1799.
On the 4th of August this year, died at his mansion in Rutland Square, Dublin, the Right Hon. James, Earl of Charlemont,[287] who was born 18th of August, 1728. This gentleman was truly a nobleman, for he was one of the greatest patrons of the fine arts this country could boast of. He was the great friend of Hogarth; bought many of his pictures, particularly that most elegant performance so justly celebrated under the title of “The Lady’s Last Stake,” so admirably engraven by Mr. Cheesman.[288] The following is a copy of an original letter given to me by a late worthy friend; it is addressed to the late Sir Lawrence Parsons, Bart.,[289] and written by Lord Charlemont within eight months of his Lordship’s death.
“Dublin, 12th Jan., 1799.
“My dear Sir Lawrence,—As nothing has ever affected me with more painful astonishment than the shameful apathy and consequent silence of the country at the present desperate crisis of our fate as a nation, so have I experienced few more real pleasures than in having found, by the public papers, that a meeting of your county, at least, has been called; a pleasure which, though principally derived from my ardent zeal for the public service, is still further increased by my friendship for you, as I am too well acquainted with your sentiments to doubt for a moment that such call has been in the highest degree satisfactory and flattering to your feelings. Neither can I entertain the slightest apprehension that the result of any meeting of Irishmen will be other than the firm and spirited condemnation of a measure, replete with every disgrace and danger in their country. Never, indeed, were my beloved countrymen so forcibly called upon as at the present emergency, maturely to form their opinions and to speak aloud the dictates of their hearts. Their ancestors call upon them from their graves to preserve those national rights which they have transmitted to them. Their children from their cradles, with mute but prevailing eloquence, beseech them to protect and to defend their birthrights; and, with a more awful voice, their country calls upon them not by their silence to betray her dearest interests, or by their supineness to leave her enslaved whom they found free! Thus invoked, is it possible that Irishmen should remain silent?
“But surely I need dwell no longer upon a subject with which you are so much better acquainted; and, indeed, the state of my health, and particularly of my eyes, is such as to render it impossible for me to write more.—I must therefore, however unwillingly, conclude by assuring you that I am, and ever shall be, my dearest Parsons, your most faithful and truly affectionate
“Charlemont.”
In this year, James Barry, the painter of those mighty pictures on the walls of the great room of the Society of Arts, received a severe blow by having his name erased from those of the Royal Academicians by King George III., who believed what had been represented respecting the Professor’s conduct in the Royal Academy.[290]
“Buckingham Street, Fitzroy Square.
“Dear Sir,—Permit me to thank you for the satisfaction of having seen that curious monument of English antiquity, St. Stephen’s Chapel, Westminster, when the ancient architecture and painting were discovered by the removal of the modern wainscot, which formed the interior of the House of Commons.
“Notwithstanding this branch of antiquity has never been my particular pursuit, I am highly gratified to see such materials in the general history of art rescued from oblivion by publication, for which, Sir, we are indebted to your zeal and industry, as some of the interesting pictures were effaced soon after their discovery, by ignorant curiosity; in addition to the careless and ruinous manner in which the discovery itself was made, of which circumstances I complained to several persons on the spot, particularly to the Rev. Mr. Brand,[291] Secretary to the Antiquarian Society.
“As the best testimony I can give to the fidelity and ability of your publication, give me leave to subscribe my name for a copy of the work, and to offer such assistance as I can give, in general observations on the arts of design, when St. Stephen’s Chapel was in its splendour.
“I remain, dear Sir, with great regard, your much obliged
“John Flaxman.”
The admission of one hundred additional members into the House of Commons, arising from the union with Ireland, obliged Mr. Wyatt to cut away the side-walls of the room internally, in order to make recesses for two extra benches.[292]
THE OLD HOUSE OF COMMONS