Mr. Howard found his prospects delusive. He therefore turned his ambition into another channel: where there were no competitors, and his praise would thus be undivided. Before he had aspired to a seat in the senate, he had served the office of high-sheriff for the county of Bedford; which, as he emphatically observes, "brought the distress of prisoners more immediately under his notice;" and this, reviving the idea of his own captivity, led him to form the benevolent design of visiting all the prisons, and places of confinement, throughout England, for the celestial purpose of alleviating the miseries of the sufferers, and meliorating their condition. This project, which gave full latitude to the philanthropy of his heart, he accomplished with indefatigable zeal. Being examined before the house of commons on the subject of prisons, he received their thanks for his exertions; and had the happiness to find that his voluntary labours had not been wholly in vain, as they excited the attention of the legislature, and were in some measure productive of the benefits proposed by him.

To a man of Mr. Howard's enthusiasm, an incentive to do good was scarcely necessary: but the encouragement which he received operated like a cordial on his mind; and having repeatedly inspected the receptacles of crime, of poverty, and misery, throughout Great Britain and Ireland, he extended his views to foreign countries. With this design, so beautifully pourtrayed in the poetical lines prefixed to the present article, he travelled three times through France, four times through Germany, five times through Holland, twice through Italy, once through Spain, and Portugal, and also through Denmark, Sweden, Russia, Poland, and part of Turkey. These excursions occupied, with some short intervals of rest at home, the period of twelve years; and never before was such a considerable portion of an individual's life applied to a more benevolent and laudable purpose,

without any motive of interest or pleasure except the virtuous satisfaction of serving his fellow-creatures.

His States of the Prisons in England and Wales, with Preliminary Observations, and an Account of some Foreign Prisons, was first published in 1777; and in Appendixes he continued his remarks on the countries which he visited in succession. Such an aggregate of private misery, of insensibility in jailers, and neglect or cruelty in magidrates, was never before exhibited to the commiseration or abhorrence of mankind. It has been said that his personal safety was endangered in France, by the spirit with which he exposed its despotism; but later inquiries shew, that even the most active ministers of arbitrary power were impressed with a reverential regard for the character of the man, and never had it in contemplation to interrupt him in his laudable pursuits.

By the death of his sister unmarried, he gained a liberal accession of fortune; which, in his own opinion, could not be spent to a better purpose than in the relief of poignant misery, shut up from every eye except that of the most active benevolence. Though the selfish and uncharitable have attempted to blame the profusion of his bounty, yet when it is considered that his only son was abundantly provided for, it is impossible to fix any charge of this nature on Mr. Howard, which will not recoil on his detractors. But the purest conduct must not expect to escape the tongue of malice, for superior excellence is the butt at which obloquy constantly aims its darts.

While engaged on one of his last peregrinations of love and charity to the human race, his singular worth had made such an impression on the public mind, that a liberal subscription was opened to defray the expense of erecting a statue to his honour while yet alive. The principles of Howard were abhorrent to ostentation; his services to mankind were not baits for praise. When he heard of this scheme, "Have I not," said he, “one

friend in England who would put a stop to such a proceeding?" The business was accordingly dropped: but to the credit of the subscribers, the mouey collected was principally applied to the relief of captive indigence and misfortune.

An Account of the principal Lazarettos in Europe, with various papers relative to the plague, and further observations on prisons and hospitals, made its appearance in 1789. In this publication Mr. Howard announced his intention of again quitting his country, for the purpose of revisiting Russia, Turkey, and some countries of the East. "I am not insensible," observes he, "of the dangers that must attend such a journey. Trusting however in the protection of that kind Providence which has hitherto preserved me, I calmly and cheerfully commit myself to the disposal of unerring wisdom. Should it please God to cut off my life in the prosecution of this design, let not my conduct be uncandidly imputed to rashness or enthusiasm: but to a serious deliberate conviction that I am pursuing the path of duty; and to a sincere desire of being made an instrument of more extensive usefulness to my fellow-creatures, than could be expected in the narrow cirele of retired life." The event which his mind seemed to presage, and for which he had thus prepared himself by deprecating invidious reflections, actually took place. Having spent some time at Cherson, a new Russian settlement, where the malignity of disease had cut off thousands of that nation, as much from ignorance and neglect as from the natural insalubrity of the place, his benevolence prompted him to visit a young lady who lay dangerously ill of an epidemic fever, in order to administer some medicine for her relief; when he caught the distemper, and soon became the victim of his own humanity. Prince Potemkin, hearing of his illness, sent his own physician to attend him; but all in vain: the days of his life were numbered; the measure of his labours was complete: and he died after a short confine

ment.

He was buried in the garden of a French gentleman in the neighbourhood; and even in that barbarous country his grave was not unwatered by a tear. In Britain his death was heard of with the sincerest regret ? it was announced in the London Gazette, a compliment which no private subject ever received before; and all ranks were eager to testify their regard to the memory of a.man who had merited so well of human nature in general, and who will ever be an ornament to the country that produced him.

The abstemiousness of Mr. Howard was very great; and to this cause the prolongation of his life amidst infection and disease, may in a great measure be ascribed.' He totally avoided the use of animal food; and at one time lived almost wholly on potatoes; at another, on tea, bread, and butter. No convivial invitations, however honourable, were accepted by him; his only delight consisted in visiting the abodes of misery, that he might be the happy instrument of alleviating it.

His monument in St. Paul's cathedral is at once a proof of national genius and national gratitude. The inscription tells us, with truth, "that he trod an open but unfrequented path to immortality, in the ardent and unremitted exercise of Christian charity;" and concludes, "May this tribute to his fame excite an emulation of his truly honourable actions!"

SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS.

Born 1723.--Died 1792.

From 9th George I., to 32d George III. PAINTING may be considered as the most transitory. and confined of the imitative arts, if we except the theatrical; for colours will fade and canvass will perish, and the works of the same artist cannot be generally known. On the other hand, it may certainly be pronounced the

most delightful. The brilliancy of colouring, the symmetry of form, the grouping of figures, the expression of character, and the whole effect instantaneously produced by a picture of excellence, create a sensation which in point of vividness and force cannot be equalled by any other effort of human genius. Yet this noble art is one of those attainments in which England was latest to prefer her claims. The productions of Apelles and the other celebrated painters of remote antiquity, have long since sunk under the destroying hand of Time, and perhaps even owe a considerable portion of their traditional renown to the obscurity which thus envelops them. The almost divine masterpieces which Italy has produced in later periods, and which still exist to attest their own excellence, long seemed to set competition at defiance, and inspired in every other nation admiration only and despondency, without inciting even the commencement of a course of emulation. But in our own country, the present auspicious reign has established a new era in the liberal arts; and to whatever eminence we may ultimately attain in that of painting, the subject of the present article may with justice claim incomparably the highest rank among the founders of the British school.

The father of sir Joshua Reynolds was master of the grammar-school at Plympton in Devonshire, which situation afforded him only a very moderate subsistence; and as he was destitute of any ecclesiastical preferment, would have made him very unable to provide for a family of eleven children, if five of them had not died in their infancy. Joshua, the seventh child, was born at that place, July 16, 1723, and was instructed in the classics under his father; who, however, being himself fond of drawing, encouraged the inclination his son very early displayed for the art in which he afterwards became so illustrious. The young painter's first attempts were made in copying several little things done by two of his elder,