William Blake and the Visionary Law

​Matthew Mauger is Senior Lecturer in English at Queen Mary University of London, UK. His research focuses on the intellectual, literary and commercial life of London in the eighteenth century, with a particular interest in how the administrative frameworks associated with the city – civil, legal, political, financial – provide contexts for literary expression. He is co-author of Stealing Books in Eighteenth-Century London (2016) and of Empire of Tea: The Asian Leaf that Conquered the World (2015).

“The book is thoroughly up to date in its critical sources. Indeed, this secondary scholarship, and Mauger’s use of it, are wonderful reminders of the continuing attractiveness of Blake to scholars of outstanding critical caliber.” (David Worrall, Blake, An Illustrated Quarterly, Vol. 58 (2), 2024)

• 1 – Introduction.- 2 – Laws Ancient and Modern: Nation, Custom and Legislative Renewal.- 3 – One Law for the Lion and the Ox is Oppression: the Emergence of Universal Law.- 4 – One King, One God, One Law: Building Constitutions in the Lambeth Books.- 5 – The Heavens Squared by a Line: Legal Architecture and Mystery.- 6 – Such are the Laws of Eternity: Recovery, Redemption, and Prophecy.- 7 – Creating Nature from this Fiery Law: Towards Visionary Legislation?.- 8 – Conclusion.