WILLIAM ETTY. 
97 
who lifts her head into the heavens, and seems a fitting ante¬ 
chamber thereto. To drop metaphoric flights —he continues— 
“it is difficult for me to speak coldly on the subject, lay me near 
the Choir of the Minster, in or as near to the little South 
Transept (which is near the flight of steps to the altar), as is 
possible. My desire to be buried in the Minster of York is not, 
I am desirous to believe, from ostentation, but from the true 
love I bear that glorious, that holy work, that splendid 
monument of the piety and power of the past ages ; when the 
H ouse of God was thought worthy of all the perfection that 
man could give it.” His wish was not carried out. He had 
left no directions in his will, and made no provision for the sum 
it would cost, /500. No one seems to have come forward with 
a proposal to grant the honour to his remains, and so he was 
laid, as we know, in S. Olave’s churchyard, near to the ruins 
of the once glorious Abbey. The funeral was a public one, 
attended by the Lord Mayor and Corporation, and the School 
of Design, as well as by a large number of friends and fellow- 
citizens. The grave, as Professor Phillips informed Etty’s 
biographer, was a Roman one, and a small earthenware vase 
was found in it, which was presented to Professor Phillips. 
Beyond the tombstone, and one light of a window in the north 
aisle of S. Olave's Church, there are, I believe, no public 
memorials of Etty in his native city. Of his art, it has not 
been my intention to do more than give a general idea ; he has 
been called an anachronism, he drew his inspiration from the 
Past, he was to a great extent his own master, and he founded 
no school. His pictures, besides those already mentioned, and 
some in the National Gallery and in the South Kensington 
Museum, are mostly in private collections. Some of his best 
portraits are in York. The one of Mr. James Atkinson, 
belonging to the Yorkshire Philosophical Society, is, I believe, 
considered his finest work of the kind. 
In bringing to a conclusion what I cannot but feel is a very 
imperfect sketch of a great man, I would earnestly impress on 
the citizens of York the noble example he set in reverent care 
for his native city, and trust, that recognising the inestimable 
value of the glorious heritage they have received from the past, 
while mindful of the needs of the present, they will not ignore 
the claims of posterity, and constantly endeavour to preserve 
from destruction and decay the priceless historic treasures of 
our ancient city. 
G 
