PETER CUNNINGHAM.

The following statement may perhaps give to PLECTRUM the information he requires.

Dining one day alone with Chantrey, in Jan. 1833, our conversation accidentally turned upon some of his monuments, and amongst other things he told me the circumstances connected with the monument at Lichfield to the two children of Mrs. Robinson.  As I was leaving Chantrey, I asked him if I might write down what he had told me; his reply was, “Certainly; indeed I rather wish you would.”  Before I went to bed I wrote down what I now send you; I afterwards showed it to Chantrey, who acknowledged it to be correct.  It was hastily written, but I send it as I wrote it at the time, without alteration.

Nicholson, the drawing master, taught Mrs. Robinson and her two children.  Not long after the death of Mr. Robinson, the eldest child was burnt to death; and a very short time afterwards the other child sickened and died.  Nicholson called on Chantrey and desired him to take a cast of the child’s face, as the mother wished to have some monument of it.  Chantrey immediately repaired to the house, made his cast, and had a most affecting interview with the unhappy mother.  She was desirous of having a monument to be placed in Lichfield Cathedral, and wished to know whether the cast just taken would enable Chantrey to make a tolerable resemblance of her lost treasure.  After reminding her how uncertain all works of art were in that respect, he assured her he hoped to be able to accomplish her wishes.  She then conversed with him upon the subject of the monument, of her distressed feelings at the accumulated losses of her husband and her two children, in so short a space of time; expatiated upon their characters, and her great affection; and dwelt much upon her feelings when, before she retired to bed, she had usually contemplated them when she hung over them locked in each other’s arms asleep.  While she dwelt upon these recollections, it occurred to Chantrey that the representation of this scene would be the most appropriate monument; and as soon as he arrived at home he made a small model of the two children, nearly as they were afterwards executed, and as they were universally admired.  As Mrs. Robinson wished to see a drawing of the design, Chantrey called upon Stothard, and employed him to make the requisite drawing from the small model:  this was done; and from this circumstance originated the story, from those envious of Chantrey’s rising fame, that he was indebted to Stothard for all the merit of the original design.

EDW.  HAWKINS

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MISCELLANIES.