Picture Mania.

Since e'en from noble, looking big,

To wearer of Right Reverend wig;

(d) The reverend gentleman above quoted, as illustrative of my page, may be regarded as a private collector by such individuals as do not understand the meaning of the word dealer; but not being altogether a stranger to lexicography, I must certainly apply the above term to Mr. Rwho ranks a vender as well as Smart, Woodburn, or any other of the renowned canvass merchants. In addition to the specimens of Chalcographians, quoted in my poetic ledger, I must not omit to mention by way of addenda, Dog J-nn-ngs, who acquired this canine addition to his name from having purchased the celebrated antique of Alcibiades's mongrel for one thousand guineas. Mr. J——s, who is now about ninety years of age, continues infected with a cacoëthes of collecting any thing that is in opposition to what is possessed by others, wherefore it is merely necessary to say that the walking stick of Mr. Tompkins is made of ash, whereas the one offered him for sale is of elm, but he will instantly demand the price, and become the fortunate possessor. Nor let me forget the deceased W-Ish P-rt-r, so renowned for embellishing cottages, and whose taste was consulted in the arrangement of Carlton House. This gentleman not only collected for himself,

Picture Mania.

In spite of all each may profess,

He ranks true dealer, more or less.

Of modern school supporter fam'd Must Leicester's Baronet be nam'd, (e)

but would undertake to store the mansions of others with pictures and antiques, and in short, was a complete Proteus, attuning his versatile taste to the wish of every new customer.

(e) Sir John Leicester, to whom I may well apply the following couplet of Boileau :

La docte antiquité fut toujours venerable,
Je ne la trouve pas cependant adorable,

BOILEAU.

Has in a very praiseworthy manner extended his aid to the living, by patronizing artists of the present era, of whose performances he has to boast a very choice collection. Being thus engaged on existing painters, I think it may not be unfair to designate Stothard the British Parmegiano; Wilkie, the Gerrard Dow; Beechy, the true delineator of nature; and West, the Poussin of England. With respect to the last mentioned artist's talents, too much en

Picture Mania.

Who well deserves the meed of praise,

Rewarding worth of modern days;

Such as by Stothard is possess'd,

A Wilkie, Beechy, or a West.

comium cannot be lavished upon his celebrated picture of Christ Healing the Sick, which performance, thanks to the Prince Regent, was prevented from being exported to America. Neither can I pass over in silence the late Mr. Barry, who, in order to refute the assertions of Zimmermann and the Abbé Dubois, (who have stated that the clouded and foggy atmosphere of England incapacitate our countrymen from excelling in the graphic art) produced a series of paintings, now preserved in the apartments of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, &c. that would confer honour on the talents of the most sublime painters of antiquity.

Nicnackatarian Mania.

NICNACKATARIAN MANIA.

Quot capitum vivunt, totidem studiorum
Millia.

Pursuits and passions on this earth we find,
Vary with increase of the human kind.

Thus having some rare samples shown,

Of persons to collecting prone,

Whether as hot as Cambrian Taffy,
In searching mines of Chalcography;
Or making purse at auction debtor,

For hoards of musty rare black letter ;
And last the crew so passing bold,

In buying paintings scrubb'd and old (ƒ);

(f) There is perhaps more quackery in picture dealing than in

Nicnackatarian Mania.

Some few alike must now be trac'd

Each gifted with a diff'rent taste (g):
So to commence:-Our R-g-nt Prince,
A wond'rous passion doth evince,
To guard in armoury, with care,
Types of old saddles militaire (h);

any other trade existing, as could be exemplified by Der er, Woodburn, Quaker Smart, and a thousand other Graphimanians; for when we find Sallad-venders in Saint Giles's, and Cabbagesellers in Covent Garden, pretend to a knowledge of painting, there is no affixing any boundary to this pictorial cacoëthes.

(g) Mille hominum species et rerum discolor usus Velle suum cuique est nec voto vivitur uno.

PERSIUS.

(h) In the armoury at Carlton House, which is arranged with infinite taste, there are several specimens of this equestrian accoutrement, in collecting samples of which the R-g-nt manifests a most unconquerable cacoëthes.