e, in 1697. His father was admired for the softness of his
prints, and still more for the size of them, some of his heads being the
largest that had then appeared in England; but the prices he received by
no means compensated for the time employed on his works, and he was
reduced to want, and died at the house of Mr. Forester, his
brother-in-law. After his death, his widow sold his plates to one Brown,
a print-seller, who made a great profit by them. His eldest son had some
share in the theatre at Dublin; the youngest, William, was a poor
labourer, who gave an account of his father and the family to Vertue.
The person mentioned in this paper was probably his father's name-son,
and might be, as Walpole conjectures, an engraver. Whatever concern the
father might have had in any manufacture of tapestry, he could not be
the person meant here, for at this time he had been dead above ten
years. The suite of tapestry, in the Duke of Ancaster's sale, with
Vanderbank's name to it, mentioned by Walpole, must therefore be
supposed to belong to the son, who is said, upon the authority of the
French translator of the _Tatler_, to have represented nature very
happily in works of tapestry, and to have been a man inimitable in this
way. (See Walpole's "Anecdotes of Painting," 1782, vol. v. p. 166.)]

[Footnote 91: Trick (the early editions have "gigg").]

[Footnote 92: Waller wrote "Instructions to a Painter" and "Advice to a
Painter," and Denham "Directions to a Painter."]

[Footnote 93: Farquhar's "Beaux' Stratagem," 1707.]

[Footnote 94: Bickerstaff acted the part of the Captain in Mrs.
Centlivre's farce, "A Bickerstaff's Burying; or, Work for the Upholders"
(1713), which was dedicated to the "magnificent Company of Upholders,
whom the judicious Censor of Great Britain has so often condescended to
mention." In the "British Apollo," vol. ii. No. 107 (Feb. 27 to March 1,
1710), is a "New Prologue to 'Don Quixote' for Mr. Bickerstaff's Benefit
at the Theatre Royal, spoken by himself." The prologue ends:

"I need not from the ladies fear my doom,
When it shall thus be said, in my behalf,
He bears the awful name of BICKERSTAFF."

In the _Daily Courant_ for Feb. 4, 1710, there was advertised a
performance of the "Comical History of Don Quixote" at Drury Lane, "at
the desire of Isaac Bickerstaff, Esq., for the benefit of his cousin,
John Bickerstaff."]

[Footnote 95: George Powell, actor and dramatist, gave way often to