Page:The poetical works of William Blake; a new and verbatim text from the manuscript engraved and letterpress originals (1905).djvu/31

Rh of William John Blake, of Southampton, claiming to be second cousins of the poet, Blake's descent is traced to the Somersetshire family with which the Commonwealth Admiral was connected. Without attempting the difficult task of reconciling these rival claims, it may be pointed out that Blake's father was certainly a Protestant, and that the poet, who in one instance describes himself as 'English Blake,' nowhere claims Irish descent. Messrs. Ellis and Yeats interpret the mysterious reference to Hayley's having 'hired a villain to bereave my life,' in the sense of his having conspired with Flaxman to deprive Blake of his means of livelihood, and identify the hired villain with Hunt, the author of the article in the Examiner. I refer elsewhere to these editors' interpretation of Blake's mystical writings.

12. Biographies of Blake derived from the above sources, but of interest as embodying personal appreciations of Blake's work, will be found in Alfred T. Storey's William Blake, his Life, Character, and Genius, 1893, in Richard Garnett's monograph in the Portfolio, 1895, and in the introductions of W. M. Rossetti, Laurence Housman and W. B. Yeats to their editions of the poems. In pure aesthetic criticism D. G. Rossetti's prefatory notes to the 'Selections' printed in Gilchrist, James Thompson's Essay, and Swinburne's masterpiece hold the first place. Henry G. Hewlett's curious essay in depreciation, entitled 'Imperfect Genius' (Contemporary Review, vol. 28), should also be noticed. An elaborate attempt to expound Blake's symbolic system in detail is contained in Ellis and Yeats' edition of the Works, and, more concisely stated, in Maclagan and Russell's Introduction to their reprint of Jerusalem, 1905.

The following is a list of the editions quoted in the footnotes. I refer to those only where use has been made of the original printed and manuscript sources, and where the