that it stood as firm as a rock for Gibson to work upon. The new hand
turned to vigorously once more; and, in spite of his seeming rawness,
finished the copy so well that Canova admitted him at once to the
Academy to model from life. At this Academy Canova himself, who loved
art far more than money, used to attend twice a week to give instruction
to students without receiving any remuneration whatsoever. It is of such
noble men as this that the world of art is largely made up--that world
which we too-practical English have always undervalued or even despised.

Gibson's student period at Rome under Canova was a very happy episode in
a uniformly happy and beautiful life. His only trouble was that he had
not been able to come there earlier. Singularly free from every taint of
envy (like all the great sculptors of his time), he could not help
regretting when he saw other men turning out work of such great
excellence while he was still only a learner. "When I observed the power
and experience of youths much younger than myself," he says in his
generous appreciative fashion, "their masterly manner of sketching in
the figure, and their excellent imitation of nature, my spirits fell
many degrees, and I felt humbled and unhappy." He need not have done so,
for the man who thus distrusts his own work is always the truest
workman; it is only fools or poor creatures who are pleased and self-
satisfied with their own first bungling efforts. But the great enjoyment
of Rome to Gibson consisted in the free artistic society which he found
there. At Liverpool, he had felt almost isolated; there was hardly
anybody with whom he could talk on an equality about his artistic
interests; nobody but himself cared about the things that pleased and
engrossed his earnest soul the most. But at Rome, there was a great
society of artists; every man's studio was open to his friends and
fellow-workers; and a lively running fire of criticism went on
everywhere about all new works completed or in progress. He was