, though Horace Walpole assures us--

"That it is almost as necessary that the representations of men should
perish and quit the scene to their successors, as it is that the human
race should give place to rising generations; and, indeed, the
mortality is almost as rapid. Portraits that cost twenty, thirty, sixty
guineas, and that proudly take possession of the drawing-room, give way
in the next generation to the new married couple, descending into the
parlour, where they are slightly mentioned as my _father_ and
_mother's_ pictures. When they become my _grandfather_ and
_grandmother_, they mount to the two pair of stairs, and then, unless
dispatched to the mansion-house in the country, or crowded into the
housekeeper's room, they perish among the lumber of garrets, or flutter
into rags before a broker's shop at the Seven Dials."--_Lives of the
Painters_, vol. iv. pp. 14, 15.

I am tempted to add, that many years ago I saw a large roll of canvass
produced from under a bed at a furniture shop in "Hockley in the Hole,"
which, when unfolded, displayed a variety of old portraits, that had been
torn out of their frames, and stowed away like worn-out sail-cloth; the
place was so filthy that I was glad to make my escape without further
investigation, but I noticed a whole-length of a judge in scarlet robes,
and I could not help reflecting how much surprised the painter and the son
of the law whom he delineated would have been, could they have anticipated
the fate of the picture.

Having made these remarks, I am not unaware how much easier it is to point
out a grievance than to provide a remedy; but perhaps some of your readers
more conversant with such matters, may form an opinion whether it would
answer to any one to undertake to compile such a catalogue as I have
described. Though much would remain to be done, a great deal of information
is to be gleaned from printed works, and doubtless lists of portraits might
be in many instances procured from the persons who are fortunate enough to
possess them. It should also be remembered that amongst the MSS. of Sir
William Musgrave in the British Museum, there are many inventories of
English portraits, affording a strong presumption that he may once have
meditated such a publication as I have pointed out.

But, whether we are ever to have a catalogue or not, some advantage may
arise from the discussion of the subject in "NOTES AND