Description of the design for Blake's drawing, Old Age, and quotation from Milton's Il Penseroso : autograph manuscript : [England], [ca. 1816-1820].

Accompanies no. 12 of 12 watercolor designs for Milton's early poems L'Allegro and Il Penseroso that contrast the cheerful man with the melancholic, thoughtful one. Blake created them on commission for Thomas Butts about 1816-1820. The two series were separated in 1903 and were not reunited until 1949, when they were acquired by the Library. Each of the watercolors in this series is accompanied by Blake's transcription of the relevant portion of the poem as well as his notes on his design.
13 lines of text written in ink on the recto of a sheet of laid paper accompanying the watercolor, Old Age (1949.4:12, cataloged separately). Lines 1-8 are quoted from Milton's Il Penseroso, lines 167-74.
Transcription: "12 And may at last my weary Age / Find out the peaceful hermitage / The hairy Gown the mossy Cell / Where I may sit & rightly spell / Of every Star that heavn doth shew / And every Herb that Sips the dew / Till old Experience do attain / To somewhat like Prophetic Strain / Milton in his Old Age sitting in his / Mossy Cell Contemplating the Constel- / -lations. Surrounded by the Spirits of the / Herbs & Flowers. bursts forth into a / rapturous Prophetic Strain"