with another drapery painter however, named Roth, who, though not so good as the former, yet was sufficiently qualified to carry on the manufactory. He outlived Hudson, and has executed. some draperies for Sir Joshua even in his latter time.

Reynolds continued only two years with his master; in which time he made such a rapid progress, that a picture of his painting having been accidently seen in Hudson's gallery, it gained such universal preference, that the preceptor immediatly grew jealous of his pupil's excellence, and on that account they soon afterwards parted. Reynolds returned to Devonshire, where he is said, by his biographer, to have dissipated the three following years, making little effort, and as little improvement, to his great remorse of conscience afterwards; yet we know he produced a great many portraits at that period, several of which were certainly very fine this he acknowledged on seeing some of them thirty years afterwards, and lamented that in so many years he had made so little progress.

He and his two youngest unmarried sisters took a house at Plymouth Dock; where he painted various portraits, some of which evince great capacity, but he was necessarily embarrassed by the want of experience. Here he became first known to the Edgecumbe family, of Mount Edgecumbe, who warmly patronized and strongly recommended him to the hon. Augustus Keppel, afterwards Lord Keppel. This officer was then fitting out at Plymouth dock as commodore, for his station in the Mediterranean. In this voyage Reynolds was invited to accompany him in the Centurion man of war, and they sailed May the 11th, 1749. On the 24th of the same month they arrived at Lisbon, where our artist saw several grand processions, and other sights novel to him, of which he gave an account in a letter to Lord Edgecumbe, written with great simplicity. On the 23d of August he commenced his residence at Port Mahon, in Minorca, where he continued some time; and by the friendship of Keppel, as well as from his own merit, he was much employed in painting the portraits of almost all the officers on that station, and thereby much improved both his art and his purse. He next went to Leghorn, and thence to Rome. When arrived in that garden of the world, that great temple of the Arts-where I have enjoyed so much pleasure, now fading from my memory--his time was employed with industry, observation, and judgment: indeed in a manner worthy of his talents and his virtue. He contemplated with untired attention, and ardent zeal, the various beauties which marked the styles of different schools and different ages: he sought for truth, taste, and beauty at the fountain head. It was with no common eye that he beheld the productions of the great masters. He copied and sketched in the Vatican such

parts of the works of Raffaelle and Michael Angelo as he thought would be most conducive to his future excellence in Art. He has confessed in his writings, that at the first sight of Raffaelle's works he did not relish, or well comprehend their merits, but that he studied them till he did: I account for this from the difference in the dispositions of the two painters. Raffaelle possessed a grandeur even to severity, and did not display in his pictures either the allurements of colour, or much effect of light, and shade. Reynolds, from his natural disposition, cultivated grace, softness, and a captivating sweetness, and imparted these to his works in an unexampled degree.

After remaining in Italy about three years, in which time he visited most of the capital cities of that country, he returned to England by the way of France. At Paris he met his friend Mr. Chambers, the architect, (afterwards Sir William,) accompanied by his wife, then on their way to Rome: here he painted the portrait of Mrs. Chambers, from which a mezzotinto print is taken. On his arrival in England, in October, 1752, he went immediately to Plymouth, for the benefit of his health. During this visit he painted the portrait of his friend Dr. John Mudge, a remarkably fine head, of which also there is a print. This, and one other, of a young lady, were all he did till he left that town: as his friend Lord Edgecumbe advised him to go to London, as the only place to establish his fame and fortune: accordingly he set off for the metropolis, and took handsome lodgings in St. Martin's Lane about the end of the year 1752. He soon afterwards removed to a large house in Great Newport street, where he dwelt some years. This period was the dawn of his splendour. His amiable modesty, accompanied by such extraordinary talents, soon gained him some powerful and active connexions: even his earliest employers were of the highest rank. The second portrait he painted in London was that of the old duke of Devonshire; which was followed by a whole length picture of his first patron Commodore Keppel, engraved by Fisher. He was now employed to pourtray several ladies in the first circles of fashion, which the polite world flocked to see; and he soon became one of the most distinguished painters, not only in England but in Europe. It should be remarked, that before his time there were no historical works which called upon the painter's skill; a true taste was wanting; vanity, however, was not wanting, and this crowded his sitting room with women who wished to be transmitted as angels, and with men who wanted to appear as heroes and philosophers. From Reynolds' pencil they were sure to be gratified: the Apotheosis was the simple operation of the painter's mind, which glowed with grandeur and with grace. In the delineation of character, mind, air, and attitude, in composition and general effect,

he was equally perfect ; and it may be justly said that his portraits assume the importance of history. Felicity and force of resemblance, combined with dignity and grace, characterize his works: these charms not only drew around him all the opulence and beauty of the nation, but gained him the merited honour of perpetuating the features of almost all the eminent and distinguished characters then living; with most of whom, so attractive were his manners as well as his talents, that he preserved an intimacy, which only ended with life. In this assemblage of genius, each was improved by the other. Like a man of great mind, he ever cultivated the intimacy and friendship of all the learned and all the great of his time; and often assisted those who were in difficulties, both with his advice and his purse. The circle of his friends was very ex tensive many illustrious foreigners were personally intimate with him; his society was sought by individuals of the highest quality, who revered his genius as much as they respected the worth of his private character. His house was long the resort of the learned, the elegant, and the polite; all who were eminent for their virtue, or distinguished for their genius. From such connexions, his mind, rich in its own stores, received an accession of most extensive knowledge, and an inexhaustible treasure for conversation. He was rich in observation, anecdote, and intelligence. He had a mind ever open, and desirous to acquire useful knowledge; a sound and penetrating judgment to select and separate what he did acquire, and infinite industry and application in rendering his acquirements useful.

At this period, finding himself sufficiently established to move in a higher sphere, he quitted his residence in Newport-street, and removed to Leicester Fields, where he bought a handsome house, to which he added a splendid gallery for exhibiting his works, and a commodious and elegant room for his sitters. In this speculation, as I have heard him confess, he laid out almost the whole property he had then realized. He also set up a handsome carriage, and his mode of living was suitably elegant.

In the year 1762, Mr. Reynolds having impaired his health by incessant application, again paid a visit to his native county; and was accompanied by his friend Dr. Samuel Johnson. They were entertained at the seats of several noblemen and gentlemen, in the west of England; and during their stay at Plymouth were the guests of Dr. Mudge, who was then a surgeon, and afterwards an eminent physician of that town. In 1765 he exhibited an admired whole length portrait of lady Sarah Bunbury, representing her as sacrificing to the Graces. Previous to this he had painted an excellent whole length portrait of lady Elizabeth Keppel, in the dress she wore as bridemaid to the queen. He had also produced the picture of Garrick between Tragedy and Comedy,

which may be considered as his first attempt in historical composition. He had now attained the summit of his reputation as an Artist; and maintained his dignified station to the close of his life. Cotes and Ramsey, shared, in some degree, with him in the fashion of the day; for each of those painters had employment from the court of England, where Reynolds as an artist, never could become a favorite. Indeed he never received one commission from that enviable source of honour; for the portraits of the king and queen, now in the council-room of the Royal Academy, were painted purposely for that institution at the request of Reynolds himself.

Without entering into a tedious detail of minute circumstances and petty animosities, at that time existing among the artists, I shall only observe, that to compose these jarring interests, and to give dignity to a new establishment, his majesty, in December, 1768, instituted "The Royal Academy of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture," which was composed of the ablest and most respectable artists then resident in Great Britain. Reynolds was made the first president by an unanimous vote: and on that occasion was knighted; an honour which he received with satisfaction, as he well knew that it gave additional consequence to his works in the estimation of the vulgar. It is not matter of surprize that his election as president was unanimous : his professional rank, his large fortune, and the circle of society in which he moved, gave him a claim to the honour which none of his contemporaries possessed; and it has been said that he refused to join the society on any other terms. Thus the Royal Academy was opened December the 10th, 1768, by Sir Joshua, with his first discourse. The task of giving lectures in the academy was no part of the prescribed duty of his office, but was voluntarily imposed on himself for reasons assigned in his fifteenth discourse.

He was soon afterwards made a freeman of his native borough of Plympton. This mark of respect was followed by being chosen alderman and mayor of the town: and so attached was he to the place of his birth, that he declared this gave him more pleasure than any other public mark of distinction he had received in his life. On this occasion he presented his portrait, painted by himself, to the corporation, who placed it in their town hall.

The variety of his critical talents, added to the eminence he had now gained, qualified him to share the honours of the first scientific institutions. He was accordingly admitted to the Royal, the Antiquarian, and the Dillettanti Societies: and when the late Lord North was installed chancellor of the University of Oxford, in July, 1773, Sir Joshua was at the same time admitted to the honorary degree of doctor of civil law. In the latter part

This picture is in the possession of J. J, Angerstein, Esq.

of the year 1775, he sent his portrait, painted by himself in his university dress, to be placed in the gallery of illustrious painters at Florence; he having been made a member of the Imperial Academy of that city. On the death of Ramsey, in August, 1784, Sir Joshua was sworn principal painter to his majesty. In the year 1790, some disagreement arose among the members of the Royal Academy, respecting the election of an academician. This was carried to such a degree of intemperance, that Sir Joshua determined to resign the chair and quit the society. At first the academicians treated this secession with hauteur; but soon found that the rank and character of their president was too important to be readily relinquished. In vain, however, they solicited his return; and the king was at last prevailed on to employ his influence. To comply with the sovereign's request Sir Joshua resumed his chair, and continued to occupy it with honour to himself, to the arts and to the nation, till the period of his death. He had not completed his sixty-ninth year when he was taken from the world which admired him, and the country he adorned, on the 23d of February, 1792. After lying in state at the Royal Academy, his remains were deposited, on the third of March following, with great funeral pomp, beneath the east end of St. Pauls's cathedral church. Thus died Sir Joshua Reynolds, in whose works are displayed taste, feeling, imagination, grace, and grandeur. In his excellent discourses, he treats his favourite art with the depth of a philosopher, the accomplishments of a scholar, and the accuracy of a critic.

The Lectures, which he delivered at the Royal Academy on the 10th of December, at first every year, and subsequently every two years, are the works that chiefly confer on him the character of an estimable writer. These were designed to direct and animate the students in the pursuit of excellence, and indeed are replete with the soundest instructions, expressed in language at once simple, perspicuous, and elegant. The profound knowledge of art displayed in these discourses, is enriched by classical and appropriate illustrations. These great qualities, together with the uniform good sense and good taste which pervade his lectures, will ever entitle them to hold an eminent station in the ranks of English literature. His observations on the old masters are at once just and ingenious; several branches of the theory of art are treated with uncommon judgment and ability, and the style of writing is strongly marked by the simplicity of his own individual character and manner, and totally unlike that of any of his intimate literary friends to whom some silly critics have given the merit of those discourses. They have been translated into French; and the late Mr. J. Baretti published an edition of them in the Italian language.