are to the sight of a sculptor what learning is to a man of genius, and you will lie under the charge of detaining me." In this resolution Mrs. Flaxman fully concurred. They resolved to prepare themselves in silence for the journey, to inform no one of their intentions, and to set, meantime, a still stricter watch over their expenditure. No assistance was proferred by the Academy, nor was any asked; and five years elapsed from the day of the memorable speech of the president, before Flaxman, by incessant study and labour, had accumulated the means of departing for Italy. They went together; and in all his subsequent labours and triumphs, the wife was his good angel.
For thirty-eight years Flaxman lived wedded—his health was generally good, his spirits ever equal; and his wife, to whom his fame was happiness, had been always at his side. She was a roost cheerful, intelligent woman; a collector, too, of drawings and sketches, and an admirer of Stothard, of whose designs and prints she had amassed more than a thousand. Her husband paid her the double respect due to affection and talent; and when any difficulty in composition occurred, he would say, with a smile, "Ask Mrs. Flaxman, she is my dictionary." She maintained the simplicity and dignity of her husband, and refused all presents of paintings, or drawings, or books, unless some reciprocal interchange were made. It is almost needless to say that Flaxman loved such a woman very tenderly. The hour of separation approached—she fell ill, and died in the year 1820; and from the time of this bereavement, something like a lethargy came over his spirit. He survived his wife only six years; and, as his biographer remarks, was "surrounded with the applause of the world."
FLORE DE ROSE,
Was a French poetess of the thirteenth century. Very few of her writings are now extant.
FLORINE,
Daughter of the Duke of Burgundy, was betrothed to Suenon, King of Denmark, and accompanied this prince to the first crusade, in 1097. She was to have married him immediately after the conquest of Jerusalem. But they were both killed in a battle, with all their companions. Not one was left to bury the slain
FODOR, MAINVILLE, JOSEPHINE,
One of the most brilliant opera-singers of the eighteenth century. Her fame is European. She was the daughter of M. Fodor, the violinist, and born at Paris in 1793. Already in her eleventh year, she appeared at the opera in St. Petersburg with a success which drew the eyes of all the directors of operas in Europe upon her. Her fame increased from year to year, so that, even at the age of seventeen, she had the most brilliant offers from the best theatres in Europe. She married the actor Mainvilie, and appeared with her husband at all the court theatres in Denmark, England, France, Germany, Russia, Sweden, and Italy. The latter country greeted her with the title of Queen of Song, and Venice had a medal struck to honour her. Mademoiselle Sontag owes much to her instruction. She died a few years ago.
