pear at a funeral without
one, was as great an indecorum as to be without a white handkerchief.
This custom might probably originate at a time when the plague
depopulated the metropolis, and rosemary was deemed an antidote against
contagion. It must be acknowledged that there are also in this print
some things which, though they gave the artist an opportunity of
displaying his humour, are violations of propriety and customs: such is
her child, but a few removes from infancy, being habited as chief
mourner, to attend his parent to the grave; rings presented, and an
escutcheon hung up, in a garret, at the funeral of a needy prostitute.
The whole may be intended as a burlesque upon ostentatious and expensive
funerals, which were then more customary than they are now. Mr. Pope has
well ridiculed the same folly;

"When Hopkins dies, a thousand lights attend
The wretch who, living, sav'd a candle's end."

The figures have much characteristic discrimination; the woman looking
into the coffin has more beauty than we generally see in the works of
this artist. The undertaker's gloating stare, his companion's leer, the
internal satisfaction of the parson and his next neighbour, are
contrasted by the Irish howl of the woman at the opposite side, and
evince Mr. Hogarth's thorough knowledge of the operation of the passions
upon the features. The composition forms a good shape, has a proper
depth, and the light is well managed.

Sir James Thornhill's opinion of this series may be inferred from the
following circumstance. Mr. Hogarth had without consent married his
daughter: Sir James, considering him as an obscure artist, was much
displeased with the connexion. To give him a better opinion of his
son-in-law, a common friend, one morning, privately conveyed the six
pictures of the Harlot's Progress into his drawing-room. The veteran
painter eagerly inquired who was the artist; and being told, cried out,
"Very well! Very well indeed! The man who can paint such pictures as
these, can maintain a wife without a portion." This was the remark of
the moment; but he afterwards considered the union of his daughter with
a man of such abilities an honour to his family, was reconciled, and
generous.

When the publication was advertised, such was the expectation of the
town, that above twelve hundred names were entered in the subscription
book. When the prints appeared, they were beheld with astonishment. A
subject so novel in the idea