GRINLING, a celebrated English wood-carver, was born at London in the latter half of the 17th century. His parents have been generally represented as Dutch by descent. He early displayed great cleverness and ingenuity in his art, on the strength of which he was recommended by Evelyn to Charles II., who commissioned him to execute the ornamental carving for the chapel at Windsor. The subjects which Gibbons selected are taken chiefly from the Bible, and consist of doves, pelicans, palm-trees, and other emblematic devices. He also exe-

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1 Mackintosh's Life, vol. i., p. 245. 2 Gibbon's Works, vol. i., p. 214. 3 Ibid., p. 181. cutted the foliage and festoons in the choir of St Paul's, the baptismal fonts in St James's, and an immense quantity of ornamental work at Burleigh, Chatsworth, and other aristocratic mansions. The finest of all his productions in this style, however, is believed to be the ceiling which he devised for a room at Petworth. He sometimes wasted his ingenuity on trifling subjects. He is said, for instance, to have carved feathers and pens that were mistaken for real ones; and many of his flowers used to move on their stems like their natural prototypes when shaken by a breeze.

Some of Gibbons' works, such as his statue of Charles II. at the Bank, and of James II. at Whitehall, sufficiently prove that had he chosen to cultivate the more difficult walks of art he might have attained a high rank among the sculptors of England. Even as it is, he has been called by some critics the English Cellini, and the title is perhaps not wholly undeserved.