The Norton Anthology of English literature. Volume 2

As I was walking among the fires of hell, delighted with the enjoyments of Genius, which to Angels look like torment and insanity, I collected some of their Proverbs; thinking that as the sayings used in a nation mark its character, so the Proverbs of Hell shew the nature of Infernal wisdom better than any description of buildings or garments.

When I came home, on the abyss of the five senses, where a flat sided steep frowns over the present world, I saw a mighty Devil folded in black clouds, hovering on the sides of the rock; with cor [PLATE 7]roding fires he wrote the following sentence2 now perceived by the minds of men, & read by them on earth:

How do you know but ev'ry Bird that cuts the airy way, Is an immense world of delight, clos'd by your senses five?

Proverbs of Hell3

In seed time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy. Drive your cart and your plow over the bones of the dead. The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom. Prudence is a rich ugly old maid courted by Incapacity.

5 He who desires but acts not, breeds pestilence. The cut worm forgives the plow. Dip him in the river who loves water. A fool sees not the same tree that a wise man sees. He whose face gives no light, shall never become a star.

10 Eternity is in love with the productions of time. The busy bee has no time for sorrow. The hours of folly are measur'd by the clock; but of wisdom, no clock can

measure. All wholsom food is caught without a net or a trap. Bring out number, weight, & measure in a year of dearth.

15 No bird soars too high, if he soars with his own wings. A dead body revenges not injuries. The most sublime act is to set another before you. If the fool would persist in his folly he would become wise.

9. The Latin ratio means both "reason" and "sum." 2. The "mighty Devil" is Blake, as he sees himself Blake applies the term to the 18th-century view, reflected in the shiny plate on which he is etching following the empiricist philosophy of John Locke, this very passage with "corroding fires," i.e., the that the content of the mind, on which the faculty acid used in the etching process. See also the third of reason operates, is limited to the sum of the from last sentence in plate 14. experience acquired by the five senses. 3. A "diabolic" version of the Book of Proverbs in 1. A parody of what Swedenborg called "memo-the Old Testament, which also incorporates sly rable relations" of his literal-minded visions of the allusions to 18th-century books of piety such as eternal world. Isaac Watts's Divine Songs.

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114 / WILLIAM BLAKE

Folly is the cloke of knavery. Shame is Pride's cloke.

PLATE 8

Prisons are built with stones of Law, Brothels with bricks of Religion.

The pride of the peacock is the glory of God.

The lust of the goat is the bounty of God.

The wrath of the lion is the wisdom of God.

The nakedness of woman is the work of God. Excess of sorrow laughs. Excess of joy weeps.

The roaring of lions, the howling of wolves, the raging of the stormy sea, and the destructive sword, are portions of eternity too great for the eye of man.

The fox condemns the trap, not himself.

Joys impregnate. Sorrows bring forth. Let man wear the fell of the lion, woman the fleece of the sheep.

The bird a nest, the spider a web, man friendship.

The selfish smiling fool & the sullen frowning fool shall be both thought wise, that they may be a rod. What is now proved was once only imagin'd. The rat, the mouse, the fox, the rabbit watch the roots; the lion, the tyger, the horse, the elephant, watch the fruits. The cistern contains; the fountain overflows. One thought fills immensity. Always be ready to speak your mind, and a base man will avoid you. Every thing possible to be believ'd is an image of truth. The eagle never lost so much time as when he submitted to learn of the crow.

PLATE 9

The fox provides for himself, but God provides for the lion.

Think in the morning, Act in the noon, Eat in the evening, Sleep in the night.

He who has sufferd you to impose on him knows you.

As the plow follows words, so God rewards prayers.

The tygers of wrath are wiser than the horses of instruction.

Expect poison from the standing water.

You never know what is enough unless you know what is more than enough. Listen to the fool's reproach! it is a kingly title! The eyes of fire, the nostrils of air, the mouth of water, the beard of earth. The weak in courage is strong in cunning. The apple tree never asks the beech how he shall grow, nor the lion the

horse, how he shall take his prey. The thankful reciever bears a plentiful harvest. If others had not been foolish, we should be so. The soul of sweet delight can never be defil'd. When thou seest an Eagle, thou seest a portion of Genius; lift up thy head! As the catterpiller chooses the fairest leaves to lay her eggs on, so the priest

lays his curse on the fairest joys.

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