3796.) 
very time holds the place under govern- 
ment which belonged to his father; and 
the other two were daughters. Our 
painter caught a love for the art, which 
he afterwards profefied with fo much 
honour to himfclf, from two very re- 
markable circumitances : — Before his 
‘eyes were coniiantly fome drawings, by 
an uncle or the fame name, who, though 
he.never rofe above mediocrity, has yet 
left behind him fome works which will 
preferve his name from oblivion, par- 
ticularly the altar-piece at Aylefbury 
church (a), and the portraits of Pat 
Alexander, and of an old woodman in 
that neighbourhood. As this man was 
an itinerant, his works are ftill to be fo 
feen in feveral parts of Great Britain, 
particularly in Yorkfhire. 
Nor was the young defigner at a 
lofs for objects on which to indulge his 
{portive fancy; for the peculiar fituaticn 
in which he was placed, occafioned him 
to obferve the proceedings of that fero- 
cious and cunning tribe of men, the fmug- 
glers, and led him to be very converfant 
with the wild fcenes of nature, and the 
terrific grandeur of the fea, in watching 
their artful proceedings, that his parent 
might beft purfue thofe meafures which 
the duty of his office called upon him to 
fulfil. Relative affection might be faid 
to have produced the defire, and local 
circumftances to form the peculiar tafte, 
of one who, every where but in_ his 
paintings, poffeffed mildnefs and urba- 
nity of manners in the higheft degree. 
Was nature, indeed, mre» liftened to 
than it is in the choice of a profeilion, 
we fhould not fo often have occafion to 
lament that dulnefs has admittance where 
genius alone fhould be found, and that 
Genius herfelf had miftaken her aim, in 
choofing that avocation which too much 
tended to cramp her powers and clip her 
wings. From education young Morti- 
mer received no great advantages, as. it 
was merely that which his own, then 
obfcure, village afforded; but, however, 
from being frequent!'y in company with 
men of talents, he acquired a- greater 
Knowledge of che Poets than is generally 
poffeffed by perfons whole purfuits do not 
‘abfolutely oblige them to live on the fruits 
of their literary ftock. 
Contrary to the pernicious maxims 
which the moft cautious parents gene- 
rally.adopt, in. didtating to their chil- 
—————— TT eT Tee eS? 
(2) The fubjeét was the Lord’s Supper. 
Mortimer intended to haye retouched it, if he 
|, had furvived, 
Life of Mortimer, the Painter. 
23 
dren the walk of life in which they 
fhould tread, they who had the happi- 
neis of calling this child their own, fan~ 
ned the rifing dame, and placed him for 
three years with Mr. Hudfon, giving a 
premium of 1ool. for that purpofe ; hav- 
ing. taken great delight in looking at 
thofe drawings whica he had produced 
from time to time in copy-books, which 
they procured him for that purpofe, {e- 
veral of which are in the pofleflion of 
Knight C. of Shropfhire. At Mr. Huds 
fon’s, he fucceeded Sir Jofhua Rey- 
nolds, and had for his fellow pupil Mr. 
Wright, of Derby; names which can 
never be mentioned without exciting 
agreeable emotions. Whilft he was here, 
and for a confiderable time afterwards, 
he attended the Duke of Richmund’s 
gallery (6), which was, indeed, his 
{chool, and where his affiduity, his ex- 
ertions, and his opening powers were {fe 
much noticed by Cipriani, and the late 
Mr. Mofer, that they reprefented him 
fo favourably to the illuftrious nobleman, 
whofe liberal {cheme might be faid greatly 
to have contributed to the encourage- 
ment of young artifts (who, previous to 
that period, laboured under peculiar dif- 
couragements, from which they are now 
in fome meafure freed) that he wifhed 
very much to have retained him in his 
houfe, which offer he rejeéted on fome 
account or other. : 
When the artifts exhibited their pic- 
tures at Spring Gardens, he contended 
the palm with Hayman, who might have 
been ftyled the father of hittoric painting, | 
in England, and bore it away, which 
was no {mall honour, when: fuch were 
the competitors. The fubjeét was the 
Converfion of the Britons by St. Paul, 
and is now placed over the altar at the 
charch of Chipping- Wycombe, for which 
purpole it was retouched, in 1778, having 
been previoufly given by Dr. Bates, then 
of Miffenden, but now of Red-Lion 
Square, to whofe liberal communications 
the writer of this article is greatly in- 
debted, and: whofe heart wil! ever feel the 
manner in which that obligation, as well 
as many others, was conferred, / 
Abdout this time, Mr. Mortimer re- 
fided at one Maronne’s, a -boukfeller, 
under the Piazzas in Covent-Garden, 
where he contraéted an intimacy with 
feveral that were diftinguifhed for the 
livelinefs of their parts, rather than 
from any folid: properties which they 

(4) Sce anote of Mr. Hayley, in his Art of 
Painting, p. 94. mee 
/ 3 had 
