And becomes the enemy and betrayer of his friends.2
Note 1. The Epigrams arranged in this section, all taken from the Rossetti MS. and written circa 1807–10, refer to the unhappy period in Blake’s history, when, embittered by the treatment of Cromek, and the ungenerous attitude of contemporaries towards his art, culminating in Hunt’s attack in the Examiner, he conceived himself to be the victim of a conspiracy, and became wholly alienated from most of his old friends. Cp. Gilchrist’s Life, 1 (chap. 26 and passim), Blake’s Letters, ed. Russell, and his own references in the ‘Advertisement’ and the Descriptive Catalogue. [back]
