Page:The letters of William Blake (1906).djvu/93

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.
THE LIFE OF WILLIAM BLAKE
37

He was buried on the 17th, and was followed to the grave by Mr. Calvert of Brixton, painter and engraver; Mr. Richmond, painter; the writer of this; and his brother, a clergyman. He was interred in Bunhill Fields. His complaint turned out to be the gall mixing with the blood.

William Blake in stature was short, but well made, and very well proportioned; so much so that West, the great history painter, admired much the form of his limbs; he had a large head and wide shoulders. Elasticity and promptitude of action were the characteristics of his contour. His motions were rapid and energetic, betokening a mind filled with elevated enthusiasm; his forehead was very high and prominent over the frontals; his eye most unusually large and glassy, with which he appeared to look into some other world. The best and only likeness of this glowing feature that can be produced is Shakespeare's description of the eye of the inspired poet in his Midsummer Night's Dream:

"The poet's eye with a fine frenzy rolling—
Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven:
And as imagination bodies forth
The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen
Turns them to shapes, and gives to airy nothing
A local habitation and a name."

In youth he surprised everyone with his vigour and activity. In age he impressed all with his