step, with the fiddle in his hand; behind him the _maitre
d'armes_, Dubois, is making a lunge with his _epee de combat_, while
Figg, a noted English prize-fighter, watches his movements with an
expression of contempt. Another portrait is Bridgman, a well-known
landscape gardener of the time, who is proposing to our young hero some
scheme for his estate; while the seated and periwigged figure who runs
his fingers over the harpsichord has been suggested as that of the great
composer Handel. But when we start forth to knock down the watch, "beat
the rounds," intrigue with the fair, and generally keep up the character
of a young blood or "macaroni," a little timely assistance is often
welcome; and is here proffered (with hope of due remuneration) by the
villainous-looking figure on the prodigal's left, whose recommendation
is seen in the letter he presents: "The Capt. is a man of honour, his
sword may serve you." Meanwhile, a jockey holds before his master the
cup he has won; and a tame poet in the corner seems to be invoking the
Muses in unmerited praise of the same patron.

=_By William Hogarth_ MARRIAGE A LA MODE PLATE II=

In his next plate Hogarth passes to a scene of indescribable orgy; but
all this satire on fashionable extravagance, which we have just noted in
detail, is still more fully developed in his masterly Series of
"Marriage a la Mode." Hogarth's oil paintings of this complete Series
are in the London National Gallery, and it is instructive to compare
these with the prints, the two first pictures of the Series being
especially attractive in treatment. The second of these, representing
the morning, when husband and wife awake to _ennui_ from a night of
dissipation, is peculiarly happy in spacing and composition, as my
illustration may show; while Plate IV. of this Series, showing a
reception of the Countess while at her toilet, gives an opening for a
clever satire by our artist of the fashionable society of his day, which
is as brilliant as any Venetian scene by Longhi, and the ensuing
plates point the sequel to a life of folly. Nor has the artist forgotten
here to give a side blow to the foreign element--which aroused his
hostility, from the French dancing-master or _perruquier_ to the great
Italian Masters--Correggio's "Jupiter and Io" finding a place on the
walls of her ladyship's bedroom, just as the "Choice of Paris" had been
included in the Rake's _levee_; and we shall note very soon that these