170 GAINSBOROUGH. 
may fatisfy gainfayers, when fuddcnly, and befides expec- 
tation, they require the fame at oiir hands. Hooker. 
GAINS'BOROUGH, a large and populous commer¬ 
cial town of Lincolnfhire, fituated on the eadern bank of 
the Trent, which river parts it from the county of Not¬ 
tingham. It is a very ancient place, memorable in 868 
for the marriage of Alfred the Great with Ethelrid the 
daughter of an alderman of the Ganii. Here Swein, the 
Danifh king, was flabbed, of which wound he died three 
days after in great agony. His fon Canute was by the 
Saxon king Ethelred driven from hence with great flaugh- 
ter to his fhips, which then lay in the Humber. About 
a mile from the totvn are feveral acres of ground near the 
caftle-hill, fuppofed to have been Danifli encampments ; 
and fouth-by-eaft five miles are veftiges of the ancient 
city of Sidnacefter, the fee of Eadulfus in the feventh cen¬ 
tury, before it was joined to Dorchefier and Lincoln. King 
Stephen created William de Rommara firfi: earl of Lin¬ 
coln, and gave him the caftle of Gainfborough. This 
place fufFered greatly in the civil wars. In July 1643, 
the earl of Kingfion, governor of the cafile, was taken 
by furprife by lord Willoughby of Parham, and, for his 
loyalty, hurried into a pinnace to be taken to Hull for 
fafety; but lord Cavendifl), in the warmth of zeal for 
the king’s caufe, ordered a drake to be fired at the veflel, 
with a view to retake the noble prifoner, which fatal (hot 
killed both the earl and his fervant. After this the earl 
of Newcafile came up and cannonaded the caftle, which 
obliged the Oliverians to capitulate. Lately in paving 
the ftreets the bones of many bodies were found, appa¬ 
rently buried where flain, being mingled together pro- 
raifeuoufty. And near a pilacecalled the Chapel-Staith, 
human bones of a prodigious magnitude have been dug 
up; and alfo in preparing the foundation for the new 
bridge, at the depth of twenty-one feet, a curious dag¬ 
ger was found, thought to be Danifli. 
The town has been lately very much improved ; the 
Inhabitants have re-built the church at their owm coft, 
and they may be faid to have completed that bufinefs 
with elegant fiinplicity. A6ts have likewife been ob¬ 
tained for paving, cleanfing, and lighting, the town, and 
for building a bridge at the fouth end of the town, over 
the Trent, whicli abounds with fifli. The commercial 
concerns of Gainfboiough are very confiderable, as tive 
inland trade by fmall craft from fo many different coun¬ 
ties, and indeed the whole navigation from the Severn, 
Merfey, See. to the Trent, all unite here. The towncon- 
lains about 5000 inhabitants, and has feveral good charity 
fchools. The market is on Tuefday; and the fairs, 
Commoijly called marts, hold nine days ; but at prefent 
Tuefday and Wednefday in Eafter-week, and the firft 
Tuefday and Wednefday next after the 20th of Odfober, 
are the principal days for bufinefs. Gainfborough is litu- 
ated in 53. 26. north latitude, and is diftant from 
London 14S miles, from Lincoln eighteen, and Newark 
twenty-five. About this place are thofe uncommon high 
tides, at the full and change, which are called the eager. 
The Trent brings up fhips of large burthen with the tide, 
though it is near forty miles from the Humber by water, 
and it is reckoned the moft flouriftiing town in the coun¬ 
ty. Gainfoorough gives title of earl to the noble family 
of Noel. 
GAINS'BOROUGH (Thomas), an eminent Englifli 
painter, born at Sudbury in 1727. As his father was a 
perfonin reduced circumftances, he received little advan¬ 
tage from education, and was in truth the pupil of his 
ow'ii genius. Drawing after nature was one of his earlieft 
propenfities, and his imitative powers were formed in his 
boyifh days. He was fent when very young to London 
for improvement and employment. There he praftifed 
modelling figures of animals, in which he attained great 
excellence. He alfo drew, ornaments for heads, under 
the iiiftruCdion of Gravelot the engraver, and painted 
fuiall landfc.apes for iale. At length he undertook por¬ 
trait, and by his iaduftry fupported himfelf without any 
aftiftance from his family. He married at nineteen, and 
took up his refidence at Ipfwich for fome years. Thence 
he removed to Bath, where he attained that high reputa¬ 
tion which accompanied him to his death. He fettled at 
London in 1774, and after.a fliort time engaged the notice 
of his majefty, of whom, with moft of the royal family, 
he made admired portraits. No other patronage was re¬ 
quired to raife him to the firft rank in his profeftion in 
point of bufinefs and emolument; but hisintrinfic merits 
have alfo rendered him an incerefting objedt among emi¬ 
nent artifts. His liberal contemporary, fir Jofiuia Rey¬ 
nolds, introduced a particular critique of hjs talents^ tn 
his 14th Academical Difeourfe, by faying, “ If ever this 
nation fliould produce genius fufticient to acquire to us 
the honourable diftindlion of an Englifh fchool, tjie name 
of Gainfborough will be tranfmitted to pofterity, in the 
hiftory of the art, among the very firft of that riling name.” 
Gainlborough indeed poireffed all the characters of ori. 
ginal genius. His talents for mufic were extraordinary, 
though marked with a capricious love of change in the 
inftruments on which he pradlifed. With very little 
knowledge of books, he wrote letters in a ftyle which 
might have been thought a clofe imitation of the manner 
of Sterne. His converfation was fprightiy and humorous, 
though confined in its topics, and he always ftievved an 
impatience of ordinary fubjedt.s, and interrupted them by 
fome fally of wit. He beftowed his money with great 
liberality, and was alive to all the emotions of a friendly 
and generous heart. 
As an artift, the merit of Gainfborough cannot be more 
ably or candidly appreciated than it has been by fir Jo- 
ftuia Reynolds. 1 mprovem.ent in his art was conftantly 
in his view, and he purfued it witli the entluifiafm of a 
true lover, not of a mercenary profelfor. His ftyle and 
manner were peculiarly his own, and he produced effeCts 
by means which no other painter employed. For many 
years he was in the habit of painting by night. This 
cuftom (fays fir Jofliua) is very improving to an artift. 
By candle-light, objedfs not only appear more beautiful,, 
but from there being in a greater breadth of light and ftia- 
dow, as well as having a greater breadth and uniformity 
of colour, nature appears in a higher ftyle; and even the 
flefti feems to take a higher and richer tone of colour. 
Judgment is to direef us in the ufe to be made of this 
method of ftudy ; but the method itfelf is advantageous. 
I have often imagined, that the two great colourifts, Ti¬ 
tian and Corregio, formed their high ideas of colouring 
from the effedls of objedls by this artificial light ; and 
whoever attentively ftudies the fir.ft and be'l manner of 
Guercino, will be convinced that he either painted by 
this light, or formed his manner on this conception. 
Gainfborough was alfo worthy of imitation in his manner 
of forming all the parts of his pidfure together; the whole 
going on at the fame time, in the fame manner as nature 
creates her works. Though this meth.od (obferves fir 
Joftuia) is not uncommon to thofe wlm have been regu¬ 
larly educated; yet probably it was fuggefted to him by 
his own natural fagacity. With refpedf to Mr. Gainl- 
borough’s love of his art, without which excellence can¬ 
not be attained, it was enthufiaftic. We certainly know, 
that his paftion was not the acquirement of riches, but ex. 
celleiice in his art; and to enjoy that honourable fame, 
which is fure to attend it. That he felt this ruling paf- 
fion ftrong in death (continues fir Jofniia), I myfelf was 
a witnefs. 
When fuch a man as .Gainlborough arrives to great 
fame, without the aftiftance even of an academical educa¬ 
tion, without travelling to Italy, or any of thofe prepar¬ 
atory Itudies which have been lb often recommended, he 
affords an inftance, how little fuch ftudies are necefl'ary ; 
fince fo great excellence may be acquired without them. 
This is an inference not warranted by the fuccefs of any 
individual’; and I truft it will not be thought that I wifii 
to make this ufe of it. It niuft be remembered that the 
ftyle of art which Gainlborough chofe, and in which he 
