moderately for these humble efforts of his genius. However, they enabled him to live honestly and to keep out of debt, a matter of great importance with every fine-spirited man. His living plainly and economically had as much relation to his desire as to his means, for when his means would have enabled him to live as he pleased, he elected to be best pleased with economy and plainness: he had an utter disrelish of all expensive habits and amusements, which he happily preserved through life.

John Flaxman, then, who we see to have been a brave and an industrious man, soon after marriage met Sir Joshua Reynolds. "So, Flaxman," said he, "I am told you are married: if so, sir, I tell you you are ruined for an artist." Whereupon we learn that Flaxman went home, sat down beside his wife, took her hand, and said with a smile, "I am ruined for an artist." "John," said she, "how has this happened, and who has done it?" "It happened," said he, "in the church, and Ann Denman has done it. I met Sir Joshua Reynolds just now, and he said marriage had ruined me in my profession." They would no doubt smile at the remark of the President, but was there any truth in it? Sir Joshua had had a lengthened experience; did he give that opinion as the result of experience? They were not accustomed to take counsel with their neighbours, or to consult anybody in relation to their affairs; but was there any truth in Sir Joshua Reynolds's remark? How could they be assured of this? At last Flaxman said, with excellent sense," Ann, I have long thought that I could rise to distinction in art without studying in Italy, but these words of Reynolds have determined me. I shall go to Rome as soon as my

affairs are fit to be left; and to show him that wedlock is for a man's good rather than his harm, you shall accompany me. If I remain here, I shall be accused of ignorance concerning those noble works of art which are to the sight of a sculptor what learning is to a man of genius, and you will lie under the charge of detaining me." That was indeed a brave speech. And bravely resolved was his wife that he should carry out his purpose to the letter. But how was this to be done? How could it be done but by the exercise of the strictest economy-by depending upon themselves? This resolution, which became the purpose of their life, was pondered silently, but not the less surely. None knew of their intention; but for five long years, by incessant study and labour on Flaxman's part-by care, economy, and encouragement on the part of his wife, they made preparation for their journey. The anxiously-looked-for day came at last, and together they started for Italy, arriving in 1787. Encouraged by the approval and company of his wife, Flaxman was not less industrious in Italy than he had been in England. He had had no assistance given him by the Royal Academy; he had to depend upon his own exertions, and he and his wife would have the credit of that dependence. The chief of his works, while at Rome, was a series of thirtynine subjects from the Iliad, and thirty-four from the Odyssey, illustrative of the principal events in those unequalled poems; also a series of subjects taken from the works of Dante, peculiarly adapted to the genius of Flaxman. In 1794 he returned to London, and from that period to within three days of his death he produced a succession of pieces of sculpture

which will hand his name and fame down to remote ages.

For thirty-eight years Flaxman had the happiness to have his wife by his side, who did not "ruin him as an artist;" but who was, if anything, the stimulus that encouraged him to persevere, and ultimately to attain to his great eminence. During all this long period she was ever cheerful, intelligently amusing herself by collecting the drawings and sketches of Stothard, of whom she was a great admirer. How highly Flaxman thought of his wife may be inferred from the fact that when any difficulty in composition occurred, he was accustomed to say, with a smile, "Ask Mrs. Flaxman ; she is my dictionary." The spirit of independence which characterised her husband characterised her also: she refused all presents of paintings, drawings, or books, unless something was accepted in exchange. In 1820 this excellent woman was taken ill, the illness which was the speedy precursor of her death-sad bereavement, indeed, for her husband. From the hour of her death a lethargy came over his spirits until the day of his own death, six years after that of his wife, he never regained the cheerfulness which had previously so distinguished him. A singular circumstance occurred just before his death. A stranger called upon him early one morning, and presented him with a book, bearing the title " Al Ombra di' Flaxman." He informed him that he had just received it from an Italian artist, who believing in a report spread throughout Italy that Flaxman was dead, had published this account of his life and works. "No sooner was it published," continued the visitor, "than the story. was contradicted, and the author now begs

that you will accept the book and his apology." The morning of this interview was the 2d of December 1826; on the 7th day of the same month Flaxman was no more.

Subsequently, when Sir Thomas Lawrence was addressing the Academy students, he said"You remember the feebleness of his frame, and its evident though gradual decay. Yet it was but lately that you saw him with you, sedulous and active as the youngest member, directing your studies with the affection of a parent, addressing you with the courtesy of an equal, and conferring the benefit of his knowledge and his genius as though he himself were receiving obligation." The celebrated painter then added: "The elements of Flaxman's style were founded on Grecian art, on its noblest principles, on its deeper intellectual power, and not on the mere surface of its skill. Though master of its purest lines, he was still more the sculptor of sentiment than of form; and while the philosopher, the statesman, and the hero were treated by him with appropriate dignity, not even in Raphael have the gentler feelings and sorrows of human nature been treated with more touching pathos than in the various designs and models of this inestimable man. Like the greatest of modern painters, he delighted to trace from the actions of familiar life the lines of sentiment and passion, and from the populous haunts and momentary peacefulness of poverty and want to form his inestimable groups of childhood and maternal tenderness, with those nobler compositions from Holy Writ, as beneficent in their motive as they were novel in design. In piety, the minds of Michael Angelo and Flaxman were the same."

Helen Walker:

SIR WALTER SCOTT'S HEROINE.

FIDELITY to conscience is sometimes a severer test of heroism than warlike exploits. These may be the result of a momentary and excited feeling, called into action by the exhibition of wrong and oppression; while the former is the effect of obedience to principle and reverence for the sanctity of God's law. Exploits performed in the presence of thousands are frequently not so deserving of commendation as actions executed in secret. It requires a much braver soul and a much truer heart to live faithfully, and at the same time obscurely and unseen, than to achieve daring deeds that excite the applause of thousands. But how shall we characterise that conduct which dares to outrage a conscientious conviction, prompted only by that Eye which seeth in secret, and by that inner light which enlighteneth the soul? We may be astonished, but it is not the less probable, that at the general audit, names that now excite the shout of fame and the cry of admiration, will be passed over for some poor dweller in a cottage, not known beyond the precincts of a village, but who yet has acted so bravely and lived so truly as to call forth the Well done" of the Universal Father.

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