time, which will account for the difference of price, as also that chalk engraving is at least six times as laborious as aqua tinta. I have no objection to engraving after another artist. Engraving is the profession I was apprenticed to, and should never have attempted to live by anything else, if orders had not come in for my designs and paintings, which I have the pleasure to tell you are increasing every day. Thus if I am a painter it is not to be attributed to seeking after. But I am contented whether I live by painting or engraving.—I am, revd. sir, your very obedient servant,
Marked by the recipient: "Blake, dim'd with superstition."
7.
To George Cumberland.
Hercules Buildings, Lambeth,
26th August 1799.
Dear Cumberland,—I ought long ago to have written to you to thank you for your kind recommendation to Dr. Trusler, which, though it has failed of success, is not the less to be remembered by me with gratitude.
I have made him a drawing in my best manner;
