in
and Art.
Literature
439
appeared in the interval between the "Harlot's Progreis" and the
"Rake's Progrefs and three years after the feries lall mentioned, in
1738, the engraving, remarkable equally in defign and execution, of the
"Strolling Afftrefies in a Barn," and the four plates of "Morning,"
" Noon," "Evening," and "Night," all full of choiceit bits of humour.
Such is the group of the old maid and her footboy in the Grill of this
feries (cut No. 205)-the former {tiff and prudiih, whofe religion is
evidently not that of charity; while the latter crawls after, Ihrinking at
the fame time under the eff'e6ts of cold and hunger, which he fuftains
in confequence of the hard, niggardly temper of his miitrels. Among
Lnfv and Gain.
the humorous events which fill the plate of " Noon," we may point to
the difatier of the boy who has been fent to the baker's to fetch home
the family dinner, and who, as reprefented in our cut No. 206, has
broken his pie-diih, and fpilt its contents on the ground; and it is diHi-
cult to fay which is expreifed with molt Hdelity to nature_the terror and
fhame of the unfortunate lad, or the feeling of enjoyment in the face of
the little girl who is feaiting on the fragments of the fcattered meal. In
I 741 appeared the plate of " The Enraged Mufician." During this period
Hogarth appears to have been hefltating between two fubjedts for his
third grand pictorial drama. Some unfiniihed fketches have been found,
from