Page:Nollekens and His Times, Volume 2.djvu/460

 448 gold medal at the Royal Academy, he believed, what many students then told him, that to a certainty he would gain the prize, and he continued to entertain that opinion even to the very hour of distribution; though he had received a pretty severe check on the day upon which he and his antagonist were to try their skill, by modelling a subject proposed by the Council in the presence of the Keeper, in order to convince the Academicians that each artist was fully capable of producing models equal to those they had sent in. Now it must be here noticed, that the two candidates, Flaxman and Engleheart, had agreed to allow each other to see what he had produced, within a certain time of the hours limited by the Council; at the expiration of the proposed time, Engleheart stepped forward to see what Flaxman, who had worked rapidly, and with the fullest confidence, had done; but when Flaxman walked round to look at Engleheart's model, he found that he had not even commenced; upon which, he was bold enough to conclude, that the medal must unquestionably be adjudged to him. Engleheart, who had been deeply engaged in thought, was not discouraged by what he had seen, but received fresh vigour, and ultimately astonished Flaxman, who, notwithstanding, was so