Written within & without in woven letters: & the Writing
Is the Divine Revelation in the Litteral expression:
A Garment of War, I heard it namd the Woof of Six Thousand Years
And I beheld the Twenty-four Cities of Albion
Arise upon their Thrones to Judge the Nations of the Earth
And the Immortal Four in whom the Twenty-four appear Four-fold
Arose around Albions body: Jesus wept & walked forth
20 From Felphams Vale clothed in Clouds of blood, to enter into
Albions Bosom, the bosom of death & the Four surrounded him
In the Column of Fire in Felphams Vale; then to their mouths the Four
Applied their Four Trumpets & them sounded to the Four winds
Terror struck in the Vale I stood at that immortal sound
My bones trembled. I fell outstretchd upon the path
A moment, & my Soul returnd into its mortal state
To Resurrection & Judgment in the Vegetable Body
And my sweet Shadow of Delight stood trembling by my side
Immediately the Lark mounted with a loud trill from Felphams Vale
30 And the Wild Thyme from Wimbletons green & impurpled Hills
And Los & Enitharmon rose over the Hills of Surrey
Their clouds roll over London with a south wind, soft Oothoon
Pants in the Vales of Lambeth weeping oer her Human Harvest
Los listens to the Cry of the Poor Man: his Cloud
Over London in volume terrific, low bended in anger.
Rintrah & Palamabron view the Human Harvest beneath
Their Wine-presses & Barns stand open; the Ovens are prepar’d
The Waggons ready: terrific Lions & Tygers sport & play
All Animals upon the Earth, are prepard in all their strength
PLATE 43
To go forth to the Great Harvest & Vintage of the Nations
Finis
DEDICATION TO BLAKE’S ILLUSTRATIONS TO BLAIR’S GRAVE
TO THE QUEEN
The Door of Death is made of Gold,
That Mortal Eyes cannot behold;
But, when the Mortal Eyes are clos’d,
And cold and pale the Limbs repos’d,
The Soul awakes; and, wond’ring, sees
In her mild Hand the golden Key
The Grave is Heaven’s golden Gate,
And rich and poor around it wait;
O Shepherdess of England’s Fold,
10 Behold this Gate of Pearl and Gold!
To dedicate to England’s Queen
The Visions that my Soul has seen,
And, by Her kind permission, bring
What I have borne on solemn Wing
From the vast regions of the Grave,
Before Her Throne my Wings I wave;
Bowing before my Sov’reign’s Feet,
‘The Grave produc’d these Blossoms sweet
‘In mild repose from Earthly strife;
20 ‘The Blossoms of Eternal Life!’
NOTEBOOK EPIGRAMS AND SATIRIC VERSES, c. 1808–12
You dont believe I wont attempt to make ye
You are asleep I wont attempt to wake ye
Sleep on Sleep on while in your pleasant dreams
Of Reason you may drink of Lifes clear streams
Reason and Newton they are quite two things
For so the Swallow & the Sparrow sings
Reason says Miracle. Newton says Doubt
Aye thats the way to make all Nature out
Doubt Doubt & dont believe without experiment
10 That is the very thing that Jesus meant
When he said Only Believe Believe & try
Try Try & never mind the Reason why
*
No real Style of Colouring ever appears
But advertising in the News Papers
Look there youll see Sr Joshuas Colouring
Look at his Pictures [tis quite another Thing] All has
taken Wing
*
And his legs carried it like a long fork
Reachd all the way from Chichester to York
From York all across Scotland to the Sea
This was a Man of Men as seems to me
Not only in his Mouth his own Soul lay
But my Soul also would he bear away
Like as a Pedlar bears his weary Pack
[He would bear my Soul] So Stewhards Soul he buckld to
his Back
But once alas committing a Mistake
10 He bore the wretched Soul of William Blake
That he might turn it into Eggs of Gold
But neither Back nor mouth those Eggs could hold
His under jaw dropd as those Eggs he laid
And [all my] Stewhards Eggs are addled & decayd
The Examiner whose very name is Hunt
Calld Death a Madman [Deadly the affront] trembling for the affront
Like trembling Hare sits on his weakly paper
On which he usd to dance & sport & caper
Yorkshire Jack Hemp & gentle blushing daw
20 Clapd Death into the corner of their jaw
And Felpham Billy rode out every morn
Horseback with Death over the fields of corn
[And] Who with iron hand cuffd in the afternoon
The Ears of Billys Lawyer & Dragoon
And Cur my Lawyer & Dady Jack Hemps Parson
Both went to Law with Death to keep our Ears on
For how to starve Death we had laid a plot
Against his Price but Death was in the Pot
He made them pay his Price alack a day
30 He knew both Law & Gospel better than they
O that I neer ha[d] seen that William Blake
Or could from death Assassinetti wake
We thought Alas that such a thought should be
That Blake would Etch for him & draw for me
For twas a kind of Bargain Screwmuch made
That Blakes designs should be by us displayed
Because he makes designs so very cheap
Then Screwmuch at Blakes soul took a long leap
Twas not a Mouse twas Death in a disguise
40 And I alas live to weep out mine Eyes
And Death sits [mocking] laughing on their Monuments
On which hes written Recievd the Contents
But I have writ so sorrowful my thought is
His Epitaph [with tears of] for my tears are aqua fortis
[Ye] Come Artists knock your heads against This stone
For Sorrow that [your] our friend Bob Screwmuchs gone
And now the Men upon me smile & Laugh
Ill also write my own dear Epitaph
And Ill be buried near a Dike
50 That my friends may weep as much as they like
Here lies Stewhard the Friend of All &c
*
Was I angry with Hayley who usd me so ill
Or can I be angry with Felphams old Mill
[Or angry with Boydell or Bowyer or Ba]
Or angry with Flaxman or Cromek or Stothard
Or poor Schiavonetti whom they to death botherd
Or angry with Macklin or Boydel or Bowyer
Because they did not say O what a Beau ye are
At a Friends Errors Anger shew
Mirth at the Errors of a Foe
*
Anger & Wrath my bosom rends
I thought them the Errors of friends
But all my limbs with warmth glow
I find them the Errors of the foe
*
The Sussex Men are Noted Fools
And weak is their brain pan
I wonder if H[aines] the painter
Is not a Sussex Man
*
[Look Flaxman & Stothard do] old acquaintance well
renew
Prospero had One Caliban & I have Two
*
Madman I have been calld Fool t
hey call thee
I wonder which they Envy Thee or Me
TO H[UNT]
You think Fuseli is not a Great Painter Im Glad
This is one of the best compliments he ever had
TO F[LAXMAN]
I mock thee not tho I by thee am Mocked
Thou callst me Madman but I call thee Blockhead
*
Can there be any thing more mean
More Malice in disguise
Than Praise a Man for doing [that] what
[Which he] That Man does most despise
[This] Reynolds Lectures [plainly shew] Exactly so
When he praises Michael Angelo
*
S[tothard] in Childhood on the Nursery floor
Was extreme Old & most extremely poor
He is grown old & rich & what he will
He is extreme old & extreme poor still
TO NANCY F[LAXMAN]
How can I help thy Husbands copying Me
Should that make difference twixt me & Thee
*
Of H[ayley]s birth this was the happy lot
His Mother on his Father him begot
*
Sir Joshua Praises Michael Angelo
[(And counts it courage) Is it Politeness thus to praise his foe]
Tis Christian Mildness when [fools] Knaves Praise a Foe
But Twould be Madness [that we all must] all the World would say
[If All] Should Michael Angelo [praising] praise Sir Joshua
Christ usd the Pharisees in a rougher way
*
Hes a Blockhead who wants a proof of what he Cant Percieve
And he’s a Fool who [seeks] tries to make such a Blockhead believe
*
Cr[omek] loves artists as he loves his Meat
[Cr–] He loves the Art but tis the Art to Cheat
*
A Petty sneaking Knave I knew
O Mr Cr[omek] how do ye do
*
Sir Jo[s]hua praised Rubens with a Smile
By Calling his the ornamental Style
[Because] And yet his praise of Flaxman was the smartest
When he calld him the Ornamental Artist
But sure such ornaments we well may spare
[Like a filthy infectious head of hair]
[A Crooked stick & louzy head of hair]
As Crooked limbs & louzy heads of hair
*
He is a Cock [wont] would
And would be a [crow] Cock if he could
*
He has observd the Golden Rule
Till hes become the Golden Fool
TO S[TOTHAR]D
[He] You all [his] your Youth observd the Golden Rule
Till [hes] youre at last become the [old] golden fool
I sport with Fortune Merry Blithe & Gay
Like to the Lion Sporting with his Prey
[He has] Take [thou] you the hide & horns which [he may/thou maist] you may wear
Mine is the flesh the bones may be [his/thy] your Share
[Mr CROMEK TO] Mr STOTHARD TO
MT CROMEK
For Fortunes favours you your riches bring
But Fortune says she gave you no such thing
Why should you be ungrateful to your friends
Sneaking & [Calumny] Backbiting & Odds & Ends
Mr CROMEK TO Mr STOTHARD
Fortune favours the Brave old Proverbs say
But not with Money. that is not the way
Turn back turn back you travel all in vain
Turn thro the iron gate down Sneaking lane
*
I am no Homers Hero you all know
I profess not Generosity to a Foe
My Generosity is to my Friends
That for their Friendship I may make amends.
The Generous to Enemies promotes their Ends
And becomes the Enemy & Betrayer of his Friends
*
The Angel that presided oer my birth
Said Little creature [thou art formd for] formd of Joy & Mirth
Go love without the help of any [Thing] King on Earth
FLORENTINE INGRATITUDE
Sir Joshua sent his own Portrait to
The birth Place of Michael Angelo
And in the hand of the simpering fool
He put a Dirty paper scroll
And on the paper to be polite
Did Sketches by Michael Angelo write
[They said Thus Learning & Politeness from England we fetch
(We thought Michael Angelo did never sketch)
For no good Artist Will or Can sketch
10 And tis English Politeness as fair as my Aunt
To (say) speak Michael Angelo & (mean) Act Rembrand
To Say Write Michael Angelo & mean Rembrandt]
The Florentines said Tis a Dutch English bore
Michael Angelos Name writ on Rembrandts door
The Florentines call it an English Fetch
For Michael Angelo did never Sketch
Every line of his has Meaning
And needs neither Suckling nor Weaning
20 [Is this Politeness or is it Cant]
Tis the trading English Venetian Cant
To speak Michael Angelo & Act Rembrandt
It will set his Dutch friends all in a roar
To write Mch Ang on Rembrandts Door
But You must not bring in your hand a Lie
If you mean [the Florentines to] that the Florentines should buy
Ghiottos Circle or Apelles Line
Were not the Work of Sketchers drunk with Wine
Nor of the City Clarks merry hearted Fashion
30 Nor of Sir Isaac Newtons Calculation
Nor of the City Clarks Idle Facilities
Which sprang from Sir Isaac Newtons great Abilities
These Verses were written by a very Envious Man
Who whatever likeness he may have to Michael Angelo
Never can have any to Sir Jehoshuan
A [PITIABLE] PITIFUL CASE
The Villain at the Gallows tree
When he is doomd to die
To assuage his misery
In Virtues praise does cry
So Reynolds when he came to die
To assuage his bitter woe:
Thus aloud [was heard to] did howl & cry
Michael Angelo Michael Angelo
TO THE ROYAL ACADEMY
A strange Erratum in all the Editions
Of Sir Joshua Reynoldss Lectures
Shou[l]d be corrected by the Young Gentlemen
And the Royal Academys Directors
Instead of Michael Angelo
Read Rembrandt [(&you will know] for it is fit
[That Sir Joshua never wishd to speak
Of Michael Angelo]
10 To make [either sense or] meer common honesty
In all that he has writ
*
If it is True What the Prophets write
That the heathen Gods are all stocks & stones
Shall we for the sake of being Polite
Feed them with the juice of our marrow bones
And if Bezaleel & Aholiab drew
What the Finger of God pointed to their View
Shall we suffer the Roman & Grecian Rods
To compell us to worship them as Gods
They stole them from the Temple of the Lord
10 And Worshippd them [to] that they might make Inspired
Art Abhorrd
The Wood & Stone were calld The Holy Things
And their Sublime Intent given to their Kings
All the Atonements of Jehovah spurnd
And Criminals to Sacrifices Turnd
[TO] ON F[LAXMAN] & S[TOTHARD]
I found [thee] them blind I taught [thee] how to see
And now [thou knowst] they know neither [thyself] themselves nor me
Tis Excellent to turn a thorn to a pin
A[Knave] Fool to a bolt a [Foo
l] Knave to a glass of gin
*
P[hillips] loved me, not as he lovd his Friends
For he lovd them for gain to serve his Ends
[But] He lovd me [but] and for no Gain at all
But to rejoice & triumph in my fall
*
To forgive Enemies H[ayley] does pretend
Who never in his Life forgave a friend
TO F[LAXMAN]
You call me Mad tis Folly to do so
To seek to turn a Madman to a Foe
If you think as you speak you are an Ass
If you do not you are [just] but what you was
ON H[AYLE]YS FRIENDSHIP
When H—y finds out what you cannot do
That is the very thing hell set you to
If you break not your Neck tis not his fault
[A peck of poisons] But pecks of poison are not pecks of salt
And when he could not act upon my wife
Hired a Villain to bereave my Life
*
Some Men created for destruction come
Into the World & make the World their home
[Friend Caiaphas is one do what he can]
Be they as Vile & Base as Eer they can
[Hell] Theyll still be called ‘Worlds’ honest man
ON S[TOTHARD]
You say reserve & modesty he has
[His] Whose heart is iron his head wood & his face brass
The Fox the Owl the Beetle & the Bat
[On] By sweet reserve & modesty [feed Fat] get Fat
IMITATION OF POPE A COMPLIMENT TO THE LADIES
Wondrous the Gods more wondrous are the Men
More Wondrous Wondrous still the Cock & Hen
More Wondrous still the Table Stool & Chair
But Ah I More wondrous still the Charming Fair
TO H[AYLEY]
Thy Friendship oft has made my heart to ake
Do be my Enemy for Friendships sake
*
Cosway Frazer & Baldwin of Egypts Lake
Fear to associate with Blake
This Life is a Warfare against Evils
They heal the sick he casts out devils
Hayley Flaxman & Stothard are also in doubt
Lest their Virtue should be put to the rout
One grins[one] tother spits & in corners hides
And all the [Righteous] Virtuous have shewn their backsides
AN EPITAPH
Come knock your heads against this stone
For sorrow that poor John Thompsons gone
ANOTHER
I was buried near this Dike
That my Friends may weep as much as they like
ANOTHER
Here lies John Trot the Friend of all mankind
He has not left one Enemy behind
Friends were quite hard to find old authors say
But now they stand in every bodies way
*
My title as an [Artist] Genius thus is provd