Page:Life of William Blake, Gilchrist.djvu/174

All Eternity shudder'd at sight
Of the first female form, now separate.
Pale as a cloud of snow,
Waving before the face of Los!

Wonder, awe, fear, astonishment,
Petrify the eternal myriads
At the first female form now separate.
They call'd her Pity, and fled!

'Spread a tent with strong curtains around them:
'Let cords and stakes bind in the Void,
'That Eternals may no more behold them!'

They began to weave curtains of darkness.
They erected large pillars round the void;
With golden hooks fastened in the pillars;
With infinite labour, the Eternals
A woof wove, and called it Science.

The design, like the text, is characterized by a monotony of horror. Every page may be said as a furnace mouth to

'Cast forth redounding smoke and ruddy flame,'

in the midst of which are figures howling, weeping, writhing, or chained to rocks, or hurled headlong into the abyss. Of the more striking, I recall a figure that stoops over and seems breathing upon a globe enveloped in flames, the lines of fire flowing into those of his drapery and hair; an old, amphibious-looking giant, with rueful visage, letting himself sink slowly through the waters like a frog; a skeleton coiled round, resembling a fossil giant imbedded in the rock, &c. The colouring is rich, a little overcharged perhaps in the copy I have seen,—and gold-leaf has been freely used, to heighten the effect.

Still another volume bears date 1794,—a small quarto, consisting of twenty-three engraved and coloured designs, without letter-press, explanation, or key of any kind. The designs are of various size, all fine in colour, all extraordinary, some beautiful, others monstrous, abounding in forced