LIBRARY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 University of California. 
 
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NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 


 
 
 iNDON: RICHARD BENTLEY * SON, 189*. 
 
NOLLEKENS 
 
 AND HIS TIMES 
 
 BY 
 
 JOHN THOMAS SMITH 
 
 Keeper of the Prints and Drawings in the British Museum 
 
 EDITED 
 
 WITH AN ESSAY ON GEORGIAN SCULPTURE, AND 
 A SHORT ACCOUNT OF J. T. SMITH 
 
 BY 
 
 EDMUND G O S S E 
 
 LONDON 
 
 RICHARD BENTLEY AND SON 
 
 ^ttbiislur* in rbtnars to $et #a.ffstj) \\\t tyvczn 
 
 i895 
 
 [All rig/its reserved] 
 
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 51 
 
INTROD UCTION 
 
 This curious and entertaining work, which gives 
 so unique a picture of the household life of a popular 
 artist at the end of the eighteenth century, was 
 brought out in two octavo volumes by Colburn in 
 1828. It contained, as frontispiece, a fine lithograph 
 of Nollekens, engraved by William Bond from a 
 drawing by John Jackson, R.A. ' A second edition, 
 revised, appeared in 1829, and this has been taken 
 as the text for the present reprint. In this edition 
 Smith omitted some of his desultory anecdotes, which 
 had no bearing whatever upon the life of his hero, 
 and, with one exception, it has not been thought 
 desirable to put them back again. The two editions 
 have, however, been carefully collated. 
 
 In reprinting the i Life of Nollekens ' two changes 
 have been made, an account of which must here be 
 given. In order to fill out the second of his volumes, 
 J. T. Smith appended i Memoirs of several Contem- 
 porary Artists, from the time of Roubiliac, Hogarth 
 and Reynolds, to that of Fuseli, Flaxman and Blake.'' 
 
 214700 
 
vi INTRODUCTION 
 
 This is, in reality, a separate contribution to litera- 
 ture, and has no connection with the ' Life of 
 Nollekens.' It is an instalment of the same author s 
 1 Book for a Rainy Day,' with which,' if at all, it 
 should be reprinted. It is here omitted as forming 
 no part of the ' Life of NollekensJ 
 
 In the second place J. T. Smith had the habit, 
 as his work progressed, of adding to his manu- 
 script reminiscences which had escaped his memory 
 ivhen he was writing his first draft. These he 
 printed as notes, although they really form an 
 integral part of the book. In the present edition 
 these passages are printed in the text, so as not to 
 interrupt the reader s attention. Those which are 
 genuine illustrative notes by Smith have been left 
 where they stood, at the foot of the page. 
 
 In an appendix will be found certain supplemen- 
 tary facts, hitherto unpublished, which the editor 
 owes to the courtesy of Miss Edith M. Beechey, of 
 High House, Newbury. 
 
 So little is now remembered of the history of 
 Georgian sculpture that the editor has prefixed to 
 this reprint an essay, in which he has endeavoured to 
 collect what is known about the leading English 
 sculptors between Roubiliac and Flaxman, and to 
 give some of the characteristics of their work. It is 
 hoped that this may serve to help the reader inform- ' 
 ing an impression of the world of art in which 
 Nollekens flourished. No section of the history of 
 English talent has been more unworthily neglected. 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 In conclusion, the editor ventures to call attention 
 to the very full index which he has prepared. The 
 1 Life of Nollekens ' has hitherto been a closed book 
 to the compilers of topographical and biographical 
 works, from the difficulty of finding a fact or a 
 detail in its copious pages. It is hoped that the 
 index here published will enable this compendium of 
 curious information to be used conveniently as a booh 
 of reference. 
 
 E. G. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Introduction ------ v 
 
 An Essay on English Sculpture from Eoubiliac to 
 
 Flaxman (by Edmund Gosse) - - - 1 
 
 John Thomas Smith - - - - 21 
 
 Original Preface - - - - 27 
 
 nollekens and his tlmes - - - - 29 
 
 Appendix ------- 417 
 
 Index ------- 419 
 
AN 
 
 ESSAY ON ENGLISH SCULPTURE 
 
 FEOM EOUBILIAC TO FLAXMAN. 
 
 The history of English sculpture in the eighteenth century 
 has yet to be written, and the materials for it are now rare 
 and scattered. Even of Roubiliac comparatively little is 
 known ; and of the other statuaries, from Bird down to 
 Flaxman, scarcely any personal data would have been 
 preserved had it not been for the industry of John Thomas 
 Smith. In the ' Life of Nollekens,' which is here reprinted, 
 and in his ' Anecdotes of Several Artists,' that entertaining 
 writer supplied us with desultory statements for which he 
 has never yet received due gratitude. A brief and pre- 
 posterous life of Bacon, by Cecil, and a few notes by Allan 
 Cunningham, almost exhaust the other sources of informa- 
 tion on the sculptors of the eighteenth century. The fast- 
 vanishing works of the artists themselves, ravaged by fire 
 and flood, dispersed often beyond the power of re-identifica- 
 tion, complete the slender data on which we can build up 
 an idea of this important group of men. In the following 
 pages some attempt will be made, in the first place, to 
 rearrange what is known about their lives ; in the second, 
 to bring the light of modern criticism to bear on their 
 work, hitherto obscured and most unfairly by too im- 
 plicit a trust in the excessive fastidiousness of Flaxman. 
 ?/* 1 
 
ENGLISH SCULPTURE 
 
 Little must here be said, however, of the exotic sculptors 
 who flourished in England before George III. ascended the 
 throne. In the central years of the century, Roubiliac, a 
 Frenchman, and two Flemings, Peter Scheemakers and 
 John Michael Rijsbrack, competed with one another for 
 the execution of public monuments in London. The first 
 was an artist of very considerable genius, whose work is 
 still highly appreciated and widely known. Scheemakers 
 and Rijsbrack were men of inferior pretensions, whose 
 shops, in Vine Street and in Vere Street respectively, were 
 manufactories of sculpture, in which the former, at least, 
 was aided by yet another Fleming, Laurent Delvaux, who 
 soon returned to Belgium. When the Royal Academy was 
 founded Roubiliac had been dead for six years. Schee- 
 makers might well expect that he would be a foundation 
 member. It is not recorded that it was disappointment 
 that led him, in the next year, to return to Antwerp. He 
 was seventy-eight years of age, and might well wish to 
 retire from the profession. Rijsbrack remained in England, 
 and he also was overlooked, dying above his shop in Vere 
 Street in 1770. The disappearance of all these men left 
 the field completely free for the appearance of a new 
 generation of sculptors. 
 
 In a queer copy of verses composed by Roubiliac in 
 1761, the statuary had said, doubtless in tentative reference 
 to the new monarch : 
 
 II ne f aut pas qu'un Mecenas 
 Pour revoir le Siecle d'Auguste.' 
 
 Next year Roubiliac himself died, and when, in 1768, the 
 Royal Academy looked about it for foundation members, it 
 could only find two sculptors who seemed worthy to be 
 affiliated to the thirty-eight painters. These were Joseph 
 Wilton and Agostino Carlini, two artists whose historical 
 position and unquestionable merit call out against the 
 complete obscurity into which their very names have 
 fallen. 
 
FROM ROUBILIAC TO FLAXMAN 
 
 Of Wilton, almost all that we know has been preserved 
 to us by the industry of J. T. Smith. According to that 
 invaluable gossip, he was born in London on July 16, 1722. 
 In order to realize the important position held in the 
 history of our art by Joseph Wilton, it must be borne in 
 mind that until his time sculpture in England had mainly 
 been carried on by foreign modellers and carvers under 
 the direction of British architects. Cunningham described 
 this condition of things with accuracy and vivacity when 
 he said ' the architects dictated monuments something in 
 the mathematical principles of their profession. The 
 names of Kent and Gibbs and Chambers appear upon our 
 public monuments as inventors of the designs, while the 
 artists who executed them are mentioned as mere modelling 
 tools or chisels, which moved as they were directed by 
 their architectural lords -paramount. Rijsbrack, Schee- 
 makers, and even Roubiliac, were fain to submit to the 
 tyranny. In truth, the architects of those days were 
 mighty men. Not contented with planning the houses in 
 which the nobles lived, they laid out the gardens in which 
 they walked, cooled their summer seats and arbours with 
 artificial cascades, hung gods and seasons upon the ceilings 
 of their galleries, sketched the cradles for their children, 
 dictated the form and flowers of their ladies' dresses, and, 
 following them to the family vault, erected a triumphant 
 monument in honour of their virtues.' 
 
 It was the function of Joseph Wilton to rebel against 
 this tyranny. He was the first trained sculptor of English 
 birth, and he was fortunate enough to be born to wealth, 
 which made him independent. His father was a highly 
 successful manufacturer of papier-mache, who employed 
 several hundred persons in his establishments at Charing 
 Cross and near Cavendish Square. It is probable that 
 Laurent Delvaux had worked for him while he was in 
 England, for when the young Joseph began to show a 
 strong leaning to sculpture, his father took him over to 
 
ENGLISH SCULPTURE 
 
 Nivelles, in Brabant, and left him to study with that clever 
 statuary. In 1744 Wilton quitted Delvaux, and proceeded 
 to Paris, where he worked for three years under that 
 brilliant sculptor, Jean Baptiste Pigalle, already, at the 
 age of thirty, a recognised master of the French school. 
 Wilton gained the silver medal of the Academie des Beaux 
 Arts, and ' acquired the power of cutting marble,' a mystery 
 until that time closed to Englishmen. In October, 1747, 
 he proceeded to Rome. 
 
 For the next eight years Wilton resided in Italy, and 
 principally at Home and Florence. This was a period of 
 the most critical importance to the art of sculpture, and it 
 is a matter for regret that we possess no record of the effect 
 produced on the mind of the young English sculptor. We 
 read that in 1750 he received from Pope Benedict XIV. the 
 Jubilee gold medal, but we know not how he was affected 
 by the discoveries of ancient Greek art made at Hercu- 
 laneum and at Poestum, nor by the literature of modern 
 archaeology, which began about that year to glorify the art 
 of Greece and its noble simplicity. In Holland he had 
 probably seen the crowded and violent pediments of Arthur 
 Quellinus ; in Paris he had been instructed by Pigalle, that 
 1 Phidias-Pigalle,' as he was called, who endeavoured to 
 cultivate realism side by side with le grand art ; in Italy 
 he was now contrasting the frenzied monuments of Bernini 
 and Algardi with the sweet serenity of rediscovered Greek 
 sculpture. 
 
 Wilton left Italy in 17 5 5, and in the following year 
 Winkelmann published those ' Reflections on the Imitation 
 of Greek Art in Sculpture and in Painting ' which formed 
 the prelude to his great work of archaeological criticism. It 
 was a period of agitation, of the new sculpture beginning to 
 rise and smite the old, during which Wilton served his 
 Italian apprenticeship. We know that he was deeply 
 interested in the antique, and that when he was in 
 Florence he executed, in marble, many copies of ancient 
 
FROM ROUB ILIAC TO FLAXMAN 5 
 
 statues. In his combination of the old and the new, of the 
 sculpture of the eighteenth century with that of the neo- 
 classic school of the Eevolution, Wilton may be compared 
 with a French sculptor who was still a child when the 
 Englishman left Paris with the ingenious and gifted Pierre 
 Julien. 
 
 Wilton returned to London in May, 1755, and brought 
 with him a painter, Cipriani, afterwards the well-known 
 R.A., an architect, who was to become Sir William 
 Chambers, and a sculptor, the eccentric Capizzoldi. The 
 latter made but little mark in England, and soon returned 
 to Italy ; he was for awhile Wilton's carver and assistant, 
 and he modelled the curious bas-relief in bronze at the base 
 of the monument to General Wolfe in Westminster Abbey. 
 He would, nevertheless, be forgotten but for a story told by 
 Smith : 
 
 1 Capizzoldi, upon his arrival, took the attic story of a 
 house in Warwick Street, Golden Square, and, being short 
 of furniture, painted chairs, pictures and window curtains 
 upon the walls of his sitting - room, most admirably 
 deceptive, so that with two chairs and a small table he 
 entertained a friend with a breakfast, on an oyster and a 
 pot of porter, in a room completely furnished. At such 
 repasts my father has frequently been his companion.' 
 
 In 3 758 Wilton and Cipriani were appointed by the 
 Duke of Richmond Directors to the Statue Garden in 
 Privy Gardens, and on the accession of George III. the 
 sculptor became State Coach Carver to the King. He 
 presently inherited his father's fortune, and, in Smith's 
 words, ' the edge of his inclination for art was considerably 
 blunted.' Nevertheless, in 1768 he was made an Acade- 
 mician, but he seems to have taken far less interest in the 
 corporation and in its schools than did his solitary colleague, 
 Carlini. Wilton became a very fine gentleman, moved in 
 fashionable society, executed a few more busts and monu- 
 ments, and became celebrated for his dinner-parties. When 
 
ENGLISH SCULPTURE 
 
 Carlini died, Wilton accepted the Keepership of the Royal 
 Academy, and in that capacity might be seen moving about 
 upon his gold-headed cane, dressed in the height of the 
 fashion, with a long-tailed wig, and a portly and dignified 
 demeanour. He was a hospitable, gentlemanly, elegant 
 man, but money had killed the promising artist, whose 
 youth had been so laborious and original. He died in his 
 official apartments in Somerset Place on November 25, 1803, 
 in his eighty-second year. 
 
 Wilton has suffered great and unmerited neglect. His 
 name calls for revival as that of an artist of great learning 
 and high accomplishment. Between Roubiliac and Bacon 
 he was without a rival, and he is not unworthy to be named 
 with the one and with the other. In the eyes of Read and 
 other extravagant imitators of Roubiliac it seemed im- 
 possible to go too far in the direction of sensational and 
 preposterous design. Wilton, with his better training and 
 more harmonious fancy, saw that this was the point at 
 which the great French sculptor had himself been led into 
 error, and he cultivated a much calmer manner. The taste 
 of the age was against him ; he was forced by it to heap up 
 those rhetorical masses of urns and clouds and tombs 
 which we find so vapid. Nor was he at any time a great 
 master of composition. But the more carefully we examine 
 his monuments, laying aside prejudice and the ridicule 
 which successive generations have so lightly heaped upon 
 them, the more shall we be convinced of the talent of 
 Joseph Wilton. 
 
 He was at his best when, full of enthusiasm and cheered 
 by the patronage of the young King, he started in London 
 with monuments of heroic size. Such are the ' Holmes ' 
 which he completed in 1766 and the ' Pulteney ' of ] 767. 
 Here we may admire an extraordinary detail of modelling, 
 closely transferred from nature itself. Wilton, we are told, 
 prided himself on his anatomy, and he was justified in 
 so doing, since his knowledge of the human body was 
 
FROM ROUBILIAC TO FLAXMAN 7 
 
 evidently superior to that of any other English sculptor of 
 the century. The delicacy of his treatment of the play of 
 muscles and articulations is remarkable ; it is sometimes 
 almost pre-Raphaelite in its quaint precision. Somewhat 
 weak in design Wilton usually is. He is always excellent 
 in execution ; he succeeds in what he aims at, and his 
 single figures are distinguished, learned, and often beautiful. 
 He himself, and his age, considered his huge monument to 
 Wolfe to be his masterpiece. It is difficult to assent to 
 this criticism ; here the sculptor seems to have striven at 
 something beyond his powers. In the first place, the 
 mixture of low relief with figures in the round is highly 
 unfortunate, and the design, which fails to interesc, over- 
 powers the detail of the modelling. The lions at the base 
 are ludicrous, and there is no escaping from them. Yet 
 examination points to much that is admirable in the 
 ' Wolfe.' Contemporaries found fault with the fact that 
 the naked body of the hero is supported by soldiers in 
 modern uniform ; yet the convention could be defended, 
 even from a realistic point of view, and certainly does not 
 vex the eye. The way in which the illumination of the 
 whole enormous structure is focussed on the head and 
 shoulders of the dying general is exceedingly skilful. 
 
 The 'Wolfe,' however, though the most famous of 
 Wilton's productions, is far from being the best. He is 
 seen to greater advantage in calmer compositions. He 
 loved to introduce angels into his mortuary monuments, 
 and to support them on wings of rare beauty and novelty. 
 The heads of these spiritual creations of his have some- 
 times an almost Rossetti-like picturesqueness. Wilton re- 
 presents the transition from the brisk and realistic virility of 
 Roubiliac and Pigalle to the imagination of the neo-Hellenic 
 school, although he shows no sign of direct Greek influence. 
 Unhappily, success and worldly indulgence made him 
 languid ; some of his later work is unworthy of him. But 
 at his best he was a very brilliant and highly-equipped 
 
ENGLISH SCULPTURE 
 
 craftsman ; sometimes he seems almost worthy to be called 
 a great artist. He affected an unusual height of polish on 
 the surface of his works. His busts are graceful and true, 
 but they have neither the searching portraiture nor the 
 high distinction of those of Nollekens. 
 
 Of Agostino Carlini, who was also a very clever artist, 
 much less has been preserved. He was a native of 
 Genoa, but we do not know when he was born, nor how 
 he came to distinguish himself above all the supple and 
 exotic modellers of his age. He lived and died at No. 
 14, Carlisle Street, Soho, and Smith has preserved for 
 us this vignette of his appearance late in life : * When 
 Carlini was Keeper of the Royal Academy, he used to 
 walk from his house to Somerset Place, with a broken 
 tobacco-pipe in his mouth, and dressed in a deplorable 
 great- coat ; but when he has been going to the Academy 
 dinner, I have seen him getting into a chair, full dressed 
 in a purple silk coat, scarlet gold-laced waistcoat, point- 
 lace ruffles, and a sword and bag.' Carlini died on August 
 16, 1790. 
 
 This is all that is known about Carlini, whose works 
 have disappeared almost as completely as his memory, the 
 Royal Academy itself not having preserved that equestrian 
 statue of George III. which he presented to it as his 
 diploma work in 1769. And yet Carlini, so far as can now 
 be discerned, was an admirable sculptor. His busts show 
 the influence of Roubiliac in a modelling that is rather 
 hard and dry, but masterly in style. His head of George III. 
 at Burlington House is a delightful work, the carving extra- 
 ordinarily fine, the drapery, if a little too tight and mannered 
 in the fashion of the time, well expressing the buoyant 
 folds of silk, the treatment of the hair varied, the silhouette 
 dignified and distinguished. 
 
 The opening of the schools of the Royal Academy in 
 1769 was the signal for a complete revival of the arc of 
 sculpture in England. That two successive Keepers should 
 
FROM ROUBILIAC TO FLAXMAN 
 
 have been sculptors must have greatly fostered the study 
 of that art, since it is the Keeper who has the direction 
 of the schools of the Royal Academy. Among the young 
 men who were the earliest to take advantage of the en- 
 couragement given to modellers were Bacon, Banks, and 
 Nollekens, destined to be the leading English sculptors of 
 the next generation. Of these the first-mentioned was 
 the youngest, but the one who earliest attained wealth 
 and eminence. It may, therefore, be convenient to speak 
 first of John Bacon. 
 
 Like not a few later sculptors of distinction, Bacon came 
 to the schools of the Royal Academy from pottery 
 works. Born on the 24th of November, 1740, the son of a 
 Somerset man of fallen fortunes, he was apprenticed for 
 eight years, at the age of fourteen, to the well-known 
 manufacturer of china shepherdesses Crispe, of Bow 
 Churchyard. Crispe's pottery furnace was at Lambeth, 
 and thither the boy took the small clay models which were 
 to be burned. In process of time he made such models 
 himself little rude figures of animals and persons. He was 
 still a labourer at the potteries when, in 1758, he carried 
 a clay model ' a small figure of Peace, after the manner of 
 the antique ' to the Society of Arts. He received the 
 prize of ten pounds, and was from this time forth a 
 constant recipient of the premiums of the society until 
 the Royal Academy was formed. Bacon entered the 
 schools, but his knowledge was already considerable, and 
 he received in 1769 the first gold medal ever given by the 
 Academy. Next year he was elected A.R.A. All this 
 while he was still a labourer. He is said to have invented 
 a species of artificial stone, called lithodipra, on which a 
 manufacturer at Lambeth expended some capital in 1769 ; 
 this product became extremely popular, and for at least 
 ten years Bacon was the principal workman. Nichols, the 
 historian of Lambeth, writing in 1784, speaks of the 
 Artificial Stone Factory in these terms : ' Here are statues 
 
io ENGLISH SCULPTURE 
 
 which are allowed by the best judges to be masterpieces 
 of art, from the models of that celebrated artist, John 
 Bacon.' Before Bacon left this establishment, the young 
 Flaxman was finding employment there. 
 
 The character of Bacon was a singular one. In Smith's 
 portraiture of Nollekens, we see a rough, uncultured spirit 
 achieving success by a blunt adhesion to the truth a 
 quaint, and even attractive, disdain for the conventions 
 of society. His eminent fellow-student and precursor in 
 the Royal Academy disdained nothing. He was a born 
 courtier, and unmatched in the art of saying soft, in- 
 sinuating things. He glided imperceptibly into fame and 
 fortune, nattering and conciliating everybody who could 
 help him, giving no offence to any man of influence. That 
 he might avoid the unseemly trick of spirting water from 
 his mouth on to the clay, as had hitherto been done, Bacon 
 invented a silver syringe for the purpose, and used it first 
 when he first obtained a sitting from the King. His address, 
 which was simple and graceful, without obsequiousness, 
 delighted George III., who asked him: 'Bacon, have you 
 studied in Rome ? Did you learn your art out of England?' 
 1 1 have never been out of your Majesty's dominions,' was 
 the reply. ' I am glad of it I am glad of it,' answered 
 the King ; ' you will be the greater honour to us.' 
 
 This seems to have occurred about 1774, and for the 
 next quarter of a century the success of Bacon was 
 assured. In sixteen public competitions for monuments, 
 he was successful fifteen times. He became an exceedingly 
 wealthy man, and as he rose he became more and more 
 humble. As he gained the attention of the public, he lost 
 the friendship of his friends. He was accused, not without 
 cause, of trying to secure a, monopoly of the public sculp- 
 ture of the country ; and when he had the face to propose 
 to the Government to do all the national monuments at a 
 percentage below the Parliamentary price, there was an 
 outcry among his fellow- artists. ' Spirit of Phidias !' said 
 
FROM ROUBILIAC TO FLAXMAN ir 
 
 Fuseli, ' Bacon is to do all the stonework for the navy and 
 army they ought also to give him the contract for hams 
 and pork!' Bacon smiled a still humbler smile, and 
 turned away from his rude colleagues. He had always 
 been a pious man, and as he grew older he grew more 
 sanctimonious still. When the sculptors asked their 
 brother * the presumptuous potter,' as they called him 
 what he meant by his proposal, he murmured that his 
 desire was ' to employ monumental sculpture to an impor- 
 tant moral purpose.' He wrote hymns, he preached 
 sermons, he distributed epitaphs, and parables and admo- 
 nitions ; meanwhile, he was amassing a very large fortune. 
 When he died, suddenly and prematurely, on August 4, 
 1799, he asked to be buried in Whitefield's Tabernacle, and 
 to have this inscription plainly carved above him : ' What 
 I was as an artist seemed to me of some importance while 
 I lived ; but what I really was as a believer in Christ Jesus 
 is the only thing of importance to me now.' That Bacon 
 was not sincere, it would be unfair to insinuate. But he 
 was a very odd mixture of piety and business, and the 
 god he worshipped was a sort of Chadband- Apollo. The 
 most cruel thing said of him was that ' he was charitable 
 at least in theory.' That sculpture had not been an un- 
 profitable pursuit to 'the humble cutter of stone,' as he 
 was wont to call himself, may be gathered from the fact 
 that he left 60,000 behind him. 
 
 Bacon w T as the first English sculptor to get free from the 
 tradition of Roubiliac, with his boisterous lights and shades, 
 his excessive under-cutting, and his dependence upon 
 exaggerated emphasis of style. His forms are far more 
 generous than even those of Wilton, and he bases his 
 effects upon a broader system of illumination. In looking 
 at a successful monument by Bacon, we find evidences of 
 an eye accustomed to consider the general superficies of 
 a work of art, not the picturesqueness of its details. He 
 was well fitted b}^ his long and conscientious training, and 
 
ENGLISH SCULPTURE 
 
 by the sobriety of his temperament, to excel in the art of 
 monumental sculpture. His love for nature and for truth 
 was great ; his anatomical science, though more superficial 
 than that of Wilton, was considerable, and he was exceed- 
 ingly skilful in all the technical processes of his art. He 
 deserves special recognition as the inventor of the pointing 
 instrument, which has now entirely superseded the old 
 practice of pointing by compasses or calipers. 
 
 His bust of ' Sickness,' deposited with the Royal Academy 
 in 1778, an attenuated head, very finely wrought, is a little 
 mannered in its detail. But in his monument to Chatham, 
 in Westminster Abbey, Bacon showed for the first time how 
 great an artist he was. Of all the huge, pyramidal monu- 
 ments of the age, this is the most accomplished, and the 
 more carefully it is examined the more admirable it will 
 be found. Chatham, in the ordinary dress of the period, 
 advancing an arm and a thin leg in a somewhat rhetorical 
 pose, dominates the design ; and this figure is excellent in 
 realism, in the careful study of nature. Lower down, the 
 Muses, reclining in gracefully balanced poses on the sarco- 
 phagus, are full of beauty the forms and drapery classical, 
 yet individualized and made personal. Their draperies, it 
 will of course be observed, are papery and thin. This was 
 an error out of which Bacon was to grow. 
 
 He was improving to the last. His monument to Halifax, 
 with the keen portrait-bust supported by beautifully 
 modelled children, dates from 1782. It is an excellent 
 work, but the true masterpieces of Bacon are those on 
 which he was engaged during the last decade of his life. 
 The soft female figure, wonderfully carved, that lies 
 stretched in all the abandonment of grief over the tomb 
 of Brigadier Hope, a monument executed in 1793, is full 
 of beauty ; but Bacon is seen at his very best in one of his 
 latest productions, the monument to Sir George Pocock, 
 executed in 1796. Here his touch, his whole manner, 
 curiously reminds us of Dubois and the great French 
 
FROM ROUBTLIAC TO FLAXMAN 13 
 
 masters of five- and-t wen ty years ago. Nothing, it is safe 
 to say, was seen in England so broadly treated, so full of 
 mingled mastery and grace, until Alfred Stevens made his 
 appearance. Bacon is always Roman, and, by sympathy, 
 French; the Hellenic sentiment never touched him, and it 
 was to his resolute retention of the old types that was due, 
 we are forced to suppose, the strange injustice done to him 
 by Flaxman. The truth is, and it should be distinctly 
 said, that Bacon deserves to be ranked among the greatest 
 of English sculptors. 
 
 There could be no greater contrast than between Bacon 
 and Banks. The one was a realist in his art, a fanatic in 
 religion; the other was an idealist and a pagan, always 
 dreaming about beauty, always aspiring towards an im- 
 possible altitude of delicacy and distinction. Thomas 
 Banks was born in Lambeth on December 22, 1735. At 
 the age of fifteen he was apprenticed to a wood-carver, and 
 in 1761, the year before Roubiliac died, he began to study 
 from the life in the St. Martin's Lane Academy. The 
 subjects of his early basso-relievos, the titles of which have 
 come down to us, show that from the first Banks was 
 captivated by the romance of Greek mythology. He ran, 
 at first, neck and neck with Nollekens and Bacon, the 
 three young sculptors gaining the gold medal of the Royal 
 Academy, which was not then, as now, biennially granted, 
 in quick succession. But in 1772, Banks having gained 
 the travelling studentship, the Academicians sent him to 
 Rome at their expense, Carlini giving him a letter of intro- 
 duction to Capizzoldi, who had by this time returned home. 
 The grant from the Royal Academy lasted three years ; 
 Banks was instructed by Capizzoldi in the art of carving 
 in marble, and lingered on in Rome at his own expense. 
 He had already married, probably in 1765, a lady of con- 
 siderable property, and this was a most fortunate circum- 
 stance, for Banks had no commercial instinct, and was 
 rarely successful in selling a statue. 
 
14 ENGLISH SCULPTURE 
 
 In 1779 Banks returned to England, but found that, 
 while he had been dreaming among the ruins of antiquity, 
 his two old fellow-students had made a clientele for them- 
 selves at home. He announced his willingness to execute 
 monuments, but the commissions were given to Bacon ; he 
 suggested busts, but the sitters were all pledged to Nolle- 
 kens. Finding it impossible to obtain employment, he set 
 out for Russia, taking with him a finished marble statue of 
 Cupid catching a moth on his wing, which was fortunate 
 enough to attract the admiration of the Empress Catherine. 
 He stayed in St. Petersburg for some two years, and is said 
 to have been frightened back by an appalling commission 
 laid upon him by the Empress, nothing less than a marble 
 group allegorical of the Armed Neutrality. He exhibited 
 in the Royal Academy a design, in low relief, of the 
 1 Frenzied Achilles,' and in 1784 a statue of heroic size of 
 the same subject. This figure was greatly admired but 
 never executed, and the original plaster, after many vicissi- 
 tudes, has at last found an asylum in Burlington House. 
 That same year Banks was elected A.R.A., an honour 
 that had many years earlier been bestowed upon Bacon 
 and upon Nollekens. He became a full R.A. in 1785. 
 The remainder of the life of Banks was passed almost 
 without incident, in the reverie of a sincere and poetic 
 artist. He found a patron at last in Mr. Johnes, of Hafod, 
 whose house in Cardiganshire he adorned with a succession 
 of heroic figures in marble. Unhappily, Hafod was after- 
 wards burned down, and some of Banks' noblest produc- 
 tions perished in the flames. Banks died on February 2, 
 1805, and is buried at Paddington. 
 
 As a monumental artist, as an executant altogether, 
 Banks cannot be compared with Nollekens or Bacon. His 
 groups do not hold together. His great cenotaph to Sir 
 Eyre Coote, with its ambitious Indian scheme, is an 
 appalling failure. In this the chief interest centres 
 around a great towering palm-tree, apparently made of 
 
FROM ROUBILIAC TO FLAXMAN 15 
 
 indiarubber, absurdly posed in the centre of the composi- 
 tion. These things of Banks' are very poor, and his bas- 
 reliefs, which the school of Westmacott admired, are 
 meagre and rude. But when he had an opportunity of 
 giving rein to his fancy, and to his instinct for selected human 
 beauty, Banks produced works of considerable sentimental 
 grace. In 1786 he deposited with the Royal Academy a 
 ' Falling Giant,' which may still be admired. The pose of 
 this figure, rolling topsy-turvy among a cascade of rocks, 
 opened up new possibilities in arrangement of the model. 
 Here, and elsewhere, in his ideal statues, Banks showed 
 some sense of the Greek imagination. Here, for instance, 
 the scale of the giant is naively, but effectively, suggested 
 by a tiny group of a satyr and two goats dancing in the 
 shade of his gigantic limbs. 
 
 Banks excelled in languid monuments which insisted on 
 the pathos of early death. Of these the most famous is 
 that erected to Penelope Boothby in the church of Ash- 
 bourne, in Derbyshire. Queen Charlotte burst into tears 
 when she saw this work exhibited at the Royal Academy, 
 and this class of his productions achieved popularity. But 
 his real force lay in Greek compositions. There exists a 
 statuette of ' Achilles Arming,' which is singularly vigorous 
 in technique, though not carried very far. It was, indeed, 
 in completing his work that Banks was apt to fail. He 
 was a capital draughtsman ; the Royal Academy possesses 
 a very fine life-sized chalk study of a head by him. 
 
 In all Banks' poetic figures we see the reconstituted 
 ideal, made up of recollected fragments of antique 
 statuary, and it is dangerous to praise his work without 
 being certain whence he obtained the beauty of it. He was 
 not a sufficiently faithful student of nature to be trusted to 
 prefer it to some reminiscence of antiquity, and, to confess 
 the truth, for all his theoretic pretensions, he was to the 
 end of his days but a somewhat inefficient craftsman. 
 
 Of Joseph Nollekens it would be needless to say much 
 
1 6 ENGLISH SCULPTURE 
 
 more than will be found in the caustic but graphic and 
 faithful pages of his candid biographer. One vignette may 
 be added to the series of Smith's vigorous portraits. This 
 is how Nollekens struck Allan Cunningham, who saw him 
 in 1819 : 
 
 ' He was then unable to move but by the aid of his 
 attendants, and, having expressed a wish to Chantrey, 
 whom he admired and loved, to see the exhibition of paint- 
 ing and sculpture, he was carried upstairs in a kind of sedan, 
 and with his friend at his elbow sat for a time looking 
 round him. He then fixed his eye on some work which 
 pleased him muttering a few almost inaudible words 
 moved with his body in the direction of his object, and 
 made a sign when he was placed in the right point of view. 
 His power of expressing what he felt was never strong it 
 was less than ever now but his good taste was in full 
 vigour, for he caused himself to be placed before all the 
 best paintings, and his remarks went at once to their chief 
 merits. . . . When he was borne to his coach he gave the 
 persons who had helped him a guinea each, put his hand 
 to his hat, and bade farewell for ever to the Royal Academy. 
 He was then eighty-two years old.' 
 
 Nollekens attempted every species of sculpture, but he 
 succeeded pre-eminently in only one, the bust. His poetic 
 groups and reliefs show no native sense of grace ; his 
 Cupids and his Psyches roll heavy heads at one another, 
 with Boeotian clumsiness ; his monuments are broken with 
 trivial eccentricities, and are piles of -detail rather than 
 compositions. His ' Three Captains of Rodney's ' was 
 executed in direct rivalry with Bacon's ' Chatham,' and 
 invites comparison with it. But it is in altogether a lower 
 plane of art. Instead of the broad simplicity of Bacon, we 
 find the composition crowded with undignified accessories, 
 wanting in dignity, and even absurd in its attempted 
 realism of the three portraits hung on a naval trophy, 
 through which real ships of George III.'s navy are sailing. 
 
FROM ROUB ILIAC TO FLAXMAN 17 
 
 Much better are the elegant and effective three-quarter 
 reliefs of Nollekens, where a difficult task is gracefully and 
 skilfully performed. But it is in his century or so of vivid 
 busts that Nollekens takes his place among the leading 
 artists of the eighteenth century. We cannot precisely 
 call them unaffected, but they have a life-like look and a 
 distinction of style which are wholly admirable. His por- 
 traits include, as will be seen by the list appended to this 
 biography, most of the remarkable characters of the close 
 of the eighteenth century. A collection of them would form 
 a singularly interesting illustration of the political, social 
 and intellectual life of London under George III. Each is 
 vigorously portrayed, with some little mannerism, indeed, but 
 with real vitality, as he or she was, and this happy realism 
 is Nollekens' great and lasting claim to our admiration. 
 
 A fourth sculptor, contemporary with Bacon, Banks and 
 Nollekens, was Giuseppe Ceracchi, who came to England 
 in 1773, and was employed in bas-relief work by Adam, 
 and other architects. To him, in all probability, is due 
 much of the beautiful relief- work we admire in the domestic 
 decoration of Adam's houses. He was the master of the 
 Hon. Mrs. Damer, and at one time found a great deal of 
 employment in London. But he was of a restless spirit, and 
 soon migrated to Paris, where he was concerned, in 1801, in 
 a plot to assassinate Napoleon. Being condemned to death, 
 he was dragged to the guillotine, dressed as a Roman 
 Emperor, in a classical car which he had himself designed. 
 
 It was long before a new generation of sculptors arose, 
 with Flaxman at their head. Among the few names which 
 arrest us in the interval, two attract notice for the pathos 
 of their lives and the singularity of their manners. John 
 Deare is principally remembered by what Smith, who knew 
 him well, has preserved about his career. He was born in 
 Liverpool in 1759. He was a prodigy of early talent, and 
 made a wooden copy of the skeleton of an adult person, 
 with his penknife, at the age of ten years. In considera- 
 
 2 
 
1 8 ENGLISH SCULPTURE 
 
 tion of his skill he was taken, when only sixteen, into the 
 employment of Thomas Carter, an old-fashioned but popular 
 statuary, who had been the earliest employer of Koubiliac. 
 The exquisite precision of Deare's work was admired from 
 the first, and when he was only twenty he gained the gold 
 medal of the Royal Academy for a group of \ Adam and 
 Eve.' A number of Deare's letters have been preserved, 
 and give a valuable series of impressions of the habits of a 
 young sculptor of that time. Bacon was pleased to patronize 
 him, and in 1783 he was astonished at his own prosperity. 
 
 In 1785 the Royal Academy, greatly impressed with the 
 genius and industry of Deare, sent him to Italy. Here he 
 immediately found employment, and won the ecstatic 
 admiration of Canova. Had he returned to England, he 
 would certainly have been immediately elected an A.R.A., 
 but he married ' a clever little Roman girl, who is at least 
 my equal,' and adopted the Italian style of living. Deare 
 habitually overworked himself, and was extremely nervous 
 and eccentric. He was always saying his prayers, and as 
 he believed it right never to pray unless in a stark-naked 
 condition, these orisons were injurious to his health. He 
 went further, and being convinced that he would gain 
 inspiration by spending the night sleeping on a block of 
 marble before he began to carve it, he caught a violent 
 cold, and died at Rome on August 17, 1795. 
 
 Another youog man of genius, carried off untimely, was 
 Thomas Procter, born at Settle, in Yorkshire, in 1753. He 
 lost a great deal of time in trying to be a painter, but 
 when at length he began to model, he astonished the 
 studios. He caused a sensation by producing a statue of 
 'Ixion on the Wheel,' which Reynolds persuaded Sir 
 Abraham Hume to buy. This encouraged Procter to 
 produce a large group of * Diomed devoured by his Horses,' 
 which contemporary critics speak of in terms of the highest 
 praise. Unfortunately, he did not get a commission for 
 this elaborate work, which had occupied him twelve months, 
 
FROM ROUBILIAC TO FLAXMAN 19 
 
 and in a fit of despondency he destroyed his model. The 
 Academicians, admiring his talents and desiring to help 
 him, determined, in 1793, to send him to Rome, but Procter 
 could not be discovered. Benjamin West undertook to 
 search for him, and found him at length, dying of starvation 
 and disappointment, in an attic in Clare Market. Help came 
 too late, and a few days later the interesting artist died. 
 
 Associated as a student with Deare and Procter, but 
 more fortunate in his fate, was John Charles Felix Rossi, a 
 man who, notwithstanding his exotic name, was of English 
 birth, although of Italian descent. He was born, the son 
 of a physician, at Nottingham, in 1762. He early showed 
 a love of statuary, and was placed under an Italian sculptor 
 in London, from whom he passed to the schools of the 
 Royal Academy. In 1785 he gained a travelling student- 
 ship, and went to Rome, returning to England three years 
 later. He became an A.R.A. in 1798, shortly before the 
 death of Bacon, to much of whose monumental work he 
 succeeded. He is best known by a series of military monu- 
 ments in St. Paul's Cathedral. Rossi outlived his popu- 
 larity, and retired from the Academy on a pension. He 
 did not die until 1839. 
 
 It is very difficult to express an opinion on the work of 
 Rossi, for the simple reason that he employed Italian 
 carvers so clever that they took most of the individuality 
 out of his modelling. His taste was classical, without any 
 real leaning to the neo- Hellenic school of Banks, Flaxman, 
 and Deare. His bust of Lord Thurlow, at Burlington 
 House, is a very favourable example of his handicraft 
 dignified, well-balanced and truer to nature than might be 
 expected. Rossi marks a stage in the passage of iconic 
 sculpture in England from Carlini to Chantrey, but he can 
 hardly be spoken of as an individual force. 
 
 Rossi, however, seems a great artist by the side of his 
 colleague and rival, William Theed, who was born in 1764, 
 and who enjoyed the honours of membership in the Royal 
 
ENGLISH SCULPTURE 
 
 Academy from 1811 till his death in 1817. In Theed, the 
 neglect of nature and the living model, the attempt to give 
 plastic forms to sentimental prettinesses and incorporeal 
 ideas, is seen penetrating the English school, and he leads 
 on directly to Westmacott, and the final decadence of 
 Georgian ideal sculpture. It is strange that in the person 
 of Theed Flaxman should not have seen an awful example 
 of the danger of such fastidiousness of taste and dread of 
 realistic violence as he himself was so fond of preaching. 
 These refinements, practised by hands less amply inspired 
 by genius and by the sense of beauty than those of Flaxman, 
 led to nothing but the most deplorable ineptitude and 
 feebleness. The visitor to the Diploma Gallery may 
 glance at the marble alto-relievo of l Ganymede,' deposited 
 there by the elder Westmacott in 1812 ; it is so disgrace- 
 fully bad that it could not at the present day be admitted 
 as the work of the roughest student in the schools. 
 
 To follow the beautiful talent of Flaxman to the point 
 where its slow development culminated, would lead us too 
 far away from the world in which Nollekens flourished. 
 Flaxman, moreover, was a highly imaginative designer, 
 who occasionally carried into execution some of the dreams 
 of beauty which were for ever passing before his pencil, 
 but was not, in the strict sense, a very skilful statuary. 
 He never learned to handle the marble with real confix 
 dence, and the comparatively few works which he suc- 
 ceeded in executing were too often stiff and mannered. 
 Flaxman, with his devotion to Greek ideals of beauty, his 
 fertile fancy, and his impatience of the manual toil of the 
 sculptor, had little in common with the somewhat stolid 
 and prosaic, but eminently workmanlike, statuaries to do 
 justice to whom an attempt has been made in the preceding 
 pages. His is the more attractive temperament, but they 
 also are deserving of something better than the complete 
 neglect which has for so long a. time overtaken them. 
 
 EDMUND GOSSE. 
 
[21] 
 
 JOHN THOMAS SMITH. 
 
 Had it not been for the readiness with which John Thomas 
 Smith gossiped about himself in his books, there might be 
 little or nothing to record here regarding the author of the 
 * Life of Nollekens.' Happily, he was not restrained by 
 any excess of diffidence from recording incidents with 
 which he was intimately connected, and we are able to 
 string together enough of these loose autobiographical 
 notes to form something of a picture of the man. As he 
 is fond of reminding us, his memory was accurate and 
 extremely tenacious, and his habit throughout life was to 
 preserve papers and to note down occurrences. It is not 
 his fault if too many of those eminent men of whose 
 peculiarities he preserved a lively record have ceased to be 
 interesting to us. He himself, it is to be feared, is no 
 longer an object of much curiosity. Such as he was, how- 
 ever, in his humdrum life of monotonous observation, we 
 will endeavour to depict him. 
 
 John Thomas Smith was born on the evening of June 23, 
 1766, in a hackney coach, which was hurriedly bearing 
 his mother back, from a visit to a brother in Seven Dials, 
 to his father's house, No. 7, Great Portland Street, Maryle- 
 bone. The child's grandfather, John Smith, had been a 
 Shropshire clothier ; his father, Nathaniel Smith, ' sculptor 
 and printseller,' had been a student in the St. Martin's 
 Lane School with Nollekens, and had proceeded to the 
 studio of Roubiliac when the latter became the pupil of 
 
22 JOHN THOMAS SMITH 
 
 Scheemakers. Nathaniel remained in the service of 
 Roubiliac until, on January 15, 1762, he followed the body 
 of that illustrious sculptor to his grave in St. Martin's 
 Churchyard. The mother of John Thomas Smith had 
 been a Miss Tarr, a member of the Society of Friends; 
 her health was declining from his earliest infancy, and 
 some of his infantile memories were connected with visits 
 that she and he paid, for the benefit of her health, to the 
 wells at Greenwich and at Kilburn. She died in 1779. It 
 seems that Nathaniel Smith passed into the employment of 
 his old friend and fellow-student, Nollekens, when the 
 latter settled in London in 1770, and J. T. Smith was 
 familiar from earliest childhood with the oddities of the 
 remarkable artist whose biographer he was to become. 
 
 An old star-gazer and tea-grouter,' to whom his mother 
 took the child, prophesied that John Thomas Smith would, 
 throughout life, 'be favoured by persons of high rank.' 
 This prediction was first realized in 1778, when Mr. Charles 
 Townley looked over the boy's shoulder as he was drawing 
 in Nollekens' studio, and gave him half-a-guinea to buy 
 paper and chalk. Dr. Samuel Johnson, also, about this 
 time, patted his head and praised him for his application. 
 Smith had, indeed, a little later, an interesting experience 
 of Dr. Johnson's spirit, for he 'once saw him follow a 
 sturdy thief, who had stolen his handkerchief in Grosvenor 
 Square, seize him by the collar with both hands, and shake 
 him violently, after which he quickly let him loose, and 
 then with his open hand gave him so powerful a smack on 
 the face that it sent him off the pavement staggering. 
 
 On February 1, 1779, Smith followed the crowd to West- 
 minster Abbey, and saw Garrick buried in Poets' Corner. 
 When the boy was about fourteen he began to model, and 
 he seems to have attracted the attention of Wilton, the 
 sculptor, who gave him a letter of introduction to Barto- 
 lozzi, it having been decided that John Thomas should be 
 an engraver. Bartolozzi was kind, but refused to take a 
 
JOHN THOMAS SMITH 23 
 
 pupil, and in 1781 the Bishop of Peterborough (Dr. Hinch- 
 liffe) persuaded John Keyse Sherwin, the painter-engraver, 
 to take him in. J. T. Smith had by this time passed with 
 tolerable credit through the schools of the Royal Academy, 
 and he stayed working under Sherwin until 1784. Here he 
 was kissed by the beautiful Perdita Robinson, who drove to 
 the studio in a sky-blue chariot, with a basket of flowers so 
 artfully painted in the centre of each panel as to look like 
 a coronet when the carriage was in motion. In 1782 he 
 helped to adjust the light at the successive sittings which 
 Mrs. Siddons gave to Sherwin for her portrait. 
 
 Sherwin was rapidly going down in the world, and in 
 1784 Smith, then eighteen years of age, was glad to leave 
 him. Mr. Richard Wyatt, the amateur, now employed him 
 to make topographical drawings of the neighbourhood of 
 Windsor, and thus the favourite labour of Smith's life was 
 started. He was helped by Thomas Sandby, R.A., and in 
 this year he formed the acquaintance of Flaxman, Blake, 
 Samuel Woodford, and Paul Sandby. On three occasions, 
 each of which he minutely describes, George III. met him 
 and spoke to him. His thoughts turned to the stage for 
 he was a good-looking fellow and in 1787 he was promised 
 an engagement as an actor at the Royalty Theatre. This 
 came to nothing, and he was obliged to seek for employ- 
 ment as a drawing-master. For this purpose he settled in 
 lodgings in Gerrard Street, Soho. In this same year, 1787, 
 he exhibited for the first time at the Royal Academy, 
 sending a drawing, in black chalk, of a famous beech-tree 
 in Windsor Forest, which was purchased by the Earl of 
 Warwick, at this period a useful patron of Smith. In 
 1788 the artist married, and settled at Edmonton as a 
 portrait-painter, under the patronage of Sir James Lake, 
 Bart., of The Firs. 
 
 While at Edmonton, Smith gave increasing attention to 
 local topography, issuing, in 1791, the earliest of his 
 publications, ' The Antiquities of London and its Environs.' 
 
24 JOHN THOMAS SMITH 
 
 To this followed, in 1797, his ' Remarks on Rural Scenery,' 
 illustrated from nature by twenty original etchings of 
 picturesque cottages. In May, 1798, the office of drawing- 
 master to Christ's Hospital being vacant, J. T. Smith, 
 warmly supported by half the Royal Academy, stood as 
 a candidate, but was not successful ; the testimonials which 
 he received, however, were so flattering, and from artists of 
 such high renown, that he gave himself the satisfaction of 
 printing them. J. T. Smith left Edmonton in 1795, and 
 came back into London, practising as a portrait-painter 
 and an engraver, while not neglecting his topographical 
 inquiries. In 1807 his laborious and valuable work on 
 ' The Antiquities of Westminster ' was published for a large 
 body of subscribers, and he was invited to treat Lichfield 
 in the same way, but could not be persuaded to leave the 
 London to which he was so deeply devoted. The result of 
 his further studies appeared, in instalments, between 1810 
 and 1815, as 'The Ancient Topography of London,' while 
 in the last-mentioned year he issued his popular volume, 
 1 The Streets of London,' a series of etchings. 
 
 On July 23, 1816, William Alexander, the recently- 
 appointed and first Keeper of the Prints and Drawings at 
 the British Museum, died of brain-fever. Smith was a 
 candidate for the vacant post, and had by this time become 
 so distinguished in his own line that the Archbishop of 
 Canterbury, one of the three electors, * was astonished he 
 should think it worth while to waste his strength in pursuit 
 of such a trifling office.' In September, 1816, Smith was 
 appointed, and held the keepership until his death. He 
 continued his literary work, and in 1817 published ' Vaga- 
 bondana,' sixty portraits drawn and etched from life by 
 himself, with biographical sketches of the most remark- 
 able London beggars of the time. As the reader of the 
 present volume will discover, Nollekens, when he died in 
 1823, was found to have made Smith joint executor of his 
 will, in company with Sir William Beechy and Francis 
 
JOHN THOMAS SMITH 25 
 
 Douce, leaving him at the same time, for his trouble, 
 100. The smallness of this legacy caused J. T. Smith, 
 who had reason to expect a much larger benefaction, a 
 violent disappointment, and his rancour against Nollekens 
 could not be appeased. He revenged himself by writing 
 what is perhaps the most candid biography ever published 
 in the English language. 
 
 Smith did not long survive the publication of his ' Life of 
 Nollekens.' He died, after a very few days' illness, at his 
 house in University Street, Tottenham Court Road, on 
 March 8, 1833, not having completed his sixty-seventh 
 year. He was buried eight days later in the burial-ground 
 of St. George's Chapel, Bayswater. The Gentleman's 
 Magazine paid the following tribute to his memory : 
 
 1 Mr. Smith was very generally known, both from the 
 various works which he had published, and from the public 
 situation which he filled at the British Museum. He was 
 possessed of much kindness of disposition ; many an 
 instance might be mentioned of his charitable and friendly 
 assistance to young artists who have sought his advice. 
 He had good judgment to discern merit where it existed, 
 sufficient good feeling to encourage it in a deserving object, 
 and sufficient candour to deter from the pursuit where he 
 found there was no indication of talent. In short, he was 
 a very warm and sincere friend, and he will be greatly 
 regretted by many who, have enjoyed his good-humoured 
 conversation and ever-amusing fund of anecdote, and par- 
 ticularly by the frequenters of the Print Room at the 
 Museum, where his unremitting attentions ensured for him 
 the regard and respect of some of the first characters in 
 the country.' 
 
 At the time of his death, J. T. Smith had prepared for 
 the press a pleasant olio of gossip and reminiscence, which 
 was presently published under the title of ' A Book for a 
 Rainy Day.' The pictorial works of Smith have consider- 
 able merit. His landscapes and architectural drawings, in 
 
26 JOHN THOMAS SMITH 
 
 the eighteenth-century manner, have great accuracy, and 
 he was a skilful etcher at a time when this art was but 
 little practised in England. The reader of his 'Life of 
 Nollekens ' does not need to be assured that he was a most 
 whimsical and vivacious writer. 
 
 E. G. 
 
NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
[27] 
 
 ORIGINAL PREFACE 
 
 Roscoe, who wrote the anonymous Preface to Daulby's 
 * Catalogue of Rembrandt's Etchings,' says : ' The history 
 of a man of genius is, in general, that of his productions.' 
 In the following memoir I trust to do more than this ; and 
 to delineate the life, not only of a ' man of genius/ but of a 
 most eccentric character. 
 
 To dispense with the old custom of presenting a letter of 
 introduction, or sending in my card to those to whom I am 
 unknown, would be irregular ; the reader, therefore, is in- 
 formed, that I believe there can be no one better acquainted 
 with the extraordinary characteristics of the man of whom 
 the following anecdotes are related than myself, having 
 been his pupil for the space of three years, and intimately 
 known to him for nearly sixty. When I was anunfant he 
 frequently danced me upon his knee. 
 
 With regard to pecuniary and domestic habits, I am 
 convinced that England has not produced such a character 
 since the death of Elwes. 
 
28 ORIGINAL PREFACE 
 
 In the course of these pages I have acknowledged my 
 obligations to several friends for their kind communications, 
 and here hope for their pardon for having reserved this 
 place for my best thanks to my friend Mr. Richard 
 Thomson, the well-known author and editor of numerous 
 interesting works, for his kindness in many instances. 
 
 JOHN THOMAS SMITH, 
 
 Keeper of the Prints and Drawings in the 
 British Museum. 
 October, 1828. 
 
[29] 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Nollekens' pedigree His father frightened by the rebels in 1745 
 Nollekens placed with Scheemakers the Sculptor His juvenile 
 passion for tolling bells He gains premiums in the Society of Arts 
 Leaves England for Rome Patronized there by Garrick and 
 Sterne He gains the Pope's gold medal Exposed to assassination 
 by Barry the painter Barry's rude and brutal conduct Nollekens 
 a dealer in antiques Athenian Stuart Nollekens a botcher up of 
 ancient fragments A lucky hit Successful smuggling by Nollekens 
 His filthy mode of living in Rome He returns to London, and 
 is chosen a member of the Royal Academy He falls in love and 
 marries Figure and wedding-dress of his bride Fan-painting 
 London antiquities. 
 
 The grandfather of Mr. Nollekens was baptized at 
 Antwerp on March 24, 1665 ; he was a painter, and 
 made a long residence in England, but subsequently 
 settled at Roanne, in France. His son, who is 
 recorded by the various names of Joseph Franciscus, 
 or Cornelius Franciscus, or Old Nollekens, as he is 
 called by Walpole, the father of Joseph, the subject 
 of these memoirs, was born at Antwerp, in the 
 parish of St. Andre, on June 10, 1702, and came to 
 England on May 3, 1733, where he married Mary 
 Anne Le Sacq. As he had studied under Watteau, 
 his pictures, in point of subject and scenery, were 
 somewhat similar to those of his master, though in 
 other respects they were far short of that tasteful 
 
30 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 artist's feeling ; however, he supported his family 
 with respectability, and was even enabled to make 
 some provision for the future. 
 
 The following anecdote of Nollekens' father was 
 communicated to me by James Northcote, Esq., 
 K.A., who received it from our mutual friend, the 
 late eminent sculptor, Thomas Banks, Esq., E.A. 
 4 Old Nollekens,' observed he, 4 was a miserably 
 avaricious man, and during the rebellion in 1745 
 his house was marked as belonging to a Roman 
 Catholic, and one in which the mob thought them- 
 selves sure of finding money. However, they did 
 not visit him ; but the idea had seized him so 
 seriously that he lingered in a state of alarm until 
 his death, which took place in Dean Street, Soho. 
 He was buried at Paddington, in 1747, 1 under the 
 names of Joseph Francis Nollekens, leaving a wife, 
 by whom he had five children viz., John Joseph, 
 baptized January 29, 1735 ; Joseph, the subject of 
 the present volume, born and baptized August 11, 
 1737, at the Roman Catholic Chapel, in Duke 
 Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields ; Maria Joanna Sophia, 
 baptized May 3, 1739 ; Jacobus, baptized April 10, 
 1741 ; and Thomas Charles, baptized May 31, 1745.' 
 
 My late father, Nathaniel Smith, and Joseph 
 Nollekens were playfellows, and both learned 
 drawing together at Shipley's School, then kept in 
 the Strand, at the eastern corner of Castle Court ; 
 the house, now No. 229, is at present occupied by 
 Mr. Helps. What renders the building the more 
 
 1 Old Nollekens died in the parish of St. Anne's, Soho, on January 21, 
 1748. Ed. 
 
THE CHILDHOOD OF NOLLE KENS 31 
 
 interesting is that it was not only in this house that 
 the Society of Arts had its first meetings, but it was 
 subsequently inhabited by Rawle, the antiquary, and 
 friend of Captain Grose. On August 7, 1755, my 
 father was placed with L. F. Roubiliac j 1 and Joseph, 
 in 1750, being then in his thirteenth year, under 
 the care and instruction of Peter Scheemakers, 2 an 
 eminent sculptor, at that time residing in Vine 
 Street, Piccadilly, on the site of the present Court 
 of Requests. Joseph's mother subsequently married 
 a Welshman, named Williams, who some years 
 before her death conducted her to his native place. 
 Joseph Nollekens was considered by all the 
 neighbours of Vine Street as a civil, inoffensive lad, 
 but not particularly bright ; however, Mrs. Schee- 
 makers used to give this character of him, that 
 ' Joey was so honest that she could always trust 
 him to stone the raisins.' His love for modelling 
 was the greatest pleasure he possessed, though it is 
 true that he had an idle propensity for bell-tolling, 
 and in that art, for which many allowed him to 
 have a superior talent, he would frequently indulge 
 by running down George Court to St. James's 
 Church to know how funerals went on. He was 
 well known both to the sexton and his man, who 
 generally accosted him with the joyous exclamation 
 of, ; What, my little Joey, are you come ? Well, 
 you must toll to-day !' Whenever his master 
 
 1 Where he remained until the death of that sculptor, January 11, 
 1762. Ed. 
 
 2 Scheemakers, born about 1700, was a native of Antwerp. He left 
 England in 1 769, and died soon after. He executed many monuments 
 in London, and was a formidable rival to Roubiliac. Ed. 
 
32 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 missed him, and the dead-bell was tolling, he knew 
 perfectly well what Joey was at. 
 
 He had so little pride that he himself has stated 
 he was often met slowly and steadily creeping along 
 to save the head of a pot of porter, which the maids 
 had sent him for on a washing clay ; but notwith- 
 standing all his childish inclinations, he was, as 
 he grew up, not unmindful of his art, rose early, 
 practised carefully, and being a true son of his 
 father, passionately fond of money, started for the 
 prizes offered by the Society of Arts ; and it gives 
 me infinite pleasure to state that Joseph Nollekens 
 and Nathaniel Smith, mv father, carried off some 
 of the first and best of its premiums, as will appear 
 by the following extracts from the Registrar's 
 books : 
 
 1 In 1759, to Joseph Nollekens was adjudged the sum of lbl. 15s. for 
 a model in clay of figures. In 1760, for a model in clay, a bas-relief, 
 31Z. 10s. ; and in the same year, for a model in clay of a daucing Faun, 
 10Z. 10s.' 
 
 As Mr. Nollekens' mother had married a Welsh- 
 man, who was partial to his native air, he easily 
 persuaded her to accompany him into Wales ; and 
 the brothers and sisters of Nollekens being all 
 abroad, he had no motive to induce him to give up 
 an inclination he had long entertained of travelling 
 to see the works of Michael Angelo, and of other 
 great men. He, therefore, after having served his 
 friendly master full ten years, without the exchange 
 of one unpleasant word, left England for Rome in 
 the year 1760, with all the little property he had 
 acquired. 
 
NOLLEKENS IN ROME 33 
 
 Taking Paris in his way, lie called upon his 
 uncle, who, from his questions and cool manner of 
 half opening the street-door, appeared to doubt the 
 veracity of his visitor. However, upon his seeing 
 him in possession of a gold watch, he was tempted 
 to ask him in, and slightly pressed him to stay 
 dinner, but this invitation Nollekens, who had felt a 
 chill, proudly declined. 
 
 On his arrival at Rome, he found his purse 
 reduced to twenty-one guineas, and, from a dread 
 of want of money, he soon executed a basso-relievo 
 in stone, which he consigned to England, and for 
 which, in 1760, he had the honour of receiving a 
 prize of 10 10s. ; but his spirits were exhilarated 
 to a much higher degree in 1762, bv the vote of a 
 prize of 52 10s. for a basso-relievo in marble, 
 which is thus clumsily noticed in the Public 
 Advertiser of Tuesday, May 25, 1762 : 
 
 { At a meeting of the Society of Polite Arts, on Friday last, for 
 a marble basso-relievo, the subject Timocles conducted before 
 Alexander, the premium of fifty guineas was given to Mr. Joseph 
 Nollekens, pupil of Mr. Scheemakers.' 
 
 Whilst Mr. Nollekens was at Rome, he was 
 recognised by Mr. Garrick with the familiar ex- 
 clamation of, ' What ! let me look at you ! Are 
 you the little fellow to whom we gave the prizes at 
 the Society of Arts ?' ' Yes, sir,' being the answer, 
 Mr. Garrick invited him to breakfast the next 
 morning, and kindly sat to him for his bust, for 
 which he paid him 12 12s. ; and I have not only 
 often heard Mr. Nollekens affirm that the payment 
 
 3 " 
 
34 NOLLE KENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 was made in ' gold,' but that this was the first busto 
 he ever modelled. 
 
 Sterne also sat to him when at Rome, 1 and that 
 bust brought him into great notice. With this 
 performance Nollekens continued to be pleased even 
 to his second childhood, and often mentioned a 
 picture which Dance had made of him leaning upon 
 Sterne's head. During his residence in Italv he 
 gained the Pope's gold medal for a basso-relievo, 
 which will be afterwards noticed. 
 
 Barry, 2 the historical painter, who was extremely 
 intimate with Nollekens at Rome, took the liberty 
 one night, when they were about to leave the 
 English coffee-house, to exchange hats with him 
 Barry's was edged with lace, and Nollekens' was a 
 very shabby plain one. Upon his returning the hat 
 the next morning, he was requested by Nollekens to 
 let him know whv he left him his s;old-laced hat. 
 4 Why, to tell you the truth, my dear Joey,' 
 answered Barry, ' I fully expected assassination last 
 night, and I was to have been known by my laced 
 hat.' This villainous transaction, which might 
 have proved fatal to Nollekens, I have often heard 
 him relate ; and he generally added, c It's what the 
 Old Bailey people would call a true bill against 
 -Jem.' Although Barry was of an irritable and 
 vindictive spirit, yet, after ridiculing Nollekens 
 upon almost every subject, he would not scruple to 
 accept little acts of kindness at his hand, and then 
 with the greatest brutality insult him. 
 
 1 In the winter of 1765. Ed. 
 
 2 James Barry (1741-1806), elected A.R.A. in 1772, R.A. in 1773, 
 and expelled from the Royal Academy in 1799. Ed. 
 
fAMES BARRY 35 
 
 I remember an instance of this kind of conduct, 
 which took place soon after Barry had completed 
 the etchings from his pictures in the Adelphi. 
 Nollekens, who was quite delighted in procuring 
 him subscribers, once called out to him as he 
 entered the studio, ' Well, Jem, I have been very 
 successful for you this week : do you know, I have 
 procured you three more subscribers to your prints 
 from the 'Delphi pictures !' Barry, instead of even 
 returning a smile for his kindness, or thanking him 
 by a nod, flew into a most violent passion, and, 
 uttering the coarsest imprecations, of which he 
 possessed a boundless variety, bade him to attend 
 in future to his own business, and not to solicit 
 subscriptions to his works, adding, after the utter- 
 ance of a most wretched oath, that if the nobility 
 wanted his works, they knew where he was to be 
 found, and they might come to him he wanted no 
 little jackanapes to go between him and those who 
 ought to apply at once to the principal. And all 
 this bombast was because Nollekens had declared 
 his success in the presence of his workmen in the 
 studio. Had he received the information in his 
 parlour all would have been well, and he would 
 have pocketed the money, as he had done frequently 
 before ; for to my own knowledge Mr. Nollekens 
 procured him several names of personages of the 
 highest rank. 
 
 During Mr. Nollekens' residence at Rome he 
 purchased, among other articles, by which he made 
 considerable sums of money, numerous pieces of 
 ancient Roman terra-cottas, some of exquisite taste, 
 
NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 from the labourers who were employed in diggings 
 gravel at Porta Latina : they were mostly dis- 
 covered at the bottom of a dry well, and must 
 evidently have been placed there for security. 
 Xollekens, who bought them for a mere trifle, sold 
 them, upon his arrival in England, to Mr. Townley, 1 
 and, together with that gentleman's marbles, they 
 have since been purchased by Government for a 
 considerable sum, and are now let into the walls 
 of the first room of the Gallery of Antiquities 
 in the British Museum. In this collection there 
 are many duplicates, which are so precisely like 
 each other that, in all probability, they were pressed 
 from the same mould. Independently of the 
 graceful figures which are introduced in several of 
 these compositions, the foliated ornaments are ex- 
 tremelv lis;ht and beautiful. 
 
 Mr. Xollekens, from the year 1761 to the time he 
 left Rome, consigned several of his productions to 
 his friend, Athenian Stuart, 2 who had undertaken, in 
 consequence of an early intimacy, to see them 
 placed in the best of the exhibitions in London, 
 which he certainly did until the establishment of 
 the Royal Academy ; and then, being inimical to 
 the interests of that respectable body, he departed 
 from his confidential trust, by suffering the works 
 of Xollekens to be exhibited with those of the 
 
 1 Charles Townley, born in 1737, died January 3, 1805. He was 
 J. T. Smith's earliest admirer and patron. Ed. 
 
 2 James Stuart, the architect, was born in 1713. He was one of 
 the first men to make a minute study on the spot, between 1751 and 
 1755, of ancient Greek architecture. In 1762 he published a valuable 
 work on the antiquities of Athens. He died in 1788. Ed. 
 
PATRONS 37 
 
 rejected artists, who were certainly of the most 
 inferior class. 
 
 Mr. Nollekens, upon his return to England, dis- 
 covered the treachery, and was so highly exas- 
 perated with his pretended friend's conduct that he 
 never entirely forgave him, though he certainly 
 now and then visited him. 
 
 The patrons of Nollekens, being characters pro- 
 fessing taste and possessing wealth, employed him 
 as a very shrewd collector of antique fragments, 
 some of which he bought on his own account ; and 
 after he had dexterously restored them with heads 
 and limbs, he stained them with tobacco -water, 
 and sold them, sometimes by way of favour, for 
 enormous sums. 
 
 My old friend, Mr. George Arnald, A.K.A., 1 
 favoured me with the following anecdote, which he 
 received immediately from Mr. Nollekens, con- 
 cerning some of these fragments : Jenkins, a 
 notorious dealer in antiques and old pictures, 
 who resided at Rome for that purpose, had been 
 commissioned by Mr. Locke, 2 of Norbury Park, to 
 send him any piece of sculpture which he thought 
 might suit him, at a price not exceeding one 
 hundred guineas ; but Mr. Locke, immediately 
 upon the receipt of a head of Minerva, which he 
 did not like, sent it back again, paying the carriage 
 and all other expenses. 
 
 1 A landscape-painter, born in 1763, and elected A.R.A. in 1810. 
 He was never promoted to be an R.A., but survived until 1841, He 
 was the brother of Sebastian Wyndham Arnald, the sculptor. Ed. 
 
 2 William Locke, the amateur, born in 17G7. Ed. 
 
NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 Nollekens, who was then also a resident in Rome, 
 having purchased a trunk of a Minerva for 50, 
 found, upon the return of this head, that its pro- 
 portion and character accorded with his torso. This 
 discovery induced him to accept an offer made by 
 Jenkins of the head itself, and two hundred and 
 twenty guineas to share the profits. After Nollekens 
 had made it up into a figure, or, what is called by the 
 vendors of botched antiques, ' restored it,' which he 
 did at the expense of about twenty guineas more for 
 stone and labour, it proved a most fortunate hit, for 
 they sold it for the enormous sum of one thousand 
 guineas! and it is now at Newby, in Yorkshire. 
 The late celebrated Charles Townlev and the late 
 Henry Blundell, Esqs., were two of his principal 
 customers for antiques. Mr. Nollekens was like- 
 wise an indefatigable inquirer after terra-cottas, 
 executed by the most celebrated sculptors, Michael 
 Angelo, John di Bologna, Fiamingo, etc. The best 
 of these he reserved for himself until the day of his 
 death. 
 
 The late Earl of Bes[s] borough and the late Lord 
 Selsey were much attached to Mr. Nollekens at this 
 time, but his greatest friend was the Lord Yar- 
 borough. 1 For that nobleman he executed many 
 very considerable works in marble, for which he 
 received most liberal and immediate payment. 
 Xollekens, who wished upon all occasions to save 
 every shilling he possibly could, was successful in 
 
 1 This was Charles Anderson-Pelham, raised to the peerage as 
 Baron Yarborough in 1794. He died in 1823. He was the father of 
 the first Earl. Ed. 
 
NOLLEKENS IN ROME 39 
 
 another manoeuvre. He actually succeeded as a 
 smuggler of silk stockings, gloves and lace ; his 
 contrivance was truly ingenious, and perhaps it 
 was the first time that the Custom House officers 
 had ever been so taken in. His method was this : 
 All his plaster busts being hollow, he stuffed them 
 full of the above articles, and then spread an out- 
 side coating of plaster at the back across the 
 shoulders of each, so that the busts appeared like 
 solid casts. I recollect his pointing to the cast of 
 Sterne, and observing to the late Lord Mansfield : 
 ' There, do you know, that busto, my lord, held 
 my lace ruffles that I went to Court in when I came 
 from Koine.' 
 
 His mode of living when at Rome was most 
 filthy : he had an old woman, who, as he stated, 
 c did for him,' and she was so good a cook that she 
 would often give him a dish for dinner which cost 
 him no more than threepence. ' Nearly opposite 
 to my lodgings,' he said, 'there lived a pork- 
 butcher, who put out at his door at the end of the 
 week a plateful of what he called cuttings, bits of 
 skin, bits of gristle, and bits of fat, which he sold 
 for twopence, and my old lady dished them up with 
 a little pepper and a little salt ; and, with a slice of 
 bread and sometimes a bit of vegetable, I made a 
 very nice dinner.' Whenever good dinners were 
 mentioned he was sure to say : ' Ay, I never tasted 
 a better dish than my Roman cuttings.' 
 
 By this time the name of Nollekens was pretty 
 well known on the Stock Exchange of London as a 
 holder to a considerable amount, and he arrived in 
 
40 NOLLE KENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 England time enough to take a lease of the pre- 
 mises, No. 9, Mortimer Street, Cavendish Square, 
 then the property of Francis Milner Newton, 1 Esq., 
 K.A., a very indifferent portrait-painter, who had 
 been a pupil of Marcus Teuscher, an artist of no 
 great talent, but a very good man. Mr. Newton 
 was Muster-master of England, and srenerallv wore 
 the Windsor uniform, and had also been secretary 
 to the Royal Academy ever since its establish- 
 ment. This office he resigned in 1788, and died at 
 his house at Barton, near Taunton, in August, 
 1794. 
 
 Mr. Nollekens soon turned the Muster- master's 
 painting-room into a studio for sculpture, and was 
 honoured with orders from some of the first person- 
 ages in this countrv, who sat to him at all hours for 
 their busts ; and so fashionable was he in that depart- 
 ment of his art that I have known him to have four 
 sitters in a day. Our sculptor now exhibited in Pall 
 Mall with the Royal Academy, to which he presented 
 a fine cast of the torso, having brought it from 
 Rome for that purpose. In 177 1 2 the Academicians 
 chose him an Associate, and in the following vear 
 elected him R.A. With this election our late 
 gracious King, when he signed his diploma, de- 
 
 1 Born in 1720 ; foundation member and first secretary of the 
 Royal Academy. Ed. 
 
 2 Mr. Nollekens was invited to the funeral of Jonathan Richard- 
 son, jun., son of the author of the work on 'Painting,' and the 
 collector of many fine drawings. He died at his house in Queen 
 Square, and was buried in the ground belonging to the parish, behind 
 the Foundling Hospital, where it is recorded that he departed this life 
 on June G, 1771, aged seventy-six. Smith. 
 
MARY WELCH 41 
 
 clared himself pleased in the most flattering terms 
 of approbation, and immediately honoured him still 
 more by sitting for his bnst. 
 
 Mr. Nollekens now, for the first time, fell des- 
 perately in love. The lady was Mary, the second 
 daughter of Sanders Welch, Esq., the successor in 
 the magistracy of his friend, Henry Fielding, on 
 his departure for Lisbon. This lady, the pink of 
 precision, bestowed her hand upon him, and they 
 were married at the altar of Marylebone Church in 
 the presence of her father and sister Anne. This 
 lady, w T ho will be mentioned hereafter, was mistress 
 of seven lan^uao-es. She was a Protestant when 
 she attended her sister's marriage, but became 
 a Roman Catholic shortly after her arrival at 
 Koine. 
 
 In what style of language their courtship was 
 carried on, how Miss Mary became better acquainted 
 with Master Joseph, or how far he was speech- 
 gifted in Love's soft lispings, I am totally ignorant ; 
 but it has been seen that Joseph was a c thriving 
 wooer.' 
 
 Marv's figure was rather too tall, but vet orace- 
 ful ; her eyes were good, and she knew how to 
 play with them ; her blooming complexion stood 
 in no need of milk of roses ; her nose, I must own, 
 and it was the opinion of Nollekens, too, was rather 
 of the shortest ; her teeth were small, bespeaking 
 a selfish disposition ; indeed, the whole of her 
 features were what her husband would sometimes 
 call c scorny,' particularly in their latter days 
 during their little fracas, for, be it known, she had 
 
42 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 no small sprinkling of pride, in consequence of a 
 compliment paid her by Dr. Johnson. Her light 
 hair shone in natural and beautiful ringlets down 
 her back to the lower part of her tightly-laced 
 waist such a shaped waist as her fathers friend, 
 Fielding, has given Sophia Western in his c Tom 
 Jones.' 
 
 This ladv's interesting figure on her wedding- 
 day was attired in a sacque aiid petticoat of the most 
 expensive brocaded white silk, resembling network, 
 enriched with small flowers, which displayed in the 
 variation of the folds a most delicate shade of 
 pink, the uncommon beauty of which was greatly 
 admired. The deep and pointed stomacher was 
 exquisitely gimped and pinked, and at the lower 
 part was a large pin consisting of several diamonds, 
 confining an elegant point-lace apron, certainly at 
 that period rather unfashionable, but on this happy 
 event affectionately worn by the lady in memory 
 of her dear mother, who had presented it to her 
 indeed, Mrs. Nollekens was frequently heard to 
 declare that she was above ' the fleeting whimsies 
 of depraved elegance.' The sleeves of this dress 
 closelv fitted the arm to a little below the elbow, 
 from which hung three point-lace ruffles of great 
 depth ; a handkerchief of the same costly texture 
 partly concealed the beauty of her bosom, wherein, 
 confined by a large bow, was a bouquet of rose- 
 buds, the delicate tints of which were imperceptibly 
 blended with the transparency of her complexion, 
 and not a little increased the beauty of a triple row 
 of pearls, tied behind with a narrow white satin 
 
MRS. N0LLEKEN8 DRESS 43 
 
 ribbon. Her beautiful auburn hair, which she 
 never disguised by the use of powder, according to 
 the fashion of the day, was upon this occasion 
 arranged over a cushion made to fit the head to a 
 considerable height, with large round curls on 
 either side, the whole being surmounted by a small 
 cap of point-lace, with plaited flaps, to correspond 
 with the apron and ruffles. 1 Her shoes were com- 
 posed of the same material as her dress, orna- 
 mented with silver spangles and square Bristol 
 buckles, with heels three inches and a half in 
 height, as if she meant to exult in out-topping her 
 little husband, whose head, even when he had his 
 hat on, reached no higher than her shoulder. 
 
 Mrs. Nollekens' father was at the expense of 
 her marriage wardrobe, which cost about 200 : 
 among her dresses was one of a fashionable 
 Carmelite, a rich purple brown, and another con- 
 sisted of a lavender silk, brocaded with white, and 
 enriched with bouquets of carnations, auriculas, 
 and jessamines the size of nature. The bride- 
 groom's dress was a suit of ' Pourpre du Pape,' silk 
 stockings with broad blue and white stripes, and lace 
 ruffles and frill, the whole of which articles he had 
 
 1 In looking at the dresses of former days, it is curious to see in 
 what a short time fashions rise and fall from one extreme to another. 
 In 1760, when the lace apron was declining in favour, a lady wore her 
 hair short and thin, and quite close to her head, with a small flower or 
 ornament on the top of her forehead, nor was it until 1769 that the 
 head-dress was much increased ; but in 1772 it became preposterously 
 high, under the most fashionable leader of the day, D. Ritchie, hair- 
 dresser and dentist, then living in Rupert Street, two doors from 
 Coventry Street. In 1777 sacques disappeared, and the large bell- 
 hoops came into fashion. Smith. 
 
44 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 brought from Kome. His hair was dressed in curls 
 on either side, with an immense toupee, and finished 
 with a small bag tied as closely as possible to his 
 neck. Mrs. Holt, who was Mrs. Nollekens' 
 domestic companion for many years, and who 
 attended Mr. Nollekens in his last illness, has 
 enabled me to be thus minute in my description of 
 the dresses worn by the bride and bridegroom. 
 
 Mrs. Nollekens had a tolerable stock of reading 
 and a pretty good memory, but no sound knowledge 
 of any of the superior accomplishments of her sex, 
 as her youthful studies went very little beyond 
 delicate needlework and translating French. She 
 never knew the pleasures of a mother, for, in her 
 opinion, ' children were serious responsibilities ' ; 
 and her matrimonial amusements were not like 
 those of the good Vicar of Wakefield's wife, for I 
 never heard of her making gooseberry wine : a 
 game at cribbage, or a rubber at whist, was her 
 delight ; but then she made it a rule never to risk 
 more than sixpence the rub, for which resolution 
 most well-thinking persons will give her credit ; 
 but then, when primly seated, she would insist 
 upon the nice precision of the game, as her mother 
 played it, c according to Hoyle, Mr. Edward Hojde.' 1 
 In this way of passing time, for she knew nothing 
 of drawing or j)ainting, she would now and then, 
 when at home, coax her Nolly to join her ; but 
 rarely suffered him to touch a card when they were 
 
 1 Mrs. Nollekens recollected that Hoyle, the author of a treatise on 
 the game of whist, was buried at Marylebone, August 23, 1769, and 
 that he was ninety years old when he died. Smith. 
 
ATHENIAN STUART 45 
 
 visiting, on account of his playing so ill that he 
 was sure to lose. 
 
 It gives me the highest gratification to observe 
 that painting is now considered so essential a branch 
 of polite education that many persons, who are dis- 
 tinguished both for elegance and fashion, are never 
 more delighted than when they are engaged in its 
 interesting pursuits. When Mrs. Nollekens was a 
 girl, Goupy, 1 her father's intimate friend, was con- 
 sidered the most eminent of the fan-painters ; and 
 so fashionable was fan-painting at that time, that 
 the family of Athenian Stuart placed him as a pupil 
 to that artist, conceiving that by so doing they had 
 made his fortune. Stuart's genius, however, in a 
 short time soared to the pinnacle of fame by flying 
 to Athens for those inestimable treasures which will 
 immortalize his name, notwithstanding Hogarth's 
 satire upon the publication of his first volume ; 
 for, indeed, we have not now a student who speaks 
 of Stuart without the honourable surname of 
 c Athenian.' 
 
 Some years before I had any connection with 
 Mr. Nollekens as an instructor, my intercourse with 
 him was frequent, notwithstanding the disparity of 
 our ages ; and he has often taken me to walk with 
 him in various parts of London, when he seemed to 
 feel a pleasure in pointing out curious vestiges and 
 alterations to my notice, as well as in showing me 
 some remarkable sights of the time. Perhaps these 
 communications gave the first impetus to that love 
 
 1 Joseph Goupy, a Frenchman, the drawing-master of Frederick, 
 Prince of Wales. He died in 1763. Ed. 
 
46 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 for Metropolitan antiquities which I entertained so 
 early, and which even now continues unabated. 
 His recollections of many of the places we visited 
 often furnished me with curious and interesting 
 pictures of London as it appeared in his own youth ; 
 and several of the most singular of them I have 
 ventured to introduce into these anecdotes. 
 
[47] 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Execution of Sixteen-string Jack Model of the King's state coach 
 Sir Nathaniel Dance Holland Tradesmen's signs sometimes painted 
 by eminent artists Costly one of Shakespeare exposed for sale 
 Ignatius Sancho Mortimer the painter and Mr. Payne Knight 
 Duke of Monmouth's house in Soho Marylebone basin and gardens 
 and Cockney Ladle Fruit-gardens in Gower Street Commence- 
 ment of my own acquaintance with Nollekens His servant Bronze 
 Hudson's sale of prints, and anecdote of Sir J. Reynolds Nol- 
 lekens' recollections of London Athenian Stuart Colonel King 
 Residents of rank in Soho Streets visible at one point Nollekens' 
 first print and subsequent collection Recollections of his mother 
 Farthing posts and early newspapers Characteristics of Mrs. 
 Nollekens Dr. Johnson's bust by Nollekens His odd conduct to 
 his sisters His parsimonious habits His monument for Dr. 
 Goldsmith. 
 
 I remember well, when I was in my eighth year, 
 Mr. Nollekens calling at my father's house in Great 
 Portland Street, and taking me to Oxford Eoad to 
 see the notorious Jack Rann, commonly called 
 4 Sixteen-string Jack,' go to Tyburn to be hanged 
 for robbing Dr. William Bell, in Gunnersbury Lane, 
 of his watch and eighteen-pence in money ; for 
 which he received sentence of death on Tuesday, 
 October 26, 1774. The criminal was dressed in a 
 pea-green coat, with an immense nosegay in the 
 buttonholes, which had been presented to him at 
 
48 NOLLE KENS AND HLS TIMES 
 
 St. Sepulchre's steps ; and his nankeen small-clothes, 
 we were told, were tied at each knee with sixteen 
 strings. After he had passed, and Mr. Nollekens 
 was leading me home by the hand, I recollect his 
 stooping down to me and observing, in a low tone 
 of voice : ' Tom, now, my little man, if my father- 
 in-law, Mr. Justice Welch, had been High Constable, 
 we could have walked by the side of the cart all 
 the way to Tyburn.' 
 
 I also remember, one Sunday morning, going 
 with my father and Mr. Nollekens to see the studio 
 and workshop of the late Joseph Wilton, 1 Esq., K. A., 
 father of the present Lady Chambers, and friend of 
 Barretti. Wilton, on his return from his travels, 
 brought Capizzoldi and Cipriani 2 to this country. 
 Mr. Wilton's studio stood on the south side of 
 Queen Anne Street East, now called Foley Place, 
 upon the site of five houses, Nos. 22, 23, 3 24, 25, 
 and 26 ; in the house No. 27, at the corner of Fort- 
 land Street, Mr. Wilton resided for many years. 
 We viewed his works, and the model of King 
 George III.'s state coach, a most beautiful little 
 toy, exquisitely adorned with ornaments modelled 
 in wax by Capizzoldi and Yoyers, the panels being 
 painted in water-colours by Cipriani. The designs 
 consisted of figures and historical emblems, and 
 
 1 Joseph Wilton (1722-1803), the sculptor. See prefatory essay. 
 Ed, 
 
 2 Giovanni Battista Cipriani, born in Florence in 1727, arrived in 
 England in 1756, became a foundation member of the Royal Academy, 
 and died in 1785. Ed. 
 
 3 No. 23 was the residence of Edward Malone, Esq., the well-known 
 editor of Shakespeare. Smith. 
 
SIGN-PAINTERS 49 
 
 Cipriani also painted the same subjects upon the 
 coach itself ; but he was not the first eminent artist 
 who had tlms adorned a carriage, or even painted a 
 sign. The old royal state coach was purchased by 
 the City of London, the panels of which were 
 repainted by Dance, 1 afterwards Sir Nathaniel 
 Dance Holland, Bart., who was the painter of that 
 most admirable whole-length picture of Garrick in 
 ' Richard III.,' now in the front drawing-room of 
 Sir Watkin Williams Wynn, Bart., in his town 
 mansion, St. James's Square. 
 
 Mr. Smirke, 2 the celebrated artist, also served 
 his time under a herald-painter, of the name of 
 Bromley, who died lately in Queen Street, Lincoln's 
 Inn Fields. 
 
 George Morland 3 painted a sign of a white lion 
 for a public -house at Paddington. 
 
 Monamy, 4 the famous marine-painter, decorated 
 a carriage for the gallant and unfortunate Admiral 
 Byng, with ships and naval trophies ; and he also 
 painted a portrait of Admiral Vernon's ship, for a 
 famous public-house of the day, well known by the 
 sign of the 'Porto Bello,' remaining until recently 
 within a few doors north of the church in St. 
 Martin's Lane. After the battle of Culloden, most 
 of the old signs of military and naval victors gave 
 way to the head of Duke William ; and Horace 
 
 1 Nathaniel Dance (1734-1811), a foundation member of the Royal 
 Academy. En. 
 
 2 Robert Smirke (1752-1845), elected A.R.A. in 1791, and R.A. in 
 1793. He was a great illustrator of books. Ed. 
 
 3 George Morland (1763-1804), the famous animal-painter. Ed. 
 
 4 Pierre Monamy (1G70-1749), an imitator of Van de Velde. Ed. 
 
 4 
 
5o NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 Walpole has noticed this change in his thirteenth 
 letter to Mr. Conway, dated April 16, 1747. 
 
 1 1 was,' says that elegant author, ' yesterday out 
 of town, and the very signs, as I passed through the 
 villages, made me make very quaint reflections on 
 the mortality of fame and popularity. I observed 
 how the Duke's head had succeeded almost uni- 
 versally to Admiral Vernon's, as his had left but 
 few traces of the Duke of Ormond's. I pondered 
 these things in my heart, and said unto myself, 
 Surely all glory is but as a sign !' 
 
 Clarkson, the portrait-painter, was originally a 
 coach-panel and sign painter ; and he executed that 
 most elaborate one of Shakespeare 1 which formerly 
 hung across the street at the north-east corner of 
 Little Russell Street, in Drury Lane ; the late Mr. 
 Thomas Grignon informed me that he had often 
 heard his father say that this sign cost 500. In 
 my boyish days it was for many years exposed for 
 sale for a very trifling sum at a broker's shop in 
 Lower Brook Street, Grosvenor Square. The late 
 Mr. Crace, of Great Queen Street, assured me that 
 it was in his early days a thing that country people 
 would stand and gaze at, and that that corner of the 
 street was hardly passable. 
 
 Charles Catton, 2 Esq., R.A., was also in early 
 life a coach and sign painter ; he painted a lion as a 
 sign for his friend Wright, a famous coach-maker, 
 
 1 Edwards has erroneously given Wale the credit of this sign. 
 Smith. Nathaniel Clarkson was born in 1724, and died in 1795. Ed. 
 
 2 Charles Catton, the landscape-painter, was born in 1728, was a 
 foundation member of the Royal Academy, and died in 1798. Ed. 
 
IGNATIUS SANCHO 51 
 
 at that time living in Long Acre. This picture, 
 though it has weathered many a storm, is still 
 visible at the coach- maker's on the west side of 
 Well Street, Oxford Street. Baker, 1 a famous 
 flower-painter, decorated coach -panels with borders 
 and wreaths of flowers ; and he made a most 
 splendid display of his taste on the panels of the 
 coach of the famous Dr. Ward, who enjoyed almost 
 the whole practice of his profession, after he had 
 so successfully set the sprained thumb of King- 
 George II. Richard Wilson, the landscape-painter, 
 once condescended to paint a sign of the ' Three 
 Logger Heads,' for the house so called, near the 
 spot where he died. 
 
 In June, 1780, Mr. Nollekens took me to the 
 house of Ignatius Sancho, 2 who kept a grocer's, or, 
 rather, chandler's shop at No. 20, Charles Street, 
 Westminster, a house still standing at the south- 
 west corner of Crown Court. Mr. Nollekens having 
 recollected that he had promised him a cast of his 
 friend ; Sterne's bust, I had the honour of carrying 
 it ; and as we pushed the wicket door, a little 
 tinkling bell, the usual appendage to such shops, 
 
 1 John Baker, born in 1736, was a foundation member of the Royal 
 Academy, and died in 1771. Ed. 
 
 2 An extraordinary literary character, a negro, who was born on 
 board a slave-ship in 1729. He was patronized by the Duke of 
 Montague, who made him his butler, and left him a legacy and an 
 annuity at his death, when he took the shop above-mentioned. In his 
 leisure hours he indulged his taste for music, painting, and literature, 
 which procured him the acquaintance of several persons of distinction. 
 He was the author of some pieces of poetry and a tract on the 
 ' Theory of Music '; and his letters, with his life by Jekyll, were pub- 
 lished after his death for the benefit of his family. Smith. 
 
52 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 announced its opening. We drank tea with Sanclio 
 and his black lady, who was seated when we entered 
 in the corner of the shop, chopping sugar, sur- 
 rounded by her little \ Sanchonets.' Sancho, know- 
 ing Mr. Nollekens to be a loyal man, said to him, 
 ' I am sure you will be pleased to hear that Lord 
 George Gordon is taken, and that a party of the 
 guards is now escorting him in an old ramshackled 
 coach to the Tower.' Nollekens said not a word, 
 and poor Sancho either did not know or did not 
 recollect that he was addressing a Papist. 
 
 I can also recall Sancho's visiting Mr. Nollekens' 
 studio ; he spoke well of art, and gave the f ollowing* 
 anecdote of the late Richard Payne Knight 1 and 
 Mortimer 2 the painter, with the latter of whom he 
 was extremely intimate. Mr. Knight happening to 
 call upon Mortimer at his house in Church Court, 
 Covent Garden, expressed his uneasiness at the 
 melancholy mood in which he found him. ' Why, 
 sir,' observed Mortimer, ' I have many noble and 
 generous friends, it is true ; but of all my patrons, 
 I don't know one whom I could now ask to purchase 
 an hundred guineas' worth of draivings of me, and 
 I am at this moment seriously in want of that sum.' 
 ' Well, then,' observed Mr. Knight, ' bring as many 
 sketches as you would part with for that sum to me 
 to-morrow, and dine with me.' This he did, and 
 enjoyed his bottle. Mr. Knight gave him two 
 
 1 This eminent antiquary and collector was born in 1750, and died 
 in 1824. Ed. 
 
 2 John Hamilton Mortimer, born in 1741, was an eminent cricketer 
 and a painter of high ambition. He was elected A.R.A. at the close 
 of 1778, but died of fever a few weeks later, February 4, 1779. Ed. 
 
THE DUKE OF MONMOUTH'S HOUSE 53 
 
 hundred guineas, which he insisted the drawings 
 were worth ; and on this splendid reception, 
 Mortimer, who was no starter, took so much wine 
 that the next morning he knew not how he got 
 home. 
 
 About twelve o'clock at noon his bedside was 
 visited by the late ' Memory Cooke,' who, after 
 hearing him curse his stupidity in losing his two 
 hundred guineas, produced the bag ! c Here, my 
 good fellow !' cried Cooke, ' here is your money. 
 Fortunately you knocked me up, and emptied your 
 pockets on my table, after which I procured a 
 coach and sent you home.' 
 
 Ignatius Sancho died December 14, 1780, at his 
 house already mentioned, and was buried in the 
 Broadway, Westminster. 
 
 Mr. Nollekens, on his way to the Roman Catholic 
 chapel in Duke Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields, where 
 he was christened, stopped to show me the dilapida- 
 tions of the Duke of Monmouth's house in Soho 
 Square. It was on the south side, and occupied the 
 site of the houses which now stand in Bateman's 
 Buildings ; and though the workmen were employed 
 in pulling it down, we ventured to go in. The gate 
 entrance was of massive ironwork supported by 
 stone piers, surmounted by the crest of the owner 
 of the house ; and within the gates there was a 
 spacious courtyard for carriages. The hall was 
 ascended by steps. There were eight rooms on the 
 ground-floor ; the principal one was a dining-room 
 towards the south, the carved and gilt panels of 
 which had contained whole-length pictures. At the 
 
54 NOLLE KENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 corners of the ornamented ceiling, which was of 
 plaster, and over the chimney-piece, the Dnke of 
 Monmouth's arms were displayed. 
 
 From a window we descended into a paved yard, 
 surrounded by a red brick wall with heavy stone 
 copings, which was, to the best of my recollection, 
 full twenty-five feet in height. The staircase was 
 of oak, the steps very low, and the landing-places 
 were tessellated with woods of light and dark 
 colours, similar to those now remaining on the 
 staircase of Lord Russell's house, late Lowe's Hotel, 
 Covent Garden, and in several rooms of the British 
 Museum. 
 
 As we ascended, I remember Mr. Nollekens 
 noticing the busts of Seneca, Caracalla, Trajan, 
 Adrian, and several others, upon ornamented 
 brackets. The principal room on the first-floor, 
 which had not been disturbed by the workmen, was 
 lined with blue satin, superbly decorated with 
 pheasants and other birds in gold. The chimney- 
 piece was richly ornamented with fruit and foliage, 
 similar to the carvings which surround the altar of 
 St. James's Church, Piccadilly, so beautifully exe- 
 cuted by Grinling Gibbons. In the centre over this 
 chimney-piece, within a wreath of oak-leaves, there 
 was a circular recess which evidently had been 
 designed for the reception of a bust. The beads of 
 the panels of the brown window- shutters, which 
 were very lofty, were gilt ; and the piers between 
 the windows, from stains upon the silk, had pro- 
 bably been filled with looking-glasses. The scaffold- 
 ing, ladders, and numerous workmen rendered it too 
 
MARYLEBONE BASIN 55 
 
 dangerous for us to go higher, or see more of this 
 most interesting house. 
 
 My father had, however, made a drawing of the 
 external front of it, which I engraved for my first 
 work, entitled ' Antiquities of London,' which has 
 been noticed by Mr. Pennant 1 in his valuable and 
 entertaining anecdotes of the Metropolis. 
 
 One Sunday morning Mr. Nollekens took me to 
 see the boys bathe in Marylebone basin. As we 
 were ^ohis:, our attention was engaged by the 
 beadles of the parish seizing the clothes of the lads 
 who had gone into the small pond called Cockney 
 Ladle, supplied with water by an arm which looked 
 like a ladle from the basin ; this Cockney Ladle 
 stood on the north of Portland Chapel, very near 
 the spot now occupied by Mr. Booth, the bookseller, 
 in Duke Street. The basin which was a very 
 large circular and deep pond, fatal to many an 
 inexperienced youth was farther in the fields on 
 the site of part, of Portland Place and Mansfield 
 Street. A small portion of the pond, denominated 
 c The Six-and-Thirty,' still remains on the west 
 side of the once-intended Carmarthen Square, at 
 the end of Upper Gower Street, nearly opposite to 
 the house in which I now reside a part of the 
 town, until very lately, so perfectly healthy and 
 free from the London smoke that at No. 33 in 
 Gower Street a house till within these few years 
 inhabited by the late Colonel Sutherland, well 
 known at print-auctions, as well as to portrait- 
 collectors, as a most extensive embellisher of 
 
 1 Thomas Pennant, the naturalist (172G-1798). Ed. 
 
56 NOLLE KENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 Clarendon's ' History of his Own Times ' grapes 
 were ripened by the sun in the open air at the back- 
 parlour window. 
 
 Lord Eldon often speaks of the fine fruit of 
 Gow r er Street, which his lordship enjoyed when he 
 lived in the house now No. 42 ; indeed, he has 
 also spoken in open court of the sad effect the 
 smoke of London had upon his garden in Gower 
 Street. A still more extraordinary fact is, that 
 even so late as the year 1800, William Bentham, 
 Esq., of No. 6, Upper Gower Street (a gentleman 
 whose well-chosen collection of English topography 
 is unquestionably the most select and perfect of 
 any formed within my memory), had nearly twenty - 
 five dozen of the finest-looking and most delicious 
 nectarines, all fit for the table, gathered from three 
 completely exposed trees ; and even since that time, 
 the same garden, of the same gentleman, has pro- 
 duced the richest-flavoured celerv in the greatest 
 abundance. 
 
 The orchestra of Marylebone Gardens, before 
 which I have listened with my grandmother to hear 
 Tommy Lowe sing, stood upon the site of the house 
 now No. 17 in Devonshire Place, and very near 
 where Mr. Fountain's boarding-school stood, nearly 
 opposite to the old church, still standing in High 
 Street. Mr. Fountain, who succeeded Mr. De la 
 Place in this school, w r as once w r alking with Handel 
 round Marylebone Gardens, and upon hearing music 
 which he could not understand, observed to Handel, 
 ' This is d d stuff !' c It may be d d stuff, but 
 it is mine,' rejoined Handel. 
 
NOLLEKENS HABITS tj 
 
 Upon the death of my mother, in 1779, Mr. 
 Nollekens, upon seeing some of my attempts in 
 wax-modelling, kindly invited me into his studio. 
 At that time my father was his principal assistant, 
 and there I was employed in making drawings from 
 his models of monuments, assisting in casting, and 
 finally, though in a very unimportant degree, and 
 with the humblest talent, in carving ; but I must 
 state that I was entirely supported by my father, 
 and I solemnly declare that from the hour of my 
 first seeing Mr. Nollekens till the time of his deatli 
 I never received, either directly or indirectly, the 
 slightest remuneration from him, though whilst I 
 was with him I have often stood to him as a model. 
 Indeed, the only present he ever made me was three 
 boxes of what had been black chalk, which he 
 brought from Florence ; but it was so gray and 
 rotten that it would not bear cutting, and was 
 therefore worth nothing. This he knew upon 
 asking me how I liked it, and his answer was, 
 ' Well, never mind, I shall give yon cause to 
 remember me in a better way.' 
 
 My being often closeted with him as his model, 
 assisting him in casting, etc., gave me frequent 
 opportunities of seeing and hearing much, particu- 
 larly of his domestic habits, and the observations 
 made by his sitters and visitors, who were persons 
 of learning, rank, or beauty. As I have sometimes 
 diverted my friends with a good-lmmonred imitation 
 of Mr. and Mrs. Nollekens, I shall occasionally 
 insert a few of their dialogues, which have either 
 fallen under my own notice or were related to me 
 
58 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 by their old servant, Elizabeth Rosina Clements. 
 She was a woman possessing a considerable share of 
 drollery ; and from her complexion being of a 
 chestnut - brown colour, somewhat tinctured with 
 olive, she acquired from the shopkeepers, particu- 
 larly those of Oxford Market, the nickname of 
 Black Bet, but from the artists the more classical 
 appellation of Bronze, under which she will here- 
 after be mentioned. Indeed, she might very well 
 call to mind the expression of Petrarch, who 
 describes his female servant as being ' brown as a 
 Libyan desert, and dry as a mummy.' 
 
 Langforcl, who was the most fashionable auctioneer 
 of his day, occupied the rooms in Co vent Garden 
 now held bv Messrs. Robins, in the largest of which 
 he sold that truly valuable collection of prints and 
 drawings accumulated by Thomas Hudson, 1 the 
 master of Sir Joshua Reynolds, and the most 
 celebrated portrait-painter of his time. Though no 
 very great artist, Hudson showed considerable ambi- 
 tion and taste in his selection of the best specimens 
 of art for his portfolios, particularly in the produc- 
 tions of the Dutch schools. The choice impressions 
 which he had accumulated from the plates of Rem- 
 brandt, and his various and numerous drawings also 
 from the hand of that wonderful master, would 
 lead us to conclude him to have been his greatest 
 favourite ; indeed, so extensive and precious were 
 they that, I am informed, any ten collections united 
 would not have equalled his either in merit or in 
 number. 
 
 1 Thomas Hudson died in 1779, aged seventy-eight. Ed. 
 
THE STREETS OF LONDON 59 
 
 At this sale Mr. Nollekens was a constant atten- 
 dant, and lie generally took me with him. I recollect 
 Sir Joshua Reynolds who was present one evening 
 when a drawing was knocked down to his pupil and 
 agent, Mr. Score 1 after he had expatiated upon the 
 extraordinary pow r ers of Rembrandt, assuring a 
 gentleman with whom he was conversing that the 
 effect which pleased him most in all his own pictures 
 was that displayed in the one of Lord Ligonier on 
 horseback, of which there is an engraving by Fisher, 
 the chiaro-oscnro of which he conceived from a rnde 
 woodcut upon a halfpenny ballad, which he pur- 
 chased from the w r all of St. Anne's Church in 
 Princes Street. 
 
 Another time, as we were going to view the same 
 curious collection, Mr. Nollekens stopped at the 
 corner of Rathbone Place, and observed that when 
 he was a little boy his mother often took him to 
 the top of that street to walk by the side of a long 
 pond near a windmill, which then stood on the site 
 of the chapel in Charlotte Street ; and that a half- 
 penny was paid by every person at a hatch belonging 
 to the miller for the privilege of w r alking in his 
 grounds. He also told me that his mother took 
 him through another halfpenny hatch in the fields 
 between Oxford Road and Grosvenor Square, the 
 north side of which was then building. When we 
 got to the brewhonse between Rathbone Place and 
 the end of Tottenham Court Road he said he 
 recollected thirteen large and fine w r alnnt - trees 
 standing on the north side of the highway between 
 
 1 William Score, the Devonshire portrait-painter. Ed. 
 
60 NOLLE KENS AND HLS TIMES 
 
 what was then vulgarly called Hanover Yard, after- 
 wards Hanway Yard, and now Hanway Street, and 
 the Castle Inn beyond the Star Brewery. 
 
 I remember ^oiiis; w ith Mr. Nollekens to see his 
 old friend Athenian Stuart, though he had treated 
 him so scurvily. Stuart lived on the south side of 
 Leicester Fields ; he had built a large room at the 
 back of his house, in which were several of his 
 drawings, particularly those he had made for a 
 continuation of his work ; they were in body 
 colours, and in stvle resembled those of Marco 
 Ricci. His parlour, where we remained until a 
 shower of rain was over, was decorated with some 
 of Hogarth's most popular prints, and upon a fire- 
 screen he had pasted an impression of the plate 
 called the ' Periwigs,' a print which Mr. Stuart 
 always showed his visitors as Hogarth's satire upon 
 his first volume of ' Athenian Antiquities.' 
 
 Mr. Stuart, though short, was not a fat, but 
 rather a heavy-looking, man, and his face declared 
 him to be fond of what is called friendly society. 
 In his later days he regularly frequented a public - 
 house on the north side of Leicester Fields, of the 
 sign of the Feathers, which then stood upon the 
 site of part of the ground of Mr. Burford's 
 Panorama ; and of these friendly meetings he 
 would frequently endeavour to persuade Nollekens 
 to become a member. 
 
 When we had left Mr. Stuart's house, Mr. 
 Nollekens pointed out the one in St. Martin's 
 Street that had been inhabited by Sir Isaac 
 Newton, which he said was then occupied by his 
 
COLONEL KING 61 
 
 friend Dr. Burney, 1 who was visited by all the 
 learned personages of the day. I have been 
 favoured with a curious anecdote of Dr. Burney 
 and Mr. Nollekens by my friend Lieutenant- Colonel 
 Phillips, one of the two surviving gentlemen who 
 went round the world with Captain Cook, which the 
 reader will find in a subsequent page. 
 
 Whilst we were standing at the end of Rathbone 
 Place waiting for a coach for Mr. Nollekens now 
 and then indulged in a shilling fare, particularly 
 when he was going into the city to purchase stock, 
 or to the Royal Academy, when he was chosen 
 visitor he said, pointing to the house east of the 
 undertaker's, now No. 23 : i There lived Colonel 
 King, 2 one of my father's oldest friends ; he was 
 a very great collector of all sorts of singular 
 things, and had a very curious old shield which 
 belonged to the famous Dr. Woodward, 3 who was 
 intimately acquainted with the great Sir Christopher 
 Wren. 
 
 ' Colonel King was very good-natured to me and 
 my brothers, and whenever my father used to take 
 us to drink coffee with him, we had our three- 
 
 1 Charles Burney, the historian of music (1726-1814). Ed. 
 
 2 Colonel Kichard King died in 1767, in his eighty-fourth year. He 
 was visited by Pope and other celebrated men, and was executor to 
 Dr. Woodward. Smith. 
 
 3 This shield, which is now in the British Museum, has been 
 erroneously attributed to Benvenuto Cellini. It is certainly of the 
 time of Henry VIII., but of very coarse and inferior workmanship. 
 I find by a letter in the fourth volume of ' Biographia Adversaria,' 
 in the British Museum, that the Doctor's shield sold at the sale of 
 Colonel King, to whom he had bequeathed it, for the sum of 40. 
 Smith. 
 
62 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 cornered silver-laced hats on ; so we had on 
 Sundays, when we used to go into St. James's 
 Park, with our ruffles and canes ; I remember it 
 very well.' When we had entered Soho Square, 
 among many other remarks, he said that when he 
 was a little boy, and lived in Dean Street, where 
 he was born, at the house now No. 28, there were 
 no fewer than four Ambassadors lived in that 
 Square, and that at that time it was the most 
 fashionable place for the nobility. 1 He also told 
 me that Baptiste, the famous flower-painter, with 
 whom he said his father was extremely intimate, 
 lived and died in the corner house, pointing to the 
 one now No. 18. 'And do you know,' added he, 
 4 that I have often stood for hours together, to see 
 the water run out of the jugs of the old river-gods 
 into the basin in the middle of the square ; but,' 
 he continued, c the water never would run out of 
 their jugs, but when the windmill was going round 
 at the top of Rathbone Place.' This windmill 
 stood upon the site of Percy Chapel, in Charlotte 
 Street, and the spring, wljich supplied the long 
 pond before it, now remains in the cellar of Elisha, 
 a bricklayer, behind the chapel. 
 
 When we arrived at the French 'Change, Nolle- 
 
 1 It appears from the books of the parish of St. Anne, which I have 
 frequently searched, that between the years 1708 and 1772 the follow- 
 ing persons of rank had inhabited Soho Square, viz. : Lord Berkeley, 
 Lord Byron, Lord Carlisle, Lord Grimstone, Lord Howard, Lord 
 Leicester, Sir Thomas Mansel, Lord Macclesfield, Lord Morpeth, 
 Lord Nottingham, Lord Onslow, Lord Peterborough, Lord Pierre- 
 point, Lord Pigot, Sir Cloudesley Shovel, and several Ambassadors. 
 Smith. 
 
WALKS IN LONDON 63 
 
 kens exclaimed : ' There, Tom, stand here, and yon 
 will see the entrances of nine streets ; my mother 
 showed them to me. There, stand just there, and 
 don't turn vonr head, onlv vonr eyes ' niacins: me, 
 with both his hands upon my shoulders, at about 
 fifteen feet from Grafton Street, nearly in the 
 centre of Moor Street. c There, now look to the 
 left : is not there Monmouth Street ? now let your 
 eye run along over the way to the first opening : 
 that's Great White Lion Street ; well, now bring 
 your eye back to the opposite street in front of 
 you : that's Little Earl Street. Throw your eye 
 over the Seven Dials, and you'll see Queen Street 
 and Earl Street ; well, now look on the right of 
 Little Earl Street, and you will see Tower Street : 
 well, now stand still, mind, don't move, bring your 
 eye back towards you, and turn it a little to the 
 right, and you will see West Street ; bring it 
 nearer to the right, and there's Grafton Street ; 
 and then, look down at your toes, and you'll find 
 yourself standing in Moor Street.' 
 
 He also made me his companion in his Sunday 
 evening walks, as he of later years did Joseph 
 Bonomi, 1 a truly deserving youth, to whom it was 
 generally supposed that he would have left a con- 
 siderable part of his immense property, from his 
 long-continued attachment to him from his birth ; 
 but he, however, as well as many other real friends, 
 was disappointed. 
 
 1 This gentleman, who was born in 1796, survived until 1878. He 
 was curator of the Soane Museum, and a distinguished Egyptolo- 
 gist. Ed. 
 
64 NOLLE KENS AND HLS TIMES 
 
 In one of our amusing perambulations, he 
 stopped opposite to a public-house in Vine Street, 
 Piccadilly, very near the house formerly occupied 
 by his master, Scheemakers, and said : ' There, 
 Tom, stand just there ; now, mind what I am 
 going to tell, and listen to it ; it was in that very 
 house, over the way, I got the first print I ever 
 possessed in my life.' 
 
 This was an impression of Pesne's engraving of 
 the ' Death of Eudamidas,' after a picture painted 
 by Nicholas Poussin ; and the way in which 
 Xollekens became possessed of this print was both 
 cunning and curious. He knew that the landlord 
 of the public-house, with whom he frequently held 
 conversations as to bell-tolling, had sailed and 
 fought with Admiral Vernon, and knowing, also, 
 that he could purchase of another bell -tolling 
 friend a large engraving of the ' Siege of Porto 
 Bello,' for the small sum of one shilling, as it was 
 the size of Poussin's print, he ventured to propose 
 an exchange. To this proposition the landlord 
 made no objection, nor did his wife ; so away little 
 Joey posted to his friend, who was a broker, living 
 in Great Brewer Street, parted with his shilling, 
 and on the next washing-day, when Mrs. Schee- 
 makers requested him, as the maids were busy, to 
 go for the porter, he took ; Porto Bello ' under his 
 arm, with as much joy as the old Admiral received 
 the enemy's colours, and obtained the print which 
 he had so often looked at with so longing an eye. 
 Afterwards, when he became possessed of wealth, 
 he formed a very capital collection of Poussin's 
 
FLEET PRISONERS 65 
 
 works, 1 from which it has been asserted that he 
 borrowed many attitudes for his monumental 
 figures. Poussin's draperies were likewise so 
 highly esteemed by him that he frequently adopted 
 them, as this painter's drapery falls well, mostly in 
 grand and broad folds,, and is unquestionably the 
 easiest for carving, having no flutter, which is a 
 style not only troublesome to execute in marble, 
 but extremely expensive to cut, and bad in effect 
 when accomplished. 
 
 At another time, when he took me with him to 
 his stockbroker's, as we were going up Ludgate 
 Hill, he said that he recollected his mother taking 
 him, when he was only four years old, to see St. 
 Paul's ; and that, in going up that street, he 
 observed a man running backwards and forwards 
 shaking a box, into which many of the passengers 
 put money, and that she told him it was for the 
 poor prisoners in the Fleet, being called 'the 
 running box.' In Marcellus Lauron's ' Cries of 
 London,' published about the year 1710, there is a 
 representation of such a person, with his cry of 
 4 Kemember the poor prisoners !' inscribed beneath 
 him. At his back a capacious covered basket is 
 suspended by leathern straps round his arms for 
 broken victuals ; and he carries in one hand a staff, 
 
 1 This interesting and truly valuable collection of Poussin's prints, 
 to which Mr. Nollekens had added even in his most feeble and 
 childish state, was sold, after his death, by Mr. Evans, of Pall Mall, 
 together with many other fine engravings which Mr. Nollekens had 
 indulged in from several of Langford's and Christie's sales, to the 
 latter of which rooms he was a constant visitor for nearly half a 
 century. Smith. 
 
 5 
 
66 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 and in the other a small round deep box, with an 
 aperture in the lid for receiving of alms in money. 
 Nollekens always spoke well of his mother, 
 observing that she was a very curious woman, 
 and in his recollections of her stated that she pos- 
 sessed an ivory model of the Holy Sepulchre ; 
 that she remembered seeing the rebels, in 1745, 
 brought into London, confined at the backs of 
 the horse-soldiers ; that they were brought from 
 Scotland through Tottenham Court Road, along^ 
 Hog Lane, now called Crown Street, on their 
 way to the Horse Guards ; and that she used 
 to take in a newspaper, entitled All Alive and 
 Merry; or, The London Daily Post, which was 
 published at a farthing, and printed by c A Merry 
 Man.' 1 The full title and imprint of this curious 
 paper are, 4 All- Alive and Merry ; or, The London 
 Daily Post. London : Printed for A. Merryman, 
 and sold by the Hawkers.' It consisted of a small 
 folio half- sheet, having three columns of letter- 
 
 1 The following anecdote, given at this place by Smith in the first 
 edition of his ' Life of Nollekens,' was omitted in the second, I know 
 not for what reason : ' I have several times heard Mr. Nollekens 
 observe that he frequently had seen Hogarth, when a young man, 
 saunter round Leicester Fields, with his master's sickly child hanging 
 its head over his shoulder ; and whilst we are speaking of that eminent 
 and eccentric artist, I may remark that my father once asked Barry 
 the painter if he had ever seen Hogarth. " Yes, once," he replied. 
 " I was walking with Joe Nollekens through Cranbourne Alley, when, 
 he exclaimed, ' There, there's Hogarth.' ' What !' said I, ' that little 
 man in the sky-blue coat ? ! Off I ran, and though I lost sight of him 
 only for a moment or two, when I turned the corner into Cattle Street 
 he was patting one of two quarrelling boys on the back, and looking 
 steadfastly at the expression in the coward's face, cried, ( D n him I 
 if I would take it of him ! At him again !' " '--Ed. 
 
NEWSPAPERS 67 
 
 press on each side ; and several specimens of it 
 may be seen in the late Dr. Burney's Collection of 
 Newspapers in the British 'Museum, vol. iii. for 
 1741. It is probable that the London Gazette may 
 be considered as the origin of most of the cheap 
 and popular news journals of the last century, since 
 the name of that paper w^as derived from one first 
 published at Venice, the price of which was a coin 
 called a gazet, which, says Coryat in his ' Crudi- 
 ties ' (London, 1776, 8vo., vol. ii., p. 15), 4 is almost 
 a penny, whereof ten do make a liver, that is nine- 
 pence.' 
 
 The first of this paper printed in England super- 
 seded the Intelligence and News, conducted by 
 Eoger L'Estrange, Esq., and appeared in 1665, 
 No. 1 containing the public events from November 
 7 to 14, under the title of the Oxford Gazette, it 
 being published in that city every Tuesday, since 
 the Court was assembled there on account of the 
 plague being in London. It was, however, also 
 reprinted in the Metropolis, and upon the removal 
 of the Court the name was altered to that of the 
 London Gazette, the first of which, No. 24, Febru- 
 ary 1 to 5, 1665-66, was published on a Monday. 
 Those papers, however, the names of which were 
 expressive of their price, do not seem to have been 
 published until half a century afterwards ; but on 
 July 19, 1715, appeared No. 1 of The Penny Post; 
 on March 13 following, No. 1 of The Penny Post ; 
 or, Tradesman s Select Pacquet ; on October 19 , 
 1720, No. 1 of The Penny Weekly Journal; or, 
 Saturday Evening's Entertainment ; and in 1724-25 
 
68 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 a vet cheaper publication was printed, called The 
 Halfpenny London Journal; or, Tlie British 
 Oracle ; whilst three other halfpenny posts Avere 
 published three times every week (Nichols's 
 ' Literary Anecdotes of the Eighteenth Century,' 
 London, 1812, 8vo., vol. i., p. 312 ; vol. iv., pp. 58, 
 86, 89, 90, 92, 94). 
 
 The farthing posts, however, appear chiefly to 
 have been in circulation durino; the vears 1740-1743 : 
 and in the Gentleman's Magazine for November, 
 1740, vol. x., pp. 557, 558, the 'Craftsman' of 
 November 22 complains that the revenue was 
 greatly defrauded by the printers and publishers 
 of halfpenny and farthing posts, which Avere 
 publicly Amended about the streets, without stamps, 
 in equal defiance both of the law and the penalty. 
 It is added, that though they had been frequently 
 informed against, yet that the persons concerned 
 in them Avere supposed to be such ' poor, low 
 AA-retches,' living in obscure parts of the town, or 
 in the rules of the Fleet, and other prisons, that 
 their discoA^ery Avould be very difficult ; whilst a 
 suspicion is also hinted that they were supported 
 by persons in power against the opposition papers 
 and publishers. In plate iv. of the ' Rake's Pro- 
 gress ' Hogarth has introduced a boy intently 
 occupied in reading a paper, on which is inscribed, 
 ' The Farthing Post.' The stamping of neAvs- 
 papers on single sheets or half-sheets first took 
 place on August 2, 1712. 
 
 But to return now from Mr. Nollekens' reminis- 
 cences to his own memoirs. The parsimonious 
 
MRS. NOLLE KENS' PARSIMONY 69 
 
 disposition of his partner seemed to take no delight 
 in alleviating the sorrows of the widow or assisting 
 the endeavours of the fatherless ; at least, I never 
 heard of her trespassing on her purse that way : 
 on the contrary, she would, like Penny's picture of 
 a quack-doctor, 1 look about for the bit of bacon to 
 take from the distressed family, as will appear by 
 the following trait of character. At the corner of 
 her house there was a small part of the street 
 railed in, on which she gave a poor woman leave 
 to place a table with a few apples for sale upon a 
 bit of an old napkin. 
 
 To this miserablv-hooded widow she was seen to 
 go, when she intended to treat the family with a 
 dumpling, with the question of, c Pray, Goody, how 
 many apples can you let me have for a penny ?' 
 ' Bless your kindness ! you shall have three.' 
 J Three !' exclaimed the lady, smiling ; ' no, you 
 must let me have four ;' and touching her left 
 thumb with the forefinger of her right hand, she 
 continued, c f or there's my husband, myself, and 
 two servants, and we must have one apiece !' 
 s Well,' observed the miserable dependent, c you 
 must take them !' Whilst eighteen-pence was the 
 price of half a calf's head, it was a dish of which 
 she was c passionately fond ' ; but when it exceeded 
 that amount, something else was thought of ' by 
 way of a change ' : indeed, she would observe that 
 
 1 From this picture by Penny, who was Professor of Painting in 
 the Royal Academy, there is an engraving entitled ' The Rapacious 
 Quack.' Smith. Edward Penny (1714-1791) was a foundation 
 member of the Royal Academy, and the earliest Professor of Painting 
 there. Ed. 
 
70 NOLLE KENS AND LILS TIMES 
 
 ' those people who live aloof from the blandish- 
 ments of a Court have little occasion for a super- 
 fluity at their tables.' 
 
 When she went to Oxford Market to beat the 
 rounds, in order to discover the cheapest chops, 
 she would walk round several times to give her 
 dog Cerberus an opportunity of picking up scraps. 
 However, of this mode of manoeuvring she was at 
 last ashamed, bv the rude remarks of the vulgar 
 butchers, who had been complained of to her Nolly, 
 for having frequently cried out: 'Here comes Mrs. 
 Nollekens and her bull-bitch !' 
 
 She took a particular pleasure in assisting her 
 friends at card-parties with ' economical recipes,' of 
 which she accumulated a tolerable stock ; and the 
 following was one she much recommended to the 
 mammas of very delicate young ladies, for whom 
 the physician had prescribed ass's milk : 'To make 
 Mock Ass's Milk. Three parts barley-water and 
 one part milk, to be boiled together, and sweetened 
 with fine sugar ; half an ounce of barley to a pint, 
 the first water to be thrown away.' There was one 
 recipe which Mr. Nollekens always wrote himself 
 on little ragged strips of paper, which he cut ofi 
 the margins of his prints, and of which he kept 
 several in his pocket-book, to give to any persons 
 he met afflicted with the jaundice, and now and 
 then a pert jackanapes, by way of a quiz, would 
 apply for one : ' For jaundice, take every morning 
 a new-laid egg ; let it be broke into a cup, and 
 swallow it, the white and the yolk.' 
 
 During the time I was with him, he now and 
 
BUST OF DR. JOHNSON ft 
 
 then gave a dinner, particularly when his steadfast 
 friend Lord Yarborough, then the Hon. Mr. Pelham, 
 sent his annual present of venison ; and it is most 
 surprising to consider how many persons of good 
 sense and high talent visited Mrs. Nollekens, 
 though it probably was principally owing to the 
 ^ood character her father and sister held in society. 
 Dr. Johnson and Miss Williams were often there, 
 and they generally arrived in a hackney-coach, on 
 account of Miss Williams' blindness. When the 
 Doctor sat to Mr. Nollekens for his bust, he was 
 very much displeased at the manner in which the 
 head had been loaded with hair, which the sculptor 
 insisted upon, as it made him look more like an 
 ancient poet. The sittings were not very favour- 
 able, which rather vexed the artist, who, upon 
 opening the street-door, a vulgarity he was addicted 
 to, peevishly whined : ' Now, Doctor, you did say 
 you would give my busto half an hour before 
 dinner, and the dinner has been waiting this long 
 time.' To which the Doctor's reply was : ' Bow- 
 wow-wow !' 
 
 The bust is a wonderfully fine one and very like, 
 but certainly the sort of hair is objectionable ; 
 having been modelled from the flowing locks of 
 a sturdy Irish beggar, originally a street pavior, 
 who, after he had sat an hour, refused to take a 
 shilling, stating that he could have made more by 
 begging ! 
 
 Dr. Johnson also considered this bust like him, 
 but, whilst he acknowledged the sculptor's ability 
 in his art, he could not avoid observing to his 
 
72 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 friend Bos well, when they were looking at it in 
 Nollekens' studio : \ It is amazing what ignorance 
 of certain points one sometimes finds in men of 
 eminence i' 1 though, from want of knowing the 
 sculptor, a visitor, when viewing his studio, was 
 heard to say : ' What a mind the man must have 
 from whom all these emanated!' Banks, in his tale 
 of i Every Man in his Way,' commences with : 
 
 ' One art, philosophers maintain, 
 Is full sufficient for one brain ; 
 And He who made us men, design'd 
 For such a science such a mind.' 
 
 Defective as he was in many particulars, Not 
 lekens' fame for bust - making will never be 
 diminished ; and I would have this truth ' written 
 as with a sunbeam.' Possessed of such distin- 
 guished talent, he now became extremely popular, 
 though he never sought employment ; and perhaps 
 no man had less intrigue : 
 
 1 As spiders never seek the fly, 
 But leave him of himself, t' apply.' 
 
 Most of his sitters were exceedingly amused with 
 the oddity of his manner, particularly fine women, 
 who were often gratified by being considered hand- 
 some by the sculptor, though his admiration was 
 expressed in the plainest language. 
 
 I remember his once requesting a lady who 
 squinted dreadfully to ' look a little the other way, 
 for then,' said he, ' I shall get rid of the shyness 
 in the cast of your eye ;' and to another lady of 
 
 1 Dr. Johnson, upon hearing the name of an eminent sculptor 
 mentioned, observed, ' Well, sir, I think my friend Joe Nollekens can 
 chop out a head with any of them.' Smith. 
 
CONVERSATION 73 
 
 the highest rank, who had forgotten her position, 
 and was looking down upon him, he cried : ; Don't 
 look so scorny ; you'll spoil my busto ; and you're 
 a very fine woman ; I think it will be one of my 
 best bnstos.' I heard him ask the daughter of 
 Lord Yarborough, in the presence of her husband, 
 to prove to her that he had not forgotten all his 
 Italian, if she did not recollect his dancing her 
 upon his knee when she was a bambina. He was 
 very fond of speaking Italian, though I have been 
 told it was exceedingly bad ; and he would often 
 attempt it even in the presence of the Royal Family, 
 who good-temperedly smiled at his whimsicalities. 
 
 Even the gravest of men, the Lord Chancellor 
 Bathurst, 1 when sitting to him for his bust for the 
 Chancery Court, in his large wig, condescendingly 
 endured the following collection of nonsense, in 
 which at last his lordship was obliged to join. 
 Nollekens : 4 Ah, there goes the bell tolling ! No, 
 it's only my clock on the stairs. When I was a 
 boy, you would have liked to have seen me toll 
 the bell ; it's no very easy thing, I can tell you 
 look a little that way ! you must toll, that is to 
 say, I did, one hour for a man, three times three ; 
 and three times two for a woman. Now, your 
 lordship must mind, there's a moving-bell and a 
 passing-bell ; these the Romans always attended 
 to.' c You mean the Roman Catholics, Mr. Nolle- 
 kens,' observed his lordship. ' Yes, my lord, they 
 call that the moving-bell, which goes when they 
 
 1 Henry Bathurst, the second Earl (1714-1794), author of ' The 
 Theory of Evidence.' Ed. 
 
74 NOLLE KENS AND HLS TIMES 
 
 move a body out of one parish to the next, or so 
 on. The passing-bell is when you are dying, and 
 going from this world to another place.' ' Ay, Mr. 
 Nollekens,' observed his lordship, \ there is a 
 curious little book, published in 1671, I think by 
 Richard Duckworth, upon the art of ringing, 
 entitled " Tintannologia." 
 
 But simple and half-witted as this artist certainly 
 was, yet he always knew how to take care of what 
 is called the main chance, as will be proved by the 
 following anecdote : 
 
 A lady in weeds for her dear husband, drooping 
 low like the willow, visited the sculptor, and assured 
 him that she did not care what money was ex- 
 pended on a monument to the memory of her 
 beloved : ' Do what you please, but do it directly,' 
 were her orders. Industry was a principle riveted 
 in Nollekens' constitution ; he rose with the lark, 
 and in a short time finished the model, strongly 
 suspecting she might, like some others he had been 
 employed by, change her mind. 
 
 The lady, in about three months, made her 
 second appearance, in which more courage is 
 generally assumed, and was accosted by him, before 
 she alighted, with ' Poor soul ! I thought you'd 
 come ;' but her tripping down with a 'light fantastic 
 toe,' and the snorting of her horses, which had 
 been hard driven, evinced a total change in her 
 inclination, and he was now saluted with : ' How 
 do you do, Nollekens. Well, you have not com- 
 menced the model ?' ' Yes, but I have, though,' 
 was the reply. The Lady : c Have you, indeed ? 
 
ECCENTRIC HABITS 75 
 
 These, my good friend, I own,' throwing herself 
 into a chair, ' are early days ; but since I saw you, 
 an old Roman acquaintance of yours has made me 
 an offer, and I don't know how he would like to 
 see in our church a monument of such expense to 
 my late husband ; indeed, perhaps, after all, upon 
 second thoughts, it would be considered quite 
 enough if I got our mason to put up a mural 
 inscription, and that, you know, he can cut very 
 neatly.' ' My charge,' interrupted the artist, c for 
 my model will be one hundred guineas,' which 
 she declared to be ' enormous.' However, she 
 would pay it and c have done with him.' 
 
 His singular and parsimonious habits were most 
 observable in his domestic life. Coals were articles 
 of great consideration with Mr. Nollekens, and 
 these he so rigidly economized that they were 
 always sent early, before his men came to work, in 
 order that he might have leisure time for counting 
 the sacks, and disposing of the large coals in what 
 was originally designed by the builder of his house 
 for a wine-cellar, so that he might lock them up for 
 parlour use. Candles were never lighted at the 
 commencement of the evening, and whenever they 
 heard a knock at the door, they would wait until 
 they heard a second rap, lest the first should have 
 been a runaway, and their candle wasted. Mr. and 
 Mrs. Nollekens used a flat candlestick when there 
 was anything to be done ; and I have been assured 
 that a pair of moulds, by being well nursed, and 
 put out when company went away, once lasted 
 them a whole year ! 
 
76 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 It happened one morning that poor old Daphne, 
 the large yard dog, a constant market-companion 
 of Mrs. Nollekens, barked incessantly, until Mr. 
 Nollekens, who was then taking in the milk, which 
 was his constant practice, could go to the gate, 
 where he was addressed by a raw-boned man full 
 six feet in height, who said he was a cutter of 
 funeral inscriptions, come from the city of Norwich, 
 and would be glad of a job. At this time the 
 Literary Club, founded by Sir Joshua Reynolds, 
 which met at the St. Luke's Head, in Gerrard 
 Street, had signed a round-robin, addressed to 
 Dr. Johnson, requesting him to alter into English 
 the inscription for Dr. Goldsmith's monument, at 
 that time executing by Mr. Nollekens, who promised 
 the man at the gate the cutting of it as soon as it 
 was sent back ; and this I saw him execute under a 
 shed in the yard near the dog, who constantly eyed 
 his movements. Trifling as the incident may at 
 first appear, this person became a valuable assistant 
 to his new master, under whom he made what is 
 called a very pretty fortune. His name was 
 William Arminger, and he carved many of Mr. 
 Nollekens' best busts ; but farther particulars of 
 him will be given in a future page. 
 
 The monument to Dr. Goldsmith was put up 
 in Poets' Corner, Westminster Abbev, over the 
 entrance to the Chapel of St. Blaize, which has 
 long been used as a vestry to the edifice. 
 
[77] 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Friends of Mrs. Nollekens G. M. Moser and his daughter Mary 
 Her letters, and one from Fuseli in reply Angelica Kauffmann and 
 her marriage Mrs. Carter Old houses on Hampstead Heath 
 G\ Steevens and his portraits Nollekens' bust of George III. 
 Parsimonious management of Nollekens when a bachelor Personal 
 appearance of him and his wife Economy of Mrs. Nollekens The 
 sculptor's figure and dress White's Coffee-house, and the gamesters' 
 address to the King. 
 
 Mrs. Nollekens was honoured with the friendship 
 of three highly celebrated ladies Miss Moser, 1 
 K.A., the famous painter of flowers, afterwards 
 Mrs. Lloyd ; Mrs. Angelica Kauffmann, R.A., 
 whose works are too well known to need any 
 encomiums from me, both of whom were chosen 
 members of the Royal Academy upon its' establish- 
 ment ; and Mrs. Elizabeth Carter, 2 the well-known 
 translator of Epictetus. Of the two former 
 characters I shall now give a few anecdotes, which, 
 from their being uncommon, at this distance of 
 time may prove rather interesting. 
 
 Miss Mary Moser was the daughter of George 
 Michael Moser, a truly worthy and clever man. 
 
 1 Mary Moser lived until 1819. Her friend and rival, Angelica 
 Kauffmann, died in 1807. Ed. 
 
 2 This lady, born in 1717, died in 1806. Her famous translation of 
 Epictetus was published in 1758. Ed. 
 
78 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 He was originally a chaser ; but when that mode 
 of adorning plate, cane-heads, and watch-cases 
 became unfashionable, he, by the advice of his 
 friend, Mr. Thomas Grignon, the celebrated watch- 
 maker, applied himself to enamelling watch-trinkets, 
 necklaces, bracelets, etc., from which occupation 
 he became an excellent enameller of larger and 
 more eminent works. He drew remarkably well, 
 and was successively at the head of several drawing 
 schools, until at last he was elected Keeper of the 
 Royal Academy on its foundation, which situation 
 he filled some considerable time with honour to 
 himself and his brother Academicians. Moser died 
 at his apartments in Somerset House on Friday, 
 January 24, 1783, aged seventy-eight, and was 
 buried in the churchyard of St. Paul, Covent 
 Garden. 
 
 Mr. Moser orminallv lived in Craven Buildings. 
 Drury Lane a street at the south end of the lane, 
 which was built upon part of the premises of 
 Craven House in the year 1723, as appears by an 
 inscribed stone let into the north-west corner house 
 of the street, at the bottom of which, against the 
 wall, was a large equestrian portrait of William 
 Lord Craven, painted by Paul Van Somer the 
 younger, for there were two painters of that name. 
 This picture, which is now destroyed, I have en- 
 graven in my c Antiquities of London.' 
 
 Miss Moser, though somewhat of a precise woman, 
 was at times a most cheerful companion. My father 
 knew her well, and was often delighted by hearing 
 her relate the passing events of the day, specimens 
 
MARY NOSER 79 
 
 of which I now present to the reader, in two letters 
 addressed to her friend Mrs. Lloyd, the wife of the 
 gentleman whom she afterwards married, with the 
 loan of which entertaining epistles I was favoured 
 by Mrs. Nichols, who was for many years the 
 faithful companion of the writer : 
 
 ' May 8. 
 
 ' My dear Friend, 
 
 * Come to London and admire our plumes. We sweep the sky. 
 A duchess wears six feathers, a lady four, and every milkmaid one at 
 each corner of her cap. Your mamma desired me to inquire the name 
 of something she had seen in the windows in Tavistock Street. It 
 seems she was afraid to ask ; but / took courage, and they told me 
 they were rattlesnake tippets. However, notwithstanding their 
 frightful name, they are not very much unlike a beaufong, only the 
 quills are made stiff and springy in the starching. Fashion is grown 
 a monster. Pray tell your operator that your hair must measure 
 just three-quarters of a yard from the extremity of one wing to the 
 other. I should not have said so much about fashions, but I suppose 
 it makes part of the conversation of country ladies. I hope my advice 
 will not be stale. French trimming is quite the bon-ton. 
 
 'N.B. The Queen and her ladies never wear feathers. They say 
 here that the minority ladies are distinguished from the courtiers by 
 their plumes. Mrs. Sheriff brought a terrible story of a trance, which 
 I suppose your mamma has told you already ; but I have since in- 
 quired into the merits of the case, and have been assured by some of 
 the lady's relations, who are likewise cousins of mine by marriage, that 
 the story is fabulous, and they fancy it was fabricated to amuse a 
 good old aunt who delights in the marvellous. Is there no ghostly 
 story propagated at Carnarvon that would petrify one's friends ? For 
 Heaven's sake invent me some ! Let them be very wonderful indeed, 
 that I may make a figure among the old ladies. I have found very 
 good effects from telling a terrific story when I have held a doubtful, 
 low hand ; pray keep this secret. I do not know one gossiping 
 anecdote, or it should be at your service. My father and mother join 
 in compliments to you and Captain Lloyd, and 
 ' I remain, to all perpetuity, 
 
 i Your sincere friend and humble servant, 
 
 'Mary Moser.' 
 
8o NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 1 Somerset House, Jan. 9. 
 'My dear Friend, 
 
 1 Your " Palace of Silence" has engrossed all my thoughts for 
 these last six weeks ; I dream of it, and cry " Silence !" in my sleep. 
 If your printer should not have mercy on me, and bring it out shortly, 
 I shall certainly die with impatience. 
 
 4 The renewal of the year gives me an opportunity of wishing you 
 in words what I always wish you in thought many, many happy 
 years. " May you live as long as you deserve to live !" says Lord 
 Chesterfield to his son. Give me leave to conclude my wish in the 
 same manner ; because, if my wish succeed, you will live for ever. 
 Pray, if you have read Lord Chesterfield's letters, give me your 
 opinion of them, and what you think of his lordship. For my part, I 
 admire wit and adore good manners, but at the same time I should 
 detest Lord Chesterfield, were he alive, young, and handsome, and my 
 lover, if I supposed, as I do now, his wit was the result of thought, 
 and that he had been practising the graces in the looking-glass. I 
 cannot help smiling at the fine compliments he desires his son to make 
 to the Duke of Newcastle, and the delicate turn of his epistle to 
 Voltaire. Witty sayings made yesterday, and compliments manu- 
 factured at leisure, I hate ; so I will not allow my Lord Chesterfield 
 to have been a wit, unless you speak in his defence, which I think you 
 will not do, because he has said the best of us are little better than 
 things in leading-strings and forehead cloths. However, as I have 
 heard that it is generous to acknowledge the merit of those we do not 
 love, I will declare, if all the good things in Lord Chesterfield's work 
 were compiled in one volume, independent of his adoration of the 
 Graces, it would be a most excellent little book. 
 
 'I shall have the pleasure of seeing your mamma this afternoon at 
 Mrs. Toussaint's ; so adieu, my dear friend, and believe me, 
 1 Sincerely, with all love, 
 
 ' Your humble, humble servant, 
 
 'Mary Moser. 
 
 ' To Mrs. Lloyd. 5 
 
 Mrs. Nichols lias also indulged me with the 
 loan of two other letters, one of which is warmly 
 addressed by Miss Moser to Fuseli when at Rome ; x 
 
 1 Fuseli left England in December, 1769, and arrived at Kome in 
 January, 1770. In September, 1778, he left Rome for Switzerland, 
 where he continued till the middle of 1779, when he returned to 
 England. Smith. 
 
MARY MOSER 
 
 the other is Fuseli's answer, and is certainly coldly 
 written. However, with these epistles the reader 
 will be highly pleased, as they contain some truly 
 interesting particulars respecting the arts. I should 
 have premised that Miss Moser was glancing at 
 Fuseli, but his heart unfortunately had already been 
 deeply pierced by Angelica Kauffmann : 
 
 'If you have not forgotten at Rome those friends whom yon 
 remembered at Florence, write to me from that nursery of arts and 
 raree-show of the world, which nourishes in ruins ; tell me of pictures, 
 palaces, people, lakes, woods, and rivers ; say if Old Tiber droops with 
 age, or whether his waters flow as clear, his rushes grow as green, and 
 his swans look as white as those of Father Thames ; or write me your 
 own thoughts and reflections, which will be more acceptable than 
 any description of anything Greece and Eome have done these two 
 thousand years. 
 
 1 1 suppose there has been a million of letters sent to Italy with an 
 account of our Exhibition, so it will be only telling you what you 
 know already to say that Reynolds was like himself in pictures which 
 you have seen ; Gainsborough beyond himself in a portrait of a 
 gentleman in a Vandyke habit ; and Zoffany superior to everybody in 
 a portrait of Garrick in the character of Abel Drugger, with two 
 other figures, Subtle and Face. Sir Joshua agreed to give an hundred 
 guineas for the picture. Lord Carlisle half an hour after offered 
 Reynolds twenty to part with it, which the knight generously refused, 
 resigned his intended purchase to the lord, and the emolument to his 
 brother artist. (He is a gentleman !) Angelica made a very great 
 addition to the show, and Mr. Hamilton's picture of Briseis parting 
 from Achilles was very much admired ; the Briseis in taste, a la 
 antique, elegant and simple. Coates, Dance, Wilson, etc., as usual. 
 Mr. West had no large picture finished. You will doubtless imagine 
 that I derived my epistolary genius from my nurse ; but when you 
 are tired of my gossiping you may burn the letter, so I shall go on. 
 Some of the literati of the Royal Academy were very much dis- 
 appointed, as they could not obtain diplomas ; but the Secretary, who 
 is above trifles, has since made a very flattering compliment to the 
 Academy in the preface to the " Travels." The Professor of History 
 is comforted by the success of his " Deserted Village," which is a very 
 pretty poem, and has lately put himself under the conduct of Mrs. 
 Hornick and her fair daughters, and is gone to France ; and Dr. 
 
82 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 Johnson sips his tea, and cares not for the vanity of the world. Sir 
 Joshua a few days ago entertained the Council and visitors with 
 callipash and callipee, except poor Coates, 1 who last week fell a sacrifice 
 to the corroding power of soap-lees, which he hoped would have cured 
 him of the stone. Many a tear will drop on his grave, as he is not 
 more lamented as an artist than a friend to the distressed. {Ma poca 
 polvere sono che nulla sente /) My mamma declares that you are an 
 insufferable creature, and that she speaks as good English as your 
 mother did High German. Mr. Meyer laughed aloud at your letter, 
 and desired to be remembered. My father and his daughter long to 
 know the progress you will make, particularly 
 
 'Mary Moser, 
 
 who remains sincerely your friend, and believes you will exclaim or 
 mutter to yourself, " Why did she send this d d nonsense to mef" 
 
 1 Rome, April 27, 1771. 
 1 Madam, 
 
 'I am inexcusable. I know your letter by heart, and have 
 never answered it ; but I am often so very unhappy within that I hold 
 it matter of remorse to distress such a friend as Miss Moser with my 
 own whimsical miseries. They may be fancied evils, but to him who 
 has fancy, real evils are unnecessary, though I have them too. All I 
 can say is that I am approaching the period which commonly decides 
 a man's life with regard to fame or infamy. If I am distracted by the 
 thought, those who have passed the Rubicon will excuse me, and you 
 are amongst the number. 
 
 ' Mr. Runciman, 2 who does me the favour to carry these lines, my 
 friend, and in my opinion the best painter of us in Rome, has desired 
 me to introduce him to your family ; but he wants no other intro- 
 duction than his merit. I beg my warmest compliments to papa and 
 mamma, and am unaltered, 
 
 * Madam, 
 ' Your most obliged servant and friend, 
 
 1 Fuseli. 
 1 To Miss Moser, 
 * Craven Buildings, Drury Lane.' 
 
 1 Francis Cotes (1726-1770). He was the first member of the 
 Royal Academy to die. Ed. 
 
 2 Alexander Runciman, the Scotch historical painter. He was in 
 Rome from 1766 to 1771. He died in 1785, in his fiftieth year. 
 Ed. 
 
ANGELICA KAUFFMANN S3 
 
 The late Queen Charlotte, whose real worth as 
 to private benevolence was not known until after 
 her death, took particular notice of Miss Moser, 
 and for a considerable time employed her at Frog- 
 more for the decoration of one chamber, which her 
 Majesty commanded to be called Miss Moser' s 
 Room, and for which the Queen paid upwards of 
 900. 
 
 It having: been asserted that Angelica Kauffmann 
 studied from an exposed male living model, which 
 Mr. Nollekens said he believed, I was determined 
 to gain the best information on the subject by going 
 to Mr. Charles Cranmer, one of the original models 
 of the Royal Academy, now living, in his eighty- 
 second year, at No. 13, in Regent Street, Vauxhall 
 Bridge, and he assured me that he did frequently 
 sit before Angelica Kauffmann at her house on the 
 south side of Golden Square, but that he only 
 exposed his arms, shoulders, and legs, and that 
 her father, who was also an artist and likewise 
 an exhibitor at the Royal Academy, was always 
 present. I have under my care, as Keeper of the 
 Prints and Drawings in the British Museum, a most 
 spirited study of hers, dated 1771, of a male 
 Academy model, recumbent and half draped ; it is 
 in black and white chalk, upon brown paper, and is 
 in the splendid collection left to the Museum by the 
 late Richard Payne Knight, Esq., a trustee of that 
 magnificent establishment, which will in a few years 
 be the admiration of our own country and the envy 
 of all the world. 
 
84 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 Angelica, before she married Mr. Zucchi, 1 the 
 artist, was most artfully deceived by a discarded 
 servant of Count Horn, who had imposed himself 
 upon her smiles with the title of his late master ; 
 and being a very fine, handsome fellow, she was 
 determined to show her friends, with whom she 
 had flirted, that she had at last made a good hit, 
 and therefore, without the least hesitation, imme- 
 diately gave her hand to the impostor. The next 
 time Angelica attended at Buckingham House upon 
 the Queen, who was pleased by seeing her paint, 
 she communicated her marriage to her Majesty, 
 upon which she received the most condescending 
 congratulations, with an invitation to her husband 
 to come to Court ; who, however, was cunningly 
 determined to keep himself within the house, from 
 the sight of everyone, until his baggage had arrived, 
 which he expected every day. At last Count Horn 
 himself came to England, and, when at the levee, 
 was much surprised by being complimented upon 
 his marriage. Angelica, who soon received the 
 mortifying information from the Queen, was for a 
 time inconsolable ; but at last her friends prevailed 
 upon the fortune-hunter to leave England upon a 
 pension, and Angelica, who resumed the name of 
 Kauffmann, which she retained till her death, was 
 fortunately never troubled with him afterwards. 
 
 Mrs. Carter, of whom Mrs. Nollekens was in 
 possession of a portrait, most exquisitely engraven 
 
 1 Antonio Zucchi, the Venetian decorator (1726-1795), came to- 
 England early in life, was elected an A.R.A. in 1770, and married 
 Angelica in 1781. Ed. 
 
CHEERES LEADEN FIGURES 85 
 
 by Hayward, from a picture by Lawrence, would 
 often complain of her c indefatigable headache.' 1 
 She was a truly sincere woman, and will be intro- 
 duced in a future page. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Noliekens took me one Sunday 
 morning with them in a glass coach to pass a day 
 with their friend Mrs. Haycock, a very aged lady 
 who resided near Hampstead Heath. She was quite 
 of the old school in her dress, and so indeed was 
 everything in and about her house. Her evergreens 
 were cut into the shapes of various birds ; and 
 Cheere's 2 leaden painted figures of a shepherd and 
 shepherdess were objects of as much admiration 
 with her neighbours as they were with my Lord 
 Ogleby, who thus accosts his friend in the second 
 scene of the ' Clandestine Marriage ' : 
 
 ' Great improvements, indeed, Mr. Stirling ! wonderful improve- 
 ments ! The four seasons in lead, the flying Mercury, and the basin 
 with Neptune in the middle are in the very extreme of fine taste. 
 You have as many rich figures as the man at Hyde Park Corner.' 
 
 The line row of elms, which is now open upon 
 the left hand of the green opposite to a garden 
 wall, was, at the time we made the visit, within 
 Mrs. Haycock's grounds, which were surrounded 
 by a primly-cut holly-edge. After we had dined 
 with this lady, who had lived several years beyond 
 eighty, at which period she had received the small - 
 
 1 Miss Elizabeth Carters ' indefatigable headache ' was the result of 
 excessive attention to Greek and Latin studies in her early youth. 
 She was a very fine linguist. Ed. 
 
 2 Sir Henry Cheere, the statuary (? 1700-1781), was celebrated for 
 his leaden figures for garden decoration. His shop was in Picca- 
 dilly. Ed. 
 
86 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 pox, Mrs. Nollekens expressed a wish to view the 
 grounds of her opposite neighbour, George Steevens, 1 
 Esq., better known under the appellation of c Shake- 
 speare Steevens ' ; and she was more particularly 
 anxious to see this spot, as she had often heard her 
 father speak of its notoriety. It having been, too, 
 a fashionable place of resort for the Londoners, 
 when it was the Upper Flask Tavern, and Richard- 
 son having noticed it as the place where his Clarissa 
 had fled to from Lovelace, the public at that time 
 was generally talking about it. 
 
 Mr. Steevens ordered his gardener to show the 
 grounds, which were beautiful beyond description. 
 
 I received no small pleasure last summer, when 
 Shepherd, Esq., the present possessor, politely gave 
 me permission to revisit them, to find this highly 
 enviable spot nearly in the same state in which it 
 was in my youthful days. 
 
 Steevens early in life was rather conceited of his 
 person, and had a miniature of himself beautifully 
 painted by the celebrated Meyer, 2 the enameller 
 and Royal Academician. He also stood, being fond 
 of private theatricals, in which he often took a 
 part, for a whole-length portrait in oil in the 
 character of Barbarossa. Zoffany likewise painted 
 a picture of him in oil, with a favourite little dog, 
 which has been engraven for Boydell for his edition 
 of Shakespeare. Fond as he was of having his 
 
 1 The Shakespearian annotator (1736-1800). Ed. 
 
 2 Jeremiah Meyer, a native of Wirtemberg, came to England in 
 1749, and was a foundation member of the Royal Academy. He died 
 in 1789. Ed. 
 
GEORGE STE EVENS 87 
 
 portrait taken in early life, in his latter days lie not 
 only refused to sit, but actually took the greatest 
 pains to destroy every resemblance of his features, 
 and never suffered himself to remain in the company 
 of an artist for any length of time, lest he should 
 steal his likeness. Notwithstanding these precau- 
 tions, however, he was seriously annoyed by re- 
 ceiving an impression of an etching of his face, 
 though not a very good likeness, taken by stealth 
 by Sayer, 1 the caricaturist, at which liberty Steevens 
 was so highly exasperated that he threatened ' to 
 cane the fellow ' a mode of chastisement which, 
 with a raised arm and a clenched fist, he often de- 
 clared he would inflict upon most of those persons 
 who offended him. Steevens, who certainly had 
 remarkably handsome legs, which he generally 
 covered with white cotton stockings, would fre- 
 quently pique himself upon having walked from 
 his house at Hampstead, half over London and 
 back, without receiving a speck of dirt upon 
 them. 
 
 Mrs. Swan, an aged woman, who lets ready- 
 furnished lodgings in Hampstead, and who married 
 Steevens' gardener, assured me that no creature on 
 earth could be more afraid of death than Steevens ; 
 that on the day of his decease he came into the 
 kitchen, where she and her husband were sitting at 
 dinner, snatched at their pudding, which he ate 
 most voraciously, at the same time defying the 
 
 1 James Sayer, a Yarmouth man, who produced a long series of 
 coarse but effective political caricatures. Born in 1748, he died in 
 1823. Ed. 
 
88 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 grinning monster in the most terrific language. 
 However, lie died, and Flaxman lias placed his 
 effigy on his monument in white marble, placidly 
 seated contemplating a bust o Shakespeare, which 
 is erected in the north chancel of the East India 
 Company's Chapel in Poplar. 
 
 I once heard Mr. Nollekens relate an anecdote in 
 the presence of Mr. Richard Dalton, 1 then librarian 
 to King George III., which will show how well his 
 Majesty must have been acquainted with even the 
 religious persuasions as well as the faces and family 
 connections of his subjects. 
 
 ' When I was modelling the King's busto,' ob- 
 served Mr. Nollekens, ' I was commanded to go to 
 receive the King at Buckingham House at seven 
 o'clock in the morning, for that was the time his 
 Majesty shaved. After he had shaved himself, and 
 before he had put on his stock, I modelled my 
 busto. I sot him down, to be even with myself, 
 and the King seeing me go about him and about 
 him, said to me, " What do you want ?" I said, 
 " I want to measure vour nose. The Queen tells 
 me I have made my nose too broad." " Measure 
 it, then," said the King." ' c Ay, my good friend,' 
 observed Dalton, who had been intimate with Nolle- 
 kens during their stay at Rome, ' I have heard it 
 often mentioned in the library ; and it has also 
 been affirmed that you pricked the King's nose with 
 your said calipers. I will tell you what the King 
 said of you when you did not attend according to 
 
 1 A brother of John Dalton, the poetical divine. He died in 
 1797.-ED. 
 
RELIGIOUS OPINIONS 89 
 
 command one morning : " Noilekens is not come ; I 
 forgot, it is a saint's clay, and he is a Catholic." 
 
 Although it is true tiiat Noilekens followed the 
 old family persuasion of his father, and possibly 
 he might at that time, as it was just after his arrival 
 from Rome, have paid more attention to saints' 
 days, yet I am quite certain that during his latter 
 years he cared very little for the Catholic religion, 
 nor, indeed, for any other. As for Mrs. Noilekens, 
 though she pretended to be a stanch friend to the 
 National Protestant Church, yet she never con- 
 tributed much to its ^support ; for she certainly 
 never was known to indulge in the expense of a 
 pew, or even in a single seat. She generally con- 
 trived, by standing near the pew of some one of 
 her tenants, to catch an eye of observation, when 
 she was sure of being accommodated with a seat, 
 not only in the church, but very often in a carriage 
 home ; and this latter attention often afforded her 
 an opportunity of accepting an invitation to a card- 
 party, or a seat in a box at the opera, of which 
 entertainment she always declared herself to be 
 excessively fond. 
 
 The following anecdote is current, but on what 
 authority it rests I know not ; alloAving the story 
 to be true, it could come only from an attendant on 
 the King certainly not from his Majesty, nor from 
 Noilekens ; however, I could name half a dozen 
 persons who continue to relate it. 
 
 The story runs thus : When Mr. Noilekens 
 attended the King the following day to receive his 
 Majesty's commands as to the time for the next 
 
9 o NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 sitting, as he approached the royal presence, instead 
 of making an apology on the saint's account, he 
 merelv wished to know when he mi^ht be allowed 
 to go on with his busto. The King, however, 
 with his usual indulgence to persons as ignorant 
 as Nollekens was of the common marks of respect, 
 observed, ' So, Nollekens, where were you vester- 
 day ?' 
 
 Nollekens: 'Why, as it was a saint's day, I 
 thought you would not have me ; so I went to see 
 the beasts fed in the Tower.' 
 
 The King : ' Why did you not go to Duke 
 Street ?' 
 
 Nollekens ; ' Well, I went to the Tower ; and do 
 you know, they have got two such lions there ! 
 and the biggest did roar so ; my heart ! how he did 
 roar !' And then he mimicked the roaring of the 
 lion, so loud and so close to the King's ear that his 
 Majesty moved to a considerable distance to escape 
 the imitation, without saying, like Bottom in the 
 comedy : 
 
 Let him roar again, let him roar again.' 
 
 A modeller keeps his clay moist by spirting water 
 over it ; and this he does by standing at a little 
 distance with his mouth filled with water, which he 
 spirts upon it, so that the water is sent into all the 
 recesses of his model before he covers it up ; this, 
 it is said, Nollekens did in the King's presence, 
 without declaring what he was about to do. How- 
 ever, it was not the case with Mr. Bacon, 1 the 
 
 1 John Bacon, R.A. (1740-1790). See prefatory essay. En. 
 
MODE OF LIFE 
 
 sculptor, who had provided a long silver syringe 
 for that purpose before he attended the King, with 
 which he could easily throw the water into the 
 recesses of the model, without making so disagree- 
 able a noise in his Majesty's presence. With the 
 drapery of this bust of the King Nollekens had 
 more anxiety and trouble than with any of his 
 other productions ; he assured Mr. Joseph, 1 the 
 Associate of the Royal Academy, that after throw- 
 ing the cloth once or twice every day for nearly a 
 fortnight, it came excellently well, by mere chance, 
 from the following circumstance. Just as he was 
 about to make another trial with his drapery, his 
 servant came to him for money for butter ; he 
 threw the cloth carelessly over the shoulders of his 
 lay-man in order to give her the money, when he 
 was forciblv struck with the beautiful manner in 
 which the folds had fallen ; and he hastily ex- 
 claimed, pushing her away, ' Go, go, get the 
 butter.' And he has frequently been heard to say 
 that that drapery was by far the best he ever cast 
 for a bust. 
 
 The reader is to be informed that w T hen Mr. 
 Nollekens was engaged upon this bust of our late 
 gracious King, Miss Mary Welch was not in posses- 
 sion of the power of managing his domestic con- 
 cerns. He was then a single man, and his servant, 
 for at that time he kept but one, always applied to 
 him for money to purchase every description of 
 
 1 George Francis Joseph, the painter, born in 1764. In 1813 he 
 was elected A.R.A., but was never promoted. He died in 1846. The 
 sculptor Samuel Joseph was his cousin. Ed. 
 
92 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 article fresJi, as it was wanted for the approaching 
 meal ; and by that mode of living, he concluded, as 
 he kept his servant upon board-wages, he was not 
 so much exposed to her pilfering inclinations, par- 
 ticularly as she was entrusted with no more money 
 than would enable her to purchase just enough for 
 his own eating. He generally contrived to get 
 through the small quantity he allowed himself, 
 never thinking of keeping any portion of a roll or 
 a pat of butter for anyone who might pop in at his 
 breakfasting-hour, or as a reserve for a friend as a 
 bever before dinner. 
 
 I have frequently heard Miss Moser assure my 
 father that, whenever she carried him a pot of jelly 
 or a quince marmalade, she always, upon opening 
 his closet, found the last presented pot entirely 
 emptied, so fond was he of anything given to him, 
 particularly when he had a sore throat, of which he 
 frequently complained to those who made black- 
 currant jelly. 
 
 Before the commencement of some other anec- 
 dotes, which may amuse the reader, I must indulge 
 in a comparison betwixt the general appearance of 
 Mr. and Mrs. Nollekens, certainly not cheek-by- 
 jowl, but by the simile of placing a pair of com- 
 passes and a short pair of calipers side by side ; 
 the first opened at ten degrees, or perhaps not quite 
 so much, the latter at full fifteen ; and then, I 
 think, Mrs. Nollekens will stand pardoned for con- 
 tinuing to call her husband ; Little Nolly,' which 
 name, by-the-by, he originally received from her 
 early admirer and sincere friend, Dr. Johnson, who 
 
ECCENTRICITIES 93 
 
 never failed to visit her, for the last three years of 
 his life, at least three times a month, so that I had 
 frequent opportunities of peeping at him. In the 
 way in which the compasses and calipers will 
 appear, when opened at the above degrees, so Mr. 
 and Mrs. Nollekens' figures may be conceived 
 the lady with legs tall, thin, and straight, the 
 gentleman with limbs short and bowed; thus pro- 
 portioned, they would slowly move, on a Sunday 
 morning, till they arrived at a certain corner in 
 Mortimer Street, where they then parted, the one 
 turning to the right, the other to the left ; he to the 
 Roman Catholic Chapel, and she to the Protestant 
 Church. 
 
 Sometimes in the evening, when they had no 
 engagements, to take a little fresh air, and to avoid 
 interlopers, they would, after putting a little tea and 
 sugar, a French roll, or a couple of rusks into their 
 pockets, stray to Madam Caria's, a Frenchwoman 
 who lived near the end of Marylebone Lane, in 
 what were at that time called the French Gardens, 
 principally tenanted by the citizens, where persons 
 were accommodated with tea equipage and hot 
 water at a penny a head. Mrs. Nollekens made 
 it a rule to allow one servant as they kept two 
 to go out on the alternate Sunday ; for it was Mr. 
 Nollekens' opinion that if they were never per- 
 mitted to visit the Jew's Harp, Queen's Head and 
 Artichoke, or Chalk Farm, they never would wash 
 their selves. 
 
 Had the facetious Samuel Foote witnessed the 
 following scene, it is probable he would have given 
 
94 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 it a more humorous commemoration ; but I shall 
 endeavour to narrate it in the manner Mrs. Bland, 
 who kept a turner's shop, used to tell it to her 
 customers. Mrs. Nollekens, upon opening Mrs. 
 Bland's door, declared she had not seen her for 
 some time, though they lived in the same street, 
 and were close neighbours, only seven doors apart. 
 Mrs. Bland: 'No, madam, I have not sold you a 
 broom for these five years !' Mrs. Nollekens : 
 4 Five years ! my dear Mrs. Bland, how time passes ! 
 though you don't look the worse for wear, my good 
 friend.' Mrs. Bland : c I thank you, ma'am, I 
 have had my share of troubles, with my poor dear 
 husband and my two boys.' Mrs. Nollekens : ' Ah ! 
 so we all have. My house opposite has been to let 
 a good while now, ever since the General left it ; 
 is it not a pity so good a house should remain 
 empty ? Indeed it must be a great loss to you, 
 Mrs. Bland, for I understand they had all their 
 turnery of you.' Mrs. Bland : c Yes ; and what is 
 more, they always gave me my price, and paid 
 punctually !' Mrs. Nollekens : ' I will now put it 
 in your power to gain a customer. Here is a bill, 
 Avhich I got Little Smith ' (myself) ' to write in a 
 large hand ; allow it to occupy a pane of your shop- 
 window, and as there is more sun upon this side of 
 the street, the white paper will sooner catch the 
 eye.' Mrs. Bland : ' I have no objection.' ; Well, 
 then,' rejoined the lady, ' do desire your girl to 
 clean the glass, and then put it up while I stay. 
 Bless me ! I totally forgot to bring wafers ; can 
 you oblige me with one ?' Mrs. Bland : ' I will 
 
PERSONAL APPEARANCE 95 
 
 see ; we have used them so little here since my 
 poor dear husband died.' Mrs. Nollekens ; ' Pray 
 don't mention the loss of him now ; we should 
 never repine. Bless me ! what a miserable stock ! 
 Stay, we will not mind the colours, we shall manage 
 it.' The bill being stuck up, Mrs. Nollekens asked 
 her neighbour what was the price of a good mop. 
 Mrs. Bland, after taking one down, and striking it 
 on the floor to make it appear bushy, and holding it 
 as a buffetier would his halbert, replied, ' There, 
 ma'am, there's a mop half a crown.' Mrs. Nolle- 
 kens : ' What ! half a crown ? My good woman, 
 why, I only gave two shillings and threepence for 
 the last.' ' Yes, ma'am,' observed the shopkeeper, 
 ' but that was ten years ago.' Mrs. Nollekens f 
 4 Come, come, Mrs. Bland, don't be rude ; / know 
 pretty well when it was. But what will you allow 
 me, now, for an old stick ?' ' Three halfpence, 
 ma'am.' c No, Mrs. What's - your - name ; allow 
 me threepence, and I will give you two shillings, 
 and you may send in your mop.' As Mrs. Bland 
 would not agree to this, Mrs. Nollekens shut the 
 door without wishing her a good morning ; at the 
 same time muttering, loud enough to be heard, that 
 she would go to a man round the corner who had 
 just opened a turner's shop. 
 
 Perhaps it now may be better, by way of variety, 
 to give a few of Mr. Nollekens' recollections ; but 
 before they are related a description of his person 
 may not be considered as out of place. 
 
 His figure was short, his head big, and it ap- 
 peared much increased by a large-crowned hat, of 
 
96 NOLLE KENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 which kind he was very fond ; bnt his dress- hat, 
 which he always sported when he went to Court or 
 to the Academy dinners, was nearly flat, and he 
 brought it from Rome. His neck was short, his 
 shoulders narrow, his body too large, particularly 
 in the front lower part, which resembled that of 
 Tenducci, and many other falsetto singers ; he was 
 bow-legged and hook-nosed indeed, his leg was 
 somewhat like his nose, which resembled the rudder 
 of an Antwerp packet-boat his hips were rather 
 thin, but between his brows there was great evi- 
 dence of study. He was very fond of his ruffles, 
 and continued to wear them long after they had 
 become unfashionable indeed, until they were 
 worn out. A drab was his favourite colour, and 
 his suit was generally made from the same piece, 
 though now and then he would treat himself with 
 a striped Manchester waistcoat, of one of which he 
 was so fond that he sat to Abbott 1 for his portrait in 
 it, an engraving from which may be seen in Messrs. 
 Cadell's collection of interesting contemporary por- 
 traits, where he is represented leaning on his bust 
 of Fox, which brought him into more notice than 
 any other of his productions. His dress-stockings 
 were also rather remarkable, being ornamented with 
 blue and white stripes, similar to those constantly 
 and so lately worn by Sir Thomas Stepney, an 
 old member of White's, in St. James's Street, of 
 which house of notorietv the annexed anecdote, 
 
 \J 7 
 
 extracted from the Rev. W. Cole's MSS. in the 
 
 1 Francis Samuel Abbott, the portrait-painter (1760-1803). He was 
 a pupil of Hayman. He painted several portraits of Nelson. Ed. 
 
HUMOROUS ADDRESS 97 
 
 British Museum, shall conclude this chapter, and 
 may probably be found entertaining to the reader : 
 
 ' The following humorous address was supposed to have been written 
 by Colonel Lyttelton, brother to Sir George Lyttelton, in 1752, on his 
 Majesty's return from Hanover, when numberless addresses were 
 presented. White's Chocolate House, near St. James's Palace, was the 
 famous gaming-house, where most of the nobility had meetings and a 
 society. It was given to me December 8, 1752. 
 
 1 The Gamesters' Address to the King. 
 
 '"Most Righteous Sovereign, 
 
 '"May it please your Majesty, we, the lords, knights, etc., of 
 the Society of White's, beg leave to throw ourselves at your Majesty's 
 feet ;(our honours and consciences lying under the table, and our 
 fortunes being ever at stake), and congratulate your Majesty's happy 
 return to these kingdoms, which assembles us together, to the great 
 advantage of some, the ruin of others, and the unspeakable satisfaction 
 of all, both us, our wives, and children. We beg leave to acknowledge 
 your Majesty's great goodness and lenity in allowing us to break those 
 laws which we ourselves have made, and you have sanctified and con- 
 firmed, while your Majesty alone religiously observes and regards 
 them. And we beg leave to assure your Majesty of our most un- 
 feigned loyalty and attachment to your sacred person, and that next 
 to the kings of diamonds, clubs, spades, and hearts, we love, honour, 
 and adore you." 
 
 1 To which his Majesty was pleased to return this most gracious 
 answer : 
 
 1 " My Lords and Gentlemen, 
 
 ' " I return you my thanks for your loyal address ; but whilst I 
 have such rivals in your affection as you tell me of, lean neither think 
 it worth preserving or regarding. I look upon you yourselves as a 
 pack of cards, and shall deal with you accordingly." ' * 
 
 1 See Cole's MSS., vol. xxxi., p. 171, in the British Museum. 
 
[98] 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Nollekens' dinner-parties and visitors Mr. Taylor Economical 
 eccentricities of Mrs. Nollekens Dr. Johnson The sculptor and 
 the snow model in Oxford Market Mr. White of Fleet Street 
 Mrs. Nollekens and the modeller in butter Salubrious air of 
 Hampstead, and artists residing there Manoeuvres of Mrs. Nol- 
 lekens in dress, etc. 
 
 One day, when some friends were expected to 
 dine with Mrs. Nollekens, poor Bronze, labouring 
 under a severe sore throat, stretching her flannelled 
 neck up to her mistress, hoarsely announced c all 
 the Hawkinses ' to be in the dining-parlour ! Mrs. 
 Nollekens, in a half-stifled whisper, cried : ' Nolly, 
 it is truly vexatious that we are always served so 
 when we dress a joint ; you won't be so silly as to 
 ask them to dinner ?' Nollekens : c I ask them ! 
 let 'em get their meals at home ; I'll not encourage 
 the sort of thing ; or, if they please, they can go to 
 Mathias's ; they'll find the cold leg of lamb we left 
 yesterday.' Mrs. Nollekens : 'No wonder, I am sure, 
 they are considered so disagreeable by Captain Grose, 
 Hampstead Steevens, Murphy, Nichols, andBoswell.' 
 At this moment who should come in but Mr. 
 John Taylor 1 (who will be often mentioned in this 
 
 1 John Taylor, the portrait-painter (1739-1838). He invested his 
 earnings in the long annuities, so as to be safe to the age of one 
 
JOHN TAYLOR 99 
 
 work) ; he looked around and wondered what all 
 the fuss could be about. ' Why don't you go to your 
 dinner, my good friend ?' said he ; ' I am sure it 
 must be ready, for I smell the gravy.' Nollekens, 
 to whom he had spoken, desired him to keep his 
 nonsense to himself. Taylor : c Well, well, well, I 
 own I ought to have nothing to do with family 
 affairs. I see your dog Daphne has the mange ! 
 You should put some brimstone in his water ; it is 
 a very fine purifier of the blood ; indeed, I take it 
 myself now and then ; and I recollect my old 
 friend, Jonathan Tyers, never suffered any of his 
 dogs to be without it. Heighday !' looking behind 
 the screen, c why, here's a boy naked ! What, 
 Tom, is it you ?' l Yes, sir,' replied I. Taylor : 
 4 Why, what are you sitting for now ? You were a 
 Cupid the other day. Oh, a Mercury, I see a 
 pretty compliment, faith ! Well, you must mind 
 what you're about. However, Nollekens has made 
 a god of you, you'll remember that. I say, who's 
 coming here to dinner, do you know ? He has 
 never asked me to dine with him as yet ; I don't 
 know what he may do ; nor did he ever send me a 
 slice of the Yarborough venison. Well, perhaps I 
 am as well without it, though I must own I like 
 venison : Quin was fond of it, too. He and my 
 master, Frank Hayman, 1 knew the taste of it full 
 well ; and I recollect when Lord Sandwich gave a 
 
 hundred, and escaped penury only by dying in his ninety-ninth 
 year. Ed. 
 
 1 Francis Hayman (1708-1776) was a foundation member of the 
 Royal Academy. Ed. 
 
ioo NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 dinner to Lady Vane in Vauxhall Gardens the 
 haunches were fifty shillings apiece.' 
 
 This dispute had lasted so long that perhaps the 
 1 Hawkinses ' overheard it, for they had silently let 
 themselves out without even ringing the bell. 
 Shortly after the invited party arrived, and I, who 
 had been ' a very good lad,' was allowed to remain 
 in the studio to finish my drawing for admission 
 into the Royal Academy. Now, as this room was 
 next to the dining-parlour, I could not avoid hear- 
 ing part of the conversation, for, as there was not 
 much to eat, there were many talkers ; but before 
 the company sat down they were requested to walk 
 upstairs for a moment, to see Angelica Kauff- 
 mann's portrait of Mrs. Nollekens, who was painted 
 in the character of Innocence, with a dove, of a 
 three-quarter size, for which she had just received 
 15 15s. In the meantime Bronze, who had been 
 assisting the cook to put on the dishes, called to 
 me through the keyhole : ' Bless you, Master 
 Smith, come and see our set-out !' And as the 
 scanty display for so many persons astonished me, 
 I shall endeavour to describe the c spread,' 1 as it is 
 called at Cambridge. 
 
 Two tables were joined ; but as the legs of one 
 were considerably shorter than those of the other, 
 four blocks of wood had been prepared to receive 
 them. The damask tablecloth was of a coffee- 
 colour, similar to that formerly preferred by 
 washers of Court ruffles. I recollect that the 
 
 1 In English, 'A few things, sufficient to keep body and soul 
 together.' Smith. 
 
A DINNER PARTY 
 
 knives and forks matched pretty well ; but the 
 plates of Queen's ware had not only been ill-used 
 by being put upon the hob, by which they had lost 
 some of their gadrooned edges, but were of an 
 unequal size, and the dishes were flat, and therefore 
 held little gravy. The dinner consisted of a roasted 
 leg of pork, the joint scented by their friend Taylor ; 
 a salad, with four heads of celery standing pyra- 
 midically ; mashed turnips neatly spooned over a 
 large flat plate to the height of a quarter of an 
 inch ; and, lastly, 
 
 ' Lo ! a lobster introduced in state, 
 Whose ample body stretches o'er the plate. 5 
 
 The side-dishes were a chicken and a reindeer's 
 tongue, with parsley and butter, but the boat was 
 without a ladle, and the plate hardly large enough 
 for it to stand in. Close to Mrs. Nollekens' left 
 elbow stood a dumb waiter with cheese, a slice of 
 butter, a few watercresses, and a change of plates, 
 knives, and forks. 
 
 The dinner being announced, there was a great 
 rustling of silks for preference of places, and I 
 concluded, by the party drawing their chairs close, 
 they were ready to begin ; but Bronze used to say : 
 1 No one could eat till he was red in the face at 
 master's table.' The set at the table consisted of 
 Nollekens, his wife, and five on a side. No chal- 
 lenges at dinner that I heard of, nor do I think 
 wine was even mentioned until the servants were 
 ordered to ' take off.' Much about this time there 
 was a great bustle, in which I distinctly heard 
 Mrs. Nollekens' voice vociferate : ' I will have it 
 
102 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 found !' At last Bronze entered, to whom she had 
 given peremptory commands to fetch it. Mr. 
 Nollekens: 'And, arter all, pray where did you 
 find it ?' Bronze : l Why, sir, under the pillow of 
 your bed.' ' There, Mr. N., I knew you had used 
 it last night.' Nollekens ordered Bronze out of the 
 room, saying ' he never liked that woman ; her 
 mouth looked so much like the rump of a chicken.' 
 This nameless article was then caught first by one 
 elderly maiden, and then by another ; and as for 
 Miss Welch, she declared a 'back-scratch' to be 
 the most agreeable thing imaginable, and she was 
 glad it was found, as it had been her mother's, 
 adding that Cowper was perfectly correct in his 
 assertion upon things mislaid : 
 
 1 For 'tis a truth well known to most, 
 That whatsoever thing is lost, 
 We seek it, ere it come to light, 
 In every cranny but the right.' 
 
 Mrs. Nollekens : ' My dear Nolly, you had no 
 occasion to have wasted the writing-paper for the 
 claret, for, as it is the only bottle with a tall neck, 
 we should have known it. My dear Mrs. Paradice, 
 you may safely take a glass of it, for it is the last 
 of twelve which Mr. Caleb Whitef oord sent us as 
 a present ; and everybody who talks about wine 
 should know his house has ever been famous for 
 claret.' Mr. Nollekens : l Don't crack the nuts with 
 your teeth, Miss Moser ; you'll spoil them.' ' Ay, 
 and what would Mr. Fuseli say to that ?' asked 
 Mr. Saunders Welch, who now spake for the first 
 time. The ladies at last retired, and Bronze soon 
 
GIFTS FROM ENGRA VERS icr 
 
 declared tea to be ready, upon which the gentlemen 
 went to the drawing-room, though without Mr. 
 Nollekens, who remained to give orders for the 
 salad to be put up again for the next day. 
 
 On the following morning Mr. Taylor popped in 
 as usual, and wished to know, ' in the name of 
 Fortune,' who had dined there yesterday ; and 
 being told of a few of the persons, one of whom 
 had just lost his wife, his memory served him 
 again as to his old master Hayman. l Ay,' said he, 
 4 my master, Frank Hayman, was a droll dog. I 
 recollect when he buried his wife a friend asked 
 him why he expended so much money on her 
 funeral. " Ah, sir," replied he, " she would have 
 done as much, or more, for me with pleasure." 
 
 Mrs. Nollekens was a collector of prints, by 
 receiving presents from those engravers who were 
 candidates for the Associates' chairs in the Royal 
 Acadenw. She had several en^ravin^s after Claude, 
 with whom she always expressed herself delighted^ 
 and whenever she had occasion to show them would 
 invariably make the following observation : 4 It is 
 very remarkable that Claude, Salvator Rosa, and 
 Nicholas Poussin lived close beside each other on 
 the Trinita del Monte.' 
 
 Mrs. Nollekens, well knowing her dear father to 
 be fond of a glass of Yorkshire ale, endeavoured 
 economically to procure a little, though her attempts 
 were unsuccessful ; and, indeed, she was frequently 
 heard to declare herself by no means obliged to her 
 neighbour, Mr. Sparrow, for so often declining to 
 allow her something for the odd bottles she had in 
 
104 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 her cellar. It was true that they were mostly of 
 different shapes and sizes, but that she could not 
 help, as they were all presents. ' However,' added 
 she, c as that is the case, they would better suit all 
 sorts of purposes; he might have taken them, particu- 
 larly as I have frequently told him Mr. Nollekens 
 did not punish him for having his bills stuck 
 against our yard-gates when he advertised for his 
 son,' a fine youth, who was afterwards discovered 
 to have been drowned when bathing in Marylebone 
 Basin. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Nollekens, who made a point of 
 never visiting people at their country lodgings, 
 where there was often too great a makeshift, had 
 no objection to obey the truly kind commands of 
 Sir Joshua Reynolds, Sir William Chambers, or 
 Mr. Wilton, 1 at their delightful villas, where every- 
 thing was perfection itself ; but they were more 
 particularly pleased when Sir Joshua accommo- 
 dated Dr. Johnson and themselves with seats in his 
 carriage. 
 
 By such an indulgence they not only avoided the 
 fare to Richmond, but by keeping the carriage 
 some time at the door, to the great annoyance of 
 the Doctor, who once roared out, ' Come, Nolly I 
 Nolly!' proved to the Rev. Mr. Martin, 2 and other 
 
 1 Joseph Wilton, R.A., the sculptor. See Prefatory Essay. Ed. 
 
 2 Of this most respectable clergyman, who for many years was Mr. 
 Nollekens' next-door neighbour, there are two most admirable like- 
 nesses, both painted and engraved by Linnell. Mr. Martin, whose 
 literary works are well known, for many years had a chapel in Grafton 
 Street, Soho, from whence he went to an entirely new one in Keppel 
 Street, Russell Square. Smith. 
 
A SNOW HOUSE 105 
 
 neighbours in Mortimer Street, who were sure at 
 that moment to be applied to for her lost cat, how 
 much they were respected by the President of the 
 Eoyal Academy and the renowned Dr. Johnson, 
 the latter being at that time so popular that gentle- 
 men continued to pass and repass, purposely to feed 
 their sight upon so excellent and learned a character. 
 
 During: a severe frost, after a heavv fall of snow, 
 an Oxford Market butcher meeting Nollekens at 
 the barber's, requested him to visit a snow house, 
 which he and several other lads of the steel had 
 erected, in which he said twelve pretty corpulent 
 people could comfortably dine. Our sculptor, being 
 always fond of sights, went with him, when a few 
 greasy brothers of the knife surrounded him within, 
 and swore they would not let him out unless he 
 paid his footing. The R.A., however, gave them 
 only sixpence, insisting that it was quite enough 
 for a model in snow, which so exasperated the 
 brutal architects that the wickedest son of Palladio 
 thawed with a warm, smoky poker the name of 
 Nollekens upon the outside of the hut, which 
 induced the observers to believe and report that he 
 had made it. 
 
 This most scandalous insinuation annoyed Mrs. 
 Nollekens exceedingly, and the butchers insisted 
 upon her giving them five shillings to take it out, 
 which demand she paid, and afterwards went by 
 the appellation of their Frosty Friend. Indeed, 
 for a long time Nollekens was bantered by Barry, 
 the painter who, though he could not bear a joke, 
 knew pretty well where to pass one, and was per- 
 
106 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 fectly master of wit enough to render it a nuisance 
 to those at whose door he thought proper to throw 
 it who gave Nollekens the nickname of a ' Frozen- 
 hearted Architect,' who could ' so coolly, in such an 
 inclement season, deliberately erect a mansion with 
 neither a door, a window, nor a fireplace. And 
 how, in the name of Fortune, he could think of 
 gaining a tenant to reimburse himself for two 
 weeks together, was to his friends quite enig- 
 matical. However, there was one thing which 
 even his enemies could not charge him with a 
 fault too common anions; manv modern builders 
 he had not laid a rotten foundation.' 
 
 No friend could perplex Mrs. Nollekens more 
 than by presenting her with a turkey, when she 
 was without a cook to draw the sinews of the legs, 
 as every poulterer in the neighbourhood had re- 
 peatedly refused her custom, in consequence of 
 her tiresome mode of offering them less than the 
 market price for their chickens, and always leaving 
 their shops without once making a single purchase, 
 so that her only means of procuring poultry was 
 of the higglers : their fowls, she found out, were 
 either so ill fed, or of such an enormous age, that 
 there was no gravy to follow the knife, a sure 
 proof, she observed, that they could neither be the 
 genuine Dorking nor the true ' barn-door birds.' 
 
 There was one man, however, a cheesemonger, 
 then living at the corner of Wells Street, who 
 always got the whip-hancl of her in an exchange 
 for butter whenever she had more game in the 
 house than would well keep for use ; for as to 
 
EXCHANGE NO ROBBERY 107 
 
 giving any away, that was an act she could not 
 honestly record in her diary whilst she could get 
 Mr. Mason's butter in return, cheese being never 
 allowed nor seen in her house, but at set dinners, 
 when, as there was a partition in the old family 
 tray, she generally sported samples of two sorts, 
 taking particular care that they should not be too 
 heavy for Bronze to put on over the head of her 
 master. 
 
 When straw hats had become unfashionable, 
 Mrs. Nollekens hinted to old White, the hatter of 
 Fleet Street, who frequently came to show Nolle - 
 kens one of his Roman medals or a lamp, that 
 possibly he could accommodate her with a Leghorn 
 hat at a moderate rate. White, who was a cunning 
 old fox, and well knew how to plough with another 
 man's heifer, seldom visited Mr. Nollekens' studio, 
 by way of getting the loan of a model, or a squeeze 
 of something old or singularly curious, without first 
 looking into the parlour to see how his dear friend 
 Welch's daughter was, at the same time taking 
 care to present her with an old-fashioned hat, well 
 knowing that she cut them into more modern 
 shapes, and covered them either with velvet from 
 an old tippet, or a silk hatband. Nollekens, finding 
 his wife always benefited by these visits, never 
 refused White a squeeze of a patera, or anything 
 that would answer his purpose ; and at the same 
 time, when he was gone, he readily joined in the 
 laugh against old Gerrard, and the other fools who 
 had been for years duped by old White, who had 
 turned his wine-cellars into manufactories for the 
 
108 NOLLE KENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 produce of cast coins, and modern squeezes from 
 Roman lamps. 
 
 These imitations White put into auctions and 
 venders' shops for sale, and they were actually 
 bought with avidity by the profound judges and 
 collectors of such trash, who would, when the 
 secret was discovered, rather than acknowledge 
 their own want of judgment in such matters, boldly 
 insist upon their originality, and call the man who 
 declared himself as their fabricator ' an impudent 
 impostor.' White has not been the only one whose 
 performances have deceived unwary collectors ; and 
 even the learned have sometimes been pleased to 
 impose copies upon themselves, to the no little 
 injury of the man of real taste and talent, who 
 produced some of their boasted treasures from the 
 rough material. There can be little doubt as to the 
 possibility of deceiving collectors in almost every 
 pursuit ; and I should expect that if the imitations 
 of Greek and Roman art could declare themselves, 
 many a curious tale could be told by some of those 
 now hoarded up in cabinets, for which pretty heavy 
 sums have been given by their happy possessors. 
 
 I must own Mrs. Xollekens had one quality 
 which dignifies a superior woman she seldom inter- 
 fered in her husband's profession and concerns 
 with the world, and during the whole of my 
 observations upon that lady's deportment I wit- 
 nessed only two liberties, if, indeed, they may be 
 called so, that she took with her Nolly's profes- 
 sional career, and one was when that great article 
 of consumption, butter, was concerned. One morn- 
 
A HANDSOME MODEL 109 
 
 ing a very handsome woman, who lodged in the 
 first-floor of No. 5, Oxford Market, modestly 
 rapped at the door. Mr. Nollekens, who was 
 giving me instructions to knead the clay for a bust 
 of Mr. Mathias, according to his usual custom, 
 answered the knock, and when he saw the beautiful 
 creature, whom I had seen over the window-blinds, 
 he said : c Come in, my dear ; who sent you to me ?' 
 c No one, sir ; my friends tell me I have a peculiar 
 talent for modelling in butter, and I have brought 
 a few pigs and sheep in this butter-boat to show 
 you.' ' Walk in, walk in ; this is only my pupil, 
 and he won't say a word about it.' c I beg your 
 pardon, sir, for the intrusion ; perhaps I ought to 
 have informed you that I am a housekeeper in want 
 of a situation, and finding that the knowledge of 
 modelling animals in butter would greatly add to 
 my recommendation, I have taken the liberty of 
 submitting the little things I have done to vour 
 inspection.' 
 
 At this moment the studio -door was opened, 
 and Mrs. Nollekens, with her usual precision 
 of words, stepped up to her husband, and, putting 
 her finger upon his sleeve, said : ' Surely Mr. 
 Nollekens will not suffer himself to be looked 
 upon in the light of a pastrycook ! What have 
 you, my dear sir, to do with modelling in butter ? 
 the world will say that you have taught Mrs. 
 what is your name, my good woman ?' ' Wilmot.' 
 ' Mrs. Wilmot to model in butter ! Pray, are you 
 married, Mrs. Wilmot ?' ; No, I can't say I am 
 married, ma'am.' ' Mr. Nollekens, I wish to sjoeak 
 
no NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 with you in the next room.' What was said there 
 I know not, but Mrs. Wilmot observed to me, ' She 
 is jealous so far my good looks are against me.' 
 
 In what way Mr. Nollekens was prevailed upon 
 I cannot tell, but true it is he did not return into 
 the room, though his wife entered, who delivered 
 the following address to the handsome housekeeper : 
 1 Mr. Nollekens is extremely sorry to say that his 
 professional engagements at this season of the year 
 will not permit him to attend to your wishes, but 
 that, if you will leave your address with me, he will 
 consider himself your debtor.' Mrs. Wilmot gave 
 the address as before mentioned, and then, after 
 replacing her lambs, sheep, and pigs in the butter- 
 boat, retired gracefully ; at least, in my opinion, 
 though at that time, I must own, my ideas of grace 
 were not very extensive. It was curious to remark 
 that for some time after the visit from the beautiful 
 butter-modeller of Oxford Market, Mrs. Nollekens 
 made her husband pass the lady's door, in order to 
 discover how far he had an inclination to improve 
 her acquaintance. 
 
 After this rencontre, Mrs. Nollekens ventured 
 occasionally to give an opinion as to the propriety 
 of professional applications to Mr. Nollekens ; for 
 I recollect another intrusion upon him of a similar 
 kind, by a person who cut out castles, rocks, and 
 mountains upon the backs of shells, and all with a 
 common penknife. Here, for the love of the true 
 character of Nolly's professional life, she again 
 interfered, observing to him that he ought not to 
 attend to such visitors. ' You might just as well,' 
 
THE VALE OF HEALTH 
 
 continued she, l praise the carvings upon a Wycher- 
 lev comb, so carefully preserved by the collectors 
 of old china and such gimcracks. Why, bless my 
 heart ! soon, sir, you will have the man who 
 dresses Dr. Lettsom's glass wig, to know how he 
 ought to replace a deficient curl, or how much of 
 its possessor's face it should cover, so that his 
 forehead might be seen to the best advantage.' 
 
 Mrs. Nollekens, from her mother's experience, 
 insisted that it was by far the cheapest and least 
 troublesome plan for a single person, whose health 
 required fresh air, and was unattended by a servant, 
 to lodge at a regular boarding-house, as the lower 
 class of people, in general, who let lodgings, were 
 much addicted to pilfer from every article of con- 
 sumption. 
 
 Towards the later part of her life she expressed 
 a wish to go once more to Hampstead, a spot 
 considered by most physicians and landscape- 
 painters as the most salubrious and beautiful of all 
 the Montpeliers of England ; but she could neither 
 make up her mind as to the enormous expense 
 of its accommodations, nor as to the peculiar 
 fragrance of its seven sorts of air, which of them 
 she ought then to prefer. The latter perplexity 
 afforded her at times much conversation ; and when 
 she was requested to name the seven airs, she, 
 in an elevated voice, stated them thus : ' My dear 
 sir, there are the four sides of the hill, each re- 
 ceiving freely the air from the four quarters. 
 There is the hill itself, very clear, but certainly 
 often bleak. Then there is the " Vale of Health," 
 
ii2 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 as it is called, in a stagnate bottom ; a pit in the 
 heath, where, if a bit of paper is whirling in the 
 air, it can never rise above the high ground about 
 it. And is there not also the mild air of the centre 
 of the town, where the situation, though high, is 
 entirely sheltered by surrounding buildings ?' 
 
 Wilson, Gainsborough, Loutherbourg, and Kirk 
 for several years had lodgings at Hampstead, and 
 made that spot the seat of their morning and 
 evening study ; and Collins and Linnell, now 
 inhabitants, are constantly seen culling its beauties. 
 It is also occasionally the residence of Beechey, 
 Phillips and Westall ; and I have seen Callcott, 
 Arnald, the Reinagles, Burnet, and Martin enjoy- 
 ing its luxuriant windings. Old Oram, 1 the land- 
 scape-painter, and member of the Board of Works, 
 who was a man of some genius, inhabited the house 
 south of Jack Straw's Castle. And it was to 
 Hampstead that Hayley's friend, Romney, the 
 painter, retired in the decline of his life, when he 
 built a dining-room close to his kitchen, with a 
 buttery-hatch opening into it, so that he and his 
 friends might enjoy beef-steaks, hot and hot, upon 
 the same plan as the members of the Beefsteak 
 Club are supplied at their room in the Lyceum. 
 
 No persons could more cordially hate each other 
 than Romney and Nollekens ; Mr. Greville, 
 Hayley, and Flaxman were stanch friends of the 
 former, who, from some pique, objected to the 
 latter modelling from any of his portraits. Flax- 
 
 1 William Oram, a decorator of country houses, and from 1748 
 master carpenter of all his Majesty's works. Ed. 
 
GROCERIES 113 
 
 man, on the contrary, was so great a favourite with 
 Romney that, in his letters to Hayley, he abso- 
 lutely idolizes him ; and in one, written at the time 
 he was hourly expected in London from Rome, he 
 exultingly exclaims : ' Huzza ! Flaxman's arrived !' 
 
 To return. Hampstead has been for years re- 
 sorted to by Barret, Fielding, Glover, Hills, Hunt, 
 Prout, Pyne, Robson, the Varleys, and all the 
 other celebrated water-colour draughtsmen, whose 
 productions have so astonishingly surpassed those 
 of their predecessors, both in this and in every 
 other country. 
 
 My old school-fellow, Smith, the grocer, of 
 Margaret Street, has been frequently heard to 
 declare that, whenever Mrs. Nollekens purchased 
 tea and sugar at his father's shop, she always 
 requested, just at the moment she was quitting the 
 counter, to have either a clove or a bit of cinnamon 
 to take some unpleasant taste out of her mouth ; 
 but she never was seen to apply it to the part so 
 affected : so that, with Nollekens' nutmegs, which 
 he pocketed from the table at the Academy 
 dinners, they contrived to accumulate a little stock 
 of spices without any expense whatever. 
 
 Mrs. Nollekens' friends, after frequently wonder- 
 ing to see her in shoes so varied in their 
 embroidery, and being well aware that she would 
 never think of indulging in such expensive articles 
 in a spick-and-span new state, all agreed that she 
 certainly must have purchased them second-hand ; 
 and by their maids, who were encouraged to 
 \ pump' Bronze, were satisfied that it was really 
 
 8 
 
114 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 the fact ; and were also informed that her muffs 
 and parasols were obtained in the same way. Mrs. 
 Nollekens would often plume herself with borrowed 
 feathers ; a shawl or a muff of a friend she never 
 refused when returning home, observing that she 
 was quite sure they would keep her warm, never 
 caring how they suffered from the rain, so that her 
 neighbours saw her apparelled in what they had 
 never before seen her wear. 
 
[ '15 ] 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Mr. Nollekens' fancies and his wife's jealousy Anecdote of the 
 sculptor, Dr. Johnson, and Mrs. Thrale Lord Bes[s] borough- 
 Charles Bannister The sculptor's assistants and pupils Dr. John- 
 son's encouragement of the author Instances of benevolence and 
 eccentricity in Mr. Nollekens Notices of his relations Saunders 
 Welch, his father-in-law Anecdote of Wilkes Henry Fielding and 
 his character from life Dr. Johnson's intimacy with the Welch 
 family Death, epitaph, and will of Mr. Welch Recollections of 
 him by Mrs. Nollekens His prudence and resolution as a magis- 
 trate Silver teapot and other relics of Dr. Johnson Mr. Welch's 
 humanity Anecdotes of Wilson. 
 
 Of all the varieties of itinerant amusements before 
 Mr. Punch came into vogue, none seemed to give 
 Nollekens more pleasure than the milkmaids' dance 
 on May Day, of which he was so avowed an 
 admirer that Mrs. Crosdale, my old schoolmistress 
 and his opposite neighbour, assured me that she one 
 May Day witnessed no less than five garlands, and 
 their lasses, who had danced at his parlour window, 
 to each of whom he had given half a crown. 
 
 This indulgence of his was considered by Mrs. 
 Nollekens as a great piece of extravagance, until 
 she discovered from Bronze that it was the custom 
 of most of the abandoned women who sat to him 
 for his Venuses to hire themselves as dancers upon 
 those occasions ; and as he constantly promised to 
 
u6 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 give each of them something when they came, he 
 always made a point of staying at home to see 
 them display their agility. Sometimes Mrs. Nolle- 
 kens, whose exquisite feelings induced her to stand 
 at a distance to watch their lascivious movements, 
 would rate him for descending to such low 
 pleasures. ' A man like you,' she would say, ' who 
 could obtain orders at any time for the Opera 
 House, where you could see Vestris, and who is 
 visited by the Noveres how you can agitate your 
 feet as you do, at such strumming, is to me per- 
 fectly astonishing ! See ! look over the way at the 
 first-floor window of the Sun and Horseshoe ; the 
 landlord and his wife are laughing at you: and I 
 declare, there is Finney, your brute of a mason, 
 yes, and his son Kit, ay, and old John Panzetta, 
 the polisher, looking over their shoulders. How 
 can you so expose yourself, Mr. Nollekens ? I 
 wish from my heart Dr. Burney would come in 
 just now ! and I am quite sure that Miss Hawkins, 
 poor as her ear is for music, whose playing, as the 
 Doctor says, distracts one to hear-^-even she, I say, 
 could never be pleased with such trash as you are 
 now listening to.' But lie was deaf to all her 
 remonstrances, and continued to move his head to 
 the movement of the feet of the girls, with as much 
 gratification as the man of real taste and feeling 
 expresses at this day, when he is riveted to the 
 magic sweetness of Samuel Wesley's 1 voluntaries. 
 
 Bronze, my informant, also stated that, as soon 
 as Nolly had left the room to get his half-crown, 
 
 1 The organist and musical composer (1766-1837). Ed. 
 
CURT A IN LECTURES 1 1 7 
 
 Mrs. Nollekens, after slowly and silently creeping 
 to his abdicated place at the window, made the spot 
 just in time to catch a hussy's wanton and decoy- 
 ing leer, intended for her husband, at the very 
 tantalizing moment that the blind disciple of 
 G-eminiani was striking up Arnold's rondo of 
 4 Come, thou rosy dimpled boy !' Upon his re- 
 entering the room, her face being reddened and her 
 anger raised, she recommenced her lecture with 
 redoubled vociferation till the dance was over ; 
 after which, finding her jobations of no avail, and 
 having paced the carpet pretty often, and as often 
 convinced herself that her gloves fitted closely to 
 her fingers, she, bursting with passion, vowed to 
 tell her sister. ' So do,' returned Nolly ; ' and 
 then she'll tell you what a great fool you was for 
 having me, as she always does.' c You filthy 
 thing !' rejoined Mrs. Nollekens ; ' your grovelling 
 birth protects you from my chastisement.' ' Come, 
 I like that vastly,' rejoined her husband ; ' true it 
 is, your father possessed a "plum"; 1 but then it 
 was only a grocer's one. Why, I had five times 
 the money he died worth when I made you my 
 wife ; and you know what you whispered to me in 
 bed about your mother. Come, let us have no 
 more of your impertinence ; I won't stand it now, 
 once for all, I tell you that.' Just as Mrs. Nolle- 
 kens opened the door, she exclaimed : ' What, 
 you're here, Mr. Eavesdropper ! and pray, Mr. 
 Christopher, what do you want ?' ' Why, ma'am, 
 
 1 A 'plum' in former days was indicative of a definite amount 
 (10,000), just as 'a pony 'or 'a monkey' is now. But a 'grocer's 
 plum' must evidently must have been much less. Ed. 
 
n8 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 there's the woman that Mr. Cos way recommended 
 at the yard-gate, dancing to " Jack-in-the-Green," 
 and wants to see master.' ' Indeed ! There, sir ! 
 there is another of your women ! What ! and you 
 will go to her, too ! It's very well, sir ! mighty 
 well, sir ! Oh, fie ! fie ! The first year of our 
 marriage you told me you should dispense with 
 such people ; hut you are like all the rest of your 
 sex, always seeking for new beauties !' 
 
 Just as Nollekens had closed his leathern bag, 
 and was about to leave Jack's lady, a high person- 
 age, who came to sit for her busto, was announced ; 
 and then the lecture rested till the nocturnal curtains 
 were drawn, when Bronze heard the culprit mumble 
 for some time, as is usual in such cases, before the 
 curtains of his eyes were suffered to drop for the 
 enjoyment of balmy and refreshing sleep. 
 
 Mrs. Thrale one morning entered NoUekens' 
 studio, accompanied by Dr. Johnson, to see the bust 
 of Lord Mansfield, when the sculptor vociferated : 
 4 1 like your picture by Sir Joshua very much. He 
 tells me it's for Thrale, a brewer, over the water : 
 his wife's a sharp woman, one of the blue-stocking 
 people.' ' Nolly, Nolly,' observed the Doctor, S I 
 wish your maid would stop your foolish mouth with 
 a bluebag.' At which Mrs. Thrale smiled, and 
 whispered to the Doctor : ' My dear sir, you'll get 
 nothing by blunting your arrows upon a block.' 
 
 The late Earl of Bes[s] borough 1 was so well 
 
 1 William, second Earl of Bessborough, who died in 1793, in his 
 ninetieth year. He was a statesman of some temporary eminence. 
 Ed. 
 
LORD BESSBOROUGH 119 
 
 known to Nollekens' dog, that whenever the animal 
 saw his lordship's leg within the gate he ceased 
 barking, and immediately welcomed the visitor, who 
 always brought a French roll in his blue great-coat 
 pocket for him, with which his lordship took great 
 pleasure in feeding him. But whenever he had been 
 thus fed, Nollekens would say, when cutting his 
 meat, ' There, that's enough for you ; you have had 
 a roll to-day, the other half will do for to-morrow.' 
 
 Whilst I am speaking of this truly benevolent 
 nobleman, I will take the opportunity of observing 
 that I have heard my father relate the following 
 anecdotes of him : 
 
 His lordship was once standing to see the work- 
 men pull down the wooden railing and brickwork 
 which surrounded the centre of Cavendish Square, 
 when a sailor walked up to him and asked him for 
 a quid of tobacco. His lordship answered : ' My 
 friend, I don't take tobacco.' ' Don't you ?' rejoined 
 the sailor ; ' I wish you did, master, for I have not 
 had a bit to-day.' As he was turning away, his 
 lordship called to him and said, ' Here, my friend, 
 here is something that will enable you to buy 
 tobacco,' and gave him half a crown. 
 
 At another time, a poor woman with two children, 
 who appeared much distressed, but was remarkably 
 clean, curtseyed to his lordship as he was passing ; 
 he drew out his purse, but in attempting to give 
 her two shillings they dropped, and rolled into the 
 kennel, upon which his lordship, after picking them 
 up, wiped them with his pocket-handkerchief before 
 he gave them to the distressed widow. 
 
NOLLE KENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 Mr. Nollekens, who was honoured with frequent 
 visits from his lordship, once asked his assistants 
 in the studio if they had noticed his diamond 
 buckles, adding that, as they had belonged to his 
 wife, he had worn them in common ever since her 
 ladyship's death. 
 
 I was one time assisting Mr. Nollekens in the 
 parlour, in piling up clay for a bust of General 
 Paoli, when his attention was called away by Mrs. 
 Nollekens, who cried out : ' Nolly, Nolly, come 
 here ! There's old Bannister over the way, who 
 used to mimic the cats in the gutter at Marylebone 
 Gardens, when my father's friend, Tommy Lowe, 
 was manager !' Nollekens : i He's a good-looking 
 John Bull ; his son was a student in our Royal 
 Academy, he studied under Loutherbourg (called 
 Leatherbag in the play). I remember he used to 
 frighten our old John devilishly with his tragedy 
 tricks.' Miss Moser and Mrs. Carter being present 
 at these remarks, ' My father,' observed the former, 
 4 was glad when he left the Academy, though he 
 liked him so well that he took a whole box at his 
 first appearance ; and he was nobly received, I 
 assure you.' Mrs. Nollekens : ' He is a most 
 excellent actor.' i Ay,' observed the celebrated 
 Mrs. Carter, as she was returning to the fireside, 
 4 and what is still more, he bears the best of 
 characters off the stage, for he is known under the 
 friendly appellation of Honest Jack.' 
 
 It is related of Charles Bannister that, when re- 
 turning to town from Epsom in a gig, accompanied by 
 a friend, they found themselves pennyless when they 
 
BANNISTER 
 
 arrived at Kensington Gate, where the man would not 
 let them pass without paying the toll. Bannister, 
 however, offered to sing him a song, and immediately 
 struck np the ' Tempest of War ' ; his voice was 
 heard afar, and ' Bannister, Bannister!' was the cry. 
 The gate was soon thronged, and he was loudly 
 encored by the voters returning from Brentford ; 
 this he complied with, and the turnpike man de- 
 clared him to be 4 a noble fellow,' and that he 
 would pay fifty tolls for him at any gate. 
 
 By this time William Arminger, the young man 
 whom Nollekens had employed in cutting Dr. Gold- 
 smith's epitaph, had become extremely useful to 
 him, for he had by slow degrees improved himself 
 in the art of cutting marble as a sculptor. My 
 father was then Nollekens' principal assistant ; 
 and Delvaux, a nephew of the sculptor of that 
 name, Plara, the elder Gahagan, 1 and Green, 2 were 
 among his best workmen. 
 
 1 Sebastian Gahagan, an Irishman, and the most skilful of a family 
 of modellers. Ed. 
 
 2 The son of the celebrated actress, the daughter of Hippesley, and 
 pupil of Kitty Clive. At this time Mr. Charles Townley was a 
 constant visitor to the studio, and I remember him as being the first 
 patron who ever gave me money as an encouragement to proceed in 
 my studies ; for upon his noticing a drawing which I was then 
 making, he took out his purse and presented me with half a guinea to 
 buy chalks and paper. But what is more singular in my humble 
 history is that Dr. Samuel Johnson came up to me the same day, and 
 feeling for my head, put his hand upon it, and said, ' Very well, 
 Aratus !' that being the bust I was copying. I can perfectly remember 
 the figure of that awkward and mighty man, whose benevolence, 
 loyalty, and strict religious principles will ever stand high examples to 
 mankind, notwithstanding the numerous attacks which have fre- 
 quently been made upon his reputation. Smith. 
 
NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 It is not because it lias been stated that Mr. 
 Nollekens was little more than one remove from an 
 idiot that I should omit mentioning an act of charity 
 bestowed by him on a fellow-creature. 
 
 The first act of Jiis relaxation from meanness 
 which I witnessed was the following : An artist, 
 named George Eichardson, who published several 
 useful works, 1 particularly upon architectural de- 
 corations, was an old man at the period I speak of, 
 and lived at No. 105, Titchfield Street, for many 
 years, during which time he occasionally walked 
 around the studio. One day he was asked by Mr. 
 Nollekens what made him look so dull. ' I am 
 low-spirited,' he replied. ' Then go to the pump 
 and take a drink of water,' was the advice in return. 
 The poor old man, after remaining a few minutes 
 looking vacantly about him, went away in tears. Mr. 
 Nollekens, who had just before been summoned to 
 dinner, upon his return observed to my father that 
 Eichardson ' looked glumpish.' c Ah, sir!' rejoined 
 my father, ' he is distressed, poor fellow ! and you 
 have hurt his feelings by desiring him to go to the 
 pump for relief. He was in tears when he left us.' 
 c Bless me, I hurt him!' cried Nollekens, and hastily 
 walked out with his head foremost, putting both 
 hands into his pockets. 
 
 The next morning Mr. Eichardson was waiting 
 at the studio for my father, to whom he gratefully 
 expressed himself for what he had said to Mr. 
 Nollekens, who had been with him the preceding 
 
 1 He was the author of ' The New Vitruvius Britannicus,' and of 
 1 A Complete System of Architecture.' Ed. 
 
GEORGE RICHARDSON 123 
 
 evening, and, after asking if lie were offended with 
 him for recommending the pump, stated that when 
 he was low-spirited the pump always brought him 
 to. Mr. Richardson, upon disclosing his circum- 
 stances, expressed a wish to leave the world in 
 the same room in which his wife died. ' Well,' 
 observed Nollekens, ' and why should von not die 
 there ? it's only a garret. Let the rest of the 
 house, man ; you'll live rent free. One room will 
 do for von ; sell vour furniture. Here, I have 
 brought you twenty guineas ; and I'll allow you 
 the same sum every year as long as you live.' 
 Fndeed, my opinion of Mr. Nollekens is that, had 
 he been led into good actions, he would have per- 
 formed more ; and it is only to be lamented that 
 some kind-hearted individual had not endeavoured 
 to make him understand in the latter part of his 
 long life, when he had heaped up such immense 
 sums, that he should have recollected his poor 
 cousins at Antwerp if they were his cousins. At 
 all events, he should not have forgotten the near 
 relations of his wife at Aylesbury, then and now 
 declining in the deepest sorrow and aged infirmity, 
 either within the walls or the precincts of the 
 workhouse. 
 
 It is, however, unaccountable that, at the very 
 time when he was so very humane to poor Richard- 
 son, he absolutely suffered his own uncle and aunt 
 to sell their beds to support them in water-gruel ; 
 and it was not until the kind interference of Mr. 
 Saunders Welch, who had, with his daughter 
 Anne, seen them in Paris, that he allowed them 
 
124 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 30 a year. Their melancholy situation has 
 been proved by several letters addressed to Mr. 
 Nollekens, and lately produced before the Master 
 in Chancery by Mr. Nelson Beechey, with a sight 
 of which I have been favoured by John Stone, 
 Esq., of Southampton Street, Bloomsbury, solicitor 
 to Mr. Jasper Peck, one of Nollekens' first cousins, 
 to whom he had left some very trifling remem- 
 brances, considering his near relationship to his 
 own mother. To the Rev. Mr. Kenrick Peck, 
 another of his first cousins, nothing was left, and 
 that gentleman has several children dependent on 
 him for support. 
 
 In speaking of these relations, it seems proper 
 that I should now lay before my readers some little 
 account of Saunders Welch, Esq., the father of 
 Mrs. Nollekens. He was born at Aylesbury, was 
 educated in the workhouse of that town, and was 
 apprenticed to one of the most popular men of his 
 day, Mr. Clements, the celebrated trunk-maker, at 
 the corner of St. Paul's Churchyard, in London. 
 But I must pass him on to manhood, for the 
 want of intermediate information, with which his 
 relative, Mr. Woodcock, is not able to furnish 
 me, and fix him in trade, for he was manv years 
 a grocer, occupying the shop, No. 1, at the 
 south-west corner of Museum Street, late Queen 
 Street. 
 
 My worthy friend, William Packer, Esq., of Great 
 Baddow, in Essex, and many other venerable persons, 
 recollect seeing him as High Constable of West- 
 minster, dressed in black, with a large, nine-story 
 
WILKES 
 
 125 
 
 George II. 's wig, highly powdered, with long flow- 
 ing curls over his shoulders, a high three-cornered 
 hat, and his black baton tipped with silver at either 
 end, riding on a white horse to Tyburn with the 
 malefactors. Mr. Welch was a member of the 
 Beefsteak Club, when founded by Mr. Rich and 
 George Lambert, the scene-painter, with whom he 
 was intimate ; and I have often heard Mrs. Nolle- 
 kens say it was her business to dress up for him a 
 round hat with ribbons, similar to those worn by 
 the Yeomen of his Majesty's Guard, which the 
 gentlemen of that club then wore ; she added, too, 
 that her father was so loyal a man that, when 
 Wilkes was admitted a member, he withdrew him- 
 self. 
 
 My friend, the late Mr. Thomas Grignon, of 
 Russell Street, Co vent Garden, informed me that as 
 Mr. Wilkes was passing the house in which he then 
 lived, in a hackney-chair, his father tapped at the 
 window to him, which notice Mr. Wilkes returned 
 by kissing his hand ; but he had not gone three yards 
 before he ordered one of the chairmen to go to the 
 gentleman who had tapped at the window, and inform 
 him that he wished to speak with him. Mr. Grignon 
 immediately went to him, and was addressed in 
 nearly the following manner : 4 Grignon, you are 
 intimate with Sir John Fielding. I am going to 
 him upon a very singular business ; will you 
 accompany me ?' ' Certainly,' he replied ; ' let me 
 fetch my hat.' They went, and Mr. Wilkes, to the 
 great astonishment of his friend, addressed the 
 sitting magistrate, Mr. Spinnage, Sir John Fielding 
 
126 NOLLE KENS AND HLS TIMES 
 
 being absent, to this effect : l Sir, I demand a 
 warrant to arrest the persons of the Secretaries 
 of State, by whose order my bureau, desk, and 
 escritoire have been broken open, and all my 
 papers seized !' { God bless me !' said Mr. Grignon ; 
 ' Friend Wilkes, you are another John.' 4 Whom 
 do you mean ? John Hampden ?' ' No ; John 
 Lilburn,' he rejoined. \ Well, it's all one,'' observed 
 Wilkes. 
 
 Mr. Spinnage, however, refused to grant the 
 warrant ; and Mr. Wilkes, after persisting in his 
 right, and threatening the magistrate, went to 
 Justice Welch, who smiled at his threats and re- 
 fused his request. It must here be observed that 
 Mr. Grignon was not aware of Mr. Wilkes's busi- 
 ness or intention when he first accompanied him ; 
 but, as he was a most liberal man, he would not 
 desert him in a moment of difficulty. My friend 
 Grignon assured me that his father's inadvertence 
 deprived him of many of his best customers ; though 
 he added that his father had no other acquaintance 
 with Mr. Wilkes than that of frequently meeting 
 him at the Beefsteak Club. 
 
 Mr. Henry Fielding, in his ' Journal of a Voyage 
 to Lisbon,' in 1754, published in 1755, when stating 
 his great difficulty of moving himself, being dread- 
 fully afflicted with the dropsy, says : ' By the 
 assistance of my friend Mr. Welch, whom I never 
 think or speak of but with love and esteem, I 
 conquered this difficulty.' This was when he was 
 getting into the vessel at Rotherhithe. When thev 
 were at Gravesend, Monday, July 1, he says : ' This 
 
MRS. HUSSEY 127 
 
 day Mr. Welch took his leave of me, after dinner.' 
 Henry Fielding was fond of colouring his pictures 
 of life with the glowing and variegated tints of 
 Nature, by conversing with persons of every situa- 
 tion and calling, as I have frequently been informed 
 by one of my great-aunts, the late Mrs. Hussey, 
 who knew him intimately. I have heard her say 
 that Mr. Fielding never suffered his talent for 
 sprightly conversation to mildew for a moment, 
 and that his manners were so gentlemanly that, even 
 with the lower classes, with which he frequently 
 condescended particularly to chat, such as Sir 
 Ros;er De Coverlev's old friends, the Vauxhall 
 watermen, they seldom outstepped the limits of 
 propriety. My aunt, who lived to the age of one 
 hundred and five, had been blessed with four 
 husbands, and her name had twice been changed 
 to that of Hussey : she was of a most delightful 
 disposition, of a retentive memory, highly enter- 
 taining, and liberally communicative ; and to her 
 I have frequently been obliged for an interesting 
 anecdote. 
 
 She was, after the death of her second husband, 
 Mr. Hussey, a fashionable sacque and mantua 
 maker, and lived in the Strand, a few doors west 
 of the residence of the celebrated Le Beck, a famous 
 cook, who had a large portrait of himself for the 
 sign of his house, at the north-west corner of Half- 
 moon Street, since called Little Bedford Street. 
 One day Mr. Fielding observed to Mrs. Hussey 
 that he was then engaged in writing a novel, which 
 he thought would be his best production, and 
 
128 NOLLE KENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 that he intended to introduce in it the characters 
 of all his friends. Mrs. Hussey, with a smile, 
 ventured to remark that he must have many niches, 
 and that surely they must already be filled. c I 
 assure you, my dear madam,' replied he, ' there 
 shall be a bracket for a bust of you.' Some time 
 after this he informed Mrs. Hussey that the work 
 was in the press ; but, immediately recollecting 
 that he had forgotten his promise to her, went to 
 the printer, and was time enough to insert in 
 vol. iii., p. 17, where he speaks of the shape of 
 Sophia Western : 
 
 c Such charms are there in affability, and so sure 
 it is to attract the praises of all kinds of people. 
 It may, indeed, be compared to the celebrated 
 Mrs. Hussey.' To which observation he has given 
 the following note : c A celebrated mantua-maker 
 in the Strand, famous for setting off the shapes of 
 women.' 
 
 Mr. Boswell states that Dr. Johnson maintained 
 a long and intimate friendship with Mr. Welch, 
 who succeeded Fielding as one of his Majesty's 
 Justices of the Peace for Westminster, and kept 
 a regular office for the police of that district. The 
 Doctor begins a letter addressed to Saunders Welch, 
 Esq., at the English Coffee-house, Rome, dated 
 February 3, 1778 : 
 
 1 Dear Sir, 
 
 ' To have suffered one of my best and dearest friends to pass 
 almost two years in foreign countries without a letter has a very 
 shameful appearance of inattention. But the truth is that there was 
 no particular time in which I had anything particular to say ; and 
 
THE WELCHES 129 
 
 general expressions of goodwill, I hope, our long friendship is grown 
 too solid to want.' 
 
 The Doctor, speaking of Miss Welch in another 
 part of the same letter, notices that lady thus : 
 1 Miss Nancy has doubtless kept a constant and 
 copious journal.' It was not, however, towards 
 Miss Welch that the Doctor had serious thoughts, 
 but of her sister Mary; and I have heard Mr. 
 Nollekens say that the Doctor, when joked about 
 her, observed : 4 Yes, I think Mary would have 
 been mine, if little Joe had not stepped in.' I 
 must now, in order of time, state that Death spread 
 his mantle over the family, and that everyone 
 grieved for the loss of Mr. Welch, who died at 
 Taunton Dean, in the county of Somerset. Upon a 
 mural monument erected within the porch over the 
 centre entrance of the Parish Church of St. George, 
 Bloomsbury, is engraven the following inscription, 
 written by Sir John Hawkins, Knight, father of 
 John Sidney Hawkins, Esq., one of the editors of 
 4 Ignoramus,' Henry Hawkins, Esq., and Matilda 
 Letitia Hawkins, with whose writings the public is 
 well acquainted : 
 
 1 In the cemetery belonging to this Church lie the remains of 
 Saunders Welch, Esq., late of this Parish, one of his Majesty's Justices 
 of the Peace for the Counties of Middlesex, Surrey, and Buckingham, 
 and for the City and Liberties of Westminster. He was born and 
 educated at Aylesbury, in the County of Buckingham, and married 
 Mary, the daughter of Will. Brotherton, Gent., by whom he had issue 
 two surviving daughters, Maria and Ann. He departed this life 
 31st day of October, 1784, in the 74th year of his age. 
 
 1 As long as Themis with impartial hand 
 Her blessings shall disperse throughout this land ; 
 
 9 
 
i 3 o KOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 Or lenient statutes, or vindictive law, 
 Protect the good, or hold the bad in awe ; 
 Or Mercy, blending Grace with Justice, shed 
 Her milder beams on the delinquent head ; 
 While Probity and Truth shall be rever'd, 
 And legal power as much belov'd as fear'd, 
 So long shall fame to each succeeding day 
 Thy virtues witness and thy worth display.' 
 
 Mr. Welch, in his will, dated December 10, 1775, 
 left his daughters Mary and Anne equal propor- 
 tions of his leasehold estates ; but nearly all his 
 movables he bequeathed to Anne, for her tenderness 
 towards him in his decline of life. Tillotson's 
 ' Sermons,' etc., fell to the lot of Mary. To Sir 
 John Hawkins he left five guineas ; to his son-in- 
 law Nollekens he left fifteen guineas, to be laid out 
 in a set of silver castors ; and to his steadfast friend 
 Samuel Johnson, LL.D., whose memory must ever 
 be revered, he left five guineas, which, says the enter- 
 taining Boswell, the Doctor ' received with tender- 
 ness as a kind memorial.' Mr. Welch's will has all 
 the appearance of being genuine, and the greatest 
 mass of the testator's property very properly de- 
 volved to his daughters. Indeed, Mr. Welch was of 
 such sound sense that no one dared to direct his 
 conduct, or even to delude him by flattery or 
 presents. 
 
 Whenever Mrs. Xollekens related any anecdote 
 of her father, she always elevated her person by 
 standing upon her toes at the conclusion of every 
 extraordinary mark of his benevolence, courage, or 
 sensible magisterial decision. 
 
 Mrs. Nollekens often spake of his going, in 1766, 
 
SAUNDERS WELCH 131 
 
 into Cranbourne Alley unattended, to quell the daily 
 meeting of the journeymen shoemakers, who had 
 struck for an increase of wages. Immediately her 
 father made his appearance he was recognised, and 
 his name shouted up and down the alley, not with 
 fear, but with a degree of exultation. ' Well,' said 
 the ringleader, ' let us get him a beer-barrel and 
 mount him ;' and when I13 was up, they one and 
 all gave him three cheers, and cried : 4 Welch ! 
 Welch for ever V In the mildest manner possible, 
 Mr. Welch assured them that he was glad to find 
 they had conducted themselves quietly ; and at the 
 same time, in the most forcible terms, persuaded 
 them to disperse, as their meetings were illegal. 
 He also observed to the master shoemakers, who 
 were listening to him from the first-floor windows, 
 that as they had raised the prices of shoes on 
 account of the increased value of provisions, they 
 should consider that the families of their work- 
 men had proportionate wants. The result was 
 that the spokesmen of their trade were called into 
 the shops, and an additional allowance was agreed 
 upon. 
 
 The men then alternately carried Mr. Welch on 
 their shoulders to his office in Litchfield Street, gave 
 him three cheers more, and set him down. Welch 
 was a tall man, and when in the prime of life robust 
 and powerful. But though his benevolence was 
 unbounded in cases of distress, yet whenever neces- 
 sity urged him to firmness, he was bold and resolute, 
 as may be seen by the following anecdote : 
 
 When the streets were entirely paved with pebble- 
 
1 32 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 stones up to the houses, hacknevmen could drive 
 their coaches close to the very doors. It hap- 
 pened that Mr. Welch had good information that a 
 notorious offender, who had for some time annoyed 
 the Londoners in their walks through the green 
 lanes to Marylebone, and who had eluded the chase 
 of several of his men, was in a first-floor of a house 
 in Eose Street, Long Acre. After hiring the 
 tallest hackney-coach he could select, he mounted 
 the box with the coachman, and when he was close 
 against the house he ascended the roof of the 
 coach, threw up the sash of a first-floor window, 
 entered the room, and actually dragged the fellow 
 from his bed out at the window by his hair, naked 
 as he was, upon the roof of the coach, and in that 
 way carried the terror of the green lanes down 
 New Street and up St. Martin's Lane, amidst the 
 huzzas of an immense throng, which followed him 
 to Litchfield Street. 
 
 Sir John Fielding took cognizance of those 
 offenders who were nearest Bow Street, such, for 
 instance, as the inhabitants of Lewkner's Lane, 
 Vinegar Yard, and Short's Gardens ; but more 
 particularly that most popular of all gardens I 
 mean that which is within and in the middle of 
 St. Paul's parish, which garden became infamous 
 when its splendid inhabitants exchanged their resi- 
 dences for the newly-built mansions in Hanover, 
 Grosvenor, and Cavendish Squares, and Holies and 
 the other streets adjacent. It was at that period 
 that Mother Needham, Mother Douglass (alias, 
 according to Foote's ' Minor,' Mother Cole), and 
 
SAUNDERS WELCH 133 
 
 Moll King, the tavern-keepers, and the gamblers, 
 took possession of the abdicated premises ; so that 
 Sir John Fielding was in the hotbed of the three 
 principal of all the vices. 
 
 Saunders Welch's attention was for the most part 
 confined to the abandoned women and pickpockets 
 who frequented Hedge Lane, the Haymarket, Cran- 
 bourne Alley, and Leicester Fields, the last of 
 which, from the rough and broken state of its 
 ground, and the shadow of a lofty row of elms 
 which then stood in the road in front of most of 
 the houses on the eastern side, was rendered a very 
 dangerous part to pass, particularly before the 
 streets were paved and publicly lighted. 
 
 In addition to these, Mr. Welch had visitors 
 among the frequenters of Marylebone Gardens, the 
 highwaymen who committed nightly depredations 
 in the adjacent lanes, the pickpockets who attended 
 Whitfield's Meeting House in Long Acre, and the 
 thousands of his Sunday friends who congregated 
 in Marylebone Fields before the new road was 
 made from Paddington to Islington ; when the 
 public newspapers announced an inhabitant of the 
 city to have arrived safely at his house in Mary- 
 lebone ! It was the practice of Mr. Whitfield, 
 before his chapel in Tottenham Court Road was 
 finished in 1759, to preach of a Sunday evening in 
 these fields ; and I have been credibly informed by 
 William Packer, Esq., a gentleman now living in 
 his ninetieth year, that he was there when it was 
 supposed 50,000 persons were present, so much 
 were the Marylebone fields frequented by the 
 
134 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 Londoners on a fine summer evening, and so great 
 was the popularity of the preacher. Mr. Welch 
 also derived no small share of business from the 
 depredators who attended the executions at Tyburn. 
 His office on those mornings, as well as Fielding's, 
 was thronged by gentlemen who had lost their 
 watches and pocket-books, or ladies who had been 
 robbed of their velvet cardinals or purses. 
 
 Dr. Johnson soon followed his friend Welch to 
 the grave, as he died on Monday, December IS, 
 1784, in the back room of the first-floor of his 
 house in Bolt Court, Fleet Street, of which room I 
 made a drawing just before Mr. Bensley, the 
 printer, pulled that part of the house down to make 
 wav for a staircase. 1 
 
 As few persons are aware of the following anec- 
 dote, I am sure that the curious reader will pardon 
 my inserting it : Whilst I was assisting Mrs. Maria 
 Cosway 2 with my advice as to disposing of the 
 collection of her late husband, and thus putting 
 some thousands of pounds in her purse, I was one 
 morning agreeably surprised by a letter which she 
 put into my hand, w r ritten by W. Hoper, Esq., 
 giving me permission to make a drawing of Dr. 
 Johnson's silver teapot in his possession, an article 
 which had been described to me by W. V. Hellyer, 
 
 1 There is not a vestige of the original house now remaining. 
 Smith. 
 
 2 Mary Cecilia Louisa Cosway, whose maiden name was Hadfield, 
 married Richard Cosway, R.A., in 1781. She was herself a painter 
 and a person of the highest eccentricity. She became the lady superior 
 of a religious house at Lyons, after running away from her husband. 
 Ed. 
 
DR. JOHNSON'S TEA-POT 135 
 
 Esq., of the Middle Temple, through whose kind- 
 ness the owner had sent it to his friend, Mrs. 
 Cos way, first for me to have tea from, and then 
 to draw it, both of which I did with no little 
 delight. 
 
 Upon the side of this teapot the following in- 
 scription is engraven : 
 
 ' We are told by Lucian that the earthern lamp which had adminis- 
 tered to the lucubrations of Epictetus was, at his death, purchased 
 for the enormous sum of three thousand drachmas : why, then, may 
 not imagination equally amplify the value of this unadorned vessel, 
 long employed for the infusion of that favourite herb whose enliven- 
 ing virtues are said to have so often protracted the elegant and 
 edifying lucubrations of Samuel Johnson, the zealous advocate of 
 that innocent beverage, against its declared enemy, Jonas Hanway. 
 It was weighed out for sale under the inspection of Sir John Hawkins, 
 at the very minute when they were in the next room closing the 
 incision through which Mr. Cruickshank had explored the ruinated 
 machinery of its dead master's thorax so Bray, the silversmith, con- 
 veyed there in Sir John's carriage thus hastily to buy the plate, 
 informed its present possessor, Henry Constantine Nowell, by whom 
 it was, for its celebrated services, on November 1, 1788, rescued from 
 the undiscriminating obliterations of the furnace.' 
 
 The ensuing is an answer to one of my inter- 
 rogatory epistles, affording me another opportunity 
 of recording the fate of two other articles which 
 had been the property of the late Dr. Johnson, and 
 as it was received from my friend, the Rev. Hugh 
 Bailye, Canon of Lichfield, I shall print it with a 
 double gratification : 
 
 * Lichfield, May 1, 1821. 
 4 Dear Sir, 
 
 ' I certainly am in possession of the late Dr. Johnson's watch, 
 which I purchased from his black servant, Francis Barber {vide 
 Boswell's " Life " for an account of this watch). Dr. Johnson's 
 
136 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 punch-bowl is likewise in my possession, and was purchased by the 
 Rev. Thomas Harwood, the historian of Lichfield. It was bought at 
 Mr. Harwood's sale by John Barker Scott, Esq., banker, who after- 
 wards presented it to me. 
 
 ' I am, dear sir, 
 
 1 Yours faithfully, 
 
 ' Hugh Bailye. 
 ' To John Thomas Smith, 
 Keeper of the Prints in the British Museum.' 
 
 In vol. xxiv., p. 72, of Cole's MSS. in the British 
 Museum, the reader will find a copy of a letter 
 addressed to Mr. Cole bv George Steevens, dated 
 May 14, 1782, and as it will afford the collector of 
 the various portraits of Dr. Johnson a notice of one 
 little known, I have here inserted it : 
 
 ' As some return for the portrait of Mr. Gray, and the specimen of 
 his handwriting, I present you with the original sketch Dr. Johnson 
 made for his " Life of Pope." Be not angry when you find that the 
 same parcel includes his " Deformities," a Scottish pamphlet, written 
 by a club of Caledonian wits. Every bookseller of credit in London 
 has refused to sell it. The Doctor (who, by-the-by, is very ill, and 
 I have many fears about him) laughs at such ribaldry, and offered, by 
 way of frontispiece to it, a very ugly head of himself, which was 
 meant to have been prefixed to his " Beauties," but was cancelled at 
 my desire.' 
 
 Mr. Welch, who was never happier than when 
 he was rendering assistance to those among his 
 numerous friends who stood in need of it, once 
 kindly blamed Wilson, the landscape-painter, when 
 he found him in a dejected state. ' You never come 
 to dine with me now,' said he, c though you used to 
 partake of my round of beef, and I am sure we 
 have had many pleasant hours together.' Poor 
 Wilson, who had existed for some time without 
 selling a picture, regretted that Mr. Welch was not 
 
RICHARD WILSON 137 
 
 a collector of paintings. c I certainly do not under- 
 stand them, my good fellow,' said he ; ' however, 
 if you will dine with me next Monday week, I 
 will then hespeak a fifteen-guinea picture of you.' 
 Wilson pronounced him to be a noble creature, and, 
 taking him by the hand, added : * Heaven knows 
 where I may be by that time.' Mr. Welch then 
 asked him : ' Are you engaged to-morrow ?' 4 No,' 
 replied he. ' Well, then,' returned his friend, ' if 
 you will send a picture to my house, and join me at 
 dinner, I will pay you the money.' 
 
 What person possessing the feelings of an English 
 artist can hear the name of Wilson mentioned with- 
 out secretly exulting that he was a native of our 
 envied island ? And those who have perused the 
 works of Dr. Wolcot must have been pleased at the 
 homage which even that sarcastic genius paid to 
 ' Red-nosed Dick.' With my humble share of know- 
 ledge in painting, I must, without fear of depriving 
 either Turner, Callcott, or Arnald of one jot of their 
 high celebrity, affirm that Wilson was a leviathan 
 in his profession ; and this also was the opinion of 
 a skilful practitioner and one of the first judges of 
 art I allude to the ever-to-be-lamented Sir George 
 Beaumont, Bart., who is deservedly entitled to the 
 wreath of everlasting honour for presenting so 
 choice a collection of pictures to our glorious 
 National Gallery. 
 
 Mr. Welch, in the course of a few months, re- 
 peated to Wilson the proposition of sporting a 
 round of beef and of making another fifteen-guinea 
 purchase ; and in this manner he became possessed 
 
138 NOLLE KENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 of the two beautiful pictures which descended to 
 Mr. Nollekens, of which some further particulars 
 w^ill be found in another part of this work. As to 
 the picture of Dover Castle, which Mr. Nollekens 
 also possessed, Mr. Welch purchased it at a furni- 
 ture sale, by Wilson's recommendation, assuring 
 him that it was the best picture he had ever painted. 
 The town residence of that excellent connoisseur, 
 Richard Ford, Esq., boasts a most splendid collec- 
 tion of Wilson's pictures in every variety of his 
 manner. This incomparable assemblage, which 
 consists of nearly fifty specimens, had been the 
 property of Lady Ford, his mother, who, upon his 
 marriage, most liberally presented them to him ; 
 her ladyship became possessed of them at the 
 death of her father. The same gentleman has 
 also many of Wilson's finest drawings from nature, 
 which he principally made when studying at Rome, 
 one of wdiich is particularly interesting, since it 
 contains Wilson's own figure, seated on the ground 
 in his bag-wig, making a drawing of Raffaelle's 
 villa. 
 
 The late Paul Sanclby, 1 Esq., once showed me a 
 fine collection of Wilson's drawings, to which he 
 attached the following anecdote : Wilson, well 
 knowing the frequent intercourse Mr. Sandby had 
 with some of the highest persons in the country, 
 solicited him to show a portfolio of his drawings to 
 his pupils. Paul Sandby, with his usual liberality, 
 did so, and spake highly in their favour ; but found 
 
 1 Paul Sandby (1725-1809), the father of English water-colour 
 painting. Ed. 
 
RICHARD WILSON 139 
 
 that the amateurs, or gentlemen draughtsmen, pre- 
 ferred highly-finished drawings to mere sketches, 
 and finding his repeated attempts to serve his old 
 friend Wilson fruitless, was induced to make the 
 purchase himself, without allowing him to know 
 that he had been unsuccessful in his applications. 
 
[ HO ] 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Interview between Mr. Nollekens and Nathaniel Hone Hone's 
 satirical picture on Sir Joshua Reynolds and Angelica Kauffmann 
 Account of Hone's exhibition of it, with extracts from his state- 
 ment Other notices of Hone and his pictures Short stature of 
 Garrick and Nollekens Anecdote by Mrs. Garrick of Dance's 
 picture of her husband as Richard III. Mrs. Nollekens' dog 
 Sagacity of that of Mrs. Garrick Norman the dog-doctor Mrs. 
 Radcliffe's dogs. 
 
 One day 1 Daphne, the dog, announced the approach 
 of a stranger in the yard, and a tall, upright, large 
 man, with a broad-brimmed hat, and a lapelled coat 
 buttoned up to his stock, with measured and stately 
 steps entered the studio, walked up to Mr. Nolle- 
 kens, who was then modelling a bust of Sir Charles 
 Eyre Coote, and, full of self-importance, saluted 
 him with ' Joseph Nollekens, Esquire, K.A., how 
 do you do ?' 
 
 Nollekens, who never liked him, answered, ' Well, 
 now, I suppose, you're come to get me to join you 
 in the Academy to-night against Sir Joshua, but 
 you're very much mistaken ; and I can tell you 
 more, I never will join you in anything you propose. 
 You're always running your rigs against Sir Joshua ; 
 and you may say what you please, but I have never 
 
 1 It must have been in 1775. Ed. 
 
NATHANIEL HONE 141 
 
 had any opinion of you ever since you painted that 
 picture of the " Conjurer," as you called it. I don't 
 wonder they turned it out of the Academy. And 
 pray, what business had you to bring Angelica into 
 it ? You know it was your intention to ridicule 
 her, whatever you or your printed paper and your 
 affidavits may say ; however, you may depend upon 
 it, she won't forget it, if Sir Joshua does.' 
 
 The visitor, who proved to be no other than 
 Nathaniel Hone, 1 the enamel-painter, replied, c Why, 
 now, how can you be so ill-tempered this morning ? 
 I have brought you two prints which I bought in a 
 lot at old Gerard's.' Nollekens : 'Well, I don't 
 care ; you don't bribe me in that way ; I know 
 what you are going to do to-night, and I'll vote 
 against you, so you may take your prints back 
 again.' 
 
 Hone : c Why, one of them is by Captain Baillie, 
 one of the Commissioners of the Stamp Office.' 
 
 Nollekens : ' Ay, he's another swaggering fellow, 
 too ; he was praising the print you have engraved 
 in mezzotinto, of Grose and Forrest, from another 
 picture that did you no good. It proves you to be 
 a man of no religion, or you would not sport with 
 the Roman Catholics in that way.' Here the dialogue 
 ended, by Hone wishing Joseph Nollekens, Esquire, 
 R.A., a good morning. 
 
 As few people now living are aware of the par- 
 ticulars of Hone's attack upon Sir Joshua Reynolds, 
 I shall here insert some extracts from a paper which 
 
 1 He was born in Dublin in 1718, was a foundation member of the 
 Royal Academy, and died in 1784. Ed. 
 
142 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 had been industriously distributed by Hone among 
 those persons who he thought were most likely to 
 take part with him in the abuse of the honourable 
 President ; but before I introduce them, the reader 
 should be apprised of the following particulars : 
 Mr. Hone, who had been a fashionable miniature- 
 painter in enamel, commenced oil-painting upon a 
 large scale ; but in that branch of the art he was 
 not so successful as in the former. Indeed, he 
 found Reynolds carry away the principal patronage, 
 which rendered him so jealous that he took every 
 opportunity of endeavouring to defame him. And 
 well knowing that Sir Joshua had borrowed the 
 attitudes of some of his portraits from those of 
 Vandyke, etc., he painted a picture of an old man 
 in a gown, holding a wand in his hand, in the act of 
 commanding the very engravings which he affirmed 
 Sir Joshua had used, to rise out of the flames, which 
 picture Hone called the c Conjurer.' There was at 
 first some indelicacy which he had introduced in 
 the centre of the picture, but which he afterwards 
 painted out, respecting a slanderous report which 
 had been whispered as to Sir Joshua and Angelica 
 Kauffmann. 
 
 This picture of the ' Conjurer ' being considered 
 by the members of the Royal Academy as a most 
 malicious satire upon their President, they very 
 honourably agreed in Council that it should not 
 be exhibited by them ; upon which decision Mr. 
 Hone, as the picture had been the subject of much 
 conversation, determined upon having an exhibition 
 of his own works, consisting of sixty-six in number, 
 
NATHANIEL HONE 143 
 
 in which the rejected one of the ' Conjurer ' held the 
 most conspicuous place. The room in which they 
 were exhibited is now a. workshop behind the house 
 of Messrs. Mouchett and Wild, No. 70, St. Martin's 
 Lane, opposite to Old Slaughter's Coffee-house. 
 Upon my questioning the late Associate, Mr. Horace 
 Hone, upon this transaction of his father, he favoured 
 me with a sight of the original catalogue ; and as 
 it is now considered the Greatest rarity in the 
 Academic annals, I insert the following extracts 
 from it : 
 
 'Many false reports having been spread relating to a picture called 
 the "Conjurer," painted by Mr. Hone, and offered to the Royal 
 Academy Exhibition this season, he is advised by some very respect- 
 able friends to give a short statement of facts to the public, which he 
 hopes will clear his character from the malicious aspersions attempted 
 to be fixed on him, as well as excuse him from the presumption of 
 making an exhibition singly of his own works. 
 
 ' After the picture in question had remained several days, and was 
 actually hung up in the Royal Academy Exhibition, Sir William 
 Chambers, with another gentleman of the Council of the Academy, 
 came to Mr. Hone at his house, and informed him that it had been 
 rumoured that he had made an indecent figure or caricature of an 
 eminent female artist, and that they should be sorry such an indelicacy 
 should be offered to the public, or words to this purpose. Mr. Hone 
 was greatly surprised at the accusation, and assured the gentlemen 
 that he had always had the highest esteem for the lady alluded to, 
 both on account of her reputation as an artist, as well as for her other 
 accomplishments ; and that, to remove the possibility of such a sus- 
 picion, he would alter any figure she or they chose the very next day, 
 or before the exhibition ; and that he did not intend to represent any 
 female figure in that picture, except the child leaning on the conjuror's 
 knee, and hoped they would do him the justice to remove any pre- 
 judice the lady might have. The next morning two more gentlemen 
 of the Council (with that other gentleman who had been the night 
 before with Sir William) called upon Mr. Hone, who were all of them 
 so obliging to do him the justice to say they had carefully looked at 
 the figures, and would clear him of the supposition of there being any 
 
i 4 4 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 woman figure, that they were well assured they were intended to mean 
 the contrary sex. Mr. Hone assured them, as before, of his respect 
 for the lady ; nor did he trust to this alone, but went himself twice 
 that day to wait on the fair artist to convince her of the error, but 
 was refused admittance. He thereupon sent a letter by his son, who 
 delivered it into her own hands, and whereof the following is an 
 exact copy : 
 
 '"Pall Mall, Aprill% 1775. 
 * " Madam, 
 
 ' " The evening before last I was not a little surprised at a 
 deputation (as I take it) from the Council of our Academy, acquaint- 
 ing me that you was most prodigiously displeased at my making a 
 naked Academy figure in my picture of the * Conjurer,' now at the 
 Royal Academy, representing your person. I immediately perceived 
 that some busy meddler, to say no worse a name, had imposed this 
 extravagant lie (of whose making God knows) upon your under- 
 standing. To convince you, madam, that your figure in that composi- 
 tion was the farthest from my thoughts, I now declare I never at any 
 time saw your works but with the greatest pleasure, and that respect 
 due to a lady whom I esteem as the first of her sex in painting, and 
 amongst the loveliest of women in person. Envy and detraction must 
 have worked strangely, for yesterday morning some more gentlemen 
 from the Academy assured me that your uneasiness was very great. 
 I assured them I would so far alter the figure that it would be 
 impossible to suppose it to be a woman, though they cleared me of 
 such a supposition themselves, as they understood it to be but a male 
 figure, and that I would put a beard to it, or even dress it to satisfy 
 you and them. I did myself the honour of calling at your house twice 
 yesterday (when I had the misfortune not to meet you at home) 
 purposely to convince you how much you have been imposed upon, as 
 you will perceive when you see the picture yourself, and likewise to 
 convince you with how much respect, 
 
 '"lam, madam, 
 ' " Your most obedient and most humble servant, 
 
 ' " Nathaniel Hone. 
 1 " To Mrs. Angelica Kauffmann." 
 
 1 To which the day following this answer was returned : # 
 
 '"Sir, 
 
 ' " I should have answered yours immediately, but I was 
 engaged in business. I cannot conceive why several gentlemen, who 
 
NATHANIEL HONE 145 
 
 never before deceived me, should conspire to do it at this time ; and 
 if they themselves were deceived, you cannot wonder that others 
 should be deceived also, and take for satire that which you say was 
 not intended. I was actuated, not only by my particular feelings, but 
 a respect for the arts and artists, and persuade myself you cannot 
 think it a great sacrifice to remove a picture that had even raised sus- 
 picion of disrespect to any person who never wished to offend you. 
 " I am, sir, 
 
 1 " Your humble servant, 
 
 ' " Angelica Kauffman. 
 ' " To Nathaniel Hone, Esq., 
 Pall Mall." 
 
 'Mr. Hone was exceedingly hurt to find the lady's prejudices were 
 so strong that she was averse to being convinced, and would not trust 
 her own senses to be undeceived. So forcibly had malice and detraction 
 wrought the mischief that a whole city was to laugh at the imposition, 
 whilst a party concerned was resolved to remain obstinate in error, 
 and oppose the most condescending offer that could be thought of to 
 break the spell that Mr. Hone's enemies ensnared her in. However, 
 other motives worked the concluding part, though this was to be the 
 ostensible reason for the extraordinary conduct of rejecting the works 
 of an Academician honoured by his Majesty's sign-manual, and whose 
 character had been hitherto unimpeached by the breath of slander 
 during a residence in this capital of upwards of thirty years. 
 
 ' He was still in hopes that all ill-grounded prejudices would be 
 dispersed ; but how was he disappointed in his prospects when, to his 
 astonishment, he received the following letter from the Secretary of 
 the Academy ! 
 
 " Exhibition Room, Pall Mall, 
 Tuesday evening, 9 o'clock. 
 '"Sir, 
 
 4 " I am directed to acquaint you that a ballot having been 
 taken by the Council whether your picture called the 'Conjurer' 
 should be admitted in the Exhibition, it was determined in the 
 negative. 
 
 ' " You are therefore desired to send for the picture as soon as it 
 may be convenient. 
 
 ' " I am, sir, 
 ' " Your most obedient and most humble servant, 
 
 ' " F. M. Newton, R.A., Secretary. 
 1 " Nathaniel Hone, Esq." 
 
 10 
 
[46 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 1 He was now reduced to a dilemma, to acquiesce supinely under the 
 heavy reproach of having offered a picture unfit for the public eye, 
 and suffer the affront of his labours being rejected and his character 
 traduced. What in such a case could he do ? but by appealing to the 
 public, to whose candour and judgment he submits himself and his 
 art, being sure that at that tribunal the mist will be dispelled, truth 
 will be prevalent, and that his labours, which have for many years 
 given satisfaction and pleasure to his employers, will not now be dis- 
 approved of on a more general inspection by the indulgent public. 
 
 'He trusts that this explanation, with the following affidavit, will 
 prove, first, that the accusation was frivolous and nugatory, and that 
 he is not in the least guilty of having given any real cause of offence 
 to Mrs. Angelica Kauffmann ; and, secondly, that it will excuse the 
 presumption of offering to the public an exhibition singly of his own 
 labours : 
 
 ' "Middlesex to wit. 7, Nathaniel Hone, of the Royal .Academy, 
 do make oath that in the picture of a ' Conjurer,' offered for exhibition 
 to the said Academy for the present season, I never introduced, or intended 
 to introduce, any figure reflecting on Mrs. Angelica Kauffmann, or any 
 other lady whatever ; and I gave the most explicit declaration of this to 
 Sir William Chambers and three other gentlemen of the Academy, who 
 called at my house for the purpose of examining into that circumstance ; 
 and I at the same time, told them the figure they pitched upon as giving 
 offence should be taken out. 
 
 ' "Nath. Hone. 
 ' " Sworn before me this 2d day of May, 1775, 
 
 ' ' k W. Addington." 
 
 1 N.B. The figure said to have been intended for Mrs. A. K. is not 
 only taken out, but aJl the other naked figures, lest they should be 
 said to be likenesses of any particular gentlemen or ladies, which Mr. 
 Hone never meant, as the merit of the picture does not depend upon 
 a few smoked Academy figures, or even those well-dressed gentlemen 
 who supply the place of those figures which were said to be so in- 
 decent, though Mr. Hone had shown the picture to ladies of the most 
 refined taste and sentiment at his own house.' 
 
 The following is a copy of Mr. Hone's advertise- 
 ment, which appeared in several of the public 
 papers : 
 
NATHANIEL HONE 147 
 
 ' EXHIBITION, ST. MARTIN'S LANE. 
 
 'Mr. Hone's exhibition of the " Conjurer" and one hundred other 
 pictures and designs, all by his own hands, may be seen every day 
 (Sunday excepted) opposite Old Slaughter's Coffee-house, the upper 
 end of St. Martin's Lane, from ten in the morning till seven in the 
 evening. Admittance one shilling. Catalogues, with Mr. Hone's 
 apology to the public, gratis. 
 
 ' May 9th, 1775.' 
 
 Hone's picture of a Brick-dust man, which was 
 exhibited at Spring Gardens, first raised his name 
 as a painter. In 1769 l he was elected a Royal 
 Academician, but in consequence of some pique 
 against Sir Joshua Reynold he became a turbulent 
 member. He died at his house, now No. 44 in 
 Rathbone Place, in his sixty-seventh year, and was 
 buried August 20, 1784, at Hendon. Mr. Hone 
 etched a portrait of the Rev. Mr. Greenaway, and 
 engraved his own likeness in mezzotinto, as well 
 as a large plate of Two Gentlemen in Masquerade 
 (Captain Grose and Theos. Forrest), No. 17 in the 
 catalogue of his works. This picture is now in 
 the possession of Mrs. Graham, and hangs over 
 the sideboard of her dining-room at her house on 
 Clapham Common. 
 
 In the sale of his effects in Rathbone Place was 
 a plaster mask of King Charles II., taken from his 
 face when dead. When his pictures were offered 
 for sale at Mr. Hutchins's, in King Street, Co vent 
 Garden, in March, 1785, 1 saw Sir Joshua Reynolds 
 most attentively view the picture of the ' Conjurer * 
 for full ten minutes. 
 
 1 This is incorrect. Hone was a foundation member. Ed. 
 
148 NOLLE KENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 Whenever Garrick's name was mentioned, it was 
 generally accompanied with the appellation of 
 little ; but I have often heard my father observe 
 that he never knew anyone who spake of little 
 Hogarth, though he was half a head shorter. Per- 
 haps this appellation might have arisen from 
 Garrick's appearing on the stage with tall men, 
 such as Quin, Barry, Woodward, Eeddish, John 
 Palmer, William Smith, Charles Bannister, Brere- 
 ton, Lewis, etc. Dodd was a little man, and he 
 was often called ' Little Dodd '; and Quick is now 
 often noticed, when walking in Islington Fields, as 
 1 Little Quick.' In like manner, Nollekens was 
 called l Little Nolly ' by those who spake of him 
 with freedom, and as ' Little Nollekens ' by 
 strangers who knew nothing but his person ; and 
 yet he was the only one of that name in England, 
 though there are several bearing it in Antwerp to 
 this day, some of whom have boldly declared their 
 relationship to him. It has recently been proved 
 that these pretended relatives are from a different 
 stock and of another country. 
 
 That great and good man, Flaxman, the ' Sculptor 
 of Eternity,' as Blake styled him, was often called 
 1 Little Flaxman, the sculptor,' though there was no 
 other Flaxman a sculptor indeed, I was going to 
 say, nor ever will be ; and if I had, my opinion 
 surely could not possibly be called in question in 
 less than^e hundred years. Hogarth has insisted 
 upon it that Garrick, if seen alone, would have 
 appeared as tall as Quin, on account of the former 
 being a thin and neatly-made man, and the latter, 
 
DIXON'S MEZZOTINTS 149 
 
 though tall, an awkwardly large one. This asser- 
 tion he has exemplified, as may be seen in an etching 
 by F. Cook, from a sketch by himself, 1 entitled 
 1 Facsimile of the proportions of Garrick and 
 Quin.' 
 
 Hogarth's assertion as to this point is also most 
 glaringly visible in J. Dixon's 2 engraving of Garrick 
 in the character of Abel Drugger, from a picture 
 by Zoffany, in which there is nothing to enable the 
 observer to draw a comparison, as Garrick is the 
 only object in the print. Now, the impression made 
 upon the spectator is quite the contrary, when he is 
 viewing him in the company of Subtle and Face, 
 where a chair is also introduced, which, without 
 any other auxiliary, acts as a tolerably good scale 
 for the height of figures. 
 
 For a further corroboration of this remark, the 
 reader has only to look at the large print by J. 
 Dixon, also after Zoffany's picture from the same 
 play, in which Barton, Palmer, and Garrick form 
 the composition, and, in consequence of Palmer's 
 height, Garrick appears small. Garrick might have 
 appeared as a large man if he had taken a hint 
 from Zoffany, who has painted him in the ' Farmer's 
 Return,' where he is seated in his kitchen, relating 
 the sights he had witnessed in London, and particu- 
 larly the story of the Cock Lane ghost, to his little 
 wife and short children. In this beautiful picture 
 Garrick is represented as a man of good height, as 
 
 1 The original drawing was in the possession of the late J. P. 
 Kemble, Esq. Smith. 
 
 2 John Dixon (1740-1780), the mezzotint engraver. Ed. 
 
ISO NOLLE KENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 may be seen in J. G. Haid's 1 engraving from it, 
 published by Boy dell, March 1, 1766. 
 
 But I must not forget Nollekens in these 
 ramblings ; he also appeared tall when warming 
 his hands in the hall of the Royal Academy, sur- 
 rounded by the young students, who were listening 
 to his good-natured stories of what happened to him 
 when at Rome. 
 
 As he was once enjoying himself in this manner, 
 Mrs. Malum, the housekeeper, applied to him for 
 the poker, adding, c You always hide my poker. 
 Why, you need not care how many coals we burn ; 
 you don't buy them here.' 
 
 So good-natured, indeed, was Mr. Nollekens 
 during his conversations with the students, that his 
 familiarity sometimes exposed him to the ridicule 
 of those who knew not or forgot the respect which 
 they ought to have entertained for him as an 
 Academician. Once an impudent fellow brought 
 an old brown worsted stocking, similar to one worn 
 by the R.A. when he had a sore throat, which, to 
 the great amusement of a few of his fellow-students, 
 he tied round his neck, and stood by the side of 
 Mr. Nollekens when he was Visitor in the Life 
 Academy. However, it should be observed, to the 
 honour of the well-disposed part of the students, 
 that the ignorant scoffer was sent to Coventry, and 
 for a twelvemonth three-fourths of them would not 
 speak to him. 
 
 1 Johann Gottfried Haid, a German engraver, who worked much in 
 England, but retired to Wirtemberg before his death in 1776. Ed. 
 
GARRICK 151 
 
 I must acknowledge that at the time Mr. Carlini 1 
 was Keeper, the Royal Academy students took 
 those liberties with their superiors which would not 
 be noticed now but by expulsion ; and it must give 
 every well-thinking parent pleasure to know that 
 their moral conduct was strictly noticed by the late 
 worthy Keeper, Henry Thomson, Esq., R.A., 2 and 
 that that gentleman's successor, William Hilton, 
 Esq., R.A., will most assiduously promote the same 
 rectitude o conduct. 
 
 Mrs. Garrick visited the print -room of the British 
 Museum on August 21, 1821, for the purpose of 
 looking over the volume of Mr. Garrick's portraits, 
 which had been collected by the late Dr. Burney. 
 When she came to J . Dixon's print from Dance's pic- 
 ture of her husband in the character of Richard III., 
 now in the front drawing-room of Sir Watkin 
 Williams Wynn's house, she looked at me, and 
 with a firm emphasis whispered : l Ay, sir, Mr. 
 Dance used me scurvily as to this picture ; it was to 
 have been mine at one hundred guineas, and a place 
 was cleared for it, when to my great astonishment 
 he informed Mr. Garrick at our dinner-table, where 
 he had been always welcome, that he could sell it 
 for fifty or a hundred guineas more to Sir Watkin 
 Williams Wynn. " Well, sir," observed Mr. Gar- 
 rick, " and you mean to take it ?" " Yes," replied 
 
 1 Agostino Carlini, R.A., the sculptor, succeeded Moser as keeper 
 in 1783. See Prefatory Essay. Ed. 
 
 2 The historical painter (1773 1843). He resigned the keepership 
 in 1827 in consequence of ill-health. Hilton held the office till his 
 death in 1839. Ed. 
 
152 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 Mr. Dance, for he was not then Sir Nathaniel, " I 
 think I shall." 
 
 c " Think no more of the picture," whispered Mr. 
 Garrick to me ; " in a short time yon shall see a 
 hetter one there " which was the case, though he 
 meant the compliment to me, for the first morning 
 after he had a looking-glass, to the value of one 
 hundred and twenty-five guineas, put up in the 
 place which had been allotted for Dance's picture. 
 He requested me to go in and look at it, when he 
 with his nsnal playfulness peeped over my shoulder. 
 Sir Watkin, who never knew a word of Dance's 
 ingratitude to Mr. Garrick who had introduced 
 him to all his friends purchased the picture, and 
 bestowed a most splendid frame upon it at an 
 enormous expense.' 
 
 Mr. Dance, in this picture of Garrick, has been 
 guilty of an egregious anachronism. He has 
 actually given Richard III. the star of the Order of 
 the Garter, when he ought to have known that it 
 was not introduced before the reign of King 
 Charles I. 1 
 
 1 See Ashmole's 'History of the Order of the Garter' ; Lond., 
 1672, folio, chap, vii., pp. 215, 216. The origin of the Star, according 
 to that authority, was a badge consisting of the cross of the Order, 
 surrounded by the Garter, to be worn upon the left side of the 
 ordinary cloaks, etc., of the Sovereign and Knights- Companions. This 
 was added to the insignia by King Charles I. at a Chapter held 
 April 27, in the second year of his reign, 1626. ' And,' adds Ashmole, 
 ' it seems it was not long after ere the glory, or star, as it is usually 
 called, having certain beams of silver that spread in the form of a 
 cross, was introduced and added thereunto, in imitation, as it is 
 thought, of the French, who after that manner wore the chief ensign 
 of the Order of the Holy Ghost, being the resemblance of a dove 
 
MRS. NOLLEKENS' DOG 153 
 
 Mrs. Nollekens bad a little dog, which her father 
 brought as a present to her from France ; it was 
 considered a great beauty of its kind, being per- 
 fectly white, having a long curled woolly mane, 
 and its body half shorn from its hinder parts ; the 
 extremities of its tail and legs were left tufted, like 
 an heraldical lion, and the eyelids were rather of a 
 red colour, as those of the French breed generally 
 are. With this animal I formed a particular 
 acquaintance ; and, as she was very good-tempered 
 towards me, I used to lay out my pocket-money in 
 buying alternately a pink and a blue ribbon to 
 make her a collar, with which Mrs. Nollekens was 
 highly delighted. I recollect Mr. George Keate 1 
 whose politeness always procured him the good 
 opinion of the ladies making much of this animal, 
 and telling it that he had written some lines upon 
 Mrs. Garrick's little dog, not unlike her in feature, 
 of which Favorie for she went sometimes by that 
 name ought to be very proud, since they were 
 considered extremely beautiful. At this Mrs. 
 Nollekens caught the bait, and in polite terms 
 declared she would send for his poems, concluding 
 
 irradiated with such-like beams.' The anachronism of introducing 
 the Star of the Garter before it was invented has, however, been com- 
 mitted by a much better antiquary than Dance, since it is introduced 
 in the year 1578, in the romance of ' Kenilworth,' by the author of 
 1 Waverley ' (edit Edinburgh, 1821, vol. i., chap, vii., p. 149). ' The 
 embroidered strap, as thou callest it, around my knee,' says the Earl 
 of Leicester, ' is the English Garter, an ornament which Kings are 
 proud to wear. See, here is the Star which belongs to it, and here is the 
 diamond George, the jewel of the Order.' Smith. 
 
 1 George Keate (1729-1797), the amateur versifier and antiquary. 
 Ed. 
 
154 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 that the lines were to he found there. ' Yes, madam, 
 said he, c I have introduced them in the hook, and I 
 will send it, not only for your inspection, but 
 acceptance.' ' You are extremely polite,' answered 
 Mrs. Nollekens ; ' I shall be most happy to possess 
 what you have said of Mrs. Garrick's dog.' 
 
 Before I entirely leave this subject, to prove the 
 wonderfully sagacious and retentive memory of 
 Mrs. Garrick's little dog Biddy, and how much she 
 must have noticed her master when rehearsing his 
 parts at home, I shall give the following most 
 extraordinary anecdote, as nearly as I can, in the 
 manner in which Mrs. Garrick related it to me a 
 short time before her death. ' One evening, after 
 Mr. Garrick and I were seated in our box at Drury 
 Lane Theatre, he said, u Surely there is something 
 wrong on the stage," and added he would go and 
 see what it was. Shortly after this, when the 
 curtain was drawn up, I saw a person come forward 
 to speak a new prologue in the dress of a country 
 bumpkin, whose features seemed new to me ; and 
 whilst I was wondering who it could possibly be, I 
 felt my little dog's tail wag, for he was seated in 
 my lap, his usual place at the theatre, looking 
 towards the stage. " Aha !" said I, " what ! do you 
 know him ? Is it your master ? Then you have 
 seen him practise his part ?" ' 
 
 When I last had the gratification of conversing 
 with the relator of this anecdote, she spake in the 
 highest terms of his present Majesty, George IV., 
 and said that the last time she had the honour of 
 seeing him, when Prince of Wales, the kind and 
 
THE QUEEN AND MRS. GARRICK 155 
 
 condescending: manner in which his Royal Highness 
 sat by her side at Hampton, and asked after her 
 health, gave her heartfelt pleasure : 4 And I am not 
 a little proud,' added she, c of the privilege of being 
 allowed to drive through St. James's Park.' 
 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Phillips, whose venerable age 
 is not beyond his politeness, has also favoured me 
 with the following anecdote of the late Queen 
 Charlotte and Mrs. Garrick. By some mistake the 
 Queen was announced to Mrs. Garrick at her house 
 at Hampton, without the usual notice previous to a 
 royal visit. Mrs. Garrick was much confused at 
 being caught in the act of peeling onions for 
 pickling. The Queen, however, would not suffer 
 her to stir, but commanded a knife to be brought, 
 observing that she would peel an onion with her, 
 and actually sat down, in the most condescending 
 manner, and peeled onions. The Colonel, who 
 often relates anecdotes of his youth and the dis- 
 tinguished characters whom he has known, never 
 forgets to observe, when speaking of Queen 
 Charlotte : 8 Ay, very few persons knew the good- 
 ness of her Majesty's heart, and the great good she 
 had done, until after her death.' 
 
 I shall now give a dialogue which was held, as 
 nearly as I can recollect, between Mrs. Nollekens 
 and Mrs. Norman, the wife of a celebrated dog- 
 doctor, who at the time I was with Sherwin lived 
 in Fox Court, St. James's Street, into one of the 
 houses of which court Sherwin's premises ex- 
 tended, and were used by him and his pupils as 
 engraving-rooms. The name of Norman was so 
 
156 NOLLE KENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 extensively known that I consider it hardly pos- 
 sible for many of my readers to be ignorant of his 
 fame ; indeed, so much was he in requisition that 
 persons residing out of town would frequently 
 order the carriage for no other purpose than to 
 consult Dr. Norman as to the state of Biddy's 
 health, just as people of rank now consult Parting- 
 ton or Thompson as to the irregularities of their 
 children's teeth. The room in which Sherwin's 
 pupils were placed was on the first-floor, looking 
 immediately into the court, so that it was impos- 
 sible for them to be unacquainted with the patients' 
 complaints, which were made known in the court 
 either to the doctor or his wife, who always 
 answered from an upper casement. Bijou, Mrs. 
 Nollekens' favourite lap-dog, was put under the 
 doctor's regimen by Nollekens, who, it appeared, 
 had left her early one morning, before we had 
 taken possession of our room. 
 
 One day, about noon, we heard a female, who 
 had tapped at the doctor's door with the stick of 
 her parasol, inquire if Mr. Norman was at home. 
 1 Who calls ?' interrogated Mrs. Norman from 
 within. ' Mr. Norman, I ask if he lives here ?' 
 Mrs. Norman, who had then put her head out 
 at the window, answered : ' Yes, he does, good 
 woman; what's your pleasure?' ' " Good woman, 
 what's your pleasure !" is that the way to speak to 
 a lady ? Know, then, my name is Nollekens.' c Oh 
 dear, I beg your pardon: you are the person who 
 sent a little man here with a French dog the other 
 day : how does she do ?' ' Do ! why don't you 
 
A HOSPITAL FOR DOGS 157 
 
 come down, Mrs. Norman ?' ' I come down ! 
 what, and leave all my dogs ! Bless yon, there'd 
 be the devil to pay when Norman comes home ! 
 Yon don't know the disponsibility I am in : why, 
 we have got Mrs. Robinson's mother Mrs. Derby's 
 dog ; and we have got the Dnke of Dorset's French 
 lady's dog, Fidelle, just come from Duke Street. 
 Mrs. Musters, of Portland Place, has sent three 
 dogs, and we have Monsieur Goubert's from South 
 Molton Street. What ! but is vour bitch ill a^ain? 
 I am sure we brought it about it was fed upon 
 nothing but bread and milk.' ' Bread and milk !' 
 exclaimed Mrs. Nollekens ; J why, we give it some 
 of the best bits of our yard-dog's paunches.' 
 c Bless you, good woman ! then it will never be 
 well : the doctor can do nothing for it, that I can 
 tell you.' By this time a fellow silenced Mrs. 
 Nollekens, by inquiring in a rough voice if Dr. 
 Normandy was at home. c No,' was the reply. 
 ' Well, then, when he comes home, he must come 
 to Lady Bunbury's ; one of her dogs has had 
 no rest for these three nights, and her life is 
 despaired of.' 
 
 I do not wish to reflect upon Mrs. Nollekens or 
 the peculiar attachment of any other lady to the 
 brute creation, as there are, I am certain, tens of 
 thousands who, though many of them pet their 
 dogs, also find delight in walking miles to alleviate 
 the wants of their fellow-creatures with the balmy 
 hand of sincere benevolence. Mrs. RadclifFe, 1 the 
 justly-celebrated authoress of ' The Romance of 
 
 1 Anne Radcliffe (1764-1823). Ed. 
 
NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 the Forest,' ' The Mysteries of Udolpho,' etc., was 
 one of that description, and she had two pets. The 
 name of one was Fan, that of the other Dash ; both 
 obtained board and lodging, not as presents from 
 Lady Sarah Bunbury or Mrs. Garrick, but taken 
 up by her in the streets, when they were outcasts 
 and unowned, when, as poor old Bronze would 
 frequently say of her master's broken antiques, no 
 one would think of offering a brass farthing for 
 their services. 
 
 Mrs. Radcliffe's attention was one day arrested 
 by a boy who stood silently weeping under the 
 gateway of the Little Stable-yard, St. James's ; he 
 held a cord, to the end of which a most miserable 
 spectacle of a dog was tied, shivering between him 
 and the wall. She requested to know the cause of 
 his grief, and the poor little fellow, after sobbing 
 for some time, with a modest reluctance stam- 
 mered, ' My m-m-m-mother insists upon my hang- 
 ing Fan ; she won't keep her because her skin is 
 bare. Don't touch her, ma'am ; she has got the 
 mange.' ' Well, my little fellow, if you will walk 
 back with me, I will not only give you half a 
 crown, but will keep your dog, and you shall come 
 and see it.' When the poor animal was safely 
 lodged at No. 5, Stafford Row, Pimlico, her new 
 mistress placed her under proper care ; and when 
 she was again coated, she became excessively 
 admired for her great beauty, and, being under the 
 tuition of so amiable a protectress, she so improved 
 in manners as to be often noticed by the la^e 
 Queen and the Princesses, when walking with her 
 
DOGS 159 
 
 mistress in Windsor Park, at the time Mrs. Rad- 
 clifFe had a small cottage in the town. My 
 informant related the following proof of Fan's good 
 breeding and respect for a dog under superior 
 protection. 
 
 One of the Princesses' dogs, a spaniel exactly of 
 Fanny's size, caught one end of a long bone, at the 
 moment Fan had found it, who, instead of snarl- 
 ing as a dog generally does when an interloper 
 attempts to carry off a prize, very good-temperedly 
 complied with the playfulness of the Princess's dog- 
 by continuing to walk by her side, just like two 
 horses in a curricle, each holding the extreme end 
 of the bone, to the no small amusement of the royal 
 equestrians, who frequently recognised and noticed 
 Mrs. RadclifFe as the authoress and Fanny's 
 mistress. 
 
 The other dog was of a large size, and the latter 
 part of his history is as follows. One day it 
 happened, as Mr. and Mrs. RadclifFe were walking 
 along the Strand, to visit the exhibition of the 
 Roval Academicians at Somerset Place, thev saw 
 a poor half-starved dog that had just been drawn 
 upon the pavement, a coach-wheel having broken 
 one of its legs. When they got up to the crowd, 
 as there was no master near or willing to own it, 
 each person was giving his opinion as to the most 
 expeditious mode of putting the unfortunate animal 
 out of his misery. Upon this Mrs. RadclifFe, with 
 her accustomed humanity, requested her husband 
 to procure a coach ; and instead of proceeding to 
 the exhibition to feast upon the works of art, they 
 
:6o NOLLE KENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 preferred following the impulse of good-nature, by 
 ordering the coachman to Stafford Eow, where, by 
 skilful attention, the once-wretched animal was not 
 only in a short time restored to perfect health, but 
 repaid his life-preserver with the most frolicksome 
 agility, who ever after called him Dash. 
 
[ 161 ] 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Anecdotes of Seward and James Barry Conversations in West- 
 minster Abbey on waxen figures, fees, alterations, monuments, and 
 the Gate-house Norfolk House, the birthplace of George III. 
 Mr. Nollekens' restoration of the Townley Venus Colonel 
 Hamilton Conversation between Mr. Nollekens and Panton Betew 
 on artists and the china manufactories at Bow and Chelsea 
 Characteristic anecdotes of Betew Early engravings by Hogarth. 
 
 Mr. Seward, 1 of anecdotic memory, who lodged at 
 the Golden Ball, No. 5, Little Maddox Street, 
 where the sign is still pendent, was perpetually 
 complimenting those persons of eminence who 
 appeared to him most likely to contribute to his 
 budget. I recollect, when I was a student in the 
 Royal Academy, seeing him one night make up 
 to Barry, who was descending from the rostrum, 
 and hearing him, after he had expressed his 
 admiration of his lecture, solicit the pleasure of 
 walking part of the way home with him. Mr. 
 Nollekens and I overtook them at a baker's shop in 
 Catherine Street, when Barry, who detested Seward 
 for his avowed attachment to Fuseli, requested him 
 to wait while he purchased a loaf, and when he 
 came out, had the audacity to ask Seward to assist 
 
 1 William Seward was born in 1747. He was the author of 'Bio- 
 graphiana,' and died in 1799. Ed. 
 
 11 
 
1 62 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 him in stuffing it into a ragged pocket of his long 
 great-coat. When he had accomplished the task, 
 Barry exclaimed, ' It's in ! that's the way to be 
 independent ; I have no fixed baker, so where I 
 like the appearance of the bread, I buy it.' Nolle- 
 kens, who had stopped with me to notice them, 
 observed, ' Ay, Tom, when they get themselves 
 under the Piazza, Jem will lose him ; I know his 
 tricks well, when he dislikes a man. Why, 
 do you know, that fellow Seward sadly wanted 
 me the other day to give him my Michael 
 Angelo model of Venus !" This beautiful little 
 gem now sparkles over the chimney-piece of 
 Sir Thomas Lawrence's front parlour, a room 
 enviably rich in inestimable jewels. The cabinets 
 are filled with the choicest drawings, by Michael 
 Angelo, Kaffaelle, Rubens, and Rembrandt, many 
 of which were formerly dispersed through the 
 portfolios of King Charles I., Rubens, the Earl of 
 Arundel, Sir Peter Lely, the two Richardsons, 
 Hudson, Moser, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Barnard, 
 Ralph AVillett, Udney, Earl Spencer, West, and 
 several grand collections abroad, from which they 
 were selected, and brought into this country by Mr. 
 Ottley and Mr. Samuel Woodburn, two most ex- 
 cellent judges of art, to whom England is much 
 indebted for numerous works of the old and great 
 masters, which might at this moment have been 
 locked up in foreign cabinets, had it not been for 
 their zeal and liberality. 
 
 Mr. Nollekens having received an order for a 
 monument, similar in size to one which his employer 
 
WESTMINSTER ABBEY 163 
 
 had pointed out, erected in AVestminster Abbey, 
 asked my father to accompany him thither, and 
 they took me with them to assist in the measure- 
 ment. I recollect the morning with pleasure ; the 
 sun enabled us to look into every corner of the 
 Abbey ; and I now wish I had then been older, to 
 have benefited more by the interesting remarks by 
 my parent and friend. 
 
 Mr. Nollekens, during the time his men were 
 moulding parts of monuments in Westminster 
 Abbey, had the following conversation with the 
 late Mr. John Catling, the verger, to the great 
 amusement of my father, who was also present. 
 Mr. Nollekens: 'Why, Mr. Catling, you seem to 
 be as fond of the Abbey as I am of my models by 
 Michael Angelo. My man, Finny, tells me you was 
 born in it.' Catling: 'No, not in the Abbey; I 
 was born in the tower, on the right hand, just 
 before you enter into the little cloisters.' Nollekens: 
 4 Oh, I know ; there's some steps to go up, and a 
 wooden rail to hold by. Now, I wonder you 
 don't lose that silver thing that you carry before 
 the Dean, when you are going through the cloisters. 
 Pray, why do you suffer the schoolboys to chalk the 
 stones all over ? I have been spelling " pudding," 
 "grease," "lard," "butter," "kitchen-stuff," and 
 I don't know what all.' Catling : ' Whv, therebv 
 hangs a tale do you know that the Dean married 
 a woman ?' Nollekens : l Well, so he ought ; the 
 clergy are allowed to marry nowadays ; it is not 
 as it was formerly ; you know, I have been at Rome, 
 and know enough about their customs.' [Here Mr. 
 
1 64 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 Catling gave Mr. Nollekens an admonitory pinch 
 upon the elbow, for at that moment the Bishop was 
 passing through Poets' Corner from the Deanery, 
 on his way to the House of Lords.] Nollekens: 
 ' What does he carry that bine bag with him for ?' 
 Catling: 'It contains his papers upon the business 
 of the day.' Nollekens : ' ( )h, now you talk of 
 papers, Mrs. Nollekens bid me to ask you where 
 Ashburnham House is, that held the Cotton paper, 
 I think it was.' Catling: ' Your good lady means 
 the Cottonian Manuscripts, sir ; it is in Little 
 Dean's Yard, on the north side ; it has a stone 
 entrance, designed by Inigo Jones, and is now 
 inhabited by Dr. Bell, who was Chaplain to the 
 Princess Amelia.' Nollekens: ; Oh, I know, he was 
 robbed by Sixteen - string Jack in Gunnersbury 
 Lane; thank ye. And she wants to know what 
 you've done with the wooden figures, with wax 
 masks, all in silk tatters, that the Westminster 
 boys called the "Ragged Regiment"; she says 
 they was always carried before the corpse for- 
 merly.' Catling: ' Why, we had them all out the 
 other day, for John Carter and young Smith ttf 
 draw from ; they are put up in those very narrow 
 closets, between our wax figures of Queen Elizabeth 
 and Lord Chatham in his robes, in Bishop Islip's 
 Chapel, where you have seen the stained-glass of 
 a boy slipping down a tree, a slip of a tree, and the 
 eye slipping out of its socket.' Nollekens : ' What ! 
 where the Poll Parrot is ? I wonder you keep such 
 stuff ; why, at Antwerp, where my father was born, 
 they put such things in silks outside in the streets. 
 
WESTMINSTER ABBEY 165 
 
 I don't mind going to Mrs. Salmon's Waxwork, in 
 Fleet Street, where Mother Shipton gives yon a kick 
 as yon are going out. Oh dear ! yon should not have 
 such rubbish in the Abbey ; and then for yon to take 
 money for this foolish thing and that foolish thing, 
 so that nobody can come in to see the line works of 
 art without being bothered with Queen Catherine's 
 bones, the Spanish Ambassador's coffin, the lady 
 who died by pricking her finger, and that nasty 
 cap of G.eneral Monk's you beg of people to put 
 money into, just like the money-box that I recollect 
 they used to put down from the Gate-house. You 
 had better tell Mr. Dean to see that the monuments 
 don't want dusting, and to look after the West- 
 minster bovs, and not let them break the ornaments 
 off to play at sconce with in the cloisters. Now, at 
 Rome, and all other churches abroad, a man may 
 <0 in and draw ; but here he must write and wait, 
 and be brought up like a criminal before the Dean. 
 Why, do you know, I have been told thajt Stothard, 
 one of our Academicians, had a great deal of trouble 
 with the man ; and then he talked about the proper 
 fees ! Bless my heart, it's very bad I' 1 Catling : 
 4 My good sir, you are very severe with us this 
 
 1 When all the demands for viewing the various curiosities 
 of Westminster Abbey are added together, the sum will amount 
 to a little more now than it did lol years ago, as can be proved 
 by a reference to Peachan's truly interesting tract, entitled ' The 
 Worth of a Penny,' published in the year 1667, in which the author 
 says : 
 
 ' For a penny you may hear a must eloquent oration upon our 
 English kings and queens, if, keeping your hands off, you will seriously 
 listen to David Owen, who keeps the monuments in Westminster.' 
 Smith. 
 
1 66 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 morning. Let me ask vou what would become of 
 the gentlemen of the choir, and myself, as well as 
 the Dean, if we did not take money ?' Nollekens : 
 4 What's become of that curious old picture that 
 used to hang, when I was a boy, next to the 
 pulpit ?' Catling : ' You mean the whole-length 
 portrait of King Richard II. in his robes : that is 
 now put up in the Jerusalem Chamber in the 
 Deanery ; I have a print of it by Carter.' Nolle- 
 kens : i My mother had one by Virtue ; she was 
 acquainted with him, and at that time he lived in 
 Brownlow Street, Drary Lane. Well, and what has 
 become of Queen Catherine's bones ?' Catling : 
 4 Oh, the remains of her bones have been gone 
 long ago !' 
 
 They were now interrupted by old Gayfere, the 
 Abbey mason, who exclaimed, as he came toddling 
 on : ' Ah, Mr. Nollekens, are you here ?' Nollekens : 
 4 Here ! yes ; and why do you suffer that Queen 
 Anne's altar to remain here, in a Gothic building ? 
 Send it back to Whitehall, where it came from. 
 And why don't you keep a better look-out, and not 
 suffer the fingers of figures and the noses of busts 
 to be knocked off by them Westminster boys ?' 
 Gay/ere : ' Why, what an ungrateful little man you 
 are ! Don't it give you a job now and then ? Did 
 not Mr. Dolben have a new nose put upon Camden's 
 face the other day at his own expense ? I believe 
 I told you that I carried the rods when Fleetcraft 
 measured the last work at the north tower when 
 the Abbey was finished.' Nollekens : ' There's the 
 bell tolling. Oh no, it's the quarters. I used to 
 
WESTMINSTER ABBEY 167 
 
 hear them when I was in the Abbey working with 
 my master Scheemakers. There's a bird flying !' 
 Gay/ere : ' A bird ? Ay, yon may see a hundred 
 birds ; they come in at the broken panes of 
 glass.' 
 
 Nollekens : ' Here comes Mr. Champneys. Well, 
 yon have been singing at St. Paul's, and now you 
 are come to sing here. Why don't you put a little 
 more powder in your wig ? Why, it is as brown as 
 my maid Bronze's skin now is ; that's what is 
 called a Busby, ain't it ?' Champneys : ' It is, Mr. 
 Nollekens. Pray how is Mrs. Nollekens ? I was 
 once a beau of hers.' Nollekens : 'Oh dear ! I was 
 looking at his monument, to see if it was the same 
 wig, but he has a cap on.' Champneys : c That's a 
 fine monument, Mr. Nollekens.' Nollekens : c Yes, 
 a very good one ; it was done by Bird. 1 Mrs. 
 Nollekens said he was fond of flogging the West- 
 minster boys.' Champneys : c It is said so. Our 
 friend Boberts, of the Exchequer, has Busby's 
 house at Ealing, where Busby's Walk still remains, 
 on which the doctor used to exercise of a morning, 
 to "wash his lungs," as he used to say.' Nollekens : 
 1 What have you done with the old Gothic pulpit ?' 
 Catling : ' It has been conveyed to our vestry, the 
 Chapel of St. Blaize, south of Poets' Corner a 
 very curious part of the Abbey, not often shown : 
 did you ever see it ? It's very dark ; there is an 
 ancient picture, on the east wall, of a figure, which 
 can be made out tolerably well, after the eye is 
 
 1 Francis Bird, called the founder of English sculpture. He was 
 born in 1667, and died in 1731. Ed. 
 
1 68 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 accustomed to the dimness of the place. Did you 
 ever notice the remaining colours of the curious 
 little figure that was painted on the tomb of 
 Chaucer?' Nollekens : 'No, that's not at all in 
 my way.' c Pray, Mr. Nollekens,' asked Mr. 
 Champneys, ' can you give me the name of the 
 sculptor who executed the basso-relievo of Towns- 
 end's monument ? I have applied to several of my 
 friends among the artists, but I have never been 
 able to obtain it : in my opinion, the composition 
 and style of carving are admirable ; but I am sorry 
 to find that some evil-minded person has stolen one 
 of the heads.' Nollekens : c That's what I say. 
 Dean Horsley should look after the monuments 
 himself. Hang his waxworks ! Yes, I can tell you 
 who did it Tom Carter had the job, and he 
 employed another man of the name of Eckstein 1 
 to model the tablet. It's very clever. I don't 
 know what else he has done besides ; his brother 
 kept a public-house, the sign of the Goat and Star, 
 at the corner of Tash Court, Tash Street, Gray's 
 Inn Lane. Bartholomew Chenev modelled and 
 carved the figures of Fame and Britannia for 
 Captain Cornwall's monument ; Sir Robert Taylor 
 gave him four pounds fifteen shillings a week.' 
 
 One afternoon, whilst I was drawing in the 
 cloisters of Westminster Abbey, Mr. Gayfere ob- 
 served that he had met Flaxman. ; Yes,' answered 
 
 1 In 1762 the above artist, Mr. John Eckstein, received from the 
 Society of Arts, for a basso-relievo in Portland stone, the premium of 
 15 15s., and in 1764, for a basso-relievo in marble, the sum of 
 52 10s. Smith. Eckstein was a painter as well as a modeller. He 
 disappeared in 1798, being then about sixty years of age. Ed. 
 
WESTMINSTER 169 
 
 I, ' he has just been so good as to point out to me 
 those beautiful little figures that surround the tomb 
 of Aymer de Valence, which he advises me to draw 
 from.' Gay/ere : ' He is a very clever man, and bears 
 a good character.' [I can safely venture to say that, 
 had Mr. Gay fere been living now, he would have 
 said he was a great man, and bore the best of 
 characters.] Gayfere : ' Pray, did your father ever 
 see a print or a drawing of the Gate-house Y 4 No, 
 he never did ; I have often questioned him about it. 
 I remember it, sir ; it stood, as you well know, 
 across the street, at the end of the houses opposite 
 to the west entrance of the Abbey ; one archway 
 led into Tothill Street, and another, to the left, was 
 opposite the entrance to Dean's Yard. I recollect 
 walking under it with my grandmother, and seeing 
 a tin box that was let down with a string for money 
 out of one of the windows of the prison, and hear- 
 ing a person in a hollow voice cry, " Pray remember 
 the poor prisoners !" So I have at Old Newgate. 
 That building stood across Newgate Street, near 
 the south-east corner of St. Sepulchre's Church. 
 Both these gates were not very unlike the old gate 
 now remaining of St. John, Clerkenwell, in St. 
 John's Lane, where Mr. Cave, the predecessor of 
 the house of Nichols, first printed the Gentleman x 
 Magazine? Gayfere : ' Did you ever hear the echo 
 on the centre of Westminster Bridge ? If you 2:0 
 to one of the middle alcoves, and speak in a whisper, 
 putting your mouth close to the wall, to a friend on 
 the opposite side, after he has placed his ear close to 
 the centre ,of the other alcove, he will hear every 
 
170 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 syllable you utter as distinctly as he would if you 
 had both been in the gallery of St. Paul's.' 
 
 When ffoino- with Mr. Nollekens one Sunday 
 morning to see Mr. Gainsborough's pictures, he 
 stopped at the Duke of Norfolk's house in St. 
 James's Square, and said, ' There ! in that very 
 house our King was born ; my mother used to show 
 it to me.' Recollecting this remark, I applied for 
 confirmation of it to the Rev. James Dallaway, 1 
 who had been the late Duke of Norfolk's chaplain, 
 and, with his usual liberality, he immediately 
 favoured me with the following very satisfactory 
 information, which I now give in that gentleman's 
 own words. ' Arundel House was taken down in 
 1678, and its site converted into Norfolk, Surrey, 
 Arundel, and Howard Streets, including what had 
 been called Arundel Rents. The present Norfolk 
 House, in St. James's Square, 2 was built from a 
 design of R. Brettingham in 1742, by Thomas, Duke 
 
 1 This gentleman has just completed a new edition of Walpole's 
 1 Anecdotes of Painters,' in which, I trust, there are not only many of 
 Lord Orford's errors corrected, but new information given of English 
 artists, of whom his lordship appeared ignorant. There certainly is 
 a more interesting account of Vandyke than any that has yet appeared. 
 Smith. Dallaway was born in 1763, and died in 1834. Ed. 
 
 2 It had been previously the site of St. Alban's House, built by 
 Htnry Jernrvn, Earl of St. Albans, and was sold by Henry, Duke of 
 Portland, for 10,000. In 1738 only the buildings on the north side 
 of the inner court were completed, which were lent to Frederick, 
 Prince of Wales, as a temporary residence till Leicester House was 
 finished. On May 24, 1738, the late King George was born, and, 
 being very sickly, was baptized the same day. He was a seven- 
 months child. Prince Frederick presented the Duchess of Norfolk 
 with miniatures in enamel of himself and the Princess, set in 
 brilliants.' Smith. 
 
THE TOWN LEY VENUS 171 
 
 of Norfolk, and finished by his brother Edward 
 in 176.' 
 
 As we were turning round to proceed to Pall 
 Mall, Mr. Charles Townley accosted Mr. Nollekens, 
 who immediately, in the open street, loudly com- 
 menced his observations in what he thought the 
 Italian language ; but as he was very noisy in his 
 jargon, Mr. Townley requested him to confine him- 
 self to English, or the people in the street would 
 notice them. Mr. Townlev then desired him to 
 send for his small Venus, in order to model a pair 
 of arms to it. That gentleman also wished him to 
 try them in various positions, such as holding a 
 dove, the beak of which might touch her lips, 
 entwining a wreath, or looking at the eye of a 
 serpent. Nollekens : l Well, I'll send for it, then ; 
 shall you be at home when my man comes ?' 
 Mr. Townley: 'Send to-morrow at ten o'clock, 
 when I shall be at home.' Nollekens: 'Which way 
 now are you going?' Mr. Townley: 'This way, 
 Mr. Nollekens ; good-morning to you !' Nollekens 
 called after him, ' Well, I'll send.' Strange to tell, 
 I stood to Mr. Nollekens for all the various posi- 
 tions he could devise for the arms, and after six 
 changes the present ones were carved, the right 
 one of which is too much like one of the arms of 
 the Venus de Medici, which are looked upon as the 
 work of Baccio Bandinelli. This statue is now in 
 the British Museum, and measures three feet six 
 inches and five-eights, including the plinth. A 
 modern editor has roundly asserted that Gavin 
 Hamilton directed Mr. Nollekens in his restora- 
 
172 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 tion of the arms of this statue. Gavin Hamilton 1 
 was in Rome at the time. 
 
 Upon our* arrival at Mr. Gainsborough's, the 
 third west division of Schomberg House, Pall Mall, 
 the artist was listening to a violin, and held up his 
 finger to Mr. Nollekens as a request of silence. 
 Colonel Hamilton was playing to him in so 
 exquisite a style that Gainsborough exclaimed, 
 ' Now, my dear Colonel, if you will but go on, I 
 will give you that picture of the boy at the stile, 
 which you have so often wished to purchase of me.' 
 Mr. Gainsborough, not knowing how long Nollekens 
 would hold his tongue, gave him a book of sketches 
 to choose two from, which he had promised him. 
 As Gainsborough's versatile fancy was at this 
 period devoted to music, his attention was so 
 riveted to the tones of the violin that for nearly 
 half an hour he was motionless ; after which the 
 Colonel requested that a hackney-coach might be 
 sent for, wherein he carried off the picture. It has 
 been engraved by Stow, 2 a pupil of Woollett. Mr. 
 Gainsborough, after he had given Mr. Nollekens 
 the two drawings he had selected, requested him to 
 look at the model of an ass's head which he had just 
 made. Nollekeiis: 'You should model more with 
 
 1 Gavin Hamilton, a Scotch portrait-painter, born at Lanark in 
 1730, spent the greater part of his life in Rome, and was considered 
 the leading authority on Roman antiquities. He died in that city in 
 1797 of a fever caused by anxiety lest the French invaders should 
 destroy his beloved monuments. Ed. 
 
 2 James Stow, a line-engraver, the son of an agricultural labourer. 
 His precocious promise led to his beiog largely patronized ; his talent, 
 however, soon evaporated. He was apprenticed to Woollett, and then 
 to W. Sharp. En. 
 
GAINSBOROUGH 173 
 
 your thumbs ; thumb it about till you get it into 
 shape.' ' What,' said Gainsborough, ' in this 
 manner ?' having taken up a bit of clay, and 
 looking at a picture of Abel's Pomeranian Dog 
 which hung over the chimney-piece * this way ?' 
 Yes,' said Nollekens ; ' you'll do a great deal more 
 with your thumbs.' 
 
 Mr. Gainsborough, by whom I was standing, 
 observed to me : ' You enjoyed the music, my little 
 fellow, and I am sure you long for this model ; 
 there, I will give it to you ' and I am delighted 
 with it still. I have never had it baked, fearing it 
 might fly in the kiln, as the artist had not kneaded 
 the clay well before he commenced working it, and 
 I conclude that the model must still contain a 
 quantity of fixed air. 
 
 Colonel Hamilton above-mentioned was not only 
 looked upon as one of the first amateur violin- 
 players, but also one of the first gentlemen pugilists. 
 I was afterwards noticed by him in my art as an 
 etcher of landscapes ; and have frequently seen him 
 spar with the famous Mendoza in his drawing-room 
 in Leicester Street, Leicester Square. 
 
 The following dialogue took place in Greenwood's 
 auction-room, during the sale of Barnard's collec- 
 tion of drawings, between Mr. Nollekens and 
 Panton Betew. Mr. Betew had been a silversmith 
 of the old school, and also a dealer in pictures, 
 drawings, and other works of art. I recollect him 
 well in my boyish days, at his house in Old 
 Compton Street, Soho, at which time he was 
 generally accosted by his old friends under the 
 
174 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 free-and-easy appellation of Fanny. Mr. Panton 
 Betew : ' Well, Mr. Nollekens, time has made little 
 difference in yonr looks ; you walk just in the same 
 way, with your cane and your ruffles, as you did 
 twenty years ago, when I sold you Roubiliac's 
 model, which he designed for General Wolfe's 
 monument ; Wilton was the successful candidate, 
 he gained the order.' Nollekens : 4 1 remember it 
 very well ; you would have the odd sixpence of me. 
 Pray what became of that poor fellow, Chattelain, 1 
 who used to work for Vivares ? I once saw several 
 of his drawings in your window.' Betew : ' Yes, I 
 bought many drawings of him ; and there's a great 
 deal of spirit in what he did. But he died at the 
 White Bear in Piccadillv ; the landlord came to 
 me, knowing that I knew him, to ask me to attend 
 his funeral. Poor fellow ! the parish buried him 
 in the Pest Fields, Carnaby Market. I went, 
 Vivares 2 went, and so did M'Ardell and several 
 others. I recollect well, he was a Roman Catholic, 
 and all the common people who frequented the 
 Romish Chapel in Warwick Street followed ; and 
 the bovs called it an Irish funeral, for there were 
 very few of us in black coats.' Nollekens : ' Poor 
 fellow ! I lost sight of him for some years, and 
 could not tell what had become of him. I re- 
 member a tallow-chandler used to lend me some of 
 his drawings to copy when I was quite a youngster.' 
 
 1 Jean Baptiste Claude Chatelaine (1710-1771). His real name was 
 Philippe. Ed. 
 
 2 Thomas Vivare?, the landscape engraver (1709-1780), a pupil of 
 Chatelaine. Ed. 
 
NATHANIEL TULL 175 
 
 Betew : ' Ay, I had many drawings and pictures by 
 young artists, very clever fellows ; but they are 
 nearly all gone now. There was Brooking, 1 the 
 ship-painter : he died, poor fellow ! just as he was 
 getting into full song, as the saying is ; and there 
 was Tull, 2 the landscape-painter, he was a genius : 
 he married the King's butcher's daughter, in St. 
 James's Market, and became the schoolmaster at 
 Queen Elizabeth's School in Tooley Street, in the 
 Borough. 
 
 c I have a few of his pictures by me now ; his 
 style was an imitation of Hobbima's. Vivares has 
 engraved four of them, and very pretty they are. 
 His colouring was rather black ; but he was a self- 
 taught artist, as people call those who don't 
 regularly study under others, but pick up their 
 information by degrees. Well, and then there was 
 your great Mr. Gainsborough ; I have had many 
 and many a drawing of his in my shop-window 
 before he went to Bath. Ay, and he has often 
 been glad to receive seven or eight shillings from 
 me for what I have sold : Paul Sandby knows it 
 well.' Nollekens : c What do you want for that 
 model of a boy ? I suppose you have got it still ?' 
 Betew : i Why, now, why can't you say Fiamingo's 
 boy ? You know it to be one of his, and you also 
 know that no man ever modelled boys better than 
 he did : it is said that he was employed to model 
 children for Rubens to put into his pictures.' 
 
 1 Charles Brooking (1723-1759), who painted in the dockyard at 
 Deptford. Ed. 
 
 2 Nathaniel Tull, who died in 1762. Ed. 
 
176 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 Nollekens : ' Well, what must I give you for it ?' 
 Betew : l Fifteen shillings is the money I want for 
 it.' Nollekens : ' No ; ten.' Betew : ' Now, my old 
 friend, how can you rate art in that manner ? You 
 would not model one for twentv times ten ; and if 
 you did, you could not think of comparing it with 
 that. Why, vou are obliged to s^ive more at 
 auctions when Lord Rockingham or Mr. Burke is 
 standing by you. No, I will not 'bate a farthing.' 
 Nollekens : ' Well, I'll take it. Do you still buy 
 broken silver ? I have some odd sleeve-buttons, 
 and Mrs. Nollekens wants to get rid of a chased 
 watch-case by old Moser one that he made when 
 lie used to model for the Bow manufactory.' 
 Betew : ' Ay, I know there were many very clever 
 things produced there. What very curious heads 
 for canes they made at that manufactory ! I think 
 Crowther was the proprietor's name ; he had a very 
 beautiful daughter, who is married to Sir James 
 Lake. Nat. Hone painted a portrait of her in the 
 character of Diana, and it was one of his best 
 pictures. There were some clever men who 
 modelled for the Bow concern, and they produced 
 several spirited figures : Quin in FalstafF ; Garrick 
 in Richard ; Frederick, Duke of Cumberland, striding 
 triumphantly over the Pretender, who is begging 
 quarter of him ; John Wilkes, and so forth.' 
 Nollekens : ' Mr. Moser, who was the keeper of 
 our Academy, modelled several things for them. 
 He was a chaser originally.' Betew : ' Bless you ! 
 I knew him well. My friend Grignon, the watch- 
 maker, in Russell Street, Covent Garden, advised 
 
CHELSEA CHINA 177 
 
 him to learn to enamel trinkets for watches ; and 
 he succeeded so well that the Queen patronized 
 him, and he did several things for the King. It is 
 said his Majesty was so pleased with him that he 
 once ordered him a hatful of money for some of 
 his works/ Nollekens : ' So I've heard.' Betew : 
 4 Chelsea was another place for china.' Nollekens : 
 c Do yon know where that factory stood ?' Betew : 
 4 Why, it stood upon the site of Lord Dartery's 
 house, just beyond the bridge.' Nollekens : i My 
 father worked for them at one time.' Betew: 'Yes, 
 and Sir James Thornhill designed for them. Mr. 
 Walpole, at Strawberry Hill, has a dozen plates by 
 Sir James, which he purchased at Mrs. Hogarth's 
 sale in Leicester Square. Paul Ferg 1 painted for 
 them. Ay, that was a curious failure. The 
 cunning rogues produced very white and delicate 
 ware ; but then they had their clay from China, 
 which when the Chinese found out, they would not 
 let the captains have any more clay for ballast, 
 and the consequence was that the whole concern 
 failed.' 
 
 Many of my readers may recollect Fielding's 
 descriptions of the Man of the Hill, in his l Tom 
 Jones,' and such another human form Nature dis- 
 played in Panton Betew : his dress differed from 
 the general mode ; he wore a loose dark-brown 
 greatcoat, with, generally, a red cloth waistcoat, 
 black shalloon small-clothes, dark -gray w r orsted 
 
 1 Francis Paul Ferg, an Austrian landscape-painter, born in Vienna 
 in 1689. He came to London in 1718, and worked here until his death 
 in 1740. Ed. 
 
 12 
 
178 NOLLE KENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 stockings, easy square-toed shoes, with small silver 
 buckles, and a large slouched hat with a close 
 round crown, without the least nap, being often 
 brushed, for cleanliness' sake, with the shoe, 
 shining, or table brush. 
 
 He was well known to all the fish-vendors in 
 Lombard Court, Seven Dials, as a purchaser of fish 
 for two ; which provender he was not ashamed to 
 carry home in a dark snuff-coloured silk handker- 
 chief, always taking care to hold it in his right 
 hand, that he might display a brilliant ring, which 
 he said he wore in memory of his mother. The 
 watchman shut and opened his shop. I remember 
 his leaving Old Compton Street for one of his 
 mother's houses in Nassau Street, St. James's 
 Market, and afterwards his living in a house in 
 Chelsea, beyond what was formerly called the Five 
 Fields : upon which a new city of most magnificent 
 mansions is now in course of building, to the 
 wonderful increase of the princely income of the 
 Earl Grosvenor. 
 
 In his house at Chelsea, where Betew died, my 
 father and I have often visited him. Independently 
 of his knowledge of the origin of the artists of 
 the last century, he was a well-informed person 
 upon the general topics of conversation ; and he 
 has been heard to say that he liked to converse 
 with a man whom he could swop an idea with. He 
 was intimate with Hogarth, and frequently pur- 
 chased pieces of plate with armorial bearings 
 engraved upon them by that artist, which he cleared 
 out for the next possessor ; but, unfortunately for 
 
HOGARTH 179 
 
 the Stanleyean Collection, without rubbing off a 
 single impression. 
 
 This was not the case with Morison, a silver- 
 smith, who at that time lived in Cheapside ; he took 
 off twenty-five impressions of a large silver dish, 
 engraved by Hogarth, which impressions he not 
 only numbered as they were taken off, but attested 
 each with his own signature. Should this page 
 meet the eyes of any branches of the good old- 
 fashioned families which have carefully preserved 
 the plate of Oliver their uncle or Deborah their 
 aunt, I sincerely implore them, should the armorial 
 bearings be the production of the early part of 
 the last century, to cause a few impressions to be 
 taken from them ; for I am inclined to believe 
 it very possible that some curious specimens of 
 Hogarth's dawning genius may yet in that way be 
 rescued from future furnaces. 
 
 The following use was made of Hogarth's plates 
 of the Idle and Industrious Apprentices, by the 
 late John Adams, of Edmonton, schoolmaster : The 
 prints were framed and hung up in the schoolroom, 
 and Adams, once a month, after reading a lecture 
 upon their vicious and virtuous examples, rewarded 
 those boys who had conducted themselves well, and 
 caned those who had behaved ill. 
 
[ i8o] 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Mr. Nollekens' opinion of colossal sculpture Restorations of the 
 paintings at Whitehall Increase of the value of modern pictures 
 Remarkable old houses and customs Mrs. Nollekens' visits 
 Ireland's 'Yortigern' London cries Sir Peter Lely's sale Nolle- 
 kens at the Academy Club and at Harrogate His Venus model 
 Meanness of Mrs. Nollekens Miss Hawkins and her anecdotes. 
 
 Nollekens at all times strongly reprobated colossal 
 sculpture, more especially when commenced by the 
 too daring student in the art ; and, indeed, when- 
 ever anyone led to the subject, he would deliver 
 his opinion, even to persons of the first fashion 
 and rank, with as much freedom as if he were 
 chiding his mason's boy, Kit Finny, for buying" 
 scanty paunches for his yard-dog Cerberus. ' No, 
 no, my lord !' he would vociferate, with an in- 
 creased nasal and monotonous tone of voice, ' a 
 grand thing don't depend upon the size, I can assure 
 you of that. A large model certainly produces a 
 stare, and is often admired by ignorant people ; 
 but the excellence of a work of art has nothing to 
 do with the size, that you may depend upon from 
 me.' In this he unquestionably was correct, as 
 the graceful elegance of a Cellini cup or a bell for 
 
COLOSSAL SCULPTURE 
 
 181 
 
 the Pope's table does not consist in immensity. I 
 have a cast from an antique bronze figure only 
 three inches in height, which, from its justness 
 of proportion and dignity of attitude, strikes the 
 beholder, when it is elevated only nine inches above 
 his eye, with an idea of its being a figure full thirty 
 feet in height. 
 
 I well recollect my playfellow, John Deare, 1 the 
 sculptor, powerfully maintaining that grandeur 
 never depended upon magnitude. A preposterously 
 large figure, like Gog or Magog in Guildhall, or the 
 giant and giantess of Antwerp, would, without 
 dignity and breadth of style and just proportion, 
 exhibit nothing beyond a mass of overwhelming 
 lumber. ' What !' he would exclaim, 4 is not that 
 beautiful gem of Hercules strangling the lion a 
 work of grand art ? and that figure is contained 
 in less than the space of an inch.' This is also my 
 own humble opinion, for I think that Simon's 2 
 Dunbar medals, of which I have now some most 
 beautiful casts before me, are quite as grand as 
 any of the finest busts by Nollekens. I am quite 
 certain that if a talented medallist were to execute 
 a series of heads from the finest of Nollekens' busts 
 of persons of the highest eminence, his labours 
 wou,ld meet with great encouragement ; but he 
 must honestly copy, and not attempt even the 
 slightest alteration, for by such sophistications he 
 
 1 This very remarkable man was born at Liverpool in 1759, and 
 died at Rome in 1795. See prefatory essay. Ed. 
 
 2 Thomas Simon, chief medallist at the Mint to Charles I., Crom- 
 well, and Charles II. He was an artist of admirable merit. Ed. 
 
1 82 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 would make a botched medal, for which he never 
 should, if I had my wish, receive more than the 
 weight of the metal. Many of Chantry's finest 
 busts have been in this manner most disgracefully 
 misrepresented. That a figure should be of in- 
 creased dimensions the higher it is placed above 
 the eye of the spectator is beyond a doubt, since 
 if it were only the size of life it would dwindle into 
 insignificance, particularly if placed on the top of 
 the monument on Fish Street Hill ; for that pillar 
 being 202 feet in height, it would require a statue 
 of full 14 feet. The figures of the Apostles sculp- 
 tured by Bird on the top of St. Paul's are more 
 than twice the height of a man ; but what appeared 
 most astonishing to me when a boy was the enormous 
 magnitude of the figures surrounding the apotheosis 
 of King James I., painted upon the ceiling of White- 
 hall by Rubens. 
 
 My father being intimately acquainted with 
 Cipriani, took me up to the scaffold when that 
 artist was repairing the picture, and to our great 
 astonishment they measured the enormous height 
 of 9 feet. This appears hardly credible, as they 
 look no larger than life when viewed from the 
 floor. Upon an investigation, in consequence of 
 a report that there was a very fine copy of this 
 work of Rubens as a fixture in a house on the 
 south side of Leicester Fields, I found that the 
 curiously ornamented papier-mache parlour ceiling 
 of No. 41 had been painted, though very indiffer- 
 ently, by some persons who had borrowed groups 
 of figures from several of Rubens' designs, which 
 
THE WHITEHALL CEILING 183 
 
 they had unskilfully combined. This ceiling is 
 divided into three compartments ; in the centre 
 one there is a figure with a head resembling King 
 Charles I., and in that at the south end of the room 
 is another of King James I., evidently painted from 
 recollection, as it is so ill done, of that of the same 
 sovereign at Whitehall. I consider this visit, how- 
 ever, as well bestowed, since it may possibly, in 
 some measure, set at rest the assertion so roundly 
 and fallaciously propagated, should the premises 
 ever be destroyed, and the loss of the ceiling be 
 deplored by those who had never seen it. Cipriani 
 excelled as a draughtsman ; his style of colouring 
 in oil-pictures was rather cold, and sometimes hard, 
 particularly when compared with the luxuriantly 
 sunny glow of Eubens' pictures. However, it was 
 a very profitable employment for him, as it is said 
 he had 1,000 for repairing it, and an enormous 
 sum for retouching it only. I verily believe he 
 must have repainted it wholesale, or such an 
 amount would never have been sanctioned by the 
 officers in whom payment was invested. I am 
 quite certain such a charge would be closely looked 
 into at present. 
 
 It is a curious fact that though this ceiling of 
 Whitehall is so grand in its design, and is, indeed, 
 I believe, the only work of such magnitude from 
 the mind of Rubens in England, few people, com- 
 paratively with the tens of thousands who pass the 
 building daily, know anything about it. However, 
 I consider it but fair for the high reputation of 
 Rubens as a colourist to state that this picture has 
 
184 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 been restored, repainted, and refreshed not fewer than 
 three times. 
 
 In the reign of King James II., 1687, Parry 
 Walton, a painter of still life, and Keeper of the 
 Kind's Pictures, was suffered to retouch this orand 
 work of art, which then had been painted only sixty 
 years, as appears by the Privy Council book, in 
 which Mr. Parry Walton's demand of 212 for 
 its complete restoration was considered by Sir 
 Christopher Wren c as very modest and reasonable.' 
 Mr. Cipriani, as above stated, repainted it a second 
 time ; and last of all, Rigaud was employed to 
 refresh it. 
 
 There is a most excellent engraving of this 
 ceiling, in three sheets, by Gribelin, the same artist 
 who executed that pretty set of prints from the 
 Cartoons, by Raffaelle, at Hampton Court. This 
 design of Rubens for, as it has been so often 
 cleaned and painted upon, there can be but little 
 of his colouring visible at this moment would still 
 afford employment to the living ; at least, to the 
 novelist, who might, by stating all its multifarious 
 vicissitudes under Follv's innovations, render it a 
 subject for a work fully as entertaining and equally 
 lucrative as 'The History of a Guinea,' 'A Shilling,' 
 or ' A Gold-headed Cane.' 
 
 For instance, let us suppose Rubens, shocked at 
 the contaminated effect of his own canvas, peti- 
 tioning his great and liberal patron, Charles I., to 
 invoke St. Luke to leave his easel, and to order an 
 investigation into the conduct of the Surveyors- 
 General, commencing with Sir Christopher Wren, 
 
RUBENS 
 
 and proceeding with others of the craft who have 
 flourished from his time to the late reign, in order, 
 if possible, to discover how they could ever have 
 sanctioned so barefaced a change. This inquiry 
 should be wholly confined to the honour of Rubens' 
 pencil, and in no degree whatsoever as to the orders 
 given for the barbarously smearing or refreshing, 
 as Eigaud termed it, of the lively portraiture of King- 
 James I., a monarch whom no one could possibly 
 think of sending to heaven for his patronage of the 
 fine arts ; nor would St. Luke be willing to intro- 
 duce him there, though that saint, according to 
 Spence's anecdote, had some influence with St. 
 Peter when Sir Godfrey Kneller was admitted. 
 
 The umpires ought to consist of Sir Peter Paul's 
 seven brother knights of the pallet, who have 
 practised from the reign of the above monarch to 
 the present day, viz., Sir Anthony Vandyke, Sir 
 Peter Lely, Sir Godfrey Kneller, Sir James Thorn- 
 hill, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Sir William Beechey, 
 and, lastly, Sir Thomas Lawrence, who, like 
 Rubens, was honoured with a gold chain from the 
 hand of a King of England. By such chronological 
 arrangement, and as the four first-named gentlemen 
 must, beyond a reprieve, agree to the execution of 
 the culprits, the latter three would not be under 
 the necessity of signing for the rope for two of the 
 scrubbers and smudgers. As several of those 
 fraternities which are now fitly nicknamed ' painters 
 and glaziers ' so impudently recommend old pictures 
 that have been thus ' restored,' ' repainted,' and 're- 
 
 freshed ' as the onlv things worth v the attention of 
 
1 86 NOLLE KENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 the man of fortune, I have great pleasure in record- 
 ing the triumph lately obtained over them in the 
 sale of Lord de Tabley's pictures by modern Eng- 
 lish artists, which actually produced twenty-five 
 per cent, more than they cost his lordship, though 
 they were purchased of the artists at what they 
 considered most liberal prices. On this occasion 
 the pretenders alluded to were severely exposed by 
 Mr. Christie. Mr. Nollekens also died possessed of 
 three pictures by an English artist, Eichard Wilson, 
 which cost his father-in-law, Mr. Welch, only about 
 a tenth part of the sum the said Mr. Christie sold 
 them for. 
 
 One spring morning, as I was passing through 
 Covent Garden, I was accosted by Mrs. Elizabeth 
 Carter, who had accompanied Mrs. Nollekens 
 thither for the purpose of purchasing some roots 
 of dandelion, an infusion of which had been strongly 
 recommended to her husband by Dr. Jebb. Twigg, 
 the fruiterer, to whom Mr. Justice Welch, during 
 his magistracy, had often been kind, was at all 
 times gratefully attentive to Miss Welch and her 
 sister, Mrs. Nollekens. He procured the roots she 
 wanted from that class of people called 4 simplers,' 
 who sit in the centre of the Garden. The fruiterer 
 was a talkative man, and was called by some of his 
 jocular friends the ' Twig of the Garden'; he had 
 been cook at the Shakespeare Tavern, and knew all 
 the wits and eccentric characters of his early days. 
 
 Mrs. Carter, though she was seldom fond of 
 noticing strangers, fell by degrees into a conver- 
 sation with Twigg, and asked him which house it 
 
TWIGG, THE FRUITERER 187 
 
 was in Tavistock Row that Miss Wray, who was 
 shot by the Rev. James Hackman, occupied before 
 she resided with Lord Sandwich ; to which he 
 replied : c It was that on the south-west corner of 
 Tavistock Court, next to the one in which the 
 famous William Vandevelde, the marine-painter, 
 died.' 1 This corner house, No. 4, is now occupied 
 by a tailor ; and that in which Vandevelde lived, 
 now No. 5, is inhabited by Irish Johnstone, as he 
 is usually called, that once delightful singer and 
 excellent actor of the characters of Irishmen. 
 ' Pray,' continued the lady, ' which was Zincke's, 2 
 the celebrated enameller's ?' ' Why, ma'am,' said 
 he, 4 it is No. 13, that in which Mr. Nathaniel 
 Dance, the painter, afterwards lived. Meyer, 
 another famous miniature-painter, resided in it, and 
 the garrets are now occupied by Peter Pindar 
 (Dr. Wolcot). I recollect, ma'am,' continued the 
 fruiterer, ' old Joe, who was the first person who 
 sold flowers in this Garden ; his stand was at that 
 corner within the enclosure, then called Primrose 
 Hill, opposite to Low's Hotel. This spot was so 
 named in consequence of its being the station of 
 those persons who brought primroses to the Garden. 
 Low had been a hairdresser in Tavistock Street 
 before he took that large house, which he estab- 
 lished as a family hotel, the earliest of that de- 
 scription in London, where he distributed medals, 
 which procured him many lodgers.' 
 
 1 On April 6, 1707. Ed. 
 
 2 Christian Friedrich Zincke (1684-1767), cabinet - painter to 
 Frederick, Prince of Wales. Ed. 
 
NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 Mrs. Nollekens then requested to know which 
 house it was in James Street where her father's 
 old friend, Mr. Charles Grignon, resided, the 
 engraver so extensively and for so many years 
 employed upon the designs of Gravelot, Hayman, 
 and Wale. ' No. 27,' said Twigg ; ' I recollect 
 the old house when it was a shop inhabited by 
 two old Frenchwomen, who came over here to 
 chew paper for the papier-mache people.' Mrs. 
 Nollekens : ' Eidiculous ! I think Mr. Nollekens 
 once told me that the elder Wilton, Lady Chambers' 
 grandfather, was the person who employed people 
 from France to work in the papier-mache manu- 
 factory which he established in Edward Street, 
 Cavendish Square.' Twigg : ' I can assure you, 
 ma'am, these women bought the paper-cuttings 
 from the stationers and bookbinders and produced 
 it in that way, in order to keep it a secret, before 
 they used our machine for mashing it.' Mrs. Carter : 
 I recollect, sir, when Mr. Garrick acted, hackney- 
 chairs were then so numerous that they stood all 
 round the Piazzas, down Southampton Street, and 
 extended more than half-way along Maiden Lane, 
 so much were they in requisition at that time.' 
 Twigg : Then I suppose, ma'am, you also recollect 
 the shoeblacks at every corner of the streets, whose 
 cry was "Black your shoes, your honour ?" ' Yes, 
 sir, perfectly well ; and the clergyman of your 
 parish walking about and visiting the fruit-shops in 
 the Garden in his canonicals. And I likewise re- 
 member a very portly woman sitting at her fruit- 
 stall in a dress of lace, which it was said cost at 
 
CARD-PARTIES 189 
 
 least one hundred guineas, though a greater sum 
 was often mentioned.' 
 
 Here this dialogue about old times ended, by the 
 entrance of several other customers, upon which 
 Mrs. Carter and Mrs. Nollekens left the shop to 
 pay a morning visit to Mrs. Garrick, and I made 
 my bow. 
 
 Mr. Nollekens' uncultivated manners were at 
 times so truly disagreeable to his sister-in-law, 
 Miss Welch whose talents were highly appreciated 
 by the literati of the day that whenever she re- 
 ceived her friends at a card-party he was seldom 
 invited; but Mrs. Nollekens, whom her sister was 
 very fond of showing off, always attended them. 
 To please her economical husband she would appear 
 to acquiesce in his opinion, that her shape was better 
 shown by a close simple dress ; for, in doing this, she 
 could save a shilling in coach-hire, by going early 
 in a plain gown, time enough to dress at her sister's, 
 where she had by slow degrees conveyed various 
 articles of finery, until she had lodged a pretty 
 good wardrobe in one of the spare upper closets. 
 Upon entering the drawing-room close behind those 
 who had last knocked, her name was announced as 
 if just arrived, and she has been seen to make as 
 formal a curtsey to her sister as to the rest of the 
 party. 
 
 At these ceremonious card-parties Mrs. Nolle- 
 kens, who, the reader will recollect, played the 
 strict Hoyle game, would remain till she found 
 herself in possession of more than she sat down 
 with, and then inquired if her servant were below. 
 
190 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 Poor Bronze then attended her to the upper 
 chamber, where, after changing her dress, she 
 remained in her camlet- cloak till the whole of the 
 visitors were gone, and then the foot which had been 
 that evening graced with a silver- spangled slipper 
 was pressed into a wooden clog. Thus equipped, 
 Mrs. Nollekens, on leaving the house, placed her 
 delicately-formed arm upon that of her faithful 
 servant, whose swarthy hue her mistress could 
 scarcely by daylight bear to look upon, but upon 
 these occasions she condescended to rest upon her 
 with perfect confidence. 
 
 Nollekens was at times so ridiculously soft that, 
 in several instances, he approached what was 
 formerly called the 'Colley-Molley' class of beings 
 men who were fond of lacing the stays and carry- 
 ing the fans or pattens of their spouses, whose 
 character is so admirably portrayed by Foote in 
 his 'Jerry Sneak.' In the exercise of some of his 
 accommodating attentions to the will of his fair 
 partner, his good-natured weakness exposed him to 
 the notice of a friend, who was induced to watch 
 him one night in Bloom sbury Square dangling a 
 lantern in attendance upon his wife and her sister 
 Miss Welch, on their economical pedestrian return 
 home from a formal cribbage-party. 
 
 Nollekens, anxious to get home to bed, was 
 generally foremost, and often proceeded, though 
 with a toddling gait, so much too fast for the 
 clogged ladies behind him that Mrs. Nollekens 
 was often heard to cry, c Stop, sir, pray stop !' but 
 Miss Welch of late years seldom spoke to him. 
 
SAMUEL IRELAND 191 
 
 He would then with clue obedience slacken his pace 
 into a dawdling creep, suffer them to pass, and lag 
 so considerably behind that he was now and then 
 openly and roundly charged with indulging in a nap. 
 Upon these occasions they thought it wisest to wait 
 his coming up with the lantern, upon pretence of 
 seeing that all the umbrellas were safe under his 
 arm ; but in reality for fear of a rude embrace 
 from some boisterous perambulator of the streets, 
 under the influence of Bacchus or Thrale's Entire ; 
 and whenever there was a wide puddle to cross, 
 Mrs. Nollekens always made a point of seeing 
 her husband safe over first, by insisting upon 
 his maintaining a proper precedence on such 
 occasions. 
 
 Samuel Ireland 1 had entreated Mrs. Nollekens to 
 persuade her husband to go to the representation of 
 what he called Shakespeare's play of ' Vortigern '; 
 and when he informed her that my father and I 
 were going, she acquiesced, fully relying upon our 
 taking care of him. The crowds which had 
 assembled at the doors of Drury Lane Theatre 
 long before the hours of admission were immense, 
 and the anxiety of Ireland for the success of the 
 play was so great that he caused a hand-bill to be 
 printed and thrown crumpled up by hundreds among 
 the people ; and as that bill is now esteemed rather 
 a rare theatrical relic, the reader is presented with 
 a copy of one which fell to my lot. 
 
 1 Samuel William Henry Ireland, who wrote the spurious tragedy 
 of 'Vortigern' (1777-1835). He was the son of another Samuel 
 Ireland (1750-1800), the author of 'Picturesque Tours.' Ed. 
 
192 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 '"VORTIGERN." 
 
 4 A malevolent and impotent attack on the Shakspeare MSS. having 
 appeared on the eve of representation of the play of " Vortigern," 
 evidently intended to injure the interest of the proprietor of the 
 MSS., Mr. Ireland feels it impossible, within the short space of time 
 that intervenes between the publishing and the representation, to 
 produce an answer to the most illiberal and unfounded assertions in 
 Mr. Malone's inquiry. He is therefore induced to request that the 
 play of " Vortigern " may be heard with that candour that has ever 
 distinguished a British audience. 
 
 t #^# The play is now at the press, and will in a very few days be 
 laid before the public' 
 
 After great patience and much crowding we 
 moved in, and, when safely seated in the pit, con- 
 gratulated ourselves upon the possession of our 
 shoes ; whilst Mr. Nollekens recognised Miles 
 Petit Andrews, Flaxman, and several others whom 
 he knew. The play went on pretty well until 
 Kemble appeared, when the noise of disapprobation 
 commenced, and being considered by the audience 
 as an atrocious fraud, it was at length completely 
 condemned. 
 
 Frequently when Mr. Nollekens has been model- 
 ling, he has imitated the cries of the itinerant 
 venders as they were passing by. I recollect the 
 cries of two men pleasing him so extravagantly 
 that he has continued to hum their notes for days 
 together, even when he has been engaged with his 
 sitters, measurino; the stone in the vard for a bust 
 or a figure, feeding the dog, putting up the bar 
 of the gate, or improving the attitudes of his 
 Venuses. 
 
 The late Dr., Kitchener, whose musical powers 
 were so very generally acknowledged, kindly 
 
MUSICAL CRIES 
 
 193 
 
 condescended to note down the following music of 
 these cries, from my recollection, whereby I am 
 enabled to gratify the reader with the very sound 
 itself. 1 
 
 
 iSiHa 
 
 Buy a Bowl, Dish, or a Platter ; come buy my Wood-en Ware. 
 
 !iH!^i 
 
 #- 
 
 5=fc 
 
 ^a 
 
 ^fi^pgyi^a^sg 
 
 Buy an Al - ma-nack, a Sheet Al-ma-nack, or a Book Al-ma-nack. 
 
 
 M,f H^t 
 
 =z* 
 
 In a copy of Hawkins' ' History of Music,' in 
 the British Museum, at page 75 in the fifth volume, 
 there is the following manuscript note respecting 
 the famous Tom Britton, the musical small-coal 
 man. 2 l The goodness of his ear directed him to 
 
 1 During the last nine years Dr. Kitchiner wrote the following 
 works : ' Economy of the Eyes ' (Part I., ' Of Spectacles ' ; Part II., 
 ! Of Telescopes '), ' The Cook's Oracle,' l Art of Invigorating Life,' 
 ' Observations on Singing/ ' National Songs of England,' l Life and 
 Sea-Songs of Dibdin,' ' Housekeeper's Ledger,' ' Century of Surgeons,' 
 4 Traveller's Oracle.' The Doctor composed and selected the music of 
 the opera of 'Ivanhoe' for Covent Garden Theatre, composed the 
 whole of the music for 'Love among the Roses,' for the English 
 Opera, Fifty English Ballads,' ' An Universal Prayer,' ' The Hymn 
 of Faith,' ' The English Grace,' and ' The Lord's Prayer.' Number 
 sold, 55,250 volumes. Smith. Dr. William Kitchiner, born in 1775, 
 died 1827. Ed. 
 
 2 Born 1654, died 1714. Ed. 
 
 13 
 
i 9 4 NOLLE KENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 the use of the most perfect of all musical intervals, 
 the diapason or octave, his cry being, as some 
 relate that remember it : 
 
 
 Small Coal. 
 
 The public have frequently been amused at the 
 theatres by actors who have mimicked the cries of 
 London. I remember hearing Baddeley whine the 
 cry of ' Periwinkles, a wine-quart a penny, peri- 
 winkles. Come buy my shrimps, come buy my 
 shrimps ; a crab, will you buy a crab ?' I have 
 also heard that excellent comedian John Bannister 
 cry: 
 
 1 Come, neighbours, see and buy ; here's 
 Your long and strong scarlet ware ; 
 Scarlet garters twopence a pair, 
 Twopence a pair ! twopence a pair !' 
 
 Upon my mentioning this to Mr. Bannister, he 
 did not immediately recollect it ; though in a few 
 moments he said : c You are right, and it was at the 
 Little Theatre in the Haymarket. Did you ever, 
 my good fellow, hear of Ned Shuter's imitations of 
 the London cries ? He was the most famous chap 
 at that' sort of thing ; indeed, so fond of it that he 
 would frequently follow people for hours together 
 to get their cries correctly. I recollect a story 
 which he used to tell of his following a man who 
 had a peculiar cry, up one street and down another, 
 nearly a whole day to get his cry, but the man 
 never once cried ; at last, being quite out of temper, 
 he went up to the fellow, and said, " You don't 
 
OLD CORKS 195 
 
 cry ; why the devil don't you cry ?" The man 
 answered in a piteous tone, " Cry ! Lord bless your 
 heart, sir, I can't cry ; my vifes dead ; she died 
 this morning." ' 
 
 Besides the musical cries mentioned above about 
 sixty years back, there were also two others yet 
 more singular, which, however, were probably 
 better known in the villages round London than in 
 the Metropolis itself. The first of these was used 
 by an itinerant dealer in corks, sometimes called 
 Old Corks, who rode upon an ass, and carried his 
 wares in panniers on each side of him. He sat with 
 much dignity, and wore upon his head a velvet cap ; 
 and his attractive cry, which was partly spoken and 
 partly sung, but all in metre, was something like 
 the following fragment : 
 
 Spoken. * Corks for sack 
 
 I have at my back ; 
 Sung. All bandy, all handy ; 
 
 Some for wine and some for brandy. 
 Spoken. Corks for cholic- water, 
 
 Cut 'em a little shorter ; 
 
 Corks for gin, 
 
 Very thin ; 
 
 Corks for rum, 
 
 As big as my thumb ; 
 
 Corks for ale, 
 
 Long and pale ; 
 Sung. They're all handy, all handy, 
 
 Some for wine and some for brandy.' 
 
 The other cry, which was much more musical, 
 was that of two persons, father and son, who sold 
 lines. The father, in a strong, clear tenor, would 
 begin the strain in the major key, and when he had 
 
196 NOLLE KENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 finished, his son, who followed at a short distance 
 behind him, in a shrill falsetto, would repeat it in 
 the minor, and their call consisted of the following 
 words : 
 
 ' Buy a white-line, 
 Or a jack-line, 
 Or a clock-line, 
 Or a hair-line, 
 
 Or a line for your clothes here.' 
 
 In order to render this little work a book of 
 reference to the London topographer as well as to 
 the historian, I have occasionally given, and shall 
 continue to give, the residences of persons of 
 notoriety, as well as their places of birth, death, 
 and burial points which, I am sorry to say, are 
 not always attended to by biographers. 
 
 The house in Great Queen Street, now divided 
 into two, Nos. 55 and 56, was that in which Hudson 
 lived ; it was afterwards the last habitation of Wor- 
 lidge, 1 the etcher, who died in it. Hoole, the trans- 
 lator of Tasso, and the beloved friend of Dr. 
 Johnson, next resided in it, and he was succeeded 
 by Eichard Brinsley Sheridan, who, after Garrick's 
 funeral, passed there the remainder of the day in 
 silence with a few select friends. It was lately 
 inhabited by Mr. Chippendale. 2 This house is one 
 of those built after a design of Inigo Jones, and 
 still retains much of its original architecture. 
 
 The street was named Queen Street in compli- 
 ment to Henrietta Maria. ' My old friend,' Mr. 
 
 1 Thomas Worlidge (1700-1766), called ' Scritch-scratch,' an imitator 
 of Rembrandt. Ed. 
 
 2 Thomas Chippendale, the famous cabinet-maker. Ed. 
 
CO VENT GARDEN 197 
 
 Batridge, the barber, as Mr. Hone in his ' Every- 
 day Book ' has been pleased to called him, in- 
 formed me that he very well recollected the gate- 
 entrance into Great Queen Street from Drury Lane. 
 It was under a house, and was so long and dark 
 that it received the fearful appellation of ' Hell 
 Gate.' Through this gate the Dukes of Newcastle 
 and Ancaster drove to their houses in Lincoln's Inn 
 Fields, at that time the seat of fashion ; which can 
 readily be conceived, when the reader recollects 
 that Grosvenor Square was building when Mr. 
 Nollekens was a little boy. 
 
 Co vent Garden was the first square inhabited by 
 the great ; for immediately upon the completion of 
 the houses on the north and east sides of Covent 
 Garden, which were all that were uniformly built 
 after the design of Inigo Jones, they were every one 
 of them inhabited by persons of the first title and 
 rank, as appears by the parish books of the rates at 
 that time. 
 
 The chambers occupied by Richard Wilson were 
 portions of the house successively inhabited by Sir 
 Peter Lely, Sir Godfrey Kneller, and Sir James 
 Thornhill ; and, by way of rather a curious treat 
 to the connoisseur, I shall insert the advertisement 
 for the sale of Sir Peter Lely's collection of works 
 of art, which I copied from the London Gazette of 
 February 16, 1687 : 
 
 ' Upon Mod day, in Easter-week, will be exposed by Public Auction 
 a most curious and valuable collection of Drawings and Prints, made 
 with great expense and care by Sir Peter Lely, Painter to his Majesty. 
 The Drawings are all of the most eminent Masters of Italy, being 
 
198 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 originals and most curiously preserved. The Prints are all the works 
 of Mark Antoine, after Raphael, and the other best Italian Masters, 
 and of the best impressions and proof prints in good condition and 
 curiously preserved, some are double and treble. 
 
 ' The Sale will be at the house in Covent Garden, where Sir Peter 
 Lely lived.' 1 
 
 Covent Garden even so late as Pope's time 
 retained its fashion, as may be seen by the following 
 extract from the Morning Advertiser for March 6, 
 1730: 
 
 s 
 
 ' The Lady Wortley Montague, who has been greatly indisposed at 
 her house in Covent Garden for some time, is now perfectly recovered, 
 and takes the benefit of the air in Hyde Park every morning, by 
 advice of her physicians.' 
 
 The tracing out and examining the peculiar 
 manners and customs of the inhabitants and visitors 
 of the parish of St. Paul, Covent Garden, is a source 
 of knowledge of considerable importance to every 
 class of historian, both on account of the immense 
 number of persons of the highest rank and title, 
 as well as artists of the very first eminence, who at 
 one time rendered it the most, and, indeed, the only, 
 fashionable part of the town ; and also from the 
 immense concourse of wits, literary characters, and 
 other men of genius, who frequented the various 
 and numerous coffee-houses, wine and cider cellars, 
 jelly-shops, etc., within its boundaries, the list of 
 whom particularly includes the eminent names of 
 Butler, Addison, Sir Kichard Steele, Otway, Dryden, 
 Pope, Warburton, Cibber, Fielding, Churchill, 
 Bolingbroke, and Dr. Samuel Johnson ; Kich, 
 
 1 It was not the custom formerly to mention the name of the 
 auctioneer in advertisements of sales. Smith. 
 
INHABITANTS OF COVENT GARDEN 199 
 
 Woodward, Booth, Wilkes, Garrick, and Macklin ; 
 Kitty Clive, Peg Woffington, Mrs. Pritchard, the 
 Duchess of Bolton, Lady Derby, Lady Thurlow, 
 and the present Duchess of St. Albans ; Sir Peter 
 Lely, Sir Godfrey Kneller, and Sir James Thorn- 
 hill ; Vandevelde, Zincke, Lambert, Hay man, 
 Hogarth, Wilson, Dance, Meyer, etc. 
 
 The diversified pleasure of procuring this infor- 
 mation from numerous authentic sources, both 
 written and related, together with several curious 
 events which have fallen under my own observation, 
 has occupied many years of my early life ; and I 
 now find myself in possession of a truly interesting 
 mass of intelligence, sufficiently extensive for a 
 publication of two volumes, containing some curious 
 collections towards the history of that most fre- 
 quented of parishes, which I hope, w r ith the blessing 
 of health and continuance of memory (for the 
 possession of which organ the friendly Dr. Spurz- 
 heim has given me some credit), to live to see 
 published. 
 
 But at present I must not lose sight of Mr. 
 Nollekens. He for many years made one at the 
 table of what was at this time called the Royal 
 Academy Club ; and so strongly was he bent upon 
 saving all he could privately conceal, that he did 
 not mind paying two guineas a year for his ad- 
 mission-ticket in order to indulge himself with a 
 few nutmegs, which he contrived to pocket 
 privately ; for as red-wine negus was the principal 
 beverage, nutmegs were used. Now, it generally 
 happened, if another bowl was wanted, that the 
 
200 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 nutmegs were missing. Nollekens, who had fre- 
 quently been seen to pocket them, was one day 
 requested by Rossi, the sculptor, to see if they had 
 not fallen under the table ; upon which Nollekens 
 actually went crawling beneath upon his hands and 
 knees pretending to look for them, though at that 
 very time they were in his waistcoat-pocket. He 
 was so old a stager at this monopoly of nutmegs 
 that he would sometimes engage the maker of the 
 negus in conversation, looking at him full in the 
 face, whilst he slyly and unobserved, as he thought, 
 conveyed away the spice ; like the fellow who is 
 stealing the bank-note from the blind man in that 
 admirable print of c The Royal Cock-pit,' by 
 Hogarth. 
 
 I believe it is generally considered that those who 
 are miserlv in their own houses, almost to a state of 
 starvation, when they visit their friends or dine in 
 public, but particularly when they are travelling, 
 and know that they will be called upon with a pretty 
 long bill, are accustomed to lay in what they call a 
 good stock of everything, or of all the good things 
 the landlord thinks proper to spread before them. 
 This was certainly the case with Nollekens when 
 he visited Harrogate in order to take the water 
 for his diseased mouth. He informed his wife that 
 he took three half -pints of water at a time, and as 
 he knew the bills would be pretty large at the inn, 
 he was determined to indulge in the good things of 
 this world ; so that one day he managed to get 
 through c a nice roast chicken, with two nice tarts 
 and some nice jellies.' Another day he took nearly 
 
MISS COLEMAN, THE MODEL 201 
 
 two pounds of venison, the fat of which was at 
 least ' two inches thick ' ; at breakfast he always 
 managed two muffins, and got through a plate of 
 toast, and he took good care to put a French roll in 
 his pocket, for fear he should find himself hungry 
 when he was walking on the common by himself. 
 
 Our sculptor would sometimes amuse himself on 
 a summer's evening by standing with his arms 
 behind him at the yard-gate, which opened into 
 Titchfield Street. During one of these indulgences, 
 as a lady w r as passing, most elegantly dressed, 
 attended by a strapping footman in silver-laced 
 livery, with a tall gilt-headed cane, she nodded to 
 him, and smilingly asked him if he did not know 
 her. On his reply that he did not recollect her, 
 ' What, sir !' exclaimed she, c do you forget Miss 
 Coleman, who brought a letter to you from Charles 
 Townley to show legs with your Venus ! Why, I 
 have been with you twenty times in that little room 
 to stand for your Venus !' ' Oh, lauk-a-daisy, so 
 you have !' answered Nollekens. ' Why, what a 
 fine woman you're grown ! Come, walk in, and I'll 
 show you your figure ; I have done it in marble.' 
 
 After desiring the man to stop at the gate, she 
 went in with him ; and upon seeing Mrs. Nollekens 
 at the parlour-window, who was pretending to talk 
 to and feed her sister's bullfinch, but who had been 
 informed by the vigilant and suspicious Bronze of 
 what had been going on at the gate, she went up to 
 
 her, and said : ' Madam, I have to thank ' 
 
 Mrs. Nollekens then elevated herself on her toes, 
 and with a lisping palpitation began to address the 
 
202 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 lady. 'Oh dear!' observed Miss Coleman, 'and 
 you don't know me ? You have given me many a 
 basin of broth in the depth of winter when I used 
 to stand for Venus.' Mrs. Nollekens, not knowing 
 what to think of Joseph, shook her head at him as 
 she slammed the window, at the same time ex- 
 claiming : 'Oh fie, Mr. Nollekens, fie, fie!' Bronze 
 assured me that when her master went into the 
 front-parlour he had a pretty warm reception. 
 ' What!' said her mistress, ' to know such wretches 
 after you have done with them in your studio !' 
 The truth is that Mrs. Nollekens certainly did 
 contrive to get a little broth ready for the models, 
 such as it was, and she likewise condescended to 
 take it into the room herself ; and this, I am sorry 
 to say, whatever her motives or other charitable 
 intentions might have been, is the only thing I can 
 relate of her that bears the semblance of kindness. 
 
 It is probable that Mrs. Nollekens never ex- 
 perienced that inexpressible delight which diffuses 
 itself through the benevolent heart when alleviating 
 the wants of others. Indeed, she would often 
 remain at the window looking over the blind, and 
 tantalizing the piteous supplicants who every 
 moment expected relief from her hand ; and she 
 would indulge in this practice that passers-by 
 might suppose the inhabitants of the mansion to be 
 charitably inclined. One winter morning, when 
 the weather was so severe that the blackbirds fell 
 from the branches, two miserable men, almost 
 dying for want of nourishment, implored her 
 charitable aid ; but little did the unhappy men- 
 
PARSIMONY OF MRS. NOLLEKENS 203 
 
 dicants suppose that the only heart which sym- 
 pathized in their afflictions was that of Betty, in 
 the kitchen, who silently crept upstairs and cheer- 
 fully gave them her mite. 
 
 At this delicate rebuke Mrs. Nollekens hastily 
 opened the parlour-door, and vociferated : ' Betty, 
 Betty, there is a bone below with little or no meat 
 on it ; give it the poor creatures !' upon which the 
 one who had hitherto spoken, steadfastly looking in 
 the face of his pale partner in distress, repeated : 
 c Bill, we are to have a bone with little or no meat 
 on it.' When they were gone, the liberal-hearted 
 Betty was seriously rated by her mistress, who was 
 quite certain she would come to want. ' What 
 good will your wages do you, child, if you give 
 alms so often to such people ? Dr. Johnson has 
 done all our servants more injury by that constant 
 practice of his of giving charity, as it is called, than 
 he is aware of, and I shall take an opportunity of 
 telling him so when I next see him at Sir John 
 Hawkins' ; and T know Sir John and all his family 
 will be on my side, for they are far from being 
 extravagant people.' 
 
 My worthy friend, the late Dr. Hill, assured me 
 that a gentleman of the faculty, who lectured upon 
 medical electricity, and gave advice gratis to the 
 poor twice a week at his house in Bond Street, was 
 visited by a woman dressed shabbily -genteel, who 
 received the shock, until one of the patients in- 
 formed the doctor that she was no less a person 
 than Mrs. Nollekens, the wife of the famous 
 sculptor. He was therefore determined to expose 
 
204 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 her the next day by getting all the poor into the 
 room before she was admitted ; and what her shock 
 was may easily be conceived, if we allow her to 
 have possessed common feeling. 
 
 When she was seated in the electrical chair in 
 the centre of the room, the doctor stood before her, 
 and, making her a profound bow, addressed her as 
 Mrs. Nollekens. ' I wonder, madam,' said he, ' that 
 a lady of your fortune, and the wife of a Koyal 
 Academician, could think of passing yourself off as 
 a pauper you, who ought to enable me to relieve 
 these poor people. You are welcome, madam, to 
 the assistance which I have given you ; but I hope 
 and trust that you will now distribute the amount 
 of my fees from persons in your station to your 
 distressed fellow- creatures around you in this room.' 
 Mrs. Nollekens, after this electrifying shock, dis- 
 tributed the contents of her purse, which, un- 
 fortunately, on this occasion amounted only to a 
 few shillings, though she left the room with a 
 promise to send more. After this reproof, how- 
 ever, she was noticed to dress a little better, and to 
 walk with her high-caned parasol as usual. 
 
 Mrs. Nollekens was not very fond of Miss 
 Hawkins ; she said that she was always giving her 
 tongue liberties when speaking of Dr. Johnson, 
 and whenever Mr. Boswell's name was mentioned 
 she would throw herself into such a rage, because 
 that gentleman had asserted that Sir John Hawkins, 
 her father, was the son of a carpenter. 
 
 Poor Mrs. Nollekens ! what would she have said 
 had she lived to have seen the three volumes of 
 
M/SS HA WKINS? GOSSIP 205 
 
 1 Anecdotes,' in one of which Miss Hawkins says : 
 1 Now, as to the carpenter's son, I am almost 
 shocked at using lightly a term that exists in Holy 
 Writ'? But in my humble opinion, as she was not 
 unconscious of overstepping sacred bounds, she 
 ought to have been quite shocked for even glancing 
 at Holy Writ upon such an occasion. There would 
 have been an appearance of good sense in Miss 
 Hawkins had she adopted the ingenuous manner in 
 which Mr. Gifford, in his account of himself, speaks 
 of his own origin prefixed to his translation of 
 Juvenal, since he there tells us that he was 
 apprenticed to a shoemaker. Again, too, she would 
 also have done well had she recollected that Dr. 
 Hutton had been a common workman in a coal- 
 mine in the North of England ; and, indeed, there 
 are innumerable instances of other great and good 
 men who have arisen from the most humble calling 
 to the pinnacle of fame and honour. That highly - 
 respected character, the late Mr. Deputy Nichols, 
 one of the editors of the Gentleman s Magazine, 
 informed me that Cave, the original Mr. Urban, 
 often when he made a visit desired the servant to 
 tell his master that ' The cobbler's son had called.' 
 Samuel Richardson, the author of ' Clarissa,' had no 
 such feelings of false pride, since he scrupled not 
 himself to say, ' My father's business was that of a 
 joiner.' 
 
 As Miss Hawkins did not think proper to exempt 
 me from Mr. Sherwin's 1 c pupils in punch,' and as 
 I have no wish to leave the world and my family 
 
 1 John Keyse Sherwin, the engraver. He died in 1790. Ed. 
 
206 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 with the slander of drunkenness attached to my 
 memory, when at no period of my life have I 
 merited that stigma, I shall endeavour to show how 
 little this lady, who is so fond of running a tilt at 
 others, is to be believed in some of her assertions. 
 At page 32, in the second volume of her Memoirs, 
 she states, when speaking of Sherwin's eccentricities 
 and follies (and well knowing that I was his pupil 
 at that time), that 'he fired pistols out of his 
 window half the night, and half drowned his pupils ; 
 for, sad to say, he had pupils in punch.' 
 
 Miss Hawkins states on the same page that 
 8 Sherwin expired, forlorn and comfortless, in a 
 poor apartment of a public inn in Oxford Street ;' 
 whereas the fact is that Sherwin died in the house 
 of the late Mr. Kobert Wilkinson, the print-seller, 
 in Cornhill, who kindly attended him, afforded him 
 every comfort, and paid respect to his remains ; 
 his body having been conveyed to Hampstead, and 
 buried in a respectable manner in the churchyard, 
 near the north-east corner of the front entrance, in 
 the very grave where his brother George had been 
 interred. Miss Hawkins states that her mother's 
 portrait was painted ; by Prince Hoare of Bath ' ; 
 she should have said William Hoare, 1 Esq., E.A., 
 Prince Hoare's father. Miss Hawkins, who so 
 often considers herself obliged to her brother for a 
 good thing, allowed the following to be printed in 
 page 218 of the first volume of her Memoirs. 
 
 1 William Hoare, a Suffolk man, born in 1706, became a fashionable 
 portrait-painter at Bath, where he died in 1792. Ed. 
 
THE HA WKINSES 207 
 
 (H. H. loquitur.) 
 
 Speaking of Dr. Johnson, H. H. says : * Calling 
 upon him shortly after the death of Lord Mansfield, 
 and mentioning the event, he answered, " Ah, sir, 
 there was little learning and less virtue !" 
 
 Now, unfortunately for Miss Hawkins and her 
 brother H. H., this fabricated invective can never 
 stand, for that highly respected and learned judge, 
 Lord Mansfield, died on Wednesday, March 20, 
 1794, ten years after the death of Dr. Johnson, 
 with whom H. H. so roundly declares he conversed 
 upon his lordship's death. As Miss Hawkins 
 states in a note at the foot of page 227 of the first 
 volume of her Memoirs, that ' violation of truth 
 cannot be treated too harshly,' I trust that I shall 
 stand pardoned for what I am doing, especially as 
 in the first volume, page 150, she says, 'Brought 
 up, as my brothers and myself were, in strict regard 
 to truth, and in abhorrence of all insincerity, even 
 that of fashion.' 
 
 I think in charity I ought to plead Miss Hawkins' 
 chronological ignorance, or she never would have 
 acknowledged that she applied to her brother, as 
 she does in page 258 of the first volume of her 
 Memoirs, for more of his anecdotes of Lord Mans- 
 field and Dr. Johnson. In Dr. Birch's 'Life of 
 Lord Bacon,' it is said of a biographer that ' he is 
 fairly to record the faults as well as the good 
 qualities, the failings as well as the perfections, of 
 the dead ;' but here the assertion begins with the 
 emphatic word fairly. All I have to add to these 
 
208 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 remarks is that, whether Miss Hawkins' grand- 
 father or her father had been a carpenter or not 
 since she has asserted her descent from Sir John 
 Hawkins, who fought against the Spanish Armada 
 her time would have been innocently employed if 
 she had made out and favoured the public with her 
 own pedigree, and proved that descent. 
 
[ 29 ] 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Mr. Nollekens' favourite amusements Children's headcloths and go- 
 carts Bethlehem Hospital and Cibber's figures Anecdotes of Dr. 
 Wolcot and Mr. Nollekens, Boswell, H. Tresham, R.A., and Fuseli 
 Eccentricities of Lord Coleraine Mr. Nollekens and his barber- 
 Anecdotes of the Rev. John Wesley Mr. Nollekens' restoration of 
 antiques at Rome Drawings at Rome by Mosman Tailors 
 Family quarrels Mr. Nollekens' manoeuvres for importing a 
 picture Coarseness of his manners Mr. Charles Townley and 
 the Abbe Devay Portrait, house, and antique marbles of Mr. 
 Townley described The Royal Cockpit Immorality of Hogarth. 
 
 During my long intimacy with Mr. Nollekens, I 
 never once heard him mention the name of the 
 sweetest bard that ever sang, from whose luxuriant 
 garden most artists have gathered their choicest 
 flowers. To the beauties of the immortal Shake- 
 speare he was absolutely insensible, nor did he ever 
 visit the theatre when his plays were performed, 
 though he was actively alive to a pantomime, and 
 frequently spake of the capital and curious tricks 
 in Harlequin Sorcerer. He also recollected with 
 pleasure Mr. Kich's wonderful and singular power 
 of scratching his ear with his foot like a dog ; and 
 the street-exhibition of Punch and his wife delighted 
 him beyond expression. 1 
 
 1 He would probably have equally enjoyed the sight of the 
 Traveller Twiss's large poodle dog walking in the open streets, with 
 
 14 
 
NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 In this gratification, however, our sculptor did 
 not stand alone, for I have frequently seen, when I 
 have stood in the crowd, wise men laugh at the 
 mere squeaking of Punch, and have heard them 
 speak of his cunning pranks with the highest 
 ecstasy. Indeed, I once saw two brothers of the 
 long robe involuntarily stop and heartily enjoy the 
 dialogue of that merry little fellow with Jack Ketch, 
 who was about to hang Punch for the murder of his 
 wife and his innocent babe. These brothers -in-law 
 discovered, however, before long that they had not 
 only lost their handkerchiefs when they had been 
 elbowing the motley group for the best places, but 
 that they had deprived a baker, to whom they 
 had too closely attached themselves, of his flowery 
 influence. 
 
 Nollekens, when noticing nursery-maids with 
 little children, would always make most anxious 
 inquiries as to the cutting of the child's teeth ; and 
 so addicted was he to accosting strangers in the 
 streets, that I remember once his stopping to 
 express his sense of the kindness of a mother who 
 had made a pudding for her child's head, by saying, 
 ' Ay, now, what's your name ?' c Rap worth, sir.' 
 
 an immense pair of spectacles upon his nose, cut out in pasteboard, 
 between his master and that admirable organist, Samuel Wesley, 
 when they have been perambulating Camden Town in close conversa- 
 tion ; and have beheld the scene with as much pleasure as those who 
 witnessed the attentive gravity of the traveller's dog, with his long 
 shaggy hair hanging over his head, and a sagacity of look as if he was 
 to decide the not unfrequently knotty points upon which these 
 celebrated originals frequently conversed during their pedestrian 
 relaxations. Smith. 
 
PUDDINGS 2ii 
 
 ' Well, Mrs. Eapworth, you have done right ; I 
 wore a pudding when I was a little boy, and all 
 my mother's children wore puddings.' 1 As to the 
 antiquity of this cap, which is now seldom seen, 
 and I believe totally unknown in the nurseries of 
 the great, I can safely observe that the child of 
 the great painter Sir Peter Paul Rubens wore one ; 
 as those mothers who are fond of showing their 
 good sense by taking care of their children may 
 see in that truly beautiful mezzotinto engraving by 
 McArdell, of Rubens, his wife and child walking in 
 a garden. 2 
 
 By those readers who are fond of old household 
 furniture, and also recollect the sensible uses of 
 several articles of that denomination, many of 
 which are now nearly thrown aside, the following 
 notice of the go-cart may not be deemed irrelevant 
 to the subject of this page. It was unquestionably 
 one of the safest and most useful of all the comforts 
 of the nursery and the infantile playground ; and 
 elderly persons will recollect that it was so con- 
 structed that it safely enclosed and supported the 
 child in an upright position, a little below its arms, 
 which were allowed to be entirely free above it. 
 As this machine moved upon castors, the child was 
 
 1 This pudding consisted of a broad black silk band, padded with 
 wadding, which went round the middle of the head, joined to two 
 pieces of riband crossing on the top of the head and then tied under 
 the chin, so that by this most excellent contrivance children's heads 
 were often preserved uninjured when they fell. Smith. 
 
 2 The painting from which this engraving was made is now at 
 Blenheim. Smith. James McArdell, the mezzotint engraver (1710- 
 1765). Ed. 
 
212 NOLLE KENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 enabled with ease to go forward, whilst in conse- 
 quence of its extending so widely at the feet, there 
 was no danger whatever of its overturning ; and I 
 fully expect, as most things come round again in 
 their use, that the affectionate and considerate 
 mother will take this most valuable invention again 
 into favour. 
 
 The go-cart is supposed to be of considerable 
 antiquity, since a figure of it appears upon a sarco- 
 phagus of a child, engraven in Montfaucon, 1 and it 
 was also much used in Germany and Holland before 
 it was known in England. In the British Museum, 
 among the early German masters of the fifteenth 
 century, there is a rare folio sheet woodcut, repre- 
 senting a man nearly bent double by age, with a 
 long flowing beard, placed in a square go-cart, 
 supported by six legs, tastefully and curiously 
 carved with foliage. Upon a shelf at the top of 
 the go-cart, which projects in front of him, is 
 placed an hour-glass surmounted by a human 
 skull ; but these he does not appear to notice, as 
 his eye is looking straight forward and considerably 
 above them. He is seemingly obeying the allure- 
 ments of a boy who is riding on a stick, with a 
 horse's head at the top. On one side, a little in 
 advance of him and immediately before him, is a 
 grave, which, if we may judge by the spade which 
 is left on the ground, has been recently dug pur- 
 posely for his reception. Behind him is another 
 
 1 'Supplement au Livre l'Antiquite Expliquee,' vol. v., Paris, 
 1724, fol., book v., ch. i., sec. ii., pp. 105, 106, plates xlii., xliii. 
 Smith. 
 
GO-CARTS 213 
 
 child pushing on the go-cart, seemingly with little 
 exertion ; and in the distance there is a buck, 
 which appears to be bounding back again after he 
 had accompanied this aged man to the brink of 
 eternity, into which the infant is so easily pushing 
 him. 1 
 
 In Quarles's c Emblems ' there is also a go-cart 
 introduced ; and Eembrandt has etched one, where 
 a nurse or mother is inviting the child who is 
 in it to walk to her. This print is numbered 186 in 
 Daulby's ' Catalogue of Kembrandt's Etchings,' and 
 is there called ' The Go-cart.' When I was a boy 
 the go-cart was common in every toy-shop in 
 London ; but it was to be found in the greatest 
 abundance in the once far-famed turner's shops in 
 Spinning-wheel Alley, Moorfields, a narrow passage 
 leading from those fields to the spot upon which the 
 original Bethlehem Hospital stood in Bishopsgate 
 Street, and upon which site numerous houses were 
 erected, and formerly called Old Bethlehem. In 
 1825-26, however, both Spinning-wheel Alley 
 and Old Bethlehem were considerably altered and 
 widened, and subsequently named Liverpool Street. 
 
 Upon the establishment of the late Bethlehem 
 Hospital, and, indeed, down to the time of King 
 Charles II., the men and women were crowded 
 together in one ward. I have seen, by favour of 
 
 1 A design, almost similar, has been attributed to Michael Angelo, 
 of which there are two different prints, one being without any 
 etigraver's name or year of publication, though the other is dated 
 1538, and was published by Antonio Salamanca. Mr. Duppa, in his 
 'Life of Michael Angelo Buonarroti,' London, 1806, has given an out- 
 line copy of this subject. Smith. 
 
214 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 Dr. Haslam, several of the early manuscript 
 account-books of this hospital, in one of which 
 there was the following entry : ' This clay the 
 neighbouring flax-dressers were called in, who gave 
 the unruly patients a good dressing.' Whenever 
 Nollekens heard the figures of Raving and Melan- 
 choly madness mentioned, which were carved by 
 Gabriel Cibber 1 for the piers of the gates of Bethle- 
 hem Hospital, built in Moorfields, he never ex- 
 pressed himself pleased with them. This was not 
 the case with Roubiliac, the sculptor, who never 
 left the city, when he went there to receive money, 
 without going round, sometimes considerably out of 
 his way, to admire them. 
 
 It is said that Cibber carved these figures, which 
 .are now preserved in the hall of the new hospital 
 in St. George's Fields, at once from the block, 
 without any previous drawing or model whatever. 
 An instance of similar talent for extemporary pro- 
 ductions I have heard mentioned by Mr. Joseph 
 Cauldfield, a music-engraver, and a most excellent 
 teacher of the pianoforte, who has declared that 
 the celebrated Charles Dibdin assured him that he 
 had frequently composed a song, with all its musical 
 accompaniments, and played it in public on the 
 evening of the same day entirely by memory, with- 
 out the slightest written memoranda. 
 
 Those who recollect the figure of Dr. Wolcot in 
 his robust, upright state, and the diminutive appear - 
 
 1 Caius Gabriel Cibber, a Danish sculptor, settled in England. He 
 was Carver to the Closet to William III., and the father of Colley 
 Cibber, the playwright. He died in 1700. Ed. 
 
PETER PINDAR 215 
 
 ance of Mr. Nollekens, can readily picture to them- 
 selves their extreme contrast, when the former 
 accosted the latter one evening at his gate in 
 Titchfield Street nearly in the following manner : 
 4 Why, Nollekens, you never speak to me now. 
 Pray, what is the reason ?' Nollekens : ' Why, you 
 have published such lies of the King, and had the 
 impudence to send them to me ; but Mrs. Nollekens 
 burnt them, and I desire you'll send no more. The 
 Royal Family are very good to me, and are great 
 friends to all the artists, and I don't like to hear 
 anybody say anything against them.' Upon which 
 the Doctor put his cane upon the sculptor's 
 shoulder, and exclaimed : ' Well said, little Nolly ! 
 I like the man who sticks to his friend. You shall 
 make a bust of me for that.' c I'll see you d d 
 first !' answered Nollekens ; ' and I can tell you this 
 besides no man in the Royal Academy but Opie 
 would have painted your picture ; and you richly 
 deserved the broken head you got from Grifford in 
 Wright's shop. Mr. Cook, of Bedford Square, 
 showed me his handkerchief dipped in your blood ; 
 and so now you know my mind. Come in, my 
 Cerberus, come in.' His dog then followed him in, 
 and he left the Doctor at the gate, which he barred 
 up for the night. 
 
 Nollekens, who always expressed the highest 
 pleasure when seeing French and Italian women 
 dance, congratulated himself upon the burning 
 down of the opera-house in the Haymarket by 
 observing : ' Now the managers have hired the 
 Pantheon in Oxford Street, I shall not have so far 
 
216 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 to go in the rain !' When he first was a frequenter 
 of the opera, which he never missed when c bones ' 
 of admission were sent to him, gentlemen were 
 obliged to go in swords and bags in full-dress, 
 which custom, however, was dropped on the 
 removal to the Pantheon ; so that Nollekens was 
 more at home, as he was now and then seen to take 
 out a worsted stocking and tie it round his neck 
 whenever he had a sore throat, to which he was 
 often subject. 
 
 James Boswell, the faithful biographer of Dr. 
 Johnson, meeting him in the pit of the Pantheon, 
 loudly exclaimed : ' Why, Nollekens, how dirty you 
 go now! I recollect when you were the gayest 
 dressed of any in the house.' To whom Nollekens 
 made, for once in his life, the retort courteous of, 
 c That's more than I could ever say of you.' 
 Boswell certainly looked very badly when dressed, 
 for, as he seldom washed himself, his clean ruffles 
 served as a striking contrast to his dirty flesh. 
 
 Tresham, 1 the Koyal Academician, who had been 
 employed to decorate the front of the stage at the 
 Pantheon, filled the tympanum with a profusion of 
 figures displaying the sciences, of which perform- 
 ance he was not a little proud. Having taken his 
 seat in the front to see the effect of his pencil, on 
 looking behind him he found his nearest companion 
 was Puseli, to whom he addressed himself with : 
 Well, Mr. Fuseli, how do you like my pedimental 
 
 1 Henry Tresham (1749 V-1814), an Irish historical painter, was 
 elected A.R.A. in 1791, and R.A. in 1799. He was professor of 
 painting from 1807 to 1809. Ed. 
 
ECCENTRICS 217 
 
 colouring ?' to which he received no answer ; but at 
 last, after putting several other questions with as 
 little success, he roused him by the interrogative 
 of : ' How do you like the drawing of my figures ?' 
 To which Fuseli, who heard the bell ring, observed : 
 ' The drawing bespeaks something clever I mean 
 the drawing of the curtain,' which the mechanists 
 were just at that moment engaged in raising. 
 Fuseli, however, soon alleviated the embarrassment 
 of his brother R.A. by remarking that the conceited 
 scene-painter, Mr. Capon, 1 to whom Sheridan had 
 given the nickname of ' Pompous Billy,' had ' piled 
 up his lump of rocks as regularly on the side- 
 scenes as a baker would his quartern loaves upon 
 the shelves behind his counter to cool.' 
 
 I believe every age produces at least one eccentric 
 in every city, town, and village. Be this as it may, 
 go where you w T ill, you will find some half-witted 
 fellow under the nickname either of Dolly, Silly 
 Billy, or Foolish Sam, who is generally the butt 
 and sport of his neighbours, and from whom, 
 simple as he may sometimes be, a sensible answer 
 is expected to an unthinking question : like the 
 common children, who will, to our annoyance, 
 inquire of our neighbour's parrot what it is o'clock. 
 In some such light Nollekens was often held even 
 by his brother artists ; and I once heard Fuseli cry 
 out, when on the opposite side of the street : 
 c Nollekens, Nollekens ! why do you walk in the 
 sun ? If you have no love for your few brains, 
 you should not melt your coat-buttons.' 
 
 1 William Capon of Norwich (1757-1827). Ed. 
 
218 NOLLE KENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 The eccentric character is, however, sure to be 
 found in London, where there are several curious 
 varieties of this class of persons to be met with. 
 In our walks, perchance, we may meet a man who 
 always casts his eyes towards the ground, as if he 
 were ashamed of looking anyone in the face, and 
 who pretends when accosted to be near-sighted, so 
 that he does not know even the friend that had 
 served him. Indeed, he draws his hat across his 
 forehead to act as an eyeshade, so that his sallow 
 visage cannot immediately be recognised, which 
 makes him look as if he had done something 
 wrong, whilst his coat is according to the true 
 Addison cut, w T ith square pockets, large enough to 
 carry the folio 4 Ship of Fools. 5 Nollekens, though 
 simple, was entirely free from any artful singularity 
 of this kind, and he walked as if he meant to give 
 everyone he met the good-morrow ; and if he had 
 a fault in his latter perambulations, it w T as that of 
 exposing himself to the cunningly inclined. 
 
 No man was more gazed at than the late Lord 
 Coleraine. 1 That eccentric and remarkable char- 
 acter, who lived near the New Queen's Head and 
 Artichoke, in Marylebone Fields, never met 
 Nollekens without saluting him with, ' Well, Nolly, 
 my old boy, how goes it ? You never sent me the 
 bust of the Prince.' To which Nollekens replied, 
 4 You know you said you would call for it one of 
 
 1 Colonel George Hanger. He became fourth Baron Coleraine in 
 1810, but refused to take the title. His eccentric manners were too 
 coarse even for the Prince Kegent. He had spent many years in 
 America, and in 1801 he made a curiously accurate prophecy of the 
 Civil War in the United States. He died in 1824. Ed. 
 
LORD COLE R A IN E 219 
 
 these days, and give me the money, and take it 
 away in a hackney-coach.' I remember seeing his 
 lordship after he had purchased a book, entitled 
 ' The American Buccaneers,' sit down close by the 
 shop from which he had bought it, in the open 
 street in St. Giles's, to read it. I also once heard 
 Lord Coleraine, as I was passing the wall at the 
 end of Portland Eoad, when an old apple-woman, 
 with whom his lordship held frequent conversations, 
 was packing up her fruit, ask her the following 
 question : ' What are you about, mother ?' c Why, 
 my lord, I am going home to my tea. If your 
 lordship wants any information, I shall come again 
 presently.' ' Oh, don't balk trade ! Leave your 
 things on the table as they are ; I will mind shop 
 till you come back ;' so saying, he seated himself in 
 the old woman's wooden chair, in which he had 
 often sat before whilst chatting Avith her. Being 
 determined to witness the result, after strolling 
 about till the return of the old lady, I heard his 
 lordship declare the amount of his receipts by 
 saying : ' Well, mother, I have taken threepence 
 halfpenny for you. Did your daughter Nancy 
 drink tea with you ?' 
 
 Mr. Nollekens, on entering his barber's shop, was 
 always glad to find another shavee under the suds, 
 as it afforded him an opportunity of looking at his 
 favourite paper, the Daily Advertiser. When his 
 turn arrived, and he was seated for the operation, 
 he placed one of Mrs. Nollekens' curling-papers, 
 which he had untwisted for the purpose, upon his 
 right shoulder, upon which the barber wiped his 
 
220 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 razor. Nollekens cried out, c Shave close, Hancock, 
 for I was obliged to come twice last week, you 
 used so blunt a razor.' l Lord, sir,' answered the 
 poor barber, ' you don't care how I wear my razors 
 out by sharpening them.' Mr. Nollekens, who had 
 been under his hand for upwards of twenty years, 
 was so correct an observer of its application that 
 he generally pronounced at the last flourish, ' That 
 will do ;' and before the shaver could take off the 
 cloth, he dexterously drew down the paper, folded 
 it up, and carried it home in his hand, for the 
 purpose of using it the next morning when he 
 washed himself. 
 
 The following is a verse of a droll song which 
 Xollekens used to sing when I was a boy, and with 
 which he was always highly delighted. 
 
 ' So a rat by degrees 
 Fed a kitten with cheese, 
 
 Till kitten grew up to a cat ; 
 When the cheese was all spent, 
 Nature follow'd its bent, 
 
 And puss quickly ate up the rat.' 
 
 He observed that his mother, who was fond of 
 curious sights, once took him to see c Adams' 
 Rarities ' at the sign of the Royal Swan, in 
 Kingsland Road, where he saw a pillory for a rat. 
 
 Nollekens' manners and sentiments were such, if 
 we may with the least degree of propriety be 
 permitted to denominate his deportment mannerly, 
 that though he would often hold long, and some- 
 times entertaining, conversations with the com- 
 monest people with the utmost good-nature, he 
 
JOHN WESLEY 221 
 
 would never suffer himself to be persuaded to 
 model a bust of any of the sectarians in religion. 
 The dignified clergy, and all persons holding high 
 offices in the affairs of Government, were the 
 characters he delighted to model. I recollect that 
 several of the friends of John Wesley often applied 
 to him for a portrait of their pastor ; but he never 
 would listen to their importunities, though they 
 repeatedly declared to him that he was one of the 
 worthiest members of any society existing. I have 
 been assured that Wesley never wished to make 
 money by preaching, unless it were to enable him 
 to extend his acts of charity to the poor, in proof 
 of which I beg leave to repeat the following 
 anecdote nearly, I believe, as I heard it from his 
 nephew, Mr. Samuel Wesley. 
 
 An order was made in the House of Lords in 
 May, 1776, for the Commissioners of his Majesty's 
 Excise to write circular letters to all persons who 
 they had reason to suspect had plate, and also to 
 those who had not regularly paid the duty on the 
 same. In consequence of this order, the Accountant- 
 general for Household Plate sent to the Rev. 
 John Wesley a copy of it, and the following was 
 the answer returned to him : 
 
 4 Sir, 
 
 ' I have two silver teaspoons in London, and two at Bristol. 
 This is all the plate which I have at present ; and I shall not buy any 
 more while so many around me want bread. I am, sir, 
 
 1 Your humble servant, 
 
 'John Wesley.' 
 
 When the death of Deare, the sculptor, was 
 communicated to Nollekens, he observed : ' He's 
 
222 NOLLE KENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 dead, is he ? That palavering fellow, Fagan, 1 
 promised me some of his drawings, but I never had 
 any. I have got two of his four basso-relievos of 
 the Seasons, and the two oval basso-relievos of 
 Cupid and Psyche. They are very clever, I assure 
 you ; but he was a very upstart fellow, or he ought 
 to have made money by sending over some antiques 
 from Rome. I told him I'd sell 'em for him, and 
 so might many of 'em ; but the sculptors nowadays 
 never care for bringing home anything. They're 
 all so stupid and conceited of their own abilities. 
 Why, do you know, I got all the first, and the 
 best of my money, by putting antiques together ? 
 Hamilton, and I, and Jenkins generally used to go 
 shares in what we bought ; and as I had to match 
 the pieces as well as I could, and clean 'em, I had 
 the best part of the profits. Gavin Hamilton was 
 a good fellow ; but as for Jenkins, he followed the 
 trade of supplying the foreign visitors with intaglios 
 and cameos made by his own people, that he kept 
 in a part of the ruins of the Colosseum, fitted up for 
 'em to work in slyly by themselves. I saw 'em at 
 work, though ; and Jenkins gave a whole handful 
 of 'em to me to say nothing about the matter to 
 anybody else but myself. Bless your heart! he 
 sold 'em as fast as they made 'em. Jenkins had a 
 great many pictures by many of the Old Masters. 
 Mosman, the German, made drawings of 'em in 
 black chalk for Lord Exeter, who was his en- 
 courager for many years.' 
 
 The cause of Mosman being thus employed was 
 
 1 Robert Fagan, an art-dealer, who was in Rome for the purpose of 
 collecting old pictures from 1794 to 1798. Ed. 
 
MOSMAN AND LORD EXETER 223 
 
 related by his patron, the late Earl of Exeter, 
 nearly to the following effect : His lordship, when 
 at Rome, having entered a church, was surprised 
 by seeing a common soldier making a most elaborate 
 drawing from one of the altar-pieces. He com- 
 plimented him upon his talent, and at the same 
 time expressed his astonishment in seeing a man of 
 his extraordinary powers in the dress of a common 
 soldier. ' Sir,' said the draughtsman, ' you are 
 welcome to look at my drawing ; but you have no 
 right to remind me of my condition.' Lord Exeter, 
 whose dress did not upon every occasion bespeak 
 his rank, assured him of his power to serve him if 
 he stood in need of a friend ; and when Mosman 
 found by whom he had been questioned, he stated 
 in a few words that for eighteen years he had been 
 tormented by a vixen of a wife, till at last he left 
 her in full possession of all his household property, 
 pictures, drawings, etc., and enlisted into a foreign 
 regiment as a common man that his officer, who 
 had heard his story, was very kind to him, and gave 
 him leave to make the drawing he was then engaged 
 upon. Lord Exeter purchased his discharge, and 
 employed him to make drawings of various fine 
 pictures, of which at that time there were no 
 engravings. These drawings now fill four im- 
 mensely large volumes, and were given by his 
 lordship to the British Museum ; and at the com- 
 mencement of the first of these splendid books is 
 the following note : 
 
 ' Mr. Nollekens, Statuary, in Mortimer-street, London, assured me 
 that he was at Rome when the drawings in this book were made by 
 
224 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 one Mosman, a German, 1 who was recommended to Brownlow, Earl 
 of Exeter ; and he worked at them several years at five shillings 
 a-day. Afterwards Lord Exeter gave him half-a-guinea. Lord Exeter 
 told Mr. Nollekens the book cost him 2,000/. Mosman was a pupil 
 of Mengs. 
 
 ( Fra s . Annesley.' 
 
 One day, what some persons would call ' an old- 
 fashioned boy ' brought Mr. Nollekens home a pair 
 of inexpressibles, that his master, a botching tailor, 
 who worked in an opposite stall, had seated for 
 him. Nollekens, after paying him the eighteen- 
 pence, which was the sum agreed upon for the 
 job, asked the boy how old he was. ' Sixteen,' 
 answered he. ' Why, you're rather short of your 
 age,' rejoined the sculptor ; upon which the boy 
 put the same question to the master of the small- 
 clothes, who having answered, 'Near sixty' 'Why, 
 you're very short for your age, I am sure!' retorted 
 the son of Accutus. 2 
 
 I shall now give my reader a sketch of one of the 
 family disputes in which Mr. and Mrs. Nollekens 
 sometimes freely indulged. 
 
 One day Bronze heard a more violent disputation 
 
 1 It appears on the manuscript title-page of the first volume of these 
 drawings that Joseph was considered as Mosman's Christian name ; 
 but in numerous, and indeed all, instances where the artist has written 
 his own name upon the drawings, he signs Nicholas Mosman. The 
 same title-page states that he was a native of Rous, in Lorraine, and 
 died August 14, 1787, aged fifty-eight years two months and eleven 
 days. Smith. 
 
 2 The great warrior, John Accutus, was originally a tailor. Those 
 invaluable historians of everlasting reference, John Stow and John 
 Speed, were also tailors ; and I could introduce the names of many 
 other worthy men now living, of the highest talents, who have 
 exchanged the needle, thimble, scissors, and shopboard for poetry and 
 painting. Smith. 
 
FAMILY SQUABBLES 225 
 
 than usual between her master and mistress : 
 4 What !' cried he, ' what ! madam, you're at your 
 old tricks again ? Twopence indeed ! I say I paid 
 you the twopence for the letter, and I'll take my 
 'davy of it !' ' Very well, sir, very well ; it's 
 mighty well, perfectly correct, and perfectly just, 
 Mr. Positive, I dare say,' retorted Mrs. Nollekens ; 
 4 you shall see, sir, from this very moment I will 
 never pay for a letter of yours again !' Then, after 
 a pause, her bit of slate was thrown on the floor, 
 and the lady in a whining tone, which convinced 
 Bronze she was wound up to the highest pitch, 
 cried with a half-stifled sob, ' You know you 
 know you vile little thing ! you paid me only 
 two shillings and sevenpence on last Thursday's 
 account.' 1 1 tell you this, and now mind what I 
 say,' replied Nollekens, ' that if it was so, it's your 
 own fault, for I never will pay a farthing more 
 when you have once smeared the slate, that I tell 
 you.' A knock at the door induced Bronze to go 
 in, and say, l Hush ! hush ! there's a knock at the 
 street-door.' ' I don't care,' exclaimed the sculptor, 
 c she shan't colly-wabble me. Go and see who it 
 is.' ' Want any fish to-day ?' asked an Irish fish- 
 woman ; * it's Friday, bless ye !' 'I don't care for 
 Friday. 1 I've had dinner enough, quite enough,' 
 
 1 Whatever a man's religion may be, some praise is due to him for 
 his attention to the tenets of that faith. I fear Nollekens was not 
 entitled to much credit for observances to what he called his Mother 
 Church, for I have often heard him declare that the patronage of his 
 friend Cardinal Albani, a great lover of sculpture, secured him from 
 the observations of many persons, as to his neglect of religious duties. 
 Smith. 
 
 15 
 
226 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 answered JNollekens, who walked out of the room 
 with only one slipper on. 'Betty ! Betty ! shut 
 the door ; it is very odd that people will not take 
 an answer,' rejoined Mrs. Nollekens. 
 
 At three o'clock, however, some chops were pro- 
 duced, and the half- sullen pair began both to be 
 sorry for their little heat ; but after the table-cloth 
 was removed, upon Bronze going into the parlour 
 with coals, she found them so perfectly recon- 
 ciled that her master was patting her mistress's 
 cheek with the backs of his fingers, and they both 
 appeared 
 
 ' Still amorous, and fond, and billing, 
 Like Philip ajod Mary on a shilling.' 
 
 Or, 
 
 ' Like dogs that snarl about a bone, 
 l And play together when they've none.' 
 
 Nollekens, though his cunning w T as truly amusing, 
 particularly whenever he could gain the whip-hand 
 of his w^ife, yet at times, like Sir Giles Overreach, 
 over-reached himself; and this he did most com- 
 pletely when he returned from Rome, as will 
 appear from the following anecdote, which was 
 communicated to me by one of his relations. 
 
 When he was preparing to leave Italy for 
 England, he wished to bring, among a quantity of 
 other things, a large picture, but after reflecting 
 upon the immense duty that might be put upon it 
 on account of its enormous size, he very ingeniously 
 hit upon the sensible expedient of cutting it into 
 several pieces, cunningly concluding that the in- 
 spector at the Custom-house would pass them over 
 
CHARLES TOWNLEY 227 
 
 as useless mutilations. But lo ! when these cut- 
 tings were inspected, the officer, in placing them 
 together, detected his countryman's intended de- 
 ception, and by making it known to the Com- 
 missioners, he was made to pay for every portion as 
 a distinct picture. 
 
 Nollekens knew so little of what is generally 
 denominated good-breeding, that when he has been 
 at the country-house of any of his employers 
 putting up a monument, his conversation has been 
 often so unguarded and vulgar as to occasion a 
 table to be ordered for him in a room by himself, 
 which deprived him of the agreeable society he 
 might otherwise have been- entitled to. I know 
 this to have been the case when he was at the seat 
 of a certain nobleman, of which he complained to 
 Mrs. Nollekens on his return to town. 
 
 Mr. Charles Townley, however, did not follow 
 this plan, for that gentleman, who had noticed 
 Nollekens at Rome, kindly continued for years to 
 entertain him at his house, No. 7, in Park Street, 
 Westminster ; and whenever any person spake of 
 good eating, Mr. Nollekens always gave his friend 
 Mr. Townley the highest credit for keeping a most 
 excellent table. C I am sure,' said he, 'to make a 
 good dinner at his house on a Sunday ; but there is 
 a little man, a great deal less than myself, who 
 dines there, of the name of Devay, a French abbe, 
 who beats me out and out ; he is one of the greatest 
 gormandizers I ever met with, though, to look at 
 him, you would declare him to be in the most 
 deplorable state of starvation.' 
 
228 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 The Abbe Devav was an excellent man : lie con- 
 versed and wrote in many languages, and his reading 
 and memory were so extensive and useful that 
 Mr. Townley, who referred to him in his literary 
 concerns, always called him his ' walking library.' 
 The high qualifications of the Abbe were also 
 known and acknowledged by other men of learn- 
 ing ; he was frequently present at the breakfast- 
 table and conversazioni of Sir Joseph Banks, and 
 instructed several persons of eminence in the 
 classics. 
 
 The Sunday dinners of Mr. Townley, mentioned 
 above, were principally for professors of the arts, 
 and Sir Joshua Eeynolds and Zoffany generally 
 enlivened the circle. The last-mentioned of these 
 celebrated characters painted a picture called ' Mr. 
 Townley's Gallery of Statues'; it was a portrait of 
 the library, though not strictly correct as to its 
 contents, since all the best of the marbles displayed 
 in various parts of the house were brought into the 
 painting by the artist, who made it up into a 
 picturesque composition according to his own taste. 
 The likeness of Mr. Townley is extremely good. 
 He is seated, and looks like the dignified possessor 
 of such treasures ; at his feet lies his favourite 
 dog Kam, a native of Kamschatka, whose mother 
 was one of the dogs yoked to a sledge which drew 
 Captain King in that island. Opposite to Mr. 
 Townley is Monsieur D'Hancarville, seated at a 
 table with a book open before him, behind whose 
 chair stand two others of his friends, Thomas 
 Astle, Esq., and the Hon. 'Charles G- revile, con- 
 
CHARLES TOWN LEY 229 
 
 versing. There is a large engraving of this picture, 
 but unfortunately it is in an unfinished state. The 
 painting itself has lately been sent to Townley 
 Hall. This picture is of the same description, in 
 point of subject and colouring, as the one painted 
 by the same artist of the Florentine Gallery for the 
 late King George III. 
 
 That excellent monarch, having heard this collec- 
 tion of marbles much spoken of, so highly respected 
 Mr. Townley that his Majesty declared his intention 
 of visiting him, though he never did. It happened, 
 however, that when Mr. Townley petitioned the 
 Board of Works to allow a tree in the Birdcage 
 Walk which darkened his house to be cut down, the 
 King, to whom this petition was submitted, at once 
 most liberally gave permission, observing that Mr. 
 Townley should have every possible accommodation. 
 It is very remarkable that this gentleman was not 
 only obliged by the King, but afterwards by an 
 easterly wind, which, according to the proverb, 
 seldom proves beneficial, for no sooner was the tree 
 cut down than a tremendous hurricane arose, which 
 tore up the one that had stood next to it, by which 
 his rooms received an extensive and uninterrupted 
 light from the north. 
 
 From what I have seen and heard described, in 
 no instance can a orivate residence be found to 
 equal that of the late Charles Townley, Esq. The 
 possession of taste and an affluent fortune qualified 
 and enabled that enlightened and elegant gentleman 
 to indulge, in the course of his travels, in the 
 purchase of those antiques which now grace the 
 
230 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 Townley Gallery of the British Museum, which 
 will clo eternal honour to his memory, as well as to 
 the Government which so liberally purchased them. 
 These treasures still keep their estimation with the 
 public, notwithstanding the Elgin marbles are now 
 considered by the professors, in every branch of 
 the polite arts, to comprise the artists' primer. I 
 shall now endeavour to anticipate the wish of the 
 reader by giving a brief description of those rooms 
 of Mr. Townley's house, in which that gentleman's 
 liberality employed me when a boy, with many 
 other students in the Royal Academy, to make 
 drawings for his portfolios. 
 
 As the visitor entered the hall, his attention was 
 arrested by an immense sarcophagus on his left 
 hand, measuring seven feet in length, opposite to 
 which were two heads of lions, the size of life, one 
 on either side of the chimney-piece. This hall was 
 also adorned with bas-reliefs, sepulchral monu- 
 ments, inscriptions, cinerary urns, etc., from the 
 villas of Fonsega, Montalto, Pullucchi, Antoninus 
 Pius, the Justiniani Palace, etc. The staircase was 
 enriched with sepulchral urns and numerous Roman 
 inscriptions, and a very curious and ancient chair of 
 Pavonazzo marble. In the space over the dining- 
 room door was a bas-relief of a mystical marriage, 
 When the marbles were conveyed to the British 
 Museum, this space was filled up with a cast of a 
 boar taken from the celebrated one at Paris. The 
 parlour or dressing-room in Park Street contained 
 a rich display of votive altars, sepulchral urns, and 
 inscriptions. Among the marbles was a most 
 
CHARLES TOWNLEY 231 
 
 spirited statue o a Satyr, the thumb of whose 
 right hand is enclosed between his two fore-fingers ; 
 it is now numbered 24 in the Townley Gallery 
 in the British Museum, and this small but excellent 
 specimen of ancient art was presented to Mr. 
 Townley by his friend Lord Cawdor. The ancient, 
 rare, and truly interesting collection of terra-cottas 
 brought from Rome by Nollekens, which has been 
 already noticed in an early page of this volume, was 
 let into the walls of this room. Of the female 
 figures in these specimens the tasteful Cipriani was 
 so extremely fond that he has been heard to 
 declare to Mr. Townley that they afforded him so 
 much pleasure that he never knew when to leave 
 them. 
 
 The dining-parlour looking over St. James's 
 Park was a room in which Mr. Townley has enter- 
 tained personages of the highest rank in this 
 kingdom, as well as visitors from all nations who 
 were eminent for the brilliancy of their wit or their 
 literary acquirements, and it contained the greater 
 part of his statues. Here stood those of Libera, 
 Isis, Diana, the Discobolus, a drunken Faun, and 
 an Adonis ; but, above all, that most magnificent 
 one, of Venus, which measures six feet four inches 
 in height. Mr. Nollekens informed me that, in 
 the conveyance of this statue to England, the 
 following singular stratagem to save the immense 
 duty upon so large and so perfect a figure was 
 resorted to. In consequence of it having been dis- 
 covered that the figure had been carved from two 
 blocks and put together at the waist, at the com- 
 
232 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 mencement of the drapery, it was separated, and 
 sent at different times, so that the duty upon each 
 fragment amounted to a mere trifle. It is now 
 numbered 14 in the Townley Gallery in the British 
 Museum. 
 
 Among the busts was that of Caracalla, and one 
 of the most beautiful vases perhaps in the world. 
 It is embellished with Bacchanalian figures, and 
 was brought from the Villa of Antoninus, where 
 other treasures of art have been discovered. Over 
 the chimney-piece in the drawing-room, looking 
 into Park Street, was a bas-relief in terra-cotta of 
 a marriage ceremony, modelled by Mr. Nollekens 
 from the one over the dining-room door. This 
 performance was highly esteemed by Mr. Townley, 
 who always spake of Mr. Nollekens as the first 
 sculptor of his day. 
 
 The drawing-room, commanding a most beautiful 
 view of the Park, contained principally the follow- 
 ing heads and busts : Decebatus, Marcus Aurelius, 
 Hadrian, Trajan, Hercules, Antinous, and Adonis ; 
 but of all others, that of Isis upon the Lotus was 
 considered by artists to be one of the most perfect 
 and beautiful specimens of sculpture. It was 
 purchased of Prince Laurenzano, of Naples, in 
 1772. This bust of Isis, which Mr. Nollekens 
 considered to be a portrait of the sculptor's model, 
 was so much admired by him that he always had a 
 copy of it in marble purposely for sale. The last 
 one was sold, after the collection was purchased by 
 Government, to John Townley, Esq., for one 
 hundred guineas, who was delighted to see so 
 
CHARLES TOWNLEY 233 
 
 exquisite a copy placed in the situation which the 
 original had graced for so many years. 
 
 The same room also contained a child asleep, 
 a figure of Diana seated, and a lion's head with 
 horns. Of this last specimen I have heard Mr. 
 Chantrey speak in rapturous terms, particularly as 
 to the animated manner in which the artist had 
 used the drill in finishing the mane, for this tool, 
 when judiciously introduced in hair, certainly gives 
 wonderful vigour and depth of touch, as may be 
 seen in the numerous portraits of persons of the 
 highest rank and talent produced by Chantrey, 
 whose busts alone have secured him unrivalled 
 fame. 
 
 The library was highly interesting : it was lighted 
 from above, and was in every respect an excellent 
 room for study. The marbles in it were not so 
 numerous as those in the dining-parlour, but they 
 consisted of some choice specimens. Among the 
 busts were those of Antoninus Pius, Titan, 
 Caracalla's wife, Plautilla, Lucius Verus, and the 
 celebrated one of Homer, which has been so 
 repeatedly and admirably engraven. Here were 
 also the heads of Adonis, and that beautiful one 
 of a child with its locks uncut over its right 
 ear, together with the exquisite little statue of 
 Angerona, which is now called a Venus, and 
 numbered 22 in the gallery of the British Museum. 
 Mr. Nollekens renewed the arms of this figure, for 
 which restoration I stood when his pupil. 
 
 Mr. Townley was so enamoured with his favourite 
 busts of Isis, Pericles, and Homer, the most perfect 
 
234 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 specimens of ancient art, that he employed the 
 hand of Skelton, Sharpe's favourite pupil, to 
 engrave them upon a small plate, which he used as 
 his visiting-card. This elegant performance, always 
 considered a great rarity, was left only at the 
 houses of particular persons, so that an impression 
 of it is now greatly coveted by the collectors of 
 such bijoux. 
 
 Of all Mr. Townley's friends, I am perfectly 
 convinced that no one respected him more than 
 Mr. Christie, the auctioneer, and a member of the 
 Dilettanti Society, for whose learning and classical 
 acquirements Mr. Townley had the highest esteem, 
 and to whom he always gave up the keys of his 
 cabinets whenever he visited him. Mr. Townley 
 was buried at Burnley, near Townley Hall, in 
 Lancashire ; and so much was he beloved by the 
 country people far and near, that as his hearse 
 passed the sides of the road were crowded and the 
 windows of the town filled, the spectators being all 
 silent and uncovered. 
 
 Mr. Townley's bust in the first room of the 
 Gallery of Antiquities in the British Museum is 
 considered a pretty good likeness, though the lower 
 part of the face is certainly too full. Mr. Nollekens 
 carved it after Mr. Townley's death, from a mask 
 which he took from his face. Another bust by 
 Nollekens, though by no means so good either in 
 art or likeness, has been bequeathed to the same 
 national institution by the late Richard Payne 
 Knight, Esq. 
 
 The Dilettanti Society, as well as other learned 
 
TOWNLEY' S HOUSE 235 
 
 men, with whom Mr. Townley had lived in the 
 most cheerful and instructive intercourse, were 
 deprived of their accustomed pleasures by his 
 death, which took place in the bedchamber on the 
 second floor looking over the Park, on January 3, 
 1805. In this room also died his uncle, John 
 Townley, Esq., a highly -respected gentleman, who 
 had for many years been an eminent collector of 
 Hollar's works, of English portraits for the illus- 
 tration of Granger's ' Biographical History of 
 England,' and of rare and valuable books, for the 
 reception of which he had fitted up the dining and 
 drawing rooms facing the Park, with accommodating 
 galleries all round. The house is now inhabited by 
 his son, Peregrine Edward Townley, Esq., a family 
 trustee of the British Museum. 
 
 This house, which was purchased by Mr. Townley 
 in that state denominated by builders ! a shell,' was 
 finished according to his own taste ; but the ground 
 upon which it stands, as well as that of several 
 adjoining mansions, belongs to Christ's Hospital. 
 The late Koyal Cockpit, which afforded Hogarth 
 an excellent scene for his humour, remained a 
 next-door noisy nuisance to Mr. Townley for many 
 years. It is a curious fact that of this print of the 
 Cockpit by Hogarth, as well as those of the Gates 
 of Calais and South wark Fair, I have never seen, 
 read, nor heard of an etching, nor of any im- 
 pression whatever, with a variation from the state 
 in which they were published. 
 
 This is the more extraordinary as they are all 
 highly-finished plates, and the artist must have 
 
236 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 required many proofs of them in their progress 
 before he could have been satisfied with their effect, 
 particularly in that of Southwark Fair, which, in 
 my opinion, is not only the deepest studied as to 
 composition, and light and shade, but the most 
 elaborately finished, and perhaps the most inno- 
 cently entertaining of all his works. For great as 
 Hogarth was in his display of every variety of 
 character, I should never think of exhibiting a 
 portfolio of his prints to the youthful inquirer ; nor 
 can I agree that the man who was so accustomed 
 to visit, so fond of delineating, and who gave up so 
 much of his time to the vices of the most abandoned 
 classes, was in truth a c moral teacher of mankind.' 
 My father knew Hogarth well, and I have often 
 heard him declare that he revelled in the company 
 of the drunken and profligate Churchill, Wilkes, 
 Hayman, etc., were among his constant companions. 
 Dr. John Hoadly, though in my opinion it reflected 
 no credit on him, delighted in his company ; but 
 he did not approve of all the prints produced by 
 him, particularly that of the first state of c En- 
 thusiasm Displayed,' which, had Mr. Garrick or 
 Dr. Johnson seen, they could never for a moment 
 have entertained their high esteem of so irreligious 
 a character. 
 
[ 237 ] 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Mr. Nollekens' intelligence whilst abroad Prints of Marc- Antonio 
 Distinction of draperies and flesh in sculpture Dutch tables, and 
 improvement in English taste Difficulties attendant on the lighting 
 of pieces of sculpture Ignorance of persons employed to erect and 
 repair them. Huge blocks of marble used by modern sculptors 
 Fatal consequences of piecing the stone Works of a mender of 
 antiques Anecdote of Mr. Whitbread Coquetry, death, and funeral 
 of Angelica Kauffmann Death and epitaph of Miss Welch Mr. 
 Nollekens' visits to the Opera Instances of his economy and ignor- 
 ance Dog- Jennings. 
 
 It is reasonable to expect, in the course of repeated 
 conversations with travellers, or with persons who 
 have resided several years abroad, some little 
 account of their particular pursuits and employ- 
 ments, as well as of their pleasures and amuse- 
 ments ; but it is most extraordinary that Mr. 
 Nollekens' observations on events which had 
 taken place during his absence from England 
 never led him to speak of works of sculp- 
 ture unless he was questioned ; and then his 
 answers did not prove that he possessed any depth 
 of knowledge of their history. Indeed, they 
 amounted to little more than monosyllabic answers, 
 though I am certain, if he had turned to his 
 
238 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 memorandum-books, in which there were numerous 
 sketches of groups, statues, and busts, with their 
 mutilations and measurements, he certainly could 
 have afforded much information. But this power 
 he did not possess ; nor was he inclined to look 
 them over until the later period of his life, when 
 his mind, had it ever been qualified, would, accord- 
 ing to the decay of nature, have been less capable to 
 apply them to any use. 
 
 During the long period of my knowledge of him, 
 Nollekens never once attempted to descant upon 
 the sublimity of thought, the grandeur of the 
 composition, nor the energetic expression of the 
 Laocoon, the Apollo Belvidere, the Farnese Her- 
 cules, the Niobe, the Venus de Medici, nor the 
 Diana of Ephesus. Nor did he ever appear to have 
 an inclination to collect the rise, progress, and 
 history of his art. A Babylonian seal with him 
 would have been a thing of no further estimation 
 than for its colour as a stone. A figure with its 
 legs and feet closed together was never noticed by 
 him as the first attempt of Egyptian sculpture, nor 
 was he aware that the projection of one leg before 
 the other was their first step to action, nor that the 
 arms of two seated figures, male and female, across 
 each other's back was the first instance of grouping 
 with the Egyptians. He knew very little as to the 
 introduction of Grecian art into Rome ; though he 
 was certainly pretty well informed as to the works 
 of Michael Angelo and John di Bologna, yet, at the 
 same time, he expressed himself with as much plea- 
 sure when he saw Bernini's group in the coachhouse 
 
ENGRA VINOS 239 
 
 of Sir Joshua Reynolds as he possibly could with 
 the productions of the two preceding great men. 
 
 Nollekens' usual communications to his friends 
 were the number of miles from Rome to Loretto ; 
 the names of persons who walked together on a 
 very hot day ; that Mr. Dalton's 1 conduct towards 
 Mr. Strange, 2 the engraver, was shamefully cruel ; 
 that little Crone, 3 the landscape-draughtsman, who 
 was employed to collect prints in Rome for Mr. 
 Mangin, of Dublin, was much ridiculed by the 
 natives on account of his deformity ; or that such 
 a Cardinal feigned a consumptive cough at the time 
 of an election for a Pope. One curious anecdote, 
 however, he frequently related when showing his 
 prints namely, that when he was at Rome, at the 
 fair time, the original plates engraved by Marc- 
 Antonio were printed for the bystanders at a 
 shilling an hour, the employer finding ink and 
 paper ; and that the eagerness with which these 
 worn-out and repeatedly touched-up publications of 
 Antonio Salamanca were collected induced the 
 visitors to cry out : ' The next shilling's worth is 
 for me ;' or, ' It is my turn now.' This will at once 
 account for the great quantity of bad impressions 
 from Marc-Antonio's plates which are now in 
 existence. 
 
 Much has frequently been said by those persons 
 who understand little of the matter respecting the 
 
 1 Richard Dalton (1720-1791), eEgraver and surveyor of the royal 
 pictures to George III. Ed. 
 
 2 Sir Robert Strange (1721-1792). Ed. 
 
 3 Robert Crone. He was an epileptic, and died in a fit in 1799. 
 Ed. 
 
240 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 practice of modern sculptors, as it regards the 
 manner in which the texture of the respective 
 materials they represent should be carved. They 
 insist that no attempt to particularize any specific 
 substance should be made, but that every descrip- 
 tion of drapery should be treated alike, whether 
 linen, silk, or woollen so that it be drapery it is 
 enough. Another states that the silk drapery given 
 by Eoubiliac to the statue of Sir Isaac Newton at 
 Cambridge is more often admired than the other 
 parts of the figure ; and this may probably be the 
 case, as the ideas of those persons who praise the 
 statue for its silk mantle are confined to texture 
 only. But surely it would have been highly im- 
 proper if Roubiliac had given folds like those of 
 linen or woollen, when he knew that he had to 
 represent silk. 
 
 Chantrey's busts are valuable, in addition to their 
 astonishing strength of natural character, for the 
 fleshy manner in which he has treated them, which 
 every real artist knows to be the most difficult part 
 of the sculptor's task. Surely the man of taste, 
 after he has admired and spoken of the fleshiness 
 of a figure, would not think of blaming the sculptor 
 for attending to the manner in which he had carved 
 the ermine of a king's robe, the lawn sleeves of a 
 bishop's rochet, the silk riband of an order of 
 knighthood, or the woollen coat of an admiral. 
 Each of these articles should be precisely attended 
 to, or they will not remind us of the things which 
 they are intended to represent ; and if the sculptor 
 were wholly inattentive to texture, many a lawyer 
 
FLESH IN MARBLE 241 
 
 would be deprived of his silk gown. Suppose the 
 artist had to carve a negro's woolly head, should 
 the hair be as sleek and oily as his skin ? In my 
 opinion, unquestionably not ; nor should the foam 
 of the fiery steed be glossy like its coat. The flesh 
 of that truly beautiful figure of Charity, by West- 
 macott, now in his studio, is powerfully and properly 
 contrasted by the coarseness of the dowlas drapery 
 with which he has covered her limbs ; and perhaps 
 I cannot point out a more striking instance of the 
 unequivocal influence of contrast than that which is 
 displayed in this figure. 
 
 Nollekens, great as he certainly was as a sculptor 
 of busts, never produced that lively fleshiness which 
 we see so pre-eminently attended to by the best 
 English sculptors of the present day ; and yet he 
 was fully aware of its beauty and high importance, 
 for I have often heard him observe, when anyone 
 was looking at an antique head of a Faun, which 
 was afterwards purchased at his sale by his Grace 
 the Duke of Newcastle, that he never saw flesh 
 better represented in marble, and that it was for 
 that great excellence he bought it. But though 
 texture of the mechanical materials is by no means 
 to be neglected, it can be viewed by an intellectual 
 person in a secondary light only ; and it has often 
 of late years given me great pleasure to observe 
 that the same class of persons, who in my boyish 
 days would admire a bleeding-heart cherry painted 
 upon a Pontipool tea-board, or a Tradescant straw- 
 berry upon a Dutch table, 1 now attentively look, 
 
 1 This description of table, the pride of our great-grandmothers, in 
 which the brightest colours were most gorgeously displayed, was first 
 
 16 
 
242 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 and for a long time, too, with the most awful 
 respect at the majestic fragments of the Greek 
 sculptors' art so gloriously displayed in the Elgin 
 Gallery. These are indeed treasures, the merits 
 of which, in my humble opinion, men of the first 
 talent, however powerful might be their command 
 of words, would find themselves at least inadequate 
 to describe. 
 
 There is one truly lamentable disadvantage to 
 which the works of our best sculptors are frequently 
 exposed, namely, the want of a good light, without 
 which their labours cannot be viewed with that 
 essential assistance which the painter's productions 
 can in most instances procure. 
 
 The exquisitely-finished and numerous beauties 
 of a cabinet-picture can at all times be appreciated 
 by placing it in its proper light upon an easel as the 
 artist painted it, and intended it should be viewed ; 
 and a large picture may be hung in a gallery under 
 a certain admission of light falling upon it, accord- 
 ing to the arrangement and intention of the artist. 
 For the old historical painters always considered 
 very attentively the portion and power of light, as 
 well as the precise time it would fall upon those 
 
 imported from Holland into England in the reign of William and 
 Mary. The top was nothing more than a large oval tea-tray, with a 
 raised scalloped border round it, fixed upon a pillar, having a claw of 
 three legs. They are now and then to be met with in our good old- 
 fashioned family mansions, and brokers' shops. 
 
 They were formerly considered by our aunts Deborah to be such 
 an ornament to a room that, in order to exhibit them to advantage, 
 they were put up in the corner of a waiting-parlour for the admira- 
 tion of the country tenants when they brought their rents, or sat 
 waiting their turn for an order for coals in a severe winter. Smith. 
 
SCULPTURE IN CHURCHES 243 
 
 parts of the walls to which their labours were 
 destined, and they painted their pictures either 
 brighter or darker, modestly low or powerfully 
 strong, according to existing or adventitious cir- 
 cumstances. Sometimes, however, when they were 
 unavoidably compelled to occupy a gloomy recess 
 in a small chapel, illumined only by a borrowed or 
 a reflected light, they first of all considered the 
 angle of reflection under which their performances 
 could be best seen, and then painted their picture so 
 as to meet it. 
 
 The sculptor, on the contrary, unaided by 
 colours, has perhaps either too much or too little 
 light for his monument, and is often obliged to 
 erect it where there is hardly any at all, because 
 that part of the church belongs to the family, or 
 they insist upon having it as near as possible to 
 their pew, which has always gone with the mansion 
 they reside in ; thus enshrouding themselves in 
 their own primitive importance in the parish, at the 
 same time, perhaps, being totally ignorant of the 
 effect of a masterpiece of art, upon which they 
 have expended a considerable sum ; or not in any 
 way evincing an interest for the fame of the artist 
 employed, whose reputation has invited travellers 
 to visit the church, which is often a great source of 
 pleasure to the tourist. 
 
 I remember that Flaxman, after he had put up 
 his monument to the memory of Lord Mansfield in 
 Westminster Abbey, applied to the Dean for per- 
 mission to cover a small portion of a window with 
 a gray colour, in order to shut out an unpleasant 
 
244 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 glare of light ; but the Dean, to the great mortifica- 
 tion of the sculptor, would not comply with the 
 request. Nollekens seldom knew, nor, indeed, did 
 any of the English sculptors of former days care, 
 in what part of a country church their monuments 
 were to be placed ; they received the measurements 
 of the space they were to occupy from the family, 
 who had them from the carpenter, who was not 
 at all times very correct, without any notice of the 
 aspect, or stating whether the space were over or 
 under a window, or against a pier, or near the altar, 
 receiving a vertical light or a diagonal one ; and 
 upon this carelessly-measured order the sculptor 
 proceeded, never dreaming that his work was to be 
 placed close to the vestry-door in a dark corner. 
 Then, too, when it was up, the plasterer was to 
 adorn it with a neat jet-black border of a foot in 
 width ! so that it should match unostentatiously 
 with a monument on the opposite side, in an equally 
 forlorn situation, belonging to a family with whom 
 the relatives of the last deceased had been for ages 
 inveterately at variance ; whilst, to crown the whole 
 of this unhappy injury to art, the putting up was 
 generally entrusted to a mason, who, upon his 
 return to London, was rarely questioned as to where 
 it was erected, or as to how it looked. 
 
 To the praise of the artists, and the improved 
 taste of their employers of the present day, there is 
 very little of that monumental jobbing now per- 
 mitted ; the aspect and situation are first seen and 
 considered, accurate measurements are then made, 
 and the sculptor either sends his own experienced 
 
SCULPTURE 245 
 
 assistants from London to erect it, or superintends 
 it himself. And here I consider it my duty to 
 state, notwithstanding what I have said of a late 
 Dean of Westminster, that even the country clergy 
 of the present day, from their more general know- 
 ledge of works of art, are, with very few exceptions, 
 both willing and desirous of affording the sculptor 
 every possible assistance in their power, either by 
 shutting out obtrusive li^ht, or admitting: a greater 
 flood of it where the artist may consider it beneficial. 
 I have also infinite pleasure in being able to state 
 that our present sculptors of eminence will not 
 submit to the directions of the ignorant employer 
 to the deterioration of their productions, however 
 powerful his station in life may be. It would be 
 as well if our dressers for theatrical representations 
 would be as honestly firm, and not attend to the 
 ridiculous gew-gaw directions of an obstinate 
 manager ; we should then stand a good chance of 
 seeing the true costume of place and period, instead 
 of being obliged to sit out a play grossly defective 
 in almost every scene. 
 
 Of the mode of producing a figure by what 
 Nollekens called manoeuvring the marble, and 
 making it up of bits, our modern sculptors so com- 
 pletely disapprove that they have even worked 
 nearly the whole of the groups of their monuments 
 erected in St. Paul's Cathedral out of one piece of 
 marble ; and so immense are the blocks now im- 
 ported into England for works of sculpture, that 
 at this moment Mr. Chantrey has one weighing 
 many tons, for which he paid about the sum 
 
246 NOLLE KENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 of 600. Flaxman's last and truly grand work 
 of St. Michael overpowering Satan, which he 
 executed for the Earl of Egremont's noble gallery 
 of modern sculpture at Petworth, is likewise of one 
 block ; and this is also the universal practice with 
 all the other eminent sculptors. Westmacott's 
 charming group of Venus and Cupid, which he 
 is now executing for the same liberal nobleman, 
 is from one block ; and Rossi's truly vigorous and 
 masterly figure of the Boxer, just finished for the 
 same gallery, is likewise cut out of one piece, as 
 well as Bailey's animated statue of Earl St. Vincent, 
 executed by order of Government. 
 
 And here I must earnestly request the reader, 
 who may not at present be acquainted with the 
 names of other sculptors, not to suppose for a 
 moment that I confine these remarks to the members 
 of the Royal Academy. I should then consider 
 myself unworthy of the esteem of many young 
 artists, whose works are shining ornaments to their 
 country, and who must ultimately fill the honour- 
 able seats of the present members ; but as there 
 are tares amongst the wheat, I considered it better 
 to confine myself to those individuals only who 
 have been acknowledged by so honourable a body 
 as the Royal Academy, fully trusting that the 
 time will arrive when I shall more extensively have 
 it in my power to hand down a list of the pro- 
 ductions of some of them with as much pleasure 
 and impartiality as I have those who at present so 
 deservedly flourish under the distinguished appella- 
 tion of Royal Academicians. 
 
MASONS 247 
 
 To return to the subject, however, I should 
 observe that the disadvantages of piecing the 
 marble are often obvious, even to the most common 
 observer ; as may be seen in many instances, where 
 either the cramps have burst or given way, or, 
 from their not having been properly covered with 
 resin, the iron has so corroded the marble as 
 entirely to disfigure some of our finest works of 
 art. Another great objection which may be 
 adduced to the joining of marble is that, where the 
 joints are made in preponderating parts, it usually 
 happens that they give way, fall, and are broken. 
 And even this is not all, for sometimes, when such 
 an accident happens at a great distance from the 
 capital, the seat of most of our eminent artists, the 
 common mason of the district is called in to reset 
 the head or a broken limb a fellow perhaps who, 
 with all the kindred and impenetrable hardness of 
 his own granite, as soon as he is admitted into your 
 presence, puts his mallet-hand to his side in readi- 
 ness to pull out his two-foot rule, which he is 
 always sure to open at a right angle before he 
 answers or even hears the question ; and then, 
 immediately after rubbing the back of his right 
 ear and most accurately measuring the fractured 
 parts, hits upon a plan of cutting out the mutila- 
 tions by taking about three inches from the arm of 
 the statue ! The very thoughts of such masonic 
 masters of the craft paint to my imagination the 
 sort of fellow he must have been who put the left- 
 hand glove upon the right hand of the effigy of 
 Guy Faux, in Hogarth's humorously-entertaining 
 
248 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 print, illustrative of Huclibras, called the c Burning 
 of the Rumps.' 
 
 . However, should any of my readers exclaim 
 with Osric, c A hit, a very palpable hit !' I could, 
 in compassion to those who blindly employ these 
 masonic followers of Praxiteles, relate several 
 things equally good of a wealthy man of some 
 family, who turns his back upon all modern 
 sculpture in consequence of his having been at 
 Athens ; and because he has become the happy 
 possessor of some of the worst fragments of the 
 antique in this kingdom, employs a mere mason to 
 put them together, and is perfectly satisfied, though 
 a right foot has been most ingeniously placed upon 
 a left leg! Indeed, so fond is he of the antique, 
 that I have known him to order his bungler to 
 match a head with the best body he could find in 
 the mass of his dearly-acquired treasures, and then 
 to carve new limbs to match out of those that were 
 too large for other purposes, so that he might have 
 precisely the same stone. He is well acquainted 
 with the quarries whence the marble of such and 
 such a figure was taken, and is also quite perfect 
 in recollecting the names of ancient marbles. 
 
 Mr. Nollekens informed me that the late Mr. 
 Samuel Whitbread bought two fragments of antique, 
 statues of him for 200, and that the man sent by 
 Mr. Whitbread to pack them up for the country 
 used screws instead of nails. c Why,' said Mr. 
 Nollekens, ' do you use screws, when nails would 
 answer every purpose?' 'Lord, sir!' exclaimed 
 the carpenter, i I used screws to all the cases for 
 
ANGELICA KAUFFMAAN 249 
 
 the Piccadilly leaden figures !' The fact was this : 
 a man in the Borough had purchased the greater 
 number of Cheere's leaden figures at the auction 
 in Piccadilly. Mr. Whitbread bought nearly the 
 whole of him, and had them put up and sent to his 
 pleasure-grounds, with as much caution as if they 
 had been looking-glasses of the greatest dimensions 
 for his drawing-room. 
 
 The reader will probably recollect the manner 
 in which Angelica Kauffmann was imposed upon 
 by a gentleman's servant, who married her under 
 the name of Count Horn, and the way in which 
 his treachery was discovered, as related in the 
 early part of this volume. Angelica, however, 
 was universally considered as a coquette, so that 
 we cannot deeply sympathize in her disappoint- 
 ment ; and as a proof how justly she deserved 
 that character, I shall give an anecdote which 
 I have often heard Mr. Nollekens relate. When 
 Angelica was at Rome, previously to her marriage, 
 she was ridiculously fond of displaying her 
 person and being admired, for which purpose she 
 one evening took her station in one of the most 
 conspicuous boxes of the theatre, accompanied 
 by Nathaniel Dance and another artist, both of 
 whom, as well as many others, were desperately 
 enamoured of her. Angelica perhaps might have 
 recollected the remonstrance of Mrs. Peachum, 
 where she says : 
 
 ' Oh, Polly, you might have toy'd and kiss'd : 
 By keeping men off you keep them on.' 
 
 However, while she was standing between her two 
 
250 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 beaux, and finding an arm of each most lovingly 
 embracing her waist, she contrived, whilst her arms 
 were folded before her on the front of the box 
 over which she was leaning, to squeeze the hand 
 of both, so that each lover concluded himself 
 beyond all doubt the man of her choice. 
 
 On page 20 of Mr. Prince Hoare's ' Academic 
 Annals for 1808 ' is recorded the following com- 
 munication which was made to the members of the 
 Koyal Academy : 
 
 ' December 23rd. In the General Assembly the President declared 
 the decease of Angelica Kauffmann Zucchi. one of the Members of the 
 Academy. 5 
 
 The account of the loss of this distinguished 
 artist was received in a letter from Dr. Borsi, of 
 Rome, who, after relating the circumstances of her 
 illness and death, which happened on November 5 
 previous, proceeds to describe her obsequies, 
 celebrated in the Church of S. Andrea cle' Frati, 
 under the direction of the sculptor Canova and 
 others of her friends. ' The church,' savs Dr. 
 Borsi, ' was decorated in the manner customary on 
 the interment of those of noble family. At ten in 
 the morning the corpse was accompanied to the 
 church by two very numerous fraternities, fifty 
 Capuchins and fifty priests. The bier was carried 
 by some of the brotherhood, and the four corners 
 of the pall were supported by four young ladies, 
 dressed suitably to the occasion. The four tassels 
 were held by the four principal members of the 
 Academy of St. Luke ; these were followed by the 
 rest of the Academicians and other virtuosi, each 
 
ANNE WELCH 251 
 
 one with a large wax-taper lighted in his hand. 
 Two pictures, painted by the deceased, completed 
 the procession.' 
 
 After the death of the footman who had married 
 Angelica, and to whom she had allowed a separate 
 maintenance, she became the wife of Zucchi, the 
 painter, but continued to go by the name of 
 Angelica Kauffmann. 
 
 Mrs. Nollekens at this time received a most 
 severe and unexpected shock by the death of her 
 sister, Miss Welch, with whom she had always 
 lived in ties of the fondest love, paying the strictest 
 respect to every observation or wish she uttered, 
 according to the early advice given her by their 
 mutual friend, Dr. Samuel Johnson, who generally 
 spoke of Miss Welch as Miss Nancy. She died at 
 Bath, and was buried in the abbey of that city, 
 where an inscription was erected as follows : 
 
 1 Sacred to the Memory of Mrs. Anne Welch, 
 of Aylesbury, in the County of Bucks, 
 Daughter of Saunders Welch, Esq. 
 1 Admired by her friends, beloved by her acquaintance, blessed with 
 distinguished abilities, she was so improved by the knowledge of 
 various languages and science, that elegance of diction, beauty of 
 sentiment, the majesty of wisdom, and the grace of persuasion, ever 
 hung upon her lips. The bonds of life being gradually dissolved, she 
 winged her flight from this world in expectation of a better on 
 the 15th of January, 1810. 
 
 'Her afflicted and affectionate sister, Maria Nollekens, in full 
 assurance of their happy reunion, caused this monument to be 
 erected.' 1 
 
 I am at present ignorant of the name of the 
 author of the above inscription ; but allowing Mrs. 
 
 1 For this copy of Miss Welch's inscription I am obliged to my 
 amiable friend Mrs. Gwillim. Smith. 
 
252 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 Nollekens to have breathed only half the feelings 
 it sets forth, we shall be giving that lady credit for 
 great forbearance, as her cousin, Mr. Woodcock, 
 has informed me that she was much chagrined upon 
 finding that her sister's house at Aylesbury, with 
 its furniture, had been but a short time before her 
 death willed to another person. 
 
 I have spoken of the partiality of Nollekens for 
 the Italian Opera, at which place of amusement he 
 used to exhibit himself in his sword and bag in the 
 pit to hear Grrassini sing, though, at the same time, 
 he was so ignorant of music that he could not have 
 discovered any difference between the major and 
 minor keys. The portion of the performance 
 which really attracted him was, I doubt not, the 
 agile movements of the female dancers in the ballet. 
 He was at that time so well known at the opera- 
 house, that several of the military, who had an eye 
 to his property, would attend him, though in their 
 full uniform, to the door to see him safe into a 
 hackney-coach, an expense he indulged in only 
 when it rained hard. If, however, the reader be 
 surprised at this, what will he say when he is 
 informed that on the following morning he was 
 sometimes seen disputing with the cobbler, his 
 opposite neighbour, about the charge of twopence, 
 and refusing to pay Crispin's demand unless he put 
 three or four more sparables in the heels of the 
 shoes which he had mended twice before ! 
 
 One day Mr, Northcote the Academician, the 
 best and favourite pupil of Sir Joshua Reynolds, 
 had just reached his door in Argyle Street, when 
 
NOLLEKENS' SPELLING 253 
 
 Nollekens, who was looking up at the house, put 
 the following question to him : i Why don't you have 
 your house painted, Northcote ? Why, it's as dirty 
 as Jem Barry's was in Castle Street. I wonder 
 Beverly would let him live in it !' Now, Nollekens 
 had no right to exult over his brother artist in 
 this way, for he had given his own door a coat of 
 paint, and his front passage a whitewash, only the 
 day before, and they had been for years in the most 
 filthy state possible. 
 
 Miss Welch brought down upon herself his 
 eternal hatred by kindly venturing to improve him 
 in his spelling. She was a friendly and benevolent 
 woman, and I am indebted to her and the amiable 
 Mrs. Barker for many acts of kindness during the 
 time I was labouring under a tremendous loss by 
 fire. One evening, when I was drinking tea with 
 her at her lodgings, No. 69 in Newman Street, she 
 showed me a little book in which she had put down 
 Mr. Nollekens' way of spelling words in 1780, with 
 the manner in which they should be written. I 
 copied a few of them with her permission, which, I 
 must say, she gave me with some reluctance, not- 
 withstanding she disliked Nollekens most cordially, 
 though they were both Catholics. The following 
 instances may serve as specimens : ' Yousual, 
 scenceble, obligin, modle, wery, gentilman, promist, 
 sarvices, desier, Inglish, perscription, hardently, 
 jenerly, moust, devower, Jellis, Retier, sarved, 
 themselfs, could for cold, clargeman, facis, cupple, 
 foure, sun for son, boath sexis, daly, horsis, ladie, 
 cheif, talkin, tould, shee, sarch, paing, ould mades, 
 
254 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 racis, yoummer in his face, palas, oke, lemman, 
 are-bolloon, sammon, chimisters for chemists, yoke 
 for yolk, grownd,' etc. 
 
 Let me, however, entreat my readers to believe 
 that I detest the character of a critic of words, and 
 that my only motive of touching upon Mr. Nolle - 
 kens' ignorance in the year 1780 is to induce 
 them to believe that, when he made so many 
 codicils above forty years afterwards, he did not 
 know the true meaning of many words that we now 
 and then find in testamentary writings. A curious 
 specimen or two will be given in a future page of 
 this work of his ignorance of the true meaning of 
 words pronounced by him, even at a moment when 
 most persons believed him to be perfectly sane. 
 
 Towards the close of one of the hottest days in 
 summer, as Mr. Nollekens was returning from the 
 bench placed in front of the Queen's Head and 
 Artichoke as a seat for those persons whose dress 
 did not appear to entitle them to accommodation 
 withinside the house, he asked his man Dodimy 
 Avhat charitable actions he had done lately. 
 ' Charity, sir ? Bless you ! it's a long time since 
 you gave any.' 4 Well, then,' said his master, ' take 
 the twopence out of your waistcoat-pocket that you 
 had in change from the ale to that poor fellow 
 walking there.' ' What, to that little man in the 
 brown coat ?' ' Yes, sir, to that little man in the 
 brown coat.' ' Lord bless you ! that's Dog-Jen- 
 nings !' This eccentric gentleman, who was a 
 person of high taste and considerable family 
 fortune, received this name from his having brought 
 
DOG-JENNINGS 255 
 
 into England an antique sculpture of a dog, with 
 several other fine pieces of art, which were sold by 
 auction by the elder Christie. The dog brought 
 one thousand guineas, and was purchased by Mr. 
 Buncombe, of Yorkshire ; but a mould of it be- 
 longs to Sarti, the figure-maker, a cast from which 
 makes a most noble appearance in a gentleman's 
 hall. Nollekens : c What ! my old friend, Noel 
 Jennings ? What the devil does he do on this side 
 of the water in Marybone Fields ? Does he look 
 this way ?' ' No, sir,' was the reply. c Ah, well, 
 then, walk on this side ; don't let him see me. 
 Why, Mrs. Palmer left him a good piece of the 
 pigeon-pie last Sunday, when she made a day of it. 
 I paid the coach for both of us ; and Jennings, 
 according to custom, produced a bottle of cham- 
 pagne.' ' I know, sir,' rejoined Dodimy ; ' I heard 
 Mrs. Nollekens tell Mary all about it ; and, I can 
 tell you, mistress don't half like such ramblings.' 
 
[2 5 6] 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 The Elgin marbles brought to England Inquiries on them by a 
 Committee of the House of Commons, with answers by Nollekens, 
 Flaxman, Westmacott, Chantrey, Sir Thomas Lawrence, and 
 President West Remarks on them by a riding-master Contrast 
 of the manners of Nollekens and Flaxman Collection of medals 
 made by the latterOld medals of Italy, and those by Pisano 
 English medals by T. Simon French medals of Andrieu Coins 
 collected by Mr. Nollekens His loss by robbery His prints, gems, 
 and casts in plaster Art not hereditary. 
 
 When Lord Elgin's marbles arrived in England, 
 his lordship invited all persons of taste to view 
 them at his house, the corner of Park Lane, in 
 Piccadilly, now the town residence of his Koyal 
 Highness the Duke of Gloucester. They were 
 shortly afterwards moved to the side premises of 
 Burlington House, where they remained until a 
 temporary gallery could be prepared for them in the 
 British Museum by Government, which had pur- 
 chased them for the use of the public and the 
 advancement of art. During the time these marbles 
 were Lord Elgin's property, Mr. Nollekens, accom- 
 panied by his constant companion, Joseph Bonomi 
 a truly amiable youth, to whom from his birth 
 he had intended to be a benefactor paid them many 
 
THE ELGIN MARBLES 257 
 
 visits ; and, indeed, at that time not only all the 
 great artists, but every lover of the arts, were 
 readily admitted. The students of the Royal 
 Academy, and even Flaxman, the Phidias of our 
 times, and the venerable President West, drew from 
 them for weeks together. 
 
 As the mention of these marbles may bring to my 
 readers the recollection of events which some of 
 them may have nearly forgotten, I shall now intro- 
 duce Mr. Nollekens' answers to the Committee of 
 the House of Commons, contrasted with those of 
 Flaxman, together with a few of those of Sir 
 Thomas Lawrence and other great men of the 
 highest eminence in our countrv, who were called 
 upon for their opinion as to the excellence of those 
 wonderful works of art : 
 
 Chairman of the Committee. 'Mr. Nollekens, are you well acquainted 
 with the collection of marbles brought to England by Lord Elgin ?' 
 ' I am.' 
 
 ' What is your opinion of those marbles, as to the excellency of the 
 work ? ' They are very fine the finest things that ever came to this 
 country.' 
 
 * In what class do you place them, as compared with the finest 
 marbles which you have seen formerly in Italy?' ' I compare them 
 to the finest of Italy.' 
 
 'Which of those of my Lord Elgin's do you hold in the highest 
 estimation ?' ' I hold the Theseus and the Neptune to be two of the 
 finest things finer than anything in this country.' 
 
 ' In what class do you place the bas-reliefs ?' ' They are very fine 
 among the first class of bas-relief work.' 
 
 ' Do you think that the bas-reliefs of the Centaurs are in the finest 
 class of art ?' ' I do think so.' 
 
 ' Do you think the bas-reliefs of the frieze, representing the Pro- 
 cession, also in the first class of the art ?' ' In the first class of the 
 art.' 
 
 ' Do you conceive those two sets to be of or about the same date ?' 
 ' I cannot determine upon that.' 
 
 17 
 
258 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 1 Have you ever looked at this collection with a view to the value of 
 it ?'_< No, I have not. 5 
 
 1 Can you form any sort of estimate of the value of it ?' ' I cannot 
 say anything about the value.' 
 
 'Do you think it very desirable, as a national object, that this 
 collection should become public property ?' ' Undoubtedly.' 
 
 Can you form any judgment as to the date of those works, com- 
 paring them with other works that you have seen in Italy ?' 'I sup- 
 pose they are about as old ; but they may be older or later.' 
 
 1 To which of the works you have seen in Italy do you think the 
 Theseus bears the greatest resemblance ?' ' I compare that to the 
 Apollo Belvidere and Laocoon.' 
 
 ' Do you think the Theseus of as fine sculpture as the Apollo ?' 
 1 1 do.' 
 
 1 Do you think it has more or less of ideal beauty than the Apollo ?' 
 ' I cannot say it has more than the Apollo.' 
 
 ' Has it as much ?' ' I think it has as much.' 
 
 * Do you think that the Theseus is a closer copy of fine nature than 
 the Apollo ?' ' No ; I do not say it is a finer copy of nature than the 
 Apollo.' 
 
 ' Is there not a distinction among artists between a close imitation 
 of nature and ideal beauty ?' ' I look upon them as ideal beauty, and 
 closeness of study from nature.' 
 
 ' You were asked just now if you could form any estimate of the 
 value of this collection ; can you put any value upon them, compara- 
 tively with the Townley marbles ?' ' I reckon them very much higher 
 than the Townley marbles for beauty.' 
 
 ' Suppose the Townley marbles to be valued at 20,000, what might 
 you estimate these at ?' ' They are quite a different thing ; I think 
 the one is all completely finished and mended up, and these are real 
 fragments as they have been found, and it would cost a great deal of 
 time and expense to put them in order.' 
 
 Tor the use of artists, will they not answer every purpose in 
 their present state ?' ' Yes, perfectly ; I would not have them 
 touched.' 
 
 ' Have you seen the Greek marbles lately brought to the Museum ?' 
 I have.' 
 
 1 How do you rank those in comparison with these ?' ' Those are 
 very clever, but not like those of Lord Elgin's.' 
 
 ' Then you consider them very inferior ?' ' No ; I consider them 
 inferior to Lord Elgin's not very inferior, though they may be called 
 inferior.' 
 
 ' When you studied in Italy, had you many opportunities of seeing 
 
EVIDENCE OF FLAXMAN 259 
 
 remains of Grecian art ?' ' I saw all the fine things to be seen at Rome, 
 both in painting and sculpture.' 
 
 ' Do you remember a piece of bas-relief representing Bacchus and 
 Icarus, in the Townley collection ?' ' I recollect all those things ; I 
 used to spend my Sundays there with Mr. Townley.' 
 
 ' Do you happen to recollect particularly that piece ?' ' No, I do not 
 recollect it among the great quantity of things.' 
 
 ' Have you formed any idea of the value of these objects in the 
 light of acquisitions to individuals, as objects of decoration, if sold 
 individually ? ; ' I cannot put a value upon them ; they are by far the 
 finest things that ever came to this country.' 
 
 ' Do you mean by that that you consider them so valuable that you 
 cannot put a value upon them ?' ' No, I do not know : as to fine 
 things, they are not to be got every day. 7 
 
 ' Do you consider part of the value of the Townley collection to have 
 depended upon the cost and labour incurred in restoring them ?' 'As 
 for restoring them, that must have cost a great deal of money ; I know 
 Mr. Townley was there for years about them.' 
 
 ' Have the Elgin collection gained in general estimation and utility 
 since they have been more known and studied?' 'Yes.' 
 
 John Flaxman, Esq., R.A., called in, and examined. 
 
 'Are you well acquainted with the Elgin collection of marbles?' 
 ' Yes, I have seen them frequently, and I have drawn from them ; and 
 I have made such inquiries as I thought necessary concerning them 
 respecting my art.' 
 
 ' In what class do you hold them, as compared with the first works 
 of art which you have seen before ?' ' The Elgin marbles are mostly 
 basso-relievos, and the finest works of art I have seen. Those in the 
 Pope's Museum, and the other galleries of Italy, were the Laocoon, 
 the Apollo Belvidere ; and the other most celebrated works of antiquity 
 were groups and statues. These differ in the respect that they are 
 chiefly basso-relievos and fragments of statuary. With respect to their 
 excellence, they are the most excellent of their kind that I have seen ; 
 and I have every reason to believe that they were executed by Phidias, 
 and those employed under him, or the general design of them given by 
 him at the time the temple was built ; as we are informed that he was 
 the artist principally employed by Pericles, and his principal scholars, 
 mentioned by Pliny, Alcamenes, and about four others immediately 
 under him ; to which he adds a catalogue of seven or eight others, who 
 followed in order ; and he mentions their succeeding Phidias in the 
 course of twenty years. I believe they are the works of those artists ; 
 and in this respect they are superior to almost any works of antiquity, 
 
260 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 excepting the Laocoon and Torso Farnese, because they are known to 
 have been executed by the artists whose names are recorded by the 
 ancient authors. With respect to the beauty of the basso-relievos, 
 they are as perfect nature as it is possible to put into the compass of 
 the marble in which they are executed, and that of the most elegant 
 kind. There is one statue, also, which is called a Hercules, or Theseus, 
 of the first order of merit. The fragments are finely executed, but I 
 do not, in my own estimation, think their merit is as great.' 
 
 ' What fragments do you speak of ?' ' Several fragments of women 
 the groups without their heads. 5 
 
 'You do not mean the metopes?' 'No; those statues which were 
 in the east and west pediments originally.' 
 
 ' In what estimation do vou hold the Theseus, as compared with the 
 Apollo Belvidere and the Laocoon ?' ' If you would permit me to 
 compare it with a fragment I will mention, I should estimate it before 
 the Torso Belvidere.' 
 
 ' As compared with the Apollo Belvidere, in what rank do you hold 
 the Theseus ?' ' For two reasons I cannot at this moment very 
 correctly compare them in my own mind. In the first place, the 
 Apollo Belvidere is a divinity of a higher order than Hercules, and 
 therefore I cannot so well compare the two. I compared the Hercules 
 with a Hercules before, to make the comparison more just. In the 
 next place, the Theseus is not only on the surface corroded by the 
 weather, but the head is in that impaired state that I can scarcely give 
 an opinion upon it, and the limbs are mutilated. To answer the 
 question, I should prefer the Apollo Belvidere certainly, though I 
 believe it is only a copy.' 
 
 1 Does the Apollo Belvidere partake more of ideal beauty than the 
 Theseus ?' ' In my mind, it does decidedly ; I have not the least 
 question of it.' 
 
 ' Do you think that increases its value ?' ' Yes, very highly. The 
 highest efforts of art in that class have always been the most difficult 
 to succeed in, both among ancients and moderns, if they have suc- 
 ceeded in it/ 
 
 1 Supposing the state of the Theseus to be perfect, would you value 
 it more as a work of art than the Apollo ?' 'No ; I should value the 
 Apollo for the ideal beauty before any male statue I know.' 
 
 * Although you think it a copy ?' ' I am sure it is a copy ; the other 
 is an original, and by a first-rate artist.' 
 
 1 The Committee is very anxious to know the reason you have in 
 stating so decidedly your opinion that the Apollo is a copy.' ' There 
 are many reasons, and I am afraid it would be troublesome to the Com- 
 mittee to go through them. The general appearance of the hair and the 
 
EVIDENCE OF FLAXMAN 261 
 
 mantle of the Apollo Belvidere is in the style more of bronze than of 
 marble ; and there is mentioned in the Pope's Museum (Pio Clemen- 
 tino) by the Chevalier Yisconti, who illustrated that museum, that 
 there was a statue in Athens I do not know whether it was in the 
 city or some particular temple, or whether the place is mentioned 
 an Apollo Alexicacos, a driver away of evil, in bronze, by Calamis, 
 erected on account of a plague that had been in Athens. From the 
 representations of this statue in basso-relievos, with a bow, it is 
 believed that this figure might be a copy of that. One reason I have 
 given is that the execution of the hair and cloak resembles bronze. 
 But another thing convinces me of its being a copy. I had a conver- 
 sation with Visconti and Canova on the spot, and my particular 
 reason is this : a cloak hangs over the left arm, which in bronze it was 
 easy to execute, so that the folds on one side should answer to the 
 folds on the other ; the cloak is single, and therefore it is requisite 
 that the folds on one side should answer to the folds on the other. 
 There is no duplication of drapery. In bronze that was easy to 
 execute, but in marble it was not ; therefore, I presume, the copyist 
 preferred copying the folds in front ; but the folds did not answer to 
 each other on one side and the other. Those on the back appear to 
 have been calculated for strength in the marble, and those in front to 
 represent the bronze, from which I apprehend they were copied. 
 There is another reason, which is that the most celebrated figure of 
 antiquity is mentioned by Pliny and its sculptor, the Yenus of Cnidus 
 by Praxiteles ; and he mentions it in a remarkable manner, for he 
 says the works of Praxiteles in the Ceramicus not only excel those of 
 all other sculptors, but his own, and this Yenus excels all that he ever 
 did. Now, it seems inconceivable that so fine a statue as the Apollo 
 could have been executed without its name being brought down to us 
 either by Pliny or Pausanias, if it had been esteemed the first statue 
 in the world. 5 . . . 
 
 ' Do you conceive practically that any improvement has taken place 
 in the state of the arts in this country since this collection has been 
 open to the public ?'' Within these last twenty years, I think, 
 sculpture has improved in a very great degree, and I believe my 
 opinion is not singular ; but unless I was to take time to reflect upon 
 the several causes of which that has been the consequence, I cannot 
 pretend to answer the question. I think works of such prime import- 
 ance could not remain in the country without improving the public 
 taste and the taste of the artists.' . . . 
 
 ' What characteristic mark do you observe of high antiquity, as 
 compared with the other works of antiquity ?' ' In the first place, I 
 observe a particular classification of the parts of the body ; and I have 
 
262 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 adverted to the medical writer of that age, Hippocrates, and find that 
 the distinctions of the body, when they have been taken from the 
 finest nature, in the highest state of exercise, and in the best condition 
 in all respects, which might be expected from those who possessed 
 great personal beauty and cultivated habits of living most likely to 
 produce it, and who were accustomed to see it frequently in public 
 exercises this classification, which they appeared to prefer, is con- 
 formable to the distinctions in the statues. It is well known that in 
 the writings of Hippocrates a great deal of attention is paid to the 
 economy of the human body and its interior parts, but that its 
 exteriors are not described as our modern anatomists describe them, 
 but in a simple manner by a general classification of parts and 
 muscles. What I would particularly say on the subject is this: 
 Hippocrates describes the edges of the ribs as forming a semicircle at 
 the bottom of the upper thorax ; he describes with some accuracy the 
 meeting and form of the upper part of the scapula and acromion with 
 the collar-bone (that part is particularly marked in these figures) ; he 
 describes the knee-pan as a single bone : and that was their manner 
 of making the knee in the statues of that time ; and, if I remember 
 right, he also describes the upper part of the basiu-bone, which is par- 
 ticularly marked in the antique statues. In a few words, the form of 
 the body has a classification of a simple kind in a few parts, such as I 
 find in the ancient anatomists, and such as are common in the outlines 
 of the painted Greek vases. Besides, as far as I can judge from our 
 documents of antiquity the painted Greek vases, for example those 
 that come nearer to the time in which these marbles are believed to 
 be produced are conceived in the same character, and drawn in the 
 same manner.' 
 
 ' Did not that classification continue much later than the time of 
 Pericles ?' ' Yes, it did continue later, but it became more compli- 
 cated, and in some cases more geometrical.' 
 
 1 Does the anatomy of these figures agree with the anatomy of the 
 Laocoon or of the Torso Farnese ?' ' They agree most with the Torso 
 Farnese. I cannot judge very accurately of that at this time, for it 
 was about to be removed from Rome at the time I was there, and it 
 is very much broken. In respect to the Laocoon, I believe it to be a 
 very posterior work, done after a time when considerable discoveries 
 had been made in anatomy in the Alexandrian school, which I think 
 had been communicated not only among physicians, but among artists 
 all over Greece ; and in the Laocoon the divisions are much more 
 numerous.' 
 
 ' Do you observe any considerable difference in the conformation of 
 the horses between the metopes and the Procession ?' ' It is to be 
 
EVIDENCE OF FLAXMAN 263 
 
 recollected, both in the metopes and the Procession, that different 
 hands have been employed upon them ; so that it is difficult, unless I 
 had them before me, to give a distinct opinion, particularly as the 
 horses in the metopes have not horses' heads. I do not think I can 
 give a very decided opinion upon it, but in general the character 
 appears to me very much the same.' 
 
 1 Should you have judged the metopes and the frieze to be of the 
 same age if they had not come from the same temple ?' ' Yes, un- 
 doubtedly I should.' 
 
 ' Have you ever looked at this collection with a view to its value in 
 money?' 'I never have ; but I conceive that the value in money 
 must be very considerable, judging only from the quantity of sculpture 
 in it. The question never occurred to me before this morning, but it 
 appears to me that there is a quantity of labour equal to three or four 
 of the greatest public monuments that have lately been erected ; and 
 I think it is said either in Chandler's " Inscriptions " or in Stuart's 
 "Athens" that the temple cost a sum equal to 500,000.' 
 
 ' Have you seen the Greek marbles lately deposited in the British 
 Museum? 'Yes.' 
 
 1 In what class do you place those, as compared with the basso- 
 relievos of Lord Elgin's collection ?' ' With respect to the excellence 
 of workmanship, the metopes and the basso-relievos of Procession are 
 very superior to those in the Museum, though the composition of the 
 others is exquisite.' 
 
 1 Which do you think the greatest antiquity ?' ' Lord Elgin's ; the 
 others I take to be nearly twenty years later. 1 
 
 In what rate do you class these marbles, as compared with Mr. 
 Townley's collection ?' ' I should value them more, as being the 
 ascertained works of the first artists of that celebrated age. The 
 greater part of Mr. Townley's marbles, with some few exceptions, are 
 perhaps copies, or only acknowledged inferior works.' 
 
 ' Do you reckon Lord Elgin's marbles of greater value as never 
 having been touched by any modern hand ?' ' Yes.' 
 
 i In what class do you hold the draped figures, of which there are 
 large fragments ?' ' They are fine specimens of execution, but in 
 other respects I do not esteem them very highly, excepting the Iris 
 and a fragment of the Yictory.' 
 
 ' Do you consider those to be of the same antiquity ? ' I do.' 
 
 ' Be pleased to account for the difference in their appearance.' ' I 
 think sculpture at that time made a great stride. Phidias, having had 
 the advantage of studying painting, first gave a great freedom to his 
 designs. That freedom he was able to execute, or have executed, with 
 great ease in small and flat works ; but as the proportions of the 
 
264 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 particular drawings of the figures were not so well understood generally 
 as they were a few years afterwards, there are some disproportions 
 and inaccuracies in the larger figures, the necessary consequences of 
 executing great works when the principles of an art are not estab- 
 lished.' 
 
 1 Do you recollect two figures that are sitting together with the arms 
 over each other ?' 'Yes.' 
 
 * Is your low estimation of the draped figures applicable to those ?' 
 ' My opinion may be incorrect, and it may be more so by not having 
 the figures before me ; but I meant my observation to apply to all the 
 draped figures.' 
 
 ' Were the proportions of those statues calculated to have their 
 effect at a particular distance ?' ' I believe not ; I do not believe the 
 art had arrived at that nicety.' 
 
 You have remarked probably those parts, particularly of the 
 Neptune and some of the metopes, that are in high perfection, from 
 having been preserved from the weather ?' 'I have remarked those 
 that are in the best condition.' 
 
 ' Did you ever see any statue higher finished than those parts, or 
 that could convey an idea of high finish more completely to an artist ?' 
 ' I set out with saying that the execution is admirable.' 
 
 ' In those particular parts, have not you observed as high a finish as 
 in any statue that ever you saw ?' ' Yes ; and in some places a very 
 useless finish, in my opinion.' 
 
 ' Do you think the Theseus and the Neptune of equal merit, or is 
 one superior to the other ?' ' Chevalier Canova, when I conversed 
 with him on the same subject, seemed to think they were equal. I 
 think the Ilissus is very inferior.' 
 
 ' You think the Ilissus is inferior to the Theseus ?' ' Extremely 
 inferior ; and I am convinced, if I had had an opportunity of con- 
 sidering it with Chevalier Canova, he would have thought so, too.' 
 
 ' Can you inform the Committee whether the climate of England is 
 likely to have a different effect upon the statues from the climate 
 from which they were brought, and whether it would be possible, by 
 keeping them under cover, to prevent the effect of the climate ?' 
 ' Entirely.' 
 
 1 You know the bas-relief in the Townley collection of Bacchus and 
 Icarus ?' ' Yes. 5 
 
 1 What do you consider the workmanship of that, comparatively 
 with any of Lord Elgin's bas-reliefs ?' ' Very inferior.' 
 
 Richard Westmacott, Esq., R.A., called in, and examined. 
 'Are you well acquainted with the Elgin marbles ?' ' Yes.' 
 
EVIDENCE OF CHANTREY AND LAWRENCE 265 
 
 ' In what class of art do you rate them ?' ' I rate them of the first 
 class of art.' 
 
 ' In what rate should you place the Theseus and the River God, as 
 compared with the Apollo Belvidere and Laocoon ?' 'Infinitely 
 superior to the Apollo Belvidere.' 
 
 1 Which do you prefer the Theseus or the River God ?' ' They are 
 both so excellent that I cannot readily determine. I should say the 
 back of the Theseus was the finest thing in the world, and that the 
 anatomical skill displayed in front of the Ilissus is not surpassed by 
 any work of art.' 
 
 Francis Chantrey, Esq., called in, and examined. 
 
 ' Are you well acquainted with the Elgin marbles ?' ' I have 
 frequently visited them.' 
 
 ' In what class, as to excellence of art, do you place them ?' ' Un- 
 questionably in the first.' 
 
 1 Have you ever looked at this collection with a view towards its 
 value in money ?' ' I really do not know what to compare them 
 with.' 
 
 ' Do you think it of great importance to the art of sculpture that 
 this collection should become the property of the public?' 'I think 
 it of the greatest importance in a national point of view.' . . . 
 
 Sir Thomas Lawrence, Knt., R.A., called in, and examined. 
 ' Are you well acquainted with the Elgin marbles ?' ' Yes, I am.' 
 ' In what class of art do you consider them ?' ' In the very highest.' 
 ? In your own particular line of art, do you consider them of high 
 importance as forming a national school?' ' In a line of art which I 
 have very seldom practised, but which it is still my wish to do, I 
 consider that they would, namely, historical painting.' 
 
 ' Do you conceive any of them to be of a higher class than the 
 Apollo Belvidere ?' ' I do ; because I consider that there is in them 
 a union of fine composition and very grand form, with a more true 
 and natural expression of the effect of action upon the human frame 
 than there is in the Apollo, or in any of the other most celebrated 
 statues.' 
 
 'You have stated that you thought these marbles had great truth 
 and imitation of nature ; do you consider that that adds to their 
 value ?' ' It considerably adds to it, because I consider them as united 
 with grand form. There is in them that variety that is produced in 
 the human form by the alternate action and repose of the muscles 
 that strikes one particularly. I have myself a very good collection of 
 the best casts from the antique statues, and was struck with that 
 
266 NOLLE KENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 difference in them in returning from the Elgin marbles to my own 
 house.' 
 
 Questions sent to the President of the Boyal Academy, his health not 
 permitting him to attend the Committee, with his answers thereto. 
 
 'Are you well acquainted with the Elgin collection?' 'I am, 
 having drawn the most distinguished of them the size of the original 
 marbles.' 
 
 * In what class of art do you rank the best of these marbles ?' ' In 
 the first of dignified art, brought out of nature upon uncertain truths, 
 and not on mechanical principles, to form systematic characters and 
 systematic art.' 
 
 ' Do they appear to you the work of the same artists ?' ' One mind 
 pervades the whole, but not one hand has executed them.' 
 
 'As compared with the Apollo Belvidere, the torso of the Bel- 
 videre, and the Laocoon, how do you estimate the Theseus or 
 Hercules, and the Eiver God or Ilissus ?' 'The Apollo of the Bel- 
 videre, the torso, and the Laocoon are systematic art ; the Theseus 
 and the Ilissus stand supreme in art.' 
 
 ' Can you compare in money value Lord Elgin's marbles, or any part 
 of them, with the money value of the Phygalian or Townley col- 
 lection ?' ' I judge of the Elgin marbles from their purity and pre- 
 eminence in art over all others I have ever seen, and from their truth 
 a ad intellectual power ; and I give them the preference to the 
 Phygalian and Townley collection, most of which is systematic art.' 
 
 The generality of my readers will be pleased 
 with the following anecdote, and it must come 
 home to every good rider when he mounts a horse. 
 Shortly after the Elgin marbles w r ere thrown open 
 to the public indiscriminately, a gentlemanly- 
 looking person was observed to stand in the middle 
 of the gallery on one spot for upwards of an hour, 
 changing his attitude only by turning himself 
 round ; at last he left the room, but in the course 
 of two hours he again took his former station, 
 attended by about a dozen young gentlemen, and 
 there to them he made nearly the following obser- 
 vations : ' See, gentlemen, look at the riders all 
 
THE RIDING-MASTER'S CRITICISM 267 
 
 round the room,' alluding to the friezes ; \ see how 
 they sit ; see with what ease and elegance they 
 ride ; I never saw such men in my life ; they have 
 no saddles, no stirrups they must have leaped 
 upon their horses in a grand style. You will do 
 well to study the position of these noble fellows ; 
 stay here this morning instead of riding with me, 
 and I am sure you will seat yourselves better to- 
 morrow.' I need hardly tell the reader that this 
 person was a riding-master, and that after he had 
 been so astonished at the sight of the sculptor's 
 riders, he brought all his pupils to whom he was 
 that morning to have given lessons in his riding- 
 school. 
 
 It was highly amusing to notice the glaring 
 contrast of the two sculptors, Nollekens and Flax- 
 man, whenever they came in contact in a fashion- 
 able party, which I own was rarely the case. The 
 former upon these occasions, who was never known 
 to expatiate upon art, generally took out his pocket- 
 book, and, in order to make himself agreeable, pre- 
 sented his recipes, perhaps for an inveterate sore 
 throat or a virulent humour, to some elegant woman 
 with as much alacrity as Dr. Bossy, of Covent 
 Garden fame, formerly did to the wife of a Fulham 
 market-gardener. 
 
 The latter, however, like a true descendant of 
 Phidias, was modestly discoursing with a select 
 circle upon the exquisite productions of Greece, at 
 the same time assuring his auditors that every 
 motion of the body of a well-proportioned, unaffected 
 person gave sufficient opportunities for the selection 
 
268 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 of similar attitudes o equal grace ; that he con- 
 sidered himself frequently indebted to the simple 
 and unadorned charity-girl for the best of his 
 attitudes, and that these he had often collected 
 during his walks in the streets, when the innocent 
 objects themselves had been wholly ignorant of his 
 admiration of their positions. I have also often 
 heard him declare that the most successful of his 
 figures displayed in his illustrations of Homer, 
 yEschylus, and Dante were procured from similarly 
 natural and unsophisticated sources. Flaxman, like 
 Rubens, took infinite delight in his collection of 
 Italian medals, the best of which he fortunately 
 procured during his residence at Rome. They were 
 mostly of the fifteenth century, and were always 
 estimated by him as the richest treasures in art 
 that he possibly could possess ; and perhaps no 
 man of his refined erudition felt or expressed greater 
 pleasure than he did when he conversed with any 
 person possessed of sufficient feeling justly to 
 appreciate their superior merit. 
 
 Mr. Samuel Henning, 1 a young artist of promising 
 abilities as a medallist, asked Flaxman's permission 
 to take an impression of one or two of these speci- 
 mens ; upon which the sculptor, with his usual 
 urbanity, not only instantly complied, but allowed 
 him to mould a selection which he himself kindly 
 made for him, and which he considered as the most 
 interesting and beautiful of his collection. These 
 
 1 This should, perhaps, be John Henning, the Scotch medallist 
 (1771-1851), who produced a laborious restoration of the friezes of the 
 Parthenon. Ed. 
 
MEDALS 269 
 
 consisted of Don Inigo de Davalos, the face of 
 which person is of low relief, and the features are 
 expressive of a man of great depth of thought and 
 a superior mind ; Benedictus Depastis, a medal 
 which was a great favourite with Flaxman, though 
 I have frequently seen him laugh at the collops of 
 fat at the back part of the neck ; Leo Baptista, 
 Albertus, Victorinus Feltrensis Summus, Sigis- 
 mondus Pandulfus, Cardinal de Malatestis, Sancta^ 
 Romame Ecclesiae Cardin. Generalis, the hair of 
 which head differs materially from the preceding 
 medals, it being singularly cut in a precise straight 
 line over the forehead. 
 
 Few persons are aware of the superior excel- 
 lencies of these Italian medals, which exceed all 
 others in point of natural character, the beautiful 
 productions of Thomas Simon excepted. Many of 
 them were executed under the glorious auspices of 
 Leo X. after the designs of Michael Angelo, Cellini, 
 Baffaelle, Julio Romano, etc., and possess as much 
 fleshiness as Chantrey's busts. 
 
 Vasari, in his valuable work, mentions the names 
 of the following medallists who flourished in his 
 time, viz., Miseldone, Mathei de Pastis, Sperandei, 
 and Villore ; and we find that Vittore Pisano, a 
 painter of Verona, was highly celebrated as the 
 chief restorer of this branch of art ; his medals, as 
 well as those of his contemporaries, were first 
 modelled in wax, and then cast ; and a catalogue 
 of his medallic productions is given by Vasari. In 
 the British Museum there is a brass medal of 
 Pisano, executed by himself, which is considered as 
 
270 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 a rarity by collectors, it being one of those which 
 were carefully worked up with the tool after they 
 were cast. It displays rather a reserved set of 
 features, short and close together, the nose of which 
 inclines to that character commonly called the snub. 
 His cap, which is an upright one with many folds, 
 reminded me of that sort usually worn when I 
 was a boy by the old glass-grinders of the Seven 
 Dials. 
 
 I also remember seeing Smollett's man Strap, 
 when he was a bookbinder, living near Chelsea Old 
 Church, in a similar one ; he was afterwards, for 
 several years before his death, keeper of the lodge 
 of Buckingham Terrace, Strand, near Inigo Jones's 
 water-gate, a truly correct engraving of which is 
 given in Campbell's Vitruvius. In my opinion, 
 the productions of Pisano 1 are by far the most 
 spirited, as must unquestionably be the case when- 
 ever a painter executes a beloved task with his own 
 hand. The medals by him are equal to pictures, as 
 they display a fine breadth and a true character of 
 nature, excellencies which a mere mechanical and 
 perpetual copyist can never arrive at. How far 
 more refreshing it is to a person possessing a 
 moderate share of discernment to see an etching 
 by Vandyke, with all its foul bitings, where the 
 markings are firm and square, than an engraving by 
 Vosterman or Bolswert, where every delineation 
 
 1 I do not find Pisano mentioned in any of the dictionaries of 
 painters, though I concluded Fuseli would have noticed him. Smith. 
 Vittorio Pisano, called Pisanello, of Verona (1380-1456), the earliest 
 and most illustrious of the medallists of the Italian Renaissance. Ed. 
 
THE MEDALS OF SIMON 271 
 
 is rounded comparatively to a dull, inanimate 
 smoothness ! How delighted, too, is the eye of 
 taste with an old impression from the uncon- 
 taminated needles of Claude, Swaneveldt, Karel 
 Du Jardin, or Eembrandt ! How the fretful, weak, 
 and laboured engravings by French artists in the 
 Poullein, the Praslin, and the Choiseul collections 
 sink under the comparison when opposed to such 
 treasures, delivered at once from the painter's mind 
 and by his own hand ! 
 
 So likewise it is with the works of Simon, our 
 own countryman, engraved during the Usurpation ; 
 that artist drew well, and his reliefs, which are low 
 and broad, appear more like a fine chiaro-oscuro 
 painting than sculptured productions. His manner 
 of treating the hair is beautiful, and perhaps superior 
 to that of every other medallist ; and nothing can 
 surpass in that particular the specimens of his 
 talents displayed in the head of Cromwell on the 
 largest of the two Dunbar medals, and also that of 
 Thomas Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton. This 
 silver medal, which exhibits the Earl in a cap, is 
 considered one of great rarity ; but the one in 
 gold, which was purchased of Mr. Young by the 
 late Barry Roberts, Esq., for the sum of twenty 
 guineas, now in the British Museum, is looked upon 
 as unique, not only on account of its being the only 
 one known in that metal, but also from its variation 
 from those in silver, the cap having been cut down 
 so as to exhibit the hair without one, which the 
 artist has managed in a most tasteful manner. In 
 the gold impression l Tho. Simon ' is cut under the 
 
272 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 projection of the shoulder, which is not the case 
 with those in silver. Of this medal with the cap 
 there is also a bad copy, an impression of which 
 may also be seen in the British Museum. It is a 
 curious fact that, upon comparing the above medal 
 with the circular one of Oliver Cromwell, inscribed 
 c Oliverus. Dei. Gra : Keipub : Anglla. Sco. Et. 
 Hib : &c. Protector. Tho. Simon F.,' the lower parts 
 of the faces are so like each other that they would 
 answer for either person. 
 
 I am well aware that there are numerous col- 
 lectors who prefer dies engraven in France, and 
 particularly the medallions and medals struck in 
 favour of Napoleon, many of which unquestionably 
 possess great merit, and are worthy of high ad- 
 miration ; but, in my opinion, none of them are 
 equal in mind to those of Italy, produced under 
 Leo X., nor do they in more than one instance in 
 point of taste approach the productions of our own 
 countryman, Thomas Simon. 
 
 The one I allude to is that which was struck of 
 Buonaparte to commemorate the famous battle of 
 Marengo. In the first state of the die I certainly 
 esteem this medal as the most beautiful performance 
 of Andrieu. I was not aware of the superior ex- 
 cellence of this medal in its first stage of publica- 
 tion, until an old and worthy friend put me in 
 possession of impressions in two states, in which 
 the head differs widely, and which is, I believe, the 
 only portion of that medal wherein an alteration 
 has been made. At the time that the battle was 
 fought Buonaparte was a thin man, and conse- 
 
NAPOLEON I. 273 
 
 quently the extraordinary markings of his features 
 were particularly visible, and, I conclude, accurately 
 attended to by the medallist. For instance, the 
 eye, by not being surrounded by much flesh, is 
 keen and penetrating, the nose and lips are thin, 
 and, indeed, the whole of his countenance appears 
 steadfastly determined upon prosecuting his inten- 
 tions. In the second state of this medal the head 
 and neck are so considerably enlarged that every 
 feature is rounded by an increase of flesh as well 
 as of years. In this state of corpulence Napoleon's 
 medals were more generally collected by his 
 adherents, as well as by those who had cabinets 
 for the reception of such works of art ; and it is 
 supposed that Andrieu, in order that this Marengo 
 medal of Buonaparte should be more like him when 
 Emperor Napoleon, altered the head as we find it 
 in its second state. He unfortunately, however, 
 suffered the name of Buonaparte to remain, never 
 caring for the periodical truth of physiognomy ; 
 and a distance of a few years made no difference to 
 him. If an Englishman had been guilty of such a 
 violation of truth, what would have been said of 
 him ? and this is a more glaring instance of 
 anachronism, as Andrieu has placed the counte- 
 nance of his experienced and fattened hero upon 
 his youthful shoulders, before he had been bloated 
 by successful ambition or had gone through half 
 his depredations. 
 
 Mr. Nollekens, during his residence abroad, accu- 
 mulated numerous coins, mostly the currency of 
 the countries which he passed through, not with a 
 
 18 
 
274 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 view to their increasing in value, or for their parti- 
 cular merit, but with the usual idea of a miser who 
 is fearful of a change in affairs, or what is more 
 commonly called a revolution in the country, and 
 who fully relies upon the intrinsic value of gold and 
 silver. He probably never dreamed of the great 
 loss sustained by hoarding up foreign money, which 
 seldom produces more than its weight. Had he 
 sold his coins, and put the amount out to interest, 
 he would have increased the principal in the course 
 of sixty years to at least ten times its original value, 
 and thereby have saved himself many years' vexa- 
 tion for the loss of all, which he actually suffered in 
 consequence of thieves breaking into his house and 
 stealing all those pieces of gold and silver, together 
 with Mr. Welch's silver cruet-stand, and other 
 articles to a considerable amount. 
 
 The depredators, having entered the house at the 
 back-window on the staircase, went at once to the 
 place where the above articles were deposited, in 
 the very next room to that in which Mr. and Mrs. 
 Nollekens were asleep, and let themselves out at 
 the street-door, without any one of the family being 
 aware of their visit till the next morning. The 
 window was then discovered to be open, and the 
 ladder by which they had ascended from the yard 
 left to show the way by which they had gained 
 admittance. It is a curious fact that, in a dirty 
 book which they had dropped on their way out, 
 bank-notes were found to a considerable amount by 
 the person who restored them to Mr. Nollekens, 
 who, whenever this robbery was mentioned, which 
 
GEMS 275 
 
 there was every reason to believe had been com- 
 mitted by persons connected with one of the 
 numerous women who stood for his Venuses, ob- 
 served that ' the rascals took away all my gold and 
 silver coins, and left me all the copper ones.' These 
 midnight moneyers also carried off to their melting- 
 pot, after throwing away the rags in which they 
 were folded, a few English silver medals of little 
 value beyond their metallic gravity ; fortunately, 
 there were no brass sand- moulded Pisanos in danger 
 in Mortimer Street, such treasures being securely 
 deposited in the choice cabinets of Flaxman. 
 
 Mr. Nollekens now and then amused himself and 
 a friend or two with his prints, but seldom spoke 
 of the beauties of ancient bronzes ; and as for ex- 
 patiating upon the boldness and vigour of a Roman 
 medal, that with him was quite out of the question. 
 It is true that he had a collection of gems, impres- 
 sions mostly taken from the antique, though cer- 
 tainly made with very little discrimination as to 
 their superior excellence in point of art in com- 
 parison with those by his contemporaries Birch, 
 Merchant, and Tassie ; for he would be as highly 
 pleased with an inferior imitation of an antique as 
 with an original of the choicest excellence. In 
 placing the various subjects in boxes, he never 
 attended to any kind of classification whatever, 
 since it was the same thins: to him whether thev 
 were sacred or profane, and a figure of Eve or a 
 Susannah was placed with that of a Lucretia or a 
 Leda. His heads, though they were certainly kept 
 by themselves, could boast of no better arrange- 
 
276 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 ment, as that of Hannibal was placed next to one of 
 Flora. This mode of jumbling of eminent char- 
 acters together reminded me of Lingo, the school- 
 master, who, in ' The Agreeable Surprise,' 1 asks 
 Cowslip, the dairymaid, if she had ever heard of 
 Homer, Hercules, or Wat Tyler. 
 
 His assemblage of plaster-casts from the antique 
 had experienced very little augmentation since his 
 departure from Rome, where he had purchased 
 most of them at a trifling rate from the boys of 
 Lucca, who at that time exhibited them for sale at 
 fairs. His studio certainly could not boast of a 
 vestibule of statues as large as life a most gratify- 
 ing sight to the sculptor's visitors so beautifully 
 displayed in the galleries of Chan trey and Westma- 
 cott but, on the contrary, Nollekens' walls were 
 principally covered with heads, arms, legs, hands, 
 and feet, moulded from some of the most celebrated 
 specimens abroad, together with a few casts of bas- 
 reliefs of figures, and here and there a piece of foliage 
 from the Vatican, all of which were hung up with- 
 out the least reference whatever to each other. 
 
 Nollekens paid but little attention to the pro- 
 ductions of the ancients, though, indeed, I have 
 seen him finish up the feet of his female figures 
 from those of the statue of the Venus de Medicis, 
 the English women, his constant models, having 
 very bad toes in consequence of their abominable 
 habit of wearing small and pointed shoes. My 
 
 1 ' The Agreeable Surprise ' was a musical farce, by John O'Keefe,. 
 brought out at The Haymarket in 1781. It was long a great favourite 
 with the public. Ed. 
 
ARTISTIC HEREDITY 277 
 
 worthy friend, Joseph Bonomi, was sure to incur 
 his displeasure whenever he discovered him study- 
 ing the antique, and Nollekens would often chide 
 him for not trusting more to Nature. I am, how- 
 ever, perfectly convinced that if Nollekens had 
 looked with more love towards the antique his 
 Venuses would have been considerably benefited, 
 particularly in their ankles, which in many instances 
 are too thick, and certainly remind me of Fuseli's 
 observation, that ' they were Goltzius' legs.' 
 
 We seldom find hereditary succession in art, nor 
 can I recollect a single instance in which the son of 
 an eminent painter or sculptor has equalled the 
 talent of his father ; neither have I been able to 
 discover in the works of any pupil merit equal to 
 that of his great master ; and I believe that it will 
 be found that the artists of the highest genius have 
 sprung from the lowest schools, or have arisen to 
 the pinnacle of fame by their own strength of mind 
 and persevering application. 
 
 I do not mean here to insert an extended list of 
 the bright living instances of a Lawrence, or a 
 Wilkie, a Chantrey, a Westmacott, a Turner, a 
 Stothard, a Collins, etc., in support of my position, 
 but shall principally confine my assertion to other 
 eminent men who have already quitted this world, 
 commencing with some of foreign countries and 
 concluding with those of England. Michael Angelo, 
 during the time he was with his master Domenico, 
 corrected one of that artist's drawings to the astonish- 
 ment of all the schools. The sublime Raffaelle 
 soon excelled his master, Pietro Perugino ; and 
 
278 NOLLEKEKS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 Antonio Correggio owed all his wonderful powers 
 to Nature, his master, Francesco Bianchi, being but 
 of slender talent. The instructor of the inimitable 
 Claude Lorraine, Agostino Tassi, merely taught 
 him the method of preparing his colours ; whilst 
 Claude's famous contemporary, Nicolo Poussin, had 
 for his master Ferdinand Elle and L'Allement, who 
 were both men of feeble abilities. How much did 
 Rubens surpass his preceptors, Tobias Yerhaccht, 
 Adam Van Oort, and Octavio Van Veen ! How 
 wonderfully did Rembrandt exceed his tutors, 
 Zwanenburg, Lastman, and Pinas ! Albert Cuyp's 
 pictures eminently stand before those of his father ; 
 and how far superior are the pictures of our own 
 Dobson to the productions of the English artists 
 who preceded him, for his master was nothing more 
 than a stationer and a picture -dealer ! The im- 
 mortal Hogarth was the apprentice of Ellis Gamble, 
 a silversmith, who employed him to engrave arms 
 and shop-bills ; and that exquisite landscape-painter, 
 Richard Wilson, courted Nature alone, under every 
 variety of aerial tint, and his finest pictures display 
 all her sparkling sunny freshness after a summer 
 shower. 
 
 Gainsborough was another of Nature's pupils ; 
 and it might be said of him, as it has been said of 
 Shakespeare, that he ' warbled his native wood- 
 notes wild.' The portraits of Sir Joshua Reynolds' 
 master, Thomas Hudson, would hardly be admitted 
 into our present minor exhibitions ; and the pictures 
 painted by the instructor of the late venerable Pre- 
 sident West, Raffaelle Mengs, sink exceedingly low 
 
ENGRA VERS 279 
 
 when they are mentioned with the works of his 
 pupil. It will also be recollected that Zoffany was 
 originally only a decorator of clock-dials. 
 
 Our three most eminent engravers, too, have 
 never been equalled in any part of the globe, 
 though William Woollett's master, Tinney, 1 was so 
 insignificant an artist that Strutt, in his ' Bio- 
 graphical Dictionary,' has not thought proper to 
 give the least account of him ; Sir Robert Strange's 
 tutor was Cooper, 2 an obscure engraver in Scotland ; 
 and William Sharp, 3 who has immortalized himself 
 in his production from Sir Joshua Reynolds' portrait 
 of John Hunter, was originally an engraver of 
 the letters upon pewter-pots, dog-collars, door-plates, 
 visiting-cards, etc., and he assured me that the only 
 difference he ever had with William Byrne, 4 the 
 landscape-engraver, was respecting the quantity of 
 door-plates they had engraved, Sharp insisting upon 
 his claim to the greatest number by some hundreds. 
 
 1 John Tinney, a mezzotint engraver, died in Paris in 1761. Ed. 
 
 2 Cooper was the father of Kichard, the drawing-master, who lately- 
 died at Eltham. The errors into which Mr. Strutt has fallen respecting 
 the two Coopers will, I doubt not, be entirely rectified by Mr. Ottley 
 in his ' Dictionary of Engravers,' a work which, in the expectation of 
 everyone who is acquainted with that gentleman's great accuracy and 
 most extensive knowledge of the subject, will supersede all others 
 hitherto published. Smith. This elder Cooper was also Richard. 
 He died in 1764, and was both engraver and portrait-painter. Ed. 
 
 3 Born in 1749, died 1824. He was one of the ardent supporters of 
 Joanna Southcott. Ed. 
 
 4 1743-1805. Ed. 
 
[s8o] 
 
 CHAPTEE XII. 
 
 Mrs. Nollekens' new drawing-room Caleb Whitefoord's attentions 
 to Nollekens Cross-readings Goldsmith's ' Retaliation ' White- 
 foord's letter to his nephew Mrs. Nollekens, her servant, and her 
 acquaintances Her death and funeral Subsequent conduct of 
 Mr. Nollekens Mrs. Lloyd and Mrs. Paradice A Garrick play-bill 
 Mrs. Lloyd's will Her death Eccentricities of Mr. Nollekens 
 Mr. Barnard's Italian drawings Jernigan's lottery medal Nollekens 
 and his sitters George III.'s wig The sculptor's family Bat 
 Pidgeon's shop. 
 
 Upon the demise of Miss Welch, 1 Mrs. Nollekens, 
 her sister, who had been most grievously dis- 
 appointed in the bequest of her household furniture, 
 to the great astonishment of her friends, and par- 
 ticularly of her husband, purchased articles per- 
 fectly new in order to improve her drawing-room, 
 which had remained for years as it was originally 
 fitted up, increasing in nothing but dirt. So great 
 was the change for the better, that for some time 
 she only allowed her friends to take a peep in at 
 the door now and then, while she held it what is 
 often called ajar. Nor could she think of per- 
 
 1 The late Mrs. Lloyd, R.A., informed Mrs. Nichols, her confidential 
 domestic, that Miss Welch, after her father's death, whilst she was 
 abroad, frequently travelled as a man, with sword and bag, attended 
 by a man-servant only. Smith. 
 
CALEB WHITEFOORD 281 
 
 mitting even her set visitors to stay the evening in 
 that room, as the stupid servant had forgotten to 
 light a fire in it ; so that, after they had been 
 shown up, they were unavoidably obliged to be 
 entertained if it might be allowed that her parties 
 were ever entertained in the parlour with Nolly, 
 where there had been a comfortable fire constantly 
 kept up during the whole of the inclement season. 
 
 In the summer, in order to let in a little fresh 
 air, the sashes were thrown up, either to enable her 
 to appear blowing the chaff from her canary bird's 
 trough, or watering a delicate sprig or two of 
 myrtle, which had been kindly presented to her 
 by Mr. Whitefoord, whose sharp little eyes had 
 been for some years so closely fixed upon No. 9, 
 Mortimer Street that he never suffered a week to 
 pass without inviting them by some small present 
 to recollect his kind remembrance of them, and by 
 way of a pretty good instance of his tender anxiety 
 for the continuance of his dear Nolly's health. By 
 way of proving my assertion, I here insert a copy 
 of an endearing epistle shown to me by Nollekens. 
 This c wine merchant ' and excellent connoisseur in 
 old pictures had more prudence in sending his 
 presents to a man enormously rich than to a 
 fellow- creature whose frame was shivering for the 
 want of a trifle to procure him a basin of broth and 
 a night's lodging : 
 
 Dear Nolly, 
 
 ' Here is a fleecy hosiery shirt for you put it on immediately, 
 and also the breastplate. They will keep you warm and comfortable 
 during the cold weather keep you free from rheumatism, and pro- 
 long your life. 
 
282 . NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 4 1 intended to have delivered this myself, but I have not been out 
 to-day. 
 
 ' Yours sincerely, 
 
 4 C. Whitefoord. 
 4 "Wednesday evening.' 
 
 At this time Caleb was so constant a guardian of 
 Nollekens' knocker, that no one ventured to cope 
 with his wit on that sculptor's threshold, for, like 
 Goldsmith's goose, 1 he stoutly kept up his right to 
 the pond's side. 
 
 4 The pond,' she said, ' was hers, and she would 
 maintain her right in it and support her honour, 
 while she had a bill to hiss or a wing to flutter. 
 In this manner she drove away ducks, pigs, and 
 chickens nay, even the insidious cat was seen to 
 scamper.' 
 
 Advanced on the journey of life as Nollekens 
 was, little did this ' cross-reader ' imagine that the 
 road he was treading was straiter for him, and that 
 an earlier period was fixed for his own departure 
 from what most persons are scrambling for the 
 good things of this life, as they are called by the 
 worldly traveller. Whitefoord left us, and by his 
 death, though Nollekens lost his primest of wits, 
 his high reputation as a stockholder gained him a 
 host of flatterers, for he was immediately and 
 constantly assailed by foxes from all quarters ; and 
 one considered himself sure of the prey, by inviting 
 him to take a peep at a jackdaw which perched 
 every morning upon a pretty almond-tree in full 
 blossom, near to which he himself lay, at a short 
 distance from the Metropolis. 
 
 1 See Goldsmith's * Essay on the Irresolution of Youth.' Smith. 
 
THE GARRICK WIG 283 
 
 Whitef oord, who never ventured abroad but with 
 a full determination to be noticed, dressed himself 
 foppishly, particularly so in some instances. It is 
 true he did not upon trivial occasions sport the 
 strawberry embroidery of Cos way, yet he was 
 considered extravagantly dashing in a sparkling 
 black button, which for many years he continued 
 to display within a loop upon a rosette on his three- 
 cornered hat, which he was sure to take off when- 
 ever he considered bowing politically essential. 
 The wig worn by him for years when he was at the 
 summit of notoriety had five curls on each side, 
 and he was one of the last gentlemen who wore the 
 true Garrick cut. 1 
 
 So delighted was Mr. Whitefoord with his 
 celebrated ' cross-readings,' that he liberally dis- 
 tributed among his friends specimens of some of the 
 most whimsical, which he had been at the expense 
 of printing upon small single sheets. As one of 
 these trifles, which are now considered rarities, was 
 preserved by my father, I am enabled to treat the 
 reader with a few specimens, which may be con- 
 sidered, by those who are not fond of long digres- 
 sions, quite enough : 
 
 4 Yesterday Dr. Pretymari preached at St. James's 
 And perform'd it with ease in less than sixteen minutes.' 
 
 1 The sword of state was carried 
 Before Sir John Fielding, and committed to Newgate.' 
 
 1 This peculiar wig, with five curls on each side, was brought into 
 fashion by David Garrick, and its cut is precisely engraven by 
 Sherwin in his portrait of the actor done for Davies' Memoirs. 
 Smith. 
 
284 NOLLE KENS AND HLS TIMES 
 
 ' Several changes are talked of at Court 
 Consisting of 9,050 triple bob-majors.' 
 
 ' Removed to Marylebone, for the benefit of the air 
 The City and Liberties of Westminster.' 
 
 ' We hear a treaty of marriage is concluded 
 For 50 a side, between the noted Dyer and the famous Naylor.' 
 
 1 Sunday night many noble families were alarmed 
 By the constable of the watch, who apprehended them at cards.' 
 
 An assertion has been credited by many persons 
 that Goldsmith was not the author of the postscript 
 now printed with his poem entitled ' Retaliation,' 
 but that it was written by Caleb Whitefoord, whom 
 it celebrates, and w^ho now and then endeavoured 
 to imitate his manner. It may be true that the 
 lines were conveyed to the editor of the fifth 
 edition 1 by one of their mutual friends, and that 
 they were not produced before the Doctor's death ; 
 but certainly the length of praise bestowed upon 
 Whitefoord in the postscript has been considered 
 unconscionably long as w r ell as uncommonly great, 
 especially for a man whose qualifications could 
 never rank him with Burke or Reynolds. The 
 author of l Retaliation,' however, thought proper 
 to confine his praise of those immortal men to a 
 considerably less number than eighteen lines. 
 
 The late Charles Smith, 2 painter to the Great 
 
 1 This edition is of 1774. The additional lines were accompanied 
 by an anonymous letter, purporting to authenticate them. Curiously 
 enough, although Whitefoord lived on till 1810, no further light was 
 ever thrown on the subject, and in all probability he forged both lines 
 and letter. Ed. 
 
 a Born in 1749, he went to India in 1793, returned three years 
 later, and died in 1824. Ed. 
 
CALEB WHITEFOORD 285 
 
 Mogul, favoured me, through my worthy friend, 
 Thomas Gilliland, Esq., author of the celebrated 
 pamphlet of l Diamond cut Diamond,' and, I believe, 
 about sixteen or seventeen others in defence and 
 support of the English Government, with a letter 
 which he received from his uncle, Caleb White- 
 f oord, who was particularly anxious to witness his 
 nephew's advancement ; and as it is in some 
 instances connected with the arts, I shall here 
 introduce a copy of it, leaving out two or three 
 paragraphs of a private family nature : 
 
 'Dear Charles, 
 
 'I have intended to write to you for several days past, but 
 have delayed it in expectation of a frank, which I have got at last. 
 
 'I received your Nymph with the Infant Bacchus and a Satyr, 
 which I think a very pretty picture. I also asked some Royal 
 Academicians to view it, viz., Northcote, Cos way, etc., who approved 
 of it much ; it is well composed, and beautifully coloured ; but the 
 hangmen at the Exhibition have not hung it in a conspicuous situa- 
 tion ; it is placed in the ante-room, and pretty high ; but they have 
 done the same with two very pretty pictures of the President himself, 
 so you must not complain. ... I have been proceeding in my canvas 
 for the Associateship, and have great hopes of success indeed, it is a 
 thing I have much at heart, for I wish much to see you a Royal 
 Academician. Sir Joshua's pictures are not to be sold this year ; but 
 in a few days Sir Thomas Dundas's collection is to come under Green- 
 wood's hammer. What a pity it is that we are not rich ! 
 
 'I am now completing the arrangement of the Octagon Room ; x but 
 
 1 This Octagon Room, with an upper light, one of a suite in the 
 Adelphi, built purposely for him by his friend Adam, was considered 
 by Mr. Christie of so excellent a shape for the exhibition of pictures 
 that he adopted it when he fitted up his great room in King Street, 
 St. James's Square ; so that all pictures consigned to him for public 
 sale are sure of receiving an equally good light. The advantage 
 derived from the octagonal shape is that pictures are not continued 
 up to the corners, as they most commonly are in a square room, where 
 it is impossible to stand to view them to that advantage under which 
 
286 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 my Correggio is too fine to hang up. It is put into a handsome 
 mahogany case, and kept under lock and key. 
 
 'Mr. Barry has been to see it, and declares it to be the most 
 capital picture he had ever beheld ; and I bought it at a public sale 
 for 9 9s. 
 
 1 1 am, with compliments to Sir John, 1 
 
 ' Dear Charles, yours, etc., 
 
 *C. Whitefoord. 
 
 ' Since your worship has been gone, I have taken mightily to the 
 young kitten ; she is a very clever kit-cat, and I have taken some pains 
 about her education ; she skips about like a monkey, and sits up like a 
 Christian.' 
 
 In closing these notices of Mrs. Nollekens, I 
 must not forget to mention her servant, Mary 
 Fairy. Her features, though tolerably handsome, 
 were not equal to her figure her arms were 
 excellent ; but it is pretty well known that her 
 master was rather afraid of her, since she scolded 
 him as well as Mrs. Nollekens, and, indeed, was 
 frequently so rude to his visitors that her conduct 
 appeared more like an overbearing mistress of a 
 mansion than a dependent. Mr. Joseph, an associate 
 of the Royal Academy, when painting the portrait 
 of the Hon. Mr. Perceval from Mr. Nollekens' 
 mask, taken from that gentleman's face after 
 death, happened once to mention Mary Fairy in the 
 
 they are seen when the corners of a square are brought out to form 
 the octagon. Smith. 
 
 1 Sir John Macpherson, who had been Governor of Bengal, and to 
 whom Charles Smith dedicated a musical entertainment in two acts, 
 entitled 'A Trip to Bengal,' to which a portrait of the author is pre- 
 fixed, engraved by S. W. Reynolds from a picture painted by himself. 
 This entertainment, consisting of fifty-two pages, was printed in 1 802 
 for J. Ridgway, and Black and Parry, London. At the end is a 
 Glossary of Hindostanee words used in the work. Smith. 
 
FIFING-BOYS 287 
 
 presence of Mrs. Nollekens, who, with her pre- 
 cision of emphasis, said, ' Yes, sir ; she is Mr. 
 Nollekens' Venus, sir.' Mrs. Nollekens was at this 
 time recollecting, with tears in her eyes, that she 
 had herself in former days been flattered with that 
 appellation from no less a character than the 
 Marquis of ^Rockingham, who observed to Mr. 
 Nollekens, soon after his marriage: ' Ah, Nolle- 
 kens, we now see where you get your Venuses!' 
 
 One morning, when a fifer and drummer were 
 row-de-dowing to a newly-married couple at the 
 Sun and Horseshoe at the opposite house to 
 Nollekens', she observed that her father, Mr. 
 Welch, used to say that fifing-boys were first 
 introduced in the army by the Culloden Duke of 
 Cumberland. I do not recollect an earlier repre- 
 sentation of a fifing-boy than that introduced by 
 Hogarth in his picture of the ' March to Finchley.' 
 
 Mrs. Nollekens' female acquaintances were not 
 all equally well or wisely selected, some of them 
 having been opera-singers, and others servants to 
 their husbands, or in some instances worse. Upon 
 this egregious want of common decorum, her late 
 steady, amiable, and universally-respected friend, 
 Mrs. Carter, would now and then rate her roundly, 
 particularly when she perceived her to pay in- 
 creasing attention to ladies for whom the world 
 never cared, nor even spoke to till after their 
 
 marriage. 
 
 * You can clearly see,' she observed one day 
 during a sale of choice china at Christie's, 'that 
 duck-footed woman, your " dear friend," as you 
 
288 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 have just been pleased to call her, is not at all 
 noticed by the wives of those gentlemen to whom 
 her husband is known. They all shun her as they 
 would a wife who had been made over to her 
 husband with what her former possessor considered 
 a handsome consideration. Indeed, my old friend, 
 you should at all events be a little more cautious in 
 your epithets, or you will at last, like her, pass 
 unnoticed.' The truth was, that Mrs. Carter 
 began to perceive that whenever persons of rank 
 noticed Mrs. Nollekens, it was only with the 
 distant condescension of, ' I hope Mr. Nollekens is 
 well ?' 
 
 Having given the reader a sufficient number of 
 anecdotes concerning the manners and peculiarities 
 of Mrs. Nollekens, the Pekuah 1 of Dr. Johnson's 
 ' Rasselas,' who will always retain a lasting seat 
 among my most pleasant recollections, I come now 
 to speak of her death, long previously to which her 
 emaciated frame had existed without the use of its 
 limbs. She was at length relieved from her suffer- 
 ings in the drawing-room of her husband's house, 
 No. 9, Mortimer Street, on August 17, 1817, in 
 the seventy -fourth year of her age, and was interred 
 in the public vault under Paddington Church, on 
 
 1 A short time before Mrs. Nollekens' death a gentleman, in looking 
 round Nollekens' studio, inquired after her health, observing that he 
 had not seen her for some time. ' Oh !' answered the artist, ' she's 
 bad, very bad ; she's now in bed. There's a mould of her spine down 
 in that corner ; see how crooked it is.' Little did Pekuah think, when 
 her elegantly-formed figure was attired in her wedding-dress, that her 
 admiring husband would one day display a cast of her deformed spine. 
 Smith. 
 
FUNERAL OF MRS. NOLLEKENS 289 
 
 the 25th of the same month. The funeral was 
 handsome. There were eleven mourners, namely, 
 Mr. Nollekens, and Mr. Peck of the Temple (one 
 of his two cousins), Mr. Woodcock (one of Mrs. 
 Nollekens' cousins), Mr. John Taylor (Frank Hay- 
 man's only surviving pupil), Mr. Joseph Bonomi 
 (Mr. Nollekens' pupil), Mr. Gahagan (one of his 
 principal carvers), etc. 
 
 Mrs. Nollekens, who was fond of using lofty 
 sentences, even upon the most trifling occasions, in 
 her will styled her husband ' The sun of my life.' 
 Upon this expression a literary man, who at that 
 time was slightly known to Mr. Nollekens, passed 
 many compliments ; though, as a reader, he might 
 have known that the idea was borrowed from old 
 Fuller, who says, when speaking of a female who 
 had been kind to him in sickness, ' She was the 
 medicine of my life.' 
 
 Upon the death of Mrs. Nollekens, her husband, 
 who had received the condolence of Mrs. Zoffany, 
 Mrs. Lloyd, and other steady old friends, conducted 
 himself with all possible dolefulness and customary 
 propriety, pacing his room up and down with his 
 hands in his pockets, and for a time, I really 
 believe, felt the want of her company, deplorable 
 as it had been for the last three years. However, 
 many ladies stoutly maintain an opinion that very 
 few gentlemen die of grief for their departed wives ; 
 and that short and not very distant removals to a 
 lively prospect where new faces may be seen 
 generally bring about a change in the worldly 
 affairs of men. And as if he had been for too 
 
 19 
 
290 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 long a time what is usually denominated ' hen- 
 pecked,' Mr. Nollekens soon sported two mould- 
 candles instead of one, took wine oftener, sat up 
 later, laid in bed longer, and would, though he 
 made no change whatever in his coarse manner of 
 feeding, frequently ask his morning visitor to dine 
 with him ; and I have been informed that the late 
 Rev. Thomas Kerrich, principal librarian of the 
 University Library of Cambridge, to my very great 
 astonishment, had stomach enough to partake of 
 one of his repasts. As for my part, his viands were 
 so dirtily cooked with half -melted butter, mountains 
 high of flour, and his habits of eating so filthy, that 
 he never could prevail upon me to sicken myself at 
 any one of his feasts. 
 
 He continued now and then to amuse himself 
 with his modelling-clay, and frequently gave tea 
 and other entertainments to some one of his old 
 models, who generally left his house a bank-note or 
 two richer than they arrived. Indeed, so stupidly 
 childish was he at times, that one of his Venuses, 
 who had grown old in her practices, coaxed him 
 out of 10 to enable her to make him a plum- 
 pudding ; and he grew so luxuriantly brilliant in 
 his ideas of morning pleasures, that he would fre- 
 quently, on a Sunday particularly, order a hackney- 
 coach to be sent for, and take Taylor, Bonomi, 
 Goblet, and sometimes his neighbour, the publican's 
 wife from the Sun and Horseshoe, a ride out of 
 town of about ten or twelve miles before dinner. 
 Now and then, however, in consequence of his 
 neglecting his former cautious custom of bargaining 
 
SERVANTS 291 
 
 for the fare before he started, he had a dispute with 
 the coachman on his return as to the exact distance, 
 to the no small amusement of Bronze and his brawny 
 old Scotch nurse, a woman whose blotchy skin and 
 dirty habits even Nollekens declared to be most 
 obnoxious to his feelings, and wretchedly nasty in 
 her mode of dressing his victuals. 
 
 I must freely declare that in some respects Nolle- 
 kens, aged as he was, attempted to practise the 
 usual method of renovation of some of that species 
 of widowers who have not the least inclination 
 whatever to follow their wives too hastily. Mrs. 
 Nollekens had left him with his handsome maid, 
 who became possessed of her mistress's wardrobe, 
 which she quickly sold and cut up to her advantage. 
 Her common name of Mary soon received the adjunct 
 of Pretty from her kind master himself, who seldom 
 took the liberty of addressing her without it. As 
 it soon appeared, however, that ' pretty Mary,' who 
 had an eye to her master's disengaged hand, took 
 upon herself mightily, and used her master rather 
 roughly, she was one day very properly, though 
 unceremoniously, put out of the house before her 
 schemes were brought to perfection. 
 
 I must not, however, quit Mrs. Nollekens without 
 mentioning some circumstances of her survivor, 
 Mrs. Lloyd. She now and then gave the retort- 
 courteous to Mrs. Paradice, a woman she detested, 
 and who once allowed her passion to overpower her 
 good sense, of which in general she had a pretty 
 good share ; which overflowing of her gall took 
 place at Mrs. Nollekens' table when Dr. Johnson 
 
292 NOLLE KENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 was present. Mrs. Paradice's figure was so neat 
 and small that Mrs. Lloyd called her a sylph. 
 ' Better to be so,' rejoined Mrs. P., ' than to be as 
 dull-looking and blind as a mole.' c Mole as I am,' 
 said Mrs. Lloyd, f I never added to the weight of 
 Paul Jodrell's phaeton.' ' Fie ! fie ! my dears,' ex- 
 claimed the Doctor, ' no sparring ; off with your 
 mufflers, and fight it fairly out !' 
 
 At this time Miss Welch, who communicated 
 this anecdote to me, frowned at Mrs. Nollekens for 
 suffering her house to be made the seat of discord ; 
 and that lady particularly requested Mrs. Paradice, 
 for whom she entertained no high respect, to 
 suspend the altercation, adding that such remarks 
 were not altogether ladylike. Mrs. Lloyd, though 
 she was pretty honest in what she at any time said, 
 continued to bear no ill-will towards her little 
 antagonist, as will appear by the following extract 
 of a letter which she wrote to Mr. West in 1805 : 
 
 ' I am glad that our old acquaintance, Mrs. Paradice, got safe to 
 America. Although she and I used to say unkind things sometimes 
 to each other, I should have been sorry any harm had happened to her, 
 as I think she has many worthy qualities ; in consideration of which, 
 when she is out of my sight I like her very well, and can think of her 
 with commiseration.' 
 
 Mrs. Lloyd was so near-sighted that her nose, 
 when she was painting, was within an inch of the 
 canvas ; and it is astonishing, with such an in- 
 firmity, about Which Mrs. Paradice exposed herself 
 by ignorantly comparing her to a mole, that she 
 could display such harmony in her performances. 
 Her pictures of flowers, for which she was so 
 deservedly famed, possess a tasteful elegance of 
 
ONE OF GARRICK'S PLAYBILLS 293 
 
 composition, a clearness of colouring, and, in most 
 instances, exquisite finishing. She was remarkably 
 choice in the colour she used, preferring ultramarine 
 upon all occasions wherever blue was required. 
 My worthy friend Mr. Sharp, 1 the painter of ' The 
 King, God bless him !' purchased Mrs. Lloyd's 
 colour-box, in which he found a curious colour 
 twisted up in one of Garrick's playbills, which, 
 with his usual good-nature, he gave to me. This 
 bill is valuable for more points than one, as the 
 play which it announced was to be performed on 
 May 7 for the benefit of the poor debtors in the 
 Marshalsea Prison ; and as it has been considered a 
 great curiosity by many of the numerous playbill 
 collectors to whom it has been shown, I shall here 
 insert a copy of it. 
 
 FOE THE BENEFIT OF THE PEISONEES 
 
 Confined for Debt in the Marshalsea Prison, Southwark. 
 
 (Being their first application of this kind.) 
 
 Theatre Royal, in Drury Lane, 
 
 On Monday next, being the 7th of May, 
 
 Will be presented a Comedy, called, 
 
 THE PEOVOKED WIFE. 
 
 The part of Sir John Brute to be performed 
 
 by Mr. GARRICK. 
 
 Constant, by Mr. Havard. 
 
 Heartfree, by Mr. Palmer. 
 
 Col. Bully (with proper Songs), by Mr. Beard. 
 
 Razor, by Mr. Yates. 
 
 Lord Rake, by Mr. Blakes.' 
 
 Lady Fanciful, by Mrs. Clive. 
 
 Belinda, by Mrs. Willoughby. 
 
 Mademoiselle, by Mrs. Green. 
 
 1 Michael William Sharp, a painter of jocose and social pictures. 
 He survived until 1840. Ed. 
 
294 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 And the part of Lady Brute, to be performed by 
 
 Mrs. Pritchard. 
 
 With Dancing, 
 
 By Mons. Grandchamps, Mad. Auretti, Mr. Mathews, &c. 
 
 To which will be added a Farce, called, 
 
 DUKE AND NO DUKE. 
 
 The part of Trappolin to be performed 
 by Mr. WOODWARD. 
 Boxes 5s. Pit 3s. First Gallery 2s. Upper Gallery Is. 
 Tickets to be had at the Marshalsea Prison, Southwark, and of Mr. 
 Hobson, at the Stage-door, of whom places may be taken. 
 
 On Tuesday next, Loves Last Shift. For the Benefit of Mr. Dunbar, 
 Mr. Jones, Mr. Atkinson, Mr. Priehard, and Mr. Bride. 
 
 Mrs. Mary Lloyd leaving a will which she wrote 
 herself, and in which appear the names both of 
 Mr. and Mrs. Nollekens, Mrs. Benjamin West, with 
 her usual kindness, has enabled me to lay the 
 following copy before the reader : 
 
 1 Written in the year one thousand eight hundred and one. 
 
 ' This is the last Will and Testament of me, Mary Lloyd, widow of 
 the late Hugh Lloyd, Esq. I am now residing in John Street, in the 
 Parish of St. Pancras, in the County of Middlesex. First, I direct 
 that all my just debts, funeral expenses, and the charges of the 
 Probate of this my Will, shall be paid by my Executors hereinafter 
 named. I give and bequeath unto Joseph Nollekens, Esq., of Mortimer 
 Street, and Joseph Moser, Esq., of Princes Street, Spitalfields, and 
 the survivor, and the executors, administrators, or assigns of such 
 survivor, all my money in the public funds called the Long Annuities, 
 upon trust that they the said Joseph Nollekens and the said Joseph 
 Moser, or the survivor of them, or the executors, administrators, or 
 assigns of such survivor of them, shall and do, during the natural life 
 of my cousin Elizabeth Graham, wife of John Graham, pay and apply 
 out of the interest or dividends in the Long Annuities, forty pounds 
 every year to her use ; and I direct that the said Elizabeth Graham 
 shall receive the dividends herself at the Bank ; and I direct that the 
 said Elizabeth receive the forty pounds a year free and clear of and 
 from all tax, charge, and deductions whatever ; and after the decease 
 of the aforesaid Elizabeth Graham, I direct that the eight hundred 
 
MRS. LLOYD'S WILL 295 
 
 pounds, from which the dividends of forty pounds were paid, shall be 
 divided amongst the children of the said Elizabeth in equal shares, if 
 she should not make a will ; but if she should make a will in favour 
 of any child or children, the eight hundred pounds, after her decease, 
 shall be divided according to such will ; but the money must not be 
 willed by the said Elizabeth Graham to any person or persons except 
 her children, unless she should survive them all ; in that case she may 
 give the eight hundred pounds to whom she pleases after her decease ; 
 and I direct that the said Elizabeth Graham shall not make over to 
 any one person or persons the beforenamed dividends of forty pounds 
 per year, but always receive the interest herself of the eight hundred 
 pounds. I give and bequeath to my dear friend Mary Nollekens, the 
 wife of Joseph Nollekens, fifty pounds, to be transferred to her out 
 of the Long Annuities. I give and bequeath to Juliet Moser, the wife 
 of Joseph Moser, fifty pounds, to be transferred to her out of the 
 Long Annuities. I give and bequeath to John Graham, husband of 
 Elizabeth Graham, fifty pounds, to be transferred to him out of the 
 Long Annuities. I give and bequeath to Conradt Habbick, of Schaf- 
 hausen, the nephew of my father George Michel Moser, twenty guineas ; 
 if he should be dead, the money to be divided among my executors. 
 I give and bequeath to my cousin Rachel Schewier, the wife of Jacques 
 Schewier, late residing at Neuwied, twenty guineas. If the said Rachel 
 Schewier should be dead, I direct the twenty guineas to be paid to her 
 son ; if he should be dead, I give it to my executors. I give and 
 bequeath to Elizabeth West, wife of Benjamin West, Esq., fifty 
 pounds, to be transferred to her out of the Long Annuities. I give 
 and bequeath to George Panbury the Elder, twenty guineas. I give 
 my silver teapot, and my silver caddy, and silver milk-ewer, to Char- 
 lotte Harward, the wife of Charles Harward, Esq., with my best 
 wishes for her prosperity. I give and bequeath to Maria Cosway, the 
 wife of Richard Cosway, twenty guineas for a ring. I desire that my 
 drawings, prints, and books of prints, may be divided between Benjamin 
 West, Esq., and Joseph Nollekens, Esq., and that they may make them 
 into two parcels, and draw lots for them. I desire that Richard 
 Cosway, Esq., may choose any three pictures he pleases. I give to 
 Francis Ellis, daughter of Hugh Ellis, Esq., of Carnarvon, my ring 
 with my late husband's hair ; it is set round with diamonds ; and 
 twenty guineas. To the servant who lives with me at the time of 
 my death I give ten pounds. 
 
 ' The residue of my fortune of every kind I give to my cousin 
 Joseph Moser, Esq. 
 
 ' As I have written the above with my own hand, I am informed 
 
296 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 a witness is not required ; and I do constitute, nominate, and appoint 
 
 the aforesaid Joseph Nollekens and Joseph Moser executors of this 
 
 my last will. 
 
 'Mary Lloyd, 
 
 22nd Aug., 1801. 
 
 ' I request to be buried in the same grave with my late husband, 
 Hugh Lloyd, Esq., if I should die in this country. 
 
 'Mary Lloyd.' 1 
 
 Mrs. Lloyd, who was much respected by the 
 Eoyal Family, was visited by the late Queen 
 Charlotte, and had also the honour to receive the 
 following letter from her Royal Highness the 
 Princess Elizabeth : 
 
 'My dear Mrs. Lloyd, 
 
 ' To show you that though out of sii?ht you are not out of 
 mind, I send you a very quiet, sober-coloured gown, to show you that 
 you have a sincere and old friend in 
 
 'Eliza. 2 
 'Jan. 20th.' 
 
 Mrs. Lloyd died at ten o'clock on Sunday 
 morning, May 2, 1819, in the front second -floor 
 room of her lodgings, No. 21, Upper Thornhaugh 
 Street, Tottenham Court Road, and was buried on 
 the 10th of the same month at Kensington, in the 
 grave of her husband, according to her request. 
 
 Mr. Nollekens was not very particular as to the 
 material he used to render his skin clean. When- 
 ever he had been modelling, a small bit of clay 
 commonly answered the purpose, and, after shaving, 
 
 1 Mrs. Lloyd, when Miss Moser, obtained the following premiums 
 from the Society of Arts : 
 
 In 1758, for a drawing, 5 5s. 
 
 In 1759, for a ditto, 5 5s. Smith. 
 
 2 The original is in the possession of Mrs. Nichols, who kindly 
 permitted me to copy it. Smith. 
 
SNUFF 297 
 
 the barber's cloth, upon which a variety of customers 
 had already wiped themselves, was considered both 
 convenient and economical. 
 
 He took snuff, but seldom used his handkerchief ; 
 and the custom of the common drovers was too 
 often practised by him to render the assistance of 
 that truly cleanly article necessary upon all 
 occasions. By long experience he was convinced 
 that employing the common shoe-cleaner was by 
 far the cheapest mode, for that by standing over 
 him when he was putting on the blacking to the 
 brush he had a pennyworth for his halfpenny, so 
 that when he wanted to go out two days running, 
 the quantity of blacking enabled him, with a little 
 moisture applied to his own shiner, to make them 
 do. He chewed tobacco, it mattered not to him 
 whether shag or pigtail ; and for the most part his 
 supply was gratuitous by his sawyer or his polisher, 
 who both kept in his good opinion by continuing 
 the habit of chewing it, and they both were equally 
 eager to allow their polished iron-box to shine in 
 the sun whenever he came to converse with them, 
 upon either the clearness or softness of the stone 
 upon which they were engaged. 
 
 Snuff was a luxury he at all times expected to 
 find in the studio, and was highly pleased that the 
 generality of its takers preferred rappee, and also 
 that they confined their custom to the same shop 
 Simpson's, in Princes Street as the varieties of 
 manufacture were apt to render his nose sore. But 
 it was very remarkable that at one time, when he 
 was an extensive snuff-taker, he would put up with 
 
298 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 an early pinch of Scotch from a North Briton, who 
 industriously made seven days in the week by 
 attending an hour earlier and staying an hour later 
 than the rest of his workmen. Nollekens certainly 
 kept a box, but then if was very often in his other 
 coat-pocket, an apology frequently made when he 
 partook of that refreshment at the expense of 
 another. 
 
 If any one of his labourers found a feather and 
 tied it to the string of the oil-bottle, to enable 
 Nollekens to oil the locks, bars, bolts, and hinges 
 of the doors, without wasting the oil upon a worn- 
 out quill, he was delighted beyond measure. The 
 man who put it there was sure to be questioned as 
 to the place he found it in ; and if he happened to 
 say Oxford Market, Nollekens exulted upon re- 
 flecting that he stood some chance of having his 
 sixpennyworth for the money the butchers exacted 
 of him for exhibiting to him their house of snow. 
 
 Nollekens had no wish to visit those gardens of 
 Damascus at Kensington, shaded by lofty trees and 
 adorned by fragrant shrubs, under whose refreshing 
 shades he might have enjoyed the cooling breezes 
 from the waters. The place in which he most 
 delighted was Primrose Hill, where he was to be 
 seen in the summer season, either fagging up or 
 running down its heated declivities, almost destitute 
 of even bramble or brier. Often have I been nearlv 
 scorched to death when walking with him, as he 
 invariably gave preference to the sunny side of the 
 street, while his dog Cerberus, by way of a treat, 
 walked in the shade. 
 
HENRY JERNIGAN 299 
 
 John Barnard, Esq., nicknamed Jacky Barnard, 
 who was very fond of showing his collection of 
 Italian drawings, expressed surprise that Mr. 
 Nollekens did not pay a sufficient attention to them. 
 ' Yes I do,' replied he ; ' but I saw many of them 
 at Jenkins's, at Rome, while the man was making 
 them for my friend Crone, the artist, one of yonr 
 agents.' This so offended Mr. Barnard, who piqned 
 himself upon his judgment, that he scratched 
 Nollekens out of his will. 
 
 Walking with Mr. Nollekens to see Mr. Grignon's 
 pictures, consigned to him from Rome by his 
 brother Charles, just as we were going up to his 
 door, No. 10, Great Russell Street, Covent Garden, 
 Mr. Nollekens regretted that he had left home 
 without putting the Jernigan medal into his pocket, 
 as Mr. Grignon had promised to give him some 
 account of it. 
 
 What information Mr. Nollekens obtained I 
 know not ; but I find that in one of Mr. Grignon's 
 interesting letters to me upon my Covent Garden 
 collections, he mentions it in the following words : 
 
 'Henry Jernigan was a silversmith and Roman Catholic banker, 
 residing in London, and had offices in Jermyn Street and Great 
 Russell Street, and in the house in which I now reside. He had 
 a lottery for jewellery which he could not dispose of, 1 and to 
 those persons who were unfortunate he presented medals. The 
 number of his tickets amounted to 30,000, at seven or ten shillings 
 each.' 
 
 Jernigan died October 8, 1761, was buried in the 
 churchyard of St. Paul, Covent Garden, and upon 
 
 1 A large cistern of silver was the grand prize. Smith. 
 
300 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 his tombstone are the following lines by Aaron 
 Hill: 
 
 ' All that accomplished body lends mankind, 
 From earth receiving, he to earth resign'd. 
 All that e'er graced a soul, from Heaven he drew, 
 And took back with him, as an angel's due.' 
 
 ' Yon must sometimes be much annoyed,' observed 
 a lady, addressing herself to Mr. Nollekens, c by 
 the ridiculous remarks made by your sitters and 
 their flattering friends after you have produced a 
 good likeness.' ' No, ma'am, I never allow any- 
 body to fret me. I tell 'em all, " If you don't like 
 it, don't take it." This may be done by an artist 
 who is what is usually termed ' tiled in ' ; but the 
 dependent man is sometimes known to submit to 
 observations, as the witty Northcote has stated, 
 even from 4 nursery-maids, both wet and dry.' 
 This observation occurs in a paper addressed to 
 Prince Hoare, dated June 20, 1807, in an enter- 
 taining work edited by that gentleman, entitled 
 ' The Artist.' 
 
 Notwithstanding the professed independence of 
 Nollekens, however, he not unfrequently has been 
 known to appear to comply with the wishes of his 
 employers, who in most instances consider they 
 have an unequivocal right to maintain their ignorant 
 opinions for articles bespoken by them, and for 
 which they are to give cheques ; and so they cer- 
 tainly have, if they confine their observations to 
 their household furniture. But I must declare 
 that persons of real taste and good sense are at all 
 times better pleased with a work x>f art that has 
 
NOLLEKENS 1 HABITS 301 
 
 emanated entirely from the mind of a talented man, 
 who has deeply studied his subject. Nollekens, I 
 was about to observe, at times, like many other 
 sculptors, played off the old practice by pretending 
 to cut away whenever the employer pronounced a 
 lip too pouting, an eye too crow-footed, or a brow 
 too severe. This deception of cutting away is 
 effected by the help of a little stone-dust, which the 
 sculptor allows to fall gradually from his hand 
 every time he strikes his chisel or moves his rasp, 
 until the critic cries, c Stop, stop ! don't cut away 
 too much ; that will do admirably well. Now, 
 don't you see, my dear sir, how wonderfully that 
 has improved it ?' 
 
 Nollekens observed one morning, after he had 
 attended Sir Joshua's lecture at the Royal Academy 
 the preceding evening, that he believed all the 
 deformed students in the Academy had assembled 
 together upon one spot while waiting the open- 
 ing of the lecture-room, since he had noticed 
 Eyley, Flaxman, the two Edwards, Crone, and 
 Feary. 
 
 Whenever Nollekens was asked in the presence 
 of his wife if he had any family, she would answer, 
 pointing to his figures, ' A very great family, sir. 
 All these are Mr. Nollekens' children ; and as they 
 behave so well, and never make a noise, they shall 
 be his representatives,' at the same time making a 
 most formal curtsey to Mr. Nollekens. 
 
 He seldom wrote long letters : Lady Newborough 
 was one of the most favoured of this friends. To 
 her he wrote Jong epistles ; and so ' unbosomed 
 
NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 himself,' as he called it, by offering his advice about 
 her domestic concerns, that she was pleased, when 
 she wrote in reply, to call him her father. 
 
 At the commencement of the French Revolution, 
 when such immense numbers of priests threw them- 
 selves upon the hospitality of this country, Nolle - 
 kens was highly indignant at the great quantity of 
 bread they consumed. ' Why, do you know, now,' 
 said he, ' there's one of 'em living next door but 
 one to me that eats two whole quartern loaves a 
 day to his own share ! and I am sure the fellow's 
 body could not be bigger if he was to eat up his 
 blanket.' 
 
 Whenever Nollekens crossed the water he always 
 carried the money the waterman was to have for 
 his fare in his mouth : he kept it between his teeth, 
 not in imitation of Egyptian mummies, whose 
 mouths held a piece of gold to pay old Charon his 
 fare, but in order that he might not, in getting out 
 of the boat, lose his money by taking more out than 
 he wanted. 
 
 He never suffered his tenants to remain long after 
 their rents were due without reminding them how 
 matters stood ; and when he applied by letters, he 
 stated that a quarter's rent was due on November 10 
 last, for which he requested payment to be made 
 on or before Thursday next, by twelve o'clock at 
 noon, having occasion for a sum of money. Of 
 late years, however, in consequence of his having 
 so many houses, he employed an agent to collect 
 for him, so that, at all events, his bodily fatigue 
 was lessened. 
 
ECCENTRICITIES 303 
 
 Mr. Browne, 1 one of Nollekens' old friends, after 
 having received repeated invitations to l step in and 
 take pot-luck with him,' one day took him at his 
 word. The sculptor apologized for his entertain- 
 ment by saying that, as it was Friday, Mrs. Nolle - 
 kens had proposed to take fish with him, so that 
 they had bought a few sprats, of which he was 
 wiping some in a dish, whilst she was turning others 
 on the gridiron. 
 
 One day, when Mr. Nollekens was walking in 
 Cavendish Square, attended by his man Dodimy, 
 he desired him to take up some sop which a boy 
 had just thrown out of a beer-pot, observing that it 
 would make a nice dinner for his dog Cerberus. 
 c Lord, sir ! I take it up !' exclaimed Dodimy. 
 1 What, in the sight of your friends, Lord Bes[s]- 
 borough and Lord Brownlow ? See, sir, there's 
 Mr. Shee looking down at you. No, sir, I would 
 not do it if you were even to scratch me !' When- 
 ever Dodimy displeased his master he commonly 
 threatened to scratch him, meaning out of his 
 will, which he finally did, and gave his intended 
 annuity of 30 to his principal assistant, Mr. Gob- 
 let, as the long promised provision for himself and 
 family ! 
 
 As I have given so many instances of the mean- 
 ness of the wealthy sculptor, I should feel very con- 
 siderable regret if I omitted to record any act of 
 his which bears the least appearance of liberality ; 
 
 1 The late Mr. Browne was father to George Howe Browne, Esq., 
 the highly -respected Secretary to the Westminster Fire -Office. 
 Smith. 
 
3 o4 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 and it gives me pleasure to say that I have been 
 assured by Mr. Turner, the Eoyal Academician, 
 that when he solicited Mr. Nollekens for his sub- 
 scription to the Artists' Fund, he inquired how 
 much he wanted from him. c Only a guinea,' was 
 the answer ; upon which the sculptor immediately 
 opened a table -drawer and gave Mr. Turner thirty 
 guineas, saying, c There, take that.' Mr. Bailey, 1 
 the Royal Academician, was also equally surprised 
 when he applied to him on behalf of the Artists' 
 Society, to which he is a subscriber. And yet this 
 man was continually exercising his thoughts to 
 devise the cheapest meal he could possibly take ; 
 and has been seen disputing with a half-starved 
 and slipshod cobbler because he refused to put a 
 few more nails in his ^hoes, having entered into an 
 agreement to pay him the sum of twopence for their 
 mending ! 
 
 As a piece of topographical gossip relative to an 
 old house, the fame of which has been perpetuated 
 in the Spectator, I shall close the present chapter 
 with the following information touching the re- 
 nowned shop of Bat Pidgeon. 
 
 Mr. Nollekens informed me that his mother took 
 her children to have their hair cut at the Three 
 Pigeons, in the Strand ; and having heard my 
 friend Mr. Sheldrake state that that shop had been 
 the one formerly kept by the famous Bat Pidgeon, 
 I begged of him to favour me with what he knew 
 
 1 Edward Hodges Bailey, the sculptor (1788-1867), a pupil and 
 imitator of Flaxman. Ed. 
 
BAT PIDGEON 305 
 
 about it, and the following letter is the result of 
 my inquiry : 
 
 1 January 18, 1823. 
 'Dear Sir, 
 
 ' I well remember Bat Pidgeon's house in the Strand ; it was 
 nearly opposite Norfolk Street. It bore a sign of Three Pigeons, 
 underneath which was written, "Bat Pidgeon"; beneath which was 
 another inscription, "late Bat Pidgeon." 
 
 'Since our conversation I have examined the spot; the original 
 brickwork of the house is there, but the shop-front has been 
 modernized. The house is now numbered 277, and is inhabited by 
 Mr. Wilson, manufacturer of ornamental bair, etc. I talked with Mr. 
 Wilson, who has no knowledge of his ancestors, if I may so call them, 
 but said he well knows that his house bore the sign of " The Three 
 Pigeons." I remember them and the inscriptions many years of my 
 early life, long after the year 1770, but I cannot recollect the names 
 of Bat's successors. 
 
 'I enclose Mr. Wilson's card, which will lead you to the house. 
 'I am, dear Sir, 
 
 1 Yours sincerely, 
 
 ' T. Sheldrake. 
 'J. T. Smith, Esq.' 
 
 20 
 
[306] 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Mr. Nollekens' confessor Description of the sculptor's house, paint- 
 ings, etc. His indifference towards religion and sacred subjects in 
 art Decoration of churches and exhibition of Westminster Abbey 
 Mr. Nollekens and Sir William Staines Anecdotes of Biagio 
 Rebecca The Pond family Anthony Pasquin Canal excursions 
 Mrs. Lobb and living models Mr. Nollekens' visit to the British 
 Museum Recollections of his manners, etc. Eccentricity in persons 
 of eminent talent The advantages of greatness Mr. Nollekens and 
 his patrons and visitors. 
 
 Mr. Nollekens was in possession of a set of those 
 extremely rare engravings from the Aretin subjects, 
 so often mentioned by print-collectors ; but it so 
 happened, as he was glancing at them one day, that 
 his confessor came in, who insisted upon their being 
 put into the fire before he would give him absolu- 
 tion. I once saw them, and he lent them to Cos way 
 to make tracings from them. However, this loan 
 Cos way stoutly denied, which when Nollekens 
 heard, he exclaimed : ' He's a damned liar ; that 
 everybody knows ! And I know this, that I could 
 hardly get them back again out of his hands.' 
 Upon Nollekens being asked how he, as an artist, 
 could make up his mind to burn them, he answered, 
 c The priest made me do it ;' and he was now and 
 then seen to shed tears for what he called his folly. 
 
BRONZE AND HER KITCHEN 307 
 
 He was frequently questioned thus : ' Where did you 
 get them, sir ? Whose were they ?' His answer 
 was : c I brought them all the way from Rome.' 
 
 The rigid economy and eccentricity of Mr. 
 Nollekens were scarcely more remarkable in his 
 person and manners than in his dwelling, of which 
 I shall now give the reader a short description. 
 The kitchen was paved with odd bits of stone, close 
 to the dusthole, which was infested with rats. The 
 drains had long been choked up ; and the windows 
 were glazed with glass of a smoky-greenish hue, 
 having all the cracked panes carefully puttied. 
 The shelves contained only a bare change of dishes 
 and plates, knives and forks just enough, and those 
 odd ones, the handles of which had undergone a 
 4 sea-change,' from a gray pea-green tint to the 
 yellow tone visible in an overgrown cucumber. 
 No Flanders-brick was ever used to them, a piece 
 of true English was preferred, and brought to 
 Bronze from Marylebone Fields by her master. 
 Nor was the sink often stopped with tea-leaves, 
 since they were carefully saved to sprinkle the best 
 carpet, to lay the dust, before it was swept. The 
 remainder of the furniture consisted of a flat 
 candlestick, with a saveall ; but for snuffers Bronze 
 used her scissors, or indeed, upon most occasions, 
 her fingers. Of the dining and sitting-parlour, the 
 description will be familiar to many of the most 
 elegant, witty, and noble characters of the country 
 who have been sitters for their busts to Mr. 
 Nollekens. 
 
 That which we will call the dining, sitting, and 
 
308 NOLLE KENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 sitters' parlour, was the corner room, which had 
 two windows looking south, the entrance to it 
 being on the right hand in the passage from the 
 street door in Mortimer Street. The visitors will 
 recollect that over the chimneypiece there was a 
 three-quarter portrait of the sculptor himself, with 
 a modelling-tool in his hand, leaning with his right 
 elbow upon the bust of the Hon. Charles James 
 Fox, the execution of which brought him both 
 reputation and profit. 
 
 The artist's modelling-stool was placed near the 
 street-door window, and the sitter's chair nearer 
 the door, whilst facing the window there were 
 several small models of Venus upon the chimney- 
 piece, over which, and under his own portrait, hung 
 three miniatures, one being of Sir Joshua Reynolds, 
 by Edridge, taken from the picture in the club- 
 room in the Thatched House Tavern, St. James's 
 Street. The other two were of Mrs. Nollekens and 
 Miss Welch, painted by Smart, 1 all of which were 
 presented by the artists. 
 
 Between the chimney and the corner window 
 hung two beautiful impressions, one of Michael 
 Angelo's ' Last Judgment,' by Martin Rota, and the 
 other, Raffaelle's ' St. Cecilia,' by Marc-Antonio, 
 both from the Blackburn Collection. On the 
 closet-door was suspended a beautiful picture of 
 flowers, by Deheim, which had been the property 
 of Miss Moser, and for which Mr. Nollekens said 
 he gave her forty guineas ; and nearer the window 
 hung a drawing of Cupid and Psyche,' by Tresham, 
 
 1 John Smart, the elder (1740-1811). Ed. 
 
NOLLEKENS* HOUSE 309 
 
 with another portrait of Noliekens drawn by Smart. 
 This drawing is now in the possession of Mr. 
 Taylor, to whom Mr. Noliekens had formerly 
 promised it. 
 
 For many years two pieces of old green canvas 
 were festooned at the lower parts of the windows 
 for blinds, but of late a pretty good glass was 
 placed against the pier. On the west side of the 
 parlour, from the window to the north of the room, 
 hung Mr. Taylor's drawing of Mr. Pitt's statue in a 
 black frame, which almost destroyed its effect ; 
 and over it were two pictures, one of Nymphs, by 
 4 Old Noliekens,' the other was of a dog, by Stubbs. 
 Under these appeared the print of ' Three Marys,' 
 after Carracci ; and close in the corner by the 
 window upon a bracket was placed a small copy of 
 RafFaelle's model of Jonah ; whilst between the 
 door and the north end was a small picture with 
 sheep, by Bourgeois ; and at the north end, also 
 upon a bracket, stood a small copy of Michael 
 Angelo's figure of Moses. 1 
 
 On the north side of the room hung two land- 
 scapes, drawn and presented by Gainsborough ; two 
 drawings by Zoffany, also presentations ; a drawing 
 by Mr. Taylor of Mr. Noliekens' monument to the 
 memory of Mrs. Howard, of Corby, and a drawing 
 from Cipriani were suspended against the door. 
 Near these were a picture of flowers, by Mrs. 
 Lloyd, and a portrait of Mr. Welch, by Brompton ; 2 
 
 1 Casts of the magnificent originals of these statues are now ex- 
 hibiting by Mr. Day in the Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly. Smith. 
 
 2 Richard Brompton, portrait painter to the Empress Catharine. 
 He died in St. Petersburg in 1782. Ed. 
 
3io NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 beside which hung Barry's picture of ' The Origin 
 of Music.' On each side of the chimney was a 
 drawing by Paul Sandby ; and close to the fire- 
 place, though rather out of sight, hung two bits of 
 slate dangling upon a nail, on which Mr. and Mrs. 
 Nollekens kept their separate memoranda of the 
 day's expenditure, for they kept distinct accounts 
 against each other, as to letters, porters employed, 
 or things purchased for the house, etc. Near the 
 corner window was a closet, in which were placed 
 candles though, as for soap, Bronze declared the 
 house had never known any for forty years and a 
 few preserves, pickles, or other little presents from 
 persons who had great expectations. Caleb White- 
 foord's wine also found a safe depository in this 
 closet, together with an uncut loaf, or a bit of fresh 
 butter, a little scalded milk, a paper containing the 
 academic nutmegs, fragments of string, and old 
 screws and nails, which were picked up as things 
 that might be wanted some time or other. 
 
 The drawing-room contained a three-quarter 
 portrait of Mrs. Nollekens, as ' Innocence with a 
 Dove,' painted by her friend Angelica Kauffmann ; 
 on the chimneypiece were several models, par- 
 ticularly the one of Mercury, 1 for which I was 
 standing when Mr. Taylor smelt the leg of pork. 
 There were also three landscapes by Wilson, two 
 of which had been painted for Mr. Welch, and 
 came to Mrs. Nollekens at the death of her sister ; 
 a picture by West, four friezes by Bartolozzi, after 
 
 1 This was promised me by Mr. Nollekens ; however, I purchased 
 it at the sale of his property. Smith. 
 
MRS. NOLLEKENS GUINEAS 311 
 
 Cipriani, and a drawing by Clarisseau, which hung 
 against the door. This room was decorated with 
 some of the furniture of Mrs. Nollekens' mother. 
 
 Mr. Welch's library, which also descended to 
 Mrs. Nollekens, was closely locked up in a small 
 back-room, where she had deposited eleven hundred 
 guineas. They were accumulated after the one 
 and two pound notes were issued, for Mrs. Nolle- 
 kens, not trusting in the safety of paper currency, 
 prevailed upon most of her tenants to pay her in 
 gold ; which request she walked all the way to Mr. 
 Alderman Combe's brewhouse to make as to the 
 payment for a house rented of her by that firm in 
 Drury Lane. These guineas she would look over 
 pretty often, and weigh in her hands against each 
 other, partly from the enjoyment she felt in 
 counting her wealth, and partly to discover if 
 anyone had been deceiving her with coin short 
 of weight. Her feeling of delight in this occu- 
 pation is not unhappily expressed in the following 
 lines : 
 
 1 As these alternate poising in each hand, 
 He cries, " This doth no no this weigheth most 
 By half a grain or so ; and half a grain 
 Of gold is something worth I'd buy me scales, 
 But scales cost money ; so I must do without 'em." ' 
 
 I very much fear that Mr. Nollekens had no 
 innate love of religion, nor ever dedicated much 
 time to devotion. He was a Roman Catholic 
 because his father had died in that faith ; but his 
 attendance at Warwick Street Chapel, and subse- 
 quently at the one in Sutton Street, Soho Square, 
 
NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 was confined, I am sorry to say, to fine Sunday 
 mornings ; his regard to Christianity on a rainy 
 day never extended beyond his own threshold ; nor 
 was he, according to Bronze's assertion, ever known 
 to be in private meditation. He now and then, 
 however, according to the custom of an observant 
 Catholic, received visits from a priest, who con- 
 fessed him and gave him absolution. He was never 
 known to give money to benefit the Roman Church, 
 but at times he has certainly been seen to extend 
 his charity to a mendicant at the door of the chapel, 
 who cunningly moved him by soliciting alms in the 
 name of St. Francis, the favourite saint of Antwerp, 
 the native city of his father. 
 
 In the course of my long acquaintance with his 
 pursuits in art, I never saw a single model by his 
 hand of our Saviour, the Virgin Mary, nor even 
 St. Francis ; nor do I believe, during his long 
 practice, that he has once erected a monument to 
 which the cross has been attached ; no doubt he 
 would have been employed by many of the Catholic 
 profession had he applied to them ; though perhaps 
 it was owing to his careless inattention to his duty 
 that those of his own persuasion did not employ 
 him. Whenever Mr. Nollekens spake of the Bible, 
 he did not appear to have a general knowledge of 
 its contents, nor do I recollect his selecting a subject 
 for the exercise of his art from Holy Writ ; and, 
 even farther, I never once heard him observe that 
 such and such a subject would model well. 
 
 How different, on the contrary, was the pious mind 
 of Flaxman ; for though he was passionately fond 
 
WESTMINSTER ABBEY 313 
 
 of Homer, and other authors never noticed by 
 Nollekens, he was never more delighted than when 
 he was engaged upon sacred subjects, as witness 
 his noble designs from the Lord's Prayer ; for how 
 sweetly, and, I was going to say, in how heavenly 
 a manner he has treated them ! I will venture to 
 assert boldly in the face of the unbeliever who may 
 laugh at this page, that if our churches were 
 decorated with sculptured subjects taken from the 
 best and oldest book in the world, their religious 
 sentiments would be much more strongly excited 
 when in a place of public worship than by the filthy 
 exhibition of General Monk's cap, the shoe-buckles 
 worn by Lord Nelson, or a favourite i Poll Parrot ' 
 of the deceased ladv, ' modelled ' as the showmen 
 of the Abbey are pleased to tell the gaping visitors, 
 L as naturally as life !' 
 
 I sincerely hope, however, that a time will come 
 when Westminster Abbey, and all other buildings 
 dedicated to sacred purposes, will be cleared of such 
 mummery and laid open to the free inspection of 
 the public, who may walk about such noble edifices 
 and see the works of ancient and modern art with- 
 out being invited to pay for the exhibition of wax- 
 work and models of churches which have nothing 
 whatever to do with the edifice itself ; indeed, the 
 former were better destroyed, and the models pre- 
 sented to the Society of Arts. I will also ask the 
 inquiring reader whether it be fair that the public 
 should be obliged to pay for a sight of those monu- 
 ments which the Government has so liberally 
 erected to perpetuate the memory of those to whom 
 
3 i4 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 they have been inscribed ? I speak as an artist, 
 my present theme being principally upon works of 
 the sculptors of them. The doors should be opened 
 for certain hours daily, so that the public might see 
 how extensively liberal, particularly of late years, 
 the nation has been in voting monuments to the 
 memory of men of departed genius, and more 
 especially to those military and naval victors who 
 have so nobly shed their blood and fallen in their 
 country's service. 
 
 To view the Abbey of Westminster unencum- 
 bered of its waxen effigies would be a gratification 
 for many a morning ; and the servants, instead of 
 expecting a few pence for their own pockets, might 
 still be employed to walk about to see that no 
 mischief was done to the treasures of that venerable 
 structure. 1 Surely it would be far better were a 
 man to be thus healthfully exercised than to shut 
 him up in a small recess at the entrance of Poets' 
 Corner, where now the contribution is demanded, 
 and where he closes upon the visitor, as a pair of 
 snuffers top the wick of a candle, and as if the 
 money-taking business, according to the custom of 
 a playhouse, was to be looked after first. Now, I 
 will venture to say that a regular citizen never calls 
 upon anyone for payment before sight ; nor do the 
 servants of the very few high families which still 
 suffer their domestics to take money expect to 
 receive what the visitors choose to give them before 
 
 1 I must, however, add that I should like to see the curious old iron- 
 work put up again which inclosed the most ancient monuments in the 
 Abbey. Smith. 
 
CIVIC GOSSIP 315 
 
 they are attended back to the portal. Again, I will 
 ask this question, How far is the London investi- 
 gator of religious structures to go before he meets 
 with anything to be compared with such a specimen 
 of sacred architecture as Westminster Abbey, 
 mutilated and metamorphosed as it has been ? St. 
 Albans Abbey, I believe, is the nearest to the 
 Metropolis. 
 
 When Nollekens once had occasion to visit the 
 Church of St. Giles, Cripplegate, he asked me to 
 walk with him ; and as we entered Jewin Street we 
 met Sir William Staines, who informed him of 
 his having been chosen Mayor, and that he should 
 send him a ticket for the civic dinner. Nollekens: 
 c Dinner ! bless your heart, I'd rather dine at home ; 
 you citizens make such a noise, and I get my clothes 
 spoiled. You've seen me in my Pourpre du Pape, 
 and do you know, that at our last Academy dinner 
 a stupid fool spilt the butter-boat upon it ? Have 
 you any comforts in your pocket ? I've got such 
 a cold ! Now, pray tell me, will they let you 
 smoke your pipe in the Mayor's coach ?' Staines : 
 ' Bless you ! I don't mean to attempt such a thing ; 
 but when I'm in my private carriage they can't 
 hinder me ; then if they offer it, I'll take them up ! 
 Have you bought any stone lately ? I've some very 
 close Yorkshire.' Nollekens : c No, I don't want 
 any.' Staines : ' Well, then, you won't dine on my 
 day ?' Nollekens : i No ; but I suppose my friends, 
 Sir William Beechey and Sir Francis Bourgeois, 
 will be there. Well, good-bye ; I am going into 
 the church.' Staines: 'What, into our church? 
 
316 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 Stay, I'll save you a shilling. I'll ring the bell for 
 Mrs. Richardson, the sexton's wife. Oh, here she 
 comes. We want to 2:0 into the churchyard ; I 
 want to show my wife's tombstone to Mr. Nollekens 
 and his friend.' Mrs. Richardson : ' Do you know, 
 Sir iWilliam, there's a corner off ?' ' Ay, I am 
 sorry for it ; I had the largest I could get for 
 money, and, as I am a dealer in stone, you see, I 
 had a little pride about me on that occasion.' 
 Nollekens : c What a thick one it is ! why did you 
 waste so much stone ?' Staines : ' That's the 
 reason ; I was determined to have the thickest for 
 its size that ever came to London ; it measures 
 nine feet eight inches in length, by seven feet three 
 inches and three-quarters in width.' 
 
 I was present one morning when Mr. West was 
 sitting to Nollekens for the bust which the British 
 Institution had honoured him by ordering for their 
 gallery, when, among other anecdotes, the President 
 related the following of Biagio Rebecca, 1 an artist 
 principally employed in painting staircases and 
 ceilings with allegorical subjects in arabesque decora- 
 tions, formerly much in fashion in England, 
 Mortimer, Cipriani, Angelica Kauffmann, Zucchi 
 Hamilton, and many other eminent artists being 
 often engaged upon such works : George III. had 
 commanded Rebecca to adorn some of the royal 
 apartments at Windsor, during which employment 
 his Majesty, with his usual affability, would fre- 
 quently converse with him ; but in such conversa- 
 
 1 Biagio Rebecca was born in Italy in 1735, became an A.R.A., and 
 died without further promotion in 1808. Ed. 
 
B I AGIO REBECCA 317 
 
 tions the artist, who was not a little conceited of his 
 talents, attempted to conduct himself in the presence 
 of his Majesty as Verrio did before Charles II., 
 being so silly as to believe that his conduct would 
 be laughed at by the condescending monarch. In 
 this, however, the impudent Kebecca was mistaken, 
 for whenever he was guilty of the slightest im- 
 propriety of that kind the King never failed to 
 mention it to Mr. West. 
 
 One day, at Windsor, after Rebecca had received 
 a considerable sum of money, he proposed to share 
 the expense of a postchaise to London with Mr. 
 West ; and just as they reached Hounslow Heath 
 the King, who was returning to Windsor, looked 
 into their chaise. The next time Mr. West was 
 in the royal presence, the King asked him who the 
 foreign nobleman was that he had in the chaise 
 with him the last time they met on Hounslow 
 Heath. Mr. West declared Rebecca was his only 
 companion. ' Oh no,' observed his Majesty ; c it 
 was a person of distinction.' Mr. West, upon 
 inquiry, found out that Rebecca, who expected 
 to meet the King, and knew his Majesty to be near- 
 sighted, had the impudence to fix a paper star on 
 his coat, which he had cut out for the purpose of 
 attracting the King's notice, supposing that he 
 would certainly laugh at it as a jest. 
 
 Rebecca, being fully aware of the great fondness 
 people in general have for money, would, in what- 
 ever company he was, pass his jokes, purposely to 
 amuse the frivolous part of them, and the following 
 trick in particular he was sure to practise : He had 
 
3 i8 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 prepared a drawing in imitation of a half-crown 
 piece, which he would unobservedly place upon the 
 floor, and then laugh immoderately at the eager- 
 ness with which even a gentleman in full dress, 
 with his sword and bag, would sometimes run and 
 scuffle to pick it up. 
 
 One day I was standing with Mr. Nollekens at 
 his gate in Titchfield Street, when a man, with full 
 staring eyes, accosted him with : ' Well, Mr. Nolle- 
 kens, how do you do ? You don't remember me ; 
 but you recollect my grandfather, Arthur Pond.' 1 
 ' Oh yes, very well ; he used to christen old draw- 
 ings for Hudson ay, I have often seen him when I 
 was a boy.' The same,' observed the stranger ; 
 4 my name's John, commonly Jack ; his son, my 
 father, was a livery- stable keeper, 2 and so Anthony 
 Pasquin 3 always called me " Horse Pond." Of 
 this man's sister there is a mezzotinto head, nearly 
 as laro:e as nature, drawn and engraved from the 
 life by John Spilsbury, and published by him 
 
 1 The painter and engraver (1705-1758). Ed. 
 
 2 This stable-keeper was the compiler of the Racing Calendar.' 
 Smith. 
 
 3 Many persons know that Anthony Pasquin's real name was 
 Williams, but I believe very few are aware that he had been articled 
 to learn the art of engraving of Matt. Darley, of the Strand, the 
 famous caricaturist. A particular friend of mine has a set of coat- 
 buttons, upon every one of which Anthony engraved a boat, as the 
 badge of a member of a club entitled ' The Sons of Neptune,' con- 
 sisting of youths who strictly observed the Lord Mayor's rules of 
 Swan-Upping, for the enjoyment of the scenery of the banks of Old 
 Father Thames, confining the stretch of their oars from Wapping Old 
 Stairs to the Bush at Staines. Smith. 'Anthony Pasquin's ' name 
 was John Williams. He was a pungent critic of contemporary art. 
 He died in the United States in 1818. Ed. 
 
EXCURSIONS TO UXBRIDGE 319 
 
 December I, 176G, then living in Russell Court, 
 Co vent Garden. This female has been celebrated 
 by Dr. Johnson, in his ' Idler,' as the lady who rode 
 a thousand miles in a thousand hours. I have a 
 portrait of her in her gray hairs, which I drew 
 when I was studying the various expressions of 
 insane people in Bethlem Hospital, of which insti- 
 tution she was an unfortunate inmate. An engraver 
 of the name of Smith published in 1787 a quarto 
 portrait of the above John Pond, who being notorious 
 for nothing but getting drunk, it did not sell ; but 
 in order to make it answer his purpose, he, to the 
 great annoyance of Dr. Wolcot, erased the name of 
 John Pond, and substituted that of Peter Pindar, 
 without making the least alteration in the features 
 or person, when in a few days he distributed im- 
 pressions in the shop-windows all over the town, 
 and many a portrait-collector has ' enriched ' his 
 book with it, as the true and lively ef^gy of the 
 man who cared not whose character he traduced. 
 
 I ought to have noticed in a former page that, 
 when it was customary for so much company to 
 visit Uxbridge by the barges drawn by horses 1 
 gaily decked out with ribands, Mr. and Mrs. 
 Nollekens, with all the gaiety of youthful extrava- 
 gance, embarked on board, and actually dined out 
 on that gala-day at their own expense. The sights 
 they saw on this memorable aquatic excursion 
 afforded them mutual conversation for several 
 weeks ; and Mrs. Nollekens actually tired her 
 friends with letters upon their canal adventures 
 
 1 The Grand Junction Canal was opened to Uxbridge in 1801 ? Ed. 
 
320 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 from Paddington to Uxbridge, and from Uxbridge 
 to Paddington. In these epistles she most poetically 
 expatiated upon the clearness of the water, the 
 fragrance of the flowers, the nut-brown tints of the 
 wavy corn, and the ruddy and healthful com- 
 plexions of the cottagers' children, who waited 
 anxiously to see the vessel approach their native 
 shores. The only fatigue was the hasty walk from 
 Mortimer Street to Paddington, and the loitering 
 return from Paddington to Mortimer Street, where, 
 soon after their arrival, they refreshed themselves 
 with an additional cup of tea, and for that evening 
 indulged in going to bed before sunset. 
 
 The pleasures of a similar excursion induced the 
 late venerable President West to paint a picture of 
 the barge he went by, on the crowded deck of which 
 he has introduced his own portrait, and also those 
 of several of his friends who were that day on 
 board. This pleasing and singular picture adorns 
 the splendid gallery of West's works, daily exhibit- 
 ing at his late house in Newman Street. 
 
 These excursions to Uxbridge were, like many 
 other fashionable entertainments, soon laid aside. 
 Air-balloons were also formerly much sought after ; 
 but now on a summer's afternoon, if one be 
 announced, few people will turn up their eyes to 
 look at it. And steamboats, which have engaged 
 the thoughts of the aquatic travellers, are already 
 talked of with indifference, since a steam stage- 
 coach 1 is about to start without horses. 
 
 1 This ran several times from Hyde Park Corner to Reading and 
 back, but did not prove a success. Ed. 
 
RATS' CASTLE 
 
 One May morning, during Mrs. Nollekens* 
 absence from town, Mrs. Lobb, an elderly lady, in 
 a green calash, from the sign of the Fan, in Dyot 
 Street, St. Giles's, was announced by Kit Finney, 
 the mason's son, as wishing to see Mr. Nollekens. 
 ' Tell her to come in,' said Nollekens, concluding 
 that she had brought him a fresh subject for a 
 model just arrived from the country ; but upon 
 that lady's entering the studio, she vociferated 
 before all his people : 4 1 am determined to expose 
 you, I am, you little grub !' c Kit !' cried Nollekens, 
 6 call the yard-bitch,' adding, with a clenched fist, 
 that ' if she kicks up any bobbery here I will send 
 Lloyd for Lefuse, the constable.' ' Ay, ay, honey !* 
 exclaimed the dame, ; that won't do. It's all mighty 
 fine talking in your own shop. I'll tell his Worship 
 Collins, in another place, what a scurvy way you 
 behaved to young Bet Belmanno yesterday ! Why, 
 the girl is hardly able to move a limb to-day. To 
 think of keeping a young creature eight hours in 
 that room, without a thread upon her, or a morsel 
 of anything to eat or a drop to drink, and then to 
 give her only two shillings to bring home ! Neither 
 Mr. Fuseli nor Mr. Tresham would have served me 
 so. How do you think I can live and pay the 
 income-tax ? Never let me catch you or your dog 
 beating our rounds again ; if you do, I'll have you 
 both skinned and hung up in Rats' Castle. 1 Who 
 
 1 ' Rats' Castle,' a shattered house then standing on the east side of 
 Dyot Street, and so called from the rat-catchers and canine snackers 
 who inhabited it, and where they cleaned the skins of those un- 
 fortunate stray dogs who had suffered death the preceding night. 
 Smith. 
 
 21 
 
322 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 do you laugh at ?' she continued, at the same time 
 advancing towards him. c I have a great mind to 
 break all your gashly images about the head of 
 your fine miss, in her silks and satins ' mistaking 
 his lay-figure for a living model of the highest 
 sort. ' I suppose you pay my lady well enough, 
 and pamper her besides !' 
 
 Nollekens, perceiving Mrs. Lobb's rage to 
 increase, for the first time, perhaps, drew his purse- 
 strings willingly, and, putting shilling after shilling 
 into her hand, counted four and then stopped. 
 4 No, no,' said she ; ' if you don't give me t'other 
 shilling, believe me, I don't budge an inch!' 1 This 
 he did ; and Kit, after closing the gates, received 
 peremptory orders from his master to keep them 
 locked for three or four days at least, for fear of a 
 second attack. 
 
 Soon after I had the honour of being appointed 
 Keeper of the Prints and Drawings in the British 
 Museum, Mr. Nollekens, accompanied by Mr. 
 Gibson and Mr. Bonomi, the sculptors, came to 
 visit me. Upon my being apprised of my old 
 friend's arrival in the gallery I went to meet him, 
 in order to see that he had a chair, as he was then 
 very feeble. I remember, when he was seated in 
 the middle of the Elgin Room, he put the following 
 question to the late Mr. Combe, loud enough to be 
 heard by everyone present who approached to see 
 him : ' Why did not you bring the iEgina marbles 
 with you, they are more clever than the Phygalian 
 
 1 Mrs. Lobb succeeded the notorious Dame Phillips, formerly of 
 the sign of the Fau, in Orange Court. Smith. 
 
A VISIT FROM NOLLEKENS 323 
 
 marbles ? How could you be so stupid as to 
 miss them ?' 
 
 Mr. Combe, thinking to divert him from the 
 subject, said : ' I thought you wore hair-powder, 
 sir ? I continue to wear hair-powder, and always 
 use the best I can get.' Mr. Nollekens, not hearing 
 him, repeated nearly the same question in a louder 
 voice : ' I say, why did you let them go ?' For- 
 tunately for Mr. Combe, however, he was sent 
 for, and so escaped a further interrogation. Mr. 
 Nollekens then walked up to No. 64, the fragment 
 of a male figure, and exclaimed : f There, you see, 
 look at that shoulder and a part of the breast, look 
 at the veins ! The ancients did put veins to their 
 gods, though my old friend, Gavin Hamilton, 
 would have it they never did.' 
 
 When he was as;ain descending to the Townlev 
 Gallery, he stopped at the first flight of steps, and, 
 taking hold of a button of my coat, desired me to 
 go and stand there, adding, 'Now you stand where 
 Queen Charlotte sot when she came to see the 
 Museum. She was very tired ; they brought her a 
 chair, and I stood upon the steps below.' 
 
 As we were passing along the gallery, he said : 
 'Ay, I remember seeing the tears fall down the 
 cheeks of Mr. John Townley when the Parliament 
 said they would buy the marbles. He didn't wish 
 'em to take 'em ; and he said to me, "Mr. Nollekens, 
 if Government don't take my nephew's marbles, 
 I'll send 'em down to Townley Hall, and make a 
 grand show with 'em there." Poor man, I never 
 shall forget how forlorn he looked.' When we 
 
324 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 arrived at the terra- cotta room, he exclaimed, 
 looking up : ' How white these things are getting ! 
 Now, I dare say they put 'em into the wall with 
 wet plaster ; they should have put 'em in with what 
 Mr. Townley used to call bitumen, and then they 
 won't moulder. Well, make my compliments to 
 Mr. Planta ; I've remembered him, and so I have 
 Combe, though he did let the marbles slip through 
 his fingers, and so I have you, Tom. Well, good- 
 bye ! This Museum will be a fine place very soon.* 
 c Ay, sir,' observed I, ' suppose you were to leave 
 us your fine heads of Commodus and Mercury f 
 to which he answered, ' Well, perhaps I may. 
 Townley wanted 'em very much, but I could not 
 get my price. He sent to me about 'em just before 
 he died.' 
 
 To continue these recollections of Mr. Nollekens 
 at this period, I shall present my readers with a 
 few more anecdotes communicated to me bv 
 friends. 
 
 The late Mr. Garrard, 1 the Associate of the 
 Royal Academy, said to Nollekens : ' Well, they 
 tell me I shall be elected an R.A.' Nollekens t 
 4 Indeed ! why you've told me that these seven 
 years.' When Garrard had taken his leave, a 
 friend present observed : ' He's a sculptor as well 
 as a painter.' Nollekens: 'Yes, he paints better 
 than he sculps. He's jack-of -all-trades ; the rest 
 we'll leave out.' 
 
 1 George Garrard, born 1760 ; elected an A.R.A. in 1802 ; died 
 1826, without having been promoted to the R.A.-ship. He was an 
 animal painter and sculptor. Ed. 
 
THE BLUNTNESS OF NOLLEKENS 325 
 
 A lady, with her three daughters, once visited 
 Mr. Nollekens to show him the drawings of her 
 youngest, who was a natural genius. Upon his 
 looking at them, he advised her to have a regular 
 drawing- master. ; And I can recommend you one,' 
 added he ; c he only lives over the way, and his 
 name is John Varley.' 1 The lady asked him if he 
 were a man of mind. 4 Oh yes !' said Nollekens, 
 ' he's a clever fellow ; one of our best. I'll ring 
 the bell, and send my maid for him ; he'll soon tell 
 you his mind,' so ignorant was our sculptor of the 
 lady's meaning. 
 
 Whenever he was in Chelsea with a friend, he 
 was always pleased in pointing out the house in 
 which his mother lived after her marriage with 
 Williams, saying that ' when he took leave of her 
 at the street-door upon his going to Rome, she said 
 to him, " There, Joey, take that ; you may want it 
 when you are abroad." It was a housewife, con- 
 taining needles, a bodkin, and thread ; and, do you 
 know,' added he, ; it was the most useful thing she 
 could have given me, for it lasted all the time 
 I was at Rome to mend my clothes with ; ay, and 
 I have got that very housewife by me now ; 
 and, do you know, I would not take any money 
 for it.' 
 
 Desenfans, the famous dealer in old pictures, 
 whose remains rest in a splendid mausoleum at 
 Dulwich, erected after a design by Soane, was 
 originally a dealer in Brussels lace and a teacher of 
 the French language. 
 
 1 Astrologer and water-colour painter (1778-1842). Ed. 
 
NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 A lady, however, one of his pupils, possessed of 
 5,000, fell so desperately in love with him that 
 she soon after married him. During their honey- 
 moon they, like most people in a similar situation, 
 drove into the country for a little recreation, and 
 there at an auction he purchased a few old pictures, 
 which, on his return to London, he sold to such 
 advantage that he considered it his interest to follow 
 up the trade. By great industry and a little taste 
 he at length amassed so considerable a sum that he 
 finally was enabled to form a much better collection, 
 which he left to his protege, Sir Francis Bourgeois, 
 who, at the suggestion of the late John Kemble, 
 left it to Dulwich College, merely because that 
 institution had been founded by an actor. 
 
 I mention these particulars because Nollekens 
 told my worthy friend Arnald that he and a friend 
 went halves in purchasing a picture by Pordenone, 
 for which he gave 11 5s., and which they speedily 
 sold to Desenfans for 30. In these brokering 
 bargains Nollekens often showed considerable 
 cunning, for he would, to my knowledge, seldom 
 speculate without a partner. 
 
 I receive infinite pleasure whenever an oppor- 
 tunity presents itself in which I can exhibit the 
 conduct of my old friend Mr. Nollekens to advan- 
 tage ; and I must do him the justice to prove his 
 attachment to modern art, by mentioning the 
 purchases which he made at various times, and 
 which will clearly evince his general inclination 
 towards his brother artists. He would certainly 
 have more extensively indulged in these purchases 
 
COLLECTION OF ENGRA VINGS 327 
 
 had not Mrs. Nollekens checked his liberality. I 
 remember his giving 90 for a small picture by 
 West ; and that he also purchased at Barry's 
 auction ' The Origin of Music,' a small specimen, 
 but one of that artist's most interesting designs, 
 and a remarkably good piece of colouring for him. 
 It was bought at Nollekens' sale by the Earl of 
 Egremont, one of the many noblemen who, upon all 
 occasions, contribute liberally to the encouragement 
 of modern art. 
 
 Nollekens had likewise a fine collection of the 
 engravings from Sir Joshua Reynolds' pictures, in 
 which he took great delight, and was never better 
 pleased than when he could add to their number. 
 Some persons have said that many of them were 
 presented to him by those mezzotinto engravers 
 who were looking after Associates' places in the 
 Academy ; but, be this as it might, I never knew 
 him to ask an engraver for a print. He certainly 
 accepted impressions from the owners of private 
 plates ; and the Earl of Essex, who is in possession 
 of a choice collection of impressions after Sir 
 Joshua, gave him one which had been engraved at 
 the expense of his lordship purposely to present to 
 his friends. 
 
 It is very remarkable that many of our eminent 
 characters, and it possibly may be so with those 
 of other nations, sometimes glaringly expose them- 
 selves by descending to the most frivolous mean- 
 nesses ; particularly in preserving every insignificant 
 article, which gratification as often excites astonish- 
 ment in their friends as it exposes them to the un- 
 
/ 
 
 328 NOLLE KENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 reflecting remarks of their enemies, who illiberally 
 report such anecdotes without making the least 
 allowance for the odd compound of ingredients of 
 which the human mind is in general composed. 
 
 As corroborations of these imbecilities, I shall 
 venture to give four instances, the first two of 
 which the reader will not so much wonder at, as 
 they certainly are related of persons of weak 
 intellect, though standing on eminent ground as 
 artists ; but he will be surprised at the two latter, 
 as they relate to sensible men who have shone 
 in society, and of the first talents, perhaps, in 
 their respective classes which this country has 
 produced. 
 
 Nollekens, who was born to shine as one of our 
 brightest stars as a bust-modeller, whilst he was 
 forming the beautiful bosom of Lady Charlemont, 
 suddenly left her ladyship to desire the helper in 
 the yard not to give the dog more than half the 
 paunch that day, observing that the rest would 
 serve him to-morrow, as Mr. John Townley had 
 given him the greatest part of a French roll that 
 very morning. 
 
 Nollekens, however, I firmly believe, had no idea 
 whatever of making himself noticed by singularities. 
 His actions were all of the simplest nature ; and he 
 cared not what he said or did before anyone, how- 
 ever high might be their station in life. He so 
 shocked the whole of a large party one night at 
 Lady Beechey's that several gentlemen complained 
 of his conduct, to which Sir William could only 
 reply, ' Why, it is Nollekens, the sculptor !' 
 
ABRAHAM PETHER 329 
 
 When Abraham Pether, 1 the painter of the cele- 
 brated picture of c The Harvest Moon,' employed 
 himself a whole day to make his wife a dust-shovel, 
 he was so indiscreet, though he at that time stood 
 in need of purchasers, as to refuse the admittance 
 of two gentlemen who walked from London to 
 Chelsea with the full determination to bespeak 
 pictures of him. The painter, however, after he 
 had whistled through a dozen new tunes and smoked 
 as many pipes, at length finished his task, and re- 
 marked to a friend, ' There, my boy, if you were 
 to give half-a-crown for a dust- shovel, I will be 
 bound to say you could not get a better.' 
 
 Abraham Pether was one of those silly beings 
 who endeavour to gain popularity by being called 
 eccentric ; and, amongst others, he often practised 
 the following trick : He would knock at a friend's 
 door, and when the servant opened it, he was dis- 
 covered striking a light to set fire to his pipe, and 
 then when he had accomplished his task, he would 
 walk in whiffing his tobacco. 
 
 It is reported of Sir Joshua Reynolds that one 
 day, when the knight was looking about the house 
 for old canvases, he found a mop-stick put up in 
 the corner of the back-kitchen, and that he strictly 
 charged Ralph to see to its preservation, in order 
 that its value might be deducted when the next 
 new mop was purchased. Who could imagine such 
 a charge to proceed from the author of his noble 
 Lectures, and the artist who painted the glorious 
 pictures of l Ugolino ' at Knowle, ' The Infant 
 1 1756-1812. Ed. 
 
33o NOLLE KENS AND HIS TLMES 
 
 Hercules ' at Petersburg, and Mrs. Siddons as the 
 ; Tragic Muse' at Lord Grosvenor's ? Sir Joshua 
 Reynolds was an elegant man, and admired for the 
 mildness of his manners. 
 
 It has been asserted also that Pope, when engaged 
 in writing some of his most elegant works, would 
 leave off to cook lampreys, in a silver saucepan, 
 over his own fire. Pope piqued himself upon the 
 high birth of those with whom he associated. 
 
 Nollekens, who was at one time passionately fond 
 of seeing the soldiers relieve guard, was accosted 
 one Sunday morning, when bustling down the Hay- 
 market with his little protege Joseph towards the 
 Parade, by a little girl, who supplicated him to ring 
 an upper bell. ' Ring a bell, ring a bell, my pretty 
 little maid, that I will ;' but he could not accom- 
 plish it. A Lifeguardsman, well knowing the 
 advantage of a few inches, coming down the street 
 and seeing Nollekens on tip-toe, straining himself 
 to enjoy his favourite amusement of bell-pulling, 
 raised his arm at a riffht-anffle from his bodv, and 
 pulled the bell with the greatest ease, to the great 
 surprise of Nollekens and the joy of the child, who 
 had been squeezed by the crescent, tip -toe position 
 of Nollekens against the door-post. This scene 
 would be a good one for the spirited pencil of 
 Cruikshank, and it might be called the ' Advantage 
 of Greatness.' 
 
 Mr. Nollekens, when modelling the bust of a 
 lady of high fashion, requested her to lower her 
 handkerchief in front ; the lady objected, and ob- 
 served : c I am sure, Mr. Nollekens, you must be 
 
BEHAVIOUR TOWARDS THE QUALITY 331 
 
 sufficiently acquainted with the general form ; there- 
 fore, there can be no necessity for my complying 
 with your wish ;' upon which Nollekens muttered 
 that c there was no bosom worth looking at beyond 
 the age of eighteen.' 
 
 Lady Arden had once been waiting some time in 
 the parlour for Mr. Nollekens, who had the decency 
 to attempt an apology, by assuring her ladyship 
 { that he could not come up before, for that he had 
 been downstairs washing his feet ;' further adding 
 that they were ' now quite comfortable.' 
 
 Nollekens being once in expectation of a very 
 high personage to visit his studio, was dressed to 
 receive him ; and after walking up and down the 
 passage for nearly an hour, being deprived of the 
 advantage of using his clay for fear of spoiling his 
 clothes, he at length heard the equipage arrive. 
 According to his usual custom, he opened the street- 
 door, and as the illustrious visitor alighted he cried 
 out : ' So you're come at last ! Why, you are an 
 hour beyond your time ; you would not have found 
 me at home if I had had anywhere to have gone to, 
 I assure you !' 
 
 One day, when Lady Newborough, who was a 
 great favourite with Mr. and Mrs. Nollekens, was 
 invited to dinner, they sent, just before they were 
 about to sit down, to Taylor to make up the party ; 
 Taylor's spirit, however, would not allow him to 
 accept of so short a notice, and he preferred dining 
 at home. The next day Mrs. Nollekens expressed 
 her sorrow that she had not the pleasure of his 
 company, stating that they had a venison pasty 
 
332 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 which she could not eat, at the same time blabbing 
 that the preceding week they had had a fine haunch, 
 of which she was very fond, and, indeed, never 
 tired. 
 
 When Tuppin, a carpenter, received orders for a 
 packing-case, he was always obliged to state pre 
 cisely what it would amount to, and then Mr. 
 Xollekens would strengthen the bargain by insisting 
 upon it being sent home well stuffed with shavings ; 
 but these he never suffered the servants to have at 
 their mercy ; they were locked up in a place called 
 a wine-cellar, and given out by himself the night 
 before they were wanted for morning use. 
 
 In some instances, however, Mr. Nollekens was, 
 according to the old adage, ' penny wise and pound 
 foolish'; and this was particularly the case as to 
 sweeping his chimneys, since he thought that many 
 persons had them swept too often. However, after 
 having been several times annoyed by the fire- 
 engines and their regular attendants the mob he 
 was determined to have them more frequently 
 cleaned, though some of them, for the want of fires, 
 yielded no soot. He nevertheless consoled himself 
 for this increased expenditure by discovering that 
 such a practice kept up the fame of a consumption 
 of coals, like one of the masters of Gil Bias, who 
 always picked his teeth after the dinner-hour, to 
 induce his neighbours to believe he had dined. 
 
 Mr. Nollekens once showed Mr. Gahagan a sketch 
 in charcoal which he had made of Mrs. Palmer 
 attending her daughter, who had been ill for a con- 
 siderable time, having drawn the young lady with 
 
EATABLES 333 
 
 a book in her hand which she had been reading. 
 The sculptor, however, smeared out the book, ob- 
 serving to Grahagan : ' She is getting better now ; 
 she shan't have a book.' 
 
 The most insignificant eatable offered to him by 
 the poorest of his labourers he would not only 
 accept and eat, but was sure to make some observa- 
 tion upon it. I recollect a stone-polisher, of the 
 name of Lloyd, giving him a cheese-cake, and 
 Nollekens, after asking him where he had bought 
 it, observed that the Kensington cheese-cakes, and 
 those made at Birch's in Cornhill, Mrs. Nollekens 
 allowed to be the best. Whenever my friend, Mr. 
 John Kenton, the portrait-painter, presented a melon 
 to Mr. Nollekens, he always observed : ' This I like ; 
 it puts me so much in mind of Kome.' 
 
 Mr. Deville, well known for his fine phrenological 
 collection of busts, etc., when a young man was 
 employed by Mr. Nollekens to make casts from 
 moulds which required oil, upon which he produced 
 a little, saying : ' There, you'll find that to be more 
 than enough.' Deville, having poured it out into a 
 shallow basin, declared it to be insufficient. ' I 
 don't wonder at that,' replied Nollekens snappishly ; 
 1 why did you not ask me for a wine-glass ? You've 
 wasted half of it on the broad bottom of the basin !' 
 
[334] 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Mr. Nollekens' insensibility to ancient art and liberality to modern 
 artists Stewart's picture of Washington Further instances of Mr. 
 Nollekens' eccentricities and manners His intended bequest to the 
 Royal Academy Condescension of the Princess of Wales to him 
 Bantering letters Conduct of Sir F. Bourgeois Mr. Nollekens' 
 man Dodimy Moses Kean Nollekens' summons to his tenants 
 for rent His household economy and habits His custom when 
 Visitor at the Royal Academy Caprice of his charities Lord 
 Mansfield's benevolence Mr. Wivell Nollekens' love of news- 
 papers, and memoranda of remarkable events Unfeeling treat- 
 ment of his model Other anecdotes of his domestic arrangements, 
 art, and liberality Frivolous presents, etc., sent him towards the 
 close of his life Beauty of foliated ornaments in sculpture 
 Inferiority of architecture to sculpture and painting. 
 
 My friend, Mr. Robertson, 1 the justly -admired 
 miniature-painter, upon receiving an exquisitely 
 beautiful picture by Ratfaelle, consigned to him by 
 Mr. Trumbold, invited Mr. Nollekens, among many 
 other artists of eminence, to see it ; but, with all 
 its excellence, it appeared to make no impression 
 upon him whatever, and the only observation he 
 made upon leaving the house was : ' Well, as you 
 are pleased with it, I am glad you have got it.' 
 
 1 Andrew Robertson, of Aberdeen (1777-1845), who became the 
 doyen of the English miniaturists. Ed. 
 
LIBERALITY OF NOLLEKENS 335 
 
 Insensible, however, as Nollekens generally was 
 when looking: at works of ancient art, I must do 
 him the justice to say that in no instance, excepting 
 when speaking of Flaxman, have I known him 
 attempt to depreciate the productions of modern 
 artists ; on the contrary, I have frequently heard 
 him say, when he has been solicited to model a 
 bust, c Gro to Chantrey ; he's the man for a busto ! 
 He'll make a good busto of you ; I always recom- 
 mend him.' I have also known him to give an 
 artist, who could not afford to purchase it, a lump 
 of stone, to enable him to execute an order, though, 
 at the same time, I have seen him throw himself 
 into a violent passion with a favourite cat for 
 biting the feather of an old pen, with which he had 
 for many years oiled the hinges of his gates when- 
 ever they creaked. I can almost imagine I see 
 him now standing before the cat, with the pen in 
 his hand, actually showing her what mischief she 
 had done, with as much gravity as a certain stupid 
 sheriff manifested when he was counting the horse- 
 shoe nails, or chopping his finger instead of the 
 stick in the Court of Exchequer, when he was 
 sworn into office by the Lord Chief Baron. 
 
 Mr. Nollekens once called out across the street 
 to me, on the opposite side of Hay Hill : c Smith, 
 Peter Coxe has just knocked down General 
 Washington, Stewart's picture. Well, what do you 
 think ? It fetched a great deal more than any 
 modern picture ever brought by auction before, for 
 he has just sold it at Lord Lansdowne's for 
 540 15s.! You know Stewart : he was born in 
 
536 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 America, He painted that fine portrait of Caleb 
 Whitefoord. He's a very clever fellow ; jnst as 
 clever as Dance I mean, Sir Nathaniel Dance 
 Holland.' 
 
 One evening, Bronze happening to place the tea- 
 kettle over the fire, Nollekens immediately cried 
 out : ' You careless devil, you don't care for 
 the work you'll have in the morning to get it 
 clean!' And when she left the room he angrily 
 muttered, ' Extravagant creature, burning out the 
 kettle !' 
 
 Mr. Nollekens, when he dined out of late years, 
 always over-ate himself, particularly with the pastry 
 and dessert. However, he contrived to purloin a 
 small quantity of sweetmeats from the table, which 
 he carried to Bronze, saying : c There, Betty, you 
 see what I have brought you home ; I don't forget 
 you.' 
 
 When he was showing Mr. Rossi, the Academi- 
 cian, his design for a monument to the memory of 
 the late Mrs. Coke, of Norfolk, Mrs. Nollekens, 
 being the latest up that morning, came into the 
 room, and immediately walked up to her husband, 
 and then, after making a stately curtsey, with her 
 accustomed precision of pronunciation said : ' Sir, 
 your watch. My dear father never left his watch 
 about.' 
 
 When Mr. Jackson was once making a drawing 
 of a monument at the sculptor's house, Nollekens 
 came into the room and said : 4 I'm afraid you're 
 cold here.' ' I am, indeed,' said Jackson. ' Ay,' 
 answered the sculptor, ' I don't wonder at it. Why, 
 
MISS GERRARD 337 
 
 do you know, there has not been a lire in this room 
 for these forty years !' 
 
 The same artist having asked him what he meant 
 to exhibit at the Eoyal Academy, Nollekens 
 answered : i Oh, nothing ; I be done now!' c Well,' 
 replied the painter, c but you should send some- 
 thing to add to our display of sculpture ;' but his 
 reply was still a selfish one : ' No ; I be done.' For 
 he had no idea of sending anything simply for the 
 advantage of the establishment, of which he was 
 so old a member, although at one period of his life 
 he told me that he had left, in one of his wills, the 
 sum of 100,000, to enable that highly respectable 
 body to erect a new Academy. 
 
 Miss Grerrard, the daughter of the auctioneer, 
 who received a legacy of 19 19s. after Mrs. 
 Nollekens' death, frequently called to know how he 
 did, and once the sculptor pressed her to dine with 
 him, to which she at last consented. ' Well, then,' 
 said he to his pupil, Joseph Bonomi, ' go and order 
 a mackerel. Stay, one won't be enough ; you had 
 better get two, and you shall dine with us!' It 
 must here be observed that his two servants were 
 now on board-wa^es. 
 
 During the time Mr. Nollekens was modelling 
 the bust of the Princess of Wales at Blackheath, 
 her Boyal Highness, upon seeing his ear filled with 
 powder, observed : 4 Mr. Nollekens, your hair- 
 dresser has left some powder in your ear ; it will 
 make you deaf ;' and immediately leaving her 
 chair, she took up a handkerchief and wiped it 
 away. 
 
 22 
 
338 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 About this time he was courted by several legacy- 
 hunters who were beating about the bush, and 
 amusing trifles from various quarters were con- 
 tinually planted before him in his room. One 
 brought him a tall and extended chimney-cam- 
 panula, and, to make it look taller, had it placed 
 upon a table within a foot of his nose, so that he 
 was obliged to throw his head back to survey it ; 
 and another brought the French giant in a coach y 
 when he was delighted to ecstasy to see him touch 
 the ceiling. During this visit Bonomi made a 
 mould of his immense right hand. 
 
 Now and then Nollekens received letters that 
 were written by way of hoax, one of which, I 
 remember in particular, was in the name of a very 
 high personage, to know what he would charge for 
 cutting a figure in porphyry ten feet high. This 
 application Mrs. Nollekens absolutely answered,, 
 addressing her letter to the nobleman in whose 
 name it was written, which brought his lordship the 
 next day, when, to make amends for the trouble 
 Mrs. Nollekens had taken in answering the sillv 
 writer's letter, he bespoke a bust of his lady. 
 
 For many years, every summer's morn, Mr. 
 Nollekens was up with the rising sun. He began 
 his work by watering his clay, when he modelled 
 till eight o'clock, at which hour he generally 
 breakfasted, and then, as he entered his studio,, 
 would observe to his workmen that every man 
 should earn his breakfast before he ate it. 
 
 It is occasionally proper to expose in public 
 print the cruel manner in which some persons 
 
SIX FRANCIS BOURGEOIS 339 
 
 treat their nearest relatives, in order that other 
 hardened offenders may repent of their conduct 
 before it be too late. Snch a person was the late 
 Sir Francis Bourgeois, 1 who left his property to 
 Dulwich College, without leaving a farthing to his 
 niece and her poor, innocent, and unoffending 
 children. I recollect Mr. Nollekens once showing 
 me a letter which he had received from Sir 
 William Beechey, and, to the best of my re- 
 collection, the purport of it was that the bearer of 
 it was the niece of Sir Francis Bourgeois, who had 
 been walking about the streets all night with her 
 children for want of a lodging. Sir William applied 
 to Mr. Nollekens to give her a trifle, directing his 
 attention to her miserable looks and state of 
 apparel. God forbid we should have other instances 
 of such pride and cruelty ! 
 
 A candle with Nollekens, as is generally the case 
 with misers, was a serious article of consumption, 
 indeed, so much so that he would frequently put it 
 out and, merely to save an inch or two, sit entirely 
 in the dark, at times, too, when he was not in the 
 least inclined to sleep. So keen was he in watching 
 the use of that commoclitv, that whenever Bronze 
 ventured into the yard with a light, he always 
 scolded her for so shamefully flaring the candle. 
 One evening his man Dodimy, who then slept in 
 the house, came home rather late, but quite sober 
 enough to attempt to go upstairs unheard without 
 his shoes ; but, as he was passing Nollekens' door, 
 
 1 Born of Swiss parentage in 1756 ; made A.R.A. in 1787 and R.A. 
 in 1793 ; knighted by the King of Poland in 1791. He was thrown 
 from his horse and killed in 1811. Ed. 
 
340 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 the immensely-increased shape of the keyhole shone 
 upon the side of the room so brilliantly, that he 
 cried out : c Who's there V It's only me, sir,' 
 answered Dodimy ; ; I am going to bed.' ' Going 
 to bed, you extravagant rascal ! Why don't you 
 go to bed in the dark, you scoundrel ?' ' It's my 
 own candle,' replied Dodimy. ' Your own candle ! 
 Well, then, mind you don't set fire to yourself. 
 Well, how did you come on at Lord George 
 Cavendish's ? You have been cleaning bustos 
 there these six days. I told you, Dodimy, things 
 could not be done so soon no, things are not to be 
 done in a hurry, Master Dodimy.' ' Lord bless 
 you, sir, I had some turtle- soup there to-day, and 
 such ale !' ' Well, well, take care of yourself. I 
 say things must not be done in a hurry.' 
 
 One day Dodimy opened the studio door, and 
 cried out, ' Sir ! sir ! here comes the Chelsea 
 pensioner to have his shoulders moulded for your 
 busto of Mr. Perceval !' ' What,' said Nollekens, 
 1 the man with his two wooden-legs and a crutch ?' 
 ' Yes, sir,' answered Dodimy. l Lord, sir, he has 
 left off his crutch, and is swaggering on his buttocks, 
 twirling a little switch just as Moses Kean used 
 to do.' 
 
 The late Moses Kean was a tailor, a stout-built 
 man with black bushy hair and a wooden leg. He 
 was always dressed in a dashing manner, in a scarlet 
 coat, white satin waistcoat, black satin small-clothes, 
 and a ' Scott's Liquid dye ' blue silk stocking ; he 
 had also a long- quartered shoe, with a large buckle 
 covering his foot, a cocked hat, and a ruffled shirt, 
 
PORTRAITS 341 
 
 and never went out without a switch or cane in his 
 hand. He was a very extraordinary mimic, par- 
 ticularly in his imitations of Charles James Fox, 
 which he gave occasionally at the Little Theatre in 
 the Hay market. Mr. Alefounder 1 painted a whole- 
 length portrait of him as large as life in the above 
 dress, which was exhibited in the left-hand corner 
 of the ante-room at Somerset House. There is also 
 a whole-length etching of him of a quarto size. 
 Mr. Edmund Kean, the celebrated actor, owes his 
 education to the above person, who was his uncle, 
 and when I was a boy lived at No. 9, Little St. 
 Martin's Lane. 
 
 Mr. Nollekens in former days, when he was alive 
 to the interest of monev, before he suffered thou- 
 sands of pounds to rest in his bankers' hands 
 unemployed, would write to his tenants in the 
 following style, in what he considered a lawyer's 
 manner : 
 
 i Mr. Nollekens request Mr. will pay 
 
 him that quarter's rent, due the 29th, forthwith, 
 without delay, on or before Thursday next, twelve 
 o'clock at noon.' 
 
 Nollekens' old coal-box was of a square shape ; 
 it had been a lawyer's wig-box that had been sent 
 with a barrister's wig to be modelled from. This 
 box had been mended with bits of tin, which he had 
 picked up of a morning near the dust-heaps in the 
 fields ; but his house contained neither coal-hods 
 nor scoops, nor anything like the splendour of a 
 
 1 John Alefounder, the miniature painter. He died at Calcutta in 
 1795.-ED. 
 
342 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 certain created lord, who bad his coronet painted 
 upon his coal-scuttles. 
 
 Bronze, who, as the reader will recollect, was 
 called c Black Bet ' by the Oxford market butchers, 
 would, in her master's dotage, put her arm round 
 his neck and ask him how he did. ; What !' 
 observed Nollekens, ' now you want some money 
 I've got none.' c Why, sir, how am I to buy 
 things for your table without it ? You have 
 enough of it, fresh and blooming, and all alive at 
 Chambers's.' Nollekens : ' Can you dance ?' ' Dance, 
 sir ! to be sure I can. Give me the cat ;' and then 
 she jigged about with it, at which he would laugh 
 heartily. 
 
 Nollekens often baited his rat-trap with an 
 unusual quantity of cheese, thinking to catch all 
 the vermin at once, never dreaming that when one 
 was caught the trap would shut the rest out, and 
 that the solitary visitor would eat up the whole. 
 Why the rats infested his house, Bronze declared 
 she never could make out. Food they certainly 
 had not ; and an old rat might have said to Nolle- 
 kens when he was busy in setting his trap : 
 
 ' Fear not, old fellow, for your hoard ; 
 I come to lodge, and not to board.' 
 
 A lady of high fashion once brought her child to 
 have her beautiful arm moulded. Mr. Nollekens, 
 who, as usual upon such occasions, began with his 
 gibberish to the child, ' What a pretty handy - 
 dandy !' was requested by the lady not to utter such 
 nonsense, but to proceed with his task ; adding, 
 that her child's nurse was a well-educated woman. 
 
ACTS OF KINDNESS 343 
 
 So determined was Nollekens upon all occasions 
 to have a pennyworth for his penny, that he has 
 frequently been noticed, when visitor at the Eoyal 
 Academy, to turn down the hour-glass whenever 
 Charles, the model, got up to rest himself, in order 
 that the students might not be deprived of one 
 moment of the time for which the model was paid. 
 However, one evening in doing this he let the glass 
 fall and broke it. This, he observed, he would 
 replace by one which he would bring from his 
 studio, muttering, ' They don't make things so 
 strong as they did when I was a boy.' 
 
 One day Mrs. Nollekens, after a trifling brush 
 with her husband, who had declined taking further 
 orders for the studio, rated him soundly for paying 
 full wages to his man Dodimy, who had nothing to do 
 but to sweep the yard and feed the dog. Nollekens, 
 sidling up to Dodimy, in a whisper told him not to mind 
 her, for that he would raise his wages two shillings 
 per week purposely to spite her, that he would. 
 
 His acts of kindness, indeed, depended entirely 
 on his momentary humour, for he had no fixed 
 principle of generosity. In this he illustrated the 
 remark of Mrs. Hannah More, in her 4 Christian 
 Morals,' vol. i., p. 187, where she says, ' We must 
 not judge of our charity by single acts and par- 
 ticular instances, for they are not always good men 
 who do good things, but by our general tendencies 
 and propensities. We must strive after a uniformity 
 in our charity, examine whether it be equable, 
 steady, voluntary, and not a charity of times and 
 seasons and humours.' 
 
344 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 Mr. Nollekens was standing with the late Earl 
 Mansfield in his lordship's farmyard at Kenwood, 
 when a little girl came up to him and presented her 
 mother's compliments to Farmer Mansfield, and she 
 would be obliged to him for a jug of milk. ' Who 
 is your mother, my little dear ?' asked his lordship. 
 4 She's just come to live in that small house close by 
 the road.' His lordship, with his usual smile, called 
 to one of the helpers, and desired him to fill the 
 child's mug, and if he found the family deserving, 
 never to refuse them milk. Although Nollekens 
 was frequently heard to relate the above anecdote, 
 yet he never felt the force of this noble example, as 
 his contributions were generally capricious. 
 
 Mr. Wivell, 1 who is now an artist of ability, was, 
 before the dawn of his talent, a hairdresser, and, as 
 he himself relates, frequently shaved and dressed 
 Mr. Nollekens, who took great notice of him, and 
 from whom he now and then received some kind- 
 nesses. Mr. Wivell informs me that one day, when 
 Mr. Nollekens was under his hand, or, as Rowland- 
 son humorously styles it, l a sufferer for decency,' 
 Wivell stated to him that someone had stepped 
 into his shop and carried off a new hat which had 
 just been sent home. The sculptor, when the 
 operation was over, took a one-pound note from his 
 pocket-book, and giving it to him, said, ' There, 
 that will buy you another.' 
 
 Wivell was also with him one day when shirts 
 were mentioned. ' How many do you wear in a 
 week ?' asked Nollekens. ? Two, sir,' replied 
 
 1 Abraham Wivell, the portrait-painter (1786-1849). Ed. 
 
ABRAHAM WIVELL 345 
 
 Wivell ; ' and that's all my stock, for I wear one 
 while the other is washed/ c Poor Wivell !' 
 whispered he, and then gave him a one-pound note. 
 Nollekens' own stock only consisted of three. 
 
 Wivell was frequently invited to spend the even- 
 ing with him to look over his prints. After going 
 through those after Sir Joshua Reynolds, Mr. 
 Wivell recommended him to throw out his dupli- 
 cates ; which he did, and then asked him to value 
 them. ' Sir,' said he, upon looking them over, ' I 
 think I could make two guineas of them.' ' What 
 will you give me for them ?' demanded Nollekens. 
 1 Thirty shillings,' replied Wivell. c Then,' said 
 the sculptor, ' I won't sell them ; I'll give them 
 to you.' 
 
 Having had some success, Mr. Wivell published 
 at his own expense an engraving in mezzotinto, 
 from Sir William Beechey's portrait of his patron 
 Nollekens ; and did himself the pleasure of pre- 
 senting him with a proof impression, also indulging 
 in the like liberality to Mrs. Nollekens. This plate, 
 however, did not sell, and the engraver lost 25 in 
 the undertaking. Some time after its publication 
 Mr. Nollekens informed the artist that he wanted 
 an impression to give away, and after asking the 
 price of a proof, said, l Well, I'll have a print.' 
 Upon its delivery he asked the price of it. l Seven 
 shillings and sixpence, sir, was the price I put upon 
 it,' observed Wivell. ' Well, then, what will it be 
 to me ? You won't charge me that sum,' said 
 Nollekens. ' Oh, sir, pray give me what you please,' 
 returned Wivell, who felt grateful for past favours. 
 
346 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 ' Well, then,' returned lie, 4 there's three shillings 
 for you.' 
 
 He also relates that Mr. Nollekens frequently 
 spoke of a man that he met in the fields, who would 
 now and then, with all the gravity of an apothecary, 
 inquire after the state of his bowels. ' At last,' 
 said he, ' I found he wanted to borrow money of 
 me.' 
 
 One morning, while he was under the razor, he 
 told Wivell that the dav before he had witnessed 
 two scenes of the greatest contrast : the first was 
 the inside of Newgate, where he had been to ask 
 Mr. Alexander Davison how he did ; the other 
 was in one of the grand rooms in Carlton House, 
 where he had been to see how the Prince was, and 
 that there the tables were all set out with such 
 grand plate for an entertainment, that he could not 
 help exclaiming to himself, 4 What a difference !' 
 
 It was now and then amusing to hear Nollekens 
 read the newspaper to his wife in his most audible 
 voice, when she was unable to read it to him a 
 practice in which she indulged him from the period 
 of her marriage till she became much affected by a 
 paralytic seizure, which deprived her of that power. 
 He gave up a considerable portion of the day for 
 that description of mutual amusement, for so I may 
 fairly state it to have been, as he was perfectly and 
 equally satisfied with his own method of reading it 
 for he read the paper entirely through, beginning 
 with the play -bills and ending with the editor's 
 address. His partner, however, notwithstanding 
 her serious affliction, was often led into a smile by 
 
NOLLE KENS' DIARY 347 
 
 his misnomers and bad pronunciation, which were 
 at times most whimsically ridiculous. 
 
 Before he became the reader of these daily 
 papers, he frequently amused himself by recording 
 on the covers of letters what he considered curious 
 daily events ; and by looking over these scraps he 
 was not only pleased, but would endeavour to amuse 
 his friends by now and then reading them aloud. 
 As for works on art, he cared for neither Shee's 
 4 Rhymes,' Flaxman's c Homer,' nor Blake's c Songs 
 of Innocence.' 
 
 The following memoranda were copied from the 
 back of one of his charcoal sketches, and will at 
 once convince the reader of the estimation in which 
 he sometimes held his leisure moments : 
 
 ' 1803, May 23d. Lady Newborough brought forth a second sun. 
 Sweep the parlour and kitchen chimneys. Clean the cestern in the 
 kitchen. Lent Northcot the cable rope and the piece of hoke tre. 
 
 1 1805, Dec. 30. Mrs. Whiteford brought to bed of a sun. 
 
 1 180G, Feb. 8th. Died Mrs. Peck, in Marlbrough-street. 
 
 4 April 14th. The Duke of Gloster came to my house. 
 
 ' June 28th. The Duke and Duches of York came to my house. 
 
 'July 7th. His R. H. the Duke of Cumberland made me a visit. 
 
 ' July 19th. Lord Wellesley began to set. 
 
 * August 4th. Sent to Lord Yarborough the head of Sir Isack 
 Nuton. 
 
 * 1808, December 16th. Sent Mr. Bignell, by order of Lady Jersey, 
 Lord Jersey's head in a case. 
 
 ' 1809, Jan. 12th. Cast-off Mr. Pitt for Mr. Wilberforce, by order 
 of Lord Muncaster. 
 
 'April J lth. The Dukes of York, Cumberland, and Cambridge 
 made me a visit.' 
 
 Mr. Nollekens, when modelling the statue of Pitt 
 for the Senate House, Cambridge, threw his drapery 
 over his man Doclimy, who, after standing in an 
 
348 NOLLE KENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 immovable position for the unconscionable space of 
 two hours, had permission to come down and rest 
 himself ; but the poor fellow found himself so stiff 
 that he could not move. 4 What !' exclaimed Nolle- 
 kens, c can't you move yourself ? Then you had 
 better stop a bit.' I am sorry to say there are 
 other artists who go on painting with as little com- 
 passion for their models. 
 
 Mr. Arminger has declared that in eating nothing 
 could exceed the meanness of Mr. and Mrs. Nolle- 
 kens, for whenever they had a present of a leveret, 
 which they always called a hare, they contrived, by 
 splitting it, to make it last for two dinners for four 
 persons. The one half was roasted, and the other 
 jugged. 
 
 Much has been said respecting those sculptors 
 who have employed painters to make designs for 
 their monuments. How far such assertions are 
 correct at the present moment I will not take upon 
 myself to say ; but this I know, that Sir Joshua 
 made a sketch of his idea of what Mr. Nollekens' 
 monument erected to the memory of the three 
 captains should be, and which certainly was attended 
 to by the sculptor in his composition. 
 
 To the eternal honour of Mr. Nollekens, w r ho 
 was unquestionably a most curious compound of 
 misery and affluence, it should be recorded that he 
 gave 25 as his subscription to the widows and 
 children of the brave soldiers who were killed or 
 wounded in the glorious battle of Waterloo. 
 
 It is reported that once when Nollekens was 
 walking round the yard with a brother artist, he 
 
AT THE BEDSIDE OF VOLPONE 349 
 
 was questioned by him why he kept so many small 
 pieces of marble, to which Nollekens replied : 
 ; They'll all come into use.' ' What's the use of 
 this lump ?' asked his friend. ' Oh, that will do for 
 a small busto.' t Why, it's only seven inches thick.' 
 4 Ay, but then, you know, I shall model a busto for 
 that piece with the head twisted, looking over the 
 shoulder !' 
 
 About this time it was highly amusing to witness 
 the great variety of trifling presents and frivolous 
 messages which he daily received. One person 
 was particularly desirous to be informed where he 
 liked his cheese-cakes purchased ; another, who 
 ventured to buy stale tarts from a shop in his 
 neighbourhood, sent his servant in a laced livery in 
 the evening to inquire whether his cook had made 
 them to his taste ; while a third continued con- 
 stantly to ply him with the very best pig -tail 
 tobacco, which he had most carefully cut in very 
 small pieces purposely for him. A fourth truly 
 kind friend, who was not inclined to spend money 
 upon such speculations himself, endeavoured once 
 more to persuade him to take a cockney ride in a 
 hackney-coach to Kensington, to view the pretty 
 almond-tree in perfect blossom, and to accept of a 
 few gooseberries to carry home with him to make a 
 tartlet for himself ! A fifth sent him jellies, or 
 sometimes a chicken, with gravy ready made, in a 
 silver butter-boat ; and a sixth regularly presented 
 him with a change of large showy plants to stand 
 on the mahogany table, especially in his later years, 
 when he was a valetudinarian, so that he might see 
 
NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 them from his bed. The sight of these plants cer- 
 tainly amused him, but as for the delightful odour 
 they diffused, it mattered not to him, as his olfac- 
 tories were not over delicate, a carrion flower or a 
 marigold being equally refreshing to him as a sprig 
 of jessamine or mignonette. 
 
 It is a verv curious fact that during seventy 
 years' constant practice in his art Nollekens was 
 never known to hold up or to admire the elegance 
 of a tendril, or even the leaf of a plant, nor to take 
 casts of those simple and beautiful productions of 
 Nature, the lily, the vine, the ivy, the olive-branch, 
 the laurel, or the oak, which so often have been 
 introduced in all ages and countries in monumental 
 sculpture. This, however, is not the case with 
 artists of the present day. 
 
 Flaxman, whose mind was elegance itself, was 
 never more delighted than in the accumulation of 
 such examples, nor has any sculptor displayed them 
 with greater taste ; and we find by the splendid and 
 inestimable collection of foliated ornaments so 
 liberally and tastefully displayed on the walls of 
 the staircase and painting-rooms of Sir Thomas 
 Lawrence, in his house in Russell Square, that the 
 ancient Greeks and Romans carefully and exten- 
 sively studied that luxuriant branch of their art, 
 particularly in their architectural decorations. 
 
 Thus far, too, Mr. Soane 1 may be considered 
 correct in his assertion that the sculptors art is the 
 ' lace- work of architecture ' ; but that gentleman 
 
 1 This eminent architect became Sir John Soane in 1830. He died 
 in 1837, at the age of eighty-four. Ed. 
 
ARCHITECTURE 351 
 
 surely never could mean to say that busts, figures 
 in niches, and groups of historical composition were 
 ever meant to be so considered. Such a degrada- 
 tion, I believe, was never attempted. Indeed, it has 
 been a matter of strong contention whether sculp- 
 ture should not take the precedence of painting. 
 Architecture should certainly be the last- mentioned 
 of the sister arts, whatever ideas some architects 
 may entertain upon the subject. Men of true taste 
 visit a mansion upon the report of its statues, busts, 
 and pictures. The architecture of a house, un- 
 adorned by such productions of art, would not 
 induce the general traveller to drive twenty miles 
 out of his road, or even five. How few allure- 
 ments, indeed, would the Marquis of Lansdowne's, 
 Lord Pembroke's, Lord Egremont's, Lord Farn- 
 borough's, Sir Abraham Hume's, Mr. Peel's, and 
 many other noble mansions have, if totally desti- 
 tute of their fine collections of statues and pictures ! 
 and however delightful maybe the society of the 
 truly amiable brothers, Samuel and Henry Rogers, 
 surely their visitors receive double pleasure in 
 being surrounded not only with some of the finest 
 specimens of ancient art, but by the choicest works 
 of Sir Joshua Reynolds, Wilson, Stothard, and 
 other professors of the highest eminence and merit. 
 
[ 352 ] 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Cause of Mr. Nollekens dismissing his confessor Songs of his youthful 
 days His bed Unquiet nights productive of charity Liberality to 
 his domestics Coarseness of his food and manner of eating In- 
 feriority of his wardrobe, and meanness of his domestic arrange- 
 ments - Character of his drawings and those of other sculptors His 
 monumental designs and models Infirmity of his latter days, and 
 death Attested copy of his will and codicils. 
 
 One rainy morning Nollekens, after confession, 
 invited his holy father to stay till the weather 
 cleared up. The wet, however, continued till 
 dinner was ready, and Nollekeng felt obliged to ask 
 the priest to partake of a bird, one of the last of a 
 present from his Grace the Duke of Newcastle. 
 Down they sat. The reverend man helped his host 
 to a wing, and then carved for himself, assuring 
 Nollekens that he never indulged in much food, 
 though he soon picked the rest of the bones. ' I 
 have no pudding,' said Nollekens ; ' but won't you 
 have a glass of wine ? Oh, you have got some ale !' 
 However, Bronzo brought in a bottle of wine ; and 
 on the remove Nollekens, after taking a glass, 
 went, as usual, to sleep. 
 
 The priest, after enjoying himself, was desired 
 
NOLLEKENS HABITS 353 
 
 by Nollekens, while removing the handkerchief 
 from his head, to take another glass. c Tank yon, 
 sare, I have a finish de bottel.' \ The devil you 
 have !' muttered Nollekens. \ Now, sare,' continued 
 his reverence, ' ass de rain be ovare, I vil take my 
 leaf.' c Well, do so,' said Nollekens, who was not 
 only determined to let him go without his coffee, 
 but gave strict orders to Bronze not to let the old 
 rascal in again. ' Why, do you know,' continued 
 he, ' that he ate up all that large bird, for he only 
 gave me one wing ; and he swallowed all the ale, 
 and out of a whole bottle of wine I had only one 
 
 glass!' 
 
 After this, being without a confessor, Mrs. Holt, 
 his kind attendant, read his prayers to him ; but 
 when she had gone through them, his feelings were 
 so little affected by his religious duties, that he 
 always made her conclude her labours by reading 
 either 4 Gay's Fables ' or ' The Beggar's Opera,' at 
 the latter of which, when she came to certain songs, 
 he would laugh most heartily, saying : c I used to 
 sing them songs once ; and it was when I was 
 courting my Polly.' 
 
 I recollect that the bedstead upon which Mr. 
 Nollekens slept of late years was four-posted, the 
 curtains being yellow, orange, red, and black, and 
 when first put up they made a most gorgeous 
 display, though he had for many years but one 
 counterpane, of which he was so extremely choice 
 that he would not suffer it to be washed ; but Mrs. 
 Holt, being ashamed to see it, put on one of her 
 own of a much superior quality. When he saw it 
 
 23 
 
354 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 upon the bed lie swore at her, and asked her why 
 it had been washed ; but upon her informing him 
 that it was one of her own, he allowed it to remain, 
 saying, ' Well, indeed, it does look very comfort- 
 able.' When this counterpane required washing, 
 Mrs. Holt put on his own, at which he angrily cried 
 out : ' I won't have it on ; I always sleep better 
 without one. I don't like a counterpane ;' to which 
 she answered that ' the poorest creature in a 
 workhouse had a rug on his bed, and that she would 
 have it on.' 
 
 Mrs. Holt, to whom I am obliged for many 
 particulars in this volume, who had by her 
 amiable disposition and strict attention to cleanli- 
 ness rendered the two last years of Mr. Nollekens' 
 life more comfortable than any period of his 
 existence, informed me that when he could not rest 
 in his bed, he would frequently endeavour to raise 
 himself up, and call to her to know if she was 
 asleep. Mrs. Holt, who rested upon a hard sofa 
 by the side of his bed, would answer : l I'm here, 
 sir. Can I give you anything ?' Nollekens : ' Sit 
 up ; I can't sleep I can't rest. Is there anybody 
 that I know that wants a little money to do 'em 
 
 good ?' Mrs. Holt: \ Yes, sir ; there is Mrs. .' 
 
 Nollekens : c Well, in the morning I'll send her ten 
 pounds.' c That's a good old boy,' said she, patting 
 him on the back ; ' you will eat a better dinner for 
 to-morrow, and enjoy it.' And Mrs. Holt has added 
 that she never knew him to forget his promise. 
 
 With all his propensity for saving, he indulged 
 for many years in the gratification of making his 
 
COFFEE AND TEA 355 
 
 household domestics a present of a little sum of 
 money on his birthday ; and lately, upon this 
 occasion, he became even more generous, by 
 bestowing on them, to their great astonishment, 
 ten and twenty pounds each. 
 
 A broad-necked gooseberry bottle, leather- 
 bunged, containing coffee, which had been pur- 
 chased and ground full forty years, was brought 
 out when he intended to give a particular friend a 
 treat ; .but it was so dried to the sides of the 
 bottle that it was with difficulty he could scrape 
 together enough for the purpose, and even when it 
 was made, time had so altered its properties, from 
 the top having been but half closed, that it was 
 impossible to tell what it had originally been. He 
 used to say, however, of this turbid mixture : 
 4 Some people fine their coffee with the skin of a 
 sole, but for my part, I think this is clear enough 
 for anybody!' 
 
 Mrs. Wilson, a most amiable lady, one of the 
 daughters of Mr. Major, 1 the late celebrated 
 engraver of the Stamp Office, was once asked to 
 stay and drink tea with him. As Mr. Nollekens 
 was putting in more tea than he would for himself, 
 he was stopped by Mrs. Wilson, who observed that 
 she was afraid he had misunderstood her, for she 
 could not stay ; on which he muttered, 4 Oh, I'm 
 glad you spoke !' and then returned half the tea out 
 of the pot to the canister. I do not wonder that so 
 
 1 Thomas Major, A.E. (1720-1799), the first engraver elected into 
 the Royal Academy. He was for forty years Engraver to the King. 
 Ed. 
 
356 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 elegant a woman as Mrs. Wilson declined his 
 invitation, particularly at this time, when the 
 paralytic seizures which he had undergone rendered 
 his society at some times insupportable, for, in- 
 dependent of his natural stupidity and ignorance 
 in conversation, his bodily humours appeared in 
 several parts of his person as well as his face, 
 which was seldom free from eruptions, particularly 
 about his mouth. 
 
 Indeed, poor man ! his appearance and want of 
 decent manners rendered it impossible for anyone 
 accustomed to tolerable society to associate with 
 him ; and yet there were persons, whose servants 
 would send such an object from their master's door, 
 who actually sat down and partook of his boiled 
 rabbit smothered with parsley and butter, even 
 when he had thick napkins four times doubled 
 under his chin. For my own part, I must say 
 I always declined accepting an invitation, though 
 I have seen ladies arrive in their carriages, with an 
 expectation of being remembered when next he 
 made his will, for it was pretty well known that, in 
 the course of the last twenty-five years, he had 
 made several, in some of which he had remembered 
 all his old friends. However, I shall for the present 
 drop this subject, and state to my readers the few 
 amusements which he enjoyed at this period. 
 
 His principal attendant, Goblet, who at this time 
 was empowered with the full control of the studio, 
 stone-yard, and gate, cleared a space of ground 
 which he formed into a small garden, purposely to 
 be viewed from a window of an upper room, into 
 
WARDROBES 357 
 
 which he and Mrs. Holt, and sometimes poor Bronze, 
 guided the castored chair with the man who had for 
 years repeatedly promised to make them all happy 
 for life. 
 
 Of these three persons, Mr. Nollekens made the 
 most free Avith Bronze ; he listened to her silly 
 nonsense with the full expectation of hearing what 
 she had often said, and then would joke in his way 
 in return ; and though she was not over-cleanly in 
 her domestic habits or person, he voraciously ate 
 the food prepared by her hands. His attendant, 
 Mrs. Holt, always cooked her own dinner ; for 
 lately, though Nollekens' savoury dish was some- 
 times relished by a crafty visitor, she declined 
 eating with him, well knowing how negligent Bronze 
 was as to the state of her culinary articles before 
 she used them. Indeed, Bronze, in her gray-haired 
 state, became addicted to drinking, and then Mrs. 
 Holt would not allow her to dress anything more for 
 her master, but kindly cooked his dinner herself. 
 
 Perhaps there never was a Royal Academician, 
 or even a servant of one, whose wardrobes were so 
 scantily provided with change of dress as those of 
 Mr. Nollekens and his old servant Bronze. He had 
 but one nightcap, two shirts, and three pairs of 
 stockings ; two coats, one of them his pourpre de 
 pape, one pair of small-clothes, and two waistcoats. 
 His shoes had been repeatedly mended and nailed ; 
 they were two odd ones, and the best of his last 
 two pair. This was the amount of his dress : 
 indeed, so niggardly was he as to his clothes, that 
 when Mrs. Holt took possession of his effects, she 
 
358 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 declared she would not live with him unless he had 
 a new coat and waistcoat. With this reasonable 
 request he complied, saying nothing about any other 
 part of his dress. 
 
 Poor Bronze, who had to support herself upon 
 what were called board-wages, had barely a change, 
 and looked more like the wife of a chimney- 
 sweeper than any other kind of. human being. As 
 for table linen, two small breakfast-napkins and a 
 large old tablecloth, a descendant in the family, 
 which, when used, was always folded into four, 
 was the whole of his stock ; for he possessed no 
 doileys, and Bronze declared to me that she had 
 never seen such a thing as a jack-towel in the 
 house, nor even the nail-holes where one had been. 
 She always washed without soap: there were no 
 hearth -stones nor blacklead dust for the stoves ; 
 nor a cake of whitening for the kitchen-grate ; nor 
 even a yard of oil- cloth to preserve the stones from 
 grease, much less an old bit of bedside carpet, to 
 keep the bones of poor old Bronze free from 
 rheumatism. 
 
 In this state Mrs. Holt found things at No. 9, 
 Mortimer Street, and in a worse condition did they 
 appear when the secrets of the prison-house were 
 laid open, as will be found after the insertion of Mr. 
 Nollekens' will in a future page of this volume. 
 
 Of late years he diverted himself with several 
 sketch-books filled with outlines and measurements 
 of busts, statues, groups, and basso-relievos, which 
 he had most industriously and carefully made 
 during his residence in Italy from numerous 
 
NOLLEKENS SKETCHES 359 
 
 fragments, and several celebrated antiques in the 
 Vatican, the Palaces, and Villas Bassano, Belvidere, 
 Bologna, Borghese, Frascati, Giustiniani, Loretto, 
 Mantua, Massani, Tivoli, etc. 
 
 These sketch-books, which are now mostly in the 
 possession of Mrs. Palmer, may very justly be con- 
 sidered to contain some of his best drawings, and 
 are beyond doubt most valuable memoranda. Of 
 the interesting subjects delineated particularly as 
 to their measurements, which in my belief are 
 strictly accurate the outlines in my mind bear too 
 visibly the cold hand of perseverance only, since 
 they are not executed with anything like the feel- 
 ing with which Flaxman drew ; and when compared 
 with his Italian studies, also made from some of 
 the same antiques, they fall far short of the mind 
 visible in everything Flaxman touched, even in his 
 earliest years. 
 
 However this may be, and feebly as Nollekens' 
 copies were made, he unquestionably not only con- 
 siderably out-stripped his master Scheemakers, but, 
 to do him only common justice, his strides were 
 considered greatly beyond the usual extent of the 
 abilities in drawing of the sculptors of his early 
 days Eysbrack excepted, whose drawings, though 
 certainly considerably mannered, possess a fertility 
 of invention and a spirit of style in their execution 
 seldom emanating from the hand of a sculptor of 
 modern times. They are for the most part washed 
 in bistre, and are frequently to be met with. 
 Painters, and indeed engravers, at that time were 
 much better draughtsmen than the sculptors. There 
 
360 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 were Moser, Mortimer, Cipriani, West, Barry, 
 Bartolozzi, Sherwin, Ryland, Strutt, Legat, and 
 Grignon, wlio drew the figure well. Since their 
 time we have been enabled to boast of Blake, 
 Flaxman, Lawrence, Stothard, Burney, Ryley, 
 Howard, Hilton, Etty, Briggs, and Morton, all 
 faithful and constant delineators of form and 
 muscular action. Michael Angelo's productions as 
 a draughtsman were divinely magnificent, and they 
 are pre-eminently placed in all collections where 
 they are to be found ; he drew with the pen or 
 charcoal, and also in red chalk, but most of his 
 finest drawings are in black chalk, in which he 
 seemed to delight, if we may judge from the 
 exquisite manner in which many of them are 
 finished. When I had the honour of viewing Sir 
 Thomas Lawrence's princely collection of drawings 
 by Michael Angelo and Raffaelle, their productions 
 alone engaged my admiration from seven o'clock 
 till past eleven. Jeremiah Harman, Esq., has also 
 some most powerful drawings by Michael Angelo, 
 which were brought into England by W. Y. Ottley, 
 Esq. 
 
 During Nollekens' juvenile practice he received 
 a few lessons in drawing from a sculptor now but 
 little known, Michel Henry Spang, a Dane, 1 who 
 drew the figure beautifully and with anatomical 
 truth a most essential component of the art, in- 
 
 1 Spang, who produced that small anatomical figure so well known 
 to every draughtsman who assiduously studies his art. He also de- 
 signed and executed the Ggures on the pediment of Earl Spencer's 
 house in the Green Park, and the decorations on the screen at the 
 dmiralty. Smith. Spang died about 1767. Ed. 
 
NOLLE KENS AS A SCULPTOR 361 
 
 dispensably requisite for all those who would climb 
 to the summit of Fame ; but this invaluable ac- 
 quirement was neglected by Nollekens, nor did he 
 at any period of his life venture to carve a subject 
 in which a knowledge of anatomy would have been 
 extensively wanted : his naked figures were of the 
 most simple class, being either a young Bacchus, a 
 Diana, or a Venus, with limbs sleek, plump, and 
 round ; but I never knew him, like Banks, to 
 attempt the grandeur of a Jupiter or even the 
 strength of a gladiator. His monumental effigies, 
 too, were always so draped and placid that very 
 little expression of muscle was exercised. Nolle- 
 kens' large academical drawings, made when he 
 was Visitor in the Royal Academy, were feebly 
 executed : his men were destitute of animation, and 
 his females often lame in the joints ; their faces 
 were usually finished up at home from his wife, and 
 in compliment to her he generally contrived to give 
 them little noses. 
 
 There were in the Academy at the time when 
 Mr. Nollekens was Visitor, three young sculptors 
 who drew remarkably well Flaxman, Proctor 1 and 
 Deare whose abilities were so much noticed by 
 their fellow -students that Nollekens gave up his 
 practice of drawing for that of modelling the figure 
 in basso-relievo, and many of his productions pos- 
 sessed great merit. Having throughout his long 
 life had fewer vexations than most men, by reason 
 of his natural imbecility, he was on all occasions 
 
 1 Thomas Proctor, the sculptor and painter (1753-1793). See 
 Prefatory Essay. Ed. 
 
362 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 industriously inclined to his art, and was never 
 known to riot in dissipation ; on the contrary, 
 whenever he was not engaged in modelling, he 
 employed himself, particularly in the evening, in 
 making designs upon the backs of letters and other 
 scraps of paper for every description of monument 
 of the simple kind, such as a female weeping or 
 entwining festoons of flowers over an urn, or a 
 child with an inverted torch ; and for one and the 
 same monument I have known him make half a 
 dozen or more trials. 
 
 Quantities of these sketches were purchased at 
 his auction by Mrs. Palmer, who, having so many 
 of his works, at one time had an idea of building a 
 room for their reception, as I have been informed 
 by Mr. Taylor, 1 the pupil of Frank Hayman, who 
 still continues an inquisitive and communicative 
 man, notwithstanding his great age, which now and 
 then screens him from the retort courteous. 
 
 These sketches were often in pencil, or some- 
 times finished in Indian ink, but many of his later 
 ones were drawn only with charcoal ; he kept them 
 always at hand to show a gentleman who had lost 
 his wife, or a lady who had been deprived of her 
 husband or child ; and he has often been heard to 
 say when he has received an order for a monu- 
 ment, c You see, I take 'em when the tear's in the eye.' 
 
 The greatest pleasure our sculptor ever received 
 was when modelling small figures in clay, either 
 singly or in groups, which he had baked ; and in 
 
 1 John Taylor, known as 'Old Taylor,' long outlived Smith, and 
 died in 1838, in his ninety-ninth year. Ed. 
 
MODELS 363 
 
 consequence of his refusing to sell them, and giving 
 very few away, they became so extremely numerous 
 that they not only afforded a great display of his in- 
 dustry, hut considerable entertainment to his friends. 
 
 His talent in this way was esteemed superior to 
 many things executed by him of a large size, and it 
 would ill become me, after venturing to amuse my 
 readers with my old master's weaknesses, if T were, 
 by my silence upon these beautiful models, to deprive 
 him of one particle of that share of praise to which 
 he was so deservedly entitled for their composition 
 and spirit ; for though he was but a poor artist as 
 a draughtsman, no one equalled him in his time as 
 a modeller, particularly in his Venuses. There is 
 in some of them, notwithstanding their want of 
 that grace which he might have derived from the 
 antique, a luxuriant display of Nature's elegance, 
 of which there was then no sculptor better able to 
 make a selection. 
 
 His models towards the decline of his practice 
 were not possessed of much variety of composition ; 
 and as for his attempts in his latter years, they 
 very much resembled the productions of a dozing 
 man. However, I will still do him the justice to 
 own that they were in some points natural, and to 
 the last evinced a strong attachment to his branch 
 of the art, although produced in his second child- 
 hood. As a proof of my assertion, Sir William 
 Beechey has a little group, possessing much merit, 
 which Nollekens modelled from his design only a 
 short time before his last attack ; though he would 
 then occasionally leave off and give Bronze, his 
 
364 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 poor old servant, money to dance his favourite cat, 
 c Jenny Dawdle,' round about the room to please 
 him, and at which he would always laugh himself 
 heartily into a fit of coughing, and continue to 
 laugh and cough, with tears of pleasure trickling 
 down his cheeks upon his bib, until Bronze declared 
 the cat to be quite tired enough for that morning. 
 This cat, the favourite of her master, his constant 
 companion at his breakfast and dinner table, being 
 no longer praised and petted by her master's visitors 
 after his death, was kindly rescued from unthinking 
 boys, or the stealers of cats for the sake of their 
 skins, by Mrs. Holt, who took her to her home, 
 which she had left to oblige Mr. Nollekens, where 
 it now enjoys a warm-hearted fireside friend. As 
 for the fate of poor Bronze, alas ! a future page 
 will declare it. 
 
 In this state of imbecility he continued to exist 
 for a considerable time, under the kind superintend- 
 ence of his housekeeper, Mrs. Holt, who deserves 
 the highest praise for the feeling manner in which 
 she watched over him. As for his faithful servant 
 poor Betty, whose name was dropped at the begin- 
 ning of this work for that of Bronze, she was too 
 old and feeble to do much ; her hair had become 
 gray in his service, and she was not altogether 
 unlike the figure of the poor old soul so wretchedly 
 employed in lighting the fire in the miser's room, 
 represented by Hogarth in his first plate of 'The 
 Rake's Progress.' Goblet, his principal carver, who 
 had slept in the house for some months, was at all 
 times ready, night and day, to render him every 
 
THE WILL 365 
 
 assistance in his power, for which he had been 
 induced to give up his own domestic comforts. 
 His medical attendant was Sir Anthony Carlisle, 1 
 who for a long time had visited him at all hours, 
 and who was always with him at the shortest 
 possible notice, and whose kind and skilful hand 
 frequently relieved his sufferings, for he had been 
 visited in the course of his life with three paralytic 
 seizures. 
 
 Under these circumstances Mr. Nollekens at length 
 departed this life in the drawing-room on the first 
 floor, at the south-east corner of his house, April 23, 
 1823, in the presence of Mrs. Holt and Mr. Goblet, 
 who immediately sent to inform the three executors, 
 of which number he had, upon the death of my 
 honoured friend, the Rev. Edward Balme, chosen 
 me to be one. I considered it my duty to attend 
 the same day, when I found Sir William Beechey. 
 The next day Mr. Douce met us, and the will was 
 read. The following is an attested copy. 
 
 This is the last Will and Testament of me, Joseph Nollekens, 
 of Mortimer-street, in the Parish of St. Mary-le-bone, in the County 
 of Middlesex, Esquire : I desire that my body be decently deposited 
 in the vault under the parish church of Paddington, in the said 
 County ; and that there be not any scarfs given at my funeral, but 
 that I be buried in a plain black coffin, without any gilt ornaments. 
 And that all such just debts as I shall owe at the time of my decease, 
 and my funeral and testamentary charges and expenses be paid and 
 satisfied. I give to Mrs. Frances Burslem, of Michleover, in the 
 County of Derby, the sum of two hundred pounds. I give to Mrs. 
 Mary Lee, late the widow of my esteemed friend Caleb Whitefoord, 
 Esquire, deceased, the sum of one hundred pounds, to be paid into 
 her own proper hands, for her sole and separate use, and for which 
 
 1 The eminent surgeon and physiologist (1768-1840). Ed. 
 
366 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 her receipt alone (notwithstanding her coverture) shall be a sufficient 
 discharge to my Executors hereinafter named. I give to Mr. Lee, 
 the husband of the said Mary Lee, the sum of five hundred pounds, 
 in trust for Maria Whiteford, Caleb Whiteford, Charles Whiteford, 
 Harriet Whiteford, and John Whiteford, children of the said Mary 
 Lee, by her said former husband, in equal shares, and to be paid them 
 at their respective ages of twenty-one years ; but if any, or either of 
 them, shall happen to die before attaining that age, then as to the 
 parts of him, her, or them, so dying, in trust for the survivors or 
 survivor of them, equally between such survivors, if more than one ; 
 and the interest of their said several shares to be in the meantime 
 paid or applied towards their respective maintenance or education. 
 And I direct that the receipt of the said Mr. Lee shall be a sufficient 
 discharge to my Executors for the same legacy. And that they shall 
 not afterwards be liable to see to the application or disposition of the 
 said legacy, or any part thereof, I give to the said Mr. Lee the sum 
 of one hundred pounds, as an acknowledgment for the trouble he 
 will have in the execution of the aforesaid trust. I give to Mary 
 Ann Bonomi, Agnes Bonomi, Justina Bonomi, Ignatius Bonomi, 
 Joseph Bonomi, and Charles Bonomi, children of my late friend 
 Mrs. Rosa Bonomi, one hundred pounds each, to be paid them at 
 their respective ages of twenty-one years ; but if any, or either of 
 them, shall happen to die before attaining that age, then I give the 
 aforesaid legacy or legacies of him, her, or them, so dying, unto the 
 survivors or survivor of them, equally between such survivors, if 
 more than one. And I direct that the interest of their said several 
 legacies may, if deemed necessary, be in the meantime paid or applied 
 towards their respective maintenance or education. I give to my 
 friend Mrs. Mary Lloyd, widow of the late Captain Hugh Lloyd, one 
 hundred pounds. I give to my friend Sir William Beechey two 
 hundred pounds. I give to Mrs. Mary Zoffany three hundred 
 pounds. I give to Mrs. Green, widow of the late Yalentine Green, 
 one hundred pounds. I give to my worthy friend, Francis Douce, 
 Esquire, the book of all my prints by Albert Durer, together with 
 the print of the Triumphant Arch of the Emperor Maximilian ; also 
 the golden medallion which I obtained at Rome, in the year One 
 Thousand Seven Hundred and Sixty-eight ; but I request that he 
 do, at his decease, leave and bequeath the said prints unto the British 
 Museum. I give to my worthy friend, the Reverend Mr. Kerrick, 
 one hundred pounds ; and I desire that he the said Mr. Kerrick do 
 select from my Prints of Reubens, twelve of them for his collection, 
 and which twelve Prints I hereby bequeath tr him. I give to my 
 
THE WILL 367 
 
 old friend, Benjamin West, Esquire, one hundred pounds, with the 
 model of his bust. I give to my old friend, Richard Cosway, Esquire, 
 one hundred pounds. I give to the Reverend Mr. Wollaston, of 
 South Weale, one hundred pounds, as a token of my regard for him. 
 I give to my old friend, Mr. J. Taylor, of Cirencester-place, Mary- 
 ]e-bone, one hundred pounds. I give and remit to my friend, Mrs. 
 Elizabeth Rumsey, the principal and interest due from her to me, on 
 her promissory note for one hundred pounds ; and I direct that the 
 said note be delivered up to her to be cancelled. I give to my esteemed 
 friend, Mrs. Walford, one hundred pounds. I give to Mr. Charles 
 Robertson, of Great Marlborough-street, fifty pounds, as a testimony 
 of the regard I have for him. I give to Mrs. Byrne, widow of the 
 late Mr. Byrne, Engraver, one hundred pounds. I give to Miss 
 Susanna Devins, two hundred pounds. I give to the Reverend 
 Doctor Charles Symmons, two hundred pounds. I give to Mr. John 
 Woodcock, cousin of my late dear wife, three hundred pounds. I 
 give to Mr. John Soilleux, of Notting-hill, Kensington, one hundred 
 pounds. I give to Doctor Rudeman, of Bryanstone- street, fifty 
 pounds. I give to Mrs. Mary Holt, fifty pounds. I give to Mrs. 
 Gerrard, nineteen guineas. I give to Hancock, my Hair-dresser, 
 nineteen guineas. I give to Mary Bailleux, now in Saint George's 
 workhouse, forty pounds. I give to Mrs. Henshall, nineteen guineas. 
 I give to Elizabeth Clements, my servant, nineteen guineas. I give 
 to Mary Fearey, my late servant, all my wearing apparel, clothes, 
 and body-linen. I give to Sebastian Gahagan, Alexander Goblet, and 
 George Lupton, three of my workmen, one hundred pounds each, 
 to be paid as soon as convenient after my decease ; and to George 
 Gahagan, another of my said workmen, twenty pounds, to be paid 
 in like manner. I give to Louisa Goblet, daughter of the said 
 Alexander Goblet, thirty pounds. I give to the said Mary Fearey, 
 to Ann Clibbon, my late servant, and to Dodemy, (another of my 
 workmen) an annuity of thirty pounds to each of them, for their 
 respective lives, to be paid by equal half yearly payments, the first 
 of such payments to be made at the end of six calendar months next 
 after my decease. I give to the Trustees or Treasurer, for the time 
 being, of the Saint Patrick Orphan Charity School, three hundred 
 pounds for the benefit of the said school. I give to the Treasurer 
 or Treasurers of the Middlesex Hospital, three hundred pounds for 
 the benefit of the said hospital. I give to the Treasurer or Treasurers 
 of the Parish Charity School of Saint Mary-le-bone, three hundred 
 pounds for the benefit of the said school. I give to the Treasurer or 
 Treasurers of the Society for the Relief of Persons imprisoned for 
 
368 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 Small Debts, three hundred pounds, for the purposes of the said 
 society. I give to the Treasurer or Treasurers of the Meeting or 
 Contribution for the Relief of distressed Seamen, held at the King's 
 Head Tavern in the Poultry, nineteen guineas, to be applied for the 
 purposes of the said meeting. I desire that my collection of virtu 
 in antiques, marbles, busts, models, printed books, prints, and draw- 
 ings, (except such books and prints as I have hereinbefore given) 
 be sold by public auction ; and that the said Alexander Goblet be 
 employed to arrange, repair, and clean my said marbles, busts, and 
 models, to fit them for sale, under the direction of my executors ; 
 and that he, the said Alexander Goblet, be paid for his trouble 
 therein, at the rate of one guinea per day, during such time as he 
 shall be so engaged, and which I suppose may be effected in three or 
 four days ; and I desire that my said antiques, marbles, busts, models, 
 books, prints, and drawings, (except as aforesaid,) be sold by Mr. 
 Christie, of Pall Mall. I give to the said Francis Douce, Esquire, 
 and to the Reverend Edward Balme, the Executors of this my Will, 
 five hundred pounds each, as an acknowledgement for their trouble. 
 I give to Mrs. Sadler my leasehold house, situate and being No. 66, 
 Great Portland-street, now in her occupation ; and all my estate, 
 term, and interest therein. I give to Mrs. Hawkins my leasehold 
 house, situate in Edward-street, Manchester-square, now in her occu- 
 pation ; and all my estate, term, and interest therein. I give to 
 Jasper Peck, Esquire, my four leasehold houses, situate in St. James's- 
 street ; my four other houses, situate in Edward-street, aforesaid ; 
 my two ground-rents of two houses, in the same street ; my leasehold 
 house in Margaret-street, Cavendish-square ; and my two corner houses 
 in Norton-street and Clipstone-street, and all my estate and interest 
 therein respectively. And as to my property in the funds at the 
 Bank of England, the monies to arise by the sales hereinbefore 
 directed, the debts that shall be owing to me at my decease, and all 
 other the residue of my estate and effects whatsoever, I give the same 
 to Mr. Francis Russell Palmer, of Cumberland-place, New-road, and 
 the said Francis Douce, and Mr. Edward Balme, equally to be divided, 
 between them. And I appoint the said Francis Douce and Edward 
 Balme, Executors of this my Will. And I declare that they, or either 
 of them, or their respective Executors, shall not be charged or charge- 
 able with, or answerable or accountable for any loss or damage that 
 may happen of or to my estate and effects, or any part thereof, so 
 as the same happens without their wilful neglect or default ; and that 
 they, or any, or either of them, shall not be answerable or accountable 
 for the others or other of them, or for the receipts, payments, acts* 
 
THE WILL 369 
 
 neglects, or defaults of the others or other of them, but each of them 
 only for himself, and his own receipts, payments, acts, neglects, and 
 defaults. And that they my said Executors, and their respective 
 Executors, shall and may, by, from, and out of my estate and effects, 
 or any part thereof, deduct, retain, and reimburse himself and them- 
 selves respectively, all such costs, charges, and expenses as they shall 
 respectively pay, sustain, or be put unto, in or about the execution of 
 this my Will or relating thereto.. And I do hereby revoke and make 
 void all and every other will and wills by me at any time or times 
 heretofore made, and do publish and declare this to be my last Will 
 and Testament. In witness whereof, I have to this my last Will and 
 Testament contained in three sheets of paper, set my hand and seal 
 (that is to say) have set my hand to the two first sheets, and to this 
 third and last sheet have set my hand and seal, this twenty-first day 
 of March, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and 
 eighteen. 
 
 Joseph Nollekens, l.s. 
 Signed, sealed, published and declared by the said Joseph 
 Nollekens the Testator, as and for his last Will and Testa- 
 ment in the presence of us who at his request in his presence, 
 and in the presence of each other, have subscribed our names 
 as witnesses thereunto. 
 
 Henry Jeanneret, ) _ 
 
 -c, n n f Golden-square. 
 
 Edward Cary Grojan, 3 * 
 
 No. 1. 
 
 I give to Mrs. Harness of Stanmore in the County of Middlesex a 
 Cousin of my late dear wife Mary Nollekens, three hundred pounds 
 and I publish and declare this to be a Codicil to my foregoing Will 
 witness my hand and seal this twenty seventh day of March one 
 thousand eight hundred and eighteen. 
 
 Joseph Nollekens, l.s. 
 Signed sealed and published by the 
 said Joseph Nollekens in the pre- 
 sence of us 
 
 Henry Jeanneret, 
 W. T. Stubbs. 
 
 No. 2. 
 
 I will and direct that the annuity of thirty pounds by my Will 
 given to Mary Fearey therein named be increased to an annuity of 
 fifty pounds and that the annuity of thirty pounds by my said Will 
 given to Ann Clibbon therein also named be increased to an annuity of 
 
 24 
 
37o NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 forty pounds which increased annuities I give to them respectively (in 
 lieu of the said annuities given them by my said Will) and to be paid 
 half yearly as in my said Will mentioned I give to Mr. Henshall of 
 Mortimer street Stone Mason (over and above the legacy by my said 
 Will given to Mrs. Henshall his wife) the sum of one hundred pounds 
 and I publish and declare this to be a further Codicil to my said Will, 
 witness my hand and seal this twenty fourth day of June, one 
 thousand eight hundred and eighteen. 
 
 Joseph Nollekens, l.s. 
 Signed, sealed, and published by the 
 said Joseph Nollekens, in the pre- 
 sence of us, 
 
 Henry Jeanneret, 
 Edw. Cary Grojan. 
 
 No. 3. 
 
 Has a presant to Maria Yerninck, daughter of the "Reverend 
 Doctor and the Honorable Mrs. Yerninck, of Camberwell, who was 
 the Goddaughter of my late dear wife Mrs. Nollekens, and was in 
 May last six years of age the sum of two hundred pounds Also, I 
 have given to Sophia Baroness de Belmont the sum of two hundred 
 pounds as a remembrance I had of her late worthy father. God bless 
 them boath. These are boath paid October the 29th, 1818. 
 
 Joseph Nollekens. 
 
 I desire that Mr. Carlisle the Surgent be presented with a note of 
 fifty pounds for his attendance on me. 
 
 No. 4. 
 
 It is my desier and request that my executors do make a presant of 
 the sum of two hundred pounds to each of the daughters of Mr. John 
 Woodcock cousens of my late dear wife Maria Nollekens, that they 
 shall not be at the expences of the legacy duty videlicit, Mary Ann 
 Woodcock and her sister Mrs. Cockell, wife of Mr. Cockell, Surgen, of 
 Bronwick Terrace, Hackney Road this 20th day of November, 1818. 
 
 Joseph Nollekens. 
 
 (Witness) 
 
 Wm. Wingfield, 
 George-street, Hanover-square. 
 
 No. 5. 
 
 I revoke the legacy or bequest in my foregoing Will contained of 
 my property in the funds at the Bank of England the monies to arise 
 by the sales in my said Will, directed the debts that shall be owing me 
 
CODICILS 371 
 
 at my decease, and all other the residue of my estate and effects to Mr. 
 Francis Russell Palmer, Mr. Francis Douce, and Mr. Edward Balme 
 equally between them ; and in lieu and stead thereof, I give and 
 bequeath my said property in the funds at the Bank of England the 
 said monies to arise by the aforesaid sales, the said debts that shall be 
 owing to me at my decease and all other the said residue of my estate 
 and effects whatsoever unto the said Francis Russell Palmer Francis 
 Douse Edward Balme and the Reverend Mr. Kerrick in my said Will 
 named equally to be divided between them the said Francis Russell 
 Palmer Francis Douse Edward Balme and Mr. Kerrick And I 
 publish and declare this to be a further Codicil to my said Will 
 Witness my hand and seal this twenty-ninth day of January, One 
 thousand eight hundred and nineteen. 
 
 Joseph Nollekens, l.s. 
 Signed, sealed, and published by the 
 said Joseph Nollekens in the pre- 
 sence of us, 
 
 Henry Jeanneret, 
 W. T. Stubbs. 
 
 No. 6. 
 
 I do hereby revoke every legacy and bequest by my Will or 
 Codicils given to or in favour of, Dodemy, and also the legacy of one 
 hundred pounds to Alexander Goblet and instead of the said last 
 legacy, I give to the said Alexander Goblet an annuity of thirty 
 pounds for his life to commence from my decease, and to be payable 
 half-yearly. Witness my hand and seal the fifteenth day of April* 
 1819. 
 
 Joseph Nollekens, l.s. 
 (Witness) 
 Henry Jeanneret. 
 Joseph Bonomi. 
 
 No. 7. 
 
 Mortimer street 27th September 1819. 
 
 It is my desire that my executors do give as a present from me to 
 Mrs. Elizabeth Gee widow of No. 4, King-street, Golden-square the 
 sum of fifty pounds, as a token of my regard for her. 
 
 And it is my desire that my executors do give, in the same manner 
 as above, the sum of fifty pounds to Mrs. Ray, the wife of Lieut. Ray 
 as a token of my regard for her and her ffamily like of my friend Mr. 
 Trumbold in America. 
 
 And it is my desire that twenty pounds shall be given to Mrs. 
 
372 
 
 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 Rouw the wife of Mr. Rouw the Modler for the regard I have for her, 
 for her sole use and benefit, and the long slabb of marble in my yard 
 shall be given to him for his own use. Also, that young Pastorini 
 shall be given twenty pounds as a token of my regard for him. 
 
 And it is my request that in case of the demise of my hair 
 dresser Hancock a legacy of twenty pounds shall be given to his 
 daughter. 
 
 Joseph Nollekens. 
 (Signed in the presence of me) 
 John Worninck, D.D. &c. 
 Camberwell Grove. 
 
 No. 8. 
 
 Whereas, by a former memorandum I had directed that the marble 
 in the yard and the working tools in the study should be equally 
 divided and one-half of the same given to Mr. Alexander Goblet I 
 do hereby revoke such former direction and instead thereof do hereby 
 will and direct that the whole of the said marble and all the working 
 tools in the study be delivered by my Executors to the said Alexander 
 Goblet for his sole use and benefit in consideration of his care and 
 attention to me. 
 
 And whereas in the aforesaid memorandum, I had directed that my 
 books, drawings and prints should be sold by Mr. King, I do hereby 
 direct that they be sold by Mr. Evans, of Pall Mall. 
 
 Joseph Nollekens. 
 
 February the 7th, 1820. 
 
 No. 9. 
 
 It is my desier that I wish that my executors will give as a presant 
 the sum of fifty guineas unto Henry Goblet for the servises he has 
 
 done for me. 
 
 J. Nollekens. 
 August 14th, 1820. 
 
 No. 10. 
 
 All the working tools in the shop I give to his father with the 
 marble in the yard and the boards and utenserals for working the jack 
 I lent to Lupto above a year ago he ought to return it I have paid 
 and for what. 
 
 J. Nollekens. 
 
 This 14th of August, 1820. 
 
 No. 11. 
 
 This 28th day of January, 1822. 
 Memorandum that in case of my death all the marble in the yard 
 the tools in the shop Bankers mod tools for carving the rasp in the 
 
CODICILS 373 
 
 draw with and the draw in the parlour shall be the property of Alex. 
 
 Goblet. 
 
 Joseph Nollekens. 
 (Witness my hand.) 
 Mary Holt. 
 
 No. 12. 
 
 Codicil to my Will. 
 It is my request that the legacy of fifty pounds per annum which I 
 have left in my Will, besides my cloaths and body linen left to Mary 
 Fiery, now Mrs. Edmonds, be revoked, and I give the said fifty 
 pounds per annum to Mary Holt for her life, together with my cloaths 
 and body linen, for the care she has taken of me in my weak state of 
 body. This is my desire, to which I set my hand and seal, this thirtieth 
 day of July, Eighteen Hundred and Twenty-two. 
 
 Joseph Nollekens, l.s. 
 (Witness) 
 A. H. Chambert. 
 Wm. Gadsby. 
 
 No. 13. 
 
 Since executing this Will, the Reverend Edward Balme, one of the 
 Executors therein named, has departed this life, and I do therefore 
 appoint as my Executors Sir William Beechy, Knight ; Francis 
 Douce, Esquire ; and Thomas Smith, Esquire, of the British Museum, 
 the joint Executors of this my Will ; and I do now hereby give to the 
 said Sir William Beechy the sum of one hundred pounds for his 
 trouble, and to the said Thomas Smith one hundred pounds for his 
 trouble ; I do likewise hereby give and bequeath to Henry Francis 
 Goblet, the son of Alexander Goblet, one hundred pounds, and to Mrs. 
 Mary Holt the additional sum of one hundred pounds to what I may 
 have already given her by this Will, which I do in all other respects 
 hereby confirm ; as witness my hand, this sixth day of December, One 
 Thousand Eight Hundred and Twenty-two. 
 
 J. Nollekens. 
 
 (Signed in the presence of us) 
 John Meakin. 
 Thomas Matthew. 
 
 No. 14. 
 
 It is my desire that my Executors pay to Mr. Peter Rouw, the 
 
 Modeller, the sum of one hundred pounds. As witness my hand, this 
 
 twenty-eighth day of December, One Thousand Eight Hundred and 
 
 Twenty-two. 
 
 Joseph Nollekens. 
 
 Died April 23rd, 1823. 
 
[374] 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Funeral of Mr. Nollekens His wardrobe List of his intended 
 bequests Professional anecdotes of him Modelling in full dress 
 Taking casts from dead subjects His mask of Mr. Pitt Statue 
 erected at Cambridge Mrs. Siddons's remarks on it Economy and 
 profits of the sculptor Bust of Lord Londonderry Economy in 
 fuel Fuseli's opinion of Nollekens His bust of Mr. Coutts ; 
 anecdotes of its execution His collection of casts and models- 
 Wigs painted by Lely and Kneller Wycherley and Fielding wigs 
 Old system of wig-stealing Mr. Nollekens' features of likeness 
 in his busts His busts of Mr. Fox. 
 
 On the day of the funeral, May 1, 1823, at eleven 
 o'clock, the hour proposed for the meeting of the 
 carriages invited to attend it, only four appeared, 
 namely, the Hon. Thomas Grenville's, Mr. Cham- 
 bers', Mr. Palmer's ; and last of all, that which 
 the mob saluted as my Lord Mayor's. The cry 
 was, ' Lord Mayor ! Lord Mayor !' ' Lord Mayor !' 
 rejoined the stately coachman, drawing on his 
 sable glove ; ' the Duke of Wellington's, if you 
 please Lord Mayor, indeed !' and really the coach 
 and dressings were truly splendid, and worthy of 
 so noble a Duke. The Kev. Thomas Kerrick, 1 or, 
 in true spelling, Kerrich, Principal Librarian to the 
 
 1 Thomas Kerrick, of Dersingham, was University Librarian from 
 1797 to his death in 1828, at the age of eighty. He was a very skilful 
 architectural and antiquarian draughtsman. Ed. 
 
THE FUNERAL COACHES 375 
 
 University of Cambridge, did not appear. The 
 mourners were all in waiting ; and Mr. Douce 
 arrived at twelve. The street-lamp-irons and win- 
 dows were thronged to see ' The Miser's Funeral ;' 
 and all was now in silent motion. 
 
 The first coach contained Francis Douce, Esq., 
 an executor, and one of the residuary legatees. 
 Sir William Beechey, also an executor, but not a 
 residuary legatee, was obliged to attend his own 
 interests in touching up his pictures in the Royal 
 Academy Room, previous to the opening of the 
 Exhibition. The second in the coach was the late 
 Dr. Simmonds, of Chiswick, an old and steady 
 friend to the deceased ; the third was Russel 
 Palmer, Esq., the son of Mrs. Palmer, an acquaint- 
 ance of some standing with the deceased ; and the 
 fourth was myself, an executor, but, like Sir 
 William Beechey, no residuary legatee. The other 
 mourners were, Mr. Woodcock, a cousin of Mrs. 
 Nollekens, to whom a small legacy had been left ; 
 Mr. Nelson Beechey, for his father -} Mr. Christie, 
 the auctioneer, the gentleman who sold part of the 
 property ; Raphael and Benjamin West, Esquires, 
 sons of the late venerable President ; the Rev. 
 Stephen Weston ; Mr. Jeanneret, who was sent 
 for after Mr. Nollekens' death to read the will ; 
 Mr. Gahagan ; Mr. Goblet, sen., and his son ; Mr. 
 Rouw, 2 Mr. Taylor, and Mr. Soilleux. 
 
 Early on the day of the funeral, when Sir 
 William Beechey and myself found that Mr. Peck, 
 
 1 Sir William Beechey, R.A. Ed. 
 
 2 Peter Rouw, jun. (1771-1852), the gem-engraver. Ed. 
 
376 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 one of Mr. Nollekens' two nearest relations, had 
 not been included in the list of those invited, we 
 immediately directed Mr. Turner, the undertaker, 
 to send a coach to the Temple for that gentleman, 
 but it arrived too late for him to attend. 
 
 Being now in a state of motion, the conversation 
 between Dr. Simmonds and myself fell upon the 
 notices in the newspapers respecting the very 
 extraordinary manner in which it was stated that 
 Mr. Nollekens' money was to be distributed. As 
 the coach in which I was turned round Harley 
 Street, I had a perfect view of the procession, and 
 the crowd that followed the Duke of Wellington's 
 carriage was immense ; it was a new one, built for 
 state occasions. By the time we got into the New 
 Road, the concourse of people was beyond all 
 conception ; for it was May-Day, and the chimney- 
 sweepers in their trappings, and the Jacks-in-the- 
 green, or Bunter's Garland, had all followed what 
 they still looked upon as my Lord Mayor's coach. 
 Indeed, so strongly was this believed by the drivers 
 of the Paddington stages, whose horses were gaily 
 decked with ribbons of various dies, that they, out 
 of respect or fear of the City Magistrate, fell back 
 and slowly followed the Duke's coach. 
 
 Bv the time we had arrived at the Yorkshire 
 Stingo, a crowd of milkmaids and maidservants, 
 who had been dancing and drinking on the green 
 all the morning, so choked up the turnpike, that 
 for some time a stoppage took place. At last, the 
 mob finding it to be only a funeral, and that it 
 was going to Paddington, the greater part of our 
 
EXECUTORS 377 
 
 company left us, to follow their accustomed 
 gambols. On our arrival at the churchyard, Old 
 Dodimy was waiting to see the last of his master, 
 with whom had he remained, most likely he would 
 have had the annuity of thirty pounds once 
 bequeathed him, but since transferred to Lewis 
 Goblet, sculptor, as a reward for his long and 
 faithful services. Before this time, however, 
 Goblet was not noticed, though he had received 
 many assurances from Mr. Nollekens that he had 
 left him and his family comfortably in his will. 
 
 When the funeral was over, Mr. Douce returned 
 from the churchyard to his house in Kensington 
 Square and most of the other mourners returned 
 to the house of the deceased, in order to hear the 
 will read. This I, as an executor, firmly insisted 
 upon, and it was accordingly read in the presence of 
 many persons. 
 
 Some time was employed by two of the executors 
 and the three solicitors, in looking over Mr. Nolle- 
 kens' property, before the will was proved. At 
 one of these meetings, Mr. Nollekens' wardrobe 
 was inspected, when we found it to consist of his 
 court-coat of Pourpre de Pape, in which he was 
 married ; his hat, sword, and bag ; two shirts, two 
 pairs of worsted stockings, one table-cloth, three 
 sheets, and two pillow-cases ; but all these were in 
 such a state of decay, that, with other rags, Mrs. 
 Holt informed me she could only procure one 
 pound jive shillings for her legacy. His smart 
 green velvet cap, one of the two kindly presented 
 to him by a lady, Mrs. Holt presented to a friend. 
 
378 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 During the investigation of his papers, I was in 
 anxious expectation of finding a will subsequent to 
 the one produced, as he had been for years in 
 the habit of signing many wills, in all of which 
 he assured me he had recollected me and my 
 family, ' That you may depend upon, Tom,' were his 
 words. In the year 1810, he showed me a list of the 
 names of one hundred persons, to every one of whom 
 he said he intended to leave one thousand pounds ! 
 
 Mr. Nollekens, who had been extremely intimate 
 with Mr. Zoffany, when approaching his eightieth 
 year, offered his hand to his widow, who very 
 civilly declined it, prudently observing: c No, sir; 
 the world would then say, She has married him for 
 his money.' Mrs. Zoffany, when she found poor 
 Bronze had been set down in his will for only 
 19 19s., very generously gave Mrs. Holt a guinea 
 for her, long before she received her own legacy. 
 
 Having illustrated the peculiar manners of Mr. 
 Nollekens in his ordinary life, I shall now intro- 
 duce a few professional anecdotes of him as an 
 artist, which will probably be not less amusing to 
 the reader. 
 
 During the time an illustrious personage was 
 sitting for his bust, he could not refrain from 
 smiling at his friend, who stood behind Nollekens, 
 at the truly ridiculous manner in which the artist 
 had inconvenienced himself for the occasion. His 
 powdered toupet, 1 which was stiffly pomatumed, 
 
 1 Mr. Nollekens, when at Rome, wore his long hair tied up in a 
 club. When he arrived in England he commenced wearing hair- 
 powder, and continued the use of it till his hair became thin ; he 
 
TAKING CASTS 379 
 
 stood pointedly erect ; and he had, for the first 
 time, put on a coat, to which the tailor had given 
 an enormously high buckramed cape, so that, like 
 Allscrip's, in ' The Heiress,' his head appeared as 
 if it were in the pillory. To look over this cape, 
 Nollekens had for some time painfully exerted 
 himself, by stretching his neck to its fullest pos- 
 sible extent ; but, as he proceeded with his model, 
 his body by degrees relaxed, and his head at last 
 was so completely buried within the cape, that 
 nothing but the pinnacle of his toupet was visible 
 above it. This ridiculous exit of Nollekens' head 
 so operated upon the risibility of the noble sitter, 
 that, at last, he irresistibly indulged in a liberal fit 
 of laughter, which so irritated the little sculptor, 
 who had for some time noticed their smiles, that, 
 instead of good-temperedly finding fault with the 
 tailor, he lost sight of propriety, and thrusting his 
 thumb into the mouth of the model, impetuously 
 exclaimed, with a treble wag of his head, 4 If you 
 laugh, I'll make a fool of ye !' 
 
 Nollekens, after reading the death of any great 
 person in the newspaper, generally ordered some 
 plaster to be got ready, so that he might attend at 
 a minute's notice. One day, when a lady who had 
 sent for him desired him not to make so free with 
 her dear husband's corpse, he observed, ' Oh, bless 
 ye, you had better let me close his eyelids ; for 
 then, when I cast him in my mould, he'll look 
 for all the world as if he was asleep. Why do 
 
 then, at the recommendation of Caleb Whitefoord, had it all cut off, 
 and wore a natural wig without powder. Smith. 
 
380 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 you take on so ? you do wrong to prey upon such 
 a dismal prospect ; do leave the room to me and 
 my man ; I am used to it, it makes no impression 
 on me ; I have got a good many noted down in my 
 journal.' 
 
 Mr. Sebastian Gahagan, the sculptor, Mr. Nolle- 
 kens' assistant, attended him to cast the face of 
 Lord Lake, after his decease ; his lordship's brother 
 was then inconsolably pacing the room, but Mr. 
 Nollekens shook him by the elbow, and applied to 
 him for a little sweet- oil, a large basin, some water, 
 and pen, ink, and paper. 
 
 The gentleman, astonished at his want of 
 decency, referred him to the servant ; and Nolle- 
 kens, after he had taken the mask, muttered the 
 following soliloquy : ' Now, let me see, I must 
 begin to measure him ; where's my callipers ? I 
 must take him from his chin to the upper pinnacle 
 of his head ; I'll put him down in ink ; ay, that will 
 do ; now, I must have him from his nose to the 
 back part of his skull ; well, now let's take his 
 shoulders ; now for his neck ; well, now I've got 
 him all.' 
 
 On Mr. Nollekens' return from Putney Common, 
 after taking Mr. Pitt's mask, he observed to Mr. 
 Gahagan, pointing to it on the opposite seat of the 
 coach : c There, I would not take fifty guineas for 
 that mask, I can tell ye.' He would have done 
 wrong if he had ; for from this mask and Hoppner's 
 picture, which was lent him by Lord Mulgrave, he 
 was enabled to produce the statue erected in the 
 Senate-house of Cambridge, for which he received 
 
MONUMENT OF PITT 381 
 
 three thousand guineas. Mr. Gahagan carved this 
 statue of Pitt, for which Mr. Nollekens paid him, 
 I am sorry to say, a miserably small sum ; and I 
 really think, those who now bask in the sunshine 
 of Mr. Nollekens' immense wealth should take into 
 consideration the letter which he addressed to the 
 executors shortly after the death of his old master. 
 Mr. George Lupton, the statuary, of Keppel 
 Row, New Road, informed me that he went to 
 Cambridge with his men to put up Mr. Pitt's monu- 
 ment ; and when he had erected the pedestal upon 
 which it was to stand, he wrote to Mr. Nollekens 
 and informed him of its being ready ; but as he 
 did not come immediately, Mr. Lupton placed the 
 figure upon it. Soon after this Mr. Nollekens 
 arrived, and exclaimed : 4 Thank God ! it is up.' 
 He went to Cambridge in a verv shabbv coat, not- 
 
 O 1/1/ 
 
 withstanding he intended to accept the invitation of 
 the heads of the University, and to feed upon what 
 Lupton called ' the fat of the land ' ; the Rev. 
 Thomas Kerrick being one of his feeders. It is 
 said that Nollekens charged 1,000 for Pitt's 
 pedestal ; but Lupton assured me that he had only 
 12 for the working expenses, and that Nollekens 
 bought the stone remarkably cheap at Mr. Deval's 
 sale, he thinks at about nine shillings the cube foot. 
 He also farther observed that Chantrey was nothing 
 to Nollekens, with respect to his charges. 
 
 The erection of this effigy was thus noticed by 
 Prince Hoare, Esq., in his Academic Annals of 
 1809 : ' Statue of the Right Hon. William Pitt, to 
 be placed in the Senate-house in the University of 
 
382 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 Cambridge, by general subscription of the Mem- 
 bers of the University. (Executed by Joseph 
 Nollekens, R.A.) This great statesman and orator 
 is represented in the act of speaking, holding a roll 
 of paper in his left hand. The attitude is designed 
 to convey an idea of that commanding energy and 
 decision with which he was accustomed to address 
 the House of Commons. He is habited in the 
 gown worn by the Masters of Arts in the University. 
 The statue is to be erected in the Senate-house, at 
 the eastern end of the room, in the place where the 
 figure of Glory at present stands.' 
 
 ' The Guide through the University of Cam- 
 bridge,' published in 1814, after describing the 
 statue of the Duke of Somerset by Eysbrack, 
 states, c that on the right is a statue of the Right 
 Hon. W. Pitt, erected at the expense of different 
 Members of the University, upwards of 7,000 
 being subscribed for that purpose. This statue 
 was executed by Nollekens, and is considered by 
 many good judges to be his chef-d'oeuvre.' 
 
 Mr. Knight, one of the principal superintendents 
 of the works at the New London Bridge, informed 
 me that when Mrs. Siddons arrived to look at this 
 statue, Mr. Nollekens was touching up the drapery, 
 and that he heard that lady remark to the sculptor 
 that, in her opinion, he was frittering the folds. 
 Nollekens at first replied only by a kind of double 
 grunt ; but when that lady left the studio he 
 declared that he was glad she was gone, for she 
 knew nothing about the matter. Now, in the 
 opinion of several artists of eminence, Mrs. Siddons, 
 
MONUMENTS 383 
 
 who has very fine taste, and a considerable share of 
 talent as a modeller, was perfectly correct. Many 
 of my readers may remember the head of Adam, 
 which Mrs. Siddons exhibited at the Koyal Academy 
 some years back j 1 but very few can recollect that 
 performance with more pleasure than myself. 
 
 When Mr. Nollekens had finished the monument 
 of the three Captains, ordered by Government to 
 be erected in Westminster Abbey, it remained in 
 his studio for nearly fourteen years, waiting for 
 the inscription ; and he being at last out of all 
 patience, petitioned the late King, then at Wey- 
 mouth, to take it into his roval consideration. The 
 late Mr. Pitt was so highly displeased at his inter- 
 ference that he never would sit to Mr. Nollekens 
 for his bust, nor recommend him in any way what- 
 ever ; and yet it is a fact that, after the decease of 
 that great statesman, Mr. Nollekens made no less 
 a sum by him than 15,000, according to the follow- 
 ing calculation. The statue and pedestal for Trinity 
 College, Cambridge, 4,000. 
 
 He also executed at least seventy-four busts in 
 marble, for almost every one of which he had one 
 hundred and twenty guineas ; and there were 
 upwards of six hundred casts taken at six guineas 
 each. The marble for the figure did not ultimately 
 cost him more than 20 ; for he had so cunningly 
 economized the block that he cut from the corners 
 several pieces for various busts : and even farther 
 than this, the block not being long enough by the 
 depth of Mr. Pitt's head, he contrived to drill out 
 
 1 In the year 1802. Ed. 
 
384 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 a lump from between the legs large enough for the 
 head, which he put on the shoulders of the block. 
 The arm was also carved from a single piece ; and 
 yet for this figure, pieced in a manner which the 
 sculptors of Italy would have been ashamed of , he 
 received the unheard-of price of three thousand 
 guineas, and one thousand for the pedestal ; giving 
 the sculptor who carved it only the odd 300 for 
 his trouble. For the busts in marble he paid 
 Gahagan, Goblet, and another sculptor of inferior 
 merit, 24 each upon the average. 
 
 When the late Marquis of Londonderry was 
 sitting for his bust, coals were at an enormous 
 price ; and the noble lord, who had been for some 
 time shivering in his seat, took the opportunity, 
 when the sculptor went out for more clay, of 
 throwing some coals upon the fire. ' Oh, my good 
 lord ! I don't know what Mr. Nollekens will say V 
 exclaimed Mrs. Nollekens, who was bolstered up 
 and bound to an old night-chair by the fireside. 
 4 Never mind, my good lady,' answered his lord- 
 ship ; ' tell him to put them into my bill.' 
 Lonsdale, 1 the portrait-painter, who found him one 
 severe winter's evening starving himself before a 
 handful of fire, requested to be permitted to throw 
 a few coals on ; and before Mr. Nollekens could 
 reply, on they were. 
 
 Lonsdale, strongly suspecting that they would be 
 taken off as soon as he was gone, was determined 
 to be convinced ; and when he had reached the 
 
 1 James Lonsdale (1777-1839). He took Opie's house, and suc- 
 ceeded to part of his practice. Ed. 
 
BUST OF COUTTS 385 
 
 street-door, pretended to have forgotten something, 
 reascended to the room, and found him, as he 
 suspected, taking them off with the fire-feeder, so 
 strongly recommended to him by the Bishop of 
 St. Asaph, at the same time muttering to himself: 
 c Shameful ! shameful extravagance !' He never 
 left the kind-hearted Lonsdale a legacy ; at least, I 
 know of none, though it was his intention to have 
 put him down in a former will for 1,000. 
 
 John Knowles, Esq., the friend, and for many 
 years the constant companion, of Fuseli, com- 
 municated to me the remarks which that artist 
 made to him respecting the talents of Nollekens. 
 
 ' Mr. Coutts said to me yesterday,' observed 
 Fuseli, ' " My family have urged me to sit for a bust 
 to be executed in marble. Now, as you know, 
 Fuseli, that the price is not an object, pray tell me 
 who you think will execute it best ?" I had no 
 difficulty in doing this, for, though Nollekens is 
 superannuated in many particulars, yet in a bust 
 he stands unrivalled. If Mr. Coutts had required 
 a group of figures, I should have recommended 
 Flaxman, but for a bust, give me Nollekens.' 
 
 This bust of the late Mr. Coutts, the banker, was 
 one of Nollekens' last productions, and one in 
 which he appeared to take much pleasure, but I 
 must say that, as to likeness, it is certainly 
 ridiculously severe. In my mind, it displays the 
 distorted features of a distressed person labouring 
 under the heavy pangs of poverty, penury, or 
 peevishness, neither of which cheerless character- 
 istics did Mr. Coutts at any period of his life 
 
 25 
 
386 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 possess. Indeed, it is what I deem a Cruikshank- 
 caricature countenance. Chantrey has succeeded 
 much better, and, indeed, completely, in his statue 
 of him. This statue is placed in the Duchess of 
 St. Alban's drawing-room, in her Grace's town- 
 house, Piccadilly. Mrs. Nollekens assured me that 
 during the numerous sittings which that wealthy 
 man gave Mr. Nollekens, no one could be more 
 attentive to him than Mrs. Coutts, who never failed 
 to bring with her in her carriage some of the most 
 delicious and comforting soups or refreshments 
 that could possibly be made, which she herself 
 warmed in a saucepan over the parlour fire : ' and 
 I declare, my good sir,' continued Mrs. Nollekens, 
 ' I believe it did me as much good to see old Mr. 
 Coutts enjoy every spoonful of it as it would have 
 done had it passed through my own mouth.' 
 
 These savoury-soup scenes must have been 
 comically curious, as well as truly melancholy ; for 
 at that time Mrs. Nollekens was in her last stage 
 of existence, with her spine nearly bent double. 
 A wry neck had much twisted her head, which, in 
 the best possible position, reclined upon a wing of 
 a nurse's old-fashioned high-backed night-chair, 
 covered with a broad chequered red and white 
 stuff; and her swollen legs, which were almost 
 useless, were placed upon a stool for the day by 
 her ' flesh-brush rubber,' a woman who regularly 
 attended her for an hour every morning. In the 
 latter part of Mrs. Nollekens' life her husband 
 would frequently make drawings of her, either in 
 her chair, or as her maid was leading her up or 
 
COUTTS 387 
 
 down stairs ; these sketches he showed to Mr. 
 Jackson, observing to him, even in her presence, 
 4 Only see how much she has altered in a short 
 time ! That drawing I made in July, and this in 
 August.' ' Ay, sir,' observed Mrs. Nollekens, who 
 was almost bent double in the great arm-chair, 
 ' you never would make a drawing of me when I 
 was fit to be seen.' Mr. Coutts was blowing his 
 broth, attended by Mrs. Coutts, a lively woman, 
 most fashionably dressed : whilst Nollekens, to use 
 the commonest of all similes, nearly as deaf as 
 a post, was prosecuting his bust, and at the same 
 time repeating his loud interrogations as to the 
 price of stocks to his sitter, who had twice most 
 good-temperedly stayed the spoon when it was con- 
 siderably more than half-way to his mouth, and 
 turned his head to answer him. As for the old 
 conversation upon his early amusement of bell- 
 tolling, that was a pleasure our artist had given up 
 ever since he became a patient of the celebrated 
 aurist, Mr. Maule, who advised him by all means 
 to keep his ears well stuffed with cotton. 
 
 Mr. Henning, 1 the sculptor, when employed by 
 Lady Moira to make a model in wax from Lord 
 Moira's bust by Nollekens, was under the necessity 
 of ^oino; to the artist's house to take the likeness, 
 and he was in hope, from a man standing so high 
 in his profession, that he should derive considerable 
 benefit from his conversation ; but in this expecta- 
 tion he was, after repeatedly trying to bring him 
 into discourse, most grievously disappointed. Mr. 
 
 1 John Henning (1771-1851). Ed. 
 
388 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 Henning had been previously introduced to Mr. 
 Nollekens by his old friend, James Dawkins, Esq., 
 who would now and then joke him as to his 
 Venuses. Mr. Henning informed me, that Mr. 
 Dawkins assured him that his uncle's work of 
 Palmyra and Balbeck had cost him no less a sum 
 than 50,000, his attendants in the deserts being so 
 numerous that he seldom had fewer than three 
 hundred men to protect him and assist in his dis- 
 coveries. Surely this noble enterprise demands 
 the most liberal notice of the future biographer of 
 Mr. Dawkins. 
 
 Fiamingo's models of boys were great favourites 
 with Mr. Nollekens : he had several originals in 
 clay, which he procured from Antwerp, and upon 
 which he placed so high a value that, though 
 frequent and considerable offers were made, he 
 would not part with them. Indeed, he would not 
 even listen to his nattering friend Angelica Kauff- 
 mann, who practised her wheedlings to the fullest 
 extent of her fascinating powers to become mistress 
 of only one of the most inferior of his collection. 
 
 He laid out little money in England for plaster 
 casts, for most of those he possessed he brought 
 from Rome, unless Papera, who in the commence- 
 ment of his career carried the new things round 
 to the artists in baskets, brought him a Fiamingo 
 child which he had never seen. I recollect a basso- 
 relievo of boys which he admired very much until 
 Papera named John Deare as the modeller, when 
 his admiration, I am sorry to say, decreased into 
 the following remarks : ' Yes, it is ; he is a clever 
 
WIGS IN SCULPTURE 389 
 
 fellow, certainly, but I don't see the wonderful 
 merit in his Marine Venus that Sir Eichard 
 Worsley talks so much about ; and there's Mr. 
 Penn, with his Landing of Julius Caesar, it's a 
 clever thing, and so I have always told him.' 
 
 Nollekens, whenever he could contrive it, avoided 
 a representation of flowing hair in marble, particu- 
 larly in curled wigs, though in his bust of Lord 
 Chancellor Bathurst he was obliged to attend 
 strictly to costume. The manner in which the wig 
 of that bust is modelled proves what I firmly 
 believe to be the fact, that such profusion of hair 
 either perplexed him or was too expensive in the 
 workmanship. Indeed, his master, Scheemakers, 
 never shone in the art of wig-making, as his bust 
 of Sir Hans Sloane in the British Museum suffici- 
 ently proves. His predecessor, Bird, in the wig of 
 Sir Cloudesley Shovel in Westminster Abbey, bad 
 as it is, was more successful in its tooling. That 
 of Dr. Lockyer, in Saint Mary Overies, and those 
 on the statues of Sir John Cutler, in the College 
 of Physicians and Grocers' Hall, are very little 
 superior. 
 
 Koubiliac's statue of Sir John Cass, at Saint 
 Botolph's, Aldgate, exhibits a particularly tasteful 
 wig j 1 but, notwithstanding his skill displayed in 
 that instance, he was not fond of introducing it, 
 and endeavoured to persuade his sitters to take 
 their wigs off. His busts of Pope, Lord Boling- 
 
 1 This fine statue has lately been most villainously painted of 
 various colours, in order to make it appear as natural as life, or like 
 the Westminster Abbey waxwork. Smith. 
 
39o NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 broke, Martin Folkes, Doctors Mead and Frewin, 
 and numerous others of men of literature, are 
 without wigs. Jonathan Richardson has etched 
 his own portrait and that of Lord Somers in flow- 
 ing wigs, and these two prints exhibit more flow of 
 curl and spirit of needle than any I can instance. 
 Indeed, they are complete specimens of tasteful 
 flowing hair, and yet Richardson has also etched 
 his own head, and many more of Lord Bolingbroke 
 and Pope, without wigs, which proves that he pre- 
 ferred the natural shape of the head. 
 
 Nollekens' bust of Dr. Johnson is without his 
 wig, but with very thick and heavy locks, which 
 much displeased the doctor, who insisted upon it 
 that all persons should be portrayed as they are 
 seen in company ; adding, that though a man for 
 ease may wear a night-cap in his own chamber, he 
 ought not to look like one who had taken physic. 
 I recollect that Wilkie, the Academician, once 
 observed to an artist who was about to paint his 
 own portrait without his cravat, with his shirt- 
 collar thrown open to exhibit his neck, c Oh, don't 
 do that ; you'll look as if you were going to be 
 shaved.' 
 
 In the representation of hair, the spirited painter 
 has a decided superiority over the most exquisite 
 and dexterous sculptor ; not only in colour and 
 texture, but also as to time. The former is 
 enabled to produce in one hour with his elastic and 
 oily pencil as much as would take the latter six 
 weeks with his chisel and drill ; as may be seen in 
 the beautifully flowing hair of Vandyke, Dobson, 
 
WIGS 391 
 
 Lely, and Kneller, and the laboured works of the 
 best sculptors. The difference in a Lely wig from 
 that of a Kneller, is that the former generally falls 
 down the shoulders in front, and the latter is 
 thrown over the shoulders behind. 
 
 It must, however, be understood, that though 
 Kneller and Lely thus differed, they did not paint 
 all their sitters according to their own fashion of 
 wearing their wigs. On the contrary, we find by 
 Blooteling's print of Thomas, Earl of Danby, that 
 his wig was peculiar. At the bottom of the sides 
 of the wig, which falls over the front of the 
 shoulders, there are three regularly distinct curls 
 stiffly rolled up. But of all the wig-dandies of 
 those days, the Duke of Ormond appears to have 
 been the most fanciful ; and I am supported in 
 this conjecture by the four different portraits of 
 that nobleman, engraven by Faithorne, Loggan, 
 Williams, and White ; which, though they all 
 have large and flowing wigs, conspicuously vary in 
 their modes of curling. 
 
 It may possibly be within the recollection of 
 some few of my readers, when gentlemen indulged 
 in an immensely expensive purchase of deep and 
 flowing curled wigs, such as Wycherley and ' Beau 
 Fielding ' wore ; and I have been credibly in- 
 formed, that the enormous sum of fifty guineas 
 was given by the best-dressing men of the time 
 for a truly fashionable wig of the above descrip- 
 tion. Such wigs continued to be worn by many 
 men of the old school during the latter part of 
 the profession of Zincke, the enamel-painter, whose 
 
392 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 portraits exhibit many of them. Sir James Thorn- 
 hill and Jonathan Richardson wore flowing wigs, 
 and so likewise did Sir James' son-in-law, Hogarth, 
 in the early part of his professional career. In the 
 latter years of his life, he wore a Busby wig when 
 dressed ; though, whilst painting, he preferred a 
 velvet cap. There are persons now living who 
 recollect seeing the father of the late Mr. Prime, 
 of Witton, 1 wearing a flowing wig, or what is 
 better known in the burletta of c Tom Thumb ' as a 
 Doodle and a Noodle. 
 
 Mrs. Nollekens has frequently been heard to 
 relate, that during the early part of Mr. Welch's 
 magistracy, gentlemen were continually annoyed, 
 and frequently robbed of their wigs in the open 
 street and in mid-day. She stated that this method 
 of wig- stealing was singularly daring, as well as 
 laughably curious. A man dressed like a baker, 
 bending beneath a large, loaded bread-basket, 
 which he had hoisted upon his shoulders, waited 
 until the first gentleman wearing a costly wig was 
 about to turn the corner of a street in a crowded 
 thoroughfare ; and then, just as an accomplice ran 
 forcibly against him, a boy concealed in the baker's 
 basket knocked off the gentleman's gold-laced hat, 
 and instantly snatched his wig. Whilst the gentle- 
 man was stooping to pick up his hat, the fictitious 
 baker made off, with his dexterous assistant, till 
 he came to the first convenient turning, where he 
 
 1 This gentleman resided in the house which had been the mansion 
 of Sir Godfrey Kneller, the staircase of which, painted by that artist, 
 remains perfectly in its original state. Smith. 
 
BUSTS OF FOX 393 
 
 released the boy, who walked away with his booty 
 neatly folded up in a school- boy's satchel, which 
 he threw carelessly over his shoulder, as if slowly 
 going to school, with his round, c shining morning 
 face ;' leaving the baker with a loaf or two in his 
 basket, pretending to be waiting at a customer's 
 door, at which it was supposed he had knocked. 
 
 After numerous depredations of this kind, the 
 bakers' men, who were avoided by the Wycher- 
 leys, 1 were determined not to be mistaken, and 
 no longer carried their baskets hoisted on their 
 shoulders, but swung them over the arm, and have 
 ever since carried them at their backs ; so that the 
 wearers of wigs might see the contents of their 
 bread-baskets. 
 
 But to return to our sculptor. In my opinion, 
 Mr. Nollekens trusted more to the eyes, nose, and 
 mouth for a likeness, than to the bones of the 
 head ; and in this belief I am supported most 
 powerfully by the mask taken from Mr. Fox after 
 his death. Mr. Nollekens modelled and carved 
 two different busts of Mr. Fox. The first was 
 with a toupet and curls above the ears, as that 
 
 1 From Smith's portrait of Wycherley, engraven in 1703, we may 
 conclude that he was, as reported, a very handsome man, and, by the 
 sleekness of the curls of his wig, that he took great pains with it ; 
 indeed, so much was it the fashion to attend to the easy grace of the 
 curls, that it was his custom, while standing in the pit of the theatre 
 conversing with ladies in the boxes, to comb and adjust his discom- 
 posed locks. Wig-combs, which were made of most beautiful speci- 
 mens of tortoiseshell, and most fancifully engraven with representations 
 of flowers and birds, and, indeed, sometimes inlaid with mother-of- 
 pearl with their owners' names, were contained in a side-pocket case 
 of the size of a thin octavo volume, for the purpose of having them 
 always about their persons. Smith. 
 
394 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 gentleman wore his hair about 1783, just as Sir 
 Joshua Reynolds has painted him ; of which bust 
 there are several engravings, the carving being by 
 T. Gaugain. 1 The second bust is with his hair cut 
 close ; and of this there are two plates : one by 
 Skelton, for the small edition of Fox's c Life of 
 King James the Second,' and the other by Evans, 
 from a beautiful drawing by Mr. Howard, for the 
 large edition of the same work. Of the mask 
 taken by Nollekens after death, I am not aware of 
 there being any engraving ; ghastly as it is, and 
 totally unlike as the features are to those of Mr. 
 Fox when living, still the shape of the forehead is 
 truly remarkable and interesting. In his busts of 
 that statesman, the foreheads are low and rugged ; 
 whilst that of the mask is even, high, and pro- 
 minent, full of dignified grandeur, and more so, 
 perhaps, with the exception of Lord Bacon, than 
 that of any other statesman of equal celebrity. 
 The reader may be convinced of the correctness of 
 this remark by visiting Mr. Deville's Gallery in 
 the Strand, where there are casts taken from both 
 examples. 
 
 1 Thomas Gaugain (1748-1802 ?) was a French engraver, settled in 
 London. Ed. 
 
[ 395 ] 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Sale of Mr. Nollekens' collection of sculpture Mending antiques 
 Sale of his prints, etc. Account of his seated female figure 
 Patrons of modern English sculptors Antique foot Sir Joshua 
 Reynolds' throne-chair List of busts, monuments, and statues 
 executed by Nollekens Chronological list of all his sculptures 
 exhibited at the Royal Academy, from 1771 to 1816 Conclusion. 
 
 The sale of Mr. Nollekens' unsold works, and 
 collection of antique and modern sculptures, took 
 place under the hammer of Mr. Christie, on the 
 premises in Mortimer Street, on Thursday, July 3, 
 1823, and at the auctioneer's rooms in Pall Mall, 
 on the two days following. The collection con- 
 sisted of many of Mr. Nollekens' original models, 
 carvings in marble, and works by Italian and other 
 artists, particularly Michael Angelo and Fiamingo. 
 Mr. Nollekens' statue of a standing Venus in 
 marble, pouring ambrosia on her hair, was pur- 
 chased by Mrs. Palmer for 231 ; a and his model 
 of a sitting Venus was bought by the Earl of 
 Egremont. The antique marbles consisted of a 
 statue of Minerva, a noble bust of Commodus, 
 
 1 This figure is by no means so good as the one of Venus chiding 
 Cupid, executed by the same artist for his liberal patron Lord Yar- 
 borough. Smith. 
 
396 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 in perfect condition, and several other Imperial 
 busts ; one of Mercury, and a very spirited head of 
 a faun, chiefly purchased at the sales of the late 
 B. Bond Hopkins, Esq., at Pain's Hill, and at the 
 Earl of Be[s]sborough's, at Boehampton. These 
 antiques, which were mostly purchased by the 
 Duke of Newcastle, brought full thirtv times the 
 money they had cost Mr. Nollekens. His method 
 of mending antiques was rather curious : he would 
 mix the dust of the sort of stone he was mending 
 with his plaster ; so that when dry, if the antiques 
 were of Pentallic marble, the sparkling of the 
 stone-dust in a great measure disguised the joining 
 or mended parts. Mr. Boubiliac, when he had 
 to mend a broken antique, would mix grated 
 Gloucester cheese with his plaster, adding the 
 grounds of porter and the yolk of an egg ; which 
 mixture, when dry, forms a very hard cement. 
 
 Mr. Nollekens' prints, drawings, and books of 
 prints, were sold by M. Evans, in Pall Mall, on 
 Thursday, December 4, 1823. They principally 
 consisted of nearly the entire works of Nicolas 
 Poussin ; a fine collection of the engravings after 
 Sir Joshua Reynolds' pictures ; several sketch- 
 books filled by Mr. Nollekens when at Borne, and 
 numerous drawings also by him, made upon the 
 backs of letters. 
 
 Nollekens' figure with the sandal, carved for 
 Lord Yarborough, was considerably the greatest 
 favourite with the public of all his female figures ; 
 but that which he himself took the greatest delight 
 in showing, was seated with her arms round her 
 
STATUES 397 
 
 legs, Lot 21, purchased at his sale at Mr. Christie's, 
 by the Earl of Egremont, for the sum of 84 ; his 
 lordship giving it the preference to other works 
 by the same artist. He engaged Mr. Kossi, the 
 Academician, to execute it in marble, with strict 
 injunctions that no alterations whatever, not even an 
 improvement upon the model, should be attempted. 
 In giving this order, his lordship was, in my humble 
 opinion, perfectly correct ; for, if improvements had 
 been made, it could no longer have been esteemed 
 as a production of Nollekens' mind ; though I am 
 perfectly convinced, that had the figure been carved 
 under his own eye, it would in many instances have 
 been benefited by those corrections which most 
 sculptors are induced to make whilst they are 
 executing finished carvings from their models. 
 
 Mr. Williams, 1 who carved this figure under the 
 superintendence of Mr. Rossi, assured me that in 
 no instance could he have been engaged upon a 
 more difficult task, especially in carving parts that 
 were so intricately undercut ; as the right hand of 
 the figure placed before the right leg, was within a 
 quarter of an inch of the shin-bone, and he had to 
 invent tools of the most singular shapes to enable 
 him to cut and file away the stone. It was the 
 opinion of most artists, that many parts of this 
 figure could have been much improved : they 
 thought the ankles unquestionably too thick ; and 
 that, to have given it an air. of the antique, the 
 right thigh wanted flesh to fill up the ill-formed 
 
 1 Probably John Thomas Williams, a gem engraver, who undertook 
 some sculpture of a secondary character. Ed. 
 
398 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 nature which Nollekens had strictly copied. The 
 abdomen was far from good ; and the face was too 
 old, and of a common character ; but the back was 
 considered extremely beautiful. The attitude was 
 a natural one, and acquired by mere chance, as 
 good attitudes often are. 
 
 The woman from whom it was modelled, after 
 standing for some time to Mr. Nollekens for parts 
 of a figure on which he was then engaged, was 
 desired to dress ; and, upon her seating herself on 
 the ground, to put on her stockings, her posture so 
 pleased the sculptor, that he immediately cried, 
 ' Stop ! don't move ; I must model you as you now 
 sit !' and it is a curious fact, that he, being at that 
 time Visitor of the Eoyal Academy, placed the 
 woman who sat as the model there precisely in 
 the same position. It is also rather singular, that 
 the above-mentioned Mr. Williams, who carved the 
 figure for Mr. Rossi, is in possession of a drawing 
 made by his father at the Academy, from the 
 female who was so placed. 
 
 When Mr. Nollekens had completed this model, 
 the late Earl of Carlisle purchased it, with an 
 intention of having it carved in marble, and placed 
 with the numerous other works of art at Castle 
 Howard ; but upon some family objections being 
 made, his lordship gave the artist a portion of the 
 purchase-money to resign his bargain, and it 
 actually remained unsold for many years previous 
 to the death of our sculptor. It is now, however, 
 honoured with a pedestal at Petworth, amidst 
 numerous specimens of modern Art, of which 
 
PATRONAGE OF SCULPTURE 399 
 
 Lord Egremont, to his eternal honour be it spoken, 
 is a most liberal encourager. This nobleman is 
 not only in possession of Mr. Kossi's beautiful 
 group of Celadon and Amelia, but, I am happy to 
 state, has also commissioned the same artist to 
 execute another figure for him. His lordship will 
 likewise have the good fortune to possess the group 
 of the Angel Michael and Satan, one of the 
 grandest works of the late Professor Flaxman, and 
 perhaps equal to the productions of this, or any 
 age of former times. The modern sculptors, how- 
 ever, are not only indebted to the patronage of the 
 above nobleman, but also to that of their Graces 
 the Dukes of Devonshire, Bedford and Newcastle, 
 who are in possession of some of the finest speci- 
 mens of their abilities. Indeed, our sculptors of 
 talent have so glorious a patron in his most 
 gracious Majesty, 1 that the greatest part of the 
 nobility and persons of opulence endeavour to vie 
 with each other in the decoration of their halls and 
 galleries ; and in a few years, it may reasonably be 
 expected, the mansions of wealthy Englishmen will 
 exhibit such a display of native talent, that it will 
 at once astonish and confound most of our Conti- 
 nental visitors and rivals. 
 
 Sir Thomas Lawrence is the fortunate possessor 
 of an antique foot, valued by Nollekens as highly as 
 any specimen in his collection ; of which precious 
 relic he has been heard to tell the following story. 
 When he was at Home, he often endeavoured to 
 persuade Cardinal Albani, to whom it belonged, to 
 
 1 George III. Ed. 
 
400 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 part with it, but without success. At last, when 
 Nollekens was about to come to England, the 
 Cardinal, who knew no other way of getting 
 possession of a female torso, which Nollekens 
 possessed, gave him the foot for it. 
 
 It has also been stated that the Cardinal stole the 
 foot in order to give it to Nollekens ; and some, 
 who stick at nothing, have said that Nollekens stole 
 it from the Cardinal. This, however, I do not 
 believe, as I never will encourage the thought of 
 his being dishonest, or even in the slightest degree 
 dishonourable. It is now kept by Sir Thomas 
 Lawrence, under a glass shade ; and it must have 
 measured one foot five inches and a quarter from 
 the heel to the great toe, before the tip of that 
 member was mutilated. Sir Thomas Lawrence, 
 when first he acquired it, was inclined to consider 
 it as belonging to the famous torso, the marble 
 being the same, and the proportions agreeing most 
 perfectly ; but, upon a little reflection, the president 
 gave up that pleasing idea, perfectly satisfied that 
 it never could have belonged to that fragment, as 
 the foot treads flat upon the ground, and is un- 
 questionably in the action of a standing figure 
 about to walk, which does not accord with the 
 action of the thighs of the torso, which, the reader 
 will recollect, is seated. 
 
 I was the means of Sir Thomas acquiring another 
 interesting relique of art, as will appear by the 
 following statement. 
 
 Twelve months after the death of Dr. Fryer I 
 found, by a catalogue of his household property, 
 
THE THRONE-CHAIR OF REYNOLDS aoi 
 
 that Sir Joshua Reynolds' throne-chair was inserted 
 for sale by auction ; and though I had many friends 
 who were ignorant of that circumstance, and whose 
 love for the arts would have induced them to have 
 gone to a high price for it, particularly one gentle- 
 man of rank and fortune, from whom I and my 
 family have received repeated instances of kind- 
 ness, I considered it my duty, as an artist, to 
 apprise Sir Thomas Lawrence of its approaching 
 exposition ; and, for that proper attention, I had 
 the honour of receiving his warmest thanks. How- 
 ever, on the day of sale, the president had nearly 
 lost it, as the lot was actually about to be knocked 
 down for the paltry sum of 10s. 6d. just as the 
 rescuing bidder entered the room ; which enabled 
 him, after a slight contest of biddings, to place the 
 treasure on that very day by Sir Thomas's fireside 
 in Russell Square. 
 
 Last year, 1 in the ever- memorable sale of the 
 Leicester Gallery of Pictures, consisting entirely of 
 the productions of British artists, a comparatively 
 diminutive chair of French character was con- 
 spicuously advertised as the throne -chair of Sir 
 Joshua Reynolds. Sir Thomas Lawrence, as soon 
 as possible, personally acquainted Mr. Christie with 
 the absurd mistake, who, upon coming to the lot, 
 with his usual manly fairness, acknowledged the 
 error to the whole company, informing them that 
 the real unostentatious chair was in the possession 
 of the President of the Royal Academy. 
 
 Some time before Dr. Fryer's death I requested 
 
 1 That is, in 1827. Ed. 
 
 26 
 
402 NOLLE KENS AND HLS TIMES 
 
 him to give me a specimen of Barry's handwriting 
 to insert in Boswell's ' Life of Dr. Johnson,' which 
 my wife has for several years been engaged in 
 illustrating ; when he most liberally gave me that 
 artist's first sketch of the letter which he addressed 
 to Lord and Lady Inchiquin upon their honouring 
 him with the presentation of the above-mentioned 
 chair. And as many of my readers may not be in 
 possession of Dr. Fryer's ' Life of Barry,' where 
 the perfect letter is inserted, I here give a copy of 
 the first confused draught which now adorns my 
 wife's book : 
 
 ' Mr. Barry presents his respectful compliments to Lord and Lady 
 Inchiquin, with every acknowledgment and thanks for their in- 
 estimable favour conferred on him this morning, in the gift of Sir 
 Joshua's chair. 
 
 ' Alas ! this chair, that has had such a glorious career of fortune, 
 instrumental as it has been in giving the most advantageous stability 
 to the otherwise fleeting, perishable graces of a Lady Sarah Bunbury, 
 or a Waldegrave, or in perpetuating the negligent, honest exterior of 
 the authors of the " Rambler," the " Traveller," and of almost every- 
 one whom the public admiration gave a currency for abilities, beauty, 
 rank, or fashion : the very chair that is immortalized in Mrs. Siddons' 
 tragic muse, where it will have as much celebrity as the chair of 
 Pindar, which for so many ages was shown in the Porch at Olympia. 
 
 'This chair, then, of Sir Joshua Reynolds may rest, very well 
 satisfied with the reputation it has gained ; and although its present 
 possessor may not be enabled to grace it with any new ornament, yet 
 it can surely count upon finding a most affectionate, reverential con- 
 servator, whilst God shall permit it to remain under his care. 5 
 'Jan. 30, 1794. 
 1 No. 36, Castle-street, Oxford-market.' 
 
 The next record which I shall insert concerning 
 Mr. Nollekens is a list of his principal perform- 
 ances, which I have arranged alphabetically, in 
 order that the reader may readily find the bust, 
 statue, or monument of any particular individual : 
 
BUSTS 
 
 403 
 
 BUSTS. 
 
 A. 
 Aberdeen, Lord 
 Ackland, Miss 
 Adam, Mr. 
 
 Alban's, Duchess of St. 
 Andover, Lady 
 ^Anson, 1 Hon. Thomas 
 Argyle, Duchess of 
 Arkwright, Mr. 
 Arkwright, Mrs. 
 Asaph, Bishop of 
 Aubyn, Sir John St. 
 Aubyn, Lady St. 
 Auckland, Miss 
 Aufrere, Mr. 
 Aylesford, Lady 
 
 Baillie, Doctor 
 
 Banks, Sir Joseph 
 
 Bathurst, 2 Lord Chancellor 
 
 Beaufort, Duchess of 
 ^Bedford, Duke of 
 
 Bedford, John Duke of 
 
 Bedford, Duchess of 
 
 Barrington, Lord 
 
 Berwick, Lady 
 *Besborough, Lord 
 
 Bolton, Duke of 
 
 Borrows, Master 
 *Bradell, Mrs. 
 
 Brook, Lord 
 
 Brownlow, Lord 
 
 Brownlow, Lady 
 
 Brownlow, Lady 
 *Burney, Admiral 
 *Burney, M. D. 
 *Burney, Rev. Doctor 
 
 C. 
 ^Canning, Hon. George 
 
 Carlisle, Lord 
 
 Carr, Mr. John 
 
 Castlereagh, Lord 
 
 Cavendish, Lord Frederic 
 ^Cavendish, Lord George 
 
 Chambers, Doctor 
 
 Charles II., King of Eng- 
 land 
 
 Chatham, Lord 
 *Charlemont, Lord 
 
 Charlemont, 3 Lady 
 
 Clair, Miss Le 
 
 Coke, Mr. 
 
 Colpoys, Admiral 
 
 Coote, Sir Eyre 
 
 1 Mr. Deville, of the Strand, having purchased of Mr. Goblet, Mr. 
 Nollekens' principal assistant, the moulds of those busts marked with 
 a (*), the reader will be gratified by knowing that casts of them may 
 now be had at a very reasonable rate. Smith. 
 
 2 This bust is in the Registrar's room of the Six Clerks' Office, 
 Chancery Lane. In the committee- room, under the same roof, is a 
 whole-length portrait of the same Chancellor in his robes, by Dance, 
 which has been severely cut at the lower part of the picture. Smith. 
 
 3 I have heard Northcote declare that, in his opinion, the bust of 
 Lady Charlemont is the finest of Nollekens' productions, and, indeed, 
 that he considered it equal to any antique. Smith. 
 
404 
 
 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 Cornelli, Mrs. 
 Coutts, Mr. 
 *Cowper, Lord 
 Cromwell, Oliver 
 Cumberland, His R. H. 
 William Duke of 
 
 D. 
 
 Darnley, Lord 
 *Daruley, Lady 
 Dashwood, Mr. Bateman 
 Denison, Mr. 
 Devonshire, Duke of 
 Dillon, Lord 
 Donegal, Marquis 
 Dorset, Duke of 
 Drummond, Provost 1 
 Dunning, Mr. 
 Dysart, Lady 
 
 E. 
 Ellis, Mrs. 
 *Erskine, Lord 
 
 Farr, Hon. Edward 
 Finch, Mr. Thomas 
 *Fitzpatrick, General 
 Fitzwilliam, Lord 
 Foley, Mr. 
 Folkes, Lady 
 
 Fox, Hon. Charles James 2 
 Fraine, Mr. 
 Fraser, Simon 
 
 G. 
 *George III., King of Eng- 
 land 
 ^Gainsborough, Lord 
 
 Garrick, Mr. David 
 
 Gower, Lord 
 
 Gower, Lord G. L. 
 *Gower, Lady 
 
 Gordon, Duke of 3 
 
 Goldsmith, Oliver 
 
 Grafton, Duke of 
 
 1 George Drummond, so often Provost of Edinburgh, ranks very 
 high among the benefactors to the Royal Infirmary in that city. In 
 memory of its obligations, a bust of him has been placed in the hall. 
 It was done by Nollekens, and bears the highly complimentary in- 
 scription of 'George Drummond, to whom his country is indebted 
 for all the benefits which it derives from the Royal Infirmary ' 
 ('History of Edinburgh).' Smith. 
 
 2 It is said that the Empress Catherine of Russia placed Fox's bust 
 by Nollekens between those of Cicero and Demosthenes. She had 
 no fewer than twelve busts of Mr. Fox in marble, all executed by 
 Nollekens, to give as presents. Smith. 
 
 ' To the memory of Charles James Fox,' written by Mr. Roscoe, 
 under a bust of him by Nollekens, in a temple erected to his memory 
 upon the banks of the Clyde by Mr. Todd, of Glasgow. 
 
 ' Champion of Freedom ! whose exalted mind 
 Grasp'd at the general good of human kind ! 
 Patriot ! whose view could stretch from pole to pole, 
 And, whilst he bless'd his country, loved the whole !' Smith. 
 
 3 This bust of the Duke of Gordon is considered one of Nollekens' 
 finest works. Smith. 
 
BUSTS 
 
 405 
 
 *Granby, Marquis 
 
 Levi, Moses 
 
 *Grenville, Lord 
 
 Lee, Mr. 
 
 *Greville, Hon. Thomas 
 
 "^Liverpool, Lord 
 
 Grey, Lord 
 
 Liverpool, Lady 
 
 Gregory, Mr. 
 
 Lucan, the Daughter of 
 
 *Gwydir, Lord 
 
 Lord 
 
 H. 
 
 M. 
 
 Hamilton, Mr. 
 
 Madox, Mr. 
 
 Harringdon, Mr. 
 
 Malone, Anthony 
 
 Hawkesbury, Lady 
 
 *Mansfield, Lord 
 
 Heartley, Lady Louisa 
 
 Mansolini, Anna, at Bo- 
 
 ^Helen's, Lord St. 
 
 logna 
 
 Hillesbury, Lord 
 
 Manners, Lady 
 
 Holford, Mr. Robert 
 
 Mathias, Mr. 
 
 ^Holland, Lord 
 
 Marchant, Master 
 
 Howard, the Hon. Mrs.; 
 
 Maud, Mr. 
 
 Howard, Mrs. 
 
 Maud, Mrs. 
 
 J. 
 
 Meath, Bishop 
 
 *Milton, Lord 
 
 Johnson, Bishop 
 
 Mitford, Master 
 
 *Johnson, Doctor 1 
 
 Moira, Lord 
 
 Jersey, Lord 
 
 Monck, Lady Elizabeth 
 
 K. 
 
 Montagu, Mr. 
 
 
 *Mulgrave, Lord 
 
 Keate, George 
 
 
 Keith, Lord 
 
 N. 
 
 Key, Rev. Mr. 
 
 Neal, General 
 
 Keebel, Mr. 
 
 Newcastle, Duke of 
 
 King, Admiral 
 
 Newborough, Lord 
 
 Kirby, Mrs. 
 
 Newborough, Lady 
 
 L. 
 
 North, Hon. Dudley 
 
 Lake, Lord 
 
 0. 
 
 Lauderdale, Lord 
 
 Orme, Robert 
 
 1 At Nollekens 5 sale, Mr. Chantrey requested me to bid for the 
 first cast of this head of Dr. Johnson. Upon my asking him how far 
 he would go for it, he observed, ' You buy it, for I shall think it cheap 
 at any price ; as it is, in my opinion, by far the finest head our friend 
 ever produced ' ; and, indeed, it seemed to be considered so by another 
 bidder, who made me pay ten guineas for it almost four times the 
 money Nollekens charged for the common casts. Smith. 
 
406 
 
 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 P. 
 
 Paoli, General 
 
 Parr, Count 
 
 Peranesi, J. B. 
 
 Pelham, Hon. Mr. 
 
 Pelham, Hon. Mrs. 
 *Perceval, Hon. Spencer 1 
 
 Percy, Lord 
 
 Petre, Lord 
 *Pitt, Hon. William 2 
 
 Popham, Mr. 
 
 Pringle, Sir John 
 
 R. 
 
 Richards, Mr. 
 Richards, Mr. John 
 Roberts, Doctor 
 Robinson, Sir William 
 Robinson, Sir Sept. 
 Rockingham, Marquis of 
 Ross, Lord 
 Rutland, Duke of 
 Rutland, Duchess of 
 Rutland, Duchess of, Isa- 
 bella 
 Russia, Empress of 
 
 S. 
 Salesbury, Lady 
 Saville, Sir George 
 Simmonds, Daughter of 
 
 Mr. 
 Somerset, Duke of 
 
 Spencer, Lord 
 
 Spencer, Lord Robert 
 
 Stanhope, Sir William 
 
 Stafford, Marquis of 
 *Sterne, Rev. Laurence 
 
 Stonor, Mr. 
 
 Stroonlof, General 
 
 Stuart, Lord Henry 
 
 Stuart, Sir John 
 
 Sykes, Sir Christopher 
 T. 
 *Taylor, Mr. 
 
 Townley, Mr. Charles 
 
 Townley, Mr. John 
 
 Trevor, Bishop 
 
 Tulmarsh, Mr. 
 
 W. 
 
 *Wales, His Royal High- 
 ness Prince of 
 *Wales, Her Royal High- 
 ness Princess of 
 
 Waddell, Mr. William 
 "^Warwick, Lord 
 
 Welch, Mr. Saunders 
 
 Welch, Mrs., wife to the 
 above 
 
 Wellesley, Marquis 
 *Wellesley, Hon. Pole 
 *Wellesley, Hon. William 
 * Wellington, Duke of 
 
 West, B. P. R. A. 
 *Whitbread, Samuel 
 
 1 In a letter by Nollekens, dated November 27, 1812, with which 
 I have lately been favoured by the Rev. Henry Crowe, of Bath, to 
 whom it is addressed, it is stated that his price for a bust in marble 
 was then one hundred and fifty guineas ; to which he adds that he 
 had at that time orders for fifteen busts of Mr. Perceval at that price. 
 Smith. 
 
 2 The busts of Pitt and Fox, according to the theatrical phrase, 
 were called ' Nollekens' stock pieces,' for they were always in requisi- 
 tion. Smith. 
 
MONUMENTS 
 
 Woodburne, Colonel 
 *Wyndham, Hon. William 
 
 Woodhouse, Mr. 
 
 *Wynne, Sir W. W. 
 William III., King 
 England 
 
 of 
 
 407 
 
 Y. 
 
 *York, His Royal Highness 
 
 Duke of 
 York, Her Royal High- 
 ness Duchess of 
 
 MONUMENTS EXECUTED 
 
 A. 
 Ashburton, Lord 
 
 B. 
 
 Bathurst, Lord 
 Barwell, Henry 
 Bateman, Lord 
 Baring, John 
 Besborough, Lord 
 Boston, Lord 
 Boscawen, Mr. 
 Birch, Taylor 
 Bod well, Mr. 
 Booth, Sir Charles 
 Boyn, Lady 
 Boyde, Lady 
 Buck worth, Mr. 
 
 Coke, Mrs. 1 
 Champion, Major 
 Chase, Mr. 
 Cunliffe, Sir Foster 
 
 BY MR. NOLLEKENS. 
 D. 
 
 Darby, Mrs. 
 Dashwood, Sir John 
 Davenport 
 Dorset, Duke of 
 Dysart, Lord 
 
 E. 
 Earl, Mrs. 
 Elwes, Mr. 
 
 F. 
 Finch, Rev. Dr. 
 Fuller, John 
 
 G. 
 
 Goldsmith, Oliver 
 
 H. 
 Howard, Mrs. 2 
 Hill, Joseph 
 
 I. 
 
 Irwin, Lady 
 Irby, Mrs. 
 
 1 This monument cost about 2,000. The whole of the figures 
 were carved by Goblet. Smith. 
 
 2 It has been roundly asserted that Nollekens took the composition 
 of this monument from that erected to the Cardinal Richelieu. Be 
 this as it may, the figure of the child alone is equal to anything 
 ancient or modern, and the praise bestowed on that Nollekens is un- 
 equivocally entitled to. The figure of Religion in this monument was 
 carved by Goblet. Smith. 
 
408 
 
 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 J. 
 
 R. 
 
 Jervoise, Mrs. 
 
 Robinson, Sir Sept. 
 
 K. 
 
 S. 
 
 Keate, George 
 
 Kent, H.E.H. Duke of 
 
 Salesbury, Sir Thomas 
 Sand, Lord 
 
 L. 
 
 Leigh, Lord 
 Long, Charles 1 
 Lovaine, Lord 
 
 M. 
 
 Mackenzie, Stewart 
 
 Standish, Mr. 
 
 Sayer, Admiral 
 Southell, Edward 
 Seymour, Lady Anne 
 Spencer, Earl 
 Shipley, Mrs. 2 
 Stuart, Sir Charles 
 
 Manners, Lord Robert 
 Mitford, Mrs. 
 Mordant, Sir J. 
 Mortman, Mr. 
 Mynell 
 
 T. 
 Talbot, Lady 
 Trevers, Lord 
 Tyrell, Sir J. 
 
 N. 
 
 W. 
 
 Noel, General 
 
 P. 
 
 Pinfold, Sir Thomas 
 
 Willis, Dr. Robert 
 Wyndham, William 
 Wyndham, Family 
 Worcester, Bishop 
 
 Pringle, Sir John 
 
 Wynn, Lady 
 
 1 This monument, consisting of a boy with an inverted torch, was 
 erected at Saxmundham : for a notice and drawing of which I have 
 been obliged to the Rev. John Mitford, editor of an edition of Gray's 
 Works, published in 1814. Smith. 
 
 2 The wife of the late Bishop of St. Asaph, who was a brother of 
 Shipley, the drawing-master of the Strand, where Nollekens went to 
 draw of an evening when a boy. Smith. 
 
 William Shipley was the founder of the famous St. Martin's Lane 
 Academy, the best drawing-school in the middle of the eighteenth 
 century. He was born in 1714, and survived until 1803. Ed. 
 
STATUES 409 
 
 STATUES EXECUTED BY MR. NOLLEKENS IN MARBLE. 
 
 Denison, Robert . . . 
 
 } 
 
 Denison, William 
 
 Diana Marquis of Rockingham. 
 
 Juno Ditto. 
 
 Mercury Lord Yarborough. 
 
 Pitt, Hon. William Senate House, Cambridge. 
 
 Rockingham, Marquis of . . . Earl Fitzwilliam. 
 
 Venus 1 Marquis of Rockingham. 
 
 Venus chiding Cupid 2 .... Lord Yarborough. 
 
 Venus Mr. Chamberlayne, Hampshire. 
 
 Venus anointing her hair . . Bought at Mr. Nollekens' 
 
 auction by Mrs. Palmer. 
 
 Among the few chimney-pieces executed by Mr. 
 Nollekens, one of a superior kind was sent to 
 Edinburgh for Mr. Scott. 
 
 Mr. Nollekens also executed five masks upon 
 keystones for Somerset House, after drawings 
 made purposely by Mr. Cipriani. He likewise 
 executed orders of a very inferior kind, by putting 
 them out to be done by the masons of the New 
 Road ; the profits of which were not inconsiderable, 
 as he never gave them more than a quarter of what 
 he charged himself. 
 
 1 A noble lord, when viewing Mr. Nollekens' statue of Venus per- 
 fuming her hair, asked the artist from whence he took the idea of 
 thus employing her. Surely it must have been from Homer ? Nollekens 
 made no reply ; in fact, he knew very little of Homer. Smith. 
 
 2 Nollekens was so provoked by an accident which happened to one 
 of his figures during the exhibition at Somerset House that he 
 threatened F. M. NewtoD, the secretary, who made light of the affair, 
 should this Venus be in any way injured, to break every bone in his 
 skin. Smith. 
 
410 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 As the manner in which every man of talent 
 advances in his art is interesting to the inquiring 
 mind, I have extracted from a set of the Royal 
 Academy Exhibition Catalogues the subjects pro- 
 duced by Mr. Nollekens as they stand chrono- 
 logically : 
 
 No. 1771. 
 
 139. A bust of a nobleman in marble. 
 
 140. A model of Bacchus. 
 
 141. A ditto, Pastus and Arria, a group. 
 
 1772. 
 
 168. A bust of a gentleman, in marble. 
 
 169. A statue of Bacchus, ditto. 1 
 
 177a 
 
 211. A statue in marble, representing Venus taking off her sandal. 
 
 212. Cupid and Psyche, in basso-relievo. 
 
 213. Hope leaning on an urn. 
 
 214. Portrait of a young lady. 
 
 1774. 
 190. A bust of his Majesty, in marble. 
 
 1775. 
 
 208. A bust of a nobleman, in marble. 
 
 209. Venus chiding Cupid, a model. 
 
 210. A bust, ditto. 
 
 1776. 
 
 199. A statue of Juno, in marble. 
 
 200. A bust, ditto. 
 
 201. A bust, in marble. 
 
 202. A ditto. 
 
 1777. 
 
 249. A bust of a nobleman, in marble. 
 
 250. Ditto of a gentleman , ditto. 
 
 251. Ditto ditto ditto. 
 
 1 The original beautiful little model from which this statue was 
 carved is in the possession of my friend John Gawler Bridge, Esq. 
 Smith. 
 
MISCELLANEOUS WORKS 411 
 
 252. A bust of a gentleman, in marble. 
 
 253. Ditto of a lady, a model. 
 
 254. Ditto of a gentleman, ditto. 
 
 1778. 
 
 216. A marble group of Venus chiding Cupid. 
 
 217. A statue of Diana. 
 
 218. A model of two children, designed for a monument. 
 
 219. A bust of a gentleman. 
 
 1779. 
 
 217. A bust of a nobleman, in marble. 
 
 218. Ditto of a general. 
 
 219. A model of a monumental figure. 
 
 1782. 
 
 529. A monumental bas-relievo. 
 
 535. A figure of Adonis. 
 
 556. A Cupid sharpening his arrow. 
 
 1783. 
 464. Figure of Mercury, in marble. 
 
 1784. 
 
 497. Bust of a lady. 
 
 498. Bust of a nobleman. 
 520. Bust of a lady. 
 
 635. Busto of a gentleman. 
 
 1785. 
 1788. 
 
 597. A monumental figure. 
 605. A monumental figure. 
 647. Figure of Britannia. 
 
 1789. 
 605. Bust of a gentleman. 
 
 1790. 
 
 660. Lord Robert Manners expiring in the arms of Victory, in- 
 tended by the late Duke of Rutland for a monument to be 
 placed in the chapel at Bel voir Castle. 
 
 1791. 
 
 632. Bust of a gentleman. 
 
 633. Bust of a lady. 
 
412 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 1792. 
 498. A bust of a lady. 
 
 1793. 
 585. Bust of a lady. 
 652. Bust of a gentleman. 
 
 1799. 
 
 622. Bust of a lady of quality. 
 933. Bust of a nobleman. 
 940. Bust of a lady. 
 951. Bust of a nobleman. 
 961. Bust of a nobleman. 
 972. A Venus. 
 
 1800. 
 
 988. Bust of a gentleman. 
 
 989. Bust of a nobleman. 
 1031. Venus anointing her hair. 
 
 1082. A monumental group, to the memory of a lady who died in 
 child-bed, supported by Religion. 
 
 1801. 
 
 999. Portrait of Mr. John Townley, in the form of a Terminus. 
 
 1001. Bust of his Grace the Duke of Bedford. 
 
 1002. Bust of a young gentleman. 
 
 1007. A bust of Lady Hawkesbury. 
 
 1008. Bust of a young gentleman. 
 
 1009. Bust of Lord Petre. 
 
 1024. A sepulchral bas-relief to the memory of the late Duke of 
 Dorset. 
 
 1802. 
 
 1059. Bust of Dr. Burney, 
 
 1063. A design for a monument to the memory of a late celebrated 
 
 general, supported by Wisdom and Justice. 
 
 1064. A sketch : The Graces. 
 
 1065. Bust of the late Duke of Bedford. 
 
 1066. A sketch : Adam and Eve. 
 
 1067. A sketch of a monument for a naval officer expiring in the 
 
 arms of Victory. 
 
 1073. Bust of the Hon. C. J. Fox. 
 
 1074. A sketch : The Slaughter of the Innocents. 
 
MISCELLANEOUS WORKS 413 
 
 1803. 
 
 924. Pudicity : a sketch. 
 
 925. Bust of Mr. Stonor. 
 
 930. Lot and his two Daughters : a sketch. 
 
 931. Dsedal us and Icarus : a sketch. 
 
 932. The Judgment of Paris : a sketch. 
 1024. Bust of Lord Moira. 
 
 1804. 
 
 947. Portrait of the Hon. C. Grey. 
 
 948. Portrait of Miss C. Symmons. 
 
 949. Portrait of the Right Hon. General Fitzpatrick. 
 
 950. Portrait of the Earl of Lauderdale. 
 
 951. Portrait of Lord R. Spencer. 
 
 1805. 
 
 689. A sketch of a Hercules. 
 
 690. A sketch of a Faun playing. 
 
 693. A medallion of the late Miss Ackland, daughter of J. 
 
 Ackland, Esq. 
 
 694. A sketch of Laocoon and his Sons. 
 
 695. A bust of the Marquis of Stafford. 
 
 711. A design of a monument, intended for Westminster Abbey, 
 
 to the memory of two naval officers, 
 783. A bust of the late C. Townley, Esq. 
 789. A bust of T. W. Coke, Esq. 
 
 1808. 
 
 969. Bust of the Hon. Mr. Pelham. 
 
 970. Bust of the Earl of Darnley. 
 
 971. Bust of the Marquis Wellesley. 
 
 972. Bust of his Grace the Duke of Bedford. 
 
 978. Bust of his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales. 
 
 979. Bust of Sir W. W. Wynne, Bart. 
 
 1810. 
 
 753. His Grace the Duke of Rutland. 
 
 766. Bust of the Right Hon. Lord Brownlow. 
 
 874. Bust of the Hon. Mrs. Pelham. 
 
 875. Bust of the Right Hon. Lord Grenville. 
 
 876. Bust of her Grace the Duchess of Rutland. 
 
 885. Bust of the Countess of Charlemont. 
 
 886. Bust of the Right Hon. Lord Mulgrave. 
 
414 NOLLEKENS AND HIS TIMES 
 
 1811. 
 926. A model of a monument of the late Mrs. Coke, of Holkham. 
 938. Bust of the Right Hon. Lord Castlereagh. 
 
 940. Bust of the Right Hon. Earl of Chatham. 
 
 941. Bust of the Right Hon. Lord Grenville Leveson Gower. 
 
 948. Bust of the Right Hon. W. Wellesley Pole. 
 
 949. Bust of the Right Hon. Lord Roos. 
 
 951. Bust of the Right Hon. George Canning. 
 
 952. Bust of Admiral Sir J. Colpoys, K.B. 
 
 1812. 
 
 933. Bust of the Countess of Charlemont. 1 
 
 934. Bust of Benjamin West, Esq., President of the Royal 
 
 Academy. 
 
 936. Bust of the Right Hon. Lord Brooke. 
 
 937. Bust of Lord Gwydir. 
 
 1813. 
 
 919. Bust of the Right Hon. Spencer Perceval. 
 
 925. Bust of the Right Hon. Lord G. Cavendish. 
 
 926. Bust of H.R.H. the Duke of York. 
 
 935. Bust of the Marquis of Wellington. 
 
 1814. 
 
 781. Bust of S. Whitbread, Esq., M.P. 
 
 789. Bust of the Earl of Charlemont. 
 
 792. Bust of his Grace the Duke of Grafton. 
 
 800. Bust of Earl Cowper. 
 
 801. Bust of the Earl of Aberdeen. 
 
 1815. 
 
 888. Bust of Lord Erskine. 
 
 889. Bust of the Rev. C. Burney, D.D. 
 895. Bust of the Earl of Egremont. 
 
 1816. 
 932. Bust of Lord St. Helen's. 
 
 950. Bust of T. Coutts, Esq. 
 
 951. Bust of the Earl of Liverpool. 
 
 961. Bust of his Grace the Duke of Newcastle. 
 
 1 In order to account for the recurrence of the same bust, it may be 
 proper to remark that Mr. Nollekens in many instances exhibited the 
 model one year, and a carving from it in marble in the next. Smith. 
 
THE END 415 
 
 Such, and so numerous, are the works of Nolle- 
 kens, who will long be remembered, not only as 
 having held a conspicuous rank among contem- 
 porary artists in an era abounding in men of genius, 
 but as having, by assiduity rarely surpassed, and 
 parsimony seldom equalled, amassed a princely 
 fortune ; from which, however, his avaricious spirit 
 forbade him to derive any comfort or dignity, 
 excepting the poor consolation of being surrounded, 
 in his dotage, by parasites who administered to his 
 unintellectual enjoyments, and flattered even his 
 infirmities, in the hope of sharing the vast property 
 which Death would force him to resign. 
 
[417] 
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 Since the greater part of this volume was in print, Miss 
 Edith M. Beechey, of High House, Newbury, the grand- 
 daughter of Sir William Beechey, R.A., who was one of 
 Nollekens' executors, has obliged me with the sight of a 
 dossier of French and Flemish documents, only lately 
 discovered among the family papers, which throw some 
 small further light on the genealogy of the sculptor. 
 
 It appears from them that, on learning of the death of 
 Nollekens in London, an attorney of Louvain, M. Joseph 
 Emmanuel Bals, discovered certain collateral heirs of the 
 sculptor's great-grandfather, and supposing Nollekens to 
 have died intestate, proceeded to bring their names under 
 the notice of the Court of Chancery. This attempt, of 
 course, was promptly shown to be absurd, and the corre- 
 spondence has little value, except as a further proof of the 
 extreme accuracy of J. T. Smith. It adds, however, a 
 few family facts. It carries the genealogy of the sculptor 
 one generation further back, and reveals a great-grand- 
 father, Henry Nollekens, who on July 15, 1660, married 
 Marie Anne de Baghedette de Rinckt, at Antwerp. This 
 Henry had two sons, the younger being the sculptor's 
 grandfather ; the elder, Henry Nollekens, born at Antwerp 
 on February 14, 1663, married Barbe van den Casteelen, 
 and became the father of Cathrine and Paul Nollekens ; 
 of these the former, marrying Francois Meulemans, became 
 the mother of Jean Baptiste Meulemans, while Paul became 
 
 27 
 
418 APPENDIX 
 
 the father of Jean Baptiste and Francis Nollekens. These 
 were the three pretendents whom Bals brought forward, 
 and they were all elderly men at the time, Jean Baptiste 
 Nollekens being over eighty. They all belonged to the 
 labouring class. 
 
 The claim of these cousins falling through, Bals made 
 another attempt one fails to see why to disturb the will 
 on the ground that the sculptor's father, Old Nollekens, 
 who had called himself Joseph Francis, and had been 
 buried under that name, when he died in Paddington, on 
 January 21, 1748, was an illegitimate son. At first it 
 seemed as though this must be true, for no child of that 
 name had been baptized at Antwerp between 1690 and 
 1730. It was found, however, that he had adopted the 
 name Joseph. The father of the sculptor, then, legitimate 
 son of Jean Baptiste Nollekens, and born at Antwerp on 
 June 10, 1702, was Corneille Francois Nollekens, and it 
 was under that name that he married Marie Anne Le Sacq, 
 the mother of the sculptor. 
 
 One small additional fact is brought to light by this 
 correspondence, namely, that Old Nollekens studied under 
 Giovanni Paolo Panini, the Italian painter. The name of 
 his mother, the grandmother of the sculptor, was Anne 
 Angeline Le Roux, who was buried at Antwerp on Sep- 
 tember 30, 1747. 
 
 E. G. 
 
t 419 ] 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Abbott, Francis Lemuel, 96 
 
 Academy, Royal, first sculptors, 2, 8, 
 9 ; first gold medal, 9 ; keepers, 6, 8, 
 78, 151 ; first secretary, 40 ; Nolle- 
 kens elected, 40 ; earliest professor 
 of painting, 69 
 
 'Achilles Arming,' Banks, 15 
 
 Adam, Robert, the architect, 17, 285 
 
 Albani, Cardinal, 225, 399 
 
 Alefounder, John, 341 
 
 Alexander, William, 24 
 
 Antique forgeries, 107, 108 
 
 Antique sculpture, Nollekens' treat- 
 ment, 37, 222, 396 
 
 Architects in eighteenth century, 3 
 
 Argyle Street, 252 
 
 Arminger, William, 76, 121 
 
 Arnald, George, A.R.A., 37, 326 
 
 Arnald, Sebastian Wyndham, 37 
 
 Artificial Stone Factory, Lambeth, 9, 
 10 
 
 Ashbourne, Derbyshire, 15 
 
 Bacon, John, R.A., 1 ; career, 9 ; 
 character and success, 10, 11 ; skill, 
 11, 12 ; and George III., 90, 91 
 
 Baddeley, the actor, 194 
 
 Bailey, Edward Hodges, R. A., 246, 304 
 
 Baillie, Captain, 141 
 
 Bailye, Rev. Canon H., 135 
 
 Baker, John, 51 
 
 Balme, Rev. Edward, 365, 368, 373 
 
 Banks, Sir Joseph, 228 
 
 Banks, Thomas, R. A., birth and educa- 
 tion, 13 ; career, 14, 15 ; ' Every 
 Man in his Way,' 72 
 
 Bannister, Charles, 120, 121, 148 
 
 Bannister, John, 194 
 
 Baptiste, flower-painter, 62 
 
 Barber, Francis, 135 
 
 Barnard, John, 299 
 
 Barry, James, R.A., 34, 35, 66 f 105, 
 161, 253, 327, 401 
 
 Bartolozzi, Francesco, R.A., 22 
 
 Bat Pidgeon, of the Strand, 304, 305 
 
 Bathurst, Lord Chancellor, 73 
 
 Beaumont, Sir George, 137 
 
 Beechey, Sir William, R.A., 328, 339, 
 345, 363, 366, 373, 375, 417 
 
 Beefsteak Club, 125 
 
 Bell, Rev. Dr., 164 
 
 Bensley, the printer, 134 
 1 Bentham, William, 56 
 J Bessborough, Earl of, 38, 118, 119 
 
 Betew, Paton, 173-177, 178 
 J Bethlehem Hospital, 20, 213 
 
 Bird, Francis, 1, 167, 182, 389 
 i Birdcage Walk, 229 
 I Bishopsgate Street, 213 
 
 Bolt Court (Dr. Johnson's), 134 
 
 Bonomi, Joseph, A.R.A., 63, 256, 276, 
 289, 322, 337, 338 
 I Bonomi, Family of, bequest, 366 
 I Booth, bookseller, 55 
 I Boothby monument, Banks', 15 
 j Borsi, Dr. , of Rome, 250 
 ; Boswell, James, 128, 130, 204, 216 
 I Bourgeois, Sir Francis, R.A., 326, 
 
 339 
 ! Bow Churchyard, 9 
 I Bow manufactory, 176 
 I British Museum, print-keepers, 24, 25, 
 83 ; Townley marbles, 36, 230 ; Lord 
 Exeter's drawings, 223 
 
 Britton, Tom, 193 
 
 Bromley, herald-painter, 49 
 
 Brompton, Richard, 310 
 
 Brooking, Charles, 175 
 
 Browne, George H., 303 
 
 Brownlow. See Exeter, Earl of 
 
 Burney, Dr. Charles, 61, 116, 151 
 
 Busby's monument, 167 
 
420 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Byrne, William, 279 
 Byrne, Mrs., 367 
 
 Canova, A, 18, 250 
 
 Capizzoldi, 5, 48 
 
 Capon, William, 217 
 
 Carlini, Agostino, R.A., 2, 5, 6, 8, 
 
 151 
 Carlisle, Sir Anthony, 365, 370 
 Carlisle Street, Soho, 8 
 Carter, Mrs. Elizabeth, 77, 84, 85, 120, 
 
 186-89, 287 
 Carter, John, 164 
 Carter, Thomas, 18, 168 
 Catherine of Russia, 14, 404 
 Catling, John, 163 
 Catton, Charles, R.A., 50 
 Cave, E., 205 
 
 Cecil, biographer of Bacon, 1 
 Ceracchi, Giuseppe, 17 
 Chambers, Sir William, R.A., 104 
 Chambers, Lady, 48, 188 
 Chantry, Sir Francis, R.A., 16, 182, 
 233, 240, 245, 265, 276, 335, 386, 
 405 
 Charlemont, Lady, bust, 403 
 Charles Street, Westminster, 51 
 Charlotte, Queen, 83, 84, 155, 296, 
 323 
 
 Chatelaine, J. B. C, 174 
 
 Chatham's monument, Bacon, 12, 16 
 
 Cheer e, Sir Henry, leaden figures, 85, 
 249 
 
 Chelsea china designers, 177 
 
 Cheney, Bartholomew, 168 
 
 Chesterfield's letters, 80 
 
 Chippendale, Thomas, 196 
 
 Christie, the auctioneer, 65, 234, 285, 
 368, 375, 395, 401 
 
 Church Court, Covent Garden, 52 
 
 Cibber, Caius Gabriel, 214 
 
 Cipriani, Giovanni Baptista, R.A., 5, 
 48, 182, 183, 184, 231, 316, 409 
 
 Clarkson, Nathaniel, 50 
 
 Coates, "Francis, R.A., death, 82 
 
 Cockpit, The Royal, 235 
 
 Coleman, Miss, 201 
 
 Coleraine, Lord, 218, 219 
 
 Cook, F., 149 
 
 Cooke, 'Memory,' 53 
 
 Cooper, Richard, senior, 279 
 
 Coote, Sir Eyre, monument, Banks, 
 14, 15 ; bust, Nollekens, 140 
 
 Cornwall's monument, Cheney, 168 
 
 Cosway, Richard, R.A., 134, 306, 
 367 
 
 Cosway, Mrs. Maria, 134, 295 
 
 Coutts, Mrs. (afterwards Duchess of 
 St. Albans), 386, 387 
 
 Coutts, the banker, 385, 387 
 
 Covent Garden : Lord Russell's house. 
 54 ; Robins' rooms, 58 ; debased 
 period, 132, 133 ; Low's Hotel, 187 ; 
 flowers first sold, 187 ; famous resi- 
 dents, 197-99 
 
 Cranbourne Alley, 130 
 
 Cranmer, Charles, model, 83 
 
 Craven buildings, Drury Lane, 78 
 
 Crispe, of Bow Churchyard, 9 
 
 Crone, Robert, 239, 299 
 
 Crowther, of Bow, 176 
 
 Cunningham, Allan, 1, 3, 16 
 
 Dallaway, Rev. James, 170 
 
 Dalton, Richard, 88, 239 
 
 Darner, Hon. Anne, 17 
 
 Dance -Holland, Sir Nathaniel, R.A., 
 
 49, 151, 152, 187, 249, 336 
 Darley, Matthew, 318 
 Dawkins, James, 388 
 Dean Street, 62 
 Deare, John, 17, 18, 181, 221, 222, 
 
 361, 388 
 Delvaux, Laurent, 2, 3 
 Delvaux, junior, 121 
 Desenfans, Noel, 325, 326 
 Devay, Abbe, 228 
 
 Deville, of the Strand, 333, 394, 403 
 Devins, Miss S., 367 
 Devonshire Place, 56 
 Dibdin, Charles, 214 
 Dixon, John, 149, 151 
 Dodd, ' Little,' 148 
 Dogs, Anecdotes of, 153, 154, 156, 160 
 Douce, Francis, 366, 368, 375 
 Dress (ladies') in 1771, 42, 43 
 Drummond, George, 404 
 Dulwich Gallery, 326 
 Dundas, Sir Thomas, 285 
 Dutch tables, 241 
 
 Eckstein, John, 168 
 
 Edmonton, 23 
 
 Egremont's, Earl, Petworth gallery, 
 
 246, 327, 398 
 Eldon, Lord, 56 
 Elgin marbles, 230, 242, 256, 322 ; 
 
 House of Commons committee, 257-6 
 Elgin's, Lord, house, 256 
 Evans, of Pall Mall, 65, 396 
 Exeter, Earl of, 223 
 
 Fagan's drawings, 222 
 'Falling Giant,' Banks, 15 
 
INDEX 
 
 421 
 
 Fashions in 1771, 43, 44 ; account by 
 
 Miss Moser, 79 
 Ferg, Francis Paul, 177 
 Fiamingo's models, 388 
 Fielding, Henry, 41, 42 ; anecdotes of, 
 
 126-28; Man of the Hill in 'Tom 
 
 Jones,' 177, 391 
 Fielding, Sir John, 125, 132 
 Fifing boys, 287 
 Flaxman, John, R.A., 1, 10, 17, 20, 
 
 112, 148, 168, 223, 246, 257, 267, 
 
 301, 313, 350, 359, 361, 385, 399; 
 
 evidence on Elgin marbles, 259-64 
 Fleet prisoners' money-box, 65 
 Foley Place, 48 
 Ford, Richard, 138 
 Fountain's school, 56 
 Fox, Charles James, 308, 393, 404, 406 
 French Gardens, 93 
 Frogmore, 83 
 Fryer, Dr., 400, 401, 402 
 Fuseli, Henry, R.A., 80, 102, 161, 
 
 216, 217, 321, 385 
 
 Gahagan, George, 367 
 
 Gahagan, Sebastian, 121, 289, 332, 367, 
 
 380, 381 
 Gainsborough, 81, 170, 172,173, 175, 309 
 Garrard, George, 324 
 Garrick. David, 22, 33. 49, 81, 148, 
 
 149, 151, 152, 154, 188, 196, 236, 
 
 283, 293 
 Garrick, Mrs., 151, 155 ; her dog 
 
 Biddy, 154 
 Garter, insignia of the Order, 152 
 Gatehouse, Westminster, 169 
 Gaugain, T., 394 
 Gee, Mrs. Elizabeth, 371 
 George III., birthplace, 170 ; and Nol- 
 
 lekens, 88-91 ; Mr. Townley and, 
 
 229 ; Rebecca and, 316 
 Gerrard, Mrs., 367 
 Gerrard, Miss, 337 
 Gerrard Street, 23, 76 
 Gibbons, Grinling, 54 
 Gibson, John, R.A., 322 
 Gifford, Mr., 205 
 Gilliland, Thomas, 285 
 Goblet, Alexander, 290, 303, 356, 364, 
 
 365, 367, 368, 371, 372, 407 
 Goblet, Henry, 37?, 373 
 Goblet, Louisa, 367 
 Go-cart for infants, 211-13 
 Golden Square, 83 
 Goldsmith, Oliver ('the Professor of 
 
 History'), 81, 284; monument in 
 
 Westminster Abbey, 76 
 
 Goupy, Joseph, 45 
 
 Gower Street, 55, 56 
 
 Graham, Mrs., 147 
 
 Grand Junction Canal fetes, 319, 320 
 
 Grassini, the singer, 252 
 
 Gray, Thomas, 136 
 
 Great Portland Street, 21, 47, 48 
 
 Great Queen Street, 196, 197 
 
 Great Russell Street, Covent Garden, 
 
 399 
 Green, a sculptor, 121 
 Green, Mrs., 366 
 Gribelin, 184 
 Grignon, Charles, 188 
 Grignon, Thomas, 50, 78, 125, 176, 299 
 Grosvenor Square, 59, 197 
 
 Haid, Johann, 150 
 Halifax monument, Bacon, 12 
 Hamilton, Colonel, 172, 173 
 Hamilton, Gavin, 81, 172, 222, 316, 323 
 Hampstead, Upper Flask Tavern, 86 ; 
 
 salubrity and residences, 111-13 
 Hampton, 155 
 Handel, G. F., 56 
 
 Hanger, Colonel George. See Coleraine 
 Hawkins, Sir John, 129, 130, 135, 201 ; 
 
 1 History of Music,' 193 
 Hawkins, Mrs., 368 
 Hawkins, Miss, 110, 116, 129; her 
 
 anecdotes, 205-208 
 Hayman, Frank, R.A., 99, 103, 236 
 Henning, John, 268, 387, 388 
 Hill, Aaron, 300 
 Hilton, William, R.A., 151 
 Hinchliffe, Right Rev. Dr., 23 
 Hoadly, Dr. John, 236 
 Hoare, Mr. Prince, 250, 300 
 Hoare, William, R.A., 206 
 Hogarth, William, 45, 60, 66, 68, 148, 
 
 178, 179, 235, 236, 247, 278, 392 
 Holmes, Admiral, monument by Wil- 
 ton, 6 
 Holt, Mrs. Mary, 353, 358, 367, 373 
 Hone, Horace, 143 
 Hone, Nathaniel, R.A.,enamellist, 140, 
 
 141, 176; exhibition of 'Conjuror,' 
 
 142-47 ; death, 147 
 Hone's ' Every-day Book,' 197 
 Hoole, John, 196 
 Horn, Count, 84 
 
 Hornick, Mrs., and daughters, 81 
 Howard, Mrs., monument, Nollekens, 
 
 407 
 Hoyle, E., ' Whist,' 44 
 Hudson, Thomas, 58, 196, 318 
 Hussey, Mrs., 127, 128 
 
422 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Hutton, Dr., 205 
 
 Ireland, Samuel, 191 
 
 Ixion on the Wheel,' Procter, 18 
 
 Jackson, John, R.A., 336 
 
 James Street, Covent Garden, 188 
 
 Jenkins, antique dealer, 37, 222, 299 
 
 Jennings, Noel, 254, 255 
 
 Jernigan, Henry, 299 
 
 John Street, St. Pancras, 294 
 
 Johnson, Dr. Samuel, 22, 42, 71, 76, 
 82, 92, 104, 105, 118, 121, 128, 130, 
 134-36, 203, 207, 236, 251, 288, 291, 
 292 ; bust, 390, 405 ; Bolt Court 
 house, 134 
 
 Joseph, G. F., A.R.A., 91, 286 
 
 Joseph, Samuel, 91 
 
 Julien, Pierre, 5 
 
 Kauffman, Mrs. Angelica, R.A., 77, 
 81, 83, 100, 141, 142-46, 310, 316, 
 388 ; first marriage, 84, 249 ; death, 
 250 
 
 Kean, Edmund, 341 
 
 Kean, Moses, 340, 341 
 
 Keate, George, 153 
 
 Kerrick, Rev. Thomas, 290, 366, 371, 
 374, 381 
 
 King, Colonel Richard, 61 
 
 Kitchiner, Dr. William, 192, 193 
 
 Kneller, Sir Godfrey, 197, 391, 392 
 
 Knight, Richard Payne, 52, 83 
 
 Knowles, John, 385 
 
 Lake, Sir James, 23, 176 
 Lambert, George, 125 
 Langford, the auctioneer, 58 
 Lawrence, Sir Thomas, R.A. , 85, 162, 
 
 185, 257, 265, 350, 360, 390, 400, 401 
 Le Beck, the cook, 127 
 Lee, Mary, C. Whiteford's widow, 365, 
 
 366 
 Leicester Fields, 60, 133, 182 
 Leicester Gallery of Pictures, 401 
 Lely, Sir Peter, 197 
 Lincoln's Inn Fields, 197 
 Litchfield Street, 131 
 Liverpool Street, 213 
 Lloyd, Mrs. Mary, R.A., 77-83, 102, 
 
 120, 280, 289, 291, 292, 293, 308 ; will, 
 
 294, 295 
 Locke, William, of Norbury, 37 
 London street-cries, 192-96 
 Lonsdale, James, 384 
 Loutherbourg, Philip James de, R.A., 
 
 112, 120 
 
 Lowe, T., singer, 56, 120 
 Lupton, George, 367, 381 
 
 McArdell, James, 211 
 Macpherson, Sir John, 286 
 Mansfield, Lord, 118, 207, 243, 344 
 Martin, Rev. Mr., 104 
 Marylebone Church, 41 ; Fields, 133, 
 
 218, 255 ; Gardens, 56, 133 
 May Day dances, 115 
 Mendoza, 373 
 Mengs, Raffaelle, 278 
 Meyer, Jeremiah, R.A., 86 
 Michael Angelo, 360 
 Monamy, Peter, 49 
 Monmouth House, Soho Square, 53 
 Montague, Lady Mary Wortley, 198 
 Monuments by Nollekens, catalogue of, 
 
 407, 408 
 Morland, George, 49 
 Mortimer, John Hamilton, A.R.A., 52 
 Mortimer Street, 40, 93, 365 
 Moser, George Michael, R.A., 77, 78, 
 
 151, 176 
 Moser, Joseph, 294 
 Moser, Mary, R.A. See Lloyd, Mrs. 
 
 Mary 
 Mosman, Nicholas, 222-24 
 
 Newborough, Lady, 331 
 
 Newman Street, 320 
 
 New Road masons, 409 
 
 Newspapers, Old, 66-8 
 
 Newton, Francis M., R.A., 40, 145, 
 409 
 
 Newton, Sir Isaac, 60 
 
 Nichols, Mr. Deputy, 205 
 
 Nollekens, Henry, 417 
 
 Nollekens, Joseph, R.A., 15-17, 24 ; 
 pedigree, 29, 30, 417, 418; early 
 masters, 31 ; Society of Arts pre- 
 miums, 32, 33 ; in Rome, 33-9 ; 
 patronized by Garrick, 33 ; by 
 Sterne, 34 ; wins Papal medal, ib. ; 
 Barry's friendship, 34, 35 ; antique 
 dealings, 35, 36, 37, 38 ; smuggling 
 in busts, 39 ; Mortimer Street 
 house, 40; elected R.A., ib. ; royal 
 patronage, ib., 88, 90 ; marries 
 Mary Welch, 41-4 ; J. T. Smith in 
 studio, 57 ; mother, 66 ; eccentricities, 
 72-5, 220, 221 ; person, 95, 96, 150, 
 218 ; dinner-parties, 98-103 ; anti- 
 pathy to Romney, 102 ; domestic 
 jars, 110, 117, 224-26 ; father-in- 
 law's legacy, 130 ; conversations, 
 163-171, 174-77 ; on colossal sculp- 
 
INDEX 
 
 423 
 
 ture, 180 ; at Academy Club and 
 Harrogate, 199-201 ; a Venus model, 
 201, 202 ; coarseness, 227 ; merits as a 
 sculptor, 241, 363, 389, 393 ; love of 
 Italian Opera, 252 ; orthography, 
 253 ; on Elgin marbles, 257-59 ; in. 
 contrast with Flaxman, 267 ; house 
 robbed, 274, 275; studio and gallery, 
 276 ; bereavement, 289 ; Mary 
 Lloyd's executor, 294 ; habits, 296, 
 297 ; fits of generosity, 304, 335, 344 ; 
 residence, 307-11 ; faith, 311, 312; art 
 patronage, 326, 327 ; manners, 328, 
 331 ; insensibility to natural objects, 
 350 ; meanness, 39, 353-58 ; draw- 
 ings, 358-61 ; skill in modelling, 
 363 ; death, 365 ; will, 365-73 ; 
 funeral, 374-77 ; profit from Pitt 
 commissions, 383 ; sale of effects, 
 395 ; charges, 406 ; list of works, 
 403-14 
 Nollekens, Old, [Joseph] Corneille 
 
 Francois, 29, 80, 418 
 Nollekens, Mrs. Joseph, 41, 42, 69-71, 
 94, 95, 101, 106, 113, 129, 189, 190, 
 204, 252, 280, 288, 289, 295, 311, 
 386. 
 Norfolk, Duke of, town-house, 170 
 Norman, the dog doctor, 156, 157 
 Northcote, James, R.A., 252, 285, 300 
 
 ' Old Corks,' 195 
 Old newspapers, 66-8 
 Opie, John, R.A., 215 
 Oram, William. 112 
 Ottley, William Young, 162 
 Oxford Market, 298 
 
 Paddington, 14, 49, 288, 365, 376 
 
 Palmer, F. R., 368 
 
 Pantheon, Oxford Street, 215, 216 
 
 Paoli, General, 120 
 
 Paradice, Mrs., 291, 292 
 
 Park Lane, Piccadilly, 256 
 
 Park Street, Westminster, 227, 229-35 
 
 Pasquin, Anthony, 318 
 
 Peck, Jasper, 368, 375 
 
 Pelham. See Yarb rough 
 
 Pennant, Thomas, 55 
 
 Penny, Edward, R.A., 69 
 
 Perceval, Hon. Spencer, 406 
 
 Peter Pindar. See Wolcot 
 
 Pether, Abraham, 329 
 
 Petworth, 246, 398 
 
 Phillips, Lieutenant-Colonel, 61, 155 
 
 Pigalle, Jean Baptiste, 47 
 
 Pisano, Vittorio, 270 
 
 Pitt, Right Hon. W., statue, Cam- 
 bridge, 380-82, 406 
 
 Playbill for Marshalsea benefit, 393 
 
 Pocock's, SirG., monument, Bacon, 12 
 
 Pond, Arthur, 318 
 
 Pope, Alexander, 330 
 
 Poplar, Ea9t India Company's Chapel, 
 88 
 
 Procter, Thomas, 18, 19, 361 
 
 Pulteney monument, Wilton, 6 
 
 Queen Anne Street East (Foley Place), 
 
 48 
 'Queen's Head and Artichoke,' 218, 
 
 254 
 Queen's Street, Lincoln's Inn, 49. See 
 
 Great Queen's Street 
 Queen's Square, 40 
 Quellinus, Arthur, 4 
 Quin, James, 148, 149 
 
 Radcliffe, Mrs. Anne, 157-160 
 
 Rann, Jack ('Sixteen-string Jack'), 47 
 
 Rathbone Place, 59, 147 
 
 Rat's Castle, Dyot Street, 321 
 
 Rawle, the antiquary, 31 
 
 Read, Nicholas, sculptor, 6 
 
 Rebecca, Biagio, A.R.A., 316, 317, 
 318 
 
 Renton, John, 333 
 
 Reynolds, Sir Joshua, P.R.A., 18, 58, 
 59, 76, 81, 104, 141, 147, 228, 252, 
 301, 329, 330, 400, 402 
 
 Rich, Mr., 125, 209 
 
 Richardson, George, 122 
 
 Richardson, Jonathan, junior, 40, 390 
 
 Richardson, Samuel, 205 
 
 Rigaud, John Francis, R.A., 184, 185 
 
 Rijsbrack, John Michael, 2, 359 
 
 Robertson, Andrew, 334 
 
 Robertson, Charles, 367 
 
 Robins, the auctioneer, 58 
 
 Robinson, Perdita, 23 
 
 Rodney's Captains, monument by Nol- 
 lekens, 16, 383 
 
 Romney, George, 112 
 
 Rossi, John C. F., R.A., 19, 200, 246, 
 336, 397, 398, 399 
 
 Roubiliac, L. F., 1, 2, 7, 21, 22, 31, 
 174, 214, 240, 389, 396 
 
 Rouw, Peter, 373, 375 
 
 Royal Academy Club, 199 
 
 Rubens, P. P., 182, 183-85, 211 
 
 Rudeman, Dr., 367 
 
 Rumsey, Mrs. Elizabeth, 367 
 
 Runciman, Alexander, 82 
 
 Russell Court, Co vent Garden, 319 
 
424 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Russell Square, 401 
 
 Russell Street, Drury Lane, 50, 125 
 
 St. George's Church, Bloomsbury, 129 
 
 St. James's Square, 170 
 
 St. Martin's Churchyard, 22 
 
 St. Martin's Lane Academy, 13, 21, 
 
 408 ; Hone's pictures 147 
 St. Martin's Street, Leicester Square, 
 
 60 
 St. Paul's, 182, 244 
 
 St. Paul's, Covent Garden, 78, 198, 299 
 Salmon's Waxworks, 165 
 Sancho, Ignatius, 51, 53 
 Sandby, Paul, R.A., 138, 139, 175 
 Sandby, Thomas, R.A., 23 
 Sayer, James, 87 
 Scheemakers, Peter, 2, 22, 31, 64, 167, 
 
 389 
 Score, William, 59 
 Sculptor's disadvantages, 243, 244 
 Seward, William, 161 
 Shakespeare, 209 
 Sharp, William, 271, 293 
 Sheridan, Richard B., 196, 217 
 Sherwin, John Kaye, 23, 155, 205, 206 
 Shipley, William, drawing-school, 30, 
 
 408 
 Shuter, Ned, 194 
 Siddons, Mrs., 23, 382, 383 
 Signs by well-known artists, 49-51 
 Simon, Thomas, 181, 271 
 1 Sixteen-string Jack,' 47, 164 
 Smart, John, 308 
 Smirke, Robert, R.A., 49 
 Smith, Charles, 284 
 Smith, John Thomas, 1, 21-26, 36, 37, 
 
 99, 373 
 Smith, Nathaniel, 21, 22, 30, 32, 57, 
 
 121 
 Society of Arts, 9, 31, 296 
 Soane, Sir John, R.A., 350 
 Soho Square, 62 
 Soilleux, John, 367 
 Somerset House or Place, 6, 78, 409 
 ' Southwark Fair,' Hogarth, 236 
 Spang, M. H., 360 
 Spilsbury, John, 319 
 Spinning-wheel Alley, 213 
 Staines, Sir William, 315 
 State-coach of George III., 48, 49 
 Statues by Nollekens, catalogue of, 409 
 Steam stage-coach, 320, 221 
 Steevens, George, 86-88, 136 
 Sterne, Laurence, 34, 39, 51 
 Stewart, an American artist, 336 
 Stothard, Thomas, R.A., 165 
 
 Stow, James, 172 
 Strand, 304 
 
 Strange, Sir Robert, 239 
 Street-cries of London, 192-96 
 Strike of shoemakers in 1766, 131 
 Stuart, James ('Athenian'), 36, 45, 60 
 Sutherland, Colonel, 55 
 Symmons, Rev. Dr. Charles, 367 
 
 Tabley, Lord de, The first, 186 
 
 Tavistock Row, 187 
 
 Taylor, John, portrait-painter, 98-100, 
 
 i01, 289, 331, 362, 367 
 Teuscher, Marcus, 40 
 Theed, William, R.A., 19, 20 
 Thomson, Henry, R.A., 151 
 Thornhaugh Street, 296 
 Thornhill, Sir James, 177, 197 
 Thrale, Mrs., 118 
 Thurlow, bust by Rossi, 19 
 Tinney, John, 279 
 Titchfield Street, 122, 201, 215 
 Townley, Charles, 22, 36, 38, 121, 171, 
 
 201, 227-29 ; house and gallery, 
 
 229-35, 258, 259. 313 
 Townley, John, 235, 32 1 
 Townsend's monument in Abbey, 168 
 ' Traveller Twiss,' 209 
 Tresham, Henry, R.A., 216, 321 
 Tull, Nathaniel, 175 
 Turner, J. M. W., R.A., 304 
 Twigg, the fruiterer, 186 
 
 Uxbridge Canal excursions, 319 
 
 Vandevelde, William, 187 
 
 Varley, John, 325 
 
 Vauxhall Gardens, 100 
 
 Vere Street, 2 
 
 Verninck, Maria, 370 
 
 Vertue, George, 166 
 
 Vestris, Madame, 116 
 
 Vine Street, 2, 31, 64 
 
 Vivares, Thomas, 174, 175 
 
 ' Vortigern,' representation of, 191, 192 
 
 Walford, Mrs., 367 
 
 Walpole, Horace, 50 
 
 Walton, Parry, 184 
 
 Ward, Dr., 51 
 
 Warwick Street, Golden Square, 5 
 
 Watteau, Antoine, 29 
 
 Wedding-dress of a lady in 1771, 42, 43 
 
 Welch, Anne, 41, 129, 130, 189, 253, 
 
 280, 292 ; death and epitaph, 251 
 Welch, Saunders, 41, 48, 102, 103, 123, 
 
 124-127, 128, 129, 30-34, 136-38, 311 
 
INDEX 
 
 425 
 
 Wellington, Duke of, 374, 376 
 
 Wesley, John, 221 
 
 Wesley, Samuel, the organist, 116, 
 210 221 
 
 West,' Benjamin, P.K.A., 19, 257, 295, 
 316, 317, 320, 367 
 
 Westmacott, Richard, R.A., 20, 241, 
 246, 264, 276 
 
 Westminster Abbey, 163-69, 313-15, 
 389 
 
 Westminster Bridge, Old, 169 
 
 Westminster, dress of the High Con- 
 stable, 124, 125 
 
 Whitbread, Samuel, 248 
 
 White, a fabricator of antiques, 108 
 
 White's Chocolate House, 97 
 
 Whitefield, Rev. George, 133 ; taber- 
 nacle, 11 
 
 Whiteford, Caleb, 102, 281-84, 310, 
 365, 366 
 
 Whitehall ceiling, Rubens, 182-85 
 
 Wigs, treatment by artists, 390, 391 ; 
 theft of, 392, 393 
 
 Wilkes, John, 125 
 
 Wilkie, Sir David, R.A., 390 
 
 Wilkinson, Robert, 206 
 
 Williams, John, critic, 318 
 
 Williams, sculptor, 397 
 
 Wilson, Richard, RA., 51, 136, 137, 
 138, 139, 186, 197, 278, 310 
 
 Wilton, Joseph, R.A., 2, 3-8, 22, 48, 
 
 104 
 Winckelmann's 'Reflections,' 4 
 Wivell, Abraham, 344 
 Wolcot, Dr. ('Peter Pindar'), 137, 
 
 187, 214, 215, 319 
 Wolfe, General, monument by Wilton, 
 
 5, 7, 174 
 Wollaston, Rev. Mr., 367 
 Woodburn, Samuel, 162 
 Woodcock, John, 367 
 Woodward, Dr., 61 
 Wodlett, William, 279 
 Worlidge, Thomas, 196 
 Wren, Sir Christopher, 184 
 Wright, coach-maker, 50 
 Wyatt, Richard. 23 
 Wycherley, William, 391, 393 
 Wynn, Sir Watkin W., 49, 151, 152 
 
 Yarborough, Lord, 38, 71, 99, 395," 396 ; 
 his daughter, 73 
 
 Zincke, Christian Friedrich, 187 
 Zotfany, Johann, R.A., 81, 86, 149, 
 
 228, 278, 309 
 Zotfany, Mrs. Mary, 366, 378 
 Zucchi, Antonio, R.A., 84, 316. See 
 
 Kauffman 
 
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