5. ADAM AND EVE SLEEPING (Book iv, 11. 788-809; facing page 114).

Found only in the Boston series. Adam and Eve lie asleep on a bed of flowers. Satan sits in the form of a toad close to Eve's ear. Above them float the angels, Ithuriel and Zephon. In the collection of the late William Bateson was a pencil sketch of the same subject, in which the treatment is entirely different; this was not used in any of the finished designs.

6. DESCENT OF RAPHAEL TO PARADISE (Book v, ll. 275-285; facing page 130).

Found only in the Liverpool series. Raphael, six-winged, descends in a cloud into Paradise. Above appears the Father with outstretched arms. On the right Adam and Eve walk conversing in the garden. On the left Satan watches them.

7. RAPHAEL CONVERSING WITH ADAM (Book v, ll. 391-450; facing page 136).

From the Boston series. On the left Adam sits listening; Raphael is talking on the right. His hands are raised, one pointing to Heaven, the other to the Tree of Mystery which appears on a hill in the background with the Serpent twining round its trunk. Eve stands between them with grapes in one hand and a cup of wine in the other. Behind is a table laden with fruits. Birds and beasts people the landscape. This picture is acknowledged to be one of Blake's masterpieces; it has far more detailed splendour than that in the other series, where Eve is seated at Adam's side.

8. GOD THE SON CASTING THE REBEL ANGELS INTO HELL

(Book vi, ll. 824-866; facing page 180).

From the Boston series. God the Son draws his many-arrowed bow against the rebels, who fall headlong into flames. Three angels watch on either side. The design in the Liverpool series is similar in general composition, but differs throughout in detail.

9. GOD CREATING THE UNIVERSE (Book vii, ll. 225-228; facing page 188).

This subject, the first sketch for which is found on p. 96 of the Rossetti MS. with the legend "Who shall bind the Infinite," was executed by Blake in relief etching on a copper plate measuring 23.5×17 cms. and was used as frontispiece to his symbolic work Europe in 1794. He also worked up several separate prints with water-colours and it has become one of his most widely known designs. One or other of the coloured examples has often been reproduced. The uncoloured print, however, has seldom been used, although it possesses a grandeur which is sometimes diminished by the application of colour. The reproduction has therefore been made here from an example in my own collection printed by Blake in the dull blue tint which the collotype seeks to imitate.

The design has usually been known as "The Ancient of Days" on the authority of J. T. Smith who wrote an account of Blake's life in

Nollekens and bis Times, 1828. According to Smith, Blake declared that he drew it from a vision which persistently hovered over his head at the top of his staircase. However this may have been, the first conception of the subject is found in Proverbs, viii, 27:

When he set a compass upon the face of the depth,

though the writer clearly did not have the objective meaning of the word "compass" in his mind, but only the sense of "limit." Blake himself used the same conception in his First Book of Urizen, vii, 6–8:

And Urizen...

...formed golden compasses

And began to explore the Abyss.

It is highly probable, however, that the idea was first presented to his mind in the shape in which he drew it by the passage in Paradise Lost, Book vii, beginning:

He took the golden Compasses, prepar'd
In Gods Eternal store, to circumscribe
This Universe, and all created things:

According to Milton's text the act of creation was performed by God the Son, invested for the occasion with the attributes of God the Father; but for the present purpose it seems best not to lay too much stress on literal accuracy, and the design is here simply called “God Creating the Universe."

The legend "Who shall bind the Infinite" is taken from the Preludium to Europe, “And who shall bind the infinite with an eternal band." (Blake's Writings, Nonesuch edition, 1925, vol. i, p. 296.)

10. THE CREATION OF EVE (Book viii, ll. 452-477; facing page 218).

From the Boston series. The form of Eve rises from the side of the sleeping Adam at the command of God, who stands with outstretched arm on the right. The other design differs only in detail. A preliminary sketch for this design is in the British Museum Print Room. A re plica of the Boston version, formerly in the Linnell collection, is now in the Melbourne Art Gallery.

II. EVE EATING THE FORBIDDEN FRUIT (Book ix, 11. 781-783; facing page 250).

From the Boston series. Eve eats the fruit which is held to her mouth between the Serpent's jaws. Adam also stands beneath the Tree on the left, but only admires without tasting. Lightnings play around them. The other design differs only in detail.

12. THE JUDGMENT OF ADAM AND EVE (Book x, ll. 96–114; facing page 268).

From the Boston series. Adam and Eve, now girdled with vine leaves, stand in attitudes of shame on either side of God. The Serpent is on the ground at their feet. Above, Sin empties her phials of poison and Death launches his darts. The other design differs only in detail.

13. THE LAZAR HOUSE (Book xi, ll. 477-493; facing page 316). This reproduction is made from the large colour-print (49x 60 cms.) done about 1795, which was formerly in the Butts collection and now belongs to Mr W. Graham Robertson. Two other examples are known which differ from it only in details. One is in the Print Room at the British Museum; the other was formerly in the Linnell collection and now belongs to Mr T. H. Riches. On the ground three figures writhe in pain upon a mattress of straw. At their feet to the right stands Despair with a dagger in his hand. Behind are two other sick men; one, on the right, bows his head to the ground, while the other gazes up at the blind figure of Death who broods over them all in a cloud of disease and shakes his darts.

14. MICHAEL FORETELLING THE CRUCIFIXION TO ADAM

(Book xii, ll. 404-414; facing page 344).

This design is found both in the Boston and in the Liverpool series, but is here reproduced from the separate version which was formerly in the Linnell collection and now belongs to Mr T. H. Riches. The original is a large water-colour drawing of about the same size as those in the Boston series. The figure of Michael on the left points to a vision of Christ crucified, and Adam watches on the right. Eve lies asleep below. Sin and Death are prostrate at the foot of the cross, and the Serpent is coiled round its base. The nail which pierces Christ's feet also fixes the Serpent's head to the cross. In this version Michael is a mysterious form irradiated by beams of light emanating from the vision, and is far finer than the rather banal figure which appears in the other two designs. These differ otherwise only in detail.

IS. ADAM AND EVE LED BY MICHAEL OUT OF PARADISE (Book xii, ll. 633-644; facing page 352).

From the Boston series. Michael in the centre holds Adam and Eve with each hand, while they gaze resentfully at the Serpent coiled on the ground beneath his feet. Thistles and thorns lie in their path and lightnings play behind them. Over Michael's head is the Sword in the shape of a great curling flame. Behind are the guardians of the Gates of Para dise mounted upon horses. In the Liverpool series Adam and Eve, instead of gazing down at the Serpent, are looking upwards at the Sword. Otherwise the design differs only in detail.