Hogarth's Works, with life and anecdotal descriptions of his pictures. Volume 1 (of 3)Ireland, John
General
Hogarth's Works, with life and anecdotal descriptions of his pictures. Volume 1 (of 3)
Ireland, John
Hogarth, William, 1697-1764
_Orrery._ "What! you think that he is stiff? By the Lord, David, you
are right,--nothing escapes you: he is stiff--stiff as a poker: we
used to call him 'Poker Mossop;'--we had no better name for him in
the country. But however his body might want (as I must acknowledge
it did) the graceful, easy bend of the Antinous, his mind was formed
of the most yielding and flexible materials: any advice which you
gave him, he would take; from you, I am persuaded, a hint was
sufficient."
_Garrick._ "Why, in this, my Lord, I must be bold enough to differ
from you in the most pointed and positive terms; for of all the
obstinate, headstrong, and unmanageable animals I ever dealt with,
he is the most stubborn, the most untractable, the most wrongheaded.
I never knew one instance where he followed my instructions in any
the smallest degree. If I recommend him to dress a character plain,
he comes upon the stage like a gingerbread king; if I advise him
to be splendid in his apparel, he endeavours to get a Quaker's
habit from the keeper of our wardrobe; and in everything, he--more
than I thought belonged to human nature--had that impenetrable,
that--that--that--"
_Orrery._ "So!--you think him obstinate? Upon my soul he is--as
obstinate as a pig; he has more of that animal's pertinacity than any
man I ever knew in my life. But yet, David, with all these faults, he
is--I have not time to enter into particulars.--Be what he will, you
have engaged him? I sincerely wish you may agree together, and am,
my dear fellow, your most obedient. Say no more.--Farewell.--To Mrs.
Garrick present my compliments."
[155] In an ode to the memory of Le-Stue, cook to the late Duke of
Newcastle, this was whimsically parodied by a Mr. Shaw, the writer of
a monody addressed to Lord Lyttleton:
"When Philip's fam'd, all-conquering son,
Had every blood-stain'd laurel won,
He sigh'd that his creative word,
Like that which rules the skies,
Could not bid other nations rise,
To glut his yet unsated sword.
"But when Le-Stue's unrivall'd spoon,
Like Alexander's sword, with flesh had done,
He heav'd no sigh, he made no moan;
Not limited to human kind,
To fire his wonder-teeming mind,
He rais'd _ragouts_ and _olios_ of his own."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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