Of his merit as a statuary, the universal and esta blished reputation of hisoworks has afforded the de cisive proof. " The works of Bacon, Bankes, Nolle- , kins, Wilton, and Flaxman," says Dallaway (and to these might now perhaps be added other names of nearly equal promise), " will rescue the present age from being totally indebted to foreigners fotperfec don in statuary. His present Majesty, at Christ Church, a bust the first mentioned, has the strength of Bernim. The various productions of this artist which adorn St Paul's Cathedral, Christ Church, and Pembroke Colleges, Oxford, the Abbey Church at Bath, and Bristol Cathedral, give ample testimony to his powers ; above all, those great and prominent works among the monuments in West minster Abbey.
But 'it was not as an artist only that Mr Bacon was esteemed. He was no less distinguished by the firmness of his mind, and the uprightness of his pri vate character. His principles were deeply founded, and the virtues which he strove to attain were mea sured by a standard more unbending than the mere dictates of feeling or of a cultivated taste. He was
an avowed believer in the truths of the Christian re ligion • and in him this 'belief exhibited its corre sponding *fleets, by producing a consistent influe,nce upon his whole character and conduct. In this man ner, the strength of his principles, and the reality of his conviction, were daily manifested throughout his life ; than which, no test of sincerity is more un equivocal, no instruction more useful, and no recom mendation more persuasive.
Mr Bacon was remarkable for the simplicity of his manners, and wall, in all things, devoid of ostenta tion. Of the general powers of his mind, and par ticularly of his acute and just perception in matters of taste connected with his art, a very favourable opinion will be formed by those who peruse the ar ticle SCULPTURE, which he contributed to Dr Rees's , edition of Chambers's Dictionary.
See Memoir of the late John Bacon, R. A. By the Reverend Richard Cecil. London, 1S11. (En.)