file which includes the original        
illustrations4       ,see #ceiie-;h4htm 
or #ceiie-;h4zip3                       
7https3_/_/www4gutenberg4org_/cache_/epu
b_/#ceiie_/pg#ceiie-;images4html7       
or                                      
7https3_/_/www4gutenberg4org_/files_/#ce
iie_/ceiie-;h4zip7         ,images of   
the original pages are available through
       ,internet ,archive_/,american    
,libraries4 ,see                        
http3_/_/www4archive4org_/details_/willi
amblakecrit#jjswinrich   ,transcriber's 
note3        ,text in italics is        
enclosed by underscores 7italics74      
,superscripted characters are enclosed  
by curly brackets       7superscript74  
,illustration   ,,william ,,blake4  ,a  
,critical ,essay4  by  ,,algernon       
,,charles ,,swinburne4   ,illustration3 
,going to and fro in the ,earth4   ,with
 ,illustrations from ,blake's ,designs  
in ,facsimile1 ,coloured and ,plain4    
,london3 ,john ,camden ,hotten1         
,piccadilly4 #ahfh4 ,all rights         

reserved4     ,illustration3 ,,william  
,,blake4 ,a ,,critical ,,essay4         
,,dedication4  ,to ,,william ,,michael  
,,rossetti4   ,there are many reasons   
which should make me glad to inscribe   
your name upon the forefront of this    
book4 ,to you1 among other debts1 ,i owe
 this one--that it is not even more     
inadequate to the matter undertaken2 and
 to you ,i need not say that it is not  
designed to supplant or to compete with 
the excellent biography of ,blake       
already existing4 ,rather it was        
intended to serve as complement or      
supplement to this4 ,how it grew1 idly  
and gradually1 out of a mere review into
 its present shape and volume1 you know4
 ,to me at least the subject before long
 seemed too expansive for an article2   
and in the leisure of months1 and in the
 intervals of my natural work1 the first
 slight study became little by little an
 elaborate essay4 ,i found so much      
unsaid1 so much unseen1 that a question 
soon rose before me of simple           

alternatives3 to do nothing1 or to do   
much4 ,i chose the latter2 and you1 who 
have done more than ,i to serve and to  
exalt the memory of ,blake1 must know   
better how much remains undone4         
,friendship needs no cement of          
reciprocal praise2 and this book1       
dedicated to you from the first1 and    
owing to your guidance as much as to my 
goodwill whatever it may have of worth1 
wants no extraneous allusion to explain 
why it should rather be inscribed with  
your name than with another4            
,nevertheless1 ,i will say that now of  
all times it gives me pleasure to offer 
you such a token of friendship as ,i    
have at hand to give4 ,i can but bring  
you brass for the gold you send me2 but 
between equals and friends there can be 
no question of barter4 ,like ,diomed1 ,i
 take what ,i am given and offer what ,i
 have4 ,such as it is1 ,i know you will 
accept it with more allowance than it   
deserves2 but one thing you will not    
overrate--the affectionate admiration1  

the grateful remembrance1 which needs no
 public expression on the part of your  
friend  ,a4 ,c4 ,,swinburne4  ,november1
 #ahff4     ,,contents4                 
,,page      ,i4--,,life ,,and ,,designs 
#a     ,,ii4--,,lyrical ,,poems         
#he    ,,iii4--,,the ,,prophetic ,,books
      #ahe     ,,list ,,of              
,,illustrations4  ,in justice to the    
fac-similist who has so faithfully      
copied the following designs from       
,blake's works1 the publisher would     
state they were made under somewhat     
difficult circumstances1 the ,british   
,museum authorities not permitting      
tracing from the copies in their        
possession4 ,in every case the exact    
peculiarities of the originals have been
 preserved4 ,the colouring has been done
 by hand from the designs1 tinted by the
 artist1 and the three illustrations    
from ,jerusalem have been reduced from  
the original in folio to octavo4 ,the   
paper on which the fac-similes are given
 has been expressly made to resemble    

that used by ,blake4   ,,frontispiece4  
,gateway with eclipse4 ,a reduction of  
plate #gj2 from ,,jerusalem4            
,,title-,,page4 ,a design of borders1   
selected from those in ,,jerusalem      
7plates #e1 #ai1 c471 with minor details
 from ,,marriage ,,of ,,heaven ,,and    
,,hell1 and ,,book ,,of ,,thel4  ,p4    
#bjj4 ,title from ,,the ,,book ,,of     
,,thel4  ,p4 #bjd4 ,title from          
,,marriage ,,of ,,heaven ,,and ,,hell4  
,p4 #bjh4 ,plate #h1 from the ,,same    
7selected to show the artist's peculiar 
method of blending text with minute     
design74  ,p4 #bbd4 ,the ,leviathan4    
,from ,,marriage ,,of ,,heaven ,,and    
,,hell4  ,p4 #beh4 ,from ,,milton4 ,male
 figures2 one in flames4  ,p4 #bgf4     
,female figures4 ,a reduction of ,plate 
#ha from ,,jerusalem4  ,p4 #bhb4 ,design
 with bat-like figure4 ,a reduction of  
,plate #cc from ,,jerusalem4     ,,list 
,,of ,,authorities4   #a4 ,,life ,,of   
,,william ,,blake4 ,by ,alexander       
,gilchrist4 #ahfc4  #b4 ,,poetical      

,,sketches4 ,by ,w4 ,b4 #aghc4  #c4     
,,songs ,,of ,,innocence4 #aghi4  #d4   
,,the ,,book ,,of ,,thel4 #aghi4  #e4   
,,the ,,marriage ,,of ,,heaven ,,and    
,,hell4 #agij4  #f4 ,,visions ,,of ,,the
 ,,daughters ,,of ,,albion4 #agic4  #g4 
,,america3 ,a ,,prophecy4 #agic4  #h4   
,,songs ,,of ,,experience4 #agid4  #i4  
,,europe3 ,a ,,prophecy4 #agid4  #aj4   
,,the ,,first ,,book ,,of ,,urizen4     
#agid4  #aa4 ,,the ,,book ,,of ,,ahania4
 #agie4  #ab4 ,,the ,,song ,,of ,,los4  
#agie4  #ac4 ,,milton3 ,a ,,poem ,,in   
,,two ,,books4 #ahjd4  #ad4 ,,jerusalem1
 ,,an ,,emanation ,,of ,,the ,,giant    
,,albion4 #ahjd4  #ae4 ,,ideas ,,of     
,,good ,,and ,,evil4 7,,ms47  #af4      
,,tiriel4 7,,ms47     ,,william ,,blake4
  ,tous les grands poetes deviennent    
naturellement1 fatalement1 critiques4   
,je plains les poetes que guide le seul 
instinct2 je les crois incomplets4 ,dans
 la vie spirituelle des premiers1 une   
crise se fait infailliblement1 ou ils   
veulent raisonner leur art1 decouvrir   

les lois obscures en vertu desquelles   
ils ont produit1 et tirer de cette etude
 une serie de preceptes dont le but     
divin est l'infaillibilite dans la      
production poetique4 ,il serait         
prodigieux qu'un critique devint poete1 
et il est impossible qu'un poete ne     
contienne pas un critique4--,,charles   
,,baudelaire4   ,i4--,,life ,,and       
,,designs4  ,in the year #ahbg1 there   
died1 after a long dim life of labour1 a
 man as worthy of remark and regret as  
any then famous4 ,in his time he had    
little enough of recognition or regard  
from the world2 and now that here and   
there one man and another begin to      
observe that after all this one was     
perhaps better worth notice and honour  
than most1 the justice comes as usual   
somewhat late4  ,between #ageg and #ahbg
 the world1 one might have thought1 had 
time to grow aware whether or not a man 
were worth something4 ,for so long there
 lived and laboured in more ways than   
one the single ,englishman of supreme   

and simple poetic genius born before the
 closing years of the eighteenth        
century2 the one man of that date fit on
 all accounts to rank with the old great
 names4 ,a man perfect in his way1 and  
beautifully unfit for walking in the way
 of any other man4 ,we have now the     
means of seeing what he was like as to  
face in the late years of his life3 for 
his biography has at the head of it a   
clearly faithful and valuable likeness4 
,the face is singular1 one that strikes 
at a first sight and grows upon the     
observer2 a brilliant eager1 old face1  
keen and gentle1 with a preponderance of
 brow and head2 clear bird-like eyes1   
eloquent excitable mouth1 with a look of
 nervous and fluent power2 the whole    
lighted through as it were from behind  
with a strange and pure kind of smile1  
touched too with something of an        
impatient prospective rapture4 ,the     
words clear and sweet seem the best made
 for it2 it has something of fire in its
 composition1 and something of music4   

,if there is a want of balance1 there is
 abundance of melody in the features2   
melody rather than harmony2 for the     
mould of some is weaker and the look of 
them vaguer than that of others4        
,thought and time have played with it1  
and have nowhere pressed hard2 it has   
the old devotion and desire with which  
men set to their work at starting4 ,it  
is not the face of a man who could ever 
be cured of illusions2 here all the     
medicines of reason and experience must 
have been spent in pure waste4 ,we know 
also what sort of man he was at this    
time by the evidence of living friends4 
,no one1 artist or poet1 of whatever    
school1 who had any insight or any love 
of things noble and lovable1 ever passed
 by this man without taking away some   
pleasant and exalted memory of him4     
,those with whom he had nothing in      
common but a clear kind nature and sense
 of what was sympathetic in men and     
acceptable in things--those men whose   
work lay quite apart from his--speak of 

him still with as ready affection and as
 full remembrance of his sweet or great 
qualities as those nearest and likest   
him4 ,there was a noble attraction in   
him which came home to all people with  
any fervour or candour of nature in     
themselves4 ,one can see1 by the        
roughest draught or slightest glimpse of
 his face1 the look and manner it must  
have put on towards children4 ,he was   
about the hardest worker of his time2   
must have done in his day some          
horseloads of work4 ,one might almost   
pity the poor age and the poor men he   
came among for having such a fiery      
energy cast unawares into the midst of  
their small customs and competitions4   
,unluckily for them1 their new prophet  
had not one point they could lay hold   
of1 not one organ or channel of         
expression by which to make himself     
comprehensible to such as they were4    
,shelley in his time gave enough of     
perplexity and offence2 but even he1    
mysterious and rebellious as he seemed  

to most men1 was less made up of mist   
and fire than ,blake4  ,he was born and 
baptized into the church of rebels2 we  
can hardly imagine a time or scheme of  
things in which he could have lived and 
worked without some interval of revolt4 
,all that was accepted for art1 all that
 was taken for poetry1 he rejected as   
barren symbols1 and would fain have     
broken up as mendacious idols4 ,what was
 best to other men1 and in effect       
excellent of its kind1 was to him worst4
 ,reynolds and ,rubens were daubers and 
devils4 ,the complement or corollary of 
this habit of mind was that he would    
accept and admire even small and        
imperfect men whose line of life and    
action seemed to run on the same tramway
 as his own4 ,barry1 ,fuseli1 even such 
as ,mortimer--these were men he would   
allow and approve of4 ,the devils had   
not entered into them2 they worked1 each
 to himself1 on the same ground as      
,michael ,angelo4 ,to such effect he    
would at times prophesy1 standing       

revealed for a brief glimpse on the     
cloudy and tottering height of his      
theories1 before the incurious eyes of a
 public which had no mind to inhale such
 oracular vapour4 ,it is hard to        
conjecture how his opinions1 as given   
forth in his ,catalogue or other notes  
on art1 would have been received--if    
indeed they had ever got hearing at all4
 ,this they naturally never did2 by no  
means to ,blake's discouragement4 ,he   
spoke with authority2 not in the least  
like the ,scribes of his day4  ,so far  
one may at least see what he meant2     
although at sight of it many would cover
 their eyes and turn away4 ,but the main
 part of him was1 and is yet1 simply    
inexplicable2 much like some among his  
own designs1 a maze of cloudy colour and
 perverse form1 without a clue for the  
hand or a feature for the eye to lay    
hold of4 ,what he meant1 what he wanted1
 why he did this thing or not that      
other1 no man then alive could make out4
 ,nevertheless it was worth the trying4 

,in a time of critical reason and       
definite division1 he was possessed by a
 fervour and fury of belief2 among sane 
men who had disproved most things and   
proved the rest1 here was an evident    
madman who believed a thing1 one may    
say1 only insomuch as it was incapable  
of proof4 ,he lived and worked out of   
all rule1 and yet by law4 ,he had a     
devil1 and its name was ,faith4 ,no     
materialist has such belief in bread and
 meat as ,blake had in the substance    
underlying appearance which he          
christened god or spectre1 devil or     
angel1 as the fit took him2 or rather as
 he saw it from one or the other side4  
,his faith was absolute and hard1 like a
 pure fanatic's2 there was no           
speculation in him4 ,what could be made 
of such a man in a country fed and      
clothed with the teapot pieties of      
,cowper and the tape-yard infidelities  
of ,paine8 ,neither set would have to do
 with him2 was he not a believer8 and   
was he not a blasphemer8 ,his licence of

 thought and talk was always of the     
maddest1 or seemed so in the ears of his
 generation4 ,people remember at this   
day with horror and pity the impression 
of his daring ways of speech1 but excuse
 him still on the old plea of madness4  
,now on his own ground no man was ever  
more sane or more reverent4 ,his        
outcries on various matters of art or   
morals were in effect the mere          
expression1 not of reasonable dissent1  
but of violent belief4 ,no artist of    
equal power had ever a keener and deeper
 regard for the meaning and             
teaching--what one may call the         
moral--of art4 ,he sang and painted as  
men write or preach4 ,indifference was  
impossible to him4 ,thus every shred of 
his work has some life1 some blood1     
infused or woven into it4 ,in such a    
vast tumbling chaos of relics as he left
 behind to get in time disentangled and 
cast into shape1 there are naturally    
inequalities enough2 rough sides and    
loose sides1 weak points and helpless   

knots1 before which all mere human      
patience or comprehension recoils and   
reels back4 ,but in all1 at all times1  
there is the one invaluable quality of  
actual life4  ,without study of a       
serious kind1 it is hopeless for any man
 to get at the kernel of ,blake's life  
and work4 ,nothing can make the way     
clear and smooth to those who are not at
 once drawn into it by a sincere        
instinct of sympathy4 ,this cannot be   
done2 but what can be done has been     
thoroughly and effectually well done in 
this present biography4#a ,a trained    
skill1 an exquisite admiration1 an      
almost incomparable capacity of research
 and care in putting to use the results 
of such long and refined labour1 no     
reader can fail to appreciate as the    
chief gifts of the author3 one who      
evidently had at once the power of work 
and the sense of selection in perfect   
order4 ,the loss of so admirable a      
critic1 so wise and altogether competent
 a workman1 is a loss to be regretted   

till it can be replaced--a date we are  
not likely to see in our days4 ,at least
 his work is in no danger of following  
him4 ,this good that he did is likely to
 live after him2 no part of it likely to
 be interred in his grave4 ,for the     
book1 unfinished1 was yet not           
incomplete1 when the writer's work was  
broken short off4 ,all or nearly all the
 biographical part had been ably carried
 through to a good end4 ,it remained for
 other hands to do the editing2 to piece
 together the loose notes left1 and to  
supply all that was requisite or        
graceful in the way of remark or        
explanation4 ,with what excellent care  
and taste this has been done1 no one can
 miss of seeing4 ,of the critical and   
editorial part there will be time to    
speak further in its own place4 ,all1 in
 effect1 which could be done for a book 
thus left suddenly and sadly to itself1 
has been done as well as possible2 no   
tenderness of labour grudged1 no power  
and skill spared to supply or sustain   

it4 ,so that we now have it in a fair   
and sufficient form1 and can look with  
reasonable hope for this first critical 
,life of ,blake and selected edition of 
his ,works to make its way and hold its 
place among the precious records and    
possessions of ,englishmen4  ,what has  
been once well done need not be tried at
 again and done worse4 ,no second writer
 need now recapitulate the less         
significant details of ,blake's life3   
space and skill wanting1 we can but     
refer readers to the complete biography4
 ,that the great poet and artist was a  
hosier's son1#b born near ,golden       
,square1 put to school in the ,strand to
 learn drawing at ten of one ,pars1     
apprenticed at fourteen to learn        
engraving of one ,basire2 that he lived 
smoothly enough for two years1 and was  
then set to work on abbey monuments1 to 
be out of harm's way1 other apprentices 
being disorderly1 mutinous1 and given to
 wrangling2 these facts and more1 all of
 value and weight in their way1 ,mr4    

,gilchrist has given at full in his     
second and third chapters1 adding just  
enough critical comment to set the facts
 off and give them their proper relief  
and significance4 ,his labours among    
,gothic monuments1 and the especial     
style of his training as an engraver1   
left their marks on the man afterwards4 
,two things here put on record are      
worthy of recollection3 that he began   
seeing visions at eight or ten2 and that
 he took objections to ,ryland 7a better
 known engraver than ,basire71 when     
taken to be apprenticed to him1 on a    
singular ground3 the man's face looks as
 if he will live to be hanged3 which the
 man was1 ten years later4 ,but the     
first real point in ,blake's life worth 
marking as of especial interest is the  
publication of his ,poetical ,sketches2 
which come in date before any of his    
paintings or illustrative work1 and are 
quite as much matters of art as these4  
,though never printed till #aghc1 the   
latest written appears to belong to     

#aggg1 or thereabouts4  ,here1 at a time
 when the very notion of poetry1 as we  
now understand it1 and as it was        
understood in older times1 had totally  
died and decayed out of the minds of    
men2 when we not only had no poetry1 a  
thing which was bearable1 but had verse 
in plenty1 a thing which was not in the 
least bearable2 a man1 hardly twenty    
years old yet1 turns up suddenly with   
work in that line already done1 not     
simply better than any man could do     
then2 better than all except the        
greatest have done since3 better too    
than some still ranked among the        
greatest ever managed to do4 ,with such 
a poet to bring forward it was needless 
to fall back upon ,wordsworth for excuse
 or ,southey for patronage4 ,the one man
 of genius alive during any part of     
,blake's own life who has ever spoken of
 this poet with anything like a rational
 admiration is ,charles ,lamb1 the most 
supremely competent judge and exquisite 
critic of lyrical and dramatic art that 

we have ever had4 ,all other extant     
notices down to our own day1 even when  
well-meaning and not offensive1 are to  
the best of our knowledge and belief    
utterly futile1 incapable and valueless3
 burdened more or less with chatter     
about madness and such-like1 obscured in
 some degree by mere dullness and       
pitiable assumption4  ,there is         
something too rough and hard1 too faint 
and formless1 in any critical language  
yet devised1 to pay tribute with the    
proper grace and sufficiency to the best
 works of the lyrical art4 ,one can say1
 indeed1 that some of these earliest    
songs of ,blake's have the scent and    
sound of ,elizabethan times upon them2  
that the song of forsaken love--,my     
silks and fine array--is sweet enough to
 recall the lyrics of ,beaumont and     
,fletcher1 and strong enough to hold its
 own even beside such as that one of    
,aspatia--,lay a garland on my          
hearse--which was cut 7so to speak7 out 
of the same yew2 that ,webster might    

have signed the ,mad ,song1 which falls 
short only 7as indeed do all other      
things of the sort7 of the two great    
,dirges in that poet's two chief plays2 
that certain verses among those headed  
,to ,spring1 and ,to the ,evening ,star1
 are worthy even of ,tennyson for tender
 supremacy of style and noble purity of 
perfection2 but when we have to drop    
comparison and cease looking back or    
forward for verses to match with these1 
we shall hardly find words to suit our  
sense of their beauty4 ,we speak of the 
best among them only2 for1 small as the 
pamphlet is 7seventy pages long1 with   
title-page and prefatory leaf71 it      
contains a good deal of chaff and bran  
besides the pure grain and sifted       
honeymeal4 ,but these best things are as
 wonderful as any work of ,blake's4     
,they have a fragrance of sound1 a      
melody of colour1 in a time when the    
best verses produced had merely the arid
 perfume of powder1 the twang of dry    
wood and adjusted strings2 when here the

 painting was laid on in patches1 and   
there the music meted out by precedent2 
colour and sound never mixed together   
into the perfect scheme of poetry4 ,the 
texture of these songs has the softness 
of flowers2 the touch of them has       
nothing metallic or mechanical1 such as 
one feels in much excellent and         
elaborate verse of this day as well as  
of that4 ,the sound of many verses of   
,blake's cleaves to the sense long after
 conscious thought of the meaning has   
passed from one3 a sound like running of
 water or ringing of bells in a long    
lull of the wind4 ,like all very good   
lyrical verse1 they grow in pleasurable 
effect upon the memory the longer it    
holds them--increase in relish the      
longer they dwell upon the taste4       
,these1 for example1 sound singularly   
plain1 however sweet1 on a first        
hearing2 but in time1 to a reader fit to
 appreciate the peculiar properties and 
merits of a lyric1 they come to seem as 
perfect as well can be3    ,thou the    

golden fruit dost bear1   ,i am clad in 
flowers fair2   ,thy sweet boughs       
perfume the air1   ,and the turtle      
buildeth there4   ,there she sits and   
feeds her young3   ,sweet ,i hear her   
mournful song2   ,and thy lovely leaves 
among1   ,there is love1 ,i hear his    
tongue4  ,the two songs ,to ,memory1 and
 ,to the ,muses are perhaps nearer being
 faultless than any others in the book4 
,this last especially should never be   
omitted in any professedly complete     
selection of the best ,english lyrics4  
,so beautiful indeed is its structure   
and choice of language that its author's
 earlier and later vagaries and erratic 
indulgences in the most lax or bombastic
 habits of speech become hopelessly     
inexplicable4 ,these unlucky tendencies 
do however break out in the same book   
which contains such excellent samples of
 poetical sense and taste2 giving       
terrible promise of faults that were    
afterwards to grow rank and run riot    
over much of the poet's work4 ,but even 

from his worst things here1 not         
reprinted in the present edition1 one   
may gather such lines as these3    ,my  
lord was like a flower upon the brows   
,of lusty ,may3 ah life as frail as     
flower6   ,my lord was like a star in   
highest heaven1   ,drawn down to earth  
by spells and wickedness2   ,my lord was
 like the opening eye of day2   ,but he 
is darkened2 like the summer moon       
,clouded2 fall'n like the stately tree1 
cut down3   ,the breath of heaven dwelt 
among his leaves4  ,verses not to be    
despised1 when one remembers that the   
boy who wrote them 7evidently in his    
earlier teens7 was living in full       
eighteenth century4 ,but for the most   
part the blank verse in this small book 
is in a state of incredible chaos1      
ominous in tone of the future ,prophetic
 ,books1 if without promise of their    
singular and profound power or menace of
 their impenetrable mistiness1 the      
obscurity of confused wind and cloud4   
,one is thankful to see here some pains 

taken in righting these deformed limbs  
and planing off those monstrous knots1  
by one not less qualified to decide on  
such minor points of execution than on  
the gravest matters of art2 especially  
as some amongst these blank verse poems 
contain things of quite original and    
incomparable grandeur4 ,nothing at once 
more noble and more sweet in style was  
ever written1 than part of this ,to the 
,evening ,star3    ,smile on our loves2 
and while thou drawest round   ,the     
sky's blue curtains1 scatter silver dew 
,on every flower that closes its sweet  
eyes   ,in timely sleep4 ,let thy west  
wind sleep on   ,the lake3 speak silence
 with thy glimmering eyes1   ,and wash  
the dusk with silver4  ,the two lines1  
or half lines1 which make the glory of  
this extract resemble perfectly1 for    
vigorous grace and that subtle strength 
of interpretation which transfigures the
 external nature it explains1 the living
 leader of ,english poets4 ,even he has 
hardly ever given a study of landscape  

more large and delicate1 an effect of   
verse more exquisite and sonorous4 ,of  
the ,spring we have already said        
something2 but for that poem nothing    
short of transcription would be         
adequate4 ,the ,autumn1 too1 should     
hardly have been rejected3 it contains  
lines of perfect power and great beauty1
 though not quite up to the mark of     
,spring or ,summer4 ,from another poem1 
certainly not worthier of the place it  
has been refused1 we have extracted two 
lines worth remembering for their       
terseness and weight of scorn1 recalling
 certain grave touches of satire in     
,blake's later work3    ,for ignorance  
is folly's leasing nurse1   ,and love of
 folly needs none other's curse4  ,all  
that is worth recollection in the little
 play of ,edward the ,third has been    
here reproduced with a judicious care in
 adjusting and rejecting4 ,blake had    
probably never seen the praiseworthy but
 somewhat verbose historical drama on   
the same subject1 generously bestowed   

upon ,shakespeare by critics of that    
,german acuteness which can accept as   
poetry the most meritorious powers of   
rhetoric4 ,his own disjointed and       
stumbling fragment1 deficient as it is  
in shape or plan or local colour1 has   
far more of the sound and savour of     
,shakespeare's style in detached lines3 
more indeed than has ever been caught up
 by any poet except one to whom his     
editor has seized the chance of paying  
tribute in passing--the author of       
,joseph and his ,brethren2 a poem which1
 for strength of manner and freshness of
 treatment1 may certainly recall ,blake 
or any other obscurely original reformer
 in art2 although we may not admit the  
resemblance claimed for it on spiritual 
grounds to the works of ,blake1 in whose
 eyes the views taken by the later poet 
of the mysteries inherent in matters of 
faith or morality1 and generally of the 
spiritual side of things1 would1 to our 
thinking1 probably have appeared shallow
 and untrue by the side of his own      

mystic personal creed4 ,in dramatic     
passion1 in dramatic character1 and in  
dramatic language1 ,mr4 ,wells' great   
play is no doubt far ahead1 not of      
,blake's work only1 but of most other   
men's3 in actual conception of things   
that lie beyond these1 it keeps within  
the range of common thought and accepted
 theory2 falling therefore far short1 in
 its somewhat over frequent passages of 
didactic and religious reflection1 of   
much less original thinkers than ,blake4
  ,one other thing we may observe of    
these ,sketches2 that they contain1     
though only in the pieces rejected from 
our present collection1 sad indications 
of the inexplicable influence which an  
early reading of the detestable         
pseudo-,ossian seems to have exercised  
on ,blake4 ,how or why such lank and    
lamentable counterfeits of the poetical 
style did ever gain this luckless       
influence--one1 too1 which in after     
years was to do far worse harm than it  
has done here--it is not easy to guess4 

,contemporary vice of taste1 imperfect  
or on some points totally deficient     
education1 may explain much and more    
than might be supposed1 even with regard
 to the strongest untrained intellect2  
but on the other hand1 the songs in this
 same volume give evidence of so rare a 
gift of poetical judgment1 such         
exquisite natural sense and art1 in a   
time which could not so much as blunder 
except by precedent and machinery1 that 
such depravity of error as is implied by
 admiration and imitation of such an one
 as ,macpherson remains inconceivable4  
,similar puzzles will1 however1 recur to
 the student of ,blake's art2 but will  
not1 if he be in any way worthy of the  
study1 be permitted for a minute to     
impair his sense of its incomparable    
merits4 ,incomparable1 we say advisedly3
 for there is no case on record of a    
man's being quite so far in advance of  
his time1 in everything that belongs to 
the imaginative side of art1 as ,blake  
was from the first in advance of his4   

,in #aghb ,blake married1 it seems after
 a year or two of engaged life4 ,his    
wife ,catherine ,boucher deserves       
remembrance as about the most perfect   
wife on record4 ,in all things but      
affection1 her husband must have been as
 hard to live with as the most erratic  
artist or poet who ever mistook his way 
into marriage4 ,over the stormy or      
slippery passages in their earlier life 
,mr4 ,gilchrist has passed perhaps too  
lightly4 ,no doubt ,blake's aberrations 
were mainly matters of speech or        
writing2 it is however said1 truly or   
falsely1 that once in a patriarchal mood
 he did propose to add a second wife to 
their small and shifting household1 and 
was much perplexed at meeting on one    
hand with tears and on all hands with   
remonstrances4 ,for any clandestine     
excursions or furtive eccentricities he 
had probably too much of childish       
candour and impulse2 and this one       
hopeful and plausible design he seems to
 have sacrificed with a good grace1 on  

finding it really objectionable to the  
run of erring men4 ,as to the rest1     
,mrs4 ,blake's belief in him was full   
and profound enough to endure some      
amount of trial4 ,practically he was    
always1 as far as we know1 regular1     
laborious1 immaculate to an exception2  
and in their old age she worked after   
him and for him1 revered and helped and 
obeyed him1 with an exquisite goodness4 
,for the next eighteen years we have no 
continuous or available record under    
,blake's own hand of his manner of life2
 and of course must not expect as yet   
any help from those who can still1 or   
could lately1 remember the man himself  
in later days4 ,he laboured with        
passionate steadiness of energy1 at work
 sometimes valueless and sometimes      
invaluable2 made1 retained1 and lost    
friends of a varying quality4 ,even to  
the lamentable taskwork of bad comic    
engravings for dead and putrescent      
,wit's ,magazines his biographer has    
tracked him and taken note of his       

doings4 ,the one thing he did get       
published--his poem1 or apology for a   
poem1 called ,the ,french ,revolution   
7the first of seven projected           
books7--is1 as far as ,i know1 the only 
original work of its author worth little
 or even nothing2 consisting mainly of  
mere wind and splutter4 ,the six other  
books1 if extant1 ought nevertheless to 
be looked up1 as they can hardly be     
without some personal interest or       
empirical value1 even if no better in   
workmanship than this first book4       
,during these years however he produced 
much of his greatest work2 among other  
things1 the ,songs of ,innocence and    
,experience1 and the prophetic books    
from ,thel to ,ahania2 of all which we  
shall have to speak in due time and     
order4 ,the notes on ,reynolds and      
,lavater1 from which we have here many  
extracts given1 we must hope to see some
 day printed in full4 ,their vivid and  
vigorous style is often a model in its  
kind2 and the matter1 however violent   

and eccentric at times1 always clear1   
noble1 and thoughtful2 remarkable       
especially for the eagerness of         
approbation lavished on the meanest of  
impulsive or fanciful men1 and the      
fervour of scorn excited by the best    
works and the best intentions of others4
 ,the watery wisdom and the bland       
absurdity of ,lavater's axioms meet with
 singular tolerance from the future     
author of the ,proverbs of ,hell2 the   
considerate regulations and suggestions 
of ,reynolds' ,discourses meet with no  
tolerance at all from the future        
illustrator of ,job and ,dante4 ,in all 
these rough notes1 even we may say in   
those on ,bacon's ,essays1 there is     
always a bushel of good grain to an     
ounce of chaff4 ,what is erroneous or   
what seems perverse lies for the most   
part only on the surface2 what is       
falsely applied is often truly said2    
what is unjustly worded is often justly 
conceived4 ,a man insensible to the     
perfect manner and noble matter of      

,bacon1 while tolerant of the lisping   
and slavering imbecilities of ,lavater1 
seems at first sight past hope or help2 
but subtract the names or alter the     
symbols given1 and much of ,blake's     
commentary will seem1 as it is1         
partially true and memorable even in its
 actual form1 wholly true and memorable 
in its implied meaning4 ,again1 partly  
through ingrained humour1 partly through
 the rough shifts of his imperfect and  
tentative education1 ,blake was much    
given to a certain perverse and defiant 
habit of expression1 meant rather to    
scare and offend than to allure and     
attract the common run of readers or    
critics4 ,in his old age we hear that he
 would at times try the ironic method   
upon objectionable reasoners2 not1 we   
should imagine1 with much dexterity or  
subtlety4  ,the small accidents and     
obscure fluctuations of luck during     
these eighteen years of laborious town  
life1 the changes of residence and      
acquaintance1 the method and result of  

the day's work done1 have been traced   
with much care and exhibited in a direct
 distinct manner by the biographer4     
,nothing can be more clear and          
sufficient than the brief notices of    
,blake's favourite brother and pupil1 in
 character seemingly a weaker and       
somewhat violent replica of his elder1  
not without noble and amiable qualities2
 of his relations with ,fuseli and      
,flaxman1 with ,johnson the bookseller1 
and others1 whose names are now fished  
up from the quiet comfort of obscurity1 
and made more or less memorable for good
 or evil through their connection with  
one who was then himself among the      
obscurest of men4 ,his alliance with    
,paine and the ultra-democrats then     
working or talking in ,london is the    
most curious episode of these years4    
,his republican passion was like        
,shelley's1 a matter of fierce dogmatic 
faith and rapid assumption4 ,looking at 
any sketch of his head and face one may 
see the truth of his assertion that he  

was born a democrat of the imaginative  
type4 ,the faith which accepts and the  
passion which pursues an idea of justice
 not wholly attainable looks out of the 
tender and restless eyes1 moulds the    
eager mobile-seeming lips4 ,infinite    
impatience1 as of a great preacher or   
apostle--intense tremulous vitality1 as 
of a great orator--seem to me to give   
his face the look of one who can do all 
things but hesitate4 ,we need no        
evidence to bid us believe with what    
fervour of spirit and singleness of     
emotion he loved the name and followed  
the likeness of freedom1 whatever new   
name or changed likeness men might put  
upon her4 ,liberty and religion1 taken  
in a large and subtle sense of the      
words1 were alike credible and adorable 
to him2 and in nothing else could he    
find matter for belief or worship4 ,his 
forehead1 largest 7as he said7 just over
 the eyes1 shows an eager steadiness of 
passionate expression4 ,shut off any    
single feature1 and it will seem        

singular how little the face changes or 
loses by the exclusion4 ,with all this1 
it is curious to read how the author of 
,urizen and ,ahania saved from probable 
hanging the author of the ,rights of    
,man and ,age of ,reason4 ,blake had as 
perfect a gift of ready and steady      
courage as any man3 was not quicker to  
catch fire than he was safe to stand his
 ground4 ,the swift quiet resolution and
 fearless instant sense of the right    
thing to do which he showed at all times
 of need are worth notice in a man of   
such fine and nervous habit of mind and 
body4  ,in the year after ,paine's      
escape from ,england1 his deliverer     
published a book which would probably   
have been something of a chokepear for  
the conventionnel4 ,this set of         
seventeen drawings was ,blake's first   
series of original designs1 not meant to
 serve as merely illustrative work4 ,two
 of the prophetic books1 and the ,songs 
of ,innocence1 had already been         
engraved2 but there the designs were    

supplementary to the text2 here such    
text as there was served only to set out
 the designs2 and even these ,keys to   
the ,gates of ,paradise1 somewhat of the
 rustiest as they are1 were not supplied
 in every copy4 ,the book is itself not 
unavailable as a key to much of ,blake's
 fitful and tempestuous philosophy2 and 
it would have been better to re-engrave 
the series in full than to give random  
selections twisted out of their places  
and made less intelligible than they    
were at first by the headlong process of
 inversion and convulsion to which they 
have here been subjected4  ,the         
frontispiece gives a symbol of man's    
birth into the fleshly and mutable house
 of life1 powerless and painless as yet1
 but encircled by the likeness and      
oppressed by the mystery of material    
existence4 ,the pre-existent spirit here
 well-nigh disappears under stifling    
folds of vegetable leaf and animal      
incrustation of overgrowing husk4 ,it   
lies dumb and dull1 almost as a thing   

itself begotten of the perishable body1 
conceived in bondage and brought forth  
with grief4 ,the curled and clinging    
caterpillar1 emblem of motherhood1      
adheres and impends over it1 as the     
lapping leaves of flesh unclose and     
release the human fruit of corporeal    
generation4 ,with mysterious travail and
 anguish of mysterious division1 the    
child is born as a thing out of sleep2  
the original perfect manhood being cast 
in effect into a heavy slumber1 and the 
female or reflective element called into
 creation4 ,this tenet recurs constantly
 in the turbulent and fluctuating       
evangel of ,blake2 that the feminine    
element exists by itself for a time     
only1 and as the shadow of the male2    
thus ,space is the wife of ,time1 and   
was created of him in the beginning that
 the things of lower life might have air
 to breathe and a place to hide their   
heads2 her moral aspect is ,pity4 ,she  
suffers through the lapse of obscure and
 painful centuries with the sufferings  

of her children2 she is oppressed with  
all their oppressions2 she is plagued   
with all the plagues of transient life  
and inevitable death4 ,at sight of her  
so brought forth1 a wonder in heaven1   
all the most ancient gods or daemons of 
pre-material life were terrified and    
amazed1 touched with awe and softened   
with passion2 yet endured not to look   
upon her1 a thing alien from the things 
of their eternal life2 for as space is  
impredicable of the divine world1 so is 
pity impredicable of the daemonic       
nature4 7,see the ,first ,book of       
,urizen47 ,for of all the minor immortal
 and uncreated spirits ,time only is the
 friend of man2 and for man's sake has  
given him ,space to dwell in1 as under  
the shadow and within the arms of a     
great compassionate mother1 who has     
mercy upon all her children1 tenderness 
for all good and evil things4 ,only     
through his help and through her pity   
can flesh or spirit endure life for a   
little1 under the iron law of the maker 

and the oppressor of man4 ,alone among  
the other co-equal and co-eternal       
daemons of his race1 the ,creator is    
brought into contact and collision with 
,space and ,time2 against him alone they
 struggle in ,promethean agony of       
conflict to deliver the children of men2
 and against them is the ,creator       
compelled to fight1 that he may reach   
and oppress those whose weakness is     
defended by all the warring hands of    
,time1 sheltered by all the gracious    
wings of ,space4  ,in the first plate of
 the ,gates of ,paradise1 the woman     
finds the child under a tree1 sprung of 
the earth like a mandrake1 which he who 
plucks up and hears groan must go mad or
 die2 grown under the tree of physical  
life1 which is rooted in death1 and the 
leaf of it is poisonous1 and it bears as
 fruit the wisdom of the serpent1 moral 
reason or rational truth1 which invents 
the names of virtue and vice1 and       
divides moral life into good and evil4  
,out of earth is rent violently forth   

the child of dust and clay1 naked1      
wide-eyed1 shrieking2 the woman bends   
down to gather him as a flower1 half    
blind with fierce surprise and          
eagerness1 half smiling with foolish    
love and pitiful pleasure2 with one hand
 she holds other children1 small and    
new-blown also as flowers1 huddled in   
the lap of her garment2 with the other  
she plucks him up by the hair1          
regardless of his deadly shriek and     
convulsed arms1 heedless that this      
uprooting of the mandrake is the seal of
 her own death also4 ,then follow       
symbols of the four created elements    
from which the corporeal man is made2   
the water1 blind and mutable as doting  
age1 emblem of ignorant doubt and moral 
jealousy2 the heavy melancholy earth1   
grievous to life1 oppressive of the     
spirit1 type of all sorrows and         
tyrannies that are brought forth upon   
it1 saddest of all the elements1        
tightest as a curb and painfullest as a 
load upon the soul3 then the air wherein

 man is naked1 the fire wherein man is  
blind2 ashamed and afraid of his own    
nature and its nakedness1 surrounded    
with similitudes of severance and       
strife3 overhung by rocks1 rained upon  
by all the storms of heaven1 lighted by 
unfriendly stars1 with clouds spread    
under him and over2 a dark              
hermaphrodite1 enlightened by the light 
within him1 which is darkness--the light
 of reason and morality2 evil and good1 
who was neither good nor evil in the    
eternal life before this generated      
existence2 male and female1 who from of 
old was neither female nor male1 but    
perfect man without division of flesh1  
until the setting of sex against sex by 
the malignity of animal creation4 ,round
 the new-created man revolves the       
flaming sword of ,law1 burning and      
dividing in the hand of the angel1      
servant of the cruelty of ,god1 who     
drives into exile and debars from       
paradise the fallen spiritual man upon  
earth4 ,round the woman 7a double type  

perhaps at once of the female nature and
 the rational truth or law of good and  
evil7 roar and freeze the winds and     
snows of prohibition1 blinding1         
congealing1 confusing2 and in that      
tempest of things spiritual the shell of
 material things hardens and thickens1  
excluding all divine vision and         
obscuring all final truth with          
solid-seeming walls of separation4 ,but 
death in the end shall enlighten all the
 deluded1 shall deliver all the         
imprisoned2 there1 though the worm      
weaves1 the ,saviour also watches2 the  
new garments of male and female to be   
there assumed by the spirit are so woven
 that they shall no longer be as shrouds
 or swaddling-clothes to hamper the     
newly born or consume the newly dead1   
but free raiment and fair symbol of the 
spirit4 ,for the power of the creative  
daemon1 which began with birth1 must end
 with death2 upon the perfect and       
eternal man he had not power till he had
 created the earthly life to bring man  

into subjection2 and shall not have     
power upon him again any more when he is
 once resumed by death4 ,where the      
,creator's power ends1 there begins the 
,saviour's power2 where oppression loses
 strength to divide1 mercy gains        
strength to reunite4 ,for the ,creator  
is at most ,god of this world only1 and 
belongs to the life which he creates2   
the ,god of this world is a thing of    
this world1 but the ,saviour or perfect 
man is of eternity1 belonging to the    
spiritual life which was before birth   
and shall be after death4  ,in these    
first six plates is the kernel of the   
book2 round these the subsequent symbols
 revolve1 and toward these converge4    
,the seventh we may assume to be an     
emblem of desire as it is upon earth1   
blind and wild1 glad and sad1 destroying
 the pleasures it catches hold of1      
losing those it lets go4 ,one ,love1 a  
moth-like spirit1 lies crushed at the   
feet of the boy who pursues another1    
flinging his cap towards it as though to

 trap a butterfly2 startled with the    
laugh of triumphant capture even at his 
lips1 as the wingless flying thing      
eludes him and soars beyond the         
enclosure of summer leaves and stems    
toward upper air and cloud4 ,to the     
original sketch was appended this       
quotation from ,spenser1 ,book #b1      
,canto #b1 v4 #b3    ,ah luckless babe1 
born under cruel star1   ,and in dead   
parents' baleful ashes bred2   ,full    
little weenest thou what sorrows are    
,left thee for portion of thy livelyhed4
  ,again1 ,youth1 with the bow of battle
 lifted in his right hand1 turns his    
back upon ,age1 and leaves him lamenting
 in vain remonstrance and piteous       
reclamation3 the fruit of vain-glory and
 vain teaching1 ending in rebellion and 
division of spirit1 when the beliefs and
 doctrines of a man turn against him and
 he becomes at variance with himself and
 with his own issue of body or of soul4 
,in the ninth plate1 men strive to set a
 ladder against the moon and climb by it

 through the deepest darkness of night2 
a white segment of narrow light just    
shows the sharp tongue of precipitous   
land upon which they are gathered       
together in vain counsel and effort4    
,this was originally a satirical sketch 
of amateurs and connoisseurs1 emblematic
 merely of their way of studying art1   
analyzing all great things done with    
ready rule and line1 and scaling with   
ladders of logic the heaven of          
invention2 here it reappears enlarged   
and exalted into a general type of blind
 belief and presumptuous reason1        
indicative also of the helpless hunger  
after spiritual things ingrained in     
those made subject to things material2  
the effusion and eluctation of spirits  
sitting in prison towards the truth     
which should make them free4 ,in the    
tenth plate1 the half-submerged face and
 outstretched arm of a man drowning in a
 trough of tumbling sea show just above 
the foam1 against the glaring and windy 
clouds whose blown drift excludes the   

sky4 ,perhaps the noble study of sea    
registered in the ,catalogue as ,no4    
#abh of the second list was a sketch for
 this design of man sinking under the   
waves of time4 ,of the two this sketch  
is the finer2 a greater effect of       
tempest was never given by the work of  
any hand than in this weltering and     
savage space of sea1 with the aimless   
clash of its breakers and blind         
turbulence of water veined and wrinkled 
with storm1 enridged and cloven into    
drifting array of battle1 with no lesser
 life visible upon it of man or vessel1 
fish or gull3 no land beyond it         
conceivable1 no heaven above it         
credible4 ,this drawing1 which has been 
reproduced by photography1 might have   
found a place here or later in the book4
 ,in the eleventh plate1 emblematic of  
religious restraint and the severities  
of artificial holiness1 an old man1     
spectacled and strait-mouthed1 clips    
with his shears the plumes of a winged  
boy1 who writhes vainly in a passionate 

attempt at self-release1 his arm hiding 
his face1 his lithe slight limbs        
twisting with pain and fear1 his curled 
head bent upon the curve of his elbow1  
his hand straining the air with empty   
violence of barren agony2 a sun half    
risen lights up the expansion of his    
half-shorn wings and the helpless labour
 of his slender body4 ,the twelfth plate
 continues this allegory under the type 
of father and sons1 the vital energy and
 its desires or passions1 thrust down   
into prison-houses of ice and snow4     
,next1 man as he is upon earth attains  
for once to the vision of that which he 
was and shall be2 his eyes open upon the
 sight of life beyond the mundane and   
mortal elements1 and the chains of      
reason and religion relax4 ,in the      
evening he travels towards the grave2 a 
figure stepping out swiftly and         
steadily1 staff in hand1 over rough     
country ground and beside low thick     
bushes and underwood1 dressed as a man  
of ,blake's day2 a touch of realism     

curious in the midst of such mystical   
work4 ,next in extreme age he passes    
through the door of death to find the   
worm at her work2 and in the last plate 
of the series1 she is seen sitting1 a   
worm-like woman1 with hooded head and   
knees drawn up1 the adder-like husk or  
shell of death at her feet1 and behind  
her head the huge rotting roots and     
serpentine nether fibres of the tree of 
life and death3 shapes of strange       
corruption and conversion lie around    
her1 and between the hollow tree-roots  
the darkness grows deep and hard4 ,i    
have said to corruption1 thou art my    
father2 to the worm1 thou art my mother 
and my sister4 ,this is she who is      
nearest of kin to man from his birth to 
his death3    ,weaving to dreams the    
sexual strife1   ,and weeping over the  
web of life4  ,i have given thus early a
 rough and tentative analysis of this   
set of designs1 rather than leave it to 
find a place among the poems or         
prophecies1 because it does in effect   

belong rather to art than poetry1 the   
verses being throughout subordinate to  
the engravings1 and indeed scarcely to  
be accounted of as more than            
inscriptions or appendages4 ,it may     
however be taken as being in a certain  
sense one of the prophetic or evangelic 
series which was afterwards to stretch  
to such strange lengths4 ,in this       
engraved symbolic poem of life and      
death1 most of ,blake's chief articles  
of faith are advanced or implied2       
noticeably1 for example1 that tenet     
regarding the creative deity and his    
relations to time and to the sons of    
men4 ,thus far he can see and no        
farther2 for so long and no longer he   
has power upon the actions and passions 
of created and transient life4 ,him let 
no ,christians worship1 nor the law of  
his covenant2 the written law which its 
writer wept at and hid beneath his      
mercy-seat2 but instead let them write  
above the altars of their faith a law of
 infinite forgiveness1 annihilating in  

the measureless embrace of its mercy the
 separate existences of good and evil4  
,so speaks ,blake in his prologue2 and  
in his epilogue thus3  ,to the ,accuser1
 who is the ,god of this ,world4        
,truly1 my ,satan1 thou art but a dunce1
   ,and dost not know the garment from  
the man2   ,every harlot was a virgin   
once1   ,nor canst thou ever change     
,kate into ,nan4    ,though thou are    
worshipped by the names divine   ,of    
,jesus and ,jehovah1 thou art still     
,the ,son of ,morn in weary night's     
decline2   ,the lost traveller's dream  
under the hill4  ,upon the life which is
 but as a vesture1 and as a vesture     
shall be changed1 he who created it has 
power till the end2 appearances and     
relations he can alter1 and turn a      
virgin to a harlot2 but not change one  
individual life to another1 reverse or  
rescind the laws of personality4 ,virtue
 and vice1 chastity and unchastity1 are 
changeable and perishable2 they all     
shall wax old as doth a garment3 but the

 underlying individual life is          
imperishable and intangible4 ,all       
qualities proper to human nature are    
inventions of the ,accuser2 not so the  
immortal prenatal nature1 which is the  
essence of every man severally from     
eternity4 ,that lies beyond the dominion
 of the ,god of this world2 he is but   
the ,son of ,morning1 that having once  
risen1 will set again2 shining only in  
the darkness of spiritual night2 his    
light is but a light seen in dreams     
before the dawn by men belated and      
misled1 which shall pass away and be    
known no more at the advent of the      
perfect day4  ,all these mystical       
heresies may seem turbid and chaotic2   
but the legend or subject-matter of the 
present book is transparent as water1   
lucid as flame1 compared to much of     
,blake's subsequent work4 ,the designs1 
even if taken apart from their          
significance1 are among his most        
inventive and interesting4 ,they were   
done for children1 because1 in ,blake's 

mind1 the wise innocence of children was
 likeliest to appreciate and accept the 
message involved in them2 for the sexes1
 that they might be at once enlightened 
to see beyond themselves1 and           
enfranchised from the bondage of pietism
 or materialism4 ,interpreted according 
to ,blake's intention1 the book was a   
small leaf or chapter of the inspired   
gospel of deliverance which he was      
charged to preach through the organs of 
his art2 a gospel not easily to be made 
acceptable or comprehensible4  ,of the  
prophetic books produced about this time
 we shall not as yet speak2 nor have we 
much to say of the next set of designs1 
those illustrative of ,young's ,night   
,thoughts1 which were done1 as will be  
surmised1 on commission4 ,power1        
invention1 and a certain share of       
beauty1 these designs of course have2   
but less1 as it seems to me1 of ,blake's
 great qualities and more of his faults 
or errors than usual4 ,that the text    
which serves as a peg to hang them on1  

or a finger-post to point them out1 is  
itself a thing dead and rotten1 does not
 suffice to explain this2 for ,blake    
could do admirable work by way of       
illustration to the verse of ,hayley4   
,this name brings us to a new and       
singular division of our present task4  
,during the four important years of     
,blake's residence at ,felpham we can   
trace his doings and feelings with some 
fulness and with some confidence4 ,they 
were probably no busier than other years
 of his life2 but by a happy accident we
 hear more concerning the sort of labour
 done4 ,in ,august #ahjj ,blake moved   
out of ,london for the first time2 he   
returned early in #ahjd4  ,hayley's     
patronage of ,blake is a piece of high  
comedy perfect in its way4 ,the first   
act or two were played out with         
sufficient liking on either side4 ,mr4  
,hayley acts like a prince towards his  
good ,blake1 not it seems in the direct 
way of pecuniary gifts or loans1 but in 
such smaller attentions as he could     

easily show to the husband and wife on  
their first arrival close at hand4 ,it  
must be remarked and remembered that    
throughout this curious and incongruous 
intercourse there is no question        
whatever of obligation on ,blake's part 
for any kindness shown beyond the equal 
offices of friend to friend4 ,it is for 
,mr4 ,hayley's usual brotherly affection
 that he expresses such ready gratitude4
 ,that the poor man's goodwill was      
genuine we need not hesitate to allow2  
but the fates never indulged in a freak 
of stranger humour than when it seemed  
good to their supreme caprice to couple 
in the same traces for even the shortest
 stage a man like ,hayley with a man    
like ,blake1 and bracket the ,triumphs  
of ,temper with the ,marriage of ,heaven
 and ,hell4  ,england1 with a deplorable
 ingratitude1 has apparently forgotten  
by this time what her ,hayley was once  
like4 ,it requires a certain strength of
 imagination to realise the assured fact
 that he was once a greatest living     

poet2 retrospection collapses in the    
effort1 and credulity loses heart to    
believe4 ,such1 however1 was in effect  
his profession2 he had the witness of   
his age under hand and seal to the fact1
 that on the death of his friend ,cowper
 the supreme laurels of the age or day  
had fallen by inheritance to that poet's
 accomplished and ingenious biographer4 
,there is something pathetic and almost 
piteous in his perfect complacency and  
his perfect futility4 ,a moral country  
should not have forgotten that to ,mr4  
,hayley1 when at work on his chief poem1
 it seemed to be a kind of duty         
incumbent on those who devote themselves
 to poetry to render a powerful and too 
often a perverted art as beneficial to  
life and manners as the limits of       
composition and the character of modern 
times will allow4 ,although the ages1 he
 regretted to reflect1 were past1 in    
which poetry was idolized for miraculous
 effects1 yet a poem intended to promote
 the cultivation of good humour1 and    

designed to unite the special graces of 
,ariosto1 of ,dante1 and of ,pope1 might
 still be of service to society2 or1 he 
added with a chaste and noble modesty1  
if this may be thought too chimerical   
and romantic by sober reason1 it is at  
least one of those pleasing and innocent
 illusions in which a poetical          
enthusiast may be safely indulged2 who  
will deny it8  ,this was the patron to  
whom ,flaxman introduced ,blake as an   
available engraver1 and1 on occasion1 a 
commendable designer4 ,hayley was ready 
enough to cage and exhibit among the    
flock of tame geese which composed his  
troop of swans this bird of foreign     
feather2 and until the eagle's beak and 
claws came into play under sharp        
provocation1 the ,felpham coop and      
farmyard were duly dignified by his     
presence and behaviour as a tame        
villatic fowl4 ,the master bantam-cock  
of the hen-roost in person fluttered and
 cackled round him with assiduous if    
perplexed patronage4 ,but of such       

alliances nothing could come in the end 
but that which did come4 ,mr4 ,h41      
writes ,blake in ,july #ahjc to ,mr4    
,butts1 his one purchaser 7on the scale 
of a guinea per picture71 approves of my
 designs as little as he does of my     
poems4 ,i have been forced to insist on 
his leaving me1 in both1 to my own      
self-will2 for ,i am determined to be no
 longer pestered with his genteel       
ignorance and polite disapprobation4    
,his imbecile attempts to depress me    
only deserve laughter4 ,let a           
compassionate amateur of human poultry  
imagine what confusion must by this time
 have been reigning in the poor         
hen-roost and dove-cote of ,eartham6    
,things1 however1 took some time in     
reaching the tragic pitch of these      
shrill discords4 ,for months or years   
they appear to have run through various 
scales of very tolerable harmony4       
,blake1 in the intervals of incessant   
engraving and occasional designing1 was 
led by his good ,hayley into the        

greenest pastures of literature and     
beside the stillest waters of verse2 he 
was solicited to help in softening and  
arranging for public inspection the     
horrible and pitiful narrative of       
,cowper's life2 he was prevailed upon to
 listen while ,hayley read ,klopstock   
into ,english to ,blake1 with what      
result one may trust he never knew4 ,for
 it was probably under the sting of this
 infliction that ,blake scratched down  
in pencil a brief lyrical satire on the 
,german ,milton1 which modern humanity  
would refuse to read in public if       
transcribed2 although or because it     
might be1 for grotesque case and ringing
 breadth of melodious extravagance1 a   
scrap saved from some tattered chorus of
 ,aristophanes1 or caught up by         
,rabelais as the fragment of a litany at
 the shrine of the ,dive ,bouteille4    
,let any man judge1 from the ragged     
shred we can afford to show by way of   
sample1 how a sight or handling of the  
stuff would have affected ,hayley2      

,the moon at that sight blushed scarlet 
red1   ,the stars threw down their cups 
and fled1   ,and all the devils that    
were in hell   ,answered with a ninefold
 yell4    ,klopstock felt the intripled 
turn1   ,and all his bowels began to    
churn2   ,and his bowels turned round   
three times three1   ,and locked in his 
soul with a ninefold key2           99  
99       99       99       99    ,then  
again old ,nobodaddy swore   ,he never  
had seen such a thing before   ,since   
,noah was shut in the ark1   ,since ,eve
 first chose her hell-fire spark1       
,since 'twas the fashion to go naked1   
,since the old ,anything was created2   
,and       99       99       99         
,only in choice ,attic or in archaic    
,french could the rest be endured by    
modern eyes2 but ,panurge could hardly  
have improved on the manner of          
retribution devised for flaccid fluency 
and devout sentiment always running at  
the mouth4  ,for the rest1 when out of  
the shadow of ,klopstock or ,cowper1    

,blake had enough serious work on hand4 
,his designs for various ballads of     
,hayley's1 strays of sick verse long    
since decomposed1 were admirable enough 
to warrant a hope of general admiration4
 ,this they failed of2 but ,blake's head
 and hands were full of other work4     
,miniature1 he writes to ,mr4 ,butts1 is
 become a goddess in my eyes4 ,he did   
not serve her long2 but while his faith 
in her godhead lasted he seems to have  
officiated with some ardour in the      
courts of her temple4 ,he speaks of     
orders multiplying upon him1 of especial
 praise received for proficiency in this
 style of work2 not1 we may suppose1    
from any who had much authority to      
praise or dispraise4 ,it is impossible  
to imagine that ,hayley knew a really   
great work of ,blake's when he saw it2 a
 clever comminution of great power must 
have seemed to him the worthiest use of 
it2 whereas the design and the glory of 
,blake was to concentrate and elevate   
his talent3 all he did and all he       

touched with profit has an air and a    
savour of greatness4 ,in miniature and  
such things he must probably have worked
 with half his heart and less than half 
his native skill or strength of eye and 
hand4  ,there is a certain pathos in the
 changes of tone which come one by one  
over ,blake's correspondence at this    
time4 ,all at first is sunlit and       
rose-coloured4 ,the villagers are not   
mere rustics2 they are polite and       
modest4 ,meat is cheaper than in        
,london2 but the sweet air and the      
voices of winds1 trees1 and birds1 and  
the odours of the happy ground1 make it 
a dwelling for immortals4 ,this intense 
and eager pleasure in the freshness of  
things1 this sharp relish of beauty in  
all the senses1 which must needs run    
over and lapse into sudden musical      
expression1 will recall the passages in 
,shelley's letters where some delight of
 sound or sight suddenly felt or        
remembered forces its way into speech1  
and makes music of the subservient      

words4 ,work will go on here with       
,god-speed4 ,a roller and two harrows   
lie before my window4 ,this passion for 
hints and types1 common to all men of   
highly toned nerves and rapid           
reflectiveness of spirit1 was not with  
,blake a matter of fugitive impulse or  
casual occasion4 ,in his quietest moods 
of mind1 in his soberest tempers of     
fancy1 he was always at some such work4 
,at this time1 too1 he was living at a  
higher strain of the senses than usual4 
,so sudden a change of air and change of
 world as had come upon him filled his  
nerves and brain at every entrance with 
keen influences of childlike and        
sensitive satisfaction4 ,witness his    
first sweet and singular verses to      
,flaxman and to ,butts--such as ,felpham
 produces by me1 though not such as she 
produces by her eldest son1 he remarks1 
with some reason2 that eldest son and   
heir of every ,muse being her good      
,hayley4 ,witness too the simple and    
complete pleasure with which he writes  

invitations and descriptions1           
transcribes visions and experiences4    
,probably too in some measure1 could we 
trace the perfect relation of flesh with
 spirit and blood with brain1 we should 
find that this first daily communion    
with the sea wrought upon him at once   
within and without2 that the sharp      
sweetness of the salted air was not     
without swift and pungent effect2 that  
the hourly physical delight lavished    
upon every sense by all tunes and odours
 and changes and colours of the sea--the
 delight of every breath or sound or    
shadow or whisper passing upon it--may  
have served at first to satiate as well 
as to stimulate1 before the pressure of 
enjoyment grew too intense and the sting
 of enjoyment too keen4 ,upon ,blake1 of
 all men1 one may conjecture that these 
influences of spirit and sense would act
 with exquisite force4 ,it is observable
 that now1 and not before1 we hear of   
visions making manifest to him the      
spiritual likeness of dead men3 that the

 scene of every such apocalypse was a   
sea-beach2 the shore of a new ,patmos1  
prolific as was the first of splendid   
and enormous fancies1 of dreams begotten
 and brought forth in a like atmosphere 
and habit of mind4#c ,now too the       
illimitable book of divine or daemonic  
revelation called ,jerusalem was        
dictated by inspiration of its authors1 
who are in eternity3 ,blake dares not   
pretend to be any other than the        
secretary4 ,human readers1 if such      
indeed exist beyond the singular or the 
dual number1 will wish that the authors 
had put themselves through a previous   
course of surgical or any other training
 which might have cured a certain       
superhuman impediment of speech1 very   
perplexing to the mundane ear2 a habit  
of huge breathless stuttering1 as it    
were a ,titanic stammer1 intolerable to 
organs of flesh4 ,allegory1 the too     
obedient secretary writes to his friend1
 addressed to the intellectual powers1  
while it is altogether hidden from the  

corporeal understanding1 is my          
definition of the most sublime poetry4  
,a better perhaps could not be given2 as
 far that is as relates to the spirit of
 sense which is to be clothed in the    
beautiful body of verse2 but when once  
we have granted the power of conception1
 the claims of form are to be first     
thought of4 ,it is of small moment how  
the work thus done may strike the heavy 
ear of vulgarity or affect the torpid   
palate of prurience2 against mere       
indolence or mere misconstruction it is 
waste of time to contrive precautions or
 rear defences2 but the laws and the    
dues of art it is never permissible to  
forget4 ,it is in fact only by innate   
and irrational perception that we can   
apprehend and enjoy the supreme works of
 verse and colour2 these1 as ,blake     
indicates with a noble accuracy1 are not
 things of the understanding2 otherwise1
 we may add1 the whole human world would
 appreciate them alike or nearly alike1 
and the high and subtle luxuries of     

exceptional temperaments would be made  
the daily bread of the poor and hungry2 
the vinum daemonum which now the few    
only can digest safely and relish       
ardently would be found medicinal       
instead of poisonous1 palatable instead 
of loathsome1 by the run of eaters and  
drinkers2 all specialties of spiritual  
office would be abolished1 and the whole
 congregation would communicate in both 
kinds4 ,all the more1 meantime1 because 
this bread of sweet thought and wine of 
delight is not broken or shed for all1  
but for a few only--because the         
sacramental elements of art and poetry  
are in no wise given for the sustenance 
or the salvation of men in general1 but 
reserved mainly for the sublime profit  
and intense pleasure of an elect body or
 church--all the more on that account   
should the ministering official be      
careful that the paten and chalice be   
found wanting in no one possible grace  
of work or perfection of material4      
,that too much of ,blake's written work 

while at ,felpham is wanting in         
executive quality1 and even in decent   
coherence of verbal dress1 is           
undeniable4 ,the ,pythoness who delivers
 these stormy and sonorous oracles is at
 once exposed and hampered as it were by
 her loose and heavy raiment2 the       
prophetic robe here slips or gapes1     
there muffles and impedes2 is now a     
tatter that hardly hides the contorted  
limbs1 and now an encumbrance that      
catches or trips up the reeling feet4   
,everything now written in the fitful   
impatient intervals of the day's work   
bears the stamp of an overheated brain  
and of nerves too intensely strung4     
,everything may well appear to confirm  
the suggestion that1 as high latitudes  
and climates of rarefied air affect the 
physical structure of inhabitants or    
travellers1 so in this case did the     
sudden country life1 the taste and      
savour of the sea1 touch sharply and    
irritate deliciously the more           
susceptible and intricate organs of mind

 and nature4 ,how far such passive      
capacity of excitement differs from     
insanity2 how in effect a temperament so
 sensuous1 so receptive1 and so         
passionate1 is further off from any risk
 of turning unsound than hardier natures
 carrying heavier weight and tougher in 
the nerves2 need scarcely be indicated4 
,for the rest1 our concern at present   
shall still be mainly with the letters  
of this date2 and by their light we may 
be enabled to see light shed upon many  
things hitherto hopelessly dark4 ,as no 
other samples of ,blake's correspondence
 worth mention have been allowed us by  
the jealousy of fate and divine         
parsimony1 we must be duly grateful and 
careful in dealing with all we have2    
gathering the fragments into commodious 
baskets1 and piecing the shreds into    
available patchwork4  ,these letters    
bear upon them the common stamp of all  
,blake's doings and writings2 the fiery 
and lyrical tone of mind and speech1 the
 passionate singleness of aim1 the heat 

and flame of faith in himself1 the      
violence of mere words1 the lust of     
paradox1 the loud and angry habits of   
expression which abound in his critical 
or didactic work1 are not here missing2 
neither are clear indications wanting of
 his noblest qualities2 the great love  
of great things1 the great scorn of     
small men1 the strong tenderness of     
heart1 the tender strength of spirit1   
which won for him honour from all that  
were honourable4 ,ready even in a too   
fervent manner to accept1 to praise1 to 
believe in worth and return thanks for  
it1 he will have no man or thing impede 
or divert him1 either for love's sake or
 hate's4 ,small friends with feeble     
counsels to suggest must learn to       
suppress their small feelings and       
graceful regrets1 or be cleared out of  
his way with all their powers to help or
 hinder2 lucky if they get off without  
some label of epigram on the forehead or
 sting of epigram in the flesh4 ,upon   
,hayley1 as we may see by collation of  

,blake's note-book with his letters1 the
 lash fell at last1 after long          
toleration of things intolerable1 after 
great objections to my doing anything   
but the mere drudgery of business1 7as  
for instance engraving illustrations to 
,hayley's poems designed by ,flaxman's  
sister--not by his wife1 as stated at p4
 #aga of the ,life by some momentary    
slip of a most careful pen71 and        
intimations that if ,i do not confine   
myself to this ,i shall not live4 ,this1
 adds ,blake1 has always pursued me4    
,you will understand by this the source 
of all my uneasiness4 ,this from        
,johnson and ,fuseli brought me down    
here1 and this from ,mr4 ,h4 will bring 
me back again4 ,in a sharper mood than  
this1 he appended to the decent skirts  
of ,mr4 ,hayley one of the best         
burlesque epigrams in the language3--   
,of ,hayley's birth this was the happy  
lot3   ,his mother on his father him    
begot4  ,with this couplet tied to his  
tail1 the ghost of ,hayley may perhaps  

run further than his own strength of    
wind or speed of foot would naturally   
have carried him3 with this hook in his 
nose1 he may be led by his good ,blake  
some way towards the temple of memory4  
,what is most to be regretted in these  
letters is the wonderful tone of        
assertion respecting the writer's own   
pictures and those of the great ,italian
 schools4 ,this it would be difficult   
enough to explain1 dishonest to         
overlook1 easy to ridicule1 and         
unprofitable to rebuke4 ,all that need  
be said of this singular habit of       
,blake's has been said with admirable   
clearness and fairness in the prefatory 
note to the prose selections in ,vol4   
,,ii4 ,higher authority than the        
writer's of that note no man can have or
 can require4 ,and as ,blake's artistic 
heresies are in fact mere accidents--the
 illegitimate growth of chance and      
circumstance--we may be content to leave
 them wholly to the practical judgment  
and the wise charity of such artists as 

are qualified to pass sentence upon the 
achievements and the shortcomings of    
this great artist4 ,their praise can    
alone be thoroughly worth having2 their 
blame can alone be of any significance3 
and in no other hands than theirs may we
 safely leave the memory and the glory  
of a fellow-labourer so illustrious as  
,blake4  ,other points and shades of    
character not less singular it is       
essential here to take notice of4 ,these
 are not matters of accident1 like the  
errors of opinion or perversities of    
expression which may distort or         
disfigure the notes and studies on      
purely artistic matters2 they compose   
the vital element and working condition 
of ,blake's talent4 ,from the fifth to  
the tenth letter especially1 it becomes 
evident that the writer was passing     
through strange struggles of spirit and 
passionate stages of faith4 ,as early as
 the fourth letter1 dated almost exactly
 a year later than the first written on 
his arrival at ,felpham1 ,blake refers  

in a tone of regret and perplexity to   
the abstract folly which makes him      
incapable of direct practical work1     
though not of earnest and continuous    
labour4 ,this action of the nerves or of
 the mind he was plainly unable to      
regulate or modify4 ,it hurries him     
while yet at work into lands of         
abstraction2 he takes the world with him
 in his flight4 ,distress he knows would
 make the world heavier to him1 which   
seems now lighter than a ball of wool   
rolled by the wind2 and this distress   
material philosophies or methodical     
regulations would prescribe as a        
medicinal potion for a mind impaired or 
diseased merely by the animal superflux 
of spirits and childlike excess of      
spiritual health4 ,but this medicine the
 strange and strong faculty of faith    
innate in the man precludes him from    
taking4 ,physical distress is his mock  
and scorn2 mental no man can give2 and  
if ,heaven inflicts it1 all such        
distress is a mercy4 ,it is not easy1   

but it is requisite1 to realise the     
perpetual freshness and fulness of      
belief1 the inalterable vigour and      
fervour of spirit with which ,blake1    
heretic and mystic as he may have been1 
worshipped and worked2 by which he was  
throughout life possessed and pursued4  
,above all gods or daemons of creation  
and division1 he beheld by faith in a   
perfect man a supreme ,god4 ,though ,i  
have been very unhappy1 ,i am so no     
longer4 ,i am again emerged into the    
light of day2 ,i still 7and shall to    
eternity7 embrace ,christianity1 and    
adore ,him who is the express image of  
,god4 ,in the light of his especial     
faith all visible things were fused into
 the intense heat and sharpened into the
 keen outline of vision4 ,he walked and 
laboured under other heavens1 on another
 earth1 than the earth and the heaven of
 material life3    ,with a blue sky     
spread over with wings1   ,and a mild   
sun that mounts and sings2   ,with trees
 and fields full of fairy elves   ,and  

little devils who fight for themselves2 
,with angels planted in hawthorn bowers1
   ,and ,god ,himself in the passing    
hours4  ,all this was not a mere matter 
of creed or opinion1 much less of       
decoration or ornament to his work4 ,it 
was1 as we said1 his element of life1   
inhaled at every breath with the common 
air1 mixed into his veins with their    
natural blood4 ,it was an element almost
 painfully tangible and actual2 an      
absolute medium or state of existence1  
inevitable1 inexplicable1 insuperable4  
,to him the veil of outer things seemed 
always to tremble with some breath      
behind it3 seemed at times to be rent in
 sunder with clamour and sudden         
lightning4 ,all the void of earth and   
air seemed to quiver with the passage of
 sentient wings and palpitate under the 
pressure of conscious feet4 ,flowers and
 weeds1 stars and stones1 spoke with    
articulate lips and gazed with living   
eyes4 ,hands were stretched towards him 
from beyond the darkness of material    

nature1 to tempt or to support1 to guide
 or to restrain4 ,his hardest facts were
 the vaguest allegories of other men4   
,to him all symbolic things were        
literal1 all literal things symbolic4   
,about his path and about his bed1      
around his ears and under his eyes1 an  
infinite play of spiritual life seethed 
and swarmed or shone and sang4 ,spirits 
imprisoned in the husk and shell of     
earth consoled or menaced him4 ,every   
leaf bore a growth of angels2 the pulse 
of every minute sounded as the falling  
foot of ,god2 under the rank raiment of 
weeds1 in the drifting down of thistles1
 strange faces frowned and white hair   
fluttered2 tempters and allies1 wraiths 
of the living and phantoms of the dead1 
crowded and made populous the winds that
 blew about him1 the fields and hills   
over which he gazed4 ,even upon earth   
his vision was twofold always2          
singleness of vision he scorned and     
feared as the sign of mechanical        
intellect1 of talent that walks while   

the soul sleeps1 with the mere activity 
of a blind somnambulism4 ,it was        
fourfold in the intervals of keenest    
inspiration and subtlest rapture2       
threefold in the paradise of dreams     
lying between earth and heaven1 lulled  
by lighter airs and lit by fainter      
stars2 a land of night and moonlight1   
spectral and serene4 ,these strange     
divisions of spirit and world according 
to some dim and mythologic hierarchy    
were with ,blake matters at once serious
 and commonplace4 ,the worlds of ,beulah
 and ,jerusalem1 the existence of ,los  
god of ,time and ,enitharmon goddess of 
,space1 the fallen manhood of           
,theotormon1 the imprisoned womanhood of
 ,oothoon1 were more to him even than   
significant names2 to the reader they   
must needs seem less4 ,this monstrous   
nomenclature1 this jargon of miscreated 
things in chaos1 rose as by nature to   
his lips1 flowed from them as by        
instinct4 ,time1 an incarnate spirit    
clothed with fire1 stands before him in 

the sun's likeness2 he is threatened    
with poverty1 tempted to make himself   
friends of this world2 and makes answer 
as though to a human tempter3    ,my    
hands are laboured day and night   ,and 
rest comes never in my sight2   ,my wife
 has no indulgence given   ,except what 
comes to her from heaven2   ,we eat     
little1 we drink less2   ,this earth    
breeds not our happiness4  ,he beheld1  
he says1 ,time and ,space as they were  
eternally1 not as they are seen upon    
earth2 he saw nothing as man sees3 his  
hopes and fears were alien from all     
men's2 and upon him and his the light of
 prosperous days and the terrors of     
troubled time had no power4    ,when ,i 
had my defiance given   ,the sun stood  
trembling in heaven2   ,the moon1 that  
glowed remote below1   ,became leprous  
and white as snow2   ,and every soul of 
man on the earth   ,felt affliction and 
sorrow and sickness and dearth4  ,in all
 this we may see on one side the        
reflection and refraction of outer      

things1 on the other side the projection
 of his own mind1 the effusion of his   
individual nature1 throughout the       
hardest and remotest alien matter4      
,strangely severed from other men1 he   
was1 or he conceived himself1 more      
strangely interwoven with them4 ,the    
light of his spiritual weapons1 the     
sound of his spiritual warfare1 was     
seen1 he believed1 and was heard in     
faint resonance and far reverberation   
among men who knew not what such sights 
and sounds might mean4 ,if1 worsted in  
this mental fight1 he should let his    
sword sleep in his hand1 or refuse to do
 spiritual acts because of natural fears
 and natural desires1 the world would be
 the poorer for his defection1 and      
himself called the base ,judas who      
betrays his friend4 ,fear of this rebuke
 shook and wasted him day and night2 he 
was rent in sunder with pangs of terror 
and travail4 ,heaven was full of the    
dead1 coming to witness against him with
 blood-shedding and with shedding of    

tears3                                  
,the sun was hot   ,with the bows of my 
mind and with arrows of thought4  ,in   
this spirit he wrought at his day's     
work1 seeing everywhere the image of his
 own mood1 the presence of foes and     
friends4 ,nothing to him was neutral2   
nothing without significance4 ,the      
labour and strife of soul in which he   
lived was a thing as earnest as any     
bodily warfare4 ,such struggles of      
spirit in poets or artists have been too
 often made the subject of public study2
 nay1 too often the theme of chaotic    
versifiers4 ,a theme more utterly       
improper it is of course impossible to  
devise4 ,it is just that a workman      
should see all sides of his work1 and   
labour with all his might of mind and   
dexterity of hand to make it great and  
perfect2 but to use up the details of   
the process as crude material for cruder
 verse--to invite spectators as to the  
opening of a temple1 and show them the  
unbaked bricks and untempered mortar--to

 expose with immodest violence and      
impotent satisfaction the long revolting
 labours of mental abortion--this no    
artist will ever attempt1 no craftsman  
ever so perform as to escape ridicule4  
,it is useless for those who can carve  
no statue worth the chiselling to       
exhibit instead six feet or nine feet of
 shapeless plaster or fragmentary       
stucco1 and bid us see what sculptors   
work with2 no man will accept that in   
lieu of the statue4 ,not less futile and
 not less indecent is it for those who  
can give expression to no great poem to 
disgorge masses of raw incoherent verse 
on the subject of verse-making3 to      
offer1 in place of a poem ready wrought 
out1 some chaotic and convulsive story  
about the way in which a poet works1 or 
does not work4  ,to ,blake the whole    
thing was too grave for any such        
exposure of spiritual nudity4 ,in these 
letters he records the result of his    
sore travail2 in these verses he        
commemorates the manner of his work     

under the direction of messengers from  
heaven daily and nightly1 not without   
trouble or care2 but he writes in       
private and by pure instinct2 he speaks 
only by the impulse of confidence1 in   
the ardour of faith4 ,what he has to say
 is said with the simple and abstract   
rapture of apostles or prophets2 not    
with the laborious impertinence and vain
 obtrusion of tortuous analysis4 ,for   
such heavy play with gossamer and straws
 his nature was too earnest and his     
genius too exalted4 ,this is the mood in
 which he looks over what work he has   
done or has to do3 and in his lips the  
strange scriptural language used has the
 sincerity of pure fire4 ,i see the face
 of my ,heavenly ,father2 ,he lays ,his 
hand upon my head1 and gives a blessing 
to all my work4 ,why should ,i be       
troubled8 why should my heart and flesh 
cry out8 ,i will go on in the strength  
of the ,lord2 through hell will ,i sing 
forth ,his praises2 that the dragons of 
the deep may praise ,him1 and that those

 who dwell in darkness and in the       
sea-coasts may be gathered into ,his    
kingdom4 ,so did he esteem of art1 which
 indeed is not a light thing2 nor is it 
wholly unimportant to men that they     
should have one capable artist more or  
less among them4 ,how it may fare with  
artisans 7be they never so pretentious7 
is a matter of sufficiently small       
moment4 ,one blessing there assuredly   
was upon all ,blake's work2 the infinite
 blessing of life2 the fervour of vital 
blood4  ,in spite however of all        
inspiration and of all support1 sickness
 and uncongenial company impeded his    
hours of labour and corroded his hours  
of repose4 ,a trial on the infamous     
charges of sedition and assault1 brought
 by a private soldier whose name of     
,scholfield was thus made shamefully    
memorable1 succeeded finally in making  
the country unendurable to him4 ,it must
 be said here of the hapless ,hayley    
that he behaved well in this time of    
vexation and danger3 coming forward to  

bail our friend ,blake1 and working hard
 for the defence in a tumultuous and    
spluttering way3 he would appear in     
public at the trial1 living or dying1   
and did1 with or without leave of       
doctors1 appear and speak up for the    
accused4 ,blake's honourable acquittal  
does not make it less disgraceful that  
the charge should at all have been      
entertained4 ,his own courage1 readiness
 of wit1 and sincerity of spirit are    
fully shown in the letter relating this 
short and sharp episode in his quiet    
life4 ,some months later he returned to 
,london once for all1 and once for all  
broke off relations with ,felpham3      
commending1 it may be hoped1 ,hayley to 
the ,muses and ,scholfield to the       
halberts4  ,having read these letters1  
we are not lightly to judge of ,blake as
 of another man4 ,thoughts and creeds   
peculiar to his mind found expression in
 ways and words peculiar to his lips4   
,it was no vain or empty claim that he  
put forward to especial insight and     

individual means of labour4 ,if he spoke
 strangely1 he had great things to      
speak4 ,if he acted strangely1 he had   
great things to do4 ,mount ,sinai was   
altogether on a smoke1 because the ,lord
 descended on it in fire4 ,let the tree 
be judged by its fruit4 ,if the man who 
wrote thus had nothing to do or to say  
worth the saying or the doing1 it may   
fairly be said that he was mad or       
foolish4 ,the involving smoke1 here     
again1 implied the latent fire4 ,where  
the particles of dust are mere hardened 
mud1 where the cloud is mere condensing 
fog hatched from the stagnation of a    
swamp1 one may justly complain of the   
obstruction and the obscurity4 ,there is
 here indeed too much of mist1 but it is
 at least clear2 the air that breeds it 
is high1 the moisture that feeds it is  
pure4 ,this man had never lived in the  
low places of thought4 ,in the words of 
a living poet1#d whose noble verses are 
worthy to stand thus near ,blake's own--
    ,he had seen the moon's eclipse     

,by the fire from ,etna's lips1   ,with 
,orion had he spoken1   ,his fast with  
honey-dew had broken4  ,his dialect was 
too much the dialect of a far country2  
but it was from a far country that he   
came1 from a lofty station that he      
spoke4 ,to a poet who has given us so   
much1 to an artist who has done great   
things to such great purpose1 we may    
give at least some allowance and some   
toleration4 ,the distance is great which
 divides a fireside taper from the      
eclipsed moon on ,etna4 ,rules which are
 useful or necessary for household      
versifiers may well be permitted to     
relax or even to dissolve when applied  
to one who has attained to see with     
unblinded eyes and to speak with        
adequate words of matters so far above  
them4  ,the next point noticeable by us 
in the story of ,blake's life is his    
single-handed duel with ,cromek and     
,stothard2 and of this we need not wish 
to speak at much length4 ,the engraver1 
swift and sharp in all his              

dealings--never scrupulous1 insolent    
sometimes1 and always cunning--had an   
easy game to play1 and played it without
 shame2 not even taking the trouble to  
hide his marked cards or to load his    
dice in private4 ,in spite or in        
consequence of this rapacity and        
mendacity1#e ,cromek was evidently of   
some use to ,blake4 ,and even for the   
exercise of these special talents he is 
perhaps not to be blamed2 the man did   
but work with such qualities as he had2 
did but put out to use his natural gifts
 and capacities4 ,but that he should    
have done this at ,blake's expense is   
and must remain unpardonable3 and       
therefore he must be left to hang with  
the head downwards from the memorial    
gallows to which biography has nailed   
him2 a warning to all such others to    
choose their game more warily4 ,a       
tradesman who1 by their own account1    
swindled ,blake and robbed ,scott can   
hardly expect to be allowed safe        
harbourage under the compassionate      

shelter of complete oblivion or behind  
the weather-tight screen of simple      
contempt4 ,it may be worth while to     
condense the evidence as to his dealings
 with ,blake and ,stothard4 ,one alone  
of these three comes out clear from the 
involved network of suspicious          
double-dealing4 ,in the matter of the   
engravings to ,blair1 ,cromek had       
entrapped and cheated ,blake from the   
first4 ,in the matter of the drawing    
from ,chaucer1 he had gone a step       
further down the steep slope of         
peculation4 ,after the proposal to      
employ ,schiavonetti1 ,blake might at   
once have thrown him over as a          
self-detected knave4 ,he did not2 and   
was accordingly plundered again in a    
less dexterous and a more direct manner4
 ,it is fortunate that the shameful     
little history has at last been tracked 
through all its scandalous windings by  
so keen an eye and so sure a hand as    
,mr4 ,gilchrist's4 ,two questions arise 
at first sight2 did ,cromek give ,blake 

a commission for his design of the      
,pilgrims8 did ,stothard1 when ,cromek  
proposed that he should take up the same
 subject1 know that the proposal was    
equivalent to the suggestion of a theft8
 ,both these questions ,blake would have
 answered in the affirmative2 and in his
 dialect the affirmative mood was       
distinct and strong4 ,further evidence  
on the first head can be wanted by no   
one of decent insight or of decent      
candour4 ,that ,cromek1 with more than  
professional impudence1 denied the      
charge1 is an incident in the affair    
neither strange nor important4 ,the     
manner of his denial may be matched for 
effrontery with the tone of his insolent
 letter to ,blake on the subject of the 
designs to ,blair4 ,with the vulgarities
 and audacities1 the shifts and the     
doubles of this shuffling man of prey1  
no one need again be troubled4 ,that a  
visitor caught with the spoons in his   
pocket should bluster1 stammer1 and grin
 as he pleads innocence or affects      

amazement1 is natural and desirable2 for
 every word and gesture1 humble or      
shameless1 incoherent or intrepid1      
serves to convict him twice over4       
,undoubtedly he saw ,blake's sketch1    
tried to conjure it into his pocket1 and
 failed2 undoubtedly1 finding that the  
artist would not again give up his work 
to be engraved by other hands1 he made  
such approach to an honest offer as was 
compatible with his character2          
undoubtedly also he then made money in  
his uncleanly way out of the failure by 
tossing the subject to another painter  
as a bait4 ,no man has a right to       
express wonder that ,blake refused to   
hold ,stothard blameless4 ,it is nothing
 whatever to the purpose that1 while    
,cromek's somewhat villainous share in  
the speculation was as yet under cover1 
,blake may have bestowed on ,stothard's 
unfinished design his friendly counsel  
and his frank applause4 ,after the      
dealer's perfidy had been again bared   
and exposed by his own act1 it was1 and 

it is yet1 a stretch of charity to      
suppose that his associate was not      
likewise his accomplice4 ,and the manner
 of ,stothard's retort upon ,blake1 when
 taxed by him with unfair dealing1 was  
not of a sort qualified to disperse or  
to allay suspicion4 ,he charged1 and he 
permitted ,cromek to charge1 the        
plundered man with the act of plunder4  
,even though we1 who can now read the   
whole account without admixture of      
personal feeling1 may acquit ,stothard  
of active or actual treachery1 as all   
must gladly do who remember how large a 
debt is due from all to an artist of    
such exquisite and pleasurable talent1  
it is hopeless to make out for him a    
thoroughly sufficient case4 ,the        
fellowship of such an one as ,cromek    
leaves upon all who take his part at    
least the suspicion of a stain4 ,all    
should hope that ,stothard on coming out
 of the matter could have shown clean   
hands2 none can doubt that ,blake did4  
,that on ,stothard's part irritation    

should have succeeded to surprise1 and  
rancour to irritation1 is not wonderful4
 ,if he was indeed injured by the fault 
of ,cromek and the misfortune of ,blake1
 it would doubtless have been admirably 
generous to have controlled the         
irritation and overcome the rancour2 but
 in that case the worst that should be  
said of him is that he did not adopt the
 noblest course of action possible to   
him4 ,admitting this1 he is not         
blameable for choosing to throw in his  
lot with ,cromek2 but we must then      
suppose not merely that ,cromek had     
abstained from any avowal of his        
original treachery1 but that ,stothard  
was unhappily able to accept in good    
faith the bare assertion of ,cromek in  
preference to the bare assertion of     
,blake4 ,if we believe this1 we are     
bound to admit no harsher feeling than  
regret that ,cromek should so have duped
 and blinded his betters2 but in common 
fairness we are also bound to restrict  
the question within these limits4 ,for  

,stothard a door of honourable escape   
stands open2 and all must desire rather 
to widen than to narrow the opening4 ,no
 one can wish to straiten his chance of 
acquittal1 or to inquire too curiously  
whether there be not a pretext for      
closing the door that now stands ajar4  
,but for the rest1 it is simply         
necessary to choose between ,blake's    
authority and ,cromek's2 and to consider
 this alternative seriously for a moment
 would be at once an act of             
condescension towards ,cromek and of    
impertinence towards ,blake1 equally    
unjustifiable on either side4 ,it is    
possible that ,blake was not wronged by 
,stothard2 it is undeniable that he was 
wronged through him4 ,it is probable    
that ,stothard believed himself to be   
not in the wrong2 it is certain that    
,blake was in the right4#f  ,about the  
close of this quarrel1 and before the   
publication of ,blake's designs to      
,blair as engraved for ,cromek by       
,schiavonetti1 a book came out which    

would have deserved more notice and     
repaid more interest than has yet been  
shown it4 ,the graceful design by ,blake
 on its frontispiece is not the only or 
even the chief attraction of ,dr4       
,malkin's ,memoirs of his ,child4 ,the  
writer indeed treads ponderously and    
speaks thickly2 but there is extant no  
picture at once so perfect and so quaint
 of a purely childlike talent4 ,even    
supreme genius1 which usually has a mind
 now and then to try1 has never given us
 the complete and vivid likeness which a
 child has for once given of himself4   
,even ,shakespeare1 even ,hugo1 even    
,blake1 has not done this4 ,the husky   
dialect of his father suffices to       
express something2 and the portrait is  
significant and pleasant1 reproducing as
 it does the solid grace and glad       
gravity proper to children2 a round and 
bright figure1 with no look of          
over-training or disease4 ,but the      
child's own scraps and scrawls contain  
the kernel and jewel of the book4 ,his  

small drawings are certainly firmer1    
clearer1 more inventive than could have 
been looked for in a six-year-old       
artist4 ,any slight imitative work in a 
child implies the energy which impels   
invention in a man4 ,his little         
histories and geographies are delightful
 for illogical sequence of events and   
absurd coherence of fancy4 ,only a child
 could have invented and combined such  
unimaginable eccentricities of          
innocence4 ,the language and system of  
proper names strongly recall ,blake's   
own habits of speech4 ,the province of  
,malleb and the city of ,tumblebob are  
no unfit abodes for ,hand and ,hyle1    
,kwantok and ,kotope4 ,the moral polity 
of ,allestone is not unlike that which  
prevails among the ,emanations who in   
the aggregate are called ,jerusalem4    
,the pamphlet1 condensed and compressed 
into a form more thoroughly readable1   
would be worth republishing4  ,it seems 
probable that the verses following were 
written by ,blake about this time1 as   

,mr4 ,gilchrist refers the design of the
 ,last ,judgment1 executed on commission
 for ,lady ,egremont1 to the year #ahjg4
 ,they are evidently meant to match the 
beautiful dedication of the designs to  
,blair1 which were not brought out till 
the next year4 ,less excellent in       
workmanship1 they are not less important
 by way of illustration4 ,the existence 
of some mythical or symbolic island of  
,atalantis1 where the arts were to be   
preserved as in paradise1 now walled    
round or washed over by the blind and   
bitter waters of time1 was a favourite  
vision with ,blake4 ,at a first reading 
some of these verses seemed to refer to 
the subsequent series of designs from   
,dante2 but there is no evidence of any 
such later commission as we must in that
 case take for granted4    ,the caverns 
of the grave ,i've seen1   ,and these ,i
 showed to ,england's queen2   ,but now 
the caves of ,hell ,i view1   ,who shall
 ,i dare to show them to8   ,what mighty
 soul in beauty's form   ,shall         

dauntless view the infernal storm8      
,egremont's ,countess can control   ,the
 flames of hell that round me roll4     
,if she refuse1 ,i still go on1   ,till 
the heavens and earth are gone2   ,still
 admired by noble minds1   ,followed by 
,envy on the winds4   ,re-engraved time 
after time1   ,ever in their youthful   
prime1   ,my designs unchanged remain2  
,time may rage1 but rage in vain2   ,for
 above ,time's troubled fountains1   ,on
 the great ,atlantic mountains1   ,in my
 golden house on high1   ,there they    
shine eternally4  ,blake was always     
looking westward for his islands of the 
blest4 ,all transatlantic things appear 
to have a singular hold upon his fancy4 
,america was a land of misty and stormy 
morning1 struck by the fierce and       
fugitive fires of intermittent war and  
nascent freedom4 ,in a dim confused     
manner1 he seems to mix up the actual   
events of history with the formless and 
labouring legends of his own mythology2 
or rather to cast circumstances into the

 crucible of vision1 and extract a      
strange amalgam of metals unfit for     
mortal currency and difficult to bring  
to any test4  ,in #ahjh the             
illustrations to ,blair's ,grave        
appeared1 and found some acceptance2 a  
success on which the shameful soul of   
,cromek fed exultingly and fattened     
scandalously4 ,the ravenous gamester had
 packed his cards from the first with   
all due care1 and was able now to       
bluster without fear as he had before   
swindled without shame4 ,twenty pounds  
of the profits fell to the share of the 
designer for some of the most admirable 
works extant in that line4 ,the         
sweetness and vivid grace of these      
designs are as noticeable as the energy 
and rapidity of imagination implied by  
them4 ,even in ,blake's lifetime their  
tender and lofty beauty drew down some  
recognition2 and incautious criticism1  
as it praised them1 forgot that the     
artist was not dead yet4 ,the generous  
oversight was afterwards amply and      

consistently redeemed4 ,for the moment  
it was perhaps not wonderful that even  
so much excellence should obtain        
something of mistrustful admiration4    
,the noble passion and exaltation of    
spirit here made visible burnt its way  
into notice for a time2 and ,cromek was 
allowed to claim applause for his       
invention of ,blake4 ,we will choose two
 designs only for reference4 ,none who  
have seen can well forget the glorious  
violence of reunion between soul and    
body1 meeting with fierce embraces1 with
 glad agony and rage of delight2 with   
breasts yearning and eyes wide1 with    
sweet madness of laughter at their lips2
 the startled and half-arisen body not  
less divine already than the descending 
soul1 though the earth clings yet about 
his knees and feet1 and though she comes
 down as with a clamour of rushing wind 
and prone impulse of falling water1     
fresh from the stars and the highest air
 of heaven4 ,but for perfect beauty     
nothing of ,blake's can be matched      

against the design of the soul          
departing2 in this drawing the body lies
 filled as it were and clothed with the 
supreme sleep of flesh1 no man watching 
by it2 with limbs laid out and covered1 
with eyelids close2 and the soul1 with  
tender poise of pausing feet1 with      
painless face and sad pure eyes1 looks  
back as with a serene salutation full of
 pity1 before passing away into the     
clear air and light left at the end of  
sunset on heaven and the hills2 where   
outside the opened lattice a soft cold  
land of rising fields and ridged        
moorland bears upon it the barren beauty
 of shadow and sleep1 the breath and not
 the breeze of evening4 ,the sweet and  
grave grace of this background1 with a  
bright pallor in the sky and an effect  
upon field and moor of open air without 
wind1 brings with it a sense as of      
music4  ,a year later ,blake advertised 
and opened his exhibition2 which he was 
about as qualified to manage as little  
,malkin might have been4 ,between anger1

 innocence1 want of funds and sense of  
merit1 he would assuredly have ruined a 
better chance than he ever had4 ,with   
the exception of his ,canterbury        
,pilgrims1 the choice of pictures and   
designs for exhibition seems to have    
been somewhat unhappy4#g ,the admirable 
power and high dramatic quality of that 
singular but noble picture1 the latent  
or superincumbent beauty which corrects 
and redeems its partial ugliness1 the   
strong imagination and the fanciful     
justice of the entire work1 were        
invisible to all but such spectators as 
,charles ,lamb2 if indeed there were    
ever another capable of seeing them to  
such purpose4 ,whatever portion of the  
like merit there may have been in the   
other works exhibited was still more    
utterly lost upon the few who saw them  
at all2 for of these we have scarcely   
any record beyond ,blake's own4 ,one    
journal alone appears to have noticed   
the exhibition4 ,an angry allusion of   
,blake's to some assault of the         

,examiner newspaper upon his works and  
character has been hitherto left        
unexplained1 presumably through a not   
irrational contempt4 ,that ,blake may be
 cleared from any charge of perversity1 
a brief account of the quarrel is here  
appended4 ,contemptible as are both the 
journeyman writer and his poor day's    
work1 they have been found worth        
tracking down on account of the game    
flown at4  ,in the thirtieth number of  
the ,examiner 7,august #gth1 #ahjh7     
there is a review 7signed ,r4 ,h47 of   
the ,blair's ,grave1 sufficiently       
impudent in manner and incapable in     
matter to have provoked a milder spirit 
than ,blake's4 ,fuseli's prefatory note 
is cited with a tone of dissentient     
patronage not lightly to be endured2    
none but such a visionary as ,mr4 ,blake
 or such a frantic 7sic7 as ,mr4 ,fuseli
 could possibly fancy1 and so forth2    
then follows some chatter about the     
failures of great poets1 utter          
impossibility of representing ,spirit to

 the eye 7except by means of italic     
type71 insipid1 absurd1 all the wise men
 of the ,east would not possibly divine1
 small assistance of the title 7italics 
again71 how are we to find out8 7might  
not one reply with ,thersites1 ,make    
that demand of thy ,maker871 how absurd1
 more serious censure1 most             
heterogeneous and serio-fantastic1 most 
indecent1 appearance of libidinousness1 
much to admire1 but more to censure1 and
 all the common-places of that pestilent
 old style which1 propped on italics and
 points of exclamation1 halts at every  
sentence between a titter1 a shrug1 and 
a snarl4 ,schiavonetti also has done    
more than justice to ,blake1 and ,blair 
and his engraver are finally bidden to  
divide the real palm4 ,who this reviewer
 was1 no man need either know or care2  
but all may now understand the point of 
,blake's allusion4 ,next year however   
the real batteries were opened4 ,it is  
but loathsome labour to shovel out this 
decomposed rubbish from the catacombs of

 liberal journalism2 but if thus only we
 can explain an apparently aimless or   
misplaced reference on the great        
artist's part1 it may be worth while to 
throw up a few spadefuls4  ,this second 
article bears date ,september #agth1    
#ahji1 ,no4 #ij of the ,examiner1 and is
 labelled ,mr4 ,blake's ,exhibition4    
,the contributor has already lapsed from
 simple fatuity into fatuity compound   
with scurrility4 ,blake here figures as 
an unfortunate lunatic1 whose personal  
inoffensiveness secures him from        
confinement1 and consequently of whom no
 public notice would have been taken1 if
 he was not 7the man's grammar here goes
 mad on its own account1 but what then87
 forced on the notice and animadversion 
of the ,examiner in having been held up 
7the case by this time is fairly        
desperate7 to public admiration2 such is
 the eccentricity of human error4 ,the  
,blair of last year was a futile        
endeavour by bad drawings to represent  
immateriality by bodily                 

personifications1 and so forth2 once    
again1 the tasteful hand of             
,schiavonetti1 one regrets to remember1 
was employed to bestow an exterior charm
 on deformity and nonsense4 ,thus       
encouraged1 the poor man 7to wit1       
,blake7 fancies himself a great master1 
and has painted a few wretched pictures1
 some of which are--any one may finish  
that for the critic4 ,the catalogue is a
 farrago of nonsense1 unintelligibleness
 7sic71 and egregious vanity4 ,stothard 
and the irrepressible ,schiavonetti are 
of course held up in contrast to the    
distempered brain which produced        
,blake's ,pilgrims4 ,the picture of ,the
 ,ancient ,britons is a complete        
caricature2 the colour of the flesh is  
exactly like hung beef4 ,here we will   
pull the man up short and have done with
 him4 ,he shirks a signature this time2 
and whether or no he were the same as   
last year's critic1 those may find out  
who care4  ,arcadiae pecuaria rudere    
dicas2 would not one say that this      

mingling bray and howl had issued       
through the throat and nostril of some  
one among the roving or browsing cattle 
of our own daily or weekly literature1  
startled at smelling some incongruous   
rose in his half-eaten thistle-heap8    
,such feeders were always one in voice  
and one in palate3 it were waste of wood
 and iron to cudgel or to prod them4    
,even when their clamour becomes too    
intolerably dissonant we may get out of 
hearing and solace our vexed ears and   
spirits with reflection on that axiom of
 ,blake's1 which1 though savouring in   
such a case of excessive optimism1 we   
will strive to hope is true3    ,the    
bleat1 the bark1 bellow1 and roar1      
,are waves that beat on ,heaven's shore4
  ,this was not ,blake's only connexion 
or collision with the journals of his   
day4 ,an adverse notice of ,fuseli had  
excited him to more direct reprisals    
than the attack upon himself now did4   
,the ,monthly ,magazine for ,july #ast1 
#ahjf 7vol4 xxi4 pp4 #ebj1 #eba71       

contains the following letter1 which is 
now first unearthed and seems worth     
saving4 ,it is not without perversities2
 neither is it wanting in vigour and    
fervour of thought4       ,,to ,,the    
,,editor ,,of ,,the ',,monthly          
,,magazine4'       ,,sir1--,my          
indignation was exceedingly moved at    
reading a criticism in      ,bell's     
,weekly ,messenger 7#beth ,may7 on the  
picture of ,count ,ugolino1      by ,mr4
 ,fuseli1 in the ,royal ,academy        
,exhibition2 and your magazine          
being as extensive in its circulation as
 that paper1 and as it also      must   
from its nature be more permanent1 ,i   
take the advantageous      opportunity  
to counteract the widely-diffused malice
 which has for      many years1 under   
the pretence of admiration of the arts1 
been      assiduously sown and planted  
among the ,english public against true  
art1 such as it existed in the days of  
,michael ,angelo and ,raphael4          
,under pretence of fair criticism and   

candour1 the most wretched taste        
ever produced has been upheld for many1 
very many years2 but now1 ,i      say1  
now its end has come4 ,such an artist as
 ,fuseli is invulnerable1      he needs 
not my defence2 but ,i should be ashamed
 not to set my hand      and shoulder1  
and whole strength1 against those       
wretches who1 under      pretence of    
criticism1 use the dagger and the       
poison4       ,my criticism on this     
picture is as follows3 ',mr4 ,fuseli's  
,count      ,ugolino is the father of   
sons of feeling and dignity1 who would  
not      sit looking in their parent's  
face in the moments of his agony1 but   
would rather retire and die in secret   
while they suffer him to      indulge   
his passionate and innocent grief1 his  
innocent and venerable      madness1 and
 insanity1 and fury1 and whatever paltry
 cold-hearted      critics cannot1      
because they dare not1 look upon4       
,fuseli's ,count      ,ugolino is a man 
of wonder and admiration1 of resentment 

against man      and devil1 and of      
humiliation before ,god3 prayer and     
parental      affection fills the figure
 from head to foot4 ,the child in his   
arms1      whether boy or girl signifies
 not 7but the critic must be a fool who 
has not read ,dante1 and who does not   
know a boy from a girl72 ,i say1        
the child is as beautifully drawn as it 
is coloured--in both1      inimitable2  
and the effect of the whole is truly    
sublime1 on account      of that very   
colouring which our critic calls black  
and heavy4 ,the      ,german-flute      
colour1 which was used by the ,flemings 
7they call it      burnt bone71 has 8 so
 possessed the eye of certain           
connoisseurs1      that they cannot see 
appropriate colouring1 and are blind to 
the      gloom of a real terror4        
,the taste of ,english amateurs has been
 too much formed upon pictures          
imported from ,flanders and ,holland1   
consequently our countrymen are         
easily brow-beat on the subject of      

painting2 and hence it is so      common
 to hear a man say1 ',i am no judge of  
pictures2' but1 ,o      ,englishmen6    
know that every man ought to be a judge 
of pictures1 and      every man is so   
who has not been connoisseured out of   
his senses4       ,a gentleman who      
visited me the other day said1 ',i am   
very much      surprised at the dislike 
which some connoisseurs show on viewing 
the      pictures of ,mr4 ,fuseli2 but  
the truth is1 he is a hundred years     
beyond the present generation4' ,though 
,i am startled at such an               
assertion1 ,i hope the contemporary     
taste will shorten the hundred          
years into as many hours2 for ,i am sure
 that any person consulting      his own
 eyes must prefer what is so            
supereminent2 and ,i am as sure         
that any person consulting his own      
reputation1 or the reputation of        
his country1 will refrain from          
disgracing either by such ill-judged    
criticisms in future4       ,yours1     

,,wm4 ,,blake4  ,this ready             
championship1 erratic and excessive as  
it may be1 is not less characteristic of
 the man than is that outspoken violence
 which helped to make his audience often
 deaf and unfriendly4 ,the letter1 as we
 said1 did not happen to turn up in time
 for insertion in any niche of the ,life
 or ,appendix3 it will not seem a       
valueless windfall if read by the light 
of the ,catalogue1 the ,address1 and    
other notes on art embalmed in the      
second volume4  ,no part of ,blake's    
life was nobler in action or is yet     
worthier of study than the period of    
neglected labour and unbroken poverty   
which followed4 ,much of the work done  
is now1 it appears1 irretrievably lost4 
,new friends gathered about him as the  
old ones died out2 for indeed all men   
capable of seeing the beauty of         
greatness and goodness were drawn at    
once to such a man as he was4 ,violent  
and petulant as he may have seemed on   
some rare occasions of public protest1  

he endured all the secret slights and   
wants of his latter life with a most    
high patience1 and with serene if not   
joyous acceptance of his fate4 ,without 
brute resignation1 nay with keen sense  
of neglect shown and wrong done1 he yet 
laboured gladly and without ceasing4    
,sick or well1 he was at work2 his      
utmost rest was mere change of labour4  
,to relax the intense nerve or deaden   
the travailing brain would have been    
painful and grievous to him4 ,fervent   
incessant action was to him as the      
breath of every moment1 the bread of    
every day4 ,his talk was eager and      
eloquent2 his habits of life were simple
 and noble1 alike above compassion and  
beyond regret4 ,to all the poor about   
him--and among the poor he had to live  
out all his latter days of life--he     
showed all the supreme charities of     
courtesy4 ,from one or two things       
narrated of him1 we may all see and be  
assured that a more perfect and gentle  
excellence of manner1 a more royal      

civility of spirit1 was never found in  
any man4 ,fearless1 blameless1 and      
laborious1 he had also all tender and   
exquisite qualities of breeding1 all    
courteous and gracious instincts of     
kindness4 ,as there was nothing base in 
him1 so was there nothing harsh or weak4
 ,this old man1 whose hand academicians 
would not take because he had to fetch  
his own porter1 had the habit and spirit
 of the highest training4 ,he was born a
 knight and king among men1 and had the 
great and quiet way of such4 ,to say    
that he was not ashamed or afraid of his
 poverty seems an expression actually   
libellous by dint of inadequacy4 ,fear  
and shame of any base kind are          
inconceivable of him4 ,the great and    
sleepless soul which impelled him to    
work and to speak could take no taint   
and no rest in this world4 ,conscious as
 he was of the glory of his gift and    
capacity1 he was apparently unconscious 
how noble a thing was his own life4 ,the
 work which he was able and compelled to

 perform he knew to be great2 that his  
manner of living should be what it was1 
he seems to have thought but simple4    
,few1 his biographer has well said1 are 
so persistently brave4 ,but his was the 
supreme valour which ignorantly assumes 
and accepts itself4 ,it was natural to  
him not to cease from doing well or     
complain of faring ill1 as it is natural
 to a soldier not to turn tail4 ,that he
 should do great things for small wages 
was a condition of his life4 ,neither1  
with all his just and distinct          
self-assertion1 did he assume any       
special credit for this4 ,he did not ask
 for more of meat and drink1 more of    
leisure or praise2 he demanded only such
 recognition as might have enabled him  
to do more work and greater while       
strength and sight were left in him4    
,that neglect1 and the necessities of   
mere handiwork involved by neglect1     
should thus shorten his time and impair 
his capacity for higher labours1 he did 
at times complain1 not without an       

audible undertone of scornful and       
passionate rebuke4 ,let not that nation1
 he says once1 where less than nobility 
is the 'reward1' pretend that ,art is   
encouraged by that nation4 ,there was no
 angry prurience for fame or gold       
underlying such complaints4  ,his famous
 drawings1 burlesque or serious1 of     
visionary heads are interesting chiefly 
for the evidence they give of ,blake's  
power upon his own mind and nerves1 and 
of the strong and subtle mixture of     
passion with humour in his temperament4 
,faith1 invention1 and irony are here   
mingled in a rare and curious manner4   
,the narrow leer of stolid servile      
vigour1 the keen smirk of satisfied and 
brutish achievement1 branded upon the   
grotesque face of the ,man who built the
 ,pyramids1 implies a good satire on    
workmen of base talent and mean success4
 ,several others1 such as ,the ,accusers
 and the celebrated ,ghost of a ,flea1  
are grotesque almost to grandeur1 and   
full of strength and significance4 ,more

 important than hundreds of these are   
the beautiful designs to ,virgil--or to 
,phillips4 ,reproduced at page #bga of  
,vol4 ,i4 with the utmost care and      
skill1 they have of course lost         
something by the way2 enough remains1   
and would remain had less favour been   
shown them1 to give great and keen      
pleasure4 ,in the first1 the remote     
sweet curve of hill against a sky filled
 with evening1 seen far above the rows  
of folded sheep1 may recall a splendid  
former design in the ,blair4 ,in the    
second1 which perhaps has lost more than
 any in course of transference1 the     
distance of winding road and deepening  
gorge1 woods and downs and lighted windy
 sky1 is among the noblest inventions of
 imaginative landscape4 ,highest of all 
in poetical quality ,i should class the 
third design4 ,upon the first two1      
symbolic as they are of vision and of   
pilgrimage1 the shadow of peace is cast 
like a garment2 rest lies upon them as a
 covering4 ,in the third1 a splendour of

 sweet and turbulent moonlight falls    
across blown bowed hedgerows1 over the  
gnarled and labouring branches of a     
tough tortuous oak1 upon soft ears of   
laid corn like long low waves without   
ripple or roll2 every bruised blade     
distinct and patient1 every leaf        
quivering and straightened out in the   
hard wind4 ,the stormy beauty of this   
design1 the noble motion and passion in 
all parts of it1 are as noticeable as   
its tender sense of detail and grace in 
effect of light4 ,not a star shows about
 the moon2 and the dark hollow half of  
her glimmering shell1 emptied and       
eclipsed1 is faint upon the deep air4   
,the fire in her crescent burns high    
across the drift of wind4 ,blake's touch
 in this appears to me curiously just   
and perfect2 the moon does not seem to  
quail or flicker as a star would2 but   
one may feel and see1 as it were1 the   
wind passing beneath her2 amid the      
fierce fluctuation of heaven in the full
 breath of tempest1 blown upon with all 

the strength of the night1 she stands   
firm in the race of winds1 where no     
lesser star can stand2 she hangs high in
 clear space1 pure of cloud2 but no     
likeness of the low-hung labouring moon1
 no blurred and blinking planet with    
edges blotted and soiled in fitful      
vapour1 would have given so splendid a  
sense of storm as this white triumphal  
light seen above the wind4 ,small and   
rough as these half-engraved designs may
 be1 it is difficult to express in words
 all that is latent1 even all that is   
evident1 in the best of them4 ,poets and
 painters of ,blake's kind can put      
enough into the slightest and swiftest  
work they do to baffle critics and      
irritate pretenders4  ,friends1 as we   
have said1 were not wanting to ,blake in
 his old age2 to one of them we owe1    
among other more direct obligations1 an 
inestimable debt for the ,illustrations 
to ,job1 executed on his commission4    
,another worthy of notice here was1     
until our own day called forth a better1

 the best ,english critic on art2       
himself1 as far as we know1 admirable   
alike as a painter1 a writer1 and a     
murderer4 ,in each pursuit1 perhaps1    
there was a certain want of solid worth 
and fervour1 which at times impeded or  
impaired the working of an excellent    
faculty2 but in each it is evident there
 was a noble sense of things fair and   
fit2 a seemliness and shapeliness of    
execution1 a sensitive relish of        
excellence1 an exquisite aspiration     
after goodness of work1 which cannot be 
overpraised4 ,with pen1 with palette1 or
 with poison1 his hand was never a mere 
craftsman's4 ,the visible vulgarities   
and deficiencies of his style went      
hardly deeper than the surface4 ,excess 
of colour and levity of handling have   
not unjustly been charged against him2  
he does not seem to have always used the
 material on hand1 whether strychnine or
 mere ink1 to the best purpose2 his work
 has a certain crudity and violence of  
tone2 his articles and his crimes are   

both too often wanting in the most      
delightful qualities of which finished  
art is capable2 qualities which a more  
earnest man of lesser genius might have 
given them4 ,the main object in both    
seems wrong1 or at best insufficient2 in
 the one case he looked less to         
achievement than to effect2 in the other
 he aimed rather at money-getting than  
at enjoyment2 which is the more         
deplorable1 as a man so greatly gifted  
must have been in every way fitted to   
apprehend1 to relish1 and to realize all
 noble and subtle pleasure in its more  
vigorous forms and in its more delicate 
sense4 ,what he has done however is     
excellent2 and we need not inquire with 
a captious ingratitude whether another  
could have done better3 that meaner men 
have since done worse1 we know and      
lament4 ,too often the murderer is not  
an artist2 and the converse defect is no
 doubt yet more unhappily frequent4 ,on 
all accounts we may suppose that in days
 perhaps not remote a philosophic       

posterity1 mindful that the harvest of  
art has few reapers worthy of their     
hire1 and well aware that what is       
exalted must also be exceptional1 will  
inscribe with due honour upon the list  
of men who have deserved well of mankind
 the name of ,wainwright4 ,those who    
would depreciate his performance as a   
simple author must recollect that in    
accordance with the modern receipt he   
lived his poems2 that the age prefers   
deeds to songs2 that to do great things 
is better than to write2 that action is 
of eternity1 fiction of time2 and that  
these poems were doubtless the greater  
for being inarticulate4 ,remembering    
which things1 the sternest critic will  
not deny that no kaiser or king ever    
polished his stanza to better purpose   
with more strenuous will4  ,what        
concerns us at present is1 that there   
grew up between ,blake and ,wainwright  
an intimacy not unpleasing to           
commemorate4 ,an artist in words1 in    
oils1 and in drugs1 ,wainwright had an  

exquisite power of recognition1 and a   
really noble relish of all excellence4  
,no good work came in his way but he    
praised it with all his might4 ,the     
mixture of keen insight with frank      
pleasure1 innate justice of eye with    
fresh effusion of enjoyment1 gives to   
his papers on art a special colour or   
savour which redeems the offences of a  
tricked and tinselled style4 ,clearly   
too he did what he could for ,blake in  
the way of journalism2 but a            
super-editorial thickness of hide and   
head repelled the light sharp shafts    
loosed from a bow too relaxed by too    
unsteady a hand4 ,it is lamentable that 
the backstroke of a recalcitrant hoof   
should have broken this bowman's arm    
when it might have done good service4   
,help shown to ,blake about this time1  
especially help of the swift efficient  
nature that ,wainwright would have      
given1 might have been infinitely       
important2 it was no light thing to come
 so near and yet fall short of4         

,exposition of the beloved ,song of     
,jerusalem1 adequate at least on the    
side of pure art1 would assuredly have  
given the great old man pleasure beyond 
words and beyond gold4 ,this too he was 
not to have4 ,there are men set about   
the ways of life who seem made only to  
fulfil the office of thorns2 it is      
difficult for retrospection to observe  
that they have done anything but hurt   
and hinder the feet of higher men4      
,doubtless they have had their use and  
taken their pleasure4 ,these have left  
no trace2 we can still see the scars    
they made on the hand and the fragments 
they rent from the cloak of a great man 
as he passed by them4 ,a little of the  
honour which he has lately received     
would have been to ,blake in his life a 
great and pleasant thing to attain2     
praise of his work now leaves an        
after-taste of bitterness on the lips   
which utter it4 ,his work1 not done for 
wages1 hardly repaid with thanks1 we can
 touch and handle and remark upon as    

ability is given us2 nothing can touch  
him further4 ,those who might have done 
what we would give much to do left it   
undone4 ,and even to men who enjoy such 
power to do and such wisdom to choose   
greatly as were the inheritance of      
,blake it is not a thing worth no regret
 to have been allowed upon earth no     
comprehension and no applause4 ,he had a
 better part in life than the pleasure  
that comes of such things2 but these    
also he might have had4 ,he would not   
come down to chaffer for them or stoop  
to gather them up from unclean or unsafe
 ground2 but they might have been laid  
at his feet freely and with thanks2     
which they never were4  ,foiled as he   
had been in his good purpose1 the critic
 at least won full gratitude from the   
gentle and great nature of his friend1  
who repaid him in a kingly manner with  
praise worth gold4 ,one may hope that a 
picture painted by ,wainwright and      
commended by ,blake will yet be traced  
somewhere1 in spite of the singular fate

 which hung upon so much of their lives1
 and which still obscures so much of    
their work4 ,at least its subject and   
quality should be sought out and        
remembered4 ,but for the strange        
collision with social laws which broke  
up his life and scattered his designs1  
it might also be hoped that some other  
relics of ,wainwright would be found    
adrift in manuscript or otherwise1 and a
 collection of his stray works be       
completed and published1 with an        
adequate notice of his life1 well weeded
 of superfluous lamentations1 duly      
qualified to put an end to perversion   
and foolish fancies1 clear of           
deprecation or distortion1 just1        
sufficient1 and close to the purpose4   
,few things would be better worth doing 
by a competent editor4  ,even of the    
,inventions to the ,book of ,job1 as far
 as ,i know1 no especial notice was     
taken4 ,upon these1 the greatest of all 
,blake's designs1 such noble exposition 
has now at length been bestowed that    

further remark may henceforward well be 
spared4 ,this commentary has something  
of the stately beauty and vigorous      
gravity of style which distinguish the  
work spoken of4 ,blake himself1 had he  
undertaken to write notes on his        
designs1 must have done them less       
justice than this4 ,the perfect         
apprehension and the perfect            
representation of the great qualities   
which all men1 according to their       
capacity1 must here in some degree      
perceive1 give to these notes a value   
beyond that of mere eloquence or of mere
 sympathy4 ,the words chosen do not     
merely render the subject with fluency  
and fitness2 they attain a choiceness   
and exaltation of expression1 which give
 to the writing much of the character of
 the designs4 ,whether or not from any  
exceptional aptitude in the material1   
these designs are more lucid and        
dramatic in effect than perhaps any of  
,blake's works4 ,his specialties of     
belief or sentiment hardly show in this 

series at all2 except perhaps in the    
passionate and penitent character which 
seems here to supplant the traditional  
divine look of patience and power4 ,the 
whole work has in it a vibration as of  
fire2 even the full stars and serene    
lines of hill are set in frameworks of  
fervent sky or throbbing flame4 ,but for
 the most part those intense qualities  
of sleepless invention which in many of 
,blake's other works impel him into     
fierce aberration and blind ecstasy1    
through ways which few can tread and    
mists which few can pierce1 are now     
happily diverted and kept at work upon  
the exquisite borders and appendages4   
,in these there is enough of fiery fancy
 and tender structure of symbol to      
employ the whole wide and vivid         
imagination of the artist4 ,and         
throughout the series there is a        
largeness and a loftiness of manner     
which sustain the composition at the    
height of the poem4 ,in the highest     
flights of spiritual passion and        

speculation1 in the subtle contention   
with fate and imperious agony of appeal 
against heaven1 ,blake has matched      
himself against his text1 and translated
 its sharp and profound harmonies into a
 music of design not less adorable4     
,those who have read with any care or   
comprehension the excellent chapters on 
,blake's personal life will regret1 not 
it may be without a keen suppressed     
sense of vain vexation1 that the author 
did not live to get sight of the letters
 which have since been found and        
published4 ,they will at least observe  
with how much reason the editor of the  
,life has desired us to notice the close
 and complete confirmation given by that
 correspondence to the accuracy of these
 chapters4 ,no tribute more valuable    
could be devised to the high sincerity1 
the clear sagacity1 the vigorous sense  
of truth and lucid power of proof1 which
 have left us for the first time an     
acceptable and endurable portrait of    
,blake4 ,all earlier attempts were mere 

masses of blot and scratch1 evidently   
impossible and false on the face of     
them1 and even pitifully conscious that 
they could not be true1 not being human4
 ,the bewildered patronage1 fear1       
contempt1 goodwill and despair which    
,blake had excited among those hapless  
biographers have left in their forlorn  
failures a certain element of despicable
 pathos4 ,we have now1 thanks to no     
happier chance1 but solely to the       
strenuous ability and fidelity of a man 
qualified to study and to speak upon the
 matter1 a trustworthy1 perspicuous1 and
 coherent summary of the actual facts of
 ,blake's life1 of the manner in which  
he worked1 and of the causes which made 
his work what it was4  ,among these late
 labours of ,blake the ,dante may take a
 place of some prominence4 ,the seven   
published plates1 though quite          
surprisingly various in merit1 are worth
 more notice than has yet been spared   
them4 ,three at least1 for poetical     
power and nobility of imaginative       

detail1 are up to the artist's highest  
mark4 ,others have painted the episode  
of ,francesca with more or less of      
vigour and beauty2 once above all an    
artist to whom any reference here must  
be taken as especially apposite has     
given with the tenderest perfection of  
power1 first the beauty of beginning    
love in the light and air of life on    
earth1 then the passion of imperishable 
desire under the dropping tongues of    
flame in hell4 ,to the right the lovers 
are drawn close1 yearning one toward    
another with touch of tightened hands   
and insatiable appeal of lips2 behind   
them the bower lattice opens on deep    
sunshine and luminous leaves2 to the    
left1 they drift before the wind of     
hell1 floated along the misty and       
straining air1 fastened one upon another
 among the fires1 pale with perpetual   
division of pain2 and between them the  
witnesses stand sadly1 as men that look 
before and after4 ,blake has given      
nothing like this3 of personal beauty   

and special tenderness his design has   
none2 it starts from other ground4      
,often as the lovers had been painted1  
here first has any artist desired to    
paint the second circle itself4 ,to most
 illustrators1 as to most readers1 and  
7one might say7 to ,dante himself1 the  
rest are swallowed up in those two      
supreme martyrs4 ,here we see1 not one  
or two1 but the very circle of the souls
 that sinned by lust1 as ,dante saw it2 
and as ,keats afterwards saw it in the  
dream embalmed by his sonnet2 the       
revolution of infinite sorrowing spirits
 through the bitter air and grievous    
hurricane of hell4 ,through strange     
immense implications of snake-shaped    
fold beyond fold1 the involved chain of 
figures that circle and return flickers 
in wan white outline upon the dense     
dark4 ,under their feet is no stay as on
 earth2 over their heads is no light as 
in heaven4 ,they have no rest1 and no   
resting-place3 they revolve like circles
 of curling foam or fire4 ,the two      

witnesses1 who alone among all the      
mobile mass have ground whereon to set  
foot1 stand apart upon a broken         
floor-work of roots and rocks1 made rank
 with the slime and sprawl of rotten    
weed and foul flag-leaves of ,lethe4    
,detail of drawing or other technical   
work is not the strong point of the     
design2 but it does incomparably well   
manage to render the sense of the matter
 in hand1 the endless measured motion1  
the painful and fruitless haste as of   
leaves or smoke upon the wind1 the grey 
discomforted air and dividing mist4     
,blake has thoroughly understood and    
given back the physical symbols of this 
first punishment in ,dante2 the whirling
 motion of his figures has however more 
of blind violence and brute speed than  
the text seems to indicate3 they are    
dashed and dragged one upon another like
 weed or shingle torn up in the drift of
 a breaking sea3 overthrown or beaten   
down1 haled or crushed together1 as if  
by inanimate strength of iron or steam3 

not moved as we expect to see them1 in  
sad rapidity of stately measure and even
 time of speed4 ,the flame-like impulse 
of idea natural to ,blake cannot        
absolutely match itself against ,dante's
 divine justice and intense innate      
forbearance in detail2 nor so           
comprehend1 as by dint of reproduction  
to compete with1 that supreme sense of  
inward and outward right which rules and
 attunes every word of the ,commedia4   
,two other drawings in this series are  
worth remark and praise2 the sixth and  
seventh in order4 ,in the sixth1 ,dante 
and ,virgil1 standing in a niche of     
rifted rock faced by another cliff up   
and down which a reptile crowd of       
spirits swarms and sinks1 look down on  
the grovelling and swine-like flocks of 
,malebolge2 lying tumbled about the     
loathsome land in hateful heaps of      
leprous flesh and dishevelled deformity1
 with limbs contorted1 clawing nails1   
and staring horror of hair and eyes3 one
 figure thrown down in a corner of the  

crowded cliff-side1 her form and face   
drowned in an overflow of ruined raining
 tresses4 ,the pure grave folds of the  
two poets' robes1 long and cleanly      
carved as the straight drapery of a     
statue1 gain chastity of contrast from  
the swarming surge and monstrous mass of
 all foulest forms beneath1 against the 
reek of which both witnesses stop their 
noses with their gowns4 ,behind and     
between1 huge outlines of dark hill and 
sharp curves of crag show like stiffened
 ridges of solid sea1 amid heaving and  
glaring motion of vapour and fire4      
,slight as the workmanship is of this   
design also1 alien as is perhaps its    
structure of precipice and mountain from
 the ,dantesque conception of descending
 circles and narrowing sides1 it has a  
fiery beauty of its own2 the background 
especially1 with its climbing or        
crawling flames1 the dark hard strength 
and sweep of its sterile ridges1 seen by
 fierce fits of reflected light1 washed 
about with surf and froth of tideless   

fire1 and heavily laden with the lurid  
languor of hell4 ,in the seventh design 
we reach the circle of traitors2 the    
foot of the passenger strikes against   
one frost-bound face2 others lie        
straight1 with crowned congealing hair  
and beard taken in the tightening rivets
 of ice4 ,to the right a swarm of huge  
and huddled figures seems gathering with
 moan or menace behind a veil of frozen 
air1 a mask of hardening vapour2 and    
from each side the bitter light of ice  
or steel falls grey in cruel refraction4
 ,into the other four designs we will   
not enter2 some indeed are too savagely 
reckless in their ugly and barren       
violation of form or law1 to be redeemed
 by even an intenser apprehension of    
symbol and sense2 and one at least1     
though with noble suggestions dropped   
about it1 is but half sketched in4 ,in  
that of the valley of serpents there is 
however a splendid excess of horror and 
prodigal agony2 the ravenous delight of 
the closing and laughing mouths1 the    

folded tension of every scale and ring1 
the horrible head caught and crushed    
with the last shriek between its teeth  
and the last strain upon its eyelids1 in
 the serrated jaws of the erect         
serpent--all have the brand of ,blake   
upon them4  ,these works were the last  
he was to achieve2 out of the whole     
,dantesque series1 seven designs alone  
have ever won their way into such notice
 as engraving could earn for them4 ,the 
latest chapters of ,blake's life are    
perhaps also the noblest4 ,his poverty1 
if that word implies anything of a      
destitute or sordid way of living1 seems
 to have grown and swollen somewhat     
beyond its actual size in the dim form  
of report4 ,stories have come to hand of
 late1 which1 being seemingly accurate  
in the main1 though not as yet duly     
fixed in detail or date1 remove any such
 ground of fear4 ,they do better2 they  
bring proof once again of the noble     
charity1 the tender exaltation of mind1 
the swift bounty of hand1 which would   

have made memorable a man meaner in     
talent4 ,once1 it is said1 he lent ,l#dj
 to some friend in distress1 which      
friend's wife1 having laid out most of  
her windfall in dress1 thought ,mrs4    
,blake might like to see that by way of 
change for her husband's money4 ,once   
too they received into their lodging    
7into which does not yet seem certain7 a
 young student of art1 sick and poor1   
who died some time after upon their     
hands4 ,these things1 and such as these1
 we know dimly4 ,one or two such deeds1 
seen through such dull vague            
obstruction1 in the midst of so many    
things forgotten1 should be taken to    
imply much4 ,how few we know of1 it is  
easy to say2 how many there must have   
been1 it is not easy4 ,this also may be 
remembered1 that the man so liberal when
 he had little might once have had much 
to give1 and would not take it at the   
price4 ,it is recorded on the authority 
of a personal friend1 that some proposal
 had once been made to engage ,blake as 

teacher of drawing to the royal family2 
a proposal declined on his part from no 
folly or vulgarity of prepossession1 but
 from a simple and noble sense of things
 reasonable and right4 ,for once1 it is 
also said1 some samples of his work were
 laid before the king1 not then1        
unluckily1 in his strait-waistcoat2     
,take them away6 spluttered the         
lunatic--not quite as yet blind1 mad1   
despised1 and dying1 as when ,byron and 
,shelley embalmed him in corrosive      
rhymes2 not all of these as yet4 ,but as
 a great man then alive and yet living#h
 has well asked--,what mortal ever heard
 ,any good of ,george the ,third8       
,blake's ,,mss4 contain an occasional   
allusion expressive of no ardent        
reverence for the person or family of   
that insane ,dagon1 so long left        
standing as the leaden rather than      
brazen idol of hypocrites and dunces4   
,as to the arts1 it was well for ,blake 
to keep clear of the patron of ,west4   
,all he ever got from government was the

 risk of hanging1 or such minor penalty 
as that equitable time might have       
inflicted on seditious laxity of speech 
and thought4  ,in smaller personal      
matters1 ,blake was as fearless and     
impulsive as in his conduct of these    
graver affairs4 ,seeing once1 somewhere 
about ,st4 ,giles's1 a wife knocked     
about by some husband or other violent  
person1 in the open street1 a bystander 
saw this also--that a small swift figure
 coming up in full swing of passion fell
 with such counter violence of reckless 
and raging rebuke upon the poor ruffian1
 that he recoiled and collapsed1 with   
ineffectual cudgel2 persuaded1 as the   
bystander was told on calling           
afterwards1 that the very devil himself 
had flown upon him in defence of the    
woman2 such ,tartarean overflow of      
execration and objurgation had issued   
from the mouth of her champion4 ,it was 
the fluent tongue of ,blake which had   
proved too strong for this fellow's arm3
 the artist1 doubtless1 not caring to   

remember the consequences1 proverbial   
even before ,moliere's time1 of such    
interference with conjugal casualties4  
,these things1 whenever it was that they
 happened1 were now of the past2 as were
 many labours of many days1 to be       
followed by not many more4 ,among a few 
good friends1 and not without varieties 
of changed scene and company1 ,blake    
drew daily nearer to death4 ,of all the 
records of these his latter years1 the  
most valuable perhaps are those         
furnished by ,mr4 ,crabb ,robinson1     
whose cautious and vivid transcription  
of ,blake's actual speech is worth more 
than much vague remark1 or than any     
commentary now possible to give4 ,a     
certain visible dislike and vexation    
excited by the mystic violence of       
,blake's phrases1 by the fierce         
simplicity of his mental bearing1 have  
not been allowed to impair the excellent
 justice of tone and evident accuracy of
 report which give to these notes their 
singular value4 ,in his correspondence1 

in his conversation1 and in his         
prophecies1 ,blake was always at unity  
with himself2 not1 it seems to us1      
actually inconsistent or even illogical 
in his fitful varieties of speech and   
expression4 ,his faith was large and his
 creed intricate2 in the house of his   
belief there were many mansions4 ,in    
these notes1 for instance1 the terms    
atheism and education are wrested to    
peculiar uses2 education must mean not  
exactly training1 but moral tradition   
and the retailed sophistries of         
artificial right and wrong2 atheism1 as 
applicable to ,dante1 must mean         
adherence to the received ,god of this  
world--that confusion of the ,creator   
with the ,saviour which was to ,blake   
the main rock of offence in all         
religious systems less mystic than his  
own2 being indeed1 together with ,deism1
 the perpetual butt of his prophetic    
slings and arrows4 ,all this1 however1  
we must leave now for time to enlighten 
in due course as it best may2 meanwhile 

some last word has to be said concerning
 ,blake's life and death4  ,to a life so
 gentle and great1 so brave and         
stainless1 there could be but one manner
 of end1 come when and how it might2 a  
serene and divine death1 full of placid 
ardour and hope unspotted by fear4      
,having lived long without a taint of   
shame upon his life1 having long        
laboured without a stain of falsehood   
upon his work1 it was no hard task for  
him to set the seal of a noble death    
upon that noble life and labour4 ,he1 it
 might be said1 whom the gods love well 
need not always die young2 for this man 
died old in years at least1 having done 
work enough for three men's lives of    
strenuous talent and spirit4 ,after     
certain stages of pain and recovery and 
relapse1 the end came on the second     
,sunday in ,august #ahbg4 ,a few days   
before he had made a last drawing of his
 wife--faithful to him and loving almost
 beyond all recorded faith and love4    
,forty-five years she had cloven to him 

and served him all the days of her life 
with all the might of her heart2 for a  
space of four years and two months they 
were to be divided now4 ,he did not draw
 her like1 it appears3 that which she   
had ever been to him1 no man could have 
drawn4 ,of her1 out of just reverence   
and gratitude that such goodness should 
have been1 we will not say more4 ,all   
words are coarse and flat that men can  
use to praise one who has so lived4#i   
,it has been told more than once in     
print--it can never be told without a   
sense of some strange and sweet         
meaning--how1 as ,blake lay with all the
 tides of his life setting towards the  
deep final sleep1 he made and sang new  
fragments of verse1 the last oblations  
he was to bring who had brought so many 
since his first conscience of the       
singular power and passion within       
himself that impels a man to such work4 
,of these songs not a line has been     
spared us2 for us1 it seems1 they were  
not made4 ,in effect1 they were not his1

 he said4 ,at last1 after many songs and
 hours1 still in the true and pure      
presence of his wife1 his death came    
upon him in the evening like a sleep4#aj
  ,only such men die so2 though the     
worst have been known to die calmly and 
the meanest bravely1 this pure lyric    
rapture of spirit and perfect music of  
sundering soul and body can only be     
given to these few4 ,knowing nothing of 
whence and whither1 the how and the when
 of a man's death we can at least know1 
and put the knowledge to what uses we   
may4 ,in this case1 if we will1 it may  
help us to much in the way of insight   
and judgment2 it may show us many things
 that need not be wrought up into many  
words4 ,for what more is there now to   
say of the man8 ,of the work he did we  
must speak gradually1 if we are to speak
 adequately4 ,into his life and method  
of work we have looked1 not without care
 and veneration2 and find little to     
conclude with by way of comment4 ,if to 
any reader it should not by this time   

appear that he was great and good among 
the chief of good and great men1 it will
 not appear for any oration of ours4    
,most funeral speeches also are cheap   
and inconclusive4 ,especially they must 
be so1 or seem so1 when delivered over  
the body of a great man to whom his own 
generation could not even grant a secure
 grave4 ,in #ahca his wife was buried   
beside him3 where they are laid now no  
man can say3 it seems certain only that 
their graves were violated by hideous   
official custom1 and their bones cast   
out into some consecrated pit among     
other nameless relics of poor men4 ,it  
might not have hurt them even to foresee
 this2 but nevertheless the doers of    
such a thing had better not have done   
it4 ,having missed of a durable grave1  
,blake need not perhaps look for the    
weak witness of any late memorial4 ,such
 things in life were indifferent to him2
 and should be more so now4 ,to be      
buried among his nearest kin1 and to    
have the ,english burial service read   

over him1 he did1 we are told1 express  
some wish2 and this was done4 ,the world
 of men was less by one great man1 and  
was none the wiser2 while he lived he   
was called mad and kept poor2 after his 
death much of his work was destroyed2   
and in course of time not so much as his
 grave was left him4 ,all which to him  
must matter little1 but is yet worth a  
recollection more fruitful than regret4 
,the dead only1 and not the living1     
ought1 while any trace of his doings    
remains1 to forget what was the work and
 what were the wages of ,william ,blake4
     ,,ii4--,,lyrical ,,poems4   ,we    
must here be allowed space to           
interpolate a word of the briefest      
possible comment on the practical side  
of ,blake's character4 ,no man ever     
lived and laboured in hotter earnest2   
and the native energy in him had the    
property of making all his atmosphere of
 work intense and keen as fire--too     
sharp and rare in quality of heat to be 
a good working element for any more     

temperate intellect4 ,into every        
conceivable channel or byway of work he 
contrived to divert and infuse this     
overflowing fervour of mind2 the least  
bit of engraving1 the poorest scrap or  
scratch of drawing or writing traceable 
to his hands1 has on it the mark of     
passionate labour and enjoyment2 but of 
all this devotion of laborious life1 the
 only upshot visible to most of us      
consists in a heap of tumbled and       
tangled relics1 verse and prose mainly  
inexplicable1 paintings and engravings  
mainly unacceptable if not unendurable4 
,and if certain popular theories of the 
just aims of life1 duties of an         
earnest-minded man1 and meritorious     
nature of practical deeds and material  
services only1 are absolutely           
correct--in that case the work of this  
man's life is certainly a sample of     
deplorable waste and failure4 ,a        
religion which has for ,walhalla some   
factory of the ,titans1 some prison     
fitted with moral cranks and divine     

treadmills of all the virtues1 can have 
no place among its heroes for the most  
energetic of mere artists4 ,to him1 as  
to others of his kind1 all faith1 all   
virtue1 all moral duty or religious     
necessity1 was not so much abrogated or 
superseded as summed up1 included and   
involved1 by the one matter of art4 ,to 
him1 as to other such workmen1 it seemed
 better to do this well and let all the 
rest drift than to do incomparably well 
in all other things and dispense with   
this one4 ,for this was the thing he had
 to do2 and this once well done1 he had 
the assurance of a certain faith that   
other things could not be wrong with    
him4 ,as long as two such parties exist 
among men who think and act1 it must    
always be some pleasure to deal with a  
man of either party who has no faith or 
hope in compromise4 ,these middle-men1  
with some admirable self-sufficient     
theory of reconciliation between two    
directly opposite aims and forces1 are  
fit for no great work on either side4   

,if it be in the interest of facts      
really desirable that the poor ,fine    
,arts should take themselves away1 let  
it be fairly avowed and preached in a   
distinct manner4 ,that thesis1 so       
delivered1 is comprehensible1 and       
deserves respect4 ,one may add that if  
art can be destroyed it by all means    
ought to be4 ,if for example the art of 
verse is not indispensable and          
indestructible1 the sooner it is put out
 of the way the better4 ,if anything can
 be done instead better worth doing than
 painting or poetry1 let that preferable
 thing be done with all the might and   
haste that may be attainable4 ,and if to
 live well be really better than to     
write or paint well1 and a noble action 
more valuable than the greatest poem or 
most perfect picture1 let us have done  
at once with the meaner things that     
stand in the way of the higher4 ,for we 
cannot on any terms have everything2 and
 assuredly no chief artist or poet has  
ever been fit to hold rank among the    

world's supreme benefactors in the way  
of doctrine1 philanthropy1 reform1      
guidance1 or example3 what is called the
 artistic faculty not being by any means
 the same thing as a general capacity   
for doing good work1 diverted into this 
one strait or shallow in default of a   
better outlet4 ,even were this true for 
example of a man so imperfect as ,burns1
 it would remain false of a man so      
perfect as ,keats4 ,the great men1 on   
whichever side one finds them1 are never
 found trying to take truce or patch up 
terms4 ,savonarola burnt ,boccaccio2    
,cromwell proscribed ,shakespeare4 ,the 
early ,christians were not great at     
verse or sculpture4 ,men of immense     
capacity and energy who do seem to think
 or assert it possible to serve both    
masters--a ,dante1 a ,shelley1 a        
,hugo--poets whose work is mixed with   
and coloured by personal action or      
suffering for some cause moral or       
political--these even are no real       
exceptions4 ,it is not as artists that  

they do or seem to do this4 ,the work   
done may be1 and in such high cases     
often must be1 of supreme value to art2 
but not the moral implied4 ,strip the   
sentiments and re-clothe them in bad    
verse1 what residue will be left of the 
slightest importance to art8 ,invert    
them1 retaining the manner or form      
7supposing this feasible1 which it might
 be71 and art has lost nothing4 ,save   
the shape1 and art will take care of the
 soul for you3#aa unless that is all    
right1 she will refuse to run or start  
at all2 but the shape or style of       
workmanship each artist is bound to look
 to1 whether or no he may choose to     
trouble himself about the moral or other
 bearings of his work4 ,this principle1 
which makes the manner of doing a thing 
the essence of the thing done1 the      
purpose or result of it the accident1   
thus reversing the principle of moral or
 material duty1 must inevitably expose  
art to the condemnation of the other    
party--the party of those who 7as       

aforesaid7 regard what certain of their 
leaders call an earnest life or a great 
acted poem 7that is1 material virtue or 
the mere doing and saying of good or    
instructive deeds and words7 as         
infinitely preferable to any possible   
feat of art4 ,opinion is free1 and the  
choice always open2 but if any man      
leaning on crutches of theory chooses to
 halt between the two camps1 it shall be
 at his own peril--imminent peril of    
conviction as one unfit for service on  
either side4 ,for ,puritanism is in this
 one thing absolutely right about art2  
they cannot live and work together1 or  
the one under the other4 ,all ages which
 were great enough to have space for    
both1 to hold room for a fair           
fighting-field between them1 have always
 accepted and acted upon this evident   
fact4 ,take the ,renaissance age for one
 example2 you must have ,knox or        
,ronsard1 ,scotch or ,french2 not both  
at once2 there is no place under        
reformers for the singing of a ,pleiade4

 ,take the mediaeval period in its      
broadest sense2 not to speak of the     
notably heretical and immoral ,albigeois
 with their exquisite school of         
heathenish verse1 or of that other      
rebellious gathering under the great    
emperor ,frederick ,,ii41 a poet and    
pagan1 when eastern arts and ideas began
 to look up westward at one man's       
bidding and open out ,saracenic         
prospects in the very face and teeth of 
the ,church--look at home into familiar 
things1 and see by such poems as        
,chaucer's ,court of ,love1 absolutely  
one in tone and handling as it is with  
the old ,albigensian ,aucassin and all  
its paganism1#ab how the poets of the   
time1 with their eager nascent worship  
of beautiful form and external nature1  
dealt with established opinion and the  
incarnate moralities of church or       
household4 ,it is easy to see why the   
,church on its own principle found it   
7as in the ,albigensian case7 a matter  
of the gravest necessity to have such   

schools of art and thought cut down or  
burnt out4 ,priest and poet1 all those  
times through1 were proverbially on     
terms of reciprocal biting and striking4
 ,that magnificent invention of making  
,art the handmaid of ,religion had not  
been stumbled upon in the darkness of   
those days4 ,neither minstrel nor monk  
would have caught up the idea with any  
rapture4 ,as indeed they would have been
 unwise to do2 for the thing is         
impossible4 ,art is not like fire or    
water1 a good servant and bad master2   
rather the reverse4 ,she will help in   
nothing1 of her own knowledge or        
freewill3 upon terms of service you will
 get worse than nothing out of her4     
,handmaid of religion1 exponent of duty1
 servant of fact1 pioneer of morality1  
she cannot in any way become2 she would 
be none of these things though you were 
to bray her in a mortar4 ,all the       
battering in the world will never hammer
 her into fitness for such an office as 
that4 ,it is at her peril1 if she tries 

to do good3 one might say1 borrowing    
terms from the other party1 she shall   
not try that under penalty of death and 
damnation4 ,her business is not to do   
good on other grounds1 but to be good on
 her own3 all is well with her while she
 sticks fast to that4 ,to ask help or   
furtherance from her in any extraneous  
good work is exactly as rational as to  
expect lyrical beauty of form and flow  
in a logical treatise4 ,the contingent  
result of having good art about you and 
living in a time of noble writing or    
painting may no doubt be this2 that the 
spirit and mind of men then living will 
receive on some points a certain        
exaltation and insight caught from the  
influence of such forms and colours of  
verse or painting2 will become for one  
thing incapable of tolerating bad work1 
and capable therefore of reasonably     
relishing the best2 which of course     
implies and draws with it many other    
advantages of a sort you may call moral 
or spiritual4 ,but if the artist does   

his work with an eye to such results or 
for the sake of bringing about such     
improvements1 he will too probably fail 
even of them4 ,art for art's sake first 
of all1 and afterwards we may suppose   
all the rest shall be added to her 7or  
if not she need hardly be overmuch      
concerned72 but from the man who falls  
to artistic work with a moral purpose1  
shall be taken away even that which he  
has--whatever of capacity for doing well
 in either way he may have at starting4 
,a living critic#ac of incomparably     
delicate insight and subtly good sense1 
himself impeccable as an artist1 calls  
this the heresy of instruction          
7l'heresie de l'enseignement73 one might
 call it1 for the sake of a shorter and 
more summary name1 the great moral      
heresy4 ,nothing can be imagined more   
futile2 nothing so ruinous4 ,once let   
art humble herself1 plead excuses1 try  
at any compromise with the ,puritan     
principle of doing good1 and she is     
worse than dead4 ,once let her turn     

apologetic1 and promise or imply that   
she really will now be loyal to fact and
 useful to men in general 7say1 by      
furthering their moral work or improving
 their moral nature71 she is no longer  
of any human use or value4 ,the one fact
 for her which is worth taking account  
of is simply mere excellence of verse or
 colour1 which involves all manner of   
truth and loyalty necessary to her      
well-being4 ,that is the important      
thing2 to have her work supremely well  
done1 and to disregard all contingent   
consequences4 ,you may extract out of   
,titian's work or ,shakespeare's any    
moral or immoral inference you please2  
it is none of their business to see     
after that4 ,good painting or writing1  
on any terms1 is a thing quite          
sufficiently in accordance with fact and
 reality for them4 ,supplant art by all 
means if you can2 root it out and try to
 plant in its place something useful or 
at least safe1 which at all events will 
not impede the noble moral labour and   

trammel the noble moral life of         
,puritanism4 ,but in the name of sense  
and fact itself let us have done with   
all abject and ludicrous pretence of    
coupling the two in harness or grafting 
the one on the other's stock3 let us    
hear no more of the moral mission of    
earnest art2 let us no longer be        
pestered with the frantic and flatulent 
assumptions of quasi-secular clericalism
 willing to think the best of all sides1
 and ready even1 with consecrating hand1
 to lend meritorious art and poetry a   
timely pat or shove4 ,philistia had far 
better 7always providing it be possible7
 crush art at once1 hang or burn it out 
of the way1 than think of plucking out  
its eyes and setting it to grind moral  
corn in the ,philistine mills2 which it 
is certain not to do at all well4 ,once 
and again the time has been that there  
was no art worth speaking of afloat     
anywhere in the world2 but there never  
has been or can have been a time when   
art1 or any kind of art worth having1   

took active service under ,puritanism1  
or indulged for its part in the         
deleterious appetite of saving souls or 
helping humanity in general along the   
way of labour and progress4#ad ,let no  
artist or poet listen to the bland bark 
of those porter dogs of the ,puritan    
kingdom even when they fawn and flirt   
with tongue or tail4 ,cave canem4 ,that 
,cerberus of the portals of ,philistia  
will swallow your honey-cake to no      
purpose2 if he does not turn and rend   
you1 his slaver as he licks your hand   
will leave it impotent and palsied for  
all good work4  ,thus much it seemed    
useful to premise1 by way of exposition 
rather than excursion1 so as once for   
all to indicate beyond chance of mistake
 the real point of view taken during    
life by ,blake1 and necessary to be     
taken by those who would appreciate his 
labours and purposes4 ,error on this    
point would be ruinous to any student4  
,no one again need be misled by the     
artist's eager incursions into grounds  

of faith or principle2 his design being 
merely to readjust all questions of such
 a kind by the light of art and law of  
imagination--to reduce all outlying     
provinces1 and bring them under         
government of his own central           
empire--the fourfold spiritual city of  
his vision4 ,power of imaginative work  
and insight--the ,poetic ,genius1 as you
 now call it--was in his mind1 we shall 
soon have to see1 the first principle of
 all things moral or material1 and all  
the others merely derivative2 a         
hazardous theory in its results and     
corollaries1 but one which ,blake at all
 events was always ready to push to its 
utmost consequences and defend at its   
extreme outworks4 ,against all          
pretensions on the part of science or   
experimental reasoning to assume this   
post he was especially given to rebel   
and recalcitrate4 ,whether or no he were
 actually prepared to fight science in  
earnest on its own pitched field--to    
dispute seriously the conquest of facts 

achieved by it--may be questionable2 ,i 
for one am inclined to disbelieve this1 
and to refer much of his verbal         
pugnacity on such matters to the strong 
irregular humour1 rough and loose as    
that of children1 and the half simple   
half scornful love of paradox1 which    
were ingrained in the man4 ,for argument
 and proof he had the contempt of a     
child or an evangelist4 ,not that he    
would have fallen back in preference    
upon the brute resource of thaumaturgy2 
the coarse and cheap machinery of       
material miracle was wholly insufficient
 and despicable to him4 ,no             
wonder-monger of the low sort need here 
have hoped for a pupil1 a colleague1 or 
an authority4 ,this the biographer has  
acutely noted1 and taken well into      
account2 as we must all do under pain of
 waste time and dangerous error4 ,let   
this too be taken note of2 that to      
believe a thing is not necessarily to   
heed or respect it2 to despise a thing  
is not the same as to disbelieve it4    

,those who argue against the reality of 
the meaner forms of spiritualism in     
disembodied life1 on the ground         
apparently that whatever is not of the  
patent tangible flesh must be of high   
imperishable importance1 are merely     
acting on the old ascetic assumption    
that the body is of its nature base and 
the soul of its nature noble1 and that  
between the two there is a great gulf   
fixed1 neither to be bridged over nor   
filled up4 ,blake1 as a mystic of the   
higher and subtler kind1 would have     
denied this superior separate vitality  
of the spirit2 but far from inferring   
thence that the soul must expire with   
the body1 would have maintained that the
 essence of the body must survive with  
the essence of the soul3 accepting thus 
7as we may have to observe he did71 in  
its most absolute and profound sense1   
the doctrine of the ,resurrection of the
 ,flesh4 ,as a temporary blind and bar  
to the soul while dwelling on earth1 fit
 only 7if so permitted7 to impede the   

spiritual vision and hamper the         
spiritual feet1 he did indeed appear to 
contemn the vegetable and sensual nature
 of man2 but on no ascetic grounds4     
,admitting once for all that it was no  
fit or just judge of things spiritual1  
he claimed for the body on its own      
ground an equal honour and an equal     
freedom with the soul2 denying the      
river's channel leave to be called the  
river--refusing to the senses the       
license claimed for them by materialism 
to decide by means of bodily insight or 
sensation questions removed from the    
sphere of sensual evidence--and         
reserving always the absolute assurance 
and certain faith that things do exist  
of which the flesh can take no account1 
but only the spirit--he would grant to  
the physical nature the full right to   
every form of physical indulgence3 would
 allow the largest liberty to all powers
 and capacities of pleasure proper to   
the pure bodily life4 ,in a word1       
translated into crude practical         

language1 his creed was about this3 as  
long as a man believes all things he may
 do any thing2 scepticism 7not sin7 is  
alone damnable1 being the one thing     
purely barren and negative2 do what you 
will with your body1 as long as you     
refuse it leave to disprove or deny the 
life eternally inherent in your soul4   
,that we believe is what people call or 
have called by some such name as        
antinomian mysticism3 do anything but   
doubt1 and you shall not in the end be  
utterly lost4 ,clearly enough it was    
,blake's faith2 and one assuredly       
grounded not on mere contempt of the    
body1 but on an equal reverence for     
spirit and flesh as the two sides or    
halves of a completed creature3 a faith 
which will allow to neither license to  
confute or control the other4 ,the body 
shall not deny1 and the spirit shall not
 restrain2 the one shall not prescribe  
doubt through reasoning2 the other shall
 not preach salvation through           
abstinence4 ,a man holding such tenets  

sees no necessity to deny that the      
indulged soul may be in some men as     
ignoble as the indulged body in others  
may be noble2 and that a spirit ignoble 
while embodied need not become noble or 
noticeable by the process of getting    
disembodied2 in other words1 that death 
or change need not be expected to       
equalize the unequal by raising or      
lowering spirits to one settled level4  
,much of the existing evidence as to    
baser spiritual matters1 ,blake1 like   
other men of candid sense and insight1  
would we may suppose have accepted--and 
dropped with the due contempt into the  
mass of facts worth forgetting only1    
which the experience of every man must  
carry till his memory succeeds in       
letting go its hold of them4 ,nothing1  
he would doubtless have said1 is worth  
disputing in disproof of1 which if      
proved would not be worth giving thanks 
for4 ,let such things be or not be as   
the fates of small things please2 but   
will any one prove or disprove for me   

the things ,i hold by warrant of        
imaginative knowledge8 things impossible
 to discover1 to analyze1 to attest1 to 
undervalue1 to certify1 or to doubt8    
,this old war--not 7as some would       
foolishly have it defined7 a war between
 facts and fancies1 reason and romance1 
poetry and good sense1 but simply       
between the imagination which apprehends
 the spirit of a thing and the          
understanding which dissects the body of
 a fact--this strife which can never be 
decided or ended--was for ,blake the    
most important question possible4 ,he   
for one1 madman or no madman1 had the   
sense to see that the one thing utterly 
futile to attempt was a reconciliation  
between two sides of life and thought   
which have no community of work or aim  
imaginable4 ,this is no question of     
reconciling contraries4 ,admit all the  
implied pretensions of art1 they remain 
simply nothing to science2 accept all   
the actual deductions of science1 they  
simply signify nothing to art4 ,the     

eternal ,apres8 is answer enough for    
both in turn4 ,true1 then1 if you will  
have it2 but what have we to do with    
your good or bad poetries and paintings8
 ,undeniably2 but what are we to gain by
 your deductions and discoveries1 right 
or wrong8 ,the betrothal of art and     
science were a thing harder to bring    
about and more profitless to proclaim   
than the marriage of heaven and hell4   
,it were better not to fight1 but to    
part in peace2 but better certainly to  
fight than to temporize1 where no       
reasonable truce can be patched up4     
,poetry or art based on loyalty to      
science is exactly as absurd 7and no    
more7 as science guided by art or       
poetry4 ,neither in effect can coalesce 
with the other and retain a right to    
exist4 ,neither can or 7while in its    
sober senses7 need wish to destroy the  
other2 but they must go on their        
separate ways1 and in this life their   
ways can by no possibility cross4       
,neither can or 7unless in some fit of  

fugitive insanity7 need wish to become  
valuable or respectable to the other3   
each must remain1 on its own ground and 
to its own followers1 a thing of value  
and deserving respect4 ,to art1 that is 
best which is most beautiful2 to        
science1 that is best which is most     
accurate2 to morality1 that is best     
which is most virtuous4 ,change or      
quibble upon the simple and generally   
accepted significance of these three    
words1 beautiful1 accurate1 virtuous1   
and you may easily 7if you please1 or   
think it worth while7 demonstrate that  
the aim of all three is radically one   
and the same2 but if any man be correct 
in thinking this exercise of the mind   
worth the expenditure of his time1 that 
time must indeed be worth very little4  
,you can say 7but had perhaps better not
 say7 that beauty is the truthfullest1  
accuracy the most poetic1 and virtue the
 most beautiful of things2 but a man of 
ordinary or decent insight will perceive
 that you have merely reduced an affair 

of things to an affair of words--shifted
 the body of one thing into the clothes 
of another--and proved actually nothing4
  ,to attest by word or work the        
identity of things which never can      
become identical1 was no part of        
,blake's object in life4 ,what work it  
fell to his lot to do1 that1 having     
faith in the fates1 he believed the best
 work possible1 and performed to        
admiration4 ,it is in consequence of    
this belief that1 apart from all        
conjectural or problematic theory1 the  
work he did is absolutely good4         
,intolerant he was by nature to a degree
 noticeable even among freethinkers and 
prophets2 but the strange forms assumed 
by this intolerance are best explicable 
by the singular facts of his            
training--his perfect ignorance of      
well-known ordinary things and imperfect
 quaint knowledge of much that lay well 
out of the usual way4 ,he retained      
always an excellent arrogance and a     
wholly laudable self-reliance2 being    

incapable of weak-eyed doubts or any    
shuffling modesty4 ,his great tenderness
 had a lining of contempt--his fiery    
self-assertion a kernel of loyalty4 ,no 
one1 it is evident1 had ever a more     
intense and noble enjoyment of good or  
great works in other men--took sharper  
or deeper delight in the sense of a     
loyal admiration3 being of his nature   
noble1 fearless1 and fond of all things 
good2 a man made for believing4 ,this   
royal temper of mind goes properly with 
a keen relish of what excellence or     
greatness a man may have in himself4    
,those must be readiest to feel and to  
express unalloyed and lofty pleasure in 
the great powers and deeds of a         
neighbour1 who1 while standing clear    
alike of reptile modesty and pretentious
 presumption1 perceive and know in      
themselves such qualities as give them a
 right to admire and a right to applaud4
 ,if a man thinks meanly of himself1 he 
can hardly in reason think much of his  
judgment2 if he depreciates the value of

 his own work1 he depreciates also the  
value of his praise4 ,those are         
loyallest who have most of a just       
self-esteem2 and their applause is best 
worth having4 ,it is scarcely           
conceivable that a man should take      
delight in the real greatness or merit  
of his own work for so pitiful and      
barren a reason as merely that it is his
 own2 should be unable to pass with a   
fresh and equal enjoyment from the study
 and relish of his own capacities and   
achievements to the study and relish of 
another man's4 ,a timid jealousy1 easily
 startled into shrieks of hysterical    
malice and disloyal spite1 is 7wherever 
you may fall in with it7 the property of
 base men and mean artists who1 at sight
 of some person or thing greater than   
themselves1 are struck sharply by       
unconscious self-contempt1 and at once1 
whether they know it or not1 lose heart 
or faith in their own applauded work4   
,to recognize their equal1 even their   
better when he does come1 must be the   

greatest delight of great men4 ,all the 
gods1 says a ,french essayist1 delight  
in worship3 is one lesser for the       
other's godhead8 ,divine things give    
divine thanks for companionship2 the    
stars sang not one at once1 but all     
together4 ,like all men great enough to 
enjoy greatness1 ,blake was born with   
the gift of admiration2 and in his rapid
 and fervent nature it struck root and  
broke into flower at the least glimpse  
or chance of favourable weather4        
,therefore1 if on no other ground1 we   
may allow him his curious outbreaks of  
passionate dispraise and scorn against  
all such as seemed to stand in the way  
of his art4 ,again1 as we have noted1 he
 had a faith of his own1 made out of art
 for art's sake1 and worked by means of 
art2 and whatever made against this     
faith was as hateful to him as any      
heresy to any pietist4 ,in a rough and  
rapid way he chose to mass and sum up   
under some one or two types1            
comprehensible at first sight to few    

besides himself1 the main elements of   
opposition which he conceived to exist4 
,thus for instance the names of ,locke  
and ,newton1 of ,bacon and ,voltaire1   
recur with the most singular            
significance in his writings1 as emblems
 or incarnate symbols of the principles 
opposite to his own3 and when the clue  
is once laid hold of1 and the ear once  
accustomed to the curious habit of      
direct mythical metaphor or figure      
peculiar to ,blake--his custom of       
getting whole classes of men or opinions
 embodied1 for purposes of swift        
irregular attack1 in some one           
representative individual--much is at   
once clear and amenable to critical     
reason which seemed before mere         
tempestuous incoherence and clamour of  
bodiless rhetoric4 ,there is also a     
certain half-serious perversity and     
wilful personal humour in the choice and
 use of these representative names1     
which must be taken into account by a   
startled reader unless he wishes to run 

off at a false tangent4 ,after all1 it  
is perhaps impossible for any one not   
specially qualified by nature for       
sympathy with such a man's kind of work1
 to escape going wrong in his estimate  
of ,blake2 to such excesses of paradox  
did the poet-painter push his favourite 
points1 and in such singular attire did 
he bring forward his most serious       
opinions4 ,but at least the principal   
and most evident chances of error may as
 well be indicated1 by way of warning   
off the over-hasty critic from shoals on
 which otherwise he is all but certain  
to run4  ,it is a thing especially worth
 regretting that ,balzac1 in his        
,swedenborgian researches1 could not    
have fallen in with ,blake's prophetic  
works4 ,passed through the crucible of  
that supreme intellect--submitted to the
 test of that supple practical sense1   
that laborious apprehension1 so delicate
 and so passionate at once1 of all forms
 of thought or energy1 which were the   
great latent gifts of the deepest and   

widest mind that ever worked within the 
limits of inventive prose--the strange  
floating forces of ,blake's instinctive 
and imaginative work might have been    
explained and made applicable to direct 
ends in a way we cannot now hope for4   
,the incomparable power of condensing   
apparent vapour into tangible and       
malleable form1 of helping us to handle 
air and measure mist1 which is so       
instantly perceptible whenever ,balzac  
begins to open up any intricate point of
 physical or moral speculation1 would   
here have been beyond price4 ,he alone  
who could push analysis to the verge of 
creation1 and with his marvellous       
clearness of eye and strength of hand   
turn discovery almost to invention2 he  
who was not a prose ,shakespeare merely1
 but rather perhaps a ,shakespeare      
complete in all but the lyrical faculty2
 he alone could have brought a scale to 
weigh this water1 a sieve to winnow this
 wind4 ,that wonderful wisdom1 never at 
fault on its own ground1 which made him 

not simply the chief of dramatic story1 
but also the great master of morals1#ae 
would not have failed of foothold or    
eyesight even in this cloudy and noisy  
borderland of vision and of faith4 ,even
 to him too1 the supreme student and    
interpreter of things1 our impulsive    
prophet with his plea of mere direct    
inspiration might have been of infinite 
help and use3 to such an eye and brain  
as his1 ,blake might have made straight 
the ways which ,swedenborg had left     
crooked1 set right the problems which   
mesmerism had set wrong4 ,as however we 
cannot have this1 we must do what share 
of interpreter's work falls to our lot  
as well as we can4  ,there are two      
points in the work of ,blake which first
 claim notice and explanation2 two      
points connected1 but not inseparable2  
his mysticism and his mythology4 ,this  
latter is in fact hardly more in its    
relation to the former1 than the clothes
 to the body or the body to the soul4   
,to make either comprehensible1 it is   

requisite above all things to get sight 
of the man in whom they became incarnate
 and active as forces or as opinions4   
,now1 to those who regard mysticism with
 distaste or contempt1 as essentially in
 itself a vain or noxious thing--a      
sealed bag or bladder that can only be  
full either of wind or of poison--the   
man1 being above all and beyond all a   
mystic in the most subtle yet most      
literal sense1 must remain obscure and  
contemptible4 ,such readers--if indeed  
such men should choose or care to become
 readers at all--will be 7for one thing7
 unable to understand that one may think
 it worth while to follow out and track 
to its root the peculiar faith or fancy 
of a mystic without being ready to      
accept his deductions and his assertions
 as absolute and durable facts4         
,servility of extended hand or passive  
brain is the last quality that a mystic 
of the nobler kind will demand or desire
 in his auditors4 ,councils and synods  
may put forth notes issued under their  

stamp1 may exact of all recipients to   
play the part of clerks and indorse     
their paper with shut eyes3 to the      
mystic such a way of doing spiritual    
business would seem the very frenzy of  
fatuity2 whatever else may be           
profitable1 that 7he would say7 is      
suicidal4 ,and assuredly it is not to be
 expected that ,blake's mystical creed1 
when once made legible and even         
partially coherent1 should prove likely 
to win over proselytes4 ,nor can this be
 the wish or the object of a reasonable 
commentator1 whose desire is merely to  
do art a good turn in some small way1 by
 explaining the faith and works of a    
great artist4 ,it is true that whatever 
a good poet or a good painter has       
thought worth representing by verse or  
design must probably be worth           
considering before one deliver judgment 
on it4 ,but the office of an apostle of 
some new faith and the business of a    
commentator on some new evangel are two 
sufficiently diverse things4 ,the       

present critic has not 7happily7 to     
preach the gospel as delivered by       
,blake2 he has merely1 if possible1 to  
make the text of that gospel a little   
more readable4 ,and this must be worth  
doing1 if it be worth while to touch on 
,blake's work at all4 ,what is true of  
all poets and artists worth judging is  
especially true of him2 that critics who
 attempt to judge him piecemeal do not  
in effect judge him at all1 but some one
 quite different from him1 and some one 
7to any serious student7 probably more  
inexplicable than the real man4 ,for    
what are we to make of a man whose work 
deserves crowning one day and hooting   
the next8 ,if the ,songs be so good1 are
 not those who praise them bound to     
examine and try what merit may be latent
 in the ,prophecies8--bound at least to 
explain as best they may how the one    
comes to be worth so much and the other 
worth nothing8 ,on this side alone the  
biography appears to us emphatically    
deficient2 here only do we feel how much

 was lost1 how much impaired by the     
untimely death of the writer4 ,those who
 had to complete his work have done     
their part admirably well2 but here they
 have not done enough4 ,we are not bound
 to accept ,blake's mysticism2 we are   
bound to take some account of it4 ,a    
disciple must take his master's word for
 proof of the thing preached4 ,this it  
would be folly to expect of a           
biographer2 even ,boswell falls short of
 this1 having courage on some points to 
branch off from the strait pathway of   
his teacher and strike into a small     
speculative track of his own4 ,but a    
biographer must be capable of expounding
 the evangel 7or1 if such a word could  
be1 dysangel7 of his hero1 however far  
he may be from thinking it worth        
acceptance4 ,and this1 one must admit1  
the writers on ,blake have upon the     
whole failed of doing4 ,consequently    
their critical remarks on such specimens
 of ,blake's more speculative and subtle
 work as did find favour in their sight 

have but a narrow range and a limited   
value4 ,some clue to the main character 
of the artist's habit of mind we may    
hope already to have put into the       
reader's hands--some frayed and ravelled
 end of the golden string1 which with   
due labour he may wind up into a ball4  
,to pluck out the heart of ,blake's     
mystery is a task which every man must  
be left to attempt for himself3 for this
 prophet is certainly not easier to be  
played on than a pipe4 ,keeping fast in 
hand what clue we have1 we may          
nevertheless succeed in making some     
further way among the clouds4 ,one thing
 is too certain2 if we insist on having 
hard ground under foot all the way we   
shall not get far4 ,the land lying      
before us1 bright with fiery blossom and
 fruit1 musical with blowing branches   
and falling waters1 is not to be seen or
 travelled in save by help of such light
 as lies upon dissolving dreams and     
dividing clouds4 ,by moonrise1 to the   
sound of wind at sunset1 one may tread  

upon the limit of this land and gather  
as with muffled apprehension some soft  
remote sense of the singing of its birds
 and flowering of its fields4  ,this    
premised1 we may start with a clear     
conscience4 ,of ,blake's faith we have  
by this time endeavoured to give the    
reader some conception--if a faint one1 
yet at least not a false3 of the form   
assumed by that faith 7what we have     
called the mythology7 we need not yet   
take cognizance4 ,to follow out in full 
all his artistic and illustrative work1 
with a view to extract from each        
separate fruit of it some core of       
significance1 would be an endless       
labour3 and we are bound to consider    
what may be feasible rather than what1  
if it were feasible1 might be worth     
doing4 ,therefore the purpose of this   
essay is in the main to deal with the   
artist's personal work in preference to 
what is merely illustrative and         
decorative4 ,designs1 however admirable1
 made to order for the text of ,blair1  

of ,hayley1 or of ,young1 are in        
comparison with the designer's original 
and spontaneous work mere extraneous    
by-play4 ,these also are if anything    
better known than ,blake's other        
labours4 ,again1 the mass of his        
surviving designs is so enormous and as 
yet 7except for the inestimable         
,catalogue in ,vol4 #b of the ,life7 so 
utterly chaotic and unarrangeable that  
in such an element one can but work as  
it were by fits and plunges4 ,of these  
designs there must always be many which 
not having seen we cannot judge2 many   
too on which artists alone are finally  
competent to deliver sentence by        
authority4 ,moreover the supreme merits 
as well as the more noticeable qualities
 merely special and personal of ,blake  
are best seen in his mixed work4 ,where 
both text and design are wholly his own1
 and the two forms or sides of his art  
so coalesce or overlap as to become     
inextricably interfused1 we have the    
best chance of seeing and judging what  

the workman essentially was4 ,in such an
 enterprise1 we must be always duly     
grateful for any help or chance of help 
given us3 and for one invaluable thing  
we have at starting to give due honour  
and thanks to the biographer4 ,he has1  
one may rationally hope1 finally beaten 
to powder the rickety and flaccid old   
theory of ,blake's madness4 ,any one    
wishing to moot that question again will
 have to answer or otherwise get over   
the facts and inferences so excellently 
set out in ,chap4 xxxv43 to refute them 
we may fairly consider impossible4 ,here
 at least no funeral notice or obsequies
 will be bestowed on the unburied       
carcase of that forlorn fiction4        
,assuming as a reasonable ground for our
 present labour that ,blake was superior
 to the run of men1 we shall spend no   
minute of time in trying to prove that  
he was not inferior4 ,logic and sense   
alike warn us off such barren ground4   
,of the editing of the present          
selections--a matter evidently of most  

delicate and infinite labour--we have   
here to say this only2 that as far as   
one can see it could not have been done 
better3 and indeed that it could only   
have been done so well by the rarest of 
happy chances4 ,even with the already   
published poems there was enough work to
 get through2 for even these had        
suffered much from the curiously        
reckless and helpless neglect of form   
which was natural to ,blake when his    
main work was done and his interest in  
the matter prematurely wound up4 ,those 
only who have dived after the original  
copies can fully appreciate or apprehend
 with what tenderness of justice and    
subtlety of sense these tumbled folds   
have been gathered up and these ragged  
edges smoothed off4 ,as much power and  
labour has gone to the perfect          
adjustment of these relics of another   
man's work as a meaner man could have   
dreamed only of expending on his own4   
,nor can any one thoroughly enter into  
the value and excellence of the thing   

here achieved who has not in himself the
 impulsive instinct of form--the        
exquisite desire of just and perfect    
work4 ,alike to those who seem to be    
above it as to those who are evidently  
below1 such work must remain always     
inappreciable and inexplicable4 ,to the 
ingeniously chaotic intellect1 with its 
admirable aptitude for all such feats of
 conjectural cleverness as are worked   
out merely by strain and spasm1 it will 
seem an offensive waste of good work4   
,but to all who relish work for work's  
sake and art for art's it will appear1  
as it is1 simply invaluable--the one    
thing worth having yet not to be had at 
any price or by any means1 except when  
it falls in your way by divine accident4
 ,true however as all this is of the    
earlier and easier part of the editor's 
task1 it is incomparably more true of   
the arrangement and selection of poems  
fit for publishing out of the priceless 
but shapeless chaos of unmanageable     
,,mss4 ,the good work here done and good

 help here given it is not possible to  
over-estimate4 ,every light slight touch
 of mere arrangement has the mark of a  
great art consummate in great           
things--the imprint of a sure and strong
 hand1 in which the thing to be done    
lies safe and gathers faultless form4   
,these great things too are so small in 
mere size and separate place that they  
can never get praised in due detail4    
,they are great by dint of the          
achievement implied and the forbearance 
involved4 ,only a chief among lyric     
poets could so have praised the songs of
 ,blake2 only a leader among imaginative
 painters could so have judged his      
designs2 only an artist himself supreme 
at once in lordship of colour and       
mastery of metre could so have spoken of
 ,blake's gifts and feats in metre and  
colour4 ,reading these notes1 one can   
rest with sufficient pleasure on the    
conviction that1 wherever else there may
 be failure in attaining the right word 
of judgment or of praise1 here certainly

 there is none4 ,here there is more than
 7what all critics may have7 goodwill   
and desire to give just thanks2 for here
 there is authority1 and the right to   
seem right in delivering sentence4  ,but
 these notes1 good as they are and      
altogether valuable1 are the least part 
of the main work4 ,to the beauty and    
nobility of style1 the exquisite        
strength of sifted ,english1 the keen   
vision and deep clearness of expression1
 which characterize as well these brief 
prefaces as the notes on ,job and that  
critical summary in the final chapter of
 the ,life1 one need hardly desire men's
 attention2 that splendid power of just 
language and gift of grace in detail    
stand out at once distinguishable from  
the surrounding work1 praiseworthy as   
that also in the main is2 neither from  
the matter nor the manner can any       
careful critic mistake the exact moment 
and spot where the editor of the poems  
has taken up any part of the business1  
laid any finger on the mechanism of the 

book4 ,but this work1 easier to praise1 
must have been also easier to perform   
than the more immediate editorial       
labours which were here found requisite4
 ,with care inappreciable and invaluable
 fidelity has the editing throughout    
been done4 ,the selection must of       
necessity have been to a certain degree 
straitened and limited by many minor and
 temporary considerations2 publishers1  
tasters1 and such-like1 must have       
fingered the work here and there1       
snuffing at this and nibbling at that as
 their manner is4 ,for the work and     
workman have yet their way to make in   
the judicious reading world2 and so long
 as they have1 they are more or less in 
the lax limp clutch of that dieu ganache
 des bourgeois who sits nodding and     
ponderously dormant in the dust of      
publishing offices1 ready at any jog of 
the elbow to snarl and start--a new     
,pan1 feeding on the pastures of a fat  
and foggy land his ,arcadian herds of   
review or magazine3                     

,greek3 enti ge pikros1   kai hoi aei   
drimeia chola poti rhini kathetai4      
,arcadian virtue and ,boeotian brain1   
under the presidency of such a          
stertorous and splenetic goat-god1 given
 to be sleepy in broadest noonday1 are  
not the best crucibles for art to be    
tried in4 ,then1 again1 thought had to  
be taken for the poems themselves2 not  
merely how to expose them in most       
acceptable form for public acceptance1  
but how at the same time to give them in
 the main all possible fullness of fair 
play4 ,this too by dint of work and     
patience1 still more by dint of pliable 
sense and taste1 has been duly          
accomplished4 ,future editions may be1  
and in effect will have to be1 altered  
and enlarged3 it is as well for people  
to be aware that they have not yet a    
final edition of ,blake2 that will have 
to be some day completed on a due scale4
 ,but for the great mass of his lyrical 
verse all there was to do has been done 
here1 and the ground-plan taken of a    

larger building to come4 ,these         
preliminaries stated1 we pass on to a   
rapid general review of those two great 
divisions which may be taken as resuming
 for us the ripe poetry of ,blake's     
manhood4 ,two divisions1 the one already
 published and partially known1 the     
other now first brought into light and  
baptized with some legible name2 the    
,songs of ,innocence and ,experience1   
and the ,ideas of ,good and ,evil4      
,under this latter head we will class   
for purposes of readier reference as    
well the smaller ,,ms4 volume of fairly 
transcribed verses as the great mass of 
more disorderly writing in verse and    
prose to which the name above given is  
attached in a dim broad scrawl of the   
pencil evidently meant to serve as      
general title1 though set down only on  
the reverse page of the second ,,ms4    
leaf4 ,this latter and larger book1     
extending in date at least from #aghi to
 7,august7 #ahaa1 but presumably beyond 
the later date1 is the great source and 

treasure-house from which has been drawn
 out most of the fresh verse and all of 
the fresh prose here given us3 and is of
 course among the most important relics 
left of ,blake4  ,first then for the    
,songs of ,innocence and ,experience4   
,these at a first naming recall only    
that incomparable charm of form in which
 they first came out clothed1 and hence 
vex the souls of men with regretful     
comparison4 ,for here by hard necessity 
we miss the lovely and luminous setting 
of designs1 which makes the ,songs      
precious and pleasurable to those who   
know or care for little else of the     
master's doing2 the infinite delight of 
those drawings1 sweeter to see than     
music to hear1 where herb and stem break
 into grace of shape and blossom of     
form1 and the branch-work is full of    
little flames and flowers1 catching as  
it were from the verse enclosed the     
fragrant heat and delicate sound they   
seem to give back2 where colour lapses  
into light and light assumes feature in 

colour4 ,if elsewhere the artist's      
strange strength of thought and hand is 
more visible1 nowhere is there such pure
 sweetness and singleness of design in  
his work4 ,all the tremulous and tender 
splendour of spring is mixed into the   
written word and coloured draught2 every
 page has the smell of ,april4 ,over all
 things given1 the sleep of flocks and  
the growth of leaves1 the laughter in   
dividing lips of flowers and the music  
at the moulded mouth of the             
flute-player1 there is cast a pure fine 
veil of light1 softer than sleep and    
keener than sunshine4 ,the sweetness of 
sky and leaf1 of grass and water--the   
bright light life of bird and child and 
beast--is so to speak kept fresh by some
 graver sense of faithful and mysterious
 love1 explained and vivified by a      
conscience and purpose in the artist's  
hand and mind4 ,such a fiery outbreak of
 spring1 such an insurrection of fierce 
floral life and radiant riot of childish
 power and pleasure1 no poet or painter 

ever gave before3 such lustre of green  
leaves and flushed limbs1 kindled cloud 
and fervent fleece1 was never wrought   
into speech or shape4 ,nevertheless this
 decorative work is after all the mere  
husk and shell of the ,songs4 ,these    
also1 we may notice1 have to some extent
 shared the comparative popularity of   
the designs which serve as framework to 
them4 ,they have absolutely achieved the
 dignity of a reprint2 have had a chance
 before now of swimming for life2       
whereas most of ,blake's offspring have 
been thrown into ,lethe bound hand and  
foot1 without hope of ever striking out 
in one fair effort4 ,perhaps on some    
accounts this preference has been not   
unreasonable4 ,what was written for     
children can hardly offend men2 and the 
obscurities and audacities of the       
prophet would here have been clearly out
 of place4 ,it is indeed some relief to 
a neophyte serving in the outer courts  
of such an intricate and cloudy temple1 
to come upon this little side-chapel set

 about with the simplest wreaths and    
smelling of the fields rather than      
incense1 where all the singing is done  
by clear children's voices to the       
briefest and least complex tunes4 ,not  
at first without a sense of release does
 the human mind get quit for a little of
 the clouds of ,urizen1 the fires of    
,orc1 and all the ,titanic apparatus of 
prophecy4 ,and these poems are really   
unequalled in their kind4 ,such verse   
was never written for children since    
verse-writing began4 ,only in a few of  
those faultless fragments of childish   
rhyme which float without name or form  
upon the memories of men shall we find  
such a pure clear cadence of verse1 such
 rapid ring and flow of lyric laughter1 
such sweet and direct choice of the just
 word and figure1 such an impeccable    
simplicity2 nowhere but here such a     
tender wisdom of holiness1 such a light 
and perfume of innocence4 ,nothing like 
this was ever written on that text of   
the lion and the lamb2 no such heaven of

 sinless animal life was ever conceived 
so intensely and sweetly4    ,and there 
the lion's ruddy eyes     ,shall flow   
with tears of gold1   ,and pitying the  
tender cries1     ,and walking round the
 fold1     ,saying ,wrath by ,his       
meekness     ,and by ,his health        
sickness     ,is driven away     ,from  
our immortal day4   ,and now beside     
thee1 bleating lamb1     ,i can lie down
 and sleep1   ,or think on ,him who bore
 thy name1     ,graze after thee1 and   
weep4  ,the leap and fall of the verse  
is so perfect as to make it a fit       
garment and covering for the profound   
tenderness of faith and soft strength of
 innocent impulse embodied in it4 ,but  
the whole of this hymn of ,night is     
wholly beautiful2 being perhaps one of  
the two poems of loftiest loveliness    
among all the ,songs of ,innocence4 ,the
 other is that called ,the ,little      
,black ,boy2 a poem especially exquisite
 for its noble forbearance from vulgar  
pathos and achievement of the highest   

and most poignant sweetness of speech   
and sense2 in which the poet's mysticism
 is baptized with pure water and taught 
to speak as from faultless lips of      
children1 to such effect as this4       
,and we are put on earth a little space 
,that we may learn to bear the beams of 
love2   ,and these black bodies and this
 sunburnt face   ,are like a cloud and  
like a shady grove4  ,other poems of a  
very perfect beauty are those of the    
,piper1 the ,lamb1 the ,chimney-sweeper1
 and the two-days-old baby2 all1 for the
 music in them1 more like the notes of  
birds caught up and given back than the 
modulated measure of human verse4 ,one  
cannot say1 being so slight and         
seemingly wrong in metrical form1 how   
they come to be so absolutely right2 but
 right even in point of verses and words
 they assuredly are4 ,add fuller formal 
completion of rhyme and rhythm to that  
song of ,infant ,joy1 and you have      
broken up the soft bird-like perfection 
of clear light sound which gives it     

beauty2 the little bodily melody of     
soulless and painless laughter4         
,against all articulate authority we do 
however class several of the ,songs of  
,experience higher for the great        
qualities of verse than anything in the 
earlier division of these poems4 ,if the
 ,songs of ,innocence have the shape and
 smell of leaves or buds1 these have in 
them the light and sound of fire or the 
sea4 ,entering among them1 a fresher    
savour and a larger breath strikes one  
upon the lips and forehead4 ,in the     
first part we are shown who they are who
 have or who deserve the gift of        
spiritual sight3 in the second1 what    
things there are for them to see when   
that gift has been given4 ,innocence1   
the quality of beasts and children1 has 
the keenest eyes2 and such eyes alone   
can discern and interpret the actual    
mysteries of experience4 ,it is natural 
that this second part1 dealing as it    
does with such things as underlie the   
outer forms of the first part1 should   

rise higher and dive deeper in point of 
mere words4 ,these give the distilled   
perfume and extracted blood of the veins
 in the rose-leaf1 the sharp1 liquid1   
intense spirit crushed out of the broken
 kernel in the fruit4 ,the last of the  
,songs of ,innocence is a prelude to    
these poems2 in it the poet summons to  
judgment the young and single-spirited1 
that by right of the natural impulse of 
delight in them they may give sentence  
against the preachers of convention and 
assumption2 and in the first poem of the
 second series he1 by the same voice of 
the bard1 calls upon earth herself1 the 
mother of all these1 to arise and become
 free3 since upon her limbs also are    
bound the fetters1 and upon her forehead
 also has fallen the shadow1 of a       
jealous law3 from which nevertheless1 by
 faithful following of instinct and     
divine liberal impulse1 earth and man   
shall obtain deliverance4    ,hear the  
voice of the bard6     ,who present1    
past1 and future sees3   ,whose ears    

have heard   ,the ancient ,word         
,that walked among the silent trees3    
,calling the lapsed soul     ,and       
weeping in the evening dew2   ,that     
might control   ,the starry pole        
,and fallen fallen light renew6  ,if    
they will hear the ,word1 earth and the 
dwellers upon earth shall be made again 
as little children2 shall regain the    
strong simplicity of eye and hand proper
 to the pure and single of heart2 and   
for them inspiration shall do the work  
of innocence2 let them but once abjure  
the doctrine by which comes sin and the 
law by which comes prohibition4         
,therefore must the appeal be made2 that
 the blind may see and the deaf hear1   
and the unity of body and spirit be made
 manifest in perfect freedom3 and that  
to the innocent even the liberty of sin 
may be conceded4 ,for if the soul suffer
 by the body's doing1 are not both      
degraded8 and if the body be oppressed  
for the soul's sake1 are not both the   
losers8    ,o ,earth1 ,o ,earth1 return6

     ,arise from out the dewy grass6    
,night is worn1   ,and the morn         
,rises from the slumberous mass4   ,turn
 away no more2     ,why wilt thou turn  
away8   ,the starry shore1   ,the watery
 floor1     ,are given thee till the    
break of day4  ,for so long1 during the 
night of law and oppression of material 
form1 the divine evidences hidden under 
sky and sea are left her2 even till the 
break of day4 ,will she not get quit of 
this spiritual bondage to the heavy body
 of things1 to the encumbrance of deaf  
clay and blind vegetation1 before the   
light comes that shall redeem and       
reveal8 ,but the earth1 being yet in    
subjection to the creator of men1 the   
jealous ,god who divided nature against 
herself--father of woman and man1       
legislator of sex and race--makes blind 
and bitter answer as in sleep1 her locks
 covered with grey despair4    ,prisoned
 on this watery shore1     ,starry      
,jealousy does keep my den2   ,cold and 
hoar1   ,weeping o'er1     ,i hear the  

father of the ancient men4  ,thus1 in   
the poet's mind1 ,nature and ,religion  
are the two fetters of life1 one on the 
right wrist1 the other on the left2 an  
obscure material force on this hand1 and
 on that a mournful imperious law3 the  
law of divine jealousy1 the government  
of a ,god who weeps over his creature   
and subject with unprofitable tears1 and
 rules by forbidding and dividing3 the  
,urizen of the prophetic books1 clothed 
with the coldness and the grief of      
remote sky and jealous cloud4 ,here as  
always1 the cry is as much for light as 
for license1 the appeal not more against
 prohibition than against obscurity4    
,can the sower sow by night1   ,or the  
ploughman in darkness plough8  ,in the  
,songs of ,innocence there is no such   
glory of metre or sonorous beauty of    
lyrical work as here4 ,no possible      
effect of verse can be finer in a great 
brief way than that given in the second 
and last stanzas of the first part of   
this poem4 ,it recals within one's ear  

the long relapse of recoiling water and 
wash of the refluent wave2 in the third 
and fourth lines sinking suppressed as  
with equal pulses and soft sobbing noise
 of ebb1 to climb again in the fifth    
line with a rapid clamour of ripples and
 strong ensuing strain of weightier     
sound1 lifted with the lift of the      
running and ringing sea4  ,here also is 
that most famous of ,blake's lyrics1    
,the ,tiger2 a poem beyond praise for   
its fervent beauty and vigour of music4 
,it appears by the ,,ms4 that this was  
written with some pains2 the cancels and
 various readings bear marks of frequent
 rehandling4 ,one of the latter is worth
 transcription for its own excellence   
and also in proof of the artist's real  
care for details1 which his rapid       
instinctive way of work has induced some
 to disbelieve in4    ,burnt in distant 
deeps or skies   ,the cruel fire of     
thine eyes8   ,could heart descend or   
wings aspire8#af   ,what the hand dare  
seize the fire8  ,nor has ,blake left us

 anything of more profound and perfect  
value than ,the ,human ,abstract2 a     
little mythical vision of the growth of 
error2 through soft sophistries of pity 
and faith1 subtle humility of abstinence
 and fear1 under which the pure simple  
nature lies corrupted and strangled2    
through selfish loves which prepare a   
way for cruelty1 and cruelty that works 
by spiritual abasement and awe4    ,soon
 spreads the dismal shade   ,of ,mystery
 over his head2   ,and the caterpillar  
and fly   ,feed on the ,mystery4    ,and
 it bears the fruit of ,deceit1   ,ruddy
 and sweet to eat2   ,and the raven his 
nest has made   ,in the thickest shade4 
,under the shadow of this tree of       
mystery1#ag rooted in artificial belief1
 all the meaner kind of devouring things
 take shelter and eat of the fruit of   
its branches2 the sweet poison of false 
faith1 painted on its outer husk with   
the likeness of all things noble and    
desirable2 and in the deepest           
implication of barren branch and deadly 

leaf1 the bird of death1 with priests   
for worshippers 7the priests of the     
raven of dawn1 loud of lip and hoarse of
 throat until the light of day have     
risen71 finds house and resting-place4  
,only in the miscreative brain of fallen
 men can such a thing strike its        
tortuous root and bring forth its fatal 
flower2 nowhere else in all nature can  
the tyrants of divided matter and moral 
law1 ,gods of the earth and sea1 find   
soil that will bear such fruit4         
,nowhere has ,blake set forth his       
spiritual creed more clearly and        
earnestly than in the last of the ,songs
 of ,experience4 ,tirzah1 in his        
mythology1 represents the mere separate 
and human nature1 mother of the         
perishing body and daughter of the      
religion which occupies itself with     
laying down laws for the flesh2 which1  
while pretending 7and that in all good  
faith7 to despise the body and bring it 
into subjection as with control of bit  
and bridle1 does implicitly overrate its

 power upon the soul for evil or good1  
and thus falls foul of fact on all sides
 by assuming that spirit and flesh are  
twain1 and that things pleasant and good
 for the one can properly be loathsome  
or poisonous to the other4 ,this        
religion or moral law1 the inexplicable 
prophet has chosen to baptize under the 
singular type of ,rahab--the harlot     
virgin-mother1 impure by dint of        
chastity and forbearance from such      
things as are pure to the pure of heart3
 for in this creed the one thing unclean
 is the belief in uncleanness1 the one  
thing forbidden is to believe in the    
existence of forbidden things4 ,of this 
mystical mother and her daughter we     
shall have to take some further account 
when once fairly afloat on those windy  
waters of prophecy through which all who
 would know ,blake to any purpose must  
be content to steer with such pilotage  
as they can get4 ,for the present it    
will be enough to note how eager and how
 direct is the appeal here made against 

any rule or reasoning based on reference
 to the mere sexual and external nature 
of man--the nature made for ephemeral   
life and speedy death1 kept alive to    
work and weep only through that mercy   
which changed death into sleep2 how     
intense the reliance on redemption from 
such a law by the grace of imaginative  
insight and spiritual freedom1 typified 
in the death of ,jesus4#ah ,nor are any 
of these poems finer in structure or    
nobler in metrical form4  ,this present 
edition of the ,songs of ,experience is 
richer by one of ,blake's most admirable
 poems of childhood--a division of his  
work always of especial value for its   
fresh and sweet strength of feeling and 
of words4 ,in this newly recovered      
,cradle ,song are perhaps the two       
loveliest lines of his writing3         
,sleep1 sleep3 in thy sleep   ,little   
sorrows sit and weep4#ai  ,before       
parting from this chief lyrical work of 
the poet's1 we may notice 7rather for   
its convenience as an explanation than  

its merit as a piece of verse7 this     
projected ,motto to the ,songs of       
,innocence and of ,experience1 which    
editors have left hitherto in           
manuscript3    ,the good are attracted  
by men's perceptions1     ,and think not
 for themselves   ,till ,experience     
teaches them how to catch     ,and to   
cage the ,fairies and ,elves4    ,and   
then the ,knave begins to snarl1        
,and the ,hypocrite to howl2   ,and all 
his#bj good friends show their private  
ends1     ,and the ,eagle is known from 
the ,owl4  ,experience must do the work 
of innocence as soon as conscience      
begins to take the place of instinct1   
reflection of perception2 but the moment
 experience begins upon this work1 men  
raise against her the conventional      
clamour of envy and stupidity4 ,she     
teaches how to entrap and retain such   
fugitive delights as children and       
animals enjoy without seeking to catch  
or cage them2 but this teaching the     
world calls sin1 and the law of material

 religion condemns3 the face of ,tirzah 
is set against it1 in the shame and     
pride of sex4    ,thou1 mother of my    
mortal part1   ,with cruelty didst mould
 my heart1   ,and with false            
self-deceiving fears   ,didst bind my   
nostrils1 eyes1 and ears4  ,and thus    
those who live in subjection to the     
senses would in their turn bring the    
senses into subjection2 unable to see   
beyond the body1 they find it worth     
while to refuse the body its right to   
freedom4  ,in these hurried notes on the
 ,songs an effort has been made to get  
that done which is most absolutely      
necessary--not that which might have    
been most facile or most delightful4    
,analytic remark has been bestowed on   
those poems only which really cannot    
dispense with it in the eyes of most    
men4 ,many others need no herald or     
interpreter1 demand no usher or         
outrider3 some of these are among       
,blake's best1 some again almost among  
his worst4#ba ,poems in which a doctrine

 or subject once before nobly stated and
 illustrated is re-asserted in a        
shallower way and exemplified in a      
feebler form1#bb require at our hands no
 written or spoken signs of either      
assent or dissent4 ,such poems1 as the  
editor has well indicated1 have places  
here among their betters3 none of them1 
it may be added1 without some shell of  
outward beauty or seed of inward value4 
,the simpler poems claim only praise2   
and of this they cannot fail from any   
reader whose good word is in the least  
worth having4 ,those of a subtler kind  
7often1 as must now be clear enough1 the
 best worth study7 claim more than this 
if they are to have fair play4 ,it is   
pleasant enough to commend and to enjoy 
the palpable excellence of ,blake's     
work2 but another thing is simply and   
thoroughly requisite--to understand what
 the workman was after4 ,first get well 
hold of the mystic1 and you will then at
 once get a better view and             
comprehension of the painter and poet4  

,and if through fear of tedium or       
offence a student refuses to be at such 
pains1 he will find himself1 while      
following ,blake's trace as poet or     
painter1 brought up sharply within a    
very short tether4 ,it is easy1 says    
,blake himself in the ,jerusalem1 to    
acknowledge a man to be great and good  
while we derogate from him in the       
trifles and small articles of that      
goodness2 those alone are his friends   
who admire his minute powers4  ,looking 
into the larger ,,ms4 volume of notes we
 seem to gain at once a clearer insight 
into the writer's daily habit of life   
and tone of thought1 and a power of     
judging more justly the sort of work    
left us by way of result4 ,here1 as by  
fits and flashes1 one is enabled to look
 in upon that strange small household1  
so silent and simple on the outside1 so 
content to live in the poorest domestic 
way1 without any show of eccentric      
indulgence or erratic aspiration2       
husband and wife to all appearance the  

commonest citizens alive1 satisfied with
 each other and with their minute       
obscure world and straitened limits of  
living4 ,no typical churchwarden or     
clerk of the parish could rub on in a   
more taciturn modest manner1 or seem    
able to make himself happy with smaller 
things4 ,it may be as well for us to    
hear his own account of the matter3     
,,prayer4    ,i4    ,i rose up at the   
dawn of day2   ',get thee away2 get thee
 away6   ,pray'st thou for riches8 away1
 away6   ,this is the throne of ,mammon 
grey4'    ,,ii4    ,said ,i1 ',this sure
 is very odd2   ,i took it to be the    
throne of ,god2   ,for everything       
besides ,i have2   ,it is only for      
riches that ,i can crave4    ,,iii4     
',i have mental joys and mental health1 
,and mental friends and mental wealth2  
,i've a wife ,i love and that loves me2 
,i've all but riches bodily2    ,,iv4   
',then1 if for riches ,i must not pray1 
,god knows ,i little of prayers need    
say2   ,so1 as a church is known by its 

steeple1   ,if ,i pray1 it must be for  
other people4    ,v4    ',i am in ,god's
 presence night and day1   ,and he never
 turns his face away2   ,the accuser of 
sins by my side does stand1   ,and he   
holds my money-bag in his hand2    ,,vi4
    ',for my worldly things ,god makes  
him pay1   ,and he'd pay for more if to 
him ,i would pray2   ,and so you may do 
the worst you can do1   ,be assured1    
,mr4 ,devil1 ,i won't pray to you4      
,,vii4    ',he says1 if ,i do not       
worship him for a ,god1#bc   ,i shall   
eat coarser food and go worse shod2     
,so1 as ,i don't value such things as   
these1   ,you must do1 ,mr4 ,devil--just
 as ,god please4'  ,one cannot doubt    
that to a man of this temper his life   
was endurable enough4 ,faith in ,god and
 goodwill towards men came naturally to 
him1 being a mystic2 on the one side he 
had all he wanted1 and on the other he  
wanted nothing4 ,the praise and         
discipleship of men might no doubt have 
added a kind of pleasure to his way of  

life1 but they could neither give nor   
take away what he most desired to have2 
and this he never failed of having4 ,his
 wife1 of whose goodness to him he has  
himself borne ample witness1 was company
 enough for all days4 ,and indeed1 by   
all the evidence left us1 it appears    
that this goodness of hers was beyond   
example4 ,another woman of the better   
sort might have had equal patience with 
his habit of speech and life1 equal     
faith in his great capacity and         
character2 but hardly in another woman  
could such a man have found an equal    
strength and sweetness of trust1 an     
equal ardour of belief and tenderness1  
an equal submission of soul and body for
 love's sake2--submission so perfect and
 so beautiful in the manner of it1 that 
the idea of sacrifice or a separate will
 seems almost impossible4 ,a man living 
with such a wife might well believe in  
some immediate divine presence and in   
visible faces like the face of an angel4
 ,we have not now of course much chance 

of knowing at all what manner of angel  
she was2 but the few things we do know  
of her1 no form of words can fitly      
express4 ,to praise such people is      
merely to waste words in saying that    
divine things are praiseworthy4 ,no     
doubt1 if we knew how to praise them1   
they would deserve that we should       
try4#bd  ,the notes bearing in any way  
upon this daily life of ,blake's are few
 and exceptional4 ,in the mass of       
floating verse and prose there is       
absolutely no hint of order whatever1   
save that1 at one end of the ,,ms41 some
 short poems are transcribed in a       
slightly more coherent form4 ,among     
these and the other lyrics1 strewn as   
from a liberal but too lax hand about   
the chaotic leaves of his note-book1 are
 many of ,blake's best things4 ,some of 
the slight and scrawled designs1 as     
noted in the ,catalogue 7pp4 #bdb1      
#bdc71 have also a merit and a power of 
their own2 but it is with the poet's    
lyrical work that we have to do at this 

point of our present notes2 and here we 
may most fitly wind up what remains to  
be said on that matter4  ,the           
inexhaustible equable gift of ,blake for
 the writing of short sweet songs is    
perceptible at every turn we take in    
this labyrinth of lovely words1 of      
strong and soft designs4 ,considering   
how wide is the range of date from the  
earliest of these songs to the latest1  
they seem more excellently remote than  
ever from the day's verse and the day's 
habit4 ,they reach in point of time from
 the season of ,mason to the season of  
,moore2 and never in any interval of    
work by any chance influence do these   
poems at their weakest lapse into       
likeness or tolerance of the accepted   
models4 ,from the era of plaster to the 
era of pinchbeck1 ,blake kept straight  
ahead of the times4 ,to the             
pseudo-,hellenic casts of the one school
 or the pseudo-,hibernian tunes of the  
other he was admirably deaf and blind4  
,while a grazing public straightened its

 bovine neck and steadied its flickering
 eyelids to look up betweenwhiles1 with 
the day's damp fodder drooping          
half-chewed from its relaxed jaw1 at    
some dim sick planet of the ,mason      
system1 there was a poet1 alive if      
obscure1 who had eyes to behold         
the chambers of the ,east1   ,the       
chambers of the sun1 that now   ,from   
ancient melody have ceased2  who had    
ears to hear and lips to reveal the     
music and the splendour and the secret  
of the high places of verse4 ,again1 in 
a changed century1 when the reading and 
warbling world was fain to drop its     
daily tear and stretch its daily throat 
at the bidding of some ,irish           
melodist--when the female will of       
,albion thought fit to inhale with wide 
and thankful nostril the rancid flavour 
of rotten dance-roses and mouldy musk1  
to feed in a feminine delusion upon the 
sodden offal of perfumed dog's-meat1 and
 take it for the very eucharist of      
,apollo--then too1 while this worship of

 ape or beetle went so noisily on1 the  
same poet could let fall from lavish    
hand or melodious mouth such grains of  
solid gold and flakes of perfect honey  
as this3--    ,silent1 silent night1    
,quench the holy light   ,of thy torches
 bright2    ,for possessed of day1      
,thousand spirits stray1   ,that sweet  
joys betray4    ,why should love be     
sweet1   ,used with deceit1   ,nor with 
sorrows meet8  ,verse more nearly       
faultless and of a more difficult       
perfection was never accomplished4 ,the 
sweet facility of being right1 proper to
 great lyrical poets1 was always an     
especial quality of ,blake's4 ,to go the
 right way and do the right thing1 was  
in the nature of his metrical gift--a   
faculty mixed into the very flesh and   
blood of his verse4  ,there is in all   
these straying songs the freshness of   
clear wind and purity of blowing rain3  
here a perfume as of dew or grass       
against the sun1 there a keener smell of
 sprinkled shingle and brine-bleached   

sand2 some growth or breath everywhere  
of blade or herb leaping into life under
 the green wet light of spring2 some    
colour of shapely cloud or mound of     
moulded wave4 ,the verse pauses and     
musters and falls always as a wave does1
 with the same patience of gathering    
form1 and rounded glory of springing    
curve1 and sharp sweet flash of         
dishevelled and flickering foam as it   
curls over1 showing the sun through its 
soft heaving side in veins of gold that 
inscribe and jewels of green that inlay 
the quivering and sundering skirt or    
veil of thinner water1 throwing upon the
 tremulous space of narrowing sea in    
front1 like a reflection of lifted and  
vibrating hair1 the windy shadow of its 
shaken spray4 ,the actual page seems to 
take life1 to assume sound and colour1  
under the hands that turn it and the    
lips that read2 we feel the falling of  
dew and have sight of the rising of     
stars4 ,for the very sound of ,blake's  
verse is no less remote from the sound  

of common things and days on earth than 
is the sense or the sentiment of it4    
,o what land is the land of dreams8     
,what are its mountains and what are its
 streams8   --,o father1 ,i saw my      
mother there1   ,among the lilies by    
waters fair4           99       99      
99       99       99    --,dear child1  
,i also by pleasant streams   ,have     
wandered all night in the land of       
dreams2   ,but though calm and warm the 
waters wide   ,i could not get to the   
other side4  ,we may say of ,blake that 
he never got back from that other       
side--only came and stood sometimes1 as 
,chapman said of ,marlowe in his great  
plain fashion of verse1 up to the chin  
in that ,pierian flood1 and so sang     
half-way across the water4  ,nothing in 
the ,songs of ,innocence is more        
beautiful as a study of childish music  
than the little poem from which we have 
quoted2 written in a metre which many   
expert persons have made hideous1 and   
few could at any time manage as ,blake  

did--a scheme in which the soft and     
loose iambics lapse into sudden         
irregular sound of full anapaests1 not  
without increase of grace and impulsive 
tenderness in the verse4 ,given a       
certain attainable average of intellect 
and culture1 these points of            
workmanship1 by dint of the infinite    
gifts or the infinite wants they imply1 
become the swiftest and surest means of 
testing a verse-writer's perfection of  
power1 and what quality there may be in 
him to warrant his loftiest claim4 ,by  
these you see whether a man can sing1 as
 by his drawing and colouring whether he
 can paint4 ,another specimen of        
indefinable sweetness and significance  
we may take in this symbolic little     
piece of song2    ,i walked abroad on a 
sunny day2   ,i wooed the soft snow with
 me to play4   ,she played and she      
melted in all her prime2   ,and the     
winter called it a dreadful crime4#be   
,against the winter of ascetic law and  
moral prescription ,blake never slackens

 in his fiery animosity2 never did a    
bright hot wind of ,march make such war 
upon the cruel inertness of ,february4  
,in his obscure way he was always       
hurrying into the van of some forlorn   
hope of ethics4 ,even ,shelley1 who as  
we said was no less ready to serve in   
the same camp all his life long1 never  
shot keener or hotter shafts of lyrical 
speech into the enemy's impregnable     
ground4 ,both poets seem to have tried  
about alike1 and with equally           
questionable results1 at a regular      
blockade of the steep central fortress  
of ,urizen2 both after a little personal
 practice fell back1 not quite          
unscarred1 upon light skirmishing and   
the irregular work of chance guerilla   
campaigns4 ,moral custom1 that          
twice-battered god of ,palestine round  
which all ,philistia rallies 7specially 
strong in her ,british brigade71 seemed 
to suffer little from all their slings  
and arrows4 ,being mere artists1 they   
were perhaps at root too innocent to do 

as much harm as they desired1 or to     
desire as much harm as they might have  
done4 ,blake indeed never proposed to   
push matters quite to such a verge as   
the other was content to stand on during
 his ,laon and ,cythna period2 from that
 inconceivable edge of theory or        
sensation he would probably have drawn  
back with some haste4 ,but such sudden  
cries of melodious revolt as this were  
not rare on his part4#bf    ,abstinence 
sows sand all over     ,the ruddy limbs 
and flaming hair1   ,but desire         
gratified     ,plants fruits of life and
 beauty there4  ,assuredly he never made
 a more supremely noble and enjoyable   
effect of verse than that2 the cadence  
of the first two lines is something     
hardly to be matched anywhere3 the verse
 7to resume our old simile for a moment7
 turns over and falls in with the sudden
 weight and luminous motion of a strong 
long roller coming in with the wind4 ,so
 again1 lying sad and sick under his    
marriage myrtle1 even in a full rain of 

fragrant and brilliant blossoms that    
fall round him to waste1 he must needs  
ask and answer the fatal final question4
    ,why should ,i be bound to thee1    
,o my lovely myrtle-tree8   ,love1 free 
love1 cannot be bound   ,to any tree    
that grows on ground4  ,mixed with this 
fervour of desire for more perfect      
freedom1 there appears at times an      
excess of pity 7like ,chaucer's in his  
early poems7 for the women and men      
living under the law1 trammelled in soul
 or body4 ,for example1 the poem called 
,infant ,sorrow1 in the ,songs of       
,experience1 ran at first to a greater  
length and through stranger places than 
it now overflows into2 and is worth     
giving here in its original form as     
extracted by cautious picking and       
sifting from a heap of tumbled readings4
    ,i4    ,my mother groaned1 my father
 wept2   ,into the dangerous world ,i   
leapt1   ,helpless1 naked1 piping loud1 
,like a fiend hid in a cloud4    ,,ii4  
,struggling in my father's hands1       

,striving against my swaddling bands1   
,bound and weary1 ,i thought best   ,to 
sulk upon my mother's breast4    ,,iii4 
,when ,i saw that rage was vain   ,and  
to sulk would nothing gain1   ,twining  
many a trick and wile   ,i began to     
soothe and smile4    ,,iv4    ,and ,i   
grew#bg day after day1   ,till upon the 
ground ,i lay2   ,and ,i grew#bg night  
after night1   ,seeking only for        
delight4    ,v4    ,and ,i saw before me
 shine   ,clusters of the wandering     
vine2   ,and many a lovely flower and   
tree   ,stretched their blossoms out to 
me4    ,,vi4    ,but many a priest#bh   
with holy look1   ,in their hands a holy
 book1   ,pronounced curses on his head 
,who the fruit or blossoms shed4        
,,vii4    ,i beheld the priests by      
night2   ,they embraced the blossoms    
bright2   ,i beheld the priests by day2 
,underneath the vines they lay4         
,,viii4    ,like to serpents in the     
night1   ,they embraced my blossoms     
bright2   ,like to holy men by day1     

,underneath my vines they lay4    ,,ix4 
,so ,i smote them1 and their gore       
,stained the roots my myrtle bore2      
,but the time of youth is fled1   ,and  
grey hairs are on my head4  ,now not    
even the spilt blood of those who forbid
 and betray shall quicken the dried root
 or flush the faded leaf of love2 the   
myrtle being past all comfort of soft   
rain or helpful sun4 ,so in the         
,rose-,tree 7vol4 ii4 p4 #fj71 when for 
the sake of a barren material fidelity  
to his rose of marriage1 he has passed  
over the offered flower such as ,may    
never bore1 the rose herself turns away 
with jealousy1 and gives him thorns for 
thanks3 nothing left of it for hand or  
lip but collapsed blossom and implacable
 edges of brier4 ,blake might have kept 
in mind the end of his actual wild vine 
7vol4 i4 p4 #ajj of the ,life71 which   
ran all to leaf and never brought a     
grape worth eating1 for fault of        
pruning-hooks and vine-dressers4  ,in   
all this there is a certain             

unmistakeable innocence which accounts  
for the practical modesty and peaceable 
forbearance of the man's way of living4 
,the material shape of his speculations 
never goes beyond a sort of boyish      
defiant complaint1 a half-humorous      
revolt of the will4 ,inconstancy with   
him is not rooted in satiety1 but in the
 freshness of pure pleasure2 he would   
never cast off the old to put on the    
new4 ,the chain once broken1 against    
which between sleeping and waking he    
chafes and wrestles1 he would lie for   
most hours of the day with content      
enough in the old shade of wedded rose  
or myrtle tree4 ,nor in leaping or      
reaching after the new flower would he  
wilfully bruise or break the least bud  
of the old4 ,his desire is towards the  
freedom of the dawn of things--not      
towards the dark secret hour that walks 
under coverings of cloud4    ,are not   
the joys of morning sweeter   ,than the 
joys of night8  ,the sinless likeness of
 his seeming sins--mere fancies as it   

appears they mostly were1 mere soft     
light aspirations of theory without body
 or flesh on them--has something of the 
innocent immodesty of a birds' or       
babies' paradise--of a fools' paradise1 
too1 translated into the practice and   
language of the untheoretic world4      
,shelley's ,epipsychidion scarcely      
preaches a more bodiless evangel of     
bodily liberty4 ,that famous and        
exquisitely written passage beginning1  
,true love in this differs from gold and
 clay1 delivers in more daringly        
definite words the exact message of     
,blake's belief4  ,nowhere has the note 
of pity been more strongly and sweetly  
struck than in those lovely opening     
verses of the ,garden of ,love1 which   
must here be read once again3--    ,i   
laid me down upon a bank     ,where     
,love lay sleeping3   ,i heard among the
 rushes dank     ,weeping1 weeping4     
,then ,i went to the heath and the wild1
     ,to the thistles and thorns of the 
waste2   ,and they told me how they were

 beguiled1     ,driven out1 and         
compelled to be chaste4  ,the sharp and 
subtle change of metre here and at the  
end of the poem has an audacity of      
beauty and a justice of impulse proper  
only to the leaders of lyrical verse3   
unfit alike for definition and for      
imitation1 if any copyist were to try   
his hand at it4 ,the next song we       
transcribe from the ,ideas is lighter in
 tone than usual1 and admirable for     
humorous imagination2 a light of        
laughter shines and sounds through the  
words4  ,,the ,,will ,,and ,,the ,,way4 
,i asked a thief to steal me a peach2   
,he turned up his eyes2   ,i asked a    
lithe lady to lie her down     ,holy and
 meek1 she cries4    ,as soon as ,i went
     ,an angel came2   ,he winked at the
 thief     ,and smiled at the dame2     
,and without one word spoke     ,had a  
peach from the tree2   ,and 'twixt      
earnest and joke     ,enjoyed the       
lady4#bi  ,a much better and more solid 
version of the same fancy than the one  

given in the ,selections under the head 
of ,love's ,secret2 which is rather     
weakly and lax in manner4 ,our present  
poem has on the other hand an exquisite 
lithe grace of limb and suppleness of   
step1 suiting deliciously with the light
 high laugh in its tone3 while for sweet
 and rapid daring1 for angelically      
puerile impudence as it were1 it may be 
matched against any song of its         
fantastic sort4  ,less complete in a    
small way1 but worth taking some care   
of1 is this carol of a fairy1 emblem of 
a man's light hard tyranny of will1     
calling upon the birds in the harness of
 ,venus and the shafts in the hand of   
her son for help in setting up the      
kingdom of established and legal love3  
but caught himself in the very setting  
of his net4  ,,the ,,marriage ,,ring4   
',come hither1 my sparrows1   ,my little
 arrows4   ,if a tear or a smile   ,will
 a man beguile1   ,if an amorous delay  
,clouds a sunshiny day1   ,if the step  
of a foot   ,smites the heart to its    

root1   ',tis the marriage ring   ,makes
 each fairy a king4'   ,so a fairy sang4
   ,from the leaves ,i sprang2   ,he    
leaped from his spray   ,to flee away3  
,but in my hat caught1   ,he soon shall 
be taught1   ,let him laugh1 let him    
cry1   ,he's my butterfly3   ,for ,i've 
pulled out the sting   ,of the marriage 
ring4  ,it is not so easy to turn wasps 
to butterflies in the world of average  
things2 but1 as far as verses go1 there 
are few of more supple sweetness than   
some of these4 ,they recall the light   
lapse of measure found in the beautiful 
older germs of nursery rhyme2#cj and the
 seeming retributive triumph of married 
lovers over unmarried1 of wedlock over  
courtship1 could not well be more       
gracefully translated than in the       
,fairy's call to his winged and         
feathered arrows--the lover's swift     
birds of prey1 not without beak and     
claw4 ,if they do for a minute or so    
darken our days1 dupe our fancies1      
prevail upon our nerves and blood1 once 

well married we are kings of them at    
least4 ,pull out that sting of jealous  
reflective egotism1 and your tamed      
fairy--the love that is in a man once   
set right--has no point or poison left  
it1 but only rapid grace of wing and    
natural charm of colour4  ,throughout   
the ,ideas one or two other favourite   
points of faith and feeling are         
incessantly thrown out in new fugitive  
forms2 such as the last 7rejected7      
stanza of ,cupid1 which1 though the song
 may well dispense with it and even gain
 by such a loss in the qualities of     
shape or sound1 must be saved if only as
 a specimen of the persistent way in    
which ,blake assumed the ,greek and     
,roman habits of mind or art to be      
typical of war and restraint2 an iron   
frame of mind good to fight in and not  
good for love to grow under4    ',twas  
the ,greek love of war     ,that turned 
,love into a boy#ca   ,and woman into a 
statue of stone2     ,and away fled     
every joy4  ,more frequent and more     

delightful is the recurrence of such    
loving views of love as that taken in   
the last lines of ,william ,bond2 a poem
 full of strange and soft hints1 of mist
 that allures and music that lulls2     
typical in the main of the embodied     
struggle between selfish and sacrificial
 passion1 between the immediate impulse 
that brings at least the direct profit  
of delight1 and the law of religious or 
rational submission that reaps mere loss
 and late regret after a life of blind  
prudence and sorrowful forbearance--the 
black cloud of sickness1 malady of      
spirit and body inflicted by the        
church-keeping angels of ,providence who
 have driven away the loving train of   
spirits that live by innate impulse3 not
 the bulk of ,caliban but the soul of   
,angelo being the deadliest direct enemy
 of ,ariel4 ,providence divine or human1
 prepense moral or spiritual foresight1 
was a thing in the excellence of which  
our prophet of divine instinct and      
inspired flesh could not consistently   

believe4 ,his evangel could dispense    
with that1 in favour of such faith in   
good things as came naturally to him4   
,i thought ,love lived in the hot       
sunshine1     ,but oh1 he lives in the  
moony light2   ,i thought to find ,love 
in the heat of day1     ,but sweet ,love
 is the comforter of night4    ,seek    
,love in the pity of others' woe1       
,in the gentle relief of another's care2
   ,in the darkness of night and the    
winter's snow1     ,in the naked and    
outcast1 seek ,love there4  ,the        
infinite and most tender beauty of such 
words is but one among many evidences   
how thoroughly and delicately the       
lawless fervour and passionate liberty  
of desire were tempered in ,blake by an 
exquisite goodness1 of sense rather than
 of thought1 which as it were made the  
pain or pleasure1 the well-being or the 
suffering1 of another press naturally   
and sharply on his own nerves of        
feeling4 ,deeply as his thought and     
fancy had struck into strange paths and 

veins of spiritual life1 he had never   
found or felt out any way to the        
debateable land where simple and tender 
pleasures become complex and cruel1 and 
the roses gathered are redder at root   
than in leaf4  ,another poem1 slight of 
texture and dim of feature1 but full of 
a cloudy beauty1 is ,the ,angel3 a new  
allegory of love1 blindly rejected or   
blindly accepted as a thing of course2  
foiled and made profitless in either    
case3 then lost1 with all the sorrow it 
brings and all the comfort it gives3 and
 the ways are barred against it by armed
 mistrust and jealousy1 and its place   
knows it no more3 but this immunity from
 the joys and sorrows of love is bought 
at the bitter price of untimely age4 7,i
 offer these somewhat verbose and       
wiredrawn attempts at commentary1 only  
where the poem seems at once to require 
analysis and to admit such as ,i give2  
how difficult it is to make such notes  
clear and full1 yet not to stumble into 
confusion or slide into prolixity1 those

 can estimate who will try their hand at
 such work47  ,frequent slips and       
hitches of grammar1 it may be added1 are
 common to ,blake's rough studies and   
finished writings1 and are therefore not
 always things to be weeded out4 ,little
 learning and much reading of old books 
made him more really inaccurate than    
were their writers1 whose apparent      
liberties he might perhaps have pleaded 
in defence of his own hardly defensible 
licences4  ,none of these poems are     
worthier1 for the delight they give1 of 
the selected praise and most thankful   
study than ,the ,two ,songs and ,the    
,golden ,net3 a pair of perfect things1 
their feet taken in the deep places of  
thought1 and their heads made lovely    
with the open light of lyric speech4    
,between the former of these#cb and ,the
 ,human ,abstract there is a certain    
difference3 here1 the moral point of the
 poem is1 that innocence is wholly      
ignorant1 and sees no deeper than the   
shell of form2 experience is mainly     

malignant1 and sees the root of evil and
 seed of pain under the leaf of good and
 blossom of pleasant things3#cc there1  
the vision is the poet's own1 and deals 
with that evil neither actually nor     
seemingly inherent in the system or     
scheme of created nature1 but watered   
into life by the error and fed into     
luxuriance by the act of the human brain
 alone2 two widely unlike themes for    
verse4 ,as to execution1 here doubtless 
there is more of that swift fresh       
quality peculiar to ,blake's simpler    
style2 but the ,abstract again has more 
weight of verse and magnificence of     
symbol4  ,akin to ,the ,golden ,net is  
the form and manner of ,broken ,love2   
which1 whatever taste may lie in the    
actual kernel of it1 is visibly one of  
the poet's noblest studies of language4 
,the grandeur of the growing metre and  
heat of passionate pulses felt through  
the throbbing body of its verse can     
escape no ear4 ,in our notes on         
,jerusalem we shall have1 like the devil

 of ,the ,two ,songs1 to look at it from
 the inverse side and pass upon it a    
more laborious and less thankworthy     
comment4  ,of the longest and gravest   
poem in the ,ideas of ,good and ,evil we
 are bound to take some careful account4
 ,this is ,the ,everlasting ,gospel1 a  
semi-dramatic exposition of faith on the
 writer's part2 full of subtleties and  
paradoxes which might well straighten   
the stiffest hairs of orthodoxy and     
bewilder the sharpest brain of          
speculation4 ,blake has here stated once
 for all the why and the how of his     
,christian faith2 for ,christian he     
averred that it was1 and we may let his 
word pass for it4 ,readers must be      
recommended for the present to look at  
these things as much as possible from   
what we will call their artistic or     
poetic side1 and bring no pulpit logic  
to get chopped or minced on the altar of
 this prophet's vision4 ,his worst      
heresy1 they may be assured1 will not   
bite4 ,in effect one may hope 7or fear1 

as the case may be7 that there is much  
less of heresy underlying these daring  
forms of speech than seems to overlay   
their outer skirt3 schism or division of
 body rather than of spirit from less   
wilful and outspoken forms of faith4    
,let the student of this ,gospel of     
inverted belief and intensified paradox 
lay hold of and cling fast to the clue  
given by the ,vision of the ,last       
,judgment4 ,there for one thing the     
prophet has laid down this rule3 ,moral 
virtues do not exist2 they are          
allegories and dissimulations4 ,for     
moral allegory we are therefore not to  
look here2 we are in the house of pure  
vision1 outside of which allegory halts 
blindly across the shifting sand of     
moral qualities1 her right hand leaning 
on the staff of virtue1 her left hand   
propped on the crutch of vice4          
,conscious unimpulsive virtue1 measured 
by the praise or judged by the laws of  
men1 was to ,blake always ,pharisaic3 a 
legal ,god none other than a magnified  

and divine ,pharisee4 ,thus far have    
other 7even ,european7 mystics often    
enough pushed their inference2 but this 
time the mystic was a poet2 and         
therefore always1 where it was possible1
 prone to prefer tangible form and given
 to beat out into human shape even the  
most indefinite features of his vision4 
,assuming ,christ as the direct and     
absolute divine type 7divine in the     
essential not in the clerical           
sense--divine to the spiritual not the  
technical reason7 he was therefore      
obliged to set to work and strip that   
type of the incongruous garment of moral
 virtues cast over it by the law of     
religious form3 to prove1 as he         
elsewhere said1 that ,christ was all    
virtue1 not by the possession of these  
allegoric qualities called human virtues
 or abstinence from those others called 
human sins or vices3 such abstinence or 
such possession cannot conceivably      
suffice for the final type of goodness  
or absolute incarnation of a thing      

unalterably divine4 ,virtues are no more
 predicable of the perfect virtue than  
vices of the perfect vice4 ,as the      
supreme sin cannot be said to commit    
human faults1 so neither can the supreme
 holiness obey the principles of human  
sanctity4 ,deistical virtue is as the   
embroidery on the ephod of ,caiaphas or 
the stain left upon the water by the    
purified hands of ,pilate4 ,it is the   
property of the heathen schools2 a      
bitted and bridled virtue1 led by the   
nose and tied by the neck2 made of men's
 hands and subject to men's laws4 ,can  
you make a ,god worth worship out of    
that8 ,to say that ,god is wise1 chaste1
 humble1 philanthropic1 gentle1 or just2
 in one word1 that he is good after the 
human sense2 is to lower your image of  
,god not less than if you had predicated
 of him the exactly reverse qualities1  
by reason of which these exist1 even as 
they by reason of these4 ,how much of   
all this ,blake had fished up out of his
 studies of ,behmen1 ,swedenborg1 or    

such others1 his present critic has not 
the means of deciding2 but is assured of
 one thing2 that where others dealt by  
inductive rule and law1 ,blake dealt by 
assumptive preaching and intuition2 that
 he found form of his own for the body  
of thought1 and body of his own for the 
spirit of speculation1 supplied by      
others2 playing ,prometheus to their    
,epimetheus1 doing poet's or            
evangelist's work where they did        
philosophic business2 not fumbling in   
the box of ,pandora for things flown or 
fugitive1 but bringing from extreme     
heaven the immediate fire in the hollow 
of his reed or pen4  ,such is the       
radical idea of the poem2 and as to     
details1 we are to remember that modesty
 with ,blake means a timid and tacit    
prurience1 and humility a mistrustful   
and mendacious cowardice3 he puts these 
terms to such uses in his swift fierce  
way1 just as1 in his detestation of     
deism and its impersonal ,god1 he must  
needs embody his vision of a deity or   

more perfect humanity in the personal   
,christian type3 a purely poetical      
tendency1 which if justly apprehended   
will serve to account for the wildest   
bodily forms in which he drew forth his 
visions from the mould of prophecy4     
,thus much by way of prologue may       
suffice for the moral side of this      
,gospel2 the mythological or technically
 religious side is not much easier to   
deal with1 and indeed cannot well be    
made out except by such misty light as  
may be won from the prophetic books4 ,it
 seems evident that ,blake1 at least for
 purposes of evangelism1 was content to 
regard the ,creator of the mere bodily  
man as one with the legal or ,pharisaic 
,god of the churches3 even as the mother
 of his mortal part--of the flesh taken 
for the moment simply1 and separated    
7for reasoning purposes7 from the       
inseparable spirit--is ,tirzah4 ,this   
vision of a creator divided against his 
own creation and having to be subdued by
 his own creatures will appear more     

directly and demand more distinct remark
 when we come to deal with its symbolic 
form in the great myth of ,urizen2 where
 also it will be possible to follow it  
out with less likelihood of offensive   
misconstruction4 ,one is compelled here 
to desire from those who care to follow 
,blake at all1 the keenest ardour of    
attention possible2 they will blunder   
helplessly if they once fail to connect 
this present minute of his work with the
 past and the future of it3 if they once
 let slip the thinnest thread of        
analogy1 the whole prophetic or         
evangelic web collapses for them into a 
chaos of gossamer1 a tangle of unclean  
and flaccid fibres1 the ravelled woof of
 an insane and impotent ,arachne1 who   
should be retransmuted with all haste   
into a palpable spider by the spell of  
reason4 ,here1 as in all swift inspired 
writing1 there are on the outside       
infinite and indefinable anomalies1     
contradictions1 incompatibilities enough
 of all sorts2 open for any ,paine or   

,paley to impugn or to defend4 ,but let 
no one dream that there is here either  
madness or mendacity3 the heart or sense
 thus hidden away is sound enough for a 
mystic4  ,the greatest passage of this  
poem is also the simplest2 that division
 which deals with the virtue of         
chastity1 and uses for its text the     
story of the woman taken in adultery3   
who is identified with ,mary ,magdalene4
 ,we give it here in full2 hoping it may
 now be comprehensible to all who care  
to understand1 and may bear fruit of its
 noble and almost faultless verse for   
all but those who prefer to take the    
sterility of their fig-tree on trust    
rather than be at the pains of lifting a
 single leaf4    ,was ,jesus chaste8 or 
did he   ,give any lessons of chastity8 
,the morning blushed fiery red2   ,mary 
was found in adulterous bed4   ,earth   
groaned beneath1 and heaven above       
,trembled at discovery of love4   ,jesus
 was sitting in ,moses' chair2   ,they  
brought the trembling woman there4      

,moses commands she be stoned to death3 
,what was the sound of ,jesus' breath8  
,he laid his hand on ,moses' law2   ,the
 ancient heavens1 in silent awe1   ,writ
 with curses from pole to pole1   ,all  
away began to roll2   ,the earth        
trembling and naked lay   ,in secret bed
 of mortal clay--   ,on ,sinai felt the 
hand ,divine   ,pulling#cd back the     
bloody shrine--   ,and she heard the    
breath of ,god   ,as she heard by       
,eden's flood3   ',good and ,evil are no
 more2   ,sinai's trumpets1 cease to    
roar2   ,cease1 finger of ,god1 to write
   ,the heavens are not clean in thy    
sight4   ,thou art good1 and thou alone2
   ,nor may the sinner cast one stone4  
,to be good only1 is to be   ,a ,god1 or
 else a ,pharisee4   ,thou ,angel of the
 ,presence ,divine1   ,that didst create
 this body of mine1   ,wherefore hast   
thou writ these laws   ,and created     
hell's dark jaws8   ,my ,presence ,i    
will take from thee2   ,a cold leper    
thou shalt be4   ,though thou wast so   

pure and bright   ,that heaven was      
impure in thy sight1   ,though thine    
oath turned heaven pale1   ,though thy  
covenant built hell's gaol1   ,though   
thou didst all to chaos roll   ,with the
 serpent for its soul1   ,still the     
breath ,divine does move--   ,and the   
breath ,divine is love4   ,mary1 fear   
not4 ,let me see   ,the seven devils    
that torment thee4   ,hide not from my  
sight thy sin1   ,that forgiveness thou 
mayst win4   ,hath no man condemned     
thee8'   ',no man1 ,lord4' ',then what  
is he   ,who shall accuse thee8 ,come ye
 forth1   ,fallen fiends of heavenly    
birth   ,that have forgot your ancient  
love   ,and driven away my trembling    
dove2   ,you shall bow before her feet2 
,you shall lick the dust for meat2      
,and though you cannot love1 but hate1  
,shall be beggars at love's gate4       
--,what was thy love8 ,let me see't2    
,was it love or dark deceit8'   ',love  
too long from me has fled2   ',twas dark
 deceit1 to earn my bread2   ',twas     

covet1 or 'twas custom1 or   ,some      
trifle not worth caring for3   ,that    
they may call a shame and sin   ,love's 
temple that ,god dwelleth in1   ,and    
hide in secret hidden shrine   ,the     
naked human form divine1   ,and render  
that a lawless thing   ,on which the    
soul expands her wing4   ,but this1 ,o  
,lord1 this was my sin--   ,when first  
,i let these devils in1   ,in dark      
pretence to chastity   ,blaspheming     
love1 blaspheming thee4   ,thence rose  
secret adulteries1   ,and thence did    
covet also rise4   ,my sin thou hast    
forgiven me2   ,canst thou forgive my   
blasphemy8   ,canst thou return to this 
dark hell   ,and in my burning bosom    
dwell8   ,and canst thou die that ,i may
 live8   ,and canst thou pity and       
forgive8'  ,in no second poem shall we  
find such a sustained passage as that2  
such light of thought and thunder of    
verse2 such sudden splendour of fire    
seen across a strange land and among    
waste places beyond the receded         

landmarks of the day or above the       
glimmering lintels of the night4 ,the   
passionate glory of its rapid and       
profound music fills the sense with too 
deep and sharp a delight to leave       
breathing-space for any thought of      
analytic or apologetic work4 ,but the   
spirit of the verse is not less great   
than the body of it is beautiful4       
,divide from the divine glory the       
softness and warmth of human            
colour--subtract from the divine the    
human presence--subdue all refraction to
 the white absolute light--and that     
light is no longer as the sun's is1 warm
 with sweet heat of life and liberal of 
good gifts2 but foul with overmuch      
purity1 sick with disease of excellence1
 unclean through exceeding cleanness1   
like the skin of a leper 'as white as   
snow4' ,for the divine nature is not    
greater than the human2 7they are one   
from eternity1 sundered by the          
separative creation or fall1 severed    
into type and antitype by bodily        

generation1 but to be made one again    
when life and death shall both have     
died27 not greater than the human       
nature1 but greater than the qualities  
which the human nature assumes upon     
earth4 ,god is man1 and man ,god2 as    
neither of himself the greater1 so      
neither of himself the less3 but as ,god
 is the unfallen part of man1 man the   
fallen part of ,god1 ,god must needs be 
7not more than man1 but assuredly7 more 
than the qualities of man4 ,thus the    
mystic can consistently deny that man's 
moral goodness or badness can be        
predicable of ,god1 while at the same   
time he affirms man's intrinsic divinity
 and ,god's intrinsic humanity4 ,man can
 only possess abstract                  
qualities--allegoric virtues--by reason 
of that side of his nature which he has 
not in common with ,god3 ,god1 not      
partaking of the generative nature1     
cannot partake of qualities which exist 
only by right of that nature4 ,the other
 ,god#ce or ,angel of the ,presence who 

created the sexual and separate body of 
man did but cleave in twain the divine  
humanity1 which becoming reunited shall 
redeem man without price and without    
covenant and without law2 he meantime1  
the ,creator1#cf is a divine daemon1    
liable to error1 subduable by and       
through this very created nature of his 
invention1 which he for the present     
imprisons and torments4 ,his law is the 
law of ,moses1 which according to the   
,manichean heresy ,christ came to       
reverse as diabolic4 ,this singular 7and
 presumably ,pantheistic7 creed of      
,blake's has a sort of ,asiatic flavour 
about it1 but seems harder and more     
personal in its mythology than an       
eastern philosopher's2 has also a       
distinct western type and ,christian    
touch in it2 being wrought as it were of
 ,persian lotus-leaves hardened into the
 consistency of ,english oak-timber4    
,the most wonderful part of his belief  
or theory is this3 ,that after ,christ's
 death he became ,jehovah3#cg which may 

mean simply that through ,christ the law
 of liberty came to supplant the bondage
 of law1 so that where ,jehovah was     
,christ is2 or may typify the change of 
evangel into law1 of full-grown         
,christianity into a fresh type of      
,judaism1 of the ,gospel or good news of
 freedom into the ,church or dogmatic   
body of faith2 or may imply that the two
 forces1 after that supreme sacrifice1  
coalesced and became one1 all absolute  
,deity1 being absorbed into the ,divine 
,humanity2 or1 as a practical public    
would suggest1 may mean or typify       
nothing4 ,it is certain that ,blake     
appears so far to have accepted the     
,catholic tradition as to regard this   
death or sacrifice as tending somehow   
not merely to the redemption of man     
7which would be no more than the sequel 
or outcome of his mystic faith in the   
salvation of man by man1 the deliverance
 or redemption of the accident through  
the essence71 but also to the union of  
the divine crucified man with the       

creative governing power4 ,somehow2 but 
the prophet must explain for himself the
 exact means4 ,we are now fairly up to  
the ears in mysticism1 and cannot afford
 to strike out at random1 for fear of   
being carried right off our feet by the 
ground-swell and drifted into waters    
where swimming will be yet tougher work4
  ,the belief in holy insurrection must 
be almost as old as the oldest religions
 or philosophies afloat or articulate4  
,in the most various creeds this feature
 of faith stands out sharply with a sort
 of tangible human appeal4 ,earlier     
heretics than the author of ,jerusalem  
have taken this to be the radical       
significance of ,christianity2 a divine 
revolt against divine law2 an evidence  
that man must become as ,god only by    
resistance to ,god--the ,god of this    
world2 that if ,prometheus cannot1 ,zeus
 will not deliver us3 and that man1 if  
saved at all1 must indeed be saved so as
 by fire--by ardour of rebellion and    
strenuous battle against the ,god of    

nature3 who as of old must yet feed upon
 his children1 and will no longer take  
stone for flesh though never so well    
wrapped up2 who must have the organ of  
destruction and division1 by which alone
 he lives#ch and has ability to beget1  
cut off from him with the sharpest edge 
of flint that rebellious hands can whet4
 ,in these galliambics of ,blake's we   
see the flint of ,atys whetted for such 
work2 made ready against the priests of 
,nature and her ,god1 though by an alien
 hand that will cast no incense upon the
 altar of ,cybele2 no ,phrygian's1 who  
would spend his own blood to moisten and
 brighten the high places of her        
worship3 but one ready1 with what fire  
he can get1 to burn down the groves and 
melt down the cymbals of ,dindymus4     
,returning now to the residue of the    
immediate matter in hand1 we may duly   
notice in this excursive and all but    
shapeless poem many of ,blake's strong  
points put forth with all his strength3 
curiously crossed and intermixed with   

rough skirmishing attacks on the        
opposite faction1 clerical or sceptical1
 by way of interlude4 ,you would have   
,christ act according to what you call a
 rational or a philanthropic habit of   
mind--set the actual ,god to reason1 to 
elevate1 to convince or convert after   
the fashion in which you would set about
 it8 redeem1 not the spiritual man by   
inspiration of his spirit1 but the      
bodily man by application of his        
arguments8 make him as ',bacon and      
,newton' 7,blake's usual types of the   
mere understanding78    ,for thus the   
,gospel ,st4 ,isaac confutes3   ',god   
can only be known by his attributes2    
,and as to the indwelling of the ,holy  
,ghost   ,or of ,christ and the ,father1
 it's all a boast   ,and pride and      
vanity of imagination   ,that did wrong 
to follow this world's fashion4'   ,to  
teach doubt and experiment   ,certainly 
was not what ,christ meant4  ,certainly 
also no doggrel can be rougher1 looser1 
heavier-weighted about the wrists and   

ankles1 than this2 which indeed it was  
perhaps hardly fair to transcribe2 for  
take out the one great excerpt already  
given1 and the whole poem is a mass of  
huddled notes jotted down in a series of
 hints1 on stray sides and corners of   
leaves1 crammed into holes and byways   
out of sight or reach4 ,so perfect a    
poet is not to be judged by the scrawls 
and sketches of his note-book2 but as we
 cannot have his revision of the present
 piece of work1 and are not here to make
 any revision of our own1 we must either
 let drop the chance of insight thus    
afforded1 or make shift with the rough  
and ragged remnants allowed us by the   
sparing fingers of a close-handed fate4 
,and this chance of insight is not to be
 lightly let go1 if we mean to look at  
all into ,blake's creed and mind4       
,experiment to the mystic seems not     
insufficient merely1 but irrational4    
,reason says miracle2 ,newton says      
doubt2 as ,blake in another place       
expounds to such disciples as he may    

get4 ,on this point also his ,vision of 
,christ is other than the ,christian    
public's4    ,thine is the friend of all
 mankind2   ,mine speaks in parables to 
the blind4  ,his ,christ cared no more  
to convince the blind by plain speech   
than to save the world--the form or     
flesh of the world1 not that            
imperishable body or complement of the  
soul which if a man keep under and bring
 into subjection he transgresses against
 himself2 but the mere sexual shell     
which only exists 7as we said7 by error 
and by division and by right of temporal
 appearance4  ,keeping in mind the utter
 roughness and formal incompletion of   
these notes--which in effect are the    
mere broken shell or bruised husk of a  
poem yet unfledged and unembodied--we   
may put to some present use the ensuing 
crude and loose fragments4    ,what was 
he doing all that time   ,from twelve   
years old to manly prime8   ,was he then
 idle1 or the less   ,about his         
,father's business8   ,if he had been   

,antichrist aping#ci ,jesus1   ,he'd    
have done anything to please us2   ,gone
 sneaking into synagogues   ,and not    
used the elders and priests like dogs2  
,but humble as a lamb or ass   ,obeyed  
himself to ,caiaphas4   ,god wants not  
man to humble himself4   ,that is the   
trick of the ancient ,elf4   ,this is   
the race that ,jesus ran3   ,humble to  
,god1 haughty to man2   ,cursing the    
rulers before the people   ,even to the 
temple's highest steeple2   ,and when he
 humbled himself to ,god1   ,then       
descended the cruel rod4  7,this        
noticeable heresy is elsewhere insisted 
on4 ,its root seems to be in that       
doctrine that nothing is divine which is
 not human--has not in it the essence of
 completed manhood1 clear of accident or
 attribute2 servility therefore to a    
divine ruler is one with servility to a 
human ruler4 ,more orthodox men have    
registered as fervent a protest against 
the degradation involved in base forms  
of worship2 but this singular           

mythological form seems peculiar to     
,blake1 who was bent on finding in the  
sacred text warrant or illustration for 
all his creed47    ',if thou humblest   
thyself thou humblest me3   ,thou also  
dwell'st in eternity4   ,thou art a man2
 ,god is no more2   ,thine own humanity 
learn to adore1   ,for that is my spirit
 of life4   ,awake3 arise to spiritual  
strife2   ,and thy revenge abroad       
display   ,in terror at the ,last       
,judgment ,day4'  7,another special     
point of faith4 ,redemption by          
forgiveness of sins8 yes3 but the power 
of redeeming or forgiving must come by  
strife4 ,a gospel is no mere spiritual  
essence of boiled milk and rose-water4  
,there are the energies of nature to    
fight and beat--unforgivable enemies1   
embodied in ,melitus or ,annas1         
,caiaphas or ,lycon4 ,sin is pardonable2
 but these things1 in the body or out of
 it1 are not pardonable4 ,revenge also  
is divine2 whatever you may think or say
 while in the body1 there is a part of  

nature not forgivable1 an element in the
 world not redeemable1 which in the end 
must be cast out and tormented4 ,to the 
priests of ,pharisaic morals or ,satanic
 religion--those who crucify the great  
human nature and scourge sin instead of 
forgiving it--to these the ,redeemer    
must be the tormentor47    ',god's mercy
 and long-suffering   ,are but the      
sinner to justice to bring4   ,thou on  
the cross for them shalt pray--   ,and  
take revenge at the last day4'   ,jesus 
replied1 and thunders hurled3   ',i     
never will pray for the world4   ,once  
,i did so when ,i prayed in the garden2 
,i wished to take with me a bodily      
pardon4'  ,these few lines1 interpolated
 by way of comfortable exposition1 are  
more likely to increase the offence and 
perplexity3 but assuredly no irreverent 
brutality of paradox was here in the    
man's mind4 ,even the divine humanity of
 his quasi-,pantheistic worship must    
give up 7he says7 the desire of         
redeeming the unredeemable world--the   

quality subject to law and technical    
religion4 ,no bodily pardon for that1   
whatever the divine pity may have hoped1
 while as yet full-grown in love only1  
not in knowledge--seraphic fire without 
cherubic light2 before1 that is1 it had 
perfect insight into the brute nature or
 sham body of things4 ,that must be put 
off--changed as a vesture--by the risen 
and reunited body and soul4 ,what is it 
that has to be saved8 ,what is it that  
can be8    ,can that which was of woman 
born   ,in the absence of the morn1     
,while the soul fell into sleep   ,and  
78 heard7 archangels round it weep1     
,shooting out against the light         
,fibres of a deadly night1   ,reasoning 
upon its own dark fiction1   ,in doubt  
which is self-contradiction1  can that  
reason itself into redemption8 ,the     
absolute body and essential soul1 as we 
have said1 are with all their energies1 
passive and active powers and pleasures1
 natural properties and liberties1 of an
 imperishable and vital holiness2 but   

their appended qualities1 their form and
 law1 their morals and philosophies1    
their reason and religion1 these are    
perishable and damnable4 ,the holy      
reasoning power1 in whose holiness is   
closed the abomination of desolation1   
must be annihilated4 ,rational ,truth1  
root of ,evil and ,good1 must be plucked
 up and burnt with fire4 ,you cannot1   
save in an empirical sense1 walk by     
sight and not by faith3 you cannot walk 
by faith and not by sight1 for there is 
no sight except faith4 7,compare        
generally the ,gates of ,paradise1 for  
illustrations of all these intricate and
 intense conceptions47 ,doubt then1     
being one of the perishable qualities   
which depend on externals1 is mere      
impotence and error3 now let us hear    
further3--    ,humility is only doubt   
,and does the sun and moon blot out1    
,roofing over with thorns and stems     
,the buried soul and all its gems4      
,this life's dim window of the soul     
,distorts the heavens from pole to pole 

,and leads you to believe a lie   ,when 
you see with1 not through1 the eye1     
,that was born in a night1 to perish in 
a night1   ,when the soul slept in the  
beams of light4  ,part of this reappears
 with no less vigour of evangelic       
assertion in the ,auguries of           
,innocence1 but stripped of the         
repellent haze of mythological form4    
,that poem1 full as it is of delicate   
power and clear sweetness of thought1   
does not however reproduce in full the  
emblematic beauty of our last extract3  
nor does it throw so much light of a    
fitful flame-like sort upon or over the 
subtlest profundities of ,blake's faith4
  ,elsewhere1 reverting with fresh      
spirit to the same charge1 he demands   
7or his spectre for him--,this was      
spoken by my spectre to ,voltaire1      
,bacon1 c473--    ,did ,jesus teach     
doubt8 or did he   ,give any lessons of 
philosophy8   ,charge visionaries with  
deceiving8   ,or call men wise for not  
believing8  ,unhappily the respective   

answers from ,verulam and ,cirey have   
not been registered by a too            
contemptuous prophet2 they would have   
been worth reading4  ,the dogma of      
,christian humility is totally          
indigestible to ,blake2 he batters upon 
it with the heaviest artillery of his   
gospel4    ,was ,jesus humble8 or did he
   ,give any proofs of humility8        
,boast of high things with humble tone1 
,and give with charity a stone8  ,again2
    ,when the rich learned ,pharisee    
,came to consult him secretly1   ,upon  
his heart with iron pen   ,he wrote ',ye
 must be born again4'   ,he was too     
proud to take a bribe3   ,he spoke with 
authority1 not like a ,scribe4  ,nor can
 the love of enemies be accepted        
literally as an endurable doctrine2 for 
he who loves his enemies hates his      
friends1 in the mind of the too ardent  
and candid poet1 who proceeds to insist 
that the divine teacher must mean the   
mere love of civility 7amour de         
convenance72 and so he must mean        

concerning humility3 for the willing    
acceptance of death cannot humiliate1   
and is therefore no test of humility#dj 
in ,blake's sense2 self-sacrifice in    
effect implies an honest triumphant     
pride4 7,here of course the writer drops
 for a moment the religious view and    
divine meaning of the ,passion1 and     
looks towards ,calvary from the simply  
human side as it appeared to casual     
bystanders2 for here he has only to deal
 with what he conceives to be errors in 
the human conception of ,christ's human 
character4 ,you the orthodox1 and you   
the reasoners1 assert through the mouths
 of your churches or philosophies that  
purely human virtues are actually       
predicable of ,christ1 and appeal for   
evidence to his life and death4 ,well   
and good2 we will1 to gain ground for   
argument with you1 forget that the      
,passion is not1 and admit that it is1  
what you would call a purely human      
transaction4 ,are then these virtues    
predicable of it even as such87 ,a good 

man who incurs risk of death by his     
goodness1 is too proud to abjure that   
goodness and live2 here is none of that 
you call humility4 ,such a man need not 
have died2 ,caiaphas would forgive if   
one died with ,christian ease asking    
pardon after your humble fashion3--     
,he had only to say that ,god was the   
devil   ,and the devil was ,god1 like a 
,christian civil2   ,mild ,christian    
regrets to the devil confess   ,for     
affronting him thrice in the wilderness2
  and such an one might have become a   
very ,caesar's minion1 or ,caesar       
himself4 ,though of course mainly made  
up of violent quibbling and perversities
 of passionate humour1 which falls to   
work in this vehement way upon words as 
some personal relief 7a relief easily   
conceivable in ,blake's case by any     
student of his life71 all this has also 
its value in helping us to measure      
according to what light we may have in  
us the stronger and weaker1 the worse   
and better1 the graver and lighter sides

 of the man4 ,it belongs evidently to   
the period when he painted portraits of 
the dead and transcribed ,jerusalem from
 spiritual dictation4 ,this1 he lets us 
know by way of prelude or opening note1 
is what ,joseph of ,arimathaea said to  
my ,fairy1 or natural spiritual part by 
which he conversed with spirits4 ,next  
in his defiant doggrel he calls on      
,pliny and ,trajan--heathen learning and
 heathen power or goodness--to come     
before ,joseph of ,arimathaea and listen
 patient4 ,what1 are you here8 he asks  
as if in the direct surprise of vision4 
7,i will not give these roughest notes  
in the perfection of their pure doggrel4
 ,as verse1 serious or humorous1 they   
are irreclaimable and intolerable2 what 
empirical value they may have must be   
wrung out of them with all haste47  ,we 
may now as well look into a later       
division of the poem1 where ,christ is  
tempted of ,satan to obey4    ',john for
 disobedience bled2   ,but you can turn 
the stones to bread4   ,god's high king 

and ,god's high priest   ,shall plant   
their glories in your breast   ,if      
,caiaphas you will obey1   ,if ,herod   
you with bloody prey   ,feed with the   
sacrifice#da and be   ,obedient1 fall   
down1 worship me4'   ,thunder and       
lightning broke around   ,and ,jesus'   
voice in thunder's sound2   ',thus ,i   
seize the spiritual prey2   ,ye smiters 
with disease1 make way4   ,i come your  
,king and ,god to seize2   ,is ,god a   
smiter with disease8'  ,this divine     
revolt and deliverance of the spiritual 
human prey out of the hands of law and  
fangs of religion is made matter of     
accusation against him by the           
unredeemable part of the world of which 
we spoke--using here as its mouthpiece  
the shadowy man or phantasmal shell of  
man1 which rolled away when the times   
were full from the limbs of ,jesus1 to  
make them his prey3--    ,crying        
',crucify this cause of distress   ,who 
don't keep the secrets of holiness4     
,all mental powers by diseases we bind3 

,but he heals the deaf and the dumb and 
the blind1   ,whom ,god has afflicted   
for secret ends2   ,he comforts and     
heals and calls them friends4'  ,but    
,christ1 instead of becoming a prey to  
it1 himself makes his prey of this      
unclean shadow or ghastly ghost of the  
bodily life now divided from him--this  
pestilent nature in bondage to the      
daemonic deity1 which thought to consume
 him by dint of death3    ,an           
ever-devouring appetite   ,glittering   
with festering venoms bright2#db  puts  
it off and devours it in three nights2  
even as now also he feeds upon it to    
consume it2 being made perfect in pride1
 that he may overcome the body by       
spiritual and galling pride3 eat what   
never was made for man to eat1 the body 
of dust and clay1 the meal's meat of the
 old serpent3 as the white parts or     
lights of a plate are eaten away with   
aqua-fortis or other acid1 leaving      
prominent the spiritual outline 7,life1 
v4 #a1 ch4 ix41 p4 #hi74 ,this symbol1  

taken from ,blake's own artistic work of
 engraving--from the process through    
which we have with us the ,songs and    
,prophecies--will give with some        
precision the exact point indicated1 and
 might have been allowed of by himself1 
as not unacceptable or inapposite4      
,this final absorption of the           
destructible body1 consumption of the   
serpent's meat1 is but the upshot of a  
life of divine rebellion and spiritual  
war1 not of barren physical qualities   
and temporal virtues3--    ,the ,god of 
this world raged in vain2   ,he bound   
old ,satan in his chain3   ,throughout  
the land he took his course1   ,and     
traced diseases to their source3   ,he  
cursed the ,scribe and ,pharisee1       
,trampling down hypocrisy4  ,his wrath  
was made as it were a chariot of fire2  
at the wheels of it was dragged the ,god
 of this world1 overthrown and howling  
aloud3--    ,where'er his chariot took  
its way   ,those gates of death let in  
the day2  every chain and bar broken    

down from them1 and the staples of the  
doors loosed2 his voice was heard from  
,zion above the clamour of axle and     
wheel1    ,and in his hand the scourge  
shone bright2   ,he scourged the        
merchant ,canaanite   ,from out the     
temple of his mind1   ,and in his body  
tight does bind   ,satan and all his    
hellish crew2   ,and thus with wrath he 
did subdue   ,the serpent bulk of       
nature's dross   ,till he had nailed it 
to the cross4   ,he put on sin in the   
,virgin's womb1   ,and put it off on the
 cross and tomb   ,to be worshipped by  
the ,church of ,rome3  not to speak of  
other churches4 ,one may notice how to  
the ,pantheist the ,catholic's worship  
is a worship of sin1 even as his own is 
to the ,catholic4 ,you adore as divine  
the fallen nature and sinful energies of
 man3 you1 again1 the cast-off body     
wherein ,satan and sin were shut up1    
that he who assumed it might crucify    
them4 ,sin or false faith or hypocrisy  
was scourged out of the mind into the   

body1 and the separate animal body then 
delivered over to death with the sins   
thereof--all the sins of the world      
garnered up in it to be purged away with
 fire3 and of this body you make your   
,god4 ,the expressed gird at the ,church
 of ,rome is an interpolation2 at first 
,blake had merely written4 ,and on the  
cross he sealed its doom in place of our
 two last-quoted lines4 ,akin to this   
view of the body of sin is his curious  
heresy of the ,conception2 reminding one
 of that ,christian sect which would    
needs worship ,judas as the necessary   
gateway of salvation3 for without his   
sin how could redemption have come      
about8    ,was ,jesus born of a virgin  
pure   ,with narrow soul and looks      
demure8   ,if he intended to take on    
sin1   ,his mother should an harlot     
7have7 been3   ,just such a one as      
,magdalen1   ,with seven devils in her  
pen4   ,or were ,jew virgins still more 
cursed1   ,and more sucking devils      
nursed8  7,this ingenious solution1     

worthy of any mediaeval heresiarch of   
the wilder sort in a time of leprosy1 is
 also an afterthought4 ,from the sudden 
anti-,judaic rapture of grotesque faith 
or humour into which ,blake suddenly    
dips hereabouts1 one might imagine he   
had been lately bitten or stung by some 
dealer or other such dangerous craftsman
 of the ,hebrew kind2 for that any      
mortal ,jew--or for that matter any     
conceivable ,gentile--would have        
credited him to the amount of a penny   
sterling1 no one will imagine4 ,let the 
reader meanwhile endure him a little    
further1 suppressing if he is wise any  
comment on ,blake's insanity or         
blasphemous doggrel2 for he should now  
at least understand that this literal   
violence of manner1 these light or grave
 audacities of mere form1 imply no      
offensive purpose or significance1      
except insomuch as offence is           
inseparable from any strange kind of    
earnestly heretical belief4 ,neither is 
,blake here busied in fetching milk to  

feed his babes and sucklings4 ,this he  
could do incomparably well on occasion1 
with such milk as a nursing-goddess gave
 to the son of ,metaneira2 but here he  
carves meat for men--of a strange       
quality1 tough and crude3 but not       
without savour or sustenance if eaten   
with the right sauce and prefaced with a
 proper grace47    ,or what was it that 
he took on   ,that he might bring       
salvation8   ,a body subject to be      
tempted1   ,from neither pain nor grief 
exempted1   ,or such a body as could not
 feel   ,the passions that with sinners 
deal8   ,yes3 but they say he never     
fell4   ,ask ,caiaphas3 for he can tell4
  ,here follow as given by ,caiaphas the
 old charges of ,sabbath-breach1        
blasphemy and strange doctrine2 given   
again almost word for word1 but with a  
nobler frame of context1 in the         
,marriage of ,heaven and ,hell1 where1  
and not here1 we will prefer to read    
them4 ,one charge will be allowed to    
pass as new coin1 having ,blake's image 

and superscription in lieu of ,caesar's4
    ,he turned the devils into swine    
,that he might tempt the ,jews to dine2 
,since when1 a pig has got a look       
,that for a ,jew may be mistook4        
',obey your parents'8 ,what says he8    
',woman1 what have ,i to do with thee8  
,no earthly parents ,i confess3   ,i am 
doing my ,father's business4'   ,he     
scorned earth's parents1 scorned earth's
 ,god1   ,and mocked the one and the    
other's rod2   ,his seventy disciples   
sent#dc   ,against religion and         
government1  and caused his followers to
 die by the sword of justice as rebels  
and blasphemers of this world's ,god and
 his law3 overturned the tent of secret 
sins and its ,god1 with all the cords of
 his weaving1 prisons of his building   
and snares of his setting2 overthrew the
 bloody shrine of war1 the holy place of
 the ,god of battles1 whose cruel light 
and fire of wrath was poured forth upon 
the world till it reached from star to  
star2 thus casting down all things of   

church and state as by law established1 
camps and shrines1 temples and prisons1 
,halls of justice1 hating vice1   ,where
 the devil combs his lice4  ,upon all   
these1 to the great grief of ,caiaphas  
and the grievous detriment of the ,god  
of this world1 he sent not peace but a  
sword3 lived as a vagrant upon other    
men's labour1 kept company by preference
 with publicans and harlots4    ,and    
from the adulteress turned away   ,god's
 righteous law1 that lost its prey4  ,so
 we end as we began1 at that great      
practical point of revolt3 and finally1 
with deep fervour of satisfaction1 and  
the sense of a really undeniable        
achievement1 the new evangelist jots    
down this couplet by way of epilogue3   
,i'm sure this ,jesus will not do       
,either for ,englishman or ,jew4        
,scarcely1 as far as one sees3 we may   
surely allow him that4 ,and yet1 having 
somehow steered right through this      
chaotic evangel1 we may as surely admit 
that none but a great man with a great  

gift of belief could have conceived or  
wrought it out even as roughly as it is 
here set down4 ,there is more absolute  
worship implied in it than in most works
 of art that pass muster as religious2 a
 more perfect power of noble adoration1 
an intenser faculty of faith and        
capacity of love1 keen as flame and soft
 as light2 a more uncontrollable desire 
for right and lust after justice1 a more
 inexhaustible grace of pity for all    
evil and sorrow that is not of itself   
pitiless1 a more deliberate sweetness of
 mercy towards all that are cast out and
 trodden under4 ,this vision of ,christ1
 though it be to all seeming the        
greatest enemy of other men's visions1  
can hardly be regarded as the least     
significant or beautiful that the       
religious world has yet been brought    
into contact with4 ,it is at least not  
effeminate1 not unmerciful1 not ignoble1
 and not incomprehensible3 other visions
 have before now been any or all of     
these4 ,thus much it is at least2 the   

vision of a perfectly brave1 tender1    
subtle and faithful spirit2 in which    
there was no fear and no guile1 nothing 
false and nothing base4 ,of the         
technical theology or spiritualism each 
man who cares to try will judge as it   
may please him2 it goes at least high   
and deep enough to draw down or pluck up
 matter for absolution or condemnation4 
,it is no part of our affair further to 
vindicate1 to excuse1 or to account for 
the singular gospel here preached4#dd   
,space may be made here 7before we pass 
on to larger things if not greater7 for 
another stray note or two on separate   
poems4 ,the ,crystal ,cabinet1 one of   
the completest short poems by ,blake    
which are not to be called songs1 is an 
example of the somewhat jarring and     
confused mixture of apparent allegory   
with actual vision which is the great   
source of trouble and error to rapid    
readers of his verse or students of his 
designs4 ,the cabinet is either         
passionate or poetic vision--a spiritual

 gift1 which may soon and easily become 
a spiritual bondage2 wherein a man is   
locked up1 with keys of gold indeed1 yet
 is he a prisoner all the same3 his     
prison built by his love or his art1    
with a view open beyond of exquisite    
limited loveliness1 soft quiet and light
 of dew or moon1 and a whole fresh world
 to rest in or look into1 but intangible
 and simply reflective2 all present     
pleasure or power trebled in it1 until  
you try at too much and attempt to turn 
spiritual to physical reality--to seize 
the inmost form with hands of flame laid
 upon things of the spirit which will   
endure no such ardent handling--to      
translate eternal existence into        
temporal1 essential into accidental1    
substantial into attributive2 when at   
once the whole framework1 which was     
meant otherwise to last out your present
 life1 breaks up and leaves you stranded
 or cast out1 feeble and sightless like 
a weeping babe2 so that whereas at first
 you were full of light natural         

pleasure1 dancing merrily in the wild of
 animal or childish life1 you are now a 
child again1 but unhappy instead of     
happy--less than a child1 thrown back on
 the crying first stage of              
babyhood--having had the larger vision1 
and lost your hold of it by too great   
pressure of impatience or desire--unfit 
for the old pleasure and deprived of the
 new2 and the maiden-mother of your     
spiritual life1 your art or your love1  
is become wan and tearful as you1 pale  
reclined in the barren blowing air which
 cannot again be filled with the fire   
and the luminous life of vision4 ,in    
,mary we come again upon the main points
 of inner contact between ,blake's mind 
and ,shelley's4 ,this frank acceptance  
of pleasure1 this avowal without        
blushing or doubting that sweet love and
 beauty are worthy our care1 was as     
beautiful a thing to ,shelley as to     
,blake3 he has preached the excellence  
of it in ,rosalind and ,helen and often 
elsewhere3 touching also1 as ,blake does

 here1 on the persecution of it by all  
who amant misere3--    ,some said she   
was proud1 some called her a whore1     
,and some when she passed by shut to the
 door2  for in their sight the tender   
and outspoken purity of instinct and    
innocence becomes confounded with base  
desire or vanity4 ,this rather than     
genius or mere beauty seems to be the   
thing whose persecution by the world is 
here symbolized4  ,many others of these 
brief poems are not less excellent2 the 
slightest among them have the grace of  
form and heat of life which are         
indivisible in all higher works of      
poetry4 ,one1 ,the ,mental ,traveller1  
is full of sweet and vigorous verses    
turned loose upon a somewhat arid and   
thorny pasture4 ,by a miracle of patient
 ingenuity this poem has been compelled 
to utter some connected message2 but it 
may perhaps be doubted whether the      
message be not too articulate and       
coherent for ,blake4 ,thus limited and  
clarified1 the broad chafing current of 

mysticism seems almost too pure and too 
strait to issue from such a source3 a   
well-head of living speech that bursts  
up with sudden froth and steam through  
more outlets than one at once4 ,to have 
contrived such an elaborate allegory1 so
 welded link by sequent link together1  
seems an exercise of logical patience to
 which ,blake would hardly have         
submitted his passionate genius1 his    
overstrained and wayward will4 ,separate
 stanzas may be retraced wellnigh       
through every word in other books4 ,the 
latter part seems again to record1 as in
 two preceding poems1 the perversion of 
love2 which having annihilated all else1
 falls at last to feed upon itself1 to  
seek out strange things and barren ways1
 to invent new loves and invert the old1
 to fill the emptied heart and flush the
 subsiding veins with perverse passion4 
,alone in the desert it has made1       
beguiled to second youth by the         
incessant diet of joy1 fear comes upon  
love2 fear1 and seeming hate1 and       

weariness and cunning2 fruits of the    
second graft of love1 not native to the 
simple stock3 till reduced at last to   
the likeness of the two extremes of     
life1 age and infancy1 love can be no   
further abused or consumed4 ,these      
stages of love1 once seen or heard of1  
allure lovers to eat of the strange     
fruits and herd with the strange flocks 
of transforming or transformed desire2  
the visible world1 destroyed at the     
first advent of love and absorbed into  
the soul by a single passion1 is again  
felt nearer2 the trees bring forth their
 pleasure1 and the planets lavish their 
light4 ,for the second love1 in its     
wayward and strange delights1 is a thing
 half material2 not alien at least from 
material forms1 as was the first simple 
and spiritual ardour of equal love4     
,passionate and perverse emotion touches
 all things with some fervent colour of 
its own1 mixes into all water and all   
wine some savour of the dubious honey   
gathered from its foreign flowers4 ,pure

 first love will not coexist with       
outward things1 burns up with white fire
 all tangible form1 and so1 an unfed    
lamp1 must at last burn itself down to  
the stage of life and sensation which   
breeds those latter loves4 ,the babe    
that is born a boy1 often painfully     
begot and joyfully brought forth1 ,i    
take to signify human genius or         
intellect1 which none can touch and not 
be consumed except the woman old1 faith 
or fear3 all weaker things1 pain and    
pleasure1 hatred and love1 fly with     
shrieking averted faces from before it4 
,the grey and cruel nurse1 custom or    
religion1 crucifies and torments the    
child1 feeding herself upon his agony to
 false fresh youth2 an allegory not even
 literally inapt4 ,grown older1 and     
seeing her made fair with his blood and 
strong by his suffering1 he weds her1   
and constrains her to do him service1   
and turns her to use2 custom1 the daily 
life of men1 once married to the fresh  
intellect1 bears fruit to him of profit 

and pleasure1 and becomes through him   
nobler than she was2 but through such   
union he grows old the sooner1 soon can 
but wander round and look over his      
finished work and gathered treasure1 the
 tragic passions and splendid           
achievements of his spirit1 kept fresh  
in verse or colour2 which he deals to   
all men alike1 giving to the poorest of 
this divine meat and drink1 the body and
 the blood of genius1 caught in golden  
vessels of art and rhyme1 that sight and
 hearing may be fed4 ,this1 the supreme 
and most excellent delight possible to  
man1 is the fruit of his pain2 of his   
suffering at the hands of life1 of his  
union with her as with a bride4 ,the    
female#de babe sprung from the fire that
 burns always on his hearth1 is the     
issue or result of genius1 which1 being 
too strong for the father1 flows into   
new channels and follows after fresh    
ways2 the thing which he has brought    
forth knows him no more1 but must choose
 its own mate or living form of         

expression1 and expel the former        
nature--casting off 7as theologians say7
 the old man4 ,the outcast intellect can
 then be vivified only by a new love1 or
 by a new aim of which love is the type2
 a bride unlike the first1 who was old  
at root and in substance1 young only in 
seeming and fair only through cruel     
theft of his own life and strength2     
unlike also the art which has now in its
 ultimate expression turned against him2
 love which can change the face of      
former things and scatter in sunder the 
gatherings of former friends2 love which
 masters the senses and transfigures the
 creatures of the earthly life1 leaving 
no light or sustenance but what comes of
 itself4 ,then follow the stages of     
love1 and the phases of action and      
passion bred from either stage2 of these
 we have already taken account4 ,if this
 view of the poem be wholly or partially
 correct1 then we may roughly sum up the
 problem by saying that its real        
obscurity arises in the main from a     

verbal confusion between the passion of 
art and the passion of love4 ,these are 
always spoken of by ,blake in terms     
which prove that in his nature the two  
feelings had actually grown into each   
other2 had become interfused past all   
chance of mutual extrication4 ,art was  
to him as a lust of the body2 appetite  
as an emotion of the soul4 ,this saying1
 true as to some extent it must be of   
all great men1 was never so exclusively 
and finally true of any other man as of 
this one4 ,it is no bad sample of       
,blake's hurried manner of speech1 that 
having sustained half-way through his   
poem an allegory of intellect in its    
relations to art and to common life1 he 
should suddenly stumble over a type of  
his own setting up1 and be led off into 
a new allegory of love which might      
better have made a separate poem4 ,as it
 is1 the two symbols are welded together
 not without strength and cunning of    
hand4  ,some further and final notice   
may here be taken of the manifold       

designs scattered about the ,,ms4 pages 
which we have found so prodigal of      
verse4 ,among the most curious of these 
we rank a series of drawings not quite  
so roughly pencilled as the rest1 each  
inscribed with a brief text or metrical 
motto4 ,many of these have been wrought 
up into the ,gates of ,paradise2 many   
more remain to speak and shift for      
themselves as they may4#df ,published as
 it stands here1 the series would exceed
 in length the whole of that little     
book3 and there is evidently some thread
 of intended connexion between all1 worn
 thin and all but broken4 ,they are     
numbered in a different order from that 
in which they stand1 which is indeed    
plainly a matter of chance4 ,several    
have great grace and beauty2 one in     
especial1 where ,daphne passes into the 
laurel2 her feet are roots already and  
grasp the ground with strong writhing   
fibres2 her lifted arms and wrestling   
body struggle into branch and stem1 with
 strange labour of the supple limbs1    

with agony of convulsed and loosening   
hair4 ,one of the larger designs seems  
to be a rough full-length study for     
,adam and ,eve1 with these lines        
opposite by way of suggested epigraph3  
,what is it men in women do require8    
,the lineaments of gratified desire4    
,what is it women do in men require8    
,the lineaments of gratified desire4    
,these are barely to be recognised in   
the crude sketch3 the faces are merely  
serious and rather grim3 though designed
 to reproduce the sweet silence of      
beauty1 filling features made fair with 
soft natural pleasure and a clear calm  
of soul and body4 ,there is however a   
certain grace and nobility of form in   
the straight limbs and flowing hair1 not
 unworthy the typical man and woman4    
,another design which deserves remark is
 a fine sketch after the manner of the  
illustrations to ,blake's prophecies1 in
 which a figure caught in the fierce    
slanting current of a whirlwind is      
drifted sideways like a drowning swimmer

 under sea1 below the orbit of three    
mingling suns or planets seen above     
thick drifts of tempestuous air4 ,other 
and better notices than ours1 of various
 studies hidden away in the chaos of    
this ,,ms41 the reader will find on     
reference to that admirable ,catalogue  
which will remain always the great      
witness for ,blake's genius before the  
eyes of all who read his life4  ,we have
 done now with the lyrical side of this 
poet's work1#dg and pass on to things of
 less direct attraction4 ,those who have
 found any in the record of his life and
 character1 the study of his qualities  
and abilities1 may safely follow him    
further4 ,the perfect sweetness and     
sufficiency of his best lyrics and his  
best designs1 we may not find2 of these 
we take now farewell1 with thanks and   
final praise such as we have to give2   
but we shall not fail to find the traces
 of a great art and an exalted spirit1  
to feel about us the clear air of a     
great man's presence4     ,,iii4--,,the 

,,prophetic ,,books4   ,before entering 
upon any system of remark or comment on 
the ,prophetic ,books1 we may set down  
in as few and distinct words as possible
 the reasons which make this a thing    
seriously worth doing2 nay1 even        
requisite to be done1 if we would know  
rather the actual facts of the man's    
nature than the circumstances and       
accidents of his life4 ,now1 first of   
all1 we are to recollect that ,blake    
himself regarded these works as his     
greatest1 and as containing the sum of  
his achieved ambitions and fulfilled    
desires3 as in effect inspired matter1  
of absolute imaginative truth and       
eternal import4 ,we shall not again     
pause to rebut the familiar cry of      
response1 to the effect that he was mad 
and not accountable for the uttermost   
madness of error4 ,it must be enough to 
reply here that he was by no means mad1 
in any sense that would authorise us in 
rejecting his own judgment of his own   
aims and powers on a plea which would be

 held insufficient in another man's     
case4 ,let all readers and all critics  
get rid of that notion for good--clear  
their minds of it utterly and with all  
haste2 let them know and remember1      
having once been told it1 that in these 
strangest of all written books there is 
purpose as well as power1 meaning as    
well as mystery4 ,doubtless1 nothing    
quite like them was ever pitched out    
headlong into the world as they were4   
,the confusion1 the clamour1 the jar of 
words that half suffice and thoughts    
that half exist--all these and other    
more absolutely offensive               
qualities--audacity1 monotony1 bombast1 
obscure play of licence and tortuous    
growth of fancy--cannot quench or even  
wholly conceal the living purport and   
the imperishable beauty which are here  
latent4  ,and secondly we are to        
recollect this2 that these books are not
 each a set of designs with a text made 
by order to match1 but are each a poem  
composed for its own sake and with its  

own aim1 having illustrations arranged  
by way of frame or appended by way of   
ornament4 ,on all grounds1 therefore1   
and for all serious purpose1 such       
notices as some of those given in this  
biography are actually worse than       
worthless4 ,better have done nothing    
than have done this and no more4 ,all   
the criticism included as to the        
illustrative parts merely1 is final and 
faultless1 nothing missed and nothing   
wrong2 this could not have been         
otherwise1 the work having fallen under 
hands and eyes of practical taste and   
trained to actual knowledge1 and the    
assertions being therefore issued by    
authority4 ,so much otherwise has it    
fared with the books themselves1 that   
7we are compelled in this case to say   
it7 the clothes are all right and the   
body is all wrong4 ,passing from some   
phrase of high and accurate eulogy to   
the raw ragged extracts here torn away  
and held up with the unhealed scars of  
mutilation fresh and red upon them1 what

 is any human student to think of the   
poet or his praisers8 what1 of the      
assertion of his vindicated sanity with 
such appalling counterproof thrust under
 one's eyes8 ,in a word1 it must be said
 of these notices of ,blake's prophetic 
books#dh 7except perhaps that           
insufficient but painstaking and        
well-meant chapter on the ,marriage of  
,heaven and ,hell7 that what has been   
done should not have been done1 and what
 should have been done has not been     
done4  ,not that the thing was easy to  
do4 ,if any one would realize to himself
 for ever a material notion of chaos1   
let him take a blind header into the    
midst of the whirling foam and rolling  
weed of this sea of words4 ,indeed the  
sound and savour of these prophecies    
constantly recall some such idea or some
 such memory4 ,this poetry has the huge 
various monotonies1 the fervent and     
fluent colours1 the vast limits1 the    
fresh sonorous strength1 the certain    
confusion and tumultuous law1 the sense 

of windy and weltering space1 the       
intense refraction of shadow or light1  
the crowded life and inanimate          
intricacy1 the patience and the passion 
of the sea4 ,by no manner of argument or
 analysis will one be made able to look 
back or forward with pure confidence and
 comprehension4 ,only there are laws1   
strange as it must sound1 by which the  
work is done and against which it never 
sins4 ,the biographer once attempts to  
settle the matter by asserting that     
,blake was given to contradict himself1 
by mere impulse if not by brute         
instinct1 to such an extent that        
consistency is in no sense to be sought 
for or believed in throughout these     
works of his3 and quotes1 by way of     
ratifying this quite false notion1 a    
noble sentence from the ,proverbs of    
,hell1 aimed by ,blake with all his     
force against that obstinate adherence  
to one external opinion which closes and
 hardens the spirit against all further 
message from the new-grown feelings or  

inspiration from the altering           
circumstances of a man4 ,never was there
 an error more grave or more complete   
than this4 ,the expression shifts       
perpetually1 the types blunder into new 
forms1 the meaning tumbles into new     
types2 the purpose remains1 and the     
faith keeps its hold4  ,there are       
certain errors and eccentricities of    
manner and matter alike common to nearly
 all these books1 and distinctly        
referable to the character and training 
of the man4 ,not educated in any regular
 or rational way1 and by nature of an   
eagerly susceptible and intensely       
adhesive mind1 in which the lyrical     
faculty had gained and kept a           
preponderance over all others visible in
 every scrap of his work1 he had        
saturated his thoughts and kindled his  
senses with a passionate study of the   
forms of the ,bible as translated into  
,english1 till his fancy caught a       
feverish contagion and his ear derived a
 delirious excitement from the mere     

sound and shape of the written words and
 verses4 ,hence the quaint and fervent  
imitation of style1 the reproduction of 
peculiarities which to most men are     
meaningless when divested of their old  
sense or invested with a new4 ,hence the
 bewildering catalogues1 genealogies1   
and divisions which 7especially in such 
later books as the ,jerusalem7 seem at  
first invented only to strike any       
miserable reader with furious or        
lachrymose lunacy4 ,hence1 though heaven
 knows by no fault of the originals1 the
 insane cosmogony1 blatant mythology1   
and sonorous aberration of thoughts and 
theories4 ,hence also much of the       
special force and supreme occasional    
loveliness or grandeur in expression4   
,conceive a man incomparably gifted as  
to the spiritual side of art1 prone     
beyond all measure to the lyrical form  
of work1 incredibly contemptuous of all 
things and people dissimilar to himself1
 of an intensely sensitive imagination  
and intolerant habit of faith1 with a   

passionate power of peculiar belief1    
taking with all his might of mental     
nerve and strain of excitable spirit to 
a perusal and reperusal of such books as
 ,job and ,ezekiel4 ,observe too that   
his tone of mind was as far from being  
critical as from being orthodox4 ,thus  
his ecstacy of study was neither on the 
one side tempered and watered down by   
faith in established forms and external 
creeds1 nor on the other side modified  
and directed by analytic judgment and   
the lust of facts4 ,to ,blake either    
form of mind was alike hateful4 ,like   
the ,moses of ,rabbinical tradition1 he 
was drunken with the kisses of the lips 
of ,god4 ,rational deism and clerical   
religion were to him two equally        
abhorrent incarnations of the same evil 
spirit1 appearing now as negation and   
now as restriction4 ,he wanted supremacy
 of freedom with intensity of faith4    
,hence he was properly neither          
,christian nor infidel3 he was          
emphatically a heretic4 ,such men1      

according to the temper of the times1   
are burnt as demoniacs or pitied as     
lunatics4 ,he believed in redemption by 
,christ1 and in the incarnation of      
,satan as ,jehovah4 ,he believed that by
 self-sacrifice the soul should attain  
freedom and victorious deliverance from 
bodily bondage and sexual servitude2 and
 also that the extremest fullness of    
indulgence in such desire and such      
delight as the senses can aim at or     
attain was absolutely good1 eternally   
just1 and universally requisite4 ,these 
opinions1 and stranger than these1 he   
put forth in the cloudiest style1 the   
wilfullest humour1 and the stormiest    
excitement4 ,no wonder the world let his
 books drift without caring to inquire  
what gold or jewels might be washed up  
as waifs from the dregs of churned foam 
and subsiding surf4 ,he was the very man
 for fire and faggot2 a mediaeval       
inquisitor would have had no more doubt 
about him than a materialist or         
theophilanthropist of his own day or of 

ours4  ,a wish is expressed in the ,life
 that we could accompany the old man who
 appears entering an open door1 star in 
hand1 at the beginning of the           
,jerusalem1 and thread by his light     
those infinite dark passages and        
labyrinthine catacombs of invention or  
thought4 ,in default of that desirable  
possibility1 let us make such way as we 
can for ourselves into this submarine   
world1 along its slippery and unpaven   
ways1 under its roof of hollow sound and
 tumbling storm4    ,we shall see1 while
 above us   ,the waves roar and whirl1  
,a ceiling of amber1   ,a pavement of   
pearl4  ,at the entrance of the         
labyrinth we are met by huge mythologic 
figures1 created of fire and cloud4     
,titans of monstrous form and yet more  
monstrous name obstruct the ways2       
sickness or sleep never formed such     
savage abstractions1 such fierce        
vanities of vision as these3 office and 
speech they seem at first to have none3 
but to strike or clutch at the void of  

air with feeble fingers1 to babble with 
vast lax lips a dialect barren of all   
but noise1 loud and loose as the wind4  
,slowly they grow into something of     
shape1 assume some foggy feature and    
indefinite colour3 word by word the     
fluctuating noise condenses into music1 
the floating music divides into audible 
notes and scales4 ,the sound which at   
first was as the mere collision of cloud
 with cloud is now the recognizable     
voice of god or demon4 ,chaos is cloven 
into separate elements2 air divides from
 water1 and earth releases fire4 ,upon  
each of these the prophet1 as it were1  
lays hand1 compelling the thing into    
shape and speech1 constraining the      
abstract to do service as a man might4  
,these and such as these make up the    
personal staff or executive body of his 
prophecies4 ,but it would be waste of   
time to conjecture how or why he came to
 inflict upon them such incredible      
names4 ,these hapless energies and      
agencies are not simply cast into the   

house of allegoric bondage1 and set to  
make bricks without straw1 to construct 
symbols without reason2 but find        
themselves baptized with muddy water and
 fitful fire1 by names inconceivable1   
into a church full of storm and vapour2 
regenerated with a vengeance1 but       
disembodied and disfigured in their     
resurrection4 ,space fell into sleep1   
and awoke as ,enitharmon3 ,time suffered
 eclipse1 and came forth as ,los4 ,the  
,christ or ,prometheus of this faith is 
,orc or ,fuzon2 ,urizen takes the place 
of ,jehovah1 ,jove1 or ,lord4 ,hardly in
 such chaotic sounds can one discern the
 slightest element of reason gone mad1  
the narrowest channel of derivation run 
dry4 ,in this last word1 one of         
incessant recurrence1 there seems to    
flicker a thin reminiscence of such     
names as ,uranus1 ,uriel1 and perhaps   
,urien2 for the deity has a diabolic    
savour in him1 and ,blake was not       
incapable of mixing the ,hellenic1 the  
,miltonic1 and the ,celtic mythologies  

into one drugged and adulterated        
compound4 ,he had read much and blindly2
 he had no leaning to verbal accuracy1  
and never acquired any faculty of       
comparison4 ,any sound that in the      
dimmest way suggested to him a notion of
 hell or heaven1 of passion or power1   
was significant enough to adopt and     
register4 ,commentary was impossible to 
him3 if his work could not be           
apprehended or enjoyed by an instinct of
 inspiration like his own1 it was lost  
labour to dissect or expound2 and here1 
if ever1 translation would have been    
treason4 ,he took the visions as they   
came2 he let the words lie as they fell4
 ,these barbarous and blundering names  
are not always without a certain kind of
 melody and an uncertain sort of        
meaning4 ,such as they are1 they must be
 endured2 or the whole affair must be   
tossed aside and thrown up4 ,over these 
clamorous kingdoms of speech and dream  
some few ruling forces of supreme       
discord preside3 and chiefly the lord of

 the world of man2 ,urizen1 ,god of     
cloud and star1 ,father of jealousy1    
clothed with a splendour of shadow1     
strong and sad and cruel2 his planet    
faintly glimmers and slowly revolves1 a 
horror in heaven2 the night is a part of
 his thought1 rain and wind are in the  
passage of his feet2 sorrow is in all   
his works2 he is the maker of mortal    
things1 of the elements and sexes2 in   
him are incarnate that jealousy which   
the ,hebrews acknowledged and that envy 
which the ,greeks recognized in the     
divine nature2 in his worship faith     
remains one with fear4 ,star and cloud1 
the types of mystery and distance1 of   
cold alienation and heavenly jealousy1  
belong of right to the ,god who grudges 
and forbids3 even as the spirit of      
revolt is made manifest in fiery        
incarnation--pure prolific fire1 the    
cold loins of ,urizen dividing4 ,these  
two symbols of cruel fear or starry     
jealousy in the divine tyrant1 of ardent
 love or creative lust in the rebellious

 saviour of man1 pervade the mystical   
writings of ,blake4 ,orc1 the man-child1
 with hair and flesh like fire1 son of  
,space and ,time1 a terror and a wonder 
from the hour of his birth1 containing  
within himself the likeness of all      
passions and appetites of men1 is cast  
out from before the face of heaven2 and 
falling upon earth1 a stronger ,vulcan  
or ,satan1 fills with his fire the      
narrowed foreheads and the darkened eyes
 of all that dwell thereon2 imprisoned  
often and fed from vessels of iron with 
barren food and bitter drink1#di a      
wanderer or a captive upon earth1 he    
shall rise again when his fire has      
spread through all lands to inflame and 
to infect with a strong contagion the   
spirit and the sense of man1 and shall  
prevail against the law and the         
commandments of his enemy4 ,this endless
 myth of oppression and redemption1 of  
revelation and revolt1 runs through many
 forms and spills itself by strange     
straits and byways among the sands and  

shallows of prophetic speech4 ,but in   
these books there is not the substantial
 coherence of form and reasonable unity 
of principle which bring within scope of
 apprehension even the wildest myths    
grown out of unconscious idealism and   
impulsive tradition4 ,a single man's    
work1 however exclusively he may look to
 inspiration for motive and material1   
must always want the breadth and variety
 of meaning1 the supple beauty of       
symbol1 the infectious intensity of     
satisfied belief1 which grow out of     
creeds and fables native to the spirit  
of a nation1 yet peculiar to no man or  
sect1 common yet sacred1 not invented or
 constructed1 but found growing and kept
 fresh with faith4 ,but for all the     
dimness and violence of expression which
 pervert and darken the mythology of    
these attempts at gospel1 they have     
qualities great enough to be worth      
finding out4 ,only let none conceive    
that each separate figure in the        
swarming and noisy life of this populous

 daemonic creation has individual       
meaning and vitality4 ,blake was often  
taken off his feet by the strong        
currents of fancy1 and indulged1 like a 
child during its first humour of        
invention1 in wild byplay and erratic   
excesses of simple sound2 often lost his
 way in a maze of wind-music1 and       
transcribed as it were with eyes closed 
and open ears the notes caught by chance
 as they drifted across the dream of his
 subdued senses4 ,alternating between   
lyrical invention and gigantic allegory1
 it is hard to catch and hold him down  
to any form or plan4 ,at one time we    
have mere music1 chains of ringing      
names1 scattered jewels of sound without
 a thread1 tortuous network of harmonies
 without a clue2 and again we have      
passages1 not always unworthy of an     
,aeschylean chorus1 full of fate and    
fear2 words that are strained wellnigh  
in sunder by strong significance and    
earnest passion2 words that deal greatly
 with great things1 that strike deep and

 hold fast2 each inclusive of some      
fierce apocalypse or suggestive of some 
obscure evangel4 ,now the matter in hand
 is touched with something of an epic   
style2 the narrative and characters lose
 half their hidden sense1 and the       
reciter passes from the prophetic tripod
 to the seat of a common singer2 mere   
names1 perhaps not even musical to other
 ears than his1 allure and divert him2  
he plays with stately cadences1 and lets
 the wind of swift or slow declamation  
steer him whither it will4 ,now again he
 falls with renewed might of will to his
 purpose2 and his grand lyrical gift    
becomes an instrument not sonorous      
merely but vocal and articulate4 ,to    
readers who can but once take their     
stand for a minute on the writer's      
footing1 look for a little with his eyes
 and listen with his ears1 even the more
 incoherent cadences will become not    
undelightful2 something of his pleasure1
 with something of his perception1 will 
pass into them2 and understanding once  

the main gist of the whole fitful and   
high-strung tune1 they will tolerate1   
where they cannot enjoy1 the strange    
diversities and discords which          
intervene4  ,among many notable         
eccentricities we have touched upon but 
two as yet2 the huge windy mythology of 
elemental daemons1 and the capricious   
passion for catalogues of random names1 
which make obscure and hideous so much  
of these books4 ,akin to these is the   
habit of seeing or assuming in things   
inanimate or in the several limbs and   
divisions of one thing1 separate forms  
of active and symbolic life4 ,this1 like
 many other of ,blake's habits1 grows   
and swells enormously by progressive    
indulgence4 ,at first1 as in ,thel1     
clouds and flowers1 clods and creeping  
things1 are given speech and sense2 the 
degree of symbolism is already          
excessive1 owing to the strength of     
expression and directness of dramatic   
vision peculiar to ,blake2 but in later 
books everything is given a soul to feel

 and a tongue to speak2 the very members
 of the body become spirits1 each a type
 of some spiritual state4 ,again1 in the
 prophecies of ,europe and ,america1    
there is more fable and less allegory1  
more overflow of lyrical invention1 more
 of the divine babble which sometimes   
takes the place of earthly speech or    
sense1 more vague emotion with less of  
reducible and amenable quality than in  
almost any of these poems4 ,in others1 a
 habit of mapping out and marking down  
the lines of his chaotic and ,titanic   
scenery has added to ,blake's other     
singularities of manner this above all1 
that side by side with the jumbled      
worlds of ,tharmas and ,urthona1 the    
whirling skies and plunging planets of  
,ololon and ,beulah1 the breathless     
student of prophecy encounters places   
and names absurdly familiar2 ,london    
streets and suburbs make up part of the 
mystic antediluvian world2 ,fulham and  
,lambeth1 ,kentish ,town and ,poland    
,street1 cross the courses and break the

 metres of the stars4 ,this apparent    
madness of final absurdity has also its 
root in the deepest and soundest part of
 ,blake's mind and faith4 ,in the       
meanest place as in the meanest man he  
beheld the hidden spirit and            
significance of which the flesh or the  
building is but a type4 ,if continents  
have a soul1 shall suburbs or lanes have
 less8 where life is1 shall not the     
spirit of life be there also8 ,europe   
and ,america are vital and significant2 
we mean by all names somewhat more than 
we know of2 for where there is anything 
visible or conceivable1 there is also   
some invisible and inconceivable thing4 
,this is but the rough grotesque result 
of the tenet that matter apart from     
spirit is non-existent4 ,launched once  
upon that theory1 ,blake never thought  
it worth while to shorten sail or tack  
about for fear of any rock or shoal4 ,it
 is inadequate and even inaccurate to   
say that he allotted to each place as to
 each world a presiding daemon or deity4

 ,he averred implicitly or directly1    
that each had a soul or spirit1 the     
quintessence of its natural life1       
capable of change but not of death2 and 
that of this soul the visible externals1
 though a native and actual part1 were  
only a part1 inseparable as yet but     
incomplete4 ,thus whenever1 to his      
misfortune and ours1 he stumbles upon   
the proper names of terrene men and     
things1 he uses these names as          
signifying not the sensual form or body 
but the spirit which he supposed to     
animate these1 to speak in them and work
 through them4 ,in ,america the names of
 liberators1 in ,jerusalem the names of 
provinces1 have no separate local or    
mundane sense whatever2 throughout the  
prophecies ,albion is the mythical and  
typical fatherland of human life1 much  
what the ,east might seem to other men3 
and by way of making this type actual   
and prominent enough1 ,blake seizes upon
 all possible divisions of the modern   
visible ,england in town or country1 and

 turns them in his loose symbolic way   
into minor powers and serving spirits4  
,that he was wholly unconscious of the  
intolerably laughable effect we need not
 believe4 ,he had all the delight in    
laying snares and giving offence1 which 
is proper to his kind4 ,he had all the  
confidence in his own power and right to
 do such things and to get over the     
doing of them which accompanies in such 
men the subtle humour of scandalizing4  
,and unfortunately he had not by        
training1 perhaps not by nature1 the    
conscience which would have reminded him
 that whether or not an artist may      
allowably play with all other things in 
heaven and earth1 one thing he must     
certainly not play with2 the material   
forms of art3 that levity and violence  
are here prohibited under grave         
penalties4 ,allowing however for this1  
we may notice that in the wildest       
passages of these books ,blake merely   
carries into strange places or throws   
into strange shapes such final theories 

as in the dialect of calmer and smaller 
men have been accounted not             
unreasonable4  ,further preface or help1
 however loudly the subject might seem  
to call for it1 we have not in this     
place to give2 and indeed more words    
would possibly not bring with them more 
light4 ,what was explicable we have     
endeavoured to explain2 to suggest where
 a hint was profitable2 to prepare where
 preparation was feasible3 but many     
voices might be heard crying in this    
wilderness before the paths were made   
straight4 ,the pursuivant would grow    
hoarse and the outrider saddle-sick long
 before the great man's advent2 and for 
these offices we have no further taste  
or ability4 ,those who will may now1    
with what furtherance they have here1   
follow us through some brief revision of
 each book in its order4#ej             
,illustration3 ,,the ,,book of ,,thel   
,the ,author  ,printer ,willm ,blake4   
#aghi4   ,the ,book of ,thel1 first in  
date and simplest in tone of the        

prophecies1 requires less comment than  
the others4 ,this poem is as the one    
sister1 feeblest if also fairest1 among 
that ,titanic brotherhood of books4 ,it 
has the clearness and sweetness of      
spring-water2 they have in their lips   
the speech1 in their limbs the pulses of
 the sea4 ,in this book1 as in the      
illustrations to ,blair1 the poet       
attempts to comfort life through death2 
to assuage by spiritual hope the fleshly
 fear of man4 ,the shining woman1       
youngest and mortal daughter of the     
angels of ,god1 leaving her sisters to  
tend the flocks and close the folds of  
the stars1 fills herself with the images
 of perishable things2 she feeds upon   
the sorrow that comes of beauty1 the    
heathen weariness of heart1 that is sick
 of life because death will come1 seeing
 how our little life is rounded with a  
sleep4 ,let all these things go1 for    
they are mortal2 but if ,i die with the 
flowers1 let me also die as they die4   
,this is the end of all things1 to      

sleep2 but let me fall asleep softly1   
not without the lulling sound of ,god's 
voice audible in my ears4 ,the flower   
makes answer2 does ,god not care for the
 least of these8 they shall not die1    
they shall all be changed4 ,she answers 
again2 the flower is serviceable to     
,god's creatures1 giving food to the    
pasturing lambs and flavour to the honey
 of the gleaning bees3 but her beauty is
 barren as a lighted cloud's2 wherefore 
should she live8 ,she is bidden to seek 
counsel then of the cloud2 and of him   
she asks the secret of his glad         
ephemeral life2 for she1 not less       
ephemeral1 has no such joy of her life4 
,here again she is shown that life and  
permanence are twain2 the cloud has     
drunk at the springs of the sun1 whence 
all hours are renewed2 and shall not die
 though he pass away2 for his falling   
drops find out the living flowers1 and  
are wedded to the dew in these2 and they
 are made one before the sun1 and kept  
alive to feed other flowers3 and all    

these are as women and men1 having souls
 and senses1 capable of love and prayer4
 ,but she answers1 that of her fair body
 no cloud or bird gets food1 but the    
worm only2 why should anything survive  
of her who has been helpful to nothing8 
,the worm therefore is called to        
witness2 and appears in an infant's     
likeness1 inarticulate1 naked1 weeping2 
but upon it too the divine earth has    
mercy1 and the clay finds a voice to    
speak for it2 this likewise is not the  
sad unprofitable thing it seems2 for the
 very earth1 baser and liker death than 
the least thing bred of it1 is the bride
 of ,god1 a fruitful mother of all his  
children4 ,we live not for ourselves2   
else indeed were earth and the worm of  
earth things mournful and fruitless4    
,the secret of creation is sacrifice2   
the very act of growth is a sacrament3  
and through this eternal generation in  
which one life is given for another and 
shed into new veins of existence1 each  
thing is redeemed from perpetual death  

by perpetual change4 ,this secret once  
made evident to ,thel1 her fear is in a 
measure removed2 for the very deathbed  
of earth in which she must lie is now   
revealed as a mother's bosom1 warm and  
giving warmth1 living and prodigal of   
life4 ,that ,god would care for the     
least thing he made she knew always2 but
 now knows also that in the least thing 
there is something of ,god's life       
infused1 which makes it substantially   
imperishable4 ,so far one may say the   
poem is as fluent and translucent as the
 merest sermon on faith1 hope1 and      
charity could well be3 and not less     
inoffensive4 ,the earth1 who has        
overheard and gathered up all the       
flitting sighs of this unwedded ,eve1   
now unveils to her the mysteries of the 
body1 bred in the grave whither all     
sorrows tend and whence all tears arise4
 ,the forces of material nature give way
 before her2 passing to her own grave1  
she hears thence a voice lamenting over 
the nature of all the senses1 their     

sweet perilous gifts and strange limits1
 and all their offices which fill and   
discolour the days of mortal life4 ,to  
this1 the question lying at the root of 
life and under the shadow of death1     
nothing makes answer2 as though no word 
spoken upon earth or under could explain
 the marvel of the flesh1 the infinite  
beauty and delight of it1 the infinite  
subtlety and danger2 its prodigalities  
and powers1 its wide capacity and utter 
weakness4 ,set face to face with this   
bodily mystery1 and affrighted at the   
sudden nakedness of natural life1 the   
soul recoils2 and ,thel regains the     
common air and quiet light of earth4    
,such1 cut short and melted down1 is the
 purport of this poem3 a prophecy as    
literally as any other of ,blake's1     
being professedly an inspired exposition
 of material things2 for none of course 
pretend to be prophecies in the         
inaccurate and vulgar sense of          
prediction4 ,it is full of small sweet  
details1 bright and soft as summer      

grass1 regular to monotony in its       
cadence until the last division1 where  
the tone suddenly strengthens and       
deepens4 ,there and not for the last    
time the strong imagination of ,blake   
wrestles with the great questions of    
physical life1 constraining the mute    
rebellious flesh as in a fervent and    
strenuous grasp of spirit1 if perchance 
it will yield up the heart of its       
mystery4 ,throughout the book his       
extreme and feminine tenderness of faith
 speaks more softly and shows a simpler 
face than elsewhere4 ,one might almost  
say that ,thel had overmuch of this     
gracious and delicate beauty2 that the  
intense faith and compassion which thus 
animate all matter give a touch of      
almost dubious and effeminate sweetness 
to the thought and style4 ,not however  
justly2 for there is a firm body of     
significance in the poem1 and the soft  
light leaves in which the fruit lies    
wrapped are solid as well as sweet4  ,it
 is well worth while to compare any     

average copy of ,thel with the smaller  
volume of designs now in the ,british   
,museum1 which reproduces among others  
the main illustrations of this book4    
,the clear1 sweet1 pallid colour of the 
fainter version will then serve to throw
 into full effect the splendour of the  
more finished work4 ,especially in the  
separate copy of the frontispiece1 the  
sovereignty of colour and glorious grace
 of workmanship double and treble its   
original beauty2 give new light and new 
charm to the fervent heaven1 to the     
bowing figure of the girl1 to the broad 
cloven blossoms whose flickering and    
sundering petals release the bright     
leaping forms of loving spirits1        
raindrop and dewdrop wedded before the  
sun2 and again1 where ,thel sees the    
worm in likeness of a new-born child1   
the colours of tree and leaf and sky are
 of a more excellent and lordly beauty  
than in any copy known to me of the book
 itself2 though in all good copies these
 designs appear full of great and       

gracious qualities4 ,of the book of     
designs here referred to more must not  
now be said2 not even of the twelfth    
plate where the mother-goddess and her  
fiery first-born child exult with flying
 wingless limbs through splendid spaces 
of the infinite morning1 coloured here  
like opening flowers and there like     
climbing fire1 where all the light and  
all the wind of heaven seem to unite in 
fierce gladness as of a supreme embrace 
and exultation2 for to these better     
praise than ours has been already given 
at p4 #cgd of the ,life1 in words of    
choice and incomparable sufficiency1 not
 less bright and sweet1 significant and 
subtle1 than the most tender or perfect 
of the designs described4               
,illustration3 ,,the ,,marriage of      
,,heaven and ,,hell4   ,in #agij ,blake 
produced the greatest of all his books2 
a work indeed which we rank as about the
 greatest produced by the eighteenth    
century in the line of high poetry and  
spiritual speculation4 ,the ,marriage of

 ,heaven and ,hell gives us the         
high-water mark of his intellect4 ,none 
of his lyrical writings show the same   
sustained strength and radiance of mind2
 none of his other works in verse or    
prose give more than a hint here and a  
trace there of the same harmonious and  
humorous power1 of the same choice of   
eloquent words1 the same noble command  
and liberal music of thought2 small     
things he could often do perfectly1 and 
great things often imperfectly2 here for
 once he has written a book as perfect  
as his most faultless song1 as great as 
his most imperfect rhapsody4 ,his fire  
of spirit fills it from end to end2 but 
never deforms the body1 never singes the
 surface of the work1 as too often in   
the still noble books of his later life4
 ,across the flicker of flame1 under the
 roll and roar of water1 which seem to  
flash and to resound throughout the     
poem1 a stately music1 shrill now as    
laughter and now again sonorous as a    
psalm1 is audible through shifting notes

 and fitful metres of sound4 ,the book  
swarms with heresies and eccentricities2
 every sentence bristles with some      
paradox1 every page seethes with blind  
foam and surf of stormy doctrine2 the   
humour is of that fierce grave sort1    
whose cool insanity of manner is more   
horrible and more obscure to the        
,philistine than any sharp edge of      
burlesque or glitter of irony2 it is    
huge1 swift1 inexplicable2 hardly       
laughable through its enormity of       
laughter1 hardly significant through its
 condensation of meaning2 but as true   
and thoughtful as the greatest          
humourist's4 ,the variety and audacity  
of thoughts and words are incomparable3 
not less so their fervour and beauty4   
,no bird soars too high if he soars with
 his own wings4 ,this proverb might     
serve as motto to the book3 it is one of
 many ,proverbs of ,hell1 as forcible   
and as finished4  ,it was part of       
,blake's humour to challenge            
misconception1 conscious as he was of   

power to grapple with it3 to blow dust  
in their eyes who were already          
sandblind1 to strew thorns under their  
feet who were already lame4 ,those whom 
the book in its present shape would     
perplex and repel he knew it would not  
in any form have attracted2 and how such
 readers may fare is no concern of such 
writers2 nor in effect need it be4      
,aware that he must at best offend a    
little1 he did not fear to offend much4 
,to measure the exact space of safety1  
to lay down the precise limits of       
offence1 was an office neither to his   
taste nor within his power4 ,those who  
try to clip or melt themselves down to  
the standard of current feeling1 to     
sauce and spice their natural fruits of 
mind with such condiments as may take   
the palate of common opinion1 deserve to
 disgust themselves and others alike4   
,it is hopeless to reckon how far the   
timid1 the perverse1 or the malignant   
irrelevance of human remarks will go2 to
 set bounds to the incompetence or      

devise landmarks for the imbecility of  
men4 ,blake's way was not the worst2 to 
indulge his impulse to the full and     
write what fell to his hand1 making sure
 at least of his own genius and natural 
instinct4 ,in this his greatest book he 
has at once given himself freer play and
 set himself to harder labour than      
elsewhere3 the two secrets of great     
work4 ,passion and humour are mixed in  
his writing like mist and light2 whom   
the light may scorch or the mist confuse
 it is not his part to consider4  ,in   
the prologue ,blake puts forth1 not     
without grandeur if also with an        
admixture of rant and wind1 a chief     
tenet of his moral creed4 ,once the ways
 of good and evil were clear1 not yet   
confused by laws and religions2 then    
humility and benevolence1 the endurance 
of peril and the fruitful labour of     
love1 were the just man's proper        
apanage2 behind his feet the desert     
blossomed2 by his toil and danger1 by   
his sweat and blood1 the desolate places

 were made rich and the dead bones      
clothed with flesh as the flesh of      
,adam4 ,now the hypocrite has come to   
reap the fruits1 to divide and gather   
and eat2 to drive forth the just man and
 to dwell in the paths which he found   
perilous and barren1 but left safe and  
fertile4 ,churches have cast out        
apostles2 creeds have rooted out faith4 
,henceforth anger and loneliness1 the   
divine indignation of spiritual exile1  
the salt bread of scorn and the bitter  
wine of wrath1 are the portion of the   
just man2 he walks with lions in the    
waste places1 not worth making fertile  
that others may reap and feed4 ,rintrah1
 the spirit presiding over this period1 
is a spirit of fire and storm2 darkness 
and famine1 wrath and want1 divide the  
kingdoms of the world4 ,prisons are     
built with stones of ,law2 brothels with
 bricks of ,religion4 ,as the           
caterpillar chooses the fairest leaves  
to lay her eggs on1 so the priest lays  
his curse on the fairest joys4 ,in a    

third proverb the view given of prayer  
is no less heretical2 ,as the plough    
follows words1 so ,god rewards prayers4 
,this was but the outcome or corollary  
of his main doctrine2 as what we have   
called his evangel of bodily liberty was
 but the fruit of his belief in the     
identity of body with soul4 ,the fear   
which restrains and the faith which     
refuses were things as ignoble as the   
hypocrisy which assumes or the humility 
which resigns4 ,veils and chains must be
 lifted and broken4 ,folly is the cloak 
of knavery2 shame is pride's cloak4     
,again2 ,he who desires but acts not    
breeds pestilence4 ,sooner murder an    
infant in its cradle than nurse unacted 
desires4 ,the doctrine of freedom could 
hardly run further or faster4           
,translated into rough practice1 and    
planted in a less pure soil than that of
 the writer's mind1 this philosophy     
might bring forth a strange harvest4    
,together with such width of moral      
pantheism as will hardly admit a tender 

curb1 leave a little curtain of flesh on
 the bed of our desire1 there is a      
vehemence of faith in divine wrath1 in  
the excellence of righteous anger and   
revenge1 to be outdone by no prophet or 
,puritan4 ,a dead body revenges not     
injuries4 ,sincerity and plain dealing  
at least are virtues not to be thrown   
over2 ,blake indeed could not conceive  
an impulse to mendacity1 a tortuous     
habit of mind1 a soul born crooked4     
,this one quality of falsehood remains  
damnable in his sight1 to be consumed   
with all that comes of it4 ,in man or   
beast or any other part of ,god he found
 no native taint or birthmark of this4  
,upon all else the divine breath and the
 divine hand are sensible and visible4  
,the pride of the peacock is the glory  
of ,god2   ,the lust of the goat is the 
bounty of ,god2   ,the wrath of the lion
 is the wisdom of ,god2   ,the nakedness
 of woman is the work of ,god4  ,all    
form and all instinct is sacred2 but no 
invention or device of man's4 ,all      

crafts and creeds of theirs are the     
serpent's meat3 and that a man should be
 born cruel and false is barely         
imaginable4 ,if the lion was advised by 
the fox he would be cunning4 ,such      
counsel was always wasted on the high   
clear spirit and stainless intellect of 
,blake4   ,illustration3 ,proverbs of   
,hell   ,we have given some of the most 
subtle and venturous ,proverbs of       
,hell--samples of their depth of        
doctrine and plainness of speech4 ,but  
even here ,blake rarely indulges in such
 excess and exposure4 ,there are jewels 
in this treasure-house neither set so   
roughly nor so sharply cut as these2    
they may be seen in the ,life1 taken out
 and reset1 so as to offend no customer4
 ,and these sayings must themselves be  
read by the light of ,blake's life and  
weighed against others of his words not 
less weighty than they4 ,apology shall  
now and always remain as far from us as 
it was in life from ,blake himself2 to  
excuse and to explain are different     

offices4 ,to plead for his acquittal on 
the base and foolish ground that he     
meant no harm1 knew not what he did1 had
 no design or desire to afflict or      
offend1 is no office for his counsel2   
who must strive at least to speak not   
less frankly and clearly than did ,blake
 when he could speak in his own cause4  
,neither have we to approve or condemn2 
but only to endeavour that we may see   
the right and deliver the truth as to   
this man and his life4 ,that ,i cannot  
live1 he says1 in the ,butts            
correspondence1 without doing my duty to
 lay up treasures in heaven1 is certain 
and determined1 and to this ,i have long
 made up my mind4 ,and why this should  
be made an objection to me1 while       
drunkenness1 lewdness1 gluttony1 and    
even idleness itself does not hurt other
 men1 let ,satan himself explain4 ,the  
thing ,i have most at heart--more than  
life1 or all that seems to make life    
comfortable without 7it7--is the        
interest of true religion and science4  

,his one fear is to omit any duty to my 
station as a soldier of ,christ2 a fear 
that gives him the greatest torments2   
for if our footsteps slide in clay1 how 
can we do otherwise than fear and       
tremble8 ,and such books as these were  
part of his spiritual taskwork4 ,from   
whencesoever the inspiration of them    
came1 inspiration it was and no         
invention4 ,he is content with that     
knowledge2 and if it please the hearer  
to call it diabolic1 diabolic it shall  
be4 ,if he has a devil1 he will make the
 most and the best of him4 ,if these    
things come from hell1 let us look to it
 and hold them fast1 that we may see    
what it is that divides hell from       
heaven4       ,as a new heaven is begun1
 and it is now thirty-three years since 
its      advent3 the ,eternal ,hell     
revives4 ,and lo6 ,swedenborg is the    
,angel      sitting at the tomb3 his    
writings are the linen clothes folded   
up4      ,now is the dominion of ,edom1 
and the return of ,adam into ,paradise2 

see ,isaiah xxxiv4 and xxxv4 chap4      
,without ,contraries is no progression4 
,attraction and ,repulsion1      ,reason
 and ,energy1 ,love and ,hate1 are      
necessary to ,human existence4          
,from these ,contraries spring what the 
religious call ,good and ,evil4         
,good is the passive that obeys ,reason4
       ,evil is the active springing    
from ,energy4       ,good is ,heaven4   
,evil is ,hell4        ,,the ,,voice    
,,of ,,the ,,devil4       ,all ,bibles  
or sacred codes have been the causes of 
the following      ,errors4       #a4   
,that man has two real existing         
principles--viz41 a ,body and a         
,soul4       #b4 ,that ,energy1 called  
,evil1 is alone from the ,body2 and that
      ,reason1 called ,good1 is alone   
from the ,soul4       #c4 ,that ,god    
will torment ,man in ,eternity for      
following his ,energies4       ,but the 
following contraries to these are ,true4
       #a4 ,man has no ,body distinct   
from his ,soul1 for that called ,body is

 a      portion of ,soul discerned by   
the five ,senses1 the chief inlets of   
,soul in this age4       #b4 ,energy is 
the only life1 and is from the ,body2   
and ,reason is the      bound or outward
 circumference of ,energy4       #c4    
,energy is ,eternal ,delight4           
,those who restrain desire to do so     
because theirs is weak enough to      be
 restrained2 and the restrainer1 or     
reason1 usurps its place and            
governs the unwilling4       ,and being 
restrained it by degrees becomes        
passive1 till it is only      the shadow
 of desire4       ,the history of this  
is written in ',paradise ,lost1' and the
 ,governor1      or ,reason1 is called  
,messiah4       ,and the original       
,archangel1 or possessor of the command 
of the      heavenly host1 is called the
 ,devil or ,satan1 and his children are 
called ,sin and ,death4       ,but in   
the ,book of ,job ,milton's ,messiah is 
called ,satan4       ,for this history  
has been adopted by both parties4       

,it indeed appeared to ,reason as if    
,desire was cast out2 but the           
,devil's account is1 that the ,messiah  
fell1 and formed a heaven of      what  
he stole from the ,abyss4       ,this is
 shewn in the ,gospel1 where he prays to
 the ,father to send      the comforter 
or ,desire1 that ,reason may have ,ideas
 to build on1 the      ,jehovah of the  
,bible being no other than he who dwells
 in flaming      fire4 ,know that after 
,christ's death1 he became ,jehovah4    
,but in ,milton the ,father is ,destiny1
 the ,son a ,ratio of the five          
,senses1 and the ,holy ,ghost1 ,vacuum4 
,,note4--,the reason ,milton wrote in   
fetters when he wrote of ,angels        
and ,god1 and at liberty when of ,devils
 and ,hell1 is because he was a         
true ,poet1 and of the ,devil's party   
without knowing it4  ,something of these
 high matters we have seen before1 and  
should now be able to allow for the     
subtle intricate fashion in which ,blake
 labours to invert the weapons of his   

antagonists upon themselves4 ,neither   
can the banns of marriage be published  
between heaven and hell with the voice  
of a parish clerk4 ,this prophet came to
 do what ,swedenborg his precursor had  
left undone1 being but the watchman by  
the empty sepulchre1 and his writings as
 the grave-clothes cast off by the risen
 ,christ4 ,blake's estimate of          
,swedenborg1 right or wrong1 was1 as we 
shall see1 distinct and consistent2 to  
this effect2 that his inspiration was   
limited and timid1 superficial and      
derivative2 that he was content with    
leaves and husks1 and had not the       
courage to examine the root and the     
kernel of things2 that he clove to the  
heaven and shrank from the hell of other
 men2 whereas1 to men in whom a new     
heaven is begun1 the one must not be    
terrible nor the other desirable4 ,to   
them the flaming fire wherein dwells a  
,god whom men call devil1 must seem a   
purer element of life than the starry   
and cloudy space wherein dwells a devil 

whom they call ,god4 ,it must be        
remembered that ,blake uses the current 
terms of religion1 now as types of his  
own peculiar faith1 now in the sense of 
ordinary preachers3 impugning therefore 
at one time what at another he will seem
 to vindicate4 ,vague and violent as    
this overture may appear1 it must be    
followed with care1 that the writer's   
intensity of spiritual faith may be     
hereafter kept in sight4 ,the senses1   
the chief inlets of soul in this age of 
brute doubt and brute belief1 are worthy
 only as parts of the soul4 ,this1 it   
cannot be too much repeated and insisted
 on1 this and no prurience of porcine   
appetite for rotten apples1 no vulgarity
 of porcine adoration for unctuous wash1
 is what lies at the root of ,blake's   
sensual doctrine4 ,let no reader now or 
ever forget1 that while others will     
admit nothing beyond the body1 the      
mystic will admit nothing outside the   
soul4 ,that the two extremes1 if reduced
 to hard practice1 might run round and  

meet1 not without lamentably curious    
consequences1 those may assert who will2
 it is none of our business to decide4  
,even granting that the result will be  
about equivalent if one man does for his
 soul's sake all that another would do  
for his body's sake1 we might plead that
 the difference of thought and eye      
between these two would remain great and
 important4 ,indulgence bracketed to    
faith and vivified by that vigorous     
contact with things divine is not 7we   
might say7 the same1 whether seen from  
the actual side of life or from the     
speculative1 as indulgence cut loose and
 left to decompose4 ,but these pleas we 
will leave the mystic to advance1 if it 
please him1 on his own behalf4       ,a 
,,memorable ,,fancy4       ,as ,i was   
walking among the fires of hell1        
delighted with the      enjoyments of   
,genius1 which to ,angels look like     
torment and insanity1      ,i collected 
some of their ,proverbs3 thinking that  
as the sayings used      in a nation    

mark its character1 so the ,proverbs of 
,hell show the      nature of the       
,infernal wisdom better than any        
description of      buildings or        
garments4 ,when ,i came home1 on the    
abyss of the five      senses1 where a  
flat-sided steep frowns over the present
 world1 ,i saw      a mighty ,devil     
folded in black clouds1 hovering on the 
sides of the      rock2 with corroding  
fires he wrote the following sentence1  
now      perceived by the minds of men1 
and read by them on earth3--            
',how do you know but ev'ry ,bird that  
cuts the airy way         ,is an immense
 world of delight1 clos'd by your senses
 five8'  ,here follow the ,proverbs of  
,hell1 which give us the quintessence   
and the most fine gold of ,blake's      
alembic4 ,each1 whether earnest or      
satirical1 slight or great in manner1 is
 full of that passionate wisdom and     
bright rapid strength proper to the step
 and speech of gods4 ,the simplest give 
us a measure of his energy1 as          

this3--,think in the morning1 act in the
 noon1 eat in the evening1 sleep in the 
night4 ,the highest have a light and    
resonance about them1 as though in      
effect from above or beneath2 a spirit  
which lifts thought upon the high levels
 of verse4  ,from the ensuing divisions 
of the book we shall give full extracts2
 for these detached sections have a     
grace and coherence which we shall not  
always find in ,blake2 and the crude    
excerpts given in the ,life are         
inadequate to help the reader much      
towards a clear comprehension of the    
main scheme4       ,the ancient ,poets  
animated all sensible objects with ,gods
 or      ,geniuses1 calling them by the 
names and adorning them with the        
properties of woods1 rivers1 mountains1 
lakes1 cities1 nations1 and             
whatever their enlarged and numerous    
senses could perceive4       ,and1      
particularly1 they studied the genius of
 each city and country1      placing it 
under its mental deity4       ,till a   

system was formed1 which some took      
advantage of and enslaved      the      
vulgar by attempting to realize or      
abstract the mental deities      from   
their objects3 thus began ,priesthood1  
,choosing forms of worship from poetic  
tales2       ,and at length they        
pronounced that the ,gods had ordered   
such things4       ,thus men forgot that
 ,all deities reside in the human       
breast4  ,from this we pass to higher   
tones of exposition4 ,the next passage  
is one of the clearest and keenest in   
the book1 full of faith and sacred      
humour1 none the less sincere for its   
dramatic form4 ,the subtle simplicity of
 expression is excellently subservient  
to the intricate force of thought4      
,a ,,memorable ,,fancy4       ,the      
,prophets ,isaiah and ,ezekiel dined    
with me1 and ,i asked them how      they
 dared so roundly to assert that ,god   
spoke to them2 and whether      they did
 not think at the time that they would  
be misunderstood1 and      so be the    

cause of imposition4       ,isaiah      
answered1 ',i saw no ,god1 nor heard    
any1 in a finite or      organical      
perception2 but my senses discovered the
 infinite in      everything1 and as ,i 
was then persuaded1 ,i remain confirmed1
 that the      voice of honest          
indignation is the voice of ,god4 ,i    
cared not for      consequences1 but    
wrote4'       ,then ,i asked1 ',does a  
firm persuasion that a thing is so1 make
 it      so8'       ,he replied1 ',all  
poets believe that it does1 and in ages 
of      imagination this firm persuasion
 removed mountains4 ,but many are not   
capable of a firm persuasion of         
anything4'       ,then ,ezekiel said1   
',the philosophy of the ,east taught the
 first      principles of human         
perception4 ,some nations held one      
principle for      the origin and some  
another4 ,we of ,israel taught that the 
,poetic      ,genius 7as you now call   
it7 was the first principle1 and all the
      others merely derivative1 which   

was the cause of our despising the      
,priests and ,philosophers of other     
countries1 and prophesying that all     
,gods would at last be proved to        
originate in ours1 and to be the        
tributaries of the ,poetic ,genius4 ,it 
was this that our great poet      ,king 
,david desired so fervently and invokes 
so pathetically1 saying      by this he 
conquers enemies and governs kingdoms2  
and we so loved      our ,god1 that we  
cursed in his name all the deities of   
surrounding      nations1 and asserted  
that they had rebelled2 from these      
opinions the      vulgar came to think  
that all nations would at last be       
subject to the      ,jews4              
',this1' said he1 'like all firm        
persuasions1 is come to pass1 for       
all nations believe the ,jews' code and 
worship the ,jews' ,god1 and      what  
greater subjection can be8'       ,i    
heard this with some wonder1 and must   
confess my own conviction4      ,after  
dinner1 ,i asked ,isaiah to favour the  

world with his lost works4      ,he said
 none of equal value was lost4          
,ezekiel said the same of his4       ,i 
also asked ,isaiah what made him go     
naked and barefoot three years8      ,he
 answered1 the same that made our friend
 ,diogenes the ,grecian4       ,i then  
asked ,ezekiel1 why he eat dung1 and lay
 so long on his right      and left     
side8 he answered1 the desire of raising
 other men into a      perception of the
 infinite4 ,this the ,north ,american   
tribes practise2      and is he honest  
who resists his genius or conscience1   
only for the      sake of present ease  
or gratification8  ,the doctrine of     
perception through not with the senses1 
beyond not in the organs1 as also of the
 absolute existence of things thus      
apprehended1 is again directly enforced 
in our next excerpt2 in praise of which 
we will say nothing1 but leave the words
 to burn their way in as they may4      
,the ancient tradition that the world   
will be consumed in fire at the      end

 of six thousand years is true1 as ,i   
have heard from ,hell4       ,for the   
cherub with his flaming sword is hereby 
commanded to leave      his guard at the
 tree of life2 and when he does1 the    
whole creation      will be consumed1   
and appear infinite and holy1 whereas it
 now      appears finite and corrupt4   
,this will come to pass by an           
improvement of sensual enjoyment4       
,but first the notion that man has a    
body distinct from his soul is      to  
be expunged2 this ,i shall do1 by       
printing in the infernal method1      by
 corrosives1 which in ,hell are salutary
 and medicinal1 melting      apparent   
surfaces away and displaying the        
infinite which was hid4       ,if the   
doors of perception were cleansed1      
everything would appear to      man as  
it is1 infinite4       ,for man has     
closed himself up1 till he sees all     
things through      narrow chinks of his
 cavern4  ,after which corrosive touch  
of revelation there follows a vision of 

knowledge2 first1 the human nature is   
cleansed and widened into shape1 then   
decorated1 then enlarged and built about
 with stately buildings for             
guest-chambers and treasure-houses2 then
 the purged metal of knowledge1 melted  
into form with divine violence1 is made 
fluid and vital1 that it may percolate  
and permeate the whole man through every
 pore of his spirit2 then the metal is  
cast forth and put to use4 ,all forms   
and forces of the world1 viper and lion1
 half-human things and nameless natures1
 serve to help in this work2 all manner 
of aspiration and inspiration1 wrath and
 faith1 love and labour1 do good service
 here4       ,the ,giants who formed    
this world into its sensual existence1  
and now      seem to live in it in      
chains1 are in truth the causes of its  
life and      the sources of all        
activity2 but the chains are1 the       
cunning of weak      and tame minds1    
which have power to resist energy2      
according to the      proverb1 the weak 

in courage is strong in cunning4        
,thus one portion of being is the       
,prolific1 the other1 the ,devouring2   
to the devourer it seems as if the      
producer was in his chains2 but it      
is not so2 he only takes portions of    
existence and fancies that the          
whole4       ,but the ,prolific would   
cease to be ,prolific1 unless the       
,devourer as      a sea received the    
excess of his delights4       ,some will
 say1 ,is not ,god alone the ,prolific8 
,i answer1 ,god only ,acts and ,is in   
existing beings or ,men4       ,these   
two classes of men are always upon      
earth1 and they should be      enemies2 
whoever tries to reconcile them1 seeks  
to destroy existence4       ,religion is
 an endeavour to reconcile the two4     
,,note4--,jesus ,christ did not wish to 
unite but to separate them1 as      in  
the ,parable of sheep and goats6 and he 
says ,i came not to send      ,peace but
 a ,sword4       ,messiah or ,satan or  
,tempter was formerly thought to be one 

of the      ,antediluvians who are our  
,energies4  ,these are hard sayings2 who
 can hear them8 ,at first sight also1 as
 we were forewarned1 this passage seems 
at direct variance with that other in   
the overture1 where our prophet appears 
at first sight1 and only appears1 to    
speak of the fallen ,messiah as the same
 with the ,christ of his belief4        
,verbally coherent we cannot hope to    
make the two passages2 but it must be   
remarked and remembered that the very   
root or kernel of this creed is not the 
assumed humanity of ,god1 but the       
achieved divinity of ,man2 not          
incarnation from without1 but           
development from within2 not a          
miraculous passage into flesh1 but a    
natural growth into godhead4 ,christ1 as
 the type or sample of manhood1 thus    
becomes after death the true ,jehovah2  
not1 as he seems to the vulgar1 the     
extraneous and empirical ,god of creeds 
and churches1 human in no necessary or  
absolute sense1 the false and fallen    

phantom of his enemy1 ,zeus in the mask 
of ,prometheus4 ,we are careful to note 
and as far as may be to correct any     
apparent slips or shortcomings in       
expression1 only because if left without
 a touch of commentary they may seem to 
make worse confusion than they do       
actually make4 ,subtle1 trenchant and   
profound as is this philosophy1 there is
 no radical flaw in the book1 no        
positive incongruity1 no inherent       
contradiction4 ,a single consistent     
principle keeps alive the large relaxed 
limbs1 makes significant the dim great  
features of this strange faith4 ,it is  
but at the opening that the words are   
even partially inadequate and obscure4  
,revision alone could have righted and  
straightened them2 and revision the     
author would not give4 ,impatient of    
their insufficiency1 and incapable of   
any labour that implies rest1 he shook  
them together and flung them out in an  
irritated hurried manner1 regardless who
 might gather them up or let them lie4  

,in the next and longest division of the
 book1 direct allegory and imaginative  
vision are indivisibly mixed into each  
other4 ,the stable and mill1 the twisted
 root and inverted fungus1 are          
transparent symbols enough3 the splendid
 and stormy apocalypse of the abyss is a
 chapter of pure vision or poetic       
invention4 ,why ,swedenborg's volumes   
are the weights used to sink the        
travellers from the glorious clime to   
the passive and iron void between the   
fixed stars and the coldest of the      
remote planets1 will be conceivable in  
due time4       ,a ,,memorable ,,fancy4 
,an ,angel came to me and said1 ',o     
pitiable foolish young man6 ,o          
horrible6 ,o dreadful state6 ,consider  
the hot burning dungeon thou art        
preparing for thyself to all eternity1  
to which thou art going in      such    
career4'       ,i said1 ',perhaps you   
will be willing to show me my eternal   
lot and      we will contemplate upon it
 and see whether your lot or mine is    

most      desirable4'       ,so he took 
me through a stable and through a church
 and down into      the church vault at 
the end of which was a mill2 through the
 mill we      went1 and came to a cave2 
down the winding cavern we groped our   
tedious way1 till a void1 boundless as a
 nether sky1 appeared beneath      us1  
and we held by the roots of trees and   
hung over this immensity2      but ,i   
said1 ',if you please1 we will commit   
ourselves to this void1      and see    
whether ,providence is here also2 if you
 will not1 ,i will4'       ,but he      
answered1 ',do not presume1 ,o young    
man1 but as we here      remain1 behold 
thy lot1 which will soon appear when the
 darkness      passes away4'       ,so  
,i remained with him1 sitting in the    
twisted root of an oak2 he      was     
suspended in a fungus1 which hung with  
the head downward into the      deep4   
,by degrees we beheld the infinite      
,abyss1 fiery as the smoke of a         
burning city2 beneath us at an immense  

distance was the sun1 black      but    
shining2 round it were fiery tracks on  
which revolved vast      spiders1       
crawling after their prey2 which flew or
 rather swam in the      infinite deep1 
in the most terrific shapes of animals  
sprung from      corruption2 and the air
 was full of them1 and seemed composed  
of      them2 these are ,devils1 and are
 called ,powers of the air4 ,i now asked
      my companion which was my eternal 
lot8 he said1 between the black and     
white spiders4       ,but now1 from     
between the black and white spiders a   
cloud and fire      burst and rolled    
through the deep blackening all beneath1
 so that the      nether deep grew black
 as a sea and rolled with a terrible    
noise3      beneath us was nothing now  
to be seen but a black tempest1 till    
looking east between the clouds and the 
waves1 we saw a cataract of      blood  
mixed with fire1 and not many stones'   
throw from us appeared      and sunk    
again the scaly fold of a monstrous     

serpent2 at last1 to the      east1     
distant about three degrees1 appeared a 
fiery crest above the      waves2 slowly
 it reared1 like a ridge of golden      
rocks1 till we      discovered two      
globes of crimson fire1 from which the  
sea fled away      in clouds of smoke3  
and now we saw it was the head of       
,leviathan2 his      forehead was       
divided into streaks of green and       
purple1 like those on      a tiger's    
forehead3 soon we saw his mouth and red 
gills hang just      above the raging   
foam1 tinging the black deep with beams 
of blood1      advancing toward us with 
all the fury of a spiritual existence4  
,my friend the ,angel climbed up from   
his station into the mill2 ,i           
remained alone1 and then this appearance
 was no more2 but ,i found      myself  
sitting on a pleasant bank beside a     
river by moonlight1      hearing a      
harper who sung to the harp1 and his    
theme was1 ,the man who      never      
alters his opinion is like standing     

water1 and breeds reptiles      of the  
mind4       ,but ,i arose1 and sought   
for the mill1 and there ,i found my     
,angel1      who1 surprised1 asked me   
how ,i escaped8       ,i answered1 ',all
 that we saw was owing to your          
metaphysics3 for when      you ran away1
 ,i found myself on a bank by moonlight 
hearing a harper4      ,but now we have 
seen my eternal lot1 shall ,i show you  
yours8' ,he      laughed at my proposal3
 but ,i by force suddenly caught him in 
my      arms1 and flew westerly through 
the night1 till we were elevated        
above the earth's shadow3 then ,i flung 
myself with him directly into      the  
body of the sun2 here ,i clothed myself 
in white1 and taking in my      hand    
,swedenborg's volumes1 sunk from the    
glorious clime1 and passed      all the 
planets till we came to ,saturn3 here ,i
 staid to rest1 and      then leaped    
into the void1 between ,saturn and the  
fixed stars4       ',here1' said ,i1 'is
 your lot1 in this space1 if space it   

may be      called4' ,soon we saw the   
stable and the church1 and ,i took him  
to the      altar and opened the ,bible1
 and lo6 it was a deep pit1 into which  
,i      descended1 driving the ,angel   
before me2 soon we saw seven houses of  
brick2 one we entered2 in it were a     
number of monkeys1 baboons1 and      all
 of that species chained by the middle1 
grinning and snatching at      one      
another1 but withheld by the shortness  
of their chains2 however1      ,i saw   
that they sometimes grew numerous1 and  
then the weak were      caught by the   
strong and1 with a grinning aspect1     
first coupled with      and then        
devoured1 by plucking off first one limb
 and then another1      till the body   
was left a helpless trunk2 this1 after  
grinning and      kissing it with       
seeming kindness1 they devoured too2 and
 here and      there ,i saw one         
savourily picking the flesh off of his  
own tail4 ,as      the stench terribly  
annoyed us both1 we went into the mill1 

and ,i in      my hand brought the      
skeleton of a body1 which in the mill   
was      ,aristotle's ',analytics4'     
,so the ,angel said2 ',thy phantasy has 
imposed upon me1 and thou      oughtest 
to be ashamed4'       ,i answered2 ',we 
impose on one another1 and it is but    
lost time to      converse with you1    
whose works are only ,analytics4'  ,the 
seven houses of brick we may take to be 
a reminiscence of the seven churches of 
,st4 ,john2 as indeed the traces of     
former evangelists and prophets are     
never long wanting when we track the    
steps of this one4 ,lest however we be  
found unawares on the side of these     
hapless angels and baboons1 we will     
abstain with all due care from any not  
indispensable analysis4 ,it is evident  
that between pure phantasy and mere     
analytics the great gulf must remain    
fixed1 and either party appear to the   
other deceptive and deceived4 ,that     
impulsive energy and energetic faith are
 the only means1 whether used as tools  

of peace or as weapons of war1 to pave  
or to fight our way toward the realities
 of things1 was plainly the creed of    
,blake2 as also that these realities1   
once well in sight1 will reverse        
appearance and overthrow tradition3 hell
 will appear as heaven1 and heaven as   
hell4 ,the abyss once entered with due  
trust and courage appears a place of    
green pastures and gracious springs3 the
 paradise of resignation once beheld    
with undisturbed eyes appears a place of
 emptiness or bondage1 delusion or      
cruelty4 ,on the humorous beauty and    
vigour of these symbols we need not     
expatiate2 in these qualities ,rabelais 
and ,dante together could hardly have   
excelled ,blake at his best4 ,what his  
meaning is should by this time be as    
clear as the meaning of a mystic need   
be2 it is but partially expressible by  
words1 as 7to borrow ,blake's own       
symbol7 the inseparable soul is yet but 
incompletely expressible through the    
body4 ,whether it be right or wrong1    

foolish or wise1 we will neither inquire
 nor assert3 the autocercophagous       
monkeys of the mill may be left to      
settle that for themselves with ,urizen4
  ,we come now to a chapter of comments1
 intercalated between two sufficiently  
memorable fancies4       ,i have always 
found that ,angels have the vanity to   
speak of      themselves as the only    
wise2 this they do with a confident     
insolence      sprouting from systematic
 reasoning4       ,thus ,swedenborg     
boasts that what he writes is new1      
though it is only      the ,contents or 
,index of already published books4      
,a man carried a monkey about for a     
show1 and because he was a little       
wiser than the monkey1 grew vain1 and   
conceived himself as much wiser         
than seven men4 ,it is so with          
,swedenborg3 he shows the folly of      
churches and exposes hypocrites1 till he
 imagines that all are      religious   
and himself the single one on earth that
 ever broke a net4       ,now hear a    

plain fact3 ,swedenborg has not written 
one new truth4       ,now hear another3 
,he has written all the old falsehoods4 
,and now hear the reason3 ,he conversed 
with ,angels who are all      religious 
and conversed not with ,devils who all  
hate religion2 for he      was          
incapable1 through his conceited        
notions4       ,thus ,swedenborg's      
writings are a recapitulation of all    
superficial      opinions1 and an       
analysis of the more sublime1 but no    
further4       ,hear now another plain  
fact3 ,any man of mechanical talents    
may1 from      the writings of          
,paracelsus or ,jacob ,behmen1 produce  
ten thousand      volumes of equal value
 with ,swedenborg's2 and from those of  
,dante or      ,shakespeare1 an infinite
 number4 ,but when he has done this1 let
 him      not say that he knows better  
than his master1 for he only holds a    
candle in sunshine4  ,this also we will 
leave for those to decide who please1   
and attend to the next and final vision4

 ,that the fire of inspiration should   
absorb and convert to its own nature all
 denser and meaner elements of mind1 was
 the prophet's sole idea of redemption3 
the dead cloud of belief consumed       
becomes the vital flame of faith4       
,a ,,memorable ,,fancy4       ,once ,i  
saw a ,devil in a flame of fire1 who    
arose before an ,angel      that sat on 
a cloud1 and the ,devil uttered these   
words4       ,the worship of ,god is3   
,honouring his gifts in other men1 each 
according to his genius1 and loving the 
greatest men best2 those who      envy  
or calumniate great men hate ,god1 for  
there is no other ,god4       ,the      
,angel hearing this became almost blue1 
but mastering himself1 he      grew     
yellow1 and at last white1 pink1 and    
smiling2 and then replied1      ,thou   
,idolator1 is not ,god one8 and is not  
he visible in ,jesus ,christ8      and  
has not ,jesus ,christ given his        
sanction to the law of ten              
commandments8 and are not all other men 

fools1 sinners1 and nothings8       ,the
 ,devil answered2 ,bray a fool in a     
mortar with wheat1 yet shall      not   
his folly be beaten out of him3 if      
,jesus ,christ is the greatest      man1
 you ought to love him in the greatest  
degree2 now hear how he      has given  
his sanction to the law of the ten      
commandments3 did he not      mock at   
the sabbath1 and so mock the sabbath's  
,god8 murder those who      were        
murdered1 because of him8 turn away the 
law from the woman taken      in        
adultery8 steal the labour of others to 
support him8 bear false      witness    
when he omitted making a defence before 
,pilate8 covet when he      prayed for  
his disciples1 and when he bid them     
shake off the dust of      their feet   
against such as refused to lodge them8  
,i tell you1 no      virtue can exist   
without breaking these ten commandments4
 ,jesus was      all virtue1 and acted  
from impulse1 not from rules4           
,when he had so spoken1 ,i beheld the   

,angel who stretched out his arms       
embracing the flame of fire1 and he was 
consumed1 and arose as      ,elijah4    
,,note4 ,this ,angel1 who is now become 
a ,devil1 is my particular      friend3 
we often read the ,bible together in its
 infernal or      diabolical sense1     
which the world shall have if they      
behave well4       ,i have also the     
,bible of ,hell1 which the world shall  
have1 whether      they will or no4     
,under this title at least the world was
 never favoured with it2 but we may     
presumably taste some savour of that    
,bible in these pages4 ,after this the  
book is wound up in a lyric rapture1 not
 without some flutter and tumour of     
style1 but full of clear high music and 
flame-like aspiration4 ,epilogue and    
prologue are both nearer in manner to   
the dubious hybrid language of the      
succeeding books of prophecy than to the
 choice and noble prose in which the    
rest of this book is written4 ,the      
overture must be read by the light of   

its meaning2 of the mysterious universal
 mother and her son1 the latest birth of
 the world1 we have already taken       
account4 ,the date of #agij must here be
 kept in mind1 that all may remember    
what appearances of change were abroad1 
what manner of light and tempest was    
visible upon earth1 when the hopes of   
such men as ,blake made their stormy way
 into speech or song4       ,a ,,song   
,,of ,,liberty4       #a4 ,the ,eternal 
,female groan'd6 it was heard over all  
the ,earth4       #b4 ,albion's coast is
 sick silent2 the ,american meadows     
faint6       #c4 ,shadows of ,prophecy  
shiver along by the lakes and the       
rivers1 and      mutter across the      
ocean4 ,france1 rend down thy dungeon2  
#d4 ,golden ,spain1 burst the barriers  
of old ,rome2       #e4 ,cast thy keys1 
,o ,rome1 into the deep down falling1   
even to      eternity down falling2     
#f4 ,and weep4       #g4 ,in her        
trembling hands she took the new-born   
terror howling3       #h4 ,on those     

infinite mountains of light now barred  
out by the      ,atlantic sea1 the      
new-born fire stood before the starry   
,king6       #i4 ,flag'd with           
grey-browed snows and thunderous visages
 the jealous      wings waved over the  
deep4       #aj4 ,the speary hand burned
 aloft1 unbuckled was the shield1 forth 
went the hand of jealousy among the     
flaming hair1 and hurled the            
new-born wonder thro' the starry night4 
#aa4 ,the fire1 the fire is falling6    
#ab4 ,look up6 look up6 ,o citizen of   
,london1 enlarge thy countenance3 ,o    
,jew1 leave counting gold6 return to thy
 oil and wine2 ,o ,african6      black  
,african6 7go1 winged thought1 widen his
 forehead47       #ac4 ,the fiery limbs1
 the flaming hair1 shot like the sinking
 sun into      the western sea4         
#ad4 ,waked from his eternal sleep1 the 
hoary element roaring fled      away4   
#ae4 ,down rushed1 beating his wings in 
vain1 the jealous ,king2 his            
grey-browed councillors1 thunderous     

warriors1 curled veterans1 among        
helms and shields1 and chariots1 horses1
 elephants2 banners1 castles1           
slings and rocks2       #af4 ,falling1  
rushing1 ruining6 buried in the ruins1  
on ,urthona's      dens2       #ag4 ,all
 night beneath the ruins1 then their    
sullen flames faded      emerge round   
the gloomy ,king4       #ah4 ,with      
thunder and fire1 leading his starry    
hosts thro' the waste      wilderness1  
he promulgates his ten commands1        
glancing his beamy      eyelids over the
 deep in dark dismay2       #ai4 ,where 
the son of fire in his eastern cloud1   
while the morning      plumes her golden
 breast1       #bj4 ,spurning the clouds
 written with curses1 stamps the stony  
law to      dust1 loosing the eternal   
horses from the dens of night1 crying1  
,empire is no more6 and now the lion and
 the wolf shall cease4       ,,chorus4  
,let the ,priests of the ,raven of dawn 
no longer in deadly black with          
hoarse note curse the sons of joy2 ,nor 

his accepted brethren1 whom1            
tyrant1 he calls free1 lay the bound or 
build the roof2 ,nor pale      religious
 letchery call that virginity that      
wishes but acts not2          ,for      
everything that lives is ,holy4  ,and   
so1 as with fire and thunder--thunder of
 thought1 and flames of fierce          
desire--is this ,marriage of ,heaven and
 ,hell at length happily consummated2   
the prophet1 as a fervent paranymph1    
standing by to invoke upon the wedded   
pair his most unclerical benediction4   
,those who are not bidden to the        
bridegroom's supper may as well keep    
away1 lest worse befall them1 not having
 a wedding garment4 ,for us there       
remains little to say1 now that the     
torches are out1 the nuts scattered1 the
 songs silent1 and the saffron faded    
from the veil4 ,we will wish them a     
quiet life1 and an heir who may combine 
the merits and capacities of either     
parent4 ,it were pleasant enough1 but   
too superfluous1 to dwell upon the      

beauty of this nuptial hymn2 to bid men 
remark what eloquence1 what subtlety1   
what ardour of wisdom1 what splendour of
 thought1 is here2 how far it outruns1  
not in daring alone but in sufficiency1 
all sayings of minor mystics who were   
not also poets2 how much of lofty love  
and of noble faith underlies and        
animates these rapid and fervent words2 
what greatness of spirit and of speech  
there was in the man who1 living as     
,blake lived1 could write as ,blake has 
written4 ,those who cannot see what is  
implied may remain unable to tolerate   
what is expressed2 and those who can    
read aright need no index of ours4#ea   
,illustration   ,the decorations of this
 great work1 though less large and      
complete than those of the subsequent   
prophecies1 are full of noble and subtle
 beauty4 ,over every page faint fibres  
and flickering threads of colour weave a
 net of intricate design4 ,skies cloven 
with flame and thunder1 half-blasted    
trees round which huddled forms of women

 or men cower and cling1 strange beasts 
and splendid flowers1 alternate with the
 engraved text2 and throughout all the  
sunbeams of heaven and fires of hell    
shed fiercer or softer light4 ,in minute
 splendour and general effect the pages 
of ,blake's next work fall short of     
these2 though in the ,visions of the    
,daughters of ,albion the separate      
designs are fuller and more composed4   
,this poem1 written in a sort of regular
 though quasi-lyrical blank verse1 is   
more direct and lucid in purpose than   
most of these books2 but the style is   
already laxer1 veers more swiftly from  
point to point1 stands weaker on its    
feet1 and speaks with more of a hurried 
and hysterical tone4 ,with formidable   
moral questions1 as the biographer has  
observed1 it does assuredly deal2 and in
 a way somewhat formidable4 ,this1 we   
are told1 the exemplary man had good    
right to do4 ,exemplary or not1 he in   
common with all men had undoubtedly such
 a right2 and was not slow to use it4   

,nowhere else has the prophet so fully  
and vehemently set forth his doctrine of
 indulgence2 too ,albigensian or        
antinomian this time to be given out    
again in more decorous form4 ,of pure   
mythology there is happily little2 of   
pure allegory even less4 ,the eye sees  
more than the heart knows2 these words  
are given on the title-page by way of   
motto or key-note4 ,above this          
inscription a single design fills the   
page2 in it the title is written with   
characters of pale fire upon cloud and  
rainbow2 the figure of the typical      
woman1 held fast to earth but by one    
foot1 seems to soar and yearn upwards   
with straining limbs that flutter like  
shaken flame3 appealing in vain to the  
mournful and merciless ,creator1 whose  
sad fierce face looks out beyond and    
over her1 swathed and cradled in        
bloodlike fire and drifted rain4 ,in the
 prologue we get a design expressive of 
plain and pure pleasure2 a woman gathers
 a child from the heart of a blossom as 

it breaks1 and the sky is full of the   
golden stains and widening roses of a   
sundawn4 ,but elsewhere1 from the       
frontispiece to the end1 nothing meets  
us but emblems of restraint and error2  
figures rent by the beaks of eagles     
though lying but on mere cloud1 chained 
to no solid rock by the fetters only of 
their own faiths or fancies2 leafless   
trunks that rot where they fell2 cold   
ripples of barren sea that break among  
caves of bondage4 ,the perfect woman1   
,oothoon1 is one with the spirit of the 
great western world2 born for rebellion 
and freedom1 but half a slave yet1 and  
half a harlot4 ,bromion1 the violent    
,titan1 subject himself to ignorance and
 sorrow1 has defiled her2#eb            
,theotormon1 her lover1 emblem of man   
held in bondage to creed or law1 will   
not become one with her because of her  
shame2 and she1 who gathered in time of 
innocence the natural flower of delight1
 calls now for his eagles to rend her   
polluted flesh with cruel talons of     

remorse and ravenous beaks of shame3    
enjoys his infliction1 accepts her      
agony1 and reflects his severe smile in 
the mirrors of her purged spirit4#ec    
,but he                            sits 
wearing the threshold hard   ,with      
secret tears2 beneath him sound like    
waves on a desert shore   ,the voice of 
slaves beneath the sun1 and children    
bought with money4  ,from her long      
melodious lamentation we give one       
continuous excerpt here4 ,sweet1 and    
lucid as ,thel1 it is more subtle and   
more strong2 the allusions to ,american 
servitude and ,english aspiration1 which
 elsewhere distract and distort the     
sense and scheme of the poem1 are here  
well cleared away4    ,i cry ,arise1 ,o 
,theotormon2 for the village dog        
,barks at the breaking day2 the         
nightingale has done lamenting2   ,the  
lark does rustle in the green corn1 and 
the eagle returns   ,from nightly prey  
and lifts his golden beak to the pure   
east2   ,shaking the dust from his      

immortal pinions1 to awake   ,the sun   
that sleeps too long4 ,arise my         
,theotormon1 ,i am pure   ,because the  
night is gone that closed me in its     
deadly black4   ,they told me that the  
night and day were all that ,i could    
see2   ,they told me that ,i had five   
senses to enclose me up1   ,and they    
enclosed my infinite beam into a narrow 
circle1   ,and sank my heart into the   
abyss1 a red round globe hotburning     
,till all from life ,i was obliterated  
and erased4    ,instead of morn arises a
 bright shadow like an eye   ,in the    
eastern cloud2 instead of night a sickly
 charnel-house4   ,but ,theotormon hears
 me not3 to him the night and morn      
,are both alike2 a night of sighs1 a    
morning of fresh tears4   ,and none but 
,bromion can hear my lamentations4      
,with what sense is it that the chicken 
shuns the ravenous hawk8   ,with what   
sense does the tame pigeon measure out  
the expanse8   ,with what sense does the
 bee form cells8 have not the mouse and 

frog   ,eyes and ears and sense of      
touch8 yet are their habitations   ,and 
their pursuits as different as their    
forms and as their joy4   ,ask the wild 
ass why he refuses burdens1 and the meek
 camel   ,why he loves man3 is it       
because of eye1 ear1 mouth or skin1     
,or breathing nostrils8 no3 for these   
the wolf and tiger have4   ,ask the     
blind worm the secrets of the grave and 
why her spires   ,love to curl around   
the bones of death3 and ask the ravenous
 snake   ,where she gets poison2 and the
 winged eagle why he loves the sun2     
,and then tell me the thoughts of man1  
that have been hid of old4    ,silent ,i
 hover all the night1 and all day could 
be silent1   ,if ,theotormon once would 
turn his loved eyes upon me2   ,how can 
,i be defiled when ,i reflect thy image 
pure8   ,sweetest the fruit that the    
worm feeds on1 and the soul prey'd on by
 woe2   ,the new-washed lamb tinged with
 the village smoke1 and the bright swan 
,by the red earth of our immortal river2

 ,i bathe my wings   ,and ,i am white   
and pure to hover round ,theotormon's   
breast4    ,then ,theotormon broke his  
silence1 and he answered2   ,tell me    
what is the night or day to one         
overflowed with woe8   ,tell me what is 
a thought8 and of what substance is it  
made8   ,tell me what is joy8 and in    
what gardens do joys grow8   ,and in    
what rivers swim the sorrows8 and upon  
what mountains   ,wave shadows of       
discontent8 and in what houses dwell the
 wretched   ,drunken with woe forgotten1
 and shut up from cold despair8    ,tell
 me where dwell the thoughts forgotten  
till thou call them forth8   ,tell me   
where dwell the joys of old8 and where  
the ancient loves8   ,and when will they
 renew again and the night of oblivion  
be past8   ,that ,i might traverse times
 and spaces far remote and bring        
,comfort into a present sorrow and a    
night of pain6   ,where goest thou1 ,o  
thought8 to what remote land is thy     
flight8   ,if thou returnest to the     

present moment of affliction   ,wilt    
thou bring comforts on thy wings and    
dews and honey and balm   ,or poison    
from the desert wilds1 from the eyes of 
the envier8  ,after this ,bromion1 with 
less musical lamentation1 asks whether  
for all things there be not one law     
established8 ,thou knowest that the     
ancient trees seen by thine eyes have   
fruit2 but knowest thou that trees and  
fruits flourish upon the earth to       
gratify senses unknown1 in worlds over  
another kind of seas8 ,are there other  
wars1 other sorrows1 and other joys than
 those of external life8 ,but the one   
law surely does exist for the lion and  
the ox1 for weak and strong1 wise and   
foolish1 gentle and fierce2 and for all 
who rebel against it there are prepared 
from everlasting the fires and the      
chains of hell4 ,so speaks the violent  
slave of heaven2 and after a day and a  
night ,oothoon lifts up her voice in sad
 rebellious answer and appeal4    ,o    
,urizen1 ,creator of men6 mistaken      

,demon of heaven6   ,thy joys are tears3
 thy labour vain1 to form man to thine  
image2   ,how can one joy absorb        
another8 are not different joys   ,holy1
 eternal1 infinite8 and each joy is a   
,love4    ,does not the great mouth     
laugh at a gift8 and the narrow eyelids 
mock   ,at the labour that is above     
payment8 and wilt thou take the ape     
,for thy counsellor1 or the dog for a   
schoolmaster to thy children8           
99       99       99       99       99  
,does the whale worship at thy footsteps
 as the hungry dog8   ,or does he scent 
the mountain prey1 because his nostrils 
wide   ,draw in the ocean8 does his eye 
discern the flying cloud   ,as the      
raven's eye8 or does he measure the     
expanse like the vulture8   ,does the   
still spider view the cliffs where      
eagles hide their young8   ,or does the 
fly rejoice because the harvest is      
brought in8   ,does not the eagle scorn 
the earth and despise the treasures     
beneath8   ,but the mole knoweth what is

 there1 and the worm shall tell it thee4
  ,perhaps there is no loftier note of  
music and of thought struck anywhere    
throughout these prophecies4 ,for the   
rest1 we must tread carefully over the  
treacherous hot ashes strewn about the  
latter end of this book3 which indeed   
speaks plainly enough for once1 and with
 high equal eloquence2 but to no        
generally acceptable effect4 ,the one   
matter of marriage laws is still beaten 
upon1 still hammered at with all the    
might of an insurgent prophet3 to whom  
it is intolerable that for the sake of  
mere words and mere confusions of       
thought she who burns with youth and    
knows no fixed lot should be bound by   
spells of law to one she loathes1 should
 drag the chain of life in weary lust1  
and bear the wintry rage of a harsh     
terror driven to madness1 bound to hold 
a rod over her shrinking shoulders all  
the day1 and all the night to turn the  
wheel of false desire2 intolerable that 
she should be driven by longings that   

wake her womb to bring forth not men but
 some monstrous abhorred birth of       
cherubs1 imperfect1 artificial1         
abortive2 counterfeits of holiness and  
mockeries of purity2 things of barren or
 perverse nature1 creatures inhuman or  
diseased1 that live as a pestilence     
lives and pass away as a meteor passes2 
till the child dwell with one he hates1 
and do the deed he loathes1 and the     
impure scourge force his seed into its  
unripe birth ere yet his eyelids can    
behold the arrows of the day3 the day   
whose blinding beams had surely somewhat
 affected the prophet's own eyesight1   
and left his eyelids lined with strange 
colours of fugitive red and green that  
fades into black4 ,however1 all these   
things shall be made plain by death2 for
 over the porch is written ,take thy    
bliss1 ,o man6 and sweet shall be thy   
taste1 and sweet thy infant joys renew4 
,on the one hand is innocence1 on the   
other modesty2 infancy is fearless1     
lustful1 happy2 who taught it modesty1  

subtle modesty1 child of night and      
sleep8 ,once taught to dissemble1 to    
call pure things impure1 to catch virgin
 joy1 and brand it with the name of     
whore and sell it in the night2 once    
corrupted and misled1 religious dreams  
and holy vespers light thy smoky fires3 
once were thy fires lighted by the eyes 
of honest morn4 ,not pleasure but       
hypocrisy is the unclean thing2 ,oothoon
 is no harlot1 but a virgin filled with 
virgin fancies1 open to joy and to      
delight wherever it appears2 if in the  
morning sun ,i find it1 there my eyes   
are fixed in happy copulation3 and so   
forth--further than we need follow4     
,is it because acts are not lovely that 
thou seekest solitude   ,where the      
horrible darkness is impressed with     
reflections of desire8--    ,father of  
,jealousy1 be thou accursed from the    
earth6   ,why hast thou taught my       
,theotormon this accursed thing8   ,till
 beauty fades from off my shoulders1    
darkened and cast out1   ,a solitary    

shadow wailing on the margin of         
non-entity2  as in a later prophecy     
,ahania1 cast out by the jealous ,god1  
being the type or embodiment of this    
sacred natural love free as the mountain
 wind4    ,can that be love which drinks
 another as a sponge drinks water8      
,that clouds with jealousy his nights1  
with weepings all the days8           99
       99       99       99       99    
,such is self-love1 that envies all2 a  
creeping skeleton   ,with lamp-like eyes
 watching around the frozen             
marriage-bed4  ,but instead of the      
dark-grey web of age spun around man by 
self-love1 love spreads nets to catch   
for him all wandering and foreign       
pleasures1 pale as mild silver or ruddy 
as flaming gold2 beholds them without   
grudging drink deep of various delight1 
red as the rosy morning1 lustful as the 
first-born beam4 ,no single law for all 
things alike2 the sun will not shine in 
the miser's secret chamber1 nor the     
brightest cloud drop fruitful rain on   

his stone threshold2 for one thing night
 is good and for another thing day3     
nothing is good and nothing evil to all 
at once4    ',the sea-fowl takes the    
wintry blast for a covering to her      
limbs1   ,and the wild snake the        
pestilence1 to adorn him with gems and  
gold2   ,and trees and birds and beasts 
and men behold their eternal joy4       
,arise1 you little glancing wings1 and  
sing your infant joy6   ,arise and drink
 your bliss6 ,for everything that lives 
is holy4'    ,thus every morning wails  
,oothoon1 but ,theotormon sits   ,upon  
the margined ocean1 conversing with     
shadows dire4    ,the daughters of      
,albion hear her woes1 and echo back her
 sighs4  ,it may be feared that ,oothoon
 has yet to wait long before ,theotormon
 will leave off conversing with shadows 
dire2 nor is it surprising that this    
poem won such small favour2 for had it  
not seemed inexplicable it must have    
seemed unbearable4 ,blake1 as evidently 
as ,shelley1 did in all innocence       

believe that ameliorated humanity would 
be soon qualified to start afresh on    
these new terms after the saving advent 
of ,french and ,american revolutions4   
,all good things are in the ,west2      
thence in the teeth of ,urizen shall    
human deliverance come at length4 ,in   
the same year ,blake's prophecy of      
,america came forth to proclaim this    
message over again4 ,upon this book we  
need not dwell so long2 it has more of  
thunder and less of lightning than the  
former prophecies2 more of sonorous     
cloud and less of explicit fire4 ,the   
prelude1 though windy enough1 is among  
,blake's nobler myths3 the divine spirit
 of rebellious redemption1 imprisoned as
 yet by the gods of night and chaos1 is 
fed and sustained in secret by the      
nameless spirit of the great western    
continent2 nameless and shadowy1 a      
daughter of chaos1 till the day of their
 fierce and fruitful union4    ,silent  
as despairing love and strong as        
jealousy1   ,the hairy shoulders rend   

the links1 free are the wrists of fire4 
,at his embrace she cast aside her      
clouds and smiled her first-born smile1 
as when a black cloud shows its         
lightnings to the silent deep4    ,soon 
as she saw the terrible boy then burst  
the virgin's cry2   ,i love thee2 ,i    
have found thee1 and ,i will not let    
thee go4   ,thou art the image of ,god  
who dwells in darkness of ,africa1      
,and thou art fallen to give me life in 
regions of dark death4  ,then begins the
 agony of revolution1 her frost and his 
fire mingling in pain2 and the poem     
opens as with a sound and a light of    
storm4 ,it is throughout in the main a  
mere expansion and dilution of the ,song
 of ,liberty which we have already      
heard2 and in the interludes of the     
great fight between ,urizen and ,orc the
 human names of ,american or ,english   
leaders fall upon the ear with a sudden 
incongruous clash3 not perhaps unfelt by
 the author's ear also1 but unheeded in 
his desire to make vital and vivid the  

message he came to deliver4 ,the action 
is wholly swamped by the allegory2      
hardly is it related how the            
serpent-formed hater of dignities1 lover
 of wild rebellion and transgressor of  
,god's ,law1 arose in red clouds1 a     
wonder1 a human fire2 heat but not light
 went from him2 his terrible limbs were 
fire2 his voice shook the ancient ,druid
 temple of tyranny and faith1           
proclaiming freedom and the fiery joy   
that ,urizen perverted to ten commands2 
the punishing demons of the ,god of     
jealousy    ,crouch howling before their
 caverns deep like skins dried in the   
wind2   ,they cannot smite the wheat nor
 quench the fatness of the earth2       
,they cannot smite with sorrows nor     
subdue the plough and spade2   ,for     
terrible men stand on the shores1 and in
 their robes ,i see   ,children take    
refuge from the lightnings4 99 99 99 99 
,ah vision from afar6 ah rebel form that
 rent the ancient heavens6              
99 99 99 99 ,red flames the crest       

rebellious   ,and eyes of death2 the    
harlot womb oft opened in vain   ,heaves
 in eternal circles1 now the times are  
returned upon thee4  ,thus wept the     
angel voice of the guardian-angel of    
,albion2 but the thirteen angels of the 
,american provinces rent off their robes
 and threw down their sceptres and cast 
in their lot with the rebel2 gathered   
together where on the hills             
called ,atlantean hills1   ,because from
 their bright summits you may pass to   
the golden world1   ,an ancient palace1 
archetype of mighty emperies1   ,rears  
its immortal pinnacles1 built in the    
forest of ,god   ,by ,ariston the king  
of beauty for his stolen bride4  ,a myth
 of which we are to hear no more1       
significant probably of the rebellion of
 natural beauty against the intolerable 
tyranny of ,god1 from which she has to  
seek shelter in the darkest part of his 
creation with the angelic or daemonic   
bridegroom 7one of the descended sons of
 ,god7 who has wedded her by stealth and

 built her a secret shelter from the    
strife of divine things2 where at least 
nature may breathe freely and take      
pleasure2 whither also in their time    
congregate all other rebellious forces  
and spirits at war with the ,creator and
 his laws4 ,but the speech of ,boston's 
angel we will at least transcribe3 not  
without a wish that he had never since  
then spoken more incoherently and less  
musically4    ,must the generous tremble
 and leave his joy to the idle1 to the  
pestilence1   ,that mock him8 who       
commanded this8 what ,god8 what ,angel8 
,to keep the generous from experience1  
till the ungenerous   ,are unrestrained 
performers of the energies of nature1   
,till pity is become a trade and        
generosity a science   ,that men get    
rich by2 and the sandy desert is given  
to the strong8   ,what ,god is he writes
 laws of peace and clothes him in a     
tempest8   ,what pitying ,angel lusts   
for tears and fans himself with sighs8  
,what crawling villain preaches         

abstinence and wraps himself   ,in fat  
of lambs8 no more ,i follow1 no more    
obedience pay4  ,this is perhaps the    
finest and clearest passage in the book2
 and beyond this point there is not much
 extractable from the clamorous lyrical 
chaos4 ,here again besides the mere     
outward violence of battle1 the visible 
plague and fire of war1 we have sight of
 a subtler and wider revolution4    ,for
 the female spirits of the dead pining  
in bonds of religion   ,run from their  
fetters reddening and in long-drawn     
arches sitting4   ,they feel the nerves 
of youth renew1 and desires of ancient  
times4  ,light and warmth and colour and
 life are shed from the flames of       
revolution not alone on city and valley 
and hill1 but likewise    ,over their   
pale limbs1 as a vine when the tender   
grape appears2           99       99    
99       99       99    ,the heavens    
melted from north to south2 and ,urizen 
who sat   ,above all heavens in thunders
 wrapt1 emerged his leprous head   ,from

 out his holy shrine2 his tears in      
deluge piteous   ,falling into the deep 
sublime4  ,notwithstanding for twelve   
years it was fated that angels and weak 
men should govern o'er the strong1 and  
then their end should come when ,france 
received the demon's light3 and the     
ancient ,european guardians slow advance
 to shut the five gates of their        
law-built heaven1 filled with blasting  
fancies and with mildews of despair1    
with fierce disease and lust2 but these 
gates were consumed in the final fire of
 revolution that went forth upon the    
world4 ,so ends the poem2 and of the    
decoration we have barely space to say  
enough4 ,on one page are the visions of 
the renewed world1 on another the       
emblems of oppression and war3 children 
sleeping nestled in the fleece of a     
sleeping ram with heavy horns and quiet 
mouth pressing the soft ground1 while   
overhead shapely branches droop and     
gracious birds are perched2 or what     
seems the new-born body of ,orc cast    

under the sea1 enmeshed in a web of     
water whose waves are waves of corn when
 you come to look2 maidens and infants  
that bridle a strong dragon1 and behind 
them a flight of birds through the      
clouds of a starry moonlit night1 where 
a wild swan with vast wings and         
stretching neck is bestridden by a      
spirit looking eagerly back as he       
clutches the rein2 eagles that devour   
the dead on a stormy sea-beach1 while   
underneath fierce pikes and sharks make 
towards a wrecked corpse that has sunk  
without drifting1 and sea-snakes wind   
about it in soft loathsome coils2 women 
and children embrace in bitter violence 
of loving passion among ripples of      
fruitful flame1 out of which rise roots 
and grasses of the field and laden      
branches of the vine4 ,of all these we  
cannot hope to speak duly2 nor can we   
hope to give more than a glimpse of the 
work they illustrate4  ,throughout the  
,prophecy of ,europe the fervent and    
intricate splendours of text and        

decoration are whirled as it were and   
woven into spreading webs or twining    
wheels of luminous confusion4 ,the      
,museum copy1 not equal in nobility of  
colour to some others1 is crowded with  
,,ms4 notes and mottos of some interest 
and significance4 ,to the frontispiece a
 passage of ,milton is appended2 to the 
first page is prefixed a transcript of  
some verses by ,mrs4 ,radcliffe         
concerning a murdered pilgrim1          
sufficiently execrable and explanatory2 
and so throughout4 ,these notes will    
help us at least to measure the amount  
of connexion between the text and the   
designs2 an amount easily measurable1   
being in effect about the smallest      
possible4 ,fierce fluctuating wind and  
the shaken light of meteors flutter or  
glitter upon the stormy ways of vision2 
serving rather for raiment than for     
symbol4 ,the outcast gods of star and   
comet are driven through tempestuous    
air3 forms without body leap or lurk    
under cloud or water2 ,war1 a man coated

 with scales of defiled and blackening  
bronze1 handling a heavy sword-hilt1    
averts his face from appealing angels2  
,famine slays and eats her children2    
fire curls about the caldron in which   
their limbs are to be sodden for food2  
starved plague-stricken shapes of women 
and men fall shrieking or silent as the 
bell-ringer1 a white-haired man with    
slouched hat drawn down and long        
straight cassock1 passes them bell in   
hand2 a daughter clings to her father in
 the dumb pain of fear1 while he with   
arms thrust out in repulsion seems to   
plead against the gathering deluges that
 sweep o'er the yellow year2 mildews are
 seen incarnate as foul flushed women   
with strenuous limbs contorted1         
blighting ears of corn with the violent 
breath of their inflated mouths2 ,papal 
,superstition1 with the triple crown on 
a head broader across cheek and jowl    
than across the forehead1 with bat's    
wings and bloodlike garments dripping   
and rent1 leers across the open book on 

his knees2 behind his reptile face a    
decoration as of a cleft mitre1 wrought 
in the shape of ,gothic windows that    
straiten as it ascends1 shows grey upon 
the dead black air2 this is ,urizen seen
 on the ,atlantic2 and his brazen book  
that kings and priests had copied on    
earth1 expanded from north to south2 all
 the creeping things of the             
prison-house1 bloated leaf and dropping 
spider1 crawl or curl above a writhing  
figure overgrown with horrible scurf of 
corruption as with network2 the gaoler  
leaves his prisoner fast bound by the   
ankles1 with limbs stained and          
discoloured2 7the motto to this is from 
,the ,two ,noble ,kinsmen1 ,act ii41    
,sc4 #a41 ,the vine shall grow1 but we  
shall never see it1 c472 snakes and     
caterpillars1 birds and gnats1 each     
after their own kind take their pleasure
 and their prey among the leaves and    
grasses they defile and devour2 flames  
chase the naked or swooning fugitives   
from a blazing ruin4 ,the prelude is set

 in the frame of two large designs2 one 
of the assassin waiting for the pilgrim 
as he turns round a sharp corner of     
rock2 one of hurricane and storm in     
which ,horror1 ,amazement and ,despair  
appear abroad upon the winds4 ,a sketch 
of these violent and hideously          
impossible figures is pasted into the   
note-book on a stray slip of paper4 ,the
 ,,ms4 mottos are mostly from ,milton   
and ,dryden2 ,shakespeare and ,fletcher1
 ,rowe and ,mason1 are also dragged into
 service4 ,the prophecy itself is full  
of melody and mist2 of music not wholly 
unrecognisable and vapour not wholly    
impermeable4 ,in a lull of intermittent 
war1 the gods of time and space awake   
with all their children2 ,time bids them
 seize all the spirits of life and bind 
their warbling joys to our loud strings1
 bind all the nourishing sweets of earth
 to give us bliss4 ,orc1 the fiery      
spirit of revolution1 first-born of     
,space1 his father summons to arise2 and
 we will crown thy head with garlands of

 the ruddy vine2 for now thou art bound2
 and ,i may see thee in the hour of     
bliss1 my eldest born4 ,allegory1 here  
as always1 is interfused with myth in a 
manner at once violent and intricate2   
but in this book the mere mythologic    
fancy of ,blake labours for the most    
part without curb or guide4 ,enitharmon1
 the universal or typical woman1 desires
 that woman may have dominion for a     
space over all the souls upon earth2 she
 descends and becomes visible in the red
 light of ,orc2 and she charges other   
spirits born of her and ,los to tell the
 human race that woman's love is sin1   
for thus the woman will have power to   
refuse or accede1 to starve or satiate  
the perverted loves and lives of man2   
that an eternal life awaits the worms of
 sixty winters1 in an allegorical abode 
where existence hath never come2 forbid 
all joy1 and from her childhood shall   
the little female spread nets in every  
secret path4 ,to this end the goddess of
 ,space calls forth her chosen children1

 the horned priest of animal nature1 the
 silver-bowed queen of desolate places1 
the prince of the sun with his          
innumerable race thick as the summer    
stars2 each one1 ramping1 his golden    
mane shakes1 and thine eyes rejoice     
because of strength1 ,o ,rintrah1       
furious ,king4 ,moon and sun1 spirit and
 flesh1 all lovely jealous forces and   
mysteries of the natural world are      
gathered together under her law1 that   
throughout the eighteen ,christian      
centuries she may have her will of the  
world4 ,for so long nature has sat      
silent1 her harps out of tune2 the      
goddess herself has slept out all those 
years1 a dream among dreams1 the ghostly
 regent of a ghostly generation4 ,the   
angels of ,albion1 satellites once of   
the ancient ,titan1 are smitten now with
 their own plagues1 crushed in their own
 council-house1 and rise again but to   
follow after ,rintrah1 the fiery        
minister of his mother's triumph4 ,him  
the chief ,angel follows to his ancient 

temple serpent-formed1 ringed round with
 ,druid oaks1 massive with pillar and   
porch built of precious stones2 such    
eternal in the heavens1 of colours      
twelve1 few known on earth1 give light  
in the opaque4    ,placed in the order  
of the stars1 when the five senses      
whelmed   ,in deluge o'er the earth-born
 man3 then bound the flexile eyes       
,into two stationary orbs concentrating 
all things3   ,the ever-varying spiral  
ascents to the heaven of heavens   ,were
 bended downward1 and the nostril's     
golden gates shut1   ,turned outward1   
barred and petrified against the        
infinite4   ,thought changed the        
infinite to a serpent2 that which       
pitieth   ,to a devouring flame2 and man
 fled from its face and hid   ,in       
forests#ed of night2 then all the       
eternal forests were divided   ,into    
earths rolling in circles of space1 that
 like an ocean rushed   ,and overwhelmed
 all except this finite wall of flesh4  
,then was the serpent temple formed1    

image of 7the7 infinite   ,shut up in   
finite revolutions1#ee and man became an
 ,angel2   ,heaven a mighty circle      
turning2 ,god a tyrant crowned4  ,thus  
again recurs the doctrine that the one  
inlet left us for spiritual             
perception--that namely of the          
senses--is but one and the least of many
 inlets and channels of communication   
now destroyed or perverted by the       
creative demon2 a tenet which once well 
grasped and digested by the disciple    
will further his understanding of ,blake
 more than anything else can3 will      
indeed1 pushed to the full extreme of   
its logical results1 elucidate and      
justify much that seems merely          
condemnable and chaotic4 ,to resume our 
somewhat halting and bewildered fable3  
the southern porch of this temple1      
planted thick with trees of blackest    
leaf1 and in a vale obscure1 enclosed   
the stone of night2 oblique it stood1   
o'erhung with purple flowers and berries
 red2 image of the human intellect once 

open to the heavens as the south to the 
sun2 now1 as the head of fallen man1    
overgrown with hair and covered with a  
stony roof2 sunk deep beneath the       
attractive north1 where evil spirits are
 strongest1 where the whirlpool of      
speculation sucks in the soul and       
entombs it4 ,standing on this1 as on a  
watch-tower1 the ,angel beholds         
,religion enthroned over ,europe1 and   
the pale revolution of cloud and fire   
through the night of space and time2    
beholds ,albion1 the home once of       
ancient freedom and faith1 trodden      
underfoot by laws and churches1 that the
 ,god of religion may have wherewithal  
to feed his soul with pity4 ,at last    
begins the era of rebellion and change2 
the fires of ,orc lay hold upon law#ef  
and gospel2 yet for a little while the  
ministers of his mother have power to   
fight against him1 and she1 allied now  
and making common cause with the ,god   
alien to her children1 laughs in her    
sleep1 seeing through the veil and      

vapour of dreams the subjection of male 
to female1 the false attribute of       
unnatural power given to women by faith 
and fear4 ,not as yet can the           
,promethean fire utterly dissolve the   
clouds of ,urizen1 though the flesh of  
the ministering angel of religion is    
already consumed or consuming2 nor as   
yet can the trumpet of revolution summon
 the dead to judgment4 ,that first blast
 of summons must be blown by material   
science1 which destroys the letter of   
the law and the text of the covenant4   
,when the mighty spirit of ,newton had  
seized the trumpet and blown it1        
,yellow as leaves of ,autumn the myriads
 of ,angelic hosts   ,fell thro' the    
wintry skies seeking their graves1      
,rattling their hollow bones in howling 
and lamentation2  as to this day they   
do1 and did in ,blake's time1 throughout
 whole barrowfuls of controversial      
apologies and evidences4 ,then the      
mother-goddess awoke from her eighteen  
centuries of sleep1 the ,christian era  

being now wellnigh consummated1 and all 
those years fled as if they had not     
been2 she called her children around    
her1 by many monstrous names and phrases
 of chaotic invocation2 comfort and     
happiness here1 there sweet pestilence  
and soft delusion2 the seven churches of
 ,leutha seek the love of ,antamon1     
symbolic of ,christian faith reconciled 
to pagan indulgence and divorced from   
,jewish prohibition2 even as we find in 
the prophet himself equal faith in      
sensual innocence and spiritual truth4  
,of the soft ,oothoon the great goddess 
asks now ,why wilt thou give up woman's 
secrecy1 my melancholy child8 ,between  
two moments bliss is ripe4 ,last she    
calls upon ,orc2 ,smile1 son of my      
afflictions2 arise and give our         
mountains joy of thy red light4    ,she 
ceased2 for all were forth at sport     
beneath the solemn moon1   ,waking the  
stars of ,urizen with their immortal    
songs1   ,that nature felt thro' all her
 pores the enormous revelry4   ,till    

morning oped her eastern gate2   ,then  
every one fled to his station2 and      
,enitharmon wept4  ,but with the dawn of
 that morning ,orc descended in fire1   
and in the vineyards of red ,france     
appeared the light of his fury4 ,the    
revolution begins2 all space groans2 and
 lion and tiger are gathered together   
after their prey3 the god of time arises
 as one out of a trance1    ,and with a 
cry that shook all nature to the utmost 
pole   ,called all his sons to the      
strife of blood4  ,our study of the     
,europe might bring more profit if we   
could have genuine notes appended to the
 text as well as to the designs4 ,such  
worth or beauty as the poem has burns   
dim and looms distant by comparison2 but
 there is in it more of either than we  
have here time or means to indicate4 ,at
 least the prelude so strangely selected
 for citation and thrown loose upon the 
pages of the biography in so crude and  
inexplicable a manner1 may now be seen  
to have some tangible or presumable     

sense4 ,the spirit of ,europe rises     
revealed in the advent of revolution1   
sick of time and travail2 pleading with 
the mother-goddess1 ,cybele of this     
mythology2 wrapping about her veils of  
water and garments of cloud1 in vain2   
the red sun and moon and all the        
overflowing stars rain down prolific    
pains4 ,out of her overlaboured womb    
arise forms and forces of change1       
fugitive fires of wrath1 sonorous shapes
 of fear2 and they take substance in    
space1 but bring to their mother no help
 or profit1 no comfort or light2 to the 
virgin daughter of ,america freedom has 
come and fruitful violence of love1 but 
not to the ,european mother4 ,she has no
 hope in all the infinity of space and  
time2 who shall bind the infinite with  
an eternal band1 to compass it with     
swaddling bands8 ,by comparison of the  
two preludes the relations of the two   
kindred poems may be better understood3 
the one is plaintive as the voice of a  
world in pain1 and decaying kingdom by  

kingdom2 the other fierce and hopeful as
 the cry of a nation in travail1 whose  
agony is not that of death1 but rather  
that of birth4  ,the ,first ,book of    
,urizen is perhaps more shapeless and   
chaotic at a first glimpse than any     
other of these prose poems4 ,clouds of  
blood1 shadows of horror1 worlds without
 form and void1 rise and mingle and wane
 in indefinite ways1 with no special    
purpose or appreciable result4 ,the myth
 here is of an active but unprolific    
,god1 warring with shapes of the        
wilderness1 and at variance with the    
eternals3 beaten upon by ,time1 who     
figures always in all his various shapes
 and actions as the saviour and friend  
of man4 ,earth was not1 nor globes of   
attraction2 the will of the ,immortal   
expanded or contracted at will his      
all-flexible senses4 ,death was not2 but
 eternal life sprang4 7#a4 ,urizen1 ii4 
#a47 ,urizen1 the ,god of restraint1    
creator of prohibition1 whose laws are  
forbearance and abstinence1 is for ages 

divided from ,eternity and at war with  
,time2 long periods in burning fires    
labouring1 till hoary1 and age-broken1  
and aged1 in despair and the shadows of 
death4 7#a4 ,urizen1 iii4 #f47 ,in time 
the formless ,god takes form1 creating  
and assuming feature by feature2 bones1 
heart1 eyes1 ears1 nostrils1 throat with
 tongue1 hands with feet2 an age of     
agony being allotted to each of the     
seven created features2 still toiling in
 fire and beset by snares1 which the    
,time-,spirit kindles and weaves to     
avert and destroy in its birth the      
desolate influence of the ,deity who    
forbids and restrains4 ,these           
transformations of ,urizen make up some 
of ,blake's grandest and strangest      
prophetic studies4 ,first the spinal    
skeleton1 with branchwork of rib and    
savage nudity of joint and clavicle1    
shaped mammoth-wise1 in grovelling      
involution of limb4 ,in one copy at     
least these bones are touched with dim  
green and gold colour2 such a faint     

fierce tint as one might look for on the
 cast scales or flakes of dragons left  
astrand in the ebb of a deluge4 ,next a 
huge fettered figure with blind shut    
eyes overflowing into tears1 with       
convulsed mouth and sodden stream of    
beard3 then bones painfully gathering   
flesh1 twisted forms round which flames 
break out fourfold1 tortured elemental  
shapes that plunge and writhe and moan4 
,until ,time1 divided against himself1  
brings forth ,space1 the universal      
eternal female element1 called ,pity    
among the gods1 who recoil in fear from 
the dawn of human creation and division4
 ,of these two divinities1 called in the
 mythology ,los and ,enitharmon1 is born
 the man-child ,orc4 ,the dead heard the
 voice of the child and began to awake  
from sleep2 all things heard the voice  
of the child and began to awake to life4
 7vii4 #e47 ,here again we may spare a  
word or two for that splendid figure 7p4
 #bj7 of the new-born child falling     
aslant through cloven fire that curls   

and trembles into spiral blossoms of    
colour and petals of feverish light4    
,and the children of ,urizen were       
,thiriel1 born from cloud2 ,utha1 from  
water2 ,grodna1 from earth2 ,fuzon1     
first-begotten1 last-born1 from         
fire--and his daughters from green herbs
 and cattle1 from monsters and worms of 
the pit4 ,he cursed both sons and       
daughters2 for he saw that no flesh nor 
spirit could keep his iron laws one     
moment4 7viii4 #c1 #d47 ,then from his  
sorrows for these his children begotten 
on the material body of nature1 the web 
of religion begins to unwind and expand1
 throwing out from his sorrowing soul1  
the dungeon-like heaven dividing 7viii4 
#f7--;and the knotted meshes of the web 
to involve all races and cities4 ,the   
,senses inward rushed shrinking beneath 
the dark net of infection3 till the     
shrunken eyes1 clouded over1 discerned  
not the woven hypocrisy2 but the streaky
 slime in their heavens1 brought        
together by narrowing perceptions1      

appeared transparent air2 for their eyes
 grew small like the eyes of a man4 ,six
 days they shrank up from existence1 and
 the seventh day they rested1 and they  
blessed the seventh day1 in sick hope2  
and forgot their eternal life4 7#a4     
,urizen1 ix4 #a1 #b1 #c47 ,hence grows  
the animal tyranny of gravitation1 and  
hence also the spiritual tyranny of law2
 they lived a period of years1 then left
 a noisome body to the jaws of devouring
 darkness2 and their children wept1 and 
built tombs in the desolate places2 and 
formed laws of prudence and called them 
the eternal laws of ,god4 7ix4 #d1 #e47 
,seeing these his brethren degraded into
 life and debased into flesh1 the son of
 the fire1 ,fuzon1 called together the  
remaining children of ,urizen2 and they 
left the pendulous earth3 they called it
 ,egypt1 and left it4 ,and the salt     
ocean rolled englobed4 7ix4 #h1 #i47    
,the freer and stronger spirits left the
 world of men to the dominion of earth  
and water2 air and fire were withdrawn  

from them1 and there were left only the 
heaviness of imprisoning clay and the   
bitterness of violent sea4  ,this is a  
hurried and blotted sketch of the main  
myth1 which is worth following up by    
those who would enter on any serious    
study of ,blake's work2 all that is here
 indicated in dim hints being afterwards
 assumed as the admitted groundwork of  
later and larger myths4 ,in this present
 book 7and in it only7 the illustrative 
work may be said almost to overweigh and
 stifle the idea illustrated4 ,strange  
semi-human figures1 clad in sombre or in
 fiery flesh1 racing through fire or    
sinking through water1 allure and       
confuse the fancy of the student4 ,every
 page vibrates with light and colour2 on
 none of his books has the artist       
lavished more noble profusion of        
decorative work4 ,it is worth observing 
that while some copies are carefully    
numbered throughout ,first ,book1 in    
others the word ,first is erased from   
every leaf3 as in effect the ,second    

,book never was put forth under that    
title4 ,next year however the ,book of  
,ahania came out--if one may say as much
 of a quarto of six leaves which has    
hardly yet emerged into sight of two or 
three readers4 ,this we may take--or    
those may who please--to be the ,second 
,book of ,urizen4 ,it is among the      
choicer spoils of ,blake1 not as yet    
cast into the public treasury2 for the  
,museum has no copy1 though possessing  
7in its blind confused way7 duplicates  
of ,america1 ,albion1 and ,los4 ,some   
day1 one must hope1 there will at least 
be a complete accessible collection of  
,blake's written works arranged in      
rational order for reference4 ,till the 
dawn of that day people must make what  
shift they can in chaos4  ,in ,ahania1  
though a fine and sonorous piece of     
wind-music1 we have not found many      
separate notes worth striking4 ,formless
 as these poems may seem1 it is often   
the floating final impression of power  
which makes them memorable and valuable1

 rather than any stray gleam of purple  
or glitter of pearl on the skirt4 ,thus 
the myth runs--to the best of its power2
 but the tether of it is but short4     
,fuzon1 born of the fiery part of the   
,god of nature1 in revolt against his   
father1 divides him in twain as with a  
beam of fire2 the desire of ,urizen is  
separated from him2 this divided soul1  
his invisible lust1 he sees now as she  
is apart from himself1 and calls ,sin2  
seizes her on his mountains of jealousy2
 kisses and weeps over her1 then casts  
her forth and hides her in cloud1 in    
dumb distance of mysterious space2      
jealous though she was invisible4       
,divided from him1 she turns to mere    
shadow unseen1 unbodied1 unknown1 the   
mother of ,pestilence4 ,but the beam    
cast by ,fuzon was light upon           
earth--light to ,egypt1 the house of    
bondage and place of captivity for the  
outcast human children of ,urizen4 ,thus
 far the book floats between mere       
allegory and creative myth2 not         

difficult however to trace to the root  
of its purport4 ,from this point it     
grows1 if not wilder in words1 still    
mistier in build of limb and shape of   
feature4 ,fuzon1 smitten by the bow of  
,urizen1 seems to typify dimly the      
,christian or ,promethean sacrifice2 the
 revolted ,god or son of ,god1 who      
giving to men some help or hope to      
enlighten them1 is slain for an         
atonement to the wrath of his father3   
though except for the mythical sonship  
,prometheus would be much the nearer    
parallel4 ,the bow1 formed in secresy of
 the nerves of a slain dragon scaled and
 poisonous-horned1 begotten of the      
contemplations of ,urizen and destroyed 
by him in combat1 must be another type1 
half conceived and hardly at all wrought
 out1 of the secret and jealous law of  
introspective faith divided against     
itself and the god of its worship1 but  
strong enough to smite the              
over-confident champion of men even in  
his time of triumph1 when he thought    

,urizen slain by his wrath3 ,i am ,god1 
said he1 eldest of things4 7,,ii4 #h47  
,suddenly the judgment of the jealous   
wrath of ,god falls upon him2 the rock  
hurled as an arrow enters his bosom2 his
 beautiful visage1 his tresses that gave
 light to the mornings of heaven1 were  
smitten with darkness4--,but the rock   
fell upon the earth1 ,mount ,sinai1 in  
,arabia3 being indeed a type of the     
moral law of ,moses1 sent to destroy and
 suppress the native rebellious energies
 and active sins of men4 ,here one may  
catch fast hold of one thing--the       
identity of ,blake's ,urizen1 at least  
for this time1 with the ,deity of the   
earlier ,hebrews2 the ,god of the ,law  
and ,decalogue rather than of ,job or   
the ,prophets4 ,on the accursed tree of 
mystery that shoots up under his heel   
from tears and sparks of vegetation     
fallen on the barren rock of separation1
 where shrunk away from ,eternals1      
alienated from the ancient freedom of   
the first ,gods or ,titans1 averse to   

their large and liberal laws of life1   
the jealous ,god sat secret--on the     
topmost stem of this tree ,urizen nailed
 the corpse of his first-begotten4      
,thenceforward there fell upon the      
half-formed races of men sorrow only and
 pestilence1 barren pain of unprofitable
 fruit and timeless burden of desire and
 disease4 ,one need not sift the myth   
too closely2 it would be like winnowing 
water and weighing cloud with scale or  
sieve4 ,the two illustrations1 it may   
here be said1 are very slight--mere     
hints of a design1 and merely touched   
with colour4 ,in the frontispiece       
,ahania1 divided from ,urizen1 floats   
upon a stream of wind between hill and  
cloud1 with haggard limbs and           
straightened spectral hair2 on the last 
leaf a dim ,titan1 wounded and bruised1 
lies among rocks flaked with leprous    
lichen and shaggy with bloodlike growths
 of weed and moss4 ,one final glimpse we
 may take of ,ahania after her          
division--the love of ,god1 as it were1 

parted from ,god1 impotent therefore and
 a shadow1 if not rather a plague and   
blight2 mercy severed from justice1 and 
thus made a worse thing than useless4   
,such may be the hinted meaning1 or at  
least some part of it2 but the work1 it 
must be said1 holds by implication dim  
and great suggestions of something more 
than our analytic ingenuities can well  
unravel by this slow process of         
suggestion4 ,properly too ,ahania seems 
rather to represent the divine          
generative desire or love1 translated on
 earth into sexual expression2 the      
female side of the creative             
power--mother of all things made4       
,the lamenting voice of ,ahania weeping 
upon the void and round the      ,tree  
of ,fuzon4 ,distant in solitary night   
her voice was heard1 but no      form   
had she2 but her tears from clouds      
eternal fell round the ,tree4      ,and 
the voice cried ',ah ,urizen6 ,love6    
,flower of morning6 ,i weep on      the 
verge of non-entity3 how wide the abyss 

between ,ahania and thee6      ,i lie on
 the verge of the deep1 ,i see thy dark 
clouds ascend2 ,i see      thy black    
forests and floods1 a horrible waste to 
my eyes4 ,weeping ,i      walk over the 
rocks1 over dens1 and through valleys of
 death4 ,why      dost thou despise     
,ahania1 to cast me from thy bright     
presence into      the world of         
loneness8 ,i cannot touch his hand2 nor 
weep on his      knees2 nor hear his    
voice and bow2 nor see his eyes and joy2
 nor hear      his footsteps1 and my    
heart leap at the lovely sound2 ,i      
cannot kiss      the place where his    
bright feet have trod3 but ,i wander on 
the rocks      with hard necessity4     
,where is my golden palace8 where my    
ivory bed8      where the joy of my     
morning hour8 where the sons of eternity
 singing      to awake bright ,urizen my
 king to arise to the mountain sport1 to
 the      bliss of eternal valleys1 to  
awake my king in the morn1 to embrace   
,ahania's joy on the breath of his open 

bosom2 from my soft cloud of      dew to
 fall in showers of life on his harvest8
 ,when he gave my happy      soul to the
 sons of eternal joy2 when he took the  
daughters of life      into my chambers 
of love2 when ,i found babes of bliss on
 my beds and      bosoms of milk in my  
chambers1 filled with eternal seed4 ,o6 
eternal      births sung round ,ahania  
in interchange sweet of their joys2     
swelled      with ripeness and fat with 
fatness1 bursting in clouds my odours1  
my      ripe figs and rich pomegranates1
 in infant joy at thy feet1 ,o ,urizen1 
sported and sang3 then thou with thy lap
 full of seed1 with thy hand      full  
of generous fire1 walkedst forth from   
the clouds of morning1 on      the      
virgins of springing joy1 on the human  
soul1 to cast the seed of      eternal  
science4 ,the sweat poured down thy     
temples1 to ,ahania      returned in    
evening2 the moisture awoke to birth my 
mother's joys      sleeping in bliss4   
,but now alone over rocks1              

mountains--cast out from      thy lovely
 bosom--cruel jealousy6 selfish fear6   
self-destroying6 how      can delight   
renew in these chains of darkness1 where
 bones of beasts      are strewn on the 
bleak and snowy mountains1 where bones  
from the      birth are buried before   
they see the light8'--,ahania1 ch4 v41  
v4      #a-ad4  ,with the prolonged     
melody of this lament the ,book of      
,ahania winds itself up2 one of the most
 musical among this crowd of singing    
shadows4 ,in the same year the last and 
briefest of this first prophetic series 
was engraved4 ,the ,song of ,los1 broken
 into two divisions headed ,africa and  
,asia1 has more affinity to ,urizen and 
,ahania than to ,europe and ,america4   
,the old themes of delusion and         
perversion are once again rehandled2 not
 without vigorous harmonies of choral   
expression4 ,the illustrations are of   
special splendour1 as though designed to
 atone for the lean and denuded form in 
which ,ahania had been sent forth4 ,in  

the frontispiece a grey old giant1      
clothed from the waist only with heavy  
raiment of livid and lurid white1 bows  
down upon a ,druid altar before the     
likeness of a darkened sun low-hung in  
heaven1 filled with sombre and fiery    
forms of things1 and shooting out upon  
each quarter a broad reflected ray like 
the reflection struck by sunlight from a
 broad bare sword-blade1 but touched    
also1 as with strange infection1 with   
flakes of deadly colour that vibrate    
upon the starless solid ground of an    
intolerable night4 ,less of menace with 
more of sadness is in the landscape and 
sky on the title-page3 a ,titan1 with   
one weighty hand lying on a gigantic    
skull1 rests at the edge of a green     
sloping moor1 himself seeming a grey    
fragment of moorland rock2 brown fire of
 waste grass or rusted flower stains    
crag and bent all round him2 the sky is 
all night and fire1 bitter red and      
black4 ,on the first page a serpent1    
splendid with blood-red specks and      

scales of greenish blue1 darts the      
cloven flame of its tongue against a    
brilliant swarm of flies2 and again     
throughout the divided lines a network  
of fair tortuous things1 of flickering  
leaf and sinuous tendril and strenuous  
root1 flashes and curls from margin to  
margin4  ,this song is the song of      
,time1 sung to the four harps of the    
world1 each continent a harp struck by  
,time as by a harper4 ,in brief dim     
words it celebrates the end of the world
 of the patriarchs where faith and      
freedom were one1 the advent of the iron
 laws and ages1 when ,god the ,accuser  
gave his laws to the nations by the     
hands of the children of time3 when to  
the extreme east was given mere abstract
 philosophy for faith instead of clear  
pure belief1 and man became slave to the
 elements1 the slave and not the lord of
 the nature of things2 but not yet was  
philosophy a mere matter of the five    
senses4 ,thus they fared in the east2   
meantime the spirits of the patriarchal 

world shrank beneath waters or fled in  
fires1 ,adam from ,eden1 ,noah from     
,ararat2 and ,moses beheld upon ,mount  
,sinai forms of dark delusion4 ,over    
each religion1 ,indian and ,jewish and  
,grecian1 some special demon or god of  
the mythology is bidden preside2        
,christianity1 the expression of human  
sorrow1 human indulgence and            
forgiveness1 was given as gospel to a   
man of sorrows by the two afflicted     
spirits who typify man and woman1 in    
whom the bitter errors and the sore     
needs of either several sex upon earth  
are reproduced in vast vague reflection2
 to them therefore the gentler gospel   
belongs as of right4 ,next comes        
,mahometanism1 to give some freedom and 
fair play to the controlled and abused  
senses2 but northwards other spirits set
 on foot a code of war to satiate their 
violent delight4 ,so on all sides is the
 world overgrown with kingdoms and      
churches1 codes and creeds2 inspiration 
is crushed and erased2 the sons of ,time

 and ,space reign alone2 ,har and ,heva1
 the spirits of loftier and purer kind  
who were not as the rest of the ,titan  
brood that lived in war and lust1 are   
fled and fallen1 become as mere creeping
 things2 and the world is ripe to bring 
forth for its cruel and mournful ,god   
the final fruit of reason debased and   
faith distorted4    ,thus the terrible  
race of ,los and ,enitharmon gave       
,laws and ,religions to the sons of     
,har1 binding them more   ,and more to  
,earth1 closing and restraining2   ,till
 a ,philosophy of ,five ,senses was     
complete2   ,urizen wept1 and gave it   
into the hands of ,newton and ,locke4   
,these terrible sons of time and space  
are the presiding demons of each creed  
or code2 the sons of men are in their   
hands now1 for the father and mother of 
men are fallen gods1 oblivious and      
transformed3 and these minor demons are 
all subservient to the ,creator1 whose  
soul1 sorrowful but not merciful1       
animates the whole pained world4 ,so1   

with cloud of menace and fire of wrath  
shed out about the deceased gods and the
 new philosophies1 the first part ends4 
,in the second part the clouds have     
broken and the fire has come forth2     
revolution has begun in ,europe2 the    
ancient lords of ,asia are startled from
 their dens and cry in bitterness of    
soul for help of the old oppressions2   
for councillors and for taxes1 for      
plagues and for priests1 to turn man    
from his path2 to restrain the child    
from the womb2 to cut off the bread from
 the city1 that the remnant may learn to
 obey3 that the pride of the heart may  
fail2 that the lust of the eye may be   
quenched2 that the delicate ear in its  
infancy may be dulled1 and the nostrils 
closed up2 to teach mortal worms the    
path that leads from the gates of the   
grave4 ,at their cry ,urizen arose1 the 
lord of ,asia from of old1 ever since he
 cast down the patriarchal law and set  
up the ,mosaic code2 his shuddering     
waving wings went enormous above the red

 flames1 to contend with the rekindled  
revolution1 the thick-flaming           
thought-creating fires of ,orc2    ,his 
books of brass1 iron1 and gold   ,melted
 over the land as he flew1              
,heavy-waving1 howling1 weeping4   ,and 
he stood over ,judea1   ,and stayed in  
his ancient places1   ,and stretched his
 clouds over ,jerusalem4   ,for ,adam1 a
 mouldering skeleton1   ,lay bleached on
 the garden of ,eden2   ,and ,noah1 as  
white as snow1   ,on the mountains of   
,ararat4  ,thus1 with thunder from      
eastward and fire from westward1 the    
,god of jealousy and the ,spirit of     
freedom met together2 earth shrank at   
the meeting of them4    ,forth from the 
dead dust rattling bones to bones       
,came2 shaking1 convulsed1 the shivering
 clay breathes2   ,and all flesh naked  
stands2 ,fathers and ,friends2          
,mothers and ,infants2 ,kings and       
,warriors2   ,the ,grave shrieks with   
delight1 and shakes   ,her hollow womb1 
and clasps the solid stem2   ,her bosom 

swells with wild desire2   ,and milk and
 blood and glandous wine   ,in rivers   
rush and shout and dance   ,on mountain1
 dale and plain4     ,the ,song of ,los 
is ended4       ,urizen wept4  ,so much 
for the text2 which has throughout a    
contagious power of excitement in the   
musical passion of its speech4 ,for     
these books1 above all1 it is impossible
 to read continuously and not imbibe a  
certain half-nervous enjoyment from     
their long cadences and tempestuous     
undulations of melody4 ,such passion    
went to the writing of them that some   
savour of that strong emotion infects us
 also in reading pages which seem still 
hot from the violent touch of the poet4 
,the design of ,har and ,heva flying    
from their lustful and warlike brethren 
across green waste land before a late   
and thunder-coloured sky1 he grasping   
her with convulsive fear1 she looking   
back as she runs with lifted arm and    
flame-like hair and fiery flow of       
raiment2 and that succeeding where they 

reappear fallen to mere king and queen  
of the vegetable world1 themselves half 
things of vegetable life2 are both noble
 if somewhat vehement and reckless4 ,in 
this latter1 the deep green-blue heaven 
full of stars like flowers is set with  
sweet and deep effect against the       
darkening green of the vast lily-leaves 
supporting the fiery pallor of those    
shapely chalices which enclose as the   
heart of either blossom the queen lying 
at her length1 and the king sitting with
 bright plucked-out pistil in hand by   
way of sceptre or sword2 and below them 
the dim walls of the world alone are    
wholly black3 his robes of soft shot    
purple and red1 her long chrysalid shell
 or husk of tarnished gold1 are but     
signs of their bondage and fall from    
deity2 they are fallen to be mere       
flowers4 ,more might be said of the     
remaining designs2 the fierce glory of  
sweeping branches and driven leaves in a
 strong wind1 the fervent sky and       
glimmering hill1 the crouching figures  

above and under1 the divine insane      
luxuriance of cloudy and flowery colour 
which makes twice luminous the last page
 of the poem2 the strange final design  
where a spirit with huge childlike limbs
 and lifted hair seems to smite with    
glittering mallet the outer rim of a    
huger blood-red sun2 but for this book  
we have no more space2 and much         
laborious travel lies ahead of us yet4  
,illustration   ,with the ,song of ,los 
the first or ,london series of          
prophecies came to a close not unfit or 
unmelodious4 ,as their first word had   
been ,revelation1 their last was        
,revolution4 ,we have now to deal with  
the two later and larger books written  
at ,felpham1 but not put forth till     
#ahjd4 ,to one of these at least we must
 allow some tolerably full notice4 ,the 
,milton shall here take precedence4     
,this poem1 though sufficiently         
vexatious to the human sense at first   
sight1 is worth some care and some      
admiration4 ,its preface must here be   

read in full4       ,the stolen and     
perverted writings of ,homer and ,ovid1 
of ,plato and      ,cicero1 which all   
men ought to contemn1 are set up by     
artifice      against the sublime of the
 ,bible2 but when the ,new ,age is at   
leisure      to pronounce1 all will be  
set right1 and those grand works of the 
more ancient and consciously and        
professedly inspired men1 will      hold
 their proper rank2 and the daughters of
 memory shall become the      daughters 
of inspiration4 ,shakespeare and ,milton
 were both curbed by      the general   
malady and infection from the silly     
,greek and ,latin      slaves of the    
sword4 ,rouse up1 ,o young men of the   
,new ,age6 set your      foreheads      
against the ignorant hirelings6 ,for we 
have hirelings in      the camp1 the    
court1 and the university2 who would1 if
 they could1      for ever depress      
mental and prolong corporeal war4       
,painters6 on you ,i      call6         
,sculptors6 ,architects6 suffer not the 

fashionable fools to      depress your  
powers by the prices they pretend to    
give for      contemptible works or the 
expensive advertising boasts that they  
make      of such works3 believe ,christ
 and his ,apostles1 that there is a     
class      of men whose whole delight is
 in destroying4 ,we do not want either  
,greek or ,roman models if we are but   
just and true to our own                
imaginations1 those worlds of eternity  
in which we shall live for      ever1 in
 ,jesus our ,lord4          ,and did    
those feet in ancient time         ,walk
 over ,england's mountains green8       
,and was the holy ,lamb of ,god         
,on ,england's pleasant pastures seen8  
,and did the ,countenance ,divine       
,shine forth upon our clouded hills8    
,and was ,jerusalem builded here1       
,among these dark ,satanic mills8       
,bring me my bow of burning gold2       
,bring me my arrows of desire2          
,bring me my spear3 ,o clouds1 unfold2  
,bring me my chariot of fire4           

,i will not cease from mental fight1    
,nor shall my sword sleep in my hand1   
,till we have built ,jerusalem          
,in ,england's green and pleasant land4 
',would to ,god that all the ,lord's    
people were prophets4'--,numbers xi4    
#bi4  ,after this strange and grand     
prelude1 which1 though taken in the     
letter it may read like foolishness1 is 
in the spirit of it certainty and truth 
for all time1 we pass again under the   
shadow and into the land that shifts and
 slips under our feet4 ,something       
however out of the chaos of fire and    
wind and stormy colour may be caught at 
by fits and stored up for such as can   
like it4 ,thus the poem opens1 with not 
less fervour and splendour of sound than
 usual4    ,daughters of ,beulah6 ,muses
 who inspire the ,poet's ,song6         
,record the journey of immortal ,milton 
thro' your realms   ,of terror and mild 
moony lustre1 in soft sexual delusions  
,of varied beauty1 to delight the       
wanderer and repose   ,his burning      

thirst and freezing hunger6 ,come into  
my hand1   ,by your mild power          
descending down the ,nerves of my right 
arm   ,from out the ,portals of my      
,brain1 where by your ministry   ,the   
,eternal ,great ,humanity ,divine       
planted his ,paradise   ,and in it      
caused the ,spectres of the ,dead to    
take sweet forms   ,in likeness of      
himself4  7,observe here the answer by  
anticipation to the old foolish charge  
of madness and belief in mere material  
visions2 a charge indeed refuted and    
confuted at every turn we take4 ,thus1  
and no otherwise1 did ,blake believe in 
his dead visitors and models3 as        
spectres formed into new and significant
 shape by ,god1 after his own likeness2 
not called up as by some witch of ,endor
 and reclothed with the rags and        
rottenness of their dead old bodies2    
creatures existing within the brain and 
imagination of the workman1 not as they 
were once externally and by accident1   
but as they will be for ever by the     

essence and substance of their nature4  
,for the vegetated shadow or human      
vegetable no mystic ever had deeper or  
subtler contempt than ,blake2 nor was   
ever a man less likely to care about    
raising or laying it after death47      
,tell also of the ,false ,tongue6       
vegetated   ,beneath your land of       
shadows2 of its sacrifices1 and   ,its  
offerings3 even till ,jesus1 the image  
of the ,invisible ,god1   ,became its   
prey2 a curse1 an offering1 and an      
atonement   ,for ,death ,eternal1 in the
 heavens of ,albion1 and before the     
gates   ,of ,jerusalem his ,emanation1  
in the heavens beneath ,beulah4  ,let   
the ,sufis of the ,west make what       
construction they can of that doctrine4 
,we will help them1 before passing on1  
with another view of the ,atonement1    
taken from ,the ,everlasting ,gospel4   
,but when ,jesus was crucified1   ,then 
was perfected his galling pride4   ,in  
three days he devoured his prey1   ,and 
still he devours the body of clay2      

,for dust and clay is the serpent's     
meat1   ,which never was meant for man  
to eat4  ,that is1 the spirit must be   
eternally at work consuming and         
destroying the likeness of things       
material and the religions made out of  
them4 ,this over-fervent prophet of     
freedom for the senses as well as the   
soul would have them free1 one may say1 
only for the soul's sake3 talking as we 
see he did of redemption from the body  
and salvation by the spirit at war with 
it1 in words which literally taken would
 hardly have misbecome a monk of        
,nitria4  ,returning to the ,milton1 we 
are caught again in the mythologic      
whirlpools and cross-currents of symbol 
and doctrine2 our ears rung deaf and    
dazed by the hammers of ,los 7,time7 and
 our eyes bewildered by the wheels and  
woofs of ,enitharmon 7,space73 her looms
 vibrate with soft affections1 weaving  
the ,web of ,life out from the ashes of 
the ,dead4 ,this is a fragment of the   
main myth1 whose details ,los and       

,enitharmon themselves for the present  
forbid our following out4    ,the ,three
 ,classes of men regulated by ,los's    
hammer1 and woven   ,by ,enitharmon's   
,looms1 and spun beneath the ,spindle of
 ,tirzah3   ,the first3 ,the ,elect from
 before the foundation of the ,world2   
,the second3 ,the ,redeemed4 ,the       
,third3 the ,reprobate and formed   ,to 
destruction from the mother's womb4     
,into the myth of the harrow and horses 
of ,palamabron1 more ,asiatic in tone   
than any other of ,blake's1 and full of 
the vast proportion and formless fervour
 of ,hindoo legends1 we will not haul   
any reluctant reader4 ,let him only take
 enough by way of extract to understand 
how thoroughly one vein of fiery faith  
runs through all the prophetic books1   
and one passionate form of doctrine is  
enforced and beaten in upon the disciple
 again and again2 not hitherto with much
 material effect4    ,and in the midst  
of the ,great ,assembly ,palamabron     
prayed2   ,o ,god1 protect me from my   

friends that they have not power over   
me2   ,thou hast given me power to      
protect myself from my bitterest        
enemies4  ,then the wrath of ,rintrah1  
the most fiery of the spirits who are   
children of ,time1 having entered by lot
 into ,satan1 who was of the ,elect from
 the first1 seeming a brother1 being a  
tyrant1 even thinking himself a brother 
while he is murdering the just1 with    
incomparable mildness1 believing that he
 had not oppressed--a symbolic point    
much insisted on--    ,he created ,seven
 deadly ,sins1 drawing out his infernal 
scroll   ,of moral laws and cruel       
punishments upon the clouds of ,jehovah1
   ,to pervert the divine voice in its  
entrance to the earth   ,with thunders  
of war and trumpet's sound1 with armies 
of disease2   ,punishments and deaths   
mustered and numbered2 saying1 ,i am    
,god alone1   ,there is no other2 let   
all obey my principles of moral         
individuality   ,i have brought them    
from the uppermost innermost recesses   

,of my ,eternal ,mind2 transgressors ,i 
will rend off for ever2   ,as now ,i    
rend this accursed ,family from my      
covering4  ,this is the ,satan of       
,blake1 sufficiently unlike the         
,miltonic4 ,of himself he cannot        
conceive evil and bring forth           
destruction2 the absolute ,spirit of    
,evil is alien from this mythology2 he  
must enter into the body of a law or    
system and put on the qualities of      
spirits strange to himself 7,rintrah72  
he is divided1 inconsistent1 a mystery  
and error to himself2 he represents     
,monotheism with its stringent law and  
sacerdotal creed1 ,jewish or ,christian1
 as opposed to ,pantheism whereby man   
and ,god are one1 and by culture and    
perfection of humanity man makes himself
 ,god4 ,the point of difference here    
between ,blake and many other western   
,pantheists is that in his creed        
self-abnegation 7in the mystic sense1   
not the ascetic--the ,oriental1 not the 
,catholic7 is the highest and only      

perfect form of self-culture3 and as    
,satan 7under names divine--see the     
,epilogue to the ,gates of ,paradise7 is
 the incarnate type of ,monotheism1 so  
is ,jesus the incarnate type of         
,pantheism4 ,to return to our myth2 the 
stronger spirit rears walls of rocks and
 forms rivers of fire round them2       
,and ,satan1 not having the ,science of 
,wrath but only of ,pity1#eg   ,rent    
them asunder2 and ,wrath was left to    
,wrath1 and ,pity to ,pity4  ,this is   
,blake's ultimate conception of active  
evil2 not wilful wrong-doing by force of
 arm or of spirit2 but mild error1      
tender falsehood innocent of a purpose1 
embodied in an external law of moral    
action and restrictive faith1 and       
clothed with a covering of cruelty which
 adheres to and grows into it           
7,decalogue and ,law74 ,a subtle and    
rather noble conception1 developing     
easily and rapidly into what was once   
called the ,manichean doctrine as to the
 ,old ,testament4    ,if the guilty     

should be condemned1 he must be an      
,eternal ,death1   ,and one must die for
 another throughout all ,eternity2      
,satan is fallen from his station and   
can never be redeemed1   ,but must be   
new-created continually moment by       
moment1   ,and therefore the class of   
,satan shall be called the ,elect1 and  
those   ,of ,rintrah the ,reprobate1 and
 those of ,palamabron the ,redeemed2    
,for he is redeemed from ,satan's law1  
the wrath falling on ,rintrah4   ,and   
therefore ,palamabron cared not to call 
a solemn ,assembly   ,till ,satan had   
assumed ,rintrah's wrath in the day of  
mourning1   ,in a feminine delusion#eh  
of false pride self-deceived4  ,the     
words of the text recur not unfrequently
 in the prophetic books4 ,a single final
 act of redemption by sacrifice and     
oblation of one for another is not      
admitted as sufficient1 or even         
possible4 ,the favourite dogma is this1 
of the eternity of sacrifice2 endless   
redemption to be bought at no less a    

price than endless self-devotion4 ,to   
this plea of an ,eternal before the     
assembly succeeds the myth of ,leutha   
offering herself a ransom for ,satan3#ei
 a myth1 not an allegory2 for of        
allegory pure and simple there is       
scarcely a trace in ,blake4             
,i formed the ,serpent   ,of precious   
stones and gold turned poison on the    
sultry waste4   ,to do unkind things    
with kindness2 with power armed1 to say 
,the most irritating things in the midst
 of tears and love2   ,these are the    
stings of the ,serpent4  ,this whole    
myth of ,leutha is splendid for colour1 
and not too subtle to be thought out3   
the imaginative action of the poem plays
 like fire and palpitates like blood    
upon every line1 as the lips of         
caressing flame and the tongues of      
cleaving light in which the text is set 
fold and flash about the margins4       
,the ,elect shall meet the ,redeemed1 on
 ,albion's rocks they shall meet1       
,astonished at the ,transgressor1 in him

 beholding the ,saviour4   ,and the     
,elect shall say to the ,redeemed2 ,we  
behold it is of ,divine   ,mercy alone1 
of free gift and ,election1 that we     
live2   ,our ,virtues and cruel         
,goodnesses have deserved ,eternal      
,death4  ,forgiveness of sin and        
indulgence1 the disciple perceives1 is  
not enough for this mythology2 it must  
include forgiveness of virtue and       
abstinence1 the hypocritic holiness made
 perfect in the body of death for six   
thousand years under the repressive and 
restrictive law called after the name of
 the ,god of the ,jews1 who was leprous4
 ,thus prophesies ,blake1 in a fury of  
supra-,christian dogmatism4  ,here ends 
the ,song of the ,bard in the ,first    
,book4 ,many condemned the high-toned   
song1 saying1 ,pity and ,love are too   
venerable for the imputation of guilt4  
,others said1 ,if it is true6 ,let us   
say the same1 and pass on3 listening    
only to the ,bard's answer3--           
,i am inspired6 ,i know it is ,truth6   

for ,i sing   ,according to the         
,inspiration of the ,poetic ,genius     
,who is the ,eternal all-protecting     
divine ,humanity   ,to whom be ,glory   
and ,power and ,dominion evermore4      
,amen4  ,then follows the incarnation   
and descent into earth and hell of      
,milton1 who represents here the        
redemption by inspiration1 working in   
pain and difficulty before the          
expiration of the six thousand ,satanic 
years4 ,his words are worth quoting3--  
,when will the ,resurrection come1 to   
deliver the sleeping body   ,from       
corruptibility8 ,o when1 ,lord ,jesus1  
wilt thou come8   ,tarry no longer2 for 
my soul lies at the gates of death3   ,i
 will arise and look forth for the      
morning of the grave3   ,i will go down 
to the sepulchre and see if morning     
breaks4   ,i will go down to            
self-annihilation and eternal death     
,lest the ,last ,judgment come and find 
me unannihilate   ,and ,i be seized and 
given into the hands of my own selfhood4

  ,this grand dogma1 that personal love 
and selfishness make up the sin which   
defies redemption1 is in a manner       
involved in that former one of the      
necessary eternity of sacrifice1 for    
,i in my selfhood am that ,satan2 ,i am 
that ,evil ,one2   ,he is my ,spectre4  
,now by the light of these extracts let 
any student examine the great figure at 
p4 #ac1 where he beheld his own         
,shadow--and entered into it4 ,clothed  
in the colours of pain1 crowned with the
 rays of suffering1 it stands between   
world and world in a great anguish of   
transformation and change3 ,passion     
included by ,incarnation4 ,erect on a   
globe of opaque shadow1 backed by a     
sphere of aching light that opens       
flower-wise into beams of shifting      
colour and bitter radiance as of fire1  
it appeals with a doubtful tortured face
 and straining limbs to the flat black  
wall and roof of heaven4 ,all over the  
head is a darkness not of transitory    
cloud or night that will some time melt 

into day2 recalling that great verse3   
,neither could the bright flames of the 
stars endure to lighten that horrible   
night4    ,as when a man dreams he      
reflects not that his body sleeps1      
,else he would wake2 so seemed he       
entering his ,shadow2 but   ,with him   
the ,spirits of the ,seven ,angels of   
the ,presence   ,entering1 they gave him
 still perceptions of his ,sleeping     
,body   ,which now arose and walked with
 them in ,eden1 as an ,eighth   ,image1 
,divine tho' darkened1 and tho' walking 
as one walks   ,in ,sleep2 and the      
,seven comforted and supported him4     
,the whole passage is full of a deep and
 dim beauty which grows clearer and     
takes form of feature to those only who 
bring with them eyes to see and patience
 to desire it4 ,take next this piece of 
cosmography1 worth comparing with       
,dante's vision of the worlds3--    ,the
 nature of infinity is this2 ,that      
everything has its   ,own vortex3 and   
when once a traveller thro' ,eternity   

,has passed that vortex1 he perceives it
 roll backward behind   ,his path into a
 globe itself enfolding1 like a sun     
,or like a moon or like a universe of   
starry majesty1   ,while he keeps onward
 in his wondrous journey thro' the      
earth1   ,or like a human form1 a friend
 with whom he lived benevolent3   ,as   
the eye of man views both the east and  
west encompassing   ,its vortex1 and the
 north and south1 with all their starry 
host2   ,also the rising and setting    
moon he views surrounding   ,his        
cornfields and his valleys of five      
hundred acres square2   ,thus is the    
earth one infinite plane1 and not as    
apparent   ,to the weak traveller       
confined beneath the moony shade2       
,thus is the heaven a vortex passed     
already1 and the earth   ,a vortex not  
yet passed by the traveller thro'       
,eternity4  ,one curious piece of       
symbolism may be extracted from the     
myth1 as the one reference to anything  
actual3--    ,then ,milton knew that the

 ,three ,heavens of ,beulah were beheld 
,by him on earth in his bright          
pilgrimage of sixty years   ,in those   
three ,females whom his ,wives1 and     
those three whom his ,daughters   ,had  
represented and contained1 that they    
might be resumed   ,by giving up of     
,selfhood4  ,but of ,milton's flight1 of
 the cruelties of ,ulro1 of his journey 
above the ,mundane ,shell1 which is a   
vast concave earth1 an immense hardened 
shadow of all things upon our vegetated 
earth1 enlarged into dimension and      
deformed into indefinite space1 we will 
take no more account here2 nor of the   
strife with ,urizen1 one giving life1   
the other giving death1 to his          
adversary2 hardly even of the temptation
 by the sons and daughters of ,rahab and
 ,tirzah1 when    ,the twofold ,form    
,hermaphroditic1 and the ,double-sexed1 
,the ,female-male and the ,male-female1 
self-dividing stood   ,before him in    
their beauty and in cruelties of        
holiness4  7,compare the beautiful song 

,to ,tirzah1 in the ,songs of           
,experience47 ,this ,tirzah1 daughter of
 ,rahab the holy1 is ,natural ,religion 
7,theism as opposed to ,pantheism71     
which would fain have the spiritual     
,jerusalem offered in sacrifice to it4  
,let her be offered up to holiness3     
,tirzah numbers her3   ,she numbers with
 her fingers every fibre ere it grow3   
,where is the ,lamb of ,god8 where is   
the promise of his coming8   ,her       
shadowy sisters form the bones1 even the
 bones of ,horeb   ,around the marrow2  
and the orbed scull around the brain2   
,she ties the knot of nervous fibres    
into a white brain2   ,she ties the knot
 of bloody veins into a red-hot heart2  
,she ties the knot of milky seed into   
two lovely heavens1   ,two yet but one2 
each in the other sweet reflected2 these
   ,are our ,three ,heavens beneath the 
shades of ,beulah1 land of rest4  ,here 
and henceforward the clamour and glitter
 of the poem become more and more       
confused2 nevertheless every page is set

 about with jewels2 as here1 in a more  
comprehensible form than usual3--       
,god sent his two servants ,whitfield   
and ,wesley2 were they prophets8   ,or  
were they idiots and madmen8 ',show us  
,miracles'8   ,can you have greater     
,miracles than these8 ,men who devote   
,their life's whole comfort to entire   
scorn1 injury1 and death8  ,take also   
these scraps of explanation mercifully  
vouchsafed us3--    ,bowlahoola is named
 ,law by ,mortals3 ,tharmas founded it  
,because of ,satan3 99 99 99 99   ,but  
,golgonooza is named ,art and           
,manufacture by mortal men4   ,in       
,bowlahoola ,los's ,anvils stand and his
 ,furnaces rage4   ,bowlahoola thro' all
 its porches feels1 tho' too fast       
founded   ,its pillars and porticoes to 
tremble at the force   ,of mortal or    
immortal arm2 99 99 99   ,the ,bellows  
are the ,animal ,lungs2 the ,hammers the
 ,animal ,heart2   ,the ,furnaces the   
,stomach for digestion2  7,here we must 
condense instead of transcribing4 ,while

 thousands labour at this work of the   
,senses in the halls of ,time1 thousands
 play on instruments stringed or fluted 
to lull the labourers and drown the     
painful sound of the toiling members1   
and bring forgetfulness of this slavery 
to the flesh3 a myth of animal life not 
without beauty1 and to ,blake one of    
great attraction47    ,los is by mortals
 named ,time1 ,enitharmon is named      
,space2   ,but they depict him bald and 
aged who is in eternal youth            
,all-powerful1 and his locks flourish   
like the brows of morning2   ,he is the 
,spirit of ,prophecy1 the ever-apparent 
,elias4   ,time is the mercy of         
,eternity2 without ,time's swiftness    
,which is the swiftest of all things1   
all were eternal torment4  ,at least    
this last magnificent passage should in 
common charity and sense have been cited
 in the biography1 if only to explain   
the often-quoted words ,los and         
,enitharmon4 ,neither blindness to such 
splendour of symbol1 nor deafness to    

such music of thought1 can excuse the   
omission of what is so wholly necessary 
for the comprehension of extracts       
already given1 and given 7as far as one 
can see7 with no available purpose      
whatever4  ,the remainder of the first  
book of the ,milton is a vision of      
,nature and prophecy of the gathering of
 the harvest of ,time and treading of   
the winepress of ,war2 in which harvest 
and vintage work all living things have 
their share for good or evil4    ,how   
red the sons and daughters of ,luvah6   
here they tread the grapes1   ,laughing 
and shouting1 drunk with odours2 many   
fall o'erwearied1   ,drowned in the wine
 is many a youth and maiden2 those      
around   ,lay them on skins of ,tigers  
and of the spotted ,leopard and the wild
 ,ass   ,till they revive1 or bury them 
in cool grots1 making lamentation4      
,this ,winepress is called ,war on      
,earth2 it is the printing-press   ,of  
,los1 there he lays his words in order  
above the mortal brain   ,as cogs are   

formed in a wheel to turn the cogs of   
the adverse wheel4  ,all kind of        
insects1 of roots and seeds and creeping
 things--all the armies of disease      
visible or invisible--are there2    ,the
 slow slug2 the grasshopper that sings  
and laughs and drinks   7,winter comes1 
he folds his slender bones without a    
murmur72  wasp and hornet1 toad and     
newt1 spider and snake1    ,they throw  
off their gorgeous raiment2 they rejoice
 with loud jubilee   ,around the        
winepresses of ,luvah1 naked and drunk  
with wine4   ,there is the nettle that  
stings with soft down2 and there   ,the 
indignant thistle whose bitterness is   
bred in his milk2   ,who feeds on       
contempt of his neighbour2 there all the
 idle weeds   ,that creep around the    
obscure places show their various limbs 
,naked in all their beauty1 dancing     
round the winepresses4   ,but in the    
winepresses the human grapes sing not   
nor dance1   ,they howl and writhe in   
shoals of torment1 in fierce flames     

consuming2  tortured for the cruel joy  
and deadly sport of ,luvah's sons and   
daughters2    ,they dance around the    
dying and they drink the howl and groan2
   ,they catch the shrieks in cups of   
gold1 they hand them one to another2    
,these are the sports of love1 and these
 the sweet delights of amorous          
play2   ,tears of the grape1 the        
death-sweat of the cluster2 the last    
sigh   ,of the mild youth who listens to
 the luring songs of ,luvah4  ,take also
 this from the speech of ,time to his   
reapers4    ,you must bind the sheaves  
not by nations or families1   ,you shall
 bind them in three classes2 according  
to their classes   ,so shall you bind   
them1 separating what has been mixed    
,since men began to be woven into       
nations4 99 99                          
99 99 99 ,the ,elect is one class2 you  
,shall bind them separate2 they cannot  
believe in eternal life   ,except by    
miracle and a new birth4 ,the other two 
classes1   ,the ,reprobate#fj who never 

cease to believe1 and the ,redeemed     
,who live in doubts and fears1          
perpetually tormented by the ,elect1    
,these you shall bind in a twin bundle  
for the consummation4  ,the             
constellations that rise in immortal    
order1 that keep their course upon      
mountain and valley1 with sound of harp 
and song1 with cups and measures filled 
with foaming wine2 that fill the streams
 with light of many visions and leave in
 luminous traces upon the extreme sea   
the peace of their passage2 these too   
are sons of ,los1 and labour in the     
vintage4 ,the gorgeous flies on meadow  
or brook1 that weave in mazes of music  
and motion the delight of artful dances1
 and sound instruments of song as they  
touch and cross and recede2 the trees   
shaken by the wind into sound of heavy  
thunder till they become preachers and  
prophets to men2 these are the sons of  
,los1 these the visions of eternity2 and
 we see but as it were the hem of their 
garments4  ,a noble passage follows1 in 

which are resumed the labours of the    
sons of time in fashioning men and the  
stations of men4 ,they make for doubts  
and fears cabinets of ivory and gold2   
when two spectres like lamps quivering  
between life and death stand ready for  
the blind malignity of combat1 they are 
taken and moulded instead into shapes   
fit for love1 clothed with soft raiment 
by softer hands1 drawn after lines of   
sweet and perfect form4 ,some in the    
optic nerve give to the poor infinite   
wealth of insight1 power to know and    
enjoy the invisible heaven1 and to the  
rich scorn and ignorance and thick      
darkness4 ,others build minutes and     
hours and days2    ,and every moment has
 a couch of gold for soft repose   7,a  
moment equals a pulsation of the artery7
   ,and every minute has an azure tent  
with silken veils1   ,and every hour has
 a bright golden gate carved with skill1
   ,and every day and night has walls of
 brass and gates of adamant   ,shining  
like precious stones and ornamented with

 appropriate signs1   ,and every month a
 silver-paved terrace builded high1     
,and every year invulnerable barriers   
with high towers1   ,and every age is   
moated deep1 with bridges of silver and 
gold1   ,and every ,seven ,ages are     
encircled with a flaming fire4  ,there  
is much more of the same mythic sort    
concerning the duration of time1 the    
offices of the nerves 7e4g41 in the     
optic nerve sleep was transformed to    
death by ,satan the father of sin and   
death1 even as we have seen sensual     
death re-transformed by ,mercy into     
sleep71 and such-like huge matters2     
full1 one need not now repeat1 of subtle
 splendour and fanciful intensity4 ,but 
enough now of this over-careful dredging
 in such weedy waters2 where            
nevertheless1 at risk of breaking our   
net1 we may at every dip fish up some   
pearl4  ,at the opening of the second   
book the pearls lie close and pure4     
,from this 7without explanation or      
reference7 has been taken the lovely and

 mutilated extract at p4 #aig of the    
,life4 ,thus it stands in ,blake's      
text3--    ,thou hearest the nightingale
 begin the song of spring2   ,the lark1 
sitting upon his earthy bed1 just as the
 morn   ,appears1 listens silent2 then1 
springing from the waving corn-field1   
loud   ,he leads the choir of day3      
trill--trill--trill--trill--   ,mounting
 upon the wings of light into the great 
expanse1   ,re-echoing against the      
lovely blue and shining heavenly shell  
,his little throat labours with         
inspiration2 every feather   ,on throat1
 and breast1 and wing1 vibrate with the 
effluence divine4   ,all nature listens 
to him silent2 and the awful ,sun       
,stands still upon the mountains1       
looking on this little bird   ,with eyes
 of soft humility1 and wonder1 love1 and
 awe4   ,then loud1 from their green    
covert1 all the birds began their       
song1--   ,the thrush1 the linnet and   
the goldfinch1 robin and the wren1      
,awake the ,sun from his sweet reverie  

upon the mountains2   ,the nightingale  
again essays his song1 and through the  
day   ,and through the night warbles    
luxuriant2 every bird of song           
,attending his loud harmony with        
admiration and love4    7,this is a     
vision of the lamentation of ,beulah    
over ,ololon47    ,thou perceivest the  
flowers put forth their precious odours1
   ,and none can tell how from so small 
a centre come such sweets1   ,forgetting
 that within that centre eternity       
expands   ,its ever-during doors that   
,og and ,anak fiercely guard4#fa        
,first ere the morning breaks joy opens 
in the flowery bosoms1   ,joy even to   
tears1 which the sun rising dries2 first
 the wild thyme   ,and meadow-sweet     
downy and soft waving among the reeds1  
,light springing on the air1 lead the   
sweet dance2 they wake   ,the           
honeysuckle sleeping on the oak1 the    
flaunting beauty   ,revels along upon   
the wind2 the white-thorn1 lovely ,may1 
,opens her many lovely eyes2 listening1 

the rose still sleeps1   ,none dare to  
wake her3 soon she bursts her           
crimson-curtained bed   ,and comes forth
 in the majesty of beauty2 every flower1
   ,the pink1 the jessamine1 the        
wallflower1 the carnation1   ,the       
jonquil1 the mild lily1 opes her        
heavens2 every tree   ,and flower and   
herb soon fill the air with an          
innumerable dance1   ,yet all in order  
sweet and lovely2 men are sick with     
love4    ,such is a vision of the       
lamentation of ,beulah over ,ololon4    
,this ,beulah is a place where          
contrarieties are equally true2 it is a 
pleasant lovely shadow where no dispute 
can come because of those who sleep3    
made to shelter1 before they pass away  
in winter1 the temporary emanations     
which trembled exceedingly neither could
 they live1 because the life of man was 
too exceeding unbounded4 ,of the        
incarnation and descent of ,ololon1 of  
the wars and prophecies of ,milton1 and 
of all the other ,felpham visions here  

put on record1 we shall say no more in  
this place2 but all these things are    
written in the ,second ,book4 ,the      
illustrative work is also noble and     
worth study in all ways4 ,one page for  
example is covered by a design among the
 grandest of ,blake's4 ,two figures lie 
half embraced1 as in a deadly sleep     
without dawn of dream or shadow of rest1
 along a bare slant ledge of rock washed
 against by wintry water4 ,over these   
two stoops an eagle balanced on the     
heavy-laden air1 with stretching throat 
and sharpened wings1 opening beak1 and  
eyes full of a fierce perplexity of     
pity4 ,all round the greenish and black 
slope of moist sea-cliff the weary tidal
 ripple plashes and laps1 thrusting up  
as it were faint tongues and listless   
fingers tipped with foam4 ,on an earlier
 page1 part of the text of which we have
 given1 crowd and glitter all shapes and
 images of insect or reptile life1      
sprinkling between line and margin keen 
points of jewel-coloured light and soft 

flashes as of starry or scaly           
brilliance4  ,the same year #ahjd saw   
the huge advent of ,jerusalem4 ,of that 
terrible emanation1 hitherto the main   
cornerstone of offence to all students  
of ,blake1 what can be said within any  
decent limit8 or where shall any        
traveller find a rest for feet or eyes  
in that noisy and misty land8 ,it were a
 mere frenzy of discipleship that would 
undertake by force of words to make     
straight these crooked ways or compel   
things incoherent to cohere4 ,supra hanc
 petram--and such a rock it is to begin 
any church-building upon6 ,many of the  
unwary have stumbled over it and broken 
their wits4 ,seriously1 one cannot      
imagine that people will ever read      
through this vast poem with pleasure    
enough to warrant them in having        
patience with it4   ,illustration       
,several things1 true in the main of all
 the prophetic books1 are especially    
true and memorable with regard to those 
written or designed during the three    

years' slumber at ,felpham4 ,they are   
the results of intense and active       
solitude working upon the capricious    
nerves and tremulous brain of a man     
naturally the most excitable and        
receptive of men4 ,they are to be read  
by the light of his earlier work in the 
same line2 still more perhaps by the    
light of those invaluable ten letters   
printed in ,vol4 ,,ii4 of the ,life1 for
 which one can hardly give thanks       
enough4 ,the incredible fever of spirit 
under the sting and stress of which he  
thought and laboured all his life       
through1 has left marks of its hot and  
restless presence as clearly on this    
short correspondence as on the          
voluminous rolls of prophecy4 ,the merit
 or demerit of the work done is never in
 any degree the conscious or deliberate 
result of a purpose4 ,possessed to the  
inmost nerve and core by a certain      
faith1 consumed by the desire to obey   
his instinct of right by preaching that 
faith1 utterly regardless of all matters

 lying outside of his own inspiration1  
he wrote and engraved as it was given   
him to do1 and no otherwise4 ,as to     
matter and argument1 the enormous       
,jerusalem is simply a fervent          
apocalyptic discourse on the old        
subjects--love without law and against  
law1 virtue that stagnates into         
poisonous dead matter by moral          
isolation1 sin that must exist for the  
sake of being forgiven1 forgiveness that
 must always keep up with sin--must even
 maintain sin that it may have something
 to keep up with and to live for4       
,without forgiveness of sins1 the one   
thing necessary1 we lapse each man into 
separate self-righteousness and a cruel 
worship of natural morality and         
religious law4 ,for nature1 oddly enough
 as it seems at first sight1 is assumed 
by this mystical code to be the         
cruellest and narrowest of absolute     
moralists4 ,only by worship of          
imaginative impulse1 the grace of the   
,lamb of ,god1 which admits infinite    

indulgence in sin and infinite          
forgiveness of sin--only by some such   
faith as this shall the world be renewed
 and redeemed4 ,this may be taken as the
 rough result1 broadly set down1 of the 
portentous book of revelation4 ,never1  
one may suppose1 did any ,oriental      
heretic drive his deductions further or 
set forth his conclusions in obscurer   
form4 ,never certainly did a man fall to
 his work with keener faith and         
devotion4 ,sin itself is not so         
evil--but the remembrance and punishment
 of sin6 ,injury the ,lord heals2 but   
vengeance cannot be healed4 ,next or    
equal in hatefulness to the division of 
qualities into evil and good 7see above1
 ,marriage of ,heaven and ,hell7 is the 
separation of sexes into male and       
female3 hence jealous love and personal 
desire1 that set itself against the     
mystical frankness of fraternity3 hence 
too 7contradictory as it may seem till  
one thinks it out7 the hermaphroditic   
emblem is always used as a symbol       

seemingly of duplicity and division1    
perplexity and restraint4 ,the two sexes
 should not combine and contend2 they   
must finally amalgamate and be          
annihilated4#fb ,all this is of course  
more or less symbolic1 and not to be    
taken in literal coarseness or folly of 
meaning4 ,the whole stage is elemental1 
the scheme one of patriarchal vapour1   
and the mythologic actors mere ,titans  
outlined in cloud4 ,reserving this      
always1 we shall not be far out in      
interpreting ,blake's dim creed somewhat
 as above4 ,one distinction it is here  
possible to make1 and desirable to keep 
in mind3 ,blake at one time speaks of   
,nature as the source of moral law1 the 
harlot virgin-mother1 ,rahab1 the       
daughter of ,babylon1 origin of         
religious restrictions and the worship  
of abstinence2 mother of the harlot     
modesty1 and spring of all hypocrisies  
and prohibitions2 to whom the religious 
and moral of this world would fain offer
 up in sacrifice the spiritual          

,jerusalem1 the virgin espoused1 named  
among men ,liberty1 forbidding nothing  
and enjoying all1 but therefore clean   
and not unclean3 by whom comes          
indulgence1 after whom follows          
redemption4 ,at another time this same  
prophet will plead for freedom on behalf
 of natural energies1 and set up the    
claims of nature to energetic enjoyment 
and gratification of all desires1       
against the moral law and government of 
the creative and restrictive            
,deity--,urizen1 mistaken ,demon of     
,heaven4 ,with a like looseness of      
phrase he uses and transposes the words 
,god and ,satan1 even to an excess of   
laxity and consequent perplexity2 not1  
it may be suspected1 without a grain of 
innocent if malign pleasure at the      
chance of inflicting on men of          
conventional tempers bewilderment and   
offence4 ,but as to this question of the
 term ,nature the case seems to lie     
thus3 when1 as throughout the ,marriage 
of ,heaven and ,hell1 he uses it in the 

simple sense of human or physical       
condition as opposed to some artificial 
state of soul or belief1 he takes it as 
the contrary of conventional ideas and  
habits 7of religion and morality as     
vulgarly conceived or practised72 but   
when1 as throughout the ,milton and     
,jerusalem1 he speaks of nature as      
opposed to inspiration1 it must be taken
 as the contrary of that higher and     
subtler religious faith which he is bent
 on inculcating1 and which itself is the
 only perfect opposite and efficient    
antagonist to the conventional faith and
 7to use another of his quasi-technical 
terms7 the deistical virtue which he is 
bent on denying4 ,blake1 one should     
always remember1 was not infidel but    
heretic2 his belief was peculiar enough1
 but it was not unbelief2 it was farther
 from that than most men's4 ,to him1    
though for quite personal reasons and in
 a quite especial sense1 much of what is
 called inspired writing was as sacred  
and infallible as to any priest of any  

church4 ,only before reading he inverted
 the book4    ,both read the ,bible day 
and night1   ,but thou read'st black    
where ,i read white4                    
7,everlasting ,gospel1 ,,ms47  ,thus1 by
 his own showing1 in the recorded words 
of ,christ he found authority for his   
vision and sympathy with his faith2 in  
the published creed of reason or        
rationalism1 he found negation of his   
belief and antipathy to his aims4 ,hence
 in his later denunciation he brackets  
together the ,churches of ,rome and     
,england with the ,churches of ,ferney  
and ,lausanne2 it was all               
uninspired--all nature's cruel          
holiness--the deceits of natural        
religion2 all irremediably involved1 all
 inextricably interwoven with the old   
fallacies and the old prohibitions4     
,illustration   ,such points as these   
do1 above most others1 deserve1 demand1 
and reward the trouble of clearing up2  
and these once understood1 much that    
seemed the aimless unreflecting jargon  

of crude or accidental rhetoric assumes 
a distinct if unacceptable meaning4 ,it 
is much otherwise with the external     
scheme or literal shell of the          
,jerusalem4 ,let no man attempt to      
define the post or expound the office of
 the terrible sons and daughters4       
,these1 with all their flock of         
emanations and spectrous or vegetating  
shadows1 let us leave to the discretion 
of ,los2 who has enough on his hands    
among them all4 ,neither let any attempt
 to plant a human foot upon the soil of 
the newly-divided shires and counties1  
partitioned though they be into the     
mystic likeness of the twelve tribes of 
,israel4 ,nor let any questioner of     
arithmetical mind apply his skill in    
numbers to the finding of flaws or      
products in the twelves1 twenty-fours1  
and twenty-sevens which make up the sum 
of their male and female emanations4 ,in
 earnest1 the externals of this poem are
 too incredibly grotesque--the          
mythologic plan too incomparably        

tortuous--to be fit for any detailed    
coherence of remark4 ,nor indeed were   
they meant to endure it4 ,such things1  
and the expression of such things1 as   
are here treated of1 are not to be      
reasoned out2 the matter one may say is 
above reasoning2 the manner 7taken apart
 from the matter7 is below it3 the      
spirit of the work is too strong and its
 form too faulty for any rule or line4  
,it will upon the whole suffice if this 
be kept in mind2 that to ,blake1 in a   
literal perhaps as well as a mystical   
sense1 ,albion was as it were the cradle
 and centre of all created existence2 he
 even calls on the ,jews to recognize it
 as the parent land of their history and
 their faith4 ,its incarnate spirit is  
chief among the ancient giant-gods1     
,titans of his mythology1 who were lords
 of the old simple world and its good   
things1 its wise delights and strong    
sweet instincts1 full of the vigorous   
impulse of innocence2 lords of an       
extinct kingdom1 superseded now and     

transformed by the advent of moral fear 
and religious jealousy1 of pallid faith 
and artificial abstinence4 ,in this     
manner ,albion is changed and           
overthrown2 hence at length he dies1    
stifled and slain by his children under 
the new law4 ,his one friend1 not misled
 or converted to the dispensations of   
bodily virtue and spiritual restraint1  
but faithful from of old and even after 
his change and conversion to moral law1 
is ,time2 whose ,spectre1 or mere       
outside husk and likeness1 is indeed 7as
 it must needs be7 fain to range itself 
on the transitory side of things1 fain  
to follow after the fugitive ,emanation 
embodied in these new forms of life and 
allied to the faith and habit of the day
 against the old liberty2#fc but for all
 the desire of his despair and fierce   
entreaties to be let go1 he is yet kept 
to work1 however afflicted and          
rebellious1 and compelled to labour with
 ,time's self at the building up within 
every man of that spiritual city which  

is redemption and freedom for all men   
7ch4 i474 ,all the myth of this building
 of ,golgonooza1 7that is1 we know1     
inspired art by which salvation must    
come7 is noticeable for sweet intricacy 
of beauty2 only after a little some     
maddening memory 7surely not pure       
inspiration this time1 but rather       
memory87 of the latter chapters of      
,ezekiel1 with their interminable       
inexplicable structures and plans1      
seizes on ,blake's passionate fancy and 
sets him at work measuring and dividing 
walls and gates in a style calculated to
 wear out a hecatomb of scholiasts1 for 
whole pages in which no subtilized      
mediaeval intellect1 though trained     
under seraphic or cherubic doctors1     
could possibly find one satisfactory    
hair to split4 ,for it merely trebles   
the roaring and rolling confusion when  
some weak grain of symbolism is turned  
up for a glimpse of time in the thick of
 a mass of choral prose consisting of   
absolute fancy and mere naked sound4    

,not that there is here less than       
elsewhere of the passion and beauty     
which redeem so much of these confused  
and clamorous poems4 ,the merits and    
attractions of this book are not such as
 can be minced small and served up in   
fragments4 ,to do justice to its        
melodious eloquence and tender subtlety1
 we should have to analyze or transcribe
 whole sections3 to give any fair notion
 of the grandeur and variety of its     
decorations would take up twice the     
space we can allow to it4 ,let this     
brief prologue stand as a sample of the 
former qualities4    ,reader6 lover of  
books6 lover of heaven   ,and of that   
,god from whom all things are given2    
,who in mysterious ,sinai's awful cave  
,to ,man the wondrous art of writing    
gave2   ,again he speaks in thunder and 
in fire1   ,thunder of thought and      
flames of fierce desire2   ,even from   
the depths of ,hell his voice ,i hear   
,within the unfathomed caverns of my    
ear2   ,therefore ,i print2 nor vain my 

types shall be2   ,heaven1 ,earth1 and  
,hell henceforth shall live in harmony4 
,we who dwell on earth1 adds the        
prophet1 speaking of the measure and    
outward fashion of his poem1 can do     
nothing of ourselves2 everything is     
conducted by ,spirits no less than      
digestion or sleep4 ,it is to be wished 
then that the spirits had on this       
occasion spoken less like somnambulists 
and uttered less indigested verse4 ,for 
metrical oratory the plea that follows  
against ordinary metre may be allowed to
 have some effective significance2      
however futile if applied to purer and  
more essential forms of poetry4  ,it    
will be enough to understand well and   
bear well in mind once for all that the 
gist of this poem1 regarded either as a 
scheme of ethics or as a mythological   
evangel1 is simply this3 to preach1 as  
in the ,saviour's opening invocation1   
the union of man with ,god3--7,i am not 
a ,god afar off2--,lo6 we are ,one2     
forgiving all evil2 not seeking         

recompense73 to confute the dull        
mournful insanity of disbelief which    
compels the perturbed man to avert his  
ear and reject the divine counsellor as 
a ,phantom of the over-heated brain4    
,this perverted humanity is incarnate in
 ,albion1 the fallen ,titan1 imprisoned 
by his children2 the sons of ,albion are
 daemonic qualities of force and faith1 
the daughters are reflex qualities or   
conditions which emanate from these4 ,as
 thus2 reason supplants faith1 and law1 
moral or religious1 grows out of reason2
 ,jerusalem1 symbol of imaginative      
liberty1 emanation of his unfallen days1
 is the faith cast out by the sons or   
spirits who substitute reason for faith1
 the freedom trodden under by the       
daughters who substitute moral law for  
moral impulse3 ,vala1 her ,spectre1     
called ,tirzah among men1 is the        
personified form in which ,jerusalem    
becomes revealed1 the perverted         
incarnation1 the wrested medium or      
condition in which she exists among men4

 ,thus much for the scheme of allegory  
with which the prophet sets out2 but    
when once he has got his theogony well  
under way and thrown it well into types1
 the antitypes all but vanish3 every    
condition or quality has a god or       
goddess of its own2 every obscure state 
and allegorical gradation becomes a     
personal agent3 and all these fierce dim
 figures threaten and complain1 mingle  
and divide1 struggle and embrace as     
human friends or foes4 ,the main symbols
 are even of a monotonous consistency2  
but no accurate sequence of symbolic    
detail is to be looked for in the doings
 and sayings of these contending giants 
and gods4 ,to those who will remember   
this distinction and will make allowance
 for the peculiar dialect and manner of 
which some account has already been     
taken1 this poem will not seem so wholly
 devoid of reason or of charm4  ,for its
 great qualities are much the same in   
text as in design3 plenteous1 delicate1 
vigorous4 ,there is a certain real if   

rough and lax power of dramatic insight 
and invention shown even in the singular
 divisions of adverse symbol against    
symbol2 in such allegories as that which
 opposes the human imagination in which 
all things exist--do actually exist to  
all eternity--and the reflex fancy or   
belief which men confound with this2    
nay1 which they prefer to dwell in and  
ask comfort from4 ,these two the poet   
calls the states of ,beulah and         
,jerusalem4 ,as the souls of men are    
attracted towards that mild heaven of   
dreams and shadows where only the       
reflected image of their own hopes and  
errors can abide1 the imagination1 most 
divine and human1 most actual and       
absolute1 of all things1 recedes ever   
further and further among the clouds of 
smoke1 vapours of abstract philosophy1  
and is caught among the starry wheels of
 religion and law1 whose restless and   
magnetic revolution attracts and absorbs
 her4    ,o what avail the loves and    
tears of ,beulah's lovely daughters8    

,they hold the immortal form in gentle  
bands and tender tears1   ,but all      
within is opened into the deeps--  the  
deeps of a dark and unknown night in    
which philosophy wars against           
imagination4 ,here also the main myth of
 the ,europe is once more rehandled2 to 
create a female will1 jealous1 curious1 
cunning1 full of tender tyranny and     
confusion1 this is to hide the most     
evident ,god in a hidden covert1 even in
 the shadows of a woman and a secluded  
holy place1 that we may pry after him as
 after a stolen treasure1 hidden among  
the dead and mured up from the paths of 
life4 ,thus is it with the ,titan       
,albion and all his race of mythologic  
men1 when for them ,vala supplants      
,jerusalem1 the husk replaces the fruit1
 the mutable form eclipses the immutable
 substance4  ,but into these darker     
parts of the book we will not go too    
deep4 ,time1 patience1 and insight on   
the part of writer and reader might     
perhaps clear up all details and lay    

bare much worth sight and study2 but    
only at the expense of much labour and  
space4 ,it is feasible1 and would be    
worth doing2 but not here4 ,if the      
singular amalgam called ,blake's works  
should ever get published1 and edited to
 any purpose1 this will have to be done 
by an energetic editor with time enough 
on his hands and wits enough for the    
work4 ,we meantime will gather up a few 
strays that even under these            
circumstances appear worth hiving4 ,in  
the address 7p4 #bg7 to the ,jews1 c41  
,blake affirms that ,britain was the    
primitive seat of the patriarchal       
religion3 therefore1 in a literal as    
well as in a mystical sense1 ,jerusalem 
was the emanation of the giant ,albion4 
7,this it should seem was1 according to 
the mythology1 before the visible world 
was created2 in the time when all things
 were in the divine undivided world of  
the gods47 ,ye are united1 ,o ye        
inhabitants of ,earth1 in one ,religion3
 the most ,ancient1 the ,eternal1 and   

the ,everlasting ,gospel4 ,the ,wicked  
will turn it to ,wickedness2 the        
,righteous1 to ,righteousness4 ,if there
 be truth in the ,jewish tradition1 he  
adds further on1 that man anciently     
contained in his mighty limbs all things
 in heaven and earth1 and they were     
separated from him by cruel sacrifices2 
and when compulsory cruel sacrifices had
 brought ,humanity into a feminine      
tabernacle in the loins of ,abraham and 
,david1 the ,lamb of ,god1 the ,saviour1
 became apparent on earth as the        
prophets had foretold3 the return of    
,israel is a return to mental sacrifice 
and war1 to noble spiritual freedom and 
labour1 which alone can supplant        
corporeal war and violence of error4    
,the second address 7p4 #eb7 to the     
,deists is more singular and more       
eloquent4 ,take a few extracts given not
 quite at random4 ,he1 says ,blake1 who 
preaches natural religion or morality is
 a flatterer who means to betray1 and to
 perpetuate tyrant pride and the laws of

 that ,babylon which he foresees shall  
shortly be destroyed with the spiritual 
and not the natural sword2 he is in the 
state named ,rahab4 ,the prophet then   
enforces his law that man is born a     
spectre or ,satan and is altogether an  
,evil1 and must continually be changed  
into his direct contrary4 ,those who    
persuade him otherwise are his enemies4 
,for man must and will have some        
religion2 if he has not the religion of 
,jesus he will have the religion of     
,satan4 ,again1 ,will any one say1      
,where are those who worship ,satan     
under the name of ,god8--where are they8
 ,listen4 ,every religion that preaches 
vengeance for sin is the religion of the
 enemy and avenger1 and not of the      
forgiver of sin3 and their ,god is      
,satan named by the ,divine ,name4      
,this1 he says1 must be at root the     
religion of all who deny revelation and 
adore nature2#fd for mere nature is     
,satanic4 ,adam the first man was       
created at the same time with ,satan1   

when the earth-giant ,albion was cast   
into a trance of sleep3 the first man   
was a part of the universal fluent      
nature made opaque2 the first fiend1 a  
part contracted2 and only by these      
qualities of opacity and contraction can
 man or devil have separate natural     
existence4 ,those1 the prophet adds in  
his perverse manner1 who profess belief 
in natural virtue are hypocrites2 which 
those cannot be who pretend to be holier
 than others1 but confess their sins    
before all the world4 ,therefore there  
was never a religious hypocrite6        
,rousseau thought men good by nature2 he
 found them evil1 and found no friend4  
,friendship cannot exist without        
forgiveness of sins continually4 ,and so
 forth4  ,at p4 #ff is a passage        
recalling the myth of the ,mental       
,traveller1 and which seems to bear out 
the interpretation we gave to that misty
 and tempestuous poem4 ,this part of the
 prophecy1 describing the blind pitiful 
cruelty of divided qualities set against

 each other1 is full of brilliant and   
noble passages4 ,even the faint symbolic
 shapes of ,tirzah and all her kind     
assume now and then a splendour of      
pathos1 utter words of stately sound1   
complain and appeal even to some        
recognizable purpose4 ,so much might    
here be cited that we will prefer to    
cite nothing but this slight touch of   
myth4 ,in the world of time they refuse 
liberty to the male3 not like ,beulah1  
,where every female delights to give her
 maiden to her husband4  ,the female    
searches sea and land for gratification 
to the male genius1 who in return       
clothes her in gems and gold and feeds  
her with the food of ,eden3 hence all   
her beauty beams4 ,but this is only in  
the land of dreams1 where dwell things  
stolen from the human imagination by    
secret amorous theft3 and when the      
spectres of the dead awake in that land1
 all the jealousies become              
murderous3--forming a commerce to sell  
loves with moral law2 an equal balance1 

not going down with decision3           
therefore--mutual hate returns and      
mutual deceit and mutual fear4 ,in fact1
 the divorce batteries are here open    
again4  ,the third address to the       
,christians is too long to transcribe   
here2 and should in fairness have been  
given in the biography4 ,its devout     
passion and beauty of words might have  
won notice1 and earned tolerance for the
 more erratic matter in which it lies   
embedded4 ,what is the joy of heaven but
 improvement in the things of the       
spirit8 ,what are the pains of hell but 
ignorance1 bodily lust1 idleness1 and   
devastation of the things of the spirit8
 ,mental gifts1 given of ,christ1 always
 appear to the ignorance-loving         
hypocrite as sins2 but that which is a  
sin in the sight of cruel man is not so 
in the sight of our kind ,god4 ,every   
,christian after his ability should     
openly engage in some mental pursuit2   
for to labour in knowledge is to build  
up ,jerusalem2 and to despise knowledge 

is to despise ,jerusalem and her        
builders4 ,a little before he has said3 
,i know of no other ,christianity and no
 other ,gospel than the liberty both of 
body and mind to exercise the divine    
arts of imagination4 ,god being a       
spirit1 and to be worshipped in spirit  
and in truth1 are not all his gifts     
spiritual gifts8 ,the ,christians then  
must give up the religion of ,caiaphas1 
the dark preacher of death1 of sin1 of  
sorrow1 and of punishment1 typified as a
 revolving wheel1 a devouring sword2 and
 recognize that the labours of ,art and 
,science alone are the labours of the   
,gospel4 ,as to religion1 ,jesus died   
because he strove against the current of
 this wheel--opposing nature2 it is     
natural religion4 ,but ,jesus is the    
bright preacher of life1 creating nature
 from this fiery law1 by self-denial and
 forgiveness of sin4 ,so speaks to the  
prophet a ,watcher and a ,holy ,one2    
bidding him    ,go therefore1 cast out  
devils in ,christ's name1   ,heal thou  

the sick of spiritual disease2   ,pity  
the evil2 for thou art not sent   ,to   
smite with terror and with punishments  
,those that are sick4 99 99 99 99   ,but
 to the publicans and harlots go3       
,teach them true happiness2 but let no  
curse   ,go forth out of thy mouth to   
blight their peace4   ,for hell is      
opened to heaven2 thine eyes behold     
,the dungeons burst1 the prisoners set  
free4       ,england1 awake6 awake6     
awake6         ,jerusalem thy sister    
calls2       ,why wilt thou sleep the   
sleep of death         ,and chase her   
from thy ancient walls8       ,thy hills
 and valleys felt her feet              
,gently upon their bosoms move2         
,thy gates beheld sweet ,zion's ways2   
,then was a time of joy and love4       
,and now the time returns again2        
,our souls exult2 and ,london's towers  
,receive the ,lamb of ,god to dwell     
,in ,england's green and pleasant       
bowers4  ,much might also be said1 had  
one leave of time1 of the last chapter2 

of the death of the earth-giant through 
jealousy1 and his resurrection when the 
,saviour appeared to him revealed in the
 likeness and similitude of ,time3 of   
the ultimate deliverance of all things1 
chanted in a psalm of high and tidal    
melody2 a resurrection wherein all      
things1 even ,tree1 ,metal1 ,earth and  
,stone1 become all    ,human forms      
identified2 living1 going forth1 and    
returning wearied   ,into the planetary 
lives of years1 months1 days1 and hours3
 reposing   ,and then awaking into his  
bosom in the life of immortality4   ,and
 ,i heard the name of their emanations3 
they are named ,jerusalem4  ,we will add
 one reference1 to pp4 #fa-fb1 where    
,god shows to ,jerusalem in a vision    
,joseph the carpenter in ,nazareth1 and 
,mary his espoused wife4 ,through the   
vision of their story the forgiveness of
 ,jerusalem also1 when she has gone     
astray from her ,lord1 is made manifest 
to her4  ,and ,i heard a voice among the
 reapers saying1 ',am ,i ,jerusalem the 

lost adulteress8 or am ,i ,babylon come 
up to ,jerusalem8' ,and another voice   
answered saying1 ',does the voice of my 
,lord call me again8 am ,i pure through 
his mercy and pity8 am ,i become lovely 
as a virgin in his sight1 who am indeed 
a harlot drunken with the sacrifice of  
idols8--,o mercy1 ,o divine humanity1 ,o
 forgiveness and pity and compassion1 if
 ,i were pure ,i should never have known
 thee3 if ,i were unpolluted ,i should  
never have glorified thy holiness1 or   
rejoiced in thy great salvation4' ,the  
whole passage--and such are not so      
unfrequent as at first glimpse they     
seem--is1 if seen with equal eyes1      
whether its purport be right or wrong1  
full of wisdom and perfect in beauty4   
,but we will dive after no more pearls  
at present in this huge oyster-bed2 and 
of the illustrations we can but speak in
 a rough swift way4 ,these are all      
generally noble3 that at p4 #gj is great
 among the greatest of ,blake's4 ,spires
 of serpentine cloud are seen before a  

strong wind below a crescent moon2      
,druid pillars enclose as with a frame  
this stormy division of sky2 outside    
them again the vapour twists and        
thickens2 and men standing on desolate  
broken ground look heavenward or        
earthward between the pillars4 ,of      
others a brief and admirable account is 
given in the ,life1 more final and      
sufficient than we can again give2 but  
all in fact should be well seen into by 
those who would judge fitly of ,blake's 
singular and supreme gift for purely    
imaginative work4 ,flowers sprung of    
earth and lit from heaven1 with chalices
 of floral fire and with flower-like    
women or men growing up out of their    
centre2 fair large forms full of labour 
or of rest2 sudden starry strands and   
reaches of breathless heaven washed by  
drifts of rapid wind and cloud2 serrated
 array of iron rocks and glorious growth
 of weedy lands or flowering fields2    
reflected light of bows bent and arrows 
drawn in heaven1 dividing cloud from    

starlit cloud2 stately shapes of        
infinite sorrow or exuberant joy2 all   
beautiful things and all things         
terrible1 all changes of shadow and of  
light1 all mysteries of the darkness and
 the day1 find place and likeness here3 
deep waters made glad and sad with heavy
 light that comes and goes2 vast        
expansion of star-shaped blossom and    
swift aspiration of laborious flame2    
strong and sweet figures made subject to
 strange torture in dim lands of        
bondage2 mystic emblems of plumeless    
bird and semi-human beast2 women like   
the daughters of giants1 with immense   
shapeliness and vigour of lithe large   
limbs1 clothed about with anguish and   
crowned upon with triumph2 their deep   
bosoms pressed against the scales of    
strong dragons1 their bodies and faces  
strained together in the delight of     
monstrous caresses2 similitudes of all  
between angel and reptile that divide   
illimitable spaces of air or defile the 
overlaboured furrows upon earth4  ,it is

 easier to do complete justice to the   
minor prophecies than to give any not   
inadequate conception of this great     
book1 so vast in reach1 so repellent in 
style1 so rich1 vehement1 and subtle    
beyond all other works of ,blake2 the   
chosen crown and treasured fruit of his 
strange labours4 ,extracts of admirable 
beauty might be gathered up on all      
hands1 more eligible it may be than any 
here given2 none ,i think more          
serviceable by way of sample and        
exposition1 as far as such can at all be
 attained4 ,that the book contains much 
of a personal kind referring in a wild  
dim manner to his own spiritual actions 
and passions1 is evident3 but even by   
the new light of the ,felpham           
correspondence one can hardly see where 
to lay finger on these passages and     
separate them decisively from the loose 
floating context4 ,not without regret1  
yet not with any sense of wilful or     
scornful oversight1 we must be content  
now to pass on1 and put up with this    

insufficient notice4  ,the only other   
engraved work of a prophetic kind did   
not appear for eighteen years more4     
,this last and least in size1 but not in
 worth1 of the whole set is so brief    
that it may here be read in full4       
,,the ,,ghost ,,of ,,abel4       ,a     
,,revelation ,,in ,,the ,,visions ,,of  
,,jehovah4       ,,seen ,,by ,,william  
,,blake4        ,to ,lord ,byron in the 
,wilderness4--,what dost thou here1     
,elijah8       ,can a ,poet doubt the   
,visions of ,jehovah8 ,nature has no    
,outline3       ,but ,imagination has4  
,nature has no ,time2 but ,imagination  
has4       ,nature has no ,supernatural1
 and dissolves2 ,imagination is         
,eternity4       ,,scene4--,a rocky     
,country4 ,,eve fainted over the dead   
body of ,,abel      which lays near a   
grave4 ,,adam kneels by her4 ,,jehovah  
stands      above4        ,,jehovah4    
,adam6        ,,adam4 ,it is in vain3 ,i
 will not hear thee more1 thou          
,spiritual ,voice4       ,is this       

,death8        ,,jehovah4 ,adam6        
,,adam4         ,it is in vain2 ,i will 
not hear thee       ,henceforth4 ,is    
this thy ,promise that the ,woman's     
,seed       ,should bruise the          
,serpent's ,head8 ,is this the ,serpent8
 ,ah6       ,seven times1 ,o ,eve1 thou 
hast fainted over the ,dead4 ,ah6 ,ah6  
7,,eve revives47        ,,eve4 ,is this 
the ,promise of ,jehovah8 ,o it is all a
 vain delusion1       ,this ,death and  
this ,life and this ,jehovah4           
,,jehovah4                       ,woman1
 lift thine eyes4        7,a ,,voice is 
heard coming on47        ,,voice4 ,o    
,earth1 cover not thou my blood6 cover  
not thou my blood6        7,enter the   
,,ghost of ,,abel47        ,,eve4 ,thou 
visionary ,phantasm1 thou art not the   
real ,abel4        ,,abel4 ,among the   
,elohim a ,human ,victim ,i wander3 ,i  
am their ,house1       ,prince of the   
,air1 and our dimensions compass ,zenith
 and ,nadir4       ,vain is thy         
,covenant1 ,o ,jehovah3 ,i am the       

,accuser and ,avenger       ,of ,blood2 
,o ,earth1 cover not thou the blood of  
,abel4        ,,jehovah4 ,what vengeance
 dost thou require8        ,,abel4      
,life for ,life6 ,life for ,life6       
,,jehovah4 ,he who shall take ,cain's   
life must also die1 ,o ,abel2       ,and
 who is he8 ,adam1 wilt thou1 or ,eve1  
thou1 do this8        ,,adam4 ,it is all
 a vain delusion of the all-creative    
,imagination4       ,eve1 come away1 and
 let us not believe these vain          
delusions4       ,abel is dead1 and     
,cain slew him2 ,we shall also die a    
death       ,and then--what then8 be as 
poor ,abel1 a ,thought2 or as           
,this8 ,o what shall ,i call thee1 ,form
 ,divine1 ,father of ,mercies1          
,that appearest to my ,spiritual        
,vision8 ,eve1 seest thou also8         
,,eve4 ,i see him plainly with my mind's
 eye3 ,i see also ,abel living2         
,tho' terribly afflicted1 as we also    
are3 yet ,jehovah sees him       ,alive 
and not dead2 were it not better to     

believe ,vision       ,with all our     
might and strength1 tho' we are fallen  
and lost8        ,,adam4 ,eve1 thou hast
 spoken truly2 let us kneel before his  
feet4        7,they kneel before        
,,jehovah47        ,,abel4 ,are these   
the sacrifices of ,eternity1 ,o         
,jehovah8 a broken           spirit     
,and a contrite heart8 ,o1 ,i cannot    
forgive2 the ,accuser hath              
,entered into me as into his house1 and 
,i loathe thy ,tabernacles4       ,as   
thou hast said so is it come to pass3   
,my desire is unto ,cain       ,and he  
doth rule over me3 therefore my soul in 
fumes of blood       ,cries for         
vengeance3 ,sacrifice on ,sacrifice1    
,blood on ,blood4        ,,jehovah4 ,lo1
 ,i have given you a ,lamb for an       
,atonement instead       ,of the        
,transgressor1 or no ,flesh or ,spirit  
could ever live4        ,,abel4         
,compelled ,i cry1 ,o ,earth1 cover not 
the blood of ,abel4        7,,abel sinks
 down into the grave1 from which arises 

,,satan armed in       glittering scales
 with a crown and a spear47             
,,satan4 ,i will have human blood and   
not the blood of bulls or goats1        
,and no ,atonement1 ,o ,jehovah2 the    
,elohim live on ,sacrifice       ,of    
men3 hence ,i am ,god of men2 thou      
human1 ,o ,jehovah4       ,by the rock  
and oak of the ,druid1 creeping         
mistletoe and thorn1       ,cain's city 
built with human blood1 not blood of    
bulls and goats1       ,thou shalt      
thyself be sacrificed to me thy ,god on 
,calvary4        ,,jehovah4 ,such is my 
will--7,thunders7--that thou thyself go 
to           ,eternal ,death       ,in  
self-annihilation1 even till ,satan     
self-subdued put off ,satan       ,into 
the bottomless abyss whose torment      
arises for ever and ever4        7,on   
each side a ,chorus of ,angels entering 
sing the following47        ,the ,elohim
 of the ,heathen swore ,vengeance for   
,sin6 ,then thou stood'st       ,forth1 
,o ,elohim ,jehovah1 in the midst of the

 darkness of the oath all               
clothed       ,in thy covenant of the   
forgiveness of ,sins4 ,death1 ,o ,holy6 
is this           ,brotherhood8         
,the ,elohim saw their oath eternal     
fire2 they rolled apart trembling       
over the       ,mercy-,seat1 each in his
 station fixed in the firmament1 by     
,peace1           ,brotherhood1 and     
,love4        ,the ,curtain falls4      
7#ahbb4 ,w4 ,blake's original stereotype
 was #aghh47  ,on the skirt of a figure1
 rapid and vehemently sweeping1 engraved
 underneath 7recalling that vision of   
,dion made memorable by one of          
,wordsworth's nobler poems7 are         
inscribed these words--,the ,voice of   
,abel's ,blood4 ,the fierce and         
strenuous flight of this figure is as   
the motion of one whose feet are swift  
to shed blood1 and the dim face is full 
of hunger and sorrowful lust after      
revenge4 ,the decorations are slight but
 not ineffective2 wrought merely in     
black and white4 ,this small prose lyric

 has a value beyond the value of its    
occasional beauty and force of form2 it 
is a brief comprehensible expression of 
,blake's faith seen from its two leading
 sides2 belief in vision and belief in  
mercy4 ,into the singular mood of mind  
which made him inscribe it to the least 
imaginative of all serious poets we need
 by no means strive to enter2 but in the
 trustful admiration and the loyal      
goodwill which this quaint inscription  
seems to imply1 there must be something 
not merely laughable3 as1 however rough 
and homespun the veil of eccentric      
speech may seem to us at first1 we soon 
find it interwoven with threads of such 
fair and fervent colour as make the     
stuff of splendid verse2 so1 beyond all 
apparent aberrations of relaxed thought 
which offend us at each turn1 a purpose 
not ignoble and a sense not valueless   
become manifest to those who will see   
them4  ,here then the scroll of prophecy
 is finally wound up2 and those who have
 cared to unroll and decipher it by such

 light as we can attain or afford may   
now look back across the tempest and    
tumult1 and pass sentence1 according to 
their pleasure or capacity1 on the      
message delivered from this cloudy and  
noisy tabernacle4 ,the complete and     
exalted figure of ,blake cannot be seen 
in full by those who avert their eyes1  
smarting and blinking1 from the frequent
 smoke and sudden flame4 ,others will   
see more clearly1 as they look more     
sharply1 the radical sanity and         
coherence of the mind which put forth   
its shoots of thought and faith in ways 
so strange1 at such strange times4      
,faith incredible and love invisible to 
most men were alone the springs of this 
turbid and sonorous stream4 ,in ,blake1 
above all other men1 the moral and the  
imaginative senses were so fused        
together as to compose the final        
artistic form4 ,no man's fancy1 in that 
age1 flew so far and so high on so sure 
a wing4 ,no man's mind1 in that         
generation1 dived so deep or gazed so   

long after the chance of human          
redemption4 ,to serve art and to love   
liberty seemed to him the two things 7if
 indeed they were not one thing7 worth a
 man's life and work2 and no servant was
 ever trustier1 no lover more constant  
than he4 ,knowing that without liberty  
there can be no loyalty1 he did not     
fear1 whether in his work or his life1  
to challenge and to deride the          
misconstruction of the foolish and the  
fraudulent4 ,it does not appear that he 
was ever at the pains to refute any     
senseless and rootless lie that may have
 floated up during his life on the muddy
 waters of rumour1 or drifted from hand 
to hand and mouth to mouth along the    
putrescent weed-beds of tradition4 ,many
 such lies1 ,i am told1 were then set   
afloat1 and have not all as yet gone    
down4 ,one at least of these may here be
 swept once for all out of our way4 ,mr4
 ,linnell1 the truest friend of ,blake's
 age and genius1 has assured me--and has
 expressed a wish that ,i should make   

public his assurance--that the legend of
 ,blake and his wife1 sitting as ,adam  
and ,eve in their garden1 is simply a   
legend--to those who knew them1         
repulsive and absurd2 based probably1 if
 on any foundation at all1 on some rough
 and rapid expression of ,blake's in the
 heat and flush of friendly talk1 to the
 effect 7it may be7 that such a thing1  
if one chose to do it1 would be in      
itself innocent and righteous1--wrong or
 strange only in the eyes of a world    
whose views and whose deeds were strange
 and wrong4 ,so far ,blake would        
probably have gone2 and so far his      
commentators need not fear to go4 ,but  
one thing does certainly seem to me     
loathsome and condemnable2 the          
imputation of such a charge as has been 
brought against ,blake on this matter1  
without ground and without excuse4 ,the 
oral flux of fools1 being as it is a    
tertian or quotidian malady or ague of  
the tongue among their kind1 may deserve
 pity or may not1 but does assuredly    

demand rigid medical treatment4 ,the    
words or thoughts of a free thinker and 
a free speaker1 falling upon rather than
 into the ear of a servile and supine   
fool1 will probably in all times bring  
forth such fruit as this4 ,by way of    
solace or compensation for the folly    
which he half perceives and half admits1
 the fool must be allowed his little    
jest and his little lie4 ,only when it  
passes into tradition and threatens to  
endure1 is it worth while to set foot on
 it4 ,it seems that ,blake never cared  
to do this good office for himself2 and 
in effect it can only seem worth doing  
on rare occasions to any workman who    
respects his work4 ,this contempt1 in   
itself noble and rational1 became       
injurious when applied to the direct    
service of things in hand4 ,confidence  
in future friends1 and contempt of      
present foes1 may have induced him to   
leave his highest achievements          
impalpable and obscure4 ,their scope is 
as wide and as high as heaven1 but not  

as clear2 clouds involve and rains      
inundate the fitful and stormy space of 
air through which he spreads and plies  
an indefatigable wing4 ,there can be few
 books in the world like these2 ,i can  
remember one poet only whose work seems 
to me the same or similar in kind2 a    
poet as vast in aim1 as daring in       
detail1 as unlike others1 as coherent to
 himself1 as strange without and as sane
 within4 ,the points of contact and     
sides of likeness between ,william      
,blake and ,walt ,whitman are so many   
and so grave1 as to afford some ground  
of reason to those who preach the       
transition of souls or transfusion of   
spirits4 ,the great ,american is not a  
more passionate preacher of sexual or   
political freedom than the ,english     
artist4 ,to each the imperishable form  
of a possible and universal ,republic is
 equally requisite and adorable as the  
temporal and spiritual queen of ages as 
of men4 ,to each all sides and shapes of
 life are alike acceptable or endurable4

 ,from the fresh free ground of either  
workman nothing is excluded that is not 
exclusive4 ,the words of either strike  
deep and run wide and soar high4 ,they  
are both full of faith and passion1     
competent to love and to loathe1 capable
 of contempt and of worship4 ,both are  
spiritual1 and both democratic2 both by 
their works recall1 even to so untaught 
and tentative a student as ,i am1 the   
fragments vouchsafed to us of the       
,pantheistic poetry of the ,east4 ,their
 casual audacities of expression or     
speculation are in effect wellnigh      
identical4 ,their outlooks and theories 
are evidently the same on all points of 
intellectual and social life4 ,the      
divine devotion and selfless love which 
make men martyrs and prophets are alike 
visible and palpable in each4 ,it is no 
secret now1 but a matter of public      
knowledge1 that both these men1 being   
poor in the sight and the sense of the  
world1 have given what they had of time 
or of money1 of labour or of love1 to   

comfort and support all the suffering   
and sick1 all the afflicted and misused1
 whom they had the chance or the right  
to succour and to serve4 ,the noble and 
gentle labours of the one are known to  
those who live in his time2 the similar 
deeds of the other deserve and demand a 
late recognition4 ,no man so poor and so
 obscure as ,blake appeared in the eyes 
of his generation ever did more good    
works in a more noble and simple spirit4
 ,it seems that in each of these men at 
their birth pity and passion1 and relief
 and redress of wrong1 became incarnate 
and innate4 ,that may well be said of   
the one which was said of the other3    
that he looks like a man4 ,and in       
externals and details the work of these 
two constantly and inevitably coheres   
and coincides4 ,a sound as of a sweeping
 wind2 a prospect as over dawning       
continents at the fiery instant of a    
sudden sunrise2 a splendour now of stars
 and now of storms2 an expanse and      
exultation of wing across strange spaces

 of air and above shoreless stretches of
 sea2 a resolute and reflective love of 
liberty in all times and in all things  
where it should be2 a depth of sympathy 
and a height of scorn which complete and
 explain each other1 as tender and as   
bitter as ,dante's2 a power1 intense and
 infallible1 of pictorial concentration 
and absorption1 most rare when combined 
with the sense and the enjoyment of the 
widest and the highest things2 an       
exquisite and lyrical excellence of form
 when the subject is well in keeping    
with the poet's tone of spirit2 a       
strength and security of touch in small 
sweet sketches of colour and outline1   
which bring before the eyes of their    
student a clear glimpse of the thing    
designed--some little inlet of sky      
lighted by moon or star1 some dim reach 
of windy water or gentle growth of      
meadow-land or wood2 these are qualities
 common to the work of either4 ,had we  
place or time or wish to touch on their 
shortcomings and errors1 it might be    

shown that these too are nearly akin2   
that their poetry has at once the melody
 and the laxity of a fitful storm-wind2 
that1 being oceanic1 it is troubled with
 violent groundswells and sudden perils 
of ebb and reflux1 of shoal and reef1   
perplexing to the swimmer or the sailor2
 in a word1 that it partakes the powers 
and the faults of elemental and eternal 
things2 that it is at times noisy and   
barren and loose1 rootless and fruitless
 and informal2 and is in the main       
fruitful and delightful and noble1 a    
necessary part of the divine mechanism  
of things4 ,any work or art of which    
this cannot be said is superfluous and  
perishable1 whatever of grace or charm  
it may possess or assume4 ,whitman has  
seldom struck a note of thought and     
speech so just and so profound as ,blake
 has now and then touched upon2 but his 
work is generally more frank and fresh1 
smelling of sweeter air1 and readier to 
expound or expose its message1 than this
 of the prophetic books4 ,nor is there  

among these any poem or passage of equal
 length so faultless and so noble as his
 ,voice out of the ,sea1 or as his dirge
 over ,president ,lincoln--the most     
sweet and sonorous nocturn ever chanted 
in the church of the world4 ,but in     
breadth of outline and charm of colour1 
these poems recall the work of ,blake2  
and to neither poet can a higher tribute
 of honest praise be paid than this4    
,we have now done what in us lay to help
 the works of a great man on their way  
towards that due appreciation and that  
high honour of which in the end they    
will not fail4 ,much1 it need not be    
repeated1 has been done for them of     
late1 and admirably done2 much also we  
have found to do1 and have been         
compelled to leave undone still more4   
,if it should now appear to any reader  
that too much has been made of slight   
things1 or too little said of grave     
errors1 this must be taken well into    
account3 that praise enough has not as  
yet been given1 and blame enough can    

always be had for the asking2 that when 
full honour has been done and full      
thanks rendered to those who have done  
great things1 then and then only will it
 be no longer an untimely and unseemly  
labour to map out and mark down their   
shortcomings for the profit or the      
pleasure of their inferiors and our own2
 that however pleasant for common       
palates and feeble fingers it may be to 
nibble and pick holes1 it is not only   
more profitable but should be more      
delightful for all who desire or who    
strive after any excellence of mind or  
of achievement to do homage wherever it 
may be due2 to let nothing great pass   
unsaluted or unenjoyed2 but as often as 
we look backwards among past days and   
dead generations1 with glad and ready   
reverence to answer the noble           
summons--,let us now praise famous men1 
and our fathers who were before us4     
,those who refuse them that are none of 
their sons2 and among all these famous  
men1 and our fathers1 no names seem to  

demand our praise so loudly as theirs   
who while alive had to dispense with the
 thanksgiving of men4 ,to them          
doubtless1 it may be said1 this is now  
more than ever indifferent2 but to us it
 had better not be so4 ,and especially  
in the works and in the life of ,blake  
there is so strong and special a charm  
for those to whom the higher ways of    
work are not sealed ways that none will 
fear to be too grudging of blame or too 
liberal of praise4 ,a more noble memory 
is hardly left us2 and it is not for his
 sake that we should contend to do him  
honour4   ,,the ,,end4  ,,bradbury1     
,,evans1 ,,and ,,co41 ,,printers1       
,,whitefriars4     ,,footnotes3  #a     
,gilchrist's ,life of ,blake4  #b ,it   
may be as well set down here as at any  
further stage of our business1 that the 
date of ,blake's birth appears1 from    
good ,,ms4 authority1 to have been the  
#bjth of ,november 7#ageg71 not the     
#bhth2 that he was the second of five   
children1 not four2 ,james1 the hosier  

in ,broad ,street1 being his junior1    
not1 as the biography states1 his senior
 by a year and a half4 ,the eldest son  
was ,john1 a favourite child who came to
 small good1 enlisted1 and died it seems
 in comparative youth2 of him ,mr4      
,gilchrist evidently had not heard4 ,in 
some verses of the ,felpham period      
7written in #ahja1 printed in vol4 ii4  
p4 #ahi of the ,life and ,selections7   
,blake makes mention1 hitherto          
unexplained1 of my brother ,john the    
evil one1 which may now be              
comprehensible enough4  #c ,our greatest
 poet of the later days may be cited as 
a third witness4 ,through the marvellous
 last book of the ,contemplations the   
breath and sound of the sea is blown    
upon every verse2 when he heard as it   
were the thunder and saw as it were the 
splendour of revelation1 it was amid the
 murmur and above the motion of the     
,channel2              pres du dolmen   
qui domine ,rozel1   ,a l'endroit ou le 
cap se prolonge en presqu'ile4  #d ,w4  

,b4 ,scott4 ,the few and great words    
cited above occur1 it will be observed1 
in a poem affording throughout no inapt 
allegory of ,blake's life and works4    
,more accurate and more admirable       
expression was never given to a theme so
 pregnant and so great4 ,the whole fable
 may be well applied by students of the 
matter in hand to the history of        
,blake's relations with minor men of    
more turn for success2 which1 as ,victor
 ,hugo has noted in his royal manner1 is
 so often a rather hideous thing4  #e   
,it appears that some effort1 laudable  
if wholly sincere1 and not condemnable  
if partly coloured by personal feeling1 
has been made to rebut the charges      
brought against ,stothard and ,cromek by
 the biographer of ,blake4 ,what has    
been written in the text is of course   
based upon the assumption that ,mr4     
,gilchrist has given an account of the  
matter as full and as fair as it was    
assuredly his desire to make it4 ,as    
junior counsel 7so to speak7 on behalf  

of ,blake1 ,i have followed the lead of 
his biographer2 for me in fact nothing  
remained but to revise and restate1 with
 such clearness and brevity as ,i could1
 the case as laid down by him4 ,this1   
finding on the face of it nothing       
incoherent or incredible1 ,i have done2 
whether any man can disprove it remains 
to be seen4 ,meantime we are not left to
 our own choice in the matter of        
epithets4 ,there is but one kind of     
phrase that will express such things and
 the doers of such things4 ,against     
,stothard no grave charge has been      
brought2 none therefore can be refuted4 
,any reference to subsequent doings or  
sufferings of his must be unspeakably   
irrelevant to the matter in hand4       
,against ,cromek a sufficiently heavy   
indictment has been laid2 one which     
cannot be in the least degree lightened 
by countercharges of rash violence on   
,blake's part or blind hastiness on ,mr4
 ,gilchrist's4 ,one thing alone can     
avail him in the way of whitewash4 ,he  

is charged with theft2 prove that he did
 not steal4 ,he is charged with breach  
of contract2 prove that his contract was
 never broken4 ,he is charged with      
denying a commission given by him2 prove
 that he did not deny it4 ,for no man1  
it is to be feared1 will now believe    
that ,blake1 sleeping or waking1 forged 
the story of the commission or trumped  
up the story of the contract4 ,that     
point of the defence the counsel for    
,cromek had best give up with all       
convenient speed2 had better indeed not 
dream at all of entering upon it4       
,again3 he is charged1 as above1 with   
adding to his apparent perfidy a        
superfetation of insolence1 an accretion
 or excrescence of insult4 ,prove that  
he did not write the letter published by
 ,mr4 ,cunningham in #aheb4 ,it is      
undoubtedly deplorable that any one now 
living should in any way have to suffer 
for the misdoings of a man1 whom1 were  
it just or even possible1 one would be  
willing to overlook and to forget4 ,but 

time is logical and equable2 and this is
 but one among many inevitable penalties
 which time is certain to bring upon    
such wrong-doers in the end2 penalties1 
or rather simple results of the thing   
done4 ,had this man either dealt        
honestly or while dealing dishonestly   
been but at the pains to keep clear of  
,walter ,scott and ,william ,blake1 no  
writer would have had to disturb his    
memory4 ,but now1 however strong or     
sincere may be our just sense of pity   
for all to whom it may give pain1 truth 
must be spoken2 and the truth is that1  
unless the authorities cited can be     
utterly upset and broken down by some   
palpable proof in his favour1 ,cromek   
was what has been stated4 ,mr4          
,gilchrist also1 in the course of his   
fair and lucid narrative1 speaks once of
 pity4 ,pity may be good1 but proof is  
better4 ,until such proof come1 the best
 that can be done for ,cromek is to let 
well alone4 ,less could not have been   
said of him than equitable biography has

 here been compelled to say2 no more    
need be said now and for ever1 if       
counsel will have the wisdom to let     
sleeping dogs lie4 ,this advice1 if they
 cannot refute what is set down without 
more words1 we must give them2 ,greek3  
me kinei ,kamarinan4 ,the waters are    
muddy enough without that4 ,vague and   
vain clamour of deprecation or appeal   
may be plaintive but is not conclusive4 
,as to any talk of cruelty or indelicacy
 shown in digging up the dead misdeeds  
of dead men1 it is simply pitiable4     
,were not reason wasted on such         
reasoners it might be profitable 7which 
too evidently it is not7 to reply that  
such an argument cuts right and left at 
once4 ,suppress a truth1 and you suggest
 a lie2 and a lie so suggested is the   
most indelicate of cruelties possible to
 inflict on the dead4 ,if1 for pity's   
sake or contempt's or for any other     
reason1 the biographer had explained    
away the charges against ,cromek which  
lay ready to his hand1 he must have left

 upon the memory of ,scott and upon the 
memory of ,blake the stain of a charge  
as grave as this3 if ,cromek was honest1
 they were calumniators4 ,to one or two 
the good name of a private man may be   
valuable2 to all men the good name of a 
great man must be precious4 ,this       
difference of value must not be allowed 
to weigh with us while considering the  
evidence2 but the fact seems to be that 
no evidence in disproof of the main     
charges has been put forward which can  
be seriously thought worth sifting for a
 moment4 ,this then being the sad case1 
to inveigh against ,blake's biographer  
is utterly idle and hardly honest4 ,if  
the stories are not true1 any man's     
commentary which assumes their truth    
must be infinitely unimportant4 ,if the 
stories are true1 no remark annexed to  
the narrative can now blacken the       
accused further4 ,those alone who are   
responsible for the accusation brought  
can be convicted of unfairness in       
bringing it2 ,mr4 ,gilchrist1 it must be

 repeated1 found every one of the       
charges which we now find in his book1  
given under the hand and seal of        
honourable men4 ,these he found it1 as  
,i do now1 necessary to transcribe in a 
concise form2 adding1 as ,i have done1  
any brief remarks he saw fit to make in 
the interest of justice and for the sake
 of explanation4 ,let there be no more  
heard of appeal against this exercise of
 a patent right1 of invective against   
this discharge of an evident duty4      
,disproof is the one thing that will now
 avail2 and to anything short of that no
 one should again for an instant listen4
  #f ,it is to be regretted that the    
share taken in this matter by ,flaxman1 
who defended ,stothard from the charge  
of collusion with ,cromek1 appears to   
have alienated ,blake from one of his   
first friends4 ,throughout the ,,ms4 so 
often cited by his biographer1 he       
couples their names together for attack4
 ,in one of his rough epigrams1 formless
 and pointless for the most part1 but   

not without value for the sudden broken 
gleams of light they cast upon ,blake's 
character and history1 he reproaches    
both sculptor and painter with benefits 
conferred by himself and disowned by    
them3 and the blundering stumbling      
verses thus jotted down to relieve a    
minute's fit of private anger are       
valuable as evidence for his sincere    
sense of injury4  ,to ,f4 ,,and ,s4     
,i found them blind3 ,i taught them how 
to see2   ,and now they know neither    
themselves nor me4   ',tis excellent to 
turn a thorn to a pin1   ,a fool to a   
bolt1 a knave to a glass of gin4        
,whether or not he had in fact thus     
utilized his rivals by making the most  
out of their several qualities1 may be  
questionable4 ,if so1 we must say he    
managed to scratch his own fingers with 
the pin1 to miss his shot with the bolt1
 and to spill the liquor extracted from 
the essence of knavery4 ,the following  
dialogue has equal virulence and        
somewhat more sureness of aim4  ,,mr4   

,,stothard ,,to ,,mr4 ,,cromek4    ,for 
fortune's favour you your riches bring2 
,but fortune says she gave you no such  
thing4   ,why should you prove          
ungrateful to your friends1   ,sneaking1
 and backbiting1 and odds-and-ends8     
,,mr4 ,,cromek ,,to ,,mr4 ,,stothard4   
,fortune favours the brave1 old proverbs
 say2   ,but not with money2 that is not
 the way3   ,turn back1 turn back2 you  
travel all in vain2   ,turn through the 
iron gate down ,sneaking ,lane4  ,for   
the iron gate of money-making the       
brazen-browed speaker was no unfit      
porter4 ,the crudity of these rough     
notes for some unfinished satire is not1
 let it be remembered1 a fair sample of 
,blake's capacity for epigram2 and it   
would indeed be unfair to cite them but 
for their value as to the matter in     
hand4  #g ,since writing the lines above
 ,i have been told by ,mr4 ,seymour     
,kirkup that one picture at least among 
those exhibited at this time was the    
very noblest of all ,blake's works2 the 

,ancient ,britons4 ,it appears to have  
dropped out of sight1 but must be still 
hidden somewhere4 ,against the judgment 
of ,mr4 ,kirkup there can be no appeal4 
,the saviour of ,giotto1 the redeemer of
 ,dante1 has power to pronounce on the  
work of ,blake4 ,i allow what ,i said to
 stand as ,i said it at first1 only that
 ,i may not miss the chance of calling  
attention to the loss and paying tribute
 to the critic4  #h ,written in #ahfc4  
,mr4 ,landor died ,sept4 #agth1 #ahfd4  
#i ,since the lines above were written1 
,i have been informed by a surviving    
friend of ,blake1 celebrated throughout 
,italy as over ,england1 in a time      
nearer our own1 as 7among other things7 
the discoverer of ,giotto's fresco in   
the ,chapel of the ,podesta1 that after 
,blake's death a gift of ,l#ajj was sent
 to his widow by the ,princess ,sophia1 
who must not lose the exceptional honour
 due to her for a display of sense and  
liberality so foreign to her blood4 ,at 
whose suggestion it was made is not     

known1 and worth knowing4 ,mrs4 ,blake  
sent back the money with all due thanks1
 not liking to take or keep what 7as it 
seemed to her7 she could dispense with1 
while many to whom no chance or choice  
was given might have been kept alive by 
the gift2 and1 as readers of the ,life  
know1 fell to work in her old age by    
preference4 ,one complaint only she was 
ever known to make during her husband's 
life1 and that gently4 ,mr4 ,blake was  
so little with her1 though in the body  
they were never separated2 for he was   
incessantly away in ,paradise2 which    
would not seem to have been far off4    
,mr4 ,kirkup also speaks of the courtesy
 with which1 on occasion1 ,blake would  
waive the question of his spiritual     
life1 if the subject seemed at all      
incomprehensible or offensive to the    
friend with him3 he would no more       
obtrude than suppress his faith1 and    
would practically accept and act upon   
the dissent or distaste of his          
companions without visible vexation or  

the rudeness of a thwarted fanatic4 ,it 
was in the time of this intimacy 7see   
note at p4 #eh7 that ,mr4 ,kirkup also  
saw1 what seems long since to have      
dropped out of human sight1 the picture 
of ,the ,ancient ,britons2 which1       
himself also an artist1 he thought and  
thinks the finest work of the painter3  
remembering well the fury and splendour 
of energy there contrasted with the     
serene ardour of simply beautiful       
courage2 the violent life of the design1
 and the fierce distance of fluctuating 
battle4  #aj ,the direct cause of       
,blake's death1 it appears from a ,,ms4 
source1 was the mixing of the gall with 
the blood4 ,it may be worth remark1 that
 one brief notice at least of ,blake's  
death made its way into print2 the      
,literary ,gazette 7,no4 #eeb2 the      
,gentleman's ,magazine published it in  
briefer form but nearly identical words 
as far as it went7 of ,august #ah1      
#ahbg1 saw fit to record the death of a 
singular and very able man1 in an       

article contributed mainly by the       
kindness of a correspondent1 who speaks 
as an acquaintance of ,blake1 and gives 
this account of his last days1 prefaced 
by a sufficiently humble reference to   
the authorities of ,fuseli1 ,flaxman1   
and ,lawrence4 ,pent1 with his          
affectionate wife1 in a close back-room 
in one of the ,strand courts1 his bed in
 one corner1 his meagre dinner in       
another1 a ricketty table holding his   
copper-plates in progress1 his colours1 
books 7among which his ,bible1 a ,sessi 
,velutello's ,dante1 and ,mr4 ,carey's  
translation1 were at the top71 his large
 drawings1 sketches1 and ,,mss42 his    
ankles frightfully swelled1 his chest   
disordered1 old age striding on1 his    
wants increased1 but not his miserable  
means and appliances2 even yet was his  
eye undimmed1 the fire of his           
imagination unquenched1 and the         
preternatural never-resting activity of 
his mind unflagging4 ,he had not merely 
a calmly resigned1 but a cheerful and   

mirthful countenance4 ,he took no       
thought for his life1 what he should eat
 or what he should drink2 nor yet for   
his body1 what he should put on2 but had
 a fearless confidence in that          
,providence which had given him the vast
 range of the world for his recreation  
and delight4 ,blake died last ,monday2  
died as he had lived1 piously1          
cheerfully1 talking calmly1 and finally 
resigning himself to his eternal rest   
like an infant to its sleep4 ,he has    
left nothing except some pictures1      
copper-plates1 and his principal work1 a
 series of a hundred large designs from 
,dante4444 ,he was active 7the good     
correspondent adds1 further on7 in mind 
and body1 passing from one occupation to
 another without an intervening minute  
of repose4 ,of an ardent1 affectionate1 
and grateful temper1 he was simple in   
manner and address1 and displayed an    
inbred courteousness of the most        
agreeable character4 ,finally1 the      
writer has no doubt that ,mrs4 ,blake's 

cause will be taken up by the           
distributors of those funds which are   
raised for the relief of distressed     
artists1 and also by the benevolence of 
private individuals3 for she is left 7we
 fear1 from the accounts which have     
reached us7 in a very forlorn condition1
 ,mr4 ,blake himself having been much   
indebted for succour and consolation to 
his friend ,mr4 ,linnell the painter4   
,the discreet editor1 when further time 
has been allowed him for inquiry1 will  
probably resume the matter3 but1 we may 
now more safely prophesy1 assuredly will
 not4  #aa ,of course1 there can be no  
question here of bad art3 which indeed  
is a non-entity or contradiction in     
terms1 as to speak of good art is to run
 into tautology4 ,it is assumed1 to     
begin with1 that the artist has         
something to say or do worth doing or   
saying in an artistic form4  #ab        
,observe especially in ,chaucer's most  
beautiful of young poems that appalling 
passage1 where1 turning the favourite   

edgetool of religious menace back with  
point inverted upon those who forged it1
 the poet represents men and women of   
religious habit or life as punished in  
the next world1 beholding afar off with 
jealous regret the salvation and        
happiness of ,venus and all her servants
 7converse of the ,hoersel legend1 which
 shows the religious or anti-,satanic   
view of the matter2 though there too    
there is some pity or sympathy implied  
for the pagan side of things1 revealing 
in the tradition the presence and touch 
of some poet73 expressly punished1 these
 monks and nuns1 for their continence   
and holiness of life1 and compelled     
after death to an eternity of fruitless 
repentance for having wilfully missed of
 pleasure and made light of indulgence  
in this world2 which is perfect         
,albigeois4 ,compare the famous speech  
in ,aucassin et ,nicolette1 where the   
typical hero weighs in a judicial manner
 the respective attractions of heaven   
and hell2 deciding of course dead       

against the former on account of the    
deplorably bad company kept there2      
priests1 hermits1 saints1 and such-like1
 in lieu of knights and ladies1 painters
 and poets4 ,one may remark also1 the   
minute this pagan revival begins to get 
breathing-room1 how there breaks at once
 into flower a most passionate and      
tender worship of nature1 whether as    
shown in the bodily beauty of man and   
woman or in the outside loveliness of   
leaf and grass2 both ,chaucer and his   
anonymous southern colleague being      
throughout careful to decorate their    
work with the most delicate and splendid
 studies of colour and form4 ,either of 
the two choice morsels of doctrinal     
morality cited above would have         
exquisitely suited the palate of ,blake4
 ,he in his time1 one need not doubt1   
was considerably worried and gibbered at
 by monkeys in houses of brick1 moral   
theorists1 and pantopragmatic men of all
 sorts2 what can we suppose he would    
have said or done in an epoch given over

 to preachers 7lay1 clerical1 and mixed7
 who assert without fear or shame that  
you may demand1 nay are bound to demand1
 of a picture or poem what message it   
has for you1 what may be its moral      
utility or material worth8 ,poetry must 
conform itself to c42 art must have a   
mission and meaning appreciable by      
earnest men in an age of work1 and so   
forth4 ,these be thy gods1 ,o           
,philistia4  #ac ,i will not resist the 
temptation to write a brief word of     
comment on this passage4 ,while my words
 of inadequate and now of joyless praise
 were in course of printing1 ,i heard   
that a mortal illness had indeed        
stricken the illustrious poet1 the      
faultless critic1 the fearless artist2  
that no more of fervent yet of perfect  
verse1 no more of subtle yet of         
sensitive comment1 will be granted us at
 the hands of ,charles ,baudelaire3 that
 now for ever we must fall back upon    
what is left us4 ,it is precious enough4
 ,we may see again as various a power as

 was his1 may feel again as fiery a     
sympathy1 may hear again as strange a   
murmur of revelation1 as sad a whisper  
of knowledge1 as mysterious a music of  
emotion2 we shall never find so keen1 so
 delicate1 so deep an unison of sense   
and spirit4 ,what verse he could make1  
how he loved all fair and felt all      
strange things1 with what infallible    
taste he knew at once the limit and the 
licence of his art1 all may see at a    
glance4 ,he could give beauty to the    
form1 expression to the feeling1 most   
horrible and most obscure to the senses 
or souls of lesser men4 ,the chances of 
things parted us once and again2 the    
admiration of some years1 at last in    
part expressed1 brought me near him by  
way of written or transmitted word2 let 
it be an excuse for the insertion of    
this note1 and for a desire1 if so it   
must be1 to repeat for once the immortal
 words which too often return upon our  
lips2    ,ergo in perpetuum1 frater1 ave
 atque vale6  #ad ,there are exceptions1

 we are told from the first1 to all     
rules2 and the sole exception to this   
one is great enough to do all but       
establish a rival rule4 ,but1 as ,i have
 tried already to say1 the work--all the
 work--of ,victor ,hugo is in its       
essence artistic1 in its accident alone 
philanthropic or moral4 ,i call this the
 sole exception1 not being aware that   
the written work of ,dante or ,shelley  
did ever tend to alter the material face
 of things2 though they may have desired
 that it should1 and though their       
unwritten work may have done so4        
,accidentally of course a poet's work   
may tend towards some moral or actual   
result2 that is beside the question4    
#ae ,the reader who cares to remember   
that everything here set down is of     
immediate importance and necessity for  
the understanding of the matter in hand 
7namely1 the life of ,blake1 and the    
faith and works which made that life    
what it was7 may as well take here a    
word of comment4 ,it will soon be       

necessary for even the very hack-writers
 and ingenious people of ready pens and 
wits who now babble about ,balzac in    
,english and ,french as a splendid      
specimen of their craft1 fertile but    
faulty1 and so forth--to understand that
 they have nothing to do with ,balzac2  
that he is not of their craft1 nor of   
any but the common craft of all great   
men--the guild of godlike things and    
people2 that a shelf holding all        
,balzac's novels--forty volumes long1 is
 not cabin-furniture for any chance     
passenger to select or reject4 ,error   
and deficiency there may be in his work2
 but none such as they can be aware of4 
,of poetic form1 for example1 we know   
that he knew nothing2 the error would be
 theirs who should think his kind of    
work the worse for that4 ,among men     
equally great1 the distinctive supremacy
 of ,balzac is this2 that whereas the   
great men who are pure artists          
7,shakespeare for instance7 work by     
implication only1 and hardly care about 

descending to the level of a preacher's 
or interpreter's work1 he is the only   
man not of their kind who is great      
enough to supply their place in his own 
way--to be their correlative in a       
different class of workmen2 being from  
his personal point of view simply       
impeccable and infallible4 ,the pure    
artist never asserts2 he suggests1 and  
therefore his meaning is totally lost   
upon moralists and sciolists--is indeed 
irreparably wasted upon the run of men  
who cannot work out suggestions4 ,balzac
 asserts2 and ,balzac cannot blunder or 
lie4 ,so profound and extensive a       
capacity of moral apprehension no other 
prose writer1 no man of mere analytic   
faculty1 ever had or can have4 ,this    
assuredly1 when men become 7as they will
 have to become7 capable of looking     
beyond the mere clothes and skin of his 
work1 will be always1 as we said1 his   
great especial praise2 that he was1     
beyond any other man1 the master of     
morals--the greatest direct expounder of

 actual moral fact4 ,once consent to    
forget or overlook the mere entourage   
and social habiliment of ,balzac's      
intense and illimitable intellect1 you  
cannot fail of seeing that he of all men
 was fittest to grapple with all strange
 things and words1 and compel them by   
divine violence of spiritual rape to    
bring forth flowers and fruits good for 
food and available for use4  #af ,could 
,god bring down his heart to the making 
of a thing so deadly and strong8 or     
could any lesser daemonic force of      
nature take to itself wings and fly high
 enough to assume power equal to such a 
creation8 ,could spiritual force so far 
descend or material force so far aspire8
 ,or1 when the very stars1 and all the  
armed children of heaven1 the helmed    
cherubim that guide and the sworded     
seraphim that guard their several       
planets1 wept for pity and fear at sight
 of this new force of monstrous matter  
seen in the deepest night as a fire of  
menace to man--    ,did he smile his    

work to see8   ,did he who made the lamb
 make thee8  ,we may add another        
cancelled reading to show how delicately
 the poem has been perfected2 although  
by an oversight of the writer's most    
copies hitherto have retained some trace
 of the rough first draught1 neglecting 
in one line a change necessary to save  
the sense as well as to complete the    
sentence4    ,and when thy heart began  
to beat1   ,what dread hand and what    
dread feet    ,could fetch it from the  
furnace deep   ,and in thy horrid ribs  
dare steep8   ,in what clay and in what 
mould   ,were thine eyes of fury rolled8
  ,having cancelled this stanza or      
sketched ghost of a stanza1 ,blake in   
his hurry of rejection did not at once  
remember to alter the last line of the  
preceding one2 leaving thus a stone of  
some size and slipperiness for editorial
 feet to trip upon1 until the recovery  
of that nobler reading--    ,what dread 
hand framed thy dread feet8  ,nor was   
this little rock of offence cleared from

 the channel of the poem even by the    
editor of #ahbg1 who was yet not afraid 
of laying hand upon the text4 ,so grave 
a flaw in so short and so great a lyric 
was well worth the pains of removing and
 is yet worth the pains of accounting   
for2 on which ground this note must be  
of value to all who take in verse with  
eye and ear instead of touching it      
merely with eyelash and finger-tip in   
the manner of sand-blind students4  #ag 
,compare the passage in ,ahania where   
the growth of it is defined2 rooted in  
the rock of separation1 watered with the
 tears of a jealous ,god1 shot up from  
sparks and fallen germs of material     
seed2 being after all a growth of mere  
error1 and vegetable 7not spiritual7    
life2 the topmost stem of it made into a
 cross whereon to nail the dead redeemer
 and friend of men4  #ah ,compare again 
in the ,vision of the ,last ,judgment   
7v4 #b1 p4 #afc71 that definition of the
 ,divine body of the ,saviour1 the true 
,vine of ,eternity1 as the ,human       

,imagination1 who appeared to me as     
coming to judgment among his saints1 and
 throwing off the ,temporal that the    
,eternal might be established4 ,the     
whole of that subtle and eloquent       
rhapsody is about the best commentary   
attainable on ,blake's mystical writings
 and designs4 ,it is impossible to      
overstate the debt of gratitude due from
 all students of ,blake to the          
transcriber and editor of the ,vision1  
whose indefatigable sense and patient   
taste have made it legible for all4 ,to 
have extracted it piecemeal from the    
chaos of notes jotted down by ,blake in 
the most inconceivable way1 would have  
been a praiseworthy labour enough2 but  
without addition or omission to have    
constructed these abortive fragments    
into a whole so available and so        
admirable1 is a labour beyond praise4   
#ai ,this exquisite verse did not fall  
into its place by chance2 the poem has  
been more than once revised4 ,its       
opening stanza stood originally thus3-- 

,sleep1 sleep2 in thy sleep   ,thou wilt
 every secret keep2   ,sleep1 sleep1    
beauty bright1   ,thou shalt taste the  
joys of night4  ,before recasting the   
whole1 ,blake altered the second line   
into--    ,canst thou any secret keep8  
,the gist of the song is this2 the      
speaker1 watching a girl newly-born1    
compares her innocuous infancy with the 
power that through beauty will one day  
be hers1 her blameless wiles and        
undeveloped desires with the strong and 
subtle qualities now dormant which the  
years will assuredly awaken within her2 
seeing as it were the whole woman asleep
 in the child1 he smells future fruit in
 the unblown bud4 ,on retouching his    
work1 ,blake thus wound up the moral and
 tune of this song in a stanza forming  
by its rhymes an exact antiphonal       
complement to the end of the first      
,cradle ,song4    ,when thy little heart
 does wake1   ,then the dreadful        
lightnings break   ,from thy cheek and  
from thine eye1   ,o'er the youthful    

harvests nigh2   ,infant wiles and      
infant smiles   ,heaven and earth of    
peace beguiles4  ,the epithet infant has
 supplanted that of female1 which was   
perhaps better3 as to the grammatical   
licence1 ,blake followed in that the    
,elizabethan fashion which made the rule
 of sound predominate over all others4  
,the song1 if it loses simplicity1 seems
 to gain significance by this expansion 
of the dim original idea2 and beauty by 
expression of the peril latent in a life
 whose smiles as yet breed no strife    
between friends1 kindle no fire among   
the unripe shocks of growing corn2 but  
whose words shall hereafter be as very  
swords1 and her eyes as lightning2      
teterrima belli causa4  #bj ,his1 the   
good man's3 this lax piece of grammar   
7shifting from singular to plural and   
back again without much tangible        
provocation7 is not infrequent with     
,blake1 and would hardly be worth       
righting if that were feasible4 ,a      
remarkable instance is but too patent in

 the final chorus of the ,marriage of   
,heaven and ,hell4 ,such rough licence  
is given or taken by old poets2 and     
,blake's ,english is always beautiful   
enough to be pardonable where it slips  
or halts3 especially as its errors are  
always those of a rapid lyrical style1  
never of a tortuous or verbose          
ingenuity3 it stammers and slips        
occasionally1 but never goes into       
convulsions like that of some later     
versifiers4  #ba ,such we must consider1
 for instance1 the second ,little ,boy  
,lost1 which looks at first more of a   
riddle and less worth solution than the 
haziest section of the prophetic books4 
,a cancelled reading taken from the     
rough copy in the ,ideas will at all    
events make one stanza more amenable to 
reason3    ,i love myself2 so does the  
bird   ,that picks up crumbs around the 
door4  ,blake was rather given to erase 
a comparatively reasonable reading and  
substitute something which cannot be    
confidently deciphered by the most      

daring self-reliance of audacious       
ingenuity1 until the reader has found   
some means of pitching his fancy for a  
moment in the ordinary key of the       
prophet's4 ,this uncomfortable little   
poem is in effect merely an allegoric or
 fabulous appeal against the oppression 
of formulas 7or family textualism of the
 blind and unctuous sort7 which refuse  
to single and simple insight1 to the    
outspoken innocence of a child's        
laughing or confused analysis1 a right  
to exist on any terms3 just as the      
companion poem is an appeal1 so vague as
 to fall decidedly flat1 against the    
externals of moral fashion4 ,both1 but  
especially the ,girl1 have some         
executive merit3 not overmuch4 ,to the  
surprising final query1 ,are such things
 done on ,albion's shore8 one is        
provoked to respond1 ,on the whole1 not1
 as far as we can see2 but the ,albion  
of ,blake's verse is never this weaving 
and spinning country of our working     
days2 it is rather some inscrutable     

remote land of ,titanic visions1 moated 
with silent white mist instead of solid 
and sonorous surf1 and peopled with     
vague pre-,adamite giants symbolic of   
more than we can safely define or       
conceive4 ,an inkling of the meaning    
may1 if anything can1 be extracted from 
some parts of the ,jerusalem2 but       
probably no one will try4  #bb ,with    
more time and room to work in1 we might 
have noticed in these less dramatic and 
seemingly less original poems of the    
second series which take up from the    
opposite point of view matters already  
handled to such splendid effect in the  
,songs of ,innocence1 a depth and warmth
 of moral quality worth remark2 infinite
 tenderness of heart and fiery pity for 
all that suffer wrong2 something of     
,hugo's or ,shelley's passionate        
compassion for those who lie open to all
 the oppression that is done under the  
sun2 something of the anguish and       
labour1 the fever-heat of sleepless     
mercy and love incurable which is common

 to those two great poets4 ,the second  
,holy ,thursday is doubtless far enough 
below the high level of the first2 but  
the second ,chimney-sweeper as certainly
 has a full share of this passionate    
grace of pain and pity4 ,blake's love of
 children never wrung out into his work 
a more pungent pathos or keener taste of
 tears than in the last verse of this   
poem4 ,it stood thus in the first       
draught3    ,and because ,i am happy and
 dance and sing     ,they think they    
have done me no injury1   ,and are gone 
to praise ,god and his priest and king1 
,who wrap themselves up in our misery4  
,the quiet tremulous anger of that1 its 
childish sorrow and contempt1 are no    
less true than subtle in effect4 ,it    
recalls another floating fragment of    
verse on social wrongs which shall be   
rescued from the chaos of the ,ideas3   
,there souls of men are bought and sold1
   ,and milk-fed infancy1 for gold2     
,and youths to slaughter-houses led1    
,and maidens1 for a bit of bread4  #bc  

,this verse is of course to be read as  
one made up of rough but regular        
anapaests2 the heavier accents falling  
consequently upon every third           
syllable--that is1 upon the words if1   
not1 and him4 ,the next line is almost  
as rough1 and seems indeed to slip into 
the solid ,english iambic2 but may also 
be set right by giving full attention to
 accent4  #bd ,a strange and rather     
beautiful1 if grotesque1 evidence of the
 unity of faith and feeling to which    
,blake and his wife had come by dint of 
living and thinking so long together1 is
 given by one of the stray notes in this
 same book3 which we transcribe at full 
on account of its great biographical    
value as a study of character4 ,space   
might have been found for it in the     
,life1 if only to prove once again how  
curiously the nature and spiritual      
habits of a great man leave their mark  
or dye upon the mind nearest to his own4
       ,,south ,,molton ,,street4       
,sunday1 ,august1 #ahjg4--,my wife was  

told by a spirit to look for      her   
fortune by opening by chance a book     
which she had in her hand2 it      was  
,bysshe's ',art of ,poetry4' ,she opened
 the following3--          ',i saw 'em  
kindle with desire1         ,while with 
soft sighs they blew the fire2          
,saw the approaches of their joy1       
,he growing more fierce and she less    
coy2         ,saw how they mingled      
melting rays1         ,exchanging love a
 thousand ways4         ,kind was the   
force on every side2         ,her new   
desire she could not hide1         ,nor 
would the shepherd be denied4           
,the blessed minute he pursued1         
,till she1 transported in his arms1     
,yields to the conqueror all her charms4
         ,his panting breast to hers now
 joined1         ,they feast on raptures
 unconfined1         ,vast and          
luxuriant2 such as prove         ,the   
immortality of love4         ,for who   
but a ,divinity         ,could mingle   
souls to that degree         ,and melt  

them into ecstasy8         ,now like the
 ,phoenix both expire1         ,while   
from the ashes of their fire            
,springs up a new and soft desire4      
,like charmers1 thrice they did invoke  
,the ,god1 and thrice new vigour        
took4'--,behn4       ,i was so well     
pleased with her luck that ,i thought ,i
 would try my      own1 and opened the  
following3--          ',as when the     
winds their airy quarrel try1           
,jostling from every quarter of the sky1
         ,this way and that the mountain
 oak they bear1         ,his boughs they
 scatter and his branches tear2         
,with leaves and falling mast they      
spread the ground2         ,the hollow  
valleys echo to the sound2              
,unmoved1 the royal plant their fury    
mocks1         ,or1 shaken1 clings more 
closely to the rocks3         ,for as he
 shoots his towering head on high1      
,so deep in earth his fixed foundations 
lie4'--,dryden's ,virgil4  ,nothing is  
ever so cynical as innocence1 whether it

 be a child's or a mystic's4 ,as a poet1
 ,blake had some reason to be well      
pleased with his wife's curious         
windfall2 for those verses of the       
illustrious ,aphra's have some real     
energy and beauty of form1 visible to   
those who care to make allowance1 first 
for the conventional ,english of the    
time1 and secondly for the naked        
violence of manner natural to that      
she-satyr1 whose really great lyrical   
gifts are hopelessly overlaid and       
encrusted by the rough repulsive husk of
 her incredible style of speech4 ,even  
,astraea must however have fair play and
 fair praise2 and the simple truth is   
that1 when writing her best1 this       
unmentionable poetess has a vigorous    
grace and a noble sense of metre to be  
found in no other song-writer of her    
time4 ,one song1 fished up by ,mr4 ,dyce
 out of the weltering sewerage of       
,aphra's unreadable and unutterable     
plays1 has a splendid quality of verse1 
and even some degree of sentiment not   

wholly porcine4 ,take four lines as a   
sample1 and ,blake's implied approval   
will hardly seem unjustifiable3--       
,from thy bright eyes he took those     
fires     ,which round about in sport he
 hurled2   ,but 'twas from mine he took 
desires     ,enough to undo the amorous 
world4  ,the strong and subtle cadence  
of that magnificent fourth verse gives  
evidence of so delicate an ear and such 
dexterous power of hand as no other poet
 between the ,restoration date and      
,blake's own time has left proof of in  
serious or tragic song4 ,great as is    
,dryden's lyrical work in more ways than
 one1 its main quality is mere strength 
of intellect and solidity of            
handling--the forcible and imperial     
manner of his satires2 and in pure      
literal song-writing1 which 7rather than
 any 'ode' or such-like mixed poem7 may 
be taken as the absolute and final test 
of a poet's lyrical nature1 he never    
came near this mark4 ,francois ,villon  
and ,aphra ,behn1 the two most          

inexpressibly non-respectable of male or
 female ,bohemians and poets1 were alike
 in this as well2 that the supreme gift 
of each1 in a time sufficiently barren  
of lyrical merit1 was the gift of       
writing admirable songs2 and this1 after
 all1 has perhaps borne better fruit for
 us than any gift of moral excellence4  
#be ,another version of this line1 with 
less of pungent and brilliant effect1   
has yet a touch of sound in it worth    
preserving3 some may even prefer it in  
point of simple lyrical sweetness3      
,she played and she melted in all her   
prime3   ,ah6 that sweet love should be 
thought a crime4  #bf ,on closer        
inspection of ,blake's rapid autograph  
,i suspect that in the second line those
 who please may read the ruddy limbs and
 flowering hair1 or perhaps flowery2 but
 the type of flame is more familiar to  
,blake4 ,compare further on ,a ,song of 
,liberty4  #bg ,other readings are      
soothed and smiled--readings adopted    
after the insertion of the preceding    

stanza4 ,as the subject is a child not  
yet grown to standing and walking age1  
these readings are perhaps better1      
though less simple in sound1 than the   
one ,i have retained4  #bh ,here and    
throughout to the end1 duly altering    
metre and grammar with a quite laudable 
care1 ,blake has substituted my father  
for the priests2 not ,i think to the    
improvement of the poem1 though probably
 with an eye to making the end cohere   
rather more closely with the beginning4 
,this and the ,myrtle are shoots of the 
same stock1 and differ only in the      
second grafting4 ,in the last-named poem
 the father's office was originally     
thus2    ,oft my myrtle sighed in vain  
,to behold my heavy chain3   ,oft my    
father saw us sigh1   ,and laughed at   
our simplicity4  ,here too ,blake had at
 first written1 ,oft the priest beheld  
us sigh2 he afterwards cancelled the    
whole passage1 perhaps on first         
remarking the rather too grotesque      
confusion of a symbolic myrtle with a   

literal wife2 and the last stanza in    
either form is identical4 ,the simple   
subtle grace of both poems1 and the     
singular care of revision bestowed on   
them1 are equally worth notice4  #bi    
,those who insist on the tight lacing of
 grammatical stays upon the pained      
loveliness of a muse's over-pliant body 
may use if they please ,blake's own     
amended reading2 in which otherwise the 
main salt of the poem is considerably   
diluted as by tepid water3 the angel    
7one might say7 has his sting blunted   
and the best quill of his pinion pulled 
out4    ,and without one word said      
,had a peach from the tree2   ,and still
 as a maid1 c4  #cj ,we may find place  
here for another fairy song1 quaint in  
shape and faint in colour1 but with the 
signet of ,blake upon it2 copied from a 
loose scrap of paper on the back of     
which is a pencilled sketch of ,hercules
 throttling the serpents1 whose twisted 
limbs make a sort of spiral cradle      
around and above the child's triumphant 

figure3 an attendant1 naked1 falls back 
in terror with sharp recoil of drawn-up 
limbs2 ,alcmena and ,amphitryon watch   
the struggle in silence1 he grasping her
 hand4    ,a fairy leapt upon my knee   
,singing and dancing merrily2   ,i said1
 ',thou thing of patches1 rings1        
,pins1 necklaces1 and such-like things1 
,disgracer of the female form1   ,thou  
paltry gilded poisonous worm6'          
,weeping1 he fell upon my thigh1   ,and 
thus in tears did soft reply3           
',knowest thou not1 ,o fairies' lord1   
,how much by us contemned1 abhorred1    
,whatever hides the female form   ,that 
cannot bear the mortal storm8           
,therefore in pity still we give   ,our 
lives to make the female live2   ,and   
what would turn into disease   ,we turn 
to what will joy and please4'  ,even so 
dim and slight a sketch as this may be  
of worth as indicating ,blake's views of
 the apparent and the substantial form  
of things1 the primary and the          
derivative life2 also as a sample of his

 roughest and readiest work4  #ca ,lest 
the kingdom of love left under the type 
of a woman should be over powerful for a
 nation of hard fighters and reasoners1 
such as ,blake conceived the ancients to
 be4 ,compare for his general style of  
fancies on classic matters the prologue 
to ,milton and the ,sibylline ,leaves on
 ,homer and ,virgil4 ,to his            
half-trained apprehension ,rome seemed  
mere violence and ,greece mere          
philosophy4  #cb ,let the reader take   
another instance of the culture given to
 these songs--a gift which has happily  
been bequeathed by ,blake to his editor4
 ,this one was at first divided into    
five equal stanzas2 the last two running
 thus3--    ',and pity no more would be 
,if all were happy as we2'   ,at his    
curse the sun went down1   ,and the     
heavens gave a frown4    ,down poured   
the heavy rain   ,over the new-reaped   
grain2   ,and ,misery's increase   ,is  
,mercy1 ,pity1 ,peace4  ,thus one might 
say is the curse confuted2 for if1 as   

the grievous devil will have it1 the    
root of the sweetest goodness is in     
material evil1 then may the other side  
answer that even by his own showing the 
flower or increase from that root is not
 evil1 but good3 a soft final point of  
comfort missed by the change which gives
 otherwise fresher colour to this poem4 
#cc ,but as above shewn the vision of   
the wise man or poet is wider than both2
 sees beyond the angel's blind innocent 
enjoyment to a deeper faith than his    
simple nature can grasp or include2 sees
 also past the truth of the devil's sad 
ingenious analytics to the broader sense
 of things1 seen by which1 ,good and    
,evil are no more4  #cd ,query ,putting8
 ,this whole poem is jotted down in a   
close rough handwriting1 not often easy 
to follow with confidence4  #ce ,in the 
line ,a ,god or else a ,pharisee1 ,blake
 with a pencil-scratch has turned a ,god
 to a devil2 as if the words were       
admittedly or admissibly                
interchangeable6 ,a prophet so          

wonderfully loose-tongued may well be   
the despair of his faithfullest         
commentators3 but as it happens the     
pencil-scratch should here be of some   
help and significance to us3 following  
this small clue1 we may come to         
distinguish the ,god of his belief from 
this demon-god of the created mundane   
shell--the ,god of ,pharisaic religion  
and moral law4  #cf ,the creator by     
division1 father of men and women1      
fashioner of evil and good2 literally in
 the deepest sense the ,god of this     
world1 who does not know the garment    
from the man2 cannot see beyond the two 
halves which he has made by violence of 
separation2 would have the body         
perishable1 yet the qualities of the    
bodily life permanent3 thus inverting   
order and reversing fact4 ,parallel     
passages might be brought in by the     
dozen on all hands1 after a little      
dipping into mystic books2 but ,i want  
to make no more room here for all this  
than is matter of bare necessity4  #cg  

,we shall see this presently4 ,i        
conceive however that ,blake1 to save   
time and contract the space of his      
preaching1 uses the consecrated ,hebrew 
name to design now the giver of the     
,mosaic law1 now that other and opposite
 ,divinity which after the body of clay 
had been devoured was the residue or    
disembodied victorious spirit of the    
human ,saviour4 ,mysticism need not of  
necessity be either inaccurate or       
incoherent3 neither need it give offence
 by its forms and expressions of faith3 
but a mystic is but human after all1 and
 with the best intentions may slip      
somewhere1 especially a mystic so little
 in training as ,blake1 and so much of a
 poet or artist2 who is not accustomed  
to any careful feeling of his way among 
words1 except with an eye to the        
perfection of their bodily beauty4      
,indeed1 as appears by ,mr4 ,crabb      
,robinson's notes of his conversation1  
,blake affirmed that according to       
scripture itself the world was created  

by the ,elohim1 not by ,jehovah2 whose  
covenant he elsewhere asserted was      
simply forgiveness of sins4 ,thus even  
according to this heretical creed the   
,god of the ,jews would seem to be      
ranged on the same side with ,christ    
against the ,god of this world4  #ch    
,compare this fragment of a paraphrase  
or excursus on a lay sermon by a modern 
pagan philosopher of more material      
tendencies2 but given to such tragic    
indulgence in huge ,titanic dithyrambs4 
,nature averse to crime8 ,i tell you1   
nature lives and breathes by it2 hungers
 at all her pores for bloodshed1 aches  
in all her nerves for the help of sin1  
yearns with all her heart for the       
furtherance of cruelty4 ,nature forbid  
that thing or this8 ,nay1 the best or   
worst of you will never go so far as she
 would have you2 no criminal will come  
up to the measure of her crimes1 no     
destruction seem to her destructive     
enough4 ,we1 when we would do evil1 can 
disorganise a little matter1 shed a     

little blood1 quench a little breath at 
the door1 of a perishable body2 this we 
can do1 and can call it crime4          
,unnatural is it8 ,good friend1 it is by
 criminal things and deeds unnatural    
that nature works and moves and has her 
being2 what subsides through inert      
virtue1 she quickens through active     
crime2 out of death she kindles life2   
she uses the dust of man to strike her  
light upon2 she feeds with fresh blood  
the innumerable insatiable mouths       
suckled at her milkless breast2 she     
takes the pain of the whole world to    
sharpen the sense of vital pleasure in  
her limitless veins3 she stabs and      
poisons1 crushes and corrodes1 yet      
cannot live and sin fast enough for the 
cruelty of her great desire4 ,behold1   
the ages of men are dead at her feet2   
the blood of the world is on her hands2 
and her desire is continually toward    
evil1 that she may see the end of things
 which she hath made4 ,friends1 if we   
would be one with nature1 let us        

continually do evil with our might4 ,but
 what evil is here for us to do1 where  
the whole body of things is evil8 ,the  
day's spider kills the day's fly1 and   
calls it a crime8 ,nay1 could we thwart 
nature1 then might crime become possible
 and sin an actual thing4 ,could but a  
man do this2 could he cross the courses 
of the stars1 and put back the times of 
the sea2 could he change the ways of the
 world and find out the house of life to
 destroy it2 could he go into heaven to 
defile it and into hell to deliver it   
from subjection2 could he draw down the 
sun to consume the earth1 and bid the   
moon shed poison or fire upon the air2  
could he kill the fruit in the seed and 
corrode the child's mouth with the      
mother's milk2 then had he sinned and   
done evil against nature4 ,nay1 and not 
then3 for nature would fain have it so1 
that she might create a world of new    
things2 for she is weary of the ancient 
life3 her eyes are sick of seeing and   
her ears are heavy with hearing2 with   

the lust of creation she is burnt up1   
and rent in twain with travail until she
 bring forth change2 she would fain     
create afresh1 and cannot1 except it be 
by destroying3 in all her energies she  
is athirst for mortal food1 and with all
 her forces she labours in desire of    
death4 ,and what are the worst sins we  
can do--we who live for a day and die in
 a night8 a few murders1 a few--we need 
not run over the not so wholly          
insignificant roll-call2 but it is      
curious to observe how the mystical     
evangelist and the material humourist   
meet in the reading of mere nature and  
join hands in their interpretation of   
the laws ruling the outer body of life3 
a vision of ghastly glory1 without pity 
or help possible4  #ci ,blake had first 
written the creeping1 then cancelled the
 and interlined the word ,antichrist3 ,i
 have no doubt intending some such      
alteration as that in the text of       
creeping to aping2 but as far as we can 
now know the day for rewriting his fair 

copy never came4  #dj ,there are 7says  
the mystic7 two forms of humility3      
detestable both1 and condemnable4 ,by   
one1 the extrinsic form1 a man cringes  
and submits1 doubts himself and gives in
 to others2 becomes in effect impotent1 
a sceptic and a coward2 by the other or 
intrinsic form1 he conceives too meanly 
of his own soul1 and comes to believe   
himself less than ,god--of course1 to a 
pure ,pantheist1 the one radical and    
ruinous error which throws up on all    
sides a crop of lies and misconceptions1
 rank and ready2 as base a thing to     
believe as an act of bodily humility    
were base to do3 consequently any mere  
external worship is by this law         
heathenish1 heretical and idolatrous4   
,this heathenish or idolatrous heresy of
 spiritual humility comes merely of too 
much reliance on the reasoning power2   
man is undivine as to his mere          
understanding1 and by using that as an  
eye instead of an eyeglass distorts all 
which he does not obliterate4 ,pride of 

reason is a foolish thing for any       
clerical defender of the faith to       
impugn2 such pride is essentially       
humility4 ,to be proud of having an     
empty eye-socket implies that you would 
be ashamed of having eyesight2 then you 
are proud on the wrong side1 and humble 
there exactly where humility is a mere  
blundering suicide's cut at his own     
throat2 if you are not of your nature   
heavenly1 how shall any alien celestial 
quality be sewn or stuck on to you8 in  
whose cast clothes will you crawl into  
heaven by rational or religious         
cross-roads8 ,imputed righteousness will
 not much help your case2 if you impute 
a wrong quality to any imaginable       
substance1 does your imputation change  
the substance8 ,what it had not before1 
it has not now2 your tongue has not the 
power of turning truth to a lie or a lie
 to truth2 the fact gives your assertion
 a straight blow in the face4 ,the      
mystic who says that man is ,god has    
some logical cause for pride2 but the   

sceptic has no more than the cleric--he 
who asserts that reason1 which is       
finite1 can be final1 is essentially as 
humble as he who admits that he can be  
saved by accepting as a gift some       
imputed goodness which is not in any    
sense his4 ,for reason--the spectre of  
the ,jerusalem--is no matter for pride2 
if you make out that to be the best     
faculty about you1 you give proof of the
 stupidest modesty and hatefullest      
humility4 ,look across the lower animal 
reason1 and over the dim lying limit of 
tangible and changeable flesh2 and be   
humble if you can or dare1 then2 for if 
what you apprehend of yourself beyond is
 not ,god1 there is none--except in that
 sad sense of a daemon or natural force1
 strong only to create and to divide and
 to destroy and to govern by reason or  
religion the material scheme of things4 
,extra hominem nulla salus4 ,god is no  
more than man2 because man is no less   
than ,god3 there is ,blake's            
,pantheistic ,iliad in a nutshell4  #da 

,an ugly specimen of ready-writing2     
meaning of course with the sacrifice of 
bloody prey3 but doubtless even ,blake  
would not have let this stand1 though we
 cannot safely alter it3 and the passage
 did upon the whole appear worth citing4
  #db ,this is so like ,blake's style of
 design that one can scarcely help      
fancying he must somewhere have         
translated it into colours perhaps more 
comprehensible than his words3 have     
given somewhere in painter's types the  
likeness of that bodily appetite1       
serpentine food of the serpent1 a lithe 
and strenuous body of clay1 fair with   
luminous flakes of eruptive poison1 foul
 with cold and coloured scales as the   
scales of a leper in grain2 with green  
pallor of straining mouth and bloodlike 
expansion of fiery throat2 teeth and    
claws convulsed with the painful lust of
 pain1 eyelids cloven in sunder with a  
dull flame of desire1 the visible venom 
of its breath shot sharp against the    
face and eyes of the divine human soul3 

he1 disembodied yet incarnate in the    
eternal body1 stripped of accidental and
 clothed with essential flesh1 naked of 
attribute that he may be girdled with   
substance1 wrestling silent with fair   
great limbs1 but with calm hair and     
brows blanched as in fire1 with light of
 lordship in the sunclear joyful eyes   
that already absorb and devour by sweet 
strength of radiance the relapsing      
reluctant bulk of body1 that foulest    
ravenous birth begotten of accident or  
error upon time2 eyes beautiful with the
 after-light of ancient tears1 that     
shall not weep again for ever3 for the  
former things are passed away3 and by   
that light of theirs shall all men see  
light4 ,behind these two1 an intense and
 tremulous night stricken through with  
stars and fire2 and overhead the        
dividing roof and underfoot the         
sundering floor-work of the grave2 a    
waste place beyond1 full of risen bones 
that gather flesh and springing roots   
that strike out or catch at light flying

 flames of life4 ,decidedly the design  
must exist somewhere2 and presumably in 
,golgonooza4 ,we have the artist's      
prophetic authority for believing that  
his works written and painted before he 
came upon earth do in effect fill whole 
chambers in heaven1 and are the delight 
and study of archangels3 an apocalyptic 
fact not unnaturally unacceptable and   
inconceivable to the cleverest of       
,scotch stonemasons4  #dc ,compare      
,hugo's admirable poem in the           
,chatiments 7vii4 #aa4 p4               
#cai-cba7--,paroles d'un conservateur a 
propos d'un perturbateur3--where1       
speaking through the mouth of ,elizab1 a
 scribe1 the chief poet of our time     
gives in his great swift manner a       
dramatic summary of the view taken by   
priests and elders of ,christ4 ,it is   
worth looking to trace out how nearly   
the same historical points of objection 
are selected and the same lines of      
inference struck into by the two poets2 
one aiming straight at present politics1

 one indirectly at mystic doctrine4     
,cet homme etait de ceux qui n'ont rien 
de sacre1   ,il ne respectait rien de   
tout ce qu'on respecte4   ,pour leur    
inoculer sa doctrine suspecte1   ,il    
allait ramassant dans les plus mechants 
lieux   ,des bouviers1 des pecheurs1 des
 droles bilieux1   ,d'immondes          
va-nu-pieds n'ayant ni sou ni maille3   
,il faisait son cenacle avec cette      
canaille4           99       99       99
       99       99    ,l'honnete homme  
indigne rentrait dans sa maison   ,quand
 ce jongleur passait avec cette         
sequelle4           99       99       99
       99       99    ,il trainait a sa 
suite une espece de fille4   ,il allait 
perorant1 ebranlant la famille1   ,et la
 religion et la societe4   ,il sapait la
 morale et la propriete4           99   
99       99       99       99           
,quant aux pretres1   ,il les dechirait2
 bref1 il blasphemait4 ,cela   ,dans la 
rue4 ,il contait toutes ces horreurs-la 
,aux premiers gueux venus1 sans cape et 

sans semelles4   ,il fallait en finir1  
les lois etaient formelles1   ,on l'a   
crucifie4  #dd ,in a briefer and less   
important fragment of verse ,blake as   
earnestly inculcates this faith of his3 
that all mere virtues and vices were    
known before ,christ2 of right and wrong
 ,plato and ,cicero1 men uninspired1    
were competent to speak as well as he2  
but until his advent the moral virtues  
in their pride held rule over the world1
 and among them as they rode clothed    
with war and sacrifice1 driving souls to
 hell before them1 shone upon the rivers
 and the streams the face of the        
,accuser1 holy ,god of this ,pharisaic  
world4 ,then arose ,christ and said to  
man ,thy sins are all forgiven thee2 and
 the moral virtues1 in terror lest their
 reign of war and accusation should now 
draw to an end1 cried out ,crucify him1 
and formed with their own hands the     
cross and the nails and the spear3 and  
the ,accuser spoke to them saying3--    
,am ,i not ,lucifer the great   ,and ye 

my daughters1 in great state1   ,the    
fruit of my mysterious tree   ,of ,good 
and ,evil and ,misery8  ,if1 the        
preacher adds1 moral virtue was         
,christianity1 ,christ's pretensions    
were madness1 and ,caiaphas and ,pilate 
men praiseworthy2 and the lion's den a  
fitter emblem of heaven than the        
sheepfold4 ,the moral ,christian is the 
cause of the unbeliever2 and ,antichrist
 is incarnate in those who close heaven 
against sinners    ,with iron bars in   
virtuous state   ,and ,rhadamanthus at  
the gate4  ,but men have so long allowed
 the heathen virtues1 whose element is  
war and whose essence retaliation1 to   
take ,jesus' and ,jehovah's name that   
the ,accuser1 ,antichrist and ,lucifer  
though he be1 is now worshipped by those
 holy names over all the world3 and the 
era called ,christian is the era of his 
reign4 ,for the rest1 this new relic has
 no special merit1 although it may be   
allowed some share of interest as a     
supplement or illustration to the larger

 poem or sermon4  #de ,the words female 
and reflex are synonymous in all        
,blake's writings4 ,what is feminine in 
its material symbol is derivative in its
 spiritual significance2 there is no    
such thing in eternity as a female will2
 for in eternity substances lose their  
shadows1 and essence puts off accident4 
,the frowning babe of the last stanzas  
is of course the same or such another as
 the one whose birth is first spoken of2
 not the latter female growth born in   
the earthly house of art1 but genius    
itself1 whose likeness is terrible and  
unlovely at first sight to the run of   
men1 filling them with affright and     
scandal1 with wonder and the repellent  
sense that a new and strange thing is   
brought into the world4  #df ,it seems  
not impossible that this series may have
 been intended1 in its complete form1 to
 bear the title of ,ideas of ,good and  
,evil1 which we find loosely attached to
 the general ,,ms4 ,when the designer   
broke it up into different sets1 this   

name would naturally have been          
abandoned4  #dg ,of ,blake's prose other
 samples are extant besides the notes on
 art published in the second volume of  
the ,life and ,selections4 ,these strays
 are for the most part1 as far as ,i    
have seen1 mere waifs of weed and barren
 drift4 ,one fragment1 not without some 
grace and thoughtfulness curiously used 
up and thrown away1 is an allegory of   
the ,gods which came from ,fear1 of     
,shame born of the poisonous seed of    
pride1 and such things2 written much in 
the manner of those early ,ossianic     
studies which dilate and deform the     
volume of ,poetical ,sketches3 perhaps  
composed 7though properly never composed
 at all7 about the same time4 ,another1 
a sort of satire on critics and         
philosophers1 seems to emulate the style
 of ,sterne in his intervals of lax and 
dull writing2 in execution it is some   
depths below the baby stories of little 
,malkin1 whose ghost might well have    
blushed rejection of the authorship4    

,the fragment on ,laocoon is a mere     
cento of stray notes on art which       
reaffirm in a chaotic and spluttering   
manner ,blake's theories that the only  
real prayer is study of art1 the only   
real praise1 its practice2 that         
excellence of art1 not moral virtue1 is 
the aim and the essence of              
,christianity2 and much more of the same
 sort4 ,these notes1 crammed into every 
blank space and corner of the engraved  
page1 burst out as it were and boil     
over1 disconnected but irrepressible1 in
 a feverish watery style4 ,all really   
good or even passable prose of ,blake's 
seems to be given in the volume of      
,selections4  #dh ,it should not be     
overlooked that this part of his work   
was left unfinished1 all but untouched1 
by the author of the ,life4 ,without as 
long a study and as deep a sympathy as  
his1 it would seem to any follower1     
however able and zealous1 the most      
toilsome as well as the most sterile    
part of the task in hand4 ,the fault    

therefore lies with chance or fate      
alone4 ,less than ,i have said above    
could not here be said2 and more need   
not be4 ,i was bound at starting to     
register my protest against the contempt
 and condemnation which these books have
 incurred1 thinking them as ,i do not   
unworthy the trouble of commentary2 but 
no word was designed to depreciate the  
careful and admirable labour which has  
completed a monument cut short with the 
life of the sculptor1 joined now in     
death to the dead whom he honoured4  #di
 ,something like this may be found in a 
passage of ,werner translated by ,mr4   
,carlyle1 but mixed with much of meaner 
matter1 and debased by a feebleness and 
a certain spiritual petulance proper to 
a man so much inferior4 ,the ,german    
mystic1 though ingenious and laborious1 
is also tepid1 pretentious1 insecure2   
half terrified at his own timid         
audacities1 half choked by the fumes of 
his own alembic4 ,he labours within a   
limit1 not fixed indeed1 but never      

expansive2 narrowing always at one point
 as it widens at another3 his work is   
weak in the head and the spine2 he      
ventures with half a heart and strikes  
with half a hand2 throughout his myth of
 ,phosphorus he goes halting and        
hinting2 not ungracefully1 nay with a   
real sense of beauty1 but never like a  
man braced up for the work requisite2 he
 labours under a dull devotion and a    
cloudy capacity4 ,above all1 he can     
neither speak nor do well1 being no     
artist or prophet2 and so makes but a   
poor preacher or essayist4 ,the light he
 shows is thick and weak2 ,blake's      
light1 be it meteor or star1 rises with 
the heat and radiance of fire or the    
morning4  #ej ,a word in passing may    
here be spared to the singular ,,ms4 of 
,tiriel4 ,this little poem or mythical  
episode is evidently a growth of the    
crude ,ossianic period2 in style it is  
somewhat weak and inadequate to any     
grave or subtle expression of thought3 a
 few noticeable lines intervene1 but the

 general execution is heavy1 faint1 and 
rough even for a sketch4 ,here however  
7if ,i am not incorrect in referring it 
to a date earlier than the earliest of  
the prophetic books7 we may see the dull
 dawn of a day full of fiery presage1 of
 the light and vapour of tempestuous    
revelation4 ,the name of ,tiriel king of
 the ,west1 father of a rebellious race 
of children who perish by his curse1    
hardly reappears once as ,thiriel the   
cloud-born son of ,urizen2 ,har and     
,heva1 the gentler father and mother of 
the great eastern family1 who in the    
,song of ,los are seen flying before the
 windy flames of a broad-blown sunset1  
chased over ,asia with fire and sword by
 the divine tyrant and his tributary    
kings1 are here seen forsaken of their  
sons in extreme and childish age1 but   
tended by ,mutha their mother2 they are 
holy and forgiving1 filled with loving  
mercy1 forgetting the offences of their 
most rebellious children4 ,into the     
story or subject-matter we need not go  

far2 but it is worth notice that the    
series of twelve designs classified in  
the catalogue1 section ,b41 ,no4 #aef1  
pp4 #bec-d of vol4 #b1 must evidently   
7as is there half suggested7 be a set of
 illustrations to this ,tiriel4 ,in one 
of these any reader will recognize the  
serpentine hair which at her father's   
imprecation rose and hissed around the  
brows of ,hela 7,tiriel1 ch4 #f72 but   
these designs have as evidently fallen  
out of order2 thus the one lettered 7k7 
appears to illustrate the very first    
lines of the poem2 and others seem      
equally misarranged4 ,in this faint     
allegory of the blind discrowned king   
with his two brothers1 the mad          
invulnerable giant of the woods and the 
fettered dotard dwelling in caves1 some 
fresh incomplete symbol is discernible  
of tyranny and error1 of strength made  
insane or perverse and weakness made    
cruel or imbecile by oppression of the  
spirit or the flesh2 the eloquent       
outcast oppressor might then be the     

uninspired intellect1 against whose     
errors and tyrannies its own children   
revolt1 and perish by the curse of their
 perishing father and mother1 blind     
reason and powerless faith3 but from    
such shallow and sandy soil the         
conjectural ,muse of commentary can reap
 little worth her pains to garner1 and  
at every sweep of her sickle must risk  
being blinded by the sand blown into her
 eyes4 ,some stray verses might be      
gathered up1 perhaps worth a place in   
the gleaner's loose sheaf2 such as      
these3    ,and aged ,tiriel stood and   
said3 ,where does the thunder sleep8    
,where doth he hide his terrible head8  
and his swift and fiery daughters1      
,where do they shroud their fiery wings 
and the terrors of their hair8          
,anything better worth citation than    
such crude sonorous snatches of lyric   
style ,i have not found here1 except in 
chap4 vii41 where the dying ,tiriel lays
 his final curse on ,har--weak mistaken 
father of a lawless race1 whose laws and

 ,tiriel's wisdom end together in a     
curse4 ,here1 in words afterwards       
variously repeated and enlarged1 he     
appeals against the laws of mere animal 
life1 the narrowed senses and material  
bondage of men upon earth2 against      
unnatural training and abstinence       
through which milk is cut off from the  
weeping mouth with difficulty and pain1 
when first the little lids are lifted   
and the little nostrils opened2 against 
hypocrisy1 the idiot's wisdom and the   
wise man's folly1 by which men are      
compelled to pray repugnant and to      
handle the immortal spirit till like    
,tiriel they become as subtle serpents  
in a paradise which they consume fruit  
by fruit and flower by flower till at   
its fall they themselves are left       
desolate4 ,thus too he inveighs against 
faith in matter and respect of persons  
under their perishable and finite forms3
 ,can wisdom be put in a silver rod or  
love in a golden bowl8 is the son of a  
king warmed without wool8 or does he cry

 with a voice of thunder8 does he look  
upon the sun and laugh1 or stretch his  
little hands into the depths of the sea8
 ,much of this has been half erased1    
probably with a view to remoulding the  
whole3 for here alone does anything in  
tone or thought recall the nobler       
mysticism of ,blake's later writings4   
#ea ,before we dismiss the matter from  
view1 it may be permissible to cast up  
in a rough and rapid way the sum of     
,blake's teaching in these books1 if    
only because this was also the doctrine 
or moral of his entire life and life's  
work4 ,i will therefore1 as leave has   
been given1 append a note extracted from
 a manuscript now before me1 which      
attempts to embody and enforce1 if only 
by dint of pure and simple exposition1  
the pantheistic evangel here set forth  
in so strange a fashion4 ,thus at least 
,i read the passage2 if misinterpreted1 
my correspondent has to thank his own   
laxity of expression4 ,these poems or   
essays at prophecy 7he says7 seem to me 

to represent in an obscure and forcible 
manner the real naked question to which 
all theologies and all philosophies must
 in the end be pared down4 ,strained and
 filtered clear of extraneous matter1   
pruned of foreign fruit and artificial  
foliage1 this radical question lies     
between ,theism and ,pantheism4 ,when   
the battles of the creeds have been all 
fought out1 this battle will remain to  
fight4 ,i do not see much likelihood on 
either hand of success or defeat4 ,faith
 and reason1 evidence and report1 are   
alike inadequate to decide the day4     
,this prophet or that prophet1 this ,god
 or that ,god1 is not here under debate4
 ,histories1 religions1 all things born 
of rumour or circumstance1 accident or  
change1 are out of court2 are1 for the  
moment1 of necessity set aside4 ,gentile
 or ,jew1 ,christian or ,pagan1 ,eastern
 or ,western1 can but be equal to       
us--for the moment4 ,no single figure1  
no single book1 stands out for special  
judgment or special belief4 ,on the     

right hand1 let us say 7employing the   
old figure of speech71 is the           
,theist--the 'man of ,god1' if you may  
take his own word for it2 the believer  
in a separate or divisible deity1       
capable or conceivably capable of       
existence apart from ours who conceive  
of it2 a conscious and absolute         
,creator4 ,on the left hand is the      
,pantheist2 to whom such a creed is     
mainly incredible and wholly            
insufficient ,his creed is or should be 
much like that of your prophet here2 7,i
 must observe in passing that my        
correspondent seems so unable to        
conceive of a comment apart from the    
text1 an exponent who is not an         
evangelist1--so inclined to confuse the 
various functions of critic and of      
disciple1 and assume that you must mean 
to preach or teach whatever doctrine you
 may have to explain--in a word1 so     
obtuse or perverse on this point that he
 might be taken for a professional      
man-of-letters or sworn juryman of the  

press2 but ,i will hope better things of
 him1 though anonymous27 and that creed1
 as ,i take it1 is simply enough        
expressible in ,blake's own words1 or   
deducible from them2 that 'all deities  
reside in the human breast'2 that except
 humanity there is no divine thing or   
person4 ,clearly therefore1 in the eyes 
of a ,theist1 he lies open to the charge
 of atheism or antitheism4 ,the real    
difference is perhaps this2 ,god appears
 to a ,theist as the root1 to a         
,pantheist as the flower of things4 ,it 
does not follow logically or actually   
that to this latter all things are      
alike4 ,for us 7he might say71 for us1  
within the boundaries of time and space1
 evil and good do really exist1 and live
 no empirical life--for a certain time1 
and within a certain range4 ',there is  
no ,god unless man can become ,god4'    
,that is no saying for an ,atheist4     
',there is no man unless the child can  
become a man'2 is that equivalent to a  
denial of manhood8 ,but if a man is to  

be born into the world1 the mother must 
abstain from the drugs that produce     
abortion1 the child from strong meats   
and drinks1 the man from poisons4 ,so it
 is in the spiritual world2 tyranny and 
treachery1 indolence and dulness1 cannot
 but impede and impair the immutable law
 of nature and necessary growth4 ,these 
and their like must be and must pass    
away2 the eternal body of things must   
change4 ,as the fanatic abstains through
 fear of ,god or of hell1 the           
free-thinker abstains from what he sees 
or thinks to be evil 7i4 e41 adverse or 
alien to his nature at its best7 through
 respect for what he is and reverence   
for what he may be4 ,pantheism therefore
 is no immoral creed1 and cannot be1 if 
only because it is based upon faith in  
nature and rooted in respect for it4 ,by
 faith in sight it attains to sight     
through faith4 ,it follows that pure    
,theism is more immediately the contrary
 of this belief1 more unacceptable and  
more delusive in the eyes of its        

followers1 than any scheme of doctrine  
or code of revelation4 ,these1 as we see
 by your ,blake 7again71 the ,pantheist 
may seize and recast in the mould of his
 own faith4 ,but ,theism1 but the naked 
distinct figure of ,god1 whether or not 
he assume the nature of man1 so long as 
this is mere assumption and not the     
essence of his being--the clothes and   
not the body1 the body and not the      
soul--this is to him incredible1 the    
source of all evil and error4 ,grant    
such a ,god his chance of existence1    
what reason has the ,theist to suppose  
or what right to assume his wisdom or   
his goodness8 why this and not that8    
whence his acceptance and whence his    
rejection of anything that is8 ',shall  
the clay demand of the potter1 why hast 
thou made me thus8' ,shall it not8 and  
why8 ,of whom else should a man ask8 and
 if sure of his ,god1 what better should
 he do8 ,theism is not expansive1 but   
exclusive3 and the creeds begotten or   
misbegotten on this lean body of belief 

are ',satanic' in the eyes of a         
,pantheist1 as his faith is in the eyes 
of their followers4 ,there is much more1
 but it were superfluous to mix a       
narcotic over strong3 and in pursuit of 
his flying faith my friend's ideal      
,pantheist is apt to become heretical4  
#eb ,that is1 woman has become subject  
to oppression of customs2 suffers       
violence at the hands of marriage laws  
and other such condemnable things4      
,emancipation and the cognate creeds of 
which later days have heard so much     
never had a more violent and vehement   
preacher4 ,not love1 not the plucking of
 the flower1 but error1 fear1 submission
 to custom and law1 is that which       
defiles a woman in the sight of our     
prophet4  #ec ,even thus told1 the myth 
is plain enough2 a word or two of       
briefer translation may serve also to   
light up future allusions4 ,i plucked   
,leutha's flower1 says ,oothoon in the  
prelude of this poem1 and ,i was not    
ashamed2 the flower that brings forth a 

child1 which nature permits and desires 
her to gather2 ,leutha is the spirit    
emblematic of physical pleasure1 of     
sensual impulse and indulgence1 from    
whom comes the loose ,bible of ,mahomet 
7,song of ,los74 ,but crossing the seas 
eastward to find her lover1 the strong  
enslaved spirit of ,europe1 she1 type of
 womanhood and freedom1 is caught and   
chained as he by the force of           
conventional error and tyrannous habit1 
which makes her seem impure in his eyes2
 so they sit bound back to back1 afraid 
to love2 the eagles that tear her flesh 
are emblems of her lover's scorn2       
vainly1 a virgin at heart1 she appeals  
to all the fair and fearless face of    
nature against her rival1 the prurient  
modesty of custom1 a virgin in face1 a  
harlot at heart2 against unnatural laws 
of restraint upon youths and maidens1   
whose inevitable outcome is in the      
licentious alternative not less         
unnatural2 he will not answer but with  
vain and vague lamentation1 will not    

turn himself and love her for all her   
crying3 the mystery of things and       
thoughts1 the tyranny of times and laws1
 is heavy upon them to the end4 ,all    
forms of life but these are free to be  
fair and happy3 only from east to west  
the prison-houses are full of the       
wailing of women4  #ed ,night1 or the   
darkness of worlds yet undivided and    
chaotic1 is always typified by ,blake as
 a forest dark with involved and        
implicated leaf or branch4 ,compare ,the
 ,tiger4  #ee ,along this page a serpent
 of imperious build rears the strong and
 sinuous length of his dusky glittering 
body1 and spits forth keen undulating   
fire4  #ef ,it is possible that ,blake  
intended here some grotesque emblematic 
reference to the riots witnessed by     
himself1 in which ,lord ,mansfield's    
house and ,,mss4 were destroyed by fire4
 ,at all events1 here alone is there any
 visible allusion to a matter of recent 
history4  #eg ,that is1 being unable to 
reconcile qualities1 to pass beyond the 

legal and logical grounds of good and   
evil into the secret places where they  
are not4 ,the whole argument hinges on  
this difference between ,pantheism1     
which can1 and ,theism1 which cannot1   
and is therefore no surer or saner than 
a mere religion based on ,church or     
,bible1 nor less incompetent to include1
 to expound1 to redeem the world4  #eh  
,compare1 for the doctrine as to        
delusion and jealousy being feminine    
principles 7destructive by their        
weakness1 not by their strength71 this  
strange expostulation with ,god1        
recalling the tone of earlier           
prophets3--    ,why art thou silent and 
invisible1     ,father of ,jealousy8    
,why dost thou hide thyself in clouds   
,from every searching eye8    ,why      
darkness and obscurity     ,in all thy  
words and laws1   ,that none dare eat   
the fruit but from     ,the wily        
serpent's jaws8   ,or is it because     
,jealousy,a     ,gives feminine         
applause8       ,a7,this word1 half     

rubbed off in the ,,ms41 may be secrecy2
 and the      point would remain the    
same47  #ei ,leutha1 the spirit or      
guardian goddess of natural pleasure and
 physical beauty1 is sacrificed as a    
ransom to redeem the spirit or guardian 
god of prohibitive law or judicial      
faith2 to him she is sacrificed that    
through her he may be saved4 ,thus1 in  
the ,visions of the ,daughters of       
,albion1 the maiden who plucks ,leutha's
 flower1 who trusts and indulges        
,nature1 has her virgin mantle torn in  
twain by the terrible thunders of       
religious and moral law3 woman was      
sacrificed and man fast bound in misery 
during the eighteen centuries--through  
which the mother goddess lay asleep1 to 
weep over her children at her waking2 as
 in the ,prophecy of ,europe ,time the  
father and ,space the mother of men are 
afflicted and spellbound until the sleep
 of faith be slept out4 ,there again the
 emblematic name of ,leutha recurs in   
passing4  #fj ,that is of course the    

reprobate according to theology1 such as
 the heretical prophet himself3 the     
class of men upon which is laid the     
burden of the sins of the elect1 as     
,satan's upon ,rintrah in the myth4  #fa
 ,this line appears to have been too    
much for the writer in the ,life1 who   
here breaks his quotation short off by  
the head1 annihilating with a quite     
ingenious violence at once grammar1     
sense1 and sound4 ,it is but a small nut
 to have broken his critical tooth upon2
 the evident meaning being simply this3 
that within the centre of everything    
living by animal or vegetative life     
there is by way of kernel something     
imperishable2 the fleshly or material   
life of form contains the infinite      
spiritual life1 lurking under leaf or   
latent under limb3 man and flower and   
beast have each the separate secret of a
 soul or divisible indestructible spirit
 7compare even the ,songs of            
,innocence72 but while the earthly and  
fleshly form remains there stand as     

wardens of the ways the two material    
giants1 ,strength and ,force1 binding   
the soul in the body with chains of     
flesh and sex1 the spirit in the petals 
with bonds of vegetable form1 fashioned 
fastenings of chalice and anther1       
sprinklings of dusty gold on leaf or    
pistil2 always1 without hammer or rivet 
of ,vulcanic forging1 able to hold fast 
,prometheus in blind bondage to the     
flesh and form of things2 so that except
 by inspiration there can be no chance  
of seeing what does exist and work in   
man or beast or flower2 only by vision  
or by death shall one be brought safe   
past the watch guarded by the sentinels 
of material form and bodily life1 the   
crude tributary ,afrites 7as in the     
,aeschylean myth7 of the governing power
 which fashions and fetters life in men 
and things4 ,and thus this1 the singing 
of birds and dancing of flowers1 the    
springing of colour and kindling of     
music at each day's dawn1 is a symbol--a
 vision of the lamentation of ,beulah   

over ,ololon--of the dwellers in that   
milder and moonlight-coloured world of  
reflex mortal spirits over the          
imperishable influences of a higher     
spiritual world1 which descending upon  
earth must be clothed with material     
mystery and become subject to sensuous  
form and likeness in the body of the    
shadow of death4 ,this glorious passage1
 almost to be matched for wealth of     
sound1 for growth and gradation of      
floral and musical splendour1 for       
mastery of imperial colour1 even against
 the great interlude or symphony of     
flowers in ,maud1 was not cast at random
 into the poem1 but has also a soul or  
meaning in it--though the ways of seeing
 and understanding are somewhat too     
closely guarded by ,og and ,anak4       
,reading it as an excerpt indeed one    
need hardly wish to see beyond the form 
or material figure4 ,that innumerable   
dance of tree and flower and herb is not
 unfit for comparison with the old      
,greek3 anerithmon gelasma of the waves 

of the sea4  #fb ,one may fear that some
 such symbolic stuff as this is really  
at the root of the admirable poem       
christened by its editor with the name  
of ,broken ,love3 which ,i gravely      
suspect was meant for insertion in some 
fresh instalment of prophetic rhapsody  
by way of complement or sequel to       
,jerusalem4 ,the whole tone of it1 and  
especially that of some rejected        
stanzas1 is exactly in the elemental    
manner of the scenes 7where scene is    
none7 between ,albion1 ,jerusalem1 and  
,vala the ,spectre of ,jerusalem 7books 
#ast and #bnd73--    ,thou hast parted  
from my side--   ,once thou wast a      
virgin bride3   ,never shalt thou a true
 love find--   ,my ,spectre follows thee
 behind4    ,when my love did first     
begin1   ,thou didst call that love a   
sin2   ,secret trembling1 night and day1
   ,driving all my loves away4  ,these  
two stanzas 7recalling so many other    
passages where ,blake has enforced his  
doctrines as to the fatal tendency of   

the fears and jealousies1 the abstinence
 and doubt1 produced by theoretic virtue
 and hatched by artificial chastity7    
stood originally as third and fourth in 
the poem4 ,they are cancelled in        
,blake's own ,,ms42 but in that ,,ms4   
the poem ends as follows1 in a way 7,i  
fear7 conclusive as to the justice of my
 suggestion2 ,i mark them conjecturally1
 as ,i suppose the dialogue to stand1 by
 way of helping the reader to some      
glimpse of the point here and there4    
,when wilt thou return and view   ,my   
loves and them to life renew8   ,when   
wilt thou return and live8   ,when wilt 
thou pity as ,i forgive8    ,never1     
never1 ,i return2   ,still for victory  
,i burn4   ,living1 thee alone ,i'll    
have2   ,and when dead ,i'll be thy     
grave4    ,through the heaven and earth 
and hell   ,thou shalt never1 never     
quell3   ,i will fly and thou pursue2   
,night and morn the flight renew4       
7,this ,i take to be the jealous lust of
 power and exclusive love speaking      

through the incarnate female will4 ,see 
,jerusalem again47    ,and ,i1 to end   
thy cruel mocks1   ,annihilate thee on  
the rocks1   ,and another form create   
,to be subservient to my fate4    ,till 
,i turn from female love   ,and root up 
the infernal grove1   ,i shall never    
worthy be   ,to step into eternity4     
7,this stanza ought probably to be      
omitted2 but ,i retain it as being      
carefully numbered for insertion by     
,blake3 though he by some evident slip  
of mind or pen has put it before the    
preceding one47    ,let us agree to give
 up love   ,and root up the infernal    
grove1   ,then shall we return and see  
,the worlds of happy eternity4    ,and  
throughout all eternity   ,i forgive    
you1 you forgive me2   ,as our dear     
,redeemer said1   ,this the wine and    
this the bread4  ,that is perfect       
,jerusalem both for style and matter4   
,the struggle of either side for        
supremacy--the flight and pursuit--the  
vehemence and perversion--the menace and

 the persuasion--the separate ,spectre  
or incarnation of sex annihilated on the
 rocks of rough law or stony            
circumstance and necessity--the final   
vision of an eternity where the jealous 
divided loves and personal affections   
born of shame and pride shall be        
destroyed or absorbed in resignation of 
individual office and quality--all this 
belongs but too clearly to the huge     
prophetic roll4 ,few however will be    
desirous1 and none will be wise1 to     
resign for these gigantic shadows of    
formless and baseless fancy the splendid
 exposition given by the editor 7p4 #gf 
of vol4 ii74 ,seen by that new external 
illumination1 though it be none of the  
author's kindling1 his poem stands on   
firmer feet and is clothed with a nearer
 light4  #fc ,in the mythologic scheme1 
also1 ,los god of time and ,albion      
father of the races of men are rival    
powers2 and the ,spectre or satellite   
deity reproaches his lord with          
resignation of the world and all its    

ways and generations 7which should have 
been subject only to the ,time-,spirit7 
to the guidance of the nations sprung   
from the patriarch ,albion 7called in   
,biblical records after ,jewish names1  
here spoken of by their ,english or     
other titles1 more or less burlesque and
 barbaric7 who have taken upon          
themselves to subdue even ,time himself 
to this work and divide his spoils4 ,so 
closely is the bare mythical            
construction enwound with the symbolic  
or doctrinal passages which are meant to
 give it such vitality and such         
coherence as they may4  #fd ,who adore  
nature as she appears to the ,deist1 who
 select this and reject that1 assume and
 presume according to moral law and     
custom1 instead of accepting the        
,pantheistic revelation which           
consecrates all things and absorbs all  
contraries4     ,,new ,,books           
,,published ,,by  ,,john ,,camden       
,,hotten1  #gd  #ge1 ,,piccadilly1      
,,london1 ,w4  ,,note4--,in order to    

ensure the correct delivery of the      
actual ,works1 or ,particular ,editions1
 specified in this ,list1 the name of   
the ,publisher should be distinctly     
given4 ,stamps or a ,post ,office ,order
 may be remitted direct to the          
,publisher1 who will forward per return4
   ,,the ,,realities ,,of ,,abyssinia4  
,it is almost a truism to say that the  
better a country is known the more      
difficult it is to write a book about   
it4 ,just now we know very little about 
,abyssinia and therefore trustworthy    
facts will be read with                 
eagerness4--,times1 ,oct4 #i4  ,this    
day1 price #gs4 #f;d41 #djj pages1 crown
 #hvo4 cloth neat4   ,abyssinia and its 
,people2 or1 ,life in the ,land of      
,pres'er ,john4  ,edited by ,,john      
,,camden ,,hotten1 ,fellow of the       
,ethnological ,society4  ,with map and  
eight coloured illustrations4  ,this    
book is specially intended for popular  
reading at the present time4  ,mr4      
,hotten has published a work which      

presents the best view of the country   
yet made public4 ,it will undoubtedly   
supply a want greatly felt4--,morning   
,post4  ,very complete and well         
digested4 ,a cyclopaedia of information 
concerning the country4--,publisher's   
,circular4  ,the author is certainly    
entitled to considerable kudos for the  
manner in which he has collected and    
arranged very scattered materials4--,the
 ,press4  ,it abounds in interesting and
 romantic incident1 and embodies many   
graphic pictures of the land we are     
about to invade4 ,as a handbook for     
students1 travellers1 and general       
readers1 it is all that can be          
desired4--,court ,journal4  ,a book of  
remarkable construction1 and at the     
present moment1 peculiarly useful--very 
valuable and very interesting4--,morning
 ,star4   ,immediately4  ,new ,book by  
the late ,artemus ,ward4   ,a genuine   
unmutilated ,reprint of the ,first      
,edition of ,captain ,grose's ,classical
 ,dictionary of the ,vulgar ,tongue1    

#aghe4  ,only a small number of copies  
of this very vulgar1 but very curious   
book1 have been printed for the         
,collectors of ,street ,words and       
,colloquialisms1 on fine toned paper1   
half-bound morocco1 gilt top1 #fs4   ,in
 ,crown #hvo41 pp4 #fej1 #gs4 #f;d4     
,caricature ,history of the ,georges2   
or1 ,annuals of the ,house of ,hanover1 
from the ,squibs1 the ,broadsides1 the  
,window ,pictures1 ,lampoons1 and       
,pictorial ,caricatures of the ,time4   
,by ,,thomas ,,wright1 ,f4,s4,a4        
,uniform with ,history of ,signboards1  
and a companion volume to it4 ,a most   
amusing and instructive work4   ,,the   
,,standard ,,work ,,on ,,precious       
,,stones4  ,the ,new ,edition1 ,prices  
brought down to the ,present            
,time4--,post #hvo41 cloth extra1 full  
gilt1 #abs4 #f;d4  ,diamonds and        
,precious ,stones2 their ,history1      
,value1 and ,properties1 with ,simple   
,tests for ,ascertaining their ,reality4
 ,by ,,harry ,,emanuel1 ,f4,r4,g4,s4    

,with numerous ,illustrations1 tinted   
and plain4  ,will be acceptable to many 
readers4--,times4  ,an invaluable work  
for buyers and sellers4--,spectator4    
,see the ,times ,review of three        
columns4  ,this new edition is greatly  
superior to the previous one4 ,it gives 
the latest market value for ,diamonds   
and ,precious ,stones of every size4    
,,cruikshank',s ,,famous ,,designs4     
,this day1 choicely printed1 in small   
#dto41 price #fs4  ,german ,popular     
,stories4 ,collected by the ,brothers   
,grimm from ,oral ,tradition1 and       
,translated by ,,edgar ,,taylor4 ,with  
,twenty-two ,illustrations after the    
inimitable designs of ,,george          
,,cruikshank4 ,both series complete in  
#a vol4  ,these are the designs which   
,mr4 ,ruskin has praised so highly1     
placing them far above all ,cruikshank's
 other works of a similar character4 ,so
 rare had the original book 7published  
in #ahbc-ahbf7 become1 that ,l#e or ,l#f
 per copy was an ordinary price4 ,by the

 consent of ,mr4 ,taylor's family a new 
,edition is now issued1 under the care  
and superintendence of the printers who 
issued the originals forty years ago4   
,the ,illustrations are considered      
amongst the most extraordinary examples 
of successful reproduction that have    
ever been published4 ,a very few copies 
on ,,large ,,paper2 proofs of plates on 
,india paper1 price ,one ,guinea4       
,,the ,,best ,,book ,,on ,,confectionery
 ,,and ,,desserts4  ,new ,edition1 with 
,plates1 ,post #hvo41 cloth1 #fs4 #f;d4 
,gunter's ,modern ,confectioner4 ,an    
,entirely ,new ,edition of this         
,standard ,work on the ,preparation of  
,confectionery and the ,arrangement of  
,desserts4 ,adapted for private families
 or large establishments4 ,by ,,william 
,,jeanes1 ,chief ,confectioner at       
,messrs4 ,gunter's 7,confectioners to   
,her ,majesty71 ,berkeley ,square4  ,all
 housekeepers should have it4--,daily   
,telegraph4  ,this work has won for     
itself the reputation of being the      

,,standard ,,english ,,book on the      
preparation of all kinds of             
,confectionery1 and on the arrangement  
of ,desserts4   ,,gustave ,,dore',s     
,,special ,,favourites4  ,this day1     
oblong #dto41 handsome table book1 #gs4 
#f;d4  ,historical ,cartoons2 or1       
,pictures of the ,world's ,history from 
the ,first to the ,nineteenth ,century4 
,by ,,gustave ,,dore4 ,with admirable   
letterpress descriptions of the         
,nineteen ,centuries of ,european       
,history4  ,a new book of daring and    
inimitable designs1 which will excite   
considerable attention1 and doubtless   
command a wide circulation4  ,now ready1
 #gs4 #f;d4   ,history of ,signboards4  
,a ,fourth ,edition4  ,the ,times1 in a 
review of three columns1 remarked that  
the good things in the book were so     
numerous as to defy the most wholesale  
depredation on the part of any reviewer4
  ,nearly #ajj most curious             
illustrations on wood are given1 showing
 the various old signs which were       

formerly hung from taverns and other    
houses4 ,the frontispiece represents the
 famous sign of ,the ,man loaded with   
,mischief1 in the colours of the        
original painting said to have been     
executed by ,hogarth4   ,in #dto41      
half-morocco1 neat1 #cjs4  ,large-paper 
,edition of ,history of ,signboards4    
,with ,,seventy-,,two extra             
,illustrations 7not given in the small  
edition71 showing ,old ,london in the   
days when ,signboards hung from almost  
every house4   ,in ,crown #hvo41        
handsomely printed1 #cs4 #f;d4  ,horace 
and ,virgil 7,the ,odes and ,eclogues74 
,translated into ,english ,verse4 ,by   
,,herbert ,,noyes4   ,,the ,,new        
,,special ,,guide4  #bjj pages1 #bd     
,illustrations1 ,bird's-eye ,view ,map1 
,plan1 c4 ,crown #hvo41 price ,one      
,shilling4  ,hotten's ,imperial ,paris  
,guide4 ,issued under the               
superintendence of ,mr4 ,,charles       
,,augustus ,,cole1 ,commissioner to the 
,exhibition of #ahea4  ,this ,guide is  

entirely new1 and contains more ,facts  
and ,anecdotes than any other published4
 ,the materials have been collected by a
 well-known ,french ,author1 and the    
work has been revised by ,mr4 ,cole4    
,a ,,sequel ,,to ,,the ,,sham ,,squire4 
,new and ,enlarged ,edition1 ,crown     
#hvo41 boards1 #bs4 #f;d4  ,ireland     
before the ,union4 ,with ,revelations   
from the ,unpublished ,diary of ,lord   
,clonmell4 ,by ,w4 ,j4 ,,fitzpatrick1   
,j4,p4   ,this day1 price #as41 #afj    
pages1  ,a ,visit to ,king ,theodore4   
,by a ,traveller returned from ,gondar4 
,with a characteristic ,,portrait4  ,a  
very descriptive and amusing account of 
the ,king and his ,court by ,mr4 ,,henry
 ,a4 ,,burette4   ,a ,,very ,,useful    
,,book4  ,now ready1 in ,folio1         
half-morocco1 cloth sides1 #gs4 #f;d4   
,literary ,scraps1 ,cuttings from       
,newspapers1 ,extracts1 ,miscellanea1 c4
 ,a ,folio ,scrap-book of #cdj columns1 
formed for the reception of ,cuttings1  
c4 ,with ,guards4  ,a most useful       

volume1 and one of the cheapest ever    
sold4 ,the book is sure to be           
appreciated1 and to become popular4   ,a
 ,,magnificent ,,work4  ,immediately1 in
 ,crown #dto41 sumptuously printed1     
,l#g4  ,lives of the ,saints4 ,with #ej 
exquisite #dto4 ,illuminations1 mostly  
coloured by hand2 the ,letterpress      
within ,woodcut ,borders of beautiful   
design4  ,the illustrations to this work
 are far superior to anything of the    
kind ever published here before4   ,in  
,crown #hvo41 uniform with the ,slang   
,dictionary1 price #fs4 #f;d4  ,lost    
,beauties of the ,english ,language4    
,revived and ,revivable in ,england and 
,america4 ,an ,appeal to ,authors1      
,poets1 ,clergymen1 and ,public         
,speakers4                ,ancient words
   ,that come from the poetic quarry    
,as sharp as swords4                    
,,hamilton's ,epistle to ,allan ,ramsay4
   ,,new ,,and ,,genuine ,,book ,,of    
,,humour4 ,uniform with ,artemus ,ward4 
,crown #hvo41 toned paper1 price #cs4   

#f;d4  ,mr4 ,sprouts his ,opinions4     
,readers who found amusement in ,artemus
 ,ward's droll books will have no cause 
to complain of this humorous production4
 ,a ,costermonger who gets into         
,parliament and becomes one of the most 
practical ,members1 rivalling ,bernal   
,osborne in his wit and ,roebuck in his 
satire1 ,,ought ,,to ,,be an amusing    
person4   ,in #c vols4 ,crown #hvo41    
,l#a4 #aas4 #f;d4  ,melchior ,gorles4   
,by ,henry ,aitchenbie4  ,the ,new      
,novel1 illustrative of ,mesmeric       
,influence1 or whatever else we may     
choose to term that strange power which 
some persons exercise over others1      
controlling without being seen1 ordering
 in silence1 and enslaving or freeing as
 fancy or will may dictate4  ,the power 
of detaching the spirit from the body1  
of borrowing another's physical courage1
 returning it at will with 7or without7 
interest1 has a humorous audacity of    
conception about it4--,spectator4       
,,popular ,,memoir ,,of ,,faraday4      

,this day1 ,crown #hvo41 toned paper1   
,portrait1 price #f;d4  ,michael        
,faraday4 ,philosopher and ,christian4  
,by the ,rev4 ,,samuel ,,martin1 of     
,westminster4  ,an admirable            
resume--designed for popular reading--of
 this great man's life4   ,now ready1   
,one ,shilling ,edition of  ,never      
,caught3 ,personal ,adventures in       
,twelve ,successful ,trips in ,blockade 
,running4  ,a ,volume of ,adventure of  
thrilling interest4   ,,folk-,,lore1    
,,legends1 ,,proverbs ,,of ,,iceland4   
,now ready1 ,cheap ,edition1 with ,map  
and ,tinted ,illustrations1 #bs4 #f;d4  
,oxonian in ,iceland2 with ,icelandic   
,folk-lore and ,sagas4  ,by the ,rev4   
,,fred4 ,,metcalfe1 ,m4,a4  ,a very     
amusing ,book of ,travel4   ,,mr4       
,,edmund ,,ollier',s ,,poems4  ,this    
day1 cloth neat1 #es4  ,poems from the  
,greek ,mythology1 and ,miscellaneous   
,poems4 ,by ,,edmund ,,ollier4  ,what he
 has written is enough1 and more than   
enough1 to give him a high rank amongst 

the most successful cultivators of the  
,english ,muse4--,globe4   ,,the ,,new  
,,riddle ,,book4  ,new ,edition of ,an  
awfully ,jolly ,book for ,parties4 ,on  
toned paper1 cloth gilt1 #gs4 #f;d42    
cloth gilt1 with ,illustration in       
,colours by ,g4 ,dore1 #hs4 #f;d4       
,puniana2 or1 ,thoughts ,wise and       
,otherwise4 ,best ,book of ,riddles and 
,puns ever formed4 ,with nearly #ajj    
exquisitely fanciful drawings4 ,contains
 nearly #c1jjj of the best ,riddles and 
#aj1jjj most outrageous ,puns1 and it is
 believed will prove to be one of the   
most popular books ever issued4  ,why   
did ,du ,chaillu get so angry when he   
was chaffed about the ,gorilla8 ,why8 we
 ask4  ,why is a chrysalis like a hot   
roll8 ,you will doubtless remark1       
,because it's the grub that makes the   
butter fly6 ,but see ,puniana4  ,why is 
a wide-awake hat so called8 ,because it 
never had a nap1 and never wants one4   
,a ,,reproduction ,,in ,,exact          
,,facsimile1 ,,letter ,,for ,,letter1   

,,of ,,the ,,excessively ,,rare         
,,original ,,of ,,shakespeare',s        
,,famous ,,play1  ,much ,adoe about     
,nothing4 ,as it hath been sundrie times
 publikely acted by the ,right          
,honourable the ,lord ,chamberlaine his 
seruants4 ,written by ,,william         
,,shakespeare1 #afjj4  ,small quarto1 on
 fine toned paper1 half bound morocco1  
,roxburghe style1 #ds4 #f;d4 7,original 
price #ajs4 #f;d47   ,immediately1 in   
,crown #dto41 exquisitely printed1 ,l#c4
 #ajs4  ,saint ,ursula1 and the ,story  
of the #aa1jjj ,virgins1 now newly told 
by ,,thomas ,,wright1 ,f4,s4,a4 ,with   
,twenty-five ,full-page #dto4           
,illuminated ,miniatures from the       
,pictures of ,cologne4  ,the finest     
book-paintings of the kind ever         
published4 ,the artist has just obtained
 the gold prize at the ,paris           
,exposition4   ,new ,edition1 with large
 ,additions1 #aeth ,thousand1 ,crown    
#hvo41 cloth1 #fs4 #f;d4  ,slang        
,dictionary4 ,with ,further ,particulars

 of ,beggars' ,marks4  ,,beggars'       
,,marks ,,upon ,,house ,,corners4--,on  
our doorways1 and on our house corners  
and gate-posts1 curious chalk marks may 
occasionally be observed1 which1        
although meaningless to us1 are full of 
suggestion to tramps1 beggars1 and      
pedlars4 ,mr4 ,hotten intends giving1 in
 the new edition of his ',slang         
,dictionary'--the fourth--some extra    
illustrations descriptive of this       
curious and1 it is believed1 ancient    
method of communicating the charitable  
or ill-natured intentions of house      
occupants2 and he would be obliged by   
the receipt1 at #gd1 ,piccadilly1       
,london1 of any facts which might assist
 his inquiry4--,notes and ,queries4     
,,uniform ,,with ,,essays ,,written ,,in
 ,,the ,,intervals ,,of ,,business4     
,this day1 a ,choice ,book1 on toned    
paper1 #fs4  ,the ,collector4 ,essays on
 ,books1 ,authors1 ,newspapers1         
,pictures1 ,inns1 ,doctors1 ,holidays1  
c4 ,introduction by ,dr4 ,,doran4  ,a   

charming volume of delightful ,essays1  
with exquisitely-engraved ,vignette of  
an ,old-,book ,collector busily engaged 
at his favourite pursuit of             
book-hunting4 ,the work is a companion  
volume to ,disraeli's ,curiosities of   
,literature1 and to the more recently   
published ,book-,hunter1 by ,mr4 ,john  
,hill ,burton4   ,a ,,perfect ,,marvel  
,,of ,,cheapness4  ,five of ,scott's    
,novels1 complete1 for #cs41 well bound4
  ,waverley ,novels4 ,toned ,paper4     
,five ,choice ,novels ,,complete ,,for  
#cs41 cloth extra1 #hej pp4 ,this very  
handsome ,volume contains unmutilated   
and ,author's ,editions of ,,ivanhoe1   
,,old ,,mortality1 ,,fortunes ,,of      
,,nigel1 ,,guy ,,mannering1 ,,bride ,,of
 ,,lammermoor4  ,also1 ,,first ,,series1
 ,fifth ,thousand1 containing           
,,waverley1 ,,the ,,monastery1 ,,rob    
,,roy1 ,,kenilworth1 ,,the ,,pirate4    
,all complete in #a vol41 cloth neat1   
#cs4   ,a ,,guide ,,to ,,reading ,,old  
,,manuscripts1 ,,records1 c4  ,wright's 

,court ,hand ,restored2 or1 ,student's  
,assistant in ,reading ,old ,deeds1     
,charters1 ,records1 c4 ,half-morocco1  
#ajs4 #f;d4  ,a ,new ,edition1          
corrected1 of an invaluable ,work to all
 who have occasion to consult old       
,,mss41 ,deeds1 ,charters1 c4 ,it       
contains a ,series of ,facsimiles of old
 ,,mss4 from the time of the ,conqueror1
 ,tables of ,contractions and           
,abbreviations1 ,ancient ,surnames1 c4  
,,old ,,english ,,religious ,,ballads   
,,and ,,carols4  ,this day1 in small    
#dto41 with very beautiful floriated    
borders1 in the ,renaissance style4     
,songs of the ,nativity4 ,an entirely   
,new ,collection of ,old ,carols1       
including some never before given in any
 collection4 ,with ,music to the more   
popular4 ,edited by ,w4 ,h4 ,,husk1     
,librarian to the ,sacred ,harmonic     
,society4 ,in charmingly appropriate    
cloth1 gilt1 and admirably adapted for  
binding in antique calf or morocco1     
#abs4 #f;d4  ,a volume which will not be

 without peculiar interest to lovers of 
,,ancient ,,english ,,poetry1 and to    
admirers of our ,national ,sacred       
,music4 ,the work forms a handsome      
square #hvo41 and has been printed with 
beautiful floriated borders by          
,whittingham  ,wilkins4 ,the ,carols    
embrace the joyous and festive songs of 
the olden time1 as well as those sacred 
melodies which have maintained their    
popularity from a period long before the
 ,reformation4   ,,does ,,for           
,,winchester ,,what ',,tom ,,brown'     
,,did ,,for ,,rugby4  ,this day1 ,crown 
#hvo41 handsomely printed1 #gs4 #f;d41  
,school ,life at ,winchester2 or1 the   
,reminiscences of a ,winchester ,junior4
 ,by the ,author of the ,log of the     
,water ,lily4 ,with numerous            
illustrations1 exquisitely coloured     
after the original drawings4            
,,anglican ,,church ,,ornaments4  ,this 
day1 thick #hvo41 with illustrations1   
price #aes4  ,english ,church           
,furniture1 ,ornaments1 and             

,decorations1 at the ,period of the     
,reformation4 ,edited by ,,ed4          
,,peacock1 ,f4,s4,a4  ,very curious as  
showing what articles of church         
furniture were in those days considered 
to be idolatrous or unnecessary4 ,the   
work1 of which only a limited number has
 been printed1 is of the highest        
interest to those who take part in the  
present ,ritual discussion4--,see       
,reviews in the ,religious ,journals4   
,,new ,,book ,,by ,,the ,,english       
,,gustave ,,dore4--,,companion ,,to     
,,the ,,hatchet-,,throwers4  ,this day1 
#dto41 ,illustrations1 coloured1 #gs4   
#f;d42 plain1 #es4  ,legends of ,savage 
,life4 ,by ,james ,greenwood1 the famous
 ,author of ,a ,night in a ,workhouse4  
,with #cf inimitably droll              
,illustrations drawn and coloured by    
,,ernest ,,griset1 the ,english ,gustave
 ,dore4  ,readers who found amusement in
 the ,hatchet-,throwers will not regret 
any acquaintance they may form with this
 comical work4 ,the pictures are among  

the most surprising which have come from
 this artist's pencil4   ,,companion    
,,volume ,,to ,,leech',s ,,pictures4    
,this day1 oblong #dto41 a handsome     
volume1 half morocco1 price #abs4       
,seymour's ,sketches4 ,the ,book of     
,cockney ,sports1 ,whims1 and ,oddities4
 ,nearly #bjj highly amusing            
,illustrations4  ,a reissue of the      
famous pictorial comicalities which were
 so popular thirty years ago4 ,the      
volume is admirably adapted for a       
table-book1 and the pictures will       
doubtless again meet with that          
popularity which was extended towards   
them when the artist projected with ,mr4
 ,dickens the famous ,pickwick ,papers4 
,,mr4 ,,swinburne',s ,,new ,,work4      
,this day1 in ,demy #hvo41 pp4 #cej1    
price #afs4  ,william ,blake2 ,artist   
and ,poet4 ,a ,critical ,essay4 ,by     
,,algernon ,,charles ,,swinburne4  ,the 
coloured illustrations to this book have
 all been prepared1 by a careful hand1  
from the original drawings painted by   

,blake and his wife1 and are very       
different from ordinary book            
illustrations4   ,,recent ,,poetry4     
,,mr4 ,,swinburne',s ,,new ,,poem4      
,this day1 fcap4 #hvo4 toned paper1     
cloth1 #cs4 #f;d4  ,a ,song of ,italy4  
,by ,algernon ,charles ,swinburne4  ,the
 ,athenaeum remarks of this             
poem3--,seldom has such a chant been    
heard1 so full of glow1 strength1 and   
colour4   ,mr4 ,swinburne's ,poems and  
,ballads4  ,,notice4--,the ,publisher   
begs to inform the very many persons who
 have inquired after this remarkable    
,work that copies may now be obtained at
 all ,booksellers1 price #is4   ,mr4    
,swinburne's ,notes on his ,poems and on
 the ,reviews which have appeared upon  
them1 is now ready1 price #as4   ,also  
,new and ,revised ,editions4  ,atalanta 
in ,calydon4 ,by ,algernon ,charles     
,swinburne4 #fs4   ,chastelard3 a       
,tragedy4 ,by ,a4 ,c4 ,swinburne4 #gs4  
,rossetti's ,criticism on ,swinburne's  
,poems4 #cs4 #f;d4   ,,uniform ,,with   

,,mr4 ,,swinburne',s ,,poems4  ,in fcap4
 #hvo41 price #es4  ,walt ,whitman's    
,poems4 7,leaves of ,grass1 ,drum-taps1 
c47  ,selected and ,edited by ,,william 
,,michael ,,rossetti4  ,for twelve years
 the ,american poet ,whitman has been   
the object of widespread detraction and 
of concentrated admiration4 ,the        
admiration continues to gain ground1 as 
evidenced of late by papers in the      
,american ,round ,table1 in the ,london 
,review1 in the ,fortnightly ,review by 
,mr4 ,m4 ,d4 ,conway1 in the ,broadway  
by ,mr4 ,robert ,buchanan1 and in the   
,chronicle by the editor of the         
selection announced above1 as also by   
the recent publication of ,whitman's    
last poem1 from advance sheets1 in      
,tinsleys' ,magazine4   ,in preparation1
 small #dto4 elegant4  ,carols of       
,cockayne4 ,by ,henry ,s4 ,leigh4 ,vers 
de ,societe and humorous pieces         
descriptive of ,london life4 ,with      
numerous requisite little designs1 by   
,,alfred ,,concannen4   ,now ready1     

price #cs4 #f;d4  ,the ,prometheus      
,bound of ,aeschylus4 ,translated in the
 ,original ,metres4 ,by ,c4 ,b4         
,,cayley1 ,b4,a4   ,now ready1 #dto4    
#ajs4 #f;d41 on toned paper1 very       
elegant4  ,bianca3 ,poems and ,ballads4 
,by ,edward ,brennan4   ,now ready1     
cloth1 price #es4  ,poems from the      
,greek ,mythology3 and ,miscellaneous   
,poems4 ,by ,,edmund ,,ollier4   ,in    
crown #hvo4 toned paper4  ,poems4 ,by   
,p4 ,f4 ,roe4   ,in crown #hvo4         
handsomely printed4  ,the ,idolatress1  
and other ,poems4 ,by ,dr4 ,wills1      
,author of ,dramatic ,scenes1 ,the      
,disembodied1 and of various ,poetical  
contributions to ,blackwood's ,magazine4
   ,,hotten',s ,,authorized ,,only      
,,complete ,,editions4  ,this day1 on   
toned paper1 price #f;d42 by post1 #g;d4
  ,hotten's ,new ,book of ,humour4      
,artemus ,ward ,among the ,fenians4     
,this day1 #dth edition1 on tinted      
paper1 bound in cloth1 neat1 price #cs4 
#f;d42 by post1 #cs4 #aj;d4  ,hotten's  

,artemus ,ward3 ,his ,book4 ,the        
,author's ,enlarged ,edition2           
containing1 in addition to the following
 edition1 two extra chapters1 entitled  
,the ,draft in ,baldinsville1 with ,mr4 
,ward's ,private ,opinion concerning    
,old ,bachelors1 and ,mr4 ,w4's ,visit  
to a ,graffick 7,soiree74  ,we never1   
not even in the pages of our best       
humorists1 read anything so laughable   
and so shrewd as we have seen in this   
book by the mirthful ,artemus4--,public 
,opinion4   ,new edition1 this day1     
price #as42 by post1 #as4 #b;d4         
,hotten's ,artemus ,ward3 ,his ,book4 ,a
 ,cheap ,edition1 without extra         
chapters1 with portrait of author on    
paper cover1 #as4  ,,notice4--,mr4      
,hotten's ,edition is the only one      
published in this country with the      
sanction of the author4 ,every copy     
contains ,a4 ,ward's signature4 ,the    
,saturday ,review of ,october #bast says
 of ,mr4 ,hotten's edition3 ,the author 
combines the powers of ,thackeray with  

those of ,albert ,smith4 ,the salt is   
rubbed in by a native hand--one which   
has the gift of tickling4   ,this day1  
crown #hvo41 toned paper1 cloth1 price  
#cs4 #f;d42 by post1 #cs4 #aj;d4        
,hotten's ,artemus ,ward3 ,his ,travels 
,among the ,mormons and on the ,rampage4
 ,edited by ,e4 ,p4 ,,hingston1 the     
,agent and ,companion of ,a4 ,ward      
whilst on the ,rampage4                 
,,notice4--,readers of ,artemus ,ward's 
droll books are informed that an        
,illustrated ,edition of ,his ,travels  
is now ready1 containing numerous ,comic
 ,pictures1 representing the different  
scenes and events in ,artemus ,ward's   
,adventures4   ,this day1 cheap edition1
 in neat wrapper1 price #as4  ,hotten's 
,artemus ,ward3 ,his ,travels ,among the
 ,mormons4 ,the ,new ,shilling ,edition1
 with ,ticket of ,admission to ,mormon  
,lecture4   ,,the ,,choicest ,,humorous 
,,poetry ,,of ,,the ,,age4  ,hotten's   
,biglow ,papers4 ,by ,james ,russell    
,lowell4  ,price #as4  ,this ,edition   

has been edited1 with additional ,notes 
explanatory of the persons and subjects 
mentioned therein1 and is the only      
complete and correct edition published  
in this country4  ,the celebrated       
',biglow ,papers4'--,times4   ,biglow   
,papers4 ,another ,edition1 with        
,coloured ,plates by ,,george           
,,cruikshank1 bound in cloth1 neat1     
price #cs4 #f;d4   ,handsomely printed1 
square #abmo41  ,advice to ,parties     
,about to ,marry4 ,a ,series of         
,instructions in ,jest and ,earnest4 ,by
 the ,hon4 ,,hugh ,,rowley1 and         
illustrated with numerous comic designs 
from his pencil4   ,,an ,,extraordinary 
,,book4  ,beautifully printed1 thick    
#hvo41 new1 half morocco1 ,roxburghe1   
#abs4 #f;d4  ,hotten's ,edition of      
,contes ,drolatiques 7,droll ,tales     
collected from the ,abbeys of ,loraine74
 ,par ,,balzac4 ,with ,four ,hundred and
 ,twenty-five ,marvellous1 ,extravagant1
 and ,fantastic ,woodcuts by ,,gustave  
,,dore4  ,the most singular designs ever

 attempted by any artist4 ,this book is 
a fund of amusement4 ,so crammed is it  
with pictures that even the contents are
 adorned with thirty-three              
illustrations4 ,direct application must 
be made to ,mr4 ,hotten for this work4  
,,the ,,original ,,edition ,,of ,,joe   
,,miller',s ,,jests4 #agci4 ,price #is4 
#f;d4  ,joe ,miller's ,jests3 or1 the   
,wit's ,vade-,mecum2 a ,collection of   
the most brilliant ,jests1 politest     
,repartees1 most elegant ,bons ,mots1   
and most pleasant short ,stories in the 
,english ,language4 ,an interesting     
specimen of remarkable facsimile1 #hvo41
 half morocco1 price #is4 #f;d4 ,london3
 printed by ,t4 ,read1 #agci4  ,only a  
very few copies of this humorous book   
have been reproduced4   ,this day1      
handsomely printed on toned paper1 price
 #cs4 #f;d42 cheap edition1 #as4        
,hotten's ,josh ,billings3 ,his ,book of
 ,sayings2 with ,introduction by ,e4 ,p4
 ,,hingston1 companion of ,artemus ,ward
 when on his ,travels4  ,for many years 

past the sayings and comicalities of    
,josh ,billings have been quoted in our 
newspapers4 ,his humour is of a quieter 
kind1 more aphoristically comic1 than   
the fun and drollery of the delicious   
,artemus1 as ,charles ,reade styles the 
,showman4 ,if ,artemus ,ward may be     
called the comic story-teller of his    
time1 ,josh can certainly be dubbed the 
comic essayist of his day4 ,although    
promised some time ago1 ,mr4 ,billings' 
,book has only just appeared1 but it    
contains all his best and most          
mirth-provoking articles4   ,this day1  
in three vols41 crown #hvo41 cloth1     
neat4  ,orpheus ,c4 ,kerr ,papers4 ,the 
,original ,american ,edition1 in ,three 
,series1 complete4 ,three vols41 #hvo41 
cloth2 sells at ,l#a4 #bs4 #f;d41 now   
specially offered at #aes4  ,a most     
mirth-provoking work4 ,it was first     
introduced into this country by the     
,english officers who were quartered    
during the late war on the ,canadian    
frontier4 ,they found it one of the     

drollest pieces of composition they had 
ever met with1 and so brought copies    
over for the delectation of their       
friends4   ,orpheus ,c4 ,kerr ,office   
,seeker ,papers4 ,first ,series1 ,edited
 by ,e4 ,p4 ,,hingston4 ,price #as4     
,,thackeray ,,and ,,george ,,cruikshank4
  ,in small #hvo41 cloth1 very neat1    
price #ds4 #f;d4  ,thackeray's ,humour4 
,illustrated by the ,pencil of ,george  
,cruikshank4 ,twenty-four ,humorous     
,designs executed by this inimitable    
artist in the year #ahci-dj1 as         
illustrations to ,the ,fatal ,boots and 
,the ,diary of ,barber ,cox1 with       
letterpress descriptions suggested by   
the late ,mr4 ,thackeray4   ,,the       
,,english ,,gustave ,,dore4  ,this day1 
in #dto41 handsomely printed1 cloth     
gilt1 price #gs4 #f;d42 with plates     
uncoloured1 #es4  ,the                  
,hatchet-,throwers2 with ,thirty-six    
,illustrations1 coloured after the      
,inimitably ,grotesque ,drawings of     
,,ernest ,,griset4  ,comprises the      

astonishing adventures of ,three        
,ancient ,mariners1 the ,brothers ,brass
 of ,bristol1 ,mr4 ,corker1 and ,mungo  
,midge4  ,a ,munchausen sort of book4   
,the drawings by ,m4 ,griset are very   
powerful and eccentric4--,saturday      
,review4   ,this day1 in ,crown #hvo41  
uniform with ,biglow ,papers1 price #cs4
 #f;d4  ,wit and ,humour4 ,by the       
,autocrat of the ,breakfast ,table4 ,a  
volume of delightfully humorous ,poems1 
very similar to the mirthful verses of  
,tom ,hood4 ,readers will not be        
disappointed with this work4   ,cheap   
edition1 handsomely printed1 price #as4 
,vere ,vereker3 a ,comic ,story1 by     
,thomas ,hood1 with ,punning            
,illustrations4 ,by ,,william ,,brunton4
  ,one of the most amusing volumes which
 have been published for a long time4   
,for a piece of broad humour1 of the    
highly-sensational kind1 it is perhaps  
the best piece of literary fun by ,tom  
,hood4   ,immediately1 at all the       
,libraries4  ,cent4 per ,cent43 a ,story

 written upon a ,bill ,stamp4 ,by       
,,blanchard ,,jerrold4 ,with numerous   
coloured illustrations in the style of  
the late ,mr4 ,leech's charming designs4
  ,a ,story of ,the ,vampires of        
,london1 as they were pithily termed in 
a recent notorious case1 and one of     
undoubted interest4   ,,an ,,entirely   
,,new ,,book ,,of ,,delightful ,,fairy  
,,tales4  ,now ready1 square #abmo41    
handsomely printed on toned paper1 in   
cloth1 green and gold1 price #ds4 #f;d4 
plain1 #es4 #f;d4 coloured 7by post     
#f;d4 extra74  ,family ,fairy ,tales3   
or1 ,glimpses of ,elfland at            
,heatherston ,hall4 ,edited by          
,,cholmondeley ,,pennell1 ,author of    
,puck on ,pegasus1 c41 adorned with     
beautiful pictures of ,my ,lord ,lion1  
,king ,uggermugger1 and other great     
folks4  ,this charming volume of        
,original ,tales has been universally   
praised by the critical press4          
,pansie3 a ,child ,story1 the ,last     
,literary ,effort of ,nathaniel         

,hawthorne4 #abmo41 price #f;d4   ,rip  
,van ,winkle3 and the ,story of ,sleepy 
,hollow4 ,by ,,washington ,,irving4     
,foolscap #hvo41 very neatly printed on 
toned paper1 illustrated cover1 #f;d4   
,anecdotes of the ,green ,room and      
,stage2 or1 ,leaves from an ,actor's    
,note-,book1 at ,home and ,abroad4 ,by  
,,george ,,vandenhoff4 ,post #hvo41 pp4 
#ccf1 price #bs4  ,includes original    
anecdotes of the ,keans 7father and     
son71 the two ,kembles1 ,macready1      
,cooke1 ,liston1 ,farren1 ,elliston1    
,braham and his ,sons1 ,phelps1         
,buckstone1 ,webster1 ,charles          
,matthews1 ,siddons1 ,vestris1 ,helen   
,faucit1 ,mrs4 ,nisbet1 ,miss ,cushman1 
,miss ,o',neil1 ,mrs4 ,glover1 ,mrs4    
,charles ,kean1 ,rachel1 ,ristori1 and  
many other dramatic celebrities4        
,berjean's 7,p4 ,c47 ,book of ,dogs3 the
 ,varieties of ,dogs as they are found  
in ,old ,sculptures1 ,pictures1         
,engravings1 and ,books4 #ahfe4         
,half-morocco1 the sides richly lettered

 with gold1 #gs4 #f;d4  ,in this very   
interesting volume are #eb plates1      
facsimiled from rare old ,engravings1   
,paintings1 ,sculptures1 c41 in which   
may be traced over #ajj varieties of    
dogs known to the ancients4   ,this day1
 elegantly printed1 pp4 #if1 wrapper    
#as41 cloth #bs41 post free4  ,carlyle  
on the ,choice of ,books4 ,the          
,inaugural ,address of ,,thomas         
,,carlyle1 with ,memoir1 ,anecdotes1    
,two ,portraits1 and ,view of his ,house
 in ,chelsea4 ,the ,address is reprinted
 from ,the ,times1 carefully compared   
with twelve other reports1 and is       
believed to be the most accurate yet    
printed4  ,the leader in the ,daily     
,telegraph1 ,april #beth1 largely quotes
 from the above ,memoir4   ,in ,fcap4   
#hvo41 cloth1 price #cs4 #f;d4          
beautifully printed4  ,gog and ,magog2  
or1 the ,history of the ,guildhall      
,giants4 ,with some ,account of the     
,giants which guard ,english and        
,continental ,cities4 ,by ,f4 ,w4       

,,fairholt1 ,f4,s4,a4 ,with             
,illustrations on ,wood by the author1  
coloured and plain4  ,the critiques     
which have appeared upon this amusing   
little work have been uniformly         
favourable4 ,the ,art ,journal says1 in 
a long article1 that it thoroughly      
explains who these old giants were1 the 
position they occupied in popular       
mythology1 the origin of their names1   
and a score of other matters1 all of    
much interest in throwing a light upon  
fabulous portions of our history4   ,now
 ready1 handsomely printed1 price #as4  
#f;d4  ,hints on ,hats2 adapted to the  
,heads of the ,people4 ,by ,,henry      
,,melton1 of ,regent ,street4 ,with     
curious woodcuts of the various style of
 ,hats worn at different periods4       
,anecdotes of eminent and fashionable   
personages are given1 and a fund of     
interesting information relative to the 
,history of ,costume and change of      
tastes may be found scattered through   
its pages4   ,this day1 handsomely      

bound1 pp4 #eej1 price #gs4 #f;d4       
,history of ,playing ,cards3 with       
,anecdotes of their ,use in ,ancient and
 ,modern ,games1 ,conjuring1            
,fortune-,telling1 and ,card-sharping4  
,with ,sixty curious illustrations on   
toned paper4 ,skill and                 
,sleight-of-,hand2 ,gambling and        
,calculation2 ,cartomancy and ,cheating2
 ,old ,games and ,gaming-,houses2 ,card 
,revels and ,blind ,hookey2 ,piquet and 
,vingt-et-un2 ,whist and ,cribbage2     
,old-fashioned ,tricks4  ,a             
highly-interesting volume4--,morning    
,post4   ,this day1 in #b vols41 #hvo41 
very handsomely printed1 price #afs4    
,,the ,,household ,,stories ,,of        
,,england4  ,popular ,romances of the   
,west of ,england2 or1 the ,drolls of   
,old ,cornwall4 ,collected and edited by
 ,,robert ,,hunt1 ,f4,r4,s4  ,for an    
analysis of this important work see     
printed description1 which may be       
obtained gratis at the publisher's4     
,many of the stories are remarkable for 

their wild poetic beauty2 others        
surprise us by their quaintness2 whilst 
others1 again1 show forth a tragic force
 which can only be associated with those
 rude ages which existed long before the
 period of authentic history4  ,mr4     
,george ,cruikshank has supplied two    
wonderful pictures as illustrations to  
the work4 ,one is a portrait of ,giant  
,bolster1 a personage twelve miles high4
   ,pp4 #ccf1 handsomely printed1 cloth 
extra1 price #cs4 #f;d4  ,holidays with 
,hobgoblins2 or1 ,talk of ,strange      
,things4 ,by ,,dudley ,,costello4 ,with 
humorous engravings by ,,george         
,,cruikshank4 ,amongst the chapters may 
be enumerated3 ,shaving a ,ghost2       
,superstitions and ,traditions2         
,monsters2 the ,ghost of ,pit ,pond2 the
 ,watcher of the ,dead2 the ,haunted    
,house near ,hampstead2 ,dragons1       
,griffins1 and ,salamanders2 ,alchemy   
and ,gunpowder2 ,mother ,shipton2 ,bird 
,history2 ,witchcraft and ,old ,boguey2 
,crabs2 ,lobsters2 the ,apparition of   

,monsieur ,bodry4   ,,supplementary     
,,volume ,,to ,,hone',s ,,works4  ,in   
preparation1 thick #hvo41 uniform with  
,year-,book1 pp4 #hjj4  ,hone's ,scrap  
,book4 ,a ,supplementary ,volume to the 
,every-,day ,book1 the ,year-,book1 and 
the ,table-,book4 ,from the ,,mss4 of   
the late ,,william ,,hone1 with upwards 
of ,one ,hundred and ,fifty engravings  
of curious or eccentric objects4        
,,barnum',s ,,new ,,book4  ,humbugs of  
the ,world4 ,by ,p4 ,t4 ,barnum4 ,pp4   
#cbj4 crown #hvo41 cloth extra1 #ds4    
#f;d4  ,a most vivacious book1 and a    
very readable one4--,globe4  ,the       
history of ,old ,adams and his grisly   
bears is inimitable4--,athenaeum4  ,a   
,history of ,humbugs by the ,prince of  
,humbugs6 ,what book can be more        
promising8--,saturday ,review4   ,a     
,,keepsake ,,for ,,smokers4  ,this day1 
#dhmo41 beautifully printed from        
silver-faced type1 cloth1 very neat1    
gilt edges1 price #bs4 #f;d4  ,smoker's 
,text ,book4 ,by ,j4 ,hamer1            

,f4,r4,s4,l4 ,this exquisite little     
volume comprises the most important     
passages from the works of eminent men  
written in favour of the much-abused    
weed4 ,its compilation was suggested by 
a remark made by ,sir ,bulwer ,lytton3--
  ,a pipe is a great comforter1 a       
pleasant soother4 ,the man who smokes   
thinks like a sage and acts like a      
,samaritan4  ,a few copies have been    
choicely bound in calf antique and      
morocco1 price #ajs4 #f;d4 each4   ,a   
,,new ,,book ,,by ,,the ,,late ,,mr4    
,,thackeray4  ,the ,student's ,quarter2 
or1 ,paris ,life ,five-and-,twenty      
,years ,since4 ,by the late ,,william   
,,makepeace ,,thackeray4 ,with numerous 
coloured illustrations after designs    
made at the time4  ,for these           
interesting sketches of ,french         
literature and art1 made immediately    
after the ,revolution of #ahcj1 the     
reading world is indebted to a gentleman
 in ,paris1 who has carefully preserved 
the original papers up to the present   

time4   ,thackeray3 the ,humorist and   
the ,man of ,letters4 ,the ,story of his
 ,life and ,literary ,labours4 ,with    
some particulars of his ,early ,career  
never before made public4 ,by ,,theodore
 ,,taylor1 ,esq41 ,membre de la ,societe
 des gens de ,lettres4 ,price #gs4 #f;d4
  ,illustrated with ,photographic       
,portrait 7one of the most              
characteristic known to have been taken7
 by ,ernest ,edwards1 ,b4,a42 view of   
,mr4 ,thackeray's ,house1 built after a 
favourite design of the great           
novelist's2 facsimile of his            
,handwriting1 long noted in ,london     
literary circles for its exquisite      
neatness2 and a curious life sketch of  
his ,coat of ,arms1 a pen and pencil    
humorously introduced as the crest1 the 
motto1 ,nobilitas est sola virtus       
7,virtue is the sole nobility74   ,this 
day1 neatly printed1 price #as4 #f;d42  
by post #as4 #h;d4  ,mental ,exertion3  
its ,influence on ,health4 ,by ,dr4     
,,brigham4 ,edited1 with additional     

,notes1 by ,dr4 ,,arthur ,,leared1      
,physician to the ,great ,northern      
,hospital4 ,this is a highly important  
little book1 showing how far we may     
educate the mind without injuring the   
body4  ,the recent untimely deaths of   
,admiral ,fitzroy and ,mr4 ,prescott1   
whose minds gave way under excessive    
mental exertion1 fully illustrate the   
importance of the subject4   ,,every    
,,housekeeper ,,should ,,possess ,a     
,,copy4  ,now ready1 in cloth1 price    
#bs4 #f;d42 by post #bs4 #h;d4  ,the    
,housekeeper's ,assistant2 a ,collection
 of the most valuable ,recipes1         
carefully written down for future use1  
by ,mrs4 ,b---- during her forty years' 
active service4  ,as much as two guineas
 has been paid for a copy of this       
invaluable little work4   ,how to ,see  
,scotland2 or1 a ,fortnight in the      
,highlands for ,l#f4  ,a plain and      
practical guide4--,price #as4   ,now    
ready1 #hvo41 price #as4  ,list of      
,british ,plants4 ,compiled and         

,arranged by ,alex ,more1 ,f4,l4,s4     
,this comparative ,list of ,british     
,plants was drawn up for the use of the 
country botanist1 to show the           
differences in opinion which exist      
between different authors as to the     
number of species which ought to be     
reckoned within the compass of the flora
 of ,great ,britain4   ,now ready1 price
 #bs4 #f;d42 by post #bs4 #aj;d4        
,dictionary of the ,oldest ,words in the
 ,english ,language1 from the           
,semi-,saxon ,period of ,a4,d4 #abej to 
#acjj2 consisting of an ,alphabetical   
,inventory of ,every ,word found in the 
,printed ,english ,literature of the    
#acth ,century1 by the late ,,herbert   
,,coleridge1 ,secretary to the          
,philological ,society4 #hvo41 neat half
 morocco4  ,an invaluable work to       
historical students and those interested
 in linguistic pursuits4   ,the ,school 
and ,college ,slang of ,england2 or1    
,glossaries of the ,words and ,phrases  
peculiar to the ,six great ,educational 

,establishments of the                  
country4--,preparing4   ,this day1 in   
,crown #hvo41 handsomely printed1 price 
#gs4 #f;d4  ,glossary of all the ,words1
 ,phrases1 and ,customs peculiar to     
,winchester ,college4  ,see ,school     
,life at ,winchester ,college1 recently 
published4   ,robson2 a ,sketch1 by     
,augustus ,sala4 ,an ,interesting       
,biography1 with ,sketches of his famous
 characters1 ,jem ,baggs1 ,boots at the 
,swan1 ,the ,yellow ,dwarf1 ,daddy      
,hardacre1 c4 ,price #f;d4   ,in        
preparation1 ,crown #hvo41 handsomely   
printed4  ,the ,curiosities of          
,flagellation3 an ,anecdotal ,history of
 the ,birch in ,ancient and ,modern     
,times3 its ,use as a ,religious        
,stimulant1 and as a ,corrector of      
,morals in all ,ages4 ,with some quaint 
illustrations4 ,by ,j4 ,g4 ,,bertrand1  
,author of ,the ,harvest of the ,sea1 c4
   ,in #a vol41 with #cjj ,drawings from
 ,nature1 #bs4 #f;d4 plain1 #ds4 #f;d4  
coloured by hand4  ,the ,young          

,botanist3 a ,popular ,guide to         
,elementary ,botany4 ,by ,t4 ,s4        
,,ralph1 of the ,linnaean ,society4  ,an
 excellent book for the young beginner4 
,the objects selected as illustrations  
are either easy of access as specimens  
of wild plants1 or are common in        
gardens4   ,common ,prayer4 ,illustrated
 by ,holbein and ,albert ,durer4 ,with  
,wood ,engravings of the ,life of       
,christ1 rich woodcut border on every   
page of ,fruit and ,flowers2 also the   
,dance of ,death1 a singularly curious  
series after ,holbein1 with ,scriptural 
,quotations and ,proverbs in the        
,margin4 ,square #hvo41 cloth neat1     
exquisitely printed on tinted paper1    
price #hs4 #f;d42 in dark morocco1 very 
plain and neat1 with block in the       
,elizabethan style impressed on the     
sides1 gilt edges1 #afs4 #f;d4  ,apply  
direct for this exquisite volume4   ,,an
 ,,appropriate ,,book ,,to ,,illuminate4
  ,the attention of those who practise  
the beautiful art of ,illuminating is   

requested to the following sumptuous    
volume3--  ,the ,presentation ,book of  
,common ,prayer4 ,illustrated with      
,elegant ,ornamental ,borders in red and
 black1 from ,books of ,hours and       
,illuminated ,missals1 by ,,geoffrey    
,,tory4 ,one of the most tasteful and   
beautiful books ever printed4 ,may now  
be seen at all booksellers4  ,although  
the price is only a few shillings 7#gs4 
#f;d4 in plain cloth2 #hs4 #f;d4 antique
 do42 #ads4 #f;d4 morocco extra71 this  
edition is so prized by artists that1 at
 the ,south ,kensington and other       
important ,art ,schools1 copies are kept
 for the use of students4   ,now ready1 
in #hvo41 on tinted paper1 nearly #cej  
pages1 very neat1 price #es4  ,family   
,history of the ,english ,counties3     
,descriptive ,account of ,twenty        
,thousand most ,curious and ,rare       
,books1 ,old ,tracts1 ,ancient          
,manuscripts1 ,engravings1 and          
,privately-printed ,family ,papers1     
relating to the ,history of almost every

 ,landed ,estate and ,old ,english      
,family in the ,country2 interspersed   
with nearly ,two ,thousand ,original    
,anecdotes1 ,topographical and          
,antiquarian ,notes4 ,by ,,john ,,camden
 ,,hotten4  ,by far the largest         
collection of ,english and ,welsh       
,topography and ,family ,history ever   
formed4 ,each article has a small price 
affixed for the convenience of those who
 may desire to possess any book or tract
 that interests them4   ,,an            
,,interesting ,,volume ,,to             
,,antiquaries4  ,now ready1 #dto41 half 
morocco1 handsomely printed1 price #gs4 
#f;d4  ,army ,lists of the ,roundheads  
and ,cavaliers in the ,civil ,war4      
,these most curious ,lists show on which
 side the gentlemen of ,england were to 
be found during the great conflict      
between the ,king and the ,parliament4  
,only a very few copies have been most  
carefully reprinted on paper that will  
gladden the heart of the lover of choice
 books4   ,folio1 exquisitely printed on

 toned paper1 with numerous ,etchings1  
c41 price #bhs4  ,millais ,family1 the  
,lineage and ,pedigree of1 recording its
 ,history from #acca to #ahfe1 by ,j4   
,b4 ,,payne1 with ,illustrations from   
,designs by the ,author4  ,of this      
beautiful volume only sixty copies have 
been privately printed for presents to  
the several members of the family4 ,the 
work is magnificently bound in blue and 
gold4 ,these are believed to be the only
 etchings of an heraldic character ever 
designed and engraved by the            
distinguished artist of the name4       
,apply direct for this work4   ,now     
ready1 #abmo41 very choicely printed1   
price #fs4 #f;d4  ,london ,directory for
 #afgg1 the ,earliest ,known ,list of   
the ,london ,merchants4 ,see ,review in 
the ,times1 ,jan4 #bb4  ,this curious   
little volume has been reprinted        
verbatim from one of the only two copies
 known to be in existence4 ,it contains 
an ,introduction pointing out some of   
the principal persons mentioned in the  

list4 ,for historical and genealogical  
purposes the little book is of the      
greatest value4 ,herein will be found   
the originators of many of the great    
firms and co-partnerships which have    
prospered through two pregnant          
centuries1 and which exist some of them 
in nearly the same names at this day4   
,its most distinctive feature is the    
early severance which it marks of       
goldsmiths that keep running cashes1    
precursors of the modern bankers1 from  
the mass of the merchants of ,london4   
,now ready1 price #es42 by post1 on     
roller1 #es4 #d;d4  ,magna ,charta4 ,an 
,exact ,facsimile of the ,original      
,document preserved in the ,british     
,museum1 very carefully drawn1 and      
printed on fine plate paper1 nearly #c  
feet long by #b feet wide1 with the     
,arms and ,seals of the ,barons         
elaborately emblazoned in gold and      
colours4 ,a4,d4 #abae4  ,copied by      
express permission1 and the only correct
 drawing of the ,great ,charter ever    

taken4 ,handsomely framed and glazed1 in
 carved oak of an antique pattern1 #bbs4
 #f;d4 ,it is uniform with the ,roll of 
,battle ,abbey4  ,a full translation1   
with ,notes1 has just been prepared1    
price #f;d4   ,,new ,,book ,,by         
,,professor ,,renan',s ,,associate4     
,exquisitely printed1 #abmo41 cloth1    
very neat1 price #cs4 #f;d4  ,apollonius
 of ,tyana3 the ,pagan or ,false ,christ
 of the ,third ,century4 ,an ,essay4 ,by
 ,,albert ,,reville1 ,pastor of the     
,walloon ,church at ,rotterdam4         
,authorized translation4  ,a most       
curious account of an attempt to revive 
,paganism in the third century by means 
of a false ,christ4 ,strange to say1 the
 principal events in the life of        
,apollonius are almost identical with   
the ,gospel narrative4 ,apollonius was  
born in a mysterious way about the same 
time as ,christ4 ,after a period of     
preparation came a ,passion1 then a     
,resurrection1 and an ,ascension4 ,in   
many other respects the parallel is     

equally extraordinary4   ,in the press1 
#dto4 ,part ,i4  ,the ,celtic ,tumuli of
 ,dorsetshire3 an ,account of ,personal 
and other ,researches on the ,sepulchral
 ,mounds of the ,durotiges2 forming the 
,first ,part of a ,description of the   
,primeval ,antiquities of the ,county4  
,in small #dto4 handsomely printed1 #as4
 #f;d4  ,esholt in ,airedale1           
,yorkshire3 the ,cistercian ,priory of  
,st4 ,leonard1 ,account of1 with ,view  
of ,esholt ,hall4   ,,anecdotes ,,of    
,,the ,,long ,,parliament ,,of #afde4   
,now ready1 in #dto41 half morocco1     
choicely printed1 price #gs4 #f;d4  ,the
 ,mysteries of the ,good ,old ,cause3   
,sarcastic ,notices of those ,members of
 the ,long ,parliament that held places1
 both ,civil and ,military1 contrary to 
the ,self-denying ,ordinance of ,april  
#c1 #afde2 with the sums of money and   
lands they divided among themselves4    
,gives many curious particulars about   
the famous ,assembly not mentioned by   
historians or biographers4 ,the history 

of almost every county in ,england      
receives some illustration from it4     
,genealogists and antiquaries will find 
in it much interesting matter4   ,now   
ready1 in #dto41 very handsomely        
printed1 with curious woodcut initial   
letters1 extra cloth1 #ahs42 or crimson 
morocco extra1 the sides and back       
covered in rich fleur-de-lys1 gold      
tooling1 #ees4  ,roll of ,carlaverlock1 
with the ,arms of the ,earls1 ,barons1  
and ,knights who were present at the    
,siege of this ,castle in ,scotland1 #bf
 ,edward ,i41 ,a4,d4 #acjj2 including   
the ,original ,anglo-,norman ,poem1 and 
an ,english ,translation of the ,,ms4 in
 the ,british ,museum2 the whole newly  
edited by ,,thomas ,,wright1 ,esq41     
,m4,a41 ,f4,s4,a4  ,a very handsome     
volume1 and a delightful one to lovers  
of ,heraldry1 as it is the earliest     
blazon or arms known to exist4          
,,uniform ,,with ,,magna ,,charta4      
,roll of ,battle ,abbey2 or1 a ,list of 
the ,principal ,warriors who came over  

from ,normandy with ,william the        
,conqueror and settled in this country1 
,a4,d4 #ajff-g1 from ,authentic         
,documents1 very carefully drawn1 and   
printed on fine plate paper1 nearly     
three feet long by two feet wide1 with  
the ,arms of the principal ,barons      
elaborately emblazoned in gold and      
colours1 price #es42 by post1 on roller1
 #es4 #d;d4  ,a most curious document1  
and of the greatest interest1 as the    
descendants of nearly all these ,norman 
,conquerors are at this moment living   
amongst us4 ,no names are believed to be
 in this ,battel ,roll1 which are not   
fully entitled to the distinction4      
,handsomely framed and glazed1 in carved
 oak of an antique pattern1 price #bbs4 
#f;d4   ,warrant to ,execute ,charles   
,i4 ,an ,exact ,facsimile of this       
,important ,document in the ,house of   
,lords1 with the ,fifty-nine ,signatures
 of the ,regicides1 and ,corresponding  
,seals1 admirably executed on paper made
 to imitate the ,original ,document1 #bb

 in4 by #ad in4 ,price #bs42 by post1   
#bs4 #d;d4 ,handsomely framed and       
glazed1 in carved oak of an antique     
pattern1 #ads4 #f;d4   ,now ready4      
,warrant to ,execute ,mary ,queen of    
,scots4 ,the ,exact ,facsimile of this  
,important ,document1 including the     
,signature ,queen ,elizabeth and        
,facsimile of the ,great ,seal1 on      
tinted paper1 made to imitate the       
original ,,ms4 ,safe on roller1 #bs42 by
 post1 #bs4 #d;d4  ,handsomely framed   
and glazed1 in carved oak of an antique 
pattern1 #ads4 #f;d4   ,in #a vol41     
#dto41 on tinted paper1 with #ai large  
and most curious ,plates in facsimile1  
coloured by hand1 including an ancient  
,view of the ,city of ,waterford4       
,illuminated ,charter-,roll of          
,waterford1 ,temp4 ,richard ,,ii4       
,price to ,subscribers1 #bjs42          
,non-subscribers1 #cjs4  ,of the very   
limited impression proposed1 more than  
#aej copies have already been subscribed
 for4 ,amongst the ,corporation         

,muniments of the ,city of ,waterford is
 preserved an ancient ,illuminated      
,roll1 of great interest and beauty1    
comprising all the early ,charters and  
,grants to the ,city of ,waterford1 from
 the time of ,henry ,,ii4 to ,richard   
,,ii4 ,full-length ,portraits of each   
,king adorn the margin1 varying from    
eight to nine inches in length--some in 
armour and some in robes of state4 ,in  
addition are ,portraits of an           
,archbishop in full canonicals1 of a    
,chancellor1 and of many of the chief   
,burgesses of the ,city of ,waterford1  
as well as singularly-curious ,portraits
 of the ,mayors of ,dublin1 ,waterford1 
,limerick1 and ,cork1 figured for the   
most part in the quaint bipartite       
costume of the ,second ,richard's reign1
 peculiarities of that of ,edward ,,iii4
 ,altogether this ancient work of art is
 unique of its kind in ,ireland1 and    
deserves to be rescued from oblivion4   
,john ,camden ,hotten1 #gd  #ge1        
,piccadilly1 ,london4              99   

99       99       99       99           
,transcriber's note3  ,the original text
 includes ,greek characters4 ,for this  
text version these letters have been    
replaced with transliterations4  ,the   
following misprints have been corrected3
   has corrected to hast 7page #aec7    
,thetoormon corrected to ,theotormon    
7page #bcd7   woamn corrected to woman  
7footnote #ai7   rongh corrected to     
rough 7footnote #bj7  ,other than the   
corrections listed above1               
inconsistencies in spelling and         
hyphenation have been retained from the 
original4