Page:Biographical and critical studies by James Thomson ("B.V.").djvu/326

310 Christian Revelation. The beauty, chasteness, and clear polish of Shelley's mind, as well as his metaphysical irreligion, took him, naturally enough, to the philosophy and theology of the Greeks, where he could at once enjoy the loose dogma of an Impersonal Creator, and have liberty to distribute Personality at will to the beautiful unliving forms of the visible creation. We appeal to the 'Prometheus Unbound,' his consummating work, in proof of this assertion, The visionary tendencies and mysticism of Blake, developing themselves as they did, under the shelter of a religious parentage and education, carried him, on the contrary, to the mythic fountains of an elder time, and his genius, which was too expansive to dwell in classic formalisms, entered into and inhabited the Egyptian and Asiatic perversions of an ancient and true religion. In consequence of these allied deformities, the works of both are sadly deficient in vital heat, and in substantial or practical truth, and fail, therefore, to satisfy the common wants, or to appeal to the universal instincts of Humanity. Self-will in each was the centre of the individual, and self-intelligence the anima mundi of the philosopher, and they both imagined that they could chop and change the universe, even to the confounding of life with death, to suit their own creative fancies."

I shall have something to say in the sequel about this passage, which I have not cited as concurring with its judgments. Here I will but quote as a set-off, so far as regards Blake, a couple of preceding sentences:—

"They who would form a just estimate of Blake's powers as an artist have abundance of opportunities of doing so, from his exquisite illustrations to the 'Songs of Innocence,' from his designs to Blair's 'Grave,' Young's 'Night Thoughts,' and the 'Book of Job,' in all of which there are 'glorious shapes, expressing God-like sentiments.' These works, in the main, are