have justly obtained the meed of great celebrity, The names of RaYSBRACH*, ROUBILIAC, SCHEEMAKERS, CARPENTIERET, VAN Nost†, GUELFI†, and DELVAUX +, are sufficiently distinguished by the number, no less than the excellence, of their sepulchral statuary. The grand theatre in which the works of these artists are severally displayed is Westminster Abbey, although the fashion of perpetuating the memory of the illustrious dead by elaborate sculpture has frequently induced the noble or opulent survivors to employ these artists in churches distant from the metropolis, where the family is locally established. The lover of this investigation will find great satisfaction in examining these repositories, where the style of successive ages is at once presented to him, by a series of tombs. spiritless, and incumbered with drapery of no positive description. Notwithstanding the great prices he received, his works are numerous. Among them, those so eminent as to leave the rest below comparison are the monuments of Admiral Vernon in Westminster Abbey, with the figures of Britannia and Victory (1763); three statues of the Dukes of Beaufort at Badminton, Gloucestershire; and another of Mr. Pawlet at W. Grinsted, in Sussex. His busts are in general more highly finished than his whole figures, and the portrait was esteemed to be accurate. It has been observed by a modern critic (himself a sculptor), thatRhysbrach" was a mere workman, too insipid to give pleasure, and too dull to offend greatly." L. F. ROUBILIAC" was an enthusiast in his art. He copied vulgar nature with zeal, and some of his figures seem to be alive; but their characters are mean, and the forms frequently bad; his draperies are worked up with great diligence and labour from the most disagreeable examples in nature." He despised MICHAEL RHYSBRACH appeared in England in 1720, and was at that time a young man, having been retained by Gibbs the architect to finish the monuments for which he had given the designs. He afterwards emancipated himself from these shackles, and then proba" the antique"-staid three days only bly depended on himself both for design at Rome, and then derided the remains and execution. He was a very correct of ancient art. workman; but wanted, in most of his performances, variety and taste. For all his military characters he adopted a costume which he intended to be that of a Roman general; and noblemen are likewise so represented by him. His female figures are frequently Among his numerous works, the monuments of Lady Nightingale, of the Duke of Argyll, and of Sir Peter Warren, in Westminster Abbey; Sir Isaac Newton in Trinity College Chapel, Cambridge, and Bishop Hough at Worcester, are the most entitled to It is singular, that D'Argenville, “Vies des Sculpteurs," though he minutelý criticizes and describes the works of the contemporaries of Rhysbrach and Roubiliac who had been educated in the French school of sculpture, makes no mention of them. The great prototypes which they imitated were the monuments of Cardinals Mazarine and Richelieu by Coysevox and Girardon. Rhysbrach's most spirited performance is the equestrian statue of K. William III. at Bristol. +P. Scheemakers was first known as the rival of Rhysbrach. Kent the Architect employed him, in preference, to complete his design for the monument of Shakespeare, in Westminster Abbey. Before 1740, he had made a group of the Duke of Kent, bis wives and daughters, at Flitton, in Bedfordshire. He was very much patronized by the Court and Nobility, in the reign of George II.; and was latterly associated with Sir H. Cheere, his pupil, in many large works. His busts are well finished, and most frequently introduced. L. Delvaux was another of his school, and finished the figure of Time, on the Duke of Buckingham's monument, in the Abbey. Carpentiere worked with Van Nost for the Duke of Chandos at Cannons; the equestrian statue of George Ist. formerly there, and now in Leicester Fields, was their joint performance. Guelfi was not much encouraged. Sepulchral Chapels, which severally contain many fine monuments of the Nobility, are, 1. Lees at Quarendon, 2. Cheyneys and Wentworths at Toddington, 3. Mordaunts at Turvey, and 4. Russels at Cheyneys, all in Bucks. 5. Greys at Flitton, Bedfordshire. 6. Spencers at Wormleighton, Northamptonshire. 7. Hicks and Noel, Campden, and 8. Somersets at Badminton, Gloucestershire; and 9. Cavendishes at Derby com commendation. The scheme of all these is dramatic. In the first mentioned, we have a personification of Death as a principal actor. He considered a skeleton as a subject which required the utmost effort of his skill, and introduced it frequently*. The figure of Eloquence on the second, and of Hercules (or personification of strength) binding sticks into a faggot upon the third, have been much celebrated. He was a perfect mannerist, and gave a style to other sculptors, which has been adopted with inferior skill. It is singular that both Rhysbrach and Roubiliac, whose education had been entirely French, are passed over in silence by D'Argenville in his account of that school, its professors, and their works. CARPENTIERE studied under VAN NOST, who had finished a splendid monument for John Earl of Bristol at Sherburn in Dorsetshire. The figures of James Duke of Chandos and his two Duchesses, at Little Stanmore in Middlesex, are by Carpentiere. GUELFI, a disciple of Camillo Rusconi, was patronized by Lord Pomfret (for whom he mended the Arundelian statues), and was employed for the standing figure of the younger Craggs, in Westminster Abbey. It has certainly more simplicity than either Rhysbrach or Roubiliac would have given it, but the drapery is heavy, from imperfect and clumsy execution. Gibbs gave a design for Prior's monument (in the Poets' Corner) in which is inserted a very fine bust, taken from Prior when Ambassador at Paris, by Coysevox. Kent invented many designs for Rhysbrach and Scheemakers; so that it appears that, during successive æras, architects have been jointly concerned with Sculptors, respecting sepulchral monuments. The most successful rival of the artists last mentioned was B. SCHEEMAKERS. In 1740 he finished the figure of Shakespeare for the monument designed by Kent in Westminster Abbey, in competition with Rhysbrach, which established his fame, and his being a German insured him the Court-favour. His assistant was Delvaux, and latterly HENRY CHEERE, who died a baronet. Busts to be placed in libraries, as well as on tombs, were his chief employment. At Flitton, in Bedfordshire, is a group of figures of the Duke of Kent, his wives and daughters, sculptured in white marble, which is his earliest; at Wycombe in Bucks is another for Henry Earl of Shelburne, which is his best work, and for which he is said to have received 20007. The successor and pupil of Roubiliac was NICHOLAS READ, who exceeded his master in exuberance of invention, and in his monument for Admiral Tyrrell reached the extreme of absurdity +. The monuments which distinguished this æra have the peculiarity of a base and pyramid, and are all of them mural. Bernini introduced pyramids upon a shelf-a solid base diminishing upwards, intended to last a thousand years, represented by a slab of marble of one inch in thickness." first of this kind was in the Chigi chapel at Rome; but this happy idea soon took wing to Paris, and of course The * To personify Death, is certainly a most daring attempt, when it is to be effected by giving a skeleton the motion and vigour of life. Shakspeare first did it with effect. "Keeps Death his court-and there the Antic sits Richard II. But Milton hesitated to embody him in any personification, and therefore speaks of He died in 1787. In this monument he has displayed more of concetto than his master, without his judgment or taste. Nothing can be more fanciful than this monument, which completely fills up the space of a large Gothic window in Westminster Abbey, with detached parts of scenery. The secrets of the deep are exbibited to view (because the Admiral was shipwrecked); and among them, rather heterogeneously, are seen a globe, an Irish harp, and a finely emblazoned escocheon of arms. The naked figure of the Admiral rises from a range of stone waves; and the clouds are not less remarkable, as they are formed of marble upon a dark ground. The artist intended by this strange assemblage to give an idea of the last day. found found its repose in Westminster Abbey. Bernini represented architecture and trees in perspective, with flying draperies, as if upheld by the air-foreign as these things are to the genius or powers of sculpture. But the models of perfection which were followed in England, though never exactly imitated, were the monuments of Cardinals Mazarine aud Richelieu. The allegorical figures of the size of life, intended to representa scene, were adopted upon monuments of the largest scale and expence. Rhysbrach gives us single figures, such as Britannia and Victory, placed indeed upon the same plinth, but not grouped; but Roubiliac is always theatrical, and his figures combine in one scenic effect. Eloquence upon the monument of the Duke of Argyll is in the act of making a speech, and upon that of Lady Nightingale, herself and husband are in a tame, domestic style; but the skeleton of Death,surveying them from his cave, and marking them for his prey, is animated malignity, expressed without the aid of features. Groups were sometimes made by statues and medallions, upon which profiles of certain of the relatives were raised in bas-relief. We have likewise a nauseous repetition of weeping cherubs, which support them. This was a poor expedient to include a whole family. About this period we may observe the names of Gibbs and Kent, then the architects most employed, inserted with that of the sculptor upon the plinth, and as claiming the whole merit of the design. Of this school of Sculpture, in particular, it will be candidly allowed, that the exquisite finishing will always excite admiration and delight. The Jovers of the pure antique will smile at so gross a deviation from all the canous of ancient art; yet will be content to allow this school great merit, excepting when the works of its professors are rashly compared with the specimens which the antients have left us. The close of the last century was the æra of a new species of sepulchral sculpture in England. By the establishment of the Royal Academy, a purer knowledge of ancient art, and a successful rivalship among artists, has been happily introduced, and fostered by Parliamentary encouragement, to perpetuate the memory of Heroes and Legislators. Of modern Sculptors, I will venture to speak only of those who are no longer among the living. JOHN BACON, R. A. owed much to native genius, and a certain delicacy of design and execution, derived neither from the study of the antique, nor from any elevated feeling of what is termed ideal beauty. His monuments of Mrs. Draper in Bristol Cathedral, and of Miss Whyttet in Westminster Abbey, exhibit a mild simplicity (very distinct from the severe style of the antients) which is extremely pleasing, and is peculiar to his smaller works. His monument for Mr. Whitbread at Uphill in Bedfordshire is his best large work. JOSEPH WILTON, R. A. has left no prominent specimen of his ability, either in Westminster or St. Paul's. His bronze equestrian statue of George III. in Berkeley square has lately disappeared. THOMAS BANKS, R.A. was a sculptor of no common merit. His academy figures excelled those of his coutemporaries, as his " falling giant" will ably attest. A sleeping child of Sir B. Boothby at Ashbourn in Derbyshire is seraphical; and the figure of Victory upon the monument of Captain Burgess in Westminster Abbey, deserves to be ranked among the happiest efforts of sculpture in England." As a recapitulation, I subjoin a table of Sculptors, who have practised their art in England since the Refor mation, classed as they were connected with each other, Eras and Schools of Sculpture in P. Torrigiano. 1550-1600. Richard Steevens. Edward Marshal.} School. Illustrations of the Life and Errors of DUNTON; continued from p. 515. P. 592. Avoider is a basket in which broken meat is carried from the table. P. 594. The Bishop of· was probably the Bp. of Ossory, Dr. John Hartstonge, who had been the Duke of Ormond's Chaplain. P. 595. Of Dunmore house few vestiges remain at this day. P. 601. "The most excellent Morals of Epictetus made English, in a poetical paraphrase by Ellis Walker," were published in 1692. P. 601. A Dr. John Ellwood was afterwards Vice-Provost of Trinity Col lege, Dublin.-Whether young Falstaff became Vice Provost, it would now be curious to investigate.-Bp. Warburton, it is well known, was fond of that character, and occasionally sported a speech from it. P. 606. Earthquake can move them.] This ingenious observation is taken from the "Trip to Ireland;" as are several others that follow, and are marked with commas. P. 606. Swine and Poultry.] "Being obliged to seek shelter during a violent shower, I retreated into a cabin, where the cocks and hens familiarly perched on my knees to be fed; I afterwards found the ducks, geese, and other poultry equally familiar throughout the whole country."-Twiss's Tour in Ireland, 1775. P. 607. Upwards of 3000 acres are occupied by the Curragh.-It is, says Dr. Beaufort, in his memoir of the Map of Ireland, generally allowed to exceed the English race-ground in elasticity of turf, and in characteristic beauty. P. 613. Then to proceed. Here Dun ton begins to quote plentifully from the "Trip to Ireland." P.613. "The climate of Ireland is more moist than that of any other part of Europe; it generally rains four or five days in the week for a few hours at a time; thus rainbows are seen almost daily." Twiss. P. 615. A late Author.] The author alluded to by Dunton, and whose account of the people of Ireland he has in many places adopted in his own, was either afraid or ashamed to put his name to his caricature account of the country: he calls it A Trip to Ireland, which he wrote for the express purpose of vilifying the people; for in the preface to the same, he says, that the people of Ireland have the cruelty of a Spanish inquisitor, the letchery of an Italian, the levity of a Frenchman, the cowardice of a Savoyard, the perfidiousness of a Scotchman, the ignorance of a Muscovite, the rebellious temper of a Dutchman, and the pride of themselves. Now what could be ex pected from such a prejudiced writer? Exactly the description he has given; which is one unvaried tissue of ignorance and impudence, and which seems to have originated from the publication of Dr. Molyneux's "Case of Ireland," the year before, in which, says our tripping author, "the Doctor has insinuated that Ireland was independent on England, though reduced by force of arms to acknowledge her conquest!" This was the lethalis arundo, which struck and festered in the side of England, till it was drawn out by the Union.-The Trip to Ireland was printed in 1699, without the name of place or printer. P. 616. They are so lazy.] Their la ziness, says Sir William Petty, seems to proceed rather from want of employment, and encouragement to work, than from the constitution of their bodies.-Ireland has so great plenty of natural commodities, that a man by two days hard labour can get enough to maintain him a week; this is, says Mr. Granger, perhaps the reason of the lazi, ness of the people. P. 616. Howling.] "Here," says Twiss, in his impudent account of Ireland, "I first heard the Irish howl, which was made by the bellowing of a herd of men, women, aud children, who attended the burial of one of their fellows."-The custom of lamenting the dead is very ancient, and has been practised by Hebrews, Greeks, and Romans; among the latter, women, called Præ fice were hired to lament and sing the funeral song, or the praises of the deceased. This is a custom of which a gentleman and a scholar should not have been ignorant. P. 616. preached Jan. 9, 1693-4, “being the first secular day since its foundation by P. 616. Lamentations.] The praises lavished upon the dead amongst the ancient Romans were often so unme-Queen Elizabethi; published by the rited and frivolous, that the word nuga, which signifies trifles, is put for nania, the funeral dirge. P. 617. Vengeance.] "Ireland, at present the land of Ire, or Heaven's wrath." Trip to Ireland.- What does Churchill say of National reflections? What every unprejudiced man says, that they are always illiberal and unjust:' "Long from a country ever hardly used, At random censur'd, and by most abused; Have Britons drawn their sport with no kind view, And judg'd the many by the rascal few!" P. 617. Ingenious Author.] Rather he should have said, "whose lying, impudent Author." P. 622. Bird talking. I never read nor heard of an instance of the Robin Red-breast speaking, before this one of our author. P. 623. College of Dublin.] They have but one College here; but yet it bears the title of an University, like a certain Peer in the same kingdom, who has the sonorous title of an Earl of ten worlds (Desmond), when his Lordship has scarce a foot of land; and I think it well deserves the name of University, if universal ignorance, pride, and poverty, which have taken lodgings here, may deserve the name."-Trip to Ireland. -The name of Usher, who was bred in Dublin College, should have even then saved it from such a flippant stupid aspersion. P. 624. The Countess of Bath was probably the widow of Henry Bourchier Earl of Bath, who died s. p. in 1654. There is half a shelf in Trinity College library, occupied by Blair's Geography, in 24 vols. folio, which are said to have been given by the aforesaid Lady. Besides these books having the Earl of Bath's arms on them, there are several others scattered up and down, in several parts of the Library, with the same arms. P. 625. 30001.] In the "Trip to Ireland," the author says, "The Irish Parliament is contriving ways and means for a Library for them, which some think will be built about the time as the students who are designed to make use of it shall arrive to the knowledge requisite for such studies-and that is never." This saucy observation would scarcely have been omitted by Dunton, had he not been sensible how unfounded it was. What would the author have said had he lived to see erected one of the finest Libraries in Europe? P. 627. Dr Ashe.] A Sermon was Lord Justice's command; printed by Joseph Ray, in College-green, for William Norman, Bookseller, in Damestreet, Dublin, 1694." P. 631. Lazy-hill.] The ground from the lower part of Lazer's-Hill to Ring's End has been recovered from the sea; it was called in that year Lazy-hill in the Journals of the House of Commons. P. 632. Thomas Quin was Lord Mayor in 1698. P. 697. Dr. Samuel Annesley, a celebrated Nonconformist, was first cousin to the Earl of Anglesey. The Doctor was a man of great learning and piety. The gross irreligion of the Royal party in the time of the Civil War attached him (as it did many other good men, who lamented those unhappy discords) to the side of the Parliament. He was one of the Preachers at Whitehall. But, after the death of the King, he would have nothing to do with those in power, applying himself solely to his pastoral charge. He was ejected from the Vicarage of St. Giles, Cripplegate, in 1662. Several excellent Tracts were written by him: among which a Sermon on Universal Conscientiousness has been deservedly esteemed. - His youngest daughter, the wife of Mr. Samuel Wesley, was remarkable, not only for the graces of her own sex, but also for the wisdom and fortitude of the other. She' was indeed a help meet for her pious and Jaborious husband. She bore him 19 children and though she charged berself with the early education of them all, and was most of the time in very straitened circumstances, yet several of her Letters abundantly prove that she did not neglect the improvement of her mind. See an account of her death (which happened July 30, 1742,) by her son, the Rev. John Wesley, in Coke's Life of Wesley, p. 240. The death of her husband, in April 1735, is described in the same Volume by his son Charles: - P. 757. Mr. Samuel Wesley was a man of considerable learning and great ingenuity. He was also of eminent use fulness as the minister of a large parish, the inhabitants of which in general neither feared God nor regarded man when he came to reside among them. His Paraphrase of the Book of Job incontestably proves the extent and depth of his erudition. He wrote also many things in verse, "With Vida's piety, though not his fire," * Mr. Pope, in a letter to Dean Swift, in which he requests the Dean to get subscriptions for that work, observes, "I call |
