To Mr. GOTTFRIED WINKLER, in _Leipzig_; HONOURED and WORTHY FRIEND, Pardon my presumption in offering you the slender fruit of a few leisure hours. Receive it with your wonted kindness, and judge of it not by the trifling value of the work, but by the intention of its Author, whose most zealous wish has long been to find an opportunity of publickly offering you, however small, a memorial of his respect and friendship. If my labour in adding a mite towards the diffusion of the knowledge of the Arts, is honoured with the approbation of so enlightened a Connoisseur, I shall feel myself completely rewarded. Receive at the same time my sincerest thanks for the obliging communication of your Copy of _Hogarth's_ prints, of which, in my translation, I have more than once availed myself. Live, honoured Sir, many days; happy in the bosom of your worthy family, in the circle of your friends, and in the enjoyment of those treasures of the Arts you have collected with such distinguished taste. Remain also a friend of Yours, &c. THE TRANSLATOR. * * * * * PREFACE. To the GERMAN READER. Collectors of the Fine Arts were already possessed of _Catalogues_ and _Memoires Raisonnées_ of the engravings of many great masters, for which their acknowledgements are due to the industry of a _Gersaint_, a _Jombert_, a _Hecquet_, a _Vertue_, a _de Winter_, &c. &c. But a similar illustration of HOGARTH'S copper-plates was still wanting; though it may be asked what works have a juster claim to a distinguished place in a compleat collection, than those of this instructive moral painter, this creative genius? On this account, it is presumed that the _German_ Lover of the Arts will deem himself indebted to the Translator, for giving him, in his own tongue, a concise and faithful version of a book that has lately made its appearance in _London_, under the title of "Biographical Anecdotes of _W. Hogarth_, and a Catalogue of his Works chronologically arranged." The Compiler as well as Editor of this work is Mr. JOHN NICHOLS, a _Printer_ and _Bookseller_ in _London_, who, by much reading, and an intimate acquaintance with the Arts and Literature of his Country, has honourably distinguished himself among his professional brethren. How modestly he himself judges of this his useful performance, appears from his preface to the work.