Blest[45] commentator of our Nation's Bard, Long lov'd with every reverence of regard, Whose matchless Muse dares sing in strains sublime, Things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme! The critic's painful efforts, cold and dead, Merely inform the slow and cautious head; Whilst thy effusions, like Heaven's rapid fire, Dart through the heart, and kindred flames inspire, And at one flash, to our astonish'd eyes, Objects of horror or delight arise. Proceed, my friend; a Nation safely trust, To merit splendidly and quickly just; She the due tribute to thy toils shall pay, And lavishly her gratitude display; The Bard himself, from his Elysium bowers Contemplating thy pencil's plastic powers, Well pleas'd, shall see his fame extend with thine, And gladly hail thee, as himself, divine. S. In the years 1793 and 1794, Fuseli painted four pictures for "Woodmason's Illustrations of Shakspeare,"--two from subjects in the Midsummer Night's Dream, and the other two from Macbeth. Three of these are known by engravings, namely, Oberon squeezing the juice of the flowers into Titania's eyes while she sleeps,--Titania awake, attended by fairies, and in raptures with Bottom wearing the ass's head,--and Macbeth meeting the Witches on the heath.--The fourth, Macbeth with the Witches at the cauldron, was chosen by Sharpe, and some progress made by him in the engraving of it, when the scheme was abandoned. Fuseli was much gratified by my having subsequently purchased this picture, and remarked, "You have another of my best poetical conceptions. When Macbeth meets with the witches on the heath, it is terrible, because he did not expect the supernatural visitation; but when he goes to the cave to ascertain his fate, it is no longer a subject of terror: hence I have endeavoured to supply what is deficient in the poetry. To say nothing of the general arrangement of my picture, which in composition is altogether triangular, (and the triangle is a mystical figure,) I have endeavoured to shew a colossal head rising out of the abyss, and that head Macbeth's likeness. What, I would ask, would be a greater object of terror to you, if, some night on going home, you were to find yourself sitting at your own table, either writing, reading, or otherwise employed? would not this make a powerful impression on your mind?" Fuseli always complained of not being able to effect all he wished in these pictures, in consequence of being limited to shape and size, as it was stipulated by Woodmason, that those painted for his gallery should be 5 feet 6 inches high, by 4 feet 6 inches broad.