Letter

Scope and Content

From Richard Watts in London to Mary Bosanquet in Leytonstone. The following is Watt's recollection of his dream [he refers to it as his 'vision']:

Watts was standing in a certain place and a mountain of no great height appeared before him a little distance away. At the front of the mountain was an impregnable rock and on top of the rock was a house about 7 or 8 feet square built of stones, which were neither polished nor white, although they seemed of equal size. The house seemed an exact square - not pretty, but sturdy. As Watts looked on the left hand side of the rock, he saw another house, large and exceedingly white. This structure appeared to be built on poor ground. Watts approached the large house and saw that the corner nearest the rock was built on the foot of the rock, but that the rest was indeed on poor ground, and that the whole was daubed with untempered mortar. Watts considered that no structure, so fair at a distance, could be so disagreeable on closer inspection. Watts found a door in the house and went in to see a few people in an apparent state of confusion. He said to them that he thought the house was on poor ground apart from the corner that stood on the foot of the rock. They replied that the builders of the house were master builders and had assured them that the house was built on rock, and that surely they know better than Watts. He replied that they seemed to have little light in the building (there was only one window, which cast some light on the corner built on the rock). They laughed Watts to scorn and said that it was because he could not see. He then turned away from them, having observed that almost all the building consisted of wood, hay and stubble other than in the corner standing on the rock, which appeared to be of gold, silver and precious stones. He left the house and as he looked again, he perceived a vine running from one end of the house to the other, with large green leaves. However, he was able to find only one small bunch of grapes. There appeared also before him, a fig tree full of leaves. He looked closely and saw that it had budded and blossomed, but was now withering away. On his right hand stood a 'shaken olive tree' with two or three berries on the upmost branches and some on the outmost. It seemed then to Watts that he should go to the house on the rock and he was wondering how he could get there. It then was impressed upon his mind that the stones that composed the building were the inhabitants, which although they did not appear to be closely cemented on the outside, yet within seemed to be one solid piece of marble. Watts then went out to the furthest end of it and the sun shone upon a vine that completely covered this end of the building and which was hung with large ripe clusters of grapes. It then appeared to Watts that the sunshine was eternal and though some of the grapes were gathered and eaten up, yet there would always be a supply of them.

While he stood there, it seemed to him that it was said to him that there would be incessant rains, coming floods, beating storms and as he looked down upon, the white-washed house was split asunder from one end to the other and it fell flat to the ground. Watts could see the gold, silver and precious stones among the wood, hay and stubble; he was told to gather them up and take them onto the rock and enlarge the house there for 'this is the place of my rest, here will I dwell, for I have a light therein'.