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given himself up entirely to his bottle, is univerfally known. But that he was deficient in perfonal courage, or in fpirit, is contradicted by every part of his conduct, and every action of his life. That he was tied, and carried on board a ship to fet out on his expedition to Scotland, is a ftory equally deftitute of probability as of truth. What is mentioned of Helvetius is equally falfe. The elder Helvetios was dead before the time mentioned *, and his fon was then too young to have had a houfe in Paris. Belides, can it be credited that Charles, who had fo many tried and attached friends

there, fhould truft his fafety, and give his confidence to a young man whom he knew only by report? I could point out other inconfiftencies equally glaring in the letter in question; but these are fufficient to convince any reafonable mind, that the whole is a base forgery-falfe, not only as to the fubject, but likewife to the fuppofed author, who had too great a regard to truth and juftice, to have given birth to fo malevolent a fabrication ‡. Ami cus Plato, amicus Socrates, fed major amica VERITAS:

London, May 11,
1788.

An Efay on Comic Painting †:

been properties of all, the

nions refpecting the caufe of laughter; I mean that fpecies arifing from the contemplation of fome ludicrous idea or object prefented to the mental or corporal eye. Mr Hobbs attributed it to a fuppofed confcioufhefs of fuperiority in the laughter to the object laughed at. Hutchifon feems to think that it is occafioned by a contraft or oppofition of dignity and meannefs; and Dr Beattie fays," that quality in things, which makes them provoke that pleafant emotion of fentiment, whereof laughter is the external fign, is an uncommon mixture of relation and contrariety, exhibited or fuppofed to be united in the fame affemblage. And again, (adds he) if it be asked whether fuch a mixture will always provoke laughter? my answer is, It will always, or for the moft part, excite the rifible emotion; unlefs when the perception of it is attended with fome emotion of greater authority."

objects be incompatible; that is, let every perfon and thing reprefented; be employed in that office or business, for which by age, fize; profeffion, conftruction, or fome other accident, they are totally unfit. And if the perfons ridiculed are alfo guilty of any trifling breach of morality or propriety, the effect will be the more complete, and will stand the teft of criticifm. I say trifling, for great crimes excite indignation, and tend to make us groan rather than laugh. Thus a cowardly foldier, a deaf mufician, a bandy-legged dancing-mafter; a corpulent or gouty running footman, an antiquated fop or coquet, a methodist in a bro thel, a drunken juftice making a riot, or a tailor on a managed horfe; are all ludicrous objects; and if the methodist has his pocket picked, or is ftripped, the juftice is drawn with a broken head, and the tailor appears juft falling off in to the kennel, we confider it as a kind This fyftem clearly points out a very of poetical juftice, or due punishment, fimple though general rule, applicable for their acting out of their proper to all compofitions of the ludicrous fpheres: though in reprefenting these kind in painting a rule comprized in kinds of accident, care fhould be taken thefe few words: Let the employments to fhew, that the fufferers are not great.

3 A 2

*This is a miftake. He died in 1755. ED.

↑ See Note p. 340%

From a new pamphlet, entitled, Rules for drawing Caricaturas."

ly hurt, otherwife it ceafes to become ludicrous; as few perfons will laugh at a broken arm, or a fractured feuli; this is an oversight of which the mana gers of our theatres are fometimes guilty in their pantomimical reprefentations; where, among the tricks put upon the doctor and Pierrot by Harlequin, I have feen fuch a bloody head given to the clown, by a fuppofed kick of the ftatue of a horfe, that many of the fpectators, particularly thofe of the fair fex, have expreffed great horror at the fight.

Of all the different artifs who have attempted this flyle of painting, Hogarth and Coppel feem to have been the most fuccefsful; the works of the first stand unrivalled for invention, expreffion, and diverfity of characters, The ludicrous performances of Coypel are confined to the hiftory of Don Quixote. Most of the Dutch painters in this walk of painting, have mistaken indecency, naftinefs, and brutality, for wit and humour.

On examining divers of Hogarth's defigns, we find he ftrongly adopted the principle here laid down. For example, let us confider the Prifon Scene in the Rake's Progrefs. How incompatible is it for a man who poffetfes wings, and the art of flying, to be detained within the walls of a goal! and equally contradictory is the idea of one fuffering imprifonment for the non-payment of his own debts, who has the fecret of difcharging thofe of the na tion!

In the four times of the day, what can be more truly confonant with thefe principles, than the fcene near Iflington, where in the fultry heat of Summer, a number of fat citizens are crouded together in a fmall room, by the fide of a dufty road, fmoaking their pipes, in order to enjoy the refrethment of country air? In the gate of Calais, how finely does the fat friar's perfon and enthufiaftic admiration of the huge firloin, mark that fenfuality fo incompatible with his profeffion;

the fundamental principles of which dictate abftinence" and "mortification? In that admirable comic priat, the Enraged Mufician, the humour lies forely in the incompatible fituation of the foa of Apollo, whofe ear, trained to melodious and harmonic founds, is thereby rendered extremely unfit to bear the tintamarre, or confusion of difcordant noifes with which the painter has fo ludicrously and ingeniously fut rounded him.

The picture of Grown Gentlemen learning to Dance, painted by Collet, was well conceived; and tho' infinite. ly fhort of Hogarth's execution, had a very pleafing effect, both on the canvas and on the ftage, where it was intro duced into a pantomime. In this piece every perfon was by form, or age, totally unfit for the part he was acting.

In addition to the rule here mentioncd, there are other inferior confi derations not unworthy the notice of an artift; contraft alone will fometimes produce a ludicrous effect, although nothing ridiculous exifts feparately either of the subjects; for inftance, fuppofe two men both well mate, one very tall, and the other extremely short, were to walk down a street together, 1 will anfwer for it, they would not efcape the jokes of the mobility, altho' alone either of them might have paffed unnoticed. Another kind of laugh able contra, is that vulgarly ftyled a Woman and her Husband, this is a large mafculine woman, and a small effeminate man ; but the ridicule here chiefly arifes from the incompatible; the man feeming more likely to receive protection from the woman, than to be able to afford it to her.

Anachronisms have likewife a very laughable effect. King Solomon in ali his glory delineated in a tie or bag-wig, laced cravate, long ruffles, and a fuldreffed fuit, will always caufe a smile; as would alfo the Siege of Jerufalem, wherein the Emperor Trus, and his aids-de-camps, fhould be reprefented in the fore-ground, deffed in great

wigs and jack boots, their horfes decorated with laced furniture, hoifters, and piftols in the distance, a view of the town, amidst the fire of cannons and mortars. Our theatrical reprefentations afford plenty of thefe ridiculous abfurdities, where we frequently fee the chamber of Cleopatra furnished with a table-clock and a hatpficord, or a piano-forte; or the hall of Marc An. tony with a large chimney garnised with mufkets, blunderbuffes, fowlingpieces, &c. and a picture of the taking of Porto-Bello, by the brave Admiral Vernon.

Nothing affords greater fcope for ludicrous reprefentations than the univerfal rage with which particular fafhions of drefs are followed by perfons of all ranks, ages, fizes, and makes, without the leaft attention to their figures or stations. Habiliments alfo, not ridiculous in themselves, become fo by being worn by improper perfons, or at improper places. Thus though the full-bottomed wig adds dignity to a venerable judge, we fhould laugh at it on the head of a boyish counfel; and though a tye-wig lends gravity to the appearance of a counsellor or phy fician, it contributes greatly to the ludicrous equipment of a mountebank, a little chimney-fweeper dancing round the May-day garland, or one of the candidates for the borough of Garret in the proceffion to that election: a high head, and a large hoop worn in a stagecoach, or a full-dreffed fuit and a fword at a horse-race, are equally objects of ridicule.

Refpectable characters, unworthily employed, are objects for the ludicrous pencil. Such would be a lord mayor or an alderman in his gold chain, dancing a hornpipe; or a ferjeant at law, in his coif, band and fpectacles, ftanding up at a reel or cottillon. Employments accidentally improper, may make a character ridiculous, and that for thofe very circumstances which in another fituation render it refpectable: bus, a military or naval officer dan

cing a minuet with a wooden leg, exhi bits a truly ludicrous appearance; confider the fame person walking or standing, and his wooden leg makes him an object of refpect, as a fufferer in the caufe of his country.

Bendes thefe general fubjects, there are others which, like the ftage-tricks, will always enfure the fuffrages of the vulgar; among them are rational jokes, as an Irishman on horfeback, carrying a heavy portmanteau on his head, to eafe his hotfe of its weight; a Welchman with his goat, leck, hay-boots, and long pedigree; a Scotchman with his fcrubbing-poft, and a meagre Frenchman in his laced jacket and bag, having long ruffles to his fleeves, without a fhirt. Of this kind are profeffionał allufions; a phyfician and apothecary are lawful game by prefcription, a tailor by trade, and a mayor, alderman, or churchwarden, ex officio.

Vehicles, figns, utenfils, and other inanimate accompaniments, may be made auxiliaries to ludicrous pictures, with great fuccefs: for example, a heavy overloaded ftage-coach, dragged by four miferable jades, and dignified with the title of the Flying Coach; the ftocks ferving as a prop or fupport to a drunken conftable; a mifpelt board or fign over the gate of an academy.

Injudicious reprefentations of fublime or ferious fubjects, have often unintentionally been productive of pictures highly ludicrous: of this a ftriking inftance occurs in a hiftory of the Bible, adorned with plates, in one of which the following text of the 7th chapter of St Matthew, verfe the third, is illuftrated" And why beholdeft "thou the mote that is in thy bro

ther's eye, but confidereft not the "beam that is in thine own eye?” The state of these two men is thus delineated by the artist: one of them has in his eye a compleat castle, with a moate and its appurtenances, and in the eye of the other sticks a large beam like the girder of a house.

Another picture ftill more ridiculous

was, it is fald, to be feen not long ago in a church near Haerlem in Holland; the fubject was Abraham offering up his fon Ifaac, where that patriarch was drawn prefenting a large horfe piftol, which he has juft fapt at the devoted victim, kneeling on a pile of wood before him; but the catastrophe is prevented by an angel, who flying over his head, moiftens the prime by a copious ftream, produced in the fame manner as that wherewith Gulliver extinguished the fire in the palace of the Emperor of Lilliput.

We meet with another inftance of this fort of unintentionally ridiculous compofition, in the Military state of the Ottoman Empire, written by the Count de Marfigli, member of the Royal Academies of Paris and Montpelier, and of the Royal Society of London.

That gentleman, defirous of conveying the idea that he had thoroughly inveftigated his fubject, by the common metaphor of having fifted it to the bottom, his artift has endeavoured in a vignette, literally to exprefs it by delineating that operation; and has reprefented the Count in a full-dreffed coat, hat, and feather, tye-wig and jack-boots, fhaking thro' a fmall fieve,

fupported by a triangle, little Turkish foldiers of all denominations, many of whom appear on the ground in a con fufed heap; camels, horfes, and their riders, cannons and cannon balls, all tumbling promifcuously one over the other. On the other fide of the picture are fome foldiers and periwigged officers looking on, as at an ordinary occurrence.

To conclude the inftances of thefe accidentally ludicrous pictures, I fhali juft mention one, which a gentleman of veracity affured me he faw at the Expofition des Tableaux at Paris. The fubject was the death of the late Dau phin, which the painter had treated in the manner following:-on a field becky decorated with all thofe fluttering or naments of which the French are fo peculiarly fond, lay the Dauphin, pa1e and emaciated; by it flood the Dau phinefs, weeping over him in the affec ted attitude of an opera dancer. She was attended by her living children; and in the clouds, hovering over them, were the Duke of Burgundy, their de ceafed fon, and two embryos, the product of as many mifcarriages; the angel duke was quite naked, except that the order of the Saint Efprit was thrown crofs his fhoulders.

The following Allegory lately made its Appearance in a Philadelphia News-Paper and is faid to come from the Pen

I

Na dream, I thought myself in a folitary temple. I faw a kind of phantom coming towards me, but as he drew near, his form expanded and became more than human; his robe hung majestically down to his feet; fix wings whiter than fnow, whofe extremities were edged with gold, covered a part of his body: then I faw him quit his material substance, which he had put on not to terrify me; his body was of all the colours in the rain bow. He took me by the hair, and I was fenfible I was travelling in the

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of the celebrated Doctor Franklin.

therial plains without any dread, with the rapidity of an arrow fent from a bow drawn by a supple and nervous arm.

A thoufand glowing orbs rolled be neath me: but I could only caft a rapid glance on all thofe globes diftinguifhed by the ftriking colours with which they are diverfified.

I now fuddenly perceived fo beauti ful, fo flourishing, fo fertile a country, that I conceived a strong defire to a light upon it. My wifhes were in ftantly gratified; I felt myfelf gently

landed

landed on its furface, where I was furrounded by a balmy atmosphere. I found myself repofed at the dawn, on the foft verdant grafs. I ftretched out my arms, in token of gratitude, to my celeftial guide, who pointed to a refplendant fun, towards which fwiftly rifing, he disappeared in the luminous body.

I rofe, and imagined myfelf to be tranfported into the garden of Eden. Every thing tranfported my foul with foft tranquillity. The molt profound peace covered this new globe; nature was ravishing and incorruptible here, and a delicious freshness expanded my fenfe to extacy; a fweet odour accompanied the air I breathed; my heart, which beat with an unufual power, was, immerged in a fea of rapture; while pleafure, like a pure and immortal light, penetrated the inmoft receffes of my foul. The inhabitants of this happy country came to meet me; and after faluting me, they took me by the hand. Their noble countenances infpired confidence and refpect; innocence and happiness were depicted in their looks; they often lifted their eyes towards Heaven, and as often uttered a name which I afterwards knew to be that of the Eternal, while their cheeks were moistened with the tears of gratitude. I experienced great emotion while I converfed with thefe fublime beings. They poured out their hearts with the moft fincere tenderness; and the voice of reafon, moft majestic, and no lefs melting, was, at the fame time, conveyed to my enraptured ear.

I foon perceived this abode was totally different from that which I had left. A divine impulfe made me fly into their arms;-I bowed my knees to them; but being raised up in the most endearing manner, I was preffed to the bofoms that inclofed fuch excellent hearts, and I conceived a prefentiment of celeftial amity, of that amity which united their fouls, and formed the greatest portion of their felicity.

The Angel of darkness, with all his

artifice, was never able to discover the entrance into this world!-Notwithftanding his ever-watchful malice, he never found out the means to fpread his poifon over this happy globe. Anger, envy, and pride, were there an known; the happiness of one appeared the happinefs of all! an ecitatic tranf port inceffantly elevating their fouls at the fight of the magnificent and bounti ful Hand that collected over their heads the most aftonishing prodigies of the creation.

The lovely morning, with her humid faffron wings, diftilled the pearly dew from the thrubs and flowers, and the rays of the rifing fun multiplied the most enchanting colours, when I perceived a wood embellished by the opening dawn.

The youth of both fexes there fent forth hymns of adoration towards hea ven, and were filled at the fame time with the grandeur and majefty of God, which rolled almott vifibly over their heads; for in this world of innocence, he vouchfafed to manifeft himself by means unknown to our weak underftandings.

All things announced his auguft prefence; the ferenity of the air, the dies of the flowers, the brilliancy of the infects, a kind of universal fenfibi lity fpread over all beings, and which vivified bodies that feemed the least fufceptible of it; every thing bore the ap pearance of fentiment, and the birds ftopped in the midft of their flight, as if attentive to the affecting modulations of their voices.

But no pencil can exprefs the ravifhing countenance of the young beauties whofe bofoms breathed love. Who can defcribe that love of which we have not any idea, that love for which we have no name, that love, the lot of pure intelligent beings, Divine love, which they only can conceive and feel? The tongue of man, incapable, must be filent!The remembrance of this enchanting place fufpends at this moment all the faculties of my foul.

The fun was rifing-the pencil falls

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