The Works of William Hogarth: In a Series of Engravings | Page 4

a North Briton (No. 17.) Hogarth replied by a caricature of the writer: a rejoinder was put in by Churchill, in an angry epistle to Hogarth (not the brightest of his works); and in which the severest strokes fell on a defect the painter had not caused, and could not amend--his age; which, however, was neither remarkable nor decrepit; much less had it impaired his talents: for, only six months before, he had produced one of his most capital works. In revenge for this epistle, Hogarth caricatured Churchill, under the form of a canonical bear, with a club and a pot of porter.
During this period of warfare (so virulent and disgraceful to all the parties), Hogarth's health visibly declined. In 1762, he complained of an internal pain, the continuance of which produced a general decay of the system, that proved incurable; and, on the 25th of October, 1764, (having been previously conveyed in a very weak and languid state from Chiswick to Leicester Fields,) he died suddenly, of an aneurism in his chest, in the sixty-seventh or sixty-eighth year of his age. His remains were interred at Chiswick, beneath a plain but neat mausoleum, with the following elegant inscription by his friend Garrick:--
"Farewell, great painter of mankind, Who reach'd the noblest point of art; Whose pictured morals charm the mind, And through the eye correct the heart. If Genius fire thee, reader, stay; If Nature touch thee, drop a tear: If neither move thee, turn away, For Hogarth's honour'd dust lies here."

LIST OF ENGRAVINGS.
VOL. I.
RAKE'S PROGRESS. Page
PLATE 1 Heir taking Possession 11 " 2 Surrounded by Artists 13 " 3 Tavern Scene 15 " 4 Arrested for Debt 17 " 5 Marries an Old Maid 19 " 6 Gaming House 21 " 7 Prison Scene 23 " 8 Mad House 25
The Distressed Poet 27 The Bench 29 The Laughing Audience 31 Gate of Calais 33 The Politician 35 Taste in High Life 37
HARLOT'S PROGRESS.
PLATE 1 39 " 2 41 " 3 43 " 4 45 " 5 47 " 6 49
The Lecture 51 The Chorus 53 Columbus breaking the Egg 55 Modern Midnight Conversation 57 Consultation of Physicians 59 Portrait of Daniel Lock, Esq. 61 The Enraged Musician 63 Masquerades and Operas 65
TIMES OF THE DAY.
Morning 67 Noon 69 Evening 71 Night 73
Sigismonda 75 Portrait of Martin Fowkes, Esq. 77 The Cockpit 78 Captain Thomas Coram 81 Country Inn Yard 83
INDUSTRY AND IDLENESS.
PLATE 1 85 " 2 87 " 3 89 " 4 91 " 5 93 " 6 95 " 7 97 " 8 99 " 9 101 " 10 103 " 11 105 " 12 107
Southwark Fair. 109 Garrick as Richard III. 111
FRANCE AND ENGLAND.
PLATE 1 France 113 " 2 England 115

HOGARTH'S WORKS.

THE RAKE'S PROGRESS.
Of all the follies in human life, there is none greater than that of extravagance, or profuseness; it being constant labour, without the least ease or relaxation. It bears, indeed, the colour of that which is commendable, and would fain be thought to take its rise from laudable motives, searching indefatigably after true felicity; now as there can be no true felicity without content, it is this which every man is in constant pursuit of; the learned, for instance, in his industrious quest after knowledge; the merchant, in his dangerous voyages; the ambitious, in his passionate pursuit of honour; the conqueror, in his earnest desire of victory; the politician, in his deep-laid designs; the wanton, in his pleasing charms of beauty; the covetous, in his unwearied heaping-up of treasure; and the prodigal, in his general and extravagant indulgence.--Thus far it may be well;--but, so mistaken are we in our road, as to run on in the very opposite tract, which leads directly to our ruin. Whatever else we indulge ourselves in, is attended with some small degree of relish, and has some trifling satisfaction in the enjoyment, but, in this, the farther we go, the more we are lost; and when arrived at the mark proposed, we are as far from the object we pursue, as when we first set out. Here then, are we inexcusable, in not attending to the secret dictates of reason, and in stopping our ears at the timely admonitions of friendship. Headstrong and ungovernable, we pursue our course without intermission; thoughtless and unwary, we see not the dangers that lie immediately before us; but hurry on, even without sight of our object, till we bury ourselves in that gulf of woe, where perishes at once, health, wealth and virtue, and whose dreadful labyrinths admit of no return.
Struck with the foresight of that misery, attendant on a life of debauchery, which is, in fact, the offspring of prodigality, our author has, in the scenes before us, attempted the reformation of the worldling, by stopping him as it were in his