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LIVERPOOL AND ART. — MAYER
(JOserH) Early Exhibitions of Art in Liverpool,
with some Notes for a Memoir of George Stubbs, |

R.A., 8vo, cloth, Privately Printed, Liverpool,
aa i oo

1876 73 6d!
Presentation Copy from the Author to LI. Jewitt, \
Esq. :

CT
105
Pr

 

 

CORNELL
UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

 

BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME
OF THE SAGE ENDOWMENT
FUND GIVEN IN 1891 BY

HENRY WILLIAMS SAGE

 

 

 

 

 

 
Date Due

 

CT105 M46

iam Upcott,

“Tin

1924 029 785 668

 

 
 
 

THOMAS DODD,

“THE LAST OF THE GREAT CONNOISEURS,”
AUTHOR OF “LIFE OF DELLA-BELLA,”

“* MEMOIRS OF ENGLISH ENGRAVERS FROM 1550 TO 1800,”
AND MANY OTHER WORKS ON ART,
MODELLED AND CUT IN MARBLE
BY GIOVANNI FONTANA FOR JOSEPH MAYER, F S.A.,
FOR HIS "GALLERY OF FRIENDS,”

AT PENNANT HOUSE, BEBINGTON.
MEMOIRS

OF

THOMAS DODD, WILLIAM UPCOTT,

AND

GEORGE STUBBS, R.A.

WD

PRINTED FOR
JOSEPH MAYER, F.S.A.,

BY
DAVID MARPLES & CO., LIMITED, LIVERPOOL.

1879.
v.K.F.
I03 8
7a

 
THOMAS DODD.
 
THE LAST OF THE GRAND SCHOOL
OF CONNOISSEURS.

Ir this description be correct—and it was made by
an excellent authority—Thomas Dodd should not
be forgotten. But I find that even the elder gene-
ration of art-collectors, adztués of the King Street
sale-rooms, or of Messrs. Sotheby and Wilkinson’s,
jog their recollection when he is named. Twenty-
six years is an age for the memory of one who
leaves no printed record of his labours and his
knowledge. If ever that catalogue should be pub-
lished which has been promised so long, of the
prints left by Francis Douce to the Bodleian
Library, Dodd’s name will be once again familiar
in men’s mouths, with increased honour. Looking
forward to that time—as every vzrtuoso of Europe
has been doing for thirty-five years past—I may
rescue from oblivion an autobiography which is not
the least interesting of the many MSS. possessed
by Mr. Mayer, of Bebington. It is curious for its

facts. That a tailor-boy, band-boy, butcher-boy,
D
2 THE LAST OF THE GRAND SCHOOL

harper, tailor for the second time, footman, book-
seller, and auctioneer should grow into the most
accomplished and profound judge of a most intri-
cate branch in art is surprising enough already.
But Mr. Dodd enjoyed the dubious advantage of
a literary style unequalled, perhaps, since Mrs.
Malaprop gave up earthly correspondence.

One would not ridicule a man whose career
was so honourable, and whose attainments so
great; but I cannot myself carry reverence so far
as to overlook plain facts. The involuntary
laugh at perversions of speech will not be smo-
thered by respect for learning in quite another
line of study. One may marvel how Dodd
acquired the ponderous Latinisms which he so
strangely employs, but there they are, a droll
array. Like most men, self-educated, he grew to
think the use of our plain mother-tongue to be
a sign of ignorance, monosyllables a disgrace,
and common forms of speech beneath the scho-
lars notice. I take occasion to display our hero’s
style, bearing in memory that great maxim, /e
style cest homme. Thereby the reader will be
enabled to guess somewhat of characteristics un-
hinted in the long autobiography I am about to
summarize. But, whilst smiling, I hope he will
ever keep in mind the astonishing ability of
which this quaint language is, in one sense,
OF CONNOISSEURS. 3

another token. A school-boy may laugh at Dodd’s
grammar, but very few critics have equalled him
in knowledge, and none have excelled.

“JT, Thomas Dodd, was the first-born offspring of my
parents, Thomas Dodd, a tailor, and Elizabeth, the second
daughter of Thomas Tooley, an eminent accoucheur of his
day, dwelling in the parish of Christ Church, Spitalfields,
London; in which parish my parents also resided, and
therein mv mother gave me birth, on the 7th day of July,
in the year of our Lord 1771, and was baptized in the
parish church on the 22nd day of August following.”

In such heroic vein does Thomas Dodd set
himself to write ‘A Narrative of Incidents and
Adventures in my Progress in Life’ for his
patron, Joseph Mayer, F.S.A. As a sign of
character, it is to be remarked that this first-born
offspring of his parents never afterwards makes
particular mention of a brother or a sister; never,
indeed, alludes to his wife, save to announce the
wedding, and to record her presence in that trip
to Ludlow when he first struggled for the spola
optima of calcography, the ‘ Basioloogia.’

Dodd senior was a person of mysterious habits.
We learn that he had a practice of disappearing
for a while, naturally reprehended by his family.
It does not appear why he should have taken a
two years’ trip on the Continent in 1781, nor
why he should have returned thither “to stay”
4 THE LAST OF THE GRAND SCHOOL

after six months’ renewed experience of domestic
joys. Until this final departure our hero went to
school in the “ Academy” of M. Dufour, on
Shooter’s Hill. He does not hesitate to say that
four years’ residence with this gentleman earned
him “great reputation for his progressive attain-
ments in the elements of learning and of writing.”

But whilst the father thus abandoned his home,
the mother had no means of support except in
making waistcoats, and she was doubtless over-
joyed when an Anglo-American colonel, named
De Vaux, offered to take young Thomas into his
employment. This extraordinary gentleman, whose
proceedings are utterly incomprehensible, as we
catch glimpses of them in the narrative, wished
to establish a juvenile band. Thomas Dodd
was chosen to play the first clarionet, a boy
named Carpenter played second, two other boys
had French horns, and a tall negro, named John-
son, accompanied on the bassoon. The same
Johnson afterwards clashed the cymbals in the
band of the Duke of York’s Foot Guards. At
this moment he. was groom, valet, and factotum
of the gay colonel, who lived at Craven Hill with
an American lady from Carolina. In fashionable
places De Vaux kept up great style “in a lofty
phaeton, propelled by four fine bay blood-horses,
accompanied by Black Johnson, as his groom, on
OF CONNOISSEURS. 5

a fifth.” But what he wanted with a “juvenile
band,” unless to herald his progress, is not
shown.

Dodd and his comrades dwelt in a loft above
the stable; they had nothing to do save eat
their meals in the kitchen and attend upon the
music-masters twice-a-week. They “were nearly
subjugated to shift for themselves,’ but twelve
months passed in this manner. Then the colonel
got rid of his mistress and broke up his establish-
ment, setting out on a tour through England.
Dodd and Carpenter were left with a butcher to
be cared for, the other boys with other trades-
men. Their music lessons were to be kept up,
and meanwhile the colonel and his black groom
went forth in grand array to seek an heiress.

Chapman, the butcher, proved to be an amiable
man, but his wife was a “brute.” She stripped
the boys of their good clothing, dressed them like
butchers, and set them to do the foul drudgery
of the shop. They slept on undressed sheepskins
in a back kitchen underground; they got nothing
to eat but what was tainted, and this “ furious
and demon-like fiend” knocked them about with
a broom-stick. They carried out meat, attended
Chapman to Smithfield and the slaughter-house—
in fact did the work of butcher-boys of the lowest
class.
6 THE LAST OF THE GRAND SCHOOL

For twelve months young Dodd endured his
fate. But in August, 1785, he learned that the
colonel was then at Liverpool, and a beating more
savage than ordinary stirred him to seek his bene-
factor. Without a cap, in shoes worn out, and
filthy jacket and apron, actually penniless, he set
out for a walk to Liverpool. Crossing Primrose
Hill he found a raw carrot in the path, and ate
it with superstitious gratitude. At Jack Straw’s
Castle, on Hampstead Heath, a drover invited
him to assist with a flock of sheep going to
Barnet, which Dodd very willingly agreed to do
for twopence, bread and cheese, and beer. From
Barnet he followed a Liverpool waggon to St.
Alban’s, reaching that place at midnight. The
waggoner put up his horses and went to bed,
but our hero wandered about supperless, until a
good woman, leaning on the hatchway door of
her house, gave him a slice of bread-and-butter.
Then he found a smithy still open and cheerfully
clanging. With the light and noise for company,
young Thomas tied his apron round his head, and
slept by the doorway till a waggon passing roused
him at 4 a.m. It proved to be the same he had
already followed, and he took up the pursuit till
it brought him to Stony Stratford about sundown.
Whilst resting on a bank, the school children
surrounded and mocked him. Nor was this all
OF CONNOISSEURS. 7

of poor Thomas’s misfortune, for a man came up,
gun on shoulder, and threatened to shoot him
then and there, for reasons unstated. He called
Thomas hard names, moreover, and proposed to
send him back for a runaway apprentice, tied
under the next coach passing London-wards.

But, for the credit of Stony Stratford, there
were inhabitants of more kindly humour. A poor
laundress rescued the boy, took him to her cottage,
gave him supper, bed, breakfast, and twopence.

“ Thus,” says he, ‘in the seven following days, I
traversed through Daventry, Dunchurch, Coventry, Meriden,
Litchfield, Stone, Newcastle, Warrington, and finally reached

Liverpool, meeting on my route both vicissitudes and friendly
assistance from the humane of both sexes.”

But the mysterious colonel had followed his
quest of an heiress to Matlock Bath, and Thomas
ruefully deliberated whether to pursue or not,
sitting melancholy on the pier-head. He set out
at length, and on Shude Hill took counsel with
some Irish road-makers. They cheered him up,
and subscribed fourpence amongst them to help
him along. In the evening he reached Prescot,
where the ostler of an inn let him sleep in the
hayloft, and gave him food. Next day he passed
through Warrington, “loitering there for awhile,”
as he tells us. But nothing good turned up for
the poor little fellow, and he wandered on to
& THE LAST OF THE GRAND SCHOOL

Hollin’s Green. Here a farmer gave him leave
to sleep in his barn. Presently, while Thomas
was dreaming, three or four men entered noisily,
rejoicing in some villainous success. One of them
stumbled over the boy, and instantly threatened
to murder him; but he feigned sleep, and they
drew off whispering. About a quarter of an hour
afterwards the earth shook, and a dreadful noise,
like a peal of the loudest thunder, startled sleep
away. The men uttered shouts of triumph, and
decamped. Thomas supposed the alarm to be
caused by an earthquake, but on leaving the barn
before daylight, he found all the village astir.
A powder-mill had blown up, by accident, as
people thought, and he did not undeceive them.
In the evening Manchester was gained, where
kind-hearted persons gave him food and coppers
enough to pay for a lodging.

Next day brought him to Chapel-en-le-Frith,
and a good Quakeress relieved him. Supper and
shelter she provided, a hat besides, and shoes;
for the one he had not possessed on starting,
and the other was but a mockery. Sixpence also
did the kind lady present to him, and Thomas
went forth merrily, reaching Matlock Bath at
sunset. Most creditable travelling for a boy of
thirteen! Thomas had no difficulty in finding his
gallant patron, but here a certain diffidence took
OF CONNOISSEURS. 9

hold of him. It occurred to his simple mind as
remotely possible that the colonel might not be
deliriously overjoyed to see his first clarionet in
such circumstances. ‘With anxiety and appre-
hension,”’ he sat in the hotel stables, and revolved
these novel thoughts. To him entered the ostler
with a lantern, who naturally, though sternly,
inquired what such a ragged boy might be doing
there. ‘To which interrogatories I replied, and
asked” if Black Johnson was anywhere about.
The man fetched him, and Black Johnson, with
no visible surprise, promptly inquired how Thomas
was getting on with the clarionet ?

To satisfy himself he took the boy into the
kitchen, and set him to show his ability upon a
borrowed instrument. To the pleasant air of
‘Malbrook’ all the household cheerfully gave way,
and the maids began to dance, whilst the cooks
prepared a dainty supper for their minstrel boy.
Meantime, Black Johnson told his master, who was
pursuing his heiress in the ball-room. The colonel
came out, Thomas went upstairs, and on the
landing this grave interview took place :

“How the devil did you get here?” asked the colonel.
To which I stated in reply the ill-treatment I had expe-
rienced, which had compelled me to resort to seek shelter
under his protection. In the course of three days I was
re-equipped in a tyger-like style,”

and, in short, Thomas made himself useful.
Io THE LAST OF THE GRAND SCHOOL

But the heiress did not turn np at Matlock,
and the indefatigable colonel went in search of
her to Rochdale. Here, it is hinted, he flushed
game, but in the preserves of an irritable stranger.
This individual demanded an immediate meeting,
and I am sorry to record that the colonel vanished
at that word.

They went to Manchester, and stopped nearly
a month, figuring with conspicuous effect at balls
and parties, but neither marrying nor giving in
marriage. Frodsham and Chester were tried
without success, a tour through North Wales had
no result. Returning by Conway, the colonel
found an opportunity to drop Thomas in that
ancient city. He handed him to an itinerant
harper, who played to guests in the hotel. By
this man our hero was taken to his mother’s farm
near Llanrwst, to be there instructed in the rudi-
ments of harping. It is to be observed that
nowhere does Dodd speak of Colonel De Vaux
in unkindly mood. To the last he was apparently
as much mystified as any one by that gentleman’s
proceedings.

The farm was half an acre, and its stock two
sheep and a half-dozen poultry. Thomas had a
bundle of straw in the cottage, some black bread
to eat, with an occasional potato, and water or
buttermilk to drink. He starved and_ learnt
OF CONNOISSEURS. Il

nothing, for the harper left him after two days,
wandering in search of fairs and festivities. At
the end of three weeks the boy grew tired, and
set off for Llanrwst. Here the colonel had been
staying in great magnificence whilst on his tour,
so that Mr. John Richards, landlord of the
Queen’s Head, was naturally surprised to behold
his former “tyger”’ wandering unprotected about
the town. Mr. Richards was himself a harpist,
and on hearing the boy’s tale a thrill of indignation
warmed him. Thomas learned that the colonel
had been imposed upon. Mr. John Jones was
notoriously incompetent to teach the harp. His
fingering, as every one admitted, was most im-
perfect, and his knowledge of the true science a
subject of mockery with all who knew him.
Would the colonel be likely to pay a professor
really skilled, if such an one could be discovered ?
Thomas had no doubt of it. So Mr. Richards
took him home and introduced him to his family.
Nor does his charitable humour seemed to have
been chilled when Thomas ate up a whole leg of
mutton.

For twelve months Mr. Richards treated the
boy very kindly, and gave him careful teaching
in his profession. But no word came from the
colonel, and nomoney. The innkeeper grew cold,
then morose; finally things became so bad that
I2 THE LAST OF THE GRAND SCHOOL

Thomas decided to run away. He could now
speak Welsh a little, and used his accomplish-
ment to beg Christmas boxes, as is the custom
in Wales, and, indeed, elsewhere. He collected
fifteen pence on Christmas day of 1786-7, and
decamped the same night. At midnight the inn
was full of customers, drinking ale, and singing
to Welsh harps; Thomas slipped down without
his shoes, passed the bulldogs, crossed the yard
and over the gates. There was a brilliant moon
and a keen frost to quicken his travel towards
the mountains. About two hours after, he heard
a horse’s hoofs, which rang far on the frozen
ground, but there was no place to hide upon the
bare hillside, and the moon lit it up like day.
The rider came up rapidly, and asked inconvenient
questions. At length he went on, and about
4 a.m. Thomas reached the village of Cerrig-y-
Druidion. That appears to have been a con-
vivial spot. The inhabitants were still honouring
Christmas at the alehouse, with the usual cere-
monies.

They had a harper naturally, and to his music
each sang a stanza of his own composition.
Thomas made himself so popular by a new
tune, that the delighted Welshmen plied him
with “cwrw da” till he fell asleep in their midst.
Meanwhile, Llanrwst was fevered by the loss of

 
OF CONNOISSEURS. 13

those accomplishments which rejoiced Cerrig-y-
Druidion. The town-crier went about proclaiming
Mr. Richards’ despair, and presently an itinerant
preacher came forward to announce that he had
passed the boy on the mountains. Richards sent
after him, and the messenger overtook Thomas
in Llangollen. Upon solemn promises that he
should not be hurt, the runaway mounted a pony
sent for him, and returned disconsolate. Richards
kept the word pledged, but threatened his appren-
tice with the gaol if he tried anything of the sort
again.

The people of Llanrwst very seriously believed
in fairies and hobgoblins, at the happy time we treat
of. Thomas found himself a hero, to be classed
with the most undaunted champions of Cymric
story, for his valour in walking the mountains at
midnight. We do not read of particular honours
paid the dissenting minister, but the fame of
Thomas Dodd travelled far. It reached, among
others, the Rev. John Royle, who dwelt at the
Abbey, near Llanrwst. He questioned the boy,
and learned his story. Richards had evidently
no rights over him, and he wished to leave a
house made intolerable by unkindness. There
and then Mr. Royle set him on his horse, sent
him off to the Abbey, and visited Mr. Richards.

Dodd always spoke of this new protector in
14 THE LAST OF THE GRAND SCHOOL

terms equally grateful and involved: “ Under his
direction,” says he, ‘‘I became his attendant, more
with parental accordance than otherwise.” Mr.
Royle had sporting tastes, and Thomas’s especial
duty was to look after his greyhounds, and
accompany him coursing. In the year 1786, to
which we have arrived, Capel Curig and its
neighbourhood were almost desert. The moun-
tains, utterly barren, could be crossed only on
horse-tracks. The village consisted of a small
chapel, one house “called an inn,” and a black-
smith’s forge, supported chiefly by the miners.
Cottages were very few and far between on the
hills, and they should rather have been called
huts. Mr. Dodd tells us that he saw an astonish-
ing change already, when he revisited the spot,
in 1824. Slopes which had been naked were
covered with plantations, the valleys were green
and cultivated, pretty cottages had taken place
of dirty hovels.

The country offered such sport, and the parson
was so enthusiastic, that Thomas innocently treats
coursing as his regular employment.

“During my leisure hours of relaxation,” says he, ‘ my
mind was bent towards improving my mental capacity in the
exercises of reading, in writing, and arithmetic, having had
but little or no previous practice, but what I had _ incul-

cated at Mr. Dufour’s academy, from which I was withdrawn
at the age of ten years. I also gained some additional
OF CONNOISSEURS, 15

inculcation in practising on the harp from Lady Kyffin’s
harper, whom I frequently visited, and made myself no less
useful to him by reading new tunes.”

The whole of 1787, and part of the year
ensuing, were spent with Mr. Royle, until a
certain affectionate yearning drew Thomas towards
his mother. The worthy parson gave him a suit
of clothes and ten guineas; we learn, incidentally,
that Welsh tailors at that epoch exercised a
peripatetic profession, working in the country
houses as they went along. Mr. Royle had: a
presentiment that his young huntsman would not
return, and he seems to have been correct in
bidding him an eternal farewell, since we hear of
this gentleman no more.

Arriving at London in eight days, Thomas
found his mother and two sisters working for
Tooley and Mitchell, tailors, of Pancras Lane,
the head of the firm being Mrs. Dodd’s brother.
They took the wanderer also into their employ-
ment, apparently under some promise of ultimate
advantage. But, in the meanwhile, they set him
to attend upon their workmen, to sweep the
shop, and to carry parcels out. After a year of
this, Thomas began to despair. He could find
no leisure for “inculcating” his mind, and
resolved to quit this employment also. With
his uncle’s ready assent, he put down his name
16 THE LAST OF THE GRAND SCHOOL

at a Registry Office, and within a day or two
was engaged by Mrs. Stuart, 48, Weymouth
Street, Portland Place, as footman.

Here Dodd remained two years and a half,
until tempted to “better himself.” As footman,
but at a larger salary, he entered the service of
Timothy Mangles, Esq., a wealthy merchant,
whose town house was in Suffolk Lane, Cannon
Street, and his country seat at Leytonstone,
Essex.

The light work of Mr. Mangles’ household
gave Dodd ample time for study. He began to
practise drawing, and before the end of 1794 he
had acquired considerable skill in copying prints,
and even in gexzre subjects from nature. In the
autumn of that year he married the waiting maid
of Miss Mangles. This grave step compelled
him to seek more profitable employment, and he
set up a day school for boys, in the neighbour-
hood of Battle Bridge, St. Pancras.

Here—but it is safer to transcribe Dodd's
own account—

“ After a short interval scholars began to flow in apace,
owing to the rapid improvement they made under my _in-
struction ; insomuch that some few of their mothers came
in succession to compliment me for what they termed as
astonishing, considering the time they had been under pre-
ceding tutors, and of them had realized but very little or
no improvement.”
OF CONNOISSEURS. 17

Dodd then explains the “jocose and facilitating
mode of tutorship,” by which he earned so much
success.

But he kept school for a few months only,
until a situation as engrossing clerk in the
Enrolment Office of the Court of Chancery was
obtained for him by Uncle Tooley. The charge
of hiS office included deeds of bargain and sale,
memorials of annuities, specifications of patents,
&c., and the latter were commonly accompanied
by drawings of machinery, which had to be
copied. From his “previous inculcation” Dodd
had reached considerable skill in such drawing,
and he soon perceived that the copiers of the
office made more money than the engrossers.
After proving his ability, he was admitted
amongst the former, and very soon obtained a
large connection with inventors. Ten till two
were the business hours of 1795, and Dodd had
ample leisure for his private practice. An action
brought by Messrs. Boulton and Watt against
certain individuals accused of infringing on their
patent for the steam-engine, displayed his talents
publicly. Counsel for the defendants objected to
the copy of the patent drawings lodged in Court,
and demanded the originals. When brought, they
were so perfectly in accordance with the copy

that Dodd received a compliment from the judge.
E
18 THE LAST OF THE GRAND SCHOCL

Beginning thus, his interest in prints became
a passion. After awhile he resolved to trade in
them, as much for the opportunities of study to
be thus obtained as for the profit. He frequented
sales of old books and engravings, buying as his
means permitted. In the year 1796 he was able
to begin, upon the smallest scale, in Lambeth
Marsh. Though humble, the venture was not
unsuccessful, and in two years Dodd felt en-
couraged to take larger premises in Tavistock
Street, Covent Garden. At Lambeth Marsh he
had a notable customer. William Henry Ireland
found out the unpretending shop, and doubtless
thought it obscure enough for his purposes.
Dodd’s speciality, even at this time, was ancient
portraits, which he cut. from books, selling the
letter-press afterwards. Ireland persuaded him to
abstract also the fly-leaf at beginning and end of
the volume, thus securing paper of the proper
age for his elaborate forgeries. “

* Mr. Thomas Wright apparently believes, as did Gilray, that Samuel
Ireland, father to William, actually wrote the forged dramas. Samuel
Treland, favourably known for his ‘ Picturesque Tours,’ announced that his
son had received a present from an unacknowledged source of many important
mementoes and manuscripts, originally the property of Shakespeare. These
were exhibited to various distinguished but credulous literary men with such
art, that their authenticity was generally accepted. Ireland now proceeded
further. He announced that an entire MS. play, ‘ Vortigern and Rowena,’
from the pen of the immortal bard, formed part of these treasures. The
discovery excited universal attention ; the two great theatres were eager to

secure it, and Drury Lane secured the precious document for £300, and a
stipulated half of the receipts for the first sixty nights. The prologue boldly
OF CONNOISSEURS. 19

Dodd had not yet given up his position at
the Enrolment Office, but he became more and
more fascinated by the study of prints. In the
quaintest terms he makes the effort to describe
his enthusiasm, his hard work, and his success.
Paragraph after paragraph he repeats the same
tale, evidently doubtful whether previous words
have yet conveyed all he would tell the reader:

‘My mind was sensibly alive to obtain every possible variety
in the curious and varied productions of the early calcographists
of the different nations of Europe. I progressively became
initiated into all the varieties of practice in the art itself, and

more especially into the extent of the works of each artist whose
productions carried with them a high degree of perfection, and of

otherwise celebrity, &c. . . . . At this period the whole
bent of my genius became assiduously diverted and directed in
the pursuit, &c. . . . . My whole energy became as it

were enraptured to a degree of enthusiasm at the sight of such
productions as carried with them any prominent perfection of
art as eminating (szc) from the painter, but more especially that
of the engraver, and engrafting them into my very nature.

asserted, ‘Before the Court immortal Shakespeare stands!” and the play
commenced. It was at once recognized as a failure. The piece proceeded
to the line, ‘‘ And when this solemn mockery is o’er,” pronounced in the fifth
act by Kemble, who played Vortigern, and upon this apposite cue the
uproarious behaviour of his audience convinced the manager that the piece
was animpudent forgery. Ireland’s audacity exceeded belief. In an interview
with Sheridan and Kemble he urged a second trial. Sheridan dissented, and
when Ireland was dismissed, Kemble said, ‘‘ Well, sir, you cannot doubt that

the play is a forgery!” ‘* Damn the fellow!” replied Sheridan, ‘I believe
his face is a forgcery.”—‘ The Works of James Gilray,’ edited by T. Wright,
p- 232.

The whole collection of Iveland’s forgeries is now in possession of Mr.
Mayer, who bought them in a miscellaneous kind of sale at Hodgson’s Rooms,
Liverpool, some thirty years ago.
20 THE LAST OF THE GRAND SCHOOL

‘“‘ Proceeding thus progressively I daily acquired increased
information into the names of engravers of all nations through-
out Europe, their varied modes of practice, their tact and
efficiency in producing tone and effect in concordance with the
production of the painter from whom they individually made
their transcript; a task of no easy attainment but by habitual
perseverance (and to such only that are gifted with a cheerful
intellectual capacity to engraft in the memory as they progress in
its acquirements) ; consequently the calcographic productions of
every practitioner in the art throughout Europe became in time
as familiar to my sight, insomuch as to identify every product,
and applying it ézs¢anter to the individual who produced it,
without referring to signatures.”

Thus Dodd reiterates the tale of his honourable
struggles, and the assurance of his extraordinary
success. It is not wonderful that he should exert
himself thus, for no words of an autobiographer
would persuade us that after such a youth as
Dodd’s a man could suddenly make himself the
foremost authority in a branch of art perhaps the
most abstruse. Fortunately there is other evidence.
An astonishing industry, joined, doubtless, to a
natural bent, actually did enable this ex-Jack-of-
all-trades to become a critic of renown before his
thirtieth birthday, and to lift him long before he
died into the very highest ranks of connoisseurs.
It is to be remembered also that whilst art
students nowadays owe an immense debt to
Thomas Dodd, he owed very little to any
Englishman. Joseph Strutt had, indeed, published,
OF CONNOISSEURS. 21

in 1785, his ‘ Biographical History of Engravers
and their Works,’ but the notices of each artist
are very brief and incorrect, the criticisms no less
so, and the examples of style are curiously ill
chosen. The introductory chapters of the book
prove more valuable, and they are said to have
been the writing of William Roscoe.

Since the history of art was thus neglected at
home, Dodd naturally looked more afield. To
enjoy the advantage of foreign criticisms and
knowledge, he set himself to learn French, and
readily acquired skill enough to comprehend
works of the class he affected. With materials
thus gathered, he proposed, as a beginning, to
publish the name “of every person that had
hitherto exercised the arts of engraving and
etching, either in metallic substances or on wood,
by any one or conjoined processes; that is, by
either engrafting the use of the graver with that
of the point, or in mezzotinto, aquatinta, soft
ground, and other modes at that time in practice.”
The catalogue was arranged in eight columns, of
which the first showed the engraver’s monogram,
when he thus signed his work; the second, his
full name; the third, his birthplace; the fourth,
his date; the fifth, his residence; sixth, his line
of art; seventh, his favourite subject; and last,
the date of his death. This great work was
22 THE LAST OF THE GRAND SCHOOL

never published at all, as I believe. It forms thirty
manuscript folios in the collection of Mr. Mayer.

In the Enrolment Office Dodd had two young
clerks under him, who were destined to become
famous. They were sons of an old painter named
Fielding, and were called Copley and Raffael. The
father had a certain reputation for his painting of
very old men, in whose faces he showed every
wrinkle and line. They called him the “English
Denner.” Linnell, also, had his earliest patron in
Dodd, who bought from the tiny artist his small
sketches of a boat or a river scene, executed in
chalk on a blue ground. Linnell was eight or
nine years old in 1800, but Dodd saw his talent,
and was pleased to accompany the child on his
little sketching expeditions.

The task of compiling this catalogue fixed in
the collectors memory the information which it
contained. He increased the list of Strutt’s en-
gravings fourfold, and

“from this time my name became proverbial as being the
person of best authority to resort to as regarding enquiry relative
to such subject, whether as applying to the prevailing talent of
any individual practitioner in the art, the extent of his works,
and of other relative properties respecting them, and of the
distinctive variations of impression that had resulted by alterations
in any one or more states of the plates so produced.”’

This sentence may be puzzling, but a little
thought will discover what the writer means, and
OF CONNOISSEURS. 23

a slight knowledge of the subject will show that
Dodd does not exaggerate his own merit.

The shop in Tavistock Street soon made its
name. Collectors eager to buy, students anxious
to learn, and poor folks driven to sell, rejoiced
to find a dealer who understood his stock-in-trade,
and conducted it upon honest principles. Dodd
gave a fair price and sold at a fair profit, taking
no advantage of a vendors ignorance nor of a
buyer’s folly. He has left but few successors.

The shop became a “rendezvous of the cog-
noscenti,” as people said in those days, careless
of the unities and the harmonies. Dodd was
constantly employed judging and valuing prints,
buying, selling, and studying without intermission.
The demands made upon him as a critic, and his
growing reputation, tempted him to undertake
the public sale of books, prints, and articles of
vertu. In 1806 he took front premises, with an
auction room at the back, in St Martin’s Lane,
and began business. But the French war was
then at its height, the income-tax crushing, and
men’s minds full of anxiety. In every street, hung
out to view hatchments blacker than the engraver’s
best, and the newspapers gave such a catalogue
of dead students in the art of war as distanced
Strutt and Dodd together. Things did not go
well in St. Martin’s Lane, but the other business
24 THE LAST OF THE GRAND SCHOOL

had not been given up, and it prospered fairly.
The stock, however, increased beyond reason, and
in 1809 Dodd resolved upon a country trip. He
chose a thousand of his best engravings, ranging
from the earliest period of the sixteenth century
and ending with those of the eighteenth. These he
sent to Liverpool by canal, and followed himself,
trusting especially to the protection of William
Roscoe, to whom he had a letter of introduction.

He was not disappointed. That great con-
noisseur. received him at Allerton Hall, and
gathered the most likely people of the neighbour-
hood for a private view of Mr. Dodd’s collection.
In due time it was sold, at a large house in Lord
Street. Twenty-four days the auction lasted, and
it realised 1,134/. 15s. 6d. So successful was
this enterprise that in the summer following Dodd
sold a large library of books at Liverpool with
equal advantage. So began his long connection
with lovers of art dwelling in the North. Amongst
these are specially enumerated, besides William
Roscoe and his son, G. Bainbridge, G. Howarth,
J. Ashton Yates, Littledale, Thomas Winstanley,
T. Binns, J. Thompson, Rev. Dr. Hodgson,
Rev. Mr. Smythe, Rev. Mr. Orré, Messrs.
Fielding, Anderson, Tart, Molyneux, Jackson,
Pickering, C. Buckworth, Staniforth, Forsyth,
Pulford, Bold, and Fletcher Raincock.
OF CONNOISSEURS. 25

On January 18th, 1809, and nine days follow-
ing, Dodd sold the collection of General W.
Dowdeswell, at his rooms in London. It produced
2,377/. 3s. 6d., and the catalogue is still prized
by students in this branch of art. At the close
of the same year he bought and offered to the
public a collection of prints which he considered
unique, after: supplementing it from his own
resources. The catalogue filled 170 pages octavo,
and was thus prefaced :—

“A catalogue of the extensive and highly important collection
of prints, forming a select and unusual display of the most rare
and superior productions of the French, Flemish, German, and
English engravers who stand pre-eminently distinguished for
admirable skill in the respective branches of their art; con-
sisting chiefly of portraits, historical compositions, and land-
scapes abounding with choice proofs; curious variations and
impressions of remarkable brilliancy. Also, a choice collection
of etchings, more especially by Flemish artists of the sixteenth
century, including many of peculiar rarity and of high interest
to the enlightened connoisseur. And upwards of fifteen hundred
of the productions of Wenceslaus Hollar, comprising his most
estimable portraits of British personages, and of local. and
topographical scenery of Great Britain of remarkable fine
quality.

“ Strutt’s ‘Dictionary of Engravers,’ illustrated by upwards of
4,000 prints, the works of different engravers therein specified,
arranged in chronological order, forming 24 vols. imp. folio.
Aselect collection of portraits from paintings of Sir Ant. Vandyke,
in upwards of 200 proofs, and Vander Enden impressions, &c.”

The sale lasted twenty days, producing 3,202/. 6s.
26 THE LAST OF THE GRAND SCHOOL

In the year 1811 Dodd visited Portsmouth
with a miscellaneous store of engravings likely
to sell amongst a rough population. He took a
room in a public-house facing the Parade, and
did business to the amount of 500/. in four
weeks, with sporting prints, rural scenes, pic-
tures of pugilists, &c. Next year, 1812, was
memorable for the great adventure of Dodd’s
life. He packed up a selection of his goods for
Liverpool, and started after it with his wife.
She was a native of Ludlow, and wished to
revisit this Shropshire town. Partly on foot,
partly by post-chaise and coach, they made their
way, and duly arrived. The reader may well be
curious to see a specimen of Dodd’s extraordi-
nary style set out in full length; in a neat and
careful hand, without one blot or insertion, he
writes :

‘‘ We made our perambulation up one street and entered that
of another, which had its due attractions, and especially in it
was an inn of comparatively less humble in appearance to its
more potent neighbour, but carrying with it antiquarian cut and
neatness that took my fancy. Herein we entered, and were
ushered into a parlour remarkably clean and well furnished, and
the walls adorned with a profusion of prints neatly framed and
glazed. .... These and other peculiarities within the walls of
an inn induced me to inquire of the female attendant on us, and
her replies being such as rather excited my curiosity as regarding

the antiquarian pursuits of the landlord, a batchelor apparently
of the age of sixty. I shortly after had an opportunity of
OF CONNOISSEURS. 27

addressing him, and on entering further into conversation we sat
down together in full chat, dwelling on the subject more espe-
cially of engraved portraits, and of other prints of an interesting
class, and of such as pertained to history, personal and local.
While thus descanting on the merit and curiosity attached to
particular prints, he stated that he possessed a book containing
Portraits of the Kings of England. I naturally made the inquiry
of ‘Who by?’ as applying to the engraver of them, which his
curiosity had not hitherto led him to denote or fix on his
memory, the names of bygone engravers. On my part I sur-
mised that they were the well-known series by Vertue. I, how-
ever, requested a sight of them, which he immediately complied
with by going upstairs into his treasury chamber, or antiquarian
receptacle, and returning therefrom with his ‘ Book of Kings,’ a
thin quarto, within an antiquated parchment binding. _I at once
perceived by its engraved title its important contents, of which
the following is a true copy :—

‘«« Basioloogia ; a Book of Kings; being the true and lively
effigies of all our English Kings, from the Conquest until this
present, with their severall Coats of Arms, Impresses, and
Devices, and a brief Chronologie of their Lives and Deaths,
elegantly engraved on copper. Printed for H. Holland and are
to be sold by Comp. Holland over against the Exchange, 1618.’
Signed underneath, ‘&. &. sculpszt’ (Reynold Elstracke).

“The continuation of the ‘Series of the Kings’ descend to
that of James the First, his queen and progeny, but this series
was accompanied by other portraits, consisting of those of
nobility, statesmen, and ladies of elevated rank that had adorned
the preceding court of Queen Elizabeth and her successor ;
forming together ninety-three prints, of the same age of publica-
tion as the ‘ Book of Kings.’

‘‘No instance upon record had, until the year 1811, pro-
duced a similar connecting collection of engraved portraits of
British statesmen with the above ‘ Book of Kings’ of contem-
porary publication, which in the above year was brought to
28 THE LAST OF THE GRAND SCHOOL

public competition at Christie’s Rooms, then known (the book)
to have been the property of some member of the Delabere
family. This latter copy, however, contained 152 portraits,
which were sold separately in as many lots as were productive of
the sum of six hundred pounds.* In this place it must be
observed that the ‘ Basioloogia’ was jn itself a publication uncon-
nected with other engraved portraits of contemporary issue, but
as the context proves, from other similar additions to copies of
the ‘ Basioloogia’ that have since come to light, that in order to
give it a more bulky form some few individuals of the reign of
James I., who attached interest to portraits painted at that
period, caused them to be so far connected by binding, or by
sewing them within a parchment or other cover, by which means
they were thus preserved and handed down to our own times,
otherwise (as with many of great interest) have by this time
become nearly obsolete and of non-existence.”

Dodd’s excitement on discovering such a trea-
sure in a second-rate inn of a small town, con-
founds all his parts of speech—antecedents are
scattered loose abroad, and relatives make no
visible efforts to find them. Nominative cases
stand master of the field, from which verbs have
fled in despair. King Sesquipedalia rules supreme.
It may have been a certain eagerness in his
guest's demand which caused the landlord to
refuse 50/. for his book. Refuse he did, any
way, and the Londoner withdrew discomfited,
after arranging a system of intelligence with Mrs.
Dodd’s relatives, whose duty in life was hence-
forward to keep an eye upon the ‘Basioloogia.’

* Vide Appendix C, ‘This series,” &c.
OF CONNOISSEURS, 29

The sale at Liverpool on this visit consisted
mostly of standard prints and books of illustra-
tion. That business over, Dodd started on a
tour through North Wales, leaving his wife
behind. Some of his old friends and persecutors
recognized him, but Conway Abbey had passed
into possession of Lord Newborough. Some
months after Dodd’s return to London he heard
from the faithful spies at Ludlow, that the pos-
session of a ‘Basioloogia,’ or more worldly cares,
had proved too much for the innkeeper’s brain.
Fevered with hope, Dodd waited on him at the
earliest opportunity, but all he got for the offer
of roo/. was a promise that ‘“‘some day” the
jewel should be his. Disconsolate he returned
to London, and sought relief in changing his
abode. Stafford Row, Pimlico, seemed better
fitted than Covent Garden for his stock, which
had now become very select, and of no incon-
siderable importance. He wished to retire from
the more public class of business. Amongst his
best patrons here was Mr. Morse, of Clarges
Street, a retired nabob, who killed his time by
haunting sale rooms. As he grew more used to
such establishments, Dodd’s conduct attracted his
attention. Indian experience gave him no clue to
the motives of a man who became excited over
a print, and paid golden guineas for a worn-out
30 THE LAST OF THE GRAND SCHOOL

portrait. One day he abruptly called, and asked
point blank what was the meaning of it. Dodd
explained his pursuits at length, and poured a
very deluge of learning over his visitor. Mr.
Morse had his doubts, apparently. He invited
the sage, who knew so much, to name for him
the engravers of a small lot of prints in his
possession, which were signed only with intricate
monograms. Dodd came, took a cup of tea, and
read the cyphers at a glance, adding copious
information from his store. Mr. Morse was fas-
cinated, and forthwith resolved to master the
science of calcography. At considerable expense
he did so, becoming as enthusiastic as any col-
lector about town. The whim was lost as easily
as it had been acquired, for a few pert young
nieces laughed him out of it when he really had
something to be proud of. For some years his
gallery remained under lock and key, till Mr.
John Landseer begged permission to inspect it,
before beginning his lectures at the British Insti-
tution on that subject. This stirred the old
spirit, but it dozed off again for another year.
A like visit from Mr. Young Ottley and Mr. S.
Lloyd, vigilant collectors, bent on the same object,
finally re-awakened Mr. Morse, and he began to
buy with energy and purse recruited. When he
died, in 1816, Dodd sold the gallery by auction,
OF CONNOISSEURS. 31

as enjoined by Mr. Morse’s will. It made 3,600
lots, disposed of in twenty-eight days, for nearly
6,000/. The catalogue is considered important.

On September goth, 1816, the sale of Mr.
Roscoe’s collection attracted buyers from every land
to Liverpool. Dodd took advantage of the
opportunity to put up to auction a quantity of prints,
which he declares to have vied in importance with
Roscoe’s famous gallery. It does not seem to have
sold to his satisfaction. Nevertheless he disposed
of a second lot a month afterwards, with results
still more unprofitable.

In the year 1817, a vast amount of time was
wasted on a work which Francois Brulliot forestalled.
The ‘ Dictionnaire de Monogrammes,’ etc., of that
authority, made useless all Dodd’s labour. He
takes the surprise and disappointment very cheer-
fully. From this time fortune left him. It had
been hoped that peace would bring prosperity,
but stupid financiers and reckless politicians made
the years succeeding Waterloo yet more bitter
than those of the struggle. Though Dodd is not
clear on this subject, it is evident that he was
ruined about this time, and lost his London
business. He bought and sold, but on a smaller
scale, and mostly in the provinces. A certain
Wise, auctioneer of the “rigging” sort at Liver-
pool, had some share in these reverses. Dis-
32 THE LAST OF THE GRAND SCHOOL

couraged, no doubt, by his own ill-luck, Dodd
allowed this man to sell his prints in 1818, and
suffered considerably. But he obtained some
seven hundred pounds, and with that small for-
tune in hand went once more in quest of the
‘ Basioloogia.’

People at Ludlow entertained the proverbial
opinion of their prophet. The owner of the
‘Basioloogia’ had incautiously boasted how a
Londoner had offered him i1o0/. for his engrav-
ings, and henceforth the Ludlowites recognized
him by no other name than “the old fool,’ sar
excellence. Under this title Dodd easily found him
and he shrewdly turned to use the public scorn,
for Wigley had a natural inclination to prove
himself neither fool nor story-teller, and the one
way to succeed was to show the cash. In short,
after seven years’ essay, Dodd bought the
‘Basioloogia, for 100o/, All the way to London
he displayed his treasure before every one who
entered the coach, including two pointer dogs
which travelled with two gamekeepers. General
Dowdeswell, before mentioned, bought twenty-three
of the prints, which were lacking in his own col-
lection, for 1504. The kings themselves, twenty-
four in number, went to the dowager Marchioness
of Bath for thirty guineas. Some others Dodd
sold to Mr. Wilson at five guineas each, and the
OF CONNOISSEURS. 33

remainder, in one lot, to Mr. P. Colnaghi for
130/.

A long illness in 1818-19 seemed to have
further deranged Mr. Dodd’s affairs. In his bed-
room, however, he wrote a ‘Dissertation on the
Origin of the Art of Engraving, etc., compre-
hending a Period from the Time of Noah to
that of the Date of the Birth of Jesus Christ,’
etc., etc., never published. The MS. is in Mr.
Mayer’s possession. That part of it which gathers
together all scattered references to the art which
the Bible contains is particularly interesting.

On leaving his room, Dodd found he “possessed
neither funds nor that class of stock sufficient to
propel me again into action. Nevertheless, my
credit was good with many; but, on my part, I|
declined in a degree in accepting it, but on the
condition only of sale or return of such stock as
I could dispose of.” Taking a quantity of books
and prints to Liverpool upon these terms, the
sale of them proved so unsatisfactory that Dodd
shook the dust off his feet for a witness against
that town, and went to Manchester. There was
nobody to rival him in the neighbourhood. Works
of art, books, etc., had been sold hitherto upon
the system of halfpenny biddings, a little fact
suggestive enough. Dodd found trouble at first

in opposing custom, but some persons of position
'
34 THE LAST OF THE GRAND SCHOOL

took him up, and presently he began to thrive
once more, in a small ground floor at Poolfold,
then at the entrance of the Exchange in St.
Ann’s Street. “My name and fame,” says he
“(if I may so express it), became a topic of
conversation, far and wide, of that locality, the
seat of manufactures.”

So things went “ progressively,” till it became
desirable to move a third time. Dodd took large
premises in King Street during the year 1821,
where he ventured to dispose of miscellaneous
articles, even farm-stock. As an auctioneer he was
very popular, and his private trade in books and
prints again became important. The London
dealers knew and trusted him, consigning large
parcels to his care.

In 1823 Dodd hatched a scheme fated to
have important consequences. How it was formed
he himself should best know, and he has explained
the matter as follows :—

‘‘My natural impulse led me moreover to diffuse by the
course of conversation in reply to enquiries, many interesting
topics on the subject, and especially with individuals whose
attentions were more or less excited therein, combined with an
instinctive desire to become more elevated in their conceptions
and a general comprehensive culture of them. From such
essential promulgations I gradually discerned a generous feeling
towards them by the more enlightened classes of the community,

and foresaw that if in a degree they were directed and diffused
among the ingenious although uninitiated minds of the community,
OF CONNOISSEURS. 35

great and highly intellectual results would ensue, to the benefit
of all classes engaged in operative employments of manufacture.
Entertaining within me such and other like mental thoughts
upon the subject, I duly considered that by a diffusive circu-
lation of prints adapted to such essential purposes among the
leading and more influential individuals of the trading and
manufacturing classes of the community of Manchester, might
eventually lead to such beneficial results as I then duly
contemplated.”

Led by these reflections, Dodd addressed a
circular to his wealthiest patrons. It proposed,
in effect, that they should each subscribe 1o/.,
to be expended by Dodd in the purchase of
prints and books at his discretion. Whatever
the sum so raised, he undertook to add as much
on his own account, and the articles bought he
engaged to sell at private auction. Every sub-
scriber would have a right to his ten pounds
worth, and as much more as he chose to buy.

This circular was immediately answered by
leading citizens, but it especially struck the artists
of the town. At a supper party there was much
talk of it, and next day Mr. Calvert, a painter,
waited upon Dodd in the name of his brethren
to suggest an annual exhibition of pictures. As
a result, a general meeting of the profession took
place at Messrs. Jackson’s print warehouse, in
Market Street. Dodd was called to the chair,
an honour which he declined, but he readily
36 THE LAST OF THE GRAND SCHOOL

became their honorary secretary. At his house
weekly meetings were held, until the association
resolved to call upon their wealthier townsmen to
create a permanent fund for exhibitions. The
circular was drawn up by Dodd, and it found
immediate answer. A number of gentlemen met
and formed themselves into a committee of con-
sideration. They resolved to buy the premises
of which Dodd’s sale-rooms formed part, nearly
an acre in extent, the property of Colonel Ford,
of Sandbach. Dodd was commissioned to treat
with this gentleman, and he secured the place,
after personal negotiations, for 5,750/.

The active and business-like men who had
this matter in charge wasted no time. A general
meeting of the inhabitants of Manchester was
called for October rst, 1823, in the large room
of the Exchange. A hundred and forty persons
subscribed 50¢. apiece, and the Manchester Insti-
tution was afoot. Its further progress need not
be followed here.

But the originator of the scheme did not
share the general delight. When subscriptions
poured in so fast that the committee found them-
selves worth 16,100/. in six months, Dodd’s
premises were no longer equal to their desires.
They resold the property to one of their number,
a Mr. Christie, whose drysalting establishment
OF CONNOISSEURS. 37

abutted on it. There is no apparent reason to
suppose that he had any object besides a wish to
increase his business, but Dodd was _ bitterly
aggrieved. Very libellous words indeed does he
employ to denounce the greed of Christie, and
the thoughtless ingratitude of those who so used
his own idea as to turn him out of house and
home. For the drysalter instantly gave notice to
Dodd, and, in the meanwhile, heaped bricks and
timber before his entrance-door. A threat of law,
and a mutual explanation, brought both parties to
an understanding for awhile.

The ‘Connoisseur’s Repertorium,’ first part,
is dated from Manchester, Dec. 13th, 1824. It
was a ‘History of Artists, as Painters, Sculptors,
Architects, and Engravers who have flourished
from the Era of the Revival of the Fine Arts
in the Twelfth Century to the present Epoch,
by Thomas Dodd.’ A very fair number of
subscribers encouraged the book, which would
have been most valuable had Dodd possessed the
faculty of using his extraordinary. information.
The reader will quite comprehend by this time
how it was the enterprise broke down at its
sixth volume or part. Mr. Douce, however, the
‘‘ benefactor” of the Bodleian Library, found it
not too diffuse. He wrote a letter of strong
congratulation to Dodd, extolling the merit and
38 THE LAST OF THE GRAND SCHOOL

erudition of the work, and even declaring “you
had little occasion to apologise for your stile of
writing the text, because it is exceedingly good,
and just what it ought to be.” On that point
opinions may differ, but no one will doubt that
the ‘ Repertorium’ would have been an astonish-
ing monument of learning.

Christie’s building operations finally overcame
Dodd’s obstinacy. He gave up his rooms at the
end of 1825, and left Manchester in disgust.
Liverpool welcomed him with no better success, «
for a panic raged there. After eight years’
absence, Dodd returned to London, and started
sale-rooms in Leicester Street, Leicester Square,
opposite that too famous establishment called “The
Slaughter House,” which was kept by a former
clerk of Dodd’s, George Jones. For two years
the rivalry lasted, until the ex-master gave way,
and the Slaughterer ruled supreme.

In 1828, three publishers, Messrs. Hurst and
Chaunce, of St. Paul’s Churchyard, Hunt and
Clarke, of York Street, Covent Garden, and Charles
Walker, Paternoster Row, proposed to pay Dodd
forty pounds a volume of his ‘ Connoisseur’s
Repertorium,’ to be published every three months.
At the end of the following year this arrangement
ceased, as one partner was bankrupt, another had
retired, and the third did not see his way. Mr.
OF CONNOISSEURS. 39

Martin Colnaghi just then offered Dodd four
pounds a week to act as foreman in his establish-
ment. The position was accepted, and in this
capacity Dodd was employed to catalogue and
rearrange Lord Yarborough’s collection of old
prints. When the opportunity arrived, he did not
fail to stir in his lordship an enthusiasm almost
equal to his own, and upon the superintendence
of Colnaghi’s affairs falling into the hands of the
well-known auctioneer, Harry Phillips, Lord Yar-
borough took Dodd into his own employment.

In this service he remained, purchasing prints and
completing the collection, till 1834. At that time
died his patron, Mr. Tennant, Lord Yarborough’s
brother-in-law, and on that event the pursuit was
set aside.

During the same period Dodd made the
indices and mounted the prints for Mr. Bowyer’s
splendid illustration of Hume's ‘History of Eng-
land” Mr. H. Hawkins was his immediate em-
ployer.

_ For some years following he traded in prints,
visited Manchester and Liverpool, and settled for
some months in the former town. His most
important commission was the rearrangement of
Mr. Standish’s collection at Duxbury. At the
end of 1838 Dodd tried once more to fix himself
in Liverpool, but failed.
40 THE LAST OF THE GRAND SCHOOL

“At this time,” he writes, ‘‘Mr. Clements took on him
the kind office of introducing me to your notice at your residence
at Everton, where I met with a most cordial reception from you
(Mr. Mayer) personally, and with it, moreover, your kind and
liberal patronage, and which I have retained in succession from
year to year to the present hour, to my great comfort, repose,
and gratification. At the interval herein alluded to, I was
requested to recapitulate some memoranda of my early
adventures in life, which no doubt, from the very singular
narrative I then gave, prepossessed you with a desire that I
should transmit passages of it to paper, of which the present
document forms some of the most interesting passages that I,
at this present time, carry in remembrance.”

In 1839 Providence “became alive to his
necessities.” Francis Douce had left his magnifi-
cent gallery to the Bodleian Library at Oxford.
And every connoisseur in England would have
cried out had not Thomas Dodd been named to
arrange it. There were fifty thousand prints to
class under at least two thousand engravers, of
every time, of every nation, and in all branches
of the art. Dodd saw more distinctly than any
one the enormous value of a catalogue to such
treasures, and he was induced to give incredible
pains to it by the understanding that it would
be published. This has not been done, though
lovers of art have many times tried to urge the
duty upon the authorities of the Bodleian. In it
is stored such varied and accurate erudition as no
living man possessed upon the subject in that age
OF CONNOISSEURS. 4i

or in ours. Were it only for gratitude towards
Mr. Douce, this monument should be printed.
Shortly after the completion of his two years’
duty in Oxford, Dodd received news of the great
sale at Strawberry Hill. The prints of that
extraordinary collection had been placed in the
Round Tower, expressly built for them by Horace
Walpole. George Robins, the auctioneer who
managed the sale, had made them into bulky
lots, so as to get through them in two days, and
Dodd was invited to examine this arrangement,
upon public protest from nearly all collectors in
England. They called for Dodd. He came, and
instantly, pronounced the proposal absurd, and
ruinous to the estate. Consequently, at a com-
mission of 1} per cent., he undertook to redis-
tribute the lots, and make a catalogue rvazsouné.
It was done in the utmost haste, whilst the grand
sale proceeded. Ultimately, the prints were re-
moved to Robins’s Rooms, at the Piazza, Covent
Garden, and there were disposed of in a ten days’
auction. Robins’s 300 lots formed 1,331 under
the new arrangement; four of them alone made
goo in Dodd’s hands, which sold for 1,800/.
The entire proceeds reached 3,840/. Ios.
‘Another instance of Dodd’s judgment was
furnished at the Binner sale. This gentleman
died, leaving legacies to the amount of 1,500/.,
42 THE LAST OF THE GRAND SCHOOL

and only his prints to pay them. The executors
expected a woful deficit, since the whole collec-
tion loaded but a single van. Dodd, however,
cheered their incredulous spirits, and under his
skilful arrangement Messrs. Sotheby realised 2,950/.

For two years longer he worked at cata-
loguing and classifications, until a meeting with
Mr. Hurst, then of the Charterhouse, put into
his mind the idea of joining that brotherhood.
This gentleman had heen a publisher, and had
held relations with Dodd. Upon his recommen-
dation the latter applied to each governor, and
by all was kindly received. The Bishop of Lon-
don put him in nomination, but before the time
arrived Lord Wharncliffe passed his name before
several others on the list, and Dodd found him-
self a brother of the Charterhouse. And thus
concludes his autobiography :

“Here, located in this magnificent asylum, founded and
endowed by the truly great and most worthy philanthropist and
benefactor to his fellow mortals, Thomas Sutton, I pass my
time in comfort and in the pleasing enjoyments of those
rational and interesting pursuits in which I have been engaged
by my own ultimate choice from my youth as the most agreeable
pastime and recreation, as I still wish to be engaged in, and
hope to retain to the termination of my existence in this
transitory world. A portion of my time at intervals is spent in
the illustration of the more recently published History of

Robert Smith ; of this most excellent establishment, denominated
“Charter House,’ and of its most worthy and benevolent founder.”
OF CONNOISSEURS. 43

He died August 17th, 1850, at the residence
of Mr. Mayer, to whom he bequeathed the whole
of his immense collection. They fill something
like two hundred folios—a mine, a new world, of
antique lore. Amongst them is the ‘Dictionary
of Monograms’ and the ‘Account of Engravers
who have practised their Art in England from
1550 to 1840, or near it,’ with innumerable dis-
sertations upon kindred subjects. Two days after
finishing the great dictionary, which had employed
him forty-five years, he died. Only an hour after
writing /vz7s he took to his bed! In fulfilment
of a very long promise, Mr. Mayer had him
buried in St. James’s Cemetery at Liverpool.
 
 
 
WILLIAM UPCOTT.
 
 

WILLIAM UPCOTT,

“THE FATHER OF A FASHION.”
MODELLED AND CUT IN MARBLE BY
GIOVANNI FONTANA, FOR JOSEPH MAYER, F.S.A.,
FOR HIS GALLERY OF FRIENDS,”

AT PENNANT HOUSE, BEBINGTON.
THE FATHER OF A FASHION.

Is “fashion” the proper word to use in describing
the mental state of those who collect autographs
at the present day? Practical persons will call it
a mania, if nothing worse. But whatever term be
preferred, none who understand the matter will
grudge William Upcott his responsible paternity.
They used to call him the Prince of Collectors
half a century ago, but that description is feeble.
A prince buys his realm, as one may say, and
rules his subjects despotically with pomp and
pride; William Upcott had no money, and his
treasures were set off with no state. A father
he was to them all, loving the meanest, if proud
of the rarest. No scrap of writing was too small
for the man who discovered Evelyn’s Diary, who
collected, from sources unknown, the Clarendon
Correspondence, who unearthed the Confidential
Despatches of Dayrolles, the Confession of Felton,
and so many other documents, by which History
Z THE FATHER OF A FASHION.

and Art and Manners have been “ copiously
illustrated” in his own favourite phrase.

In a country house of Cheshire, some weeks
back, I saw upon the table a thick quarto, labelled
“William Upcott — Drama.” Something like a
thousand letters, receipts, agreements, hoary play
bills, and ancient critiques, were neatly pasted
down therein.

“You ’ve discovered my latest sin,” exclaimed
the host. ‘There are fifteen volumes besides
that, and I bought them only a few days since.
But the cream of all poor Upcott’s collection in
dramatic autographs lies in that volume.”

Four hundred and eighty pounds’ worth of
unconsidered trifles! Surely it is well to glance
through a book worth twenty times its weight in
gold, when one is so fortunate as to catch the
opportunity. I opened the pages. A very mine
of literary treasure! Would you assure yourself
that Samuel Johnson really pocketed his pension,
he who spoke of pensioners in the tone we know
of? There lies his unique receipt, signed and
sealed and witnessed. Would you know how
Addison bargained about Cato, what he received
for it, and what the critics thought on that most
glorious of premiéves? It all lies before you in
the veracity of his own handwriting and of faded
print. Are you curious about Goldsmith, Gay,
THE FATHER OF A FASHION. 3

Shenstone, Pope, any man of that great galaxy?
They speak for themselves. For this supreme
volume Upcott ransacked his immense stores.
I began to take notes, but every letter or deed
called for attention. I will tell you something of
this great book farther on, but surely the man
who made it deserves first notice. He was father
of one amongst our maddest fashions of the time,
and a father to be proud of.

William Upcott was an Oxfordshire man,
born in 1779. Ozias Humphrey, the academician,
stood godfather to him, and this connection proved
important, as we shall see. He was apprenticed
to a bookseller in Pall Mall, and there made
himself so much liked by influential customers,
that, upon the founding of the London Institu-
tion, Mr. Upcott was appointed sub-librarian.
Professor Porson was his chief. From 1808 till
1834 the collector held this post, at the same
time following his natural bent. Upon resigning,
he withdrew to Upper Street, Islington, number
102. The house, which was called Autograph
Cottage in his time, has a bare brown wall
towards the street, with a space of poor garden
ground, and a high railing between. Its interior
arrangements were quaintly old-fashioned, and
Mr. Upcott’s peculiar pursuits made the house
appear a veritable museum.
4 THE FATHER OF A FASHION.

The life of such a man seldom offers much
of that interest which the Germans call objective
reality. I have certain manuscripts before me
which show that the autobiographical collector
was fond of writing bits of autobiography. The
importance of Upcott’s life does not lie in things
he did, nor in things he was, but in things he had
— gathered no one quite knows how, or when, or
where. I may very well leave the relation of
his career to himself. The following bright and
pleasant sketch he wrote for Mr. Dawson Turner,
the banker of Norwich, and it bears date June
2oth, 1816 :-—

“ Most of us have our hobbies; we are poor
creatures without them. Mine have capered me
through many a quagmire, and have led me many
a dance, to the tune of ‘empty pockets,’ more
than once; have galloped me into half the sale-
rooms of this overgrown metropolis, as well as
among the printsellers, booksellers, coin dealers,
and I know not how many dealers beside—till I
have been jaded with the ride, and almost penni-
less from the pursuit. But 2’zmforte has long been
my motto, and may so continue to the end of the
chapter. . . . When a mere urchin, scarcely
three feet high, a curious pair of carved bellows,
dated 1594, were given to me, because I was very
much struck with the singularity of their form,
THE FATHER OF A FASHION. 5

and the oddity of the figures cut thereon. Round
the edge was inscribed this apposite couplet :—

‘ Bellows, like a quiet wife,

Sends out breath and makes no strife.’
I was as proud of my treasure as is a Lord
Mayor of his gilded coach. They were preserved
with the greatest care, and exhibited only on high
days and holidays. When I came to London, now
nearly twenty years agone, they were consigned
to a relation, who, to use a homely phrase, had
just about as much relish for these matters ‘as
a cow has for a new shilling. When I went to
make inquiry for my favourites, I received the
melancholy tidings that the poor bellows, worn
out with age, were consigned to the flames.

“T well remember that when at schooij the
provincial half-pence were getting much into cir-
culation, Wilkinson’s Ironworks and the Anglesea
Mining Company took the lead. I was much
struck with the ingenuity of some of the devices,
and had a longing to form a collection of them.
Confined to a school-room, my opportunities were,
of course, very limited. I employed my play-
mates for the purpose. The grocers’ shops,
public-houses, and every place likely to further
my object were resorted to; and time crowned
me the hero of collectors, within the four walls
of a country schoolroom. My cabinet, alias a
6 THE FATHER OF A FASHION.

strong canvas bag, was visited by those around
me aS one containing gems of the first water ;
and in idea, I sprang up from four feet to six,
and the letter 7 soon became the greatest in the
alphabet, for there was none greater than I—no,
not one. This mania lasted through three or
four succeeding years after coming to London,
and produced indescribable pleasure. Indeed,
words cannot convey the delight afforded me
whenever chance threw any coins in my way,
which were not already in my possession. Whole
nights have I sat up arranging and comparing ;
and the leisure moments by day have been
devoted to visiting the various shops, from one
end of London to the other: ‘in short, no pur-
suit did I ever take up with more ardour, or
continue with more steadiness, than the collection
of provincial coins; but that ardour is now com-
pletely burnt out. The whole mass, more than
two thousand varieties, are now never looked at ;
so that they, together with a volume of more
than three hundred pages — which I compiled
and wrote fairly out on the subject —are at this
time lying buried amongst the rubbish in some
one of my drawers.” [The coins were sold amongst
‘‘ Miscellaneous Curiosities,” on the last day of
Mr. Upcott’s great auction. They fetched only
a few pounds. |
THE FATHER OF A FASHION. e

“Another hobby soon supplied its place.
Seventeen years ago an elderly gentleman, who
had taken a fancy to some of my whims, started
the idea of my collecting portraits, and, as a bait,
gave me a few specimens.* I swallowed it
eagerly, and to this day have not been able to
disgorge it. . . I was saying that my collec-
tion in copper is grown into disuse—in fact, silver
coin has ousted them — nay, has so much taken
the lead, that the poor rider has been wofully
crippled in distancing the more humble copper.

“To these Bedlamite pursuits I must, forsooth,
add another or two. Like my neighbours, I must
possess a few rare books, also a_ sprinkling of
bibliography ; and that at a time when I can
have hourly access to one of the finest public
libraries. What strange infatuation! Besides, my
spare hours must likewise be filled up in using
a portion of my prints, in a way that the maniacs
call illustrating. . . The disease, however, that
has the strongest hold of my inclinations, is the
autographic mania. Had it seized me earlier,
’t would have saved me many a pound, as well
as made me the possessor of more considerable

*This was Mr. Upcott’s godfather, Ozias Humphrey, R.A. Amongst
his gifts was the “ Letter-book and Correspondence of Sir Joseph Hatton,”
which swelled into a miniature library in the collector’s hands. Almost

every important person of Elizabeth’s day was represented there when the
volumes were sold,
8 THE FATHER OF A FASHION.

specimens than I have. Even those lying by me
present a chaos not to be described; and when
they are to be arranged, I know not. ’T isa
whimsical hobby, this, but experience teaches me
I am zof a solitary instance of being a sufferer
from this malady. Your kind letter announces its
arrival at ——, and that it has taken up its abode
This I know, ’t is a hobby; and a
right good one too, because it is attended with

 

on the

little expense. I prefer it to all other hobbies,
and have ridden it without accident, save and
except a few disappointments, after the most
faithful promises from my various friends to assist
me. Most happy shall I be at all times to give
yours a feed at my manger; but I much fear that
it has been too long used to a choicer fare than
my stable will produce, tamely to submit to my
sorry provender. However, let me entreat you
to take the will for the deed —to pardon this
rambling hobby-horsical farrago—to make my
respectful compliments to your family, and to
believe me, &c.”

Writing to Mr. Mayer, in 1844, Upcott says:
‘‘T wish you could see my table at this moment,
covered with two lives of Mrs. Siddons; one of
John Kemble; life of Tom Dibdin, and of Sir
Thomas Lawrence; in all ten volumes, which I
have illustrated with original letters, plays, bills,
THE FATHER OF A FASHION, 9

portraits, and theatrical scene prints, which will
form twenty-four volumes, to be bound in morocco.
They are to be finished forthwith, and laid aside
for the amusement of posterity. I have sold the
collection of franks in six volumes for the poor
widow, and am going to Chelsea to gladden her
heart with the proceeds,” etc.

Mr. Upcott’s manner of working was quaint.
All round his study he ranged old hats upon the.
floor, and distributed therein the papers, prints,
etc., to be used in the day’s work. After bestow-
ing them in order, he cut his book up, generally
employing, for that purpose, his finger nails,
which were kept unusually long. Habit had
given him such skill, that he seldom wanted a
knife for taking out the leaves of his book. Then,
in proper place, he neatly introduced such original
matter as he had gathered on the subject, pasted
all down on large sheets of paper; ruled a line
deftly for ornament, and marked such notes as
seemed necessary in pencil. His volumes are a
marvel of clever handiness as of industry.

Upcott was not communicative upon the secrets
of his “trade.” Few stories are current of these
matters. But in regard to Evelyn’s Diary and
Correspondence, jealous rivals had insinuated, and
loose tattlers had confirmed the tale, that Mr.
Upcott did not acquire these invaluable treasures
10 THE FATHER OF A FASHION.

in a way quite straightforward. All who remember
him, feel sure that these ancient scandals were
baseless ; but I am happy to transcribe the col-
lector’s own report of his discovery, written in
Mr. Mayer’s autograph book. I have not pre-
sumed to correct it in any way.

“In April, 1813, I accompanied Mr. William
Bray, F.A.S., and author of a ‘History of the
County of Surrey,’ to Wotton, near Dorking,
long the residence of the family of Evelyn.
This journey was undertaken for the purpose of
arranging and making a catalogue of the library,
originally formed by John Evelyn, which had
been removed to an out-building, in consequence
of a fire taking place in the coach-house adjoin-
ing. The year following, I re-visited that favourite
spot. Sitting one evening, in company of Lady
Evelyn, widow of Sir Frederick Evelyn, and
her intimate friend, Mrs. Molineux, my attention
was attracted to a tippet which her ladyship
was then making of birds’ feathers. ‘We have
all our hobbies, I perceive, my lady!’ said I.

“«Very true, was the answer, ‘and pray what
may yours be, Mr. Upcott?’

‘““«Mine, Madam, from an early age, began
by collecting provincial copper tokens, originally
issued by the Anglesea Copper Company, and
John Wilkinson, near Birmingham ; latterly, auto-
THE FATHER OF A FASHION. II

graphs, or original letters, written by men who have
distinguished themselves in every walk of life.’
“* Autographs!’ exclaimed Lady Evelyn,
‘What do you mean by autographs? Surely
you don’t mean old letters such as these?’ at
the same time opening the drawer of the work-
table, and taking out a small parcel of papers,
some of which had just been used by Mrs.
Molineux, who had pinned them together to cut
out patterns for the body and sleeves of a dress.
The sight of this packet (though of no great literary
importance, yet contained a few original letters,
addressed to Evelyn, written by some eminent
characters of the seventeenth century, more
particularly one or two from Sarah, the cele-
brated Duchess of Marlborough,) afforded me the
greatest possible pleasure, and I could not avoid
expressing my delight in looking them over.
“«Qh,’ cried Lady Evelyn, ‘if you care for
old papers like these, you shall have plenty, for
Sylva Evelyn [the familiar appellation given to
John Evelyn by his family] and those who
succeeded him, kept all their correspondence,
which has furnished the kitchen with abundance
of waste paper. Then, ringing the bell for her
confidential servant, Mrs. Smalley: ‘Smalley,’
said her ladyship, ‘Mr. Upcott tells me he is |
fond of collecting old letters. Here, take this
12 THE FATHER OF A FASHION.

key of the ebony cabinet in the billiard room ;
procure a basket, and bring down some of the
bundles which are tied up and put away. I
accompanied her, and having filled a small wicker
basket with packages, neatly tied up with ribbon,
carried it into the dining-room, and passed one
of the most agreeable evenings in my life, look-
ing through each bundle, with the assurance
from Lady Evelyn that I was welcome to lay
aside and accept any letter that might add to my
own collection.

“The following evening, the cabinet was
visited a second time; other packets were taken
out and placed in the basket; likewise a small
quarto MS. without covers, very closely written.
Turning over the leaves hastily, before I laid it
with the other packets, I observed it to be a
diary, and in the handwriting of John Evelyn,
headed ‘Kalendarium or Diary.’ As soon as I
returned to the dining-room, I drew Lady
Evelyn’s attention to this important discovery.

“«Bless me,’ exclaimed her ladyship, ‘if here
is n't old Sylva’s Diary; why, I havn't seen it
for years! I once lent it to Lord Harcourt, to
Lord Liverpool, and to Mr. Bray, who wished
me to print it. But I don’t think it would
interest the public, nor prove of sufficient import-
ance to repay the expense of printing.’
THE FATHER OF A FASHION. 13

‘* My own opinion was diametrically opposite
to this, feeling assured that the literary world
would appreciate so interesting a piece of auto-
biography. After much persuasion, and consenting
that her solicitor, Mr. William Bray, should affix
his name as editor of the work, although every
sheet was corrected by myself, this Diary was
published, in two volumes, quarto, in 1818; since
reprinted in five volumes, octavo, As Lady
Evelyn died November the rath, 1817, she, of
course, did not witness the very favourable recep-
tion which this work met with from the public.

“ His (John Evelyn’s) intimate friend, Samuel
Pepys, F.R.S., also kept a diary, which is
preserved, with his library, at Magdalen College,
‘Cambridge. The success which ‘ Evelyn’s Diary’
met with, induced Lord Braybrooke, the hereditary
keeper of that library, to have transcribed Pepys’
very difficult shorthand manuscript, comprising
ten years only of his active life, and became the
editor of this publication; printed uniform in size
and type with that of ‘Evelyn's Diary, (signed),
William Upcott. A collector and preserver of
Autographs, Liverpool, August 12th, 1844.”

It would be an endless article which comprised
all Upcott’s labours and successes. More simple
it is to note a few of his collections, as they are
described in the catalogue of his sale. This I
Iq THE FATHER OF A FASHION.

set down hereafter. He published very few
works. The second edition of “ Evelyn’s Diary”
came out under his avowed care, with the
Miscellaneous Works of John Evelyn, in 1825.
Three years later, he edited the valuable corres-
pondence of Henry, Earl of Clarendon, 1687-90,
recovered by him. This consisted of eight
hundred and sixty-four letters, chiefly passed
between the Earl, when Lord-Lieutenant of
Ireland, and Lawrence Hyde, Earl of Rochester,
James II., William III.; and nearly all the
statesmen of the time have their place in auto-
graph record.

In 1830, the Rev. Joseph Hunter edited for
Upcott his letters of Ralph Thoresby, F.R.S., of
Leeds, with a diary kept between the years 1679-
1723. At the sale, this work appeared, cut up, as
usual, and further “illustrated, with matter enough
to make three more folios.” It fetched 29/.

Another important work brought out by him,
was the ‘ Bibliographical account of the principal
works relating to English Topography, 1818,
three volumes, octavo.’ The reader will perceive
shortly how Upcott understood the subject, and
how he treated it.

We learn also, from an emphatic note, printed
in the catalogue, that our hero “transcribed the
‘ Byrth, Lyff, and Actes of King Arthur,’ trans-
THE FATHER OF A FASHION. 15

lation of Sir T. Mallory, and corrected it for
R. Southey,” who only contributed the notes and
introduction, though claiming all the credit.
Upcott was always ready in the cause of
literature. He originated the Guildhall Library,
and took great interest therein. At the third
exhibition of the Liverpool Mechanics’ Institute,
he sent down inestimable wonders. Alli the famous
personages of history contributed their letter-books,
as one may say; this was in June and July, 1844.
I have his portraits, in every vehicle, around
me on the table as I write. They all show a
full, laughter-loving face, mobile lips, and shrewd,
bright eyes, heavily lidded. You see there a
man full of life, and wit, and courage; bound to
succeed, whatever his object. If Upcott did not
write much himself, it was not for lack of ability,
as we have seen. A very neat impromptu I
find among Mr. Mayer's manuscripts, addressed
to a lady of his family, by “ William Upcott, ux
pauvre misérable,” It is. headed ‘ Bachelor's fare
without sauce,” and the two last stanzas are
creditable, to say the least, in their pleasant, old-
fashioned phrase :—

‘
‘«‘ To have an adviser, each day growing wiser,
A true bosom friend, is the Married Man’s share ;
But though ’tis distressing, and spirit-depressing,
To lack this great Blessing is Bachelor’s fare.
16 THE FATHER OF A FASHION.

“Tf mankind of this, and of all other bliss
That Wedlock contains was but fully aware,
Not one in a score, the Nation all o’er,
Would wish any more to have Bachelor’s fare !”’

In August and September, 1845, newspapers,
short of “copy,” gave much heed to the suffering
of railway travellers. Second-class carriages were
then unfurnished with walls, and the passengers
had no protection against rain or wind. Mr.
Upcott resolved to examine their grievance, by
the true test of experience, and left Mr. Mayer’s
house with that object. Next day, September
the 9th, he wrote to Clements, the wood engraver :
‘‘ Bother your parcel of buns! which stuffed up
both my pockets, but didn’t stuff me, as I did not
take any refreshment until I got to Wolverton,
where I partook of a glass of port wine, and a
slice of pork pie. I ought to have been Rom-
fordised (?) before I undertook a ride of two
hundred and ten miles, on a hard seat, in a
second-class carriage. . . . Instead of whiskey
and gin, I took medical advice, and have had a
thorough dosing. This has proved so far bene-
ficial, that I feel my spirits reviving, my health
returning; and, as my friends tell me, my general
appearance improved. Here I am, lying like a
spread eagle; as flat as a flounder; listening to
the rumbling of the Islington omnibuses, which
THE FATHER OF A FASHION. 17

pass every three minutes, instead of once in the
hour, like your delectable Bootle concerns. I can
also enjoy my favourite church clock, which
amuses me day and night, every quarter of an
hour, so that the time does not creep on so
heavily, so monotonously, and so wearisome, as
in your village, etc., etc.”

This letter shows no omen of the ‘ wooden
surtout,” as Upcott calls it, but within the fort-
night that journey killed kim. The father of all
autograph collectors died on September 23rd,
1845, at the age of sixty-six.

For many months before his death the collector
had been haunted by a strange apparition. After
closing his eyes for a little time, and especially
after sleeping, the figures 36 formed themselves
before his sight, horribly luminous. The refresh-
ing doze after dinner which old men love, became
a subject of daily alarm under this hallucination.
There is nothing very dreadful in number 36,
considered from an abstract point of view, but
Upcott’s friends tell with what horror he awoke,
eyes staring, and mouth dropped, to see upon
the wall those awful figures blazing. The best
doctors available in London or the North sought
means to overcome this extraordinary disease, but
quite unsuccessfully. It remained with him to the

last. Upcott tried vainly to recollect any event or
B
18 THE FATHER OF A FASHION.

connection of thought which might have stamped
the figures 36 upon his brain. The doctors gave
him up, and, as I have said, he never recovered
the delusion. It seems likely that some blood-
vessels of the eye, roused to activity by ill-health,
and distended by sleep, may have taken the form
which a fantastic imagination thus interpreted.

Although he had been selling freely for some
years before his death, William Upcott left 32,000
letters, illustrated by 3,000 portraits, drawings
and prints, all classed, but not attached to any
letter-press. His library of printed matter fur-
nished 1,397 lots, few of which were not improved
with “illustrations.” Five days lasted this first
part of the sale. His autograph letters made 585
lots, occupying three days. His prints, pictures,
and curiosities made 489 lots. The sale took
place in June, 1846, at Evan’s Auction Rooms,
106, New Bond Street, under the conduct of
Messrs. Sotheby and Wilkinson. It remains
only to note a few of the more extraordinary
collections there disposed of.

I have said that Upcott’s favourite occupation
was to cut books out of their binding, to add an
authentic portrait of all persons mentioned in the
text, an original drawing, or a print, of every
scene, and to bind the whole together. One
volume thus treated stretched into half-a-dozen,
THE FATHER OF A FASHION. 19

or more, with an increase of value above all
comparison.

Thus, George Daniel’s ‘ Merrie England in the
Olden Time,’ two vols., is not even now a work
either old or valuable. It was published for a
guinea in 1842. But Upcott seized upon it, and
so charged the text with rare prints, autographs
and antique portraits, that two volumes swelled to
eight, and the guinea book was monstrous cheap at
104. So with nearly all the rest. ‘John Evelyn’s
Memoirs and Correspondence,’ edited by Brayley,
fetched 182.; another 174. tos. In three years’
labour Upcott so far “illustrated” a 10s. book
upon the ‘ History of St. Mary’s, Islington,’ that
it fetched 11 guineas. It will give some idea of
his incredible diligence to read the description of
his ‘Oxfordshire: Graphic Illustrations of Oxford-
shire, comprised in a most extensive collection of
original drawings and engravings of churches, old
houses and antiquities ; topographical views, por-
traits of natives, and of nobility and clergy of the
county, collected or executed by Mr. Upcott, with
a view, etc. There were 842 drawings, and 1,215
prints. The collection occupied 24 years in making,
and its catalogue filled an octavo volume. It sold
for 235/., and would be a bargain at three times
the money in this day.

Northamptonshire also was illustrated by him
20 THE FATHER OF A FASHION.

to the extent of 250 drawings and 750 prints, more
or less; it sold for 664,

Amongst manuscripts, or autographs simple,
besides the ‘Clarendon Correspondence,’ was offered
for sale the ‘Correspondence of James and Solomon
Dayrolles, English residents at the Hague and
Geneva respectively, 1706-1786. 1,368 letters
were bought by the British Museum for 1104.

The Correspondence of Da Costa on Natural
History fetched 32/. The Correspondence of Sir
R. Browne, whilst Ambassador to France under
Charles I. and II., in a cover marked with the
arms and monogram of “ Sylva” Evelyn, brought
552. The same writers MS. ‘Treatise on Diplo-
matic Etiquette’ brought 3/. 12s. 70 was paid
for the Letters of Sir Leoline Jenkins, English
Minister at the Treaty of Nimeguen, with an
unique copy of the Treaty in Latin.

A collection of letters from people of eminence,
271 in number, addressed to Sylva Evelyn and the
Fairfax family, 1544-1704, sold for 1752; 383
letters from literary personages, in the 16th, 17th
and 18th centuries, 62 portfolios, 30/.; 395 letters,
226 portraits, of bibliomaniacs and collectors, 1457.
These prices astonished our fathers, as they aston-
ish us now, but not for the same reason. Upcott’s
library, &c., fetched 4,125¢. 17s. 6d., and it is not
too extravagant to say that it would bring ten
THE FATHER OF A FASHION, 21

times that amount if now offered. Even for the
time, it went monstrous cheap, in the opinion of
connoisseurs. Lot 572, consisting of 2,518
original letters and autographs, had been indignantly
denied by Upcott at 300/. only some weeks before
his death ; it fetched 637. Amongst the ‘ Original
Letters from Henry VIII.’s reign to that of
James I., addressed to the Walsinghams and the
Burleighs, which sold, 104 of them, for 4o/., a
single autograph brought 52/. the other day.
Several curious manuscripts which are known,
or, on strong evidence, are believed to have been
in Upcott’s possession at the time of his death,
proved to be missing when his effects were cata-
logued. The letter found in Felton’s hat, when
he was arrested after the murder of the Duke of
Buckingham, was among them. Upon inquiry,
one fact alone could be discovered to explain
their disappearance. When the carman removed
those innumerable folios from “ Autograph Cot-
tage,” a very high wind was blowing. An unknown
quantity of papers escaped, and fluttered away
before the breeze. The idle youth of Islington
set off in pursuit, and some were recovered, but
not nearly all. If Felton’s confession was not
blown into a gutter and destroyed by this luckless
gale, it was probably caught and utilised by the
butterman. If neither of these fates befell it,
22 THE FATHER OF A FASHION.

the secret of its disappearance must be reckoned
among the unsolved problems of history.

The supplementary notice of him printed in
‘The Gentleman’s Magazine,’ May, 1846, under
the signature ‘A. B.,’ was written by Mr. Dawson
Turner, F.S.A., the famous banker of Norwich
and patron of the arts, alike discerning and munifi-
cent.

And now to show the result of Upcott’s
labour. I take a single volume of the collection
labelled ‘‘ Drama.” Many bits of information will
be found in it which are unconnected with the
stage, strictly speaking, but it does not become
the tyro rashly to criticise an arrangement of his
master. First among the mildewed papers so
neatly inserted and pasted down is an old receipt,
all blotted and scrawled over, which drove Upcott
wild with delight when he discovered it amongst
some pile of hoary manuscript destined to ignoble
uses. Those who possess the original edition of
‘Johnson’s Dictionary’ may turn up the words
“Pension” and “ Pensioner.” They will find the
definition to be this :-—

‘* Pension—An allowance made to anyone without an
equivalent. In England it is generally understood to mean
pay given to a state hireling for treason to his country.”

“Pensioner—A slave of state, hired by a stipend to
obey his master.”
THE FATHER OF A FASHION. 23

Such was the opinion of the great Doctor-—
once. If one grain of cynicism could be found
in Upcott’s disposition, how must he have laughed
to read the lines that follow. They bear date
the 17th December, 1783. At seventy-nine years
old Johnson regarded pensioners in another
light :—

‘‘Of the Lord Hardwicke, one of the four Tellers of
His Majesty’s Receipt of Exchequer; 752. for three months’

pension, due October roth, 1783. I say, received by me,
Sam. Johnson.—Witness, Tho. Gibbons.”

The receipt is for 69¢. 7s. 6a.; a deduction of 77.
per cent. for fees and commissions. This is the
only acknowledgment known to exist, though the
allowance had been granted in July, 1762.
Needless to say that in later editions of the
Dictionary ‘‘Pensions” and “Pensioners” were
mildly defined.

On the 7th of April, 1713, J. Addison writes
to Jacob Tonson, Junior: “I say Received by
me 107/. tos. in full for the copy of a Trajedy
intitutled ‘ Cato.’”
and gentlemanlike, just what one would expect

The signature is neat, steady,

from “ Atticus.” That huge, sprawling dash above
was never made by Addison. In the joy of his
heart, probably, J. Tonson, Junior, so emphasized
the glorious autograph. Appended to this docu-
24 THE FATHER OF A FASHION.

ment is an old brown sheet, No. XXIX. of the
Guardian, dated Tuesday, the 14th of April,
1713. In the place of honour appears this
announcement: “‘ Never Acted before. This Day
will be Acted at the Theatre Royal, in Drury
Lane, A Trajedy called ‘Cato.’ The Prologue
and Epilogue written by Dr. Garth and Mr.
Pope.” This is the only advertisement in the
number, excepting some sacred  miscellanies,
paraphrases of psalms, and pious works. Amongst
‘them I note an ‘Ode on Divine Vengeance,’
inscribed to Mr. Steele. The body of the paper
contains an ‘Essay on Laughter,’ in which is
found a ponderous amount of the true, but
precious little of the new.

In the same year we have his own evidence
that Nicholas Rowe received 50/. 15s. from Lintot
for ‘Jane Shore.’ Alex. Pope signed his name
as witness to the bargain in a clear and pretty
writing. From the evidence of this book it
seems that playwrights earned much more money
than mere /¢éérateurs, as we shall show anon.
Besides the sum for which Leonard Welsted
sold his ‘Dissembled Wanton, or My Son, get
Money, he enjoyed a benefit at Lincoln’s Inn
Fields Theatre. It brought him in cash 57/. 4s.;
in tickets 812. 3s. Such an arrangement doubt-
less comforted Thomas Augustus Arne, the Mus.
THE FATHER OF A FASHION. 25

Doc., when J. Cundell offered him but 312 tos.
for 1,500 copies of “ ‘Artaxerxes,’ an English
opera to be forthwith performed at Covent
Garden.” Arne reserved the right of publishing
another edition, and for this received 217. on the
3rd of April, 1762. Charles Coffrey, however,
got but 5/. 5s. for his ‘Merry Cobbler, or the
Second Part of The Devil to pay’—a farcical
opera in one act, which had considerable success
in 1735. On the other hand, James Cobb
received from Lowndes 126/. for ‘Love in the
East, or the Adventures of Twelve Hours.’

‘The London Merchant, or the History of
George Barnewell,’ came monstrous cheap to
John Gray at 105/. in 1735. ‘Cato’ is forgotten,
so is ‘ Artaxerxes,’ and ‘ Love in the East’ has
no abode in modern memories. But ‘George
Barnewell’ is scarcely yet banished from the
London stage, and in the provinces it will survive
where poor Tom Robertson and Gilbert and Wills
have no chance to penetrate. Such a valuable
property was George Lillo’s play that the pub-
lishers split it up in eighths and sixteenths. All
the back of this yellow, spongy manuscript is
covered with assignments.

Pieces had no long run in the first quarter of
the eighteenth century. Few noted here stayed
more than a week upon the boards, yet, as we
26 THE FATHER OF A FASHION.

see, they had a round value. ‘Henry IV. of
France’ appeared at Lincoln’s Inn Fields on the
7th of November, 1719, and was repeated only
the three nights following. But a few days
afterwards, Curll—Pope’s famous Curll — gave
522. tos. for the sole right and title to it, with
a translation of Rapin’s ‘Christus Patiens’ thrown
in.

In 1731 Charles Bodens assigned to Watts,
for 80/., the ‘ Modish Couple,’ a comedy not yet
forgotten. It was acted at Drury Lane, the roth
of January, 1732, and two evenings following.
The same publisher gave Barton Booth 52/. tos.
for ‘Celia, or the Perjured Lover, which was
acted one night only. They advertised it for the
next, showing the piece to be no dead failure,
but the audience was “dismissed.”

A curious work must have been John Brown-
smith’s ‘Dramatic Timepiece,’ which he sold for
52. 5s. Mr. Upcott adds the title of anothér
work by the same author, of which the descrip-
tion alone survives, and the tradition of a copy
which belonged to David Garrick. It would
have been valuable at this day. The title ran:
“The Theatrical Alphabet, containing a Catalogue
of several hundred parts (both Men’s and Women’s)
in different Plays and Farces ; with the number of
lengths noted that each part contains, carefully
THE FATHER OF A FASHION. 27

disposed in alphabetical order, and accurately
distinguished by initial letters, denoting whether
they are in Tragedy, Comedy, Opera, Farce, &c.
The number of lengths are justly calculated as
they are performed at the Theatres Royal; with
a vacancy reserved to insert many more as they
may occur in new pieces or otherwise. By J. B.
‘Locus est et pluribus umbris.—Horace. 1767.”

More persons there are who know the name
of Susannah Centlivre than those who recollect
her play called ‘The Wonder, a Woman who
keeps a Secret,’ for which Curll gave her 21/. in
May, 1715. On the same agreement, at a
later date, are added ‘The Cruel Gift’ and ‘The
Artifice,’ for each of which she received the like
sum. The former of these two was acted at
Drury Lane, the 17th of December, 1717, repeated
five nights following, and again the 3rd of May,
1718, by special command of his Royal Highness,
for the author’s benefit. ‘The Artifice’ appeared
also at Drury Lane the 2nd of October, 1722,
and two nights following.

Of course Colley Cibber has his autograph in
this volume. For 105¢. he sold to Watts “‘ The
Provoked Husband, or a Journey to London,’
written by the late Sir John Vanbrugh, late of
the parish of Saint Martin’s-in-the-Fields, and
Colley Cibber, Esquire, of the parish of Saint
28 THE FATHER OF A FASHION.

Paul’s, Covent Garden; and also the sole right of
so much of the said comedy and in such manner
as left by the said Sir John Vanbrugh over and
above the sole right of said comedy as completed
by Sir John Vanbrugh and Colley Cibber,
Esquire.” This complicated sale was made in
1627. Next year the play was acted at Drury
Lane, and had the unusual run of twenty-eight
nights.

Theophilus Cibber got 45/4. from Watts, in
1730, for his comedy of “‘ The Lover Libertine,’
‘Hypocrite, or by whatever title it shall be
called.” This piece had already been performed,
for one night only, but the Princesses Amelia
and Caroline “commanded” it again. Theophilus
Cibber had influence at court, and thus we can
understand Watts’s liberality. To Fabian, less
happy, he only gave 3/. 3s. for a farce, ‘ Trick
for Trick,’ which was played after ‘Cato, but
not repeated in 1735.

An interesting receipt is that of Forrest and
Rich to Watts. It acknowledges “152. 15s. for
one moiety of an opera called ‘Momus turned
Fabulist, or Vulcan’s Wedding.’ I say received
by me, Jno. Rich. N. B.—I acknowledge to
have received a note or writing under the hand
of Mr. John Ozell, whereby he signifyes that
on his part he is satisfyed for his other moiety,
THE FATHER OF A FASHION. 29

Jno. Rich.” The famous manager was then chief
owner of Lincoln’s Inn Fields Theatre. Forrest’s
opera was performed there by His Royal High-
ness’s command, the 3rd of December, 1729.
The receipts of the house were 161/. 18s. 6d.
On the fifth night His Highness commanded it
again, and the money taken was 93/. 8s. The
last and eleventh night Rich played it for Forrest’s
benefit, and he received, in cash 77/. 16s. 6d.,
by tickets, 50/. 4s. Mr. Upcott notes that this
opera has been hitherto considered anonymous ;
and the only:mention of a Forrest in the ‘ Bio-
graphia Dramatica’ is Theodorus F., who died
in 1784, at the supposed age of fifty-six. He
could not, therefore, have written this piece.

Success went by favour in those days, as
now. But it does not follow, as we have seen,
that Thomas Franklin did not make a fair profit
out of his three comedies, ‘The Foundling,’
‘Taste, and ‘The Author, which he sold to
Lowndes for 152. 15s. the lot, in 1765.

For John Gay, of Whitehall, Esquire, received
only 94/. tos. from Tonson and Watts, in 1727,
for “all that the sole right and title of in and
to the copys and copyright of two books, the one
intituled ‘Fifty Fables, written by the said John
Gay, the other intituled ‘The Beggar’s Opera,’
as it is now acted at the Theatre Royal in
30 THE FATHER OF A FASHION.

Lincoln’s Inn Fields, and written also by the said
John Gay ; which copys and copyright of said
two books, intituled, &c., to be and remain unto
the said, &c., for ever, any law now in being
to the contrary notwithstanding.” John Gay
evidently employed a lawyer to draw up his
agreements, and a careful one. “ Lawfull money
of Great Britain” is not safe enough for this
gentleman; he will have it coop as well, with a
double score beneath. Gay signs in a schoolboy
hand, with immense pains. One of his witnesses
is Margaret Fox, signed through smudges and
blots that look as if a shell of ink had burst
upon the paper. As for the other witness, he
laboriously executed a hieroglyphic perhaps mean-
ing John, but gave up the surname in despair.
The lawyer added “ Whitehead.” Tradition goes
that Gay made 2,000/. out of ‘The Beggar's
Opera.’

The receipt of W. Havard to Watts, 237. 12s. 6d.
paid for the tragedy called ‘Scanderbeg ’ is inter-
esting for its information as to the prices of the
new theatre in Goodman’s Fields. We learn
that the boxes there fetched 35.; boxes and
balconies on the stage, 4s.; pit, 25.; gallery rs.
This in 1732.

Aaron Hill was a man of note in his day,
but Watts gave him only 152. 15s. for “the
THE FATHER OF A FASHION. 31

Tragedy called ‘Zara’” in 1735. In 17509,
however, the sole right of printing Hill’s corre-
spondence, the interlude attached to ‘Zara,’ a
tragedy called ‘ Alzira,’ ‘Elfrid, or the Fair In-
constant,’ the ‘Fatal Vision, or the Fall of Siam,’
‘Henry V., or the Conquest of France,’ * Fatal
Extravagance,’ ‘ Athelwold,’ ‘ Hydaspes,’ ‘ The
Roman Revenge,’ an opera called ‘ Rinaldo,’
‘Hengist and Horsa, ‘The Insolvent, or Filial
Piety, ‘The Walking Statue, ‘The Snake in
the Grass,’ ‘Merlin in Love,’ ‘Muses in Mourn-
ing, ‘Saul,’ and ‘Daraxes,’ made a ‘job lot,”
which Lowndes probably found cheap at 50/,,
paid to Aaron Hill’s executors.

In 1719 John Leigh sold to Curll, for 472. 5s.,
‘Kensington Garden, or the Pretenders.’ Francis
Lynch sold to Watts, in 1736, his comedy ‘ The
Independent Patriot, or Musical Folly,’ for 52. 5s. ;
Benjamin Martin, to the same publisher, his
‘Timoleon, for 7oé. in 1729.

For 105/., in 1726, James Smythe sold to
Lintot all the rights and profits of publishing
“¢The Rival Modes,’ now in rehearsal at Drury
Lane.” R. Savage is one witness to his agree-
ment.

James Miller, of Wadham College, Oxford, was
amongst the most successful of our dramatists of
the second order. His first receipt to Watts is
32 THE FATHER OF A FASHION.

dated 1733, when he had 80/. for ‘The Mother
in Law, or the Doctor the Disease.’ It was
played eighteen nights at the opera in the Hay-
market. Two years later he received 50/. for
‘The Man of Taste, which ran twenty-nine
nights. In 1736, 574 tos. for ‘Love, the Uni-
versal Passion,’ also a great success. But ‘ The
Coffee House, or Art and Nature,’ failed in 1737,
though paid 80/7. by Watts. After this we see
no more of Mr. Miller’s signatures.

Joseph Mitchell sold a Scotch opera to Watts
in 1729, called ‘The Highland Fair.’ It ran
only four nights at Drury Lane. Curll gave
Charles Molloy 52. 5s., and a note of hand for
the like sum, to be redeemed after sale of 900
copies of ‘The Coquet.’ This in 1718. The
original Joe Miller—John Mottley, gentleman—
had 21/. from Watts for ‘The Widow Bewitched.’

Such were the prices of dramatic work in the
first quarter of the eighteenth century. I have
picked instances here and there from the treasure-
house filled by Upcott’s industry. Let us see
how poems, novels, and miscellaneous literature
were paid at the same epoch.

Durant Breval acknowledges receipt of 4/. 4s.
from Curll in 1716, full payment for his ‘ Art of
Dress. Ed. Holdsworth, in 1709, is satisfied
with 52. 5s. from the same publisher for ‘“ The
THB FATHER OF A FASHION. 33

compleat coppy of a Latin poem ‘Muscipula,’”’
with fifty copies for his own use. John Mark-
land has but 2/. 2s. for the ‘Friar’s Tale,’ ‘ Re-
taliation,’ and other poems, amounting to four
sheets in print. F. Chute, in 1716, receives
6/7. 6s. from Curll and Hooke for ‘The Petti-
coat. John Addison translates the entire works
of Petronius Arbiter for Watts, in 1735, at the
price of 267. 5s.; and the Odes of Anacreon for
152. 15s. Samuel Humphries, in 1734, receives
from Curll 2/. 2s. a sheet of sixteen pages for
La Fontaine’s Tales done into English verse,
always excepting those “too unnational in their
subjects for an English version.” It is provided
also that he write a preface and correct the proofs
for this sum. Curll pays Robert Samber 42. qs.
for his ‘Praise of Drunkenness,’ a subject that
needed no poetical laudation at that day. -A
rhymester also was Archibald MacLaren, who
sends alittle yellow note by hand with neither
address nor date—probably to Mr. Curll, at the
Dial and Bible, over against St. Dunstan’s Church
in Fleet Street. The luckless Scotchman says:
“Tf you condescend to purchase my little Produc-
tion (on the sale of which depends the present
support of myself and family) I shall ever retain
a Grateful Sense of your Goodness.” This small

note has the Grub Street smell, It is written
c
34 THE FATHER OF A FASHION.

with a~ bad pen on sugar paper, and I expect it
was carried by a hungry young MacLaren to
flinty old Curll himself. We may fancy the poor
fellow waiting for an answer in his garret, with
the pale wife and feeble children round him.
Archibald is less to us even than Hecuba; Upcott,
even, has no comment to offer on his case. But
one must feel for a brother of the craft who
worked in those hard old times. It may reason-
ably be hoped that the manuscript was accepted,
since this prayer survives. At least old Curll
did not throw it into the fire or the waste-basket.

Novels went very cheap in 1726, when John
Clarke received but tos. 6¢. per sheet for a
brace, ‘The Virgin Seducer,’ and ‘ The Batchelor’s
Keeper.’ They were to be published by Curll,
uniform with the ‘Essay on Gibing,’ and Clarke
took out his pay by 1/. 1s. at a time, James.
Volcombe earned but 7/. 7s. in full for his ‘Un-
fashionable Wife.’ Anne Browne, in 1724, for
1d, 1s. “turned out of the French,” ‘The Gentle-
man Apothecary, a Late and True Story,’ 8vo.,
adding thereto several letters of her deceased
husband. And she professes herself “fully satis-
fied” with this sum.

In 1726 Curll gave Thomas Cooke 5/. for
writing Mr. Marvell’s life, procuring some of his
letters, and publishing his works. When ‘Hoyle’s
THE FATHER OF A FASHION. 35

Games’ came out Thos. Payne received 5/, 5s.
from Lowndes for his treatise on Draughts, and
John Dew received 4/. 4s. from W. Davis for
the treatise on Billiards for a rival publication.
It was bought up, however, for Hoyle’s Games.
Edward Kimber Lowndes was probably related
to the publisher, but he only got rol. tos., in
1766, for his ‘Peerage of Great Britain, 4/. 4s.
extra for additions, and 14/. 14s. the year follow-
ing for his ‘Peerage of Scotland,’ Luckombe,
however, received 31/. 10s. from Lowndes for
his ‘ Pocket Peerage,’ with 6/. 6s. for books used
in the work.

Aristocratic authors were better treated. The
Honourable Captain Phipps was paid 200/. by
Mourse for his ‘Voyage to the North Pole,’ and
received eighty copies of the work besides.
Maria Helm translated ‘Paul and Virginia’ for
20/1. John Rooke translated Hobbes’s Ecclesi-
astical History for Curll at 12/., and demanded
2/. more for “teaching Harry.”

I have picked these samples from one volume
of Upcott’s collection in Dramatic Autographs
alone. We have seen how he made twenty-four
volumes of the same class in illustrating the lives
of Mrs. Siddons, John Kemble, Tom Dibdin,
and Sir Thomas Lawrence. The fifteen folios
now in possession of Mr. Mayer remained over
36 THE FATHER OF A FASHION.

and above when these biographies were com-
pleted, for he bought little after 1844. It is
not altogether pleasant work to extract a short
article from such a heap of manuscript, where
every page has its interest for the reader who
cares about this subject. One does not know
what to choose, and one regrets all left behind.
I have striven to give some idea of Upcott’s
industry, and the enormous value of the ‘‘ fashion ”
he introduced, rather than to summarise even one
fragment of his extraordinary remains. Their

value can be appreciated only by the historian.
   
GEORGE STUBBS, R.A.
 

 
   
 

GEORGE STUBBS, R.A,

AUTHOR OF “THE ANATOMY OF THE HORSE.”
MODELLED FROM THE DRAWING IN CRAYONS
BY OZIAS HUMPHREY, R.A.

AND CUT IN MARBLE BY GIOVANNI FONTANA,
FOR JOSEPH MAYER, F.S.A.,

AT PENNANT HOUSE, BEBINGTON.
GEORGE STUBBS, R.A.

THE name of this eminent artist is familiar to
few people at the present day. In some great
mansions the housekeeper will pronounce it, and
a visitor who catches that unknown monosyllable
in the midst of her drawling roll, may glance
with admiration at the big picture overhead, but
will probably again forget. And in old county
inns of Yorkshire, where men love the weight-
carrying horse their fathers bred, you may find
Stubbs’ name on prints which the villagers still
admire. By such works, indeed, he appears
to be solely remembered amongst our critics.
‘Stubbs ?’ they say—‘O a man who painted
racehorses!’ Yet it may be observed that whilst
the great Sir Joshua asked but seventy guineas
for a portrait ‘as far as the knees,’ Stubbs’ com-
missions ran to one hundred guineas each.* Nay,

* ¢T am just returned from Blenheim; consequently did not see your letter
till yesterday, as they neglected sending it to me. My prices for a head is
thirty-five guineas ; as far as the knees, seventy ; and for a whole-length one
hundred and fifty. It requires in general three sittings, about an hour and a
half each time ; but, if the sitter chooses it, the face could be begun and
finished in one day; it is divided into separate times for the convenience and

G
2 GEORGE STUBBS, R.A.

it seems probable that Sir Joshua paid for his
picture of the ‘War horse’ half as much again
as he himself would have asked for a portrait of
like size. The older a man grows, the less reason
does he see to entertain youth’s fond fancy that
people come wiser as generations roll on. I, for
my part, am quite convinced that in giving half-a-
crown apiece for six Chelsea cups and _ saucers,
my grandfather showed much more judgment than
did a gentleman the other day who offered me
fifteen guineas each. Holding a very strong belief
that our forefathers, quite as much, to say the
least, as we, were guided by common sense in
what they did, I consider that the mere prices
paid George Stubbs demand from us a little study
of his merit. For he was no fashion. Of the
birth I shall presently show; not recommended
by a patron, nor pushed by a chgue, his very
great success was due to nothing besides industry
and talent. Observe that the same people saw
ease of the person who sits; when the face is finished, the rest is done without
troubling the sitter.

‘I have no picture of the kind you mention by me. When I paint any
picture of invention it is allway engaged before it is half finished.

‘I beg leave to return my thanks for the favourable opinion you entertain
of me, and am, with the greatest respect,

‘Vour most obedient humble Servant,
‘ Addressed to elacRS
‘Mr. Daulby, [Joshua Reynolds.]
‘To the care of

‘Mr. Wm. Roscoe,
‘Lord Street. (Mayer MSS.)’
GEORGE STUBBS, R.A. 3

Reynolds’ pictures, Gainborough’s, Wilson's, and
Stubbs’—saw them side by side, and gave to the
latter that substantial testimony I have mentioned
to their approval of his display in the great
competition.

He did not paint racehorses alone, nor was
he only a painter. A man who qualified himself
to give lectures on anatomy at York Hospital
before he reached his twenty-second year, whose
scientific knowledge, and skill in displaying it,
called forth enthusiastic compliment from the
savants of foreign lands ; whose work Sir Edwin
Landseer used for constant reference — such a
man deserves to be remembered. In the library
of Mr. Mayer, at Bebington, is a collection of
notes written by Upcott, from the painter’s lips.
These have been gathered into connected form,
and they are presented here with the hope that
by their publication critics may be led to speak
of George Stubbs in a tone less contemptuous
than that we have lately heard.

In ‘A Century of Painters, Mr. Redgrave
makes several mis-statements about Stubbs (vol.
i. p. 347). We shall presently see that his father
was not a surgeon, and that his predilection towards
anatomy was caused by no such accident. Mr.
Redgrave does not acknowledge Stubbs as an
Academician, but the official list of the year 1805
4 GEORGE STUBBS, R.A.

contains his name. He never admitted himself
to be an A.R.A. only, but claimed to be an
Academician elect. As such he signed himself
R.A. For the rest, Mr. Redgrave confesses that
‘little is known of Stubbs’ early life, or even
whether his original bent was to the arts’—a
blank which will be filled by this memoir.

George Stubbs was born at Liverpool, August
24,1724. His father, we learn, was a consider-
able currier and leather-dresser” A little tale
which the son has preserved for us gives a
pleasant picture of the elder Stubbs. It is not
worth telling in detail, a century and a half after
date, but we can see how it dwelt in the painter’s
memory. Young George goes for a Sunday walk,
meets a party of his father’s men, and gives an
unlimited order for their entertainment at the
Half-Way House, by Liverpool. The father
hears of this generosity, and hastens to the inn,
not to make a scene, but to satisfy himself that the
score is honourably settled. On finding that
George’s own resources have sufficed, he ‘ never
from that moment mentioned a word of it.’

The bent of a painter’s genius shows itself at
an early age, but seldom, probably, in a form as
practical as did that of Stubbs. When scarcely
eight years old, his father then living in Ormond
Street, Liverpool, little George began to study
GEORGE STUBBS, R.A. 5

anatomy, Dr. Holt, a neighbour, lent him bones
and prepared subjects, from which he took draw-
ings. His father does not appear to have held
the prejudice so common at that time against
painting as a profession, but he naturally desired
that his only son should succeed to a business by
which a comfortable income was secure. Accord-
ingly, George stayed at home, and applied himself
to leather-dressing. It seems likely, however, that
he showed no taste for this employment, and _ his
father gave way when the boy reached his fifteenth
year. The elder Stubbs at that time fell into ill-
health. Seriously occupied with his son’s future,
he reflected that to succeed in painting a man has
need of careful education. He therefore called
the boy, and recommended him to seek a master
competent to set him in the path of Fame and
also of Fortune — the latter point seems, very
naturally, to have been foremost in the mind of
‘honest John Stubbs,’ as the neighbours called
him. Thereafter he died, leaving his widow in
comfortable circumstances.

There was at this time in Liverpool an artist
of repute, Mr. Hamlet Winstanley, who occupied
himself with copying the pictures in Knowsley
Hall, the Earl of Derby’s seat. Of the most
notable among these he executed etchings, which
are now in the possession of the Walpole family,
6 GEORGE STUBBS, R.A.

descendants of the Earl of Suffolk. To this
gentleman George Stubbs recommended himself
by a successful copy of one of his own pictures
taken from the Knowsley Gallery. Mr. Win-
stanley engaged the youth, who was not yet
sixteen years old, to aid in the work at Knowsley,
offering him the choice of pictures to be executed.
In return, he undertook to give instruction, and
to allow his pupil one shilling a day for pocket
money. And thus were matters settled.

The engagement, however, did not last long.
For his first essay George Stubbs cast his eye
upon the celebrated ‘Cupid, by Vandyke. In this
admirable picture, the son of Venus is represented
of an age more advanced than is usual. Around
him lie various symbols, emblematic of War,
Painting, Architecture, Music, &c., drawn by
Sniders, with his utmost skill. It is evident that
George Stubbs must have worked very hard, to
think of venturing upon a copy of this masterpiece.
But Mr. Winstanley objected, remarking that he
wished himself to undertake that picture. We
are told, quaintly, that Stubbs ‘paused and con-
sidered this refusal with surprise and some concern.’
He then desired to copy the ‘Ruins of Rome,’
by Paolo Veronese, another chef-d’euvre of the
Knowsley collection. But it appeared that the
master wished this also for himself, whereupon,
GEORGE STUBBS, R.A. 7

without either pause or consideration, Stubbs
recommended him to ‘copy them all, if he would,
for, since neither his word nor his engagement
could be depended on, he would have nothing
further to do with him. Henceforward he would
look into Nature for himself, and consult and
study her only.’

Observing this droll little quarrel with unpre-
judiced eyes, we cannot share the evident indig-
nation of the painter at his master’s conduct.
Winstanley would not suppose, in making his
engagement, that this boy of sixteen would choose
to try his ’prentice hand on the most difficult
pictures of the gallery. With all our respect for
Stubbs’ genius, we cannot think that it was equal
to such efforts at that time, and one rather admires
the master’s consideration in basing his refusal
on the plea given, than the pupil’s rash self-
confidence.

But Stubbs persevered in the resolution so
hotly expressed. He never copied any single
picture throughout his long life, neither in Italy
nor elsewhere. From this period, Nature was his
only study, and experience his master.

Till nearly twenty years old he remained at
Liverpool, in his mother’s house. At that age
he removed to Wigan, where he lodged with a
Captain Blackbourne. This gentleman took the
8 GEORGE STUBBS, R.A.

young painter in particular affection, perceiving in
him a strong likeness to a son lately lost. After
seven or eight months at Wigan, of which we
have no further account, Stubbs removed again
to Leeds, and set himself to portrait painting. His
chief patron here was a Mr. Wilson, who found
him employment amongst his family and friends.
From Leeds Stubbs went to York for the purpose
of executing some commissions, and here he began
a regular study of anatomy—dissecting human and
animal subjects. Mr. Charles Atkinson, a surgeon
of the town, procured him his first body for dissec-
tion, and such progress did the artist make that
he was employed before long in giving anatomical
lectures privately to the pupils of the hospital.
But this study did not engage all his time. We
hear that he practised French and fencing, whilst
maintaining himself by his profession. At the
same time he had the ‘vencontre, of which no |
particulars are given, with Mr. Wynne, the dancing-
master, whose portrait is found in the list of his
works. By the allusions to it, the ‘vencontre’
seems to have been an interesting affair. Some
reader of this memoir may be able to give us
the details omitted.

At York, Stubbs made his first essay in engrav-
ing. Dr. Burton, physician and man-midwife of
that town, applied to him to draw the illustrations
GEORGE STUBBS, R.A. 9

of a work on midwifery. For this commission
Stubbs had to make special studies. Fourteen or
sixteen miles from York a ‘subject’ was found
singularly fitted for dissection. The woman had
died in childbed, and Stubbs’ ‘pupils’ —by whom
is meant apparently the pupils of the hospital—
broke up her grave at night, and hid the body
in a garret, where all dissections necessary were
made. The designs complete, Dr. Burton was
so well satisfied that he desired the artist to
engrave them. Stubbs objected his entire ignor-
ance of that art, but the doctor urged him to try,
expressing confidence that whatever he attempted,
his talent and perseverance would carry through.
Stubbs consented at length, with great diffidence.
At this time, he tells us, he had never seen any
person engrave. In Leeds, however, he had
known a house-painter, who sometimes practised
that mystery, and to him Stubbs went to learn its
rudiments, This very rough instructor taught him
to cover a halfpenny with etching varnish and to
smoke it; afterwards, with a common sewing
needle stuck in a skewer, to etch after a fashion.
Nothing beyond this could the house- painter
impart, and Stubbs had no further tuition. Carry-
ing the experiment into practice on his own account,
he found the varnish so hard, that when he crossed
his lines the wax flew off. A first attempt
io GEORGE STUBBS, R.A.

thus failing, he covered the plate with wax a
second time, after warming, and held it to the
fire till the wax ran off, leaving a smooth surface.
After smoking this at a candle, he etched his
figures on it. Working under such disadvantages,
it is not surprising that the plates, when complete,
failed to satisfy himself. Many of them were too
small to be finished without the graver, an instru-
ment quite new to his experience. He borrowed
some from a clockmaker. Dr. Burton, however,
was very well pleased, for, with all their imperfec-
tions, the plates are quite exact anatomically, and
illustrate well the points in question. The work
appeared in 1751, and several copies survive.

Two or three years longer Stubbs remained
at York. From thence, removing to Hull, he
painted portraits and dissected assiduously. After
a visit to Liverpool our artist embarked for Italy,
in the year 1754 apparently. A voyage of two
months carried him to Leghorn, whence he pro-
ceeded to Rome. There, as we learn, he found
Sir William Chambers, Jenkins, Brettingham, Wil-
son, Hamilton, Verpoil, and others, some of whom
we recognise, and some whose fame has so long
departed that we are surprised to find them named
in such company.

It does not appear that whilst he stayed in
Rome Stubbs ever copied a picture, designed one
GEORGE STUBBS, R.A. [I

compositon of the. grand style, made a single
drawing, or a model from the antique. He desires
it to be noticed that his motive for the voyage
was to convince himself that Nature is superior
to all art, whether Greek or Roman, ancient or
contemporary. None but an ingenious mind could
have felt doubt upon the question, and it tells
for Stubbs’ honest devotion that he should have
undertaken such a voyage to satisfy himself. We
are not told how long was the experience which
brought him to a decision, but only that, ‘being
convinced, he immediately resolved to leave
Rome.’ One incident of his stay is mentioned :
we learn that ‘whenever he accompanied the
students in Rome to view the palaces of the
Vatican, Borghese, Colonna, &c., and to consider
the pictures there, he differed always in opinion
from his companions, and when it was put to the
vote, found himself alone on one side, and_ his
friends on the other.’ But he was not a man to
be alarmed by isolation, or to be silenced by a
majority.

Stubbs landed in London on his return from
Italy, but he remained there only a week on
this occasion, which seems to have been his first
visit to the capital. From thence he betook
himself to his mother’s house, where pictures in
abundance were proposed to him. Whilst exe-
12 GEORGE STUBBS, R.A.

cuting these, he pursued his studies in anatomy.
Eighteen months after the Italian voyage Stubbs
lost his mother, the settlement of whose affairs
occupied him in Liverpool for many months. His
first success of which we have record was gained
at this time. The portrait of a grey mare belong-
ing to himself attracted much notice, and a
picture dealer from London, Mr. Parsons, recom-
mended the artist to move thither and win a
fortune.

The dates contributed by Stubbs are very far
between, nor can they easily be reconciled.
Working upon such few hints as are given, it
would seem that he left home in 1743, visiting
Wigan and Leeds. In each of these towns he -
stayed some months, going on to York in 1744.
His first attempt at engraving must date in 1747.
Quitting York in 1752, he resided several
months at Hull, then returned to Liverpool, and
it appears that he sailed for Italy in the beginning
of 1754. Stubbs finally deserted Liverpool in
the year 1756, then being thirty-two years of
age. His first resting-place appears to have
been in Lincolnshire, where Lady Nelthorpe had
long since given him commissions for a series of
portraits. Two years afterwards we find him at
a farmhouse near Horkstow, in that county,
energetically preparing for his great work on
GEORGE STUBBS, R.A. 13

the ‘Anatomy of the Horse.’ The house appears
to have been lonely, for we are told that he
engaged it to avoid inconveniencing neighbours
by his dissections. Here Stubbs worked for
eighteen months, with one companion only, his
niece,* Miss Spencer. This lady was the posthu-
mous child of Captain Spencer, of the Guinea
trade, who was killed by his favourite slave in a
mutiny. She was born near the painter’s house
in Liverpool, and from the first had shown great
interest in his studies.

The work thus laboriously carried through
had long been present in Stubbs’ mind. Upon
it will rest his highest fame. The late Sir
Edwin Landseer had the original drawings,
which he valued highly and consulted for his
pictures. Nor did the work pass without appre-
ciation in its own day. The following letter,
which we reproduce in all its quaintness of
expression, shows how foreigners regarded this
excellent production :

Sir,—If ever I was surprised to see a performance, I was it
surely, when I saw yours on the ‘Anatomy of the Horse!’ The
myology-neurology, and angiology of men, have not been carried

to such perfection in two ages, as these horses by you. How is
it possible a single man can execute such a plan with so much

* We have, however, no allusion to any brothers or sisters of ‘Stubbs. In
the original notes Miss Spencer is described as ‘aunt,’ but this word is crossed
out, and ‘ niece’ substituted.
14 GEORGE STUBBS, R.A.

accuracy and industry? You have certainly had before you ‘the
scheme of the great Albinus, but even his plates have not that
delicacy and fulness, nor the expression of yours. Give me leave
to ask you, was you the engraver? for you do not mention the
engraver’s name. I once had a plan to offer to the public, a
subscription for the like; but I am sure I could not have obtained
the elegancy and exactness of yours. I dissected many horses ;
but I especially examined the head, and all the different sections
of the inside, the bowels, and so on. I made figures as large as
life. I dare venture to say they are beautiful, mostly done by
different means upon the life itself. My intention was to reduce
them to one-eighth, and to have them engraved; but after having
seen and admired yours, I dropped all hopes of succeeding.
This favour I hope you'll grant me, to inform me whether you
still go on to finish this beautiful undertaking, and whether or not
we may flatter ourselves to see the internal parts of this useful
creature, and something about the disorders and internal diseases
of the horse.

You will be curious to be acquainted with a Dutchman who
admires with so much ecstacy your Tables. I am public pro-
fessor of Medicine, Anat., and Surgery at Groningen; and I have
published some figures of the human arm, pelvis, &c. I am
actually publishing the Brain and the Organs of Hearing, Smelling,
&c., in different animals. I dissect, but I do not love horses,
though I keep them for proper use and for my family. Iam sure
my acquaintance can be of little use to you, but yours to me of
great consequence. I desire to have two copies of your per-
formance, one for me, and one for a gentleman who admires
as well as I your book. I do not know whether your bookseller
has any correspondence with us; if so, he may send them to any
in Holland, and they will be sent to me, and which was perhaps
more easy. Direct them to Mr. Fagel, junr., Greffier de leurs
H(autes) Puissances les Etats généraux, 4 la Haye; and our
ambassador will send them to the Hague. I'll get you payed by
my banker in London, Mr. Andrew Grote & Co.
GEORGE STUBBS, R.A, 15

Nothing shall be easier than to establish a correspondence
with little or no expenses on both sides between us.
I am, with the greatest veneration, Sir,
Your most obedient and most humble servant,

Petrus Camper, F.R.S.,

Member of the R. Acad. of Surgery of
Paris, of Edinburgh, and of the Socie-
ties of Haerlem and Rotterdam.

At Groningen, 28th July, 1771.

This eminent anatomist writes in another letter:

The Duke of Wolfenbottle, the Baron du Sour, and I are the
only owners of your elegant performance in these provinces,
though it is much wondered at by others. I am amazed to meet
in the same person so great an anatomist, so accurate a painter,
and so excellent an engraver. It is a pity you do not like to
pursue the viscera of this useful animal

27th July, 1772.

The ‘M. Rev.’ of 1767 (‘Medical Review’)
is quoted to the following effect :

‘Anatomy of the Horse.’-—This work not only reflects great
honour on the author, but on the country in which it was pro-
duced. France may reap great credit from the veterinarian
school lately established in that country; but what praise is not
due to a private person, who, at his own expense, and with the
incredible labour and application of years, began, continued, and
completed the admirable work before us! But it is impossible
to give our readers an adequate idea of Mr. Stubbs’ performance
without placing the book itself before their eyes. All we can
therefore add concerning it is, that the author himself dissected a
great number of horses for the sake of attaining that certainty and
accuracy for which his engravings will ever (if we are not greatly
16 GEORGE STUBBS, R.A.

mistaken) be highly valued by the curious in comparative
anatomy. His original drawings were all his own, and the plates
were likewise engraved by his own hand. In short, we are ata
loss whether most to admire the artist as a dissector or as a
painter of animals. Of his excellence in the last-mentioned
capacity, few of our readers who have any pretensions to con-
noisseurship can be supposed ignorant; especially as some of his
admirable pieces have appeared at the public exhibitions. His
pictures of the ‘Lion and Horse,’ and ‘Lion and Stag,’ in
particular, were deservedly applauded by the best judges; nor
were his ‘ Brood Mares’ less excellent, though in a very different
style of painting; yet we think we have seen some of his animal
portraits, both of wild and tame subjects, that are, if possible,
superior to those above mentioned.

These extracts show that our artist had not
long to wait for appreciation of his efforts. The
above criticism is dated but twelve months after
the appearance of the plates. We have some
interesting details of the manner in which they
were designed in the farmhouse by Horkstow.
Stubbs tells that he fixed a bar of iron in the
ceiling of his room. It was suspended by a
‘teagle, and hooks of various size and length
were fixed to it; under this bar swung a plank,
about eighteen inches wide, on which to rest the
horse’s feet. His body was suspended on the
bar by the hooks above mentioned, which Stubbs
fixed in the ribs and under the back bone, upon
the further side, of the animal. The horse was
thus set in the attitude which these plates represent,
GEORGE STUBBS, R.A. 17

and so remained for six or seven weeks, until no
longer endurable. Like some other dissectors,
Stubbs appears to have been indifferent to the
odour of putridity, and even unconscious of it,
as is shown by several anecdotes, ranging from

childhood to old age.

The first subject dissected was bled to death by the jugular
vein, after which the arteries and blood-vessels were injected.
The artist. began by dissecting and drawing the muscles of the
abdomen, proceeding through fine lays of muscles till he came to
the Zeritoneum and the pleura, through which appeared the lungs
and the intestines. Afterwards the bowels were taken out and
cast away. Then he proceeded to dissect the head, by first
stripping off the skin, and, after having cleaned and prepared the
muscles, &c., for drawing, he made careful designs of them, and
wrote the explanations, which usually employed him a whole day.
He then took off another lay of muscles, which he prepared,
designed, and described in the same manner as is represented in
the work ; and so he proceeded till he came to the skeleton. It
must be noted that, by means of the injection, the muscles, the
blood-vessels, and the nerves retained their form to the last with-
out undergoing any change. In this manner he advanced his
work by stripping off the skin, and cleaning and preparing as
much of the subject as he concluded would employ him a whole
day to prepare, design, and describe, till the whole subject was
completed.

The plates which form the publication consist of eighteen
Tables, viz., six of the side view, whole length, from the tail to
the nose of the Horse; one of the Bones, and two different lays
of the Muscles ; six of the Breast or Front view, and six of the
Posterior view. These two latter plates differ from the first in
this respect: the posture of the first is still and motionless,
whereas the two latter represent the Horse in the act of Trotting.

H
18 GEORGE STUBBS, R.A.

It would seem that Stubbs had not, at first,
any notion of carrying out this great labour at
his own expense and single handed. The idea
of it had been broached amongst the anatomical
students at York, and we perceive that the artist
expected aid from some of them. But they all
failed in their engagements, whatever they were,
and Stubbs then resolved to bring his enterprise
through without help from anyone. Eighteen
months of industry unremitted sufficed, and he
took his drawings complete to London, where he
hoped to find an engraver for them.

The date of his arrival is vaguely set at
1758 or 1759. The latter year seems most
likely.

But the celebrated engravers of the day declined
this commission, not, apparently, without scorn.
Many of the drawings represented entire figures,
but others there were showing parts only, a nose,
an ear, a leg, and for such work Mr. Grignion,
Mr. Pond, and their fellows, had neither habit
nor liking. This unanimous refusal obliged the
artist to do his own engraving once more, and
he set about the task with characteristic resolution.
What great success he had is well known, but
the publication was necessarily retarded. © For
Stubbs never broke into the time devoted to his
regular occupation of painting, and his etchings
GEORGE STUBBS, R.A. 19

were made early in the morning, or after hours.
Often he worked late into the night. In about
Six years, or seven, they were complete, and the
‘Anatomy of the Horse’ appeared in 1766. It
was published by subscription, for Stubbs desired
to make himself known, and, as he tells us, this
seemed the best means of achieving his purpose.
‘More than any other thing, the book tended to
throw him into horse painting, and to this he
ascribes entirely his being a horse painter.’

Sir Joshua Reynolds gave one of his earliest
commissions in this line, but he subsequently
exchanged the picture for that representing the
Fall of Phaeton, in which the horses are roan.

The first commission of importance Stubbs
received came from the Duke of Richmond, and
it obliged him to take up his residence awhile at
Goodwood, where he worked hard at his plates.
In nine months there were several pictures painted,
among them a hunting piece, 9 feet by 6 feet,
with many portraits. Of these was one of the Earl
of Albemarle, painted whilst he sat at breakfast,
the day before embarking on ‘the ever-memorable
and successful expedition to the Havannah, when
it was taken.’

In 1763 Stubbs removed to No. 24, Somerset
Street, Portman Square, where he resided till his
death. For eight years past he had been treasurer
20 GEORGE STUBBS, R.A.

of the first Incorporated Society of Painters,
which held its exhibition in the Great Room,
Spring Gardens, now pulled down. Upon the
discontents which Mr. Paine had _ occasioned,
Stubbs was chosen president for one year. But
he felt the interruption caused by the duties of
this office, and the experience, perhaps, was not
without its effect upon his conduct in the subse-
quent dispute with the Academy.

In 1771, at the suggestion of Mr. Cosway,
Stubbs began a series of elaborate experiments
in enamel painting. He interrupted none of his
regular employments for this new study, but
we must notice that ‘leisure days’ are now
mentioned instead of hours, and the compiler of
these notes expresses a suspicion that Stubbs’
general business in oil painting began to fail
him at this moment for a time.

The artist was moderate in his hopes at first.
He agreed to paint for Cosway on two conditions ;
one that tablets should be provided for him of
the size of a quarter-sheet of post paper; the
other, that his experiments in colour should be
successful. Accordingly, he began a course of
chemistry, and pursued it for two years at great
expense and endless labour, making careful
memoranda of all his attempts. The colours he
wanted were found at length, nineteen different
GEORGE STUBBS, R.A. 2I

tints. The record of these experiments is not
given in any detail. We learn only that roo lbs.
weight of ordinary colour produced 81 Ibs. some
ounces of the improved material.

But this, which had been thought the greatest
difficulty, did not prove to cause so much delay
as the making of the plates. Not for three
years after the colour was ready could the
tablets which had been promised be procured in
proper state. Meanwhile Stubbs painted on the
largest copper-plates to be found. -Enamel plates
on copper of twelve inches square, and of
eighteen inches by fifteen, could be obtained, and
these he used. A larger size could not be made
suitable for his purpose; sheet-copper must neces-
sarily be thin, and therefore unequal to the weight
of larger plates. Such sizes were by no means
fitted to the ideas and ambition of our painter.
He applied, therefore, to the pottery manufacturers,
and, after some disappointment, Messrs. Wedgwood
and Bentley undertook the commission. In 1778
they produced plates of thin earthenware 3 ft. 6 in.
wide, by 2 ft. 6 in. high. Nothing to approach
these dimensions had hitherto been used by enamel
painters. Thereafter, Stubbs worked in oil colours
or enamel, according to the fancy of his patron.
The first picture he sold in enamel represented
a lion devouring a horse. It was an octagon, on
22 GEORGE STUBBS, R.A.

copper, and Lord Melbourne paid one hundred
guineas for it.

No single date is affixed to the stories and
anecdotes communicated by the painter to Mr.
Upcott. A number of them are grouped together
without connection at this point in the life-story,
but they seem to have their place here by aecident,
as it were. None of those given appear to have
influenced his career appreciably, and their intro-
duction will come with more propriety at the end
of this brief notice. Suffice it, therefore, to say
at present that Lord Torrington gave Stubbs much
employment, as did the Marquis of Rockingham.

In the year 1780 he was elected an Associate
of the Royal Academy, and in the next year a
full Academician. But the formalities attending
this appointment were never completed, though
Stubbs always claimed the dignity. The story
of his celebrated quarrel is probably told by his
friend in the painter's own words; at least we
may rely on it that he gives the full sense of
them. Mr. Upcott writes as follows :—

The elections of Royal Academicians always take place on the
roth February, and it is necessary, after the choice made, for the -
successful candidate to send a picture for his Majesty’s approba-
tion, previously to the diploma being signed. This completes
the honour of the election, and qualifies the new member for all

duties required by the institution. Whilst Stubbs was considering
what picture he should present, whether in oil-colours or in
GEORGE STUBBS, R.A. 23

enamel, the season of the annual exhibition arrived, to which
many of his works were sent in both styles of painting. He had
annexed a suitable explanation of the subjects, in the manner
usual; but his mortification was great to find almost every
picture so unfortunately hung, particularly those in enamel, that
it seemed like an intentional affront. Most of the quotations
sent in were omitted. This treatment was much resented by
Mr. Stubbs, and by those patrons for whom the pictures had been
painted. He felt it with particular sensibility, and to the time of
his death considered it cruel and unjust, as it tended more than
any other circumstance could have done to discredit his enamel
pictures, and to defeat the purpose of so much labour and study,
not to mention his loss of time and great expense. This unkind
conduct in the members of the Academy, added to the original
reluctance with which he suffered his name to be entered among
the candidates, determined him with an unconquerable resolution
not to send a picture to be deposited in the schools, and more
especially not to comply with a law made the following year,
obliging every candidate elected to present the Academy with
an example of his skill to be their property for ever. Mr. Stubbs
always averred that he considered this law unjust, and thought
he had reason to suppose it levelled particularly against himself.
He regarded it, moreover, as an ex fost facto law, calculated to
punish an offence committed before the making of the law. Mr.
Stubbs, on this account, would never allow that he was less than
an Academician elect, waiting only the royal signature; and he
was satisfied always to continue in that state.*

In fairness we must add the justification offered
by the Hanging Committee for their treatment of
Stubbs’ pictures. They urged that the enamel
colours were so bright, and their general effect

* In 1805, however, the Academy gave up the long dispute. Their list
of R.A.’s for that year contains the name of George Stubbs. He had always
been described up to that date as A.R.A.
24 GEORGE STUBBS, R.A.

so conspicuous, that no choice was left them, in
justice to other exhibitors; and the paintings
were accordingly placed on the top line.

In 1790 Stubbs undertook a commission from
which he expected both fame and fortune. It
was proposed to him to paint a series of pictures,
portraits of celebrated racers, from the Godolphin
Arabian to the most famous horses of his own
day. The pictures were to be exhibited first,
then engraved, and finally published in numbers,
with a letterpress which should contain, besides
a history of the Turf, the races and matches of
each horse depicted, a description of it, and anec-
dotes. The sum offered for this commission was
9,000/., deposited in a bank, whence the artist
could draw it as his work progressed. It appears
that Stubbs completed a great part of his engage-
ment, but the outbreak of war ruined the enter-
prise. Sixteen pictures were painted, exhibited,
and engraved; fourteen, if not all, in duplicate,
large ones for framing, and small to accompany
the letterpress. Thirteen of the latter were
engraved. After Stubbs’ death, his executrix,
Miss Spencer, before mentioned, kept possession
of them. They were disposed of at the sale of
his pictures.

Towards the end of his active life, Stubbs
returned to those anatomical studies, by success
GEORGE STUBBS, R.A. 25

in which he had gained his fame. He believed
that he could show by plates a close analogy
betwixt the human frame and that of various
animals, even of birds and vegetables. To men
of our day such demonstration is not needed, but
eighty years since the idea was heresy to most
people. Stubbs began his ‘ Comparative Anatomi-
cal Exposition of the Structure of the Human
Body, with that of a Tiger and common Fowl, in
Thirty Tables, during the year 1795. ‘The
first number contained an explanation of the skele-
ton; the second and third, a view of the external
parts of the human body, and an enumeration of
the organs lying under them, with a description
of the common integuments taken off with the
membrana adiposa and fat.’ No more were pub-
lished, owing to the author’s death, but we are
informed that in his fourth, fifth, and sixth num-
bers, which should have completed the work, ‘Mr.
Stubbs meant to describe the first, second, and
third lays of muscles taken off.’ They are said
to have been finished.

This was his last undertaking. He died in
London, July ro, 1806, and was buried in Mary-
lebone Church. Stubbs had no near relatives
living, except Miss Spencer, to whom he left all his
property. George Townley Stubbs, an engraver
of merit, is reported to have been his natural son.
26 GEORGE STUBBS, R.A.

Several portraits of him remain. That in
crayons, possessed now by Joseph Mayer, F.S.A.,
by Ozias Humphrey, R.A., represents a stout man,
with resolute features and severe expression. His
muscular strength was prodigious. We are told
that he more than once carried a dead horse on his
back up two or three flights of a narrow staircase
to the dissecting room. He rose very early, ate
little, and drank only water for the last forty years
of his life. In 1803, under date of August 31,
Mr. Upcott mentions that he took Samuel Daniell,
nephew of the Academician, to call on Stubbs.
‘We found him engaged in engraving his series
of anatomical plates, of which he had just com-
pleted his first number. This day he will have
attained his seventy-ninth year,* and still enjoys so
much strength and health that he says, within the
last month, having missed the stage, he has walked
two or three times from his own house in Somer-
set Street to the Earl of Clarendon’s at the Grove,
between Watford and Tring, a distance of sixteen
miles, carrying a small portmanteau in his. hand.’
Mr. Ozias Humphrey bears witness to the same
feat, performed before 10 a.m. Only the day
before his death he walked eight or nine miles,
returning in very good spirits. At 3 a.m. on the

* In the notes taken down from Stubbs’ own mouth, his birthday is put
at August 24.
GEORGE STUBBS, R.A. 27

following day, he awoke, ‘as well as ever he was,’
but, on sitting up, a dreadful pain seized his chest.
He dressed himself, however, and went downstairs,
moving with accustomed ease. At nine o'clock,
sitting alone ‘in his arm-chair, wrapped in his
gown,’ he died silently.

A LIST OF GEORGE STUBBS’ PICTURES,
WITH ANECODTES.

The first commission Stubbs received after
taking up his residence in London was from Sir
Joshua Reynolds, as has been said. It represented
a War Horse, and remained in the artist's posses-
sion till his death, Sir Joshua having exchanged
it for another picture. Stubbs at the same time
executed important work for the Duke of Rich-
mond at Goodwood. From thence, in 1760, he
went to Eaton Hall, the Cheshire seat of Lord
Grosvenor, to fulfil an engagement of long stand-
ing. In a visit of many months, he painted a
favourite horse, Bandy, and a large hunting piece.
In it were introduced portraits of Lord Grosvenor
on Honest John, his brother, Mr. Grosvenor, Sir
Roger Moston (? Mostyn), Mr. Bell Lloyd, and
servants. A view from the drawing-room windows
of Eaton Hall forms the background of this
picture, which is at Eaton Hall, near Chester, and
28 GEORGE STUBBS, R.A.

we hope it will be placed by the Duke of West-
minster, along with several others in possession of
his Grace, in the new picture gallery building as
part of the alterations now making at that man-
sion. Two of the pictures, ‘Mambrino’ and the
‘Mares and Foals,’ are now (October, 1876)
exhibiting at‘ The Art Treasures Exhibition of
North Wales and the Border Counties,’ at Wrex-
ham.

The racehorse ‘ Mambrino, which he engraved,
was painted in 1768, together with a large picture
of a group of ‘Mares and Foals’ sheltering from
the sun under some large oak trees, with fine
landscape as a background. Other works Stubbs
executed in Cheshire, and proceeded thence to
Newmarket, where he painted ‘Snap’ for Jeneson
Shafto, Esq. On return to town he made his
first drawing of a lion from nature, finding his
model at Lord Shelbourne’s villa, on Hounslow
Heath. The animal’s cage stood in a corner of
the garden, and a gravel walk passed before it.
The anger of the lion was thus roused continually
at sight of people walking by, and Stubbs, who
executed many drawings from. him, profited by
these fits of passion. The famous pictures of a
lion devouring a stag, and again, of a lion devour-
ing a horse, were drawn on this model for the
Marquis of Rockingham. Besides oil pictures, we
GEORGE STUBBS, R.A. 29

learn that Stubbs made many studies in pencil
and black and white chalk, employing himself thus
whilst waiting for favourable attitudes. The lion
at Lord Shelbourne’s sat for most of his paintings,
but he constantly visited the Tower for observa-
tion and comparison among the animals kept
there.

At Southill, seat of Viscount Torrington,
Stubbs did a great deal of work. It appears to
have been in 1778 that he painted his favourite
picture of ‘ The Bricklayers.’ The idea of it was
Lord Torrington’s. He had often watched his
men at work, and thought what a telling picture
might be made of them in the Flemish style. THe
horse represented was a favourite old hunter, the
first his lordship ever rode. Stubbs tells us that
he was a long time in catching the idea, making
the men load and unload their cart, which they did
in a style that scarcely lent itself to painting. At
length they fell into a quarrel about the manner
of fixing the tail-piece in a cart, and gave the
watching artist his opportunity. This picture was
the ‘sensation’ of the exhibition, when it appeared,
many seasons afterwards. Of ‘The Bricklayers’
there were several repetitions, particularly one in
enamel of an oval form, 3 feet wide by 2 feet 4
inches high. This was bought by Mr. Wedgwood,

and long remained one of the ornaments of
30 GEORGE STUBBS, R.A.

Etruria Hall. After Mr. Wedgwood’s death it
was disposed of. Thomson West, Esq., bought
another repetition, in which that gentleman himself
is introduced, sitting on a favourite horse, and
enjoying the dispute. Stubbs painted in enamel
another copy of the same subject for Erasmus
Darwin, the author of the ‘ Botanic Gardens’ and
the ‘Loves of the Plants.” This was the largest
plate of earthenware Mr. Wedgwood ever made,
and is in possession of the present Dr. Darwin.
The original picture Stubbs engraved himself.

A hunting scene was also painted for Lord
Torrington, with portraits of his coachman,
greoms, huntsman, and whipper-in, surrounded by
their dogs. The village of Southill forms a back-
ground to this picture.

Another composition represented his lordship’s
steward, on an old horse, with the gamekeeper
and a Pomeranian dog. It was painted in enamel
on copper, as was the portrait of a pointer dog,
which Lord Torrington declined to take. This
picture, on an octagon plate, within a circle of 12
inches diameter, was afterwards sold to Captain
Urmstone, of the Francis East Indiaman, and
taken to India.

For the Marquis of Rockingham, at Wentworth
House, Stubbs painted a life-size portrait of
‘Whistlejacket, a yellow-sorrel horse, with white
GEORGE STUBBS, R.A. 31

mane and tail. The Marquis had intended to
employ some eminent painter of portraits to add
a likeness of King George the Third sitting on
Whistlejacket’s back, and some landscape painter
of equal excellence to execute the background.
He designed, in fact, to have a pendant to the
picture by Moriére and others hanging in the great
hall at Wentworth House. This idea, however,
was abandoned under circumstances very flattering
to the artist. Whistlejacket had a temper so
savage that only one man could be trusted to take
him to and from his stable. The last sitting
proved to be shorter than Stubbs had expected,
and his work was finished before the time fixed
for this man to come as usual, and lead the horse
away. Whilst the boy in charge of him waited,
Stubbs put his work in a good light and observed
its effect, as artists do. The boy, who was lead-
ing Whistlejacket up and down, called out sud-
denly, and, turning, Stubbs saw the horse staring
at his own portrait and quivering with rage. He
sprang forward to attack it, rearing, and lifting the
boy off his legs. Very hard work they had to
preserve the picture. When the Marquis heard
this story, it pleased him so much that he would
not allow a single touch to be added, but framed
and hung the painting without a background. For
the King’s likeness another horse was chosen, a.
92 ,GEORGE STUBBS, R.A.

dark bay with black tail, named Scrubb. This
picture was immediately executed, but upon some
dispute with the Marquis, Stubbs took it away.
It was afterwards sold to Mr. Ryland, who sent
it, with others, to India. They never landed, and
on the vessel’s return, the painting was found to
be so much damaged that the artist took it back
again in part payment of his account with Ryland.
After re-painting, it was sold to Miss Saltonstale,
and, many years after, she had it at her house,
Hatchford, near Cobham, Surrey.

Many other pictures did Stubbs paint at
Wentworth House. Notable among them were
three views of Samson, a very large black stallion,
on one canvas, representing him in front, back, and
side view. He painted also a small Bengal cow,
with a favourite lap-dog of the Marchioness. All
these pictures were the size of life. Amongst
smaller portraits we find another view of Scrubb,
with his lordship’s jockey on his back. The
man observed, with some humour, that ‘on many
a good horse, and many a bad one, had the
Marquis mounted him, but now he was set upon
a Scrubb for ever. This was a_half-length
canvas.

In London, Stubbs painted several pictures for
the Marquis of Rockingham. The first of these
represented a ‘Lion Devouring a Stag,’ and
GEORGE STUBBS, R.A. 33

another, a ‘Lion Devouring a Horse.’ Both of
them were engraved.

Of equal merit is ‘The Horse Affrighted by a
Lion.’ The animal, a white one, was painted
from one of the King’s horses, which Mr. Payne,
the architect, obtained Stubbs’ leave to copy. The
expression of terror was produced by pushing a
brush towards him along the ground.

Stubbs painted his ‘Fall of Phaeton,’ with roan
horses, on speculation, and Sir Joshua Reynolds
was so pleased with it that he begged to exchange
the picture he had ordered for this one. The
horses of Phaeton were drawn from a set of coach-
horses belonging to Lord Grosvenor. Stubbs
made a repetition of the subject, with great
improvements, for Colonel Thornton. By many
judges this is thought to be his masterpiece. The
horses in Colonel Thornton’s picture are white,
drawn from one of his own cvach-horses. M.
Seriel, the sculptor of the King of Sweden, saw
it in returning from Rome, and he declared the
drawing of the animals, their life and expression,
to be equal to the finest antique sculptures. The
same subject was repeated in enamel, on a copper
plate, eighteen inches by fifteen.

Those enumerated are the most important
works of George Stubbs, with the ‘Grey Mare,’

which was his first success; the ‘ Godolphin
f
34 GEORGE STUBBS, R.A.

Arabian, ‘Brood Mares,’ ‘Fight of Lions and
Tigers over a Stag,’ and the ‘ Horse Frightened
by a Lion ina Cave.’ The two latter are in the
possession of Mr. Joseph Mayer. Stubbs executed
commissions for Sir Henry Vane Tempest, Lord
Gormanston, the Duke of Newcastle, and many
other eminent patrons. For the Duke of Marl-
borough he painted a Bengal tiger with such skill
that dogs are said to have been frightened on
seeing it. .

The most notable of his pictures in enamel
are, besides those already mentioned :

‘Horses Fighting,’ painted from Nature with-
out those preparations usual for work of this class.
His own portrait, sitting on a white horse.

Portrait of Miss Saltonstale, in the character
of Una.

Portrait of a youth, William Shafto, Esq.

A small rough lap-dog, the size of life, painted
for Mrs. French.

Another portrait of himself, life size, painted
for Mrs. Therold.

Portrait of Dr. Hardy, M.D., for the same
lady. This is half the size of life.

‘Farmer’s Wife and Raven,’ from Gay’s Fables,
sold to Mrs. Armstead for one hundred guineas.
This is an oval plate, three feet wide.

None of these pictures exist in oil colour.
GEORGE STUBBS, R.A. 35

We know that Stubbs engraved eighteen of his
own paintings, amongst them the following :

‘The Bricklayers,’ and a companion.

‘The Farmer’s Wife and Raven.’

‘Haymakers and Reapers.’

‘A Horse Frightened by a Lion,’ and its
companion.

‘Tigers at Play.’

‘A Lion Devouring a Horse.’

‘Two Tigers.’

‘A Lion.’

“# ‘Tiger.’

Three prints of single Dogs.

‘A Lion Devouring a Stag.’

It had been his intention to engrave all his
pictures on enamel in the same size as the paint-
ing; but, on observing what large glasses would
be needful, he abandoned the idea. Glass at that
time was very expensive, and Stubbs feared that
his prints would not sell. There exists, also, a
lithograph of a Lion by his hand, published as a
prospectus.

In 1823, Thomas Landseer, father to Sir Edwin,
produced ‘Twenty Engravings of Lions and
Tigers,. &c., &c., with an admirable figure of a
Lion on the title-page. It is to be observed
that Stubbs’ name heads the list of painters in
that work, placed above Rubens, Sniders, and
36 GEORGE STUBBS, R.A.

all the famous masters. Not only so, but it is
printed in type twice as large. Of the opinion
of Sir Edwin Landseer I have already shown
something.

The Royal Collection at Schleissheim, near
Munich, contains a picture of a ‘Sporting Dog’
by George Stubbs—described in the catalogue of
that superb gallery as ‘A faithful and_ spirited
portrait of a Pointer, painted by an English artist,
who, at the latter end of the last century, was
famous for his pictures of sporting subjects, and
for his portraits of the most celebrated racers of
his time, which he not only designed with correct-
ness, but with a characteristic spirit, for which he
was particularly distinguished. Though chiefly
engaged in this branch of art, his talents were
capable of higher exertions. As in the picture
before us, his backgrounds often show considerable
talent as a landscape painter; and his picture of
‘Phaeton and the Horses of the Sun” was greatly
admired.’

The design of this paper does not leave room
for a detailed criticism of Stubbs’ ability. We
wished only to rescue some memorials of a painter
who occupied high place in his time, but who is
now overlooked. The judgment of his best con-
temporaries has been practically shown, but some-
thing should be said perhaps of the impression
GEORGE STUBBS, R.A. 37

which his works produce upon eyes trained to the
modern point of view. To admit that Stubbs’
paintings mostly disappoint the crowd is no
disparagement of the artist. Quite the contrary ;
for he who knows what manner of beast was given
Englishmen to admire before Stubbs’ day, best
recognises what we owe him. His obstinacy in
rejecting the models of other men, saved him
from falling into the exaggerations of any school.
Because his horses and his animals are correctly
drawn, decause they have that expression, and no
other, belonging to their kind, the unthinking pass
them with a glance, and call them commonplace.
Nobody stands to stare at a picture by George
Stubbs as before one of earlier and more famous
painters, in which reckless disregard of truth com-
pels a wondering attention. His dogs and horses
are the real, living thing, to which everybody is
accustomed, and it will be long before the outer
world quite understands that truth is the highest
art. Stubbs was first to paint animals as they are.
No temptation led him to invent a muscle, nor
did he put his creatures into an attitude. They
are always as Nature made, with their own shapes,
gestures, and expressions—often ugly, but always
true. This old-world painter would have refused
to illustrate a human feeling, a drama of human
interest, in pictures of animal nature. He painted
38 GEORGE STUBBS, R.A.

what he saw, and never showed an immortal soul
in a poodle’s éye.

Declining thus to dramatise his beasts, or even
to idealise them overmuch, of necessity he circum-
scribed his sphere of art, according to modern
notions. Of each expression properly belonging to
an animal—and coming in the range of his expe-
rience—he was master; but he created none, nor
conceived what he had not beheld. Barye himself
never painted scene more terrific than Stubbs’
‘ Horse Frightened by a Lion,’ for the artist knew
each vein that swells, each muscle that relaxes or
distends, when a horse is struck motionless by
terror. And he knew the attitude and cruel eye
of a lion crouching for the spring. But he did
not know how lion meets tiger across a prey,
having no advantage over Sniders in such work,
saving correctness of anatomy. For which reason
his pictures of the kind are less satisfactory,
wanting as he did the great Dutchman’s imagina-
tion. We see this lack of fancy in the details and
the backgrounds. Barye’s landscapes give one a
chill, a sense of horror, before one marks the
shadowy wild beast which claims possession of
that awful solitude. Stubbs had no such dramatic
power. His animals have no appropriate scenery
of their own. But his command of the brush was
remarkable, both in landscape and in painting
GEORGE STUBBS, R.A. 39

‘texture. A ‘Landscape with Horses’ by his
hand was sold at Christie’s last June, in which
water, sky, and scenery were rendered with no less
excellence than was the fine hunter in the fore-
ground. Amongst a number of admirable
modern pictures it fetched 1oo/. 16s., a proof
that George Stubbs’ work still holds its own,
though his memory has faded.

 

PostscripT.—How utterly it has fadea we
are given fresh evidence to-day, November 1,
1876. For in the ‘Hand-book to the depart-
ment of Prints and Drawings in the British
Museum, with introduction and notices of the
various schools, Italian, German, Dutch and
Flemish, Spanish, French, and English, by Louis
Fagan, just published, there is no mention of
Stubbs as an artist, as a painter, or an engraver.
Surely the old man was right to decline striving
too earnestly for academical honours, which, when
granted, could not preserve his very name for
a hundred years.
 

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