JAMES WARD, R.A. 227 



age, must have confirmed the young man's know- 

 ledge of his own abilities ; and thus he found open 

 to him two paths in life, either of which gave 

 promise of leading to eminence. He wavered long 

 before he finally resolved to adopt the career of a 

 painter, and not until 1797 did he practically 

 abandon the art in which he had been trained. 

 It was hardly wonderful that he should have 

 remained in a state of indecision. While his own 

 tastes and inclinations pointed directly to the easel, 

 the first painters of the time, whose pictures he 

 engraved, were unanimous in urging him to devote 

 himself to engraving, and give up painting. Sir 

 Joshua Reynolds, Hoppner and Northcote were 

 among the artists from whose pictures he had made 

 plates ; and the following frank letter written by 

 Hoppner to Mrs. Ward shows that the artists were 

 not wholly disinterested in their endeavours to 

 dissuade the young man from indulging his aspira- 

 tions : 



Taking it [painting] up at his time of life, he can never 

 expect to overtake or even to make a stand with the painters. 

 We shall therefore all oppose him in the one as we shall en- 

 courage him in the other. I shall oppose him, for what shall 

 I do ? I shall lose the first engraver I want and be encourag- 

 ing a poor painter that we do not want. 



Ward's intimacy with George Morland no doubt 

 did much to lead his thoughts away from engraving. 



