ACKNOWLEDGMENTS TO CORRESPONDENTS. Brother Richardson's Verses in our next. The Account from our respected Correspondent at Sunderland of the "Ceremony of laying the Foundation-Stone of the Bridge over the Wear," is deferred, as attaching properly to the Present State of Masonry, which he has had the goodness to promise for our next Number. Brother Stanfield's "Verses on the late Lord Chancellor's Visit at Scarborough,” unfortunately arrived too late for insertion this month; but shall assuredly appear in our next. The friendship of our Correspondent C. W. we are bound to acknowledge with thanks. Twenty-five Setts of the Magazine will be forwarded immediately after Publication, by the Coach, addressed according to his Order. Captain M.'s Anecdotes are necessarily deferred for want of room: As are many other valuable Contributions in Poetry and Prose. As Provincial Grand-Meetings are generally held about this Time, we shall be thankful for Communications of such intended Meetings, as many of our Readers, if apprized in time, would perhaps feel a pleasure in joining with their Brethren on such occasions. In our next Number will be given an elegant Portrait of His R. H. the PRINCE of WALES, elegantly embellished (as a Frontispiece to the Second Volume), copied by Permission from the Picture in Freemasons' Hall. We must entreat our Correspondents, who wish an early insertion of their favours, that they will transmit them on or before the 8th day of every month. Any of the Portraits contained in this work may be had in frames, handsomely gilt, and glazed, at 3s. each, by applying at the BRITISH LETTER-FOUNDRY, Bream's Buildings, Chancery-lane, where Communications for the Proprietor will be thankfully received. Subscribers may have their Volumes bound, by sending them to the British Foundry as above. J. Northcote Esq. R.A. pinx. M.Deney sculp! Thomas Banks EsqER.A. Published by Seakherd and Whitaker. Ave Maria Lane. June 11794 THE FREEMASONS' MAGAZINE, OR GENERAL AND COMPLETE LIBRARY. FOR MAY 1794. MEMOIRS OF THOMAS BANKS, ESQ. R. A. Led by THE MUSE, my step pervades Where SCULPTURE holds her reign: And Marble breathe thro' ev'ry vein! "The Patriot seems to speak, the Hero frown.” T is a very common but a very just remark, that the character and works, since it is necessary to the attainment of excellence in literature, and more particularly in those performances which are to reach the mind through the medium of the outward senses, that almost the whole of life should be devoted to the province in which that excellence may exist. This remark is not less applicable to the present subject of our attention than on former occasions, as the person to whom we now draw the notice of our readers has been indebted for the distinguished rank he holds in his profession to a diligent and persevering practice of his art, as well as to nature for the genius with which she has so liberally endowed him. THOMAS BANKS, Esq. was born about the year 1738, in the parish of St. Mary, Lambeth. His father, William Banks of Great Badminton in Gloucester, was many years Steward to the late Duke of Beaufort, and also a respectable Architect: under his care his son Thomas was first trained to a knowledge of the liberal arts, a knowledge which his own taste, talents, and industry, have since matured into such an high degree of professional skill. Mr. Banks, we believe, received the rudiments of his education at Ross in Herefordshire, a place which the genius of POPE has preserved from oblivion, however it may fall into decay, by his exquisite portrait of the man "Whom portion'd maids, apprentic'd orphans, blest, What progress in literature Mr. Banks made at this place, or where he extended his studies, we cannot pretend to say; but as he is well known to be a man of general information, and has chosen the subjects of his works from classic stores, without falling into the more hackneyed tracks of mythological invention, we may presume that his father took care that he should be in no want of scholastic acquisitions, and that the aspiring mind of the son was emulous to second the diligence of parental zeal. Mr. Banks senior acted in the capacity of Surveyor as well as Steward to the Duke of Beaufort, and superintended the buildings at his Grace's seat, which were executed according to the designs of the ingenious KENT. Young Banks doubtless assisted in the arrangements of these works, and must have derived much knowledge as well as many useful hints for the direction of his future pursuits. We do not find that he was ever regularly placed under a Sculptor. At the age of fifteen he was bound apprentice to a wood-carver, an employment so much below his genius that we cannot but wonder how his father could suffer such talents to be lost in the temporary obscurity of such a profession, and not exert himself with the utmost zeal to raise his son into a sphere more adapted to the dawning lustre of his genius. To the credit of Mr. Banks it fhould be mentioned, that though placed so much beneath what the original powers of his mind so obviously gave him a right to expect, he faithfully served the whole period of his articles, which was the usual term of seven years. This circumstance may shew, that regularity of conduct is consistent with great talents and a forcible imagination, contrary to the general opinion of certain empirical philosophers, who have been too indulgent to the excesses of men of genius. pre The first public proof we find of Mr. Banks's skill was a basso relievo of the Death of EPAMINONDAS, for which he obtained a premium from the Society for the Encouragement of Arts. This mium was obtained in the year 1763, after he had entered himself at the Academy in St. Martin's Lane to draw from the life. In the year 1765 he obtained another for a basso relievo in marble, representing the Redemption of the Body of HECTOR. In the year 1769 he gained a third premium, for a model of PROMETHEUS as large as |