father purchased it, as it contained the portrait of his godfather. It afterwards became the property of Mr. Bellamy, a Linen-draper, residing in Queen-street, by the Mansion-house. In thus again incidentally speaking of Hogarth, I will take the opportunity of introducing to the reader the following observation concerning him, of my friend H. R. Willett, Esq.* with which I was so much gratified, that I requested that gentleman to favour me with it in his own words. "A curious instance of Hogarth's attention to most minute traits of character, occurs in the sixth plate of the Marriage-à-la-mode; where, as a farther instance of the avarice and miserable penury of the Alderman, who is stripping his dying daughter of her trinkets, a close observer will perceive, that the servant lad is clothed in one of his master's old coats, which has been shortened, and that the cloth cut off is turned and made into new cuffs: this is more plainly seen in the picture, by the contrast of the colour of them with the faded hue of the coat." * Mr. Willett, whose taste fully appreciates excellence in art, has, at his seat at Shooter's Hill, a room filled with Hogarth's pictures; among which is a grand view of St. James's Park, exhibiting numerous figures of ladies and gentlemen walking in front of Rosamond's Pond. This Pond was filled up in 1770. RECOLLECTIONS OF PUBLIC CHARACTERS, SOMETIME INHABITANTS OF ST. MARTIN'S-LANE. SAINT MARTIN'S-LANE affords so rich a mine for anecdote, that I never pass through it without receiving a ray of recollection from almost every window. I shall therefore venture to relate a few of these reminiscences, as they have at various times occurred to me, confining myself principally to those connected with the Fine Arts. The first house from the corner of Newportstreet, on the right hand, leading to Charingcross, now Reid and Co's Hotel, was for many years inhabited by Beard, the famous singer, who married Lady Harriet Powis ;* and after * This lady was interred in the church-yard of St. Pancras, where an expensive monument was erected to her memory, upon which is engraven the following inscription : Sacred to the remains Of LADY HENRIETTA BEARD, Only daughter of James, late Earl of Waldegrave. She was married to Lord Edward Herbert, She became the wife of Mr. John Beard, wards became a son-in-law of Mr. Rich, of Covent-garden Theatre. The parlour of this house has two windows facing the south. In this room, my father, who had accompanied Roubiliac, smoked his pipe with Rich, Quin, Woodward, and George Lambert, the founder of the original Beef-steak Club, which was first held in the painting-room of Covent-garden Theatre. Some of Lambert's scenes were extremely beautiful; but they were unfortunately all consumed when that theatre was burned, September 20, 1808. Next to Reid's is the Coffee-house beforementioned, still retaining the appellation of "Old Slaughter's." The next house of attraction is a spacious mansion, now divided into two: No. 76 is inhabited by F. Thomas, and No. 77 by Dr. Golding. It was built by old Payne, the architect, who designed Salisburystreet, in the Strand, and also the original Lyceum, &c.; and here he resided. Payne was very friendly to Gwynn, the Architect, and also Who, during an happy union of fourteen years, And must for ever revere Her memory, To which he consecrates this monument. Obiit 31 May MDCCLIII. Æ. 36. to Samuel Wale, Lecturer on Perspective in the Royal Academy, who was the designer of an immense number of subjects for books, which were mostly engraved by Grignon. Mr. Payne built two small houses, at the end of his garden, purposely to accommodate Gwynn and Wale: the entrances were in Little-court, Castle-street, and are still standing. No. 82, is New Slaughter's Coffee-house; No. 85, is now occupied by J. Van Eyndhoven and Co. and lately by Mr. Collick, hair-manufacturer, the father of Mrs. Hatchet, late of Long-acre. In former times, the street before these houses, commencing at Beard's and extending to a short distance beyond St. Martin's-court, was called "The Pavement ;" and the road at that time was about three feet lower than it is at present. A bookseller, of the name of Harding, occupied one of these houses below Payne's, and among other works, he published a little book of Monograms of Engravers, in octavo. He also sold old prints, for which Hudson, the Painter, was one of his principal customers; and it was at this shop that he purchased Benjamin Wilson's landscape, etched in imitation of the manner of Rembrandt. I heard Wilson* relate *This Benjamin Wilson, the father of the present Sir Robert Wilson, was a Portrait-painter, and was made Sergeant the circumstance to the late venerable President West, nearly in the following words: "Hudson upon all occasions maintained, that no one could etch like Rembrandt,-here he was right; that no one could deceive him, and that he could always discover an imitation of Rembrandt directly he saw it; wherein I maintained he was wrong. To prove this, I one evening scratched a landscape, and took a dirty impression of it to a man who sold books and prints upon the Pavement in Saint Martin'slane, and, after endeavouring to cry down Rembrandt, showed him the impression, for which he offered to give me a fine Vandyke head. As the fellow caught the bait, the next day I called to look at some more of Vandyke heads, when he observed, that he had sold the Rembrandt, but I could not obtain from him the name of the purchaser; however, it turned out just as I expected. Hudson was showing it about to his friends as a rare Rembrandt, not painter to the King, when his Majesty withdrew that appointment from Hogarth, in consequence of his dedicating his print⚫ of the March to Finchley to the King of Prussia, as “an encourager of the Arts and Sciences!" Benjamin Wilson was succeeded as Sergeant-painter by Mr. Pitt Cobbett, of Bedford-street, Covent-garden, who continues to enjoy the appointment. |