Even here, and under such circumstances, our subject was nothing daunted; for the same authority informs us, that, still full of his philanthropic projects, he took the opportunity his leisure there admitted to write another work upon his favourite topic of educating and caring for the {71} poor; its title is, _The State and Case of a Design for the better Education of Thousands of Parish Children successively in the vast Northern Suburbs of London vindicated, &c._ Besides the above, there is another remarkable little piece which I have seen, beginning abruptly, "Here followeth a briefe exhortation which I gave in my owne house at my wife's funerall to our friends then present," by Blake, with the MS. date, 1650; and exhibits this original character in another not less amiable light:--"I was brought up," says he, "by my parents to learne _Hail Mary_, paternoster, the Beliefe, and learne to reade; and where I served my apprenticeship little more was to be found." He attributes it to God's grace that he fell a reading the _Practice of Piety_, by which means he got a little persuading of God's love to his soul:--"Well, my time being out, I set up for myselfe; and seeking out for a wife, which, with long waiting and difficulty, much expence and charge, at last I got. Four children God gave me by her; but he hath taken them and her all again too, who was a woman of a thousand." Mr. B. then naturally indulges in a panegyric upon this pattern of wives, and reproaches himself for his former insensibility to her surpassing merits: relating with great _naivete_ some domestic passages, with examples of her piety and trials, in one of which latter the _enemy_ would tempt her to suicide:--"There lie your garters," said he; "but she threw them aside, and so escaped this will of the Devil." In conclusion, let me inquire if your Highgate correspondents are cognisant of any existing institution raised upon the foundation of William Blake's Charity School at Dorchester House? J. O. [Our correspondent's interesting communication suggests a Query: Is there any biographical notice of William Blake; and was he the author of the following piece, preserved among the Kings' pamphlets in the British Museum? "The Condemned Man's Reprieve, or God's Love-Tokens, flowing in upon the heart of William Blake, a penitent sinner, giving him assurance of the pardon of his sins, and the enjoyment of eternal happiness through the merits of Christ his Saviour. Recommended by him (being a condemned prisoner for manslaughter within the statute) unto his sister, and bequeathed unto her as a legacy." It is dated from "Exon Jayle," June 25, 1653, and was published July 14, 1653."--ED.] [Footnote 1: "Mr. Henry Cornish, merchant," was a coadjutor of Blake's in this charitable undertaking; and as that Alderman was not executed until 1635, this publication may be assigned to about that date.]