the supposition so flattering to the proprietors. But a period was shortly to arrive, when the avarice of the dealer, seconded by the pencil of the artist, was to deride all such comparison, and unblushingly

In fine his word's an ipse dixit,

If nameless print you have, he nicks it*
So well at chistening carries farce on,
You'd vow he was some village parson;
Witness our Catalogus, when

He leagued with band of sapient men,
Old Chalcographians passing deep,
Whose judgment ne'er was known to sleep,
And countless others who have nam'd,
A portrait base-Our Shakspeare fam'd;
From which hath issu'd graven plate,
Subscrib'd for by collecting great, t
Which well hath answer'd St-c-'s end,
Who proved in this friend Ego's FRIEDN:
Since after all-no matter whether

A Crispin cutter out of leather

This portrait rare may represent,

Great St-c- no doubt earn'd cent. per cent.
And though such pictures may be pretty,

He best prefers bank notes from city."

"St―c― has by some means or other wriggled himself into the good graces of the great, who, no doubt, serves his purpose admirably. One very happy step towards this enviable exaltation, was, and is the knack of christening any nameless print, or picture, that may chance to be in the possession of a customer; thus, rendering it either serviceable in illustrating, or affording some artist a job, by having it engraved pro bono publico,"

† “This print, which is engraved from a picture that resembled as much the Bard of Avon, as Ben Jonson, or Joe Miller, was puffed off in the newspapers, and advertised with a confidence a la St-c-, that nothing could surpass. From the very first moment that I saw the painting in the possessor's hands, I pronounced it spurious."

Vide Chalcographimania.

affirm, heads as dull as utter absence of thought could make, to be unquestionable originals of fancy's favourite child."

It is wonderful to see how many instances we have of persons becoming infatuated with things they do not understand. The late W. Sharp, is one instance of uncommon credulity, who having many years ago, engraved a portrait of an impostor of the name of Brothers, he had the following words put under the print:" Fully believing this to be the man whom God hath appointed, I engrave his likeness. (Signed) W. Sharp." I believe this ingenious person never thought otherwise, as he was equally biassed in the opinions of Johanna Southcote.

Generally speaking, as to the portraits of Shakspeare, he who possesses one, without knowing any thing of its origin, becomes so enamoured, that no reasonable discourse is admitted against it; and I have very good reason to believe, that many I have seen in gentlemen's collections, was originally intended for signs, at inns or public houses.

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I have been told, that the proprietor of the above portrait of Shakspeare, has not only secured this emblem of his love, in a costly case, by lock and chain, but, at his decease, it is to be buried with him; this is certainly as it should be, and I sincerely hope that the proprietors of many other such portraits, will follow the example.

The character of Mr. Cooper's engraving from this picture is, as Mr. Boaden truly remarks" course," yet clear, but the expression of the face denotes "who chooseth me, shall have as Imuch as he deserves."

DR. HARDIE's

PORTRAIT OF SHAKSPEARE.

Mr. BOADEN remarks, "A few years have elapsed, since Mr. Brockedon, a respectable artist, shewed me in his painting-room a rather elaborate performance, in which our poet is delineated upon a losenge, which was borne aloft by an eagle. This, as a work of fancy, I can have no objection to. The apotheosis of a poet, or a saint, for the nonce, converted into one, may be received on its own merits, and find a welcome, as a designed tribute of affection or reverence for Shakspeare; but, nobody surely can be so ignorant of his character, as to suppose he himself would concur in so vain a mode of delivering his likeness to posterity. After all, our poet in the claws of this allegorical eagle, too ludicrously reminded the spectator of Gulliver in his cabinet, when the same bird, enlarged to the scale of Brobdingnag, bore him in triumph away from the tender care of Glumdalchitch. To this high flight of the great fabricator, to whom I have formerly alluded, were appending verses such as the occasion demanded, but, which trusted entirely to their

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orthography for success, the writer of them having no knowledge whatever, of our ancient diction."

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At the time Mr. Boaden saw this picture with Mr. Brockedon, it had only been left with him for to ascertain its history, the proprietor of it, was Dr. Hardie; Mr. Brockedon assures me, that the artist has shown great ingenuity in the invention, and, that he had no conception it could have been originally, what I shall presently describe it had been, notwithstanding he was aware it was a repaired picture.

In the Literary Journal for October 31, 1818, we have the following particulars of this picture, from a correspondent at Manchester, who stiles it the Ben Jonson's Portrait of Shakspeare:

"A very extraordinary portrait of Shakspeare, is now in the possession of Dr. Hardie, of Manchester. The singular merit of this painting, which is finely drawn and coloured, and beaming with that expression and character, which every man associates with our great poet, added to a resemblance closer to the best authorities we have in the Monumental Bust, and in the engraving in an early edition of his works, than any picture known, leaves little room to doubt of its authenticity; but, the following description of the picture will, I think, entirely remove any thing of doubt that may remain upon the subject, and

establish a conviction, on those who may have an opportunity of inspecting it, of its being the only genuine one of Shakspeare extant.

J

"The size of the portrait, is two feet eleven inches, by two feet three inches, and appears to have been finished, and to have occupied, as usual, the whole canvas; but, it is evident, that. subsequently to the picture's having been painted as a plain matter-of-fact portrait, an admirer of Shakspeare, who possessed it, had, after his death, altered the back ground, in such a way as to enclose the head in a lozenge shield, which is suspended in the talons of an eagle, with the following lines, in free old English characters, upon the lozenge, immediately under the head:

"Ye nutte browne haire, ye fronte serine

Thatte placide mauthe, those smylinge eyne,
Doe soon bewraye my Shakespeare's meine."

And below that, on an Arabesque scroll, are the following:

"His thunders lay'de aside, beholde

Jove's fav'rite birde, now uncontroulled,

Selecte ye gemme of human race

And raise himme to th' Empyreane space;

Fitte statione for his loftie soule

Whose piercinge eye survey'd ye whole

Of Nature's vast domayne,

Then on Imagination's aierie winge

Toe worldes unseene yth ardent soule cou'd springe, bukan.

Deepe fraughte t'enriche ye nethere worlde againe.

B. J."