Page:The poetical works of William Blake; a new and verbatim text from the manuscript engraved and letterpress originals (1905).djvu/27

Rh rather than in the manner of its delivery, that their chief worth lies. As little as S. Paul's Epistle to the Romans can they be regarded as the practice of literature for its own sake. The value of Blake's letters to Butts, obviously written to a friend to whom he could speak without fear of misconception, is enhanced by the fact that they belong to the period when he conceived and in part produced his great works Milton and Jerusalem.

Most of the epigrams in the MS. Book illustrate Blake's relations with his friends and patrons; while certain of them (as perhaps cxiv) throw light upon his private life, of which almost nothing is known.

2. A short but valuable account of Blake's early life and literary and artistic predilections is given by Malkin in his Father's Memoirs of His Child, in an introductory letter to Thomas Johnes, of Hafod, dated January 4, 1806. This was written when Blake was forty-nine years of age, and Doctor Malkin, for whose book Blake designed the frontispiece, twelve years his junior. The facts there given were evidently derived from the poet himself.

3. Hunt's Examiner for Sunday, September 17, 1809, contains a critique of 'Mr. Blake's Exhibition,' impugning the artist's sanity in offensive terms. This attack is indignantly referred to by Blake in several of the epigrams written in the Rossetti MS.

4. John Linnell, portrait and landscape painter, was introduced to Blake by Mr. George Cumberland, of Bristol, in 1818 (not 1813 as stated by Gilchrist), and thenceforward remained Blake's steadfast friend and supporter. To his assistance we owe the great work of Blake's old age, his 'Inventions to the Book of Job,' designs which had been executed for Butts, but were only engraved at the instance of his friend. Mr. Linnell left certain memoranda referring to the poet, while among other entries in his private journal are notes of several transactions made on Blake's behalf. These documents are now in the possession of Mr. John Linnell, junior.