Page:Nollekens and His Times, Volume 2.djvu/439

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FUSELI.
427

in 1778, concluding with "Love me,_Fuseli." Northcote, in his dry manner, when noticing this epistle, was heard to remark, "A pretty creature to love, indeed! but I admire his talents."[1]

Upon one of the private days for viewing the Exhibition of the Royal Academy, Fuseti coming in contact with Nollekens, who at that time had a scorbutic eruption on half his mouth and chin, fell back, and said, "Why, Nollekens, what the devil's the matter with you? you look like Valentine and Orson united; one half shaved and the other not at all."

The two following anecdotes were communicated to me by my worthy friend Mr. Cooper, the Academidan. Mr. Nollekens greatly annoyed the members of the Academy by coughing incessantly when they were engaged in retouching their pictures, before the opening of an Exhibition. As he was passing Fuseli, after coughing several times, he muttered, "Oh! dear, I am sure I shall die!" to which Fuseli humorously replied, "While you have a cough, Nollekens, you can never die"—A student of

  1. Mr. Northcote recollects one of Armstrong's newspaper paragraphs running something like this; "Parry may learn from Reynolds, but there is one now unknown and unpatronized, who will astonish, terrify, and delight all Europe," &c.