654 
Mr. Hewuerr’s Sermon descants 
more particularly on the private virtues 
of-our venerable Sovereign. 
Five Sermons -by Mr. Brace, before 
the Lord Mayor and Cor poration of Lon- 
don, upon different occasions, have been 
printed for “private _ circulation, only. 
‘They are animated, and deserve certain- 
ly to be known in a more~extended 
circle than that of the audience to whom 
they were addressed. 
| BIOGRAPHY. 
In this department of our retrospect 
we have but two works to notice of pri- 
mary importance: and one of them we 
shall reserve tor a more ample review in 
another Supplement. . 
“ The Lite of Lord Nelson,” by the 
Rey. J.S.CLrarke and Joun M‘Antuvn, 
Esq, is certainly a splendid book: and 
has its attractions not only for general 
7 
“readers, but for the lovers of embellish: - 
ment. For the present we shall only 
say, that the-collection which it exhibits 
of Lord Nelson’s letters. is invaluable: 
but we could have wished to have seen 
the thread of his history less omnes 
anterrupted.. 
. To do justice to Mr. Hayxey’s Tite 
af Romney, ian abridged analysis, here, 
would be impossible... They who recol- 
lect the life and letters of Cowper, may 
term an adequate idea of what the pre- 
sent work is hkely to-afierd them, 
George Romney it appears was born 
at Dalton, near Furness, in Lancashire, 
in 1734, “Aaerdetit seems to have given 
the bias to his charac. er as an artist so 
sarly as the.age of twelve; when he de- 
lineated the teatures of a stranger at 
church with an aceuracy which astonish- 
ed all his friends: In his fifteenth year 
he was introdaced to, or rather patro- 
sized by,a Mr. Walliameon, who, to“a 
fondness for. general science, added a 
ridiculous attachment to - alchemy; and 
-whese moral, as well as his intellectual - 
character, appears to have been unfortu- 
- nately’ a favourite with Romney. Rem 
acy received lessons in his art, and grew 
ered wally to esteem the man. 
4 ek <i at Hey with whom Rom- 
auey was afterwards placed at Lancaster, 
suggested the idea: to his father of mak+~ 
ing ‘him a painter: when he became the 
scholar of anot ther ‘eccentric character. 
Ye assisted th sinaster ip an. -elopement ; : 
caught. a fever by: his exertions; - and 
precipitately married a. young woman, 
who had attended him in his iliness, 
Oct. 14, 4756. + : 
ace i Atasecon had ices ded his 
Retrospect of Domestic Literature— Biograph y 
wife, because her unlucky importunity 
had occasioned an alchemical experi- 
ment not only to fail, but to blow up his 
furnace. ‘The example was fresh in 
Romney’s mind, and he desérted> his 
wife, because he: thought a partner and 
two »children were | likely to .inconve- 
nience thé excrtions‘of an artist who felt 
ambitious of nothing but standing high 
in his profession, . 
Having given his wife seventy, out nf 
a hundred ‘pounds which he had gained 
by his exertions, he quitted her for the 
metropolis; and never saw her again till 
a year or two before his death. ‘adapta 
‘In 1762 he arrived in London, where 
he became acquaintéd with Mr. Daniel 
Braithwaite of the Post-ottice; to whose. 
friendly directions he was considerably af 
indebted for success in portrait paint- 
ing. In 1763 he gained a prize at the 
Society of Arts. In 1764 he visited the 
continent for a few weeks only; and. in 
1765, obtained a second prize from the 
Society of Arts. From the early part. 
of 1773 to the summer of 1775, he stu- 
died chiefly at Rome: and the year 
after lis return, aéquired the ——— 
of Mr. Hayley. 
He had now taken a house int Caven- 
dish-square ; but even at this time he, 
shewed symptoms of that excessive sensi- 
bility which finally terminated in mental 
19 rangement. He labouted daily under 
the fearful apprehension of not finding 
business sutiicient to support him. ~ 
From this period Mr. Hayley writes 
from personal knowledge of the mam, 
and his narrative beconies proportion- 
ately more interesting. It is so diver- 
sitied with the etlusions’ of friendship, 
anecdotes of the artist, and annals of his 
art, that instead of giving any thing like 
abridgement, we can only recommend 
the ‘perusal of the whole to our readers. 
Romney was now in the full tide of 
his success; and is ‘said in one year ye 
1785, to have cleared no less than 3635 
Among the friends whom genius ap- 
pears to have attached to him, was Lord 
Thurlow. 
T ‘he subsequent particulars at Roms 
‘ey’s professional history, it may perlaps 
be unnecessary to allude to here. 
In 1798 he shewed ‘symptoms of decay 
in his powers as an artist. In 1799 he 
retired to Kendal, where he found his 
wife still exemplarily attentive: and died 
Noy, 15th, 1802.° ol | 
The volume,is: accompanied by: no less” 
thar twelve engravings, irc. executed, 
<b 
c Lassi- 
4 
