Page:The poetical works of William Blake; a new and verbatim text from the manuscript engraved and letterpress originals (1905).djvu/169

Rh The Garden of Love I went to the Garden of Love, i And saw what I never had seen : A Chapel was built in the midst, Where I used to play on the green. And the gates of this Chapel were shut, 5 And ' Thou shalt not ' writ over the door ; So I turn'd to the Garden of Love That so many sweet flowers bore ; And I saw it was filled with graves, 9 And tomb-stones where flowers should be : And Priests in black gowns were walking their rounds, And binding with briars my joys & desires. Engraved on a single plate from the fair transcript on the first page (p. 115 reversed) of the MS. Book. Without title in the MS. DGR followed by WMR and EY prefix as the first two stanzas of this poem the lines beginning — ' I laid me down upon a bank Where Love lay sleeping. . .' There is no authority for this in the engraved version, and Rossetti was evidently misled by the immediate juxtaposition of these two songs in the MS. Book, where however they are clearly divided by Blake's usual line of separation. Swinburne {Essay^ p. 141) falls into the same error. And saw] And I saw MS. Book. 5 this] the R^. were] was Wilk. 7 So] And MS. Book 15^ rdg. del. 9 filled] filled MS. Book and orig, ; all edd. read 'filled' ( = fiird in all except Wilk. and Shep.). II in] with R^. 12 binding] choking R'. This is another of the poems translated by Dr. Julius in the Vater- Idndisches Museum, II. i. (1806) : — ' Ich ging einst zum Garten der Liebe, Und sah, was ich nimmer gesehn. Am Rasen stand eine Capelle, Wo sonst ich pflog spielend zu gehn. ' Und zu war die Thur der Capelle, Und "du sollst nicht" stand auf dem Thor, So kehrt' ich zum Garten der Liebe, Der Blumen sonst brachte hervor. ' Und ich sah ihn mit Grabern gefQllet, Und Grabstein', wo Liebe sollt' sein ; Und Priester in Trau'r umgingen die Mau'r, Und senktcn in Schmerz mein licbendes Herz.