“I was favoured with your obliging note, and you will perceive that we must be governed in the arrangement of the memoir by the circumstance of my receiving or not receiving Sir R. C. H.’s (Sir Richard Colt Hoare’s) promised communication on or before Wednesday’s post. Not having his details, I have proceeded upon the skeleton that I obtained from the brother artists of W.,* which merely fixes some dates, and ascertains the general course of his studies in Italy, and subsequent career in England. I have thrown in the critical remarks on the schools (an imitation of which has been injurious to our school) in the place where they naturally arise—that is, in the notice of Mr. W.’s studies in Rome and Venice, where Paul Veronese lived and painted. This was not even a matter of choice, but of necessity, for by this arrangement I will be able to furnish the first part, with much interest, on Wednesday next, at twelve o’clock, even if disappointed of Sir R. C. H.’s expected communication. And as I may certainly depend upon his promised letter in time for the second part, I shall be able to embody a few leading facts in the conclusion, to his satisfaction and our own.
“If this arrangement does not meet your views, pray be so good as to let me know, and, as mere forms are inessential compared with the matter, I shall, with pleasure, mould the matter into the form most likely to meet your interests. I shall, by to-morrow night, be able to let you know the
* Samuel Woodforde, Esq., R.A. |
| 190 | AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY. |
