The Works of William Hogarth: In a Series of Engravings | Page 8

of so avaricious a father
could not have been introduced into very good company; and though,
by the different teachers who surround him, it evidently appears that he
wishes to assume the character of a gentleman, his internal feelings tell
him he has not attained it. Under that consciousness, he is properly and
naturally represented as ungraceful, and embarrassed in his new
situation."
[Illustration: THE RAKE'S PROGRESS.
PLATE 2.
SURROUNDED BY ARTISTS & PROFESSORS.]

PLATE III.
THE TAVERN SCENE.
"O vanity of youthful blood, So by misuse to poison good! Woman,
framed for social love, Fairest gift of powers above, Source of every
household blessing; All charms in innocence possessing: But, turn'd to
vice, all plagues above; Foe to thy being, foe to love! Guest divine, to
outward viewing; Ablest minister of ruin? And thou, no less of gift
divine, Sweet poison of misused wine! With freedom led to every part,
And secret chamber of the heart, Dost thou thy friendly host betray,
And shew thy riotous gang the way To enter in, with covert treason,
O'erthrow the drowsy guard of reason, To ransack the abandon'd place,
And revel there with wild excess?"
Mr. Ireland having, in his description of this Plate, incorporated
whatever is of value in Dr. Trusler's text, with much judicious
observation and criticism of his own, the Editor has taken the former
verbatim.
"This Plate exhibits our licentious prodigal engaged in one of his
midnight festivities: forgetful of the past, and negligent of the future, he
riots in the present. Having poured his libation to Bacchus, he
concludes the evening orgies in a sacrifice at the Cyprian shrine; and,
surrounded by the votaries of Venus, joins in the unhallowed mysteries
of the place. The companions of his revelry are marked with that easy,
unblushing effrontery, which belongs to the servants of all work in the
isle of Paphos;--for the maids of honour they are not sufficiently
elevated.
"He may be supposed, in the phrase of the day, to have beat the rounds,
overset a constable, and conquered a watchman, whose staff and
lantern he has brought into the room, as trophies of his prowess. In this
situation he is robbed of his watch by the girl whose hand is in his
bosom; and, with that adroitness peculiar to an old practitioner, she
conveys her acquisition to an accomplice, who stands behind the chair.

"Two of the ladies are quarrelling; and one of them delicately spouts
wine in the face of her opponent, who is preparing to revenge the
affront with a knife, which, in a posture of threatening defiance, she
grasps in her hand. A third, enraged at being neglected, holds a lighted
candle to a map of the globe, determined to set the world on fire,
though she perish in the conflagration! A fourth is undressing. The
fellow bringing in a pewter dish, as part of the apparatus of this elegant
and Attic entertainment, a blind harper, a trumpeter, and a ragged
ballad-singer, roaring out an obscene song, complete this motley group.
"This design may be a very exact representation of what were then the
nocturnal amusements of a brothel;--so different are the manners of
former and present times, that I much question whether a similar
exhibition is now to be seen in any tavern of the metropolis. That we
are less licentious than our predecessors, I dare not affirm; but we are
certainly more delicate in the pursuit of our pleasures.
"The room is furnished with a set of Roman emperors,--they are not
placed in their proper order; for in the mad revelry of the evening, this
family of frenzy have decollated all of them, except Nero; and his
manners had too great a similarity to their own, to admit of his
suffering so degrading an insult; their reverence for virtue induced
them to spare his head. In the frame of a Cæsar they have placed a
portrait of Pontac, an eminent cook, whose great talents being turned to
heightening sensual, rather than mental enjoyments, he has a much
better chance of a votive offering from this company, than would either
Vespasian or Trajan.
"The shattered mirror, broken wine-glasses, fractured chair and cane;
the mangled fowl, with a fork stuck in its breast, thrown into a corner,
and indeed every accompaniment, shews, that this has been a night of
riot without enjoyment, mischief without wit, and waste without
gratification.
"With respect to the drawing of the figures in this curious female
coterie, Hogarth evidently intended several of them for beauties; and of
vulgar, uneducated, prostituted beauty, he had a good idea. The hero of
our tale displays all that careless jollity, which copious draughts of

maddening wine are calculated to inspire; he laughs the world away,
and bids it pass. The poor dupe, without his periwig, in