The figure of the beau holding the china-saucer is said to have been that of Lord _Portmore_, dressed as he first appeared at court after his return from _France_. The young female was designed for a celebrated courtezan, who was the _Kitty Fisher_ of her time. Her familiarity with the black boy alludes to a similar weakness in a noble duchess, who educated two brats of the same colour. One of them afterwards robbed her, and the other was guilty of some offence equally unpardonable. The pictures with which the room is adorned, contain many strokes of temporary satire. See the _Venus_ with stays, a hoop, and high-heel'd shoes; _Cupid_ burning all these parts of dress, together with a modish wig, &c.; a second _Cupid_ paring down a plump lady to the fashionable standard; and [in a framed picture classed with a number of insects] the figure of _Desnoyer_ the dancing-master in a grand ballet. The ridicule on the folly of collecting old china, &c. &c. are alike circumstances happily introduced, and explanatory of the fashions then in vogue. The colouring is better than that in most of _Hogarth's_ pictures. The plate is now the property of Mr. _Sayer_. * * * * * 1743. 1. _Benjamin Hoadly_, bishop of _Winchester. W. Hogarth pinx. B. Baron sculp._ The plate belongs to Mrs. _Hoadly_. 2. Captain _Thomas Coram_, who obtained the charter[1] for _The Foundling Hospital_. Mezzotinto; a three-quarters. The first print published by _M'Ardell_. The original is a whole length. The captain has the seal of the charter in his hand. Before him is a globe; at a distance a prospect of the sea. This is perhaps the best of all _Hogarth's_ portraits, and is thus described in the _Scandalizade_, a satire published about 1749. "Lo! old Captain _Coram_,[2] so round in the face, And a pair of good chaps plump'd up in good case, His amiable locks hanging grey on each side To his double-breast coat o'er his shoulders so wide," &c. [1] In which the name of _William Hogarth_ stands enrolled as one of the earliest governors of the charity. [2] Mr. _Coram_ was bred to the sea, and spent the first part of his life as master of a vessel trading to our colonies. While he resided in that part of the metropolis which is the common residence of seafaring people, business often obliging him to come early into the city and return late; he had frequent occasions of seeing young children exposed, through the indigence or cruelty of their parents. This excited his compassion so far, that he projected _The Foundling Hospital_; in which humane design he laboured 17 years, and at last, by his sole application, obtained the royal charter for it.[A] He died at his lodgings near _Leicester-Square, March_ 29, 1751, in his 84th year: and was interred under the chapel of the _Foundling Hospital_, where the following inscription perpetuates his memory: