Page:Nollekens and His Times, Volume 2.djvu/465

 kneaded the clay in a rough manner with the hand, under the influence bf a great mind. The manner in which he produced that noble specimen, the shield of Achilles, for Messrs. Rundell and Bridge, the eternal monument of his fame, was truly curious. He first modelled the general design, without attending minutely to the respective parts; it was then moulded in compartments, and cast in plaster, and he afterwards finished it up, by cutting away to that inimitable height of excellence, which enabled his spirited employers to produce those splendid casts of it in silver gilt, which adorn the side-boards of the King, his Royal Highness the Duke of York, his Grace the Duke of Northumberland, &c.

No one could be more blessed with the friendship of men of worth than Flaxman. Those highly esteemed characters William Hayley, Thomas Hope, and Samuel Rogers, were among his dear and inseparable friends; the latter of whom has not only the good fortune of having the chimney-pieces and cornices of the rooms of his elegant mansion in St. James's-place, executed from the designs of Flaxman, but is also, fortunately, in possession of two figures of Cupid and Psyche; which works alone would do eternal honour to the