Note 1. Now Art, &c.] Cp. a passage from Blake’s Advertisement in the MS. Book: ‘Let us teach Buonaparte and whomsoever else it may concern that it is not Arts that follow and attend upon Empire, but Empire that attends upon and follows the Arts.’ Also an annotation in his copy of Reynolds’ Discourses, p. cxxv: ‘The foundation of Empire is Art and Science. Remove them, or degrade them, and the Empire is no more. Empire follows Art, and not vice versa as Englishmen suppose.’ 12 And save thy works from Britain’s shore. MS. 1st rdg. del. [back]
