DIARY ACCOUNT OF BLAKE
Blake's own theories but failed. And Words[worth] was finally set down as a pagan. But still with great praise as the greatest poet of the page. [Cf. Appendix, pp. 159 et seq.']
Jacob Boehmen was spoken of as a divinely inspired Man. Bl[ake] praised too the figures in Law's transln. as being very beautiful. Mich. Angelo cod. not have done better.—Tho' he spoke of his happiness he spoke of past sufferings & of sufferings as necessary—"There is suffering in Heaven for where there is the capacity of enjoyment, there is the capacity of pain."
I have been interrupd by a call from Talfourd in writing this account. And I can not now recollect any distinct remarks, but as Bl[ake] has invited me to go & see him I shall possibly have an opportunity again of noting what he says And I may be able hereafter to throw connection, if not system, into what I have written above. I feel great admiration & respect for him. He is certainly a most amiable man. A good creature & of his poetical & pictorial genius there is no doubt I believe in the minds of judges. Wordsworth & Lamb like his poems & the Aders his paintings.
A few other detached thoughts occur to me.
Bacon, Locke & Newton are the three great teachers of Atheism & of Satan's doctrine.
Everything is Atheism which assumes the reality of the Natural & Unspiritual world.
Irving He is a highly gifted man. He is a sent man, but they who are sent sometimes go further than they ought.
Dante saw Devils where I see none. I see only good. I saw nothing but good in Calvin's house—better than in Luther's; he had harlots.
Swedenborg. Parts of his scheme are dangerous. His sexual religion is dangerous.
