Page:Life of William Blake, Gilchrist.djvu/374

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LIFE OF WILLIAM BLAKE.
[1818—1820.

completing the drawing, the Flea told him that all fleas were inhabited by the souls of such men as were by nature blood-thirsty to excess, and were therefore providentially confined to the size and form of insects; otherwise, were he himself, for instance, the size of a horse, he would depopulate a great portion of the country.

An engraved outline of the Ghost of a Flea was given in the Zodiacal Physiognomy, and also of one other Visionary Head—that of the Constellation Cancer. The engraving of The Flea has been repeated in the Art Journal for August, 1858, among the illustrations to a brief notice of Blake. The original pencil drawing is in Mr. Linnell's possession. Coloured copies of three of the Visionary Heads—Wallace, Edward the First, and the Ghost of a Flea—were made for Varley, by Mr. Linnell. [See Annotated Catalogue, List II., Vol. II.]


THE ACCUSERS.