5Not only in his Mouth his own Soul lay,
But my soul also would he bear away.
Like as a Pedlar bears his weary Pack,
So Stewhard's Soul he buckled to his back.
9But once, alas! committing a Mistake,
He bore the wretched Soul of William Blake
That he might turn it into Eggs of Gold ;
But neither back nor mouth those eggs could hold.
13 His under jaw drop'd as those Eggs he laid,
And Stewhard's Eggs are addled and decay'd.
The Examiner, whose very name is Hunt,
Call'd Death a Madman, trembling for the affront ;
17Like trembling Hare sits on his weakly paper
On which he used to dance & sport & caper.
Yorkshire Jack Hemp & Quibble, blushing daw,
Clap'd Death into the corner of their jaw.
21And Felpham Billy rode out every morn,
Horseback with Death, over the fields of corn ;
Who with iron hand cuff'd, in the afternoon,
The Ears of Billy's Lawyer & Dragoon.
25And Cur my lawyer, and Dady, Jack Hemp's parson,
Both went to Law with Death to keep our Ears on.
when the article on 'Mr. Blake's Exhibition' appeared in Leigh Hunt's
Examiner (no. go) and may have been part of the poem which Blake alludes
to in his Advertisement. See note to Ixxviii. Chichester was the scene
of Blake's trial for high treason, at the instance of the ' Dragoon ' (see Gilchrist, i, chap, xix) ; Yorkshire was the birthplace of Cromek, here called
' Screwmuch,' and Scotland refers to the latter's visit to that country in
search of material for his Reliques of Bums (1808). ' Death' is a nickname
for Blake, possibly because of his association with Blair's Grave, 'Yorkshire
Jack Hemp,' for Flaxman ; ' Felpham Billy,' for Hayley ; and ' Dady, Jack
Hemp's parson,' for Dr. Malkin, of the Fathers Memoirs. ' Stewhard,' the
speaker, is of course Stothard. EY mistakenly suppose that Boydel and
Bowyer of the following piece may be the true names of the lawyers ' Cur '
and ' Quibble ' ; but see footnote. Only printed by EY in their ' Memoir '
(i, 78-79).
I carried] covered EY. 4 This] That EY. 8 So Stewhard's Soul] He would bear my soul MS. Book is/ rdg. del, EY. 10 of] and EY. 14 Stewhard's] all my MS. Book 15/ rdg. del., EY. 16 trembling . . . affront] Deadly the affront MS. Book 1st rdg. del. 17 weakly] weekly EY, ignoring the play upon words. 18 sport] shout EY. 19 Yorkshire] And Yorkshire MS. Book 15/ rdg. del, EY. daw] saw EY. 20 their] his EY.
