SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS AND WRIGHT, OF DERBY. 287 



green, 18 J inches high, and a pair of magnificent black and 

 white vases, with signs of the zodiac, and triumphal pagan 

 procession, 21 inches high, including pedestals, &c. 



In 1782 (May 9th and 16th) Josiah Wedgwood commu- 

 nicated to the Royal Society an account of "an attempt to 

 make a Thermometer for measuring the higher degrees of 

 Heat, from a red-heat up to the strongest that vessels made 

 of clay can support," and this learned paper was afterwards 

 translated, not only into the French, but into the Dutch 

 language. In the same month (May 30, 1782) he was pro- 

 posed as a Fellow of the Royal Society. His election took 

 place on the 16th of January, 1783, and he was admitted on 

 the 13th of February. 



In this year Sir Joshua Eeynolds painted the well-known 

 portrait of Wedgwood, and also one of Mrs. Wedgwood. 

 The sittings, as appears by Sir Joshua's own pocket memo- 

 randum book, were in May of that year. This portrait of 

 Josiah Wedgwood has been engraved, first by W. Holman 

 in 1787, and secondly by John Taylor Wedgwood in 1841. 

 It has also been repeatedly copied in wood for illustration of 

 fugitive notices. The portrait of Mrs. Wedgwood has not, 

 I believe, been engraved. The engraving by John Taylor 

 Wedgwood will be found as the frontispiece to my present 

 work. 



Wedgwood, besides being a good judge of painting, was 

 a cordial and liberal friend of art. Wright, of Derby, 

 received commissions from him for several paintings, among 

 which were the following: "A Moonlight Scene with the 

 Lady in Comus," the " Maid of Corinth," " Penelope un- 

 ravelling the web Moonlight,"* and a fine portrait of Sir 

 Richard Arkwright,f with, I believe, others. It is sad to 



* The subject of this picture, as a companion to the "Maid of 

 Corinth," was evidently, from the following extract from a letter from 

 Wright to his friend Hayley, the poet, chosen by the latter. "Wright 

 sa y 8 : " Mr. Wedgwood approves of your subject of Penelope as a com- 

 panion to the Maid of Corinth." 



t This portrait now hangs in the Royal Exchange at Manchester, 

 where I saw it during the present summer. It bears the following 



