New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-01-18
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
A FRIEND OF WILLIAM BLAKE.

THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF SAMUEL PALMER;
PAINTER AND ETNIlER. Written and hm 1oS
by a. II. Palmer. illustrated. 7vo, PIP; XIII a.
London : Sccley & CO. New York Macmillan a Co.
In one of his notebooks. Samuel Palmer de-
scrbes visit which he and John Linnen once paid
TO William Blake We found him lame in bed,
he says, of scadcd foot Tor leg. There. not
inactive. though siXty-sevcn years old. but hard
working on a bed covered with books. sat he up
like one Of the antique patriarchs. or dying
Michael Angelo Thus and there he making
in the leaves Of a great book ioiol the sub
FINEST designs from his mot superior Dante. lie
said he began them with fear and trembling.
said 20, / have enough of fear and trembling.
Then, said he you'll do" This anecdotc was
written in 1924 before Palmer was twenty II
strikes the keynote to his character and eX-
plains at once how il was that a man belonging
as he did to a profession that has produced few
Cuotable letter-writCrs. could vet leave the ma
terial for volume large and "a interesting as
that which has just issued from the press under
the elitorship Of Mr.. A. H. Palmer.
Samuel Palmer was a who thought all
his life long lie was born early in the century,
in 1s05-and grew up with an artistic generation
that would have held up its hands IN holy
horror at the technical experiments, void of all
spiritual content. which are favored now Var
lev Mulready, Linnell, and men of that Tx, were
among his closest associates during the formative
period of his life. Seeing this, we can speculate
for moment as to why he did not. like most
Of the artists of his dav, develop into what with
q new application OF Mr.. Pater's word. might be
called prosateur"; but remembering also that
Blake was his friend, we can easily understand
his becoming a poet instead, poet of the race
of Claude. Poussin and Turner. The English have
had few men like him. Coming early under the
influence of a man who saw visions and dreamed
dreams whose savings oracuar. mystic as
the utterances OF a seer, the spiritual feelings
rooted deep in his character were stimulated anu
intensified He never initiated his 'dol. Ills
son combats successfully the assertion, maze
after Palmers death. that the latter was
veteran water-coor painter Of the school OF blake
and Lnnell, from each of whom he borrowed
much that made him singular among his Fellows
At the outset when the acquaintance between
Palmer and Blake was begun. and when the
htters dwelling known as the House OF
the Interpreter" among the young artists WHO
freouented il. Palmer imbibed some strange notions
in that place of fantasies and tired 10 put 'hehl
into practice In his twenty-frst year we read
OF his going into Kent TO paint Ruth ana
n Naomi Before Bethlehem and of his wrestling
in PRAYER there for inspiration from God. The
mixtures. sad to relate, very bad. But TINS
morbid procedure. INDUCED in at time when ne
should have been studying the alphabet OF art
in the schools wore off very sOon and what was
left of the Blake influence. and survived was q
passionate and religious love Of nature that maue
his work lofty in purpose and saturated IT with
spirit.
There remained also. to the day of his DEATH an
immense reverence for Blake, and among the nest
of his letters are those to Mrs Gilchrist, written
in s62. when the wcll-lInown Life" was coming
out They are trimming with enthusiasm lor
his friend One Characteristic anecdote he tells
bears upon the Eighty way of saying uhhgs
which had assisted in gaining for Blake the repu-
tation Of insanity Being irrtated by the eN-
clusiyely scientific talk at friends house. Which
talk had turned on the vastness OF space ic
cried out 1T is false walked the other evening
to the end of the earth, and touched the SKY win
nv finger'n Palmer notes that this was simply
an outburst of eXaggeratiOn caused by annoyance
Some wears later, when Doctor Richardson made
his preposterous statement that Blake had spent
thirty wears in madhouse, he wrote To Inc
Atbenaeum, declaring that the author OF tie
"Songs of Innocence was one of the sanest' II
not the most thoroughly sane man he mad ever
known 1t is curious to learn from one OF MS
letters TO MIS- Gilchrist that "Blakes word was
.precison'- motto hardly TO be expected OF an
insane man. There is another story, told IN
footnote (page pa, which Palmer had from fIaA-
man. and which illustrates how shrewd man
Blake was. for all bis vagares. "One DAY fiaA-
man called on the old painter and eald' In 'nc
course OF conversation. How do you get on with
Fusel Blake? I can't get on with him at ALL
He swears So Why said the other, i swear
at him again. But the oldest Of all that Pal
mer tells u.s. In connection with Blake. Is MS
suggestion sent to Mrs. Gilchrist apropos Of the
Life $40 bright thoughts have come to me- "
no writes since nv boy left us his eldest son.
whom he idolized had died the year before. but
animated bv reading the Ms something did strike
me which may be worthy of consldcratlon-a
nreface. however short, by Mr. Carlyle. never
saw a perfect embodiment of Mr.. C.'s IDEAL OF
n man in earnest but in the person OF Bake
And if he were to write only this much' ihis
WAS good man and true thousands would DE
talking Of Blake who otherwise would not care
twopence for fifty Blakes put together. ms,
after Carlyles experience with poor Ed"aiu
Irving!
Palmer carried the exaltation Of Blake with
him when, few months after his marriage III
1897. 70 q daughter OF John Linnell, he went
for two years sojourn in Italy, but his lctters
from there are in light and gay vein. Inc
Italian experience was in fact, one long deheh''
a time Of devoted sletching from scenery that
answered all the requirements OF his imaginative
mind and he sends home glowing accounts OF
his sensations From Naples he writes, Surely
the country seems made for JOY and love-
Rome is a wilderness of wonders" at Naples
again he feels goodwill even for the Devil and
of one unforgettabe view be has of Naples,
Vesuvius I,aiae and Camaldo spread out at his
feet he saws that it would have made Sam
Weller sentimental" 1t was in Italy that Palmer
strengthened his power of lmbuing his work
no In