Page:The letters of William Blake (1906).djvu/130

Paracelsus and Behmen^[1] appeared to me, terrors appeared in the Heavens above,
And in Hell beneath, and a mighty and awful change threatened the Earth.^[2]
The American war^[3] began. All its dark horrors passed before my face
Across the Atlantic to France. Then the French Revolution^[4] commenc'd in thick clouds,
And my Angels have told me that seeing such visions I could not subsist on the Earth,
But by my conjunction with Flaxman, who knows to forgive nervous fear.

I remain, for ever yours,

William Blake.

II.

From Mrs. Blake to Mrs. Flaxman.

H[ercules] B[uildings], Lambeth,

14th September 1800.

My dearest Friend,—I hope you will not think could forget your services to us, or anyway neglect to love and remember with affection even the hem

1. "Any man of mechanical talents may, from the writings of Paracelsus or Jacob Behmen, produce ten thousand volumes of equal value with Swedenborg's, and from those of Dante or Shakespeare, an infinite number" (Marriage of Heaven and Hell), Crabb Robinson tells us that Blake particularly admired the designs to Law's edition of Behmen.
2. See Marriage of Heaven and Hell.
3. See America: a Prophecy. Blake, 1793.
4. The French Revolution: a Poem in Seven Books, Book the First, published anonymously for Blake by J. Johnson in 1791. No example of this work is at present forthcoming.