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Creator:
Print made by William Blake, 1757–1827
Text by Edward Young, 1683–1765
Published by Richard Edwards, active 1796–1797
Title:
'That touch, with charm celestial heals the soul' (Page 90)
Part Of:

Collective Title: Young's Night Thoughts

Date:
1797
Materials & Techniques:
Etching, engraving, and letterpress on medium, slightly textured, cream wove paper
Dimensions:
Sheet: 16 3/8 × 12 3/4 inches (41.6 × 32.4 cm), Binding: 16 3/8 inches (41.6 cm)
Inscription(s)/Marks/Lettering:

Lettered inside image: "90 | 'Tis this makes joy a duty to the wise; | 'Tis impious in a good man to be sad. | Seest thou, LORENZO! where hangs all our hope? | Touch'd by the cross we live;--or more than die: | That touch, which touch'd not angels; more divine | Than that which touch'd confusion into form | And darkness into glory; partial touch! | Ineffably pre-eminent regard | Sacred to man! and sovereign, through the whole | Long golden chain of miracles which hangs | From heaven through all duration, and supports | In one illustrious and amazing plan! | Thy welfare, nature! and thy GOD's renown! | *That touch, with charm celestial heals the soul | Diseased, drives pain from guilt, lights life in death, | Turns earth to heaven, to heavenly thrones transforms | The ghastly ruins of the mouldering tomb! | Dost ask me when? when HE who died returns:-- | Returns, how changed! where then the man of woe? | In glory's terrors all the godhead burns; | And all his courts, exhausted by the tide | Of deities triumphant in his train, | Leave a stupendous solitude in heaven; | Replenish'd soon, replenish'd with increase | Of pomp and multitude, a radiant band | Of angels new, of angels from the tomb. | Is this by fancy thrown remote? and rise Dark doubts between the promise and event? | I send thee not to volumes for thy cure, | Read nature; nature is a friend to truth;"; center right: "in. & s | WB"; Lettered on facing page: "91 | Nature is christian; preaches to mankind, | And bids dead matter aid us in our creed. | Hast thou ne'er seen the comet's flaming flight? | The illustrious stranger, passing, terror sheds | On gazing nations from his fiery train | Of length enormous, takes his ample round | Through depths of ether; coasts unnumber'd worlds | Of more than solar glory; doubles wide | Heaven's mighty cape, and then revisits earth | From the long travel of a thousand years. | Thus at the destined period shall return | HE, once on earth, who bids the comet blaze; | And, with HIM, all our triumph o'er the tomb. | Nature is dumb on this important point; | Or hope precarious in low whisper breathes; | Faith speaks aloud, distinct; even adders hear, | But turn, and dart into the dark again. | Faith builds a bridge across the gulph of death | To break the shock blind nature cannot shun, | And lands thought smoothly on the farther shore. | Death's terror is the mountain faith removes; | That mountain-barrier between man and peace: | 'Tis faith disarms destruction, and absolves | From every clamorous charge the guiltless tomb. | Why disbelieve--LORENZO?--'Reason bids, | 'All-sacred reason'--hold her sacred still; | Nor shalt thou want a rival in thy flame: | All-sacred reason, source and soul of all | Demanding praise on earth, or earth above! | My heart is thine: deep in its inmost folds,"

Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1978.43.1376
Classification:
Prints
Collection:
Prints and Drawings
Access:
Accessible in the Study Room [Request]
Link:
https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:2298
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William Blake - His Art & Times (Art Gallery of Ontario, 1982-12-03 - 1983-02-06) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

William Blake - His Art & Times (Yale Center for British Art, 1982-09-15 - 1982-11-14) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]


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