Page:Life of William Blake, Gilchrist.djvu/376

 picture in the Society's Great Room at the Adelphi,—'he lived on bread and apples.'

'O! Society for the Encouragement of Art! King and Nobility of England, where have you hid Fuseli's Milton? Is Satan troubled at his exposure?' alluding to Fuseli's Satan building the Bridge. At the words in Reynolds' Dedication to the King—'royal liberality,' he exclaims, 'Liberality! we want no liberality! we want a fair price and proportionate value, and a general demand for Art. Let not that nation where less than nobility is the "reward" pretend that Art is encouraged by that nation. Art is first in intellect, and ought to be first in nations.'

At page 120 Blake tells the following anecdote, bearing on orator Burke's vaunted patronage of Barry: 'Barry painted a picture for Burke equal to Raphael or Michael Angelo, or any of the Italians (!), Burke used to show this picture to his friends, and to say, "I gave twenty guineas for this horrible daub, and if any one would give me * * "' The remainder of the sentence has been cut off by the binder, but may easily be guessed,—'Such was Burke's patronage of Art and Science.' A little further on Blake declares 'the neglect of Fuseli's Milton, in a country pretending to the encouragement of Art, is a sufficient apology for my vigorous indignation: if, indeed, the neglect of my own powers had not been. Ought not the employers of fools to be execrated in future ages? They will and SHALL! Foolish men! your own real greatness depends on the encouragement of the Arts; and your fall will depend on their neglect and depression. What you fear is your own interest. Leo the Tenth was advised not to encourage the Arts. He was too wise to take this advice. The rich men of England form themselves into a Society' (alluding to the British Institution, founded in 1805), 'a Society to sell, and not to buy, pictures. The artist who does not throw his contempt on such trading Exhibitions does not know either his own interest or his own duty—