CHICHESTER

British Museum
Chichester
1802

William and Catherine Blake moved from the busy city of London to the quiet village of Felpham in Sussex in Sept 1800. G.E. Bentley, Jr., in his biography of Blake, Stranger from Paradise, includes on Page 209 a portion of a letter from Blake to his friend George Cumberland:

"I have taken a cottage at Felpham on the Sea Shore of Sussex between Arundel & Chichester. Mr Hayley the Poet is soon to be my neighbor; he is now my friend: to him I owe the happy suggestion, for it was on a visit to him that I fell in love with my cottage."

The engraving of Chichester showing the ancient cathedral situated within sight of the ocean was created in 1802 as the tailpiece for a series of animal ballads written by William Hayley and published in parts by Blake.

Before the Blakes left London they sent a letter to the Flaxmans enclosing this poem:

"To my dear Friend Mrs Anna Flaxman

     This Song to the flower of Flaxmans joy
     To the blossom of hope for a sweet decoy
     Do all that you can or all that you may
     To entice him to Felpham & far away

     Away to Sweet Felpham for Heaven is there
     The Ladder of Angels descends thro the air
     On the Turret its spiral does softly descend
     Thro' the village then winds at My Cot i[t] does end

     You stand in the village & look up to heaven
     The precious stones glitter on flights seventy seven
     And My Brother is there & My Friend & Thine
     Descend & Ascend with the Bread & the Wine

     The Bread of sweet Thought & the Wine of Delight
     Feeds the Village of Felpham by day & by night
     And at his own door the blessd Hermit does stand
     Dispensing Unceasing to all the whole Land
                                              W. BLAKE

(E 708) H[ercules] B[uildings] Lambeth, 14 Sepr 1800   

After the move was complete Blake wrote to Thomas Butts praising his new surroundings:

Letters, To Thomas Butts, (E 713)
"Felpham Octr 2d 1800
 Mr Butts will I hope Excuse my not having finishd the
Portrait.  I wait for less hurried moments.  Our Cottage looks
more & more beautiful.  And tho the weather is wet, the Air is
very Mild. much Milder than it was in London
when we came away.  Chichester is a very handsom City Seven miles
from us we can get most Conveniences there.  The Country is not
so destitute of accomodations to our wants as I expected it would
be We have had but little time for viewing the Country but what
we have seen is Most Beautiful & the People are Genuine Saxons
handsomer than the people about London."