engaged to pay when he was in a position to earn money for himself:

"Joshua is very sensible of his happiness, as being under such a master, in such a family, in such a city, and in such an employment-and all by your means. As I have, in a manner, one-half of the money ready provided, if it please God I live so long as to the end of those four years, I have writ this post to my daughter, to desire her to furnish Joshua with the other half, till he is able to repay her, and to write to you to that purpose, and I doubt not she will do so, because it is in a manner her own proposal; for she said in a former letter to me, that she would much rather furnish Joshua with £60 than he should be put to a calling at which he would get £50 a year less than he might at another that was better."

The gratitude of Mr. Reynolds to his friend, Mr. Cutliffe, shows itself in every letter he writes. In another he says:-"I ought surely to have writ to you upon account of the character which Mr. Hudson was pleased to give of my son, not to inform you of anything, but to tell you that your favours were beyond thanks, and beyond expression. Mr. Warmel, the painter, was at

my house on Sunday last; he looked upon two or three of Joshua's drawings about the room; he said not one of Mr. Treby's rooms had furniture equal to this; that they all deserved frames and glasses. You may see some of them at Molly's. I am glad I am able in this manner to express my thanks to you for what you have done for Joshua. You have done me a favour fit for a man of a thousand a year." And again, on the 3rd of August,

1742, he writes:-"As for Joshua, nobody, by his letters to me, was ever better pleased in his employment, in his master, in everything. While I am doing this I am the happiest creature alive,' is his expression. How he goes on ('tis plain that he thinks he goes on very well) you'll be better able to inform me. I don't forget to whom I owe all this happiness, and I hope he won't either."

The arrangement with Hudson was that he should take his pupil for four years, with the option of discharging him before the expiration of the term, if he thought proper. Notwithstanding the favourable prospects of mutual satisfaction which the connection at first promised, and even for the first two years or so, it was not of longer duration, for it is alleged that the progress which Reynolds made roused the jealousy of his master, who soon found an opportunity of dismissing him. Hudson was so far from being dissatisfied with his improvement, according to Beechy's "Memoir of Reynolds," that, on seeing the portrait of an elderly female servant of the family, which his pupil had painted, he is said to have been jealous of the rising talent, and to have predicted the future success of young Reynolds. This picture having been accidentally seen among the portraits in Hudson's gallery, obtained so universal a preference over them, that the jealousy which a first view of the work had excited, was materially strengthened by this unfavourable competition; and the mortified painter, who had long been without a rival, could not calmly contemplate the possibility of finding one in the person of a juvenile proficient in the art, who had so lately applied to him for instruction. When a man attempts to commit

an act of injustice, he very frequently sets about it in a disingenuous, circumlocutory way, that greatly enhances the injury. Hudson had no real ground of complaint to make of his pupil, and even his alleged misconduct was no justification of the punishment, if so it can be called, which followed; it was a paltry subterfuge to conceal the real motive for getting rid of his young rival. He requested the latter to take a picture to Vanhaaken, an artist whom Hudson employed to paint the draperies to his portraits, but the evening being wet when the order was given, it was not executed till early the next morning, yet in sufficient time for the purpose required. When Hudson heard of the delay, he charged his pupil with disobeying his commands, and ordered him to leave his house at once. Young Reynolds entreated him to submit the case to his father ere proceeding to this extremity; but the master was inexorable, so the youth departed, and took up a temporary abode at the house of an uncle in the Temple, from which he wrote to his father to acquaint him with the circumstances of his dismissal The result of this quarrel was that Reynolds, now twenty years of age, returned into Devonshire, and, jointly with his two unmarried sisters, took a house at Plymouth Dock, as Devonport was then called, where he at once embarked in his profession of portraitpainting, and soon found abundance of sitters, and his father, writing to Mr. Cutliffe, says, "Joshua is painting at the Dock. He has drawn twenty already, and has ten more bespoke."

Northcote, when referring to this period of Reynolds's life, which the latter told Malone he considered "as so much time thrown away," observes:-"At that interval of supposed negligence, I

apprehend he was still making his observations on what he saw, and forming his taste; and although there were but few works of art, as I have before noticed, within his reach in that county, still there were the works of one artist, who, notwithstanding he was never known beyond the boundary of the county in which he lived and died, was yet a man of first-rate abilities; and I have heard Sir Joshua himself speak of this painter's portraits, which are to be found only in Devonshire, with the highest respect: he not only much admired his talents as an artist, but in all his early practice evidently adopted his manner in regard to painting a head, and retained it in some degree ever after. This painter was William Gandy, of Exeter, whom I cannot but consider as an early master of Reynolds." William Gandy was the son of James Gandy, a pupil of Vandyck, whose copies have been frequently confounded with the originals of his great master, and sold as works of the latter. He went over to Ireland from Exeter, where he was born in 1619, with the Duke of Ormond, and there are in that country many family portraits painted by him, which are very little inferior to those of Vandyck. His son William is said even to have excelled his father; but though Kneller wanted him to join him in London, he preferred to remain where he was; and being addicted to habits of dissipation, he died in great distress. His portraits, however, show the great talent he possessed.

The death of Reynolds's father, in 1746, was a severe trial to the son. The good and estimable old man had always shown himself a most indulgent and affectionate parent, ever solicitous for the welfare of his children, but especially for that one concerning

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whom he seemed to have a presentiment that he was destined to give a name of distinction to his family.

Reynolds, like most other artists desirous of excelling, was very anxious to visit Rome, and about three years after the decease of his father an opportunity to do so, though by a somewhat circuitous route, presented itself, which was too favourable to be neglected. Among the acquaintances whom he made at Plymouth Dock, through his intimacy with the Edgecumbe family, was that of the Hon. Augustus Keppel, then a captain in the navy, and afterwards Viscount Keppel. This officer having received an appointment in the Mediterranean, offered the young artist a passage in his ship, the Centurion, bound in the first instance for Algiers. They sailed on the 11th of May, 1749, touching first at Lisbon, then at Gibraltar, and afterwards proceeding to Algiers. Keppel's mission to the latter place was soon settled; he then set sail for Minorca, where his companion met with an accident by falling, while on horseback, over a precipice, severely cutting his lip; the effect of this is seen in almost all existing portraits of Reynolds. This circumstance delayed him some time at Port Mahon, but he was not idle with his pencil: several persons sat to him while recovering from his fall. As soon as he was able to prosecute his journey, he took leave of his kind friend, Commodore Keppel, engaged a passage to Leghorn, and thence proceeded to Rome.

Speaking of Reynolds's visit to Rome, Allan Cunningham, in his "Lives of British Painters," remarks that "he longed to see with his own eyes the glories in art of which he had heard so