SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS' LOVE LETTERS. Sir Joshua Reynolds was born at Plympton, in Devonshire, July 16, 1723, and having evinced a strong predilection for the arts, was eventually placed under the tuition of Thomas Hudson, the leading portrait painter of that day, and who then lived at the house, now Nos. 55 and 56, in Great Queen Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields. Reynolds arrived in London on Saturday, October 13, 1740, and commenced being Hudson's pupil on St. Luke's day, the 18th of that month. In August, 1743, from some disagreement with Hudson, we find Reynolds had returned homeward, and was pursuing a very uncertain course, till the December of the following year, 1744, when Reynolds was again in London, reconciled in all matters of dispute with Hudson, and progressing in his studies as an artist. The decease of his father, on December 25, 1746, appears to have summoned him from the metropolis, and, upon the family having upon that event to quit what had been to them almost a family mansion, Reynolds established himself at Plymouth dock, now Devonport, and occasionally resided there with his two unmarried sisters, for he at the same time occupied the house, No. 103, St. Martin's Lane, nearly opposite to May's Buildings, that had been formerly the residence of Sir James Thornhill, and by whom the staircase had been painted with figures, which are still there. not, for I have writ to nobody. I sailed from Plimouth so long agone as May 11th and am got no further yet than Port Mahon, but before you shall receive this expect to be on tother side of the water; I have been kept here near two months by an odd accident, I dont know whether to call it a lucky one or not, a fall from a horse down a precipice, which cut my face in such a manner as confined me to my room, so that I was forced to have recourse to painting as an amusement at first i have now finished as many portraits as will come to a hundred pounds the unlucky part of the Question is my lips are spoiled for kissing for my upper lip was so bruised that a great peice was cut off and the restthat I have but a to look at, but in wont tour to me perceive the defect. So far it has been that can Malone observes, After spending a few more years in the practice of painting, partly in London, and partly in Devonshire, where many of his early essays yet remain, he became acquainted with the late Lord Edgecumbe, and Captain, afterwards Lord Keppel, by each of whom he was warmly patronised, and the latter being ordered to cruise in the Mediterranean, Reynolds embraced the opportunity which his kindness proffered, and he accompanied him thither, sailing from Plymouth on May • This accident explains the cause of the apparent hare11, 1749. In the course of their voyage, during which lip on the right side which is depicted in all the portraits he had accommodation in the Captain's ship, the Cen- of Reynolds. The dashes in this letter are hiatuses in the turion, they touched at Algiers, Gibraltar, Cadiz, Lis-original; a small portion, where the folding had broken bon, and Minorca; and after spending about two and weakened the paper, having been torn off and lost, months in Port-Mahon, the principal town of that and no letters, even in part, remained to suggest the deisland, he sailed, in December, to Leghorn, from which fective words. place he proceeded to Rome.* During Reynolds' sojourn with Hudson in Great Queen Street, he appears to have become acquainted with a Miss Weston, who, with her mother, resided in the same street; and to her the following letters, which fill up an hiatus in his biography, were severally addressed To Miss Weston, In Great Queen Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London.' The orthography of the originals is strictly retained. [Mahon,] December O. S. 10th, 1749. Dear Miss Weston, My memory is so bad that I vow I dont remember whether or no I writ you about my expedition before I left England, since, I am sure I have * Some Account, etc. prefixed to Reynolds' Works, 1797, 4to. Vol. I. p. ix. His visit to Italy was productive of another untoward result. His deafness was occasioned by a cold taken in the Vatican, while painting for a long time near a stove, by which the damp vapours of that edifice were attracted, and affected his head. When in company with only one person, he heard very well without the aid of a trumpet, but from the time of his returning from Italy he contrived, by the aid of an ear-trumpet, to partake, with great facility and address, of the conversation of his friends, and such was the placidness of his temper, that what he did not hear he never troubled those with whom he conversed to repeat. Goldsmith, in the last lines he ever wrote, ere his hand failed to wield the pen, most characteristically said of Reynolds To coxcombs averse, yet most civilly steering, When they judg'd, without skill, he was still hard of hearing; P.S. My compliments to Mr. Charlton and Mr. Wilks* I hear the whole world is to be at the Jubilee I hope to see Mr. Charlton at least there-At Lisbon I saw a Bull fight and another at Cadiz, which will be the subject of many conversations hereafter. Two letters which Reynolds addressed to Miss Weston, after his arrival in Rome, seem never to have reached her. Dear Miss Weston, I wonder I have not receiv'd an Answer to all the Letters I have sent you this is the third from Rome and one before from Mahon I suppose they have all miscarried so I take this opportunity of sending one by my good Friend Mr. Dalton and a Worthy man he is, I hope he will deliver this himself that you may be acquainted and when I return we shall have many agrecable jaunts together. and from thence to Paris seeing every thing between I am My Dear Miss Weston, Yours J. REYNOLDS. idiot daughter, by Sir William Daniel, Astley inherited gave Nature in her wantonness had moulded his proportions I shall set out from Rome immediately after the like another Antinous, but left his understanding halfnext Lent or Carnival, Give my service to Mr. Charl-feathered; his vanity raised a vapour in his mind, which ton and Mr. Wilks and tell them that if it was possible to give them an idea of what is to be seen here, the remains of Antiquity, the Sculpture, Paintings, Architecture, &c. they would think it worth while, nay they would break through all obstacles and set out immeediately for Rome, then the Carnival of which I have heard so much that I am resolved to stay here to see the next which they say will exceed all the former since there has been none this Jubile or Holy year so the next they [say] will make up for the old and the new. If they would set out so as to be here a Month or two before the Carnival after which Ashley † and I will accompany them (as we intend to do otherwise) to Venice * John Wilkes, of Middlesex political notoriety. John Astley, born at Wem, in Shropshire, the son of a medical practitioner, was placed by his father under Hudson's tuition; how long he remained there is uncertain, but on quitting Hudson he went to Rome, where he and Reynolds met. He was one of the Extraordinaries of his time. On his return to England, after a few months stay in London, he went to Dublin, and in about three years acquired by his pencil three thousand pounds. Again returning to England, he travelled in his own chaise, with an outrider, and was painting his way on to London, when, visiting with another gentleman Knutsford Assembly, Lady Duckenfield Daniel, then present, was so struck with his fine gentlemanly appearance that she contrived to sit to him for her portrait, and proffered him in marriage the original, which he wisely accepted. They were married in January, 1760, but she soon after died, and after the decease of her hid him from himself; he courted an eleemosynary fame, He In the decline of his life he appeared to be harassed by reflections upon his dissipated conduct, and when near his end was not without apprehensions of being reduced to indigence and want. He died at his house, Duckenfield Lodge, Tabley, Cheshire, November 14, 1787, and was buried in the church of that village. After Astley's decease Dr. Graham exhibited, in Pall Mall, the delusive wonders of his Celestial Bed; Mrs. Siddons' sister, Mrs. Curtis, representing the Paphian goddess. Messrs. Payne and Foss, booksellers, more recently were the tenants of the same portion of Schomberg House. 'The Mr. Pines' here noticed were John Pine, the land till the next year, 1752, and then became the celebrated engraver of Pine's Horace,' and his two tenant of the house, No. 5, in Great Newport Street.* sons, Robert Edge Pine, the painter, and Simon Pine, Opposite to him resided the two Miss Cotterells, daughdistinguished as a miniature painter. They resided in the large house that stood on the site of the houses now numbered 88 and 89, in St. Martin's Lane, and were thus Reynolds' neighbours and brother-artists. To the preceding letter Miss Weston replied, greatly to Reynolds' satisfaction. The affair of the Westminster girl, by the Park,' is involved in a now probably impenetrable mystery. Rome, April 30, 1751. Dear Miss Weston, Your letter I receiv'd with a great of pleasure and as tis increasing a pleasure to communicate it. I read it to a great many English that were at the Coffee house but without mentioning the writer (tho if I had, it would have been much to your honour) for you must know when a letter comes from England we are all impatient to hear news, and indeed your Letter was full of it, and however it happend every person took the same pleasure in it as my self Mr. Lovelace Mrs. Pine were known to most of the painters, others knew Miss Hambleton and others Mr. More. others Miss Gunnings indeed their fames had reached here some time agone. But nobody but me knew the westminster Girl a lack a lack she has been brought to bed and tis a fine Chumning boy but who is Lord John? well who would have thought it oh the nasty creature to have to do with a man. I am sorry you have been at the expence of paying for my Goods I shall take care to repay you with thanks when I return which will be infallibly this year we set out in about two months time and take the tour of Venice and through Germany and let France alone till next year since it lies so near England that I can take a there in a summer and back again my fellow traveller is Mr. Ashley who lived with Mr. Hudson. We are all extremely afflicted for the loss of the Prince of Whales* who certainly would have been a great Patron to Painters as he already was to Mr. Dalton I feel an additional sorrow on his account I beg my compliments to him particularly and to all friends. I cannot form to myself any idea of a person more miserable than the Princess of Whales must be, deprived at once of a Husband she loved and with him all thoughts of ambition, Adiu I will not desire you to write any Answer to this Letter because I shall remove from Rome to Florence and other parts of Italy so that you wont know where to direct, but I shall not for this reason neglect writing to you Remember me to mama Yours J. REYNOLDS. Reynolds, notwithstanding his purposing infallibly ters of Admiral Cotterell, with whom Reynolds was soon on visiting terms. Here, one evening, Johnson, who was also intimate with them, happened to be present with Reynolds, when the ladies were regretting the death of a friend, to whom they owed great obligation; upon which Reynolds observed- You have, however, the comfort of being relieved from the burden of gratitude. They were somewhat shocked at this alleviating suggestion as too selfish; but Johnson, in his clear forcible manner defended it, and was much pleased with the mind, the fair views of human nature which, like some of the Reflections of Rochefoucault, it exhibited. The consequence was that on leaving, he went home with Reynolds, supped with him, and the personal friendship from that night commenced which continued during their lives. Wholly occupied in his profession, or in his hours of relaxation enjoying a social intercourse with men distinguished in society, the married life would seem to have failed in proffering any inducement to Reynolds to disturb the even quiet tenor of his every day career. He seems to have stood aloof from all temptation, and the instance of Miss Weston appears to have been, on her part, one of misplaced affection. She, it would seem, lived on neglected by him, and unconsoled. Sir Joshua Reynolds died Feb. 23, 1792, when the particulars which are known respecting her, soon after transpired, and may be thus told. In the vicinity of Fulham resided an elderly lady, of elegant manners, but very poor. Her deportment and language were such as to induce many enquiries as to her real name and progress in life, to all which she was silent. At length age, sickness, and want brought her to her death-bed, and she experienced the kindest attentions from a particular family in that neighbourhood. The repetition of these kindnesses induced her, in her dying state, in answer to these enquiries, to make the following declaration-'I have been well educated and tenderly reared. It was my misfortune in the early part of my life to be considered as handsome, and I became the toast of the hour; many young gentlemen paid their addresses to me, but without the desired effect, as I had fixed my virgin predilections on a gentleman who, by the suavity of his manners, and the force of his accomplishments, became the point of admiration in those circles in which I then moved, and I was inclined to believe that our passion was mutual, but, alas! how egregiously, how fatally was I deceived! but let me not bear too heavily upon his memory, for he is now no more-who he was, and what I am, you may know when I die, if you have the curiosity to to set out in two months time, did not return to Eng-examine the contents of that trunk, which certainly *Frederick, Prince of Wales, father of King George the Third, died at Leicester House, Leicester Square, March 20, 1751. contains but little of any value to you; though I have Reynolds' rooms are now Rutley's Picture Galleries. ever considered it as my ark, which inclosed the covenant between the idol of my mind and my weak heart. All I have now to entreat of you is, that in addition to your various and unmerited attentions towards me, you will not suffer my remains to be interred at the expense of the parish. I am not assured that, at such a crisis, this sort of pride is philosophic; but, if it is folly, pity, and indulge me.' In a few hours more she ceased to breathe, and her request was minutely complied with. The trunk she had referred to was unlocked, and the letters from Reynolds addressed to her were then found. They are now before the reader, who may rest assured of their reality. LILIORUM ORTUS. Mary was no longer upon the earth; the Apostles had buried her with becoming rites. The third day the tomb was open-it was empty, and instead of the pure and fragrant body, there was a growth of lilies upon the earth which she had touched, and angelic choirs, with glad voices, were heard singing day and night the glories of their risen Queen. J. H. NEANDER. Rumor it velox Asiæ per urbes, Protinus mira pietate ducti, Plurimi attrito properant gerentes Hi petunt arces Solymæ remotas Insuper vastos alii pererrant Attamen nusquam reperitur almæ Tunc suos omnes graviter viarum Lumina menti. In Brooke's Bibliotheca Legum Angliæ is embodied a general account of Laws and Law-writers; among them under King Edward the First is noticed-Fleta, seu Commentarius Juris Anglicani. It is described as a general treatise of the Law, in the method of Bracton, defining the alterations in the practice, not much later than 1285, the 13th of this King, as appears to be well established by Selden in his learned Dissertation (cap. 10, s. 2) prefixed to the printed copies of this work, although by Lord Coke and others it has been held to be of a somewhat later date. Brooke states-the title, as the author informs his readers, was adopted from the circumstance of the book having been composed while he was a prisoner in the Fleet. Selden published the work in 1647, from the only known manuscript, then in the Cottonian library; but as the author is wholly unknown, some doubts have arisen as to the above assertion respecting the origin of the word Fleta, which may be a corrupt phrase caused in the following manner. The double F or Ff is used in law books to signify Digestum, the Ff being in fact no other than a corruption or error of the copyists, and by them substituted for the D of the German Text, or of the Court-hand, the initial of Digestum. Hence the first letter of the word Fleta to signify Digestum. The fourth letter, that is to say the t, was originally the rectangular g, and the stroke at the bottom being obliterated or obscure, the remainder would resemble the Greek Gamma or r, which the copyist might mistake for a T. Restoring the whole on these assumptions it would read thusFf. LEG. A., implying Digestum Legum Anglie, which, the Tract being a Digest of the Laws of England, is its proper title. DERIVATION OF INDIAN NAMES OF PLACES. The words Poor or Pore which terminate the names of so many Indian cities and settlements, signify town. Thus Nagpore means the Town of Serpents-a definition, by the way, not inappropriate when we reflect on the treacherous character of the Sepoys, by whom it was so recently garrisoned. Abad and patam, have also the same significationHyderabad, implying Hyder's town; and Seringapatam, from Sreringa, a name of the god Vishnoo, being the town of Sreringa. Allahabad, from Allah, God, and abad, abode, means the abode of God, that city being the capital of Agra, the chief school of the Brahmins, and as such much resorted to by pilgrims. The Punjab is the country of the Five Rivers, and Doab is applied to that part of a country which is between two rivers. The manufacture of glass was not known to the Chinese till early in the last century, and China-ware or porcelain serves for all domestic and ornamental uses throughout the vast empire of Chinn. John Bell of Antermony, then in the service of Peter the First, in his admirable account of the Journey of the Russian Embassy from Petersburgh to Pekin, in 1720, furnishes the most satisfactory evidence on this point. The details are in the form of a journal, and under the date of December 12, are thus narrated. We were conducted to the Emperor's glass house [at Pekin], which his Imperial Majesty [Kamhi] often visits with pleasure. It was erected by himself, and is the first manufactory of the kind that ever was in China. The person employed to superintend and carry on this design was Kilian Stumpff, a German father, lately deceased, a man in great favour with the Emperor, and well known in China for his ingenuity and literature. His Majesty is so fond of this glass-work, that he sent several of the most curious of its productions as a present to his Czarish Majesty. It is surprising that the Chinese, who have been constantly employed for so many ages in the manufacture of China-ware, should never have stumbled upon that of glass. This shows evidently, that the degree of heat required in their ovens cannot be very great, or their materials must be free from sand; for it is certain they had no knowledge of glass of any kind till this house was erected. I was informed, that not long ago, some Europeans brought to Canton a parcel of prisms, or triangular glasses, which the Chinese took for natural productions of rock crystal, and bought them at the price of one hundred ounces of silver a-piece, but from the great number imported, they soon discovered their mistake. Charles Hulbert, Esq., author of the History of Salop, died on the 7th inst. at Hadnall, near Shrewsbury. The Imprynter to sell this Booke in quires for two shillynges and sixepence and not above; bound in Parchemente, or Forell, for three shillinges and fourepence, and not aboue; and bounde in Lether, in paper bordes, or claspes, for foure shillynges and not aboue. And at the nexte Impression the Imprynter leauying out the fourmes of making and consecratyng of Archebishoppes, Bisshoppes, Priestes and Deacons, shal sel the said Booke in quires, for two shillynges, and not aboue. And bound in Forel, for two shillynges and eight pence, and not aboue; and bound in Lether, in paste bordes, or claspes, for thre shillynges and foure pence, and not aboue. NELLY O'BRIEN.-Among the Marquis of Hertford's Pictures, exhibited, with other Treasures of Art, at Manchester, the whole length portrait of Nelly O'Brien held a deservedly grand position, and excited the most intense admiration. She was what the world terms a Courtesan,' and Reynolds painted this magnificent and enduring specimen of his professional skill in 1760. He painted another, a half-length, in 1763. She died in Park Street, Grosvenor Square, in March, 1768, when possibly what effects she possessed were broadly dispersed, as, strange to say, in the same year that Boydell paid Reynolds five hundred guineas for his Cardinal Beaufort, this fine painting of Nelly was sold in Christie's Rooms for only three guineas! Thomas Crawford, Sculptor, Rome; a native of New York; died in the morning of Saturday, the 10th inst., in London. |