the Poet? Who but Michael Angelo could have pourtrayed the gigantic ideas of Dante?

The following lines were addreffed to Mr. Fufeli on the subject of his " Gallery of Milton." They were fent to him foon after he had finished his celebrated picture of "the Confpiracy of "Catiline," and were printed in the EUROPEAN MAGAZINE for JANUARY 1795.

TO HENRY FUSELI, ESQ. R. A. QUEEN-ANN

STREET EAST.

ARTIST fublime! with every talent bleft,
That Buonarota's ardent mind confeft;
Whofe magic colours, and whofe varying line,
Embody things or human or divine;
See the vaft effort of thy maftering hand,
See impious Cat'line's parricidal band,
By the lamp's tremulous fepulchral light,
Profane the facred filence of the night;
To Hell's ftern king their curs'd libations pour,
While the chas'd goblet foams with human gore:
See how, in fell and terrible array,

Their fhining poignards they at once display;
Direly refolving, at their Chief's beheft,
To fheath them only in their Country's breast.
Too well pourtray'd, the scene affects our fight
With indignation, horror, and affright.

Then quit these orgies, and with ardent view
Fam'd Angelo's advent'rous track pursue;
Like him extend thy* terrible career

Beyond the visible diurnal sphere:

*La Terribil Via, applied by Agostino Caracci to

Michael Angelo.

Burft

Burft Earth's ftrong barrier, feek th' abyfs of Hell,
Where fad despair and anguish ever dwell;
In glowing colours to our eyes difclofe

The Monster Sin, the cause of all our woes ;
To our appall'd and tortur'd fenfes bring
Death's horrid image, Terror's baneful King;
And at the laft, the folemn, dreadful hour,
We all may blefs thy pencil's faving power;
Our danger from thy pious colours fee,
And owe eternity of blifs to thee.

Then to the Heav'n of Heav'ns afcend; pourtray
The wonders of th' effulgent realms of day;
Around thy pallet glorious tints diffuse,
Mix'd from th' eternal Arch's vivid hues;
With every grace of beauty and of form
Infpire thy mind, and thy rich fancy warm,
Cherub and Seraph, now, in "burning row,"
Before the Throne of Heaven's high Monarch bow;
And tun'd to golden wires their voices raife,
In everlasting strains of rapt'rous praise.
Bleft Commentator of our Nation's bard,
Admir'd with every reverence of regard,
Whofe matchlefs Mufe dares fing in ftrains fublime,
"Things unattempted yet in profe or rhyme !"
The Critic's painful efforts, cold and dead,
By flow degrees inform the cautious head;
Whilft thy effufions, like Heaven's rapid fire,
Dart thro' the heart, and kindred flames inspire,
And at one flash, to our astonish'd eyes
Objects of horror or delight arife.
Proceed, my friend, a Nation safely trust,
To merit fplendidly and quickly just;
She the due tribute to thy toils shall pay,
And lavishly her gratitude display.

The

The Bard himself, from his Elyfian bowers,
Contemplating thy pencil's magic powers,

Well pleas'd, fhall fee his fame extend with thine,
And gladly hail thee, as himself, divine.

S.

ARCHBISHOP USHER

faw the execution of Charles the Firft from the Countefs of Peterborough's houfe near Whitehall: he fwooned away, and, being carried to his bed, is faid to have prophefied what happened in England ever fince.

"Oliver Cromwell, out of an humble re"spect to the memory of fo learned and pious

a champion of the Proteftant caufe as this "learned Prelate, iffued an order to the Com"miffioners of the Treasury for two hundred

pounds, to defray the expences of his "funeral."-From a MS. Letter in the Bodleian

Library.

HENRY MARTIN, Esq.

(Commonly called HARRY MARTIN,)

faid, during the Civil War between Charles the First and his Parliament, " If his Majesty were

to take advice of his gunsmiths and of his "powder-men, he would never have Peace."

When he drew up the Remonftrance of the Parliament, in which it is called a Commonwealth, he faid in one part of it," restored to "its ancient Government of Commonwealth." Sir Henry Vane ftood up and reprimanded him, and wondered at his impudence in affirming fuch a notorious lie. He made the motion to call those persons to account, and to turn them out of the House of Commons as enemies to their country and betrayers of the Commonwealth of England, who addressed Richard Cromwell, and promised to stand by him with their lives and fortunes.

This decided Republican gave the completeft teftimony that ever was given to the excellence of the character of Charles the First, when he faid, in the debate upon King or no King, in 1649, after the execution of Charles, that "if they must have a King, he had rather "have the laft than any Gentleman in Eng"land."

6

465

"This viper," fays Wood in his Athenæ, "which had been foftered in the bofom of Par"liament, was against the Parliament itself, and "against all Magiftrates, like a fecond Wat 66 Tyler, all Pen and Inkhorn Men must down. "This his levelling doctrine is contained in "a Pamphlet, called England's Troubles "Troubled,' wherein all rich men whatsoever "are declared enemies to the mean men of Eng"land, and in effect war denounced against them. "Befides all this, he being a Colonel, plundered "fo much wherever he came, that he was com"monly called the Plunder Master General *.

"Soon after the Restoration, after one or two "removes from prison to prifon, he was fent to "Chepftowe Castle in Monmouthshire, where "he continued another twenty years, not in "wantonnefs, riotoufnefs, and villainy, but in

confinement, and repentance if he had pleased. "Some time before he died he made this Epitaph "by way of Acroftic on himself:

"Here or elsewhere (all's one to you or me),
"Earth, aire, or water gripes my ghoftlefs duft,
"None knowing when brave fire shall set it free.
"Reader, if you an oft tried rule will trust,
"You'll gladly doe and suffer what you must.

* Abbé Sieyes was asked, when he thought the Revolution in France would end: he replied, in a verse of the Magnificat, "When the Hungry are filled with good things, and the "Rich are fent empty away."

"My