,transcribed from the #ahib ,cassell    
,company edition by ,david ,price1 email
  ccx#jgdpglaf4org                      
,,cassell',s ,,national ,,library4      
99 99 99 99 99                          
,,confessions                           
,,of ,,an                               
,,inquiring ,,spirit4                   
,,to ,,which ,,are ,,added              
,,miscellaneous ,,essays                
,,from 8,,the ,,friend40                
,,by                           ,,samuel 
,,taylor ,,coleridge4                   
,picture3 ,decorative graphic           
,,cassell  ,,company1 ,,limited3        
,,london1 ,,paris  ,,melbourne4         
#ahib4          ,,introduction4         
,,samuel ,,taylor ,,coleridge was born  
on the #bast of ,october1 #aggb1        
youngest  of many children of the ,rev4 
,john ,coleridge1 ,vicar of the ,parish 
and ,head  ,master of the ,grammar      
,school of ,ottery ,st4 ,mary1 in       
,devonshire4  ,one of  the poet's elder 
brothers was the grandfather of ,lord   

,chief ,justice  ,coleridge4            
,coleridge's mother was a notable       
housewife1 as was needful in  the mother
 of ten children1 who had three more    
transmitted to her from  her husband's  
former wife4  ,coleridge's father was a 
kindly and learned  man1 little         
sophisticated1 and distinguishing       
himself now and then by  comical acts of
 what is called absence of mind4        
,charles ,buller1  afterwards a judge1  
was one of his boys1 and1 when her      
husband's life  seemed to be failing1   
had promised what help he could give to 
the anxious  wife4  ,when his father    
died1 ,samuel ,taylor ,coleridge was but
 eight years  old1 and ,charles ,buller 
obtained for him his presentation to    
,christ's  ,hospital4  ,coleridge's mind
 delighted in far wandering over the    
fields of  thought2 from a boy he took  
intense delight in dreamy speculation on
 the  mysteries that lie around the life
 of man4  ,from a boy also he proved his
  subtleties of thought through what    

,charles ,lamb called the 8deep and     
sweet intonations0 of such speech as    
could come only from a poet4    ,from   
the ,charterhouse1 ,coleridge went to   
,jesus ,college1 ,cambridge1 where  he  
soon won a gold medal for a ,greek ode  
on the ,slave ,trade1 but through       
indolence he slipped into a hundred     
pounds of debt4  ,the stir of the       
,french ,revolution was then quickening 
young minds into bold freedom of        
speculation1 resentment against tyranny 
of custom1 and yearning for a  higher   
life in this world4  ,old opinions that 
familiarity had made to the  multitude  
conventional were for that reason       
distrusted and discarded4  ,coleridge no
 longer held his religious faith in the 
form taught by his  father4  ,he could  
not sign the ,thirty-nine ,articles1 and
 felt his career  closed at the         
,university4  ,his debt also pressed    
upon him heavily4  ,after  a long       
vacation with a burdened mind1 in which 
one pleasant day of picnic  gave        

occasion to his 8,songs of the ,pixies10
 ,coleridge went back to  ,cambridge4   
,but soon afterwards he threw all up in 
despair4  ,he resolved  to become lost  
to his friends1 and find some place     
where he could earn in  obscurity bare  
daily bread4  ,he came to ,london1 and  
then enlisted as a  private in the #aeth
 ,light ,dragoons4  ,after four months  
he was discovered1  his discharge was   
obtained1 and he went back to           
,cambridge4    ,but he had no career    
before him there1 for his religious     
opinions then  excluded belief in the   
doctrine of the ,trinity1 and the       
,universities were  not then open to    
,dissenters4  ,a visit to ,oxford       
brought him into relation  with ,robert 
,southey and fellow-students of         
,southey's who were also  touched with  
revolutionary ardour4  ,coleridge joined
 with them in the  resolve to leave the 
,old ,world and create a better in the  
,new1 as  founders of a                 
,pantisocracy--an all-equal             

government--on the banks of the         
,susquehannah4  ,they would need wives1 
and ,southey knew of three good         
liberal-minded sisters at ,bristol1 one 
of them designed for himself2 her  two  
sisters he recommended for as far as    
they would go4  ,the chief  promoters of
 the ,pantisocracy removed to ,bristol1 
and one of the three  sisters1 ,sarah   
,fricker1 was married by ,coleridge2    
,southey marrying  another1 ,edith2     
while another young ,oxford enthusiast  
married the  remaining ,miss ,fricker2  
and so they made three pairs of future  
patriarchs  and matriarchs4    ,nothing 
came of the ,pantisocracy1 for want of  
money to pay fares to the  ,new ,world4 
,coleridge supported himself by giving  
lectures1 and in #agig  published       
,poems4  ,they included his 8,religious 
,musings10 which contain  expression of 
his fervent revolutionary hopes4  ,then 
he planned a weekly  paper1 the         
,watchman1 that was to carry the lantern
 of philosophic  truth1 and call the    

hour for those who cared about the      
duties of the day4  ,when only three or 
four hundred subscribers had been got   
together in  ,bristol1 ,coleridge       
resolved to travel from town to town in 
search of  subscriptions4  ,wherever he 
went his eloquence prevailed2 and he    
came  back with a very large            
subscription list4  ,but the power of   
close daily  work1 by which alone       
,coleridge could carry out such a       
design1 was not in  him1 and the        
,watchman only reached to its tenth     
number4    ,then ,coleridge settled at  
,nether ,stowey1 by the ,bristol        
,channel1 partly  for convenience of    
neighbourhood to ,thomas ,poole1 from   
whom he could  borrow at need4  ,he had 
there also a yearly allowance from the  
,wedgwoods  of ,etruria1 who had a      
strong faith in his future4  ,from      
,nether ,stowey1  ,coleridge walked over
 to make friends with ,wordsworth at    
,racedown1 and  the friendship there    
established caused ,wordsworth and his  

sister to  remove to the neighbourhood  
of ,nether ,stowey4  ,out of the        
relations with  ,wordsworth thus        
established came ,coleridge's best      
achievements as a poet1  the 8,ancient  
,mariner0 and 8,christabel40  ,the      
8,ancient ,mariner0 was  finished1 and  
was the chief part of ,coleridge's      
contribution to the  8,lyrical          
,ballads10 which the two friends        
published in #agih4  8,christabel10     
being unfinished1 was left unpublished  
until #ahaf4    ,with help from the     
,wedgwoods1 ,coleridge went abroad with 
,wordsworth and  his sister1 left them  
at ,hamburg1 and during fourteen months 
increased  his familiarity with ,german4
  ,he came back in the late summer of   
#agii1  full of enthusiasm for          
,schiller's last great work1 his        
,wallenstein1  which ,coleridge had seen
 acted4  ,the ,camp had been first acted
 at  ,weimar on the #ahth of ,october1  
#agih2 the ,piccolomini on the #cjth of 
,january1 #agii2 and ,wallenstein's     

,death on the #ajth of the next         
following ,april4  ,coleridge1 under the
 influence of fresh enthusiasm1  rapidly
 completed for ,messrs4 ,longman his    
translation of ,wallenstein's  ,death   
into an ,english poem of the highest    
mark4    ,then followed a weakening of  
health4  ,coleridge earned fitfully as  
journalist2 settled at ,keswick2 found  
his tendency to rheumatism  increased by
 the damp of the ,lake ,country2 took a 
remedy containing  opium1 and began to  
acquire that taste for the excitement of
 opium which  ruined the next years of  
his life4  ,he was invited to ,malta1   
for the  benefit of the climate1 by his 
friend1 ,john ,stoddart1 who was there4 
,at  ,malta he made the acquaintance of 
the governor1 ,sir ,alexander ,ball1    
whose  worth he celebrates in essays of 
the ,friend1 which are included under   
the title of 8,a ,sailor's ,fortune0 in 
this little volume4  ,for a short  time 
he acted as secretary to ,sir           
,alexander1 then returned to the ,lakes 

and planned his journal1 the ,friend1   
published at ,penrith1 of which the     
first number appeared on the #ast of    
,august1 #ahji1 the twenty-eighth and   
last towards the end of ,march1 #ahaj4  
,next followed six years of struggle to 
live as journalist and lecturer in      
,london and elsewhere1 while the habit  
of taking opium grew year by year1  and 
at last advanced from two quarts of     
laudanum a week to a pint a day4        
,coleridge put himself under voluntary  
restraint for a time with a ,mr4        
,morgan at ,calne4  ,finally he placed  
himself1 in ,april1 #ahaf--the year of  
the publication of 8,christabel0--with a
 surgeon at ,highgate1 ,mr4 ,gillman1   
under whose friendly care he was        
restored to himself1 and in whose house 
he died on the #beth of ,july1 #ahcd4   
,it was during this calm autumn of his  
life that ,coleridge1 turning wholly to 
the higher speculations on  philosophy  
and religion upon which his mind was    
chiefly fixed1 a revert  to the ,church1

 and often actively antagonist to the   
opinions he had held  for a few years1  
wrote1 his 8,lay ,sermons10 and his     
8,biographia  ,literaria10 and arranged 
also a volume of ,essays of the ,friend4
  ,he  lectured on ,shakespeare1 wrote  
8,aids to ,reflection10 and showed how  
his  doubts were set at rest in these   
8,confessions of an ,inquiring ,spirit10
  which were first published in #ahdj1  
after their writer's death4             
,h4 ,m4          ,,confessions ,,of ,,an
 ,,inquiring ,,spirit4                  
,,letters ,,on ,,the ,,inspiration ,,of 
,,the ,,scriptures4        ,,letter ,i4 
,,my ,,dear ,,friend1    ,i ,,employed  
the compelled and most unwelcome leisure
 of severe  indisposition in reading    
,the ,confessions of a ,fair ,saint in  
,mr4  ,carlyle's recent translation of  
the ,wilhelm ,meister1 which might1 ,i  
think1 have been better rendered        
literally ,the ,confessions of a        
,beautiful ,soul4  ,this1 acting in     
conjunction with the concluding         

sentences of your letter1 threw my      
thoughts inward on my own religious     
experience1 and gave immediate occasion 
to the following ,confessions of  one   
who is neither fair nor saintly1 but    
who1 groaning under a deep sense  of    
infirmity and manifold imperfection1    
feels the want1 the necessity1 of       
religious support2 who cannot afford to 
lose any the smallest buttress1  but who
 not only loves ,truth even for itself1 
and when it reveals itself  aloof from  
all interest1 but who loves it with an  
indescribable awe1  which too often     
withdraws the genial sap of his activity
 from the  columnar trunk1 the          
sheltering leaves1 the bright and       
fragrant flower1  and the foodful or    
medicinal fruitage1 to the deep root1   
ramifying in  obscurity and labyrinthine
 way-winning--        ,in darkness there
 to house unknown1      ,far            
underground1      ,pierced by no sound  
,save such as live in ,fancy's ear      
alone1      ,that listens for the uptorn

 mandrake's parting groan6    ,i should1
 perhaps1 be a happier--at all events a 
more useful--man if my  mind were       
otherwise constituted4  ,but so it is1  
and even with regard to  ,christianity  
itself1 like certain plants1 ,i creep   
towards the light1 even  though it draw 
me away from the more nourishing warmth4
  ,yea1 ,i should do  so1 even if the   
light had made its way through a rent in
 the wall of the  ,temple4  ,glad1      
indeed1 and grateful am ,i1 that not in 
the ,temple itself1  but only in one or 
two of the side chapels1 not essential  
to the edifice1  and probably not coval 
with it1 have ,i found the light absent1
 and that  the rent in the wall has but 
admitted the free light of the ,temple  
itself4    ,i shall best communicate the
 state of my faith by taking the creed1 
or  system of credenda1 common to all   
the ,fathers of the                     
,reformation--overlooking1 as           
non-essential1 the differences between  
the  several ,reformed ,churches1       

according to the five main classes or   
sections  into which the aggregate      
distributes itself to my apprehension4  
,i have  then only to state the effect  
produced on my mind by each of these1 or
  the quantum of recipiency and         
coincidence in myself relatively        
thereto1  in order to complete my       
,confession of ,faith4    ,i4  ,the     
,absolute2 the innominable  et ,causa   
,sui1 in whose  transcendent ,i ,,am1 as
 the ,ground1 is whatever verily        
is3--the ,triune  ,god1 by whose ,word  
and ,spirit1 as the transcendent ,cause1
 exists  whatever substantially         
exists3--,god ,almighty--,father1 ,son1 
and ,holy  ,ghost1 undivided1           
unconfounded1 co-eternal4  ,this class  
,i designate by  the word 4    ,,ii4    
,the ,eternal ,possibilities2 the       
actuality of which hath not its  origin 
in ,god3 ,chaos spirituale3--'4         
,,iii4  ,the ,creation and ,formation of
 the heaven and earth by the            
,redemptive ,word3--the ,apostasy of    

,man3--the ,redemption of ,man3--the    
,incarnation of the ,word in the ,son of
 ,man3--the ,crucifixion and            
,resurrection of the ,son of ,man3--the 
,descent of the ,comforter3--,repentance
                                        
773--,regeneration3--,faith3--,prayer3--
,grace--,communion with the             
,spirit3--,conflict3--,self-abasement3--
,assurance through the righteousness of 
,christ3--,spiritual                    
,growth3--,love3--,discipline3--,perseve
rance3--,hope in  death3----'4    ,,iv4 
,but these offers1 gifts1 and graces are
 not for one1 or for a few4  ,they are  
offered to all4  ,even when the ,gospel 
is preached to a single  individual it  
is offered to him as to one of a great  
household4  ,not only  man1 but1 says   
,st4 ,paul1 the whole creation is       
included in the  consequences of the    
,fall-- --so also in those of the change
 at  the ,redemption-- 1   4  ,we too   
shall be  raised in the ,body4          
,christianity is fact no less than      

truth4  ,it is  spiritual1 yet so as to 
be historical2 and between these two    
poles there  must likewise be a         
midpoint1 in which the historical and   
spiritual meet4  ,christianity must have
 its history--a history of itself and   
likewise the  history of its            
introduction1 its spread1 and its       
outward-becoming2 and1  as the midpoint 
abovementioned1 a portion of these facts
 must be  miraculous1 that is1 phenomena
 in nature that are beyond nature4      
,furthermore1 the history of all        
historical nations must in some sense be
  its history--in other words1 all      
history must be providential1 and this a
  providence1 a preparation1 and a      
looking forward to ,christ4    ,here1   
then1 we have four out of the five      
classes4  ,and in all these the  sky of 
my belief is serene1 unclouded by a     
doubt4  ,would to ,god that my  faith1  
that faith which works on the whole man1
 confirming and  conforming1 were but in
 just proportion to my belief1 to the   

full  acquiescence of my intellect1 and 
the deep consent of my conscience6  ,the
  very difficulties argue the truth of  
the whole scheme and system for my      
understanding1 since ,i see plainly that
 so must the truth appear1 if it  be the
 truth4    ,v4  ,but there is a ,book of
 two parts1 each part consisting of     
several  books4  ,the first part 7,i    
speak in the character of an            
uninterested  critic or philologist7    
contains the relics of the literature of
 the  ,hebrew people1 while the ,hebrew 
was still the living language4  ,the    
second part comprises the writings1 and1
 with one or two inconsiderable  and    
doubtful exceptions1 all the writings of
 the followers of ,christ  within the   
space of ninety years from the date of  
the ,resurrection4  ,i do  not myself   
think that any of these writings were   
composed as late as ,a4,d4  #abj2 but ,i
 wish to preclude all dispute4  ,this   
,book ,i resume as read1 and  yet       
unread--read and familiar to my mind in 

all parts1 but which is yet to  be      
perused as a whole1 or rather a work1   
cujus particulas et  sententiolas omnes 
et singulas recogniturus sum1 but the   
component  integers of which1 and their 
conspiration1 ,i have yet to study4  ,i 
take  up this work with the purpose to  
read it for the first time as ,i should 
read any other work1 as far at least as 
,i can or dare4  ,for ,i neither  can1  
nor dare1 throw off a strong and awful  
prepossession in its  favour--certain as
 ,i am that a large part of the light   
and life1 in and by  which ,i see1 love1
 and embrace the truths and the         
strengths co-organised  into a living   
body of faith and knowledge in the four 
preceding classes1  has been directly or
 indirectly derived to me from this     
sacred volume--and  unable to determine 
what ,i do not owe to its influences4   
,but even on  this account1 and because 
it has these inalienable claims on my   
reverence  and gratitude1 ,i will not   
leave it in the power of unbelievers to 

say  that the ,bible is for me only what
 the ,koran is for the deaf ,turk1 and  
the ,vedas for the feeble and           
acquiescent ,hindoo4  ,no2 ,i will      
retire up  into the mountain1 and hold  
secret commune with my ,bible above the 
contagious blastments of prejudice1 and 
the fog-blight of selfish  superstition4
  ,for fear hath torment4  ,and what    
though my reason be  to the power and   
splendour of the ,scriptures but as the 
reflected and  secondary shine of the   
moon compared with the solar radiance2  
yet the sun  endures the occasional     
co-presence of the unsteady orb1 and    
leaving it  visible seems to sanction   
the comparison4  ,there is a ,light     
higher than  all1 even the ,word that   
was in the beginning2 the ,light1 of    
which light  itself is but the shechinah
 and cloudy tabernacle2 the ,word that  
is  ,light for every man1 and life for  
as many as give heed to it4  ,if between
  this ,word and the written letter ,i  
shall anywhere seem to myself to find  a

 discrepance1 ,i will not conclude that 
such there actually is1 nor on  the     
other hand will ,i fall under the       
condemnation of them that would lie  for
 ,god1 but seek as ,i may1 be thankful  
for what ,i have--and wait4    ,with    
such purposes1 with such feelings1 have 
,i perused the books of the  ,old and   
,new ,testaments1 each book as a whole1 
and also as an integral  part4  ,and    
need ,i say that ,i have met everywhere 
more or less copious  sources of truth1 
and power1 and purifying impulses1 that 
,i have found  words for my inmost      
thoughts1 songs for my joy1 utterances  
for my hidden  griefs1 and pleadings for
 my shame and my feebleness8  ,in short1
 whatever  finds me1 bears witness for  
itself that it has proceeded from a     
,holy  ,spirit1 even from the same      
,spirit1 which remaining in itself1 yet 
regenerateth all other powers1 and in   
all ages entering into holy  souls1     
maketh them friends of ,god1 and        
prophets4  7,wisd4 vii47  ,and  here1   

perhaps1 ,i might have been content to  
rest1 if ,i had not learned  that1 as a 
,christian1 ,i cannot1 must not1 stand  
alone2 or if ,i had not  known that more
 than this was holden and required by   
the ,fathers of the  ,reformation1 and  
by the ,churches collectively1 since the
 ,council of ,nice  at latest1 the only 
exceptions being that doubtful one of   
the corrupt  ,romish ,church implied1   
though not avowed1 in its equalisation  
of the  ,apocryphal ,books with those of
 the ,hebrew ,canon1 and the irrelevant 
one  of the few and obscure sects who   
acknowledge no historical ,christianity4
  ,this somewhat more1 in which ,jerome1
 ,augustine1 ,luther1 and ,hooker were  
of one and the same judgment1 and less  
than which not one of them would  have  
tolerated--would it fall within the     
scope of my present doubts and          
objections8  ,i hope it would not4  ,let
 only their general expressions be      
interpreted by their treatment of the   
,scriptures in detail1 and ,i dare      

confidently trust that it would not4    
,for ,i can no more reconcile the       
doctrine which startles my belief with  
the practice and particular             
declarations of these great men1 than   
with the convictions of my own          
understanding and conscience4  ,at all  
events--and ,i cannot too early or  too 
earnestly guard against any             
misapprehension of my meaning and       
purpose--let it be distinctly understood
 that my arguments and objections  apply
 exclusively to the following doctrine  
or dogma4  ,to the opinions  which      
individual divines have advanced in lieu
 of this doctrine1 my only  objection1  
as far as ,i object1 is--that ,i do not 
understand them4  ,the  precise         
enunciation of this doctrine ,i defer to
 the commencement of the  next ,letter4 
,farewell4        ,,letter ,,ii4        
,,my ,,dear ,,friend1    ,,in my last   
,letter ,i said that in the ,bible there
 is more that finds me  than ,i have    
experienced in all other books put      

together2 that the words  of the ,bible 
find me at greater depths of my being2  
and that whatever  finds me brings with 
it an irresistible evidence of its      
having proceeded  from the ,holy        
,spirit4  ,but the doctrine in question 
requires me to  believe that not only   
what finds me1 but that all that exists 
in the  sacred volume1 and which ,i am  
bound to find therein1 was--not alone   
inspired by1 that is composed by1 men   
under the actuating influence of  the   
,holy ,spirit1 but likewise--dictated by
 an ,infallible ,intelligence2  that the
 writers1 each and all1 were divinely   
informed as well as  inspired4  ,now    
here all evasion1 all excuse1 is cut    
off4  ,an infallible  intelligence      
extends to all things1 physical no less 
than spiritual4  ,it  may convey the    
truth in any one of the three possible  
languages--that of  sense1 as objects   
appear to the beholder on this earth2 or
 that of  science1 which supposes the   
beholder placed in the centre2 or that  

of  philosophy1 which resolves both into
 a supersensual reality4  ,but          
whichever be chosen--and it is obvious  
that the incompatibility exists  only   
between the first and second1 both of   
them being indifferent and of  equal    
value to the third--it must be employed 
consistently2 for an  infallible        
intelligence must intend to be          
intelligible1 and not to  deceive4      
,and1 moreover1 whichever of these three
 languages be chosen1 it  must be       
translatable into truth4  ,for this is  
the very essence of the  doctrine1 that 
one and the same intelligence is        
speaking in the unity of  a person2     
which unity is no more broken by the    
diversity of the pipes  through which it
 makes itself audible1 than is a tune by
 the different  instruments on which it 
is played by a consummate musician1     
equally  perfect in all4  ,one          
instrument may be more capacious than   
another1 but  as far as its compass     
extends1 and in what it sounds forth1 it

 will be  true to the conception of the 
master4  ,i can conceive no softening   
here  which would not nullify the       
doctrine1 and convert it to a cloud for 
each  man's fancy to shift and shape at 
will4  ,and this doctrine1 ,i confess1  
plants the vineyard of the ,word with   
thorns for me1 and places snares in  its
 pathways4  ,these may be delusions of  
an evil spirit2 but ere ,i so  harshly  
question the seeming angel of light--my 
reason1 ,i mean1 and moral  sense in    
conjunction with my clearest            
knowledge--,i must inquire on what      
authority this doctrine rests4  ,and    
what other authority dares a truly      
catholic ,christian admit as coercive in
 the final decision1 but the            
declarations of the ,book itself--though
 ,i should not1 without struggles1  and 
a trembling reluctance1 gainsay even a  
universal tradition8    ,i return to the
 ,book4  ,with a full persuasion of soul
 respecting all the  articles of the    
,christian ,faith1 as contained in the  

first four classes1  ,i receive         
willingly also the truth of the history1
 namely1 that the ,word  of the ,lord   
did come to ,samuel1 to ,isaiah1 to     
others2 and that the words  which gave  
utterance to the same are faithfully    
recorded4  ,but though the  origin of   
the words1 even as of the miraculous    
acts1 be supernatural1 yet  the former  
once uttered1 the latter once having    
taken their place among  the phenomena  
of the senses1 the faithful recording of
 the same does not  of itself imply1 or 
seem to require1 any supernatural       
working1 other than  as all truth and   
goodness are such4  ,in the books of    
,moses1 and once or  twice in the       
prophecy of ,jeremiah1 ,i find it indeed
 asserted that not  only the words were 
given1 but the recording of the same    
enjoined by the  special command of     
,god1 and doubtless executed under the  
special guidance  of the ,divine        
,spirit4  ,as to all such passages1     
therefore1 there can be  no dispute2 and

 all others in which the words are by   
the sacred historian  declared to have  
been the ,word of the ,lord             
supernaturally communicated1 ,i  receive
 as such with a degree of confidence    
proportioned to the  confidence required
 of me by the writer himself1 and to the
 claims he  himself makes on my belief4 
,let us1 therefore1 remove all such     
passages1 and take each book by  itself2
 and ,i repeat that ,i believe the      
writer in whatever he himself  relates  
of his own authority1 and of its origin4
  ,but ,i cannot find any  such claim1  
as the doctrine in question supposes1   
made by these writers1  explicitly or by
 implication4  ,on the contrary1 they   
refer to other  documents1 and in all   
points express themselves as            
sober-minded and  veracious writers     
under ordinary circumstances are known  
to do4  ,but  perhaps they bear         
testimony1 the successor to his         
predecessor8  ,or some  one of the      
number has left it on record1 that by   

special inspiration he  was commanded to
 declare the plenary inspiration of all 
the rest8  ,the  passages which can     
without violence be appealed to as      
substantiating the  latter position are 
so few1 and these so incidental--the    
conclusion drawn  from them involving   
likewise so obviously a petitio         
principii1 namely1  the supernatural    
dictation1 word by word1 of the book in 
which the  question is found 7for1 until
 this is established1 the utmost that   
such a  text can prove is the current   
belief of the writer's age and country  
concerning the character of the books   
then called the ,scriptures7--that it   
cannot but seem strange1 and assuredly  
is against all analogy of ,gospel       
revelation1 that such a doctrine--which1
 if true1 must be an article of  faith1 
and a most important1 yea1 essential    
article of faith--should be  left thus  
faintly1 thus obscurely1 and1 if ,i may 
so say1 obitaneously1  declared and     
enjoined4  ,the time of the formation   

and closing of the  ,canon unknown2--the
 selectors and compilers unknown1 or    
recorded by known  fabulists2--and 7more
 perplexing still7 the belief of the    
,jewish  ,church--the belief1 ,i mean1  
common to the ,jews of ,palestine and   
their more  cultivated brethren in      
,alexandria 7no reprehension of which is
 to be  found in the ,new               
,testament7--concerning the nature and  
import of the   attributed to the       
precious remains of their ,temple       
,library2--these circumstances are such1
 especially the last1 as in effect  to  
evacuate the tenet1 of which ,i am      
speaking1 of the only meaning in  which 
it practically means anything at all    
tangible1 steadfast1 or  obligatory4    
,in infallibility there are no degrees4 
,the power of the  ,high and ,holy ,one 
is one and the same1 whether the sphere 
which it fills  be larger or            
smaller2--the area traversed by a comet1
 or the oracle of the  house1 the holy  
place beneath the wings of the          

cherubim2--the ,pentateuch  of the      
,legislator1 who drew near to the thick 
darkness where ,god was1 and  who spake 
in the cloud whence the thunderings and 
lightnings came1 and  whom ,god answered
 by a voice2 or but a letter of thirteen
 verses from the  affectionate ,elder to
 the elect lady and her children1 whom  
he loved  in the truth4  ,but at no     
period was this the judgment of the     
,jewish  ,church respecting all the     
canonical books4  ,to ,moses alone--to  
,moses in  the recording no less than in
 the receiving of the ,law--and to all  
and  every part of the five books called
 the ,books of ,moses1 the ,jewish      
doctors of the generation before1 and   
coval with1 the apostles1 assigned  that
 unmodified and absolute theopneusty    
which our divines1 in words at  least1  
attribute to the ,canon collectively4   
,in fact it was from the  ,jewish       
,rabbis--who1 in opposition to the      
,christian scheme1 contended for a      
perfection in the revelation by ,moses1 

which neither required nor endured  any 
addition1 and who strained their fancies
 in expressing the  transcendency of the
 books of ,moses1 in aid of their       
opinion--that the  founders of the      
doctrine borrowed their notions and     
phrases respecting  the ,bible          
throughout4  ,remove the metaphorical   
drapery from the doctrine  of the       
,cabbalists1 and it will be found to    
contain the only intelligible  and      
consistent idea of that plenary         
inspiration1 which later divines  extend
 to all the canonical books2 as         
thus3--8,the ,pentateuch is but one     
,word1 even the ,word of ,god2 and the  
letters and articulate sounds1 by  which
 this ,word is communicated to our human
 apprehensions1 are likewise  divinely  
communicated40    ,now1 for             
#8,pentateuch' substitute #8,old and    
,new ,testament1' and then ,i say  that 
this is the doctrine which ,i reject as 
superstitious and  unscriptural4  ,and  
yet as long as the conceptions of the   

revealing ,word  and the inspiring      
,spirit are identified and confounded1  
,i assert that  whatever says less than 
this1 says little more than nothing4    
,for how can  absolute infallibility be 
blended with fallibility8  ,where is the
  infallible criterion8  ,how can       
infallible truth be infallibly conveyed 
in  defective and fallible expressions8 
,the ,jewish teachers confined this     
miraculous character to the ,pentateuch4
  ,between the ,mosaic and the          
,prophetic inspiration they asserted    
such a difference as amounts to a       
diversity2 and between both the one and 
the other1 and the remaining  books     
comprised under the tithe of            
,hagiographa1 the interval was still    
wider1 and the inferiority in kind1 and 
not only in degree1 was  unequivocally  
expressed4  ,if we take into account the
 habit1 universal  with the ,hebrew     
doctors1 of referring all excellent or  
extraordinary  things to the great      
,first ,cause1 without mention of the   

proximate and  instrumental causes--a   
striking illustration of which may be   
obtained by  comparing the narratives of
 the same event in the ,psalms and in   
the  historical books2 and if we further
 reflect that the distinction of the    
providential and the miraculous did not 
enter into their forms of  thinking--at 
all events not into their mode of       
conveying their  thoughts--the language 
of the ,jews respecting the ,hagiographa
 will be  found to differ little1 if at 
all1 from that of religious persons     
among  ourselves1 when speaking of an   
author abounding in gifts1 stirred up by
  the ,holy ,spirit1 writing under the  
influence of special grace1 and the     
like4    ,but it forms no part of my    
present purpose to discuss the point    
historically1 or to speculate on the    
formation of either ,canon4  ,rather1   
such inquiries are altogether alien from
 the great object of my pursuits  and   
studies1 which is to convince myself and
 others that the ,bible and             

,christianity are their own sufficient  
evidence4  ,but it concerns both my     
character and my peace of mind to       
satisfy unprejudiced judges that if my  
present convictions should in all other 
respects be found consistent with  the  
faith and feelings of a ,christian--and 
if in many and those important  points  
they tend to secure that faith and to   
deepen those feelings--the  words of the
 ,apostle1 rightly interpreted1 do not  
require their  condemnation4  ,enough1  
if what has been stated above respecting
 the  general doctrine of the ,hebrew   
masters1 under whom the ,apostle was    
bred1  shall remove any misconceptions  
that might prevent the right            
interpretation of his words4            
,farewell4        ,,letter ,,iii4       
,,my ,,dear ,,friend1    ,,having in the
 former two ,letters defined the        
doctrine which ,i reject1 ,i  am now to 
communicate the views that ,i would     
propose to substitute in its  place4    
,before1 however1 ,i attempt to lay down

 on the theological chart the           
road-place to which my bark has drifted1
 and to mark the spot and  circumscribe 
the space within which ,i swing at      
anchor1 let me first thank  you for1 and
 then attempt to answer1 the            
objections--or at least the             
questions--which you have urged upon me4
    8,the present ,bible is the ,canon  
to which ,christ and the ,apostles      
referred80    ,doubtless4    8,and in   
terms which a ,christian must tremble to
 tamper with80    ,yea4  ,the           
expressions are as direct as strong2 and
 a true believer will  neither attempt  
to divert nor dilute their strength4    
8,the doctrine which is considered as   
the orthodox view seems the obvious  and
 most natural interpretation of the text
 in question80    ,yea1 and nay4  ,to   
those whose minds are prepossessed by   
the doctrine  itself--who from earliest 
childhood have always meant this        
doctrine by the  very word ,bible--the  
doctrine being but its exposition and   

paraphrase--,yea4  ,in such minds the   
words of our ,lord and the declarations 
of ,st4 ,paul can  awaken no other      
sense4  ,to those on the other hand who 
find the doctrine  senseless and        
self-confuting1 and who take up the     
,bible as they do other  books1 and     
apply to it the same rules of           
interpretation--,nay4    ,and1 lastly1  
he who1 like myself1 recognises in      
neither of the two the  state of his own
 mind--who cannot rest in the former1   
and feels1 or fears1  a presumptuous    
spirit in the negative dogmatism of the 
latter--he has his  answer to seek4     
,but so far ,i dare hazard a reply to   
the question--,in what  other sense can 
the words be interpreted8--beseeching   
you1 however1 to  take what ,i am about 
to offer but as an attempt to delineate 
an arc of  oscillation--that the eulogy 
of ,st4 ,paul is in nowise contravened  
by the  opinion to which ,i incline1 who
 fully believe the ,old ,testament      
collectively1 both in the composition   

and in its preservation1 a great  and   
precious gift of ,providence2--who find 
in it all that the ,apostle  describes1 
and who more than believe that all which
 the ,apostle spoke of  was of ,divine  
inspiration1 and a blessing intended for
 as many as are in  communion with the  
,spirit through all ages4  ,and ,i      
freely confess that my  whole heart     
would turn away with an angry impatience
 from the cold and  captious mortal who1
 the moment ,i had been pouring out the 
love and  gladness of my soul--while    
book after book1 law1 and truth1 and    
example1  oracle1 and lovely hymn1 and  
choral song of ten thousand thousands1  
and  accepted prayers of saints and     
prophets1 sent back1 as it were1 from   
heaven1 like doves1 to be let loose     
again with a new freight of spiritual   
joys and griefs and necessities1 were   
passing across my memory--at the  first 
pause of my voice1 and whilst my        
countenance was still  speaking--should 
ask me whether ,i was thinking of the   

,book of ,esther1 or  meant particularly
 to include the first six chapters of   
,daniel1 or verses  #f-bj of the #ajith 
,psalm1 or the last verse of the #acgth 
,psalm8  ,would any  conclusion of this 
sort be drawn in any other analogous    
case8  ,in the  course of my lectures on
 ,dramatic ,poetry1 ,i1 in half a score 
instances1  referred my auditors to the 
precious volume before                  
me--,shakespeare--and  spoke            
enthusiastically1 both in general and   
with detail of particular  beauties1 of 
the plays of ,shakespeare1 as in all    
their kinds1 and in  relation to the    
purposes of the writer1 excellent4      
,would it have been  fair1 or according 
to the common usage and understanding of
 men1 to have  inferred an intention on 
my part to decide the question          
respecting ,titus  ,andronicus1 or the  
larger portion of the three parts of    
,henry ,,vi48  ,would not every genial  
mind understand by ,shakespeare that    
unity or total  impression comprising   

and resulting from the thousandfold     
several and  particular emotions of     
delight1 admiration1 gratitude excited  
by his  works8  ,but if it be answered1 
8,aye6 but we must not interpret ,st4   
,paul  as we may and should interpret   
any other honest and intelligent writer 
or  speaker10--then1 ,i say1 this is the
 very petitio principii of which ,i     
complain4    ,still less do the words of
 our ,lord apply against my view4  ,have
 ,i not  declared--do ,i not begin by   
declaring--that whatever is referred by 
the  sacred penman to a direct          
communication from ,god1 and wherever it
 is  recorded that the subject of the   
history had asserted himself to have    
received this or that command1 this or  
that information or assurance1  from a  
superhuman ,intelligence1 or where the  
writer in his own person1  and in the   
character of an historian1 relates that 
the word of the ,lord  came unto priest1
 prophet1 chieftain1 or other           
individual--have ,i not  declared that  

,i receive the same with full belief1   
and admit its  inappellable authority8  
,who more convinced than ,i am--who more
 anxious to  impress that conviction on 
the minds of others--that the ,law and  
the  ,prophets speak throughout of      
,christ8  ,that all the intermediate    
applications and realisations of the    
words are but types and                 
repetitions--translations1 as it were1  
from the language of letters and        
articulate sounds into the language of  
events and symbolical persons8    ,and  
here again let me recur to the aid of   
analogy4  ,suppose a life of ,sir       
,thomas ,more by his son-in-law1 or a   
life of ,lord ,bacon by his chaplain2   
that a part of the records of the ,court
 of ,chancery belonging to these        
periods were lost2 that in ,roper's or  
in ,rawley's biographical work there    
were preserved a series of dicta and    
judgments attributed to these           
illustrious ,chancellors1 many and      
important specimens of their table      

discourses1 with large extracts from    
works written by them1 and from some    
that are no longer extant4  ,let it be  
supposed1 too1 that there are no        
grounds1 internal or external1 to doubt 
either the moral1 intellectual1  or     
circumstantial competence of the        
biographers4  ,suppose1 moreover1 that  
wherever the opportunity existed of     
collating their documents and           
quotations with the records and works   
still preserved1 the former were  found 
substantially correct and faithful1 the 
few differences in nowise  altering or  
disturbing the spirit and purpose of the
 paragraphs in which  they were found2  
and that of what was not collatable1 and
 to which no  test ab extra could be    
applied1 the far larger part bore       
witness in  itself of the same spirit   
and origin2 and that not only by its    
characteristic features1 but by its     
surpassing excellence1 it rendered  the 
chances of its having had any other     
author than the giant-mind1 to  whom the

 biographer ascribes it1 small indeed6  
,now1 from the nature and  objects of my
 pursuits1 ,i have1 we will suppose1    
frequent occasion to  refer to one or   
other of these works2 for example1 to   
,rawley's ,dicta et  ,facta ,francisci  
de ,verulam4  ,at one time ,i might     
refer to the work in  some such words   
as--8,remember what ,francis of ,verulam
 said or judged20 or1  8,if you believe 
not me1 yet believe ,lord ,bacon40  ,at 
another time ,i might  take the running 
title of the volume1 and at another the 
name of the  biographer2--8,turn to your
 ,rawley6  ,he will set you right20 or1 
8,there  you will find a depth which no 
research will ever exhaust20 or whatever
  other strong expression my sense of   
,bacon's greatness and of the  intrinsic
 worth and the value of the proofs and  
specimens of that  greatness1 contained 
and preserved in that volume1 would     
excite and  justify4  ,but let my       
expressions be as vivid and unqualified 
as the most  sanguine temperament ever  

inspired1 would any man of sense        
conclude from  them that ,i meant--and  
meant to make others believe--that not  
only each and  all of these anecdotes1  
adages1 decisions1 extracts1 incidents1 
had been  dictated1 word by word1 by    
,lord ,bacon2 and that all ,rawley's own
  observations and inferences1 all the  
connectives and disjunctives1 all  the  
recollections of time1 place1 and       
circumstance1 together with the  order  
and succession of the narrative1 were in
 like manner dictated and  revised by   
the spirit of the deceased ,chancellor8 
,the answer will  be--must be--,no man  
in his senses6  8,no man in his         
senses--in this  instance2 but in that  
of the ,bible it is quite otherwise2 for
 7,i take it  as an admitted point that7
 it is quite otherwise60    ,and here ,i
 renounce any advantage ,i might obtain 
for my argument by  restricting the     
application of our ,lord's and the      
,apostle's words to the  ,hebrew ,canon4
  ,i admit the justice--,i have long    

felt the full force--of the             
remark--8,we have all that the occasion 
allowed40  ,and if the same awful       
authority does not apply so directly to 
the ,evangelical and ,apostolical       
writings as to the ,hebrew ,canon1 yet  
the analogy of faith justifies the      
transfer4  ,if the doctrine be less     
decisively ,scriptural in its           
application to the ,new ,testament or   
the ,christian ,canon1 the temptation   
to doubt it is likewise less4  ,so at   
least we are led to infer2 since in     
point of fact it is the apparent or     
imagined contrast1 the diversity of     
spirit which sundry individuals have    
believed themselves to find in the  ,old
 ,testament and in the ,gospel1 that has
 given occasion to the  doubt2--and1 in 
the heart of thousands who yield a faith
 of acquiescence  to the contrary1 and  
find rest in their humility--supplies   
fuel to a  fearful wish that it were    
permitted to make a distinction4        
,but1 lastly1 you object that--even     

granting that no coercive1 positive     
reasons for the belief--no direct and   
not inferred assertions--of the  plenary
 inspiration of the ,old and ,new       
,testament1 in the generally  received  
import of the term1 could be adduced1   
yet--in behalf of a  doctrine so        
catholic1 and during so long a          
succession of ages affirmed  and acted  
on by ,jew and ,christian1 ,greek1      
,romish1 and ,protestant1 you  need no  
other answer than3--8,tell me1 first1   
why it should not be  received6  ,why   
should ,i not believe the ,scriptures   
throughout dictated1  in word and       
thought1 by an infallible               
,intelligence80  ,i admit the  fairness 
of the retort2 and eagerly and earnestly
 do ,i answer3 ,for every  reason that  
makes me prize and revere these         
,scriptures2--prize them1 love  them1   
revere them1 beyond all other books6    
,why should ,i not8  ,because  the      
doctrine in question petrifies at once  
the whole body of ,holy ,writ  with all 

its harmonies and symmetrical           
gradations--the flexile and the         
rigid--the supporting hard and the      
clothing soft--the blood which is the   
life--the intelligencing nerves1 and the
 rudely woven1 but soft and  springy1   
cellular substance1 in which all are    
imbedded and lightly bound  together4   
,this breathing organism1 this glorious 
panharmonicon which ,i  had seen stand  
on its feet as a man1 and with a man's  
voice given to it1  the doctrine in     
question turns at once into a colossal  
,memnon's head1 a  hollow passage for a 
voice1 a voice that mocks the voices of 
many men1  and speaks in their names1   
and yet is but one voice1 and the same2 
and no  man uttered it1 and never in a  
human heart was it conceived4  ,why     
should ,i not8--,because the doctrine   
evacuates of all sense and efficacy  the
 sure and constant tradition1 that all  
the several books bound up  together in 
our precious family ,bible were composed
 in different and  widely-distant ages1 

under the greatest diversity of         
circumstances1 and  degrees of light and
 information1 and yet that the          
composers1 whether as  uttering or as   
recording what was uttered and what was 
done1 were all  actuated by a pure and  
holy ,spirit1 one and the same--7for is 
there any  spirit pure and holy1 and yet
 not proceeding from ,god--and yet not  
proceeding in and with the ,holy        
,spirit87--one ,spirit1 working         
diversely1  now awakening strength1 and 
now glorifying itself in weakness1 now  
giving  power and direction to          
knowledge1 and now taking away the sting
 from  error6  ,ere the summer and the  
months of ripening had arrived for the  
heart of the race2 while the whole sap  
of the tree was crude1 and each  and    
every fruit lived in the harsh and      
bitter principle2 even then this        
,spirit withdrew its chosen ministers   
from the false and guilt-making  centre 
of ,self4  ,it converted the wrath into 
a form and an organ of love1  and on the

 passing storm-cloud impressed the fair 
rainbow of promise to  all generations4 
,put the lust of ,self in the forked    
lightning1 and would  it not be a       
,spirit of ,moloch8  ,but ,god maketh   
the lightnings ,his  ministers1 fire and
 hail1 vapours and stormy winds         
fulfilling ,his word4    ,curse ye      
,meroz1 said the angel of the ,lord2    
curse ye bitterly the  inhabitants      
thereof--sang ,deborah4  ,was it that   
she called to mind any  personal        
wrongs--rapine or insult--that she or   
the house of ,lapidoth had  received    
from ,jabin or ,sisera8  ,no2 she had   
dwelt under her palm tree in  the depth 
of the mountain4  ,but she was a mother 
in ,israel2 and with a  mother's heart1 
and with the vehemency of a mother's and
 a patriot's  love1 she had shot the    
light of love from her eyes1 and poured 
the  blessings of love from her lips1 on
 the people that had jeoparded their    
lives unto the death against the        
oppressors2 and the bitterness1         

awakened and borne aloft by the same    
love1 she precipitated in curses on  the
 selfish and coward recreants who came  
not to the help of the ,lord1  to the   
help of the ,lord1 against the mighty4  
,as long as ,i have the  image of       
,deborah before my eyes1 and while ,i   
throw myself back into the  age1        
country1 circumstances1 of this ,hebrew 
,bonduca in the not yet tamed  chaos of 
the spiritual creation2--as long as ,i  
contemplate the  impassioned1           
high-souled1 heroic woman in all the    
prominence and  individuality of will   
and character1--,i feel as if ,i were   
among the first  ferments of the great  
affections--the proplastic waves of the 
microcosmic  chaos1 swelling up         
against--and yet towards--the outspread 
wings of the  dove that lies brooding on
 the troubled waters4  ,so long all is  
well1--all  replete with instruction and
 example4  ,in the fierce and inordinate
 ,i am  made to know and be grateful for
 the clearer and purer radiance which   

shines on a ,christian's paths1 neither 
blunted by the preparatory veil1  nor   
crimsoned in its struggle through the   
all-enwrapping mist of the  world's     
ignorance3 whilst in the self-oblivion  
of these heroes of the ,old  ,testament1
 their elevation above all low and      
individual interests1--above  all1 in   
the entire and vehement devotion of     
their total being to the  service of    
their divine ,master1 ,i find a lesson  
of humility1 a ground of  humiliation1  
and a shaming1 yet rousing1 example of  
faith and fealty4  ,but let me once be  
persuaded that all these heart-awakening
 utterances of  human hearts--of men of 
like faculties and passions with myself1
 mourning1  rejoicing1 suffering1       
triumphing--are but as a ,divina        
,commedia of a  superhuman--,o bear with
 me1 if ,i say--,ventriloquist2--that   
the royal harper1  to whom ,i have so   
often submitted myself as a             
many-stringed instrument  for his       
fire-tipt fingers to traverse1 while    

every several nerve of  emotion1        
passion1 thought1 that thrids the       
flesh-and-blood of our common  humanity1
 responded to the touch1--that this     
sweet ,psalmist of ,israel  was himself 
as mere an instrument as his harp1 an   
automaton poet1  mourner1 and           
supplicant2--all is gone1--all sympathy1
 at least1 and all  example4  ,i listen 
in awe and fear1 but likewise in        
perplexity and  confusion of spirit4    
,yet one other instance1 and let this be
 the crucial test of the doctrine4  ,say
 that the ,book of ,job throughout was  
dictated by an infallible  intelligence4
  ,then re-peruse the book1 and still1  
as you proceed1 try to  apply the tenet2
 try if you can even attach any sense or
 semblance of  meaning to the speeches  
which you are reading4  ,what6 were the 
hollow  truisms1 the unsufficing        
half-truths1 the false assumptions and  
malignant  insinuations of the          
supercilious bigots1 who corruptly      
defended the  truth3--were the          

impressive facts1 the piercing outcries1
 the pathetic  appeals1 and the close   
and powerful reasoning with which the   
poor  sufferer--smarting at once from   
his wounds1 and from the oil of vitriol 
which the orthodox liars for ,god were  
dropping into them--impatiently1  but   
uprightly and holily1 controverted this 
truth1 while in will and in  spirit he  
clung to it2--were both dictated by an  
infallible  intelligence8--,alas6 if ,i 
may judge from the manner in which both 
indiscriminately are recited1 quoted1   
appealed to1 preached upon by the       
routiniers of desk and pulpit1 ,i cannot
 doubt that they think so--or  rather1  
without thinking1 take for granted that 
so they are to think2--the  more        
readily1 perhaps1 because the so        
thinking supersedes the necessity  of   
all afterthought4                       
,farewell4        ,,letter ,,iv4        
,,my ,,dear ,,friend1    ,,you reply to 
the conclusion of my ,letter3 8,what    
have we to do with  routiniers8  ,quid  

mihi cum homunculis putata putide       
reputantibus8  ,let nothings count for  
nothing1 and the dead bury the dead6    
,who but such  ever understood the tenet
 in this sense80    ,in what sense then1
 ,i rejoin1 do others understand it8    
,if1 with  exception of the passages    
already excepted1 namely1 the recorded  
words of  ,god--concerning which no     
,christian can have doubt or            
scruple1--the tenet in  this sense be   
inapplicable to the ,scripture1         
destructive of its noblest  purposes1   
and contradictory to its own express    
declarations1--again and  again ,i      
ask3--,what am ,i to substitute8  ,what 
other sense is conceivable  that does   
not destroy the doctrine which it       
professes to interpret--that  does not  
convert it into its own negative8  ,as  
if a geometrician should  name a        
sugar-loaf an ellipse1 adding--8,by     
which term ,i here mean a  cone20--and  
then justify the misnomer on the pretext
 that the ellipse is  among the conic   

sections6  ,and yet--notwithstanding the
 repugnancy of the  doctrine1 in its    
unqualified sense1 to ,scripture1       
,reason1 and ,common  ,sense            
theoretically1 while to all practical   
uses it is intractable1  unmalleable1   
and altogether                          
unprofitable--notwithstanding its       
irrationality1 and in the face of your  
expostulation1 grounded on the          
palpableness of its irrationality1--,i  
must still avow my belief that1  however
 fittingly and unsteadily1 as through a 
mist1 it is the doctrine  which the     
generality of our popular divines       
receive as orthodox1 and this  the sense
 which they attach to the words4    ,for
 on what other ground can ,i account for
 the whimsical  subintelligiturs of our 
numerous harmonists--for the curiously  
inferred  facts1 the inventive          
circumstantial detail1 the complemental 
and  supplemental history which1 in the 
utter silence of all historians and     
absence of all historical documents1    

they bring to light by mere force of    
logic8  ,and all to do away some half   
score apparent discrepancies in the     
chronicles and memoirs of the ,old and  
,new ,testaments--discrepancies so      
analogous to what is found in all other 
narratives of the same story by  several
 narrators--so analogous to what is     
found in all other known and  trusted   
histories by contemporary historians1   
when they are collated with  each other 
7nay1 not seldom when either historian  
is compared with  himself71 as to form  
in the eyes of all competent judges a   
characteristic  mark of the genuineness1
 independency1 and 7if ,i may apply the 
word to a  book71 the veraciousness of  
each several document2 a mark1 the      
absence of  which would warrant a       
suspicion of collusion1 invention1 or at
 best of  servile transcription2        
discrepancies so trifling in            
circumstance and  import1 that1 although
 in some instances it is highly         
probable1 and in  all instances1        

perhaps1 possible that they are only    
apparent and  reconcilable1 no wise man 
would care a staw whether they were real
 or  apparent1 reconciled or left in    
harmless and friendly variance4  ,what1 
,i  ask1 could have induced learned and 
intelligent divines to adopt or         
sanction subterfuges1 which neutralising
 the ordinary criteria of full  or      
defective evidence in historical        
documents1 would1 taken as a general    
rule1 render all collation and          
cross-examination of written records    
ineffective1 and obliterate the main    
character by which authentic  histories 
are distinguished from those traditional
 tales1 which each  successive reporter 
enlarges and fashions to his own fancy  
and purpose1  and every different       
edition of which more or less           
contradicts the other8  ,allow me to    
create chasms ad libitum1 and ad libitum
 to fill them up  with imagined facts   
and incidents1 and ,i would almost      
undertake to  harmonise ,falstaff's     

account of the rogues in buckram into a 
coherent and  consistent narrative4     
,what1 ,i say1 could have tempted grave 
and pious  men thus to disturb the      
foundation of the ,temple1 in order to  
repair a  petty breach or rat-hole in   
the wall1 or fasten a loose stone or two
 in  the outer court1 if not an assumed 
necessity arising out of the peculiar   
character of ,bible history8    ,the    
substance of the syllogism1 by which    
their procedure was justified to  their 
own minds1 can be no other than this4   
,that1 without which two                
assertions--both of which must be alike 
true and correct--would  contradict each
 other1 and consequently be1 one or     
both1 false or  incorrect1 must itself  
be true4  ,but every word and syllable  
existing in  the original text of the   
,canonical ,books1 from the ,cherethi   
and  ,phelethi of ,david to the name in 
the copy of a family register1 the  site
 of a town1 or the course of a river1   
were dictated to the sacred  amanuensis 

by an infallible intelligence4  ,here   
there can be neither  more nor less4    
,important or unimportant gives no      
ground of difference2  and the number of
 the writers as little4  ,the           
secretaries may have been  many--the    
historian was one and the same1 and he  
infallible4  ,this is the  minor of the 
syllogism1 and if it could be proved1   
the conclusion would  be at least       
plausible2 and there would be but one   
objection to the  procedure1 namely1 its
 uselessness4  ,for if it had been      
proved already1  what need of proving it
 over again1 and by means--the removal1 
namely1 of  apparent                    
contradictions--which the infallible    
,author did not think good to  employ8  
,but if it have not been proved1 what   
becomes of the argument  which derives  
its whole force and legitimacy from the 
assumption8    ,in fact1 it is clear    
that the harmonists and their admirers  
held and  understood the doctrine       
literally4  ,and must not that divine   

likewise  have so understood it1 who1 in
 answer to a question concerning the    
transcendant blessedness of ,jael1 and  
the righteousness of the act1 in  which 
she inhospitably1 treacherously1        
perfidiously murdered sleep1 the        
confiding sleep1 closed the controversy 
by observing that he wanted no  better  
morality than that of the ,bible1 and no
 other proof of an action's  being      
praiseworthy than that the ,bible had   
declared it worthy to be  praised8--an  
observation1 as applied in this         
instance1 so slanderous to  the morality
 and moral spirit of the ,bible as to be
 inexplicable1 except  as a consequence 
of the doctrine in dispute4  ,but let a 
man be once fully  persuaded that there 
is no difference between the two        
positions3 8,the  ,bible contains the   
religion revealed by ,god10 and         
8,whatever is contained  in the ,bible  
is religion1 and was revealed by ,god10 
and that whatever can  be said of the   
,bible1 collectively taken1 may and must

 be said of each  and every sentence of 
the ,bible1 taken for and by itself1 and
 ,i no longer  wonder at these          
paradoxes4  ,i only object to the       
inconsistency of those  who profess the 
same belief1 and yet affect to look down
 with a  contemptuous or compassionate  
smile on ,john ,wesley for rejecting the
  ,copernican system as incompatible    
therewith2 or who exclaim 8,wonderful60 
when they hear that ,sir ,matthew ,hale 
sent a crazy old woman to the  gallows  
in honour of the ,witch of ,endor4  ,in 
the latter instance it  might1 ,i admit1
 have been an erroneous 7though even at 
this day the all  but universally       
received7 interpretation of the word1   
which we have  rendered by witch2 but ,i
 challenge these divines and their      
adherents to  establish the             
compatibility of a belief in the modern 
astronomy and  natural philosophy with  
their and ,wesley's doctrine respecting 
the  inspired ,scriptures1 without      
reducing the doctrine itself to a       

plaything  of wax2 or rather to a       
half-inflated bladder1 which1 when the  
contents  are rarefied in the heat of   
rhetorical generalities1 swells out     
round1  and without a crease or wrinkle2
 but bring it into the cool temperature 
of particulars1 and you may press1 and  
as it were except1 what part you        
like--so it be but one part at a        
time--between your thumb and finger4    
,now1 ,i pray you1 which is the more    
honest1 nay1 which the more  reverential
 proceeding--to play at fast and loose  
in this way1 or to say  at once1 8,see  
here1 in these several writings one and 
the same ,holy  ,spirit1 now sanctifying
 a chosen vessel1 and fitting it for the
 reception  of heavenly truths          
proceeding immediately from the mouth of
 ,god1 and  elsewhere working in frail  
and fallible men like ourselves1 and    
like  ourselves instructed by ,god's    
word and laws80  ,the first ,christian  
martyr  had the form and features of an 
ordinary man1 nor are we taught to      

believe that these features were        
miraculously transfigured into          
superhuman symmetry2 but he being filled
 with the ,holy ,ghost1 they  that      
looked steadfastly on him1 saw his face 
as it had been the face  of an angel4   
,even so has it ever been1 and so it    
ever will be with all  who with humble  
hearts and a rightly disposed spirit    
scan the sacred  volume4  ,and they who 
read it with an evil heart of unbelief  
and an  alien spirit1 what boots for    
them the assertion that every sentence  
was  miraculously communicated to the   
nominal author by ,god himself8  ,will  
it  not rather present additional       
temptations to the unhappy scoffers1 and
  furnish them with a pretext of        
self-justification8    ,when1 in my     
third letter1 ,i first echoed the       
question 8,why should ,i not80  the     
answers came crowding on my mind4  ,i am
 well content1 however1 to  have merely 
suggested the main points1 in proof of  
the positive harm  which1 both          

historically and spiritually1 our       
religion sustains from this  doctrine4  
,of minor importance1 yet not to be     
overlooked1 are the forced  and         
fantastic interpretations1 the arbitrary
 allegories and mystic  expansions of   
proper names1 to which this             
indiscriminate ,bibliolatry  furnished  
fuel1 spark1 and wind4  ,a still greater
 evil1 and less  attributable to the    
visionary humour and weak judgment of   
the individual  expositors1 is the      
literal rendering of ,scripture in      
passages1 which the  number and variety 
of images employed in different places  
to express one  and the same verity1    
plainly mark out for figurative4  ,and  
lastly1 add to  all these the           
strange--in all other writings          
unexampled--practice of  bringing       
together into logical dependency        
detached sentences from books  composed 
at the distance of centuries1 nay1      
sometimes a millennium from  each other1
 under different dispensations1 and for 

different objects4  ,accommodations of  
elder ,scriptural phrases--that         
favourite ornament and  garnish of      
,jewish eloquence2 incidental allusions 
to popular notions1  traditions1        
apologues 7for example1 the dispute     
between the ,devil and the  archangel   
,michael about the body of ,moses1 ,jude
 #i72 fancies and  anachronisms imported
 from the synagogue of ,alexandria into 
,palestine1 by  or together with the    
,septuagint version1 and applied as mere
 argumenta  ad homines 7for example1 the
 delivery of the ,law by the disposition
 of  angels1 ,acts vii4 #ec1 ,gal4 iii4 
#ai1 ,heb4 ii4 #b71--these1 detached    
from  their context1 and1 contrary to   
the intention of the sacred writer1     
first  raised into independent theses1  
and then brought together to produce or 
sanction some new credendum for which   
neither separately could have  furnished
 a pretence6  ,by this strange mosaic1  
,scripture texts have been  worked up   
into passable likenesses of purgatory1  

,popery1 the ,inquisition1  and other   
monstrous abuses4  ,but would you have a
 ,protestant instance of  the           
superstitious use of ,scripture arising 
out of this dogma8  ,passing by  the    
,cabbala of the ,hutchinsonian ,school  
as the dotage of a few  weak-minded     
individuals1 ,i refer you to ,bishop    
,hacket's sermons on the  ,incarnation4 
,and if you have read the same author's 
life of ,archbishop  ,williams1 and have
 seen and felt 7as every reader of this 
latter work  must see and feel7 his     
talent1 learning1 acuteness1 and robust 
good  sense1 you will have no difficulty
 in determining the quality and         
character of a dogma which could engraft
 such fruits on such a tree4    ,it will
 perhaps appear a paradox if1 after all 
these reasons1 ,i should  avow that they
 weigh less in my mind against the      
doctrine1 than the  motives usually     
assigned for maintaining and enjoining  
it4  ,such1 for  instance1 are the      
arguments drawn from the anticipated    

loss and damage  that would result from 
its abandonment2 as that it would       
deprive the  ,christian world of its    
only infallible arbiter in questions of 
faith and  duty1 suppress the only      
common and inappellable tribunal2 that  
the ,bible  is the only religious bond  
of union and ground of unity among      
,protestants  and the like4  ,for the   
confutation of this whole reasoning1 it 
might be  sufficient to ask3 ,has it    
produced these effects8  ,would not the 
contrary  statement be nearer to the    
fact8  ,what did the ,churches of the   
first four  centuries hold on this      
point8  ,to what did they attribute the 
rise and  multiplication of heresies8   
,can any learned and candid ,protestant 
affirm  that there existed and exists no
 ground for the charges of ,bossuet and 
other eminent ,romish divines8  ,it is  
no easy matter to know how to handle  a 
party maxim1 so framed1 that with the   
exception of a single word1 it          
expresses an important truth1 but which 

by means of that word is made to  convey
 a most dangerous error4    ,the ,bible 
is the appointed conservatory1 an       
indispensable criterion1 and  a         
continual source and support of true    
belief4  ,but that the ,bible is the    
sole source2 that it not only contains1 
but constitutes1 the ,christian         
,religion2 that it is1 in short1 a      
,creed1 consisting wholly of articles of
  ,faith2 that consequently we need no  
rule1 help1 or guide1 spiritual or      
historical1 to teach us what parts are  
and what are not articles of            
,faith--all being such--and the         
difference between the ,bible and the   
,creed  being this1 that the clauses of 
the latter are all unconditionally      
necessary to salvation1 but those of the
 former conditionally so1 that  is1 as  
soon as the words are known to exist in 
any one of the canonical  books2 and    
that1 under this limitation1 the belief 
is of the same  necessity in both1 and  
not at all affected by the greater or   

lesser  importance of the matter to be  
believed2--this scheme differs widely   
from  the preceding1 though its         
adherents often make use of the same    
words in  expressing their belief4  ,and
 this latter scheme1 ,i assert1 was     
brought  into currency by and in favour 
of those by whom the operation of grace1
  the aids of the ,spirit1 the necessity
 of regeneration1 the corruption of  our
 nature1 in short1 all the peculiar and 
spiritual mysteries of the  ,gospel were
 explained and diluted away4    ,and how
 have these men treated this very       
,bible8  ,i1 who indeed prize and       
reverence this sacred library1 as of all
 outward means and conservatives  of    
,christian faith and practice the surest
 and the most reflective of the  inward 
,word2 ,i1 who hold that the ,bible     
contains the religion of  ,christians1  
but who dare not say that whatever is   
contained in the ,bible  is the         
,christian religion1 and who shrink from
 all question respecting  the           

comparative worth and efficacy of the   
written ,word as weighed against  the   
preaching of the ,gospel1 the discipline
 of the ,churches1 the  continued       
succession of the ,ministry1 and the    
communion of ,saints1 lest  by comparing
 them ,i should seem to detach them2 ,i 
tremble at the  processes which the     
,grotian divines without scruple carry  
on in their  treatment of the sacred    
writers1 as soon as any texts declaring 
the  peculiar tenets of our ,faith are  
cited against them--even tenets and     
mysteries which the believer at his     
baptism receives as the title-writ  and 
bosom-roll of his adoption2 and which1  
according to my scheme1 every           
,christian born in ,church-membership   
ought to bring with him to the study  of
 the sacred ,scriptures as the          
master-key of interpretation4  ,whatever
  the doctrine of infallible dictation  
may be in itself1 in their hands  it is 
to the last degree nugatory1 and to be  
paralleled only by the  ,romish tenet of

 ,infallibility--in the existence of    
which all agree1 but  where1 and in     
whom1 it exists stat adhuc sub lite4    
,every sentence  found in a canonical   
,book1 rightly interpreted1 contains the
 dictum of  an infallible ,mind2 but    
what the right interpretation is--or    
whether the  very words now extant are  
corrupt or genuine--must be determined  
by the  industry and understanding of   
fallible1 and alas6 more or less        
prejudiced  theologians4    ,and yet ,i 
am told that this doctrine must not be  
resisted or called in  question1 because
 of its fitness to preserve unity of    
faith1 and for the  prevention of schism
 and sectarian byways6  ,let the man who
 holds this  language trace the history 
of ,protestantism1 and the growth of    
sectarian  divisions1 ending with ,dr4  
,hawker's ultra-,calvinistic ,tracts1   
and ,mr4  ,belsham's ,new ,version of   
the ,testament4  ,and then let him tell 
me that  for the prevention of an evil  
which already exists1 and which the     

boasted  preventive itself might rather 
seem to have occasioned1 ,i must submit 
to  be silenced by the first learned    
infidel1 who throws in my face the      
blessing of ,deborah1 or the cursings of
 ,david1 or the ,grecisms and  heavier  
difficulties in the biographical        
chapters of the ,book of ,daniel1  or   
the hydrography and natural philosophy  
of the ,patriarchal ages4  ,i  must     
forego the means of silencing1 and the  
prospect of convincing1 an  alienated   
brother1 because ,i must not thus answer
 8,my ,brother6  ,what has  all this to 
do with the truth and the worth of      
,christianity8  ,if you  reject  priori 
all communion with the ,holy ,spirit1   
there is indeed a  chasm between us1    
over which we cannot even make our      
voices intelligible  to each other4     
,but if--though but with the faith of a 
,seneca or an  ,antonine--you admit the 
co-operation of a ,divine ,spirit in    
souls desirous  of good1 even as the    
breath of heaven works variously in each

 several  plant according to its kind1  
character1 period of growth1 and        
circumstance of soil1 clime1 and aspect2
 on what ground can you assume  that its
 presence is incompatible with all      
imperfection in the  subject--even with 
such imperfection as is the natural     
accompaniment of  the unripe season8    
,if you call your gardener or husbandman
 to account  for the plants or crops he 
is raising1 would you not regard the    
special  purpose in each1 and judge of  
each by that which it was tending to8   
,thorns are not flowers1 nor is the husk
 serviceable4  ,but it was not for  its 
thorns1 but for its sweet and medicinal 
flowers that the rose was  cultivated2  
and he who cannot separate the husk from
 the grain1 wants the  power because    
sloth or malice has prevented the will4 
,i demand for the  ,bible only the      
justice which you grant to other books  
of grave authority1  and to other proved
 and acknowledged benefactors of        
mankind4  ,will you  deny a spirit of   

wisdom in ,lord ,bacon1 because in      
particular facts he did  not possess    
perfect science1 or an entire immunity  
from the positive  errors which result  
from imperfect insight8  ,a ,davy will  
not so judge his  great predecessor2 for
 he recognises the spirit that is now   
working in  himself1 and which under    
similar defects of light and obstacles  
of error  had been his guide and        
guardian in the morning twilight of his 
own  genius4  ,must not the kindly      
warmth awaken and vivify the seed1 in   
order  that the stem may spring up and  
rejoice in the light8  ,as the genial   
warmth to the informing light1 even so  
is the predisposing ,spirit to the      
revealing ,word40    ,if ,i should      
reason thus--but why do ,i say if8  ,i  
have reasoned thus with  more than one  
serious and well-disposed sceptic2 and  
what was the  answer8--8,you speak      
rationally1 but seem to forget the      
subject4  ,i have  frequently attended  
meetings of the ,british and ,foreign   

,bible ,society1  where ,i have heard   
speakers of every denomination1         
,calvinist and  ,arminian1 ,quaker and  
,methodist1 ,dissenting ,ministers and  
,clergymen1 nay1  dignitaries of the    
,established ,church1 and still have ,i 
heard the same  doctrine--that the      
,bible was not to be regarded or        
reasoned about in the  way that other   
good books are or may be--that the      
,bible was different in  kind1 and stood
 by itself4  ,by some indeed this       
doctrine was rather  implied than       
expressed1 but yet evidently implied4   
,but by far the  greater number of the  
speakers it was asserted in the         
strongest and most  unqualified words   
that language could supply4  ,what is   
more1 their  principal arguments were   
grounded on the position1 that the      
,bible  throughout was dictated by      
,omniscience1 and therefore in all its  
parts  infallibly true and obligatory1  
and that the men whose names are        
prefixed  to the several books or       

chapters were in fact but as different  
pens in  the hand of one and the same   
,writer1 and the words the words of ,god
  ,himself3 and that on this account all
 notes and comments were  superfluous1  
nay1 presumptuous--a profane mixing of  
human with divine1 the  notions of      
fallible creatures with the oracles of  
,infallibility--as if  ,god's meaning   
could be so clearly or fitly expressed  
in man's as in ,god's  own words6  ,but 
how often you yourself must have heard  
the same language  from the pulpit60    
,what could ,i reply to this8  ,i could 
neither deny the fact1 nor evade the    
conclusion--namely1 that such is at     
present the popular belief4  ,yes--,i at
  length rejoined--,i have heard this   
language from the pulpit1 and more than 
once from men who in any other place    
would explain it away into something  so
 very different from the literal sense  
of their words as closely to  resemble  
the contrary4  ,and this1 indeed1 is the
 peculiar character of  the doctrine1   

that you cannot diminish or qualify but 
you reverse it4  ,i  have heard this    
language from men who knew as well as   
myself that the  best and most orthodox 
divines have in effect disclaimed the   
doctrine1  inasmuch as they confess it  
cannot be extended to the words of the  
sacred  writers1 or the particular      
import--that therefore the doctrine does
 not  mean all that the usual wording of
 it expresses1 though what it does      
mean1 and why they continue to sanction 
this hyperbolical wording1 ,i have      
sought to learn from them in vain4  ,but
 let a thousand orators blazon it  at   
public meetings1 and let as many pulpits
 echo it1 surely it behoves  you to     
inquire whether you cannot be a         
,christian on your own faith2 and  it   
cannot but be beneath a wise man to be  
an ,infidel on the score of what  other 
men think fit to include in their       
,christianity6    ,now suppose--and1    
believe me1 the supposition will vary   
little from the  fact--that in          

consequence of these views the sceptic's
 mind had gradually  opened to the      
reception of all the truths enumerated  
in my first ,letter4  ,suppose that the 
,scriptures themselves from this time   
had continued to  rise in his esteem and
 affection--the better understood1 the  
more dear2 as  in the countenance of    
one1 whom through a cloud of prejudices 
we have at  least learned to love and   
value above all others1 new beauties    
dawn on us  from day to day1 till at    
length we wonder how we could at any    
time have  thought it other than most   
beautiful4  ,studying the sacred volume 
in the  light and in the freedom of a   
faith already secured1 at every fresh   
meeting my sceptic friend has to tell me
 of some new passage1 formerly  viewed  
by him as a dry stick on a rotten       
branch1 which has budded and1  like the 
rod of ,aaron1 brought forth buds and   
bloomed blossoms1 and  yielded almonds4 
,let these results1 ,i say1 be          
supposed--and shall ,i  still be told   

that my friend is nevertheless an alien 
in the household of  ,faith8            
,scrupulously orthodox as ,i know you to
 be1 will you tell me that  ,i ought to 
have left this sceptic as ,i found him1 
rather than attempt his  conversion by  
such means2 or that ,i was deceiving    
him1 when ,i said to  him3--            
8,friend6  ,the truth revealed through  
,christ has its evidence in itself1  and
 the proof of its divine authority in   
its fitness to our nature and  needs2   
the clearness and cogency of this proof 
being proportionate to the  degree of   
self-knowledge in each individual       
hearer4  ,christianity has  likewise its
 historical evidences1 and these as     
strong as is compatible  with the nature
 of history1 and with the aims and      
objects of a religious  dispensation4   
,and to all these ,christianity itself1 
as an existing power  in the world1 and 
,christendom as an existing fact1 with  
the no less  evident fact of a          
progressive expansion1 give a force of  

moral  demonstration that almost        
supersedes particular testimony4  ,these
 proofs  and evidences would remain     
unshaken1 even though the sum of our    
religion  were to be drawn from the     
theologians of each successive century1 
on the  principle of receiving that only
 as divine which should be found in     
all--quod semper1 quod ubique1 quod ab  
omnibus4  ,be only1 my friend6  as      
orthodox a believer as you would have   
abundant reason to be1 though  from some
 accident of birth1 country1 or         
education1 the precious boon of  the    
,bible1 with its additional evidence1   
had up to this moment been  concealed   
from you2--and then read its contents   
with only the same piety  which you     
freely accord on other occasions to the 
writings of men1  considered the best   
and wisest of their several ages6  ,what
 you find  therein coincident with your 
pre-established convictions1 you will of
  course recognise as the ,revealed     
,word1 while1 as you read the recorded  

workings of the ,word and the ,spirit in
 the minds1 lives1 and hearts of        
spiritual men1 the influence of the same
 ,spirit on your own being1 and  the    
conflicts of grace and infirmity in your
 own soul1 will enable you to  discern  
and to know in and by what spirit they  
spake and acted--as far at  least as    
shall be needful for you1 and in the    
times of your need4    8,thenceforward1 
therefore1 your doubts will be confined 
to such parts or  passages of the       
received ,canon as seem to you          
irreconcilable with known  truths1 and  
at variance with the tests given in the 
,scriptures  themselves1 and as shall   
continue so to appear after you have    
examined  each in reference to the      
circumstances of the writer or speaker1 
the  dispensation under which he lived1 
the purpose of the particular passage1  
and the intent and object of the        
,scriptures at large4  ,respecting      
these1  decide for yourself3 and fear   
not for the result4  ,i venture to tell 

it  you beforehand4  ,the result will   
be1 a confidence in the judgment and    
fidelity of the compilers of the ,canon 
increased by the apparent  exceptions4  
,for they will be found neither more nor
 greater than may  well be supposed     
requisite1 on the one hand1 to prevent  
us from sinking  into a habit of        
slothful1 undiscriminating acquiescence1
 and on the other  to provide a check   
against those presumptuous fanatics who 
would rend the  ,urim and ,thummim from 
the breastplate of judgment1 and frame  
oracles by  private divination from each
 letter of each disjointed gem1         
uninterpreted  by the ,priest1 and      
deserted by the ,spirit1 which shines in
 the parts only  as it pervades and     
irradiates the whole40    ,such is the  
language in which ,i have addressed a   
halting friend--halting1  yet with his  
face toward the right path4  ,if ,i have
 erred1 enable me to  see my error4     
,correct me1 or confirm me4             
,farewell4        ,,letter ,v4          

,,yes1 my dear friend1 it is my         
conviction that in all ordinary cases   
the  knowledge and belief of the        
,christian ,religion should precede the 
study  of the ,hebrew ,canon4  ,indeed1 
with regard to both ,testaments1 ,i     
consider  oral and catechismal          
instruction as the preparative provided 
by ,christ  himself in the establishment
 of a visible ,church4  ,and to make the
 ,bible1  apart from the truths1        
doctrines1 and spiritual experiences    
contained  therein1 the subject of a    
special article of faith1 ,i hold an    
unnecessary  and useless abstraction1   
which in too many instances has the     
effect of  substituting a barren        
acquiescence in the letter for the      
lively faith  that cometh by hearing2   
even as the hearing is productive of    
this faith1  because it is the ,word of 
,god that is heard and preached4  7,rom4
 x4 #h1  #ag47  ,and here ,i mean the   
written ,word preserved in the armoury  
of the  ,church to be the sword of faith

 out of the mouth of the preacher1 as   
,christ's ambassador and representative 
7,rev4 i4 #af71 and out of the heart  of
 the believer from generation to        
generation4  ,who shall dare dissolve   
or loosen this holy bond1 this divine   
reciprocality1 of ,faith and            
,scripture8  ,who shall dare enjoin     
aught else as an object of saving       
faith1 beside the truths that appertain 
to salvation8  ,the imposers take  on   
themselves a heavy responsibility1      
however defensible the opinion  itself1 
as an opinion1 may be4  ,for by imposing
 it1 they counteract their  own         
purposes4  ,they antedate questions1 and
 thus1 in all cases1 aggravate  the     
difficulty of answering them            
satisfactorily4  ,and not seldom they   
create difficulties that might never    
have occurred4  ,but1 worst of all1     
they convert things trifling or         
indifferent into mischievous pretexts   
for  the wanton1 fearful difficulties   
for the weak1 and formidable objections 

for the inquiring4  ,for what man       
fearing ,god dares think any the least  
point indifferent1 which he is required 
to receive as ,god's own immediate      
,word miraculously infused1 miraculously
 recorded1 and by a succession of       
miracles preserved unblended and without
 change8--,through all the pages of  a  
large and multifold volume1 at each     
successive period1 at every  sentence1  
must the question recur3--8,dare ,i     
believe--do ,i in my heart              
believe--these words to have been       
dictated by an infallible reason1 and   
the immediate utterance of ,almighty    
,god80--,no6  ,it is due to ,christian  
charity that a question so awful should 
not be put unnecessarily1 and  should   
not be put out of time4  ,the necessity 
,i deny4  ,and out of time  the question
 must be put1 if after enumerating the  
several articles of  the ,catholic      
,faith ,i am bound to add3--8and further
 you are to believe  with equal faith1  
as having the same immediate and        

miraculous derivation  from ,god1       
whatever else you shall hereafter read  
in any of the sixty-six  books collected
 in the ,old and ,new ,testaments40     
,i would never say this4  ,yet let me   
not be misjudged as if ,i treated the   
,scriptures as a matter of indifference4
  ,i would not say this1 but where  ,i  
saw a desire to believe1 and a beginning
 love of ,christ1 ,i would there        
say3--8,there are likewise sacred       
writings1 which1 taken in connection    
with  the institution and perpetuity of 
a visible ,church1 all believers revere 
as the most precious boon of ,god1 next 
to ,christianity itself1 and  attribute 
both their communication and            
preservation to an especial             
,providence4  ,in them you will find all
 the revealed truths1 which have  been  
set forth and offered to you1 clearly   
and circumstantially recorded2  and1 in 
addition to these1 examples of obedience
 and disobedience both in  states and   
individuals1 the lives and actions of   

men eminent under each  dispensation1   
their sentiments1 maxims1 hymns1 and    
prayers--their  affections1 emotions1   
and conflicts2--in all which you will   
recognise the  influence of the ,holy   
,spirit1 with a conviction increasing   
with the  growth of your own faith and  
spiritual experience40                  
,farewell4        ,,letter ,,vi4        
,,my ,,dear ,,friend1    ,,in my last   
two ,letters ,i have given the state of 
the argument as it would  stand between 
a ,christian1 thinking as ,i do1 and a  
serious well-disposed  ,deist4  ,i will 
now endeavour to state the argument1 as 
between the former  and the advocates   
for the popular belief1--such of them1  
,i mean1 as are  competent to deliver a 
dispassionate judgment in the cause4    
,and again1  more particularly1 ,i mean 
the learned and reflecting part of them1
 who  are influenced to the retention of
 the prevailing dogma by the supposed   
consequences of a different view1 and1  
especially1 by their dread of  conceding

 to all alike1 simple and learned1 the  
privilege of picking and  choosing the  
,scriptures that are to be received as  
binding on their  consciences4  ,between
 these persons and myself the           
controversy may be  reduced to a single 
question3--    ,is it safer for the     
individual1 and more conducive to the   
interests of  the ,church of ,christ1 in
 its twofold character of pastoral and  
militant1  to conclude thus3--,the      
,bible is the ,word of ,god1 and        
therefore1 true1  holy1 and in all parts
 unquestionable8  ,or thus3--,the       
,bible1 considered in  reference to its 
declared ends and purposes1 is true and 
holy1 and for  all who seek truth with  
humble spirits an unquestionable guide1 
and  therefore it is the ,word of ,god8 
,in every generation1 and wherever the  
light of ,revelation has shone1 men  of 
all ranks1 conditions1 and states of    
mind have found in this volume a        
correspondent for every movement toward 
the better1 felt in their own  hearts1  

the needy soul has found supply1 the    
feeble a help1 the sorrowful  a comfort2
 yea1 be the recipiency the least that  
can consist with moral  life1 there is  
an answering grace ready to enter4  ,the
 ,bible has been  found a ,spiritual    
,world1 spiritual and yet at the same   
time outward and  common to all4  ,you  
in one place1 ,i in another1 all men    
somewhere or at  some time1 meet with an
 assurance that the hopes and fears1 the
 thoughts  and yearnings that proceed   
from1 or tend to1 a right spirit in us1 
are  not dreams or fleeting             
singularities1 no voices heard in sleep1
 or  spectres which the eye suffers but 
not perceives4  ,as if on some dark     
night a pilgrim1 suddenly beholding a   
bright star moving before him1  should  
stop in fear and perplexity4  ,but lo6  
traveller after traveller  passes by    
him1 and each1 being questioned whither 
he is going1 makes  answer1 8,i am      
following yon guiding star60  ,the      
pilgrim quickens his own  steps1 and    

presses onward in confidence4  ,more    
confident still will he  be1 if1 by the 
wayside1 he should find1 here and there1
 ancient  monuments1 each with its      
votive lamp1 and on each the name of    
some former  pilgrim1 and a record that 
there he had first seen or begun to     
follow the  benignant ,star6    ,no     
otherwise is it with the varied contents
 of the ,sacred ,volume4  ,the  hungry  
have found food1 the thirsty a living   
spring1 the feeble a staff1  and the    
victorious warfarer songs of welcome and
 strains of music2 and as  long as each 
man asks on account of his wants1 and   
asks what he wants1 no  man will        
discover aught amiss or deficient in the
 vast and many-chambered  storehouse4   
,but if1 instead of this1 an idler or   
scoffer should wander  through the      
rooms1 peering and peeping1 and either  
detects1 or fancies he  has detected1   
here a rusted sword or pointless shaft1 
there a tool of  rude construction1 and 
superseded by later improvements 7and   

preserved1  perhaps1 to make us more    
grateful for them72--which of two things
 will a  sober-minded man1--who1 from   
his childhood upward had been fed1      
clothed1  armed1 and furnished with the 
means of instruction from this very     
magazine1--think the fitter plan8  ,will
 he insist that the rust is not  rust1  
or that it is a rust sui generis1       
intentionally formed on the  steel for  
some mysterious virtue in it1 and that  
the staff and astrolabe  of a           
shepherd-astronomer are identical with1 
or equivalent to1 the  quadrant and     
telescope of ,newton or ,herschel8  ,or 
will he not rather give  the curious    
inquisitor joy of his mighty            
discoveries1 and the credit of  them for
 his reward8    ,or lastly1 put the     
matter thus3 ,for more than a thousand  
years the ,bible1  collectively taken1  
has gone hand in hand with civilisation1
 science1  law--in short1 with the moral
 and intellectual cultivation of the    
species1  always supporting1 and often  

leading1 the way4  ,its very presence1  
as a  believed ,book1 has rendered the  
nations emphatically a chosen race1 and 
this too in exact proportion as it is   
more or less generally known and        
studied4  ,of those nations which in the
 highest degree enjoy its  influences it
 is not too much to affirm1 that the    
differences1 public and  private1       
physical1 moral and intellectual1 are   
only less than what might  be expected  
from a diversity in species4  ,good and 
holy men1 and the best  and wisest of   
mankind1 the kingly spirits of history1 
enthroned in the  hearts of mighty      
nations1 have borne witness to its      
influences1 have  declared it to be     
beyond compare the most perfect         
instrument1 the only  adequate organ1 of
 ,humanity2 the organ and instrument of 
all the gifts1  powers1 and tendencies1 
by which the individual is privileged to
 rise  above himself--to leave behind1  
and lose his individual phantom self1 in
  order to find his true self in that   

,distinctness where no division can     
be--in the ,eternal ,i ,,am1 the        
,ever-living ,,word1 of whom all the    
elect from  the archangel before time   
throne to the poor wrestler with the    
,spirit  until the breaking of day are  
but the fainter and still fainter       
echoes4  ,and are all these testimonies 
and lights of experience to lose their  
value and efficiency because ,i feel no 
warrant of history1 or ,holy ,writ1  or 
of my own heart for denying1 that in the
 framework and outward case of  this    
instrument a few parts may be discovered
 of less costly materials  and of meaner
 workmanship8  ,is it not a fact that   
the ,books of the ,new  ,testament were 
tried by their consonance with the rule1
 and according to  the analogy1 of      
faith8  ,does not the universally       
admitted canon--that each  part of      
,scripture must be interpreted by the   
spirit of the whole--lead to  the same  
practical conclusion as that for which  
,i am now  contending--namely1 that it  

is the spirit of the ,bible1 and not the
  detached words and sentences1 that is 
infallible and absolute8  ,practical1 ,i
 say1 and spiritual too2 and what       
knowledge not practical or  spiritual   
are we entitled to seek in our ,bibles8 
,is the grace of ,god so  confined--are 
the evidences of the present and        
actuating ,spirit so dim and            
doubtful--that to be assured of the same
 we must first take for granted  that   
all the life and co-agency of our       
humanity is miraculously  suspended8    
,whatever is spiritual1 is eo nomine    
supernatural2 but must it be always  and
 of necessity miraculous8  ,miracles    
could open the eyes of the body2  and he
 that was born blind beheld his         
,redeemer4  ,but miracles1 even those   
of the ,redeemer himself1 could not open
 the eyes of the self-blinded1 of  the  
,sadducean sensualist1 or the           
self-righteous ,pharisee--while to have 
said1 ,i saw thee under the fig-tree1   
sufficed to make a ,nathanael  believe4 

,to assert and to demand miracles       
without necessity was the vice of the   
unbelieving ,jews of old2 and from the  
,rabbis and ,talmudists the infection   
has spread4  ,and would ,i could say    
that the symptoms of the disease are    
confined to the ,churches of the        
,apostasy6  ,but all the miracles1 which
  the legends of ,monk or ,rabbi        
contain1 can scarcely be put in         
competition1  on the score of           
complication1 inexplicableness1 the     
absence of all  intelligible use or     
purpose1 and of circuitous              
self-frustration1 with  those that must 
be assumed by the maintainers of this   
doctrine1 in order  to give effect to   
the series of miracles1 by which all the
 nominal  composers of the ,hebrew      
nation before the time of ,ezra1 of whom
 there are  any remains1 were           
successively transformed into automaton 
compositors--so that the original text  
should be in sentiment1 image1  word1   
syntax1 and composition an exact        

impression of the divine copy6  ,in     
common consistency the theologians1 who 
impose this belief on their  fellow     
,christians1 ought to insist equally on 
the superhuman origin and  authority of 
the ,masora1 and to use more respectful 
terms1 than has been  their wont of     
late1 in speaking of the false          
,aristeas's legend concerning  the      
,septuagint4  ,and why the miracle      
should stop at the ,greek ,version1  and
 not include the ,vulgate1 ,i can       
discover no ground in reason4  ,or if   
it be an objection to the latter1 that  
this belief is actually enjoined  by the
 ,papal ,church1 yet the number of      
,christians who road the ,lutheran1  the
 ,genevan1 or our own authorised1       
,bible1 and are ignorant of the dead    
languages1 greatly exceeds the number of
 those who have access to the           
,septuagint4  ,why refuse the writ of   
consecration to these1 or to the one  at
 least appointed by the assertors' own  
,church8  ,i find much more  consistency

 in the opposition made under pretext of
 this doctrine to the  proposals and    
publications of ,kennicot1 ,mill1       
,bentley1 and ,archbishop  ,newcome4    
,but ,i am weary of discussing a tenet  
which the generality of divines and  the
 leaders of the religious public have   
ceased to defend1 and yet  continue to  
assert or imply4  ,the tendency         
manifested in this conduct1  the spirit 
of this and the preceding century1 on   
which1 not indeed the  tenet itself1 but
 the obstinate adherence to it against  
the clearest  light of reason and       
experience1 is grounded--this it is     
which1 according  to my conviction1     
gives the venom to the error1 and       
justifies the attempt  to substitute a  
juster view4  ,as long as it was the    
common and effective  belief of all the 
,reformed ,churches 7and by none was it 
more sedulously  or more emphatically   
enjoined than by the great ,reformers of
 our ,church71  that by the good ,spirit
 were the spirits tried1 and that the   

light1 which  beams forth from the      
written ,word1 was its own evidence for 
the children  of light2 as long as      
,christians considered their ,bible as a
 plenteous  entertainment1 where every  
guest1 duly called and attired1 found   
the food  needful and fitting for him1  
and where each--instead of troubling    
himself  about the covers not within his
 reach--beholding all around him glad   
and  satisfied1 praised the banquet and 
thankfully glorified the ,master of the 
feast--so long did the tenet--that the  
,scriptures were written under the      
special impulse of the ,holy ,ghost     
remain safe and profitable4  ,nay1 in   
the sense1 and with the feelings1 in    
which it was asserted1 it was a         
truth--a truth to which every spiritual 
believer now and in all times will  bear
 witness by virtue of his own           
experience4  ,and if in the overflow of 
love and gratitude they confounded the  
power and presence of the ,holy         
,spirit1 working alike in weakness and  

in strength1 in the morning mists  and  
in the clearness of the full day2 if    
they confounded this communion  and     
co-agency of divine grace1 attributable 
to the ,scripture generally1  with those
 express1 and expressly recorded1       
communications and messages  of the     
,most ,high which form so large and     
prominent a portion of the same         
,scriptures2 if1 in short1 they did not 
always duly distinguish the             
inspiration1 the imbreathment1 of the   
predisposing and assisting ,,spirit     
from the revelation of the informing    
,,word1 it was at worst a harmless      
hyperbole4  ,it was holden by all1 that 
if the power of the ,spirit from        
without furnished the text1 the grace of
 the same ,spirit from within must      
supply the comment4    ,in the sacred   
,volume they saw and reverenced the     
bounden wheat-sheaf that  stood upright 
and had obeisance from all the other    
sheaves 7the  writings1 ,i mean1 of the 
,fathers and ,doctors of the ,church71  

sheaves  depreciated indeed1 more or    
less1 with tares1                       
8and furrow-weeds1      ,darnel and many
 an idle flower that grew      ,mid the 
sustaining corn20    yet sheaves of the 
same harvest1 the sheaves of brethren6  
,nor did it  occur to them1 that1 in    
yielding the more full and absolute     
honour to the  sheaf of the highly      
favoured of their ,father1 they should  
be supposed to  attribute the same worth
 and quality to the straw-bands which   
held it  together4  ,the bread of life  
was there4  ,and this in an especial    
sense  was bread from ,heaven2 for no   
where had the same been found wild2 no  
soil or climate dared claim it for its  
natural growth4  ,in simplicity of      
heart they received the ,bible as the   
precious gift of ,god1 providential     
alike in origin1 preservation1 and      
distribution1 without asking the nice   
question whether all and every part were
 likewise miraculous4  ,the  distinction
 between the providential and the       

miraculous1 between the  ,divine ,will  
working with the agency of natural      
causes1 and the same ,will  supplying   
their place by a special fiat--this     
distinction has1 ,i doubt  not1 many    
uses in speculative divinity4  ,but its 
weightiest practical  application is    
shown1 when it is employed to free the  
souls of the unwary  and weak in faith  
from the nets and snares1 the insidious 
queries and  captious objections1 of the
 ,infidel by calming the flutter of     
their  spirits4  ,they must be quieted1 
before we can commence the means        
necessary for their disentanglement4    
,and in no way can this be better       
effected than when the frightened       
captives are made to see in how many    
points the disentangling itself is a    
work of expedience rather than of       
necessity2 so easily and at so little   
loss might the web be cut or  brushed   
away4    ,first1 let their attention be 
fixed on the history of ,christianity as
  learnt from universal tradition1 and  

the writers of each successive          
generation4  ,draw their minds to the   
fact of the progressive and still       
continuing fulfilment of the assurance  
of a few fishermen1 that both  their own
 religion1 though of ,divine origin1 and
 the religion of their  conquerors1     
which included or recognised all other  
religious of the known  world1 should be
 superseded by the faith in a man       
recently and  ignominiously executed4   
,then induce them to meditate on the    
universals  of ,christian ,faith--on    
,christianity taken as the sum of belief
 common to  ,greek and ,latin1 to       
,romanist and ,protestant4  ,show them  
that this and  only this is the ordo    
traditionis1 quam tradiderunt ,apostoli 
iis  quibus committebant ecclesias1 and 
which we should have been bound to      
follow1 says ,irenus1 si neque ,apostoli
 quidem ,scripturas reliquissent4  ,this
 is that regula fidei1 that sacramentum 
symboli memori mandatum1  of which ,st4 
,augustine says3--noveritis hoc esse    

,fidei ,catholic  fundamentum super quod
 edificium surrexit ,ecclesi4  ,this is 
the norma  ,catholici et ,ecclesiastici 
sensus1 determined and explicated1 but  
not  augmented1 by the ,nicene ,fathers1
 as ,waterland has irrefragably shown2 a
  norm or model of ,faith grounded on   
the solemn affirmations of the ,bishops 
collected from all parts of the ,roman  
,empire1 that this was the essential    
and unalterable ,gospel received by them
 from their predecessors in all  the    
churches as the   cui1 says ,irenus1    
assentiunt mult gentes eorum qui in     
,christum credunt sine charta et        
atramento1 scriptam habentes per        
,spiritum in cordibus suis salutem1  et 
veterum traditionem diligenter          
custodientes4  ,let the attention of    
such as have been shaken by the assaults
 of infidelity be thus directed1  and   
then tell me wherein a spiritual        
physician would be blameworthy1 if  he  
carried on the cure by addressing his   
patient in this manner3--    8,all men  

of learning1 even learned unbelievers1  
admit that the greater  part of the     
objections1 urged in the popular works  
of infidelity1 to this  or that verse or
 chapter of the ,bible1 prove only the  
ignorance or  dishonesty of the         
objectors4  ,but let it be supposed for 
a moment that a  few remain hitherto    
unanswered--nay1 that to your judgment  
and feelings  they appear unanswerable4 
,what follows8  ,that the ,apostles' and
 ,nicene  ,creed is not credible1 the   
,ten ,commandments not to be obeyed1 the
 clauses  of the ,lord's ,prayer not to 
be desired1 or the ,sermon on the ,mount
 not to  be practised8  ,see how the    
logic would look4  ,david cruelly       
tortured the  inhabitants of ,rabbah 7#b
 ,sam4 xii4 #ca2 #a ,chron4 xx4 #c71 and
 in several of  the ,psalms he invokes  
the bitterest curses on his enemies3    
therefore it  is not to be believed that
 the love of ,god toward us was         
manifested in  sending ,his only        
begotten ,son into the world1 that we   

might live  through ,him 7#a ,john iv4  
#i74  ,or1 ,abijah is said to have      
collected an  army of #djj1jjj men1 and 
,jeroboam to have met him with an army  
of #hjj1jjj  men1 each army consisting  
of chosen men 7#b ,chron4 xiii4 #c71 and
 making  together a host of #a1bjj1jjj1 
and ,abijah to have slain #ejj1jjj out  
of the  #hjj1jjj3 therefore1 the words  
which admonish us that if ,god so loved 
us1 we ought also to love one another   
7#a ,john iv4 #aa71 even our  enemies1  
yea1 to bless them that curse us1 and to
 do good to them that  hate us 7,matt4  
v4 #dd71 cannot proceed from the ,holy  
,spirit4  ,or3 ,the  first six chapters 
of the book of ,daniel contain several  
words and  phrases irreconcilable with  
the commonly received dates1 and those  
chapters and the ,book of ,esther have a
 traditional and legendary  character   
unlike that of the other historical     
books of the ,old ,testament2  therefore
 those other books1 by contrast with    
which the former appear  suspicious1 and

 the historical document 7#a ,cor4 xv4  
#a-h71 are not to be  credited60    ,we 
assuredly believe that the ,bible       
contains all truths necessary to        
salvation1 and that therein is preserved
 the undoubted ,word of ,god4  ,we      
assert likewise that1 besides these     
express oracles and immediate           
revelations1 there are ,scriptures which
 to the soul and conscience of  every   
,christian man bear irresistible        
evidence of the ,divine ,spirit         
assisting and actuating the authors2 and
 that both these and the former  are    
such as to render it morally impossible 
that any passage of the small           
inconsiderable portion1 not included in 
one or other of these1 can supply       
either ground or occasion of any error  
in faith1 practice1 or affection1       
except to those who wickedly and        
wilfully seek a pretext for their       
unbelief4  ,and if in that small portion
 of the ,bible which stands in no       
necessary connection with the known and 

especial ends and purposes of the       
,scriptures1 there should be a few      
apparent errors resulting from the      
state of knowledge then existing--errors
 which the best and holiest men  might  
entertain uninjured1 and which without a
 miracle those men must  have           
entertained2 if ,i find no such         
miraculous prevention asserted1 and  see
 no reason for supposing it--may ,i not1
 to ease the scruples of a  perplexed   
inquirer1 venture to say to him2 8,be it
 so4  ,what then8  ,the  absolute       
infallibility even of the inspired      
writers in matters altogether           
incidental and foreign to the objects   
and purposes of their inspiration  is no
 part of my creed3 and even if a        
professed divine should follow the      
doctrine of the ,jewish ,church so far  
as not to attribute to the              
,hagiographa1 in every word and         
sentence1 the same height and fulness of
  inspiration as to the ,law and the    
,prophets1 ,i feel no warrant to brand  

him as a heretic for an opinion1 the    
admission of which disarms the  infidel 
without endangering a single article of 
the ,catholic ,faith40--,if  to an      
unlearned but earnest and thoughtful    
neighbour ,i give the  advice2--8,use   
the ,old ,testament to express the      
affections excited1 and to  confirm the 
faith and morals taught you1 in the     
,new1 and leave all the  rest to the    
students and professors of theology and 
,church history6  ,you  profess only to 
be a ,christian30--am ,i misleading my  
brother in ,christ8    ,this ,i believe 
by my own dear experience--that the more
 tranquilly an  inquirer takes up the   
,bible as he would any other body of    
ancient  writings1 the livelier and     
steadier will be his impressions of its 
superiority to all other books1 till at 
length all other books and all  other   
knowledge will be valuable in his eyes  
in proportion as they help  him to a    
better understanding of his ,bible4     
,difficulty after difficulty  has been  

overcome from the time that ,i began to 
study the ,scriptures with  free and    
unboding spirit1 under the conviction   
that my faith in the  ,incarnate ,word  
and ,his ,gospel was secure1 whatever   
the result might  be2--the difficulties 
that still remain being so few and      
insignificant in  my own estimation1    
that ,i have less personal interest in  
the question  than many of those who    
will most dogmatically condemn me for   
presuming to  make a question of it4    
,so much for scholars--for men of like  
education and pursuits as myself4  ,with
 respect to ,christians generally1 ,i   
object to the consequence drawn  from   
the doctrine rather than to the doctrine
 itself2--a consequence not  only       
deducible from the premises1 but        
actually and imperiously deduced2       
according to which every man that can   
but read is to sit down to the          
consecutive and connected perusal of the
 ,bible under the expectation and       
assurance that the whole is within his  

comprehension1 and that1 unaided  by    
note or comment1 catechism or liturgical
 preparation1 he is to find  out for    
himself what he is bound to believe and 
practise1 and that  whatever he         
conscientiously understands by what he  
reads is to be his  religion4  ,for he  
has found it in his ,bible1 and the     
,bible is the  ,religion of             
,protestants6    ,would ,i then withhold
 the ,bible from the cottager and the   
artisan8--,heaven  forfend6  ,the       
fairest flower that ever clomb up a     
cottage window is not  so fair a sight  
to my eyes as the ,bible gleaming       
through the lower panes4  ,let it but be
 read as by such men it used to be read2
 when they came to  it as to a ground   
covered with manna1 even the bread which
 the ,lord had  given for his people to 
eat2 where he that gathered much had    
nothing  over1 and he that gathered     
little had no lack4  ,they gathered     
every man  according to his eating4     
,they came to it as to a treasure-house 

of  ,scriptures2 each visitant taking   
what was precious and leaving as        
precious for others2--,yea1 more1 says  
our worthy old ,church-historian1       
,fuller1 where 8the same man at several 
times may in his apprehension  prefer   
several ,scriptures as best1 formerly   
most affected with one place1  for the  
present more delighted with another1 and
 afterwards1 conceiving  comfort therein
 not so clear1 choose other places as   
more pregnant and  pertinent to his     
purpose4  ,thus ,god orders it1 that    
divers men 7and  perhaps the same man at
 divers times71 make use of all ,his    
gifts1  gleaning and gathering comfort  
as it is scattered through the whole    
field  of the ,scripture40              
,farewell4        ,,letter ,,vii4       
,,you are now1 my dear friend1 in       
possession of my whole mind on this     
point--one thing only excepted which has
 weighed with me more than all the      
rest1 and which ,i have therefore       
reserved for my concluding letter4      

,this  is the impelling principle or way
 of thinking1 which ,i have in most     
instances noticed in the assertors of   
what ,i have ventured to call           
,bibliolatry1 and which ,i believe to be
 the main ground of its prevalence  at  
this time1 and among men whose religious
 views are anything rather  than        
enthusiastic4  ,and ,i here take        
occasion to declare1 that my  conviction
 of the danger and injury of this       
principle was and is my chief  motive   
for bringing the doctrine itself into   
question2 the main error of  which      
consists in the confounding of two      
distinct conceptions--revelation  by the
 ,eternal ,word1 and actuation of the   
,holy ,spirit4  ,the former indeed  is  
not always or necessarily united with   
the latter--the prophecy of  ,balaam is 
an instance of the contrary1--but yet   
being ordinarily1 and only  not always1 
so united1 the term1 8,inspiration10 has
 acquired a double  sense4    ,first1   
the term is used in the sense of        

,information miraculously  communicated 
by voice or vision2 and secondly1 where 
without any sensible  addition or       
infusion1 the writer or speaker uses and
 applies his existing  gifts of power   
and knowledge under the predisposing1   
aiding1 and  directing actuation of     
,god's ,holy ,spirit4  ,now1 between the
 first sense1  that is1 inspired        
revelation1 and the highest degree of   
that grace and  communion with the      
,spirit which the ,church under all     
circumstances1 and  every regenerate    
member of the ,church of ,christ1 is    
permitted to hope and  instructed to    
pray for1 there is a positive difference
 of kind--a chasm1  the pretended       
overleaping of which constitutes        
imposture1 or betrays  insanity4  ,of   
the first kind are the ,law and the     
,prophets1 no jot or  tittle of which   
can pass unfulfilled1 and the substance 
and last  interpretation of which passes
 not away2 for they wrote of ,christ1   
and  shadowed out the everlasting       

,gospel4  ,but with regard to the       
second1  neither the holy writers--the  
so-called ,hagiographi--themselves1 nor 
any  fair interpretations of ,scripture1
 assert any such absolute diversity1 or 
enjoin the belief of any greater        
difference of degree1 than the          
experience of the ,christian ,world1    
grounded on and growing with the        
comparison of these ,scriptures with    
other works holden in honour by the     
,churches1 has established4  ,and this  
difference ,i admit1 and doubt not  that
 it has in every generation been        
rendered evident to as many as read     
these ,scriptures under the gracious    
influence of the spirit in which they   
were written4    ,but alas6 this is not 
sufficient2 this cannot but be vague and
  unsufficing to those with whom the    
,christian religion is wholly           
objective1 to the exclusion of all its  
correspondent subjective4  ,it must     
appear vague1 ,i say1 to those whose    
,christianity as matter of belief is    

wholly external1 and like the objects of
 sense1 common to all alike2  altogether
 historical1 an opus operatum--its      
existing and present  operancy in no    
respect differing from any other fact of
 history1 and not  at all modified by   
the supernatural principle in which it  
had its origin  in time4  ,divines of   
this persuasion are actually1 though    
without their  own knowledge1 in a state
 not dissimilar to that into which the  
,latin  ,church sank deeper amid deeper 
from the sixth to the fourteenth        
century2  during which time religion was
 likewise merely objective and          
superstitious--a letter proudly         
emblazoned and illuminated1 but yet a   
dead  letter that was to be read by its 
own outward glories without the light   
of the ,spirit in the mind of the       
believer4  ,the consequence was too     
glaring not to be anticipated1 and1 if  
possible1 prevented4  ,without that     
spirit in each true believer1 whereby we
 know the spirit of truth and the       

spirit of error in all things           
appertaining to salvation1 the          
consequence  must be--so many men1 so   
many minds6  ,and what was the antidote 
which the  ,priests and ,rabbis of this 
purely objective ,faith opposed to this 
peril8  ,why1 an objective1 outward     
,infallibility1 concerning which1       
however1 the  differences were scarcely 
less or fewer than those which it was to
 heal2  an ,infallibility which taken   
literally and unqualified1 became the   
source  of perplexity to the            
well-disposed1 of unbelief to the       
wavering1 and of  scoff and triumph to  
the common enemy1 and which was1        
therefore1 to be  qualified and limited1
 and then it meant so munch and so      
little that to  men of plain            
understandings and single hearts it     
meant nothing at all4  ,it resided here4
  ,no6 there4  ,no6 but in a third      
subject4  ,nay6 neither  here1 nor      
there1 nor in the third1 but in all     
three conjointly6    ,but even this     

failed to satisfy2 and what was the     
final resource--the  doctrine of those  
who would not be called a ,protestant   
,church1 but in  which doctrine the     
,fathers of ,protestantism in ,england  
would have found  little other fault1   
than that it might be affirmed as truly 
of the  decisions of any other bishop as
 of the ,bishop of ,rome8  ,the final   
resource was to restore what ought never
 to have been removed--the              
correspondent subjective1 that is1 the  
assent and confirmation of the  ,spirit 
promised to all true believers1 as      
proved and manifested in the  reception 
of such decision by the ,church         
,universal in all its rightful  members4
    ,i comprise and conclude the sum of 
my conviction in this one sentence4     
,revealed religion 7and ,i know of no   
religion not revealed7 is in its        
highest contemplation the unity1 that   
is1 the identity or co-inherence1  of   
subjective and objective4  ,it is in    
itself1 and irrelatively at once  inward

 life and truth1 and outward fact and   
luminary4  ,but as all power  manifests 
itself in the harmony of correspondent  
opposites1 each  supposing and          
supporting the other2 so has religion   
its objective1 or  historic and         
ecclesiastical pole and its subjective1 
or spiritual and  individual pole4  ,in 
the miracles and miraculous parts of    
religion--both  in the first            
communication of ,divine truths1 and in 
the promulgation of  the truths thus    
communicated--we have the union of the  
two1 that is1 the  subjective and       
supernatural displayed                  
objectively--outwardly and              
phenomenally--as subjective and         
supernatural4    ,lastly1 in the        
,scriptures1 as far as they are not     
included in the above  as miracles1 and 
in the mind of the believing and        
regenerate reader and  meditater1 there 
is proved to us the reciprocity or      
reciprocation of the  spirit as         
subjective and objective1 which in      

conformity with the scheme  proposed by 
me1 in aid of distinct conception and   
easy recollection1 ,i  have named the   
,indifference4  ,what ,i mean by this1 a
 familiar  acquaintance with the more   
popular parts of ,luther's works1       
especially  his 8,commentaries10 and the
 delightful volume of his 8,table       
,talk10 would  interpret for me better  
than ,i can do for myself4  ,but ,i do  
my best1 when  ,i say that no ,christian
 probationer1 who is earnestly working  
out his  salvation1 and experiences the 
conflict of the spirit with the evil and
  the infirmity within him and around   
him1 can find his own state brought     
before him1 and1 as it were1 antedated1 
in writings reverend even for  their    
antiquity and enduring permanence1 and  
far more and more abundantly            
consecrated by the reverence1 love1 and 
grateful testimonies of good men1       
through the long succession of ages1 in 
every generation1 and under all  states 
of minds and circumstances of fortune1  

that no man1 ,i say1 can  recognise his 
own inward experiences in such writings1
 and not find an  objectiveness1 a      
confirming and assuring outwardness1 and
 all the main  characters of reality    
reflected therefrom on the spirit1      
working in  himself and in his own      
thoughts1 emotions1 and aspirations1    
warring  against sin and the motions of 
sin4  ,the unsubstantial1 insulated self
  passes away as a stream2 but these are
 the shadows and reflections of the     
,rock of ,ages1 and of the ,tree of     
,life that starts forth from its side4  
,on the other hand1 as much of reality1 
as much of objective truth1 as the      
,scriptures communicate to the          
subjective experiences of the believer1 
so  much of present life1 of living and 
effective import1 do these  experiences 
give to the letter of these ,scriptures4
  ,in the one the  ,spirit itself       
beareth witness with our spirit1 that we
 have received the  spirit of adoption2 
in the other our spirit bears witness to

 the power  of the ,word1 that it is    
indeed the ,spirit that proceedeth from 
,god4  ,if  in the holy men thus        
actuated all imperfection of knowledge1 
all  participation in the mistakes and  
limits of their several ages had been   
excluded1 how could these writings be or
 become the history and example1  the   
echo and more lustrous image of the work
 and warfare of the  sanctifying        
principle in us8  ,if after all this1   
and in spite of all  this1 some captious
 litigator should lay hold of a text    
here or there--,st4  ,paul's cloak left 
at ,troas with ,carpus1 or a verse from 
the ,canticles1  and ask1 8,of what     
spiritual use is this80--the answer is  
ready3--,it proves  to us that nothing  
can be so trifling1 as not to supply an 
evil heart  with a pretext for unbelief4
    ,archbishop ,leighton has observed  
that the ,church has its extensive and  
intensive states1 and that they seldom  
fall together4  ,certain it is1  that   
since kings have been her nursing       

fathers1 and queens her nursing         
mothers1 our theologians seem to act in 
the spirit of fear rather than in  that 
of faith2 and too often1 instead of     
inquiring after the truth in the        
confidence that whatever is truth must  
be fruitful of good to all who  are in  
,him that is true1 they seek with vain  
precautions to guard  against the       
possible inferences which perverse and  
distempered minds may  pretend1 whose   
whole ,christianity--do what we will--is
 and will remain  nothing but a         
pretence4    ,you have now my entire    
mind on this momentous question1 the    
grounds on  which it rests1 and the     
motives which induce me to make it      
known2 and ,i  now conclude by repeating
 my request3 ,correct me1 or confirm me4
                                        
,farewell4          ,,essay ,,on        
,,faith4      ,,faith may be defined as 
fidelity to our own being1 so far as    
such being  is not and cannot become an 
object of the senses2 and hence1 by     

clear  inference or implication to being
 generally1 as far as the same is not   
the object of the senses2 and again to  
whatever is affirmed or understood  as  
the condition1 or concomitant1 or       
consequence of the same4  ,this will  be
 best explained by an instance or       
example4  ,that ,i am conscious of      
something within me peremptorily        
commanding me to do unto others as ,i   
would they should do unto me2 in other  
words a categorical 7that is1  primary  
and unconditional7 imperative2 that the 
maxim 7regula maxima1  or supreme rule7 
of my actions1 both inward and outward1 
should be such  as ,i could1 without any
 contradiction arising therefrom1 will  
to be the  law of all moral and rational
 beings4  ,this1 ,i say1 is a fact of   
which ,i  am no less conscious 7though  
in a different way71 nor less assured1  
than  ,i am of any appearance presented 
by my outward senses4  ,nor is this all2
  but in the very act of being conscious
 of this in my own nature1 ,i know  that

 it is a fact of which all men either   
are or ought to be conscious2 a  fact1  
the ignorance of which constitutes      
either the non-personality of  the      
ignorant1 or the guilt2 in which latter 
case the ignorance is  equivalent to    
knowledge wilfully darkened4  ,i know   
that ,i possess this  knowledge as a    
man1 and not as ,samuel ,taylor         
,coleridge2 hence1 knowing  that        
consciousness of this fact is the root  
of all other consciousness1  and the    
only practical contradistinction of man 
from the brutes1 we name  it the        
conscience1 by the natural absence or   
presumed presence of which  the law1    
both ,divine and human1 determines      
whether ,x ,y ,z be a thing or a        
person2 the conscience being that which 
never to have had places the  objects in
 the same order of things as the brutes1
 for example1 idiots1  and to have lost 
which implies either insanity or        
apostasy4  ,well1 this  we have affirmed
 is a fact of which every honest man is 

as fully assured  as of his seeing1     
hearing1 or smelling4  ,but though the  
former assurance  does not differ from  
the latter in the degree1 it is         
altogether diverse  in the kind2 the    
senses being morally passive1 while the 
conscience is  essentially connected    
with the will1 though not always1 nor   
indeed in any  case1 except after       
frequent attempts and aversions of will 
dependent on  the choice4  ,thence we   
call the presentations of the senses    
impressions1  those of the conscience   
commands or dictates4  ,in the senses we
 find our  receptivity1 and as far as   
our personal being is concerned1 we are 
passive1 but in the fact of the         
conscience we are not only agents1 but  
it  is by this alone that we know       
ourselves to be such--nay1 that our very
  passiveness in this latter is an act  
of passiveness1 and that we are  patient
 7patientes71 not1 as in the other case1
 simply passive4    ,the result is the  
consciousness of responsibility1 and the

 proof is  afforded by the inward       
experience of the diversity between     
regret and  remorse4    ,if ,i have     
sound ears1 and my companion speaks to  
me with a due proportion  of voice1 ,i  
may persuade him that ,i did not hear1  
but cannot deceive  myself4  ,but when  
my conscience speaks to me1 ,i can by   
repeated efforts  render myself finally 
insensible2 to which add this other     
difference1  namely1 that to make myself
 deaf is one and the same thing with    
making my  conscience dumb1 till at     
length ,i became unconscious of my      
conscience4  ,frequent are the instances
 in which it is suspended1 and1 as it   
were1  drowned in the inundation of the 
appetites1 passions1 and imaginations to
  which ,i have resigned myself1 making 
use of my will in order to abandon  my  
free-will2 and there are not1 ,i fear1  
examples wanting of the  conscience     
being utterly destroyed1 or of the      
passage of wickedness into  madness2    
that species of madness1 namely1 in     

which the reason is lost4  ,for so long 
as the reason continues1 so long must   
the conscience exist1  either as a good 
conscience or as a bad conscience4      
,it appears1 then1 that even the very   
first step--that the initiation of  the 
process1 the becoming conscious of a    
conscience--partakes of the  nature of  
an act4  ,it is an act in and by which  
we take upon ourselves an  allegiance1  
and consequently the obligation of      
fealty2 and this fealty or  fidelity    
implying the power of being unfaithful1 
it is the first and  fundamental sense  
of faith4  ,it is likewise the          
commencement of  experience1 and the    
result of all other experience4  ,in    
other words1  conscience in this its    
simplest form1 must be supposed in order
 to  consciousness1 that is1 to human   
consciousness4  ,brutes may be and are  
scions1 but those beings only who have  
an ,i1 scire possunt hoc vel illud  una 
cum seipsis2 that is1 conscire vel scire
 aliquid mecum1 or to know  a thing in  

relation to myself1 and in the act of   
knowing myself as acted  upon by that   
something4    ,now the third person     
could never have been distinguished from
 the first  but by means of the second4 
,there can be no ,he without a previous 
,thou4  ,much less could an ,i exist for
 us except as it exists during the      
suspension of the will1 as in dreams2   
and the nature of brutes may be  best   
understood by considering them as       
somnambulists4  ,this is a deep         
meditation1 though the position is      
capable of the strictest proof1  namely1
 that there can be no ,i without a      
,thou1 and that a ,thou is only         
possible by an equation in which ,i is  
taken as equal to ,thou1 and yet not    
the same4  ,and this1 again1 is only    
possible by putting them in  opposition 
as correspondent opposites1 or          
correlatives4  ,in order to  this1 a    
something must be affirmed in the one   
which is rejected in the  other1 and    
this something is the will4  ,i do not  

will to consider myself  as equal to    
myself1 for in the very act of          
constructing myself ,i1 ,i  take it as  
the same1 and therefore as incapable of 
comparison1 that is1  of any application
 of the will4  ,if1 then1 ,i minus the  
will be the  thesis1 ,thou1 plus will1  
must be the antithesis1 but the equation
  of ,thou with ,i1 by means of a free  
act1 negativing the sameness in order   
to establish the equality1 is the true  
definition of conscience4  ,but as      
without a ,thou there can be no ,you1 so
 without a ,you no ,they1 ,these1 or    
,those2 and as all these conjointly form
 the materials and subjects of          
consciousness and the conditions of     
experience1 it is evident that          
conscience is the root of all           
consciousness-- fortiori1 the           
precondition of all experience--and that
 the conscience cannot have been  in its
 first revelation deduced from          
experience4    ,soon1 however1          
experience comes into play4  ,we learn  

that there are other  impulses beside   
the dictates of conscience1 that there  
are powers within  us and without us    
ready to usurp the throne of conscience1
 and busy in  tempting us to transfer   
our allegiance4  ,we learn that there   
are many  things contrary to conscience1
 and therefore to be rejected and       
utterly  excluded1 and many that can    
coexist with its supremacy only by being
  subjugated as beasts of burthen2 and  
others again1 as for instance the       
social tendernesses and affections1 and 
the faculties and excitations of  the   
intellect1 which must be at least       
subordinated4  ,the preservation of  our
 loyalty and fealty under these trials1 
and against these rivals1  constitutes  
the second sense of faith2 and we shall 
need but one more  point of view to     
complete its full import4  ,this is the 
consideration of  what is presupposed in
 the human conscience4  ,the answer is  
ready4  ,as in  the equation of the     
correlative ,i and ,thou1 one of the    

twin constituents  is to be taken as    
plus will1 the other as minus will1 so  
is it here2  and it is obvious that the 
reason or super-individual of each man1 
whereby he is a man1 is the factor we   
are to take as minus will1 and  that the
 individual will or personalising       
principle of free agency  78arbitrement0
 is ,milton's word7 is the factor marked
 plus will2 and  again1 that as the     
identity or co-inherence of the absolute
 will and the  reason1 is the peculiar  
character of ,god1 so is the synthesis  
of the  individual will and the common  
reason1 by the subordination of the     
former  to the latter1 the only possible
 likeness or image of the prothesis or  
identity1 and therefore the required    
proper character of man4  ,conscience1  
then1 is a witness respecting the       
identity of the will and  the reason1   
effected by the self-subordination of   
the will or self to the  reason1 as     
equal to or representing the will of    
,god4  ,but the personal  will is a     

factor in other moral synthesis1 for    
example1 appetite plus  personal will   
sensuality2 lust of power1 plus personal
 will   ambition1 and so on1 equally as 
in the synthesis on which the           
conscience is grounded4  ,not this1     
therefore1 but the other synthesis1     
must supply the specific character of   
the conscience1 and we must enter  into 
an analysis of reason4  ,such as the    
nature and objects of the reason  are1  
such must be the functions and objects  
of the conscience4  ,and the  former we 
shall best learn by recapitulating those
 constituents of the  total man which   
are either contrary to or disparate from
 the reason4    ,i4  ,reason1 and the   
proper objects of reason1 are wholly    
alien from  sensation4  ,reason is      
supersensual1 and its antagonist is     
appetite1 and  the objects of appetite  
the lust of the flesh4    ,,ii4  ,reason
 and its objects do not appertain to the
 world of the senses1  inward or        
outward2 that is1 they partake not of   

sense or fancy4  ,reason  is            
supersensuous1 and here its antagonist  
is the lust of the eye4    ,,iii4       
,reason and its objects are not things  
of reflection1 association1  discursion1
 discourse in the old sense of the word 
as opposed to  intuition2 8discursive or
 intuitive10 as ,milton has it4  ,reason
 does not  indeed necessarily exclude   
the finite1 either in time or in space1 
but it  includes them eminenter4  ,thus 
the prime mover of the material universe
  is affirmed to contain all motion as  
its cause1 but not to be1 or to  suffer1
 motion in itself4    ,reason is not the
 faculty of the finite4  ,but here ,i   
must premise the  following4  ,the      
faculty of the finite is that which     
reduces the confused  impressions of    
sense to their essential                
forms--quantity1 quality1  relation1 and
 in these action and reaction1 cause and
 effect1 and the  like2 thus raises the 
materials furnished by the senses and   
sensations  into objects of reflection1 

and so makes experience possible4       
,without  it1 man's representative      
powers would be a delirium1 a chaos1 a  
scudding  cloudage of shapes2 and it is 
therefore most appropriately called the 
understanding1 or substantiative        
faculty4  ,our elder metaphysicians1    
down  to ,hobbes inclusively1 called    
this likewise discourse1 discuvsus      
discursio1 from its mode of action as   
not staying at any one object1 but      
running1 as it were1 to and fro to      
abstract1 generalise1 and classify4     
,now when this faculty is employed in   
the service of the pure reason1 it      
brings out the necessary and universal  
truths contained in the infinite  into  
distinct contemplation by the pure act  
of the sensuous  imagination--that is1  
in the production of the forms of space 
and time  abstracted from all           
corporeity1 and likewise of the inherent
 forms of the  understanding itself     
abstractedly from the consideration of  
particulars1  as in the case of         

geometry1 numeral mathematics1 universal
 logic1 and  pure metaphysics4  ,the    
discursive faculty then becomes what our
  ,shakespeare1 with happy precision1   
calls 8discourse of reason40    ,we will
 now take up our reasoning again from   
the words 8motion in  itself40    ,it is
 evident1 then1 that the reason as the  
irradiative power1 and the              
representative of the infinite1 judges  
the understanding as the faculty  of the
 finite1 and cannot without error be    
judged by it4  ,when this is  attempted1
 or when the understanding in its       
synthesis with the personal  will1      
usurps the supremacy of the reason1 or  
affects to supersede the  reason1 it is 
then what ,st4 ,paul calls the mind of  
the flesh 7  71 or the wisdom of this   
world4  ,the result is1 that the reason 
is  superfinite2 and in this relation1  
its antagonist is the insubordinate     
understanding1 or mind of the flesh4    
,,iv4  ,reason1 as one with the absolute
 will 7,in the beginning was the        

,logos1 and the ,logos was with ,god1   
and the ,logos was ,god71 and  therefore
 for man the certain representative of  
the will of ,god1 is above  the will of 
man as an individual will4  ,we have    
seen in ,,iii4 that it  stands in       
antagonism to all mere particulars2 but 
here it stands in  antagonism to all    
mere individual interests as so many    
selves1 to the  personal will as seeking
 its objects in the manifestation of    
itself for  itself--sit pro ratione     
voluntas2--whether this be realised with
  adjuncts1 as in the lust of the flesh1
 and in the lust of the eye2 or  without
 adjuncts1 as in the thirst and pride of
 power1 despotism1  egoistic ambition4  
,the fourth antagonist1 then1 of reason1
 is the lust  of the will4              
,corollary4  ,unlike a million of       
tigers1 a million of men is very        
different from a million times one man4 
,each man in a numerous society  is not 
only coexistent with1 but virtually     
organised into1 the multitude  of which 

he is an integral part4  ,his idem is   
modified by the alter4  ,and there arise
 impulses and objects from this         
synthesis of the alter  et idem1 myself 
and my neighbour4  ,this1 again1 is     
strictly analogous to  what takes place 
in the vital organisation of the        
individual man4  ,the  cerebral system  
of the nerves has its correspondent     
antithesis in the  abdominal system3 but
 hence arises a synthesis of the two in 
the  pectoral system as the             
intermediate1 and1 like a drawbridge1 at
 once  conductor and boundary4  ,in the 
latter1 as objectised by the former1    
arise the emotions1 the affections1 and1
 in one word1 the passions1 as          
distinguished from the cognitions and   
appetites4  ,now1 the reason has  been  
shown to be superindividual1 generally1 
and therefore not less so  when the form
 of an individualisation subsists in the
 alter than when  it is confined to the 
idem2 not less when the emotions have   
their  conscious or believed object in  

another1 than when their subject is the 
individual personal self4  ,for though  
these emotions1 affections1             
attachments1 and the like1 are the      
prepared ladder by which the lower      
nature is taken up into1 and made to    
partake of1 the highest room--as we  are
 taught to give a feeling of reality to 
the higher per medium  commune with the 
lower1 and thus gradually to see the    
reality of the  higher 7namely1 the     
objects of reason71 and finally to know 
that the  latter are indeed1 and        
pre-eminently real1 as if you love your 
earthly  parents whom you see1 by these 
means you will learn to love your       
,heavenly  ,father who is               
invisible2--yet this holds good only so 
far as the reason is  the president1 and
 its objects the ultimate aim2 and cases
 may arise in  which the ,christ as the 
,logos1 or ,redemptive ,reason1         
declares1 ,he that  loves father or     
another more than ,me1 is not worthy of 
,me2 nay1 he  that can permit his       

emotions to rise to an equality with the
 universal  reason1 is in enmity with   
that reason4  ,here1 then1 reason       
appears as the  love of ,god2 and its   
antagonist is the attachment to         
individuals wherever  it exists in      
diminution of1 or in competition with1  
the love which is  reason4    ,in these 
five paragraphs ,i have enumerated and  
explained the several  powers or forces 
belonging or incidental to human nature1
 which in all  matters of reason the man
 is bound either to subjugate or        
subordinate to  reason4  ,the           
application to faith follows of its own 
accord4  ,the first  or most indefinite 
sense of faith is fidelity3 then        
fidelity under  previous contract or    
particular moral obligation4  ,in this  
sense faith is  fealty to a rightful    
superior3 faith is the duty of a        
faithful subject to  a rightful         
governor4  ,then it is allegiance in    
active service2 fidelity  to the liege  
lord under circumstances1 and amid the  

temptations of  usurpation1 rebellion1  
and intestine discord4  ,next we seek   
for that  rightful superior on our      
duties to whom all our duties to all    
other  superiors1 on our faithfulness to
 whom all our bounden relations to all  
other objects of fidelity1 are founded4 
,we must inquire after that duty  in    
which all others find their several     
degrees and dignities1 and from  which  
they derive their obligative force4  ,we
 are to find a superior1  whose rights1 
including our duties1 are presented to  
the mind in the very  idea of that      
,supreme ,being1 whose sovereign        
prerogatives are predicates  implied in 
the subjects1 as the essential          
properties of a circle are  co-assumed  
in the first assumption of a circle1    
consequently underived1  unconditional1 
and as rationally unsusceptible1 so     
probably prohibitive1  of all further   
question4  ,in this sense1 then1 faith  
is fidelity1 fealty1  allegiance of the 
moral nature to ,god1 in opposition to  

all usurpation1  and in resistance to   
all temptation to the placing any other 
claim above  or equal with our fidelity 
to ,god4    ,the will of ,god is the    
last ground and final aim of all our    
duties1 and  to that the whole man is to
 be harmonised by subordination1        
subjugation1  or suppression alike in   
commission and omission4  ,but the will 
of ,god1  which is one with the supreme 
intelligence1 is revealed to man through
  the conscience4  ,but the conscience1 
which consists in an inappellable       
bearing-witness to the truth and reality
 of our reason1 may legitimately  be    
construed with the term reason1 so far  
as the conscience is  prescriptive2     
while as approving or condemning1 it is 
the consciousness  of the subordination 
or insubordination1 the harmony or      
discord1 of the  personal will of man to
 and with the representative of the will
 of ,god4  ,this brings me to the last  
and fullest sense of faith1 that is1 the
  obedience of the individual will to   

the reason1 in the lust of the flesh  as
 opposed to the supersensual2 in the    
lust of the eye as opposed to the       
supersensuous2 in the pride of the      
understanding as opposed to the         
infinite2 in the   in contrariety to the
 spiritual truth2 in  the lust of the   
personal will as opposed to the absolute
 and universal2  and in the love of the 
creature1 as far as it is opposed to the
 love  which is one with the reason1    
namely1 the love of ,god4    ,thus1     
then1 to conclude4  ,faith subsists in  
the synthesis of the ,reason  and the   
individual ,will4  ,by virtue of the    
latter therefore1 it must be  an energy1
 and1 inasmuch as it relates to the     
whole moral man1 it must be  exerted in 
each and all of his constituents or     
incidents1 faculties and                
tendencies2--it must be a total1 not a  
partial--a continuous1 not a  desultory 
or occasional--energy4  ,and by virtue  
of the former1 that is  ,reason1 ,faith 
must be a ,light1 a form of knowing1 a  

beholding of truth4  ,in the            
incomparable words of the ,evangelist1  
therefore1 ,faith must be a  ,light     
originating in the ,logos1 or the       
substantial ,reason1 which is           
co-eternal and one with the ,holy ,will1
 and which ,light is at the same  time  
the ,life of men4  ,now1 as ,life is    
here the sum or collective of  all moral
 and spiritual acts1 in suffering1      
doing1 and being1 so is ,faith  the     
source and the sum1 the energy and the  
principle of the fidelity of  man to    
,god1 by the subordination of his human 
,will1 in all provinces of  his nature1 
to his ,reason1 as the sum of spiritual 
,truth1 representing  and manifesting   
the ,will ,divine4          ,,notes ,,on
 ,,the ,,book ,,of ,,common ,,prayer4   
,,prayer4      ,a ,,man may pray night  
and day1 and yet deceive himself2 but no
 man can be  assured of his sincerity   
who does not pray4  ,prayer is faith    
passing into  act2 a union of the will  
and the intellect realising in an       

intellectual  act4  ,it is the whole man
 that prays4  ,less than this is        
wishing1 or  lip-work2 a charm or a     
mummery4  ,pray always1 says the        
apostle3 that  is1 have the habit of    
prayer1 turning your thoughts into acts 
by  connecting them with the idea of the
 redeeming ,god1 and even so            
reconverting your actions into thoughts4
        ,,the ,,sacrament ,,of ,,the    
,,eucharist4      ,the best preparation 
for taking this sacrament1 better than  
any or all of  the books or tracts      
composed for this end1 is to read over  
and over  again1 and often on your      
knees--at all events with a kneeling and
 praying  heart--the ,gospel according  
to ,st4 ,john1 till your mind is        
familiarised to  the contemplation of   
,christ1 the ,redeemer and ,mediator of 
mankind1 yea1  of every creature1 as the
 living and self-subsisting ,word1 the  
very truth  of all true being1 and the  
very being of all enduring truth2 the   
reality1  which is the substance and    

unity of all reality2 the light which   
lighteth every man1 so that what we call
 reason is itself a light from  that    
light1 lumen a luce1 as the ,latin more 
distinctly expresses this  fact4  ,but  
it is not merely light1 but therein is  
life2 and it is the  life of ,christ1   
the co-eternal ,son of ,god1 that is the
 only true  life-giving light of men4   
,we are assured1 and we believe1 that   
,christ is  ,god2 ,god manifested in the
 flesh4  ,as ,god1 he must be present   
entire in  every creature2--7for how can
 ,god1 or indeed any spirit1 exist in   
parts87--but he is said to dwell in the 
regenerate1 to come to them who  receive
 him by faith in his name1 that is1 in  
his power and influence2  for this is   
the meaning of the word 8name0 in       
,scripture when applied to  ,god or his 
,christ4  ,where true belief exists1    
,christ is not only present  with or    
among us2--for so he is in every man1   
even the most wicked2--but to  us and   
for us4  ,that was the true light1 which

 lighteth every man that  cometh into   
the world4  ,he was in the world1 and   
the world was made  by him1 and the     
world knew him not4  ,but as many as    
received him1  to them gave he power to 
become the sons of ,god1 even to them   
that  believe in his name2 which were   
born1 not of blood1 nor of the will  of 
the flesh1 nor of the will of man1 but  
of ,god4  ,and the ,word was  made flesh
 and dwelt among us4  ,john i4 #i-ad4   
,again--,we will come unto  him1 and    
make our abode with him4  ,john xiv4    
#bc4  ,as truly and as  really as your  
soul resides constitutively in your     
living body1  personally and            
substantially does ,christ dwell in     
every regenerate man4    ,after this    
course of study1 you may then take up   
and peruse sentence by  sentence the    
communion service1 the best of all      
comments on the  ,scriptures            
appertaining to this mystery4  ,and this
 is the preparation  which will prove1  
with ,god's grace1 the surest preventive

 of1 or antidote  against1 the freezing 
poison1 the lethargising hemlock1 of the
 doctrine  of the ,sacramentaries1      
according to whom the ,eucharist is a   
mere  practical metaphor1 in which      
things are employed instead of          
articulated  sounds for the exclusive   
purpose of recalling to our minds the   
historical  fact of our ,lord's         
crucifixion2 in short--7the profaneness 
is with them1  not with me7--just the   
same as when ,protestants drink a glass 
of wine to  the glorious memory of      
,william ,,iii46  ,true it is that the  
remembrance is  one end of the          
sacrament2 but it is1 ,do this in       
remembrance of me1--of  all that ,christ
 was and is1 hath done and is still     
doing for fallen  mankind1 and1 of      
course1 of his crucifixion inclusively1 
but not of his  crucifixion alone4  #ad 
,december1 #ahbg4        ,,companion    
,,to ,,the ,,altar4      ,first1 then1  
that we may come to this heavenly feast 
holy1 and adorned  with the wedding     

garment1 ,matt4 xxii4 ii1 we must search
 our hearts1 and  examine our           
consciences1 not only till we see our   
sins1 but until we hate  them4    ,but  
what if a man1 seeing his sin1 earnestly
 desire to hate it8  ,shall he  not at  
the altar offer up at once his desire1  
and the yet lingering sin1  and seek for
 strength8  ,is not this sacrament      
medicine as well as food8  ,is it an end
 only1 and not likewise the means8  ,is 
it merely the  triumphal feast2 or is it
 not even more truly a blessed          
refreshment for  and during the         
conflict8    ,this confession of sins   
must not be in general terms only1 that 
we are  sinners with the rest of        
mankind1 but it must be a special       
declaration to  ,god of all our most    
heinous sins in thought1 word1 and deed4
    ,luther was of a different judgment4
  ,he would have us feel and groan      
under our sinfulness and utter          
incapability of redeeming ourselves from
  the bondage1 rather than hazard the   

pollution of our imaginations by a      
recapitulation and renewing of sins and 
their images in detail4  ,do not1  he   
says1 stand picking the flaws out one by
 one1 but plunge into the  river and    
drown them6--,i venture to be of        
,luther's doctrine4        ,,communion  
,,service4      ,in the first           
,exhortation1 before the words          
8meritorious ,cross and  ,passion10 ,i  
should propose to insert 8his assumption
 of humanity1 his  incarnation1 and40   
,likewise1 a little lower down1 after   
the word  8sustenance10 ,i would insert 
8as40  ,for not in that sacrament       
exclusively1 but in all the acts of     
assimilative faith1 of which the        
,eucharist is a solemn1 eminent1 and    
representative instance1 an instance    
and the symbol1 ,christ is our spiritual
 food and sustenance4        ,,marriage 
,,service4      ,marriage1 simply as    
marriage1 is not the means 8for the     
procreation of  children10 but for the  
humanisation of the offspring           

procreated4  ,therefore1 in the         
,declaration at the beginning1 after the
 words  8procreation of children10 ,i   
would insert1 8and as the means of      
securing  to the children procreated    
enduring care1 and that they may be10 c4
        ,,communion ,,of ,,the ,,sick4  
,third rubric at the end4        ,but if
 a man1 either by reason of extremity of
 sickness1 c4    ,i think this rubric1  
in what ,i conceive to be its true      
meaning1 a  precious doctrine1 as fully 
acquitting our ,church of all ,romish   
superstition1 respecting the nature of  
the ,eucharist1 in relation to the      
whole scheme of man's redemption4  ,but 
the latter part of it--8he doth eat  and
 drink the ,body and ,blood of our      
,saviour ,christ profitably to his      
soul's health1 although he do not       
receive the sacrament with his          
mouth0--seems to me very incautiously   
expressed1 and scarcely to be           
reconciled with the ,church's own       
definition of a sacrament in general4   

,for in such a case1 where is 8the      
outward and visible sign of the inward  
and spiritual grace given80        ,,xi4
  ,,sunday ,,after ,,trinity4           
,epistle4--l ,cor4 xv4 #a4              
,brethren1 ,i declare unto you the      
,gospel which ,i preached unto      you4
    ,why should the obsolete1 though    
faithful1 ,saxon translation of   be    
retained8  ,why not 8good tidings80     
,why thus change a most appropriate  and
 intelligible designation of the matter 
into a mere conventional name  of a     
particular book8    ,ib4        --how   
that ,christ died for our sins4    ,but 
the meaning of     is1 that ,christ died
 through  the sins1 and for the sinners4
  ,he died through our sins1 and we live
  through his righteousness4            
,gospel--,luke xviii4 #ad4        ,this 
man went down to his house justified    
rather than the other4    ,not simply   
justified1 observe2 but justified rather
 than the other1   1--that is1 less     
remote from salvation4        ,,xxv4    

,,sunday ,,after ,,trinity4             
,collect4        --that they1           
plenteously bringing forth the fruit of 
good works1 may      of thee be         
plenteously rewarded4    ,rather--8that 
with that enlarged capacity1 which      
without thee we cannot  acquire1 there  
may likewise be an increase of the gift1
 which from thee  alone we can wholly   
receive40        ,ps4 ,,viii4           
,v4 #b4  ,out of the mouth of very babes
 and sucklings hast thou      ordained  
strength1 because of thine enemies2 that
 thou mightest      still the enemy and 
the avenger4    ,to the dispensations of
 the twilight dawn1 to the first        
messengers of the  redeeming word1 the  
yet lisping utterers of light and life1 
a strength  and power were given because
 of the enemies1 greater and of more    
immediate influence1 than to the seers  
and proclaimers of a clearer day3  even 
as the first reappearing crescent of the
 eclipsed moon shines for  men with a   
keener brilliance than the following    

larger segments1  previously to its     
total emersion4    ,ib4 v4 #e4          
,thou madest him lower than the angels1 
to crown him with glory and             
worship4    ,power  idea  angel4        
,idea--power  man1 or ,prometheus4      
,ps4  ,,lxviii4          ,v4 #cd4       
,ascribe ye the power to ,god over      
,israel3 his worship and      strength  
is in the clouds4    ,the 8clouds10 in  
the symbolical language of the          
,scriptures1 mean the  events and course
 of things1 seemingly effects of human  
will or chance1  but overruled by       
,providence4        ,ps4  ,,lxxii4      
,this psalm admits no other             
interpretation but of ,christ1 as the   
,jehovah  incarnate4  ,in any other     
sense it would be a specimen of more    
than  ,persian or ,moghul hyperbole1 and
 bombast1 of which there is no other    
instance in ,scripture1 and which no    
,christian would dare to attribute to   
an inspired writer4  ,we know1 too1 that
 the elder ,jewish ,church ranked it    

among the ,messianic ,psalms4--,n4,b4   
,the word in ,st4 ,john and the ,name of
  the ,most ,high in the ,psalms are    
equivalent terms4        ,v4 #a4  ,give 
the king thy judgments1 ,o ,god2 and thy
 righteousness      unto the king's son4
    ,god of ,god1 ,light of ,light1 very
 ,god of very ,god1 the only begotten1  
the  ,son of ,god and ,god1 ,king of    
,kings1 and the ,son of the ,king of    
,kings6        ,ps4 ,,lxxiv4            
,v4 #b4  ,o think upon thy congregation1
 whom thou hast purchased and           
redeemed of old4    ,the ,lamb          
sacrificed from the beginning of the    
world1 the ,god-,man1 the  ,judge1 the  
self-promised ,redeemer to ,adam in the 
garden6        ,v4 #ae4  ,thou smotest  
the heads of the ,leviathan in pieces2  
and      gavest him to be meat for the  
people in the wilderness4    ,does this 
allude to any real tradition8  ,the     
,psalms appears to have been  composed  
shortly before the captivity of ,judah4 
,ps4 ,,lxxxii4 vv4 #f-g4      ,the      

reference which our ,lord made to these 
mysterious verses gives them  an        
especial interest4  ,the first apostasy1
 the fall of the angels1 is1  perhaps1  
intimated4        ,ps4 ,,lxxxvii4       
,i would fain understand this ,psalm2   
but first ,i must collate it word by    
word with the original ,hebrew4  ,it    
seems clearly ,messianic4        ,ps4   
,,lxxxviii4          ,vv4 #aj-ab4  ,dost
 thou show wonders among the dead1 or   
shall the      dead rise up again and   
praise thee8 c4    ,compare ,ezekiel    
xxxvii4        ,ps4 ,,civ4      ,i think
 the ,bible version might with advantage
 be substituted for this1  which in some
 parts is scarcely intelligible4        
,v4 #f4--the waters stand in the hills4 
,no2 stood above the mountains4  ,the   
reference is to the ,deluge4        ,ps4
 ,,cv4          ,v4 #c4--,let the heart 
of them rejoice that seek the ,lord4    
,if even to seek the ,lord be joy1 what 
will it be to find him8  ,seek me1 ,o   
,lord1 that ,i may be found by thee6    

,ps4 ,,cx4      ,v4 #b4--,the ,lord     
shall send the rod of thy power out of  
,sion2 7saying7  ,rule1 c4    ,v4 #c4   
,understand--8,thy people shall offer   
themselves willingly in the day  of     
conflict in holy clothing1 in their best
 array1 in their best arms and          
accoutrements4  ,as the dew from the    
womb of the morning1 in number and      
brightness like dew-drops1 so shall be  
thy youth1 or the youth of thee1  the   
young volunteer warriors40    ,v4 #e4   
8,he shall shake10 concuss1 concutiet   
reges die ir su4    ,v4 #f4  ,for 8smite
 in sunder1 or wound the heads20 some   
word answering to  the ,latin           
conquassare4    ,v4 #g4  ,for           
8therefore10 translate 8then shall he   
lift up his head again20  that is1 as a 
man languid and sinking from thirst and 
fatigue after  refreshment4             
,n4,b4--,i see no poetic discrepancy    
between vv4 #a and #e4        ,ps4      
,,cxviii4      ,to be interpreted of    
,christ's ,church4        ,ps4 ,,cxxvi4 

,v4 #e4  ,as the rivers in the south4   
,does this allude to the periodical     
rains8    ,as a transparency on some    
night of public rejoicing1 seen by      
common day1  with the lamps from within 
removed--even such would the ,psalms be 
to me  uninterpreted by the ,gospel4  ,o
 honoured ,mr4 ,hurwitz6  ,could ,i but 
make  you feel what grandeur1 what      
magnificence1 what an everlasting       
significance and import ,christianity   
gives to every fact of your national    
history--to every page of your sacred   
records6        ,,articles ,,of         
,,religion4      ,,xx4  ,it is mournful 
to think how many recent writers have   
criminated our  ,church in consequence  
of their ignorance and inadvertence in  
not knowing1  or not noticing1 the      
contradistinction here meant between    
power and  authority4  ,rites and       
ceremonies the ,church may ordain jure  
proprio3 on  matters of faith her       
judgment is to be received with         
reverence1 and not  gainsayed but after 

repeated inquiries1 and on weighty      
grounds4    ,,xxxvii4  ,it is lawful for
 ,christian men1 at the commandment of  
the  magistrate1 to wear weapons1 and to
 serve in wars4    ,this is a very good 
instance of an unseemly matter neatly   
wrapped up4  ,the good men recoiled from
 the plain words--8,it is lawful for    
,christian  men at the ,command of a    
king to slaughter as many ,christians as
 they  can60    ,well6  ,i could most   
sincerely subscribe to all these        
articles4  ,september1 #ahca4           
,a ,,nightly ,,prayer4  #ahca4          
,,almighty ,,god1 by thy eternal ,word  
my ,creator ,redeemer and ,preserver6   
who  hast in thy free communicative     
goodness glorified me with the          
capability  of knowing thee1 the one    
only absolute ,good1 the eternal ,i ,am1
 as the  author of my being1 and of     
desiring and seeking thee as its        
ultimate  end2--who1 when ,i fell from  
thee into the mystery of the false and  
evil  will1 didst not abandon me1 poor  

self-lost creature1 but in thy          
condescending mercy didst provide an    
access and a return to thyself1 even  to
 thee the ,holy ,one1 in thine only     
begotten ,son1 the way and the truth    
from everlasting1 and who took on       
himself humanity1 yea1 became flesh1    
even the man ,christ ,jesus1 that for   
man he might be the life and the        
resurrection6--,o ,giver of all good    
gifts1 who art thyself the one only     
absolute ,good1 from whom ,i have       
received whatever good ,i have1 whatever
  capability of good there is in me1 and
 from thee good alone1--from myself  and
 my own corrupted will all evil and the 
consequents of evil1--with  inward      
prostration of will1 mind1 and          
affections ,i adore thy infinite        
majesty2 ,i aspire to love thy          
transcendent goodness6--,in a deep sense
 of  my unworthiness1 and my unfitness  
to present myself before thee1 of eyes  
too pure to behold iniquity1 and whose  
light1 the beautitude of spirits        

conformed to thy will1 is a consuming   
fire to all vanity and  corruption2--but
 in the name of the ,lord ,jesus1 of the
 dear ,son of thy  love1 in whose       
perfect obedience thou deignest to      
behold as many as have  received the    
seed of ,christ into the body of this   
death2--,i offer this1 my  bounden      
nightly sacrifice of praise and         
thanksgiving1 in humble trust  that the 
fragrance of my ,saviour's righteousness
 may remove from it the  taint of my    
mortal corruption4  ,thy mercies have   
followed me through all  the hours and  
moments of my life2 and now ,i lift up  
my heart in awe and  thankfulness for   
the preservation of my life through the 
past day1 for  the alleviation of my    
bodily sufferings and languors1 for the 
manifold  comforts which thou hast      
reserved for me1 yea1 in thy fatherly   
compassion  hast rescued from the wreck 
of my own sins or sinful                
infirmities2--for the  kind and         
affectionate friends thou hast raised up

 for me1 especially for  those of this  
household1 for the mother and mistress  
of this family1  whose love to me hath  
been great and faithful1 and for the    
dear friend1  the supporter and sharer  
of my studies and researches2 but1 above
 all1  for the heavenly ,friend1 the    
crucified ,saviour1 the glorified       
,mediator1  ,christ ,jesus1 and for the 
heavenly ,comforter1 source of all      
abiding  comforts1 thy ,holy ,spirit6   
,o grant me the aid of thy ,spirit1 that
 ,i may  with a deeper faith1 a more    
enkindled love1 bless thee1 who through 
thy  ,son hast privileged me to call    
thee ,abba1 ,father6  ,o1 thou1 who hast
  revealed thyself in thy holy word as a
 ,god that hearest prayer2 before  whose
 infinitude all differences cease of    
great and small2 who like a  tender     
parent foreknowest all our wants1 yet   
listenest well-pleased to  the humble   
petitions of thy children2 who hast not 
alone permitted1 but  taught us2 to call
 on thee in all our needs1--earnestly ,i

 implore the  continuance of thy free   
mercy1 of thy protecting providence1    
through the  coming night4  ,thou       
hearest every prayer offered to thee    
believingly with  a penitent and sincere
 heart4  ,for thou in withholding       
grantest1 healest  in inflicting the    
wound1 yea1 turnest all to good for as  
many as truly  seek thee through        
,christ1 the ,mediator6  ,thy will be   
done6  ,but if it be  according to thy  
wise and righteous ordinances1 ,o shield
 me this night  from the assaults of    
disease1 grant me refreshment of sleep  
unvexed by  evil and distempered dreams2
 and if the purpose and aspiration of my
  heart be upright before thee1 who     
alone knowest the heart of man1 ,o in   
thy mercy vouchsafe me yet in this my   
decay of life an interval of ease  and  
strength2 if so 7thy grace disposing and
 assisting7 ,i may make  compensation to
 thy ,church for the unused talents thou
 hast entrusted to  me1 for the         
neglected opportunities which thy       

loving-kindness had  provided4  ,o let  
me be found a labourer in the vineyard1 
though of the  late hour1 when the ,lord
 and ,heir of the vintage1 ,christ      
,jesus1 calleth  for his servant4       
,our ,father1 c4    ,to thee1 great     
omnipresent ,spirit1 whose mercy is over
 all thy works1 who  now beholdest me1  
who hearest me1 who hast framed my heart
 to seek and to  trust in thee1 in the  
name of my ,lord and ,saviour ,christ   
,jesus1 ,i humbly  commit and commend my
 body1 soul1 and spirit4    ,glory be to
 thee1 ,o ,god6          ,a ,,sailor',s 
,,fortune4      ,,essay ,i4             
,fortuna plerumque est veluti           
,galaxia quarundam obscurarum           
,virtutum sine nomine4                  
,,bacon4                                
7,translation47--,fortune is for the    
most part but a galaxy or milky         
way1 as it were1 of certain obscure     
virtues without a name4    8,,does      
,fortune favour fools8  ,or how do you  
explain the origin of the  proverb1     

which1 differently worded1 is to be     
found in all the languages  of ,europe80
    ,this proverb admits of various     
explanations1 according to the mood of  
mind in which it is used4  ,it may arise
 from pity1 and the soothing  persuasion
 that ,providence is eminently watchful 
over the helpless1 and  extends an      
especial care to those who are not      
capable of caring for  themselves4  ,so 
used1 it breathes the same feeling as   
8,god tempers the  wind to the shorn    
lamb0--or the more sportive adage1 that 
8the fairies  take care of children and 
tipsy folk40  ,the persuasion itself1 in
  addition to the general religious     
feeling of mankind1 and the scarcely    
less general love of the marvellous1 may
 be accounted for from our  tendency to 
exaggerate all effects that seem        
disproportionate to their  visible      
cause1 and all circumstances that are in
 any way strongly  contrasted with our  
notions of the persons under them4      
,secondly1 it  arises from the safety   

and success which an ignorance of danger
 and  difficulty sometimes actually     
assists in procuring2 inasmuch as it    
precludes the despondence1 which might  
have kept the more foresighted  from    
undertaking the enterprise1 the         
depression which would retard its       
progress1 and those overwhelming        
influences of terror in cases where the 
vivid perception of the danger          
constitutes the greater part of the     
danger  itself4  ,thus men are said to  
have swooned and even died at the sight 
of  a narrow bridge1 over which they had
 ridden1 the night before1 in perfect   
safety2 or at tracing the footmarks     
along the edge of a precipice which  the
 darkness had concealed from them4  ,a  
more obscure cause1 yet not  wholly to  
be omitted1 is afforded by the undoubted
 fact that the exertion  of the         
reasoning faculties tends to extinguish 
or bedim those mysterious  instincts of 
skill1 which1 though for the most part  
latent1 we  nevertheless possess in     

common with other animals4    ,or the   
proverb may be used invidiously2 and    
folly in the vocabulary of  envy or     
baseness may signify courage and        
magnanimity4  ,hardihood and            
fool-hardiness are indeed as different  
as green and yellow1 yet will  appear   
the same to the jaundiced eye4  ,courage
 multiplies the chances of  success by  
sometimes making opportunities1 and     
always availing itself of  them3 and in 
this sense ,fortune may be said to      
favour fools by those who1  however     
prudent in their own opinion1 are       
deficient in valour and  enterprise4    
,again3 an emiently good and wise man1  
for whom the praises  of the judicious  
have procured a high reputation even    
with the world at  large1 proposes to   
himself certain objects1 and adapting   
the right means  to the right end       
attains them2 but his objects not being 
what the world  calls fortune1 neither  
money nor artificial rank1 his admitted 
inferiors  in moral and intellectual    

worth1 but more prosperous in their     
worldly  concerns1 are said to have been
 favoured by ,fortune and be slighted2  
although the fools did the same in their
 line as the wise man in his2  they     
adapted the appropriate means to the    
desired end1 and so succeeded4  ,in this
 sense the proverb is current by a      
misuse1 or a catachresis at  least1 of  
both the words1 fortune and fools4      
,how seldom1 friend1 a good great man   
inherits     ,honour or wealth with all 
his worth and pains6     ,it sounds like
 stories from the land of spirits1      
,if any man obtain that which he merits1
     ,or any merit that which he        
obtains4                                
,,reply4       ,for shame6 dear friend1 
renounce this canting strain2     ,what 
would'st thou have a good great man     
obtain8     ,place8 titles8 salary8 a   
gilded chain8     ,or throne of corses  
which his sword hath slain8             
,greatness and goodness are not means1  
but ends6     ,hath he not always       

treasures1 always friends1     ,the good
 great man8  ,three treasures1 love1 and
 light1     ,and calm thoughts regular  
as infant's breath3     ,and three firm 
friends1 more sure than day and night1  
,himself1 his ,maker1 and the angel     
,death4                                 
,s4 ,t4 ,c4    ,but1 lastly1 there is1  
doubtless1 a true meaning attached to   
fortune1  distinct both from prudence   
and from courage2 and distinct too from 
that  absence of depressing or          
bewildering passions1 which 7according  
to my  favourite proverb1 8extremes     
meet107 the fool not seldom obtains in  
as  great perfection by his ignorance as
 the wise man by the highest energies   
of thought and self-discipline4  ,luck  
has a real existence in human  affairs1 
from the infinite number of powers that 
are in action at the  same time1 and    
from the co-existence of things         
contingent and accidental  7such as to  
us at least are accidental7 with the    
regular appearances  and general laws of

 nature4  ,a familiar instance will make
 these words  intelligible4  ,the moon  
waxes and wanes according to a necessary
 law4  ,the clouds likewise1 and all the
 manifold appearances connected with    
them1 are governed by certain laws no   
less than the phases of the moon4  ,but 
the laws which determine the latter are 
known and calculable1 while  those of   
the former are hidden from us4  ,at all 
events1 the number and  variety of their
 effects baffle our powers of           
calculation2 and that the  sky is clear 
or obscured at any particular time1 we  
speak of1 in common  language1 as a     
matter of accident4  ,well6 at the time 
of the full moon1  but when the sky is  
completely covered with black clouds1 ,i
 am walking on  in the dark1 aware of no
 particular danger3 a sudden gust of    
wind rends  the cloud for a moment1 and 
the moon emerging discloses to me a     
chasm or  precipice1 to the very brink  
of which ,i had advanced my foot4  ,this
 is  what is meant by luck1 and         

according to the more or less serious   
mood or  habit of our mind we exclaim1  
how lucky6 or1 how providential6  ,the  
co-presence of numberless phnomena1     
which from the complexity or  subtlety  
of their determining causes are called  
contingencies1 and the  co-existence of 
these with any regular or necessary     
phnomenon 7as the  clouds with the moon 
for instance71 occasion coincidences1   
which1 when  they are attended by any   
advantage or injury1 and are at the same
 time  incapable of being calculated or 
foreseen by human prudence1 form good or
  ill luck4  ,on a hot sunshiny         
afternoon came on a sudden storm and    
spoilt  the farmer's hay2 and this is   
called ill luck4  ,we will suppose the  
same  event to take place1 when         
meteorology shall have been perfected   
into a  science1 provided with unerring 
instruments2 but which the farmer had   
neglected to examine4  ,this is no      
longer ill luck1 but imprudence4  ,now  
apply this to our proverb4  ,unforeseen 

coincidences may have greatly  helped a 
man1 yet if they have done for him only 
what possibly from his  own abilities he
 might have effected for himself1 his   
good luck will  excite less attention   
and the instances be less remembered4   
,that clever  men should attain their   
objects seems natural1 and we neglect   
the  circumstances that perhaps produced
 that success of themselves without  the
 intervention of skill or foresight2 but
 we dwell on the fact and  remember it1 
as something strange1 when the same     
happens to a weak or  ignorant man4     
,so1 too1 though the latter should fail 
in his undertakings  from concurrences  
that might have happened to the wisest  
man1 yet his  failure being no more than
 might have been expected and accounted 
for  from his folly1 it lays no hold on 
our attention1 but fleets away among    
the other undistinguished waves1 in     
which the stream of ordinary life       
murmurs by us1 and is forgotten4  ,had  
it been as true as it was  notoriously  

false1 that those all-embracing         
discoveries1 which have shed  a dawn of 
science on the art of chemistry1 and    
give no obscure promise of  some one    
great constitutive law1 in the light of 
which dwell dominion and  the power of  
prophecy2 if these discoveries1 instead 
of having been as  they really were1    
preconcerted by meditation1 and evolved 
out of his own  intellect1 had occurred 
by a set of lucky accidents to the      
illustrious  father and founder of      
philosophic alchemy2 if they presented  
themselves  to ,sir ,humphry ,davy      
exclusively in consequence of his luck  
in possessing  a particular galvanic    
battery2 if this battery1 as far as     
,davy was  concerned1 had itself been an
 accident1 and not 7as in point of fact 
it  was7 desired and obtained by him for
 the purpose of insuring the  testimony 
of experience to his principles1 and in 
order to bind down  material nature     
under the inquisition of reason1 and    
force from her1 as  by torture1         

unequivocal answers to prepared and     
preconceived  questions--yet still they 
would not have been talked of or        
described1 as  instances of luck1 but as
 the natural results of his admitted    
genius  and known skill4  ,but should an
 accident have disclosed similar        
discoveries to a mechanic at ,birmingham
 or ,sheffield1 and if the man  should  
grow rich in consequence1 and partly by 
the envy of his  neighbours1 and partly 
with good reason1 be considered by them 
as a man  below par in the general      
powers of his understanding2 then1 8,oh1
 what a  lucky fellow6  ,well1 ,fortune 
does favour fools--that's certain6  ,it 
is  always so60--and forthwith the      
exclaimer relates half a dozen similar  
instances4  ,thus accumulating the one  
sort of facts and never collecting  the 
other1 we do1 as poets in their diction1
 and quacks of all  denominations do in 
their reasoning1 put a part for the     
whole1 and at  once soothe our envy and 
gratify our love of the marvellous1 by  

the  sweeping proverb1 8,fortune favours
 fools40        ,,essay ,,ii4           
,quod me non movet stimatione3          
,verum est  mei sodalis4                
,,catull4 xii4                          
7,translation47--,it interests not by   
any conceit of its value2 but it      is
 a remembrance of my honoured friend4   
,,the philosophic ruler1 who secured the
 favours of fortune by seeking  wisdom  
and knowledge in preference to them1 has
 pathetically  observed--8,the heart    
knoweth its own bitterness2 and there is
 a joy in  which the stranger           
intermeddleth not40  ,a simple question 
founded on a  trite proverb1 with a     
discursive answer to it1 would scarcely 
suggest to  an indifferent person any   
other notion than that of a mind at     
ease1  amusing itself with its own      
activity4  ,once before 7,i believe     
about this  time last year71 ,i had     
taken up the old memorandum book1 from  
which ,i  transcribed the preceding     
essay1 and they had then attracted my   

notice by  the name of the illustrious  
chemist mentioned in the last           
illustration4  ,exasperated by the base 
and cowardly attempt that had been made 
to  detract from the honours due to his 
astonishing genius1 ,i had slightly     
altered the concluding sentences1       
substituting the more recent for his    
earlier discoveries2 and without the    
most distant intention of publishing    
what ,i then wrote1 ,i had expressed my 
own convictions for the  gratification  
of my own feelings1 and finished by     
tranquilly paraphrasing  into a chemical
 allegory the ,homeric adventure of     
,menelaus with ,proteus4  ,oh6 with what
 different feelings1 with what a sharp  
and sudden emotion  did ,i re-peruse the
 same question yester-morning1 having by
 accident  opened the book at the page  
upon which it was written4  ,i was      
moved2 for  it was ,admiral ,sir        
,alexander ,ball who first proposed the 
question to me1  and the particular     
satisfaction which he expressed had     

occasioned me to  note down the         
substance of my reply4  ,i was moved2   
because to this  conversation ,i was    
indebted for the friendship and         
confidence with which  he afterwards    
honoured me1 and because it recalled the
 memory of one of  the most delightful  
mornings ,i ever passed2 when1 as we    
were riding  together1 the same person  
related to me the principal events of   
his own  life1 and introduced them by   
adverting to this conversation4  ,it    
recalled  too the deep impression left  
on my mind by that narrative--the       
impression  that ,i had never known any 
analogous instance1 in which a man so   
successful had been so little indebted  
to fortune1 or lucky accidents1 or  so  
exclusively both the architect and      
builder of his own success4  ,the  sum  
of his history may be comprised in this 
one sentence--,hc1 sab  numine1 nobismet
 fecimas1 sapientia duce1 fortune       
permittente4  7i4e4 ,these things under 
,god1 we have done for ourselves1       

through the  guidance of wisdom1 and    
with the permission of fortune47  ,luck 
gave him  nothing3 in her most generous 
moods1 she only worked with him as with 
a  friend1 not for him as for a         
fondling2 but more often she simply     
stood  neuter1 and suffered him to work 
for himself4  ,ah6 how could ,i be      
otherwise than affected by whatever     
reminded me of that daily and  familiar 
intercourse with him1 which made the    
fifteen months from ,may1  #ahjd1 to    
,october1 #ahje1 in many respects the   
most memorable and  instructive period  
of my life8  ,ah6 how could ,i be       
otherwise than most  deeply affected1   
when there was still lying on my table  
the paper which  the day before had     
conveyed to me the unexpected and most  
awful tidings  of this man's death8 his 
death in the fulness of all his powers1 
in the  rich autumn of ripe yet         
undecaying manhood6  ,i once knew a lady
 who1  after the loss of a lovely child1
 continued for several days in a state  

of seeming indifference1 the weather at 
the same time1 as if in unison  with    
her1 being calm1 though gloomy2 till one
 morning a burst of sunshine  breaking  
in upon her1 and suddenly lighting up   
the room where she was  sitting1 she    
dissolved at once into tears1 and wept  
passionately4  ,in no  very dissimilar  
manner did the sudden gleam of          
recollection at the sight  of this      
memorandum act on myself4  ,i had been  
stunned by the  intelligence1 as by an  
outward blow1 till this trifling        
incident startled  and disentranced me2 
the sudden pang shivered through my     
whole frame2 and  if ,i repressed the   
outward shows of sorrow1 it was by force
 that ,i  repressed them1 and because it
 is not by tears that ,i ought to mourn 
for  the loss of ,sir ,alexander ,ball4 
,he was a man above his age2 but for    
that very reason the age has the more   
need to have the master-features of his 
character portrayed and  preserved4     
,this ,i feel it my duty to attempt1 and

 this alone2 for having  received       
neither instructions nor permission from
 the family of the  deceased1 ,i cannot 
think myself allowed to enter into the  
particulars of  his private history1    
strikingly as many of them would        
illustrate the  elements and composition
 of his mind4  ,for he was indeed a     
living  confutation of the assertion    
attributed to the ,prince of ,cond1 that
 no  man appeared great to his valet de 
chambre--a saying which1 ,i suspect1    
owes its currency less to its truth than
 to the envy of mankind1 and the        
misapplication of the word great1 to    
actions unconnected with reason and     
free will4  ,it will be sufficient for  
my purpose to observe that the  purity  
and strict propriety of his conduct1    
which precluded rather than  silenced   
calumny1 the evenness of his temper1 and
 his attentive and  affectionate manners
 in private life1 greatly aided and     
increased his  public utility2 and1 if  
it should please ,providence that a     

portion of his  spirit should descend   
with his mantle1 the virtues of ,sir    
,alexander ,ball1  as a master1 a       
husband1 and a parent1 will form a no   
less remarkable  epoch in the moral     
history of the ,maltese than his wisdom1
 as a governor1  has made in that of    
their outward circumstances4  ,that the 
private and  personal qualities of a    
first magistrate should have political  
effects  will appear strange to no      
reflecting ,englishman1 who has attended
 to the  workings of men's minds during 
the first ferment of revolutionary      
principles1 and must therefore have     
witnessed the influence of our own      
sovereign's domestic character in       
counteracting them4  ,but in ,malta     
there  were circumstances which rendered
 such an example peculiarly requisite   
and beneficent4  ,the very existence for
 so many generations of an order  of lay
 celibates in that island1 who abandoned
 even the outward shows of  an adherence
 to their vow of chastity1 must have had

 pernicious effects  on the morals of   
the inhabitants4  ,but when it is       
considered too that the  ,knights of    
,malta had been for the last fifty years
 or more a set of  useless idlers1      
generally illiterate1 for they thought  
literature no part  of a soldier's      
excellence2 and yet effeminate1 for they
 were soldiers in  name only2 when it is
 considered that they were1 moreover1   
all of them  aliens1 who looked upon    
themselves not merely as of a superior  
rank to  the native nobles1 but as      
beings of a different race 7,i had      
almost said  species7 from the ,maltese 
collectively2 and finally1 that these   
men  possessed exclusively the          
government of the island2 it may be     
safely  concluded that they were little 
better than a perpetual influenza1      
relaxing and diseasing the hearts of all
 the families within their sphere  of   
influence4  ,hence the peasantry1 who   
fortunately were below their  reach1    
notwithstanding the more than childish  

ignorance in which they  were kept by   
their priests1 yet compared with the    
middle and higher  classes1 were both in
 mind and body as ordinary men compared 
with dwarfs4  ,every respectable family 
had some one knight for their patron1 as
 a  matter of course2 and to him the    
honour of a sister or a daughter was    
sacrificed1 equally as a matter of      
course4  ,but why should ,i thus        
disguise the truth8  ,alas6 in nine     
instances out of ten1 this patron was   
the common paramour of every female in  
the family4  ,were ,i composing a  state
 memorial ,i should abstain from all    
allusion to moral good or evil1  as not 
having now first to learn1 that with    
diplomatists and with  practical        
statesmen of every denomination1 it     
would preclude all  attention to its    
other contents1 and have no result but  
that of securing  for its author's name 
the official private mark of exclusion  
or  dismission1 as a weak or suspicions 
person4  ,but among those for whom ,i   

am now writing1 there are1 ,i trust1    
many who will think it not the  feeblest
 reason for rejoicing in our possession 
of ,malta1 and not the  least worthy    
motive for wishing its retention1 that  
one source of human  misery and         
corruption has been dried up4  ,such    
persons will hear the name  of ,sir     
,alexander ,ball with additional        
reverence1 as of one who has made  the  
protection of ,great ,britain a double  
blessing to the ,maltese1 and  broken   
8the bonds of iniquity0 as well as      
unlocked the fetters of  political      
oppression4    ,when we are praising the
 departed by our own firesides1 we dwell
 most  fondly on those qualities which  
had won our personal affection1 and     
which  sharpen our individual regrets4  
,but when impelled by a loftier and more
  meditative sorrow1 we would raise a   
public monument to their memory1 we     
praise them appropriately when we relate
 their actions faithfully2 and  thus    
preserving their example for the        

imitation of the living alleviate  the  
loss1 while we demonstrate its          
magnitude4  ,my funeral eulogy of ,sir  
,alexander ,ball must therefore he a    
narrative of his life2 and this friend  
of mankind will be defrauded of honour  
in proportion as that narrative is      
deficient and fragmentary4  ,it shall1  
however1 be as complete as my           
information enables1 and as prudence and
 a proper respect for the  feelings of  
the living permit me to render it4  ,his
 fame 7,i adopt the  words of our elder 
writers7 is so great throughout the     
world that he  stands in no need of an  
encomium2 and yet his worth is much     
greater these  his fame4  ,it is        
impossible not to speak great things of 
him1 and yet it  will be very difficult 
to speak what he deserves4  ,but custom 
requires  that something should be said2
 it is a duty and a debt which we owe to
  ourselves and to mankind1 not less    
than to his memory2 and ,i hope his     
great soul1 if it hath any knowledge of 

what is done here below1 will not  be   
offended at the smallness even of my    
offering4    ,ah1 how little1 when among
 the subjects of ,the ,friend ,i        
promised  8,characters met with in ,real
 ,life10 did ,i anticipate the sad      
event1 which  compels one to weave on a 
cypress branch those sprays of laurel   
which ,i  had destined for his bust1 not
 his monument6  ,he lived as we should  
all  live2 and1 ,i doubt not1 left the  
world as we should all wish to leave it4
  ,such is the power of dispensing      
blessings1 which ,providence has        
attached  to the truly great and good1  
that they cannot even die without       
advantage  to their fellow-creatures2   
for death consecrates their example1 and
 the  wisdom1 which might have been     
slighted at the council-table1 becomes  
oracular from the shrine4  ,those rare  
excellences1 which make our grief       
poignant1 make it likewise profitable2  
and the tears which wise men shed  for  
the departure of the wise1 are among    

those that are preserved in  heaven4    
,it is the fervent aspiration of my     
spirit1 that ,i may so perform  the task
 which private gratitude and public duty
 impose on me1 that 8as  ,god hath cut  
this tree of paradise down from its seat
 of earth1 the dead  trunk may yet      
support a part of the declining temple1 
or at least serve  to kindle the fire on
 the altar40        ,,essay ,,iii4      
,si partem tacuisse velim1 quodeumque   
relinquam1      ,majus erit4  ,veteres  
actus1 primamque juventam               
,prosequar8  ,ad sese mentem prsentia   
ducunt4      ,narrem justitiam8         
,resplendet gloria ,martis4      ,armati
 referam vires8  ,plus egit inermis4    
,,claudian ,,de ,,laud4 ,,stil4         
7,translation47--,if ,i desire to pass  
over a part in silence1 whatever      ,i
 omit will seem the most worthy to have 
been recorded4  ,shall ,i      pursue   
his old exploits and early youth8  ,his 
recent merits recall      the mind to   
themselves4  ,shall ,i dwelt on his     

justice8  ,the glory of      the warrior
 rises before me resplendent4  ,shall ,i
 relate his strength      in arms8  ,he 
performed yet greater things unarmed4   
8,,there is something10 says            
,harrington1 in the ,preliminaries to   
the  ,oceana1 8first in the making of a 
commonwealth1 then in the governing of  
it1 and last of all in the leading of   
its armies1 which though there be  great
 divines1 great lawyers1 great men in   
all ranks of life1 seems to be  peculiar
 only to the genius of a gentleman4     
,for so it is in the  universal series  
of history1 that if any man has founded 
a commonwealth1  he was first a         
gentleman40  ,such also1 he adds1 as    
have got any fame as  civil governors1  
have been gentlemen1 or persons of known
 descents4  ,sir  ,alexander ,ball was a
 gentleman by birth2 a younger brother  
of an old and  respectable family in    
,gloucestershire4  ,he went into the    
navy at an early  age from his own      
choice1 and1 as he himself told me1 in  

consequence of  the deep impression and 
vivid images left on his mind by the    
perusal of  8,robinson ,crusoe40  ,it is
 not my intention to detail the steps of
 his  promotion1 or the services in     
which he was engaged as a subaltern4  ,i
  recollect many particulars indeed1 but
 not the dates1 with such  distinctness 
as would enable me to state them 7as it 
would be necessary  to do if ,i stated  
them at all7 in the order of time4      
,these dates might  perhaps have been   
procured from the metropolis2 but       
incidents that are  neither             
characteristic nor instructive1 even    
such as would be expected  with reason  
in a regular life1 are no part of my    
plan2 while those which  are both       
interesting and illustrative ,i have    
been precluded from  mentioning1 some   
from motives which have been already    
explained1 and  others from still higher
 considerations4  ,the most important of
 these may  be deduced from a reflection
 with which he himself once concluded a 

long  and affecting narration3 namely1  
that no body of men can for any length  
of time be safely treated otherwise than
 as rational beings2 and that1          
therefore1 the education of the lower   
classes was of the utmost  consequence  
to the permanent security of the empire1
 even for the sake of  our navy4  ,the  
dangers1 apprehended from the education 
of the lower  classes1 arose 7he said7  
entirely from its not being universal1  
and from  the unusualness in the lowest 
classes of those accomplishments which  
he1  like ,dr4 ,bell1 regarded as one of
 the means of education1 and not as     
education itself4  ,if1 he observed1 the
 lower classes in general  possessed but
 one eye or one arm1 the few who were so
 fortunate as to  possess two would     
naturally become vain and restless1 and 
consider  themselves as entitled to a   
higher situation4  ,he illustrated this 
by the  faults attributed to learned    
women1 and that the same objections were
  formerly made to educating women at   

all2 namely1 that their knowledge  made 
them vain1 affected1 and neglectful of  
their proper duties4  ,now  that all    
women of condition are well educated1 we
 hear no more of these  apprehensions1  
or observe any instances to justify     
them4  ,yet if a lady  understood the   
,greek one-tenth part as well as the    
whole circle of her  acquaintances      
understood the ,french language1 it     
would not surprise us to  find her less 
pleasing from the consciousness of her  
superiority in the  possession of an    
unusual advantage4  ,sir ,alexander     
,ball quoted the speech  of an old      
admiral1 one of whose two great wishes  
was to have a ship's  crew composed     
altogether of serious ,scotchmen4  ,he  
spoke with great  reprobation of the    
vulgar notion1 the worse man the better 
sailor4  ,courage1 he said1 was the     
natural product of familiarity with     
danger1  which thoughtlessness would    
oftentimes turn into fool-hardiness2 and
 that  he always found the most usefully

 brave sailors the gravest and most     
rational of his crew4  ,the best sailor 
he had ever had1 first attracted  his   
notice by the anxiety which he expressed
 concerning the means of  remitting some
 money1 which he had received in the    
,west ,indies1 to his  sister in        
,england2 and this man1 without any     
tinge of ,methodism1 was  never heard to
 swear an oath1 and was remarkable for  
the firmness with  which he devoted a   
part of every ,sunday to the reading of 
his ,bible4  ,i  record this with       
satisfaction as a testimony of great    
weight1 and in all  respects            
unexceptionable2 for ,sir ,alexander    
,ball's opinions throughout  life       
remained unwarped by zealotry1 and were 
those of a mind seeking  after truth1 in
 calmness and complete self-possession4 
,he was much  pleased with an           
unsuspicious testimony furnished by     
,dampier 7vol4 ii4  part #b1 page #hi73 
8,i have particularly observed10 writes 
this famous old  navigator1 8there and  

in other places1 that such as had been  
well-bred  were generally most careful  
to improve their time1 and would be very
  industrious and frugal where there was
 any probability of considerable  gain2 
but on the contrary1 such as had been   
bred up in ignorance and hard  labour1  
when they came to have plenty would     
extravagantly squander away  their time 
and money in drinking and making a      
bluster40  ,indeed it is a  melancholy  
proof how strangely power warps the     
minds of ordinary men1  that there can  
be a doubt on this subject among persons
 who have been  themselves educated4    
,it tempts a suspicion that1 unknown to 
themselves1  they find a comfort in the 
thought1 that their inferiors are       
something  less than men2 or that they  
have an uneasy half-consciousness that1 
if  this were not the case1 they would  
themselves have no claim to be their    
superiors4  ,for a sober education      
naturally inspires self-respect4  ,but  
he who respects himself will respect    

others2 and he who respects both        
himself and others1 must of necessity be
 a brave man4  ,the great  importance of
 this subject1 and the increasing       
interest which good men of  all         
denominations feel in the bringing about
 of a national education1  must be my   
excuse for having entered so minutely   
into ,sir ,alexander  ,ball's opinions  
on this head1 in which1 however1 ,i am  
the more excusable1  being now on that  
part of his life which ,i am obliged to 
leave almost a  blank4    ,during his   
lieutenancy1 and after he had perfected 
himself in the  knowledge and duties of 
a practical sailor1 he was compelled by 
the state  of his health to remain in   
,england for a considerable length of   
time4  ,of  this he industriously       
availed himself to the acquirement of   
substantial  knowledge from books2 and  
during his whole life afterwards1 he    
considered  those as his happiest hours1
 which1 without any neglect of official 
or  professional duty1 he could devote  

to reading4  ,he preferred1 indeed he   
almost confined himself to1 history1    
political economy1 voyages and  travels1
 natural history1 and latterly          
agricultural works2 in short1 to  such  
books as contain specific facts or      
practical principles capable of         
specific application4  ,his active life1
 and the particular objects of          
immediate utility1 some one of which he 
had always in his view1 precluded  a    
taste for works of pure speculation and 
abstract science1 though he  highly     
honoured those who were eminent in these
 respects1 and considered  them as the  
benefactors of mankind1 no less than    
those who afterwards  discovered the    
mode of applying their principles1 or   
who realised them in  practice4  ,works 
of amusement1 as novels1 plays1 etc41   
did not appear  even to amuse him2 and  
the only poetical composition of which  
,i have ever  heard him speak1 was a    
manuscript poem written by one of my    
friends1  which ,i read to his lady in  

his presence4  ,to my surprise he       
afterwards  spoke of this with warm     
interest2 but it was evident to me that 
it was  not so much the poetic merit of 
the composition that had interested him1
  as the truth and psychological insight
 with which it represented the          
practicability of reforming the most    
hardened minds1 and the various         
accidents which may awaken the most     
brutalised person to a recognition of   
his nobler being4  ,i will add one      
remark of his own knowledge acquired    
from books1 which appears to me both    
just and valuable4  ,the prejudice      
against such knowledge1 he said1 and the
 custom of opposing it to that  which is
 learnt by practice1 originated in those
 times when books were  almost confined 
to theology1 and to logical and         
metaphysical subtleties2  but that at   
present there is scarcely any practical 
knowledge which is  not to be found in  
books4  ,the press is the means by which
 intelligent  men now converse with each

 other1 and persons of all classes and  
all  pursuits convey each the           
contribution of his individual          
experience4  ,it  was1 therefore1 he    
said1 as absurd to hold book-knowledge  
at present in  contempt1 as it would be 
for a man to avail himself only of his  
own eyes  and ears1 and to aim at       
nothing which could not be performed    
exclusively  by his own arms4  ,the use 
and necessity of personal experience    
consisted  in the power of choosing and 
applying what had been read1 and of     
discriminating by the light of analogy  
the practicable from the  impracticable1
 and probability from mere plausibility4
  ,without a  judgment matured and      
steadied by actual experience1 a man    
would read to  little or perhaps to bad 
purpose2 but yet that experience1 which 
in  exclusion of all other knowledge has
 been derived from one man's life1 is   
in the present day scarcely worthy of   
the name--at least for those who are  to
 act in the higher and wider spheres of 

duty4  ,an ignorant general1 he  said1  
inspired him with terror2 for if he were
 too proud to take advice  he would ruin
 himself by his own blunders1 and if    
he--were not1 by  adopting the worst    
that was offered4  ,a great genius may  
indeed form an  exception1 but we do not
 lay down rules in expectation of       
wonders4  ,a  similar remark ,i remember
 to have heard from a gallant officer1  
who to  eminence in professional science
 and the gallantry of a tried soldier1  
adds all the accomplishments of a sound 
scholar and the powers of a man  of     
genius4    ,one incident1 which happened
 at this period of ,sir ,alexander's    
life1 is  so illustrative of his        
character1 and furnishes so strong a    
presumption1  that the thoughtful       
humanity by which he was distinguished  
was not wholly  the growth of his latter
 years1 that1 though it may appear to   
some  trifling in itself1 ,i will insert
 it in this place with the occasion on  
which it was communicated to me4  ,in a 

large party at the ,grand ,master's     
palace1 ,i had observed a naval officer 
of distinguished merit listening  to    
,sir ,alexander ,ball1 whenever he      
joined in the conversation1 with so     
marked a pleasure that it seemed as if  
his very voice1 independent of  what he 
said1 had been delightful to him2 and   
once1 as he fixed his eyes  on ,sir     
,alexander ,ball1 ,i could not but      
notice the mixed expressions of  awe and
 affection1 which gave a more than      
common interest to so manly a           
countenance4  ,during his stay in the   
island1 this officer honoured me not    
unfrequently with his visits2 and at the
 conclusion of my last  conversation    
with him1 in which ,i had dwelt on the  
wisdom of the  ,governor's conduct in a 
recent and difficult emergency1 he told 
me that  he considered himself as       
indebted to the same excellent person   
for that  which was dearer to him than  
his life4  8,sir ,alexander ,ball10 said
 he1  8has1 ,i dare say1 forgotten the  

circumstance2 but when he was           
,lieutenant  ,ball1 he was the officer  
whom ,i accompanied in my first boat    
expedition1  being then a midshipman and
 only in my fourteenth year4  ,as we    
were  rowing up to the vessel which we  
were to attack1 amid a discharge of     
musketry1 ,i was overpowered by fear1 my
 knees trembled under me1 and ,i  seemed
 on the point of fainting away4         
,lieutenant ,ball1 who saw the          
condition ,i was in1 placed himself     
close beside me1 and still keeping his  
countenance directed toward the enemy1  
took hold of my hand1 and pressing  it  
in the most friendly manner1 said in a  
low voice1 #8,courage1 my dear  boy6    
don't be afraid of yourself6 you will   
recover in a minute or so4  ,i  was just
 the same when ,i first went out in this
 way4'  ,sir10 added the  officer to me1
 8it was as if an angel had put a new   
soul into me4  ,with  the feeling that  
,i was not yet dishonoured1 the whole   
burden of agony was  removed1 and from  

that moment ,i was as fearless and      
forward as the oldest  of the boat's    
crew1 and on our return the lieutenant  
spoke highly of me  to our captain4  ,i 
am scarcely less convinced of my own    
being than that ,i  should have been    
what ,i tremble to think of1 if1 instead
 of his humane  encouragement1 he had at
 that moment scoffed1 threatened1 or    
reviled me4  ,and this was the more kind
 in him1 because1 as ,i afterwards      
understood1  his own conduct in his     
first trial had evinced to all          
appearances the  greatest fearlessness1 
and that he said this1 therefore1 only  
to give me  heart and restore me to my  
own good opinion40    ,this anecdote1 ,i
 trust1 will have some weight with those
 who may have  lent an ear to any of    
those vague calumnies from which no     
naval commander  can secure his good    
name1 who knowing the paramount         
necessity of  regularity and strict     
discipline in a ship of war1 adopts an  
appropriate  plan for the attainment of 

these objects1 and remains constant and 
immutable in the execution4  ,to an     
,athenian1 who1 in praising a public    
functionary1 had said1 that every one   
either applauded him or left him        
without censure1 a philosopher replied1 
8,how seldom then must he have  done his
 duty60    ,of ,sir ,alexander ,ball's  
character1 as ,captain ,ball1 of his    
measures as a  disciplinarian1 and of   
the wise and dignified principle on     
which he  grounded those measures1 ,i   
have already spoken in a former part of 
this  work1 and must content myself     
therefore with entreating the reader to 
re-peruse that passage as belonging to  
this place1 and as a part of the        
present narration4  ,ah6 little did ,i  
expect at the time ,i wrote that        
account1 that the motives of delicacy1  
which then impelled me to withhold  the 
name1 would so soon be exchanged for the
 higher duty which now  justifies me in 
adding it6  ,at the thought of such     
events the language of  a tender        

superstition is the voice of nature     
itself1 and those facts  alone          
presenting themselves to our memory     
which had left an impression on  our    
hearts1 we assent to1 and adopt the     
poet's pathetic complaint3--            
,o sir6 the good die first1      ,and   
those whose hearts are dry as summer    
dust      ,burn to the socket4          
,,wordsworth4    ,thus the humane plan  
described in the pages now referred to1 
that a  system in pursuance of which the
 captain of a man-of-war uniformly      
regarded his sentences not as dependent 
on his own will1 or to be  affected by  
the state of his feelings at the moment1
 but as the  pre-established            
determinations of known laws1 and       
himself as the voice of  the law in     
pronouncing the sentence1 and its       
delegate in enforcing the  execution1   
could not but furnish occasional food to
 the spirit of  detraction1 must be     
evident to every reflecting mind4  ,it  
is indeed  little less than impossible1 

that he1 who in order to be effectively 
humane determines to be inflexibly just1
 and who is inexorable to his own       
feelings when they would interrupt the  
course of justice2 who looks at  each   
particular act by the light of all its  
consequences1 and as the  representative
 of ultimate good or evil2 should not   
sometimes be charged  with tyranny by   
weak minds4  ,and it is too certain that
 the calumny will  be willingly believed
 and eagerly propagated by all those who
 would shun  the presence of an eye keen
 in the detection of imposture1         
incapacity1  and misconduct1 and of a   
resolution as steady in their exposure4 
,we soon  hate the man whose qualities  
we dread1 and thus have a double        
interest1  an interest of passion as    
well as of policy1 in decrying and      
defaming  him4  ,but good men will rest 
satisfied with the promise made to them 
by  the ,divine ,comforter1 that by her 
children shall ,wisdom be justified4    
,,essay ,,iv4          --the generous   

spirit1 who1 when brought      ,among   
the tasks of real life1 hath wrought    
,upon the plan that pleased his childish
 thought3      ,whose high endeavours   
are an inward light      ,that makes the
 path before him always bright2         
,who1 doom'd to go in company with pain1
      ,and fear and bloodshed1 miserable
 train6      ,turns his necessity to    
glorious gain2      ,by objects1 which  
might force the soul to abate      ,her 
feeling1 rendered more compassionate4   
,,wordsworth4    ,,at the close of the  
,american war1 ,captain ,ball was       
entrusted with the  protection and      
convoying of an immense mercantile fleet
 to ,america1 and  by his great prudence
 and unexampled attention to the        
interests of all  and each1 endeared his
 name to the ,american merchants1 and   
laid the  foundation of that high       
respect and predilection which both the 
,americans  and their government ever   
afterwards entertained for him4  ,my    
recollection does not enable me to      

attempt any accuracy in the date or     
circumstances1 or to add the particulars
 of his services in the ,west  ,indies  
and on the coast of ,america1 ,i now    
therefore merely allude to the  fact    
with a prospective reference to opinions
 and circumstances1 which ,i  shall have
 to mention hereafter4  ,shortly after  
the general peace was  established1     
,captain ,ball1 who was now a married   
man1 passed some time  with his lady in 
,france1 and1 if ,i mistake not1 at     
,nantes4  ,at the same  time1 and in the
 same town1 among the other ,english    
visitors1 ,lord 7then  ,captain7 ,nelson
 happened to be one4  ,in consequence of
 some punctilio1 as  to whose business  
it was to pay the compliment of the     
first call1 they  never met1 and this   
trifling affair occasioned a coldness   
between the two  naval commanders1 or in
 truth a mutual prejudice against each  
other4  ,some years after1 both their   
ships being together close off ,minorca 
and  near ,port ,mahon1 a violent storm 

nearly disabled ,lord ,nelson's vessel1 
and in addition to the fury of the wind1
 it was night time and the  thickest    
darkness4  ,captain ,ball1 however1     
brought his vessel at length  to        
,nelson's assistance1 took his ship in  
tow1 and used his best  endeavours to   
bring her and his own vessel into ,port 
,mahon4  ,the  difficulties and the     
dangers increased4  ,nelson considered  
the case of  his own ship as desperate1 
and that unless she was immediately left
 to  her own fate1 both vessels would   
inevitably be lost4  ,he1 therefore1    
with  the generosity natural to him1    
repeatedly requested ,captain ,ball to  
let  him loose2 and on ,captain ,ball's 
refusal1 he became impetuous1 and       
enforced his demand with passionate     
threats4  ,captain ,ball then himself   
took the speaking-trumpet1 which the    
fury of the wind and waves rendered     
necessary1 and with great solemnity and 
without the least disturbance of        
temper1 called out in reply1 8,i feel   

confident that ,i can bring you in      
safe2 ,i therefore must not1 and1 by the
 help of ,almighty ,god1 ,i will not    
leave you60  ,what he promised he       
performed2 and after they were safely   
anchored1 ,nelson came on board of      
,ball's ship1 and embracing him with all
  the ardour of acknowledgment1         
exclaimed1 8,a friend in need is a      
friend  indeed60  ,at this time and on  
this occasion commenced that firm and   
perfect friendship between these two    
great men1 which was interrupted  only  
by the death of the former4  ,the       
pleasing task of dwelling on this       
mutual attachment ,i defer to that part 
of the present sketch which will  relate
 to ,sir ,alexander ,ball's opinions of 
men and things4  ,it will be  sufficient
 for the present to say1 that the two   
men whom ,lord ,nelson  especially      
honoured1 were ,sir ,thomas ,troubridge 
and ,sir ,alexander ,ball2  and once1   
when they were both present1 on some    
allusion made to the loss  of his arm1  

he replied1 8,who shall dare tell me    
that ,i want an arm1 when  ,i have three
 right arms--this 7putting forward his  
own7 and ,ball and  ,troubridge80    ,in
 the plan of the battle of the ,nile it 
was ,lord ,nelson's design1 that        
,captains ,troubridge and ,ball should  
have led up the attack4  ,the former    
was stranded2 and the latter1 by        
accident of the wind1 could not bring   
his ship into the line of battle till   
some time after the engagement had      
become general4  ,with his              
characteristic forecast and activity of 
7which  may not improperly be called7   
practical imagination1 he had made      
arrangements to meet every probable     
contingency4  ,all the shrouds and      
sails of the ship not absolutely        
necessary for its immediate management1 
were thoroughly wetted1 and so rolled up
 that they were as hard and as  little  
inflammable as so many solid cylinders  
of wood2 every sailor had  his          
appropriate place and function1 and a   

certain number were appointed  as the   
fire-men1 whose sole duty it was to be  
on the watch if any part of  the vessel 
should take fire2 and to these men      
exclusively the charge of  extinguishing
 it was committed4  ,it was already dark
 when he brought his  ship into action1 
and laid her alongside ,l',orient4  ,one
 particular only  ,i shall add to the   
known account of the memorable          
engagement between  these ships1 and    
this ,i received from ,sir ,alexander   
,ball himself4  ,he had  previously made
 a combustible preparation1 but which1  
from the nature of  the engagement to be
 expected1 he had purposed to reserve   
for the last  emergency4  ,but just at  
the time when1 from several symptoms1 he
 had  every reason to believe that the  
enemy would soon strike to him1 one of  
the lieutenants1 without his knowledge1 
threw in the combustible matter3  and   
this it was that occasioned the         
tremendous explosion of that vessel1    
which1 with the deep silence and        

interruption of the engagement which    
succeeded to it1 has been justly deemed 
the sublimest war incident  recorded in 
history4  ,yet the incident which       
followed1 and which has not1  ,i        
believe1 been publicly made known1 is   
scarcely less impressive1 though  its   
sublimity is of a different character4  
,at the renewal of the battle1  ,captain
 ,ball1 though his ship was then on fire
 in three different parts1  laid her    
alongside a ,french eighty-four2 and a  
second longer obstinate  contest began4 
,the firing on the part of the ,french  
ship having at  length for some time    
slackened1 and then altogether ceased1  
and yet no  sign given of surrender1 the
 senior lieutenant came to ,captain     
,ball and  informed him1 that the hearts
 of his men were as good as ever1 but   
that  they were so completely exhausted 
that they were scarcely capable of      
lifting an arm4  ,he asked1 therefore1  
whether1 as the enemy had now  ceased   
firing1 the men might be permitted to   

lie down by their guns for a  short     
time4  ,after some reflection1 ,sir     
,alexander acceded to the  proposal1    
taking of course the proper precautions 
to rouse them again at  the moment he   
thought requisite4  ,accordingly1 with  
the exception of  himself1 his officers1
 and the appointed watch1 the ship's    
crew lay down1  each in the place to    
which he was stationed1 and slept for   
twenty  minutes4  ,they were then       
roused2 and started up1 as ,sir         
,alexander  expressed it1 more like men 
out of an ambush than from sleep1 so    
co-instantaneously did they all obey the
 summons6  ,they recommenced their      
fire1 and in a few minutes the enemy    
surrendered2 and it was soon after      
discovered that during that interval1   
and almost immediately after the        
,french ship had first ceased firing1   
the crew had sunk down by their  guns1  
and there slept1 almost by the side1 as 
it were1 of their sleeping  enemy4      
,,essay ,v4          --,whose powers    

shed round him in the common strife1    
,or mild concerns of ordinary life1     
,a constant influence1 a peculiar grace2
      ,but who1 if he be call'd upon to 
face      ,same awful moment1 to which  
,heaven has join'd      ,great issues1  
good or bad for human kind1      ,is    
happy as a lover1 is attired      ,with 
sudden brightness like a man inspired2  
,and through the heat of conflict keeps 
the law      ,in calmness made1 and sees
 what he foresaw4                       
,,wordsworth4    ,,an accessibility to  
the sentiments of others on subjects of 
importance  often accompanies feeble    
minds1 yet it is not the less a true and
  constituent part of practical         
greatness1 when it exists wholly free   
from  that passiveness to impression    
which renders counsel itself injurious  
to  certain characters1 and from that   
weakness of heart which1 in the literal 
sense of the word1 is always craving    
advice4  ,exempt from all such          
imperfections1 say rather in perfect    

harmony with the excellences that       
preclude them1 this openness to the     
influxes of good sense and  information1
 from whatever quarter they might come1 
equally characterised  both ,lord       
,nelson and ,sir ,alexander ,ball1      
though each displayed it in the  way    
best suited to his natural temper4  ,the
 former with easy hand  collected1 as it
 passed by him1 whatever could add to   
his own stores1  appropriated what he   
could assimilate1 and levied subsidies  
of knowledge  from all the accidents of 
social life and familiar intercourse4   
,even at  the jovial board1 and in the  
height of unrestrained merriment1 a     
casual  suggestion1 that flashed a new  
light on his mind1 changed the boon     
companion into the hero and the man of  
genius2 and with the most graceful      
transition he would make his company as 
serious as himself4  ,when the  taper of
 his genius seemed extinguished1 it was 
still surrounded by an  inflammable     
atmosphere of its own1 and rekindled at 

the first approach of  light1 and not   
seldom at a distance which made it seem 
to flame up  self-revived4  ,in ,sir    
,alexander ,ball1 the same excellence   
was more an  affair of system2 and he   
would listen1 even to weak men1 with a  
patience1  which1 in so careful an      
economist of time1 always demanded my   
admiration1  and not seldom excited my  
wonder4  ,it was one of his maxims1 that
 a man  may suggest what he cannot give2
 adding1 that a wild or silly plan had  
more than once1 from the vivid sense or 
distinct perception of its folly1       
occasioned him to see what ought to be  
done in a new light1 or with a  clearer 
insight4  ,there is1 indeed1 a hopeless 
sterility1 a mere negation  of sense and
 thought1 which1 suggesting neither     
difference nor contrast1  cannot even   
furnish hints for recollection4  ,but on
 the other hand1 there  are minds so    
whimsically constituted1 that they may  
sometimes be  profitably interpreted by 
contraries1 a process of which the great

 ,tycho  ,brahe is said to have availed 
himself in the case of the little       
,lackwit1  who used to sit and mutter at
 his feet while he was studying4  ,a    
mind of  this sort we may compare to a  
magnetic needle1 the poles of which have
  been suddenly reversed by a flash of  
lightning1 or other more obscure        
accident of nature4  ,it may be safely  
concluded1 that to those whose  judgment
 or information he respected1 ,sir      
,alexander ,ball did not content        
himself with giving access and          
attention4  ,no6 he seldom failed of    
consulting them whenever the subject    
permitted any disclosure2 and where     
secrecy was necessary1 he well knew how 
to acquire their opinion without        
exciting even a conjecture concerning   
his immediate object4    ,yet1 with all 
this readiness of attention1 and with   
all this zeal in  collecting the        
sentiments of the well informed1 never  
was a man more  completely uninfluenced 
by authority than ,sir ,alexander ,ball1

 never one  who sought less to          
tranquillise his own doubts by the mere 
suffrage and  coincidence of others4    
,the ablest suggestions had no          
conclusive weight  with him1 till he had
 abstracted the opinion from its author1
 till he had  reduced it into a part of 
his own mind4  ,the thoughts of others  
were  always acceptable1 as affording   
him at least a chance of adding to his  
materials for reflection2 but they never
 directed his judgment1 much less       
superseded it4  ,he even made a point of
 guarding against additional  confidence
 in the suggestions of his own mind1    
from finding that a person  of talents  
had formed the same conviction2 unless  
the person1 at the same  time1 furnished
 some new argument1 or had arrived at   
the same conclusion  by a different     
road4  ,on the latter circumstance he   
set an especial  value1 and1 ,i may     
almost say1 courted the company and     
conversation of  those whose pursuits   
had least resembled his own1 if he      

thought them men  of clear and          
comprehensive faculties4  ,during the   
period of our intimacy1  scarcely a week
 passed in which he did not desire me to
 think on some  particular subject1 and 
to give him the result in writing4      
,most  frequently1 by the time ,i had   
fulfilled his request he would have     
written  down his own thoughts2 and     
then1 with the true simplicity of a     
great  mind1 as free from ostentation as
 it was above jealousy1 he would collate
  the two papers in my presence1 and    
never expressed more pleasure than in   
the few instances in which ,i had       
happened to light on all the arguments  
and points of view which had occurred to
 himself1 with some additional  reasons 
which had escaped him4  ,a single new   
argument delighted him more  than the   
most perfect coincidence1 unless1 as    
before stated1 the train of  thought had
 been very different from his own1 and  
yet just and logical4  ,he had one      
quality of mind1 which ,i have heard    

attributed to the late ,mr4  ,fox1 that 
of deriving a keen pleasure from clear  
and powerful reasoning  for its own     
sake--a quality in the intellect which  
is nearly connected  with veracity and a
 love of justice in the moral character4
    ,valuing in others merits which he  
himself possessed1 ,sir ,alexander ,ball
  felt no jealous apprehension of great 
talent4  ,unlike those vulgar           
functionaries1 whose place is too big   
for them1 a truth which they  attempt to
 disguise from themselves1 and yet feel1
 he was under no  necessity of arming   
himself against the natural superiority 
of genius by  factitious contempt and an
 industrious association of extravagance
 and  impracticability1 with every      
deviation from the ordinary routine2 as 
the  geographers in the middle ages used
 to designate on their meagre maps the  
greater part of the world as deserts or 
wildernesses1 inhabited by  griffins and
 chimras4  ,competent to weigh each     
system or project by its  own arguments1

 he did not need these preventive charms
 and cautionary  amulets against        
delusion4  ,he endeavoured to make      
talent instrumental to  his purposes in 
whatever shape it appeared1 and with    
whatever  imperfections it might be     
accompanied2 but wherever talent was    
blended  with moral worth1 he sought it 
out1 loved and cherished it4  ,if it had
  pleased ,providence to preserve his   
life1 and to place him on the same      
course on which ,nelson ran his race of 
glory1 there are two points in  which   
,sir ,alexander ,ball would most closely
 have resembled his  illustrious friend4
  ,the first is1 that in his enterprises
 and  engagements he would have thought 
nothing done1 till all had been done    
that was possible3--        ,nil actum  
reputans1 si quid superesset agendum4   
,the second1 that he would have called  
forth all the talent and virtue  that   
existed within his sphere of influence1 
and created a band of  heroes1 a        
gradation of officers1 strong in head   

and strong in heart1  worthy to have    
been his companions and his successors  
in fame and public  usefulness4         
,never was greater discernment shown in 
the selection of a fit agent1 than  when
 ,sir ,alexander ,ball was stationed off
 the coast of ,malta to intercept  the  
supplies destined for the ,french       
garrison1 and to watch the movements  of
 the ,french commanders1 and those of   
the inhabitants who had been so  basely 
betrayed into their power4  ,encouraged 
by the well-timed promises  of the      
,english captain1 the ,maltese rose     
through all their casals 7or  country   
towns7 and themselves commenced the work
 of their emancipation1  by storming the
 citadel at ,civita ,vecchia1 the       
ancient metropolis of  ,malta1 and the  
central height of the island4  ,without 
discipline1 without  a military leader1 
and almost without arms1 these brave    
peasants  succeeded1 and destroyed the  
,french garrison by throwing them over  
the  battlements into the trench of the 

citadel4  ,in the course of this        
blockade1 and of the tedious siege of   
,valetta1 ,sir ,alexander ,ball         
displayed all that strength of          
character1 that variety and versatility 
of  talent1 and that sagacity1 derived  
in part from habitual circumspection1   
but which1 when the occasion demanded   
it1 appeared intuitive and like an      
instinct2 at the union of which1 in the 
same man1 one of our oldest naval       
commanders once told me1 8he could never
 exhaust his wonder40  ,the  citizens of
 ,valetta were fond of relating their   
astonishment1 and that of  the ,french1 
at ,captain ,ball's ship wintering at   
anchor out of the reach  of the guns1 in
 a depth of fathom unexampled1 on the   
assured  impracticability of which the  
garrison had rested their main hope of  
regular supplies4  ,nor can ,i forget1  
or remember without some portion of  my 
original feeling1 the solemn enthusiasm 
with which a venerable old  man1        
belonging to one of the distant casals1 

showed me the sea coombe1  where their  
father ,ball 7for so they commonly      
called him7 first landed1  and          
afterwards pointed out the very place on
 which he first stepped on  their       
island2 while the countenances of his   
townsmen1 who accompanied  him1 gave    
lively proofs that the old man's        
enthusiasm was the  representative of   
the common feeling4    ,there is no     
reason to suppose that ,sir ,alexander  
,ball was at any time  chargeable with  
that weakness so frequent in            
,englishmen1 and so injurious  to our   
interests abroad1 of despising the      
inhabitants of other countries1  of     
losing all their good qualities in their
 vices1 of making no allowance  for     
those vices1 from their religious or    
political impediments1 and still  more  
of mistaking for vices a mere difference
 of manners and customs4  ,but if ever  
he had any of this erroneous feeling1 he
 completely freed  himself from it by   
living among the ,maltese during their  

arduous trials1  as long as the ,french 
continued masters of their capital4  ,he
 witnessed  their virtues1 and learnt to
 understand in what various shapes and  
even  disguises the valuable parts of   
human nature may exist4  ,in many       
individuals1 whose littleness and       
meanness in the common intercourse of   
life would have stamped them at once as 
contemptible and worthless1 with        
ordinary ,englishmen1 he had found such 
virtues of disinterested  patriotism1   
fortitude1 and self-denial1 as would    
have done honour to an  ancient ,roman4 
,there exists in ,england a gentlemanly 
character1 a gentlemanly feeling1  very 
different even from that which is the   
most like it1 the character of  a       
well-born ,spaniard1 and unexampled in  
the rest of ,europe4  ,this feeling     
probably originated in the fortunate    
circumstance1 that the titles of our    
,english nobility follow the law of     
their property1 and are inherited by    
the eldest sons only4  ,from this source

 under the influences of our            
constitution1 and of our astonishing    
trade1 it has diffused itself in        
different modifications through the     
whole country4  ,the uniformity of our  
dress among all classes above that of   
the day labourer1 while it has          
authorised all classes to assume the    
appearance of gentlemen1 has at the     
same time inspired the wish to conform  
their manners1 and still more  their    
ordinary actions in social intercourse1 
to their notions of the  gentlemanly1   
the most commonly received attribute of 
which character is a  certain generosity
 in trifles4  ,on the other hand1 the   
encroachments of  the lower classes on  
the higher1 occasioned1 and favoured by 
this  resemblance in exteriors1 by this 
absence of any cognisable marks of      
distinction1 have rendered each class   
more reserved and jealous in their      
general communion1 and far more than our
 climate1 or natural temper1 have       
caused that haughtiness and reserve in  

our outward demeanour1 which is so      
generally complained of among           
foreigners4  ,far be it from me to      
depreciate the value of this gentlemanly
 feeling3 ,i respect it under all  its  
forms and varieties1 from the ,house of 
,commons to the gentleman in  the       
shilling gallery4  ,it is always the    
ornament of virtue1 and  oftentimes a   
support2 but it is a wretched substitute
 for it4  ,its worth1  as a moral good1 
is by no means in proportion to its     
value1 as a social  advantage4  ,these  
observations are not irrelevant2 for to 
the want of  reflection1 that this      
diffusion of gentlemanly feeling among  
us is not  the growth of our moral      
excellence1 but the effect of various   
accidental  advantages peculiar to      
,england2 to our not considering that it
 is  unreasonable and uncharitable to   
expect the same consequences1 where the 
same causes have not existed to produce 
them2 and1 lastly1 to our  proneness to 
regard the absence of this character    

7which1 as ,i have  before said1 does1  
for the greater part1 and1 in the common
 apprehension1  consist in a certain    
frankness and generosity in the detail  
of action7 as  decisive against the sum 
total of personal or national worth2 we 
must1 ,i  am convinced1 attribute a     
large portion of that conduct1 which in 
many  instances has left the inhabitants
 of countries conquered or appropriated 
by ,great ,britain1 doubtful whether the
 various solid advantages which  they   
derived from our protection and just    
government1 were not bought  dearly by  
the wounds inflicted on their feelings  
and prejudices by the  contemptuous and 
insolent demeanour of the ,english as   
individuals4  ,the  reader who bears    
this remark in mind1 will meet1 in the  
course of this  narration1 more than one
 passage that will serve as its comment 
and  illustration4    ,it was1 ,i know1 
a general opinion among the ,english in 
the ,mediterranean1  that ,sir          
,alexander ,ball thought too well of the

 ,maltese1 and did not  share in the    
enthusiasm of ,britons concerning their 
own superiority4  ,to  the former part  
of the charge ,i shall only reply at    
present1 that a more  venial1 and almost
 desirable fault1 can scarcely be       
attributed to a  governor1 than that of 
a strong attachment to the people whom  
he was sent  to govern4  ,the latter    
part of the charge is false1 if we are  
to  understand by it1 that he did not   
think his countrymen superior on the    
whole to the other nations of ,europe2  
but it is true1 as far as relates  to   
his belief1 that the ,english thought   
themselves still better than they  are2 
that they dwelt on and exaggerated their
 national virtues1 and  weighed them by 
the opposite vices of foreigners1       
instead of the virtues  which those     
foreigners possessed and they themselves
 wanted4  ,above all1  as statesmen1 we 
must consider qualities by their        
practical uses4  ,thus1  he entertained 
no doubt that the ,english were superior

 to all others in  the kind and the     
degree of their courage1 which is marked
 by far greater  enthusiasm than the    
courage of the ,germans and northern    
nations1 and by a  far greater          
steadiness and self-subsistency than    
that of the ,french4  ,it  is more      
closely connected with the character of 
the individual4  ,the  courage of an    
,english army 7he used to say7 is the   
sum total of the  courage which the     
individual soldiers bring with them to  
it1 rather than  of that which they     
derive from it4  ,this remark of ,sir   
,alexander's was  forcibly recalled to  
my mind when ,i was at ,naples4  ,a     
,russian and an  ,english regiment were 
drawn up together in the same square3   
8,see10 said a  ,neapolitan to me1 who  
had mistaken me for one of his          
countrymen1 8there  is but one face in  
that whole regiment1 while in that0     
7pointing to the  ,english7 8every      
soldier has a face of his own40  ,on the
 other hand1 there  are qualities       

scarcely less requisite to the          
completion of the military  character1  
in which ,sir ,a4 did not hesitate to   
think the ,english inferior  to the     
continental nations2 as for instance1   
both in the power and the  disposition  
to endure privations2 in the friendly   
temper necessary1 when  troops of       
different nations are to act in concert2
 in their obedience to  the regulations 
of their commanding officers1 respecting
 their treatment  of the inhabitants of 
the countries through which they are    
marching1 as  well as in many other     
points1 not immediately connected with  
their  conduct in the field3 and1 above 
all1 in sobriety and temperance4        
,during  the siege of ,valetta1         
especially during the sore distress to  
which the  besiegers were for some time 
exposed from the failure of provision1  
,sir  ,alexander ,ball had an ample     
opportunity of observing and weighing   
the  separate merits and demerits of the
 native and of the ,english troops2 and 

surely since the publication of ,sir    
,john ,moore's campaign1 there can be   
no just offence taken1 though ,i should 
say1 that before the walls of  ,valetta1
 as well as in the plains of ,galicia1  
an indignant commander  might1 with too 
great propriety1 have addressed the     
,english soldiery in  the words of an   
old dramatist--        ,will you still  
owe your virtues to your bellies8       
,and only then think nobly when y'are   
full8      ,doth fodder keep you honest8
  ,are you bad      ,when out of flesh8 
,and think you't an excuse      ,of vile
 and ignominious actions1 that      ,y' 
are lean and out of liking8             
,,cartwright',s ,love's ,convert4       
,from the first insurrectionary movement
 to the final departure of the  ,french 
from the island1 though the civil and   
military powers and the  whole of the   
island1 save ,valetta1 were in the hands
 of the peasantry1  not a single act of 
excess can be charged against the       
,maltese1 if we  except the razing of   

one house at ,civita ,vecchia belonging 
to a notorious  and abandoned traitor1  
the creature and hireling of the        
,french4  ,in no  instance did they     
injure1 insult1 or plunder1 any one of  
the native  nobility1 or employ even the
 appearance of force toward them1 except
 in  the collection of the lead and iron
 from their houses and gardens1 in      
order to supply themselves with bullets2
 and this very appearance was  assumed  
from the generous wish to shelter the   
nobles from the resentment  of the      
,french1 should the patriotic efforts of
 the peasantry prove  unsuccessful4  ,at
 the dire command of famine the ,maltese
 troops did  indeed once force their way
 to the ovens in which the bread for the
  ,british soldiery was baked1 and were 
clamorous that an equal division  should
 be made4  ,i mention this unpleasant   
circumstance1 because it  brought into  
proof the firmness of ,sir ,alexander   
,ball's character1 his  presence of     
mind1 and generous disregard of danger  

and personal  responsibility1 where the 
slavery or emancipation1 the misery or  
the  happiness1 of an innocent and      
patriotic people were involved2 and     
because  his conduct in this exigency   
evinced that his general habits of      
circumspection and deliberation were the
 results of wisdom and complete         
self-possession1 and not the easy       
virtues of a spirit constitutionally    
timorous and hesitating4  ,he was       
sitting at table with the principal     
,british officers1 when a certain       
general addressed him in strong and     
violent terms concerning this outrage of
 the ,maltese1 reminding him of  the    
necessity of exerting his commanding    
influence in the present case1  or the  
consequences must be taken4  8,what10   
replied ,sir ,alexander ,ball1  8would  
you have us do8  ,would you have us     
threaten death to men dying  with       
famine8  ,can you suppose that the      
hazard of being shot will weigh  with   
whole regiments acting under a common   

necessity8  ,does not the  extremity of 
hunger take away all difference between 
men and animals8 and  is it not as      
absurd to appeal to the prudence of a   
body of men starving1  as to a herd of  
famished wolves8  ,no1 general1 ,i will 
not degrade myself  or outrage humanity 
by menacing famine with massacre6  ,more
 effectual  means must be taken40  ,with
 these words he rose and left the room1 
and  having first consulted with ,sir   
,thomas ,troubridge1 he determined at   
his  own risk on a step1 which the      
extreme necessity warranted1 and which  
the  conduct of the ,neapolitan court   
amply justified4  ,for this court1      
though  terror-stricken by the ,french1 
was still actuated by hatred to the     
,english1 and a jealousy of their power 
in the ,mediterranean2 and in this  so  
strange and senseless a manner1 that we 
must join the extremes of  imbecility   
and treachery in the same cabinet1 in   
order to find it  comprehensible4       
,though the very existence of ,naples   

and ,sicily1 as a  nation1 depended     
wholly and exclusively on ,british      
support2 though the  royal family owed  
their personal safety to the ,british   
fleet2 though not  only their dominions 
and their rank1 but the liberty and even
 the lives  of ,ferdinand and his       
family1 were interwoven with our        
success2 yet with  an infatuation       
scarcely credible1 the most affecting   
representations of  the distress of the 
besiegers1 and of the utter insecurity  
of ,sicily if  the ,french remained     
possessors of ,malta1 were treated with 
neglect2 and  the urgent remonstrances  
for the permission of importing corn    
from  ,messina1 were answered only by   
sanguinary edicts precluding all supply4
  ,sir ,alexander ,ball sent for his    
senior lieutenant1 and gave him orders  
to  proceed immediately to the port of  
,messina1 and there to seize and bring  
with him to ,malta the ships laden with 
corn1 of the number of which ,sir       
,alexander had received accurate        

information4  ,these orders were        
executed  without delay1 to the great   
delight and profit of the shipowners and
  proprietors2 the necessity of raising 
the siege was removed2 and the  author  
of the measure waited in calmness for   
the consequences that might  result to  
himself personally4  ,but not a         
complaint1 not a murmur1  proceeded from
 the court of ,naples4  ,the sole result
 was1 that the  governor of ,malta      
became an especial object of its hatred1
 its fear1 and  its respect4    ,the    
whole of this tedious siege1 from its   
commencement to the signing of  the     
capitulation1 called forth into constant
 activity the rarest and most  difficult
 virtues of a commanding mind2 virtues  
of no show or splendour  in the vulgar  
apprehension1 yet more infallible       
characteristics of true  greatness than 
the most unequivocal displays of        
enterprise and active  daring4          
,scarcely a day passed in which ,sir    
,alexander ,ball's patience1            

forbearance1 and inflexible constancy   
were not put to the severest trial4  ,he
 had not only to remove the             
misunderstandings that arose between the
  ,maltese and their allies1 to settle  
the differences among the ,maltese      
themselves1 and to organise their       
efforts2 he was likewise engaged in the 
more difficult and unthankful task of   
counteracting the weariness1            
discontent1 and despondency of his own  
countrymen--a task1 however1 which  he  
accomplished by management and address1 
and an alternation of real  firmness    
with apparent yielding4  ,during many   
months he remained the only  ,englishman
 who did not think the siege hopeless1  
and the object  worthless4  ,he often   
spoke of the time in which he resided at
 the country  seat of the grand master  
at ,st4 ,antonio1 four miles from       
,valetta1 as  perhaps the most trying   
period of his life4  ,for some weeks    
,captain  ,vivian was his sole ,english 
companion1 of whom1 as his partner in   

anxiety1 he always expressed himself    
with affectionate esteem4  ,sir         
,alexander ,ball's presence was         
absolutely necessary to the ,maltese1   
who1  accustomed to be governed by him1 
became incapable of acting in concert   
without his immediate influence4  ,in   
the outburst of popular emotion1 the    
impulse which produces an insurrection1 
is for a brief while its  sufficient    
pilot3 the attraction constitutes the   
cohesion1 and the common  provocation1  
supplying an immediate object1 not only 
unites1 but directs  the multitude4     
,but this first impulse had passed away1
 and ,sir ,alexander  ,ball was the one 
individual who possessed the general    
confidence4  ,on him  they relied with  
implicit faith2 and even after they had 
long enjoyed the  blessings of ,british 
government and protection1 it was still 
remarkable  with what child-like        
helplessness they were in the habit of  
applying to  him1 even in their private 
concerns4  ,it seemed as if they thought

 him  made on purpose to think for them 
all4  ,yet his situation at ,st4        
,antonio  was one of great peril2 and he
 attributed his preservation to the     
dejection which had now begun to prey on
 the spirits of the ,french  garrison1  
and which rendered them unenterprising  
and almost passive1  aided by the dread 
which the nature of the country         
inspired4  ,for  subdivided as it was   
into small fields1 scarcely larger than 
a cottage  garden1 and each of these    
little squares of land inclosed with    
substantial stone walls2 these too from 
the necessity of having the  fields     
perfectly level1 rising in tiers above  
each other2 the whole of  the inhabited 
part of the island was an effective     
fortification for all  the purposes of  
annoyance and offensive warfare4  ,sir  
,alexander ,ball  exerted himself       
successfully in procuring information   
respecting the  state and temper of the 
garrison1 and1 by the assistance of the 
clergy  and the almost universal        

fidelity of the ,maltese1 contrived that
 the  spies in the pay of the ,french   
should be in truth his own confidential 
agents4  ,he had already given splendid 
proofs that he could outfight  them2 but
 here1 and in his after diplomatic      
intercourse previous to the             
recommencement of the war1 he likewise  
outwitted them4  ,he once told me  with 
a smile1 as we were conversing on the   
practice of laying wagers1  that he was 
sometimes inclined to think that the    
final perseverance in  the siege was not
 a little indebted to several valuable  
bets of his own1  he well knowing at the
 time1 and from information which       
himself alone  possessed1 that he should
 certainly lose them4  ,yet this        
artifice had a  considerable effect in  
suspending the impatience of the        
officers1 and in  supplying topics for  
dispute and conversation4  ,at length1  
however1 the  two ,french frigates1 the 
sailing of which had been the subject of
 these  wagers1 left the great harbour  

on the #bdth of ,august1 #ahjj1 with a  
part  of the garrison3 and one of them  
soon became a prize to the ,english4    
,sir  ,alexander ,ball related to me the
 circumstances which occasioned the     
escape of the other2 but ,i do not      
recollect them with sufficient accuracy 
to dare repeat them in this place4  ,on 
the #aeth of ,september following1  the 
capitulation was signed1 and after a    
blockade of two years the  ,english     
obtained possession of ,valetta1 and    
remained masters of the whole  island   
and its dependencies4    ,anxious not to
 give offence1 but more anxious to      
communicate the truth1  it is not       
without pain that ,i find myself under  
the moral obligation of  remonstrating  
against the silence concerning ,sir     
,alexander ,ball's  services or the     
transfer of them to others4  ,more than 
once has the  latter aroused my         
indignation in the reported speeches of 
the ,house of  ,commons3 and as to the  
former1 ,i need only state that in      

,rees's  ,encyclopdia there is an       
historical article of considerable      
length under  the word ,malta1 in which 
,sir ,alexander's name does not once    
occur6  ,during a residence of eighteen 
months in that island1 ,i possessed and 
availed myself of the best possible     
means of information1 not only from     
eye-witnesses1 but likewise from the    
principal agents themselves4  ,and ,i   
now thus publicly and unequivocally     
assert1 that to ,sir ,a4 ,ball          
pre-eminently--and if ,i had said1 to   
,sir ,a4 ,ball alone1 the ordinary use  
of the word under such circumstances    
would bear me out--the capture and  the 
preservation of ,malta were owing1 with 
every blessing that a powerful  mind and
 a wise heart could confer on its docile
 and grateful  inhabitants4  ,with a    
similar pain ,i proceed to avow my      
sentiments on this  capitulation1 by    
which ,malta was delivered up to his    
,britannic ,majesty  and his allies1    
without the least mention made of the   

,maltese4  ,with a  warmth honourable   
both to his head and his heart1 ,sir    
,alexander ,ball  pleaded1 as not less a
 point of sound policy than of plain    
justice1 that  the ,maltese1 by some    
representative1 should be made a party  
in the  capitulation1 and a joint       
subscriber in the signature4  ,they had 
never  been the slaves or the property  
of the ,knights of ,st4 ,john1 but      
freemen  and the true landed proprietors
 of the country1 the civil and military 
government of which1 under certain      
restrictions1 had been vested in that   
,order2 yet checked by the rights and   
influences of the clergy and the  native
 nobility1 and by the customs and       
ancient laws of the island4  ,this      
trust the ,knights had1 with the        
blackest treason and the most profligate
  perjury1 betrayed and abandoned4  ,the
 right of government of course  reverted
 to the landed proprietors and the      
clergy4  ,animated by a just  sense of  
this right1 the ,maltese had risen of   

their own accord1 had  contended for it 
in defiance of death and danger1 had    
fought bravely1 and  endured patiently4 
,without undervaluing the military      
assistance  afterwards furnished by     
,great ,britain 7though how scanty this 
was before  the arrival of ,general     
,pigot is well known71 it remains       
undeniable1 that  the ,maltese had taken
 the greatest share both in the fatigues
 and in the  privations consequent on   
the siege2 and that had not the greatest
 virtues  and the most exemplary        
fidelity been uniformly displayed by    
them1 the  ,english troops 7they not    
being more numerous than they had been  
for the  greater part of the two years7 
could not possibly have remained before 
the fortifications of ,valetta1 defended
 as that city was by a ,french  garrison
 that greatly outnumbered the ,british  
besiegers4  ,still less  could there    
have been the least hope of ultimate    
success2 as if any part  of the ,maltese
 peasantry had been friendly to the     

,french1 or even  indifferent1 if they  
had not all indeed been most zealous and
 persevering  in their hostility towards
 them1 it would have been impracticable 
so to  blockade that island as to have  
precluded the arrival of supplies4  ,if 
the siege had proved unsuccessful1 the  
,maltese were well aware that they      
should be exposed to all the horrors    
which revenge and wounded pride  could  
dictate to an unprincipled1 rapacious1  
and sanguinary soldiery2 and  now that  
success has crowned their efforts1 is   
this to be their reward1  that their own
 allies are to bargain for them with the
 ,french as for a  herd of slaves1 whom 
the ,french had before purchased from a 
former  proprietor8  ,if it be urged1   
that there is no established government 
in  ,malta1 is it not equally true that 
through the whole population of the     
island there is not a single            
dissentient8 and thus that the chief    
inconvenience which an established      
authority is to obviate is virtually    

removed by the admitted fact of their   
unanimity8  ,and have they not a        
bishop1 and a dignified clergy1 their   
judges and municipal magistrates1  who  
were at all times sharers in the power  
of the government1 and now1  supported  
by the unanimous suffrage of the        
inhabitants1 have a rightful  claim to  
be considered as its representatives8   
,will it not be oftener  said than      
answered1 that the main difference      
between ,french and ,english  injustice 
rests in this point alone1 that the     
,french seized on the  ,maltese without 
any previous pretences of friendship1   
while the ,english  procured possession 
of the island by means of their friendly
 promises1  and by the co-operation of  
the natives afforded in confident       
reliance on  these promises8  ,the      
impolicy of refusing the signature on   
the part of  the ,maltese was equally   
evident2 since such refusal could answer
 no one  purpose but that of alienating 
their affections by a wanton insult to  

their feelings4  ,for the ,maltese were 
not only ready but desirous and  eager  
to place themselves at the same time    
under ,british protection1 to  take the 
oaths of loyalty as subjects of the     
,british ,crown1 and to  acknowledge    
their island to belong to it4  ,these   
representations1  however1 were         
overruled2 and ,i dare affirm from my   
own experience in the  ,mediterranean1  
that our conduct in this instance1 added
 to the impression  which had been made 
at ,corsica1 ,minorca1 and elsewhere1   
and was often  referred to by men of    
reflection in ,sicily1 who have more    
than once said  to me1 8,a connection   
with ,great ,britain1 with the          
consequent extension  and security of   
our commerce1 are indeed great          
blessings3 but who can  rely on their   
permanence8 or that we shall not be made
 to pay bitterly  for our zeal as       
partisans of ,england1 whenever it shall
 suit its plans to  deliver us back to  
our old oppressors80        ,,essay     

,,vi4          8,the way of ancient     
ordinance1 though it winds1      ,is yet
 no devious way4  ,straight forward goes
      ,the lightning's path2 and        
straight the fearful path      ,of the  
cannon-ball4  ,direct it flies and      
rapid1      ,shattering that it may     
reach1 and shattering what it reaches4  
,my son6 the road the human being       
travels1      ,that1 on which blessing  
comes and goes1 doth follow      ,the   
river's course1 the valley's playful    
windings1      ,curves round the        
corn-field and the hill of vines1       
,honouring the holy bounds of property6 
,there exists      ,a higher than the   
warrior's excellence40                  
,,wallenstein4    ,,captain ,,ball',s   
services in ,malta were honoured with   
his sovereign's  approbation1           
transmitted in a letter from the        
,secretary ,dundas1 and with  a         
baronetcy4  ,a thousand pounds were at  
the same time directed to be paid  him  
from the ,maltese treasury4  ,the best  

and most appropriate addition to  the   
applause of his king and his country1   
,sir ,alexander ,ball found in the      
feelings and faithful affection of the  
,maltese4  ,the enthusiasm  manifested  
in reverential gestures and shouts of   
triumph whenever their  friend and      
deliverer appeared in public1 was the   
utterance of a deep  feeling1 and in    
nowise the mere ebullition of animal    
sensibility2 which  is not indeed a part
 of the ,maltese character4  ,the truth 
of this  observation will not be doubted
 by any person who has witnessed the    
religious processions in honour of the  
favourite saints1 both at ,valetta  and 
at ,messina or ,palermo1 and who must   
have been struck with the  contrast     
between the apparent apathy1 or at least
 the perfect sobriety of  the ,maltese1 
and the fanatical agitations of the     
,sicilian populace4  ,among the latter  
each man's soul seems hardly containable
 in his body1  like a prisoner whose    
gaol is on fire1 flying madly from one  

barred  outlet to another2 while the    
former might suggest the suspicion that 
their bodies were on the point of       
sinking into the same slumber with      
their understandings4  ,but their       
political deliverance was a thing that  
came home to their hearts1 and          
intertwined with their most impassioned 
recollections1 personal and patriotic4  
,to ,sir ,alexander ,ball exclusively   
the ,maltese themselves attributed their
 emancipation2 on him too they  rested  
their hopes of the future4  ,whenever he
 appeared in ,valetta1 the  passengers  
on each side1 through the whole length  
of the street1 stopped1  and remained   
uncovered till he had passed2 the very  
clamours of the  market-place were      
hushed at his entrance1 and then        
exchanged for shouts  of joy and        
welcome4  ,even after the lapse of years
 he never appeared in  any one of their 
casals1 which did not lie in the direct 
road between  ,valetta and ,st4         
,antonio1 his summer residence1 but the 

women and  children1 with such of the   
men who were not at labour in their     
fields1  fell into ranks and followed or
 preceded him1 singing the ,maltese song
  which had been made in his honour1 and
 which was scarcely less familiar  to   
the inhabitants of ,malta and ,gozo than
 8,god save the ,king0 to ,britons4     
,when he went to the gate through the   
city1 the young men refrained  talking1 
and the aged arose and stood up4  ,when 
the ear heard then it  blessed him1 and 
when the eye saw him it gave witness to 
him1 because he  delivered the poor that
 cried1 and the fatherless1 and those   
that had  none to help them4  ,the      
blessing of them that were ready to     
perish came  upon him1 and he caused the
 widow's heart to sing for joy4         
,these feelings were afterwards amply   
justified by his administration of  the 
government2 and the very excesses of    
their gratitude on their first          
deliverance proved1 in the end1 only to 
be acknowledgments antedated4  ,for some

 time after the departure of the        
,french1 the distress was so  general   
and so severe1 that a large proportion  
of the lower classes  became mendicants1
 and one of the greatest thoroughfares  
of ,valetta still  retains the name of  
the 8,nix mangiare stairs10 from the    
crowd who used  there to assail the ears
 of the passengers with cries of 8nix   
mangiare10 or 8nothing to eat10 the     
former word nix being the low  ,german  
pronunciation of nichts1 nothing4  ,by  
what means it was  introduced into      
,malta1 ,i know not2 but it became the  
common vehicle both  of solicitation and
 refusal1 the ,maltese thinking it an   
,english word1 and  the ,english        
supposing it to be ,maltese4  ,i often  
felt it as a pleasing  remembrancer of  
the evil day gone by1 when a tribe of   
little children1  quite naked1 as is the
 custom of that climate1 and each with a
 pair of  gold earrings in its ears1 and
 all fat and beautifully proportioned1  
would suddenly leave their play1 and1   

looking round to see that their  parents
 were not in sight1 change their shouts 
of merriment for 8nix  mangiare10       
awkwardly imitating the plaintive tones 
of mendicancy2 while  the white teeth in
 their little swarthy faces gave a      
splendour to the  happy and confessing  
laugh with which they received the      
good-humoured  rebuke or refusal1 and   
ran back to their former sport4    ,in  
the interim between the capitulation of 
the ,french garrison and ,sir           
,alexander ,ball's appointment as ,his  
,majesty's civil commissioner for       
,malta1 his zeal for the ,maltese was   
neither suspended nor unproductive of   
important benefits4  ,he was enabled to 
remove many prejudices and              
misunderstandings1 and to persons of no 
inconsiderable influence gave  juster   
notions of the true importance of the   
island to ,great ,britain4  ,he         
displayed the magnitude of the trade of 
the ,mediterranean in its existing      
state2 showed the immense extent to     

which it might be carried1 and the      
hollowness of the opinion that this     
trade was attached to the south of      
,france by any natural or indissoluble  
bond of connection4  ,i have some       
reason for likewise believing that his  
wise and patriotic representations      
prevented ,malta from being made the    
seat of and pretext for a numerous      
civil establishment1 in hapless         
imitation of ,corsica1 ,ceylon1 and the 
,cape of ,good ,hope4  ,it was at least 
generally rumoured that it had been  in 
the contemplation of the ,ministry to   
appoint ,sir ,ralph ,abercrombie as     
governor1 with a salary of #aj1jjj a    
year1 and to reside in ,england1  while 
one of his countrymen was to be the     
lieutenant-governor at #e1jjj a  year1  
to which were to be added a long        
etcetera of other offices and  places of
 proportional emolument4  ,this         
threatened appendix to the ,state       
,calendar may have existed only in the  
imaginations of the reporters1 yet      

inspired some uneasy apprehensions in   
the minds of many well-wishers to  the  
,maltese1 who knew that--for a foreign  
settlement at least1 and one1  too1     
possessing in all the ranks and         
functions of society an ample           
population of its own--such a stately   
and wide-branching tree of  patronage1  
though delightful to the individuals who
 are to pluck its  golden apples1 sheds1
 like the manchineel1 unwholesome and   
corrosive dews  on the multitude who are
 to rest beneath its shade4  ,it need   
not1  however1 be doubted1 that ,sir    
,alexander ,ball would exert himself to 
preclude any such intention1 by stating 
and evincing the extreme impolicy  and  
injustice of the plan1 as well as its   
utter inutility in the case of  ,malta4 
,with the exception of the governor and 
of the public secretary1  both of whom  
undoubtedly should be natives of ,great 
,britain and appointed  by the ,british 
,government1 there was no civil office  
that could be of the  remotest advantage

 to the island which was not already    
filled by the  natives1 and the         
functions of which none could perform so
 well as they4  ,the number of          
inhabitants 7he would state7 was        
prodigious compared with  the extent of 
the island1 though from the fear of the 
,moors one-fourth of  its surface       
remained unpeopled and uncultivated4    
,to deprive1 therefore1  the middle and 
lower classes of such places as they had
 been accustomed  to hold1 would be     
cruel2 while the places held by the     
nobility were1 for  the greater part    
such as none but natives could perform  
the duties of4  ,by any innovation we   
should affront the higher classes and   
alienate the  affections of all1 not    
only without any imaginable advantage   
but with the  certainty of great loss4  
,were ,englishmen to be employed1 the   
salaries  must be increased fourfold1   
and would yet be scarcely worth         
acceptance2  and in higher offices1 such
 as those of the civil and criminal     

judges1  the salaries must be augmented 
more than tenfold4  ,for1 greatly to the
  credit of their patriotism and moral  
character1 the ,maltese gentry sought   
these places as honourable distinctions1
 which endeared them to their           
fellow-countrymen1 and at the same time 
rendered the yoke of the ,order         
somewhat less grievous and galling4     
,with the exception of the ,maltese     
secretary1 whose situation was one of   
incessant labour1 and who at the  same  
time performed the duties of law        
counsellor to the ,government1 the      
highest salaries scarcely exceeded #ajj 
a year1 and were barely  sufficient to  
defray the increased expenses of the    
functionaries for an  additional        
equipage1 or one of more imposing       
appearance4  ,besides1 it was  of       
importance that the person placed at the
 head of that ,government  should be    
looked up to by the natives1 and possess
 the means of  distinguishing and       
rewarding those who had been most       

faithful and zealous  in their          
attachment to ,great ,britain1 and      
hostile to their former  tyrants4  ,the 
number of the employments to be         
conferred would give  considerable      
influence to ,his ,majesty's civil      
representative1 while the  trifling     
amount of the emolument attached to each
 precluded all  temptation of abusing   
it4    ,sir ,alexander ,ball would      
likewise1 it is probable1 urge1 that the
  commercial advantages of ,malta1 which
 were most intelligible to the  ,english
 public1 and best fitted to render our  
retention of the island  popular1 must  
necessarily be of very slow growth1     
though finally they  would become great1
 and of an extent not to be calculated4 
,for this  reason1 therefore1 it was    
highly desirable that the possession    
should be1  and appear to be1 at least  
inexpensive4  ,after the ,british       
,government had  made one advance for a 
stock of corn sufficient to place the   
island a  year beforehand1 the sum total

 drawn from ,great ,britain need not    
exceed  #be1jjj1 or at most #cj1jjj     
annually3 excluding of course the       
expenditure  connected with our own     
military and navy1 and the repair of the
  fortifications1 which latter expense  
ought to be much less than at           
,gibraltar1 from the multitude and low  
wages of the labourers in ,malta1  and  
from the softness and admirable quality 
of the stone4  ,indeed much  more might 
safely be promised on the assumption    
that a wise and generous  system of     
policy were adopted and persevered in4  
,the monopoly of the  ,maltese          
corn-trade by the ,government formed an 
exception to a general  rule1 and by a  
strange1 yet valid anomaly in the       
operations of political  economy1 was   
not more necessary than advantageous to 
the inhabitants4  ,the chief reason is1 
that the produce of the island itself   
barely  suffices for one-fourth of its  
inhabitants1 although fruits and        
vegetables form so large a part of their

 nourishment4  ,meantime the  harbours  
of ,malta1 and its equidistance from    
,europe1 ,asia1 and ,africa1  gave it a 
vast and unnatural importance in the    
present relations of the  great         
,european powers1 and imposed on its    
government1 whether native or           
dependent1 the necessity of considering 
the whole island as a single  garrison1 
the provisioning of which could not be  
trusted to the  casualties of ordinary  
commerce4  ,what is actually necessary  
is seldom  injurious4  ,thus in ,malta  
bread is better and cheaper on an       
average than  in ,italy or the coast of 
,barbary2 while a similar interference  
with the  corn-trade in ,sicily         
impoverishes the inhabitants1 and keeps 
the  agriculture in a state of          
barbarism4  ,but the point in question  
is the  expense to ,great ,britain4     
,whether the monopoly be good or evil in
  itself1 it remains true1 that in this 
established usage1 and in the  gradual  
enclosure of the uncultivated district1 

such resources exist as  without the    
least oppression might render the civil 
government in ,valetta  independent of  
the ,treasury at home1 finally taking   
upon itself even the  repair of the     
fortifications1 and thus realise one    
instance of an  important possession    
that cost the country nothing4    ,but  
now the time arrived which threatened to
 frustrate the patriotism of  the       
,maltese themselves1 and all the zealous
 efforts of their  disinterested friend4
  ,soon after the war had for the first 
time become  indisputably just and      
necessary1 the people at large and a    
majority of  independent senators1      
incapable1 as it might seem1 of         
translating their  fanatical            
anti-,jacobinism into a well-grounded1  
yet equally impassioned1                
anti-,gallicanism1 grew impatient for   
peace1 or rather for a name1 under      
which the most terrific of all wars     
would be incessantly waged against  us4 
,our conduct was not much wiser than    

that of the weary traveller1 who  having
 proceeded half way on his journey1     
procured a short rest for  himself by   
getting up behind a chaise which was    
going the contrary road4  ,in the       
strange treaty of ,amiens1 in which we  
neither recognised our  former relations
 with ,france nor with the other        
,european powers1 nor  formed any new   
ones1 the compromise concerning ,malta  
formed the prominent  feature2 and its  
nominal re-delivery to the ,order of    
,st4 ,john was  authorised1 in the minds
 of the people1 by ,lord ,nelson's      
opinion of its  worthlessness to ,great 
,britain in a political or naval view4  
,it is a  melancholy fact1 and one that 
must often sadden a reflective and      
philanthropic mind1 how little moral    
considerations weigh even with the      
noblest nations1 how vain are the       
strongest appeals to justice1 humanity1 
and national honour1 unless when the    
public mind is under the immediate      
influence of the cheerful or vehement   

passions1 indignation or avaricious     
hope4  ,in the whole class of human     
infirmities there is none that make     
such loud appeals to prudence1 and yet  
so frequently outrages its  plainest    
dictates1 as the spirit of fear4  ,the  
worst cause conducted in  hope is an    
overmatch for the noblest managed by    
despondency2 in both  cases1 an         
unnatural conjunction that recalls the  
old fable of ,love and  ,death1 taking  
each the arrows of the other by mistake4
  ,when islands that  had courted       
,british protection in reliance upon    
,british honour1 are with  their        
inhabitants and proprietors abandoned to
 the resentment which we  had tempted   
them to provoke1 what wonder1 if the    
opinion becomes general1  that alike to 
,england as to ,france1 the fates and   
fortunes of other  nations are but the  
counters1 with which the bloody game of 
war is  played2 and that notwithstanding
 the great and acknowledged difference  
between the two ,governments during     

possession1 yet the protection of       
,france is more desirable because it is 
more likely to endure8 for what  the    
,french take1 they keep4  ,often both in
 ,sicily and ,malta have ,i heard  the  
case of ,minorca referred to1 where a   
considerable portion of the most        
respectable gentry and merchants 7no    
provision having been made for their    
protection on the re-delivery of that   
island to ,spain7 expiated in  dungeons 
the warmth and forwardness of their     
predilection for ,great  ,britain4      
,it has been by some persons imagined1  
that ,lord ,nelson was considerably     
influenced1 in his public declaration   
concerning the value of ,malta1 by      
ministerial flattery1 and his own sense 
of the great serviceableness of  that   
opinion to the persons in office4  ,this
 supposition is1 however1  wholly false 
and groundless4  ,his lordship's opinion
 was indeed greatly  shaken afterwards1 
if not changed2 but at that time he     
spoke in strictest  correspondence with 

his existing convictions4  ,he said no  
more than he  had often previously      
declared to his private friends3 it was 
the point on  which1 after some amicable
 controversy1 his lordship and ,sir     
,alexander  ,ball had 8agreed to        
differ40  ,though the opinion itself may
 have lost the  greatest part of its    
interest1 and except for the historian  
is1 as it  were1 superannuated2 yet the 
grounds and causes of it1 as far as they
  arose out of ,lord ,nelson's          
particular character1 and may perhaps   
tend to  re-enliven our recollection of 
a hero so deeply and justly beloved1    
will  for ever possess an interest of   
their own4  ,in an essay1 too1 which    
purports to be no more than a series of 
sketches and fragments1 the  reader1 it 
is hoped1 will readily excuse an        
occasional digression1 and a  more      
desultory style of narration than could 
be tolerated in a work of  regular      
biography4    ,lord ,nelson was an      
admiral every inch of him4  ,he looked  

at everything1  not merely in its       
possible relations to the naval service 
in general1 but  in its immediate       
bearings on his own squadron2 to his    
officers1 his men1  to the particular   
ships themselves1 his affections were as
 strong and  ardent as those of a lover4
  ,hence1 though his temper was         
constitutionally irritable and uneven1  
yet never was a commander so            
enthusiastically loved by men of all    
ranks1 from the captain of the fleet  to
 the youngest ship-boy4  ,hence1 too1   
the unexampled harmony which  reigned in
 his fleet1 year after year1 under      
circumstances that might  well have     
undermined the patience of the          
best-balanced dispositions1 much  more  
of men with the impetuous character of  
,british sailors4  ,year after  year1   
the same dull duties of a wearisome     
blockade1 of doubtful  policy--little1  
if any1 opportunity of making prizes2   
and the few prizes1  which accident     
might throw in the way1 of little or no 

value2 and when at  last the occasion   
presented itself which would have       
compensated for all1  then a            
disappointment as sudden and unexpected 
as it was unjust and  cruel1 and the cup
 dashed from their lips6  ,add to these 
trials the sense  of enterprises checked
 by feebleness and timidity elsewhere1  
not omitting  the tiresomeness of the   
,mediterranean sea1 sky1 and climate2   
and the  unjarring and cheerful spirit  
of affectionate brotherhood1 which      
linked  together the hearts of that     
whole squadron1 will appear not less    
wonderful to us than admirable and      
affecting4  ,when the resolution was    
taken of commencing hostilities against 
,spain1 before any intelligence  was    
sent to ,lord ,nelson1 another admiral1 
with two or three ships of the  line1   
was sent into the ,mediterranean1 and   
stationed before ,cadiz1 for  the       
express purpose of intercepting the     
,spanish prizes4  ,the admiral          
despatched on this lucrative service    

gave no information to ,lord ,nelson  of
 his arrival in the same sea1 and five  
weeks elapsed before his  lordship      
became acquainted with the circumstance4
  ,the prizes thus taken  were immense4 
,a month or two sufficed to enrich the  
commander and  officers of this small   
and highly-favoured squadron2 while to  
,nelson and  his fleet the sense of     
having done their duty1 and the         
consciousness of  the glorious services 
which they had performed1 were          
considered1 it must  be presumed1 as an 
abundant remuneration for all their     
toils and long  suffering6  ,it was1    
indeed1 an unexampled circumstance1 that
 a small  squadron should be sent to the
 station which had been long occupied by
 a  large fleet1 commanded by the       
darling of the navy1 and the glory of   
the  ,british empire1 to the station    
where this fleet had for years been     
wearing away in the most barren1        
repulsive1 and spirit-trying service1 in
  which the navy can be employed6 and   

that this minor squadron should be  sent
 independently of1 and without any      
communication with the commander  of the
 former fleet1 for the express and      
solitary purpose of stepping  between it
 and the ,spanish prizes1 and as soon as
 this short and pleasant  service was   
performed1 of bringing home the unshared
 booty with all  possible caution and   
despatch4  ,the substantial advantages  
of naval  service were1 perhaps1 deemed 
of too gross a nature for men already   
rewarded with the grateful affections of
 their own countrymen1 and the          
admiration of the whole world6  ,they   
were to be awarded1 therefore1 on a     
principle of compensation to a commander
 less rich in fame1 and whose  laurels1 
though not scanty1 were not yet         
sufficiently luxuriant to hide  the     
golden crown which is the appropriate   
ornament of victory in the  bloodless   
war of commercial capture6  ,of all the 
wounds which were ever  inflicted on    
,nelson's feelings 7and there were not a

 few71 this was the  deepest--this      
rankled most6  8,i had thought0 7said   
the gallant man1 in a  letter written on
 the first feelings of the affront71 8,i
 fancied--but nay1  it must have been a 
dream1 an idle dream--yet1 ,i confess   
it1 ,i did fancy1  that ,i had done my  
country service--and thus they use me4  
,it was not  enough to have robbed me   
once before of my ,west ,india          
harvest--now they  have taken away the  
,spanish--and under what circumstances1 
and with what  pointed aggravations8    
,yet1 if ,i know my own thoughts1 it is 
not for  myself1 or on my own account   
chiefly1 that ,i feel the sting1 and the
  disappointment2 no6 it is for my brave
 officers2 for my noble-minded  friends 
and comrades--such a gallant set of     
fellows6 such a hand of  brothers6  ,my 
heart swells at the thought of them60   
,this strong attachment of the heroic   
admiral to his fleet1 faithfully  repaid
 by an equal attachment on their part to
 their admiral1 had no  little influence

 in attuning their hearts to each other2
 and when he  died1 it seemed as if no  
man was a stranger to another2 for all  
were made  acquaintances by the rights  
of a common anguish4  ,in the fleet     
itself1  many a private quarrel was     
forgotten1 no more to be remembered2    
many1 who  had been alienated1 became   
once more good friends2 yea1 many a one 
was  reconciled to his very enemy1 and  
loved and 7as it were7 thanked him for  
the bitterness of his grief1 as if it   
had been an act of consolation to       
himself in an intercourse of private    
sympathy4  ,the tidings arrived at      
,naples on the day that ,i returned to  
that city from ,calabria2 and never  can
 ,i forget the sorrow and consternation 
that lay on every countenance4  ,even to
 this day there are times when ,i seem  
to see1 as in a vision1  separate groups
 and individual faces of the picture4   
,numbers stopped and  shook hands with  
me because they had seen the tears on my
 cheek1 and  conjectured that ,i was an 

,englishman2 and several1 as they held  
my hand1  burst themselves into tears4  
,and though it may awake a smile1 yet it
  pleased and affected me1 as a proof of
 the goodness of the human heart        
struggling to exercise its kindness in  
spite of prejudices the most  obstinate1
 and eager to carry on its love and     
honour into the life beyond  life1 that 
it was whispered about ,naples1 that    
,lord ,nelson had become a  good        
,catholic before his death4  ,the       
absurdity of the fiction is a sort  of  
measurement of the fond and affectionate
 esteem which had ripened the  pious    
wish of some kind individual1 through   
all the gradations of  possibility and  
probability1 into a confident assertion1
 believed and  affirmed by hundreds4    
,the feelings of ,great ,britain on this
 awful event  have been described well  
and worthily by a living poet1 who has  
happily  blended the passion and wild   
transitions of lyric song with the swell
 and  solemnity of epic narration4      

8--,thou art fall'n6 fall'n1 in the lap 
,of victory4  ,to thy country thou      
cam'st back1      ,thou1 conqueror1 to  
triumphal ,albion cam'st      ,a corse6 
,i saw before thy hearse pass on        
,the comrades of thy perils and renown4 
,the frequent tear upon their dauntless 
breasts      ,fell4  ,i beheld the pomp 
thick gathered round      ,the trophied 
car that bore thy graced remains        
,through armed ranks1 and a nation      
gazing on4      ,bright glowed the sun1 
and not a cloud distained      ,heaven's
 arch of gold1 but all was gloom        
beneath4      ,a holy and unutterable   
pang      ,thrilled on the soul4  ,awe  
and mute anguish fell      ,on          
all4--,yet high the public bosom        
throbbed      ,with triumph4  ,and if   
one1 'mid that vast pomp1      ,if but  
the voice of one had shouted forth      
,the name of ,,nelson1 thou hadst past  
along1      ,thou in thy hearse to      
burial past1 as oft      ,before the van
 of battle1 proudly rode      ,thy prow1

 down ,britain's line1 shout after shout
      ,rending the air with triumph1 ere
 thy hand      ,had lanced the bolt of  
victory40                               
,,sotheby 7,saul1 p4 #hj74    ,i        
introduced this digression with an      
apology1 yet have extended it so  much  
further than ,i had designed1 that ,i   
must once more request my reader  to    
excuse me4  ,it was to be expected 7,i  
have said7 that ,lord ,nelson would     
appreciate the isle of ,malta from its  
relations to the ,british fleet on  the 
,mediterranean station4  ,it was the    
fashion of the day to style ,egypt  the 
key of ,india1 and ,malta the key of    
,egypt4  ,nelson saw the hollowness  of 
this metaphor2 or if he only doubted its
 applicability in the former  instance1 
he was sure that it was false in the    
latter4  ,egypt might or  might not be  
the key of ,india1 but ,malta was       
certainly not the key of  ,egypt4  ,it  
was not intended to keep constantly two 
distinct fleets in  that sea2 and the   

largest naval force at ,malta would not 
supersede the  necessity of a squadron  
off ,toulon4  ,malta does not lie in the
 direct  course from ,toulon to         
,alexandria2 and from the nature of the 
winds  7taking one time with another7   
the comparative length of the voyage to 
the latter port will be found far less  
than a view of the map would  suggest1  
and in truth of little practical        
importance4  ,if it were the  object of 
the ,french fleet to avoid ,malta in its
 passage to ,egypt1 the  port-admiral at
 ,valetta would in all probability      
receive his first  intelligence of its  
course from ,minorca or the squadron off
 ,toulon1  instead of communicating it4 
,in what regards the refitting and      
provisioning of the fleet1 either on    
ordinary or extraordinary occasions1    
,malta was as inconvenient as ,minorca  
was advantageous1 not only from its     
distance 7which yet was sufficient to   
render it almost useless in cases  of   
the most pressing necessity1 as after a 

severe action or injuries of  tempest71 
but likewise from the extreme           
difficulty1 if not  impracticability of 
leaving the harbour of ,valetta with a  
,,nw4 wind1 which  often lasts for weeks
 together4  ,in all these points his    
lordship's  observations were perfectly 
just2 and it must be conceded by all    
persons  acquainted with the situation  
and circumstances of ,malta1 that its   
importance1 as a ,british possession1 if
 not exaggerated on the whole1 was      
unduly magnified in several important   
particulars4  ,thus ,lord ,minto1 in a  
speech delivered at a county meeting1   
and afterwards published1 affirms1  that
 supposing 7what no one could consider  
as unlikely to take place7  that the    
court of ,naples should be compelled to 
act under the influence  of ,france1 and
 that the ,barbary powers were          
unfriendly to us1 either in  consequence
 of ,french intrigues or from their own 
caprice and insolence1  there would not 
be a single port1 harbour1 bay1 creek1  

or roadstead in  the whole              
,mediterranean1 from which our          
men-of-war could obtain a single  ox or 
a hogshead of fresh water1 unless ,great
 ,britain retained possession  of       
,malta4  ,the noble speaker seems not to
 have been aware1 that under the        
circumstances supposed by him1 ,odessa  
too being closed against us by a        
,russian war1 the island of ,malta      
itself would be no better than a vast   
almshouse of #ge1jjj persons1 exclusive 
of the ,british soldiery1 all of  whom  
must be regularly supplied with corn and
 salt meat from ,great  ,britain or     
,ireland4  ,the population of ,malta and
 ,gozo exceeds #ajj1jjj1  while the food
 of all kinds produced on the two       
islands would barely  suffice for       
one-fourth of that number4  ,the deficit
 is procured by the  growth and spinning
 of cotton1 for which corn could not be 
substituted  from the nature of the     
soil1 or1 were it attempted1 would      
produce but a  small proportion of the  

quantity which the cotton raised on the 
same  fields and spun into thread1      
enables the ,maltese to purchase1 not to
  mention that the substitution of grain
 for cotton would leave half of the     
inhabitants without employment4  ,as to 
live stock1 it is quite out of the      
question1 if we except the pigs and     
goats1 which perform the office of      
scavengers in the streets of ,valetta   
and the towns on the other side of  the 
,porto ,grande4    ,against these       
arguments ,sir ,a4 ,ball placed the     
following considerations4  ,it had been 
long his conviction that the            
,mediterranean squadron should be       
supplied by regular store-ships1 the    
sole business of which should be  that  
of carriers for the fleet4  ,this he    
recommended as by far the most  economic
 plan in the first instance4  ,secondly1
 beyond any other it would  secure a    
system and regularity in the arrival of 
supplies4  ,and1 lastly1  it would      
conduce to the discipline of the navy1  

and prevent both ships  and officers    
from being out of the way on any sudden 
emergency4  ,if this  system were       
introduced1 the objections to ,malta1   
from its great distance1  c41 would have
 little force4  ,on the other hand1 the 
objections to  ,minorca he deemed       
irremovable4  ,the same disadvantages   
which attended the  getting out of the  
harbour of ,valetta1 applied to vessels 
getting into  ,port ,mahon2 but while   
fifteen hundred or two thousand ,british
 troops  might be safely entrusted with 
the preservation of ,malta1 the troops  
for  the defence of ,minorca must ever  
be in proportion to those which the     
enemy may be supposed likely to send    
against it4  ,it is so little  favoured 
by nature or by art1 that the possessors
 stood merely on the  level with the    
invaders4  ,cteris paribus1 if there    
#ab1jjj of the enemy  landed1 there must
 be an equal number to repel them2 nor  
could the  garrison1 or any part of it1 
be spared for any sudden emergency      

without  risk of losing the island4     
,previously to the battle of ,marengo1  
the most  earnest representations were  
made to the governor and commander at   
,minorca by the ,british admiral1 who   
offered to take on himself the whole    
responsibility of the measure1 if he    
would permit the troops at ,minorca  to 
join our allies4  ,the governor felt    
himself compelled to refuse his  assent4
  ,doubtless1 he acted wisely1 for      
responsibility is not  transferable4    
,the fact is introduced in proof of the 
defenceless state  of ,minorca1 and its 
constant liability to attack4  ,if the  
,austrian army  had stood in the same   
relation to eight or nine thousand      
,british soldiers  at ,malta1 a single  
regiment would have precluded all alarms
 as to the  island itself1 and the      
remainder have perhaps changed the      
destiny of  ,europe4  ,what might not1  
almost ,i would say1 what must not eight
 thousand  ,britons have accomplished at
 the battle of ,marengo1 nicely poised  

as the  fortunes of the two armies are  
now known to have been8  ,minorca1 too1 
is  alone useful or desirable during a  
war1 and on the supposition of a fleet  
off ,toulon4  ,the advantages of ,malta 
are permanent and national4  ,as a      
second ,gibraltar it must tend to secure
 ,gibraltar itself2 for if by the  loss 
of that one place we could be excluded  
from the ,mediterranean1 it is          
difficult to say what sacrifices of     
blood and treasure the enemy would  deem
 too high a price for its conquest4     
,whatever ,malta may or may not be      
respecting ,egypt1 its high importance  
to the independence of ,sicily  cannot  
be doubted1 or its advantages as a      
central station1 for any  portion of our
 disposable force4  ,neither is the     
influence which it will  enable us to   
exert on the ,barbary powers to be      
wholly neglected4  ,i shall  only add1  
that during the plague at ,gibraltar1   
,lord ,nelson himself  acknowledged that
 he began to see the possession of      

,malta in a different  light4    ,sir   
,alexander ,ball looked forward to      
future contingencies as likely to       
increase the value of ,malta to ,great  
,britain4  ,he foresaw that the whole   
of ,italy would become a ,french        
province1 and he knew that the ,french  
,government had been long intriguing on 
the coast of ,barbary4  ,the ,dey of    
,algiers was believed to have           
accumulated a treasure of fifteen       
millions  sterling1 and ,buonaparte had 
actually duped him into a treaty1 by    
which  the ,french were to be permitted 
to erect a fort on the very spot where  
the ancient ,hippo stood1 the choice    
between which and the ,hellespont1 as   
the site of ,new ,rome1 is said to have 
perplexed the judgment of  ,constantine4
  ,to this he added an additional point 
of connection with  ,russia1 by means of
 ,odessa1 and on the supposition of a   
war in the  ,baltic1 a still more       
interesting relation to ,turkey1 and the
 ,mores1 and  the ,greek islands4  ,it  

had been repeatedly signified to the    
,british  ,government1 that from the    
,morea and the countries adjacent1 a    
considerable supply of ship timber and  
naval stores might be obtained1  such as
 would at least greatly lessen the      
pressure of a ,russian war4  ,the       
agents of ,france were in full activity 
in the ,morea and the ,greek  islands1  
the possession of which1 by that        
,government1 would augment the  naval   
resources of the ,french to a degree of 
which few are aware who have  not made  
the present state of commerce of the    
,greeks an object of  particular        
attention4  ,in short1 if the possession
 of ,malta were  advantageous to        
,england solely as a convenient         
watch-tower1 as a centre  of            
intelligence1 its importance would be   
undeniable4    ,although these          
suggestions did not prevent the signing 
away of ,malta at  the peace of ,amiens1
 they doubtless were not without effect1
 when the  ambition of ,buonaparte had  

given a full and final answer to the    
grand  question3 can we remain at peace 
with ,france8  ,i have likewise reason  
to  believe that ,sir ,alexander ,ball1 
baffled1 by exposing an insidious       
proposal of the ,french ,government1    
during the negotiations that preceded   
the recommencement of the war--that the 
fortifications of ,malta should be      
entirely dismantled1 and the island left
 to its inhabitants4  ,without  dwelling
 on the obvious inhumanity and          
flagitious injustice of exposing  the   
,maltese to certain pillage and slavery 
from their old and inveterate  enemies1 
the ,moors1 he showed that the plan     
would promote the interests  of         
,buonaparte even more than his actual   
possession of the island1 which  ,france
 had no possible interest in desiring1  
except as the means of  keeping it out  
of the hands of ,great ,britain4    ,but
 ,sir ,alexander ,ball is no more4  ,the
 writer still clings to the hope  that  
he may yet be able to record his good   

deeds more fully and  regularly2 that   
then1 with a sense of comfort1 not      
without a subdued  exultation1 he may   
raise heavenward from his honoured tomb 
the glistening  eye of an humble1 but   
ever grateful ,friend4