opened at the last page. In the foreground are a broken bow, a broken crown, and a worn out scrubbing-brush. On the right hand, opposite the tower, are a withered tree, an unroofed cottage, and a falling inn-sign of the World's End, on the globe bursting into flames. At the foot of the sign-post is the artist's own print of the Times, set on fire by an inch of candle. Near this are a cracked bell, a broken bottle, a worn-out broom, the stock of a musket, a rope's-end, a whip without its lash, a mutilated Ionic capital, and a painter's broken palette. In the distance are a man gibbeted in chains, and a ship foundering at sea; and in the firmament the moon is darkened by the death of Phoebus, who, with his lifeless coursers, lies extended on a cloud, his chariot wheels broken, and his light put out. "So far, so good," exclaimed Hogarth; "nothing remains but this," taking his pencil in a sort of prophetic fury, and dashing off the painter's broken palette. "Finis," cried he; "the deed is done-all is over!" On this print, the following epigram, ascribed to Churchhill, appeared in the Muse's Mirror: All must old Hogarth's gratitude declare And while his works hang round the Anarch's throne, DEATH OF HOGARTH. The last years of the painter's life appear to have been partly employed in retouching his plates, with the assistance of several engravers, whom he took with him to his house at Chiswick, which had hitherto long been his residence during the summer. "The change of scene," says Cunningham, "the free fresh air, and exercise on horseback, had for awhile a favourable influence on Hogarth's health; but he complained that he was no longer able to think with the readiness, and work with the elasticity of spirit, of his earlier years." Nevertheless, the powers of his humour did not forsake him. In one of his memorandum-books, he remarks: "I can safely assert that I have invariably endeavoured to make those about me tolerably happy; and my greatest enemy cannot say I ever did an intentional injury; though, without ostentation, I could produce many instances of men that have been essentially benefited by me. What may follow, God knows." This was written well-nigh the close of his life, and seems entitled to the respect of a rigid selfexamination. In the venomous attack which helped to bring his days to an end, Wilkes appears to have had the principal share in embittering the parting cup. Of him Hogarth wrote: "One, till now rather my friend and flatterer, attacked me in so infamous and malign a style, that he himself, when pushed even by his best friends, was driven to so poor an excuse as to say he was drunk when he wrote it. Being at that time very weak, and in a kind of slow fever, it could not but seize on a feeling mind." Nevertheless, Churchill's virulence must not be forgotten in the base account. Such was the state of the painter's health when, on October 25, 1764, he left Chiswick for his house in Leicester Fields: he was very weak, yet exceedingly cheerful: he was in that distressing state which is so frequent at the close of the life of a man of genius: nature was silently giving way; "his understanding continued clear, he had full possession of his mental faculties, but wanted the vigour to exert them." Next day, he replied to an agreeable letter which he had received from Dr. Franklin: it was but roughly written. Finding himself exhausted, he retired to bed: he had lain but a short time, when he was seized with a vomiting, and, starting up, rang the bell with such violence that he broke it in pieces. Mary Lewis,* his affectionate relative, who lived in the house, came and supported him in her arms, till, after two hours' suffering, he expired, from a suffusion of blood among the arteries of the heart. This is Allan Cunningham's account of Hogarth's last moments: it differs from that by Faulkner, who says that Hogarth, on retiring to bed on the night of the day on which he came from Chiswick, was suddenly taken ill, and expired in the space of two hours." + 66 Walpole, in a letter to Lord Hertford, thus records the painter's end: "Hogarth is dead, and Mrs. Spence, who lived with the Duchess of Newcastle."-This is characteristic of the cynic of Strawberry Hill. * Mary Lewis, who died in the year 1808, and is buried in Hogarth's vault at Chiswick, was the daughter of David Lewis, harper to George II. Her brother, John Lewis, married into the Clithero family, at Brentford, and is introduced, playing the flute, in one of the Marriage à la Mode pictures. Mary Lewis was the niece of Mrs. Hogarth, passed all her life in Hogarth's family, and acted as his confidențial shopwoman in the publication and sale of the Prints. Hogarth painted her portrait, and signed his name on the back of the canvas. Mary Lewis died a spinster; as did also Hogarth's sister, Anne. History of Chiswick, p. 448. TOMB OF HOGARTH. Hogarth was buried in an unostentatious manner in the south side of the churchyard at Chiswick; and some time after, a costly sculptured tomb was erected over the spot, and the expense defrayed by a subscription among his friends, at the instance of Garrick. The design consists of an altartomb, upon which is an attic, surmounted by a votive urn. On the north side of the tomb, in bas-relief, are a laurel wreath, rest-stick, a palette, pencils, a book inscribed Analysis of Beauty; a mask, a portfolio decorated with oak-leaves and acorns: beneath are inscribed the following lines by Garrick : "Farewell, great painter of mankind! Who reach'd the noblest point of art; If nature touch thee, drop a tear; For HOGARTH's honour'd dust lies here." These lines have been condemned as conventional: another, That drew the essential forms of grace; On the east side of the tomb is inscribed: "Here lieth the body of William Hogarth, esq., who died October 26th, 1764, aged 67 years. Mrs. Jane Hogarth, wife of William Hogarth, esq. Obiit 13th November, 1789, Etat 80 years." On the south side are the names and deaths of Hogarth's sister, Anne, aged 70; Mary Lewis, spinster, aged 88; and on the west side, Mrs. Hogarth's mother, Dame Judith Thornhill, aged 84 years. "Time will obliterate these inscriptions, and even the pyramid must crumble into dust, but Hogarth's fame is engraven on tablets which shall have longer duration than monumental marble." Arms: On the tomb-az. a sun in splendour for Hogarth, impaling arg. a chevron gules between, three blackbirds for Thornhill; there is also the coat for Thornhill, imp. per fesse az. and erm. a pale countercharged, three lions arg. Faulkner stated in 1845: "The tomb is still kept up by voluntary subscriptions of some of the worthy inhabitants of this parish, who take an interest in preserving this funereal memorial of the 'great painter of mankind.'" However, in 1851, the tomb was "gradually assuming a position which the first high wind may determine, and the monument be lost to us for ever." A mason confirmed this statement; the mischief having arisen from the sinking of the earth, incidental to churchyards. This was told to Mr. John Phillips, a descendant of the Hogarth family, who, in 1832, paid a mason 117. 14s. for extensive repairs done to the tomb. Through his uncle, Mr. Hart, many family portraits and other matters came into his (Phillips's) possession. The tomb was not, however, fully repaired until 1856, and then at the sole expense of Mr. Hogarth, of Aberdeen. The restoration was made in exact accordance with the original design. To secure the monument it was necessary to open the grave, when the plates were found on the other coffins, but not on Hogarth's coffin, which was much smaller than the rest. The painter's plate is thought to have been removed upon a former opening of the grave, about the year 1836. The few persons who witnessed the opening of the grave in 1856 saw the large coffin of Lady Thornhill; the still larger coffin of Hogarth's widow; and the "little" coffin of the great painter of mankind. One who was present assured the writer that he also saw "the torpid hand" of the painter of Marriage à la Mode, and the Harlot's Progress. While the above repairs were in progress, a great part of the garden-wall in the rear of Hogarth's house was blown down by the violence of the wind.—(H. T. Riley; Notes and Queries, ut ante.) HOGARTH'S HOUSE, AT CHISWICK. The great Painter long possessed a house at Chiswick, where he occasionally resided during the last twenty years of his life. It stood in the lane leading from Chiswick to the Horticultural Society's Gardens on the piers of the principal entrance was inscribed in capitals, "Hogarth's House.' Faulkner has roughly engraved the garden-front of the house, which has a projecting or bay window in the centre of the first-floor: he has also represented Hogarth's "workshop," at the western end of the premises. Mr. H. Riley, who visited the place in 1854, could not find in the house itself any memorials of the great artist; but another Correspondent of Notes and Queries, who spent a day or two in the house, in 1820, remembers a wainscoted room on the ground-floor, and faint traces of pen or pencil sketches on some of the panels. About twenty years later, Allan Cunningham described the buildings in the neighbourhood to have "choked up the garden, and destroyed the secluded beauty of Hogarth's cottage. The garden, well stored with walnut, mulberry, and apple trees, contained a small study, with a headstone placed over a favourite bulfinch, on which the artist had etched a bird's head and written an epitaph. The cottage contained many snug rooms, and was but yesterday the residence of a man of learning and genius-Mr. Cary, the translator of Dante."* Mr. Riley† writes: "on the lawn, in front of the house, there was (and is still, I think,) a very ancient mulberry-treee, which in Hogarth's time was struck by lightning, it is said; and the iron braces or girdles, by which it is held together, were made by his direction. In one corner of the garden there were two neat little tombs, with slabs inserted in the wall, in memory of two favourite dogs. On one of these was inscribed: "Alas! poor Dick!" with the date 1764. On the other slab was inscribed: "Life to the last enjoyed, here lies Pompey, 1790”—an evident adaptation of Churchill's epitaph at Dover. Mrs. Hogarth died in 1789; but the remembrance of the feud between Hogarth and Churchill seems by this not to have died away with the survivor of the Household! "Over the stable, a very limited abode for some two or three horses, a room was pointed out, which I was informed, had for many years been the artist's studio. From the comparatively large dimensions of the window, (which, as seen from the outside, appears to have replaced a smaller one,) I have little doubt that such is the fact. As the stairs are narrow, his paintings, I presume, would be put down through this window, for transmission, in his carriage, to town." Mr. afterwards Sir Richard Phillips, who was educated at Chiswick, well remembered the widow of Hogarth: and some fifty years after, Sir Richard wrote of his school-days, whilst listening to the bells of Chiswick Church * Lives of British Artists, vol. i. p. 175. : |