[133] It has been said that this incomparable figure was designed as the representative of either a particular friend or a relation. Individual satire may be very gratifying to the public, but is frequently fatal to the satirst. Churchill, by the lines,
"Fam'd Vine Street,
Where Heaven, the kindest wish of man to grant,
Gave me an old house, and an older aunt,"
lost a considerable legacy; and it is related that Hogarth, by the introduction of this withered votary of Diana into this print, induced her to alter a will which had been made considerably in his favour: she was at first well enough satisfied with her resemblance, but some designing people taught her to be angry.
[134] Of this there is an enlarged copy, which some of our collectors have ingeniously enough christened, The Half-Starved Boy. It bears the date of 1730, and is inscribed "W. H. pinx. F. Sykes sc." Sykes was the pupil of either Sir James Thornhill or Hogarth, and the 0 might be intended for an 8 or a 9; but the aquafortis failing, it appears to have an earlier date than the print from which it was copied. If the date is right, Sykes undoubtedly copied it from a sketch of his master's, which might then be unappropriated. In any case, it is too ridiculous to imagine for a moment that Hogarth was a plagiary; for supposing, what is not very probable, that his pupil was capable of delineating the figure, he would scarcely have made the sketch without some concomitant circumstances to explain its meaning.
[135] I speak of the large print; in the small copy, which is inserted in this work, they are properly placed.
[136] From what combination is this now made the sign for a colour shop?
[137] This boy is copied from a figure in a picture of The Rape of the Sabines, by N. Poussin, now in the collection of Sir R. Hoare, at Stourhead.
[138] At that period there was a windmill at the bottom of Rathbone Place.