THE FOUR ZOAS


      note     The manuscript, in the British Library, consists of 133
  pages of titles and text written on 70 large sheets (about
  16 1/2 X 12 1/2 inches) plus some draft material on two small
  leaves and a fragment.  Of the large sheets, 47 consist of
  engraved proofs of designs Blake had made for Young's Night
  Thoughts in 1795-96 and two were made by cutting in half a
  print of Blake's early engraving, Edward and Elenor.
  Blake wrote on both sides of most leaves--including the engraved
  proofs, which had open spaces where Young's text was to be
  printed.  Drawings intended as illumination were made on 84 pages
  (including the backs of proofs), and the engraved designs on the
  proofs seem to have been chosen as reminders of drawings he would
  include in the perfected manuscript. (The draft material, pages
  141-145, is dealt with in the notes to pp 7, 105, and 106 and at
  the end of the notes to this poem.)
       For a detailed if sometimes confusing account of the ms with
  a reproduction of all the pages in half-tone plates, seeVala
  or the Four Zoasedited by G. E. Bentley, Jr (Clarendon
  Press 1963).  In 1981 a facsimile made from infra-red photographs
  is being prepared, with commentary on the pictures by Cettina
  Magno and myself.
       In pages 1, 3-18, 23-42, begun on clean sheets of paper, we
  can see that Blake's initial aim was a manuscript in fine
  copperplate script.  Revisions at first made neatly over erasures
  or in the wide paragraph breaks maintain this objective with a
  modified yet still elegant engraver's hand.  Further revisions
  and additions, however, squeezed between lines and spilling into
  margins, are in Blake's usual plain hand, as is all the text
  inscribed on the blank spaces of the proof pages.
       Possibly a complete Vala in copperplate hand was
  produced but lay unsold and open to revision which gradually
  reduced it to a working ms.  On the other hand, it may be that
  the aim to keep each page in copperplate perfection was sustained
  through a decade or more of labor over the text and drawings, a
  descent to ordinary hand on any given page occurring only when
  that page


-816-


  TEXTUAL NOTES FOR PAGES 300FF


  became too cluttered with revisions to be saved as perfect. (By
  this definition, pages 14-18, 26, 33, 40 are unspoiled, and pages
  24, 29, 38, 41 have changes suggested in pencil that could still
  be perfected by careful erasure and inking: contrariwise, the
  minor but effacing revisions on pages 19, 27, 29, 31, 37, 39 may
  mean that Blake was giving up.) (See note on p 40, below.)
       After Blake's death the ms was in loose sheets, but stitch-
  marks show he had once sewed together into one group all the
  sheets with elegant script and into another group those sheets
  containing pages 43-84 and 111-112, all in his usual hand.
  Possibly he thought of one group as finished, the other as
  preliminary, and any existing sheets not stitched as rejects (for
  example, Night VIIb, when he thought of replacing it with VIIa).
       At various stages of revision Blake counted his lines in
  each Night, sometimes by 100s, sometimes by 50s or 10s, and only
  pages 19-22, 87-90, and 111-116 lack numbering of any sort.  But
  all Nights contain additions made after the latest counting.
       Date: ca 1796-18O7? The "1797" in the title may
  mark the
  beginning of a first fair copy, while pages 141-142 represent a
  fragment of a preliminary draft.  The work is named "the Book of
  Vala" in an early, erased stratum of page 3; Bentley (p 177)
  suggests that it may have been "originally organized in 'Books'
  as a continuation of" The First Book of Urizen, noting
  that borrowings from Urizen occur in Nights IV and V and
  that these Nights are called "the Fourth Book" and "Book the
  Fifth" on pp 56 and 57.  Also to be noted is the use of "Book"
  for "Night" in VIIb, p 95.  (But Margoliouth, p 121, argues that
  the use of "Book" is a sign of "very late" indifference--or "a
  deliberate, but abandoned, idea of giving up the 'Nights'".)
       It has been tempting to suppose that successive layers of
  copperplate, modified copperplate, and usual hand represent
  successive and datable stages in the growth of the ms.  On this
  supposition all the pages in usual hand should be later than
  those in copperplate--and all the latter should have fairly
  finished drawings.  But the drawings vary in finish throughout.
  And on certain copperplate pages a distinctly late style appears
  in the script, marked by the g which Blake adopted after
  Nov. 1802.  On pages 8 and 10 this style appears in modified
  copperplate hand in revisions made before clutter had set in; on
  page 12 the basic layer of text itself is in fine copperplate
  hand of this late character--and so is the chapter heading of
  "Night the Sixth" on page 67. (It should be added that I have
  found no distinguishing marks of a pre-1803 script in any part
  of the ms, all the other g's being of the dateless, sans-serif
  variety: The rule of g may of course be less invariable
  than I have supposed.  At any rate it is safer to conclude that
  the copperplate pages range in inception from 1797 to 18O3 than
  to put them all in the later period.)
       Bentley has found that the sheet on which pages 48-49 were
  written (at the beginning of Night IV) bears evidence of prior
  use as a backing-sheet when Blake printed Hayley's first Ballad
  in May 18O2, but his argument (p 195) that sheets marred or
  defective in some such way as this were the last ones Blake would
  use should upset his assumption that none of the pages following
  49 were inscribed before that date.  As for the date of stitching
  of either of the groups described above, the second group
  includes the sheet with the May 1802 impressions and so cannot
  have been stitched earlier than that; that neither group can have
  been stitched earlier than 1803 should be the deduction from the
  graphic evidence of late g's in the first strata of
  pages in both groups (12 and 67).  To suppose the other,
  unpierced pages not to have been written before 18O3
  would shake all present assumptions.
       Even if an 18O3 date for the copying out of "Night the
  Sixth" is accepted, its composition may have been much earlier.
  On the other hand the date of 1804 or later which has been
  accepted for Night VIII on the basis of allusions to the renewal
  of war and of strikingly different symbolism or idiom from the
  main body of the poem (see Margoliouth, p 174) may need
  correction to "much later".  The writing of VIII, at least, and
  the very late change of the poem's title to "The Four Zoas" (a
  pencil revision on the main title page not extended to the
  chapter headings) as well as a good deal of mending and revising,
  especially in Night I, must have occurred after Blake had begun
  if not completed Milton and Jerusalem.
  Bentley's contention (p 165) that several passages were borrowed
  from Jerusalem, rather than the other way round, is not
  convincing in respect to passages in Jerusalem 22 and
  67-68, but the connections of Vala, 1, 21, 99 and
  Jerusale34[38] may go in both directions.
       It should be recognized, however, that many apparently late
  additions to Vala turn out to have been salvaged from
  the erasure of early layers on the same or other pages.  Since
  few of these erased early strata have been deciphered, we cannot
  be certain how much of the late material is actually new. (See
  the textual notes on pages 4, 6, 7, 72, 99.)


- 817 -


  TEXTUAL NOTES FOR PAGE 300 FF


       Readers should be cautioned against failing back on the all
  too hypothetical chronological groupings of Nights and parts of
  Nights presented in Erdman, 1st edition pp 270-271 (on the basis
  of secondhand evidence and an ignorance of the complexities of
  the ms).  Nevertheless certain salient historical allusions or
  sources remain, despite uncertainty as to how long after the
  event Blake wrote: negotiations conducted between Britain and
  France, in 1796 and 1797 (but again in 1800 and 1801); the
  Netherlands expedition of 1799; Napoleon's coup
  d'<accent>e</accent>tat a few weeks later; the Peace of Amiens;
  its rupture.  Readers should also be cautioned against
  inaccuracies and special pleading in Bentley's criticism of these
  groupings (pp 168-170)--and of course also against exaggerations
  in my subsequent critique of the Bentley volume (in an article in
  The Librarfor 1964).
       Bentley's warning that a second or third addition on one
  page may have no chronological relation with a second or third
  addition on another is well taken--but frequently ignored by all
  of us.  His assumption that the original copperplate writing on
  all pages represents a single draft may or may not prove to be
  sound; yet his transcript obscures the evidence by treating the
  erased copperplate layer as nonexistent (when he cannot read it)
  and the first added layer as original.
       Margoliouth's attempt to isolate a "Vala" text by selecting
  Blake's "fair copy of each Night before erasures, deletions,
  additions, and changes of order" depends heavily on the
  assumption that all these deduced fair copies (excluding VIII and
  the first part of IX) somehow constitute a homogeneous text.  He
  is able to sort out pretty successfully those lines which were in
  the ms when Blake counted and numbered his lines by fifties, but
  not to convince us that all the counting took place at one time.
  The result is useful, however, and only misleading if taken as a
  really early state of the text or as constituting a uniform
  layer, so to speak.
       The complexities of the ms, in short, continue to defy
  analysis and all assertions about meaningful physical groupings
  or chronologically definable layers of composition or inscription
  must be understood to rest on partial and ambiguous evidence.


       The text given here is simply that of the latest readings,
  with deletions occasionally retained (in italics within square
  brackets) when their omission would leave gaps; when Blake
  replaced a deleted reading and then deleted the replacement, the
  earlier reading has been restored.  The textual notes contain all
  the erased or deleted readings thus far deciphered (sometimes
  differing from or going beyond the Bentley transcript thanks
  largely to the use of infrared photography and strong
  magnification).  Nights editorially designated VII and VIIb (or
  VIIa and VIIb) and treated as separate entities in previous
  editions are here conflated into a single "Night the Seventh".
  But the distinction between VII and VIIb is indicated in the
  bracketed note at the head of each page.
       Line numbers are given page for page, but to facilitate use
  of the Blake Concordance of 1968, which gives line
  numbers Night for Night as in the Keynes editions, the Keynes
  numbers are supplied in each page heading, thus bracketed: { }. 
       A new facsimile edition of The Four Zoas, using
  improved photography and attempting a plate-by-plate commentary
  on the illuminations in the manuscript, is being prepared by
  Professor Cettina Magno of Messina, and myself, with the plates
  arranged in an order closer to Blake's than that given the loose
  ms leaves by the twentieth-century binder.  The rearrangement
  involves twelve leaves (twenty-four pages) to produce the
  following sequence, giving the traditional arrangement in
  parentheses:


  19(21)    87(95)    95(87)    105(113)  109(105)  113(109)
  20(22)    88(96)    96(88)    106(114)  110(106)  114(110)
  21(19)    89(97)    97(89)    107(115)  111(107)  115(111)
  22(20)    90(98)    98(90)    108(116)  112(108)  116(112)


  This arrangement will put the pictures in a more meaningful
  sequence, but to adopt it in the present text would be confusing,
  since Blake's poem moves about (because of his own revisions) in
  a sequence that does not correspond exactly to any sequence of
  the manuscript leaves.
       1: title] VALA / OR / The Death and Judgement of
  the [Eternal] <Ancient> Man / a DREAM / of Nine Nights /
  by William Blake 1797 1st rdg
       The unlocated inscription, "The Bible of Hell, in Nocturnal
  Visions collected.  Vol. 1. Lambeth", reported by Ellis and
  Yeats as written "in title-page form" on the back of a drawing,
  may  have been an early title for this work consisting of nine
  nocturnal visions.  (See Bentley, Writings, 1677,1735.) 


- 818 -


  TEXTUAL NOTES FOR PAGES 300-301
  Night the First
  
      note404     After the quotation from Ephesians, the chapter number is
  corrected from "5" to "VI", not necessarily by Blake.
      note405     3:1-3 The Song . . . Battle] Syntax and heavy inking mark
  these lines as a subtitle.  Blake had first made several tries at
  a six-line introductory stanza, with erasure on erasure.  Words
  visible at the line ends of the first version are: (1) . . .
  [wr]ath bo[ok] of Vala"; (3) "Round"; (6) "Dream".  A second,
  partly erased, version reads, with revisions:
            This is the [Dirge] <Song> of [Eno]
                 <Enitharmon> which shook the heavens with wrath
            And thus beginneth the Book of Vala which Whosoever reads
            If with his Intellect be comprehend the terrible Sentence
            The heavens [shall] quake: the earth
                 [shall move] [moves] <was moved>
                 & [shudder] [shudders] <shudderd> & the mountains
            With all their woods, the streams & valleys:
                 [wail] <waild> in dismal fear
            [To hear] < Hearing> the [Sound]
                 <march> of Long resounding strong heroic verse
            Marshalld in order for the day of intellectual battle
  These lines were numbered 1 2 3 6 7 4 5; later the stanza was
  reduced to its final 3 lines by another numbering; finally 2-3
  ("Hearing . . . Battle") were crossed out and rewritten over the
  erased lines below 1.
       note406          Lines 4-11 are written over nine erased lines.
      note407     3:8 no Individual Knoweth nor] Individual Man knoweth not
  1st rdg


  PAGE 4


      note408     Lines 1-16, 19-28 are written over erasures.  Traces of 19
  original lines (in copperplate hand) can be discerned and a few
  words can be read: (1) ". . . ?oft"; (2)"?Saying . . . of
  . . . for . . . of Eternal Life"; (3) "?Song of . . ."; (4) "?I
  ?see . . . of . . . ?Self . . . about"; (6) "Rejoicing ?so
  ?amongst . . ."; (7) "The . . . ?faded ?slept . . ."; (8) "Till
  ?far ?dismal . . .  ?four . . . all . . ."; (9)" . . . a
  pleasing"; (10) "?Enion . . .  of ?slavery"; (12) ". . .
  ?cloud"; (13) "?Where . . . the . . ."; (18)" . . . Enion"; (19)
  " . . . the light of day". (Bentley reads 18 and 19 but supposes
  them to belong to the second layer of palimpsest.)
       This first stratum was erased and covered by 21 lines in
  modified copperplate hand; finally a third state was created by
  the erasure and replacement of the last 12 of these lines by 13
  new lines (in the same hand) and the revision of a few words in
  the first 9. Six of the erased second stratum lines were repeated
  elsewhere and can be verified completely: 10-13 ("Arise O Enion
  . .  . for Lo! I have calmd my seas") are identical to 129:24-27,
  there crowded into a stanza break.  Lines 20-21 ("All Love is
  lost . . . Duty instead of Liberty") reappear as lines 20-21 of
  the third stratum.  Of erased lines 14-19 in the second stratum
  little can be made out: (14) "?The ?warfare . . . ?shy"; (16)
  "?He ?fell . . . hid in ?horrible ?caverns of mountains"; (18) ".
  . . ?chariot"; (19) "To . . . of .  . . ?come".
       Revisions from second to third state are indicated below:
      note409     Line 5 was inserted in ink over partly erased pencil loops
  covering erased first stratum ink.  Two remnant loops I mistook
  for deleting strokes (see previous printings).  N.B.: This
  correction has involved a renumbering of the lines of page 4.


      note410     7 Enion O Enion] Enion [come forth] <O Enion>
  latest revisionthis change and "O Pity Me" in line 9
  are additions in a different pen.
      note411     8 We are . . . We] I am . . . I 1st rdg del
      note412     9 Jerusalem in Silent Contrition O Pity Me] thee Enion in
  jealous Despair 1st rdg del
      note413     10 also . . . Enion] where we may remain for ever alone
  1st rdg del
      note414     11 hast] mended from ink has over pencil hast
       sweet Jerusalem] ink over pencil [Enitharmon]
  <Jerusalem> 
      note415     13 Jerusalem] Enitharmon ms rdg, emended on the
  editorial assumption that Blake accidentally neglected making the
  same change here as in lines 9 and 11, and 5:7. (When Jerusalem
  and Enitharmon are mentioned together in the same manuscript
  layer, in late additions to this Night--see 21:30 and 19:1,5 on
  pp 311-12--they have separate roles.  Here, if the name
  "Enitharmon" be retained in line 13, we must nevertheless take
  the pronouns "She" and "her" in line 14 to refer back to
  "Jerusalem" in line 11.)
      note416     17 Thy] His 1st rdg del


- 819 -


  TEXTUAL NOTES FOR PAGES 302-303


  PAGE 5
      note417     First stratum entirely erased and replaced, but the last
  two lines were probably identical to the two lines "Arise O Enion
  . . . rejoice" found in the second stratum of page 4 and
  emerging as 129:24-25. 
      note418     1 Eden] Beulah 1st rdg del
      note419     7 tabernacle for Jerusalem] tabernacle [of delight]
  <for Enitharmon> 1st rdg
      note420     9 then . . .  innocent] and . . . holy 1st rdg del
      note421     14 In torment] So saying 1st rdg del
      note422     16 gnawing] dismal 1st rdg del
      note423     24 trembling] ?bright 1st rdg del
      note424     28 dread] sweet 1st rdg del Repentance &
  Contrition] false woven bliss 1st rdg; self woven sorrow
  2d rdg del (Bentley transcript confuses sequence of
  changes.) Two inserted, then deleted, lines follow:
       He spurnd Enion with his foot he sprang aloft in Clouds
       [Alighting down from] Alighting in his drunken joy
  in a far distant Grove
      note425     34 Dreams] wanderings 1st rdg del
      note426     42 pity & help] help 1st rdg del
      note427     43 Gate of the Tongue] Gate of Auricular [power]
       <nerves> 1st rdg
      note428     Lines 44-53 were canceled by three diagonal strokes but
  later circled in ink.  The evidence that lines thus circled (here
  and on pages 6 and 7) were meant to be restored is convincingly
  presented by Andrew Lincoln in "The Four Zoas: the Text
  of Night I" in Blake: An Illustrated Quarterly, Summer 1978.
      note429     46 Love is changed to . . . Hate] ?Alone ?possessed by . . . Fears
  1st rdg del
      note430     47 All] [All] <A> ms rdg; the erasure of
  "All" was evidently a slip: Blake never used the phrase "A life"
  in the meaning it would have here.
      note431     48 Shadow . . . Soul] remembrance . . . eyes 1st rdg del
      note432     49 Doubt . . . Repentance] Trouble . . . sorrow 1st rdg del
      note433     53 There follow a penciled insert and a deleted line which
  it would replace:
       <Who animating times on times by the Force of her sweet song]
       [But standing on the Rocks her woven shadow glowing bright]
  But both are replaced by 6:1-5, a double insertion on that page.


  PAGE 6
      note434     Of an erased first stratum of 12 copperplate lines, the
  first two can be recovered:
            When wilt thou smile on Tharmas O thou bringer of golden day
            Arise. O Enion arise! for Lo! I have Calmd my seas
  These continue from the original concluding lines of page 5 and
  are identical, except in punctuation, to 129:26-27, their
  intermediate occurrence being in the second stratum of p 4 (above).
       Line 3 of the erased stratum, "His woe f . . . the crystal
  sky", concludes like 130:14 but begins differently.  Other
  fragmentary recoveries are: (4) "In . . . ?faded in ?his cave";
  (7) "?Luvah . . . Rock"; (8) ". . . Enion . . . the ?Oaks"; (9)
  ". . . ?Children"; (12) " . . . lovely". 
       Variants between the second and final text of the page follow:
      note435     1 her shining] her silken 1st rdg del
      note436     7 fury] joy 1st rdg del
       note437     After line 8 follow 17 lines deleted by diagonal strokes and
  a grey wash:
            Searching for glory wishing that the heavens had eyes to See
            And courting that the Earth would ope her Eyelids & behold
            Such wondrous beauty repining in the midst of all his glory
            That nought but Enion could be found to praise adore & love
            Three days in self admiring raptures on the rocks he flamd
            And three dark nights repind the solitude. but the third morn
            Astonishd he found Enion hidden in the darksom Cave


            She spoke What am I wherefore was I put forth on these rocks
            Among the Clouds to tremble in the wind in solitude
            Where is the voice that lately woke the desart Where the Face
            That wept among the clouds & where the voice that shall reply
            No other living thing is here.  The Sea the Earth. the Heaven
            And Enion desolate where art thou Tharmas O return


- 820 -


  TEXTUAL NOTES FOR PAGE 303


            Three days she waild & three dark nights sitting among the Rocks
            While the bright spectre hid himself among the ?backing clouds
            Then sleep fell on her eyelids in a Chasm of the Valley
            The Sixteenth morn the Spectre stood before her manifest


       Erased pencil in left margin beside 14th line: The Jealous
      note438     9-18] deleted by diagonal strokes but then restored by a
  circling ink line.
       9 Who art thou . . . shell] An insertion, with this
  continuation (later deleted) up the right margin:
       Broke from thy bonds I scorn my prison I scorn & yet I love
  The insertion before deletion was to replace this 1st rdg:
                 Art thou not my slave & shalt thou dare
            To smite me with thy tongue beware lest I sting also thee
      note439     10-12 If thou . . . past deeds] inserted over erasure.
      note440     12 So] conjectural reading of stroke or strokes
  imperfectly inked
      note441     13 Thine] Mine 1st rdg del
      note442     15 Mine] mended from thine (the Spectre is crowding
  Enion into the outer world while he invades the infinite within.)
      note443     16 whence I emerged] of death & hell 1st rdg del;
  where 2d rdg del
      note444     17] A deleted line follows:
       A sorrow & a fear a living torment & naked Victim
      note445     18 for my] for his 1st rdg del



  PAGE 7


      note446     Page 7 is a thicket of erased and deleted original and
  additional lines.  The top block of 9 added lines has been
  deleted, then restored by an ink circle, then heavily revised;
  the last of these (line 7 in the present text) is so crossed out
  and mended that to restore it Blake has written "This line to
  come in" alongside.  The lower half of the page consists of
  original copperplate writing, with some mending and some deletion
  of lines.  The undeleted original lines appear also on p 143 (a
  smaller leaf but neatly written as if begun as fair copy, perhaps
  of a draft preceding the large copperplate pages) and are there
  revised.  Until recently it has been assumed that the revisions
  of p 143 were later than the final text of p 7, but Andrew
  Lincoln argues convincingly that the final revisions on p 7 are
  later than those on p 143.  In line 10, for instance, the "Half
  Woman & half Spectre" was first half "Serpent" on p 7; On p 143
  "Serpent" was first written and then replaced by "beast" but not
  by "Spectre" (which in the whole context must be the final term);
  thus the final p 7 reading, "Spectre", is later than the p 143
  revision.  In the evolution of serpent to beast to spectre, the p
  143 revisions constitute a middle or "beast" stage.  The changes
  from "scaly armour" to "rocky features", from "lovely changing
  colours" to "darkly waving colours", and from "monster" to
  "wonder" were thus temporary; in p 7 the Spectre reassumes the
  bright, scaly, monstrous quality of the Serpent. (In the first
  edition of this book the revisions of p 143 were taken as final
  text, a mistake now corrected.) (The text of p 143 is given at
  the end of these textual notes on The Four Zoas.) 
      note447     1] Preceded by two lines, mended and then heavily cancelled
  after Blake's encircling:
            Examining the sins of Tharmas I [have] <soon> found my own
            O slay me not thou art his Wrath embodied in Deceit
      note448     2] an inserted line.
      note449     3 For] But 1st rdg del,
       Under lines 1-3 and the preceding cancelled lines are three
  erased lines in Blake's usual hand, the last word of the 1st line
  being "threatening".  Partly under these but beginning in the top
  margin is a pencil passage of six lines, the 1st three legible
  (but short, as if only beginnings of lines):
            When Tharmas shook his billowy hair
            Two forms of horror howld beneath ?it
            A male & female witherd


- 821 -



  TEXTUAL NOTES FOR PAGE 303


       Perhaps of the same vintage is a block of six pencil lines
  written sideways in the right margin beside the original ink text
  lines 4-10; the left ends of these lines are invisible:
            Pourd from fibrous veiny pipes
            Enio[ns] Blood from torrent floods melting [away]
            . . . chalk white rocks
            spread from heaven to heaven
            . . . ?monsters howld ?with ?Urizen ?around
            . . . living joy fills ?albion


       Earliest deletion on p 7 must have been erasure of the 1st
  six lines in copperplate hand (under lines 7-18 in Bentley's
  numbering).  All six were apparently moved to p 5 for the
  modified copperplate addition there of lines 9-14. and 25.  At
  least the 4th line is identical to 5:12 except for punctuation:
                 And said Return O Wanderer when the day of clouds
  is o'er; and the 5th is a variant of 5:13-14:
                 So saying he . . . ?fell . . . into the restless sea
  and the 3rd is like 5:11 in beginning with a T, ending
  with "sighs", and having (perhaps) "Destiny" in its center.  The
  last word of the 1st could be "head", that of 5:9; the 2nd is
  illegible but its configuration does not jar with that of 5:10.
  The 6th erased line is identical to 5:25, so far as can be made
  out:
                 Round rolld ?the . . . globe self balanc'd
      note450     4] An inserted line. 
      note451     6] Among wild beasts to roam And thou the delusive tempter
  1st rdg del, followed by two cancelled lines:
       [But where is] <[Thou art not]> <And art
            thou> Tharmas all thy Soft delusive beauty cannot
       Tempt me to murder [honest love] <my own soul>
            & wipe my tears & smile
      note452     7 not mine tho] for ah! how 1st rdg del
       Six cancelled lines follow, after a stanza break:
            The Spectre said Thou sinful Woman. was it thy Desire
            That I should hide thee with my power & delight thee with my beauty
            And now thou darknest in my presence. never from my sight
            Shalt thou depart to weep in secret.  In my jealous wings
            I evermore will hold thee when thou goest out or comest in
            Tis thou hast darkend all My World O Woman lovely bane
       Partial text of lines 2 and 3 of this passage ("That . . .
  power &"; "And now . . . from my sight") occurs on p 144, verso
  of p 143, and the only words on it.
       After another stanza break, we return to the original
  copperplate text, beginning with three deleted lines:
            Thus they contended all the day among the Caves of Tharmas
            Twisting in fearful forms & howling <howling harsh shrieking>
            <Howling> harsh shrieking, mingling their bodies join in burning anguish
       Page 143 begins with a variant of the last line:
            <Opening his rifted rocks> mingling [their
  bodies] <together they> join in burning anguish
       (The rocks accord with the "rocky features" of the "beast"
  of the middle version; see below.)
       note453     8 horrible] 1st and 3rd rdg, del but not erased, p 7;
  only rdg p 143; terrible 2d rdg p 7, erase
  brightness] p 7; 1st rdg p 143; darkness
  2nd rdg p 143
      note454     9 Above the ocean;] p 7 Shrieking above the ocean:
  143; on p 7 "Shrieking" is inserted before the line
  but then deleted.
       Nature] 1st rdg, erased. and 3rd rdg p 7; Beulah
  2nd rdg del p 7; "that" and "shudder'd at" are cancelled
  but not replaced; p 143 reads "that nature shudderd at".
      note455     10 Spectre] 2nd rdg p. 7; Serpent 1st rdg,
  erased, p 7 1st rdg p 143; beast 2nd rdg p 143
  lovely changing] p 7 and 1st rdg del
  p 143; darkly waving 2nd rdg 143
      note456     11 poisons] p 7 and 1st rdg del p
  143; metals 2nd rdg p 143
      note457     12 scaly armour] p 7 and 1st rdg
  del p 143; rocky features 2nd rdg 143
       softening] softning p 143


- 822 -


  TEXTUAL NOTES FOR PAGES 303-30


        note458     13 monster] p 7 and 1st rdg del
  p 143; wonder 2nd rdg 143 wandering] wandring
 143
       PAGE 143 continues:
            With [Serpent] <female> voice <warbling upon
                 the [hills] & hollow vales>
            Beauty all blushing with desire a Self enjoying wonder
  (The insertions are written on top of almost illegible erasures,
  but the p and t of "Serpent" have left traces
  in the right places.)


       PAGE 7 continues with three deleted lines:


            With [Serpent] <Spectre> voice incessant wailing; in incessant thirst
            Beauty all blushing with desire mocking her fell despair


            Wandering desolate, a wonder abhorr'd by Gods & Men
  The revision to "Spectre" suggests that p 143 was put aside
  before these lines in P 7 were deleted.  Page 143 originally
  continued, after a stanza break:
            And thus her voice; <Glory, delight, & sweet enjoyment born>
            <To mild Eternity shut in a threefold shape delightful>
            To wander in <sweet> solitude <enrapturd> at every wind
  In the break before these three lines and in the bottom margin  


  below them are two versions of a passage to be adapted from the 
  deleted text of p 8 and to lead into line 143:11-13 ("And thus  
  her voice" et cetera).  In the deletions of p 8 (lines 5-13    
  following 8:7) Enion broods, after bearing two infants, and    
  vegetation grows up from the rough rocks to shelter them. The   
  revision seems intended to have the vegetation grow up to    
  shelter Enion before she gives birth to the children.
       The version at the bottom of p 143 (possibly written    
  first) is crowded in like prose, but it may be lined out with   
  the help of Blake's slashes and capitals.  The initial half    
  line may have been meant to replace the preceding terminal half
  line, "a Self enjoying wonder" (143:9).  Here is the    
  version, with instructions to copy everything from "The b . .   


  ." to "Infolding . . .":
                 Shining across the ocean /
             Enion brooded groaning the golden rocks vegetate
            The b . . . [paper torn away]
            to
            Infolding the bright woman from the desolating winds/
            & thus her voice &[c] [paper torn away]
  Blake is telling himself to follow, the "Enion brooded" line
  with the line that follows it (before an insertion) on p 8:
            The barked Oak, the long limbd Beech; the Ches'nut tree; the Pine. 
  and to copy the next five lines, filled with vegetation and
  animation, concluding with:
             Infolding the bright Infants from the desolating winds
  --but with "the bright woman" replacing the Infants.  Blake
  subsequently deleted all this version except for the phrase
  "Infolding the bright woman".
       The alternative version, not deleted, consists of a
  double line crowded into the stanza break between "a Self
  enjoying wonder" and "And thus her voice". Here the vegetating is
  more complex, involving seas, rocks, and vortex:
            For Enion brooded groaning loud the rough seas vegetate.
            Golden rocks rise from the [vorte . .] <vast>
       [paper torn; "vast" written on top of deleted "vorte". ]
  Possibly the plan was to have this triple vegetating proceed at
  once to "Infolding the bright woman" (undeleted portion of the
  first version): it would make up a full line; and perhaps to
  conclude as before with "Thus her voice" et cetera.


  PAGE 8


      note459     2 little Infants wept] del in pencil, with
  insertion below the line of three writings and erasings of "Then
  forms of horror howld"; deleting line then erased.
      note460     5 like richest summer shining] like summer shines 1st rdg


      note461     6 bright] replaced by fierceabove the
  linethen "fierce" and the line deleting "bright" were rased
      note462     7] Thirteen deleted lines follow:


            But those in Great Eternity Met in the Council of God
            As One Man hovering over Gilead & Hermon


- 823 -


  TEXTUAL NOTES FOR PAGES 304-305


            <He is the Good Shepherd He is the Lord & Master
            To Create Man Morning by Morning to Give gifts at Noon day>
            Enion brooded, oer the rocks, the rough rocks
                 [?vegetating] <groaning vegetate>
            <Such power was given to the Solitary wanderer.>
            The barked Oak, the long limbd Beech; the Ches'nut tree; the Pine. 
            The Pear tree mild, the frowning Walnut, the sharp Crab, & Apple sweet,
            The rough bark opens; twittering peep forth little beaks & wings
            The Nightingale, the Goldfinch, Robin, Lark, Linnet & Thrush
            The Goat leap'd from the craggy [Rock]<cliff>, the Sheep awoke from the mould
            Upon its green stalk rose the Corn, waving innumerable
            Infolding the bright Infants from the desolating winds


       The inserted lines 3-4 derive from an erased passage in p
  99, which probably derives from Jerusalem 34[38]:23-25;
  see also p 21.
       The revision of line 5 would seem to have been made after
  and because of the insertion of 6; a date after 1805 is suggested
  by the letter g in "vegetate", which is in Blake's late style. 
   note463     8-9 written over two erased copperplate lines.


  PAGE 9
   note464     1-2 And . . . mountains] Lines inked over erasures, but
  first written in pencil in top margin, then erased and replaced
  by a drawing Of Christ in an orb.
       The first of three erased copperplate lines preceding line 4
  may read, at the end, embracd for" (compare line 25); the second
  ends love".
      note465     Line 7 is penciled over an erased ink line,
                 Till they had ?drawn the Spectre quite away from Enion
  --which reappears slightly varied in 1O9:25-26 in Night VIII,
  suggesting that the "Spectrous Life" revisions of p 7 were made
  during the writing of VIII.
      note466     Line 8, first ending "her spectrous life in dark despair",
  may have been started as a replacement of 6; it was written
  after and above the marginal block 9-11, 14-18 which was first
  marked to go after 6 but the, when 7 was inserted, marked to
  follow 7.
      note467     9 Eno] written in pencil over Ona
      note468     10 Seven thousand years] twenty years 1st rdg del
      note469     11 in every year] in the [tenty] <Every> years
  ms rd
       made windows into Eden] gave visions ?toward heaven 1st
  rdg del
       note470     9 Eno] written in pencil over Ona
      note471     25 they kiss'd not nor embrac'd for shame & fear] They
  ?kissd ?not for ?shame <they> embracd notpenciled above the
  lin
       Above 26 is a long pencil insertion running into the margin,
  erased and consisting of three perhaps unconnected fragments, in
  different strengths of pencil.  The first continues the revision
  started in pencil above 25: "Nor kissd nor em[braced]"; the
  second reads "hand in hand [in a] Sultry paradise"; of
  the third only the last two words are certain: "?these ?Lovers
  ?swum the deep".
      note472     Below 33, in the margin but guided in, is the heading "Night
  the Second", but "End of The First Night" comes on p 18 and,
  after additions, on p 19.  What we now treat as Night II was
  probably once headed "Night the Third"; both before and after
  that it was headed "First", but "End of the Second Night" is
  clearly marked on p 36, and "Night the Third" begins properly on
  p 37.
      note473     34 But . . . Tharmas) crowded in margin, after and perhaps
  to replace an inserted but deleted line reading:
                 Nine years they view the turning spheres [of
                      ?Beulah] <reading> the Visions of Beulah
       (Keynes read "living" for "turning"; Bentley mistakes the
  long h of "Enitharmon" from the line below as a
  beginning the 6th word and reads "?gleaming" and
  misreads "reading" as "leading", failing to see that the
  is written large to cover the word "of"; it is a lower
  case r writ large.)


- 824 -


   
  TEXTUAL NOTES FOR PAGES 305-306
      note474     35 fierce] bright 1st rdg del (whole line palimpsest)
       Between 35 and 36 is an erased pencil line beginning "While
  they" and ending "Harmony".
      note475     37 our . . . mourn] thy . . . weep 1st rdg del
  PAGE 1
      note476     1 frowning] smiling 1st rdg del
      note477     2 Dark] Bright 1st rdg del
      note478     3 let them] bow they 1st rdg del
      note479     4-5 while . . . discontent] written over erasures
      note480     7-8 were added, first in pencil then ink, in space after
  line 2, then marked to precede line 9.
      note481     9 Song . . . Song] Dirge . . . Dirge 1st rdg
  del
      note482     10 Fallen] Eternal 1st rdg del
      note483     11 woke & flew] wake & fly 1st rdg (ink) del; woke
  & flew erased pencil above line, preceding ink revision
  of line itself.
      note484     14-15 are additions within a stanza break, 14 later than 15.
  (And the g's in 14 are in Blake's late serifed style.)
      note485     The last seven words of 15 are over an erasure almost
  legible.
      note486          In 16 "voice" is over a word ending in d.
      note487     17 Enitharmon darken'd in] Vala darkend in her 1st
  rd
      note488     18 Enitharmon a terror] Enitharmon a Cloud 2nd rdg;
  Vala lightning 1st rdg del
      note489     20 as Vala] O Vala 1st rdg
      note490     22 over a deleted line almost legible.
      note491     24 followed by deleted passage (evidently replaced by 22):
            If thou drivst all the [Males] <Females> away
                 from [Vala] <Luvah> I will drive all
            The Males away from thee
  PAGE 11
      note492     4 He answer'd, darkning more with] Los answer'd, darkning
  with foul 1st rdg
      note493     Lines 5-6 are ink over erased ink; an erased pencil version
  of 5 is partly visible in the space above it. 
       5 tho] thou 1st rdg del
      note494     6 Fallen] Eternal 1st rdg del
      note495     7 Vala,] followed by erasure, perhaps "but"
      note496     10 Fallen] Eternal 1st rdg del
       In the margin are nine lines marked to follow 11 but then
  deleted:


            Refusing to behold the Divine image which all behold
            And live thereby. he is sunk down into a deadly sleep
            But we immortal in our own strength survive by stern debate
            Till we have drawn the Lamb of God into a mortal form
            And that he must be born is certain for One must be All
            And comprehend within himself all things both small & great
            We therefore for whose sake all things aspire to be & live
            Will so recieve the Divine Image that amongst the Reprobate
            He may be devoted to Destruction from his mothers womb


      note497     20 is followed by this inserted and then deleted line:
            Threaten not me O visionary thine the punishment! 
      note498     24 rebellious] free 1st rdg del


  PAGE 12
      note499     A page requiring further study; some lines that seem to be
  original copperplate may not be; oddly enough "muttering" in 7
  and "golden" in 34 have late-style g's.  The erased line
  under 3 begins "Rejoicing in" and ends "rejoicing in victory &
  blood". Inserted line 6, in pencil, has its first word inked
  over--in the same copperplate hand as "muttering" and "golden".
  (See below.)
      note500     1-3 derive from erased pencil drafts beneath 18-24; in
  these, line 1 appears unchanged, but the Spirits" and "an orb of
  blood!" are found in the 2nd pencil draft, not the first--where
  the


- 825 -


  TEXTUAL NOTES FOR PAGES 306-309


  clarions are plainly Luvah's: "A groan was xxxx xxxxly The
  warlike Clarions / Of Luvah ceasd xxxxx xxxx ?shudderd xxxx
  ?Orb".
      note501     6 the other] Bentley reads "the Man", misled by an uncrossed
  tNot only is "the one must have murderd the Man"
  unidiomatic, but it is also a misconstruction of the text: the
  Eternal Man is weak but not under threat of murder; it is Los and
  Vala or Enitharmon, within him, who seek to murder each other:
  she sings a Dirge/Song of Death; he smites her and refuses to
  die; she in turn cries for help from Urizen; "And the one must
  have murderd the other if he had not descended".
      note502     9 he eyed the Prince] he Urizen eyed 1st rdg
      note503     10-31 are marginal additions in two blocks, the first
  consisting of 10-17, 30-31, but with a guide line after 17
  leading in the block 18-29.  Keynes and Bentley ignore the line,
  though Bentley notes it yet keeps 30-31 as if 18-19.  Keynes
  copes with the bad transition this leaves to 32 ff by arbitrarily
  moving 24 down to a position between 29 and 32.
      note504     27-28 are crowded in as a single line running into the
  margin, but scansion indicates the division required
      note505     35 Rejoicing in the Victory . . . blood] Bentley (p 168)
  makes much of the fact that this is an "addition written over an
  erased pencil line", jumping to the conclusion that "it is clear
  that the original passage had nothing to do with either victory
  or war": but the full context, at every stage of the ms, is of
  deadly strife between male and female, a Dirge or Song of Death,
  and a Urizenic victory.  And note the original reading of line 3.
       Erasures in the gap after 9 include a two-line variant Of 23
  (". . . I am God from Eternity to Eternity / Obey thy Lord
  . . ."). In the adjacent right margin are six erased line
  segments, ". . . hands Pity not Vala / ?Pity ?not Luvah / ... /
  ... / & these / ...", apparently a draft for 14-16.
       Below 34 is an erased pencil line beginning "A" and ending
  "of Enitharmon"; in the adjacent margin is a second line in four
  segments, the first, conjecturally, "Luvah said".
      note506     Lines 40-43 were inserted--to stop the duel pictured on this
  page and to reverse the drift.
      note507     44 nervous] bloody inserted but erased rdg Both
  "fleshly" and "nervous" are written over erasures.


  PAGE 13
      note508     4 But] The ?shades of 1st rdg del
       Lines 4-10 are inserted, partly in a stanza break and partly
  in the margin; Bentley treats 8-10 as a late addition to this
  addition--apparently on the basis of imagery ("Luvah robes of
  blood").
      note509     9 Luvahs] Luvah ms rdg
      note510     11-12 first read:
            The purple night the crimson morning & the golden day ?descended
            ?While the clear changing atmosphere display'd green fields among
  (But "While" may be "Where".)
      note511     Above 16 are two erased pencil segments with a blank
  between:
            But monstrous delusion ?invaded      wrath ?enterd his world of love
      note512     Above 19 is an erased pencil line running into the right
  margin:
            In beauty love & scorn ?the ?earthbound bride & bridegroom ?sulk
      note513     20 thousand thousand spirits] orbits highmarginal rdg
  eraseddemons by the thousands out of a golden cloud xxxx
  xxx 2nd marginal rdg erased: whole line del, then del erased
      note514     24 Bright Souls] ?Elements penciled above but erased


  PAGE 14
      note515     7 Ephraim . . . to Zion] The Mountain . . . to the Mountain
  1st rdg del, but the revisions and lines of deletion are
  in faint pencil and may have been erased
      note516     14 Men] mended from men
      note517     16 Valleys] mended from valleys
      note518     17 dark] ?weak 1st rdg del (whole line palimpsest)
      note519     20 Let us plat a] Let ?us light 1st rdg erased, as
  if Blake thought first to have the Cities call for fires (see
  Song of Lo6:20)
      note520     22 Children] mended from children


- 826 -


  TEXTUAL NOTES FOR PAGES 309-313


  PAGE 15
      note521     8 Human] mended from human
      note522     10 Siez'd] ?he ?was siezd 1st rdg erased
      note523     11 Horse] mended from horse
      note524     12 Mighty] Eternal 1st rdg erased
      note525     17 By night nor] To ?light ?the 1st rdg erased
      note526     20 Thou] mended from thou or then
       (When Ellis and Yeats were sorting the leaves of the
  manuscript, in 1891, they could not find where to put the leaf
  bearing pages 15-16.  Blake, who had numbered p 14 "12" and p 17
  "13", must have created pp 15-16 as an insert but not added page
  numbers.  Ellis put this leaf at the end, numbering it 69 (having
  written "68" on p 139).  In the top margin of p is he wrote: "(a
  separate sheet: It cannot be placed as its sequel is missing.)
  E.J.E. [Edward J. Ellis]--1891."  Thirteen years later he wrote,
  beside this, "Perhaps it is all an insertion designed to preceed
  'Enion blind & age bent wept upon the desolate wind,--(373 in the
  1st printed numbering [i.e. the 1893 text]--suggestion of Mr F G
  Fleay 1904".  He was right, and in the next numbering of the ms
  folios it was marked "8".)


  PAGE 17
      note527     1 Enion] And Enion 1st rdg
      note528     4] over erased line: "Why.........  & . . 
      note529     7 waving] the waving 1st rdg
      note530     8 howl] howls 1st rdg
      note531     9 summers] the summers 1st rdg


  PAGE 18
      note532     3 but he know not that] he knows not that the 1st
  rd
      note533     11-12] over erased line End of the First Night
      note534     15 followed by End of The First Night
      note535     Pages 19-22 are bound out of order; the conjectural
  arrangement 21-22, 19-20 made by Keynes and Bentley seems
  acceptable


  PAGE 21
      note536     4 One] mended from one (the second "one" being overlooked)
      note537     7 the Mountain of Snowdon] Mount Gilead 1st rdg del
      note538     9 Albion He] Shiloh he 1st rdg mended
      note539     13 Beulah] mended from beulah
      note540     15 Conways Vale] Beth Peor 1st rdg del
      note541     31 O] mended from o


  PAGE 22
      note542     7 Atlantic] deep 1st rdg del
      note543     11 oer] round 1st rdg del


  PAGE 19
      note544     1 is] will soon 1st rdg del
      note545     2 are] will be 1st rdg del
      note546     3 led] let ms the indefinite] all nations 1st rdg del
      note547     8 High Snowdon] Mount Gilead 1st rdg del
      note548     15 followed by "End of The First Night"; the further
  addition on the verso, page 20, is in pencil and may have been
  finally rejected by Blake; serpentine spirals drawn in crayon,
  apparently over the writing, may mean deletion.


  PAGE 20
      note549     "No satisfactory position in the text has been devised for
  this page", says Bentley (p 20).  See preceding note. 
      note550     4 Beulah] Eternity 1st rdg del
      note551     8 Gates] mended from gates
      note552     15 consuming] tending 1st rdg del


- 827 -



  TEXTUAL NOTES FOR PAGES 313-319


  Night the [Second]


  PAGE 23
       note553          title] Night the [Third] <[First]>
  <[First]> ms, never written "Second", though
  the "End of the Second Night" is declared on p 36.  This would
  have been Third when the Second began on p 9, q.v. It was
  evidently twice tried and rejected as First.


       note554     3 Albion] The Man 1st rdg del


      note555     4 Porches] Ears 1st rdg del


      note556     6] line crossed in pencil for deletion, and replacement
  written in the right margin, then deleting lines and
  replacement thoroughly erased, The line leaves traces: "?Remember
  ?O ?Urizen / Cxxxg xxdxding / xxxvns"


       note557          7-8] ink over pencil, within a stanza break.  Blake first
  wrote and erased a different text for 8, ending "of fallen man";
  his next pencil text was followed verbatim in ink.


      note558     10 Exulting at the voice that calld him from the Feast of
  envy 1st &final rdg] Indignant at the voice that calld
  him from the Feast of love 2nd rdg "Exulting" and "envy"
  were lined through in pencil, and "Indignant" and "love" written
  in pencil in the left and right margins; then these words and the
  deleting lines were erased.



  PAGE 24
      note559     4 followed by erased pencil:
            Above him he xxx Jerusalem ?in ?the bloody ?Heaven as xxx xxx his eyes


       note560          5 great Work master] lord of ?day 1st rdg del


       note561          9 Urizen] the lord 1st rdg del



  PAGE 25
      note562     2] A pencil line, followed by erased pencil lines in right
  margin.


      note563     6-33] An insertion beginning in a stanza break and
  continuing in the right margin (obviously fair copy from a
  working draft).


      note564     11] Blake first wrote "Fled" at the end of this line, then
  deleted it and began his new line with this word.


      note565     33 is not properly spliced back to the original passage; a
  linking line, with a verb for the "While" clause, must have been
  dropped in transcribing from working notes.


      note566     35] Antecedent of "they" is the human leopards, tygers (and
  horses) of lines 1-5, line 34 having originally followed 5.



  PAGE 26
      note567     5 Valas King] Luvahs Lord 1st rdg erased


      note568     13 Till] But revision, erased while wet  Dragon]
  mended from de[for_demon?]



  PAGE 27
      note569     9 O Lamb] I ?die 1st rdg erased


      note570     10-12] written over two erased lilies, the first perhaps
  beginning "Albion"


      note571     14 was love but] am love & 1st rdg (above
  this line is an erased insertion beginning "And Urizen who"; it
  may have been identical to 15 in its first or its revised form)
       note572          17 delusion] terror 1st rdg del



  PAGE 28
      note573     2] written over erased pencil, beginning under "from" with a
  word that may be "Los"


      note574     11-24] marginal insertion
       11 Man] mended from Men


      note575     18 darksom] dismal 1st rdg del


      note576     26 pyramid] globe mended to Globe 1st rdg del


      note577     29 center] center 1st rdg del; basement 2nd rdg
  del(the deletion of "center" was a strong ink stroke
  not easily erased)


      note578     31 Sons] mended from sons



  PAGE 29
      note579     1 Fallen] Eternal 1st rdg erased; Fallen 2nd
  rdg; Ancient 3rd rdg pencil erase


      note580     2 Cubes] Globes 1st rdg del



- 828 -


  TEXTUAL NOTES FOR PAGES 319-322


  PAGE 30
      note581     5 condensing] together 1st rdg erased


      note582     16 wondrous] golden 1st del  Central Domes] centr
  f[orm] 1st rdg erased


      note583     19 are] mended from were (or perhaps vice versa)
  Mountains] mended from mountains


      note584     23 White] bright 1st rdg erased


      note585     33 Please] mended from pleasd


      note586     34 misty] cloudy 1st rdg del


      note587     43 returnd] descended 1st rdg del



  PAGE 31


      note588     9-10 are written in margin at this place, though not marked
  to go in; put after 16 by Keynes and (formerly) Bentley



  PAGE 32
      note589     3-4 deleted but then marked "To come in"


      note590     7 But] For 1st rdg del


      note591     8 sorrow & care] songs & joy 1st rdg erased


      note592     12 Cubed . . . window square] Circled . . . infinite orb
  1st rdg del.  The second reading is erased; yet it is
  supported by the reference back to "Cubes" and "window" in
  33:4-5.  If ears are porches, mouth, nose, and eyes had better be
  doors and windows; yet the concept of micromacrocosm is better
  expressed in "infinite orb immoveable", with its matching of the
  oxymoron in "primum mobile".  If Blake hesitated to choose either
  reading, an editor hesitates to reject either.
       12 walls & cielings]   arches all 1st rdg del


      note593     14 is written over an erased line ending "?within"


      note594     16 Sorrowing . . . to sow] Then . . . forth to sow
  1st rdg


  PAGE 33


      note595     4 Cubes] mended from cubes; orbs 1st rdg del


      note596     6 World] mended from world
      note597     8 Heaven walled round] over erasure; intermediate
  draft, above the line reads: [the ?heavens <?were> walld]


      note598     9 comforted saw] over erasure; draft above line is
  possibly identical.  The erased words may have been "in comfort
  saw": an i dot and an f are in the right places.


      note599     11-15 written over four revised and erased lines, traces of
  which are: "And ?Luvah Iding fly / R      rejoicing & triumph /
  S    falling / A     walkd     of the Mundane Egg". 


      note600     17 Body] The B curiously mended, perhaps merely
  from b   Abyss] mended from abyss


      note601     18 sorrow & care] songs & joy 1st rdg erased;
  eternal fear 2nd rdg, written below the line and then erased
       Immediately below 18 Blake wrote lines 22-26 followed by
  19-21; then, while 18 ended with eternal fear", he put an X after
  it and another X in front of what was to be line 19, to indicate
  insertion of 19-21 after 18.  Later he put "1" after the first X,
  "2" before the second X, and "3" before line 22, to confirm the
  final sequence. (Bentley's "missing section" may be a ghost.)


      note602     23 number weight] weight & measure 1st rdg del


      note603     25 unornamented pillar] ornamented pillar square 1st rdg


      note604     28 strength] pow[er] 1st rdg del


      note605     29 season] spring 1st rdg del


      note606     32 right angled] their 1st rdg del


      note607     33 Scalene] & oblong 1st rdg del


      note608     36 hard subdued] fructifying 1st rdg del



  PAGE 34
      note609     Erased pencil lines under 2-4 and in right margin (partly
  obscured by an "Ellis" note):
       Laughing & mocking Luvah ?breaking [word from an unrelated
  layer of ms?] in the woes of Vala [Bentley's "womb of Vala"]
       But soon [for them] ?he ?formd the lovely limbs of
  [Enion] Enitharmon     xxx & to lamentation of Enion
  ?answer for fear



- 829 -


  TEXTUAL NOTES FOR PAGES 322-327


      note610     Below 3 are two layers of erased pencil, the first ending
  "for Vindication of Urizens world", the second beginning "Thy
  name is familiar".


      note611     9 For] Now 1st rdg del


      note612     15 Elemental] mended from elemental


      note613     Beneath 16-17 are about 11 erased pencil lines, the first
  beginning "X[And oft] <thus> she wails", the next two
  like 16-17 ("And Los said.  Lo the Lilly . . . / Reproach thee &
  the but the rest apparently different from final text.


      note614     23-24 Secure . . . fury] words inserted above the single
  line beginning "Enitharmon" and ending "infolds"; spacing and
  meter suggest the proper distribution.


      note615     26 Howl . . . thine] over erased words


      note616     28 sleep] sleeps 1st rdg


      note617     36 written over erased line


      note618     49 written over erased line


      note619     56-57 began as one line, "She sang Oer Los.  I seize the
  sphery harp I strike the strings"; above the second portion
  Blake then added "reviving . . . terrible" and below the first
  portion "But thus she sang", making the present two lines.  He
  forgot to move the stop after "Los", where it marked the
  beginning of the song to come, to its proper new position after
  "sang", but I have done so.


      note620     94 reviving] delighted 2nd rdg erased


      note621     Erased pencil above 97 and in margin: "?From ?Ahanias woe
  all xxxx xxxx only wrath & Envy follows in xxxx their fxxxds /
  Urizen saw and axxxxx".


      note622     99 Enion] written over she


      note623     100 Thus Enion] And oft she 1st rdg; And thus she 2nd rdg



  PAGE 36
      note624     14-15 written over End of the Second Night erase
      note625     18 Spectrous]   terrible 1st rdg del




  Night the Third


  PAGE 37
      note626     title] "Third" is written over one or two erasures, possibly
  in the sequence. [Third] <[Fourth]> <Third>.
  Perhaps at one time Night 11 began on P 7, II was Third, III was Fourth.


      note627     3 Me]    thy Wife, that 1st rdg del


      note628     4 I Embrace . . . wet My . . . my] Embraces . . . wets her
  . . . her 1st rdg
      note629     10 Thou sitst in harmony for God hath set thee over all
  1st rdg del



  PAGE 38


      note630     2 Ahania] shadow penciled above; both rdgs del


      note631     7 but . . . Decree) & all my Kingly power 1st rdg del


      note632     8 Vala shall] ?That Vala ?may 1st rdg; But Vala
  shall 2nd rdg (the "But" now redundant)


      note633     NB: Some penciled revisions in Ahania's speech (which runs
  from 38:15 through 42:17) adapt it for use in Jerusalem
  43:33-82 as a speech by two "fugitives".  Changes (e.g. of
  pronouns to plural) that only disrupt the text cannot have been
  intended for The Four Zoas and are here noted but not
  adopted.  Insertion of the name "Albion", however, does suit
  Blake's latest intentions for this poem, as we know from its
  revised title.



  PAGE 39
      note634     1 Leave . . . Light]    replacing two deleted lines:
  Raise then thy radiant eyes to him raise thy obedient hands
  And comforts shall descend from heaven into thy darkning clouds


      note635     5 To forge] over deletion


      note636     14 Ancient] Eternal 1st rdg erased


      note637     15 Darkning] Eternal 1st rdg erased; Fallen 2nd
  rdg erase


      note638     17 thee . . . thy] the . . . with 1st rdg


      note639     18 and 40:1 are lightly lined through in pencil; excluded
  from Jerusalem (see J 43:35-36).



- 830 -


  TEXTUAL NOTES FOR PAGES 327-331


  PAGE 40


      note640     1 In] Of 1st rdg del 


      note641     2 Man] mended from man


      note642     3 Shadow] mended from shadow


      note643     10 I . . . my heart .  . . me] We . . . our hearts . . . us
  pencil revision for 


      note644     11 I] We pencil revision for J
  Slumberous] Eternal 1st rdg del


      note645     12 written in stanza break, over erased line identical to
  unrevised 10



  PAGE 41
      note646     2-3 ms rdg: that shadowy Spirit of the
  [Eternal] <Fallen> One <Albion> / Luvah, decended . . .
  ; [the Eternal Man] arose <In terror> <Albion rose> 
  The wisto change the One" to "Albion carried out
  elsewhere on the page, was halted here by the awkward
  juxtaposition of "Albion/Luvah" that would result; the earlier
  reading ("One") is not deleted, and Keynes is right to call
  "Albion" an alternate reading, but the insertion of "Albion" in
  the FZ was a late development.


      note647     4 Awful] Eternal 1st rdg; Fallen 2nd rdg erased


      note648     5-9] Ahania, speaking parenthetically to Urizen, as in 18;
  pencil bracket in margin directs Blake to exclude these lines
  from Jerusalem (J43[29]), as he did, running directly
  from 4. to 10.  (Bentley, 1978, p 1134., gets the message
  confused and mistakenly moves 10 to precede 5-9, thus giving
  these lines to the wrong speaker.)


      note649     6 Eyes] mended from eyes


      note650     10 I] We pencil rdg   Albion] the Eternal 1st
  rdg; the Falln One, 2nd rd


      note651     12 Love] mended from love


      note652     13 mighty Albion] Eternal Man 1st rdg; Ancient Man
  2nd rdg, not del


      note653     15 Albion] Man 1st rdg del


      note654     17 the Fallen Man) the Eternal Man 1st rdg; Albion
  pencil, partly erased



  PAGE 42


      note655     The last of the pages in copperplate hand on new paper;
  Bentley notes that "The modified copperplate band strangely turns
  into the most beautiful copperplate hand at the end of the tenth
  line"; but the modified hand is over original copperplate,
  erased.


      note656     7-8 were first written in pencil in the margin, then in ink
  in a stanza break. 


      note657     9 &] they penciled above but erased


      note658     10 I saw that] the Spirits 1st rdg erased; I saw
  that penciled above and erased, then inked in line


      note659     Beside 11-12 in the margin is the material for two lines
  that might have been meant to follow "now the Human Blood foamd
  high" but were never fitted in:
            Albion closd the Western Gate & / shut America out by
            the Atlantic / for a Curse and hidden horror / and an
            altar of  victims to Sin / & Repentance


      note660     17] In the following stanza break and in the margin is this
  pencil draft of lines the "fugitives" speak in
  Jerusalem: Whether this is Jerusalem or Babylon we know
  not   All is confusion   All is tumult & we alone escaped
  Beneath this an erased pencil draft:
            ?Then    labour ended     love for Vala
            Our hearts sick    we     on his Rock
            We fled from ?Jerusalem ?after ?the Merciful Lord & Saviour


      note661     18 From] for ms rdg, a slip



  PAGE 43
      note662     2 hand] mended from had


  PAGE 44
      note663     2 shuddering] darkning 1st rdg del


      note664     7 roared] reared 1st rdg mended   sulphureous
  written suphuireous in haste


      note665     18 Struggling to utter the voice]  To take the limbs of Man
  1st rdg erased, a mistaken skipping of a line in transcription



  PAGE 45
      note666     27 his voice of Thunder rolld]  the voice of Tharmas rolld
  1st rdg


  PAGE 46
       note667          5 Hope] Joy 1st rdg del



- 831 -


  TEXTUAL NOTES FOR PAGES 331-334


  PAGE 47


  Night The Fourth


      note668     7 written over erased line:
            H    d s Tharmas ?rolling ?his thundring seas
  Encompassd thee


      note669     9 How . . . fled] And Tharmas said All my hope I thought
  <Enion> for ever gone 1st rdg


      note670     16 beneath] upon 1st rdg del


       note671          22 over] for over me?



  PAGE 48


      note672     This page bears, as Bentley discovered, "a faint impression
  of mirror-printing: 'Ballad the First', &c." from p 9 of
  Ballads Relating to Animals by William Hayley, for which
  Blake made engravings dated 1 June 1802.  Bentley (p 162) deduces
  that the sheet was used as backing when Blake printed the Ballad
  and only later used as ms paper.  His further deduction or
  assertion that "There is no evidence to suggest that any of the
  succeeding pages [of The Four Zoas] were transcribed
  beforpage 48" is contradicted by his own argument (on
  pp 194-195 on "Anomalous pages [i.e.  leaves]") to the effect
  that such imperfect leaves as this would have been avoided by
  Blake until he reached the end of his supply of perfect leaves.
  The discovery, in short, helps date pages 47-48, but it also
  seems to mark them as a late insertion. (Bentley does not count
  47-48 among the anomalies. His categories consist of odd-sized
  leaves; "make-shift" leaves made of two overlapping pieces of
  paper but otherwise of good size and good enough to have been
  used for Night Thoughts proofs--for all the leaves under
  discussion are proofs made in 1796, with one possible exception,
  and available for ms use any time thereafter; three sheets that
  were once folded together horizontally; one with a small patch in
  the inner margin.  In another group Bentley counts as "very late"
  a sheet cut into two leaves bearing Blake's 1793 engraving of
  Edward & Elenoon one side.  Yet leaf 47-48 is
  described (p 4-8 n) as having vertical "creases . . . as if
  [from] a great weight" "made after the Night Thoughts
  engraving was printed, but after (sc. before?] the Vala
  writing . . .". Presumably the creases were made by the weight of
  the press and before ms use, or the whole argument collapses;
  elsewhere Bentley is fairly confident that the writing "appears
  to be on top of the printing" (p 162 n 1); he apparently
  also means us to connect the "creases" with the process which
  made "a regular indentation . . . where Blake's copperplate
  repeatedly pressed the paper".  These creases and indentation
  surely qualify the leaf for inclusion among such "anomalous"
  leaves as the three once folded; the transferred printing would
  seem to put it rather further along the scale toward the very
  imperfect end.
       Another kind of evidence that a succeeding page was
  transcribed before pages 47-48 is the striking fact that
  p 57, the title of Night The Fifth, is so early it first read
  "Book" (erased and written "Night"), while no such early
  wording occurs on the title of "Night The Fourth" on p 47.


       note673          13 Eternal] Anci[ent] 1st rdg del 


       note674     21 solemn] dismal 1st rdg erased


  PAGE 49
      note675     8 griding] dismal 1st rdg erased


      note676     24 seeing] answerd 1st rdg del



  PAGE 50
      note677     2 abhorrence] followed by eternal del


      note678     5 dread] great 1st rdg del


      note679     11] written over an apparently nonvariant draft of 12



  PAGE 51
      note680     4 dreary] dismal 1st rdg del


      note681     7 solid] mended from sold


      note682     23 Vala] mended from Valan   The six occurrences of
  such mending are on pages of rapid fair-copying; the mending is
  current and does not represent a change of name but a slip;
  perhaps from the influence of other names of emanations, Enion,
  Enitharmon.  See 59:5, 19; 63:13; 83:12.


      note683     24 Urizen] U mended from L (for Luvah)



- 832 -


  TEXTUAL NOTES FOR PAGES 335-339


  PAGE 52
      note684     10 Trumpets Horns & Clarions] mended from trumpets
  horns & clarions



  PAGE 53
      note685     15 Ladles huge] lables 1st rdg del, error of rapid
  transcription



  PAGE 54
      note686     6 heated] pourd 1st rdg del


      note687     20 brain] mended from brains. Line followed by
  deletion: Round the branches of his heart


      note688     26 in] mended from as



  PAGE 55 (FIRST PORTION)         
      note689     10-15] added at bottom of page, over erased closing "End
  of The Fourth Night".  Text originally continued with "In
  terrors Los . . . Abyss" (16-31, moved below); but this
  block was bracketed to go at the end of p 56 . After line 9 is
  inserted the instruction: "The Council of God &c as
  below. to immensity 31 lines"; at the end of p 56, before the new
  colophon, is written: "In terrors &c <to Abyss> as 31 lines
  above".



  PAGE 56 (FIRST PORTION)


      note690     11-16] over six erased lines:
            ?And ?in ?five days of Great Eternity
            The                               Eternal Death
            Then ?Jesus
            Then all                          [Co]ntr[ac]tion
            Then all the Space of Empyrean ?playd in       Song
            Witherd with ?silent ?compassion after endless ?war


      note691     13 Albion] Man 1st rdg del


      note692     18] inserted, over a  deleted earlier insertion.


      note693     23 Starry Wheels] Deep beneath 1st rdg del


      note694     27] written over erased: "The End of the Fourth Book";
  followed by instruction: "In terrors <to Abyss> as 31 lines
  above".


  PAGE 55 (SECOND PORTION)
      note695     18 with noises] in noises 1st rdg, error of copying
  from Book of Urizen


      note696     23] followed by instruction Bring in here the
  Globe of Blood as in the B of Urizen (a reference to
  Urizen 18; Blake in pp 54-55 has been adapting
  Urizen chapters IV-V).  Editors have shirked their duty
  heretofore, but Blake plainly wanted the Urizen lines
  inserted here; I have put them within editorial brackets and
  treated two lines as one to suit the Four Zoas
  meter--and renumbered the lines that follow.


      note697     28 fro] mended from from


      note698     30 shriek] mended from shrieks


      note699     31 With] written over On



  PAGE 56 (SECOND PORTION)
       note700          colophon] End of the Fourth [Book] Night
       At bottom of page is this erased pencil:
                 Christs Crucifix shall be made an excuse for Executing Criminals



  PAGE 57


  Night The Fifth


      note701     title] [Book] <Night> The Fifth
  (I argue above that the correction of "Book" to "Night" seems
  evidence of early draft; it may, however, be only a careless slip
  in a relatively late stage of the work; Blake in these pages is
  writing rapid fair copy from presumably heavily revised sheets;
  if he had already begun to write Milton, in Books, such
  a slip would be easy.) (Note that the colophon on p 56, written
  first of the several for Night IV, reads simply "Night".) 


      note702     5 dreary] dismal 1st rdg del


      note703     7 shrunk] written shrink (symptom of rapid copying)


      note704     14 Nadir] written Nader (or just an undotted
 i)



- 833 -


  TEXTUAL NOTES FOR PAGES 339-346


  PAGE 58
      note705     9 & fro &] written & fro & &


      note706     21 new born] youthful 1st rdg del


      note707     23 Urizen cast] When Urizen cast 2nd but canceled rdg


      note708     25 Discord began then] Discord began & 1st rdg;
  Then Discord began 2nd rdg firmament is
  misspelled firmaent
       An erasure of 5 lines circled in ink begins under 24-25:
            The demons ?howld round his Chariot ?raging ?Luvah
                 Emp[tied]
            In clouds of     ?tent       Abyss
            Was Luvah      he stood ?glowing in the dark flame
            Around the Abyss [d]efiantly <?shout[ing]> xxxxx all his Demons
            Of hope & fear then sing the same song around the glowing bed
  In the left margin of the 3rd and 4th lines Blake wrote "This to be before".



  PAGE 59
      note709     5 Vala] mended from Valan; so also in line 19


      note710     21 round red Orc] of the deep & 1st rdg del



  PAGE 60
      note711     2 Extinction] mended from extinction


      note712     20 griding] dismal 1st rdg del


      note713     22 Calld] subject omitted: he or they


      note714     29 acursed] dismal 1st rdg del



  PAGE 61
      note715     14 lament] rejoice 1st rdg del


      note716     24 a fiery] with fiery 1st rdg



  PAGE 62
      note717     6 strength in] strength rejoice 1st rdg, skipping
  by mistake


      note718     32 it] mended from its


  PAGE 63
      note719     10 Golgonooza] G mended from g


      note720     12 deadly] dismal 1st rdg erased


      note721     13 Vala] mended from Valan


      note722     14 dreary] dismal 1st rdg erased


      note723     18 Tho] mended from Uri (for Urizen, beginning next line)



  PAGE 64
      note724     5] in the noon] with the noon 1st rdg


       note725          9 to] mended from into


      note726     22 Saying O] Saying S 1st rdg


      note727     24 & said] Saying 1st rdg del



  PAGE 65
      note728     colophon: Night] Book 1st rdg erased



  PAGE 67


  Night the Sixth


      note729     The "g" in the title has a rightward serif, dating it after
  1802. 


      note730     17 Woman] W mended from w


      note731     18 current] river 1st rdg del


  PAGE 68
      note732     1] Then Urizen raisd his spear. but they reard up a wall
  of rocks 1st rdg; the two clauses were then numbered "2"
  and "1" to reverse their order, and the conjunctions changed.



  PAGE 69
      note733     13 Live] mended



- 834 -


  TEXTUAL NOTES FOR PAGES 346-352
      note734     17 End] Cease 1st rdg del


      note735     30 dreary] dismal 1st rdg erased



  PAGE 70 (FIRST PORTION)
      note736     10] In the margin is a rhymed couplet in crayon, not marked
            for entry: Till thou dost injure / the distrest
            Thou shalt never have peace / within thy breast


      note737     17] Followed by 3  deleted lines, the first replacing the second:
            Not so closd up the Prince of Light now darkend wandring among
            <For> Urizen beheld the terrors of the Abyss wandring among
            The Ruind Spirits once his Children & the Children of Luvah


      note738     37 Some ?as columns of fire & of water . . . in length 1st rdg


      note739     38 length] breadth 1st rdg del


      note740     45 ff] In the following rearrangement of lines on pages
  70-71 I follow Keynes's interpretation of the series of
  bracketings on those pages; the textual fit hardly allows an
  alternative.



  PAGE 71
      note741     3 his] their 1st rdg del


      note742     16 iron . . . rain] eternal . . . snow 1st rdg del


      note743     26 clay] slime 1st rdg del


      note744     36 his] mended from him
      note745     37 gloomy] dismal 1st rdg del



  PAGE 72
      note746     2-9 are written over an erasure of 7 1/2 lines which prove
  to be identical to the last lines on this page and the first on
  the next (72:34-39; 73:1-2), where they make a better textual
  fit.  The general pace of the writing, everywhere on these pages,
  is rapid fair copy.  The erased lines would not have fitted where
  they were first written; the new lines were not freshly created;
  the best explanation is that Blake inadvertently began copying
  the wrong passage, noticed his error in the middle of the 8th
  line, and rectified it at once.
       (The erased passage begins "O what a world is here" and
  ends "Upon the green plains".)



  PAGE 73
      note747     4 destruction] confusion 1st rdg del


      note748     15 bosoms] bowels 1st rdg del This line is an
  insertion in a stanza break; its introduction of mountain riches
  prepares for the change in the next line.


       note749          16 So . . . iron] So Saying he began to form of gold silver
  & [brass] iron 1st rdg; then "Saying" was
  deleted and "dig" was inserted above "form" but without deletion
  of the latter word. The reason for removing "Saying" must have
  been to gain an extra metrical foot; the intention must therefore
  have been to retain both "dig" and "form".  Of the possible
  alternative readings, "to dig & form" or "to dig, forming", I
  have adopted the latter as more characteristic.


   note750     27 feet] mended from foot


      note751     36 bursts] mended from burstings



  PAGE 74
      note752     20 Snows] ?Enion 1st rdg del, a slip


      note753     28 Urizen] U written over O (a slip?)



  PAGE 75
      note754     3 by] with 1st rdg del


      note755     6 Shadow] mended from Shade


      note756     11 him] his ms rdg 6
       11-12 are written over erased lines which prove to be
  identical to 13-14; evidently a slip in copying
      note757     20 shores] deeps 1st rdg del


      note758     31 gorg d] mended from gord



- 835 -


  TEXTUAL NOTES FOR PAGES 352-357


  PAGE 77


  Night the Seventh
      note759     There are two sections in Blake's ms each headed "Vala /
  Night the Seventh" and by editorial convention identified as VIIa
  (pp 77-90) and VIIb (91-98).  The text of VIIa, when first
  inscribed as fair copy from drafts not extant, ended at 85:22,
  fitting fairly well the fair-copy opening of VIIb (91:1) but not
  smoothly.  From the nature of the fit it is reasonable to
  conjecture that 91-98 (VIIb) already existed. These pages remain
  fair copy with minor revisions, but Blake achieved one drastic
  revision by writing instructions to himself on pages 91, 95, and
  98 to begin "the Seventh Night" with 95:15 and move the preceding
  passages (91:1 to 95:14) around to follow the end of 98--a change
  which improved the fitting of VIIa to VIIb. (In either sequence
  VIIb could bring the Night to a cadence, ready for Night VIII.)
  But later Blake erased the finish line after 85:22 and
  extended VIIa, first for a few lines, with a new finis line,
  then, erasing that, to the bottom of the page and on into the
  margins of picture page 86, originally a tailpiece for the Night;
  then on through pages 87 and 90 (there being no room for text on
  pages 88-89).  This new termination of the Night fitted VIIa very
  nicely to the beginning of Night VIII, but it left VIIb dangling.


  Blake might have thought to discard VIIb, but he did not do so;
  it contains passages needed in The Four Zoas, somewhere.


  But their disposition remains an editorial problem, with no
  instructions from the author.
       Recently three scholars, working independently, have come up
  with three proposed reading sequences, each more elegant than
  simply taking VIIa and VIIb consecutively.  Andrew Lincoln,
  arguing from an impressive hypothetical reconstruction of the
  evolution of the ms, would insert VIIa between the two portions
  of VIIb (as Blake rearranged them).  Mark Lefebvre and John
  Kilgore, arguing mainly from fit, propose inserting all of VIIb
  between the two portions of VIIa (taking the first portion of
  VIIa as concluding with 85:22, originally followed by "End of the
  Seventh Night").  Kilgore would return the transposed parts of
  VIIb to their original order; Lefebvre would keep them in the
  order of Blake's transposing.  In the present edition I have
  decided to follow the latter course. (All these proposals are
  discussed in detail in the Summer 1978 issue ofBlake: An Illustrated Quarterly.)


      note760     5-17 draw upon 98:18-20; 99:1-21 (or at least a reverse
  direction seems improbable).  


       note761         More narrowly, 8-16, dealing with
  beasts in the plural (lions, tygers, bulls) seems to derive from
  98:18-20, where they were first Bull, Lion, Tyger, but revised to
  Lions, Tygers.


      note762     19] inserted in a stanza break


  PAGE 78
      note763     Upside down in the left margin are written "B Blake /
  "B Blake / Catherine Blake / 76", erased.  The combined ages of William
  (Bill) and Catherine would have been 76 in 1797-98.



      note764     13 rangd his Books around] ranged his rocks a[round] Book
  around 1st rdg


      note765     16 an] his 1st rdg del



  PAGE 79
   note766     13 roll] mended from rolls



  PAGE 80


      note767     1 read . . . tones] written over erasure; 2-8 are evidently
  an amplification, crowded between lines and continuing in the
  margin, yet possibly only another accidental slip in copying.


   note768     3 Ye] be ms rdg


   note769     16 the] mended from them


   note770     27 Then Orc cried] Orc answerd 1st rdg


   note771     44 And Orc began] So saying he began 1st rdg


   note772     47 affection] wisdom 1st rdg del



  PAGE 81
      note773     7 watching cold) cold watching 1st rdg; "Urizen"
  ends in a wiggle that may include an S, perhaps for "Urizen's
  cold"


      note774     15 Men] M mended from m
      note775     17] Two  deleted lines follow:



- 836 -


  TEXTUAL NOTES FOR PAGES 357-3 60


            She Secret joyd to see She fed herself on his Despair
            She said I am avengd for all my sufferings of old


      note776     19 root] mended from roots


      note777     28 the spring] early spring 1st rdg



  PAGE 82
      note778     24 Tree] T mended from t


      note779     26 in tears] in vain 1st rdg


       note780          33 face lightnings] face [thy Sons] & his
  lightnings 1st rdg


      note781     34 Orc] O mended from o


      note782     36 Sweet] written over woe



  PAGE 83
      note783     12 Vala] mended from Valan



  PAGE 84
      note784     10 Livd] L written over j (for joys? see next line)


      note785     13 manhood was divided for the]written over
  erasur


      note786     19 tubelike] mended from tublike


      note787     26 returning] mended from returnd


      note788     29 wert] written were and revised to wert
   with uncrossed "t"


      note789     36-40] inserted from margin, with guide line.
  Blake's line count on this page, "292 or 297", indicates a moment
  when he was undecided whether to keep or drop the five lines of
  this inserted passage.
       36 brutish] moved here from the head of the next
  line, where it was written but deleted while wet


      note790     39 thee not] between these words is a  deleted
  passage:
                                & till
                 I have thee in my arms & am again united to Los
                 To be one body & One spirit with him


  --perhaps deleted to avoid interference with the more effective
  "till" clause of 41. (Keynes and Bentley put 41-42 before the
  marginal insertion, which is to miss the need for this deletion
  as well as to overlook the guide.)



  PAGE 85 (FIRST PORTION)
      note791     2 Embracing] E mended from e


      note792     15 broke] mended from burst


      note793     19-20] guided in from margin; line 21 is written over
  a long erased line that may have been the original conclusion
  to this Night


      note794     21 dark] sweet 1st rdg del


      note795     22 terrified] smild & 1st rdg, the "&" not del.
  Before the addition of lines 23ff, this line was followed by "End
  of the Seventh Night" (see note on Second Portion of p 85).


  PAGE 95 (SECOND PORTION)
      note796     The text of pp 91-97 was written down in that order, after
  the heading "Vala / Night the Seventh" on p 91, but then was
  rearranged by a note on p 91 stating that "This Night begins at
  line 153 the following comes in at the End" and a note on p 95
  after its 14th line: "Beginning of the [Book] <Seventh Night>"
  plus a note at the end of p 98: "Then follows Thus in the
  Caverns of the Grave &c as it stands now in the beginning of
  Night the Seventh".



      note797     15 Roots] tree 1st rdg overwritten


      note798     16 brooded] brooded dismal 1st rdg


      note799     17 his warriors] the Shadowy female 1st rdg del


      note800     24] followed by deleted line:
            The shadowy voice answered O urizen Prince of Light
  (NB: Here and in line 32 "Urizen" is written over a different
  name, possibly "Luvah" or "Satan" though no h or
  is visible.)



- 837 -


  TEXTUAL NOTES FOR PACES 361-368


  PAGE 96


      note801     18 temple] followed by the beginning of a line immediately deleted:
  Urizen namd it Pande" (i.e. Pandemonium)


      note802     19 stature] forehead 1st rdg del


      note803     25 for] mended from of


  PAGE 97
      note804     7 sands] roads 1st rdg del


      note805     10 all] [till] all ms


      note806     21 night or day] day by day 1st rdg



  PAGE 98
      note807     19 Lion] Lions 1st rdg


      note808     20 Tyger] Tygers 1st rdg


      note809     31] followed by pencil direction "Then Heavd the Earthquake
  &c" referring to a lost passage perhaps some revision of 91:6ff.
  Next follows the inked,and earlier, direction to bring in ". . .
  Thus in the Caverns of the Grave &c as it stands now . . .", i.e.
  pp 91ff.  But see also 104:21  "Heavd like an Earthquake



  PAGE 91
      note810     Unerased title: "Vala / Night the Seventh"


      note811     1 Thus] Now in ms, but revised when quoted on p 98


      note812     11 affection] love 1st rdg del


       note813          21 [triumphant] fury] Erasure not replaced.  One
  wonders at what date Blake decided that even the triumphant
  aspect of embattled Orc must be called in doubt.  The erasure is
  evidently a political or moral one.


      note814     30 clouds] steeds 1st rdg del (a clue to Blake's
  transpositions)



  PAGE 92
      note815     10 clothe] Now clothe 1st rdg
      note816     12 they . . . blood They . . .  helmet] the two
  clauses written in reverse order, then numbered "2" and "1"; yet
  see Jerusalem 65:7



  PAGE 93


      note817     8 Marching] mended from Marcing


      note818     17 in hammerd steel] in darkness are 1st rdg del


      note819     19 Morn] mended, perhaps from morn
       note820     Two lines in the left margin, the first in pencil and the
  second in ink, read:
            Unorganizd Innocence, An Impossibility
            Innocence dwells with Wisdom but never with Ignorance
  These seem not part of the text but aphoristic comment upon
  it--and upon the design, borrowed from the engravedNight
  Thoughtsof disgruntled warriors drinking and stupid. (Yet
  a horizontal pencil line between lines 19 and 20 could imply a
  tentative insertion there.) 



      note821     26 Power] mended from for (a jump to "form" three
  words farther on)



  PAGE 94


      note822     17 form of Orc which] form which 1st rdg


      note823     25 Curse and] Curse in 1st rdg


      note824     27 wrathful then] then furious 1st rdg del


      note825     55 rage against) anguish for 1st rdg del



  PAGE 95 (FIRST PORTION)
      note826     8 Patience for] Patience of 1st rdg



  PAGE 85 (SECOND PORTION)
      note827     24 boughs . . . fibre] branches . . . stem 1st rdg
  del



      note828     26-27] written over erasure: End of the Seventh Night


      note829     33 Consummating] ?labouring 1st rdg del


      note830     34 That] Thy 1st rdg del


      note831     37-38] over erased: The End of the Seventh Night



- 838 -


  TEXTUAL NOTES FOR PAGES 368-372


      note832     (The first "End" would have been after 22, the second after
  31; lines 31ff are in a smaller sharper pen.)


      note833     41-42] written in margin without guide line
      note834     43 If we] If once we 1st rdg



  PAGE 87
      note835     2 But] Then 1st rdg del


      note836     3 Wondering . . . opend] over erasure, after addition and
  erasure of words in left margin perhaps reading "Will live" or
  "With Love"


       note837          4-5] inserted as one line, with strokes after
  "destroy" and "performd" implying division into three lines; but
  the second stroke was erased; the matter exactly fills two
  lines.


       note838          6 They . . . high] Builded Golgonooza Los labouring inspird
  builded pillars high 1st rdg


       note839          10 Urthonas world] ?Urizens world 1st rdg


      note840     13 beheld] gatherd 1st rdg erased


      note841     28 of bitter Contrition] many Tears 1st rdg del


      note842     34 to] the to 1st rdg (for ?thee to)


      note843     35-38] in margin but guided in; Blake evidently was groping
  for some word preferable to "Counterpart"; in the 2nd line he
  even left a gap to fill in after "Counter"; in the 1st, after
  deleting the whole word, he underlined "Coun" as if to try again.
  Meanwhile (apparently) he had written and  deleted "Vegetative"
  or "Vegetating" above "Counterpart"; though he rejected it, the
  only reading Blake left us with which to fill the gap, and make
  sense in context, is "Vegetating Counterpart" or "Counterpart,
  Vegetating miraculous" or simply "Counterpart miraculous":
  Spectres, without one, "ravin".


      note844     47 ancient injuries] former injuries 1st rdg del


      note845     49 enough] mended from enought



       note846     PAGES 88 and 89 are the engraved sides of leaves made by cutting
  in half (and excluding the center) a print of Blake'sEdward
  & Eleno1793.  The only writing on these sides is the prose
  aphorism given above, under Miscellaneous Prose--not a part of
  The Four Zoabut conceivably a comment on the subject
  of the engraving.



  PAGE 90
      note847     2 sat] ?stood 1st rdg erased


      note848     3 where . . . Tree] over deletion beginning which


      note849     5 refuge] sweet 1st rdg del


      note850     10 labour] pleasure 1st rdg del


      note851     12 Sacrifice] life & love 1st rdg del


      note852     16 Lovely terrible] Lovely 1st rdg del


      note853     22 forms sublime] sweet forms 1st rdg


      note854     25] followed by a deleted line:
            To hew the cavernd rocks of Dranthon into forms of beauty


       note855          28 forth delighted upon] forth upon 1st rdg


       note856          47 fathers] preceded by second del


      note857     58 Urizen[s] Shadow] Urizen [Spectre] <Shadow> m



  PAGE 99


  Night the Eighth


      note858     1 Met in] which is called 1st rdg del


      note859     2 as] Met as 1st rdg


      note860     4 Fallen] Eternal 1st rdg erased
       4-9 written over five erased lines:
            [a] He is
            [b] He is the Good Shepherd He is the Lord & Master
            [c] He is the Shep[herd of] Albion he is all in all
            [d] In Eden in the Garden of God& in heavenly Jerusalem
            [e] To create Man Morning by Morning to give gifts at Noon Day


- 839 -


  TEXTUAL NOTES FOR PAGE 372


  Of these lines, and unerased lines 1-3, four were moved to
  Night I p 8:8-11, i.e, 1, 2, b, e (after the revision of
  1 & 2); they were later erased on p 8, and a new page, 21, was
  added to Night I beginning with seven lines using some of the
  material of 1, 2, d, and possibly a (if
  contains the definition of Jesus as "the Christ");
  three lines appear also in Jerusalem 34[38]:23-25,
  consisting of b c d, unchanged (unless my reading
  "Shepherd of Albion" is mistaken), and these follow' after one
  unfamiliar line, five lines which are almost identical to lines
  2-6 of page 21 Night I. We should expect line a to
  contain in some form the material occurring in the same position
  in p 21 and J 34. (Here and below, Jerusalem is
  abbreviated J.) 
       They Call Jesus the Christ & they in him & he in them
       Live in Perfect harmony in Eden the land of life
  --thus p 21:5-6, changed to the first person in
  Jerusalem
       We call Jesus the Christ and he in us and we in him (with
  the second line identical, and a third reading:
       Giving recieving and forgiving each others trespasses
  --followed immediately by b c d.)  The last word in
  a could be "recompense" (see 4:20, a related
  passage), the penultimate word "seeketh" (not "seeking"), and a
  largely conjectural reconstruction of the whole line that would
  not do violence to the graphic evidence is:
       "He is Calld the Christ who forgiveth & seeketh no recompense".
       Evidence that the deletion and revision on p 99 (and hence
  the changes on p 8 and insertion of p 21) were not made before
  Jerusalewas in progress would be the appearance there
  of erased lines c d verbatim; but of course the passage
  may have been saved on a separate sheet now lost.  Note that
  34[38] inspires--or draws on--unique parts of all
  three pages in The Four Zoas, as well as on common
  parts.


      note861     9 over head] followed by deleted passage including five
  lines in margin:
                           but other wings
            They had which clothd their bodies like a garment of soft down
            Silvery white shining upon the dark blue sky in silence
            Their wings touchd the heavens their fair feet hoverd above
            The swelling tides they bent over the dead corse like an arch
            Pointed at top in highest heavens of precious stones & pearl
      note862     15-16 Then Los said I behold . . . thro the broken Gates /
  Of thy] Then Los beheld . . . thro the broken Gates / Of
  Enitharmons 1st rdg; Then first Los beheld &c 2nd
  rd


      note863     17 I see] inserted above the line


      note864     18 Awe] mended from al (a false start?)


      note865     24 Enitharmon] followed by del:
                      which joins to Urizens temple
            Which is the Synagogue of Satan


      note866     25 stood] stood at the Gate 1st rdg


  PAGE 100 (FIRST PORTION)
      note867     Between lines 1 and 2 a marginal note, "Los stood &c", with
  guide lines calling for an insertion from another page, may refer
  to the preceding words in 99:25 (though no insertion here could
  work); they more probably refer to 90:2 before revision: "Los
  stood in Golgonooza in the Gate of Luban"; insertion of all but
  the first and last two lines of p 90 would work quite well at
  this point; one would need merely to change the phrase "Into his
  hands" that begins 100:2 into "In his hands" in the
  antepenultimate line of p 90.  The thematic material of 90,
  amplified with marginal additions, seems all an amplification
  backward from the "Looms in Lubans Gate" in 100:2.
       In short, Blake wrote the two pages 87 and 90 as a sequence,
  considered using the second page as a second page for Night VIII
  (i.e. inserting it on p 100), but then chose to tighten the
  sequence (with additions at bottom of 87 and top of 90) and
  insert it (unquestionably a late addition) at the end of VII.
  This bit of masonry (the fitting Of 87 to 90 and to 86) which
  cements VII(a) closely to VIII seems to indicate a time when
  Blake considered VIIb as abandoned (or moved).  It should be
  noted that 90:1 is probably an addition, the text originally
  starting within the platemark, and that 99:26-27 are an addition,
  which must be treated parenthetically, made to round out the tale
  when the idea of bringing in the "Los stood . . . in the Gate of
  Luban" passage had been abandoned; hence too the deletion of
  "at the Gate" in 99:25.


- 840 -


  TEXTUAL NOTES FOR PAGES 372-377


       1 recieving them] Los receiving "the dead" of 99:19


      note868     11-13 Astonishd . . .  saw] Astonishd Comforted delighted
  the daughters of Beulah saw 1st rdg del


      note869     23 single] One fold 1st rdg del


      note870     25] followed by nine lines marked for transfer to p 101



  PAGE 101 (FIRST PORTION)
      note871     16 Upon the mighty Fiend] On the immortal fiend 1st rdg del


      note872     20 brooding] mended from broods


      note873     27 among the Stars] his hurtling hand 1st rdg del


      note874     28 His hurtling hand] Among the Stars 1st rdg del


      note875     29] followed by instructions to transfer lines from 100 and
  beginning of 101:
       But Urizen his mighty rage comes in here: to quenchless rage



  PAGE 100 (SECOND PORTION)


      note876     26 But] But ?thus 1st rdg del


      note877     27 round] from 1st rdg del


      note878     33 Satan in dark Sanhedrim] probably suggested by Napoleon's
  summoning in 1807 of the first Sanhedrin since the destruction of
  Jerusalem in A.D.70; considered by Blake's contemporaries as a
  millennial sign.



  PAGE 101 (SECOND PORTION)
      note879     31 repelld] Bentley still reads "expelld" (with query) but
  the r is just like that in "rage" in the next line, and
  the e cannot possibly be an x, a wide and
  double letter in Blake's hand.  (Nor would "expelld" make sense
  or fit Blake's usage.)


      note880     33-37] written in margin without guide line; I follow Keynes
  in reading them as an addition to the transferred passage,
  belonging here.  Bentley now concurs.


      note881     34 hermaphrodite] male 1st rdg del



  PAGE 102
      note882     7 torment] mended from torments


      note883     21 avert] mended from invert


      note884     26 words] mended from world


  PAGE 103
      note885     8 these terrors] the human form 1st rdg del


      note886     14 in followed by deletion, perhaps "that we"


      note887     15 if] followed by that del


       note888          27] followed by traces of a line eliminated when Blake cut
  in half and then repasted the leaf



  PAGE 104 (FIRST PORTION)
      note889     10] followed by marginal direction "We behold with wonder
  &c"


  PAGE 113 (FIRST PORTION)
      note890     1 We . . . wonder] Daughter of Beulah describe 1st
  rdg del


      note891     2 Beelzeboul) mended from Baalzebole


       note892          3] followed by two deleted lines:
            The hard dentant hammers are lulld by the flute lula lula
            The bellowing furnaces blare by the long sounding Clarion


      note893     6 into wedges] into bars 1st rdg


      note894     14 Arnon] the Moon 1st rdg del


      note895     16 Satan] Satan recieves 1st rdg


      note896     23 Udan] mended from Uaan


      note897     24 Benithon] followed by it is del


      note898     25 its Islands & its Margins] the Islands & the Margins of
  this Lake 1st rdg


      note899     30 from] to 1st rdg del


      note900     31 thou O] All 1st rdg del



  PAGE 104 (SECOND PORTION)
      note901     16 Begun Already] Already 1st rdg


      note902     21 Heavd like] Heaving li? 1st rdg del


      note903     24 Son] mended from Sons



- 841 -



  TEXTUAL NOTES FOR PAGES 377-380


      note904     37 Give his vegetated body] rend the Veil of Mystery 1st
  rdg del, followed by a deleted line:
            And then Call Urizen & Luvah & Tharmas & Urthona



  PAGE 105 (and 145)
      note905     1-30 The Lamb . . . victims] Identical on p 105 to earlier
  draft on p 145 (ms fragment), except as here noted
       1 Satan] Urizen p 145 (the whole line a pencil
  addition on p 145)


      note906     2 shadows of torments] Shadows of torment p 145
  (the plural on p 105 perhaps a slip of the pen; not a firm
  s_)


      note907     3 Amalek] Entuthon that 1st rdg p 145 del


      note908     4 for] that 1st rdg p 145 del


      note909     5 Urizen . . . the . . . dire] He . . . all  the . . . dark 1st rdg
  p 145 del


      note910     6 death] Death p 145


      note911     7 he] He p 145


      note912     10 amidst them beamd] around them stood p 145,
  1st rdg p 105


      note913     11-27] not in p 145, marginal insertions p 105
       11 of] inserted between Counterpart and
  Lovely but guided by a caret to come after Lovely


      note914     24 then was hidden within] therefore they were calld / The 
  daughters & 1st rdg del, to allow further addition


      note915     27 namd] called 1st rdg del


      note916     28 Amalek] inserted p
       105 Stones] Stones p 105 & 145; Stems 1st
  rdg p 105 del 


      note917     29 knives] songs 1st rdg p 145 del


      note918     35 Away] I have 1st rdg del, a slip


       note919          43] followed by  deleted line:
            To see the boy spring into heaven sounding from my sight
       note920     44 heat] pre (for "prepare") 1st rdg del 


       note921     50 task] with uncrossed t



  PAGE 106 (FIRST PORTION)
      note922     1-6 were transcribed verbatim from 145:13-17, 19


      note923     5] followed in 145 by a line deleted and not transferred;
            In which is Tirzah untranslucent an opake covering


      note924     6] followed in 145 by ten lines deleted and not transferred:
            And Rahab stripd off Luvahs robes from off the lamb of God
            Then first she saw his glory & her harlot form appeard
            In all its turpitude beneath the divine light & of Luvahs robes
            She made herself a Mantle
            Also the Vegetated bodies which Enitharmon wove in her looms
            Opend within the heart & in the loins & in the brain
            To Beulah & the dead in Beulah descended thro their gates
            And some were woven one fold some two fold & some threefold
            In head or heart or reins according to the fittest order
            Of most merciful pity & compassion to the spectrous dead


      note925     7 Jerusalem] She 1st rdg del


      note926     9 Urizen &] followed by build del


      note927     12 of] in 1st rdg del


      note928     16] followed by instruction: But when Rahab &c turn
  back 3 leaves (i.e. to 113:38)



  PAGE 113 (SECOND PORTION)
      note929     38-43] over six erased lines
       38 But] And 1st rdg del


      note930     42 among] above 1st rdg del



       note931     PAGE 115 (p 114 has engraving without text)


      note932     1 are] were 1st rdg del


      note933     7 are our] were their 1st rdg del
       Elythiria] mended from Elythyria


      note934     10 our] their 1st rdg del


      note935     12 his brethren] Los 1st rdg del


      note936     19 Me] Los 1st rdg del
      note937     23 Rahab] Mortals 1st rdg del



- 842 -


  TEXTUAL NOTES FOR PAGES 381-388
      note938     32 Palamabron] Rintrah & Palamabron 1st rdg


      note939     51] an added line to connect the new matter on P 113



  PAGE 116
     note940     6] followed by instructions: Darkness & sorrow ∓c turn over
  leaf



  PAGE 106 (SECOND PORTION)
      note941     17 Eternity] eternity p 145


      note942     18 Religion] followed by del: was
  [?tormented] <darkend> (reading on p 145:32 is
  "tormented")


      note943     19 felt] preceded by He del


      note944     25 eyes shot] eyes [his] <then> 1st rdg


      note945     29 thro] over 1st rdg del


      note946     39 the Spectre] Urthona 1st rdg del


      note947     42 wild] mended from wide



  PAGE 107
      note948     1 Satyr mended from Satur


      note949     3 his] written hos


      note950     5 Covers] 1st written at end of 4 but del


      note951     15] followed by 18 del (a slip in copying?)


      note952     17 repentant forgets] 2/forgets 1/repentant ms



  PAGE 108
      note953     1 on high] begun above del



  PAGE 110
      note954     24 flaming] dismal 1st rdg del
      note955     29] written above 8 deleted lines:
            But Rahab [built] <hewd> a Sepulcher in the Rock of Eternity
            And placing in the Sepulcher the body which she had taken
            From the divine Lamb wept over the Sepulcher weaving
            Her web of Religion around the Sepulcher times after times beside Jerusalems Gate
            But as she wove behold the bottom of the Sepulcher
            Rent & a door was opend thro the bottom of the Sepulcher
            Into Eternity And as she wove she heard a Voice behind her calling her
            She turnd & saw the Divine Vision & her
       (Lines 2-3 are written over erased "The End of the Eighth
  Night".)
      note956     32 despair] fear 1st rdg del



  PAGE 111
      note957     12 Enitharmon . . . the Heavens] Enion . . . Heaven
  pencil


      note958     13 her Harlot Robes] pencil rdg: [the  heavens]
  <her harlot robes>



  PAGE 113 [note not linked]
       44] inserted in a paragraph break, as is line 48


  PAGE 117


  Night the Ninth


      note959     1-13] written over almost identical pencil, over erased ink
  lines (about 11); the endings of these can be somewhat made out:
  the 2nd ends "?curst the heavens", the 11th "was Ended"; these do
  not reappear elsewhere in the poem; apparently this passage was
  erased without being transferred.



  PAGE 118
      note960     15 asterial 2nd rdg del] eternal 1st rdg
  del


      note961     17 sounds] followed by del: Awake ye dead & come /
  To judgment.


      note962     39-40] written over two erased lines, a third visible in
  part



  PAGE 119
      note963     1-14] written over erased title: Vala / Night the
  Ninth / Being / The Last judgment


       note964     17 Began to Enter the Holy City] Began to draw near to the Earth 
  1st rdg del



- 843 -


   
  TEXTUAL NOTES FOR PAGES 388-401


      note965     18 licking] ms liking


      note966     24 Beyond] Without 1st rdg del


      note967     41 witherd] narrow 1st rdg del



  PAGE 120
      note968     30-31] added in pencil 31


      note969     Person] followed by is del


      note970     42 energy Enslavd] honest energy 1st rdg; an honest
  energy Enslaved 2nd rdg



  PAGE 121
      note971     4 futurity] the past 1st rdg


      note972     6 towers] high towers 1st rdg


      note973     7 gardens] mended from garden


      note974     14 sword] preceded by plow del


      note975     18 unto] ms perhaps reads into,but
  withoudot and with pen-scratch


       note976     19, futurity] remembrance 1st rdg del


  20, note977     futurity] remembrance 1st rdg del


  21, note978     futurity] remembrance 1st rdg del


  22note979     futurity] remembrance 1st rdg del


      note980     43 words] voice 1st rdg del



  PAGE 122
      note981     7 to] of 1st rdg del


      note982     25 where are] perhaps error for where are our
  owhere rest our


      note983     28 To bones] written first at end of line 27, then moved


      note984     32 Eyes] mended from eyes



  PAGE 123
      note985     5 howlings began] repeated in pencil above the line, in a
  hand not Blake's but probably Ellis's


      note986     14 dark] black 1st rdg del


      note987     16 calls] cries 1st rdg del


      note988     24 the prisoners] a prisoners 1st rdg


      note989     34 a throne & a] as a throne & as a 1st rdg


      note990     35 twenty four] over a "twenty four" that may have been
  mended


      note991     36 by] of 1st rdg del



  PAGE 124
      note992     5 Redeemd Man] Fallen man 1st rdg


      note993     16 lions from] lions of 1st rdg


      note994     18 mortar] mended from mortal


      note995     25 ardor.] followed by deletion:
                     he rose up from the Rock
            The Fallen Man wondring beheld. 



  PAGE 125
      note996     2 forth] out 1st rdg del



  PAGE 126
      note997     3 Regenerate Man] Ancient Man 1st rdg


      note998     7 O] & 1st rdg del


      note999     11 Imagination] Thought 1st rdg del



  PAGE 127
      note1000     5 thine he] thine when he 1st rdg


  PAGE 129
      note1001     24-27 transferred from p 4 and crowded into a stanza break



  PAGE 130
      note1002     29 wet] with 1st rdg del



  PAGE 132
      note1003     14 a whirlwind] Then a whirlwind 1st rdg


      note1004     19 By] With 1st rdg del
      note1005     25 down] of 1st rdg del



  PAGE 133
      note1006     8 They] And 1st rdg del



- 844 -


  TEXTUAL NOTES FOR PAGES 401-407


      note1007     9 Generative] Vegetative 1st rdg del


      note1008     15 Science] Nature 1st rdg del



      note1009     134:35 Aha Aha] It seems probable that this African song
  was suggested by those in a volume of Chansons madécasses,
  first published in London and Paris in 1787,
  republished in 1797, and reviewed in British journals.
  (Suggestion of Paul Miner.)



  PAGE 135
      note1010     39 Odors] mended from odors



  PAGE 136
      note1011     8 gaping] silent 1st rdg del


      note1012     12 Birth] death 1st rdg del


      note1013     25 and Racks & Saws] the nets and racks & ?Pins 1st
  rd


      note1014     27 whips) whipt ms (cf Milton 27:36) 
       sports] mended from sport


      note1015     35 Nettle] mended from nettle


  PAGE 138
      note1016     21 And] Then 1st rdg del


      note1017     25 behold] written beholds


       note1018     [Manuscript fragments of The Four Zoas]


  PAGE 141 (Fragments on a slip of note paper, not used anywhere
  in the final text.  Lines were drawn to separate the fragments,
  but fragments 1 and 2 were then revised into one.)
       Beneath the veil of [?Enion] <Vala> rose Tharmas from dewy tears
       The [ancient] <eternal> man bowd his bright head & Urizen prince of light
       [Astonish lookd from his bright Portals calling thus to Luvah
       O Luvah, in th--------------------------------------]
       Astonishd lookd from his bright portals. Luvah king of Love
       Awakend Vala.  Ariston ran forth with bright ?Onana
       And dark Urthona rouzd his shady bride from her deep den
       <[Awaking from his stony slumber]>
       Pitying they viewd the new born demon. for they could not love
       [After their sin]---------------------------------
       Male formd the demon mild athletic force his shoulders spread
       And his bright feet firm as a brazen altar. but. the parts
       To love devoted. female, all astonishd stood the hosts
       Of heaven, while Tharmas with wingd speed flew to the sandy shore
  <[ocean]>
       He rested on the desart wild & on the raging sea
       He stood & stretchd his wings &c --------
       -----------------------------------------------------------
       With printless feet scorning the concave of the joyful sky
       Female her form bright as the summer but the parts of love
       Male & her brow radiant as day. darted a lovely scorn
       Tharmas beheld from his high rocks & ----- ---------


  PAGE 142 (Notes not used in final text):
       The ocean calm the clouds fold round & fiery flames of love
       Inwrap the immortal limbs struggling in terrific joy
       Not long thunders lightnings swift rendings & blasting winds
       Sweep oer. the struggling copulation. in fell writhing pangs
       They lie in twisting agonies beneath the covring heavens
       ------------------------------------------------------------
       The womb impressd Enion fled & hid in verdant mountains
       Yet here his heavenly orbs &c
       ------------------------------------------------------------
   Trembling he lay swelld with the deluge stifling in the anguish


  PAGE 143 (A variant of the text of ms p 7; see above.  Pencil
  additions are preceded by *):
       <*Opening his rifted rocks> mingling [their bodies]
            <*together they> join in burning anguish
       Mingling his horrible [brightness] <*darkness> with
            her tender limbs then high she soard
       Shrieking above the ocean: a bright wonder that nature shudderd at
- 845 -


  TEXTUAL NOTES FOR PAGES 407-408


       From Enion pours the seed of life & death in all her limbs
       Frozen in the womb of Tharmas rush the rivers of Enions pain
      Trembling he lay swelld with the deluge stifling in the anguish


  PAGE 143 (A variant of the text of ms p 7; see above.  Pencil additions are
  preceded by *):
       <*Opening his rifted rocks> mingling [their bodies <*together they> join
  in burning anguish
       Mingling his horrible [brightness <*darkness> with her tender limbs then
  high she soared
       Shrieking above the ocean: a bright wonder that nature shudderd at
       Half Woman & half [Serpent] <*beast> all his [lovely changing] 
              <*darkly waving> colours mix
       With her fair crystal clearness in her lips & cheeks his [poisons]
  <metals> rose
       In blushes like the morning & his [scaly armour] <*rocky features>
  softning
       A [monster] <*wonder> lovely in the heavens or wandring on the earth
       With [Serpent] <female> voice <warbling upon the [hills] & hollow
  vales>
       Beauty all blushing with desire <a Self enjoying wonder>
       <For Enion brooded groaning loud the rough seas vegetate. Golden rocks rise
  from the [vorte] <vast>>
       And thus her voice; <Glory, delight, & sweet enjoyment born>
       <To mild Eternity shut in a threefold shape delightful>
       To wander in <sweet> solitude <enrapturd> at every wind
       <[Shining across the ocean / Enion brooded groaning the golden rocks
  vegetate The b]
       [to] Infolding the bright woman [from the desolating winds / & thus her voice &]>


  PAGE 144 (The verso of 143. The first line is cut short where the page is torn):
            That I should hide thee with my power &
            And now thou darknest in my presence, never from my sight;
       For page 145 see textual notes on pages 105 and 106.