Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 9.djvu/354

618 it with the heady charges of horse, foot, and cannon, and all the pomp and circumstance of a battle on which the fate of nations was depending. But Wilkie went no farther than Chelsea Hospital, and sought no other figures than the old, battered, and mutilated inhabitants with which that great asylum is stored. "Even in our ashes live our wonted fires," says the poet; and upon this hint, whether he thought of it or not, Wilkie acted, by showing how these veterans could still be excited by the first tidings of such a victory. It was the "Reading of the Waterloo Gazette," and not the battle itself which he contemplated; and therefore he grouped the pensioners of Chelsea, men who had fought for Britain in every quarter of the world, and suffered every kind of mutilation and dismemberment, pausing in the midst of a jovial dinner, and ready to throw it to the dogs, that they might listen to the reading of the newspaper in which the tidings of Waterloo were first communicated to the nation. Never, perhaps, was heroic triumph so expressed before, either in poetry or in painting—it was the last huzza of the dying on the field of victory. When this picture was finished, it was sent to the exhibition of 1822; but such was the excitement of the visitors, and the eager crowding round it and against it, that for protection a railing had to be set up, to fence it off from the pressure. It is proper to add that Wilkie's productions were now fairly remunerated, as well as justly appreciated, and he received 1200 guineas for the "Reading of the Waterloo Gazette" from its illustrious owner, the Duke of Wellington.

During the long interval that occurred between the commencement and execution of this national work, the orders that flowed in upon Wilkie were so numerous, that he was kept in incessant action, now upon one piece and now on another. In this way he produced "The China Menders," "The Nymphs Gathering Grapes," and "The Whiskey Still." But more important than these was a commission from the King of Bavaria, to paint for him a picture, the subject of which was to be left to the artist's own judgment. That which was selected was "The Reading of the Will," and upon this, Wilkie acquitted himself so well, that when it was finished two royal candidates appeared for its possession, one being the King of Bavaria, by whom it was already bespoke, and the other George IV., who wished to have the original, or at least a duplicate. It was a sore dilemma between the rightful claimant on the one hand, and his own liege sovereign on the other, in which Wilkie stood like Garrick between tragedy and comedy, feeling how happy he could be with either, and yet knowing that one must be refused and disappointed. At length mercantile honesty carried the day against chivalrous loyalty, and "The Reading of the Will" was fairly domiciled in the splendid collection of Munich. "The Newsmongers" and "Guess my Name," which appeared in the exhibition of 1821, were produced during the same interval. To these may be added "The School," a painting that has been highly admired, though it was never finished.

The year 1822, in which the Waterloo picture was finished, was a busy period with Wilkie, when, besides painting "The Parish Beadle," and a portrait of the Duke of York, he received two important commissions that required his attendance in Scotland: the one was a picture of John Knox preaching before the Lords of the Congregation; the other of the arrival of George IV. in Edinburgh. His majesty had not yet set sail to pay the promised visit; but Wilkie hastened to the Scottish metropolis to await the coming advent, and catch what-