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Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
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 Research Library, The Getty Research Institute 
 
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LONDON : 
 CUINTI-U BV S. AND R. BENTLEV, DOft.^EI STKtE, 
 
^Witk tweiity e t cliiiig,s of C 6 t t A:Gr^ s , 
 
 L toiTLe ot sexyation s; arii ^rece^^ 
 
 ■; ,V'^ ■■■;-^;;^';- relative^ to. t^ 
 
 B^ JOHN XhBoVIAS SM 
 
 Eii<5raver of tKe Ai 
 
 ofXOT^DOI^ 
 
 ;::-:-:■;■ L O -isr I) 0]Sr June 311) c cx^ 
 
 Printeif or axicL f oldl^yl^athaniel SmithaiicaentTrim 
 icller atBembraiiats Head. ]y[ajys^ 
 : .: Laive and I T^ Smidi ,a t N^ 4 o TritK S treet.5oho . 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 IN the course of my little readhig, I have too frequently observed 
 prefaces, promising information -which the reader hath never heen able to 
 find, and dedications in -which the dedicator hath extolUd the dedicatee 
 for virtues -which not only did not exist in that particular instance, but 
 cojdd hardly have existed in any other: I am afraid therefore, that 
 these prefaces and dedications cannot be considered as very creditable on 
 either side; and shall accordingly offer these slight memorials to the pub- 
 lic, not, I trust, -without that deference and respect -which becomes so 
 humble a claimant on it's attention, but -without either of the ceremonies 
 in question ; and instead of pretending to disclaim all views of vanity 
 or of interest — (points on "which, in 7?iy humble opinion, no author ought 
 to be believed) — freely ackno-wledge that I hope, in ho-wever small 
 a degree, both to please my reader, and benefit myself: 
 
 '■'IF — (to use the language of Mr.Walpole) — some parts of 
 " this "work are more accurate than my own ignorance or carelessness 
 " -would have left them, I must insist upon telling the -world that lam in- 
 " debtedfor that advantage to my friend Mr- Cranch, -who obligingly 
 " condescended to cori'ect, -what he could not have descended to write." 
 
 / take this opportunity to return my very sincere thanks to the 
 Ladies and Gentlemen -whose subscriptions have encouraged this pub- 
 lication; in particular to Mr. Wyatt, of Egham, for his goodness to 
 me on this and many other occasions. 
 
 JOHN THOMAS SMITH. 
 
 No. 40, Frith Street, Soho ; 
 2,dof July, 1797. 
 
REMARKS 
 
 O N 
 
 RURAL SCENERY. 
 
 OF VARIOUS FEATURES AND SPECIFIC BEAUTIES 
 IN COTTAGE SCENERY 
 
 OF all pictoresque subjects, the English cottage seems to have 
 obtained the least share of particular notice and appropriate 
 discriminations by modern tourists: Palaces, castles, churches, 
 monastic ruins, and the remains, and even vestiges and con- 
 jectural situations, of our ancient feudal and ecclesiastical struc- 
 tures, have been elaborately, and indeed very interestingly 
 described, with all their characteristic distinctions, while the 
 objeas comprehended by the tenn cottage scenery have by no 
 means been honored with equal attention ; and this, it should 
 
( 6 ) 
 
 seem, merely because, though of equal excellence in the scale of 
 pictoresque beauty, that beauty happens not to be of the heroic or 
 sublime order: It seems not to have been sufficiently considered 
 that the landscape-painter's beauty does not necessarily exist in 
 grandeur, exclusively or alone; but equally pervading every depart- 
 ment of Nature, is found not less perfect in the most humble than 
 in the most stately structures, or scenery. 
 
 The fnets indeed appear to have entered more feelingly into 
 this pleasing investigation, and into those more accurate discrimi- 
 nations of feature, and of character, which we find a want of in 
 \\\e tourists : Still, however, even zA^zr animated descriptions have 
 been too general and monotonous : The larger subjects have been 
 treated with the most respectful circumstantiality, while one 
 unvarying and uniform idea has served to describe every cottage 
 in the kingdom. 
 
 I am, however, by no means cottage-mad ; and without 
 entering into any idle competition between those major and minor 
 beauties, am content that rural and cottage-scenery shall be con- 
 sidered as no more than a sort of low-comedy landscape ; and upon 
 that ground venture to present those very imperfect specimens of 
 their amusing varieties, which will be found in the annexed etch- 
 ings. In the preceding observations, I am far from the presump- 
 tion of meaning any reflection on the foets : It is perhaps their business 
 
 to be general: Thompson, Shenstone, Cooper, and others, 
 
 have drawn some of their most spirited sketches from the secluded 
 
( 7 1 
 
 village ; and Mr. Knight's image of a inistic habitation, appears 
 to me to be as beautiful as a general image can be. t And as to the 
 tourists, if they have been so negligent as 1 have presumed to suppose 
 them, my present attempt will have but so much the better claim 
 to the attribute of novelty, and I shall be more indebted to their 
 negligence, than I could have been to their attention. I come 
 now to the painter : 
 
 Of Gainsborough, it ever must and will be acknowledged 
 that, with all his inattentions, the path he took to fame was un- 
 unquestionably his own — original and legitimate : He appears to 
 have been the first English master that had courage to quit the dull 
 unvarying routine in rural painting, and from more profound and 
 accurate observations of Nature, to give distinct characteristics 
 and original varieties to his cottagery, and to the furniture and 
 circumstances with which his best works are so eminently enriched : 
 His woodmen, shepherds, dairy -maids, cottage-children, pigs, dogs, 
 fallen timber, leafless stumps, thorny and bramble fences, and 
 other incidents of rural oeconomy, have the full merit of originality, 
 both in the selection and in the combination. 
 
 f " Nor yet unenvied to whose humbler lot 
 «' Falls the retired antiquated cot : 
 " It's roof with reeds and mosses cover'd o'er, 
 " And honey-suckles climbing round the door ; 
 « While mantling vines along it's walls are spread, 
 ^' And dust'ring ivy decks the chimney's head." 
 
 THE LANDSCAPE; a Poem. 
 
( 8 ) 
 
 The course of practice pursued by this very eminent and 
 valuable artist, affords an important lesson to the student of paint- 
 ing : His earliest essays, of which I have had the pleasure of ex- 
 amining a great number, appear to have been as exactly imitative 
 as possible, and to have been executed with the most careful and 
 laborious precision : The consequence of which was — a rapid ad- 
 vancement to that stile of broad and comprehensive pencilling 
 which distinguish his mature works ; in which the full effect of 
 high -finishing is produced by a few broad and simple dashes — aji 
 effect which those never can accomplish who begin with broad- 
 pencilling, as a principle which they suppose should f recede practice, 
 and not follo-w, as the result of it. 
 
 Cottage-scenery may be divided into two classes, namely, 
 the neat, and the neglected: 
 
 It is a maxim that in poverty, nothing will more easily, or 
 more universally excite the attentions of benevolence, than the ap- 
 pearance of neatness and cleanliness: The regular, white- 
 washed or new brick wall — the glaring red chimney-pot — the 
 even-thatch'd roof— the equi-distant groups of sweet pea — 
 and the jasmin prudishly trimmed up into solid columns and 
 cubes, stiff as a chimney, and hiding perhaps some pictoresque 
 feature — the square border of flowers planted in exact angles and 
 carefully preserved to deck the church-going damsel on Sundays — 
 the oven, exhibiting a smooth unvarying surface of dead plaster, or 
 decked only with a vine pruned into deformity — the bright 
 
C 9 ) 
 
 yellow foot-path, straight as a line — all tend to impress an idea of 
 frugal proprete, and will be sure to call forth the praises of the 
 good housewife and the thrifty (economist: But it is nothing to 
 the artist: As good housewives, or as thrifty agronomists we admit 
 that it is all very well ; but we then turn from this neatness 
 and regularity, to what ive must esteem a far more profitable 
 subject — the neglected fast -ruinating cottage — the patched 
 plaster, of various tints and discolorations, which, like the 
 garments of Otway's witch, shall 
 
 " Seem to speak variety of wretchedness" 
 — the weather-beaten thatch, bunchy and varied with moss — the 
 mutilated chimney top — the fissures and crevices of the inclining 
 wall — the roof of various angles and inclinations — the tiles of 
 different hues — the fence of bungling workmanship — the wild un- 
 restrained vine, whose "gadding" branches nearly deprive the cham- 
 bers of their wonted light — the paper-pasted casement, with here 
 and there a wisp of straw stuffed through a broken pane — the 
 decayed bee -hive and the broken basket — the fragment of a chair 
 or bench — the slatternry of tubs and dishes scattered about the door 
 — the mischievous pranks of ragged children — the intrusion of pigs 
 — and the unrepaired accidents of wind and rain — offer far greater 
 allurements to the painter's eye, than more neat, regular or 
 formal aiTangements could possibly have done: 
 
( lo ) 
 
 On these ideas, such as they are, I have endeavored to exhibit, 
 in the following etchings, as much variety of subject and effect as 
 the extent of my design, and of my humble abilities, admitted: 
 They are all from Nature, and indeed some of them were etched 
 on the spot ; though, notwithstanding the pains I have taken with 
 them, I must beg leave to repeat that I am well aware they may 
 still be charged with many faults. 
 
( " ) 
 
 ON STUDY. 
 
 NEATNESS and accuracy of outline are first to be observed : 
 A Avant of accuracy and propriety in the lines of a drawing, 
 may give more offence to the judgment than can be expiated by the 
 utmost diligence and felicity in filing them up : The best works of 
 art should be copied with close attention ; for it is by attending to 
 the best painters that oiu: taste is equally formed with that of the 
 student in literature who studies the classics: Acquainted with the 
 modes by which the most eminent artists have expressed their con- 
 ceptions, we view Nature with more delight, and come to perceive 
 more beauties in her, and tliose more readilj^ than we possibly can 
 by studying merely on our own individual stock : It is also necessary 
 for us to attend to the best -writers on the arts ; and to this intention, 
 the justly -celebrated " Analysis of beauty," by Hogarth, appears 
 to me to be the most comprehensive and decisive work that has 
 been produced on the doctrine oi forms; and the best adapted to 
 the gi-eat purpose of distinguishing pictoresque beauty from that 
 which is not so, and which consequently is to be always rejected 
 when no particular exigence requires that it should be retained : Sir 
 Joshua Reynolds, who has treated of painting in a more abstract, 
 and therefore, to learners, I apprehend, in a less practical mode 
 
( 12 ) 
 
 of instruction, calls it "the art of seeing Nature" — a phrase 
 which, with equal force and felicity, compresses the whole theory 
 of the science into a single expression ; but which cannot be use- 
 fully understood, but as it's import results to the mind from the 
 necessary previous details of study and practice. 
 
 In selecting from Nature the objects to be depicted in rural 
 
 landscape, the best advice I can offer is that you retire into the 
 
 inmost recesses of forests, and most obscnrp and unfrequented 
 
 villages: The former will supply the most various models for trees, 
 
 underwoods, plants and foliage, whether perfect and living, or 
 
 mutilated and in decay ; and the latter, with the simplest and most 
 
 artless forms of houses, bridges, gates, barns, fences, and other 
 
 rural structures : In such situations too, you will be equally sure 
 
 of finding the chastest tints; and in general the happiest choice and 
 
 combinations of natural coloring: On the remote wild common — 
 
 on the straggling undetermined borders of the forest — or in the 
 
 silent sequestered dell, you shall find, unguarded, the richest 
 
 treasures of pictoresque Nature — the antient, feeble, roof-oppressed 
 
 hovel, fenced with various patches of brick and stone and mud- 
 
 mix'd wall with quick hedge — stakes and rails, and wreathings 
 
 composed of the stubborn thorn and the pliant willow, here and there 
 
 again subdivided, or still more boldly relieved by a bush of smiling 
 
 May-thorn, or of the luxuriant-shooting alder — with those little 
 
 creeping, rugged paths, stealing into obscurity beneath the umbrage 
 
 of the blossomed orchard, or among bunches of alternate furze and 
 
 briar, fringed with the dock, the thistle and the various-tinted fern ; 
 
( 13 ) 
 
 and trod by the wandering ass, or silent-browsing sheep : Situa- 
 tions like these, afford not only the richest objects and contrasts 
 crouded in luxuriant varieties, but also (which is at least of equal 
 importance) the advantage of that silent serenity in which you may 
 most successfully study and comprehend your objects, indulge your 
 feelings, and eifect your purposes. 
 
 In the theory of rural scenes, so much is irregularity of parts 
 a contituent of beauty, that it may very nearly be said that equality 
 Is deformity : Avoid therefore all tame geometrical forms, as of un- 
 qualifiedly-straight, circular or angular lines, not absolutely neces- 
 sary to truth or variety ; and if you find your subject infested by 
 any such, break or evade them by some natural occurrence : Learn 
 betimes to abhor the practice of clipping the noble and graceful 
 elm into the sordid shape of a mop, or a broom ; the fence of sprightly 
 aspiring hawthorn into an absurd vegetable wall ; and the solemn 
 yew tree into fantastic imitations of a flower-de-luce, a game cock 
 or a green dragon ! Remember you have nothing to do with these 
 abominations but to despise them. 
 
( H ) 
 
 OF FREEDOMS TO BE TAKEN WITH NATURE 
 
 AS there are but few Scenes of which the precise, entire and 
 unqualified image will form a picture, the pictoresque artist 
 is at liberty not only to introduce, or to leave out ^art\cnla.T features, 
 as a tree, a hog-trough, or a pig-sty — to deck a hovel with honey - 
 suckle — change the shape, or the position of a casement — ^break stiff 
 and formal lines, or reduce the too great predominancy of any par- 
 ticular object in the piece, but likewise to change the colors of his 
 thatch, bricks, wood, or any object or circumstance by which his 
 picture may be filled with greater variety, happier combinations, 
 or more perfect harmony. 
 
 With the topographical draughtsman, it is, in this respect, totally 
 different : He must copy every circumstance exhibited to his view — 
 the very color of his bricks, and the exact shape of his ornaments : 
 He is not at liberty to dispense with an awkward co-incidence of 
 trees, or of cliimnies — an improbable door — a senseless monotony 
 of wall — or an eye-fatiguing expanse of roof: Every absurdity, 
 as well as beauty, must be faithfully depicted, or his drawings 
 will not hand down to posterity that local and particular truth, 
 which it is expressly his business and purpose to transmit. 
 
( »5 ) 
 
 OF LIGHT AND SHADE. 
 
 THE Effects of light and shade are to be attributed to 
 accidents innumerable ; so that every draughtsman may intro- 
 duce that effect which he thinks most suitable to his purpose ; If 
 he has a particularly-beautiful part to describe, his light may strike 
 forcibly upon it: If a deformity — shade, or some better object 
 may be contrived, to keep it in obscurity. 
 
 Upon contemplating pictures by the best masters, particularly 
 those by Rembrandt, I have observed that the principal light is 
 most frequently placed near the middle of the scene; and that 
 above two-thirds of the picture are in shadow : The fine picture 
 called " The Cradle ", now in the collection of Mr. Knight, 
 confirms this remark. 
 
 Two distinct, equal lights, should never appear in the 
 same picture : One should be principal, and the rest sub-ordi- 
 nate, both in dimension and degree : Unequal parts and gradations 
 
V i6 ) 
 
 lead the attention easily from part to part, while parts of equal ap- 
 pearance hold it awkardly suspended, as if unable to determine 
 which of those parts is to be considered as the subordinate. "And 
 " to give the utmost force and solidity to your work, some part of 
 " the picture should be as light, and some as dark as possible: 
 " These two extremes are then to be harmonized and reconciled 
 " to each other." * 
 
 Analogous to this " Rule of thirds ", ( if I may be allowed 
 so to call it ) I have presumed to think that, in connecting or in 
 breaking the various lines of a picture, it would likewise be a good 
 rule to do it, in general, by a similar scheme of proportion ; for 
 example, in a design of landscape, to determine the sky at about 
 two-thirds ; or else at about one-third, so that the material objects 
 might occupy the other two : Again, two thirds of one element, 
 ( as of water ) to one third of another element ( as of land ) ; and 
 then both together to make but one third of the picture, of which 
 the two other thirds should go for the sky and serial perspectives — ■ 
 This rule would likewise apply in breaking a length of wall, or any 
 other too great continuation of line that it may be found necessary 
 to break by crossing or hiding it with some other object : In short, 
 in applying this invention, generally speaking, to any other case, 
 whether of light, shade, form, or color, I have found the ratio of 
 about tvifo thirds to one third, or of one to two, a much better 
 and more harmonizing proportion, than the precise formal half, the 
 
 * RtYNOLDs's Annot. on Du Fresnoy. 
 
( n ) 
 
 too-far-extending four-fifths — and, in short, than any other pro- 
 portion whatever. I should think myself honored by the opinion of 
 any gentleman on this point ; but until I shall be better informed, 
 shall conclude this general proportion of two and one to be the most 
 piftoresque medium in all cases of breaking or otherwise qualifying 
 straight lines and masses and groupes, as Hogarth's line is agreed 
 to be the most beautiful, (or, in other words, the most pictoresque) 
 medium of curves. 
 
( is ) 
 
 OF COLORING. 
 
 EVERY painter knows that a glare of ivhite hurts his eyes 
 while he is painting ; and indeed the common observer per- 
 ceives that snow is more or less painful to his sight, when he first 
 gets into it ; And all bright metals and polished bodies which reflect 
 the sun's image the most perfectly, are likewise more or less painful 
 to look at : So that even from these observations, remote as they 
 seem from the subject, we may infer the impropriety of high glaring 
 colors, and of sudden and unqualified sparkles of light, in painting ; 
 such as we have frequently occasion to regret in the elegant produc- 
 tions of Pynaker. 
 
 It is related of Mr. Whiston, that while he was at Cambridge 
 in 1686, his eyes had been weakened by inadvertently reading much 
 in a room newly whitened, and which happened to be much exposed 
 to the direct influence of the sun ; but that by covering this white 
 surface \v\\h green cloth, he soon recovered his former tone of sight: 
 That green is the most cheering and salutary color to the eye, is 
 well known, not only upon the common consideration that the 
 
( 19 ) 
 
 Creator (of his usual beneficence) has every where inserted it to 
 meet the most natural and usual direction of the eye, but likewise 
 from the sensible experience of all eyes, especially weak ones : The 
 shades or degrees of this color, as it is distributed in nature, are 
 innumerable ; and considering that it's genus bears so large a pro- 
 portion to the other colors (which nature seems to have devised and 
 distributed rather for the occasional diversion of our sight than for its 
 constant exercise) ought to be diligently studied and imitated in the 
 manual practice. 
 
 The beauty of a painting undoubtedly consists much in the 
 beauty of its coloring; and that, as I have endeavored to assert, 
 cannot consist in violent contrasts, or in sudden sparks and eruptions 
 (as one may call them) of bright and unqualified masses. Why 
 do painters observe a rule in setting their faitet ? The origin of the 
 practice was not merely arbitrary : It is founded in the Science of 
 their art : They know that the color of every object in Nature is to 
 be painted as partaking more or less of the color of the objects to 
 which it stands exposed ; and the convenient order of the grada - 
 tions in which the colors are laid on the pallet, is but the pattern or 
 rudiment of that chromatic gradation and harmony intended in 
 the picture. 
 
 Of the mechanic of colors, and of their different qualities and 
 powers in application to painting, the most intelligent and satis- 
 factory account that I know, is given in a late work (attributed to 
 Mr. Charles Gower, of Oriel college) intitled '■'■A practical treatise 
 '•_^ on painting in oil colors" — printed for B. and J. White, Fleet-street. 
 
( '^o ) 
 
 OF PERSPECTIVE. 
 
 ON this head — the ultimate attainment in drawing being to give 
 a faithful and accurate resemblance of the object, it is suffi- 
 cient to the scheme of this work to say, that I humbly think, the 
 mensuration of the objects to be painted, or of the relative propor- 
 tions of their distances one from another, and of one part of them 
 from another, will be more successfully attained by diligent and 
 continued observation of the objects themselves, and by comparing 
 them with your drawings, and attempts to imitate them, than by 
 technical geometry : It was very nearly the saying of some eminent 
 master, that " the painter's geometry should be in his eye : " How- 
 ever, since both the eye and every other faculty, are so materially 
 different in different persons, recourse may certainly be had to the 
 books which aim to facilitate this branch of the art by geometric 
 rules, by those who are disposed to study them ; or who find they 
 cannot acquire the proposed habit of accuracy, by observation: I 
 have read many of these books ; but that which, in my opinion, has 
 treated technical perspective with the most intelligence and perspi- 
 cuity, is the work of Daniel Fournier a painter — a very ingenious 
 man; but whose other necessary avocations [of cook, and shoemaker 
 
 # 
 
( 21 ) 
 
 and I know not what besides) having unhappily hindered his pro- 
 gress in litei'ature, he has not always expressed his precepts accu- 
 rately : His meaning, however, is not often difficult to understand : 
 He writes with force, and has an easy aptitude of ideas ; and the 
 diagrams and examples by which his precepts are illustrated, are, 
 to the best of my knowledge and taste, original and amusing. 
 
( 22 ) 
 
 ORIGINAL ETCHERS OF RURAL SCENERY 
 
 TH E most eminent artists of this description, I believe, 
 are John Both, Everdingen, Kobell, Rembrandt, 
 RuYSDAEL, SwANEVELDT, Weirotter, and WATERLOO ; and 
 the grand landscapes of Claude, Rubens, and PoussiN, 
 may be perused with equal profit for comprehensive effect — a 
 principle which attaches as necessarily to the lowest, as to the 
 highest orders of painting. Those of my readers who enjoy 
 the blessing of an affectionate parent, and a sincere friend, in 
 an honest and worthy man, will here indulge me, I hope, in 
 paying some little tribute of ^/ia/ gratitude : The best specimens 
 of prints by the masters above-named, that have come to my 
 knowledge, are in that very large collection possessed by my 
 father, Mr. Nathaniel Smith, Print-seller, in May's Buildings 
 — a collection which, having been made by one so eminent 
 both as an artist and sculptor, and of so extensive knowledge 
 and experience in the graphic arts, is probably the most consider- 
 able one in London. 
 
( 23 ) 
 
 ■< I 
 
 OF CONNECTING OBJECTS, AND SELECTING THOSE ONLY 
 WHICH SHALL BE SUIIABLE TO THEIR STATIONS. 
 
 SHOULD we see a lady richly dressed, In the act of hoeing 
 turnips, or carrying a load of fish, we should certainly be 
 intitled to an excuse for wondering and being puzzled at the 
 phenomenon: But seeing the same elegant object at a cottage- 
 door, benevolently engaged in advising, consoling, or assist- 
 ing a distressed family, we should instantly perceive a pro- 
 priety of action, and a probable combination of circumstances ; 
 and the expanding heart would be hurried into a train of 
 grateful ideas, before a thought could be bestowed on the 
 mechanism by which it was effected. 
 
 Nothing perhaps claims a greater share of attention from 
 the artist than propriety of place: In this particular, tlfe Dutch 
 masters, though not alone, have probably been the most 
 eminent offenders: It has been objected to a picture said to 
 have been painted by a most illustrious master, and represent- 
 ing Christ and the disciples at Emaus, that the personages are 
 seated in an elegant arbor, in circumstances of the highest 
 liixury; and at the moment of our Lord's breaking the bread, 
 
( M ) 
 
 a dog and cat ai'e exhibited in the middle of the foreground, fight' 
 ing for a hone — An incident so extremely sordid and contemptible, 
 that I should be very willing to believe those writers misinformed 
 who have attributed this performance to the divine Raphael: 
 Had Mr. West suffered such an indecorum to disgrace his 
 noble picture of the last supper, in Windsor-chapel, the out- 
 rages he has sustained from some violent critics, would have 
 been justly merited. 
 
 To this head — of suiting every object to its place and cir- 
 cumstances — I must beg leave to be indulged in referring to a 
 picture of the supposed circumstances of the death of Chatterton,"!" 
 painted by Mr. Cranch under the very uncommon predicament of 
 having taught himself the art of painting in oil, after he was 
 thirty six years of age: In this curious and interesting little 
 piece, designed to represent an event, which will be lamented 
 while there is any sense of excellence, or any feeling of pity, 
 in the heart of man, every object and incident is cautiously 
 excluded which bears the least semblance of ease or consolation, 
 or which has the least tendency to divert mental pain, while 
 every image of misery is combined to awaken sympathy and 
 
 point regret A wretched garret — bare and ragged walls — a 
 
 patched casement — the "beggarly account of empty boxes" — 
 scattered fragments of literature — mean and rent garments — the 
 
 + In the possession of Sm James Wintir Lakej Bart, at his seat at Edmonton; who has 
 been pleased to honor it with particular notice. j 
 
{ 25 ) 
 
 miserable flock bed — the horrid indications of poison — and every 
 symptom of despair! Perhaps the image of youthful genius, 
 hurried on to misery by a proud consciousness of its own powers 
 and claims on the world, and struggling it's last under the 
 combined tortures of oppression , and of the most violent bodily 
 pain, could not have been more forcibly or feelingly expressed : 
 It was remarked to me by an ingenious gentleman, that the 
 chilly coloring of this picture was happily appropriate to the senti- 
 ments suggested by the subject. I knew nothing of this artist, 
 'till the merit and circumstances of his original essay 
 induced me to seek a friendship which I shall ever hold it an 
 honor to retain. 
 
 Having had the foregoing occasion to mention Chatterton, 
 I am sorry to observe that the public has lately been imposed 
 upon in a very unwarrantable and audacious manner, by an ugly 
 goggle-ey'd portrait, prefix'd to some periodical publication, 
 and asserted to be a hkeness of Thomas Chatterton, by the 
 very persons who have confessed it to be a mere fabrication, and 
 (for any thing that is now known) destitute of any resemblance 
 whatever. 
 
 I now proceed to communicate a few other facts which I hope 
 may not be unacceptable to the collectors of prints. 
 
( 26 ) 
 
 The printsellers exhibited, for sometime, a portrait of a 
 Mr. Pond : The booksellers, who were publishing a spurious 
 edition of Peter Pindar's works, thought this a fit opportunity 
 to prefix to that edition, this very indentical head of Mr. Pond, 
 as the true effigy of — "the satyrist of the age!" 
 
 A few hours after De la motte, the french spy, wao execu- 
 ted, a portrait of him was etched and published, which sold very 
 rapidly : When Mr. Hackman was executed for the murder of 
 Miss Ray, the accommodating artist of De la motte, clapp'd 
 on a black patch to the forehead of his hero ; and without further 
 ceremony, dished up to the public, a french spy, for an unhappy 
 englishman — the lover and destroyer of Miss Ray ! 
 
 I am informed of another portrait print of an eminent York- 
 sJiire Clothier, that, after having seen considerable service under 
 the title of General Putnam, and (since) as an American 
 Secretary at war, by the name of General Knox, has at present 
 the honor of representing his excellency George Washington! 
 
 The operation of extracting three generals, and a secretaiy 
 at war, out of one Yorkshire clothier, is so extraordinary, if true, 
 that I shall undoubtedly be excused from giving any more exam- 
 ples of this species of graphic ceconomy. 
 
 The nickname of Pot as the engraver of a plate of the por- 
 trait of Miss Baldwin, after a picture painted by Mr. Kettle, 
 was occasioned by an altercation between the painter and the en- 
 graver — the former insisting that the name of Kettle should not 
 
( 27 ) 
 
 stand with that of Houston, who thereupon (humorously enough) 
 substituted the fictitious name of Pot opposite to that of Kettle, in 
 aUusion to the vulgar proverb.* 
 
 Those Prints in Bromley's work, which are distinguished by 
 the signature of Paul, were etched by the ingenious Mr. Samuel 
 De Wilde, from drawings copied by him from his Majesty's 
 Clarendon, for the late earl of Bute: The artist, being then young, 
 was diffident of giving his own name to the public, and therefore 
 authorized the publisher to put any name he thought proper : In 
 Sir James Lake's valuable collection of english portraits, are 
 many of these drawings by De Wilde, which have never 
 been engraved. 
 
 • From the information of Mr. Charles Phillips, Engraver of the channing print of 
 Tycho fighting the evil-spirits, from a picture by De Loutherbourg. 
 
 FINIS 
 
 PRINTED 
 
 BY 
 
 JOSEPH DOWNES, 
 
 NEAR TEMPLE BAR, 
 
 LONDON. 
 
Ow SroTii.ANO Gkf.kit, Fors'DF. n's-E:>'ii). 
 
.,y. 
 
 
^L^ lauti &^. S>ta,ia,tf«cHu J,zi-:Ancai; 
 
 Sna^-a/ver of M^ J^^UiaeuAeJ cf^/atM&m &'e^iifermu 
 
 
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IIT IBTTRY STREET, EDMOinrOM. 
 
KEAR. JACK STItAW'S CASTTLiE,H:AMPSTEA]D) HEATH. 
 ZondorLjiJhJuruijgj,6yKSmUk,SemJminJjjHmdQtM<i^sSmlJmgs,S'ManaisI.am,i!lT.Smiih.Jf!'4i:^^ Soke. 
 

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 Jit^'*^ June ryqy,//Y7\r.Si*Ui^.Jiemi'retn(itj J:f^£i£/^.0*May> BitiiJih^.S^^iB<i'rtj/^o*e. 
 

 
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 At P O WDE R'S -TF.Wm). near EK"FIE ILH) , 
 
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 AT COBIHIAM:, SlTKREY. 
 
 
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 near lElDMOI^'TOK C]EIIIB.C]E[ . 
 
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:S"]EAR BATT]LE, BIRIIDGJE^MII&TDT 
 
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 JCEAR CHEJLSIEA BMIDGE. 
 
 J.ofu^t.ItiA'Jam ijg'^,fy\^.SmiiAM.0n,6njmlci-Siadrj(x2d£^Saitd(ngs.St^ Street, Jc^y 
 
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 Jm gmee:^- Stkeet, ei^^iieild highway. 
 
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 XADY PXOMKK'i: P^\ I. ACE, on the summu of HA^^K^'S lilLI. WOOO, Ki'PING Y OV.Y.'^T .9^-''^.^^^' '-^r^'^'ff.-^'^'-^i' 
 
SUBSCRIBERS. 
 
 Lady Affleck 
 Thomas Allen, Esq. 
 Mrs. Allen 
 Mrs. Adder ton 
 Miss Ayton 
 
 B 
 
 His Grace the Duke of Bedford, 
 
 2 Copies 
 Right Hon. Sir John Blaquiere, 
 
 Bart. 
 Lady Burrell 
 
 Wm. Bentham, Esq. F. A. S. 
 Henry Bennett, Esq. 
 William Blake, Esq. 
 Miss Blake 
 Richard Bull, Esq. 
 Henry Berners, Esq. Holbrook 
 Thomas Boddam, Esq. 
 Mrs. Rawson Hart Boddam 
 John Bryan, Esq. 
 Michael Bryan, Esq. Pall 
 
 Mall, 2 Copies 
 Robei't Bradstreet, Esq. 
 
 Higham, Suffolk 
 Henry Buckley, Esq. 
 Michael Bowman, Esq. 
 John Butler, Esq. 
 
 Brett, Esq. 
 
 Mrs. Bignell 
 
 C 
 
 Mrs. Cobbold, Ipswich 
 Lewis Corkran, Esq. 
 John Constable, Esq. 2 Copies 
 Mr. John Cranch, Fellow of the 
 American Society of Arts 
 Mr. Clarke 
 Mr. Cock, Gen. Post Office 
 
 D 
 
 Col. Dowdeswell, M. P. 
 Daniel Daulby, Esq. Liverpool 
 John Davenport, Esq. 
 Mrs. Dorin, Edmonton 
 Mr. Joseph Downes 
 
 E 
 
 Mr. George Engleheart, Mini- 
 ature Painter 
 
 William Francks, Esq. Beach 
 Hill, Hadley 
 
 G 
 
 James Gubbins, Esq. 
 
 Charles Gardner, Esq. 
 
 Thomas Gayfere, Esq. Black- 
 heath 
 
 Rev. William Graham, Epsom, 
 Surrey 
 
 William Garbett, Esq. Here- 
 ford 
 
 Mr. Charles Greenwood, En- 
 field, Mills 
 
 H 
 
 Sir Richard Colt Hoare, Bart. 
 
 F. A. S. 
 Lady Hoare 
 Mrs. Felton Hervey 
 John Horsley, Esq. 
 Miss Hurlock, Dedham, Essex 
 James Halls, Esq. Colchester 
 
 Humble, Esq. 
 
 Mr. John Hughes 
 
 Mr. John Hammond, Surgeon, 
 
 Enfield 
 Mr. Hill 
 
SUBSCRIBERS. 
 
 I 
 
 Col.. Johnes, M. P. 
 
 K 
 
 Michael Kean, Esq. 
 
 Mr. Alexander Mc Kenzie, 
 
 Portrait Modeller 
 Mr. Thomas King, Jun. 
 
 L 
 
 Sir James Winter Lake, Bart. 
 F. A. S. 
 
 Lady Lake 
 
 Mrs. Luther 
 
 Mr. Robert Leemlng 
 
 M 
 
 Lord Vise. Maynard 
 
 Lord Vise. Maiden 
 
 Matthew Michell, Esq. 
 F. S. A. 
 
 Joseph Musgrave, Esq. 
 
 Mrs. William Mason, Col- 
 chester 
 
 Mr. Henry Morland 
 
 O 
 
 Mrs. Ormsby 
 
 P 
 Miss Pocock 
 Capt. John Peyton 
 John Pasley, Esq. 
 Mr. Pyme 
 
 R 
 
 Rev. Herbert Randolph, 
 F. A. S. Wimbledon 
 Mr. P. Rogers, Colchester 
 Mr. William Reynolds 
 Mr. S. W. Reynolds, Engraver 
 Mr. John Richter, Engraver 
 
 Mrs. Stephenson, Farley Hill, 
 Reading 
 
 Mrs. Slack 
 
 Miss Sake 
 
 John Snell, Esq. 
 
 Christopher Strotoff, Esq. En- 
 - field 
 
 Benjamin Strutt, Esq. Col- 
 chester 
 
 Mr. Strutt, Deptford 
 
 Mr. Thomas Shaw 
 
 T 
 
 Sterne Tighe, Esq. F. A. S. 
 Mrs. Townshend, Busbridge, 
 
 Godalming, Surrey 
 Mrs. Tatem, Edmonton 
 Mr. Tunnard, Bank Side 
 Mr. Thane 
 
 W 
 
 Benjamin West, Esq. Histori- 
 cal painter to His Majesty, 
 and President of the Royal 
 Academy 
 
 Richard Wyatt, Esq. Milton 
 Place, Egham, 2 Copies 
 
 Edgell Wyatt, Esq. 
 
 Mrs. Isabella Wyatt, Grinstead 
 Place, Sussex, 2 Copies 
 
 Mrs. Frances Wyatt 
 
 Mrs. Wigston, Trent Park 
 
 Mrs. Whaley 
 
 Mrs. Williamson, Edmonton 
 
 David Pike Watts, Esq. 
 
 George Whitehead, Esq. Ban- 
 ker 
 
 Mr. Williams, Architect, 
 South-End, Essex 
 
 Mr. George Wilson, Engraver 
 
 Lady Shuldham 
 
 William Frederick Zincke, Esq. 
 
roAu 
 
 
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