[30] The attack was commenced in No. 17 of the _North Briton_, which was published on the 17th of September 1762. On the 16th, Mr. Hogarth being at Salisbury, called upon the colonel of the Buckinghamshire militia (who was then quartered in the neighbourhood), with the good-natured intention of shaking hands: as _his old friend_ was not at home, they neither met then, nor at any future period. In my account of the _Times_ there are a few strictures on this political pasquinade, which was followed by much metrical lampoon from the reverend Mr. Churchill. Let us hear his coadjutor, Robert Lloyd, who in a fable entitled _Genius_, _Envy_, and _Time_, gives TIME the following speech:-- "Yet, Genius, mark what I presage, Who look through every distant age: Merit shall bless thee with her charms, Fame lift thy offspring in her arms, And stamp eternity of grace On all thy numerous, various race. Roubiliac, Wilton, names as high As Phidias of antiquity, Shall strength, expression, manner give, And make e'en marble breathe and live, While Sigismunda's deep distress, Which looks the soul of wretchedness; _When I_, with slow and soft'ning pen, Have gone o'er all the tints agen, Shall urge a bold and proper claim To level half the ancient fame; While future ages yet unknown, With critic air shall proudly own, Thy Hogarth first of every clime, For humour keen, or strong sublime, And hail him from his fire and spirit, The child of Genius and of Merit." --_Lloyd's Works_, p. 204. [31] I learn from Mr. Nichols, that he was a dupe to flattery; that his easiness of disposition should be practised on is natural, but that any of _his friends_ should boast of such an imposition as the following, is extraordinary:-- " ... A word in favour of Sigismunda might have commanded a proof print, or forced an original sketch out of our artist's hand. The furnisher of this remark owes one of his scarcest performances to the success of a compliment which might have stuck even in Sir Godfrey Kneller's throat."--_Nichols' Anecdotes_, p. 55. [32] Having given Mr. Walpole's remarks, it is but fair to insert that part of the Analysis which gave rise to them:--