,,on ,,heroes1 ,,hero-,,worship1 ,,and ,,the ,,heroic ,,in ,,history ,by ,thomas ,carlyle ,transcriber's ,note3 ,the text is taken from the printed ,sterling ,edition of ,carlyle's ,complete ,works1 in #bj volumes1 with the following modifications made in the etext version3 ,italicized text is delimited by underscores1 thusly4 ,the footnote 7there is only one7 has been embedded directly into text1 in brackets1 thusly4 ,greek text has been transliterated into ,latin characters with the notation ,gr4 juxtaposed4 ,otherwise1 the punctuation and spelling of the print version have been retained4 ,,contents4 ,i4 ,,the ,,hero ,,as ,,divinity4 ,,odin4 ,,paganism3 ,,scandinavian ,,mythology4 ,,ii4 ,,the ,,hero ,,as ,,prophet4 ,,mahomet3 ,,islam4 ,,iii4 ,,the ,,hero ,,as ,,poet4 ,,dante3 ,,shakspeare4 ,,iv4 ,,the ,,hero ,,as ,,priest4 ,,luther2 ,,reformation3 ,,knox2 ,,puritanism4 ,v4 ,,the ,,hero ,,as ,,man ,,of ,,letters4 ,,johnson1 ,,rousseau1 ,,burns4 ,,vi4 ,,the ,,hero ,,as ,,king4 ,,cromwell1 ,,napoleon3 ,,modern ,,revolutionism4 ,,lectures ,,on ,,heroes4 ,,lecture ,i4 ,,the ,,hero ,,as ,,divinity4 ,,odin4 ,,paganism3 ,,scandinavian ,,mythology4 ,may #e1 #ahdj4 ,we have undertaken to discourse here for a little on ,great ,men1 their manner of appearance in our world's business1 how they have shaped themselves in the world's history1 what ideas men formed of them1 what work they did2--on ,heroes1 namely1 and on their reception and performance2 what ,i call ,hero-worship and the ,heroic in human affairs4 ,too evidently this is a large topic2 deserving quite other treatment than we can expect to give it at present4 ,a large topic2 indeed1 an illimitable one2 wide as ,universal ,history itself4 ,for1 as ,i take it1 ,universal ,history1 the history of what man has accomplished in this world1 is at bottom the ,history of the ,great ,men who have worked here4 ,they were the leaders of men1 these great ones2 the modellers1 patterns1 and in a wide sense creators1 of whatsoever the general mass of men contrived to do or to attain2 all things that we see standing accomplished in the world are properly the outer material result1 the practical realization and embodiment1 of ,thoughts that dwelt in the ,great ,men sent into the world3 the soul of the whole world's history1 it may justly be considered1 were the history of these4 ,too clearly it is a topic we shall do no justice to in this place6 ,one comfort is1 that ,great ,men1 taken up in any way1 are profitable company4 ,we cannot look1 however imperfectly1 upon a great man1 without gaining something by him4 ,he is the living light-fountain1 which it is good and pleasant to be near4 ,the light which enlightens1 which has enlightened the darkness of the world2 and this not as a kindled lamp only1 but rather as a natural luminary shining by the gift of ,heaven2 a flowing light-fountain1 as ,i say1 of native original insight1 of manhood and heroic nobleness2--in whose radiance all souls feel that it is well with them4 ,on any terms whatsoever1 you will not grudge to wander in such neighborhood for a while4 ,these ,six classes of ,heroes1 chosen out of widely distant countries and epochs1 and in mere external figure differing altogether1 ought1 if we look faithfully at them1 to illustrate several things for us4 ,could we see them well1 we should get some glimpses into the very marrow of the world's history4 ,how happy1 could ,i but1 in any measure1 in such times as these1 make manifest to you the meanings of ,heroism2 the divine relation 7for ,i may well call it such7 which in all times unites a ,great ,man to other men2 and thus1 as it were1 not exhaust my subject1 but so much as break ground on it6 ,at all events1 ,i must make the attempt4 ,it is well said1 in every sense1 that a man's religion is the chief fact with regard to him4 ,a man's1 or a nation of men's4 ,by religion ,i do not mean here the church-creed which he professes1 the articles of faith which he will sign and1 in words or otherwise1 assert2 not this wholly1 in many cases not this at all4 ,we see men of all kinds of professed creeds attain to almost all degrees of worth or worthlessness under each or any of them4 ,this is not what ,i call religion1 this profession and assertion2 which is often only a profession and assertion from the outworks of the man1 from the mere argumentative region of him1 if even so deep as that4 ,but the thing a man does practically believe 7and this is often enough without asserting it even to himself1 much less to others72 the thing a man does practically lay to heart1 and know for certain1 concerning his vital relations to this mysterious ,universe1 and his duty and destiny there1 that is in all cases the primary thing for him1 and creatively determines all the rest4 ,that is his religion2 or1 it may be1 his mere scepticism and no-religion3 the manner it is in which he feels himself to be spiritually related to the ,unseen ,world or ,no-,world2 and ,i say1 if you tell me what that is1 you tell me to a very great extent what the man is1 what the kind of things he will do is4 ,of a man or of a nation we inquire1 therefore1 first of all1 ,what religion they had8 ,was it ,heathenism1--plurality of gods1 mere sensuous representation of this ,mystery of ,life1 and for chief recognized element therein ,physical ,force8 ,was it ,christianism2 faith in an ,invisible1 not as real only1 but as the only reality2 ,time1 through every meanest moment of it1 resting on ,eternity2 ,pagan empire of ,force displaced by a nobler supremacy1 that of ,holiness8 ,was it ,scepticism1 uncertainty and inquiry whether there was an ,unseen ,world1 any ,mystery of ,life except a mad one2--doubt as to all this1 or perhaps unbelief and flat denial8 ,answering of this question is giving us the soul of the history of the man or nation4 ,the thoughts they had were the parents of the actions they did2 their feelings were parents of their thoughts3 it was the unseen and spiritual in them that determined the outward and actual2--their religion1 as ,i say1 was the great fact about them4 ,in these ,discourses1 limited as we are1 it will be good to direct our survey chiefly to that religious phasis of the matter4 ,that once known well1 all is known4 ,we have chosen as the first ,hero in our series ,odin the central figure of ,scandinavian ,paganism2 an emblem to us of a most extensive province of things4 ,let us look for a little at the ,hero as ,divinity1 the oldest primary form of ,heroism4 ,surely it seems a very strange-looking thing this ,paganism2 almost inconceivable to us in these days4 ,a bewildering1 inextricable jungle of delusions1 confusions1 falsehoods1 and absurdities1 covering the whole field of ,life6 ,a thing that fills us with astonishment1 almost1 if it were possible1 with incredulity1--for truly it is not easy to understand that sane men could ever calmly1 with their eyes open1 believe and live by such a set of doctrines4 ,that men should have worshipped their poor fellow-man as a ,god1 and not him only1 but stocks and stones1 and all manner of animate and inanimate objects2 and fashioned for themselves such a distracted chaos of hallucinations by way of ,theory of the ,universe3 all this looks like an incredible fable4 ,nevertheless it is a clear fact that they did it4 ,such hideous inextricable jungle of misworships1 misbeliefs1 men1 made as we are1 did actually hold by1 and live at home in4 ,this is strange4 ,yes1 we may pause in sorrow and silence over the depths of darkness that are in man2 if we rejoice in the heights of purer vision he has attained to4 ,such things were and are in man2 in all men2 in us too4 ,some speculators have a short way of accounting for the ,pagan religion3 mere quackery1 priestcraft1 and dupery1 say they2 no sane man ever did believe it1--merely contrived to persuade other men1 not worthy of the name of sane1 to believe it6 ,it will be often our duty to protest against this sort of hypothesis about men's doings and history2 and ,i here1 on the very threshold1 protest against it in reference to ,paganism1 and to all other isms by which man has ever for a length of time striven to walk in this world4 ,they have all had a truth in them1 or men would not have taken them up4 ,quackery and dupery do abound2 in religions1 above all in the more advanced decaying stages of religions1 they have fearfully abounded3 but quackery was never the originating influence in such things2 it was not the health and life of such things1 but their disease1 the sure precursor of their being about to die6 ,let us never forget this4 ,it seems to me a most mournful hypothesis1 that of quackery giving birth to any faith even in savage men4 ,quackery gives birth to nothing2 gives death to all things4 ,we shall not see into the true heart of anything1 if we look merely at the quackeries of it2 if we do not reject the quackeries altogether2 as mere diseases1 corruptions1 with which our and all men's sole duty is to have done with them1 to sweep them out of our thoughts as out of our practice4 ,man everywhere is the born enemy of lies4 ,i find ,grand ,lamaism itself to have a kind of truth in it4 ,read the candid1 clear-sighted1 rather sceptical ,mr4 ,turner's ,account of his ,embassy to that country1 and see4 ,they have their belief1 these poor ,thibet people1 that ,providence sends down always an ,incarnation of ,himself into every generation4 ,at bottom some belief in a kind of ,pope6 ,at bottom still better1 belief that there is a ,greatest ,man2 that he is discoverable2 that1 once discovered1 we ought to treat him with an obedience which knows no bounds6 ,this is the truth of ,grand ,lamaism2 the discoverability is the only error here4 ,the ,thibet priests have methods of their own of discovering what ,man is ,greatest1 fit to be supreme over them4 ,bad methods3 but are they so much worse than our methods1--of understanding him to be always the eldest-born of a certain genealogy8 ,alas1 it is a difficult thing to find good methods for6--,we shall begin to have a chance of understanding ,paganism1 when we first admit that to its followers it was1 at one time1 earnestly true4 ,let us consider it very certain that men did believe in ,paganism2 men with open eyes1 sound senses1 men made altogether like ourselves2 that we1 had we been there1 should have believed in it4 ,ask now1 ,what ,paganism could have been8 ,another theory1 somewhat more respectable1 attributes such things to ,allegory4 ,it was a play of poetic minds1 say these theorists2 a shadowing forth1 in allegorical fable1 in personification and visual form1 of what such poetic minds had known and felt of this ,universe4 ,which agrees1 add they1 with a primary law of human nature1 still everywhere observably at work1 though in less important things1 ,that what a man feels intensely1 he struggles to speak out of him1 to see represented before him in visual shape1 and as if with a kind of life and historical reality in it4 ,now doubtless there is such a law1 and it is one of the deepest in human nature2 neither need we doubt that it did operate fundamentally in this business4 ,the hypothesis which ascribes ,paganism wholly or mostly to this agency1 ,i call a little more respectable2 but ,i cannot yet call it the true hypothesis4 ,think1 would we believe1 and take with us as our life-guidance1 an allegory1 a poetic sport8 ,not sport but earnest is what we should require4 ,it is a most earnest thing to be alive in this world2 to die is not sport for a man4 ,man's life never was a sport to him2 it was a stern reality1 altogether a serious matter to be alive6 ,i find1 therefore1 that though these ,allegory theorists are on the way towards truth in this matter1 they have not reached it either4 ,pagan ,religion is indeed an ,allegory1 a ,symbol of what men felt and knew about the ,universe2 and all ,religions are symbols of that1 altering always as that alters3 but it seems to me a radical perversion1 and even inversion1 of the business1 to put that forward as the origin and moving cause1 when it was rather the result and termination4 ,to get beautiful allegories1 a perfect poetic symbol1 was not the want of men2 but to know what they were to believe about this ,universe1 what course they were to steer in it2 what1 in this mysterious ,life of theirs1 they had to hope and to fear1 to do and to forbear doing4 ,the ,pilgrim's ,progress is an ,allegory1 and a beautiful1 just and serious one3 but consider whether ,bunyan's ,allegory could have preceded the ,faith it symbolizes6 ,the ,faith had to be already there1 standing believed by everybody2--of which the ,allegory could then become a shadow2 and1 with all its seriousness1 we may say a sportful shadow1 a mere play of the ,fancy1 in comparison with that awful ,fact and scientific certainty which it poetically strives to emblem4 ,the ,allegory is the product of the certainty1 not the producer of it2 not in ,bunyan's nor in any other case4 ,for ,paganism1 therefore1 we have still to inquire1 ,whence came that scientific certainty1 the parent of such a bewildered heap of allegories1 errors and confusions8 ,how was it1 what was it8 ,surely it were a foolish attempt to pretend explaining1 in this place1 or in any place1 such a phenomenon as that far-distant distracted cloudy imbroglio of ,paganism1--more like a cloud-field than a distant continent of firm land and facts6 ,it is no longer a reality1 yet it was one4 ,we ought to understand that this seeming cloud-field was once a reality2 that not poetic allegory1 least of all that dupery and deception was the origin of it4 ,men1 ,i say1 never did believe idle songs1 never risked their soul's life on allegories3 men in all times1 especially in early earnest times1 have had an instinct for detecting quacks1 for detesting quacks4 ,let us try if1 leaving out both the quack theory and the allegory one1 and listening with affectionate attention to that far-off confused rumor of the ,pagan ages1 we cannot ascertain so much as this at least1 ,that there was a kind of fact at the heart of them2 that they too were not mendacious and distracted1 but in their own poor way true and sane6 ,you remember that fancy of ,plato's1 of a man who had grown to maturity in some dark distance1 and was brought on a sudden into the upper air to see the sun rise4 ,what would his wonder be1 his rapt astonishment at the sight we daily witness with indifference6 ,with the free open sense of a child1 yet with the ripe faculty of a man1 his whole heart would be kindled by that sight1 he would discern it well to be ,godlike1 his soul would fall down in worship before it4 ,now1 just such a childlike greatness was in the primitive nations4 ,the first ,pagan ,thinker among rude men1 the first man that began to think1 was precisely this child-man of ,plato's4 ,simple1 open as a child1 yet with the depth and strength of a man4 ,nature had as yet no name to him2 he had not yet united under a name the infinite variety of sights1 sounds1 shapes and motions1 which we now collectively name ,universe1 ,nature1 or the like1--and so with a name dismiss it from us4 ,to the wild deep-hearted man all was yet new1 not veiled under names or formulas2 it stood naked1 flashing in on him there1 beautiful1 awful1 unspeakable4 ,nature was to this man1 what to the ,thinker and ,prophet it forever is1 preternatural4 ,this green flowery rock-built earth1 the trees1 the mountains1 rivers1 many-sounding seas2--that great deep sea of azure that swims overhead2 the winds sweeping through it2 the black cloud fashioning itself together1 now pouring out fire1 now hail and rain2 what is it8 ,ay1 what8 ,at bottom we do not yet know2 we can never know at all4 ,it is not by our superior insight that we escape the difficulty2 it is by our superior levity1 our inattention1 our want of insight4 ,it is by not thinking that we cease to wonder at it4 ,hardened round us1 encasing wholly every notion we form1 is a wrappage of traditions1 hearsays1 mere words4 ,we call that fire of the black thunder-cloud electricity1 and lecture learnedly about it1 and grind the like of it out of glass and silk3 but what is it8 ,what made it8 ,whence comes it8 ,whither goes it8 ,science has done much for us2 but it is a poor science that would hide from us the great deep sacred infinitude of ,nescience1 whither we can never penetrate1 on which all science swims as a mere superficial film4 ,this world1 after all our science and sciences1 is still a miracle2 wonderful1 inscrutable1 magical and more1 to whosoever will think of it4 ,that great mystery of ,,time1 were there no other2 the illimitable1 silent1 never-resting thing called ,time1 rolling1 rushing on1 swift1 silent1 like an all-embracing ocean-tide1 on which we and all the ,universe swim like exhalations1 like apparitions which are1 and then are not3 this is forever very literally a miracle2 a thing to strike us dumb1--for we have no word to speak about it4 ,this ,universe1 ah me--what could the wild man know of it2 what can we yet know8 ,that it is a ,force1 and thousand-fold ,complexity of ,forces2 a ,force which is not we4 ,that is all2 it is not we1 it is altogether different from us4 ,force1 ,force1 everywhere ,force2 we ourselves a mysterious ,force in the centre of that4 ,there is not a leaf rotting on the highway but has ,force in it2 how else could it rot8 ,nay surely1 to the ,atheistic ,thinker1 if such a one were possible1 it must be a miracle too1 this huge illimitable whirlwind of ,force1 which envelops us here2 never-resting whirlwind1 high as ,immensity1 old as ,eternity4 ,what is it8 ,god's ,creation1 the religious people answer2 it is the ,almighty ,god's6 ,atheistic science babbles poorly of it1 with scientific nomenclatures1 experiments and what not1 as if it were a poor dead thing1 to be bottled up in ,leyden jars and sold over counters3 but the natural sense of man1 in all times1 if he will honestly apply his sense1 proclaims it to be a living thing1--ah1 an unspeakable1 godlike thing2 towards which the best attitude for us1 after never so much science1 is awe1 devout prostration and humility of soul2 worship if not in words1 then in silence4 ,but now ,i remark farther3 ,what in such a time as ours it requires a ,prophet or ,poet to teach us1 namely1 the stripping-off of those poor undevout wrappages1 nomenclatures and scientific hearsays1--this1 the ancient earnest soul1 as yet unencumbered with these things1 did for itself4 ,the world1 which is now divine only to the gifted1 was then divine to whosoever would turn his eye upon it4 ,he stood bare before it face to face4 ,all was ,godlike or ,god3--,jean ,paul still finds it so2 the giant ,jean ,paul1 who has power to escape out of hearsays3 but there then were no hearsays4 ,canopus shining down over the desert1 with its blue diamond brightness 7that wild blue spirit-like brightness1 far brighter than we ever witness here71 would pierce into the heart of the wild ,ishmaelitish man1 whom it was guiding through the solitary waste there4 ,to his wild heart1 with all feelings in it1 with no speech for any feeling1 it might seem a little eye1 that ,canopus1 glancing out on him from the great deep ,eternity2 revealing the inner ,splendor to him4 ,cannot we understand how these men worshipped ,canopus2 became what we call ,sabeans1 worshipping the stars8 ,such is to me the secret of all forms of ,paganism4 ,worship is transcendent wonder2 wonder for which there is now no limit or measure2 that is worship4 ,to these primeval men1 all things and everything they saw exist beside them were an emblem of the ,godlike1 of some ,god4 ,and look what perennial fibre of truth was in that4 ,to us also1 through every star1 through every blade of grass1 is not a ,god made visible1 if we will open our minds and eyes8 ,we do not worship in that way now3 but is it not reckoned still a merit1 proof of what we call a poetic nature1 that we recognize how every object has a divine beauty in it2 how every object still verily is a window through which we may look into ,infinitude itself8 ,he that can discern the loveliness of things1 we call him ,poet6 ,painter1 ,man of ,genius1 gifted1 lovable4 ,these poor ,sabeans did even what he does1--in their own fashion4 ,that they did it1 in what fashion soever1 was a merit3 better than what the entirely stupid man did1 what the horse and camel did1--namely1 nothing6 ,but now if all things whatsoever that we look upon are emblems to us of the ,highest ,god1 ,i add that more so than any of them is man such an emblem4 ,you have heard of ,st4 ,chrysostom's celebrated saying in reference to the ,shekinah1 or ,ark of ,testimony1 visible ,revelation of ,god1 among the ,hebrews3 ,the true ,shekinah is ,man6 ,yes1 it is even so3 this is no vain phrase2 it is veritably so4 ,the essence of our being1 the mystery in us that calls itself ,i1--ah1 what words have we for such things8--is a breath of ,heaven2 the ,highest ,being reveals himself in man4 ,this body1 these faculties1 this life of ours1 is it not all as a vesture for that ,unnamed8 ,there is but one ,temple in the ,universe1 says the devout ,novalis1 and that is the ,body of ,man4 ,nothing is holier shall that high form4 ,bending before men is a reverence done to this ,revelation in the ,flesh4 ,we touch ,heaven when we lay our hand on a human body6 ,this sounds much like a mere flourish of rhetoric2 but it is not so4 ,if well meditated1 it will turn out to be a scientific fact2 the expression1 in such words as can be had1 of the actual truth of the thing4 ,we are the miracle of miracles1--the great inscrutable mystery of ,god4 ,we cannot understand it1 we know not how to speak of it2 but we may feel and know1 if we like1 that it is verily so4 ,well2 these truths were once more readily felt than now4 ,the young generations of the world1 who had in them the freshness of young children1 and yet the depth of earnest men1 who did not think that they had finished off all things in ,heaven and ,earth by merely giving them scientific names1 but had to gaze direct at them there1 with awe and wonder3 they felt better what of divinity is in man and ,nature2 they1 without being mad1 could worship ,nature1 and man more than anything else in ,nature4 ,worship1 that is1 as ,i said above1 admire without limit3 this1 in the full use of their faculties1 with all sincerity of heart1 they could do4 ,i consider ,hero-worship to be the grand modifying element in that ancient system of thought4 ,what ,i called the perplexed jungle of ,paganism sprang1 we may say1 out of many roots3 every admiration1 adoration of a star or natural object1 was a root or fibre of a root2 but ,hero-worship is the deepest root of all2 the tap-root1 from which in a great degree all the rest were nourished and grown4 ,and now if worship even of a star had some meaning in it1 how much more might that of a ,hero6 ,worship of a ,hero is transcendent admiration of a ,great ,man4 ,i say great men are still admirable2 ,i say there is1 at bottom1 nothing else admirable6 ,no nobler feeling than this of admiration for one higher than himself dwells in the breast of man4 ,it is to this hour1 and at all hours1 the vivifying influence in man's life4 ,religion ,i find stand upon it2 not ,paganism only1 but far higher and truer religions1--all religion hitherto known4 ,hero-worship1 heartfelt prostrate admiration1 submission1 burning1 boundless1 for a noblest godlike ,form of ,man1--is not that the germ of ,christianity itself8 ,the greatest of all ,heroes is ,one--whom we do not name here6 ,let sacred silence meditate that sacred matter2 you will find it the ultimate perfection of a principle extant throughout man's whole history on earth4 ,or coming into lower1 less unspeakable provinces1 is not all ,loyalty akin to religious ,faith also8 ,faith is loyalty to some inspired ,teacher1 some spiritual ,hero4 ,and what therefore is loyalty proper1 the life-breath of all society1 but an effluence of ,hero-worship1 submissive admiration for the truly great8 ,society is founded on ,hero-worship4 ,all dignities of rank1 on which human association rests1 are what we may call a ,heroarchy 7,government of ,heroes71--or a ,hierarchy1 for it is sacred enough withal6 ,the ,duke means ,dux1 ,leader2 ,king is ,kon-ning1 ,kan-ning1 ,man that knows or cans4 ,society everywhere is some representation1 not insupportably inaccurate1 of a graduated ,worship of ,heroes--reverence and obedience done to men really great and wise4 ,not insupportably inaccurate1 ,i say6 ,they are all as bank-notes1 these social dignitaries1 all representing gold2--and several of them1 alas1 always are forged notes4 ,we can do with some forged false notes2 with a good many even2 but not with all1 or the most of them forged6 ,no3 there have to come revolutions then2 cries of ,democracy1 ,liberty and ,equality1 and ,i know not what3--the notes being all false1 and no gold to be had for them1 people take to crying in their despair that there is no gold1 that there never was any6 ,gold1 ,hero-worship1 is nevertheless1 as it was always and everywhere1 and cannot cease till man himself ceases4 ,i am well aware that in these days ,hero-worship1 the thing ,i call ,hero-worship1 professes to have gone out1 and finally ceased4 ,this1 for reasons which it will be worth while some time to inquire into1 is an age that as it were denies the existence of great men2 denies the desirableness of great men4 ,show our critics a great man1 a ,luther for example1 they begin to what they call account for him2 not to worship him1 but take the dimensions of him1--and bring him out to be a little kind of man6 ,he was the creature of the ,time1 they say2 the ,time called him forth1 the ,time did everything1 he nothing--but what we the little critic could have done too6 ,this seems to me but melancholy work4 ,the ,time call forth8 ,alas1 we have known ,times call loudly enough for their great man2 but not find him when they called6 ,he was not there2 ,providence had not sent him2 the ,time1 calling its loudest1 had to go down to confusion and wreck because he would not come when called4 ,for if we will think of it1 no ,time need have gone to ruin1 could it have found a man great enough1 a man wise and good enough3 wisdom to discern truly what the ,time wanted1 valor to lead it on the right road thither2 these are the salvation of any ,time4 ,but ,i liken common languid ,times1 with their unbelief1 distress1 perplexity1 with their languid doubting characters and embarrassed circumstances1 impotently crumbling down into ever worse distress towards final ruin2--all this ,i liken to dry dead fuel1 waiting for the lightning out of ,heaven that shall kindle it4 ,the great man1 with his free force direct out of ,god's own hand1 is the lightning4 ,his word is the wise healing word which all can believe in4 ,all blazes round him now1 when he has once struck on it1 into fire like his own4 ,the dry mouldering sticks are thought to have called him forth4 ,they did want him greatly2 but as to calling him forth--6 ,those are critics of small vision1 ,i think1 who cry3 ,see1 is it not the sticks that made the fire8 ,no sadder proof can be given by a man of his own littleness than disbelief in great men4 ,there is no sadder symptom of a generation than such general blindness to the spiritual lightning1 with faith only in the heap of barren dead fuel4 ,it is the last consummation of unbelief4 ,in all epochs of the world's history1 we shall find the ,great ,man to have been the indispensable savior of his epoch2--the lightning1 without which the fuel never would have burnt4 ,the ,history of the ,world1 ,i said already1 was the ,biography of ,great ,men4 ,such small critics do what they can to promote unbelief and universal spiritual paralysis3 but happily they cannot always completely succeed4 ,in all times it is possible for a man to arise great enough to feel that they and their doctrines are chimeras and cobwebs4 ,and what is notable1 in no time whatever can they entirely eradicate out of living men's hearts a certain altogether peculiar reverence for ,great ,men2 genuine admiration1 loyalty1 adoration1 however dim and perverted it may be4 ,hero-worship endures forever while man endures4 ,boswell venerates his ,johnson1 right truly even in the ,eighteenth century4 ,the unbelieving ,french believe in their ,voltaire2 and burst out round him into very curious ,hero-worship1 in that last act of his life when they stifle him under roses4 ,it has always seemed to me extremely curious this of ,voltaire4 ,truly1 if ,christianity be the highest instance of ,hero-worship1 then we may find here in ,voltaireism one of the lowest6 ,he whose life was that of a kind of ,antichrist1 does again on this side exhibit a curious contrast4 ,no people ever were so little prone to admire at all as those ,french of ,voltaire4 ,persiflage was the character of their whole mind2 adoration had nowhere a place in it4 ,yet see6 ,the old man of ,ferney comes up to ,paris2 an old1 tottering1 infirm man of eighty-four years4 ,they feel that he too is a kind of ,hero2 that he has spent his life in opposing error and injustice1 delivering ,calases1 unmasking hypocrites in high places2--in short that he too1 though in a strange way1 has fought like a valiant man4 ,they feel withal that1 if persiflage be the great thing1 there never was such a persifleur4 ,he is the realized ideal of every one of them2 the thing they are all wanting to be2 of all ,frenchmen the most ,french4 ,he is properly their god1--such god as they are fit for4 ,accordingly all persons1 from the ,queen ,antoinette to the ,douanier at the ,porte ,st4 ,denis1 do they not worship him8 ,people of quality disguise themselves as tavern-waiters4 ,the ,maitre de ,poste1 with a broad oath1 orders his ,postilion1 ,va bon train2 thou art driving ,m4 de ,voltaire4 ,at ,paris his carriage is the nucleus of a comet1 whose train fills whole streets4 ,the ladies pluck a hair or two from his fur1 to keep it as a sacred relic4 ,there was nothing highest1 beautifulest1 noblest in all ,france1 that did not feel this man to be higher1 beautifuler1 nobler4 ,yes1 from ,norse ,odin to ,english ,samuel ,johnson1 from the divine ,founder of ,christianity to the withered ,pontiff of ,encyclopedism1 in all times and places1 the ,hero has been worshipped4 ,it will ever be so4 ,we all love great men2 love1 venerate and bow down submissive before great men3 nay can we honestly bow down to anything else8 ,ah1 does not every true man feel that he is himself made higher by doing reverence to what is really above him8 ,no nobler or more blessed feeling dwells in man's heart4 ,and to me it is very cheering to consider that no sceptical logic1 or general triviality1 insincerity and aridity of any ,time and its influences can destroy this noble inborn loyalty and worship that is in man4 ,in times of unbelief1 which soon have to become times of revolution1 much down-rushing1 sorrowful decay and ruin is visible to everybody4 ,for myself in these days1 ,i seem to see in this indestructibility of ,hero-worship the everlasting adamant lower than which the confused wreck of revolutionary things cannot fall4 ,the confused wreck of things crumbling and even crashing and tumbling all round us in these revolutionary ages1 will get down so far2 no farther4 ,it is an eternal corner-stone1 from which they can begin to build themselves up again4 ,that man1 in some sense or other1 worships ,heroes2 that we all of us reverence and must ever reverence ,great ,men3 this is1 to me1 the living rock amid all rushings-down whatsoever2--the one fixed point in modern revolutionary history1 otherwise as if bottomless and shoreless4 ,so much of truth1 only under an ancient obsolete vesture1 but the spirit of it still true1 do ,i find in the ,paganism of old nations4 ,nature is still divine1 the revelation of the workings of ,god2 the ,hero is still worshipable3 this1 under poor cramped incipient forms1 is what all ,pagan religions have struggled1 as they could1 to set forth4 ,i think ,scandinavian ,paganism1 to us here1 is more interesting than any other4 ,it is1 for one thing1 the latest2 it continued in these regions of ,europe till the eleventh century3 eight hundred years ago the ,norwegians were still worshippers of ,odin4 ,it is interesting also as the creed of our fathers2 the men whose blood still runs in our veins1 whom doubtless we still resemble in so many ways4 ,strange3 they did believe that1 while we believe so differently4 ,let us look a little at this poor ,norse creed1 for many reasons4 ,we have tolerable means to do it2 for there is another point of interest in these ,scandinavian mythologies3 that they have been preserved so well4 ,in that strange island ,iceland1--burst up1 the geologists say1 by fire from the bottom of the sea2 a wild land of barrenness and lava2 swallowed many months of every year in black tempests1 yet with a wild gleaming beauty in summertime2 towering up there1 stern and grim1 in the ,north ,ocean with its snow jokuls1 roaring geysers1 sulphur-pools and horrid volcanic chasms1 like the waste chaotic battle-field of ,frost and ,fire2--where of all places we least looked for ,literature or written memorials1 the record of these things was written down4 ,on the seabord of this wild land is a rim of grassy country1 where cattle can subsist1 and men by means of them and of what the sea yields2 and it seems they were poetic men these1 men who had deep thoughts in them1 and uttered musically their thoughts4 ,much would be lost1 had ,iceland not been burst up from the sea1 not been discovered by the ,northmen6 ,the old ,norse ,poets were many of them natives of ,iceland4 ,saemund1 one of the early ,christian ,priests there1 who perhaps had a lingering fondness for ,paganism1 collected certain of their old ,pagan songs1 just about becoming obsolete then1--,poems or ,chants of a mythic1 prophetic1 mostly all of a religious character3 that is what ,norse critics call the ,elder or ,poetic ,edda4 ,edda1 a word of uncertain etymology1 is thought to signify ,ancestress4 ,snorro ,sturleson1 an ,iceland gentleman1 an extremely notable personage1 educated by this ,saemund's grandson1 took in hand next1 near a century afterwards1 to put together1 among several other books he wrote1 a kind of ,prose ,synopsis of the whole ,mythology2 elucidated by new fragments of traditionary verse4 ,a work constructed really with great ingenuity1 native talent1 what one might call unconscious art2 altogether a perspicuous clear work1 pleasant reading still3 this is the ,younger or ,prose ,edda4 ,by these and the numerous other ,sagas1 mostly ,icelandic1 with the commentaries1 ,icelandic or not1 which go on zealously in the ,north to this day1 it is possible to gain some direct insight even yet2 and see that old ,norse system of ,belief1 as it were1 face to face4 ,let us forget that it is erroneous ,religion2 let us look at it as old ,thought1 and try if we cannot sympathize with it somewhat4 ,the primary characteristic of this old ,northland ,mythology ,i find to be ,impersonation of the visible workings of ,nature4 ,earnest simple recognition of the workings of ,physical ,nature1 as a thing wholly miraculous1 stupendous and divine4 ,what we now lecture of as ,science1 they wondered at1 and fell down in awe before1 as ,religion ,the dark hostile ,powers of ,nature they figure to themselves as ,jotuns1 ,giants1 huge shaggy beings of a demonic character4 ,frost1 ,fire1 ,sea-tempest2 these are ,jotuns4 ,the friendly ,powers again1 as ,summer-heat1 the ,sun1 are ,gods4 ,the empire of this ,universe is divided between these two2 they dwell apart1 in perennial internecine feud4 ,the ,gods dwell above in ,asgard1 the ,garden of the ,asen1 or ,divinities2 ,jotunheim1 a distant dark chaotic land1 is the home of the ,jotuns4 ,curious all this2 and not idle or inane1 if we will look at the foundation of it6 ,the power of ,fire1 or ,flame1 for instance1 which we designate by some trivial chemical name1 thereby hiding from ourselves the essential character of wonder that dwells in it as in all things1 is with these old ,northmen1 ,loke1 a most swift subtle ,demon1 of the brood of the ,jotuns4 ,the savages of the ,ladrones ,islands too 7say some ,spanish voyagers7 thought ,fire1 which they never had seen before1 was a devil or god1 that bit you sharply when you touched it1 and that lived upon dry wood4 ,from us too no ,chemistry1 if it had not ,stupidity to help it1 would hide that ,flame is a wonder4 ,what is ,flame8--,frost the old ,norse ,seer discerns to be a monstrous hoary ,jotun1 the ,giant ,thrym1 ,hrym2 or ,rime1 the old word now nearly obsolete here1 but still used in ,scotland to signify hoar-frost4 ,rime was not then as now a dead chemical thing1 but a living ,jotun or ,devil2 the monstrous ,jotun ,rime drove home his ,horses at night1 sat combing their manes1--which ,horses were ,hail-,clouds1 or fleet ,frost-,winds4 ,his ,cows--,no1 not his1 but a kinsman's1 the ,giant ,hymir's ,cows are ,icebergs3 this ,hymir looks at the rocks with his devil-eye1 and they split in the glance of it4 ,thunder was not then mere ,electricity1 vitreous or resinous2 it was the ,god ,donner 7,thunder7 or ,thor1--,god also of beneficent ,summer-heat4 ,the thunder was his wrath3 the gathering of the black clouds is the drawing down of ,thor's angry brows2 the fire-bolt bursting out of ,heaven is the all-rending ,hammer flung from the hand of ,thor3 he urges his loud chariot over the mountain-tops1--that is the peal2 wrathful he blows in his red beard1--that is the rustling storm-blast before the thunder begins4 ,balder again1 the ,white ,god1 the beautiful1 the just and benignant 7whom the early ,christian ,missionaries found to resemble ,christ71 is the ,sun1 beautifullest of visible things2 wondrous too1 and divine still1 after all our ,astronomies and ,almanacs6 ,but perhaps the notablest god we hear tell of is one of whom ,grimm the ,german ,etymologist finds trace3 the ,god ,wunsch1 or ,wish4 ,the ,god ,wish2 who could give us all that we wished6 ,is not this the sincerest and yet rudest voice of the spirit of man8 ,the rudest ideal that man ever formed2 which still shows itself in the latest forms of our spiritual culture4 ,higher considerations have to teach us that the ,god ,wish is not the true ,god4 ,of the other ,gods or ,jotuns ,i will mention only for etymology's sake1 that ,sea-tempest is the ,jotun ,aegir1 a very dangerous ,jotun2--and now to this day1 on our river ,trent1 as ,i learn1 the ,nottingham bargemen1 when the ,river is in a certain flooded state 7a kind of backwater1 or eddying swirl it has1 very dangerous to them71 call it ,eager2 they cry out1 ,have a care1 there is the ,eager coming6 ,curious2 that word surviving1 like the peak of a submerged world6 ,the oldest ,nottingham bargemen had believed in the ,god ,aegir4 ,indeed our ,english blood too in good part is ,danish1 ,norse2 or rather1 at bottom1 ,danish and ,norse and ,saxon have no distinction1 except a superficial one1--as of ,heathen and ,christian1 or the like4 ,but all over our ,island we are mingled largely with ,danes proper1--from the incessant invasions there were3 and this1 of course1 in a greater proportion along the east coast2 and greatest of all1 as ,i find1 in the ,north ,country4 ,from the ,humber upwards1 all over ,scotland1 the ,speech of the common people is still in a singular degree ,icelandic2 its ,germanism has still a peculiar ,norse tinge4 ,they too are ,normans1 ,northmen1--if that be any great beauty--6 ,of the chief god1 ,odin1 we shall speak by and by4 ,mark at present so much2 what the essence of ,scandinavian and indeed of all ,paganism is3 a recognition of the forces of ,nature as godlike1 stupendous1 personal ,agencies1--as ,gods and ,demons4 ,not inconceivable to us4 ,it is the infant ,thought of man opening itself1 with awe and wonder1 on this ever-stupendous ,universe4 ,to me there is in the ,norse system something very genuine1 very great and manlike4 ,a broad simplicity1 rusticity1 so very different from the light gracefulness of the old ,greek ,paganism1 distinguishes this ,scandinavian ,system4 ,it is ,thought2 the genuine ,thought of deep1 rude1 earnest minds1 fairly opened to the things about them2 a face-to-face and heart-to-heart inspection of the things1--the first characteristic of all good ,thought in all times4 ,not graceful lightness1 half-sport1 as in the ,greek ,paganism2 a certain homely truthfulness and rustic strength1 a great rude sincerity1 discloses itself here4 ,it is strange1 after our beautiful ,apollo statues and clear smiling mythuses1 to come down upon the ,norse ,gods brewing ale to hold their feast with ,aegir1 the ,sea-,jotun2 sending out ,thor to get the caldron for them in the ,jotun country2 ,thor1 after many adventures1 clapping the ,pot on his head1 like a huge hat1 and walking off with it1--quite lost in it1 the ears of the ,pot reaching down to his heels6 ,a kind of vacant hugeness1 large awkward gianthood1 characterizes that ,norse system2 enormous force1 as yet altogether untutored1 stalking helpless with large uncertain strides4 ,consider only their primary mythus of the ,creation4 ,the ,gods1 having got the ,giant ,ymer slain1 a ,giant made by warm wind1 and much confused work1 out of the conflict of ,frost and ,fire1--determined on constructing a world with him4 ,his blood made the ,sea2 his flesh was the ,land1 the ,rocks his bones2 of his eyebrows they formed ,asgard their ,gods'-dwelling2 his skull was the great blue vault of ,immensity1 and the brains of it became the ,clouds4 ,what a ,hyper-,brobdignagian business6 ,untamed ,thought1 great1 giantlike1 enormous2--to be tamed in due time into the compact greatness1 not giantlike1 but godlike and stronger than gianthood1 of the ,shakspeares1 the ,goethes6--,spiritually as well as bodily these men are our progenitors4 ,i like1 too1 that representation they have of the tree ,igdrasil4 ,all ,life is figured by them as a ,tree4 ,igdrasil1 the ,ash-tree of ,existence1 has its roots deep down in the kingdoms of ,hela or ,death2 its trunk reaches up heaven-high1 spreads its boughs over the whole ,universe3 it is the ,tree of ,existence4 ,at the foot of it1 in the ,death-kingdom1 sit ,three ,nornas1 ,fates1--the ,past1 ,present1 ,future2 watering its roots from the ,sacred ,well4 ,its boughs1 with their buddings and disleafings8--events1 things suffered1 things done1 catastrophes1--stretch through all lands and times4 ,is not every leaf of it a biography1 every fibre there an act or word8 ,its boughs are ,histories of ,nations4 ,the rustle of it is the noise of ,human ,existence1 onwards from of old4 ,it grows there1 the breath of ,human ,passion rustling through it2--or storm tost1 the storm-wind howling through it like the voice of all the gods4 ,it is ,igdrasil1 the ,tree of ,existence4 ,it is the past1 the present1 and the future2 what was done1 what is doing1 what will be done2 the infinite conjugation of the verb ,to do4 ,considering how human things circulate1 each inextricably in communion with all1--how the word ,i speak to you to-day is borrowed1 not from ,ulfila the ,moesogoth only1 but from all men since the first man began to speak1--,i find no similitude so true as this of a ,tree4 ,beautiful2 altogether beautiful and great4 ,the ,machine of the ,universe1--alas1 do but think of that in contrast6 ,well1 it is strange enough this old ,norse view of ,nature2 different enough from what we believe of ,nature4 ,whence it specially came1 one would not like to be compelled to say very minutely6 ,one thing we may say3 ,it came from the thoughts of ,norse men2--from the thought1 above all1 of the first ,norse man who had an original power of thinking4 ,the ,first ,norse man of genius1 as we should call him6 ,innumerable men had passed by1 across this ,universe1 with a dumb vague wonder1 such as the very animals may feel2 or with a painful1 fruitlessly inquiring wonder1 such as men only feel2--till the great ,thinker came1 the original man1 the ,seer2 whose shaped spoken ,thought awakes the slumbering capability of all into ,thought4 ,it is ever the way with the ,thinker1 the spiritual ,hero4 ,what he says1 all men were not far from saying1 were longing to say4 ,the ,thoughts of all start up1 as from painful enchanted sleep1 round his ,thought2 answering to it1 ,yes1 even so6 ,joyful to men as the dawning of day from night2--is it not1 indeed1 the awakening for them from no-being into being1 from death into life8 ,we still honor such a man2 call him ,poet1 ,genius1 and so forth3 but to these wild men he was a very magician1 a worker of miraculous unexpected blessing for them2 a ,prophet1 a ,god6--,thought once awakened does not again slumber2 unfolds itself into a ,system of ,thought2 grows1 in man after man1 generation after generation1--till its full stature is reached1 and such ,system of ,thought can grow no farther2 but must give place to another4 ,for the ,norse people1 the ,man now named ,odin1 and ,chief ,norse ,god1 we fancy1 was such a man4 ,a ,teacher1 and ,captain of soul and of body2 a ,hero1 of worth immeasurable2 admiration for whom1 transcending the known bounds1 became adoration4 ,has he not the power of articulate ,thinking2 and many other powers1 as yet miraculous8 ,so1 with boundless gratitude1 would the rude ,norse heart feel4 ,has he not solved for them the sphinx-enigma of this ,universe2 given assurance to them of their own destiny there8 ,by him they know now what they have to do here1 what to look for hereafter4 ,existence has become articulate1 melodious by him2 he first has made ,life alive6--,we may call this ,odin1 the origin of ,norse ,mythology3 ,odin1 or whatever name the ,first ,norse ,thinker bore while he was a man among men4 ,his view of the ,universe once promulgated1 a like view starts into being in all minds2 grows1 keeps ever growing1 while it continues credible there4 ,in all minds it lay written1 but invisibly1 as in sympathetic ink2 at his word it starts into visibility in all4 ,nay1 in every epoch of the world1 the great event1 parent of all others1 is it not the arrival of a ,thinker in the world--6 ,one other thing we must not forget2 it will explain1 a little1 the confusion of these ,norse ,eddas4 ,they are not one coherent ,system of ,thought2 but properly the summation of several successive systems4 ,all this of the old ,norse ,belief which is flung out for us1 in one level of distance in the ,edda1 like a picture painted on the same canvas1 does not at all stand so in the reality4 ,it stands rather at all manner of distances and depths1 of successive generations since the ,belief first began4 ,all ,scandinavian thinkers1 since the first of them1 contributed to that ,scandinavian ,system of ,thought2 in ever-new elaboration and addition1 it is the combined work of them all4 ,what history it had1 how it changed from shape to shape1 by one thinker's contribution after another1 till it got to the full final shape we see it under in the ,edda1 no man will now ever know3 its ,councils of ,trebizond1 ,councils of ,trent1 ,athanasiuses1 ,dantes1 ,luthers1 are sunk without echo in the dark night6 ,only that it had such a history we can all know4 ,wheresover a thinker appeared1 there in the thing he thought of was a contribution1 accession1 a change or revolution made4 ,alas1 the grandest revolution of all1 the one made by the man ,odin himself1 is not this too sunk for us like the rest6 ,of ,odin what history8 ,strange rather to reflect that he had a history6 ,that this ,odin1 in his wild ,norse vesture1 with his wild beard and eyes1 his rude ,norse speech and ways1 was a man like us2 with our sorrows1 joys1 with our limbs1 features2--intrinsically all one as we3 and did such a work6 ,but the work1 much of it1 has perished2 the worker1 all to the name4 ,wednesday1 men will say to-morrow2 ,odin's day6 ,of ,odin there exists no history2 no document of it2 no guess about it worth repeating4 ,snorro indeed1 in the quietest manner1 almost in a brief business style1 writes down1 in his ,heimskringla1 how ,odin was a heroic ,prince1 in the ,black-,sea region1 with ,twelve ,peers1 and a great people straitened for room4 ,how he led these ,asen 7,asiatics7 of his out of ,asia2 settled them in the ,north parts of ,europe1 by warlike conquest2 invented ,letters1 ,poetry and so forth1--and came by and by to be worshipped as ,chief ,god by these ,scandinavians1 his ,twelve ,peers made into ,twelve ,sons of his own1 ,gods like himself3 ,snorro has no doubt of this4 ,saxo ,grammaticus1 a very curious ,northman of that same century1 is still more unhesitating2 scruples not to find out a historical fact in every individual mythus1 and writes it down as a terrestrial event in ,denmark or elsewhere4 ,torfaeus1 learned and cautious1 some centuries later1 assigns by calculation a date for it3 ,odin1 he says1 came into ,europe about the ,year #gj before ,christ4 ,of all which1 as grounded on mere uncertainties1 found to be untenable now1 ,i need say nothing4 ,far1 very far beyond the ,year #gj6 ,odin's date1 adventures1 whole terrestrial history1 figure and environment are sunk from us forever into unknown thousands of years4 ,nay ,grimm1 the ,german ,antiquary1 goes so far as to deny that any man ,odin ever existed4 ,he proves it by etymology4 ,the word ,wuotan1 which is the original form of ,odin1 a word spread1 as name of their chief ,divinity1 over all the ,teutonic ,nations everywhere2 this word1 which connects itself1 according to ,grimm1 with the ,latin vadere1 with the ,english wade and such like1--means primarily ,movement1 ,source of ,movement1 ,power2 and is the fit name of the highest god1 not of any man4 ,the word signifies ,divinity1 he says1 among the old ,saxon1 ,german and all ,teutonic ,nations2 the adjectives formed from it all signify divine1 supreme1 or something pertaining to the chief god4 ,like enough6 ,we must bow to ,grimm in matters etymological4 ,let us consider it fixed that ,wuotan means ,wading1 force of ,movement4 ,and now still1 what hinders it from being the name of a ,heroic ,man and ,mover1 as well as of a god8 ,as for the adjectives1 and words formed from it1--did not the ,spaniards in their universal admiration for ,lope1 get into the habit of saying a ,lope flower1 a ,lope dama1 if the flower or woman were of surpassing beauty8 ,had this lasted1 ,lope would have grown1 in ,spain1 to be an adjective signifying godlike also4 ,indeed1 ,adam ,smith1 in his ,essay on ,language1 surmises that all adjectives whatsoever were formed precisely in that way3 some very green thing1 chiefly notable for its greenness1 got the appellative name ,green1 and then the next thing remarkable for that quality1 a tree for instance1 was named the green tree1--as we still say the steam coach1 four-horse coach1 or the like4 ,all primary adjectives1 according to ,smith1 were formed in this way2 were at first substantives and things4 ,we cannot annihilate a man for etymologies like that6 ,surely there was a ,first ,teacher and ,captain2 surely there must have been an ,odin1 palpable to the sense at one time2 no adjective1 but a real ,hero of flesh and blood6 ,the voice of all tradition1 history or echo of history1 agrees with all that thought will teach one about it1 to assure us of this4 ,how the man ,odin came to be considered a god1 the chief god8--that surely is a question which nobody would wish to dogmatize upon4 ,i have said1 his people knew no limits to their admiration of him2 they had as yet no scale to measure admiration by4 ,fancy your own generous heart's-love of some greatest man expanding till it transcended all bounds1 till it filled and overflowed the whole field of your thought6 ,or what if this man ,odin1--since a great deep soul1 with the afflatus and mysterious tide of vision and impulse rushing on him he knows not whence1 is ever an enigma1 a kind of terror and wonder to himself1--should have felt that perhaps he was divine2 that he was some effluence of the ,wuotan1 ,movement1 ,supreme ,power and ,divinity1 of whom to his rapt vision all ,nature was the awful ,flame-image2 that some effluence of ,wuotan dwelt here in him6 ,he was not necessarily false2 he was but mistaken1 speaking the truest he knew4 ,a great soul1 any sincere soul1 knows not what he is1--alternates between the highest height and the lowest depth2 can1 of all things1 the least measure--,himself6 ,what others take him for1 and what he guesses that he may be2 these two items strangely act on one another1 help to determine one another4 ,with all men reverently admiring him2 with his own wild soul full of noble ardors and affections1 of whirlwind chaotic darkness and glorious new light2 a divine ,universe bursting all into godlike beauty round him1 and no man to whom the like ever had befallen1 what could he think himself to be8 ,wuotan8 ,all men answered1 ,wuotan6-- ,and then consider what mere ,time will do in such cases2 how if a man was great while living1 he becomes tenfold greater when dead4 ,what an enormous camera-obscura magnifier is ,tradition6 ,how a thing grows in the human ,memory1 in the human ,imagination1 when love1 worship and all that lies in the human ,heart1 is there to encourage it4 ,and in the darkness1 in the entire ignorance2 without date or document1 no book1 no ,arundel-marble2 only here and there some dumb monumental cairn4 ,why1 in thirty or forty years1 were there no books1 any great man would grow mythic1 the contemporaries who had seen him1 being once all dead4 ,and in three hundred years1 and in three thousand years--6 ,to attempt theorizing on such matters would profit little3 they are matters which refuse to be theoremed and diagramed2 which ,logic ought to know that she cannot speak of4 ,enough for us to discern1 far in the uttermost distance1 some gleam as of a small real light shining in the centre of that enormous camera-obscure image2 to discern that the centre of it all was not a madness and nothing1 but a sanity and something4 ,this light1 kindled in the great dark vortex of the ,norse ,mind1 dark but living1 waiting only for light2 this is to me the centre of the whole4 ,how such light will then shine out1 and with wondrous thousand-fold expansion spread itself1 in forms and colors1 depends not on it1 so much as on the ,national ,mind recipient of it4 ,the colors and forms of your light will be those of the cut-glass it has to shine through4--,curious to think how1 for every man1 any the truest fact is modelled by the nature of the man6 ,i said1 ,the earnest man1 speaking to his brother men1 must always have stated what seemed to him a fact1 a real ,appearance of ,nature4 ,but the way in which such ,appearance or fact shaped itself1--what sort of fact it became for him1--was and is modified by his own laws of thinking2 deep1 subtle1 but universal1 ever-operating laws4 ,the world of ,nature1 for every man1 is the ,fantasy of ,himself4 ,this world is the multiplex ,image of his own ,dream4 ,who knows to what unnamable subtleties of spiritual law all these ,pagan ,fables owe their shape6 ,the number ,twelve1 divisiblest of all1 which could be halved1 quartered1 parted into three1 into six1 the most remarkable number1--this was enough to determine the ,signs of the ,zodiac1 the number of ,odin's ,sons1 and innumerable other ,twelves4 ,any vague rumor of number had a tendency to settle itself into ,twelve4 ,so with regard to every other matter4 ,and quite unconsciously too1--with no notion of building up ,allegories 6 ,but the fresh clear glance of those ,first ,ages would be prompt in discerning the secret relations of things1 and wholly open to obey these4 ,schiller finds in the ,cestus of ,venus an everlasting aesthetic truth as to the nature of all ,beauty2 curious3--but he is careful not to insinuate that the old ,greek ,mythists had any notion of lecturing about the ,philosophy of ,criticism6--,on the whole1 we must leave those boundless regions4 ,cannot we conceive that ,odin was a reality8 ,error indeed1 error enough3 but sheer falsehood1 idle fables1 allegory aforethought1--we will not believe that our ,fathers believed in these4 ,odin's ,runes are a significant feature of him4 ,runes1 and the miracles of magic he worked by them1 make a great feature in tradition4 ,runes are the ,scandinavian ,alphabet2 suppose ,odin to have been the inventor of ,letters1 as well as magic1 among that people6 ,it is the greatest invention man has ever made6 this of marking down the unseen thought that is in him by written characters4 ,it is a kind of second speech1 almost as miraculous as the first4 ,you remember the astonishment and incredulity of ,atahualpa the ,peruvian ,king2 how he made the ,spanish ,soldier who was guarding him scratch ,dios on his thumb-nail1 that he might try the next soldier with it1 to ascertain whether such a miracle was possible4 ,if ,odin brought ,letters among his people1 he might work magic enough6 ,writing by ,runes has some air of being original among the ,norsemen3 not a ,phoenician ,alphabet1 but a native ,scandinavian one4 ,snorro tells us farther that ,odin invented ,poetry2 the music of human speech1 as well as that miraculous runic marking of it4 ,transport yourselves into the early childhood of nations2 the first beautiful morning-light of our ,europe1 when all yet lay in fresh young radiance as of a great sunrise1 and our ,europe was first beginning to think1 to be6 ,wonder1 hope2 infinite radiance of hope and wonder1 as of a young child's thoughts1 in the hearts of these strong men6 ,strong sons of ,nature2 and here was not only a wild ,captain and ,fighter2 discerning with his wild flashing eyes what to do1 with his wild lion-heart daring and doing it2 but a ,poet too1 all that we mean by a ,poet1 ,prophet1 great devout ,thinker and ,inventor1--as the truly ,great ,man ever is4 ,a ,hero is a ,hero at all points2 in the soul and thought of him first of all4 ,this ,odin1 in his rude semi-articulate way1 had a word to speak4 ,a great heart laid open to take in this great ,universe1 and man's ,life here1 and utter a great word about it4 ,a ,hero1 as ,i say1 in his own rude manner2 a wise1 gifted1 noble-hearted man4 ,and now1 if we still admire such a man beyond all others1 what must these wild ,norse souls1 first awakened into thinking1 have made of him6 ,to them1 as yet without names for it1 he was noble and noblest2 ,hero1 ,prophet1 ,god2 ,wuotan1 the greatest of all4 ,thought is ,thought1 however it speak or spell itself4 ,intrinsically1 ,i conjecture1 this ,odin must have been of the same sort of stuff as the greatest kind of men4 ,a great thought in the wild deep heart of him6 ,the rough words he articulated1 are they not the rudimental roots of those ,english words we still use8 ,he worked so1 in that obscure element4 ,but he was as a light kindled in it2 a light of ,intellect1 rude ,nobleness of heart1 the only kind of lights we have yet2 a ,hero1 as ,i say3 and he had to shine there1 and make his obscure element a little lighter1--as is still the task of us all4 ,we will fancy him to be the ,type ,norseman2 the finest ,teuton whom that race had yet produced4 ,the rude ,norse heart burst up into boundless admiration round him2 into adoration4 ,he is as a root of so many great things2 the fruit of him is found growing from deep thousands of years1 over the whole field of ,teutonic ,life4 ,our own ,wednesday1 as ,i said1 is it not still ,odin's ,day8 ,wednesbury1 ,wansborough1 ,wanstead1 ,wandsworth3 ,odin grew into ,england too1 these are still leaves from that root6 ,he was the ,chief ,god to all the ,teutonic ,peoples2 their ,pattern ,norseman2--in such way did they admire their ,pattern ,norseman2 that was the fortune he had in the world4 ,thus if the man ,odin himself have vanished utterly1 there is this huge ,shadow of him which still projects itself over the whole ,history of his ,people4 ,for this ,odin once admitted to be ,god1 we can understand well that the whole ,scandinavian ,scheme of ,nature1 or dim ,no-scheme1 whatever it might before have been1 would now begin to develop itself altogether differently1 and grow thenceforth in a new manner4 ,what this ,odin saw into1 and taught with his runes and his rhymes1 the whole ,teutonic ,people laid to heart and carried forward4 ,his way of thought became their way of thought3--such1 under new conditions1 is the history of every great thinker still4 ,in gigantic confused lineaments1 like some enormous camera-obscure shadow thrown upwards from the dead deeps of the ,past1 and covering the whole ,northern ,heaven1 is not that ,scandinavian ,mythology in some sort the ,portraiture of this man ,odin8 ,the gigantic image of his natural face1 legible or not legible there1 expanded and confused in that manner6 ,ah1 ,thought1 ,i say1 is always ,thought4 ,no great man lives in vain4 ,the ,history of the world is but the ,biography of great men4 ,to me there is something very touching in this primeval figure of ,heroism2 in such artless1 helpless1 but hearty entire reception of a ,hero by his fellow-men4 ,never so helpless in shape1 it is the noblest of feelings1 and a feeling in some shape or other perennial as man himself4 ,if ,i could show in any measure1 what ,i feel deeply for a long time now1 ,that it is the vital element of manhood1 the soul of man's history here in our world1--it would be the chief use of this discoursing at present4 ,we do not now call our great men ,gods1 nor admire without limit2 ah no1 with limit enough6 ,but if we have no great men1 or do not admire at all1--that were a still worse case4 ,this poor ,scandinavian ,hero-worship1 that whole ,norse way of looking at the ,universe1 and adjusting oneself there1 has an indestructible merit for us4 ,a rude childlike way of recognizing the divineness of ,nature1 the divineness of ,man2 most rude1 yet heartfelt1 robust1 giantlike2 betokening what a giant of a man this child would yet grow to6--,it was a truth1 and is none4 ,is it not as the half-dumb stifled voice of the long-buried generations of our own ,fathers1 calling out of the depths of ages to us1 in whose veins their blood still runs3 ,this then1 this is what we made of the world3 this is all the image and notion we could form to ourselves of this great mystery of a ,life and ,universe4 ,despise it not4 ,you are raised high above it1 to large free scope of vision2 but you too are not yet at the top4 ,no1 your notion too1 so much enlarged1 is but a partial1 imperfect one2 that matter is a thing no man will ever1 in time or out of time1 comprehend2 after thousands of years of ever-new expansion1 man will find himself but struggling to comprehend again a part of it3 the thing is larger shall man1 not to be comprehended by him2 an ,infinite thing6 ,the essence of the ,scandinavian1 as indeed of all ,pagan ,mythologies1 we found to be recognition of the divineness of ,nature2 sincere communion of man with the mysterious invisible ,powers visibly seen at work in the world round him4 ,this1 ,i should say1 is more sincerely done in the ,scandinavian than in any ,mythology ,i know4 ,sincerity is the great characteristic of it4 ,superior sincerity 7far superior7 consoles us for the total want of old ,grecian grace4 ,sincerity1 ,i think1 is better than grace4 ,i feel that these old ,northmen wore looking into ,nature with open eye and soul3 most earnest1 honest2 childlike1 and yet manlike2 with a great-hearted simplicity and depth and freshness1 in a true1 loving1 admiring1 unfearing way4 ,a right valiant1 true old race of men4 ,such recognition of ,nature one finds to be the chief element of ,paganism2 recognition of ,man1 and his ,moral ,duty1 though this too is not wanting1 comes to be the chief element only in purer forms of religion4 ,here1 indeed1 is a great distinction and epoch in ,human ,beliefs2 a great landmark in the religious development of ,mankind4 ,man first puts himself in relation with ,nature and her ,powers1 wonders and worships over those2 not till a later epoch does he discern that all ,power is ,moral1 that the grand point is the distinction for him of ,good and ,evil1 of ,thou shalt and ,thou shalt not4 ,with regard to all these fabulous delineations in the ,edda1 ,i will remark1 moreover1 as indeed was already hinted1 that most probably they must have been of much newer date2 most probably1 even from the first1 were comparatively idle for the old ,norsemen1 and as it were a kind of ,poetic sport4 ,allegory and ,poetic ,delineation1 as ,i said above1 cannot be religious ,faith2 the ,faith itself must first be there1 then ,allegory enough will gather round it1 as the fit body round its soul4 ,the ,norse ,faith1 ,i can well suppose1 like other ,faiths1 was most active while it lay mainly in the silent state1 and had not yet much to say about itself1 still less to sing4 ,among those shadowy ,edda matters1 amid all that fantastic congeries of assertions1 and traditions1 in their musical ,mythologies1 the main practical belief a man could have was probably not much more than this3 of the ,valkyrs and the ,hall of ,odin2 of an inflexible ,destiny2 and that the one thing needful for a man was to be brave4 ,the ,valkyrs are ,choosers of the ,slain3 a ,destiny inexorable1 which it is useless trying to bend or soften1 has appointed who is to be slain2 this was a fundamental point for the ,norse believer2--as indeed it is for all earnest men everywhere1 for a ,mahomet1 a ,luther1 for a ,napoleon too4 ,it lies at the basis this for every such man2 it is the woof out of which his whole system of thought is woven4 ,the ,valkyrs2 and then that these ,choosers lead the brave to a heavenly ,hall of ,odin2 only the base and slavish being thrust elsewhither1 into the realms of ,hela the ,death-goddess3 ,i take this to have been the soul of the whole ,norse ,belief4 ,they understood in their heart that it was indispensable to be brave2 that ,odin would have no favor for them1 but despise and thrust them out1 if they were not brave4 ,consider too whether there is not something in this6 ,it is an everlasting duty1 valid in our day as in that1 the duty of being brave4 ,valor is still value4 ,the first duty for a man is still that of subduing ,fear4 ,we must get rid of ,fear2 we cannot act at all till then4 ,a man's acts are slavish1 not true but specious2 his very thoughts are false1 he thinks too as a slave and coward1 till he have got ,fear under his feet4 ,odin's creed1 if we disentangle the real kernel of it1 is true to this hour4 ,a man shall and must be valiant2 he must march forward1 and quit himself like a man1--trusting imperturbably in the appointment and choice of the upper ,powers2 and1 on the whole1 not fear at all4 ,now and always1 the completeness of his victory over ,fear will determine how much of a man he is4 ,it is doubtless very savage that kind of valor of the old ,northmen4 ,snorro tells us they thought it a shame and misery not to die in battle2 and if natural death seemed to be coming on1 they would cut wounds in their flesh1 that ,odin might receive them as warriors slain4 ,old kings1 about to die1 had their body laid into a ship2 the ship sent forth1 with sails set and slow fire burning it2 that1 once out at sea1 it might blaze up in flame1 and in such manner bury worthily the old hero1 at once in the sky and in the ocean6 ,wild bloody valor2 yet valor of its kind2 better1 ,i say1 than none4 ,in the old ,sea-kings too1 what an indomitable rugged energy6 ,silent1 with closed lips1 as ,i fancy them1 unconscious that they were specially brave2 defying the wild ocean with its monsters1 and all men and things2--progenitors of our own ,blakes and ,nelsons6 ,no ,homer sang these ,norse ,sea-kings2 but ,agamemnon's was a small audacity1 and of small fruit in the world1 to some of them2--to ,hrolf's of ,normandy1 for instance6 ,hrolf1 or ,rollo ,duke of ,normandy1 the wild ,sea-king1 has a share in governing ,england at this hour4 ,nor was it altogether nothing1 even that wild sea-roving and battling1 through so many generations4 ,it needed to be ascertained which was the strongest kind of men2 who were to be ruler over whom4 ,among the ,northland ,sovereigns1 too1 ,i find some who got the title ,wood-cutter2 ,forest-felling ,kings4 ,much lies in that4 ,i suppose at bottom many of them were forest-fellers as well as fighters1 though the ,skalds talk mainly of the latter1--misleading certain critics not a little2 for no nation of men could ever live by fighting alone2 there could not produce enough come out of that6 ,i suppose the right good fighter was oftenest also the right good forest-feller1--the right good improver1 discerner1 doer and worker in every kind2 for true valor1 different enough from ferocity1 is the basis of all4 ,a more legitimate kind of valor that2 showing itself against the untamed ,forests and dark brute ,powers of ,nature1 to conquer ,nature for us4 ,in the same direction have not we their descendants since carried it far8 ,may such valor last forever with us6 ,that the man ,odin1 speaking with a ,hero's voice and heart1 as with an impressiveness out of ,heaven1 told his ,people the infinite importance of ,valor1 how man thereby became a god2 and that his ,people1 feeling a response to it in their own hearts1 believed this message of his1 and thought it a message out of ,heaven1 and him a ,divinity for telling it them3 this seems to me the primary seed-grain of the ,norse ,religion1 from which all manner of mythologies1 symbolic practices1 speculations1 allegories1 songs and sagas would naturally grow4 ,grow1--how strangely6 ,i called it a small light shining and shaping in the huge vortex of ,norse darkness4 ,yet the darkness itself was alive2 consider that4 ,it was the eager inarticulate uninstructed ,mind of the whole ,norse ,people1 longing only to become articulate1 to go on articulating ever farther6 ,the living doctrine grows1 grows2--like a ,banyan-tree2 the first seed is the essential thing3 any branch strikes itself down into the earth1 becomes a new root2 and so1 in endless complexity1 we have a whole wood1 a whole jungle1 one seed the parent of it all4 ,was not the whole ,norse ,religion1 accordingly1 in some sense1 what we called the enormous shadow of this man's likeness8 ,critics trace some affinity in some ,norse mythuses1 of the ,creation and such like1 with those of the ,hindoos4 ,the ,cow ,adumbla1 licking the rime from the rocks1 has a kind of ,hindoo look4 ,a ,hindoo ,cow1 transported into frosty countries4 ,probably enough2 indeed we may say undoubtedly1 these things will have a kindred with the remotest lands1 with the earliest times4 ,thought does not die1 but only is changed4 ,the first man that began to think in this ,planet of ours1 he was the beginner of all4 ,and then the second man1 and the third man2--nay1 every true ,thinker to this hour is a kind of ,odin1 teaches men his way of thought1 spreads a shadow of his own likeness over sections of the ,history of the ,world4 ,of the distinctive poetic character or merit of this ,norse ,mythology ,i have not room to speak2 nor does it concern us much4 ,some wild ,prophecies we have1 as the ,voluspa in the ,elder ,edda2 of a rapt1 earnest1 sibylline sort4 ,but they were comparatively an idle adjunct of the matter1 men who as it were but toyed with the matter1 these later ,skalds2 and it is their songs chiefly that survive4 ,in later centuries1 ,i suppose1 they would go on singing1 poetically symbolizing1 as our modern ,painters paint1 when it was no longer from the innermost heart1 or not from the heart at all4 ,this is everywhere to be well kept in mind4 ,gray's fragments of ,norse ,lore1 at any rate1 will give one no notion of it2--any more than ,pope will of ,homer4 ,it is no square-built gloomy palace of black ashlar marble1 shrouded in awe and horror1 as ,gray gives it us3 no2 rough as the ,north rocks1 as the ,iceland deserts1 it is2 with a heartiness1 homeliness1 even a tint of good humor and robust mirth in the middle of these fearful things4 ,the strong old ,norse heart did not go upon theatrical sublimities2 they had not time to tremble4 ,i like much their robust simplicity2 their veracity1 directness of conception4 ,thor draws down his brows in a veritable ,norse rage2 grasps his hammer till the knuckles grow white4 ,beautiful traits of pity too1 an honest pity4 ,balder the white ,god dies2 the beautiful1 benignant2 he is the ,sungod4 ,they try all ,nature for a remedy2 but he is dead4 ,frigga1 his mother1 sends ,hermoder to seek or see him3 nine days and nine nights he rides through gloomy deep valleys1 a labyrinth of gloom2 arrives at the ,bridge with its gold roof3 the ,keeper says1 ,yes1 ,balder did pass here2 but the ,kingdom of the ,dead is down yonder1 far towards the ,north4 ,hermoder rides on2 leaps ,hell-gate1 ,hela's gate2 does see ,balder1 and speak with him3 ,balder cannot be delivered4 ,inexorable6 ,hela will not1 for ,odin or any ,god1 give him up4 ,the beautiful and gentle has to remain there4 ,his ,wife had volunteered to go with him1 to die with him4 ,they shall forever remain there4 ,he sends his ring to ,odin2 ,nanna his wife sends her thimble to ,frigga1 as a remembrance4--,ah me--6 ,for indeed ,valor is the fountain of ,pity too2--of ,truth1 and all that is great and good in man4 ,the robust homely vigor of the ,norse heart attaches one much1 in these delineations4 ,is it not a trait of right honest strength1 says ,uhland1 who has written a fine ,essay on ,thor1 that the old ,norse heart finds its friend in the ,thunder-god8 ,that it is not frightened away by his thunder2 but finds that ,summer-heat1 the beautiful noble summer1 must and will have thunder withal6 ,the ,norse heart loves this ,thor and his hammer-bolt2 sports with him4 ,thor is ,summer-heat3 the god of ,peaceable ,industry as well as ,thunder4 ,he is the ,peasant's friend2 his true henchman and attendant is ,thialfi1 ,manual ,labor4 ,thor himself engages in all manner of rough manual work1 scorns no business for its plebeianism2 is ever and anon travelling to the country of the ,jotuns1 harrying those chaotic ,frost-monsters1 subduing them1 at least straitening and damaging them4 ,there is a great broad humor in some of these things4 ,thor1 as we saw above1 goes to ,jotun-land1 to seek ,hymir's ,caldron1 that the ,gods may brew beer4 ,hymir the huge ,giant enters1 his gray beard all full of hoar-frost2 splits pillars with the very glance of his eye2 ,thor1 after much rough tumult1 snatches the ,pot1 claps it on his head2 the handles of it reach down to his heels4 ,the ,norse ,skald has a kind of loving sport with ,thor4 ,this is the ,hymir whose cattle1 the critics have discovered1 are ,icebergs4 ,huge untutored ,brobdignag genius1--needing only to be tamed down2 into ,shakspeares1 ,dantes1 ,goethes6 ,it is all gone now1 that old ,norse work1--,thor the ,thunder-god changed into ,jack the ,giant-killer3 but the mind that made it is here yet4 ,how strangely things grow1 and die1 and do not die6 ,there are twigs of that great world-tree of ,norse ,belief still curiously traceable4 ,this poor ,jack of the ,nursery1 with his miraculous shoes of swiftness1 coat of darkness1 sword of sharpness1 he is one4 ,hynde ,etin1 and still more decisively ,red ,etin of ,ireland1 in the ,scottish ,ballads1 these are both derived from ,norseland2 ,etin is evidently a ,jotun4 ,nay1 ,shakspeare's ,hamlet is a twig too of this same world-tree2 there seems no doubt of that4 ,hamlet1 ,amleth ,i find1 is really a mythic personage2 and his ,tragedy1 of the poisoned ,father1 poisoned asleep by drops in his ear1 and the rest1 is a ,norse mythus6 ,old ,saxo1 as his wont was1 made it a ,danish history2 ,shakspeare1 out of ,saxo1 made it what we see4 ,that is a twig of the world-tree that has grown1 ,i think2--by nature or accident that one has grown6 ,in fact1 these old ,norse songs have a truth in them1 an inward perennial truth and greatness1--as1 indeed1 all must have that can very long preserve itself by tradition alone4 ,it is a greatness not of mere body and gigantic bulk1 but a rude greatness of soul4 ,there is a sublime uncomplaining melancholy traceable in these old hearts4 ,a great free glance into the very deeps of thought4 ,they seem to have seen1 these brave old ,northmen1 what ,meditation has taught all men in all ages1 ,that this world is after all but a show1--a phenomenon or appearance1 no real thing4 ,all deep souls see into that1--the ,hindoo ,mythologist1 the ,german ,philosopher1--the ,shakspeare1 the earnest ,thinker1 wherever he may be3 ,we are such stuff as ,dreams are made of6 ,one of ,thor's expeditions1 to ,utgard 7the ,outer ,garden1 central seat of ,jotun-land71 is remarkable in this respect4 ,thialfi was with him1 and ,loke4 ,after various adventures1 they entered upon ,giant-land2 wandered over plains1 wild uncultivated places1 among stones and trees4 ,at nightfall they noticed a house2 and as the door1 which indeed formed one whole side of the house1 was open1 they entered4 ,it was a simple habitation2 one large hall1 altogether empty4 ,they stayed there4 ,suddenly in the dead of the night loud noises alarmed them4 ,thor grasped his hammer2 stood in the door1 prepared for fight4 ,his companions within ran hither and thither in their terror1 seeking some outlet in that rude hall2 they found a little closet at last1 and took refuge there4 ,neither had ,thor any battle3 for1 lo1 in the morning it turned out that the noise had been only the snoring of a certain enormous but peaceable ,giant1 the ,giant ,skrymir1 who lay peaceably sleeping near by2 and this that they took for a house was merely his ,glove1 thrown aside there2 the door was the ,glove-wrist2 the little closet they had fled into was the ,thumb6 ,such a glove2--,i remark too that it had not fingers as ours have1 but only a thumb1 and the rest undivided3 a most ancient1 rustic glove6 ,skrymir now carried their portmanteau all day2 ,thor1 however1 had his own suspicions1 did not like the ways of ,skrymir2 determined at night to put an end to him as he slept4 ,raising his hammer1 he struck down into the ,giant's face a right thunder-bolt blow1 of force to rend rocks4 ,the ,giant merely awoke2 rubbed his cheek1 and said1 ,did a leaf fall8 ,again ,thor struck1 so soon as ,skrymir again slept2 a better blow than before2 but the ,giant only murmured1 ,was that a grain of sand8 ,thor's third stroke was with both his hands 7the knuckles white ,i suppose71 and seemed to dint deep into ,skrymir's visage2 but he merely checked his snore1 and remarked1 ,there must be sparrows roosting in this tree1 ,i think2 what is that they have dropt8--,at the gate of ,utgard1 a place so high that you had to strain your neck bending back to see the top of it1 ,skrymir went his ways4 ,thor and his companions were admitted2 invited to take share in the games going on4 ,to ,thor1 for his part1 they handed a ,drinking-horn2 it was a common feat1 they told him1 to drink this dry at one draught4 ,long and fiercely1 three times over1 ,thor drank2 but made hardly any impression4 ,he was a weak child1 they told him3 could he lift that ,cat he saw there8 ,small as the feat seemed1 ,thor with his whole godlike strength could not2 he bent up the creature's back1 could not raise its feet off the ground1 could at the utmost raise one foot4 ,why1 you are no man1 said the ,utgard people2 there is an ,old ,woman that will wrestle you6 ,thor1 heartily ashamed1 seized this haggard ,old ,woman2 but could not throw her4 ,and now1 on their quitting ,utgard1 the chief ,jotun1 escorting them politely a little way1 said to ,thor3 ,you are beaten then3--yet be not so much ashamed2 there was deception of appearance in it4 ,that ,horn you tried to drink was the ,sea2 you did make it ebb2 but who could drink that1 the bottomless6 ,the ,cat you would have lifted1--why1 that is the ,midgard-snake1 the ,great ,world-serpent1 which1 tail in mouth1 girds and keeps up the whole created world2 had you torn that up1 the world must have rushed to ruin6 ,as for the ,old ,woman1 she was ,time1 ,old ,age1 ,duration3 with her what can wrestle8 ,no man nor no god with her2 gods or men1 she prevails over all6 ,and then those three strokes you struck1--look at these three valleys2 your three strokes made these6 ,thor looked at his attendant ,jotun3 it was ,skrymir2--it was1 say ,norse critics1 the old chaotic rocky ,earth in person1 and that glove-house was some ,earth-cavern6 ,but ,skrymir had vanished2 ,utgard with its sky-high gates1 when ,thor grasped his hammer to smite them1 had gone to air2 only the ,giant's voice was heard mocking3 ,better come no more to ,jotunheim6-- ,this is of the allegoric period1 as we see1 and half play1 not of the prophetic and entirely devout3 but as a mythus is there not real antique ,norse gold in it8 ,more true metal1 rough from the ,mimer-stithy1 than in many a famed ,greek ,mythus shaped far better6 ,a great broad ,brobdignag grin of true humor is in this ,skrymir2 mirth resting on earnestness and sadness1 as the rainbow on black tempest3 only a right valiant heart is capable of that4 ,it is the grim humor of our own ,ben ,jonson1 rare old ,ben2 runs in the blood of us1 ,i fancy2 for one catches tones of it1 under a still other shape1 out of the ,american ,backwoods4 ,that is also a very striking conception that of the ,ragnarok1 ,consummation1 or ,twilight of the ,gods4 ,it is in the ,voluspa ,song2 seemingly a very old1 prophetic idea4 ,the ,gods and ,jotuns1 the divine ,powers and the chaotic brute ones1 after long contest and partial victory by the former1 meet at last in universal world-embracing wrestle and duel2 ,world-serpent against ,thor1 strength against strength2 mutually extinctive2 and ruin1 twilight sinking into darkness1 swallows the created ,universe4 ,the old ,universe with its ,gods is sunk2 but it is not final death3 there is to be a new ,heaven and a new ,earth2 a higher supreme ,god1 and ,justice to reign among men4 ,curious3 this law of mutation1 which also is a law written in man's inmost thought1 had been deciphered by these old earnest ,thinkers in their rude style2 and how1 though all dies1 and even gods die1 yet all death is but a phoenix fire-death1 and new-birth into the ,greater and the ,better6 ,it is the fundamental ,law of ,being for a creature made of ,time1 living in this ,place of ,hope4 ,all earnest men have seen into it2 may still see into it4 ,and now1 connected with this1 let us glance at the last mythus of the appearance of ,thor2 and end there4 ,i fancy it to be the latest in date of all these fables2 a sorrowing protest against the advance of ,christianity1--set forth reproachfully by some ,conservative ,pagan4 ,king ,olaf has been harshly blamed for his over-zeal in introducing ,christianity2 surely ,i should have blamed him far more for an under-zeal in that6 ,he paid dear enough for it2 he died by the revolt of his ,pagan people1 in battle1 in the year #ajcc1 at ,stickelstad1 near that ,drontheim1 where the chief ,cathedral of the ,north has now stood for many centuries1 dedicated gratefully to his memory as ,saint ,olaf4 ,the mythus about ,thor is to this effect4 ,king ,olaf1 the ,christian ,reform ,king1 is sailing with fit escort along the shore of ,norway1 from haven to haven2 dispensing justice1 or doing other royal work3 on leaving a certain haven1 it is found that a stranger1 of grave eyes and aspect1 red beard1 of stately robust figure1 has stept in4 ,the courtiers address him2 his answers surprise by their pertinency and depth3 at length he is brought to the ,king4 ,the stranger's conversation here is not less remarkable1 as they sail along the beautiful shore2 but after some time1 he addresses ,king ,olaf thus3 ,yes1 ,king ,olaf1 it is all beautiful1 with the sun shining on it there2 green1 fruitful1 a right fair home for you2 and many a sore day had ,thor1 many a wild fight with the rock ,jotuns1 before he could make it so4 ,and now you seem minded to put away ,thor4 ,king ,olaf1 have a care6 said the stranger1 drawing down his brows2--and when they looked again1 he was nowhere to be found4--,this is the last appearance of ,thor on the stage of this world6 ,do we not see well enough how the ,fable might arise1 without unveracity on the part of any one8 ,it is the way most ,gods have come to appear among men3 thus1 if in ,pindar's time ,neptune was seen once at the ,nemean ,games1 what was this ,neptune too but a stranger of noble grave aspect1--fit to be seen6 ,there is something pathetic1 tragic for me in this last voice of ,paganism4 ,thor is vanished1 the whole ,norse world has vanished2 and will not return ever again4 ,in like fashion to that1 pass away the highest things4 ,all things that have been in this world1 all things that are or will be in it1 have to vanish3 we have our sad farewell to give them4 ,that ,norse ,religion1 a rude but earnest1 sternly impressive ,consecration of ,valor 7so we may define it71 sufficed for these old valiant ,northmen4 ,consecration of ,valor is not a bad thing6 ,we will take it for good1 so far as it goes4 ,neither is there no use in knowing something about this old ,paganism of our ,fathers4 ,unconsciously1 and combined with higher things1 it is in us yet1 that old ,faith withal6 ,to know it consciously1 brings us into closer and clearer relation with the ,past1--with our own possessions in the ,past4 ,for the whole ,past1 as ,i keep repeating1 is the possession of the ,present2 the ,past had always something true1 and is a precious possession4 ,in a different time1 in a different place1 it is always some other side of our common ,human ,nature that has been developing itself4 ,the actual ,true is the sum of all these2 not any one of them by itself constitutes what of ,human ,nature is hitherto developed4 ,better to know them all than misknow them4 ,to which of these ,three ,religions do you specially adhere8 inquires ,meister of his ,teacher4 ,to all the ,three6 answers the other3 ,to all the ,three2 for they by their union first constitute the ,true ,religion4 ,,lecture ,,ii4 ,,the ,,hero ,,as ,,prophet4 ,,mahomet3 ,,islam4 ,may #h1 #ahdj4 ,from the first rude times of ,paganism among the ,scandinavians in the ,north1 we advance to a very different epoch of religion1 among a very different people3 ,mahometanism among the ,arabs4 ,a great change2 what a change and progress is indicated here1 in the universal condition and thoughts of men6 ,the ,hero is not now regarded as a ,god among his fellowmen2 but as one ,god-inspired1 as a ,prophet4 ,it is the second phasis of ,hero-worship3 the first or oldest1 we may say1 has passed away without return2 in the history of the world there will not again be any man1 never so great1 whom his fellowmen will take for a god4 ,nay we might rationally ask1 ,did any set of human beings ever really think the man they saw there standing beside them a god1 the maker of this world8 ,perhaps not3 it was usually some man they remembered1 or had seen4 ,but neither can this any more be4 ,the ,great ,man is not recognized henceforth as a god any more4 ,it was a rude gross error1 that of counting the ,great ,man a god4 ,yet let us say that it is at all times difficult to know what he is1 or how to account of him and receive him6 ,the most significant feature in the history of an epoch is the manner it has of welcoming a ,great ,man4 ,ever1 to the true instincts of men1 there is something godlike in him4 ,whether they shall take him to be a god1 to be a prophet1 or what they shall take him to be8 that is ever a grand question2 by their way of answering that1 we shall see1 as through a little window1 into the very heart of these men's spiritual condition4 ,for at bottom the ,great ,man1 as he comes from the hand of ,nature1 is ever the same kind of thing3 ,odin1 ,luther1 ,johnson1 ,burns2 ,i hope to make it appear that these are all originally of one stuff2 that only by the world's reception of them1 and the shapes they assume1 are they so immeasurably diverse4 ,the worship of ,odin astonishes us1--to fall prostrate before the ,great ,man1 into deliquium of love and wonder over him1 and feel in their hearts that he was a denizen of the skies1 a god6 ,this was imperfect enough3 but to welcome1 for example1 a ,burns as we did1 was that what we can call perfect8 ,the most precious gift that ,heaven can give to the ,earth2 a man of genius as we call it2 the ,soul of a ,man actually sent down from the skies with a ,god's-message to us1--this we waste away as an idle artificial firework1 sent to amuse us a little1 and sink it into ashes1 wreck and ineffectuality3 such reception of a ,great ,man ,i do not call very perfect either6 ,looking into the heart of the thing1 one may perhaps call that of ,burns a still uglier phenomenon1 betokening still sadder imperfections in mankind's ways1 than the ,scandinavian method itself6 ,to fall into mere unreasoning deliquium of love and admiration1 was not good2 but such unreasoning1 nay irrational supercilious no-love at all is perhaps still worse6--,it is a thing forever changing1 this of ,hero-worship3 different in each age1 difficult to do well in any age4 ,indeed1 the heart of the whole business of the age1 one may say1 is to do it well4 ,we have chosen ,mahomet not as the most eminent ,prophet2 but as the one we are freest to speak of4 ,he is by no means the truest of ,prophets2 but ,i do esteem him a true one4 ,farther1 as there is no danger of our becoming1 any of us1 ,mahometans1 ,i mean to say all the good of him ,i justly can4 ,it is the way to get at his secret3 let us try to understand what he meant with the world2 what the world meant and means with him1 will then be a more answerable question4 ,our current hypothesis about ,mahomet1 that he was a scheming ,impostor1 a ,falsehood incarnate1 that his religion is a mere mass of quackery and fatuity1 begins really to be now untenable to any one4 ,the lies1 which well-meaning zeal has heaped round this man1 are disgraceful to ourselves only4 ,when ,pococke inquired of ,grotius1 ,where the proof was of that story of the pigeon1 trained to pick peas from ,mahomet's ear1 and pass for an angel dictating to him8 ,grotius answered that there was no proof6 ,it is really time to dismiss all that4 ,the word this man spoke has been the life-guidance now of a hundred and eighty millions of men these twelve hundred years4 ,these hundred and eighty millions were made by ,god as well as we4 ,a greater number of ,god's creatures believe in ,mahomet's word at this hour1 than in any other word whatever4 ,are we to suppose that it was a miserable piece of spiritual legerdemain1 this which so many creatures of the ,almighty have lived by and died by8 ,i1 for my part1 cannot form any such supposition4 ,i will believe most things sooner than that4 ,one would be entirely at a loss what to think of this world at all1 if quackery so grew and were sanctioned here4 ,alas1 such theories are very lamentable4 ,if we would attain to knowledge of anything in ,god's true ,creation1 let us disbelieve them wholly6 ,they are the product of an ,age of ,scepticism3 they indicate the saddest spiritual paralysis1 and mere death-life of the souls of men3 more godless theory1 ,i think1 was never promulgated in this ,earth4 ,a false man found a religion8 ,why1 a false man cannot build a brick house6 ,if he do not know and follow truly the properties of mortar1 burnt clay and what else be works in1 it is no house that he makes1 but a rubbish-heap4 ,it will not stand for twelve centuries1 to lodge a hundred and eighty millions2 it will fall straightway4 ,a man must conform himself to ,nature's laws1 be verily in communion with ,nature and the truth of things1 or ,nature will answer him1 ,no1 not at all6 ,speciosities are specious--ah me6--a ,cagliostro1 many ,cagliostros1 prominent world-leaders1 do prosper by their quackery1 for a day4 ,it is like a forged bank-note2 they get it passed out of their worthless hands3 others1 not they1 have to smart for it4 ,nature bursts up in fire-flames1 ,french ,revolutions and such like1 proclaiming with terrible veracity that forged notes are forged4 ,but of a ,great ,man especially1 of him ,i will venture to assert that it is incredible he should have been other than true4 ,it seems to me the primary foundation of him1 and of all that can lie in him1 this4 ,no ,mirabeau1 ,napoleon1 ,burns1 ,cromwell1 no man adequate to do anything1 but is first of all in right earnest about it2 what ,i call a sincere man4 ,i should say sincerity1 a deep1 great1 genuine sincerity1 is the first characteristic of all men in any way heroic4 ,not the sincerity that calls itself sincere2 ah no1 that is a very poor matter indeed2--a shallow braggart conscious sincerity2 oftenest self-conceit mainly4 ,the ,great ,man's sincerity is of the kind he cannot speak of1 is not conscious of3 nay1 ,i suppose1 he is conscious rather of insincerity2 for what man can walk accurately by the law of truth for one day8 ,no1 the ,great ,man does not boast himself sincere1 far from that2 perhaps does not ask himself if he is so3 ,i would say rather1 his sincerity does not depend on himself2 he cannot help being sincere6 ,the great ,fact of ,existence is great to him4 ,fly as he will1 he cannot get out of the awful presence of this ,reality4 ,his mind is so made2 he is great by that1 first of all4 ,fearful and wonderful1 real as ,life1 real as ,death1 is this ,universe to him4 ,though all men should forget its truth1 and walk in a vain show1 he cannot4 ,at all moments the ,flame-image glares in upon him2 undeniable1 there1 there6--,i wish you to take this as my primary definition of a ,great ,man4 ,a little man may have this1 it is competent to all men that ,god has made3 but a ,great ,man cannot be without it4 ,such a man is what we call an original man2 he comes to us at first-hand4 ,a messenger he1 sent from the ,infinite ,unknown with tidings to us4 ,we may call him ,poet1 ,prophet1 ,god2--in one way or other1 we all feel that the words he utters are as no other man's words4 ,direct from the ,inner ,fact of things2--he lives1 and has to live1 in daily communion with that4 ,hearsays cannot hide it from him2 he is blind1 homeless1 miserable1 following hearsays2 it glares in upon him4 ,really his utterances1 are they not a kind of revelation2--what we must call such for want of some other name8 ,it is from the heart of the world that he comes2 he is portion of the primal reality of things4 ,god has made many revelations3 but this man too1 has not ,god made him1 the latest and newest of all8 ,the inspiration of the ,almighty giveth him understanding3 we must listen before all to him4 ,this ,mahomet1 then1 we will in no wise consider as an ,inanity and ,theatricality1 a poor conscious ambitious schemer2 we cannot conceive him so4 ,the rude message he delivered was a real one withal2 an earnest confused voice from the unknown ,deep4 ,the man's words were not false1 nor his workings here below2 no ,inanity and ,simulacrum2 a fiery mass of ,life cast up from the great bosom of ,nature herself4 ,to kindle the world2 the world's ,maker had ordered it so4 ,neither can the faults1 imperfections1 insincerities even1 of ,mahomet1 if such were never so well proved against him1 shake this primary fact about him4 ,on the whole1 we make too much of faults2 the details of the business hide the real centre of it4 ,faults8 ,the greatest of faults1 ,i should say1 is to be conscious of none4 ,readers of the ,bible above all1 one would think1 might know better4 ,who is called there the man according to ,god's own heart8 ,david1 the ,hebrew ,king1 had fallen into sins enough2 blackest crimes2 there was no want of sins4 ,and thereupon the unbelievers sneer and ask1 ,is this your man according to ,god's heart8 ,the sneer1 ,i must say1 seems to me but a shallow one4 ,what are faults1 what are the outward details of a life2 if the inner secret of it1 the remorse1 temptations1 true1 often-baffled1 never-ended struggle of it1 be forgotten8 ,it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps4 ,of all acts1 is not1 for a man1 repentance the most divine8 ,the deadliest sin1 ,i say1 were that same supercilious consciousness of no sin2--that is death2 the heart so conscious is divorced from sincerity1 humility and fact2 is dead3 it is pure as dead dry sand is pure4 ,david's life and history1 as written for us in those ,psalms of his1 ,i consider to be the truest emblem ever given of a man's moral progress and warfare here below4 ,all earnest souls will ever discern in it the faithful struggle of an earnest human soul towards what is good and best4 ,struggle often baffled1 sore baffled1 down as into entire wreck2 yet a struggle never ended2 ever1 with tears1 repentance1 true unconquerable purpose1 begun anew4 ,poor human nature6 ,is not a man's walking1 in truth1 always that3 a succession of falls8 ,man can do no other4 ,in this wild element of a ,life1 he has to struggle onwards2 now fallen1 deep-abased2 and ever1 with tears1 repentance1 with bleeding heart1 he has to rise again1 struggle again still onwards4 ,that his struggle be a faithful unconquerable one3 that is the question of questions4 ,we will put up with many sad details1 if the soul of it were true4 ,details by themselves will never teach us what it is4 ,i believe we misestimate ,mahomet's faults even as faults3 but the secret of him will never be got by dwelling there4 ,we will leave all this behind us2 and assuring ourselves that he did mean some true thing1 ask candidly what it was or might be4 ,these ,arabs ,mahomet was born among are certainly a notable people4 ,their country itself is notable2 the fit habitation for such a race4 ,savage inaccessible rock-mountains1 great grim deserts1 alternating with beautiful strips of verdure3 wherever water is1 there is greenness1 beauty2 odoriferous balm-shrubs1 date-trees1 frankincense-trees4 ,consider that wide waste horizon of sand1 empty1 silent1 like a sand-sea1 dividing habitable place from habitable4 ,you are all alone there1 left alone with the ,universe2 by day a fierce sun blazing down on it with intolerable radiance2 by night the great deep ,heaven with its stars4 ,such a country is fit for a swift-handed1 deep-hearted race of men4 ,there is something most agile1 active1 and yet most meditative1 enthusiastic in the ,arab character4 ,the ,persians are called the ,french of the ,east2 we will call the ,arabs ,oriental ,italians4 ,a gifted noble people2 a people of wild strong feelings1 and of iron restraint over these3 the characteristic of noble-mindedness1 of genius4 ,the wild ,bedouin welcomes the stranger to his tent1 as one having right to all that is there2 were it his worst enemy1 he will slay his foal to treat him1 will serve him with sacred hospitality for three days1 will set him fairly on his way2--and then1 by another law as sacred1 kill him if he can4 ,in words too as in action4 ,they are not a loquacious people1 taciturn rather2 but eloquent1 gifted when they do speak4 ,an earnest1 truthful kind of men4 ,they are1 as we know1 of ,jewish kindred3 but with that deadly terrible earnestness of the ,jews they seem to combine something graceful1 brilliant1 which is not ,jewish4 ,they had ,poetic contests among them before the time of ,mahomet4 ,sale says1 at ,ocadh1 in the ,south of ,arabia1 there were yearly fairs1 and there1 when the merchandising was done1 ,poets sang for prizes3--the wild people gathered to hear that4 ,one ,jewish quality these ,arabs manifest2 the outcome of many or of all high qualities3 what we may call religiosity4 ,from of old they had been zealous worshippers1 according to their light4 ,they worshipped the stars1 as ,sabeans2 worshipped many natural objects1--recognized them as symbols1 immediate manifestations1 of the ,maker of ,nature4 ,it was wrong2 and yet not wholly wrong4 ,all ,god's works are still in a sense symbols of ,god4 ,do we not1 as ,i urged1 still account it a merit to recognize a certain inexhaustible significance1 poetic beauty as we name it1 in all natural objects whatsoever8 ,a man is a poet1 and honored1 for doing that1 and speaking or singing it1--a kind of diluted worship4 ,they had many ,prophets1 these ,arabs2 ,teachers each to his tribe1 each according to the light he had4 ,but indeed1 have we not from of old the noblest of proofs1 still palpable to every one of us1 of what devoutness and noble-mindedness had dwelt in these rustic thoughtful peoples8 ,biblical critics seem agreed that our own ,book of ,job was written in that region of the world4 ,i call that1 apart from all theories about it1 one of the grandest things ever written with pen4 ,one feels1 indeed1 as if it were not ,hebrew2 such a noble universality1 different from noble patriotism or sectarianism1 reigns in it4 ,a noble ,book2 all men's ,book6 ,it is our first1 oldest statement of the never-ending ,problem1--man's destiny1 and ,god's ways with him here in this earth4 ,and all in such free flowing outlines2 grand in its sincerity1 in its simplicity2 in its epic melody1 and repose of reconcilement4 ,there is the seeing eye1 the mildly understanding heart4 ,so true every way2 true eyesight and vision for all things2 material things no less than spiritual3 the ,horse1--hast thou clothed his neck with thunder8--he laughs at the shaking of the spear6 ,such living likenesses were never since drawn4 ,sublime sorrow1 sublime reconciliation2 oldest choral melody as of the heart of mankind2--so soft1 and great2 as the summer midnight1 as the world with its seas and stars6 ,there is nothing written1 ,i think1 in the ,bible or out of it1 of equal literary merit4-- ,to the idolatrous ,arabs one of the most ancient universal objects of worship was that ,black ,stone1 still kept in the building called ,caabah1 at ,mecca4 ,diodorus ,siculus mentions this ,caabah in a way not to be mistaken1 as the oldest1 most honored temple in his time2 that is1 some half-century before our ,era4 ,silvestre de ,sacy says there is some likelihood that the ,black ,stone is an aerolite4 ,in that case1 some man might see it fall out of ,heaven6 ,it stands now beside the ,well ,zemzem2 the ,caabah is built over both4 ,a ,well is in all places a beautiful affecting object1 gushing out like life from the hard earth2--still more so in those hot dry countries1 where it is the first condition of being4 ,the ,well ,zemzem has its name from the bubbling sound of the waters1 zem-zem2 they think it is the ,well which ,hagar found with her little ,ishmael in the wilderness3 the aerolite and it have been sacred now1 and had a ,caabah over them1 for thousands of years4 ,a curious object1 that ,caabah6 ,there it stands at this hour1 in the black cloth-covering the ,sultan sends it yearly2 twenty-seven cubits high2 with circuit1 with double circuit of pillars1 with festoon-rows of lamps and quaint ornaments3 the lamps will be lighted again this night1--to glitter again under the stars4 ,an authentic fragment of the oldest ,past4 ,it is the ,keblah of all ,moslem3 from ,delhi all onwards to ,morocco1 the eyes of innumerable praying men are turned towards it1 five times1 this day and all days3 one of the notablest centres in the ,habitation of ,men4 ,it had been from the sacredness attached to this ,caabah ,stone and ,hagar's ,well1 from the pilgrimings of all tribes of ,arabs thither1 that ,mecca took its rise as a ,town4 ,a great town once1 though much decayed now4 ,it has no natural advantage for a town2 stands in a sandy hollow amid bare barren hills1 at a distance from the sea2 its provisions1 its very bread1 have to be imported4 ,but so many pilgrims needed lodgings3 and then all places of pilgrimage do1 from the first1 become places of trade4 ,the first day pilgrims meet1 merchants have also met3 where men see themselves assembled for one object1 they find that they can accomplish other objects which depend on meeting together4 ,mecca became the ,fair of all ,arabia4 ,and thereby indeed the chief staple and warehouse of whatever ,commerce there was between the ,indian and the ,western countries1 ,syria1 ,egypt1 even ,italy4 ,it had at one time a population of #ajj1jjj2 buyers1 forwarders of those ,eastern and ,western products2 importers for their own behoof of provisions and corn4 ,the government was a kind of irregular aristocratic republic1 not without a touch of theocracy4 ,ten ,men of a chief tribe1 chosen in some rough way1 were ,governors of ,mecca1 and ,keepers of the ,caabah4 ,the ,koreish were the chief tribe in ,mahomet's time2 his own family was of that tribe4 ,the rest of the ,nation1 fractioned and cut asunder by deserts1 lived under similar rude patriarchal governments by one or several3 herdsmen1 carriers1 traders1 generally robbers too2 being oftenest at war one with another1 or with all3 held together by no open bond1 if it were not this meeting at the ,caabah1 where all forms of ,arab ,idolatry assembled in common adoration2--held mainly by the inward indissoluble bond of a common blood and language4 ,in this way had the ,arabs lived for long ages1 unnoticed by the world2 a people of great qualities1 unconsciously waiting for the day when they should become notable to all the world4 ,their ,idolatries appear to have been in a tottering state2 much was getting into confusion and fermentation among them4 ,obscure tidings of the most important ,event ever transacted in this world1 the ,life and ,death of the ,divine ,man in ,judea1 at once the symptom and cause of immeasurable change to all people in the world1 had in the course of centuries reached into ,arabia too2 and could not but1 of itself1 have produced fermentation there4 ,it was among this ,arab people1 so circumstanced1 in the year #egj of our ,era1 that the man ,mahomet was born4 ,he was of the family of ,hashem1 of the ,koreish tribe as we said2 though poor1 connected with the chief persons of his country4 ,almost at his birth he lost his ,father2 at the age of six years his ,mother too1 a woman noted for her beauty1 her worth and sense3 he fell to the charge of his ,grandfather1 an old man1 a hundred years old4 ,a good old man3 ,mahomet's ,father1 ,abdallah1 had been his youngest favorite son4 ,he saw in ,mahomet1 with his old life-worn eyes1 a century old1 the lost ,abdallah come back again1 all that was left of ,abdallah4 ,he loved the little orphan ,boy greatly2 used to say1 ,they must take care of that beautiful little ,boy1 nothing in their kindred was more precious than he4 ,at his death1 while the boy was still but two years old1 he left him in charge to ,abu ,thaleb the eldest of the ,uncles1 as to him that now was head of the house4 ,by this ,uncle1 a just and rational man as everything betokens1 ,mahomet was brought up in the best ,arab way4 ,mahomet1 as he grew up1 accompanied his ,uncle on trading journeys and such like2 in his eighteenth year one finds him a fighter following his ,uncle in war4 ,but perhaps the most significant of all his journeys is one we find noted as of some years' earlier date3 a journey to the ,fairs of ,syria4 ,the young man here first came in contact with a quite foreign world1--with one foreign element of endless moment to him3 the ,christian ,religion4 ,i know not what to make of that ,sergius1 the ,nestorian ,monk1 whom ,abu ,thaleb and he are said to have lodged with2 or how much any monk could have taught one still so young4 ,probably enough it is greatly exaggerated1 this of the ,nestorian ,monk4 ,mahomet was only fourteen2 had no language but his own3 much in ,syria must have been a strange unintelligible whirlpool to him4 ,but the eyes of the lad were open2 glimpses of many things would doubtless be taken in1 and lie very enigmatic as yet1 which were to ripen in a strange way into views1 into beliefs and insights one day4 ,these journeys to ,syria were probably the beginning of much to ,mahomet4 ,one other circumstance we must not forget3 that he had no school-learning2 of the thing we call school-learning none at all4 ,the art of writing was but just introduced into ,arabia2 it seems to be the true opinion that ,mahomet never could write6 ,life in the ,desert1 with its experiences1 was all his education4 ,what of this infinite ,universe he1 from his dim place1 with his own eyes and thoughts1 could take in1 so much and no more of it was he to know4 ,curious1 if we will reflect on it1 this of having no books4 ,except by what he could see for himself1 or hear of by uncertain rumor of speech in the obscure ,arabian ,desert1 he could know nothing4 ,the wisdom that had been before him or at a distance from him in the world1 was in a manner as good as not there for him4 ,of the great brother souls1 flame-beacons through so many lands and times1 no one directly communicates with this great soul4 ,he is alone there1 deep down in the bosom of the ,wilderness2 has to grow up so1--alone with ,nature and his own ,thoughts4 ,but1 from an early age1 he had been remarked as a thoughtful man4 ,his companions named him ,al ,amin1 ,the ,faithful4 ,a man of truth and fidelity2 true in what he did1 in what he spake and thought4 ,they noted that he always meant something4 ,a man rather taciturn in speech2 silent when there was nothing to be said2 but pertinent1 wise1 sincere1 when he did speak2 always throwing light on the matter4 ,this is the only sort of speech worth speaking6 ,through life we find him to have been regarded as an altogether solid1 brotherly1 genuine man4 ,a serious1 sincere character2 yet amiable1 cordial1 companionable1 jocose even2--a good laugh in him withal3 there are men whose laugh is as untrue as anything about them2 who cannot laugh4 ,one hears of ,mahomet's beauty3 his fine sagacious honest face1 brown florid complexion1 beaming black eyes2--,i somehow like too that vein on the brow1 which swelled up black when he was in anger3 like the horseshoe vein in ,scott's ,redgauntlet4 ,it was a kind of feature in the ,hashem family1 this black swelling vein in the brow2 ,mahomet had it prominent1 as would appear4 ,a spontaneous1 passionate1 yet just1 true-meaning man6 ,full of wild faculty1 fire and light2 of wild worth1 all uncultured2 working out his life-task in the depths of the ,desert there4 ,how he was placed with ,kadijah1 a rich ,widow1 as her ,steward1 and travelled in her business1 again to the ,fairs of ,syria2 how he managed all1 as one can well understand1 with fidelity1 adroitness2 how her gratitude1 her regard for him grew3 the story of their marriage is altogether a graceful intelligible one1 as told us by the ,arab authors4 ,he was twenty-five2 she forty1 though still beautiful4 ,he seems to have lived in a most affectionate1 peaceable1 wholesome way with this wedded benefactress2 loving her truly1 and her alone4 ,it goes greatly against the impostor theory1 the fact that he lived in this entirely unexceptionable1 entirely quiet and commonplace way1 till the heat of his years was done4 ,he was forty before he talked of any mission from ,heaven4 ,all his irregularities1 real and supposed1 date from after his fiftieth year1 when the good ,kadijah died4 ,all his ambition1 seemingly1 had been1 hitherto1 to live an honest life2 his fame1 the mere good opinion of neighbors that knew him1 had been sufficient hitherto4 ,not till he was already getting old1 the prurient heat of his life all burnt out1 and peace growing to be the chief thing this world could give him1 did he start on the career of ambition2 and1 belying all his past character and existence1 set up as a wretched empty charlatan to acquire what he could now no longer enjoy6 ,for my share1 ,i have no faith whatever in that4 ,ah no3 this deep-hearted ,son of the ,wilderness1 with his beaming black eyes and open social deep soul1 had other thoughts in him than ambition4 ,a silent great soul2 he was one of those who cannot but be in earnest2 whom ,nature herself has appointed to be sincere4 ,while others walk in formulas and hearsays1 contented enough to dwell there1 this man could not screen himself in formulas2 he was alone with his own soul and the reality of things4 ,the great ,mystery of ,existence1 as ,i said1 glared in upon him1 with its terrors1 with its splendors2 no hearsays could hide that unspeakable fact1 ,here am ,i6 ,such sincerity1 as we named it1 has in very truth something of divine4 ,the word of such a man is a ,voice direct from ,nature's own ,heart4 ,men do and must listen to that as to nothing else2--all else is wind in comparison4 ,from of old1 a thousand thoughts1 in his pilgrimings and wanderings1 had been in this man3 ,what am ,i8 ,what is this unfathomable ,thing ,i live in1 which men name ,universe8 ,what is ,life2 what is ,death8 ,what am ,i to believe8 ,what am ,i to do8 ,the grim rocks of ,mount ,hara1 of ,mount ,sinai1 the stern sandy solitudes answered not4 ,the great ,heaven rolling silent overhead1 with its blue-glancing stars1 answered not4 ,there was no answer4 ,the man's own soul1 and what of ,god's inspiration dwelt there1 had to answer6 ,it is the thing which all men have to ask themselves2 which we too have to ask1 and answer4 ,this wild man felt it to be of infinite moment2 all other things of no moment whatever in comparison4 ,the jargon of argumentative ,greek ,sects1 vague traditions of ,jews1 the stupid routine of ,arab ,idolatry3 there was no answer in these4 ,a ,hero1 as ,i repeat1 has this first distinction1 which indeed we may call first and last1 the ,alpha and ,omega of his whole ,heroism1 ,that he looks through the shows of things into things4 ,use and wont1 respectable hearsay1 respectable formula3 all these are good1 or are not good4 ,there is something behind and beyond all these1 which all these must correspond with1 be the image of1 or they are--,idolatries2 bits of black wood pretending to be ,god2 to the earnest soul a mockery and abomination4 ,idolatries never so gilded1 waited on by heads of the ,koreish1 will do nothing for this man4 ,though all men walk by them1 what good is it8 ,the great ,reality stands glaring there upon him4 ,he there has to answer it1 or perish miserably4 ,now1 even now1 or else through all ,eternity never6 ,answer it2 thou must find an answer4--,ambition8 ,what could all ,arabia do for this man2 with the crown of ,greek ,heraclius1 of ,persian ,chosroes1 and all crowns in the ,earth2--what could they all do for him8 ,it was not of the ,earth he wanted to hear tell2 it was of the ,heaven above and of the ,hell beneath4 ,all crowns and sovereignties whatsoever1 where would they in a few brief years be8 ,to be ,sheik of ,mecca or ,arabia1 and have a bit of gilt wood put into your hand1--will that be one's salvation8 ,i decidedly think1 not4 ,we will leave it altogether1 this impostor hypothesis1 as not credible2 not very tolerable even1 worthy chiefly of dismissal by us4 ,mahomet had been wont to retire yearly1 during the month ,ramadhan1 into solitude and silence2 as indeed was the ,arab custom2 a praiseworthy custom1 which such a man1 above all1 would find natural and useful4 ,communing with his own heart1 in the silence of the mountains2 himself silent2 open to the small still voices3 it was a right natural custom6 ,mahomet was in his fortieth year1 when having withdrawn to a cavern in ,mount ,hara1 near ,mecca1 during this ,ramadhan1 to pass the month in prayer1 and meditation on those great questions1 he one day told his wife ,kadijah1 who with his household was with him or near him this year1 ,that by the unspeakable special favor of ,heaven he had now found it all out2 was in doubt and darkness no longer1 but saw it all4 ,that all these ,idols and ,formulas were nothing1 miserable bits of wood2 that there was ,one ,god in and over all2 and we must leave all ,idols1 and look to ,him4 ,that ,god is great2 and that there is nothing else great6 ,he is the ,reality4 ,wooden ,idols are not real2 ,he is real4 ,he made us at first1 sustains us yet2 we and all things are but the shadow of ,him2 a transitory garment veiling the ,eternal ,splendor4 ,allah akbar1 ,god is great2--and then also ,islam1 ,that we must submit to ,god4 ,that our whole strength lies in resigned submission to ,him1 whatsoever ,he do to us4 ,for this world1 and for the other6 ,the thing ,he sends to us1 were it death and worse than death1 shall be good1 shall be best2 we resign ourselves to ,god4--,if this be ,islam1 says ,goethe1 do we not all live in ,islam8 ,yes1 all of us that have any moral life2 we all live so4 ,it has ever been held the highest wisdom for a man not merely to submit to ,necessity1--,necessity will make him submit1--but to know and believe well that the stern thing which ,necessity had ordered was the wisest1 the best1 the thing wanted there4 ,to cease his frantic pretension of scanning this great ,god's-,world in his small fraction of a brain2 to know that it had verily1 though deep beyond his soundings1 a ,just ,law1 that the soul of it was ,good2--that his part in it was to conform to the ,law of the ,whole1 and in devout silence follow that2 not questioning it1 obeying it as unquestionable4 ,i say1 this is yet the only true morality known4 ,a man is right and invincible1 virtuous and on the road towards sure conquest1 precisely while he joins himself to the great deep ,law of the ,world1 in spite of all superficial laws1 temporary appearances1 profit-and-loss calculations2 he is victorious while he co-operates with that great central ,law1 not victorious otherwise3--and surely his first chance of co-operating with it1 or getting into the course of it1 is to know with his whole soul that it is2 that it is good1 and alone good6 ,this is the soul of ,islam2 it is properly the soul of ,christianity2--for ,islam is definable as a confused form of ,christianity2 had ,christianity not been1 neither had it been4 ,christianity also commands us1 before all1 to be resigned to ,god4 ,we are to take no counsel with flesh and blood2 give ear to no vain cavils1 vain sorrows and wishes3 to know that we know nothing2 that the worst and cruelest to our eyes is not what it seems2 that we have to receive whatsoever befalls us as sent from ,god above1 and say1 ,it is good and wise1 ,god is great6 ,though ,he slay me1 yet will ,i trust in ,him4 ,islam means in its way ,denial of ,self1 ,annihilation of ,self4 ,this is yet the highest ,wisdom that ,heaven has revealed to our ,earth4 ,such light had come1 as it could1 to illuminate the darkness of this wild ,arab soul4 ,a confused dazzling splendor as of life and ,heaven1 in the great darkness which threatened to be death3 he called it revelation and the angel ,gabriel2--who of us yet can know what to call it8 ,it is the inspiration of the ,almighty that giveth us understanding4 ,to know2 to get into the truth of anything1 is ever a mystic act1--of which the best ,logics can but babble on the surface4 ,is not ,belief the true god-announcing ,miracle8 says ,novalis4--,that ,mahomet's whole soul1 set in flame with this grand ,truth vouchsafed him1 should feel as if it were important and the only important thing1 was very natural4 ,that ,providence had unspeakably honored him by revealing it1 saving him from death and darkness2 that he therefore was bound to make known the same to all creatures3 this is what was meant by ,mahomet is the ,prophet of ,god2 this too is not without its true meaning4-- ,the good ,kadijah1 we can fancy1 listened to him with wonder1 with doubt3 at length she answered3 ,yes1 it was true this that he said4 ,one can fancy too the boundless gratitude of ,mahomet2 and how of all the kindnesses she had done him1 this of believing the earnest struggling word he now spoke was the greatest4 ,it is certain1 says ,novalis1 my ,conviction gains infinitely1 the moment another soul will believe in it4 ,it is a boundless favor4--,he never forgot this good ,kadijah4 ,long afterwards1 ,ayesha his young favorite wife1 a woman who indeed distinguished herself among the ,moslem1 by all manner of qualities1 through her whole long life2 this young brilliant ,ayesha was1 one day1 questioning him3 ,now am not ,i better than ,kadijah8 ,she was a widow2 old1 and had lost her looks3 you love me better than you did her8--,no1 by ,allah6 answered ,mahomet3 ,no1 by ,allah6 ,she believed in me when none else would believe4 ,in the whole world ,i had but one friend1 and she was that6--,seid1 his ,slave1 also believed in him2 these with his young ,cousin ,ali1 ,abu ,thaleb's son1 were his first converts4 ,he spoke of his ,doctrine to this man and that2 but the most treated it with ridicule1 with indifference2 in three years1 ,i think1 he had gained but thirteen followers4 ,his progress was slow enough4 ,his encouragement to go on1 was altogether the usual encouragement that such a man in such a case meets4 ,after some three years of small success1 he invited forty of his chief kindred to an entertainment2 and there stood up and told them what his pretension was3 that he had this thing to promulgate abroad to all men2 that it was the highest thing1 the one thing3 which of them would second him in that8 ,amid the doubt and silence of all1 young ,ali1 as yet a lad of sixteen1 impatient of the silence1 started up1 and exclaimed in passionate fierce language1 ,that he would6 ,the assembly1 among whom was ,abu ,thaleb1 ,ali's ,father1 could not be unfriendly to ,mahomet2 yet the sight there1 of one unlettered elderly man1 with a lad of sixteen1 deciding on such an enterprise against all mankind1 appeared ridiculous to them2 the assembly broke up in laughter4 ,nevertheless it proved not a laughable thing2 it was a very serious thing6 ,as for this young ,ali1 one cannot but like him4 ,a noble-minded creature1 as he shows himself1 now and always afterwards2 full of affection1 of fiery daring4 ,something chivalrous in him2 brave as a lion2 yet with a grace1 a truth and affection worthy of ,christian knighthood4 ,he died by assassination in the ,mosque at ,bagdad2 a death occasioned by his own generous fairness1 confidence in the fairness of others3 he said1 ,if the wound proved not unto death1 they must pardon the ,assassin2 but if it did1 then they must slay him straightway1 that so they two in the same hour might appear before ,god1 and see which side of that quarrel was the just one6 ,mahomet naturally gave offence to the ,koreish1 ,keepers of the ,caabah1 superintendents of the ,idols4 ,one or two men of influence had joined him3 the thing spread slowly1 but it was spreading4 ,naturally he gave offence to everybody3 ,who is this that pretends to be wiser than we all2 that rebukes us all1 as mere fools and worshippers of wood6 ,abu ,thaleb the good ,uncle spoke with him3 ,could he not be silent about all that2 believe it all for himself1 and not trouble others1 anger the chief men1 endanger himself and them all1 talking of it8 ,mahomet answered3 ,if the ,sun stood on his right hand and the ,moon on his left1 ordering him to hold his peace1 he could not obey6 ,no3 there was something in this ,truth he had got which was of ,nature herself2 equal in rank to ,sun1 or ,moon1 or whatsoever thing ,nature had made4 ,it would speak itself there1 so long as the ,almighty allowed it1 in spite of ,sun and ,moon1 and all ,koreish and all men and things4 ,it must do that1 and could do no other4 ,mahomet answered so2 and1 they say1 burst into tears4 ,burst into tears3 he felt that ,abu ,thaleb was good to him2 that the task he had got was no soft1 but a stern and great one4 ,he went on speaking to who would listen to him2 publishing his ,doctrine among the pilgrims as they came to ,mecca2 gaining adherents in this place and that4 ,continual contradiction1 hatred1 open or secret danger attended him4 ,his powerful relations protected ,mahomet himself2 but by and by1 on his own advice1 all his adherents had to quit ,mecca1 and seek refuge in ,abyssinia over the sea4 ,the ,koreish grew ever angrier2 laid plots1 and swore oaths among them1 to put ,mahomet to death with their own hands4 ,abu ,thaleb was dead1 the good ,kadijah was dead4 ,mahomet is not solicitous of sympathy from us2 but his outlook at this time was one of the dismalest4 ,he had to hide in caverns1 escape in disguise2 fly hither and thither2 homeless1 in continual peril of his life4 ,more than once it seemed all over with him2 more than once it turned on a straw1 some rider's horse taking fright or the like1 whether ,mahomet and his ,doctrine had not ended there1 and not been heard of at all4 ,but it was not to end so4 ,in the thirteenth year of his mission1 finding his enemies all banded against him1 forty sworn men1 one out of every tribe1 waiting to take his life1 and no continuance possible at ,mecca for him any longer1 ,mahomet fled to the place then called ,yathreb1 where he had gained some adherents2 the place they now call ,medina1 or ,medinat al ,nabi1 the ,city of the ,prophet1 from that circumstance4 ,it lay some two hundred miles off1 through rocks and deserts2 not without great difficulty1 in such mood as we may fancy1 he escaped thither1 and found welcome4 ,the whole ,east dates its era from this ,flight1 hegira as they name it3 the ,year #a of this ,hegira is #fbb of our ,era1 the fifty-third of ,mahomet's life4 ,he was now becoming an old man2 his friends sinking round him one by one2 his path desolate1 encompassed with danger3 unless he could find hope in his own heart1 the outward face of things was but hopeless for him4 ,it is so with all men in the like case4 ,hitherto ,mahomet had professed to publish his ,religion by the way of preaching and persuasion alone4 ,but now1 driven foully out of his native country1 since unjust men had not only given no ear to his earnest ,heaven's-message1 the deep cry of his heart1 but would not even let him live if he kept speaking it1--the wild ,son of the ,desert resolved to defend himself1 like a man and ,arab4 ,if the ,koreish will have it so1 they shall have it4 ,tidings1 felt to be of infinite moment to them and all men1 they would not listen to these2 would trample them down by sheer violence1 steel and murder3 well1 let steel try it then6 ,ten years more this ,mahomet had2 all of fighting of breathless impetuous toil and struggle2 with what result we know4 ,much has been said of ,mahomet's propagating his ,religion by the sword4 ,it is no doubt far nobler what we have to boast of the ,christian ,religion1 that it propagated itself peaceably in the way of preaching and conviction4 ,yet withal1 if we take this for an argument of the truth or falsehood of a religion1 there is a radical mistake in it4 ,the sword indeed3 but where will you get your sword6 ,every new opinion1 at its starting1 is precisely in a minority of one4 ,in one man's head alone1 there it dwells as yet4 ,one man alone of the whole world believes it2 there is one man against all men4 ,that he take a sword1 and try to propagate with that1 will do little for him4 ,you must first get your sword6 ,on the whole1 a thing will propagate itself as it can4 ,we do not find1 of the ,christian ,religion either1 that it always disdained the sword1 when once it had got one4 ,charlemagne's conversion of the ,saxons was not by preaching4 ,i care little about the sword3 ,i will allow a thing to struggle for itself in this world1 with any sword or tongue or implement it has1 or can lay hold of4 ,we will let it preach1 and pamphleteer1 and fight1 and to the uttermost bestir itself1 and do1 beak and claws1 whatsoever is in it2 very sure that it will1 in the long-run1 conquer nothing which does not deserve to be conquered4 ,what is better than itself1 it cannot put away1 but only what is worse4 ,in this great ,duel1 ,nature herself is umpire1 and can do no wrong3 the thing which is deepest-rooted in ,nature1 what we call truest1 that thing and not the other will be found growing at last4 ,here however1 in reference to much that there is in ,mahomet and his success1 we are to remember what an umpire ,nature is2 what a greatness1 composure of depth and tolerance there is in her4 ,you take wheat to cast into the ,earth's bosom2 your wheat may be mixed with chaff1 chopped straw1 barn-sweepings1 dust and all imaginable rubbish2 no matter3 you cast it into the kind just ,earth2 she grows the wheat1--the whole rubbish she silently absorbs1 shrouds it in1 says nothing of the rubbish4 ,the yellow wheat is growing there2 the good ,earth is silent about all the rest1--has silently turned all the rest to some benefit too1 and makes no complaint about it6 ,so everywhere in ,nature6 ,she is true and not a lie2 and yet so great1 and just1 and motherly in her truth4 ,she requires of a thing only that it be genuine of heart2 she will protect it if so2 will not1 if not so4 ,there is a soul of truth in all the things she ever gave harbor to4 ,alas1 is not this the history of all highest ,truth that comes or ever came into the world8 ,the body of them all is imperfection1 an element of light in darkness3 to us they have to come embodied in mere ,logic1 in some merely scientific ,theorem of the ,universe2 which cannot be complete2 which cannot but be found1 one day1 incomplete1 erroneous1 and so die and disappear4 ,the body of all ,truth dies2 and yet in all1 ,i say1 there is a soul which never dies2 which in new and ever-nobler embodiment lives immortal as man himself6 ,it is the way with ,nature4 ,the genuine essence of ,truth never dies4 ,that it be genuine1 a voice from the great ,deep of ,nature1 there is the point at ,nature's judgment-seat4 ,what we call pure or impure1 is not with her the final question4 ,not how much chaff is in you2 but whether you have any wheat4 ,pure8 ,i might say to many a man3 ,yes1 you are pure2 pure enough2 but you are chaff1--insincere hypothesis1 hearsay1 formality2 you never were in contact with the great heart of the ,universe at all2 you are properly neither pure nor impure2 you are nothing1 ,nature has no business with you4 ,mahomet's ,creed we called a kind of ,christianity2 and really1 if we look at the wild rapt earnestness with which it was believed and laid to heart1 ,i should say a better kind than that of those miserable ,syrian ,sects1 with their vain janglings about ,homoiousion and ,homoousion1 the head full of worthless noise1 the heart empty and dead6 ,the truth of it is embedded in portentous error and falsehood2 but the truth of it makes it be believed1 not the falsehood3 it succeeded by its truth4 ,a bastard kind of ,christianity1 but a living kind2 with a heart-life in it2 not dead1 chopping barren logic merely6 ,out of all that rubbish of ,arab idolatries1 argumentative theologies1 traditions1 subtleties1 rumors and hypotheses of ,greeks and ,jews1 with their idle wire-drawings1 this wild man of the ,desert1 with his wild sincere heart1 earnest as death and life1 with his great flashing natural eyesight1 had seen into the kernel of the matter4 ,idolatry is nothing3 these ,wooden ,idols of yours1 ye rub them with oil and wax1 and the flies stick on them1--these are wood1 ,i tell you6 ,they can do nothing for you2 they are an impotent blasphemous presence2 a horror and abomination1 if ye knew them4 ,god alone is2 ,god alone has power2 ,he made us1 ,he can kill us and keep us alive3 ,allah akbar1 ,god is great4 ,understand that ,his will is the best for you2 that howsoever sore to flesh and blood1 you will find it the wisest1 best3 you are bound to take it so2 in this world and in the next1 you have no other thing that you can do6 ,and now if the wild idolatrous men did believe this1 and with their fiery hearts lay hold of it to do it1 in what form soever it came to them1 ,i say it was well worthy of being believed4 ,in one form or the other1 ,i say it is still the one thing worthy of being believed by all men4 ,man does hereby become the high-priest of this ,temple of a ,world4 ,he is in harmony with the ,decrees of the ,author of this ,world2 cooperating with them1 not vainly withstanding them3 ,i know1 to this day1 no better definition of ,duty than that same4 ,all that is right includes itself in this of co-operating with the real ,tendency of the ,world3 you succeed by this 7the ,world's ,tendency will succeed71 you are good1 and in the right course there4 ,homoiousion1 ,homoousion1 vain logical jangle1 then or before or at any time1 may jangle itself out1 and go whither and how it likes3 this is the thing it all struggles to mean1 if it would mean anything4 ,if it do not succeed in meaning this1 it means nothing4 ,not that ,abstractions1 logical ,propositions1 be correctly worded or incorrectly2 but that living concrete ,sons of ,adam do lay this to heart3 that is the important point4 ,islam devoured all these vain jangling ,sects2 and ,i think had right to do so4 ,it was a ,reality1 direct from the great ,heart of ,nature once more4 ,arab idolatries1 ,syrian formulas1 whatsoever was not equally real1 had to go up in flame1--mere dead fuel1 in various senses1 for this which was fire4 ,it was during these wild warfarings and strugglings1 especially after the ,flight to ,mecca1 that ,mahomet dictated at intervals his ,sacred ,book1 which they name ,koran1 or ,reading1 ,thing to be read4 ,this is the ,work he and his disciples made so much of1 asking all the world1 ,is not that a miracle8 ,the ,mahometans regard their ,koran with a reverence which few ,christians pay even to their ,bible4 ,it is admitted every where as the standard of all law and all practice2 the thing to be gone upon in speculation and life2 the message sent direct out of ,heaven1 which this ,earth has to conform to1 and walk by2 the thing to be read4 ,their ,judges decide by it2 all ,moslem are bound to study it1 seek in it for the light of their life4 ,they have mosques where it is all read daily2 thirty relays of priests take it up in succession1 get through the whole each day4 ,there1 for twelve hundred years1 has the voice of this ,book1 at all moments1 kept sounding through the ears and the hearts of so many men4 ,we hear of ,mahometan ,doctors that had read it seventy thousand times6 ,very curious3 if one sought for discrepancies of national taste1 here surely were the most eminent instance of that6 ,we also can read the ,koran2 our ,translation of it1 by ,sale1 is known to be a very fair one4 ,i must say1 it is as toilsome reading as ,i ever undertook4 ,a wearisome confused jumble1 crude1 incondite2 endless iterations1 long-windedness1 entanglement2 most crude1 incondite2--insupportable stupidity1 in short6 ,nothing but a sense of duty could carry any ,european through the ,koran4 ,we read in it1 as we might in the ,state-,paper ,office1 unreadable masses of lumber1 that perhaps we may get some glimpses of a remarkable man4 ,it is true we have it under disadvantages3 the ,arabs see more method in it than we4 ,mahomet's followers found the ,koran lying all in fractions1 as it had been written down at first promulgation2 much of it1 they say1 on shoulder-blades of mutton1 flung pell-mell into a chest3 and they published it1 without any discoverable order as to time or otherwise2--merely trying1 as would seem1 and this not very strictly1 to put the longest chapters first4 ,the real beginning of it1 in that way1 lies almost at the end3 for the earliest portions were the shortest4 ,read in its historical sequence it perhaps would not be so bad4 ,much of it1 too1 they say1 is rhythmic2 a kind of wild chanting song1 in the original4 ,this may be a great point2 much perhaps has been lost in the ,translation here4 ,yet with every allowance1 one feels it difficult to see how any mortal ever could consider this ,koran as a ,book written in ,heaven1 too good for the ,earth2 as a well-written book1 or indeed as a book at all2 and not a bewildered rhapsody2 written1 so far as writing goes1 as badly as almost any book ever was6 ,so much for national discrepancies1 and the standard of taste4 ,yet ,i should say1 it was not unintelligible how the ,arabs might so love it4 ,when once you get this confused coil of a ,koran fairly off your hands1 and have it behind you at a distance1 the essential type of it begins to disclose itself2 and in this there is a merit quite other than the literary one4 ,if a book come from the heart1 it will contrive to reach other hearts2 all art and author-craft are of small amount to that4 ,one would say the primary character of the ,koran is this of its genuineness1 of its being a bona-fide book4 ,prideaux1 ,i know1 and others have represented it as a mere bundle of juggleries2 chapter after chapter got up to excuse and varnish the author's successive sins1 forward his ambitions and quackeries3 but really it is time to dismiss all that4 ,i do not assert ,mahomet's continual sincerity3 who is continually sincere8 ,but ,i confess ,i can make nothing of the critic1 in these times1 who would accuse him of deceit prepense2 of conscious deceit generally1 or perhaps at all2--still more1 of living in a mere element of conscious deceit1 and writing this ,koran as a forger and juggler would have done6 ,every candid eye1 ,i think1 will read the ,koran far otherwise than so4 ,it is the confused ferment of a great rude human soul2 rude1 untutored1 that cannot even read2 but fervent1 earnest1 struggling vehemently to utter itself in words4 ,with a kind of breathless intensity he strives to utter himself2 the thoughts crowd on him pell-mell3 for very multitude of things to say1 he can get nothing said4 ,the meaning that is in him shapes itself into no form of composition1 is stated in no sequence1 method1 or coherence2--they are not shaped at all1 these thoughts of his2 flung out unshaped1 as they struggle and tumble there1 in their chaotic inarticulate state4 ,we said stupid3 yet natural stupidity is by no means the character of ,mahomet's ,book2 it is natural uncultivation rather4 ,the man has not studied speaking2 in the haste and pressure of continual fighting1 has not time to mature himself into fit speech4 ,the panting breathless haste and vehemence of a man struggling in the thick of battle for life and salvation2 this is the mood he is in6 ,a headlong haste2 for very magnitude of meaning1 he cannot get himself articulated into words4 ,the successive utterances of a soul in that mood1 colored by the various vicissitudes of three-and-twenty years2 now well uttered1 now worse3 this is the ,koran4 ,for we are to consider ,mahomet1 through these three-and-twenty years1 as the centre of a world wholly in conflict4 ,battles with the ,koreish and ,heathen1 quarrels among his own people1 backslidings of his own wild heart2 all this kept him in a perpetual whirl1 his soul knowing rest no more4 ,in wakeful nights1 as one may fancy1 the wild soul of the man1 tossing amid these vortices1 would hail any light of a decision for them as a veritable light from ,heaven2 any making-up of his mind1 so blessed1 indispensable for him there1 would seem the inspiration of a ,gabriel4 ,forger and juggler8 ,no1 no6 ,this great fiery heart1 seething1 simmering like a great furnace of thoughts1 was not a juggler's4 ,his ,life was a ,fact to him2 this ,god's ,universe an awful ,fact and ,reality4 ,he has faults enough4 ,the man was an uncultured semi-barbarous ,son of ,nature1 much of the ,bedouin still clinging to him3 we must take him for that4 ,but for a wretched ,simulacrum1 a hungry ,impostor without eyes or heart1 practicing for a mess of pottage such blasphemous swindlery1 forgery of celestial documents1 continual high-treason against his ,maker and ,self1 we will not and cannot take him4 ,sincerity1 in all senses1 seems to me the merit of the ,koran2 what had rendered it precious to the wild ,arab men4 ,it is1 after all1 the first and last merit in a book2 gives rise to merits of all kinds1--nay1 at bottom1 it alone can give rise to merit of any kind4 ,curiously1 through these incondite masses of tradition1 vituperation1 complaint1 ejaculation in the ,koran1 a vein of true direct insight1 of what we might almost call poetry1 is found straggling4 ,the body of the ,book is made up of mere tradition1 and as it were vehement enthusiastic extempore preaching4 ,he returns forever to the old stories of the ,prophets as they went current in the ,arab memory3 how ,prophet after ,prophet1 the ,prophet ,abraham1 the ,prophet ,hud1 the ,prophet ,moses1 ,christian and other real and fabulous ,prophets1 had come to this ,tribe and to that1 warning men of their sin2 and been received by them even as he ,mahomet was1--which is a great solace to him4 ,these things he repeats ten1 perhaps twenty times2 again and ever again1 with wearisome iteration2 has never done repeating them4 ,a brave ,samuel ,johnson1 in his forlorn garret1 might con over the ,biographies of ,authors in that way6 ,this is the great staple of the ,koran4 ,but curiously1 through all this1 comes ever and anon some glance as of the real thinker and seer4 ,he has actually an eye for the world1 this ,mahomet3 with a certain directness and rugged vigor1 he brings home still1 to our heart1 the thing his own heart has been opened to4 ,i make but little of his praises of ,allah1 which many praise2 they are borrowed ,i suppose mainly from the ,hebrew1 at least they are far surpassed there4 ,but the eye that flashes direct into the heart of things1 and sees the truth of them2 this is to me a highly interesting object4 ,great ,nature's own gift2 which she bestows on all2 but which only one in the thousand does not cast sorrowfully away3 it is what ,i call sincerity of vision2 the test of a sincere heart4 ,mahomet can work no miracles2 he often answers impatiently3 ,i can work no miracles4 ,i8 ,i am a ,public ,preacher2 appointed to preach this doctrine to all creatures4 ,yet the world1 as we can see1 had really from of old been all one great miracle to him4 ,look over the world1 says he2 is it not wonderful1 the work of ,allah2 wholly a sign to you1 if your eyes were open6 ,this ,earth1 ,god made it for you2 appointed paths in it2 you can live in it1 go to and fro on it4--,the clouds in the dry country of ,arabia1 to ,mahomet they are very wonderful3 ,great clouds1 he says1 born in the deep bosom of the ,upper ,immensity1 where do they come from6 ,they hang there1 the great black monsters2 pour down their rain-deluges to revive a dead earth1 and grass springs1 and tall leafy palm-trees with their date-clusters hanging round4 ,is not that a sign8 ,your cattle too1--,allah made them2 serviceable dumb creatures2 they change the grass into milk2 you have your clothing from them1 very strange creatures2 they come ranking home at evening-time1 and1 adds he1 and are a credit to you6 ,ships also1--he talks often about ships3 ,huge moving mountains1 they spread out their cloth wings1 go bounding through the water there1 ,heaven's wind driving them2 anon they lie motionless1 ,god has withdrawn the wind1 they lie dead1 and cannot stir6 ,miracles8 cries he3 ,what miracle would you have8 ,are not you yourselves there8 ,god made you1 shaped you out of a little clay4 ,ye were small once2 a few years ago ye were not at all4 ,ye have beauty1 strength1 thoughts1 ye have compassion on one another4 ,old age comes on you1 and gray hairs2 your strength fades into feebleness2 ye sink down1 and again are not4 ,ye have compassion on one another3 this struck me much3 ,allah might have made you having no compassion on one another1--how had it been then6 ,this is a great direct thought1 a glance at first-hand into the very fact of things4 ,rude vestiges of poetic genius1 of whatsoever is best and truest1 are visible in this man4 ,a strong untutored intellect2 eyesight1 heart3 a strong wild man1--might have shaped himself into ,poet1 ,king1 ,priest1 any kind of ,hero4 ,to his eyes it is forever clear that this world wholly is miraculous4 ,he sees what1 as we said once before1 all great thinkers1 the rude ,scandinavians themselves1 in one way or other1 have contrived to see3 ,that this so solid-looking material world is1 at bottom1 in very deed1 ,nothing2 is a visual and factual ,manifestation of ,god's power and presence1--a shadow hung out by ,him on the bosom of the void ,infinite2 nothing more4 ,the mountains1 he says1 these great rock-mountains1 they shall dissipate themselves like clouds2 melt into the ,blue as clouds do1 and not be6 ,he figures the ,earth1 in the ,arab fashion1 ,sale tells us1 as an immense ,plain or flat ,plate of ground1 the mountains are set on that to steady it4 ,at the ,last ,day they shall disappear like clouds2 the whole ,earth shall go spinning1 whirl itself off into wreck1 and as dust and vapor vanish in the ,inane4 ,allah withdraws his hand from it1 and it ceases to be4 ,the universal empire of ,allah1 presence everywhere of an unspeakable ,power1 a ,splendor1 and a ,terror not to be named1 as the true force1 essence and reality1 in all things whatsoever1 was continually clear to this man4 ,what a modern talks of by the name1 ,forces of ,nature1 ,laws of ,nature2 and does not figure as a divine thing2 not even as one thing at all1 but as a set of things1 undivine enough1--salable1 curious1 good for propelling steamships6 ,with our ,sciences and ,cyclopaedias1 we are apt to forget the divineness1 in those laboratories of ours4 ,we ought not to forget it6 ,that once well forgotten1 ,i know not what else were worth remembering4 ,most sciences1 ,i think were then a very dead thing2 withered1 contentious1 empty2--a thistle in late autumn4 ,the best science1 without this1 is but as the dead timber2 it is not the growing tree and forest1--which gives ever-new timber1 among other things6 ,man cannot know either1 unless he can worship in some way4 ,his knowledge is a pedantry1 and dead thistle1 otherwise4 ,much has been said and written about the sensuality of ,mahomet's ,religion2 more than was just4 ,the indulgences1 criminal to us1 which he permitted1 were not of his appointment2 he found them practiced1 unquestioned from immemorial time in ,arabia2 what he did was to curtail them1 restrict them1 not on one but on many sides4 ,his ,religion is not an easy one3 with rigorous fasts1 lavations1 strict complex formulas1 prayers five times a day1 and abstinence from wine1 it did not succeed by being an easy religion4 ,as if indeed any religion1 or cause holding of religion1 could succeed by that6 ,it is a calumny on men to say that they are roused to heroic action by ease1 hope of pleasure1 recompense1--sugar-plums of any kind1 in this world or the next6 ,in the meanest mortal there lies something nobler4 ,the poor swearing soldier1 hired to be shot1 has his honor of a soldier1 different from drill-regulations and the shilling a day4 ,it is not to taste sweet things1 but to do noble and true things1 and vindicate himself under ,god's ,heaven as a god-made ,man1 that the poorest son of ,adam dimly longs4 ,show him the way of doing that1 the dullest day-drudge kindles into a hero4 ,they wrong man greatly who say he is to be seduced by ease4 ,difficulty1 abnegation1 martyrdom1 death are the allurements that act on the heart of man4 ,kindle the inner genial life of him1 you have a flame that burns up all lower considerations4 ,not happiness1 but something higher3 one sees this even in the frivolous classes1 with their point of honor and the like4 ,not by flattering our appetites2 no1 by awakening the ,heroic that slumbers in every heart1 can any ,religion gain followers4 ,mahomet himself1 after all that can be said about him1 was not a sensual man4 ,we shall err widely if we consider this man as a common voluptuary1 intent mainly on base enjoyments1--nay on enjoyments of any kind4 ,his household was of the frugalest2 his common diet barley-bread and water3 sometimes for months there was not a fire once lighted on his hearth4 ,they record with just pride that he would mend his own shoes1 patch his own cloak4 ,a poor1 hard-toiling1 ill-provided man2 careless of what vulgar men toil for4 ,not a bad man1 ,i should say2 something better in him than hunger of any sort1--or these wild ,arab men1 fighting and jostling three-and-twenty years at his hand1 in close contact with him always1 would not have reverenced him so6 ,they were wild men1 bursting ever and anon into quarrel1 into all kinds of fierce sincerity2 without right worth and manhood1 no man could have commanded them4 ,they called him ,prophet1 you say8 ,why1 he stood there face to face with them2 bare1 not enshrined in any mystery2 visibly clouting his own cloak1 cobbling his own shoes2 fighting1 counselling1 ordering in the midst of them3 they must have seen what kind of a man he was1 let him be called what you like6 ,no emperor with his tiaras was obeyed as this man in a cloak of his own clouting4 ,during three-and-twenty years of rough actual trial4 ,i find something of a veritable ,hero necessary for that1 of itself4 ,his last words are a prayer2 broken ejaculations of a heart struggling up1 in trembling hope1 towards its ,maker4 ,we cannot say that his religion made him worse2 it made him better2 good1 not bad4 ,generous things are recorded of him3 when he lost his ,daughter1 the thing he answers is1 in his own dialect1 every way sincere1 and yet equivalent to that of ,christians1 ,the ,lord giveth1 and the ,lord taketh away2 blessed be the name of the ,lord4 ,he answered in like manner of ,seid1 his emancipated well-beloved ,slave1 the second of the believers4 ,seid had fallen in the ,war of ,tabuc1 the first of ,mahomet's fightings with the ,greeks4 ,mahomet said1 ,it was well2 ,seid had done his ,master's work1 ,seid had now gone to his ,master3 it was all well with ,seid4 ,yet ,seid's daughter found him weeping over the body2--the old gray-haired man melting in tears6 ,what do ,i see8 said she4--,you see a friend weeping over his friend4--,he went out for the last time into the mosque1 two days before his death2 asked1 ,if he had injured any man8 ,let his own back bear the stripes4 ,if he owed any man8 ,a voice answered1 ,yes1 me three drachms1 borrowed on such an occasion4 ,mahomet ordered them to be paid3 ,better be in shame now1 said he1 than at the ,day of ,judgment4--,you remember ,kadijah1 and the ,no1 by ,allah6 ,traits of that kind show us the genuine man1 the brother of us all1 brought visible through twelve centuries1--the veritable ,son of our common ,mother4 ,withal ,i like ,mahomet for his total freedom from cant4 ,he is a rough self-helping son of the wilderness2 does not pretend to be what he is not4 ,there is no ostentatious pride in him2 but neither does he go much upon humility3 he is there as he can be1 in cloak and shoes of his own clouting2 speaks plainly to all manner of ,persian ,kings1 ,greek ,emperors1 what it is they are bound to do2 knows well enough1 about himself1 the respect due unto thee4 ,in a life-and-death war with ,bedouins1 cruel things could not fail2 but neither are acts of mercy1 of noble natural pity and generosity wanting4 ,mahomet makes no apology for the one1 no boast of the other4 ,they were each the free dictate of his heart2 each called for1 there and then4 ,not a mealy-mouthed man6 ,a candid ferocity1 if the case call for it1 is in him2 he does not mince matters6 ,the ,war of ,tabuc is a thing he often speaks of3 his men refused1 many of them1 to march on that occasion2 pleaded the heat of the weather1 the harvest1 and so forth2 he can never forget that4 ,your harvest8 ,it lasts for a day4 ,what will become of your harvest through all ,eternity8 ,hot weather8 ,yes1 it was hot2 but ,hell will be hotter6 ,sometimes a rough sarcasm turns up3 ,he says to the unbelievers1 ,ye shall have the just measure of your deeds at that ,great ,day4 ,they will be weighed out to you2 ye shall not have short weight6--,everywhere he fixes the matter in his eye2 he sees it3 his heart1 now and then1 is as if struck dumb by the greatness of it4 ,assuredly1 he says3 that word1 in the ,koran1 is written down sometimes as a sentence by itself3 ,assuredly4 ,no ,dilettantism in this ,mahomet2 it is a business of ,reprobation and ,salvation with him1 of ,time and ,eternity3 he is in deadly earnest about it6 ,dilettantism1 hypothesis1 speculation1 a kind of amateur-search for ,truth1 toying and coquetting with ,truth3 this is the sorest sin4 ,the root of all other imaginable sins4 ,it consists in the heart and soul of the man never having been open to ,truth2--living in a vain show4 ,such a man not only utters and produces falsehoods1 but is himself a falsehood4 ,the rational moral principle1 spark of the ,divinity1 is sunk deep in him1 in quiet paralysis of life-death4 ,the very falsehoods of ,mahomet are truer than the truths of such a man4 ,he is the insincere man3 smooth-polished1 respectable in some times and places2 inoffensive1 says nothing harsh to anybody2 most cleanly1--just as carbonic acid is1 which is death and poison4 ,we will not praise ,mahomet's moral precepts as always of the superfinest sort2 yet it can be said that there is always a tendency to good in them2 that they are the true dictates of a heart aiming towards what is just and true4 ,the sublime forgiveness of ,christianity1 turning of the other cheek when the one has been smitten1 is not here3 you are to revenge yourself1 but it is to be in measure1 not overmuch1 or beyond justice4 ,on the other hand1 ,islam1 like any great ,faith1 and insight into the essence of man1 is a perfect equalizer of men3 the soul of one believer outweighs all earthly kingships2 all men1 according to ,islam too1 are equal4 ,mahomet insists not on the propriety of giving alms1 but on the necessity of it3 he marks down by law how much you are to give1 and it is at your peril if you neglect4 ,the tenth part of a man's annual income1 whatever that may be1 is the property of the poor1 of those that are afflicted and need help4 ,good all this3 the natural voice of humanity1 of pity and equity dwelling in the heart of this wild ,son of ,nature speaks so4 ,mahomet's ,paradise is sensual1 his ,hell sensual3 true2 in the one and the other there is enough that shocks all spiritual feeling in us4 ,but we are to recollect that the ,arabs already had it so2 that ,mahomet1 in whatever he changed of it1 softened and diminished all this4 ,the worst sensualities1 too1 are the work of doctors1 followers of his1 not his work4 ,in the ,koran there is really very little said about the joys of ,paradise2 they are intimated rather than insisted on4 ,nor is it forgotten that the highest joys even there shall be spiritual2 the pure ,presence of the ,highest1 this shall infinitely transcend all other joys4 ,he says1 ,your salutation shall be1 ,peace4 ,salam1 ,have ,peace6--the thing that all rational souls long for1 and seek1 vainly here below1 as the one blessing4 ,ye shall sit on seats1 facing one another3 all grudges shall be taken away out of your hearts4 ,all grudges6 ,ye shall love one another freely2 for each of you1 in the eyes of his brothers1 there will be ,heaven enough6 ,in reference to this of the sensual ,paradise and ,mahomet's sensuality1 the sorest chapter of all for us1 there were many things to be said2 which it is not convenient to enter upon here4 ,two remarks only ,i shall make1 and therewith leave it to your candor4 ,the first is furnished me by ,goethe2 it is a casual hint of his which seems well worth taking note of4 ,in one of his ,delineations1 in ,meister's ,travels it is1 the hero comes upon a ,society of men with very strange ways1 one of which was this3 ,we require1 says the ,master1 that each of our people shall restrict himself in one direction1 shall go right against his desire in one matter1 and make himself do the thing he does not wish1 should we allow him the greater latitude on all other sides4 ,there seems to me a great justness in this4 ,enjoying things which are pleasant2 that is not the evil3 it is the reducing of our moral self to slavery by them that is4 ,let a man assert withal that he is king over his habitudes2 that he could and would shake them off1 on cause shown3 this is an excellent law4 ,the ,month ,ramadhan for the ,moslem1 much in ,mahomet's ,religion1 much in his own ,life1 bears in that direction2 if not by forethought1 or clear purpose of moral improvement on his part1 then by a certain healthy manful instinct1 which is as good4 ,but there is another thing to be said about the ,mahometan ,heaven and ,hell4 ,this namely1 that1 however gross and material they may be1 they are an emblem of an everlasting truth1 not always so well remembered elsewhere4 ,that gross sensual ,paradise of his2 that horrible flaming ,hell2 the great enormous ,day of ,judgment he perpetually insists on3 what is all this but a rude shadow1 in the rude ,bedouin imagination1 of that grand spiritual ,fact1 and ,beginning of ,facts1 which it is ill for us too if we do not all know and feel3 the ,infinite ,nature of ,duty8 ,that man's actions here are of infinite moment to him1 and never die or end at all2 that man1 with his little life1 reaches upwards high as ,heaven1 downwards low as ,hell1 and in his threescore years of ,time holds an ,eternity fearfully and wonderfully hidden3 all this had burnt itself1 as in flame-characters1 into the wild ,arab soul4 ,as in flame and lightning1 it stands written there2 awful1 unspeakable1 ever present to him4 ,with bursting earnestness1 with a fierce savage sincerity1 half-articulating1 not able to articulate1 he strives to speak it1 bodies it forth in that ,heaven and that ,hell4 ,bodied forth in what way you will1 it is the first of all truths4 ,it is venerable under all embodiments4 ,what is the chief end of man here below8 ,mahomet has answered this question1 in a way that might put some of us to shame6 ,he does not1 like a ,bentham1 a ,paley1 take ,right and ,wrong1 and calculate the profit and loss1 ultimate pleasure of the one and of the other2 and summing all up by addition and subtraction into a net result1 ask you1 ,whether on the whole the ,right does not preponderate considerably8 ,no2 it is not better to do the one than the other2 the one is to the other as life is to death1--as ,heaven is to ,hell4 ,the one must in nowise be done1 the other in nowise left undone4 ,you shall not measure them2 they are incommensurable3 the one is death eternal to a man1 the other is life eternal4 ,benthamee ,utility1 virtue by ,profit and ,loss2 reducing this ,god's-world to a dead brute ,steam-engine1 the infinite celestial ,soul of ,man to a kind of ,hay-balance for weighing hay and thistles on1 pleasures and pains on3--,if you ask me which gives1 ,mahomet or they1 the beggarlier and falser view of ,man and his ,destinies in this ,universe1 ,i will answer1 it is not ,mahomet--6 ,on the whole1 we will repeat that this ,religion of ,mahomet's is a kind of ,christianity2 has a genuine element of what is spiritually highest looking through it1 not to be hidden by all its imperfections4 ,the ,scandinavian ,god ,wish1 the god of all rude men1--this has been enlarged into a ,heaven by ,mahomet2 but a ,heaven symbolical of sacred ,duty1 and to be earned by faith and well-doing1 by valiant action1 and a divine patience which is still more valiant4 ,it is ,scandinavian ,paganism1 and a truly celestial element superadded to that4 ,call it not false2 look not at the falsehood of it1 look at the truth of it4 ,for these twelve centuries1 it has been the religion and life-guidance of the fifth part of the whole kindred of ,mankind4 ,above all things1 it has been a religion heartily believed4 ,these ,arabs believe their religion1 and try to live by it6 ,no ,christians1 since the early ages1 or only perhaps the ,english ,puritans in modern times1 have ever stood by their ,faith as the ,moslem do by theirs1--believing it wholly1 fronting ,time with it1 and ,eternity with it4 ,this night the watchman on the streets of ,cairo when he cries1 ,who goes8 will hear from the passenger1 along with his answer1 ,there is no ,god but ,god4 ,allah akbar1 ,islam1 sounds through the souls1 and whole daily existence1 of these dusky millions4 ,zealous missionaries preach it abroad among ,malays1 black ,papuans1 brutal ,idolaters2--displacing what is worse1 nothing that is better or good4 ,to the ,arab ,nation it was as a birth from darkness into light2 ,arabia first became alive by means of it4 ,a poor shepherd people1 roaming unnoticed in its deserts since the creation of the world3 a ,hero-,prophet was sent down to them with a word they could believe3 see1 the unnoticed becomes world-notable1 the small has grown world-great2 within one century afterwards1 ,arabia is at ,grenada on this hand1 at ,delhi on that2--glancing in valor and splendor and the light of genius1 ,arabia shines through long ages over a great section of the world4 ,belief is great1 life-giving4 ,the history of a ,nation becomes fruitful1 soul-elevating1 great1 so soon as it believes4 ,these ,arabs1 the man ,mahomet1 and that one century1--is it not as if a spark had fallen1 one spark1 on a world of what seemed black unnoticeable sand2 but lo1 the sand proves explosive powder1 blazes heaven-high from ,delhi to ,grenada6 ,i said1 the ,great ,man was always as lightning out of ,heaven2 the rest of men waited for him like fuel1 and then they too would flame4 ,,lecture ,,iii4 ,,the ,,hero ,,as ,,poet4 ,,dante3 ,,shakspeare4 ,may #ab1 #ahdj4 ,the ,hero as ,divinity1 the ,hero as ,prophet1 are productions of old ages2 not to be repeated in the new4 ,they presuppose a certain rudeness of conception1 which the progress of mere scientific knowledge puts an end to4 ,there needs to be1 as it were1 a world vacant1 or almost vacant of scientific forms1 if men in their loving wonder are to fancy their fellow-man either a god or one speaking with the voice of a god4 ,divinity and ,prophet are past4 ,we are now to see our ,hero in the less ambitious1 but also less questionable1 character of ,poet2 a character which does not pass4 ,the ,poet is a heroic figure belonging to all ages2 whom all ages possess1 when once he is produced1 whom the newest age as the oldest may produce2--and will produce1 always when ,nature pleases4 ,let ,nature send a ,hero-soul2 in no age is it other than possible that he may be shaped into a ,poet4 ,hero1 ,prophet1 ,poet1--many different names1 in different times1 and places1 do we give to ,great ,men2 according to varieties we note in them1 according to the sphere in which they have displayed themselves6 ,we might give many more names1 on this same principle4 ,i will remark again1 however1 as a fact not unimportant to be understood1 that the different sphere constitutes the grand origin of such distinction2 that the ,hero can be ,poet1 ,prophet1 ,king1 ,priest or what you will1 according to the kind of world he finds himself born into4 ,i confess1 ,i have no notion of a truly great man that could not be all sorts of men4 ,the ,poet who could merely sit on a chair1 and compose stanzas1 would never make a stanza worth much4 ,he could not sing the ,heroic warrior1 unless he himself were at least a ,heroic warrior too4 ,i fancy there is in him the ,politician1 the ,thinker1 ,legislator1 ,philosopher2--in one or the other degree1 he could have been1 he is all these4 ,so too ,i cannot understand how a ,mirabeau1 with that great glowing heart1 with the fire that was in it1 with the bursting tears that were in it1 could not have written verses1 tragedies1 poems1 and touched all hearts in that way1 had his course of life and education led him thitherward4 ,the grand fundamental character is that of ,great ,man2 that the man be great4 ,napoleon has words in him which are like ,austerlitz ,battles4 ,louis ,fourteenth's ,marshals are a kind of poetical men withal2 the things ,turenne says are full of sagacity and geniality1 like sayings of ,samuel ,johnson4 ,the great heart1 the clear deep-seeing eye3 there it lies2 no man whatever1 in what province soever1 can prosper at all without these4 ,petrarch and ,boccaccio did diplomatic messages1 it seems1 quite well3 one can easily believe it2 they had done things a little harder than these6 ,burns1 a gifted song-writer1 might have made a still better ,mirabeau4 ,shakspeare1--one knows not what he could not have made1 in the supreme degree4 ,true1 there are aptitudes of ,nature too4 ,nature does not make all great men1 more than all other men1 in the self-same mould4 ,varieties of aptitude doubtless2 but infinitely more of circumstance2 and far oftenest it is the latter only that are looked to4 ,but it is as with common men in the learning of trades4 ,you take any man1 as yet a vague capability of a man1 who could be any kind of craftsman2 and make him into a smith1 a carpenter1 a mason3 he is then and thenceforth that and nothing else4 ,and if1 as ,addison complains1 you sometimes see a street-porter1 staggering under his load on spindle-shanks1 and near at hand a tailor with the frame of a ,samson handling a bit of cloth and small ,whitechapel needle1--it cannot be considered that aptitude of ,nature alone has been consulted here either6--,the ,great ,man also1 to what shall he be bound apprentice8 ,given your ,hero1 is he to become ,conqueror1 ,king1 ,philosopher1 ,poet8 ,it is an inexplicably complex controversial-calculation between the world and him6 ,he will read the world and its laws2 the world with its laws will be there to be read4 ,what the world1 on this matter1 shall permit and bid is1 as we said1 the most important fact about the world4-- ,poet and ,prophet differ greatly in our loose modern notions of them4 ,in some old languages1 again1 the titles are synonymous2 ,vates means both ,prophet and ,poet3 and indeed at all times1 ,prophet and ,poet1 well understood1 have much kindred of meaning4 ,fundamentally indeed they are still the same2 in this most important respect especially1 ,that they have penetrated both of them into the sacred mystery of the ,universe2 what ,goethe calls the open secret4 ,which is the great secret8 asks one4--,the open secret1--open to all1 seen by almost none6 ,that divine mystery1 which lies everywhere in all ,beings1 the ,divine ,idea of the ,world1 that which lies at the bottom of ,appearance1 as ,fichte styles it2 of which all ,appearance1 from the starry sky to the grass of the field1 but especially the ,appearance of ,man and his work1 is but the vesture1 the embodiment that renders it visible4 ,this divine mystery is in all times and in all places2 veritably is4 ,in most times and places it is greatly overlooked2 and the ,universe1 definable always in one or the other dialect1 as the realized ,thought of ,god1 is considered a trivial1 inert1 commonplace matter1--as if1 says the ,satirist1 it were a dead thing1 which some upholsterer had put together6 ,it could do no good1 at present1 to speak much about this2 but it is a pity for every one of us if we do not know it1 live ever in the knowledge of it4 ,really a most mournful pity2--a failure to live at all1 if we live otherwise6 ,but now1 ,i say1 whoever may forget this divine mystery1 the ,vates1 whether ,prophet or ,poet1 has penetrated into it2 is a man sent hither to make it more impressively known to us4 ,that always is his message2 he is to reveal that to us1--that sacred mystery which he more than others lives ever present with4 ,while others forget it1 he knows it2--,i might say1 he has been driven to know it2 without consent asked of him1 he finds himself living in it1 bound to live in it4 ,once more1 here is no ,hearsay1 but a direct ,insight and ,belief2 this man too could not help being a sincere man6 ,whosoever may live in the shows of things1 it is for him a necessity of nature to live in the very fact of things4 ,a man once more1 in earnest with the ,universe1 though all others were but toying with it4 ,he is a ,vates1 first of all1 in virtue of being sincere4 ,so far ,poet and ,prophet1 participators in the open secret1 are one4 ,with respect to their distinction again3 ,the ,vates ,prophet1 we might say1 has seized that sacred mystery rather on the moral side1 as ,good and ,evil1 ,duty and ,prohibition2 the ,vates ,poet on what the ,germans call the aesthetic side1 as ,beautiful1 and the like4 ,the one we may call a revealer of what we are to do1 the other of what we are to love4 ,but indeed these two provinces run into one another1 and cannot be disjoined4 ,the ,prophet too has his eye on what we are to love3 how else shall he know what it is we are to do8 ,the highest ,voice ever heard on this earth said withal1 ,consider the lilies of the field2 they toil not1 neither do they spin3 yet ,solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these4 ,a glance1 that1 into the deepest deep of ,beauty4 ,the lilies of the field1--dressed finer than earthly princes1 springing up there in the humble furrow-field2 a beautiful eye looking out on you1 from the great inner ,sea of ,beauty6 ,how could the rude ,earth make these1 if her ,essence1 rugged as she looks and is1 were not inwardly ,beauty8 ,in this point of view1 too1 a saying of ,goethe's1 which has staggered several1 may have meaning3 ,the ,beautiful1 he intimates1 is higher than the ,good2 the ,beautiful includes in it the ,good4 ,the true ,beautiful2 which however1 ,i have said somewhere1 differs from the false as ,heaven does from ,vauxhall6 ,so much for the distinction and identity of ,poet and ,prophet4-- ,in ancient and also in modern periods we find a few ,poets who are accounted perfect2 whom it were a kind of treason to find fault with4 ,this is noteworthy2 this is right3 yet in strictness it is only an illusion4 ,at bottom1 clearly enough1 there is no perfect ,poet6 ,a vein of ,poetry exists in the hearts of all men2 no man is made altogether of ,poetry4 ,we are all poets when we read a poem well4 ,the imagination that shudders at the ,hell of ,dante1 is not that the same faculty1 weaker in degree1 as ,dante's own8 ,no one but ,shakspeare can embody1 out of ,saxo ,grammaticus1 the story of ,hamlet as ,shakspeare did3 but every one models some kind of story out of it2 every one embodies it better or worse4 ,we need not spend time in defining4 ,where there is no specific difference1 as between round and square1 all definition must be more or less arbitrary4 ,a man that has so much more of the poetic element developed in him as to have become noticeable1 will be called ,poet by his neighbors4 ,world-,poets too1 those whom we are to take for perfect ,poets1 are settled by critics in the same way4 ,one who rises so far above the general level of ,poets will1 to such and such critics1 seem a ,universal ,poet2 as he ought to do4 ,and yet it is1 and must be1 an arbitrary distinction4 ,all ,poets1 all men1 have some touches of the ,universal2 no man is wholly made of that4 ,most ,poets are very soon forgotten3 but not the noblest ,shakspeare or ,homer of them can be remembered forever2--a day comes when he too is not6 ,nevertheless1 you will say1 there must be a difference between true ,poetry and true ,speech not poetical3 what is the difference8 ,on this point many things have been written1 especially by late ,german ,critics1 some of which are not very intelligible at first4 ,they say1 for example1 that the ,poet has an infinitude in him2 communicates an ,unendlichkeit1 a certain character of infinitude1 to whatsoever he delineates4 ,this1 though not very precise1 yet on so vague a matter is worth remembering3 if well meditated1 some meaning will gradually be found in it4 ,for my own part1 ,i find considerable meaning in the old vulgar distinction of ,poetry being metrical1 having music in it1 being a ,song4 ,truly1 if pressed to give a definition1 one might say this as soon as anything else3 ,if your delineation be authentically musical1 musical not in word only1 but in heart and substance1 in all the thoughts and utterances of it1 in the whole conception of it1 then it will be poetical2 if not1 not4--,musical3 how much lies in that6 ,a musical thought is one spoken by a mind that has penetrated into the inmost heart of the thing2 detected the inmost mystery of it1 namely the melody that lies hidden in it2 the inward harmony of coherence which is its soul1 whereby it exists1 and has a right to be1 here in this world4 ,all inmost things1 we may say1 are melodious2 naturally utter themselves in ,song4 ,the meaning of ,song goes deep4 ,who is there that1 in logical words1 can express the effect music has on us8 ,a kind of inarticulate unfathomable speech1 which leads us to the edge of the ,infinite1 and lets us for moments gaze into that6 ,nay all speech1 even the commonest speech1 has something of song in it3 not a parish in the world but has its parish-accent2--the rhythm or tune to which the people there sing what they have to say6 ,accent is a kind of chanting2 all men have accent of their own1--though they only notice that of others4 ,observe too how all passionate language does of itself become musical1--with a finer music than the mere accent2 the speech of a man even in zealous anger becomes a chant1 a song4 ,all deep things are ,song4 ,it seems somehow the very central essence of us1 ,song2 as if all the rest were but wrappages and hulls6 ,the primal element of us2 of us1 and of all things4 ,the ,greeks fabled of ,sphere-,harmonies3 it was the feeling they had of the inner structure of ,nature2 that the soul of all her voices and utterances was perfect music4 ,poetry1 therefore1 we will call musical ,thought4 ,the ,poet is he who thinks in that manner4 ,at bottom1 it turns still on power of intellect2 it is a man's sincerity and depth of vision that makes him a ,poet4 ,see deep enough1 and you see musically2 the heart of ,nature being everywhere music1 if you can only reach it4 ,the ,vates ,poet1 with his melodious ,apocalypse of ,nature1 seems to hold a poor rank among us1 in comparison with the ,vates ,prophet2 his function1 and our esteem of him for his function1 alike slight4 ,the ,hero taken as ,divinity2 the ,hero taken as ,prophet2 then next the ,hero taken only as ,poet3 does it not look as if our estimate of the ,great ,man1 epoch after epoch1 were continually diminishing8 ,we take him first for a god1 then for one god-inspired2 and now in the next stage of it1 his most miraculous word gains from us only the recognition that he is a ,poet1 beautiful verse-maker1 man of genius1 or such like6--,it looks so2 but ,i persuade myself that intrinsically it is not so4 ,if we consider well1 it will perhaps appear that in man still there is the same altogether peculiar admiration for the ,heroic ,gift1 by what name soever called1 that there at any time was4 ,i should say1 if we do not now reckon a ,great ,man literally divine1 it is that our notions of ,god1 of the supreme unattainable ,fountain of ,splendor1 ,wisdom and ,heroism1 are ever rising higher2 not altogether that our reverence for these qualities1 as manifested in our like1 is getting lower4 ,this is worth taking thought of4 ,sceptical ,dilettantism1 the curse of these ages1 a curse which will not last forever1 does indeed in this the highest province of human things1 as in all provinces1 make sad work2 and our reverence for great men1 all crippled1 blinded1 paralytic as it is1 comes out in poor plight1 hardly recognizable4 ,men worship the shows of great men2 the most disbelieve that there is any reality of great men to worship4 ,the dreariest1 fatalest faith2 believing which1 one would literally despair of human things4 ,nevertheless look1 for example1 at ,napoleon6 ,a ,corsican lieutenant of artillery2 that is the show of him3 yet is he not obeyed1 worshipped after his sort1 as all the ,tiaraed and ,diademed of the world put together could not be8 ,high ,duchesses1 and ostlers of inns1 gather round the ,scottish rustic1 ,burns2--a strange feeling dwelling in each that they never heard a man like this2 that1 on the whole1 this is the man6 ,in the secret heart of these people it still dimly reveals itself1 though there is no accredited way of uttering it at present1 that this rustic1 with his black brows and flashing sun-eyes1 and strange words moving laughter and tears1 is of a dignity far beyond all others1 incommensurable with all others4 ,do not we feel it so8 ,but now1 were ,dilettantism1 ,scepticism1 ,triviality1 and all that sorrowful brood1 cast out of us1--as1 by ,god's blessing1 they shall one day be2 were faith in the shows of things entirely swept out1 replaced by clear faith in the things1 so that a man acted on the impulse of that only1 and counted the other non-extant2 what a new livelier feeling towards this ,burns were it6 ,nay here in these ages1 such as they are1 have we not two mere ,poets1 if not deified1 yet we may say beatified8 ,shakspeare and ,dante are ,saints of ,poetry2 really1 if we will think of it1 canonized1 so that it is impiety to meddle with them4 ,the unguided instinct of the world1 working across all these perverse impediments1 has arrived at such result4 ,dante and ,shakspeare are a peculiar ,two4 ,they dwell apart1 in a kind of royal solitude2 none equal1 none second to them3 in the general feeling of the world1 a certain transcendentalism1 a glory as of complete perfection1 invests these two4 ,they are canonized1 though no ,pope or ,cardinals took hand in doing it6 ,such1 in spite of every perverting influence1 in the most unheroic times1 is still our indestructible reverence for heroism4--,we will look a little at these ,two1 the ,poet ,dante and the ,poet ,shakspeare3 what little it is permitted us to say here of the ,hero as ,poet will most fitly arrange itself in that fashion4 ,many volumes have been written by way of commentary on ,dante and his ,book2 yet1 on the whole1 with no great result4 ,his ,biography is1 as it were1 irrecoverably lost for us4 ,an unimportant1 wandering1 sorrow-stricken man1 not much note was taken of him while he lived2 and the most of that has vanished1 in the long space that now intervenes4 ,it is five centuries since he ceased writing and living here4 ,after all commentaries1 the ,book itself is mainly what we know of him4 ,the ,book2--and one might add that ,portrait commonly attributed to ,giotto1 which1 looking on it1 you cannot help inclining to think genuine1 whoever did it4 ,to me it is a most touching face2 perhaps of all faces that ,i know1 the most so4 ,lonely there1 painted as on vacancy1 with the simple laurel wound round it2 the deathless sorrow and pain1 the known victory which is also deathless2--significant of the whole history of ,dante6 ,i think it is the mournfulest face that ever was painted from reality2 an altogether tragic1 heart-affecting face4 ,there is in it1 as foundation of it1 the softness1 tenderness1 gentle affection as of a child2 but all this is as if congealed into sharp contradiction1 into abnegation1 isolation1 proud hopeless pain4 ,a soft ethereal soul looking out so stern1 implacable1 grim-trenchant1 as from imprisonment of thick-ribbed ice6 ,withal it is a silent pain too1 a silent scornful one3 the lip is curled in a kind of godlike disdain of the thing that is eating out his heart1--as if it were withal a mean insignificant thing1 as if he whom it had power to torture and strangle were greater than it4 ,the face of one wholly in protest1 and lifelong unsurrendering battle1 against the world4 ,affection all converted into indignation3 an implacable indignation2 slow1 equable1 silent1 like that of a god6 ,the eye too1 it looks out as in a kind of surprise1 a kind of inquiry1 ,why the world was of such a sort8 ,this is ,dante3 so he looks1 this voice of ten silent centuries1 and sings us his mystic unfathomable song4 ,the little that we know of ,dante's ,life corresponds well enough with this ,portrait and this ,book4 ,he was born at ,florence1 in the upper class of society1 in the year #abfe4 ,his education was the best then going2 much school-divinity1 ,aristotelean logic1 some ,latin classics1--no inconsiderable insight into certain provinces of things3 and ,dante1 with his earnest intelligent nature1 we need not doubt1 learned better than most all that was learnable4 ,he has a clear cultivated understanding1 and of great subtlety2 this best fruit of education he had contrived to realize from these scholastics4 ,he knows accurately and well what lies close to him2 but1 in such a time1 without printed books or free intercourse1 he could not know well what was distant3 the small clear light1 most luminous for what is near1 breaks itself into singular chiaroscuro striking on what is far off4 ,this was ,dante's learning from the schools4 ,in life1 he had gone through the usual destinies2 been twice out campaigning as a soldier for the ,florentine ,state1 been on embassy2 had in his thirty-fifth year1 by natural gradation of talent and service1 become one of the ,chief ,magistrates of ,florence4 ,he had met in boyhood a certain ,beatrice ,portinari1 a beautiful little girl of his own age and rank1 and grown up thenceforth in partial sight of her1 in some distant intercourse with her4 ,all readers know his graceful affecting account of this2 and then of their being parted2 of her being wedded to another1 and of her death soon after4 ,she makes a great figure in ,dante's ,poem2 seems to have made a great figure in his life4 ,of all beings it might seem as if she1 held apart from him1 far apart at last in the dim ,eternity1 were the only one he had ever with his whole strength of affection loved4 ,she died3 ,dante himself was wedded2 but it seems not happily1 far from happily4 ,i fancy1 the rigorous earnest man1 with his keen excitabilities1 was not altogether easy to make happy4 ,we will not complain of ,dante's miseries3 had all gone right with him as he wished it1 he might have been ,prior1 ,podesta1 or whatsoever they call it1 of ,florence1 well accepted among neighbors1--and the world had wanted one of the most notable words ever spoken or sung4 ,florence would have had another prosperous ,lord ,mayor2 and the ten dumb centuries continued voiceless1 and the ten other listening centuries 7for there will be ten of them and more7 had no ,divina ,commedia to hear6 ,we will complain of nothing4 ,a nobler destiny was appointed for this ,dante2 and he1 struggling like a man led towards death and crucifixion1 could not help fulfilling it4 ,give him the choice of his happiness6 ,he knew not1 more than we do1 what was really happy1 what was really miserable4 ,in ,dante's ,priorship1 the ,guelf-,ghibelline1 ,bianchi-,neri1 or some other confused disturbances rose to such a height1 that ,dante1 whose party had seemed the stronger1 was with his friends cast unexpectedly forth into banishment2 doomed thenceforth to a life of woe and wandering4 ,his property was all confiscated and more2 he had the fiercest feeling that it was entirely unjust1 nefarious in the sight of ,god and man4 ,he tried what was in him to get reinstated2 tried even by warlike surprisal1 with arms in his hand3 but it would not do2 bad only had become worse4 ,there is a record1 ,i believe1 still extant in the ,florence ,archives1 dooming this ,dante1 wheresoever caught1 to be burnt alive4 ,burnt alive2 so it stands1 they say3 a very curious civic document4 ,another curious document1 some considerable number of years later1 is a ,letter of ,dante's to the ,florentine ,magistrates1 written in answer to a milder proposal of theirs1 that he should return on condition of apologizing and paying a fine4 ,he answers1 with fixed stern pride3 ,if ,i cannot return without calling myself guilty1 ,i will never return1 nunquam revertar4 ,for ,dante there was now no home in this world4 ,he wandered from patron to patron1 from place to place2 proving1 in his own bitter words1 ,how hard is the path1 ,come e duro calle4 ,the wretched are not cheerful company4 ,dante1 poor and banished1 with his proud earnest nature1 with his moody humors1 was not a man to conciliate men4 ,petrarch reports of him that being at ,can della ,scala's court1 and blamed one day for his gloom and taciturnity1 he answered in no courtier-like way4 ,della ,scala stood among his courtiers1 with mimes and buffoons 7nebulones ac histriones7 making him heartily merry2 when turning to ,dante1 he said3 ,is it not strange1 now1 that this poor fool should make himself so entertaining2 while you1 a wise man1 sit there day after day1 and have nothing to amuse us with at all8 ,dante answered bitterly3 ,no1 not strange2 your ,highness is to recollect the ,proverb1 ,like to ,like2--given the amuser1 the amusee must also be given6 ,such a man1 with his proud silent ways1 with his sarcasms and sorrows1 was not made to succeed at court4 ,by degrees1 it came to be evident to him that he had no longer any resting-place1 or hope of benefit1 in this earth4 ,the earthly world had cast him forth1 to wander1 wander2 no living heart to love him now2 for his sore miseries there was no solace here4 ,the deeper naturally would the ,eternal ,world impress itself on him2 that awful reality over which1 after all1 this ,time-world1 with its ,florences and banishments1 only flutters as an unreal shadow4 ,florence thou shalt never see3 but ,hell and ,purgatory and ,heaven thou shalt surely see6 ,what is ,florence1 ,can della ,scala1 and the ,world and ,life altogether8 ,,eternity3 thither1 of a truth1 not elsewhither1 art thou and all things bound6 ,the great soul of ,dante1 homeless on earth1 made its home more and more in that awful other world4 ,naturally his thoughts brooded on that1 as on the one fact important for him4 ,bodied or bodiless1 it is the one fact important for all men3--but to ,dante1 in that age1 it was bodied in fixed certainty of scientific shape2 he no more doubted of that ,malebolge ,pool1 that it all lay there with its gloomy circles1 with its alti guai1 and that he himself should see it1 than we doubt that we should see ,constantinople if we went thither4 ,dante's heart1 long filled with this1 brooding over it in speechless thought and awe1 bursts forth at length into mystic unfathomable song2 and this his ,divine ,comedy1 the most remarkable of all modern ,books1 is the result4 ,it must have been a great solacement to ,dante1 and was1 as we can see1 a proud thought for him at times1 ,that he1 here in exile1 could do this work2 that no ,florence1 nor no man or men1 could hinder him from doing it1 or even much help him in doing it4 ,he knew too1 partly1 that it was great2 the greatest a man could do4 ,if thou follow thy star1 ,se tu segui tua stella1--so could the ,hero1 in his forsakenness1 in his extreme need1 still say to himself3 ,follow thou thy star1 thou shalt not fail of a glorious haven6 ,the labor of writing1 we find1 and indeed could know otherwise1 was great and painful for him2 he says1 ,this ,book1 which has made me lean for many years4 ,ah yes1 it was won1 all of it1 with pain and sore toil1--not in sport1 but in grim earnest4 ,his ,book1 as indeed most good ,books are1 has been written1 in many senses1 with his heart's blood4 ,it is his whole history1 this ,book4 ,he died after finishing it2 not yet very old1 at the age of fifty-six2--broken-hearted rather1 as is said4 ,he lies buried in his death-city ,ravenna3 ,hic claudor ,dantes patriis extorris ab oris4 ,the ,florentines begged back his body1 in a century after2 the ,ravenna people would not give it4 ,here am ,i ,dante laid1 shut out from my native shores4 ,i said1 ,dante's ,poem was a ,song3 it is ,tieck who calls it a mystic unfathomable ,song2 and such is literally the character of it4 ,coleridge remarks very pertinently somewhere1 that wherever you find a sentence musically worded1 of true rhythm and melody in the words1 there is something deep and good in the meaning too4 ,for body and soul1 word and idea1 go strangely together here as everywhere4 ,song3 we said before1 it was the ,heroic of ,speech6 ,all old ,poems1 ,homer's and the rest1 are authentically ,songs4 ,i would say1 in strictness1 that all right ,poems are2 that whatsoever is not sung is properly no ,poem1 but a piece of ,prose cramped into jingling lines1--to the great injury of the grammar1 to the great grief of the reader1 for most part6 ,what we wants to get at is the thought the man had1 if he had any3 why should he twist it into jingle1 if he could speak it out plainly8 ,it is only when the heart of him is rapt into true passion of melody1 and the very tones of him1 according to ,coleridge's remark1 become musical by the greatness1 depth and music of his thoughts1 that we can give him right to rhyme and sing2 that we call him a ,poet1 and listen to him as the ,heroic of ,speakers1--whose speech is ,song4 ,pretenders to this are many2 and to an earnest reader1 ,i doubt1 it is for most part a very melancholy1 not to say an insupportable business1 that of reading rhyme6 ,rhyme that had no inward necessity to be rhymed2--it ought to have told us plainly1 without any jingle1 what it was aiming at4 ,i would advise all men who can speak their thought1 not to sing it2 to understand that1 in a serious time1 among serious men1 there is no vocation in them for singing it4 ,precisely as we love the true song1 and are charmed by it as by something divine1 so shall we hate the false song1 and account it a mere wooden noise1 a thing hollow1 superfluous1 altogether an insincere and offensive thing4 ,i give ,dante my highest praise when ,i say of his ,divine ,comedy that it is1 in all senses1 genuinely a ,song4 ,in the very sound of it there is a canto fermo2 it proceeds as by a chant4 ,the language1 his simple terza rima1 doubtless helped him in this4 ,one reads along naturally with a sort of lilt4 ,but ,i add1 that it could not be otherwise2 for the essence and material of the work are themselves rhythmic4 ,its depth1 and rapt passion and sincerity1 makes it musical2--go deep enough1 there is music everywhere4 ,a true inward symmetry1 what one calls an architectural harmony1 reigns in it1 proportionates it all3 architectural2 which also partakes of the character of music4 ,the three kingdoms1 ,inferno1 ,purgatorio1 ,paradiso1 look out on one another like compartments of a great edifice2 a great supernatural world-cathedral1 piled up there1 stern1 solemn1 awful2 ,dante's ,world of ,souls6 ,it is1 at bottom1 the sincerest of all ,poems2 sincerity1 here too1 we find to be the measure of worth4 ,it came deep out of the author's heart of hearts2 and it goes deep1 and through long generations1 into ours4 ,the people of ,verona1 when they saw him on the streets1 used to say1 ,eccovi l' uom ch' e stato all' ,inferno1 ,see1 there is the man that was in ,hell6 ,ah yes1 he had been in ,hell2--in ,hell enough1 in long severe sorrow and struggle2 as the like of him is pretty sure to have been4 ,commedias that come out divine are not accomplished otherwise4 ,thought1 true labor of any kind1 highest virtue itself1 is it not the daughter of ,pain8 ,born as out of the black whirlwind2--true effort1 in fact1 as of a captive struggling to free himself3 that is ,thought4 ,in all ways we are to become perfect through suffering4--,but1 as ,i say1 no work known to me is so elaborated as this of ,dante's4 ,it has all been as if molten1 in the hottest furnace of his soul4 ,it had made him lean for many years4 ,not the general whole only2 every compartment of it is worked out1 with intense earnestness1 into truth1 into clear visuality4 ,each answers to the other2 each fits in its place1 like a marble stone accurately hewn and polished4 ,it is the soul of ,dante1 and in this the soul of the middle ages1 rendered forever rhythmically visible there4 ,no light task2 a right intense one3 but a task which is done4 ,perhaps one would say1 intensity1 with the much that depends on it1 is the prevailing character of ,dante's genius4 ,dante does not come before us as a large catholic mind2 rather as a narrow1 and even sectarian mind3 it is partly the fruit of his age and position1 but partly too of his own nature4 ,his greatness has1 in all senses1 concentred itself into fiery emphasis and depth4 ,he is world-great not because he is worldwide1 but because he is world-deep4 ,through all objects he pierces as it were down into the heart of ,being4 ,i know nothing so intense as ,dante4 ,consider1 for example1 to begin with the outermost development of his intensity1 consider how he paints4 ,he has a great power of vision2 seizes the very type of a thing2 presents that and nothing more4 ,you remember that first view he gets of the ,hall of ,dite3 red pinnacle1 red-hot cone of iron glowing through the dim immensity of gloom2--so vivid1 so distinct1 visible at once and forever6 ,it is as an emblem of the whole genius of ,dante4 ,there is a brevity1 an abrupt precision in him3 ,tacitus is not briefer1 more condensed2 and then in ,dante it seems a natural condensation1 spontaneous to the man4 ,one smiting word2 and then there is silence1 nothing more said4 ,his silence is more eloquent than words4 ,it is strange with what a sharp decisive grace he snatches the true likeness of a matter3 cuts into the matter as with a pen of fire4 ,plutus1 the blustering giant1 collapses at ,virgil's rebuke2 it is as the sails sink1 the mast being suddenly broken4 ,or that poor ,brunetto ,latini1 with the cotto aspetto1 face baked1 parched brown and lean2 and the fiery snow that falls on them there1 a fiery snow without wind1 slow1 deliberate1 never-ending6 ,or the lids of those ,tombs2 square sarcophaguses1 in that silent dim-burning ,hall1 each with its ,soul in torment2 the lids laid open there2 they are to be shut at the ,day of ,judgment1 through ,eternity4 ,and how ,farinata rises2 and how ,cavalcante falls--at hearing of his ,son1 and the past tense fue6 ,the very movements in ,dante have something brief2 swift1 decisive1 almost military4 ,it is of the inmost essence of his genius this sort of painting4 ,the fiery1 swift ,italian nature of the man1 so silent1 passionate1 with its quick abrupt movements1 its silent pale rages1 speaks itself in these things4 ,for though this of painting is one of the outermost developments of a man1 it comes like all else from the essential faculty of him2 it is physiognomical of the whole man4 ,find a man whose words paint you a likeness1 you have found a man worth something2 mark his manner of doing it1 as very characteristic of him4 ,in the first place1 he could not have discerned the object at all1 or seen the vital type of it1 unless he had1 what we may call1 sympathized with it1--had sympathy in him to bestow on objects4 ,he must have been sincere about it too2 sincere and sympathetic3 a man without worth cannot give you the likeness of any object2 he dwells in vague outwardness1 fallacy and trivial hearsay1 about all objects4 ,and indeed may we not say that intellect altogether expresses itself in this power of discerning what an object is8 ,whatsoever of faculty a man's mind may have will come out here4 ,is it even of business1 a matter to be done8 ,the gifted man is he who sees the essential point1 and leaves all the rest aside as surplusage3 it is his faculty too1 the man of business's faculty1 that he discern the true likeness1 not the false superficial one1 of the thing he has got to work in4 ,and how much of morality is in the kind of insight we get of anything2 the eye seeing in all things what it brought with it the faculty of seeing6 ,to the mean eye all things are trivial1 as certainly as to the jaundiced they are yellow4 ,raphael1 the ,painters tell us1 is the best of all ,portrait-painters withal4 ,no most gifted eye can exhaust the significance of any object4 ,in the commonest human face there lies more than ,raphael will take away with him4 ,dante's painting is not graphic only1 brief1 true1 and of a vividness as of fire in dark night2 taken on the wider scale1 it is every way noble1 and the outcome of a great soul4 ,francesca and her ,lover1 what qualities in that6 ,a thing woven as out of rainbows1 on a ground of eternal black4 ,a small flute-voice of infinite wail speaks there1 into our very heart of hearts4 ,a touch of womanhood in it too3 della bella persona1 che mi fu tolta2 and how1 even in the ,pit of woe1 it is a solace that he will never part from her6 ,saddest tragedy in these alti guai4 ,and the racking winds1 in that aer bruno1 whirl them away again1 to wail forever6--,strange to think3 ,dante was the friend of this poor ,francesca's father2 ,francesca herself may have sat upon the ,poet's knee1 as a bright innocent little child4 ,infinite pity1 yet also infinite rigor of law3 it is so ,nature is made2 it is so ,dante discerned that she was made4 ,what a paltry notion is that of his ,divine ,comedy's being a poor splenetic impotent terrestrial libel2 putting those into ,hell whom he could not be avenged upon on earth6 ,i suppose if ever pity1 tender as a mother's1 was in the heart of any man1 it was in ,dante's4 ,but a man who does not know rigor cannot pity either4 ,his very pity will be cowardly1 egoistic1--sentimentality1 or little better4 ,i know not in the world an affection equal to that of ,dante4 ,it is a tenderness1 a trembling1 longing1 pitying love3 like the wail of ,a,eolian harps1 soft1 soft2 like a child's young heart2--and then that stern1 sore-saddened heart6 ,these longings of his towards his ,beatrice2 their meeting together in the ,paradiso2 his gazing in her pure transfigured eyes1 her that had been purified by death so long1 separated from him so far3--one likens it to the song of angels2 it is among the purest utterances of affection1 perhaps the very purest1 that ever came out of a human soul4 ,for the intense ,dante is intense in all things2 he has got into the essence of all4 ,his intellectual insight as painter1 on occasion too as reasoner1 is but the result of all other sorts of intensity4 ,morally great1 above all1 we must call him2 it is the beginning of all4 ,his scorn1 his grief are as transcendent as his love2--as indeed1 what are they but the inverse or converse of his love8 ,a ,dio spiacenti ed a' nemici sui1 ,hateful to ,god and to the enemies of ,god3 lofty scorn1 unappeasable silent reprobation and aversion2 ,non ragionam di lor1 ,we will not speak of them1 look only and pass4 ,or think of this2 ,they have not the hope to die1 ,non han speranza di morte4 ,one day1 it had risen sternly benign on the scathed heart of ,dante1 that he1 wretched1 never-resting1 worn as he was1 would full surely die2 that ,destiny itself could not doom him not to die4 ,such words are in this man4 ,for rigor1 earnestness and depth1 he is not to be paralleled in the modern world2 to seek his parallel we must go into the ,hebrew ,bible1 and live with the antique ,prophets there4 ,i do not agree with much modern criticism1 in greatly preferring the ,inferno to the two other parts of the ,divine ,commedia4 ,such preference belongs1 ,i imagine1 to our general ,byronism of taste1 and is like to be a transient feeling4 ,the ,purgatorio and ,paradiso1 especially the former1 one would almost say1 is even more excellent than it4 ,it is a noble thing that ,purgatorio1 ,mountain of ,purification2 an emblem of the noblest conception of that age4 ,if sin is so fatal1 and ,hell is and must be so rigorous1 awful1 yet in ,repentance too is man purified2 ,repentance is the grand ,christian act4 ,it is beautiful how ,dante works it out4 ,the tremolar dell' onde1 that trembling of the ocean-waves1 under the first pure gleam of morning1 dawning afar on the wandering ,two1 is as the type of an altered mood4 ,hope has now dawned2 never-dying ,hope1 if in company still with heavy sorrow4 ,the obscure sojourn of demons and reprobate is underfoot2 a soft breathing of penitence mounts higher and higher1 to the ,throne of ,mercy itself4 ,pray for me1 the denizens of that ,mount of ,pain all say to him4 ,tell my ,giovanna to pray for me1 my daughter ,giovanna2 ,i think her mother loves me no more6 ,they toil painfully up by that winding steep1 bent down like corbels of a building1 some of them1--crushed together so for the sin of pride2 yet nevertheless in years1 in ages and aeons1 they shall have reached the top1 which is heaven's gate1 and by ,mercy shall have been admitted in4 ,the joy too of all1 when one has prevailed2 the whole ,mountain shakes with joy1 and a psalm of praise rises1 when one soul has perfected repentance and got its sin and misery left behind6 ,i call all this a noble embodiment of a true noble thought4 ,but indeed the ,three compartments mutually support one another1 are indispensable to one another4 ,the ,paradiso1 a kind of inarticulate music to me1 is the redeeming side of the ,inferno2 the ,inferno without it were untrue4 ,all three make up the true ,unseen ,world1 as figured in the ,christianity of the ,middle ,ages2 a thing forever memorable1 forever true in the essence of it1 to all men4 ,it was perhaps delineated in no human soul with such depth of veracity as in this of ,dante's2 a man sent to sing it1 to keep it long memorable4 ,very notable with what brief simplicity he passes out of the every-day reality1 into the ,invisible one2 and in the second or third stanza1 we find ourselves in the ,world of ,spirits2 and dwell there1 as among things palpable1 indubitable6 ,to ,dante they were so2 the real world1 as it is called1 and its facts1 was but the threshold to an infinitely higher ,fact of a ,world4 ,at bottom1 the one was as preternatural as the other4 ,has not each man a soul8 ,he will not only be a spirit1 but is one4 ,to the earnest ,dante it is all one visible ,fact2 he believes it1 sees it2 is the ,poet of it in virtue of that4 ,sincerity1 ,i say again1 is the saving merit1 now as always4 ,dante's ,hell1 ,purgatory1 ,paradise1 are a symbol withal1 an emblematic representation of his ,belief about this ,universe3--some ,critic in a future age1 like those ,scandinavian ones the other day1 who has ceased altogether to think as ,dante did1 may find this too all an ,allegory1 perhaps an idle ,allegory6 ,it is a sublime embodiment1 or sublimest1 of the soul of ,christianity4 ,it expresses1 as in huge world-wide architectural emblems1 how the ,christian ,dante felt ,good and ,evil to be the two polar elements of this ,creation1 on which it all turns2 that these two differ not by preferability of one to the other1 but by incompatibility absolute and infinite2 that the one is excellent and high as light and ,heaven1 the other hideous1 black as ,gehenna and the ,pit of ,hell6 ,everlasting ,justice1 yet with ,penitence1 with everlasting ,pity1--all ,christianism1 as ,dante and the ,middle ,ages had it1 is emblemed here4 ,emblemed3 and yet1 as ,i urged the other day1 with what entire truth of purpose2 how unconscious of any embleming6 ,hell1 ,purgatory1 ,paradise3 these things were not fashioned as emblems2 was there1 in our ,modern ,european ,mind1 any thought at all of their being emblems6 ,were they not indubitable awful facts2 the whole heart of man taking them for practically true1 all ,nature everywhere confirming them8 ,so is it always in these things4 ,men do not believe an ,allegory4 ,the future ,critic1 whatever his new thought may be1 who considers this of ,dante to have been all got up as an ,allegory1 will commit one sore mistake6--,paganism we recognized as a veracious expression of the earnest awe-struck feeling of man towards the ,universe2 veracious1 true once1 and still not without worth for us4 ,but mark here the difference of ,paganism and ,christianism2 one great difference4 ,paganism emblemed chiefly the ,operations of ,nature2 the destinies1 efforts1 combinations1 vicissitudes of things and men in this world2 ,christianism emblemed the ,law of ,human ,duty1 the ,moral ,law of ,man4 ,one was for the sensuous nature3 a rude helpless utterance of the first ,thought of men1--the chief recognized virtue1 ,courage1 ,superiority to ,fear4 ,the other was not for the sensuous nature1 but for the moral4 ,what a progress is here1 if in that one respect only--6 ,and so in this ,dante1 as we said1 had ten silent centuries1 in a very strange way1 found a voice4 ,the ,divina ,commedia is of ,dante's writing2 yet in truth it belongs to ten ,christian centuries1 only the finishing of it is ,dante's4 ,so always4 ,the craftsman there1 the smith with that metal of his1 with these tools1 with these cunning methods1--how little of all he does is properly his work6 ,all past inventive men work there with him2--as indeed with all of us1 in all things4 ,dante is the spokesman of the ,middle ,ages2 the ,thought they lived by stands here1 in everlasting music4 ,these sublime ideas of his1 terrible and beautiful1 are the fruit of the ,christian ,meditation of all the good men who had gone before him4 ,precious they2 but also is not he precious8 ,much1 had not he spoken1 would have been dumb2 not dead1 yet living voiceless4 ,on the whole1 is it not an utterance1 this mystic ,song1 at once of one of the greatest human souls1 and of the highest thing that ,europe had hitherto realized for itself8 ,christianism1 as ,dante sings it1 is another than ,paganism in the rude ,norse mind2 another than ,bastard ,christianism half-articulately spoken in the ,arab ,desert1 seven hundred years before6--,the noblest idea made real hitherto among men1 is sung1 and emblemed forth abidingly1 by one of the noblest men4 ,in the one sense and in the other1 are we not right glad to possess it8 ,as ,i calculate1 it may last yet for long thousands of years4 ,for the thing that is uttered from the inmost parts of a man's soul1 differs altogether from what is uttered by the outer part4 ,the outer is of the day1 under the empire of mode2 the outer passes away1 in swift endless changes2 the inmost is the same yesterday1 to-day and forever4 ,true souls1 in all generations of the world1 who look on this ,dante1 will find a brotherhood in him2 the deep sincerity of his thoughts1 his woes and hopes1 will speak likewise to their sincerity2 they will feel that this ,dante too was a brother4 ,napoleon in ,saint ,helena is charmed with the genial veracity of old ,homer4 ,the oldest ,hebrew ,prophet1 under a vesture the most diverse from ours1 does yet1 because he speaks from the heart of man1 speak to all men's hearts4 ,it is the one sole secret of continuing long memorable4 ,dante1 for depth of sincerity1 is like an antique ,prophet too2 his words1 like theirs1 come from his very heart4 ,one need not wonder if it were predicted that his ,poem might be the most enduring thing our ,europe has yet made2 for nothing so endures as a truly spoken word4 ,all cathedrals1 pontificalities1 brass and stone1 and outer arrangement never so lasting1 are brief in comparison to an unfathomable heart-song like this3 one feels as if it might survive1 still of importance to men1 when these had all sunk into new irrecognizable combinations1 and had ceased individually to be4 ,europe has made much2 great cities1 great empires1 encyclopaedias1 creeds1 bodies of opinion and practice3 but it has made little of the class of ,dante's ,thought4 ,homer yet is veritably present face to face with every open soul of us2 and ,greece1 where is it8 ,desolate for thousands of years2 away1 vanished2 a bewildered heap of stones and rubbish1 the life and existence of it all gone4 ,like a dream2 like the dust of ,king ,agamemnon6 ,greece was2 ,greece1 except in the words it spoke1 is not4 ,the uses of this ,dante8 ,we will not say much about his uses4 ,a human soul who has once got into that primal element of ,song1 and sung forth fitly somewhat therefrom1 has worked in the depths of our existence2 feeding through long times the life-roots of all excellent human things whatsoever1--in a way that utilities will not succeed well in calculating6 ,we will not estimate the ,sun by the quantity of gaslight it saves us2 ,dante shall be invaluable1 or of no value4 ,one remark ,i may make3 the contrast in this respect between the ,hero-,poet and the ,hero-,prophet4 ,in a hundred years1 ,mahomet1 as we saw1 had his ,arabians at ,grenada and at ,delhi2 ,dante's ,italians seem to be yet very much where they were4 ,shall we say1 then1 ,dante's effect on the world was small in comparison8 ,not so3 his arena is far more restricted2 but also it is far nobler1 clearer2--perhaps not less but more important4 ,mahomet speaks to great masses of men1 in the coarse dialect adapted to such2 a dialect filled with inconsistencies1 crudities1 follies3 on the great masses alone can he act1 and there with good and with evil strangely blended4 ,dante speaks to the noble1 the pure and great1 in all times and places4 ,neither does he grow obsolete1 as the other does4 ,dante burns as a pure star1 fixed there in the firmament1 at which the great and the high of all ages kindle themselves3 he is the possession of all the chosen of the world for uncounted time4 ,dante1 one calculates1 may long survive ,mahomet4 ,in this way the balance may be made straight again4 ,but1 at any rate1 it is not by what is called their effect on the world1 by what we can judge of their effect there1 that a man and his work are measured4 ,effect8 ,influence8 ,utility8 ,let a man do his work2 the fruit of it is the care of ,another than he4 ,it will grow its own fruit2 and whether embodied in ,caliph ,thrones and ,arabian ,conquests1 so that it fills all ,morning and ,evening ,newspapers1 and all ,histories1 which are a kind of distilled ,newspapers2 or not embodied so at all2--what matters that8 ,that is not the real fruit of it6 ,the ,arabian ,caliph1 in so far only as he did something1 was something4 ,if the great ,cause of ,man1 and ,man's work in ,god's ,earth1 got no furtherance from the ,arabian ,caliph1 then no matter how many scimetars he drew1 how many gold piasters pocketed1 and what uproar and blaring he made in this world1--he was but a loud-sounding inanity and futility2 at bottom1 he was not at all4 ,let us honor the great empire of ,silence1 once more6 ,the boundless treasury which we do not jingle in our pockets1 or count up and present before men6 ,it is perhaps1 of all things1 the usefulest for each of us to do1 in these loud times4-- ,as ,dante1 the ,italian man1 was sent into our world to embody musically the ,religion of the ,middle ,ages1 the ,religion of our ,modern ,europe1 its ,inner ,life2 so ,shakspeare1 we may say1 embodies for us the ,outer ,life of our ,europe as developed then1 its chivalries1 courtesies1 humors1 ambitions1 what practical way of thinking1 acting1 looking at the world1 men then had4 ,as in ,homer we may still construe ,old ,greece2 so in ,shakspeare and ,dante1 after thousands of years1 what our modern ,europe was1 in ,faith and in ,practice1 will still be legible4 ,dante has given us the ,faith or soul2 ,shakspeare1 in a not less noble way1 has given us the ,practice or body4 ,this latter also we were to have2 a man was sent for it1 the man ,shakspeare4 ,just when that chivalry way of life had reached its last finish1 and was on the point of breaking down into slow or swift dissolution1 as we now see it everywhere1 this other sovereign ,poet1 with his seeing eye1 with his perennial singing voice1 was sent to take note of it1 to give long-enduring record of it4 ,two fit men3 ,dante1 deep1 fierce as the central fire of the world2 ,shakspeare1 wide1 placid1 far-seeing1 as the ,sun1 the upper light of the world4 ,italy produced the one world-voice2 we ,english had the honor of producing the other4 ,curious enough how1 as it were by mere accident1 this man came to us4 ,i think always1 so great1 quiet1 complete and self-sufficing is this ,shakspeare1 had the ,warwickshire ,squire not prosecuted him for deer-stealing1 we had perhaps never heard of him as a ,poet6 ,the woods and skies1 the rustic ,life of ,man in ,stratford there1 had been enough for this man6 ,but indeed that strange outbudding of our whole ,english ,existence1 which we call the ,elizabethan ,era1 did not it too come as of its own accord8 ,the ,tree ,igdrasil buds and withers by its own laws1--too deep for our scanning4 ,yet it does bud and wither1 and every bough and leaf of it is there1 by fixed eternal laws2 not a ,sir ,thomas ,lucy but comes at the hour fit for him4 ,curious1 ,i say1 and not sufficiently considered3 how everything does co-operate with all2 not a leaf rotting on the highway but is indissoluble portion of solar and stellar systems2 no thought1 word or act of man but has sprung withal out of all men1 and works sooner or later1 recognizably or irrecognizable1 on all men6 ,it is all a ,tree3 circulation of sap and influences1 mutual communication of every minutest leaf with the lowest talon of a root1 with every other greatest and minutest portion of the whole4 ,the ,tree ,igdrasil1 that has its roots down in the ,kingdoms of ,hela and ,death1 and whose boughs overspread the highest ,heaven--6 ,in some sense it may be said that this glorious ,elizabethan ,era with its ,shakspeare1 as the outcome and flowerage of all which had preceded it1 is itself attributable to the ,catholicism of the ,middle ,ages4 ,the ,christian ,faith1 which was the theme of ,dante's ,song1 had produced this ,practical ,life which ,shakspeare was to sing4 ,for ,religion then1 as it now and always is1 was the soul of ,practice2 the primary vital fact in men's life4 ,and remark here1 as rather curious1 that ,middle-,age ,catholicism was abolished1 so far as ,acts of ,parliament could abolish it1 before ,shakspeare1 the noblest product of it1 made his appearance4 ,he did make his appearance nevertheless4 ,nature at her own time1 with ,catholicism or what else might be necessary1 sent him forth2 taking small thought of ,acts of ,parliament4 ,king ,henrys1 ,queen ,elizabeths go their way2 and ,nature too goes hers4 ,acts of ,parliament1 on the whole1 are small1 notwithstanding the noise they make4 ,what ,act of ,parliament1 debate at ,st4 ,stephen's1 on the hustings or elsewhere1 was it that brought this ,shakspeare into being8 ,no dining at ,freemason's ,tavern1 opening subscription-lists1 selling of shares1 and infinite other jangling and true or false endeavoring6 ,this ,elizabethan ,era1 and all its nobleness and blessedness1 came without proclamation1 preparation of ours4 ,priceless ,shakspeare was the free gift of ,nature2 given altogether silently2--received altogether silently1 as if it had been a thing of little account4 ,and yet1 very literally1 it is a priceless thing4 ,one should look at that side of matters too4 ,of this ,shakspeare of ours1 perhaps the opinion one sometimes hears a little idolatrously expressed is1 in fact1 the right one2 ,i think the best judgment not of this country only1 but of ,europe at large1 is slowly pointing to the conclusion1 that ,shakspeare is the chief of all ,poets hitherto2 the greatest intellect who1 in our recorded world1 has left record of himself in the way of ,literature4 ,on the whole1 ,i know not such a power of vision1 such a faculty of thought1 if we take all the characters of it1 in any other man4 ,such a calmness of depth2 placid joyous strength2 all things imaged in that great soul of his so true and clear1 as in a tranquil unfathomable sea6 ,it has been said1 that in the constructing of ,shakspeare's ,dramas there is1 apart from all other faculties as they are called1 an understanding manifested1 equal to that in ,bacon's ,novum ,organum ,that is true2 and it is not a truth that strikes every one4 ,it would become more apparent if we tried1 any of us for himself1 how1 out of ,shakspeare's dramatic materials1 we could fashion such a result6 ,the built house seems all so fit1--every way as it should be1 as if it came there by its own law and the nature of things1--we forget the rude disorderly quarry it was shaped from4 ,the very perfection of the house1 as if ,nature herself had made it1 hides the builder's merit4 ,perfect1 more perfect than any other man1 we may call ,shakspeare in this3 he discerns1 knows as by instinct1 what condition he works under1 what his materials are1 what his own force and its relation to them is4 ,it is not a transitory glance of insight that will suffice2 it is deliberate illumination of the whole matter2 it is a calmly seeing eye2 a great intellect1 in short4 ,how a man1 of some wide thing that he has witnessed1 will construct a narrative1 what kind of picture and delineation he will give of it1--is the best measure you could get of what intellect is in the man4 ,which circumstance is vital and shall stand prominent2 which unessential1 fit to be suppressed2 where is the true beginning1 the true sequence and ending8 ,to find out this1 you task the whole force of insight that is in the man4 ,he must understand the thing2 according to the depth of his understanding1 will the fitness of his answer be4 ,you will try him so4 ,does like join itself to like2 does the spirit of method stir in that confusion1 so that its embroilment becomes order8 ,can the man say1 ,fiat lux1 ,let there be light2 and out of chaos make a world8 ,precisely as there is light in himself1 will he accomplish this4 ,or indeed we may say again1 it is in what ,i called ,portrait-painting1 delineating of men and things1 especially of men1 that ,shakspeare is great4 ,all the greatness of the man comes out decisively here4 ,it is unexampled1 ,i think1 that calm creative perspicacity of ,shakspeare4 ,the thing he looks at reveals not this or that face of it1 but its inmost heart1 and generic secret3 it dissolves itself as in light before him1 so that he discerns the perfect structure of it4 ,creative1 we said3 poetic creation1 what is this too but seeing the thing sufficiently8 ,the word that will describe the thing1 follows of itself from such clear intense sight of the thing4 ,and is not ,shakspeare's morality1 his valor1 candor1 tolerance1 truthfulness2 his whole victorious strength and greatness1 which can triumph over such obstructions1 visible there too8 ,great as the world4 ,no twisted1 poor convex-concave mirror1 reflecting all objects with its own convexities and concavities2 a perfectly level mirror2--that is to say withal1 if we will understand it1 a man justly related to all things and men1 a good man4 ,it is truly a lordly spectacle how this great soul takes in all kinds of men and objects1 a ,falstaff1 an ,othello1 a ,juliet1 a ,coriolanus2 sets them all forth to us in their round completeness2 loving1 just1 the equal brother of all4 ,novum ,organum1 and all the intellect you will find in ,bacon1 is of a quite secondary order2 earthy1 material1 poor in comparison with this4 ,among modern men1 one finds1 in strictness1 almost nothing of the same rank4 ,goethe alone1 since the days of ,shakspeare1 reminds me of it4 ,of him too you say that he saw the object2 you may say what he himself says of ,shakspeare3 ,his characters are like watches with dial-plates of transparent crystal2 they show you the hour like others1 and the inward mechanism also is all visible4 ,the seeing eye6 ,it is this that discloses the inner harmony of things2 what ,nature meant1 what musical idea ,nature has wrapped up in these often rough embodiments4 ,something she did mean4 ,to the seeing eye that something were discernible4 ,are they base1 miserable things8 ,you can laugh over them1 you can weep over them2 you can in some way or other genially relate yourself to them2--you can1 at lowest1 hold your peace about them1 turn away your own and others' face from them1 till the hour come for practically exterminating and extinguishing them6 ,at bottom1 it is the ,poet's first gift1 as it is all men's1 that he have intellect enough4 ,he will be a ,poet if he have3 a ,poet in word2 or failing that1 perhaps still better1 a ,poet in act4 ,whether he write at all2 and if so1 whether in prose or in verse1 will depend on accidents3 who knows on what extremely trivial accidents1--perhaps on his having had a singing-master1 on his being taught to sing in his boyhood6 ,but the faculty which enables him to discern the inner heart of things1 and the harmony that dwells there 7for whatsoever exists has a harmony in the heart of it1 or it would not hold together and exist71 is not the result of habits or accidents1 but the gift of ,nature herself2 the primary outfit for a ,heroic ,man in what sort soever4 ,to the ,poet1 as to every other1 we say first of all1 ,see4 ,if you cannot do that1 it is of no use to keep stringing rhymes together1 jingling sensibilities against each other1 and name yourself a ,poet2 there is no hope for you4 ,if you can1 there is1 in prose or verse1 in action or speculation1 all manner of hope4 ,the crabbed old ,schoolmaster used to ask1 when they brought him a new pupil1 ,but are ye sure he's not a dunce8 ,why1 really one might ask the same thing1 in regard to every man proposed for whatsoever function2 and consider it as the one inquiry needful3 ,are ye sure he's not a dunce8 ,there is1 in this world1 no other entirely fatal person4 ,for1 in fact1 ,i say the degree of vision that dwells in a man is a correct measure of the man4 ,if called to define ,shakspeare's faculty1 ,i should say superiority of ,intellect1 and think ,i had included all under that4 ,what indeed are faculties8 ,we talk of faculties as if they were distinct1 things separable2 as if a man had intellect1 imagination1 fancy1 c41 as he has hands1 feet and arms4 ,that is a capital error4 ,then again1 we hear of a man's intellectual nature1 and of his moral nature1 as if these again were divisible1 and existed apart4 ,necessities of language do perhaps prescribe such forms of utterance2 we must speak1 ,i am aware1 in that way1 if we are to speak at all4 ,but words ought not to harden into things for us4 ,it seems to me1 our apprehension of this matter is1 for most part1 radically falsified thereby4 ,we ought to know withal1 and to keep forever in mind1 that these divisions are at bottom but names2 that man's spiritual nature1 the vital ,force which dwells in him1 is essentially one and indivisible2 that what we call imagination1 fancy1 understanding1 and so forth1 are but different figures of the same ,power of ,insight1 all indissolubly connected with each other1 physiognomically related2 that if we knew one of them1 we might know all of them4 ,morality itself1 what we call the moral quality of a man1 what is this but another side of the one vital ,force whereby he is and works8 ,all that a man does is physiognomical of him4 ,you may see how a man would fight1 by the way in which he sings2 his courage1 or want of courage1 is visible in the word he utters1 in the opinion he has formed1 no less than in the stroke he strikes4 ,he is one2 and preaches the same ,self abroad in all these ways4 ,without hands a man might have feet1 and could still walk3 but1 consider it1--without morality1 intellect were impossible for him2 a thoroughly immoral man could not know anything at all6 ,to know a thing1 what we can call knowing1 a man must first love the thing1 sympathize with it3 that is1 be virtuously related to it4 ,if he have not the justice to put down his own selfishness at every turn1 the courage to stand by the dangerous-true at every turn1 how shall he know8 ,his virtues1 all of them1 will lie recorded in his knowledge4 ,nature1 with her truth1 remains to the bad1 to the selfish and the pusillanimous forever a sealed book3 what such can know of ,nature is mean1 superficial1 small2 for the uses of the day merely4--,but does not the very ,fox know something of ,nature8 ,exactly so3 it knows where the geese lodge6 ,the human ,reynard1 very frequent everywhere in the world1 what more does he know but this and the like of this8 ,nay1 it should be considered too1 that if the ,fox had not a certain vulpine morality1 he could not even know where the geese were1 or get at the geese6 ,if he spent his time in splenetic atrabiliar reflections on his own misery1 his ill usage by ,nature1 ,fortune and other ,foxes1 and so forth2 and had not courage1 promptitude1 practicality1 and other suitable vulpine gifts and graces1 he would catch no geese4 ,we may say of the ,fox too1 that his morality and insight are of the same dimensions2 different faces of the same internal unity of vulpine life6--,these things are worth stating2 for the contrary of them acts with manifold very baleful perversion1 in this time3 what limitations1 modifications they require1 your own candor will supply4 ,if ,i say1 therefore1 that ,shakspeare is the greatest of ,intellects1 ,i have said all concerning him4 ,but there is more in ,shakspeare's intellect than we have yet seen4 ,it is what ,i call an unconscious intellect2 there is more virtue in it than he himself is aware of4 ,novalis beautifully remarks of him1 that those ,dramas of his are ,products of ,nature too1 deep as ,nature herself4 ,i find a great truth in this saying4 ,shakspeare's ,art is not ,artifice2 the noblest worth of it is not there by plan or precontrivance4 ,it grows up from the deeps of ,nature1 through this noble sincere soul1 who is a voice of ,nature4 ,the latest generations of men will find new meanings in ,shakspeare1 new elucidations of their own human being2 new harmonies with the infinite structure of the ,universe2 concurrences with later ideas1 affinities with the higher powers and senses of man4 ,this well deserves meditating4 ,it is ,nature's highest reward to a true simple great soul1 that he get thus to be a part of herself4 ,such a man's works1 whatsoever he with utmost conscious exertion and forethought shall accomplish1 grow up withal unconsciously1 from the unknown deeps in him2--as the oak-tree grows from the ,earth's bosom1 as the mountains and waters shape themselves2 with a symmetry grounded on ,nature's own laws1 conformable to all ,truth whatsoever4 ,how much in ,shakspeare lies hid2 his sorrows1 his silent struggles known to himself2 much that was not known at all1 not speakable at all3 like roots1 like sap and forces working underground6 ,speech is great2 but ,silence is greater4 ,withal the joyful tranquillity of this man is notable4 ,i will not blame ,dante for his misery3 it is as battle without victory2 but true battle1--the first1 indispensable thing4 ,yet ,i call ,shakspeare greater than ,dante1 in that he fought truly1 and did conquer4 ,doubt it not1 he had his own sorrows3 those ,sonnets of his will even testify expressly in what deep waters he had waded1 and swum struggling for his life2--as what man like him ever failed to have to do8 ,it seems to me a heedless notion1 our common one1 that he sat like a bird on the bough2 and sang forth1 free and off-hand1 never knowing the troubles of other men4 ,not so2 with no man is it so4 ,how could a man travel forward from rustic deer-poaching to such tragedy-writing1 and not fall in with sorrows by the way8 ,or1 still better1 how could a man delineate a ,hamlet1 a ,coriolanus1 a ,macbeth1 so many suffering heroic hearts1 if his own heroic heart had never suffered8--,and now1 in contrast with all this1 observe his mirthfulness1 his genuine overflowing love of laughter6 ,you would say1 in no point does he exaggerate but only in laughter4 ,fiery objurgations1 words that pierce and burn1 are to be found in ,shakspeare2 yet he is always in measure here2 never what ,johnson would remark as a specially good hater4 ,but his laughter seems to pour from him in floods2 he heaps all manner of ridiculous nicknames on the butt he is bantering1 tumbles and tosses him in all sorts of horse-play2 you would say1 with his whole heart laughs4 ,and then1 if not always the finest1 it is always a genial laughter4 ,not at mere weakness1 at misery or poverty2 never4 ,no man who can laugh1 what we call laughing1 will laugh at these things4 ,it is some poor character only desiring to laugh1 and have the credit of wit1 that does so4 ,laughter means sympathy2 good laughter is not the crackling of thorns under the pot4 ,even at stupidity and pretension this ,shakspeare does not laugh otherwise than genially4 ,dogberry and ,verges tickle our very hearts2 and we dismiss them covered with explosions of laughter3 but we like the poor fellows only the better for our laughing2 and hope they will get on well there1 and continue ,presidents of the ,city-watch4 ,such laughter1 like sunshine on the deep sea1 is very beautiful to me4 ,we have no room to speak of ,shakspeare's individual works2 though perhaps there is much still waiting to be said on that head4 ,had we1 for instance1 all his plays reviewed as ,hamlet1 in ,wilhelm ,meister1 is6 ,a thing which might1 one day1 be done4 ,august ,wilhelm ,schlegel has a remark on his ,historical ,plays1 ,henry ,fifth and the others1 which is worth remembering4 ,he calls them a kind of ,national ,epic4 ,marlborough1 you recollect1 said1 he knew no ,english ,history but what he had learned from ,shakspeare4 ,there are really1 if we look to it1 few as memorable ,histories4 ,the great salient points are admirably seized2 all rounds itself off1 into a kind of rhythmic coherence2 it is1 as ,schlegel says1 epic2--as indeed all delineation by a great thinker will be4 ,there are right beautiful things in those ,pieces1 which indeed together form one beautiful thing4 ,that battle of ,agincourt strikes me as one of the most perfect things1 in its sort1 we anywhere have of ,shakspeare's4 ,the description of the two hosts3 the worn-out1 jaded ,english2 the dread hour1 big with destiny1 when the battle shall begin2 and then that deathless valor3 ,ye good yeomen1 whose limbs were made in ,england6 ,there is a noble ,patriotism in it1--far other than the indifference you sometimes hear ascribed to ,shakspeare4 ,a true ,english heart breathes1 calm and strong1 through the whole business2 not boisterous1 protrusive2 all the better for that4 ,there is a sound in it like the ring of steel4 ,this man too had a right stroke in him1 had it come to that6 ,but ,i will say1 of ,shakspeare's works generally1 that we have no full impress of him there2 even as full as we have of many men4 ,his works are so many windows1 through which we see a glimpse of the world that was in him4 ,all his works seem1 comparatively speaking1 cursory1 imperfect1 written under cramping circumstances2 giving only here and there a note of the full utterance of the man4 ,passages there are that come upon you like splendor out of ,heaven2 bursts of radiance1 illuminating the very heart of the thing3 you say1 ,that is true1 spoken once and forever2 wheresoever and whensoever there is an open human soul1 that will be recognized as true6 ,such bursts1 however1 make us feel that the surrounding matter is not radiant2 that it is1 in part1 temporary1 conventional4 ,alas1 ,shakspeare had to write for the ,globe ,playhouse3 his great soul had to crush itself1 as it could1 into that and no other mould4 ,it was with him1 then1 as it is with us all4 ,no man works save under conditions4 ,the sculptor cannot set his own free ,thought before us2 but his ,thought as he could translate it into the stone that was given1 with the tools that were given4 ,disjecta membra are all that we find of any ,poet1 or of any man4 ,whoever looks intelligently at this ,shakspeare may recognize that he too was a ,prophet1 in his way2 of an insight analogous to the ,prophetic1 though he took it up in another strain4 ,nature seemed to this man also divine2 unspeakable1 deep as ,tophet1 high as ,heaven2 ,we are such stuff as ,dreams are made of6 ,that scroll in ,westminster ,abbey1 which few read with understanding1 is of the depth of any seer4 ,but the man sang2 did not preach1 except musically4 ,we called ,dante the melodious ,priest of ,middle-,age ,catholicism4 ,may we not call ,shakspeare the still more melodious ,priest of a true ,catholicism1 the ,universal ,church of the ,future and of all times8 ,no narrow superstition1 harsh asceticism1 intolerance1 fanatical fierceness or perversion3 a ,revelation1 so far as it goes1 that such a thousand-fold hidden beauty and divineness dwells in all ,nature2 which let all men worship as they can6 ,we may say without offence1 that there rises a kind of universal ,psalm out of this ,shakspeare too2 not unfit to make itself heard among the still more sacred ,psalms4 ,not in disharmony with these1 if we understood them1 but in harmony6--,i cannot call this ,shakspeare a ,sceptic1 as some do2 his indifference to the creeds and theological quarrels of his time misleading them4 ,no3 neither unpatriotic1 though he says little about his ,patriotism2 nor sceptic1 though he says little about his ,faith4 ,such indifference was the fruit of his greatness withal3 his whole heart was in his own grand sphere of worship 7we may call it such72 these other controversies1 vitally important to other men1 were not vital to him4 ,but call it worship1 call it what you will1 is it not a right glorious thing1 and set of things1 this that ,shakspeare has brought us8 ,for myself1 ,i feel that there is actually a kind of sacredness in the fact of such a man being sent into this ,earth4 ,is he not an eye to us all2 a blessed heaven-sent ,bringer of ,light8--,and1 at bottom1 was it not perhaps far better that this ,shakspeare1 every way an unconscious man1 was conscious of no ,heavenly message8 ,he did not feel1 like ,mahomet1 because he saw into those internal ,splendors1 that he specially was the ,prophet of ,god3 and was he not greater than ,mahomet in that8 ,greater2 and also1 if we compute strictly1 as we did in ,dante's case1 more successful4 ,it was intrinsically an error that notion of ,mahomet's1 of his supreme ,prophethood2 and has come down to us inextricably involved in error to this day2 dragging along with it such a coil of fables1 impurities1 intolerances1 as makes it a questionable step for me here and now to say1 as ,i have done1 that ,mahomet was a true ,speaker at all1 and not rather an ambitious charlatan1 perversity and simulacrum2 no ,speaker1 but a ,babbler6 ,even in ,arabia1 as ,i compute1 ,mahomet will have exhausted himself and become obsolete1 while this ,shakspeare1 this ,dante may still be young2--while this ,shakspeare may still pretend to be a ,priest of ,mankind1 of ,arabia as of other places1 for unlimited periods to come6 ,compared with any speaker or singer one knows1 even with ,aeschylus or ,homer1 why should he not1 for veracity and universality1 last like them8 ,he is sincere as they2 reaches deep down like them1 to the universal and perennial4 ,but as for ,mahomet1 ,i think it had been better for him not to be so conscious6 ,alas1 poor ,mahomet2 all that he was conscious of was a mere error2 a futility and triviality1--as indeed such ever is4 ,the truly great in him too was the unconscious3 that he was a wild ,arab lion of the desert1 and did speak out with that great thunder-voice of his1 not by words which he thought to be great1 but by actions1 by feelings1 by a history which were great6 ,his ,koran has become a stupid piece of prolix absurdity2 we do not believe1 like him1 that ,god wrote that6 ,the ,great ,man here too1 as always1 is a ,force of ,nature4 ,whatsoever is truly great in him springs up from the inarticulate deeps4 ,well3 this is our poor ,warwickshire ,peasant1 who rose to be ,manager of a ,playhouse1 so that he could live without begging2 whom the ,earl of ,southampton cast some kind glances on2 whom ,sir ,thomas ,lucy1 many thanks to him1 was for sending to the ,treadmill6 ,we did not account him a god1 like ,odin1 while he dwelt with us2--on which point there were much to be said4 ,but ,i will say rather1 or repeat3 ,in spite of the sad state ,hero-worship now lies in1 consider what this ,shakspeare has actually become among us4 ,which ,englishman we ever made1 in this land of ours1 which million of ,englishmen1 would we not give up rather than the ,stratford ,peasant8 ,there is no regiment of highest ,dignitaries that we would sell him for4 ,he is the grandest thing we have yet done4 ,for our honor among foreign nations1 as an ornament to our ,english ,household1 what item is there that we would not surrender rather than him8 ,consider now1 if they asked us1 ,will you give up your ,indian ,empire or your ,shakspeare1 you ,english2 never have had any ,indian ,empire1 or never have had any ,shakspeare8 ,really it were a grave question4 ,official persons would answer doubtless in official language2 but we1 for our part too1 should not we be forced to answer3 ,indian ,empire1 or no ,indian ,empire2 we cannot do without ,shakspeare6 ,indian ,empire will go1 at any rate1 some day2 but this ,shakspeare does not go1 he lasts forever with us2 we cannot give up our ,shakspeare6 ,nay1 apart from spiritualities2 and considering him merely as a real1 marketable1 tangibly useful possession4 ,england1 before long1 this ,island of ours1 will hold but a small fraction of the ,english3 in ,america1 in ,new ,holland1 east and west to the very ,antipodes1 there will be a ,saxondom covering great spaces of the ,globe4 ,and now1 what is it that can keep all these together into virtually one ,nation1 so that they do not fall out and fight1 but live at peace1 in brotherlike intercourse1 helping one another8 ,this is justly regarded as the greatest practical problem1 the thing all manner of sovereignties and governments are here to accomplish3 what is it that will accomplish this8 ,acts of ,parliament1 administrative prime-ministers cannot4 ,america is parted from us1 so far as ,parliament could part it4 ,call it not fantastic1 for there is much reality in it3 ,here1 ,i say1 is an ,english ,king1 whom no time or chance1 ,parliament or combination of ,parliaments1 can dethrone6 ,this ,king ,shakspeare1 does not he shine1 in crowned sovereignty1 over us all1 as the noblest1 gentlest1 yet strongest of rallying-signs2 indestructible2 really more valuable in that point of view than any other means or appliance whatsoever8 ,we can fancy him as radiant aloft over all the ,nations of ,englishmen1 a thousand years hence4 ,from ,paramatta1 from ,new ,york1 wheresoever1 under what sort of ,parish-,constable soever1 ,english men and women are1 they will say to one another3 ,yes1 this ,shakspeare is ours2 we produced him1 we speak and think by him2 we are of one blood and kind with him4 ,the most common-sense politician1 too1 if he pleases1 may think of that4 ,yes1 truly1 it is a great thing for a ,nation that it get an articulate voice2 that it produce a man who will speak forth melodiously what the heart of it means6 ,italy1 for example1 poor ,italy lies dismembered1 scattered asunder1 not appearing in any protocol or treaty as a unity at all2 yet the noble ,italy is actually one3 ,italy produced its ,dante2 ,italy can speak6 ,the ,czar of all the ,russias1 he is strong with so many bayonets1 ,cossacks and cannons2 and does a great feat in keeping such a tract of ,earth politically together2 but he cannot yet speak4 ,something great in him1 but it is a dumb greatness4 ,he has had no voice of genius1 to be heard of all men and times4 ,he must learn to speak4 ,he is a great dumb monster hitherto4 ,his cannons and ,cossacks will all have rusted into nonentity1 while that ,dante's voice is still audible4 ,the ,nation that has a ,dante is bound together as no dumb ,russia can be4--,we must here end what we had to say of the ,hero-,poet4 ,,lecture ,,iv4 ,,the ,,hero ,,as ,,priest4 ,,luther2 ,,reformation3 ,,knox2 ,,puritanism4 ,may #ae1 #ahdj4 ,our present discourse is to be of the ,great ,man as ,priest4 ,we have repeatedly endeavored to explain that all sorts of ,heroes are intrinsically of the same material2 that given a great soul1 open to the ,divine ,significance of ,life1 then there is given a man fit to speak of this1 to sing of this1 to fight and work for this1 in a great1 victorious1 enduring manner2 there is given a ,hero1--the outward shape of whom will depend on the time and the environment he finds himself in4 ,the ,priest too1 as ,i understand it1 is a kind of ,prophet2 in him too there is required to be a light of inspiration1 as we must name it4 ,he presides over the worship of the people2 is the ,uniter of them with the ,unseen ,holy4 ,he is the spiritual ,captain of the people2 as the ,prophet is their spiritual ,king with many captains3 he guides them heavenward1 by wise guidance through this ,earth and its work4 ,the ideal of him is1 that he too be what we can call a voice from the unseen ,heaven2 interpreting1 even as the ,prophet did1 and in a more familiar manner unfolding the same to men4 ,the unseen ,heaven1--the open secret of the ,universe1--which so few have an eye for6 ,he is the ,prophet shorn of his more awful splendor2 burning with mild equable radiance1 as the enlightener of daily life4 ,this1 ,i say1 is the ideal of a ,priest4 ,so in old times2 so in these1 and in all times4 ,one knows very well that1 in reducing ideals to practice1 great latitude of tolerance is needful2 very great4 ,but a ,priest who is not this at all1 who does not any longer aim or try to be this1 is a character--of whom we had rather not speak in this place4 ,luther and ,knox were by express vocation ,priests1 and did faithfully perform that function in its common sense4 ,yet it will suit us better here to consider them chiefly in their historical character1 rather as ,reformers than ,priests4 ,there have been other ,priests perhaps equally notable1 in calmer times1 for doing faithfully the office of a ,leader of ,worship2 bringing down1 by faithful heroism in that kind1 a light from ,heaven into the daily life of their people2 leading them forward1 as under ,god's guidance1 in the way wherein they were to go4 ,but when this same way was a rough one1 of battle1 confusion and danger1 the spiritual ,captain1 who led through that1 becomes1 especially to us who live under the fruit of his leading1 more notable than any other4 ,he is the warfaring and battling ,priest2 who led his people1 not to quiet faithful labor as in smooth times1 but to faithful valorous conflict1 in times all violent1 dismembered3 a more perilous service1 and a more memorable one1 be it higher or not4 ,these two men we will account our best ,priests1 inasmuch as they were our best ,reformers4 ,nay ,i may ask1 ,is not every true ,reformer1 by the nature of him1 a ,priest first of all8 ,he appeals to ,heaven's invisible justice against ,earth's visible force2 knows that it1 the invisible1 is strong and alone strong4 ,he is a believer in the divine truth of things2 a seer1 seeing through the shows of things2 a worshipper1 in one way or the other1 of the divine truth of things2 a ,priest1 that is4 ,if he be not first a ,priest1 he will never be good for much as a ,reformer4 ,thus then1 as we have seen ,great ,men1 in various situations1 building up ,religions1 heroic ,forms of human ,existence in this world1 ,theories of ,life worthy to be sung by a ,dante1 ,practices of ,life by a ,shakspeare1--we are now to see the reverse process2 which also is necessary1 which also may be carried on in the ,heroic manner4 ,curious how this should be necessary3 yet necessary it is4 ,the mild shining of the ,poet's light has to give place to the fierce lightning of the ,reformer3 unfortunately the ,reformer too is a personage that cannot fail in ,history6 ,the ,poet indeed1 with his mildness1 what is he but the product and ultimate adjustment of ,reform1 or ,prophecy1 with its fierceness8 ,no wild ,saint ,dominics and ,thebaid ,eremites1 there had been no melodious ,dante2 rough ,practical ,endeavor1 ,scandinavian and other1 from ,odin to ,walter ,raleigh1 from ,ulfila to ,cranmer1 enabled ,shakspeare to speak4 ,nay the finished ,poet1 ,i remark sometimes1 is a symptom that his epoch itself has reached perfection and is finished2 that before long there will be a new epoch1 new ,reformers needed4 ,doubtless it were finer1 could we go along always in the way of music2 be tamed and taught by our ,poets1 as the rude creatures were by their ,orpheus of old4 ,or failing this rhythmic musical way1 how good were it could we get so much as into the equable way2 ,i mean1 if peaceable ,priests1 reforming from day to day1 would always suffice us6 ,but it is not so2 even this latter has not yet been realized4 ,alas1 the battling ,reformer too is1 from time to time1 a needful and inevitable phenomenon4 ,obstructions are never wanting3 the very things that were once indispensable furtherances become obstructions2 and need to be shaken off1 and left behind us1--a business often of enormous difficulty4 ,it is notable enough1 surely1 how a ,theorem or spiritual ,representation1 so we may call it1 which once took in the whole ,universe1 and was completely satisfactory in all parts of it to the highly discursive acute intellect of ,dante1 one of the greatest in the world1--had in the course of another century become dubitable to common intellects2 become deniable2 and is now1 to every one of us1 flatly incredible1 obsolete as ,odin's ,theorem6 ,to ,dante1 human ,existence1 and ,god's ways with men1 were all well represented by those ,malebolges1 ,purgatorios2 to ,luther not well4 ,how was this8 ,why could not ,dante's ,catholicism continue2 but ,luther's ,protestantism must needs follow8 ,alas1 nothing will continue4 ,i do not make much of ,progress of the ,species1 as handled in these times of ours2 nor do ,i think you would care to hear much about it4 ,the talk on that subject is too often of the most extravagant1 confused sort4 ,yet ,i may say1 the fact itself seems certain enough2 nay we can trace out the inevitable necessity of it in the nature of things4 ,every man1 as ,i have stated somewhere1 is not only a learner but a doer3 he learns with the mind given him what has been2 but with the same mind he discovers farther1 he invents and devises somewhat of his own4 ,absolutely without originality there is no man4 ,no man whatever believes1 or can believe1 exactly what his grandfather believed3 he enlarges somewhat1 by fresh discovery1 his view of the ,universe1 and consequently his ,theorem of the ,universe1--which is an infinite ,universe1 and can never be embraced wholly or finally by any view or ,theorem1 in any conceivable enlargement3 he enlarges somewhat1 ,i say2 finds somewhat that was credible to his grandfather incredible to him1 false to him1 inconsistent with some new thing he has discovered or observed4 ,it is the history of every man2 and in the history of ,mankind we see it summed up into great historical amounts1--revolutions1 new epochs4 ,dante's ,mountain of ,purgatory does not stand in the ocean of the other ,hemisphere1 when ,columbus has once sailed thither6 ,men find no such thing extant in the other ,hemisphere4 ,it is not there4 ,it must cease to be believed to be there4 ,so with all beliefs whatsoever in this world1--all ,systems of ,belief1 and ,systems of ,practice that spring from these4 ,if we add now the melancholy fact1 that when ,belief waxes uncertain1 ,practice too becomes unsound1 and errors1 injustices and miseries everywhere more and more prevail1 we shall see material enough for revolution4 ,at all turns1 a man who will do faithfully1 needs to believe firmly4 ,if he have to ask at every turn the world's suffrage2 if he cannot dispense with the world's suffrage1 and make his own suffrage serve1 he is a poor eye-servant2 the work committed to him will be misdone4 ,every such man is a daily contributor to the inevitable downfall4 ,whatsoever work he does1 dishonestly1 with an eye to the outward look of it1 is a new offence1 parent of new misery to somebody or other4 ,offences accumulate till they become insupportable2 and are then violently burst through1 cleared off as by explosion4 ,dante's sublime ,catholicism1 incredible now in theory1 and defaced still worse by faithless1 doubting and dishonest practice1 has to be torn asunder by a ,luther1 ,shakspeare's noble ,feudalism1 as beautiful as it once looked and was1 has to end in a ,french ,revolution4 ,the accumulation of offences is1 as we say1 too literally exploded1 blasted asunder volcanically2 and there are long troublous periods1 before matters come to a settlement again4 ,surely it were mournful enough to look only at this face of the matter1 and find in all human opinions and arrangements merely the fact that they were uncertain1 temporary1 subject to the law of death6 ,at bottom1 it is not so3 all death1 here too we find1 is but of the body1 not of the essence or soul2 all destruction1 by violent revolution or howsoever it be1 is but new creation on a wider scale4 ,odinism was ,valor2 ,christianism was ,humility1 a nobler kind of ,valor4 ,no thought that ever dwelt honestly as true in the heart of man but was an honest insight into ,god's truth on man's part1 and has an essential truth in it which endures through all changes1 an everlasting possession for us all4 ,and1 on the other hand1 what a melancholy notion is that1 which has to represent all men1 in all countries and times except our own1 as having spent their life in blind condemnable error1 mere lost ,pagans1 ,scandinavians1 ,mahometans1 only that we might have the true ultimate knowledge6 ,all generations of men were lost and wrong1 only that this present little section of a generation might be saved and right4 ,they all marched forward there1 all generations since the beginning of the world1 like the ,russian soldiers into the ditch of ,schweidnitz ,fort1 only to fill up the ditch with their dead bodies1 that we might march over and take the place6 ,it is an incredible hypothesis4 ,such incredible hypothesis we have seen maintained with fierce emphasis2 and this or the other poor individual man1 with his sect of individual men1 marching as over the dead bodies of all men1 towards sure victory but when he too1 with his hypothesis and ultimate infallible credo1 sank into the ditch1 and became a dead body1 what was to be said8--,withal1 it is an important fact in the nature of man1 that he tends to reckon his own insight as final1 and goes upon it as such4 ,he will always do it1 ,i suppose1 in one or the other way2 but it must be in some wider1 wiser way than this4 ,are not all true men that live1 or that ever lived1 soldiers of the same army1 enlisted1 under ,heaven's captaincy1 to do battle against the same enemy1 the empire of ,darkness and ,wrong8 ,why should we misknow one another1 fight not against the enemy but against ourselves1 from mere difference of uniform8 ,all uniforms shall be good1 so they hold in them true valiant men4 ,all fashions of arms1 the ,arab turban and swift scimetar1 ,thor's strong hammer smiting down ,jotuns1 shall be welcome4 ,luther's battle-voice1 ,dante's march-melody1 all genuine things are with us1 not against us4 ,we are all under one ,captain1 soldiers of the same host4--,let us now look a little at this ,luther's fighting2 what kind of battle it was1 and how he comported himself in it4 ,luther too was of our spiritual ,heroes2 a ,prophet to his country and time4 ,as introductory to the whole1 a remark about ,idolatry will perhaps be in place here4 ,one of ,mahomet's characteristics1 which indeed belongs to all ,prophets1 is unlimited implacable zeal against ,idolatry4 ,it is the grand theme of ,prophets3 ,idolatry1 the worshipping of dead ,idols as the ,divinity1 is a thing they cannot away with1 but have to denounce continually1 and brand with inexpiable reprobation2 it is the chief of all the sins they see done under the sun4 ,this is worth noting4 ,we will not enter here into the theological question about ,idolatry4 ,idol is ,eidolon1 a thing seen1 a symbol4 ,it is not ,god1 but a ,symbol of ,god2 and perhaps one may question whether any the most benighted mortal ever took it for more than a ,symbol4 ,i fancy1 he did not think that the poor image his own hands had made was ,god2 but that ,god was emblemed by it1 that ,god was in it some way or other4 ,and now in this sense1 one may ask1 ,is not all worship whatsoever a worship by ,symbols1 by eidola1 or things seen8 ,whether seen1 rendered visible as an image or picture to the bodily eye2 or visible only to the inward eye1 to the imagination1 to the intellect3 this makes a superficial1 but no substantial difference4 ,it is still a ,thing ,seen1 significant of ,godhead2 an ,idol4 ,the most rigorous ,puritan has his ,confession of ,faith1 and intellectual ,representation of ,divine things1 and worships thereby2 thereby is worship first made possible for him4 ,all creeds1 liturgies1 religious forms1 conceptions that fitly invest religious feelings1 are in this sense eidola1 things seen4 ,all worship whatsoever must proceed by ,symbols1 by ,idols3--we may say1 all ,idolatry is comparative1 and the worst ,idolatry is only more idolatrous4 ,where1 then1 lies the evil of it8 ,some fatal evil must lie in it1 or earnest prophetic men would not on all hands so reprobate it4 ,why is ,idolatry so hateful to ,prophets8 ,it seems to me as if1 in the worship of those poor wooden symbols1 the thing that had chiefly provoked the ,prophet1 and filled his inmost soul with indignation and aversion1 was not exactly what suggested itself to his own thought1 and came out of him in words to others1 as the thing4 ,the rudest heathen that worshipped ,canopus1 or the ,caabah ,black-,stone1 he1 as we saw1 was superior to the horse that worshipped nothing at all6 ,nay there was a kind of lasting merit in that poor act of his2 analogous to what is still meritorious in ,poets3 recognition of a certain endless divine beauty and significance in stars and all natural objects whatsoever4 ,why should the ,prophet so mercilessly condemn him8 ,the poorest mortal worshipping his ,fetish1 while his heart is full of it1 may be an object of pity1 of contempt and avoidance1 if you will2 but cannot surely be an object of hatred4 ,let his heart be honestly full of it1 the whole space of his dark narrow mind illuminated thereby2 in one word1 let him entirely believe in his ,fetish1--it will then be1 ,i should say1 if not well with him1 yet as well as it can readily be made to be1 and you will leave him alone1 unmolested there4 ,but here enters the fatal circumstance of ,idolatry1 that1 in the era of the ,prophets1 no man's mind is any longer honestly filled with his ,idol or ,symbol4 ,before the ,prophet can arise who1 seeing through it1 knows it to be mere wood1 many men must have begun dimly to doubt that it was little more4 ,condemnable ,idolatry is insincere ,idolatry4 ,doubt has eaten out the heart of it3 a human soul is seen clinging spasmodically to an ,ark of the ,covenant1 which it half feels now to have become a ,phantasm4 ,this is one of the balefulest sights4 ,souls are no longer filled with their ,fetish2 but only pretend to be filled1 and would fain make themselves feel that they are filled4 ,you do not believe1 said ,coleridge2 you only believe that you believe4 ,it is the final scene in all kinds of ,worship and ,symbolism2 the sure symptom that death is now nigh4 ,it is equivalent to what we call ,formulism1 and ,worship of ,formulas1 in these days of ours4 ,no more immoral act can be done by a human creature2 for it is the beginning of all immorality1 or rather it is the impossibility henceforth of any morality whatsoever3 the innermost moral soul is paralyzed thereby1 cast into fatal magnetic sleep6 ,men are no longer sincere men4 ,i do not wonder that the earnest man denounces this1 brands it1 prosecutes it with inextinguishable aversion4 ,he and it1 all good and it1 are at death-feud4 ,blamable ,idolatry is ,cant1 and even what one may call ,sincere-,cant4 ,sincere-,cant3 that is worth thinking of6 ,every sort of ,worship ends with this phasis4 ,i find ,luther to have been a ,breaker of ,idols1 no less than any other ,prophet4 ,the wooden gods of the ,koreish1 made of timber and bees-wax1 were not more hateful to ,mahomet than ,tetzel's ,pardons of ,sin1 made of sheepskin and ink1 were to ,luther4 ,it is the property of every ,hero1 in every time1 in every place and situation1 that he come back to reality2 that he stand upon things1 and not shows of things4 ,according as he loves1 and venerates1 articulately or with deep speechless thought1 the awful realities of things1 so will the hollow shows of things1 however regular1 decorous1 accredited by ,koreishes or ,conclaves1 be intolerable and detestable to him4 ,protestantism1 too1 is the work of a ,prophet3 the prophet-work of that sixteenth century4 ,the first stroke of honest demolition to an ancient thing grown false and idolatrous2 preparatory afar off to a new thing1 which shall be true1 and authentically divine6 ,at first view it might seem as if ,protestantism were entirely destructive to this that we call ,hero-worship1 and represent as the basis of all possible good1 religious or social1 for mankind4 ,one often hears it said that ,protestantism introduced a new era1 radically different from any the world had ever seen before3 the era of private judgment1 as they call it4 ,by this revolt against the ,pope1 every man became his own ,pope2 and learnt1 among other things1 that he must never trust any ,pope1 or spiritual ,hero-captain1 any more6 ,whereby1 is not spiritual union1 all hierarchy and subordination among men1 henceforth an impossibility8 ,so we hear it said4--,now ,i need not deny that ,protestantism was a revolt against spiritual sovereignties1 ,popes and much else4 ,nay ,i will grant that ,english ,puritanism1 revolt against earthly sovereignties1 was the second act of it2 that the enormous ,french ,revolution itself was the third act1 whereby all sovereignties earthly and spiritual were1 as might seem1 abolished or made sure of abolition4 ,protestantism is the grand root from which our whole subsequent ,european ,history branches out4 ,for the spiritual will always body itself forth in the temporal history of men2 the spiritual is the beginning of the temporal4 ,and now1 sure enough1 the cry is everywhere for ,liberty and ,equality1 ,independence and so forth2 instead of ,kings1 ,ballot-boxes and ,electoral suffrages3 it seems made out that any ,hero-sovereign1 or loyal obedience of men to a man1 in things temporal or things spiritual1 has passed away forever from the world4 ,i should despair of the world altogether1 if so4 ,one of my deepest convictions is1 that it is not so4 ,without sovereigns1 true sovereigns1 temporal and spiritual1 ,i see nothing possible but an anarchy2 the hatefulest of things4 ,but ,i find ,protestantism1 whatever anarchic democracy it have produced1 to be the beginning of new genuine sovereignty and order4 ,i find it to be a revolt against false sovereigns2 the painful but indispensable first preparative for true sovereigns getting place among us6 ,this is worth explaining a little4 ,let us remark1 therefore1 in the first place1 that this of private judgment is1 at bottom1 not a new thing in the world1 but only new at that epoch of the world4 ,there is nothing generically new or peculiar in the ,reformation2 it was a return to ,truth and ,reality in opposition to ,falsehood and ,semblance1 as all kinds of ,improvement and genuine ,teaching are and have been4 ,liberty of private judgment1 if we will consider it1 must at all times have existed in the world4 ,dante had not put out his eyes1 or tied shackles on himself2 he was at home in that ,catholicism of his1 a free-seeing soul in it1--if many a poor ,hogstraten1 ,tetzel1 and ,dr4 ,eck had now become slaves in it4 ,liberty of judgment8 ,no iron chain1 or outward force of any kind1 could ever compel the soul of a man to believe or to disbelieve3 it is his own indefeasible light1 that judgment of his2 he will reign1 and believe there1 by the grace of ,god alone6 ,the sorriest sophistical ,bellarmine1 preaching sightless faith and passive obedience1 must first1 by some kind of conviction1 have abdicated his right to be convinced4 ,his private judgment indicated that1 as the advisablest step he could take4 ,the right of private judgment will subsist1 in full force1 wherever true men subsist4 ,a true man believes with his whole judgment1 with all the illumination and discernment that is in him1 and has always so believed4 ,a false man1 only struggling to believe that he believes1 will naturally manage it in some other way4 ,protestantism said to this latter1 ,woe6 and to the former1 ,well done6 ,at bottom1 it was no new saying2 it was a return to all old sayings that ever had been said4 ,be genuine1 be sincere3 that was1 once more1 the meaning of it4 ,mahomet believed with his whole mind2 ,odin with his whole mind1--he1 and all true ,followers of ,odinism4 ,they1 by their private judgment1 had judged --so4 ,and now ,i venture to assert1 that the exercise of private judgment1 faithfully gone about1 does by no means necessarily end in selfish independence1 isolation2 but rather ends necessarily in the opposite of that4 ,it is not honest inquiry that makes anarchy2 but it is error1 insincerity1 half-belief and untruth that make it4 ,a man protesting against error is on the way towards uniting himself with all men that believe in truth4 ,there is no communion possible among men who believe only in hearsays4 ,the heart of each is lying dead2 has no power of sympathy even with things1--or he would believe them and not hearsays4 ,no sympathy even with things2 how much less with his fellow-men6 ,he cannot unite with men2 he is an anarchic man4 ,only in a world of sincere men is unity possible2--and there1 in the long-run1 it is as good as certain4 ,for observe one thing1 a thing too often left out of view1 or rather altogether lost sight of in this controversy3 ,that it is not necessary a man should himself have discovered the truth he is to believe in1 and never so sincerely to believe in4 ,a ,great ,man1 we said1 was always sincere1 as the first condition of him4 ,but a man need not be great in order to be sincere2 that is not the necessity of ,nature and all ,time1 but only of certain corrupt unfortunate epochs of ,time4 ,a man can believe1 and make his own1 in the most genuine way1 what he has received from another2--and with boundless gratitude to that other6 ,the merit of originality is not novelty2 it is sincerity4 ,the believing man is the original man2 whatsoever he believes1 he believes it for himself1 not for another4 ,every son of ,adam can become a sincere man1 an original man1 in this sense2 no mortal is doomed to be an insincere man4 ,whole ages1 what we call ages of ,faith1 are original2 all men in them1 or the most of men in them1 sincere4 ,these are the great and fruitful ages3 every worker1 in all spheres1 is a worker not on semblance but on substance2 every work issues in a result3 the general sum of such work is great2 for all of it1 as genuine1 tends towards one goal2 all of it is additive1 none of it subtractive4 ,there is true union1 true kingship1 loyalty1 all true and blessed things1 so far as the poor ,earth can produce blessedness for men4 ,hero-worship8 ,ah me1 that a man be self-subsistent1 original1 true1 or what we call it1 is surely the farthest in the world from indisposing him to reverence and believe other men's truth6 ,it only disposes1 necessitates and invincibly compels him to disbelieve other men's dead formulas1 hearsays and untruths4 ,a man embraces truth with his eyes open1 and because his eyes are open3 does he need to shut them before he can love his ,teacher of truth8 ,he alone can love1 with a right gratitude and genuine loyalty of soul1 the ,hero-,teacher who has delivered him out of darkness into light4 ,is not such a one a true ,hero and ,serpent-queller2 worthy of all reverence6 ,the black monster1 ,falsehood1 our one enemy in this world1 lies prostrate by his valor2 it was he that conquered the world for us6--,see1 accordingly1 was not ,luther himself reverenced as a true ,pope1 or ,spiritual ,father1 being verily such8 ,napoleon1 from amid boundless revolt of ,sansculottism1 became a ,king4 ,hero-worship never dies1 nor can die4 ,loyalty and ,sovereignty are everlasting in the world3--and there is this in them1 that they are grounded not on garnitures and semblances1 but on realities and sincerities4 ,not by shutting your eyes1 your private judgment2 no1 but by opening them1 and by having something to see6 ,luther's message was deposition and abolition to all false ,popes and ,potentates1 but life and strength1 though afar off1 to new genuine ones4 ,all this of ,liberty and ,equality1 ,electoral suffrages1 ,independence and so forth1 we will take1 therefore1 to be a temporary phenomenon1 by no means a final one4 ,though likely to last a long time1 with sad enough embroilments for us all1 we must welcome it1 as the penalty of sins that are past1 the pledge of inestimable benefits that are coming4 ,in all ways1 it behooved men to quit simulacra and return to fact2 cost what it might1 that did behoove to be done4 ,with spurious ,popes1 and ,believers having no private judgment1--quacks pretending to command over dupes1--what can you do8 ,misery and mischief only4 ,you cannot make an association out of insincere men2 you cannot build an edifice except by plummet and level1--at right-angles to one another6 ,in all this wild revolutionary work1 from ,protestantism downwards1 ,i see the blessedest result preparing itself3 not abolition of ,hero-worship1 but rather what ,i would call a whole ,world of ,heroes4 ,if ,hero mean sincere man1 why may not every one of us be a ,hero8 ,a world all sincere1 a believing world3 the like has been2 the like will again be1--cannot help being4 ,that were the right sort of ,worshippers for ,heroes3 never could the truly ,better be so reverenced as where all were ,true and ,good6--,but we must hasten to ,luther and his ,life4 ,luther's birthplace was ,eisleben in ,saxony2 he came into the world there on the #ajth of ,november1 #adhc4 ,it was an accident that gave this honor to ,eisleben4 ,his parents1 poor mine-laborers in a village of that region1 named ,mohra1 had gone to the ,eisleben ,winter-,fair3 in the tumult of this scene the ,frau ,luther was taken with travail1 found refuge in some poor house there1 and the boy she bore was named ,,martin ,,luther4 ,strange enough to reflect upon it4 ,this poor ,frau ,luther1 she had gone with her husband to make her small merchandisings2 perhaps to sell the lock of yarn she had been spinning1 to buy the small winter-necessaries for her narrow hut or household2 in the whole world1 that day1 there was not a more entirely unimportant-looking pair of people than this ,miner and his ,wife4 ,and yet what were all ,emperors1 ,popes and ,potentates1 in comparison8 ,there was born here1 once more1 a ,mighty ,man2 whose light was to flame as the beacon over long centuries and epochs of the world2 the whole world and its history was waiting for this man4 ,it is strange1 it is great4 ,it leads us back to another ,birth-hour1 in a still meaner environment1 ,eighteen ,hundred years ago1--of which it is fit that we say nothing1 that we think only in silence2 for what words are there6 ,the ,age of ,miracles past8 ,the ,age of ,miracles is forever here--6 ,i find it altogether suitable to ,luther's function in this ,earth1 and doubtless wisely ordered to that end by the ,providence presiding over him and us and all things1 that he was born poor1 and brought up poor1 one of the poorest of men4 ,he had to beg1 as the school-children in those times did2 singing for alms and bread1 from door to door4 ,hardship1 rigorous ,necessity was the poor boy's companion2 no man nor no thing would put on a false face to flatter ,martin ,luther4 ,among things1 not among the shows of things1 had he to grow4 ,a boy of rude figure1 yet with weak health1 with his large greedy soul1 full of all faculty and sensibility1 he suffered greatly4 ,but it was his task to get acquainted with realities1 and keep acquainted with them1 at whatever cost3 his task was to bring the whole world back to reality1 for it had dwelt too long with semblance6 ,a youth nursed up in wintry whirlwinds1 in desolate darkness and difficulty1 that he may step forth at last from his stormy ,scandinavia1 strong as a true man1 as a god3 a ,christian ,odin1--a right ,thor once more1 with his thunder-hammer1 to smite asunder ugly enough ,jotuns and ,giant-monsters6 ,perhaps the turning incident of his life1 we may fancy1 was that death of his friend ,alexis1 by lightning1 at the gate of ,erfurt4 ,luther had struggled up through boyhood1 better and worse2 displaying1 in spite of all hindrances1 the largest intellect1 eager to learn3 his father judging doubtless that he might promote himself in the world1 set him upon the study of ,law4 ,this was the path to rise2 ,luther1 with little will in it either way1 had consented3 he was now nineteen years of age4 ,alexis and he had been to see the old ,luther people at ,mansfeldt2 were got back again near ,erfurt1 when a thunder-storm came on2 the bolt struck ,alexis1 he fell dead at ,luther's feet4 ,what is this ,life of ours8--gone in a moment1 burnt up like a scroll1 into the blank ,eternity6 ,what are all earthly preferments1 ,chancellorships1 ,kingships8 ,they lie shrunk together--there6 ,the ,earth has opened on them2 in a moment they are not1 and ,eternity is4 ,luther1 struck to the heart1 determined to devote himself to ,god and ,god's service alone4 ,in spite of all dissuasions from his father and others1 he became a ,monk in the ,augustine ,convent at ,erfurt4 ,this was probably the first light-point in the history of ,luther1 his purer will now first decisively uttering itself2 but1 for the present1 it was still as one light-point in an element all of darkness4 ,he says he was a pious monk1 ich bin ein frommer ,monch gewesen2 faithfully1 painfully struggling to work out the truth of this high act of his2 but it was to little purpose4 ,his misery had not lessened2 had rather1 as it were1 increased into infinitude4 ,the drudgeries he had to do1 as novice in his ,convent1 all sorts of slave-work1 were not his grievance3 the deep earnest soul of the man had fallen into all manner of black scruples1 dubitations2 he believed himself likely to die soon1 and far worse than die4 ,one hears with a new interest for poor ,luther that1 at this time1 he lived in terror of the unspeakable misery2 fancied that he was doomed to eternal reprobation4 ,was it not the humble sincere nature of the man8 ,what was he1 that he should be raised to ,heaven6 ,he that had known only misery1 and mean slavery3 the news was too blessed to be credible4 ,it could not become clear to him how1 by fasts1 vigils1 formalities and mass-work1 a man's soul could be saved4 ,he fell into the blackest wretchedness2 had to wander staggering as on the verge of bottomless ,despair4 ,it must have been a most blessed discovery1 that of an old ,latin ,bible which he found in the ,erfurt ,library about this time4 ,he had never seen the ,book before4 ,it taught him another lesson than that of fasts and vigils4 ,a brother monk too1 of pious experience1 was helpful4 ,luther learned now that a man was saved not by singing masses1 but by the infinite grace of ,god3 a more credible hypothesis4 ,he gradually got himself founded1 as on the rock4 ,no wonder he should venerate the ,bible1 which had brought this blessed help to him4 ,he prized it as the ,word of the ,highest must be prized by such a man4 ,he determined to hold by that2 as through life and to death he firmly did4 ,this1 then1 is his deliverance from darkness1 his final triumph over darkness1 what we call his conversion2 for himself the most important of all epochs4 ,that he should now grow daily in peace and clearness2 that1 unfolding now the great talents and virtues implanted in him1 he should rise to importance in his ,convent1 in his country1 and be found more and more useful in all honest business of life1 is a natural result4 ,he was sent on missions by his ,augustine ,order1 as a man of talent and fidelity fit to do their business well3 the ,elector of ,saxony1 ,friedrich1 named the ,wise1 a truly wise and just prince1 had cast his eye on him as a valuable person2 made him ,professor in his new ,university of ,wittenberg1 ,preacher too at ,wittenberg2 in both which capacities1 as in all duties he did1 this ,luther1 in the peaceable sphere of common life1 was gaining more and more esteem with all good men4 ,it was in his twenty-seventh year that he first saw ,rome2 being sent thither1 as ,i said1 on mission from his ,convent4 ,pope ,julius the ,second1 and what was going on at ,rome1 must have filled the mind of ,luther with amazement4 ,he had come as to the ,sacred ,city1 throne of ,god's ,high-priest on ,earth2 and he found it--what we know6 ,many thoughts it must have given the man2 many which we have no record of1 which perhaps he did not himself know how to utter4 ,this ,rome1 this scene of false priests1 clothed not in the beauty of holiness1 but in far other vesture1 is false3 but what is it to ,luther8 ,a mean man he1 how shall he reform a world8 ,that was far from his thoughts4 ,a humble1 solitary man1 why should he at all meddle with the world8 ,it was the task of quite higher men than he4 ,his business was to guide his own footsteps wisely through the world4 ,let him do his own obscure duty in it well2 the rest1 horrible and dismal as it looks1 is in ,god's hand1 not in his4 ,it is curious to reflect what might have been the issue1 had ,roman ,popery happened to pass this ,luther by2 to go on in its great wasteful orbit1 and not come athwart his little path1 and force him to assault it6 ,conceivable enough that1 in this case1 he might have held his peace about the abuses of ,rome2 left ,providence1 and ,god on high1 to deal with them6 ,a modest quiet man2 not prompt he to attack irreverently persons in authority4 ,his clear task1 as ,i say1 was to do his own duty2 to walk wisely in this world of confused wickedness1 and save his own soul alive4 ,but the ,roman ,high-priesthood did come athwart him3 afar off at ,wittenberg he1 ,luther1 could not get lived in honesty for it2 he remonstrated1 resisted1 came to extremity2 was struck at1 struck again1 and so it came to wager of battle between them6 ,this is worth attending to in ,luther's history4 ,perhaps no man of so humble1 peaceable a disposition ever filled the world with contention4 ,we cannot but see that he would have loved privacy1 quiet diligence in the shade2 that it was against his will he ever became a notoriety4 ,notoriety3 what would that do for him8 ,the goal of his march through this world was the ,infinite ,heaven2 an indubitable goal for him3 in a few years1 he should either have attained that1 or lost it forever6 ,we will say nothing at all1 ,i think1 of that sorrowfulest of theories1 of its being some mean shopkeeper grudge1 of the ,augustine ,monk against the ,dominican1 that first kindled the wrath of ,luther1 and produced the ,protestant ,reformation4 ,we will say to the people who maintain it1 if indeed any such exist now3 ,get first into the sphere of thought by which it is so much as possible to judge of ,luther1 or of any man like ,luther1 otherwise than distractedly2 we may then begin arguing with you4 ,the ,monk ,tetzel1 sent out carelessly in the way of trade1 by ,leo ,tenth1--who merely wanted to raise a little money1 and for the rest seems to have been a ,pagan rather than a ,christian1 so far as he was anything1--arrived at ,wittenberg1 and drove his scandalous trade there4 ,luther's flock bought ,indulgences2 in the confessional of his ,church1 people pleaded to him that they had already got their sins pardoned4 ,luther1 if he would not be found wanting at his own post1 a false sluggard and coward at the very centre of the little space of ground that was his own and no other man's1 had to step forth against ,indulgences1 and declare aloud that they were a futility and sorrowful mockery1 that no man's sins could be pardoned by them4 ,it was the beginning of the whole ,reformation4 ,we know how it went2 forward from this first public challenge of ,tetzel1 on the last day of ,october1 #aeag1 through remonstrance and argument2--spreading ever wider1 rising ever higher2 till it became unquenchable1 and enveloped all the world4 ,luther's heart's desire was to have this grief and other griefs amended2 his thought was still far other than that of introducing separation in the ,church1 or revolting against the ,pope1 ,father of ,christendom4--,the elegant ,pagan ,pope cared little about this ,monk and his doctrines2 wished1 however1 to have done with the noise of him3 in a space of some three years1 having tried various softer methods1 he thought good to end it by fire4 ,he dooms the ,monk's writings to be burnt by the hangman1 and his body to be sent bound to ,rome1--probably for a similar purpose4 ,it was the way they had ended with ,huss1 with ,jerome1 the century before4 ,a short argument1 fire4 ,poor ,huss3 he came to that ,constance ,council1 with all imaginable promises and safe-conducts2 an earnest1 not rebellious kind of man3 they laid him instantly in a stone dungeon three feet wide1 six feet high1 seven feet long2 burnt the true voice of him out of this world2 choked it in smoke and fire4 ,that was not well done6 ,i1 for one1 pardon ,luther for now altogether revolting against the ,pope4 ,the elegant ,pagan1 by this fire-decree of his1 had kindled into noble just wrath the bravest heart then living in this world4 ,the bravest1 if also one of the humblest1 peaceablest2 it was now kindled4 ,these words of mine1 words of truth and soberness1 aiming faithfully1 as human inability would allow1 to promote ,god's truth on ,earth1 and save men's souls1 you1 ,god's vicegerent on earth1 answer them by the hangman and fire8 ,you will burn me and them1 for answer to the ,god's-message they strove to bring you8 ,you are not ,god's vicegerent2 you are another's than his1 ,i think6 ,i take your ,bull1 as an emparchmented ,lie1 and burn it4 ,you will do what you see good next3 this is what ,i do4--,it was on the #ajth of ,december1 #aebj1 three years after the beginning of the business1 that ,luther1 with a great concourse of people1 took this indignant step of burning the ,pope's fire-decree at the ,elster-,gate of ,wittenberg4 ,wittenberg looked on with shoutings2 the whole world was looking on4 ,the ,pope should not have provoked that shout6 ,it was the shout of the awakening of nations4 ,the quiet ,german heart1 modest1 patient of much1 had at length got more than it could bear4 ,formulism1 ,pagan ,popeism1 and other ,falsehood and corrupt ,semblance had ruled long enough3 and here once more was a man found who durst tell all men that ,god's-world stood not on semblances but on realities2 that ,life was a truth1 and not a lie6 ,at bottom1 as was said above1 we are to consider ,luther as a ,prophet ,idol-breaker2 a bringer-back of men to reality4 ,it is the function of great men and teachers4 ,mahomet said1 ,these idols of yours are wood2 you put wax and oil on them1 the flies stick on them3 they are not ,god1 ,i tell you1 they are black wood6 ,luther said to the ,pope1 ,this thing of yours that you call a ,pardon of ,sins1 it is a bit of rag-paper with ink4 ,it is nothing else2 it1 and so much like it1 is nothing else4 ,god alone can pardon sins4 ,popeship1 spiritual ,fatherhood of ,god's ,church1 is that a vain semblance1 of cloth and parchment8 ,it is an awful fact4 ,god's ,church is not a semblance1 ,heaven and ,hell are not semblances4 ,i stand on this1 since you drive me to it4 ,standing on this1 ,i a poor ,german ,monk am stronger than you all4 ,i stand solitary1 friendless1 but on ,god's ,truth2 you with your tiaras1 triple-hats1 with your treasuries and armories1 thunders spiritual and temporal1 stand on the ,devil's ,lie1 and are not so strong--6 ,the ,diet of ,worms1 ,luther's appearance there on the #agth of ,april1 #aeba1 may be considered as the greatest scene in ,modern ,european ,history2 the point1 indeed1 from which the whole subsequent history of civilization takes its rise4 ,after multiplied negotiations1 disputations1 it had come to this4 ,the young ,emperor ,charles ,fifth1 with all the ,princes of ,germany1 ,papal nuncios1 dignitaries spiritual and temporal1 are assembled there3 ,luther is to appear and answer for himself1 whether he will recant or not4 ,the world's pomp and power sits there on this hand3 on that1 stands up for ,god's ,truth1 one man1 the poor miner ,hans ,luther's ,son4 ,friends had reminded him of ,huss1 advised him not to go2 he would not be advised4 ,a large company of friends rode out to meet him1 with still more earnest warnings2 he answered1 ,were there as many ,devils in ,worms as there are roof-tiles1 ,i would on4 ,the people1 on the morrow1 as he went to the ,hall of the ,diet1 crowded the windows and house-tops1 some of them calling out to him1 in solemn words1 not to recant3 ,whosoever denieth me before men6 they cried to him1--as in a kind of solemn petition and adjuration4 ,was it not in reality our petition too1 the petition of the whole world1 lying in dark bondage of soul1 paralyzed under a black spectral ,nightmare and triple-hatted ,chimera1 calling itself ,father in ,god1 and what not3 ,free us2 it rests with thee2 desert us not6 ,luther did not desert us4 ,his speech1 of two hours1 distinguished itself by its respectful1 wise and honest tone2 submissive to whatsoever could lawfully claim submission1 not submissive to any more than that4 ,his writings1 he said1 were partly his own1 partly derived from the ,word of ,god4 ,as to what was his own1 human infirmity entered into it2 unguarded anger1 blindness1 many things doubtless which it were a blessing for him could he abolish altogether4 ,but as to what stood on sound truth and the ,word of ,god1 he could not recant it4 ,how could he8 ,confute me1 he concluded1 by proofs of ,scripture1 or else by plain just arguments3 ,i cannot recant otherwise4 ,for it is neither safe nor prudent to do aught against conscience4 ,here stand ,i2 ,i can do no other3 ,god assist me6--,it is1 as we say1 the greatest moment in the ,modern ,history of ,men4 ,english ,puritanism1 ,england and its ,parliaments1 ,americas1 and vast work these two centuries2 ,french ,revolution1 ,europe and its work everywhere at present3 the germ of it all lay there3 had ,luther in that moment done other1 it had all been otherwise6 ,the ,european ,world was asking him3 ,am ,i to sink ever lower into falsehood1 stagnant putrescence1 loathsome accursed death2 or1 with whatever paroxysm1 to cast the falsehoods out of me1 and be cured and live8-- ,great wars1 contentions and disunion followed out of this ,reformation2 which last down to our day1 and are yet far from ended4 ,great talk and crimination has been made about these4 ,they are lamentable1 undeniable2 but after all1 what has ,luther or his cause to do with them8 ,it seems strange reasoning to charge the ,reformation with all this4 ,when ,hercules turned the purifying river into ,king ,augeas's stables1 ,i have no doubt the confusion that resulted was considerable all around3 but ,i think it was not ,hercules's blame2 it was some other's blame6 ,the ,reformation might bring what results it liked when it came1 but the ,reformation simply could not help coming4 ,to all ,popes and ,popes' advocates1 expostulating1 lamenting and accusing1 the answer of the world is3 ,once for all1 your ,popehood has become untrue4 ,no matter how good it was1 how good you say it is1 we cannot believe it2 the light of our whole mind1 given us to walk by from ,heaven above1 finds it henceforth a thing unbelievable4 ,we will not believe it1 we will not try to believe it1--we dare not6 ,the thing is untrue2 we were traitors against the ,giver of all ,truth1 if we durst pretend to think it true4 ,away with it2 let whatsoever likes come in the place of it3 with it we can have no farther trade6--,luther and his ,protestantism is not responsible for wars2 the false ,simulacra that forced him to protest1 they are responsible4 ,luther did what every man that ,god has made has not only the right1 but lies under the sacred duty1 to do3 answered a ,falsehood when it questioned him1 ,dost thou believe me8--,no6--,at what cost soever1 without counting of costs1 this thing behooved to be done4 ,union1 organization spiritual and material1 a far nobler than any ,popedom or ,feudalism in their truest days1 ,i never doubt1 is coming for the world2 sure to come4 ,but on ,fact alone1 not on ,semblance and ,simulacrum1 will it be able either to come1 or to stand when come4 ,with union grounded on falsehood1 and ordering us to speak and act lies1 we will not have anything to do4 ,peace8 ,a brutal lethargy is peaceable1 the noisome grave is peaceable4 ,we hope for a living peace1 not a dead one6 ,and yet1 in prizing justly the indispensable blessings of the ,new1 let us not be unjust to the ,old4 ,the ,old was true1 if it no longer is4 ,in ,dante's days it needed no sophistry1 self-blinding or other dishonesty1 to get itself reckoned true4 ,it was good then2 nay there is in the soul of it a deathless good4 ,the cry of ,no ,popery is foolish enough in these days4 ,the speculation that ,popery is on the increase1 building new chapels and so forth1 may pass for one of the idlest ever started4 ,very curious3 to count up a few ,popish chapels1 listen to a few ,protestant logic-choppings1--to much dull-droning drowsy inanity that still calls itself ,protestant1 and say3 ,see1 ,protestantism is dead2 ,popeism is more alive than it1 will be alive after it6--,drowsy inanities1 not a few1 that call themselves ,protestant are dead2 but ,protestantism has not died yet1 that ,i hear of6 ,protestantism1 if we will look1 has in these days produced its ,goethe1 its ,napoleon2 ,german ,literature and the ,french ,revolution2 rather considerable signs of life6 ,nay1 at bottom1 what else is alive but ,protestantism8 ,the life of most else that one meets is a galvanic one merely1--not a pleasant1 not a lasting sort of life6 ,popery can build new chapels2 welcome to do so1 to all lengths4 ,popery cannot come back1 any more than ,paganism can1--which also still lingers in some countries4 ,but1 indeed1 it is with these things1 as with the ebbing of the sea3 you look at the waves oscillating hither1 thither on the beach2 for minutes you cannot tell how it is going2 look in half an hour where it is1--look in half a century where your ,popehood is6 ,alas1 would there were no greater danger to our ,europe than the poor old ,pope's revival6 ,thor may as soon try to revive4--,and withal this oscillation has a meaning4 ,the poor old ,popehood will not die away entirely1 as ,thor has done1 for some time yet2 nor ought it4 ,we may say1 the ,old never dies till this happen1 ,till all the soul of good that was in it have got itself transfused into the practical ,new4 ,while a good work remains capable of being done by the ,romish form2 or1 what is inclusive of all1 while a pious life remains capable of being led by it1 just so long1 if we consider1 will this or the other human soul adopt it1 go about as a living witness of it4 ,so long it will obtrude itself on the eye of us who reject it1 till we in our practice too have appropriated whatsoever of truth was in it4 ,then1 but also not till then1 it will have no charm more for any man4 ,it lasts here for a purpose4 ,let it last as long as it can4-- ,of ,luther ,i will add now1 in reference to all these wars and bloodshed1 the noticeable fact that none of them began so long as he continued living4 ,the controversy did not get to fighting so long as he was there4 ,to me it is proof of his greatness in all senses1 this fact4 ,how seldom do we find a man that has stirred up some vast commotion1 who does not himself perish1 swept away in it6 ,such is the usual course of revolutionists4 ,luther continued1 in a good degree1 sovereign of this greatest revolution2 all ,protestants1 of what rank or function soever1 looking much to him for guidance3 and he held it peaceable1 continued firm at the centre of it4 ,a man to do this must have a kingly faculty3 he must have the gift to discern at all turns where the true heart of the matter lies1 and to plant himself courageously on that1 as a strong true man1 that other true men may rally round him there4 ,he will not continue leader of men otherwise4 ,luther's clear deep force of judgment1 his force of all sorts1 of silence1 of tolerance and moderation1 among others1 are very notable in these circumstances4 ,tolerance1 ,i say2 a very genuine kind of tolerance3 he distinguishes what is essential1 and what is not2 the unessential may go very much as it will4 ,a complaint comes to him that such and such a ,reformed ,preacher will not preach without a cassock4 ,well1 answers ,luther1 what harm will a cassock do the man8 ,let him have a cassock to preach in2 let him have three cassocks if he find benefit in them6 ,his conduct in the matter of ,karlstadt's wild image-breaking2 of the ,anabaptists2 of the ,peasants' ,war1 shows a noble strength1 very different from spasmodic violence4 ,with sure prompt insight he discriminates what is what3 a strong just man1 he speaks forth what is the wise course1 and all men follow him in that4 ,luther's ,written ,works give similar testimony of him4 ,the dialect of these speculations is now grown obsolete for us2 but one still reads them with a singular attraction4 ,and indeed the mere grammatical diction is still legible enough2 ,luther's merit in literary history is of the greatest3 his dialect became the language of all writing4 ,they are not well written1 these ,four-and-twenty ,quartos of his2 written hastily1 with quite other than literary objects4 ,but in no ,books have ,i found a more robust1 genuine1 ,i will say noble faculty of a man than in these4 ,a rugged honesty1 homeliness1 simplicity2 a rugged sterling sense and strength4 ,he dashes out illumination from him2 his smiting idiomatic phrases seem to cleave into the very secret of the matter4 ,good humor too1 nay tender affection1 nobleness and depth3 this man could have been a ,poet too6 ,he had to work an ,epic ,poem1 not write one4 ,i call him a great ,thinker2 as indeed his greatness of heart already betokens that4 ,richter says of ,luther's words1 ,his words are half-battles4 ,they may be called so4 ,the essential quality of him was1 that he could fight and conquer2 that he was a right piece of human ,valor4 ,no more valiant man1 no mortal heart to be called braver1 that one has record of1 ever lived in that ,teutonic ,kindred1 whose character is valor4 ,his defiance of the ,devils in ,worms was not a mere boast1 as the like might be if now spoken4 ,it was a faith of ,luther's that there were ,devils1 spiritual denizens of the ,pit1 continually besetting men4 ,many times1 in his writings1 this turns up2 and a most small sneer has been grounded on it by some4 ,in the room of the ,wartburg where he sat translating the ,bible1 they still show you a black spot on the wall2 the strange memorial of one of these conflicts4 ,luther sat translating one of the ,psalms2 he was worn down with long labor1 with sickness1 abstinence from food3 there rose before him some hideous indefinable ,image1 which he took for the ,evil ,one1 to forbid his work3 ,luther started up1 with fiend-defiance2 flung his inkstand at the spectre1 and it disappeared6 ,the spot still remains there2 a curious monument of several things4 ,any apothecary's apprentice can now tell us what we are to think of this apparition1 in a scientific sense3 but the man's heart that dare rise defiant1 face to face1 against ,hell itself1 can give no higher proof of fearlessness4 ,the thing he will quail before exists not on this ,earth or under it4--,fearless enough6 ,the ,devil is aware1 writes he on one occasion1 that this does not proceed out of fear in me4 ,i have seen and defied innumerable ,devils4 ,duke ,george1 of ,leipzig1 a great enemy of his1 ,duke ,george is not equal to one ,devil1--far short of a ,devil6 ,if ,i had business at ,leipzig1 ,i would ride into ,leipzig1 though it rained ,duke ,georges for nine days running4 ,what a reservoir of ,dukes to ride into--6 ,at the same time1 they err greatly who imagine that this man's courage was ferocity1 mere coarse disobedient obstinacy and savagery1 as many do4 ,far from that4 ,there may be an absence of fear which arises from the absence of thought or affection1 from the presence of hatred and stupid fury4 ,we do not value the courage of the tiger highly6 ,with ,luther it was far otherwise2 no accusation could be more unjust than this of mere ferocious violence brought against him4 ,a most gentle heart withal1 full of pity and love1 as indeed the truly valiant heart ever is4 ,the tiger before a stronger foe--flies3 the tiger is not what we call valiant1 only fierce and cruel4 ,i know few things more touching than those soft breathings of affection1 soft as a child's or a mother's1 in this great wild heart of ,luther4 ,so honest1 unadulterated with any cant2 homely1 rude in their utterance2 pure as water welling from the rock4 ,what1 in fact1 was all that down-pressed mood of despair and reprobation1 which we saw in his youth1 but the outcome of pre-eminent thoughtful gentleness1 affections too keen and fine8 ,it is the course such men as the poor ,poet ,cowper fall into4 ,luther to a slight observer might have seemed a timid1 weak man2 modesty1 affectionate shrinking tenderness the chief distinction of him4 ,it is a noble valor which is roused in a heart like this1 once stirred up into defiance1 all kindled into a heavenly blaze4 ,in ,luther's ,table-,talk1 a posthumous ,book of anecdotes and sayings collected by his friends1 the most interesting now of all the ,books proceeding from him1 we have many beautiful unconscious displays of the man1 and what sort of nature he had4 ,his behavior at the death-bed of his little ,daughter1 so still1 so great and loving1 is among the most affecting things4 ,he is resigned that his little ,magdalene should die1 yet longs inexpressibly that she might live2--follows1 in awe-struck thought1 the flight of her little soul through those unknown realms4 ,awe-struck2 most heartfelt1 we can see2 and sincere1--for after all dogmatic creeds and articles1 he feels what nothing it is that we know1 or can know3 ,his little ,magdalene shall be with ,god1 as ,god wills2 for ,luther too that is all2 ,islam is all4 ,once1 he looks out from his solitary ,patmos1 the ,castle of ,coburg1 in the middle of the night3 ,the great vault of ,immensity1 long flights of clouds sailing through it1--dumb1 gaunt1 huge3--who supports all that8 ,none ever saw the pillars of it2 yet it is supported4 ,god supports it4 ,we must know that ,god is great1 that ,god is good2 and trust1 where we cannot see4--,returning home from ,leipzig once1 he is struck by the beauty of the harvest-fields3 ,how it stands1 that golden yellow corn1 on its fair taper stem1 its golden head bent1 all rich and waving there1--the meek ,earth1 at ,god's kind bidding1 has produced it once again2 the bread of man6--,in the garden at ,wittenberg one evening at sunset1 a little bird has perched for the night3 ,that little bird1 says ,luther1 above it are the stars and deep ,heaven of worlds2 yet it has folded its little wings2 gone trustfully to rest there as in its home3 the ,maker of it has given it too a home6--,neither are mirthful turns wanting3 there is a great free human heart in this man4 ,the common speech of him has a rugged nobleness1 idiomatic1 expressive1 genuine2 gleams here and there with beautiful poetic tints4 ,one feels him to be a great brother man4 ,his love of ,music1 indeed1 is not this1 as it were1 the summary of all these affections in him8 ,many a wild unutterability he spoke forth from him in the tones of his flute4 ,the ,devils fled from his flute1 he says4 ,death-defiance on the one hand1 and such love of music on the other2 ,i could call these the two opposite poles of a great soul2 between these two all great things had room4 ,luther's face is to me expressive of him2 in ,kranach's best portraits ,i find the true ,luther4 ,a rude plebeian face2 with its huge crag-like brows and bones1 the emblem of rugged energy2 at first1 almost a repulsive face4 ,yet in the eyes especially there is a wild silent sorrow2 an unnamable melancholy1 the element of all gentle and fine affections2 giving to the rest the true stamp of nobleness4 ,laughter was in this ,luther1 as we said2 but tears also were there4 ,tears also were appointed him2 tears and hard toil4 ,the basis of his life was ,sadness1 ,earnestness4 ,in his latter days1 after all triumphs and victories1 he expresses himself heartily weary of living2 he considers that ,god alone can and will regulate the course things are taking1 and that perhaps the ,day of ,judgment is not far4 ,as for him1 he longs for one thing3 that ,god would release him from his labor1 and let him depart and be at rest4 ,they understand little of the man who cite this in discredit of him6--,i will call this ,luther a true ,great ,man2 great in intellect1 in courage1 affection and integrity2 one of our most lovable and precious men4 ,great1 not as a hewn obelisk2 but as an ,alpine mountain1--so simple1 honest1 spontaneous1 not setting up to be great at all2 there for quite another purpose than being great6 ,ah yes1 unsubduable granite1 piercing far and wide into the ,heavens2 yet in the clefts of it fountains1 green beautiful valleys with flowers6 ,a right ,spiritual ,hero and ,prophet2 once more1 a true ,son of ,nature and ,fact1 for whom these centuries1 and many that are to come yet1 will be thankful to ,heaven4 ,the most interesting phasis which the ,reformation anywhere assumes1 especially for us ,english1 is that of ,puritanism4 ,in ,luther's own country ,protestantism soon dwindled into a rather barren affair3 not a religion or faith1 but rather now a theological jangling of argument1 the proper seat of it not the heart2 the essence of it sceptical contention3 which indeed has jangled more and more1 down to ,voltaireism itself1--through ,gustavus-,adolphus contentions onwards to ,french-,revolution ones6 ,but in our ,island there arose a ,puritanism1 which even got itself established as a ,presbyterianism and ,national ,church among the ,scotch2 which came forth as a real business of the heart2 and has produced in the world very notable fruit4 ,in some senses1 one may say it is the only phasis of ,protestantism that ever got to the rank of being a ,faith1 a true heart-communication with ,heaven1 and of exhibiting itself in ,history as such4 ,we must spare a few words for ,knox2 himself a brave and remarkable man2 but still more important as ,chief ,priest and ,founder1 which one may consider him to be1 of the ,faith that became ,scotland's1 ,new ,england's1 ,oliver ,cromwell's4 ,history will have something to say about this1 for some time to come6 ,we may censure ,puritanism as we please2 and no one of us1 ,i suppose1 but would find it a very rough defective thing4 ,but we1 and all men1 may understand that it was a genuine thing2 for ,nature has adopted it1 and it has grown1 and grows4 ,i say sometimes1 that all goes by wager-of-battle in this world2 that strength1 well understood1 is the measure of all worth4 ,give a thing time2 if it can succeed1 it is a right thing4 ,look now at ,american ,saxondom2 and at that little ,fact of the sailing of the ,mayflower1 two hundred years ago1 from ,delft ,haven in ,holland6 ,were we of open sense as the ,greeks were1 we had found a ,poem here2 one of ,nature's own ,poems1 such as she writes in broad facts over great continents4 ,for it was properly the beginning of ,america3 there were straggling settlers in ,america before1 some material as of a body was there2 but the soul of it was first this4 ,these poor men1 driven out of their own country1 not able well to live in ,holland1 determine on settling in the ,new ,world4 ,black untamed forests are there1 and wild savage creatures2 but not so cruel as ,star-chamber hangmen4 ,they thought the ,earth would yield them food1 if they tilled honestly2 the everlasting heaven would stretch1 there too1 overhead2 they should be left in peace1 to prepare for ,eternity by living well in this world of ,time2 worshipping in what they thought the true1 not the idolatrous way4 ,they clubbed their small means together2 hired a ship1 the little ship ,mayflower1 and made ready to set sail4 ,in ,neal's ,history of the ,puritans ,neal 7,london1 #agee71 i4 #dij is an account of the ceremony of their departure3 solemnity1 we might call it rather1 for it was a real act of worship4 ,their minister went down with them to the beach1 and their brethren whom they were to leave behind2 all joined in solemn prayer1 ,that ,god would have pity on ,his poor children1 and go with them into that waste wilderness1 for ,he also had made that1 ,he was there also as well as here4--,hah6 ,these men1 ,i think1 had a work6 ,the weak thing1 weaker than a child1 becomes strong one day1 if it be a true thing4 ,puritanism was only despicable1 laughable then2 but nobody can manage to laugh at it now4 ,puritanism has got weapons and sinews2 it has firearms1 war-navies2 it has cunning in its ten fingers1 strength in its right arm2 it can steer ships1 fell forests1 remove mountains2--it is one of the strongest things under this sun at present6 ,in the history of ,scotland1 too1 ,i can find properly but one epoch3 we may say1 it contains nothing of world-interest at all but this ,reformation by ,knox4 ,a poor barren country1 full of continual broils1 dissensions1 massacrings2 a people in the last state of rudeness and destitution2 little better perhaps than ,ireland at this day4 ,hungry fierce barons1 not so much as able to form any arrangement with each other how to divide what they fleeced from these poor drudges2 but obliged1 as the ,colombian ,republics are at this day1 to make of every alteration a revolution2 no way of changing a ministry but by hanging the old ministers on gibbets3 this is a historical spectacle of no very singular significance6 ,bravery enough1 ,i doubt not2 fierce fighting in abundance3 but not braver or fiercer than that of their old ,scandinavian ,sea-king ancestors2 whose exploits we have not found worth dwelling on6 ,it is a country as yet without a soul3 nothing developed in it but what is rude1 external1 semi-animal4 ,and now at the ,reformation1 the internal life is kindled1 as it were1 under the ribs of this outward material death4 ,a cause1 the noblest of causes kindles itself1 like a beacon set on high2 high as ,heaven1 yet attainable from ,earth2--whereby the meanest man becomes not a ,citizen only1 but a ,member of ,christ's visible ,church2 a veritable ,hero1 if he prove a true man6 ,well2 this is what ,i mean by a whole nation of heroes2 a believing nation4 ,there needs not a great soul to make a hero2 there needs a god-created soul which will be true to its origin2 that will be a great soul6 ,the like has been seen1 we find4 ,the like will be again seen1 under wider forms than the ,presbyterian3 there can be no lasting good done till then4--,impossible6 say some4 ,possible8 ,has it not been1 in this world1 as a practiced fact8 ,did ,hero-worship fail in ,knox's case8 ,or are we made of other clay now8 ,did the ,westminster ,confession of ,faith add some new property to the soul of man8 ,god made the soul of man4 ,he did not doom any soul of man to live as a ,hypothesis and ,hearsay1 in a world filled with such1 and with the fatal work and fruit of such--6 ,but to return3 ,this that ,knox did for his ,nation1 ,i say1 we may really call a resurrection as from death4 ,it was not a smooth business2 but it was welcome surely1 and cheap at that price1 had it been far rougher4 ,on the whole1 cheap at any price6--as life is4 ,the people began to live3 they needed first of all to do that1 at what cost and costs soever4 ,scotch ,literature and ,thought1 ,scotch ,industry2 ,james ,watt1 ,david ,hume1 ,walter ,scott1 ,robert ,burns3 ,i find ,knox and the ,reformation acting in the heart's core of every one of these persons and phenomena2 ,i find that without the ,reformation they would not have been4 ,or what of ,scotland8 ,the ,puritanism of ,scotland became that of ,england1 of ,new ,england4 ,a tumult in the ,high ,church of ,edinburgh spread into a universal battle and struggle over all these realms2--there came out1 after fifty years' struggling1 what we all call the ,glorious ,revolution a ,habeas ,corpus ,act1 ,free ,parliaments1 and much else6--,alas1 is it not too true what we said1 ,that many men in the van do always1 like ,russian soldiers1 march into the ditch of ,schweidnitz1 and fill it up with their dead bodies1 that the rear may pass over them dry-shod1 and gain the honor8 ,how many earnest rugged ,cromwells1 ,knoxes1 poor ,peasant ,covenanters1 wrestling1 battling for very life1 in rough miry places1 have to struggle1 and suffer1 and fall1 greatly censured1 bemired1--before a beautiful ,revolution of ,eighty-eight can step over them in official pumps and silk-stockings1 with universal three-times-three6 ,it seems to me hard measure that this ,scottish man1 now after three hundred years1 should have to plead like a culprit before the world2 intrinsically for having been1 in such way as it was then possible to be1 the bravest of all ,scotchmen6 ,had he been a poor ,half-and-half1 he could have crouched into the corner1 like so many others2 ,scotland had not been delivered2 and ,knox had been without blame4 ,he is the one ,scotchman to whom1 of all others1 his country and the world owe a debt4 ,he has to plead that ,scotland would forgive him for having been worth to it any million unblamable ,scotchmen that need no forgiveness6 ,he bared his breast to the battle2 had to row in ,french galleys1 wander forlorn in exile1 in clouds and storms2 was censured1 shot at through his windows2 had a right sore fighting life3 if this world were his place of recompense1 he had made but a bad venture of it4 ,i cannot apologize for ,knox4 ,to him it is very indifferent1 these two hundred and fifty years or more1 what men say of him4 ,but we1 having got above all those details of his battle1 and living now in clearness on the fruits of his victory1 we1 for our own sake1 ought to look through the rumors and controversies enveloping the man1 into the man himself4 ,for one thing1 ,i will remark that this post of ,prophet to his ,nation was not of his seeking2 ,knox had lived forty years quietly obscure1 before he became conspicuous4 ,he was the son of poor parents2 had got a college education2 become a ,priest2 adopted the ,reformation1 and seemed well content to guide his own steps by the light of it1 nowise unduly intruding it on others4 ,he had lived as ,tutor in gentlemen's families2 preaching when any body of persons wished to hear his doctrine3 resolute he to walk by the truth1 and speak the truth when called to do it2 not ambitious of more2 not fancying himself capable of more4 ,in this entirely obscure way he had reached the age of forty2 was with the small body of ,reformers who were standing siege in ,st4 ,andrew's ,castle1--when one day in their chapel1 the ,preacher after finishing his exhortation to these fighters in the forlorn hope1 said suddenly1 ,that there ought to be other speakers1 that all men who had a priest's heart and gift in them ought now to speak2--which gifts and heart one of their own number1 ,john ,knox the name of him1 had3 ,had he not8 said the ,preacher1 appealing to all the audience3 what then is his duty8 ,the people answered affirmatively2 it was a criminal forsaking of his post1 if such a man held the word that was in him silent4 ,poor ,knox was obliged to stand up2 he attempted to reply2 he could say no word2--burst into a flood of tears1 and ran out4 ,it is worth remembering1 that scene4 ,he was in grievous trouble for some days4 ,he felt what a small faculty was his for this great work4 ,he felt what a baptism he was called to be baptized withal4 ,he burst into tears4 ,our primary characteristic of a ,hero1 that he is sincere1 applies emphatically to ,knox4 ,it is not denied anywhere that this1 whatever might be his other qualities or faults1 is among the truest of men4 ,with a singular instinct he holds to the truth and fact2 the truth alone is there for him1 the rest a mere shadow and deceptive nonentity4 ,however feeble1 forlorn the reality may seem1 on that and that only can he take his stand4 ,in the ,galleys of the ,river ,loire1 whither ,knox and the others1 after their ,castle of ,st4 ,andrew's was taken1 had been sent as ,galley-slaves1--some officer or priest1 one day1 presented them an ,image of the ,virgin ,mother1 requiring that they1 the blasphemous heretics1 should do it reverence4 ,mother8 ,mother of ,god8 said ,knox1 when the turn came to him3 ,this is no ,mother of ,god3 this is a pented bredd1--a piece of wood1 ,i tell you1 with paint on it6 ,she is fitter for swimming1 ,i think1 than for being worshipped1 added ,knox2 and flung the thing into the river4 ,it was not very cheap jesting there3 but come of it what might1 this thing to ,knox was and must continue nothing other than the real truth2 it was a pented bredd3 worship it he would not4 ,he told his fellow-prisoners1 in this darkest time1 to be of courage2 the ,cause they had was the true one1 and must and would prosper2 the whole world could not put it down4 ,reality is of ,god's making2 it is alone strong4 ,how many pented bredds1 pretending to be real1 are fitter to swim than to be worshipped6--,this ,knox cannot live but by fact3 he clings to reality as the shipwrecked sailor to the cliff4 ,he is an instance to us how a man1 by sincerity itself1 becomes heroic3 it is the grand gift he has4 ,we find in ,knox a good honest intellectual talent1 no transcendent one2--a narrow1 inconsiderable man1 as compared with ,luther3 but in heartfelt instinctive adherence to truth1 in sincerity1 as we say1 he has no superior2 nay1 one might ask1 ,what equal he has8 ,the heart of him is of the true ,prophet cast4 ,he lies there1 said the ,earl of ,morton at his grave1 who never feared the face of man4 ,he resembles1 more than any of the moderns1 an ,old-,hebrew ,prophet4 ,the same inflexibility1 intolerance1 rigid narrow-looking adherence to ,god's truth1 stern rebuke in the name of ,god to all that forsake truth3 an ,old-,hebrew ,prophet in the guise of an ,edinburgh ,minister of the ,sixteenth ,century4 ,we are to take him for that2 not require him to be other4 ,knox's conduct to ,queen ,mary1 the harsh visits he used to make in her own palace1 to reprove her there1 have been much commented upon4 ,such cruelty1 such coarseness fills us with indignation4 ,on reading the actual narrative of the business1 what ,knox said1 and what ,knox meant1 ,i must say one's tragic feeling is rather disappointed4 ,they are not so coarse1 these speeches2 they seem to me about as fine as the circumstances would permit6 ,knox was not there to do the courtier2 he came on another errand4 ,whoever1 reading these colloquies of his with the ,queen1 thinks they are vulgar insolences of a plebeian priest to a delicate high lady1 mistakes the purport and essence of them altogether4 ,it was unfortunately not possible to be polite with the ,queen of ,scotland1 unless one proved untrue to the ,nation and ,cause of ,scotland4 ,a man who did not wish to see the land of his birth made a hunting-field for intriguing ambitious ,guises1 and the ,cause of ,god trampled underfoot of ,falsehoods1 ,formulas and the ,devil's ,cause1 had no method of making himself agreeable6 ,better that women weep1 said ,morton1 than that bearded men be forced to weep4 ,knox was the constitutional opposition-party in ,scotland3 the ,nobles of the country1 called by their station to take that post1 were not found in it2 ,knox had to go1 or no one4 ,the hapless ,queen2--but the still more hapless ,country1 if she were made happy6 ,mary herself was not without sharpness enough1 among her other qualities3 ,who are you1 said she once1 that presume to school the nobles and sovereign of this realm8--,madam1 a subject born within the same1 answered he4 ,reasonably answered6 ,if the subject have truth to speak1 it is not the subject's footing that will fail him here4-- ,we blame ,knox for his intolerance4 ,well1 surely it is good that each of us be as tolerant as possible4 ,yet1 at bottom1 after all the talk there is and has been about it1 what is tolerance8 ,tolerance has to tolerate the unessential2 and to see well what that is4 ,tolerance has to be noble1 measured1 just in its very wrath1 when it can tolerate no longer4 ,but1 on the whole1 we are not altogether here to tolerate6 ,we are here to resist1 to control and vanquish withal4 ,we do not tolerate ,falsehoods1 ,thieveries1 ,iniquities1 when they fasten on us2 we say to them1 ,thou art false1 thou art not tolerable6 ,we are here to extinguish ,falsehoods1 and put an end to them1 in some wise way6 ,i will not quarrel so much with the way2 the doing of the thing is our great concern4 ,in this sense ,knox was1 full surely1 intolerant4 ,a man sent to row in ,french ,galleys1 and such like1 for teaching the ,truth in his own land1 cannot always be in the mildest humor6 ,i am not prepared to say that ,knox had a soft temper2 nor do ,i know that he had what we call an ill temper4 ,an ill nature he decidedly had not4 ,kind honest affections dwelt in the much-enduring1 hard-worn1 ever-battling man4 ,that he could rebuke ,queens1 and had such weight among those proud turbulent ,nobles1 proud enough whatever else they were2 and could maintain to the end a kind of virtual ,presidency and ,sovereignty in that wild realm1 he who was only a subject born within the same3 this of itself will prove to us that he was found1 close at hand1 to be no mean acrid man2 but at heart a healthful1 strong1 sagacious man4 ,such alone can bear rule in that kind4 ,they blame him for pulling down cathedrals1 and so forth1 as if he were a seditious rioting demagogue3 precisely the reverse is seen to be the fact1 in regard to cathedrals and the rest of it1 if we examine6 ,knox wanted no pulling down of stone edifices2 he wanted leprosy and darkness to be thrown out of the lives of men4 ,tumult was not his element2 it was the tragic feature of his life that he was forced to dwell so much in that4 ,every such man is the born enemy of ,disorder2 hates to be in it3 but what then8 ,smooth ,falsehood is not ,order2 it is the general sum-total of ,disorder4 ,order is ,truth1--each thing standing on the basis that belongs to it3 ,order and ,falsehood cannot subsist together4 ,withal1 unexpectedly enough1 this ,knox has a vein of drollery in him2 which ,i like much1 in combination with his other qualities4 ,he has a true eye for the ridiculous4 ,his ,history1 with its rough earnestness1 is curiously enlivened with this4 ,when the two ,prelates1 entering ,glasgow ,cathedral1 quarrel about precedence2 march rapidly up1 take to hustling one another1 twitching one another's rochets1 and at last flourishing their crosiers like quarter-staves1 it is a great sight for him every way6 ,not mockery1 scorn1 bitterness alone2 though there is enough of that too4 ,but a true1 loving1 illuminating laugh mounts up over the earnest visage2 not a loud laugh2 you would say1 a laugh in the eyes most of all4 ,an honest-hearted1 brotherly man2 brother to the high1 brother also to the low2 sincere in his sympathy with both4 ,he had his pipe of ,bourdeaux too1 we find1 in that old ,edinburgh house of his2 a cheery social man1 with faces that loved him6 ,they go far wrong who think this ,knox was a gloomy1 spasmodic1 shrieking fanatic4 ,not at all3 he is one of the solidest of men4 ,practical1 cautious-hopeful1 patient2 a most shrewd1 observing1 quietly discerning man4 ,in fact1 he has very much the type of character we assign to the ,scotch at present3 a certain sardonic taciturnity is in him2 insight enough2 and a stouter heart than he himself knows of4 ,he has the power of holding his peace over many things which do not vitally concern him1--,they8 what are they8 ,but the thing which does vitally concern him1 that thing he will speak of2 and in a tone the whole world shall be made to hear3 all the more emphatic for his long silence4 ,this ,prophet of the ,scotch is to me no hateful man6--,he had a sore fight of an existence2 wrestling with ,popes and ,principalities2 in defeat1 contention1 life-long struggle2 rowing as a galley-slave1 wandering as an exile4 ,a sore fight3 but he won it4 ,have you hope8 they asked him in his last moment1 when he could no longer speak4 ,he lifted his finger1 pointed upwards with his finger1 and so died4 ,honor to him6 ,his works have not died4 ,the letter of his work dies1 as of all men's2 but the spirit of it never4 ,one word more as to the letter of ,knox's work4 ,the unforgivable offence in him is1 that he wished to set up ,priests over the head of ,kings4 ,in other words1 he strove to make the ,government of ,scotland a ,theocracy4 ,this indeed is properly the sum of his offences1 the essential sin2 for which what pardon can there be8 ,it is most true1 he did1 at bottom1 consciously or unconsciously1 mean a ,theocracy1 or ,government of ,god4 ,he did mean that ,kings and ,prime ,ministers1 and all manner of persons1 in public or private1 diplomatizing or whatever else they might be doing1 should walk according to the ,gospel of ,christ1 and understand that this was their ,law1 supreme over all laws4 ,he hoped once to see such a thing realized2 and the ,petition1 ,thy ,kingdom come1 no longer an empty word4 ,he was sore grieved when he saw greedy worldly ,barons clutch hold of the ,church's property2 when he expostulated that it was not secular property1 that it was spiritual property1 and should be turned to true churchly uses1 education1 schools1 worship2--and the ,regent ,murray had to answer1 with a shrug of the shoulders1 ,it is a devout imagination6 ,this was ,knox's scheme of right and truth2 this he zealously endeavored after1 to realize it4 ,if we think his scheme of truth was too narrow1 was not true1 we may rejoice that he could not realize it2 that it remained after two centuries of effort1 unrealizable1 and is a devout imagination still4 ,but how shall we blame him for struggling to realize it8 ,theocracy1 ,government of ,god1 is precisely the thing to be struggled for6 ,all ,prophets1 zealous ,priests1 are there for that purpose4 ,hildebrand wished a ,theocracy2 ,cromwell wished it1 fought for it2 ,mahomet attained it4 ,nay1 is it not what all zealous men1 whether called ,priests1 ,prophets1 or whatsoever else called1 do essentially wish1 and must wish8 ,that right and truth1 or ,god's ,law1 reign supreme among men1 this is the ,heavenly ,ideal 7well named in ,knox's time1 and namable in all times1 a revealed ,will of ,god7 towards which the ,reformer will insist that all be more and more approximated4 ,all true ,reformers1 as ,i said1 are by the nature of them ,priests1 and strive for a ,theocracy4 ,how far such ,ideals can ever be introduced into ,practice1 and at what point our impatience with their non-introduction ought to begin1 is always a question4 ,i think we may say safely1 ,let them introduce themselves as far as they can contrive to do it6 ,if they are the true faith of men1 all men ought to be more or less impatient always where they are not found introduced4 ,there will never be wanting ,regent ,murrays enough to shrug their shoulders1 and say1 ,a devout imagination6 ,we will praise the ,hero-priest rather1 who does what is in him to bring them in2 and wears out1 in toil1 calumny1 contradiction1 a noble life1 to make a ,god's ,kingdom of this ,earth4 ,the ,earth will not become too godlike6 ,,lecture ,v4 ,,the ,,hero ,,as ,,man ,,of ,,letters4 ,,johnson1 ,,rousseau1 ,,burns4 ,may #ai1 #ahdj4 ,hero-,gods1 ,prophets1 ,poets1 ,priests are forms of ,heroism that belong to the old ages1 make their appearance in the remotest times2 some of them have ceased to be possible long since1 and cannot any more show themselves in this world4 ,the ,hero as ,man of ,letters1 again1 of which class we are to speak to-day1 is altogether a product of these new ages2 and so long as the wondrous art of ,writing1 or of ,ready-writing which we call ,printing1 subsists1 he may be expected to continue1 as one of the main forms of ,heroism for all future ages4 ,he is1 in various respects1 a very singular phenomenon4 ,he is new1 ,i say2 he has hardly lasted above a century in the world yet4 ,never1 till about a hundred years ago1 was there seen any figure of a ,great ,soul living apart in that anomalous manner2 endeavoring to speak forth the inspiration that was in him by ,printed ,books1 and find place and subsistence by what the world would please to give him for doing that4 ,much had been sold and bought1 and left to make its own bargain in the market-place2 but the inspired wisdom of a ,heroic ,soul never till then1 in that naked manner4 ,he1 with his copy-rights and copy-wrongs1 in his squalid garret1 in his rusty coat2 ruling 7for this is what he does71 from his grave1 after death1 whole nations and generations who would1 or would not1 give him bread while living1--is a rather curious spectacle6 ,few shapes of ,heroism can be more unexpected4 ,alas1 the ,hero from of old has had to cramp himself into strange shapes3 the world knows not well at any time what to do with him1 so foreign is his aspect in the world6 ,it seemed absurd to us1 that men1 in their rude admiration1 should take some wise great ,odin for a god1 and worship him as such2 some wise great ,mahomet for one god-inspired1 and religiously follow his ,law for twelve centuries3 but that a wise great ,johnson1 a ,burns1 a ,rousseau1 should be taken for some idle nondescript1 extant in the world to amuse idleness1 and have a few coins and applauses thrown him1 that he might live thereby2 this perhaps1 as before hinted1 will one day seem a still absurder phasis of things6--,meanwhile1 since it is the spiritual always that determines the material1 this same ,man-of-,letters ,hero must be regarded as our most important modern person4 ,he1 such as he may be1 is the soul of all4 ,what he teaches1 the whole world will do and make4 ,the world's manner of dealing with him is the most significant feature of the world's general position4 ,looking well at his life1 we may get a glance1 as deep as is readily possible for us1 into the life of those singular centuries which have produced him1 in which we ourselves live and work4 ,there are genuine ,men of ,letters1 and not genuine2 as in every kind there is a genuine and a spurious4 ,if hero be taken to mean genuine1 then ,i say the ,hero as ,man of ,letters will be found discharging a function for us which is ever honorable1 ever the highest2 and was once well known to be the highest4 ,he is uttering forth1 in such way as he has1 the inspired soul of him2 all that a man1 in any case1 can do4 ,i say inspired2 for what we call originality1 sincerity1 genius1 the heroic quality we have no good name for1 signifies that4 ,the ,hero is he who lives in the inward sphere of things1 in the ,true1 ,divine and ,eternal1 which exists always1 unseen to most1 under the ,temporary1 ,trivial3 his being is in that2 he declares that abroad1 by act or speech as it may be in declaring himself abroad4 ,his life1 as we said before1 is a piece of the everlasting heart of ,nature herself3 all men's life is1--but the weak many know not the fact1 and are untrue to it1 in most times2 the strong few are strong1 heroic1 perennial1 because it cannot be hidden from them4 ,the ,man of ,letters1 like every ,hero1 is there to proclaim this in such sort as he can4 ,intrinsically it is the same function which the old generations named a man ,prophet1 ,priest1 ,divinity for doing2 which all manner of ,heroes1 by speech or by act1 are sent into the world to do4 ,fichte the ,german ,philosopher delivered1 some forty years ago at ,erlangen1 a highly remarkable ,course of ,lectures on this subject3 ,ueber das ,wesen des ,gelehrten1 ,on the ,nature of the ,literary ,man4 ,fichte1 in conformity with the ,transcendental ,philosophy1 of which he was a distinguished teacher1 declares first3 ,that all things which we see or work with in this ,earth1 especially we ourselves and all persons1 are as a kind of vesture or sensuous ,appearance3 that under all there lies1 as the essence of them1 what he calls the ,divine ,idea of the ,world2 this is the ,reality which lies at the bottom of all ,appearance4 ,to the mass of men no such ,divine ,idea is recognizable in the world2 they live merely1 says ,fichte1 among the superficialities1 practicalities and shows of the world1 not dreaming that there is anything divine under them4 ,but the ,man of ,letters is sent hither specially that he may discern for himself1 and make manifest to us1 this same ,divine ,idea3 in every new generation it will manifest itself in a new dialect2 and he is there for the purpose of doing that4 ,such is ,fichte's phraseology2 with which we need not quarrel4 ,it is his way of naming what ,i here1 by other words1 am striving imperfectly to name2 what there is at present no name for3 ,the unspeakable ,divine ,significance1 full of splendor1 of wonder and terror1 that lies in the being of every man1 of every thing1--the ,presence of the ,god who made every man and thing4 ,mahomet taught this in his dialect2 ,odin in his3 it is the thing which all thinking hearts1 in one dialect or another1 are here to teach4 ,fichte calls the ,man of ,letters1 therefore1 a ,prophet1 or as he prefers to phrase it1 a ,priest1 continually unfolding the ,godlike to men3 ,men of ,letters are a perpetual ,priesthood1 from age to age1 teaching all men that a ,god is still present in their life1 that all ,appearance1 whatsoever we see in the world1 is but as a vesture for the ,divine ,idea of the ,world1 for that which lies at the bottom of ,appearance4 ,in the true ,literary ,man there is thus ever1 acknowledged or not by the world1 a sacredness3 he is the light of the world2 the world's ,priest2--guiding it1 like a sacred ,pillar of ,fire1 in its dark pilgrimage through the waste of ,time4 ,fichte discriminates with sharp zeal the true ,literary ,man1 what we here call the ,hero as ,man of ,letters1 from multitudes of false unheroic4 ,whoever lives not wholly in this ,divine ,idea1 or living partially in it1 struggles not1 as for the one good1 to live wholly in it1--he is1 let him live where else he like1 in what pomps and prosperities he like1 no ,literary ,man2 he is1 says ,fichte1 a ,bungler1 ,stumper4 ,or at best1 if he belong to the prosaic provinces1 he may be a ,hodman2 ,fichte even calls him elsewhere a ,nonentity1 and has in short no mercy for him1 no wish that he should continue happy among us6 ,this is ,fichte's notion of the ,man of ,letters4 ,it means1 in its own form1 precisely what we here mean4 ,in this point of view1 ,i consider that1 for the last hundred years1 by far the notablest of all ,literary ,men is ,fichte's countryman1 ,goethe4 ,to that man too1 in a strange way1 there was given what we may call a life in the ,divine ,idea of the ,world2 vision of the inward divine mystery3 and strangely1 out of his ,books1 the world rises imaged once more as godlike1 the workmanship and temple of a ,god4 ,illuminated all1 not in fierce impure fire-splendor as of ,mahomet1 but in mild celestial radiance2--really a ,prophecy in these most unprophetic times2 to my mind1 by far the greatest1 though one of the quietest1 among all the great things that have come to pass in them4 ,our chosen specimen of the ,hero as ,literary ,man would be this ,goethe4 ,and it were a very pleasant plan for me here to discourse of his heroism3 for ,i consider him to be a true ,hero2 heroic in what he said and did1 and perhaps still more in what he did not say and did not do2 to me a noble spectacle3 a great heroic ancient man1 speaking and keeping silence as an ancient ,hero1 in the guise of a most modern1 high-bred1 high-cultivated ,man of ,letters6 ,we have had no such spectacle2 no man capable of affording such1 for the last hundred and fifty years4 ,but at present1 such is the general state of knowledge about ,goethe1 it were worse than useless to attempt speaking of him in this case4 ,speak as ,i might1 ,goethe1 to the great majority of you1 would remain problematic1 vague2 no impression but a false one could be realized4 ,him we must leave to future times4 ,johnson1 ,burns1 ,rousseau1 three great figures from a prior time1 from a far inferior state of circumstances1 will suit us better here4 ,three men of the ,eighteenth ,century2 the conditions of their life far more resemble what those of ours still are in ,england1 than what ,goethe's in ,germany were4 ,alas1 these men did not conquer like him2 they fought bravely1 and fell4 ,they were not heroic bringers of the light1 but heroic seekers of it4 ,they lived under galling conditions2 struggling as under mountains of impediment1 and could not unfold themselves into clearness1 or victorious interpretation of that ,divine ,idea4 ,it is rather the ,tombs of three ,literary ,heroes that ,i have to show you4 ,there are the monumental heaps1 under which three spiritual giants lie buried4 ,very mournful1 but also great and full of interest for us4 ,we will linger by them for a while4 ,complaint is often made1 in these times1 of what we call the disorganized condition of society3 how ill many forces of society fulfil their work2 how many powerful are seen working in a wasteful1 chaotic1 altogether unarranged manner4 ,it is too just a complaint1 as we all know4 ,but perhaps if we look at this of ,books and the ,writers of ,books1 we shall find here1 as it were1 the summary of all other disorganizations2--a sort of heart1 from which1 and to which all other confusion circulates in the world6 ,considering what ,book writers do in the world1 and what the world does with ,book writers1 ,i should say1 ,it is the most anomalous thing the world at present has to show4--,we should get into a sea far beyond sounding1 did we attempt to give account of this3 but we must glance at it for the sake of our subject4 ,the worst element in the life of these three ,literary ,heroes was1 that they found their business and position such a chaos4 ,on the beaten road there is tolerable travelling2 but it is sore work1 and many have to perish1 fashioning a path through the impassable6 ,our pious ,fathers1 feeling well what importance lay in the speaking of man to men1 founded churches1 made endowments1 regulations2 everywhere in the civilized world there is a ,pulpit1 environed with all manner of complex dignified appurtenances and furtherances1 that therefrom a man with the tongue may1 to best advantage1 address his fellow-men4 ,they felt that this was the most important thing2 that without this there was no good thing4 ,it is a right pious work1 that of theirs2 beautiful to behold6 ,but now with the art of ,writing1 with the art of ,printing1 a total change has come over that business4 ,the ,writer of a ,book1 is not he a ,preacher preaching not to this parish or that1 on this day or that1 but to all men in all times and places8 ,surely it is of the last importance that he do his work right1 whoever do it wrong2--that the eye report not falsely1 for then all the other members are astray6 ,well2 how he may do his work1 whether he do it right or wrong1 or do it at all1 is a point which no man in the world has taken the pains to think of4 ,to a certain shopkeeper1 trying to get some money for his books1 if lucky1 he is of some importance2 to no other man of any4 ,whence he came1 whither he is bound1 by what ways he arrived1 by what he might be furthered on his course1 no one asks4 ,he is an accident in society4 ,he wanders like a wild ,ishmaelite1 in a world of which he is as the spiritual light1 either the guidance or the misguidance6 ,certainly the ,art of ,writing is the most miraculous of all things man has devised4 ,odin's ,runes were the first form of the work of a ,hero2 ,books written words1 are still miraculous ,runes1 the latest form6 ,in ,books lies the soul of the whole ,past ,time2 the articulate audible voice of the ,past1 when the body and material substance of it has altogether vanished like a dream4 ,mighty fleets and armies1 harbors and arsenals1 vast cities1 high-domed1 many-engined1--they are precious1 great3 but what do they become8 ,agamemnon1 the many ,agamemnons1 ,pericleses1 and their ,greece2 all is gone now to some ruined fragments1 dumb mournful wrecks and blocks3 but the ,books of ,greece6 ,there ,greece1 to every thinker1 still very literally lives3 can be called up again into life4 ,no magic ,rune is stranger than a ,book4 ,all that ,mankind has done1 thought1 gained or been3 it is lying as in magic preservation in the pages of ,books4 ,they are the chosen possession of men4 ,do not ,books still accomplish miracles1 as ,runes were fabled to do8 ,they persuade men4 ,not the wretchedest circulating-library novel1 which foolish girls thumb and con in remote villages1 but will help to regulate the actual practical weddings and households of those foolish girls4 ,so ,celia felt1 so ,clifford acted3 the foolish ,theorem of ,life1 stamped into those young brains1 comes out as a solid ,practice one day4 ,consider whether any ,rune in the wildest imagination of ,mythologist ever did such wonders as1 on the actual firm ,earth1 some ,books have done6 ,what built ,st4 ,paul's ,cathedral8 ,look at the heart of the matter1 it was that divine ,hebrew ,,book1--the word partly of the man ,moses1 an outlaw tending his ,midianitish herds1 four thousand years ago1 in the wildernesses of ,sinai6 ,it is the strangest of things1 yet nothing is truer4 ,with the art of ,writing1 of which ,printing is a simple1 an inevitable and comparatively insignificant corollary1 the true reign of miracles for mankind commenced4 ,it related1 with a wondrous new contiguity and perpetual closeness1 the ,past and ,distant with the ,present in time and place2 all times and all places with this our actual ,here and ,now4 ,all things were altered for men2 all modes of important work of men3 teaching1 preaching1 governing1 and all else4 ,to look at ,teaching1 for instance4 ,universities are a notable1 respectable product of the modern ages4 ,their existence too is modified1 to the very basis of it1 by the existence of ,books4 ,universities arose while there were yet no ,books procurable2 while a man1 for a single ,book1 had to give an estate of land4 ,that1 in those circumstances1 when a man had some knowledge to communicate1 he should do it by gathering the learners round him1 face to face1 was a necessity for him4 ,if you wanted to know what ,abelard knew1 you must go and listen to ,abelard4 ,thousands1 as many as thirty thousand1 went to hear ,abelard and that metaphysical theology of his4 ,and now for any other teacher who had also something of his own to teach1 there was a great convenience opened3 so many thousands eager to learn were already assembled yonder2 of all places the best place for him was that4 ,for any third teacher it was better still2 and grew ever the better1 the more teachers there came4 ,it only needed now that the ,king took notice of this new phenomenon2 combined or agglomerated the various schools into one school2 gave it edifices1 privileges1 encouragements1 and named it ,universitas1 or ,school of all ,sciences3 the ,university of ,paris1 in its essential characters1 was there4 ,the model of all subsequent ,universities2 which down even to these days1 for six centuries now1 have gone on to found themselves4 ,such1 ,i conceive1 was the origin of ,universities4 ,it is clear1 however1 that with this simple circumstance1 facility of getting ,books1 the whole conditions of the business from top to bottom were changed4 ,once invent ,printing1 you metamorphosed all ,universities1 or superseded them6 ,the ,teacher needed not now to gather men personally round him1 that he might speak to them what he knew3 print it in a ,book1 and all learners far and wide1 for a trifle1 had it each at his own fireside1 much more effectually to learn it6--,doubtless there is still peculiar virtue in ,speech2 even writers of ,books may still1 in some circumstances1 find it convenient to speak also1--witness our present meeting here6 ,there is1 one would say1 and must ever remain while man has a tongue1 a distinct province for ,speech as well as for ,writing and ,printing4 ,in regard to all things this must remain2 to ,universities among others4 ,but the limits of the two have nowhere yet been pointed out1 ascertained2 much less put in practice3 the ,university which would completely take in that great new fact1 of the existence of ,printed ,books1 and stand on a clear footing for the ,nineteenth ,century as the ,paris one did for the ,thirteenth1 has not yet come into existence4 ,if we think of it1 all that a ,university1 or final highest ,school can do for us1 is still but what the first ,school began doing1--teach us to read4 ,we learn to read1 in various languages1 in various sciences2 we learn the alphabet and letters of all manner of ,books4 ,but the place where we are to get knowledge1 even theoretic knowledge1 is the ,books themselves6 ,it depends on what we read1 after all manner of ,professors have done their best for us4 ,the true ,university of these days is a ,collection of ,books4 ,but to the ,church itself1 as ,i hinted already1 all is changed1 in its preaching1 in its working1 by the introduction of ,books4 ,the ,church is the working recognized ,union of our ,priests or ,prophets1 of those who by wise teaching guide the souls of men4 ,while there was no ,writing1 even while there was no ,easy-writing1 or ,printing1 the preaching of the voice was the natural sole method of performing this4 ,but now with ,books6--,he that can write a true ,book1 to persuade ,england1 is not he the ,bishop and ,archbishop1 the ,primate of ,england and of ,all ,england8 ,i many a time say1 the writers of ,newspapers1 ,pamphlets1 ,poems1 ,books1 these are the real working effective ,church of a modern country4 ,nay not only our preaching1 but even our worship1 is not it too accomplished by means of ,printed ,books8 ,the noble sentiment which a gifted soul has clothed for us in melodious words1 which brings melody into our hearts1--is not this essentially1 if we will understand it1 of the nature of worship8 ,there are many1 in all countries1 who1 in this confused time1 have no other method of worship4 ,he who1 in any way1 shows us better than we knew before that a lily of the fields is beautiful1 does he not show it us as an effluence of the ,fountain of all ,beauty2 as the handwriting1 made visible there1 of the great ,maker of the ,universe8 ,he has sung for us1 made us sing with him1 a little verse of a sacred ,psalm4 ,essentially so4 ,how much more he who sings1 who says1 or in any way brings home to our heart the noble doings1 feelings1 darings and endurances of a brother man6 ,he has verily touched our hearts as with a live coal from the altar4 ,perhaps there is no worship more authentic4 ,literature1 so far as it is ,literature1 is an apocalypse of ,nature1 a revealing of the open secret4 ,it may well enough be named1 in ,fichte's style1 a continuous revelation of the ,godlike in the ,terrestrial and ,common4 ,the ,godlike does ever1 in very truth1 endure there2 is brought out1 now in this dialect1 now in that1 with various degrees of clearness3 all true gifted ,singers and ,speakers are1 consciously or unconsciously1 doing so4 ,the dark stormful indignation of a ,byron1 so wayward and perverse1 may have touches of it2 nay the withered mockery of a ,french sceptic1--his mockery of the ,false1 a love and worship of the ,true4 ,how much more the sphere-harmony of a ,shakspeare1 of a ,goethe2 the cathedral music of a ,milton6 ,they are something too1 those humble genuine lark-notes of a ,burns1--skylark1 starting from the humble furrow1 far overhead into the blue depths1 and singing to us so genuinely there6 ,for all true singing is of the nature of worship2 as indeed all true working may be said to be1--whereof such singing is but the record1 and fit melodious representation1 to us4 ,fragments of a real ,church ,liturgy and ,body of ,homilies1 strangely disguised from the common eye1 are to be found weltering in that huge froth-ocean of ,printed ,speech we loosely call ,literature6 ,books are our ,church too4 ,or turning now to the ,government of men4 ,witenagemote1 old ,parliament1 was a great thing4 ,the affairs of the nation were there deliberated and decided2 what we were to do as a nation4 ,but does not1 though the name ,parliament subsists1 the parliamentary debate go on now1 everywhere and at all times1 in a far more comprehensive way1 out of ,parliament altogether8 ,burke said there were ,three ,estates in ,parliament2 but1 in the ,reporters' ,gallery yonder1 there sat a ,fourth ,estate more important far than they all4 ,it is not a figure of speech1 or a witty saying2 it is a literal fact1--very momentous to us in these times4 ,literature is our ,parliament too4 ,printing1 which comes necessarily out of ,writing1 ,i say often1 is equivalent to ,democracy3 invent ,writing1 ,democracy is inevitable4 ,writing brings ,printing2 brings universal everyday extempore ,printing1 as we see at present4 ,whoever can speak1 speaking now to the whole nation1 becomes a power1 a branch of government1 with inalienable weight in law-making1 in all acts of authority4 ,it matters not what rank he has1 what revenues or garnitures4 the requisite thing is1 that he have a tongue which others will listen to2 this and nothing more is requisite4 ,the nation is governed by all that has tongue in the nation3 ,democracy is virtually there4 ,add only1 that whatsoever power exists will have itself1 by and by1 organized2 working secretly under bandages1 obscurations1 obstructions1 it will never rest till it get to work free1 unencumbered1 visible to all4 ,democracy virtually extant will insist on becoming palpably extant4-- ,on all sides1 are we not driven to the conclusion that1 of the things which man can do or make here below1 by far the most momentous1 wonderful and worthy are the things we call ,books6 ,those poor bits of rag-paper with black ink on them2--from the ,daily ,newspaper to the sacred ,hebrew ,,book1 what have they not done1 what are they not doing6--,for indeed1 whatever be the outward form of the thing 7bits of paper1 as we say1 and black ink71 is it not verily1 at bottom1 the highest act of man's faculty that produces a ,book8 ,it is the ,thought of man2 the true thaumaturgic virtue2 by which man works all things whatsoever4 ,all that he does1 and brings to pass1 is the vesture of a ,thought4 ,this ,london ,city1 with all its houses1 palaces1 steam-engines1 cathedrals1 and huge immeasurable traffic and tumult1 what is it but a ,thought1 but millions of ,thoughts made into ,one2--a huge immeasurable ,spirit of a ,,thought1 embodied in brick1 in iron1 smoke1 dust1 ,palaces1 ,parliaments1 ,hackney ,coaches1 ,katherine ,docks1 and the rest of it6 ,not a brick was made but some man had to think of the making of that brick4--,the thing we called bits of paper with traces of black ink1 is the purest embodiment a ,thought of man can have4 ,no wonder it is1 in all ways1 the activest and noblest4 ,all this1 of the importance and supreme importance of the ,man of ,letters in modern ,society1 and how the ,press is to such a degree superseding the ,pulpit1 the ,senate1 the ,senatus ,academicus and much else1 has been admitted for a good while2 and recognized often enough1 in late times1 with a sort of sentimental triumph and wonderment4 ,it seems to me1 the ,sentimental by and by will have to give place to the ,practical4 ,if ,men of ,letters are so incalculably influential1 actually performing such work for us from age to age1 and even from day to day1 then ,i think we may conclude that ,men of ,letters will not always wander like unrecognized unregulated ,ishmaelites among us6 ,whatsoever thing1 as ,i said above1 has virtual unnoticed power will cast off its wrappages1 bandages1 and step forth one day with palpably articulated1 universally visible power4 ,that one man wear the clothes1 and take the wages1 of a function which is done by quite another3 there can be no profit in this2 this is not right1 it is wrong4 ,and yet1 alas1 the making of it right1--what a business1 for long times to come6 ,sure enough1 this that we call ,organization of the ,literary ,guild is still a great way off1 encumbered with all manner of complexities4 ,if you asked me what were the best possible organization for the ,men of ,letters in modern society2 the arrangement of furtherance and regulation1 grounded the most accurately on the actual facts of their position and of the world's position1--,i should beg to say that the problem far exceeded my faculty6 ,it is not one man's faculty2 it is that of many successive men turned earnestly upon it1 that will bring out even an approximate solution4 ,what the best arrangement were1 none of us could say4 ,but if you ask1 ,which is the worst8 ,i answer3 ,this which we now have1 that ,chaos should sit umpire in it2 this is the worst4 ,to the best1 or any good one1 there is yet a long way4 ,one remark ,i must not omit1 ,that royal or parliamentary grants of money are by no means the chief thing wanted6 ,to give our ,men of ,letters stipends1 endowments and all furtherance of cash1 will do little towards the business4 ,on the whole1 one is weary of hearing about the omnipotence of money4 ,i will say rather that1 for a genuine man1 it is no evil to be poor2 that there ought to be ,literary ,men poor1--to show whether they are genuine or not6 ,mendicant ,orders1 bodies of good men doomed to beg1 were instituted in the ,christian ,church2 a most natural and even necessary development of the spirit of ,christianity4 ,it was itself founded on ,poverty1 on ,sorrow1 ,contradiction1 ,crucifixion1 every species of worldly ,distress and ,degradation4 ,we may say1 that he who has not known those things1 and learned from them the priceless lessons they have to teach1 has missed a good opportunity of schooling4 ,to beg1 and go barefoot1 in coarse woollen cloak with a rope round your loins1 and be despised of all the world1 was no beautiful business2--nor an honorable one in any eye1 till the nobleness of those who did so had made it honored of some6 ,begging is not in our course at the present time3 but for the rest of it1 who will say that a ,johnson is not perhaps the better for being poor8 ,it is needful for him1 at all rates1 to know that outward profit1 that success of any kind is not the goal he has to aim at4 ,pride1 vanity1 ill-conditioned egoism of all sorts1 are bred in his heart1 as in every heart2 need1 above all1 to be cast out of his heart1--to be1 with whatever pangs1 torn out of it1 cast forth from it1 as a thing worthless4 ,byron1 born rich and noble1 made out even less than ,burns1 poor and plebeian4 ,who knows but1 in that same best possible organization as yet far off1 ,poverty may still enter as an important element8 ,what if our ,men of ,letters1 men setting up to be ,spiritual ,heroes1 were still then1 as they now are1 a kind of involuntary monastic order2 bound still to this same ugly ,poverty1--till they had tried what was in it too1 till they had learned to make it too do for them6 ,money1 in truth1 can do much1 but it cannot do all4 ,we must know the province of it1 and confine it there2 and even spurn it back1 when it wishes to get farther4 ,besides1 were the money-furtherances1 the proper season for them1 the fit assigner of them1 all settled1--how is the ,burns to be recognized that merits these8 ,he must pass through the ordeal1 and prove himself4 ,this ordeal2 this wild welter of a chaos which is called ,literary ,life3 this too is a kind of ordeal6 ,there is clear truth in the idea that a struggle from the lower classes of society1 towards the upper regions and rewards of society1 must ever continue4 ,strong men are born there1 who ought to stand elsewhere than there4 ,the manifold1 inextricably complex1 universal struggle of these constitutes1 and must constitute1 what is called the progress of society4 ,for ,men of ,letters1 as for all other sorts of men4 ,how to regulate that struggle8 ,there is the whole question4 ,to leave it as it is1 at the mercy of blind ,chance2 a whirl of distracted atoms1 one cancelling the other2 one of the thousand arriving saved1 nine hundred and ninety-nine lost by the way2 your royal ,johnson languishing inactive in garrets1 or harnessed to the yoke of ,printer ,cave2 your ,burns dying broken-hearted as a ,gauger2 your ,rousseau driven into mad exasperation1 kindling ,french ,revolutions by his paradoxes3 this1 as we said1 is clearly enough the worst regulation4 ,the best1 alas1 is far from us6 ,and yet there can be no doubt but it is coming2 advancing on us1 as yet hidden in the bosom of centuries3 this is a prophecy one can risk4 ,for so soon as men get to discern the importance of a thing1 they do infallibly set about arranging it1 facilitating1 forwarding it2 and rest not till1 in some approximate degree1 they have accomplished that4 ,i say1 of all ,priesthoods1 ,aristocracies1 ,governing ,classes at present extant in the world1 there is no class comparable for importance to that ,priesthood of the ,writers of ,books4 ,this is a fact which he who runs may read1--and draw inferences from4 ,literature will take care of itself1 answered ,mr4 ,pitt1 when applied to for some help for ,burns4 ,yes1 adds ,mr4 ,southey1 it will take care of itself2 and of you too1 if you do not look to it6 ,the result to individual ,men of ,letters is not the momentous one2 they are but individuals1 an infinitesimal fraction of the great body2 they can struggle on1 and live or else die1 as they have been wont4 ,but it deeply concerns the whole society1 whether it will set its light on high places1 to walk thereby2 or trample it under foot1 and scatter it in all ways of wild waste 7not without conflagration71 as heretofore6 ,light is the one thing wanted for the world4 ,put wisdom in the head of the world1 the world will fight its battle victoriously1 and be the best world man can make it4 ,i called this anomaly of a disorganic ,literary ,class the heart of all other anomalies1 at once product and parent2 some good arrangement for that would be as the punctum saliens of a new vitality and just arrangement for all4 ,already1 in some ,european countries1 in ,france1 in ,prussia1 one traces some beginnings of an arrangement for the ,literary ,class2 indicating the gradual possibility of such4 ,i believe that it is possible2 that it will have to be possible4 ,by far the most interesting fact ,i hear about the ,chinese is one on which we cannot arrive at clearness1 but which excites endless curiosity even in the dim state3 this namely1 that they do attempt to make their ,men of ,letters their ,governors6 ,it would be rash to say1 one understood how this was done1 or with what degree of success it was done4 ,all such things must be very unsuccessful2 yet a small degree of success is precious2 the very attempt how precious6 ,there does seem to be1 all over ,china1 a more or less active search everywhere to discover the men of talent that grow up in the young generation4 ,schools there are for every one3 a foolish sort of training1 yet still a sort4 ,the youths who distinguish themselves in the lower school are promoted into favorable stations in the higher1 that they may still more distinguish themselves1--forward and forward3 it appears to be out of these that the ,official ,persons1 and incipient ,governors1 are taken4 ,these are they whom they try first1 whether they can govern or not4 ,and surely with the best hope3 for they are the men that have already shown intellect4 ,try them3 they have not governed or administered as yet2 perhaps they cannot2 but there is no doubt they have some ,understanding1--without which no man can6 ,neither is ,understanding a tool1 as we are too apt to figure2 it is a hand which can handle any tool4 ,try these men3 they are of all others the best worth trying4--,surely there is no kind of government1 constitution1 revolution1 social apparatus or arrangement1 that ,i know of in this world1 so promising to one's scientific curiosity as this4 ,the man of intellect at the top of affairs3 this is the aim of all constitutions and revolutions1 if they have any aim4 ,for the man of true intellect1 as ,i assert and believe always1 is the noble-hearted man withal1 the true1 just1 humane and valiant man4 ,get him for governor1 all is got2 fail to get him1 though you had ,constitutions plentiful as blackberries1 and a ,parliament in every village1 there is nothing yet got--6 ,these things look strange1 truly2 and are not such as we commonly speculate upon4 ,but we are fallen into strange times2 these things will require to be speculated upon2 to be rendered practicable1 to be in some way put in practice4 ,these1 and many others4 ,on all hands of us1 there is the announcement1 audible enough1 that the old ,empire of ,routine has ended2 that to say a thing has long been1 is no reason for its continuing to be4 ,the things which have been are fallen into decay1 are fallen into incompetence2 large masses of mankind1 in every society of our ,europe1 are no longer capable of living at all by the things which have been4 ,when millions of men can no longer by their utmost exertion gain food for themselves1 and the third man for thirty-six weeks each year is short of third-rate potatoes1 the things which have been must decidedly prepare to alter themselves6--,i will now quit this of the organization of ,men of ,letters4 ,alas1 the evil that pressed heaviest on those ,literary ,heroes of ours was not the want of organization for ,men of ,letters1 but a far deeper one2 out of which1 indeed1 this and so many other evils for the ,literary ,man1 and for all men1 had1 as from their fountain1 taken rise4 ,that our ,hero as ,man of ,letters had to travel without highway1 companionless1 through an inorganic chaos1--and to leave his own life and faculty lying there1 as a partial contribution towards pushing some highway through it3 this1 had not his faculty itself been so perverted and paralyzed1 he might have put up with1 might have considered to be but the common lot of ,heroes4 ,his fatal misery was the spiritual paralysis1 so we may name it1 of the ,age in which his life lay2 whereby his life too1 do what he might1 was half paralyzed6 ,the ,eighteenth was a ,sceptical ,century2 in which little word there is a whole ,pandora's ,box of miseries4 ,scepticism means not intellectual ,doubt alone1 but moral ,doubt2 all sorts of infidelity1 insincerity1 spiritual paralysis4 ,perhaps1 in few centuries that one could specify since the world began1 was a life of ,heroism more difficult for a man4 ,that was not an age of ,faith1--an age of ,heroes6 ,the very possibility of ,heroism had been1 as it were1 formally abnegated in the minds of all4 ,heroism was gone forever2 ,triviality1 ,formulism and ,commonplace were come forever4 ,the age of miracles had been1 or perhaps had not been2 but it was not any longer4 ,an effete world2 wherein ,wonder1 ,greatness1 ,godhood could not now dwell2--in one word1 a godless world6 ,how mean1 dwarfish are their ways of thinking1 in this time1--compared not with the ,christian ,shakspeares and ,miltons1 but with the old ,pagan ,skalds1 with any species of believing men6 ,the living ,,tree ,igdrasil1 with the melodious prophetic waving of its world-wide boughs1 deep-rooted as ,hela1 has died out into the clanking of a ,world-,,machine4 ,tree and ,machine3 contrast these two things4 ,i1 for my share1 declare the world to be no machine6 ,i say that it does not go by wheel-and-pinion motives self-interests1 checks1 balances2 that there is something far other in it than the clank of spinning-jennies1 and parliamentary majorities2 and1 on the whole1 that it is not a machine at all6--,the old ,norse ,heathen had a truer motion of ,god's-world than these poor ,machine-,sceptics3 the old ,heathen ,norse were sincere men4 ,but for these poor ,sceptics there was no sincerity1 no truth4 ,half-truth and hearsay was called truth4 ,truth1 for most men1 meant plausibility2 to be measured by the number of votes you could get4 ,they had lost any notion that sincerity was possible1 or of what sincerity was4 ,how many ,plausibilities asking1 with unaffected surprise and the air of offended virtue1 ,what6 am not ,i sincere8 ,spiritual ,paralysis1 ,i say1 nothing left but a ,mechanical life1 was the characteristic of that century4 ,for the common man1 unless happily he stood below his century and belonged to another prior one1 it was impossible to be a ,believer1 a ,hero2 he lay buried1 unconscious1 under these baleful influences4 ,to the strongest man1 only with infinite struggle and confusion was it possible to work himself half loose2 and lead as it were1 in an enchanted1 most tragical way1 a spiritual death-in-life1 and be a ,half-,hero6 ,scepticism is the name we give to all this2 as the chief symptom1 as the chief origin of all this4 ,concerning which so much were to be said6 ,it would take many ,discourses1 not a small fraction of one ,discourse1 to state what one feels about that ,eighteenth ,century and its ways4 ,as indeed this1 and the like of this1 which we now call ,scepticism1 is precisely the black malady and life-foe1 against which all teaching and discoursing since man's life began has directed itself3 the battle of ,belief against ,unbelief is the never-ending battle6 ,neither is it in the way of crimination that one would wish to speak4 ,scepticism1 for that century1 we must consider as the decay of old ways of believing1 the preparation afar off for new better and wider ways1--an inevitable thing4 ,we will not blame men for it2 we will lament their hard fate4 ,we will understand that destruction of old forms is not destruction of everlasting substances2 that ,scepticism1 as sorrowful and hateful as we see it1 is not an end but a beginning4 ,the other day speaking1 without prior purpose that way1 of ,bentham's theory of man and man's life1 ,i chanced to call it a more beggarly one than ,mahomet's4 ,i am bound to say1 now when it is once uttered1 that such is my deliberate opinion4 ,not that one would mean offence against the man ,jeremy ,bentham1 or those who respect and believe him4 ,bentham himself1 and even the creed of ,bentham1 seems to me comparatively worthy of praise4 ,it is a determinate being what all the world1 in a cowardly half-and-half manner1 was tending to be4 ,let us have the crisis2 we shall either have death or the cure4 ,i call this gross1 steam-engine ,utilitarianism an approach towards new ,faith4 ,it was a laying-down of cant2 a saying to oneself3 ,well then1 this world is a dead iron machine1 the god of it ,gravitation and selfish ,hunger2 let us see what1 by checking and balancing1 and good adjustment of tooth and pinion1 can be made of it6 ,benthamism has something complete1 manful1 in such fearless committal of itself to what it finds true2 you may call it ,heroic1 though a ,heroism with its eyes put out6 ,it is the culminating point1 and fearless ultimatum1 of what lay in the half-and-half state1 pervading man's whole existence in that ,eighteenth ,century4 ,it seems to me1 all deniers of ,godhood1 and all lip-believers of it1 are bound to be ,benthamites1 if they have courage and honesty4 ,benthamism is an eyeless ,heroism3 the ,human ,species1 like a hapless blinded ,samson grinding in the ,philistine ,mill1 clasps convulsively the pillars of its ,mill2 brings huge ruin down1 but ultimately deliverance withal4 ,of ,bentham ,i meant to say no harm4 ,but this ,i do say1 and would wish all men to know and lay to heart1 that he who discerns nothing but ,mechanism in the ,universe has in the fatalest way missed the secret of the ,universe altogether4 ,that all ,godhood should vanish out of men's conception of this ,universe seems to me precisely the most brutal error1--,i will not disparage ,heathenism by calling it a ,heathen error1--that men could fall into4 ,it is not true2 it is false at the very heart of it4 ,a man who thinks so will think wrong about all things in the world2 this original sin will vitiate all other conclusions he can form4 ,one might call it the most lamentable of ,delusions1--not forgetting ,witchcraft itself6 ,witchcraft worshipped at least a living ,devil2 but this worships a dead iron ,devil2 no ,god1 not even a ,devil6 ,whatsoever is noble1 divine1 inspired1 drops thereby out of life4 ,there remains everywhere in life a despicable caput-mortuum2 the mechanical hull1 all soul fled out of it4 ,how can a man act heroically8 ,the ,doctrine of ,motives will teach him that it is1 under more or less disguise1 nothing but a wretched love of ,pleasure1 fear of ,pain2 that ,hunger1 of applause1 of cash1 of whatsoever victual it may be1 is the ultimate fact of man's life4 ,atheism1 in brief2--which does indeed frightfully punish itself4 ,the man1 ,i say1 is become spiritually a paralytic man2 this godlike ,universe a dead mechanical steam-engine1 all working by motives1 checks1 balances1 and ,i know not what2 wherein1 as in the detestable belly of some ,phalaris'-,bull of his own contriving1 he the poor ,phalaris sits miserably dying6 ,belief ,i define to be the healthy act of a man's mind4 ,it is a mysterious indescribable process1 that of getting to believe2--indescribable1 as all vital acts are4 ,we have our mind given us1 not that it may cavil and argue1 but that it may see into something1 give us clear belief and understanding about something1 whereon we are then to proceed to act4 ,doubt1 truly1 is not itself a crime4 ,certainly we do not rush out1 clutch up the first thing we find1 and straightway believe that6 ,all manner of doubt1 inquiry1 ,gr4 skepsis as it is named1 about all manner of objects1 dwells in every reasonable mind4 ,it is the mystic working of the mind1 on the object it is getting to know and believe4 ,belief comes out of all this1 above ground1 like the tree from its hidden roots4 ,but now if1 even on common things1 we require that a man keep his doubts silent1 and not babble of them till they in some measure become affirmations or denials2 how much more in regard to the highest things1 impossible to speak of in words at all6 ,that a man parade his doubt1 and get to imagine that debating and logic 7which means at best only the manner of telling us your thought1 your belief or disbelief1 about a thing7 is the triumph and true work of what intellect he has3 alas1 this is as if you should overturn the tree1 and instead of green boughs1 leaves and fruits1 show us ugly taloned roots turned up into the air1--and no growth1 only death and misery going on6 ,for the ,scepticism1 as ,i said1 is not intellectual only2 it is moral also2 a chronic atrophy and disease of the whole soul4 ,a man lives by believing something2 not by debating and arguing about many things4 ,a sad case for him when all that he can manage to believe is something he can button in his pocket1 and with one or the other organ eat and digest6 ,lower than that he will not get4 ,we call those ages in which he gets so low the mournfulest1 sickest and meanest of all ages4 ,the world's heart is palsied1 sick3 how can any limb of it be whole8 ,genuine ,acting ceases in all departments of the world's work2 dexterous ,similitude of ,acting begins4 ,the world's wages are pocketed1 the world's work is not done4 ,heroes have gone out2 ,quacks have come in4 ,accordingly1 what ,century1 since the end of the ,roman world1 which also was a time of scepticism1 simulacra and universal decadence1 so abounds with ,quacks as that ,eighteenth8 ,consider them1 with their tumid sentimental vaporing about virtue1 benevolence1--the wretched ,quack-squadron1 ,cagliostro at the head of them6 ,few men were without quackery2 they had got to consider it a necessary ingredient and amalgam for truth4 ,chatham1 our brave ,chatham himself1 comes down to the ,house1 all wrapt and bandaged2 he has crawled out in great bodily suffering1 and so on2--forgets1 says ,walpole1 that he is acting the sick man2 in the fire of debate1 snatches his arm from the sling1 and oratorically swings and brandishes it6 ,chatham himself lives the strangest mimetic life1 half-hero1 half-quack1 all along4 ,for indeed the world is full of dupes2 and you have to gain the world's suffrage6 ,how the duties of the world will be done in that case1 what quantities of error1 which means failure1 which means sorrow and misery1 to some and to many1 will gradually accumulate in all provinces of the world's business1 we need not compute4 ,it seems to me1 you lay your finger here on the heart of the world's maladies1 when you call it a ,sceptical ,world4 ,an insincere world2 a godless untruth of a world6 ,it is out of this1 as ,i consider1 that the whole tribe of social pestilences1 ,french ,revolutions1 ,chartisms1 and what not1 have derived their being1--their chief necessity to be4 ,this must alter4 ,till this alter1 nothing can beneficially alter4 ,my one hope of the world1 my inexpugnable consolation in looking at the miseries of the world1 is that this is altering4 ,here and there one does now find a man who knows1 as of old1 that this world is a ,truth1 and no ,plausibility and ,falsity2 that he himself is alive1 not dead or paralytic2 and that the world is alive1 instinct with ,godhood1 beautiful and awful1 even as in the beginning of days6 ,one man once knowing this1 many men1 all men1 must by and by come to know it4 ,it lies there clear1 for whosoever will take the spectacles off his eyes and honestly look1 to know6 ,for such a man the ,unbelieving ,century1 with its unblessed ,products1 is already past2 a new century is already come4 ,the old unblessed ,products and ,performances1 as solid as they look1 are ,phantasms1 preparing speedily to vanish4 ,to this and the other noisy1 very great-looking ,simulacrum with the whole world huzzaing at its heels1 he can say1 composedly stepping aside3 ,thou art not true2 thou art not extant1 only semblant2 go thy way6--,yes1 hollow ,formulism1 gross ,benthamism1 and other unheroic atheistic ,insincerity is visibly and even rapidly declining4 ,an unbelieving ,eighteenth ,century is but an exception1--such as now and then occurs4 ,i prophesy that the world will once more become sincere2 a believing world2 with many ,heroes in it1 a heroic world6 ,it will then be a victorious world2 never till then4 ,or indeed what of the world and its victories8 ,men speak too much about the world4 ,each one of us here1 let the world go how it will1 and be victorious or not victorious1 has he not a ,life of his own to lead8 ,one ,life2 a little gleam of ,time between two ,eternities2 no second chance to us forevermore6 ,it were well for us to live not as fools and simulacra1 but as wise and realities4 ,the world's being saved will not save us2 nor the world's being lost destroy us4 ,we should look to ourselves3 there is great merit here in the duty of staying at home6 ,and1 on the whole1 to say truth1 ,i never heard of world's being saved in any other way4 ,that mania of saving worlds is itself a piece of the ,eighteenth ,century with its windy sentimentalism4 ,let us not follow it too far4 ,for the saving of the world ,i will trust confidently to the ,maker of the world2 and look a little to my own saving1 which ,i am more competent to6--,in brief1 for the world's sake1 and for our own1 we will rejoice greatly that ,scepticism1 ,insincerity1 ,mechanical ,atheism1 with all their poison-dews1 are going1 and as good as gone4-- ,now it was under such conditions1 in those times of ,johnson1 that our ,men of ,letters had to live4 ,times in which there was properly no truth in life4 ,old truths had fallen nigh dumb2 the new lay yet hidden1 not trying to speak4 ,that ,man's ,life here below was a ,sincerity and ,fact1 and would forever continue such1 no new intimation1 in that dusk of the world1 had yet dawned4 ,no intimation2 not even any ,french ,revolution1--which we define to be a ,truth once more1 though a ,truth clad in hell-fire6 ,how different was the ,luther's pilgrimage1 with its assured goal1 from the ,johnson's1 girt with mere traditions1 suppositions1 grown now incredible1 unintelligible6 ,mahomet's ,formulas were of wood waxed and oiled1 and could be burnt out of one's way3 poor ,johnson's were far more difficult to burn4--,the strong man will ever find work1 which means difficulty1 pain1 to the full measure of his strength4 ,but to make out a victory1 in those circumstances of our poor ,hero as ,man of ,letters1 was perhaps more difficult than in any4 ,not obstruction1 disorganization1 ,bookseller ,osborne and ,fourpence-halfpenny a day2 not this alone2 but the light of his own soul was taken from him4 ,no landmark on the ,earth2 and1 alas1 what is that to having no loadstar in the ,heaven6 ,we need not wonder that none of those ,three men rose to victory4 ,that they fought truly is the highest praise4 ,with a mournful sympathy we will contemplate1 if not three living victorious ,heroes1 as ,i said1 the ,tombs of three fallen ,heroes6 ,they fell for us too2 making a way for us4 ,there are the mountains which they hurled abroad in their confused ,war of the ,giants2 under which1 their strength and life spent1 they now lie buried4 ,i have already written of these three ,literary ,heroes1 expressly or incidentally2 what ,i suppose is known to most of you2 what need not be spoken or written a second time4 ,they concern us here as the singular ,prophets of that singular age2 for such they virtually were2 and the aspect they and their world exhibit1 under this point of view1 might lead us into reflections enough6 ,i call them1 all three1 ,genuine ,men more or less2 faithfully1 for most part unconsciously1 struggling to be genuine1 and plant themselves on the everlasting truth of things4 ,this to a degree that eminently distinguishes them from the poor artificial mass of their contemporaries2 and renders them worthy to be considered as ,speakers1 in some measure1 of the everlasting truth1 as ,prophets in that age of theirs4 ,by ,nature herself a noble necessity was laid on them to be so4 ,they were men of such magnitude that they could not live on unrealities1--clouds1 froth and all inanity gave way under them3 there was no footing for them but on firm earth2 no rest or regular motion for them1 if they got not footing there4 ,to a certain extent1 they were ,sons of ,nature once more in an age of ,artifice2 once more1 ,original ,men4 ,as for ,johnson1 ,i have always considered him to be1 by nature1 one of our great ,english souls4 ,a strong and noble man2 so much left undeveloped in him to the last3 in a kindlier element what might he not have been1--,poet1 ,priest1 sovereign ,ruler6 ,on the whole1 a man must not complain of his element1 of his time1 or the like2 it is thriftless work doing so4 ,his time is bad3 well then1 he is there to make it better6--,johnson's youth was poor1 isolated1 hopeless1 very miserable4 ,indeed1 it does not seem possible that1 in any the favorablest outward circumstances1 ,johnson's life could have been other than a painful one4 ,the world might have had more of profitable work out of him1 or less2 but his effort against the world's work could never have been a light one4 ,nature1 in return for his nobleness1 had said to him1 ,live in an element of diseased sorrow4 ,nay1 perhaps the sorrow and the nobleness were intimately and even inseparably connected with each other4 ,at all events1 poor ,johnson had to go about girt with continual hypochondria1 physical and spiritual pain4 ,like a ,hercules with the burning ,nessus'-shirt on him1 which shoots in on him dull incurable misery3 the ,nessus'-shirt not to be stript off1 which is his own natural skin6 ,in this manner he had to live4 ,figure him there1 with his scrofulous diseases1 with his great greedy heart1 and unspeakable chaos of thoughts2 stalking mournful as a stranger in this ,earth2 eagerly devouring what spiritual thing he could come at3 school-languages and other merely grammatical stuff1 if there were nothing better6 ,the largest soul that was in all ,england2 and provision made for it of fourpence-halfpenny a day4 ,yet a giant invincible soul2 a true man's4 ,one remembers always that story of the shoes at ,oxford3 the rough1 seamy-faced1 rawboned ,college ,servitor stalking about1 in winter-season1 with his shoes worn out2 how the charitable ,gentleman ,commoner secretly places a new pair at his door2 and the rawboned ,servitor1 lifting them1 looking at them near1 with his dim eyes1 with what thoughts1--pitches them out of window6 ,wet feet1 mud1 frost1 hunger or what you will2 but not beggary3 we cannot stand beggary6 ,rude stubborn self-help here2 a whole world of squalor1 rudeness1 confused misery and want1 yet of nobleness and manfulness withal4 ,it is a type of the man's life1 this pitching away of the shoes4 ,an original man2--not a second-hand1 borrowing or begging man4 ,let us stand on our own basis1 at any rate6 ,on such shoes as we ourselves can get4 ,on frost and mud1 if you will1 but honestly on that2--on the reality and substance which ,nature gives us1 not on the semblance1 on the thing she has given another than us--6 ,and yet with all this rugged pride of manhood and self-help1 was there ever soul more tenderly affectionate1 loyally submissive to what was really higher than he8 ,great souls are always loyally submissive1 reverent to what is over them2 only small mean souls are otherwise4 ,i could not find a better proof of what ,i said the other day1 ,that the sincere man was by nature the obedient man2 that only in a ,world of ,heroes was there loyal ,obedience to the ,heroic4 ,the essence of originality is not that it be new3 ,johnson believed altogether in the old2 he found the old opinions credible for him1 fit for him2 and in a right heroic manner lived under them4 ,he is well worth study in regard to that4 ,for we are to say that ,johnson was far other than a mere man of words and formulas2 he was a man of truths and facts4 ,he stood by the old formulas2 the happier was it for him that he could so stand3 but in all formulas that he could stand by1 there needed to be a most genuine substance4 ,very curious how1 in that poor ,paper-age1 so barren1 artificial1 thick-quilted with ,pedantries1 ,hearsays1 the great ,fact of this ,universe glared in1 forever wonderful1 indubitable1 unspeakable1 divine-infernal1 upon this man too6 ,how he harmonized his ,formulas with it1 how he managed at all under such circumstances3 that is a thing worth seeing4 ,a thing to be looked at with reverence1 with pity1 with awe4 ,that ,church of ,st4 ,clement ,danes1 where ,johnson still worshipped in the era of ,voltaire1 is to me a venerable place4 ,it was in virtue of his sincerity1 of his speaking still in some sort from the heart of ,nature1 though in the current artificial dialect1 that ,johnson was a ,prophet4 ,are not all dialects artificial8 ,artificial things are not all false2--nay every true ,product of ,nature will infallibly shape itself2 we may say all artificial things are1 at the starting of them1 true4 ,what we call ,formulas are not in their origin bad2 they are indispensably good4 ,formula is method1 habitude2 found wherever man is found4 ,formulas fashion themselves as ,paths do1 as beaten ,highways1 leading toward some sacred or high object1 whither many men are bent4 ,consider it4 ,one man1 full of heartfelt earnest impulse1 finds out a way of doing somewhat1--were it of uttering his soul's reverence for the ,highest1 were it but of fitly saluting his fellow-man4 ,an inventor was needed to do that1 a poet2 he has articulated the dim-struggling thought that dwelt in his own and many hearts4 ,this is his way of doing that2 these are his footsteps1 the beginning of a ,path4 ,and now see3 the second men travels naturally in the footsteps of his foregoer1 it is the easiest method4 ,in the footsteps of his foregoer2 yet with improvements1 with changes where such seem good2 at all events with enlargements1 the ,path ever widening itself as more travel it2--till at last there is a broad ,highway whereon the whole world may travel and drive4 ,while there remains a ,city or ,shrine1 or any ,reality to drive to1 at the farther end1 the ,highway shall be right welcome6 ,when the ,city is gone1 we will forsake the ,highway4 ,in this manner all ,institutions1 ,practices1 ,regulated ,things in the world have come into existence1 and gone out of existence4 ,formulas all begin by being full of substance2 you may call them the skin1 the articulation into shape1 into limbs and skin1 of a substance that is already there3 they had not been there otherwise4 ,idols1 as we said1 are not idolatrous till they become doubtful1 empty for the worshipper's heart4 ,much as we talk against ,formulas1 ,i hope no one of us is ignorant withal of the high significance of true ,formulas2 that they were1 and will ever be1 the indispensablest furniture of our habitation in this world4-- ,mark1 too1 how little ,johnson boasts of his sincerity4 ,he has no suspicion of his being particularly sincere1--of his being particularly anything6 ,a hard-struggling1 weary-hearted man1 or scholar as he calls himself1 trying hard to get some honest livelihood in the world1 not to starve1 but to live--without stealing6 ,a noble unconsciousness is in him4 ,he does not engrave ,truth on his watch-seal2 no1 but he stands by truth1 speaks by it1 works and lives by it4 ,thus it ever is4 ,think of it once more4 ,the man whom ,nature has appointed to do great things is1 first of all1 furnished with that openness to ,nature which renders him incapable of being insincere6 ,to his large1 open1 deep-feeling heart ,nature is a ,fact3 all hearsay is hearsay2 the unspeakable greatness of this ,mystery of ,life1 let him acknowledge it or not1 nay even though he seem to forget it or deny it1 is ever present to him1--fearful and wonderful1 on this hand and on that4 ,he has a basis of sincerity2 unrecognized1 because never questioned or capable of question4 ,mirabeau1 ,mahomet1 ,cromwell1 ,napoleon3 all the ,great ,men ,i ever heard of have this as the primary material of them4 ,innumerable commonplace men are debating1 are talking everywhere their commonplace doctrines1 which they have learned by logic1 by rote1 at second-hand3 to that kind of man all this is still nothing4 ,he must have truth2 truth which he feels to be true4 ,how shall he stand otherwise8 ,his whole soul1 at all moments1 in all ways1 tells him that there is no standing4 ,he is under the noble necessity of being true4 ,johnson's way of thinking about this world is not mine1 any more than ,mahomet's was3 but ,i recognize the everlasting element of heart-sincerity in both2 and see with pleasure how neither of them remains ineffectual4 ,neither of them is as chaff sown2 in both of them is something which the seedfield will grow4 ,johnson was a ,prophet to his people2 preached a ,gospel to them1--as all like him always do4 ,the highest ,gospel he preached we may describe as a kind of ,moral ,prudence3 in a world where much is to be done1 and little is to be known1 see how you will do it6 ,a thing well worth preaching4 ,a world where much is to be done1 and little is to be known3 do not sink yourselves in boundless bottomless abysses of ,doubt1 of wretched god-forgetting ,unbelief2--you were miserable then1 powerless1 mad3 how could you do or work at all8 ,such ,gospel ,johnson preached and taught2--coupled1 theoretically and practically1 with this other great ,gospel1 ,clear your mind of ,cant6 ,have no trade with ,cant3 stand on the cold mud in the frosty weather1 but let it be in your own real torn shoes3 that will be better for you1 as ,mahomet says6 ,i call this1 ,i call these two things joined together1 a great ,gospel1 the greatest perhaps that was possible at that time4 ,johnson's ,writings1 which once had such currency and celebrity1 are now as it were disowned by the young generation4 ,it is not wonderful2 ,johnson's opinions are fast becoming obsolete3 but his style of thinking and of living1 we may hope1 will never become obsolete4 ,i find in ,johnson's ,books the indisputablest traces of a great intellect and great heart2--ever welcome1 under what obstructions and perversions soever4 ,they are sincere words1 those of his2 he means things by them4 ,a wondrous buckram style1--the best he could get to then2 a measured grandiloquence1 stepping or rather stalking along in a very solemn way1 grown obsolete now2 sometimes a tumid size of phraseology not in proportion to the contents of it3 all this you will put up with4 ,for the phraseology1 tumid or not1 has always something within it4 ,so many beautiful styles and books1 with nothing in them2--a man is a malefactor to the world who writes such6 ,they are the avoidable kind6--,had ,johnson left nothing but his ,dictionary1 one might have traced there a great intellect1 a genuine man4 ,looking to its clearness of definition1 its general solidity1 honesty1 insight and successful method1 it may be called the best of all ,dictionaries4 ,there is in it a kind of architectural nobleness2 it stands there like a great solid square-built edifice1 finished1 symmetrically complete3 you judge that a true ,builder did it4 ,one word1 in spite of our haste1 must be granted to poor ,bozzy4 ,he passes for a mean1 inflated1 gluttonous creature2 and was so in many senses4 ,yet the fact of his reverence for ,johnson will ever remain noteworthy4 ,the foolish conceited ,scotch ,laird1 the most conceited man of his time1 approaching in such awe-struck attitude the great dusty irascible ,pedagogue in his mean garret there3 it is a genuine reverence for ,excellence2 a worship for ,heroes1 at a time when neither ,heroes nor worship were surmised to exist4 ,heroes1 it would seem1 exist always1 and a certain worship of them6 ,we will also take the liberty to deny altogether that of the witty ,frenchman1 that no man is a ,hero to his valet-de-chambre4 ,or if so1 it is not the ,hero's blame1 but the ,valet's3 that his soul1 namely1 is a mean valet-soul6 ,he expects his ,hero to advance in royal stage-trappings1 with measured step1 trains borne behind him1 trumpets sounding before him4 ,it should stand rather1 ,no man can be a ,grand-,monarque to his valet-de-chambre4 ,strip your ,louis ,quatorze of his king-gear1 and there is left nothing but a poor forked radish with a head fantastically carved2--admirable to no valet4 ,the ,valet does not know a ,hero when he sees him6 ,alas1 no3 it requires a kind of ,hero to do that2--and one of the world's wants1 in this as in other senses1 is for most part want of such4 ,on the whole1 shall we not say1 that ,boswell's admiration was well bestowed2 that he could have found no soul in all ,england so worthy of bending down before8 ,shall we not say1 of this great mournful ,johnson too1 that he guided his difficult confused existence wisely2 led it well1 like a right valiant man8 ,that waste chaos of ,authorship by trade2 that waste chaos of ,scepticism in religion and politics1 in life-theory and life-practice2 in his poverty1 in his dust and dimness1 with the sick body and the rusty coat3 he made it do for him1 like a brave man4 ,not wholly without a loadstar in the ,eternal2 he had still a loadstar1 as the brave all need to have3 with his eye set on that1 he would change his course for nothing in these confused vortices of the lower sea of ,time4 ,to the ,spirit of ,lies1 bearing death and hunger1 he would in nowise strike his flag4 ,brave old ,samuel3 ultimus ,romanorum6 ,of ,rousseau and his ,heroism ,i cannot say so much4 ,he is not what ,i call a strong man4 ,a morbid1 excitable1 spasmodic man2 at best1 intense rather than strong4 ,he had not the talent of ,silence1 an invaluable talent2 which few ,frenchmen1 or indeed men of any sort in these times1 excel in6 ,the suffering man ought really to consume his own smoke2 there is no good in emitting smoke till you have made it into fire1--which1 in the metaphorical sense too1 all smoke is capable of becoming6 ,rousseau has not depth or width1 not calm force for difficulty2 the first characteristic of true greatness4 ,a fundamental mistake to call vehemence and rigidity strength6 ,a man is not strong who takes convulsion-fits2 though six men cannot hold him then4 ,he that can walk under the heaviest weight without staggering1 he is the strong man4 ,we need forever1 especially in these loud-shrieking days1 to remind ourselves of that4 ,a man who cannot hold his peace1 till the time come for speaking and acting1 is no right man4 ,poor ,rousseau's face is to me expressive of him4 ,a high but narrow contracted intensity in it3 bony brows2 deep1 strait-set eyes1 in which there is something bewildered-looking1--bewildered1 peering with lynx-eagerness4 ,a face full of misery1 even ignoble misery1 and also of the antagonism against that2 something mean1 plebeian there1 redeemed only by intensity3 the face of what is called a ,fanatic1--a sadly contracted ,hero6 ,we name him here because1 with all his drawbacks1 and they are many1 he has the first and chief characteristic of a ,hero3 he is heartily in earnest4 ,in earnest1 if ever man was2 as none of these ,french ,philosophers were4 ,nay1 one would say1 of an earnestness too great for his otherwise sensitive1 rather feeble nature2 and which indeed in the end drove him into the strangest incoherences1 almost delirations4 ,there had come1 at last1 to be a kind of madness in him3 his ,ideas possessed him like demons2 hurried him so about1 drove him over steep places--6 ,the fault and misery of ,rousseau was what we easily name by a single word1 ,egoism2 which is indeed the source and summary of all faults and miseries whatsoever4 ,he had not perfected himself into victory over mere ,desire2 a mean ,hunger1 in many sorts1 was still the motive principle of him4 ,i am afraid he was a very vain man2 hungry for the praises of men4 ,you remember ,genlis's experience of him4 ,she took ,jean ,jacques to the ,theatre2 he bargaining for a strict incognito1--,he would not be seen there for the world6 ,the curtain did happen nevertheless to be drawn aside3 the ,pit recognized ,jean ,jacques1 but took no great notice of him6 ,he expressed the bitterest indignation2 gloomed all evening1 spake no other than surly words4 ,the glib ,countess remained entirely convinced that his anger was not at being seen1 but at not being applauded when seen4 ,how the whole nature of the man is poisoned2 nothing but suspicion1 self-isolation1 fierce moody ways6 ,he could not live with anybody4 ,a man of some rank from the country1 who visited him often1 and used to sit with him1 expressing all reverence and affection for him1 comes one day2 finds ,jean ,jacques full of the sourest unintelligible humor4 ,monsieur1 said ,jean ,jacques1 with flaming eyes1 ,i know why you come here4 ,you come to see what a poor life ,i lead2 how little is in my poor pot that is boiling there4 ,well1 look into the pot6 ,there is half a pound of meat1 one carrot and three onions2 that is all3 go and tell the whole world that1 if you like1 ,monsieur6--,a man of this sort was far gone4 ,the whole world got itself supplied with anecdotes1 for light laughter1 for a certain theatrical interest1 from these perversions and contortions of poor ,jean ,jacques4 ,alas1 to him they were not laughing or theatrical2 too real to him6 ,the contortions of a dying gladiator3 the crowded amphitheatre looks on with entertainment2 but the gladiator is in agonies and dying4 ,and yet this ,rousseau1 as we say1 with his passionate appeals to ,mothers1 with his contrat-social1 with his celebrations of ,nature1 even of savage life in ,nature1 did once more touch upon ,reality1 struggle towards ,reality2 was doing the function of a ,prophet to his ,time4 ,as he could1 and as the ,time could6 ,strangely through all that defacement1 degradation and almost madness1 there is in the inmost heart of poor ,rousseau a spark of real heavenly fire4 ,once more1 out of the element of that withered mocking ,philosophism1 ,scepticism and ,persiflage1 there has arisen in this man the ineradicable feeling and knowledge that this ,life of ours is true3 not a ,scepticism1 ,theorem1 or ,persiflage1 but a ,fact1 an awful ,reality4 ,nature had made that revelation to him2 had ordered him to speak it out4 ,he got it spoken out2 if not well and clearly1 then ill and dimly1--as clearly as he could4 ,nay what are all errors and perversities of his1 even those stealings of ribbons1 aimless confused miseries and vagabondisms1 if we will interpret them kindly1 but the blinkard dazzlement and staggerings to and fro of a man sent on an errand he is too weak for1 by a path he cannot yet find8 ,men are led by strange ways4 ,one should have tolerance for a man1 hope of him2 leave him to try yet what he will do4 ,while life lasts1 hope lasts for every man4 ,of ,rousseau's literary talents1 greatly celebrated still among his countrymen1 ,i do not say much4 ,his ,books1 like himself1 are what ,i call unhealthy2 not the good sort of ,books4 ,there is a sensuality in ,rousseau4 ,combined with such an intellectual gift as his1 it makes pictures of a certain gorgeous attractiveness3 but they are not genuinely poetical4 ,not white sunlight3 something operatic2 a kind of rose-pink1 artificial bedizenment4 ,it is frequent1 or rather it is universal1 among the ,french since his time4 ,madame de ,stael has something of it2 ,st4 ,pierre2 and down onwards to the present astonishing convulsionary ,literature of ,desperation1 it is everywhere abundant4 ,that same rose-pink is not the right hue4 ,look at a ,shakspeare1 at a ,goethe1 even at a ,walter ,scott6 ,he who has once seen into this1 has seen the difference of the ,true from the ,sham-,true1 and will discriminate them ever afterwards4 ,we had to observe in ,johnson how much good a ,prophet1 under all disadvantages and disorganizations1 can accomplish for the world4 ,in ,rousseau we are called to look rather at the fearful amount of evil which1 under such disorganization1 may accompany the good4 ,historically it is a most pregnant spectacle1 that of ,rousseau4 ,banished into ,paris garrets1 in the gloomy company of his own ,thoughts and ,necessities there2 driven from post to pillar2 fretted1 exasperated till the heart of him went mad1 he had grown to feel deeply that the world was not his friend nor the world's law4 ,it was expedient1 if any way possible1 that such a man should not have been set in flat hostility with the world4 ,he could be cooped into garrets1 laughed at as a maniac1 left to starve like a wild beast in his cage2--but he could not be hindered from setting the world on fire4 ,the ,french ,revolution found its ,evangelist in ,rousseau4 ,his semi-delirious speculations on the miseries of civilized life1 the preferability of the savage to the civilized1 and such like1 helped well to produce a whole delirium in ,france generally4 ,true1 you may well ask1 ,what could the world1 the governors of the world1 do with such a man8 ,difficult to say what the governors of the world could do with him6 ,what he could do with them is unhappily clear enough1--guillotine a great many of them6 ,enough now of ,rousseau4 ,it was a curious phenomenon1 in the withered1 unbelieving second-hand ,eighteenth ,century1 that of a ,hero starting up1 among the artificial pasteboard figures and productions1 in the guise of a ,robert ,burns4 ,like a little well in the rocky desert places1--like a sudden splendor of ,heaven in the artificial ,vauxhall6 ,people knew not what to make of it4 ,they took it for a piece of the ,vauxhall fire-work2 alas1 it let itself be so taken1 though struggling half-blindly1 as in bitterness of death1 against that6 ,perhaps no man had such a false reception from his fellow-men4 ,once more a very wasteful life-drama was enacted under the sun4 ,the tragedy of ,burns's life is known to all of you4 ,surely we may say1 if discrepancy between place held and place merited constitute perverseness of lot for a man1 no lot could be more perverse then ,burns's4 ,among those second-hand acting-figures1 mimes for most part1 of the ,eighteenth ,century1 once more a giant ,original ,man2 one of those men who reach down to the perennial ,deeps1 who take rank with the ,heroic among men3 and he was born in a poor ,ayrshire hut4 ,the largest soul of all the ,british lands came among us in the shape of a hard-handed ,scottish ,peasant4 ,his ,father1 a poor toiling man1 tried various things2 did not succeed in any2 was involved in continual difficulties4 ,the ,steward1 ,factor as the ,scotch call him1 used to send letters and threatenings1 ,burns says1 which threw us all into tears4 ,the brave1 hard-toiling1 hard-suffering ,father1 his brave heroine of a wife2 and those children1 of whom ,robert was one6 ,in this ,earth1 so wide otherwise1 no shelter for them4 ,the letters threw us all into tears3 figure it4 ,the brave ,father1 ,i say always2--a silent ,hero and ,poet2 without whom the son had never been a speaking one6 ,burns's ,schoolmaster came afterwards to ,london1 learnt what good society was2 but declares that in no meeting of men did he ever enjoy better discourse than at the hearth of this peasant4 ,and his poor seven acres of nursery-ground1--not that1 nor the miserable patch of clay-farm1 nor anything he tried to get a living by1 would prosper with him2 he had a sore unequal battle all his days4 ,but he stood to it valiantly2 a wise1 faithful1 unconquerable man2--swallowing down how many sore sufferings daily into silence2 fighting like an unseen ,hero1--nobody publishing newspaper paragraphs about his nobleness2 voting pieces of plate to him6 ,however1 he was not lost2 nothing is lost4 ,robert is there the outcome of him1--and indeed of many generations of such as him4 ,this ,burns appeared under every disadvantage3 uninstructed1 poor1 born only to hard manual toil2 and writing1 when it came to that1 in a rustic special dialect1 known only to a small province of the country he lived in4 ,had he written1 even what he did write1 in the general language of ,england1 ,i doubt not he had already become universally recognized as being1 or capable to be1 one of our greatest men4 ,that he should have tempted so many to penetrate through the rough husk of that dialect of his1 is proof that there lay something far from common within it4 ,he has gained a certain recognition1 and is continuing to do so over all quarters of our wide ,saxon world3 wheresoever a ,saxon dialect is spoken1 it begins to be understood1 by personal inspection of this and the other1 that one of the most considerable ,saxon men of the ,eighteenth ,century was an ,ayrshire ,peasant named ,robert ,burns4 ,yes1 ,i will say1 here too was a piece of the right ,saxon stuff3 strong as the ,harz-rock1 rooted in the depths of the world2--rock1 yet with wells of living softness in it6 ,a wild impetuous whirlwind of passion and faculty slumbered quiet there2 such heavenly melody dwelling in the heart of it4 ,a noble rough genuineness2 homely1 rustic1 honest2 true simplicity of strength2 with its lightning-fire1 with its soft dewy pity2--like the old ,norse ,thor1 the ,peasant-god6 ,burns's ,brother ,gilbert1 a man of much sense and worth1 has told me that ,robert1 in his young days1 in spite of their hardship1 was usually the gayest of speech2 a fellow of infinite frolic1 laughter1 sense and heart2 far pleasanter to hear there1 stript cutting peats in the bog1 or such like1 than he ever afterwards knew him4 ,i can well believe it4 ,this basis of mirth 7fond gaillard1 as old ,marquis ,mirabeau calls it71 a primal element of sunshine and joyfulness1 coupled with his other deep and earnest qualities1 is one of the most attractive characteristics of ,burns4 ,a large fund of ,hope dwells in him2 spite of his tragical history1 he is not a mourning man4 ,he shakes his sorrows gallantly aside2 bounds forth victorious over them4 ,it is as the lion shaking dew-drops from his mane2 as the swift-bounding horse1 that laughs at the shaking of the spear4--,but indeed1 ,hope1 ,mirth1 of the sort like ,burns's1 are they not the outcome properly of warm generous affection1--such as is the beginning of all to every man8 ,you would think it strange if ,i called ,burns the most gifted ,british soul we had in all that century of his3 and yet ,i believe the day is coming when there will be little danger in saying so4 ,his writings1 all that he did under such obstructions1 are only a poor fragment of him4 ,professor ,stewart remarked very justly1 what indeed is true of all ,poets good for much1 that his poetry was not any particular faculty2 but the general result of a naturally vigorous original mind expressing itself in that way4 ,burns's gifts1 expressed in conversation1 are the theme of all that ever heard him4 ,all kinds of gifts3 from the gracefulest utterances of courtesy1 to the highest fire of passionate speech2 loud floods of mirth1 soft wailings of affection1 laconic emphasis1 clear piercing insight2 all was in him4 ,witty duchesses celebrate him as a man whose speech led them off their feet4 ,this is beautiful3 but still more beautiful that which ,mr4 ,lockhart has recorded1 which ,i have more than once alluded to1 ,how the waiters and ostlers at inns would get out of bed1 and come crowding to hear this man speak6 ,waiters and ostlers3--they too were men1 and here was a man6 ,i have heard much about his speech2 but one of the best things ,i ever heard of it was1 last year1 from a venerable gentleman long familiar with him4 ,that it was speech distinguished by always having something in it4 ,he spoke rather little than much1 this old man told me2 sat rather silent in those early days1 as in the company of persons above him2 and always when he did speak1 it was to throw new light on the matter4 ,i know not why any one should ever speak otherwise6--,but if we look at his general force of soul1 his healthy robustness every way1 the rugged downrightness1 penetration1 generous valor and manfulness that was in him1--where shall we readily find a better-gifted man8 ,among the great men of the ,eighteenth ,century1 ,i sometimes feel as if ,burns might be found to resemble ,mirabeau more than any other4 ,they differ widely in vesture2 yet look at them intrinsically4 ,there is the same burly thick-necked strength of body as of soul2--built1 in both cases1 on what the old ,marquis calls a fond gaillard4 ,by nature1 by course of breeding1 indeed by nation1 ,mirabeau has much more of bluster2 a noisy1 forward1 unresting man4 ,but the characteristic of ,mirabeau too is veracity and sense1 power of true insight1 superiority of vision4 ,the thing that he says is worth remembering4 ,it is a flash of insight into some object or other3 so do both these men speak4 ,the same raging passions2 capable too in both of manifesting themselves as the tenderest noble affections4 ,wit2 wild laughter1 energy1 directness1 sincerity3 these were in both4 ,the types of the two men are not dissimilar4 ,burns too could have governed1 debated in ,national ,assemblies2 politicized1 as few could4 ,alas1 the courage which had to exhibit itself in capture of smuggling schooners in the ,solway ,frith2 in keeping silence over so much1 where no good speech1 but only inarticulate rage was possible3 this might have bellowed forth ,ushers de ,breze and the like2 and made itself visible to all men1 in managing of kingdoms1 in ruling of great ever-memorable epochs6 ,but they said to him reprovingly1 his ,official ,superiors said1 and wrote3 ,you are to work1 not think4 ,of your thinking-faculty1 the greatest in this land1 we have no need2 you are to gauge beer there2 for that only are you wanted4 ,very notable2--and worth mentioning1 though we know what is to be said and answered6 ,as if ,thought1 ,power of ,thinking1 were not1 at all times1 in all places and situations of the world1 precisely the thing that was wanted4 ,the fatal man1 is he not always the unthinking man1 the man who cannot think and see2 but only grope1 and hallucinate1 and missee the nature of the thing he works with8 ,he mis-sees it1 mistakes it as we say2 takes it for one thing1 and it is another thing1--and leaves him standing like a ,futility there6 ,he is the fatal man2 unutterably fatal1 put in the high places of men4--,why complain of this8 say some3 ,strength is mournfully denied its arena2 that was true from of old4 ,doubtless2 and the worse for the arena1 answer ,i6 ,complaining profits little2 stating of the truth may profit4 ,that a ,europe1 with its ,french ,revolution just breaking out1 finds no need of a ,burns except for gauging beer1--is a thing ,i1 for one1 cannot rejoice at--6 ,once more we have to say here1 that the chief quality of ,burns is the sincerity of him4 ,so in his ,poetry1 so in his ,life4 ,the song he sings is not of fantasticalities2 it is of a thing felt1 really there2 the prime merit of this1 as of all in him1 and of his ,life generally1 is truth4 ,the ,life of ,burns is what we may call a great tragic sincerity4 ,a sort of savage sincerity1--not cruel1 far from that2 but wild1 wrestling naked with the truth of things4 ,in that sense1 there is something of the savage in all great men4 ,hero-worship1--,odin1 ,burns8 ,well2 these ,men of ,letters too were not without a kind of ,hero-worship3 but what a strange condition has that got into now6 ,the waiters and ostlers of ,scotch inns1 prying about the door1 eager to catch any word that fell from ,burns1 were doing unconscious reverence to the ,heroic4 ,johnson had his ,boswell for worshipper4 ,rousseau had worshippers enough2 princes calling on him in his mean garret2 the great1 the beautiful doing reverence to the poor moon-struck man4 ,for himself a most portentous contradiction2 the two ends of his life not to be brought into harmony4 ,he sits at the tables of grandees2 and has to copy music for his own living4 ,he cannot even get his music copied3 ,by dint of dining out1 says he1 ,i run the risk of dying by starvation at home4 ,for his worshippers too a most questionable thing6 ,if doing ,hero-worship well or badly be the test of vital well-being or ill-being to a generation1 can we say that these generations are very first-rate8--,and yet our heroic ,men of ,letters do teach1 govern1 are kings1 priests1 or what you like to call them2 intrinsically there is no preventing it by any means whatever4 ,the world has to obey him who thinks and sees in the world4 ,the world can alter the manner of that2 can either have it as blessed continuous summer sunshine1 or as unblessed black thunder and tornado1--with unspeakable difference of profit for the world6 ,the manner of it is very alterable2 the matter and fact of it is not alterable by any power under the sky4 ,light2 or1 failing that1 lightning3 the world can take its choice4 ,not whether we call an ,odin god1 prophet1 priest1 or what we call him2 but whether we believe the word he tells us3 there it all lies4 ,if it be a true word1 we shall have to believe it2 believing it1 we shall have to do it4 ,what name or welcome we give him or it1 is a point that concerns ourselves mainly4 ,it1 the new ,truth1 new deeper revealing of the ,secret of this ,universe1 is verily of the nature of a message from on high2 and must and will have itself obeyed4-- ,my last remark is on that notablest phasis of ,burns's history1--his visit to ,edinburgh4 ,often it seems to me as if his demeanor there were the highest proof he gave of what a fund of worth and genuine manhood was in him4 ,if we think of it1 few heavier burdens could be laid on the strength of a man4 ,so sudden2 all common ,lionism4 which ruins innumerable men1 was as nothing to this4 ,it is as if ,napoleon had been made a ,king of1 not gradually1 but at once from the ,artillery ,lieutenancy in the ,regiment ,la ,fere4 ,burns1 still only in his twenty-seventh year1 is no longer even a ploughman2 he is flying to the ,west ,indies to escape disgrace and a jail4 ,this month he is a ruined peasant1 his wages seven pounds a year1 and these gone from him3 next month he is in the blaze of rank and beauty1 handing down jewelled ,duchesses to dinner2 the cynosure of all eyes6 ,adversity is sometimes hard upon a man2 but for one man who can stand prosperity1 there are a hundred that will stand adversity4 ,i admire much the way in which ,burns met all this4 ,perhaps no man one could point out1 was ever so sorely tried1 and so little forgot himself4 ,tranquil1 unastonished2 not abashed1 not inflated1 neither awkwardness nor affectation3 he feels that he there is the man ,robert ,burns2 that the rank is but the guinea-stamp2 that the celebrity is but the candle-light1 which will show what man1 not in the least make him a better or other man6 ,alas1 it may readily1 unless he look to it1 make him a worse man2 a wretched inflated wind-bag1--inflated till he burst1 and become a dead lion2 for whom1 as some one has said1 there is no resurrection of the body2 worse than a living dog6--,burns is admirable here4 ,and yet1 alas1 as ,i have observed elsewhere1 these ,lion-hunters were the ruin and death of ,burns4 ,it was they that rendered it impossible for him to live6 ,they gathered round him in his ,farm2 hindered his industry2 no place was remote enough from them4 ,he could not get his ,lionism forgotten1 honestly as he was disposed to do so4 ,he falls into discontents1 into miseries1 faults2 the world getting ever more desolate for him2 health1 character1 peace of mind1 all gone2--solitary enough now4 ,it is tragical to think of6 ,these men came but to see him2 it was out of no sympathy with him1 nor no hatred to him4 ,they came to get a little amusement2 they got their amusement2--and the ,hero's life went for it6 ,richter says1 in the ,island of ,sumatra there is a kind of ,light-chafers1 large ,fire-flies1 which people stick upon spits1 and illuminate the ways with at night4 ,persons of condition can thus travel with a pleasant radiance1 which they much admire4 ,great honor to the ,fire-flies6 ,but--6 ,,lecture ,,vi4 ,,the ,,hero ,,as ,,king4 ,,cromwell1 ,,napoleon3 ,,modern ,,revolutionism4 ,may #bb1 #ahdj4 ,we come now to the last form of ,heroism2 that which we call ,kingship4 ,the ,commander over ,men2 he to whose will our wills are to be subordinated1 and loyally surrender themselves1 and find their welfare in doing so1 may be reckoned the most important of ,great ,men4 ,he is practically the summary for us of all the various figures of ,heroism2 ,priest1 ,teacher1 whatsoever of earthly or of spiritual dignity we can fancy to reside in a man1 embodies itself here1 to command over us1 to furnish us with constant practical teaching1 to tell us for the day and hour what we are to do4 ,he is called ,rex1 ,regulator1 ,roi3 our own name is still better2 ,king1 ,konning1 which means ,can-ning1 ,able-man4 ,numerous considerations1 pointing towards deep1 questionable1 and indeed unfathomable regions1 present themselves here3 on the most of which we must resolutely for the present forbear to speak at all4 ,as ,burke said that perhaps fair ,trial by ,jury was the soul of ,government1 and that all legislation1 administration1 parliamentary debating1 and the rest of it1 went on1 in order to bring twelve impartial men into a jury-box2--so1 by much stronger reason1 may ,i say here1 that the finding of your ,ableman and getting him invested with the symbols of ability1 with dignity1 worship 7worth-ship71 royalty1 kinghood1 or whatever we call it1 so that he may actually have room to guide according to his faculty of doing it1--is the business1 well or ill accomplished1 of all social procedure whatsoever in this world6 ,hustings-speeches1 ,parliamentary motions1 ,reform ,bills1 ,french ,revolutions1 all mean at heart this2 or else nothing4 ,find in any country the ,ablest ,man that exists there2 raise him to the supreme place1 and loyally reverence him3 you have a perfect government for that country2 no ballot-box1 parliamentary eloquence1 voting1 constitution-building1 or other machinery whatsoever can improve it a whit4 ,it is in the perfect state2 an ideal country4 ,the ,ablest ,man2 he means also the truest-hearted1 justest1 the ,noblest ,man3 what he tells us to do must be precisely the wisest1 fittest1 that we could anywhere or anyhow learn2--the thing which it will in all ways behoove ,,us1 with right loyal thankfulness and nothing doubting1 to do6 ,our doing and life were then1 so far as government could regulate it1 well regulated2 that were the ideal of constitutions4 ,alas1 we know very well that ,ideals can never be completely embodied in practice4 ,ideals must ever lie a very great way off2 and we will right thankfully content ourselves with any not intolerable approximation thereto6 ,let no man1 as ,schiller says1 too querulously measure by a scale of perfection the meagre product of reality in this poor world of ours4 ,we will esteem him no wise man2 we will esteem him a sickly1 discontented1 foolish man4 ,and yet1 on the other hand1 it is never to be forgotten that ,ideals do exist2 that if they be not approximated to at all1 the whole matter goes to wreck6 ,infallibly4 ,no bricklayer builds a wall perfectly perpendicular1 mathematically this is not possible2 a certain degree of perpendicularity suffices him2 and he1 like a good bricklayer1 who must have done with his job1 leaves it so4 ,and yet if he sway too much from the perpendicular2 above all1 if he throw plummet and level quite away from him1 and pile brick on brick heedless1 just as it comes to hand--6 ,such bricklayer1 ,i think1 is in a bad way4 ,he has forgotten himself3 but the ,law of ,gravitation does not forget to act on him2 he and his wall rush down into confused welter of ruin--6 ,this is the history of all rebellions1 ,french ,revolutions1 social explosions in ancient or modern times4 ,you have put the too ,unable ,man at the head of affairs6 ,the too ignoble1 unvaliant1 fatuous man4 ,you have forgotten that there is any rule1 or natural necessity whatever1 of putting the ,able ,man there4 ,brick must lie on brick as it may and can4 ,unable ,simulacrum of ,ability1 quack1 in a word1 must adjust himself with quack1 in all manner of administration of human things2--which accordingly lie unadministered1 fermenting into unmeasured masses of failure1 of indigent misery3 in the outward1 and in the inward or spiritual1 miserable millions stretch out the hand for their due supply1 and it is not there4 ,the law of gravitation acts2 ,nature's laws do none of them forget to act4 ,the miserable millions burst forth into ,sansculottism1 or some other sort of madness3 bricks and bricklayer lie as a fatal chaos--6 ,much sorry stuff1 written some hundred years ago or more1 about the ,divine right of ,kings1 moulders unread now in the ,public ,libraries of this country4 ,far be it from us to disturb the calm process by which it is disappearing harmlessly from the earth1 in those repositories6 ,at the same time1 not to let the immense rubbish go without leaving us1 as it ought1 some soul of it behind--,i will say that it did mean something2 something true1 which it is important for us and all men to keep in mind4 ,to assert that in whatever man you chose to lay hold of 7by this or the other plan of clutching at him72 and claps a round piece of metal on the head of1 and called ,king1--there straightway came to reside a divine virtue1 so that he became a kind of god1 and a ,divinity inspired him with faculty and right to rule over you to all lengths3 this1--what can we do with this but leave it to rot silently in the ,public ,libraries8 ,but ,i will say withal1 and that is what these ,divine-right men meant1 ,that in ,kings1 and in all human ,authorities1 and relations that men god-created can form among each other1 there is verily either a ,divine ,right or else a ,diabolic ,wrong2 one or the other of these two6 ,for it is false altogether1 what the last ,sceptical ,century taught us1 that this world is a steam-engine4 ,there is a ,god in this world2 and a ,god's-sanction1 or else the violation of such1 does look out from all ruling and obedience1 from all moral acts of men4 ,there is no act more moral between men than that of rule and obedience4 ,woe to him that claims obedience when it is not due2 woe to him that refuses it when it is6 ,god's law is in that1 ,i say1 however the ,parchment-laws may run3 there is a ,divine ,right or else a ,diabolic ,wrong at the heart of every claim that one man makes upon another4 ,it can do none of us harm to reflect on this3 in all the relations of life it will concern us2 in ,loyalty and ,royalty1 the highest of these4 ,i esteem the modern error1 ,that all goes by self-interest and the checking and balancing of greedy knaveries1 and that in short1 there is nothing divine whatever in the association of men1 a still more despicable error1 natural as it is to an unbelieving century1 than that of a divine right in people called ,kings4 ,i say1 ,find me the true ,konning1 ,king1 or ,able-man1 and he has a divine right over me4 ,that we knew in some tolerable measure how to find him1 and that all men were ready to acknowledge his divine right when found3 this is precisely the healing which a sick world is everywhere1 in these ages1 seeking after6 ,the true ,king1 as guide of the practical1 has ever something of the ,pontiff in him1--guide of the spiritual1 from which all practice has its rise4 ,this too is a true saying1 ,that the ,king is head of the ,church4--,but we will leave the ,polemic stuff of a dead century to lie quiet on its bookshelves4 ,certainly it is a fearful business1 that of having your ,ableman to seek1 and not knowing in what manner to proceed about it6 ,that is the world's sad predicament in these times of ours4 ,they are times of revolution1 and have long been4 ,the bricklayer with his bricks1 no longer heedful of plummet or the law of gravitation1 have toppled1 tumbled1 and it all welters as we see6 ,but the beginning of it was not the ,french ,revolution2 that is rather the end1 we can hope4 ,it were truer to say1 the beginning was three centuries farther back3 in the ,reformation of ,luther4 ,that the thing which still called itself ,christian ,church had become a ,falsehood1 and brazenly went about pretending to pardon men's sins for metallic coined money1 and to do much else which in the everlasting truth of ,nature it did not now do3 here lay the vital malady4 ,the inward being wrong1 all outward went ever more and more wrong4 ,belief died away2 all was ,doubt1 ,disbelief4 ,the builder cast away his plummet2 said to himself1 ,what is gravitation8 ,brick lies on brick there6 ,alas1 does it not still sound strange to many of us1 the assertion that there is a ,god's-truth in the business of god-created men2 that all is not a kind of grimace1 an expediency1 diplomacy1 one knows not what--6 ,from that first necessary assertion of ,luther's1 ,you1 self-styled ,papa1 you are no ,father in ,god at all2 you are--a ,chimera1 whom ,i know not how to name in polite language6--from that onwards to the shout which rose round ,camille ,desmoulins in the ,palais-,royal1 ,aux armes6 when the people had burst up against all manner of ,chimeras1--,i find a natural historical sequence4 ,that shout too1 so frightful1 half-infernal1 was a great matter4 ,once more the voice of awakened nations2--starting confusedly1 as out of nightmare1 as out of death-sleep1 into some dim feeling that ,life was real2 that ,god's-world was not an expediency and diplomacy6 ,infernal2--yes1 since they would not have it otherwise4 ,infernal1 since not celestial or terrestrial6 ,hollowness1 insincerity has to cease2 sincerity of some sort has to begin4 ,cost what it may1 reigns of terror1 horrors of ,french ,revolution or what else1 we have to return to truth4 ,here is a ,truth1 as ,i said3 a ,truth clad in hell-fire1 since they would not but have it so--6 ,a common theory among considerable parties of men in ,england and elsewhere used to be1 that the ,french ,nation had1 in those days1 as it were gone mad2 that the ,french ,revolution was a general act of insanity1 a temporary conversion of ,france and large sections of the world into a kind of ,bedlam4 ,the ,event had risen and raged2 but was a madness and nonentity1--gone now happily into the region of ,dreams and the ,picturesque6--,to such comfortable philosophers1 the ,three ,days of ,july1 #ahcj1 must have been a surprising phenomenon4 ,here is the ,french ,nation risen again1 in musketry and death-struggle1 out shooting and being shot1 to make that same mad ,french ,revolution good6 ,the sons and grandsons of those men1 it would seem1 persist in the enterprise3 they do not disown it2 they will have it made good2 will have themselves shot1 if it be not made good4 ,to philosophers who had made up their life-system1 on that madness quietus1 no phenomenon could be more alarming4 ,poor ,niebuhr1 they say1 the ,prussian ,professor and ,historian1 fell broken-hearted in consequence2 sickened1 if we can believe it1 and died of the ,three ,days6 ,it was surely not a very heroic death2--little better than ,racine's1 dying because ,louis ,fourteenth looked sternly on him once4 ,the world had stood some considerable shocks1 in its time2 might have been expected to survive the ,three ,days too1 and be found turning on its axis after even them6 ,the ,three ,days told all mortals that the old ,french ,revolution1 mad as it might look1 was not a transitory ebullition of ,bedlam1 but a genuine product of this ,earth where we all live2 that it was verily a ,fact1 and that the world in general would do well everywhere to regard it as such4 ,truly1 without the ,french ,revolution1 one would not know what to make of an age like this at all4 ,we will hail the ,french ,revolution1 as shipwrecked mariners might the sternest rock1 in a world otherwise all of baseless sea and waves4 ,a true ,apocalypse1 though a terrible one1 to this false withered artificial time2 testifying once more that ,nature is preternatural2 if not divine1 then diabolic2 that ,semblance is not ,reality2 that it has to become ,reality1 or the world will take fire under it1--burn it into what it is1 namely ,nothing6 ,plausibility has ended2 empty ,routine has ended2 much has ended4 ,this1 as with a ,trump of ,doom1 has been proclaimed to all men4 ,they are the wisest who will learn it soonest4 ,long confused generations before it be learned2 peace impossible till it be6 ,the earnest man1 surrounded1 as ever1 with a world of inconsistencies1 can await patiently1 patiently strive to do his work1 in the midst of that4 ,sentence of ,death is written down in ,heaven against all that2 sentence of ,death is now proclaimed on the ,earth against it3 this he with his eyes may see4 ,and surely1 ,i should say1 considering the other side of the matter1 what enormous difficulties lie there1 and how fast1 fearfully fast1 in all countries1 the inexorable demand for solution of them is pressing on1--he may easily find other work to do than laboring in the ,sansculottic province at this time of day6 ,to me1 in these circumstances1 that of ,hero-worship becomes a fact inexpressibly precious2 the most solacing fact one sees in the world at present4 ,there is an everlasting hope in it for the management of the world4 ,had all traditions1 arrangements1 creeds1 societies that men ever instituted1 sunk away1 this would remain4 ,the certainty of ,heroes being sent us2 our faculty1 our necessity1 to reverence ,heroes when sent3 it shines like a polestar through smoke-clouds1 dust-clouds1 and all manner of down-rushing and conflagration4 ,hero-worship would have sounded very strange to those workers and fighters in the ,french ,revolution4 ,not reverence for ,great ,men2 not any hope or belief1 or even wish1 that ,great ,men could again appear in the world6 ,nature1 turned into a ,machine1 was as if effete now2 could not any longer produce ,great ,men3--,i can tell her1 she may give up the trade altogether1 then2 we cannot do without ,great ,men6--,but neither have ,i any quarrel with that of ,liberty and ,equality2 with the faith that1 wise great men being impossible1 a level immensity of foolish small men would suffice4 ,it was a natural faith then and there4 ,liberty and ,equality2 no ,authority needed any longer4 ,hero-worship1 reverence for such ,authorities1 has proved false1 is itself a falsehood2 no more of it6 ,we have had such forgeries1 we will now trust nothing4 ,so many base plated coins passing in the market1 the belief has now become common that no gold any longer exists1--and even that we can do very well without gold6 ,i find this1 among other things1 in that universal cry of ,liberty and ,equality2 and find it very natural1 as matters then stood4 ,and yet surely it is but the transition from false to true4 ,considered as the whole truth1 it is false altogether2--the product of entire sceptical blindness1 as yet only struggling to see4 ,hero-worship exists forever1 and everywhere3 not ,loyalty alone2 it extends from divine adoration down to the lowest practical regions of life4 ,bending before men1 if it is not to be a mere empty grimace1 better dispensed with than practiced1 is ,hero-worship1--a recognition that there does dwell in that presence of our brother something divine2 that every created man1 as ,novalis said1 is a revelation in the ,flesh4 ,they were ,poets too1 that devised all those graceful courtesies which make life noble6 ,courtesy is not a falsehood or grimace2 it need not be such4 ,and ,loyalty1 religious ,worship itself1 are still possible2 nay still inevitable4 ,may we not say1 moreover1 while so many of our late ,heroes have worked rather as revolutionary men1 that nevertheless every ,great ,man1 every genuine man1 is by the nature of him a son of ,order1 not of ,disorder8 ,it is a tragical position for a true man to work in revolutions4 ,he seems an anarchist2 and indeed a painful element of anarchy does encumber him at every step1--him to whose whole soul anarchy is hostile1 hateful4 ,his mission is ,order2 every man's is4 ,he is here to make what was disorderly1 chaotic1 into a thing ruled1 regular4 ,he is the missionary of ,order4 ,is not all work of man in this world a making of ,order8 ,the carpenter finds rough trees2 shapes them1 constrains them into square fitness1 into purpose and use4 ,we are all born enemies of ,disorder3 it is tragical for us all to be concerned in image-breaking and down-pulling2 for the ,great ,man1 more a man than we1 it is doubly tragical4 ,thus too all human things1 maddest ,french ,sansculottisms1 do and must work towards ,order4 ,i say1 there is not a man in them1 raging in the thickest of the madness1 but is impelled withal1 at all moments1 towards ,order4 ,his very life means that2 ,disorder is dissolution1 death4 ,no chaos but it seeks a centre to revolve round4 ,while man is man1 some ,cromwell or ,napoleon is the necessary finish of a ,sansculottism4--,curious3 in those days when ,hero-worship was the most incredible thing to every one1 how it does come out nevertheless1 and assert itself practically1 in a way which all have to credit4 ,divine right1 take it on the great scale1 is found to mean divine might withal6 ,while old false ,formulas are getting trampled everywhere into destruction1 new genuine ,substances unexpectedly unfold themselves indestructible4 ,in rebellious ages1 when ,kingship itself seems dead and abolished1 ,cromwell1 ,napoleon step forth again as ,kings4 ,the history of these men is what we have now to look at1 as our last phasis of ,heroism4 ,the old ages are brought back to us2 the manner in which ,kings were made1 and ,kingship itself first took rise1 is again exhibited in the history of these ,two4 ,we have had many civil wars in ,england2 wars of ,red and ,white ,roses1 wars of ,simon de ,montfort2 wars enough1 which are not very memorable4 ,but that war of the ,puritans has a significance which belongs to no one of the others4 ,trusting to your candor1 which will suggest on the other side what ,i have not room to say1 ,i will call it a section once more of that great universal war which alone makes up the true ,history of the ,world1--the war of ,belief against ,unbelief6 ,the struggle of men intent on the real essence of things1 against men intent on the semblances and forms of things4 ,the ,puritans1 to many1 seem mere savage ,iconoclasts1 fierce destroyers of ,forms2 but it were more just to call them haters of untrue ,forms4 ,i hope we know how to respect ,laud and his ,king as well as them4 ,poor ,laud seems to me to have been weak and ill-starred1 not dishonest an unfortunate ,pedant rather than anything worse4 ,his ,dreams and superstitions1 at which they laugh so1 have an affectionate1 lovable kind of character4 ,he is like a ,college-,tutor1 whose whole world is forms1 ,college-rules2 whose notion is that these are the life and safety of the world4 ,he is placed suddenly1 with that unalterable luckless notion of his1 at the head not of a ,college but of a ,nation1 to regulate the most complex deep-reaching interests of men4 ,he thinks they ought to go by the old decent regulations2 nay that their salvation will lie in extending and improving these4 ,like a weak man1 he drives with spasmodic vehemence towards his purpose2 cramps himself to it1 heeding no voice of prudence1 no cry of pity3 ,he will have his ,college-rules obeyed by his ,collegians2 that first2 and till that1 nothing4 ,he is an ill-starred ,pedant1 as ,i said4 ,he would have it the world was a ,college of that kind1 and the world was not that4 ,alas1 was not his doom stern enough8 ,whatever wrongs he did1 were they not all frightfully avenged on him8 ,it is meritorious to insist on forms2 ,religion and all else naturally clothes itself in forms4 ,everywhere the formed world is the only habitable one4 ,the naked formlessness of ,puritanism is not the thing ,i praise in the ,puritans2 it is the thing ,i pity1--praising only the spirit which had rendered that inevitable6 ,all substances clothe themselves in forms3 but there are suitable true forms1 and then there are untrue unsuitable4 ,as the briefest definition1 one might say1 ,forms which grow round a substance1 if we rightly understand that1 will correspond to the real nature and purport of it1 will be true1 good2 forms which are consciously put round a substance1 bad4 ,i invite you to reflect on this4 ,it distinguishes true from false in ,ceremonial ,form1 earnest solemnity from empty pageant1 in all human things4 ,there must be a veracity1 a natural spontaneity in forms4 ,in the commonest meeting of men1 a person making1 what we call1 set speeches1 is not he an offence8 ,in the mere drawing-room1 whatsoever courtesies you see to be grimaces1 prompted by no spontaneous reality within1 are a thing you wish to get away from4 ,but suppose now it were some matter of vital concernment1 some transcendent matter 7as ,divine ,worship is71 about which your whole soul1 struck dumb with its excess of feeling1 knew not how to form itself into utterance at all1 and preferred formless silence to any utterance there possible1--what should we say of a man coming forward to represent or utter it for you in the way of upholsterer-mummery8 ,such a man1--let him depart swiftly1 if he love himself6 ,you have lost your only son2 are mute1 struck down1 without even tears3 an importunate man importunately offers to celebrate ,funeral ,games for him in the manner of the ,greeks6 ,such mummery is not only not to be accepted1--it is hateful1 unendurable4 ,it is what the old ,prophets called ,idolatry1 worshipping of hollow shows2 what all earnest men do and will reject4 ,we can partly understand what those poor ,puritans meant4 ,laud dedicating that ,st4 ,catherine ,creed's ,church1 in the manner we have it described2 with his multiplied ceremonial bowings1 gesticulations1 exclamations3 surely it is rather the rigorous formal ,pedant1 intent on his ,college-rules1 than the earnest ,prophet intent on the essence of the matter6 ,puritanism found such forms insupportable2 trampled on such forms2--we have to excuse it for saying1 ,no form at all rather than such6 ,it stood preaching in its bare pulpit1 with nothing but the ,bible in its hand4 ,nay1 a man preaching from his earnest soul into the earnest souls of men3 is not this virtually the essence of all ,churches whatsoever8 ,the nakedest1 savagest reality1 ,i say1 is preferable to any semblance1 however dignified4 ,besides1 it will clothe itself with due semblance by and by1 if it be real4 ,no fear of that2 actually no fear at all4 ,given the living man1 there will be found clothes for him2 he will find himself clothes4 ,but the suit-of-clothes pretending that it is both clothes and man--6 ,we cannot fight the ,french by three hundred thousand red uniforms2 there must be men in the inside of them6 ,semblance1 ,i assert1 must actually not divorce itself from ,reality4 ,if ,semblance do1--why then there must be men found to rebel against ,semblance1 for it has become a lie6 ,these two ,antagonisms at war here1 in the case of ,laud and the ,puritans1 are as old nearly as the world4 ,they went to fierce battle over ,england in that age2 and fought out their confused controversy to a certain length1 with many results for all of us4 ,in the age which directly followed that of the ,puritans1 their cause or themselves were little likely to have justice done them4 ,charles ,second and his ,rochesters were not the kind of men you would set to judge what the worth or meaning of such men might have been4 ,that there could be any faith or truth in the life of a man1 was what these poor ,rochesters1 and the age they ushered in1 had forgotten4 ,puritanism was hung on gibbets1--like the bones of the leading ,puritans4 ,its work nevertheless went on accomplishing itself4 ,all true work of a man1 hang the author of it on what gibbet you like1 must and will accomplish itself4 ,we have our ,habeas-,corpus1 our free ,representation of the ,people2 acknowledgment1 wide as the world1 that all men are1 or else must1 shall1 and will become1 what we call free men2--men with their life grounded on reality and justice1 not on tradition1 which has become unjust and a chimera6 ,this in part1 and much besides this1 was the work of the ,puritans4 ,and indeed1 as these things became gradually manifest1 the character of the ,puritans began to clear itself4 ,their memories were1 one after another1 taken down from the gibbet2 nay a certain portion of them are now1 in these days1 as good as canonized4 ,eliot1 ,hampden1 ,pym1 nay ,ludlow1 ,hutchinson1 ,vane himself1 are admitted to be a kind of ,heroes2 political ,conscript ,fathers1 to whom in no small degree we owe what makes us a free ,england3 it would not be safe for anybody to designate these men as wicked now4 ,few ,puritans of note but find their apologists somewhere1 and have a certain reverence paid them by earnest men4 ,one ,puritan1 ,i think1 and almost he alone1 our poor ,cromwell1 seems to hang yet on the gibbet1 and find no hearty apologist anywhere4 ,him neither saint nor sinner will acquit of great wickedness4 ,a man of ability1 infinite talent1 courage1 and so forth3 but he betrayed the ,cause4 ,selfish ambition1 dishonesty1 duplicity2 a fierce1 coarse1 hypocritical ,tartuffe2 turning all that noble ,struggle for constitutional ,liberty into a sorry farce played for his own benefit3 this and worse is the character they give of ,cromwell4 ,and then there come contrasts with ,washington and others2 above all1 with these noble ,pyms and ,hampdens1 whose noble work he stole for himself1 and ruined into a futility and deformity4 ,this view of ,cromwell seems to me the not unnatural product of a century like the ,eighteenth4 ,as we said of the ,valet1 so of the ,sceptic3 ,he does not know a ,hero when he sees him6 ,the ,valet expected purple mantles1 gilt sceptres1 bodyguards and flourishes of trumpets3 the ,sceptic of the ,eighteenth century looks for regulated respectable ,formulas1 ,principles1 or what else he may call them2 a style of speech and conduct which has got to seem respectable1 which can plead for itself in a handsome articulate manner1 and gain the suffrages of an enlightened sceptical ,eighteenth century6 ,it is1 at bottom1 the same thing that both the ,valet and he expect3 the garnitures of some acknowledged royalty1 which then they will acknowledge6 ,the ,king coming to them in the rugged unformulistic state shall be no ,king4 ,for my own share1 far be it from me to say or insinuate a word of disparagement against such characters as ,hampden1 ,elliot1 ,pym2 whom ,i believe to have been right worthy and useful men4 ,i have read diligently what books and documents about them ,i could come at2--with the honestest wish to admire1 to love and worship them like ,heroes2 but ,i am sorry to say1 if the real truth must be told1 with very indifferent success6 ,at bottom1 ,i found that it would not do4 ,they are very noble men1 these2 step along in their stately way1 with their measured euphemisms1 philosophies1 parliamentary eloquences1 ,ship-moneys1 ,monarchies of ,man2 a most constitutional1 unblamable1 dignified set of men4 ,but the heart remains cold before them2 the fancy alone endeavors to get up some worship of them4 ,what man's heart does1 in reality1 break forth into any fire of brotherly love for these men8 ,they are become dreadfully dull men6 ,one breaks down often enough in the constitutional eloquence of the admirable ,pym1 with his seventhly and lastly4 ,you find that it may be the admirablest thing in the world1 but that it is heavy1--heavy as lead1 barren as brick-clay2 that1 in a word1 for you there is little or nothing now surviving there6 ,one leaves all these ,nobilities standing in their niches of honor3 the rugged outcast ,cromwell1 he is the man of them all in whom one still finds human stuff4 ,the great savage ,baresark3 he could write no euphemistic ,monarchy of ,man2 did not speak1 did not work with glib regularity2 had no straight story to tell for himself anywhere4 ,but he stood bare1 not cased in euphemistic coat-of-mail2 he grappled like a giant1 face to face1 heart to heart1 with the naked truth of things6 ,that1 after all1 is the sort of man for one4 ,i plead guilty to valuing such a man beyond all other sorts of men4 ,smooth-shaven ,respectabilities not a few one finds1 that are not good for much4 ,small thanks to a man for keeping his hands clean1 who would not touch the work but with gloves on6 ,neither1 on the whole1 does this constitutional tolerance of the ,eighteenth century for the other happier ,puritans seem to be a very great matter4 ,one might say1 it is but a piece of ,formulism and ,scepticism1 like the rest4 ,they tell us1 ,it was a sorrowful thing to consider that the foundation of our ,english ,liberties should have been laid by ,superstition4 ,these ,puritans came forward with ,calvinistic incredible ,creeds1 ,anti-,laudisms1 ,westminster ,confessions2 demanding1 chiefly of all1 that they should have liberty to worship in their own way4 ,liberty to tax themselves3 that was the thing they should have demanded6 ,it was ,superstition1 ,fanaticism1 disgraceful ignorance of ,constitutional ,philosophy to insist on the other thing6--,liberty to tax oneself8 ,not to pay out money from your pocket except on reason shown8 ,no century1 ,i think1 but a rather barren one would have fixed on that as the first right of man6 ,i should say1 on the contrary1 ,a just man will generally have better cause than money in what shape soever1 before deciding to revolt against his ,government4 ,ours is a most confused world2 in which a good man will be thankful to see any kind of ,government maintain itself in a not insupportable manner3 and here in ,england1 to this hour1 if he is not ready to pay a great many taxes which he can see very small reason in1 it will not go well with him1 ,i think6 ,he must try some other climate than this4 ,tax-gatherer8 ,money8 ,he will say3 ,take my money1 since you can1 and it is so desirable to you2 take it1--and take yourself away with it2 and leave me alone to my work here4 ,i am still here2 can still work1 after all the money you have taken from me6 ,but if they come to him1 and say1 ,acknowledge a ,lie2 pretend to say you are worshipping ,god1 when you are not doing it3 believe not the thing that you find true1 but the thing that ,i find1 or pretend to find true6 ,he will answer3 ,no2 by ,god's help1 no6 ,you may take my purse2 but ,i cannot have my moral ,self annihilated4 ,the purse is any ,highwayman's who might meet me with a loaded pistol3 but the ,self is mine and ,god my ,maker's2 it is not yours2 and ,i will resist you to the death1 and revolt against you1 and1 on the whole1 front all manner of extremities1 accusations and confusions1 in defence of that6-- ,really1 it seems to me the one reason which could justify revolting1 this of the ,puritans4 ,it has been the soul of all just revolts among men4 ,not ,hunger alone produced even the ,french ,revolution2 no1 but the feeling of the insupportable all-pervading ,falsehood which had now embodied itself in ,hunger1 in universal material ,scarcity and ,nonentity1 and thereby become indisputably false in the eyes of all6 ,we will leave the ,eighteenth century with its liberty to tax itself4 ,we will not astonish ourselves that the meaning of such men as the ,puritans remained dim to it4 ,to men who believe in no reality at all1 how shall a real human soul1 the intensest of all realities1 as it were the ,voice of this world's ,maker still speaking to us1--be intelligible8 ,what it cannot reduce into constitutional doctrines relative to taxing1 or other the like material interest1 gross1 palpable to the sense1 such a century will needs reject as an amorphous heap of rubbish4 ,hampdens1 ,pyms and ,ship-money will be the theme of much constitutional eloquence1 striving to be fervid2--which will glitter1 if not as fire does1 then as ice does3 and the irreducible ,cromwell will remain a chaotic mass of madness1 hypocrisy1 and much else4 ,from of old1 ,i will confess1 this theory of ,cromwell's falsity has been incredible to me4 ,nay ,i cannot believe the like1 of any ,great ,man whatever4 ,multitudes of ,great ,men figure in ,history as false selfish men2 but if we will consider it1 they are but figures for us1 unintelligible shadows2 we do not see into them as men that could have existed at all4 ,a superficial unbelieving generation only1 with no eye but for the surfaces and semblances of things1 could form such notions of ,great ,men4 ,can a great soul be possible without a conscience in it1 the essence of all real souls1 great or small8--,no1 we cannot figure ,cromwell as a ,falsity and ,fatuity2 the longer ,i study him and his career1 ,i believe this the less4 ,why should we8 ,there is no evidence of it4 ,is it not strange that1 after all the mountains of calumny this man has been subject to1 after being represented as the very prince of liars1 who never1 or hardly ever1 spoke truth1 but always some cunning counterfeit of truth1 there should not yet have been one falsehood brought clearly home to him8 ,a prince of liars1 and no lie spoken by him4 ,not one that ,i could yet get sight of4 ,it is like ,pococke asking ,grotius1 ,where is your proof of ,mahomet's ,pigeon8 ,no proof6--,let us leave all these calumnious chimeras1 as chimeras ought to be left4 ,they are not portraits of the man2 they are distracted phantasms of him1 the joint product of hatred and darkness4 ,looking at the man's life with our own eyes1 it seems to me1 a very different hypothesis suggests itself4 ,what little we know of his earlier obscure years1 distorted as it has come down to us1 does it not all betoken an earnest1 affectionate1 sincere kind of man8 ,his nervous melancholic temperament indicates rather a seriousness too deep for him4 ,of those stories of ,spectres2 of the white ,spectre in broad daylight1 predicting that he should be ,king of ,england1 we are not bound to believe much2--probably no more than of the other black ,spectre1 or ,devil in person1 to whom the ,officer saw him sell himself before ,worcester ,fight6 ,but the mournful1 oversensitive1 hypochondriac humor of ,oliver1 in his young years1 is otherwise indisputably known4 ,the ,huntingdon ,physician told ,sir ,philip ,warwick himself1 ,he had often been sent for at midnight2 ,mr4 ,cromwell was full of hypochondria1 thought himself near dying1 and had fancies about the ,town-cross4 ,these things are significant4 ,such an excitable deep-feeling nature1 in that rugged stubborn strength of his1 is not the symptom of falsehood2 it is the symptom and promise of quite other than falsehood6 ,the young ,oliver is sent to study ,law2 falls1 or is said to have fallen1 for a little period1 into some of the dissipations of youth2 but if so1 speedily repents1 abandons all this3 not much above twenty1 he is married1 settled as an altogether grave and quiet man4 ,he pays back what money he had won at gambling1 says the story2--he does not think any gain of that kind could be really his4 ,it is very interesting1 very natural1 this conversion1 as they well name it2 this awakening of a great true soul from the worldly slough1 to see into the awful truth of things2--to see that ,time and its shows all rested on ,eternity1 and this poor ,earth of ours was the threshold either of ,heaven or of ,hell6 ,oliver's life at ,st4 ,ives and ,ely1 as a sober industrious ,farmer1 is it not altogether as that of a true and devout man8 ,he has renounced the world and its ways2 its prizes are not the thing that can enrich him4 ,he tills the earth2 he reads his ,bible2 daily assembles his servants round him to worship ,god4 ,he comforts persecuted ministers1 is fond of preachers2 nay can himself preach1--exhorts his neighbors to be wise1 to redeem the time4 ,in all this what hypocrisy1 ambition1 cant1 or other falsity8 ,the man's hopes1 ,i do believe1 were fixed on the other ,higher ,world2 his aim to get well thither1 by walking well through his humble course in this world4 ,he courts no notice3 what could notice here do for him8 ,ever in his great ,taskmaster's eye4 ,it is striking1 too1 how he comes out once into public view2 he1 since no other is willing to come3 in resistance to a public grievance4 ,i mean1 in that matter of the ,bedford ,fens4 ,no one else will go to law with ,authority2 therefore he will4 ,that matter once settled1 he returns back into obscurity1 to his ,bible and his ,plough4 ,gain influence8 ,his influence is the most legitimate2 derived from personal knowledge of him1 as a just1 religious1 reasonable and determined man4 ,in this way he has lived till past forty2 old age is now in view of him1 and the earnest portal of ,death and ,eternity2 it was at this point that he suddenly became ambitious6 ,i do not interpret his ,parliamentary mission in that way6 ,his successes in ,parliament1 his successes through the war1 are honest successes of a brave man2 who has more resolution in the heart of him1 more light in the head of him than other men4 ,his prayers to ,god2 his spoken thanks to the ,god of ,victory1 who had preserved him safe1 and carried him forward so far1 through the furious clash of a world all set in conflict1 through desperate-looking envelopments at ,dunbar2 through the death-hail of so many battles2 mercy after mercy2 to the crowning mercy of ,worcester ,fight3 all this is good and genuine for a deep-hearted ,calvinistic ,cromwell4 ,only to vain unbelieving ,cavaliers1 worshipping not ,god but their own love-locks1 frivolities and formalities1 living quite apart from contemplations of ,god1 living without ,god in the world1 need it seem hypocritical4 ,nor will his participation in the ,king's death involve him in condemnation with us4 ,it is a stern business killing of a ,king6 ,but if you once go to war with him1 it lies there2 this and all else lies there4 ,once at war1 you have made wager of battle with him3 it is he to die1 or else you4 ,reconciliation is problematic2 may be possible1 or1 far more likely1 is impossible4 ,it is now pretty generally admitted that the ,parliament1 having vanquished ,charles ,first1 had no way of making any tenable arrangement with him4 ,the large ,presbyterian party1 apprehensive now of the ,independents1 were most anxious to do so2 anxious indeed as for their own existence2 but it could not be4 ,the unhappy ,charles1 in those final ,hampton-,court negotiations1 shows himself as a man fatally incapable of being dealt with4 ,a man who1 once for all1 could not and would not understand3--whose thought did not in any measure represent to him the real fact of the matter2 nay worse1 whose word did not at all represent his thought4 ,we may say this of him without cruelty1 with deep pity rather3 but it is true and undeniable4 ,forsaken there of all but the name of ,kingship1 he still1 finding himself treated with outward respect as a ,king1 fancied that he might play off party against party1 and smuggle himself into his old power by deceiving both4 ,alas1 they both discovered that he was deceiving them4 ,a man whose word will not inform you at all what he means or will do1 is not a man you can bargain with4 ,you must get out of that man's way1 or put him out of yours6 ,the ,presbyterians1 in their despair1 were still for believing ,charles1 though found false1 unbelievable again and again4 ,not so ,cromwell3 ,for all our fighting1 says he1 we are to have a little bit of paper8 ,no--6 ,in fact1 everywhere we have to note the decisive practical eye of this man2 how he drives towards the practical and practicable2 has a genuine insight into what is fact4 ,such an intellect1 ,i maintain1 does not belong to a false man3 the false man sees false shows1 plausibilities1 expediences3 the true man is needed to discern even practical truth4 ,cromwell's advice about the ,parliament's ,army1 early in the contest1 ,how they were to dismiss their city-tapsters1 flimsy riotous persons1 and choose substantial yeomen1 whose heart was in the work1 to be soldiers for them3 this is advice by a man who saw4 ,fact answers1 if you see into ,fact6 ,cromwell's ,ironsides were the embodiment of this insight of his2 men fearing ,god2 and without any other fear4 ,no more conclusively genuine set of fighters ever trod the soil of ,england1 or of any other land4 ,neither will we blame greatly that word of ,cromwell's to them2 which was so blamed3 ,if the ,king should meet me in battle1 ,i would kill the ,king4 ,why not8 ,these words were spoken to men who stood as before a ,higher than ,kings4 ,they had set more than their own lives on the cast4 ,the ,parliament may call it1 in official language1 a fighting for the ,king2 but we1 for our share1 cannot understand that4 ,to us it is no dilettante work1 no sleek officiality2 it is sheer rough death and earnest4 ,they have brought it to the calling-forth of ,war2 horrid internecine fight1 man grappling with man in fire-eyed rage1--the infernal element in man called forth1 to try it by that6 ,do that therefore2 since that is the thing to be done4--,the successes of ,cromwell seem to me a very natural thing6 ,since he was not shot in battle1 they were an inevitable thing4 ,that such a man1 with the eye to see1 with the heart to dare1 should advance1 from post to post1 from victory to victory1 till the ,huntingdon ,farmer became1 by whatever name you might call him1 the acknowledged ,strongest ,man in ,england1 virtually the ,king of ,england1 requires no magic to explain it--6 ,truly it is a sad thing for a people1 as for a man1 to fall into ,scepticism1 into dilettantism1 insincerity2 not to know ,sincerity when they see it4 ,for this world1 and for all worlds1 what curse is so fatal8 ,the heart lying dead1 the eye cannot see4 ,what intellect remains is merely the vulpine intellect4 ,that a true ,king be sent them is of small use2 they do not know him when sent4 ,they say scornfully1 ,is this your ,king8 ,the ,hero wastes his heroic faculty in bootless contradiction from the unworthy2 and can accomplish little4 ,for himself he does accomplish a heroic life1 which is much1 which is all2 but for the world he accomplishes comparatively nothing4 ,the wild rude ,sincerity1 direct from ,nature1 is not glib in answering from the witness-box3 in your small-debt pie-powder court1 he is scouted as a counterfeit4 ,the vulpine intellect detects him4 ,for being a man worth any thousand men1 the response your ,knox1 your ,cromwell gets1 is an argument for two centuries whether he was a man at all4 ,god's greatest gift to this ,earth is sneeringly flung away4 ,the miraculous talisman is a paltry plated coin1 not fit to pass in the shops as a common guinea4 ,lamentable this6 ,i say1 this must be remedied4 ,till this be remedied in some measure1 there is nothing remedied4 ,detect quacks8 ,yes do1 for ,heaven's sake2 but know withal the men that are to be trusted6 ,till we know that1 what is all our knowledge2 how shall we even so much as detect8 ,for the vulpine sharpness1 which considers itself to be knowledge1 and detects in that fashion1 is far mistaken4 ,dupes indeed are many3 but1 of all dupes1 there is none so fatally situated as he who lives in undue terror of being duped4 ,the world does exist2 the world has truth in it1 or it would not exist6 ,first recognize what is true1 we shall then discern what is false2 and properly never till then4 ,know the men that are to be trusted3 alas1 this is yet1 in these days1 very far from us4 ,the sincere alone can recognize sincerity4 ,not a ,hero only is needed1 but a world fit for him2 a world not of ,valets2--the ,hero comes almost in vain to it otherwise6 ,yes1 it is far from us3 but it must come2 thank ,god1 it is visibly coming4 ,till it do come1 what have we8 ,ballot-boxes1 suffrages1 ,french ,revolutions3--if we are as ,valets1 and do not know the ,hero when we see him1 what good are all these8 ,a heroic ,cromwell comes2 and for a hundred and fifty years he cannot have a vote from us4 ,why1 the insincere1 unbelieving world is the natural property of the ,quack1 and of the ,father of quacks and quackeries6 ,misery1 confusion1 unveracity are alone possible there4 ,by ballot-boxes we alter the figure of our ,quack2 but the substance of him continues4 ,the ,valet-,world has to be governed by the ,sham-,hero1 by the ,king merely dressed in ,king-gear4 ,it is his2 he is its6 ,in brief1 one of two things3 ,we shall either learn to know a ,hero1 a true ,governor and ,captain1 somewhat better1 when we see him2 or else go on to be forever governed by the ,unheroic2--had we ballot-boxes clattering at every street-corner1 there were no remedy in these4 ,poor ,cromwell1--great ,cromwell6 ,the inarticulate ,prophet2 ,prophet who could not speak4 ,rude1 confused1 struggling to utter himself1 with his savage depth1 with his wild sincerity2 and he looked so strange1 among the elegant ,euphemisms1 dainty little ,falklands1 didactic ,chillingworths1 diplomatic ,clarendons6 ,consider him4 ,an outer hull of chaotic confusion1 visions of the ,devil1 nervous dreams1 almost semi-madness2 and yet such a clear determinate man's-energy working in the heart of that4 ,a kind of chaotic man4 ,the ray as of pure starlight and fire1 working in such an element of boundless hypochondria1 unformed black of darkness6 ,and yet withal this hypochondria1 what was it but the very greatness of the man8 ,the depth and tenderness of his wild affections3 the quantity of sympathy he had with things1--the quantity of insight he would yet get into the heart of things1 the mastery he would yet get over things3 this was his hypochondria4 ,the man's misery1 as man's misery always does1 came of his greatness4 ,samuel ,johnson too is that kind of man4 ,sorrow-stricken1 half-distracted2 the wide element of mournful black enveloping him1--wide as the world4 ,it is the character of a prophetic man2 a man with his whole soul seeing1 and struggling to see4 ,on this ground1 too1 ,i explain to myself ,cromwell's reputed confusion of speech4 ,to himself the internal meaning was sun-clear2 but the material with which he was to clothe it in utterance was not there4 ,he had lived silent2 a great unnamed sea of ,thought round him all his days2 and in his way of life little call to attempt naming or uttering that4 ,with his sharp power of vision1 resolute power of action1 ,i doubt not he could have learned to write ,books withal1 and speak fluently enough2--he did harder things than writing of ,books4 ,this kind of man is precisely he who is fit for doing manfully all things you will set him on doing4 ,intellect is not speaking and logicizing2 it is seeing and ascertaining4 ,virtue1 ,virtues1 manhood1 herohood1 is not fair-spoken immaculate regularity2 it is first of all1 what the ,germans well name it1 ,tugend 7,taugend1 dow-ing or ,dough-tiness71 ,courage and the ,faculty to do4 ,this basis of the matter ,cromwell had in him4 ,one understands moreover how1 though he could not speak in ,parliament1 he might preach1 rhapsodic preaching2 above all1 how he might be great in extempore prayer4 ,these are the free outpouring utterances of what is in the heart3 method is not required in them2 warmth1 depth1 sincerity are all that is required4 ,cromwell's habit of prayer is a notable feature of him4 ,all his great enterprises were commenced with prayer4 ,in dark inextricable-looking difficulties1 his ,officers and he used to assemble1 and pray alternately1 for hours1 for days1 till some definite resolution rose among them1 some door of hope1 as they would name it1 disclosed itself4 ,consider that4 ,in tears1 in fervent prayers1 and cries to the great ,god1 to have pity on them1 to make ,his light shine before them4 ,they1 armed ,soldiers of ,christ1 as they felt themselves to be2 a little band of ,christian ,brothers1 who had drawn the sword against a great black devouring world not ,christian1 but ,mammonish1 ,devilish1--they cried to ,god in their straits1 in their extreme need1 not to forsake the ,cause that was ,his4 ,the light which now rose upon them1--how could a human soul1 by any means at all1 get better light8 ,was not the purpose so formed like to be precisely the best1 wisest1 the one to be followed without hesitation any more8 ,to them it was as the shining of ,heaven's own ,splendor in the waste-howling darkness2 the ,pillar of ,fire by night1 that was to guide them on their desolate perilous way4 ,was it not such8 ,can a man's soul1 to this hour1 get guidance by any other method than intrinsically by that same1--devout prostration of the earnest struggling soul before the ,highest1 the ,giver of all ,light2 be such prayer a spoken1 articulate1 or be it a voiceless1 inarticulate one8 ,there is no other method4 ,hypocrisy8 ,one begins to be weary of all that4 ,they who call it so1 have no right to speak on such matters4 ,they never formed a purpose1 what one can call a purpose4 ,they went about balancing expediencies1 plausibilities2 gathering votes1 advices2 they never were alone with the truth of a thing at all4--,cromwell's prayers were likely to be eloquent1 and much more than that4 ,his was the heart of a man who could pray4 ,but indeed his actual ,speeches1 ,i apprehend1 were not nearly so ineloquent1 incondite1 as they look4 ,we find he was1 what all speakers aim to be1 an impressive speaker1 even in ,parliament2 one who1 from the first1 had weight4 ,with that rude passionate voice of his1 he was always understood to mean something1 and men wished to know what4 ,he disregarded eloquence1 nay despised and disliked it2 spoke always without premeditation of the words he was to use4 ,the ,reporters1 too1 in those days seem to have been singularly candid2 and to have given the ,printer precisely what they found on their own note-paper4 ,and withal1 what a strange proof is it of ,cromwell's being the premeditative ever-calculating hypocrite1 acting a play before the world1 ,that to the last he took no more charge of his ,speeches6 ,how came he not to study his words a little1 before flinging them out to the public8 ,if the words were true words1 they could be left to shift for themselves4 ,but with regard to ,cromwell's lying1 we will make one remark4 ,this1 ,i suppose1 or something like this1 to have been the nature of it4 ,all parties found themselves deceived in him2 each party understood him to be meaning this1 heard him even say so1 and behold he turns out to have been meaning that6 ,he was1 cry they1 the chief of liars4 ,but now1 intrinsically1 is not all this the inevitable fortune1 not of a false man in such times1 but simply of a superior man8 ,such a man must have reticences in him4 ,if he walk wearing his heart upon his sleeve for daws to peck at1 his journey will not extend far6 ,there is no use for any man's taking up his abode in a house built of glass4 ,a man always is to be himself the judge how much of his mind he will show to other men2 even to those he would have work along with him4 ,there are impertinent inquiries made3 your rule is1 to leave the inquirer uninformed on that matter2 not1 if you can help it1 misinformed1 but precisely as dark as he was6 ,this1 could one hit the right phrase of response1 is what the wise and faithful man would aim to answer in such a case4 ,cromwell1 no doubt of it1 spoke often in the dialect of small subaltern parties2 uttered to them a part of his mind4 ,each little party thought him all its own4 ,hence their rage1 one and all1 to find him not of their party1 but of his own party4 ,was it his blame8 ,at all seasons of his history he must have felt1 among such people1 how1 if he explained to them the deeper insight he had1 they must either have shuddered aghast at it1 or believing it1 their own little compact hypothesis must have gone wholly to wreck4 ,they could not have worked in his province any more2 nay perhaps they could not now have worked in their own province4 ,it is the inevitable position of a great man among small men4 ,small men1 most active1 useful1 are to be seen everywhere1 whose whole activity depends on some conviction which to you is palpably a limited one2 imperfect1 what we call an error4 ,but would it be a kindness always1 is it a duty always or often1 to disturb them in that8 ,many a man1 doing loud work in the world1 stands only on some thin traditionality1 conventionality2 to him indubitable1 to you incredible3 break that beneath him1 he sinks to endless depths6 ,i might have my hand full of truth1 said ,fontenelle1 and open only my little finger4 ,and if this be the fact even in matters of doctrine1 how much more in all departments of practice6 ,he that cannot withal keep his mind to himself cannot practice any considerable thing whatever4 ,and we call it dissimulation1 all this8 ,what would you think of calling the general of an army a dissembler because he did not tell every corporal and private soldier1 who pleased to put the question1 what his thoughts were about everything8--,cromwell1 ,i should rather say1 managed all this in a manner we must admire for its perfection4 ,an endless vortex of such questioning corporals rolled confusedly round him through his whole course2 whom he did answer4 ,it must have been as a great true-seeing man that he managed this too4 ,not one proved falsehood1 as ,i said2 not one6 ,of what man that ever wound himself through such a coil of things will you say so much8-- ,but in fact there are two errors1 widely prevalent1 which pervert to the very basis our judgments formed about such men as ,cromwell2 about their ambition1 falsity1 and such like4 ,the first is what ,i might call substituting the goal of their career for the course and starting-point of it4 ,the vulgar ,historian of a ,cromwell fancies that he had determined on being ,protector of ,england1 at the time when he was ploughing the marsh lands of ,cambridgeshire4 ,his career lay all mapped out3 a program of the whole drama2 which he then step by step dramatically unfolded1 with all manner of cunning1 deceptive dramaturgy1 as he went on1--the hollow1 scheming ,gr4 ,upokrites1 or ,play-actor1 that he was6 ,this is a radical perversion2 all but universal in such cases4 ,and think for an instant how different the fact is6 ,how much does one of us foresee of his own life8 ,short way ahead of us it is all dim2 an unwound skein of possibilities1 of apprehensions1 attemptabilities1 vague-looming hopes4 ,this ,cromwell had not his life lying all in that fashion of ,program1 which he needed then1 with that unfathomable cunning of his1 only to enact dramatically1 scene after scene6 ,not so4 ,we see it so2 but to him it was in no measure so4 ,what absurdities would fall away of themselves1 were this one undeniable fact kept honestly in view by ,history6 ,historians indeed will tell you that they do keep it in view2--but look whether such is practically the fact6 ,vulgar ,history1 as in this ,cromwell's case1 omits it altogether2 even the best kinds of ,history only remember it now and then4 ,to remember it duly with rigorous perfection1 as in the fact it stood1 requires indeed a rare faculty2 rare1 nay impossible4 ,a very ,shakspeare for faculty2 or more than ,shakspeare2 who could enact a brother man's biography1 see with the brother man's eyes at all points of his course what things he saw2 in short1 know his course and him1 as few ,historians are like to do4 ,half or more of all the thick-plied perversions which distort our image of ,cromwell1 will disappear1 if we honestly so much as try to represent them so2 in sequence1 as they were2 not in the lump1 as they are thrown down before us4 ,but a second error1 which ,i think the generality commit1 refers to this same ambition itself4 ,we exaggerate the ambition of ,great ,men2 we mistake what the nature of it is4 ,great ,men are not ambitious in that sense2 he is a small poor man that is ambitious so4 ,examine the man who lives in misery because he does not shine above other men2 who goes about producing himself1 pruriently anxious about his gifts and claims2 struggling to force everybody1 as it were begging everybody for ,god's sake1 to acknowledge him a great man1 and set him over the heads of men6 ,such a creature is among the wretchedest sights seen under this sun4 ,a great man8 ,a poor morbid prurient empty man2 fitter for the ward of a hospital1 than for a throne among men4 ,i advise you to keep out of his way4 ,he cannot walk on quiet paths2 unless you will look at him1 wonder at him1 write paragraphs about him1 he cannot live4 ,it is the emptiness of the man1 not his greatness4 ,because there is nothing in himself1 he hungers and thirsts that you would find something in him4 ,in good truth1 ,i believe no great man1 not so much as a genuine man who had health and real substance in him of whatever magnitude1 was ever much tormented in this way4 ,your ,cromwell1 what good could it do him to be noticed by noisy crowds of people8 ,god his ,maker already noticed him4 ,he1 ,cromwell1 was already there2 no notice would make him other than he already was4 ,till his hair was grown gray2 and ,life from the down-hill slope was all seen to be limited1 not infinite but finite1 and all a measurable matter how it went1--he had been content to plough the ground1 and read his ,bible4 ,he in his old days could not support it any longer1 without selling himself to ,falsehood1 that he might ride in gilt carriages to ,whitehall1 and have clerks with bundles of papers haunting him1 ,decide this1 decide that1 which in utmost sorrow of heart no man can perfectly decide6 ,what could gilt carriages do for this man8 ,from of old1 was there not in his life a weight of meaning1 a terror and a splendor as of ,heaven itself8 ,his existence there as man set him beyond the need of gilding4 ,death1 ,judgment and ,eternity3 these already lay as the background of whatsoever he thought or did4 ,all his life lay begirt as in a sea of nameless ,thoughts1 which no speech of a mortal could name4 ,god's ,word1 as the ,puritan prophets of that time had read it3 this was great1 and all else was little to him4 ,to call such a man ambitious1 to figure him as the prurient wind-bag described above1 seems to me the poorest solecism4 ,such a man will say3 ,keep your gilt carriages and huzzaing mobs1 keep your red-tape clerks1 your influentialities1 your important businesses4 ,leave me alone1 leave me alone2 there is too much of life in me already6 ,old ,samuel ,johnson1 the greatest soul in ,england in his day1 was not ambitious4 ,corsica ,boswell flaunted at public shows with printed ribbons round his hat2 but the great old ,samuel stayed at home4 ,the world-wide soul wrapt up in its thoughts1 in its sorrows2--what could paradings1 and ribbons in the hat1 do for it8 ,ah yes1 ,i will say again3 ,the great silent men6 ,looking round on the noisy inanity of the world1 words with little meaning1 actions with little worth1 one loves to reflect on the great ,empire of ,silence4 ,the noble silent men1 scattered here and there1 each in his department2 silently thinking1 silently working2 whom no ,morning ,newspaper makes mention of6 ,they are the salt of the ,earth4 ,a country that has none or few of these is in a bad way4 ,like a forest which had no roots2 which had all turned into leaves and boughs2--which must soon wither and be no forest4 ,woe for us if we had nothing but what we can show1 or speak4 ,silence1 the great ,empire of ,silence3 higher than the stars2 deeper than the ,kingdoms of ,death6 ,it alone is great2 all else is small4--,i hope we ,english will long maintain our grand talent pour le silence4 ,let others that cannot do without standing on barrel-heads1 to spout1 and be seen of all the market-place1 cultivate speech exclusively1--become a most green forest without roots6 ,solomon says1 ,there is a time to speak2 but also a time to keep silence4 ,of some great silent ,samuel1 not urged to writing1 as old ,samuel ,johnson says he was1 by want of money1 and nothing other1 one might ask1 ,why do not you too get up and speak2 promulgate your system1 found your sect8 ,truly1 he will answer1 ,i am continent of my thought hitherto2 happily ,i have yet had the ability to keep it in me1 no compulsion strong enough to speak it4 ,my 'system' is not for promulgation first of all2 it is for serving myself to live by4 ,that is the great purpose of it to me4 ,and then the 'honor'8 ,alas1 yes2--but as ,cato said of the statue3 ,so many statues in that ,forum of yours1 may it not be better if they ask1 ,where is ,cato's statue8-- ,but now1 by way of counterpoise to this of ,silence1 let me say that there are two kinds of ambition2 one wholly blamable1 the other laudable and inevitable4 ,nature has provided that the great silent ,samuel shall not be silent too long4 ,the selfish wish to shine over others1 let it be accounted altogether poor and miserable4 ,seekest thou great things1 seek them not3 this is most true4 ,and yet1 ,i say1 there is an irrepressible tendency in every man to develop himself according to the magnitude which ,nature has made him of2 to speak out1 to act out1 what nature has laid in him4 ,this is proper1 fit1 inevitable2 nay it is a duty1 and even the summary of duties for a man4 ,the meaning of life here on earth might be defined as consisting in this3 ,to unfold your self1 to work what thing you have the faculty for4 ,it is a necessity for the human being1 the first law of our existence4 ,coleridge beautifully remarks that the infant learns to speak by this necessity it feels4--,we will say therefore3 ,to decide about ambition1 whether it is bad or not1 you have two things to take into view4 ,not the coveting of the place alone1 but the fitness of the man for the place withal3 that is the question4 ,perhaps the place was his2 perhaps he had a natural right1 and even obligation1 to seek the place6 ,mirabeau's ambition to be ,prime ,minister1 how shall we blame it1 if he were the only man in ,france that could have done any good there8 ,hopefuler perhaps had he not so clearly felt how much good he could do6 ,but a poor ,necker1 who could do no good1 and had even felt that he could do none1 yet sitting broken-hearted because they had flung him out1 and he was now quit of it1 well might ,gibbon mourn over him4--,nature1 ,i say1 has provided amply that the silent great man shall strive to speak withal2 too amply1 rather6 ,fancy1 for example1 you had revealed to the brave old ,samuel ,johnson1 in his shrouded-up existence1 that it was possible for him to do priceless divine work for his country and the whole world4 ,that the perfect ,heavenly ,law might be made ,law on this ,earth2 that the prayer he prayed daily1 ,thy kingdom come1 was at length to be fulfilled6 ,if you had convinced his judgment of this2 that it was possible1 practicable2 that he the mournful silent ,samuel was called to take a part in it6 ,would not the whole soul of the man have flamed up into a divine clearness1 into noble utterance and determination to act2 casting all sorrows and misgivings under his feet1 counting all affliction and contradiction small1--the whole dark element of his existence blazing into articulate radiance of light and lightning8 ,it were a true ambition this6 ,and think now how it actually was with ,cromwell4 ,from of old1 the sufferings of ,god's ,church1 true zealous ,preachers of the truth flung into dungeons1 whips1 set on pillories1 their ears crops off1 ,god's ,gospel-cause trodden under foot of the unworthy3 all this had lain heavy on his soul4 ,long years he had looked upon it1 in silence1 in prayer2 seeing no remedy on ,earth2 trusting well that a remedy in ,heaven's goodness would come1--that such a course was false1 unjust1 and could not last forever4 ,and now behold the dawn of it2 after twelve years silent waiting1 all ,england stirs itself2 there is to be once more a ,parliament1 the ,right will get a voice for itself3 inexpressible well-grounded hope has come again into the ,earth4 ,was not such a ,parliament worth being a member of8 ,cromwell threw down his ploughs1 and hastened thither4 ,he spoke there1--rugged bursts of earnestness1 of a self-seen truth1 where we get a glimpse of them4 ,he worked there2 he fought and strove1 like a strong true giant of a man1 through cannon-tumult and all else1--on and on1 till the ,cause triumphed1 its once so formidable enemies all swept from before it1 and the dawn of hope had become clear light of victory and certainty4 ,that he stood there as the strongest soul of ,england1 the undisputed ,hero of all ,england1--what of this8 ,it was possible that the ,law of ,christ's ,gospel could now establish itself in the world6 ,the ,theocracy which ,john ,knox in his pulpit might dream of as a devout imagination1 this practical man1 experienced in the whole chaos of most rough practice1 dared to consider as capable of being realized4 ,those that were highest in ,christ's ,church1 the devoutest wisest men1 were to rule the land3 in some considerable degree1 it might be so and should be so4 ,was it not true1 ,god's truth8 ,and if true1 was it not then the very thing to do8 ,the strongest practical intellect in ,england dared to answer1 ,yes6 ,this ,i call a noble true purpose2 is it not1 in its own dialect1 the noblest that could enter into the heart of ,statesman or man8 ,for a ,knox to take it up was something2 but for a ,cromwell1 with his great sound sense and experience of what our world was1--,history1 ,i think1 shows it only this once in such a degree4 ,i account it the culminating point of ,protestantism2 the most heroic phasis that ,faith in the ,bible was appointed to exhibit here below4 ,fancy it3 that it were made manifest to one of us1 how we could make the ,right supremely victorious over ,wrong1 and all that we had longed and prayed for1 as the highest good to ,england and all lands1 an attainable fact6 ,well1 ,i must say1 the vulpine intellect1 with its knowingness1 its alertness and expertness in detecting hypocrites1 seems to me a rather sorry business4 ,we have had but one such ,statesman in ,england2 one man1 that ,i can get sight of1 who ever had in the heart of him any such purpose at all4 ,one man1 in the course of fifteen hundred years2 and this was his welcome4 ,he had adherents by the hundred or the ten2 opponents by the million4 ,had ,england rallied all round him1--why1 then1 ,england might have been a ,christian land6 ,as it is1 vulpine knowingness sits yet at its hopeless problem1 ,given a world of ,knaves1 to educe an ,honesty from their united action2--how cumbrous a problem1 you may see in ,chancery ,law-,courts1 and some other places6 ,till at length1 by ,heaven's just anger1 but also by ,heaven's great grace1 the matter begins to stagnate2 and this problem is becoming to all men a palpably hopeless one4-- ,but with regard to ,cromwell and his purposes3 ,hume1 and a multitude following him1 come upon me here with an admission that ,cromwell was sincere at first2 a sincere ,fanatic at first1 but gradually became a ,hypocrite as things opened round him4 ,this of the ,fanatic-,hypocrite is ,hume's theory of it2 extensively applied since1--to ,mahomet and many others4 ,think of it seriously1 you will find something in it2 not much1 not all1 very far from all4 ,sincere hero hearts do not sink in this miserable manner4 ,the ,sun flings forth impurities1 gets balefully incrusted with spots2 but it does not quench itself1 and become no ,sun at all1 but a mass of ,darkness6 ,i will venture to say that such never befell a great deep ,cromwell2 ,i think1 never4 ,nature's own lionhearted ,son2 ,antaeus-like1 his strength is got by touching the ,earth1 his ,mother2 lift him up from the ,earth1 lift him up into ,hypocrisy1 ,inanity1 his strength is gone4 ,we will not assert that ,cromwell was an immaculate man2 that he fell into no faults1 no insincerities among the rest4 ,he was no dilettante professor of perfections1 immaculate conducts4 ,he was a rugged ,orson1 rending his rough way through actual true work1--doubtless with many a fall therein4 ,insincerities1 faults1 very many faults daily and hourly3 it was too well known to him2 known to ,god and him6 ,the ,sun was dimmed many a time2 but the ,sun had not himself grown a ,dimness4 ,cromwell's last words1 as he lay waiting for death1 are those of a ,christian heroic man4 ,broken prayers to ,god1 that ,he would judge him and this ,cause1 ,he since man could not1 in justice yet in pity4 ,they are most touching words4 ,he breathed out his wild great soul1 its toils and sins all ended now1 into the presence of his ,maker1 in this manner4 ,i1 for one1 will not call the man a ,hypocrite6 ,hypocrite1 mummer1 the life of him a mere theatricality2 empty barren quack1 hungry for the shouts of mobs8 ,the man had made obscurity do very well for him till his head was gray2 and now he was1 there as he stood recognized unblamed1 the virtual ,king of ,england4 ,cannot a man do without ,king's ,coaches and ,cloaks8 ,is it such a blessedness to have clerks forever pestering you with bundles of papers in red tape8 ,a simple ,diocletian prefers planting of cabbages2 a ,george ,washington1 no very immeasurable man1 does the like4 ,one would say1 it is what any genuine man could do2 and would do4 ,the instant his real work were out in the matter of ,kingship1--away with it6 ,let us remark1 meanwhile1 how indispensable everywhere a ,king is1 in all movements of men4 ,it is strikingly shown1 in this very ,war1 what becomes of men when they cannot find a ,chief ,man1 and their enemies can4 ,the ,scotch ,nation was all but unanimous in ,puritanism2 zealous and of one mind about it1 as in this ,english end of the ,island was always far from being the case4 ,but there was no great ,cromwell among them2 poor tremulous1 hesitating1 diplomatic ,argyles and such like3 none of them had a heart true enough for the truth1 or durst commit himself to the truth4 ,they had no leader2 and the scattered ,cavalier party in that country had one3 ,montrose1 the noblest of all the ,cavaliers2 an accomplished1 gallant-hearted1 splendid man2 what one may call the ,hero-,cavalier4 ,well1 look at it2 on the one hand subjects without a ,king2 on the other a ,king without subjects6 ,the subjects without ,king can do nothing2 the subjectless ,king can do something4 ,this ,montrose1 with a handful of ,irish or ,highland savages1 few of them so much as guns in their hands1 dashes at the drilled ,puritan armies like a wild whirlwind2 sweeps them1 time after time1 some five times over1 from the field before him4 ,he was at one period1 for a short while1 master of all ,scotland4 ,one man2 but he was a man2 a million zealous men1 but without the one2 they against him were powerless6 ,perhaps of all the persons in that ,puritan struggle1 from first to last1 the single indispensable one was verily ,cromwell4 ,to see and dare1 and decide2 to be a fixed pillar in the welter of uncertainty2--a ,king among them1 whether they called him so or not4 ,precisely here1 however1 lies the rub for ,cromwell4 ,his other proceedings have all found advocates1 and stand generally justified2 but this dismissal of the ,rump ,parliament and assumption of the ,protectorship1 is what no one can pardon him4 ,he had fairly grown to be ,king in ,england2 ,chief ,man of the victorious party in ,england3 but it seems he could not do without the ,king's ,cloak1 and sold himself to perdition in order to get it4 ,let us see a little how this was4 ,england1 ,scotland1 ,ireland1 all lying now subdued at the feet of the ,puritan ,parliament1 the practical question arose1 ,what was to be done with it8 ,how will you govern these ,nations1 which ,providence in a wondrous way has given up to your disposal8 ,clearly those hundred surviving members of the ,long ,parliament1 who sit there as supreme authority1 cannot continue forever to sit4 ,what is to be done8--,it was a question which theoretical constitution-builders may find easy to answer2 but to ,cromwell1 looking there into the real practical facts of it1 there could be none more complicated4 ,he asked of the ,parliament1 ,what it was they would decide upon8 ,it was for the ,parliament to say4 ,yet the ,soldiers too1 however contrary to ,formula1 they who had purchased this victory with their blood1 it seemed to them that they also should have something to say in it6 ,we will not for all our fighting have nothing but a little piece of paper4 ,we understand that the ,law of ,god's ,gospel1 to which ,he through us has given the victory1 shall establish itself1 or try to establish itself1 in this land6 ,for three years1 ,cromwell says1 this question had been sounded in the ears of the ,parliament4 ,they could make no answer2 nothing but talk1 talk4 ,perhaps it lies in the nature of parliamentary bodies2 perhaps no ,parliament could in such case make any answer but even that of talk1 talk6 ,nevertheless the question must and shall be answered4 ,you sixty men there1 becoming fast odious1 even despicable1 to the whole nation1 whom the nation already calls ,rump ,parliament1 you cannot continue to sit there3 who or what then is to follow8 ,free ,parliament1 right of ,election1 ,constitutional ,formulas of one sort or the other1--the thing is a hungry ,fact coming on us1 which we must answer or be devoured by it6 ,and who are you that prate of ,constitutional ,formulas1 rights of ,parliament8 ,you have had to kill your ,king1 to make ,pride's ,purges1 to expel and banish by the law of the stronger whosoever would not let your ,cause prosper3 there are but fifty or threescore of you left there1 debating in these days4 ,tell us what we shall do2 not in the way of ,formula1 but of practicable ,fact6 ,how they did finally answer1 remains obscure to this day4 ,the diligent ,godwin himself admits that he cannot make it out4 ,the likeliest is1 that this poor ,parliament still would not1 and indeed could not dissolve and disperse2 that when it came to the point of actually dispersing1 they again1 for the tenth or twentieth time1 adjourned it1--and ,cromwell's patience failed him4 ,but we will take the favorablest hypothesis ever started for the ,parliament2 the favorablest1 though ,i believe it is not the true one1 but too favorable4 ,according to this version3 ,at the uttermost crisis1 when ,cromwell and his ,officers were met on the one hand1 and the fifty or sixty ,rump ,members on the other1 it was suddenly told ,cromwell that the ,rump in its despair was answering in a very singular way2 that in their splenetic envious despair1 to keep out the ,army at least1 these men were hurrying through the ,house a kind of ,reform ,bill1--,parliament to be chosen by the whole of ,england2 equable electoral division into districts2 free suffrage1 and the rest of it6 ,a very questionable1 or indeed for them an unquestionable thing4 ,reform ,bill1 free suffrage of ,englishmen8 ,why1 the ,royalists themselves1 silenced indeed but not exterminated1 perhaps outnumber us2 the great numerical majority of ,england was always indifferent to our ,cause1 merely looked at it and submitted to it4 ,it is in weight and force1 not by counting of heads1 that we are the majority6 ,and now with your ,formulas and ,reform ,bills1 the whole matter1 sorely won by our swords1 shall again launch itself to sea2 become a mere hope1 and likelihood1 small even as a likelihood8 ,and it is not a likelihood2 it is a certainty1 which we have won1 by ,god's strength and our own right hands1 and do now hold here4 ,cromwell walked down to these refractory ,members2 interrupted them in that rapid speed of their ,reform ,bill2--ordered them to begone1 and talk there no more4--,can we not forgive him8 ,can we not understand him8 ,john ,milton1 who looked on it all near at hand1 could applaud him4 ,the ,reality had swept the ,formulas away before it4 ,i fancy1 most men who were realities in ,england might see into the necessity of that4 ,the strong daring man1 therefore1 has set all manner of ,formulas and logical superficialities against him2 has dared appeal to the genuine ,fact of this ,england1 ,whether it will support him or not8 ,it is curious to see how he struggles to govern in some constitutional way2 find some ,parliament to support him2 but cannot4 ,his first ,parliament1 the one they call ,barebones's ,parliament1 is1 so to speak1 a ,convocation of the ,notables4 ,from all quarters of ,england the leading ,ministers and chief ,puritan ,officials nominate the men most distinguished by religious reputation1 influence and attachment to the true ,cause3 these are assembled to shape out a plan4 ,they sanctioned what was past2 shaped as they could what was to come4 ,they were scornfully called ,barebones's ,parliament3 the man's name1 it seems1 was not ,barebones1 but ,barbone1--a good enough man4 ,nor was it a jest1 their work2 it was a most serious reality1--a trial on the part of these ,puritan ,notables how far the ,law of ,christ could become the ,law of this ,england4 ,there were men of sense among them1 men of some quality2 men of deep piety ,i suppose the most of them were4 ,they failed1 it seems1 and broke down1 endeavoring to reform the ,court of ,chancery6 ,they dissolved themselves1 as incompetent2 delivered up their power again into the hands of the ,lord ,general ,cromwell1 to do with it what he liked and could4 ,what will he do with it8 ,the ,lord ,general ,cromwell1 ,commander-in-chief of all the ,forces raised and to be raised2 he hereby sees himself1 at this unexampled juncture1 as it were the one available ,authority left in ,england1 nothing between ,england and utter ,anarchy but him alone4 ,such is the undeniable ,fact of his position and ,england's1 there and then4 ,what will he do with it8 ,after deliberation1 he decides that he will accept it2 will formally1 with public solemnity1 say and vow before ,god and men1 ,yes1 the ,fact is so1 and ,i will do the best ,i can with it6 ,protectorship1 ,instrument of ,government1--these are the external forms of the thing2 worked out and sanctioned as they could in the circumstances be1 by the ,judges1 by the leading ,official people1 ,council of ,officers and ,persons of interest in the ,nation3 and as for the thing itself1 undeniably enough1 at the pass matters had now come to1 there was no alternative but ,anarchy or that4 ,puritan ,england might accept it or not2 but ,puritan ,england was1 in real truth1 saved from suicide thereby6--,i believe the ,puritan ,people did1 in an inarticulate1 grumbling1 yet on the whole grateful and real way1 accept this anomalous act of ,oliver's2 at least1 he and they together made it good1 and always better to the last4 ,but in their ,parliamentary articulate way1 they had their difficulties1 and never knew fully what to say to it--6 ,oliver's second ,parliament1 properly his first regular ,parliament1 chosen by the rule laid down in the ,instrument of ,government1 did assemble1 and worked2--but got1 before long1 into bottomless questions as to the ,protector's right1 as to usurpation1 and so forth2 and had at the earliest legal day to be dismissed4 ,cromwell's concluding ,speech to these men is a remarkable one4 ,so likewise to his third ,parliament1 in similar rebuke for their pedantries and obstinacies4 ,most rude1 chaotic1 all these ,speeches are2 but most earnest-looking4 ,you would say1 it was a sincere helpless man2 not used to speak the great inorganic thought of him1 but to act it rather6 ,a helplessness of utterance1 in such bursting fulness of meaning4 ,he talks much about births of ,providence3 ,all these changes1 so many victories and events1 were not forethoughts1 and theatrical contrivances of men1 of me or of men2 it is blind blasphemers that will persist in calling them so6 ,he insists with a heavy sulphurous wrathful emphasis on this4 ,as he well might4 ,as if a ,cromwell in that dark huge game he had been playing1 the world wholly thrown into chaos round him1 had foreseen it all1 and played it all off like a precontrived puppet-show by wood and wire6 ,these things were foreseen by no man1 he says2 no man could tell what a day would bring forth3 they were births of ,providence1 ,god's finger guided us on1 and we came at last to clear height of victory1 ,god's ,cause triumphant in these ,nations2 and you as a ,parliament could assemble together1 and say in what manner all this could be organized1 reduced into rational feasibility among the affairs of men4 ,you were to help with your wise counsel in doing that4 ,you have had such an opportunity as no ,parliament in ,england ever had4 ,christ's ,law1 the ,right and ,true1 was to be in some measure made the ,law of this land4 ,in place of that1 you have got into your idle pedantries1 constitutionalities1 bottomless cavillings and questionings about written laws for my coming here2--and would send the whole matter into ,chaos again1 because ,i have no ,notary's parchment1 but only ,god's voice from the battle-whirlwind1 for being ,president among you6 ,that opportunity is gone2 and we know not when it will return4 ,you have had your constitutional ,logic2 and ,mammon's ,law1 not ,christ's ,law1 rules yet in this land4 ,god be judge between you and me6 ,these are his final words to them3 ,take you your constitution-formulas in your hand2 and ,i my informal struggles1 purposes1 realities and acts2 and ,god be judge between you and me6-- ,we said above what shapeless1 involved chaotic things the printed ,speeches of ,cromwell are4 ,wilfully ambiguous1 unintelligible1 say the most3 a hypocrite shrouding himself in confused ,jesuitic jargon6 ,to me they do not seem so4 ,i will say rather1 they afforded the first glimpses ,i could ever get into the reality of this ,cromwell1 nay into the possibility of him4 ,try to believe that he means something1 search lovingly what that may be3 you will find a real speech lying imprisoned in these broken rude tortuous utterances2 a meaning in the great heart of this inarticulate man6 ,you will1 for thc first time1 begin to see that he was a man2 not an enigmatic chimera1 unintelligible to you1 incredible to you4 ,the ,histories and ,biographies written of this ,cromwell1 written in shallow sceptical generations that could not know or conceive of a deep believing man1 are far more obscure than ,cromwell's ,speeches4 ,you look through them only into the infinite vague of ,black and the ,inane4 ,heats and jealousies1 says ,lord ,clarendon himself3 heats and jealousies1 mere crabbed whims1 theories and crotchets2 these induced slow sober quiet ,englishmen to lay down their ploughs and work2 and fly into red fury of confused war against the best-conditioned of ,kings6 ,try if you can find that true4 ,scepticism writing about ,belief may have great gifts2 but it is really ultra vires there4 ,it is ,blindness laying down the ,laws of ,optics4-- ,cromwell's third ,parliament split on the same rock as his second4 ,ever the constitutional ,formula3 ,how came you there8 ,show us some ,notary parchment6 ,blind pedants3--,why1 surely the same power which makes you a ,parliament1 that1 and something more1 made me a ,protector6 ,if my ,protectorship is nothing1 what in the name of wonder is your ,parliamenteership1 a reflex and creation of that8-- ,parliaments having failed1 there remained nothing but the way of ,despotism4 ,military ,dictators1 each with his district1 to coerce the ,royalist and other gainsayers1 to govern them1 if not by act of ,parliament1 then by the sword4 ,formula shall not carry it1 while the ,reality is here6 ,i will go on1 protecting oppressed ,protestants abroad1 appointing just judges1 wise managers1 at home1 cherishing true ,gospel ministers2 doing the best ,i can to make ,england a ,christian ,england1 greater than old ,rome1 the ,queen of ,protestant ,christianity2 ,i1 since you will not help me2 ,i while ,god leaves me life6--,why did he not give it up2 retire into obscurity again1 since the ,law would not acknowledge him8 cry several4 ,that is where they mistake4 ,for him there was no giving of it up6 ,prime ministers have governed countries1 ,pitt1 ,pombal1 ,choiseul2 and their word was a law while it held3 but this ,prime ,minister was one that could not get resigned4 ,let him once resign1 ,charles ,stuart and the ,cavaliers waited to kill him2 to kill the ,cause and him4 ,once embarked1 there is no retreat1 no return4 ,this ,prime ,minister could retire no-whither except into his tomb4 ,one is sorry for ,cromwell in his old days4 ,his complaint is incessant of the heavy burden ,providence has laid on him4 ,heavy2 which he must bear till death4 ,old ,colonel ,hutchinson1 as his wife relates it1 ,hutchinson1 his old battle-mate1 coming to see him on some indispensable business1 much against his will1--,cromwell follows him to the door1 in a most fraternal1 domestic1 conciliatory style2 begs that he would be reconciled to him1 his old brother in arms2 says how much it grieves him to be misunderstood1 deserted by true fellow-soldiers1 dear to him from of old3 the rigorous ,hutchinson1 cased in his ,republican formula1 sullenly goes his way4--,and the man's head now white2 his strong arm growing weary with its long work6 ,i think always too of his poor ,mother1 now very old1 living in that ,palace of his2 a right brave woman2 as indeed they lived all an honest ,god-fearing ,household there3 if she heard a shot go off1 she thought it was her son killed4 ,he had to come to her at least once a day1 that she might see with her own eyes that he was yet living4 ,the poor old ,mother6--,what had this man gained2 what had he gained8 ,he had a life of sore strife and toil1 to his last day4 ,fame1 ambition1 place in ,history8 ,his dead body was hung in chains1 his place in ,history1--place in ,history forsooth6--has been a place of ignominy1 accusation1 blackness and disgrace2 and here1 this day1 who knows if it is not rash in me to be among the first that ever ventured to pronounce him not a knave and liar1 but a genuinely honest man6 ,peace to him4 ,did he not1 in spite of all1 accomplish much for us8 ,we walk smoothly over his great rough heroic life2 step over his body sunk in the ditch there4 ,we need not spurn it1 as we step on it6--,let the ,hero rest4 ,it was not to men's judgment that he appealed2 nor have men judged him very well4 ,precisely a century and a year after this of ,puritanism had got itself hushed up into decent composure1 and its results made smooth1 in #afhh1 there broke out a far deeper explosion1 much more difficult to hush up1 known to all mortals1 and like to be long known1 by the name of ,french ,revolution4 ,it is properly the third and final act of ,protestantism2 the explosive confused return of mankind to ,reality and ,fact1 now that they were perishing of ,semblance and ,sham4 ,we call our ,english ,puritanism the second act3 ,well then1 the ,bible is true2 let us go by the ,bible6 ,in ,church1 said ,luther2 ,in ,church and ,state1 said ,cromwell1 let us go by what actually is ,god's ,truth4 ,men have to return to reality2 they cannot live on semblance4 ,the ,french ,revolution1 or third act1 we may well call the final one2 for lower than that savage ,sansculottism men cannot go4 ,they stand there on the nakedest haggard ,fact1 undeniable in all seasons and circumstances2 and may and must begin again confidently to build up from that4 ,the ,french explosion1 like the ,english one1 got its ,king1--who had no ,notary parchment to show for himself4 ,we have still to glance for a moment at ,napoleon1 our second modern ,king4 ,napoleon does by no means seem to me so great a man as ,cromwell4 ,his enormous victories which reached over all ,europe1 while ,cromwell abode mainly in our little ,england1 are but as the high stilts on which the man is seen standing2 the stature of the man is not altered thereby4 ,i find in him no such sincerity as in ,cromwell2 only a far inferior sort4 ,no silent walking1 through long years1 with the ,awful ,unnamable of this ,universe2 walking with ,god1 as he called it2 and faith and strength in that alone3 latent thought and valor1 content to lie latent1 then burst out as in blaze of ,heaven's lightning6 ,napoleon lived in an age when ,god was no longer believed2 the meaning of all ,silence1 ,latency1 was thought to be ,nonentity3 he had to begin not out of the ,puritan ,bible1 but out of poor ,sceptical ,encyclopedies4 ,this was the length the man carried it4 ,meritorious to get so far4 ,his compact1 prompt1 every way articulate character is in itself perhaps small1 compared with our great chaotic inarticulate ,cromwell's4 ,instead of dumb ,prophet struggling to speak1 we have a portentous mixture of the ,quack withal6 ,hume's notion of the ,fanatic-,hypocrite1 with such truth as it has1 will apply much better to ,napoleon than it did to ,cromwell1 to ,mahomet or the like1--where indeed taken strictly it has hardly any truth at all4 ,an element of blamable ambition shows itself1 from the first1 in this man2 gets the victory over him at last1 and involves him and his work in ruin4 ,false as a bulletin became a proverb in ,napoleon's time4 ,he makes what excuse he could for it3 that it was necessary to mislead the enemy1 to keep up his own men's courage1 and so forth4 ,on the whole1 there are no excuses4 ,a man in no case has liberty to tell lies4 ,it had been1 in the long-run1 better for ,napoleon too if he had not told any4 ,in fact1 if a man have any purpose reaching beyond the hour and day1 meant to be found extant next day1 what good can it ever be to promulgate lies8 ,the lies are found out2 ruinous penalty is exacted for them4 ,no man will believe the liar next time even when he speaks truth1 when it is of the last importance that he be believed4 ,the old cry of wolf6--,a ,lie is no-thing2 you cannot of nothing make something2 you make nothing at last1 and lose your labor into the bargain4 ,yet ,napoleon had a sincerity3 we are to distinguish between what is superficial and what is fundamental in insincerity4 ,across these outer manoeuverings and quackeries of his1 which were many and most blamable1 let us discern withal that the man had a certain instinctive ineradicable feeling for reality2 and did base himself upon fact1 so long as he had any basis4 ,he has an instinct of ,nature better than his culture was4 ,his savans1 ,bourrienne tells us1 in that voyage to ,egypt were one evening busily occupied arguing that there could be no ,god4 ,they had proved it1 to their satisfaction1 by all manner of logic4 ,napoleon looking up into the stars1 answers1 ,very ingenious1 ,messieurs3 but who made all that8 ,the ,atheistic logic runs off from him like water2 the great ,fact stares him in the face3 ,who made all that8 ,so too in ,practice3 he1 as every man that can be great1 or have victory in this world1 sees1 through all entanglements1 the practical heart of the matter2 drives straight towards that4 ,when the steward of his ,tuileries ,palace was exhibiting the new upholstery1 with praises1 and demonstration how glorious it was1 and how cheap withal1 ,napoleon1 making little answer1 asked for a pair of scissors1 clips one of the gold tassels from a window-curtain1 put it in his pocket1 and walked on4 ,some days afterwards1 he produced it at the right moment1 to the horror of his upholstery functionary2 it was not gold but tinsel6 ,in ,st4 ,helena1 it is notable how he still1 to his last days1 insists on the practical1 the real4 ,why talk and complain2 above all1 why quarrel with one another8 ,there is no result in it2 it comes to nothing that one can do4 ,say nothing1 if one can do nothing6 ,he speaks often so1 to his poor discontented followers2 he is like a piece of silent strength in the middle of their morbid querulousness there4 ,and accordingly was there not what we can call a faith in him1 genuine so far as it went8 ,that this new enormous ,democracy asserting itself here in the ,french ,revolution is an unsuppressible ,fact1 which the whole world1 with its old forces and institutions1 cannot put down2 this was a true insight of his1 and took his conscience and enthusiasm along with it1--a faith4 ,and did he not interpret the dim purport of it well8 ,la carriere ouverte aux talens1 ,the implements to him who can handle them3 this actually is the truth1 and even the whole truth2 it includes whatever the ,french ,revolution or any ,revolution1 could mean4 ,napoleon1 in his first period1 was a true ,democrat4 ,and yet by the nature of him1 fostered too by his military trade1 he knew that ,democracy1 if it were a true thing at all1 could not be an anarchy3 the man had a heart-hatred for anarchy4 ,on that ,twentieth of ,june 7#agib71 ,bourrienne and he sat in a coffee-house1 as the mob rolled by3 ,napoleon expresses the deepest contempt for persons in authority that they do not restrain this rabble4 ,on the ,tenth of ,august he wonders why there is no man to command these poor ,swiss2 they would conquer if there were4 ,such a faith in ,democracy1 yet hatred of anarchy1 it is that carries ,napoleon through all his great work4 ,through his brilliant ,italian ,campaigns1 onwards to the ,peace of ,leoben1 one would say1 his inspiration is3 ,triumph to the ,french ,revolution2 assertion of it against these ,austrian ,simulacra that pretend to call it a ,simulacrum6 ,withal1 however1 he feels1 and has a right to feel1 how necessary a strong ,authority is2 how the ,revolution cannot prosper or last without such4 ,to bridle in that great devouring1 self-devouring ,french ,revolution2 to tame it1 so that its intrinsic purpose can be made good1 that it may become organic1 and be able to live among other organisms and formed things1 not as a wasting destruction alone3 is not this still what he partly aimed at1 as the true purport of his life2 nay what he actually managed to do8 ,through ,wagrams1 ,austerlitzes2 triumph after triumph1--he triumphed so far4 ,there was an eye to see in this man1 a soul to dare and do4 ,he rose naturally to be the ,king4 ,all men saw that he was such4 ,the common soldiers used to say on the march3 ,these babbling ,avocats1 up at ,paris2 all talk and no work6 ,what wonder it runs all wrong8 ,we shall have to go and put our ,petit ,caporal there6 ,they went1 and put him there2 they and ,france at large4 ,chief-consulship1 ,emperorship1 victory over ,europe2--till the poor ,lieutenant of ,la ,fere1 not unnaturally1 might seem to himself the greatest of all men that had been in the world for some ages4 ,but at this point1 ,i think1 the fatal charlatan-element got the upper hand4 ,he apostatized from his old faith in ,facts1 took to believing in ,semblances2 strove to connect himself with ,austrian ,dynasties1 ,popedoms1 with the old false ,feudalities which he once saw clearly to be false2--considered that he would found his ,dynasty and so forth2 that the enormous ,french ,revolution meant only that6 ,the man was given up to strong delusion1 that he should believe a lie2 a fearful but most sure thing4 ,he did not know true from false now when he looked at them1--the fearfulest penalty a man pays for yielding to untruth of heart4 ,self and false ambition had now become his god3 self-deception once yielded to1 all other deceptions follow naturally more and more4 ,what a paltry patchwork of theatrical paper-mantles1 tinsel and mummery1 had this man wrapt his own great reality in1 thinking to make it more real thereby6 ,his hollow ,pope's-,concordat1 pretending to be a re-establishment of ,catholicism1 felt by himself to be the method of extirpating it1 la vaccine de la religion3 his ceremonial ,coronations1 consecrations by the old ,italian ,chimera in ,notre-,dame1--wanting nothing to complete the pomp of it1 as ,augereau said1 nothing but the half-million of men who had died to put an end to all that6 ,cromwell's ,inauguration was by the ,sword and ,bible2 what we must call a genuinely true one4 ,sword and ,bible were borne before him1 without any chimera3 were not these the real emblems of ,puritanism2 its true decoration and insignia8 ,it had used them both in a very real manner1 and pretended to stand by them now6 ,but this poor ,napoleon mistook3 he believed too much in the ,dupability of men2 saw no fact deeper in man than ,hunger and this6 ,he was mistaken4 ,like a man that should build upon cloud2 his house and he fall down in confused wreck1 and depart out of the world4 ,alas1 in all of us this charlatan-element exists2 and might be developed1 were the temptation strong enough4 ,lead us not into temptation6 ,but it is fatal1 ,i say1 that it be developed4 ,the thing into which it enters as a cognizable ingredient is doomed to be altogether transitory2 and1 however huge it may look1 is in itself small4 ,napoleon's working1 accordingly1 what was it with all the noise it made8 ,a flash as of gunpowder wide-spread2 a blazing-up as of dry heath4 ,for an hour the whole ,universe seems wrapt in smoke and flame2 but only for an hour4 ,it goes out3 the ,universe with its old mountains and streams1 its stars above and kind soil beneath1 is still there4 ,the ,duke of ,weimar told his friends always1 ,to be of courage2 this ,napoleonism was unjust1 a falsehood1 and could not last4 ,it is true doctrine4 ,the heavier this ,napoleon trampled on the world1 holding it tyrannously down1 the fiercer would the world's recoil against him be1 one day4 ,injustice pays itself with frightful compound-interest4 ,i am not sure but he had better have lost his best park of artillery1 or had his best regiment drowned in the sea1 than shot that poor ,german ,bookseller1 ,palm6 ,it was a palpable tyrannous murderous injustice1 which no man1 let him paint an inch thick1 could make out to be other4 ,it burnt deep into the hearts of men1 it and the like of it2 suppressed fire flashed in the eyes of men1 as they thought of it1--waiting their day6 ,which day came3 ,germany rose round him4--,what ,napoleon did will in the long-run amount to what he did justly2 what ,nature with her laws will sanction4 ,to what of reality was in him2 to that and nothing more4 ,the rest was all smoke and waste4 ,la carriere ouverte aux talens3 that great true ,message1 which has yet to articulate and fulfil itself everywhere1 he left in a most inarticulate state4 ,he was a great ebauche1 a rude-draught never completed2 as indeed what great man is other8 ,left in too rude a state1 alas6 ,his notions of the world1 as he expresses them there at ,st4 ,helena1 are almost tragical to consider4 ,he seems to feel the most unaffected surprise that it has all gone so2 that he is flung out on the rock here1 and the ,world is still moving on its axis4 ,france is great1 and all-great3 and at bottom1 he is ,france4 ,england itself1 he says1 is by ,nature only an appendage of ,france2 another ,isle of ,oleron to ,france4 ,so it was by ,nature1 by ,napoleon-,nature2 and yet look how in fact--,,here ,,am ,i6 ,he cannot understand it3 inconceivable that the reality has not corresponded to his program of it2 that ,france was not all-great1 that he was not ,france4 ,strong delusion1 that he should believe the thing to be which is not6 ,the compact1 clear-seeing1 decisive ,italian nature of him1 strong1 genuine1 which he once had1 has enveloped itself1 half-dissolved itself1 in a turbid atmosphere of ,french fanfaronade4 ,the world was not disposed to be trodden down underfoot2 to be bound into masses1 and built together1 as he liked1 for a pedestal to ,france and him3 the world had quite other purposes in view6 ,napoleon's astonishment is extreme4 ,but alas1 what help now8 ,he had gone that way of his2 and ,nature also had gone her way4 ,having once parted with ,reality1 he tumbles helpless in ,vacuity2 no rescue for him4 ,he had to sink there1 mournfully as man seldom did2 and break his great heart1 and die1--this poor ,napoleon3 a great implement too soon wasted1 till it was useless3 our last ,great ,man6 ,our last1 in a double sense4 ,for here finally these wide roamings of ours through so many times and places1 in search and study of ,heroes1 are to terminate4 ,i am sorry for it3 there was pleasure for me in this business1 if also much pain4 ,it is a great subject1 and a most grave and wide one1 this which1 not to be too grave about it1 ,i have named ,hero-worship4 ,it enters deeply1 as ,i think1 into the secret of ,mankind's ways and vitalest interests in this world1 and is well worth explaining at present4 ,with six months1 instead of six days1 we might have done better4 ,i promised to break ground on it2 ,i know not whether ,i have even managed to do that4 ,i have had to tear it up in the rudest manner in order to get into it at all4 ,often enough1 with these abrupt utterances thrown out isolated1 unexplained1 has your tolerance been put to the trial4 ,tolerance1 patient candor1 all-hoping favor and kindness1 which ,i will not speak of at present4 ,the accomplished and distinguished1 the beautiful1 the wise1 something of what is best in ,england1 have listened patiently to my rude words4 ,with many feelings1 ,i heartily thank you all2 and say1 ,good be with you all6