George Morland 



she was going to spend the season. She promised to introduce 

 him to many young nobles and patrons of art who would pay 

 him handsomely for painting their portraits, and would make his 

 fame and fortune. 



Our friend George was enchanted with the idea, and getting 

 as much money as he could from the Irish dealer left him to pay 

 the bill for his lodgings, set off on a hired horse to Margate. 

 Here he put up at an inn near the lodgings of his patroness, Mrs. 

 Hill, and for a week or more diverted himself by riding his horse in 

 the sea and along the shore, in the intervals of his visits to the 

 lady. By this time, however, he learnt that the horse-dealer in 

 town was making rather strenuous enquiries after his missing steed. 

 George thereupon sent it back in charge of a postboy, leaving his 

 father, however, to pay the bill, amounting to ten pounds. 



Morland's life at Margate was very gay and wild. He had left 

 his boyhood behind him with its shyness and reserve, and now 

 his Bohemian temperament, his rollicking spirit and prodigal tastes, 

 had full play. Mrs. Hill was as good as her word, and introduced 

 him to many fashionable people, of more or less shady character 

 we may imagine in spite of their rank, and Morland seems to have 

 painted their portraits, although none of his pictures can be traced 

 definitely to this time. It is evident, however, that he earned 

 a good deal of money, for he lived lavishly and dressed like one of 

 the dandies. In one of his letters to his friend Dawe he gives an 

 account of his amusements. 



" First,'' he wrote, " I get up in the morning after being called 

 several times — "tis generally about ten o'clock. Then I take a gulp 

 of gin, as I have got some made me a present, then I gang me 

 down to breakfast with a young gentleman, some nobleman's 

 brother, but I forget the name. I was to find my own breakfast, 

 or to go and breakfast with Mrs. Hill, but as he invites me, it is 

 more convenient to have it in his house. At four o'clock dinner is 

 sent to me, after that comes my hairdresser ; then dress and go 

 and take a little ride upon the sands if 'tis a fine day, if not fine, 

 why then I only ride up the town, down Churchfield, through Cecil 

 Square, and into the stable again ; then I drink tea with my 

 companion, and sup at Mrs. Hill's, though these two nights I have 



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