MALTE BRUN.

He was born in 1775, in the peninsula of Jutland, in the kingdom of Denmark. His father's family was one of the first in that province; and possessing the nomination to several benefices in the Lutheran Church, be sent his son to the University of Copenhagen, to study theology, and take his degrees. The latter suffered his taste in the belles lettres to supersede theological pursuits; and at Copenhagen he published a volume of poems, and undertook the management of a Theatrical Review. At the University, however, he acquired that lofty power of reasoning which he was enabled afterwards to apply with so much success on various subjects. His father was of the aristocratic party which called for a war with France; but he espoused the cause of freedom, and wrote in favour of the enfranchisement of the serfs, and the liberty of the press, opinions not discordant from those of the minister Count de Bernstoff; and, a party having arisen which demanded the establishment of a free constitution, he became one of its most active members. In 1796, he published the Catechism of the Aristocrats, a biting satire against feudality and the coalition of soverigns. Menaced with a prosecution, be took refuge in Sweden; and while there, he published a volume of poems which acquired for him the encouragement and approbation of the Academy of Stockholm.

When Count Bernstoff was on his death-bed, he recommended to the Prince Royal to recal Malte Brun, and employ him in some diplomatic capacity. Accordingly, in 1797, he returned to Denmark, and was favourably received; but, having publicly attacked certain ministerial measures, he was again under the necessity of seeking an asylum in Sweden. Soon after he removed to Hamburgh; and it is said to have been about this time that he became either the founder, or one of the most active members of a secret society, called the United Scandinavians, the object of which was to unite the three kingdoms of the North into one federative republic. This project excited so much alarm, that Paul of Russia, and Gustavus of Sweden, demanded from the Danish Government, the punishment of its authors. In consequence, a prosecution was commenced against Malte Brun, who was then in Paris, and he was sentenced to banishment. He settled in

Mentelle, he published, between 1804 and 1807, "Political, Physical, and Mathematical Geography," in sixteen volumes, 8vo. On the reputation obtained by that work, the proprietors of the Journal des Debats requested him to join in the editorship of that paper. He accepted the invitation; and excepting for one brief interval, he devoted himself to that laborions duty to the very day of his death. Only one hour before he expired, he traced a few lines for the Journal, but had not strength to finish them.

M. Malte Brun was acquainted with all the languages of Europe; he wrote French with the facility of a native; he had a thorough understanding of the character of all the European cabinets; and the correctness of his memory, the soundness of his judgment, and the order which he introduced into the mass of his previously acquired knowledge, made it easy for him to analyse the most complicated subjects.

In 1807 appeared his "Picture of Ancient and Modern Poland;" and in 1808, he commenced a periodical work which is still continued, under the title of Annals of Voyages and Travels, and of Geography and History. It is a faithful and learned analysis of all the voyages and travels, and of all the discoveries in modern times. In 1814 and 1815, be produced another periodical, called the Spectator, which was completed in three volumes. Of his great work, his Summary of Universal Geography, six volumes have appeared; and the printing of the seventh and last volume is nearly finished. During the Hundred Days, he had the boldness to publish "Apology for Louis the XVIII;" and in 1825, appeared his Treatise on Legitimacy, in which the same sentiments are more fully developed.

Lastly, as if so many works were not sufficient to satisfy the passion for study and knowledge which consumed him, M. Malte Brun charged himself, during the last few months preceding his de-cease, with the drawing up of a Dictionary of Universal Geography, in one volume, which is in part printed. His labours were too great for his strength; and his physical energies were rapidly giving way. An interval of repose might have restored him, but he neglected the counsels of friendship; and the fatal crisis speedily arrived. For three days only he kept his room; but even then he felt an anxiety to render himself useful, and only death could snatch the pen from his fingers.

Lately. At Berlin, in his 80th year, John Elert Bode, Royal Professor of Astronomy at the Academy of that eity.

He was a native of Hamburgh, and early displayed a love of the mathematical sciences. The eclipse of 1766 first gave an opportunity of manifesting his astronomical knowledge, and he was only twenty-five when he was appointed in 1772 to his professorship at Berlin, a post he held for fifty-four years. He soon became a correspondent of all the most celebrated, astronomers; and he published numerous works of accuracy and value. Among the principal of them are, an "Introduction to the knowledge of the Starry Heavens ;""Elements of the Astronomical Sciences;' and an "Atlas Cœlestis," in twenty sheets, containing 17,240 stars, and 12,000 more than had been previously laid down. Amongst the great men with whom Bode was closely connected, was Sallande, who is said to have entertained a higher opinion of him than of any other of his competitors in the same science. The Professor was found dead at his desk.

JOHN FLAXMAN, ESQ. P. S. R. A. Dec. 3. At his house, 7, Buckingbam-street, Fitzroy-square, aged 71, John Flaxman, esq. R. A. Professor of Sculpture to the Royal Academy; and Member of the Academies of Rome, Florence, and Carrara.

This eminent sculptor was born at York, July 6, 1755. His father, of the same name and profession, was for many years employed by Roubilliac and Scheemaker; and also kept a large shop in the Strand, for the sale of plaster figures, which was not then so hackney, GENT. MAG. March, 187.

ed a trade, as it has now become, by the large importation of Italians.

The mind of the son, who was an excellent Greek and Latin scholar, seems to have been early imbued with that classic feeling and taste which it is essential an historical sculptor should possess, and in which his industry subsequently made him pre-eminent. He was admitted a student of the Royal Academy in 1770. In 1782, he married Miss Anne Denman, of a respectable family in London, not only an amiable, but a highly accomplished female, to whom he was greatly indebted, when designing from the Greek authors, for pointing out beauties which might have escaped him, and which told in his productions with admirable effect.

In 1787, Mr. Flaxman went to Italy, where he pursued his studies for seven years. While resident in Rome, he was engaged by the late Earl of Bristol to execute in marble, his magnificent group representing the Fury of Athamas, from Ovid's Metamorphoses, consisting of four figures above the natural size. For this he received 6007., a sum which proved far from sufficient to cover the actual cost, and Flaxman, in all but reputation, was a considerable loser by the commission. The group is preserved at Ickworth, the seat of the Earl of Bristol in Suffolk.

About the same time be made, for Mr. Hare Naylor, about eighty designs from the Iliad and Odyssey. These were so highly approved, that he was afterwards engaged to illustrate, in the same manner, the works of Dante for Mr. Thomas Hope, and Eschylus for the late Countess Spencer. All these designs were made at Rome, and engraved there by Thomas Piroli. The Homer was published in 4to. 1793, and again with additional plates, in 1805; the Eschylus in 1795; the Dante in 1807. His illustrations of Hesiod were made after his return to England. The original drawings remain in the possession of his sisters; and engravings from them, by W. Blake, were published in 1816. These magnificent works established his fame throughout Europe, particularly among the critics and cognoscenti of Italy and Germany, with whom he is considered to have acquired a higher reputation than any artist of our country, excepting Sir Christopher Wren and Sir Joshua Reynolds. In 1794, Mr. Flaxman returned to England, and was elected, on his way, a Member of the Academies of Florence and Carrara. His first work on his return, and for which he received the commission before he left Rome, was the monument to Lord Mansfield, in Westminster Abbey.

As a sculptor, Mr. Flaxman's works are of that higher order which is not calculated to obtain immediate popularity. He never, it is believed, executed busts, except as portions of sepulchral monuments, to the production of which, from the devotional character of his mind, he was particularly disposed. One of his earliest productions was his monument to William Collins, in Chichester Cathedral. It represents the poet in a sitting posture, studying, in accordance with an anecdote told of him by Dr. Johnson, "the best of books," while his lyre and poetical compositions lay neglected on the ground. This much admired specimen of Flaxman's genius, was the means of introducing into the same Cathedral several other of his beautiful productions. Of these, the one he himself most esteemed, was probably the monument to Miss Cromwell, for that was selected to accompany Collins's, in a plate which he presented to Mr. Dallaway's History of Chichester. It represents an exquisitely beautiful figure rising to heaven with three angels, and inscribed COME YE BLESSED.

Others at Chichester are :

To Dean Ball,-a female figure weeping over a sarcophagus, and a consoling angel.

To Mrs. Dear,-in form of an antique cippus, with two most elegant small figures of Hope and Religion.

To Mrs. Smith,- -a conjugal genius reclining over an extinguished torch.

In St. Paul's Cathedral':

To Earl Howe,-Britannia holding a trident, is sitting on a rostrated pedestal; on her left the Earl stands below her, holding a telescope, while the British lion is watching by his side; on the right, History records in golden letters the atchievements of the Admiral, and Victory, leaning on her shoulder, lays a palm-branch on the lap of Britannia.

To Captain Miller,-a bas-relief; Britannia and Victory uniting in raising against a palm-tree a medallion of the deceased.

To Lord Nelson,-a statue of the hero dressed in the pelisse presented him by the Grand Signor, leaning on an anchor, and raised on a pedestal, on which four sea deities are carved in relief; with Britaunia, directing the attention of two young seamen to their great example; and the British lion.

To Sir Joshua Reynolds, a statue in the gown of a Doctor of Laws, holding his lectures in his right hand, and his left resting on a pedestal above the head of Michael Angelo.

In Westminster Abbey:

To George Lindsay Johnstone, esq.

a female extended over a bier, her hands clasped as in deep sorrow.

To the Earl of Mansfield, a statue, in his judicial robes, seated in a curule chair placed on a lofty pedestal, with standing figures of Justice and Wisdom'; and behind, a recumbent youth emblematical of Death. The expence of this monument was 2,500; an excellent representation of it is engraved in Britton's Fine Arts of the English School.

To Capt. James Montagu,—a majestic statue, backed by naval trophies, and crowned by Victory, with two lions crouching at the foot of the pedestal. To General Paoli,-a bust.

The following are some of Mr. Flaxman's other monumental works:

In St. Andrew's Chapel, Aberdeen, a statue to Bishop Skinner.

At Brentford, to Dr. William Howell Ewin.

At Brington, in Northamptonshire, to the late Countess Spencer, figures of Faith and Charity with her children. This monument, which is situated at the east end of the Spencer chapel, is so placed immediately under that of the late Earl by Nollekins, which is a figure of Benevolence suspending a medallion of his Lordship, as to appear a portion of the same design.-See in one of the beautiful plates presented by Earl Spencer to the first Part of Mr. Baker's Northamptonshire.

At Camberwell, to Dr. Wanostrocht, -a mourning schoolboy.

At Christchurch, Hampshire,-agroup the size of nature, to Lady Fitzharris and children.

At Eartham, in Sussex, a small basrelief to Thomas Hayley, "his beloved scholar," and son of the poet.

At Flamsted, in Hertfordshire, to the Sebright family, figures of Faith and Hope. See the inscriptions in vol. LXXXII. i. 211.

In Gloucester Cathedral, to Mrs. Morley,-a figure of that lady standing on the sea, with an infant in her arms, and taken charge of by three angels.

In Ireland, (but where we are not informed,) two monuments, to the Earl of Massareene, and to Mrs. Tighe, the author of Psyche.

At Leeds, to Capts. Walker and Beckett, slain at Talavera, the expence of which was 6001.

At Lewisham in Kent, to Miss Mary Lushington,-a mourning mother, rous ed by a consoling angel to the text, BLESSED ARE THEY THAT MOURN.-See the epitaph by Hayley, vol. LXXXI. ii. 557.

At Micheldever, Hampshire, to the family of Baring,-three large bas-re liefs of designs from the Lord's Prayer,

namely, in the centre, a single figure, inscribed THY WILL BE DONE; on one side, a group from the passage, THY KINGDOM COME, and on the other, a group from the clause, DELIVER US FROM EVIL. They are engraved by Mr. Britton in his Fine Arts of the English School.

In the chapel of University College, Oxford, a monument to Sir William Jones, representing, in a bas-relief, which is supported by tigers' heads, the learned Judge engaged in a digest of the Hindoo code, with Brahmins attending. There is also another monument to Sir W. Jones at Oxford, by Mr. Flaxman. At Poplar,to George Steevens,-a bas-. relief, representing the deceased in a sitting posture, ardently contemplating a bust of Shakspeare. It is a remarkably beautiful little monument; and is engraved in Lysous's Environs, Suppt. p. 294.

At Romsey, to Lord and Lady PalmerThis was being erected at the period of Flaxman's death.

ston.

In Winchester Cathedral: To the wife of Bishop North,-figures of Piety and Faith.

To Dr. Joseph Warton,-that eminent pedagogue seated in a chair, teaching three boys who stand before him; engraved in Milner's Winchester, vol. 11, p. 91.

The basso-relievos in the front of Covent-garden Theatre were designed by Flaxman, and one of them, and the statue of Comedy, of his own execution.

For the Earl of Egremont, Mr. Flaxman executed a statue of Apollo, and a colossal group of Michael the Archangel's victory over Satan, which is but just finished.

At the East India House, a statue of Warren Hastings.

At Glasgow, a statue of Pitt in the Townball, and a colossal statue in bronze of Gen. Sir John Moore.

For his present Majesty he designed a model of the shield of Achilles. This exquisite performance is now well known to the public, from the duplicate copy which has been recently sold by Mr. Christie among the plate of the Duke of York, and of which we have the following description: In the circular compartment, which forms the centre, the sun is represented in a quadriga, in alto relievo, surrounded by various constellations, on a celestial planisphere. Round this are described, in succesive groups, the marriage procession, and banquet; the quarrel and judicial appeal; the siege and ambuscade, and military engagement; the harvest-field; the vintage; shepherds defending their herds, attacked by lions; and the Cretan dance. The waves of the sea form the border of the shield. The silver

This noble

weighs about 634 ounces. piece of workmanship, Mr. Christie said, was purchased at 2,000l. There were only five copies of it existing, three of which were in the possession of Noblemen, and the fourth was in the hands of Messrs. Rundell and Bridge, by whom it was chased and gilt. A commission, he added, of 1,000l. was left by a gentleman, and on putting it up at that sum, Mr. Bridge offered a thousand guineas. There being no opposition, it was knocked down at that sum.

The contemporary eminence of Flaxman and Canova necessarily brought them into frequent comparison; but their spheres appear to have been entirely distinct, Canova excelling more in the exquisite delicacies of the human figure, and Flaxman in general and extensive composition of figures. Canova himself, when in this country, was' so struck with some of the productions of Flaxman, as to declare, with that modesty which always accompanies genius, that he had not produced such works.

In 1799 Mr. Flaxman published, in 4to. "A letter to the Committee for raising the Naval Pillar or Monument, under the patronage of his Royal Highness the Duke of Gloucester," to which a reply was made by Alexander Balfour, an architect. Mr. Flaxman's proposition was to form a colossal statue of 200 feet in height, to be placed on Greenwichhill, to be seen from the river.

In 1809" a sketch of Romney's professional character" was contributed by Mr. Flaxman to Hayley's Life of that artist. (see vol. LXXIX. p. 1147.)

Mr. Flaxman was elected a member of the Royal Academy in 1800, and bad been for about fifteen years Professor of Sculpture to that Institution. In 1816 he was elected, with Sir Thomas Lawrence and Mr. Fuseli, a member of the Academy of Painting and Sculpture at Rome.

The Professor's lectures at the Academy were highly admired, and we are happy to understand that they and other tracts will be published by his sisters; who are having many works in sculpture of great importance finished under the direction of Mr. Denman, the brother-in-law and pupil of the deceased. Among these is a statue of Burns for Edinburgh, one of John Philip Kemble for Westminster Abbey, and a third of the Marquess of Hastings for Bombay.

It may be added, that Mr. Flaxman had made the designs for nearly all the sculpture for the exterior of the King's new palace, and was to have executed as much of it as he could undertake,—but the whole was to have been under his direction. These were the last drawings he touched, and are now invaluable.

Having lost his wife in 1820, (see vol. LXXX. i. 281.) Mr. Flaxman's latter years were rather retired. He was a man of warm benevolence and rigid integrity. In all pecuniary matters, he was so severely scrupulous against his own interest, that his profession was far less productive to him than to most artists enjoying equal rank.

Mr. Flaxman contracted a severe cold on Sunday, December 3; but was sufficiently well on Monday to receive a few friends at dinner. Medical advice was called in the same evening. His constitution had been weakened by a gradual decline of health, which had for several years excited the apprehensions of his professional and personal friends; and he was therefore spared the suffering of a severe or procrastinated illnees.

It was the intention of the members of the Royal Academy to follow the remains of their late Professor of Sculpture to the grave, in a manner becoming the respect which they entertained for his virtues and talents. This mode of interment, however, was found to be contrary to the express will of the deceased, and to the wishes of the family; and, therefore, the funeral was private. It took place on the 15th December, attended by the President and Council of the Academy, as well as his private friends.

A portrait of Mr. Flaxman was published in Mr. Dance's Collection; and a later likeness in the European Magazine for May 1823. Two others, we understand, are about to appear; one, painted by J. Jackson, R.A. to be engraved by Turner; and the other from a medallion modelled by himself at Rome, to be prefixed to his Lectures.

J. M. GOOD, M. D.

Jan. 2. At the house of his daughter, at Shepperton in Middlesex, of an inflammatory attack brought on by cold, aged 62, John Mason Good, M. D. F. R. S. &c.

The education of medical men, when conducted, as ever should be the case, upon a broad and liberal plan, not only leads to a vast range of collateral science, but is necessarily based on an intimacy with the language and the literature of Greece and Rome. Hence many of the first physicians in all ages have been distinguished as well for their love and pursuit of elegant studies, as of those more immediately connected with the practice of the healing art. On the continent, amid a host to which we might point with pride and pleasure, it will suffice to mention the venerated names of Fracastorius, Haller, and Zimmerman, men alike dear to the student of nature and the disciple of the muses. Nor do we

want in our own island many, both in the past and present times, who have traced, with equal energy and success, this twofold path to fame. But a few years have gone by since we lost, and in the vigour of his days, the lamented Leyden, a physician distinguished among his contemporaries not more for his enthusiastic love of science, than for the beauty of his poetry, and the almost unrivalled extent of his philological attainments.

Like Leyden, the subject of our present brief sketch early acquired a justlyearned character for deep and multifarious erudition; but, more fortunate than Leyden in length of days, he added to these acquisitions a great, and we think a permanent reputation as a medical writer and philosopher.

Dr. Good was born at Epping in Essex, May 25, 1764, and was descended from a family of great respectability and antiquity at Romsey near Southampton, whither his father, a dissenting minister of exemplary character, and considerable literary attainments, immediately removed on the death of his elder brother, and whilst the subject of our me. moir was yet an infant. Here, under the most able parental tuition, his father having married Miss Peyto, the favourite niece of that excellent man John Mason, A.M. the author of the well-known treatise on "Self Knowledge," he enjoyed a very liberal and comprehensive initiation into the walks of literature and science. Dr. Good commenced the exercise of his profession as a general practitioner at Sudbury in Suffolk, where he married one of the daughters of the late T. Fenn, esq. a banker of that place.

Sudbury, however, was a field too confined for his talents, and he was induced, in the spring of 1793, to exchange it for the metropolis, where having settled himself in Guilford-street, be gradually rose into that celebrity, both as a scholar of uncommon powers, and as a medical writer of the first class, to which we have just alluded.

With a critical knowledge of classical literature, Dr. Good had early in life combined the study of the oriental languages; and in 1803 he published the first fruits of his philological acquisitions under the title of "Song of Songs; or Sacred Idyls; translated from the original Hebrew, with notes critical and explanatory," 8vo. This version, which offers a new arrangement, is beautifully executed, uuder the double form of prose and poetry. The metrical translation is, in a high degree, spirited and elegant, and the notes exhibit a large share of taste and erudition. (See a review of it in vol. LXXV. p. 233).

The same year produced our author's