The Portable Blake

by William Blake

  If you approve of my Manner, & it is agreeable to you, I would rather Paint Pictures in oil of the same dimensions than make Drawings, & on the same terms; by this means you will have a number of Cabinet pictures, which I flatter myself will not be unworthy of a scholar of Rembrandt & Teniers, whom I have studied no less than Rafael & Michaelangelo. Please to send me your orders respecting this, & In my next Effort I promise more Expedition.

  I am, Revd. Sir,

  ‘Your very humble servt.

  WILLM. BLAKE.

  TO THE REVD. DR. TRUSLER

  13 Hercules Buildings,

  Lambeth,

  August 23, 1799.

  REVD. SIR,

  I really am sorry that you are fall’n out with the Spiritual World, Especially if I should have to answer for it. I feel very sorry that your Ideas & Mine on Moral Painting differ so much as to have made you angry with my method of study. If I am wrong, I am wrong in good company. I had hoped your plan comprehended All Species of this Art, & Expecially that you would not regret that Species which gives Existence to Every other, namely, Visions of Eternity. You say that I want somebody to Elucidate my Ideas. But you ought to know that What is Grand is necessarily obscure to Weak men. That which can be made Explicit to the Idiot is not worth my care. The wisest of the Ancients consider’d what is not too Explicit as the fittest for Instruction, be-causes it rouzes the faculties to act. I name Moses, Solomon, Esop, Homer, Plato.

  But as you have favor’d me with your remarks on my Design, permit me in return to defend it against a mistaken one, which is, That I have supposed Malevolence without a Cause. Is not Merit in one a Cause of Envy in another, & Serenity & Happiness & Beauty a Cause of Malevolence? But Want of Money & the Distress of A Thief can never be alleged as the Cause of his Thieving, for many honest people endure greater hardships with Fortitude. We must therefore seek the Cause elsewhere than in want of Money, for that is the Miser’s passion, not the Thief’s.

  I have therefore proved your Reasonings III proportion’ d, which you can never prove my figures to be; they are those of Michael Angelo, Rafael & the Antique, & of the best living Models. I percieve that your Eye is perveted by Caricature Prints, which ought not to abound so much as they do. Fun I love, but too much Fun is of all things the most loathsom. Mirth is better than Fun, & Happiness is better than Mirth. I feel that a Man may be happy in This World. And I know that This World Is a World of Imagination & Vision. I see Every thing I paint In This World, but Every body does not see alike. To the Eyes of a Miser a Guinea is far more beautiful than the Sun, & a bag worn with the use of Money has more beautiful proportions than a Vine filled with Grapes. The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the Eyes of others only a Green thing which stands in the way. Some see Nature all Ridicule & Deformity, & by these I shall not regulate my proportions; & some scarce see Nature at all. But to the Eyes of the Man of Imagination, Nature is Imagination itself. As a man is, so he sees. As the Eye is formed, such are its Powers. You certainly Mistake, when you say that the Visions of Fancy are not to be found in This World. To Me This World is all One continued Vision of Fancy or Imagination, & I feel Flatter’d when I am told so. What is it sets Homer, Virgil & Milton in so high a rank of Art? Why is the Bible more Entertaining & Instructive than any other book? Is it not because they are addressed to the Imagination, which is Spiritual Sensation, & but mediately to the Understanding or Reason? Such is True Painting, and such was alone valued by the Greeks & the best modem Artists. Consider what Lord Bacon says: “Sense sends over to Imagination before Reason have judged, & Reason sends over to Imagination before the Decree can be acted.” See Advancemt. of Learning, Part 2, P. 47 of first Edition.

  But I am happy to find a Great Majority of Fellow Mortals who can Elucidate My Visions, & Particularly they have been Elucidated by Children, who have taken a greater delight in contemplating my Pictures than I even hoped. Neither Youth nor Childhood is Folly or Incapacity. Some Children are Fools & so are some Old Men. But There is a vast Majority on the side of Imagination or Spiritual Sensation.

  To Engrave after another Painter is infinitely more laborious than to Engrave one’s own Inventions. And of the size you require my price has been Thirty Guineas, & I cannot afford to do it for less. I had Twelve for the Head I sent you as a specimen; but after my own designs I could do at least Six times the quantity of labour in the same time, which will account for the difference of price as also that Chalk Engraving is at least six times as laborious as Aqua tinta. I have no objection to Engraving after another Artist. Engraving is the profession I was apprenticed to, & should never have attempted to live by anything else, If orders had not come in for my Designs & Paintings, which I have the pleasure to tell you are Increasing Every Day. Thus If I am a Painter it is not to be attributed to seeking after. But I am contented whether I live by Painting or Engraving.

  I am, Revd. Sir, your very obedient servant,

  WILLIAM BLAKE.

  TO GEORGE CUMBERLAND

  Hercules Buildings,

  Lambeth,

  Augst. 26, 1799.

  DEAR CUMBERLAND,

  I ought long ago to have written to you to thank you for your kind recommendation to Dr. Trusler, which, tho’ it has fail’d of success, is not the less to be remember’ d by me with Gratitude.

  I have made him a Drawing in my best manner; he has sent it back with a Letter full of Criticisms, in which he says It accords not with his Intentions, which are to Reject all Fancy from his Work. How far he Expects to please, I cannot tell. But as I cannot paint Dirty rags & old shoes where I ought to place Naked Beauty or simple ornament, I despair of Ever pleasing one Class of Men. Unfortunately our authors of books are among this Class; how soon we shall have a change for the better I cannot Prophecy. Dr. Trusler says: “Your Fancy, from what I have seen of it, & I have seen variety at Mr. Cumberland’s, seems to be in the other world, or the World of Spirits, which accords not with my Intentions, which, whilst living in This World, Wish to follow the Nature of it.” I could not help smiling at the difference between the doctrines of Dr. Trusler & those of Christ. But, however, for his own sake I am sorry that a Man should be so enamour’d of Rowlandson’s caricatures as to call them copies from life & manners, or fit Things for a Clergyman to write upon.

  Pray let me intreat you to persevere in your Designing; it is the only source of Pleasure. All your other pleasures depend upon It. It is the Tree; your Pleasures are the Fruit. Your Inventions of Intellectual Visions are the Stamina of every thing you value. Go on, if not for your own sake, yet for ours, who love & admire your works; but, above all, For the Sake of the Arts. Do not throw aside for any long time the honour intended you by Nature to revive the Greek workmanship. I study your outlines as usual, just as if they were antiques.

  As to Myself, about whom you are so kindly Interested, I live by Miracle. I am Painting small Pictures from the Bible. For as to Engraving, in which art I cannot reproach myself with any neglect, yet I am laid by in a comer as if I did not Exist, & since my Young’s Night Thoughts have been publish’d, Even Johnson & Fuseli have discarded my Graver. But as I know that he who Works & has his health cannot starve, I laugh at Fortune & Go on & on. I think I foresee better Things than I have ever seen. My Work pleases my employer, & I have an order for Fifty small Pictures at one Guinea each, which is something better than mere copying after another artist. But above all, I feel myself happy & contented let what will come; having passed now near twenty years in ups & downs, I am used to them, & perhaps a little practise in them may turn out to benefit. It is now Exactly Twenty years since I was upon the ocean of business, & tho’ [I] laugh at Fortune, I am perswaded that She Alone is the Governor of Worldly Riches, & when it is Fit she will call on me; till then I wait with Patience, in hopes that She is busied among my Friends.

  With Mine & My Wife’s best compliments to Mrs. Cumberland, I remain,

  Yours sincerely,

  WILLM. BLAKE.

  TO WILLIAM HAYLEY
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  Lambeth,

  May 6, 1800.

  DEAR SIR,

  I am very sorry for your immense loss, which is a repetition of what all feel in this valley of misery and happiness mixed. I send the shadow of the departed angel, and hope the likeness is improved. The lips I have again lessened as you advise, and done a good many other softenings to the whole. I know that our deceased friends are more really with us than when they were apparent to our mortal part. Thirteen years ago I lost a brother, and with his spirit I converse daily and hourly in the spirit, and see him in my remembrance, in the regions of my imagination. I hear his advice, and even now write from his dictate. Forgive me for expressing to you my enthusiasm, which I wish all to partake of, since it is to me a source of immortal joy, even in this world. By it I am the companion of angels. May you continue to be so more and more; and to be more and more persuaded that every mortal loss is an immortal gain. The ruins of Time build mansions in Eternity.

  I have also sent a proof of Pericles for your remarks, thanking you for the kindness with which you express them, and feeling heartily your grief with a brother’s sympathy.

  I remain,

  Dear Sir,

  Your humble servant,

  WILLIAM BLAKE.

  TO GEORGE CUMBERLAND

  13, Hercules Buildings, Lambeth.

  2, July, 1800.

  DEAR CUMBERLAND,

  I have to congratulate you on your plan for a National Gallery being put into Execution. All your wishes shall in due time be fulfilled; the immense flood of Grecian light & glory which is coming on Europe will more than realize our warmest wishes. Your honours will be unbounded when your plan shall be carried into Execution as it must be if England continues a Nation. I hear that it is now in the hands of Ministers, That the King shews it great Countenance & Encouragement, that it will soon be before Parliament, & that it must be extended & enlarged to take in Originals both of Painting & Sculpture by considering every valuable original that is brought into England or can be purchased Abroad as its objects of Acquisition. Such is the Plan as I am told & such must be the plan if England wishes to continue at all worth notice; as you have yourself observ’d only now, we must possess Originals as well as France or be Nothing.

  Excuse, I intreat you, my not returning Thanks at the proper moment for your kind present. No perswasion could make my stupid head believe that it was proper for me to trouble you with a letter of meer compliment & Expression of thanks. I begin to Emerge from a deep pit of Melancholy, Melancholy without any real reason for it, a Disease which God keep you from & all good men. Our artists of all ranks praise your outlines & wish for more. Flaxman is very warm in your commendation & more and more of A Grecian. Mr. Hayley has lately mentioned your work on outline in Notes to an Essay on Sculpture in Six Epistles to John Flaxman. I have been too little among friends which I fear they will not Excuse & I know not how to apologize for. Poor Fuseli, sore from the lash of Envious tongues, praises you & dispraises with the same breath; he is not naturally good natured, but he is artificially very ill natured, yet even from him I learn the Estimation you are held in among artists & connoisseurs.

  I am still Employ’d in making Designs & little Pictures with now & then an Engraving & find that in future to live will not be so difficult as it has been. It is very Extraordinary that London in so few years from a city of meer Necessaries or at l[e]ast a commerce of the lowest order of luxuries should have become a City of Elegance in some degree & that its once stupid inhabitants should enter into an Emulation of Grecian manners. There are now, I believe, as many Booksellers as there are Butchers & as many Printshops as of any other trade. We remember when a Print shop was a rare bird in London & I myself remember when I thought my pursuits of Art a kind of criminal dissipation & neglect of the main chance, which I hid my face for not being able to abandon as a Passion which is forbidden by Law & Religion, but now it appears to be Law & Gospel too, at least I hear so from the few friends I have dared to visit in my stupid Melancholy. Excuse this communication of sentiments which I felt necessary to my repose at this time. I feel very strongly that I neglect my Duty to my Friends but It is not want of Gratitude or Friendship but perhaps an Excess of both.

  Let me hear of your welfare. Remember My & My Wife’s Respectful Compliments to Mrs. Cumberland & Family

  & believe me to be for Ever

  Yours

  WILLIAM BLAKE.

  TO JOHN FLAXMAN

  MY DEAREST FRIEND,

  It is to you I owe All my present Happiness. It is to you I owe perhaps the Principal Happiness of my life. I have presum’d on your friendship in staying so long away & not calling to know of your welfare, but hope now every thing is nearly completed for our removal to Felpham, that I shall see you on Sunday, as we have appointed Sunday afternoon to call on Mrs. Flaxman at Hampstead. I send you a few lines, which I hope you will Excuse. And As the time is arriv’d when Men shall again converse in Heaven & walk with Angels, I know you will be pleased with the Intention, & hope you will forgive the Poetry.

  To My Dearest Friend, John Flaxman, these lines:

  I bless thee, O Father of Heaven & Earth, that ever I saw Flaxman’s face.

  Angels stand round my Spirit in Heaven, the blessed of Heaven are my friends upon Earth.

  When Flaxman was taken to Italy, Fuseli was given to me for a season,

  And now Flaxman hath given me Hayley his friend to be mine, such my lot upon Earth.

  Now my lot in the Heavens is this, Milton lov’d me in childhood & shew’d me his face.

  Ezra came with Isaiah the Prophet, but Shakespeare in riper years gave me his hand;

  Paracelsus & Behmen appear’d to me, terrors appear’d in the Heavens above

  And in Hell beneath, & a mighty & awful change threatened the Earth.

  The American War began. All its dark horrors passed before my face

  Across the Atlantic to France. Then the French Revolution commenc’d in thick clouds,

  And My Angels have told me that seeing such visions I could not subsist on the Earth,

  But by my conjunction with Flaxman, who knows to forgive Nervous Fear.

  I remain, for Ever Yours, WILLIAM BLAKE.

  Be so kind as to Read & then seal the Inclosed & send it on its much beloved Mission.

  TO MRS. FLAXMAN1

  H B, Lambeth,

  14 Septr. 1800.

  MY DEAREST FRIEND,

  I hope you will not think we could forget your Services to us, or any way neglect to love & remember with affection even the hem of your garment; we indeed presume on your kindness in neglecting to have call’d on you since my Husband’s first return from Felpham. We have been incessantly busy in our great removal; but can never think of going without first paying our proper duty to you & Mr. Flaxman. We intend to call on Sunday afternoon in Hampstead, to take farewell, All things being now nearly completed for our setting forth on Tuesday Morning; it is only Sixty Miles, & Lambeth was One Hundred, for the terrible desart of London was between. My husband has been obliged to finish several things necessary to be finished before our migration; the Swallows call us, fleeting past our window at this moment, O how we delight in talking of the pleasure we shall have in preparing you a summer bower at Felpham, & we not only talk, but behold! the Angels of our journey have inspired a song to you:To My Dear Friend, Mrs. Anna Flaxman.

  This Song to the flower of Flaxman’s joy,

  To the blossom of hope, for a sweet decoy:

  Do all that you can or all that you may,

  To entice him to Felpham & far away:

  Away to Sweet Felpham, for Heaven is there;

  The Ladder of Angels descends thro’ the air;

  On the Turret its spiral does softly descend,

  Thro’ the village then winds, at My Cot it does end.

  You stand in the village & look up to heaven;

  The precious stones glitter on flights seventy seven;

  And My Brother is there, & My Friend & Th
ine

  Descend & ascend with the Bread & the Wine.

  The Bread of sweet Thought & the Wine of Delight

  Feeds the Village of Felpham by day & by night;

  And at his own door the bless’d Hermit does stand,

  Dispensing, Unceasing, to all the whole Land.

  W. BLAKE.

  Recieve my & my husband’s love & affection, & believe me to be Yours affectionately,

  Catherine BLAKE.

  TO JOHN FLAXMAN

  Felpham,

  Septr. 21, 1800, Sunday Morning.

  DEAR SCULPTOR OF ETERNITY,

  We are safe arrived at our Cottage, which is more beautiful than I thought it, & more convenient. It is a perfect Model for Cottages &, I think, for Palaces of Magnificence, only Enlarging, not altering its proportions, & adding ornaments & not principals. Nothing can be more Grand than its Simplicity & Usefulness. Simple without Intricacy, it seems to be the Spontaneous Effusion of Humanity, congenial to the wants of Man. No other formed House can ever please me so well; nor shall I ever be perswaded, I believe, that it can be improved either in Beauty or Use.

  Mr. Hayley recieved us with his usual brotherly affection. I have begun to work. Felpham is a sweet place for Study, because it is more Spiritual than London. Heaven opens here on all sides her golden Gates; her windows are not obstructed by vapours; voices of Celestial inhabitants are more distinctly heard, & their forms more distinctly seen; & my Cottage is also a Shadow of their houses. My Wife & Sister are both well, courting Neptune for an embrace.