Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 12.djvu/43

 8. ‘A Specimen of Amendments, candidly proposed to the compiler of a work which he calls “The Church History of England.” By Clerophilus Alethes,’ Lond. 1741, 12mo. This is a sharp attack on the Rev. Charles Dodd [q. v.], the catholic church historian, with special reference to the manner in which he speaks of the jesuits and their policy. Dodd replied in ‘An Apology for the Church History of England,’ 1742. 9. ‘Advice to the Author of the Church History of England,’ manuscript preserved at Stonyhurst. This treats of the second volume of the History, and includes also a reply to the ‘Apology.’ It is said to be ‘searching, smart, and acute,’ but it was not deemed advisable to publish it, because the author ‘was not solicitous enough to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace’ (, Jesuit Collections, p. 73).

Authorities cited above; also Panzani's Memoirs, pref. p. 10; Backer's Bibl. des Écrivains de la Compagnie de Jésus; Cat. of Printed Books in Brit. Mus.; Notes and Queries, 3rd ser. ix. 38; Gillow's Bibl. Dict. i. 552; Lowndes's Bibl. Man. (Bohn), 654, 655.  CONSTABLE, JOHN (1776–1837), landscape-painter, was born at East Bergholt in Suffolk on 11 June 1776. His father, Golding Constable, was the grandson of a Yorkshire farmer who had settled at Bures, a village on the Essex side of the Stour, some eight or nine miles west of East Bergholt, where Golding Constable built himself a house of sufficient importance to be mentioned in 'The Beauties of England and Wales.' Golding Constable inherited a considerable property from a rich uncle, including the watermill at Flatford. To this he added, by purchase, the watermill at Dedham, a village in Essex, near to East Bergholt, and two windmills near the latter place, to which he moved in 1774. Here John Constable, the second child, was born, and he was so weakly at his birth that he was baptised the same day. He developed, however, into a strong healthy boy, and when about seven he was sent to a boarding-school and then to a school at Lavenham, where there was a tyrannical usher. Thence he was removed to the grammar school at Dedham, where he had a very kind master, Dr. Grimwood, from whom he gained some knowledge of Latin, to which ne afterwards added a little French. His father at first intended him for the church, and afterwards wished liim to be a miller, but his artistic proclivities were too strong to be repressed, and eventually he was left to follow his natural bent. His attenipt to pursue the business of a miller began when he was about eighteen, and he is said to have performed his duties carefully and well, but it lasted about a year only, during which time he earned for himself in the neighbourhood the name of 'the handsome miller.' Other accounts say that he spent most of this time in observing the effects of nature, in sketching in the fields, and copy ing drawings by Girtin lent him by Sir George Beaumont of Coleorton [q. v.], whose mother lived at Dedham. Sir George also showed Constable that favourite Claude which he used to carry about in his carriage, and allowed him to copy it. His first encouragement in art thus appears to have been given him by the strong adherent of the conventional school of landscape, the apostle of the 'brown tree,' the most noted champion, in fact, of those canons of landscape art against which Constable was to lead the first signal revolt. As Turner had his Girtin, and Crome his Ladbrooke, Constable in like manner had a fellow-student of nature ; his name was Dunthome, the village plumber and glazier, who roamed and studied nature with him in the fields, and remained his friend through life. They used also to paint at Dunthome's cottage, which was close to Constable's home, and also at a room they hired for the purpose in the village.

Sir George Beaumont, for all his dilettanteism, had a fine discernment, and was a true lover of art, and he used his influence to persuade Constable's parents to allow him to go to London to study art, which he did for the first time in 1795. Here he met with encouragement from Joseph Farington, R.A., and made acquaintance with J. T. Smith, the author of 'Nollekens and his Times,' &c., who appears to have etched one or two of Constable's sketches (contained in letters from Constable) in his series of picturesque cottages. From Smith Constable received some instruction in etching, and there are two small etchings by Constable in the British Museum. At the ena of 1797 he went home to take the place of his father's old clerk who had died, but in 1799 he returned to the metropolis, and on 4 Feb. was admitted as a student of the Royal Academy. His studies were assisted by Farington and lieinagle, and he commenced his artistic life as a portrait-painter with an occasional attempt at historical painting. His desire for independence soon shows itself in his letters to Dunthorne. J. T. Smith has offered to sell his drawing in his shop, and he hopes thereby to clear his rent (1799). He was not without resources though, for he and Reina^le club 70l. together to buy a Ruysdael, which he copies. He goes about too a little; he is at Ipswich in 1799, at Helmingham in 1800, in Derbyshire in 1801. In 