"With regard to Francis, I shall never think it impertinent in him to write to me, even if he has nothing to say; yet, at the same time, I never would wish anybody to write to me when they have nothing to say. If you had mentioned in your last when he would want another bill, whether at his beginning to reside or at the end of the quarter, I should have been glad to have known it. Whenever either you or he informs me of this, you will please to direct to me under cover to Richard Stonhewer, Esq. Excise-office. "I am not without hopes of seeing you in town before I leave it. Believe me, yours very faithfully, "W. MASON.

My respects to Mr. and Mrs. Pitt."

"To Rev. Mr. Forster, Boconnoc."

"York, May 4th, 1775.

6. "DEAR SIR, "Though your letter of the 21st of April, which I have just now received, is written in very civil and obliging terms, yet I think I can perceive in it some signs of displeasure, though I cannot take that displeasure to myself, not being conscious that I have given you any just grounds for it. I did indeed smile at the last letter I received from Mr. Francis, which informed me that, at your desire, he was to be made a proper sizar, and that you would be at the expense. Now as I remembered no advantage that accrued from this change, except the privilege of wearing a slip of velvet on his gown, I own I thought that any expense (even the smallest) on this account was rather unnecessary, nay even improper. But this I did not write to Francis, having long laid it down for my own maxim, to let him be directed entirely by you; indeed, had not this been my maxim, I should have found myself certainly put in the wrong, had I presumed at any time to give him advice contrary to yours. But now even the shadow of a reason for my ever interfering in his concerns is over, and you may depend upon it I shall never wish to see him in Yorkshire, on account of that very prejudice which such a journey might do him. What his mother may wish is with me out of the question, because it seems to be out of the question with you and himself.

"I am extremely sorry that the two copies of the Memoirs,† on large paper, which I had ordered for you and Mr. Pitt (in the list of presents to Mr. Gray's friends), have not been received. I

presented to him by the Crown. He died in 1814, having previously resigned the rectory of Aston to his son the late Rev. William Alderson, M.A. who died Sept. 30, 1852, in his 80th year, and of whom a memoir will be found in the Gentleman's Magazine, N. S. vol. xxxvIII. p. 531, communicated by the Rev. John Mitford, who was much indebted to him for contributions to the Correspondence of Gray and Mason.

* Mr. Stonhewer was son of Dr. Stonhewer of Houghton, co. Durham. Having been secretary to the Duke of Grafton, in conjunction with Mr. Bradshaw, he was made a Commissioner of Excise. "He was," says Horace Walpole, a modest man, of perfect integrity, invariably attached to Lord Grafton from his childhood." (Memoirs of George III. iv. 66.) He is frequently mentioned in the Correspondence of Gray with Mason.

Of his Memoirs of Gray, first published in 1775, 4to.

cannot conceive the reason of this, nor do I know any way of correcting the blunder, except by desiring you to write a line to Dodsley, and to direct him by what carrier he is to forward them to Boconnoc. I beg my best respects to Mr. Pitt, with my congratulations to him and his lady on the birth of an heir.

"I leave this place for Aston on the 11th, which you may imagine the fine spring season makes me very impatient to do. I am, dear Sir, very sincerely yours, "W. MASON."

"To Rev. Mr. Forster, Boconnoc."

P. 369, 1. 14. The date should be 1740; propose printing."

1. 15, r. (6 As you

P. 347, 1. 5 from bottom of text, r. "Walking from Hampstead to London," &c.

P. 349, 1. 12, read thus: " Among whose various endowments were included considerable skill as a draughtsman, and accuracy as a copyist."

P. 417, note, line 3 from bottom, for "p. 328," r. “398."

P. 433, 1. ult. The person alluded to was Mr. John Rivington, bookseller, of St. Paul's Churchyard; he was Master of the Company of Stationers in 1775, the year this letter was written.

P. 440. The following criticism on two plates by, or attributed to, Hogarth, was communicated to the Gentleman's Magazine, March 12th, 1783, by Mr. George Steevens :

"Throughout Mr. Nichols's excellent but unequal account of Hogarth and his Works, there is no decision I am so much inclined to controvert, as that respecting the first of the two plates to Milton. Perhaps the critic had only seen some imperfect copy of the Pandæmonium, or formed his idea of it on the vague description of those who had considered it with less attention than it really deserves. In my opinion, our artist's arrangement of the infernal senate affords a happy instance of his power to exhibit scenes of picturesque sublimity. The ample space within the arcade, containing myriads of subordinate spirits, the vault above, illuminated by supernatural fires, the magnificence and elevation of Satan's throne,-his superior stature, and the characteristic symbols over the seats of his peers, are circumstances entitled to a more flattering reception than they have met with. That this print has likewise absurdities, I am ready to allow; yet a Voltaire might ask whether most of them are not inseparable from its subject. I wish, for the sake of those who acknowledge the genius of Hogarth only in familiar combinations, that the plate in question were less rare. Our connoisseurs in general might then decide on its merits. The only known impression of it, as well as of its companion, is in the collection of Mr. Walpole, who once indulged me with a sight of them both.

"I am content, however, that the second of these plates should be abandoned to the austerities of criticism. The archi

The two plates to Milton are copied by Mr. Thomas Cook, in Nichols's Works of Hogarth, 3 vols. 4to.

tecture in the skies is every way unsuitable to its place. The characters of the Almighty and our Redeemer have little, if any, discrimination of attributes or years. They appear swinging on a festoon composed of tiny cherubs, clustered together like a swarm of bees. The Father rests his arm on one of these childish satellites, and the Son holds another by the wing, like Domitian catching a fly. Beneath is a concert of angels, who perform on different instruments, and among others (as Mr. Nichols's book expresses it) on a clumsy organ. Lucifer, approaching the newcreated world, appears but as an insect, flying towards an apple. This part of Hogarth's subject is beyond the compass of any design on a contracted scale. Satan might be delineated in the act of alighting on a promontory, a part of the earth; but, when its complete orb is exhibited on a slip of paper measuring about six inches by four, the enterprising fiend must be reduced to very insignificant dimensions. Such a circumstance may therefore succeed in a poet's comprehensive description, but will fail on any plate designed for the ornament of a little volume.

"Let me add, that these two are the neatest and most finished of all the engravings by Hogarth. The second might have been mistaken for one of the smaller works of Picart. Perhaps the high price demanded for the plates was the reason why a series of them was not continued through the other books of Paradise Lost.'"

P. 442. In the Gent. Mag. for April 1783, pp. 316-320, is a very long letter of Mr. Steevens, containing anecdotes of Hogarth, and criticisms on his plates; but the information there given was, it is presumed, afterwards incorporated in Mr. Steevens's and Mr. Nichols's Anecdotes of Hogarth.

P. 443. The following letter to Mr. Urban, in Feb. 1785, was by Mr. Steevens :

"MR. URBAN,

"In your catalogue of an Evening Club established by Dr. Johnson at a public-house in Essex-street, you have distinguished such members as attended the funeral of this truly great man ; observing, likewise, that other gentlemen of the same society, 'by mistake,' were not invited. On inquiry, however, I find that your information was erroneous. All who were designed by the Doctor's executors to be present at his interment were summoned by cards of special invitation. In your Magazine for December you have told the public, and truly, that one of the number, then mentioned by you, had no other introduction than that of Dr. Brocklesby.

"To compensate so trivial a correction in your valuable Miscellany, I inclose you a list of as many of Dr. Johnson's associates as originally met at the Turk's Head in Gerard-street, Soho ; were from thence transplanted to Prince's in Sackville-street, Piccadilly; and now dine at Baxter's in Dover-street on almost every Tuesday during the session of parliament. Their names are set down according to the order in which they appear on their books, a circumstance supposed to have been regulated by their

seniority in the club. The three first are the only survivors among the original members by whom the rest were chosen. Since Mr. Garrick's funeral this association has been called (what I am told it has never called itself) THE LITERARY CLUB.

*

*

"Sir Joshua Reynolds, Mr. Burke, * Mr. Langton, Earl of Charlemont, Bishop of Dromore [Dr. Percy], * Sir Charles Bunbury, Doctor Fordyce, * Mr. Colman, Sir William Jones, Mr. Boswell, Sir Robert Chambers, Mr. Steevens, Right Hon. Charles James Fox, Earl of Ossory, Mr. Gibbon, Mr. Adam Smith, Mr. Vesey, Bishop of Killaloe [Dr. Barnard], Mr. Sheridan, jun., Sir Joseph Banks, Mr. Windham, Dean of Ferns [Dr. Marlay], Rev. Dr. Joseph Warton, Earl Spencer, * Dr. Scott, Bishop of St. Asaph [Dr. Shipley], Lord Eliot, Rev. Thomas Warton, Lord Lucan, * Mr. Malone, *Mr. Burke, jun., Sir William Hamilton, Visc. Palmerston, * Dr. Burney, Dr. Warren.

"Withdrawn-Sir John Hawkins.

"Dead-Samuel Dyer, Christopher Nugent, Oliver Goldsmith, Antony Chamier, Hon. Topham Beauclerk, David Garrick, Lord Ashburton, SAMUEL JOHNSON.

"This club, consisting of thirty-five members, is said to be full. Those marked with an asterisk attended the remains of Dr. Johnson to Westminster Abbey.

"I am, Sir, your most humble servant, &c."

P. 443. In Feb. 1785, Mr. Steevens first communicated to the Gentleman's Magazine some original and interesting anecdotes of Mr. Levett, the friend of Dr. Johnson, to whose memory the several biographers of the Doctor have since done ample justice. (See Gent. Mag. 1785, p. 101.)

P. 443. The following caustic letter on Mr. Samuel Ireland, in the Gentleman's Magazine for Nov. 1797, p. 931, was from the pen of Mr. Steevens:

"MR. URBAN,

"Nov. 7, 1797.

"Upon his brow Shame is ashamed to sit.-Romeo and Juliet, act iii. s. 2. "Your readers, and particularly those who subscribed to the authenticity of the Norfolk-street Shakspeare, cannot fail of gratification when they hear that a striking likeness of the modest Editor of that celebrated work has been, or will speedily be, published by Mr. Gillray, to whom the admirers of correct drawing and picturesque design have been so often indebted for a very high degree of entertainment.

"Presaging, as it seems, a future and glorious notoriety, the Editor aforesaid had long ago prepared an etching from his own portrait. As it exhibits, however, a set of features rather too juvenile and attractive, a more recent and faithful copy from its original is become a desideratum among gentlemen who wish for an octavo frontispiece to their collections of the pamphlets written in consequence of the Shakspearian forgery.

"The earliest and largest of the two heads already mentioned

being improperly classed by Mr. Granger's successor, Mr. Bromley, Mr. Gillray has seized this opportunity of pointing out that, instead of Class VII. both the plates should be arranged under

Class X.*

"Let me now, Mr. Urban, conclude by characterising this portrait from the words of Mawworm, in the comedy of the Hypocrite, who, clapping his hand on the shoulder of the detected Dr. Cantwell, cries out, This good man 's ashamed of nothing.' "Two engravings on the subject of the pseudo-Shakspeare made their appearance above a year ago. The first is intituled, 'The Gold Mines of Ireland,' by Mr. Nixon; the second, The Ghost of Shakspeare appearing to his Detractors,' by Mr. S. Harding. Both these were published by Mr. Richardson, printseller, in the Strand."

P. 445, l. 5, r. “ his grandfather, Richard Malone."

Ibid. 1. 14. Of Mr. Edmond Malone's grandfather and father, Anthony, read thus: "The professional fame of Richard Malone has only been eclipsed by that of his eldest son, the still more celebrated Anthony Malone. As a lawyer, in oratory, and an able and upright statesman, he was confessedly one of the most illustrious men of which his country can boast. If any testimony to his merits were required, it will be found in the following passage from the pen of Mr. Grattan: Mr. Malone was a man of the finest intellect that any country ever produced. The three ablest men I have ever heard were Mr. Pitt (the father), Mr. Murray, and Mr. Malone. For a popular assembly I would choose Mr. Pitt; for a privy council, Murray; for twelve wise men, Malone.' This was the opinion Lord Sackville, the Secretary of [17]53, gave of Mr. Malone to a gentleman from whom I heard it. 'He is a great sea in a calm,' said Mr. Gerald Hamilton, another great judge of men and talents. 'Aye,' it was replied, but, had you seen him when he was young, you would have said he was a great sea in a storm! and, like the sea, whether in calm or storm, he was a great production of nature.'"

P. 445, l. 3 from bottom, for "now," read "created."

P. 446, l. 16, r. "ever afterwards

P. 466. The following letter of Mr. Malone was addressed to Mr. John Taylor, editor of "The Sun":

"MY DEAR SIR, Foley Place, Oct. 13, 1810. "The anecdote you mentioned (as derived from Pope) of a man stalking into the chamber at Whitehall on the night when the body of the murdered Charles was laid there, is told also by Spence in his Anecdotes from the same authority. But it is good for nothing. The perfidious Cromwell had no such feelings. Read the Trial of the Regicides, and you will there find that when he saw Charles landed at Sir Robert Cotton's garden, and he was sure they had caught him, he turned as white as a sheet; and just afterwards he and Harry Martin and others entered into

*Notorious Characters.