"Nec non oppidi natalis, dicti Plympton, Comitatu Devon præfectus, Justiciarius, morumque censor."

After the disfranchisement of the borough of Plympton, the above portrait of Reynolds was sold by the Corporation. Haydon says: "It was offered to the National Gallery, and ignorantly refused:" it was purchased by the Earl of Egremont for 150l., and is now at his seat, Silverton, near Exeter. There are several copies of this picture at Plympton. Sir Joshua painted a similar portrait of himself, which he gave to his pupil Northcote: it was sold in 1816, for 56l. 14s.

Soon after Sir Joshua's election, it happened that he was walking with a party of friends in Hampton Court gardens, when they suddenly and unexpectedly met the King, accompanied by some of the Royal Family; and as His Majesty saw Reynolds, it was impossible to withdraw. The King called Sir Joshua to him, and in conversation said he was informed of the office he was soon to be invested with, that of Mayor of his native town. Sir Joshua assured His Majesty of the truth of the statement, saying that it was an honour which gave him more pleasure than any other he had ever received in his life, but, recollecting himself, he immediately added, "except that which your Majesty was graciously pleased to confer upon me," alluding to his knighthood.

"THE STRAWBERRY GIRL."

It was Reynolds's opinion that no man ever produced more than half a dozen original works in his whole life-time; and when he painted "The Strawberry Girl," he said, "This is one of my originals." This picture was painted in 1773 for the Earl of Carysfort. It was for many years in the collection of Mr. Rogers, that nonagenarian bard, who was in full manhood when Reynolds was still in health and activity; and who lived with and outlived three generations of poets and artists. After Mr. Rogers's death, in 1855, "The Strawberry Girl" was sold; and as an instance of the extraordinary rise in the value of really standard productions of the English school, this work, for which the Earl of Carysfort paid 50 guineas, was, in 1856, acquired by the Marquis of Hertford for 22057., or forty-two times the original price.

"Reynolds depicted, (says Dr. Waagen,) the youthful bloom and artless manner of children with admirable effect. This it is that makes his celebrated Strawberry Girl so attractive.

With her hands simply folded, a basket on her arm, she stands in her white frock, and looks full at the spectator with her fine large eyes. The admirable impasto, the bright golden tone, clear as Rembrandt, and the dark landscape background, have a striking effect." Sir Joshua looked upon this as one of his best pictures.

COUNT UGOLINO.

In 1773, Reynolds painted Count Ugolino aud his Children in the Dungeon, as described by Dante in the 33rd Canto of the Inferno, against which Walpole wrote, in his catalogue of the Exhibition, "most admirable." This picture, (says Cotton,) was bought by the Duke of Dorset for 400 guineas, and is now at Knowle. It is generally supposed that the head of Count Ugolino was painted from White, the paviour; but Walpole says it was a study from an old beggarman, who had so fine a head that Sir Joshua chose him for the father, in his picture from Dante. Miss Gwatkin and Northcote corroborate this origin. Northcote says, the head was painted previous to the year 1771, and finished on a halflength canvas, in point of expression exactly as it now stands --but without any intention on the part of Sir Joshua of making it the subject of an historical composition. Being exposed to view in the picture-gallery, with the painter's other works, it caught the eye of Goldsmith, who immediately exclaimed that it was the precise countenance and expression of Count Ugolino, as described by Dante.*

Another portrait or study, (continues Cotton,) from the head of the same old beggar, was exhibited by Sir Joshua in the following year, as a Captain of Banditti, which Walpole remarked was painted in the style of Salvator Rosa; and that there were in the same Exhibition, several pictures by different artists, from Reynolds's beggar-man.

This picture is said to have affected Captain Cooke's Omiah so much, that he imagined it a scene of real distress, and ran to support the expiring child.

The Banished Lord, in the National Gallery, and Dionysius, the Areopagite, in the possession of Mr. Bentley, were likewise painted from the same model; and it seems very probable that White the paviour, and the old beggar-man, were identical.

By others, Burke is said to have suggested the picture to Sir Joshua.

REYNOLDS REBUKED BY GOLDSMITH.

When the anti-infidel, Dr. Beattie, used to harangue the "ale-house in Gerard-street," against the Voltaire and Hume philosophy, great was the vexation of Goldsmith at the adhesion of Reynolds to the Scotch professor. This was the only grave difference that had ever been between them; and it is honourable to the poet that it should have arisen on that incident in the painter's life which has somewhat tarnished his fame. Reynolds accompanied Beattie to Oxford; partook with him in an honorary degree of civil law; and on his return painted his fellow doctor in Oxonian robes, with the Essay on Truth under his arm, and at his side the angel of Truth overpowering and chasing away the demons of Infidelity, Sophistry, and Falsehood; the last represented by the plump and broad-backed figure of Hume, the first by the lean and piercing face of Voltaire. "It is unworthy of you," said Goldsmith to Sir Joshua, and his 'fine rebuke will outlast the silly picture," "to debase so high a genius as Voltaire before so mean a writer as Beattie. Beattie and his book will be forgotten in ten years, while Voltaire's fame will last for ever. Take care it does not perpetuate this picture, to the shame of such a man as you." Reynolds persisted, notwithstanding the protest; but was incapable of any poor resentment of it. He produced the same year, at Goldsmith's suggestion, his painting of Ugolino.-Forster's Life of Goldsmith, pp. 666-7.

GOLDSMITH'S EPITAPH ON REYNOLDS.

In these last lines, on which Goldsmith is said to have been engaged when his fatal illness seized him, was the gratitude of a life. They will help to keep Reynolds immortal:

Here Reynolds is laid, and, to tell you my mind,

He has not left a wiser or better behind.

His pencil was striking, resistless, and grand;
His manners were gentle, complying, and bland;
Still born to improve us in every part,

His pencil our faces, his manners our heart.

To coxcombs averse, yet most civilly steering,

When they judged without skill, he was still hard of hearing:
When they talked of their Raphaels, Correggios, and stuff,

He shifted his trumpet, and only took snuff.

By flattery unspoiled * * *

The Retaliation.

It is not unpleasing to think that Goldsmith's hand should have been tracing that unfinished line, when illness struck the pen from it for ever.

REYNOLDS AND BARRY.

Sir Joshua, supreme head as he was of the Royal Academy, was doomed to vexations; but his sagacious spirit and tranquil temper brought him off triumphant. Barry differed with Reynolds in everything but his admiration of Michael Angelo. Barry had become Professor of Painting, but having neglected to deliver the stipulated lectures, Reynolds, in performance of his duty as President, inquired if they were composed. Barry, a consequential little man, rose on tiptoe, and clenching his fist, exclaimed, "If I had only in composing my lectures to produce such poor mistaken stuff as your Discourses, I should have my work done, and ready to read." To reply suited neither the dignity nor the caution of Reynolds, and his fiery opponent very properly received a large share of public censure for his offensive conduct.

MR. HONE, R.A. SATIRIZES SIR JOSHUA.

In 1775, Reynolds's pre-eminence drew upon him the envy of Nathaniel Hone, a miniature-painter, who, about this time, commenced oil-painting on a large scale. He did not succeed, and finding that Reynolds monopolised the chief patronage, Hone sent to the Exhibition a picture which he termed The Conjuror displaying his whole art of Optical Deception, intended as a satire upon Sir Joshua's method of composing his pictures. It was rejected with becoming scorn by the Academicians, as a malicious attack upon their President. Hone then determined to have his own Exhibition, and the Conjuror was shown in a great room nearly opposite New Slaughter's Coffee-house, in St. Martin's-lane. There was

introduced some indelicacy in the centre of the picture, in allusion to a slanderous report concerning Angelica Kauffman. This intention Hone denied: he, however, made out but a discreditable case; Nollekens refused to join him against Reynolds, adding: "you're always running your rigs against Sir Joshua; and you may say what you please, but I have never had any opinion of you ever since you painted that picture of the Conjuror, as you called it. I don't wonder they

turned it out of the Academy. And pray, what business had you to bring Angelica into it? You know it was your intention to ridicule her, whatever you, or your printed papers, or your affidavits may say: however, you may depend upon it, she won't forget it, if Sir Joshua does."

DESIGNS FOR THE OXFORD WINDOW.

In 1779, Sir Joshua sent to the Exhibition his picture of the Nativity, designed for the window of New College chapel, Oxford; and emblematical figures of Faith, Hope, and Charity. The grand piece of the Nativity was immediately purchased by the Duke of Rutland for 1,200 guineas, the Duke saying it was a larger price than was ever paid before for a picture painted in England. It was, unfortunately, destroyed by fire at Belvoir Castle, in 1816: it was engraved by Earlom. Two of the emblematical figures were subsequently purchased by the Earl of Normanton, at Lady Thomond's sale: Charity was bought for Lord Normanton for 1,575.; Justice for 1,1557. The easel of Sir Joshua was also sold on this occasion.

As a proof of the rapid increase in the value of Sir Joshua's works, Mr. Cotton states that the seven allegorical figures, and other compartments of the Oxford window, which (it is said) had been offered to a nobleman for 3007., were sold, after Reynolds's death, for upwards of 12,0007.

Walpole says: "Jarvis's Window, from Sir Joshua's Nativity, is glorious. The room being darkened and the sun shining through the transparencies, realised the illumination that is supposed to be diffused from the glory, and has a magic effect." But, at Oxford, Walpole states that the effect was just the reverse of the glorious appearance it made in the dark chambers in Pall Mall.

Again, he says of this window: "the old and the new are mismatched as an orange and a lemon, and destroy each other; nor is there room enough to retire back, and see half of the new; and Sir Joshua's washy 'Virtues' make the 'Nativity' a dark spot from the darkness of the Shepherds, which happened, as I knew it would, from most of Jarvis's colours not being transparent."

REYNOLDS'S PORTRAIT OF SHERIDAN.

This fine portrait was engraved, in 1791, by John Hall, who was then living at No. 83, in Berwick-street, Soho. Raimbach, Hall's pupil, relates that Sheridan came twice or thrice during the engraving; "and," says Raimbach, "my