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political caricatures very pleasantly executed, when, happening to cast my eye side-long, I discovered a fellow operating on my phiz1 with all his might. Perceiving himself caught in the fact, he lowered his paper, and pretended to be, like myself and a number of others, looking only at the prints. I was just then in the humour to pay off this deception by another; so seeming, like him, to be wholly engrossed by a figure called Scotch Economy, well calculated to provoke the risible muscles, I threw mine into such contortions, and gave such sudden changes from one deformity to another, that had my painter etched any one of my features in its then position, the resemblance between my actual self and the copy would have been just as striking as I could desire it to be. The painter, however, at length perceived the stratagem, and smiling, as if he gave me credit for it, put his pencil into his pocket and went away. I own I enjoyed the joke, and have since practised it more than once, with no less success.

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1 William Cowper, the poet, had just the same dislike to have what he also calls his "phiz" taken. See his letter to John Newton, under the date July 7, 1781. "Whoever means to take my phiz will find himself sorely perplexed in seeking for a fit occasion. That I shall not give him one is certain; and if he steals one, he must be as cunning and quick-sighted a thief as Autolycus himself. His best course will be to draw a face, and call it mine, at a venture."

2 Pratt's Gleanings, vol. i. p. 226.

In spite of these odd devices the artists were not wholly unsuccessful. A number of sketches and engravings remain to testify to their success. There are at least two paintings of him. One of these, attributed to Mather Brown, an American portrait-painter, is now in the National Portrait Gallery. The second is in Howard's own house at Cardington. Nothing is known of its history, The pose of the head is exactly the same as in the picture in the National Portrait Gallery, but the colouring of the dress is different. In Mather Brown's portrait the coat is pepper-and-salt and the waistcoat red, but in the Cardington picture both are black. If the portrait in the National Portrait Gallery is really by Mather Brown he must have painted Howard twice, for in 1789 there was published by E. Scott a large engraving (reproduced here as the frontispiece) "from an original portrait by Mather Brown in the possession of Mr. William Ellis." This is said by a friend of Howard, in the Universal Magazine for 1790, to be "really like him, much more so than any other I have seen." It is a three-quarters-length portrait, whereas that in the National Portrait Gallery represents only the head and bust; but otherwise the two are identical. It appears, then, that the last mentioned is a version on a smaller scale of the original picture from which Scott's engraving was taken; and it is probable that the

head in the Cardington portrait was also taken from it, or from an engraving of it.1

Besides these two paintings there exist a number of sketches and engravings of Howard, all of them in profile, as is natural, since the artists had to take him unawares. The following

are those known to me :

1. A Drawing from life, by T. Holloway (“T. Holloway, ad vivum delin. et sculp.") This has also been engraved by Freeman for Brown's Life. It is perhaps the best known of Howard's portraits, having been reproduced both in Field's Life, and also in his Correspondence of John Howard. The original drawing was apparently in the possession of Mrs. Prole, Howard's faithful servant, and the engraving was made specially for Brown's Life, as was also that of the second Mrs. Howard, from an original miniature, which Howard himself had given to Mrs. Prole.2

2. Very similar, but with the face turned to the left instead of the right, is the engraving

1 In the Universal Magazine for April 1790, there is an engraving of the head and bust by T. Cook, corresponding very closely with the painting in the National Portrait Gallery, but it is said to be "taken from a large print, engraved by Mr. Edmund Scott, from an original painting in the possession of Mr. William Ellis." This "large print " is of course that which is here reproduced as the frontispiece.

2 See Brown's Life, pp. xix. and 40.

given in Aikin's View. It was "sketched by an artist in London and engraved in London," and Aikin, who knew Howard well, speaks of it as

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a most resembling likeness. It is somewhat of a caricature, but has very exactly the expression of his countenance when in a very serious attentive mood." 1

3. A Pencil Sketch, now in the vestry of the Howard Chapel at Bedford, taken by stealth as he sat in church. This is admirably reproduced in Mr. Scullard's lecture, John Howard, and (not so well) in Ellis's Men with a Mission: John Howard. I have not been able to ascertain whether the sketch is that alluded to in the Gentleman's Magazine for 1790, which speaks of a print of "the benevolent Howard, done from an original sketch taken by stealth as he sat in church, published by W. Allen, Dame Street, Dublin." 2

4. The Gentleman's Magazine for 1790 also gives a print of a pencilled likeness (with hat on), "taken from nature, March 1788," of which the writer of a letter signed Hibernensis says: "I pledge myself it was drawn from the life (unknown to Mr. Howard) while at my house by a young but ingenious artist." 3

1 Aikin's View, etc., p. 209.

2 The Gentleman's Magazine, 1790, part 1. p. 369.

3 Ib.

5. Medallion Portrait in the European Magazine for 1790. T. Prattent, sculp."

6. Full-length Figure, prefixed to Anecdotes of the Life and Character of John Howard, Esq., F.R.S., written by a Gentleman, 1790." The portrait was "sketched with a pencil from life by a lady who resided some months under the same roof with Mr. Howard previous to his last expedition."

7. Full-length Figure, represented opening a prison door. This, like the last-mentioned portrait, is given in a small book published in London a few weeks after Howard's death.

8. Seated Figure, in three-cornered hat.1 Howard is described, by one who knew him, as "about the middle size, stout and well made, dark complexion, with dark quick eyes and aquiline nose; "2 while a daughter of Dr. Aikin, writing many years later from her recollections, speaks of him as a small man, brisk in his movements, with a lively eye, and expressive counten"3 His "red waistcoat" (which appears in Mather Brown's portrait), and "pepper-and-salt coat" lingered in the memory of another who had seen him in his childhood.4 It was possibly

ance.

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1 Two plaster casts of Howard's face were taken after his death by order of Prince Potemkin, who retained one himself, and gave the other to Thomasson, from whom it was purchased by Mr. Whitbread. It has, however, long since disappeared, and nothing is known of it at present.

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2 Stoughton's John Howard, p. 288, 3 Ib. p. 307. Ib. p. 289.

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