the pockets of which the
affluent keep their gold, is worthy of a better fate. Her figure is
peculiarly interesting. Her face, softened by adversity, and marked with
domestic care, is at this moment agitated by the appearance of a
boisterous woman, insolently demanding payment of the milk-tally. In the
excuse she returns, there is a mixture of concern, complacency, and
mortification. As an addition to the distresses of this poor family, a
dog is stealing the remnant of mutton incautiously left upon a chair.

The sloping roof, and projecting chimney, prove the throne of this
inspired bard to be high above the crowd;--it is a garret. The chimney
is ornamented with a _dare for larks_, and a book; a loaf, the
tea-equipage, and a saucepan, decorate the shelf. Before the fire hangs
half a shirt, and a pair of ruffled sleeves. His sword lies on the
floor; for though our professor of poetry waged no war, except with
words, a sword was, in the year 1740, a necessary appendage to every
thing which called itself "gentleman." At the feet of his domestic
seamstress, the full-dress coat is become the resting-place of a cat and
two kittens: in the same situation is one stocking, the other is half
immersed in the washing-pan. The broom, bellows, and mop, are scattered
round the room. The open door shows us that their cupboard is
unfurnished, and tenanted by a hungry and solitary mouse. In the corner
hangs a long cloak, well calculated to conceal the threadbare wardrobe
of its fair owner.

Mr. Hogarth's strict attention to propriety of scenery, is evinced by
the cracked plaistering of the walls, broken window, and uneven floor,
in the miserable habitation of this poor weaver of madrigals. When this
was first published, the following quotation from Pope's "Dunciad" was
inscribed under the print:

"Studious he sate, _with all his books_ around,
Sinking from thought to thought, a vast profound:
Plunged for his sense, but found no bottom there;
Then wrote and flounder'd on, in mere despair."

_All his books_, amounting to _only four_, was, I suppose, the artist's
reason for erasing the lines.

[Illustration: THE DISTRESSED POET.]

THE BENCH.

CHARACTER, CARICATURA, AND OUTRE.

It having been universally acknowledged that Mr. Hogarth was one of the
most ingenious painters of his age, and a man possessed of a vast store
of humour, which he has sufficiently shown and displayed in his numerous
productions; th