"What you say of Mr. Rackett's politeness, is extremely flattering, and I beg you will return my respects and best wishes to him and the ladies. As the weather has been so unpropitious, I do not expect to hear of many entomological captures or discoveries: I beg to inform him, that of some pupæ of _Sphinx euphorbiæ_, found on the spurge of the Devonshire sands, I have reared, perhaps for the first time in England, two beautiful moths. "My wife is still at Woolwich. Mr. Haughton's respects attend you: and I, "My dear Sir, remain "Affectionately and sincerely yours, "Henry Fuseli." "To John Knowles, Esq." I have already noticed the social intimacy which subsisted for so long a time between Fuseli and Mr. Johnson the bookseller; the latter had been afflicted with an asthma for many years. In the month of December, 1809, he had an alarming attack of this disorder, which increasing rapidly, a message was sent to Fuseli, intimating that if he wished again to see Mr. Johnson, he must come without delay. A carriage was instantly ordered, and as it drew up, Mr. Carrick Moore the Surgeon, of whose abilities, Fuseli had the highest opinion, accidently arrived at the Academy. Fuseli, who was in tears and in violent agitation, cried out, "Come with me, I beseech you, Moore, and save, if possible, my valued friend, Johnson." On their arrival at Mr. Johnson's house, in St. Paul's Church-yard, they found him breathing with difficulty, his countenance ghastly, his limbs cold, and his quivering pulse hardly perceptible; he, however, recognised Fuseli, and expressed pleasure at seeing him. But no means which were tried could restore the sinking energies of the vital functions, and the patient in a short time ceased to live. As Fuseli had been on terms of intimacy and of the strictest friendship with Johnson for nearly forty years, this sad event shocked his sensitive heart. He wrote the day after to Mr. Joseph Johnson, the nephew, in the following terms:-- "London, Somerset House, 21st Dec. 1829. "MY DEAR SIR, "As the present melancholy occasion must bring you, and perhaps Mrs. Johnson, to London, permit me to request the favour of your remaining with us, and taking a bed at our house during your stay. "If my grief for the loss of my first and best friend were less excessive, I might endeavour to moderate your's; but I want consolation too much myself to offer it to others. "My wife joins in my request to you and Mrs. Johnson, and we both remain ever your faithful but disconsolate friends, "Sophia and Henry Fuseli." "Joseph Johnson, Esq."