painted constantly and successfully, one of her earliest efforts being a portrait of Garrick, which was exhibited, as a contemporary chronicle informs us, at "Mr. Moreing's great room in Maiden Lane," where it found immediate favor. Other works rapidly followed. She executed portraits of several members of the royal family, with whom she was a great favorite, and the marked kindness which they showed her greatly increased her popularity. She also painted a likeness of Sir Joshua Reynolds, thus courteously returning a compliment which the illustrious artist had previously paid to her.
Her life up to this time appears to have been a singularly happy one. Her father, of whom she was extremely fond, was devoted to her; she had plenty of friends; she was beautiful, gifted, and admired; and her career in art had been, even from childhood, a series of notable successes. But the spell was soon to be broken. First, according to a well supported tradition, her dear friend Sir Joshua Reynolds fell in love with her. He was then a man of middle age, hardly past his prime, and at the height of his renown. He had already won her friendship, even her affection, but she had no wish to marry him, and it could not but have been painful to her to disappoint him. Their intimacy, however, remained unbroken, and in the bitter trial which was about to come upon her she had no friend more faithful or more untiring in her service than he.
About the year 1768, London society was agitated by the advent of a brilliant and dashing foreigner, who gave his name as Count Horn of Sweden. He was handsome; he dressed elegantly and expensively; he employed numerous servants in gorgeous liveries; he drove about in costly equipages; and lived upon a scale of extravagance beyond what his rank required. He was, moreover, fluent and persuasive of speech. Angelica's fame
