BONEBOOKER, 



321 



abandoned the practice of device-painting, and 

 adopted that of miniature and enamel. It was by 

 this gentleman's suggestion, also, that he was ac- 

 customed annually to pay a visit to his native 

 county, where he was fully employed in painting 

 miniature portraits on ivory, from many of which 

 he received commissions to make copies in enamel 

 on his return to London. When in town he con- 

 stantly occupied himself in making enamels from 

 pictures by the best living artists, which he usually 

 exhibited at the royal academy. A portrait of 

 Lord Eglinton attracted the notice of the prince of 

 Wales ; and his royal highness became the pur- 

 chaser, accompanying the notification of his inten- 

 tion with a command for the artist to attend at 

 Carlton House, where he was received with the 

 most flattering marks of attention. The prince 

 was for several years the purchaser of the principal 

 pictures painted by Mr Bone, which were not exe- 

 cuted by commission ; and in 1800 he was ap- 

 pointed enamel painter to his royal highness. His 

 rise in public estimation was now extremely rapid ; 

 commissions flowed in upon him for pictures in 

 enamel ; so much so, that he found it necessary to 

 give up his annual excursions into Cornwall, and to 

 abandon the practice of painting on ivory. On the 

 9th of November, 1801, he was elected an Associate 

 of the royal academy, and the same year removed 

 into Berners Street, Oxford Street. He was subse- 

 quently appointed enamel painter to their majesties, 

 George III., George IV., and William IV., and to 

 his royal highness the Duke of York. He now 

 executed several copies after pictures by Sir Joshua 

 Reynolds, on a very large scale, particularly " The 

 Death of Dido," " Cymon and Iphigenia," ' Venus," 

 " Hope nursing Love," &c. &c. ; also full length 

 portraits of George III. and the Queen, after the 

 originals by Sir William Beechey, besides a vast 

 number of smaller works. 



During such time as he was not engaged in paint- 

 ing by commission, he occupied himself in the exe- 

 cution of a series of historical portraits of illustri- 

 ous personages in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, a 

 series of enamels unrivalled in the world. They 

 amount to eighty-five in number, and range in di- 

 mension from thirteen inches by eight to five in- 

 ches by four: are most exquisite in finish and 

 powerful in effect ; and contain the resemblances of 

 some of the most illustrious men who have adorned 

 the brightest period of English history. There are 

 two other sets of enamels executed by Mr Bone, 

 but both of them were painted by commission. 

 The first is a series of portraits of the principal 

 persons of the Russell family, from the reign of 

 Henry VII. to the present time, executed for his 

 grace the Duke of Bedford, and placed in the col- 

 lection at Woburn Abbey : the other is a set of 

 portraits of the royalists, during the civil wars in 

 the reign of Charles I., painted for James Picker- 

 ing Ord, Esq., of Edge Hill, near Derby. The 

 latter set, however, was not concluded by this ar- 

 tist; but is in course of completion by his eldest 

 son, Henry Pierce Bone, of Percy Street, Bedford 

 Square. The Duke of Bedford for a long period 

 was one of Mr Bone's most munificent patrons and 

 considerate friends. His Grace possesses some of 

 the most exquisite of his works ; particularly a re- 

 cumbent " Venus," after Titian ; " Bathsheba," 

 after Poussin ; " La Belle Vierge," after Raffaelle, 

 in the collection at Bridgewater House ; and " The 

 Assumption of the Virgin," after Mnrillo. 



The unremitting exertion of a long series of 



VII 



years began to be too great for the advancing age 

 of Mr Bone ; and his eyesight in some degree fail- 

 ing, he was compelled to give up the practice of 

 his profession. Accordingly he retired from hie 

 house in Berners Street, and removed to Clarendon 

 Square, Somers Town, where, after three years' 

 residence, during which his health gradually de- 

 clined, he was attacked by paralysis, of which he 

 died on the 17th of December, 1834. By his wife, 

 whom he survived several years, he had twelve 

 children, ten of whom he brought up to an age of 

 maturity, and three of whom he placed in expen- 

 sive professions, the army, the navy, and the bar. 



BOOKER, LUKE, LL. D., M. R. S. L., vicar of 

 Dudley, was born at Nottingham on the 20th Oct. 

 1762. In early life the whole energy and vigour 

 of his mind were directed to the attainment of 

 classic and literary knowledge, and, devotedly at- 

 tached to the doctrine and discipline of the Church 

 of England, he took holy orders in 1785. Struck 

 with his proficiency in acquirement, the bishop of 

 Lichfield and Coventry (Dr Cornwallis) ordained 

 him without a title ; but he shortly afterwards 

 became lecturer of the collegiate church of W ol- 

 verhampton, from whence he removed to the cur- 

 acy of Old Swinford, and subsequently he became 

 and continued for many years minister of St Ed- 

 mund's church in Dudley. In 1806 he was insti- 

 tuted to the rectory of Tedstone de la Mere, Here- 

 fordshire, on the presentation of his brother in-lavv, 

 Richard Blakemore, Esq. On leaving Dudley a 

 valuable piece of plate was given to him by his 

 congregation. He returned to Dudley in 1812, on 

 being presented to tne living by William Lord 

 Viscount Dudley and Ward. At Dudley he con- 

 tinued, until within a few weeks of his death, to 

 discharge the duties of his sacred office ; and the 

 best and most unequivocal testimony to his worth 

 is to be found in the voluntary respect paid to his 

 memory by those among whom he so long and 

 faithfully ministered. It is a striking fact, and one 

 which proves the high degree of public estimation 

 in which as a preacher he was held, that during his 

 ministry, he preached one hundred and seventy-three 

 sermons on public and charitable occasions, and that 

 the collections made on behalf of the objects for 

 which he pleaded amounted to nearly nine thousand 

 pounds. 



As an author Dr Booker's productions were nu- 

 merous. The chief are Poems, sacred, &c. 1785, 

 enlarged 1788; the Highlanders, 1787; Sermon at 

 Old Swinford, 1788; Miscellaneous Poems, 1790; 

 Sermon on the memory of Mr George Bradley, 

 1791; Malvern, a Poem, 1798; Sermons to pro- 

 mote Christian Knowledge, 1793 ; Fast Sermon 

 and Address on Riots 1793 ; the Hop Garden, a 

 Poem, 1800 ; Sermon for Blue Coat Charity ; Ad- 

 dress to the Dudley Association, 1801 ; Christian 

 Worship for Work-houses; Select Psalms and 

 Hymns for Churches ; Poems inscribed to Lord 

 Dudley and Ward, 1802 ; Duty of inoculating with 

 the Cow-pox, 1802; Christian Intrepidity, 1803; 

 Tobias, a poem, 1805; Calista, or the Picture of 

 Modern Life, 1806 ; Address to Parliament on en- 

 larging Churches, 1809; Sermon on the Jubilee, 

 1809; Temple of Truth, 1810; Address to the 

 Legislature, 1810; Two Assize Sermons, 1816; 

 Euthanasia, the State of Man after Death ; Lec- 

 tures on the Lord's Prayer, 1824; Discourses and 

 Dissertations, 2 vols. ; Account of Dudley Castle ; 

 Mourner comforted ; the Springs of Plynlimmon, a 

 poem; the Mitre Oak; Mandane, a drama; Illus- 



