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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