Page:A tour through the northern counties of England, and the borders of Scotland - Volume I.djvu/123

 prelate of the seventeenth century, whose piety and munificence were both exerted in an extraordinary manner to repair and re-edify the cathedral of Lichfield, which had been almost destroyed by the sacrilegious hands of the Oliverians. For this good purpose the venerable man drew from his own purse the sum of 5000l. and added 23000l. more, which he had collected together by begging at the doors of the inns the benevolences of travellers as they arrived there, for eight years together.

Original genius did not depart from Lichfield when Johnson and Garrick turned their backs upon the city; for it has now to boast of two extraordinary self-taught artists in the pictorial line—Mr. Glover, and his apprentice Mr. Fernyhough. Landscape is the department in which Mr. Glover excels chiefly; and in some of his superior pieces, both the manner and colouring of the first masters of the Italian school are attempted with great effect. He shewed us a good original picture of Luca Giordano's, Hercules and Omphale; harsh, but superlatively grand.

The situation of Lichfield is low, the land around it flat, and the soil sandy; a character of country that accompanied us the greater part of the road to Burton-upon-Trent; a ride, however, that was rendered interesting, by the great trunk canal