Page:Nollekens and His Times, Volume 2.djvu/458

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446
NOLLEKENS'S CONTEMPORARIES.

ing that he had made a very hard bargain, his answer was, that he would think of it; and he certainly did leave him a small sum in his will; but Gahagan did not receive it until several years had elapsed, during which time he had undergone many serious vicissitudes of ill-fortune. Now, if the amount of the same sum had been given at the moment, it might have saved him many a cheerless and melancholy day. I most sincerely lament, that it was not in my power to render him that assistance, which, in a letter addressed to me, he requested; but had I been a Residuary Legatee of Mr. Nollekens's vast property, I can assert most solemnly, that my first act should have been to have requited him with the small sum which he so modestly and so painfully solicited. To the eternal honour of Flaxman be it recorded, that whenever any of his assistants were ill, or visited with misfortune, he made them frequent presents, or sent them the full amount which they would have received had they been occupied for his interest; nor did his humanity rest here, for if it were deemed expedient to have the opinion or advice of a physician, he always paid for his attendance.

Independently of my own long personal knowledge of Mr. Flaxman, I am enabled to