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ED; E716| 19
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[To] Mr Butts, Great Marlborough Street, London
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September 11. 1801 [See below]
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My Dear Sir
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I hope you will continue to excuse my want of steady
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perseverance by which want I am still so much your debtor & you
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so much my Credit-er but such as I can be I will: I can be
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grateful & I can soon Send you some of your designs which I have
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nearly completed. In the mean time by my Sisters hands I
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transmit to Mrs Butts an attempt [to] at your likeness
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which I hope She who is the best judge will think like[.] Time
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flies faster, (as seems to me), here than in London I labour
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incessantly & accomplish not one half of what I intend because my
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Abstract folly hurries me often away while I am at work, carrying
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me over Mountains & Valleys which are not Real in a Land of
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Abstraction where Spectres of the Dead wander. This I endeavour
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to prevent & with my whole might chain my feet to the world of
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Duty & Reality. but in vain! the faster I bind the better is the
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Ballast for I so far from being bound down take the world with me
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in my flights & often it seems lighter than a ball of wool rolled
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by the wind Bacon & Newton would prescribe ways of making the
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world heavier to me & Pitt would prescribe distress for a
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medicinal potion. but as none on Earth can give me Mental
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Distress, & I know that all Distress inflicted by Heaven is a
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Mercy. a Fig for all Corporeal Such Distress is My mock & scorn.
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Alas wretched happy ineffectual labourer of times moments that I
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am! who shall deliver me from this Spirit of Abstraction &
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Improvidence. Such my Dear Sir Is the truth of my state. & I
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tell it you in palliation of my seeming neglect of your most
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pleasant orders. but I have not neglected them & yet a Year is
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rolled over & only now I approach the prospect of sending you
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some which you may expect soon. I should have sent them by My
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Sister but as the Coach goes three times a week to London & they
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[shall] will arrive as safe as with her. I shall have
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an opportunity of inclosing several together which are not yet
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completed. I thank you again & again for your generous
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forbearance of which I have need--& now I must express my wishes
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to see you at Felpham & to shew you Mr Hayleys Library.
which is
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still unfinishd but is in a finishing way & looks well. I ought
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also to mention my Extreme disappointment at Mr Johnsons
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forgetfulness, who appointed to call on you but did Not. He is
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also a happy Abstract known by all his Friends as the most
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innocent forgetter of his own Interests. He is nephew to <the
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late> Mr Cowper the Poet you would like him much I continue
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painting Miniatures & Improve more & more as all my friends tell
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me. but my Principal labour at this time is Engraving Plates for
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Cowpers Life a Work of Magnitude which Mr Hayley is now
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Labouring with all his matchless industry & which will be a most
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valuable acquisition to Literature not only on account of Mr
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Hayleys composition but also as it will contain Letters of Cowper
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to his friends Perhaps or rather Certainly the very best letters
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that ever were published
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My wife joins with me in Love to You & Mrs Butts hoping
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that her joy is now increased & yours also in an increase of
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family & of health & happiness
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I remain Dear Sir
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Ever Yours Sincerely
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WILLIAM BLAKE--
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Felpham Cottage
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of Cottages the prettiest
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September 11. 1801
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Next time I have the happiness to see you I am determined to
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paint another Portrait of you from Life in my best manner for
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Memory will not do in such minute operations. for I have now
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discoverd that without Nature before the painters Eye he can
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never produce any thing in the walks of Natural Painting
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Historical Designing is one thing & Portrait Painting another &
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they are as Distinct as any two Arts can be Happy would that Man
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be who could unite them
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P.S. Please to Remember our best respects to Mr Birch
&
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tell him that Felpham Men are the mildest of the human race if it
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is the will of Providence they shall be the wisest We hope that
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he will next Summer joke us face to face--God bless you all
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