view, an affection so memorable; and with hopes that the just representation of its soothing delights may, in the progress of time, call forth and inspirit many new examples of filial and parental attachment.

Instead of attempting to draw a fresh character of the deceased, it will be sufficient if this memorial comprises those that are found in the following compositions: first, the verses that describe the young disabled sculptor in the epistles to Flaxman: secondly, a brief meditation, written by the beloved cripple himself on his own sufferings, probably about two months before he expired, but not discovered by his father till long after his decease.

In the Essay on Sculpture, he is thus described:

"Such was the youth, who, in the flattering h "Of Health's fair promise and unshaken power, "The favour'd pupil of thy friendly choice, "Drew art, and joy, and honour from thy voice; "Whose guidance, then his healthy day's delight, "Still forms the vision of his sickly night. "Could I, dear Flaxman, with thy skill express "Virtue's firm energy in long distress, "And all his merit, 'gainst affliction proof, "Since sickness forced him from thy guardian ro "Thou might'st suppose I had before thee broug "A Christian martyr, by Ghiberti wrought : "So Pain has crush'd his frame with dire contro "And so the seraph Patience arm'd his soul.” Epistles to Flaxman. 4to,

The following Meditation was written in a ne strained hand, by the young invalid, in a diminutive found by his father among the orderly manusc deceased, and regarded by paternal affection as a sketch, exhibiting most faithfully the mental feat writer:

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Although it has pleased God to visit me with a long and enervating illness, by which I have lost, in a great degree, the "faculties of my body; yet, in his mercy, (for which mercy I hope I am grateful,) he has preserved to me the faculties of my mind, and I have employed them, during my confinement, "in that study so important to us as a guard against evil in this world, and as a means of rendering us more fit for the next, and yet so little attended to-the knowledge of oneself. "I have examined (and, I trust, with an eye tolerably impartial) to what defects and errors of conduct I am particularly liable; and I hope, by being sensible of those defects, I may “be able to regulate my conduct in life so, that it may be, upon "all occasions, such as becomes a man and a Christian."

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The excellent master of the young sculptor, the tender and liberal Flaxman, was eager to co-operate with his friend of Sussex, in commemorating the extraordinary merits of the lamented youth, and requested permission to devote a marble monument, as a gratuitous offering, to the memory of his disciple. He placed it in the church of Eartham, with the following inscription; the prose from his own pen, and the verse from that of the afflicted father.

SACRED TO THE MEMORY

OF THOMAS HAYLEY,

Who, having borne an agonizing distemper with cheerful ma Two years and four months,

Resigned a pure spirit into the hands of his Redeem On the 2d of May 1800, in the twentieth year of hi

JOHN FLAXMAN, SCULPTOR,

Dedicates this stone to the Virtues and Talents of his Belov

"PARENT Almighty, to thy breast divine,

"The child they cherish'd Love and Faith resign;
"The gift, resign'd to thy unquestion'd will,
"To fond devotion is a blessing still.

"Yes! in our hearts thy all directing sway

"Has fix'd so deep what seem'd to pass away,
"The bright endowments of a darling son,
"The genius he display'd, the praise he won,

"His gentle manners, his exalted mind,

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These, though his soul has fled this world of pain,

"Live in our bosom, in our spirits reign.

"God! may these just memorials of his truth
Remain a lesson both to age and youth;

"So thou, bless'd being, guide to bliss above
"All who embraced thee, with protecting love,
"Who trained the virtues to thy childhood given,
"And saw them torture-tried, the Gold of Heaven.'

INDEX

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133

135-

TO THE

MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HAYLEY, ESQ.