And no less warm and zealous against my foes, 610 620 Thou wretched being, whom, on reason's plan, 615 Sure 'tis a curse which angry fates impose, 625 630 634 Swift, it is well knowr., died in a state of insanity, with which he had been afflicted for upwards of four years previous to his decease. Sir Richard Steele also for some years before his death laboured under a paralytic affection, by which his intellectual powers were materially impaired, and st times completely deranged. And not literary men alone, 635 How must ill-boding horrors fill her breast 640 With curious art the brain, too finely wrought, 645 650 654 but warriors and statesmen are subjected to the awful and equalizing dispensation; the great Duke of Marlborough was imbecile for several years before his death. 654 Sir Joshua Reynolds, fortunately for the world and for himself, did not accomplish this prediction. He died in 1791, with a reputation still undiminished, though scarcely susceptible of increase. A conclusive test of his enduring fame may be found in the fact that some of the dispersed but well know specimens of his talent, as now (1843) collected for the purpose of occaional exhibitions in one of the rooms in the British Gallery, excite undiminished admiration, which suffers no abatement from the immediate proximity of the works of his elder brethren in the art. SUPPLEMENTAL NOTES. THE Rev. T. Morell was the good natured friend by whom the painter was first apprised of the publication of the satire, and who poorly retaliated by his print of "The Bruiser," representing Churchill in the form of a bear dressed canonically, holding a pot of porter in his right paw, and a club in his left, which he hugs to his side; intending to denote his friendship for Mr. Wilkes. On the notches of the club are written, lie 1, lie 2, &c., signifying the falsities in the North Briton. The other figure is a pug dog, supposed to mean Hogarth himself, discharging water with the utmost contempt on the epistle. In the centre is a prison begging-box, stauding on a folio, the title of which is "Great George Street," (where Wilkes resided) "A list of the subscribers to the North Briton." Under it is another book, the title of which is "A New Way to Pay Old Debts," a comedy by Massinger, allud ing to Wilkes's debts, which were defrayed by the subscriptions to the North Briton. After the publication of this print, Hogarth made the following additions to it; in the form of a framed picture he represented an Egyptian pyramid, on the side of which is a Cheshire cheese, and round it £3000 per annum, and at the foot a Roman veteran in a reclining posture, designed to allude to Mr. Pitt's resignation and pension. The cheese is meant to ridicule Wilkes for having said, “he would rather subsist on a Cheshire cheese and a shoulder of mutton, than submit to the implacable enemies of his country." But to ridicule this character still more, he is, as he lies down, firing a piece of ordnance at the standard of Britain, on which is perched a dove with an olive branch in his mouth, the emblem of peace. On one side of the pyramid is the city of London, in the figure of one of the Guildhall giants going to crown the reclining hero; on the other side is the King of Prussia, in the character of one of the Cæsars. In the centre tands Hogarth himself, whipping a dancing bear which he holds in a string. At the side of the bear is a monkey, designed for Wilkes; between the animal's legs is a mopstick, on which he seems to ride as children do across a hobby horse, and at the head of the mopstick is a cap of liberty The monkey is undergoing the same discipline as the bear Behind the monkey is the figure of a man, having no distinguishable lineaments of face, playing upon a violin, apparently designed for Lord Temple. (AYLIFFE, 1. 140.) SOME mystery certainly appears to attach to the unaccountable patronage extended by Lord Holland to Ayliffe, whose parents were menial servants to a gentleman at Tuckenham in Wiltshire, but were enabled to send him to Harrow School, after which he became teacher of the free school at Lineham, and married the daughter of the clergyman of Tuckenham, with whom he had a little money which he quickly dissipated, and then, through the interest of Mrs. Horner, the mother of Lady Ilchester, was introduced to Mr. Fox, who invited him to London and gave him several confidential and lucrative appointments in connexion with his office of paymaster. Ayliffe's extravagance kept more than even pace with his success; he resorted to various fraudulent expedients, and besides the lease mentioned in the note, forged Mr. Fox's name to a presentation to a valuable living. He built a handsome house at Blandford, sparing no expense in furniture and paintings, and entered into wild speculations, ending in total ruin, and the forged lease proving valueless, the creditors became indignant, and Mr. Fox could do no otherwise than prosecute; and although Ayliffe, in his defence, made some very injurious insinuations against his patron, still Mr. Fox evinced the most extraordinary forbearance towards him, by obtaining every convenience for him that his situation would admit, sending him money and provisions, and paying his chamber rent from the time of his confinement to his death; he also consented to a postponement of his trial, and suppressed two several confessions of forgery deliberately made by him; sent his own physician to attend him during his illness; and paid a special keeper to take care of him, that he might not be ironed. Ayliffe was convicted on 28 October, and executed at Tyburn on 19 November, 1759, and between those periods evinced the most abject dread of his approaching death, while to complete the extraordinary solicitude manifested by Mr. Fox, he sent his own upholsterer with a hearse and four to Tyburn to receive the body, which was interred in Hertfordshire, according to a wish expressed by the culprit. Whether Churchill had written any part of his intended elegy is uncertain, but soon after his death some verses were printed with his initials, under the title of AYLIFFE'S GHOST, OR THE FOX STINKS WORSE THAN EVER. BY C. C. I'd take the Ghost's word for a thousand pounds. RECITATIVE. Who has not heard of Reynard's crafty tricks, His ways and means to plunder king and state, Shall make your hair erect, and blood run cold, AIR. WILLIAM AND MARGARET. 'Twas at that time when Morpheus reign'd. The clock had told the midnight hour, In glided Ayliffe's grimly ghost, His face was like a barber's block, Stretch'd out upon his bed of down, In dreams revolving future schemes Three times the angry airy form The curtains hard did shake, |