Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 62.djvu/440

 writings of John Woolman by heart;’ Henry Crabb Robinson writes of its author as a schöne Seele, and of the exquisite purity and grace of his style. Ellery Channing pronounced it the sweetest and purest autobiography in the language; Edward Irving called it a godsend. From its appearance in 1775 it was reprinted at least ten times before 1857, besides selections, abridgments, and the editions of 1832, 1833, and 1838, in Friends' Library, Lindfield, edited by William Allen (1770–1843) [q. v.] It was included in vol. iv. of Evans's ‘Friends' Library,’ Philadelphia, 1817. The most popular edition is that with a valuable introduction by the poet Whittier, Boston, 1872, 8vo; this has been reprinted with an ‘Appreciation’ by Alexander Smellie, London, 1898, 8vo. The ‘Journal’ was translated into German, ‘Tagebuch des Lebens,’ &c., London, 1852, 12mo. ‘Mémoire de Jean Woolman,’ extracted from his journal, was issued London, 1819, and often reprinted.

Several of Woolman's essays are reprinted in his ‘Works,’ Philadelphia, 1774, 8vo (new edit. 1800); also in ‘Serious Considerations on various Subjects of Importance, with some Dying Expressions,’ London, 1773, 12mo; reprinted (with the next) New York, 1805. His finest essay, written a few months before his death, ‘A Word of Remembrance and Caution to the Rich,’ Dublin, 1793, 12mo (reprinted, London, 1794, 12mo), was issued by the Fabian Society as a tract, 1898, and widely circulated. It was translated into French by Jacques Desmanoirs (Dublin, 1800, 8vo).

[Journal with Whittier's Introduction; Lives by Thomas Green, Dora Greenwell, and D. Duncan; Letters in Comly's Miscellany, vol. i.; Crabb Robinson's Diary, i. 403, 406, ii. 14, 136; Eclectic Review, June 1861; Saint John Woolman, an article reprinted as a pamphlet, London, 1864; Appleton's Encyclopædia of American Lit. vi. 605; Hildeburn's Cent. of Printing; articles in Good Words, i. 528, 715, and in several other English and American periodicals; Allibone's Dict. of Engl. Lit.; Smith's Cat. and Suppl.; Irish Friend, v. 62; Leeds Mercury, 13 Oct. 1772.] 

WOOLNER, THOMAS (1825–1892), sculptor and poet, son of Thomas Woolner and his wife Rebecca (born Leeks), was born at Hadleigh in Suffolk on 17 Dec. 1825. He received his first education at Ipswich, but in his boyhood his father removed to London on obtaining an appointment in the post office, and at the age of twelve young Woolner, who had shown much ability in drawing and modelling, was placed as a pupil in the studio of William Behnes [q. v.] So great was his promise deemed that Behnes agreed to receive him without a premium, on condition that, when sufficiently advanced, he should work for him at something less than the usual rate of pay. He continued with Behnes four years, and in December 1842, at his master's recommendation, entered the schools of the Royal Academy, continuing to be employed by Behnes in his spare time. In 1843, aged only 17, he exhibited his first work, a model of ‘Eleanor sucking the Poison from the arm of Prince Edward.’ In 1844 a life-sized group, representing ‘The Death of Boadicea,’ was exhibited in Westminster Hall. In 1845 he gained the Society of Arts' medal for a design representing ‘Affection,’ a woman with two children. In 1846 a graceful bas-relief of ‘Alastor’ was exhibited at the academy. The now well-known statuette of Puck, afterwards cast in bronze for Lady Ashburton, was exhibited at the British Institution in 1847, when it attracted the attention of Tennyson.

During all this period Woolner had been in very narrow circumstances; his models, though admired, brought him few commissions, and he gained his livelihood by working for Behnes. In 1847 he made the acquaintance of Rossetti, through whom, though even less known than himself, he became a member of a circle destined profoundly to influence English art. Rossetti introduced him to F. G. Stephens, who found him ‘encamped in a huge, dusty, barn-like studio, like a Bedouin in a desert.’ Ere long he became one of the original ‘pre-Raphaelite Brethren.’ In this capacity in January 1850 he contributed to the first number of ‘The Germ’ two cantos—‘My Beautiful Lady’ and ‘My Lady in Death’—of the poem subsequently expanded and known by the former title, which subsequently obtained celebrity. Two short poems from his pen also appeared in the second and third numbers. ‘My Beautiful Lady’ was accompanied by a striking etching by Holman Hunt, the quintessence of pre-Raphaelitism. Woolner, however, said to William Bell Scott, who made his acquaintance about this time, ‘Poetry is not my proper work in this world; I must sculpture it, not write it. Unless I take care, my master Conscience will have something to say that I shan't like. I have noticed his eye glaring at me already.’

Immediately before his initiation into the pre-Raphaelite brotherhood Woolner's exhibited work had been of a highly idealistic character, comprising ‘Eros and Euphrosyne’ and ‘The Rainbow,’ shown at the academy