The reprint of Borrow's Bible in Spain' simultaneously with The Letters of Richard Ford' is opportune as throwing more light on a period which contrasts so strongly with the Spain of to-day. This extraordinary man, with the combined instincts of a gipsy and a local preacher, travelled all over Spain, living the life of its own vagabonds, and honestly believed, as Ford himself says, that he was converting the country by the distribution of a Spanish translation of the Bible. His descriptions are supported by Ford, who says in several of his letters that he knew him to have passed over the same routes and seen the same people as himself. Even those who knew the country a generation later, when more liberal views prevailed, find it difficult to believe that, had the people understood the abuse of all they held sacred which he represents himself as pouring out on all occasions, he could have come alive out of the country. If he could return and see the present condition of religious liberty in Spain, he would doubtless ascribe it to the Bibles which he distributed.

At the beginning of the twentieth century we may confidently say that Spain's golden age is before her, for she has never yet been truly one nation as she is now, nor has she ever had education and enlightenment placed in the hands of her humblest peasants as it is to-day. Marvellous as her progress has been in the last forty years, she has only set her feet on the lowest rungs of the ladder she is mounting. It is well for us to remember that, whether the fact be due to her large infusion of Gothic blood, or perhaps even some earlier relationship, there is an inherent sympathy between the Spanish nation and our own. Englishmen and Englishwomen love the country when they know it, and settle there willingly, while the Spaniards are unceasing in their admiration of English institutions. Their men of business are doing all in their power to strengthen the bonds of good fellowship; and a more intimate acquaintance with the nation which, like our own, adopts 'dignity, loyalty, and the love of God' as its ideal, should enable England and Spain to work side by side in the civilisation of the future.

Art. II.-WILLIAM BLAKE, POET AND PAINTER. 1. The Poems of William Blake. Edited by W. B. Yeats. London: Lawrence and Bullen, 1893.

2. The Poetical Works of William Blake. A new and verbatim text from the originals, with notes and prefaces by J. Sampson. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1905. 3. The Lyrical Poems of William Blake. Text by John Sampson, with an introduction by Walter Raleigh. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1905.

4. The Poetical Works of William Blake.

Edited by

Edwin J. Ellis. Two vols. London: Chatto, 1906. 5. The Prophetic Books of William Blake: Jerusalem. Milton. Edited by E. R. D. Maclagan and A. G. B. Russell. London: Bullen, 1904, 1907.

6. William Blake.

Vol. I: Illustrations of the Book of Job. With a general introduction by Laurence Binyon. London: Methuen, 1906.

7. The Letters of William Blake, together with a Life by Frederick Tatham. Edited from original manuscripts, with an introduction and notes, by A. G. B. Russell. London: Methuen, 1906.

8. William Blake: a Critical Essay. By A. C. Swinburne. London: Chatto, 1866. (New edition 1906.) 9. The Life of William Blake. By Alexander Gilchrist. New edition, with an introduction by W. Graham Robertson. London: Lane, 1907.

10. Die Mystik, die Künstler, und das Leben. By Rudolf Kassner. Leipzig, 1900. (pp. 14-56 William Blake.') 11. Un Maître de l'Art: Blake le Visionnaire. By François Benoît. Paris: Laurens, 1907.

12. William Blake. By Arthur Symons. London: Constable, 1907.

13. William Blake; Mysticisme et Poésie. By P. Berger Paris: Soc. Franç. d'Imprimerie et Librairie, 1907.

14. The Real Blake. By Edwin J. Ellis: London: Chatto, 1907.

15. Die Visionäre Kunstphilosophie von W. Blake. Englisch von A. G. B. Russell. Deutsch von S. Zweig, 1906. (Edinburgh Review,' Jan. 1906.)

And other works.

BLAKE believed imagination, purified from sense deceptions and complete as heaven, to be the only reality; this

faculty, he held, was God suffering in each and every The apparent universe, its deplorable counterfeit, enshrouded this arcanum, and, deluding us, distracted attention from perfect things. Those who view the results of scientific enquiry and reasoning as two islands gradually rising out of the sea of ignorance, he considered so distraught as to be practically blind. Nevertheless it seems likely that they, whom this defiance might have made reluctant to enter his service, will effect most for his glory. The scholarship and logic of Mr Sampson have at last provided an authoritative text of his definitely metrical writings. This text, without its admirable notes, forms the handy volume issued by the Clarendon Press, which should become the edition for all who are not specialists. Will Prof. Raleigh's introduction to it be ultimately retained? A better can, I think, be conceived, though perhaps none yet written is more suitable. Many would prefer Blake the Man' and 'Blake the Poet' from Mr Binyon's general introduction to the Illustrations of the Book of Job.' Their tone is more sympathetic; yet are they not too slight? Mr Symons is absorbed by the philosopher, Mr Yeats by the saint and his own winsome faith in him; neither of their essays could serve to introduce the poet, while Mr Swinburne's chapter on the lyrical poems, though the best appreciation of them, is loaded with now obsolete controversy.

In respect to Blake the prophet and teacher, it cannot be pretended that anything wholly satisfying has appeared. Mr Swinburne, in a fine frenzy, sowed the seed of interpretation; Mr Yeats and Mr Ellis watered and manured; Mr Russell and Mr Maclagan have begun binding the harvest into wieldy bundles, of which their editions of Jerusalem' and 'Milton' are the first; but the great sheaf will be an edition of all Blake's prose writings, supplemented by a collection of passages as good as prose from the prophetic books, and preceded by such another sane, sympathetic, lucid, and modest introduction.

In a bulky volume which has come into my hands since this review was written, Mr Paul Berger has produced an account of Blake and his poetical works more complete than anything since the three volumes of the

Quaritch edition; while his commentary on the prophetic books is the most readable and consequent that we yet have, and his pages on the relation of Blake to other mystics are extremely interesting. Still, he too has to confess that his logic and scholarship could not, even if they would, furnish a paraphrase, so that I prefer to print my opinion concerning the intelligibility of large portions of these books; and the more so since he owns that many passages might lend themselves equally well to divergent interpretations, which, I suppose, implies that, in the absence of any sure clue to the author's meaning, critics are at liberty to read into his words the sense that best rewards their ingenuity. He appears occasionally to have lent an uncritical credence to Mr Ellis and Mr Yeats, even where Mr Sampson has corrected them, though he professes to have benefited by this latter's work.

Nothing is more difficult than to speak reasonably about Blake as an artist. Even Rossetti exaggerates and begs the principal questions. All the essayists are interesting about the poet, because, by trying to interpret his words, they are led to think for themselves. But a picture yields up its secret at once; and about his designs anything more than a description of the subject is extremely rare and usually trite, if it be not absurd. Mr Binyon, by taking an unusually wide sweep for his comparisons, has certainly contrived to be eloquent, pleasing, and suggestive. Mr Russell, with great care and lucidity, has illustrated the general tendency of the religion and science of art professed by Blake at the time of his artistic maturity' from statements gleaned up and down his writings. However, shortcomings such as those of Blake never afflicted artists in Egypt, Syria, or Japan; and the general tendency of his professions does not correspond with his results, though it may help to explain them; so it will, we may hope, prove possible to focus his creative character more clearly yet. When we have the final books about Blake, one will consist of Tatham's 'Life' and the testimonies of Dr Malkin, Crabb Robinson, Linnell, and others, together with his own letters, and will supersede Gilchrist's diffuse and irritating chatter. The volume, excellently edited by Mr Russell, is a large instalment of this, to which should be added the

records from contemporary sources' forming the second half of Mr Symon's book, as well as those which he has unaccountably omitted, such as Palmer's and Calvert's.

A subject which breeds so much wonder leaves room besides for an imaginary portrait. Why has Mr Ellis given us his 'Real Blake' in lieu of this? It has been said of Michelet, the historian, il sait tout et il rêve'; Mr Ellis has at least read everything and dreamed. He has been laughed at, sneered at, and scorned, and in a sense one must admit that he deserves it. Yet what divinations, what pregnant reflections, he has given us. What play and elasticity he promotes in our minds! If he could only humble himself sufficiently to do away with the pretences of pedantic criticism and scholarly editing, and dream for the sake of dreaming, he might write us a most acceptable imaginary Blake, as valuable in its way as Lavengro' would be without its philological pretensions and mock superiority.

The temptation, in writing of Blake, is to cover too much ground; he is suggestive in so many directions. Hence the unwieldy prolixity of some of these books; still more of them glow with generous extravagances generated by championing a man most lovable and wellnigh unique against the whole world. Certainly too much has been made of him, while, in spite of the many volumes published, we are still without four books which we most obviously need. My object in the following article has been to underline some main points and proportions that should, I think, prove useful to those who attempt to supply our remaining needs, as Mr Sampson has supplied a text of the poems. Those needs are: a complete and definitive edition of Blake's prose works; his letters, together with all contemporary testimonies about him; a collection of all his principal prints and drawings as adequately reproduced as the illustrations to the Book of Job prefaced by Mr Binyon (the selection should be made with severe regard to their æsthetic interest); the continuation of Messrs Russell and Maclagan's enterprise in printing the prophetic books; and possibly an imaginary portrait; for, when all we can know about Blake is compendiously brought together, it will probably prove more profitable to dream about him than to contemplate the bare facts. He