Page:The letters of William Blake (1906).djvu/37

ground, is a multitude of spectators, darkly suggested; many, too, are crowding up beneath a portcullis gate, below the steep rock upon which the crucifixion has taken place. Of a different character to this sombre design is the charming and beautifully coloured drawing of "The Vision of Jacob's Ladder," which there is good reason to assign to the same date; indeed, it is difificult to dissociate it from the vision of the ladder in the song addressed to Mrs. Flaxman, and it is for this reason that it has been reproduced here to accompany it. The youthful Jacob, propped upon a pillow of large stones, is stretched in sleep upon a grassy hill-top, his shepherd's crook in his hand. Ending by his pillow, and descending from a vast golden sun on high, whence emanate floods of bright yellow beams, is a white spiral stairway or ladder, upon which countless angels and girls and little children are passing up and down. Foremost among them is a winged angel bearing a basket of bread upon his head, and followed by a damsel with a jug of wine. Others are engaged in various delights: embracing one another, leading little children, one carrying a scroll, others a book, compasses, or a musical instrument,—all joyful and beautiful. Beneath the rays of the sun is deep blue sky, star spangled. Many of those for whom the symbolism of art