English literature -- 18th century -- History and criticism; Great Britain -- Intellectual life -- 18th century
The mention of the decorations in the Prince of Wales's pavilion recalls
one of the historical attractions of the gardens,--the pictures in the
other supper-boxes. At night-time each of these was 'enlightened to the
front with globes;' and a story, which has always seemed to us a little
indefinite, traces the first suggestion of them to Hogarth. But one
of the earliest and most trustworthy of the guides--the 'Sketch of the
Spring Gardens, Vauxhall: In a Letter to a Noble Lord'--implies that
Hayman was the true originator in this matter. It is certain, however,
that Hogarth contributed specimens of his own works to the cause,
and that others were copied. According to his first annotator,
Nichols, Dayman reproduced the 'Four Times of the Day' for Vauxhall; and
in 1782 two of these, 'Evening' and 'Night,' were still there, and must
have been seen by Moritz; while in the portico of the Rotunda was an
unquestioned picture from Hogarth's own brush, Henry the Eighth and Anne
Boleyn,--names which, it was popularly whispered, but thinly veiled the
likenesses of Frederick, Prince of Wales, and his mistress, Anne Vane,
not to be confused with the notorious 'Lady of Quality' of the same
surname in Smollet's 'Peregrine Pickle.' Another work claimed as
Hogarth's when, years after, obscured by dirt and slashed by sandwich
knives, the relics of the little gallery came to the hammer, was Harper
and Mrs. Clive (then Miss Raftor) as 'Jobson the Cobbler' and his
wife 'Nell' in Coffey's farce of 'The Devil to pay; or, the Wives
Metamorphosed;' but this, as well as a nautical _genre_ picture
called 'The Wap-ping Landlady,' is plainly attributed to Hayman in the
contemporary prints of Sayer. It is probable also that Hayman had the
chief hand in 'Mademoiselle Catherina,' a diminutive lady whose history
has escaped the chroniclers, and 'Building Houses with Cards,' although
the two children in the latter have certainly a look of his more
illustrious contemporary. But, on the whole, it may be concluded that
there was little of Hogarth's original work among the sea-fights,
popular games (e.g. the time-honoured pastimes of 'Bob Cherry' and 'Hot
Cockles'), and other engaging compositions which delighted the simple
soul of the pawnbroker's widow and disgusted the eclectic Mr. Tibbs,
full of Grisoni and the grand contorno. Hogarth's picture in the Rotunda
portico, coupled with his permission to reproduce his other works,
would, however, be ground enough to justify the gold ticket _In
perpetuam Beneficii memoriam_ with which he was presented by the
grateful proprietor. This ticket, which admitted 'a coachful,' that is,
six persons, was, in 1808, in the possession of Mrs. Hogarth's cousin,
Mary Lewis, in whose arms the painter died. It had passed to fresh hands
in 1825, when, with other silver passes, all said to be struck from
Hogarth's designs, and including among the rest that of George Carey,
the author of many Vauxhall songs, it was engraved for the 'Londina
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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