INTRODUCTION.
We have no great collection of Portrait Busts in England. The British Museum contains 20 antique portrait busts; those of Homer, Pericles, Diogenes, and Julius Cæsar have a good claim to authenticity. There are, also, in the Museum, some valuable antique Portrait Statues. The English portraits, in Sculpture, in the Crystal Palace have been collected, as time permitted, from old busts and statues, and from the studios of living and deceased sculptors. Attached to the lives of our English worthies given in the following pages, will be found, wherever practicable, the names of the respective artists.
With the English Contingent, the muster of our illustrious army for the present closes. Five hundred busts and statues constitute the vigorous germ of a collection which it is hoped eventually to render by its extent worthy of the magnificent structure in which it is housed, and of the subject which it is intended to vivify, viz.:—The history of the great men of all nations who have, by thought and deed, advanced human civilization, and stamped their impress, whether for good or evil, upon the world through which they have passed.
(The English Portraits commence immediately behind the Farnese Hercules at the north-west angle of the Great Transept and Nave.)
ARTISTS AND MUSICIANS.
388. Inigo Jones. Architect.
[Born in London, 1572. Died 1651. Aged 79.]
Inigo Jones served his apprenticeship to a joiner: but his talent for landscape-drawing obtained for him the favour of the Earl of Pembroke, in whose company he visited France, Flanders, Germany, and Italy. At Venice he was inspired with a taste for architecture, and following the art with ardour and success obtained the office of first architect to the King of Denmark. The king took Jones to England in 1606, and introduced him to James I. His employment at the English Court as scenic decorator is well known. The attachment of Inigo Jones, who was a Roman Catholic, to the cause of Charles I., caused him great loss and suffering during the civil wars, and he died, shortly after the sacrifice of his master, worn out with grief and trouble. The style of architecture introduced into England by this famous master, was founded on the Venetian school, and more particularly on that branch of it exercised by Andrea Palladio. It is distinguished by excellent proportions, and by a masculine and noble character, which, whilst it does not condescend to borrow too much from ornament, yet makes just use of its charm. The Banquetting House at Whitehall, the only completed portion of the magnificent palace designed by Jones, is his chef-d’œuvre, and bears comparison with any work of the Italian style in Europe. He practised the best and purest style of Italian architecture ever known in England.
389. Sir Christopher Wren. Architect and Mathematician.
[Born in Wiltshire, 1632. Died at Hampton Court, 1723. Aged 91.]
We think of Wren as the first of British architects; but he was something more. As a mathematician, he was in his day second only to Newton; and in general scientific knowledge, he had no superior. Educated at Westminster. At thirteen, had already invented a new astronomical instrument. At fourteen, entered Wadham College, Oxford;—and, young as he was, formed one of the original members of a club established for philosophical discussions and experiments; a club out of which sprang the Royal Society. When twenty-five, Professor of Astronomy at Gresham College, London. At the Restoration, Savilian Professor of Astronomy at Oxford; his skill as an architect having been meanwhile shown in the Sheldon Theatre at Oxford. The popular fame of Wren rests on St. Paul’s Cathedral, which he began to rebuild nine years after the great fire, taking thirty-five years to complete his magnificent labour. Before, and during this lengthened period, he built other edifices, and applied his vigorous and subtle mind to the most abstruse branches of science. His mechanical discoveries are numerous. He invented an instrument for ascertaining the amount of rain falling in each year; he rendered the taking of astronomical observations more easy and exact; he was the originator of the attempt to introduce fluids into the veins of animals; and there is every reason to believe that to him, and not to Prince Rupert, we owe the art of mezzotint engraving. Amongst his architectural buildings are Trinity College Library, Cambridge, the new part of Hampton Court Palace, Chelsea Hospital, a wing of Greenwich Hospital, and the palace at Winchester. St. Paul’s, probably suggested by St. Peter’s at Rome, although not of equal dimensions with its supposed prototype, is a far nobler work of art, excelling it in plan, in composition externally, in variety of effect internally, and in scientific construction. Bow Church, Cheapside, St. Stephen’s, Walbrook, and most of the other churches, in the City of London—where he chiefly worked—with their exquisite and varied steeples, are the work of Wren, whose ecclesiastical edifices greatly surpass in beauty all his other buildings. In his time the Greek style had not been made known, and though with the Roman acquainted only through books, and the Renaissance buildings of Paris, his work in it is critically correct. His native genius is stamped upon his buildings, and he is ever to be admired, if not always imitated. Supplanted by Court intrigue in 1718, he spent his old age as quietly as intrigue would let him at Hampton Court, absorbed, and finding compensation, in his scientific studies, and visiting London occasionally to see how the repairs at Westminster Abbey were going on.
390. David Garrick. Player and Dramatist.
[Born at Hereford, 1716. Died at Hampton, 1779. Aged 63.]
The pupil of Dr. Johnson, with whom he went to London from Lichfield, in search of a profession. He adopted the stage, and after playing for some time at Ipswich under the assumed name of Lyddel, made his first appearance in London, in 1741, in the theatre of Goodman’s-fields. He was twenty-five years old—the part was Richard III.—the success triumphant. According to tradition, the sole imperfect reporter to posterity of the triumphs achieved on the scenic boards, Garrick was a rare master of his art; equally impressive in tragedy and comedy. Sir Joshua Reynolds painted him smiling at Comedy, looking sadly at Tragedy,—and claimed by both. He raised immeasurably the character of the actor’s profession in this country, and purified the stage. His acting was founded upon a delicate and thorough perception of Truth and Nature. To him is due the great merit of restoring Shakspeare to the boards, and of annihilating the false taste created by the dramatists of a later period. His last appearance on the stage was in 1776. He was small in stature, but well built; his eyes were dark, and full of fire. He had marvellous power of transfusing the workings of the soul into the face, and all the passions were at his bidding. He was very vain, and not without other weaknesses; but else a generous and worthy man. His private life reflected additional lustre on his genius, and as citizen and artist he earned the honourable grave which he found in Westminster Abbey. Garrick was also a writer for the stage. His comedies and farces are lively and agreeable, and some of his epigrams have wit and fancy. Johnson and he maintained their friendship to the last. The great lexicographer affected contempt for the profession of his pupil; but he hugged “Davy,” nevertheless, in the folds of his capacious heart, and was justly proud of his achievements and renown.
391. Henry Fuseli or Fuessli. Painter.
[Born 1745. Died 1825. Aged 80.]
An artist of undoubted genius and originality, but very eccentric both as painter and as man. Born at Zurich, where he cultivated learning with great ardour, especially the literature of England; at the same time took delight in copying the works of Michael Angelo and Raffaelle. Came to England in 1763, and showed his paintings to Sir Joshua Reynolds, who praised the work and recommended to the young aspirant the usual pilgrimage to Rome. Obeying the command he remained for eight years in the city of Art, and then came back to England where he worked his way to honour. In 1790, he was Royal Academician; in 1799, Professor of Painting; in 1804, Keeper of the Royal Academy. Fuseli was a good scholar, endowed with a potent and wild imagination, and an excellent anatomist; but he suffered his imagination to lead him into extravagance, and his anatomy protruded itself in his pictures. He painted, in 1798, a series of forty-seven pictures illustrative of Milton. They reveal grand conception and daring power, but tremble occasionally on the verge of the grotesque. No later artist has ventured to follow him in his flights, but his profound interpretations of the true spirit of poetry may be contemplated by all men with advantage.
[From the marble, by E. H. Baily, R.A. Executed for Sir Thomas Lawrence, 1824.]
392. James Northcote. Painter.
[Born at Plymouth, 1746. Died 1831. Aged 85.]
The son of a watchmaker, and intended for his father’s business; but, at an early age, he transferred his affections from the parental shop to the more genial region of art. In 1771, he attracted the notice of Reynolds, under whose eye he studied for a time, and in 1777, set out for Italy. In 1783, first exhibited at the Royal Academy. In 1787, elected Royal Academician. The subjects of Northcote are chiefly historical, but he is not remarkable for power, or originality of conception. Although he displayed considerable skill in composition and colouring, as well as some vigour of expression, his ability in art was by no means equal to his enthusiasm and his application. Northcote was also a writer on art, and the author of a Life of Reynolds. At the age of eighty-four he published a Life of Titian. He was penurious and eccentric, and not a favourite with his brother Academicians.
[By E. H. Baily, R.A., 1821.]
392A. James Northcote. Painter.
[Modelled from the life, and executed in marble, by Joseph Bonomi. Presented by J. S. Scoles, Esq.]
393. John Raphael Smith. Engraver.
[Born about 1750. Died in 1811.]
A distinguished draughtsman in crayons, and a mezzotint engraver. The friend of Chantrey the sculptor, when that admired artist was serving his time at Sheffield, in the shop of Mr. Ramsay, carver and gilder. It is related that the sight of Mr. Smith’s drawings, together with his conversation, first rendered Chantrey impatient of his servitude in the carver’s workshop, and induced him to purchase his release, which he obtained two years before his indentures had expired, for the sum of fifty pounds. This bust of John Raphael Smith, by Chantrey, was the first that brought the young sculptor into note. It was exhibited in the Royal Academy when Chantrey was 24 years old, and, during the disposition of the works for exhibition, attracted the attention of Nollekens, who exclaimed, “This is a splendid work. Let the man be known. Remove one of my busts and put this in its place.”
[The subject of this bust was afflicted with deafness, and the expression of the infirmity is cleverly given in the face.]
394. John Flaxman. Sculptor.
[Born at York, 1755. Died 1826. Aged 71.]
Beyond all compare the greatest artist England has produced, and in all respects one of her worthiest sons. His life constitutes one of the landmarks set up in a nation for the guidance of the ambitious, and the encouragement of the desponding. His father was a moulder of plaster casts: in whose humble shop the boy received his earliest inspiration. Feeble, and crippled, and thrown upon himself, he read such books as he could obtain, and made drawings from the classic models that surrounded him. This was his education, for there was no money at home to purchase a better. At ten, the self-taught boy could read Latin, and had picked up much varied information. A shop filled with plaster casts will be visited occasionally by men of taste and feeling. One such man saw, and was struck by the genius of John Flaxman. His name was Mathew, and by him the child, who could read Latin, was made acquainted with the beauties of the Iliad and Odyssey. At fifteen, admitted a student of the Royal Academy, and competed successfully for the silver medal. What was to be done next?—the father without means, and the youth old enough to earn his own bread! The young sculptor entered the service of the Messrs. Wedgwood, and devoted some dozen years of his life to the improvement of their porcelain manufacture. His genius stamped upon the products of the potteries a character of beauty and classic elegance rivalling the productions of any country. The forms were admired in his own day; they are now more highly esteemed than ever. At the age of twenty-seven Flaxman married Anne Denman. His marriage, his friends declared, would ruin him as an artist. Friends are apt to look upon the shadowy side of one’s happiness. In this case they were mistaken. Anne Denman had the finest qualities of heart; she possessed also exquisite taste, and a cultivated mind. She appreciated the genius of her husband, and was an enthusiast for his works. She accompanied him to Italy, where he nourished his talents by the study of the masterpieces of antiquity. At Rome he executed his illustrations of Homer, Hesiod, Æschylus, and Dante. For the first-named he received fifteen shillings for each drawing, and was satisfied. He was elected member of the Academies of Florence and Carrara, and after seven years’ absence came back to England. His reputation bad preceded him, and he soon justified his fame by his noble monument of Lord Mansfield, in Westminster Abbey. The works of Flaxman, whether of the pencil or the chisel, may take rank with the productions of any age or country. They are distinguished by simplicity, dignity, sublimity, grace, and true poetic feeling. If any modern sculptor may take rank with the ancients, Flaxman’s place will be second to none. His productions are scattered over the globe; we meet them in India, the two Americas, and in Italy, as well as nearer home. He is better appreciated everywhere than in England. But we are beginning to know his value. His worth as a man was equal to his greatness as an artist. All who knew him speak of his modesty, his gentleness, his single-heartedness. After the death of his wife in 1820, whom he tenderly loved, he lived in comparative retirement.
[By E. H. Baily, R.A. From the marble executed for Sir Thomas Lawrence, 1824.]
395. Thomas Stothard. Painter.
[Born 1755. Died 1834. Aged 79.]
Apprenticed at an early age to a pattern draughtsman. Subsequently, and for many years, he furnished the illustrations to “The Novelist’s Magazine.” Became the reigning prince of illustrators, and for fifty years continued to adorn the pages, not only of contemporary literature, but of our poets from Chaucer all down to Rogers. His most famous productions are the illustrations to “The Pilgrim’s Progress,” to “Robinson Crusoe,” to “Rogers’s Italy,” the Procession of the Flitch of Bacon, the Pilgrimage to Canterbury, and the Wellington Shield. He made many designs for sculptors; amongst others, that for Chantrey’s “Sleeping Children,” in Lichfield cathedral. At one time or another he attempted every branch of the limner’s art. He had great powers of imagination, moulded and directed by unflagging industry and the severest application. His genius is peculiarly English. He studied deeply the works of Raffaelle and Durer, but was no slavish imitator of these, or of any other men. The grace that clings to his works is essentially the expression of his own mind. Let us see his productions how, or when, or where we may, his spirit is detected at once, and we say, “This is Stothard.” His female figures, not always strictly correct in drawing, are exquisitely graceful. His life passed evenly in the performance of labour in which he delighted. He was a good man, and his works are his annals.
[From the marble executed by E. H. Baily, R.A., in. 1825, for Sir Thomas Lawrence.]
396. Sir Thomas Lawrence. Painter.
[Born at Bristol, 1769. Died 1830. Aged 61.]
Of humble origin; the father of Sir Thomas being the landlord of the “Black Bear,” at Devizes, in Wiltshire. At an early age evinced great delight in drawing, and a talent for the recitation of poetry. Received his first instruction at Bath from Mr. Hoare, the painter in crayons; and when thirteen years old, gained from the Society of Arts the great silver palette and five guineas, for a copy, in crayons, of the “Transfiguration.” When eighteen, he exhibited seven female portraits at Somerset House. In 1791, chosen Associate of the Royal Academy. In 1815, knighted; and in 1820, upon the death of West, elected President of the Royal Academy. The first portrait painter of his time, and in other respects an accomplished man. His numerous works are representations of the most notable and wealthiest people of his day, by whom he was courted, honoured, and richly rewarded. His colouring was clear and brilliant, and his design most graceful; but vigour and truthfulness of character are not always remarked in his productions. Lawrence had little or no education,—he was removed from school when only eight years old,—but he must have picked up much on his road. One of our great actors has acknowledged his large debt of gratitude to Lawrence for instruction, advice, and intellectual training.
[By E. H. Baily, R.A. Taken the year after Sir Thomas Lawrence’s death.]
397. Charles Kemble. Player.
[Born at Brecknock, 1775. Still living.]
The living chief of a family remarkable for dramatic genius. Since the time of Garrick, until very recently, the English stage has not been without its Kemble, as one of its brightest ornaments. Mrs. Siddons and John Kemble, were the sister and brother of Charles. As the representative of Falconbridge, Mercutio, Benedick, Cassio, and similar characters, Charles Kemble has been without an equal in our time. He first appeared at Sheffield, as Orlando, in “As You Like it,” in 1792. His first appearance in London was at Drury Lane Theatre (1794), in the character of Malcolm, in “Macbeth.” He retired from the stage in 1836, but subsequently returned to the boards for a short time, in 1840, in order to play a few of his best parts before her present Majesty. He played for the last time, April 10, 1840, in the character of Hamlet.
[By Dantan, 1842.]
398. Francis Chantrey. Sculptor.
[Born at Norton, near Sheffield, 1781. Died in London, 1841. Aged 60.]
The first portrait sculptor of his day, but not equally famous for works of imagination, the very few compositions of this kind that proceeded from his chisel having been suggested to him by other more poetic minds. Chantrey did not command astonishment, but compelled admiration by the simplicity, beauty, and truth, that were stamped on all his productions. His portraits are faithful, characteristic, and most artistic representations; idealizing the individual; and in this branch of his art he undoubtedly outstripped all rivals. His success was very great. He began life as a carver’s apprentice, and was a journeyman carver in London, where he helped with his own hand to furnish the dining-room of Mr. Rogers, the poet—a room in which many times, in after life, he sat, one of the most welcome and sociable of the guests there assembled. Wealth and honour came to him earned by labour and perseverance; and the fruits of his industry, amounting to £90,000, he bequeathed to the Royal Academy, for the purchase of “works of fine art of the highest merit in painting and sculpture,” such works “being executed within the shores of Great Britain.” The bequest was worthy of a man whose mind, whose works, whose habits, all bore the strong impress of the nation in which he was born, and of the people from whose heart he had sprung.
[By his pupil, F. W. Smith.]
398A. Francis Chantrey. Sculptor.
[Medallion by Heffernan.]
399. William Mulready. Painter.
[Born at Ennis, in Ireland, 1786. Still living.]
An honoured name in British art, and undoubtedly the head of the charming and peculiar style which he adopted, after having employed his genius on larger and more striking subjects. He has risen from obscurity by the force of genius, and given to the world works which will not readily perish. When fourteen years old admitted a student at the Royal Academy. Elected Royal Academician in 1816. His works reveal great delicacy and purity of mind. He is a consummate draughtsman and colourist; and in the refined beauty and finish of his pictures, is not surpassed by any of his contemporaries. Amongst his best works may be reckoned those in the Vernon Gallery and in the collection of Mr. Sheepshanks.
[By Christopher Moore. 1830.]
400. John Gibson. Sculptor.
[Born at Conway, N. Wales, 1790. Still living.]
Like Chantrey, apprenticed to a wood-carver, and, like him also, a cabinet-maker at this starting-point of his career. At the age of eighteen, he exhibited a wax model of “Time,” which procured him employment with a sculptor in Liverpool. Making the acquaintance of Lord Castlereagh, he was furnished by that nobleman with an introduction to Canova, and he accordingly set out for Rome in 1820. In Rome he still resides. He has wrought with his chisel for the noble and wealthy of his own country, and for the patrons of art in the land which he has chosen for his residence. Ludwig of Bavaria—the eager and munificent patron of art—has been amongst the serviceable friends of the gifted Welshman. For grace, beauty, and finished execution, John Gibson has never been surpassed in this country. Flaxman is the first of British artists; but as a sculptor, chisel in hand, Gibson is hardly second even to him.
[From the marble by Theed.]
400A. John Gibson. Sculptor.
[This bust is by Macdonald of Rome.]
401. William Charles Macready. Player.
[Born 1793. Still living.]
The son of William Macready, who was author, actor, and manager. Educated at Rugby. Made his first appearance on the stage as Romeo, at Birmingham, and his debût in London, in 1816, as Orestes, in the “Distressed Mother.” He continued in London a leading tragic actor, until he finally retired from the stage in 1851. Mr. Macready’s style of acting was of the romantic, rather than of the classic order; his “Virginius” a more masterly performance than “Hamlet,” his “Rob Roy” far more picturesque and striking than “Richard III.” In the representation of Shakspeare’s characters this popular actor was not, generally speaking, equal to the most celebrated of his contemporaries. His conceptions were not the conceptions formed by the intellectual portion of his auditory in the tranquillity of the study. It was, however, impossible to witness a more admirable execution of a wrong conception, than that which Mr. Macready was able to render. In private life he has done honour to his profession; and he has left no actor behind him. superior to himself.
[By W. Behnes.]
402. George Cruikshank. Caricaturist.
[Born in London, 1794. Still living.]
Like Tom Hood, George Cruikshank is something more than a humourist: or, to speak more correctly, like all great humourists, both he and Hood possess and reveal a deep perception and appreciation of the serious and the pathetic in Nature and Art. The labours of Cruikshank, which commenced at a very early period of his life, have been incessant and remarkable. His admirable illustrations have adorned books of all kinds, from the political “House that Jack built,” to the moral “Bottle.” At no period has he drawn a line which—however cutting may have been the satire employed—has not had for its object the benefit, as well as the amusement of his fellow-men. His latest works—attacking the most degrading of our national vices,—command our gratitude and respect. George is popular amongst his associates. His face is an index to his mind. There is nothing anomalous about him and his doings. His appearance, his illustrations, his speeches are all alike,—all picturesque, artistic, full of fun, feeling, geniality, and quaintness. His seriousness is grotesque, and his drollery is profound. He is the prince of living caricaturists, and one of the best of men.
[By W. Behnes.]
403. Robert Vernon. Patron of Art.
[Born 1774. Died in London, 1849. Aged 75.]
A benefactor to his country, who amassed a fortune in business, and expended his wealth in the formation of a gallery of pictures by British artists. Whilst living, he proved himself the benefactor of struggling genius. Dying, he bequeathed his works of art to the nation. His pictures are now collected at Marlborough House, where they form “The Vernon Gallery.”
[By W. Behnes.]
404. Fanny Butler. Actress.
[Still living.]
The daughter of Charles Kemble: and a popular actress of her day. She made her first appearance at Covent Garden Theatre, October 5, 1829, in the character of Juliet; and the sensation she then created rescued the theatre from the difficulties into which it had fallen. She married Mr. Butler, an American, and is the authoress of one or two well-written tragedies and other works.
[By Dantan, of Paris.]
405. Adelaide Sartoris. Vocalist.
[Still living.]
Second daughter of Charles Kemble: highly distinguished as a vocalist of the Italian school; she made her first appearance at Covent Garden Theatre, in Norma, Nov. 2, 1841, and sang and acted with great success at the same theatre in 1841 and 1842; but at the end of 1842 she retired from her profession into private life.
[By Dantan, of Paris.]
405*. Grace Darling. Lighthouse-keeper’s Daughter.
[Born at Bamborough, Northumberland, 1815. Died 1842. Aged 27.]
“One whose very name bespeaks
Favour divine, exalting human love;
Whom, since her birth on bleak Northumbria’s coast,
Known unto few, but prized as far as known,
A single act endears to high and low,
Through the whole land.”—Wordsworth.
Grace was the seventh child of a humble man who had charge of a lighthouse on one of the Farne Islands, off the coast of Northumberland. In the month of September, 1888, the “Forfarshire” steamer, of 300 tons, having on board sixty-three souls, during a terrible storm and dense fog, struck on a rock within a mile of the light-house. It was deep night. The ship snapped in half. Nearly all the creatures on board were swallowed by the chafing sea; and when morning broke, all that remained of the “Forfarshire” and its people, were nine of the passengers clinging to the windlass in the forepart of the vessel. It was a fearful morning, the fog still prevailing—the sea hardly less boisterous. Through the mist, however, the sad spectacle could be witnessed from the mainland, and a reward was offered to any boat’s crew that would venture to the rescue. It was offered in vain. But the despairing castaways were visible also from the lighthouse, where none was rich enough to offer reward of any kind, for the sole inhabitants were husband, wife, and daughter. It was the last watch before extinguishing the light at sunrise, and Grace was keeping it. She intreated her father to go to sea, and he consenting, the girl shared his boat, and the pair in dread and awe put off. Why speak of danger? Why detail the miracle? The risk was incalculable. The chances of recovery, nay, of self-preservation, were infinitesimal. But God strengthened the woman’s arm, as he had visited her heart, and, after painful labour, the rescue was effected. The delivered nine were taken to the lighthouse, and there kindly treated by the heroic girl and her aged parents. The spirit of the nation was stirred by the act. Money enough to provide for her as long as she should live, and gifts innumerable, were brought to her sea-girt rock; but she would not leave the light-house. Why should she? What place so fitting to hold this queen? She held her modest Court there until her early death. One who visited her speaks of her genuine simplicity, her quiet manner, her perfect goodness. In 1841, symptoms of consumption—the poisonous seed sown, it may be, on that drear morning—revealed themselves. In a few months she died, quietly, happily, religiously. Shortly before her death, she received a farewell visit from one of her own sex, who came in humble attire, to bid her God speed on her last illimitable journey. The good sister was the Duchess of Northumberland, and her coronet will shine the brighter for all time, because of that affectionate and womanly leave-taking. Joan of Arc has her monument. Let Grace of Northumbria have none. Her deed is registered—
“in the rolls of Heaven, where it will live
A theme for angels when they celebrate
The high-souled virtues which forgetful earth
Has witnessed.”
[Medallion by David Dunbar. Modelled from the marble bust in the possession of the Bishop of Durham. The original model was taken. from the life at the Longstone lighthouse, soon after the incident above recorded, and three years before the death of Grace.]
405.** William Darling. Lighthouse-Keeper.
[Born 1783. Still living.]
The father of Grace Darling. He succeeded his own father as keeper of the Coal-light on the Brownsman, the outermost of the Farne islands, on the coast of Northumberland. In 1826, he was transferred to the lighthouse on the Longstone, another of the same group of islands. Solitary, cut off for weeks from communication with the mainland, this humble man has passed his days in self-improvement. He is intelligent, quiet, and well-conducted. His children have received a good education for their position in life, the father being the sole instructor—and one daughter at least has not thrown discredit upon her bringing up.
[By David Dunbar.]
POETS AND DRAMATISTS.
406. Geoffrey Chaucer. The Father of English Poetry.
[Born in London, 1328. Died there, 1400. Aged 72.]
Notwithstanding the gulf of years, the poetical sire of Shakspeare. He to whom, in an age which we call dark, the full sun of poetry shone. He whose lineaments and gesture, transmitted by a contemporary pencil, are here before us. He whose eye, though downcast, reads the world around him, as it sounds the interior of Man: whose grave look of thought hides the soul of mirth. What phase of our various life seems strange to him? To this he is at home in experience; to that in imagination. With what Homeric power has he not described the tournament where kings fight in the lists at Athens! What mediæval romance in the loves of Palamon and Arcite! What an oriental colour and grace in the Squier’s half-told tale of the Tartar Cambuscan! You read tale after tale, and wonder which of the diversified strains was indeed the most native to the heart of the poet. One critic will tell you—the broad coarse mirth—Never believe it! See with what lingering and tender fondness he brings out the sorrowful story of the pure, innocent, and falsely accused Custance, abandoned to the wild, drifting sea. How patiently he tells the trials of the patient Griseldis—how sternly the self-doom of those two impious challengers of death. To Chaucer was given an insight of which nothing eludes the scrutiny, a sympathy of which nothing lies beyond the embrace. And in what spring-like vigour and bloom of life that vanished world rises again before us! What truth! and what spirit! Under his quill the speech of England first rose into the full form and force of a language. Look up at him! He seems to be scanning thought and word, both. Mine host of the Tabard singling him out amongst the pilgrims, for the teller of the next tale, says of him: “He seemeth elvish by his countenance.”—Does he?
[For an account of this statue by Marshall, see No. 53, Handbook of Modern Sculpture. There is an interesting contemporary portrait of Chaucer in the British Museum, bearing date 1400, from which the idea of this statue is borrowed.]
407. William Shakspeare. Poet.
[Born at Stratford-on-Avon, 1564. Died there, 1616. Aged 52.]
William Shakspeare stands at the head of those whose intellectual domain is the spirit of man. This is the master character of his mind, to which poetry is in him an accidental direction. His insight into man is his title to universal interest. He is the chief painter of humanity that the world has seen, combining, at once, perfect intimate knowledge of human nature, and perfect creative power of representation. The drama had suddenly awakened in his country, and he obeyed the instinct of his time, the poetic bent of which was created for him, as he for it. There were with him, before him, and immediately after him, great poets, with whom the dramatic elements existed in high native strength and beauty; but in him alone are those elements mastered, so as to produce entire works of art, complete in power, and in consistent, though not regular, form. Sharing the intuition of Aristotle, which makes the action in the play the root out of which the characters and all else grow, he directs the stream of events as connectedly as it flows in the human world; and, as in the world, so in his inspired writing—agents appear born for their work, as the work to do seems to offer itself to the agents. All beauties of language, all flights of poetry, all particular scenes and speeches, powerful and impressive as they may be, are merely subordinate. No character, how exquisitely or elaborately soever conceived and finished, is drawn for itself; but one and all are relative to the scope of the play and to one another. He seems to have undertaken a great task, and to be seriously and solely intent upon advancing to its fulfilment. No form of human life is foreign to him; the most heroic and the humblest, the most illustrious and the most obscure, of all times, in all places, are in presence before him. He seizes the spirit of time, place, and theme. Natural, preternatural, light, weighty, laughter, tears, terror, are all alike to him—-all under his mastery, and flung forth with free power. Grace and gigantic strength, are spirits equally at his bidding. The learned and the unlearned are both attracted by his spell. The ignorant feel the fascination, the erudite have never exhausted the study. His country, with her innumerable titles to renown, ranks amongst the highest his great name. With school instruction of the most ordinary kind, by universal and unerring observation, by profound and intense meditation of men, with the creative power of the highest imagination, he gave out, spontaneously, works of that kind whose study makes men learned: and they are so viewed and studied by all civilized nations, every day more and more, at home and abroad. In him England competes for the crown of poetical glory with all other nations of old or modern fame. She has had other great poets, but they all, besides their own natural offerings, have brought poetry from other lands and languages, into their own. In him alone she feels, that what she displays SHE has produced. Little is known of the life of William Shakspeare.
[From the well-known monumental bust in the church at Stratford-on-Avon, where Shakspeare lies buried. It was executed by an artist named Gerard Johnson, very soon after the death of Shakspeare, and erected between 1616 and 1620. The original is in common limestone, and was painted to resemble life. The eyes were a light hazel, the hair and beard auburn: the doublet was scarlet, and the loose gown black. It was repainted precisely in the same manner in 1749. But in 1793, Malone officiously had it whitewashed, as it now exists. There is a great resemblance between this face from the Stratford monument and the portrait published in the first folio of Shakspeare’s works, by the actors, in 1623. No. 407A is from a very remarkable terracotta bust, in the possession of Professor Owen, of the College of Surgeons. It was discovered in pulling down the old Duke’s Theatre in Lincoln’s Inn Fields, where it was placed over one of the stage-doors, the bust of Ben Jonson (accidentally destroyed by the workmen) occupying a corresponding place over the other door. Shakspeare having been rescued by the timely interposition of Mr. Clift, Professor Owen’s father-in-law, the bust became that gentleman’s property, and by him it was given to its present owner. There are two types of the Shakspeare portrait: the “round-faced,” as seen in the monument of Stratford-on-Avon, and the “oval-faced” of Cornelius Jansen. Roubilliac’s bust, and that in the possession of Professor Owen, are after Jansen. No. 407B is the bust by Roubilliac. The statues by Roubilliac and John Bell (see Handbook of Modern Sculpture, Nos. 56 and 9) are conventional, and represent the two types.]
| 407A. | - | William Shakspeare. Poet. | |
| 407B. |
408. John Milton. Poet.
[Born in London, 1608. Died there, 1674. Aged 66.]
The son of a scrivener. In his earliest years he became enamoured of the Muses, wrote exquisite poetry, travelled in Italy, returned hastily on the outbreak of the Civil war, and identified himself with the Republican party. Later in life, and as blindness was deepening upon him, he was appointed by Cromwell Latin Secretary to the Council of State. Retiring from politics on the death of the Protector, he would, under the Restoration, have suffered as a regicide, had not Sir William Davenant, to his great honour, interposed his own favour with the Court. So rescued, Milton withdrew into obscurity and poverty, unnoticed and forgotten. In his solitude and blindness he composed “Paradise Lost,” which he dictated chiefly to his eldest daughter. The poem was sold to a bookseller for ten pounds, and was not very popular during the lifetime of the poet. At one time he took pupils. He was three times married, was devoutly religious, austere in his morals, and simple in his ways of life. He is the great epic poet of England, distinguished by the strength and sublimity of his genius, and hardly less for sensibility to the graceful and beautiful. Laboriously learned, with an admiration as intelligent as devoted, of the great writings preserved from Greek and Roman antiquity, he, more than any other of our poets, has modelled his works on the type of his illustrious predecessors. He has, of all English poets, carried art in his writings to the highest pitch, but neither art nor imitation has tamed the wing of his muse, or impaired his praise of originality. He knew the greatness of his powers, viewing them as a gift to be used to the honour of the Giver; and his one paramount work, the “Paradise Lost,” having for its “great argument,” as he himself says, “to justify the ways of God to men,” must be regarded as his oblation, brought and laid on the Altar. He founded and formed English heroic blank verse,—a measure which, under his hand, rivals in richness and variety the music of his classical masters; and which alone could, by its majestic flow and inexhaustible powers of expression, have sustained the weight and amplitude of his subject. He loved and honoured Shakspeare.
409. Alexander Pope. Poet.
[Born in London, 1688. Died at Twickenham, 1744. Aged 56.]
Alexander Pope, the son of a linendraper, and a Roman Catholic, was his own instructor. He was sent home from school in his twelfth year for lampooning his tutor, and from that time he gave his teachers no further trouble. Already, as a boy, a happy versifier—twice happy, for an indulgent father smiled on his dawning skill—he was, in his maturer day, and for the remainder of his own century, the leading star in the sky of our English poetry. He received at the hands of his master, Dryden, the rhymed ten-syllable couplet. This couplet was not first by Dryden used harmoniously, forcibly, eloquently—for Hall in his Satires had done this—but by Dryden it was first raised into the reigning measure of English song. He sustained in it a free flow and bold sweep, suitable to his genius. Pope rather chained the movement, stamping even on his verse the peculiarity of his fine intellectual powers. When we search for Pope’s characteristic amongst poets, we find that he had reasoning—which is the earnest,—and wit—which is the sporting—of the logical faculty, both intimately blending themselves with the poetic vein. It was, accordingly, to a bright and sharp intellectual action that he fitted the couplet, apt by its nature for the service. Uniting to a lively, quick and keen intellect, so much of poetic passion as, in fact, secured the dedication of a life, he produced works which, by their mastery, must command admiration whilst the language is read, although in them, the deliberate skill predominates over the passionate expression. Viewed from the highest point, he was imitative, not original. His spirit active and perceptive in the study of his greater and less predecessors, not self-infused into the contemplation of Man and Nature. What is most felt as a fire in his verse is the ardency of writing, the zeal of an artist enamoured of his task: or he accepts and translates the passion of others, which, not having its home in its own bosom, does not receive justice there. Our grandfathers and our grandmothers knew by heart the “Essay on Man,” the “Essay on Criticism,” the “Moral Essays,” the “Characters of Women” (sparkling with wit and malice, but adding nothing to the observation and true ideal delineation of woman), and the “Rape of the Lock,” in which the playfulness, lying in the verse, exquisitely comes out, and a graceful half-ironical fancy amuses and captivates, but no steeping imagination subdues or transforms to its likeness. He introduces us again to Ariel, whom we have known before, but how different his Ariel and Shakspeare’s. Pope brought intellective precision into poetry, which should feed on the indefinite and the vague, and should flower out into the softened and the flowing. Hence, often when he is the most admirable, he is the most artificial.
410. Oliver Goldsmith. Poet and Man of Letters.
[Born in Ireland, 1728. Died in London, 1774. Aged 45.]
Poor dear Oliver! What shall we say of him, with his kindly benevolence, his manly independence, his honest feeling, his childish vanity, his naughty extravagance, his irregularities, his blunders, his idleness, his industry, his zeal for the improvement and advancement of the whole world, and his improvident neglect of himself. Goldsmith had fits of genius:—moments of an inspiration, or a possession, that appeared to produce in him powers, not ordinarily there. In the conduct of life he seemed born to be the world’s victim: he lay under the world. His gifted pen in his hand, he rose above it. The tender sensibility that indites his verse agrees too well to his story. The playful humour, and the sharp, never rough, never malignant, satire, take by surprise. He then had the laughers on his side—too often, unfortunately, against him. His poems of “The Traveller” and “The Deserted Village” are a species by themselves, or each a species. The vein of reflexion, of personal feeling, and of poetical viewing, with native simplicity of expression and musical sweetness, is common to the two. The dirge of the deserted hamlet sowed the seed of “The Pleasures of Memory;” and the wandering poet, feeding his verse from his travels, was repeated in “Childe Harold.” Goldsmith’s “Retaliation,” written upon his friends of the St. James’s Coffee House, in requital of the epitaphs they had provided for himself, is the most brilliant and masterly summing up of characters in pointed words and streaming verse that the language possesses. The “Vicar of Wakefield” is the smiled-at, honoured, and loved inmate of every English home.
[By W. Behnes.]
410*. Robert Burns. Poet.
[Born in Alloway, Ayrshire, 1759. Died at Dumfries, 1796. Aged 37.]
The ploughman-poet of Scotland; in whom the labour of the limbs appeared to invigorate the intelligence, and the bleak air of poverty to cherish the blossoms of genius. Shakspeare rose from the bosom of the people to delineate kings and queens. Burns, born some steps lower, dwelt, even in his verse, to the last, amongst his own order. That is his dignity and his glory. The life of the Scottish peasant as it remains represented by his pencil, and in his person, seizes the imagination and the sympathies of the educated world. He has drawn the heart of the high towards the low. He has raised the low to their just esteem in the opinion of the high. But besides this moral aspect, he has gained, as a poet, immeasurably, by rooting his foot to the fields which he furrowed. The conflict, so maintained in our thoughts between his social position and his endowments and aspirations, sheds a continual illumination of wonder upon his writings. But more! His happiest subjects and strains draw life and meaning from the soil of which they are the self-sown flowers. Not merely that solitary agricultural Idyl, with its homely-pathetic and homely-picturesque—“The Cotter’s Saturday Night,”—but the fanciful tenderness of his lament over the Daisy and the Mouse;—but the wild and reckless daring of imagination in that cordial rencounter with the dread foe Death—that blending of the humorous, the supernaturally grotesque and the terrific in Tam O’Shanter—of the rustic, the gracious, the solemn, even the sublime—in the Vision of Coila—these most characteristic feats of poetical skill and genius—which stand apart, defying competition and claiming rank for the name of Burns, amongst the illustrious on Parnassus—all are made possible by originating from and by reflecting his native condition. His songs are tender, passionate, musical; chaunting his own or imaginary rustic loves. The torrent of his spirit, that, pouring along the channels of thought and song, became an elate and exalting enthusiasm, hurried him on the paths of common life into excesses, dilapidating the humble home and the proud householder. He first published his poems—now in every peasant’s cottage throughout Scotland—in his 27th year, and his fame was instantaneous. Later in life, the favour and patronage of the Scottish nobility and gentry were able to confer upon him a place in the Excise, of no less than £70 a-year: in the discharge of which distinguished public function, and in the enjoyment of which splendid public remuneration—then his only certain support—the one-laurelled modern singer of the time-honoured Scottish tongue sank, from his darkening noon, into the grave.
[This Bust is by David Dunbar.]
411. Samuel Rogers. Poet.
[Born at Newington Green, near London, 1762. Still living.]
A classic inheritance from the entombed past. The living poet who carried his first production with a trembling hand to Dr. Johnson’s house in Bolt Court, Fleet Street, and could not find heart to wait for an answer to his summons when he had knocked at the door; who listened with delight and instruction to the lectures of Sir Joshua Reynolds; and who still remembers and relates how, when his father took him to see Garrick act, he himself punished his boyish impatience by closing his eyes for a moment, as the great actor was coming on to the stage. It is nearly seventy years since Samuel Rogers published his first poem, and he was then a man. He is the Addison of verse. Grace, elegance, delicacy, softness, are the characteristics of his poetry. He does not astonish by power, nor thrill by burning passion; but he soothes, gratifies, and charms all who are susceptible of consolation and pleasure from polished and complete works of art. His taste is refined and classical, and all his works have the finish which such taste will require of the artist possessing it. The rhythm of his poetry partakes of the character of the sentiment: all is chaste, smooth, refined, and clear. The descriptions in “Italy” of Italian life and scenery are very beautiful, and his reflections are at all times pure and elevating. For so long a life, Mr. Rogers has written very little; but his works are gems, and have been heightened and improved by labour until scrupulous thought can do for them nothing more. All poets since the century began have acknowledged Rogers for a master; and his conscientiousness, purity, and refinement, fit him for a teacher. He has outlived not only his illustrious contemporaries, but the great poets who were unborn when he had reached his prime. The patriarch, in his long protracted nightfall, still gladdens his memory with the visions of the past, looking with placid hope towards his all but present future.
[By W. Behnes.]
412. William Wordsworth. Poet.
[Born at Cockermouth, 1770. Died at Rydal Mount, 1850. Aged 80.]
The most original of the poetical thinkers whom his day gave to his country. Her verse, notwithstanding one or two better voices uplifted, had too long and too patiently worn the character of an imitative literature. He undertook the championship of a conflict, which was to reseat legitimate powers on the throne. Born and bred in the northern, mountain region of England, his first study of men was amongst the simple-minded, vigorous, independent, and intelligent peasantry of the dales. The earth, which his young feet explored, lay embosoming its lakes, rearing crag and steep, as though yet freshly robed in loveliness, or charged with power, by the Creator’s hand. His instinct already drew him, even unconsciously, to gather, in that contemplation of Man and of Nature, and not in books, the materials of his appointed Art. Solitary, self-communing, self-sufficing, he soon stood in presence with an educated world, the prophet of a new poetical revelation. He found, at the first encounter, a prophet’s reward—belief in the few: from the multitude, mockery and persecution. He lived long enough to be understood; to see health and strength of his infusing reanimate the too languid veins of our English poesy. An extreme trust in the worth inhering in every phase of humanity may have sometimes descended too low, in the choice of the theme; an excessive zeal of simplicity may occasionally have stripped the style a little too bare. But his writings remain distinguished, amongst the lays of his own just elapsed age, as the most soothing and instructive to the heart of the reader; and for the generations of poets, rising and to rise, the most warning and oracular. His strains have been remarkably various in length and weight, in manner and style. As a portrayer of human nature, he ranks amongst those who have the most deeply and critically explored the workings of our mysterious heart and intellectual being. His especial vocation amongst poets was, in his own view, the disclosure of the affinities which attract, by feeling, the human soul to the natural world: It supplying intellectual forms, and We, passion—an intercourse, blending, if it may be so said, two lives into one. He entered upon his work of reforming our poetical spirit, in two volumes of Lyrical Ballads and Other Poems, in the years 1798 and 1807. His life was one long day of brooding calm—his sunset, lucid and serene.
[Presented to the Crystal Palace by the sculptor, F. Thrupp, and modelled by him from a cast after death by Chantrey.]
413. Sir Walter Scott. Poet and Novelist.
[Born in Edinburgh, 1771. Died at Abbotsford, 1832. Aged 61.]
The great magician of the north, under whose fascinating spell millions in all lands have been entranced and strengthened. His boyish eye fed on the wild scenes of his native land, and on the mouldering wrecks—here and there sadly gracing those scenes—of her former sterner, yet greater day. His boyish heart was cradled in the music of her old wild songs, then living, and in the rough and bold traditions of her strange and romantic Past. The joy and the passion which were life to the boy, became power to the man. With a wondrous dominion suddenly begun, yet prolonged whilst he lived, he swayed and swept back the spirits of his generation on a torrent of delight and desire, into forgotten times, alien to our manner of thinking and of being. But the poet finds one heart of Man under all the shapes of human existence: one universal spirit of human life. Transported by the poet, we find ourselves everywhere with our kind. Reanimated by him, the worn-out and the antiquated rise new-born and of our time. And Scott, in verse or in prose, was a poet. The electric telegraph of the press carried his writings, as they left his desk, over the globe. The excellent French historian, Augustin Thierry, says that the romances of Scott, by their vivid and vital representations of the past, have reformed the style and study of history on the continent, urging and guiding the historian, instead of chronicling dry facts, to throw himself with a thirsty inspiration into the bosom of the mighty departed time. A Scottish traveller in Spanish California told, that a Spanish monk had there shown him his copy of “Ivanhoe,” and said “Next after my Bible.” We remember with pain that Scott, to whom the world stands so largely indebted for some of its purest delights, fell into trouble and difficulty, and snapped his brain in his noble and manly struggle for escape. The spot of Scotland which the toil of his genius had won him, for rooting his family on, when torn from both him and them by a blast of ill-fortune, was redeemed to them by the reverent affection of his country—-made theirs by a public act which tied even every “book of his curious learning” to its place on his shelves, in perpetuity. There his favourite daughter’s daughter and her children now prolong, if not his illustrious name, his honoured line.
[By F. Chantrey.]
414. Robert Southey. Poet Laureate.
[Born at Bristol, 1774. Died at Keswick, in Cumberland, 1843. Aged 69.]
An author who has earned imperishable renown in his own country, for the dignity with which he upheld the literary character, for his virtuous mind, for his patient, honest industry, and for his masculine prose writings. His poetical compositions—with the exception of the minor poems—are too laboured and too long, are too deliberately planned, and not sufficiently impassioned to be immortal; but they contain, nevertheless, many fine descriptive passages, abounding in strength and beauty: the subjects are chosen, and treated, with bold and free imagination. Southey read too much, and reflected too little; he was an insatiable devourer of books, and almost a prisoner to his study; hence he imbibed prejudices, and narrowed his intellectual sympathies: but his heart was of the soundest, and his feelings of the freshest. In the distribution of his hours he was most methodical. He had a surprising memory, a yearning towards the romantic in his literary pursuits, and an insuppressible vein of humour. He lived and died, comparatively poor, and he was always a day labourer. Yet he had ever a ready ear for the tale of distress, and an open hand for all who needed its grasp in the difficult journey of life. He never murmured at his own inevitable yoke, and he had self-command enough to refuse a baronetcy, when, towards the close of his career, he was offered the honour by the Minister of the day. It is sad to think that the mind of Southey gave way in the decline of life. When he could read no longer, he walked to his bookshelves with a vacant soul, and opened the volumes only to look at them, without being able to derive the least consolation from their pages. He died honoured, and literary men in England are proud to acknowledge, in him, one of the worthiest of their order.
[This is a posthumous Bust, by E. H. Baily, R.A., from the marble which forms a portion of the monument erected to the poet’s memory in Bristol. It was carved in 1847.]
415. Thomas Campbell. Poet.
[Born at Glasgow, 1777. Died at Boulogne, 1844. Aged 67.]
The poetical career of Thomas Campbell began when he was twenty years old, and was completed before he was thirty-three. He wrote nothing subsequently to this age worthy of his fame. His earliest work, the “Pleasures of Hope,” composed in youth, at once established his claim to be ranked amongst the foremost poets of his time. It brimmed with promise; and not the least singular circumstance in connexion with Thomas Campbell’s life is, that the excessive expectation raised by his first appeal was never satisfactorily fulfilled. The poetic faculty burned in the “Pleasures of Hope,” which was full of melody, pathos, animated description, and impassioned sentiment. All needful ardour was there. There were also to be noted the faults of a youthful pen—redundancy of diction and incorrectness. Ten years after the “Pleasures of Hope” he published “Gertrude of Wyoming.” The impulsive quality was already subdued by elaborate art; and although extreme beauty and tenderness were here and there in the poem, correctness was still wanting. Your spirit was entranced with verses, than which, in the English language, you could find none better, simpler, and sweeter. Yet for one such verse that was borne away from “Gertrude of Wyoming” a hundred were forgotten which were not its peers. Campbell had momentary, true, intense conceptions, and fineness of fancy; he exhibited felicities of thought and expression that fastened instantly on every memory; his, too, was an ear of poetical sensibility to the music of language; but woe to the verse if his poetic utterance came not of an inspiration—by a seizing theme. “Ye Mariners of England,” “The Soldier’s Dream,” “The Battle of Hohenlinden,” constituted such themes, and these small poems of Campbell are consequently abiding treasures in the literature of the nation.
[By E. H. Baily, R.A. Executed in 1827.]
416. Thomas Moore. Poet.
[Born at Dublin, 1780. Died in Wiltshire, 1852. Aged 72.]
A poet of exuberant fancy, revelling in lavish ornament and gorgeous painting, and giving utterance to the most ingenious creations, in language of ineffable, and, occasionally, overpowering sweetness. A writer of inimitable Irish ballads, which are now plaintive, now joyous, now pathetic, now fervid, now tender, now fierce, now melting, now heroic; but always matchless by the graceful flow of the verse, and the prompt springing of the happiest illustration. Also the author of satires, brilliant and cutting, but rather the outpourings of a generous fancy, delighting in its own exquisite self-conscious faculty of mischief, than the malicious and bitter expression of a vexed and disappointed mind. Melody and joyance are careering in almost every syllable that he wrote. He was a passionate lover of music, and when he sang his own ballads, the effect upon his listeners was electrical. His most celebrated poetical composition is “Lalla Rookh,” an Eastern romance, which he wrote “amidst the snows of two or three Derbyshire winters.” His best prose work, “The Epicurean,” is a masterly performance, redolent of the perfume which breathes through his verse, and elevated by a high moral aim. When Thomas Moore died, the impression left of the man upon the public mind was stamped there by his jocund muse—a feeling of tenderness and love was associated with the pleasant memory of “Little Tommy Moore.” Since his death his memoirs and his diary have been published, and the impression has grown dimmer and dimmer in consequence. As a man, Thomas Moore, the poet, appears to have been hardly more heroic than the most prosaic of his kind.
[By Christopher Moore. Executed in 1838, for the late Edward Moore, of Mayfair.]
417. John Wilson. Poet and Professor.
[Born at Paisley, 1785. Died in Edinburgh, 1854. Aged 69.]
The son of a Paisley manufacturer. Educated at Glasgow and Oxford. Like the youth of ancient Greece, he delighted equally in the spoils of the arena, and in the wisdom of the porch. At Oxford, the first wrestler of his time, and the gainer of the Newdegate prize for the best poem. His genius as passionate as his frame was overflowing with the sap of animal life. Endowed with a lofty and glowing imagination, and with great critical powers, improved by knowledge. A lover of learning for the joy it brings, and a hearty sympathizer with the glorious labours of the great makers of prose and verse, whether in ancient or modern time. He himself excelled as a worker in more than one of the paths of literature. His poetry is remarkable for the beauty of its imagery, for its rich fancy, and for the flow of the verse; his criticisms exhibit a profound knowledge of the true principles of taste, are eloquent, and full of generous sentiment; his prose tales of fiction have deep pathos, and reveal intimate acquaintance with the human heart. As an orator, John Wilson might have vied with the most eloquent of his contemporaries had he chosen to compete with them in their own peculiar field; as a writer upon the manly sports which he so ardently loved, he is unequalled. His very corporeal substance seems heaving with joy and physical happiness, as we follow his vigorous, picturesque, and elated pen, amongst the lochs of Scotland, or the lakes of Cumberland. Wilson wrote with the zeal of a strong partizan in politics. He would be one, and could not. His large and universal heart never entertained what are called political antipathies. His Toryism was his strong and hearty nature bubbling up and venting itself in loyalty, chivalry, and affectionate duty. To say that he was opposed to Liberty and Right, is to assert a monstrous paradox. He was the very incarnation of liberty, and his giant soul shrunk from wrong, by natural action. In 1818, Wilson was appointed Professor of Moral Philosophy in the University of Edinburgh. The bust bespeaks the man. It looks like Jupiter. We cannot gaze upon a more magnificent head.
[This striking and characteristic work is by the late James Fillous of Glasgow, a fellow townsman of Professor Wilson. It was executed in marble for the Public Reading Room at Paisley.]
418. George Noel Gordon, Lord Byron. Poet.
[Born in London, 1788. Died at Missolonghi, in Greece, 1824. Aged 36.]
Assuredly, the most popular, if not the greatest poet of our times. But, the popularity by no means proof of the greatness. He was an object of interest on account of his birth, his youth, his misfortunes, his constant practice of associating with poetry his personal and daily history, his strongly imagined injuries, his feverish complaints. A vigorous painter of portraits—that is to say, of two, for he took delight only in the hero of gloomy passion, and in the heroine of soft voluptuous beauty—all his pictures more or less reflecting his own nature, and the nature of woman as it appeared to his refined sensuality. Byron has described with ineffable grandeur natural scenery, and has kindled the spirits of men with enthusiasm for the ancient glory; but we find no solace in his companionship, although he takes us to streams and mountains visited by the gods. His own distempered image is too visibly stamped on every scene. Byron affected to be a misanthrope; yet he cherished the good opinion of men, and shrunk from their adverse criticism. He pretended that he was isolated from the world; yet his name and fame were upon every lip. What will last in the poetry of Byron are the verses uttered in moments of self-oblivion. Keats complained that Byron made solemn things gay, and gay things solemn. This was a great wrong, and is hardly repaired by the tenderness, pathos, sentiment, and passion, that start from his poetry to go straight to the heart. It was the misfortune of Byron to be sent into the world without discipline or training of any kind. Had he been fairly dealt with in his childhood and youth, his life might have been happier—its course more equable. As it was, his genius was enslaved and wronged, his career was violent and erratic, his whole nature warped, and his poetry, instead of being a well-trimmed garden of beauty, had its choicest flowers entangled and half hidden in unwholesome, gaudy weeds.
[By Thorwaldsen, but not from the life.]
418A. George Noel Gordon, Lord Byron. Poet.
[By E. H. Baily, R.A. Modelled from authentic portraits.]
419. Douglas Jerrold. Writer.
[Born in London, 1803. Still living.]
Before he was eleven years old, he went as midshipman to sea. Returned to London after two years’ service, and in his boyhood took to writing dramas for minor theatres. In later life he has produced dramatic works of a higher kind—his comedies being remarkable for epigrammatic wit, and sparkling dialogue. His prose writings, generally, are characterized by trenchant sarcasm, by a vigorous Saxon style, by earnestness of will, and by an unflinching advocacy of liberal principles. Douglas Jerrold has been charged with bitterness of spirit, and a malicious desire to set the poor against the rich. The charge rests upon no good foundation. He revolts from injustice and oppression; he feels acutely their effects upon all who come within their operation; and his views are invariably expressed with all the intensity of his genuine convictions. His pen has been always at the service of humanity; and his heart is as sound as his language is plain, direct, and unequivocal.
[Executed in marble, 1852, by E. H. Baily, R.A.]
419*. Henry Taylor. Poet.
[Still living.]
Known to literature as the author of “Philip Van Artevelde,” a drama for the study, not for the stage. This dramatic poem is admirably finished, and contains many beautiful images, and passages of undoubted vigour. But the polish is too evident, the labour expended too much on the surface. There is nothing in the work to offend; nothing to take by surprise; nothing that stirs the human heart to its depths. The author shall defy you to point out the blemishes of genius on his pages. You may equally challenge him to produce evidence of the power of genius. In “Philip Van Artevelde” we are ever within sight of the domain in which the great dramatists reign supreme, but never in the domain itself. It is all but a great work. It seems as if only fire were wanting at the poet’s heart to convey us at once from the region of great talent to the higher sphere of undoubted inspiration. But the needed warmth comes not.
[By Macdonald, of Rome.]
SCIENTIFIC MEN AND WRITERS.
420. Francis Bacon. Chancellor of England, and Founder of the Inductive Philosophy.
[Born in London, 1561. Died 1626. Aged 65.]
The son of Sir Nicholas Bacon, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal under Queen Elizabeth. Francis was yet a boy when he evinced so keen and lively an intellect, that Elizabeth was wont to call him her young Lord Keeper. He rose to the highest distinction in the state, becoming Lord Chancellor of England. He was removed from his eminence, because he had sullied it by accepting bribes. He lived ostentatiously, and died leaving many debts. His name is one of the greatest this country boasts. He is the father of the modern Philosophy. Standing between two intellectual eras, he surveyed the past, and predicted the future, of human inquiry. Reverting his eye, he saw that the most acute and powerful intellects had, age after age, wasted their strength in investigating physical phenomena, without fruit either of great ascertained truths, or of service won from their speculations to human uses. Neither zeal nor ability had been wanting. He inferred that the method of those elder philosophers was in fault. Impatient and arrogant, they presumed, upon the first strong impressions caught from the contemplation of Nature, oracularly to divine her universal laws. From these laws, affirmed not established, they proceeded to solve, as best they could, all further phenomena: for, within these false and hasty conclusions once recognised, Reason lay thenceforward imprisoned. Lord Bacon said: “Have patience. Wait upon Nature. Observe indefatigably. Accumulate, without ceasing, records of the appearances. Verify experiment by experiment. Set instance beside instance, without sparing, but not without choosing. Ultimately the law will stand revealed.” What has happened? Immense and ever-advancing discovery—science created upon science—observers, without number, conspiring in the most disjoined parts of the civilized world to solve the same philosophical problems—Nature every day more and more yielding to man the service of her powers—and the wisdom of her Author every day more and more discerned in His works—these are the results which honour the school of Bacon.
[From the monument at St. Albans.]
421. Humphrey Chetham. “Dealer in Manchester Commodities.”
[Born 1580. Died 1653. Aged 73.]
An early and generous benefactor to the city of Manchester. One of Fuller’s “Worthies of England.” He made a large fortune by sending Manchester commodities up to London; and during his life-time he invested his gains in the education of twenty-two poor boys. At his death he left money enough to provide for the suitable education of forty boys; and he also bequeathed £1000 for the purchase of books for a general library, as well as £100 for the erection of a building to receive them. At the present hour 100 boys are educated, maintained, and clothed, by the munificence of Humphrey Chetham, and more than 23,000 volumes are open to all who desire to improve themselves by reading. The statue of which the one in the Crystal Palace is a cast, has been recently raised to the memory of this pious and benevolent man, by one who, in early life, partook of Humphrey Chetham’s bounty. The name of the grateful recipient is unknown; but he need not blush to make it public. The statue may be seen in Manchester Cathedral—a monument of affectionate reverence and gratitude, as well as of Christian well-doing.
[For an account of this statue, see Handbook to Modern Sculpture, No. 62.]
422. John Locke. Philosopher.
[Born in Somersetshire, 1632. Died at Oates, in Essex, 1704. Aged 72.]
A stern intellect with a pious and gentle heart. Of a good family. He studied for medicine; but his delicate health prevented his engaging in the profession. The study was apparently turned to higher account in settling his contemplation on the real and the useful. He ranks amongst English philosophers as the one who first, by his writings, impressed the fact that the Mind of Man lies before us, if we can attend, as much a subject for observation and for the investigation of laws, as the outwardly sensible world. The impulse given by his teaching to the educated mind of the country was strong and lasting. His successors have introduced, as might be expected, more method and precision into this region of speculation. They have confirmed, enriched, and extended the science, although yet far from having attained that luminous certainty, and that wealth of profitable results, which wonderfully reward the inquirers into the physical order of Nature. Besides his “Essay on the Human Understanding”—for which Locke is called the founder, in England, of modern metaphysical inquiry—he stood up in other works also, as the champion of intellectual liberty, vindicating the rights of Reason in politics and in religion. In the study of the Mind, “he broke the fetters of the schools,” as Bacon had done for physical science. Locke was the friend of Newton.
[By Riesback.]
423. Sir Isaac Newton. Astronomer and Philosopher.
[Born at Woolsthorpe, Lincolnshire, 1642. Died in London, 1727. Aged 85.]
This illustrious man was educated at Grantham, and entered Trinity College, Cambridge, in the year 1660. Before he had reached his twenty-third year, he had already made various important discoveries in pure mathematics; amongst others, the celebrated “Binomial Theorem,” familiar to every tyro, and that most refined and powerful instrument of scientific investigation, the “Method of Fluxions,” which, a few years later, was independently discovered by the famous Leibnitz, and given to the world in the form now universally known as the “Differential Calculus.” Newton was still young when the fall of an apple gave birth in his mind to the first germ of “the Law of Gravitation,” which, some years later, he so beautifully and wonderfully developed. In 1666—his age twenty-four—he began those experiments with the prism which quickly led him to “The Decomposition of Light,” and to other optical discoveries, unfolded in the lectures delivered by him at Cambridge, as the successor of Barrow, from the year 1669. In his thirtieth year, he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society; in 1703, its President; and he was re-elected to this distinguished post year after year, for twenty-five years. His great work, “Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica,” appeared complete in 1687. It has excited the astonishment and profound admiration of the greatest philosophers in all nations, from that time to the present; and no wonder, since, in some respects, this grand production might almost seem to have resulted from actual inspiration, and not from the mere day labour of an unassisted human intellect. The mighty teacher was the originator of views and theories, upon which the ablest philosophical minds of the last century and of the present have built their most renowned achievements, yet we are most admonished by his humility, his religion, and his calm. Newton was member of Parliament for Cambridge. He was also master of the Mint. Honour was shown to him living and dead. George I. ordered that his body should, after lying in state, be buried in Westminster Abbey. What luminary is without its dark spot? Leibnitz and Newton were the two greatest men of their age, yet a bitter and lasting quarrel between them is recorded, for our solemn instruction. It remains to state that the year in which Galileo died, Newton was born. No interval was suffered between the extinction of the one essential light and the kindling of the other.
[By Roubilliac.]
424. Benjamin Franklin. Statesman and Philosopher.
[Born at Boston, in America, 1706. Died at Philadelphia, in America, 1790. Aged 84.]
“Franklin” is another word for usefulness, self-denial, frugality, perseverance, and independence. A poor printer’s boy, who, by his own unaided powers raised himself from the lowest place of society to the highest, and contributed alike to the advancement of science, and to the independence of one of the finest countries of the earth. His discovery of the identity of lightning and electricity, and the invention of the lightning-rod; the explanation of the aurora borealis and thunder-gusts upon electrical principles, are triumphs of the philosopher. His ardent support of the new Republic, his activity, judgment, and resources, speak for the statesman and the lover of liberty. His language unadorned, but ever pure and expressive; his reasoning manly and cogent, and so concise that he never exceeded a quarter of an hour in any public address. His correspondence a model of clearness and compendious brevity. Scrupulously punctual in all his dealings. An exemplar of economy, and regularity. His life, one of the most instructive and encouraging studies for youth, since it exhibits the sufferings, the trials, the power, and the victory of self-command, temperance and industry, and the reward of genius overcoming all the difficulties of fortune.
[By Houdon.]
424A. Benjamin Franklin. Statesman and Philosopher.
[By Hiram Powers.]
425. Samuel Johnson. Writer and Moralist.
[Born at Lichfield, 1709. Died in London, 1784. Aged 75.]
The son of a bookseller in Lichfield. Educated at Oxford, but compelled to leave the University without a degree, in consequence of the misfortunes of his father. Then an usher,—and then, marrying,—the proprietor of a private academy in his native city. He had only three pupils, but one of them was David Garrick. Master and pupil went up together to London in search of fortune. Both found what they sought—the pupil suddenly and brilliantly; the master, after trial, privation, and suffering. In 1738, Johnson published his first poem, “London.” Twelve years later, he came forth as an essayist in the “Rambler.” In 1755, appeared his “Dictionary of the English Language,” a seven years’ labour; and in 1781, “The Lives of the Poets.” In 1762, a pension of £300 a-year was settled upon him by King George III. The tradition of Johnson in society is of a literary and moral dictator—a character which, as far as he was concerned, implied much rather the depth of conviction with which he championed great interests, than the pride of self-conscious intellect, the taste for conflict, or the thirst of rule; and which the listeners conceded yet more in reverence for the personal worth of the man, than in submission to his intellectual superiority. He is one of the manliest and most robust minds in our letters. From moral sense and religion, from deep natural concern, his giant will was devoted to the great interests of mankind. He felt in himself a vocation to sustain these interests, and he was the sturdiest of combatants in the prosecution of his moral crusade. His style is stately, nervous, Latin, original, singularly suited to his mind, which gave a direction to contemporary minds, and largely fashioned the literature of his time. The prime characteristic of his writings is unquestionably strong, solid sense, mixed it may be with onesidedness, but bright with acute reflection. Johnson’s exterior was unwieldy, his manners were not polished, but a tenderer heart never beat than his own. He could utter a withering epigram. He never committed a deliberately unkind act. His house was a hospital for the sick and distressed; he could not walk the streets without emptying his pockets into the hands of beggars, and his great heart melted under a tale of sorrow and injustice. He had strong prejudices, and although sincerely pious, was superstitious. He loved to speak in aphorisms, and we still quote his sayings, as attributing to him something of the dignity and weight of an oracle. His life influenced his age. After his death he still exercises his influence, for he has given occasion to the most perfect and amusing biography in the language.
425A. Samuel Johnson. Writer and Moralist.
[This statue, by J. Bacon, R.A., is at the South End of the Nave, on the East Side; for account of which, see Handbook to Modern Sculpture.]
426. Adam Smith. Philosopher and Political Economist.
[Born at Kirkaldy, in Scotland, 1723. Died, in Edinburgh, 1790. Aged 67.]
This great master in the science of political economy was the son of an Officer of Customs, and studied first in Glasgow, afterwards at Oxford. He had feeble health, and was of studious habits. In 1748, a lecturer, in Edinburgh, upon Rhetoric and the Belles-Lettres; and in 1751, appointed Professor, first of Logic, and then of Moral Philosophy, in the University of Glasgow. At this period of his life he published his “Theory of the Moral Sentiments,” a work in which he regards Sympathy as the foundation of all morals. In 1763, resigning his Professorship, he became tutor to the young Duke of Buccleuch, with whom he travelled on the continent for several years. He subsequently retired to his native village, where he passed ten years of his life in close obscurity, study, and fruitful meditation. In 1776, he issued from his cell to pour light for ever into the busy world. In that year was published his memorable “Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.” This monument of industry, observation, sagacity, learning, and acuteness, continues the one great hand-book of political economists. The leading points which Adam Smith laboured to urge in his “Inquiry” are—That labour is the only source of the wealth of nations; that wealth does not consist in the abundance of gold and silver, but in the abundance of the necessities, conveniences, and enjoyments of life; that it is sound policy to leave individuals to pursue their own interest in their own way, and that every regulation intended to force industry into particular channels, is impolitic and pernicious. The justice of these axioms has, after years of argument, denial, and resistance, received general acknowledgment in England; and Adam Smith is the author of one revolution in the world’s progress, and a benefactor of his kind. His reasoning is not always sound; but the base of his fabric is unassailable, and the illustration which constitutes its ornament, is amongst the happiest ever employed to give life and light to a solid structure. Adam Smith is the great practical philosopher of an age and a people, craving for his philosophy more than for any other, yet wanting, most of all, the philosophy which shows the soul of a man as the most precious of all his estates, and teaches him the husbandry of it. He died, having won a competence, and fulfilling a government appointment.
[This plaster cast was formerly in the collection of Sir Thomas Lawrence.]
427. John Hunter. Surgeon and Comparative Anatomist.
[Born in Scotland, 1728. Died in London, 1793. Aged 65.]
When John Hunter was twenty years old, he could scarcely read or write; but he could make chairs and tables. At the time of his death, forty-five years afterwards, he was the first anatomist in the country; and he left behind him a museum—the work of his own rare intelligence and industry—which the government purchased for the sum of £15,000, and conferred upon the Royal College of Surgeons. Hunter came to London, from his carpenter’s shop in Scotland, in order to serve as anatomical assistant to his brother William, who had already established a reputation as an anatomist, and was doing well. In a few months John had made sufficient advance to be able to give instruction in the dissecting-room. He then studied on his own account, went to Oxford, and became a surgeon. Intense application, profound observation, ceaseless experiments, and masterly skill and judgment, enabled him in time considerably to enlarge the knowledge of surgery, and to make valuable discoveries in connexion with his favourite science of comparative anatomy. He was, for England, the first great leader in the Science of animal life. He was a bold and clever operator; he wrote several professional treatises; and, besides being Surgeon Extraordinary to the King, he held the offices of Inspector-General of Hospitals, and Surgeon-General. His name is honoured in the profession to which he belongs, and he is justly regarded as the great and worthy guide and pioneer of all the seekers and successful discoverers, who since his time have explored the same paths.
[By Flaxman.]
428. James Watt. Improver of the Steam-Engine.
[Born at Greenock, 1736. Died 1819. Aged 83.]
It has been said that the genius of Watt, as displayed in his mechanical inventions, has contributed more to show the practical utility of the sciences, to extend the power of man over the material world, to multiply and expand the conveniences of life, than the works of any other individual in modern times. His was a rare mechanical genius. It had been nurtured from his infancy at home; where he lived, as a boy, in solitary retirement, cultivating observation and reflexion, and kept apart from other boys by weak bodily health. It may be affirmed that his whole life was one long day’s labour, for his enlightened industry never ceased. When a mere child, he would take to pieces and reconstruct every toy that came in his way. At nineteen he went to London, and placed himself with a maker of mathematical instruments there, making delicate instruments for his employer with his own hands. “With those same hands,” says M. Arago, a little fancifully, since the head now took the place of the hands, “he afterwards constructed those colossal machines which in Cornwall, and on the ocean, perform the service of millions of horses.” But the improvement of the steam-engine, until it attained its highest point of perfection, is not Watt’s sole claim to the title of a discoverer. Without knowing a note of music, he constructed an organ, and in a great measure solved the problem of temperament. He invented the press for copying letters; he introduced the process of bleaching by the aid of chlorine; he explained the composition of water, and the art of warming by steam. The extent, variety, and accuracy of Watt’s knowledge were amazing. No subject seemed foreign to him, and upon every subject he spoke as if that alone had all his life engaged his attention. Sir Humphrey Davy declared that Watt stood upon a higher elevation than Archimedes. Great as were his powers, he was a man of child-like candour, and of the greatest simplicity.
[By Flaxman.]
429. Sir James Mackintosh. Historian and Metaphysician.
[Born in Scotland, 1765. Died, 1832. Aged 67.]
A strong and shrewd intellect: determined by native impulse and aptness to the metaphysical speculations, which, in the country where he was born, make regularly an important part of a liberal education. He sought and maintained the character of a dispassionate inquirer, reading extensively and carefully weighing conflicting opinions. More a student than a man of action; yet, even in study, his energies clogged by a natural indolence. Mackintosh, though descended from Jacobites, was a Whig. In 1791, he wrote a defence of the French Revolution, in answer to Burke; but, in less than four years, confessed that bitter experience had overthrown his generous argument. Adopting the law as a profession, he received promotion in India at the hands of his political allies. After seven years’ service, entered Parliament. He wrote an admirable “Dissertation on the Progress of Ethical Philosophy” for the “Encyclopædia Britannica,” and he was engaged on a “History of the Revolution of 1688,” when he died. A man of great learning, philosophical clearness, and fine perception. Yet his works lack method and elegance, and fail, from the absence of these qualities, to do justice to the intellect that fashioned them.
[By Christopher Moore. Executed in 1829 for Lord Nugent.]
430. Francis Jeffrey. Critic and Essayist.
[Born at Edinburgh, 1773. Died, 1850. Aged 77.]
One of the founders, and for many years the editor, of the “Edinburgh Review,”—a publication which he enriched by his essays on poetry and general literature. He had an acute, ingenious, and spirited intellect, a sensibility of taste, and a constant flow and vivacity of style; but his apprehensions in literature and the arts, were rather trained and authorized than free and original. He had a leaning, scarcely a special gift, to speculate on the questions of the Mind—questions early and familiarly brought before him, as rife in the Scottish school in which he was educated. The influence of Jeffrey upon literature and public opinion, during his life-time, was very great—partly from the character of the Review which he governed, partly from the independence, brilliancy, and ability with which he maintained his principles of taste. Many of his criticisms contain the soundest views, and are eloquently written: others have been signally refuted by time and the public verdict; and their style is defaced by wanton and unjustifiable flippancy of language. Jeffrey studied for the law, and, being always a liberal in politics, was promoted by his Whig friends to the Scottish bench. With the reputation of a brilliant and ingeniously argumentative speaker, he disappointed, in the House of Commons, the general expectation. He was esteemed a very kind and friendly feeling man.
[By Christopher Moore. Executed in 1846.]
431. Francis Baily. Astronomer.
[Born at Newbury, 1774. Died 1844. Aged 70.]
Originally a stockbroker. One of the founders of the Astronomical Society, and for many years its President. Also Fellow and Vice-President of the Royal Society. Author of many astronomical works; amongst others, of a volume detailing the repetition of the Cavendish experiment for the determination of the earth’s density.
[Executed in marble, by E. H. Daily, R.A. Posthumous. 1848.]
432. William Yarrell. Naturalist.
[Born in London, 1784. Still living.]
The author of “A History of British Birds,” and of various papers on subjects connected with natural history. Is treasurer to the Linnæan Society of London.
[By Henry Weigall.]
433. George Stephenson. Engineer.
[Born 1781. Died 1848. Aged 67.]
A sturdy plant of English growth. A working mind born ripe for its time. An uncultivated power endowed with immeasurable capability. The story of George Stephenson reads well for his country, well for himself, well for the high faculties which Providence has given to man, irrespectively of birth, station, education, or any accidental condition. His parentage was of the poorest. He could not have begun his race at a more distant point from the goal of fortune. He did not even start with his fellows in open day, under the bright sun, on the earth’s surface. He was a pit-engine boy, and his pay was twopence a day. It was a great rise for him when he was made stoker, and he was on the high road to prosperity when he found himself breaksman. Promoted to the office of engineman, he declared that he was “now a man for life.” He first made known his mechanical genius in the service of Lord Ravensworth, when he repaired and improved, as an amateur, a condensing pump-engine, which had baffled the skill of some professional engineers. Having been, for a time, occupied in laying down some unimportant lines of rail, he went to Liverpool to plan a line of railway between that city and Manchester. He held out great inducements to enterprize, and made unheard-of prophecies of success. He even undertook that a locomotive should accomplish ten miles of distance in every hour. We must not be surprised that the people called him “mad” for proffering the assurance. Similar madmen had preceded him,—Columbus, Galileo,—the inventor of gas, the discoverer of vaccination and others. The line, as we know, was made,—the experiment tried. Stephenson was right, a locomotive can travel at the rate of ten miles an hour. The rise of Stephenson was now rapid as the strides of his own locomotives. He took the lead at once in railway engineering; became a great locomotive manufacturer, an extensive railway contractor, a large owner of collieries and iron-works, and a man of mark in the nation. Our railway system is the result of the multiform operations of his strong practical mind. Stephenson disputed with Sir Humphry Davy the invention of the safety lamp. Other claimants are in the field. We shall never know the discoverer, any more than we shall learn the birth-place of Homer; and George Stephenson may spare the extra laurel from his iron crown.
[By Christopher Moore, 1831. Executed for Robert Stephenson, Esq.]
434. William Fairbairn. Millwright and Engineer.
[Born at Kelso, on the Tweed, 1789. Still living.]
This eminent engineer settled as a millwright in Manchester, in 1815, and distinguished himself at once by his practical improvements in the construction of mills and workshops. To his early efforts, in the science of mill architecture, may be traced much of the improved taste now displayed by mill-owners in the manufacturing districts. His latest achievement in this direction is the magnificent structure at Saltaire, near Bradford, Yorkshire. He was an early builder of iron ships in Manchester, Hull, and London. His experiments, designs, and superintendence, were available in the construction of the Conway and Britannia Tubular Bridges. Mr. Fairbairn, besides his title to respect as a mechanical engineer, and a great improver in the specific sciences to which he has devoted his life, is a contributor of much valuable knowledge through the medium of the press. He is the architect of his own fortunes, and is remarkable, in an age of remarkable engineers, for his great energy, skill, taste, and discrimination.
[By J. E. Jones.]
435. Sir John Herschell. Astronomer.
[Born 1790. Still living.]
The worthy son of a celebrated sire. Educated at Cambridge, where he easily distanced all who competed with him for the honours of that seat of learning. Like his father, Sir John has devoted himself mainly to astronomical pursuits; but he has penetrated with ardour into every field of science, and illuminated by his genius all the ground he has trodden. He is a consummate mathematician, an accomplished chemist, a profound philosopher, a master of his native language, and of style. In 1834, he proceeded to the Cape of Good Hope, for the purpose of making observations in the southern celestial hemisphere, and continued there for the space of four years. His “Preliminary Discourse on the Study of Natural Philosophy,” is amongst the most beautiful, eloquent, and useful of modern publications. His treatises on Sound and Light show a profound application of the highest order of mathematics to physical subjects of the most subtle, delicate and ethereal character. Herschell, more than any other man of this day, has contributed to uphold and increase England’s scientific renown; his learning and accomplishments are universal, and his constant zeal in the diffusion of knowledge amongst all classes,—amongst the very humblest as well as the very highest,—constitutes a right to our gratitude and respect equal to that established by his philosophic labours and infinite acquirements. Sir John Herschell is Master of the Mint. Sir Isaac Newton held the post before him.
[From the marble by E. H. Baily, R.A. 1848.]
436. Michael Faraday. Natural Philosopher.
[Born 1794. Still living.]
This illustrious scientific man is the son of a poor blacksmith, and was in early life apprenticed to a bookbinder, at which craft he worked until his twenty-second year. His great delight in electrical researches brought him into acquaintance with Sir Humphrey Davy, whose assistant he became in the laboratory of the Royal Institution, where Faraday himself in time rose to the dignity of Fullerian Professor. The discoveries of Faraday in several branches of science have placed him in the very highest rank amongst European philosophers. The most difficult and abstruse points in connexion with light, heat, electricity, magnetism, and the laws of matter, have been simplified to an extraordinary degree by the force of his sagacity and singular acuteness. As remarkable as his genius for discovery, and for the detection of the hidden operations of nature, is his admirable faculty of exposition. No living man approaches Faraday in the easy power of communicating the results of the most subtle investigation to a miscellaneous audience. Passing through his lucid understanding, every subject, however abstruse or abstract, becomes simple, clear, and attractive.
[By E. H. Baily, R.A. Executed in 1823.]
436*. Mary Somerville. Mathematician and Astronomer.
[Still living.]
One of the few women who step out from the limits which seem naturally assigned to their intellectual avocations, to compete with men in theirs. One of the fewer who do so, deserting none of their proper tasks, forfeiting nothing of their proper character. A profound mathematician and astronomer; a delicate inquirer into natural phenomena. Her work on “The Connexion of the Physical Sciences” spreads out, in a form designed for the uninitiated reader, but not for the inattentive, a large variety of impressive knowledge, on some of the most interesting laws of the natural world. Her manner of writing is remarkably simple, descriptive, clear and exact.
[By Macdonald. Executed in Rome, 1848.]
437. William Whewell. Philosopher.
[Born at Lancaster, 1795. Still living.]
The Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, and at this moment the greatest ornament of that celebrated university. He has been tutor in the college of which he is the Head, and Professor of Mineralogy. Subsequently appointed to the Chair of Moral Philosophy, which he still occupies. A great promoter of the study of this branch of human learning, both by his writings and his oral lectures. Has contributed valuable essays on the subject of education, with especial reference to the studies of his own university. Has enriched mathematical and physical science with many original investigations; is the author of a great work on the History and Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences, and of many scientific treatises exhibiting the application of the higher mathematics to natural philosophy. The vigour, activity, vivacity, and quickness of his intellect is extraordinary: his memory, in relation to almost every branch of literature and science, is rich to overflowing, and his faculty of conversation brilliant. The mind of William Whewell, by natural, impetuous action, invades all territories of knowledge, and grasps at a dominion forbidden by the term allotted to human life: but that mind, clearly and beyond all doubt, has power to grapple and to deal effectually with all that it has time to apprehend and seize. It is not to be wondered, that the temper of so ardent a spirit should be hasty: that its nature is frank, generous, and noble.
[By E. H. Baily, R.A. 1850.]
438. Sir Henry Thomas de la Beche. Geologist.
[Born in London, 1796. Still living.]
Distinguished himself early by his geological researches in England, France, Italy, and the West Indies. In 1835, the government instituted, at his suggestion, a Geological Survey of Great Britain, in conjunction with, the Ordnance Survey, and subsequently extended it to the United Kingdom, with Sir Henry as Director General. This post he now holds, in conjunction with the direction of the Museum of Practical Geology, and of the Government School of Mines. The author of many highly esteemed works and memoirs on geology; and has rendered good service to the state, by directing his knowledge to practical and educational purposes, and by inducing politicians, seldom ready to advance in a scientific direction, to found institutions of a high intellectual type.
[By E. H. Baily, R.A. 1845. From the bronze deposited in the Museum of Economic Geology, London.]
439. Thomas Carlyle. Writer.
[Born in Dumfriesshire, Scotland, 1796. Still living.]
Critic, Philosopher, Essayist, Censor: the criticism acute, penetrating,, severe; the philosophy idol-worship; the essay-writing picturesque, striking, animated, and strongly coloured; the censorship furious, testy, useless, if not unmeaning. Saturated with German metaphysics, full of German literature, and delighting in the German form of expression. If Thomas Carlyle would throw off his foreign affectations, and forget himself in his labours, he would be one of our most instructive, useful, convincing, and admirable writers; for his heart is large, his intellect strong, and both heart and intellect have long striven to inculcate human love amongst men, and to build, upon mutual affection, high deeds, and benevolent aspirations. But Thomas Carlyle, pen in hand, never did forget himself at any one instant of his life, and never will. To use one of his own Germanisms, he is the very incarnation of “Ich.” An instructed author will hold the balance fairly between his subject and his reader, dealing with each with intelligent reference to the other. Carlyle usually cares nothing either for his reader or his subject, but swallows up both. Whatever he shows us, we chiefly see Thomas Carlyle. “The French Revolution” is the best of his works! His pictures, there are startling, wonderful, and highly painted; his eloquence is inspiriting, and his imagery grand. As a social and moral Reformer, he beats the air, belonging to that humblest order of architects who are clever enough at destroying houses, but have no power to set up others in their place. Yet the influence of Carlyle has been great, both in England and America. He has forced men to think—he has appealed with irresistible power to their better natures—given vigour and direction to their impulses, and torn the veil from quackery as often as the evil thing has crossed his manly and indignant path. Sad thought that so serviceable an arm should be clogged with fetters of its own forging—that an almost boundless capacity for good should be restricted by a tether of its own fashioning.
[By H. Weigall.]
440. Frederick Carpenter Skey. Surgeon.
[Born at Upton-on-Severn, 1798. Still living.]
Professor of Surgery to the Royal College of Surgeons of England: Surgeon to St. Bartholomew’s Hospital and other institutions. The author of a work on “Operative Surgery,” in which a strong and humane plea is put forward against the use of the knife until the last extremity; and of the Hunterian Oration for 1850.
441. Richard Owen. Naturalist.
[Born at Lancaster, 1804. Still living.]
Owen, Faraday, and Herschell are England’s living representatives of science, and are so esteemed throughout Europe. Comparative anatomy, founded by Cuvier, has been perfected by Owen, and to him is due the great merit of raising that science in England to a position that commands the gratitude and admiration of the whole scientific world. This illustrious philosopher commenced life as a midshipman, but his career was quickly arrested by the close of the American war in 1813. In order to re-enter the profession, he adopted the medical profession, and became the pupil of Mr. Baxendale, a surgeon in Lancaster. In 1824, he matriculated in Edinburgh. In 1825, he came to London, and passed the Royal College of Surgeons in 1826. Under the advice of his friend, Abernethy, Owen gave up all thoughts of the navy, and accepted an appointment at the College of Surgeons, where for ten years he laboured at completing the catalogue of John Hunter’s magnificent museum. The enormous labour was achieved in 1840. Since that time every form of animal life, from the Sponge to the Man, has been submitted to his sagacious mind, and upon every subject he has thrown illumination. The mere enumeration of his contributions to the literature of natural history would in itself be a task. His “Treatise on the Homologies of the Vertebral Skeleton” has been received with great favour by anatomists and physiologists. His histories of “British Fossil Mammals and Birds,” and of “Fossil Reptiles,” the treatise “On the Nature of Limbs,” on “Parthenogenesis, or the successive production of procreative individuals from a single ovum,” have each brought fresh laurels to his brow. Cuvier asked, “Why should not natural history one day have its Newton?” We answer, “It has found Richard Owen.”
[By E. H. Baily, R.A. 1840.]
442. Benjamin Disraeli. Writer and Politician.
[Born 1805. Still living.]
The author, at an early age, of “Vivian Grey,” a novel. Has since published many interesting works of the same kind, the most popular being “Coningsby,” a book in which the political views of the writer are interwoven in the tale of fiction. Mr. Disraeli has acquired greater fame as a politician than as an author. By his own efforts, and by the force of his great genius, he has risen to one of the highest offices of state, having for a few months served his country as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Mr. Disraeli is unequalled in the House of Commons for sarcasm and invective; but he has other, better, more useful, and more lasting qualities of a statesman. If the moral weight of Mr. Disraeli in the country, is less than his talents would seem to claim, public opinion is not so much to blame as Mr. Disraeli, for the discrepancy between his acknowledged ability, and his place in the world’s estimation.
[By W. Behnes.]
443. Thomas Brassey. Railway Contractor.
[Born at Buerton, near Chester, 1805. Still living.]
One of the chiefs of the aristocracy that has risen in these latest times upon the foundations of commercial enterprise. A prince of the new dynasty, whose dominion extends wherever civilization is fostered by the Rail, and whose coronet is of iron. He commenced life as a surveyor at Birkenhead, and his first connexion with a railway was a contract to supply the stone for a viaduct of the “Manchester and Liverpool.” Since that time his labours have been incessant and extraordinary, both in his own country and out of it. Since 1846, he has, upon his own responsibility and credit, constructed upwards of 500 miles of railway, representing an aggregate of £9,250,000 of contract money. In France and Spain, his joint contracts with Mr. Mackenzie were for 189 English miles of road, and for nearly £3,000,000 sterling. His engagements, in Scotland and England, with Mr. Mackenzie and Mr. John Stephenson, from 1844 to 1851, comprised 511 miles of railway, and an aggregate of £7,200,000. His hands are still full, and his men are carrying out his behests in all parts of the world. In more senses than one the career of Thomas Brassey may be described as princely. The “Barentin” viaduct, of 27 arches, on the “Rouen and Havre” line tumbled down when all but completed; and the casualty involved a loss of £30,000. Mr. Brassey the contractor was neither morally nor legally responsible. He had repeatedly protested against the material used in the structure, and the French lawyers maintained that his protest freed him from liability. The contractor was of a different opinion. He had contracted, he said, to make and maintain the road, and no law should prevent him from being as good as his word. The viaduct was rebuilt at Mr. Brassey’s cost. For the construction of this stupendous work (accomplished in seven months) 16,000,000 bricks were required, of which 14,000,000 were new, and made on the spot. Thomas Brassey is beloved by his countless retainers. Riches, power, influence, and dominion, have not touched his sound and feeling heart. We dare to speak truth of this living worthy, for his life is in all respects one of the highest examples we can offer to our generation, absorbed as we are in the production of great industrial undertakings, and, above all things, intent upon the pursuit of wealth.
[By J. E. Jones.]
443*. William Dargan. Railway Contractor.
[Still living.]
Born at the beginning of the present century, of humble parents, in the county of Carlow, Ireland. After leaving school, was placed in a surveyor’s office. Then served with Telford the engineer, on the Holyhead-road; afterwards engaged, on his own account, in forming the Howth Road, and some canal works in other parts of Ireland. Since the introduction of railways he has been the chief maker of the iron paths that traverse the sister kingdom. When all the works shall be completed, which owe their construction to his skill, ingenuity, and industry, nearly a thousand miles of railway will be due to his enterprise. William Dargan is not only a railway contractor, but a railway owner, a steam-packet proprietor, a flax grower, and a farmer. Whilst too many of his fellow-countrymen have been engaged in destroying—as far as in them lay—the elements of industry in Ireland, he has laboured to develop her resources, and to rouse the physical energy and the self-respect of all classes. He is a patriot, not a partizan—not an Orangeman, nor a Ribbandman, nor a Repealer, nor a Protestant-ascendancy-man, but a true-hearted Irishman, a useful citizen, a loyal subject. If Sir Robert Peel could have counted a dozen Dargans amongst his coadjutors in Ireland, he would never have had cause to reckon the government of that portion of the United Kingdom, amongst his insuperable “difficulties.” The greatest work of the patriotic Dargan remains to be mentioned. He placed £20,000 at the disposal of the Committee formed in Dublin, for the construction of a Crystal Palace in that city. Before the Palace was ready to receive the contributions of all nations, William Dargan had contributed a much larger sum. He has his reward in the affectionate gratitude of the Irish people—in the approving smiles of his sovereign—in the lasting good wrought by his act in the land of his birth.
[This statue, by J. E. Jones, is at the south end of the nave.]
444. Samuel Warren. Lawyer and Writer.
[Born in Denbighshire, 1807. Still living.]
Is the author of “The Diary of a Physician,” and “Ten Thousand a-Year,” in the department of fiction, and of a work on the Study of the Law. Mr. Warren was originally educated for medicine. He has risen to the rank of Queen’s Counsel in the profession which he subsequently adopted; and his writings have acquired a wide popularity. The genius of Mr. Warren lies especially in the detection and dissection of character, in which he exhibits great skill and power.
[By Henry Weigall.]
445. Edward Shepherd Creasy. Historical Writer.
[Born in Kent, 1812. Still living.]
Educated at Eton, where he obtained the “Newcastle Scholarship.” Subsequently proceeded to King’s College, Cambridge. In 1837, called to the bar. Is Professor of History in University College, London, and the author of some able historical works.
[By E. G. Papworth, jun., by whom it is presented to the Crystal Palace.]
446. Judge Haliburton. Lawyer and Writer.
[Still living.]
Off the bench, better known under his assumed name of “Sam Slick.” He is a judge of Nova Scotia. In 1835, first appeared in a Canada paper as the author of a series of letters, illustrating the Yankee character. In 1842, was Attaché in England to the American Legation; one result of this appointment was the publication of “Sam Slick in England.” Sam’s pen continues from time to time to enliven and amuse the world, and to set it broadly grinning. He has infinite humour, a rollicking, racy, uncontrolled style, an exuberance of animal spirits, great acuteness, much worldly sagacity, and marvellous good sense under all his fun. A genial satirist, and one of those who have the best succeeded in making the low, corrupted, half-provincial, and half-slang language of an inferior social class serve literary use.
[By J. E. Jones.]
447. Edward Forbes. Naturalist.
[Born at Douglas, Isle of Man, 1815. Still living.]
One of the most eminent of our scientific men, remarkable for his originality, sagacity, lucid research, and general scientific attainments. Studied at Edinburgh, and afterwards lectured there on Natural History. Joined, in 1841, the Hydrographical Survey of the Ægean, under Captain Graves, R.N., and made important discoveries respecting the laws of bathymetrical distribution of marine animals and plants. In 1842, explored the antiquities, geology, and natural history of Lycia. During this expedition the sites of eighteen ancient cities were brought to light. In 1845, appointed Naturalist to the Geological Survey of the United Kingdom, and in 1851, a Professor of the Government School of Mines. President of the Geological Society, one of the Royal Commissioners of the Great Exhibition, and author of numerous works and memoirs on geological, zoological, and botanical subjects. In 1854, upon the decease of Professor Jameson, raised to the Chair of Natural History in the University of Edinburgh.
[By E. H. Baily, R.A.]
SOLDIERS AND STATESMEN.
448. William Murray, Earl of Mansfield. Lord Chief Justice.
[Born at Perth, in Scotland, 1704. Died in 1793. Aged 88.]
This great lawyer and upright man was the fourth son of David, Lord Stormont. In 1718, being thirteen years old, he travelled to London on the back of a pony, and went to Westminster school. In 1723, he proceeded to Oxford. At both places of learning he was distinguished for his industry and classical attainments. Afterwards entered at Lincoln’s Inn, and in 1730 was called to the bar. He gradually made his way upward. In 1742, Solicitor General; 1744, Chief Justice of the King’s Bench; 1776, advanced to the dignity of an Earl. Other events are worthy of record. During the Gordon Riots of 1780, the Protestant mob, thinking him favourable to the Catholics, burned his house to the ground, and cruelly destroyed a valuable collection of books and manuscripts. He was the principal victim of the merciless assaults of Junius; and he is remembered in the law books, as the chief justice who, in the celebrated case of “Rex v. Almon,” arising out of one of Junius’s Philippics, attempted in vain to withdraw the cognisance of the question of libel from the jury, to vest it in the court. In politics Lord Mansfield was a Tory; as a judge he recognised nothing but his duty to his sovereign and his country; and he must always be regarded as one of the greatest men that have adorned the judgment-seat in England. He possessed an amazing clearness of apprehension, vast learning, and marvellous perspicuity of exposition. His love of justice was the sole passion that absorbed his otherwise calm nature, and his integrity was spotless. In law, as in religion, the mind of Mansfield was essentially liberal. It was a saying of Burke’s that Murray—superior to the technicalities of his profession—still made the liberality of law keep pace with the demands of justice and the actual concerns of the world, conforming our jurisprudence to the growth of our commerce and of our empire. He was thus the founder of the commercial law of England, which before his time had no existence. Brave as a lion on the bench, Mansfield exhibited unaccountable timidity as a statesman. He quailed before Lord Chatham, whose schoolfellow he had been, and who mercilessly opposed him from the school to the grave. The illustrious rivals now lie quietly side by side in Westminster Abbey.
[From the statue in Westminster Abbey. Executed in 1801 by Flaxman.]
449. William Pitt, Earl of Chatham. Statesman.
[Born 1708. Died at Hayes, in Kent, 1778. Aged 70.]
A grand Minister, an idol in the memory of the nation, but failing in some of the elements of true greatness, for he was haughty, overbearing, inconsistent, insolent, obstinate, and petty. The statesman who would never be seen on business, except in a full dress coat and tie wig—who never allowed the highest considerations to interfere with his constant study of effect—who, in opposition, anathematized men for attempting that which he himself, in power, was the very first to carry out—who never suffered his under secretaries to sit in his presence—who never blushed at the most barefaced and vehement self-contradiction, can hardly be ranked with the very highest characters that adorn the pages of History. Yet he was superb withal, and potent in his influence upon the age in which he lived. He had tremendous earnestness; his thoughts blazed in his mind, and were communicated in burning words to his listeners. He had the faculty of uttering great truths, in language that carried not only conviction to every understanding, but enthusiasm to every soul. He had a noble person—an eye like an eagle’s—a voice of thunder. His oratory was splendid, and his speeches maintained some of their power when transferred to paper. He was always terrific. He began his career as a Cornet in the Blues, and entering Parliament as member for Old Sarum, in 1735, he so astonished Sir Robert Walpole by the violence of his assault, that the astute Minister was fain to intreat some one “to muzzle that terrible Cornet of horse.” The great glory of Chatham, as Minister, consists in the war policy which he advocated and upheld to the great advantage and pre-eminence of his country. In spite of all his errors he was adored by the people. He could feel and act with true nobility, and the multitude were touched by the lofty sentiments by which he was himself animated. Almost his whole fortune consisted of private benefactions. The Duchess of Marlborough left him £10,000, and Sir William Pynsent bequeathed him £3000 a year, and £30,000 in ready money. He opposed the war with America, but with his latest breath denied the right of the colony to independence. Whatever he did, he was still the most popular man in England. Proud and domineering as he was in public, his private character, as Lord Chesterfield declared, “was stained by no vices, and sullied by no meannesses.” In his own household, by his children and dependents, he was beloved for his gentle kindness. The statue before the visitor is highly characteristic of the man. “Graven by a cunning hand,” says Macaulay, “it seems still with eager face and outstretched arm, to bid England be of good cheer, and to hurl defiance at her foes.”
[The original model of the statue by J. Bacon, R.A., in Westminster Abbey. It will be found at the South end of the Nave.]
450. Edmund Burke. Orator, Writer, Statesman.
[Born at Dublin, 1730. Died 1797. Aged 67.]
Coleridge, speaking of Edmund Burke, has said that “he referred habitually to principles—he was a scientific statesman.” He is by far the most philosophic politician that ever dealt with public affairs in England. He takes rank with those who have applied their genius to the transactions of their own fleeting day, in order to extract from them truth, wisdom, and instruction for all ages. Gifted with gorgeous eloquence, he spake like a prophet. We read his words, which we are told fell as he uttered them upon dull insensate ears, and are astounded to find how nearly, under altered circumstances, they concern ourselves. Our descendants shall peruse the same syllables with the same living interest, desire, and benefit. Châteaubriand has asserted that when Fox spoke in the House of Commons, he and all strangers could not keep back their tears. When Burke rose, the act was a signal for general flight. We can understand the difference. Burke walked sublimely in advance of his contemporaries; Fox was abreast of them, sharing in their prejudices, and, it may be, inflaming their passions. Burke had great knowledge of men and books, an imagination rich to overflowing, and although a philosopher and a theorist, business-like habits. His genius was unmatched in the House of Commons, and his industry did not fall short of that of the most plodding member of that assembly. He was the son of a Dublin attorney, and in early life found favour with Lord Rockingham, who, bringing him into Parliament, allied him to the Whig interest. The connexion was subsequently broken off, when. Burke, in alarm at the frightful results and portents of the French Revolution, strove to preserve Liberty by holding her back from the too ardent embrace of her professed friends. His “Reflections on the French Revolution” was the most memorable treatise of the time; and it was followed by others as remarkable for splendid diction, as for the profoundest philosophical thought. When starting into life, Burke wrote his celebrated essay on “the Sublime and Beautiful,” and set on foot the “Annual Register,” the historical portion of which he wrote for many years. He would have been raised to the peerage but for the premature death of his only son, of whom he was very fond. His character has been variously estimated. There is no reason to doubt that he was as conscientious, as honest, and as sincere, as he was mighty in his high mental endowments.
[By Christopher Moore, 1850.]
451. George Washington. First President of the United States.
[Born in Virginia, United States, 1732. Died, 1799. Aged 67.]
If we were asked to single out from ancient or modern story one bright unsullied example of true greatness, of perfect patriotism, disinterestedness, consistency, and self-devotion, it would be difficult not to select George Washington. England, that suffered by his acts, has reason to be proud of his surpassing glory; for he came from the common stock, and he wrought the liberty of his country by the exercise of virtues dear to all Englishmen, and—let us dare to say—characteristic of their race. He received the most ordinary education, for he lost his father when ten years old; and he had to make his way in life by his own best efforts. At the age of eighteen he was appointed surveyor, in Virginia, to Lord Fairfax. At twenty he was Major in the colonial militia. In 1775, he took the command of the army in America against England. How he acted from that hour until 1783, when the treaty of peace was signed,—what intrepidity he exhibited,—what wisdom, what coolness, what courage, what moderation, what rare self-command under defeat, for, fighting at great disadvantage, he lost more battles than he gained,—is known to all. In 1789, he was elected President of the United States. As chief of the government, he declined all remuneration, save the bare payment of his official service: he had shown the same abstinence when in command of the army. In 1796, worn out by the labours and anxieties of his momentous life, he laid down his power and withdrew into privacy; but not until he had delivered to the American people, as his last public work, his solemn advice for their future self-government and conduct. His words of weight may be read to-day with singular advantage by the millions who enjoy the inappreciable blessings of freedom and prosperity, which his good right hand, sound heart, and sagacious judgment, chiefly secured to them. If hero-worship may be pardoned, he shall be forgiven—for his offence shall induce in him only humility—who kneels before the quiet, unpretending shrine of Washington.
[By Canova.]
451*. Warren Hastings. Statesman.
[Born 1732. Died 1818. Aged 86.]
Descended of an ancient and honoured line, seated at Daylesford, in Worcestershire, but ruined by taking the King’s side in the civil war. The boy, motherless, from his birth, and left in the hands of his grandfather, the impoverished incumbent of the parish, was sent early to the village school, and taught his letters with the peasantry. At seven years old, as he basked on the bank of the little stream that ran through the domain of his fathers, the thought of repossessing the lost inheritance broke on his imagination. The vision of the child was the single personal aim of the man’s life. What a life, ere the vision took reality! At 10 he was placed at Westminster school, at 17 he sailed with a writership for Bengal. His courage and intelligence, when the English authorities had fled from Calcutta, with his services in Clive’s army, raised him rapidly to distinction, and in ten years after setting foot on Indian ground, he was member of Council. At 32, he returned, with a moderate fortune, to England: and—that given and spent—at 36, back to India. At 40, Governor of Bengal. At 41, Governor-General. Ere the five years of his appointment had elapsed, he was more! He had overthrown his mortal foes in the Council: and was Lord Paramount of British India. In his 53rd year, his reign ceased. What had it been? With a resolution which no dangers and no difficulties could daunt, with a genius for resource, fertile in proportion to the demand, with a sagacity that disabled opposition and commanded success, with a self-possession calm in every tempest, he had taken in hand a set of provinces imperilled by their disorganization and by terrible enemies: and he left a constructed and fortified empire. What had been his means? Good and ill. He had stood between the rapacious rulers and the feeble ruled, and was alike beloved by both. A civilian, he held the heart and allegiance of the army. But in India he had used Indian powers. He had not amassed money corruptly, but he had corrupted with it. He had extorted treasure, he had broken faith, he had authorized and instigated cruelty, he had violated justice to shed guilty blood, he had held the ordinary moral laws suspended, for the safety and the aggrandizement of the dominion committed to his sway. Called to answer before the highest tribunal in the land, by all the intellect, eloquence, and power of a great party in Parliament, he was acquitted after a process of unheard-of duration, reaching through many years: but ruined by the costs. Partially compensated by the India House he retired to the ancestral home which, according to his early resolve, he had taken care to secure. Here for years he lived a tranquil, happy life in the midst of books, which he loved, and of endeavours to improve English cultivation from his experience in India.
[By J. Bacon, R.A.]
452. Charles James Fox. Statesman.
[Born 1748. Died 1806. Aged 58.]
This great orator and popular statesman, like his rival William Pitt, was trained from his youth for political life. He was the son of Henry, first Lord Holland, and received his education at Westminster, Eton, and Oxford. His acquaintance with ancient and modern literature was extensive, his taste highly cultivated, and his literary ability great. Had he not been a politician, he might have won high distinction as a scholar; or, had he not been constitutionally indolent, have reflected lustre upon his public deeds by labours in more classic fields. There was a difference of ten years in the ages of Pitt and Fox; Pitt being the younger man. Both were second sons: both had been sedulously prepared for the great arena by their ambitious fathers. Pitt began his work as a Reformer, but quickly turned aside into the ranks of the Tories. Fox, starting into life under the wing of his Tory parent, spoke and voted against Wilkes; but quickly repenting of his act, threw himself into the arms of the Whigs. And then the battle between the two rare combatants was well fought out unto the end—Pitt dying in harness in 1806, Fox following him the very same year. Fox was a Liberal, as the name was in his time understood by the great Whig families—an aristocrat with popular ideas, sympathizing with progress, but holding fast to the pillar of the constitution, every stone of which he jealously upheld. On every great subject he stood opposed to Pitt; he inveighed bitterly against the war with France, as he had formerly steadily opposed the rupture with the American Colonies. He was a speaker of extraordinary power; his oratory being bold, argumentative, impassioned, and unpremeditated. His followers were attached to his person, and in private life he was beloved, for he had an affectionate and noble nature, clouded by sad weaknesses. He was a desperate gamester, and a lover of pleasure to excess. At St. Ann’s Hill, withdrawn from the heat of conflict and dissipation, to his quiet and beloved garden—to his friends and his books, he was more faithful to himself, and to the good gifts of Providence within him.
[By I. Nollekens, R.A.]
453. John Philpot Curran. Lawyer.
[Born near Cork, 1750. Died in London, 1817. Aged 67.]
Of very humble parentage. Obtaining a sizarship, he received his education at Trinity College, Dublin, free of expense. He went to London, and entered himself as student at one of the Inns of Court. Called to the bar in 1775. His brilliant qualities soon brought him into notice. He was employed to defend various persons charged with political offences, and his eloquence, his wit, his withering sarcasm, and touching pathos, carried all before them. In 1784, he obtained a silk gown, and took his seat in the Irish House of Commons as member for Doneraile. When the Whigs came into office in 1806, he was made Master of the Rolls in Ireland. This office he held until 1814, when he resigned it and secured a pension of 3000l. a-year. He then visited England, and took up his residence in London, where he died. He was a popular advocate, and a most successful debater. His personal appearance was as deficient in grace as his intellectual powers were splendid. His country, which loved him when living, lamented him when dead, and perpetuated her love and her grief by the erection of a public monument to his memory.
[By Christopher Moore. 1841. Executed for his monument in St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin.]
454. Lord Eldon. High Chancellor of England.
[Born 1751. Died 1838. Aged 87.]
A great lawyer. His legal learning, it is said, has never been surpassed, If it has been equalled. For many years of his long life he sat on the judgment seat, and in the councils of his Sovereign. But the fame of Eldon as a politician has not survived him. He was narrow-minded and narrow-hearted. Lord Brougham has summed up his political faith when he says, “he was alike the determined enemy of all who would either invade the institution, or extirpate the abuse.” He worshipped things as they were. Whatever existed—whether a rotten borough, a sanguinary enactment, or an unjust civil disability—to the mind of Lord Eldon it formed part of the “British Constitution,” and that Constitution had in his eye a sanctity, like religion. No argument was admitted against this iron and immovable belief. Hence, though all men respected his sincerity, all enlightened men pitied his bigotry, and felt it as a public relief when he departed in his ripe old age. He was the last great man of the remorselessly obstructive school to which he belonged. As Lord Chancellor, his decisions have obtained great respect, but he was generally so long in arriving at them, and hesitation and doubt formed so marked a characteristic of his judicial character, that the pecuniary losses and human misery for which he became responsible were considerable. Lord Eldon was of humble origin, and his chances of promotion seemed in early life so remote, that he was actually at the minute of quitting London in despair when he received the brief that took him on to fortune.
[By Chantrey.]
455. Horatio Nelson. Lord High Admiral.
[Born at Burnham-Thorpe, in Norfolk, 1758. Died at Trafalgar, 1805. Aged 47.]
The most famous of sea-captains, and the darling of his country. He fought the sea-half of the world’s greatest war. England has a just pride in her Wellington, whose memory she honours. Towards Nelson she looks with a tenderer recollection, and her heart moves when she thinks of his services and renown. As Captain in 1794, he conducted a siege at Calvi, and lost an eye. In 1797, crying to his men “Westminster Abbey or glorious victory,” he captured the San Jose and San Nicolas, at the battle of St. Vincent. In the same year he lost his right arm at Teneriffe, and twelve months afterwards he received a wound in his head at the glorious victory of the Nile. There was in truth very little left of the man—yet all of the hero—when, in 1805, a cruel shot at the battle of Trafalgar, killed him in the very hour of triumph to his fleet, of delivery to his country. His death was felt in England as a personal, as well as national calamity, and was mourned by the whole people as by one man. Gentle as a woman; brave as a lion; devoted to his country; fighting her battles with a passionate ardour that consumed and obliterated all personal considerations; loyal; pious;—these are some of the qualities that combined to form the character of Horatio Nelson. He was always insignificant in person; and after his slender frame had been battered about by the enemy, his appearance in the honoured uniform which, his services had won, was most singular and striking; for he looked like a skeleton clothed in cumbrous magnificence. Yet the influence of this reduced, war-beaten figure was electrical. All who came within its atmosphere partook of its own nature. The followers of Nelson could and did achieve miracles, because they had unbounded faith in the power of their chief—in his heroism, resolution, and determination at all times to win. Nelson was beloved by his sailors. He lies buried in St. Paul’s.
456. William Pitt. Statesman.
[Born at Hayes, in Kent, 1759. Died 1806. Aged 47.]
It has been well said that the life of William Pitt, the second and favourite son of the magnificent Earl of Chatham, had neither springtime nor autumn. It knew neither the fresh delights of boyhood, nor the tranquil happiness of age. His father had trained him from his very childhood, like an athlete, for the feverish arena of politics. Before he was twenty-one, he stood a gladiator armed; and from that age until his comparatively early death he knew no rest. He was twenty-four—a period at which our English youth are quitting college, and looking around them for a profession—when he became Prime Minister of England. For seventeen years, in the midst of broil and battle, of discontent at home and warfare abroad, this great man held the place which his eagle ambition had chosen for its eyrie on the rock, defying opposition by his commanding eloquence, by the fertility and grandeur of his resources, by his singular financial ability, and by his unquenchable energy. In 1801, he descended from his lofty seat in order to make way for a Minister of peace; but in 1804, all hope of peace being blasted, he was again summoned to direct the councils of the nation, and again he exercised all his varied powers for the development and consummation of the policy, which, right or wrong, he deemed essential to the safety of England, and to the tranquillity and freedom of the world. Two years after his return to office, he fell a victim to his life-long labours and to an hereditary gout, nourished by intemperate habits. It is somewhat curious that Pitt, the cherished head of the aristocratic and Tory party, had expressed himself in favour of nearly all the principles which the liberals of subsequent times have struggled, not fruitlessly, to uphold. He was friendly to Church Reform, to Financial Reform, to Parliamentary Reform, and to the removal of disabilities on account of religious belief. He died at the same age as Lord Nelson; and as to Lord Nelson, so to him, a public funeral was decreed. The sum of forty thousand pounds also was voted to pay his debts. Whatever had been the faults of Pitt, he was not avaricious. He had made no money by the State, for he had ever been the most unostentatious of men. The character of his eloquence was unlike that of his father. It was logical, dignified, equable: now rising into indignant invective, and now taking the shape of the keenest and most cutting sarcasm; but always self-possessed. It did not burst in torrent from an overflowing fount of wrath and passion like the submerging oratory of Chatham. The form of Pitt was gaunt, his countenance harsh, and his action ungraceful. He was, in many respects, one of the greatest Ministers our country has ever seen. His rapid comprehension was well described by his tutor, who said that he seemed to him to justify the doctrine of Plato, that the act of learning is reminiscence only, and not acquisition. He was the favourite of the nation: Fox of a party.
[By J. Nollekens, R.A.]
457. General Jackson. President of the United States.
[Born in South Carolina, U.S., 1767. Died at Nashville, in Tennessee, 1845. Aged 78.]
The son of an Irish emigrant. He was originally destined for the Church: but he quitted school to take part in the War of Independence. The war over, he adopted the law as a profession, and became judge in Tennessee, as well as Major-General of the Forces of the same state. In 1815, as Major-General of the United States, he gained a decisive victory over the English at New Orleans. In 1821, appointed Governor of Florida, and the next year elected member of the Senate for the state of Tennessee. Elected President of the United States in 1828 and again 1832; so that he was at the head of the American government for the space of eight years. An ardent democratic chief throughout life. His presidency was distinguished by the development of democratic tendencies, of the spirit of territorial extension, and by the marked encouragement of the slave-holding interest. He successfully opposed Congress in the matter of the United States Bank, regarding it as a monopoly in the State injurious to the general interests of the people. Jackson was a man of Roman virtues, a true patriot, and of uncompromising integrity, simple, and austere. Straightforward and blunt as a soldier.
[By Hiram Powers.]
458. Henry William Paget, Marquis of Anglesey. English Field Marshal.
[Born 1768. Died 1854. Aged 86.]
A distinguished, brave, and gallant military commander. In 1793, served in Flanders. Later, won honour in Spain, especially by the skill with which he covered General Moore’s retreat. At Waterloo, where he commanded the whole British cavalry, he lost a leg. He was member of the government under Canning, and in 1828—a memorable epoch—Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland. Again held this appointment under Lord Grey, in 1831.
[By Christopher Moore. 1840. Executed for W. H. Curran, Esq.]
459. Arthur, Duke of Wellington. Soldier and Statesman.
[Born in Ireland, 1769. Died at Walmer Castle, 1852. Aged 83.]
The third son of the Earl of Mornington, and of Anna, daughter of Viscount Dungannon. Received his early education at Eton—then studied at the military school of Angers, in France; and in 1787, entered an infantry regiment as Ensign. Later became by purchase Lieutenant-Colonel of the 33rd, and in that regiment took part in Holland in the campaign of 1794. His first great military exploit was at the beginning of the century, in India, where his brother was Governor-General, and where, fighting in the war against the Mahrattas, he annihilated at Assaye an army of 60,000 men, with only 12,000 troops. From this period until his defeat of the French army, and the overthrow of Napoleon on the field of Waterloo (1815), his career was a series of triumphs. Many comparisons have been made between Napoleon and Wellington; all are unnecessary, and from the purpose. There is no resemblance whatever in the two characters. If it is contended that Napoleon was the greatest military hero of his time, it is sufficient for the admirers of Wellington to state, that after the English captain had beaten, one upon another, the great Marshals of Napoleon, he conquered Buonaparte himself, and put an end for ever to his splendid authority and terrible misrule. Madame de Staël has said, speaking of Wellington, that “Never was so great a man made out of such small materials.” Another writer has remarked, that in him “common sense amounted to genius.” A third tells us that he accomplished everything by that system of self-subjugation which made every wish, desire, aim, and object of life subordinate to a paramount and an ever-present sense of duty. We may gather a notion of the true character of Wellington from such criticism. There was nothing brilliant and overpowering in his genius; but he commanded respect, and won greatness by the wisdom of his combinations, the steadiness of his will, the simplicity of his aim, and the pertinacity of his course—his mind being once made up as to the direction to be taken. Wellington had boundless influence over his men, because he had irresistible power over himself. He knew better than any other great captain what not to do: and having resolved upon the propriety of inaction, no consideration, no amount of obloquy, blame, or reproach, could incite him into action. When he undertook command in Portugal, it was his conviction that the enemy were to be finally defeated by a passive policy on his part at starting. For months, against general opinion, he persisted in that policy; and after it had succeeded beyond all expectation, once a-foot, he advanced resolutely with his troops, scoured Portugal and Spain, drove the French before him, followed them into France, and never slackened until he had caught Napoleon, and chained him to the rock of St. Helena. Into the field of politics Wellington brought the same policy to play. He knew when to act on the defensive, how long he might defend with safety, when it was prudent to retreat or capitulate upon honourable conditions. The life of Wellington, from his boyhood until his death, is an instructive lesson for his countrymen. His daily habits, as we all know, were of the simplest; and his business-like activity was the most remarkable characteristic of his old age. In manners Wellington was soldierly and rough, but he was fond of children. He had few intimate male friends, but he has left behind him a correspondence that shows the delight he took in opening his mind freely, on the most delicate questions of State policy, to more than one of the gentler sex. A great contemporary poet, a friend and warm admirer of Wellington, has said that this illustrious, and in many respects perfect man, had one infirmity that brought him down to the level of us all—“he could be angry.”
[By Henry Weigall. This was the last bust for which the Duke sat. It was modelled in four sittings, the dates of which were August 6, 9, 11, and November 18, 1851.]
459A. Arthur, Duke of Wellington. Soldier and Statesman.
[Colossal Bust presented by the sculptor, H. Ross.]
460. John Quincy Adams. President of the United States.
[Born at Boston, U.S., 1769, Died 1848. Aged 79.]
Educated in Europe. At a tender age, private secretary to the American Minister at St. Petersburgh. In 1794, appointed by Washington, Ambassador to the Hague. In 1809, Ambassador to the Court of Russia. Subsequently Ambassador in London. In 1825, President of the United States. His administration worthy of his life, which was pure, disinterested, and strictly honest. Upon his death in 1848, he left a reputation for integrity, independence, and manly straightforwardness, second only to that of Washington. His habits to the last simple and unostentatious, and his industry remarkable. His exterior was cold, but fire glowed within, for his nature was as earnest as his oratory was fierce. He had a tenacious memory, great knowledge, and the faculty of speaking forcibly, clearly, and to the purpose. One of the worthies of the Great Republic.
[By Hiram Powers.]
461. Lord Monteagle. English Peer.
[Born 1790. Still living.]
Comptroller-general of the receipt and issue of Her Majesty’s Exchequer. Before he was raised to the peerage, Lord Monteagle, as Mr. Spring Rice, sat in the House of Commons, and filled various offices of State—amongst others, that of Chancellor of the Exchequer.
[By Macdonald, of Rome.]
462. William Huskisson. Statesman and Financier.
[Born in Worcestershire, 1770. Accidentally killed, 1830. Aged 60.]
A distinguished statesman, whose commercial views, early in the present century, were considerably in advance of those of the political party to which he was attached, and who strongly advocated the principle of the measures carried at a later period by Sir Robert Peel. He served under Pitt, and afterwards was President of the Board of Trade. He was accidentally killed by a train, at the opening of the Manchester and Liverpool Railway.
[For account of this statue, the original of which is at Liverpool, see Handbook of Modern Sculpture, No. 29.]
463. John Singleton Copley, Baron Lyndhurst. Ex-Chancellor of England.
[Born in Boston, U. S., 1772. Still living.]
The son of a celebrated painter. After having studied at Cambridge, where he took high mathematical honours, he was called to the bar, in 1804. In 1826, Master of the Rolls; in 1827, Lord Chancellor. Has held this last high office at three distinct periods of his life. Lord Lyndhurst is remarked for the extraordinary lucidity and quickness of his understanding. His mind has the utmost facility in grasping the most intricate and involved points of any case submitted to it; and his facility of exposition is as perfect as his perception is acute. Hence, though not the greatest of the lawyers who have dignified the woolsack, he has always been the most agreeable and popular of Lord Chancellors. He is eloquent without labour, and convincing without vehemence—in many respects a master of oratory. In his eighty-third year, his polished intellect has lost none of its lustre. It has all the vigour, in debate, which it possessed half a century ago. Lord Lyndhurst at first took side with the Liberal party in politics, but he soon became a follower of Sir Robert Peel, and with that Minister he remained to the last.
[By W. Behnes.]
464. Lord Ashburton. English Peer.
[Born 1774. Died 1848. Aged 74.]
The head of the great mercantile house of Baring. As Ambassador to America during the government of Sir Robert Peel, Lord Ashburton concluded the treaty between England and the United States which settled the much-vexed “Oregon question.” His marriage with an American lady attached an interest to his person in America, and his high character gave him weight and authority at home.
[By Macdonald, of Rome.]
465. Daniel O’Connell. Orator and Lawyer.
[Born at Cahir, in Ireland, 1775. Died at Genoa, 1847. Aged 72.]
The great Irish agitator. A man of extraordinarily powerful talents and influence. His oratory, especially adapted to sway the hearts of an Irish multitude, obtained for him a rule throughout Ireland that has never been equalled. Thousands upon thousands of his fellow-countrymen were content to be governed by his will for good or for evil. The unprecedented opportunity was used by Daniel O’Connell, less for the advantage and happiness of his afflicted country, than for his own selfish ends. When the wrongs of Ireland clamoured loudly for redress, O’Connell was an agitator with a righteous cause sustaining his great eloquence. When those wrongs were in course of remedy—were remedied—he was still an agitator, but unsustained by any cause save that of his own pecuniary necessities. It is lamentable to think how much good might have been effected by the energies of O’Connell, and to what deplorable straits his policy had reduced Ireland before death took him from it. Had it been as much to his personal and pecuniary interest to render his country contented, peaceful, prosperous, as to keep her in a ferment of discontent, discord, and semi-rebellion, O’Connell would have proved one of the greatest benefactors of his kind. As it was, he left behind him a name, which is not uttered with opprobrium—simply because it is already nearly forgotten. The associations connected with his memory have nothing in common with the new epoch of tranquillity, order, and steady industry, upon which Ireland has entered. O’Connell was not so eloquent in the House of Commons as out of it. He was born for the multitude. His power of invective, his faculty of humour, his facility of illustration, his familiar tones, his burly form, his winning voice, were all elements that go to make up the successful demagogue.
[By J. E. Jones.]
466. Joseph Hume. Political Reformer.
[Born at Montrose, 1777. Still living.]
Has sat in the House of Commons for upwards of forty years. Was educated for the medical profession, and is member of the Colleges of Surgeons of Edinburgh and London. Acted in India as Persian interpreter to the army, during the Mahratta war, from 1802 to 1807. Joseph Hume is a consistent Reformer, and by his steadiness, earnestness, and faithful adherence to the principles of his life, has secured the respect and good-will of all political parties. When he entered parliament, his views were considered extreme and theoretical. Many of these views have been gradually adopted by the leading statesmen of the time, and there is every probability that Mr. Hume will outlive all his grievances. He is a rigid economist, and a thoroughly honest politician.
467. Henry, Lord Brougham. Lawyer, Statesman, Educator.
[Born 1779. Still living.]
A name that will be identified for ever with the advances in civilisation made in this country, during the first half of the present century. For the great reforms effected in our criminal law, for the impetus which has been given to education among all classes, we are chiefly indebted to the influence of Lord Brougham, and to the indomitable exertion of his strong, practical, energetic, and versatile mind. He has been Lord High Chancellor of England; but his legal attainments constitute his very smallest title to respect. He is a great orator, a man of science worthy of taking rank with scientific men, a metaphysician, an historian, an essayist. He has addressed himself to every branch of knowledge, and is distinguished in all. Before he was elevated to the peerage he was one of the foremost men in England, honoured for his resolute and fiery opposition to abuses of every kind, and beloved for his eager anxiety to remove the shackles from the negro, and every disability from the limbs of his fellow-creatures nearer home. Social elevation has not added to the popularity of Lord Brougham, for the ermine has in part withdrawn the idol from the people. All his magnificent qualities are depressed and dwarfed beneath his coronet. His eloquence is not so overpowering nor so thrilling, his sympathies for the classes below him are apparently deadened, his respect for his “order” proportionately increased. He has ceased to be “the first man” out of doors, without becoming the first lord within. If he has not survived his reputation he has manifestly damaged it. Yet for his former permanent and vital services to his country, his name shall be held by Englishmen in lasting, grateful, and affectionate remembrance.
[By Deer.]
467A. Henry, Lord Brougham. Lawyer, Statesman, Educator.
[An admirable seated portrait statue, by E. G. Papworth, Sen., which will be found at the South end of the Nave, Presented by the sculptor.]
468. Martin Van Buren. Ex-President of the United States.
[Born 1782. Still living.]
A lawyer, and an active politician in the democratic interest. From 1812 until 1820, a member of the United States Senate, during which time a keen supporter of the war with England, and, for a short period, Attorney-General. In 1828, Governor of the State of New York—then Secretary of State in the cabinet of General Jackson. Vice President in 1832, and during General Jackson’s second term of office. In 1836, elected President by a large majority. The principal measure of his administration was the re-establishment of the independent treasury. In 1840, again nominated for the Presidency, but defeated by General Harrison, the Whig candidate. Since the close of his presidential term in 1841, Mr. Van Buren has lived in retirement. His popularity was not so great at the close as at the beginning of his political life.
[By Hiram Powers.]
469. John Caldwell Calhoun. American Statesman.
[Born at Abbeville, in South Carolina, U.S. 1782. Died at Washington, 1850. Aged 68.]
Of Irish descent. Educated at Yale College, and studied law at Lichfield, in Connecticut. In 1807, admitted to the Bar. In 1811, elected to Congress. Secretary of War in 1817; and from 1825 to 1832, Vice-President of the United States. He asserted that the American constitution was a mere federal treaty, from the conditions of which an individual State might at any time withdraw itself, if the inhabitants of the State so desired. This dangerous principle was combated by Webster, and—luckily for the Union—with success. Calhoun had great eloquence, and rapid powers of generalisation. He was inflexible in integrity, firm of purpose, energetic, laborious, and endowed with a high sense of honour; devoted to his country, with an inextinguishable love of liberty. A moderate democrat, nevertheless, and a free-trader. In person he was tall and lank; his face indicated great firmness of character and determination. His manner of speaking and of gesticulation was remarkable. He would walk constantly up and down during his discourse, his right arm moving all the while regularly backwards and forwards, like the pendulum of a clock.
[By Hiram Powers.]
469.* Daniel Webster. American Statesman and Orator.
[Born, in New Hampshire, U.S., 1782. Died 1852. Aged 70.]
Descended from one of those pilgrim-fathers of New England, who emigrated, in 1636. A lawyer. In 1813, took his seat in Congress for New Hampshire, war then raging with England. He advocated the war with fervid eloquence. In politics a “Whig,” a term corresponding to our “Conservative.” An avowed opponent of the Democratic party, but a still stronger friend to the true interests of his country, and, like our own Sir Robert Peel, preferring these to a dogged and an injurious persistance in his own preconceived political views. Hence, though no friend to slavery, Webster carried on no bitter crusade against it; and hence his conciliatory policy which, in dealing with the unhappy institution, maintained, through difficulty and danger, the political Union that contributes so largely to the strength and greatness of the American people. The oratory of Webster was of a high order: the most classical that America has yet displayed. It was powerful, argumentative, and as remarkable for passion, as for logical acumen. He was also a scholar, with a refined taste, and deeply attached to the literature of the old country. In person he was thick-set and burly. The countenance indicated force, without delicacy of taste and perception: but in this respect the countenance of Daniel Webster belied his mind. His death, at the close of a vehement career, was serene and happy.
[By Hiram Powers.]
470. Sir Frederick Pollock. Chief Baron of the Exchequer.
[Born in London, 1783. Still living.]
Educated at Cambridge, where he obtained high mathematical distinction. Has been Attorney General.
[By W. Behnes.]
470.* Sir Henry Pottinger. Diplomatist.
[Still living.]
Went to India as Cadet in 1804, and became Major-General in the East India Company’s service. During his long sojourn in India he fulfilled many appointments. In 1841, selected by the Government to proceed to China as Plenipotentiary and Envoy Extraordinary for the adjustment of the differences then existing between the two empires. Amongst his other rewards for his success in this mission, he received from the House of Commons a pension of 1500l. a-year. Afterwards Governor of the Cape of Good Hope: now Governor of Madras.
[By J. E. Jones.]
471. Henry John Temple, Viscount Palmerston. Statesman.
[Born 1784. Still living.]
A Minister under many governments. Secretary-at-War from 1809 until 1828. Foreign Secretary, with a slight interval of repose, from 1830 until 1841. Again Foreign Secretary in 1846. At the present moment, Home Secretary in the administration of Lord Aberdeen. A statesman of vast knowledge and acquirements; of sterling business habits; quick and decided in action. An admirable debater, with a facile, ready, but not lofty eloquence. The upholder of constitutional government wherever his name and position have acquired influence in the world. Friendly to efforts made abroad for the recovery of liberty, he has been held in terror by those who would still keep liberty in chains. Of all living Ministers, Lord Palmerston is the most personally popular. He has served with many parties, and yet is no party man. The Whigs do not love him; the Conservatives cannot claim him; the Radicals own him not. Yet the eye of England glances involuntarily towards him as one with qualities to be exercised on great occasions, in the interests of his country. We cannot enumerate his followers; but his admirers are countless. He has many practical virtues that constitute a bond, uniting him to Englishmen, and make him an object of interest in the national mind. He is bold, outspoken, courageous, patriotic; genial in temper, and unaffected in intercourse. He has infinite “pluck.” When he strikes, he hits straight and effectually. In self-defence his “parry” is inimitable, and always successful.
[Executed in 1846 by Christopher Moore.]
472. Sir Robert Peel. Statesman.
[Born near Bury, in Lancashire, 1788. Died in London, 1850. Aged 62.]
The House of Commons was to Peel—what it had been to Pitt, his illustrious predecessor—his world of thought and action. Pitt was 20 when he took his seat in Parliament by the influence of Sir James Lowther. Sir Robert was 21 when he was returned for Cashel, by the influence of his father. Both lived, and, so to speak, died on that grand stage. If Pitt is to be recognised as the boldest and bravest Minister that ever conducted a country through the perils and disasters of a protracted war, Peel must be regarded as the most courageous statesman that ever dared to guide a busy nation through the peculiar dangers that environ a period of long peace. Pitt set up a principle of action as his guiding star, and steered his course by its light, against the bitterest opposition and the most vehement remonstrance, and died, still proclaiming the safety of his chosen path. Peel, in a later age, and under different circumstances, sacrificed, year after year, his strong convictions, in order to direct within safe channels the popular current which in spite of all his efforts to resist it, flowed on until it threatened to destroy and drown all obstacles—good or evil—that opposed its progress. Had Pitt lived in the days of Peel, his sagacity would have compelled the same policy. The proof of Peel’s sound wisdom was emphatically witnessed when he ceased to be Minister in 1846, but continued, until his cruel and untimely end, to exercise the greatest influence of all living men, over the destinies of his country. More potent than even the Prime Minister who had unseated him, was Sir Robert Peel, from 1846 until 1850. Many are the claims of Peel upon our gratitude. He reformed our criminal code; he advanced the cause of religious freedom; he repealed the corn laws. His attainments as a scholar were great, and he was a warm encourager of literature and art. His secret charities to men of genius—revealed since his death—declare the goodness of his heart. It is said that he had few friends in public life. It may be difficult for a politician to enjoy this luxury. In the bosom of his own family he was beloved.
[This fine colossal statue, which will be found at the south-west angle of the great Transept and Nave, is by Baron Marochetti. It is executed in bronze.]
473. Sir Michael O’Lochlen. Lawyer.
[Born 1789. Died 1842. Aged 53.]
A judge in Ireland, of high legal attainments, great practical knowledge, and unwearied industry. The first Roman Catholic created law officer of the Crown, and raised to the bench, since the Revolution of 1688. A member of the Church of Rome, he owed his promotion to the Liberal party. Appointed Attorney-General 1835, Baron of the Exchequer 1836, and Master of the Rolls 1837. He was earnest in his endeavours to promote the ends of justice, courteous in manners, and kind in disposition. All parties esteemed and admired him for his judicial conduct, and, after his decease, Lord Lyndhurst, a political opponent, paid a just and feeling tribute to his memory.
[By Christopher Moore, for the Incorporated Law Society of Dublin.]
474. Lord John Russell. Statesman.
[Born 1792. Still living.]
The third son of the sixth Duke of Bedford. Has served many offices of state, amongst others that of Prime Minister of England. The recognised leader of the Whig party, and the representative of the school of Charles James Fox. The author of a work on the Constitution of England, of a tragedy, and of other books. The editor, also, of the Memoirs of Thomas Moore, the poet. Lord John Russell is considered one of our first constitutional statesmen. His course is not always so distinctly marked as to be obvious and intelligible to every looker-on. Now he is too liberal for Conservatives, now too conservative for Liberals; to-day he offends the lovers of religious toleration by his legislation against spiritual freedom; to-morrow he will distress bigotry by his zeal for religious independence. Yet Lord John is a man of mark and influence: and when he suffers his soul to be kindled into warmth, the sympathies of men rally involuntarily around him. The prominent feature in the character of this distinguished statesman, is the supreme absence of self-mistrust, be the matter in hand what it may.
475. David Salomons. Alderman.
[Born in London, 1797. Still living.]
The first Hebrew gentleman who has held civic appointment, and sat as member of parliament, though but for a day, in the House of Commons. Was elected sheriff of London in 1835, and alderman of Aldgate-ward in 1836; but could not take his seat in consequence of the existing state of the law, which practically excluded Jews. In the year 1844, elected alderman of the ward of Portsoken, but the election again annulled. The law having been altered by Sir Robert Peel’s government in 1847, elected without opposition, in that year, alderman of Cordwainers’ ward. In 1851, returned to parliament for the borough of Greenwich. Taking his seat, he maintained his right to remain there; but he was ordered to withdraw, the law of the land forbidding his presence until he could take the necessary oaths. The claims of the Jews to equal rights with their fellow citizens are identified with the name of David Salomons, as they have been maintained chiefly by his untiring exertions.
[From the marble by Edward Davis.]
476. Sir William Follett. Lawyer.
[Born in Devonshire, 1798. Died in London, 1845. Aged 46.]
The most celebrated advocate of his time. Remarkable for the lucidity of his intellect, for his extensive and accurate legal knowledge, for his acute discrimination, his intuitive sagacity, and for his power of rapidly transferring his whole attention to anything that might be brought before it. His reasoning faculties were of the highest order, and his memory was singularly quick and retentive. His manner calm, dignified, and graceful, and his temper serene and unruffled. His labours at the bar were excessive, and prosecuted in the midst of pain and sickness. He died comparatively early, worn out by disease and work. He had served Her Majesty as Solicitor-General, and, had he lived, would inevitably have taken the highest position open to his profession.
[By W. Behnes.]
477. The Earl of Derby. Statesman.
[Born 1799. Still living.]
Has been Chief Secretary for Ireland, Secretary of State for the Colonies, and Prime Minister. Has served with the Whigs under Lord Grey, and with the Conservatives under Sir Robert Peel. Since the death of Sir Robert, has headed the extreme Tory party. Lord Derby is one of the readiest, most eloquent, clever, and fluent speakers in the House of Lords. When in the House of Commons, he was styled by Mr. Disraeli “The Prince Rupert of Debate.” As a lieutenant, he was brilliant, fierce, and irresistible in assault. As a leader, he did not discover the comprehensive grasp, the knowledge, and administrative skill of his illustrious predecessor and chief, Sir Robert Peel.
[By Christopher Moore. 1839. Executed for Lord Skelmersdale.]
478. George William Frederick Villiers, Earl of Clarendon. Statesman.
[Born 1800. Still living.]
A Minister who has honourably and usefully served his country in many capacities. Has been Envoy Extraordinary at Madrid, President of the Board of Trade, and, during a stormy period of incipient rebellion, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. At present, Her Majesty’s Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. An excellent man of business, and a consistent Liberal in politics.
[By J. E. Jones.]
479. Sidney Herbert. Statesman.
[Born 1810. Still living.]
Half brother of the Earl of Pembroke. Was educated at Oxford. Entered Parliament in 1832. Has been ever since a follower of the policy identified with the name of Sir Robert Peel. From 1841 to 1845, Secretary to the Admiralty. In 1845, appointed Secretary at War. Retired from office with Sir Robert Peel in 1846, but became again Secretary at War, in Lord Aberdeen’s administration, 1853. Mr. Herbert has acquired a well deserved reputation for his benevolent exertions on behalf of the unemployed industrious classes of both sexes.
[By Macdonald of Rome.]
480. Lord Canning. English Peer.
[Born 1812. Still living.]
The only surviving son of George Canning, Prime Minister of England. Has been Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs; and for a short time, in 1846, was Chief Commissioner of Woods and Forests. He was Chairman of the Council of Juries in the Great Exhibition of 1851.
[By Macdonald.]
480.* William Hulme Hooper. Naval Officer.
[Born in London, 1826. Died there 1854. Aged 27.]
One of the intrepid Arctic explorers, whose spirit of enterprise has impelled them to invade the ocean, in his sternest and most terrific domain, through hope to solve the mystery hanging over the fate of Sir John Franklin. Lieutenant Hooper commanded the second cutter in the remarkable voyage of the boats of Her Majesty’s ship “Plover” from Icy Cape to Cape Bathurst. Lost for three days and nights in an Arctic snow storm, quartered two long and lonely winters away from his ship in log-huts with a few of his men, under every privation, he brought home the fastened malady of the lungs which so early cut short his ardent career.
[This bust is by David Dunbar.]
PRELATES AND THEOLOGIANS.
481. Cardinal Wolsey. Minister of State.
[Born at Ipswich, 1471. Died at Leicester, 1530. Aged 59.]
A butcher’s son, with an inordinate appetence for place, power, and money. A magnificent pluralist, whose insatiable desire for wealth was redeemed only by the noble uses to which he applied a portion of his worldly goods. His revenues almost equalled those of the crown, and many of his acts were princely, as became the rival of a king. Wolsey founded several lectures at Oxford, built Christ Church in that University, and erected Hampton Court, which, in his splendid generosity, he presented to Henry VIII. He owed his first advancement to Henry VII., who sent him on an embassy to the Emperor of Germany, and afterwards made him Dean of Lincoln. His rise was, thenceforwards rapid. He became, under Henry VIII., Cardinal, Lord Chancellor, and Pope’s Legate. His fall was headlong. Offending the king by refusing to sanction his divorce, he was disgraced in an hour, and compelled to disgorge his enormous acquisitions. He was arrested at York, but, falling sick on his way to London, died at Leicester. Much of Wolsey’s wealth was, no doubt, ill-gotten; his ambition knew no bounds; his insolence was intolerable;—but he had in many respects a grand and royal mind, and the benefits conferred by him upon learning are never to be omitted in a history of his remarkable life.
[Presented by Mr. John Archbutt, London.]
482. Charles James Blomfield. Bishop of London.
[Born 1786. Still living.]
Educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, of which he was Fellow. Bishop of Chester, 1824—of London, 1828. Distinguished for his classical attainments, and before his elevation to the bench, known as the accomplished editor of the tragedies of Æschylus. As a churchman, Charles James Blomfield has endeavoured to take a middle and conciliatory course, notwithstanding his decided bent towards the high church party. It is no reproach to the Bishop of London to say that he has occasionally stumbled, upon a difficult and slippery path.
[By W. Behnes.]
482A. Charles James Blomfield. Bishop of London.
[By Henry Weigall.]
483. Father Theobald Mathew. Temperance Reformer.
[Born at Thomastown, in Ireland, 1790. Still living.]
A modern crusader, who has drawn his spiritual sword against one of the deadliest foes to religion, civilisation, and human happiness. An apostle who carries glad tidings to every hearth, irrespectively of the altar raised there for divine worship. A proselytiser who converts Romanist and Protestant, with equal advantage and safety to both. He was educated at Maynooth; is a Romish priest; and his whole life has been spent in an anxious and a humane endeavour to release mankind from the self-imposed yoke of Drunkenness. He is the founder of the “total abstinence” principle, in virtue of which self-denying ordinance “pledged” men abstain from any use whatever of intoxicating liquors. The success of the good and courageous man has been equal to his deserts: both are inestimable. Under his teaching the most hardened drunkards have become abstemious, and the most reckless and improvident have been won to self-respect and virtuous conduct. No preacher in the olden or the modern time has surpassed his earnestness or his labour. Hundreds of thousands have taken the pledge from his hands in Ireland, in this country, and in the United States. If some of the number have been unfaithful to their plighted word, the weakness of humanity will explain the defection. That thousands are the better, the wiser, the happier, and the purer for his labours, is beyond all doubt. A few patriots like Father Mathew, would have changed the face of nature in Ireland years ago. His work, now, is productive of hourly good. The man who only checks the growth of Drunkenness is a benefactor of his kind. He who extinguishes the vice in a hundred thousand beasts, is one of the mightiest of human conquerors.
[By Christopher Moore, 1845.]
484. Cardinal Wiseman. Chief of the Romish Church in England.
[Born at Seville, in Spain, 1802. Still living.]
Came to England in 1808. Educated at the English college in Rome, where he took his degree of D.D. in 1824. Consecrated Bishop of Melipotamus in 1840, and made Vicar Apostolic of the London district in 1849. Created Cardinal, 1850. Cardinal Wiseman is a man of vast learning and eminent ability. His lectures on the Connexion between Science and Revealed Religion constitute a noble and masterly vindication of the cause which the lectures are intended to maintain, and are full of the happiest illustration. The style of Cardinal Wiseman is forcible, logical, and eloquent; and it is said that he writes with equal ease the language of nearly all the European nations. He is the seventh English Cardinal since the Reformation.
[By Christopher Moore. 1850.]
KINGS AND QUEENS.
485. Edward III. King of England.
[Born 1313. Died 1377. Aged 64.]
An accomplished monarch, brave, and for his time enlightened. In his day, and by his act, the power of the Commons rose, and the pretensions of the Barons were reduced; several constitutional acts found their way to the statute book, and greater security was given by law to property and person. Glorious battles were fought in France; the field of Cressy was won, and Calais surrendered in 1346. Edward, Prince of Wales, surnamed the Black Prince, was the worthy son of this redoubtable sire. Following in the steps of his father, he won, in 1355, the battle of Poitiers, took the French king and his son prisoners, and brought them to London. In this reign, Queen’s College, Oxford, and Clare Hall, Pembroke Hall, Trinity Hall, and Caius, all colleges at Cambridge, were founded. Windsor Castle also was built by Edward III., William of Wykeham, afterwards Bishop of Winchester, and Chancellor of England, and the founder of Winchester College, being “Clerk of the works.” Under Edward III., the first toll was levied for mending the highways; the highway concerned being the road between St. Giles’s and Temple Bar. Upon the whole, a grand time for England.
[From the Effigy.]
486. Eleanora of Castile. Surnamed The Faithful. First Queen of Edward I., of England.
[Born in Castile, 1243. Died at Grantham, 1290. Aged 47.]
A queen who has been described as “a loving mother to our nation, the column and pillar of the whole realm,”—godly, modest, merciful. The united influence of loveliness, virtue, and sweet temper, inspired in the heart of her renowned lord an attachment as deep as it was true. She was the mother of the first Prince of Wales. When, in 1269, her husband took up the Cross, Eleanora resolved to share the dangers of his Syrian campaign. Her ladies of the Court endeavouring to dissuade her from the journey, she replied, “Nothing ought to part those whom God has joined; and the way to heaven is as near, if not nearer, from Syria, as from England or my native Spain.” She was a patroness of literature and art, and civilisation advanced under the auspices of her well-regulated Court. Taken ill at Grantham, whilst her husband was in Scotland, she expired there. Edward followed her body thence to Westminster in the bitterest grief, and on the spot marked by the close of every stage, vowed to erect a cross in memory of his chère reine. The crosses of Northampton and Waltham still remain, models of architectural beauty. Charing Cross was the last resting-place before the body was carried into Westminster Abbey.
[From the Effigy.]
487. Henry VII. King of England.
[Born 1456. Died 1509. Aged 53.]
A monarch whose greatest vice was avarice. He was inordinately fond of money. He had 14,000l. a-year allowed him by his first Parliament for his Household expenses, and 2000l. a-year for his wardrobe; yet he left behind him a sum equivalent to 16,000,000l. at the present day. With no worse quality than avarice, he had no quality that can be called great. He was brave, politic, attentive to business, reserved, suspicious. His chief merit consisted in closing the civil wars, and securing peace and order in the country. He died at Richmond, and was buried in the magnificent chapel at Westminster, erected by himself. He also built “The Great Harry,” the first ship in the English Navy, ships before this time having been hired or pressed from merchants. It cost 14,000l. The King seems to have had remorse for his rapacity on his death-bed. He issued a general pardon for all offences, released all debtors, himself paying the debts of many; converted the Palace of the Savoy into an hospital; built several religious houses; and ordered restitution to be made to all men whom he had wronged by his extortions. It is unnecessary to state that his successor being his son, Henry VIII., not the slightest effect followed from the “restitution” clause.
488. Elizabeth. Queen of England.
[Born 1533. Died 1603. Aged 70.]
A mighty sovereign, and the last of our absolute monarchs. Her rule, despotic, but grand, and wholly in the interests of her country. A true Englishwoman, ambitious of England’s glory, and capable of inspiring her servants by her example, with unbounded zeal, patriotism, and heroism. As a woman, the picture less fascinating. Too selfish to be amiable, she was vain, imperious, violent. She had favourites, but none whom she would raise to the throne, for she hugged power with a passionate embrace, which no generous sentiment could unfasten, and no tender consideration induce her to divide. She stood above law, and she knew it. A man sharing her throne might have been less fortunate. Her successor proved so; and the son of that successor, trying the perilous ascent, lost his head in the attempt. Wondrous was the reign of Elizabeth in its effects upon the civilisation of the world. It produced Bacon in philosophy, Shakspeare and Spenser in poetry, Gresham in commerce. Drake and Raleigh also belong to this time. It was the era of the re-establishment of Protestantism, and of the rescue, on the sea, of spiritual liberty from the threatened onslaught of Spain. Undoubtedly Elizabeth was surrounded by great men, but her masculine spirit sat at the helm, and directed, for nearly fifty years, the course of the State vessel. Her vigilance was sleepless, her ability unbounded, her sagacity penetrating and quick; yet she had a love of finery that was frivolous, and to the last laboured under the impression that she was beautiful. The spirit of maritime discovery was now alive in England, and commerce flourished. When dying, Elizabeth was asked by Cecil who should succeed her. She answered, “No rascal. My seat has been the seat of kings. Who should succeed me but a king?”
[From the Effigy.]
489. Edward VI. King of England.
[Born 1537. Died 1553. Aged 16.]
The son of Henry VIII. by Jane Seymour, who died two days after the birth of her child. Edward was ten years old at the time of his accession to the throne. Before his character could be permanently formed he died, yet his form stands out in English history illuminated with intelligence, gentleness, and wisdom. He was fond of books, diligent in business, a lover of justice. He kept a diary, which still exists. Therein he noted down the characters of the good men by whom he was surrounded, how they lived, and what example they offered for his pious imitation. Well acquainted with foreign matters, and with the history and geography of his own country; zealous for knowledge, and ambitious of governing well. In this reign the first journal of the proceedings of the House of Commons was kept; the Common Prayer Book was established by Act of Parliament; Sternhold translated the psalms into English metre; and the king gave his palace at Bridewell for the lodging of poor travellers, and for the correction of vagabonds. Christ’s hospital, for the education of youth, and the hospitals of St. Bartholomew and St. Thomas, for the reception of the sick, were also founded by him. His concern, Alfred-like—and so young!—for exalting the character, by the instruction, of his people, was shown in the foundation of numerous free schools throughout the kingdom, which still bear and endear his name. Edward was very handsome. He died of consumption, brought on by an attack of small-pox and measles.
[Presented by Mr. John Archbutt, London.]
490. Mary Stuart. Queen of Scots.
[Born, 1542. Died, 1587. Aged 45.]
A queen whose calamities fill our eyes with tears, so that we can hardly see the frailties of the woman. Her loveliness, her learning, her misfortunes, her wit, and fascinating manners, have attached to her memory an interest and affection which even the deeply-founded suspicion of her crimes cannot efface. Various judgments have been pronounced upon her conduct. But one report has come down to us of her perfect beauty of countenance, her winning manners, and her elegance of form. Grave historians speak with admiration of her jet black hair, her exquisite complexion, her delicate white arm and hand, her stature that rose to a majestic height. Her treatment of Darnley, brutal though he was, and her marriage with Bothwell after Darnley’s assassination, are blots that still cling to her character. But even these offences would seem more than expiated by her eighteen years’ imprisonment, and her unwarranted execution, that foulest stain upon the reign of our own Elizabeth. Mary Stuart was violent in her attachments, vivacious, indiscreet, fond of flattery, and conscious of the power of her charms. It is said that her heart was warm and unsuspicious. It may be questioned whether she was always sincere. One of her recent biographers in France has styled her the “eternal enigma of history,” “the most problematical of all historical personages.” Disastrous as was her own story, the fate of her immediate descendants was even worse. A curse was upon the line. Yet her lineage flourishes now. It is found in England, Prussia, Denmark, and Hanover; in Spain, Portugal, Austria, Naples, Sardinia, and Modena.
[From the Effigy.]
490.* Charles the First. King of England.
[Born 1600. Beheaded 30th January, 1649. Aged 49.]
Grandson of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, whose misfortunes and drear fate he inherited, if he did not invite. A monarch whose exaggerated notions of prerogative, whose obstinacy, wilfulness, untruthfulness, and double-dealing, justified the resistance of a people awakened to a sense of their rights, and roused to the vindication of their liberties; yet a man whose sorrows, whose dignified bearing in misfortune, whose private virtues, love of literature and art, and gentle demeanour, render him an object of the deepest commiseration, and the most plaintive interest. His death was deliberate murder; and there is too much reason to fear that they who thought least of defending liberty, were the most thirsty of his blood. Yet some palliation for the guilt is found in the circumstance that in the public dealings of Charles with his Parliament his plighted word was not worth the paper upon which it was given. Irresolute and double-minded, he had never kept faith with his people. It was the misfortune of Charles to be born at a period when the conflicting elements of Royalty and Democracy were seething into tumult. Had he lived a little earlier, or a little later he would not have lost his head upon the block. A little earlier, the “divinity that doth hedge a king” would have shielded him in England from the sacrilege. A little later, he would have been hunted from English soil, as his son was. The catastrophe of his unhappy reign can never be re-enacted. His blood purchased that security. Never had the character of Englishmen, in many respects, looked so fair to the world as during the civil wars of Charles the First. The true-hearted loyal gentlemen who, knowing by experience the character of their master, yet clung to his cause and to his person until the last extremity, counting all sacrifice as delightful service, were not surpassed by the professed knights of chivalry. The devoted Republicans, who for the sake of man’s rights and God’s blessing seized arms for the first time in their lives, and became great Generals and Admirals—the glory of their country, and the terror of the world—take rank in the estimation of history, side by side with her most splendid heroes. We receive from them our cherished charters, and the liberty which finds no harm even when Europe is in conflagration. Terrible indeed must have been the state of the atmosphere in 1649, when the thunderbolt fell that struck down Charles, but purified the air for ever afterwards.
[The statue of Charles the First, which is in the South Transept, is from the bronze equestrian statue by Hubert le Sueur, which was erected at Charing Cross in the year 1674. It had been cast in 1633, near the church in Covent Garden, but never placed: and during the wars it was sold by Parliament to a brazier “living at the Dial, near Holborn Conduit,” with strict orders that he should break it up. The brazier concealed the statue and horse underground until after the Restoration. Le Sueur was a Frenchman, and pupil of John of Bologna. He arrived in England about 1630, and died here. The pedestal is by Grinling Gibbons, who was born about the middle of the 17th century.]
491. James II. King of England.
[Born in England, 1633. Died in France, 1701. Aged 68.]
The second son of Charles I., whose fate he challenged by his obstinacy, wilfulness, and double dealing. He was a Roman Catholic, and in the blind defence and advocacy of his faith against the Constitution and laws of the country he governed, he perilled his crown which he lost, and his life which he ignominiously saved. He was not without good qualities. He was personally brave—not unmindful of the services of friends, and he exhibited devotion in the maintenance of the religious cause which he believed it his paramount duty to uphold. But he was bigotted, cruel, and wrongheaded. He could not be trusted whenever he was acting in the interests of the Pope. Louis XIV. in vain remonstrated with his royal cousin of England. James II. was too sincere a zealot to listen to reason. Louis Quatorze was too fine a gentleman, and too practised a courtier, to be betrayed into fanaticism. When James went a fugitive and an exile to France, Louis received him with a magnificence worthy of a triumphal progress.
[From the well-known statue by Grinling Gibbons in Privy Gardens, Whitehall. Represented in the costume of a Roman Emperor, according to the taste of the day.]
492. George III. King of England.
[Born 1738. Died 1820. Aged 82.]
The grandfather of her Majesty Queen Victoria. He reigned during sixty years, although during the last ten, he could take no part in public affairs. A king with many good qualities of heart and head, but obstinate, self-willed and not always sincere in his dealings with his Ministers. He is styled “The father of his people;” and his honest desire to secure their well-being and happiness, according to his own ideas of government, entitled him to the enviable distinction. In private life, George III. offered an admirable example for imitation to his subjects. But his wilful persistence in the maintenance of what he conceived his Royal prerogative, plunged England into war with America, and caused the premature loss to the country of that magnificent British colony.
[By John Bacon, R.A., when the King was 30 years old.]
493. George IV. King of England.
[Born 1762. Died 1830. Aged 68.]
In 1811, during the lifetime of his father, this prince was appointed Regent: and in 1820, upon the death of George III., he succeeded to the throne. The reign of this monarch is rendered memorable, by the scandalous proceedings instituted against Queen Caroline, and by the passing of the Act in 1829, which tolerated the Roman Catholic religion in the United Kingdom. George IV. was considered the first gentleman in Europe whilst he lived. Since his departure, history has pronounced him heartless, sensual, self-absorbed, and negligent of the true interests of his subjects, though not without some kingly qualities.
494. William IV. King of England.
[Born 1765. Died 1837. Aged 72.]
The third son of George III., and uncle of Queen Victoria. He succeeded his brother George IV. in 1830. His reign is remarkable as that in which the Reform Bill passed, changing the constitution of England by widening its basis. This King was before his marriage the father of several children, since ennobled, the mother being Mrs. Jordan, one of the most fascinating actresses and kind-hearted women of her time.
494A. William IV. King of England.
[Medallion by Chantrey, modelled for the coinage.]
495. The Duke of Cambridge. Prince of England.
[Born 1774. Died 1850. Aged 76.]
Youngest son of King George III., and one of the most popular princes of his family. He was for many years Viceroy of Hanover, where he endeared himself to the people. An amiable and innocent man.
496. Her Majesty Queen Victoria. Whom God Preserve!
[Born May 24th, 1819.]
497. His Royal Highness Prince Albert. Consort of Queen Victoria.
[Born August 26th, 1819.]
[Modelled from the life, by Emil Wolf.]
497A. His Royal Highness Prince Albert. Consort of Queen Victoria.
To whom the Crystal Palace at Sydenham, a development of the original Palace in Hyde Park, is indebted for its existence.
[By J. E. Jones.]
INDEX TO THE PORTRAIT GALLERY.
| No. | Page | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| [460] | Adams, John Quincy, President of the United States, | [210] | |
| [113] | Agrippa, Marcus Vipsanius, Roman General, | [49] | |
| [96] | Agrippina (the Elder), | [44] | |
| [97] | Agrippina (the Younger), | [44] | |
| [497] | Albert, H.R.H., Prince Consort of Queen Victoria, | [225] | |
| [124] | Alcibiades, Athenian General, | [25] | |
| [22] | Alexander the Great, King of Macedonia, | [24] | |
| [386] | Alexandra, Empress of Russia, | [168] | |
| [180] | Alfieri, Vittorio, Poet, | [73] | |
| [152] | Allegri, Antonio. (See [Corregio].) | ||
| [134] | Angelico da Fiesole (Fra), Painter, | [57] | |
| [458] | Anglesey, Marquis of, English Field Marshal, | [209] | |
| [307] | [*] | Anne of Austria, Queen of France, | [130] |
| [52] | Annius Verus, Roman Prince, | [35] | |
| [79] | Antinous, Bithynian Youth, | [41] | |
| [17] | Antisthenes, Philosopher, | [21] | |
| [47] | Antoninus Pius, Roman Emperor, | [34] | |
| [10] | Aratus, Astronomer, | [18] | |
| [2] | Archilochus, Greek Poet, | [14] | |
| [176] | Ariosto, Luigi, Poet, | [71] | |
| [8] | [?] | Aristides, Athenian Patriot, | [17] |
| [239] | Arnauld, Antoine, Theologian and Controversialist, | [99] | |
| [464] | Ashburton, Lord, English Peer, | [211] | |
| [26] | Aspasia, | [26] | |
| [340] | Auerbach, Berthold, Poet and Novelist, | [149] | |
| [278] | Augereau, Pierre François Charles, Marshal of France, | [117] | |
| [35] | Augustus, Roman Emperor, | [29] | |
| [51] | Ælius Verus, Adopted Emperor, | [35] | |
| [8] | Æschines, Greek Orator, | [17] | |
| [6] | Æschylus, Tragic Poet, | [15] | |
| [3] | Æsop, Writer of Fables, | [15] | |
| [420] | Bacon, Francis, Chancellor of England, | [188] | |
| [190] | Bandineri, Giovanni Medici, Italian Soldier, | [77] | |
| [431] | Baily, Francis, Astronomer, | [194] | |
| [128] | Balbinus, Decimus Cœlius, Roman Statesman and Emperor, | [54] | |
| [142] | Bartolomeo, Fra, Painter, | [60] | |
| [257] | Bayard, Pierre de Terrail, Seigneur de, Warrior, | [109] | |
| [321] | Beethoven, Ludwig Van, Musical Composer, | [140] | |
| [261] | Belloy, Pierre Laurent Buirette de, Dramatist, | [110] | |
| [160] | Berettini, Pietro di Cortona, or Pietro, Painter, | [66] | |
| [274] | Berthier, Pierre Alexandre, Marshal of France, | [115] | |
| [252] | [*] | Berthollet, Claude Louis, Chemist, | [105] |
| [354] | Berzelius, Jan Jacob, Chemist, | [156] | |
| [281] | Bessières, Jean Baptiste, Marshal of France, | [118] | |
| [356] | Beuth, Peter Kaspar Wilhelm, Member of the Council of State, in Prussia, | [156] | |
| [11] | Bias, Greek Philosopher, | [19] | |
| [482] | Blomfield, Charles James, Bishop of London, | [219] | |
| [360] | Blucher, Gebhardt Lebrecht Von, Prussian Field Marshal, | [158] | |
| [224] | Boileau, Nicolas, Poet and Satirist, | [94] | |
| [355] | Boisserée, Sulpitz Von, Architect and Archæologist, | [156] | |
| [295] | Bossuet, Jacques Beninge, Prelate of France, | [123] | |
| [368] | Boyen, Hermann Von, Prussian Minister at War, | [160] | |
| [138] | Bramante, Francesco Lazzari, Architect, Painter, Poet, | [58] | |
| [443] | Brassey, Thomas, Railway Contractor, | [199] | |
| [467] | Brougham, Henry, Lord, Lawyer, Statesman, Educator, | [213] | |
| [181] | Brunelleschi, Sculptor and Architect, | [56] | |
| [107] | Brutus, Lucius Junius, Roman Consul, | [46] | |
| [112] | Brutus, Marcus Junius, Roman General, | [49] | |
| [245] | Buffon, Georges Louis Le Clerc, Comte de, Naturalist, | [102] | |
| [361] | Bulow, Friedrich Wilhelm, Prussian General, | [158] | |
| [311] | Buonaparte, Napoleon. (See [Napoleon]) | ||
| [143] | Buonarotti, Michael Angelo, Sculptor, Painter, Architect, | [60] | |
| [468] | Buren, Martin Van, Ex-President of the United States, | [213] | |
| [450] | Burke, Edmund, Orator, Writer, Statesman, | [203] | |
| [410] | [*] | Burns, Robert, Poet, | [182] |
| [404] | Butler, Fanny, Actress, | [176] | |
| [418] | Byron, George Noel Gordon, Lord, Poet, | [187] | |
| [156] | Cagliari, Paolo. (See [Veronese]) | ||
| [40] | Caligula, Roman Emperor, | [32] | |
| [469] | Calhoun, John Caldwell, American Statesman, | [213] | |
| [495] | Cambridge, Duke of, Prince of England, | [225] | |
| [287] | Cambronne, Pierre Jacques, French General, | [120] | |
| [415] | Campbell, Thomas, Poet, | [185] | |
| [480] | Canning, Lord, English Peer, | [218] | |
| [168] | Canova, Antonio, Sculptor, | [68] | |
| [60] | Caracalla, Roman Emperor, | [37] | |
| [158] | Caracci, Annibale, Painter, | [65] | |
| [155] | Caravaggio, Polidoro Caldare da, Painter, | [64] | |
| [184] | Caro, Annibale, Writer, | [75] | |
| [70] | Carinus, Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor, | [39] | |
| [439] | Carlyle, Thomas, Writer, | [198] | |
| [357] | Carus, Karl Gustav, Physician and Anatomist, | [157] | |
| [110] | Cato, Marcus Porcius, Roman General, | [47] | |
| [111] | Cæsar, Julius, Roman Dictator, | [48] | |
| [398] | Chantrey, Francis, Sculptor, | [174] | |
| [254] | Chaptal, Jean Antoine, Chemist, | [106] | |
| [296] | [*] | Charlemagne, King of the Franks and Emperor of the West, | [124] |
| [490] | [*] | Charles I., King of England, | [223] |
| [195] | Charles Albert, King of Sardinia, | [79] | |
| [300] | Charles V., Emperor of Germany and King of Spain, | [126] | |
| [303] | Charles IX., King of France, | [127] | |
| [449] | Chatham, William Pitt, Earl of, Statesman, | [203] | |
| [406] | Chaucer, Geoffrey, Father of English Poetry, | [178] | |
| [232] | Chaussée, Pierre Claude Nivelle de la, Dramatist, | [96] | |
| [421] | Chetham, Humphrey, “Dealer in Manchester Commodities”, | [189] | |
| [120] | Cicero, Marcus Tullius, Roman Orator, | [51] | |
| [167] | Cimarosa, Domenico, Musical Composer, | [67] | |
| [208] | [**] | Clairon, Mdlle., French Tragic Actress, | [87] |
| [478] | Clarendon, George William Frederick, Earl of, Statesman, | [217] | |
| [38] | Claudius I., Tiberius Claudius Drusus Nero Germanicus, Roman Emperor, | [31] | |
| [194] | Clement XIII., Pope. (See [Rezzonico].) | ||
| [117] | Clodius Albinus, Decimus Clodius Ceionius Septimius, Roman General, | [50] | |
| [261] | Colbert, Edouard, Minister of State, | [112] | |
| [267] | [*] | Colbert, Jean Baptiste, Statesman and Financier, | [113] |
| [188] | Coleoni, Bartolomeo, Soldier of Fortune, | [76] | |
| [260] | Coligny, Gaspard de, Marshal and Admiral, | [110] | |
| [279] | [**] | Collard, Pierre Paul Roger, Statesman and Philosopher, | [117] |
| [182] | Columbus, Christopher, the Discoverer of the New World, | [74] | |
| [56] | Commodus, Lucius Aurelius, Roman Emperor, | [36] | |
| [268] | Condé, Louis II. de Bourbon, Prince de, and Warrior, | [113] | |
| [250] | [*] | Condorcet, Marie-Jean-Antoine Nicolas Carétat, Marquis de, Mathematician and Philosopher, | [104] |
| [73] | Constantius Chlorus, Flavius Valerius, Roman Emperor, | [40] | |
| [116] | Corbulo, Cneius Domitius, Roman General, | [50] | |
| [161] | Corelli, Arcangelo, Violinist and Composer, | [66] | |
| [218] | Corneille, Pierre, Dramatist, | [91] | |
| [222] | Corneille, Thomas, Dramatist, | [93] | |
| [326] | Cornelius, Peter, Painter, | [142] | |
| [152] | Correggio, or Antonio Allegri, Painter, | [64] | |
| [160] | Cortona, Pietro di, Painter. (See [Berettini].) | ||
| [206] | Coysevox, Antoine, Sculptor, | [86] | |
| [445] | Creasy, Edward Shepherd, Historical Writer, | [201] | |
| [228] | Crébillon, Prosper Jolyot de, Dramatist, | [95] | |
| [101] | Crispina, Roman Empress, | [45] | |
| [402] | Cruikshank, George, Caricaturist, | [176] | |
| [453] | Curran, John Philpot, Lawyer, | [206] | |
| [256] | Cuvier, Georges Léopold Chrêtien Frédéric Dagobert, Naturalist, | [107] | |
| [269] | D’Aguesseau, Henri François, Chancellor of France, | [114] | |
| [256] | [*] | D’Alembert, Jean Le Rond, Mathematician and Philosopher, | [107] |
| [291] | [*] | D’Amboise, Georges, Cardinal and Minister of State, | [121] |
| [208] | [*] | Dangeville, Marie-Anne-Botol, French Comic Actress, | [87] |
| [279] | [*] | Dannon, Pierre Claude François, Statesman and Writer, | [117] |
| [173] | Dante Alighieri, Poet, | [69] | |
| [247] | [*] | Darcet, Jean, Chemist and Physician, | [103] |
| [443] | [*] | Dargan, William, Railway Contractor, | [200] |
| [405] | [*] | Darling, Grace, Lighthouse-keeper’s Daughter, | [177] |
| [405] | [**] | Darling, William, Lighthouse-keeper, | [178] |
| [209] | David, Jacques Louis, Painter, | [88] | |
| [288] | Davoust, (Prince D’Eckmuhl,) Louis Nicolas, Marshal of France, | [120] | |
| [63] | Decius, Caius Messius Quintus Trajanus, Roman Emperor, | [38] | |
| [438] | De La Beche, Sir Henry Thomas, Geologist, | [198] | |
| [19] | Demosthenes, Greek Orator, | [22] | |
| [252] | Denon, Dominique, Egyptian Traveller, | [105] | |
| [477] | Derby, Earl of, Statesman, | [217] | |
| [283] | Desaix, Louis Charles Antoine, French General, | [119] | |
| [238] | Descartes, Réné, Mathematician and Metaphysician, | [99] | |
| [229] | Destouches, Philippe Nericault, Dramatist, | [96] | |
| [333] | [*] | Devrient, Edward, Player, | [145] |
| [217] | Diane de Poitiers, | [91] | |
| [72] | Diocletian, Caius Valerius Aurelius, Roman Emperor, | [40] | |
| [18] | Diogenes, Philosopher, | [22] | |
| [442] | Disraeli, Benjamin, Writer and Politician, | [199] | |
| [159] | Domenichino, Domenico Zampieri, called, Painter, | [66] | |
| [44] | Domitian, Titus Flavius Sabinus, Roman Emperor, | [33] | |
| [94] | [*] | Domna Julia (Pia Felix Augusta), Roman Empress, | [43] |
| [133] | Donatello, Donato di Niccolo, di Betto Bardi, Sculptor, | [57] | |
| [215] | D’Orsay, Comte, | [90] | |
| [114] | Drusus, Nero Claudius, Roman General, | [50] | |
| [235] | Du Barry, Marie Jeanne Vaubernier, Comtesse, | [98] | |
| [227] | Dufresny, Charles Rivière, Dramatist, | [95] | |
| [248] | Duhamel, Jean Pierre, Man of Science, | [103] | |
| [272] | Dumouriez, Charles François, French General, | [115] | |
| [265] | Duquesne, Abraham, Vice-Admiral of France, | [111] | |
| [485] | Edward III., King of England, | [220] | |
| [489] | Edward VI., King of England, | [222] | |
| [65] | Elagabalus. (See [Heliogabalus].) | ||
| [454] | Eldon, Lord, High Chancellor of England, | [207] | |
| [486] | Eleanora of Castile, first Queen of Edward I. of England, | [220] | |
| [488] | Elizabeth, Queen of England, | [221] | |
| [20] | Epicurus, Philosopher, | [23] | |
| [5] | Epimenides, Poet and Prophet of Crete, | [15] | |
| [192] | Eugene, François Eugene of Savoy, called Prince, Military Commander, | [77] | |
| [312] | [**] | Eugénie Marie Guzman, Empress of the French, | [134] |
| [9] | Euripides, Greek Poet, | [17] | |
| [434] | Fairbairn, William, Millwright and Engineer, | [196] | |
| [436] | Faraday, Michael, Natural Philosopher, | [196] | |
| [105] | Faustina, Junior, Annia Faustina, | [45] | |
| [203] | Félibien, André, Sieur des Avaux et de Javercy, Writer on Art, | [85] | |
| [296] | Fénélon, François de Salignac, de Lamotte, Archbishop and Writer, | [123] | |
| [349] | Fichte, Johann Gottlieb, Philosopher and Metaphysician, | [154] | |
| [394] | Flaxman, John, Sculptor, | [172] | |
| [258] | Foix, Gaston de, Warrior, | [109] | |
| [476] | Follett, Sir William, Lawyer, | [217] | |
| [447] | Forbes, Edward, Naturalist, | [201] | |
| [452] | Fox, Charles James, Statesman, | [206] | |
| [286] | Foy, Maximilien Sebastien, French General, | [120] | |
| [299] | Francis I., King of France, | [125] | |
| [387] | Francis Joseph, reigning Emperor of Austria, and King of Hungary, | [168] | |
| [343] | [*] | Frank, Johann Peter, Physician, | [151] |
| [424] | Franklin, Benjamin, Statesman and Philosopher, | [191] | |
| [376] | Frederic II., surnamed the Great, King of Prussia, | [164] | |
| [377] | Frederic Louis Henry, Prince of Prussia, | [164] | |
| [374] | Frederic William, Elector of Brandenburg, | [163] | |
| [375] | Frederic William I., King of Prussia, | [164] | |
| [379] | Frederic William III., King of Prussia, | [165] | |
| [384] | Frederic William IV., Reigning King of Prussia, | [167] | |
| [391] | Fuseli, or Fuessli, Henry, Painter, | [171] | |
| [39] | Galba, Servius Sulpicius, Roman Emperor, | [31] | |
| [185] | Galileo Galilei, Philosopher, | [75] | |
| [66] | Gallienus, Publius Licinius Valerianus, Roman Emperor, | [39] | |
| [145] | Garofalo, Benvenuto Tisio, called, Painter, | [62] | |
| [390] | Garrick, David, Player and Dramatist, | [170] | |
| [328] | Gärtner, Friedrich, Architect, | [144] | |
| [189] | Gattamelata, Stefano, Warrior, | [77] | |
| [181] | Gavazzi, Alessandro, Monk and Orator, | [73] | |
| [256] | [***] | Gay-Lussac, French Chemist, | [108] |
| [492] | George III., King of England, | [224] | |
| [493] | George IV., King of England, | [224] | |
| [212] | Gérard, François, Painter, | [89] | |
| [115] | Germanicus Cæsar, Roman General, | [50] | |
| [61] | Geta, Publius Septimius, Roman Emperor, | [37] | |
| [132] | Ghiberti, Lorenzo, Sculptor, | [57] | |
| [140] | Ghirlandaio, Domenico, Painter, | [59] | |
| [400] | Gibson, John, Sculptor, | [175] | |
| [211] | Girodet-Trioson, Painter, | [88] | |
| [154] | Giulio Romano, Giulio Pippi di Giannuzzi, Architect and Painter, | [64] | |
| [327] | Gluck, Christoph, Musician, | [143] | |
| [366] | Gneisenau, Augustus Count Herdart de, Field Marshal, | [160] | |
| [337] | Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von, Poet, | [147] | |
| [179] | Goldoni, Carlo, Poet, | [72] | |
| [410] | Goldsmith, Oliver, Poet and Man of Letters, | [181] | |
| [55] | Gordianus Africanus, Marcus Antonius, Roman Emperor, | [36] | |
| [62] | Gordianus II., Marcus Antonius, Roman Emperor, | [37] | |
| [67] | Gordianus III., Pius, Marcus Antonius, Roman Emperor, | [39] | |
| [196] | Goujon, Jean, Sculptor, | [83] | |
| [172] | Grisi, Giulia, Italian Singer, | [69] | |
| [213] | Gros, Antoine Jean, Painter, | [89] | |
| [214] | Guérin, Pierre Narcisse, Painter, | [89] | |
| [135] | Guidi, Tommaso. (See [Masaccio]) | ||
| [341] | Gutenberg, Johann, Inventor of Printing, | [149] | |
| [358] | Gutkow Karl, Journalist and Dramatist, | [157] | |
| [46] | Hadrian, Publius Ælius Hadrianus, Roman Emperor, | [33] | |
| [346] | Hahnemann, Samuel, Physician and Founder of Homœopathy, | [152] | |
| [332] | Halbig, Johann, Sculptor, | [145] | |
| [446] | Haliburton, Judge, Lawyer, and Writer, | [201] | |
| [314] | Handel, George Friedrich, Musical Composer, | [136] | |
| [451] | [*] | Hastings, Warren, Statesman, | [205] |
| [316] | Haydn, Franz Joseph, Musical Composer, | [138] | |
| [65] | Heliogabalus, Varius Avitus Bassianus, Roman Emperor, | [38] | |
| [302] | Henry II., King of France, | [127] | |
| [304] | Henry III., King of France, | [127] | |
| [305] | Henry IV., King of France, | [128] | |
| [487] | Henry VII, King of England, | [221] | |
| [479] | Herbert, Sidney, Statesman, | [218] | |
| [89] | Herennius, Roman Emperor, | [42] | |
| [352] | Hermann, Gottfried, Philologist and Critic, | [155] | |
| [435] | Herschell, Sir John, Astronomer, | [196] | |
| [14] | Hippocrates, Physician, | [20] | |
| [280] | Hoche, Lazare, French General, | [118] | |
| [1] | Homer, Great Epic Poet of Greece, | [13] | |
| [480] | [*] | Hooper, William Hulme, Naval Officer, | [218] |
| [119] | Hortensius, Quintus, Roman Orator, | [51] | |
| [74] | Hostilianus, Roman Emperor, | [41] | |
| [350] | Hufeland, Christoph Wilhelm, Physician, | [154] | |
| [351] | Humboldt, Alexander Von, Naturalist and Traveller, | [154] | |
| [367] | Humboldt, Karl Wilhelm, Baron Von, Statesman and Philologist, | [160] | |
| [466] | Hume, Joseph, Political Reformer, | [212] | |
| [427] | Hunter, John, Surgeon and Comparative Anatomist, | [193] | |
| [462] | Huskisson, William, Statesman and Financier, | [211] | |
| [15] | Isocrates, Rhetorician, | [20] | |
| [457] | Jackson, General, President of the United States, | [209] | |
| [344] | Jacobi, Friedrich Heinrich, Philosopher and Poet, | [151] | |
| [491] | James II., King of England, | [224] | |
| [430] | Jeffrey, Francis, Critic and Essayist, | [194] | |
| [419] | Jerrold, Douglas, Writer, | [188] | |
| [425] | Johnson, Samuel, Writer and Moralist, | [191] | |
| [388] | Jones, Inigo, Architect, | [169] | |
| [282] | Joubert, Barthélémi Catharine, French General, | [118] | |
| [95] | [*] | Julia, Daughter of Augustus, | [43] |
| [71] | Julian the Apostate—Flavius Claudius Julianus, RomanEmperor, | [40] | |
| [253] | Jussieu, Antoine Laurent de, Botanist, | [106] | |
| [342] | Kant, Immanuel, Metaphysician, | [150] | |
| [271] | Kellermann, François Christophe, Marshal of France, | [114] | |
| [397] | Kemble, Charles, Player, | [174] | |
| [275] | Kleber, Jean Baptiste, French General, | [115] | |
| [325] | Klenze, Leo Von, Architect, | [142] | |
| [334] | Klopstock, Friedrich Gottlieb, Epic and Lyric Poet, | [145] | |
| [256] | [**] | Laborde, Alexander Louis Joseph, Marquis de, Soldier, Traveller, and Educator, | [107] |
| [255] | Lacépède, Bernard Germain Étienne, Naturalist, | [106] | |
| [277] | Lafayette, Marie Paul Gilbert Motier, Marquis de, French General, | [116] | |
| [220] | La Fontaine, Jean de, Poet, | [92] | |
| [249] | Lagrange, Joseph Louis, Astronomer, | [104] | |
| [284] | Lannes, Jean, Marshal of France, | [119] | |
| [253] | [*] | Laplace, Pierre Simon, Astronomer, | [106] |
| [290] | La Salle, Antoine Charles Louis Collinet de, General of Cavalry, | [121] | |
| [273] | La Tour D’Auvergne-Corret, Theophile Malode, Warrior, | [115] | |
| [396] | Lawrence, Sir Thomas, Painter, | [173] | |
| [202] | Lebrun, Charles, Painter, | [85] | |
| [276] | Lefebvre, François Joseph, Marshal of France, | [116] | |
| [383] | Leopold I., King of the Belgians, | [166] | |
| [230] | Le Sage, Alain Réné, Novelist, | [96] | |
| [262] | Lesdiguières, François de Bonne, Duc de, Constable of France, | [110] | |
| [335] | Lessing, Gotthold Ephraim, Man of Letters, | [146] | |
| [259] | L’Hôpital, Michel de, Chancellor of France, | [109] | |
| [246] | Linné, or Linnæus, Charles, Botanist, | [102] | |
| [93] | Livia, Drusilla, Roman Empress, | [43] | |
| [122] | [*] | Livy—Titus Livius, Roman Historian, | [53] |
| [422] | Locke, John, Philosopher, | [189] | |
| [482] | London, Bishop of. (See [Blomfield].) | ||
| [381] | Louisa Augusta Wilhelmina Amelia, Queen of Prussia, | [165] | |
| [383] | [*] | Louise Marie, Queen of the Belgians, | [167] |
| [297] | Louis XI., King of France, | [125] | |
| [298] | Louis XII., King of France, | [125] | |
| [307] | Louis XIII., King of France, | [129] | |
| [308] | Louis XIV., King of France, | [130] | |
| [309] | Louis XV., King of France, | [131] | |
| [312] | [*] | Louis Napoleon. (See [Napoleon].) | |
| [312] | Louis Philippe, King of France, | [133] | |
| [380] | Louis Ferdinand, Prince of Prussia, | [165] | |
| [382] | Ludwig I., ex-King of Bavaria, | [166] | |
| [205] | Lully, Jean Baptiste de, Violinist, and Musical Composer, | [86] | |
| [371] | Luther, Martin, the Great Reformer, | [162] | |
| [30] | Lycurgus, Lawgiver, | [28] | |
| [463] | Lyndhurst, John Singleton Copley, Baron, Ex-Chancellor of England, | [211] | |
| [204] | Mabillon, Jean, Antiquary, | [85] | |
| [183] | Machiavelli, Niccolo, Political Writer and Historian, | [74] | |
| [429] | Mackintosh, Sir James, Historian and Metaphysician, | [194] | |
| [401] | Macready, William Charles, Player, | [175] | |
| [57] | Macrinus, Marcus Opilius, Roman Emperor, | [36] | |
| [76] | [*] | Magnus Decentius, | [41] |
| [171] | Malibran, Maria Felicitas, Actress, | [69] | |
| [102] | Mamæa, Julia, Roman Empress, | [45] | |
| [207] | Mansart, Jules Hardouin, Architect, | [86] | |
| [448] | Mansfield, William Murray, Earl of, Lord Chief Justice, | [202] | |
| [136] | Mantegna, Andrea, Painter and Engraver, | [58] | |
| [369] | Manteuffel, Otto-Feodor Freiherr von, Prussian Minister, | [161] | |
| [151] | Marcantonio Raimondi, Engraver, | [64] | |
| [286] | Marceau, François Sévérin Desgraviers, French General, | [20] | |
| [163] | Marcello, Benedetto, Writer and Musician, | [67] | |
| [108] | Marcellus, Marcus Claudius, Roman General, | [47] | |
| [48] | Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, Roman Emperor, | [34] | |
| [53] | Marcus Galerius Antoninus, Roman Prince, | [35] | |
| [310] | Marie Antoinette, Joséphine Jeanne, Queen of France, | [131] | |
| [104] | Mariniana, | [45] | |
| [490] | Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, | [222] | |
| [135] | Masaccio, Tommaso Guidi, Painter, | [57] | |
| [279] | Massena, André, Marshal of France, | [117] | |
| [100] | Matidia, | [45] | |
| [483] | Mathew, Father Theobald, Temperance Reformer, | [219] | |
| [59] | Maximinus, Caius Julius Verus, Roman Emperor, | [37] | |
| [378] | Maximilian Joseph I., King of Bavaria, | [165] | |
| [68] | Maximus, Caius Julius Verus, Roman Prince, | [39] | |
| [293] | Mazarin, Cardinal, Minister of France, | [122] | |
| [91] | Mæsa, Julia, Roman Empress, | [42] | |
| [187] | Medici, Cosmo de, Merchant and Statesman, | [76] | |
| [190] | Medici, Giovanni. (See Bandineri), | [77] | |
| [306] | Medici, Marie de, Queen of France, | [128] | |
| [372] | Melancthon, Philip, German Divine and Reformer, | [162] | |
| [32] | Menander, Comic Poet, | [28] | |
| [331] | Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Felix, Musician, | [144] | |
| [315] | [*] | Mengs, Anthony Raphael, Painter, | [137] |
| [178] | Metastasio, Pietro Bonaventura, Poet, | [72] | |
| [20] | [A] | Metrodorus, Greek Philosopher, | [23] |
| [143] | Michael Angelo. (See [Buonarotti].) | ||
| [199] | Mignard, Pierre, Painter, | [84] | |
| [25] | Miltiades, Athenian General, | [26] | |
| [408] | Milton, John, Poet, | [180] | |
| [191] | Mirandola, Francesco Pico della, | [77] | |
| [221] | Molière, Dramatist, | [93] | |
| [251] | [*] | Monge, Gaspar, Geometrician, | [105] |
| [236] | Montaigne, Michel de, Essayist, | [98] | |
| [461] | Monteagle, Lord, English Peer, | [211] | |
| [234] | [*] | Montenoy, Charles Palissot de. (See [Palissot].) | |
| [251] | Montgolfier, Jacques Étienne, Aëronaut and Inventor of Balloons, | [105] | |
| [416] | Moore, Thomas, Poet, | [186] | |
| [317] | Mozart, Johann Wolfgang, Musical Composer, | [138] | |
| [399] | Mulready, William, Painter, | [175] | |
| [149] | Nani, Giovanni di. (See [Udine].) | ||
| [311] | Napoleon Buonaparte, Emperor of France, | [132] | |
| [312] | Napoleon, Louis, Emperor of France, | [132] | |
| [455] | Nelson, Horatio, Lord High Admiral, | [207] | |
| [36] | Nero, Claudius Cæsar Drusus, Roman Emperor, | [30] | |
| [42] | Nerva, Marcus Cocceius, Roman Emperor, | [32] | |
| [423] | Newton, Sir Isaac, Astronomer and Philosopher, | [190] | |
| [285] | Ney, Michel, Marshal of France, | [119] | |
| [385] | Nicholas Paulovitch, Reigning Emperor of all the Russias, | [167] | |
| [256] | [****] | Nodier, Charles, Writer, | [108] |
| [365] | Nollendorf, Friedrich Hinrich von, Prussian Field-Marshal, | [160] | |
| [392] | Northcote, James, Painter, | [171] | |
| [200] | Nôtre, André le, Architect and Gardener, | [84] | |
| [34] | Numa Pompilius, Second King of Rome, | [29] | |
| [465] | O’Connell, Daniel, Orator and Lawyer, | [212] | |
| [473] | O’Lochlen, Sir Michael, Lawyer, | [216] | |
| [347] | Olbers, Heinrich Wilhelm Mathias, Astronomer, | [153] | |
| [130] | Orcagna, or Orgagna, Andrea di Cione, Painter, Sculptor, Architect, | [56] | |
| [441] | Owen, Richard, Naturalist, | [199] | |
| [321] | [*] | Paer, Ferdinando, Musical Composer, | [141] |
| [170] | Paganini, Niccolo, Violinist, | [69] | |
| [165] | Paisiello, Giovanni, Musical Composer, | [67] | |
| [157] | Palestrina, Di. (See [Pierluigi].) | ||
| [234] | [*] | Palissot de Montenoy, Charles, Dramatist, | [98] |
| [155] | Palladio, Andrea, Architect, | [65] | |
| [471] | Palmerston, Henry John Temple, Viscount, Statesman, | [215] | |
| [294] | Pascal, Blaise, Theologian and Philosopher, | [122] | |
| [472] | Peel, Sir Robert, Statesman, | [215] | |
| [264] | Peiresc, Claude Fabri de, Patron of Science, | [111] | |
| [210] | Percier, Charles, Architect, | [88] | |
| [29] | Periander, “Tyrant” of Corinth, | [28] | |
| [27] | Pericles, Athenian Statesman, | [27] | |
| [291] | Perier, Casimir, Statesmen, | [121] | |
| [250] | Pérouse, Jean François Galaup de la, Navigator, | [104] | |
| [49] | Pertinax, Publius Helvius, Roman Emperor, | [34] | |
| [139] | Perugino, Pietro, or Pietro Vanucci della Pieve, Painter, | [58] | |
| [343] | Pestalozzi, Heinrich, Educator, | [151] | |
| [174] | Petrarca, Francesco, Poet, | [70] | |
| [69] | Philip (the Younger), Marcus Julius Philippus II., Roman Prince, | [39] | |
| [296] | [*] | Philip III., King of France, | [124] |
| [23] | Phocion, Athenian Statesman and General, | [25] | |
| [157] | Pierluigi, Giovanni, surnamed Palestrina, Musical Composer, | [65] | |
| [7] | [?] | Pindar, Greek Poet, | [16] |
| [164] | Piranesi, Giambatista, Engraver, | [67] | |
| [231] | Piron, Alexis, Poet, | [96] | |
| [129] | Pisano, Niccola, Sculptor and Architect, | [56] | |
| [28] | Pisistratus, “Tyrant” of Athens, | [27] | |
| [456] | Pitt, William, Statesman, | [208] | |
| [16] | Plato, Greek Philosopher, | [21] | |
| [99] | Plotina, Pompeia, Roman Empress, | [44] | |
| [470] | Pollock, Sir Frederick, Chief Baron of the Exchequer, | [214] | |
| [409] | Pope, Alexander, Poet, | [180] | |
| [106] | Poppæa, Sabina, Roman Empress, | [46] | |
| [31] | Posidippus, Comic Poet, | [28] | |
| [33] | Posidonius, Greek Philosopher, | [29] | |
| [470] | [*] | Pottinger, Sir Henry, Diplomatist, | [214] |
| [198] | Poussin, Nicolas, Painter, | [83] | |
| [58] | Pupienus—Marcus Claudius Pupienus Maximus, Roman Emperor, | [36] | |
| [223] | Quinault, Philippe, Poet, | [94] | |
| [216] | Rachel, Madlle. Felix, Tragic Actress, | [91] | |
| [225] | Racine, Jean, Dramatist, | [94] | |
| [370] | Radetzky, Count Joseph, Austrian General, | [161] | |
| [146] | Raffaelle, Sanzio, Painter, | [62] | |
| [323] | Rauch, Christian, Sculptor, | [141] | |
| [244] | Réaumur, Réné Antoine Ferchault de, Chemist and Naturalist, | [101] | |
| [226] | Regnard, Jean François, Dramatist, | [95] | |
| [194] | Rezzonico, Carlo, afterwards Clement XIII., Pope, | [78] | |
| [292] | Richelieu, Cardinal, Minister of France, | [121] | |
| [411] | Rogers, Samuel, Poet, | [183] | |
| [242] | Rollin, Charles, Historian, | [101] | |
| [219] | Rotrou, Jean de, Dramatist, | [92] | |
| [243] | Rousseau, Jean Baptiste, Lyric Poet, | [101] | |
| [247] | Rousseau, Jean Jacques, Philosopher and Writer, | [102] | |
| [313] | Rubens, Peter Paul, Painter, | [136] | |
| [474] | Russell, Lord John, Statesman, | [216] | |
| [92] | Sabina, Roman Empress, | [43] | |
| [255] | [*] | Sacy, Antoine Isaac Silvestre, Baron de, Orientalist, | [106] |
| [475] | Salomons, David, Alderman, | [216] | |
| [103] | Salonina, Cornelia, Roman Empress, | [45] | |
| [175] | Sanazzaro, Giacomo, Poet, | [70] | |
| [147] | Sanmicheli, Michele, Architect, | [63] | |
| [150] | Sarto, Andrea del, Painter, | [63] | |
| [405] | Sartoris, Adelaide, Vocalist, | [176] | |
| [270] | Saxe, Maurice Comte de, Marshal of France, | [114] | |
| [109] | Scipio, Africanus Major, Publius Cornelius, Roman General, | [47] | |
| [319] | Schadow, Johann Gottfried, Sculptor, | [139] | |
| [363] | Scharnhorst, Gebhardt David, General, | [159] | |
| [353] | Schelling, Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von, Metaphysician, | [155] | |
| [338] | Schiller, Christoph von, Poet, | [148] | |
| [324] | Schinkel, Karl Friedrich, Architect and Painter, | [142] | |
| [373] | Schleiermacher, Friedrich Ernest Daniel, Theologian, | [163] | |
| [329] | Schnorr, Julius, Painter, | [144] | |
| [330] | Schwanthaler, Ludovic, Sculptor, | [144] | |
| [333] | Schwind, Moritz von, Painter, | [145] | |
| [413] | Scott, Sir Walter, Poet and Novelist, | [184] | |
| [148] | Sebastiano del Piombo (Fra), Painter, | [63] | |
| [234] | Sedaine, Michel Jean, Dramatist, | [97] | |
| [122] | Seneca, Lucius Annæus, Philosopher, | [53] | |
| [64] | Severus, Alexander Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor, | [38] | |
| [54] | Severus, Lucius Septimius, Roman Emperor, | [35] | |
| [407] | Shakspeare, William, Poet, | [178] | |
| [137] | Signorelli, Luca, Painter, | [58] | |
| [440] | Skey, Frederick Carpenter, Surgeon, | [198] | |
| [426] | Smith, Adam, Philosopher and Political Economist, | [192] | |
| [393] | Smith, John Raphael, | [172] | |
| [13] | Socrates, Philosopher, | [19] | |
| [436] | [*] | Somerville, Mary, Mathematician and Astronomer, | [197] |
| [7] | Sophocles, Tragic Poet, | [16] | |
| [208] | Soufflot, Jacques Germain, Architect, | [87] | |
| [414] | Southey, Robert, Poet Laureate, | [185] | |
| [169] | Spontini, Gasparo, Musician, | [68] | |
| [362] | Stein, Karl, Baron Von, Prussian Minister of State, | [159] | |
| [433] | Stevenson, George, Engineer, | [195] | |
| [395] | Stothard, Thomas, Painter, | [173] | |
| [201] | Sueur, Eustache le, Painter, | [84] | |
| [263] | Sully, Maximilien de Béthune, Duc de, Minister of State, | [110] | |
| [177] | Tasso, Torquato, Poet, | [71] | |
| [419] | [*] | Taylor, Henry, Poet, | [188] |
| [118] | Terence—Publius Terentius, Latin Comic Poet, | [51] | |
| [345] | Thaer, Albrecht, Physician and Agriculturist, | [152] | |
| [320] | Thorwaldsen, Albrecht Bartholomäus, Sculptor, | [139] | |
| [237] | Thou, Jacques Auguste de, Minister of State and Historian, | [99] | |
| [12] | Thucydides, Greek Historian, | [19] | |
| [37] | Tiberius, Claudius Nero Cæsar, Roman Emperor, | [30] | |
| [322] | Tieck, Christian Friedrich, Sculptor, | [141] | |
| [339] | Tieck, Ludwig, Author, | [149] | |
| [145] | Tisio, Benvenuto. (See [Garofalo]) | ||
| [144] | Titian, Tiziano Vecellio, Painter, | [61] | |
| [43] | Titus, Flavius Sabinus Vespasianus, Roman Emperor, | [32] | |
| [241] | Tournefort, Joseph Pitton de, Botanist, | [100] | |
| [45] | Trajan, Marcus Ulpius Trajanus, Roman Emperor, | [33] | |
| [266] | Turenne, Henri de la Tour d’Auvergne, Vicomte de, Marshal of France, | [112] | |
| [149] | Udine, Giovanni da, Painter, | [63] | |
| [301] | Valentino, Carlota d’Avesne, Duchess of, | [127] | |
| [98] | Valeria Messalina, Roman Empress, | [44] | |
| [139] | Vanucci della Pievo, Pietro. (See [Perugino].) | ||
| [150] | Vannucchi, Andrea. (See [Sarto].) | ||
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BRADBURY AND EVANS, PRINTERS, WHITEFRIARS.
THE
NATURAL HISTORY DEPARTMENT
OF THE
CRYSTAL PALACE DESCRIBED.
ETHNOLOGY.
By Dr. R. G. LATHAM, M.D.
ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY.
By EDWARD FORBES, F.R.S.,
Professor in the University of Edinburgh.
CRYSTAL PALACE LIBRARY;
AND
BRADBURY & EVANS, 11, BOUVERIE STREET, LONDON.
1854.
BRADBURY AND EVANS,
PRINTERS TO THE CRYSTAL PALACE COMPANY,
WHITEFRIARS, LONDON.