25. Impression from a tankard belonging to a club of artists, who met weekly at The Bull's Head in Clare-Market. Of this society Hogarth was a member. A shepherd and his flock are here represented.
26. The Gin Drinkers. This may have been one of Hogarth's early performances; and, if such, is to be considered as a rude fore-runner of his Gin-Lane. But I do not vouch for its authencity.
27. The Oratory.[1] Orator Henley on a scaffold, a monkey (over whom is written Amen) by his side. A box of pills and the Hyp Doctor lying beside him. Over his head, "The Oratory. Inveniam viam, aut faciam."[2] Over the door. "Ingredere ut proficias."[3] A Parson receiving the money for admission. Under him, "The Treasury." A Butcher stands as porter. On the left hand, Modesty in a cloud; Folly in a coach; and a gibbet prepared for Merit; people laughing. One marked The Scout,[4] introducing a Puritan Divine. A Boy easing nature. Several grotesque figures, one of them (marked Tee-Hee) in a violent fit of laughter. I discover no reason for regarding this as a production of Hogarth, though his name, cut from the bottom of one of his smaller works, was fraudulently affixed to an impression of it belonging to the late worthy Mr. Ingham Foster, whose prints were sold at Barford's, in March 1783. Hogarth, whose resources, both from fancy and observation, were large, was never, like the author of this plate, reduced to the poor necessity of peopling his comic designs with Pierot, Scaramouch, and the other hackneyed rabble of French and Italian farces.
Underneath a second impression of it, is the following inscription:
"An extempore Epigram, made at the Oratory:
"O Orator! with brazen face and lungs,
Whose jargon's form'd of ten unlearned tongues,
Why stand'st thou there a whole long hour haranguing,
When half the time fits better men for hanging!"
Geo. B—k—h[5] jun. Copper-scratcher
and Grub-Street invent. sculp.
[1] There are such coincidences between this print and that of The Beggar's Opera, as incline me to think they were both by the same hand.
[2] The motto on the medals which Mr Henley dispersed as tickets to his subscribers. See Note on Dunciad, III. 199.
[3] This inscription is over the outer door of St. Paul's school.
[4] On what personage the name of Scout was bestowed, I am unable to inform the reader, though I recollect having seen the same figure in several other prints, particularly one from which it appears that he was at last murdered.
[5] B—k—h. Perhaps this was an intended mistake for B—k—m.