sir Charles Eastlake in his valuable work, 
 entitled Materials for a History of Oil Painting , 
 has published several extracts from the notes, 
 which Sir Joshua Reynolds kept of the materials 
 employed, and the order of the processes adopted 
 by him, in the execution of many of his works, 
 which, he observes, are important links in the 
 technical history of painting, and prove that 
 his practice was by no means dissimilar from that 
 of the Flemish school. 
 
 The use of liquid resins and varnishes with the colours in ad- 
 dition to, and even without oil, agrees with some methods 
 adopted by Rubens and Rembrandt, as well as with the habits of 
 the earliest oil painters. The object of this practice seems to 
 
 6 It was exhibited at the British Institution, in 1855. 
 
METHOD OP PAINTING, ETC. 
 
 241 
 
 have been to combine apparent substance with transparency, a 
 characteristic especially attainable in oil painting, as compared 
 with other methods. The depth and richness of texture which 
 Reynolds sought, and for which his finest w r orks are remarkable, 
 are qualities peculiar to the art in which he excelled. Although 
 he never seems to have reckoned on the light priming of his 
 canvass as Rubens did, yet his system of painting at first in white 
 and black, and with cool reds only, was equivalent to that pro- 
 cess. Over this preparation his warmer yellower colours, 
 generally applied with varnishes only, had the richest effect ; the 
 picture in this state sometimes re-touched with tints mixed with 
 white, but was finished quite as often, it seems, even in the lights 
 with warmer colours alone. 
 
 The method of Reynolds, therefore, presents a judicious and 
 generally successful union of the Italian and Flemish practice, in- 
 clining on the whole to the latter. 
 
 Burnet makes the following remarks upon the 
 same subject : 
 
 The portraits of Reynolds have this peculiarity, that however 
 loaded and enriched in every part of the work, the head is kept 
 smooth, and often thinly painted. The whole length of the 
 Marquis of Grauby, and the portrait of Mrs. Siddons, two of 
 his finest pictures, are examples of this mode of treating the head. 
 This has given rise to an anecdote, that Mrs. Siddons, looking at 
 the picture when unfinished, begged Sir Joshua not to touch the 
 head any more, and having promised her, he refrained notwith- 
 standing the richness and depth of the fearless glazings would 
 seem to demand a corresponding force in the head. The truth 
 is, that Reynolds seems always to have depended upon the small 
 dark shadows, to give solidity to his heads, without clogging 
 them with colour or dark half tints : the importance of this re- 
 fining upon the head, may be perceived in the portrait of himself , 7 
 
 7 The portrait of Sir Joshua Reynolds, in the Cottonian Library, at 
 Plymouth, which I purchased of Capt. Palmer, in 1851, is similar to 
 this in every respect, with the exception of the back-ground. 
 
242 
 
 sir Joshua’s vehicle, 
 
 painted con amore , and presented to the Dilettanti Society, of 
 which he was a member. The features, and indeed the whole 
 head, depend upon the extreme darks ; the judicious arrange- 
 ment of the shadows not only gives a pictorial dignity to the 
 work, from the stamp of science, but also where the features in 
 nature were either blunt or mean in themselves, draws off the 
 attention of the spectators to higher qualities. 
 
 Independent of the advantage of dark touches, giving delicacy 
 to the features that produce them, there is a motion and life given 
 by the vivacity and freedom of the handling, which cannot with 
 safety be taken with the features themselves. This quality seems 
 very early to have been Sir Joshua's greatest anxiety to acquire, 
 and in a remark respecting the highly finished pictures of his 
 rival Liotard, he says : 
 
 The high finished manner of painting would be chosen, if it 
 were possible with it to have spirit and expression, which infallibly 
 fly off, when the artist labours. But there are transient beauties, 
 which last less than a moment, and must be painted in as little 
 time ; besides, in poring long the imagination is fatigued, and 
 loses its vigour. The portraits of Holbein are of this high finished 
 manner; and for colouring and similitude, what was ever beyond 
 them ? but then you see fixed countenances, and all the features 
 seeln to remain immoveable. 
 
 Again Mr. Burnet very justly observes : 
 
 In Reynolds the absence of everything strong in expression 
 or harsh in colour, gives a refinement to the heads of his men, 
 and a beauty to the face of his females : and to this treatment 
 all his sitters were subjected, so that these heads, however defi- 
 cient in the originals, came off his easel ladies and gentlemen. 
 
 A subdued delicacy of expression and colour removes them 
 from the common look of familiar life. Rembrandt’s heads on 
 the contrary are pronounced with the strong stamp of flesh and 
 blood — an exact representation of nature in an unsophisticated 
 state. 
 
METHOD OF PAINTING, ETC. 
 
 243 
 
 From the notes which Sir Joshua Reynolds 
 himself kept of the materials employed, and the 
 order of processes adopted by him in many of his 
 works, we now give the following extracts, from 
 Sir Charles Eastlake’s History of Oil Painting : 8 
 
 Mr. Pelliam, painted with lake and white, and black and blue 
 varnished with gum mastic, dissolved in oil, with sal Satumi and 
 rock allum. Yellow lake, and Naples and black mixed with the 
 varnish. July 11th, 1766. 
 
 This portait was therefore laid in with white and black and 
 bine, as Sir Joshua supposed Correggio’s Leda, and some other 
 pictures which he saw at Rome, were begun. 9 
 Lake was the only red admitted in this preparation, over which 
 was passed a yellow varnish. The varnish itself, with the ex- 
 ception of the dryer (sugar of lead) corresponds with one 
 described by Armenini. 
 
 Lord Villers, given to Dr. Bernard — painted with vernice fatta 
 di cera and Venice turp, mischiato con gli colori macinati in olio. 
 Carmine in vece di Dacca. Lady Wray, ditto. 
 
 Master Buck, Jinito con ver, senza olio o cera, carmine, ( mastic ) 
 varnish alone used with the colours in finishing. 
 
 Duchess of Ancaster, prima magilp, seconda olio, terza olio. 
 
 The colours were mixed at the first sitting with meguilp only, 
 in the second and third with oil. 
 
 Lady Aimer ia Carpenter, Mrs. Cholmondeley, con maguilp, 
 terza olio. 
 
 8 Most of the notes from which the following are extracts (and of 
 which other copies exist) have already appeared in print : they are not 
 all equally interesting, and some from the obscure form in which the 
 memoranda were entered, are unintelligible. Sir Joshua may have 
 adopted this mode to conceal his methods from his immediate atten- 
 dants. It may be satisfactory to know that there can be no doubt of 
 the authenticity of these records, the author having seen the original 
 MSS. in the handwriting of Reynolds . — Sir Charles Eastlake. 
 
 9 Nortlicote’s Life of Reynolds. 
 
244 
 
 sir Joshua’s vehicle, 
 
 The colours were mixed in the two first sittings with meguilp 
 in the third with oil. 
 
 Mio proprio, given to Mrs. Burke , con cera finito quasi ', poicon 
 mastic var. finito inter amente , poi cerata senza colori. 
 
 Ilis own portrait, almost finished with wax, completed with 
 mastic varnish, then covered with a wax varnish. This order of 
 processes (Sir Charles Eastlake remarks) the final wax varnish ex- 
 cepted, was well calculated to produce cracking. The wax must 
 have been dissolved in spirit of turpentine, and then mixed with 
 colours ground in oil, as colours ground in the dissolved wax 
 alone would have been unmanageable. 
 
 Offe's picture , x painted with cera and cap. solo, cinalro. 
 
 Painted with wax and copaiba , vermilion jor the red. 
 
 July 10, 1769. My own picture , painted first with oil , aft. 
 glazed without white , with capvi ( copaiba ) yellow ochre , blue and 
 black , capi and cera vern. 
 
 Part of this is struck through with the pen, and the memo- 
 randum continues, painted with lake, yellow ochre, blue and 
 black, capi, and cera vern. From the correction it appears that 
 the wax varnish, before described, was used together with 
 copaiba. 
 
 January 22, 1770, Sono stabilito in maniera di diping ere, primo 
 e secondo o con olio o capvi, gli colori, solo nero, ultram. e biacca, 
 secondo medesimo , ultimo con giallo okero e lacca e nero e ultram . 
 senza biacca, ritoccato con poca biacca e gli altri colori. 
 
 My own given to Mr. Burke. 
 
 This picture has been already mentioned, it was painted with 
 a different vehicle, but the memorandum here appears to mean 
 that the colours and order of the processes correspond with those 
 now described. 
 
 My own picture sent to Plympton, cera poi verniciato senza 
 olio; colori, cologne earth, vermilion. The cloth varnished first 
 with copal varnish, ivhite and blue, on a raw cloth . 
 
 The word * blue,’ is struck through with the pen. 
 
 Strawberry Girl — cera sol. 
 
 His neice, Miss Tlieophila Palmer. 
 
METHOD OF FAINTING, ETC. 
 
 245 
 
 Dr. Barnard , first black and white ; second verm, and white 
 dry ; third , varnished and retouched. 
 
 October 2, 1772 — Miss Kirkman, gum dr. et whiting, poi 
 cerata, poi ovata , poi verniciata e retouched. Cracks. 
 
 A picture begun with whitening and gum tragacanth, then 
 covered successively with wax, white of egg, and varnish, could 
 hardly escape cracking and separating. 
 
 Miss Moleswortli — drapery painted with oil colour first, after 
 cera alone. Miss Ridge, ditto. Lady Granby , ditto. My own , 
 Florence , upon raw cloth, cera solamente. Mrs. Montagu , olio 
 poi cerata e retoccata con biacco. 
 
 The few unquestionable defects, says Sir C. 
 Eastlake, in the practice thus exemplified, may 
 be enumerated as follows: 
 
 1. Heterogeneous mixtures as in the instance of Miss Kirk- 
 man’s portrait. 
 
 2. The use of soft materials under others of a less dilutable 
 nature, this is one of the ordinary causes of cracking. 
 
 3. The use of colours of uncertain stability, such as lake, (pro- 
 bably not of the best kind), yellow lake and minium. The 
 mention of orpiment (orp.) is doubtful : but Northcote, who 
 gives some extracts similar to those above copied, quotes the 
 following passage: ‘For painting the flesh, black, blue black, 
 white, lake, carmine, orpiment, yellow ocre, ultra-marine and var- 
 nish.’ The date of this memorandum is early, Dec. 6, 1755. 
 Carmine, orpiment, and blue black were at this time the representa- 
 tions of red, yellow, and blue on Sir Joshua’s palette. The 
 immixture of orpiment with white, it is scarcely necessary to 
 say, was sure to change. Another colour which Reynolds used 
 too profusely, in his latter practice, was asphaltum. 
 
 With the above exception, not forgetting the use of wax, 
 (which, whether advisable or not, is unsanctioned by the example 
 of the early masters), the practice of Reynolds, as exhibited in 
 the above memoranda, is by no means dissimilar from that of the 
 Flemish school. 
 
 . 
 
 
 
246 
 
 sir joshua’s vehicle, 
 
 The following notes by Sir William Beechcy 
 and Haydon, upon Reynolds’ experiments in 
 colouring, may be useful to persons who are 
 possessed of his invaluable pictures, and induce 
 them to pause, before they put such treasures 
 of Art, into the hands of the picture cleaner. 
 Beechey says : 
 
 Sir Joshua’s having made use of ven. turp. and wax, as a 
 varnish, accounts in a great measure, for the pale and raw appear- 
 ance of his pictures after cleaning. Rubbed ever so lightly with 
 spirits of turpentine, the glazing colours must inevitably be re- 
 moved : Venetian turpentine and wax, must in time also become 
 opaque, and if it dries hard, (which I doubt), it must crack and 
 turn yellow, if not leave the canvass altogether. 
 
 Those pictures which Sir Joshua painted on unprimed wood, 
 or unprimed cloth, remain fixed, because his first colouring is 
 partly absorbed. But painted on a ground prepared in oil, the 
 wax and varnish separate, as soon as it becomes dry and hard, 
 having nothing for those materials to adhere to, and the paste 
 used in liniug cannot penetrate through the oil priming, so as to 
 come in contact with the painting, in order to secure it. The 
 picture cleaners take off what Sir Joshua thought the most pre- 
 cious part of his colouring, i.e ., what he finished with, which 
 produced what he called ‘ a deep-toned brightness.’ The prac- 
 tice was good, but the means deplorable. 
 
 Iloppner used wax and mastic varnish with his oil colours, in a 
 moderate degree, and his pictures stand well — (this Haydon 
 denies, and instances a portrait of Lord Moira, and another at 
 Windsor) ; but Sir Joshua loaded his pictures with that mixture 
 without oil, and seemed delighted to dabble in it, without con- 
 sidering the consequences. It is, however, a most delicious vehicle 
 to use, and gives the power of doing such things and producing 
 such effects as cannot be approached by any thing else, while the 
 pictures are fresh : but time seems to have envied his fame, and 
 to delight in the destruction of his most beautiful works. 
 
METHOD OF PAINTING, ETC. 
 
 247 
 
 Rembrandt followed the same mode of practice, but employed 
 materials which were more permanent. Rembrandt only painted 
 his lights, with a full body of colour, his shadows were always 
 smooth and thin, but very soft. Sir Joshua loaded his shadows 
 as much as his lights. There is a binding quality in white, 
 which always dries hard like cement. Dark colours the reverse, 
 and if thickly painted, crack with any vehicle except oil. 
 Vandyke’s vehicle was principally oil, mixed with a little varnish. 
 The head of Gevartius seems to have been painted with it only, 
 and that is bright enough for anything. 
 
 I think, says Beechey, Rembrandt seduced Sir Joshua, for he 
 seems to have used something of the consistence of butter, which 
 is a most bewitching vehicle certainly. Sir Joshua may, how- 
 ever, have learned this from Gandy, who said, that a picture 
 ought to have richness in its texture, as if the colours had been 
 composed of cream or cheese. He also produced his extraordinary 
 effects by glazing, which the picture restorer easily remove ; and 
 which in many instances have been removed, and the possessor 
 thought his picture the better for it. 
 
 4 Offe.’ Theophila Palmer, his niece, afterwards Mrs. 
 Gwatkin, sister of the Marchioness of Thomond. 
 
 4 Sono Stabilito.’ His vehicle was oil or balsam capaiva. 
 His colours were only black, ultra-marine, and white, so that he 
 finished his picture entirely i:i black and white, all but glazing. 
 No red or yellow till the last, which was used in glazing, and 
 that was mixed with Venice turp. and wax as a varnish. Take 
 off that, and his pictures return to black and white. — (Excellent. 
 B.R.H.) 
 
 June 12th, 1770 — Paese senza rosso con giallo nero e turcliino 
 e bianca, cera. 2 
 
 2 This is a landscape of his in the possession of Sir George Phillips, 
 # which appears to be painted without red — I suppose from Richmond 
 Hill — a landscape without red, with yellow, black, blue, and white lead. 
 — Beechey. 
 
 Not the view from Richmond Hill, which was bought at Lady 
 Thomond’s sale, by S. Rogers, Esq., but a woody landscape, as de- 
 scribed in the Catalogue. 
 
248 
 
 sir Joshua’s vehicle, 
 
 My own, April 27, 1772 — First, acqua and gomma dragon, 3 
 verm, (vermlion) lake, black, without yellow, varnish, and 
 with egg, after Venice turpentine — heavens — murder ! murder ! 
 it must have cracked under the brush. 4 
 
 October, 1772 — Miss Kirk(man), gum Dr. (gum tragacanth?) 
 and whiting, poi cerata, poi orata, poi verniciata e retoccata — 
 cracks. 
 
 This manner says Beechey, is the most extraordinary — it is 
 insanity — he had at his elbow a mocking fiend — gum and whiting! 
 then waxed , then egged , then varnished, and then retouched ! 
 
 In November, 1844, Mrs. Gwatkin sent me up a leaf from 
 Sir Joshua’s book, as a document to refute Sir Martin Shee’s 
 assertion, that no such book existed, and on the leaf was this 
 very part. 5 
 
 Haydon thus concludes his observations : 
 
 Having gone through the experiments of Reynolds and the 
 notes of my dear, old, good hearted friend Beechey, I con- 
 fess my astonishment at the childishness of many of them. 
 Reynolds was always pursuing a surface — was "willing to get at 
 once wdiat the old masters did with the simplest materials, and 
 left time and drying to enamel. 
 
 That enamelled look, the result of thorough drying hard, and 
 time, must not be attempted at once. It can only be done, as 
 Reynolds did it by artificial mixtures, which the old masters never 
 thought of. And therefore the greater part of Reynolds’ works are 
 split to pieces from their inconsistent unions. 
 
 To wax a head, then egg a head, then paint in oil on these 
 two contracting substances, then varnish it, then wax, oil, 
 
 Turchino is Prussian blue. I remember Sir George Philips buying 
 the landscape in the last great sale of Sir Joshua’s works (belonging • 
 to the Marchioness of Thomond) at Christie’s, where he also bought 
 the Piping Boy for 430 guineas. T pulled his coat to go on, at which 
 Lady Phillips was very angry, because she thought it too much. — 
 B. R. Haydon. 3 1 rather think gum tragacanth. 
 
 4 B. R. Haydon. 4 B. R. Haydon. 
 
METHOD OF PAINTING, ETC. 
 
 249 
 
 then paint again, all and each still half dry beneath, could end 
 only in ruin, however exquisite at the time. Whilst West’s 
 detestable surface has stood, from the simplicity of his vehicle, 
 half of Sir Joshua’s heads are gone, though what remains are so 
 exquisite, one is willing to sacrifice them for the works we see. 
 
 Reynolds said once, ‘Northcote, you don’t clean my brushes 
 well?’ ‘How can I,’ said Northcote, ‘they are so sticky and 
 gummy.’ They must have been so. 
 
 A gentleman told Wilkie he sat to Sir Joshua, who dabbled 
 in a quantity of snuff, laid the picture on its back, shook it 
 about till it settled like a batter pudding, and then painted 
 away. (This was to get a surface like Rembrandt’s, and in 
 accordance with Gandy’s advice before quoted). 
 
 « 
 
 Some soot fell on a picture of Sir Joshua’s drying at the 'fire, 
 he took it up, and said, ‘A fine, cool, tint,’ and actually scumbled 
 it beautifully into the flesh . 6 
 
 We shall conclude these remarks upon Sir 
 Joshua Reynolds’ method of painting, with what 
 Mr. Burnet says are the distinctive characteristics 
 between a portrait and an historical painter — 
 namely, that “ the one paints man in general, 
 and the other a particular man.” 
 
 Hence to ennoble the work it is necessary to make it conform 
 as much as can be done with safety to the likeness, to the general 
 principles which guide the highest branches of the art — that is by 
 softening down those features that overstep the boundary of 
 general nature, and assisting those parts which fall short or were 
 defective. 
 
 Therefore when Lawrence painted Mrs. Siddons, the Duke of 
 Wellington, or Lord Brougham, he chose a front view of the face, 
 
 6 From Jackson, who had it from Sir George Beaumont, 
 
 i 2 
 
250 
 
 sie Joshua’s vehicle, 
 
 that their peculiarities might not be too apparent. Sir Joshua 
 Reynolds carried these generalizing principles to so great an extent 
 that sometimes his sitters did not recognise the striking likeness 
 that some people look for, as paramount to all other considerations, 
 ■which made his pupil Northcote remark, that there was a class of 
 sitters who would not be content with a portrait ‘unless the 
 house-dog barked at it, as a sign of recognition/ Henco 
 many portraits were left upon his hands. 
 
 But see the result, those very pictures now bring higher 
 prices than the most favoured likenesses, from their being 
 intrinsically fine works of art. 
 
 As a knowledge of art advances, works fall naturally into their 
 proper stations. When Reynolds’ sister asked him the reason 
 why we never see any of the portraits of Jervas now, he replied 
 ‘ Because jny dear, they are all up in the garret ’ — yet this man 
 rode in his chariot and four, and received the praises of Pope in 
 verse. Sir Godfrey ICneller would sometimes receive a sum of 
 money and a couple of portraits by Vandyke as payment ; but 
 now a single portrait of the great founder of the Dutch school 
 would outweigh in true value a large number of Kneller’s col- 
 lected talents, yet Rembrandt died insolvent, and Sir Godfrey 
 accumulated a large fortune. And such will be the fate of those 
 who paint for posterity, ‘ and look beyond the ignorant present.’ 
 
 The true statement of this change, which of necessity takes 
 place, is that the man of genius paints according to the high 
 impulse that has been given him, as paramount to any other con- 
 sideration — the other panders to the caprice and ignorance of 
 those who employ him. 
 
APPENDIX, 
 
 <|MwraI ftotM. 
 
 Page 28. — Portrait of Canon Reynolds, at Eton Col- 
 lege : The Provost says, “ it is one of the finest he ever saw ; 
 the colouring of the face exquisite, a fine fresh complexion, such 
 as one sees sometimes, but very rarely, in vigorous old men. 
 Dr. Reynolds was in his eightieth year, when it was painted.” 
 
 Page 43. — I may have been misinformed about the portraits 
 in Miss Cliff’s possession, as Lady Vivian, in a letter to Miss 
 Gwatkin says — “ There has been a portrait of Mr. Cranch, for 
 many years at Glynn, painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds, he is 
 dressed in black, with a powdered wig, but none of Mrs. Cranch.” 
 
 Page 48. — Elizabeth Reynolds (the sister of Sir Joshua) who 
 married William Johnson, of Torrington, had seven children : 
 
 Samuel, who died un-married. 
 
 William, who married at Calcutta, Anna Maria Theresa, daughter of 
 General Tolley. (His portrait, when a hoy, painted by his aunt, 
 Fanny Reynolds, is at the Vicarage Dean Prior, Devonshire). 
 
 Elizabeth, who married the Rev. William Deane, Fellow of All Souls 
 College, Oxford. 
 
 Mary, who married the Rev. Peter Wellington Furse, of Halsdon, 
 Devon, (Portraits of this Lady, by Sir Joshua, are at Halsdon, and 
 Dean Prior. The former has been engraved by S. W, Reynolds). 
 
 Richard, who died un-married. 
 
 Fanny, who married the Eer. William Yonge, Archdeacon and 
 Chancellor of Norwich, and Vicar of Swaffliara. 
 
 Jane, who married Philip Yonge, Esq. 
 
 Page 45. — A red brick house, near the Church, at Torrington, 
 is still the residence of the Palmer family. The Rev. John 
 
252 
 
 ArPENDIX. 
 
 Palmer, in 1855, shewed me an elegant silver tea-caddy, which 
 belonged to Sir Joshua Reynolds, and some family portraits by 
 ’William Doughty. The dining room remains nearly in the same 
 state, as when Dr Johnson dined there in 1762. 
 
 Page 54. — The portrait of the little boy, here alluded to, was 
 engraved by Scriven, and is really very fine. There is likewise 
 a portrait of North cote’s mother, by the same eminent engraver, 
 from a picture by Gandy. 7 
 
 Page 54. — There is a fine mezzotinto engraving of the Rev. 
 Nathaniel Harding, from the picture by Gandy. 
 
 Page 60. — Miss Chudleigh : For a further account of the 
 singular career of this lady, see Dr. Doran’s Table Traits , 
 pp. 531-539. 
 
 Page 64. — The Rev. John Palmer, of Torrington, told me that 
 — “ A pannel over the chimney-piece in the dining-room of his 
 house, was painted by Reynolds when a young man ; the subject 
 was a landscape with buildings he said, “ It had been taken 
 out, and sold many years ago, but he did not know any thing of 
 its subsequent history.” 
 
 Mr. Bryant, of S. James’ street, has a fine landscape by Sir 
 Joshua, painted much in the style of Salvator Rosa. 
 
 Page 69. — Farrington says that — “Immediately after this 
 successful production (the portrait of Admiral Keppel) he painted 
 several portraits of the Cclebrooke family, Lord Godolphin, the 
 Duke of Devonshire, and many others. Three of the Colebrooko 
 portraits are now at Bigadon house, the residence of Lady Littler, 
 whose mother was a Colebrooke. They are in good preservation, 
 and tend to prove the assertion — that Reynolds’ earlier pictures 
 have stood the test of time, better than some of his later 
 works.” 
 
 The portraits at Bigadon arc : 
 
 Sir James Colebrooke, created a baronet in 1759. 
 
 ? See Northcote's Manuscript Collections in tlie Plymouth Public Library. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 253 
 
 Sir George, who succeeded his brother in 1761 , and was M.r. for 
 Arundell, and Chairman of the East India Company. 
 
 The Lady of Sir James, a very pleasing portrait of a beautiful 
 woman. 
 
 They are all on three quarter canvasses. A fine portrait of the Lady 
 of Sir George Colebrooke, (engraved by S. W. Reynolds) is in the 
 possession of Sir Thomas E. Colebroke, the present baronet. 
 
 Page 73. — The Rev. John Yonge, of Puslinch, Rector of 
 'Newton Ferrers, has a remarkably fine portrait of Dr. Mudge, 
 painted by Northcote in his happiest style. 
 
 The two daughters of Dr. Mudge married the Rev. James 
 Yonge, and Mr. Rosdew, of Plymouth. 
 
 Page 75. — Captain Foot : This portrait, nearly a whole 
 length, in Asiatic costume, is in the possession of Captain Foot, 
 of the Royal Artillery, at Tor Grove, near Plymouth. 
 
 Page 83. — Farrington says, that “Reynolds painted, during his 
 residence in Newport Street, a whole length of the Duchess of 
 Hamilton, (the beautiful Miss Gunning), and a smaller picture of 
 her sister, the Countess of Coventry.” 
 
 Page 91. — For Broadwick, read Brodrick. 
 
 Page 94. — Mr. Rogers tells us, that “ at an Academy dinner, 
 Sir Joshua’s waistcoat was literally powdered with snuff.” 8 
 
 Sir Joshua sent six pictures to the Exhibition this year (1772). 
 
 205. A Portrait of a Young Lady in the character of Hebe, Miss 
 Meyer , the daughter of Meyer , the enameller, " the idea is taken from a 
 print of Fortune, by Coltzius , but far more easy and graceful ” 
 
 206. A Lady, whole length, Mrs. Crewe , daughter of Fulk Greville, 
 in the character of S. Jenevieve ; there is a great harmony and sim- 
 plicity in the picture , which is one of his best. 
 
 207. Portrait of a Gentleman, half length, Dr . Robertson , the 
 historian , very like. 
 
 208. Ditto, ditto, three quarters, Mr. Rickey , an attorney. 
 
 209. A Lady, in the character of St. Agnes, more like St. John . 
 
 210. A Captain of Banditti, painted in the manner of Salvator Rosa , 
 hand very good, but the arms ill-drawn. There were in this Exhibition 
 several pictures by different artists, from Reynolds' beggar-man. 
 
 Table Talk of the late S. Rogers, Esq. 
 
254 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Page 118. — The following account of the lamentable death of 
 Mrs. Hartley, the celebrated actress, has been communicated to 
 me by Mr. Bentley of Portland Place, who is an enthusiastic 
 admirer of Sir Joshua’s works : 
 
 She was going out to America, when the vessel in which she sailed, 
 was wrecked near the coast, and her body washed on shore, it was 
 found with the same child, clinging to her, as represented in Reynolds’ 
 picture, which Air. Bentley says, is painted in a light Guido-like 
 manner, and was a great favourite of the late Sir Thomas Lawrence. 
 
 Page 118. — The picture of the Strawberry Girl, was originally 
 sold to the Earl of Carysfort for fifty guineas. At Air. Rogers’ 
 sale, in 1856, it was purchased by Air. Agnew, for the Marquis % 
 of Hertford, for two thousand one hundred guineas. 
 
 Page 125. — Mr. Boger’s picture, which was given to him by 
 Lord Mount Edgcumbe, is also a half length corresponding in 
 size with the other, and represents the Captain in a richly em- 
 broidered Naval uniform. It is vigorously painted, but retains 
 something of the stiff formal manner of Hudson. On the right 
 hand side of the picture is a view of Plymouth sound, with a 
 part of Alount Edgcumbe, and a man of war, very carefully 
 painted and made out in every part (perhaps the ship may have 
 been painted by Reynolds’ early friend and companion, Richard 
 Edgcumbe, who assisted him as we have already seen, in the 
 execution of his first portrait). On the left is a long tailed bird, 
 called the Widow-bird, which was at that time a rare and curious 
 species, and appears to have been introduced into the picture for 
 the purpose of breaking the perpendicular lines of the building 
 behind. There is good reason to believe that both these pictures 
 were painted by Reynolds before he went to Italy, and are 
 certainly indications of his future excellence. 
 
 Page 126. The following is a list of the pictures sent to the 
 Exhibition, in 1774, with Walpole’s remarks: 
 
 No. 214. H.R.H. the Duchess of Gloucester. 
 
 „ 215. The Princess Sophia of Gloucester. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 255 
 
 No. 210. 
 
 n 
 
 n 
 
 ii 
 
 217. 
 
 218. 
 219. 
 
 ii 
 
 it 
 
 ii 
 
 220 . 
 
 220 .* 
 
 221 . 
 
 ii 
 
 222 . 
 
 ii 
 
 ii 
 
 ii 
 
 223. 
 
 224. 
 
 225. 
 
 Three Ladies, adorning a Term of Hymen. 
 
 A Lady, in the character of Miranda. 
 
 Portrait of a Lady. 
 
 Portrait of a Nobleman, Lord Bellamont . — All the above are 
 whole lengths. 
 
 Portrait of a Lady, with three Children. 
 
 Portrait of a Bishop, half length. 
 
 The Triumph of Truth, with the Portrait of a Gentleman, 
 Dr. Beattie. 
 
 Portrait of a Young Gentleman, Lord Edgcumbe's son , — 
 excellent. 
 
 Portrait of a Gentleman, three quarter, Mr. Baretti. 
 
 Ditto ditto. 
 
 An Infant Jupiter. 
 
 Page 127. This portrait of Mr 3 . Sheridan was, as I have 
 been informed, the first picture purchased by the noble Marquis, 
 when his Lordship was Secretary of State for Ireland. 
 
 Page 133. — Ambition of the Schoolmaster’s Son : Sir 
 Joshua Reynolds, having now attained to such eminence in his 
 profession, and having been elected Alderman and Mayor of 
 Plympton, in 1773, it would seem a natural consequence that 
 he should also aspire to the further honour of representing his 
 native town in Parliament; that such was actually the case, I am 
 informed on good authority, and that he applied to his early friend 
 and patron, Lord Mount Edgcumbe, for his interest in the 
 Borough : but, for some reason or other, this was refused, and it 
 caused a coolness between them for some time. 
 
 Page 145. — A youthful Portrait of Gibbon, in a scarlet coat, 
 trimmed with gold lace, painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds, has 
 lately come into the possession of Dr. Elliotson, by bequest from 
 the widow of Mr. W. Brown, of St. John’s Wood. 
 
 Page 149. — Sir Joshua contributed to the decoration of the 
 new apartments of the Royal Academy, in Somerset House, by 
 executing a picture for the ceiling of the Library, it represents 
 Theory sitting upon a Cloud, and holding in her hand a scroll, 
 with this inscription : Theory is the knowledge of v;hat is truly 
 nature. 
 
256 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 The Lords of the Treasury paid Reynolds thirty guineas for 
 the painting, as appears by the following copy of a receipt in the 
 hand writing of Sir William Chambers, and signed by Sir Joshua, 
 which is now in the possession of Mr. Anderdon. 
 
 Tlecnbcb August 5th, 1780, of the Honourable the Lords of the 
 Treasury, by the hands of Sir W. Chambers, the sum of Thirty one 
 Pounds Ten Shillings, being in full for a Picture painted in the Library 
 Ceiling of the Royal Academy, Somerset House. 
 
 £31 10s. JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 
 
 Archdeacon Harrison has also kindly favoured me with a copy 
 of the following Receipt in his possession: 
 
 Ttccctbcb July 18th, 1759, of Sir Thomas Harrison, for his and Lady 
 Harrison’s Portraits, the sum of Sixty Guineas, in full of all demands 
 by me. 
 
 £63 Os. J. REYNOLDS. 
 
 Sir Thomas Harrison, Chamberlain of London, was greatly 
 esteemed for his piety and benevolence. In virtue of his office 
 he took the apprentices of London under his especial care, and 
 was for many years Treasurer of the Corporation of the sons of 
 the Clergy. An interesting memoir of this gentleman will be 
 found in the Obituary of the Gentleman’s Magazine, for the year 
 1764. 
 
 Lady Harrison was the daughter of Mr. Richard Snow, of 
 Cliipsham, in Rutlandshire, and as her portrait is less known than 
 her husbands and has not been engraved, it may be as well to 
 remark that it is carefully and admirably painted, particularly 
 the drapery, and is in a good state of preservation. 
 
 The following Receipt in Sir Joshua’s hand writing, copied from 
 the original at Hartwell, has also been kindly forwarded to me 
 by Mr. Britton : 
 
 Ylcmbcb March 19, 17G1, from Mrs. Lee, the sum of Ten Guineas, 
 being the first payment for her picture. 
 
 £10 10s. 
 
 by me, J. REYNOLDS. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 257 
 
 Page 195. — Messrs. Smith, of Bond Street, informed me that 
 Lot 65 sold for one hundred guineas : but Mr. Francis Graves, 
 of Pall Mall, has lately informed me, that it was sold for £84 
 only. Mr. Graves also informs me, that Lot 68 was bought in at 
 Watsou Taylor’s first sale, for four hundred and ninety-eight 
 guineas : but at his second sale, at Earl’s Stoke, in 1832, Sir 
 Robert Peel purchased it for one hundred and fifty guineas. 
 
 Page 197. — Lot 69 : The original picture from which Sher- 
 win made his engraving, is at Knowle. 
 
 Page 203. — Mrs. Billington was bought in at Mr. Wright’s 
 sale for five hundred guineas, and was afterwards sold by Messrs. 
 Graves, and Co., for a less sum. 
 
 The beautiful picture of Miss Maria Archer, was destroyed at 
 the fire at Mr. Baring’s house. 
 
 Page 204. — The whole length portrait of the Marquis of 
 Granby, is now the property of C. T. Maud, Esq., of Bath. 
 
 Page 206. — Lot 706 was purchased for Miss Burdett Coutts. 
 
 We may add to a note at this page, that Mr. William Cribb, 
 of King’s Street, Covent Garden, who sat to Sir Joshua for the 
 Infant Hercules, is still alive. He was the son of Sir Joshua’s 
 frame-maker, Cribb, of Holborn. Sir Joshua presented his 
 father with an excellent drawing of himself in crayon, which the 
 son now has in his possession. 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
Icjmson ;tnh forith. 
 
The following Jeu cl’E sprit was written by Sm 
 Joshua Reynolds to illustrate a remark which he 
 had made, “ That Dr. Johnson considered Garrick as 
 his property, and would never suffer any one to praise 
 or abuse him but himself.” In the first of these sup- 
 posed Dialogues Sir Joshua himself, by high encomiums 
 upon Garrick, is represented as drawing down upon 
 him Johnson’s censure ; in the second, Mr. Gibbon, by 
 taking the opposite side, calls forth his praise. 
 
JOHNSON AGAINST GARRICK. 
 
 gt. folmson antt Sir |oslraa grpufts. 
 
 Retnolds : Let me alone, I’ll bring him out. [aside. 
 
 I have been thinking, Dr. Johnson, this morning, on a matter 
 that has puzzled me very much ; it is a subject that I dare say 
 has often passed in your thoughts, and though I cannot, I dare 
 say you have made up your mind upon it. 
 
 Johnson. Tilly fally, what is all this preparation, what is all 
 this mighty matter ? 
 
 R. Why, it is a very weighty matter. The subject I have 
 been thinking upon is, Predestination and Free-will, two things I 
 cannot reconcile together for the life of me ; in my opinion, Dr. 
 Johnson, Free-will and Fore-knowledge cannot be reconciled. 
 
 J. Sir it is not of very great importance what your opinion is 
 upon such a question. 
 
 R. But I meant only, Dr. J., to know your opinion. 
 
 J. No, sir, you meant no such thing ; you meant only to shew 
 these gentlemen that you are not the man they took you to be, 
 but that you think of high matters sometimes, and that you may 
 have the credit of having it said that you held an argument with 
 Sam Johnson on predestination and free-will ; a subject of that 
 magnitude as to have engaged the attention of the world, to have 
 perplexed the wisdom of man for these two thousand years ; a 
 subject on which the fallen angels, who had yet not lost all their 
 original brightness, find themselves in wandering mazes lost. 
 That such a subject could be discussed in the levity of convivial 
 conversation, is a degree of absurdity beyond what is easily 
 conceivable. 
 
262 
 
 JOHNSON AGAINST GARRICK. 
 
 R. It is so, as you say, to be sure ; I talked once to our 
 friend Garrick upon this subject, but I remember we could 
 make nothing of it. 
 
 J. 0 noble pair ! 
 
 R. Garrick was a clever fellow, Dr. J . ; Garrick, take him 
 altogether, was certainly a very great man. 
 
 J. Garrick, sir, may be a great man in your opinion, as far as 
 I know, but he was not so in mine ; little things are great to 
 little men. 
 
 R . I have heard you say, Dr. Johnson 
 
 J. Sir, you never heard me say that David Garrick was a 
 great man ; you may have heard me say that Garrick was a good 
 repeater — of other men’s words — words put into his mouth by 
 other men ; this makes but a faint approach towards being a 
 great man. 
 
 R. But take Garrick upon the whole, now, in regard to 
 conversation 
 
 J. Well, sir, in regard to conversation, I never discovered in 
 the conversation of David Garrick any intellectual energy, any 
 
 wide grasp of thought, any extensive comprehension of mind, or 
 
 * 
 
 that he possessed any of those powers to which great could with 
 any degree of propriety, be applied 
 
 R. But still 
 
 J. Hold, sir, I have not done — there are, to be sure, in the 
 laxity of colloquial speech, various kinds of greatness ; a man 
 may be a great tobacconist, a man may be a great painter, he 
 may be likewise a great mimick ; now you may be the one, and 
 Garrick the other, and yet neither of you be great men. 
 
 R. But Dr. Johnson 
 
 J. Hold, sir, I have often lamented how dangerous it is to in- 
 vestigate and to discriminate character, to men who have no 
 discriminative powers. 
 
 R. But Garrick, as a companion, I heard you say — no longer 
 ago than last Wednesday, at Mr. Thrale’s table — 
 
 J. You tease me, sir. Whatever you may have heard me 
 
JOHNSON AGAINST GARRICK. 
 
 263 
 
 sa y, no longer ago than last Wednesday, at Mr. Thrale’s table, I 
 tell you I do not say so now ; besides, as I said before, you may 
 not have understood me, you misapprehended me, you may not 
 have heard me. 
 
 R. I am very sure I heard you. 
 
 J. Besides, besides sir, besides — do you not know, — are you 
 so ignorant as not to know, that it is the highest degree of rude- 
 ness to quote a man against himself ? 
 
 R. But if you differ from yourself, and give one opinion to- 
 day — 
 
 J. Have done, sir, the company you see are tired, as well as 
 myself. 
 
TOTHER SIDE. 
 
 §r. .folmsmt anil ||tr. 6'ibbon. 
 
 Johnson. No, sir ; Garrick’s fame was prodigious, not only 
 in England, but over all Europe ; even in Russia I have been 
 told he was a proverb, when any one had repeated well he was 
 called a second Garrick. 
 
 Gibbon. I think he had full as much reputation as he deserved. 
 
 J. I do not pretend to know, sir, what your meaning may be, 
 by saying he had as much reputation as he deserved; he de- 
 served much, and he had much. 
 
 G. Why surely, Dr. Johnson, his merit was in small things 
 only, he had none of those qualities that make a real great man. 
 
 J. Sir, I as little understand what your meaning may be when 
 you speak of the qualities that make a great man ; it is a vague 
 term. Garrick was no common man ; a man above the common 
 size of men, may surely without any great impropriety, be called 
 a great man. In my opinion he has very reasonably fulfilled the 
 prophecy which he once reminded me of having made to his 
 mother, when she asked me how little David went on at school, 
 that I should say to her, that he would come to be hanged, or 
 come to be a great man. No, sir, it is undoubtedly true that the 
 same qualities, united with virtue or with vice, make a hero or a 
 rogue, a great general or a highwayman. Now Garrick, we are 
 sure, was never hanged, and in regard to his being a great man, 
 you must take the whole man together. It must be considered 
 in how many things Garrick excelled in which every man desires 
 to excel : setting aside his excellence as an actor, in which he is 
 acknowledged to be unrivalled ; as a man, as a poet, as a 
 
JOHNSON IN FAVOUR OF GARRICK. 265 
 
 convivial companion, you will find but few hi3 equals, and none 
 his superior. As a man ; he was kind, friendly, benevolent, 
 and generous. 
 
 G. Of Garrick’s generosity I never heard ; I understood his 
 character to be totally the reverse, and that he was recokened to 
 have loved money. 
 
 J. That he loved money, nobody will dispute ; who does not ? 
 but if you mean, by loving money, that he was parsimonious to a 
 fault, sir, you have been misinformed. To Foote, and such 
 scoundrels, who circulated those reports, to such profligate spend- 
 thrifts prudence is meanness, and economy is avarice. That 
 Garrick in early youth, was brought up in strict habits of econo- 
 my I believe, and that they were necessary, I have heard from 
 himself ; to suppose that Garrick might inadvertantly act from 
 this habit, and be saving in small things, can be no wonder ; but 
 let it be remembered at the same time that if he was frugal by 
 habit, he was liberal from principle ; that when he acted from 
 reflection he did what his fortune enabled him to do, and what 
 was expected from such a fortune. I remember no instance of 
 David’s parsimony but once, when he stopped Mrs. Woffington 
 from replenishing the tea-pot ; it was already, he said, as red as 
 blood; and this instance is doubtful, and happened many years 
 ago. In the latter part of his life I observed no blameable parsi- 
 mony in David ; his table was elegant and even splendid ; his 
 house both in town and country, his equipage, and I think all 
 his habits of life, were such as might be expected from a man 
 who had acquired great riches. In regard to his generosity, 
 which you seem to question, I shall only say ; there is no man 
 to whom I would apply with more confidence of success, for the 
 loan of two hundred pounds to assist a common friend, than to 
 David, and this too with very little if any probability of its 
 being repaid. 
 
 G. You were going to say something of him as a writer — you 
 don’t rate him very high as a poet. 
 
 J. Sir, a man may be a respectable poet without being a 
 
266 JOHNSON IN FAVOUR OF GARRICK. 
 
 Homer, as a man may be a good player without being a Garrick. 
 In the lighter kinds of poetry, in the appendages of the drama, 
 he was, if not the first , in the very first class. He had a readiness 
 and facility, a dexterity of mind that appeared extraordinary 
 even to men of experience, and who are not apt to wonder from 
 ignorance. Writing prologues, epilogues, and epigrams, he said 
 he considered as his trade, and he was, what a man should be, 
 always, and at all times ready at his trade. He required two 
 hours for a prologue or epilogue, and five minutes for an epigram. 
 Once at Burke’s table the company proposed a subject, and Gar- 
 rick finished his epigram within the time ; the same experiment 
 was repeated in the garden, and with the same success. 
 
 G. Garrick had some flippancy of parts, to be sure, and was 
 brisk and lively in company, and by the help of mimickry and 
 story-telling made himself a pleasant companion ; but here the 
 whole world gave the superiority to Foote, and Garrick himself 
 appears to have felt as if his genius was rebuked by the superior 
 powers of Foote. It has been often observed that Garrick never 
 dared to enter into competition with him, but was content to act 
 an under part to bring Foote out. 
 
 J. That this conduct of Garrick’s might be interpreted by the 
 gross minds of Foote and his friends, as if he was afraid to en- 
 counter him, I can easily imagine. Of the natural superiority of 
 Garrick over Foote, this conduct is an instance ; he disdained 
 entering into competion with such a fellow, and made him the 
 buffoon of the company ; or, as you say, brought him out. And 
 what was at last brought out but course jests and vulgar merri- 
 ment, indecency and impiety, a relation of events which, upon 
 the face of them, could never have happened, characters grossly 
 conceived and as coarsely represented ? Foote was even no 
 mimick ; he went out of himself, it is true, but without going 
 into another man ; he was excelled by Garrick even in this, 
 which is considered as Foote’s greatest excellence. Garrick 
 besides his exact imitation of the voice and gesture of his original, 
 to a degree of refinement of which Foote had no conception, 
 
JOHNSON IN FAVOUR OF GARRICK. 26T 
 
 exhibited the mind and mode of thinking of the person imitated. 
 Besides, Garrick confined his powers within the limits of decency; 
 he had a character to preserve, Foote had none. By Foote’s 
 buffoonery and broad-faced merriment, private friendship, public 
 decency, and everything estimable amongst men, were trod under 
 foot. We all know the difference of their reception in the world. 
 No man, however high in rank or literature, but was proud to 
 know Garrick, and was glad to have him at his table ; no man 
 ever considered or treated Garrick as a player : he may be said 
 to have stepped out of his own rank into an higher, and by 
 raising himself he raised the rank of his profession. At a con- 
 vivial table his exhilarating powers were unrivalled ; he was 
 lively, entertaining, quick in discerning the ridicule of life, and 
 as ready in representing it ; and on graver subjects there were 
 few topics in which he could not bear his part. It is injurious to 
 the character of Garrick to be named in the same breath with 
 Foote. That Foote was admitted sometimes in good company 
 (to do the man what credit I can) I will allow, but then it was 
 merely to play tricks, Foote’s merriment was that of a buffoon, 
 and Garrick’s that of a gentleman. 
 
 G. I have been told, on the contrary, that Garrick in company 
 had not the easy manners of a gentleman. 
 
 J. Sir, I don’t know what you may have been told, or what 
 your ideas may be, of the manners of gentlemen ; Garrick had 
 no vulgarity in his manners, it is true Garrick had not the airi- 
 ness of a fop, nor did he assume an affected indifference to what 
 was passing ; he did not lounge from the table to the window, 
 and from thence to the fire, or whilst you were addressing your 
 discourses to him, turn from you and talk to his next neighbour, 
 or give any indication that he was tired of his company ; if such 
 manners form your ideas of a fine gentleman, Garrick certainly 
 had them not. 
 
 G. I mean that Garrick was more overawed by the presence 
 of the great, and more obsequious to rank, than Foote, who con- 
 sidered himself as their equal, and treated them with the same 
 familiarity as they treated each other. 
 
268 
 
 JOHNSON IN FAVOUR OF GARRICK. 
 
 J. He did so, and what did the fellow get by it ? The gross- 
 ness of his mind prevented him from seeing that this familiarity 
 was merely suffered as they would play with a dog ; he got no 
 ground by affecting to call peers by their surnames ; the foolish 
 fellow fancied that lowering them was raising himself to their 
 level ; this affectation of familiarity with the great, this childish 
 ambition of momentary exaltation obtained by the neglect of 
 those ceremonies which custom has established as the barriers 
 between one order of society and another ; only shewed his folly 
 and meanness ; he did not see that by encroaching on others 
 dignity, he puts himself in their power either to be repelled with 
 helpless indignity, or endured by clemency and condescension. 
 Garrick, by paying due respect to rank, respected himself ; what 
 he gave was returned, and what was returned, he kept for ever ; 
 his advancement was on firm ground, he was recognised in public 
 as well as respected in private, and as no man was ever more 
 courted and better received by the public, so no man was ever 
 less spoiled by its flattery ; Garrick continued advancing to the 
 last, till he had acquired every advantage that high birth or title 
 could bestow, except the precedence of going into a room, but 
 when he was there, he was treated with as much attention as the 
 first man at the table. It is to the credit of Garrick that he never 
 laid any claim to this distinction, it was as voluntarily allowed as 
 if it had been his birthright. In this, I confess, I looked on 
 David with some degree of envy, not so much for the respect he 
 received, as for the manner of its being acquired ; what fell into 
 his lap unsought, I have been forced to claim. I began the world 
 by fighting my way. There was something about me that invited 
 insult, or at least a disposition to neglect, and I was equally dis- 
 posed to repel insult, and to claim attention, and I fear continue 
 too much in this disposition now it is no longer necessary ; I re- 
 ceive at present as much favour as I have a right to expect. I 
 am not one of the complainers of the neglect of merit. 
 
 G. Your pretensions, Dr. Johuson, nobody will dispute ; I 
 cannot place Garrick on the same footing : your reputation will 
 
JOHNSON IN FAVOUR OF GARRICK. 
 
 269 
 
 continue increasing after your death, when Garrick will be totally 
 forgot ; you will be for ever considered as a classic 
 
 J. Enough, sir, enough ; the compauy would be better pleased 
 to see us quarrel than bandying compliments. 
 
 G. But you must allow, Dr. Johnson, that Garrick was too 
 much a slave to fame, or rather to the mean ambition of living 
 with the great, terribly afraid of making himself cheap even 
 with them ; by which he debarred himself of much pleasant 
 society. Employing so much attention, and so much manage- 
 ment upon such little things, implies, I think, a little mind. It 
 was observed by his friend Colman, that he never went into com- 
 pany but with a plot how to get out of it ; he was every minute 
 called out, and went off or returned as there was, or was not, a 
 probability of his shining. 
 
 J. In regard to his mean ambition, as you call it, of living 
 with the great ; what was the boast of Pope, and is every man’s 
 wish, can be no reproach to Garrick ; he who says he despises it, 
 knows he lies ; that Garrick husbanded his fame, the fame which 
 he had justly acquired both at the theatre and at the table, is not 
 denied ; but where is the blame either in the one or the other, of 
 leaving as little as he could to chance ? Besides, sir, consider 
 what you have said, you first deny Garrick’s pretensions to fame, 
 and then accuse him of too great an attention to presevere what 
 he never possessed. 
 
 G. I don’t understand 
 
 J. Sir I can’t help that. 
 
 G. Well, but Dr. Johnson, you will not vindicate him in his 
 over and above attention to his fame, his inordinate desire to ex- 
 hibit himself to new men, like a coquet, ever seeking after new 
 conquests, to the total neglect of old friends and admirers ; — 
 
 “ He threw off his friends like a huntsman his pack,” 
 always looking out for new game. 
 
 J. When you quoted the line from Goldsmith, you ought, in 
 fairness, to have given what followed, — 
 
 “ He knew when he pleased he could whistle them back.” 
 
270 JOHNSON IN FAVOUR OF GARRICK. 
 
 which implies at least that he possessed a power over other men’s 
 minds approaching to fascination ; but consider, sir, what is to be 
 done : here is a man whom every other man desired to know. 
 Garrick could not receive and cultivate all, according to each 
 man’s conception of his own value— we are all apt enough to 
 consider ourselves as possessing a right to be excepted from the 
 common crowd ; besides, sir, I do not see why that should be 
 imputed to him as a crime, which we all so irresistibly feel and 
 practise ; we all make a greater exertion in the presence of new 
 men than old acquaintance ; it is undoubtedly true that Garrick 
 divided his attention among so many that but little was left to 
 the share of any individual, like the extension and dissipation of 
 water into dew, there was not quantity united sufficiently to quench 
 any man’s thirst ; but this is the inevitable state of things, Gar- 
 rick no more than another man, could unite what, in their natures, 
 are incompatable. 
 
 G. But Garrick not only was excluded by this means from real 
 friendship, but accused of treating those whom he called friends, 
 with insincerity and double dealings. 
 
 J. Sir, it is not true ; his character in that respect is misunder- 
 stood : Garrick was, to be sure, very ready in promising, but he 
 intended at that time to fulfil his promise ; he intended no deceit; 
 his politeness or his good nature, call it which you will, made 
 him unwilling to deny, he wanted the courage to say No even to 
 unreasonable demands. This was the great error of his life : by 
 raising expectations which he did not, perhaps could not gratify, 
 he made many enemies ; at the same time it must be remembered 
 that this error proceeded from the same cause which produced 
 many of his virtues. Friendships from warmth of temper too 
 suddenly taken up, and too violent to continue, ended as they 
 were like to do, in disappointment : enmity succeeded disap- 
 pointment, his friends became his enemies, and those having been 
 fostered in his bosom, well knew his sensibility to reproach, an d 
 took care that he should be amply supplied with such bitter 
 potions as they were capable of administering ; their impotent 
 
JOHNSON IN FAVOUR OF GARRICK. 271 
 
 efforts he ought to have despised, but he felt them ; nor did he 
 affect insensibility. 
 
 G. And that sensibility probably shortened his life. 
 
 J. No, sir, he died of a disorder of which you or any other 
 man may die, without being killed by too much sensibility. 
 
 G. But you will allow, however, that this sensibility, those 
 fine feelings, made him the great actor he was. 
 
 J. This is all cant, fit only for kitchen wenches and chamber- 
 maids ; Garrick’s trade was to represent passion, not to feel it. 
 Ask Reynolds whether he felt the distress of count Hugolino 
 when he drew it. 
 
 G. But surely he feels the passion at the moment he is repre- 
 senting it. 
 
 J. About as much as Punch feels. That Garrick himself 
 gave into this foppery of feelings I can easily believe ; but he 
 knew at the same time that he lied. He might think it right as 
 far as I know, to have what fools imagined he ought to have ; 
 but it is amazing that any one should be so ignorant as to think 
 that an actor would risk his reputation by depending on the feel- 
 ings that shall be excited in the presence of two hundred people, 
 on the repeition of certain words which he has repeated two 
 
 hundred times before in what actors call their study. No, 
 
 sir, Garrick left nothing to chance, every gesture, every ex- 
 pression of countenance, and variation of voice, was settled in 
 his closet before he set his foot upon the stage. 
 
272 
 
 PORTRAITS. 
 
 Sir * 
 
 PAINTED BY HIMSELF. 
 
 DESCRIPTION. 
 
 POSSESSOR. 
 
 ENGRAVER. 
 
 Rev. John Reynolds, S.T.B., Fellow 
 of Eton College, and Canon of 
 Exeter Cathedral. 
 
 Rev. Samuel Reynolds, Fellow of 
 Baliol College, and Master of 
 Plympton School, (formerly in the 
 possession of the Very Rev. James 
 Palmer, Dean of Cashel, and bro- 
 ther of Lady Thomond). 
 
 Elizabeth Reynolds, (Mrs. Johnson), 
 painted soon after she had the 
 small-pox, at the age of 16. 
 
 Another of the same Lady, probably 
 painted on her marriage. 
 
 Frances Reynolds, his maiden sister, 
 formerly in the possession of the 
 Dean of Cashel. . 
 
 Another of the same Lady, with a 
 veil over her head. 1 
 
 Mrs. Field, sister-in-law of the Rev 
 Joshua Reynolds, Rector of Stoke 
 Charity, Hants. 
 
 Joshua Reynolds holding a Palette 
 and shading his eyes, an earl 
 portrait, formerly in the possession 
 of Mr. Lane, of Coffleet, Devon. 
 
 Sir Joshua Reynolds, the first por 
 trait he painted of himself, ( East 
 lake). .... 
 
 Sir Joshua Reynolds; the last he 
 painted of himself. 2 
 
 Sir Joshua Reynolds, sitting with 
 Paper in his hand, an early por- 
 trait, sold in 1821, at Lady Tho 
 mond’s sale, for £22 Is. 
 
 Eton College. 
 
 Cottonian Li 
 brary, Plymouth 
 
 J.H.Furse,Esq. 
 Rev. R. Kitson, 
 for the family. 
 
 Cottonian Li- 
 brary. 
 
 Captain Palmer, 
 of Toirington. 
 
 y Joseph Sanders, 
 Esq., of John- 
 ston Hall. 
 
 Miss Gwatkin, 
 Plymouth. 
 
 The same. 
 
 Me. Ardell. 
 
 S. W. Reynolds. 
 
 S. W. Reynolds. 
 
 R. Cooper. 
 
 S. W. Reynolds 
 
 II can learn nothing respecting this picture from the family. — It was perhaps 
 engraved from a pencil drawing, by Miss F. Keynolds, of her sister, Mrs. Johnson. 
 
 2 Both these pictures were exhibited in 1823, at the British Institution, by E. 
 L. Gwatkin, Esq. 
 
PORTRAITS. 
 
 273 
 
 DESCRIPTION. 
 
 POSSESSOR. 
 
 ENGRAVER. 
 
 Sir Joshua Reynolds, holding a book, 
 purchased at the same sale, for 
 
 Lord 
 
 
 234 guineas. .... 
 
 Normanton. 
 
 
 Sir Joshua Reynolds, in early life, 
 purchased by Mr. Newenhuys, at 
 the sale of Mr. Lake’s pictures, 
 in 1845 
 
 Sir R. Peel,Brt. 
 
 S. W. Reynolds. 
 
 Sir Joshua Reynolds, painted for 
 Mr. Thrale, (bought by Richard 
 Sharpe, Esq., at Mrs. Piozzi’s sale, 
 in 1816). . . 
 
 Sir Joshua Reynolds, painted for 
 Plympton, sold by the Coporation 
 
 Lord Egremont, 
 
 for 150 guineas. 
 
 at Silverton. 
 
 
 Sir Joshua Reynolds, another very 
 similar, hut with a light-sky back- 
 ground, given to Northcote, (sold 
 
 
 
 by Christie and Manson, in 1816, 
 for .£56 14s., at Mr. Hughes’ sale. 
 Sir Joshua Reynolds, painted for the 
 
 
 S. W Reynolds 
 
 Dilettanti 
 
 Dilettanti Society. 
 
 Society. 
 
 I. Watson, 1770. 
 
 Sir Joshua Reynolds, another nearly 
 the same, but with a dark olive 
 background, (lately in the posses- 
 
 Cottonian 
 
 sion of the Dean of Cashel). 
 
 Library. 
 
 
 Sir Joshua Reynolds, with a Cap on, 
 and one hand in the Waistcoat. 
 
 Vernon Gallery. 
 
 S. W. Reynolds. 
 
 Sir Joshua Reynolds, Knt., D.C.L., 
 in the Council Chamber of the 
 Royal Academy . . . . 
 
 Royal Academy. 
 
 V. Green. 
 
 Sir Joshua Reynolds, in his Doctor’s 
 gown, and holding papers in the 
 right hand. . 
 
 The Florence 
 
 C. Townley 1777 
 
 Gallery. 
 
 Sherwin, 1784. 
 
 Sir Joshua Reynolds, another in the 
 same dress, at Belvoir Castle. 
 
 Duke of Rutland 
 
 
 Sir Joshua Reynolds, sold at Mr. 
 Metcalfe’s sale, in 1850 . 
 
 Sir Joshua Reynolds, with Spectacles, 
 “the last portait he painted of 
 himself,” says Beechey, “is ex- 
 tremely like,” it was purchased for 
 George IV., at Lady Thomond’s 
 sale, for 100 guineas. . 
 
 Sir Joshua Reynolds, another which 
 Dr, Waagon says, “ is more power- 
 
 
 
 The Queen. 
 
 Caroline Watson 
 
 . 
 
 
 ful in colour.” . 
 
 , Dulwich College 
 
 
 Sir Joshua Reynolds, another, al 
 
 : E. R. P. Bas- 
 
 
 Kitley, Devon 
 
 . tard, Esq. 
 
 t 
 
 
 Sir Joshua Reynolds, another, al 
 
 
 Petworth 
 
 Sir Joshua Reynolds, given by Sir 
 
 r Mrs. Young, 
 
 
 Joshua, to Dr. Brockleslev. 
 
 . Leamington. 
 
 
274 
 
 PORTRAITS 
 
 In the supplementary sale of Lady Thomond’s pictures in 
 1821, as before stated, there were several unfinished portraits 
 and sketches of Sir Joshua. 
 
 A portrait of Sir Joshua Reynolds, painted by himself, was 
 exhibited at the British Institution, by Sir Thomas Lawrence, 
 in 1823. 
 
 Again in 1832 there was one in the possession of Sir George 
 Phillips, and another, the same year, in the possession of Lord 
 Dover. 
 
 A portrait, in the manner of Rembrandt, with a hat on, is 
 mentioned by Beechey in his life of Reynolds, and is probably 
 the picture now in the Vernon Gallery. 
 
 Colonel Palmer, of the Artillery, has, I am told, a portrait of 
 Sir Joshua, by himself. 
 
 There is also a very interesting portrait of Sir Joshua Reynolds, 
 at Saltram, by Angelica Kauffman. 3 And a marble bust by 
 
 3 In the library at Saltram, the residence of the Earl of Morley, near Plymouth, 
 there is a portrait of Sir Joshua Reynolds, painted by Angelica Kauffman, in 1768, 
 which represents him sitting at a table with his legs crossed, and his books about 
 him : it has all the look of a real, matter of fact likeness ; very different from the 
 fine pictorial heads he painted of himself, with bushy hair, and a loose robe thrown 
 over the shoulders, or with the Doctor’s cap and crimson sleeves of his University 
 honours, but in ordinary every day costume, with his hair curled and a pigtail. The 
 picture is vigorously and carefully painted, and was much admired at the time. 
 The following commendatory verses appeared in the public Advertiser of the day, 
 and are alluded to by Goldsmith, in his well known reply to an invitation, written at 
 the last moment, to dine with the Hornecks and Reynolds’, at Dr. Baker’s : 
 
 “ While fair Angelica, with matchless grace. 
 
 Paints Conway’s burly form and Stanhope’s face; 
 
 Our hearts to beauty willing homage pay, 
 
 We praise, admire, and gaze our souls away, 
 
 But when the likeness she hath done of thee, 
 
 O Reynolds ! with astonishment we see, 
 
 Forced to submit, with all our pride we own, 
 
 Such strength, such harmony, excelled by none, 
 
 And thou art rivalled by thyself alone.’’ 
 
 See Life of Goldsmith, p. 124. 
 
 A whole length portrait of Sir Joshua, by Zoffanij,in his picture of the Royal 
 Academicians at Buckingham Palace, represents him in a full dress suit, with his 
 trumpet to his ear, and is probably a true and accurate resemblance, as it is said 
 that all the artists sat to Zoffanij for their portraits, with the exception of Sir 
 Nathaniel Holland. 
 
PORTRAITS. 
 
 275 
 
 Ciracci , 4 which was purchased at Lady Thomond’s sale, by G. 
 Watson Taylor, Esq., is now in the Council Room of the Royal 
 Academy, having been recently presented by Mr. Labouchere. 
 The Academicians also possess a bust in terra-cotta, modelled 
 from the life, which is considered a much better likeness than 
 the marble of Ciracci. 
 
 The picture of Sir Joshua Reynolds and Jarvis, as Shepherds, 
 bought by Earl Fitz william at Lady Thomond’s sale, is now at 
 Cambridge. 
 
 Mr. Farrington, R.A., had a portrait of Sir Joshua, by himself, 
 with a canvass and easel before him . 5 
 
 Another, by American Stewart, was in the possession of 
 Alderman Boydell. 
 
 Spicer, portrait painter to the Prince of Wales, made a 
 beautiful and elaborate copy of Sir Joshua’s celebrated portrait 
 of himself with spectacles . 6 
 
 There are several duplicates of Sir Joshua’s portrait with 
 spectacles, one in the possession of the Duke of Leeds, but his 
 neice, the Marchioness of Thomond, possesses the original . 7 
 
 4 See Walpole’s Anecdotes, vol. 4, p. 22, (Dallaway). Northcote says, Ci- 
 racci was guillotined in France, having been implicated in the plot to destroy 
 Napoleon. 
 
 5 See Beechey’s Life. 6 Testimonials, p. 67. 7 Northcote, p. 349. 
 
276 
 
 PORTRAITS. 
 
 ■portraits of % Jointer Jfan% 
 
 BY SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 
 
 DESCRIPTION. 
 
 POSSESSOR. 
 
 ENGRAVER. 
 
 Mary Palmer, afterwards Mar- 
 chioness of Thomond in a hat and 
 
 Miss Gwatkin, 
 
 W. Doughty, 
 1779, Jas. 
 
 feathers 
 
 Plymouth. 
 
 Collyer, 1785. 
 
 Theophila Palmer, (Mrs. Gwatkin), 
 at 16, reading Clarissa, exhibited 
 at the R.A., in 1771. 
 
 J. Gwatkin, Esq. 
 
 Scorodonmow. 
 
 Theophila Palmer, called the girl 
 with a muff. 8 .... 
 
 Marquis 
 of Lansdowne. 
 
 S. W. Reynolds. 
 
 Theophila Palmer, with a cloak over 
 the right shoulder, and glove in 
 the left hand 
 
 At Petworth. 9 
 
 J. R. Smith, 
 1777. 
 
 Theophila Palmer, another nearly 
 the same, painted on her marriage. 
 J. Lovell Gwatkin, Esq. . 
 
 Theophila Gwatkin, afterwards Mrs. 
 Lowther (Simplicity) . 
 
 Miss Gwatkin, 
 The same. 
 
 The Family. 
 
 Bartolozzi. 
 
 S. W. Reynolds. 
 
 The following portraits by Miss F. Reynolds, are in the 
 possession of the family . 
 
 1. Mary Johnson (Mrs. Furse) when a child. 
 
 2. Elizabeth Johnson (Mrs. Dean) ; both in the possession of Mrs. 
 Yonge, of Rockbume. 
 
 3. William Johnson, of Calcutta, when a boy; at Dean Prior 
 Vicarage. 
 
 4. Richard Johnson. 
 
 5. Fanny, (Mrs. Yonge) when a baby, standing in her cot, in her 
 night dress, and Mrs. Gwatkin teaching her to say her prayers. 
 
 6. Mrs. William Johnson, of Calcutta, in a Turkish dress ; at 
 Halsden. 
 
 8 This is probably the picture mentioned in Reynolds’ private notes, 1768, as 
 Offe's portrait. She was then 11 years old. 
 
 As I am informed by Mr. Bolton. 
 
CORRIGENDA. 
 
 Page 6, line 7, for “ Itenerary,” read — Itinerary. 
 
 Page 8, line 28, for “ Historoe,” read — Historice. 
 
 Page 23, line 33, for “ 7 for,” read — 7 b f, r 
 
 Page 56, line 30, for “ complement,” read— compliment. 
 
 Page 59, line 26, for “stage,” read — age. 
 
 Page 88, line 31, for " exhibitions,” read — exhibition. 
 
 Page 90, line 19, for “ three,” read — four. 
 
 Page 120, line 14, for “ Lord Mount Edgcumbe,” read — Lord 
 Edgcumbe. 
 
BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 
 
 % (Luapbit anb historical Sfntrjj of Cotircs, 
 
 DEMY QUARTO, 
 
 PLYMOUTH: ROGER LIDSTONE, 1850. 
 
 51 (Prnptitr nnb iistnrirnl lltrtrlj of I'ntitjum itatlr, Inssn, 
 
 ROYAL OCTAVO, 
 
 LONDON: S. BENTLEY, 1831. 
 
 IntiMcnl ILiimins in tjiB West nf Curnntnll, 
 
 QUARTO, 
 
 LONDON: JAMES MO YES, 1827. 
 
 Only Twenty Five Copies for Private Distribution. 
 
C. * 
 
 Monthly Epitome, 
 
 AND 
 
 Defcriptive Catalogue, 
 
 OF 
 
 NEW PUBLICATIONS. 
 
 No. V. For MAY, 1797. 
 
 i 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 73. The Works of Sir Joshua Reynolds : — 
 
 Extrafls. — Scfmc Account of his Life and Writings 
 
 Lift of the molt contiderable Pictures by Sir joftwa, with the Prices 
 
 and PurchaLrs Names — — — 
 
 Defcription of Sir Jofhua’s Funeral 
 
 Character of Rubens » 
 
 Fa^. 
 
 ibid. 
 
 323 
 3*6 
 . 3 *$ 
 
 74, Reynolds's Comedy of the Will 
 
 330. 
 
 75. Gamete’s Essay on the different. Modes of Communi- 
 cation by Signals 
 
 Of the ancient Clepfydra - 
 
 Extract from Capt. Smith's Travels, 1593, &c. 
 
 Bifliop Godwin the firit English Writer on Signals * 
 
 Of the Fiench Telegraph — — — ■— — 
 
 33 s 
 
 333 
 
 ibid. 
 
 3 3-1 
 335 
 
 76. History and Description of Burgh ley House 236 
 
 Account of a carious Society formerly held in Burghlcy Honfe 337 
 
 Defcription of the Jewel Clofet * — 33 * 
 
 77. Count Ruv* ford's Experimental Essays — * ibid. 
 
 On the Economy of Fuel, and Nature of Heat * ■ 340 
 
 78. Baron de Wimpffen’s Voyagf. to St. Domingo 342- 
 
 CLIL’S of Population in Sc. Domingo 343 
 
 ' [for the Remainder of the Contents, fee next Page, 
 
 ' LOKDON: 
 
 Printed for W. Clarke, No. 38. Jfrcv Bond-Jsrcet , and fold by Lee 
 and Hurst, No. 32, Patsrno/ier-rout ; j. Sewell, Qtfnh'diy 
 L Murdoch, Hart-fireet, Bloomfiuryfquar* ; Cogse, Oxford ; 
 Leighton, Cambridge*, Emfry and Adams, Brifioi ; Christopher 
 and Jen.nett, Stoekton-vpon-Tca-, Jof.Lis, Carlfe*, and by ah, Bcoiir 
 fellers in Town and Country. 
 
 PRICK ONE SHILLING. 
 
CONTENTS, : v . % 
 
 79. Voyage of Hanno translated by Falconer , , 
 
 Examination of Mr.T)odweli’s Portions ■ - — 
 
 egf 
 34 S 
 34 * 
 
 So. Maton’s Observations on the Western Counties of Eng- 
 land ■ ■ 1 i. 
 
 Account of the Smehing-Houfes and Copper-Mines at Hale in Corn- 
 wall 349 
 
 Obfervations on Mineralogical Maps - — ■ ■ 351 
 
 Si. Rulhiere’s Anecdotes of the Revolution in Russia 
 
 53 
 
 Cliaracteriftic Traits of Catherine, Peter III. and the ^mprefs Elizabeth 354. 
 Farther Particulars of Peter III. ■— 356 
 
 S2. Necker on the French Revolution 
 
 Parallel between the Englifli'and prefen t French Conftitqtibns 
 
 $3. Brown’s Campaign, a Poetical Essay 
 Defcription of a Battle ■ — - 
 
 357 
 
 ibid. 
 
 3 6 ’ 
 
 S4. Gordon’s Repentance and Reformation, the Conditions 
 of Mercy — 
 
 S3. A Survey of the Counties of Lancashire, &c. 
 
 Account of James Brindley, the Engineer ■ - 
 
 56 . Outlines of a Plan for a regular Equivalent for the 
 Labour of the Poor, &c. 
 
 *7. Wakefield’s Letter to Wjlberforce 
 
 $8. Communications to the Board of Agriculture 
 
 Queries concerning Cottages, with their Anfwers by Lord Brownlow 
 
 S9. History of London and its Environs, Part III. — 
 Modes of fopplying London with Water in 1 237 — 
 
 56. Gordon’s Occasional Assistant to Parochial Duties 
 Converfarion with a Profligate, who, on Recovery from Sicknefs, had 
 returned to his evil Courfes 
 
 91. Pftfr PindapAs Six Picturesque Views 
 
 The Old Tower, an Elegy 
 
 The Rock 
 
 364 
 
 365 
 
 366 
 
 36 S 
 Z 6 9 
 
 37 ® 
 
 373 
 
 377 
 
 380 
 
 351 
 
 352 
 
 3 S 5 
 
 ibid. 
 
 ibid. 
 
 32. Hole’sRemarks on th? Arabian Nights’ Entertainments 
 Remarks on Sindbad’s third Voyage — 
 
 386 
 ibid. 
 
 3S8 
 589 
 39 ® 
 
 WmBEBm 
 
 Lines trahferibed from an Inn at Aberford, with an Anfwer to the 
 
 Writer of them — 392 
 
 Upon a Linnet belonging to a young Lady, which died without any 
 apparent Caufe 393 
 
 93. Jackson’s Poems on several Occasions 
 
 To an Hypochondria^ Friend 
 
 The Reformift. A Tale from Fact, - 
 
 94. Morgan's Poetry 
 
 Monthly Catalogue of Books, Pamphlets, fire. 
 New Edil;on$ • 
 
 Publications announced 
 Prints — « 
 
 Prints announced 
 
 ibid. 
 
 39 8 
 
 399 ' 
 
 400 
 
 ibid. 
 
TH £ 
 
 MONTHLY EPITOME, 
 
 For MA Y 1797. 
 
 LXXITL Tit If ~arh tf i' JcsHCi 
 Reynolds, AT*/. late Prefident 
 of the Rojrai Academy; cocrain- 
 iag hts Diicouricrs, Idlers, a Jour- 
 ney to Flanders and Holland (new 
 firit publifhed' and his Commen- 
 tary on Du Frelncy’s Art of Part- 
 ing. Printed from his reviled 
 Copies v with his lair Corrections 
 and Additions). To which is 
 prefixed, an Account of the Life 
 and Writings of the Author, by 
 Edmund Malone, Esq,, one of 
 his Executors. 2 Yob. 410. pp. 
 735. Boards. iL 16s. CwJeil amJ 
 Davies* 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 T)RE$ENTS us with fifteen Dif- 
 courfes delivered by Sir Tothua 
 at the Royal Academy, together 
 with Nos. 76, 77. 74. and 82, of 
 the Idler, the whole of which hav- 
 ing already met the public eye, we 
 fhall decline any particular epitome, 
 and proceed to give an abridgement 
 from 
 
 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE AND 
 WRITINGS OF SIR JOSHUA REY- 
 NOLDS, 
 
 Who was born at Plymptoa, in 
 Devonfhire, July 16, 172;. His 
 father, 44 Mr. Samuel Reynolds, 
 u taught the Grammar School 2: 
 Yol. I.— No. V. 
 
 “ F.vropton, which could have 
 44 afforded him but a moderate 
 44 hirence ; nor was he enab.ed by 
 44 any ecclehaftkal preferment to 
 44 provide for his nurocrotis family, 
 u amounting to eleven child am in 
 44 all, of whom Jcihua was the 
 tenth. Fi.e, however, of thefe 
 44 children died in their irfircr. 
 44 His father had a notion that it 
 44 might, at feme future period of 
 44 his life, be an advantage to have 
 44 a caild bear an u-tcenamoo. 
 44 chriitian name, which might ru- 
 44 commend him to the attention 
 K and itindnefs of fxne periba 
 44 bearing the fame came, who, 
 44 if he mould happen to have no 
 44 natural object of his care, might 
 46 be led, even by lo flight a circum- 
 44 Ranee, to become a benefactor. 
 u Hence our author derived the 
 4t fcripturil name of Jothua. whirh. 
 44 though not very mxxanmoa,cxxiira 
 44 lets frequently than many others. 
 44 Of this baptiiinal name, bov- 
 44 ever, the regdrer of Plymptca, 
 44 by feme ceg igenot or macc_racy, 
 44 has deprived him. 
 
 44 His eariy attempts at delinei- 
 44 ticn were encouraged bv his 
 44 father. His principal fund of 
 44 imitation was Jacob Cart's Book of 
 44 Emblems, width his great gran d - 
 44 mother bv the father's tile, a 
 T t Dutch 
 
422 The Works of Sir fofhua Reynolds* 
 
 “ Dutch woman, had brought with 
 “ her from Holland. When he 
 44 was but eight years old, he read 
 44 with great avidity the Jesuit’s 
 t4 Per spective, and made himielf 
 M fo completely mafier of it, that 
 44 he never afterwards had occafion 
 44 to finely any other treatife on that 
 44 fubje€t. He then attempted to 
 “ draw the fchool at Plympton, a 
 44 building elevateds on llone pil- 
 44 lars; and he did it fo well, that 
 44 his father faid, 44 No-tv this fx- 
 44 emplifies what the author of the 
 44 P erf pc dive offer ts in his pre~ 
 
 44 face, that , by obferving the rules 
 44 laid down in his book, a man may 
 44 do wonders ; for this is wonderful. 
 44 From thefe attempts he proceeded 
 44 to draw likencfies 1 of the family 
 4 with tolerable 1 needs.” 
 
 At the age of feventeen he was 
 placed as a pupil under Mr. Hudforr, 
 who, 44 though but an ordinary 
 44 painter, was the moft diftinguiflv- 
 ‘ 4 ed artift of that time.” 
 
 The firfl portrait which brought 
 him into any confiderable notice 
 was that of Captain Hamilton, father 
 of the prefent Marquis of Abercorn, 
 painted as early as 1746. 44 When 
 
 u at a late period of his life he 
 44 favv this portrait, lie was fur- 
 4 * ptifed to find it fo well done ; and, 
 44 comparing it with his latter works, 
 44 lamented that in inch a leriesof 
 44 years fie Ihould not have made a 
 44 greater progress in hi^ art.” 
 
 The deatli of his father in 1746 
 44 left our young painter to raile, 
 44 as he could, the fabric of his 
 44 fortune.” He afterwards became 
 acquainted with the late ‘Lord Edg- 
 cumbe, and Captain, afterwards Lord 
 Keppel, by each of whom he was 
 warmly patronized. The latter he 
 accompanied to the Mediterranean, 
 vifited Algiers, Gibraltar, Cadiz, 
 Liibon, and Minorca, from whence 
 he failed to Leghorn, and from thence 
 proceeded to Rome. 
 
 On his return to London in 1752, 
 he exhibited fuch powers, that he 
 was not only acknowledged to be at 
 
 the head of his profeflion, but to b<r 
 the greateft painter England had 
 feen fince Vandyck. Soon after his 
 return, he became known to Dr. 
 Johnfon, and 44 cultivated his ac- 
 44 quaintance with the laudable zeal 
 44 of one who was ambitious of ge- 
 44 neral improvement.” 
 
 Mr. Malone here gives an account 
 of the origin and incorporation of 
 that Academy, of which Sir Jofiiua 
 was fo long and defervedly the head, 
 and in which capacity he received the 
 honour of knighthood. The talk of 
 giving lectures he voluntarily im- 
 pofed on himfelf, for reafons he has 
 given in his 15th Difcourfe. 
 
 44 It appeared necefiary that 
 44 fomething fhould be faid by the 
 44 Prefident on the delivery of 
 44 prizes, and the Prefident, for his 
 44 own credit, would wilh to fay 
 44 fomething more than words of 
 44 mere compliment ; which, by 
 44 being frequently repeated, would 
 44 foon become fiat and unintereft- 
 44 ing/and by being uttered to many, 
 
 44 would at laft be a diftin£tion to 
 44 none. I thought, therefore, if I 
 44 were to preface this compliment 1 
 44 with lbme infiru&ive obfervations 
 44 on the art, when we crowned. 
 
 44 merit in the artifts whom we 
 44 rewarded, I might do fomething, 
 
 44 to animate and guide them \n , 
 44 their future attempts.” 
 
 Such was the laudable motive.' 
 which produced the 15 Difcourfes- 
 pronounced by our author between 
 the 2d of June, 1769, and the 10th 
 of December, 1790. 
 
 After the publication of the firfi: 
 feven difcourfes, he received from 
 the late Emprefs of Rufiia a gold 
 box, with a has relievo of her Im- 
 perial Majefty in the lid, fet round 
 with diamonds, accompanied with 
 a note written with her own 
 hand, containing thefe words: — 
 
 44 Pour le Chevalier Reynolds , /» 
 
 44 temoignage de contentment qui fat 
 44 rejfentie a la leclure de fes excel lens 
 44 Difcours fur la P cinture His 
 picture of the infant Hercules 
 firangling 
 
The Works o/SlrJoJ?jua Reynolds • 32 
 
 Wrangling the ferpent, was bought 
 by her Imperial Majefty for 1500 
 guineas. 
 
 In 1781 he made a tour to the 
 Netherlands and Holland ; and many 
 of the pi&ures of Rubens being to 
 be fold in 1783, Sir Jofliua, in confe- 
 uence, went again to Antwerp and 
 ruffells. In the lame year he en- 
 riched Mr.Mafon’s tranflation of D11 
 Frelhoy’s Art of Painting with the 
 Commentary now publifhed. In 1784 
 he was fworn principal painter in or- 
 dinary to his Majefty, and two 
 months afterwards prefented with 
 the freedom of the Painters Com- 
 pany. The degrees by which he 
 arofe into that high eftimation he 
 latterly enjoyed, may be gathered 
 from the following average of the 
 prices of his works. 
 
 In the year 1755 his price for a 
 head was 12 guineas. 
 
 In 1758, 20 guineas. 
 
 In 1760, 25 guineas. 
 
 In 1770, 35 guineas. 
 
 In 1781, 50 guineas, which con- 
 tinued to be the price till he ceafed 
 to paint. A half-length during this 
 latter period was 100 guineas, a 
 whole-length 200 guineas. 
 
 In July, 1789, when he had very 
 nearly finiflied the portrait of Lady 
 Beauchamp (now' Marchionefs of 
 
 -LIST OF THE 'MOST CONSIDERABLE 
 PICTURES BY SIR JOSHUA, WITH 
 MOST OF THEM. 
 
 SUBJECTS. 
 
 Garrick, between Tragedy and Come- 
 dy. 
 
 Thais [Emily Pott] 
 
 •Cleopatra diftolving the pearl [Kitty 
 Fither] - - 
 
 Venus, chiding Cupid for learning 
 arithmetic - 
 
 Another — the fame fiibjedt 
 
 A Captain of Banditti - 
 A Shepherd Boy - 
 Count Ugolino - 
 A boy in a Venetian drefs 
 Lelbia - - _ 
 
 Wang y Tong, a Chinefe 
 
 Hertford), he found his fight much 
 ^ffe&ed, and afterwards entirely 
 loll the ufe* of his left eye. In 
 1791 he began to lofe bis fpirits and 
 appetite, though he was wholly 
 unable to explain to his phyficians 
 the nature or feat of his diforder, 
 which, about a fortnight before his 
 death, was found to be in his liver, 
 the inordinate growth of which had 
 incommoded aiL the functions of 
 life, and which, on opening his 
 body after death, was found to 
 weigh nearly eleven pounds, being fix 
 pounds more than it naturally fliould 
 have done. He died at his houfe in 
 Leicefter Fields, on Thurfday even- 
 ing, Feb. 23, 1792, and on Satur- 
 day, March 3d, was interred in .the 
 the crypt of St. Paul’s cathedral, 
 near the tomb of Sir Chriltopher 
 Wren. 
 
 Mr. Malone enters copioully into 
 the manners, habits, and other fea- 
 tures of character relative to this 
 illuftrious man. We fhall clofe this 
 account with two extracts from 
 Vol. I. the firft of which will bear 
 teftimony to his ample powers of 
 genius while living, and the fecond 
 will prove the very high refpeft 
 and honour paid to his remains 
 when dead. 
 
 HISTORICAL AND MISCELLANEOUS 
 THE PURCHASERS AND PRICES OF 
 
 PRICES. PURCHASERS. 
 
 3P0 Guineas. 
 
 The Earl of Halifax. 
 Since his death fold 
 to Mr. Angerfiein 
 for 250 guineas. 
 Hon. Mr. Greville 
 
 
 1 00 
 
 The Earl of Charle- 
 
 
 mont 
 
 100 
 
 Sir Brooke Boothbv, 
 
 
 Bart. 
 
 35 
 
 John Crewe, Efq. 
 
 5 ° 
 
 Lord Irwin 
 
 400 
 
 The Duke of Dorfet 
 
 
 Do. 
 
 75 
 
 Do. 
 
 70 
 
 Do. 
 
 Tt 2 
 
 A Gipfey 
 
3 2 4 
 
 5 The Works of Sir Jofhua Reynolds . 
 
 SUBJECTS. 
 
 A Gipfey telling Fortunes 
 A Boy with a Drawing in his Hand - 
 Covent Garden Cupid - - 
 
 Cupid as a Link-boy - 
 A Boy with a Child on his Back, and 
 Cabbage-nets in his Hand 
 The .Calling of Samuel 
 Another — the fame fubjeft 
 Mr. and Mrs. Garrick, fitting on a 
 garden-feat, Mr. Garrick reading to 
 her - 
 
 A Girl with a Moufe-trap 
 A landfcape - 
 
 A feeping Boy - 
 A landfcape - - N 
 
 The Marchionefs Townfhend, Mrs. 
 Gardiner, and Hon. Mrs. Beres- 
 ford, decorating the Statue of Hy- 
 men - 
 
 Hope nurfing Love 
 Another — the fame fubjeft 
 Another — the fame fubjeft 
 
 A Strawberry Girl 
 
 The Snake in the Grafs. [This has 
 been called, Love untying the Zone 
 of Beauty.] - 
 
 Another - 
 
 Another 
 
 The Continence of Scipio 
 The Nativity [a defign for the win- 
 dow of New College Chapel in Ox- 
 ford.] - 
 
 The Infant Jupiter 
 An Old Man reading a Ballad 
 The Calling of Samuel - 
 A Bpy praying 
 
 The Death of Dido - 
 The Theory cf Painting 
 
 Another - 
 
 Shepherd Boy 
 
 A Shepherdefs with a Lamb 
 A Girl with a Kitten 
 A Girl iih a Muff 
 Caclia lamenting the Death of her 
 Sparrow [Mrs. Collyer.] 
 
 L’Aliegro [Mrs. Hale] ; feveral figures 
 in the back ground 
 
 PRICES. PURCHASERS. 
 
 350 Guineas. The Duke of Dorfet 
 50 Do. 
 
 Do. 
 
 Do. 
 
 Do. 
 
 30 Do. 
 
 75 — r The Earl of Darnley 
 
 150 The Hon. T. Fitz- 
 
 maurrce 
 
 50 — — Count D’Ademar 
 
 co The Earl of Avles- 
 
 ford 
 
 50 Do. 
 
 50 Sir Brooke Boothby, 
 
 Bart. 
 
 450 Lord Mountjoy 
 
 Lord Holland 
 
 150 Henry Hope, Efq. 
 
 In the colle&ion of 
 
 the Earl of Inchi- 
 quin 
 
 50 — The Earl of Carys- 
 
 fort 
 
 200 The Earl of Carys- 
 
 fort 
 
 A prefent Henry Hope, Efq. 
 
 100 Prince Potemkin 
 
 500 Do. 
 
 1 200 The Duke of Rut- 
 
 land 
 
 100 Do. 
 
 Do. 
 
 100 Do. 
 
 50 *6ent to France by Mr. 
 
 Chamier, in 1778 
 200 Mr. Bryant 
 
 - - . In the Royal Acade- 
 
 my 
 
 In the colledfion of 
 
 the Earl of Inchi- 
 quin 
 
 In the fame collec- 
 tion 
 
 Do. 
 
 Do. 
 
 Do. 
 
 Lord Harewood 
 
 Robinelta 
 
The Works of Sir Jo/hua Reynolds . 325 
 
 SUBJECTS. 
 
 Robinetta [the Hon. Mrs. Tolle- 
 mache] - 
 
 Diana [Lady Napier] 
 
 Diana [the Duchefs of Manchetter] 
 
 Matter Wynne, as St. John 
 Matter Crewe, as Henry VIII. 
 
 Matter Herbert, in the character of 
 Bacchus - 
 Juno [Lady Blake] 
 
 Hebe .[Mifs Meyer, a whole-length 
 figure on a half-length canvas] _ - 
 Melancholy [Mifs Jones] 
 
 Young Hannibal [a boy in armour] - 
 Francis Duke of Bedford, as St. 
 George; with his Brothers, Lord 
 John and Lord William Ruflel 
 The Fortune-teller [Lady Charlotte 
 and Lord Henry Spencer] 
 
 Miranda [the Hon. Mrs. Tollemache] 
 and Caliban 
 
 St. Agnes [Mrs. Quarington] 
 
 The Triumph of "1 ruth [Dr. Beattie, 
 with tw o figures reprefenting Truth 
 and Falfehood] - - 
 
 A Boy laughing 
 Ariadne 
 
 Dionylius Areopagita 
 The Captive. [This has been called, 
 The Banittied Lord and Cartouche.] 
 Lady Sarah Bunbury facrificing to the 
 Graces - 
 
 The Infant Mofes in the Bulrufhes 
 Edwin - 
 
 A Child with Angels 
 The Virgin and Child. [This picture 
 was not quite finifhed.] 
 
 The Angel contemplating the Crofs; 
 being the upper part of the Nativity 
 
 The four Cardinal Virtues, Juftice, 
 Prudence, Temperance, and Forti- 
 tude; and Faith, Hope, and Charity ; 
 Defigns for the Window of New 
 College, Oxford, painted by Mr. 
 Jervais 
 
 '4 
 
 A Bacchante « 
 
 A holy Family « 
 
 Tuccia, the Vettal Virgin 
 The Gleaners. [Mrs. Macklin, her 
 daughter, and Mifs Potts.] 
 
 St. John - 
 
 St. Cecilia. [Mrs. Sheridan, and two 
 daughters of — . Coote Purdon, Efq. 
 
 PRICES. PURCHASERS. 
 
 The Duke of Man- 
 chefter 
 
 John Crewe, Efq. 
 
 75 Guineas Lord Porchetter 
 
 The Duke of Marl- 
 borough 
 
 50 R. P. Knight, Efq. 
 
 — — Dr. Beattie 
 
 50 Bronvwell, Efq 
 
 35 — William Lock, Efq. 
 
 80 * — Charles Long, Efq. 
 
 Sir Charles Bun- 
 bury, Bart. 
 
 125 The Duke of Leeds 
 
 55 Co. 
 
 Do. 
 
 65 Mr. John Bannifter 
 
 Bequeathed to the? 
 
 Duke of Portland 
 
 In the collection of 
 
 the Earl of Inchi- 
 quin 
 
 50 Sir William Hamil- 
 
 ton 
 
 500 Mr. Macklin, Print- 
 
 feller. Afterwards 
 lold to Lord Gwy- 
 dir for 700 guineas 
 
 200 Do. 
 
 300 Do. 
 
 1 50 Willett, Efq. 
 
 * 
 
 1 50 — R. B. Sheridan, Efq. 
 
 A boy 
 
326 The Works of Sir Jofhua Reynolds . 
 
 SUBJECTS. 
 
 A Boy with a Portfolio 
 
 The Family of George Duke of Marl- 
 borough 
 
 Two Groups, in the manner of Paul 
 Ye rone fe ; one containing the por- 
 traits of the Duke of Leeds, Lord 
 Dundas, Conftantine Lord Mul- 
 grave, Lord Seaforth, the Hon. 
 Charles Greville, Charles Growle, 
 Efq. and the Right Hon. Sir Jofeph 
 Banks, Barr.; the other, thofe of 
 Sir Wm. Hamilton, Sir W. W. 
 Wynne, Bart. Richard Thompfon, 
 
 Efq. Sir John Taylor, Payne 
 
 Galway, Efq. John Smith, Efq. and 
 Spencer Stanhope, Efq. 
 
 The Children in the Wood 
 A Girl leaning on a Pedeftal 
 The Infant Academy 
 Venus 
 
 Una, from Spenfer. [Mifs Beauclerk] 
 
 King Lear - - - 
 
 Venus, and a Boy piping 
 
 Heads of Angels, a Study. From a 
 daughter of Lord William Gordon 
 
 Cardinal Beaufort 
 
 Robin Good fellow 
 The Cauldron-Scene in Macbeth 
 Refignation, from Goldfmith's De- 
 ferted Village 
 
 JVIrs. Siddons, in the character of the 
 Tragic Mu fe 
 
 The Infant Hercules in the Cradle. 
 [A fingle figure, painted before tlie 
 large picture.] 
 
 Hercules ftrangling the Serpents 
 Cupid and Pfyche 
 
 Cymon and Iphigenia. [This was the 
 laft fancy picture painted by Sir 
 Joftnia Reynolds ] 
 
 PRICES. PURCHASERS. 
 
 50 Guineas The Earl of Wax*- 
 wick 
 
 700 - - ■■ ■ * The Duke of Marl- 
 borough 
 
 Society of Dillettanti 
 
 Lord Palmerfton 
 
 75 Do. 
 
 ■ Do. by bequeft 
 
 The Earl of Upper 
 
 OfTory, by bequeft 
 
 — — In the collection of 
 
 the Earl of Inchi- 
 quin 
 
 Do. 
 
 250 J. J. Angerftein, 
 
 Efq. 
 
 100 Lord William Gor- 
 
 don 
 
 500 Mr. Alderman Boy- 
 
 dell 
 
 ico Do. 
 
 1000I. po. 
 
 — In the collection of 
 
 the Earl of Inchi- 
 quin 
 
 700 Defenfans, Efq. 
 
 150 * Earl Fitzwilliam 
 
 1500 The Emprefs of Ruf- 
 
 fia 
 
 250 Charles Long, Efq. 
 
 In the collection of 
 the Earl of Inchiquin. 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF SIR JOSHUA’S 
 FUNERAL. 
 
 ON Saturday laft, at half an hour 
 after three o’clock, w'as interred the 
 body of Sir Jolhua Reynolds, Knt. 
 DoCtor of Laws in the Univeriities of 
 Oj^ford and Dublin, Principal Painter 
 to his Majefty, Prcfident of the Royal 
 
 Academy of Painting, Sculpture, and 
 Architecture, Fellow of the Royal 
 Society, and Fellow of the Society of 
 Antiquaries. 
 
 “ He was interred in the vaft crypt 
 of the cathedral church of St. Paul, 
 next to the body of Dr. Newton, late 
 Bilhop of Briftol, himfclf an eminent 
 
 critic 
 
The Works of Sir JoJhua Reynolds . 327 
 
 tritic in poetry and painting, and clofe 
 by the tomb of the famous Sir 
 Chriftopher Wren, the architect of 
 that great edifice. 
 
 “ The body wis conveyed on the 
 preceding night to the Royal Acade- 
 my, according to the exprefs orders of 
 his Majefty, by a condefcenfion highly 
 honourable to the memory of Sir 
 Jofluia Reynolds, and gratifying to 
 the wifties of that Society of eminent 
 Artifts. It lay that night, and until 
 the beginning of the funeral procef- 
 fion, in ftate, in the Model Room of 
 the Academy. 
 
 “ The company who attended the 
 the funeral, afiembled in the Library 
 and Council Chamber. The Royal 
 Academy, in the Exhibition Room. 
 
 “ The company confifted of a great 
 number of the mod diftinguifhed 
 perfons, who were emulous in their 
 defire of paying the laft honours to 
 the remains of him, whofe life had 
 been diftinguifhed by the exertions of 
 the highefi talents, and the exercife 
 of every virtue that can make a man 
 refpeCted and beloved. Many more 
 were prevented by illnefs, and unex- 
 pected and unavoidable occafions, 
 which they much regretted, from at- 
 tending. 
 
 “ Never was a public folemnity 
 conducted with more order, de- 
 corum, and dignity. The procefiion 
 fet out at half an hour after twelve 
 o’clock. The hearfe arrived at the 
 great weftern gate of St. Paul’s, about 
 a quarter after two, and was there 
 met by the dignitaries of the church, 
 and by the gentlemen of the choir, 
 who chanted the proper pfalms, 
 whilft the procefiion moved to the 
 entrance of the choir, where was per- 
 formed, in a fuperior manner, the full 
 choir evening-fervice, together with 
 the famous anthem ol Dr. Boyce; the 
 body remaining, during the whole time 
 in the centre of the choir. 
 
 li The chief mourner and gentle- 
 men of the Academy, as of the family, 
 were placed by the body. The chief 
 mourner in a chair at the head ; the 
 two attendants at the feet; the pall- 
 bearers and executors in the feats on 
 the decanal fide ; the other noblemen 
 and gentlemen on the cantorial fide. 
 The Bifiiop of London was in his pro- 
 per place, as were the Lord Mayor and 
 Sheriffs. 
 
 “ After the fervice, the body was 
 conveyed into the crypt, and placed 
 
 immediately beneath the perforated 
 brafs-plate, under the centre of the 
 dome. Dr. Jefferies, canon residen- 
 tiary, with the other canons, and the 
 whole choir, came under the dome ; 
 grave-digger attending in the middle 
 with a (hovel of mould, which at the 
 proper time was thrown through the 
 aperture of the plate on the coffin. 
 The funeral fervice was chanted, and 
 accompanied on the organ in a grand 
 and affecting manner. When the 
 funeral fervice was ended, the chief 
 mourners and executors went into the 
 crypt, and attended the corps to the 
 grave, which was dug under the pave- 
 ment. 
 
 “ The Lord Mayor and Sheriffs 
 honoured the procefiion by coming to 
 Somerfet Place, where an officer’s 
 guard of thirty men was placed at 
 the great court-gate. After the pro- 
 ceflion had parted through Temple- 
 Bar, the gates were fhut by order of 
 the Lord Mayor, to prevent any in- 
 terruption from carriages parting to or 
 from the city. 
 
 “ The fpe&ators, both in the 
 church, and in the ftreet, were in- 
 numerable. Tiie (hops were (hut, the 
 windows of every houfe were filled, 
 and the people in the lireets, who - * 
 feemed to (hare in the general farrow, 
 beheld the whole with refpect and 
 filence. 
 
 “ The order of the procefiion was 
 as follows. 
 
 The Lord Mayor and Sheriffs, and 
 
 City Marfhals. 
 
 The undertaker and ten conductors, on 
 
 horfeback. 
 
 A lid with plumes of feathers. 
 
 The HEARSE, with lix horfes. 
 
 Ten pall-bearers, viz. 
 
 The Duke of Dorfet, Lord High 
 
 Steward of his Majefty’s Houfehold, 
 Duke of Leeds, 
 
 Duke of Portland, 
 
 Marquis Town fend, 
 
 Marquis of Abercorn, 
 
 Earl of Oarlifle, 
 
 Earl of Inchiquin, 
 
 Earl of Upper Offcry, 
 
 LordVifcount Pairr.erftcn, 
 
 Lord Eliot. 
 
 Robert Lovel Gwatkin, Efq. Chief 
 
 Mourner. 
 
 Two Attendants of the Family. 
 
 The Rt. Hon. Edmund Burke 1 ~ . 
 Edmund Malone, Efq. Vo 2 
 
 Philip Metcalfe, Efq. J * 2 
 
 The Royal Academicians and Students.* 
 
 Bennet 
 
\ 
 
 328 The I'Vorki of Sir 
 
 Bennet Langton, 1 Efq. (ProfeflTor of 
 Ancient Literature.) James Bof- 
 vvell, Elq. (Secretary for Foreign 
 Correfpondence.) 
 
 The Lord Archbifhop of York. The 
 Marquis of Buckingham. 
 
 Earl of Fife. Earl of Cary sfort. 
 
 Lord St. Afaph. Lord Bifhop of 
 London. 
 
 Lord Fortefcue. Lord Somers. 
 
 Lojd Lucan. Dean of Norwich. 
 
 Right Hon. William Windham. Sir 
 Abraham Hume, Bart. 
 
 Sir George Beaumont, Bart. Sir Tho- 
 mas Dundas, Bart. 
 
 Sir Charles Bunbury, Bart. Sir Wil- 
 liam Forbes, Bart. 
 
 Dr. George FordyCe. Dr. Afh. 
 
 Dr. Brocklefbv. Dr. Blagden. 
 
 Sir William Scott, M. P. George 
 Rofe, Efq. M. P. 
 
 John Rolle, Efq, M. P. William 
 Weddell, Efq. M. P. 
 
 Reginald Pole Carew, Efq. M. P. 
 
 Richard Clarke, Efq. , 
 
 Matthew Montague, Efq. M. P. 
 
 Richard Payne Knight, Efq. M. P. 
 Dudley North, Efq. M. P. Charles 
 Townley, Efq. 
 
 Abel Moyfey, Efq. John Cleveland, 
 Efq. M. P. 
 
 John Thomas Batt, Efq. Welbore 
 Ellis Agar, Efq. 
 
 Colonel Gwyn, Captain Pole. 
 
 Dr. Laurence, William Seward, Efq. 
 
 James Martin, Efq. Die we, Efq. 
 
 Edward Jerningham, Elq. William 
 Vachel, Elq. 
 
 Richard Burke, Efq. Thomas Coutts, 
 Efq. 
 
 John Julius Angerflein, Efq^. Edward 
 Gwatkin, Efq. 
 
 Charles Burney, Efq. John Hunter, 
 Efq. 
 
 William Cruikfhank, Efq. Home, 
 
 Efq. 
 
 John Philip Kemble, Efq. Jofeph 
 Hickey, Efq. 
 
 Mr. Alderman Boydell, John De- 
 vaynes, Efq. 
 
 Mr. Poggi, Mr. Breda. 
 
 “ The company were conveyed in 
 forty - two mourning coaches ; and 
 forty-nine coaches, belonging to the 
 noblemen and gentlemen, attended 
 empty. 
 
 “ To each of the gentlemen wjio 
 attended on this occafion was pre- 
 sented a print engraved by Bartolozzi, 
 reprefenting a female clafping an 
 Urn; accompanied by the genius of 
 painting, holding in one hand an ex- 
 
 JoJhua Reynolds « 
 
 tinguifhed torch, and pointing with 
 the other to a farcophagus, on the 
 tablet of which is written 
 
 Succedet fama, vivufque per ora fe- 
 retur. ,> 
 
 Vol. II. 
 
 Contains “ a Journey to Flanders 
 and Holland in the Year 1781.” — 
 This tour is entirely a catalogue of 
 pictures, with Sir Jolhua’s opinion 
 of them, and comprifes the works 
 of all the great mailers which are to 
 be met with in the churches, palaces, 
 monafteries, and other public - or 
 private cohesions found in Bruges, 
 Ghent, Bruffels, Mechlin, Antwerp, 
 the Hague, Amfterdam, the Duftel- 
 dorp Gallery, Cologne, Aix-la-Cha- 
 pelle, Liege, Louvain, See. 
 
 As the critiques of fo great. an ar- 
 tiil as Sir Joibua muft be particularly 
 worth attending to, we (hall, to con- 
 vey an idea of them, fele6t a part of 
 his 
 
 CHARACTER OF RUBENS. 
 
 “ RUBENS appears to have had 
 that confidence in himfelf which it is 
 neceiTary for every artift to alfume 
 when he has finifhed his fhidies, and 
 may venture, in fome meafure, to 
 throw alide the fetters of authority ; 
 to confider the rules as fubjeft to his 
 controul, and not himfelf fubjedt to 
 the rules; to rilk and to dare extraor- 
 dinary attempts without a guide, aban- 
 doning himfelf to his own fenfations, 
 and depending upon them. To this 
 confidence mud be imputed that ori- 
 ginality of manner by which he may 
 be truly faid to have extended the li- 
 mits of the art. After Rubens had 
 made up his manner, he never looked 
 out of himfelf for admittance : there is 
 confequently very little in his works 
 that appears to be taken from other 
 matters. If he has borrowed any 
 thing, he has had theaddrefs to change 
 and adapt it fo well to the reft of his 
 work that the theft is not difeover- 
 able. 
 
 “ Bcfide the excellency of Ruoens 
 in thefe general powers, he pofleffed 
 the true art of imitating. He faw the 
 objedlsof nature with a painter’seye; 
 
 % he 
 
Ifhc Works of Sir Jofiua Reynolds, 
 
 he favv at once the predominant feature 
 by which every object is known and 
 diftinguifhed; and as foon as feen, it 
 was executed with a facility that is 
 attonifhing; and let me add, this fa- 
 cility is to a painter, when he clofely 
 examines a picture, a fource of great 
 pleafnre. How far this excellence 
 may be perceived or felt by thofe who 
 are not painters, I know not: to them 
 certainly it is not enough that objects 
 be truly represented; they muft like- 
 wife be reprefented with grace; which 
 means here, that the work is done 
 with facility, and without effort. Ru- 
 bens was, perhaps, the greateft matter 
 in the mechanical part of the art, the 
 belt workman with his tools that ever 
 exercifed a pencil. 
 
 “ This part of the art, though it 
 does not hold a rank with the powers 
 of invention, of giving character and 
 exprettion, has yet in it what may be 
 called genius. It is certainly fome- 
 thing that cannot be taught by words, 
 though it may be learned by a frequent 
 examination of thofe pictures which 
 peflefs this excellence. It is felt by 
 very few painters ; and it is as rare at 
 this time among the living painters as 
 any of the higher excellencies of the 
 art. 
 
 “ This power, which Rubens pof- 
 fefied in the higheft degree, enabled 
 him to reprefent whatever he under- 
 took better than any other painter. 
 His animals, particularly lions and 
 horfes, are lo admirable, that it may 
 be faid they were never properly re- 
 prefented but by him. His portraits 
 rank with the bett w'orks of the paint- 
 ers who have made that branch of the 
 art the foie bufinefs of their lives ; and 
 of thofe he has left a great variety of 
 fpecimens. The fame may be faid of 
 his landfcapes ; and though Claude 
 Lorrain finifhed more minutely, as 
 becomes a profeffor in any particular 
 branch, yet there is filch an airinefs 
 and facility in the lar.dfcapes of Ru - 
 bens, that a painter would as loon 
 vvifh to be the author of them as thole 
 of Claude, or any other artitt what- 
 ever. 
 
 “ The pictures of Rubens have tin's 
 effeCt on the fpeCtator, that he feels 
 himfelf in no w ife difpoled to pick out 
 and dwell on Ins defeCts. The criti- 
 cifms which are made on him are in- 
 deed often unreafonable. His ftyle 
 ought no more to be blamed for not 
 having the fublimrty of Michael An- 
 
 Vol. I. — bio. V. 
 
 329 
 
 gelo, than Ovid fhould be cenfured 
 becaufe he is not like Virgil. 
 
 “ However, it mutt be acknow'- 
 ledged that he wanted many excellen- 
 cies which would have perfectly united 
 with his ttyle. Among thofe we may 
 reckon beauty in his female charac- 
 ters : fometimCs indeed they make ap - 
 proaches to it ; they are healthy and 
 comely women, but feldom, ifever,pof- 
 fefs any degree of elegance; the lame 
 may be faid of hi? young men and chil- 
 dren; his old men have that fort of dig- 
 nity which a bulhy beard will confer; 
 bathe never poffelfed a poetical concep- 
 tion of character. In his reprefentations 
 of the higheft characters in the chrif- 
 tian or the fabulous world, inftead of 
 fomething above humanity,, which 
 might till the idea which is conceived 
 of fuch beings, the fpeCtator finds 
 little more than mere mortals, fuch as 
 he meets w\th every day. 
 
 “ The incorrednefs of Rubens in 
 regard to his outline oftener proceeds 
 from hafte and carelefsnefs than from 
 inability : there are in his great works, 
 to which he fee ms lo have paid more 
 particular attention, naked figures, as 
 eminent for their drawing as for their 
 colouring. He appears to have en- 
 tertained a great abhorrence of the 
 meagre dry manner of his pr'edecef- 
 fors> the old German and Flemilh 
 painters ; to avoid which, he kept his 
 outline large and flowing: this, car- 
 ried loan extreme, produced that hea- 
 vinefs which' is To frequently found in 
 his figures. Another defeCt of this 
 great painter is his inattention to the 
 foldings of his drapery, .efpecially that 
 of his women ; it is fcarcely ever calt 
 with any choice or (kill 
 ^ “ Carlo Maratti and Rubens are 
 in this refpeCt in oppolite extremes ; 
 one difeovers too much art in the dif- 
 pofitidn of drapery, and the other. too 
 little. Rubens's drapery, betides, is 
 nor properly hiftorical ; the quality of 
 the fluff of which it is compote l is 
 too accurately diftinguifhed; refem- 
 bling the manner of Paul Veronefe. 
 This drapery is lefs oftVnfive in Ru- 
 bens than it would be in many other 
 painters, as it partly contributes to 
 that richnefs which is the peculiar 
 character of his ttyle, which ive do 
 not pretend to fet forth as of the molt 
 limple and lublime kind. 
 
 “ The difference of the manner of 
 Rubens from that of any other painter 
 before him is in nothing more dittin- 
 T t guifliable 
 
33& Reynolds's Comedy of the Will . 
 
 gui (liable than in his colouring, which 
 is totally different from that of Titian, 
 Coreggio, or any of the great colour- 
 itts. The eff'eft of his pictures may 
 be not improperly compared to clutters 
 of flowers ; all his colours appear as 
 clear and as beautiful : at the fame 
 time he has avoided that tawdry effect 
 which one would expert fuch gay co- 
 lours to produce ; in this refpect re- 
 ierabling BaroCci more than any other 
 painter. What was faid of an ancient 
 painter may be applied to thofe two 
 artitts, that their figures look as if 
 they fed upon rofes. 
 
 “ It would be a curious and a pro- 
 fitable ttudy for a painter to examine 
 the difference and the caufe of that 
 difference of effect in the works of 
 Coreggio and Rubens, both excellent 
 in different ways. The preference 
 probably would be given according 
 to the different habits of the connoif- 
 fcur: thofe who had received their 
 firft imprefiions from the works of 
 Rubens would cenfure Coreggio as 
 heavy ; and the admirers of Coreg- 
 gio would fay Rubens wanted folidity 
 of effect. There is lightnefs, airi- 
 nefs, and facility in Rubens, his ad- 
 vocates will urge, and comparatively 
 a laborious heavinefs in Coreggio ; 
 whole admirers will complain of Ru- 
 bens’s manner being carelefs and un- 
 finifhed, whilft the works of Coreg- 
 gio are wrought to the higheft de- 
 gree of delicacy : and what may be 
 advanced in favour of Coreggio’s 
 breadth of light, will, by his cenfu- 
 rers, be called affected and pedantic. 
 It mutt be obferved that we are fpeak- 
 ing folely of the manner, the effect 
 of the pi« 5 f lire ; and we may conclude, 
 according to the cuffom in pattoral 
 poetry, by bellowing on each of thcfe 
 illuttrious painters a garland, without 
 attributing fuperiority to either. 
 
 “ To conclude, I will venture to 
 repeat in favour of Rubens what I 
 have before faid in regard to the 
 Dutch ichool, that thofe who cannot 
 fee the extraordinary merit of this 
 great painter, either have a narrow 
 conception of the variety of art, or 
 arc led away by the affectation of ap- 
 proving nothing but what comes from 
 the Italian ichool . *’ Vol. II. f>. 119. 
 
 The remainder of this volume in- 
 cludes Mafcn’s Tranliation of Du 
 Frefnoy’s Art of Painting, with Sir 
 
 Jofhua’s Annotations; — -Du Fref- 
 noy’s Sentiments on the principal 
 Painters of the two laft Ages;-— 
 Parallel between Poetry and -Paint- 
 ing; — Chronological Lift of Paint- 
 ers, with fhort Characters, and an 
 Account of their refpe&ive Births 
 and Deaths — an Alphabetical Lift, 
 referring to the former, and a gene- 
 ral Index. 
 
 LXXIV. The mil , a Comedy, in 
 five A6b, as performed at the 
 Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. By 
 Frederick Reynolds. 8vo» 
 pp. 72. as. fewed. Robinfons . 
 
 THE STORY. 
 
 TV/TR. Mandeville, by the death of 
 a friend, for whom he was fe- 
 curity to the amount of twenty thou- 
 fand pounds, is obliged to fly to In- 
 dia, leaving his • child Albina under 
 the care of Mrs. Rigid, a governefs, 
 to whom he remits half of his pay, 
 as an officer, for their fupport — 
 Mrs. Rigid, however, converts the 
 money to her own life, and ac- 
 quaints Mandeville’s father that Al- 
 bina is deferted, and that for the 
 laft three years ilie h*is not heard 
 from India. 
 
 The old gentleman, though at va- 
 riance with his fon, for fome extra- 
 vagances he had been guilty of, is 
 touched with pity for Albina, takes 
 her home, and at his death leaves 
 her his whole eftate, difinheriting 
 Mandeville for his luppofed inhuma- 
 nity. — The governefs, who manages 
 the young lady her own way, lays & 
 plan for marrying her to Veritas, a 
 tutor, who is to pay Mrs. Rigid very 
 handfomely for making the match. 
 — At this period, the piece com- 
 mences with the return of Mande- 
 ville from India, oceafioned by his 
 having received no anfwers to his 
 letters ; — he is of courie amazed at 
 the manner in which he is received, 
 to find his father dead, arid h\i 
 daughter, now an opulent he i refs, 
 carefully fecluded from him. — Iu 
 
 fhort, 
 
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 GETTY CENTER LIBRARY MAIN 
 
 NO 497 R3 C85 BKS 
 
 c. 1 Reynolds, Joshua. Si 
 
 Sir Joshua Reynolds, and his works : gle 
 
 3 3125 00248 2087 
 
 G-X 5 1,3