ists. They have
had to work their way from one position to another; and to strengthen
their nature by conquering difficulty. Hogarth began his career by
engraving shop-bills. William Sharp began by engraving door-plates.
Tassie the sculptor and medallist, began life as a stone-cutter. Having
accidentally seen a collection of pictures, he aspired to become an
artist and entered an academy to learn the elements of drawing. He
continued to work at his old trade until he was able to maintain himself
by his new one. He used his labour as the means of cultivating his skill
in his more refined and elevated profession.

Chantry of Sheffield, was an economist both of time and money. He saved
fifty pounds out of his earnings as a carver and gilder; paid the money
to his master, and cancelled his indentures. Then he came up to London,
and found employment as a journeyman carver; he proceeded to paint
portraits and model busts, and at length worked his way to the first
position as a sculptor.

Canova was a stone-cutter, like his father and his grandfather; and
through stone-cutting he worked his way to sculpture. After leaving the
quarry, he went to Venice, and gave his services to an artist, from whom
he received but little recompense for his work. "I laboured," said he,
"for a mere pittance, but it was sufficient. It was the fruit of my own
resolution; and, as I then flattered myself, the foretaste of more
honourable rewards,--for I never thought of wealth." He pursued his
studies,--in drawing and modelling; in languages, poetry, history,
antiquity, and the Greek and Roman classics. A long time elapsed before
his talents were recognised, and then he suddenly became famous.

Lough, the English sculptor, is another instance of self-denial and hard
work. When a boy, he was fond of drawing. At school, he made drawings of
horses, dogs, cows, and men, for pins: that was his first pay; and he
used to go home with his jacket sleeve stuck full of them. He and his
brothers next made figures in clay. Pope's Homer lay on his father's
window. The boys were so delighted with it, that they made thousands of
models--one taking the Greeks, and the other the Trojans. An odd volume
of Gibbon gave an account of the Coliseum. After the family were in bed,
the brothers made a model of the Coliseum, and filled it with fighting
gladiators. As the boys grew up, they were sent to their usual outdoor
work, following the plough and doing the usual agricul