Письма Уильяма Блейка/Томасу Баттсу 10 января 1802

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To Thomas Butts 10 January 1802


Томасу Баттсу 10 января 1802

Фелфам, янв. 10. 1802

Дорогой Сэр,

Ваше очень доброе и ласковое письмо, и множество добрых слов высказанных в нём, требовали от меня немедленного ответа; но моя жена и я были так больны, и моя жена так ужасно больна, что до сих пор я не был в состоянии исполнить эту обязанность. Лихорадка и ревматизм стали её почти постояннычи врагами, с которыми она безуспешно ведёт борьбу с тех пор как мы здесь; и, конечно, её болезнь всегда печалит меня. Но то, что Вы сообщаете мне о вашем зрении огорчает меня не в меньшей мере, и то, что Вы пишете о своём своем здоровье в другой части вашего письма, заставляет меня умолять Вас должным образом заботиться о том и другом; часть нашего долга по отношению к Богу и человеку — это должным образом заботиться о наших дарах; и хотя мы не должны мнить о себе более высоко, мы всё же должны думать о себе так же высоко, как должны это делать бессмертные.


To Thomas Butts 10 January 1802

Felpham Jany. 10. 1802

Dear Sir,

Your very kind & affectionate Letter & the many kind things you have said in it, call'd upon me for an immediate answer; but it found My Wife & Myself so ill, & My wife so very ill, that till now I have not been able to do this duty. The Ague & Rheumatism have been almost her constant Enemies, which she has combated in vain ever since we have been here; & her sickness is always my sorrow, of course. But what you tell me about your sight afflicted me not a little, & that about your health, in another part of your letter, makes me intreat you to take due care of both; it is a part of our duty to God & man to take due care of his Gifts; & tho' we ought not [to] think more highly of ourselves, yet we ought to think As highly of ourselves as immortals ought to think.

When I came down here, I was more sanguine than I am at present; but it was because I was ignorant of many things which have since occurred, & chiefly the unhealthiness of the place. Yet I do not repent of coming on a thousand accounts; & Mr H., I doubt not, will do ultimately all that both he & I wish that is, to lift me out of difficulty; but this is no easy matter to a man who, having Spiritual Enemies of such formidable magnitude, cannot expect to want natural hidden ones.

Your approbation of my pictures is a Multitude to Me, & I doubt not that all your kind wishes in my behalf shall in due time be fulfilled. Your kind offer of pecuniary assistance I can only thank you for at present, because I have enough to serve my present purpose here; our expenses are small, & our income, from our incessant labour, fully adequate to [it del.] them at present. I am now engaged in Engraving 6 small plates for a New

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Edition of Mr Hayley's Triumphs of Temper,1 from drawings by Maria Flaxman, sister to my friend the Sculptor, and it seems that other things will follow in course, if I do but Copy these well; but Patience! if Great things do not turn out, it is because such things depend on the Spiritual & not on the Natural World; & if it was fit for me, I doubt not that I should be Employed in Greater things; & when it is proper, my Talents shall be properly exercised in Public, as I hope they are now in private; for, till then, I leave no stone unturn'd & no path unexplored that tends to improvement in my beloved Arts. One thing of real consequence I have accomplish 3 d by coming into the country, which is to me consolation enough: namely, I have recollected all my scatter 5 d thoughts on Art & resumed my primitive & original ways of Execu- tion in both painting & engraving, which in the con- fusion of London I had very much lost & obliterated from my mind. But whatever becomes of my labours, I would rather that they should be preserved in your Green House (not, as you mistakenly call it, dung hill) than in the cold gallery of fashion. The Sun may yet shine, & then they will be brought into open air.

But you have so generously & openly desired that I will divide my griefs with you, that I cannot hide what it is now become my duty to explain.-^-My unhappiness has arisen from a source which, if explor'd too narrowly, might hurt my pecuniary circumstances, As my depend- ence is on Engraving at present, & particularly on the Engravings I have in hand for M r H.: & I find on all hands great objections to my doing any thing but the meer drudgery of business, & intimations that if I do not confine myself to this, I shall not live; this has always pursu'd me. You will understand by this the source of

1 The Triumphs of Temper. A Poem: In Six Cantos. By William Hayley Esq. The Twelfth Edition corrected. With New Original Designs by Maria Flaxman. London, 1803, 8. With six plates engraved by Blake, which appeared also in the thirteenth edition, 1807.

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all my uneasiness. This from Johnson 1 & Fuseli brought me down here, & this from M r H. will bring me back again; for that I cannot live without doing my duty to lay up treasures in heaven is Certain & Determined, & to this I have long made up my mind, & why this should be made an objection to Me, while Drunkenness, Lewd- ness, Gluttony & even Idleness itself, does not hurt other men, let Satan himself Explain. The Thing I have most at Heart more than life, or all that seems to make life comfortable without Is the Interest of True Religion & Science, 2 & whenever any thing appears to affect that Interest (Especially if I myself omit any duty to my [self del.] Station as a Soldier of Christ), It gives me the greatest of torments./! am not ashamed, afraid, or averse to tell you what Ought to be Told: That I am under the direction of Messengers from Heaven, Daily & Nightly; but the nature of such things is not, as some suppose, without trouble or care. Temptations are on the right hand & left; behind, the sea of time & space 3 roars & follows swiftly; he who keeps not right onward is lost, & if our footsteps slide in clay, how can we do otherwise than fear & trembler! but I should not have troubled You jf with this account of my spiritual state, unless it had been necessary in explaining the actual cause of my uneasiness, into which you are so kind as to Enquire; for I never obtrude such things on others unless questioned, & then I never disguise the truth. But (if we fear to do the dictates of our Angels, & tremble at the Tasks set before us; if we refuse to do Spiritual Acts because of Natural Fears of Natural Desires! Who can describe the dismal

1 John Johnson, bookseller and publisher, who had employed Blake in engraving many illustrations for books.

2 That is of Art, which to Blake was almost synonymous with Christianity: "Science" is here used in the special sense of spiritual knowledge (see Sloss & Wallis, ii, 216).

3 "The sea of time and space" signifies experiences in the material world, which interfere with the exercise of vision and imagination.

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Моя жена шлёт свою сердечную Любовь миссис Баттс, и я позволил ей послать её также и к Вам; мы часто мечтаем снова оказаться вместе в вашем обществе, и надеемся, что недалеко то время, когда это сбудется, мы решили не оставаться здесь на вторую зиму , но вернуться в Лондон.

Я слышу голос, который вы не можете услышать, говорящий, что я не должен оставаться,
Я вижу руку, которую вы не можете видеть, которая манит меня.[1]

Нагими мы пришли сюда, нагими в вещественном, природном смысле, и нагими мы возвратимся; но пока мы одеты Божественным Милосердием, мы богато облачены в одежды Духовности и радостно переносим все остальные страдания. Умоляю, передайте мою Любовь миссис Баттс и вашей семьи. Засим остаюсь, искренне Ваш,

Уильям Блейк

P. S. Я также благодарен Вам за Ваше любезное предложение выставить две мои картины; когда я закончу вторую, мы обсудим это со всей определенностью.


torments of such a state! I too well remember the Threats I heard! If you, who are organised by Divine Providence for Spiritual communion, Refuse, & bury your Talent in the Earth, even tho' you should want Natural Bread, Sorrow & Desperation pursues you thro' life, & after death shame & confusion of face to eternity. Every one in Eternity will leave you, aghast at the Man who was crown' d with glory & honour by his brethren, & betray'd their cause to their enemies. You will be call'd the base Judas who betray'd his Friend! Such words would make any stout man tremble, & how then could I be at ease? But I am now no longer in That State, & now go on again with my Task, Fearless, and tho' my path is difficult, I have no fear of stumbling while I keep it.

My wife desires her kindest Love to Mrs Butts, & I have permitted her to send it to you also; we often wish that we could unite again in Society, & hope that the time is not distant when we shall do so, being determined not to remain another winter here, but to return to London.

I hear a voice you cannot hear, that says I must not stay,
I see a hand you cannot see, that beckons me away.[2]

Naked we came here, naked of Natural things, & naked we shall return; but while cloth'd with the Divine Mercy, we are richly cloth' d in Spiritual & suffer all the rest gladly. Pray give my Love to M rs Butts & your family.

I am, Yours Sincerely,

William Blake

P.S. Your Obliging proposal of Exhibiting my two Pictures likewise calls for my thanks; I will finish the other, & then we shall judge of the matter with certainty.

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Примечания

  1. Эти четыре строки, записанные Блейком как две, взяты из стихотворения Томаса Тикелла «Люси и Колин», включенного в «Реликвии древней английской поэзии» Томаса Перси, Лондон, 1765, вып. III, стр. 308.
  2. These four lines, written by Blake as two, are from Thomas Tickell's "Lucy and Colin", included in Percy's Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, London, 1765, vol. Ill, p. 308.

...журналист, скрывший себя под псевдонимом Juninus, писал в июне 1810 года о Блейке в журнале Кладезь искусств (Repo-sitory of Arts), в статье О великолепии красок и прочем: «Возможно, это самый гениальный гравёр в этой стране». Есть предположение, что этот Джунинус был близко знаком с Блейком, так как в следующей статье в сентябрьском номере этого журнала он, говоря о Блейке, процитировал строки Томаса Тикелла (1686-1740) из стихотворения Колин и Люси, точно так же, как сам Блейк их привёл в письме к Томасу Баттсу 10 января 1802 года:

Я слышу зов, неслышный вам, гласящий: – В путь иди! –
Я вижу перст, невидный вам, горящий впереди.

(Томас Тикелл. Перевод Самуила Яковлевича Маршака)

Непонятно, почему Маршак, так прекрасно переведший эти строки, приписал их самому Блейку, введя в заблуждение надолго, если не навсегда, миллионы русскоязычных читателей.

Из книги Д. Смирнова-Садовского «Блейк», с. 306





29. TO THOMAS BUTTS 22 NOVEMBER 1802

Felpham, Nov r 22: 1802.

Dear Sir,

My Brother x tells me that he fears you are offended with me. I fear so too, because there appears some reason why you might be so. But when you have heard me out, you will not be so.

I have now given two years to the intense study of those parts of the art which relate to light & shade & colour, & am Convinc'd that either my understanding is incapable of comprehending the beauties of Colouring, or the Pictures which I painted for you Are Equal in Every part of the Art, & superior in One, to any thing that has been done since the age of Rafael. All S r J. Reynolds's discourses to the Royal Academy will shew that the Venetian finesse in Art can never be united with the Majesty of Colouring necessary to Historical beauty; & in a letter to the Rev d M r Gilpin, author of a work on Picturesque Scenery, he says Thus: 2 "It may be cc worth consideration whether the epithet Picturesque" "is not applicable to the excellencies of the inferior" "Schools rather than to the higher. The works of" "Michael Angelo, Rafael, & c ., appear to me to have" "nothing of it: whereas Rubens & the Venetian Painters" "may almost be said to have Nothing Else. Perhaps" "Picturesque is somewhat synonymous to the word" "Taste, which we should think improperly applied to" "Homer or Milton, but very well to Prior or Pope. I" "suspect that the application of these words are to" "Excellencies of an inferior order, & which are incom-" "patible with the Grand Style. You are certainly right" "in saying that variety of Tints & Forms is Picturesque;" "but it must be remember'd, on the other hand, that the"

1 His elder brother, James, the hosier.

2 Three Essays on Picturesque Beauty^ by William Gilpin, 1 792, p. 35.

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"reverse of this (uniformity of Colour & a long continuation" "of lines] produces Grandeur." So Says Sir Joshua, and So say I; for I have now proved that the parts of the art which I neglected to display in those little pictures & drawings which I had the pleasure & profit to do for you, are incompatible with the designs. There is nothing in the Art which our Painters do that I can con- fess myself ignorant of. I also Know & Understand & can assuredly affirm, that the works I have done for You are Equal to Carrache or Rafael (and I am now Seven years older than Rafael was when he died), I say they are Equal to Carrache or Rafael, or Else I am Blind, Stupid, Ignorant and Incapable in two years' Study to under- stand those things which a Boarding School Miss can comprehend in a fortnight^Be assured, My dear Friend, that there is not one touch In those Drawings & Pictures but what came from my Head & my Heart in Unison; That I am Proud of being their Author and Grateful to you my Employer; & that I look upon you as the Chief of my Friends, whom I would endeavour to please, because you, among all men, have enabled me to pro- duce these things. I would not send you a Drawing or a Picture till I had again reconsidered my notions of Art, & had put myself back as if I was a learner. I have proved that I am Right, & shall now Go on with the Vigour I was in my Childhood famous for^

But I do not pretend to be Perfect: but, if my Works have faults, Carrache, Corregio, & Rafael's have faults also; let me observe that the yellow leather flesh of old men, the ill drawn & ugly young women, &, above all, the dawbed black & yellow shadows that are found in most fine, ay, & the finest pictures, I altogether reject as ruinous to Effect, tho' Connoisseurs may think otherwise.

Let me also notice that Carrache's Pictures are not like Correggio's, nor Correggio's like Rafael's; &, if neither of them was to be encouraged till he did like any of the

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others, he must die without Encouragement. My Pic- tures are unlike any of these Painters, & I would have them to be so. I think the manner I adopt More Perfect than any other; no doubt They thought the same of theirs.

(You will be tempted to think that, as I improve, The Pictures, & c ., that I did for you are not what I would now wish them to be. On this I beg to say That they are what I intended them, & that I know I never shall do better; for, if I were to do them over again, they would lose as much as they gain'd, because they were done in the heat of My Spirits.)

But You will justly enquire why I have not written all this time to you? I answer I have been very Unhappy, & could not think of troubling you about it, or any of my real Friends. (I have written many letters to you which I burn'd & did not send) & why I have not before finish'd the Miniature I promised to M rs Butts?

answer I have not, till now, in any degree pleased myself, & now I must intreat you to Excuse faults, for Portrait Painting is the direct contrary to Designing & Historical Painting in every respect. If you have not Nature before you for Every Touch, you cannot Paint Portrait; & if you have Nature before you at all, you cannot Paint History; it was Michael Angelo's opinion & is Mine^ Pray Give My Wife's love with mine to M rs Butts; assure her that it cannot be long before I have the pleasure of Painting from you in Person, & then that She may Expect a likeness, but now I have done All I could, & know she will forgive any failure in consideration of the Endeavour.

  • And now let me finish with assuring you that, Tho 5 I

have been very unhappy, I am so no longer. I am again Emerged into the light of day; I still & shall to Eternity Embrace Christianity and Adore him who is the Express image of God; but I have travePd thro* Perils & Dark-

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ness not unlike a Champion. I have Conquer'd, and shall still Go on Conquering. Nothing can withstand the fury of my Course among the Stars of God & in the Abysses of the Accuser. My Enthusiasm is still what it was, only Enlarged and confirm' d.

I now Send Two Pictures & hope you will approve of them. I have inclosed the Account of Money reciev'd & Work done, which I ought long ago to have sent you; pray forgive Errors in omissions of this kind. I am in- capable of many attentions which it is my Duty to ob- serve towards you, thro' multitude of employment & thro' hope of soon seeing you again. I often omit to Enquire of you. But pray let me now hear how you do & of the welfare of your family.

Accept my Sincere love & respect.

I remain Yours Sincerely,

Will 1 * Blake

A Piece of Sea Weed serves for a Barometer; at [it] gets wet & dry as the weather gets so.


30. TO THOMAS BUTTS 22 NOVEMBER 1802

Dear Sir,

After I had finish' d my Letter, I found that I had not said half what I intended to say, & in particular I wish to ask you what subject you choose to be painted on the remaining Canvas which I brought down with me (for there were three), and to tell you that several of the Drawings were in great forwardness; you will see by the Inclosed Account that the remaining Number of Draw- ings which you gave me orders for is Eighteen. I will finish these with all possible Expedition, if indeed I have not tired you, or, as it is politely call'd, Bored you too much already; or, if you would rather cry out Enough,

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Off, Off !, tell me in a Letter of forgiveness if you were offended, & of accustom 5 d friendship if you were not. But I will bore you more with some Verses which My Wife desires me to Copy out & send you with her kind love & Respect; they were Composed above a twelve- month ago, while walking from Felpham to Lavant to meet my Sister:

With happiness stretched across the hills

In a cloud that dewy sweetness distills,

With a blue sky spread over with wings

And a mild sun that mounts & sings,

With trees & fields full of Fairy elves

And little devils who fight for themselves

Rememb'ring the Verses that Hayley sung

When my heart knock' d against the root of my tongue l

With Angels planted in Hawthorn bowers

And God himself in the passing hours,

With Silver Angels across my way

And Golden Demons that none can stay,

With my Father hovering upon the wind

And my Brother Robert 2 just behind

And my Brother John 3 the evil one

In a black cloud making his mone;

1 The two lines beginning "Rememb'ring the Verses", are written in the margin and marked: "These 2 lines were omitted in transcribing & ought to come in at X". The "Verses that Hayley sung" are probably to be identified with a MS entitled Genesis, the Seven Days of the Created World. This consists of about 200 lines of blank verse written in Blake's hand, recently identified by Mr. Kenneth Povey as a close translation of the open- ing lines of Tasso's Le Sette Giornate del Mondo Create (see Times Literary Supplement, 3 November 1952). The MS is now in private hands in America and was printed in a limited edition by the Gummington Press, Cumming- ton. Mass. [1952].

2 Robert, the youngest of the family, died at the age of 25 in 1787. He had been William's special favourite (see Keynes, Blake Studies, 1948, p. 3).

3 John, the third son in the family, was said by Frederick Tatham to have "lived a few reckless days, enlisted as a soldier, and died". He had been apprenticed to a ginger-bread maker, but afterwards begged at William's door (see Letters of W. B., ed, Russell, p. 3).

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Tho* dead, they appear upon my path.

Notwithstanding my terrible wrath:

They beg, they intreat, they drop their tears,

FilTd full of hopes, fill'd full of fears

With a thousand Angels upon the Wind

Pouring disconsolate from behind

To drive them off, & before my way

A frowning Thistle implores my stay.

What to others a trifle appears

Fills me full of smiles or tears;

For double the vision my Eyes do see, 1

And a double vision is always with me.

With my inward Eye 'tis an old Man grey;

With my outward, a Thistle across my way.

"If thou goest back," the thistle said,

"Thou art to endless woe betray'd;

For here does Theotormon 2 lower

And here is Enitharmon's bower

And Los the terrible thus hath sworn,

Because thou backward dost return,

Poverty, Envy, old age & fear

Shall bring thy Wife upon a bier;

And Butts shall give what Fuseli gave,

A dark black Rock & a gloomy Cave."

I struck the Thistle with my foot. And broke him up from his delving root: "Must the duties of life each other cross?" "Must every joy be dung & dross?" "Must my dear Butts feel cold neglect" "Because I give Hayley his due respect?"

1 Single vision is purely material perception; in double vision intellect has made its contribution; threefold vision is emotional, and fourfold spiritual. This is all expressed in the last lines of the poem.

2 Theotormon is one of the four sons of Los and Enitharmon, that is of the Spirit of Prophecy. These sons remained in the spiritual world of Blake's mythology and were the guardians of the spiritual life (see Sloss & Wallis, ii, 194, and Russell, Letters, 1906, p. 109).

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"Must Flaxman look upon me as wild," "And all my friends be with doubts beguil'd?" "Must my Wife live in my Sister's bane/' "Or my Sister survive on my Love's pain?" "The curses of Los the terrible shade" "And his dismal terrors make me afraid,"

So I spoke & struck in my wrath

The old man weltering upon my path.

Then Los appeared in all his power:

In the Sun he appeared, descending before

My face in fierce flames; in my double sight

'Twas outward a Sun: inward Los in his might.

"My hands are labour' d day & night/' "And Ease comes never in my sight." "My Wife has no indulgence given" "Except what comes to her from heaven." "We eat little, we drink less;" "This Earth breeds not our happiness." "Another Sun feeds our life's streams," "We are not warmed with thy beams;" "Thou measurest not the Time to me," "Nor yet the Space that I do see;" "My Mind is not with thy light array'd." "Thy terrors shall not make me afraid."

When I had my Defiance given,

The Sun stood trembling in heaven;

The Moon that glow'd remote below,

Became leprous & white as snow;

And every soul of men on the Earth

Felt affliction & sorrow & sickness & dearth.

Los flam'd in my path, & the Sun was hot

With the bows of my Mind & the Arrows of Thought

1 cp. Milton, Preface:

Bring me my Bow of burning gold: Bring me my Arrows of desire:

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My bowstring fierce with Ardour breathes, My arrows glow in their golden sheaves; My brothers & father march before; The heavens drop with human gore.

Now I a fourfold vision see. And a fourfold vision is given to me; Tis fourfold in my supreme delight And threefold in soft Beulah's night And twofold Always. May God us keep From Single vision & Newton's sleep!

I also inclose you some Ballads by M r Hayley, 1 with prints to them by^Your H ble - Serv** I should have sent them before now, but could not get any thing done for You to please myself; for I do assure you that I have truly studied the two little pictures I now send, & do not repent of the time I have spent upon them. God bless you.

Yours,

W. B.

P.S. I have taken the liberty to trouble you with a letter to my Brother, which you will be so kind as to send or give him, & oblige yours, W. B.


https://archive.org/details/lettersofwilliam002199mbp

https://archive.org/stream/lettersofwilliam002199mbp/lettersofwilliam002199mbp_djvu.txt