Page:Nollekens and His Times, Volume 2.djvu/494

482 observations, he delivered the following:—"You certainly possess my system of colouring; and I now wish you to draw my person, which has hitherto been untruly delineated."

I must own that, until I was favoured by Mr. Upcott with a sight of some, of Blake's works, several of which I had never seen, I was not so fully aware of his great depth of knowledge in colouring. Of these most interesting specimens of his art, which are now extremely rare, and rendered invaluable by his death, as it is impossible for any one to colour them with his mind, should the plates remain, Mr. Richard Thomson, another truly kind friend, has favoured me with the following descriptive lists.

. The author and printer, W. Blake. Small octavo; seventeen plates, including the title-page. Frontispiece, a winged infant mounted on the shoulders of a youth. On the title-page, two figures weeping over two crosses

Introduction. Four Stanzas on a cloud, with a night-sky behind, and beneath, a figure of Earth stretched on a mantle.

Earth's Answer, Five Stanzas. A serpent on the ground beneath.

The Clod and the Pebble. Three Stanzas. Above, a head-piece of four sheep and two oxen; beneath, a duck and reptiles.

A Poison Tree. Four Stanzas. The tree stretcher up the right side of the page; and beneath, a dead body killed by its influence.