DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.70302#0218
190 LIFE OF GEORGE MORLANIk
talents, which, if prudently applied, might have raised
him to affluence and distinction, such was the unfortunate
bent of his disposition, that he associated only with the
meanest of mankind, and a life of alternate extravagance
and distress was terminated by his death in a spunging-
house.
George Morland was born in the year 1764. His fa-
ther was a portrait painter in crayons ; and his talents,
though respectable, were not of the first order. In early
life he had made a considerable figure, but having lost
much property by engaging in schemes not conducted
with prudence, he retired from the world in disgust, and
educated his family in that obscurity to which the narrow-
ness of his circumstances confined him. Whethei- George,
in his infancy, manifested any predilection for the art,
or whether the practice of it was forced upon him by his
father, we know not; but it is certain, that in the exhibi-
tion of the Society of Artists, to which his father belonged,
were shewn drawings by his son, when only four, five, and
six years old, which would have done credit to youths who
were learning the art as a profession. From this time his
father obliged him to study without intermission the prac-
tice of every department of the art.
He was at this period confined to an upper room, copy-
ing drawings or pictures, and drawing from plaister casts.
Being almost entirely restricted from society, all the op-
portunities he had for amusement were obtained by
stealth, and his associates were a few boys in the neigh-
bourhood. The means of enjoyment were obtained by
such close application to his business as to produce a few-
drawings or pictures more than his father imagined he
could complete in a given time. These he lowered by a
string from the window of his apartment to his youthful
companions, by whom they were converted into money,
which they spent in common when opportunities offered.
In •
talents, which, if prudently applied, might have raised
him to affluence and distinction, such was the unfortunate
bent of his disposition, that he associated only with the
meanest of mankind, and a life of alternate extravagance
and distress was terminated by his death in a spunging-
house.
George Morland was born in the year 1764. His fa-
ther was a portrait painter in crayons ; and his talents,
though respectable, were not of the first order. In early
life he had made a considerable figure, but having lost
much property by engaging in schemes not conducted
with prudence, he retired from the world in disgust, and
educated his family in that obscurity to which the narrow-
ness of his circumstances confined him. Whethei- George,
in his infancy, manifested any predilection for the art,
or whether the practice of it was forced upon him by his
father, we know not; but it is certain, that in the exhibi-
tion of the Society of Artists, to which his father belonged,
were shewn drawings by his son, when only four, five, and
six years old, which would have done credit to youths who
were learning the art as a profession. From this time his
father obliged him to study without intermission the prac-
tice of every department of the art.
He was at this period confined to an upper room, copy-
ing drawings or pictures, and drawing from plaister casts.
Being almost entirely restricted from society, all the op-
portunities he had for amusement were obtained by
stealth, and his associates were a few boys in the neigh-
bourhood. The means of enjoyment were obtained by
such close application to his business as to produce a few-
drawings or pictures more than his father imagined he
could complete in a given time. These he lowered by a
string from the window of his apartment to his youthful
companions, by whom they were converted into money,
which they spent in common when opportunities offered.
In •