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The Life of William Roscoe
Chapter XIV. 1816
Henry Fuseli to William Roscoe, [1800 c.?]
INTRODUCTION & INDEXES
DOCUMENT INFORMATION
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Preface
Vol I. Contents
Chapter I. 1753-1781
Chapter II. 1781-1787
Chapter III. 1787-1792
Chapter IV. 1788-1796
Chapter V. 1795
Chapter VI. 1796-1799
Chapter VII. 1799-1805
Chapter IX. 1806-1807
Chapter X. 1808
Chapter XI. 1809-1810
Vol II. Contents
Chapter XII. 1811-1812
Chapter XIII. 1812-1815
Chapter XIV. 1816
Chapter XV. 1817-1818
Chapter XVI. 1819
Chapter XVII. 1820-1823
Chapter XVIII. 1824
Chapter XIX. 1825-1827
Chapter XX. 1827-1831
Chapter XXI.
Appendix
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“I take the opportunity of Mr. Johnson’s return to Liverpool, to inform you that I am not only alive, but alive for you,—whether it be life to any purpose for myself or you, which in this case is nearly the same thing, you will be able to tell, I hope, before the middle of next month. The conception of the moment remains unaltered, the same I had at first.

“‘Piobbe,’ says Dante, ‘nell’ alta phantasia;’—‘Alluxit nobis,’ says Vitellius. The business
138LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE.
which remains now, is to make the execution correspond; and, what of all others is the most difficult thing in art, to give the last deciding touches with felicity. It has been matter of some perplexity to me that nothing very characteristic of persons and costume occurs in the ‘History of Lorenzo:’ that he was destitute of smell is, indeed, a personal peculiarity, but of less service to me than La Fleur’s knack at making spatterdashes was to Sterne. The medals and print your son (to whom commend me) left with me are, with regard to Lorenzo, abominable caricatures, do not suffice to Pico, and turn Politian into a fat schoolmaster. It will therefore be some merit to have done better, and yet to have preserved some likeness. After all, I suspect, between you and me, your hero to have been a d—d ill-looking fellow. The head of Attila, as we find it on medals, has elevation and beauty compared with the human reptile you sent to me. Pico, on the medal, has an air of age beyond what he attained, and looks not very unlike Mr. Whitbread.”