them were Lady Waldegrave, Lady Pembroke, the Duchess of Hamilton, Mrs. Crewe, Mrs. Hodges, Lady Almeria Carpenter, &c. Some of the most remarkable figures were a Highlander (Mr. R. Conway); a double man, half miller, half chimney-sweeper (Sir R. Phillips); a Political Bedlamite, run mad for Wilkes and Liberty and No. 45; a figure of Adam in flesh-coloured silk, with an apron of fig-leaves; a Druid (Sir W. W. Wynne); a figure of Somebody; a figure of Nobody; a running Footman, very richly dressed, with a cap set with diamonds, and the words, "Tuesday Night's Club' in the front (the Earl of Carlisle); His Royal Highness the Duke of Gloucester in the old English habit, with a star on the cloak; Midas (Mr. James, the Painter); Miss Monckton, daughter to Lord Galloway, appeared in the character of an Indian Sultana, in a robe of cloth of gold and a rich veil. The seams of her habit were embroidered with precious stones, and she had a magnificent cluster of diamonds on her head; the jewels she wore were valued at £30,000. The Duke of Devonshire was very fine, but in no particular character. Captain Nugent, of the Guards, in the character of Mungo, greatly diverted the company. The Countess Dowager of Waldegrave wore a dress richly trimmed with beads and pearls, in the character of Jane Shore. Her Grace of Ancaster claimed the attention of all the company in the dress of Mandane. The Countess of Pomfret, in the character of a Greek Sultana, and the two Miss Fredericks, who accompanied her as Greek slaves, made a complete group. The Duchess of Bolton in the character of Diana, was captivating. Lord Edg-b, in the character of an Old Woman, was full as lovely as his lady in that of a Nun. Lady Stanhope, as Melpomene, was a striking fine figure; Lady Augusta Stuart as a Vestal, and Lady Caroline as a Fille de Patmos, showed that true elegance may be expressed without gold and diamonds. The Chimney-sweeper, Quack Doctor, and a Friar acquitted themselves with much entertainment to the company."

Within the next two years, however, Mrs. Cornelys' successful career was checked, and at the instigation of envious rivals she was

prosecuted and fined. For another dozen years or more the house fitfully broke into splendour again, but with nothing of its former lustre, and it was at last demolished in 1788. Smith's engraving was published in 1781, but it is probable that the drawing was made somewhat earlier, though not as early as the really splendid period of this extraordinary resort of fashion.

CHAPTER IV

THE CLOSE OF THE CENTURY

ROUGHLY speaking, our four chapters coincide with the four quarters of the century. The reigns of Anne and George I., as it happened, not only in themselves marked off the first quarter, to within a couple of years, but were fully accomplished before there was any sign of the quickening influence, or atmosphere, of Hogarth. But as Hogarth was alive and active beyond the middle of the second quarter, and his career fits in more nearly with the reign of George II., so Reynolds, Gainsborough, and Romney, to mention no others, who distinguished the third quarter, were still working well on into the fourth. By this time, however, the practice no less than the knowledge of art was so widely extended, that whereas for the beginning of the century one searched in vain for adequate examples to illustrate our subject, it has now become rather a matter of embarrassment what to choose out of such a multitude of charming, if not always very classical, specimens as may be seen in almost any shop window. Invention and industry had so multiplied the opportunities of intercourse, and accumulated such wealth for the nation, that art could not fail to find encouragement of a much more practical kind than the mere patronage of Royalty and a few of the nobility. For engraving the print, for instance, of Copley's excellent though by no means popular picture, "The Death of Chatham," Bartolozzi had no less than £2000; while more than double the number of subscribers were entered for it than for the sensational "Harlot's Progress" of Hogarth. England had never been so rich, and the loss of the American Colonies, so far from ruining England, seems to have been the starting point of her present progress. "She rose from it," as Green observes, "stronger and greater than ever, and the next ten years saw a display of industrial activity such as the

world had never witnessed before. During the twenty years which followed she wrestled almost single-handed against the energy of the French Revolution as well as against the colossal force of Napoleonic tyranny, and came out of the one struggle unconquered and out of the other a conqueror."

Society, in the meantime, went on much as it usually does when great events are stirring, and, whether or not the pen was mightier than the sword, the brush at this time was quite as busy as the cannon; while Nelson was fitting himself for a national monument in Trafalgar Square, the fascinating Emma was no less readily engaged in being commemorated in records of a more perishable but quite as popular a quality, while of all the men who contributed to England's marvellous advancement at this period there are hardly more than one or two who are not, probably, better known by their portraits than for their achievements. Reynolds and Gainsborough had, in fact, created such a demand for good pictures that others had to supply it, and had set such an example that others had to follow it, so that while these two names are still the foremost during the greater part of the last quarter of the century, it is rather to some of the stars of the lesser magnitudes that our remaining pages should be devoted. Of these not a few have been made so familiar to the public of late years through the enterprise of the fashionable dealers, that the term "star" may seem to fit them in its theatrical rather than its celestial sense, and it is really rather difficult to say anything about them that is not common knowledge. Downman, for instance, whose delightful profiles are being raked out of every corner in England to be scrambled for at Christie's; Cosway, Beechey, Plimer, Wheatley, Morland, Russell, and Raeburn, too, are names that the mere mention of is enough to rally all Bond Street; and even Lawrence has fetched his thousands, and Hoppner his tens of thousands. All of these were, in one sense or another, painters of Society, and most, if not all of them, very good ones too; while among the caricaturists are Gilray, Bunbury, and Rowlandson, whose collective works would of themselves tell us volumes about the Society of their time. But these are by no means the only ones, and there is still a great deal of talent that is waiting for fuller recognition.