Retreat in Wales.-Merits as landscape painter.

nature had designed to make some amends for the neglect of mankind, a profitable vein of lead was discovered on his grounds.

His residence stood among fine green hills, and old romantic woods, picturesque rocks, verdant lawns, deep glens, and the whole was cheered with the sound as well as the sight of running water. He was now in affluence-was loved and respected by all around him-and, what was as much to him or more, he was become a dweller among scenes such as had haunted his imagination, even when Italy spread her beauty before him. He wrought little and walked much; the stone on which he loved to sit, the tree under which he shaded himself from the sun, and the stream on the banks of which he commonly walked, are all remembered and pointed out by the peasantry. But he wanted what wealth could not give-youth and strength to enjoy what he had fallen heir to. His strength failed fast; his walks became shorter and less frequent; and the last scene he visited was where two old picturesque fir-trees stood, which he loved to look at and introduce into his compositions. Walking out one day, accompanied by his favourite dog-whether exhausted by fatigue, or overcome by some sudden pain-Wilson sank down and found himself. unable to rise. The sagacious animal ran home, howled, pulled the servants by their clothes, and at last succeeded in bringing them to the aid of his master. He was carried home, but he never fairly recovered from the shock. He complained of weariness and pain, refused nourishment, and languished and expired in May, 1782, in the sixty-ninth year of his age. As a landscape. painter the merits of Wilson are great; his conceptions are generally noble, and his execution vigorous and glowing; the dewy freshness, the natural lustre, and harmonious arrangement of his scenes, have seldom been exceeded. He rose at once from the tame insipidity of common scenery into natural grandeur and

English Claude.-Sir Joshua Reynolds.-Early productions. magnificence; his streams seem all abodes for nymphs, his hills seem fit haunts for the muses, and his temples worthy of the gods. His whole heart was in his art, and he talked and dreamed landscape. He looked on cattle as made only to form groups for his pictures, and on men as they composed harmoniously. One day, looking on the fine scene from Richmond terrace, and wishing to point out a spot of particular beauty to the friend who accompanied him, "There," said he, holding out his finger, see near those houses-there, where the figures are." He stood for some time by the waterfall of Terni in speechless admiration, and at length exclaimed, "Well done, water, well done." In aërial effect he considered himself above any rival. When Wright of Derby offered to exchange works with him, he answered, "With all my heart; I'll give you air, and you will give me fire." Wilson has been styled the English Claude, and though inferior in sublimity, he excelled that master in effects of dewy freshness and quiet evening lights.

SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS.

Sir Joshua Reynolds was born at Plympton, in Devonshire, in 1723. His inclination to idleness as to reading, and industry in drawing, began to appear early. When he was some eight years old, he read "The Jesuit's Perspective" with so much care and profit, that he made a drawing of Plympton school, a plain Gothic building, raised partly on pillars, in which the principles of that art were very tolerably adhered to. The approbation of his father, with his own natural love of art, induced him more and more to devote his time to drawing, and neglect his duties at school. He drew likenesses of his sisters and of various friends of

Anecdote of Pope.-Studies with Hudson.-Early style.

his family; his proficiency increased with practice, and his ardour kept pace with his growing skill. Of boyish productions no specimen is preserved; he himself probably destroyed them, being little pleased with what he had done; but it is inconceivable that a youth like this, who gave so little of his leisure to other knowledge, should have executed nothing worthy of remembrance at the age of nineteen. There is no doubt that, as soon as he had a fair field for the display of his talents, he showed a mind stored with ready images of beauty, and a hand capable of portraying them with truth and effect. He was sent to London on the 14th of October 1781, and on the 18th of the same month, the day of St. Luke, the patron saint of painters, he was placed under the care of Mr. Hudson. While he remained with Mr. Hudson he went to a sale of pictures, and just before the auctioneer commenced he observed a great bustle at the door, and heard "Pope! Pope!" whispered round the room. All drew back to make way for the poet to pass, and those who were near enough held out their hands for him to touch as he went along. Reynolds held out his, and had the honour of a gentle shake, of which he was ever after proud. early anecdotes of his life which he loved to relate; it shows the enthusiasm of the painter, and the popularity of the great poet. He continued for two years in the employment of Hudson, and acquired with uncommon rapidity such professional knowledge as could then and there be obtained. He painted during that period various portraits, of which he never gave any account, and made many sketches and studies which would require a minute description to be comprehended. It is enough to say, that in general they contained the germ of some of his future graces, and displayed considerable freedom of handling and truth of delineation. Among the productions most worthy of remembrance was

This was one of the

Portrait with two hats.-Rome.-First impressions.

the portrait of an elderly servant woman of Hudson's. It was accidentally exhibited in Hudson's gallery, and obtained general applause. This was more than the old man could endure. Without any warm words a separation took place, and Reynolds returned to Devonshire; here he passed three years in company, from which, as he informed Malone, little improvement could be gained.

When he was twenty-two years old, Reynolds and his two youngest sisters took a house at the town of Plymouth Dock: here he occupied the first floor, and employed his time in painting portraits. It must be confessed that many of his productions, up to this period, were carelessly drawn, in common attitudes, and undistinguished by those excellences of colouring and power of expression which have made his name famous. His old master, Hudson, was still strong within him. One hand was hid in the unbuttoned waistcoat; the other held the hat; and the face was looking forwards with that vacant listlessness which is the mark of a sitter who conceives portrait painting to resemble shaving, and that the sine qua non is to keep his features stiff and composed. One gentleman desired to be distinguished from others, and was painted with his hat on his head; yet so inveterate had the practice of painting in one position become, that— if there be any truth in the story-when the likeness was sent home, the wife discovered that her husband had not only one hat on his head, but another under his arm.

Rome, which is in reality to painters, what Parnassus is in imagination to poets, was frequently present to the fancy of Reynolds; and he longed to see with his own eyes the glories of art, of which he had heard so much. He went to Rome in 1749. Of his first impressions in the Metropolis of Art, he has left a minute account. "It has frequently happened," says he, "as I

Disappointment.-New perception of art.

was informed by the keeper of the Vatican, that many of those whom he had conducted through the various apartments of that edifice, when about to be dismissed, have asked for the works of Raphael, and would not believe that they had already passed through the rooms where they are preserved; so little impression had these performances made on them. One of the first painters of France once told me that this circumstance happened to himself; though he now looks on Raphael with that veneration which he deserves from all painters and lovers of art. I remember very well my own disappointment when I first visited the Vatican but, on confessing my feelings to a brother student, of whose ingenuousness I had a high opinion, he acknowledged that the works of Raphael had the same effect on him, or rather that they did not produce the effect which he expected. This was a great relief to my mind, and on inquiring farther of other students, I found that those persons only who, from natural imbecility, appeared to be incapable of relishing those divine performances, made pretensions to instantaneous raptures on first beholding them. All the undigested notions of painting which I had brought with me from England, where the art was in the lowest state it had ever been in, (it could not, indeed, be lower,) were to be totally done away and eradicated from my mind. It was necessary, as it is expressed, on a very solemn occasion, that I should become as a little child. Notwithstanding my disappointment, I proceeded to copy some of those excellent works. I viewed them again and again; I even affected to feel their merit and admire them more than I really did. In a short time, a new taste and a new perception began to dawn upon me, and I was convinced that I had originally formed a false opinion of the perfection of art, and that this great painter was well entitled to the high rank which he holds in the admiration of the world.