"It is singular that on vases so profusely adorned with painting, scarcely an instance of any thing like bas-relief or sculpture of any kind occurs; on the handles of Mr. Edwards's great Vase, two full faces in very flat relief are seen; but, con rispetto parlando, is it quite certain that these handles are entirely ancient?
"These are the observations which a very careful examination has enabled me to make on the mechanical process used in adorning the ancient earthern Vases called Etruscan. To your judgment, Dear Sir, I submit them, confident that you will, Si quid novisti rectius istis, Candidus—rectify my errors.
"I am, with sincere regard,
"Your obliged and faithful,
"H. Englefield."
"To Henry Fuseli, Esq. R. A."
Early in the year (1801) Fuseli was much dejected by the intelligence of the death of his old and esteemed friend and fellow-student, Lavater. This singular man fell a sacrifice to what he considered his clerical duty; for, when Zurich was occupied by the French, in an attempt to afford consolation and alleviation to the sufferings of his townsmen, which usually accompany the presence of an invading army, he was stabbed by the bayonet of a soldier, under which wound he languished for some months, and closed a valuable and useful life on the 2nd of January, 1801.
The treaty of peace which was signed at Amiens in 1802, afforded the English an opportunity of visiting France, and examining those treasures of art which Buonaparte had torn by violence from Italy, Germany, and Holland, when those countries were subjected to him, in consequence of the conquests of the French armies. Fuseli being determined to view them, went to Paris, accompanied by some friends, with the intention also of collecting materials for publishing, for the information of travellers, a critical account of the principal pictures and statues which then adorned the Louvre. The party consisted of Mr. Farington, R.A. Mr. James Carrick Moore, Mr. Halls a young artist, and himself.
Urgent business compelled Mr. Moore to return to London earlier than he had anticipated; but the remainder of the party passed six weeks in Paris, during the months of September and October, whence Fuseli wrote to Mr. Moore the following letter:—
"dear moore,
"I had once a valuable friend in the Rev. Mr. Whalley, who took great pains to improve me by his correspondence; he was able at all times to write faster than he could think; from which you probably might be led to surmise that his epistles would have been fuller of news than observations—you would be mistaken; they were essays crammed with trite observations, such as delight in a magazine;—news I never heard from him. If I except you, I must own that all my correspondents on your side of the water are very like him. Your letter from Dieppe gave me some useful information, such as might preserve my knee from another synovia,[49] or my neck from a crick; and if you took more delight to penetrate my character than to fit me for a trip across the water, in your last, you have at least convinced me that you thought more of me when you wrote, than of yourself,—a phenomenon that at once decides your character in my mind, and furnishes me with a master-key for your heart; in any other way you would have found poor Harry
'Too shallow, much too shallow,
To sound the bottom of his Jemmy's mind.'