SIR,—In his review of the Blake bicentenary volume (Spectator, December
6) Mr. W. W. Robson men- tions the new Nonesuch Complete Writings of Blake only to suggest that I have made a mistake about the date of the early draft of the 'Laughing Song,' and refers to a note I contributed to Notes and Queries in 1910. If Mr. Robson will read the note on p. 884 of the new edition he will see that I have expressly stated that, although the poem is written on the fly-leaf of a copy of Poetical Sketches, it is not in Blake's hand. I suggested in 1910 that this poem, with the two others, might have been copied in before Mrs. Flaxman inscribed the volume in May, 1784, but it afterwards became clear that they were more likely to have been composed and copied later, 'about 1787' being a probable date. The exact date must remain uncertain.—Yours faithfully,
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