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ED; E723| 24
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[To] Mr Butts, Great Marlborough Street,
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Oxford Street, London
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Felpham Jan/y 10. 180[3] t1533
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Dear Sir
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Your very kind & affectionate Letter & the many kind things
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you have said in it: calld upon me for an immediate answer. but
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it found My Wife & Myself so Ill & My wife so very ill that till
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now I have not been able to do this duty. The Ague & Rheumatism
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have been almost her constant Enemies which she has combated in
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vain ever since we have been here, & her sickness is always my
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sorrow of course But what you tell me about your sight afflicted
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me not a little; & that about your health in another part of your
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letter makes me intreat you to take due care of both it is a part
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of our duty to God & man to take due care of his Gifts & tho we
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ought not think more highly of ourselves, yet we ought
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to think As highly of ourselves as immortals ought to
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think
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When I came down here I was more sanguine than I am at
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present but it was because I was ignorant of many things which
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have since occurred & chiefly the unhealthiness of the place Yet
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I do not repent of coming, on a thousand accounts. & Mr
H I
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doubt not will do ultimately all that both he & I wish that is to
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lift me out of difficulty. but this is no easy matter to a man
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who having Spiritual Enemies of such formidable magnitude cannot
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expect to want natural hidden ones
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Your approbation of my pictures is a Multitude to Me & I
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doubt not that all your kind wishes in my behalf shall in due
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time be fulfilled. Your kind offer of pecuniary assistance I can
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only thank you for at present because I have enough to serve my
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present purpose here. our expenses are small & or income from
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our incessant labour fully adequate to [it] them at
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present. I am now engaged in Engraving 6 small plates for a New
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Edition of Mr Hayleys Triumphs of Temper. from drawings by Maria
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Flaxman sister to my friend the Sculptor and it seems that other
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things will follow in course if I do but Copy these well. but
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Patience! if Great things do not turn out it is because
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such things depend [xxxx] on the Spiritual & not on the
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Natural World & if it was fit for me I doubt not that I should be
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Employd in Greater things & when it is proper my Talents shall be
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properly exercised in Public. as I hope they are now in private.
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for till then. I leave no stone unturnd & no path unexplord that
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tends to improvement in my beloved Arts. One thing of real
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consequence I have accomplishd by coming into the country. which
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is to me consolation enough, namely. I have recollected all my
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scatterd thoughts on Art & resumed my primitive & original ways
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of Execution in both painting & Engraving. which in the confusion
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of London I had very much lost & obliterated from my mind. But
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whatever becomes of my labours I would rather that they should be
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preservd in your Green House (not as you mistakenly call it dung
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hill). than in the cold
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gallery of fashion.--The Sun may yet shine & then they will be
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brought into open air.
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But you have so generously & openly desired that I will
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divide my griefs with you that I cannot hide what it is now
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become my duty to explain--My unhappiness has arisen from a
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source which if explord too narrowly might hurt my pecuniary
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circumstances. As my dependence is on Engraving at present &
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particularly on the Engravings I have in hand for Mr H. &
I find
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on all hands great objections to my doing any thing but the meer
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drudgery of business & intimations that if I do not confine
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myself to this I shall not live. this has always pursud me. You
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will understand by this the source of all my uneasiness This from
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Johnson & Fuseli brought me down here & this from Mr
H will
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bring me back again for that I cannot live without doing my duty
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to lay up treasures in heaven is Certain & Determined & to this
I
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have long made up my mind & why this should be made an objection
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to Me while Drunkenness Lewdness Gluttony & even Idleness itself
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does not hurt other men let Satan himself Explain--The Thing I
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have most at Heart! more than life or all that seems to make life
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comfortable without. Is the Interest of True Religion & Science
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& whenever any thing appears to affect that Interest. (Especially
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if I myself omit any duty to my [self] <Station> as a
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Soldier of Christ) It gives me the greatest of torments, I am not
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ashamed afraid or averse to tell You what Ought to be Told. That
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I am under the direction of Messengers from Heaven Daily &
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Nightly but the nature of such things is not as some suppose.
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without trouble or care. Temptations are on the right hand &
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left behind the sea of time & space roars & follows swiftly he
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who keeps not right onward is lost & if our footsteps slide in
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clay how can we do otherwise than fear & tremble. but I should
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not have troubled You with this account of my spiritual state
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unless it had been necessary in explaining the actual cause of my
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uneasiness into which you are so kind as to Enquire for I never
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obtrude such things on others unless questiond & then I never
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disguise the truth--But if we fear to do the dictates of our
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Angels & tremble at the Tasks set before us. if we refuse to do
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Spiritual Acts. because of Natural Fears or Natural Desires! Who
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can describe the dismal torments of such a state!--I too well
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remember the Threats I heard!--If you who are organized by Divine
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Providence for Spiritual communion. Refuse & bury your Talent in
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the Earth even tho you should want Natural Bread. Sorrow &
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Desperation
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pursues you thro life! & after death shame & confusion of face
to
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eternity--Every one in Eternity will leave you aghast at the Man
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who was crownd with glory & honour by his brethren & betrayd
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their cause to their enemies. You will be calld the base Judas
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who betrayd his Friend!--Such words would make any Stout man
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tremble & how then could I be at ease? But I am now no longer in
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That State & now go on again with my Task Fearless. and tho my
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path is difficult. I have no fear of stumbling while I keep it
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My wife desires her kindest Love to Mrs Butts & I have
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permitted her to send it to you also. we often wish that we could
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unite again in Society & hope that the time is not distant when
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we shall do so. being determind not to remain another winter
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here but to return to London
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I hear a voice you cannot hear that says I must not stay t1534
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I see a hand you cannot see that beckons me away
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Naked we came here naked of Natural things & naked we shall
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return. but while clothd with the Divine Mercy we are richly
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clothd in Spiritual & suffer all the rest gladly Pray give my
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Love to Mrs Butts & your family I am Yours Sincerely
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WILLIAM BLAKE
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P.S. Your Obliging proposal of Exhibiting my two Pictures
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likewise calls for my thanks I will finish the other & then we
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shall judge of the matter with certainty
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