The next year, 1781, he painted his most popular picture, "The Nightmare," which was considered to be unequalled for originality of conception. The drawing first made, which is now in my possession, had the words, "St. Martin's Lane, March 1781," written by him in the margin; it is a masterly performance, chiefly in black chalk, and is composed without the head of the mare. This subsequent thought is added in the picture, which, when placed in the annual exhibition of 1782, excited, as it naturally would, an uncommon degree of interest. This picture was sold by him for twenty guineas; it was subsequently engraved by Burke, and published by J. R. Smith; and so popular was the subject, that the publisher acknowledged to have gained upwards of five hundred pounds by the sale of the prints, although vended at a small price. The conception of the subject of "The Nightmare" has been thus beautifully described by one of the most popular poets of his time,--Dr. Darwin. "So on his NIGHTMARE, through the evening fog, Flits the squab fiend o'er fen, and lake, and bog; Seeks some love-wilder'd maid with sleep oppress'd Alights, and grinning sits upon her breast-- Such as of late, amid the murky sky, Was marked by FUSELI'S poetic eye; Whose daring tints, with Shakspeare's happiest grace, Gave to the airy phantom form and place-- Back o'er her pillow sinks her blushing head, Her snow-white limbs hang helpless from the bed; While with quick sighs and suffocative breath, Her interrupted heart-pulse swims in death." Fuseli painted at different periods several pictures of "the Nightmare:" but in each of them there are variations from, or additions to, the first drawing of that subject. His fame was about this time further raised by two pictures, "The Weird Sisters," and "Lady Macbeth walking in her sleep," of which excellent prints in mezzotinto were made; these also became popular, and tended to advance the merit of the artist in the opinion of connoisseurs.