The Works of William Hogarth: In a Series of Engravings | Page 6

jack and spit, those utensils of
original hospitality, locked up, through fear of being used; the clean
and empty chimney, in which a fire is just now going to be made for
the first time; and the emaciated figure of the cat, strongly mark the
natural temper of the late miserly inhabitant, who could starve in the
midst of plenty.--But see the mighty change! View the hero of our
piece, left to himself, upon the death of his father, possessed of a
goodly inheritance. Mark how his mind is affected!--determined to
partake of the mighty happiness he falsely imagines others of his age
and fortune enjoy; see him running headlong into extravagance,
withholding not his heart from any joy; but implicitly pursuing the
dictates of his will. To commence this delusive swing of pleasure, his
first application is to the tailor, whom we see here taking his measure,
in order to trick out his pretty person. In the interim, enters a poor girl
(with her mother), whom our hero has seduced, under professions of
love and promises of marriage; in hopes of meeting with that kind
welcome she had the greatest reason to expect; but he, corrupted with
the wealth of which he is now the master, forgets every engagement he
once made, finds himself too rich to keep his word; and, as if gold
would atone for a breach of honour, is offering money to her mother, as
an equivalent for the non-fulfilling of his promise. Not the sight of the

ring, given as a pledge of his fidelity; not a view of the many
affectionate letters he at one time wrote to her, of which her mother's
lap is full; not the tears, nor even the pregnant condition of the
wretched girl, could awaken in him one spark of tenderness; but, hard
hearted and unfeeling, like the generality of wicked men, he suffers her
to weep away her woes in silent sorrow, and curse with bitterness her
deceitful betrayer. One thing more we shall take notice of, which is,
that this unexpected visit, attended with abuse from the mother, so
engages the attention of our youth, as to give the old pettifogger behind
him an opportunity of robbing him. Hence we see that one ill
consequence is generally attended with another; and that misfortunes,
according to the old proverb, seldom come alone.
Mr. Ireland remarks of this plate--"He here presents to us the picture of
a young man, thoughtless, extravagant, and licentious; and, in colours
equally impressive, paints the destructive consequences of his conduct.
The first print most forcibly contrasts two opposite passions; the
unthinking negligence of youth, and the sordid avaricious rapacity of
age. It brings into one point of view what Mr. Pope so exquisitely
describes in his Epistle to Lord Bathurst--
'Who sees pale Mammon pine amidst his store, Sees but a backward
steward for the poor; This year a reservoir, to keep and spare; The next
a fountain, spouting through his heir.'
The introduction to this history is well delineated, and the principal
figure marked with that easy, unmeaning vacancy of face, which speaks
him formed by nature for a DUPE. Ignorant of the value of money, and
negligent in his nature, he leaves his bag of untold gold in the reach of
an old and greedy pettifogging attorney, who is making an inventory of
bonds, mortgages, indentures, &c. This man, with the rapacity so
natural to those who disgrace the profession, seizes the first opportunity
of plundering his employer. Hogarth had, a few years before, been
engaged in a law suit, which gave him some experience of the
PRACTICE of those pests of society."
[Illustration: THE RAKE'S PROGRESS.

PLATE 1.
THE YOUNG HERO TAKES POSSESSION OF THE MISER'S
EFFECTS.]

PLATE II.
SURROUNDED BY ARTISTS AND PROFESSORS.
Prosperity (with harlot's smiles, Most pleasing when she most beguiles),
How soon, great foe, can all thy train Of false, gay, frantic, loud, and
vain, Enter the unprovided mind, And memory in fetters bind? Load
faith and love with golden chain, And sprinkle Lethe o'er the brain!
Pleasure, on her silver throne, Smiling comes, nor comes alone; Venus
comes with her along, And smooth Lyæus, ever young; And in their
train, to fill the press, Come apish Dance and swoln Excess, Mechanic
Honour, vicious Taste, And Fashion in her changing vest.
HOADLEY.
We are next to consider our hero as launched into the world, and
having equipped himself with all the necessaries to constitute him a
man of taste, he plunges at once into all the fashionable excesses, and
enters with spirit into the character he assumes.
The avarice of the penurious father then, in this print, is contrasted by
the giddy profusion of his prodigal son. We view him now at his levee,
attended by masters of