others. It roused him in his most placid moods. From pride of place and person he was entirely free. And although he passed the larger portion of his life in the intoxicating air of a court, was distinguished by the personal friendship of his sovereign, and elevated to the highest rank of his profession, he preserved uniformly his natural character. Mild, quiet, and unassuming, he was always ready to attribute his rise to the preference of his royal patron, rather than to his own deserts. If vanity ever discovered itself, it was when he related with honest pride the act of self-denial and integrity to which he owed his advancement. And this, he used to thank God, he had had the grace to practise, and the king the goodness to appreciate. His unbounded benevolence was at once the ornament and the fault of his character. He wished to oblige and serve every man that approached him; and by his urbanity and accessibility he sometimes, perhaps, led the over sanguine to entertain hopes which no human means could realize. Such a disposition was incompatible with the vice of avarice. After his advancement to the episcopal bench, he miade it ia rule to appropriate a considerable portion of the revenues of each diocese to charitable uses. One proof of his uncommon disinterestedness appeared in his declining to trenew the lease of the best manor belonging to the temporalities of the see of Salisbury, by which extraordinary sacrifice, the sum of thirty thousand pounds falls into the hands of his (excellent friend and successor, bishop Burgess. Under such circumstances, it is not surprising that Dr. Fisher left his bishoprick as he came to it, master only of his private fortune.

After a life of much, though not ostentatious, activity, this amiable and venerable prelate died on the 8th of May, 1825, at his house in Seymour-street, London, in the 77th year of his age. On the 16th of the same month his remains were interred with appropriate ceremony in St. George's Chapel, at Windsor. The body was conveyed in a hearse drawn by six horses, caparisoned with purple velvet covering and rich plumes of ostrich feathers, with escutcheons and armorial bearings. The hearse was followed by five carriages

of the royal family, one of which belonged to Prince Leopold; also by three mourning-coaches with four horses each ; the family carriages; the carriages of the Bishop of Bath and Wells, the Bishop of St. David's, the Bishop of Winchester, and Bishop of St. Asaph ; the carriages of the Earl of Pembroke, Earl Nelson, Lord Bridport; Wadham Wyndham, Esq., and several others. The body on entering St. George's chapel was met by the Rev. Dean and Canons, together with the Rev. Mr. Gosset, the Rector of Windsor, the Rev. Mr. Sumner, and the surrounding clergy. The whole were dressed in their full canonicals. The burial service was read by the dean, and the body was deposited in a vault in the chapel prepared for the purpose.

Since the funeral, letters of administration have been granted by the Commons to Dorothea Fisher, widow and executrix of the bishop, by which it appears, that his personal property amounted to no more than 20,0001.

A portrait of his lordship, as Chancellor of the Garter, adorns the great room in Salisbury Palace.

Some notes which we were so fortunate as to obtain of his lordship’s life, have enabled us to correct and enrich the foregoing memoir, which is, however, principally compiled from the Imperial, Gentleman's, and Monthly Magazines, and the Berkshire Chronicle.

232

No. IX.

HENRY FUSELI, Esq. M. A. R. A.

PROFESSOR OF PAINTING, AND KEEPER IN THE ROYAL ACADEMY

OF LONDON; MEMBER OF THE FIRST CLASS OF THE ACADEMY OF ST. LUKE, AT ROME, &c. &c.

A Former biographer of this highịy-gifted and extraordinary man*, thus ably and elegantly introduces a brief but spirited sketch of his character, illustrative of a resemblance of him from the pencil of his friend Opie:

66 To the reader who is about to peruse the history of studious men, the cultivators of art or science, it has been sometimes thought requisite to offer a prefatory apology, by lamenting the deficiency of incident necessarily attendant on their pursuits. But is not this complaint addressed rather to one who contracts his standard of intellectual amusement to the wonders of a novel or a romance, than to the philosopher, whose extensive contemplation ranges with equal ardour over all the varied pages which fill the volume of nature? To the former, a long fluctuating chain of accidents, surprises, and changes, is requisite to continue a slight degree of emotion in his mind: the latter finds, in a few short and simple records of mental progress, a higher gratification than the revolutions of fortune can supply. To him it will appear no less an object of importance than of curiosity, to trace the methods which have conducted, or the contingencies which have combined, to the attainment of eminence; and to such a one no narrative, perhaps, could furnish more ample scope of instructive reflection, than the complete memoirs of the artist whose portrait is

prefixed to these pages. It will be found even from the perusal of this short sketch, that it is not the mere impulse of unassisted genius which gives birth to works of classic celebrity, but that they are produced by the slowly-maturing culture of the mind; by enriching the memory with the various treasures of history; by exploring the sources of learning; by exciting the imagination and strengthening the taste, . in arduous and experimental researches of the charms of poetry, the graces of art, and the imagery of fancy.

“ Sic mens, habilisque facultas Indolis excolitur, Geniumque Scientia complet." The father of Mr. Fuseli was an artist of Zurich, John Gaspard Fuessli (for Fuessli was the family name); who, after acquiring the elements of painting in his own country, went at an early age to Vienna, and thence to Rastadt, on the invitation of the Prince of Schwarzenburg, with whom he became a particular favourite. He painted portraits and landscapes with great power. Among others whose portraits he painted was the Margrave of Durlach, who had a great affection for him, and advised him to go to Ludwigsbourg, which he did, with letters of recommendation to the Duke of Wirtemberg, who immediately took him into his service. Here he passed his time agreeably, making occasional excursions to paint the portraits of persons of distinction, until the war of Poland, when the entrance of the French into Germany threw every thing into confusion. Fuessli then removed to Nuremberg, his highness at parting presenting him with a gold watch, and requesting him to return when the state of public affairs became tranquil. After remaining six months at Nuremberg, the Duke of Wirtemberg died; upon which Fuessli returned to his own country, where he married. This union produced three sons: Rodolph, who settled at Vienna, and became librarian to the Emperor of Germany; Henry, the subject of the present memoir; and Caspar, a skilful entomologist, who, after having published several works on his favourite science,

In order that he might be duly qualified for the sacred office to which he was destined, his father placed him, at the proper age, in the Academical Gymnasium, or Humanity College; of which his old friends, Bodmer and Breitinger, were the most distinguished professors. Here he became a fellow-student in theology with the amiable and celebrated Lavater, with whom he formed a friendship that lasted until death; and that was then transferred to Lavater's son with unabated fervour. It was here also that he began to cultivate a knowledge of the English language; in which he soon became so great a proficient as to read Shakspeare with ease, and to translate Macbeth into German. He subsequently translated Lady Mary Wortley Montagu's letters into German. Here, too, the writings of Klopstock and Wieland operated as incentives to his muse; he imbibed an intense love of poetry; and produced several poems in his native language that met with considerable applause.

About this period an event occurred, which proved that the characteristic energy of his mind was already powerfully developing itself. Fuseli and Lavater had heard much of the acts of injustice committed by a ruling magistrate in one of the bailiwicks of Zurich. But although the complaints of his conduct became daily louder, and his guilt more evident, yet it seemed difficult to obtain redress, as the burgomaster of Zurich was his father-in-law. Fuseli and his friend first addressed an anonymous letter to the unjust magistrate, containing a list of his offences, and threatening a public accusation, unless he gave immediate satisfaction to those whom he had plundered. No notice having been taken of this letter, the two friends made their complaint public, in a pamphlet entitled, "The Unjust Magistrate, or the Complaint of a Patriot," which was printed and introduced into the houses of the principal members of the government. The business was at length taken up by the council at Zurich; a rigorous inquiry was instituted; and the authors of the complaint were called upon to make themselves known.