Page:Life of William Blake, Gilchrist.djvu/338

 In the unengraved drawing I have referred to, we have the Soul departing from the dying Narcissa, over whose lifeless form her lover, with lamenting, outstretched arms, is bending; the bright figure of Hope, with lighted lamp, beckons to the shades below, down the rocky stairs leading to which old and young are wending, as in the Blair design; the timid, hesitating girl, the strong man hurrying, age creeping, the tender mother (a very beautiful figure) leading her infant children. In the recesses of the tomb below, we again encounter emblematic, sorrowful deathbeds. On the hills, in the background above, are faintly seen the dim populations of the earth, all journeying to the same bourne. The principal figures are of exceeding grace and loveliness; as, in particular, the heavenly one of Hope, and that of the little girl who accompanies her youthful brothers, with reluctant step, with drooping head, and face hidden in her hand, shuddering and sad to exchange the fair daylight for the gloomy tomb—a figure which, for its expressive beauty, Raphael himself might have sketched.

About this date (1806) were also produced some designs to Shakespeare which were neither commissioned nor engraved. An account of them will be found in the Annotated Catalogue, Vol. II. Nos. 83-85. They are now, with a few from other hands, bound up in a quarto edition of Shakespeare, which was executed for the Rev. Ker Porter, who himself contributed one or two well-conceived designs; notably, that of Falstaff between the Merry Wives. There is also an early sample of Mulready's art, evidently showing the influence of Fuseli. But by far the most remarkable of the collection is the Ghost from Hamlet, by Blake, of which a print is here given. The Ghost has led Hamlet to the verge of the sea, far from the Castle; and, on the solitary moonlit sands, he has fallen on his knees in the act of swearing to obey his father's behest of vengeance on the perpetrators of his 'most foul, strange, and unnatural murder.' The volume is now in the possession of Mr. Alexander Macmillan.