The circumstances of this picture having escaped the notice of the
biographer of Hogarth is by no means singular. Mr. Halls, one of the
magistrates at Bow-street, has, among other choice specimens by Hogarth,
the lost picture of the Harlot's Progress; the subject telling her
fortune by the tea-grounds in her cup, admirably characteristic of the
artist and his story. In my own collection I have the original picture
of the Fish-Women of Calais, with a view of the market-place, painted
on the spot, and as little known as the others to which I have alluded.
There are, no doubt, many other equally clever performances of Hogarth's
prolific pencil which are not generally known to the public, or have not
yet been engraved. ~350~~in the same neighbourhood, in Russel-court, at
the old Cheshire Cheese, the inimitable but dissolute Tom Brown wrote
many of his cleverest essays. Then too commenced the midnight revelries
and notoriety of the Cider Cellar, in Maiden-lane, when Sim Sloper, Bob
Washington, Jemmy Tas well, Totty Wright, and Harry Hatzell, led the way
for a whole regiment more of frolic-making beings who, like Falstaff,
were not only, witty themselves, but the cause of keeping it alive in
others: to these succeeded Porson the Grecian, Captain Thompson, Tom
Hewerdine, Sir John Moore, Mr.
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