MR. GILCHRIST'S "BLAKE,"*

THE late Mr. Gilchrist's Life of Blake is too well known to need either praise or description on its appearance in a new edition, The book forms one of that small class where the biographer has not only been in fullest sympathy with the subject of his work, but has been in possession of the most minute information with regard to that subject's life and work. To these qualifications, Mr. Gilchrist added those of the most patient endeavour to penetrate into the moaning, and collect all available information as to the quantity, of Blake's work ; and was, moreover, aided in his task by sympathetic and capable hands. Even in its first shape, the work owed much to the friendly help of the Brothers Rossetti and Mr. Frederic Shields ; and in this enlarged edition, which appgared more than a year ago, this help has been farther supplemented by contributions from those gentlemen, and many additions have been made to the illustrations of the volume, some of these latter being from hitherto unpublished designs by Blake himself, and others, por- traits of himself and his wife, and in illustrations of the places where he lived and died. Tardy as is our notice of this new edition, we must still remark on the excessive elaboration and especial good taste with which the work of printer and bookbinder has been done. No handsomer or better design for a book. cover than the one on the volumes before us, has been produced for many years ; and it has an added beauty and fitness, when we learn that it is designed by a living artist from one of Blake's own sketches, out of admiration for the dead artist's genius and * Lifo and Works of Win:am Blab. By Alexander Gilchrist. New Edition. London; Macmillan. character. In truth, printing, paper, and binding are all of- •

exceptional excellence, even in this day of luxurious publishing s and the book is in all respects one which it is a pleasure to. handle, as well as to read. So much being premised, let us look at the character and value of the additions which have been made to the work since the first edition. These additions are mainly illustrations ; a few extra letters, carrying on the " Narra- tive of Blake's Life" during the two years immediately suc-

ceeding his return from Feltham ; and an essay 'upon Blake and his genius, by Mr. Smetharn, here reprinted fre-s the London Quarterly Review. Of these, the two most interesting are from wood blocks lent by Messrs. Scribner and Co., and repre- sent the well-known design from Blair's Grave, entitled

" Death's Door," and one of " Counsellot, King, Warrior,. Mother, and Child, in the Tomb," from the same poem. Very interesting, too, are the heads of Catherine and William Blake,. which have been drawn by Mr. Shields from pencil sketches in Blake's MS. Note-book, which was until recently in the possession of Mr. D. G. Rossetti, and was sold at his sale for about £130. The now letters are not of very special interest, and only useful in their place as continuing the story of Blake's life.

Of Mr. Smotham's essay on Blake we need. hardly say more

than that it is the work of a devoted admirer and a capable critic. It lets in little new light upon Blake's genius, but it sums, up the character and meaning of' his work and life, clearly and sympathetically. He feels the greatness of his subject so deeply that he almost seems at times to comprehend that strange art, the key to which is still, and probably will always be, lacking, Whether it be worth while to enter again upon the much vexed, question of Blake's sanity may well be doubted. The world: must get a more satisfactory definition of madness and health,.

ere that question could be settled. But it may be noticed that in this man the eccentricity, madness, or whatever it may be called, was consistent with unsparing and persistent labour, and a quiet, frugallife. If Ms visions did nothing else, they con-

soled him amidst the world's neglect, and under many an un- merited insult. It would be difficult, now-a-days, to find any commonest tradesman so insolent to the most indifferent artist as were most of Bla.ke's patrons in their treatment of his rare genius. When we find a third-rate engraver, jobbing printeeller, and bookmaker, such as Cromek, writing such a letter, in answer to Blake's modest demand for four guineas for a vignette draw- ing (to Blair's 0 eau(?), as the one which is printed on page 254 Vol. I., of this biography, one can form some idea of the sort of insults to which artists were then exposed. Perhaps no more. cruel and insolent reply was ever sent, even by a publisher to . his contributor. A few sentences are worth quoting, as an, example :— " I have imposed upon myself yet more grossly in believing you to. be one altogether abstracted from this world, holding converse with the world of spirits, simple, unoffending, a combination of the serpent and the dove. I really blush when I reflect how I have been cheated in this respect. The most effectual way of benefiting a designer whose aim is general patronage, is to bring his designs before the public through the medium of engraving. Your drawings have had the good-fortune to be engraved by one of the first artists in Europe, and the specimens already shown have already produced you orders. whieh I verily believe you would not otherwise have received. Herein I have been gratified, for I was determined to bring you food,. as well as reputation, though, from your late conduct, I have some reason to embrace your wild opinion, that to manage genius and te cause it to produce good things, it is absolutely necessary to starve. it ; indeed, this opinion is considerably heightened by the recollection that your best work, the illustrations of The Grave, was pro- duced when you and Mrs. Blake were reduced so low as to be obliged to live on half.a-guinea a week l" To appreciate this extract at its due value, our readers, must remember that the illustrations to Blair's Grave were

sold by Blake to Cromek for a guinea and a half apiece, under the understanding that he should have the engraving of them s

but that Cromek had. no sooner obtained the drawings, than be

took the matter of engraving out of Blake's hands, and gave it to an Italian, named Schiavonetti, thus practically depriving

Blake of all further interest in his work. It must also be remembered that the engraving was a much more remunerative

as well as costly job than the designing of the plates. There is little doubt that, as Mr. Gilchrist remarks, Cromek acted wisely from a tradesman's point of view in substituting the delicate and graceful work of the Italian engraver (he had been a pupil of Bartolozzi) for Blake's hard and ascetic style ; but it is no less certain that, in thus taking the bread out of Blake's mouth and insulting him at the same time, he behaved with singular baseness. He practically stole Blake's copyright, and then told him he should be very grateful for the theft ! Our poet-artist was not so mad as to put up with such conduct tamely, and it is little wonder that his indignation found vent in two or three very bitter epigrams, of which the one subjoined seems peculiarly happy :—

" Cromek loves artists as he loves his meat :

He loves the art, but 'tie the art to cheat !"

Bad as are many of the results of the fashionable-art craze of the present day, at least it has secured the artist to some 'considerable degree from the insolence and the chicanery of the middleman, who, half a century ago, sucked his brains, and robbed his pocket, and insulted his pride at one and the same time. There are, no doubt, Cromeks now-a-days, as well as then ; but they no longer stand high in the world's esteem, and have to conceal their pleasant practices carefully from the light of day. Picture-dealing has ceased to be the profession of a few shabby and ignorant speculators, and the great picture- dealers of to-day may rank with the members of any other 'honourable profession.

Of the art of Blake it is difficult to speak, except to artiste. More perhaps than any designer who ever lived does he combine intense imagination and exquisite powers of design, with crude- nesses and eccentricities which have the effect of revolting the 'beholder. Moreover, his genius is one which trembles always 'on the verge of sanity, and in truth the step from the Sublime to the Ridiculous is often taken by him in one and the same drawing. But he possesses at least one quality of the greatest art—possesses it to a degree of which we can hardly find another example—and that is the manner in which his work grows upon the imagination and the liking. It is not an art which, except in isolated examples, attracts at first sight. Its invention is too peculiar, too unyielding, too disconnected, for those who will not give it patient attention. There are no graceful softnesses of outline, few pleasantly contrasted masses of light and shade, little elegant trifling with ornamental accessories. All is sharp, energetic, and almost austere, telling its story in its own way, without deference to tradition or the feelings of the spectator ; and it is only when we come to realise its marvellous expressiveness, its unequalled fertility of inven- tion, and the way in which it always strikes home to the root of the matter, that we realise the greatness of Blake's art.