Hayley-IX-6

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My very dear Flaxman,

You certainly judg’d right, in not suspending your great & glorious Pursuits, to indulge the mournful Wishes of a Friend, whom I am confident you regard in no common degree, & who hopes, in some measure, to merit that regard, by telling you, that his Reason justifies & applauds your Conduct against the Feelings of his Heart. — your dear suffering disciple had a very strong affectionate desire to see you, & I was anxious to procure that Gratification for a double purpose, which is sufficiently explain’d in my Request: but be assured we have both so much of the true spirit of Friendship in us, as to take a noble Pride in sacrificing our own desires (however importunate) to your professional Honor & advancement! — But hasten, my dear Friend, to reward us for this sacrifice by giving us the earliest Intelligence, you can, of that success, in your grand pursuits, which, as cordial Friends to you, & to our Country, we both wish & expect you to obtain. — you will perceive how alive the dear emaciated cripple still is to [word overwritten; now illegible] what he thinks may be interesting to you, when I inform you, that at his affectionate request, in spite of my deep affliction, I have completed the extensive & long-suspended Poem, which I began to you in the year 94 —

The Verse is finish’d: the long-promised Lays,
That Grief so oft would in my Mind suspend,
Tho’ brighten’d by the Glory of my Friend!
For whom ‘tis Duty & delight to raise
The Hymn of Honour, where pure Truth displays
Her Flaxman’s Powers, that from Kind Heaven descend,
And, aiming ever at the noblest End,
Make Marble Eloquent in Virtue’s Praise.

Ere yet from Rome the travell’d artist came
My friendly Song began: Paternal Woe
Palsied my Lyre: but, with angelic aim,
My child entreated it again to glow:
His Prayer has taught the desert Rock to flow:
May Friendship find the stream a stream of living Fame!

I am preparing for publication, with a tremulous solicitude to gratify yr dear affectionate disciple with a sight of a work, that He

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so kindly wishes to see in print, before that tremendous crisis of his cruel malady arrives, when our dear medical Guy most strongly apprehends, that He must sink to the Grave. — His present state how ever is such, that altho He passes thro daily Torture of the severest Kind, He has Intervals of ease, when He can enjoy Conversation upon Topics of Literature, Art, & Friendship.

If my Book proves worthy of the sculptor to whom it is address’d, & prospers in the World, I may probably request you to enrich a future Edition with some of yr exquisite designs, in the manner of yr engravings from Homer, & with some additional Notes. For my first Edition I wish to have only the two following Decorations, if you approve them.- a Frontispiece & a Vignette at the close the 1st from poor Toms outline of Demosthenes at the Base of Neptunes Statue (a scene describ’d express for this purpose in the poem) & a neat small Head, as a closing vignette, from your medallion of the dear disciple, whose character I have sketch’d in the closing Epistle — you I know will have the Goodness to retouch for Him his Demosthenes in such a manner, that it may form an engraved outline, & yet still remain very fairly his own design — & you will have the goodness to desire our Friend Howard to make for me such a drawing from your Medallion of the dear Disciple, as may furnish us with a proper siz’d ornament for a quarto page to appear under the closing Lines of the poem — I know you will have the goodness to indulge me in these Fancies of an afflicted Heart, & in return I will send you some of the proof sheets of the Poem, before the notes are printed — I deceive myself very much, if they will not prove \where they speak of Tom/ a melancholy yet very pleasing Gratification to you & yr dear Nancy, & to Her only I shall entreat you to shew them, till the whole work is ready for the Public — adieu! my excellent Friend, accept our united Benedictions to you both, & believe me

Ever your most affectionate
afflicted Hermit

Dec 21
1799

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To
Mr Flaxman Sculptor
Buckingham Street
Fitzroy Square
London