_The Nativity_, which he painted in 1779, was purchased by the Duke of Rutland at the then unheard of price of £1200. Unfortunately it perished in a fire at Belvoir Castle, and we only know it from the engraving, and from the rendering of it in glass by Jervas as the central part of the western window of New College, Oxford. But it is doubtful whether the loss is as great as it is deplorable, in view of the opinions expressed by at least two not unfriendly critics. Mason tells us that “the day of opening the Exhibition that year when the picture was in hand approached too hastily upon Sir Joshua, who had resolved that it should then make its public appearance. I saw him at work upon it, even the very day before it was to be sent thither; and it grieved me to see him laying loads of colour and varnish upon it....” Benjamin Haydon when the whole series was exhibited in 1821, allowing that they are unequalled by any series of allegorical designs painted by an English master, and that the _Charity_ in particular is “very lovely,” and “may take its place triumphantly by any Correggio on earth,” is merciless to _The Nativity_. He condemns it for “having emptiness as breadth, plastering for surface, and portrait individuality for general nature.” The _Macbeth_, which was commenced just a year after _The Infant Hercules_, was a commission from Alderman Boydell--half of which, by-the-by, was paid in advance--as part of the scheme for the Shakespeare Gallery. The _Cardinal Beaufort_ was the same. Neither can be said to have advanced Sir Joshua’s reputation or even his popularity as much as the _Puck_, which was purchased by Boydell for inclusion in the Shakespeare series, although not originally intended for it. _The Continence of Scipio_ followed the _Hercules_ to Russia. The _Holy Family_, which was commissioned by Macklin for a Bible illustration, has lately been restored and rehung in the National Gallery. It was for long supposed to have suffered beyond repair, but the restorer, if he has not done too much to it, has certainly not done too little, and it now presents an appearance which attracts to it a greater amount of attention from the casual visitor than from the student. In his minor works of this class, however, there is much more both to charm and to satisfy. If his children have not quite the same spontaneous gaiety of Gainsborough’s, they have many other qualities and distinctions which Gainsborough’s lack. With the _Heads of Angels_ and _The Age of Innocence_ Reynolds is sure of his public in any period. _The Strawberry Girl_, as Sir Joshua always maintained, was one of the “half-dozen original things” which he declared no man ever exceeded in his life’s work. He repeated the picture several times. Lord Carysfort bought the original from the Exhibition of 1773 for £50, but at the sale of Samuel Rogers’ collection it was bought by the Marquis of Hertford for 2100 guineas. * * * * *