
1796.] 
nefs of fome beloved female, or fome dif- 
tinguifhed character; but neither the 
- mythologift, poet, or hiftorian, thought 
of calling in the aid of Englifh painters. 
Through all thefe difficulties Mr. Wor- 
lidge paffed, with here and there a pa- 
tron. Had he, indeed, thought proper 
to confine himfelf to portraits, he would 
have been more fuccefsful than any fince 
his time. The very countenance, the 
air, and every minute circumftance of 
the attire, were taken off upon his can- 
vafs with the utmoft exaétnefs. Who 
_ could ever look upon his Charles XIIth, 
of Sweden, without reading the charac- 
ter of that refolute and hardy monarch ? 
Bat his beft, becaufe drawn from na- 
ture, were himfelf and his wife, in cray- 
ons; a full length of her in oil. Mr. Afh- 
ley *, his wife and fon, and a Mrs. Gay- 
‘wood, their bar-keeper. Thefe laft were 
wrought by the pencil of gratitude, for - 
he was greatly indebted to Mr. Afhley, 
for various fervices he rendered him. 
The dining-room of that gentleman was 
filled with feveral of his beft pictures, 
and might, indeed, without impropri- 
ety, have been called his exhibition; for 
- he was allowed, whenever he had com- 
pleted any great defign, to hang it up 
there for public infpeétion, which fre- 
quently anfwered the end. I remember, 
among others, feeing a Chrift taking 
down from the Crofs. But to this walk, 
however, our defigner could not confine 
himfelf, for his inventive faculty was 
€ver at work, which brought forth thofe 
etchings that have been fo juftly admir- 
ed, and were in his day quite unequalled. 
re 
* He was a native of Northampton, and the 
ichool-fellow of the very learned Dr. Gill. He 
fettled in London as a wholefale dealer in 
cheefe ; but this occupation not fuiting his 
turn, he opened a houfe on Ludgate Hill, for 
felling punch at a reduced price. which would 
have been greatly produétive, had he not con- 
trated a tafte for litigation, which involyed 
him in many tedious and expenfive law-fuits. 
He married, in the year 1720, a very worthy 
woman, the daughter of a Mr. Jofeph Harris, 
a refpectable weaver in Spitalfields, who laid 
‘the firft ftone of Spitalfields church, being 
churchwarden, in 1723. He was an intelli. 
‘gent cheerful man, extremely well verfed in 
the hiftory and laws of his country, and looked 
upon by thofe that knew him belt to be inti- 
mately acquainted with every remarkable 
franfation in the Hiftory of London, His 
houfe was reforted to by feveral perfons emi- 
nent for their parts, as Hefiod Cooke, Dr. 
Nugent, and Hogarth, &c. Dryden Leach, 
the celebrated printer, once rode for him; He 
ded in 774, univerfally regretted, | 
Montuix Mac. No. qt, 
Original Biography.—Worlidge. 
217 
It was not always gain that induced 
him to employ his taients; for he has 
been known, with a poker, to defign 
heads of various forts with inimitable 
fkill. Several of thefe were to be feen, 
not long fince, in a room at the Lon- 
don Punch-Houfe, on Ludgate Hill. He 
feems, indeed, to have been far from an 
idle man, becaufe innumerable were the 
engravings from his defigns; as the ftae 
tue of Cicero, dedicated to lord Pom- 
fret, and feveral copies from Rembrandt. 
There was hardly, indeed, any perfon 
of notoriety, who efraped his pencil; 
as Mary Squires, Elizabeth Canning, 
and the celebrated Kitty Fifher. But, 
probably, there was no fingle picture 
which has fuch powers of genius dif- 
played in it as a View of the Theatre at 
Oxford, at the Inftallation of the Earl of 
Weftmorland. Innumerable are the fi- 
gures in it; yet hardly two alike. For 
my own part, I gaze upon it frequently, 
and always with frefh pleafure. The 
building itfelf is nicely hit off; every 
one feems in his proper place; and 
though there is a great multitude, there 
is no confufion. But the fingularity of 
it is, that in the groupe belew, he has 
contrived to introduce himfelf looking 
at the reft, and has given himfelf fo 
much room, that he appears to very great 
advantage. He might be pardoned for 
his vanity in introducing it, becaufe he 
was a handfome lufty man, with a coun- 
tenance indicating cheerfulnefs and viva- 
city. He was always faid to be a very 
agreeable companion. JI remember be- 
ing introduced to him when I was a boy, 
and much gratified with the notice he 
took of me, having even then conceived 
very highly of his powers, his perform- 
ances being fo frequently feen by me. 
The mere portrait did not{uffice for him, 
when he was left to himfelf. One of his 
produétions is the figure of a man in his 
waificoat, in a diftillery, managing the 
liquors, with all the proper utenfils abeut 
him, and a full view of the place. It 
was done for one Corbey, a fervant 
(though, as it afterwards proved, not a 
grateful one) of his friend Mr. Afhley. 
Having refided in Covent Garden for 
fome years, he removed to a houfe in 
Great Queen Strect, Lincoln’s Inn 
Fields, which had been built by Inigo 
Jones, and was then the property of the 
celebrated Carteret Webb, efq. whofe 
widow afterwards married capt, Beaver, 
of Farnham, in Surrey, who had a bro- 
ther, a brave man, killed at the Hae 
yanna. Here was gompleted a defign, 
Eg which 
