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in the life of our inestimable friend. state very properly how much he owed to the writings and conversation of Johnson; and nothing shows more the greatness of Sir Joshua's parts, than his taking advantage of both, and making some application of them to his profession, when Johnson neither understood, nor desired to understand, any thing of painting, and had no distinct idea of its nomenclature, even in those parts which had got most into use in common life. But though Johnson had done much to enlarge and strengthen his habit of thinking, Sir Joshua did not owe his first rudiments of speculation to him. He has always told me, that he owed his first disposition to generalize, and to view things in the abstract, to old Mr. Mudge, Prebendary of Exeter, and brother to the celebrated mechanick of that name. I have myself seen Mr. Mudge the clergyman, at Sir Joshua's house. He was a learned and vene

He

rable old man ; and as I thought, very much conversant in the Platonic Philosophy, and very fond of that method of philosophizing. He had been originally a dissenting minister; a description which at that time bred very considerable men, both among those who adhered to it, and those who left. had entirely cured himself of the unpleasant narrowness which in the early part of his life had distinguished those gentlemen, and was perfectly free from the ten times more dangerous enlargement which has been since then their general characteristick. Sir Joshua Reynolds had always a great love for the whole of that family, and took a great interest in whatever related to them. His acquaintance with the Mudges ought to be reckoned among the earliest of his literary connections. It was from him that I first got a view of the few that have been published of Mr. Mudge's Sermons; and on conversing afterwards with Mr. Mudge, I found great traces of Sir Joshua Reynolds in

him, and, if I may say so, much of the manner of the master." *

* Letter from the Right Hon. Edmund Burke to the Editor, dated Bath, May 4. 1797.

Our author's early friend and instructor died April 3. 1769, and his memory was honoured by the following characteristick encomium, written by Dr. Johnson, and inserted May 2. (under the article of DEATHS) in the LONDON CHRONICLE.

"The Reverend Mr. Zachariah Mudge, Prebendary of Exeter, and Vicar of St. Andrew's in Plymouth; a man equally eminent for his virtues and abilities, and at once beloved as a companion, and reverenced as a pastor. He had that general curiosity to which no kind of knowledge is indifferent or superfluous, and that general benevolence by which no order of men is hated or despised.

and

"His principles both of thought and action were great comprehensive. By a solicitous examination of objections and judicious comparison of opposite arguments, he attained, what enquiry never gives but to industry and perspicuity, a firm and unshaken settlement of conviction. But his firmness was without asperity; for, knowing with how much difficulty truth was sometimes found, he did not wonder that many missed it.

The general course of his life was determined by his profession; he studied the sacred volumes in the original languages: with what diligence and success, his Notes upon the Psalms give sufficient evidence. He once endeavoured to add the knowledge of Arabick to

To mark the gradual progress of our illustrious painter's reputation from year to year, is not the object of the present memoir; but

that of Hebrew; but finding his thoughts too much diverted from other studies, after some time desisted from his purpose.

"His discharge of parochial duties was exemplary. How his sermons were composed, may be learned from the excellent volume which he has given to the publick; but how they were delivered, can be known only to those that heard them; for as he appeared in the pulpit, words will not easily describe him. His delivery, though unconstrained, was not negligent, and though forcible, was not turbulent; disdaining anxious nicety of emphasis, and laboured artifice of action, it captivated the hearer by its natural dignity, it roused the sluggish and fixed the volatile, and detained the mind upon the subject, without directing it to the speaker.

"The grandeur and solemnity of the preacher did not intrude upon his general behaviour; at the table of his friends he was a companion communicative and attentive, of unaffected manners, of manly cheerfulness, willing to please, and easy to be pleased. His acquaintance was universally solicited, and his presence obstructed no enjoyment which religion did not forbid. Though studious, he was popular; though inflexible, he was candid; and though metaphysical, yet orthodox."

Mr. Mudge's Sermons, which have been so highly and justly praised, were published in one volume, in 1739..,

the era of the establishment of that Academy which gave rise to the following DISCOURSES, forming a memorable epoch in the history of the Arts, may justly claim particular notice.

The painters of Great Britain from about the year 1750 *, with a view of promoting their art by painting from living models, associated together in a kind of Academy in St. Martin's Lane, which they supported by annual subscription. Their efforts, however, were not very successful till ten years afterwards t; when, in imitation of foreign

* The first effort towards an Institution of this kind in the present century, was made in 1724, when Sir James Thornhill opened an Academy for Drawing at his house in Covent-garden. He had before proposed to Lord Halifax to obtain the foundation of a Royal Academy, to be built at the upper end of the Mews, with apartments for the Professors, &c. See Walpole's ANECDOTES OF PAINTING, iv. 45.

+ Their first Exhibition was in the year 1760. "The Artists (says Dr. Johnson in a letter to Joseph Baretti, dated London, June 10. 1761,) have instituted a yearly