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plant of houlcS, boundarir« of Mile, or windings of obfciife 

 rua(h. Wliik he was yet vtiy young, chance thivvv in his 

 way " Badttclcy's Views of diircrcnt Country .Scuts;" and 

 aitinng thtm was one of Hawardtn calUt, I'liuiniire ; which 

 being tl>c Icat of fir Jiilm Glynn, by wliom lie was then cm- 

 ployed in his profclTional capacity, and in the parifli of which 

 nii father was an inhabitant, naturally attracted his atten- 

 tion. An cxart delineation of a building that he had fo 

 often contemplated, alFordcd him pltaliire, and excited an 

 allonilhnnent caiier to be conceived than defcrihcd. Con- 

 iiderin^ it as an engravinj;, and rcflcftintj that from the 

 fame copper might be taken an almoft indefinite number 

 of iinpnlliuns, fie determined to quit the pen, and take 

 up the graver, as an inltrunienc which would enable 

 him to dilTeminate whatever work he could produce, in 

 fo much wider a circle. This refolution was no looner 

 made, than it was put in execution ; for, with that fpirit 

 and perl'evcrance which he manifetled in every fucceedi:!j; 

 iccne of life, lie, at twenty-one ytars ol age, walked up to 

 the metropolis, and bound hinifclf apprentice for icven years 

 to Mr. Toms, the engraver of the print which had fo forci- 

 bly attraAed his attention. Tliefe, and accidents equally 

 trifling, fometimcs attra<5l men of (bong minds into the path 

 that leads dirctt to fame, and have been irenerally conlidered 

 as proving that they were born with iomc peculiar genius 

 for fomc peculiar lludy ; tho\igh, afti-r all, genius is per- 

 haps little more than what a great moralill has defined it : 

 — " a mind with ilrong powers accidentally direfltd to fome 

 particular objed." Sir J. Reynolds had the firll fondnels 

 for his art excited by the perulal of " Richardioii's Treatife 

 on Painting ;" and, as we have before obfcrved, Mr. Boy- 

 dell was induced to leirn the art of engraving, by a coarfe 

 print of a coarfe artift, reprefenting a mif-(hapen Gothic 

 calUe. 



His conduft, during his apprenttcelhip, was eminently 

 atllduous. Eager to attain all pcllihle knowledge of an art 

 on which his mind was bent, and of every thing that could 

 be ufeful to him ; and impelled by an iiidullry that feenied 

 inherent in his nature, he, whenever he could, attended the 

 academy in St. Martin's lane to perfect himfelf in drawing ; 

 his Icifure hours in the evening were devoted to the lludy of 

 pcrfpedive, and to the learning of French without the aid of 

 a mailer. After very ileadilypurfuing hi> bufinefs for fix years, 

 and finding himfelf a better artill than his teacher, he bought 

 from Mr. Toms the lall year of his apprentictfliip, and 

 became his own mailer; and the firfl ufetliat he mai'e of his 

 freedom was to return 'into his own country, wheie he mar- 

 ried a very deferving young perfon of a mod refpe6table fa- 

 mily, to whom he had an early attachment, and with whom 

 he lived many years in great felicity. 



Inthcyear i74y,ori746, he publiflied fix fmalllandfcapts, 

 defigned and engraved by himfelf. This publication, from his 

 having, in moll of the views, chofen a fituation in which a 

 bridge formed part of the fctnery, was entitled " The Bridge- 

 Book," and fold for a fliilling. Small as this fum was, he 

 fometimes fpoke with apparent pleafure of a filverfmitli in 

 Duke's-court, St. Martin's-laiie, having fold fo many, that 

 when he fettled his annual account, he thought it would be 

 civil to take a filver pint mug in part of payment, and this mug 

 he retained until his dying day. He afterwards defigned and 

 engraved many other views, generally of places in and about 

 London, and publifhcd the greater part of them at the low 

 price of one lliilling each. But, even at this early period, 

 he was fo much alive to fame, that after having paffcd 

 fevcral months in copying an hiilorical pidure of Coriolanus 

 by Stballiaii Concl:a, he fo much difiiked his own engraving, 

 »liikt h« CUV the plate to pieces. J3eliUc thsfe, he engraved 



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many print'; from Brocking, Berchcm, Salvator Hofa, kc. 

 The manner in which many of them are executed is highly 

 refpedabic ; and, being done at a time when the artill had 

 much otlur bufinefs to attend to, difplnys an induftry rarely 

 to be paralleled, and proves, that had he devoted all his 

 time to engraving, he would have ranked high in the pro- 

 fellion. His facility of execution, and unconquerable per- 

 fcveiance. having thus enabled him to complete 152 prints, 

 he coUedcd the whole in one port-folio, and publilhed it at 

 five guineas. He modellly allowed, that he himfelf had not 

 at that time arrived at any eminerce in the art of engraving; 

 and that thofe prints are now chlelly valuable from a compari. 

 fon of them with the improved llate of the art within the lafl 

 50 years. In fad, there were at that time no eminent en- 

 gravers in England ; and Mr. Boydcll faw the nccefiity of 

 forcing the art by ilimulating men of genius with fiiitable 

 rewards. With the profits of the folio volume of prints 

 above mentioned, he was enabled to pay very liberally the 

 bell artilis of his time, and thus prefented the world with 

 Engliflt engravings from the works of the greatell mailers. 

 The encouragement that he experienced from the public way 

 equal to the fpirit and patriotifm of his undertaking, and foon 

 laid the foundation of an ample fortune. He ufed to oLftrve, 

 that he believed the book we have alluded to was the firtt 

 that ever made a lord mayor of London ; and that: when the 

 fmallnefs of the work was compared with what had foliowed, 

 it would imprefs all young men with the truth of what he had 

 often held out to them, " that iiidullry, patience, and per- 

 feverance, if united to moderate talervts, are certain to fur- 

 mount all difficulties." Mr. Boydell, though he never him- 

 felf made any great progrels as an engraver, was certainly 

 the greatell encouiager of the art that this country ever 

 knew. Englilh engravings, which were before confidercd 

 as extremely inferior to thofe of foreign nations, began from 

 that time to.be highly prized ; and ihe exportation of them 

 foon became a valuable article of conunerce. On the jth of 

 Augull, 1782, Mr. Boydell v»as chofen alderman of Lon- 

 don, for the ward of Cheap, in the room of alderman 

 Cricliton, deceafcd. 



Having been fo fucccfsful in promoting the art of engrav- 

 ing in this country, he rtfolved to dired his next efforts to 

 the cltahlillimg of an Englilh fchool of hiilorical painting ; 

 and julUy conceiving that no fubjed could be more appro* 

 priate for fuch a national attempt, than England's infpired 

 poet, and great painter of nature, Shakfpeare, he projeded, 

 andjull lived to fee com])leted, a moll Iplendid edition of 

 the works of that author, ilhidratcd by engravings from 

 paintings of the firll artilis that the country could furnifhi 

 and of which the expence was prodigious. Thcfc paintings 

 afterwards formed what was termed " The Sliakfpeare Gat 

 lery," in Pall Mall ; and we believe there are few indivi- 

 duals, pofTcired of the leall talte, or even curiofity, wha 

 have not infpeded and been delighted by them. 



In the year 1790 Mr. Boydell was chofen lord mayor of 

 London ; an office, of which he difeharged the duties and 

 the honours with a diligence, uprlglitnefs, and liberality, 

 that may be equalled, but will rarely be exceeded. 



Alter having expended, in his favourite plan of advanc- 

 ing the fine arts in England, no lets a fum than 550,000!. 

 this worthy and venerable eharaiiter was neccfiltated, by the 

 floppage of his foreign trade during a dozen ) ears of war, 

 to apply to parliament, in the beginning cf ii>o4, tor per- 

 mifTion to dil'pofe of the Shakl'pcare gallery, and his other 

 colledions of pidures and pnuls, by way of lottery. His 

 letter to fir John William Anderfon, bart. on the occafion 

 of his introducing a petition for that purpol'e to the houfe 

 of commons, is preferved in moll of the rcfpedable periodi- 

 cal 



