Satiric Verses and Epigrams from Blake's Notebook

by William Blake

Motto to the Songs of Innocence & of Experience

The Good are attracted by Mens perceptions

And Think not for themselves

Till Experience teaches them to catch

And to cage the Fairies & Elves

And then the Knave begins to snarl 5

And the Hypocrite to howl

And all his good Friends shew their private ends

And the Eagle is known from the Owl

Let the Brothels of Paris be opened

With many an alluring dance

To awake the Physicians thro the city

Said the beautiful Queen of France

Then old Nobodaddy aloft 5

Farted & belchd & coughd

And said I love hanging & drawing & quartering

Every bit as well as war & slaughtering

Then he swore a great & solemn Oath

To kill the people I am loth 10

But If they rebel they must go to hell

They shall have a Priest & a passing bell

The King awoke on his couch of gold

As soon as he heard these tidings told

Arise & come both fife & drum 15

And the [Famine] shall eat both crust & crumb

The Queen of France just touchd this Globe

And the Pestilence darted from her robe

But our good Queen quite grows to the ground

And a great many suckers grow all around 20

Who will exchange his own fire side

For the stone of anothers door

Who will exchange his wheaten loaf

For the links of a dungeon floor

Fayette beheld the King & Queen 5

In curses & iron boundt

But mute Fayette wept tear for tear

And guarded them around

O who would smile on the wintry seas

& Pity the stormy roar 10

Or who will exchange his new born child

For the dog at the wintry door

When Klopstock England defied

Uprose terrible Blake in his pride

For old Nobodaddy aloft

Farted & Belchd & coughd

Then swore a great oath that made heavn quake

And calld aloud to English Blake

Blake was giving his body ease

At Lambeth beneath the poplar trees

From his seat then started he

And turnd himself round three times threet

The Moon at that sight blushd scarlet red

The stars threw down their cups & fled

And all the devils that were in hell

Answered with a ninefold yell

Klopstock felt the intripled turn

And all his bowels began to churn

And his bowels turned round three times three

And lockd in his soul with a ninefold key

That from his body it neer could be parted

Till to the last trumpet it was farted

Then again old nobodaddy swore

He neer had seen such a thing before

Since Noah was shut in the ark

Since Eve first chose her hell fire spark

Since twas the fashion to go naked

Since the old anything was created

And in pity he begd him to turn again

And ease poor Klopstocks nine fold pain

From pity then he redend round

And the ninefold Spell unwound

If Blake could do this when he rose up from shite

What might he not do if he sat down to write

On the Virginity of the Virgin Mary & Johanna Southcott

Whateer is done to her she cannot know

And if youll ask her she will swear it so

Whether tis good or evil none's to blame

No one can take the pride no one the shame

You dont believe I wont attempt to make ye

You are asleep I wont attempt to wake ye

Sleep on Sleep on while in your pleasant dreams

Of Reason you may drink of Lifes clear streams

Reason and Newton they are quite two things 5

For so the Swallow & the Sparrow sings

Reason says Miracle. Newton says Doubt

Aye thats the way to make all Nature out

Doubt Doubt & dont believe without experiment

That is the very thing that Jesus meant 10

When he said Only Believe Believe & try

Try Try & never mind the Reason why

If it is True What the Prophets write

That the heathen Gods are all stocks & stones

Shall we for the sake of being Polite

Feed them with the juice of our marrow bones

And if Bezaleel & Aholiab drew 5

What the Finger of God pointed to their View

Shall we suffer the Roman & Grecian Rods

To compell us to worship them as Gods

They stole them from the Temple of the Lord

And Worshippd them that they might make
Inspired Art Abhorrd

The Wood & Stone were calld The Holy Things—

And their Sublime Intent given to their Kings

All the Atonements of Jehovah spurnd

And Criminals to Sacrifices Turnd

I am no Homers Hero you all know

I profess not Generosity to a Foe

My Generosity is to my Friends

That for their Friendship I may make amends

The Generous to Enemies promotes their Ends 5

And becomes the Enemy & Betrayer of his Friends

The Angel that presided oer my birth

Said Little creature formd of Joy & Mirth

Go love without the help of any King on Earth

Some Men created for destruction come

Into the World & make the World their home

Be they as Vile & Base as Eer they can

Theyll still be called 'The Worlds' honest man

If I eer Grow to Mans Estate

O Give to me a Womans fate

May I govern all both great & small

Have the last word & take the wall

From Cratetos

Me Time has Crook'd. no good Workman

Is he. Infirm is all that he does

If Men will act like a maid smiling over a Churn

They ought not when it comes to anothers turn

To grow sower at what a friend may utter

Knowing & feeling that we all have need of Butter

False Friends fie fie our Friendship you shant sever

In spite we will be greater friends than ever

Anger & Wrath my bosom rends

I thought them the Errors of friends

But all my limbs with warmth glow

I find them the Errors of the foe

An Epitaph (Come knock your heads against this stone)

Come knock your heads against this stone

For sorrow that poor John Thompsons gone

Another Epitaph (I was buried near this Dike)

I was buried near this Dike

That my Friends may weep as much as they like

Another Epitaph (Here lies John Trot the Friend of all mankind)

Here lies John Trot the Friend of all mankind

He has not left one Enemy behind

Friends were quite hard to find old authors say

But now they stand in every bodies way

He is a Cock would

And would be a Cock if he could

And his legs carried it like a long fork

Reachd all the way from Chichester to York

From York all across Scotland to the Sea

This was a Man of Men as seems to me

Not only in his Mouth his own Soul lay 5

But my Soul also would he bear away

Like as a Pedlar bears his weary Pack

So Stewhards Soul he buckld to his Back

But once alas committing a Mistake

He bore the wr[et]ched Soul of William Blake 10

That he might turn it into Eggs of Gold

But neither Back nor mouth those Eggs could hold

His underjaw dropd as those Eggs he laid

And Stewhards Eggs are addled & decayd

The Examiner whose very name is Huntt 15

Calld Death a Madman trembling for the affront

Like trembling Hare sits on his weakly paper

On which he usd to dance & sport & caper

Yorkshire Jack Hemp & gentle blushing Daw

Clapd Death into the corner of their jaw 20

And Felpham Billy rode out every morn

Horseback with Death over the fields of corn

Who with iron hand cuffd in the afternoon

The Ears of Billys Lawyer & Dragoon

And Cur my Lawyer & Dady Jack Hemps Parson 25

Both went to Law with Death to keep our Ears on

For how to starve Death we had laid a plot

Against his Price but Death was in the Pot

He made them pay his Price alack a day

He knew both Law & Gospel better than they 30

O that I neer ha[d] seen that William Blake

Or could from death Assassinetti wake

We thought Alas that such a thought should be

That Blake would Etch for him & draw for me

For twas a kind of Bargain Screwmuch made 35

That Blakes Designs should be by us displayed

Because he makes designs so very cheap

Then Screwmuch at Blakes soul took a long leap

Twas not a Mouse twas Death in a disguise

And I alas live to weep out mine Eyes 40

And Death sits laughing on their Monuments

On which hes written Recievd the Contents

But I have writ so sorrowful my thought is

His Epitaph for my tears are aqua fortis

Come Artists knock your heads against This stone 45

For Sorrow that our friend Bob Screwmuchs gone

And now the Men upon me smile & Laugh

Ill also write my own dear Epitaph

And Ill be buried near a Dike

That my friends may weep as much as they like 50

Here lies Stewhard the Friend of All &c

Was I angry with Hayley who usd me so ill

Or can I be angry with Felphams old Mill

Or angry with Flaxman or Cromek or Stothard

Or poor Schiavonetti whom they to death botherd

Or angry with Macklin or Boydel or Bowyer 5

Because they did not say O what a Beau ye are

At a Friends Errors Anger shew

Mirth at the Errors of a Foe

Blakes apology for his Catalogue

Having given great offence by writing in Prose

Ill write in Verse as Soft as Bartolloze

Some blush at what others can see no crime in

But nobody sees any harm in Rhyming

Dryden in Rhyme cries Milton only plannd 5

Every Fool shook his bells throughout the land

Tom Cooke cut Hogarth down with his clean graving

Thousands of Connoisseurs with joy ran raving

Thus Hayley on his Toilette seeing the Sope

Cries Homer is very much improvd by Pope 10

Some say Ive given great Provision to my foes

And that now I lead my false friends by the nose

Flaxman & Stothard smelling a sweet savour

Cry Blakified drawing spoils painter & Engraver

While I looking up to my Umbrella 15

Resolvd to be a very contrary fellow

Cry looking quite from Skumference to Center

No one can finish so high as the original Inventor

Thus Poor Schiavonetti died of the Cromek

A thing thats tied around the Examiners neck 20

This is my sweet apology to my friends

That I may put them in mind of their latter Ends

Cosway Frazer & Baldwin of Egypts Lake

Fear to Associate with Blake

This Life is a Warfare against Evils

They heal the sick he casts out Devils

Hayley Flaxman & Stothard are also in doubt

Lest their Virtue should be put to the rout

One grins tother spits & in corners hides

And all the Virtuous have shewn their backsides

My title as a Genius thus is provd

My title as [a] Genius
thus is provd

Not Praisd by Hayley nor by Flaxman lovd

To H (You think Fuseli is not a Great Painter)

You think Fuseli is not a Great Painter Im Glad

This is one of the best compliments he ever had

P—— loved me, not as he lovd his Friends

P——loved me, not as he lovd his Friends

For he lovd them for gain to serve his Ends

He loved me and for no Gain at all

But to rejoice & triumph in my fall

To forgive Enemies H . does pretend 5

Who never in his Life forgave a friend

The Sussex Men are Noted Fools

And weak is their brain pan

I wonder if H——the painter

Is not a Sussex Man

Of H s birth this was the happy lot

His Mother on his Father him begot

On H——ys Friendship

When H——y finds out what you cannot do

That is the Very thing hell set you to

If you break not your Neck tis not his fault

But pecks of poison are not pecks of salt

And when he could not act upon my wife

Hired a Villain to bereave my Life

To H—— (Thy Friendship oft has made my heart to ake)

Thy Friendship oft has made my heart to ake

Do be my Enemy for Friendships sake

On H—— the Pick thank

I write the Rascal Thanks till he & I

With Thanks & Compliments are quite drawn dry

Imitation of Pope A Compliment to the Ladies

Wondrous the Gods more wondrous are the Men

More Wondrous Wondrous still the Cock & Hen

More wondrous still the Table Stool & Chair

But Ah More wondrous still the Charming Fair

William Cowper Esqre

For this is being a Friend just in the nick

Not when hes well but waiting till hes sick

He calls you to his help be you not movd

Untill by being Sick his wants are provd

You see him spend his Soul in Prophecy

Do you believe it a Confounded lie

Till some Bookseller & the Public Fame

Proves there is truth in his extravagant claim

For tis atrocious in a Friend you love

To tell you any thing that he cant prove

And tis most wicked in a Christian Nation

For any Man to pretend to Inspiration

The only Man that eer I knew

Who did not make me almost spew

Was Fuseli he was both Turk & Jew

And so dear Christian Friends how do you do

Madman I have been calld Fool they Call thee

I wonder which they Envy Thee or Me

To F—— (I mock thee not)

I mock thee not tho I by thee am Mocked

Thou callst me Madman but I call thee Blockhead

Hes a Blockhead who wants a proof of what he Can't Percieve

And he's a Fool who tries to make such a Blockhead believe

To Nancy F——

How can I help thy Husbands copying Me

Should that make difference twixt me & Thee

To F—— (You call me Mad tis Folly to do so)

You call me Mad tis Folly to do so

To seek to turn a Madman to a Foe

If you think as you speak you are an Ass

If you do not you are but what you was

S—— in Childhood on the Nursery floor

Was extreme Old & most extremely poor

He is grown old & rich & what he will

He is extreme old & extreme poor still

He has observd the Golden Rule

Till hes become the Golden Fool

To S——d (You all your youth observed the Golden Rule)

You all your Youth observed the Golden Rule

Till youre at last become the golden Fool

I sport with Fortune Merry Blithe & Gay

Like to the Lion Sporting with his Prey

Take you the hide & horns which you may wear 5

Mine is the flesh the bones may be your Share

On S—— (You say reserve & modesty he has)

You say reserve & modesty he has

Whose heart is iron his head wood & his face brass

The Fox the Owl the Beetle & the Bat

By sweet reserve & modesty get Fat

Old acquaintance well renew

old acquaintance well renewt

Prospero had One Caliban & I have Two

On F—— & S——

I found them blind I taught them how to seet

And now they know neither themselves nor met

Tis Excellent to turn a thorn to a pin

A Fool to a bolt a knave to a glass of gin

Mr Stothard to Mr Cromek

For Fortunes favours you your riches bring

But Fortune says she gave you no such thing

Why should you be ungrateful to your friends

Sneaking & Backbiting & Odds & Ends

Mr Cromek to Mr Stothard

Fortune favours the Brave old Proverbs say

But not with Money. that is not the way

Turn back turn back you travel all in vain

Turn thro the iron gate down Sneaking Lane

Cr—— loves artists as he loves his Meat

He loves the Art but tis the Art to Cheat

A Petty sneaking Knave I knew

O Mr Cr—— how do ye do

Cromek Speaks

I always take my judgment from a Fool

Because his judgment is so very Cool

Not prejudicd by feelings great or small

Amiable state he cannot feel at all

English Encouragement of Art

[First reading]

If you mean to Please Every body you will

Set to work both Ignorance & skill

For a great multitude are Ignorantt

And skill to them seems raving & rant

Like putting oil & water into a lamp 5

Twill make a great splutter with smoke & damp

For there is no use as it seems to me

Of lighting a Lamp when you dont wish to see

English Encouragement of Art

[Final reading]

English Encouragement of Art

Cromeks opinions put into Rhyme

If you mean to Please Every body you will

Menny wouver both Bunglishness & skill

For a great Conquest are Bunglery

And Jenous looks to ham like mad Rantery

Like displaying oil & water into a lamp 5

Twill hold forth a huge splutter with smoke & damp

For its all sheer loss as it seems to me

Of displaying up a light when we want not to see

When you look at a picture you always can see

If a Man of Sense has Painted he

Then never flinch but keep up a Jaw

About freedom & jenny suck awa'

And when it smells of the Lamp we can

Say all was owing to the Skilful Man

For the smell of water is but small

So een let Ignorance do it all

The Cunning sures & the Aim at yours

All Pictures thats Panted with Sense & with Thought

Are Painted by Madmen as sure as a Groat

For the Greater the Fool in the Pencil more blest

And when they are drunk they always pant best

Thy never can Rafael it Fuseli it nor Blake it 5

If they cant see an outline pray how can they make it

When Men will draw outlines begin you to jaw them

Madmen see outlines & therefore they draw them

You say their Pictures well Painted be

And yet they are Blockheads you all agree

Thank God I never was sent to school

To be Flogd into following the Style of a Fool

The Errors of a Wise Man make your Rule

Rather than the Perfections of a Fool

Great things are done when Men & Mountains meet

This is not Done by jostling in the Street

If you play a Game of Chance know before you begin

If you are benevolent you will never win

No real Style of Colouring ever appears

But advertising in the News Papers

Look there youll see Sr Joshuas Colouring

Look at his Pictures All has taken Wing

Can there be any thing more mean

More Malice in disguise

Than Praise a Man for doing whatt

That Man does most despise

Reynolds Lectures Exactly sot 5

When he praises Michael Angelo

Sir Joshua Praises Michael Angelo

Sir Joshua Praises Michael Angelot

Tis Christian Mildness when Knaves Praise a Foe

But Twould be Madness all the World would say

Should Michael Angelo praise Sir Joshuat

Christ usd the Pharisees in a rougher way 5

Sir Joshua praised Rubens with a Smile

Sir Jo[s]hua praised Rubens with a Smile

By Calling his the ornamental Style

And yet his praise of Flaxman was the smartest

When he calld him the Ornamental Artist

But sure such ornaments we well may spare 5

As Crooked limbs & louzy heads of hair

Florentine Ingratitude

Sir Joshua sent his own Portrait to

The birth Place of Michael Angelo

And in the hand of the simpering fool

He put a Dirty paper scroll

And on the paper to be polite

Did Sketches by Michel Angelo write

The Florentines said Tis a Dutch English bore

Michael Angelos Name writ on Rembrandts door

The Florentines call it an English Fetch

For Michael Angelo did never Sketch

Every line of his has Meaning

And needs neither Suckling nor Weaning

Tis the trading English Venetian Cant

To speak Michael Angelo & Act Rembrandt

It will set his Dutch friends all in a roar

To write Mch Ang on Rembrandts Door

But You must not bring in your hand a Lie

If you mean that the Florentines should buy

Ghiottos Circle or Apelles Line

Were not the Work of Sketchers drunk with Wine

Nor of the City Clarks merry hearted Fashion

Nor of Sir Isaac Newtons Calculation

Nor of the City Clarks Idle Facilities

Which sprang from Sir Isaac Newtons great Abilities

These Verses were written by a very Envious Man

Who whatever likeness he may have to Michael Angelo

Never can have any to Sir Jehoshuan

A Pitiful Case

The Villain at the Gallows tree

When he is doomd to die

To assuage his misery

In Virtues praise does cry

So Reynolds when he came to die 5

To assuage his bitter woe:

Thus aloud did howl & cry

Michael Angelo Michael Angelo

To the Royal Academy

A strange Erratum in all the Editions

Of Sir Joshua Reynoldss Lectures

Shou[l]d be corrected by the Young Gentlemen

And the Royal Academys Directors

Instead of Michael Angelo 5

Read Rembrandt for it is fit

To make meer common honesty

In all that he has writ

The Cripple every Step Drudges & labours

And says come learn to walk of me Good Neighbours

Sir Joshua in astonishment cries out

See what Great Labour Pain him & Modest Doubt

Newton & Bacon cry being badly Nurst.

He is all Experiments from last to first

He walks & stumbles as if he crep

And how high labourd is every step

I Rubens am a Statesman & a Saint

Deceptions? O no—so I'll learn to Paint

To English Connoisseurs

You must agree that Rubens was a Fool

And yet you make him master of Your School

And give more money for his Slobberings

Than you will give for Rafaels finest Things

I understood Christ was a Carpenter 5

And not a Brewers Servant my good Sir

Swelld limbs with no outline that you can descry

That Stink in the Nose of a Stander by

But all the Pulp washd painted finishd with labour

Of an hundred journeymens how dye do Neighbour

A Pretty Epigram

A Pretty Epigram for the Entertainment of

those who have Paid Great Sums in the

Venetian & Flemish Ooze

Nature & Art in this together Suit

What is Most Grand is always most Minute

Rubens thinks Tables Chairs & Stools are Grand

But Rafael thinks A Head a foot a hand

These are the Idiots chiefest arts

These are the Idiots chiefest artst

To blend & not define the Parts

The Swallow sings in Courts of Kings

That Fools have their high finishings

And this the Princes golden rule 5

The Laborious stumble of a Fool

To make out the parts is the wise mans aim

But to lose them the Fool makes his foolish Game

Rafael Sublime Majestic Graceful Wise

His Executive Power must I despise

Rubens Low Vulgar Stupid Ignorant

His power of Execution I must grant

Learn the Laborious stumble of a Fool 5

And from an Idiots Actions form my rule

Go send your Children to the Slobbering School

On the Great Encouragement

Given by English Nobility & Gentry to Correggio Rubens

Rembrandt Reynolds Gainsborough Catalani

DuCrowe & Dilberry Doodle

As the Ignorant Savage will sell his own Wife

For a Sword or a Cutlass a dagger or Knife

So the Taught Savage Englishman spends his whole Fortune

On a smear or a squall to destroy Picture or Tune

And I call upon Colonel Wardle 5

To give these Rascals a dose of Cawdle

Give pensions to the Learned Pig

Or the Hare playing on a Tabor

Anglus can never see Perfection

But in the Journeymans Labour

When I see a Rubens Rembrant Correggio

I think of the Crippled Harry & Slobbering Joe

And then I question thus are artists rules

To be drawn from the works of two manifest fools

Then God defend us from the Arts I say

Send Battle Murder Sudden Death O pray

Rather than be such a blind Human Fool

Id be an Ass a Hog a Worm a Chair a Stool

Delicate Hands & Heads will never appear

While Titians &c as in the Book of Moonlight p 5

I askd my Dear Friend Orator Prigg

Whats the first part of Oratory he said a great wig

And what is the second then dancing a jig

And bowing profoundly he said a great wig

And what is the third then he snord like a pig

And puffing his cheeks he replied a Great wig

So if a Great Panter with Questions you push

Whats the first Part of Panting hell say a Pant Brush

And what is the second with most modest blush

Hell smile like a Cherub & say
a pant Brush

And what is the third hell bow like a rush

With a lear in his Eye hell reply a Pant Brush

Perhaps this is all a Painter can want

But look yonder that house is the house of Rembrant

O dear Mother outline of knowledge most sage

Whats the First Part of Painting she said Patronage

And what is the second to Please & Engage

She frownd like a Fury & said Patronage

And what is the Third she put off Old Age

And smild like a Syren & said Patronage

To Venetian Artists

That God is Colouring Newton does shew

And the devil is a Black outline all of us know

Perhaps this little Fable may make us merry

A dog went over the water without a wherry

A bone which he had stolen he had in his mouth

He cared not whether the wind was north or south

As he swam he saw the reflection of the bone

This is quite Perfection, one Generalizing Tone

Outline Theres no outline Theres no such thing

All is Chiaro Scuro Poco Piu its all Colouring

Snap. Snap! he has lost shadow & substance too

He had them both before now how do ye do

A great deal better than I was before

Those who taste colouring love it more & more

Great Men & Fools do often me Inspire

But the Greater Fool the Greater Liar

Some people admire the work of a Fool

For its sure to keep your judgment cool

It does not reproach you with want of wit

It is not like a lawyer serving a writ

Her whole Life is an Epigram smack smooth & nobly pend

Platted quite neat to catch applause with a sliding noose at the end

When a Man has Married a Wife

he finds out whether

Her knees & elbows are only

glued together

Grown old in Love from Seven till Seven times Seven

I oft have wishd for Hell for Ease from Heaven

[The Hebrew Nation did not write it]]

The Hebrew Nation did not write it

Avarice & Chastity did shite it

To God (Blake)

If you have formd a Circle to go into

Go into it yourself & see how you would do

Since all the Riches of this World

May be gifts from the Devil & Earthly Kings

I should suspect that I worshipd the Devil

If I thankd my God for Worldly things

To Chloes breast young Cupid slily stole

But he crept in at Myras pocket hole

Nail his neck to the Cross nail it with a nail

Nail his neck to the Cross ye all have power over his tail

A Woman Scaly & a Man all Hairy

Is such a Match as he who dares

Will find the Womans Scales Scrape off the Mans Hairs

The Washer Womans Song

I washd them out & washd them in

And they told me it was a great Sin

The Phoenix to Mrs Butts

I saw a Bird rise from the East

As a Bird rises from its Nest

With sweetest Songs I ever heard

It sang I am Mrs Butts's Bird

And then I saw a Fairy gay 5

That with this beauteous Bird would play

From a golden cloud she came

She calld the sweet Bird by its name

She call'd it Phoenix! Heavens Dove!

She call'd it all the names of Love 10

But the Bird flew fast away

Where little Children sport & play

And they strok'd it with their hands

All their cooe's it understands

The Fairy to my bosom flew 15

Weeping tears of morning dew

I said: Thou foolish whimpring thing

Is not that thy Fairy Ring

Where those Children sport & play

In Fairy fancies light & gay 20

Seem a Child & be a Child

And the Phoenix is beguild

But if thou seem'st a Fairy thing

Then it flies on glancing Wing

WILLIAM BLAKE

"“When Klopstock England defied”
N 1 (pencil)
G. Keynes in his edition omitted 4 lines after line 28 as illegible. D. Erdman printed them in full. He dated the poem as
ca
1797-99, and mentioned the well known fact that "Klopstock had been declaring to English visitors that their language was incapable of the epic grandeur of hexameters, and be had spoken with scorn of English writers' coarseness of tone traceable to Swift. Blake defiantly glories in his English tone in the present satire. When he “sat down to write” it was evidently the “strong heroic verse” of Vala: compare “terrible Blake” and the “oath that made heavn quake” (lines 2 and 5) with the “terrible Sentence” and heaven quaking of the opening lines of Vala."
10 himself] self is an insertion above the line
13-14 added in margin
15 intripled] ninefold 1
st rdg del

16 churn] burn 1
st rdg del

17 And his bowels] They 1
st rdg del;
And 2
d rdg del
round]
mended from around

29 From pity then] Then after 1
st rdg del

30 ninefold
inserted above the line

31 rose up from] sat down to 1
st rdg del
31-32
written in margin to replace the following two lines, canceled with two slanting strokes:

If thus Blake could Shite

What Klopstock did write

that they might make] to make 1
st rdg

5 fie fie] O no 1st rdg del you shant] neer shall 1
st rdg del

6 In spite] For now 1
st rdg del

Blakes apology for his Catalogue
N 62-63, 65

First and much revised draft on pp 62 and 63; title on p 62; fair copy, without title, on p 65; Keynes, pp 595-596, separates out the first draft (with one mistake, the including of “with joy” in line 4), gives a composite of first and revised drafts on pp 554-555, and the fair copy on pp 555-556, but without all Blake's renumbering of lines for rearrangement.

Here we give the fair copy, with only a selection of earlier readings in the notes:

2 Bartolloze] feather Pillows 1st rdg del

8] How many Thousand Connoisseurs ran raving 1 st rdg

10 Cries] Says 1st rdg

11-12 added first on p 63 (as direct statement) 11 Some say] added in fair copy

12 that] added in fair copy nose] toes 1st rdg del

17 looking quite] Tom Cooke proves 1st rdg del; Looking up 2nd rdg Skumference] Circumference 1st rdg del

20 The following del lines in the revised 1st draft were evidently meant as a paraphrase of the Examiner's attack:

who cries all art is a fraud & Genius a trick

And Blake is an unfortunate Lunatic

The title was then crowded in above this addition, “Blakes apology” being his defense against the Examiner.

“
"Cosway Frazer & Baldwin of Egypts Lake..."
N 37

7 tother] one 1
st rdg del

8 Virtuous] Righteous 1
st rdg del

1 as a genius] as an[Artist] ms rdg

A peck of poisons not a peck of salt 1
st rdg

“
He has observd the Golden Rule...
” This epigram is written above of the title
The Golden Rule
and four erased lines that could be read as:

The Golden Rule.

?Sporting with ?golden ?Fortune

?Blithe & gay Like to the Lion sporting with his prey

With Fortune sporting Merry Blithe & gay

Like to the Lion sporting with his prey a Sparrow

4 Jenny suck awa'] for Je ne sais quois

5 can] will 1
st rdg del

1 I Rubens am . . . &] Rubens had been . . . or 1
st rdg

2 1
st rdg del
;

He mixd them both & so he Learnd to Paint

Satiric verses and epigrams from Blake's Notebook#“I askd my Dear Friend Orator Prigg...”|"I askd my Dear Friend Orator Prigg..."]] N 60

6 puffing his cheeks he replied] smild like a Cherub & said 1
st rdg

10 smile like a Cherub & say] nod wink & smile & reply 1
st rdg

At the end the ms reads “&c / to come in Barry a Poem”, an indication that these verses are but a patch made for a poem (now lost, or never finished) on the rebellious Academician James Barry.

A variant of the preceding stanzas, perhaps meant to replace them, perhaps to follow them, in “Barry a Poem”.

1-2 Then Reynolds said O woman most sage O dear Mother outline be not in a Rage 1
st rdg

3 mispunctuated in Keynes; the sense would require: “And what is the second—to Please & Engage?”

To Venetian Artists
N 61

Lines 1-2 are an insertion written on p 60 and followed by the link “Perhaps this little Fable &c”.

8 one Generalizing Tone] heres two for one 1
st rdg
; what a brilliant tone 2
nd rdg del

9-10 a marginal insertion (On "poco piu" see note below on Public Address, p 60.)

11 Snap. Snap! he has] He snapd & 1 st rdg del; Then he snapd & 2
nd rdg del

14 Those who taste colouring] Ive tasted shadow & 1
st rdg del

"Her whole Life is an Epigram smack smooth & nobly pend..."
N 100 rev

Date uncertain.

1 smack smooth] colloq for “perfectly smooth, level, or even with the surface”—here applying to “Epigram” and, secondarily, to “pend”

nobly]
begun as
nea
but then mended
(avoiding anticipation of “neat” in the next line)

Colophon

This archival text follows the English Wikisource page Satiric_verses_and_epigrams_from_Blake%27s_Notebook, rendered or exported on June 2, 2026. The underlying text is William Blake's public-domain work; the Wikisource transcription layer is preserved here as an archival public source witness.

Source URL: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Satiric_verses_and_epigrams_from_Blake%27s_Notebook

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Compiled and formatted for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.

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