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EDL25.1JBlake1'03; E725| [To James Blake]
L25.1JBlake1'03; E725| Felpham Jan/y 30--1803.
L25.1JBlake1'03; E725| Dear Brother
L25.1JBlake1'03; E725| Your Letter mentioning Mr Butts's account of my Ague
L25.1JBlake1'03; E725| surprized me because I have no Ague but have had a Cold this
L25.1JBlake1'03; E725| Winter. You know that it is my way to make the best of every
L25.1JBlake1'03; E725| thing. I never make myself nor my friends uneasy if I can help
L25.1JBlake1'03; E725| it. My Wife has had Agues & Rheumatisms almost ever since she
L25.1JBlake1'03; E725| has been here, but our time is almost out that we took the
L25.1JBlake1'03; E725| Cottage for. I did not mention our Sickness to you & should not
L25.1JBlake1'03; E725| to Mr Butts but for a determination which we have lately made
L25.1JBlake1'03; E725| namely To leave This Place--because I am now certain of what I
L25.1JBlake1'03; E725| have long doubted Viz [that H] is jealous as Stothard
L25.1JBlake1'03; E725| was & will be no further My friend than he is compelld by
L25.1JBlake1'03; E725| circumstances. The truth is As a Poet he is frightend at me & as
L25.1JBlake1'03; E725| a Painter his views & mine are opposite he thinks to turn me into
L25.1JBlake1'03; E725| a Portrait Painter as he did Poor Romney, but this he nor all the
L25.1JBlake1'03; E725| devils in hell will never do. I must own that seeing H. like S
L25.1JBlake1'03; E725| Envious (& that he is I am now certain) made me very uneasy, but
L25.1JBlake1'03; E725| it is over & I now defy the worst & fear not while I am true to
L25.1JBlake1'03; E725| myself which I will be. This is the uneasiness I spoke of to Mr
L25.1JBlake1'03; E725| Butts but
L25.1JBlake1'03; E726| I did not tell him so plain & wish you to keep it a secret & to
L25.1JBlake1'03; E726| burn this letter because it speaks so plain I told Mr Butts that
L25.1JBlake1'03; E726| I did not wish to Explore too much the cause of our determination
L25.1JBlake1'03; E726| to leave Felpham because of pecuniary connexions between H &
L25.1JBlake1'03; E726| me--Be not then uneasy on any account & tell my Sister not to be
L25.1JBlake1'03; E726| uneasy for I am fully Employd & Well Paid I have made it so much
L25.1JBlake1'03; E726| H's interest to employ me that he can no longer treat me with
L25.1JBlake1'03; E726| indifference & now it is in my power to stay or return or remove
L25.1JBlake1'03; E726| to any other place that I choose, because I am getting before
L25.1JBlake1'03; E726| hand in money matters The Profits arising from Publications are
L25.1JBlake1'03; E726| immense & I now have it in my power to commence publication with
L25.1JBlake1'03; E726| many very formidable works, which I have finishd & ready A Book
L25.1JBlake1'03; E726| price half a guinea may be got out at the Expense of Ten pounds &
L25.1JBlake1'03; E726| its almost certain profits are 500 G. I am only sorry that I did
L25.1JBlake1'03; E726| not know the methods of publishing years ago & this is one of the
L25.1JBlake1'03; E726| numerous benefits I have obtaind by coming here for I should
L25.1JBlake1'03; E726| never have known the nature of Publication unless I had known H &
L25.1JBlake1'03; E726| his connexions & his method of managing. It now <would> be folly
L25.1JBlake1'03; E726| not to venture publishing. I am now Engraving Six little plates
L25.1JBlake1'03; E726| for a little work of Mr H's for which I a to have 10 G<uineas>
L25.1JBlake1'03; E726| each & the certain profits of that work are a fortune such as
L25.1JBlake1'03; E726| would make me independent supposing that I could substantiate
L25.1JBlake1'03; E726| such a one of my own & I mean to try many But I again say as I
L25.1JBlake1'03; E726| said before We are very Happy sitting at tea by a wood fire in
L25.1JBlake1'03; E726| our Cottage the wind singing above our roof & the sea roaring at
L25.1JBlake1'03; E726| a distance but if sickness comes all is unpleasant
L25.2JBlake1'03; E726| But my letter to Mr Butts appears to me not to be so
L25.2JBlake1'03; E726| explicit as that to you for I told you that I should come to
L25.2JBlake1'03; E726| London in the Spring to commence Publisher & he <has> offerd me
L25.2JBlake1'03; E726| every assistance in his power <without knowing my intention>.
L25.2JBlake1'03; E726| But since I wrote yours we had made the resolution of which we
L25.2JBlake1'03; E726| informd him viz to leave Felpham entirely. I also told you what
L25.2JBlake1'03; E726| I was about & that I was not ignorant of what was doing in London
L25.2JBlake1'03; E726| in works of art. But I did not mention Illness because I hoped
L25.2JBlake1'03; E726| to get better (for I was really very ill when I wrote to him the
L25.2JBlake1'03; E726| last time) & was not then perswaded as I am now that the air tho
L25.2JBlake1'03; E726| warm is unhealthy
L25.3JBlake1'03; E726| However this I know will set you at Ease. I am now so full
L25.3JBlake1'03; E726| of work that I have had no time to go on with the Ballads, & my
L25.3JBlake1'03; E726| prospects of more & more work continually are certain. My Heads
L25.3JBlake1'03; E726| of Cowper for Mr H's life of Cowper have pleasd his Relations
L25.3JBlake1'03; E726| exceedingly & in Particular Lady Hesketh & Lord Cowper <to
L25.3JBlake1'03; E726| please> Lady H was a doubtful chance who almost adord her Cousin
L25.3JBlake1'03; E726| the poet & thought him all perfection & she writes that she is
L25.3JBlake1'03; E726| quite satisfied with the portraits & charmd by the great Head in
L25.3JBlake1'03; E726| particular tho she never could bear the original Picture
L25.4JBlake1'03; E726| But I ought to mention to you that our present idea is. To
L25.4JBlake1'03; E726| take a house in some village further from the Sea Perhaps
L25.4JBlake1'03; E726| Lavant. & in or near the road to London for the sake of
L25.4JBlake1'03; E726| convenience--I also ought to inform you that I read your letter
L25.4JBlake1'03; E726| to Mr H & that he is very afraid of losing me & also very afraid
L25.4JBlake1'03; E726| that my Friends in London should have a bad opinion of the
L25.4JBlake1'03; E726| reception he has given to me But My Wife has undertaken to Print
L25.4JBlake1'03; E726| the whole number of the Plates for Cowpers work which she does to
L25.4JBlake1'03; E726| admiration & being under my own
L25.4JBlake1'03; E727| eye the prints are as fine as the French prints & please every
L25.4JBlake1'03; E727| one. in short I have Got every thing so under my thumb that it is
L25.4JBlake1'03; E727| more profitable that things should be as they are than any other
L25.4JBlake1'03; E727| way, tho not so agreeable because we wish naturally for
L25.4JBlake1'03; E727| friendship in preference to interest.--The Publishers are already
L25.4JBlake1'03; E727| indebted to My Wife Twenty Guineas for work deliverd this is a
L25.4JBlake1'03; E727| small specimen of how we go on. then fear nothing & let my Sister
L25.4JBlake1'03; E727| fear nothing because it appears to me that I am now too old &
L25.4JBlake1'03; E727| have had too much experience to be any longer imposed upon only
L25.4JBlake1'03; E727| illness makes all uncomfortable & this we must prevent by every
L25.4JBlake1'03; E727| means in our power
L25.5JBlake1'03; E727| I send with this 5 Copies of N4 of the Ballads for Mrss
L25.5JBlake1'03; E727| Flaxman & Five more two of which you will be so good as to
L25.5JBlake1'03; E727| give to Mrs Chetwynd if she should call or send for them. These
L25.5JBlake1'03; E727| Ballads are likely to be Profitable for we have Sold all hat we
L25.5JBlake1'03; E727| have had time to print. Evans the Bookseller in Pallmall says
L25.5JBlake1'03; E727| they go off very well & why should we repent of having done them
L25.5JBlake1'03; E727| it is doing Nothing that is to be repented of & not doing such
L25.5JBlake1'03; E727| things as these
L25.76Blake1'03; E727| Pray remember us both to Mr Hall when you see him
L25.7JBlake1'03; E727| I write in great haste & with a head full of botheration
L25.7JBlake1'03; E727| about various projected works & particularly. a work now Proposed
L25.7JBlake1'03; E727| to the Public at the End of Cowpers Life. which will very likely
L25.7JBlake1'03; E727| be of great consequence it is Cowpers Milton the same that
L25.7JBlake1'03; E727| Fuselis Milton Gallery was painted for,, & if we succeed in our
L25.7JBlake1'03; E727| intentions the prints to this work will be very profitable to me
L25.7JBlake1'03; E727| & not only profitable but honourable at any rate The Project
L25.7JBlake1'03; E727| pleases Lord Cowpers family. & I am now labouring in my thoughts
L25.7JBlake1'03; E727| Designs for this & other works equally creditable These are works
L25.7JBlake1'03; E727| to be boasted of & therefore I cannot feel depress'd tho I know
L25.7JBlake1'03; E727| that as far as Designing & Poetry are concernd I am Envied in
L25.7JBlake1'03; E727| many Quarters. but I will cram the Dogs for I know that the
L25.7JBlake1'03; E727| Public are my friends & love my works & will embrace them
L25.7JBlake1'03; E727| whenever they see them My only Difficulty is to produce fast
L25.7JBlake1'03; E727| enough.
L25.8JBlake1'03; E727| I go on Merrily with my Greek & Latin: am very sorry that I
L25.8JBlake1'03; E727| did not begin to learn languages early in life as I find it very
L25.8JBlake1'03; E727| Easy. am now learning my Hebrew <Hebrew here> I read Greek as
L25.8JBlake1'03; E727| fluently as an Oxford scholar & the Testament is my chief master.
L25.8JBlake1'03; E727| astonishing indeed is the English Translation it is almost word for word & if
L25.8JBlake1'03; E727| the Hebrew Bible is as well translated which I do not doubt it is
L25.8JBlake1'03; E727| we need not doubt of its having been translated as well as
L25.8JBlake1'03; E727| written by the Holy Ghost
L25.8JBlake1'03; E727| my wife joins me in Love to you both
L25.8JBlake1'03; E727| I am Sincerely yours
L25.8JBlake1'03; E727| W BLAKE
ED; E725| 25
EDL25.1JBlake1'03; E725| [To James Blake]
L25.1JBlake1'03; E725| Felpham Jan/y 30--1803.
L25.1JBlake1'03; E725| Dear Brother
L25.1JBlake1'03; E725| Your Letter mentioning Mr Butts's account of my Ague
L25.1JBlake1'03; E725| surprized me because I have no Ague but have had a Cold this
L25.1JBlake1'03; E725| Winter. You know that it is my way to make the best of every
L25.1JBlake1'03; E725| thing. I never make myself nor my friends uneasy if I can help
L25.1JBlake1'03; E725| it. My Wife has had Agues & Rheumatisms almost ever since she
L25.1JBlake1'03; E725| has been here, but our time is almost out that we took the
L25.1JBlake1'03; E725| Cottage for. I did not mention our Sickness to you & should not
L25.1JBlake1'03; E725| to Mr Butts but for a determination which we have lately made
L25.1JBlake1'03; E725| namely To leave This Place--because I am now certain of what I
L25.1JBlake1'03; E725| have long doubted Viz [that H] is jealous as Stothard
L25.1JBlake1'03; E725| was & will be no further My friend than he is compelld by
L25.1JBlake1'03; E725| circumstances. The truth is As a Poet he is frightend at me & as
L25.1JBlake1'03; E725| a Painter his views & mine are opposite he thinks to turn me into
L25.1JBlake1'03; E725| a Portrait Painter as he did Poor Romney, but this he nor all the
L25.1JBlake1'03; E725| devils in hell will never do. I must own that seeing H. like S
L25.1JBlake1'03; E725| Envious (& that he is I am now certain) made me very uneasy, but
L25.1JBlake1'03; E725| it is over & I now defy the worst & fear not while I am true to
L25.1JBlake1'03; E725| myself which I will be. This is the uneasiness I spoke of to Mr
L25.1JBlake1'03; E725| Butts but
L25.1JBlake1'03; E726| I did not tell him so plain & wish you to keep it a secret & to
L25.1JBlake1'03; E726| burn this letter because it speaks so plain I told Mr Butts that
L25.1JBlake1'03; E726| I did not wish to Explore too much the cause of our determination
L25.1JBlake1'03; E726| to leave Felpham because of pecuniary connexions between H &
L25.1JBlake1'03; E726| me--Be not then uneasy on any account & tell my Sister not to be
L25.1JBlake1'03; E726| uneasy for I am fully Employd & Well Paid I have made it so much
L25.1JBlake1'03; E726| H's interest to employ me that he can no longer treat me with
L25.1JBlake1'03; E726| indifference & now it is in my power to stay or return or remove
L25.1JBlake1'03; E726| to any other place that I choose, because I am getting before
L25.1JBlake1'03; E726| hand in money matters The Profits arising from Publications are
L25.1JBlake1'03; E726| immense & I now have it in my power to commence publication with
L25.1JBlake1'03; E726| many very formidable works, which I have finishd & ready A Book
L25.1JBlake1'03; E726| price half a guinea may be got out at the Expense of Ten pounds &
L25.1JBlake1'03; E726| its almost certain profits are 500 G. I am only sorry that I did
L25.1JBlake1'03; E726| not know the methods of publishing years ago & this is one of the
L25.1JBlake1'03; E726| numerous benefits I have obtaind by coming here for I should
L25.1JBlake1'03; E726| never have known the nature of Publication unless I had known H &
L25.1JBlake1'03; E726| his connexions & his method of managing. It now <would> be folly
L25.1JBlake1'03; E726| not to venture publishing. I am now Engraving Six little plates
L25.1JBlake1'03; E726| for a little work of Mr H's for which I a to have 10 G<uineas>
L25.1JBlake1'03; E726| each & the certain profits of that work are a fortune such as
L25.1JBlake1'03; E726| would make me independent supposing that I could substantiate
L25.1JBlake1'03; E726| such a one of my own & I mean to try many But I again say as I
L25.1JBlake1'03; E726| said before We are very Happy sitting at tea by a wood fire in
L25.1JBlake1'03; E726| our Cottage the wind singing above our roof & the sea roaring at
L25.1JBlake1'03; E726| a distance but if sickness comes all is unpleasant
L25.2JBlake1'03; E726| But my letter to Mr Butts appears to me not to be so
L25.2JBlake1'03; E726| explicit as that to you for I told you that I should come to
L25.2JBlake1'03; E726| London in the Spring to commence Publisher & he <has> offerd me
L25.2JBlake1'03; E726| every assistance in his power <without knowing my intention>.
L25.2JBlake1'03; E726| But since I wrote yours we had made the resolution of which we
L25.2JBlake1'03; E726| informd him viz to leave Felpham entirely. I also told you what
L25.2JBlake1'03; E726| I was about & that I was not ignorant of what was doing in London
L25.2JBlake1'03; E726| in works of art. But I did not mention Illness because I hoped
L25.2JBlake1'03; E726| to get better (for I was really very ill when I wrote to him the
L25.2JBlake1'03; E726| last time) & was not then perswaded as I am now that the air tho
L25.2JBlake1'03; E726| warm is unhealthy
L25.3JBlake1'03; E726| However this I know will set you at Ease. I am now so full
L25.3JBlake1'03; E726| of work that I have had no time to go on with the Ballads, & my
L25.3JBlake1'03; E726| prospects of more & more work continually are certain. My Heads
L25.3JBlake1'03; E726| of Cowper for Mr H's life of Cowper have pleasd his Relations
L25.3JBlake1'03; E726| exceedingly & in Particular Lady Hesketh & Lord Cowper <to
L25.3JBlake1'03; E726| please> Lady H was a doubtful chance who almost adord her Cousin
L25.3JBlake1'03; E726| the poet & thought him all perfection & she writes that she is
L25.3JBlake1'03; E726| quite satisfied with the portraits & charmd by the great Head in
L25.3JBlake1'03; E726| particular tho she never could bear the original Picture
L25.4JBlake1'03; E726| But I ought to mention to you that our present idea is. To
L25.4JBlake1'03; E726| take a house in some village further from the Sea Perhaps
L25.4JBlake1'03; E726| Lavant. & in or near the road to London for the sake of
L25.4JBlake1'03; E726| convenience--I also ought to inform you that I read your letter
L25.4JBlake1'03; E726| to Mr H & that he is very afraid of losing me & also very afraid
L25.4JBlake1'03; E726| that my Friends in London should have a bad opinion of the
L25.4JBlake1'03; E726| reception he has given to me But My Wife has undertaken to Print
L25.4JBlake1'03; E726| the whole number of the Plates for Cowpers work which she does to
L25.4JBlake1'03; E726| admiration & being under my own
L25.4JBlake1'03; E727| eye the prints are as fine as the French prints & please every
L25.4JBlake1'03; E727| one. in short I have Got every thing so under my thumb that it is
L25.4JBlake1'03; E727| more profitable that things should be as they are than any other
L25.4JBlake1'03; E727| way, tho not so agreeable because we wish naturally for
L25.4JBlake1'03; E727| friendship in preference to interest.--The Publishers are already
L25.4JBlake1'03; E727| indebted to My Wife Twenty Guineas for work deliverd this is a
L25.4JBlake1'03; E727| small specimen of how we go on. then fear nothing & let my Sister
L25.4JBlake1'03; E727| fear nothing because it appears to me that I am now too old &
L25.4JBlake1'03; E727| have had too much experience to be any longer imposed upon only
L25.4JBlake1'03; E727| illness makes all uncomfortable & this we must prevent by every
L25.4JBlake1'03; E727| means in our power
L25.5JBlake1'03; E727| I send with this 5 Copies of N4 of the Ballads for Mrss
L25.5JBlake1'03; E727| Flaxman & Five more two of which you will be so good as to
L25.5JBlake1'03; E727| give to Mrs Chetwynd if she should call or send for them. These
L25.5JBlake1'03; E727| Ballads are likely to be Profitable for we have Sold all hat we
L25.5JBlake1'03; E727| have had time to print. Evans the Bookseller in Pallmall says
L25.5JBlake1'03; E727| they go off very well & why should we repent of having done them
L25.5JBlake1'03; E727| it is doing Nothing that is to be repented of & not doing such
L25.5JBlake1'03; E727| things as these
L25.76Blake1'03; E727| Pray remember us both to Mr Hall when you see him
L25.7JBlake1'03; E727| I write in great haste & with a head full of botheration
L25.7JBlake1'03; E727| about various projected works & particularly. a work now Proposed
L25.7JBlake1'03; E727| to the Public at the End of Cowpers Life. which will very likely
L25.7JBlake1'03; E727| be of great consequence it is Cowpers Milton the same that
L25.7JBlake1'03; E727| Fuselis Milton Gallery was painted for,, & if we succeed in our
L25.7JBlake1'03; E727| intentions the prints to this work will be very profitable to me
L25.7JBlake1'03; E727| & not only profitable but honourable at any rate The Project
L25.7JBlake1'03; E727| pleases Lord Cowpers family. & I am now labouring in my thoughts
L25.7JBlake1'03; E727| Designs for this & other works equally creditable These are works
L25.7JBlake1'03; E727| to be boasted of & therefore I cannot feel depress'd tho I know
L25.7JBlake1'03; E727| that as far as Designing & Poetry are concernd I am Envied in
L25.7JBlake1'03; E727| many Quarters. but I will cram the Dogs for I know that the
L25.7JBlake1'03; E727| Public are my friends & love my works & will embrace them
L25.7JBlake1'03; E727| whenever they see them My only Difficulty is to produce fast
L25.7JBlake1'03; E727| enough.
L25.8JBlake1'03; E727| I go on Merrily with my Greek & Latin: am very sorry that I
L25.8JBlake1'03; E727| did not begin to learn languages early in life as I find it very
L25.8JBlake1'03; E727| Easy. am now learning my Hebrew <Hebrew here> I read Greek as
L25.8JBlake1'03; E727| fluently as an Oxford scholar & the Testament is my chief master.
L25.8JBlake1'03; E727| astonishing indeed is the English Translation it is almost word for word & if
L25.8JBlake1'03; E727| the Hebrew Bible is as well translated which I do not doubt it is
L25.8JBlake1'03; E727| we need not doubt of its having been translated as well as
L25.8JBlake1'03; E727| written by the Holy Ghost
L25.8JBlake1'03; E727| my wife joins me in Love to you both
L25.8JBlake1'03; E727| I am Sincerely yours
L25.8JBlake1'03; E727| W BLAKE