18.
To Thomas Butts.
Felpham, 10th May 1801.
My dear Sir,—The necessary application to my duty, as well to my old as new friends, has prevented me from that respect I owe in particular to you. And your accustomed forgiveness of my want of dexterity in certain points emboldens me to hope that forgiveness to be continued to me a little longer, when I shall be enabled to throw off all obstructions to success.
Mr. Hayley acts like a prince. I am at complete ease. But I wish to do my duty, especially to you, who were the precursor of my present fortune. I never will send you a picture unworthy of my present proficiency. I soon shall send you several. My present engagements are in miniature-painting.[1] Miniature has
Cowper, inscribed: From a Portrait in Crayons Drawn from the Life by Romney in 1792: Engraved by W. Blake, 1802. Blake's miniature is now in the possession of Canon Cowper Johnson.
- ↑ Six miniatures from Blake's hand are all that are at present known about. These are likenesses of Cowper (see note 2, p. 87), Thomas Butts, senior (see note 1, p. 90, and Plate), the Rev. John Johnson (see note 2, p. 92), Romney (see p. 167), Mrs. Butts, his patron's wife (dated 1809, see Plate), and Thomas Butts, Junior (? c. 1810, see Plate). We are ignorant even of the names of the rest of his sitters, except that members of the Egremont, Bathurst, and other households in the
