The Toy River 



money has lifted out of the machine will possess 

 Leisure : very often their last state is worse than 

 their first, and exhaustion is succeeded by the 

 even more cruel affliction of boredom. . . . The 

 boredom of the rich is infinitely more cruel than 

 the boredom of the poor. . . . Leisure is a thing 

 so precious that the unworthy lose it almost at 

 once by emulating the dog with the bone and the 

 shadow. To such people, Leisure means Doing 

 Nothing, which is the very last thing in the world 

 that it does mean. ... If it can be translated 

 at all it means Doing the Right Thing at the Right 

 Time, and the dream of the visionaries is of a 

 Golden Age when all shall have Leisure and all 

 shall be worthy of it. 



"I will not cease from mental fight, 

 Nor shall my srvord sleep in my hand, 

 Till toe have built Jerusalem 

 In England's green and pleasant land." 



When Blake wrote " Jerusalem," under the 

 influence of Swedenborg and the Book of Numbers, 

 he meant Leisure, as is shown by the note : 



" Would to God that all the Lord's people were Prophets ! " 



That is : people with leisure to prophesy in 

 words and stones and paint and houses, and every 

 art and craft, and trade and profession, at least, 



141 



