Page:Life of William Blake, Gilchrist.djvu/313

 Stothard in 1802. Such coincidences naturally happen to all painters of history and poetry. According to Stothard, Blake praised his picture, and expressed much pleasure at seeing it. Stothard, on his side, talked of introducing Blake (a good subject, by the way) into the Procession, 'as a mark of esteem for him and his works.' From these he candidly confessed to have long derived pleasure and profit.

When Blake came to know how the case really stood, his indignation was vehement against Cromek, at whom his grudge was yet fresh for having robbed him of the engraving his designs to Blair. Indignation, too, he long cherished towards Stothard, whom he took to have been privy to Cromek's previous dealings with himself for his design from Chaucer. My own induction, from all the evidence, coincides with Flaxman's opinion, viz., that Stothard's act was not a wilful one, in being made a party to an engraving of a picture by himself, on a subject previously taken by Blake. Certain it is, indeed, that the general composition of his Procession has a suspicious resemblance to Blake's. This, however, may be due to hints given by the unscrupulous go-between.

By May 1807 Stothard's 'Cabinet Picture' was publicly exhibited; and, what with its own merits and novelty, and what with Cromek's judicious puffing, drew several thousand gazers and admirers. Hoppner, at the end of May, wrote an encomiastic descriptive 'Letter' to Cumberland, printed in Prince Hoare's Artist, and turned to good account in Cromek's Prospectus for the engraving. Connoisseur, picture-dealing Carey,—afterwards as 'Ridolfi,' Etty's panegyrist,—always too happy to get his verbiage set up in type free of cost, penned a still longer Critical Description the following year, which wily Cromek had well circulated, as a bait to subscribers.

During this May was scribbled a letter from Cromek to Blake, bearing incidentally on this matter, but mainly on the designs to The Grave, and the differences which had arisen between the two. The letter sets forcibly before us Blake's