not long afterwards the whole-length portrait which he painted of his friend and patron, Admiral Keppel, exhibited such powers, that he was not only universally acknowledged to be at the head of his profession, but to be the greatest painter that England had seen since Vandyck. The whole interval between the time of Charles the First, and the conclusion of the reign of George the Second, though distinguished by the performances of Lely, Riley, and Kneller, seemed to be annihilated ; and the only question was, whether the new painter, or Vandyck, were the more excellent. For several years before the period we are now speaking of, the painters of portraits contented themselves with exhibiting as correct a resemblance as they could; but seem not to have thought, or had not the power, of enlivening the canvas by giving a

15 On his return from Italy he hired a large house in port-street, now divided into two houses. Here he tinued to dw the year 1761, when he removed Leicester."

kind of historick air to their pictures. Mr. Reynolds very soon saw how much animation might be obtained by deviating from the insipid manner of his immediate predecessors; 16 hence in many of his portraits, particularly when combined in family-groups, we find much of the variety and spirit of a higher species of art. Instead of confining himself to mere likeness, in which however he was eminently happy, he dived, as it were, into the minds, and habits, and manners, of those who sat to him ;" and accordingly the majority of his portraits are so

16 Dahl, Richardson, Jervas, Thornhill, Hudson, Slaughter, &c.

17 The various portraits of Mr. Garrick, those of Dr. Johnson, Dr. Robinson Archbishop of Armagh, Lord Camden, Dr Goldsmith, Mr. Burke, Mr. Mason, Mr. Foote, Mr. Sterne, Mr. Fox, Mr. Sheridan, Mr. Gibbon, Dr. Markham Archbishop of York, Lord Mansfield, Lord Thurlow, Lord Heathfield, the execrable Duke of Orleans, Lord Richard Cavendish, Mr. Andrew Stewart, Mr. Pott, Mr. Boswell, Mr. Windham, and Mr. Cholmondeley, are eminent instances of the truth of this observation.

appropriated and characteristick, that the many illustrious persons whom he has delineated, will be almost as well known to posterity, as if they had seen and conversed with them.

Very soon after his return from Italy, his acquaintance with Dr. Johnson commenced; and their intimacy continued uninterrupted to the time of Johnson's death. Happening to meet with the Life of Savage in Devonshire, which, though published some years before, was then new to him, he began to read it (as Mr. Boswell has informed us) "while he was standing with his arm leaning against a chimney-piece. It seized his attention so strongly, that, not being able to lay down the book till he had finished it, when he attempted to move, he found his arm totally benumbed."8. Being then unacquainted with the author, he must naturally have had a strong desire to see and converse

18 Life of Dr. Samuel Johnson, i. 144.

with that extraordinary man; and, as the

same writer relates, he about this time was introduced to him. "When Johnson lived in Castle-Street, Cavendish-Square, he used. frequently to visit two ladies who lived opposite to him; [Mr. Reynolds ;]" Miss Cetterells, daughters of Admiral Cotterell, Reynolds used also to visit there, and thus they met. Mr. Reynolds, as I have observed above, had, from the first reading of his Life of Savage, conceived a very high admiration of Johnson's powers of writing. His conversation no less delighted him, and he cultivated his acquaintance with the laudable zeal of one who was ambitious of general improvement. Sir Joshua indeed was lucky enough at their very first meeting to make a remark, which was so much above the common-place style of conversation, that Johnson at once perceived that Reynolds had the habit of thinking for himself. The ladies were regretting the death of a friend, to

19 In Newport-street.

whom they owed great obligations; upon which Reynolds observed,-" You have, however, the comfort of being relieved from the burden of gratitude." They were shocked a little at this alleviating suggestion, as too selfish; but Johnson defended it in his clear and forcible manner, and was much pleased with the mind, the fair view of human nature, which it exhibited, like some of the Reflections of Rochefoucault. The consequence was, that he went home with Reynolds, and supped with him.

"Sir Joshua told me a pleasant characteristical anecdote of Johnson, about the time of their first acquaintance. When they were one evening together at the Miss Cotterells," the then Duchess of Argyle and another lady of high rank, came in. Johnson, thinking that the Miss Cotterells were too much engrossed by them, and that he and his friend were neglected, as low company of whom they were somewhat ashamed,