but that himself could not be deceived."* I found it was of no use talking any more on the subject, so left him with this observation, that they were blind altogether. I have not since been able to see this picture, but judging from the print, I do not perceive any good has been done by the analization it underwent, by my late beloved master, Mr. Hammond, whose abilities in the art of repairing, was to the greatest perfection. It has since been said by Mr. Dunford to some of my friends, that he had made me a present of fifty pounds, but of which I have never received one shilling; I have never been inclined to dupe the world, as many have done in my situation of life, my object has ever been, to sell my pictures cheap; I have a wife and nine children to support, and had I the advantages which others have made by my works, I should not be the poor man I now am. I am, Sir, Your most obedient humble servant, No. 3, Little Cambridge Street, Hackney Road. EDWARD HOLDER. * Mr. Dunford has certainly been under a mistake as to this picture being an original Shakspeare, as well as in another, made by Holder, who has informed me, that as his skill was doubted, he converted a portrait of a clergyman, into an Oliver Cromwell, which Mr. Hilder, of Gray's Inn Lane, also witnessed being so made, and afterwards saw it in Mr. Dunford's window, to whom it was taken by Mr. Zincke, and sold for four pounds, one of which was given him for his trouble. Notwithstanding these deceptions, Mr. Dunford has certainly shown us, in many instances, that he has both taste and judgment, for his selection of pictures is very good, as his windows are generally decorated with some very fine specimens of the arts. † Mr. Dunford mentioned to me, that he had laid out about forty pounds with Holder, for various pictures, but never hinted of having made him a present, nor can I give credit to the report, although Mr. Holder says, he has been told so by many friends. N. B. I afterwards made another Shakspeare, which was worth a score such as the above, I sold it to Mr. Gwennap, in Brook Street, Grosvenor Square, for six pounds, which is the most I ever got for one. Mr. Gwennap questioned me if I had manufactured it, to which I answered in the affirmative, when he replied, had I asked him sixty pounds for it, he should have given it to me. There cannot be a doubt but the success of those portraits, has been the cause of so many more being manufactured by Holder, whose genius deserves to be more beneficially employed, but, were people generally not so credulous, such acquirements would not be so effectually and often practised. It is much to be regretted, that men of so much ingenuity do not turn their abilities to some beneficial purposes, that would do them more credit, as all deceptions on mature reflection, cannot be conducive to happiness, for it must separate them in the end, from all friends to truth and honesty; generally speaking, those persons instead of living in retirement, with a clear conscience, towards the approach of old age, are frequently to be found in some obscure dwelling, and often in need of the common necessaries of life; in such a situation the above individual has often been. Lock describes men of this description thus: Among the various modes of acquiring money, invented by the restless mind of man, it has been to imitate the effects of time, to make an artificial rust, to accelerate decay, and deceive the antiquary." I have given the preceding statements, on this picture, without any fear arising from the threats that were uttered to me, by Mr. Dunford, who being under the apprehension that his reputation might sustain some injury from it, assured me, that if it should so happen, his affluent circumstances would allow him to part with two or three hundred pounds, in protecting it by law. I have only to add, it is a consolation the most gratifying for a man, originally in needy circumstances to become rich by ingenuity and industry, but if providence has decreed it so as to favour him with such a store of gold, I regret it should have that influence as to expose the weakness of the mind, for I had previously explained to him, as I have to all others concerned in the Shakspeare portraits, that I should expose all the TRUTH and falsehood, as far as I am able, and I have no doubt it must be obvious to the public, that I have had no intention of injuring either his purse, "although he has put money in it," or his reputation, the former of which, is most essential to the protection of the latter, for it is that which every man holds to himself the most dear," he that filches from me my good name, robs me of that, which not enriches him, and makes me poor indeed." A A 1 Statue of Shakspeare, in the Town Hall at Stratford. MR. WHELER, in his "Antiquities of Stratford," states, that "the greatest part of the Town Hall was rebuilt in 1768, and dedicated to the memory of Shakspeare, by David Garrick, Esq. at the Jubilee, in 1769. In a niche at the north end is placed an excellent statue of Shakspeare, which, at the conclusion of the Jubilee, was presented to the Corporation by Garrick, as a lasting memorial of his veneration for the matchless original. The bard is represented in a graceful attitude, (as on his monument in Westminster Abbey) resting upon some volumes, placed on a pedestal, ornamented with three busts, viz. Henry the Fifth, Richard the Third, and Queen Elizabeth. Upon a scroll, to which he points, are the following lines, judiciously selected from his own Midsummer Night's Dream: "The poet's eye, in a fine frenzy rolling, "Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven; "And, as imagination bodies forth "The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen "Turns them to shapes; and gives to airy nothing "A local habitation, and a name." Under the pedestal beneath, are these words from Hamlet: Below is the following inscription "The Corporation and Inhabitants of Stratford, assisted by the munificent contributions of the Nobility and Gentlemen of the neighbourhood, rebuilt this edifice, in the year 1768. The statue of Shakspeare, and his picture within, was given by David Garrick, Esq." PICTURE STACE's OF SHAKSPEARE, AS GIVEN BY MR. BOADEN. "IN Middle Scotland-yard there resided, a few years back, a bookseller, named Machell Stace. Whether his residence was matter of convenience or taste, I know not; but he was a good deal frequented for the literature of the good old times, and supplied many of the discontented spirits of our own with the republican doctrines and fanatical religion of the rebellion. His visitors might kindle their enthusiasm by a hasty glance at the scene of the great" crowning mercy" adjoining, where the last sacrifice, the head of that gentlemanly monarch, Charles the First, was offered up to the grim idol, a COMMONWEALTH. "And that two-handled engine at the door, "In addition to his books, Stace occasionally solicited attention to some fine portraits of the period to which I have so particularly alluded. One of them was a likeness of the Protector, by Walker, and eminently characteristic of that successful usurper. The tendency of the saints to this quarter of the town, at length sent in a picture, which suggested to our bookseller a rather prophane |