Page:The letters of William Blake (1906).djvu/109

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THE LETTERS OF
WILLIAM BLAKE

1.

Extract from a Letter from John Flaxman[1]
to William Hayley.[2]

Wardour Street, Soho
26th April[3]

... I have left a pamphlet of poems[4] with Mr. Long,[5] which he will transmit to Eartham;

  1. John Flaxman (1755-1826), the celebrated sculptor and draughts-man. He was one of Blake's earliest friends and admirers, and was the means of introducing him to Hayley. Some years later an unhappy misunderstanding put an end to their friendship.
  2. William Hayley (1745-1820), poetaster and littérateur. He settled at Eartham in 1774. In 1800, on his removal to a house at Felpham, close by, he sent for Blake from London to do engraving and other work for him.
  3. The year is not given. Flaxman lived at 27 Wardour Street from his marriage in 1782 until his departure for Rome in August 1787. He became acquainted with Hayley very soon after the first of these events; and as Poetical Sketches came out in 1783, it seems reasonable to ascribe the letter to that or the following year.
  4. Poetical Sketches by W. B. London: Printed in the year MDCCLXXXIII; produced at the expense of Flaxman and another, who presented the whole edition to the author.
  5. William Long (1747-1818), eminent surgeon, one of the most