ver, serious as the sum was, I bade him get to work, and he
proceeded with all cheerfulness, for as he went on I advanced him money;
and though he lost no time, I found that he had received nearly the
whole amount before he had half finished his task. I frequently called
upon him, and found him struggling with serious difficulties, with his
wife and family, in an upper lodging in Green's Court, Castle Street,
Leicester Square, for there he lived before he went into Green Street.
However, I encouraged him by allowing him to draw on me to the extent of
twenty-five pounds more; and at length that sum was paid, and I was
unavoidably under the necessity of saying, "Mr. Woollett, I find we have
made too close a bargain with each other. You have exerted yourself, and
I fear I have gone beyond my strength, or, indeed, what I ought to have
risked, as we neither of us can be aware of the success of the
speculation. However, I am determined, whatever the event may be, to
enable you to finish it to your wish--at least, to allow you to work
upon it as long as another twenty-five pounds can extend, but there we
must positively stop." The plate was finished; and, after taking very
few proofs, I published the print at five shillings, and it succeeded so
much beyond my expectations, that I immediately employed Mr. Woollett
upon another engraving, from another picture by Wilson; and I am now
thoroughly convinced that had I continued publishing subjects of this
description, my fortune would have been increased tenfold.'"

"In the year 1786," says Knowles, in his "Life of Fuseli," "Mr. Alderman
Boydell, at the suggestion of Mr. George Nicol, began to form his
splendid collection of modern historical pictures, the subjects being
from Shakespeare's plays, and which was called 'The Shakespeare
Gallery.' This liberal and well-timed speculation gave great energy to
this branch of the art, as well as employment to many of our best
artists and engravers, and among the former to Fuseli, who executed
eight large and one small picture for the gallery. The following were
the subjects: 'Prospero,' 'Miranda,' 'Caliban,' and 'Ariel,' from the
_Tempest_; 'Titania in raptures with Bottom, who wears the ass's head,
attendant fairies, &c.;' 'Titania awaking, discovers Oberon at her side,
Puck is removing the ass's head from Bottom' (_Midsummer Night's
Dream_); 'Henry V. with the Conspirators' (_King Henry V._); 'Lear
dismissing Cordelia from his Court' (_Kin