John Blake

“ Of the other's labour. This is philosophy;
These are the tricks of the world; but the pure soul
Shall mount on native wings, disdaining little sport,
And cut a path into the heaven of glory,
Leaving a track of light for men to wonder at.
I'm glad my father does not hear me talk;
You can find friendly excuses for me, Chandos.
But do you not think, Sir John, that if it please
The Almighty to stretch out my span of life,
I shall with pleasure view a glorious action,
Which my youth master'd?
Chandos.
Considerate age, my Lord, views motives,
And not acts ”

“ It is remarkable that hardly any British statesman of equal standing has spent a shorter time in public office than Kdward Blake. For this there were various reasons. Blake was lacking in certain qualities essential to the politician. He had little humour, and a rather mordant wit. His really warm humanity lacked the geniality which distinguished his great foeman, Sir John Macdonald. For these reasons he never attracted to himself any large personal following. ”

“ There is much that is weak, and something that is strong, and a great deal that is wild and mad, and all so strangely mingled, that no meaning can be assigned to it; it seems like a lamentation over the disasters which came on England during the reign of King John.
Though Blake lost himself a little in the enchanted region of song, he seems not to have neglected to make himself master of the graver, or to have forgotten his love of designs and sketches. He was a dutiful servant to Basire, and he studied occasionally under Flaxman and Fuseli ”

“ What makes the genius of William Blake so salutary a revolutionary influence is the fact that while contending so savagely against puritanical stupidity, he himself preserves to the end, his guilelessness and purity of heart.
There are admirable writers and philosophers, whose work on behalf of the liberation of humanity is rendered less disinterested by the fact that they are fighting for their personal inclinations rather than for the happiness of the world at large. ”

“ It would be a grievous and ludicrous mistake to associate the child-cult which runs like a thread of filmy star-light through the work of William Blake with the somewhat strained and fantastic attitude of child-worship which inspires such poetry as Francis Thompson's "Love in Dian's Lap," and gives a ridiculous and affected air to so many of our little ones themselves. The child of Blake's imagination is the immortal and undying child to be found in the heart of every man and every woman. ”

“ The remainder of the artist’s life is not outwardly eventful. In 1813 he formed, through the introduction of George Cumberland of Bristol, a valuable friendship with John Linnell and other rising water-colour painters. Amongst the group Blake seems to have found special sympathy in the society of John Varley, who, himself addicted to astrology, encouraged Blake to cultivate his gift of inspired vision ”

“ No poet gives one the impression of greater strength than William Blake; and this is emphasised by the very simplicity and childishness of his style. Only out of the strength of a lion could come such honeyed gentleness. And if he is one of the strongest among poets he is also one of the happiest.
Genuine happiness—happiness that is at the same time intellectual and spontaneous—is far rarer in poetry than one might suppose. Such happiness has nothing necessarily to do with an optimistic philosophy or even with faith in God. ”

“ In the early ages of the world, the result without doubt would be some weird deification of the clairvoyant prophet. William Blake would become a myth, a legend, an avatar of the divine Being, a Buddha, a Zoroaster, a wandering Dionysus. As it is, we are forced to confine ourselves to the fascinating pleasure of watching in individual cases, this or that modern soul, "touched to fine issues," meeting for the first time, as it may often happen, this century-buried incarnation of their own most evasive dreams. ”

“ One associates the poetry of William Blake, not with the mountain peaks and gorgeous foliage and rushing torrents of a landscape that clamours to be admired and would fain overpower us with its picturesque appeal, but with the quietest, gentlest, softest, least assuming background to that "going forth" to our work, "and our labour until the evening," which is the normal destiny of man. ”

“ Naturally, we can’t go to the bat against this gang with suspicions; we’d probably land in jail ourselves for criminal libel, instead of landing a few of them in jail, as we hope to do. But if we can prove up—if we can get hold of the rest of the evidence—it’ll make one of the sweetest beats that was ever pulled off in this town.
“Of course, as you can see, John W. Blake is the principal figure in the whole intrigue, just as the Pearl Street line is the key to the merger scheme. But you stay away from Blake. ”

“ Sir John Macdonald's political opponents have alleged that his offer of so exalted a position as a Superior Court Judgeship to so young a man was prompted by political expediency, and a desire to mollify the powerful opposition of Edward Blake in the House of Commons. The allegation, unless supported by stronger evidence than has yet been produced, is not creditable to those who make it. ”

“ After all, it is in the final impression produced upon our senses and intellect by a great artist, and not in any particular quality of a particular work of art, that—unless we are pedantic virtuosos—we weigh and judge what we have gained. And what we have gained by William Blake cannot be over-estimated. ”

“ As an Equity Judge Mr. Blake has fully sustained the high reputation which previous to his elevation he had acquired at the Bar. His tenure of office has been marked by unwearied diligence, careful and patient investigation of authorities, rigid conscientiousness, and that high sense of the dignity of the judicial position for which the Ontario Bench has long been distinguished. His judgments display all the qualities of a profound and painstaking jurist. They are couched in a phraseology which is always clear, and which not unfrequently rises to eloquence. ”

“ Blake, after his retirement from the Bench, sought relief from his sufferings in milder climes. He returned to Canada in 1869, but it was evident that his end was not far distant. He died in Toronto, on the 17th of November, 1870. The late Chancellor Vankoughnet paid an eloquent tribute to his memory. "With an intellect fitting him to grasp more readily than most men the whole of a case," said Mr. ”

“ Blake said of the flea, that were that lively little fellow the size of an elephant, he was quite sure, from the calculations he had made of his wonderful strength, that he could bound from Dover to Calais in one leap. [7] Whatever may be the public opinion hereafter of Blake's talents, when his enemies are dead, I will not presume to predict; [8] but this I am certain of, that on the score of industry at least, many artists must strike to him. ”

“ The picture is, notwithstanding appearances, a modern one. But if you can divest yourself of the general prejudice that exists against contemporary talents, you will see a work that would have done honour to any school, at any period." [5]
In 1810, Stothard, to his great surprise, found that Blake had engraved and published a plate of the same size, in some respects bearing a similarity to his own. ”

“ If you break not your Neck tis not his fault
But pecks of poison are not pecks of salt [3]
5And when he could not act upon my wife
Hired a Villain to bereave my Life
Notes ↑ The Poetical Works of William Blake, including the unpublished French Revolution together with the Minor Prophetic Books and Selections from The Four Zoas, Milton & Jerusalem; edited with an introduction and textual notes by John Sampson, Hon. D.Litt. Oxon., 1862–1931. London, New York: Oxford University Press, 1908. ↑ "The Complete Poetry & Prose of William Blake", ed. by David V. Erdman, Anchor Books, 1988, p. ”

“ Education, Law Reform and all progressive measures, they took an earnest part—and in the struggle with Lord Metcalfe and his Tory abettors for the establishment of British Parliamentary Government in Canada, they did excellent service to the popular cause. Mr. Blake, at the general election of 1844, was the Reform candidate for the second Riding of York—now the county of Peel—but was defeated by a narrow majority on the second day of polling by his Tory opponent, Mr. George Duggan. A little later, he contested unsuccessfully the county of Simcoe, in opposition to the Hon. ”

“ Thy widowed virgins weep beneath thy shades! Thy aged fathers gird themselves for war! The sucking infant lives to die in battle; the weeping mother feeds him for the slaughter! The husbandman doth leave his bending harvest! ”

“ He continued to fight the battles of Reform at all the local contests, but, though frequently importuned to reënter Parliament, preferred to remain in private life, until 1849. The constituency in which he resided, which is now South Ontario, was then the East Riding of York. The sitting member, up to the month of September, 1849, was the Hon. William Hume Blake, of whom Mr. Perry was of course a vigorous supporter. Mr. Blake was Solicitor-General in the Government, but at this juncture resigned his portfolio to accept the Chancellorship of Upper Canada. Mr. ”

“ If the greedy, ambitious and unscrupulous politicians who draw the people into war were forced to shoulder the rifle and take position in the front line of battle, then we would have a truly humane war, because they would then find a way to settle all differences without resorting to force of arms. ”

“ JUSTICE hath heaved a sword to plunge in Albion's breast; for Albion's sins are crimson-dyed, and the red scourge follows her desolate sons. Then Patriot rose; full oft did Patriot rise, when Tyranny hath stained fair Albion's breast with her own children's gore. Round his majestic feet deep thunders roll: each heart does tremble, and each knee grows slack. The stars of heaven tremble; the roaring voice of war, the trumpet, calls to battle. Brother in brother's blood must bathe, rivers of death. ”

“ Great men meet at Geneva; great men meet at the Hague; great men meet to discuss questions of International Law; all are lovers of peace, all love humanity, all are determined to reduce the sufferings of mankind to a minimum in times of war, but lay at their feet the lifeless form of a child mutilated by an English shell, or a savage armed with an English rifle, and all will throw up their hands in horror, and cry out "what a pity! But the English are a civilized people, and we must support them." ”

“ Will the Boers ever forget the sufferings and torture heaped upon their forefathers in Cape Colony? Will they ever forget what their fathers and mothers had to endure in Natal? Will they ever forget what they themselves have had to suffer in the Transvaal and Free State? Will they ever forget the 3,723 patriots who were killed or died of wounds during the late South African War? Will they ever forget the 22,000 women and children who were murdered in the English prison camps? Will they ever forget the many martyrs who were tied hand and foot, and deliberately shot in cold blood? ”

“ So our English Government in Washington waited some eighty-five years for the opportunity to apologize to the British Government for the terrible thrashing that the famous Andrew Jackson gave General Pakenham and his English army at Chalmette, New Orleans.
It seems to me that this is enough to bring the blush of shame to the cheeks of every true American. If the people of the United States of America cannot find enough true Americans to fill the highest office in their gift, then the time has arrived when they should change their name and cease to call themselves Americans. ”

“ Yes, they are noble women, brave and patriotic women, the very women whom the English strove so hard to exterminate and whom they did murder by thousands in those prison camps.
So long as the Boer woman lives so long will there be a race of liberty-loving people in South Africa, so long will there be great Boer generals and fighting patriots daily born, and sure it is that such fighting blood will assert its independence. No one is more certain of this than Roberts, Kitchener, Joe Chamberlain, Alfred Milner and the thousands of other women-fighters in England. ”

“ I too have a picture of my father and the copy of his first love-verses; but they have been mine long. Blake is a real name, I assure you, and a most extraordinary man, if he is still living. He is the Robert [William] Blake whose wild designs accompany a splendid folio edition of the "Night Thoughts," which you may have seen, in one of which he pictures the parting of soul and body by a solid mass of human form floating off, God knows how, from a lumpish mass (fac-simile to itself) left behind on the dying bed. ”

“ Had the Boers of the Free State combined and entered Cape Colony, General Buller would have given up all hope of relieving Ladysmith, and General White would have been a prisoner of war. What a fatal, fatal mistake it was to give so much consideration to the personal feelings of others, when the very life of the land was at stake! There were so many ways by which the Boers could have beaten the English and maintained the independence of the two little Republics, that it is positively painful for me to think or write about the incidents and outcome of the war. ”