William Blake

“ I'll also write my own dear epitaph,
And I'll be buried near a dyke
50 That my friends may weep as much as they like:
'Here lies Stewhard the Friend of all [Mankind;
He has not left one enemy behind.] ”

“ Blake manuscript - Notebook - page 022 Edited text: [1]
* * *
...AND his legs carried it like a long fork,
Reached 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.
5 Not only in his Mouth his own Soul lay,
But my Soul also would he bear away.
Like as a Pedlar bears his weary Pack,
So Stewhard's Soul he buckled to his back.
But once, alas ! committing a mistake,
10 He bore the wretched Soul of William Blake
That he might turn it into eggs of gold;
But neither back nor mouth those eggs could hold. ”

“ The ears of Billy's Lawyer and Dragoon.
25 And Cur my lawyer, and Daddy, Jack Hemp's parson,
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. ”