By Permission.

A CATALOGUE of the Original Paintings, Busts, Carved Figures, &c., &c., &c., Now exhibiting by the Society of Sign-Painters, at the Large Rooms, the Upper End of Bow Street, Covent Garden, nearly opposite the Play-House Passage.

In the Large Passage Room.

[N.B.—That the Merit of the Modern Masters may be fairly examined into, it has been thought proper to place some admired Works of the most eminent Old Masters in this Room, and along the Passage thro’ the Yard.]

No.

  1. [Over the Door.] A Coach and Four, Supposed to be by Stanhope.
  2. Windsor, or any other Castle. By Mason. The Centinel and Great Gun by another Hand.
  3. Hand and Lock of Hair. Hand unknown.
  4. A Pandour, or Indian Prince, uncertain which. Stanhope’s undoubtedly.
  5. A Ship and Castle. Thomas Knife written under. But it is not known whether this is the name of the Artist or the Publican.
  6. A Hen and Chickens. By Lodge.
  7. Three Nuns. The Drapery copied from a Bas-Relief at Rome. By Soames.
  8. An original Whole-Length of Guy of Warwick. By the same.
  9. A Major Wig. By Harrison. [N.B.—The Tails appear to have been added.]
  10. A Barge, in Still-Life. By Van der Trout. [He cannot properly be called an English artist; not being sufficiently encouraged in his own Country, he left Holland with William the Third, and was the first artist who settled in Harp Alley.[723]]
  11. The Hercules Pillars. The Architecture by Young Soames. The Figure (from the Farnesian Hercules) by the Father.
  12. An Heroe’s Head, unknown. By Moses White. With the least alteration, may serve for an Heroe past, present, or to come.
  13. An original Three Quarters Length of King Charles the Second: a striking Likeness. By Ditto.

In the Passage through the Yard.

  1. A Flying Swan,—by some supposed to be a Dying one. By Goustry.
  2. An Half-Moon. By Masmore.
  3. An Original Half Length of Camden, the great Historian and Antiquary, in his Herald’s Coat. By Van der Trout. [As this Artist was originally Colour Grinder to Hans Holbein, it is conjectured there are some of the great Master’s Touches in this Piece.]
  4. A Buttock of Beef stuft. By Lynne.
  5. An Hair-cutter. By the same.
  6. Adam and Eve. The first Attempt of that famous Artist, Barnaby Smith.
  7. A Black Prince. By Hitchcock.
  8. [Over the Entrance.] An Holy Lamb; highly finished. By the same.

Grand Room.

[The Society of Sign-Painters take this Opportunity of refuting a most malicious Suggestion, that their Exhibition is designed as a Ridicule on the Exhibitions of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, &c., and of the Artists. They intend theirs as only an Appendix, or (in the Stile of Painters) a Companion to the others. There is nothing in their Collection, which will be understood by any Candid Person as a Reflection on any Body, or any Body of Men. They are not in the least prompted by any mean Jealousy to depreciate the Merits of their Brother Artists. Animated by the same Public Spirit, their sole View is to convince Foreigners as well as their own blinded Countrymen, that however inferior this Nation may be unjustly deemed in other Branches of the Polite Arts, the Palm for Sign-Painting must be universally ceded to Us, the Dutch themselves not excepted.]

  1. Portrait of a justly celebrated Painter, though an Englishman and a Modern.
  2. A Crooked Billet, formed exactly in the Line of Beauty,[724] its Companion. These by Adams.
  3. The Good Woman. A Whole Length, but no Portrait. By Sympson. [N.B.—It is done from Invention, not being able to find one to sit for it.]
  4. A Star. By * *
  5. The Light Heart. A Sign for a Vintner. By Hogarty. [N.B.—This is an elegant Invention of Ben Jonson, who in The New Inn or Light Heart, makes the Landlord say (speaking of his Sign:)—

    An Heart weighed with a Feather, and outweighed too:
    A Brain-child of my own and I am proud on’t.]

  6. The Hog in Armour. By Thurmond.
  7. A Buttock of Beef. By Simmes.
  8. The Vicar of Bray. The Portrait of a Beneficed Clergyman, at Full Length. By Allison.
  9. The Irish Arms. By Patrick O’Blaney. [N.B.—Captain Terence O’Cutter STOOD for them.]
  10. The Gentleman of Wales. By David Rice.
  11. Butter and Eggs. By Simmes.
  12. The Scotch Fiddle. By McPharson, done from Himself.
  13. The Barking Dogs. A Landscape at Moonlight. The Moon somewhat eclipsed by an Accident. Whitaker.
  14. Three Apothecaries’ Gallipots. D’aeth’s first Attempt.
  15. Three Coffins. Its Companion. Finished by Shrowd.
  16. A Man. By Hagarty.
  17. The Rising Sun. A Landscape. Painted for The Moon, alias Theophilus Moon. By Morris.
  18. The Magpie. By Whitaker.
  19. Nobody, alias Somebody. A Character.
  20. Somebody, alias Nobody. A Caricature. Its Companion. Both these by Hagarty.[515]
  21. The World’s End. By Sympson.
  22. The Strugglers. A Conversation. By Ransbey.
  23. A Freemason’s Lodge, or the Impenetrable Secret. By a Sworn Brother.
  24. The Blackamoor. By Sympson. [N.B.—This is not intended as any Reflection on the Gentlemen who have been lately Whitewashed.]
  25. A Man running away with the Monument. By Whitaker.
  26. Devil hugging the Witch. A Conversation. By Ransbey.
  27. The Spirit of Contradiction. Ditto. By Hagarty.
  28. The Loggerheads. Ditto. By Ditto.
  29. The Man in the Moon drinks Claret. By Blackman.
  30. The Dancing Bears. A Sign for N. Dukes, or A. Hart, or any other Dancing-Master to Grown Gentlemen. By Hagarty.
  31. My A—— in a Bandbox. By Sympson.
  32. A Man struggling through the World. By the same.
  33. St John’s Head in a Charger.
  34. A Dog’s Head in the Porridge Pot. Its Companion. Both these by Blackman.
  35. A Man in his Element. A Sign for an Eating House.
  36. A Man out of his Element. A Sign for a Publick House at Wapping, Rotherhithe, or Deptford. Both these by Stainsley.
  37. The Barley Mow. By Whitaker.
  38. A Bird in the Hand. A Landscape. By Allison.
  39. Absalom hanging. A Peruke-Maker’s Sign. By Sclater.
  40. Welcome Cuckolds to Horn Fair. By Hagarty.
  41. The Cat o’ Nine Tails. A Kit-Cat. By Masmore.
  42. King Charles in the Oak. A Land-schape. By Allison. The Face in Miniature. By Sclater.
  43. An Owl in an Ivy Bush. Its Companion. By Allison.
  44. Foote in the Character of Mrs Cole. A Sign for a Boarding-School. By Stainsley.
  45. Peeping-Tom. A Sign for a Shoemaker. By the same.
  47. A Pair of Breeches.
  48. A Green Canister. Its Companion. Both these by Blackman.
  49. An Ha! Ha!
  50. [On a parallel line with the foregoing on the other side of the chimney.] The Curiosity. Its Companion. [These two by an unknown Hand, the Exhibitors being favoured with them from an unknown Quarter.] *** Ladies and Gentlemen are requested not to finger them, as Blue Curtains are hung on purpose to preserve them.
  51. [Over the Chimney.] A Star of the first Magnitude.
  52. The Renowned Seven Champions of Christendom, from an entire New Design. 1. St George for England. 2. St Andrew for Scotland. 3. St Denis for France. 4. St Anthony for Italy. 5. St James for Spain. 6. St David for Wales. 7. St Patrick for Ireland. This by Bransley.
  53. An Original Portrait of the present Emperor of Russia.
  54. Ditto of the Empress Queen of Hungary. Its Antagonist. These by Sheerman.
  55. The Silent Woman, or A Good Riddance. A Family Piece. By Barnsley.
  56. [516]The Ghost of Cock Lane. By Miss Fanny ——.[725]
  57. Three Portraits in One.
  58. All the World and his Wife. By Blackman.
  59. Cat and Bagpipes. By Forster.
  60. A perspective view of Billingsgate, or Lectures on Elocution.
  61. The Robin Hood Society, a Conversation; or Lectures on Elocution.[726] Its Companion. These two by Barnsley.
  62. An Author in the Pillory. By ——, Bookseller. First Attempt.[727]
  63. Liberty crowning Britania. By command of his Majesty.
  64. View of the Road to Paddington, with a Presentation (sic) of the Deadly Never-Green[728] that bears Fruit all the Year round. The Fruit at full length. By Hagarty.
  65. The Salutation, or French and English Manners. By Blackman.
  66. Good Company. A Conversation. Intended as a Sign for a Tobacconist. By Bransley.
  67. Death and the Doctor; in Distemper. By Hagarty.
  68. Hogs Norton.[729] A Sign for a Music Shop. By Bransley.
  69. St Dunstan and the Devil.
  70. St Squintum[730] and the Devil. Its Companion. By ——.
  71. Shave for a Penny. Let Blood for Nothing.
  72. Teeth drawn with a Touch. A Caricature. Its Companion. These two by Bransley.
  73. A Man loaded with Mischief. By Sympson.
  74. Entertainment for Man and Horse. A Landscape. By Bransley.
  75. First and Last. By Blackman.
  76. The Constitution; Alderman Pitt’s Entire. By Hagarty.

BUSTS, CARVED FIGURES, &c., &c., &c.

  1. A Blue Boar. By Lester.
  2. Two Indian Kings. By Taverner.
  3. A Flaming Sword of Paradise.
  4. St Peter’s Key. Both these by Carey.
  5. A Bunch of Grapes from Portugal. By Pendred.
  6. A Divided Crown. By Ward.
  7. Birmingham Case of Knives and Forks. [See at the other end of this a Sheffield Case. Its Companion.] Both these by Asgill.
  8. A Nag’s Head, after the Manner of the Antient Bronzes. By Millwich.
  9. A Block, done from the Life. By Brown.
  10. An exact Representation of the famous Running Horse. Black and All Black.
  11. [517]Underneath, an Escutcheon, shewing his Pedigree, as warranted by the Herald’s office. These by Fishbourne.
  12. Bust of a celebrated Beauty. By Edley.
  13. Head of the Thoughtless Philosopher. By Masmore.
  14. Take Time by the Forelock. By Clark.
  15. A Dumb Bell. By the same.
  16. The British Lion, and
  17. Unicorn. [The Lion in excellent Condition.] By Jones.
  18. A French Fleur-de-Lys [tarnished.] By Garthy.
  19. Two Bronzes. By Millwich.
  20. A Gold Fish, considerably larger than the Life. By Cook.
  21. A Mitre, and
  22. Crown. By Hughes.
  23. A Dolphin, painted with the true Verd Antique. By Quarterman.
    *** Several Tobacco Rolls, Sugar Loaves, Hats, Wigs, Stockings, Gloves, &c., &c., &c., hung round the Room. By the above-mentioned Artists.
  24. [On the Left Hand of the Door, going out.] A Stand of Cheeses, with a Bladder of Lard on the Top.
  25. A Westphalian Ham. These two by Bricken.

—St James’s Chronicle, Ap. 20-22. 1762.

  1. [Over the Door.] A Coach and Four, Supposed to be by Stanhope.
  2. Windsor, or any other Castle. By Mason. The Centinel and Great Gun by another Hand.
  3. Hand and Lock of Hair. Hand unknown.
  4. A Pandour, or Indian Prince, uncertain which. Stanhope’s undoubtedly.
  5. A Ship and Castle. Thomas Knife written under. But it is not known whether this is the name of the Artist or the Publican.
  6. A Hen and Chickens. By Lodge.
  7. Three Nuns. The Drapery copied from a Bas-Relief at Rome. By Soames.
  8. An original Whole-Length of Guy of Warwick. By the same.
  9. A Major Wig. By Harrison. [N.B.—The Tails appear to have been added.]
  10. A Barge, in Still-Life. By Van der Trout. [He cannot properly be called an English artist; not being sufficiently encouraged in his own Country, he left Holland with William the Third, and was the first artist who settled in Harp Alley.[723]]
  11. The Hercules Pillars. The Architecture by Young Soames. The Figure (from the Farnesian Hercules) by the Father.
  12. An Heroe’s Head, unknown. By Moses White. With the least alteration, may serve for an Heroe past, present, or to come.
  13. An original Three Quarters Length of King Charles the Second: a striking Likeness. By Ditto.
  1. A Flying Swan,—by some supposed to be a Dying one. By Goustry.
  2. An Half-Moon. By Masmore.
  3. An Original Half Length of Camden, the great Historian and Antiquary, in his Herald’s Coat. By Van der Trout. [As this Artist was originally Colour Grinder to Hans Holbein, it is conjectured there are some of the great Master’s Touches in this Piece.]
  4. A Buttock of Beef stuft. By Lynne.
  5. An Hair-cutter. By the same.
  6. Adam and Eve. The first Attempt of that famous Artist, Barnaby Smith.
  7. A Black Prince. By Hitchcock.
  8. [Over the Entrance.] An Holy Lamb; highly finished. By the same.
  1. Portrait of a justly celebrated Painter, though an Englishman and a Modern.
  2. A Crooked Billet, formed exactly in the Line of Beauty,[724] its Companion. These by Adams.
  3. The Good Woman. A Whole Length, but no Portrait. By Sympson. [N.B.—It is done from Invention, not being able to find one to sit for it.]
  4. A Star. By * *
  5. The Light Heart. A Sign for a Vintner. By Hogarty. [N.B.—This is an elegant Invention of Ben Jonson, who in The New Inn or Light Heart, makes the Landlord say (speaking of his Sign:)—
  6. An Heart weighed with a Feather, and outweighed too:
    A Brain-child of my own and I am proud on’t.]
  7. The Hog in Armour. By Thurmond.
  8. A Buttock of Beef. By Simmes.
  9. The Vicar of Bray. The Portrait of a Beneficed Clergyman, at Full Length. By Allison.
  10. The Irish Arms. By Patrick O’Blaney. [N.B.—Captain Terence O’Cutter STOOD for them.]
  11. The Gentleman of Wales. By David Rice.
  12. Butter and Eggs. By Simmes.
  13. The Scotch Fiddle. By McPharson, done from Himself.
  14. The Barking Dogs. A Landscape at Moonlight. The Moon somewhat eclipsed by an Accident. Whitaker.
  15. Three Apothecaries’ Gallipots. D’aeth’s first Attempt.
  16. Three Coffins. Its Companion. Finished by Shrowd.
  17. A Man. By Hagarty.
  18. The Rising Sun. A Landscape. Painted for The Moon, alias Theophilus Moon. By Morris.
  19. The Magpie. By Whitaker.
  20. Nobody, alias Somebody. A Character.
  21. Somebody, alias Nobody. A Caricature. Its Companion. Both these by Hagarty.[515]
  22. The World’s End. By Sympson.
  23. The Strugglers. A Conversation. By Ransbey.
  24. A Freemason’s Lodge, or the Impenetrable Secret. By a Sworn Brother.
  25. The Blackamoor. By Sympson. [N.B.—This is not intended as any Reflection on the Gentlemen who have been lately Whitewashed.]
  26. A Man running away with the Monument. By Whitaker.
  27. Devil hugging the Witch. A Conversation. By Ransbey.
  28. The Spirit of Contradiction. Ditto. By Hagarty.
  29. The Loggerheads. Ditto. By Ditto.
  30. The Man in the Moon drinks Claret. By Blackman.
  31. The Dancing Bears. A Sign for N. Dukes, or A. Hart, or any other Dancing-Master to Grown Gentlemen. By Hagarty.
  32. My A—— in a Bandbox. By Sympson.
  33. A Man struggling through the World. By the same.
  34. St John’s Head in a Charger.
  35. A Dog’s Head in the Porridge Pot. Its Companion. Both these by Blackman.
  36. A Man in his Element. A Sign for an Eating House.
  37. A Man out of his Element. A Sign for a Publick House at Wapping, Rotherhithe, or Deptford. Both these by Stainsley.
  38. The Barley Mow. By Whitaker.
  39. A Bird in the Hand. A Landscape. By Allison.
  40. Absalom hanging. A Peruke-Maker’s Sign. By Sclater.
  41. Welcome Cuckolds to Horn Fair. By Hagarty.
  42. The Cat o’ Nine Tails. A Kit-Cat. By Masmore.
  43. King Charles in the Oak. A Land-schape. By Allison. The Face in Miniature. By Sclater.
  44. An Owl in an Ivy Bush. Its Companion. By Allison.
  45. Foote in the Character of Mrs Cole. A Sign for a Boarding-School. By Stainsley.
  46. Peeping-Tom. A Sign for a Shoemaker. By the same.
  47. A Pair of Breeches.
  48. A Green Canister. Its Companion. Both these by Blackman.
  49. An Ha! Ha!
  50. [On a parallel line with the foregoing on the other side of the chimney.] The Curiosity. Its Companion. [These two by an unknown Hand, the Exhibitors being favoured with them from an unknown Quarter.] *** Ladies and Gentlemen are requested not to finger them, as Blue Curtains are hung on purpose to preserve them.
  51. [Over the Chimney.] A Star of the first Magnitude.
  52. The Renowned Seven Champions of Christendom, from an entire New Design. 1. St George for England. 2. St Andrew for Scotland. 3. St Denis for France. 4. St Anthony for Italy. 5. St James for Spain. 6. St David for Wales. 7. St Patrick for Ireland. This by Bransley.
  53. An Original Portrait of the present Emperor of Russia.
  54. Ditto of the Empress Queen of Hungary. Its Antagonist. These by Sheerman.
  55. The Silent Woman, or A Good Riddance. A Family Piece. By Barnsley.
  56. [516]The Ghost of Cock Lane. By Miss Fanny ——.[725]
  57. Three Portraits in One.
  58. All the World and his Wife. By Blackman.
  59. Cat and Bagpipes. By Forster.
  60. A perspective view of Billingsgate, or Lectures on Elocution.
  61. The Robin Hood Society, a Conversation; or Lectures on Elocution.[726] Its Companion. These two by Barnsley.
  62. An Author in the Pillory. By ——, Bookseller. First Attempt.[727]
  63. Liberty crowning Britania. By command of his Majesty.
  64. View of the Road to Paddington, with a Presentation (sic) of the Deadly Never-Green[728] that bears Fruit all the Year round. The Fruit at full length. By Hagarty.
  65. The Salutation, or French and English Manners. By Blackman.
  66. Good Company. A Conversation. Intended as a Sign for a Tobacconist. By Bransley.
  67. Death and the Doctor; in Distemper. By Hagarty.
  68. Hogs Norton.[729] A Sign for a Music Shop. By Bransley.
  69. St Dunstan and the Devil.
  70. St Squintum[730] and the Devil. Its Companion. By ——.
  71. Shave for a Penny. Let Blood for Nothing.
  72. Teeth drawn with a Touch. A Caricature. Its Companion. These two by Bransley.
  73. A Man loaded with Mischief. By Sympson.
  74. Entertainment for Man and Horse. A Landscape. By Bransley.
  75. First and Last. By Blackman.
  76. The Constitution; Alderman Pitt’s Entire. By Hagarty.
  1. A Blue Boar. By Lester.
  2. Two Indian Kings. By Taverner.
  3. A Flaming Sword of Paradise.
  4. St Peter’s Key. Both these by Carey.
  5. A Bunch of Grapes from Portugal. By Pendred.
  6. A Divided Crown. By Ward.
  7. Birmingham Case of Knives and Forks. [See at the other end of this a Sheffield Case. Its Companion.] Both these by Asgill.
  8. A Nag’s Head, after the Manner of the Antient Bronzes. By Millwich.
  9. A Block, done from the Life. By Brown.
  10. An exact Representation of the famous Running Horse. Black and All Black.
  11. [517]Underneath, an Escutcheon, shewing his Pedigree, as warranted by the Herald’s office. These by Fishbourne.
  12. Bust of a celebrated Beauty. By Edley.
  13. Head of the Thoughtless Philosopher. By Masmore.
  14. Take Time by the Forelock. By Clark.
  15. A Dumb Bell. By the same.
  16. The British Lion, and
  17. Unicorn. [The Lion in excellent Condition.] By Jones.
  18. A French Fleur-de-Lys [tarnished.] By Garthy.
  19. Two Bronzes. By Millwich.
  20. A Gold Fish, considerably larger than the Life. By Cook.
  21. A Mitre, and
  22. Crown. By Hughes.
  23. A Dolphin, painted with the true Verd Antique. By Quarterman.
    *** Several Tobacco Rolls, Sugar Loaves, Hats, Wigs, Stockings, Gloves, &c., &c., &c., hung round the Room. By the above-mentioned Artists.
  24. [On the Left Hand of the Door, going out.] A Stand of Cheeses, with a Bladder of Lard on the Top.
  25. A Westphalian Ham. These two by Bricken.

The next number of the St James’s Chronicle contained an article on the Exhibition from another journal, written with great animosity:—

“As your paper is always ready to expose any Abuses on the Publick, I beg you will give place to the following Observations:—

“I acknowledge myself to have been one of the Curious who went yesterday morning to see the Grand Exhibition, as it is called, of the Sign-Painters, from which I did not indeed expect any great Entertainment; however, I did not imagine any Set of Gentlemen would have been concerned in a senseless Attempt at Satire, and along with it the most impudent and pickpocket Abuse that I ever knew offered to the Publick.

“The Exhibition is really of Signs, and those, in general, worse executed than any that are to be seen in the meanest streets. The Busts, carved Figures, &c., are of corresponding Excellence, all of them being the very worst of Signpost Work, and such as seem collected for an Insult on the Human understanding.

“But that your Readers may All save their Time, Money, and Credit, by not falling into this Hum-trap, I shall give them an Account of some of the choicest Articles of this Collection as a sample that must damp their Curiosity for seeing the Whole.”

GRAND ROOM.

1. Mr Hogarth, or a wretched Figure done for him drawing his five orders of Periwigs.

2. A Crooked Billet, hung under it, on which is written, The Exact Line of Beauty.

3. The Good Woman. The old stale Device of a Woman without a Head, badly executed.

[518]

5. The Light Heart. A Feather weighing down a Heart in a pair of Scales.

9. The Irish Arms. A great clumsy pair of Legs.

10. The Gentleman of Wales. A Taffey with a great Leek in his Hat.

19. Nobody. A man all Legs.

20. Somebody. A man all Belly, with a Constable’s Staff.

23. A Freemason’s Lodge. A new Member blinded and befouling himself.

27. The Spirit of Contradiction. Two Brewers bearing a cask. The Men going different ways.

30. The Dancing Bears. Bears in Men’s cloaths, learning to dance, a great one amongst them, with a gold Chain round his Neck; the Dancing Master a Monkey, holding a Kitten on his Breast with one hand, and pincing its tail with the other.

31. Band-box. An Ass standing in a great Band-box.[731]

32. A Man Struggling through the World. The Sign of a Pasteboard Terrestrial Globe, with a Man creeping through it, his Head being out at one End, and his Heels at the other.

35. A Man in his Element. A man gluttonizing.[732]

36. A Man out of his Element. A Sailor fallen off his Horse.

44. Foote in the Character of Mrs Cole. The wit lies in the writing under it, which is, Young Ladies educated here.

45. Peeping Tom.[733] A Shoemaker trying on a Shoe on a Woman.

But the Cream of the whole Jest is (49 and 50) two Boards behind two Curtains, (one on each side of the Chimney,) which, when the Curtains are lifted up, show the written Laughs of HA HA HA and HE HE HE.

53 and 54 are two old Signs of a Saracen’s Head and a Queen Anne’s, with their Tongues lolling out at one another, designed to represent the Czar and the Queen of Hungary. Over them is a great wooden Bill, with this inscription, The present State of Europe.

64. A view of the Road to Paddington, with a Representation of the Deadly Never Green that bears Fruit all the year round. This is Tyburn, with three felons hanging on it.

65. The Salutation, or French and English Manners, which shows a Frenchman cringingly bowing, and an Englishman taking him by the Nose.

66. Good Company. Three Men drunk, and burning one another’s Faces with their Pipes.

69. St Dunstan and the Devil. The Saint taking the Devil by the Nose with a Pair of Tongs.

70. Its Companion. Doctor Squintum doing the same.

71. Shave for a Penny, Let Blood for Nothing. A man under the hands of a barber surgeon, who shaves and lets blood at the same time, by cutting at every stroke of his razor.

[519]73. A Man loaded with Mischief. A Fellow with a Woman, a Monkey, and a Magpie on his Back.

74. Entertainment for Man and Horse. A Woman and a Hay Mow.

75. First and Last. A Cradle and a Coffin.

76. The Constitution. Alderman Pitt’s Entire. A tall Grenadier and a short Sailor.

“Such is the Entertainment that these wits have been able to prepare for the curious, with all the assistance of the Virtuosi which they have been long advertising to procure. If there is any Satyre in this Design, it must be in humming their Customers. Wit or taste there is certainly none; but there is a Magnitude of Imposition that is surely deserving of Punishment.

It is well known that the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce, are at a great Expense for making their elegant Exhibition, and give their Tickets all away. The Artists, indeed, sell Catalogues there to those who chuse to buy them, and dispose of the Money that is got by them to Charities.

The Body of Artists made their Catalogues Tickets to serve last year for the whole Time of Exhibition in Spring Gardens, and sold them but a shilling a-piece, the Profits of which were likewise distributed in Charities.

The Society, as they call themselves, of Signpainters, or rather of Bites who borrow that Name, have the Assurance to fix a Ticket to each Catalogue, which they sell for their own Profit at a shilling; and, by obliging the Ticket to be torn off at the Second Door, make the Purchase of a New Catalogue absolutely necessary for a Second Admission. It is true most Gentlemen do refuse to let their Catalogues be torn; and many of those who had submitted to the tearing of them, insisted upon their being exchanged for whole ones, resolving, like Men of Spirit, not to be bubbled every Way.

In fine, this Mock Exhibition is a most impudent and scandalous Abuse and Bubble. An Insult on Understanding, and a most pickpocket Imposture. The best entertainment it can afford is that of standing in the street, and observing with how much shame in their Faces People come out of the House. Pity it will be, if all who are employed in the carrying on this Cheat, are not seized and sent to serve the King. And those who are Sharers in the Booty deserve likewise to be severely chastised.

I am, Sir, yours, &c.,
A DESPISER OF ALL TRICKERY.”

“The Signpainters return their Thanks to the author of the above most excellent Letter, which is seemingly abusive of their Design, but is in Fact a most admirable Irony.

The Ledger of this Morning, after having pillaged the Catalogue of Signpainting, is candid enough to abuse it. But it is plain that the author has not seen the Exhibition, or could not find out the Humour of it.”

From the GAZETTEER.—(St James’ Chronicle, Ap. 24-27, 1762.)—“The Society of Signpainters, in their Catalogue, tell us they take the opportunity of refuting what they are pleased to call a malicious Suggestion—viz., ‘Their Exhibition being designed as a Ridicule on the Exhibition of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, etc., and the Artists,’ and[520] that they intend theirs only as an Appendix or (in the Style of Painters) ‘Companion’ to the others. What is that but ridiculing, or an attempt towards it? They say ‘there is nothing in their Collection which will be understood by any candid person as a Reflection on any Body or any Body of Men.’ They might have spared this Assertion, for no Person, endued with the least Share of common Sense, can imagine so impotent and futile an Attempt at Satire or Ridicule on any Thing except the few Spectators who go there; which would have been better understood had it opened on the First of April.

“They also say, ‘They are not in the least prompted by any mean jealousy to depreciate the Merits of their Brother Artists.’ Which is owing to their Inability, not want of Assurance; for an Attempt in them to depreciate the Merit of the Professors of Painting and Sculpture, whom they are impudently pleased to call their Brother Artists, would be (to borrow a Simile from one of their own Productions) like Dogs barking at the Moon.

“Their sole View, etc., etc.—‘Their sole View’ (without any Breach of Charity) we may infer is that of filling their own Pockets by duping the Publick; for no private Men would by an Advertisement invite People to their House, and place a Porter at the Door to take a Shilling of them, with a Pretence of being animated by a public Spirit, for any other Motive.

“Bow Street, Covent Garden, April 27.

“The Society of Sign-painters are obliged to the GAZETTEER for the above Remarks.”

Articles and letters abusive of the Exhibition appeared in most of the newspapers, and not a day passed but it was attacked in no very measured terms. The committee, however, generally reprinted the articles in their own organ, thanking the critics for so successfully advertising their efforts, after which no more was heard from them. The following review, having very similar annotations upon the signs to those in the letter signed “A Despiser of all Trickery,” may have come from one of their own pens. It appeared in a monthly sheet, entitled, “The London Register,” for April:[734]—

“Humour is confessedly one of the chief characteristics of the English nation. There is no Country that delights in it so much, exerts it on such various occasions, or shows it in so many Shapes. In conversation, in Books, on the Stage, we meet with it every Day; and it has sometimes been introduced, not without success, even into the Pulpit. To an Artist of our own Country, and of our own Times, we owe the Practice of enriching Pictures with Humour, Character, Pleasantry, and Satire. Such an Artist could not fail of Applause in such a Nation as ours, and his Fame is equal to his Merit.

The original Paintings, etc., the Catalogue of which now lies before us, are the Project of a well-known Gentleman, in whose house they are exhibited;[521] a Gentleman who has, in several instances, displayed a most uncommon Vein of Humour. His Burlesque Ode on St Cecilia’s Day,[735] his Labours in the Drury Lane Journal, and other papers, all possess that singular Turn of Imagination so peculiar to himself. This Gentleman is perhaps the only Person in England (if we except the Artist above mentioned) who could have projected, or have carried tolerably into Execution, this scheme of a Grand Exhibition. There is a whimsical drollery in all his Plans, and a Comical Originality in his Manner, that never fail to distinguish and to recommend all his Undertakings. To exercise his Wit and Humour in an innocent Laugh, and to raise that innocent Laugh in others, seems to have been his chief Aim in the present Spectacle. The Ridicule or Exhibition, if it must be accounted so, is pleasant without Malevolence; and the general Strokes on the common Topics of Satire are given with the most apparent Good-humour. . . . . .

On entering the Grand Room, . . . . you find yourself in a large and commodious Apartment, hung round with green Bays, on which this curious collection of Wooden Originals is fixt flat, (like the Signs at present in Paris,) and from whence hang Keys, Bells, Swords, Poles, Sugar-Loaves, Tobacco-Rolls, Candles, and other ornamental Furniture, carved in Wood, that commonly dangle from the Penthouses of the different Shops in our streets. On the Chimney-Board (to imitate the Stile of the Catalogue) is a large, blazing Fire, painted in Water-colours; and within a kind of Cupola, or rather Dome, which lets the Light into the Room, is written in Golden Capitals, upon a blue Ground, a Motto from Horace, disposed in the Form following:—

From this short Description of the Grand-Room, (when we consider the singular Nature of the Paintings themselves, and the Peculiarity of the other Decorations,) it may be easily imagined that no Connoisseur, who has made the Tour of Europe, ever entered a Picture-Gallery that struck his Eye more forcibly at first Sight, or provoked his Attention with more extraordinary Appearance.

We will now, if the Reader pleases, conduct him round the Room, and take a more accurate Survey of the curious Originals before us. To which End we shall proceed to transcribe the ingenious Society’s Catalogue, adding (as we proposed before) such Notes and Illustrations as may seem necessary for his Instruction or Entertainment.

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8. The Vicar of Bray: The Portrait of a Beneficed Clergyman, at Full Length. [The vicar of Bray is an Ass in a Feather-topped Grizzle, Band, and Pudding Sleeves.—This is a much droller Conceit, and has more Effect when executed, than the old Design of The Ass loaded with Preferment.]

9. The Irish Arms. By Patrick O’Blaney. [N.B. Captain Terence O’Cutter stood for them.] [A Pair of extremely thick Legs in white Stockings and black Garters.]

12. The Scotch Fiddle. By McPharson, done from Himself. [The Figure of a Highlander sitting under a Tree, and enjoying that greatest of Pleasure of scratching where it itches.]

16. A Man. [Nine Taylors at Work; in Allusion to the old Saying of nine Taylors make a Man.]

19. Nobody, alias Somebody. A Character. [The Figure of an Officer, all Head, Arms, Legs and Thighs.—This Piece has a very odd Effect, being so drolly executed that you don’t miss the Body.]

20. Somebody, alias Nobody. A Caricature. Its Companion. Both these by Hagarty. [A rosy figure with a little Head and a huge Body, whose Belly swags over, almost quite down to his Shoe-Buckles. By the Staff in his Hand it appears to be intended to represent a Constable.—It might also have been mistaken for an eminent Justice of Peace.]

22. The Strugglers. A Conversation. By Bransley. [Represents a Man and Wife fighting for the Breeches.]

23. A Free-Mason’s Lodge, or the Impenetrable Secret. By a Sworn Brother. [The supposed Ceremony and probable Consequences of what is called making a Mason, representing the Master of the Lodge with a red hot Salamander in his Hand, and the new Brother blindfold, and in a comical Situation of Fear and Good-Luck.]

25. A Man running away with the Monument. By Whitaker. [This Picture of a London Night, like the Farmer Returned, represents

—— the Watchmen in Town,
Lame, feeble, half blind.——

Two of these Cripples are pursuing the Thief, one crying out, Stop Thief! and the other, I can’t catch him.]

27. The Spirit of Contradiction. Ditto. By Hagarty. [Two Brewers with a Barrel of Beer, pulling different Ways.]

28. The Logger Heads. Ditto. By Ditto. [Underwritten, the old Joke of We are Three. Shakespeare plainly alludes to this sign in his Twelfth Night, where the Fool comes between Sir Toby Belch and Sir Andrew Aguecheek, and, taking each by the Hand, says, “How now, my Hearts, did you never see the Picture of We Three?”]

30. The Dancing Bears. By Hagarty. [Most drolly conceived and comically executed.—Represents Four Bears on their hind Legs, drest in different Characters, one with a gold Chain round his Neck, giving Right Paw and Left, gravely practising Country-Dances, under the Tuition of a Monkey, drest like a Dancing-Master, and fiddling on a Kit-ten.—The Seriousness and Solemnity of each of these Figures is incomparable. Underneath is written, “Grown Gentlemen taught to Dance.”]

31. Band Box. By Sympson. [Hieroglyphically expressed . . . . an Ass standing in a Bandbox.]

33. St John’s Head in a Charger. [The dead Saint’s Eyes, like those in most Portraits, seem to be looking at you.]

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35. A Man in his Element. A Sign for an Eating-House. [A Cook roasted upon a Spit at the Kitchen-Fire and basted by the Devil.]

36. A Man out of his Element. [A Sailor fallen off his Horse, with his Skull lighting against the ten mile Stone from Portsmouth.]

38. A Bird in the Hand, a Landscape. By Allison. [A common sign in various Parts of England, which has usually this Inscription,

A Bird in Hand is better far
Than two that in the Bushes are.

But these Lines are much improved in the Inscription that is under this Sign in the Exhibition:

A Bird in Hand far better ’tis
Than two that in the Bushes is.]

39. Absalon Hanging, a Peruke Maker’s Sign. By Sclater. [Underneath is written—

If Absalon had not worn his own Hair
Absalon had not been hanging there.]

40. Welcome Cuckholds to Horn-Fair. By Hagarty. [Whimsically imagined, and drolly executed—Being a Picture of Horn-Fair containing various Figures of Cuckholds in different Characters; some with large staring Bulls’, Goats’-Horns, &c., others with their Horns just budding. The center Figure is that of a fine Gentleman (copied from the fine Gentleman in Lethe) with Rams’-Horns. On a Bank, fast asleep, sits a Citizen-like Figure, with large branching antlers, and on the other side of the Picture, is a jemmy Figure in Boots, who has no Horns upon his Head, but carries them in his Pocket, out of which the tops appear tipt with Gold. This last Gentleman’s Horse (to make the Picture complete) is also represented as a Cuckhold, having a Horn in his Forehead like an Unicorn’s.]

49. An Ha! Ha!

50 [On a parallel Line with the foregoing on the other Side of the Chimney] The Curiosity, its Companion. [These two by an unknown Hand, the Exhibitors being favoured with them from an unknown Quarter.] *** Ladies and Gentlemen are requested not to finger them, as blue Curtains are hung over in purpose to preserve them. [Behind the blue Curtains on one of these Boards is written Ha! Ha! Ha! and on the other He! He! He! At the first opening of the Exhibition the Ladies had infinite Curiosity to know what was behind the Curtain, but were afraid to gratify it. This covered Laugh is no bad satire on the indecent Pictures in some Collections, hung up in the same Manner with Curtains over them.]

52. [Over the Chimney] The Renowned Seven Champions of Christendom, from an entire New Design. [A Capital Piece. The Seven Champions are represented in the following Manner. 1. St George is an English Sailor mounted on a Lion, with a Spit (by Way of Lance) bearing a Sirloin of Beef in one Hand, and a full Pot of Porter marked only Three Pence a Quart in the other. By the Lion’s Foot are two Scrolls, like Ballads, the one inscribed O the Roast Beef of Old England: the other, Hearts of Oak are our Men. 2. St Andrew is a Highlander mounted on a Scotch Galloway, with a Broad Sword, bearing an Oat Cake at the End of it in one Hand, and a Flask of Whisky in the other. 3. St Dennis is a Frenchman, mounted on a Deer, a timorous swift-footed Animal with a small Sword in one Hand on which a Frog appears to be spitted, and a Dish of[524] Soupe Maigre in the other. 4. St Anthony is the Pope, mounted on a Bull, with a Crosier and a Vessel of Holy Water dangling from it, in one Hand, and a Cod-Fish inscribed Food for Lent in the other. From his Right Foot hangs a Scroll inscribed Kiss my Toe, and on the Ground several Rolls of Paper, on which are written, Pardons, Indulgencies, &c. &c. 5. St James is a Spaniard mounted on a Mule with an Ingot of Gold in one Hand and a Padlock in the other. 6. St David is Taffy mounted on a Goat brandishing a Leek in one Hand, and bearing a Cheese, by Way of Target, in the other. 7. St Patrick is an Irish Soldier, mounted on a large Stone-Horse, at whose Feet is a kind of Bill with this Inscription—To cover this Season Black and All Black. He has a Sword, bearing a Potatoe on the End of it in one Hand, and a three-square Bottle, inscribed Green Usquebaugh in the other.]

53. An original Portrait of the present Emperor of Russia.

54. Ditto of the Empress Queen of Hungary, its Antagonist. [These are two old signs of the Saracen’s Head and Queen Anne. Under the first is written The Zarr, and under the other the Empres Quean. They are lolling their tongues out at each other, and over their heads runs a wooden label, inscribed, The present State of Europe.]

56. The Ghost of Cock Lane. By Miss Fanny ——. [The figure of two hands, one bearing a hammer, the other a curry-comb, in allusion to knocking and scratching.]

58. All the World and his Wife. By Blackman. [The figure of a foolish-looking fellow, with the globe round his body, (like Orbis in the Rehearsal,) and his wife cudgelling him.]

60. A Prospective View of Billingsgate, or Lectures on Elocution.

61. The Robin Hood Society, a Conversation; or Lectures on Elocution. Its Companion. These two by Barnsley. [These two Strokes at a famous Lecturer on Elocution,[736] and The Reverend Projector of a Rhetorical Academy, are admirably conceived and executed: and (the latter more especially) almost worthy the Hand of Hogarth. They are full of a Variety of droll Figures, and seem indeed to be the Work of a great Master, struggling to suppress his Superiority of Genius, and endeavouring to paint down to the common Stile and Manner of the School of Sign-painting.]

64. View of the Road to Paddington, with a Presentation of the Deadly-Never-Green, that bears Fruit all the year round. The Fruit at full Length. By Hagarty. [Tyburn with three Felons on the Gallows. This Piece is remarkable for the Execution.]

65. The Salutation, or French and English Manners. By Blackman. [An English Jack Tar, kicking, and taking a tawdry Mounseer, cringing and bowing, by the Nose.]

66. Good Company. A Conversation. Intended as a Sign for a Tobacconist. By Bransley. [The Conceit and Execution are admirable. It represents a Common-Council-Man, and two Friends, drunk, over a Bottle and a Pipe. The Common-Council-Man is fallen back on his Chair as asleep. One of the Friends, an officer, is lighting a Pipe at his red Nose, while the other, a Doctor, is using his Thumb for a Tobacco Stopper.]

68. Hogs-Norton. A Sign for a Musick-Shop. By Bransley. [Represents (in allusion to the old saying concerning Hog’s Norton) an Hog drest in a Laced Suit, and an enormous Tye Wig, playing upon the Organ.]

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69. St Dunstan and the Devil. [The Saint Taking the Devil by the Nose.]

70. St Squintum and the Devil, its Companion. By ——. [Dr W——d doing the same. The Portrait is not unlike the Doctor.[737]]

71. Shave for a Penny, Let Blood for Nothing. [A Man under the Hands of a Barber-Surgeon, who shaves and lets Blood at the same Time, by cutting at every Stroke of his Razor.]

72. Teeth Drawn with a Touch. A Caricature. Its Companion. [A Man in much the same circumstances, mutatis mutandis, under the Hands of a Tooth-Drawer.]

“Such,” says the London Register, “are the Original Paintings in the Society’s Collection.” It may be remarked that there is some humour in placing many of the signs, which of themselves would not be very striking: for instance, The Three Apothecaries’ Gallipots, with The Three Coffins as its companion; King Charles in the Oak, and by its side The Owl in the Ivy Bush. Some of the signs are very indelicate, but this objection does not appear amongst the many charges brought against Mr Thornton and his friends. The opinion of society upon this point was very different in the last century from what it is now.