lottery. In his petition he described himself, with
modesty and pathos, as an old man of eighty-five, anxious to free
himself from debts which now oppressed him, although he, with his
brethren, had expended upwards of L350,000 in promoting the fine arts.
Sixty years before he had begun to benefit engraving by establishing a
school of English engravers. At that time the whole print commerce of
England consisted in importing a few foreign prints (chiefly French) "to
supply the cabinets of the curious." In time he effected a total change
in this branch of commerce, "very few prints being now imported, while
the foreign market is principally supplied with prints from England." By
degrees, the large sums received from the Continent for English plates
encouraged him to attempt also an English school of pictorial painting,
the want of such a school having been long a source of opprobrium among
foreign writers on England. The Shakespeare Gallery was sufficient to
convince the world that English genius only needed encouragement to
obtain a facility, versatility, and independence of thought unknown to
the Italian, Flemish, or French schools. That Gallery he had long hoped
to have left to a generous public, but the recent Vandalic revolution in
France had cut up his revenue by the roots, Flanders, Holland, and
Germany being his chief marts. At the same time he acknowledged he had
not been provident, his natural enthusiasm for promoting the fine arts
having led him after each success to fly at once to some new artist with
the whole gains of his former undertaking. He had too late seen his
error, having increased his stock of copper-plates to such a heap that
all the print-sellers in Europe (especially in these unfavourable times)
could not purchase them. He therefore prayed for permission to create a
lottery, the House having the assurance of the even tenor of a long life
"that it would be fairly and honourably conducted."

The worthy man obtained leave for his lottery, and died December 11, a
few days after the last tickets were sold. He was buried with civic
state in the Church of St. Olave, Jewry, the Lord Mayor, aldermen, and
several artists attending. Boydell was very generous and charitable. He
gave pictures to adorn the City Council Chamber, the Court Room of the
Stationers' Company, and the dining-room of the Sessions House. He was
also a generous benefactor to the Humane Society and the Literary Fund,
and was for many year