[e]Exegi monumentum ære perennius. Horatii Carmi. Lib. iii. Ode 30.[f]Præter laudem nullius avaris. Horatius De Arte Poetica.[g]- - - - - - artesIntulit agresti Latio. Horatii Epis. Lib. ii. Ep. 1.[h]Dr. William Hunter and Mr. John Hunter, the late celebrated anatomists of London.[i]Dr. George Cleghorn, the late excellent and deservedly famous Professor of Anatomy in the university of Dublin: a man of whom it can be truly said that the excellent qualities of his heart were as estimable as his superior professional talents were conspicuous.[k]This statue, which forms one of the most valuable possessions in the superb Borghese collection, is commonly calledthe fighting Gladiator; but, we apprehend, very erroneously: as the whole of that admirable figure bespeaks a character greatly superior to that of those degraded and despised beings, whose mercenary services contributed to the amusements of the Roman amphitheatre.[l]Horatius.[m]19,375 l.[n]The Mansion House of London.[o]The fate of this ingenious youth deserves to be distinctly recorded. Born of humble parentage in one of the more distant counties, he had early manifested an admiration of the Arts, and, being admitted a student of the Royal Academy, eminently distinguished himself there by his abilities and his industry. Applying peculiarly to Sculpture, soon after the termination of his studies in the Academy he exhibited, at its annual Exhibition in Somerset-place, two models of unrivalled excellence, which might, without fear of deterioration, have been placed in competition with the happiest productions of the best days of Grecian art, and which at the time met with their well-earned applause. But, alas! applause was his only reward: no wealthy patron took him by the hand, no affluent lover of the Arts enquired into, or assisted, his circumstances; and his means being very confined, misery was his portion. He had however the soul of an Artist, and for a length of time bore up with manly fortitude against his distresses. The present worthy President of the Royal Academy, suspecting his situation, with the aid of the Council obtained for him from the Academy an annuity of 100l. a year, to enable him to go to Italy, and improve himself there: but the unhappy youth had unavoidably contracted some trifling debts, which he was utterly unable to discharge, and his mind was too delicately alive to every finer feeling to bear the thought of leaving this country without paying them. This circumstance, preying on his agitated spirits, and on a frame emaciated by the severest distress, caused his speedy dissolution, to the irreparable injury of the Arts. After his death it was discovered that, for the last two years of his life, he had resided in a miserable cock-loft in the worst house in Clare market, which he had rented for a shilling a week; and that his daily sustenance for that time had beenonly two dry biscuits with a draft of water from the market pump.
[e]Exegi monumentum ære perennius. Horatii Carmi. Lib. iii. Ode 30.
[f]Præter laudem nullius avaris. Horatius De Arte Poetica.
[g]- - - - - - artesIntulit agresti Latio. Horatii Epis. Lib. ii. Ep. 1.
[g]
- - - - - - artesIntulit agresti Latio. Horatii Epis. Lib. ii. Ep. 1.
[h]Dr. William Hunter and Mr. John Hunter, the late celebrated anatomists of London.
[i]Dr. George Cleghorn, the late excellent and deservedly famous Professor of Anatomy in the university of Dublin: a man of whom it can be truly said that the excellent qualities of his heart were as estimable as his superior professional talents were conspicuous.
[k]This statue, which forms one of the most valuable possessions in the superb Borghese collection, is commonly calledthe fighting Gladiator; but, we apprehend, very erroneously: as the whole of that admirable figure bespeaks a character greatly superior to that of those degraded and despised beings, whose mercenary services contributed to the amusements of the Roman amphitheatre.
[l]Horatius.
[m]19,375 l.
[n]The Mansion House of London.
[o]The fate of this ingenious youth deserves to be distinctly recorded. Born of humble parentage in one of the more distant counties, he had early manifested an admiration of the Arts, and, being admitted a student of the Royal Academy, eminently distinguished himself there by his abilities and his industry. Applying peculiarly to Sculpture, soon after the termination of his studies in the Academy he exhibited, at its annual Exhibition in Somerset-place, two models of unrivalled excellence, which might, without fear of deterioration, have been placed in competition with the happiest productions of the best days of Grecian art, and which at the time met with their well-earned applause. But, alas! applause was his only reward: no wealthy patron took him by the hand, no affluent lover of the Arts enquired into, or assisted, his circumstances; and his means being very confined, misery was his portion. He had however the soul of an Artist, and for a length of time bore up with manly fortitude against his distresses. The present worthy President of the Royal Academy, suspecting his situation, with the aid of the Council obtained for him from the Academy an annuity of 100l. a year, to enable him to go to Italy, and improve himself there: but the unhappy youth had unavoidably contracted some trifling debts, which he was utterly unable to discharge, and his mind was too delicately alive to every finer feeling to bear the thought of leaving this country without paying them. This circumstance, preying on his agitated spirits, and on a frame emaciated by the severest distress, caused his speedy dissolution, to the irreparable injury of the Arts. After his death it was discovered that, for the last two years of his life, he had resided in a miserable cock-loft in the worst house in Clare market, which he had rented for a shilling a week; and that his daily sustenance for that time had beenonly two dry biscuits with a draft of water from the market pump.