Both  these  progenitors  of  George  appear  to  have  lived  blameless  and
obscure  lives ;  respectability  was  their  God,  at  least  Henry  Robert's,  and
yet  the  latter  was  a  persistently  unsuccessful  man,  not  seldom  in  low
water  financially,  trying  various  dodges  such  as  picture  dealing  and
restoring,  selling  art  materials  and  so  on,  to  gain  a  livelihood.  His
wife,  an  artist  also,  exhibited  twice  at  the  R.A.  in  1785-86,  one  work  each
year.  James  Ward  in  his  autobiography  says  she  was  a  Frenchwoman
by  birth.  He  describes  her  husband  and  herself  as  follows.  "  George
Morland's  father  was  of  a  good  family,  and  descended  from  a  baronet  of
the  same  name,  .  .  .  and  he  always  appeared  to  me  as  a  broken-down
gentleman.  His  wife  was  of  an  opposite  character,  and  was  to  me  (if
I  may  use  the  comparison)  like  a  little  strutting  bantam  cock.  She  had
a  small  independent  property,  and  she  crowed  over  her  quiet  husband
most  completely.  She  had  three  sons  and  two  daughters  ;  her  partiality
was  to  her  son  George  and  his  youngest  sister  Sophia.  .  .  .  The  elder
sister  was  a  most  exemplary  character  "  [afterwards  James  Ward's  sister-
in-law],  "  and  the  more  praiseworthy  as  being  brought  up  under  the
greatest  temptations  to  the  contrary.  One  son  went  to  sea.  He
returned  to  England  once,  after  which  he  went  to  sea  again  and  was
never  afterwards  heard  of.  The  other  brother  Henry  was  a  dealer  in
everything,  a  business  for  which  his  mind  was  exactly  fitted,  being  an
eccentric  money-making  character.  Latterly  he  opened  a  coffee-house  in
Dean  Street,  Soho,  and  became  the  last  and  most  constant  dealer  in  his
brother  George's  pictures,  and  I  believe  had  a  greater  number  of  them
copied  and  sold  as  originals  than  all  the  other  dealers  put  together.
