60 Some Notes on Gainsborough and his connection with Bradford. 



in his day ; descended from an ancient family, and with high con- 

 nections, he had a wide circle of acquaintances in every part of 

 England, to a great number of whom he introduced his friend and 

 protege, Gainsborough. With much of the Napier eccentricity he 

 lacked the Napier ability; in his slandering propensities he resembled 

 Walter Savage Landor in his dotage, but compared with him in 

 intellect he was an ignorant coxcomb. He was a great traveller 

 but a scurrilous author; cacoethes scribendi his besetting weak- 

 ness. He toadied to the rich and patronised the poor. He was 

 insufferably egotistical, vain, ambitious, poor and proud, affected, 

 fussy, and quarrelsome; with a commanding presence and good 

 natural abilities, he was cursed with so evil a temper, that, bereft of 

 friends, beloved by none, and detested by not a few, he died a 

 miserable and disappointed man. 



This was the singular character under whose early auspices 

 Gainsborough became celebrated. Enough has been said of Gains- 

 borough's history to show, not only that he had appreciative friends, 

 but that he had confidence in his own powers ; having thrown aside 

 the conventional ideas and practice of his contemporaries, he painted 

 in a style peculiarly his own. So far his life had not been un- 

 successful, and although he had not realised high prices for his 

 works, he had secured a fair income and made great proficiency in 

 his drawing, color, and execution. Thicknesse, however, gave him 

 good advice when he recommended him to migrate to the " Queen 

 of the West,^^ and Gainsborough's acquiescence was wise and politic. 

 If he had declined, and contented himself with the position of an 

 artist in a quiet country town, the name of Gainsborough would 

 never have ranked as one of the great modem painters. 



His landscapes would undoubtedly have secured for him the 

 reputation of a true English artist, but he would never have produced 

 those marvellous portraits that worthily compare with the greatest 

 works of Sir Joshua Reynolds. In 1760 Gainsborough arrived in 

 Bath, where he spent the next fourteen years of his life. During 

 this period the celebrity of Bath reached its acme. Rank and 

 fashion, wealth and royalty assembled there as in no other place, 

 except the metropolis, and since those days no other fashionable resort 



