Chapter XI

Fuseli's prefatory Address to his resumed Lectures.--His second
Edition of Pilkington.--He suffers from a nervous fever, and visits
Hastings in company with the Biographer.--His Picture of Marcus
Curius, and Letter relative to it.--Letter from Mr.
Roscoe.--Canova's Intercourse with Fuseli.--Anecdotes of Fuseli and
Harlow.--Letters from Fuseli to the Biographer.--Republication of
his Lectures, with additions.--Death of Professor Bonnycastle, and
Anecdote concerning him.--Death of Fuseli's friend and patron, Mr.
Coutts.--An agreeable party at Fuseli's house.

On the 26th of February 1810, Fuseli resumed his course of lectures, and prefaced them by the following address:--

"Mr. President, and Gentlemen,

"Sincere as my gratitude and pleasing as my emotions must be on
being, by the indulgence of the Academy, appointed to address you
again, I should feel myself unworthy of this honour were I not to
regret the infirm state of health, the unfortunate cause which
occasioned the resignation of the Professor of Painting, and
disappointed the expectation you had a right to form from the
display of his brilliant talents. Severely, however, as this
disappointment may be felt by you, it is a consolation to reflect
that we still possess him, and that the Academy may still profit by
his advice and practical abilities: but what can I offer to
mitigate our grief on the awful decree which snatched from us his
predecessor, your late lecturer, my departed friend? In him society
has lost one of its best members, our Art one of its firmest
supporters, the Academy one of its brightest ornaments, and you a
solid, experienced, forcible, and lucid instructor. The innate
vigour of his mind supplied every want of education; his
persevering energy ruled circumstances, and made necessity the
handmaid of the art; his judgment, at a very early period,
discriminated the art itself from those vehicles of which he
possessed, in a very high degree, the most splendid; add to these,
that insatiable curiosity, which not only stimulated him to examine
every system, and to collect every observation on art, but to court
all relative knowledge, and whatever, though more distant, might
tend to illustrate his argument, enforce his proofs, or assist his
researches; and you have an aggregate of qualities, which, if he
had been suffered to complete his course, would have enabled him to
present you with a more connected series of instructions for your
studies than perhaps ever fell to the lot of any other school, and
might have conferred on England the honour of having produced the
best combined, least prejudiced, if not the most lofty or extensive
system of art.

"Such was your teacher:--to expatiate on the artist before his
companions, admirers, rivals, and scholars, within these walls,
which have so often borne testimony to the splendour and
versatility of his powers, would be equally presumption and waste
of time: that characteristic truth, that unaffected simplicity and
air of life which discriminate his portraits; the decision, the
passion, the colour, the effects that animate his history; the
solidity of his method, his breadth and mellowness of touch, now
fresh before us, with his writings, will survive and consecrate to
memory the name of OPIE."

Fuseli, this year (1810), gave a second edition of his "Pilkington's Dictionary of the Painters;" to this he added more than three hundred names and characters of artists, chiefly of the Spanish school, enlarged the notes given in the previous edition, corrected some mistakes in dates, and gave in an appendix a few names which had been omitted in the alphabetical order, and also many particulars of the great masters of the Italian school; the last he considered as too prolix for the body of the work.

In the summer of 1813, Fuseli was attacked with a considerable degree of fever on the nerves, attended with great depression of spirits: this he considered a similar disease, but much milder in its effects than that with which he had been afflicted in 1772, at Rome. This indisposition he felt the more, from having enjoyed for the last forty-three years, an uninterrupted state of good health. His medical friends advised change of air, and more particularly for that of the sea-side. He accordingly determined to pass a month at Hastings, and prevailed upon the writer of this memoir to accompany him thither. The frequenters of this salubrious bathing-place, called by some the _Montpelier_ of England, will hardly recognise, from its present improved state, the description given of it by Fuseli in a letter to a friend; but it was a true picture of the town at that time. "Hastings appears to me to have been constructed by a conspiracy of bone-setters, surgeons, and dissectors, as the most commodious theatre of all possible accidents in contusions, falls, dislocations, sprains, and fractures. The houses of one side of the High-street, _i.e._ the most inhabited part of the town, are built on what they misname a terrace; but, in fact, it is a mass of stony fragments gathered from the shore, without any other polish than what the wave had left behind; raised four or five feet above the road, unguarded on the edge, and consequently, without the perpetual interference of miracles, fatal to every stranger who approaches them at night, in winter thaws, when spangled with ice, or flooded from the tremendous ridge that beetles o'er the house-tops."

To form an adequate and correct opinion of the extent of Fuseli's talents and information, and a proper notion of his feelings, it was necessary to be an inmate of the same house: from the experience of this and a subsequent opportunity, I can, with truth, assert, that he was not only a most intellectual, but a pleasant and accommodating companion. After a month had been spent at this pleasant watering-place, I had the satisfaction of returning to London with him, he being restored to perfect health.

This year (1813) he painted a picture for Mr. Joseph Johnson, of Liverpool, "Marcus Curius preparing his frugal repast." When Mr. Johnson gave the commission, he said, "I wish the subject to be some mentally heroic action, taken either from the English or Roman History." When this picture was finished, Fuseli addressed the following letter to his friend:--

"London, Oct. 8, 1813.

"DEAR SIR,

"I have not been unmindful of what you so kindly commissioned me to
undertake for you, and the picture which I have painted now only
waits your commands. The _subject_, though not English, is
congenial with your own mind, and selected from the most virtuous
period of Rome. If I remember rightly, you approved of it when we
discussed the subjects here; but as you may not perhaps have since
had leisure to reconsider it, you will permit me to repeat it as
concisely to you as I can, and nearly in the words of Valerius
Maximus. 'Marcus Curius, who had repeatedly smitten the Samnites,
seated in his rustic chair, preparing his simple meal in a wooden
bowl, exhibited to the admiring Legates of the Samnites at once,
with the proof of the most rigid frugality, his own superiority.
Commissioned by the state, they spread before him treasure, and
humbly solicited his acceptance. With a smile of disdain, scarcely
deigning to look at it, Curius replied--Take back these baubles to
those who sent you, and tell them that Marcus Curius prefers
subduing the rich to being rich himself, and that you found him as
impregnable by bribes as irresistible in arms.'

"Such is the subject, my dear Sir, which I have endeavoured to
compose and execute for you, as well as my capacity and practice
permitted; I wish they had been greater. I remain, with my wife's
and my own warmest wishes for your own, dear Mrs. Johnson's, and
son's health and happiness, dear Sir,

"Your obliged and sincere friend,

"Henry Fuseli."

"Joseph Johnson, Esq."

Fuseli kept up a constant intercourse with his friends at Liverpool, and particularly with Mr. Roscoe. The correspondence which passed between this gentleman and him sometimes had relation to literature, but more frequently to the fine arts; the following is a specimen of the latter:--

"Liverpool, 24th May, 1814.

"MY DEAR FRIEND,

"When my son Robert left us, about ten days since, I sent by him a
slight outline of a frieze, under a picture of a Holy Family, by
Ghirlandajo, desiring him to give it you, and to enquire whether
you agree with me in thinking it likely to be the production of
Michelagnolo, who is said to have painted in the pictures of
Ghirlandajo, whilst a student with him. Slight as it is, being, in
fact, only the copy of a copy, you will be able to form an opinion
of it at first sight. The picture is in distemper as well as the
frieze, which is executed in chiar' oscuro, in a sort of oblong
broken touches, producing on the whole a good effect. The
superiority of the style of the frieze to that of the picture is
evident, and demonstrates to a certainty that they are the work of
different hands.

"I think I also told you, some time since, that I had a picture of
Leo X., with the Cardinals de' Medici and Rossi, which I have
reason to believe is the copy made by Andrea del Sarto, from that
of Raffaelle, and which was first sent to Mantua, afterwards went
to Parma, and thence to Capo di Monte, where it is now no longer to
be found. Many persons who had seen it there, assure me this is
undoubtedly the same picture. I have had it some years, and having
been frequently asked whether I had taken it out of the frame to
look for the mark mentioned by Vasari, I determined, a few months
since, to examine it, and sending for two or three friends, we took
it out, and on the _edge of the pannel_, near the shoulder of the
Cardinal de' Medici, found the remains of an inscription, in large
letters, which I conjecture to mean, "_Andrea Florentinus Pinxit_,"
with the date, which is so far obliterated as to be wholly
illegible. At all events, there undoubtedly has been an inscription
on the edge of the pannel, a circumstance in itself highly
favourable to its being the very picture which Vasari has
described. This picture is most highly finished, has an
indescribable force of colouring, and is in as fine a state of
preservation as the day it was painted. Those who have seen the
picture of Raffaelle in the Louvre, assure me that this is in every
respect equal to it. I long to have your decision on these two
pictures, but hope it will be on the spot.

"I lately got a fine picture by Bernardino Lovini, which confirms
in every point the account which Lanzi and you have given of him.
It is a Holy Family, with two attendant pilgrims, saints, small
life. I think you will admire it for its simplicity, pathos, and
beautiful colouring.

"I have a friend in Liverpool, who is a good chymist, and prepares
colours, which I believe to be of a superior quality. His name is
Strahan, and his agent for the sale of them in London, is _Mr.
Thos. Clay, No. 18, Ludgate-hill_. I shall esteem it a favour if
you will make a trial of them, and if they should be found to
answer better than those you are already supplied with, would
recommend them to your friends. I believe they are already in some
degree known amongst the artists; but Mr. Strahan is very desirous
that you should make a trial of them; and I have promised him _all
my interest with you_ for the accomplishment of his wishes.

"I hope Robert will have called on you before you receive this: for
your kindness and friendship both to him and Richard accept my best
thanks, and believe me, my dear friend, unalterably yours,

"W. Roscoe."

Canova visited England in the summer of 1816, and was then very much struck with the pictures, as well as pleased with Fuseli's society. This eminent sculptor remarked, that he not only showed the brilliancy of genius in his conversation, but that he spoke Italian with the purity of a well-educated native of Rome. And on his return, the Academy of St. Luke, at Rome, at his request, sent a diploma, constituting Fuseli a member of the first class, an honour which was conferred also, by the like recommendation, upon Sir Thomas Lawrence and Mr. Flaxman.

In the year 1817, Fuseli sat, at my request, to Harlow for his portrait, which is on pannel, of a cabinet size. This eminent painter was highly gratified by the compliment, and exerted every faculty to do his best. Fuseli obliged him and me by giving for this picture twelve sittings of two hours each; and a more perfect resemblance, or characteristic portrait, has seldom been painted. I attended Fuseli at each sitting, and during the progress of this portrait. Harlow commenced and finished his best and most esteemed work, "The trial of Queen Katherine," in which he has introduced many portraits; but more particularly those of the Kemble family; in the performance of this work, he owed many obligations to Fuseli for his critical remarks; for when he first saw the picture (chiefly in dead colouring), he said, "I do not disapprove of the general arrangement of your work, and I see you will give it a powerful effect of light and shadow; but you have here a composition of more than twenty figures, or I should rather say parts of figures; because you have not shewn one leg or foot, which makes it very defective. Now, if you do not know how to draw legs and feet, I will shew you;" and taking up a crayon, drew two on the wainscot of the room. Harlow profited by these remarks, and the next time we saw the picture, the whole arrangement in the foreground was changed. Fuseli then said, "So far you have done well; but now you have not introduced a back figure, to throw the eye of the spectator into the picture;" and then pointed out by what means he might improve it in this particular. Accordingly Harlow introduced the two boys who are taking up the cushion; that which shews the back, is altogether due to Fuseli, and is certainly the best drawn figure in the picture. Fuseli afterwards attempted to get him to improve the drawing of the arms of the principal object (Mrs. Siddons), who is represented as Queen Katherine, but without much effect, particularly the left; and after having witnessed many ineffectual attempts of the painter to accomplish this, he desisted, and remarked, "It is pity that you never attended the Antique Academy."

Harlow proved himself, on many occasions, to be among the vainest of men, and generally wished it to be believed that he possessed information to which he was a stranger. On one occasion he said to me, "It is extraordinary that Fuseli, who is so fine a scholar, should suffer engravers to place translations under the plates taken from the classical subjects painted by him;" and remarked, "I was educated a scholar, having been at Westminster school, and therefore wish to see the subjects given in the original languages," and then imprudently instanced the print taken from his picture of the death of Oedipus. When Fuseli appointed the next sitting, on our way to Harlow's house, I mentioned this conversation to him, and added, I really think he does not understand one word of Greek or Latin, to which he gave his assent, and remarked, "He has made, I think, an unfortunate choice; for, if I recollect rightly, the Greek passage, as well as my translation of it, are scratched in under the mezzotinto. But before we part, I will bring his knowledge to the test." After he had sat the usual time, he asked for a piece of chalk, and wrote in large letters, on the wainscot, the following passage:--

"ktupêse men zeus chthonios, hai de parthenoi
rhigêsan hôs êkousan; es de gounata
patros pesousai, klaion."[57]

After having done so, he said to Harlow, "Read that," and finding by his hesitation that he did not understand a letter, he resumed, "On our way hither, Knowles told me you had said that I ought not to permit engravers to put translations under the prints taken from me, and that you had instanced the Oedipus; now that is the Greek quotation whence the subject is taken, and I find you cannot read a letter of it. Let me give you this advice: you are undoubtedly a good portrait painter, and I think in small pictures, such as you are painting of me, stand unrivalled; this is sufficient merit; do not then pretend to be that which you are not, and probably from your avocations never can be--a scholar."

Unfortunately for Harlow, he was very unpopular with the Royal Academicians, and when he offered himself as a candidate for an Associate of the Academy, there was but one vote in his favour. On the evening of the election, Fuseli was taxed by some of his friends with having given it, and he answered, "It is true, I did,--I voted for the talent, and not for the man." This was not a solitary instance in which Fuseli exercised his judgment as to the fitness of men to fill offices in the Academy; and accordingly voted for them, distinct from any private consideration. On a vacancy happening for the Professorship of Anatomy, Mr. Charles Bell was among the candidates: this gentleman was unknown to Fuseli, except by his works: his vote was requested by one of his best and most intimate of friends (Mr. Coutts) for another person: "I cannot," said he, "oblige you; I know of no man in England who is a better demonstrator than Bell; and for a surgeon, he is a good artist; such a man therefore the Academy wants for their Professor, and, as such, I _must_ vote for him."

The month of September 1817, I passed with my relation and friend, Richard Wilson, Esq. of the Cliff-house, at Scarborough; on this occasion, as was always the case when out of London, Fuseli corresponded with me; two of his letters are preserved, and I cannot refrain from giving them to the public, as they shew the kindness of his disposition, and the terms of friendship which subsisted between us. Understanding that my apartments were about to be repainted, he wrote as follows:--

"To any other person an apology might be necessary; to you, whose
friendship can neither be heated or cooled by correspondence or
silence, I despise offering any: if by remaining mute, I have
deprived myself of one source of pleasure, it has reserved to me
another, when we meet: your letter made _me_ happy, because you
could not have written it, had you not been so _yourself_.

"Hammond has perhaps told you that I went to Luton with him and
Roscoe: I spent some happy hours there; and, of course, but few.
Since my return, I have been riding or crawling in a kind of
daylight-somnambulism between this place, Brompton, and
Putney-hill. Whether I shall continue so to do the remainder of the
month, or go to snuff in some sea air, will depend upon my wife's
success or disappointment at Cheltenham.

"The chief reason why I send you this scrawl, is to offer you a bed
here at your return, on the same floor with myself, and a chamber
as pleasant and as well furnished as my own, viz. with demigods and
beauties. I earnestly request you to accept of it, and not to
persist in the foolhardy resolution of sleeping in a newly painted
room. If Hammond is obliged to have his house painted, pray oblige
me with your compliance, and, in giving me the preference, you will
be at home, and your brother can surely not except against it,
considering the distance at which he lives. I will not take a
refusal.

"I feel my head so stupid, my hand so disobedient, my pen so
execrable, my ink such a mudpond, that I ought in mercy to save you
the trouble of deciphering more. Adieu, love me as I do you,
neither more nor less, and hasten your return.

"Ever,
"Henry Fuseli."

"Somerset House, September 12, 1817.
To John Knowles, Esq."

I accepted of his kind offer, and in my letter doing this, gave him a transcript of an epitaph in Latin, inscribed on a brass plate which is affixed to a pillar in the north aisle of Scarborough Church, and which is not only admired there for the expression of feeling which it contains, but for its Latinity. This epitaph is as follows:--

"Dum te, chara Uxor, gelido sub marmore pono,
Illustret vigili lampade funus amor;
Heu! periit pietas dulcissima, casta cupido,
Teque omnis virtus quæ negat esse meam.--
Oh! quàm felicem nuperrima Sponsa beâsti!
Nunc pariter miserum reddis amata Virum.
Iste dolor levis est charos ubi casus amicos,
Mors ubi disjungit, sola tremenda venit."

"In piam Memoriam Annæ charissimæ Uxoris, hæc dedicavit
mæstissimus Maritus J. North: Obiit die Xmo 4to Augusti, Anno
Dom. 1695, Ætatis suæ 22."

In answer to this letter, he wrote to me as follows:--

"Putney-hill, September 20, 1817.

"MY DEAR SIR,

"You have given me the greatest pleasure in accepting the offer
which I took the freedom of making to you; and my wife, the moment
she hears of it, will as much be flattered by your kindness as
myself,--for, before she went off, she earnestly desired me to make
the request.

"Thanks for the epitaph,--but with all possible respect for Mr. J.
North's Latinity and feelings, and notwithstanding the very free,
correct, and scholastic manner in which you have transcribed his
effusion; bowing likewise to the taste and discrimination of the
"Learned" where you are; I must own that the sense of the fourth,
and construction of the seventh and eighth lines are not very clear
to me.

"I am rambling about here in the charming thickets of this villa,
deliciously asleep, if fancy wake me not now and then with the
thunder of the wave beneath your feet. You cannot now stay long
from

"Yours, ever,
"Henry Fuseli."

"John Knowles, Esq."

The month of September 1818, was passed by me with Fuseli and Mrs. Fuseli at Ramsgate; he was then in excellent health and spirits, and although in his seventy-eighth year, had considerable bodily strength and activity. Our constant practice was, to leave the house about five o'clock in the morning, and sometimes earlier, to walk until eight, breakfast, and employ ourselves during the middle of the day in reading or writing. We walked for an hour before dinner, and did the same in the evening before we retired to rest, the usual hour for which was about ten o'clock. It was at this place that I collated his aphorisms in their present form, under his inspection, and then made a fair copy of them for the press.

In the year 1820, he published a quarto volume, containing three additional lectures, reprinted the three which appeared in the year 1801, with some alterations and additions, and wrote an introduction, which he called "A Characteristic Sketch of the Principal Technic Instruction, Ancient and Modern, which we possess." This work was purchased by Mr. Cadell the bookseller, for three hundred pounds.

Mr. Bonnycastle, the Professor of Mathematics to the Royal Military College at Woolwich, died this year (1821), in the seventieth year of his age;[58] he had been for more than forty years the intimate friend, occasional companion, and always a great admirer of the talents of Fuseli. Bonnycastle was a mathematician of celebrity, independently of which he had a fine taste for poetry and English literature in general; his memory was retentive, his knowledge extensive, and he was ever ready to communicate what he knew. His conversational talents were of the first order, and he occasionally enlivened his remarks with apposite anecdotes. As he was the friend of my youth, I feel much satisfaction in recording here my gratitude for instruction and many acts of kindness received from this amiable man.

The following anecdote will afford a proof of the delicacy and feeling of Bonnycastle's mind, and also of his excellent disposition. When his "Introduction to Astronomy" was published, it was reviewed with a considerable degree of asperity in a popular work of the day. Several of his scientific friends, and Reuben Burrow in particular, considered that it had not been fairly dealt with by the reviewer, and they determined to discover the writer: they at length found out that it was Mr. Wales, Mathematical Master of the School of Christ's Church Hospital. Burrow, who was a man of quick sensibility, and an excellent mathematician, was determined to avenge the cause of his friend, and constantly expressed anxiety for the appearance of some new book by Wales; at length one was published, upon "The Method of Finding the Longitude at Sea by Chronometers." Burrow procured a copy of this work, had it interleaved, and wrote numerous remarks on, and confutations of many parts of it, which he carried to Bonnycastle, and said, "As you have a more polished pen than myself, use these observations of mine, and make up a sharp review of this paltry book for the public." Bonnycastle lost no time in doing this, and was on his road to London, with the review in his pocket for publication, when he accidentally met Wales, who was then in so bad a state of health that he appeared to be in the last stage of a consumption. This affected the mind of Bonnycastle so strongly that, on his arrival in London, he immediately burnt the manuscript review, being determined not to hurt the feelings of a man labouring under disease, and thus perhaps to accelerate his death.

In the year 1822, Fuseli was bereft of another old and valued friend, Mr. Coutts, the opulent banker, with whom he had been acquainted nearly sixty years. This gentleman had on many occasions afforded him valuable proofs of his sincere friendship. With him, and with his family during the latter period of his life, in particular, Fuseli was almost domesticated. By them, his very wishes were anticipated, and he received from their hands, such attentions as can arise only from feelings of respect and regard, accompanied by those comforts and elegancies which wealth alone can bestow. And I cannot refrain from expressing my conviction, that these attentions, which were afforded without the least ostentation, not only contributed to make the winter of his life pleasant, but really prolonged the existence of a man to whom the public are so much indebted as an artist, critic, and teacher of the Fine Arts.

It has been often remarked, that old men do not feel so acutely the loss of relations and friends, as those who are of a less advanced age. But this was not the case with Fuseli; for, although now in his eighty-first year, his faculties were unimpaired, and he still possessed a great degree of sensibility. As one friend dropped into the grave after another, he felt the loss of each, and constantly exclaimed, "It is my turn next," advising me at the same time, as I advanced in life, to cultivate the friendship of men younger than myself, that I might not be left without friends in old age. Although when a younger man he appeared to his acquaintances to cling much to life, yet now when he spoke of death, it was without fearful forebodings. "Death," he used to say, "is nothing; it is the pain and feebleness of body under a lingering disease, which often precedes death, that I dread; for, at my time of life, I can look forward but to a day, and that passes quickly." The following extract of a letter to the Countess of Guilford, dated the 17th of November 1821, and written on his return to London with Mrs. Fuseli, after they had passed some time at Brighton, will further show his feelings on this subject.

"Taciti, soli, e senza compagnia.

"We jogged on, though at a swifter pace than Dante and his guides,
sympathising (one at least,) with autumn's deciduous beauty, and
whispering to every leaf the eye caught falling, _Soon_ shall I
follow thee!

"Indeed, were it not for those I should leave behind, I would not
care _if now_."

Mr. Roscoe this year (1821) visited London. From Fuseli's advanced age, and Mr. Roscoe's weakness of body, the former anticipated that it would be the last time they should meet--which anticipation, I believe, was realized. A day or two after Mr. Roscoe's arrival, I received the following note from Fuseli.

"Sunday, 11th February, 1821.

"MY DEAR SIR,

"Old Mr. Roscoe is in town for a few days at his son Robert's
house, No. 6, Dyer's Buildings, Holborn: I am to dine with them on
_Tuesday_, at five: Robert came to invite you to the party, but
finding you were out of town to-day, requested me to do it for him.
You cannot do a thing more agreeable to them or me than comply with
our request, if disengaged; and as it probably may be the last time
you will see Mr. Roscoe in London, I hope you will suffer no
trifling engagement to deprive us of you.

"Ever,
"Henry Fuseli."

"We may go together."

"To John Knowles, Esq."

A few days afterwards I had again the pleasure to meet Mr. Roscoe at Fuseli's table; there were also present, Sir Thomas Lawrence, Mr. Lock, Mr. Howard, R.A., Mr. J. Symmons, and Mr. Robert Roscoe. The conversation was desultory, sometimes upon literature, at others upon art; and at two more intellectual dinner-parties I have seldom been present. Fuseli was animated and energetic, and shewed that he then possessed a mind of the greatest vigour, with an unimpaired memory.