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year, 1828, Sir Walter fulfilled his promise; and I finished from his face the marble bust now at Drayton Manor-a better sanctuary than my studio, else I had not parted with it. The expression is more serious than in the two former busts, and the marks of age more than eight years deeper.

"I have now, I think, stated all that is worthy of remembering about the bust, except that there need be no fear of piracy, for it has never been moulded.

I have, &c.

"F. CHANTREY."

serene expression into that conversational look which it now wears, to the delight and admiration of thousands. The bust of Southey was a second request made in pursuance of the very sound and judicious advice of Allan Cunningham.

It would be no easy matter to enumerate the many ways in which Allan Cunning. ham was of the utmost use to Sir Francis Chantrey. He wrote a sketch of his life, and a glowing account of his works, in April 1820 for Blackwood's Magazine, and, in 1826, a kind of critical panegyric upon his genius for the Quarterly, in a review of Meme's Life of Canova. These articles were publicly known as his. They contain no drawing of the arrow of adulation to the head, but a just appreciation of Chantrey's works and genius. That such public notices as these were not of real benefit to Chantrey, it would be idle assertion to deny. Chantrey, at least, forgave their author-he never rewarded him rightly for such substantial services.

Now this is in the outset substantially incorrect; yet it was so written, and by Allan Cunningham, we are assured, to please Sir Francis Chantrey. In 1820, Chantrey knew nothing of Scott as a poet or a man beyond hearsay, and had never indeed seen him. He never wrote to Scott to ask him to sit; for the very suggestion and bringing about of the whole, Chantrey was indebted to his friend Cunningham. Sir Walter had come to town in 1820, and Hogg, the Ettrick Shepherd, in writing to his brother bard in London, assured him One of the many commissions obtained that Scott would consider a call from Allan for Sir Francis Chantrey, by his friend and Cunningham as a very friendly act. When foreman, was the Wellington equestrian Sir Walter had been settled a week or so statue for the City of London. A subscripat "kind Miss Dumergue's," Allan set off tion was set on foot, some ten thousand one morning with a palpitating heart to pounds collected, a kind of packed commake his half-expected visit. But before mittee called together, and a day of meethe was on his way for Piccadilly, where ing named. For what? To give the statue Miss Dumergue resided, Allan had commu- to Mr. Wyatt. The Duke of Rutland nicated to his patron (so they word it) his and Sir Frederick Trench were the prime purpose of calling upon Scott, to thank movers in this affair ; they pulled the puphim for some kind message he had received pet-strings of this bronze subscription, and through a common friend. "Now," said had an artist of their own. In short, the Allan to Chantrey, "if I can get Scott to matter looked like a job, and so it struck sit, you must make his bust. Reynolds Allan Cunningham, who sounded his friend painted all the great authors of his time, Sir Peter Laurie, a member of the Commitand Phillips has painted all the great au- tee, on the matter, and inquired if there thors of our own. You must make the was no way of wresting the statue from busts of them all, and begin with Mr. Wyatt's feeble fingers into the artistic Scott." Chantrey at once consented. Al- hands of Sir Francis Chantrey. Sir Peter lan saw Scott, made known the willingness Laurie at once confirmed the impression of Chantrey, and obtained the poet's prom- of Allan Cunningham that it was a job, but ise to sit. In this way the matter rested doubted if there was any chance of upsetfor some time; Scott expected a call from ting Wyatt, so strongly was he backed. Chantrey, and Chantrey a call from Scott. Laurie, however, undertook to inquire and Neither had their expectations realized. do all he could. Members were sounded, Chantrey was for a while angry; he had nev- the story told, and Chantrey's willingness, er asked a soul to sit to him before, and the nay, anxiety, to execute the statue spoken result of his first request was far from sat-publicly about. The day came, 12th May, isfactory. Cunningham now interfered 1837; Sir Peter Laurie was in the Commitagain, and saw Sir Walter on the subject. tee room, and Allan Cunningham behind The moment that Scott became acquainted the scenes, to back Sir Peter in his battle with the circumstances, he set out with his for true art. friend Allan for the studio of Chantrey. The contest was sore; and, though ChanThe sculptor was more than pacified, he trey gained the day, it was only by a mawas highly pleased. Friendship ripened jority of one, the casting vote of the then into intimacy, and the bust grew from allord-mayor. Twenty-nine members were

present, and their votes were thus recorded. For Chantrey-1, The lord-mayor; 2, Lord Sandon; 3, Sir Henry Hardinge; 4, Sir Claudius Hunter; 5, Alderman Birch; 6, Sir Peter Laurie; 7, Alderman Winchester; 8, Alderman Lainson; 9, Sheriff Johnson; 10, A. K. Barclay, Esq.; 11, C. Barclay, Esq.; 12, T. Burbidge, Esq.; 13, Rev. V. K. Child; 14, W. Chadwick, Esq.; 15, C. Francis, Esq. For Wyatt-1, The Duke of Rutland; 2, Earl, of Wilton; 3, Viscount Beresford; 4, Sir Frederick Trench; 5, Dr. Croly; 6, B. Edington, Esq.; 7, T. Farncome, Esq.; 8, William Jerdan, Esq.; 9, J. Masterman, Esq.; 10, J. M. Rainbow, Esq.; 11, W. Richardson, Esq.; 12, D. Salomons, Esq.; 13, E. Silon, Esq.; 14, W. Simpson, Esq.

clining the honor thus ingeniously and honorably acquired for him.

Whether Allan Cunningham was or was not forgiven by Sir Francis Chantrey for this very effective support and accession of good fortune, both in an artistic and a pecuniary sense, we shall not stay to inquire. Mr. Cunningham really was a sufferer by his very proper interference in this matter, for Chantrey left the legacy of £2000 to his friend and assistant, conditionally, that he should superintend the execution of this very statue, and be alive at its completion. Allan Cunningham superintended the work for eleven months after Chantrey's death, to the very day indeed of his own death, when the legacy became, in the eyes of the executors of Sir Francis Chantrey, a lapsed legacy. They have now declined paying what they have the power to give; and are they in refusing, it is natural to ask, administering to the intentions of the dead? What did Chantrey do in the case of Northcote?

The works of Sir Francis Chantrey divide themselves into equestrian statues, standing statues, sitting statues, recumbent figures, groups, chiefly in strong relief and busts.

The business was opened by Trench proposing that the statue should be given to Wyatt. Dr. Croly and Mr. Jerdan supported Trench, when Mr. Charles Barclay, as was agreed upon with Sir Peter Laurie, proposed Sir Francis Chantrey. Mr. Barclay was seconded by Sir Peter. One of the committee then got up, and said that Mr. Wyatt was a great man, and deserved the statue, as he had lost much through affection for his art. To this Sir Peter replied, "I propose a greater artist, one, too, There are three equestrian statues-Sir that has no losses for the City of London Thomas Munro, George IV., and the Duke to repair, and that he will undertake it this of Wellington. Of these three, the Munro letter from my friend Mr. Allan Cunning- figure is the finest, but the horse the worst ; ham will convince all." Sir Peter then the Wellington horse the best, the figure read a letter on the subject from Allan the worst. Of his standing statues, some Cunningham. "Now all this is vastly eighteen in number, we prefer, far above well," said Sir Frederick Trench, "but all others, Grattan, Washington, Malcolm, who will sanction what Mr. Cunningham and Canning. Of his sitting statues, some says?""I will!" said Lord Sandon. eighteen in number, we prefer James Watt, "Whatever Mr. Cunningham has written (the small-size figure), Dr. Cyril Jackson, on this subject, Sir Francis Chantrey, I know, will sanction." This unexpected turn settled the matter, for Lord Sandon came with the Duke of Rutland and Sir Frederick Trench, as it was said, to suppot Wyatt, and was with them, it was believed, till this stage of the business.

Sir Peter Laurie has been heard to attribute the whole success of Chantrey in this business to his friend Allan Cunningham. Mr. Cunningham, on the contrary, attributed all to Chantrey's high name, and the activity and intelligence of Sir Peter Laurie. When Allan Cunningham was asked in what way Chantrey had expressed his pleasure at the news of his triumph, "Oh," said Allan with a smile, "I fear he will not forgive me." The truth is, Chantrey could not bear to lie under an obligation, as it were, to his foreman, and for a while, urged on by some of his friends, he talked of de

and Dr. Anderson of Madras. Of his recumbent figures, some fourteen in number, the Two Children at Lichfield, the Wild. man group, Mrs. Digby and Mrs. Jordan. His reliefs are very poor. What can be worse than the Hector, the Penelope, and the Conscript Fathers of the Reform Bill signing the Magna Charta of King John?

His busts are beyond all praise, they are the heads of Sir Joshua or Vandyke in marble. Oh for a head of Shakspeare like Chantrey's Sir Walter Scott! "Look," said Coleridge, "at that head of Cline by Chantrey. Is that forehead, that nose, those temples, and that chin, akin to the monkey tribe ? No, no! To a man of sensibility no argument could disprove the bestial theory so convincingly as a quiet contemplation of that fine bust."

Chantrey's fancy figures cost him too much thinking, and he was putting his rep

utation at a hazard in making them by ven- | England to contend for his prizes, solely turing out of his depth. He was content out of respect for the epigrammatic and with the fame of his "Lady Louisa Russell inimitable Frenchman. Fondling a Dove," a sweet little figure all tiptoe and delight.

In 1813, his charge for a bust was one hundred guineas; in 1814 and 1819, one hundred and twenty. He had one hundred guineas for Cline, and one hundred and twenty guineas a-piece for James Watt and John Rennie. In 1820, his charge was one hundred and fifty guineas, the sum he received from Lord Liverpool for the bust of the Duke of Wellington. In 1821, he had two hundred guineas for the bust of George IV., the highest sum he was ever known to charge for a bust.

Chantrey was at times a kind-hearted man-liberal with his purse, ready to hear and relieve distress. Prosperity blunted those better portions of his nature which adversity or a smaller share of prosperity had called into action oftener and with more effect. In his death, art lost one of its greatest ornaments; in the death of Allan Cunningham, literature a very able man.

is

THE LATE "DUCHESS OF SUSSEX."-As the fact

dom will create some controversy, the following letter from her Royal Highness (the Countess of Ameland) to Sir S. J. Dillon, will not be uninteresting. It is dated so long since as December 16th, 1811:

"My dear sir :-I wished to have answered your last letter, but having mislaid your first, I did not lieve that I am delighted with your pamphlet; but know how to direct to you. I am sure you must be

For the Wellington statue he was paid becoming a matter of general discussion, that in the largest sum he ever received for a work the event of the death of the King of Hanover, and of of art, equal as it was in all, with bronze the Crown Prince, his son, the question of the title and money, to £10,000. For the eques- of Sir Augustus D'Este to the throne of that kingtrian statue of George IV., still unerected, he had nine thousand guineas; for the equestrian statue of Sir Thomas Munro, £8000. The Munro horse was the same horse as the George IV., and Chantrey would have thrust a third edition of the same animal upon the City of London but for the sturdy interference of Allan Cun-I must confess I do not think you have stated the ningham and Sir Peter Laurie. He would certainly have had the Glasgow Wellington Statue to execute, but from his anxiety to supply a cast of the same horse to the fair City of the West. This was imprudent, for the Glasgow people wisely wanted a horse of their own. Modelling horses gravelled Chantrey; he was at home with men, but had to learn a new line of art when he came to manufacture horses.

fact quite exactly, when you say (page 25), that the question is at rest between me and the Duke of Sussex, because the connection has not only been declared illegal by sentence of the Ecclesiastical Court, but has been dissolved by consent-that I have agreed to abandon all claims to his name,' &c. Now, my dear sir, had I believed the sentence of the Ecclesiastical Court to be any thing but a stretch of power, my girl would not have been born. Lord Thurlow told me my marriage was good abroad— religion taught me it was good at home, and not one decree of any powerful enemy could make me beHis standing statues and sitting statues lieve otherwise, nor ever will. By refusing me a were well paid for. He had two thousand subsistence they have forced me to take a name not the Duke of Sussex's-but they have not made guineas for the George III. in Guildhall; me believe that I had no right to his. My children £1800 for Spencer Perceval; £4000 for and myself were to starve, or I was to obey, and I President Blair (with niche and pedestal); obeyed; but I am not convinced. Therefore, pray £3500 for Lord Melville; £1000 for Dr. don't call this an act of mutual consent,' or say 'the question is at rest.' The moment my son Anderson at Madras; £1575 for General wishes it, I am ready to declare that it was debt, Gillespie in St. Paul's; £1800 for Francis imprisonment, arrestation, necessity (force like Horner in Westminster Abbey ; £2250 for this, in short), which obliged me to seem to give Washington; £1200 for Chief Baron Dun-up my claims, and not my conviction of their faldas; £2000 for Grattan ; £7000 for Pitt in lacy. When the bans were published in the most frequented church in London, and where all the Hanover Square; £7000 for Watt in West- town goes, is not that a permission asked? And minster Abbey. For "The Two Children" why were they not forbid? I believe my marriage he had £650; for "Lady Louisa Russell," at Rome good; and I shall never feel the question at rest,' till this is acknowledged. Prince Augus£350. tus is now sent to Jersey, as Lieutenant D'Este, in the 7th Fusiliers. Before he went he told his father he had no objection to go under any name they chose to make him take; but that he knew what he was, and the time, he trusted, would come and sister, and his own birth." when himself would see justice done to his mother Colonial Magazins.

Chantrey's admiration of English sculpture did not get much beyond the bust of Dr. Johnson by Nollekens, and the statue of Sir Isaac Newton by Roubiliac. They were both, as he was wont to say, perfect. Such, indeed, was his respect for Roubiliac, that he has allowed foreigners resident in

MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF THE REV.

JOHN WILLIAMS.

From Tait's Magazine.

"Memoirs of the Life of the Rev. John Williams, Missionary to Polynesia." By Ebenezer Prout of Halstead. 8vo, with Portrait, &c. London; Snow.

Williams so far to outstrip all his contemporaries, and to become the primitive Bishop of Polynesia. During his apprenticeship, his mind was forcibly directed to serious subjects, by accidentally hearing a sermon preached by Mr. East of Birmingham; and, after slender educational preparation, he was sent out as a missionary, at a very early age, and when just married. The manner in which Williams, on landing at Eimeo, made the first great step, the acquisition of the native languages, goes far to establish the theory of Professor Blackie.* We are told,

THE terrible fate of "the Martyr of Erromanga," equally with his eminent missionary labors in the islands of the Pacific, have drawn the public attention to his career. His own remarkable narrative, his "Missionary Enterprizes," the accounts of him found in the Missionary Society's ReBy great diligence, he had acquired a suffiports, in the writings of the Rev. Mr. Ellis, cient acquaintance with the language while at and in the recent publications of Dr. Camp- Tahiti and Huahine, to be enabled to preach bell, have contributed to gratify the general intelligibly as soon as he reached Raiatea. The curiosity about an individual, who, if the ac- method by which he made this rapid proficiency complishment of actual good to his race is was his own. Instead of remaining at home, to be taken as the measure of a man's worth, poring over translations and glossaries, or deought to be ranked as among the first class. pending upon the assistance of his senior brethren, he constantly mingled with the natives, But the character and career of an individ-"hearing and asking them questions," and thus ual so eminent for the good he has done, acquired, as he considered with great ease, not deserved the most ample and complete merely the signification of words and phrases, record; and this is now found in these Me- but, what was quite as requisite, the correct acmoirs of the life of Williams, which are would be the most successful in all cases may centuation of the language. Whether this plan evidently compiled by one who could truly admit of doubt; but there can be none respectand warmly appreciate the many happy ap-ing its suitableness to Mr. Williams, one retitudes and excellencies of his character, and also his peculiar-may we not say providential-adaptation to the work which was given him to do.

It is not until Williams is fairly landed on the Hervey Islands,-one of which, Rarotonga, re-discovered by himself, became the scene of his almost miraculous efforts in civilizing and evangelizing,-that the memoir becomes of intense interest.

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markable characteristic of whose mind was the power of exact and minute observation.

In ten months after he reached Eimeo, he preached his first sermon in the native language; some of his elder brethren affirming, that he had done as much in that period, as might have taken another three years. As soon as, with the approbation of the chiefs, and with the prospect of quiet and permanency, the missionaries had settled at Raiatea, Mr. Williams laid a stable

foundation for his future usefulness.

Mr. Williams was the son of respectable parents of the middle class, and he was blessed with an excellent and pious mother. After receiving a very plain educa- Having selected a convenient plot of ground, tion, he was, at a suitable he resolved to erect upon it a dwelling-house in bound age, prentice to an ironmonger in London, to the English style, and in all respects superior attend the retail-shop only; but being of to any building ever seen, or even imagined by the people around him. To this he was incited, "a mechanical turn," he, most fortunately not merely by a desire to obtain for himself and for the great cause in which he was after- his family a commodious and respectable resiwards engaged, lost no opportunity of dence, but by the hope of elevating the standstealing into the adjoining work-shop, ard and awakening the emulation of those whom. where he obtained that practical know- he was anxious to benefit. Before this time, ledge and skill in the craft of the black- the best native houses consisted of but one smith, which enabled him, in after times, apartment, which was used by the whole family, and for all domestic purposes. This was coverwith more ease, to act as a self-taught ma-ed with a thatched roof, but open at the sides, son, plasterer, shipbuilder, farmer, weaver, and carpeted with dry, and too frequently, dirty and, in short, Jack-of-all-trades. It was grass. Mr. Williams perceived the unfitness of this "mechanical turn," together with his such abodes for the purposes he had in view. remarkable facility in acquiring the lan- He knew that domestic comfort, social morality guages of the South Seas, and his peculiar- and spiritual religion could never flourish, unly kind and engaging manners, together less the degraded habits, inseparable from such with his devoted energy, which enabled *See Tait's Magazine for November, 1842.

peculiar-less

his."

"It is a great advantage to me that I am able to turn my hand to any thing, and indeed it is very desirable that every missionary, sent to an uncivilized part of the world, should possess mechanical qualifications, as well as a mission ary spirit.

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We have not only instructed the natives as to the improvement of their houses, but also in sawing timber, carpentering, smith's work, and, among other things, in boat-building. Brother Threlkeld has now in hand a very large boat,

a mode of living, were first destroyed. He Much of the civilization, the fruits of therefore resolved to show the people a more which may now be witnessed in these then excellent way. "It was my determination," he barbarous islands, resulted from this, and writes, "when I left England, to have as res similar pectable a dwelling-house as I could erect; for measures, to make civilization prothe missionary does not go to barbarize him-ceed hand in hand with evangelization. In self, but to elevate the heathen; not to sink about eighteen months after landing, we himself to their standard, but to raise them to hear of a society established by Williams, for encouraging (among the natives) the Prompted by this enlightened and truly be-growth of the arts and sciences! the rewards nevolent motive, Mr. Williams prepared the being nails, a most desirable article to the plan, and commenced the erection of his new islanders. Within the same brief space of and noble dwelling-house. And this was an undertaking in which most of the labor necessa- time, we find this indefatigable missionary rily devolved upon himself. The natives, indeed, writing home:readily assisted in procuring the materials and placing them according to his direction; but all beyond what the most ordinary assistance could render, was done by his own hands. Yet although obliged to execute the work of many different artizans, whose divided labor and united skill are commonly considered essential to such an undertaking, he, relying solely upon his own resources, soon beheld, with pride and pleasure, his future home rising up before him. The natives saw it too, and were lavish in their expressions of astonishment and admiration. The house was sixty feet by thirty, and consist-on which only the natives are employed. Reed of three front and four back rooms. French quiring a larger boat than that which I built at sashes, shaded with a green verandah and vene- Eimeo, that I may visit Tahaa, I have comtian blinds, gave an air of elegance to the sit-pleted one sixteen feet long. ting-rooms, which commanded a splendid view "When we came to this place, there were of the harbor. The frame-work of the building only two native habitations, and it was difficult was wood, but the walls, both within and with- to walk along the beach for the bushes. But out, were wattled, and plastered with coral lime. the former wilderness is now an open, clear, and From this lime, Mr. Williams made not only a pleasant place, with a range of houses extendwhitewash, but a grey and orange coloring ing nearly two miles along the sea-beach, in with which he adorned the interior. On either which reside about a thousand of the natives. side and in front, he had enclosed a spacious We earnestly desire to see the moral wilderness garden, which was tastily laid out in grass-plots, present the same improved appearance. The gravel-paths, and flower-beds, where there flour king, who, we are happy to say, is one of the ished a variety of ornamental shrubs and plants, most consistent characters, resides very near to some of them indigenous, and others exotics in-us. He is a very constant attendant both at the troduced by himself and his brethren. Imme- chapel and the schools. He will probably be diately behind the house, there was an enclosed one of the first whom we shall baptize in the poultry-yard, well stocked with turkeys, fowls, islands. We are happy in being able to state and English and Muscovy ducks; while beyond that his behavior is circumspect, and that he is this, lay a large kitchen-garden, which supplied very active in suppressing crime. their table with several British roots and vege"We are glad to be able to inform you, that tables, including cabbages, beans, peas, cucum- many have built themselves very neat little bers, pumpkins, onions, and pot-herbs. At a houses, and are now living in them with their later date, the bleating of goats, and the lowing wives and families. The king, through seeing of oxen on the hills, indicated that still more im- ours, and by our advice, has had a house erectportant additions had been made to their domes-ed near to us. It contains four rooms, wattled,

tic comfort.

The furniture was in keeping with the house, and discovered in the Missionary an equal amount of taste and skill. Tables, chairs, sofas, and bedsteads, with turned and polished legs and pillars, quite in the English style, and carpeted floors, gave to the interior of this dwelling an appearance, equally inviting to the European visitor, and surprising to the natives. Mr. Wil. liams augured much good from the excitement which these novelties would produce in the too sluggish intellects around him, and was soon rejoiced to see that their imitative propensities had been so powerfully called into useful exercise by his example, as effectually to overcome their indolence. .

and plastered inside and out, and floored. He is the first native on these islands that ever had such a house; but many others are now following his example.

We have been constantly exhorting the people to abandon their pernicious custom of living several families together in one dwelling, Several and have advised their separation. have complied with our request, and before six months more have elapsed, it is probable that there will not be less than twenty houses, wattled, plastered, with boarded floors, and divided into separate rooms for meals and sleeping."

Mr. Williams had not been long in these islands, when he perceived that tobacco

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