We come now, for the first time, to a great English sculptor. JOHN FLAXMAN (1755-1826) was born in York, but while he was still an infant his father removed to London, where he kept a plaster-cast shop. The boy began to draw and even to model very early; when but five years old he kept some soft wax, with which he could take an impression from any seal or ring or coin which pleased him. He was very delicate in health, and was once thought to be dead, and was prepared for burial, when animation returned; his parents tried to gratify all his wishes, and while a child he modelled a great number of figures in wax, clay, and plaster. By the time he was ten years old he was much stronger, and was able to use the activity which corresponded to his enthusiastic feeling and imagination. About this time he read "Don Quixote," and was so moved by the adventures of that hero that he went out early one morning armed with a toy sword and bent upon protecting some forlorn damsel; he went to Hyde Park and wandered about all day, not finding any one who was in need of his services. At night he returned home, very hungry and weary, to find his family in great alarm over his unusual absence. He now spent all his time in drawing and modelling, and never had more than two lessons from a master; at eleven years of age he began to gain various prizes, and at fourteen was admitted to study at the Royal Academy, and gained the silver medal there that same year. About this time he made some friends who aided him to study the classics and to learn more of history, all of which was of great use to him in his art. He was also fortunate in having the friendship of Mr. Wedgwood, for whom he made many models. He also painted a few pictures in oil. Among his earliest sculptures were a group of Venus and Cupid and a monument to Mrs. Morley, who, with her baby, died at sea. Flaxman represented the mother and child rising from the sea and being received by descending angels. In 1782 Flaxman married Miss Ann Denman, whose intelligence and love of art were of great assistance to her husband. In 1787 he went to Rome, where he remained seven years. During this time he made a group for Lord Bristol, representing the Fury of Athamas, from the Metamorphoses of Ovid; this work cost him much labor, for which he received but small pay; it was carried to Ireland and then to Ickworth House, in Suffolk, where but few people see it. In Rome Flaxman also made a group of Cephalus and Aurora for Mr. Thomas Hope, and the designs from Homer, AEschylus, and Dante, which have such a world-wide fame.