Manchester Memoirs, Vol. xliv. (1900), iV^;. 14. 17 



vast Numl)cr of Piclures by him, but to you I will venture to say what I cou'd 

 not there have declared with safety that I think Romney as a portrait painter 

 much his superior, and I must tell my opinion in another respect tho' 

 perhaps it may not agree with your own, you must know then that I have 

 conciev'd a contemptible opinion of those old prints and etchings so much 

 sought after by you Vertuosos, they are infinitely eclips'd by the productions 

 of the present day ; have you seen the etchings of Blight from Mortimer's 

 designs? answer me candidly can you produce from among your antique 

 hoards such works as his ? or from the works of Rembrandt can you equal 

 Worledge's etching of the raising of Lazarus ? The man at Norwich from 

 whom I had your prints has two excellent impressions of this last for which 

 he asks £\ — il — 6. I bought two or three etchings of him for you of 

 Rembrandt's, but if I had stayed till I got to London, I shoud have bought 

 no old prints I am so thoroughly convinc'd how misapplied money is that is 

 given for them to the neglect of more modern productions. The Prints I 

 bought for you will be sent off to-night by Matthew Gregson with Watt's 

 numbers. I have marked the price in pencil on each and in the whole they 

 Amot to £1 — 16 — 6. I wish they may meet your approbation. Bartolozzi's 

 Tickets are allowed by the Learn'd here to be very cheap and the Etching by 

 Hollar charged (•*) I was told in London is worth three times the money, the 

 other etchings you may depend are originals. 



This Mathew Gregson was a very celebrated Liverpool 

 worthy. Of obscure parentage, he was apprenticed to a 

 paperhanger and stationer in Liverpool, where his great 

 taste in the decorating of houses made hinri very popular. 

 He was a strong supporter of all the literary and 

 scientific institutions of his native town, a Fellow of the 

 Society of Antiquaries, and a collector of prints and books. 

 In 1 8 17 he issued some proposals for publishing a " Port- 

 folio of Fragments of the History and Antiquities of 

 Lancaster." * This was illustrated by many plates and 

 armorial bearings at some expense to himself It is a 

 most beautiful and elaborate production. In 181 3 Mr. 

 Gregson was Treasurer of the Liverpool Blue Coat School, 

 and President of the Lyceum Library. His favourite 

 toast was " The Pen, the Pencil, and the Lyre." He died 

 in 1824 from an accident in his library. 



• Printed at Liverpool, June 4, 1817, and dedicated to the Prince of 

 Wales, " Son of the Duke of Lancaster." 



