Hogarth's Works, with life and anecdotal descriptions of his pictures. Volume 1 (of 3) — John Shaqi
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
Three years have elapsed, and our giddy spendthrift, throwing of the
awkwardness of a rustic, assumes the character and apes the manners
of a modern fine gentleman. To qualify himself for performing the
part, he is attended by a French tailor, a milliner, a Parisian
dancing-master,[67] a Gallic fencing-master,[68] an English
prize-fighter,[69] and a teacher of music.[70] Besides this crowd
of masters of arts, he has at his levee a blower of the French horn,
an improver of gardens,[71] a bravo,[72] a jockey,[73] and a poet!
the latter having written a panegyric in honour of this exalted
character, already anticipates approbation and reward. Surrounded
by such a multitude of attentive friends and warm admirers, the
dissolution of his fortune is inevitable; it must melt like snow
beneath the solar beam.
How exactly does Bramston describe the character in his _Man of
Taste_:
"Without Italian, and without an ear,
To Bononcini's music I adhere.
To boon companions I my time would give,
With players, pimps, and parasites I'd live;
I would with jockeys from Newmarket dine,
And to rough riders give my choicest wine.
My evenings all I would with sharpers spend,
And make the thief-taker my bosom friend;
In Figg the prize-fighter by day delight,
And sup with Colley Cibber every night."
On the back of the musician's chair hangs a list of presents which
Farinelli, an Italian singer, received the day after his performance
of a favourite character at the Opera House. Among others, a gold
snuff-box, chased with the story of Orpheus charming the brutes, from
T. Rakewell, Esq.
Another memento of musical extravagance is the frontispiece to a
poem lying on the floor, and dedicated to Esquire Rakewell, in which
the ladies of Great Britain are represented as sacrificing their
hearts to this idol of sound, and crying out with great earnestness,
One God, one Farinelli! This intimates the violent rage of the
fashionable world for that most frivolous of all amusements, the
Italian Opera. The taste which our prodigal has imbibed for the turf
is pointed out by the jockey presenting a silver punch-bowl, which
one of his horses is supposed to have won; his passion for another
royal amusement, by the portraits of two fighting-cocks, hung up as
the ornaments of his saloon. A picture which he has placed between
them bears a whimsical allusion; it is the "Judgment of Paris."[74]
The figures in the background consist of such persons as are general
attendants in the ante-chamber of a dissipated man of fashion. The
whole is a high-wrought satire on those men of rank and fortune whose
follies render them a prey to the artful and rapacious.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account