7. A mezzotinto portrait of Hogarth with his hat on, in a large oval, "from an original begun by Wheltdon, and finished by himself, late in the possession of the Rev. Mr. Townley. Charles Townley fec." The family of Hogarth affect to know nothing of this painting; and say, if there is such a thing, it was only slightly touched over by him. It must be confessed that it bears little, if any, resemblance to the representations of our artist edited by himself. The original is now in the possession of Mr. James Townley, as has been mentioned in p. [98].
1782.
1. The Staymaker.
2. Debates on Palmistry.
The humour in the first of the two preceding prints is not very strong, and in the second it is scarce intelligible. The Male Staymaker seems to be taking professional liberties with a female in the very room where her husband sits, who is playing with one of his children presented to him by a nurse, perhaps with a view to call off his attention from what is going forward. The hag shews her pretended love for the infant, by kissing its posteriors. A maid-servant holds a looking-glass for the lady, and peeps significantly at the operator from behind it. A boy with a cockade on, and a little sword by his side, appears to observe the familiarities already mentioned, and is strutting up fiercely towards the Staymaker, while a girl is spilling some liquor in his hat.
The figures employed in the study of Palmistry seem to be designed for Physicians and Surgeons of an Hospital, who are debating on the most commodious method of receiving a fee, unattentive to the complaints of a lame female who solicits assistance. A spectre, resembling the Royal Dane, comes out behind, perhaps to intimate that physick and poison will occasionally produce similar effects. A glass case, containing skeletons, is open; a crocodile hangs overhead; and an owl, emblematic of this sapient consistory, is perched on an high stand. I suspect these two to have been discarded sketches—the first of them too barren in its subject to deserve finishing, and the second a repented effort of hasty spleen against the officers of St. Bartholomew's, who might not have treated some recommendation of a patient from our artist with all the respect and attention to which he thought it was entitled. But this is mere supposition.
3. Portrait of Henry Fox Lord Holland.
4. Portrait of James Caulfield Earl of Charlemont.
The above four articles are all etched by S. Haynes, pupil to the late Mr. Mortimer, from original drawings in the possession of Mr. S. Ireland.