Page:The letters of William Blake (1906).djvu/126

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

68

LETTERS OF WILLIAM BLAKE.

busied among my friends.—With mine and my wifes best compliments to Mrs. Cumberland, I remain, yours sincerely, William Blake.

8.

To William Hayley.^[1]

Lambeth, 6th May 1800.

Dear Sir,—I am very sorry for your immense loss,^[2] which is a repetition of what all feel in this valley of misery and happiness mixed. I send the shadow of the departed angel,^[3] and hope the likeness is improved. The lips I have again lessened as you advise, and done a good many other softenings to the whole. I know that our deceased friends are more really with us than when they were apparent to our mortal part. Thirteen years ago I lost a brother,^[4] and with his spirit I converse daily and

↑ See note 2, p. 51.
↑ Alludes to the death of his illegitimate son, Thomas Alphonso Hayley, born 5th October 1780, pupil of Flaxman, who executed a memorial of him in Eartham Church.
↑ The reference may be to a carefully finished pencil drawing of Thomas Hayley, by Blake, subsequently bound up in a volume of miscellaneous Blake items, now in the possession of B. B. MacGeorge, Esq.; or, as is more likely, to an engraving which Blake did of the youth after a medallion by Flaxman, published 14th June 1800, in the father's Essay on Sculpture.
↑ Robert Blake died February 1787. Not long after his death he returned one night in a vision and revealed to his brother the method of relief etching employed in the illuminated books.

[1] See note 2, p. 51.

[2] Alludes to the death of his illegitimate son, Thomas Alphonso Hayley, born 5th October 1780, pupil of Flaxman, who executed a memorial of him in Eartham Church.

[3] The reference may be to a carefully finished pencil drawing of Thomas Hayley, by Blake, subsequently bound up in a volume of miscellaneous Blake items, now in the possession of B. B. MacGeorge, Esq.; or, as is more likely, to an engraving which Blake did of the youth after a medallion by Flaxman, published 14th June 1800, in the father's Essay on Sculpture.

[4] Robert Blake died February 1787. Not long after his death he returned one night in a vision and revealed to his brother the method of relief etching employed in the illuminated books.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]