Weathercock, written by John Dunton against William Richardson, once a dissenting preacher,’ n. d. 8. ‘Athenianism, or the New Projects of Mr. John Dunton … being six hundred distinct treatises in prose and verse, written with his own hand; and is an entire collection of all his writings. … To which is added Dunton's Farewell to Printing .... with the author's effigies …’ 1710. The ‘Farewell to Printing’ never appeared; only twenty-four of the ‘six hundred projects’ are given; a list is given of thirty-five more, which are to form a second volume, never issued. One of them, ‘Dunton's Creed, or the Religion of a Bookseller,’ had been published in 1694 as the work of Benjamin Bridgewater, one of his ‘Hackney authors.’ 9. ‘A Cat may look at a Queen, or a Satire upon her present Majesty,’ n. d. 10. ‘Neck or Nothing.’ 11. ‘Mordecai's Memorial, or There is nothing done for him; a just representation of unrewarded services,’ 1716. 12. ‘An Appeal to His Majesty,’ with a list of his political pamphlets, 1723. The short titles of these are: (1) ‘Neck or Nothing,’ (2) ‘Queen's Robin,’ (3) ‘The Shortest Way with the King,’ (4) ‘The Impeachment,’ (5) ‘Whig Loyalty,’ (6) ‘The Golden Age,’ (7) ‘The Model,’ (8) ‘Dunton's Ghost,’ (9) ‘The Hereditary Bastard,’ (10) ‘Ox[ford] and Bull[ingbroke],’ (11) ‘King Abigail,’ (12) ‘Bungay, or the false brother (Sacheverell) proved his own executioner,’ (13) ‘Frank Scamony’ (an attack upon Atterbury), (14) ‘Seeing's Believing,’ (15) ‘The High-church Gudgeons,’ (16) ‘The Devil's Martyrs,’ (17) ‘Royal Gratitude’ (occasioned by a report that John Dunton will speedily be rewarded with a considerable place or position), (18) ‘King George for ever,’ (19) ‘The Manifesto of King John the Second,’ (20) ‘The Ideal Kingdom,’ (21) ‘The Mob War’ (contains eight political letters and promises eight more), (22) ‘King William's Legacy,’ an heroic poem, (23) ‘Burnet and Wharton, or the two Immortal Patriots,’ an heroic poem, (24) ‘The Pulpit Lunaticks,’ (25) ‘The Bull-baiting, or Sacheverell dressed up in Fireworks,’ (26) ‘The Conventicle,’ (27) ‘The Hanover Spy,’ (28) ‘Dunton's Recantation,’ (29) ‘The Passive Rebels,’ (30) ‘The Pulpit Trumpeter,’ (31) ‘The High-church Martyrology,’ (32) ‘The Pulpit Bite,’ (33) ‘The Pretender or Sham-King,’ (34) ‘God save the King,’ (35) ‘The Protestant Nosegay,’ (36) ‘George the Second, or the true Prince of Wales,’ (37) ‘The Queen by Merit,’ (38) ‘The Royal Pair,’ (39) ‘The Unborn Princes,’ (40) ‘All's at Stake.’ Dunton also advertised in 1723 a volume, the enormous title of which begins ‘Upon this moment depends Eternity;’ it never appeared.
[Dunton's Life and Errors (1705), reprinted in 1818 with life by J. B. Nichols, also in Nichols's Lit. Anecd. v. 59–83.]
DUPONT, GAINSBOROUGH (1754?–1797), portrait-painter and mezzotint engraver, born about 1754, was the nephew of Thomas Gainsborough, R.A. [q. v.], whose sister Sarah married Philip Dupont of Sudbury, Suffolk. He was a pupil of his uncle, whose style of painting he acquired so well that after his death in 1788 he completed most successfully some of his unfinished works. He painted also landscapes, with architectural ruins, in which he imitated Nicolas Poussin.
He first contributed to the exhibition of the Royal Academy in 1790, in which year he sent a picture of a ‘Cottage Girl’ and five portraits, all unnamed, as was the custom of the period. These were followed in 1792 by two landscapes and four portraits; in 1793 by five portraits, including that of Sir James Sanderson, lord mayor of London; in 1794 by portraits of George III and of John Quick, the comedian, in the character of Spado, and two other works; and in 1795 by four more portraits. All these works showed considerable ability, but he is now known better by his engravings in mezzotint from portraits by Gainsborough, in which he has caught well the spirit of the painter. The best of these plates is the superb full-length of Queen Charlotte, to which that of George III forms a pendant. Next is the group of the Princess Royal, with the Princesses Augusta and Elizabeth, the picture of which the hanging in 1783 led to Gainsborough's withdrawal of his works from the exhibitions of the Royal Academy. Besides these Dupont engraved his uncle's full-length portraits of Lord Rodney, General Conway, and Colonel St. Leger, as well as heads or half-lengths of Prince William Henry, afterwards William IV (of which the only impression known is in the British Museum), Lord Frederick Campbell, Sir Richard Perryn, baron of the exchequer, and the Rev. Richard Graves, author of the ‘Spiritual Quixote.’ He also engraved after Gainsborough full-lengths of the Rev. Sir Henry Bate Dudley, bart., and of Mrs. Sheridan, a plate of which it is said that only one impression was taken, but neither of these works was ever quite finished.
Dupont resided with Mrs. Gainsborough in Pall Mall for a few years after the death of his uncle, but he afterwards removed to the corner of Grafton Street, Fitzroy Square, London, where he died on 20 Jan. 1797, aged 42. He was buried in Kew churchyard in the same grave as his uncle. There is a head of him by Gainsborough in the possession of Mr.
