236 A HISTORY OF 



The Right Hon. David La Touche having died, 

 Mr. Peter Digges La Touche was elected a vice- 

 president in his room. Mr. Digges La Touche was a 

 very frequent attendant, serving on committees, and 

 taking his full share in the work of the Society. 



Mr. Thomas Pleasants, already alluded to as a 

 benefactor of the Society, by his will, bequeathed to it 

 certain pictures, prints, &c., which were delivered to 

 the Society in April 1818, and deposited in the upper 

 part of Leinster House, when the fine arts com- 

 mittee undertook to distribute them throughout it. 

 Pleasants' will, a very long and remarkable document, 

 is characteristic of this most benevolent but eccentric 

 man. He desired to be buried in the same grave with 

 his wife, expressing a wish " that on my being put into 

 my coffin, her slippers may be laid crossways on my 

 Breast, next my Heart, for I have, since her most 

 sincerely lamented death, constantly had them under 

 my pillow, kissed them, and pressed them to my Heart 

 every night going to bed, and the same in the morning 

 rising." He named, among the pictures bequeathed 

 by him, the "Visitation of the Shepherds," "The 

 Dream," and "Narcissus," "Joseph and Mary," two 

 landscapes by Barret, two grand battle pieces, two 

 smaller battle pieces, "Magdalen in a wilderness," 

 " St. Paul Preaching," Dutch pieces, dead game, fruit 

 pieces, " Holy Family," " Peg Woffington, by Sir 

 Joshua" 1 (print), "Summer" and "Winter" ("two 

 fine Lutherbergs "), " The Oracle," a head of Captain 

 Coram, by Hogarth, and two excellent Garricks; also 

 portraits of Swift, Malone, Sparks, Woodward, Ryder, 

 and Surgeon Daunt ; in crayons, Counsellor Wolfe (a 

 proof given to Pleasants by Wolfe's nephew, Lord 

 Kilwarden), statue of Handel, Rubens, bust of Gay, 



1 Reynolds did not paint Peg Woffington. 



