“ WILLIAM ETTY.” 
By Miss MOORE. 
I F we accept as unquestionable Carlyle’s dictum that 
“ Genius is an immense capacity for taking pains/’ I 
think there ought to be no hesitation in assigning to William 
Etty a position amongst the great ones of the earth. That he 
did attain to distinction during his life-time we know from the 
fact of his election to the Royal Academy, and I think it 
cannot fail to be of interest to trace the steps by which a 
fellow citizen rose to what was to him the height of ambition, 
and the public recognition of his merit. He aimed high, and 
never allowed any hindrances or even apparent failure to turn 
him aside from his chosen path ; his fixity of purpose, his 
definiteness of aim, his indomitable perseverance, and his 
untiring industry enabled him to carry through his self- 
appointed task. His purpose was to become a painter, his 
aim was at perfection of form and colour, and his perseverance 
and industry not only accomplished his own purpose, but 
stimulated and encouraged others. 
William Etty was born on March ioth, 1787, at 20, Fease- 
gate (now No. 8). His father, Matthew Etty (who was a 
native of Holme-on-Spalding Moor), was a miller and ginger¬ 
bread maker. The mill he rented stood on the Mount, but 
has long since disappeared. The mother was Esther 
Calverley, daughter of William Calverley, of Hayton, and 
sister of Rudstone Calverley Rudstone, who succeeded a 
distant relative to the Hayton Estate. At the time of his 
marriage the painter’s father was a miller at Hayton, but was 
turned out of the mill by the Squire, who disapproved of his 
sister’s choice of a husband, and the Ettys went to live first at 
Pocklington, then at Eastrington, and finally in 1777 came to 
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