Let Johnson teach me how to place
In fairest light, each borrow'd grace,
From him I'll learn to write;
Copy his clear, familiar style,
And from the roughness of his file
Grow like himself -- polite.
(Northcote's 'Life of Reynolds', 2nd ed., 1819, i. 221.)
According to Cumberland ('Memoirs', 1807, i. 370), 'The dean
also gave him [Goldsmith] an epitaph, and Sir Joshua illuminated
the dean's verses with a sketch of his bust in pen and ink
inimitably caricatured.' What would collectors give for that
sketch and epitaph! Unfortunately in Cumberland's septuagenarian
recollections the 'truth severe' is mingled with an unusual
amount of 'fairy fiction.' However Sir Joshua 'did' draw
caricatures, for a number of them were exhibited at the
Grosvenor Gallery (by the Duke of Devonshire) in the winter of
1883-4.
l. 6. -----
"Our Burke". The Right Hon.
Pages:
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383