1827.] 



Biographical Memoirs of Eminent Persons. 



223 



some very fine portraits, were one of General 

 Lambert, and one of Oliver Cromwell, by 

 Sir Peter Lely ; said to have been taken by 

 the Protector's own order, and exhibiting 

 all his remarkable warts and protuberances. 

 Gisburne Pfirk is remarkable lor a herd of 

 wild cattle, descendants of the indigenous 

 breed which once crowded the forests of 

 Lancashire. This rarity, which is without 

 horns, differs from those of Lyme, in Cheshire, 

 aud Chillingham custle in Northumberland : 

 they are white, excepting the tips of their 

 noses which are black, and they are mis- 

 chievous, and invidious in approaching the 

 object of their resentment. 



His lordship died at Gisburne Park on the 

 22nd of September ; and on the 30th his 

 remains were deposited in the family vault at 

 the parish church. In conformity with his 

 own directions, his funeral was as private as 

 possible, and his corpse was carried on foot 

 by bis own tenants from the house to the 

 church, the tenants relieving each other at 

 intervals by relays of ten each. The mour- 

 ners were, his son, the present Lord Ribbles- 

 dale, his daughter, the Hon. Mrs. Parker, 

 her husband, the Rev. J. H. Parker, Tho- 

 mas Lister, Esq., of Armitage Park, and 

 Thomas Lister Parker, Esq. late of Brows- 

 Hall. 



Thomas Lister, Esq., one of his lord- 

 ship's relations, is said to be the author of 

 " Granby." 



JOHN FLAXMA.N, ESQ., R.A. 

 This eminent sculptor was born at York, in 

 the year 1755. His father afterwards kept a 

 small plaister figure shop in the Strand ; and it 

 was during his attendance there that he taught 

 himself Latin. It was not until he travelled 

 in Italy, that he found leisure to study Greek ; 

 and though he never became what might be 

 termed an elegant classical scholar, his know- 

 ledge of the history and philosophy of the 

 ancients, as well as of sacred subjects, was 

 profound. Possessing a mind highly intellec- 

 tual, it was not surprising that his conversation 

 should be luminous. Mr. Flax man studied 

 for a long time at Rome, where his statues 

 and basso -elievos were held in high estima- 

 tion. While in Italy, the late Earl of Bristol 

 engaged him to execute, in marble, his 

 magnificent group of Alhamas and lo, for 

 which he advanced him 600 ; a sum so 

 short of the actual cost that the work beg- 

 gared him ; and, being married, he was glad 

 to accept Mr. Nayler's offer to execute 

 drawings to illustrate the Iliad and Odyssey 

 at a guinea each, comprising about eighty 

 plates. 



Notwithstanding his great simplicity of 

 character, be was not insensible to the honours 

 of ancient descent. He used to relate, with 

 complacency, an anecdote of one of his an- 

 cestors, a cavalry officer in Cromwell's army, 

 who, having been wounded in the left arm, 

 fought with his bridle in his mouth, at the 

 battle of Naseby. Yet, after his return from 

 Italy, in the plenitude of his reputation, when 



he was appointed in his turn collector of the 

 watch rates in his parish, he performed the 

 duties of u the humble office with the most 

 scrupulous exactness. His friends smiled to 

 see this distinguished artist, his ink-horn tied 

 to his button, cheerfully and zealously collect- 

 ing his dues, from house to house. 



Mr. Thomas Hope engaged Mr. Flaxmau to 

 illustrate Dante by drawings similar to those 

 with which he had illustrated Homer. Those 

 drawings are, we believe, still in Mr. Hope's 

 collections. JEschylus aud Hesiod, were 

 subsequent works. He has since published 

 his illustrations of the writers mentioned in 

 four series ; and, had he never produced 

 any thing else, he must have descended to 

 posterity as a man of splendid and powerful 

 genius. He established his fame among the 

 critics and cognoscentis of Italy and Germany, 

 with whom he enjoyed a higher reputation 

 than has been acquired by any of our 

 countrymen, with the exception of, perhaps, 

 Sir Christopher Wren, and Sir Joshua Rey- 

 nolds. 



As a sculptor, Mr. Flaxman's works are 

 chiefly of that higher order which is not 

 calculated to confer immediate popularity. 

 He never, we believe, executed busts, except 

 as portions of sepulchral monument? ; for the 

 production of which, from the devotional 

 character of his mind, he Was particularly 

 disposed. Amongst his numerous works of 

 this class, are the monument of Collins, at 

 Chichester; of Lord Mansfield, in Westmin- 

 ster Abbey ; of Sir William Jones, at Oxford ; 

 the statue of Sir Joshua Reynolds, &c. 

 Several of his pieces are in St." Paul's Ca- 

 thedral. 



In the year 1800, Mr. Flaxman addressed 

 a letter to the Committee for raising a Naval 

 Pillar, or Memorial, to which a reply was 

 made by Alexander Bulfour, an architect. 

 Mr, Flaxman's proposition was, to form a 

 colossal statue of 200 feet in height, to be 

 placed on Dover Cliff. 



Mr.Vlaxman had long been a member of 

 the Royal Academy, and professor of sculp- 

 ture to that institution. Having survived his 

 wife several years, he lived a very retired 

 lif<-. He did not publicly associate with the 

 congregation founded by Emanuel Sweden- 

 berg; but, on the contrary, though he did 

 not scruple to avow to his friends, that he 

 adopted, in general, the doctrines promulgated 

 by that celebrated mystical theologian, he 

 professed himself a member of the established 

 church. His habits were singularly modest 

 and retired ; and in all pecuinary matters, he 

 was so severely scrupulous against his own 

 interest, that his profession was far less 

 productive to him, than to most artists 

 enjoying equal rank. 



Mr. Flaxman contracted a severe cold by 

 leaving his house in Buckingham Street, 

 Fitzroy Square, on Sunday the 3d of Decem- 

 ber ; but he was sufficiently well on Monday 

 to receive a few friends at dinner. Medical 

 advice was called in the same evening. 

 His constitution, however, had been weak- 



