rth aspired after
something higher than drawing ciphers and coats-of-arms; and before
the expiration of his indentures he had made himself a good
draughtsman, and obtained considerable knowledge of coloring. It was
his ambition to become distinguished as an artist; and not content
with being the mere copier of other men's productions, he sought to
combine the functions of the painter with those of the engraver, and
to gain the power of delineating his own ideas and the fruits of his
acute observation. He has himself explained the nature of his views in
a passage which is worth attention:

"Many reasons led me to wish that I could find the shorter path--fix
forms and characters in my mind--and instead of copying the lines, try
to read the language, and, if possible, find the grammar of the art by
bringing into one focus the various observations I have made, and then
trying by my power on the canvas how far my plan enabled me to combine
and apply them to practice. For this purpose I considered what
various ways, and to what different purposes, the memory might be
applied, and fell upon one most suitable to my situation and idle
disposition; laying it down first as an axiom, that he who could by
any means acquire and retain in his memory perfect ideas of the
subjects he meant to draw, would have as clear a knowledge of the
figure as a man who can write freely hath of the twenty-five letters
of the alphabet and their infinite combinations." Acting on these
principles, he improved, by constant exercise, his natural powers of
observation and recollection. We find him roaming through the country,
now at Yarmouth and again at Queenborough, sketching everywhere. In
his rambles among the motley scenes of London he was ever on the watch
for striking features or incidents; and not trusting entirely to
memory, he was accustomed, when any face struck him as being
peculiarly grotesque or expressive, to sketch it on his thumb-nail, to
be treasured up on paper at his return home.

For some time after the expiration of his apprenticeship, Hogarth
continued to practise the trade to which he was bred; and his
shop-bills, coats-of-arms, engravings upon tankards, etc., have been
collected with an eagerness quite disproportionate to their value.
Soon he procured employment in furnishing frontispieces and designs
for the booksellers. The most remarkable of these are the plates to an
edition of "Hudibras," published in 1726; but even these ar