have been represented as guilty of the "basest intrigue" in forming the Royal Academy, were Sir Joshua Reynolds, the greatest portrait-painter that ever lived in any country, and one of the most respectable men that ever graced the annals of society; Benjamin West, the greatest historical painter since the days of Caracci; the greatest architect of the day, Sir W. Chambers; Paul Sandby, the greatest landscapepainter in water-colours of his day; and several others.

Reynolds, who had been mainly instrumental in forming. the Academy, was unanimously elected president. It is recorded that Dr. Johnson was so much delighted with his friend's elevation, that he broke through a rule of total abstinence in respect to wine, which he had maintained for several years, and drank bumpers on the occasion.

To the first Exhibition Sir Joshua contributed with others two pictures: 1. The Duchess of Manchester and her Son, as Diana disarming Cupid. 2. Lady Blake as Juno receiving the Cestus from Venus. In the Exhibition Catalogue, purchased by Mr. Sheepshanks, at the Strawberry Hill Sale, Horace Walpole had remarked, that, in the former of these pictures, the attitude is bad; and in the latter, very bad.

THE FIRST ROYAL ACADEMY DINNER.

On the 23d of April, St. George's Day, 1771, the first Annual Dinner of the Royal Academicians was held in the great exhibition room, in old Somerset House, the walls of which were covered with Works of Art about to be exhibited. Sir Joshua Reynolds, who was the first to suggest this elegant festival, presided in his official character. Dr. Johnson and Goldsmith, of course, were present, as Professors of the Academy; and besides the Academicians, there was a large. assembly of the most distinguished men of the day as guests.

THE ROYAL ACADEMY AT SOMERSET HOUSE.

Upon the rebuilding of Somerset House, the Royal Academicians received apartments in the western wing, and here the first Exhibition was opened, May, 1780. Sir Joshua Reynolds painted the centre of the Library ceiling with "The Theory of Painting"-a majestic female sitting on a cloud, and holding compasses, and a label inscribed "Theory is the knowledge of what is truly nature." When the Academy

removed to the National Gallery in 1838, Sir Joshua's painting, and those of the other Academicians, were removed from the ceiling of Somerset House, with great care, and transferred to that of the new council-room in Trafalgar-square: here also are one of Reynolds's palettes, and his diploma picture, a whole-length portrait of George III.

The Lords of the Treasury paid Reynolds thirty guineas for this painting, as appears by the existence of the receipt in the handwriting of Sir William Chambers, and signed by Sir Joshua.

SIR JOSHUA ELECTED MAYOR OF PLYMPTON.

In 1773, Reynolds paid a visit to Plympton, and was elected Mayor of the town; when he testified his gratification at the circumstance by presenting his portrait to the Corporation, who placed it in the Town-hall. Reynolds wears his academical dress, as Doctor of Laws. Cotton was informed that it was slightly painted, and sent off in such a hurry, that the colours being scarcely dry, the picture received some damage from the dust and dirt, which penetrated into the case.

When Sir Joshua had finished his portrait for the Townhall, he wrote to Sir William Elford, requesting him to get it hung in a good situation, which Sir William attended to by hanging it between two old pictures; and in his reply to Reynolds he said the bad pictures on each side acted as a foil, and set it off to great advantage. Sir Joshua was highly diverted, as these very pictures were two early ones of his own painting.

Sir William Elford's estimate of the merits of these pictures was, however, very erroneous. The first was the portrait of Captain Ourry, painted by Sir Joshua for the Corporation of Plympton, for which he only received four guineas, including the frame ! He is attended by a black boy, thought to be extremely well painted; and this picture and its companion, Captain Edgecumbe, which Wilkie saw, in 1809, in the mayoralty-room, adjoining the Guildhall, he declared to be for composition as fine as anything Sir Joshua ever did afterwards.

Sir Joshua commemorated the fact of his having been Mayor of Plympton in a Latin inscription, which he inserted on the back of his own portrait, painted for the Grand Duke's Gallery at Florence, in these words:

I

"Nec non oppidi natalis, dicti Plympton, Comitatu Devon præfectus, Justiciarius, morumque censor."

After the disfranchisement of the borough of Plympton, the above portrait of Reynolds was sold by the Corporation. Haydon says: "It was offered to the National Gallery, and ignorantly refused:" it was purchased by the Earl of Egremont for 1507., and is now at his seat, Silverton, near Exeter. There are several copies of this picture at Plympton. Sir Joshua painted a similar portrait of himself, which he gave to his pupil Northcote: it was sold in 1816, for 567. 14s.

Soon after Sir Joshua's election, it happened that he was walking with a party of friends in Hampton Court gardens, when they suddenly and unexpectedly met the King, accompanied by some of the Royal Family; and as His Majesty saw Reynolds, it was impossible to withdraw. The King called Sir Joshua to him, and in conversation said he was informed of the office he was soon to be invested with, that of Mayor of his native town. Sir Joshua assured His Majesty of the truth of the statement, saying that it was an honour which gave him more pleasure than any other he had ever received in his life, but, recollecting himself, he immediately added, "except that which your Majesty was graciously pleased to confer upon me," alluding to his knighthood.

"THE STRAWBERRY GIRL."

It was Reynolds's opinion that no man ever produced more than half a dozen original works in his whole life-time; and when he painted "The Strawberry Girl," he said, "This is one of my originals." This picture was painted in 1773 for the Earl of Carysfort. It was for many years in the collection of Mr. Rogers, that nonagenarian bard, who was in full manhood when Reynolds was still in health and activity; and who lived with and outlived three generations of poets and artists. After Mr. Rogers's death, in 1855, "The Strawberry Girl" was sold; and as an instance of the extraordinary rise in the value of really standard productions of the English school, this work, for which the Earl of Carysfort paid 50 guineas, was, in 1856, acquired by the Marquis of Hertford for 22057., or forty-two times the original price.

"Reynolds depicted, (says Dr. Waagen,) the youthful bloom and artless manner of children with admirable effect. This it is that makes his celebrated Strawberry Girl so attractive.

With her hands simply folded, a basket on her arm, she stands in her white frock, and looks full at the spectator with her fine large eyes. The admirable impasto, the bright golden tone, clear as Rembrandt, and the dark landscape background, have a striking effect." Sir Joshua looked upon this as one of his best pictures.

COUNT UGOLINO.

In 1773, Reynolds painted Count Ugolino aud his Children in the Dungeon, as described by Dante in the 33rd Canto of the Inferno, against which Walpole wrote, in his catalogue of the Exhibition, "most admirable." This picture, (says Cotton,) was bought by the Duke of Dorset for 400 guineas, and is now at Knowle. It is generally supposed that the head of Count Ugolino was painted from White, the paviour; but Walpole says it was a study from an old beggarman, who had so fine a head that Sir Joshua chose him for the father, in his picture from Dante. Miss Gwatkin and Northcote corroborate this origin. Northcote says, the head was painted previous to the year 1771, and finished on a halflength canvas, in point of expression exactly as it now stands -but without any intention on the part of Sir Joshua of making it the subject of an historical composition. Being exposed to view in the picture-gallery, with the painter's other works, it caught the eye of Goldsmith, who immediately exclaimed that it was the precise countenance and expression of Count Ugolino, as described by Dante.*

Another portrait or study, (continues Cotton,) from the head of the same old beggar, was exhibited by Sir Joshua in the following year, as a Captain of Banditti, which Walpole remarked was painted in the style of Salvator Rosa; and that there were in the same Exhibition, several pictures by different artists, from Reynolds's beggar-man.

This picture is said to have affected Captain Cooke's Omiah so much, that he imagined it a scene of real distress, and ran to support the expiring child.

The Banished Lord, in the National Gallery, and Dionysius, the Areopagite, in the possession of Mr. Bentley, were likewise painted from the same model; and it seems very probable that White the paviour, and the old beggar-man, were identical.

By others, Burke is said to have suggested the picture to Sir Joshua.

REYNOLDS REBUKED BY GOLDSMITH.

When the anti-infidel, Dr. Beattie, used to harangue the "ale-house in Gerard-street," against the Voltaire and Hume philosophy, great was the vexation of Goldsmith at the adhesion of Reynolds to the Scotch professor. This was the only grave difference that had ever been between them; and it is honourable to the poet that it should have arisen on that incident in the painter's life which has somewhat tarnished his fame. Reynolds accompanied Beattie to Oxford; partook with him in an honorary degree of civil law; and on his return painted his fellow doctor in Oxonian robes, with the Essay on Truth under his arm, and at his side the angel of Truth overpowering and chasing away the demons of Infidelity, Sophistry, and Falsehood; the last represented by the plump and broad-backed figure of Hume, the first by the lean and piercing face of Voltaire. "It is unworthy of you," said Goldsmith to Sir Joshua, and his 'fine rebuke will outlast the silly picture,' "to debase so high a genius as Voltaire before so mean a writer as Beattie. Beattie and his book will be forgotten in ten years, while Voltaire's fame will last for ever. Take care it does not perpetuate this picture, to the shame of such a man as you." Reynolds persisted, notwithstanding the protest; but was incapable of any poor resentment of it. He produced the same year, at Goldsmith's suggestion, his painting of Ugolino.-Forster's Life of Goldsmith, pp. 666-7.

GOLDSMITH'S EPITAPH ON REYNOLDS.

In these last lines, on which Goldsmith is said to have been engaged when his fatal illness seized him, was the gratitude of a life. They will help to keep Reynolds immortal:

Here Reynolds is laid, and, to tell you my mind,

He has not left a wiser or better behind.

His pencil was striking, resistless, and grand;
His manners were gentle, complying, and bland;

Still born to improve us in every part,

His pencil our faces, his manners our heart.

To coxcombs averse, yet most civilly steering,

When they judged without skill, he was still hard of hearing:
When they talked of their Raphaels, Correggios, and stuff,

He shifted his trumpet, and only took snuff.

By flattery unspoiled * * *

The Retaliation.