Broad were his shoulders, and from blade to

blade,

150

A H—— might at full length have laid:
Vast were his bones, his muscles twisted strong;
His face was short, but broader than 'twas long;
His features, though by nature they were large,
Contentment had contrived to overcharge,
And bury meaning, save that we might spy
Sense lowering on the penthouse of his eye;
His arms were two twin oaks; his legs so stout
That they might bear a Mansion-house about;
Nor were they, look but at his body there,
Design'd by fate a much less weight to bear.
O'er a brown cassock, which had once been
black,

Which hung in tatters on his brawny back,

A sight most strange, and awkward to behold,
He threw a covering of blue and gold,
Just at that time of life, when man by rule,
The fop laid down, takes up the graver fool,

165

170

178 How little did Churchill imagine, while he affected to consider his antagonist as already dead, that the power of pleasing was so soon to cease in both? Hogarth died within four weeks after the publication of Independence, and Churchill survived him but nine days:

-Scarce had the friendly tear

For Hogarth shed, escaped the generous eye
Of feeling pity, when again it flow'd
For Churchill's fate. Il can we bear the loss
Of fancy's twin-born offspring, close allied

In energy of thought, though different paths

They sought for fame! Though jarring passions sway'd

He started up a fop, and, fond of show,
Look'd like another Hercules, turn'd beau,
A subject met with only now and then,
Much fitter for the pencil than the pen;
Hogarth would draw him (Envy must allow)
E'en to the life, was Hogarth living now.

175

180

With such accoutrements, with such a form, Much like a porpoise just before a storm, Onward he roll'd: a laugh prevail'd around; E'en Jove was seen to simper; at the sound (Nor was the cause unknown, for from his youth Himself he studied by the glass of truth)

184

He join❜d their mirth; nor shall the gods condemn If, whilst they laugh at him, he laugh'd at them. Judge Reason view'd him with an eye of grace, Look'd through his soul, and quite forgot his face, And, from his hand received, with fair regard Placed in her other scale, the name of Bard. 190

The living artists, let the funeral wreath

Unite their memory."

Nichol's Life of Hogarth.

The following epitaph on Hogarth by Garrick was sent by the latter to Dr. Johnson for correction, who in return sug. gested the lines given in vol. i. p. 216.

Farewell, great painter of mankind,

Who reach'd the noblest point of art,
Whose pictured morals charm the mind,
And through the eye correct the heart.

If genius fire thee, reader, stay,

If nature move thee, drop a tear,

If neither touch thee, turn away,

For Hogarth's honour'd dust lies here.

Then, (for she did as judges ought to do, She nothing of the case beforehand knew, Nor wish'd to know; she never stretch'd the laws, Nor, basely to anticipate a cause,

Compell'd solicitors, no longer free,

To show those briefs she had no right to see)
Then she with equal hand her scales held out,
Nor did the cause one moment hang in doubt;
She held her scales out fair to public view,
The Lord, as sparks fly upwards, upwards flew,

195

192 When the prosecution against Wilkes for the North Briton stood for trial, and a very short time before it was to come on, Mr. Barlow, of the crown office, received directions from Mr. Wallace or Mr. Webb, to apply to a judge to get the information against Mr. Wilkes, and also the record amended, by striking out the word " purport," and inserting the word "tenor" in its stead. Upon which Mr. Barlow applied to Lord Mansfield, and obtained a summons to shew cause why it should not be so amended; and Mr. Philips, Mr. Wilkes's solicitor, attended Lord Mansfield at his house in Bloomsbury Square, on the 20th of February, 1764, (which was the day before Mr. Wilkes's trial) in consequence of that summons. Lord Mansfield asked Philips what objection he had to such an amendment? he answered, that he could not consent: upon which Lord Mansfield said, he did not ask his consent, but wanted to know what were his objections: and asked, if it were not usual to amend informations, or to that effect. Then having read some precedents out of a book which his lordship had in his hand, he made a written order to amend the information and record in the manner applied for. Possibly if this error had not been discovered and corrected, Mr. Wilkes's counsel, in case of his having been found guilty, would, and did probably intend to have moved in arrest of judgment. The following is Wilkes's own account of the transaction as contained in a letter to his friend Cotes.

More light than air, deceitful in the weight;
The Bard, preponderating, kept his state;
Reason approved, and with a voice, whose sound
Shook earth, shook heaven, on the clearest ground
Pronouncing for the Bards a full decree, [me;
Cried "Those must honour them, who honour
They from this present day, where'er I reign,
In their own right, precedence shall obtain;
Merit rules here; be it enough that birth
Intoxicates, and sways the fools of earth."

210

"The alteration of the Records was an alarming circumstance. A summons is served, returnable before Lord Mansfield, the very day before the trials: I consult counsel, who advise me to attend, I oppose the amendment with all my might, my remonstrances are despised, the amendment is made, counsel stare, yet think it advisable to attend the trials. The crown office people produce a magazine of precedents in support of the practice."

The controversy as to the words purport and tenor gave rise to the following epigram:

To contradict Wilkes, now Mansfield replies,
'Twixt Tenor and Purport no difference lies,
They both in one meaning appear to entwine,
Like tendrils that twist round the stem of a vine,

Though the one suits your purpose, the other suits mine.

To Mansfield cries Wilkes, I pray you, my Lord,
Give its own honest meaning to each proper word;
Suppose you should make a proposal to Bute,
To bring in his Charles (though we hope he can't do't)
The Purport means only his kinsman to bring
Through Scotland to England, and here make him king,
But the Tenor implies, and with very good reason,
The unmaking another, and that's, you know, treason.

Nor think that here, in hatred to a lord I've forg'd a tale, or alter'd a record;

Search when you will, (I am not now in sport) You'll find it register'd in Reason's court.

216

Nor think that envy here hath strung my lyre, That I depreciate what I most admire, And look on titles with an eye of scorn, Because I was not to a title born.

By Him that made me, I am much more proud,
More inly satisfied, to have a crowd

Point at me as I pass, and cry-“ that's he—
A poor but honest bard, who dares be free
Amidst corruption," than to have a train
Of flickering levee slaves, to make me vain
Of things I ought to blush for; to run, fly,
And live but in the motion of my eye;
When I am less than man, my faults t'adore,
And make me think that I am something more.
Recall past times, bring back the days of old,
When the great noble bore his honours bold,

220

225

23C

221 This thirst after distinction was not unknown to the Roman satirists. Horace thus expresses his gratitude to his Muse, for the celebrity she conferred upon him:

Totum muneris hoc tui est

Quod monstror digito preteræeuntium,

Romanæ fidicen Lyræ

Quod spiro, et placeo (si placeo,) tuum est.

And the stern moralist, Persius, required some tribute beyond the mere consciousness of superior genius.

Scire tuum, nihil est, nisi te scire hoc sciat alter;

At pulchrum est, digito monstrari ei dicier hic est.