Reason says ' Miracle ' : Newton says ' Doubt.'
Aye! that's the way to make all Nature out.
9' Doubt, Doubt, & don't believe without experiment ' :
That is the very thing that Jesus meant,
When he said ' Only Believe ! Believe & try !
Try, Try, & never mind the Reason why ! '
7-12 No quotation marks in MS. WMR omits to 11. 9 and 12. EY place around 11. 7-12 ('Doubt . . . why') with enclosed single quotation marks to 11. II, 12 ('Only . . . why'). Cf. Jerusalem, f. 54, 11. 15-24 : —
' But the Spectre, like a hoar frost & a Mildew, rose over Albion,
Saying ' I am God, O Sons of Men ! I am your Rational Power.
Am I not Bacon & Newton & Locke, who teach Humility to Man,
Who teach Doubt & Experiment, & my two Wings Voltaire Rousseau ?
Where is that Friend of Sinners, that Rebel against my Laws,
Who teaches Belief to the Nations & an unknown Eternal life?
Come hither into the Desart & turn these stones to bread.
Vain Foolish Man, wilt thou believe without Experiment
And build a World of Phantasy upon my Great Abyss,
A World of Shapes, in craving lust & devouring appetite ? '
xlviii
And in melodious accents I
Will sit me down, & cry ' I ! I ! '
MS. Book, p. 21, These lines occur in Blake's Advertisement, following the prose passage : [' Imagination is my World. This world of dross is beneath my notice, and beneath the notice of the Public del.'] I demand therefore of the amateurs of art the encouragement which is my due. If they continue to refuse, theirs is the loss, not mine, and theirs is the contempt of posterity. I have enough in the approbation of fellow labourers. This is my glory, and my exceeding great reward. I go on, and nothing can hinder my course.'
xlix
1And his legs carried it like a long fork,
Reached all the way from Chichester to York,
From York all across Scotland to the Sea ;
This was a Man of Men, as seems to me.
MS. Book, p. 22. 11. 1-14, 31-51 were first written, 11. 15-30 being added in the margin, and marked for insertion after 1. 14. This fragment, of which the beginning is missing, was probably composed soon after Sept. 17, 1809,
