Triumph of Venus, the Judgment of Paris, which sell for a pound more apiece, all printed in red, and many others of classical subject and sentiment. The ordinary man cannot lay out his capital on Ryland now that fashion has made his prices so prohibitive, unless he contents himself with portrait subjects, lesser known, in line, such as George III. after Ramsay or Queen Caroline after Cotes, either of which may be picked up for 5s. Ryland was engraver to George III. and had a salary of £200 a year. Unfortunately at the zenith of his fame he embarked in business speculations. His partnership in a print shop in Cornhill ended in bankruptcy. Later he had a print business of his own in the Strand. At the time of his downfall he does not appear to have been a poor man. It is stated that he was possessed of stock worth £10,000, and his income from engraving must have been considerable. In 1783 he uttered a forged bill and presented it at the bank and it was duly honoured. The sum is stated to have been several thousand pounds. When the true bill was presented the fraud was discovered, and a reward of £500 was offered for his apprehension. Ryland fled eastwards from his villa at Knightsbridge, and after lodging in the Minories he buried himself in Stepney. The town was placarded with bills offering the reward, and there was as much sensation over his capture as there was over that of Lefroy the murderer, a hundred years later, who secreted himself in the same neighbourhood. Ryland was betrayed by a cobbler to whom his wife, who shared his poverty, had sent
