"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 vast 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 difplay;
Direly refolving, at their Chief's beheft,
To fheath them only in their Country's breast.
Too well pourtray'd, the fcene 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 vifible diurnal sphere:

Burft Earth's strong barrier, feek th' abyfs of Hell,
Where fad defpair 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 last, the folemn, dreadful hour,
We all may blefs thy pencil's faving power;

Our

* La Terribil Via, applied by Agostino Caracci to Michael Angelo.

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 raise,
In everlasting strains of rapt'rous praise.
Bleft Commentator of our Nation's bard,
Admir'd with every reverence of regard,
Whose matchless 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 infpire,
And at one flash, to our astonish'd eyes
Objects of horror or delight arise.
Proceed, my friend, a Nation fafely truft,
To merit fplendidly and quickly juft;
She the due tribute to thy toils fhall pay,
And lavishly her gratitude display.
The Bard himself, from his Elyfian bowers,
Contemplating thy pencil's magic powers,
Well pleas'd, shall see his fame extend with thine,
And gladly hail thee, as himself, divine.

S.

ARCHBISHOP USHER

Saw the execution of Charles the Firft from the Countess of Peterborough's houfe near Whitehall:

he

he fwooned away, and, being carried to his bed, is said to have prophefied what happened in England ever fince.

"Oliver Cromwell, out of an humble re"fpect 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,)

Said, during the Civil War between Charles the First and his Parliament, "If his Majefty were to "take advice of his gunfmiths and of his powder"men, he would never have Peace."

When he drew up the remonstrance of the Parliament, in which it is called a Commonwealth, he said in one part of it," reftored to its ancient "Government of Commonwealth." Sir Henry Vane ftood up and reprimanded him, and wondered at his impudence in affirming such a notorious lie. He made the motion to call thofe perfons to account, and to turn them out of the House of Commons as enemies to their country and be

trayers

trayers of the Commonwealth of England, who addreffed Richard Cromwell, and promised to stand by him with their lives and fortunes.

This decided Republican gave the completest testimony that ever was given to the excellence of the character of Charles the First, when he said, 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 last than any "Gentleman in England.”

"This viper," fays Wood in his Athena, "which had been foftered in the bofom of Parlia "ment, was against the Parliament itself, and against "all Magistrates, like a second Wat Tyler, all Pen " and Inkhorn Men must down. This his level

ling doctrine is contained in a Pamphlet, called "England's Troubles Troubled,' wherein all "rich men whatsoever are declared enemies to "the mean men of England, and in effect war de"nounced against them. Befides all this, he being "a Colonel, plundered fo much wherever he came, "that he was commonly called the Plunder Master "General*.

"Soon after the Restoration, after one or two "removes from prison to prifon, he was fent to Chepstowe

CC

• 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."

Chepftowe Castle in Monmouthshire, where he " continued another twenty years, not in wanton

<

nefs, riotoufnefs, and villainy, but in confine"ment, and repentance if he had pleased. Some "time before he died me made this Epitaph by way " of Acroftic on himself:

"Henry Martin," adds Wood, " became a "Gentleman Commoner of Univerfity College,

Oxon, at the age of 15 years, in 1617, where "and in public giving a manifeftation of his pregnant parts, he had the degree of Batchelor "of Arts conferred upon him in the latter end of << 1619."

"Here or elsewhere (all's one to you or me), "Earth, aire, or water gripes my ghoftlefs duft, "None knowing when brave fire shall fet it free. "Reader, if you an oft tried rule will trust, "You'll gladly doe and fuffer what you must. My life was worn with ferving you and you, "And death's my pay it seems, and wellcome too, "Revenge deftroying but itself, while I "To birds of prey leave my old cage and fly. "Examples preach to the eye, care (then mine fays) "Not how you end, but how you spend your days." Aged 78.

Athen. Oxon. Vol. ii. page 494 & 495.

66

He was a striking inftance of the truth of Roger Afcham's obfervation: "Commonlie," fays he,

men very quick of wit, be very light of condi"tions. In youth they be readie fcoffers, privie "mockers, and ever over-light and merrie. In

I

age