CHRONICLE. 7 
His illness was long, but borne with 
a mild and cheerful fortitude, with- 
out the least mixture of any thing 
irritable or querulous, agreeably to 
the placid and even tenour of his 
whole life. He had from the be- 
ginning of his malady a distinct 
view of his dissolution, which he 
contemplated with that entire com- 
posure which nothing but the inno- 
cence, integrity, and usefulness of 
his life, and an unaffected submis- 
sion to the will of Providence, could 
bestow. In this situation he had 
every consolation from family ten- 
derness, which his affection to his 
family had always merited. Sir Jo- 
shua Reynolds was, on very many 
accounts, one of the most memora- 
ble men of his time: he was the first 
Englishman who added the praise of 
the elegant arts to the other glories 
of his country. In taste, in grace, 
in facility, in happy invention, and 
in the richness and harmony of co- 
louring, he was equal to the great 
masters of the renowned ages. In 
portrait he went beyond them ; for 
he communicated to that descrip- 
tion of the art in which English ar- 
tists are the most engaged, a variety, 
a fancy, and a dignity derived from 
the higher branches, which even 
those who professed them in a su- 
perior manner did not always pre- 
serve when they delineated indivi- 
dual nature. His portraits remind 
the spectator of the invention of 
history, and the amenity of land- 
scape. In painting portraits, he 
appears not to be raised upon that 
platform, but to descend to it from 
a higher sphere. His paintings il- 
lustrate his lessons, and his lessons 
seem to be derived from his paint- 
ings. He possessed the theory as 
perfectly as the practice of his art. 
To be such a painter, he was a pro- 
found and penetrating philosopher. 
In full possession of foreign and 
domestic fame, admired by the ex- 
pert in art, and by the learned in 
scienee, courted by the great, ca- 
ressed by sovereign powers, and ce- 
lebrated by distinguished poets, his 
native humility, modesty, and can- 
dour never forsook him, even on 
surprise or provocation; nor was 
the least degree of arrogance or as- 
sumption visible to the most scruti- 
nizing eye, in any part of his con- 
duct or discourse. His talents of 
every kind powerful from nature, 
and not meanly cultivated in letters; 
his social virtues, in all the relations 
and all the habitudes of life, ren- 
dered him the centre of a very great 
and unparalleled variety of agreea- 
ble societies, which will be dissipat- 
ed by his death. He had too much 
merit not to excite some jealousy, 
too much innocence to provoke any 
enmity. The loss of no man of his 
time can be felt with more sincere, 
general, and unmixed sorrow. 
Hail, and Farewell! 
The funeral of this great artist 
and very respectable man*, was in 
the highest degree honourable to 
his character. The following isa 
brief account of the chief occur- 
rences which attended this honour-~ 
able testimony of departed excel- 
lence. 
The corpse was brought to the 
Royal Academy on Friday evening, 
March 2d, and deposited in the 
smaller exhibition-room on the 
_* Sir Joshua was a Fellow of the Royal and Antiquarian Societies, a Doctor of 
Laws of Oxford and Dublin, and a Member of the Painter Stainers Company in 
London, of which the freedom was presented to him on the 18th of October, 1784. 
A4 
ground- 
