"TO THE MEMORY OF WILLIAM HOGARTH, WHO WAS SUCH AM ACCURATE OBSERVER OF MANKIND THAT NO CHARACTER ESCAPED HIM, AND SO HAPPY IN EXPRESSING HIS CONCEPTIONS BY THE STRENGTH OF HIS PENCIL, THAT, AS HIS OWN TIMES NEVER PRODUCED A RIVAL, POSTERITY WILL SCARCE EVER SEE AN EQUAL TO HIM. HIS THOUGHTS WERE SO CONSTANTLY EMPLOYED IN THE CAUSE OF TRUTH AND VIRTUE, THAT HE MAY BE JUSTLY RANKED AMONGST THE BEST MORAL AUTHORS. WHILST HE FAITHFULLY FOLLOWED NATURE THROUGH ALL HER VARIETIES, AND EXPOSED WITH INIMITABLE SKILL THE INFINITE FOLLIES AND VICES OF THE WORLD, HE WAS HIMSELF AN EXAMPLE OF MANY VIRTUES; AND WHEN, WITH UNIVERSAL ADMIRATION AND APPLAUSE, HE HAD REPROVED, INSTRUCTED, AND DELIGHTED THE AGE WHEREIN HE LIVED, HE RESIGNED THE UNCOMMON GIFTS WHICH HE POSSESSED, AND PAID THE GREAT DEBT HE OWED TO NATURE, OCT. 27, 1764."
DESCRIPTION OF THE PRINTS, Etc.
With talents equally honourable to himself, his country, and the age in which he lived, Hogarth did not leave his widow possessed of much more than arose from the sale of his prints. But during the twenty-five years which she survived him, she had the higher and more exalted gratification of finding that his reputation increased, and his fame acquired stability by time.
In the year 1780, the late Horace Lord Orford published his Anecdotes, in which he has introduced Hogarth's catalogue and character. The volume printed at Strawberry Hill, he (with the preceding part of the work) presented to Mrs. Hogarth. The books were accompanied with the following handsome apology for his strictures on the genius of her husband:[81]—
To Mrs. Hogarth.