1725.
1. Five small prints for the translation of Cassandra, in five volumes duodecimo. W. Hogarth inv. & sculp.
2. Fifteen head pieces for "The Roman Military Punishments, by John Beaver, Esq. London. From the happy Revolution, Anno xxxvii." (i. e. 1725.) Small quarto, pp. 155. From the preface it should seem that the author had been Judge Advocate. The book is divided into seventeen chapters, each of which, except the second, third, seventh, and twelfth, have small head-pieces prefixed, of ancient military punishments, in the manner of Callot's Small Miseries of War. W. Hogarth inv. & sculp. In 1779, were first sold by a printseller ten of these prints, together with two others not in the book, being scenes of modern war; a pair of drums being in one, and a soldier armed with a musket in the other. Thus are there three prints in the book not in this set; viz. Chap. 9. Soldiers sold for slaves. 10. Degradation. 16. Banishment. There is also in the title-page a little figure of a Roman General sitting; probably done by Hogarth, though his name is not under it.
In the year 1774, these plates were in the possession of a Button-manufacturer at Birmingham. There are only eleven, one of them being engraved on both sides. They were given by him, however, to my informant, who parted with them to S. Harding an engraver, who sold them to Humphry the printseller near Temple-Bar, their present proprietor. How they fell into the hands of the Birmingham manufacturer (who took off a few impressions from them), is unknown.
Query. Does the plate engraved on both sides contain the two modern designs?
In a Catalogue of Books sold by W. Bathoe, was included "Part of the Collection of the late ingenious W. Hogarth, Esq. Serjeant Painter to his Majesty;" in which was Beaver's "Roman Military Punishments," with twelve plates by Hogarth.
The plate to Chap. XVII. viz. "Pay stopt wholly, or in part, by way of punishment"—"Barley given to offenders instead of wheat, &c." differs in many instances from that sold with the set. At the bottom of the former, in the book, we read, "W. Hogarth, Invent. sculpt." The latter has "W. Hogarth, invent. & fec." The former has a range of tents behind the pay-table. These are omitted in the latter; which likewise exhibits an additional soldier attendant on the measuring out of the corn, &c.
I do not mean to say that the plate sold with the set is spurious. Had it been a copy, it would naturally have been a servile one. Some reason, now undiscoverable, must have prevailed on our artist to re-engrave it with variations.
N. B. The two "scenes of modern war," mentioned also in p. [134], were designed for a continuation of the same work, which was never printed, as I guess from the conclusion of the Author's preface. "This regularly divided my book into two parts; one treating of the Roman, the other of the Modern Military Punishments. The first I now send into the world, as a man going into the water dips his foot to feel what reception he is like to meet with; by that rule resolving, either to publish the second part, or sit down contented with the private satisfaction of having, by my studies, rendered myself more able worthily to discharge the duties of my office."
I have since been assured, that our Author's heir was a pastry-cook, who used all the copies of this book for waste-paper.
3. A burlesque on Kent's altar piece at St. Clement's, with notes. "It represents angels very ill drawn, playing on various instruments." Speaking of this print, Mr. Walpole in one place calls it a parody; and in another, a burlesque on Kent's Altar-piece. But, if we may believe Hogarth himself, it is neither, but a very fair and honest representation of a despicable performance. The following is our artist's inscription to it, transcribed verbatim & literatim.
"This Print is exactly Engraiv'd after ye celebrated Altar-Piece in St. Clements Church which has been taken down by Order of ye Lord Bishop of London (as tis thought) to prevent Disputs and Laying of wagers among the Parrshioners about ye Artists meaning in it. for publick Satisfaction here is a particular Explanation of it humbly Offerd to be writ under the Original, that it may be put up again by which means ye Parish'es 60 pounds which thay nifely gave for it, may not be Entirely lost.
"1st. Tis not the Pretenders Wife and Children as our weak brethren imagin.
"2dly. Nor St. Cecilia as the Connoisseurs think but a choir of Angells playing in Consort.
| "A | an Organ |
| B | an Angel playing on it |
| C | the shortest Ioint of the Arm. |
| D | the longest Ioint |
| E | An Angel tuning an harp |
| F | the inside of his Leg but whether right or Left is yet undiscover'd |
| G | a hand Playing on a Lute |
| H | the other leg judiciously Omitted to make room for the harp |
| I&K | 2 Smaller Angells as appears by their wings" |
This picture produced a tract, intituled, "A Letter from a Parishioner of St. Clement Danes to Edmund [Gibson] Lord Bishop of London, occasion'd by his lordship's causing the picture over the altar to be taken down: with some observations on the use and abuse of Church-paintings in general, and of that picture in particular, 1725." 8vo. See [Appendix II]. The proofs of this plate are commonly on blue paper, though I have met with more than one on white. The original, after it was removed from the church, was for some years one of the ornaments of the music-room at The Crown and Anchor in the Strand. As this house has frequently changed its tenants, &c. I am unable to trace the picture in question any further. There is a good copy of this print by Livesay.
4. A scene in Handel's opera of Ptolomeo, performed in 1728, with Farinelli, Cuzzoni, and Senesino, in the characters of Ptolemy, Cleopatra, and Julius Cæsar. Those who are inclined to doubt the authenticity of this performance, will do well to consult the representation on a painted canvas in the small print on masquerades and operas, where the same figures occur in almost the same attitudes. I do not, however, vouch for the genuineness of this plate. In Southwark Fair, our artist has borrowed the subject of his show-cloth from Laguerre; and might, in the present instance, have adopted it from another hand.
The appearance Farinelli makes on this occasion may be justified by the following quotation from a Pamphlet, intituled, Reflections upon Theatrical Expression in Tragedy, &c. printed for W. Johnston, &c. 1755. "I shall therefore, in my further remarks upon this article, go back to the Old Italian Theatre, when Farinelli drew every body to the Haymarket. What a pipe! what modulation! what extasy to the ear! But, heavens! what clumsiness! what stupidity! what offence to the eye! Reader, if of the city, thou mayest probably have seen in the fields of Islington or Mile-end, or if thou art in the environs of St. James's, thou must have observed in the park, with what ease and agility a Cow, heavy with Calf, has rose up at the command of the Milk-woman's foot. Thus from the mossy bank sprung up the Divine Farinelli. Then with long strides advancing a few paces, his left hand settled upon his hip, in a beautiful bend like that of the handle of an old-fashioned caudle-cup, his right remained immoveable across his manly breast, till numbness called its partner to supply its place; when it relieved itself in the position of the other handle to the caudle-cup." p. 63, &c.
Under a copy of the print abovementioned, which must have been made soon after its publication, appear the following inscription, and wretched ungrammatical lines:
The three most Celebrated Singers at the Opera.
Scire tuum nihil est, nisi te scire hoc sciat alter.
Sigra the great, harmoniously inclin'd,
Who charms the ear and captivates the mind.
Cuzzoni.
Thou little slave an emblem is of those
Whose hearts are wholly att ye worlds dispose.
Great Barrenstadt[1] encomiums great and true
is very short of whats your right and due.
The characters in the print under consideration, might have been new-christen'd by the copier of it.
Either the dignity of Senesino must have been wonderful, or the following passage in Dr. Warburton's "Enquiry into the Cause of Prodigies and Miracles," (printed in 1727) affords a most notorious example of the Bathos. "Observe," says he, p. 60. "Sir Walter Raleigh's great manner of ending the first part of the History of the World. 'By this which we have already set down is seen the beginning and end of the Three first Monarchies of the World; whereof the founders and erectors thought that they could never have ended: that of Rome, which made the fourth, was also at this time almost at the highest. We have left it flourishing in the middle of the field; have rooted up, or cut down, all that kept it from the eyes and admiration of the world; but after some continuance, it shall begin to lose the beauty it had; the storms of ambition shall beat her great boughs and branches one against another; her leaves shall fall off; her limbs wither, and a rabble of barbarous nations enter the field and cut her down.' What strength of colouring! What grace, what nobleness of expression! With what a majesty does he close his immortal labour! It puts one in mind of the so much admired exit of the late famed Italian Singer."
[1] Berenstadt; a castrato engaged by Handel in the operas.
5. A just View of the British Stage, or three heads better than one, scene Newgate, by M. D. V—to.[1] This print represents the rehearsing a new farce, that will include the two famous entertainments Dr. Faustus and Harlequin Shepherd.[2] To which will be added, Scaramouch Jack Hall the Chimney-sweeper's Escape from Newgate through the Privy, with the comical Humours of Ben Johnson's Ghost, concluding with the Play Dance, performed in the air by the figures A. B. C. [Wilks, Booth, and Cibber] assisted by ropes from the Muses. Note, there are no Conjurors concerned in it, as the Ignorant imagine. The Bricks, Rubbish, &c. will be real; but the Excrements upon Jack Hall will be made of chewed Gingerbread, to prevent Offence. Vivat Rex. Price Sixpence. Such is the inscription on the plate; but I may add, that the ropes already mentioned are no other than halters, suspended over the heads of the three managers;[3] and that labels issuing from their respective mouths have the following characteristic words. The airy Wilks, who dangles the effigy of Punch, is made to exclaim—"Poor R-ch! faith I pitty him." The laureat Cibber, with Harlequin for his playfellow, invokes the Muses painted on the cieling—"Assist, ye sacred Nine;" while the solemn Booth, letting down the image of Jack Hall into the forica, is most tragically blaspheming—"Ha! this will do, G-d d-m me." On a table before these gentlemen lies a pamphlet, exhibiting a print of Jack Shepherd, in confinement; and over the forica is suspended a parcel of waste paper, consisting of leaves torn from The Way of the World—Hamlet—Macbeth, and Julius Cæsar. Ben Jonson's Ghost, in the mean while, is rising through the stage, and p——g on a pantomimic statue tumbled from its base. A fidler is also represented hanging by a cord in the air, and performing, with a scroll before him, that exhibits—Music for the What—[perhaps the What d' ye call it] entertainment. The countenances of Tragedy and Comedy, on each side of the stage, are hoodwinked by the bills for Harlequin Dr. Faustus and Harlequin Shepherd, &c. &c. There is also a dragon preparing to fly; a dog thrusting his head out of his kennel; a flask put in motion by machinery, &c. Vivetur Ingenio is the motto over the curtain. In Mr. Walpole's catalogue the description of this plate is, "Booth, Wilks, and Cibber, contriving a pantomime. A satire on farces. No name."
[1] Mr. Devoto was scene-painter to Drury-Lane or Lincoln's-Inn Fields, and also to Goodman's Fields Theatre. There is a mezzotinto of him with the following title: "Johannes Devoto Historicus Scenicusque Pictor." Vincenso Damini pinxit. J. Faber fecit, 1736.
[2] Dr. Faustus and Harlequin Shepherd were pantomimes contrived by Thurmond the dancing-master, and acted at Drury-Lane in 1725.
[3]—Halters, &c.; The same idea is introduced in the 9th plate of the apprentices.