Page:The letters of William Blake (1906).djvu/230

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164
LETTERS OF WILLIAM BLAKE.

what I myself had before concluded upon. Judging as he did that if the Fuseli Shakespeare[1] is worth twenty-five guineas, these will be at least worth thirty, and that the inferior ones cannot be done at any rate under fifteen. Mr. Flaxman advises that the best engravers should be engaged in the work, as its magnitude demands all the talents that can be procured. Mr. Flaxman named the following eight as proper subjects for prints:[2]

i. "The Vision of Atossa from Æschylus."

ii. "Apparition of Darius."

iii. "Black-eyed Susan." a figure on the seashore embracing a corse.

iv. "The Shipwreck," with the man on horse-back, and which I have.

v. "Hecate": a very fine thing indeed, which I have.

vi. "Pliny": very fine, but very unfinished, which I have.

vii. "Lear and Cordelia," belonging to Mr. Walker.

  1. See note 4, p. 131.
  2. i. See note 2, p. 135; ii. See note i, p. 135; iii. Probably the same as "'Twas when the Seas were Roaring," above: see note 3, p. 131; iv. An oil sketch, illustrating a story told in the travels of Thunberg, of a horseman, named Woltemad, at the Cape of Good Hope, rescuing from the sea the sufferers in a shipwreck; engraved by Blake in line, for the Life of Romney; v. See pp. 147 and 176, a figure with a torch and snake; vi. See pp. 134 and 176; vii. See note i, p. 153; viii. See p. 134.