The International Monthly, Volume 3, No. 2, May, 1851 — John Shaqi
The International Monthly, Volume 3, No. 2, May, 1851Various
History
The International Monthly, Volume 3, No. 2, May, 1851
Various
Art, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals; Literature, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals; Science -- History -- Periodicals
view, for he died without leaving enough to support his widow
respectably), produced its ordinary results--envy and enmity: and
insults were heaped upon him. He was not tardy of reply, but Wilkes and
Churchill were in strong health when nature was giving way with the
great painter; an advantage they did not fail to use with their
accustomed malignity. The profligate Churchill, turning the poet's
nature into gall, infested the death-bed of Hogarth with unfeeling
sarcasm, anticipating the grave, and exulting over a dying man.
[Illustration: TOMBS OF DOG AND BIRD.]
Hogarth, warned by the autumn winds, and suffering from the restlessness
of approaching dissolution, left Chiswick on the 25th of October, 1764,
and returned to his residence in Leicester Square. He was cheerful--in
full possession of his mental faculties, but lacked the vigor to exert
them. The very next day, having received an agreeable letter from Doctor
Franklin, he wrote a rough copy of his answer, but exhausted with the
effort, retired to bed. Seized by a sudden sickness, he arose--rung the
bell with alarming violence--and within two hours expired!
Of all the villages in the neighborhood of London, rising from the banks
of the Thames, (and how numerous and beautiful they are!) few are so
well known as that of Chiswick. The horticultural fetes are anticipated
with anxiety similar to that our grandmothers felt for the fetes of
Ranelagh; the _toilettes_ of the ladies rival the flowers, and the only
foe to the fascinating fair ones is the weather; but all which the crowd
care about in Chiswick is confined to the "Duke's grounds" and the
Society's Gardens. The Duke's beautiful little villa, erected by the
last Earl of Burlington, is indeed a shrine worthy of deep homage;
within its walls both Charles James Fox and George Canning breathed
their last; and if, for a moment, we recall the times of Civil War, when
each honest English heart fought bravely and openly for what was
believed "the right," we may picture the struggle between Prince Rupert
and the Earl of Essex, terminating with doubtful success, for eight
hundred high born cavaliers were left dead on the plain that lies within
sight of the gardens so richly perfumed by flowers, and echoing not to
the searching trumpet or rolling drum, but to the gossamer music of
Strauss and Jullien.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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