1784. The Historian Animating the Mind of a Young Painter.—This subject represents the painting-room of a young artist, furnished with a drawing-table, an easel, a couple of chairs, a settee, and a bust, while a few sketches of figure subjects are pinned on the walls. The painter, who is a well-favoured youth, is seated with his back to his easel, on which is a classic study in course of execution. His palette is on the ground, and he is holding a crayon in one hand, and a folio, which is serving as his drawing-board, in the other, ready to dash down his conceptions as soon as his imagination is sufficiently inspired by the effects of his friend's readings. The learned historian, whose hat and gloves are at his feet, wears a full-bottomed wig and large round rimmed spectacles. His appearance is somewhat clerical, and he is evidently filled with enthusiasm for the subject on which he is declaiming, book in hand. The limner's wife, in a morning dress, is seated by the fire, amusing her infant son, who is standing on her knee in a nude state, the infant being probably impressed into the service of the fine arts as the model for a cherubim. No publisher's name is given on this plate, which is delicately rendered.
1784. The print of a group of three figures; in the centre is a pretty simple maiden, whose face wears an artless expression, such as Rowlandson excelled in delineating, seated in an armchair, and grasping the hand of a youth, who has opened a vein in his arm, while another maid, in a morning cap and dress, is lending her assistance. The name of R. Batty has been given in MS. as 'sculpsit.' Both the drawing of the figures and the style of the etching are strongly indicative of Rowlandson's handiwork.
1784. Rest from Labour on Sunny Days. Designed and etched by T. Rowlandson.—A peasant is sitting in an easy attitude perched upon the ruins of a temple, playing the flute; a pretty peasant maid is leaning beside him, with her dog at her feet. Etching and aquatinta.
1784. Billingsgate.—All the humours of this famous academy of slang are displayed. The fish-selling fags have their baskets planted in rows in front of the landing-place. The hampers of the porters and the masts of ships are seen beyond. The Billingsgate hawkers are offering their fish vociferously for sale, getting drunk, and generally behaving in the disorderly style attributed to them. A gouty customer, evidently an epicure, who has come to select a turbot for his table, is seized unceremoniously by his wig and coat-tails and tripped up in the exertions of a fishfag aided by her urchin to arrest the passer, and call attention to certain goods she is holding out for inspection.
| 1784. Miller's Waggon. | |
| 1784. A Timber Waggon. | Published by E. Jackson,14 Marylebone Street, Golden Square. |
| 1784. Country Cart Horses. | " |
| 1784. Dray Horses. Draymen and Maltsters. | " |
| 1784. Higglers' Carts. | " |
| 1784. A Post-chaise. | " |
| 1784. A Cabriolet. | " |
| Rowlandson's Imitations of Modern Drawings. Folio. 1784–88. | |
|---|---|
| F. Wheatley | A Coast Scene, fishermen, fisherwomen, &c. |
| " | A Companion " |
| Gainsborough | A Sketch; trees, cottages, &c. |
| " | Cattle, river side. |
| F. Wheatley | A Fair. |
| Bartolozzi | A Pair of Cupids. |
| Barret and Gilpin | Mares and Foals. |
| " | Cattle. |
| Gainsborough | Landscape sketch. |
| Mortimer | A Storm at Sea. |
| Gainsborough | Cows. |
| Zucchi | Harmony. Two nymphs singing, another playing a lyre. |
| Mortimer | The Philosopher. |
| Barret | Ruins, and a Park. |
| Mortimer | A Study. |
| Barret | Ruins, &c. |
| Gainsborough | A Cottage, &c. |
| " | An Open Landscape. |
| Mortimer | Scene in 'The Tempest,' from Shakespeare.Republished 1801. J. P. Thompson, Soho. |
| G. Barret | Lake Scene. |
| Saurey Gilpin, R.A. | Horses. |
| G. Holmes | The Sage and his Pupil. |
| Michael Angelo | Leda and the Swan. |
| G. B. Cipriani | Sleeping Venus and Love. |
1785.
January 7, 1785. The Fall of Achilles.—It was evident from the first that the chances of the members of the late Coalition Ministry returning to power were weakened in the new Parliament, and it soon became obvious that, even as an Opposition, their party was without either weight or influence. Fox in looking round the recently elected House found himself surrounded by country gentlemen, Pitt's following, whose faces were unfamiliar to him. Pitt was firmly settled, the unquestioned master of the situation. It is the youthful Premier who has come forth, in the character of Paris it is presumed, with a bow and a quiver of arrows, the better to shoot Whiggism on the wing; he has just sent a bolt straight into the flying Opposition; the arrow has lodged in the heel of the mighty Fox, who is represented double the size of his triumphant adversary.