This was certainly not the road to affluence, and it was not a great while before he found that he had lost his way, and got entangled in briars and thickets beyond his skill and ability to remove. He withdrew from his mechanical occupation, and was compelled to exercise his ingenuity in a far less promising and lucrative pursuit. He became first of all, a writer in the newspapers; and here let the pride of affluence forbear to express scorn and contempt at this employment, as being mean, ignoble, or disingenuous. Let such be informed, that it is not the employment itself, but the spirit and the motive with which it is undertaken and prosecuted, which entitles it to approbation or censure. It may be rendered, as it often has been, the vehicle of moral instruction, of useful information, of agreeable amusement. It has been pursued sometimes as an amusement of leisure, and not unfrequently, from the pressure of necessity, by some of the ablest and some of the most amiable characters among us. The exercise of John’s abilities in this line, procured him a scanty provision for himself, his wife, and a sister. It is doing him an act of justice to state, that he was no politician, and never dipped his pen in the gall of party, or interfered with the measures of government or the proceedings of any opposition. His productions were perfectly harmless, and chiefly consisted of anecdotes of the stage, of pictures and artists, with such other matters as he gleaned from an extensive range of acquaintance. But he had also another resource, though this was but an unsubstantial one also. He had a taste for engraving, and a particular fondness for the works of Hogarth, in which perhaps he was more skilfully conversant than almost any other contemporary. He had, if our information does not deceive us, a slight knowledge of Hogarth himself, but after his death, he became intimately acquainted with Mrs. Hogarth. He was useful to the widow in assisting in the disposal of Hogarth’s prints, and he learned from her a great many particulars of the artist and his works, which he afterwards turned to account. It is this circumstance which entitles him to a place in the catalogue of authors. Under the auspices of the Boydells, he published a minute detail and description of all Hogarth’s works, in three large volumes; a very agreeable and amusing work, which was well received by the public, and afterwards republished. He was an amiable and unoffending man, and there were many families, of which that of the Sexagenarian was one, in which he was constantly received with hospitality and kindness. He repaid the welcome he found, by his lively conversation, and abundance of anecdotes. Poor fellow! it is to be feared, that in the decline of life, when his powers of mind were too enfeebled to communicate the usual pabulum of intelligence to his employers, and when his bodily powers became too infirm to go in quest of it, that he had to endure many and serious privations.