[44] Little did Hogarth imagine that a man lived in his own time, who, by a great commercial enterprise, should awaken the spirit of the nation to historical and poetical paintings from the drama of Shakspeare. This drama has been a school for the representation of all the passions, and opened to the artist a new mine of rich materials for displaying the mirror of life in the colours of nature. The Shakspeare Gallery has been followed by undertakings of a similar description, and, all united, have afforded a patronage to the arts which had been vainly sought for among the nobility, and given to such painters as had the power, a fair opportunity of confuting the visionary assertion, that it was not possible for an Englishman to paint a good historical picture. [45] How far Hogarth's prediction has been fulfilled, by the repentance of some painters who may have been thus dragged into the temple of taste, those painters only can determine. [46] The hope of the arts is in the patronage of the sovereign. [47] A great personage once remarked that sculpture was too cold and chilling for this climate. [48] What shall we say of these, if fame is denied to the living? [49] On Mr. Lane's death they became the property of his nephew, Colonel Cawthorn; and on the 5th of February 1797, were sold by auction at Christie's room, and purchased by Mr. Angerstein for one thousand guineas. It has frequently been the fate of painters, as well as poets, to have their works disregarded until the authors were out of the hearing of praise or censure. Young, in his _Love of Fame_, speaking of the value which a writer's death gave to his productions, neatly enough concludes with an allusion to Tonson the bookseller: "This truth sagacious Tonson knew full well, And starv'd his authors that their works might sell." [50] Such is the date both in his MS. and the preface to the _Analysis_, though under the print he has engraven, "_Se ipse pinxit et sculpsit_, 1749." It is probable that in the first instance he meant to speak of the painting it was taken from, which is now in the possession of Mr. Angerstein. [51] To this he evidently alludes in giving the well-known story of Columbus breaking the egg as a subscription-receipt to his _Analysis of Beauty_. [52] Sir Joshua Reynolds, whose lectures are, generally speaking, the best rules conveyed in the best language, in his discourse, read December 11th, 1769, acknowledges "that old pictures celebrated for their colouring are often so changed by dirt and varnish, that we ought not to wonder if they do not appear equal to their reputation in the eyes of unexperienced painters or young students." But he asserts "that an artist whose judgment is matured by long observation considers rather what the picture once was than what it is at present. He has acquired a power by habit of seeing the brilliancy of tints through the cloud by which it is obscured."