like it" (1775), View of Brancepeth Castle, near Durham (1784), A View of the River at Barn Elms (1785), The Angel appearing to Gideon (1792), The Release of the Prisoners from Dorchester Gaol (1796), Portrait of Rev. H. Whitfield, D.D. (1799) and Cupid and Psyche (1800). In 1773 Edwards was elected an associate of the Royal Academy. He was employed by the Society of Antiquaries to make a drawing from the picture in the royal collection of The Interview between Henry VIII and Francis I at Calais; for this drawing, which occupied him six months, he received 110 guineas. He was also employed by Lord Bessborough to repair a ceiling painted by Sir James Thornhill at Roehampton, by Mr. Bell on designs for his Shakespeare and other publications, and by Robert Udny. Udny gave him support to visit Italy, and he left for Rome in July 1775, returning in September 1776. In 1781 he obtained a premium for landscape, and in this year he presented a paper to the Royal Society on the damage wrought by a major storm at Roehampton. In 1782 he painted three ceilings for the Hon. Charles Hamilton at Bath. About this time too he was employed a great deal by Horace Walpole at Strawberry Hill, for whom he made many drawings; in 1784, however, some disagreement led to a breach between them. In 1786 he painted for Mr. Estcourt a Hunting Party, containing portraits of the Duke of Beaufort and his sons; in the following year he was painting scenes for the theatre at Newcastle upon Tyne. In 1788 he was appointed professor of perspective at the Royal Academy, and subsequently published a treatise on that subject. He was occupied for some time on a picture representing The Interior View of Westminster Abbey on the Commemoration of Handel, which he exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1793. In 1799 he was commissioned by Boydell to paint a scene from The Two Gentlemen of Verona for the Shakespeare Gallery. He compiled and published a volume entitled Anecdotes of Painters (1808), intended as a supplement to Walpole's work; though rather loosely put together, it contains valuable records of contemporary artists which might otherwise have perished. A portrait engraved by Cardon after his own drawing is prefixed to the work; the original drawing, with two others by Edwards, is in the print room at the British Museum. Gallery