ably charming in their mob caps, or those big 'picture' hats
that George Morland loved, in the tight sleeves and high-waisted gowns
falling in long folds about their limbs--their eyes sparkling with
roguery, and their whole being breathing the charm of sex."[14]

We may commence our study of his social satires here, in following to
some extent the sequence of time, with "A Sketch from Nature"--published
by J. R. Smith in January of 1784, and engraved by him in stipple with
great beauty and finish. The subject here recalls a very similar scene
in Hogarth's "Rake's Progress," for here, as there, a merry company of
both sexes is engaged in riotous revel; and the wine and punch flowing
freely has got into the heads, and found expression in the behaviour, of
the nymphs and their attendant swains. "Money-lenders," "Councillor and
Client," and "Bookseller and Author" (all 1784) are excellent
character-studies of male figures: the eighteenth century evidently
needed the presence of Sir Walter Besant, for the bookseller is fat,
prosperous, and overbearing, the author terribly thin, poorly dressed,
and looking overworked. In "The Golden Apple or the Modern Paris" (1785)
the fair Georgina again appears before us with her rival beauties, the
Duchesses of Rutland and Gordon:

"Here Juno Devon, all sublime,
Minerva Gordon's wit and eyes,
Sweet Rutland, Venus in her prime."

The three ladies appear before the Prince of Wales, afterwards George
the Fourth--the "Modern Paris" who has the difficult task of awarding
the apple. The Prince re-appears in Rowlandson's famous print of
"Vauxhall Gardens" (published by J. R. Smith in 1785) with a star upon
his breast, where he is paying much attention to Mrs. Robinson--the
lovely "Perdita," whose portrait now hangs in the Wallace Collection.
The Duchess of Devonshire and her sister, Lady Duncannon, are well in
the centre of the picture; Captain Topham takes in the gay scene through
his glass; Doctor Johnson, in a supper box, seems deeply engaged upon
his meal, though Mrs. Thrale is on his right and "Bozzy" and Goldsmith
are of the party. Captain (later Colonel) Topham, the _macaroni_, man of
taste and editor of _The World_, appears in another plate of 1785--as
"Captain Epilogue," and as "Colonel Topham endeavouring to extinguish
the Genius of Holman" (the actor); and to the same date belong "Grog on
Board" and "Tea on Shore," as well as the print in colour chosen for
illustration to thi