Among self-taught poets Mary Pyper is entitled to an honourable place.
Mr. John T. Page furnishes us with the following inscriptions copied from Hogarth's monument in Chiswick churchyard. It was erected, says Mr. Page, in 1771, seven years after his death, and is a tall piece of masonry crowned with a funeral urn. Beneath this, on the side facing the church, are carved in low relief a mask, maul-stick, palette and brushes, a laurel wreath and an open book bearing the title of his famous "Analysis of Beauty." On the same side, on a small block of Aberdeen granite at the foot of the memorial, is recorded the fact that it was
Restored by WILLIAM HOGARTH, of Aberdeen, in 1856.
It has well stood the "storm and stress" since then, but is now beginning to show signs of the need of another restoration, for, on the east side, over the inscription, the combined armorial bearings of Hogarth and his wife are as nearly as possible obliterated.
Farewell great Painter of mankind! Who reach'd the noblest point of Art, Whose _pictur'd Morals_ charm the Mind, And through the Eye correct the Heart.
If _Genius_ fire thee, Reader, stay; If _Nature_ touch thee, drop a Tear; If neither move thee, turn away, For HOGARTH'S honour'd dust lies here. D. GARRICK.
Here lieth the body of WILLIAM HOGARTH, ESQR., who died October the 26th 1764 aged 67 years MRS. JANE HOGARTH wife of William Hogarth Esqr. Obit. the 13th of November 1789 Ætat 80 years.
Here lieth the Body of MRS. ANNE HOGARTH Sister to WILLIAM HOGARTH ESQR. She died August the 13th 1771 aged 70 years Also the Body of MARY LEWIS Spinster died 25th March 1808 Aged 88 years.
Here lieth the Body of DAME JUDITH THORNHILL Relict of SR JAMES THORNHILL KNIGHT of Thornhill in the County of Dorset She died November the 12th 1757 aged 84 years.
The lapse of one hundred and thirty years, says Mr. Page, has not served to dim the ardour with which the works of William Hogarth are cherished by the English nation. His "Harlot's Progress" not only served to reconcile his father-in-law, Sir James Thornhill, to the runaway match the plebeian Hogarth had contracted three years before with his daughter, but it is still looked upon as his _chef d'oeuvre_ by many eminent critics; and there is nearly always to be seen a crowd round his "Marriage a la Mode" in the National Gallery. The virulent contest with Wilkes and Churchill, with which his last days were embittered, has long ago been forgotten, and the name of William Hogarth still lives, and will be popular for all time through his admired series of paintings and engravings, which are prized and hoarded with an ever-increasing love by their happy possessors.