[439] The Marquis of Bute has, I believe, the most extraordinary and complete collection of Hogarth's Prints that is known. Of the Election Dinner there are six or seven varieties; gloves, and no gloves; hats, from one to the usual number; lemon, and no lemon; punch bowl, and no punch bowl. But of these varying prints, the most curious is the one known by the name of Evening: with a little boy and girl, crying, in the back-ground. At first, Hogarth did not paint the girl, and struck off very few impressions of the plate in this state of the picture. A friend observing to him that the boy was crying with no apparent cause of provocation, Hogarth put in the little girl tantalizing him. But—happy he! who has the print of the 'Evening' without the little girl: fifteen golden guineas (rare things now to meet with!) ought not to induce him to part with it. Of the copper-plate portraits by Hogarth, the original of 'Sarah Malcolm, executed 1732,' is among the very rarest; a copy of this selling for 7l. 17s. 6d. at Barnard's sale. The reader has only to procure that most interesting of all illustrative works, Hogarth Illustrated by John Ireland, 1793, (2d edit.) 3 vols., 8vo.; and, for a comparatively trifling sum, he may be initiated into all the mysteries of Hogarthian virtû. The late Right Hon. W. Wyndham's collection of Hogarth's prints, bequeathed to him by Mr. George Steevens, was bought in for little more than 300 guineas.
Lis. I will stick to Rembrandt and leave Hogarth at rest. But surely, this rage for Portrait Collecting cannot be of long duration. It seems too preposterous for men of sober sense and matured judgment to yield to.
Lysand. So think you—who are no Collector! But had you accompanied me to Mr. Christie's on Friday[440] last, you would have had convincing evidence to the contrary. A little folio volume, filled with one hundred and fifty-two prints, produced—
[440] If the reader casts his eye upon [pages 505-6] he will find that the ardour of print and portrait collecting has not abated since the time of Sir W. Musgrave. As a corroboration of the truth of Lysander's remark, I subjoin a specimen (being only four articles) of the present rage for 'curious and rare' productions of the burin—as the aforesaid Grangerite ([p. 507]) terms it.
| NO. | £ | s. | d. | |
| 54. | The Right Honourable and truly generous Henry Veere, Earl of Oxford, Viscount Bulbeck, &c. Lord High Chamberlain of England. J. Payne sculp. With a large hat and feather, small, in a border with many figures. Will. Passo, sculp. Tho. Jenner exc. On distinct plates. The most brilliant impression of a print of the greatest rarity. | 30 | 9 | 0 |
| 63. | Generall (Edward) Cecyll son to the Right Honourable the Earle of Exeter, &c. In an oval; in armour. Simmon Passæs, sculp. Anno 1618. Sould in Pope's Head Alley, also by John Sudbury and George Humble. Most brilliant impression of a print of the greatest rarity. | 34 | 2 | 6 |
| 90. | The true Portraicture of Richard Whitington, thrise Lord Mayor of London, a vertuous and godly man, full of good workes (and those famous) &c. R. Elstracke sculp. Are to be sold by Compton Holland over against the Exchange: First impression with the hand on a skull. Extra fine and rare. | 10 | 10 | 0 |
| 152. | Mull'd Sack; a fantastic and humourous Chimney-Sweeper, so called: with cap, feather, and lace band: cloak tuck'd up; coat ragged; scarf on his arm; left leg in a fashionable boot, with a spur; on his right foot a shoe with a rose; sword by his side, and a holly bush and pole on his shoulder; in his left hand, another pole with a horn on it; a pipe, out of which issues smoke, is in his right hand; at the bottom are eight verses (as given in Granger, vol. ii., p. 61). Are to be sold by Compton Holland over against the Exchange, with further manuscript account by a provost of Eton. Considered Unique [but not so]. | 42 | 10 | 6 |
Lis. Perhaps, Three Hundred Guineas?
Lysand. Just double the sum, I believe.
Lis. O rare James Granger—thy immortality is secured! But we forget our symptoms of the Bibliomania.
Belin. As I am the examiner, I here demand of you, Sir, what may be the meaning of the fourth symptom of the bibliomaniacal disease, which you call Unique Copies?
Lysand. A passion for a book of which only one copy was printed, or which has any peculiarity about it[441] by either, or both, of the foregoing methods of illustration—or which is remarkable for its size, beauty, and condition—or has any embellishment, rare, precious and invaluable—which the researches of the most sedulous bibliomaniac, for three and thirty long years, would not be able to produce—is indicative of a rage for unique copies; and is unquestionably a strong prevailing symptom of the Bibliomania. Let me therefore urge every sober and cautious collector not to be fascinated by the terms "Curious and rare;" which 'in slim italics' (to copy Dr. Ferriar's happy expression[442]) are studiously introduced into Booksellers' catalogues to lead the unwary astray. Such a Collector may fancy himself proof against the temptation; and will, in consequence, call only to look at this unique book, or set of books; but—led away by the passion which inflamed Berryer and Caillard[443]—when he views the morocco binding, silk water-tabby lining, blazing gilt edges; when he turns over the white and unspotted leaves; gazes on the amplitude of margin; on a rare and lovely print introduced; and is charmed with the soft and coaxing manner in which, by the skill of Herring, Mackinlay, Rodwell, Lewis, or Faulkener, "leaf succeeds to leaf"—he can no longer bear up against the temptation; and, confessing himself vanquished, purchases, and retreats—exclaiming with Virgil's shepherd——